Tag Archives: history

Museums-Galleries-Theaters

Museo de Atarazanas / Museum of Shipyards

Museo de las Reales Atarazanas (MAR) / Museum of Royal Shipyards

The Museo de Atarazanas is a unique Museum of the Sea. This amazing museum in the Colonial City gives visitors an insight into how it really was for those brave and daring sailors that crossed the Atlantic Ocean in search of wealth and adventure.

The entrance to the Museo de las Reales Atarazanas (MAR)
The entrance to the Museo de las Reales Atarazanas (MAR)

The Building

The building originally was part of the warehouses / atarazanas of the Spanish Crown / Corona Española. Here the goods entering the island were received and stored in this and the surrounding buildings. This area was the center of the mercantile activities of the island.

Construction of the building 16th Century colonial building started around 1509. It was built in different stages. The Gothic-style building with its stone columns, Romanesque barrel vaults, and clay brick walls was thought to have been completed in 1544.

The Museum

The Museo de las Reales Atarazanas tells the story of Spanish galleons, captains and their crew. You can see how these courageous men lived and died on those Spanish galleons and ships that for centuries sailed the seas of the world.

Scale model of the Spaniard ship Our Lady of Guadalupe, Museo de las Atarazanas Reales
Scale model of the Spaniard ship Our Lady of Guadalupe, Museo de las Atarazanas Reales

The start of the shipwrecks first recorded was on December 25, 1492, when Admiral Christopher Columbus turned over control of the ship Santa María to his cabin boy to sleep and the ship ran aground soon after.

Display of the Santa Maria ship at Atarazanas Reales Museum, Ciudad Colonial Santo Domingo
Display of the Santa Maria ship at Atarazanas Reales Museum, Ciudad Colonial Santo Domingo

The Museo de Atarazanas includes historical information of many hundreds of shipwrecks that occurred along the coast of Hispaniola. The island was a strategic center for exploration during the15th and 19th centuries. But the coastline is rough and there were also many powerful storms that hit, making the entire coast a gigantic marine cemetery.

Jewels rescued from shipwrecks at Atarazanas Reales Museum
Jewels rescued from shipwrecks at Atarazanas Reales Museum

There is a selection of the thousands of valuable artifacts that have recovered from the sea. The collection includes jewels, coins, ingots, cannons and more. Included in the collection are the remains of two artillery pieces from Ovando’s fleet.

Mexican silver coins rescued from a shipwreck in the coast of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
Mexican silver coins rescued from a shipwreck in the coast of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

A very interesting display has a selection of jewelry, coins, ceramics and weights found in a Spanish shipwreck in Punta Cana, also from the 16th century. There is a spectacular display of objects from the galleon Nuestra Señora de la Limpia y Pura Concepción (crashed into the Dominican reefs on October 30, 1641) made up of jewelry, precious stones and Ming ceramics.

A digital map of Spanish fortifications during the early exploration of the Americas
A digital map of Spanish fortifications during the early exploration of the Americas

A digital map shows the fortifications of the Spanish during the early exploration of the Americas.

Full-scale replica of the first and second cannon batteries of the galleon Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (18th century), Museo de las Atarazanas Reales
Full-scale replica of the first and second cannon batteries of the galleon Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (18th century), Museo de las Atarazanas Reales

The Museum of Royal Shipyards invites visitors to interact with history. There are many interactive displays and learning tools. One of the most interesting parts of the museum is a full-scale replica of two batteries of an actual colonial ship. You can experience the sounds and scents of the sea.

All the items listed above and so many wonderful items are included in the collection that is part of the Laboratory of Undersea Cultural Patrimony at the new Museo de las Reales Atarazanas. The museum is financed with a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank and is the work of the architects Wilfredo Feliz and Alexy Cordones. The newly remodeled Museo de las Reales Atarazanas (MAR) was inaugurated on December 12, 2019.

Information

Location: Calle Atarazanas and Calle Colón on the corner of Vicente Celestino Duarte in front of the Puerta Atarazana. The street can be accessed by going down the staircase from Plaza España at the Alcázar Colón. Zona Colonial, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Hours:
Tuesday to Saturday from 9 am to 5 pm.

Cost (12-2019): US$7 for foreigners and RD$200 pesos for residents
MITUR rose the bar to another level
6 pm 12/12/2019 inauguran el modernizado , creo q lo abren al público la próxima semana (martes 17).

Contact: (829) 545-1548

Interior pictures by Mariordo (Mario Roberto Durán Ortiz) https://commons.wikimedia.org

Reference:
Diario Libre

SANTO DOMINGO SIGHTS, MONUMENTS & PARKS, Then & Now Pictures

Then & Now – Cine Max

Then & Now / Antes & Ahora – Cine Max is now the Iglesia Pentecostal Church Dios es Amor

The Teatro or Cine Max, originally called El Travieso, is located in Barrio Chino / Chinatown. It was one of the big movie theaters of its time. In fact, it was the second largest cinema in the city of Santo Domingo. The cinema was known for the yummy goodies, including crispy fried platanos, they sold to the clientele. They were famous for their very large lobby. The cinema also had large fans for cooling and a side exit to keep movie goers coming and going easily. Thank you Historia Dominicana En Graficas for the picture.

Cine Max on Av. Duarte in Santo Domingo 1959.
Cine Max on Av. Duarte in Santo Domingo 1959.

The Iglesia Pentecostal Dios es Amor (IPDA.com.do) now occupies the old Cinema Max building. The Pentecostal church is open daily. The interior still has much of the same look as the old cinema.

The Iglesia Pentecostal Dios es Amor in Barrio Chino used to be Cine Max.
The Iglesia Pentecostal Dios es Amor in Barrio Chino used to be Cine Max.

Location: Av. Duarte between Av. Mella and Calle Benito Gonzales, Barrio Chino (Chinatown). It is just 1 block from La Sirena and the Colonial Zone.


Buildings/Edificios-Monuments/Monumentos, People In History

Villalobos History – Home

Marcelo de Villalobos

Marcelo de Villalobos. Born in Seville in 1480 – Died in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic), 1526. He was part of the first Audience of Santo Domingo. He was one of the 3 original judges appointed by the Queen of Spain sent to the city of Santo Domingo. Villalobos ended up dying in debt to the city and the crown.

Villalobos Short History | Villalobos Home

Villalobos Short History

Marcelo de Villalobos was born in Seville around 1480, the son of Diego de Villalobos and Aldonza de Vera, where he studied law. On October 5, 1511, a Royal Provision, signed by Queen Doña Juana, created an Audiencia y Juzgado / Audience and Court on Hispaniola. He, Juan Ortiz de Matienzo and Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón, were appointed juez de Apelaciones de la dicha “Audiencia y Juzgado” / judge of Appeals of the said “Audience and Court”.

At the end of February 1512 Villalobos left for the Indies, taking with him nine men. After a fairly lengthy stay in the Canary Islands, he and his wife, noble lady, Isabel de Manrique arrived in Santo Domingo. They brought their many servants along. On July 9, 1512 the viceroy Diego Colón gave him possession on Santo Domingo.

Villalobos owned over two hundred Indians, which he used to work in the Cotuí mines. He gained his own home and herds of sheep and cows. He took part in the Slave Trade markets. For all of this and more, he was tried for abuse of power.

Villalobos died on July 25, 1526. He was deeply in debt to the city of Santo Domingo. The crown sought to collect from his family, but because of the devastating hurricane of October 6, 1526, they suspended all financial obligations for a year. Finally, on January 1528, the bailiff took possession, from his daughters, of the domicile of the Villalobos on behalf of His Majesty.

Read the complete history of Marcelo de Villalobos in Spanish.

Villalobos Home

Marcelo De Villalobos home where he died located on Arz. Meriño in the Colonial Zone
Marcelo De Villalobos home where he died located on Arz. Meriño in the Colonial Zone

The house where Marcelo de Villalobos lived and died is located on Calle Arzobispo Meriño (near Mercedes and the Parking Garage) in the Colonial Zone. All that is there to recognize this home is a plaque on the wall.

The plaque on the wall of the home reads –
“Esta casa fue la morada del Licenciado Marcelo de Villalobos. Primer jues de la corte de apelacion en la isla de la Española y el nuevo mundo, en los comienzo del siglo XVI (1512 – 1526). Fray Vincente Rubio” /
This house was the abode of Mr. Marcelo de Villalobos. First judge of the court of appeal on the island of Hispaniola and the new world, at the beginning of the 16th century (1512 – 1526). Fray Vincente Rubio.

The sign on the wall of the house where Marcelo de Villalobos lived and died
The sign on the wall of the house where Marcelo de Villalobos lived and died