Santa Fe Museums and Culture

An integral destination in your cultural explorations of Santa Fe will be Museum Hill, a short drive or shuttle ride from Santa Fe’s downtown Plaza. Here you’ll find four distinct museums that beautifully chronicle the last 400 years in Santa Fe’s history from different perspectives.  Located on this hilltop overlooking Santa Fe, The Museum of Spanish Colonial Art is housed in a building that is itself an important expression of this living tradition, having been designed as a residence in 1930 by John Gaw Meem, a leading figure in the development of New Mexico’s Spanish Colonial/Pueblo Revival architecture.

A contemporary 'bulto' sculpture depicting the Catholic Church's turning its back on social issues.

Unique in their global range and their representation of daily life in the colonial world, the 3,000 objects in its collections include devotional and decorative works and utilitarian artifacts, representing an artistic heritage of five centuries and four continents, including works by present-day Hispano artists of New Mexico.  You’ll discover beautiful old-world religious paintings on wood, called retablos and many bultos, freestanding religious sculptures, along with colonial furniture and textiles. The vast array of personal adornment objects such as crucifixes and rosaries, necklaces and fanciful hair combs really puts a human touch on the museum, making it feel like you’re walking through someone’s home. It’s thrilling to fantasize about the vast global commerce that forged what is today modern New Mexico, with many of these objects originating in Spain, Argentina and Brazil, even the Caribbean, China and Morocco.

Bronze sculpture of native dancer atop Museum Hill

The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, also on Museum Hill, focuses on the wide cultural spectrum of the indigenous peoples who have inhabited these lands for many thousands of years. The mission of the museum and its Laboratory of Anthropology is to “inspire appreciation for and knowledge of the diverse native arts, histories, languages, and cultures of the Greater Southwest.” An emotional and fascinating core exhibition, is Here, Now, and Always, based on eight years of collaboration among Native American elders, artists, scholars, teachers and writers. This multi-media journey has you explore vast regions of the American Southwest and the many tribes and cultures that continue to call this land home. Voices of fifty Native Americans guide visitors through the Southwest’s indigenous communities and their challenging landscapes, weaving a story that begins in a time, “before words, before mountains, before rivers, before people.” More than 1,300 artifacts from the Museum’s collections are displayed, accompanied by poetry, story, song and scholarly discussion.  Also at The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture is The Buchsbaum Gallery of Southwestern Pottery with nearly 300 vessels on long-term display, ranging in age from the inception of pottery making in the Southwest, up to the present. Case after case of such beautifully handmade works, so tastefully presented, continued to fill the mind and soul with great appreciation for these native cultures.

Also at Museum Hill are several other prominent museums, the Museum of International Folk Art and the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian. Clearly, a comprehensive visit to Museum Hill is not possible in one day alone. Consider purchasing the New Mexico Culture Pass, and schedule your visits over several days. While there are numerous fine museums and monuments worth visiting in Santa Fe, you’ll definitely want to tour the Palace of the Governors, the oldest continuously used public building in the United States and its adjacent, New Mexico History Museum, which just opened last year.

One of the best ways to experience Santa Fe’s history is through the culture of today. There are many cultural ‘Fiestas’ and ‘Markets’ that are hugely popular with locals, and represent the vibrancy of Santa Fe’s contemporary spirit.  In July there is the Spanish Market where generational New Mexico and Southwest Spanish artists set up booths in the Plaza to show and sell their craftwork. Also in July, is the highly successful International Folk Art Market.  Artists from all over the world ply their goods and craftwork at this greatly attended two-day event. In August there is the Indian Market, the largest of its kind in the world.  Native Americans from all over North America assemble in and around the Plaza to show and sell their craftwork, while buyers from all over the world filter into Santa Fe at this time to add to or start their collections.

Fiesta, an annual celebration in September by the Spanish community commemorating the conquest of Santa Fe.  ’La Conquistadora,’ now known as ‘Our Lady of Peace,’ a statue of the Virgin Mary, is paraded through downtown Santa Fe from the Basilica Cathedral of St. Francis to the Rosario Chapel, where a nine-day novena is prayed, and then she is returned.  The statue can also be seen in her own sanctuary regularly at the Basilica.  She was made in the 1330’s in Spain, traveled to Mexico and brought up to the New Spain territory by the early Spanish.” Jonathan also noted that in true Santa Fe quirky fashion, another symbolic figure has entered the Fiesta scene. “Since the 1920’s, Zozobra has become a Santa Fe tradition and pagan ritual.  It’s the symbolic burning of old man gloom, a 50-foot high puppet surrounded by much ceremony.  Put your woes, worries or problems on a piece of paper and have it burned with Zozobra. Although not originally associated with Fiesta, it’s been incorporated as a part of Fiesta and remains an iconic figure in Santa Fe culture.”

A native dancer performing in Santa Fe's downtown Plaza.

References to Santa Fe’s 400^th anniversary are found throughout the city. And while Santa Feans are proud their home is the oldest capital city in the United States, what they are most proud of is that their history is alive, and thriving. The Anglo, Native and Hispanic cultures have successfully forged a unique culture, as committed to the future, as they are respectful of the past. From signature styles of dress, to iconic architecture and a thriving arts community, Santa Fe is as much a city of the future, as it is the past. While the old paradigm of conquest, conversion and assimilation on which this city was built, still plays out around our world, in some form or another, the Santa Fe of today has shown me that a new paradigm is possible, one of inclusion, acceptance, creation, and a lot of fun.