Centro Leon
One of the city's finest attractions is the
Centro Leon that is a marvelous multi-faceted cultural center
that has been separated into four galleries that house
collections about the local history and anthropology, Dominican
art and a mock tobacco factory where you can enjoy watching
their famous cigars being made and even try one afterwards. In
1964, the first Art Contest Eduardo Leon Jimenes was held with
the dual purpose of promoting the development of the visual arts
and to encourage creativity in the many new artists that were
rising. In his inaugural speech, Don Eduardo Leon Asensio said
that a new museum would have to be constructed sometime in the
future to house the many beautiful and outstanding works of art
that would become part of a collection. In 1999 that prediction
would come true, when the Eduardo Leon Jimenes Foundation was
created by Jose A. Leon Asenio started the preparatory work for
the new construction of the Centro Cultural Eduardo Leon
Jimenes. He would start getting spontaneous donations,
acquisitions of major art collections, loans, transfers,
ethnological, literature and archaeological materials that
pertained to the country's history and culture. The collections
would have to be catalogued, numbered and preserved so that they
could be showcased in the proper way. Today, the center not only
houses marvelous collections, but it also hosts workshops, music
performances, film festivals and artistic seminars. Their
collections of anthropological and ethnological relics span over
5000 years of Dominican history, from the pre-Columbian times to
the present period. One special exhibition has been dedicated to
the visual arts and evolution of Dominican art and its
influences, filled with outstanding examples of installation art
by both national and international artists, drawings, paintings,
photographs and paintings. Another exhibit depicts the folklore
of the Dominican Republic and the remainder of Latin America,
with concerts, temporary exhibits and film screenings.
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