Museo Etnografico - Juan B. Ambrosetti
Museo Etnografico - Juan B. Ambrosetti
Museo Etnografico - Juan B. Ambrosetti
4.5
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Neighbourhood: El Centro (Downtown)
How to get there
- Plaza de Mayo • 4 min walk
- Bolívar • 5 min walk
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4.5
53 reviews
Excellent
21
Very good
29
Average
2
Poor
0
Terrible
1
Jonathan R
Merthyr Tydfil, UK100 contributions
We have an interest in ethnography and early cultures. The ground floor rooms had many interesting artefacts. There were comprehensive guides in English. The real highlight was the upper room with the pre-Inca exhibitions. It was excellent. There were English handbooks. So much to see! Very thought provoking.
Written 19 April 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
History Professor and Fulbright Scholar
Chicago, IL418 contributions
Jul 2024 • Solo
An estate on an eight-hectare (20 acre) property in Buenos Aires' Nueva Pompeya ward became the site of a homemade museum in 1866, when 14-year-old Francisco Moreno and his father classified and mounted their extensive collection of fossils and artifacts, gathered in excursions along the property and surroundings. The younger Moreno organized his collection as a public display, and with funding from the Province of Buenos Aires, inaugurated the Anthropology and Ethnography Museum of Buenos Aires in 1879.
Featuring over 15,000 artifacts, the collection was ultimately transferred to the new La Plata Museum in 1888. Explorations in the Gran Chaco region conducted at the time by University of Buenos Aires naturalist Juan Bautista Ambrosetti led to an extensive, new collection, however, and in 1904, the latter inaugurated the University of Buenos Aires Museum of Ethnography.[1]
The museum became the first in Argentina to introduce guided excursions for its patrons, and travels along the Inca road system resulted in the 1908 discovery of Pucará de Tilcara, among the best-preserved ruins of settlements by Pre-Inca cultures in the area. Elaborate petroglyphs and over 3,000 other relics were recovered and catalogued in the following three years, and most were added to the collections of the Museum of Ethnography.. The settlement itself was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003.
Dr. Ambrosetti died in 1917, and its management was continued by his collaborators, Drs. Salvador Debenedetti and Félix Outes. The museum was relocated to its present location in the city's Montserrat ward in 1927; the Italianate structure had been designed by Pedro Benoit for the School of Law, and completed in 1878. Many of the collections of archeology and anthropology of the Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Museum were assigned to this museum in the decade of 1940, despite this, the institution became largely overshadowed. It was bolstered, however, by the 1958 creation of a Degree in Anthropology by the University of Buenos Aires, and the institution was subsequently transferred to the university's School of Philosophy and Letters.
Featuring over 15,000 artifacts, the collection was ultimately transferred to the new La Plata Museum in 1888. Explorations in the Gran Chaco region conducted at the time by University of Buenos Aires naturalist Juan Bautista Ambrosetti led to an extensive, new collection, however, and in 1904, the latter inaugurated the University of Buenos Aires Museum of Ethnography.[1]
The museum became the first in Argentina to introduce guided excursions for its patrons, and travels along the Inca road system resulted in the 1908 discovery of Pucará de Tilcara, among the best-preserved ruins of settlements by Pre-Inca cultures in the area. Elaborate petroglyphs and over 3,000 other relics were recovered and catalogued in the following three years, and most were added to the collections of the Museum of Ethnography.. The settlement itself was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003.
Dr. Ambrosetti died in 1917, and its management was continued by his collaborators, Drs. Salvador Debenedetti and Félix Outes. The museum was relocated to its present location in the city's Montserrat ward in 1927; the Italianate structure had been designed by Pedro Benoit for the School of Law, and completed in 1878. Many of the collections of archeology and anthropology of the Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Museum were assigned to this museum in the decade of 1940, despite this, the institution became largely overshadowed. It was bolstered, however, by the 1958 creation of a Degree in Anthropology by the University of Buenos Aires, and the institution was subsequently transferred to the university's School of Philosophy and Letters.
Written 9 July 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Connie B
El Cajon, CA480 contributions
Nov 2019
Does a great job of pointing out that the genocide of the indigenous people is not in the distant past! Excellent displays and well curated (in Spanish). We were here over an hour and never even got upstairs. Good location downtown so don't give this a miss if you have a little time to spare. No entry fees.
Written 17 November 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
SEs
London, UK25,868 contributions
May 2018 • Friends
This is a very good museum here.The museum is an old museum with lots of Artefacts. You can spend a couple of hours worth the visit.
Written 3 June 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
KodoDrummer
Buenos Aires, Argentina70,626 contributions
Mar 2018 • Friends
This museum dates to 1866, when a father and his 14-year old son classified and publicly displayed the artefacts and fossils they collected on excursions. The museum is relatively small and contained on two floors of a building that possible has about 4,000 to 6,000 square feet of material on display.
Provides important history of the original inhabitants of southern South America.
There are two very detailed booklets in English which provides excellent information on the museum’s artefacts and displays. Since most of the displayed information is in Spanish, the booklets come in hand for those unable to read Spanish.
In the back portion of the property are two libraries, one containing documents, the other mostly older books. Staff work at cataloguing, research, maintaining artefacts, and getting future artefacts ready for display.
We spent two hours at the museum.
We paid an entrance fee of 40 pesos (US$2) per person. I don’t quite understand the fee, as I thought the sign says 20 pesos per person, and before going I checked on the internet, and a site said 30 pesos per person. In any event, it is inexpensive. Thirteen years later and with funding from the Province of Buenos Aires, in 1879 the Anthropology and Ethnography Museum of Buenos Aires commenced operations.
My attached photos include over 85% of the display material and information.
Provides important history of the original inhabitants of southern South America.
There are two very detailed booklets in English which provides excellent information on the museum’s artefacts and displays. Since most of the displayed information is in Spanish, the booklets come in hand for those unable to read Spanish.
In the back portion of the property are two libraries, one containing documents, the other mostly older books. Staff work at cataloguing, research, maintaining artefacts, and getting future artefacts ready for display.
We spent two hours at the museum.
We paid an entrance fee of 40 pesos (US$2) per person. I don’t quite understand the fee, as I thought the sign says 20 pesos per person, and before going I checked on the internet, and a site said 30 pesos per person. In any event, it is inexpensive. Thirteen years later and with funding from the Province of Buenos Aires, in 1879 the Anthropology and Ethnography Museum of Buenos Aires commenced operations.
My attached photos include over 85% of the display material and information.
Written 15 March 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
AlexFromJerusalem
Jerusalem, Israel111 contributions
Dec 2017 • Couples
The exhibits are fascinating. There is an emphasis on Tierra del Fuego, probably because its natives and their meagre material culture survived into the 19th century. Many of the other exhibits come from outside Argentina, especially the Andes. it's well worth a visit, but it seems to me that the museum doesn't get the resources it deserves from the government. Too bad.
Written 27 December 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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