Cultural Montevideo on 05/11/09 by Alice Papazian

CULTURAL MONTEVIDEO!


          
 

In the eclectic city of Montevideo, there are many things to do and places to visit. Apart from the most famous tourist spots, and attractions such as the Teatro Solis and the Cathedral ,there are many  exhibitions and museums, less known,  that you can visit, almost all the time, for free!  In addition to that, almost all museums in Uruguay have a array of open hours. 

Usually tourists start their visit of the city from the Ciudad Vieja, the old port city, with narrowed and colorful streets full of history. In this neighborhood you will find many Uruguayan museums, such as Casa de Rivera (Mon-Fri 11-19, Sat-12-18, free entrance) in Rincon 437, where you can experience an exciting trip through the Uruguayan history from the prehistoric till now. Here you can see the rompecabezas (brainteasers), carved stones that look like 3 dimensional starfishes, used 7000 years ago as weapons from the native inhabitants. The Casa de Garibaldi, on Calle 25 de Mayo (Mon-Fri 11-19, Sat-12-18, free entrance) is the place where the hero used to live. To have an idea of the extravagant life-style of the 19^th century Uruguayan elite  (i.e. the eccentric and quite selfish habit to engrave the initials of the owner on any objects), it worths a visit to the Museo Romantico, in Calle 25 de Mayo 428  (Mon-Fri 11-19, Sat-12-18, free entrance)

In another important neighborhood, Plaza de la Costitucion, best known as Plaza Matriz, there are other interesting museums like Museo Torre Garcia: (Mon-Fir 10-19, sat-sun 10-18 free entrance), that once was the Uruguayan artist's home, now hosts a small exhibition called "Men, heroes and monsters" that is a collection of particular and atypical portraits of historical personalities like Colombo, Mozart and Velasquez. Torre Garcia is knows for his mural works, in particular for one that can be found high up on a neighboring building.  The Cabildo (Mon-Fri and Sun 14-18.30, Sat 11-17, free entrance) a neoclassic Spanish building, famous for being a prison and a town hall in the past, is nowadays a national archive and  museum.

Following Avenida 18 de Julio you can stop at the Intendencia Municipal and from the top floor of this "non interesting building at first sight" you will have a great view of the entire Montevideo At the basement, there is the Museo Historia del Arte (Tue-Sun 14.30-20 free entrance) full of artistic historical papers and documents of the prehistory (passing through Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans).

In the biggest square of Montevideo, Plaza Idipendencia, it's  worth a visit at the Casa del Gobierno (Mon-Fri 10-17 free entrance), a sumptuous building now used for ceremonial  events with a free museum dedicated to all the people who governed the country.  Last but not least is the world wide famous Estadio Centenario that is close to the long Boulevar General Artigas.  The importance of this stadium is due to the fact that hosted the first Football World Cup final in 1930. For football lovers, inside the stadium there's also a small museum (Mon-Fri 10-13 and 16-18 free entrance).