PRESENTATION
Museo de las Alhajas en la Vía de la Plata (Museum of Jewellery in the Silver Way)
The Museum of Jewellery in the Silver Way, opened in 2011, is located in the Casa de Doña Josefina, a
modernist building constructed at the beginning of the 20th century.
It is a tribute to folk art, to the people’s feeling, our traditions
from the Old Kingdom of Leon in the Silver Way. This tribute is done
through the work of the authors of the past: the great jewellers of the
16th century and the best embroiderers of the 19th century.
It contains perhaps the best collection of traditional civil
jewellery in Spain, an art almost lost because almost all the pieces
that constituted it have disappeared over the centuries.
The Museum consists of seven rooms organised by ages and type of
exhibits:
The childhood room (Room I)
shows the care and protection offered to the newborn through amulets
and very colourful clothes constantly intermingled. Mortality during
the first weeks of life required a special care.
The youth room (Room II)
shows clothing and jewellery worn by the youth to highlight the beauty
and attract attention at the fairs and festivals.
Adults (Room III) wore more
baroque costumes overloaded with ornaments, beads, silks embroideries,
etc. Once the best outfits had made for the wedding and post wedding
reception, they were also worn at the great festivals.
The jewellery rooms (Rooms
IV to VII) represent a journey through the different types of
traditional jewellery of Leon and the Silver Way.
Our collection of medallions (‘patenas’ in Spanish) used in clothing
is the most complete of existing ones, although we can’t show all of
them at the same time. The coral taken from the Mediterranean until the
19th century, Asturian jet and silver are the most valuable materials
for our ancestors among all the jewels used with the traditional
costume.
The best necklaces were integrated in festive clothing.
The ‘collarada’ (a very big necklace) is formed using the boyfriend’s gifts and pieces inherited from the girlfriend’s family, as we can see represented in the last room of jewellery.