Cultural Foundation for Antoran Peoples Center

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The exterior of the Center in central Porta Tranquíla

The Cultural Foundation for Antoran Peoples Center, colloquially "The Center" (El Centro,) is a museum in Antora devoted to Antoran culture and the history of the various ethnic groups that comprise the nation. Its permanent collection of over 700,000 items and rotating collection of 240,000 items make it the largest museum in the nation by inventory. The primary building, located on Aguíla Square in Porta Tranquíla, has the most accessible floor space by volume in the city. Secondary exhibition locations in Eleçeron and Iravala house additional items, while tertiary locations house archives and restoration programs. Focusing primarily on art, the Center possesses cultural artifacts from as early as the sixth century up to the modern period. The Center is operated as both an educational and entertainment venue. School tours and lectures take place year-round as well as concerts and charity events.

The Cultural Foundation for Antoran Peoples was founded in 1902 by King Montero Julio with the purpose of cataloging important pieces of ethnic and artistic history. It was expanded in 1917 with the opening of the Center to display items for the benefit of the public. The Foundation is an independent entity from the state but is funded and administrated in part by Royal grants and appointments. Many notable donations to the collections have come from noble and Royal sources. The Center has the distinction of being the permeant public home of the Arms of Historic Royals and the gallery of the Monarch State Portraits. Other collections of note include the Ancient and Feudal Rotundas, which contain transplanted structures dating to the Impelantic colonization of Antora, and the Transportation Hall, boasting a full-scale replica of an Antoran carrack from the 17th century.

The Center is open throughout the year and has an average of over a million visitors per annum. In 2021, the Cultural Foundation for Antoran Peoples reported 1,029,443 visitors.

Collections

The Center has fourteen collections displayed on its public floors: the Monarch State Portraits, the Chivalric Wing part of which contains the Arms of Historic Royals, the Classical Artworks, the Reoran Wing, the Arranzic Wing, the Contemporary Collection, the Architectural Gallery, the Cultivated Gardens, the Works of Innovation Gallery, the Transportation Hall, the Ancient and Feudal Rotundas, the Natural Hall, the Musical Tower, and the Antoran Hall. Each are free to visit for citizens of Antoran, though foreign tourists will need to pay a small fee to access the area of the museum containing collections other than the Contemporary Collection, the Monarch State Portraits, and the Classical Artworks.

Selections from the Monarch State Portraits

The Monarch State Portraits are an annual capture of the Monarch and their family, separate from the official photographs taken for their state offices. It is customary for the portraits to be slightly surrealist and caricature-like to provide levity and let the artist's personality show. The 2022 collection has pieces from notable portrait artists Nerea Méndez and Manuel Sacristán, and features for the first time in the exhibits history a member of the Monarch's family not in the line of succession: Astolfo de Naranza-Carratéo.