Museo Universitario de Artes Populares María Teresa Pomar, Folk art museum in Colima, Mexico.
The Museo Universitario de Artes Populares holds a collection of Mexican artisanal works including textiles, ceramics, woodwork, metalwork, and traditional toys sourced from different regions. The exhibition space organizes these pieces by materials and geographic origin to show the range of folk craftsmanship across the country.
The museum was founded by María Teresa Pomar, a collector and promoter of Mexican artesanía who filled her home with pieces from many traditions before donating objects to museums in Mexico and to the Museo de Arte Popular in São Paulo, Brazil. She was among the founders of the Fondo Nacional para el Fomento de las Artesanías and of POPULART, AC, the organization behind the Museo de Arte Popular in Mexico City. In 2006 the state of Colima awarded her the Premio Estatal de Artes Diego Rivera; she died in Mexico City in January 2010 at the age of 90, and the museum later added her name to its official title.
The galleries display regional dance costumes, ceremonial objects, and traditional musical instruments still used during local festivities and celebrations. These items reveal how communities across Mexico continue to practice rituals and customs passed down through generations.
The museum occupies the IUBA complex at the corner of Gabino Barreda and Manuel Gallardo Zamora streets, in the La Atrevida neighborhood north of the historic center. Visits run Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. The two floors connect through corridors around the open courtyard, where tables and chairs are set for visitors; temporary exhibitions are upstairs.
The building was designed by architect Joaquín Vázquez Agraz, modeled on a traditional house of the city, and forms part of the IUBA complex at the corner of Gabino Barreda and Manuel Gallardo Zamora streets in the La Atrevida neighborhood. Its two stories are arranged around an open courtyard ringed by arched corridors, with chairs and tables set out in the patio for visitors.
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