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Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Museo Fortabat


Lornie and I staying out of the rain
More correctly named Coleccion de Arte Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat, this museum is a lesser known spot that just recently opened in October 2008 and is such a hidden find (or just too new) that it only shows up in 1 of my 4 tour books. Kudos to the thorough writers at Eyewitness Travel.

Coleccion de Arte Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat
Location: Olga Cossenttini 141, Puerto Madero
Phone: (54-11) 4310-6600
Hours: 12:00pm - 9:00pm Tues - Sun, Closed Mon
Admission: $15 pesos for adults, $8 pesos for kids under 12, seniors, students and educators

We stumbled upon this museum during one of the many days of rain we had during Jon's parent's visit. The approx. 65,000 square foot building is impressive enough to warrant the entry fee, it is incredibly modern and almost exclusively steel and glass. A unique design detail is the retractable aluminium roof made of individual shields that change with the location of the sun, similar to a robotic sunflower. The building has four floors of art exhibits divided into themed rooms, each room larger than the last. There are also these crazy state-of-the-art escalators throughout the museum that accelerate when you step onto them, quite fancy.

According to the ever-trusted Wikipedia, Ms. Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat is worth over US$2 billion and therefore, Argentina's wealthiest woman. I have no doubts that this is true, considering that this entire museum is merely a sampling of her private art collection. She has an unbelievable art collection including a portrait of herself done by Andy Warhol, one of my favorites - the painting pictured to the right "Bouquet de Printemps" by Marc Chagall and an assortment of Argentine artists and international artists alike. The second floor is dedicated to objects in her collection, carvings and sculptures, some of which date back to over 2,000 BC. This museum will appeal to almost everyone considering that the collection is so diverse, many styles and eras are represented, and for the individuals that don't particularly like museums or art, the building is enough to keep you interested.

There are guided tours everyday (except Sunday and Monday when they're closed) at 3:00 and 5:00pm. English tours can be arranged in advance for groups by calling the museum or emailing visitas@coleccionforabat.org.ar. They also have fancy-shmancy iPhone audio tour that allows you to explore the museum at your own pace and touch the thumbnail icon of selected pieces when you are ready for the explanation. I cannot remember if there is an additional cost for the tour - and the website does not list a price - so this may be included in the admission price. There is also a restaurant adjacent to the museum, La Coleccion, that offers decent food at reasonable prices (for that area of town) and a great view of the port.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for introducing us to this museum! When we wanted to find a new museo recently, we went to the Gill blog and happened on this one. The ipod audio guide was fantastic, and it was just the perfect amount of art to see in one visit. Plus we got a nice "refresher" (ahem, introduction) to Argentine painters. Muchas gracias!!!

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