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Casa Colón
Out and About
(and Educating Yourself) in Vegueta
V egueta is the historical heart of Las
Palmas, a must-see for all visitors to the island and
home to the city's cathedral, old streets and squares with beautiful colonial
buildings, and two of the city's best museums.
Columbus'
House and Museum
Columbus' House, La Casa de Colón,
is definitely one of my favourite places in Las Palmas. If you're not really a museum
kind of person, this might just be the one to convert you. I've been many times
as I insist on taking every friend that comes to visit there, but they are
always glad of it in the end!
This wasn't in fact Columbus' house but
he did stay here with the governor of Las Palmas
on his way to America
as his one of his ships was being repaired, and it has been a museum since the
1950s. The most striking aspect is the building itself. The spectacular facade with
its amazingly ornate doorway is the other side from the museum entrance in a
small square behind the cathedral. The interior is in typical Canarian style,
built around two patios overlooked by pretty wooden balconies. A selection of weird
and wonderful exotic trees grow in the first patio where you enter. Wander into
the second courtyard and you'll find two fine but haughty parrots watching over
visitors and squawking loudly if displeased.
The museum's contents deal with various historical themes: Columbus' voyages, the relationship of the Canaries with the
"new world" and the history of Las
Palmas city. There is also a collection of 16th- 20th
Century Spanish paintings upstairs and in the crypt, displays about the pre-Columbian
Americas,
in particular, the Yanomami, Mexican and Equatorial cultures. The displays are
varied and well-presented. In each of the fifteen rooms there is an information
sheet in various languages, so don't worry if you're Spanish isn't up to much.
The highlights for me are the model of Las Palmas in 1686 and the pictures of the
city. It's fun to spot the places you know and wonder at how the city has changed,
in particular how much land has been reclaimed from the sea. There's a picture
of Castillo de la Luz surrounded by the sea (it's now in the middle of a park)
and Perez Galdos theatre right on the coast (now two blocks away). Don't miss
the 3D model of Gran Canaria and the amusing pre-America maps with their wobbly
barely-recognisable shapes.
The museum is free to enter and is open Monday to Friday 9am-7pm and
weekends 9.00am to 3.00pm.
The Canary Museum
In the Museo Canario you can
see artifacts from the prehistory and archaeology of Gran Canaria and learn
about the way of life of the aboriginal people. Often referred to as Guanches, the Guanches were in fact from
Tenerife, and the proper term for the
aborigines of Gran Canaria is the Canarios.
Remember to ask for the English leaflet at the entrance desk if you need
it, as written information is only in Spanish. The museum displays could really
do with a bit of modernising but even so there are some good models and the
largest collection of pre-Hispanic objects (from 500BC to the 15th century) in
the Canary Islands.
The ground floor explains the dwellings, tools, farming and religious
beliefs of the Canarios, including a replica of the painted cave of Galdar.
On the first floor, explore the Canarios' handicrafts (basketry, ceramics,
leather and furs), their physical anthropology and their customs to do with
death.
If you're into gruesome things, you'll love Room 7 - Physical
Anthropology. Over a thousand skulls are exhibited here alongside various
skeletons and four mummies. It's rather a spooky place but the collection is
scientifically important and has been studied by many researchers since the museum's
opening in 1879.
The first mummy that you come to has an intriguing story, which is not
included in the English leaflet. The poor young man who was in his early
twenties was found to have lots of broken bones and terrible skull injuries
(displayed on several x-rays) suggesting a violent death. The fact that his
corpse was so carefully conserved implies that he was of a high social class. The
boy was found near the coast of Arguineguin and is thought to have been Artemi,
the son of the king of Gran Canaria and heir to the throne, who is known to
have died in battle in 1414 defending Arguineguin from the Normans.
The museum costs €3 for adults but children up to 12 enter free, and is
open weekdays 10.00am to 8.00pm and weekends 10.00am to 2.00pm. Readers may
also be interested to know that each edition of RTN is stored in this museum -
from the very first edition. Maybe a Canarian artefact for the future?!
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