CIE - Centre for International Heritage Activities

Travelling Exhibition with Museo del Fin del Mundo: Travelling Exhibition with Museo del Fin del Mundo

 

Duration: 2008-2009

Status: Complete

Partners: The Dutch Embassy in Buenos Aires, Scheepvaart Museum, Maritime Museum Prins Hendrik, Kaap Hoornvaarders Foundation, Museo del Fin del Mundo.

 

In 2008 the Museo del Fin del Mundo in Ushauaia requested CIE to help them with the organisation of a travelling exhibition focused upon the early Dutch explorers of Argentina. The exhibition was organised in advance of the celebrations of Argentina's 200th anniversary of its independance. It travelled around various cities in the Patagonia and also across the border into Chile, before returning to Ushauaia where the collection would remain. It was officially opened in December 2008 at the Maritime Museum in Ushuaia,  by the Dutch Ambassador Hendrik Soeters, and was on show until January 2010. 

 

It was the task of CIE to identify institutions and organisations in the Netherlands that would be willing to participate in a museological project relating to Dutch-Argentinean heritage. The exhibition opened at the museum on the 18th December 2009 with 24 panels designed especially for travel. The museum was also granted a subsidy to translate the publications of the Dutch explorers Sebald de Weert and Van Schouten.  

 

The museum's activities were organised around 3 main themes;

 

1. The exhibition investigating the influence of the Dutch upon the history of the region and its waters. Many of the Dutch explorers of the 16th and 17th centuries had written about and drawn maps of the local area whilst on their travels, many of which are still preserved. The exhibition highlighted the details of their journey through Argentina and outlined the historical context of these trips. It also explored the biographies of five Dutch ships in the Argentine waters. 

 

2. Many of the original historical documents of the Dutch explorers still exist, such as those detailing the voyages of Le Maie, amongst others. A selection of these accounts, such as those by the famed Sebald de Weert and Van Schouten, were translated into Spanish and published to accompany the exhibition.

 

3. As part of the activities, the museum also desired to incorporate the exchange of symbolic gestures between the city of Ushuaia and the Dutch-founded cities of Goeree and Hoorn, to celebrate their historic ties in light of this exhibition.