The Ages of Man in Plasencia: 180 works to see, smell, hear and touch

“After seeing the exhibition, what one feels like saying is that the function begins”, the president of the Junta de Extremadura, Guillermo Fernández Vara, said this morning, after hearing what The Ages of Man will be like in Plasencia . In this way he expressed the feeling that the vast majority of the citizens who have filled the church of San Nicolás to attend the official presentation of Transitus, the 26th edition of the sacred exhibition of Castile and León, which for the first time comes out of its borders and reaches Extremadura, with the exception of the two international exhibitions held in Antwerp and New York, as recalled by the president of the Foundation The Ages of Man and Bishop of Ávila, José María Gil Tamayo.

180 pieces selected from parishes, cathedrals, museums, archives, libraries and private collections in Extremadura, for the most part, but also from other parts of the country, will make up the Plasencia Cathedral exhibition, in which the team from the Las Ages Foundation del Hombre has been working since January and can be seen between May and December. The specific date of the inauguration is not yet closed, because it depends on the agenda of the Royal House.

Zurbarán, El Greco, Divino Morales, Gregorio Fernández, José de Mera and Pedro de Mena are some of the authors whose works can not only be seen in the exhibition, but can also be smelled, heard and touched “to live a full experience », highlighted José Enrique Martín Lozano, general secretary of the foundation. “The smells will help generate sensations and the soundtrack created for the occasion by the Zamorano composer David Rivas will accompany the visitor during the tour.” In addition, explained Martín Lozano, touch will be a reality thanks to ONCE’s collaboration with the foundation to make Transitus an accessible exhibition.

The chapters

To go through the exhibition will be to travel through the history of the city and the diocese in a Cathedral that, although recognizable, has been transformed with lighting, carpentry, panels, pedestals and showcases to generate new spaces for crosses and encounters, with a sober and modern assembly. at the same time, and thus make the visitor live the passage of time, the transit between two worlds, between two eras, between two places separated by an ocean. Because The Ages of Man is not just a sum of works, but the narration of a story through sacred art that follows the script prepared by Gaspar Hernández and Jacinto Núñez, professors at the Pontifical University of Salamanca, and the selection and recovery of the pieces chosen to tell it. Detailed work in which dozens of people from the foundation itself have collaborated, but also from the Bishopric of Plasencia, the Board and the University of Extremadura.

Selected works that will recount many passages through the eight chapters into which the exhibition is divided and which its curator, Antonio Luis Galán, exhibited this morning. Land of passage, change of era, a diocese for a city, the history of salvation, the reform of Trento, between two dreams, the work of evangelization and rowing out to sea are the titles chosen to narrate the transition to the New World and the Modern Age, and the social and religious development that this entailed and the importance of the different characters that participated in the religious expeditions.

The works

A story that will be told through works such as the Virgen del Sagrario and the Cristo de los Dolores, the reliquary of Ponce de León from 1573, the Virgen de la Antigua, the Pietà by Alonso Hipólito, the Baptism of Jesus by Francisco Rizi, the Assumption of the Virgin, the Foundation of the city of Trujillo in Venezuela, the Eucharistic Urn, the Baptism of the first Indians in Guadalupe by Juan Manuel Núñez or the bust of Pizarro by Pérez Comendador.

These are just some of the 180 works that Transitus will tell and that will show Extremadura’s religious heritage in the exceptional showcase of The Ages of Man to continue with the evangelizing project that the foundation launched in 1988 with the first exhibition.

Now continuing with the evangelization through sacred art will be possible among the naves, columns, altars and altarpieces of the Cathedral of Plasencia and the works that it will house. “Evangelizing from the beauty that provokes, evokes and sometimes summons us”, Ciriaco Benavente, bishop emeritus and apostolic administrator of the diocese, summed up this morning, for whom “the sacrifice of closing the Cathedral to worship for almost a year is worth it for the cultural relevance that this exhibition is for Plasencia and the evangelizing work that can be carried out through beauty».

Impact and schedules

An exhibition “that will allow a transit for this city”, highlighted the mayor, Fernando Pizarro, and that will be extended to the whole of Extremadura “thanks to the generosity of the Bishopric and the City Council”, Vara thanked, because so that the tourist impact The economic and economic aspects of The Ages of Man reaches the entire territory, the foundation has drawn up a proposal of itineraries with which to invite the visitor to tour the provinces of Cáceres and Badajoz, exposing all its rich heritage, culture, traditions and gastronomy.

The Cathedral of Santa María is the headquarters of The Ages of Man. The exhibition can be visited from Tuesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Admission will end 45 minutes before closing. It will be closed on Mondays. For reservations: 927041134 or [email protected]