Juan B. Ambrosetti Ethnographic Museum

(September, 2007). I visited the Juan B. Ambrosetti Ethnographic Museum. The museum is located at 350 Moreno Street, in the Monserrat neighborhood, and is managed by the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the UBA (University of Buenos Aires).

The building, constructed in 1870, is in the Italianate Historicist style.

According to its website, the museum brings together 10,000 pieces belonging to various societies around the world, mostly produced between the late 19th century and the early 20th century. Regarding biological anthropology, it holds 10,000 bone pieces and some mummified bodies; regarding archaeology, about 40,000 objects, 1,000 archaeological textiles from Andean cultures, a documentary and photographic archive, and objects from Asia and Africa. Needless to say, not all of this quantity is on display, but rather a small sample; I suppose the entirety is available to researchers, since it has a staff dedicated to research, teaching, and outreach.

The museum's website is http://museoetnografico.filo.uba.ar/index.html Compared to the web pages of other museums, this one is quite rustic, but it contains the necessary information to get to know it.

This museum in particular allows you to download some text files in PDF format for free, one of them very interesting called “Going to the Museum, notes for teachers” by Marta Dujovne, Silvia Calvo, and Verónica Stáffora (Ministry of Education, Buenos Aires, 2001). This booklet includes a brief introduction to the history and activities of museums, and some considerations for including them when preparing teaching proposals from institutions. The booklet consists of 50 pages and is very illustrative, not only for teachers—who I imagine will pass it on to their students—but for anyone wanting to learn about museums.

To get to the museum, I took the number 152 bus, which has a pleasant route—meaning you can even use it as a sightseeing tour. The truth is that taking the 152 on its route, after passing through Retiro, it goes all the way down (i.e., Alem Avenue and then Paseo Colón Avenue) until it ends in the La Boca neighborhood. In my case, I got off in the Government House area, crossed Plaza de Mayo, and from there walked the few blocks to arrive.

A ride on the 152 surrounded by a group of young tourists who, judging by their accent, were likely from some Latin American country, happy because they had bought clothes at a fair—who knows which one of all the existing ones.

On weekends there are no people, no movement; it is quiet, ideal for walking peacefully, taking photos, enjoying the scenery, very interesting architectural works, and seeing that many people do the same thing. Along the way, you can find—actually, you do encounter—some homeless people and a good number of cardboard collectors (now called urban recyclers), the current reality of the country, an underdeveloped country of course. We also encounter some police officers and a fence surrounding the Government House, something that for a hundred years was not necessary to do, even in situations of severe violence, but now it seems to be in fashion to fence off squares, monuments, and the national government house. And from there, crossing Plaza de Mayo, with another anti-protest cordon, a second barrier made of a mobile fence that only gives a bad visual appearance, in my opinion, unnecessary (except in cases of obvious crisis), but they have already installed them there permanently as a divider, deterrent, prevention, or whatever it may be.

The museum is housed in an old building painted yellow with a large gate at the entrance; its architecture and warm color catch your attention, and there is a palm tree at the entrance. This museum is dedicated to the research, dissemination, and conservation of historical and anthropological heritage. Thus, among various objects, you can find elements belonging to ancient pre-Columbian cultures, indigenous cultures, and everything related to them.
In the photograph, you can see the representation of an indigenous person wearing what appears to be jaguar skin, holding an axe and, in the other hand, the representation of a head, along with some jars and fragments of others. To be honest, I don't remember the exact room; I didn't take notes to be more precise.

The museum opened at 1 PM; I arrived right at that time, and there were already about three or four visitors. It is small, but its size does not make it any less interesting. It was inaugurated in 1904. It has few rooms—if I remember correctly, there are only four or five rooms, at least those open to visitors.

When I walked in, there was a kind of polite competition among the museum staff, all of them very respectful, debating over who would attend to me better—too polite, I would say. Admission is free, although they offer an optional donation ticket for the value of 2 pesos, so of course I bought one. You can take photos, but without flash, and bags must be left in lockers provided for that purpose.

In the following photograph, another of the displays in one of the rooms, with objects likely from ancient indigenous cultures.

When you arrive, at the beginning, just as the tour is about to start upon entering, the people there give you a very precise and brief explanation of each room and its contents—an explanation that, when listening to it carefully at first, you might forget, but immediately remember once you start walking through the museum.

The visitors were mostly students—at least the ones I saw that day, that was what it seemed to me, that was my intuition after seeing them take notes of everything written in the exhibitions, in texts, and photographs. Something that I regret not doing, and which now would be useful to relate photos with topics; I didn't take meticulous notes either, but I did write down a few keywords. To each their own, but these youngsters were taking lots of notes, surely for some assignment.

The rooms are somewhat dark, but that is the idea, I imagine, to create an atmosphere more suited to what the museum deals with, which broadly speaking is past cultures. A distant atmosphere—at least that was the feeling I had while being there. It also escapes me that the need for low light, or special lighting, and even a certain level of air conditioning is necessary for the proper preservation of the objects, or at least some of the objects on display.

As soon as I left my backpack in the locker, since the staircase was right there, I headed upwards. The staircase features a handrail entirely decorated in black iron, old construction, with stained glass and large windows "like the old days," the same as the doors—double and tall doors. You go up the stairs to the second floor (first floor in Argentine terms), and you enter the only room, the largest exhibition hall, which in turn consisted of two floors, and on both sides, in the center, there was also a space for exhibition, but on this occasion it was under renovation, and the windows facing the street were closed.

Among the objects are photos, clothing, pipes, pottery, a primitive native canoe made from a single log, and even some objects belonging to the conquistadors. There is also a room dedicated to world anthropology; it is small but has curious and attractive items, such as a set of samurai clothing. Among the rarities, we can see replicas of facial features of American indigenous heads, among other objects.

The day I visited, the exhibition At the Edge of the World was available, which showcases the clash of cultures and the extermination of the indigenous cultures of Tierra del Fuego.
It is not a big museum, which is good because it doesn't get boring and doesn't take much time to walk through, and bad because it doesn't have much space to exhibit and explore. Of course, I widely recommend visiting it.