October 20-23, 2015: Salamanca has no shortage of magnificent, beautifully decorated, and historic buildings. But it has a lighter side, and I’m not referring to the 30,000 university students in residence. I’m thinking of the grotesques populating the capitals of the columns in the nunnery’s cloister, the car museum, and the Art Nouveau and Art Deco museum. In fact, it was the Art Nouveau museum that tipped the scales in favor of a visit to the city. Unfortunately, photographs weren’t allowed inside the museum, so I can only post pictures of the outside. The most notable external feature, the stained glass gallery running the full length of the south side, was beautiful on an autumn day, but it must turn that part of the building, which includes the cafe, into a furnace in the summer. There was more stained glass in the ceiling of the central hall, which probably also heated up under summer sun. The rooms round the hall, on both floors, contained a good collection of typical Art Nouveau glass and furniture, but also collections that seemed totally unrelated – a big room full of dolls, for instance. While no doubt a remarkable collection in its own right, and from the correct period, it was not what I expected. On the other hand, I was particularly pleased by a number of small chryselephantine sculptures from the Art Deco school. The elegant women, toes pointed, arms stretched just so, seemed poised to dance right off their plinths.
Cars, to me, are mostly a way of getting from A to B. Back when I drove Mazda sports coupes, I would have added “as fast as possible”, but since an accident in 2007 (thanks to an aged driver making a left turn when he should have waited) and a switch to a hybrid sedan, I have slowed down. So I was less interested in the technical details of the vehicles on display in the Automobile Museum, than in their historical resonances. Looking at the touring cars from the early years of the twentieth century, I could almost see the passengers, muffled up against the dust of the open (and probably unsealed) road. Luggage space was minimal in the early years, because, of course, you weren’t going very far. Or very fast, despite the message of the winged or feline hood ornaments. And then there were the American cars from the fifties and sixties, all hood and teeth. Today’s streamlined cars look rather boring in comparison, although no doubt much more efficient.
I nearly skipped the nunnery, formally the Convento de Los Duenos, which would have been a mistake. The convent, like many of the Spanish religious buildings I saw on this trip, had a two story cloister. But the decorations on the capitals of the columns were something else entirely. When I describe them as grotesque, I am using the word both in the technical sense, “decorative painting or sculpture with fantastic interweaving of human and animal forms”, and in the popular sense of distorted, bizarre and disturbing. I had thought a cloister was intended for peaceful meditation, but there was nothing peaceful about these carvings. They seemed to be intended, instead, to frighten. Could it be that the medieval church, with its fanatically distorted views of women, felt that the nuns, vowed to a religious life or not, needed to be constantly reminded of the terrors of hell.
Wonderful following you to many places I have never been.
Hi Fanny. Salamanca was definitely worth the detour, would be happy to go back.
Great post, Kathy! I haven’t visited Salamanca (yet), but I can see that it should certainly be on the list. I wasn’t familiar with the term “chryselephantine sculpture,” but after checking it our I realized I had certainly seen several. Many thanks for expanding my vocabulary. 🙂 Wishing you a very happy New Year. All the best, Terri
Confession: I had to look chryselephantine up too, lol. But they were very pretty. Although Spain is not my favorite country I really enjoyed Salamanca – and Pamplona and Barcelona. (I prefer Portugal, and there are night trains to Salamanca from Lisbon and Porto, but they get in at five in the morning.)
Happy New Year to you two too, looking forward to reading about your travels next year.
Whoops, I meant to say “checking it out.” Too much holiday eggnog! 🙂 We too love Portugal and Spain – hoping to return soon and we’ll put Salamanca and Pamplona on the list. Cheers, T
I am trying commenting from my computer rather than iPhone..so hope this works…I enjoyed reading your post and loved your photos.
Thanks! Glad you kept trying. Afraid I have no idea why it would not work from your iPhone!
I have spent only one day in Spain — while on a river cruise in Portugal — and that was in golden Salamanca. I too loved the Art Deco Museum and have a special fondness for the astronaut gargoyle on the cathedral. Thanks for your post; took me back to that happy, sunny day.