Page 154 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Argentina

152  ARGENTINA REGION B Y REGION

4 Mar del Plata educational facilities, and fun
exhibition spaces focusing on
Road map C3. 250 miles (400 km) S of
Buenos Aires. k £ @ Argentinian celebrities; one
hugely popular recent display
Founded in 1874, Mar del Plata was dedicated to Pope Francis.
is Argentina’s seventh-largest
city. Its Gothic cathedral, which E Museo Municipal de
has some interesting stained- Ciencias Naturales Lorenzo
glass windows, was inaugurated Scaglia
in 1905. Originally an important Ave Libertad 3099. Tel (0223) 473-
port, the city soon became a 8791. Open 10am–6pm Mon, Wed–
popular beach resort, attracting Fri; 3–6:30pm Sat. & 8 (0223) 473-
rich porteños from Buenos Aires. 8791. 7 - = ∑ mardelplata.
During the 1930s and 40s, gob.ar/museolorenzoscaglia
many of the resort’s luxury Originally founded in 1938, this
residences were built in Mar del Plata’s cathedral, dedicated to the excellent museum houses the
pintoresco style, which drew on apostle Peter and the martyred St. Cecilia exten sive fossil collection of Don
European influ ences ranging Lorenzo Scaglia, who moved to
from Swiss chalets to mock- E Museo de Arte Contem- Argentina from Italy in 1877 and
Tudor cottages. Most of these poráneo de la Provincia de settled in Buenos Aires. The
houses, however, were Buenos Aires (MAR) museum moved to its current
demolished in the 1960s to Ave Felix U. Camet & López de location in 1967. As well as
make room for today’s generic Gomara. Tel (0223) 471-6792. exhibiting fossils from all over
condos and skyscrapers. Open 10am–6pm Mon, Tue, & Thu; the world, the museum has a
Mar del Plata has long ceased 10am–8pm Fri–Sun & hols. & 7 - number of well-organized
to be a getaway solely for the = ∑ museomar.gob.ar exhibition spaces
wealthy. With the 2002 A new addition to devoted to different
devaluation of the Argentinian Mar del Plata’s culture disci plines within the
peso making international trips scene, MAR has natural sciences,
prohibitively expensive for introduced an innova- including geology,
middle-class families, there tive and vibrant paleon tology, ornitho-
has been a resurgence in the approach to contem- A butterfly display, Museo logy, and taxidermy.
resort’s popularity. During the porary art and culture. de Ciencias Naturales There is a vast collec-
peak season in January and Covering an immense tion of stuffed birds,
February, the town’s population 75,000 sq ft (7,000 sq including chimangos
swells to over three million, m), the museum is primarily and ñandúes. The museum
ensuring that its 11 miles dedicated to pop works by local also has a salt and freshwater
(17 km) of beaches are always artistic legends such as Eduardo aquarium, where visitors will find
crowded. Much of Buenos Gimenez and Marta Minujín, small sharks, piranhas, and some
Aires’s entertainment, fashion, whose outdoor installation of of Argentina’s most common
and sporting industry moves a vast, 36-ft- (11-m-) tall sea freshwater species, such as pacú
to Mar del Plata in summer, lion greeted visitors at MAR’s and dorados. A trip to the
bringing with them a lively inauguration. The stark, cinder- museum can be followed by a
cultural scene. The city’s inter- block-built exterior conceals meal at one of the fine seafood
national film festival is held in galleries, an auditorium and art- restau rants clustered around the
the off-season in November. house cinema, interactive and port area.

A sunny day at the busy seaside resort of Mar del Plata
For hotels and restaurants in this region see p280 and pp291–2

152-153_EW_Argentina.indd 152 05/08/16 10:40 am
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Date 12th July 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm