The Museum of the Asturian People in Gijon is situated close to the Parador. We visited twice because there was just too much to take in at one time. Spain is very proud of its heritage which it remembers, teaches, and celebrates. In Asturias alone there are thirteen museums.
The Museum
It seems the building was created as a pavilion at Expo 92 in Seville and it was designed to be moved after the Exhibition.
Inside the Museum
There are three floors of exhibits showing everyday artifacts from a home, furniture, and clothing. I recognised the irons from my childhood, visiting relatives on a farm, and my parents used a mincing machine like the one below!
The climate in the Asturias is quitewet, so walking in fields and untarred roads would be tricky in ordinary shoes. Instead the Asturians use wooden clogs, Madrenas. And inside the clogs you wore a ‘slipper’, or soft shoe, like the little boy in the photograph (L) or as in the photograph bottom right.
The photography exhibition
The photography exhibition was in the Casa Valdes, one of the reconstructed buildings in the grounds of the museum, and it showed photographs from 1850-1965.
In the late 16th century the Asturians were forced to look for alternatives to wheat. It was a period of very low temperatures, and oddly they turned to maize. Apparently by the end of the 19th century it was the most imporant crop in the region. Even today, you can get the most delicious maize bread! (Finding a recipe on the internet is not easy – I will have to experiment.) There were lots of photographs of corn drying in the exhibition.
The outdoor museum
The idea here was to recreate the buildings in a typical Asturian town. So there is a peasant home, a grand home, horreos, barns, cider press, and I think a covered market and bowling alley – Asturias has a particular kind of game. But I may be wrong!
An horreo is a granary found in Galicia and norther Portugal, and it raised above the ground to keep out the rats and mice. They are long, rectangular buildings in the west, and square buildings in the Asturias.
Cider Press
The Asturians have always drunk cider, it seem! Personally, I don’t like it. We tried it during our first long trip to Spain when we visited a restaurant in Oviedo where the waiters poured it out from on high. Anyway, the museum had an old press, made with massive wooden beams.
Family home
The Casa Campesina is typical of peasant families who lived in central Asturias in the second ghalf of the 19th century. It is a little scarey, and shows how lucky we are today, and how much we take for granted.
Obviously the Museum in Gijon is a must-visit and we were lucky that it was on our doorstep.
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