The room «Palo Saints of Puerto Rico» shares the devotional and iconographic richness of Puerto Rican popular imagery. The pieces, from various periods and sculptors, were donated to the Museo de las Américas by Ricardo E. Alegría Gallardo (1921-2011) and Carmen Ana “Mela” Pons Castañer (1921-2016), with the aim of preserving and enhancing this religious, artistic, and cultural expression, and fostering its appreciation as an object of historical value.

This exhibition reveals the aesthetics, the art of carving and polychromy, and the context in which many of Puerto Rico's devotional practices emerged. The religious origin of this tradition was established on the island during the era of Spanish colonization. Catechism by missionaries rooted the devotional practice of saints and wood carving among the people, and introduced them to the richness of religious iconography through various resources (biblical illustrations, engravings, and religious stamps).

Today, the tradition of the so-called wooden saints remains alive as an artistic, cultural, and national manifestation rather than a religious one. Artists of all backgrounds have been inspired by and interpreted this art and the fervor for saints to create significant works of social and political content, thus generating an indigenous artistic genre. The vision of visual artists and the continuous and persevering production of saint carvings have contributed to consolidating this tradition in the collective visual imagination and in the psyche and identity of Puerto Ricans.

Doreen Colón Camacho