MUSEUMS

The first instance of the creation of a museum in Tierra del Fuego province is when in 1965, Governor Francisco Bilbao signed Decree 240 deciding that the building located on the corner of Deloqui and Gobernador Godoy Streets was to function as the "Fueguian Regional Museum".

Fourteen years later, on May 18, 1979, the HANIS Association, on the basis of the original exhibits, began to shape the "End-of-the-World Museum", relocating it in its current premises on Maipú Av.

This museum was born of a deep cultural commitment, based on the search for the city's past community roots that continue to grow in the present and reach toward the future.

In that order, it protects and preserves the objects and documents that reveal the province's history; it fosters research programs to learn more about the historical events in the region and about its ancient inhabitants. This is a living museum, where ongoing research and expeditionary work is carried out.

The building, raised in 1903, used to be the private home of Manuel Fernández Valdés, the then Secretary of Provincial Government and later to be Governor (1905-1017). It was one of the first stone-constructed buildings in which labor from the inmates of the notorious Penitentiary of Ushuaia was employed.

In 1911 it was acquired by the "Banco de la Nación Argentina" (Argentine National Bank). The Ushuaia branch of this Bank operated on the site from 1915 to 1978. Afterwards it was donated to the provincial government, and after being remodelled, the museum was inaugurated there on May 18, 1979.

Its five halls exhibit the backgrounds of the indigenous cultures, old shipwrecks, the origins of the city and the life of the gold-diggers, among many other topics related to regional history. It also displays a collection of embalmed (dried) ornithological and zoological specimens, including most of the local birds and fauna.

It is located at Av. Maipú 177 (on the corner of Rivadavia Street), and its visiting hours are Monday through Saturday from 3 to 7 p.m.

"YAMANA WORLD" SCALE-MODEL MUSEUM
This is an environment specially designed to satisfy the visitors' curiosity about this now extinct indigenous culture telling them where and how the Yámana aborigines lived, and providing theories on how they arrived to this part of the world.

It offers excellent 1:15 scale models of the homes and sanctuaries of the Yámanas, as well as information on the other aboriginal inhabitants of the region, such as the Selknam (Onas), Haus (Mánek'enk) and Alakalufes. A visit to the hall showing a scheme of the most widely accepted theory on how these southern areas were settled is recommended. The museum is located at Rivadavia 56.

ACATUSHUN MUSEUM
This is to be found on "Estancia Harberton" 85 Km west of Ushuaia. It boasts some 2,200 specimens of marine fauna and 2,000 specimens of birds (including penguins). The first section of the museum contains an ample section on southern birds such as condors, cormorants, Antarctic penguins, cauquenes, ducks and seagulls. Also on display are a large number of complete skeletons of orcas, the exclusive "Héctor" dolphin (one of the seven specimens exhibited worldwide) and the "delfín liso" (smooth) dolphin, that is one of the ocean's fastest swimmers due to its lack of a dorsal fin.

USHUAIA EX-PENITENTIARY OR JAIL FOR RELAPSING CRIMINALS
The history of Tierra del Fuego's penal institutions starts in the 19th Century with the building of the "Military Prison". This operated at different times in De los Estados Island, San Juan de Salvamento, and lastly in Puerto Cook.

First it was used as a jail for relapsing criminals, the first group that arrived in 1896, but later it received highly perilous criminals, generally sentenced to life or long terms in jail. Among these a notable case was that of Sánchez Godino, the so-called ''petiso orejudo'' ("bat-eared shorty"). One of the museum's cells is dedicated to his deeds and another to the memorabilia and history of the notorious anarchist Simón Radowitzky.

Later, in 1902, the penitentiary was made to serve for humanitarian causes in the city of Ushuaia, in Puerto Golondrina. This was the first stone building in the area, which was built with the system invented by engineer Muratgia. The inmates themselves worked in it, and it took them 18 years to complete it.

In the 380 single-occupant cells which made up its five pavilions, the jail housed from 600 to 800 inmates. All of these were forced to work. The city profited significantly from this, as inmate labor was used for the construction of roads and bridges, as well as for the installation of telephone and power lines. Another useful task they carried out was track laying for the "southernmost train in the world" which brought lenga wood for construction from the surrounding forests.

The kitchen was constructed between Pavilion 1 and Pavilion 2, and the bakery between Pavilions 1 and 5. The management offices were built facing the bay, and the workshops were constructed at some distance from the main building; in 1943 the current hospital was built. This later became part of the "Navy Base Hospital" and was, for some time, the only health center of the area.

The "Central Hall" or "Multi-use Auditorium" was used as a conference hall, Movie Theater and for all types of proceedings.

In 1911, the Argentine President Roque Sáenz Peña, signed a decree integrating the "Military Prison" with the "Ushuaia Jail for Relapsing Criminals". The building stopped operating as a penitentiary in 1947, when it was transferred to the Navy Ministry for the installation of a Naval Base in 1950.

Currently the building houses several museums devoted to the history of the prison and the history of navigation in the South Atlantic and South Pacific. These are the "Police Museum", "Antarctic Museum", "Maritime Museum", and the "Penitentiary Museum and Prisons of the World".

Guided visits are carried out every day. Timetables may be consulted at Phone (2901) 437481/436321. It has now been declared a National Historical Monument, and is sited on the corner of Gobernador Paz and Yáganse.