MUSEUMS
IN CARAVACA DE LA CRUZ

This space dedicated to the Caballos del Vino (Wine Horses) is located in the old house of the family Muso Muñoz Melgarejo, from the 18th century, which has been totally restored. It is a journey through its origins until the present, where all aspects of the festivity are represented: the bareback horses, the design, embroidery and piece of harnessing, the Race...

The aim is to proudly transmit and spread, through several rooms and audiovisuals, the roots and the present situation of a celebration that is currently a Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The church was built in the location of the primitive church of El Salvador. It was built in the second third of the 17th century under the name of La Soledad, thanks to the patronage of Mr Pedro Muñoz Otálora, the senior lieutenant of the town. The church was designed and built by the master Juan Garzón Soriano, with the intervention of the local carpenter Sebastian de la Iglesia. Since the late 17th century, it became part of the primogeniture of the Muñoz family. During the 18th and 19th century it went to the Counts of Clavijo and Marquises of El Salar due to marriage covenants and inheritance divisions.

The Archaeological Museum is a first-rate equipment located in the historic city centre. It collects pieces of great value, as a result of the many findings in the excavations at several archaeological sites, especially those carried out in the Iberian-Roman complex of La Encarnación. In this museum we can find pottery, weapons, coins, architectural elements, etc

The monographic museum dedicated to the sculptor José Carrilero’s work is located in the square that carries his name. It takes up the rears and vaults from a former palatial home built in the second quarter of the 17th century by Don Luis de Gadea Sahajosa, councilor of Caravaca

The building: During the 18th and 19th centuries, the property belonged to a branch of the family Muñoz de Otálora and their heirs the Marquises of San Mamés de Arás, until it was acquired by other individuals. During some time in the 20th century, the building was leased as a Civil Guard Barracks House.

The exposition: The museum takes up an area of about 650 square meters and it is home to 90 works in total, including sculptures, paintings and medals. It consists of four exhibition halls, a multipurpose room and other service facilities.

In the first, second and third floor a representative sample of the painter’s work is exhibited. The exhibition highlights several sketches and figurative designs which later on became sculptural works.

The basement of the building, where the old vaulted wine cellars were situated, is almost entirely dedicated to the sculptural work of Carrilero. It contains 49 different sized bronze works and 14 sculptured and engraved medals.

Interesting feminine portrayals, academic torsos and unique relieves stand out in the building. The square and the façade of the museum exhibit an extraordinary group of sculptures of natural size, consisting of three instrumentalists, including the statue of a flutist, a cellist and a trumpeter. It’s a characteristic theme among the authors’ repertoire.

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De moros o de cristianos. Así se visten los caravaqueños en festejos tan señalados como los que se organizan en honor de la Santísima y Vera Cruz, del 1 al 5 de mayo. Y estos trajes es precisamente lo que enseña al visitante este museo, aparte de los atalajes con los que se enjaezan a los Caballos del Vino el 2 de mayo.
El edificio, que data del siglo XVI, ha pertenecido a varios caravaqueños ilustres. Primero lo fue de don Luis de Mora, posteriormente, de la familia Uribe hasta que finalmente llegó a manos del Marqués de San Mamés.

Casa catalogada como "Protegida", fue Palacete del Marqués de los Uribe.

The museum is famous for its exoticism, variety and for the authenticity of its works. A great variety of cultures represented are spread out in 145 countries from all continents. The collection covers 4 categories of well-known musical instruments: chordophones, membranophones, idiophones and aerophones, depending on how the sound is produced and the materials of each instrument.

Within these classifications, the museum offers to its visitors a thematic exhibition about religions in the world as well as music instruments from slavery, magic and witchcraft. It also exhibits other themes which relate different fields of the human being to music.

The museum ethnical music also offers to its visitors a special section which pays tribute to Barranda and its Festivity of Cuadrillas.

The collection has been gathered by the ethno-musicologist Carlos Blanco Fadol, who has dedicated his life to the investigation and the gathering of the increasingly limited instruments from all corners of the world that are progressively disappearing because of the advent of new musical technologies.

The building consists of two perpendicular naves preceded by a double gallery with semicircular lowered arches. It was designed during the first half of the 17th century.

The museum has also a collection of metal works and paintings. Inside the art gallery stand out 6 oil paintings on panel painting from the 16th century. These are original works of Hernando de los Llanos, a painter who was a disciple of Leonardo da Vinci. Another work worthy of mentioning is the oil on canvas Curación de Tobias (the healing of Tobias), made by Rafael Tegeo from Caravaca, who was a personal painter of Queen Isabel II and one of the best Spanish neoclassical portraitist from the 19th century.

In the metalwork section we can find the artwork Custiodia-Ostensorio de la Cruz (The Custody-Hostensory of the Cross) from the beginning of the 16th century; the artwork Portacruz de los Baños, a present from Luis Fajardo, the second Marquis of Velez; and the silver gilt box, donated towards the end of the 14th century by the master of the Order of Santiago, Lorenzo Suárez de Figueroa.

Standing as an important piece in the museum, La Casulla de Chirinos, a Muslim tiraz adapted to the shape of liturgical ornament, is believed to have been carried by priest Chirinos at the time of the miraculous apparition of the Cross.