Upon entering the Dollhouse Museum, whose facade bears the colors of the tricolor, a nice puppet welcomes visitors, accompanied by a gentle breeze provided by the estuary and the surrounding trees. The actress is in the room on the right Marina Salvarezza order one by one the dolls that will be exhibited on site; they are all made by the hands and genius of Anna von Buchwald, precursor of dolls in the country.

Marionettes are the legacy of Anita von Buchwald

The site features dolls from all worlds, professions and ethnicities, there are Afro-Ecuadorians, indigenous peoples, coastal people, bakers, Martians, little pigs, little ants, little frogs, little devils and hundreds of other characters. “Anita had an incredible imagination, but she lived by making these dolls according to the person she saw…”, Salvarezza mentions.

In his years of experience he manufactured 400 dolls. “No one has as many children as Anita”laughs Salvarezza, one of the people responsible for this project to recover the artist’s dolls. For her, it’s like a dream come true in a theater.

The actress describes Von Buchwald as a teacher. “There are people who are not only your friends, but also your teachers, and the teacher is the highest title that can be given… teacher comes from mother, comes from the most intimate thing that can be”.

This Saturday, July 29, they will pay tribute to Von Buchwald with a special puppet show the smug little rat, at 4:00 PM. “It’s a tribute to all she brought to us as a teacher.” The House Museum It is located in the cdla Ferroviaria (past the 5 de Junio ​​​​​​bridge of La Bota).

He wanted to burn his dolls

About 20 years have passed since they went to the city council before this house museum became a reality.

But this has much more history, says Salvarezza the first museum of Ana von Buchwald was born in 1996 in a small real theater in the Centro Cívico Theater, in the south of Guayaquil. The actress remembers it as a beautiful place that welcomed national and international visitors and had a niche for every doll. But the place closed in 1999 due to an infrastructure problem. “They threw everything away, all our decor, we saved the dolls”, to remind.

He says that from here began a very difficult time for Von Buchwald. “She rented a small apartment on the ground floor to store the dolls. and teaching painting and puppet making… This took six to seven years.”

A little piece of Broadway in Guayaquil!: CEN returns with its free micro-theatre cycles in English

But after the small space to keep them, and a kind of disappointment for some reasons related to cultural activities in the country, the artist thought of the worst – burn them or give them away. Something that Salvarezza and Guadalupe Chavez (which is also an important part of this project) they didn’t allow it “It was his job, his life.” As a workaround, Salvarezza spoke to Casa Grande University that same day so that they would receive the artist’s 25 boxes of dolls. They then moved into an apartment that Chávez rented, continuing to use it for birthday, school, or other events.

Since the dolls already needed a permanent home, the artists began to ‘knock on doors’ in the municipality of Guayaquil, and about eight years later received answers about possible places where they could welcome the dolls.

The view of David Orbea from Guayaquil in Casa del Barrio: the exhibition will run for another week

On July 16, 2018, they received the keys to the place and on December 19, 2019, the current Puppet House Museum was delivered to them, which could not open its doors until January of this year due to the pandemic. At the moment, they have already presented a number of features, developed workshops and lectures and are ready to receive projects to bring more life to the space. “At the moment we are finalizing the adaptation as a room, to have light and sound,” says Salvarezza.

She and the group (Alcira Mujica, Viviana Elizalde, Adriana Loor, Kerly Quintero, and Javier Blum) finally feel the peace of mind that their friend and teacher’s work is in a public space. “This is a place to live… This opportunity of the doll museum is a great opportunity. It has its historical factor, it is a heritage of the city, which speaks of a person who has devoted his life to building 400 works of art.” emphasizes the actress.

Due to the confinement they were subjected to, the dolls require maintenance and certain amenities as they have fallen victim to insects. For this reason, two months ago they launched the The “Adopt a Puppet” campaign, which consists of sponsoring a puppet for $5 a month.