- Address: Rambla 25 de Agosto de 1825, No. 218, Montevideo 11000, Uruguay
- Phone: +598 2915 0807, +598 2916 5493
- Website: museodelcarnaval.org
- Opening date: January 2008.
- Working hours: from 11:00 to 17:00
The tradition of carnival is "native" not only to Brazil, but also to other South American countries. Including - and for Uruguay . About the traditions of the Uruguayan festival tells the Carnival Museum, located in the capital of the state, Montevideo . This is the first such museum in Latin America.
It was opened in January 2008 under the auspices of the Municipality of Montevideo, the National Port and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Uruguay. Its goal is to preserve the cultural traditions of Uruguay . The museum is visited not only by tourists: it conducts excursions for schoolchildren and participates in educational programs aimed at studying and preserving the ethnic traditions of the country's population.
Exposition of the museum
This institution is part of the so-called identity museums. It tells about the history and traditions of the Uruguayan carnival, which, unlike the carnival in Brazil, is closely involved in the national traditions of Indian tribes living in the territory of the state. All processions are accompanied by Indian folk songs, when making carnival clothes, national ornaments and traditional costume elements are necessarily used, so the Carnival Museum can be safely considered a museum of ethnography.
Here you can see musical instruments, costumes, masks and other objects that are somehow connected with the carnival, as well as many pictures, photographs and other documents telling about its history. Also in the museum you can watch popular science films about the Uruguayan carnival.
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In the main lobby of the museum there is a gift shop. In it tourists buy cards, cups, pens and pencils, T-shirts and caps - in a word, traditional souvenir products, as well as various souvenirs dedicated to carnival (including a DVD with a film about the history and traditions of the Uruguayan carnival), and products of Uruguayan artisans. In addition to the store, the museum has a café.
How to visit?
The museum works without a weekend from 11:00 to 17:00, but on religious holidays, the work time can vary. 1 and 6 January, 1 May, 18 July, 25 August, 24, 25 and 31 December, it is closed. The cost of the visit is 65 Uruguayan pesos (this is about 2.3 US dollars), children under 12 years - free of charge. You can buy a single ticket, giving the right to visit, in addition to the Carnival Museum, as well as pre-Columbian art museums of indigenous people , Torres Garcia and Gurvich . It costs 200 Uruguayan pesos (about 7 USD).
There is the Carnival Museum on the coast, in the historic center of the city. It can be reached by any bus going to the Old Town (Ciudad Vieja) or to Aduana (Aduana). Go out at the stop Cerrito esq. Pérez Castellano and Colón esq. 25 de Mayo, respectively). The Montevideo Tourist Bus stops 80 meters from the museum (Rambla 25 de Agosto esq. Yacaré).