Everything from the actual keys to the Alamo to Davy Crockett's personal fiddle are part of the Witte Museum's signature Tricentennial exhibition, Confluence and Culture, 300 Years of San Antonio History, which opened over the weekend at the Witte Museum, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
In addition to the fascinating items from the past, Witte President Marise McDermott says the exhibition, which runs through New Year's Day 2019, also is very futuristic, including an augmented reality look at Alamo Plaza, and a 'cacophony,' designed by prominent performance artist George Cisneros.
"300 years of sounds and sights of San Antonio," she said. "It shows there is no one way of experiencing San Antonio history, no one way of encountering the past."
Among the sounds of the city's history is '13 Days of the Alamo,' the iconic broadcast by the late 1200 WOAI Newsman Henry Guerra.
McDermott says the exhibition goes back 300 years, to examine why San Antonio exists at all, in a presentation called 'La Frontera.'
"Frontera is a place of quietness, but it also examines why New Spain chose this area as the edge of their frontier, to keep out intruders, there are plenty of those intruders.
"From there the exhibition goes to 'The Missions,' and 'The Military, which includes the Battle of the Alamo coming alive with an 'augmented reality' diorama that lets guests watch the story of the Alamo in a way never seen before.
'The Modern City' concludes with seminal events like the very first car wreck in San Antonio, interestingly, involving an electric car, and continues to the present day.