
Casa Museo Joaquín López Antay
Honorer l'héritage familial et célébrer le patrimoine d'Ayacucho
by Louise Deglin
Retablos represent the culture, traditions and daily activities in wooden boxes painted with vibrant colors in the Ayacucho region of central Peru. In 1942, Joaquín López Antay created the first Ayacucho retablo, transforming the Cajón de San Marcos, whose theme was religious and which was used to bless activities, into a unique piece that materializes the culture of its community.
Psychologue de formation, Patricia Mendoza López ne s'attendait pas à devenir la directrice d'un musée. Tout a commencé quand, en 2015, elle a réalisé à quel point le travail de son arrière-grand-père était peu valorisé : "Il y avait un abandon très fort de l'histoire de mon arrière-grand-père". Le seul descendant d'Antay à poursuivre la tradition du retablo, son petit-fils Alfredo López Morales, avait peu de soutien familial pour son art, et la seule institution qui exposait les retablos de son arrière-grand-père dans la ville d'Ayacucho avait des pièces cassées et poussiéreuses dans ses vitrines.


Patricia then decided to take the matter into her own hands—and into her mother’s house. The young psychologist was inspired by house-museums she had visited in Chile, such as that of Pablo Neruda, to turn her family home into a place for people to be transported into Antay’s art and philosophy. She put her career in psychology aside and gave the house-museum her all.
The endeavor was however far from straightforward, given that neither Patricia nor her relatives were trained in cultural management. While the house-museum is widely successful among visitors today (4.5 stars on TripAdvisor and a feature in Lonely Planet), it is not financially sustainable yet.
"we do not want to forget our reason for being: a space for the promotion of art, the sharing of Andean teachings and our traditions"
The harsh reality is that the Casa Museo Joaquín López Antay needs money to survive and thrive. To that end this, Patricia is receiving training while developing new and exciting projects for the museum, such as as a small retablo style accommodation and soon a coffee shop with her mother’s baked goods and a store with locally made artworks with her great-grandfather’s motifs, from ceramics to textiles. A way to integrate her maternal and local heritage within the larger scope of the museum.
But the goal of the Casa Museo Joaquín López Antay is much more than being a lucrative business: Patricia wants to celebrate the figure of an artist who rose to fame and proved that he could be one of the greatest, despite being illiterate and only speaking Quechua (the indigenous language in Ayacucho). She underscores the fact that “we do not want to forget our reason for being: a space for the promotion of art, the sharing of Andean teachings and our traditions.” In Antay’s honor, Patricia wishes to give back to the community in several ways. First, by developing a guided visit in Quechua of the house-museum, in order to make everyone feel included. Then, by organizing arts and crafts live sessions throughout the Ayacucho region that will be accessible to children, in particular those living in remote areas who might not be able to come and visit the house-museum. And finally, by attending fairs abroad, to share the traditions of Ayacucho with more people.



More Information
Images (© Casa Museo Joaquín López Antay):
- Interior of the Casa Museo Joaquín López Antay
- Facade of the Casa Museo Joaquín López Antay
- Retablo figures
- Interior of the Casa Museo Joaquín López Antay and retablo
- Alfredo López Morales teaches a workshop at the Casa Museo Joaquín López Antay
Reopening on October 19, 2021
+51 9566 95466
patricia.mendoza.lopez@gmail.com