User:Maitiu1998/Quiñones de León Museum

The Municipal Museum of Vigo "Quiñones de León" (as its official name and, in Galician, Museo da Cidade "Quiñones de León") known as Museo Quiñones de León, is a museum in Vigo. It contains one of the best permanent collections of Galician painting, as well as an interesting archaeological section. It is located in the Castrelos manor, one of the most architecturally outstanding manors in Galicia, a building whose origin is the old manor de Lavandeira, built in 1670, years after the foundation of Captain Juan Tavares in 1665. It is surrounded by gardens with French and English influences. The museum was inaugurated on 22 July, 1937.

The ground floor conserves the setting of the former residence of the marquesses who donated the manor house with period furniture and decoration and the permanent exhibition of European painting from the 17th and 18th centuries bequeathed by Policarpo Sanz. The collection includes some important pieces of classical Italian, Dutch, Flemish, Spanish and French painting from the 15th to 19th centuries from the legacy of Policarpo Sanz.

The Manor
Between 1678 and 1918, Castrelos Park and its manor belonged to the Gago de Mendoza Oca Sarmiento y Montenegro family, from Antonio Feliz Tavarés Ozores y Sotomayor to Fernando Quiñones de León y Elduayen, IX Marquess of Valladares and VII Marquess of Mos. Married to Marianne Wythe, he died without children at the age of 34, and left as his heir his father, Fernando Quiñones de León y Francisco-Martín, Marquess of San Carlos III, Marquess of Alcedo I, Grandee of Spain first class and 8th Marquess of Montevirgen in the Two Sicilies. The latter, having no grandchildren, donated the park and the palace to the Vigo City Council.

The gardens
Outside, the transformation of the back garden of the manor at the end of the 19th century, apparently with the Portuguese firm Jacintho de Mattos de Oporto, offers five hectares with the category of historic garden and a botanical route of high aesthetic value. It is divided into five sectors: entrance, upper rose garden, French garden, English garden and woodland.

Facing south, the contrast between the different garden concepts. At the foot of the windows, the rationalist: symmetrical, stable and proportionate, with plant sculpture standing out. In the lower part, the English Romantic: subjective style, unexpected paths, free-growing species and elements taken from Orientalism such as scaled pavilions. The promenade with a double row of camellias called Paseo de Antonio Odriozola in honour of a scholar of this genus stands out. It leads to the nursery and tennis court, which was a pioneer in the introduction of this sport in Galicia when English sailors used to anchor in the estuary. In addition, in this area we find in the forest a line of eucalyptus trees planted in 1872 and an original dovecote, where a controlled colony of Zurita pigeons breeds.

It was declared a Historic Garden and an Asset of Cultural Interest in 1955 and has a route signposted in Braille.

The museum's collection
The baroque manor includes archaeological rooms and a collection of Galician paintings.

Painting
The Museo Municipal Quiñones de León shares its collections with the Francisco Fernández del Riego Art Gallery (in the Casa de Arias Taboada), as both are owned by the municipality.


 * Authors


 * From Policarpo Sanz's legacy: Banzo, Aníbal Carracci, Abraham van Cuylenborch, Francisco Detroy, Karel Dujardin.


 * In the Museo del Prado's deposit: Francisco Antolínez y Sarabia, Agostino Carracci, Francisco Collantes, Antonio Allegri da Correggio.


 * In the Museo de Arte Moderno's deposit: Leonardo Alenza y Nieto, Aureliano de Beruete.




 * From other sources: Manuel Abelenda Zapata, Manuel Aramburu Núñez, Serafín Avendaño, Abelardo Bustamante, Manuel Colmeiro Guimarás, Felipe Criado Martín, María Antonia Dans, José Luis de Dios, Isaac Díaz Pardo, Antonio Fernández Gómez,

Awards y acknowledgments
In 2012, the entire Vigo City Council unanimously decided to award the museum the Gold Medal of Vigo, in recognition of its contribution to the cultural development of Vigo and its metropolitan area.