Montevideo has an important cultural activity and if you are a visitor to this beautiful city, even if you do so for work reasons, it will be a pleasant plan to dedicate at least a few hours to its varied offering.
Our suggestion today is a visit to Casa Lavalleja, one of the eight headquarters of the National Historical Museum of Uruguay, where you will find a magnificent exhibition referring to the arts of good eating over a hundred years, introducing us to the most diverse social spheres, from the popular meals, the country barbecue, which is a must, as is the mate, and the celebratory banquets.
Images, utensils and sayings are presented in magnificent settings. Following the old schemes of popular arts museums, each room places us in a particular environment although in a reflection of the times we live in, without avoiding gender mandates and different social registers.
Engravings and lithographs, along with old photographs and printed illustrations, dialogue with the advertising message of the most diverse utensils, and the anonymous traces of crafts focused on the home and, especially, on good eating. All the traditional trades there show their creations: basket makers, blacksmiths, carpenters, weavers and embroiderers, copper melters and beaters, ceramists and potters, silversmiths, wicker workers, tinsmiths, asteros, glass blowers...
Settings, display cases and framed images place us in each area. Photography: Hilario.
And the museographic script is so effective that upon entering each space we can imagine the conversations born around a mate, a roast rib, grandmother's Sunday pasta, or the most eccentric menu of a presidential banquet. In short, gastronomy, society and politics with a magnificent selection of elements donated by different public and private collections.
The exhibition can be visited from Wednesday to Sunday, from 12 to 6 p.m., with free admission. It is accessed by a staircase.
Zabala 1469, city of Montevideo.
National Historical Museum, Casa Lavalleja. Montevideo. Eastern Republic of Uruguay.
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