Special article: "You are in Solentiname"
ViaNica.com | Jan 7, 2010
Some pieces were found in unearthed graves in the archipelago of Solentiname. Now, this pieces are part of the collection of “Ernesto Cardenal” Archeology Museum, which was inaugurated on December 5, 2009, in Mancarrón Island. A library, under the name of this Nicaraguan poet, also opened its doors to a literary universe, made of 2, 153 books.
After a nocturnal ten-hour trip on “Gustavo Orozco” boat, from the National Port Company, a group of seagulls welcome the visitors to San Carlos. A smaller boat drives its passengers to Solentiname during a 45 minutes trip. The skin of the water remains calm and a cloudscape show an ancient witting; on this waters also travels Ernesto Cardenal. Forty years from now, Cardenal founded this community, a bastion of poets and renowned writers like the Argentinean Julio Cortázar.
On his chronicles, Cortázar remembers seeing Ernesto and his friends around 1976 “dedicated to their work and meditation”. He also evocates “the young teacher who taught the children of the island” and “the pottery works, the wooden polychrome fish”.
Jesús Fernández Jurado, PhD in History and currently chief of the Archeology and Patrimony Service from Huelva, Spain, states that the idea of the project started on 2005. He was sent to the archipelago for a provincial dispute of Huelva, who is financing the museum and library project with the Association for Development of Solentiname (APDS), by means of the Culture, Democracy and Environmental Institute (INCUDEMA) from Huelva. Fernández returned on 2007 to choose the pieces from the collection, and to analyze with the Nicaraguan architect, Juan Agudelo, the architectural plans of the museum.
“The challenge is to change the collection each year”, said Fernández. To accomplish this, a document with explanatory sheets with pieces that mostly belong to the culture of the Great Nicoya (back in 300 and 500 B.C) is being prepared. However, the pieces that Ernesto Cardenal Museum is currently showing specifically belong to a period between 1000 and 1300 A.D. The archaeological pieces, made of jars, vases, stones and other objects, were founded in 1976.
“In the past, people were buried with their belongings”, expressed Fernández. “The objects represent a transition bond between life and death; a gift to the gods. For this reason, some stones have a religious meaning and others had a every day use.
While Fernández continues explaining details of the museum and the library, the nature of Mancarrón island establishes its domains, showing herself transparent in the biodiversity and poetic in its form. Suddenly, a turkey flatters his Trojan crest, shows his blue chest and opens his wings to perch on a branch. His mesmerizing tale was born from the wounded tree. Then, before the contemplative world dissolves, one is repeated countless times: You're here! This is real! You are in Solentiname!