Cuenca, Ecuador, a UNESCO World Heritage Website since 1999, is residence to a vibrant museum scene, the place historical civilisations and colonial legacies come to life.
From the Museo de las Culturas Aborígenes, showcasing millennia-old artefacts, to the Museo del Sombrero de Paja Toquilla, revealing the artistry of Panama hats, let’s discover the fabulous museums in Cuenca Ecuador.
Map of Museums in Cuenca Ecuador
Helpful Hyperlinks for exploring Cuenca Ecuador
High Museums in Cuenca Ecuador
Museum of Aboriginal Cultures (Museo de las Culturas Aborigenes)
The Museum of Aboriginal Cultures was certainly one of my favorite museums in Cuenca Ecuador. The Museo de las Culturas Aborígenes displays over 5,000 artefacts from over 20 pre-Columbian Ecuadorian cultures, courting again to 500 BC. That’s fairly a group!
Language of museum data: Upon arrival, you’ll obtain books in English, French, and Spanish, that information you thru the exhibition, providing detailed insights into the archaeological items. The museum offers ample seating areas to take a seat and take in the data within the guidebook.
|| Museum of Aboriginal Cultures: Monday-Friday 10:00-18.00, Saturday 10:00-13.00 | $4 to Enter
Pumapungo Museum (Museo Pumapungo)
One of the prolific museums in Cuenca Ecuador, Museo Pumapungo shows over 5000 artefacts from indigenous teams all through Ecuadorian historical past. This contains ceramic, textile, and steel objects, in addition to natural stays and archaeological websites spanning Pre-Hispanic, Colonial, and Republican intervals.
Additionally, on the bottom ground is a gallery of work by Ecuadorian artists from the 1800s onwards depicting scenes from across the nation similar to Chimborazo by Rafael Salas Oquendo.
Behind the museum, discover the in depth foundations of buildings believed to be a part of the outdated Incan metropolis of Tomebamba. The Archaeological Park is the biggest Inca ruins south of Ingapirca, and
The 2nd ground of Museo Pumapungo showcases the ethnography of various areas and cultures in Ecuador together with conventional festivals and methods of life. Having travelled by means of many of those provinces, I discovered the exhibition absorbing.
The exhibition coated the rites and rituals of Shamans and the intricacies of the Shuar tradition, who reside within the southern Ecuadorian and northern Peruvian Amazon. The shrunken head of enemy tribes on show is a chilling sight – the ceremony of the “Tsantsa” for the Shuar is an try and reestablish the cosmic cycle.
Language of museum data: Primarily in Spanish, though some data on the 2nd ground and the archaeological park is given in Spanish and English.
|| Pumapungo Museum: Monday-Friday 8:00-17.30, Saturday-Sunday 10:00-16.00 | Free Entry
Panama Hat Museum (Museo Del Sombrero De Paja Toquilla)
Do you know that the enduring Panama Hat originated in Cuenca Ecuador through the seventeenth century? It gained recognition when worn by staff on the Panama Canal to guard them from the warmth. Recognized domestically as ‘sombrero de paja toquillas’ or ‘toquillas’ for brief, the hat was misnamed as worldwide exports from Panama grew.
The standard artwork of hand-weaving toquilla hats stays a logo of Ecuadorian craftsmanship and was recognised on the UNESCO record for Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The Museo del Sombrero de Paja Toquilla celebrates the artistry of Panama hats. The museum is small, it provides energetic ambiance as you may see the creators at work moulding the hats and stitching the bands with ability.
The store has all the colors and varieties of Panama Hats you might ever want for. In case you don’t have house in your bag for a toquilla, go to the café to soak up beautiful views over the Tomebamba River.
|| Panama Hat Museum: Monday-Thursday 8:00-17.30 (closed 12.30-14.30) to Saturday 8:30-12.30 | Free Entry
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Museum of Non secular Artwork (Museo de Arte Religioso, Catedral Antigua)
The Museum of Non secular Artwork in Cuenca, Ecuador, is housed in Iglesia del Sagrario, often known as the Previous Cathedral (Catedral Antigua). It was the primary parish within the metropolis, with building starting in the identical yr the Spanish based Cuenca in 1557.
The Sagario Church was constructed with conventional building strategies and supplies similar to adobe and Inca stone. Its modest white exterior with three naves and bell towers is an eclectic mixture of baroque and neoclassical. The Previous Church sits on the other facet of Calderón Park to the New Cathedral which was marked as accomplished in 1975 after 100 years in building.
Now an necessary Cuenca museum, the Sagario Church, homes everlasting displays with non secular sculptures and authentic Sixteenth-century work that maintain appreciable significance to the town.
Language of museum data: Totally inclusive as they’re written in Spanish, English and Kichwa.
|| Convent of the Immaculate Conception Museum: Monday-Friday 9:00-17.o0, Saturday-Sunday 09:00-14.00 | $2.50 to Enter
Prohibido Centro Cultural
Prohibido Centro Cultural is a controversial gallery based in 1996 by artist Eduardo Moscoso. The centre is a singular house for nationwide and worldwide artists to show unconventional and avant-garde artwork, and maintain various occasions, conferences, workshops and musical performances.
Eduardo Moscoso was born within the Amazonian province of Morona Santiago. He studied arts on the Remigio Crespo Toral College of the College of Cuenca. After graduating, he turned a professor of sculpture, exhibiting his work in Cuenca. He later resigned to journey and find out about different cultures, holding exhibitions in Colombia, Venezuela, Spain, Luxembourg, and Belgium.
Eduardo Moscoso confronted resistance in Cuenca, a non secular and conservative metropolis. This led him to understand his dream of making an area to help marginalised and underground cultures which allowed artists to freely exhibit their works with out limitations.
The choice cultural expression is clear if you stroll across the gallery, with surreal sculptures, and anti-establishment work. There’s a coffin within the floor and an set up with a faux electrical chair which I needed to check out for dimension.
Language of museum data: For an interesting tour that brings the imaginative and prescient of Prohibido Cultural Middle to life, ask Franco, Eduardo’s son and artist, to indicate you round – he speaks nice English!
|| Prohibido Centro Cultural Museum: Monday-Saturday 9:00-21.00, Sunday 9:00-14.00 | $2 to Enter
Trendy Artwork Museum of Cuenca (Museo Municipal de Arte Moderno)
The Trendy Artwork Museum of Cuenca Ecuador, as soon as the Home of Temperance, dates again to the late nineteenth century, with a different historical past of serving as a rehabilitation centre for alcoholics, a jail, a college, a house for the aged, and assist for low-income moms. Saved from demolition within the Seventies, it was restored right into a museum by Hernan Crespo and Luis Crespo Ordoñez.
The Museo Municipal de Arte Moderno, situated on Plaza de San Sebastián, hosts a various assortment of latest and conventional works by Ecuadorian and Latin American artists, in addition to momentary displays.
The courtyard gardens of the Museo Municipal de Arte Moderno are relaxed with murals and sculptures on show. Whereas I discovered my go to satisfying, opinions inside my group different.
|| Trendy Artwork Museum of Cuenca: Monday-Friday 9:00-16.30, Saturday-Sunday 9:00-14.30 | Free Entry
Remigio Crespo Toral Museum (Museo Remigio Crespo Toral)
Casa Museo Remigio Crespo Toral, as soon as inhabited by poet and diplomat Remigio Crespo Toral (1860-1939), is a historic home that’s thought to have been constructed between 1910 and 1917.
The outside options an uncovered brick facade, representing the trendy Cuenca structure of its period. The rear of this historic residence, the place you will discover the Cafe del Museo, seems to be out over the Rio Tomebamba.
Inside, the constructing spans 5 ranges, every meticulously restored to showcase Remigio Crespo Toral’s in depth assortment of historical artefacts, jewelry, authentic furnishings, Colonial non secular artwork, and a gallery of images depicting the Crespo Toral household.
Language of museum data: Introduced completely in Spanish. For non-Spanish audio system, having a translation app available is advisable to completely perceive the displays and historic context supplied.
|| Remigio Crespo Toral Museum: Monday-Friday 10:00-16.00, Saturday-Sunday 10:00-13.00 | Free Entry
Historical past of Medication Museum (Museo de Historia de la Medicina)
The Guillermo Aguilar Maldonado Museum of Historical past of Medication in Cuenca, housed within the former St. Vincent of Paul Church and Hospital which was the town’s first well being establishment run by Social Welfare.
With over 1,200 artefacts in 14 rooms, it presents a complete historical past of medication by means of outdated gadgets utilized by healthcare practitioners and sufferers. Starting from pre-Hispanic to republican eras, the gathering contains gear, devices, and supplies. A number of the shows are a bit of creepy such because the skeleton of an 8-month-old child, simply saying!
Restored in 1986, the museum now occupies the advanced, with the church serving as an auditorium. Its underground crypt, with 30 funeral vaults, echoes the custom of burying the useless inside church partitions.
Language of museum data: Largely written in Spanish other than a couple of latest additions.
|| Museo de Historia de la Medicina: Monday-Friday 8:30-17.00 | Free Entry
PIN to see one of the best Museums in Cuenca Ecuador
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