Museums: Ones with Doors and The Others

One dictionary defines a museum as "a building in which objects of historical, scientific, artistic, or cultural interest are stored and exhibited."

And in Astorga, we certainly do have a disproportionate number of museums that fall into that definition, but we have the city itself that is not a building, and the objects are not so much stored and exhibited as used daily but still serve to demonstrate how residents lived in this place back to the days of the Roman Empire. An English language overview of the history of the city can be found here.

A quick list of museums here includes The Roman Museum, The Chocolate Museum, The Camino Museum housed in the Gaudi Episcopal Palace, the Cathedral of Santa Maria Museum, The Museum of Time, The Casa del Sacristán where one sees the Cathedral from another point of view, and the Center for Interpretation of Chocolate.
The Roman Museum
The Romans chose this place in 14 BC because of its location and built an amazing amount of infrastructure that is still visible today.  In fact, some of that infrastructure is more than just museum displays - there are Roman sewers still in use in our home town.  On the Roman Route tour you get to walk through a cleaned out section of one of the sewers to witness the design and construction quality.  It is cooler to do it than to read about it, trust me.  There are also thermal baths and building remains on display around the town.  

But the biggest feature without doors is the Roman Wall, pictured here below the Antoni Gaudi's Episcopal Palace. Residents and visitors alike use it as a promenade and is a great place for young and old to meet and chat with one another.  It is also a popular dog-walking place. We are regular walkers on the wall all year long.  The Roman museum and their walking tour are a real eye-opener too. It is amazing to see things that old still functioning and imagine the workmanship that went into building them.

Walking path along the top of the wall

Chocolate is a big thing here
 Astorga is known as the Chocolate Capital of Spain and for good reason.  In 1528 Hernán Cortés brought the Mexican Cacao bean to Spain somehow those beans got to this landlocked area. During the 16th century Astorga became the major processor and marketer of this very special food.  It is still a pleasure to have what is called Chocolate de la Taza, a very thick, warm cup of chocolate eaten with a spoon and churros or some eatable, delicious thing. We are pretty

good at limiting our consumption of this treat to once a week at either Sonrisas (which means Smiles, and they do) or La Cepedana which is a retail part of the Center for Interpretation of Chocolate museum.  Since we have been in lockdown I found we could buy this product in what looks like a milk carton at the supermarket and enjoy it at home - but it is not the same as being at Sonrisas and getting fresh-from-the-pot churros or La Cepadana where we get a finger food to dip into the cup and then lick our fingers. You can read about it, but that is no substitute for sitting at a table with friends and enjoying it.  When you come visit us we will enjoy it together.  And if you are one of the few people who don't like chocolate I will have your cup. 


But let's get back to the museums!

The new Chocolate Museum is well designed and full of the history of the process, machines, and families that made chocolate popular here and around the world.  It is a place to spend about an hour and ends up with a tasting station and you can buy some to take home - if you can resist eating it on the walk back up the hill to the Plaza España.  They offer a combo ticket for the Chocolate Museum and the Roman Museum which is worth getting, you will want to go to both!

Antoni Gaudi's Episcopal Palace
Antoni Gaudi was an architect that is well known for designing and building unique structures, mostly located in Barcelona where he lived. We here in Astorga are lucky that he was a friend of the Bishop here and when the Bishops house burned down he asks Señor Gaudi to design something to replace it. Long story short, I understand that it took 26 years (1889 to 1915) to finish it, and the Bishop didn't live to see it completed. In 1893, after the death of Bishop Grau, Gaudí resigned over disagreements with the council, halting the construction for several years. The palace was completed between 1907 and 1915 by Ricardo Garcia Guereta. No bishop ever lived in it and after the Spanish Civil War it was converted to the current role. This playful building is near our apartment and we walk past it and the cathedral every day during normal times. I gaze upon the way light falls on it and there always seems to be a new detail to notice. It is right across a narrow street from the Cathedrale which we will visit next.
It was turned into a Museum of the Camino de Santiago and is open for your sauntering pleasure.  Gaudi was a master at using light, and the way sun illuminates the inside is as exciting and changing as the way it reflects off the outside.  Come spend some time here.  And in the basement are many Roman artifacts, hunks of stone and their stories.  Ann loves the basement.


The Cathedral of Santa Maria Museum
Walking the 500 miles or so of the Camino de Santiago, I was able to enter and see the design and artwork of many churches and Cathedrals and slowly learned a few things that a Jewish boy from New Jersey doesn't learn as a kid.  Some of these lessons learned can be expressed in words, like that a cathedral is a church with a cathedra, the special chair in for the bishops, and that it is the principal church within a diocese, the area of land over which a bishop has jurisdiction. 
But there are other things that words don't seem adequate to express - and that makes sense.  The art in churches is meant to tell stories and reinforce the feelings we should share as the created, showing us how we related to the rest of creation.  This was especially true when few were literate, books weren't commonly available, and gazing at the paintings, vestments, and sculptures was available to all who had an eye.

Grandkids enjoying the Cathedral Audio Tour

I say all that to introduce this educational experience of a Cathedral Museum.  It includes an audio guide in many languages and even includes a kids version (which I recommend!) that brings the various architectural and ornamental elements to life.  Even our grandkids, pictured here, were held in rapt attention for a couple of hours sharing one of the audio devices.  I've been through it a few times and still see or learn something new each time.

We have attended Mass a few times as well as an organ concert.  It is a special place.

Sunrise from our living room

Because this Cathedral is just across a street from our apartment the view from our windows includes the towers.  We wake to the bells.  It is lovely every morning. 

The Casa del Sacristán is a tiny hidden gem that deserves a visit.  It is just across from the Cathedral entrance. I can't give away the surprise at this special house converted into a museum of images, but you can read more about it, in Spanish, here.




And I have just enough time to introduce you to the Museum of Time, an exhibition of part of the personal clock collection of Jose Maria Ramos, watchmaker of Astorga.  The museum contains clocks of different styles from the end of the XIX and early XX centuries like tower clocks, centerpiece clocks, wall clocks, and as the main piece, the clock that worked until 1974 in the City Hall of Astorga, currently restored after 167 years of activity.

So there you have the museums with doors - and the rest of the town is a museum without doors - but you will have to come to visit to understand just how that works.

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The Other Jew of the Day is Israeli chocolatier Oded Brenner, barred from chocolate for 5 years,  makes a sweet comeback. He opens a new cacao concept shop, Blue Stripes in NYC, and in the linked article explains his bittersweet tale to his daughter.