Rare Art

In which I take you on a wander through one of the sixteen museums that make up Buenos Aires' "museum mile".

Oct 31, 2025

Isaac Fernández Blanco (1862–1928) was the son of a local Argentine legislator. His father was a landowner and artist who lost everything during the Rosas’ dictatorship. He turned to politics, and regained his wealth. Somehow those seem to often go together, no?

His son one of those rare souls who blended his artistic obsession with civic generosity. A trained violinist and passionate collector, he spent years in Europe hunting down rare string instruments, particularly violins and violas, like Guarneris, Guadagninis. The sort that most musicians only dream of even holding, let alone owning. But his real legacy bloomed back in Buenos Aires, where he transformed his home into a kind of shrine to colonial art - silverwork, religious carvings, and furniture. He gathered all sorts of historical artifacts with the idea of preserving a cultural memory that was slipping through the cracks.

Eventually, he did something almost unheard of among the wealthy class at the time, he gave it all away. The house, located at Hipólito Yrigoyen 1420 in the Congreso neighborhood, along with his collection, and vision was donated it to the city in 1921, creating what would become the Museo de Arte Hispanoamericano Isaac Fernández Blanco. It wasn’t just a museum; it was a gesture of love toward the city’s past, a way of saying, “This matters.”

A well-known local architect, Martín Noel, and his brother Carlos, designed and built their home at Suipacha 1422 in Retiro. Known as the Palacio Noel, in 1936 they sold it to the city for a nominal amount, along with their entire collection of historical artifacts. The city decided to merge the two collections due to their similarity, and moved Blanco’s to the Palacio Noel, and attached the museum name to the palacio. I thought it would be fun to take you on a little tour of the beautiful courtyard and the main structure which houses the bulk of the museum’s collection. There’s also a small café on the grounds, and several smaller buildings that are sometimes used for private events. By the way, Blanco’s original house in Congreso is still open for visiting as a curated historic private home, along with a small selection from his collection.

The grounds are simply beautiful, and with scattered benches around, a lovely place to just relax away from the bustle of the surrounding area.

The main building has three floors of exhibits - ground floor, an upper floor, and the basement.

The somewhat simple exterior belies the design of the interior.

One of my two favorite rooms, with probably priceless violins and violas from the late 1600s to the early 1900s.

And my other favorite display - maybe because I have no hair left upon my head - but a collection of amazingly intricate hair combs. I know they’re not the same, but somehow (sci-fi friends and fans) these always remind me of the Minbari and Centauri from Babylon 5.