ESpanish Cultural Routes abound with open spaces and infinite skies; forests, paths or rivers where this or that historical event took place. Our five itineraries are packed with the real locations of a critically acclaimed film titled ‘History of Spain’ with an exaggerated budget (its filming took no less than about 40,000 years) to watch in two or three ‘sofa and blanket’ afternoons.
There are many attractions of Spain's Cultural Routes hidden within its museums. These are the ideal places to delve deeper after days of driving, adventures, and dust. We've selected five curious pieces from five museums along our routes for those who find the history of Spain as vibrant as a Hollywood blockbuster.
1. Burgos Museum: the sword (or perhaps not) of El Cid himself
It is rare for an object touched or possessed by El Cid not to have, over time, become a source of worship, bewilderment or controversy. This happened with his horse (whose remains were sought, unsuccessfully, a few decades ago), with his own bones – which are still scattered in various places, in addition to resting in one of the two (!) official tombs he possesses – and it is happening with his sword, Tizona, the most famous. The weapon is exhibited in the Museum of Burgos and debates surrounding its authenticity have been ongoing for several centuries.
Indeed, it is a medieval steel sword dated to the 11th century; it is in a very good state of conservation and was already mentioned six centuries ago as the authentic Tizona. Lest there be any doubt, it has an inscription that reads: “IO SOI TIZONA FUE FECHA EN LA ERA DE MILL E QUARENTA”.
A curiosity: at some point in the 15th century, a central channel was made in the weapon, which allowed the enemy's blood to flow out smoothly when the sword penetrated their body.
The The Way of El Cid, of course, walks not only in the footsteps of literary and historical characters but also through places that remain the scene of debates like this one about the sword. To give an example: when you reach the nearby monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña, ask about the place (and the story) where the remains of the horse Babieca were sought. You'll see...
2. Archaeological Museum of Asturias: on the face, a bison; on the cross, a sperm whale
Prehistoric Rock Art Trails It not only dives into the painted (or carved) artworks in caves or rock shelters, but also into the full diversity of formats our ancestors used to immortalise (and what a fitting word) their artistic concerns. The Archaeological Museum of Asturias houses a large quantity of these, but one shines brightly for three reasons: its (small) size; the mastery of its creator; and because it is the closest thing to a jewel or amulet possessed by our cave-dwelling ancestors.
This is a sperm whale tooth expertly and artistically engraved. On one side, the profile of a bison has been carved. On the reverse, that of a beautiful sperm whale, or perhaps it was a beluga. It is also known to have been crafted around 14,500 BC and unearthed in the Las Caldas cave, barely 7 kilometres from the centre of the Asturian city of Oviedo and more than 30 kilometres from the sea, the habitat of the mammal that owned the tooth.
Curiosity Despite the small size of the sperm whale tooth (7 cm by 3.2 cm), the artists spared no detail (such as the thick fur under the bison's chest), which has allowed the species they depicted to be identified with the skill of a photographer. There are many examples in prehistoric art of representations of ruminant mammals but few of marine animals such as sperm whales. Why? There may be many reasons, but there is one furiously logical one: our ancestors could only appreciate a marine mammal in its entirety when it was stranded (and died) on the sand.
3. Holy Week Museum of Puente Genil: Death, demons... and cigars
There are as many Holy Week celebrations as there are places on a map. Puente Genil is not only no exception but the best example of the unique personality that such a universal celebration can possess. To begin with, its popular name: La Mananta, a phonetic derivative of the term ‘Semana Santa’ (Holy Week), popularised by a well-known local figure: el Nene. In the Museum of Holy Week in Puente Genil, there is an oil painting of his face in his memory, but it is not the only interesting object that its four walls hold...
This is told to us by Paths of Passion, the Holy Week and Baroque route from Spain's Cultural Routes, designed to showcase and highlight the Holy Week celebrations of 10 towns in the heart of Andalusia, as well as their historical, gastronomic, and heritage assets.
Curiosity The ‘rostrillos’ are one of the hallmarks of Holy Week in Puente Genil and, as such, they are more than present in the museum. They are masks made of papier-mâché and plaster that evoke a whole host of biblical characters and do so with a unique, highly recognisable and local artistic style. In the Puente Genil museum, you have to seek out the most mysterious and unsettling rostrillos, such as the dramatic complexion of Judas, the skull of Death, the mocking grimace of the Devil, or those used by children in the 'Semana Santa Chiquita' (Little Holy Week): miniature rostrillos, as bearded and hairy as if they belonged to adults.
Curiosity (and 2): There is surely no procession in all of Spain where nazarenos walk the streets smoking a cigar. In Puente Genil, it happens: they are the Picoruchos, also present in the museum.
4. National Museum of Roman Art, Mérida: A phallus marks the spot
It's no secret that the Romans were capable of anything. They created the greatest European empire of antiquity; they created the first road network in history (so well designed that we still use many of its routes) and wherever they went, they poured in their engineering knowledge (as evidenced by the aqueducts that have survived to our day) or their passion for the good life, importing vines and building thermal baths wherever they wanted to make life more bearable. All of this we know thanks to the Vía de la Plata Route, the time machine of Spanish Cultural Routes, which allows you to travel along the country's largest marked itinerary of Roman remains, from Seville to Gijon.
The National Museum of Roman Art in Mérida holds a twofold interest. The building that houses it (designed by architect Rafael Moneo) is as stimulating as the collection of Roman art it preserves: (almost) all the archaeological finds made in the ancient Roman city of Augusta Emerita.
Curiosity It's also no secret that the Romans had a sexual culture that was noticeably different from ours (to put it mildly). We know a great deal about it not only from writings but also from sculptures, frescoes, mosaics and amulets that have survived to our time. In the Museum of Mérida, a phallic symbol carved on a traffic bollard that used to be situated on the corner of a dwelling is exhibited (among numerous erotic-festive pieces). It served as an indicator to reach (successfully) a brothel and also as a good luck charm for those passers-by fortunate enough to see it.
5. National Museum of Sculpture, Valladolid: The (ugly) bust of the emperor
It's unfair to reduce a museum's greatness to a single piece. And when the museum is the National Museum of Sculpture in Valladolid, all the more so. The official texts state that it's the most important in Spain in its field, although unofficially, it's much more than that: it feels like a cinema showing a hundred films at once. And, best of all, these 100 films are projected in a superb 3D system: the demons depicted seem to long to grab your neck; the saints, to touch your forehead; or the kings, to hold your gaze until someone looks away first.
Therefore, it is logical that the best museum of its kind houses a bust of one of the most immortalised Spanish kings in paintings and sculptures: Charles I of Spain (or Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire). Furthermore, Valladolid was a city closely linked to the emperor: he passed through here when he was 20 years old, trying to secure as much money as possible to compete against Francis I of France for the imperial crown (which he achieved); and he was seen here for several days on his way to the monastery of Yuste (and his retirement) when he was 56 years old: Valladolid was the last major city he trod before seeking refuge in the shadows of Yuste. This and other stories are told in the The Emperor Charles V's Routes, who follow the footsteps (and secrets) of the most powerful man of his time.
Curiosity It is not surprising, then, that the museum houses one of the many works that portrayed him: a sculpture of a barely 20-year-old Charles V with a pensive pose, prominent chin and jaw, and an naive gaze. The magnetism of the work lies precisely in this: it portrays a human being instead of a future emperor and does justice to what was written in his time: “His greatest ugliness was his mouth, because his teeth were so disproportionate to the upper ones that his teeth never met.”.
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