The Museo Provincial Emilio Bacardí Moreau is located in the historical centre of Santiago de Cuba. It stands out due to its eclectic façade decorated with neo-classical elements and designed by the architect Carlos Segrera.
The museum is a public institution founded by Emilio Bacardí Moreau on the 12th February 1899. The museum was located in several different buildings (including the house of its founder) before it was inaugurated in its present headquarters with the backing of Bacardí’s widow Elvira Cape Lombard. The museum bears the name of its prestigious intellectual and founder and its establishment heralded one of the most important socio-cultural events in the city.
The museum has been directed by local artists and intellectuals such as José Bofill Cayol, Fernando Boytel Jambú and Antonio Ferrer Cabello. Its aim is to care for, conserve and enrich its collections for the enjoyment of present and future generations so that they may learn about history and their ancestors and look upon them with gratitude and love.
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| Antonio Ferrer Cabello |
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| Jose Bofill Cayol |
Review by: Frommer's Review
Begun by Emilio Bacardí, the founder of the political and rum dynasty in 1899, this highly personal collection constituted one of the first museums in Cuba. Now a provincial museum, it remains an eclectic art and historical assembly. The grand, gleaming white neoclassical building was erected in 1928 to house the idiosyncratic collection. On the first floor is a wide variety of artifacts documenting indigenous peoples, slavery, and the wars of independence, including an extensive array of armaments and a peculiar coffin-shaped torpedo used by the Mambíses. Bacardí also collected personal items belonging to Cuban national heroes, including those of Antonio Maceo and Carlos Manuel Céspedes. Don't miss the tiny stage set of a colonial Santiago street (through a door on the south side of the first floor). In an annex, which must be entered from a side door on Calle Aguilera, is an archaeology room holding an Egyptian mummy (smuggled out of Egypt in 1913), a pair of Peruvian mummies belonging to the Paracas (pre-Inca) culture, various ceremonial objects, pre-Columbian ceramics, and an extraordinary decorated shrunken head from the Amazon. The second floor is an art museum exhibiting national and international paintings. Allow an hour to see it all. All of the display information here is in Spanish, but English-speaking guides are available.
Spanish:
El Museo Provincial Emilio Bacardí Moreau, significativo exponente del centro histórico urbano de Santiago de Cuba, se distingue por su fachada ecléctica decorada con elementos neoclásicos. Fue diseñado por el arquitecto Carlos Segrera.
La centenaria Institución cuenta con 3 salas expositivas: Arte, Historia y Arqueología.
Posee un extenso fondo de más de 23000 bienes patrimoniales destacándose documentos y manuscritos, partituras musicales, reliquias históricas de carácter patriótico, colecciones numismáticas, antiguedades curiosas y pertenencias de personalidades internacionalmente reconocidas y significativas para la nación.
La Comisión Nacional de Monumentos por la Resolución No. 3 del 10 de octubre de 1978, declaró en 1999 a la Institución como Monumento Nacional.
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