The New Mexico History Museum presents Santa Fe Found: Fragments of Time – The archaeological and historic roots of America’s oldest capital city open through May 21, 2011.
Now celebrating its 400th anniversary, Santa Fe was once an infant city on the remote frontier. The Palace of the Governors exhibition explores the archaeological evidence and historical documentation of Santa Fe before the Spanish arrived, the first colony in San Gabriel del Yungue, the founding of Santa Fe and its first 100 years as New Mexico’s first capital.
Co-curated by Josef Diaz of the New Mexico History Museum/Palace of the Governors and Stephen Post of the DCA/Office of Archaeological Studies, Santa Fe Found collects more than 160 artifacts from four historic sites, along with maps, documents, household goods, weaponry and religious objects. Together, they tell the story of cultural encounters between early colonists and the Native Americans who had long called this place home.
“This exhibition will give visitors a broad perspective of the settling of Santa Fe and the web of cultural influences the Spanish brought with them,” Diaz said. “The founding of Santa Fe is a big and complex story to tell, and this show will offer a glimpse of different aspects of Spanish colonial life, from the domestic to the economic to the political and religious.”
Image: New Mexico History Museum
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