Franz Mayer Museum facts for kids
Courtyard of the Franz Mayer Museum (on right) and one of the entrances of the Parish of La Santa Vera Cruz de San Juan de Dios Church.
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| Established | 1986 |
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| Location | Av Hidalgo 45. Centro Histórico 06300, México, D.F., México |
The Franz Mayer Museum (Spanish: Museo Franz Mayer) is in Mexico City. It opened in 1986. This museum holds the biggest collection of decorative arts in Latin America.
The collection was put together by Franz Mayer. He was a stockbroker and collected beautiful artworks, books, furniture, ceramics, and textiles for over fifty years. Many items are from Mexico, dating from the 15th to the 20th centuries. Some pieces also come from Europe and Asia. Many items are fine handcrafts, like textiles and Talavera pottery. These pieces are special because they often weren't saved in the past.
The museum is located in a historic building in Mexico City. It used to be the San Juan de Dios monastery and hospital. Besides showing Mayer's collection, the museum also buys new items, holds workshops, and has special exhibits. There's even a café in the garden courtyard.
Contents
About the Museum
The Franz Mayer Museum was created to keep and show the huge collection of art and objects gathered by Franz Mayer. He spent fifty years collecting these items. Before he passed away in 1975, Franz Mayer set up a special fund with the Bank of Mexico. This fund was called the Franz Mayer Cultural Trusteeship.
The museum finally opened in 1986, eleven years after Mayer's death. It was set up in an old monastery and hospital building. This building was given to the museum foundation.
What the Museum Does
The museum's main displays are based on Mayer's collection. However, museum researchers still look for new items to add. For example, they recently bought a silver skull from Guatemala.
Only about a quarter of the entire collection is on display at any time. The other pieces are often loaned to other museums. The museum plans to grow and open more locations in the future.
The museum studies old decorative arts. This helps them see how these old styles influence modern design. They work with modern artists who create ceramics and silver items. This allows these artists to study the museum's pieces. It also helps the museum show new designs.
The museum offers many activities for visitors. These include guided tours, classes, talks, and concerts. They also have workshops for children and special events for members. A popular spot is the café in the main courtyard, which has a lovely garden.
Special Exhibits
The museum often hosts temporary exhibits. These shows feature different artworks and collections. For example, one exhibit showed about seventy old phonographs from the early 1900s. These machines were restored by an engineer named Salvador Vélez García.
In 2011, the museum celebrated its 25th anniversary. For this event, they opened a special exhibit called “Susurros” (Whispers). This exhibit told the story of how the collection came to be. The museum's general director is Héctor Rivero Borrell.
The Museum Building
The museum is located in Plaza de la Santa Veracruz. It is right next to the Museo Nacional de la Estampa. The building itself has a long history. It was first built as a flour mill. Then, it became a hospital for about 400 years!
This hospital was started in 1582 by Dr. Pedro Lopez. He was the first doctor to graduate from the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico. The hospital helped people from all social groups in New Spain. It was known as the Hospital for the Helpless. The hospital's church was named after the Three Wise Men.
Different groups ran the hospital over the years. The Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God took over in 1604. The building we see today was mostly built during the 18th century. It has been changed and rebuilt many times since then. In 1620, the complex was rebuilt to include a church, hospital, and monastery.
The Brothers continued to run the hospital for two hundred years. This was despite a fire in 176 and an earthquake in 1800. After Mexico became independent in 1821, the Brothers had to leave. The building then became a school for a few years. Later, it became a hospital again under different names. It remained a hospital until the 1960s.
In the 1960s, the building was used to display handcrafts during the Olympic Games. It kept this function through the 1970s, but it was in bad shape. In the 1980s, the idea came up to turn it into a museum. The Franz Mayer Cultural Trusteeship was given the building. They worked with the Bank of Mexico to create the museum. The building was restored at this time. The Franz Mayer Museum opened to the public in 1986.
The museum uses parts of the old hospital. Three of the original rooms from the cloister have been restored. These include a dining hall, a storage room, and a chapel. They all look like they did in colonial times.
The Museum Collection
The museum's collection mostly comes from Franz Mayer himself. He spent fifty years gathering these items. It is the largest collection of decorative arts in Latin America. The museum has 9,500 art pieces, 1,400 ceramic pieces, and 10,000 books. Only about 28% of the collection can be shown at one time.
The collection includes many types of items. There is silverwork, ceramics, furniture, and textiles. There are also fine arts and decorations made from feathers, lacquer, ivory, shell, glass, and enamel. Most pieces are from the 16th to the 19th centuries. They come from different places and show many styles. Many pieces were used in everyday life but were made with great skill.
Some items come from Europe and Asia. But Mayer bought a very large number of pieces from Mexico City, Puebla, and Guanajuato. The textile collection is one of the most important in Mexico. It has about 260 pieces from the 15th to the 20th centuries. Many of Mayer's items were things that could easily disappear. This is because they were everyday items often not thought of as worth saving.
Furniture and Silver
The furniture collection is one of the richest in Mexico. It has 710 pieces from the 16th to the 20th centuries. Most are from Mexico's colonial period. There are also pieces from Europe and Asia.
The silver collection has almost 1,300 pieces. They date from the 15th to the 19th centuries. This collection is known as one of the most important in Mexico. The pieces show different techniques like repoussé (hammered relief), chiseling, and filigree (delicate wirework). Some pieces have precious stones or enamels. Many silver items are for Catholic church services. These include censers (for incense), chalices (cups), lamps, and crosses. But there are also non-religious items like cigarette cases, cutlery, and trays.
Textiles and Paintings
The textile collection is very diverse. It is one of the few collections in Mexico with so many important examples. Much of it has been added recently. But it started with Mayer collecting rebozos (shawls) and blankets from Saltillo. He also collected Flemish tapestries, shawls from Manila, and dresses.
Mexican textiles include those made during the colonial period. Some were made on traditional backstrap looms. Others were made on European pedal looms. There are also pieces with beautiful embroidery, some using gold and silver thread. Many rugs are from Europe and Spain but have designs from the East.
The museum is one of the few places that shows European and Mexican paintings together. European works go back to the 14th century. Spanish paintings are from the 14th to the 20th centuries. These include works by famous artists like José de Ribera and Francisco de Zurbarán. Italian art is shown through works by Lorenzo Lotto. Painters from Northern Europe include Jacob Grimmer.
Mexican paintings are mostly from the colonial period. They include works by Juan Correa and Miguel Cabrera. Most of these paintings are religious. There are also a few portraits from the 18th century. Later Mexican works include a landscape by José María Velasco and an early painting by Diego Rivera.
Talavera Pottery and Library
In the 1920s, Mayer started collecting Talavera pottery from Puebla. He was one of the first people to do this. In Puebla, people thought he was a bit strange for buying all the "old stuff." The museum opened with the largest collection of Puebla Talavera in the world. It has 726 pieces from the 17th to the 19th centuries. It also has some 20th-century pieces by Enrique Luis Ventosa.
An important part of the museum is the Rogerio Casas-Alatriste H. Library. It is named after the museum's first director. This library holds Mayer's book collection. He bought most of these books to research the art pieces he owned or was interested in. The library is in the cloister area. It has over 14,000 books. This includes 800 different versions of Don Quixote and the Chronicles of Nuremberg from 1493. The library's inside has a classic design. The shelves are made of cedar to protect the books. The wood floor and some decorations in the library came from Mayer's original house.
Ruth D. Lechuga Collection
In 2004, an anthropologist named Ruth D. Lechuga gave her private collection to the museum. This collection has over 14,000 artifacts, 5,000 books, and 1,000 personal items. It tells the story of Lechuga's life. It shows her family's escape from the Nazi Anschluss in Austria. It also shows her years of research on Mexico's native populations.
In 2016, the Ruth D. Lechuga Center for Popular Art Studies (Spanish: Centro de Estudios de Arte Popular Ruth D. Lechuga (CEAP-RDL)) opened in the museum's basement.
Who Was Franz Mayer?
Franz Mayer-Traumann Altschu was born in 1882 in Mannheim, Germany. He came to Mexico in 1905. He left for a short time during the Mexican Revolution but came back for good in 1913. That year, he married María Antonieta de la Macorra, but she passed away soon after. Mayer never remarried and had no children.
Mayer became a very successful businessman. He worked mostly in stocks and financial services. He became a Mexican citizen in 1933.
Mayer's Hobbies and Collecting
Mayer had several hobbies, including photography and traveling in Mexico and other countries. He admired the photographer Hugo Brehme and collected some of his photos. These, along with photos Mayer took himself, are now part of the museum's collection.
However, Mayer is best known for his collection of decorative arts. These items filled his house in the Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood. He started collecting textiles as early as 1905. He often bought Mexican textiles to send as gifts to family and friends in Europe.
As a collector, Mayer gathered more than 10,000 works of art and about the same number of books. He began collecting fine art through auction houses starting in 1933. Many of the catalogs from these auctions are now at the museum. The museum also has letters Mayer wrote to experts. He would ask them about pieces he had bought or was interested in.
After art, he started collecting books, including many versions of Don Quixote. He began collecting Talavera ceramics and tiles in 1943. Mayer also had a collection of orchids, cactus, and azaleas. A gardener named Felipe Juárez took care of these plants.
In 1963, Mayer decided to create a special fund. The goal was to donate his collection to a museum dedicated to it. The Bank of Mexico was chosen to manage this fund. The donation was completed when Mayer died in 1975. The museum to house his collection opened in 1986.
Images for kids
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Entrance to the Franz Mayer museum in Mexico City
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See also
In Spanish: Museo Franz Mayer para niños
- Casa de Madera Museum, Tenango del Aire
- Museo Objeto del Objeto
