English
This is a bizarre and wondrous attraction. Who dreamed up the idea of a Disneyesque interactive exhibit all about the rise of rationalism in 18th century Europe? I suspect only a socialist and atheistic government would fund something like this. (It’s quite pointedly anti-church.)
The actual name of the place is Museo de Illustracion y Modernidad (MUVIM) in Spanish. It’s a striking modernist building in the heart of Valencia, designed by Seville architect Guillermo Vázquez Consuegra. The Museum of the Age of Enlightenment is only one possible translation. Illustracion means both enlightenment and illustration, and in fact the building is a museum of illustration and graphic arts as well as of the Enlightenment.
The Disneyesque self-guided tour through electronic displays about the European Enlightenment is housed on the upper floor of the fortress like building. You can’t just walk in. You have to book ahead. (See contact information at bottom.) It seems to have been designed with big crowds in mind. Many of the rooms are huge, with very little in them. But when we visited for an English-language version of the tour – it’s repeated at different times in three other languages: Spanish, Valencian, French – there were only three of us.
We were greeted by a silent guide in monk’s habit who shepherded us through the first few rooms that cover the lead-up to the Age of Englightenment. None of the human guides we encountered spoke. All the sound comes from hidden speakers in each room.
The museum includes lots of large-scale reproductions of portraits of famous figures from history. There are light shows, ramps seemingly arbitrarily leading up and down. One highlight is an animatronic scriptoreum where medieval monks discuss their doubts about what they’re doing as they bend over their copying work. There’s a “ride” on a piece of machinery to illustrate the Enlightenment notion of the universe as clockwork, and a room meant to represent an 18th century salon with reproductions of famous paintings of the period on the walls, where we were seated and served chocolates by another silent guide, a woman dressed in an 18th century costume.
And on and on it went, ending with the scientism of the 20th century, the modern legacy of the 18th century Enlightenment. The sound track is a narration in expertly translated English with music of the period in the background – actually, often it was too much in the foreground, making it hard to hear the narration. The ideas expressed and historical figures discussed are all fairly familiar to anyone who has read any European history or remembers any from highschool or university. I’m not sure any of us in our group learned anything new.
What’s fascinating about this attraction, I would suggest, is what it says about the society and culture that conceived and executed it – at considerable cost. Going through it, you felt as if you were being exposed to propaganda. One wonders if the government deemed it necessary because this is a society still so heavily influenced by the church. On the other hand, it’s also a society that has gone through a couple of periods of sometimes violent anti-clericalism. So maybe it’s simply an expression of that ongoing thread in the culture.
For more details:
c/ Guillen de Castro, 8
Tlf: 963 88 37 30
www.xarxamuseus.com/muvim/
Gerry Blackwell
With apartments in Valencia will be very easy to see this important museum. Do not miss the opportunity and enjoy your visit in Valencia
