Description of the attraction
Several museums can be found at the Plaza of Culture in Santo Domingo. Perhaps the most interesting of them is the Dominican Museum of Man, which is also called the Museum of Dominican Culture. Its exposition tells about the distant past of the country and is dedicated to the culture and traditions of the Indian tribes who lived here before the arrival of Columbus.
The mansion, which houses the museum, was erected in the 70s of the XX century according to the project of the architect JCA Alvarez, who became the first curator and director of the museum. This educated man, who wrote 8 scientific papers and headed two universities, knew exactly what the traveler who had arrived in the Dominican Republic was eager to see. The second floor of the Dominican Museum of Man, where visitors are not allowed to enter, is reserved for the offices of workers. There is also a memorial hall for the former directors of this institution. Thanks to their efforts and knowledge, the museum has become one of the best in the country.
The guests of the museum have the opportunity to get acquainted with the history of the Taino tribes, who, according to historians, invented the hammock, and is still popular in the Dominican Republic, the casabe flatbread, a musical instrument of guira. In some parts of the country, modern fishermen still fish in the same way as representatives of the Taino tribe did. In the museum you can see weapons, tools of labor, masks, ceramics, funerary obelisks and other items characteristic of the Taino culture. Several halls of the museum are dedicated to the Spanish colonialists and black slaves, whom the discoverers of the New World brought with them. Several more exhibitions tell about the interaction of these peoples with the indigenous population of the Dominican Republic.
