Magazines - Tribal Art Spring 2011

By Iván Cruz Cevallos, specialist in the art of Ecuador and scientific adviser for the Casa del Alabado, Quito.

Introduction
In April, 2010, a new cultural space for the preservation of Ecaudor’s patrimony opened in that country’s capital city. The Casa del Alabado – Museo de Arte Precolombino is situated in the historical center of Quito. It is in one of the oldest buildings in Ecuador and derives its name from an inscription over its entrance, which reads, “Alabado sea el Santissiomo Sacramento/Acabose esta porta a 1 de Julio 1671 anos” (“Blessed be the very saint/This portal was finished on July 1, 1671”).
In 2005, the decision was made to create a museum that would present the result of more than forty years of rigorous selection of pre-Columbian artworks that had resulted in Daniel and Carmen Klein’s Klein-Viteri Collection and the Mario Ribadeneira Collection, which now includes the Cruz-de Peron Collection. More than 500 objects in all materials employed in antiquity and deriving from all of the pre-Columbian cultures of what is now Ecuador have been selected for their aesthetic value to bring together three different sensibilities and three different ways of seeing the past.
The Casa del Alabado – Museo de Arte Precolombino was an entirely private project designed to familiarize Ecuadorians with their rich and ancient patrimony using a contemporary style of presentation.