The museum was inaugurated on March 17, 1940, as part of the unveiling of the Bariloche Civic Center, which was commissioned by the national government as part of an effort to promote the then-remote
Río Negro Provinceski resort town. The museum, and its accompanying
Domingo Sarmiento Public Library and Bariloche City Hall, were designed by Ernesto de Estrada. Built from polished green
tuff,
cypress and
fitzroya, with
slate roofing, the buildings are centered by a plaza put down entirely in
flagstone pavers.
Collections
The majority of its collections were requisitioned from the
National Parks Adeministration by the museum's first director, Enrique Artayeta. Named in honor of Argentine surveyor and academic
Francisco Moreno, the institution was organized in the tradition of the
La Plata Museum, whose 1888 establishment was owed in large measure to the renowned explorer.
Expanded and modernized during a 1992 restoration, the museum's collections are divided by a number of categorized halls:
The
Conquest of the Desert: illustrating the tools, arms, and methods used by Argentine governments from
Juan Manuel de Rosas' to
Julio Roca's in their 19th-century campaigns to displace native peoples, as well as those used by native
caciques in their counteroffensives.
San Carlos de Bariloche: exhibits relating to local history, from the town's establishment in 1885, to its promotion by Public Works Minister
Ezequiel Ramos Mexía after 1905 and its later development.
Francisco Moreno: an exhibit honoring the museum's namesake, the noted surveyor and academic who donated Lake Nahuel Huapi and its surroundings in 1903 to create the nation's first national park.
The museum also includes a hall for temporary exhibits, an auditorium, workshop, library and archives, as well as facilities for
curators and researchers.