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San Antonio: Living History Lessons
With more twists and turns than the River Walk – and more faces than the façade of the Alamo – San Antonio proudly wears its culture on its sleeve. From modern museums and old world missions to walking tours and architectural wonders, this city is bursting with cultural history, character and charm.
That culture is apparent in plazas inspired by Spanish colonial concepts and in buildings that chart the course of our history, from plastered chapel to gingerbread Victorian to towering skyscraper. And it’s obvious in the celebrations that take place in those squares and spaces: the “Little Village” that is La Villita provides a home for events as diverse as Fiesta’s Nights in Old San Antonio and the fall International Accordion Festival. HemisFair Park, the scene of our 1968 World’s Fair, hosts the Institute of Texan Culture’s June Folklife Festival, as well as numerous Mexican Cultural Institute programs. And the streets themselves come alive in early spring with Luminaria, a new celebration of all the arts. At almost any time and place, the city can be seen strutting its stuff.
Historic Roots
But there’s more than missions to be seen of this formative period. The 19th century façade of San Fernando Cathedral is finally getting the framework it deserves in the form of a newly renovated Main Plaza, originally Plaza de las Islas in honor of the 16 families from the Canary Islands who arrived in 1731. But walk behind the building and there you’ll see the 1738 apse of the original structure. Just a block farther west is the Spanish Governor’s Palace dating from 1749. Though “palace” was always an exaggeration, the building both breathes with the spirit of the times and echoes of the fandangos once held there.
In San Antonio, it pays to keep eyes, ears and nose open.
Museums & Galleries
History comes alive in context, but there’s nothing like a museum for the big picture. Catch a truly cinemascopic glimpse into San Antonio and the rest of Texas at the Institute of Texan Cultures on the eastern edge of HemisFair Park. Within this distinctive structure, the fascinating stories of all the ethnic groups that make up Texas come to life, from African-Americans and Yugoslavs, to Mexicans, Syrians and Lebanese.
Many of the city’s other museums, some housed in structures that are historic in their own right, also play into San Antonio’s cultural continuum. The San Antonio Museum of Art converted a 19th century brewery into a showcase for Latin American art across the centuries and an extensive Asian Art Wing, along with Greek and Roman collections and American art from colonial times to the present. The Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum, with its focus on 20th century works, evolved from a 1927 Spanish-Mediterranean-style villa and has recently completed an extensive, contemporary addition for traveling exhibitions.
Another contemporary structure, located at the foot of Market Square just west of downtown, houses the Smithsonian-affiliated Museo Alameda. Its shows are dedicated to presenting the Latino in America. Further proving that San Antonio can turn any facility to artistic ends, we find the Southwest School of Art in a convent built in 1851 for the Ursuline Academy of French nuns. In addition to creating classrooms, a gift shop, restaurant and gallery space from the historic compound, the school has converted a former tire store nearby into exhibition space. To complete the catalog of conversions, a complex of industrial buildings south of downtown is now home to the Blue Star Contemporary Art Center. With the center as a catalyst, adjacent galleries such as the UTSA Satellite Space, San Angel Folk Art and the Joan Grona Gallery now thrive. Blue Star Brewing Company provides more fun as well as nourishment.
Architecture/Historic Tours
The urge to recycle and respect the past – while building for the way we live, work and play – continues at a massive project at the old Pearl Brewery. Its developers have already renovated much of the historic complex and have succeeded in attracting a branch of the Culinary Institute of America. Plans for more restaurants and shops, a seasonal farmers market and housing are also on the horizon. The Pearl complex will be the northern terminus of extensive improvements now being made to extend the River Walk and, by means of locks, provide for river barge traffic north, all allowing visitors and locals alike to experience San Antonio in new ways.
Back in city center, the river continues to be our guide through history, and nowhere is that history more apparent than in La Villita: simply ascend the steps of the Arneson River Theatre from the River Walk and step through the arch leading to the Little Village. The site was once home to Spanish soldiers assigned to the Alamo, became a permanent settlement in the early 19th century, and was first restored in 1940. Farther south along the river’s banks you will find Sauerkraut Bend, once the term for that stretch of the river lining the King William Historic District, home to many German families who helped define the city in the mid 19th century.
Pioneer Flour Mills, on the opposite bank, is one such institution, and its Guenther House Museum & Restaurant is a perfect place to refuel for more self-guided immersions in special places. Bus tours in the neighborhood have been discouraged by residents, but oak-shaded strolls along King William’s streets are the best ways to appreciate the stately architecture (a visit to the Steves Homestead Museum will give you an inside look), and side trips to flanking Southtown, a thriving area of restaurants and galleries –especially alive during First Friday celebrations – will provide colorful contrasts.
Faces of San Antonio
Bill Fitzgibbons
With his shock of grey hair and businesslike demeanor, Bill Fitzgibbons, Executive Director of the Blue Star Contemporary Art Center, doesn’t immediately bring to mind the conventional artist image.
Yet like the city itself, there are surprises in every facet of the personality and work of this full-time artist and arts administrator. His airport ensemble, Day Star Archway, making use of airplane imagery, is the first large-scale art many visitors will see when arriving in town, and his animated Light Channels installation under I-H 37 at Houston and Commerce streets creates a colorful transition from city center to St. Paul Square.
“When my family and I arrived in San Antonio 20 years ago, we immediately realized [it] was a special place. This melting pot produces a community that celebrates life regularly,” he says, adding that “up until being in San Antonio, color was practically absent in my work.”
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