National Theatre Museum

Córdoba 1199
Tel. 4815-8812 / 4815-8883
Open Mondays through Fridays from 12 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Holidays: January

This museum was created in 1938, and from its very beginnings, became an important and unseparable part of the National Institute of Theatre Studies. In its halls one can contemplate a stage setting through scale models, props and costumes, such as those worn by José Podestá in the role of "Juan Moreira" (1886), or as the traveling country singer in "Pepino el 88" (1881), or the "gaucho" clothes worn by Carlos Gardel in the film "El día que me quieras". There is a wide assortment of programs, posters and advertisements of theatre activities, and busts, portraits, photographs and caricatures of the best known Argentine theatrical characters. Spanish theatre is evoked through figures of the stature of María Guerrero and Fernando Díaz de Mendoza, founders of the Cervantes Theatre, and the costumes they wore in "La dama boba", by Lope de Vega, the play with which the Cervantes Theatre was inaugurated.
Several showcases exhibit manuscripts, engravings, programs, costumes and elements pertaining to our theatrical history from its colonial beginnings, through the Independence period, the federal period and the native circus. Also evoked is the Podestá family, a group of artists of Italian origin who stand as a landmark in the theatrical development of the Río de la Plata area. There are also records of different genres, such as Spanish operetta ( "Zarzuela"), one-act farces, and grotesque and independent theatrical performances. The exhibition is completed by programs, photographs and costumes worn by Spanish artists who performed in our country, particularly Argentine dancer Antonia Mercé ("La Argentina") one of the most important propagators of Spanish dance in the world.