The house dates back to 1910 when Roma was one of the most fashionable neighborhoods in the city.
The house had fallen into ruin, but in 1995 Tovar de Teresa bought the property and restored it. He moved in, bringing with him his large collection of paintings and antiques, primarily from the colonial period of Mexico and the 19th century. After his untimely death in 2013 at the age of 57, the house and the collection was acquired by billionaire Carlos Slim. The Casa Guillermo Tovar de Teresa is now the third property which is part of Slim's Soumaya Museum.
The museum is small, but it is chock-full of art and antiques.
The entry hall of the house
The front parlor is full of photos and paintings of Tovar de Teresa's family and ancestors.
At the top you can see a photo of Tovar de Teresa as a child.
A wall full of portraits from the 18th and 19th centuries
This portrait of Juan de Palafox, bishop of Puebla and Viceroy of New Spain,
was painted by Miguel Cabrera, who was considered the greatest painter of colonial Mexico.
An ornate nativity scene
A Chinese porcelain jar from the 1600s
The dining room features a collection of antique Talavera plates.
Tovar de Teresa's downstairs bedroom
After suffering a fall, he moved his bedroom to the ground floor.
That fall resulted in an undiagnosed internal hemorrhage which was ultimately the cause of his death.
His library, which contains numerous rare and historic volumes
The house is located on Valladolid Street in the neighborhood of Roma Norte, and, like Slim's other museums, admission is free of charge.
Gorgeous. The inlaid furniture is exquisite and the decorative items are magnificent as well. I like small, intimate spaces like that.......thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many museums here, many of them small, that I still have not seen them all. And new ones keep popping up!
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