Follow the music, admire the art, place yourself inside historic architecture, in Telesur's "Cultura Latina". In this week's program, host Mauricio Izquierdo takes us to Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City and an exciting wax museum in Quito, Ecuador. When construction began on Mexico’s most famous castle in the last third of the eighteenth century, planners intended it to be a holiday residence for the Spanish viceroys. Then in the 1830s, after Independence was won, it was converted into a military base. A century later, President Lázaro Cárdenas established the National History Museum in the castle and opened it to the Mexican people as a space for history, art and culture. Visitors to the Museum talk about what it means to learn from history by viewing the exhibitions in person. Next Cultura Latina takes us to Quito, where right next to the Presidential Palace, we find the Alberto Mena Camaño Museum, commonly known as the Wax Museum. Opened to the public in 1959, it contains a remarkable collection of artwork from the Colonial and Republican periods and the first public library in Latin America. But the 400-year-old building is best known for over 30 lifelike wax figures arranged in historic scenes like the 1810 massacre just before Ecuador won its independence from Spain. It is a popular place for both adults and children. teleSUR
