Visit Museo Nacional de Arte Decorativo, Buenos Aires

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TheNational Museum of Decorative Artsis an art museum in Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina. The museum has its origins in a marriage in 1897 between two prominent members of turn-of-the-century Argentine high society: Matías Errazúriz, the son of Chilean émigrés, and Josefina de Alvear, the granddaughter of Independence-era leader Carlos María de Alvear. The couple commissioned French architect René Sergent in 1911 to design a mansion for Errazúriz's future retirement from the diplomatic corps, in which he had been Ambassador to France for a number of years. The ornate Neoclassical structure inspired the Bosch family to commission a similar palace nearby (today the United States Ambassador's residence). Completed in 1916, the couple devoted the following two years to decorating the palace, purchasing a large volume of antiques and otherobjets d'art. When Mrs. Errazúriz died in 1935, however, the widower bequeathed the mansion to the Argentine government, on his son's and daughter's advice. The National Museum of Decorative Arts was established in 1937. The museum maintains twelve exhibit halls and nine permanent collections containing over 4,000 objects including: paintings: notable among them El Greco'sJesus Bearing the Cross Uphill, Jean-Honoré Fragonard's The Sacrifice of the Roseand Édouard Manet'sPortrait of Abbé Hurel sculpture: among them an Ancient RomanMinerva, Cristoforo Mantegazza's Adoration of the Magii (a wall relief in marble) and Auguste Rodin's The Eternal Spring East Asian art: numerous Chinese vases and jade sculptures from the Qianlong era, among others; as well as tapestries, porcelains, 18th century furniture, the most important publicminiature art collection in the Americas and other antiques, generally from before 1800. The collection is also complemented by temporary exhibits, and the museum hosts regular choral concerts as well as classes and seminars. Visitors can also enjoy Café Croque Madame, whose tables are set in the gardens in good weather. Since 1944, the Argentine Academy of Letters has also been housed in this location.

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