12/7: Asuncion's Fanciful Museo del Barro aka Mud Museum!

We'd spent the large chunk of the day walking around the pretty disheartening and depressing center of Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, looking at the sights such as they were. Two museums we wanted to see were strangely located in the far northern suburbs of the capital so we took a taxi to the first as it had been hot and we looked forward to sitting in an air-conditioned car for a bit. However, the driver had his windows rolled down so we took in the breezes from the Rio Paraguay as we drove along the Costanera or waterfront toward the Museo de la Silla de Asuncion and known as MUSA. I don't know how your Spanish is but 'silla' is chair, so we were headed to the chair museum! Steven and I are always on the lookout to expand our horizons and what better way to do that than to see a museum dedicated to chairs!

The contrast was mind blowing between the hovels down by the river and the upscale, gated homes in the suburbs. It was really frustrating that we spent a good deal of time and moolah getting to the museum only to discover that the information in our guide book had been incorrect and MUSA was closed on Saturdays at noon and all day on Sundays. Since we only had the two days in the city, we figured we'd lost any chance of seeing the intriguing chair museum and were pretty bummed. As it turned out, Jose, our fantastic guide who would be escorting us all around southern Paraguay two days hence, was very amenable to taking us back to MUSA then so all was not lost after all.

We didn't feel so far from home seeing this Miller beer truck displayed in a parking lot!

Kathy: This was our first of what literally turned out to be hundreds of Re/Max signs we saw all over Paraguay!

Thanks to our pitiful Spanish, we ended up taking another taxi part of the way and walking the rest to Museo del Barro, which was described as the best museum in town. The very unassuming entrance and in a strange area of town combined to put is both off initially but were we ever in for a fantastic surprise! Literally the Mud Museum, the Barro was founded in 1972 as a traveling exhibition by a group of artists and was relocated to its current location at the end of the dictatorship.

The museum's collection was comprised of indigenous art, campesino art with mostly religious figures and modern art.

These animated figures were made from balsa wood.

If you read the preceding post and admired the nanduti pieces in the Cabildo, you are in for a real treat here as those works of art came from the Museo del Barro. Nanduti, as I mentioned in that post, is a traditional Paraguayan lace that is worked on fabric which is stretched tightly in a frame. The name means "spider web" in Guarani, the official, indigenous language of Paraguay. This clothing rack and infant's dress were both made of cotton in 1900 in Itagua, the town known as the center of nanduti.

Imagine having the patience and the eyes for this detailed work - I was in awe!

Each piece was so gorgeous I'd hate to think of its being worn and possibly damaged or stained.

More indigenous art:

A large focus of the museum was devoted to religious art like these painted wooden figures from the Jesuit or Franciscan Reductions. They were a type of settlement for indigenous people specifically in the Rio Grande do Sul area of Brazil, Paraguay and neighboring Argentina established by both religious orders from the early 17th century until both were expelled in the 18th century.

Most of the collection featured small figures that were just 15 cm or so high. 

I imagine these ghoulish figures were for the Dia de la Muerte or Day of the Dead!

There was the biggest assortment of crucifixes we'd ever seen before in one place!

This was the crucified woman Santa Librada.

Of particular interest were the crucifixes that depicted the Holy Trinity with God the Father stretching his arms out over his crucified Son, while between the two was a huge dove of the Holy Spirit with its wings outstretched. They were a first for me!

I must have spent at least 20 minutes looking amid the hundreds of figures in the display cases for the Nino Salvador del Mundo or the Child Saviour of the World. I gave up and finally hunted down Steven in another part of the museum so he could help as he's always great at finding particular pieces in a museum I can't! Never before had I seen a naked child Jesus holding an orb in his hand so I was determined to keep looking for it.

I almost overlooked spotting over a doorway in the same room large figures of the crucified Good and Bad Thieves.

The ethnic section with its impressive array of fiber costumes and feather headdresses made by the Ishir indigenous people was a change of pace but no less interesting. 

The wooden masks of men and animals were made by the Guarani. as were the huge clay pots.

The sculpted wooden animals were likewise created by the Guarani.

Among the group of "big-bellied fish'' one had birds and the other, tigers, outlined in burnt wood! When I had seen the first animals, I had naively thought they were a bit crude and simplistic but, when I came across these two, I couldn't stop marveling at them. They were so different from anything I'd ever seen and the intricacy of the birds and tigers drew me in. I wished I knew how they made them.

Bead necklaces and ceremonial sashes were colorful.

One room was devoted to smaller crafts made by other tribes.

As we climbed a ramp, it led to the interior of a brightly colored circus tent complete with dancers, circus artists, and unusual sea creatures!

Carlos Colombino, one of the museum's founders, had his own massive interpretation of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper but his 9.5 meter x 3.4 meter piece was called La Proxima Cena or The Next Supper! 

I daresay I won't quickly forget this vision of the Last Supper!

The next section was like walking through Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. It was a reconstructed studio of Felix Toranzos but with pictures tilted at odd angles on purpose! I found it disconcerting but could later appreciate Steven's love for the room when he explained it to me! It was like entering a brave new world from the ethnic section just minutes before.

As I walked through, I felt like I was walking through someone's home without permission as it was such a personal space.

Wherever else, as Steven pointed out to me, would you see a sculpture placed in front of a mirror as was done here?

Even the bathroom contained works of art on the wall and behind a protective barrier! That was certainly another first for us. Have you ever seen works of art in a museum bathroom?

In the museum shop were some arts and crafts very similar to those displayed in the museum: clay figures, wooden painted religious statues, etc. These intricately woven bags were stunning but at a $100 plus each, way beyond my comfort zone. I was quite happy with a couple that were about two inches square. One is hanging on the edge of a picture frame right above the computer so I look at it constantly as it brings back great memories of the superb Museo del Barro.

I can't imagine many readers of this post will ever make it to Asuncion, but if you do, make sure to make a beeline for the Mud Museum as you'll be entranced at every turn, I think, as we were. It was hands down the best thing about Paraguay's capital city and would easily hold its own in any capital.

Next post: A slow but still intriguing Sunday in Asuncion.

Posted on February 2nd, 2020, a 'super day' all around from our home in Denver.