CASA MUSEO GUAYASAMÍN - CAPILLA DEL HOMBRE

The painter and sculptor Oswaldo Guayasamín, revered by Ecuadorians, transformed his magnificent home into a museum dedicated to the preservation of Ecuadorian cultural heritage. While walking through the exhibition halls, we go through the history of the country, from the first civilizations (archaeology halls) to the contemporary art, with the colonial art in between. The astonishing works of the painter are of course exhibited. A pretty terrace offers a panoramic view of the city from the barrio that bears its name: Bellavista.

Below, the Capilla del Hombre (Chapel of the Man) is part of the complex whose construction was started by Guayasamín during his lifetime and interrupted at his death in 1999. This architectural cultural space stands as a memorial to Latin American man, from pre-Columbian times to the present day, and thus to all of humanity. The stages of history lived by this Man, his sufferings, his struggles are at the center of the creation of Guayasamín, considered by Fidel Castro as one of the only Iberoamerican artists. The first stone of the building was laid on 3 August 1995 by a shaman from a Quechua-Pataza community in the Amazon. The architect of the project is none other than Handel Guayasamín Crespo, nephew of the artist. Many paintings, in homage to the victims of wars - in the subcontinent and in the world - are exposed there. This is probably THE museum not to be missed!