ACHIEVEMENTS

During the past intense years, while the Association of Friends supported and assisted the Museum’s activities, many initiatives of varying scope. Here is a list of the most significant ones:

In 1969, work was launched on the “Expansion and Remodeling of the Museum”. One year before, a Decree of the Ministry of Education authorized the National Department of Educational Architecture (DINAE) to provide the necessary funds

The Association of Friends, as an intermediate organization, was responsible for making the ambitious dream come true, and was in charge of the project’s control, the work itself and the management of funds.
Architect Samuel Oliver, who was at the time the Museum’s Director, was first in charge of the project. Later on, when he left the country, Architect Hernán Elizalde was entrusted with the responsibility. He worked pro bono, and at the requirement of the Association he expanded and updated the original plans, showing a commitment and an efficiency that deserve to be highlighted.
A series of obstacles had to be overcome, some of them financial, that led to an impasse. One of the problems was the bankruptcy of the building company that had won the bid for calls. However, the renovation work started again in 1970 and really found its pace in 1976.
The first thing that had to be expanded and renovated was the paintings storeroom and the basement. These rooms were equipped with a modern dehumidification system.

At the end of 1980 the Great Hall for Permanent Exhibitions was inaugurated, on the first floor. It has a surface of 1,650 sq meters, is almost one hundred meters long – 98 x 18 – and also has high-tech air conditioning.
By mid 1981, after exhaustive studies to decide on the type and quality of the alarm system that had to be installed, the Association agreed with D.I.N.A.E. to open a call for bids – and later to award— for the necessary equipment. A world-class alarm system was installed, that covers the Museum against theft, burglary, and fire, with automatic detection and extinction in the case of fire. A wireless alarm connects the Museum to the Federal Police.
During 1982, four renovated rooms were inaugurated at ground floor level, in the Museum’s left wing.
The Association of Friends also collaborated with the facilities of the new Museum’s library, that began functioning in its new premises by the beginning of 1983.
The Library has three floors, that can be accessed from the ground floor: storerooms, reading rooms and working rooms. The reading rooms have air conditioning and ample windows facing north.

At the beginning of 1984 we inaugurated the special access ramp for the handicapped, on the right hand side of the Museum’s general entrance. The Association had assigned a high  priority to the necessary works, which represented a significant expense.
The Museum’s second floor was finished at the end of 1984 and had aroused great expectation. It added 1,745 sq meters of floor space for temporary shows, and includes two terraces for sculptures, a room for prints, the new restoration workshop and the Administration offices of the Director. The latter have been equipped with functional furnishings, an automatic electricity central and the whole floor is air-conditioned. 

During remodeling, the Museum’s entrance hall was renovated, as well as the souvenir stand and the basement, which was adapted to house the technical workshops, installed close to the paintings storeroom, thus achieving an ultra-functional result.
With this, the Museum’s expansion and remodeling work was completed. The exhibition space was increased by 75%. The Museum became a facility with 10,000 sq meters of floor space, with 37 rooms and a new audiovisual hall, which sits 230 people. Exhibition space was increased by 75%.

As a result of these achievements, the Ministry of Culture and Education granted our Association its Honor and Recognition Diploma, through Resolution Nº 1.137 (MCE 81), dated October 1981, based on the efforts of the Association for the enhancement of the National Museum of Fine Arts. 

The Association also repaired and rehabilitated the Pavilion inaugurated for the 150th. Anniversary of the May Revolution. This work was financed by the Association, jointly with the Fortabat Foundation. Thus the Museum recuperated 1.000 sq meters of additional space devoted to temporary shows, now protected by the same alarm system installed in the Museum, and with air conditioning which makes it possible to use it all year long. 

Naturally, all these expansion and remodeling work have allowed to increase the number of works on exhibition at the Museum. But we went further. At the beginning of the 1984 season, the room that houses the Alfredo Hirsch and Elizabeth Gottschalk de Hirsch Collection was opened to the public. This extremely valuable collection has further enriched the Museum’s heritage. Among its works, there are some paintings by Rubens and various Dutch Masters of the 17th. century, as well as the priceless “El Capitán a Caballo”, a tapestry from the Artemis History series (Paris, France, 1627). We should also mention a number of Renaissance bronzes. This donation was made by Claudia Leonor Caraballo de Quentín, Sarah Saavedra Guani de Hirsch, Octavio Alfredo Caraballo and Mario Hirsch.

More recently, in 2003, the Association of Friends made further important contributions. Most noteworthy was the Library's renovation –a total area of 454 m2- and its structural and organizational transformation.

Work included book-storage space in the basement, the reading room, multimedia area and the office of the Library's Director, on the ground floor, as well as researchers working rooms and personnel offices on the first floor.

It was a very complex endeavor: the library contains 150,000 bibliographic items, comprising 65,000 books, 25,000 brochures, 30,000 journals and 30,000 volumes contributed by private donors. 

The Association also donated to the Museum a specially built cabinet to exhibit the pre-columbine collection of textiles and crafts –currently on show- as well as the huacos, funereal urns and Mexican tables; in the paintings storage room, 24 new movable metal racks were installed for works not on show, and 3 computers were acquired, complete with printers and a digital camera.

On the second floor, the Restoration area was totally remodeled.

In 2004, to comply with a request of the Museum Director, the Association also accepted to pay and implement the overhauling and reorganization of exhibition rooms on the first floor.  
The objective was to offer a broader and comprehensive panorama of Argentine art of the 19th and 20th centuries,  while opening three new rooms: one for pre-columbine art, the second one for colonial era paintings and the last one for the works of the region's artists included in the collection donated by  María Luisa Bemberg in 1995.

Thus, the three basic objectives proposed by Architect Al­ber­to Bellucci, who was at the time the Museum's Director, were achieved by the Association of Friends:

1) Exhibition of a larger number of works belonging to the Museum, which had until then been kept in storage.

2) Complying with the exhibition of  various legacies and donations.

3) Remodeling and revamping exhibition rooms to adapt them to updated Museology and museographic criteria, including presentation of didactic explanatory texts, prepared by the Museum researchers and its Department of Education.

All remodeling was financed by the Association of Friends, with the agreement and participation of the National Secretariat of Culture and the support of the National Service of Cultural Heritage and Museums.  

During 2005, the bridge which connects the main building to the temporary exhibits pavilion was totally rebuilt, as its deterioration posed a serious hazard to visitors. 

During 2006,  the Museum's front façade was repaired and the flooring in the temporary exhibitions pavilion was changed. In 2007 an emergency exit was built for the Auditorium and the MNBA terrace was repaired.

In order to assess the magnitude of the Association of Friends support to the Museum, let us note that the annual sum cumulated from 2003 to 2006 has been of 1,648,000 dollars.