Castile and León treasures an intangible heritage of incalculable dimensions. Almost all civilizations from northern Europe to the ends of the Mediterranean basin have passed through here and all of them left their legacy, giving rise to an amalgamation of cultural manifestations of unimaginable value.
In the heart of the city of Zamora, on the site occupied by the former Royal Prison, a modern building stands to house the Ethnographic Museum of Castile and León, a space conceived for the conservation and dissemination of the essence of the traditional culture of Zamora. the region, in addition to being a reference in anthropological research and documentation center.
The basement, called "Space and the Environment", shows the place where man lives his own existence, his relationship with the environment and nature, production, trades and daily life throughout history. .
The ground floor themed "Time and Rituals" in reference to the different ways of measuring time and its relationship with summer cycles, festive rites, meteorology and the interaction with the zodiac and the stars. It is about exposing the relationship between vital activities and celebrations according to the patterns of time.
The first floor talks about "Form and design" through decorated objects, their aesthetic sense, their symbolism and practical use, all from the criteria of popular art of each territory or as a sign of identity of each collective.
"The soul and the body" occupies the second floor in a highlighting of material and spiritual objects. Through them, the cultural changes of traditional society are analyzed, taking religion, education, social norms and structures, language and identity as common threads.
On the third floor, under the name "Clay: symbol and function", a reflection is proposed through multiple objects of the relationship between man and the usefulness of the clay that the earth provides directly, from its symbolic use in mythology to the constructive uses, passing through everyday objects.
The museum also has an important photographic and videographic collection of all the intangible heritage of Castile and León, as well as an access route to the most important archive of the oral tradition of the region.
