Field Trip to The Museum of Andalusian Autonomy

Last week I went on a field trip with some of the school kids to the Museum of Andalusian Autonomy in a small town alongside the Guadalquivir River called Coria del Rio, about 15 minutes from Seville. We all loaded up on a big bus and traveled about 30 minutes from Dos Hermanas to the town of Coria Del Rio.

The museum contained good amount of information about the region of Andalusia, but mainly it was a tribute to Blas Infante, an Andalusian politician, wirier, historian and musicologist. He was called the "Father" of Andalusian fatherland and was responsible for creating the identity of Andalusia that still resonates today.

lining up to head into the museum 

Blas Infante created three symbols of Andalusia that are still used today. He wanted to create an identity that all people in southern Spain could support and relate to. He created the Andalusian flag, coat of arms and the song/hymn of the region. The Flag he created using three stripes of colors; green on top and bottom with white in the middle. The green represented the land surrounding the pueblos and the white for the color of the houses. The coat of arms bears the Pillars of Hercules, which is the ancient name given to the two large mountains near the strait of Gibraltar, one being in Europe the other in Africa. The Figure of the Greek hero Hercules appears between the columns. He is standing while holding two tame lions each represent the power of animal instinct. Below the image of Hercules and the Lions is the phrase, "Andalucía por si, para Espana y La Humanidad" (Andalusia by herself, for Spain, and for Humankind.) The coat of arms also appears in the middle of the flag.

Guide explaining the flag and what the colors represent. 

We also went to the house of Blas Infante in the back of the museum. It was filled with books, musical instruments and many other things used by Blas Infante in his day. During the Spanish Civil war in 1936 Blas Infante was executed by Franco's forces. He was one of many political figures executed at the start of the Civil War when Seville was captured by Franco.

House of Blas Infante

Coat of Arms

After the tour all the kids sat in a large room and the directors of the museum brought out paper to create the Andalusian flag with green tissue paper to glue onto paper with lines pre drawn and a stick to hold up the flag. We all loaded back on the bus and headed back to Dos Hermanas. I was glad I went because I have seen the name of Blas Infante written everywhere in the classrooms and I had no idea who he was. 

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