Iberian History: Artifacts of twin city on display

Published 2:00 pm Tuesday, November 20, 2012

The Bayou Teche Museum unveiled its newest exhibit Friday night that tells the story of the city’s first European residents.

The exhibit’s debut was part of the opening events of this weekend’s El Festival Espanol de Nueva Iberia, or Spanish heritage festival.

“Spanish Founding of New Iberia ” is now a permanent fixture within the museum offering a timeline starting with the arrival of Malaguenos colonists led by Col. Francisco Bouligny.

In all, 16 Spanish families are considered the original founders of the region and seven of those families remain in New Iberia, Asociacion Espanola de Nueva Iberia president Becky Owens said.

Those founding families include Gary, Viator, Segura, Lopez, Migues, Romero and Prado.

The exhibit is a combination of historical and cultural artifacts from New Iberia and Spain. Tasha Dugas, the museum’s director, said a generous family donation in memory of Thomas and Eleanor Holleman and lots of community support helped make the exhibit a reality.

The Hollemans were responsible for rebuilding the historic Segura House located on Louisiana 182 along Spanish Lake.

The property was first owned by Francisco Segura in the 1780s and the orginal house was built in 1836 by Rachael Segura. In the 1960s the home was destroyed in a hurricane but rebuilt in its original Spanish architectural design by the Hollemans.

You can read more about the Segura House at the exhibit.

“Founding of New Iberia” also includes a Spanish coin dating back to 1783, which was anonymously donated to the museum, castanets, paella bowl and even a Rosary belonging to the Bouligny family.

“Francisco Bouligny actually brought the families here from New Orleans,” Owens said. “That rosary is from his family, so that’s pretty exciting.”

New Iberia’s relationship with Spain was galvanized in 2011 after the twinning ceremony with Alhaurin de la Torre in Malaga, which is in the southern, Andalusian region.

Since then officials and residents from both cities have travelled to visit each other’s communities and after months of planning, the annual Spanish heritage festival was born.

Alhaurin de la Torre native and historian Jose Manuel de Molina helped spearhead the twinning and this weekend has been giving historical lectures on New Iberia’s Spanish founding.

His final lecture will be at 1 p.m at the Sugar Cane Festival Building following the dedication of the New Iberia Trilingual Historical Markers and a presentation by Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne.

Molina also has made several contributions to the exhibit including two traditional, ornate tunics worn during Spain’s Easter celebration of Holy Week or Semana Santa.

Molina said those native to New Iberia’s Spanish twin city can learn a lot about their own history thanks to the Queen City.

“Here in New Iberia you take care of your festivals, your culture so that you can share and teach it,” he said. “In Spain we don’t do it as much because it’s so commonplace we don’t think about it.”