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Museo Historico Nacional Review

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Museo Histórico Nacional

Address: Calle Defensa 1600, San Telmo, Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires
Phone: 11/4307-4457

Category: Museums/Galleries, Houses/Mansions, Gardens/Arboretums
Location: San Telmo

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Fodor's Review:

Enormous magnolia, palm, cedar, and elm trees shade the sloping hillside of Parque Lezama, site of the National History Museum. Bronze statues of Greek heroes, stone urns, and an imposing fountain shipped from Paris are part of the landscaping. Patchy grass, cracked paths, and unpainted benches suggest that San Telmo's wave of renovation hasn't made it south yet. The onion-shaped domes of the Catedral Santísima Trinidad Iglesia Ortodoxa Rusa (Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church) overlook the park, which was immortalized by Argentine writer Ernesto Sabato in his novel Sobre Heroes y Tumbas (Of Heroes and Tombs). The park is said to be the site on which the city was first founded by Pedro de Mendoza, who is celebrated in a monument at its northwestern corner. In the 1700s the Company of Guinea operated its slave trade from here.

Entrepreneur and horticulturalist Gregorio Lezama purchased the large tract of land and the chestnut-and-white Italianate mansion on it in 1858. The building was subsequently used as a refuge from both the cholera and yellow-fever epidemics. It was extensively remodeled prior to opening as this museum in 1897.

The mansion houses artifacts and paintings spanning the 16th through 20th centuries, organized chronologically. Although most items have inventively translated English labels, there are no explanations of their significance, so unless you have a detailed knowledge of Argentine history many exhibits will be meaningless. Nonetheless, an hour perusing maps, clothing, and personal effects is enough to get an idea of what life in Buenos Aires used to be like. Scuffed walls, lighting in need of replacement, and dry displays are partly made up for by endearingly enthusiastic staff. The once-weekly tours in Spanish are often given by the museum's director.

Highlight: The first Argentine flag, designed by General Manuel Belgrano and flown by him in 1813 during the War of Independence against Spain. Belgrano lost his battles, but the flag was hidden by a priest sympathetic to the cause behind a painting in his parish church at Macha, Bolivia, where it remained forgotten until accidental discovery in 1896.

Cost: 2 pesos
Open: Feb.-Dec., Tues.-Fri and Sun. 11-5

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