Andalucia is Flamenco, Picasso and Seville
Spain's Southern Region Has a Diverse Heritage
Jul 11, 2009
Andalucia first appeared on the travel scene with sun-and-fun Costa del Sol beaches and inexpensive accommodations. Today, Spain's southern coastal region is also a showplace of luxury hotels and sporting venues, plus its farmlands feed much of Europe. Visitors can experience the region's Moorish, Jewish, English and Gypsy roots in museums and within its people.
Pablo Picasso Museum in Malága
"I was born from a white father and a little glassful of Andalucian life," Pablo Picasso said referring to his 1881 birth in Malaga. He lived here until age 11. His father was a painter of fine art and worked in the town hall but never gained his son's notoriety. Fortunately, Picasso's mother never threw anything away.
In 2003 and after Picasso's 1973 death, the Museo Picasso Malága was founded by his daughter-in-law, Christine Ruiz-Picasso, and the city of Malága. Their building choice was a Renaissance palace with the remnants of a 7th-century Roman and Phoenician home beneath it. That, too, can be visited. The two-story museum holds permanent and rotating exhibits. One room replicates where Picasso was born and displays his baptismal dress with its lace ruffles and a buttoned neck.
Flamenco in Seville
Flamenco is Andalucia's heritage, not its folklore. It's danced with a passionate technique to interpret sorrow and joy. Flamenco's roots come from Indian, Arabic, Greek, Caribbean and Roman cultures. The dance began in a family setting. By the early 1900s it was publicly viewed in the cantantes. By the 21st century, famed flamenco dancer Christina Hoyos founded a flamenco museum in Seville.
"We're a high-tech museum," said director Francisco Javier Andrade referring to the hydraulic stage that transforms the museum's inner courtyard into a performance area. An upper floor has a costume room, complete with antique chests, and the red costume worn at the Olympic Games in Barcelona. Touch screens are in six languages. Other floors have revolving exhibits while the basement holds flamenco lessons in an 18th-century vaulted room.
Two Flamenco-related names to look for in Seville: Nano de Jerez is one of Spain's best flamenco singers. He creates his music as he listens to the guitar. Most flamenco lyrics are not written, yet they have a cadence and philosophy that is recognized by top poets. Miguel Angel Heredia comes from a Gypsy family and has danced since childhood.
The Clock Museum in Jerez de la Frontera
The most important clock collection in Europe began as a private one in Jerez de la Frontera. It consists of 302 English and French time pieces from the 17th to 19th centuries. They are housed in a renovated 19th-century palace. Visitors are greeted into an elegant royal entrance with gleaming hardwoods. Flemish tapestries and Bach music fill the exhibition rooms that are separated by the clocks' countries of origin. English clocks chime every 15 minutes; French every 30. All clocks chime hourly in unison. The museum also displays 140 walking sticks, mainly from 19th-century England.
The Horse-drawn Carriage Museum in Jerez de la Frontera
Fifteenth-century Andalucían monks bred the Carthusian horses that are the backbone of The Royal Andalucian School of Equestrian Art, founded by Álvaro Domecq. The "Dancing Horses" create an equestrian ballet Tuesdays and Thursdays in a large arena where their riders wear doma vaquera, which is typical Andalucían country dressage. Visitors can visit the nearby Museo del Enganche where 30 carriages of English, French, German and Spanish heritage are complemented with touch-screen descriptive panels. Harnesses and hand-made costumes, some 100 years old, are also displayed.
The 120 horses stabled here are trained daily, although it takes four years to ready them for the show. It's possible to watch the horses being harnessed and hitched.
Olive Oil and Priego de Cordoba
Supposedly 300,000,000 olive trees are rooted in Andalucia but who's counting. It takes 10 years for a tree to produce; however, the next 50-60 years are its best efforts. Some trees here are 120 years old. The Nuñez de Prado mill in Baena dates back to 1795. Harvest time is September and October and done by workers who collect the green fruit from the trees and not from the ground. It's company policy to not take more than 24 hours from the tree to the first press that creates their olive oil. Consequently, this producer is world famous for its first quality, extra-virgin olive oil. Groups or individual visits are welcome and purchases can be made.
The delightful town of Priego de Cordoba has a mere 24,000 people but many small olive-oil producers, some who welcome visitors. Decades ago wealthy olive-oil families brought Baroque art to the town that also has eight churches. Its architecture alone is worth a visit.
Contact for information about Andalucia (also known as Andalusia).
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