Museum of Popular Art

Lonely Planet review

Yet another terrific museum is the Museum of Popular Art, which showcases El Salvador's underappreciated contribution to Central American folk art. The main attraction is the Sala Dominga Herrera, which describes the evolution of ' sorpresas ,' the tiny clay figures made and sold in nearby Ilobasco.

Dominga Herrera (1911-1982), the daughter of ceramic doll makers, gained modest fame for her miniature and meticulously painted creations, which she began making on a whim but have since become a cottage industry for the whole town, even the country. Classic sorpresas are single pieces, usually portraying a profession, domestic scene or, more recently, sexual entanglements. Contemporary artisans have gone further, creating ' procesos ' and ' cuadros, ' which portray whole scenes - from emigrating to the US to complex religious festivals - and include dozens or hundreds of individual figures. The museum has some incredible pieces; if you've been underwhelmed by Salvador folk art - there is a lot of shabby work in local shops, even in Ilobasco - come here for the real deal.