Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Museum
| Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia | |
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| Established | June 27, 1812 |
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| Location | Buenos Aires |
| Coordinates | 34°36′19″S 58°26′17″W / 34.605278°S 58.438056°W |
| Director | Dr. Pablo L. Tubaro |
| Public transit access | Angel Gallardo Metro station Line B |
| Website | www |
The Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Museum (Spanish: Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia) is a public museum located in the Caballito section of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The museum, the most important of its kind in Buenos Aires and second only to the La Plata Museum of Natural Sciences, The museum owes its existence to a proposal made by Bernardino Rivadavia before the First Triumvirate of the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata in 1812. The ongoing struggle for Independence from the Spanish colonial period stalled Rivadavia's project, however, until 1823, when he promoted construction of a building for the museum as a member of Governor Martín Rodríguez's cabinet.
The original museum opened in 1826 and was housed downtown in a loft inside the Santo Domingo Convent, which had been made available to host Rivadavia after his expulsion of the Dominican order from Buenos Aires. Rivadavia closely oversaw the construction of the institution, the first of its kind in South America, and appointed Italian Argentine botanist Carlos Ferraris as its first director. Receiving a large gift of materials and equipment from Presbyterian Minister Bartolomé Muñoz in 1813, the museum started with a collection of 800 animal and 1500 mineral specimens, among others. Rivadavia also appointed a noted Italian astronomer, Ottaviano Fabrizio Mossotti, who installed the nation's first observatory, meteorological station and experimental physics laboratory during his tenure at the facility from 1828 to 1835. Among those who consulted the museum's growing staff of researchers was Alexander von Humboldt, who requisitioned numerous meteorological studies for the Institut de France.
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