THE CULTURE OF PUERTO RICO

BY JOSE LARACUENTE
 t o R ic o Christopher Columbus landed in Puerto Rico in 1493, during

r
his second voyage, naming it San Juan Bautista. The Taínos, the

Pu e indigenous people, called the island Boriquén Tierra del alto

señor ("Land of the Noble Lord"). In 1508, the Spanish granted
settlement rights to Juan Ponce de León, who established a
settlement at Caparra and became the first governor. In 1519
Caparra had to be relocated to a nearby coastal islet with a
healthier environment; it was renamed Puerto Rico ("Rich
Port") for its harbor, among the world's best natural bays. The
two names were switched over the centuries: the island became
Puerto Rico and its capital San Juan. The United States
anglicized the name to "Porto Rico" when it occupied the island
in 1898 after the Spanish-American War.
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The greatest art on the island is at the Museo de Arte de Ponce,

Las Americas Avenue, in Puerto Rico's largest city. The
collection, donated by former governor Luis A. Ferré, ranges
from Jan van Eyck's Salvatore Mundi to Rossetti's
confrontational Daugthers of King Lear. The museum building
t c h?v= was designed by Edward Durell Stone, who also designed New
/wa York's Museum of Modern Art. Works are displayed here in a
be.com honeycomb of skylit hexagonal rooms. Puerto Rican artists who
yo utu
w w. wk are represented include José Campeche (1751-1809) and
t t p ://w 5YlD Francisco Oller (1833-1917)
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