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ro S

imón

. Not

icias

histo

riales

de la

s con

quist

as de

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ra fir

me e

n las

Indi

as O

ccid

enta

les. «

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ncisc

o de

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tafé

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r Don

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f Ant

onio

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icaur

te A

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u Mag

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ncia

de e

ste R

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», pá

g. 10

9, ca

pítu

lo 2,

par

te 2:

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a opi

nión

que

tubi

eron

del

orige

n y p

rincip

io d

e los

hom

bres

y m

ujer

es”, 1

784.

Col

ecció

n pa

rticu

lar. F

oto:

Tan

gram

a.

Fray

Ped

ro S

imón

. Hist

orica

l Ann

ounc

emen

ts of

the C

onqu

ests

of th

e Wes

t Ind

ies M

ainl

and.

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rder

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man

uscr

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ta Fe

, Dr.

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f Ant

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9, C

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t 2: “

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pini

on

they

had

abou

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orig

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d be

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Ped

ro S

imón

. Not

icias

histo

riales

de la

s con

quist

as de

tier

ra fir

me e

n las

Indi

as O

ccid

enta

les (S

egun

da p

arte

). Bo

gotá

: Edi

toria

l de M

edar

do R

ivas

, 189

1. Fo

to: T

angr

ama.

Fray

Ped

ro S

imón

. Hist

orica

l Ann

ounc

emen

ts of

the C

onqu

ests

of th

e Wes

t Ind

ies M

ainl

and (

Seco

nd P

art).

Bogo

tá: M

edar

do R

ivas

, Pub

lishe

r, 18

91.

EL MITO DE LA BACHUÉ

Los conquistadores españoles tomaron nota de todo tipo de detalles que encontraron en el Nuevo Mundo con el fin de documentar e informar sus hallazgos a España. La primera mención y una de las más completas sobre el mito de la Bachué, diosa primigenia de los muiscas, fue narrada por Fray Pedro Simón en sus Noticias historiales de las conquistas de Tierra Firme en las Indias Occidentales publicado originalmente en 1626. Simón, sorprendido por los rituales paganos y sus asombrosas historias deja testimo-nio de una figura homóloga a la Eva cristiana, que se encarga de poblar al mundo.

—

THE MYTH OF LA BACHUÉ

The spanish colonizers took note of every type of detail they found in the New World with the purpose of documenting and informing Spain about their findings. The first men-tion, and one of the most complete, about Bachué’s myth as the first goddess of the Muiscas was narrated by Fray Pedro Simón in his book Noticias historiales de las conquis-tas de Tierra Firme en las Indias Occidentales (Historical Announcements of the Conquests of the West Indies Mainland) originally published in 1626. Simón, surprised by the pagan rituals and their amazing stories leaves testimony of a figure homologus to the christian Eva, who is in charge of populating the world.

—

Página derecha:Rómulo Rozo. Bachué, diosa generatriz de los muiscas, 1926. Talla en granito, 170 x 44 x 40 cm. Vistas frontal y posterior. Foto: Jorge H. González.

“2º. In the district of the city of Tunja, four leagues from the Northern part and one from the Indian town they called Iguaque, a coronation of steep mountains ranges is formed, a very cold land and so covered by moorlands and ordinary fogs that for most part of the year they never show their peaks, if not for midday during the month of January. Between these mountain ranges and peaks, a slightly deep land depression is made from where Indians say that soon after dawn rose or light appeared and other things were cre-ated, came a woman called Bachué or Furachogua (another given name after the good things she did, because Fura meant woman and Chogua meant good thing), pulled a boy out by the hand, from the same waters, a boy of around three years of age, and they both came down together from the mountain range to the plains, where the town of Iguaque sits now, there they made a house where they lived until the boy was old enough to marry her, because after he was old enough, he did, and with this marriage so impor-tant and the woman so prolific and fertile that with each delivery she gave birth to four or six children, with whom the world came to be filled with people, because they both went along and left children in many parts, until after many years of the earth being filled with men and the two now very old they both returned to the same town and called on many people to accompany them to the lagoon from where they rose, next to which Bachué gave a speech to all, urging peace and conservation among them, the keeping of the precepts and laws that she had given them, that were not few, especially the worship of the gods, and concluding, bid farewell with singular shouts and cries from both sides, and she and her husband converting into two great snakes, slid into the lagoon’s waters, and never again appeared, though Bachué later appeared many times in other places, having the Indians determined since then to count her among their gods, in gratification of the benefits she had given them.”

Fray Pedro Simón. Historical Announcements of the Conquests of the West Indies Mainland. Second Volume.

LA BACHUÉ DE RÓMULO ROZO

En París, en 1925, el escultor colombiano Rómulo Rozo esculpió su obra maestra: Bachué, diosa generatriz de los muiscas, inspirado en la lectura de las crónicas de Fray Pedro Simón, en las investigaciones sobre la cultura chibcha del antropólogo Miguel Triana y con influencias de culturas orientales que encontró en los museos franceses. Estas fuentes fueron imprescindibles para la proyección de la escultura ya que nuestros indígenas no hicieron imágenes de sus deidades.

Las fotografías que llegaron a Colombia de la escul-tura generaron admiración en sus contemporáneos, quienes vieron en Rozo al líder de un arte nuevo y propio que se venía proponiendo crear. La pieza, sin precedentes, rompió completamente con la representación académica en Colombia y marcó un hito en la producción del arte nacional.

Comisionado por el gobierno para monumentali-zar este proyecto artístico, Rozo viajó con La Bachué a Sevilla y decoró el edificio colombiano en la Exposición Iberoamericana de 1929. La ejecución de este espectacular trabajo lo consagró como el artista colombiano con mayor reconocimiento internacional durante la primera mitad del siglo XX.

Rozo no regresaría a Colombia y a La Bachué se le perdería la pista desde entonces. Con su reaparición setenta años después, los estudios generados en torno a la escultura han permitido reubicar su protagonismo en la historia como la primera obra del arte moderno colombiano.

—

RÓMULO ROZO’S BACHUÉ

In Paris, 1925, colombian sculptor Rómulo Rozo made his masterpiece: Bachué, Muisca’s generating goddess, inspired by Fray Pedro Simón’s chronicles, anthropologist Miguel Triana’s investigations on Chibcha culture and influenced by oriental cultures he got in touch with in french muse-ums. These sources were essential for the creation of the sculpture because the Chibcha indigenous people didn’t make images of their deities.

The photographs of the sculpture that arrived to Colombia generated admiration within Rozo’s contem-poraries, who saw him as the leader of a new approach to art, focused on our own history and culture. The piece, without precedent, broke completely with the representa-tions taught by the academy in Colombia and it’s a landmark in national production of art.

Cartel de Gustavo Bacarisas para la Exposición Iberoamericana en Sevilla, 1929 - 1930. Publicado en el Libro de Oro Iberoamericano. Catálogo Oficial y Monumental de la Exposición de Sevilla. Unión Iberoamericana, 1930.

Página derecha:La Bachué instalada en la fuente interior del Pabellón de Colombia en Sevilla.ca. 1929. Fotografía: archivo particular.

Commisioned by the government to monumentalize this artistic proyect, Rozo travelled with La Bachué to Seville where he decorated the colombian pavillion for the Iberoamerican Exhibition in 1929. The execution of this spectacular work established him as the colombian artist with most international recognition during the first half of the 20th century.

Rozo never returned to Colombia and La Bachué was going to be “lost” since then. With it’s reapparition seventy years later, studies around the sculpture have allowed to relocate its protagonic role in history as the first modern colombian art piece.

—

Textos / Texts:Christian Padilla

Historiador de Arte, Premio de Ensayo Histórico de Arte Colombiano (SCRD, 2007)

Art Historian, Colombian Art History Essay Prize (SCRD, 2007)

Ilustraciones / Illustrations:Martín Guerrero

Fotografías de portada y contraportada /Photographs on cover and back cover:

Jorge H. González

Diseño / Design:Tangrama

proyectobachue.org