Francisco Moreno Museum of Patagonia
Encyclopedia
The Francisco P. Moreno Museum of Patagonia is a natural history and cultural anthropology
museum located in the Civic Center of Bariloche, Argentina
.
ski resort
town. The museum, and its accompanying Domingo Sarmiento Public Library and Bariloche City Hall, were designed by Ernesto de Estrada. Built from polished green tuff
, cypress
and fitzroya
, with slate
roofing, the buildings are centered by a plaza put down entirely in flagstone
pavers.
The majority of its collections were requisitioned from the National Parks Adeministration
by the museum's first director, Enrique Artayeta. Named in honor of Argentine surveyor and academic Francisco Moreno
, the institution was organized in the tradition of the La Plata Museum
, whose 1888 establishment was owed in large measure to the renowned explorer.
Expanded and modernized during a 1992 restoration, the museum's collections are divided by a number of categorized halls:
The museum also includes a hall for temporary exhibits, an auditorium, workshop, library and archives, as well as facilities for curators and researchers.
The Bariloche Civic Center, including the museum, was declared a National Historic Monument in 1987.
Cultural anthropology
Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans, collecting data about the impact of global economic and political processes on local cultural realities. Anthropologists use a variety of methods, including participant observation,...
museum located in the Civic Center of Bariloche, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
.
Overview
The museum was inaugurated on March 17, 1940, as part of the unveiling of the Bariloche Civic Center, which was commissioned by the national government as part of an effort to promote the then-remote Río Negro ProvinceRío Negro Province
Río Negro is a province of Argentina, located at the northern edge of Patagonia. Neighboring provinces are from the south clockwise Chubut, Neuquén, Mendoza, La Pampa and Buenos Aires. To the east lies the Atlantic Ocean.Its capital is Viedma...
ski resort
Ski resort
A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing and other winter sports. In Europe a ski resort is a town or village in a ski area - a mountainous area, where there are ski trails and supporting services such as hotels and other accommodation, restaurants, equipment rental and a ski lift system...
town. The museum, and its accompanying Domingo Sarmiento Public Library and Bariloche City Hall, were designed by Ernesto de Estrada. Built from polished green tuff
Tuff
Tuff is a type of rock consisting of consolidated volcanic ash ejected from vents during a volcanic eruption. Tuff is sometimes called tufa, particularly when used as construction material, although tufa also refers to a quite different rock. Rock that contains greater than 50% tuff is considered...
, cypress
Cypress
Cypress is the name applied to many plants in the cypress family Cupressaceae, which is a conifer of northern temperate regions. Most cypress species are trees, while a few are shrubs...
and fitzroya
Fitzroya
Fitzroya is a monotypic genus in the cypress family.-Species:The single living species, Fitzroya cupressoides, is a tall, long-lived conifer native to the Andes mountains of southern Chile and Argentina, where it is an important member of the Valdivian temperate rain forests...
, with slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
roofing, the buildings are centered by a plaza put down entirely in flagstone
Flagstone
Flagstone, is a generic flat stone, usually used for paving slabs or walkways, patios, fences and roofing. It may be used for memorials, headstones, facades and other constructions. The name derives from Middle English flagge meaning turf, perhaps from Old Norse flaga meaning slab.Flagstone is a...
pavers.
The majority of its collections were requisitioned from the National Parks Adeministration
National Parks of Argentina
The National Parks of Argentina make up a network of 30 national parks in Argentina. The parks cover a very varied set of terrains and biotopes, from Baritú National Park on the northern border with Bolivia to Tierra del Fuego National Park in the far south of the continent .The creation of the...
by the museum's first director, Enrique Artayeta. Named in honor of Argentine surveyor and academic Francisco Moreno
Francisco Moreno
Francisco Pascacio Moreno was a prominent explorer and academic in Argentina, where he is usually referred to as Perito Moreno...
, the institution was organized in the tradition of the La Plata Museum
La Plata Museum
The La Plata Museum is a natural history museum in La Plata, Argentina.The building, 135 meters long, today houses 3 million fossils and relics , an amphitheatre, opened in 1992, and a 58,000-volume library, serving over 400 university researchers...
, whose 1888 establishment was owed in large measure to the renowned explorer.
Expanded and modernized during a 1992 restoration, the museum's collections are divided by a number of categorized halls:
- Natural Sciences: a collection of fossilFossilFossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
s and geologicalGeologyGeology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
findings. - Prehistory: informative dioramaDioramaThe word diorama can either refer to a nineteenth century mobile theatre device, or, in modern usage, a three-dimensional full-size or miniature model, sometimes enclosed in a glass showcase for a museum...
s and stratigraphyStratigraphyStratigraphy, a branch of geology, studies rock layers and layering . It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks....
displays, as well as relics from stone ageStone AgeThe Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
cultures in the area. - Aboriginal History: displays pertaining to the MapucheMapucheThe Mapuche are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina. They constitute a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who shared a common social, religious and economic structure, as well as a common linguistic heritage. Their influence extended...
, Selknam, Tehuelche and YámanaYamanaYamana may mean:* Yámana, an alternate name for the Yaghan language and people, in Chile and Argentina* Yamana clan, a Japanese clan * Yamana Gold Inc., a Canadian-based gold mining company operating in South and Central America...
cultures, including implements used in astronomyAstronomyAstronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
. - Regional History: exhibits tracing PatagoniaPatagoniaPatagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean...
n history from the early years of Spanish colonization of the AmericasSpanish colonization of the AmericasColonial expansion under the Spanish Empire was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Christian faith through indigenous conversions...
to the time of the Argentine War of IndependenceArgentine War of IndependenceThe Argentine War of Independence was fought from 1810 to 1818 by Argentine patriotic forces under Manuel Belgrano, Juan José Castelli and José de San Martín against royalist forces loyal to the Spanish crown... - The Conquest of the DesertConquest of the DesertThe Conquest of the Desert was a military campaign directed mainly by General Julio Argentino Roca in the 1870s, which established Argentine dominance over Patagonia, which was inhabited by indigenous peoples...
: illustrating the tools, arms, and methods used by Argentine governments from Juan Manuel de RosasJuan Manuel de RosasJuan Manuel de Rosas , was an argentine militar and politician, who was elected governor of the province of Buenos Aires in 1829 to 1835, and then of the Argentine Confederation from 1835 until 1852...
' to Julio Roca's in their XIXth-century campaigns to displace native peoples, as well as those used by native caciqueCaciqueCacique is a title derived from the Taíno word for the pre-Columbian chiefs or leaders of tribes in the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles...
s in their counteroffensives. - San Carlos de BarilocheSan Carlos de BarilocheSan Carlos de Bariloche, usually known as Bariloche, is a city in the , situated in the foothills of the Andes on the southern shores of Nahuel Huapi Lake and is located inside Nahuel Huapi National Park...
: exhibits relating to local history, from the town's establishment in 1885, to its promotion by Public Works Minister Ezequiel Ramos Mexía after 1905 and its later development. - National Parks: documents, diagrams, and maps pertaining to the development of National parks in Argentina, among which Bariloche's Lake Nahuel Huapi was the first.
- Francisco MorenoFrancisco MorenoFrancisco Pascacio Moreno was a prominent explorer and academic in Argentina, where he is usually referred to as Perito Moreno...
: an exhibit honoring the museum's namesake, the noted surveyor and academic who donated Lake Nahuel Huapi and its surroundings in 1903 to create the nation's first national park.
The museum also includes a hall for temporary exhibits, an auditorium, workshop, library and archives, as well as facilities for curators and researchers.
The Bariloche Civic Center, including the museum, was declared a National Historic Monument in 1987.