A Look into the Past

We visited the different museums in Río Gallegos to understand its idiosyncrasy and we found valuable elements and a great many themes. To start our tour, we walked in the Museum of Arts Eduardo Minnicelli, located in an old house opposite the main square. It is part of an educational artistic program and its painting, engraving and sculpture displays encourage youngsters and adults alike to express themselves. There is also a specialized library and a video room which has become the pride of Santa Cruz. Then, we moved onto a construction raised in another time with wood and original materials from the area, which houses the Gobernador Gregores Museum. Lieutenant Juan Manuel Gregores lived there while he governed the national territory of Santa Cruz. It has the furniture and fittings of his own house and some documents and photographs of the 1930s and 40s, when he was the governor, which refer to public works, radio communications and the improvements to the quality of life.

In one of the houses of the first settlement in the city, known as Barrio de la Gobernación, we found the Naval Maritime Museum. It has many display rooms and it shows an important part of the history of the Navy. One of them pays tribute to Captain Edmundo Gramajo, who was in charge of Transporte América, when in October 1936 a crew of 56 men arrived. We admired a good reproduction of a frigate, vessel models and run down ships together with a collection of navy uniforms from all times and very well kept. We stopped before a short summary of the Malvinas War and a valuable library of the Argentinean naval history. Next, outside the museum, we found a now rusty anchor more than 100 years old and a motorboat from the Crucero ARA 9 de Julio, which helped rescue the crew from Villarino when it shipwrecked at Camarones Bay. Perhaps the one place that called our attention was the Padre Manuel Molina Regional Museum, because of the plurality of topics included in its many display rooms. Father Molina investigated for several years the cultural, historical, anthropological and geological origins of the area and he himself carried out a classification of the found elements which are displayed. Thus, fossil remains, dinosaur replicas of the Mesozoic period, Tehuelche elements, rocks and minerals from thousands of years ago were collected in the display rooms for visitors to see. This place is complemented by an Interactive Room of Science and others of Fine Arts, plus a technical library with more than five thousand books. The museum covers different periods, including the most recent to present Río Gallegos. When we passed by the Malvinas Argentinas Museum, we regretted the fact that it was not open to public. We knew that from the date it was first opened on April 2, 1995, it has kept the memory of the heroic deed of Malvinas alive. The building was granted by the provincial government at the time to pay tribute to those who fought in that useless war. It is part of the XI Brigada Mecanizada and its three display rooms and huge yard are shared with the Association of Veteran Center of the Malvinas War. The museums in Río Gallegos keep the cultural and historical heritage of the area and this is reflected in each one of the display rooms visited.