A visit to Mitre Museum

General Mitre's life

He was born on June 26th, 1821 and died on January 19th, 1906. Poet, soldier, journalist, president of the Argentine Republic (1862-1868), senator, representative for the Province of Buenos Aires, diplomat, writer, historian and bibliophile.

• During his presidency the National Secondary School System was created, the Code of Commerce was written and the Civil and Penal Codes were drafted. the supreme Court of Justice was formed; the firest railway line (Rosario-Córdoba) was laid and the communication means (mail and telegraph) were extensively developed. he was also General in Chief of the Allied Armies of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay in the war against Paraguay.

• On January 4th, 1870, he created the “La Nación” newspaper.

• Great collector of books, periodicals, manuscripts, coins, medals, plans and maps. This collections are the Museum's most treasured possessions.

• Father of Argentinean Historiography, he wrote “History of San Martín and South American Emancipation”

• Translator of Dante's “Divina Comedia”

Visiting the Museum ground floor

This emblematic colonial house (1785) where the Mitre family lived from 1860 until 1906, opened its doors as a museum in 1907; and was declared National Historical Monument in 1942. In its rooms, one can see the Elizabeth furniture, gold leafed mirrors, the policromatic glass panes of the dining Room and, on the first floor, Gen. Mitre's personal library.

The Great Schollar. First floor

General Mitre organized one of the most important libraries in Latin America. It includes a map collection, a periodicals collection and a coin collection which are permanent consulting material.

The “American Library”

It's considered one of the most complete libraries in its specialty in South America. It consists of 20,000 volumes arranged in 22 categories like history, geography and American languages. It spans from the sixteenth to the beginnig of the twentieth centuries. Mitre named his collection “American Library” himself, and in his time, it was already an attraction for scholars and specialists.

At present the American Library is part of the Mitre Museum's General Library which has more than 70,000 volumes.

The Historial Archive

It's considered the second in importance in Argentina, due to the quantity and historical relevance of the documents it contains. its formed by the collections of manuscripts, gathered by Bartolomé Mitre, related to the most outstanding figures of the National History. There are more than 48,000 documentary items classified in different funds. Some of them are: The Colonial Archive, Gen. José de San Martín de Pueyrredón, Gen. Bartolomé Mitre, Gen. Emilio Mitre, among other Founding Fathers of the Argentine Nation.