Permanence and Change

The building that houses the museum was constructed by the architect Aníbal González as part of the design of the Plaza de América for the Ibero-American Exhibition of 1929.

It was called the Pavilion of Industries, Manufacturing, and Decorative Arts, then the Pavilion of Ancient Art and Artistic Industries, and later, the Mudéjar Pavilion.

Museum of Arts and Traditions of Sevilla was established in 1972 and opened to the public in 1973. The building has four floors over an area of around 8,000 square meters, split between public exhibits and internal services (conservation, restoration, research, promotion, and administration).

The permanent exhibition space on the main floor is dedicated entirely to the Díaz Velázquez collection.

Rooms I and II contain a selection (approximately 10%) of the most representative pieces of the Díaz Velázquez collection of embroidery and lace, which is one of the most complete of its kind in Europe.

From the 18th century onwards, first in the urban environment and then in the rural, the dwelling's functions and appliances began to diversify and separate. Different spaces such as the bedroom, dining room and living room appeared, whilst the furniture and cooking equipment became ever more varied.

Ethnographic museums are providing more space for domestic possessions that have fallen into disuse, in order to invite reflection on those transformations, and to make us think about their meaning and what may lie hidden behind them.

Craftwork's main feature is not the absence of machinery, since machines were actually used, but the fact that one person performs the whole manufacturing process of an object from beginning to end. This is as opposed to specialization in just one part of the process, which characterizes industrialized production.

Another important feature of craftwork "done well" is the intended uniformity in the objects produced, because the more alike the objects an artisan made were, the better his work was thought to be. Now, artisan production attempts to do the opposite and personalize production to make it unique so as to add value.

The next rooms are dedicated to the history and uses of ceramics in Andalusia from the 13th century until the present day. They center on the production of traditional tiles, historic and popular ceramics and, finally, in industrial earthenware in the La Cartuja factory in Seville.

Most of the collection originated in Andalusia and reproduces the typical motifs, colors and iconography of the region, although a few pieces are displayed from other centers of production in Spain that influenced local production.

Charles Pickman founded the earthenware factory that bears his name in 1841. It saw major expansion during the second half of the 19th century when it consolidated its reputation in the national and international markets, particularly when its volume and variety of production were at their height.

Crockery is the most recognized product from La Cartuja and has been made continuously throughout its history.

Chests and locks, branding irons, bells for livestock, and candlesticks all feature in a metalworker's workshop.

We finish with the last room on this floor, which is dedicated to the documentation of traditional systems of weighing and measuring dry goods and liquids...

...which, despite the widespread use of the metric system, are still valid in the traditional agricultural world.