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As early as 1873 in response to the concern of local
intellectuals, the so-called "Municipal Archaeological Deposit"
was established with the aim of recovering as many vestiges of
the history of the town and its surrounding aerea as possible.
"In the gallery that leads to the Town Public
Library, located in the building once used as City Hall, a beautiful
work of the Spanish Renaissance, there is a modest Archaeological
Deposit, unknown to the tourists visiting our town, which was
created thanks to the fortunate initiative of the Municipal Authorities,
and is formed by statues, gravestones, coats of arms and a number
of other objects of much antiquity and importance for the local
history".
The author of this text, Mariano Pescador y Gutiérrez
del Valle, published in 1916 a small catalogue describing the
forty five objects then forming the collection.
These words taken from its introduction are a good
sign of the interest at that time in creating a museum:
Thus, gathering together these scattered objects,
Jerez will finally and without much effort hace an Archaeological
Museum of tremendous advantage for the people, considering the
importance of institutions of this sort".
It was thanks to the interest of private citizens
like Javier Piñero or Josefa Dávila as well as the
municipal architects José and Rafael Esteve"...who
every now and then used to send to the "Deposit" a Roman
statue placed on a street corner as a roadside post, or a gravestone
used as building material, on account of the lack of culture",
and who with great determination cared about recovering the remains
of our past, that the Museum of Jerez could be started.
Many years had to pass though, before the idea of
creating a museum in town could finally become a reality.
From 1931 onwards, when Manuel Esteve Guerrero was
director of the Town Library, all the pieces of that initial "Deposit"
were properly placed and classified. The Archaeological Collection
was definitively opened to the public in 1935 and was provided
with a Constitution and by-laws two years later.
During the first years and despite the modest facilities,
the activity of recovering the archaeological patrimony was continuous,
and exceptional and unique pieces like the 7th century B.C. Greek
helmet found in 1938 in the banks of the river Guadalete became
part of the Collection.
Undoubtedly the excavations carried out in the nearby
site of Mesas de Asta, the ancient Asta Regia, increased and enriched
to such an extent its funds that the "Collection" reached
the standing of Municipal Archaeological Museum by a 1963 governmental
law.
A hundred year old aspiration of this city could
finally be fulfilled thanks in no small measure to the effort,
enterprising and professional attitude of its former director.
At this stage a guidebook was edited to help in
the visit to the Museum and, despite the lack of means, the research
work was continuous, as the numerous publications, scientific
as well as popularizing ones, in specialized reviews (Archivo
Español de Arqueología, Acta Arqueológica
Hispánica...) can prove.
Likewise the University of Barcelona together with
the William L. Bryant Foundation and the Jerez City Council organized
in 1968 the Fifth International Symposium on Peninsular Prehistory
devoted to "Tartessos and its problems". The most prestigious
researchers on this field attended the call and this meant an
important landmark in the study of one of the most emblematic
periods of Ancient History in Western Andalucía.
The Museum remained opened to the public in its
initial seat in Plaza de la Asunción until 1972 when it
was closed down after several unsuccessful refurbishings, due
to the bad conditions of the building.
For almost twenty years the funds of the Museum
remained distributed in different deposits, waiting for a new
building. Though these were hard years, work continued along this
period. The Municipal Archaeological Service was created in 1982
to guarantee the security of the archaeological patrimony in Jerez.
And a result of all this activity was the continuous increase
of the funds of the Museum with materials coming from the different
excavations. Besides the project of the present Museum was conceived
and developed in those years.
Finally on November 9, 1993, Pedro Pacheco Herrera
as Mayor-Chairman of the City Council officially inaugurated the
Municipal Archaeological Museum of Jerez on its new and definitive
seat.
HISTORY
The first attempts to create a Museum in Jerez,
according to the information we have been able to collect, date
back to the late 19th century. However, 17th and 18th century
historians wrote about archaeological sites and pieces found within
the township boundaries.
"Many of our neighbours own real archaeological
curiosities which only a few lucky ones can enjoy and appreciate,
whereas being part of this collection they could be known and
studied by everybody for the benefit of the Arts and History.
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