Frommer's Review
This huge and enormously rich museum offers visitors an opportunity to learn about the evolution of Ecuador -- its human and natural history, as well as its art. When you see all the artifacts, archaeological finds, and works of art displayed chronologically, you get a profound sense of the country not commonly found in museums that focus on one era or type of exhibit. Tip: To see everything in this massive museum, you really need at least 4 hours; I recommend taking a guided tour.
If you visit the museum from beginning to end, you will start at the Archaeological Gallery. On display are artifacts dating from 11,000 B.C. Artifacts and dioramas explain the beliefs and lifestyle of a wide range of pre-Columbian and pre-Inca peoples. One of the most striking exhibits here is a Cañari mummy, though the Golden Court is my favorite exhibit. Because many indigenous groups worshipped the sun, they used gold to create masks, chest decorations, and figurines to represent the sun. The fine details are really amazing -- many of the pieces in this gallery are a sight to behold.
You can see the influence of the sun and the veneration of women in the work displayed in the Colonial Art Gallery, which contains pieces from 1534 to 1820. Much of the colonial art here combines the rich ornamentation popular in pre-Columbian art with the severe polychrome style of European art. You'll also probably notice that a lot of pieces in this gallery are quite bloody and gory -- an attempt to scare the indigenous people into believing in the Christian God. I find the colonial-era art is displayed better here -- with better lighting and explanations -- than at the Museo Fray Pedro Gocial .
After independence from Spain, Ecuadorian artists began to eschew religious symbolism. In the Republican Art Gallery, you can see this transition. Instead of gory religious art and paintings of the Virgin, for example, you'll find lifelike portraits of Ecuador's independence heroes. One of my favorites is Retrato de Simón Bolívar (Portrait of Simón Bolívar).
On a whole different plane is the Contemporary Art Gallery. Here you'll see everything from peaceful landscapes from the early 20th century to Oswaldo Guayasamín's tortured and angry portraits, as well as a wide range of modernist works by prominent Ecuadorian artists such as Pilar Bustos, Camilo Egas, Theo Constante, and Enrique Tabara. In addition to the above galleries, the museum also hosts temporary art exhibits. And in the same building, there is a Museum of Musical Instruments, which is a lot of fun if you're traveling with kids.
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