Feb 2, 2923: Soumaya Museum, Mexico city

we had been to this museum on our previous visit and had LOVED it. The ivory collection is huge and exquisite and we especially wanted to see it again. Surpisingly it's not there anymore. But we enjoyed this visit too.

The earlier visit is here:

https://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2021/10/mexico-day-5-museo-soumaya.html

The Museo Soumaya has a collection of over 66,000 pieces of art. The majority of the art consists of European works from the 15th to the 20th centuries. It also holds Mexican art, religious relics, and historical documents and coins. The museum contains the world's largest collection of pre-Hispanic and colonial era coins.

It is a private museum and a non-profit cultural institution, It's named after the founder's wife As of February 2023, Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranked him as the 10th-richest person in the world with a net worth of $86 billion making him the richest person in Latin America.

Rodin's thinker

Pieta

David

only piece of ivory

SILLAR VOLCANIC ASH CARVING

TOP FLOOR STATUE HALL... Lots of Rodin collection

Rodin's Thinker

The museum holds the largest collection of casts of sculptures by Auguste Rodin outside France, and the world's largest private collection of his art. Slim owns a total of 380 casts and works of art by Rodin. His late wife, whom he credits with teaching him much of what he knows about art, was an admirer of Rodin's work. In addition to Rodin, some notable European artists whose work is displayed include Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso, the circle of Leonardo da Vinci, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Joan Miró, Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, El Greco, Camille Claudel, and Tintoretto

Rodin's KISS

AMAZING MOSAIC

The mosaic below is AMAZING. On one side it shows a river scene with parents bathing their kids, the other side is the same scene from the other side of the river

VINTAGE MACHINES

Gates of Hell, Rodin

Angel of Independence

The Angel of Independence, most commonly known by the shortened name El Ángel and officially known as Monumento a la Independencia ("Monument to Independence"), is a victory column on a roundabout on the major thoroughfare of Paseo de la Reforma in downtown Mexico City.

Our hotel is just opposie, so we walked over.

El Ángel was built in 1910 to commemorate the centennial of the beginning of Mexico's War of Independence. In later years it was made into a mausoleum for the most important heroes of that war. It is one of the most recognizable landmarks in Mexico City, and it has become a focal point for both celebration and protest. It resembles the July Column in Paris, the Berlin Victory Column in Berlin and Columbus Monument in New York City.

The base of the column is quadrangular with each vertex featuring a bronze sculpture symbolizing law, war, justice and peace. Originally, nine steps led to the base, but due to the sinking of the ground, an ongoing problem in Mexico City, fourteen more steps have been added.

On the main face of the base facing downtown Mexico City, an inscription reads La Nación a los Héroes de la Independencia ("The Nation to the Heroes of Independence"). In front of this inscription is a bronze statue of a giant, laureled lion that guides a child, which symbolizes, "the Mexican people, strong during war and docile during peace."

Next to the column is a group of marble statues of some of the heroes of the War of Independence.

The column is 36 metres (118 ft) high. The structure is made of steel covered with quarried stone decorated with garlands, palms and rings with the names of Independence figures. Inside the column is a two-hundred step staircase that leads to a viewpoint above the capital. The Corinthian-style capital is adorned by four eagles with extended wings from the Mexican coat of arms used at the time.

Crowning the column is a 6.7 metres (22 ft) statue of Nike, the Greek goddess of Victory. Like other similar victory columns around the world, it is made of bronze covered with 24k gold (restored in 2006), and weighs seven tons. In her right hand the Angel, as it is commonly known, holds a laurel crown symbolically above both Miguel Hidalgo's head and the nation below, symbolizing Victory, while in her left she holds a broken chain, symbolizing Freedom.