We have taken three trips to visit the museum at Bahia (pronounced Bah-EE-ah) and each time we have said we need more time to see all of the exhibits! It is a very modern museum (museo) located overlooking the Chone River on the main road leading into town.
Walking in the door one’s attention is drawn to a large balsa wood sail boat projecting from the wall with life-sized mannequins and trading materials.
There are four floors worth of exhibits and a large room with an auditorium setting for presentations and special art exhibits. One interesting tour shows paintings by Ecuadorian artists depicting the history of mankind from creation to present day with samples from all sorts of art techniques or schools.
We went the first time to see an exhibit by our friend from Jama, Ecuador, Lisa Brunetti where she showed her “Mola” series of pictures. You can see more of Lisa’s art at: http://playamart.wordpress.com/2011/12/07/precolumbian-mola-series-watercolor/#more-94.
In this post I will concentrate on showing a few of the many artifacts on display at the museum. These artifacts are arranged in displays showing different cultures from thousands of years of civilization in the coastal area of Ecuador, Manabi province. The ancient inhabitants from pre-Incan times mastered the art of ship building using balsa wood from Manabi province to sail as far north as Mexico and down to Chile trading spondylus shells for other items of value.
One of the important trading stops on the spondylus trade route was located at Chirije near our home between San Clemente and Bahia and many of the items on display at the museum in Bahia come from the dig sites at Chirije. Information about Chirije is listed on the left side of this display:
You can see more about the artifacts at Chrije at an earlier post of ours: https://johnandmarylivingitupinecuador.wordpress.com/page/2/?s=chirije.
We hope you enjoy these photos of artifacts from the museum at Bahia:
Life is good in Ecuador!
Written by John
hey! thanks for the pingback! this transported me down the coast and back to the museum! it was great seeing my old friends the artifacts; you have several featured that are part of the new watercolor series! the artifacts have amazing personalities – the indians certainly had a sense of humor!
great post!
z
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you’re welcome :).. we were captivated by the creativity of the pieces.. Can’t wait for your new series..feel free to use any photos that you may need.
we have to get together soon..we miss you amiga
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Hello have to thank the both of you for the sweet comment on my blog now following and see you soon in Ecuador! Very nice post it feels like I am there.
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Thanks! We love it here and hope to see you when you visit! Glad to have you following our blog!
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Such lovely artifacts! I love the displays of pottery items in the museums. I am always amazed that something so fragile could make it through time in such good shape. Sometimes, if you look closely, you can even see the fingerprints of the maker in them! Thank you for visiting me today, Lynda
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Yes, I always try to figure out what the sculptor was thinking when he or she made the items. Lisa had it right when she said some of those guys had a good sense of humor!
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Interesting stuff! I’m also sending this to my husband because he is very interested in this sort of thing.
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Thank you. There is something awe inspiring about being around artifacts that are hundreds of years old!
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So many interesting pieces. The blue lights under the ship are awesome. I wonder where they got the ideas for some of these. Great collection of photos, J&M. Thanks. And Lisa? Forget it. Love her work. 🙂
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I believe Lisa is working on a whole new series of paintings depicting some of these artifacts! That should be exciting. Thanks for the comment.
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