La Noche de Los Museos: A City-Wide Art Walk

La Noche de Los Museos is a yearly Buenos Aires cultural extravaganza where it seems virtually every door in the city is swung open, inviting visitors to wander through to take in some art and culture.

Every year, tens of thousands take to the streets to visit museums, galleries and even government and private historic buildings to see exhibitions, live music, theater, spoken word and dance performances throughout the city.

What to See on Buenos Aires Museum Night

While some plan their evening in advance, carefully selecting which events and museums they will visit, it is also enjoyable to have a whimsical night following the crowds to see what one finds.

Buenos Aires La Boca waterfront during La Noche de Los Museos — The La Boca waterfront during La Noche de Los Museos

A good starting point for those downtown is the stunning Casa de Cultura at Avenida de Mayo near Peru Street.

From there one can walk to the to the City Legislature, the Cabildo and the World Tango Museum, and the crazy-looking Bank of London/Banco Hipotecario building by Clorinda Testa at Reconquista 101. The Palacio de las Aguas Corrientes is also worth checking out early in the evening. All those centrally-located buildings and more have special events on Museum Night.

Down by the water in La Boca, visitors can visit Fundación Proa, see an exhibition put on by the city’s Fine Art Museum on El Caminito, visit the El Rincón de Lucia Tenement Museum and enjoy live entertainment on the waterfront and at the Teatro de La Ribera, among other offerings.

In Recoleta, the Centro Cultural Recoleta will be ground zero, with various events and exhibitions. Nearby, doors will be open at the Palais de Glace, the Architecture Museum and the University of Buenos Aires Law Department Archive.

When Museum Night began in 1995, the neighborhood of Puerto Madero was barely on the map. Today the neighborhood offers enough art and culture that one could spend the whole evening there. One gallery that starving artists won’t want to miss is the Colección de Arte Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat. The entrance fee to view the private collection is normally one of the most expensive in the city.

From there, museum goers can walk over to the old Munich Brewery, now the Humor Museum, or the Frigate President Sarmiento Museum and the Corbeta Uruguay Museum.

Free La Noche de los Museos Bus Pass

For those who want to get around to various sites across the city, the major bus lines will allow museum goers to ride free as long as you have a copy of the La Noche de Los Museos bus pass. Even better, you can make it a two-wheeled adventure, using the free bikes available through the free ‘Eco-bike’ program.

While some of the city’s largest and most popular museums such as MALBA, El Museo de Bella Artes and the Natural Science Museum participate, they typically attract big crowds and might be better left until after midnight or another day.

With over 240 museums and cultural spaces participating in every neighborhood of the city, it’s impossible to see it all. To search for specific events or to do a search by neighborhood, see the guide linked below.

The evening begins at 8 p.m. and ends at a rather tame 3 a.m. for nocturnal Buenos Aires.

La Noche de los Museos 2019

La Noche de Los Museos Guide
November 2
Time 8:00 p.m. — 3:00 a.m.
-Across Buenos Aires
-Free

Jewish Restaurants & Entertainment in Argentina

The Jewish population in Argentina has fluctuated since its peak in the mid 20th century but the community continues to have an endurable influence on the country’s culture, media and cuisine.

Jewish life is particularly lively in Buenos Aires, where 8.2% of the population is Jewish. The star of David identifies Jewish-owned businesses in the Once and Abasto business districts, the Argentine capital’s equivalent to New York’s Lower East Side.

The more residential Jewish neighborhood of Villa Crespo is sometimes affectionately referred to as ‘Villa Kreplach‘ by locals.

While Buenos Aires is the focal-point of Jewish life in Argentina, synagogues and Judaic community organizations can be found in a number of provincial capitals throughout the country.

Argentine Jews in Sports, Film & TV

Football/soccer is practically religion in Argentina. Jewish participation in the sport grew out of the city’s social and sporting clubs and was key to the assimilation of new arrivals from Eastern Europe.

Villa Crespo’s soccer team, Atlanta, is the traditional club supported by Porteño Jews, highlighting the unique Jewish-Argentine identity that unites religious and non-religious Jews, Sephardic and Ashkenazi.

Not all Argentine Jews support Atlanta though. Argentina’s most popular soccer team, the Boca Juniors. As of 2018 Boca Junior’s stadium, the Bombonera, has a ‘Bocasher‘ Rabbi-supervised food stand.

More than half of Argentina’s Jewish professional athletes were football players. Those who follow South American football will be familiar with Jose Peckerman, former Argentinos Juniors player and manager of Colombia’s national team. Another name is Juan ‘Juampi’ Sorin, former World Cup national team player and coach who currently works as an announcer for ESPN.

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→ Learn more about the Jewish influence on Argentine soccer in the book, ‘Fútbol, Jews and the Making of Argentina.‘

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Other prominent professional athletes that have gained famed in Argentina include Olympic Bronze medal and World Cup winner in female field hockey, Giselle Andrea Kañevsky. She’s the granddaughter of Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, one of the most prominent rabbinic authorities in Ultra-orthodox Judaism.

Carolina Raquel Duer, a boxer whose family immigrated to Argentina from Syria, was the first Jewish woman to win a World Boxing Championship in 2010 in a match that was televised nationwide in Argentina.

The former kibbbutznik known as the ‘Iron Barbie’ defended the super flyweight title six times and was invited by former president Cristina Kirchner to the Casa Rosada. Today she’s a TV boxing announcer for Argentina’s public television station.

One of two Argentine Jews in the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame is Daniela Yael Krukower, a Women’s World Judo Champion. The other was 1930’s Austrian table tennis champ Erwin Kohn, who fled to Argentina in 1938 to become the country’s reigning champion until 1952.

Yiddish Theater in Buenos Aires

In the 1930s and 40s Buenos Aires had the largest Yiddish theater scene in the world, aside from New York City.

In the off season, New York actors would make their way to Buenos Aires to star in productions here.

Buenos Aires still has a thriving theater scene, even though Yiddish theater died out. Today there are humorous productions around the Once and Abasto neighborhood with titles such as, ‘Los cuentos del Rebe,’ (The Stories of Rebe), ‘Oy, oy, hoy’, and ‘Tangos con Varenikes‘ (Tangos with Varenikis — which includes tangos in Yiddish and Hebrew).

The IFT Theater (Boulogne Sur Mer 549) is a small independent theater troupe born out of the Yiddish theater tradition in 1932 under the name ‘Idramst,’ Yiddish for ‘theater.’

The IFT theater is a member of the ICUF Federación de Entidades Culturales Judías de Argentina (Federation of Jewish Cultural Entities of Argentina).

In 1952 the troupe was able to purchase their own building. At its peak, IFT had a chorus, a drama school, a children’s ballet and an art gallery. The theater also hosted big Jewish names in Argentine theater such as Yordana Fain, Cipe Lincovsky, Anita Lang, Joseph Buloffand, and Elita Aizenberg.

Today, Teatro IFT hosts live independent theater productions in Spanish an average of five days a week.

Jewish Portrayals in Argentine Media

In Argentine film, the stereotypical ‘immigrant Jewish merchant’ has long held a role, such as in 1948’s Pelota de Trapo and 1952’s Ellos Nos Hiceron Así.

Comedian Adolfo Stray (birth name: Straijer) also characterized the Porteño Jew on stage and in his popular 1968 TV comedy program, El Superejecutivo Don Jacobo (The Super Executive, Mr. Jacobo).

As for contemporary mass media, the wildly popular Argentine prime-time soap opera, ‘Los Graduados‘ (The Graduates) starred a stereotypical Jewish Argentine family, the Godzers who eat knishes and gelfite fish, smatter their conversations with Yiddish, and whose father is, predictably, a fan of Atlanta soccer team.

La Rey de Once, (titled ‘The Tenth Man’ in it’s English carnation, instead of the direct translation, ‘The King of Once’) is the 12th full-length film by ‘New Argentine Cinema’ director Daniel Berman.

The film premiered in the U.S. at the Tribeca Film Festival and, like most of Berman’s work, features a neurotic Jewish central character, drawing easy comparisons to the work of Woody Allen.

Jewish Influence on Tango

Jewish tangueros (tango dancers and musicians) also played a role in Argentina’s musical history. Some of the ‘Russian Jews’ who arrived via the Wesser in 1889 carried instruments among their few belongings, and the influence of klezmer music on tango is noticeable to the trained ear.

Performing as a musician — in what was then considered the ‘seedy’ world of tango — was one of a few occupations open to newly-arrived Eastern European Jews to Buenos Aires.

Not surprisingly, among the early tango greats are names such as pianist Abraham Moisés ‘Alberto’ Soifer, bandoneón player Arturo Bernstein, and the prolific composer, Luis Rubistein.

Immigrants from all over influenced the birth of tango in Argentina and the mix of melancholy, despair, self-deprecation and humor found in the lyrics resonated across the pond as well.

Many tango songs were written in eastern European ghettos before and after WWII such as the Yiddish tune, ‘Vu ahin zol ikh geyn‘ (Where Shall I Go?) by Igor S. Korntayer.

Sadly, most of the tangos written in Eastern Europe leading up to the Holocaust were lost, but a few dozen, such as that of Korntayer were salvaged.

Yiddish tango tunes were being performed in Buenos Aires theaters as early as the 1920s. Contemporarily, there are groups such as the Yiddish Tango Club, led by Gustavo Bulgash. The group fuses tango with Klezmer music, which Bulgash learned to play with his family as a child in Buenos Aires.

At the annual Buenos Aires Jazz Festival visitors may hear klezmer among the eclectic jazz mix that includes swing, bebob and tango-jazz fusion.

Kosher Restaurants in Buenos Aires

Most traditional Jewish food and kosher restaurants in Buenos Aires are focused around the neighborhoods of Once, Abasto and the Villa Crespo part of Palermo.

Thankfully there are many kosher dining options aside from the popular Kosher McDonalds in Abasto Shopping Mall, famous for being the only Rabbi-approved McDonalds in all of the Americas.

No visitor to Argentina can miss out on Argentina’s favorite snack food, savory empanadas. Empanadaría Kosher at Tucumán 2790 comes to the rescue with reasonably-priced empanadas and pizzas and is well worth a stop while sightseeing. The empanadas here are so popular with porteños (as residents of Buenos Aires are called) that they now have three more locations, including one on the second floor of the Abasto mall and another in Once, at Paso 719.

On the same block at Paso 745, Tov Lev features Kosher Shawarma, pastrami, apple latkes and Italian-inspired Argentine specialties prepared under the supervision of Rabbi Daniel Oppenheimer.

For kibbeh, and other traditional Israeli and Sephardic foods in simple surroundings, try the popular Yafo Kosher at Paso 747.

One of the city’s most popular options for a kosher ‘asado‘ (barbecue meat) experience is the recently revamped Parilla Al Galope, one block from the Empanadaría Kosher, at Tucumán 2633.

Ajim Deli, right across the street from Empanadaría Kosher, at Tucumán 2620, offers shawarma, falafal, shnitzel, hot pastrami sandwiches, hummus, lajmashin and typical Argentine cuisine such as milanesas, steak and even ‘ñinos envueltos.’ It is open all day Sunday until Thursday and opens for a typical Buenos Aires’ late dinner at 9 p.m. on Saturdays.

For a more interactive and personalized Argentine food experience in the Palermo neighborhood, sign up for an afternoon or evening with the Jewish-owned Argentine Food Experience to learn how to make empanadas, eat steak like an Argentine (with plenty of Malbec of course) and prepare and drink the traditional tea, yerba mate.

By far the hippest spot for Jewish cuisine in Buenos Aires is the trendy fine dining bistro, Mishiguene (Mishiguene means ‘crazy’ in Yiddish).

Although not strictly Kosher, chef Tomás Kalika offers a modern twist on traditional Ashkenazi and Sephardic recipes including kugel, kreplach, borscht, gefilte fish and pastrami cooked the Argentine way — on a grill.

Kalika’s ancestors are from Russia and Poland. He learned to cook at Israeli ‘MasterChef’ host, Eyal Shani’s restaurant, Oceanus, in Jerusalem.

Located in Palermo at Lafinur 3368, Mishiguene is unmistakably Jewish with yiddishkeit decor and live klezmzer music on Friday nights.

While the restaurant has received praise as the ‘best Jewish food in South America,’ be warned that Mishiguene might be ‘crazily priced’ for visitors from Jewish food capitals such as Tel Aviv, New York or London.

Those craving sushi should head to Sushi Ko Kosher on the same block, at Lafinur 3305. Pichiklin Sushi is another popular option with two locations, in Once and Belgrano.

For a reasonably-priced steak meal in the Belgrano neighborhood, there is El Paisano Kosher House, at O’Higgins 2358, which is run by the local Chabad.

The hottest eatery for pastrami reuben sandwich is the Jewish deli, La Crespo, at Thames 613 in the Villa Crespo neighborhood. They also serve up otherwise elusive lox and cream cheese bagels, varenyky, latkes, knishes and strudel and cheesecake. For pastrami with homemade pickles and gourmet celiac dishes in Palermo, try La Pastroneria, at El Salvador 6026.

For a trendy tavern with sabich and shwarmas and an outdoor seating area in Palermo try Benaim, at Gorriti 4015. The typical street food served is not Kosher but they do host special Kosher nights.

For a slightly more upscale restaurant in the Palermo neighborhood try Hola Jacoba, which serves up Sephardi and Ashkenazi plates including kippes, latkes, tabuleh, felafel and sambuzek at Thames 1801.

For a drink or coffee break, take a step back in time to visit Cafe San Bernardo, Av. Corrientes 5436, a traditional gathering place for Jewish intellectuals in Villa Crespo.

Founded in 1912, this no-nonsense bar (one of 92 cafe-bars recognized by the city for its historic value) and billiard hall is more commonly known as ‘El Sanber.‘ It became the place newly arrived young Ashkanazi Jews went to talk politics and play games such as dominoes and the Argentine card game, truco.

Until a couple of years ago Cafe Bernardo was open 24 hours, much like other historic bars such as San Telmo‘s Bar Britanico, but after 60 years of never closing, they now close for a well-deserved siesta at 5 a.m. for a few hours.

Just wandering around Once and Abasto, visitors will find plenty of kosher butchers and bakeries. Among the many bakeries are Taam Tov Av. Corrientes 2922, (a stop on our private Jewish Buenos Aires Literary Walking Tour) which sells such as facturas, leikach (honey cakes), borsht pletzalech (onion bread) and matzah. Another good bet for bread and pastries is La Bakery Kosher, Tucuman 2892. They also have a basic eatery with pizzas, pastas, salads and empanadas.

Those staying Palermo can stock up at Palermo Kosher supermarket at Ugarteche 3033 or Open Kosher supermarket at Molde 2455.

The Belgrano neighborhood also has a cluster of Jewish and Kosher businesses surrounding Buenos Aires’ Chinatown. One Belgrano option for sushi is Tatami Kosher sushi.

To shop for groceries nearby there’s the previously mentioned Beit Jabad of Belgrano’s restaurant, El Paisano Kosher House and MANA, a deli which offers up prepared food for take out including pickled cabbage salad and ‘fusion’ food such as goulash with ñoquis.

L’Chaim: Argentine Kosher Wine

At the turn of the 21st century overseas demand for Argentine Kosher wine boomed along with the general Argentine wine market.

Argentine Malbec and Torrontes are unique varietals that should be enjoyed on an Argentine vacation because today the Kosher versions are harder to find overseas. The instability of Argentina’s economy and the large price tag for international Kosher certification make it hard for Argentine winemakers to compete with Kosher wine makers in Europe.

Argentina’s larger wineries such as Finca La Celia have since cut their production of Kosher wines but other producers such as Finca 613 continue to satisfy the steady domestic demand. Their Tariag line of Kosher wines including Torrontes, Malbec, sparkling wines and champagnes and are aimed toward Argentina’s internal market.

Most high-end wine stores in Buenos Aires can help visitors find a decent Kosher wine and some restaurants don’t mind if you bring your own bottle and will just charge a corkage fee.

Buenos Aires Jewish Tours

The private Buenos Aires Heritage tour starts with a visit to the ‘Plaza de la Memoria,’ which was the location of the Israeli embassy before the devastating 1994 terrorist attack there. It now serves as a memorial for the victims.

The tour also visits the Temple of Liberty, where the ‘Congregación Israelita de la República Argentina’ (CIR) is located. It is the oldest and largest Jewish Temple in the country.

Later we’ll visit the nerve center of daily life of the Jewish community, AMIA (Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina — the Mutual Israel-Argentine Association).

The tour also visits the Holocaust Museum, created to commemorate the Holocaust’s footprint in Argentina, with personal collections, stories, testimonials, documents, and objects pertaining to the survivors who fled to Argentina.

The most lively part of the tour is a visit to the neighborhood of Once and Abasto, the city’s heart for Buenos Aires’ Jewish community.

The tour takes visitors by local synagogues, restaurants and markets belonging to members of the Jewish community.

The price of this tour per person depends on the number of people in your group.

Buenos Aires Jewish Neighborhood Walking Tour

This boutique walking tour led by a local starts at 10:30 a.m. in the Once neighborhood.

The three-hour walking tour is centered around the traditionally Jewish neighborhood of Once. As part of the tour, the group reads short texts by important Argentine Jewish writers such as Alberto Gerchunoff and César Tiempo while enjoying a beverage in a typical neighborhood cafe.

The tour also goes by AMIA, the Jewish cultural center and the Paso Synagogue, the nearby police station, traditional fabric stores and a traditional Jewish bakery with some delicious snacks.

→ Read about our private Jewish Buenos Aires Tour with a local guide

Synagogues & Jewish Attractions Around Argentina

The courtyard of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association

Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA)
Pasteur 633
Once
Tel : 4959-8800

Also known as the Argentine Jewish Mutual Aid Society AMIA is central to Jewish life in Buenos Aires. They also unite fifty Jewish communities spread throughout Argentina.

AMIA founded the first Jewish cemetery in the city and offers educational and cultural activities for all ages.

Security is high here after the devastating terror attack in 1994, in which 85 people were killed.

Tours of ground floor exhibition should be arranged in advance, through local friends who are members, or certified tour agencies.

There are also murals memorializing the victims of the 1994 terrorist attack in the nearby Pasteur – AMIA station on line B of the subte. To see a list of upcoming Jewish cultural activities in Buenos Aires, including theater, musical events, film screenings and conferences, see AMIA’s culture page.

Buenos Aires Holocaust Museum
Montevideo 919,
Recoleta
Tel: 4811-3588

Latin America’s only Shoah museum has a wealth of information pertaining to the holocaust and its impact in Argentina.Read more about the exhibits and resources at the Buenos Aires Holocaust Museum here.

Communidad Or Israel
Planes 1049
Caballito

A synagogue founded in 1911. Until the 1970s a school here taught Yiddish and Torah studies.

Today, aside from Shabbat and other holiday services, they host concerts, talks and family activities. On their centenary they restored, modernized and re-inaugurated the current temple in the Caballito neighborhood.

Fundación Pardes (spiritually-focused Jewish Organization)
Currently broken link: pardes.org.ar
Cespedes 3380
Chacarita
Tel: 4555-1390

Plaza Embajada de Israel (Memorial Plaza)
Arroyo and Suipacha Streets
Recoleta

A moving memorial for the victims of the 1992 suicide attack on the Israeli Embassy. There are twenty one tress planted and seven benches in remembrance of the victims. A plaque lists their names in Spanish and Hebrew.

Salvador Kibrick Jewish Museum
Libertad 769
Open: Mon-Fri, 10 a.m. -6 p.m.

The permanent collection here highlights the Jewish immigrant experience to Argentina, including the Jewish colonies.

Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano Marshall T. Meyer
— Academic , cultural and religious center of the Conservative Religious Movement in Argentina with an important Jewish Sciences Library
Jose Hernandez 1750
Tel: 4783-2009

Sociedad Hebraica Argentina (Argentine Hebrew Society)
Sarmiento 2233

— A non-profit organization with a large 14-floor social and sport club. They also have a suburban center in Pilar, Province of Buenos Aires. A worthwhile community to join for Jewish families moving to Buenos Aires.

Club Náutico Hacoaj
Av. Estado de Israel 4156
Tel: 4863-2121

An institution in Buenos Aires’ northern suburbs, Náutico Hacoaj is another sports and social club in Tigre. Originally founded in 1935 as the Club Náutico Israelita, (Israelite Rowing Club) today the sports here also include basketball, bocce, football, golf, tennis, field hockey and other sports.

Gran Templo Paso — Considered one of South America’s most beautiful temples, this 2,000 capacity temple was built in 1929 by the Ashkanazi community.
Paso 423
Once, Buenos Aires
Tel: 4951-2306

Sinagoga de la Congregacion Israelita de la Republica Argentina, founded in 1897 is one of the city’s oldest synagogues. The Roman-Byzantine style synagogue has room for 1,000 worshipers. Next door is the Jewish Museum.
Libertad 785
Once, Buenos Aires

Templo Camargo — A Sephardi orthodox synagogue with Buenos Aires’ largest kehillah in the Villa Crespo neighbohood.
Camargo 870
Villa Crespo

Comunidad Dor Jadash — Another congregation with over one hundred years of history, founded in 1912 by Lithuanin, Polish and Russian immigrants. This community in Villa Crespo has a nice temple and lots of activities for all ages with workshops such as ‘Embracing Judiasm,’ Kabbalah and Rikudim Israel folk dance.

Murillo 653
Villa Crespo

Yesod Hadat —Large temple established by Sephardic Community
La Valle 2249
Once
Tel: 4961-9299

Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz

Rosario

Often called Argentina’s ‘second city’ (even though Cordoba capital has surpassed it in population) and the largest city in Sante Fe province, Rosario has a population of about 20,000 Jews.

Beit Jabad Rosario (Orthodox)
Mendoza 1557 1-A
Rosario, Santa Fe
Tel: (41) 260-208

Historic Communal Museum of the Jewish Colonization of Moisés Ville
25 de Mayo 188
Moisés Ville
Santa Fe
Tel: (03409) 420-665
https://vimeo.com/219037828

Moises Ville (aka ‘Kiryat Moshe’) is a small town that represents an interesting part of Argentine Jewish history, as it was here that Argentina’s first agrarian settlement was established in 1889. While the population is only a few hundred today, there are three synagogues, but no Rabbi. Most of the residents have moved to Rosario, Buenos Aires or Israel. Not many people reach here for tourism, but anyone who does will typically be given a key to the synagogue and library.

Keep in mind that because of terrorist attacks of the 1990s, most synagogues will ask for identification before allowing anyone to enter, so don’t forget your I.D. Most synagogues across the country have a larger Shabbat service on Friday night rather than Saturday morning.

Entre Ríos: Jewish Attractions

Jewish Museum of Entre Ríos
Entre Ríos 476
Concordia
Entre Ríos
Tel: (345) 421-4088

Hours: Mon-Fri & Sundays, 8:30 to 12:30 p.m.

Villa Clara a small town in the middle of Entre Ríos province, was another Jewish agrarian settlement set up by the philanthropist Baron de Hirsh — in fact the town is named after his wife, Clara. Villa Clara town has only a couple of thousand residents. The small history museum has objects and paperwork that highlight the journey of the early Jewish settlers and their daily life.

Beit Jabad Concordia (Orthodox Synagogue)
Alvear 623
Concordia
Entre Rios
Tel: (345)-421-5195

Cordoba

Jabad Lubavitch Cordoba
Sucre 1378/80
Barrio Cofico
Cordoba
Tel: (3514) 710-223

Mendoza

Socieda Israelita de Beneficencia
España 1930
Mendoza City
Tel: (261)-423-3568

Tucumán

Beit Jabad Tucumán — Orthodox
Lamadrid 752
Tucumán
Tel: (381) 4248-892

Websites

Israeli-Argentina Association Jabad Labavitch (Spanish)

Buenos Aires Shoah Museum: The Holocaust’s Echo in Argentina

The Buenos Aires Shoah Museum, the only of its kind in Latin America, serves as a museum, memorial and moral reminder by telling the story of the Holocaust and its impact in Argentina and wider South America.

The museum is supported through the Holocaust Memorial Foundation, and was declared a ‘Site of Cultural Interest’ by the city of Buenos Aires in 2006.

Under the slogan, ‘To remember is to avoid repeating history,’ the foundation’s mission is to keep the memory of the Holocaust present, honor those lost and to serve as a poignant reminder of the atrocities that can stem from racism and xenophobia.

Location & Layout

The Museo de Holocausto of Buenos Aires is set in a spacious red brick building in Recoleta.

The main entrance way and exhibition space is appropriately dim, illuminated mostly by the natural light of the courtyard that adjoins the museum’s two primary gallery spaces.

The first exhibition space is devoted to temporary exhibitions.

Past shows includes; ‘Adolf Eichmann: ´El vivío entre nosotros’(He lived among us), which documents Eichmann’s journey from top SS official’s to middle-class Argentine to Israeli prisoner; ‘Visados para la libertad,’ (Visas for Liberty) an homage to the Spanish officials who helped Jews flee Europe; and 2006,’s ‘Darfur. Genocide emergency,’ on the modern-day massacre in Sudan, a loan from the Washington Holocaust Museum.

The second gallery space holds the permanent exhibition, documenting the Holocaust through a written timeline.

The chronology maps the event from the rise of the Nazi party to the fates of both the perpetrators and the survivors of the Holocaust at the close of the war.

Many parts of the timeline have a panel that reads, ‘Meanwhile, in Argentina…’ which covers, among other things, Jewish immigration to Argentina pre and post World War II, as well as the reactions of Argentines to Jewish persecution in Europe.

These doses of Argentine perspective provides context for this country’s role as a land that attracted numerous refugees and contains Latin America’s largest Jewish population, but also allowed Nazis to settle here after war.

Among the artifacts, are the fake Italian passport used by Aldof Eichmann to enter Argentina in 1950. The passport was a fairly recent discovery — Federal Judge Maria Servini de Cubria came across a record containing it in her court’s files in 2007, and subsequently gave it to the museum for its preservation and safekeeping.

Nazi Artifacts

In 2019 the museum took custody of the largest collection of Nazi artifacts to ever be discovered in Argentina.

A collector in Buenos Aires was discovered to have more than 70 Nazi artifacts in a house raid.

The collection included a bust of Adolf Hitler’s head, children’s toys emblazoned with swastikas and a bizarre instrument meant to measure people’s head to supposedly determine their ‘racial purity.’

The items were most likely brought to Argentina by Nazis escaping to Argentina to avoid prosecution in Germany after World World II.

The collector faced criminal charges for having possession of items of illegal origin.

Holocaust Survivor Stories

While the escape of hundreds of Nazis to Argentina isn’t glossed over, the Holocaust Museum’s emphasis is placed on the legacy of survivors.

Large portraits of survivors who rebuilt their lives in Argentina are accompanied by their personal stories, giving testimony to the power of the human spirit.

Polish-born Jew, Moises Borowicz, was one of four Holocaust survivors out of the 280 members of the Borowicz family.

When he came to Argentina in 1947, the country did not permit the entrance of Jews looking to stay in the country. Borowicz was denied immigration rights and given the equivalent of a tourist visa.

The visa notes that he was of Semitic origin and stamped onto the paper is an image of the Star of David. The visa is not unlike documentation a Jewish person in German-occupied Europe would have held during the Holocaust.

The only space in the museum set apart, by way of glass doors, is a small memorial.

A list of the most prominent death camps is written on the ground, and the names of victims are inscribed on a gold plaque on the wall.

Small stones stand beside the plaques; visitors following the Jewish custom of placing stones to build a monument to honor the dead have placed them there as markers of remembrance.

For more than 30 years the museum has published a magazine entitled ‘Nuestra Memoria,’ which provides historical cultural analysis of the Holocaust and its consequences.

The museum also has a library of over three thousand volumes of Holocaust-related literature in Spanish, German, Yiddish, and Polish.

Guided tours are available with prior reservations, and are recommended for those who don’t speak Spanish.

Activities at the museum include conferences, film showing and debates, check the website for details.

—by Elizabeth Kester

→ Coming to Buenos Aires? Check out our Jewish Buenos Aires tour

→ Read Jewish Argentina: A Cultural Guide

→Read more about how Jews have influenced Argentine culture: Jewish Landmarks, Food & Tours in Argentina

Museo de Holocausto
Montevideo 919,
Recoleta
Tel: 4811-3588

• Hours: Monday-Thursday from 9 a.m.-7 p.m., Friday from 9a.m.-5p.m., Sunday 2:00p.m.-6:30p.m
• Admission: $
-Library: 4811-3588.

• Visitors are required to show identification before entering the museum

La Plata: Places of Interest

The La Plata Museum is one of South America’s most important Natural History museums. Modeled after important European museums, construction began in 1884 and took four years to complete.

Permanent exhibitions include rooms dedicated to anthropology, archeology, paleontology, zoology, evolution and even an Egyptian hall with hieroglyphs, ceramics and ancient coffins. Yet another hall is dedicated to the architecture, art and music of Jesuit missionaries and the Guarani communities they aimed to convert. There are also wonderfully curated temporary exhibitions.

El Museo de La Plata
(inside the Paseo del Bosque)
Tel: 425-7744

• Hours: Tue—Sun; 10:00 to 18:00
• Cost: AR$

La Plata Cathedral of Immaculate Conception
Plaza Moreno
Calle 14, between Avenidas 51 and 53
Tel: 423-3931

• Hours: 9:00 to 19:00, Mon— Sun & national holidays
• Admission to visit the bell tower/lookout point: AR$ 10

Palacio Municipal
Plaza Moreno
Calle 12 and Avenida 51; Calle 11 and Avenida 53
Tel: 429-1000

Teatro Argentino
Calle 9, Calle 10 and Avenida 51, Avenida 53
Tel: 0800-666-5151 / (0221) 429-1700

Casa Curutchet
53 Street # 320
Tel: 421-8032 / 482-2631

•Hours: Tue, Wed & Thur: 10:00 a.m.—2:30 p.m.
• Cost: AR$ with student I.D., AR$; w/ Argentine DNI Foreigners-$$
• Closed in January

Palacio de la Legislatura
Plaza San Martin
Calle 7, Calle 8, and Avenida 51, Avenida 53

Casa de Gobierno
Plaza San Martin
Calle 6 and Avenida 51

República de Los Niños (Children’s Republic)
Cno. Gral. Belgrano y 501 (at Gonnet)
Tel: (221) 484-1409 / 1206

•Hours: Mon—Sun: 10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.

La Plata Tourist Office
Palacio Campodónico (Diagonal 79 at 5)
Tel: 422-9764.

• Hours Mon-Fri 9:00 a.m.—5:00 p.m.

The Munich Brewery/Humor Museum of Buenos Aires

Puerto Madero’s Humor Museum (MUHU) celebrates everything to do with Argentine humor with exhibitions featuring graphic and political art, comic strips and animation, shown in their small cinema.

The permanent collection spans almost two centuries of Argentine humor beginning with a 1834 lithograph series by César Hipólito Bacle, ‘Costumes and Customs of Buenos Ayres,’ satirizing Porteño high-fashion of the time. Publications that relied heavily on humorous political cartoons blossomed in the later half of 19th century Buenos Aires.

Comedic illustrations from magazines during the administrations of Bartolomé Mitre and Domingo Faustino Sarmiento provide unusual insight into political opinions of upper-class Argentines at the time. Some of the most shocking illustrations show savages ‘barbecuing’ women and depict Afro-Argentines (before the population declined) as monkeys.

As literacy rose in the early 20th century, the modern weekly magazine flourished, the most famous being Caras y Caretas (Faces and Masks), Argentina’s answer to the New Yorker, published between 1898 and 1941.

The mid-20th century is considered ‘the golden age of national caricature’ according to MUHU. A particularly Porteño and sardonic sense of humor emerged with publications such as ‘Rico Tipo,‘ portraying stereotypical characters from Buenos Aires neighborhoods including ‘the marriageable girl,’ ‘the football fan,’ ‘the tanguero,‘ and Abel Ianiro’s character called ‘Purapinta‘ (Just for Show), a strapping man who proves useless in every situation.

In the later part of the 20th century, as the military came to power, Argentine humor became more naive and absurd.

Among the most recognizable comic strips is Quino’s (Joaquín Salvador Lavado) Malfada, about a rebellious little girl, which was published around the world in 30 languages.

MUHU’s main temporary exhibit in 2014 was a retrospective of Quino’s work to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Argentina’s most iconic comic strip. Visitors can get a shot with Malfalda nearby at Defensa and Chile streets, where a statue of the comic character makes up a stop on the Comic Strip Walk.

The Golden Years of the Münich Beer House

The Humor Museum is worth visiting as much for the building and its history as for the activity inside.

The museum is housed in the old Cervecería Munich, or Münich Beer House, dating to 1927.

Constructed during the peak of German immigration to Buenos Aires, it was designed by Hungarian architect Andrés Kálnay, noted for designing some of the city’s other institutions, primarily, Luna Park stadium.

Amazingly — considering the construction methods available at the time — the detailed building was completed in four months. Aside from being considered an architectural triumph, the brewery was equipped to handle thirsty crowds, with a complex system of beer lines and the largest refrigeration unit in any business of Buenos Aires at the time.

The eclectic Bavarian-style building incorporates Art Deco influences and design touches that celebrate Munich folklore and the world of beer.

The mansion features ample terraces, surrounded by intricate carved columns, stone goats encasing the wide staircases and stained-glass windows depicting bucolic scenery, coats of arms and German beer maidens.

Along the terrace walls there are stencils illustrating scenes of Oktoberfest, farmers, jokers and stout, German couples surrounded by beer barrels and horses. In the garden you can also view the fountains of Neptune and Naiades, created in the mid-1860’s, complimenting the nearby Water Nymphs’ Fountain near the entrance to the Ecological Reserve.

From its 1927 debut, the brewery was a popular gathering place among the Buenos Aires’ elite, particularly on a summer days and remained so during the next three decades.

In the daytime this was a popular spot thanks in part to its location near the Balneario Municipal Sur, a beachfront constructed nine years earlier on the banks of the River Plate, which was still clean enough to swim in at the time.

At night visitors would come to drink what was then considered a highly nutritious drink – strong, dark, German-style beer. Immigrants and hipsters of the day would gather to dance the waltz and hear the live music of musicians collectively known as the ‘The Artists of the Balneario.’

‘The Master,’ race car driver, Juan Manuel Fangio; journalist and politician, Leopoldo Lugones; and Swiss-born poet Alfonsina Storni were among the Cervecería Munich habitués.

Buenos Aires’ narrative even has it that the perpetual man on the town, tango great, Carlos Gardel once gave an impromptu performance at the brewery.

With the stark decline of the Costanera Sur through the years — before Puerto Madero’s revitalization in the 90’s — the Münich beer house finally closed in the 1970’s.

Some of the decorative statues seen around the museum today were resurrected from the muddy banks nearby where they laid like neglected tombs of Buenos Aires’ splendorous past.

With the new development in the area in the 1990’s, restoration of the beer house began. Telecommunication company, Entel briefly occupied the building before it was transformed into the Museum Center of Buenos Aires in 2002, and in 2012, the Humor Museum of Buenos Aires.

Guided afternoon tours are available in Spanish, English, Portuguese and Italian and can be arranged by calling the number below.

Humor Museum of Buenos Aires/Munich Brewery
Av. de los Italianos 851
Costanera Sur/Puerto Madero
Tel: 4516-0943/4/9

• Hours:
Mon-Wed: 11 a.m.–6 p.m.
Sat&Sun: 10 a.m.-8 p.m.

Cost: Thur-Sun -$, other days free

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