Museum sights in The Southwest
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Museo & Convento de Santa Teresa
The fascinating Santa Teresa Convent was founded in 1685 and is still home to a small community of Carmelite nuns. One of them is an architect, and has directed a superb restoration project that has converted part of the sizeable building into a museum. The excellent guided tour (Spanish & English) explains how girls of fifteen from wealthy families entered the convent, getting their last glimpse of parents and loved ones at the door.
Entry was a privilege, paid for with a sizeable dowry; a good portion of these offerings are on display in the form of religious artwork.
There are numerous fine pieces, including a superb Madonna by Castilian sculptor Alonso Cano, and severa…
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Parque Cretácico (Cal Orck'o)
It seems that 65 million years ago the site of Sucre's Fancesa cement quarry, six kilometers from the centre, was the place to be for large, scaly types. When the grounds were being cleared in 1994, plant employees uncovered a nearly vertical mudstone face bearing over 6000 tracks - some of which measure up to 80cm in diameter - from over 150 different species of dinosaur.
While you once could go right up to the tracks, these days you have to be content with gazing at them from the brand-new Parque Cretácico (Cal Orck'o). This slick, family-friendly visitors centre has a couple of dozen scary life-size models of dinosaurs, as well as an audiovisual display and a restaura…
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Museo Arqueológico
The Museo Arqueológico has an excellent overview of Bolivia’s various indigenous cultures. The collection is split into three sections: the archaeological collection, the ethnographic collection and the paleontological collection. The first deals primarily with indigenous culture from the Cochabamba region. Look out for the Tiwanaku section; their shamans used to snort lines of hallucinogenic powder through elegant bone tubes. The ethnographic collection provides material from Amazonian and Chaco cultures including examples of non-alphabetized writing, which is from the 18th century and was used to bring Christianity to the illiterate Indians. The paleontological collect…
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Museo de la Catedral
The four sections in the museum are unlocked as your visit progresses to reveal Bolivia's best collections of religious relics. In the entry room is a series of religious paintings from the colonial era. Next, a chapel has relics of saints, and fine gold and silver chalices. The highlight, however, is the Capilla de la Virgen de Guadalupe, completed in 1625.
Encased in the altar is a painting of the Virgin, the city's patron, and a woman of means. She was originally painted by Fray Diego de Ocaña in 1601. The work was subsequently coated with highlights of gold and silver and adorned in robes encrusted with diamonds, amethysts, pearls, rubies and emeralds donated by wealt…
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Museo Sacro, Folklórico, Arqueológico y Minero
The Museo Sacro, Folklórico, Arqueológico y Minero is an excellent double museum attached to the Santuario de la Virgen del Socavón. Access is by guided tour only, which descends from the church down to an old mining tunnel with various tools from both the colonial and modern mining eras as well as representations of the devilish El Tío, spirit of the underground. The tour then goes upstairs to the other part of the museum, which has a variety of exhibits, from Wankarani-period stone llama heads to Diablada costumes. Guides are knowledgeable but you should be aware that they don’t speak English; however, some exhibits have bilingual explanations.
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National Mint
The National Mint is Potosí’s star attraction and one of South America’s finest museums. Potosí’s first mint was constructed on the present site of the Casa de Justicia in 1572 under orders from the Viceroy of Toledo. This, its replacement, is a vast and strikingly beautiful building that takes up a whole city block. It was built between 1753 and 1773 to control the minting of colonial coins; legend has it that when the king of Spain saw the bill for its construction, he exclaimed ‘that building must be made of silver’ (expletive presumably deleted). These coins, which bore the mint mark ‘P, ’ were known as potosís.
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Museo Antropológico Eduardo López Rivas
At the south end of town adjacent to the zoo, the Museo Antropológico Eduardo López Rivas is an anthropological and archaeological museum well worth a visit. The fascinating hodgepodge of exhibits includes mastodons, Carnaval costumes, stone-carved llama heads, mummies from the chullpares (funerary towers) that dot the region and skulls exhibiting the horrific cranial deformations once practiced on children. Take any micro (minibus) marked ‘Sud’ from the northwest corner of Plaza 10 de Febrero or opposite the train station, and get off just beyond the old tin-foundry compound.
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Museum of Religious Art
Located in the Santa Clara Convent, this museum of religious art, founded in 1639, contains several works by Bolivian master Melchor Pérez de Holguín and his Italian instructor, Bernardo de Bitti. In 1985 it was robbed, and several paintings and gold ornaments were taken. One of the canvases, however, was apparently deemed too large to carry away, so the thieves sliced a big chunk out of the middle and left the rest hanging. The painting has been restored but you can still see evidence of the damage. Guides may also demonstrate the still-functional pipe organ, which was fabricated in 1664.
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Museo de los Niños Tanga-Tanga
On the same square as La Recoleta, and set in a beautiful building, this excellent interactive children's museum focuses on renewable energy sources. Highlights include the botanical gardens and explanations of Bolivian ecology. The museum also hosts cultural and environmental programs, including theater performances and ceramic classes. The attached Café Mirador is a great place to relax while enjoying the best view in town.
The adjacent Ananay handicrafts shop sells unique high-quality artesanías, including especially cute children's clothing.
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Cementerio de Trenes
Uyuni's only other real tourist attraction is the Cementerio de Trenes, a large collection of historic steam locomotives and rail cars, which are decaying in the yards about 3km southwest of the station along Av Ferroviaria. There have long been plans to turn the collection into a railway museum, but that seems a pipe dream and they'll most likely just keep on rusting. Many tours visit the train cemetery as a first or last stop on the four-day salar circuit.
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Basílica de San Francisco
The Basílica de San Francisco was founded in 1606 and is now a national monument. The 16th-century convent library and archives, which may conjure up images from The Name of the Rose, can be used only by researchers who have been granted permission by the Franciscan order. Inside the basilica, the free Museo Franciscano Frey Francisco Miguel Mari displays ecumenical paintings, sculptures and artifacts.
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Museo Mineralógico
On the university campus south of town, the Museo Mineralógico houses a remarkable collection of more than 5200 minerals, precious stones, fossils and crystals from around the world, housed in wooden cabinets amid a series of stairways, exposed bricks and glass. Hop on minibus 102 or 2 or any micro marked ‘Sud’ or ‘Ciudad Universitaria’ from opposite the train station or Plaza 10 de Febrero.
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Iglesia de San Martín
The rather ordinary-looking Iglesia de San Martín was built in the 1600s and is today run by the French Redemptionist Fathers. Inside is an art museum, with at least 30 paintings beneath the choir depicting the Virgin Mary and the 12 Apostles. The Virgin on the altarpiece wears clothing woven from silver threads. However, San Martín is outside the center and is sometimes closed, so phone before traipsing out here.
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San Francisco Convent
The San Francisco Convent was founded in 1547 by Fray Gaspar de Valverde, making it the oldest monastery in Bolivia. Owing to its inadequate size, it was demolished in 1707 and reconstructed over the following 19 years. A gold-covered altar from this building is now housed in the Casa Nacional de la Moneda. The statue of Christ that graces the present altar features hair that is said to grow miraculously.
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Museum of Indigenous Arts
This superb museum of indigenous arts is a must for anyone interested in the indigenous groups of the Sucre area, focusing particularly on the woven textiles of the Jalq’a and Candelaria (Tarabuco) cultures. It’s a fascinating display, and has an interesting subtext: the rediscovery of forgotten ancestral weaving practices has contributed to increased community pride and revitalization.
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Museo Patiño
A university-administered cultural complex, the Museo Patiño is a former residence of tin baron Simón Patiño inside Casa de la Cultura. Exhibits include his furniture, personal bric-a-brac, fine toys and an ornate Art Nouveau stairway. Visiting exhibitions are featured in the downstairs lobby; the permanent collection is on the upper level. Entry is by guided tour only.
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Museo de Plata Herzul
A silversmith has set up his home workshop to accept visitors, and demonstrates every aspect of the craft, from forging to filigree. It's an interesting visit with plenty of chance to have a go yourself but it's wise to ring ahead to check that it's open. It's located in the Ciudad Satélite barrio a kilometer or so from the town centre. You can also buy some of his work.
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Museo Arqueología y Antropológico de los Andes Meridionales
The Museo Arqueología y Antropológico de los Andes Meridionales is a small affair featuring mummies, long skulls, fossils, ceramics and textiles. There are Spanish descriptions of the practices of mummification and cranial deformation.
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Casa de la Libertad
For a dose of Bolivian history, it’s hard to beat this museum where the Bolivian declaration of independence was signed on August 6, 1825. It has been designated as a national memorial, and is the symbolic heart of the nation.
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Archaeology & Paleontology Museum
The free university-run Archaeology & Paleontology Museum provides a good overview of the prehistoric creatures and the early peoples that once inhabited the Tarija area.
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Artesanías Palomita’s
Artesanías Palomita’s is half-shop, half-museum and has costumes and weavings from each of the 16 provinces of Potosí department.
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Museos Universitarios
The Museos Universitarios are three separate halls housing colonial relics, anthropological artifacts and modern art.
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