Valladolid has several museums, in addition to the amazing Museo de Escultura. Before I left, I went ahead and checked out the Museo de Colón, a museum dedicated to Christopher Columbus.
In the states, there's a growing movement to recognize the genocide and slavery that Columbus wreaked upon the Americas with his 'discovery' (Let's not forget that loads of other groups had found the Americas long before him--I highly recommend the book 1491, if you're curious about that time period). In Spain, though, Columbus is still pretty venerated. There's a statue or plaza or street dedicated to him in just about every city in Spain (especially the ones that he visited or lived in, which is just about all of them, because he was following the itinerant court of Isabel and Ferdinand in search of funds).
After his 4th visit to the Americas, Columbus returned to Spain pretty disgraced. His title of Governor of the West Indies was removed by the Spanish Crown, due to his tyranny as governor, and he was denied the profits that he had originally been promised as a result. He died in Valladolid in 1506 after a rather lengthy illness.
The Museo de Colón is kind of dedicated to this last portion of his life. It's got some cool exhibits (that I couldn't take photos of), and gives a really good history of the technological, economic and political trends in Portugal and Spain that led to Columbus' voyages. It also has a nice exhibit dedicated to the tribes that he found and their way of life, and the mestizaje (racial mixing) that happened in Latin America as a result of the Spanish conquest.
The most memorable part of the exhibit for me was a video at the end, focused on Columbus' illness and last days in Valladolid. It was rather gruesome.
After his 4th visit to the Americas, Columbus returned to Spain pretty disgraced. His title of Governor of the West Indies was removed by the Spanish Crown, due to his tyranny as governor, and he was denied the profits that he had originally been promised as a result. He died in Valladolid in 1506 after a rather lengthy illness.
The Museo de Colón is kind of dedicated to this last portion of his life. It's got some cool exhibits (that I couldn't take photos of), and gives a really good history of the technological, economic and political trends in Portugal and Spain that led to Columbus' voyages. It also has a nice exhibit dedicated to the tribes that he found and their way of life, and the mestizaje (racial mixing) that happened in Latin America as a result of the Spanish conquest.
The most memorable part of the exhibit for me was a video at the end, focused on Columbus' illness and last days in Valladolid. It was rather gruesome.
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