Casa Museo Luis Alberto Acuna - an eclectic historical jewel in Villa de Leyva,Colombia

Time seems to have stopped in Villa de Leyva. I walk through cobbled lanes flanked by whitewashed colonial buildings, to arrive at the vast Plaza Mayor.The air smells of intellectual, historic, creative and cultural richness in Villa, a town that retains traces of its colonial past in its architecture. A woman with shiny black flowing hair, and a man wearing a waistcoat are sitting on one of the large stone benches right opposite the entrance of the Casa Museo LuisAlberto Acuna. They are chatting and stroking the playful black dog that scatters through the heavy wooden doors which frame the entrance of the Museum.

La Bachue’ sculpture by L.A. Acuña. In Chibcha mitology, Bachuè was the Mother of all humankind.

I enter, and I breathe in the air of a place I once read of on university texts books. The woman I saw outside stroking the dog, approaches me and we strike a cordial conversation.

I know this visit is going to be special, yet I do not anticipate the richness of the eclectic beauty that awaits me within the house, the patio and the garden.

The Foundation Casa Museo Luis Alberto Acuna was created by the artist/owner/collector himself, for the purpose of preserving some of his pictorial works, his sculptures, his murals, as well as displaying antiques and some collectables acquired whilst travelling to Europe, along with gifts from friends and acquaintances. The museum opened its doors in 1979, when Luis Alberto Acuna was still alive and still producing works of art.

Video - The Museum Acuña gardens with sculptures and frescos by Luis Alberto Acuña

Master painter and sculptor, Luis Alberto Acuna was born in Suaita Santander on May 12, 1904 and since his under-graduate times, he was recognised for his striking talents in the arts. Acuna travelled to Europe where the influence of his favourite painter Anselm Feurbach (1829-1880), a life and period of studies spent in Paris, a sojourn in Germany and receiving constructive criticism from Pablo Picasso himself, shaped Acura’s unique style and led to his entry into the Bachué Movement. Indeed, Picasso had told Acuna to strip his work from any European influence it had acquired, and return to its Colombian origin to fully express his art.

The artists of the Bachué generation drew up an ideological program within the role that Art had in focusing on the characteristic features of Colombian identity, in accordance to its indigenous roots, pre-Columbian past, a melancholy for mysticism, traditions and ancestral stories told by old, wrinkly characters who belonged to the remote mountains depicted in their paintings. An inquisitive sentiment, a bit of magic and a dash of madness drove the quest of these artists towards the definition of Nation, during a period in which Colombia was traversing profound uncertainty, ambiguity, social necessities and political “formulas”. Through their art work, the Bachué Movement created the idea of a Colombian nation opposite to the Spanish hegemonic social, political, cultural and artistic fibre.

The Legend of La Bachué - as the mythological female figure with naked breasts within indigenous Muisca cosmogony - represents the creation of Earth and humankind through being the Mother of humanity.

According to the Muisca religion, La Bachué (in Chibcha language: "the one with the naked breast") is a mother goddess who raised from the waters of the Iguaque Lake holding a baby in her arms. The baby grew, became her husband and together they populated the Earth. In their later life, they both disappeared into the lake in the shape of two snakes.

Nowadays, in Colombia, there is still a small population of the Muisca Native American tribe who originally inspired the El Dorado Myth - a lost city of gold, supposedly located in the rainforests and mountainous areas of South America, which became the obsessive and fruitless pursue of many Spanish conquistadores.

The goddess Bachué stands at the core of the creation of the artistic Bachué Movement, which dates between 1922 and 1934.

The Animal Sculptures by L.A. Acuña, part of the natural and geological collection of the Museum Acuña

Walking through the rooms, the patio and the garden of the Casa Museo Acuna, one can appreciate this journey through history from paleontology to indigenous art; from paintings on wood and drawings to tapestry; furniture, cabinets of curiosities from the Romantic and turn of the century period, a Stradivarius, religious art, books, masks and murals.

Striking sculptures dot the garden in the shape of gigantic snakes, dinosaurs and turtles. Flowers and plants in bloom give a delicate touch to, and pervade with a fragrant scent the central area of the patio dedicated to this magical garden. The walls of the inner courtyard are filled with murals Acuna painted with frescos technique, depicting motifs of flora and fauna from the Valley of Saquenzipa during the period of creation according to the Native Chibcha Mythology. Gods, divine Deities, high priests, wise men and guardians of traditions, landscapes of lakes and valleys, all contribute to this celebration of history, beauty, narration and love for harmonious aesthetics.

Between Hispanic and Indigenous. Stradivarius Violin, Christian Religious Objects within the Acuña eclectic collection

I feel exhilarated and full of joy whilst walking through all this beauty. Suddenly, all my five senses are enveloped in it, including my sense of smell when an appetising plate full of a generous portion of colourful vegetables and rice with two big succulent plantains to the side, passes me by. The smell and the sight of this freshly prepared food is a pleasant addition to my visit, as I get to know that the Acuna family still lives on the second floor of the Casa Museo. Lunch time and the temporary one hour closure are approaching, hence people walking out from a backroom with a sign “private” on the door, holding a plateful of delicious home cooked food.

The  woman with shiny black flowing hair appears to the side of the patio. I approach her to compliment the Museum and to ask if I could stay sitting in the patio to write an article about this privilege I have just lived through. Openness and kindness spark from her eyes, and in conversation I ask if I could record an interview with her. It is agreed, and The Flavoured Podcast  - broadcast on www.flavoured.it/podcast website and on various podcast platforms including Spotify - now holds an episode dedicated to the personal account by Maria Vittoria of the love and passion Acuna put into the creation of this Casa Museo that still breathes and reflects his wishes. Listen to the Podcast for more insights on the Museum and its relationship with the indigenous culture.

Not to be missed if visiting Colombia!

Museo Luis Alberto Acuña,

Plaza Mayor, Villa de Leyva,

Boyacá, Colombia