Strolling in search of the Meninas

The last few days have been really hectic for me. This beginning of the year has been unusually busy. I left for a trip a couple of days ago and I had to leave a lot of things ready.

However, that didn't stop me from getting caught up in the trend of the last few days of visiting the Meninas Caracas Gallery. Inspired by the project that for some years has been done in Madrid, which is the idea of the Venezuelan artist Antonio Azzato. It is an urban art project inspired by the famous painting Las Meninas by Diego Velazquez.

The project consists of a series of sculptures in the form of Menina that are painted with local themes, some with the artist's idea, others by invited artists.

So last Saturday, I met up with my friends to take a walking tour and visit some of the sculptures that will be for a couple of months adorning some points of the city in the municipality of Chacao.

We started our walk in search of the Meninas along Francisco de Miranda Avenue, where the Parque Cristal building is located. It was getting dark, and the sunset was beautiful.

AvFcoDeMiranda_1.jpg

Not a Menina, but this small sculpture of a couple of children playing with a kite in front of the Parque Cristal building looked beautiful at sunset.

PapagayoEsc_ParqueCristal.jpg

The first Menina we visited was by Venezuelan big league baseball player Gleyber Torres, who plays for the New York Yankees.

MeninaGleyberTorres1.jpg

MeninaGleyberTorres2.jpg

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At all the Meninas we visited that night people were lining up to be photographed with them. We didn't want to spend hours in line so we photographed them as people were changing shifts, hehe.

The next ones we visited were the Menina Queen which was located in the Plaza de Los Palos Grandes and is by the Venezuelan football player Deyna Castellanos who plays for Manchester City. And the next in our tour was the Menina Oro Negro, which represents Venezuelan oil and is located in front of another well-known building of the municipality called Centro Plaza.

MeninaQueen.jpg

MeninaOroNegro.jpg

From there, we headed to Plaza Francia in Altamira. There were a lot of people, and the square still had Christmas lights.

PlazaFrancia_13Enero.jpg

In the Plaza, there are two Meninas. The Menina 40/70, with a baseball theme, whose idea is of the baseball player Ronald Acuña Jr.

The other one in the square is Menina Sabroso by the king of salsa Oscar D'Leon, and represents the music.

Menina40:70.jpg

MeninaSabroso.jpg

We continue our way along Francisco de Miranda Avenue until we reach Plaza El Indio in Chacao. There was a Menina representing the archipelago of Los Roques.

MeninaLosRoques.jpg

From there, we walked to Plaza Bolívar of Chacao and saw the Menina Bolívar.

Menina_Bolivar.jpg

We continued our way to the San Ignacio Shopping Center to see the Menina Miss Rayas, whose motif was designed by Venezuelan fashion designer Angel Sanchez.

A few blocks away, in a place called Licoteca, we found the Menina Ron Venezolano.

MeninaMissRayas_2.jpg

Menina_RonDeVenezuela.jpg

We continue our tour to the Plaza La Castellana, which is also still with Christmas lights, there it is the Menina Colibri.

Menina_Colibri.jpg

Finally, we went to the CAF headquarters in Altamira, where we found the Menina Salto Angel.

We ended our walk in search of Meninas. We walked about 10 thousand steps that night. We still left some Meninas unseen because there are 19 in total.

Menina_SaltoAngel.jpg

But the next day, Sunday, after lunch, my husband suggested that we go by car to see the missing ones and so we did.

We saw the Menina Araguaney in Campo Alegre and the Menina Lazos de Mi Tierra which is in the Plaza Brion in Chacaito. An area that is very busy and where paradoxically there was almost no one wanting to be photographed with the Menina. I guess because in that area the security is not the best.

MeninaAraguaney.jpg

MeninaLazos.jpg

Then we visited the Menina Guacamayas, which is in the square Las Morochas in Altamira.

MeninaGuacamaya.jpg

Then we visited the Menina Orquidea and from there we went to see the Menina Avila. Both are on the sidewalks of important and very busy Avenues (Fco de Miranda y Av. Libertador).

MeninaOrquidea.jpg

MeninaAvila.jpg

That day we passed again by the Menina Colibrí located in the Plaza La Castellana, and with the light of day, you can appreciate its colors much more.

Then was another Menina in front of the headquarters of a local bank, which is one of the sponsors of the exhibition. The Menina BNC has the colors of the image of the bank.

MeninaColibri_2.jpg

MeninaBNC.jpg

From there, we went to see the Toucan Menina.

Menina_Tucan.jpg

At this point, we only had one more to see. That day we finished the tour at the Menina Mineral Resources, which is in front of another emblematic building of the city, El Cubo Negro.

This is the only Menina we saw that had texture on its surface. It was the one I liked the most because it also fits perfectly with the environment.

MeninaMinerales.jpg

It was fun to walk through the Meninas, and I think we should be grateful and applaud any initiative that gets people out on the street to enjoy the city.

This was supposed to be posted yesterday, and it is my post for this week's #wednesdaywalk challenge hosted by @tattoodjay.

Thank you for reading.

All images and writing are my own unless otherwise stated.

© CoquiCoin

January 18, 2024

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Beautiful photos and all the Meninas, it is a project that gives life to the city and very original. I liked them very much. Thank you very much for sharing your experience on that walk. Best regards. Nice evening. 🥰

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Yes, the project is very original and a great way to get people to take to the streets!
Thank you for stopping by! Saludos:)

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Beautiful walk and what good art does the city in every way. That's how we enjoy the Havana Biennials here, and afterwards many of these works remain adorning the spaces and people enjoy them and also interact with them, taking photos.
Your post is so nice.

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Thank you, Nanix! :)
It's so nice when they do things like this. It humanizes urban spaces that are sometimes a bit inhospitable. The biennial in Havana must be great.
Un abrazo!

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So those are called meninas.. They are creatively painted with beautiful designs. ☺️

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Well, menina is a Portuguese word that means girl:)

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Hello sis! That Meninas looks so beautiful! And you're right about the last Meninas it fits perfectly in the environment but all the rest looks wonderful too :D

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The sculptures are all pretty cool, sis :)

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they really are.. all the designs are so amazing <3

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At first I wanted to ask what an Manina is 😅 that would have been very stupid!

Those statues look damn cool though! They really do! Wish my country would try to create some beautifull environment for the population!

Anyways I'll be found staring at the statues again! Bye!!!

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Wow this is such a fun adventure. I learned something new today. What a lovely art project indeed! I hope we have something similar here locally. Thank you for this lovely tour and sharing your many beautiful photos. Happy weekend!


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Thank you!! I’m glad you liked the walk.

I hope some day you’ll have an Urban art exhibition at your place. It’s fun and nice. Happy weekend!

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Arent these fun ! It must have been great searching for them !
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It was fun, indeed:)

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Just how many Meninas are here? they are all so beautiful and unique as well.

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Lovely photos. Thanks for sharing a great walk. It is such a contrast to the heavy snow we have had here! 😀

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Thank you, Steve! I hope the weather improves soon over there:)

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That is such a beautiful piece of art, I wish I could visit the place too🤗

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Those are pretty Menina with awesome design, Im curious about Menina so I look it up on google and it mean a female child and saw some image too in google.

Anyways those are really cool sculpture. Love all the design and love all the colors too. If its me I will also enjoy my walk in there with those beautiful Meninas (☞^o^) ☞

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Yes, menina is a Portuguese word and it means little girl. These sculptures are inspired by the girls who appear in a very famous painting that is in a museum in Madrid, Spain. The painting has the title Las Meninas.
🤗

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A beautiful walk! 😍 A tour through which you teach us a lot of famous people and cultural aspects of Venezuela. I loved it.
I hate those queues of people looking for their selfie and I use the same technique to take the photos. 🤣🤣

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I hate those selfies too:) These days in Caracas a lot of people will have the same selfie in IG lol 😅 Un gran abrazo ! 🤗

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Thoae are some cool and colorful statues scattered around the city! I've never heard the word 'meninas' used in a Spanish-speaking country, knowing it previously only from Portuguese (and the Brazilian variant at that), meaning 'muchachas'. Walking around the city in search of pretty statues sounds pretty enjoyable! 😁 🙏 💚 ✨ 🤙

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The walk was a lot of fun. And yes the word menina is from Portuguese. But also is the name of a famous paint by the Spanish painter Diego Velasquez, called Las Meninas. It refers to the young ladies at the service of the infanta (daughter of the king), who are portrayed in the painting.
Have a great day 😄

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That's great to hear! I figured it came from Portuguese. Ahh, OK, that information helps a lot, thank you! Now I know! Thank you! Have a marvelous Monday! 😁 🙏 💚 ✨ 🤙

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Que genial! Muy bonitas fotos, me encantaron las meninas. Gracias por compartir!

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Me alegro:) gracias por pasarte por aquí

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