The Almeida museum is one of the many attractions in Gualeguaychú. At first, it was a travelling museum since Don Manuel Almeida liked to navigate the river, observe animals, photograph flowers, and gather bugs to show them later, in class, to his students.
Now it is located in one of the main streets of the city and has a varied collection of fossil pieces from the region. This space of science and conservation offers different activities such as guided visits and courses.
Professor Manuel Almeida’s huge collection was the reason why the museum opened in 1992. In 2019 the museum was completely remodelled thanks to the support of different organizations.
In the video below, you can see the exhibition rooms divided into fauna, archaeology and a tribute to Manuel Almeida.
Opening hours:
Fridays and Saturdays from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Text and video: Lautaro Bernigaud, Martina Claus, Dana de la Cruz, Febe Rivarola Sosa.
"Cerros Indios" which can be translated as Indian Hills, is the ideal place for nature lovers to relax while enjoying the beautiful panoramic view of the river.
This place is located in Gualeguaychú, Entre Ríos, Argentina, at kilometer 6 Camino Ñandubaysal, 20 minutes away from downtown Gualeguaychú.
Visitors need to pay an admission ticket but it is completely worthwhile. This site offers bungalows for up to 6 people, each one with its own bathroom with cold and hot water, and some of them with a little beautiful terrace
In this place, you can go fishing and go on boat trips. Due to the landscape that surrounds this location, it is enjoyable to go camping and hiking.
When it is summertime, you can go to the beach, swim in the river and rest in the shade of some straw-umbrellas.
An interesting historical fact of this place is that more than 200 years ago, the Chaná people occupied these territories.
They were a semi-nomadic tribe who made a living by hunting, fishing and gathering. They lived near the rivers from which they obtained their basic resources. This is the reason why they made these particular hills where they built their houses to protect them from floods.
Ñandubaysal is a beautiful beach located in Gualeguaychú, a town from Entre Ríos province in Argentina. It combines a natural environment with many facilities to enjoy with family and friends and different entertaining activities for both children and adults.
The beach's name comes from a tree called Ñandubay, which can be seen in the area. At sunset, the Uruguay river blends with the horizon, which is a view worth seeing. Two well-known rivers run along both sides of Entre Ríos province: the Paraná river, which is the longest river that runs through Argentina and the Uruguay river that has five international bridges.
The land now known as Ñandubaysal was inhabited by many native tribes before the Spanish conquest. After excavating and researching the area, archaeologists found pieces of clay vessels and pots that are thought to have belonged to those tribes. Some of these communities were the Chana, Charrúa and Guaraní. However, the ones who survived the longest after the Spanish conquest were the Guaraní. They were sturdy men and women, who had big heads with plentiful dark hair and small hands and feet. Men were warriors, hunters, fishermen and harvest pickers. In contrast, women made pottery and were in charge of cooking and taking care of children.
It started as a library founded by Luisa Bugnone and Camila E. Nievas. Nowadays it is a museum which has different collections: books, archives, newspapers, periodicals, art and coins. The museum was first opened on June 19, 1898. It was initially called “La Sociedad por la patria y el Hogar” and then renamed Instituto Magnasco in 1920 in honour of Dr. Osvaldo Magnasco because he supported the founders’ work unconditionally.
“Camila Enriqueta Nievas” Private Technical Training School was opened at the Institute on September 26th, 1967 and the main objective is to train people in technical skills.
There is a room which has artworks from Angentinian and foreign artists and some pieces from Bellas Artes National Museum as well as historical and uncommon instruments. You can also see a collection of antique coins and medals from many countries of the world. The museum has a room dedicated to illustrating and documenting the history of Gualeguaychú. Another room has historical documents and a flag used in the Battle of April 15th 1870. Regarding religion there are interesting images, documents, and clothes, among other objects.
Moreover, in the prestigious Olegario V. Andrade Library you can find more than sixty thousand magazines, newspapers, videos, cassettes and documents. There is also a complete collection of the newspaper “La Nación” from 1896 up to the present and another complete collection of an old local newspaper . In the historical Archive you can find interesting documents and the Golden Book which contains valuable signatures of presidents, judges, artists and recognized women.
The Magnasco Institute is located at 78 Camila Nievas St. and the opening time is from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. from Monday to Friday. Today, there are recreational activities and cultural exhibitions of different kinds, as well as courses such as computer-assisted technical drawing.
Authors: Ramirez Sofia, Viale Agustina, Villalba Maria Cristina
Sources:
Barel de Franchini, Diola. Instituto Magnasco, 100 años de historia: tributo a Diola Barel de Franchini-1a ed. Buenos Aires: CM Editores, 2006.
Manuel Almeida was born in 1915 in Gualeguaychú and was an enthusiastic collector and researcher of our land. He was a teacher who graduated from Olegario Victor Andrade School in 1943 and taught Paleontology and Archaeology History for 20 years in Sedes Sapientae Institute and the “Arqueología de Entre Ríos” course in Mariano Moreno School in Concepcion del Uruguay in 1982. He was 88 years old, when he died on July 26, 2004.
Museum
The Museum of Natural Sciences and Archeology ”Profesor Manuel Almeida”, which opened on October 12, 1992, is one of the most popular and oldest museums in our city. It has eight thousand pieces, such as spears, harpoons, arrows, vases, masks, which belonged to the native people like Charruas and Guaranies who inhabited this area, dinosaur bones, dissected animals like turtles and birds, some fossils of extinct animals that inhabited the area and many objects that people used to cook, hunt and defend themselves. This place tells the history of the land in Gualeguaychú and its surroundings and, despite not being very big, it is well organized and you can see all these relics. In fact, one of the rooms is Professor Manuel Almeida’s office, with the instruments he used in his work as well as details about his life. Mr. Almeida's grandson is the museum guide and he tells visitors interesting stories about his grandfather. The museum was completely remodelled in 2019 and is now a space dedicated to scientific investigation, the conservation of paleontological, biological and archaeological collections, education and culture.
Visits and tours
Timetable: Wednesday to Friday: 9am-12am and 3pm-7pm. Saturday: 6pm-9pm.
Sunday: it only opens for programmed activities.
By Manuela Gerling, Matías Padilla and Tatiana Mantchoff.
The Carnival Museum opened on May 18th 2019. It is located in the Railway Station Park. The building was the old machinery room of the train station. Now its purpose is to restore and collect documents, pictures, costumes and many more objects that represent the history and culture of our carnival.
The museum has four galleries that people can visit. The reception is located in the exhibition hall where there are important items such as documents and costumes. In the other rooms there are conservation and restoration workshops, a museography workshop and a service area. There is also an administrative area with offices for the staff and a room for bibliographic consultation.
In one of the corners of the Main Hall, there is a section for the contemporary carnival where you can see different costumes from past and future carnival parades. This section usually changes because the costumes are constantly updated.
Next to the contemporary section, you can visit the most emblematic room; a 360° video room where you can see a lot of footage of past carnival parades. This gives the visitors a unique and close experience of the carnival culture.
The museum is open from 9 a.m to 10 p.m from Wednesday to Friday, and it is only open from 6 p.m to 10 p.m. on weekends.
