historia

If our theatre had the tremor of bullfighting festivals, it would be magnificent. If it had managed to convey that aesthetic violence, it would be a beautiful theatre like The Iliad. A bullfight is a very beautiful thing. --Ramón del Valle Inclán.

The Museo Taurino de Salamanca was born with a clear vocation: to highlight and recognize the bullfighting tradition and the bullfighters of Salamanca. It was created by the Federation of Bullfighting Fan Clubs of Salamanca "Helmántica" and is currently managed by the Salamanca City Council through Tourism, Commerce and Economic Promotion of Salamanca, S.A.U.

This federation was created in 1989 with the purpose of bringing together the Salamanca bullfighting fan clubs that existed in the province at that time. Among the founding clubs were Peña Taurina "Paco Pallarés", Peña Taurina "El Viti", Peña Taurina Salmantina, Peña Taurina "Niño de la Capea", Peña Taurina "Tendido Universitario", Peña Taurina "Cesterito", Peña Taurina "Víctor Manuel", Peña Taurina "Tom´s Pallín", Peña Taurina "Rui Bento Vázquez" and Peña Taurina "Julio Robles".

During the first years of its existence, Don José Silguero Honorato, a member of the Peña Taurina "Paco Pallarés", was at the head of the federation.

In the first years of its foundation, various events and tributes were held, such as the one dedicated to El Viti with the unveiling of a statue representing him at the entrance of the La Glorieta bullring.

As the years went by, more clubs joined, such as Peña Taurina "Pepe Luís Gallego", Peña Taurina "José Ramón Martín" and Peña Taurina "José Luis Ramos".

In 1991, Don Eusebio Cembellín Lorenzo, a member of El Niño de la Capea's club, unanimously took office as president. During these years, the board of directors saw fit to name the remembered Julio Robles as an honorary member. Likewise, they began to work on the creation of a museum dedicated to Salamanca bull-breeding ranches and bullfighters.

The year 1993 began for the Federation with the mission of definitively launching the bullfighting museum; thus, a commission was created to compile contacts of bullfighters, bull-breeders, and aficionados who would lend or donate various objects that, either for their artistic or historical value, could be exhibited for admiration.

After long days of work, the Museo Taurino de Salamanca was inaugurated on December 29, 1993, in premises provided by the Salamanca City Council on the central Doctor Piñuela street.

Over the following years, the museum continued to work on acquiring new collections, without neglecting other activities such as holding conferences, bullfighting festivals, and trophy award galas. All of this was aimed at promoting the National Spectacle.

In 1995, the Federation gave the Bullfighting Museum its surname, becoming known as Museo Taurino de Salamanca "Primitivo Sánchez Laso" in honor of a great aficionado who for many years was president of the Peña Taurina Salmantina and who, being a museum created and managed by aficionados, was considered an excellent way to pay tribute to him.

In 2002, Don Eusebio Cembellín did not stand for re-election as president, and Don Felicísimo Mesonero Mesonero took office, remaining at the helm of the board of directors until 2007, the year in which Don José Martín Hernández took possession as head of the Federation.

Since 2016, the Federation has been presided over by Luciano Sánchez Hernández.

The current board of directors has among its objectives the modernization and dissemination of the Bullfighting Museum through actions such as temporary exhibitions with the creation of the so-called "Traveling Museum," which seeks to bring bullfighting art to all corners of the province.

On November 30, 2017, the Mayor of Salamanca, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, and the President of the Federation of Bullfighting Fan Clubs, Luciano Sánchez, presented the new musealization of the Bullfighting Museum.

The main objective is for the Museum to be a reference point in the city for the dissemination, defense, and research of the culture and heritage surrounding the bull, its artists, and the dehesa landscape; for the understanding of the reality of the bullfighting world, its dissemination and conservation, and the understanding of its values related to local identity.

Over the years, the Museo Taurino has become a reference center for all aficionados who want to enjoy the art of Cúchares and remember great glories of the bullfighting scene who will never fade from the memory of aficionados, having written a golden page in the history of Salamanca's tauromaquia.