MUSEO MARITIMO Y DEL PRESIDIO

Today it houses two museums and the building of the former Ushuaia prison dates from 1920. In 1884, the Argentine government decided to install a military prison on the island of the States. In 1902, for humanitarian reasons, it was transferred to Puerto Golondrina, west of Ushuaia. Thus began the construction of their own prison by the prisoners themselves. The octopus-shaped configuration of the premises has been totally preserved: a central hall allowed the monitoring of all the corridors where the cells were lined up. In 1911, a presidential decree ordered the merger of this military prison with the prison for repeat offenders, which had been in operation since 1896. The government's objective was to begin the settlement of the area, encouraging the families of the convicts to settle in the surrounding area. Closed in 1947, the prison was transferred to the Ministry of the Navy, which transformed it into a maritime hospital. Today, it houses a kind of cultural complex open to the public. We may be a little offended by the price of admission when we discover an old-fashioned museography, but these old photos and small objects still manage to plunge us into the time of the penitentiary, the construction of the southernmost train in the world by convicts or to retrace the history of the ships and their crews who came to conquer Tierra del Fuego. The entrance is therefore occupied by the Maritime Museum, which tells the history of the region through the various maritime expeditions. It offers interesting maps and model ships. But the most astonishing thing is on the ground floor of pavilion 4: the cells have been converted into the Penitentiary Museum, where you can discover the history of some of the prisoners, famous criminals and politicians, who stayed in the prison. Of particular note is the disturbing sculpture and no less scabrous biography of Santos Godino, el Petiso Orejudo (The Little One with Big Ears), a young arsonist and child strangler... Upstairs, a few cells present the story of the conquest of Antarctica. Outside you can visit the scale replica of the famous "Lighthouse of the End of the World" (faro del fin del mundo) described by Jules Vernes and built in 1884 to the east of Isla de los Estados. Finally, there is also a bookshop, an art gallery, and a pleasant café. An informative and immersive visit that will allow you to learn more about the rich past of this little corner of the world.