Museo al Aire Libre
By Saskia Mier
The Museo al Aire Libre was a contemporary open air museum which was inaugurated in May 1991 in Calle Barcelona thanks to sculptor Pepe Noja who came up with the idea. It suffered a period of abandonment, with no one looking after the museum, some of the works of art deteriorated and even fell to pieces, therefore being removed by the police due to safety reasons.
Artists whose works could be found there included Arturo Martínez, Rafael Mugor, Óscas Estruga, Vaizkorbe and Pepe Noja, among many others. The museum gained some attention and organizational structure to it where several statues were placed in better locations to make them stand out.
The exhibition gathered all the trends of modern Spanish art. The sculptures measured between forty centimetres and two meters, and were made using many different materials, such as bronze, stone and steel.
Distribution around the city
The figures were later distributed in the pedestrian streets of the centre of the city, among the busy roads: Calle Berdigón, Calle Rábida, Calle Concepción and Calle Mora Claros. However many were removed to be cleaned and some were vandalised.
Today, the open air museum consists of sculptures, paintings and even graffiti art for anybody to enjoy.
In 2020 many have been put back as a group collection in Parque Zafra on Avenida Julio Caro Barojo.
