Instituto Nacional Sanmartiniano
Presently, the museum team is redesigning the main exhibition story, which is why you may find different temporary exhibits in the galleries. These are the exhibitions that you can visit. Welcome to the National Museum of History. We hope you enjoy the experience of going through our past.
The National Museum of History fosters reflection and debate on Argentine history through preservation, research, and exhibition of objects, art, historical documents, and cultural and educational activities.
Opening hours
Wednesday – Sunday: 11 am – 7 pm
Saturday: 11 am – 9 pm
(Last entry: 10 minutes before closing time)
Free entrance
Access ramp through park entrance
Ground Floor and Underground
The whistle goes, the ball rolls, the world of thousands of people stops. Chants, support, suffering, celebration. It is a sport, yes, but it is so much more. It is a passion of multitudes.
The game that makes us happy—and also miserable—has a long history in Argentina. In 2023 it will be 130 years since the first official championship was held in this country. This exhibition offers a journey through that history, from its origins to the present day.
English and creole clubs, decades of amateurism and decades of professionalism, women’s football, Maradona, the national team, the relationship between football and press, politics and culture, stadiums and fans. This exhibition covers all these topics and gathers objects and images as no other exhibition has ever done.
Welcome to this journey across the fascinating history of Argentinian football.
Ground Floor
Between 1820 and 1852, the provinces were the centre of political, economic and social life. During this period there was no national government, except for one that only lasted two years. The legacy of those three crucial and conflictive decades, in which Argentinian identity was built, was the emergence of a federal country.
Ground Floor
A journey centered on the period between the May Revolution of 1810 and the consolidation of the South American independencies during the following decade. It displays outstanding objects of these defining years and concludes with General José de San Martín’s saber.
Ground Floor
An exhibition of objects of great historical value, grouped by different themes. The exhibition uses one idea as guide: it is the way we perceive the collection and the questions it raises what gives meaning to the objects and build their stories.
The National Museum of History is located in San Telmo neighborhood, at the precise place where Don Pedro de Mendoza, Spanish conqueror, would have founded Buenos Aires back in 1536. The building and its surrounding gardens were built at the beginning of the XIX century. Around 1857, the property was bought and enlarged by José Gregorio Lezama. In 1889, the building hosted the City Museum and later, in 1891, officially became the National Museum of History.
The museum’s courtyards hold cannons and mortars from the XIX century. These weapons were of paramount importance during battle. Many of them were used in the Independency Wars (1810-1825).
Each cannon received a name, which can be seen engraved on its surface. These names give us a glimpse of the cultural values and perceptions of the times.