Zonas de Caracas

DDN

The museum, founded in 1980, was developed from a dignified eighteenth century house that had been abandoned -called «Dead man’s House»- in the historic center of Petare. The installation of the museum after a very free restoration, which recovered and gave life to the site and its surroundings, generated a center for community and civic cohesion. The museum house, on an important corner of the grid, southeast of Plaza Sucre, together with Dulce Nombre de Jesús Church and César Rengifo Theater, give the urban center a cultural and tourist vocation. The continuous façade toward Calle Guanches has three traditional windows to the main areas of the building, of double height, and finishes to the north in a tower with a traditional window-balcony on the second floor. This volume marks the access, using the downward topography to develop in levels. The spaces with filtered light from the access hall and the corridor that cuts it open on to a courtyard that, on a lower level and because of its size, must have originally been used for drying crops. The generous open space allows free activities and natural light for the two-story volume, with an exposed wooden structure aligned to the side. The exhibition rooms on the ground floor house temporary exhibits of popular art. The second floor is dedicated to the collection storage and museum support activities.