The Museum of Santa Cruz () is an

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

and

ethnographic museum Ethnographic museums conserve, display and contextualize items relevant to the field of ethnography, the systematic study of people and cultures. Such museums include: List by country/region Albania * Ethnographic Museum of Kavajë, * Gjirokast� ...

located in the historic centre of the city of Toledo, Spain. It exhibits collections pertaining to the

province of Toledo Toledo is a province of central Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. It is bordered by the provinces of Madrid, Cuenca, Ciudad Real, Badajoz, Cáceres, and Ávila. Its capital is the city of Toledo. ...

, including works painted by

El Greco Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos ( el, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco ("The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El G ...

in the city of Toledo. The museum is housed in an architecturally significant 16th-century building, the , which has been protected by a heritage designation, currently ''

Bien de Interés Cultural A Bien de Interés Cultural is a category of the heritage register in Spain. The term is also used in Venezuela and other Spanish-speaking countries. The term literally means a "good of cultural interest" ("goods" in the economic sense) and inclu ...

'', since 1902. It is owned by the Spanish State and operated by the regional administration, the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha.

History

The museum was created by the Provincial Commission of Artistic Monuments in 1844, with an initial collection consisting of items obtained from the ''desamortizaciones'' as well as from the personal archaeological collection of the Cardinal Lorenzana. In 1919, the provincial museum of archaeology was moved to is current location at , a standout example of civilian

renaissance architecture Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...

in Spain. A Fine Arts section was created in 1961, and the museum was then renamed as ''Museo de Santa Cruz''. The management (not the ownership) of the museum was transferred from the Spanish State to the regional administration of Castile-La Mancha in 1984.

Collections

The museum has sections devoted to Archeology, Fine Arts and Decorative Arts. The Fine Arts collection is distributed on the first and second floor of the building, and Archaeology is in the Noble Cloister and in an underground floor. The Decorative Arts have a sample of Toledan folk handicrafts, which is also located on the floor of the basement.

Building

The hospital was founded by

Pedro González de Mendoza Pedro González de Mendoza (3 May 1428 – 11 January 1495) was a Spanish cardinal, statesman and lawyer. He served on the council of King Enrique IV of Castile and in 1467 fought for him at the Second Battle of Olmedo. In 1468 he was named ...

archbishop of Toledo This is a list of Bishops and Archbishops of Toledo ( la, Archidioecesis Metropolitae Toletana).

1482-1495 and a cardinal, in order to centralize assistance to orphaned and abandoned children in the city. It has a remarkable

Plateresque Plateresque, meaning "in the manner of a silversmith" (''plata'' being silver in Spanish), was an artistic movement, especially architectural, developed in Spain and its territories, which appeared between the late Gothic and early Renaissance in ...

portal, the work of

Alonso de Covarrubias Alonso de Covarrubias ( Torrijos, Toledo 1488–1570) was a Spanish architect and sculptor of the Renaissance, active mainly in Toledo. Works Covarrubias' works include: His first work was associated with Antón Egas and Juan Guas, in a style t ...

. The building has a

Greek cross The Christian cross, with or without a figure of Christ included, is the main religious symbol of Christianity. A cross with a figure of Christ affixed to it is termed a ''crucifix'' and the figure is often referred to as the ''corpus'' (La ...

plan and four courtyards, two of which were fully completed. The first is by Covarrubias and gives access to the upper floor through a three-ladder staircase. A crossing covers the museum's two main floors and is covered with ribbed vaults. In the north arm was located the chapel. It was conceived as a stand-alone building with six galleries that would intersect forming courtyards. It remains unfinished (two of the courtyards were never made). The altar is located in the center and the courtyards are devised seven of which are made four and of those four, only one was finalized by

. There are four galleries, which connect with the courtyards, on two floors made by Enrique Egas and in the center is the table with the altar. The basket arches are on pillars with leaves and cherubim in the coat of arms of Mendoza. In general there is a symbiosis of the Moorish tradition with Flemish art. Cover of pair and knuckle in framed wood of casetones. The wood has decorative and utilitarian function. The ashlars are well carved and the portal was made by Covarrubias, made it entintelada, the entablature is flanked by paired pseudocolumns with

niche Niche may refer to: Science *Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development *Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species *Niche differentiation, in ecology, the ...

s and ''doselete''s; the shafts having

Grotesque Since at least the 18th century (in French and German as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, mysterious, magnificent, fantastic, hideous, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or disgusting, and thus ...

decoration. The pediment is round classic that houses the discovery of the ''Lignum crucis'' by Saint Helen. It supports the entablature with another body. An archivolt was broken to place a niche representing charity. At the top are the Virgin's wedding dresses with dolphins. The windows are symmetrical with bulbous order and edicts with the emblem of Mendoza. The last body, later, is mannerist. File:A Black and White Photo of an Antique Door in Toledo Spain.jpeg File:El claustro de Covarrubias.jpg File:Hospital de la Santa Cruz.jpg File:Hospital Santa Cruz-Toledo-Escalera.jpg, Staircase File:Toledo, Museo de Santa Cruz, patio, detail of decoration.jpg, Courtyard detail

Notes and references

*This contains information taken from the homonymous article in the Spanish Wikipedia. ;Citations ;Bibliography *

External links

Toledo Turismo.com: Museum of Santa Cruz
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Museum of Santa Cruz
within Google Arts & Culture * {{authority control Art museums and galleries in Spain Museums in Toledo, Spain Archaeological museums in Spain Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in the City of Toledo Tourist attractions in Toledo, Spain Buildings and structures completed in the 16th century Azulejos in Castilla–La Mancha Orphanages in Europe Plateresque architecture in Castilla–La Mancha

History

Collections

Building

See also

Notes and references

External links