28 January 2009

Global Seminars & Invited Speaker Series

CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS IN NAVARRA

The collections of the Ethnological Museum of Navarre Julio Caro Baroja

Ms. Susana Irigaray Soto
Head of the Museum Section
General Administration of Culture of the Government of Navarre

The creation of an ethnographic museum in Navarre is an old project , which has been frustrated several times by different circumstances. However, despite its uncertain beginnings, the future institution began to collect objects of ethnographic interest in the 1960s and 1970s, thanks to the impetus director of Julio Caro Baroja, building up an initial collection, mainly of agricultural implements from Vera de Bidasoa, which was kept for a long time in the School of Experts in Villava.

After these first steps, the most serious attempt to create an Ethnological Museum of Navarre was made in 1975, the year in which the Provincial Council of Navarre agreed to create it in the conference room de Armas of the Citadel of Pamplona, at that time in the process of being restored. The lack of consensus on the definitive location of this institution prevented the project from becoming a reality and the materials collected by Julio Caro Baroja were stored in the School of Experts in Villava.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the Provincial Council acquired some unique pieces, such as the animal-drawn carpentry workshop in Azuelo and other craft workshops, located thanks to the work of Mr. Javier Beúnza Arboniés, then director of the Cultural Centre of Sangüesa, as commissioner.

From 1992 onwards, the General Administration de Cultura-Institución Príncipe de Viana promoted a policy of attention to ethnographic heritage, with acquisitions and interesting donations. The most important collection received is made up of more than 1,900 pieces gathered by the aforementioned Javier Beúnza Arboniés, kept in the premises of the Prince of Viana's palace in Sangüesa. 

After this long initial stage, the Ethnological Museum of Navarre was finally created in 1994, with its headquarters in the monastery of Santa María la Real de Irache (Ayegui), to which it was agreed in 1995 to give the name of "Julio Caro Baroja", in honour of one of its greatest promoters, apart from being a great researcher of everything related to our Community. However, the museological project , already defined in 1997, was never executed, as in 2005 the Government of Navarre agreed to cede the monastery to the State for the construction of a new Parador Nacional, and so the collection was transferred in 2007 to a storeroom provisional in Estella, where it is currently located, pending the final destination of this institution.

Throughout its history, the Ethnological Museum has maintained a policy of enriching its collection by purchasing and receiving donations and deposits of ethnographic objects from individuals and institutions. The museum's inventory currently consists of 13,650 pieces, which this discussion paper will attempt to show the richness, variety and cultural significance of the goods held by the museum and which, we hope, will not take long to be appreciated by Navarrese society in a venue open to the public.
 

Cartons for carrying firewood
 

The most notable characteristic of the Julio Caro Baroja Museum's collections is their enormous variety in all aspects: subject raw materials, morphology, size, function, activity, state of conservation, age, origin, etc. To summarise as far as possible, we can group the most important collections of the Museum into the following thematic blocks: craft workshops; furniture and household goods; agricultural machinery and tools; objects related to the care and control of animals; large-scale machinery and various tools for processing products; popular pottery from Navarre; popular religiosity, including the collection of more than 150 discoid stelae; children's world and schools; textiles and clothing; and transport systems.
 

Chair or chair made in Aezkoa

Iturmendi Kutxa

framework or nougat press

Pedarra or Pyrenean pitcher from Lumbier
 

Images from the collections of the Ethnological Museum of Navarre Julio Caro Baroja