Time is of the essence, given that I was only in Guadalajara for a month. One of the things on my to-do list was to visit some of the city’s much-praised museums. So when the editor of this newspaper informed me that some museums are free to visit on a Tuesday, we decided that I would take on the “Guadalajara museum challenge.”
The idea was simple. I would visit five “free” museums in five hours, moving quickly but allowing enough time to cover each museum properly and make a few snap judgements on their level of interest to share with our readers. Clearly, this was always going to result in a biased and not particularly well-researched commentary. But our aim was modest: to pick some highlights and create a trail that fellow time-poor tourists can follow in the coming months. This is the journey.
After filling the tank with morning coffee, I set out at the leisurely time of 1 p.m. from my house near Parque Revolución. Heading down Av. Juárez towards the center of Guadalajara, I took a left down Mariano Barcena then a right onto Calle Independencia where I promptly arrived at my first stop: the Museo de la Ciudad or city museum. Immediately, the concept of my challenge was diluted slightly when the attendant informed me that the museum wasn’t free on Tuesdays, rather Sundays, I would have to pay 20 pesos to enter. Reluctantly I handed over the cash, but vowed not to part with another peso for the rest of the journey.
Walking into the museum’s courtyard, I noticed that the explanations on the walls were in English as well as Spanish. They were part of a temporary exhibition, “El Movimiento Moderno,” about how Guadalajara was transformed during the second half of the 20th century by modernist forms of art, architecture and engineering. Large photos of the new urban landscape have been transferred onto the walls on the first floor, such as the Glorieta de La Minerva monument, commissioned by the architect Julio de la Peña.
A museum attendant called Jose was particularly helpful, explaining that many of the key figures in Guadalajara’s recent makeover had passed through the city’s School of Architecture, which opened in 1948. Several of these visionaries came from Europe, including Germany, Italy and Austria.
I was about to be whisked off to the museum’s special library collection by another attendant, but it was time to move on.
Stepping out of the Museo de la Ciudad, I took a left down Calle Independencia and followed it for five minutes as far as the Rotunda of Illustrious Citizens. On the far side of the Rotunda, I veered left onto Liceo and within a couple of minutes I was standing outside my second stop: La Casa Museo López Portillo, a museum housing a collection of furniture. This was short visit to the former residence of various members of the López Portillo family, including the governor of Jalisco Jesús López Portillo y Serrano, and the writer José López Portillo. Perhaps I arrived during a quiet spell, but it appeared to be obligatory that one of the guides accompany you around the museum, with tours available in English and Spanish.
Geraldo, my guide, explained that the museum was sold to the government in the early 1980s by the father of the former Mexican president José López Portillo. It was then filled with fancy furniture provided by donors, mainly in Europe, dating back to the 18th century. It’s stating the obvious to say that if dusty old furniture bores you then you should definitely skip this museum. Fortunately, I found it fascinating. An item that grabbed my attention was a giant antique Italian china hutch. With its dark wood and ornate style, it resembled a grand old organ looming over the mock dining room.
If mobility is something that would concern you on a museum tour, then I can tell you that the exhibits in the Casa Museo López Portillo are all on the ground floor. In one of the rooms at the back of the house was an exhibit about chocolate, open until January, including decorated tins and old U.S. confectioner’s journals. I could easily have spent longer staring at all that old chocolate paraphernalia, but it was making me hungry and it was time to move on to my third stop, the one I have the strongest personal interest with, the Museo del Periodismo y las Artes Graficas, a museum about journalism and graphic arts. To get there I headed left after exiting the furniture museum, then took the first left onto Calle San Felipe followed by next right onto Fray Antonio Alcalde.
On the ground floor there is a permanent collection (all descriptions in Spanish) about the technologies that brought about mass communication in the 19th and 20th centuries. As you enter the exhibit you get a stark view of a model man typing on a Linotype, the line-casting machine that transformed the newspaper publishing industry with its printing efficiency. On the wall behind the machine is a quote attributed to Lenin about how he feared the press more than he feared an army. Also worth checking out in the permanent collection, is the mock TV studio, which includes information about the birth of TV in Mexico and how hosting the 1968 Olympic games and 1970 FIFA World Cup had ushered in new camera and broadcast technologies.
Downstairs at the journalism museum there was a temporary collection of natural art created by the Puerto Vallarta-born artist Ireri Topete. The intriguing paintings are supposed to reflect the energy and movement of natural phenomena such as hurricanes. A sign explained that Topete uses science to mimic natural processes in her work, but there was frustratingly little information about how she actually achieved this.
The highlight of this museum for me was waiting upstairs — a 35-year retrospective of the photographer José Hernández Claire. On the wall before you enter the first gallery was an explanation (in Spanish) about how Hernández Claire is something of a purist who captures images of individual and social situations, usually in black and white without tampering with the photos in post-production. I won’t try to list all the themes and subjects in this extensive temporary collection but I’lll just mention a couple that stood out for me. The first was a collection of images of John Lennon fans showing their support for the musician in the hours after his assassination in New York in 1980. The timing and the intimacy of the pictures reveals the shock and sadness in the eyes of the fans who had not yet come to terms with what had occurred. The other stand out collection documents the story of Mexicans attempting to cross the U.S. border. One powerful image shows a woman being lifted onto a carriage as a train pulls away.
I could have spent longer in the photo exhibition, but it was already almost 4 p.m. and I still had two museums to visit. Luckily the next stop was just two minutes away. Unfortunately, for me, it turned out to be the least interesting museum of my tour.
To get to el Museo de las Artes Populares de la Ciudad de Guadalajara. I just took a right out of the museum, then crossed the road taking the first left onto Calle San Felipe, following that for a block and a half until I arrived at my destination on the right hand side. This relatively small two-floor museum is densely packed with all manner of items from popular culture in Guadalajara over the past few centuries, with everything from plates and decorated boxes to instruments and furniture. The problem for me is that it all feels a bit of a hotchpotch, not helped by the lack of explanations of the items. If you do pay the museum a visit, I would make a beeline for the colorful women’s clothing on the top floor where you’ll find some stunning dresses in Tapatia and Michoacana styles.
Perhaps my mild irritation with the popular arts museum was a sign that I was flagging slightly. But the end was now in sight, and the remaining museum was arguably the jewel in the crown - el Instituto Cultural Cabañas with its famed murals by the world famous Jalisco artist José Clemente Orozco, including one of his masterpieces “The Man of Fire.” The 10-minute walk was the longest commute of the tour. There were several slight variations on the route, but I opted to follow Calle Belen then Av. Hidalgo, which took me all the way down to the famous former orphange/hospital complex. On Tuesdays it was free to visit, but it would be worth paying the entrance fee if all you saw was the architecture of this UNESCO World Heritage site and the murals that adorn the walls and ceiling of the entrance. Again, there is a dearth of information explaining the murals, but as far as I could tell they were about the brutality of war and industrialization.
Venturing further into the Cabañas, I was surprised to find one of the courtyards full of inflatable globes. At first I thought they were being stored at the museum before being shipped out to local schools, but then I noticed a plaque that named the installation “way between worlds.” After speaking with museum staff I learned that it was one of several temporary exhibits installed last week that will run until February 2015. These exhibits are well-worth checking out. Particularly eye-catching was the room full of red lights with bizarre lampshades from colanders to plastic hands. Another exhibit features a series of cityscapes created using Mexican banknotes. The 100-peso note seemed to be a personal favorite of the artist, but in one image of a cruise-liner in a dock I’m sure I clocked a couple of 1,000-peso notes.
So that was it. As I left the Cabañas the clock read 5:30 p.m. I had completed the challenge with half an hour to spare, so I decided to take a victory lap and pop into the Jalisco Palacio de Gobierno on the way back to the center of Guadalajara, home to another couple of fine Orozco murals – including an imposing one of Mexican Independence hero Miguel Hidalgo on the main stairwell – and a small collection of paintings.
My editor later informed that I had missed one of downtown’s best museums, the Museo Regional de Guadalajara, home to a prehistoric mammoth, archaeological exhibits, colonial paintings and regular temporary displays. I had actually dropped in there but was informed that the 40-peso charge for adults was applicable on Tuesdays, so I gave it a miss. Maybe on my next visit.
I finished the day with a sit down and another cup of coffee. Given the breathless nature of this article you may well feel the urge to do the same before continuing with this newspaper.
1. Museo de la Ciudad, Calle Independencia 684. Monday—Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Adults 20 pesos, Sundays free.
2. Casa López Portillo, Liceo 177, corner San Felipe. Monday-Saturday 10 a.m.- 5 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m-3 p.m. Free.
3. Museo del Periodismo y las Artes Gráficas, Alcalde 225. Tuesday-Friday 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Adults 20 pesos. Tuesdays free.
4. Museo de las Artes Populares de Guadalajara, San Felipe 211. Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sunday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free.
5. Instituto Cultural Cabañas, Cabañas 8, Plaza Tapatía. Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sunday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Foreign visitors 70 pesos; Mexican nationals and foreign residents (with ID) 45 pesos, children 20 pesos. Tuesdays free.
6. Palacio de Gobierno de Jalisco, Ramón Corona 31, Plaza de Armas. Monday-Sunday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Free.
7. Museo Regional de Guadalajara, Liceo 60, corner of Hidalgo. Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Adults 40 pesos.