The Exhibitist

I need to get this posted, because I was told that this museum will be closing next month, which sucks, because it’s pretty cool.  It has a strong online presence, a good physical space, and a great staff.  It will be a loss.

The MUMIN (MUseo de MINerales, get it?) is the educational endeavor of the SEGEMAR, the Servicio Geológico Minero (Argentine Mining Geological Service).  It caters mainly to school groups, tasked with making rocks interesting to children.  Geology, being perhaps not the sexiest of sciences, could make that a bit difficult to achieve, but they have done an admirable job.  Things to touch, demonstrations to look at–there’s a lot of activity for minerals.

The museum is located within a government ministry building, the name of which escapes me at the moment–but you do need an ID to get in.

I poked around on my own until a staff member came out, discovered my terrible Spanish, and immediately went back to send out a very patient English-speaking geologist.  He showed me around the museum, told me about all the displays, and answered all my questions.  Let’s see a little of the collection!  Argentina has a lot of mineral-related loot.

So, do you have a favorite kind of fossilized thing? ‘Cause I do.

“That’s cool,” you’re thinking. “BUT ARE THERE PRETTY ROCKS”

Of course!

The museum does have an app available on the website that will do AR stuff with a few signs as well as a VR headset with a short meteorite thing to watch; nothing extravagant but fun and memorable.  There are a few more hands-on elements to see/do, including some SUPER FUN SAND TABLES:

If you move the sand around, the volcano changes:

There’s another one!

In this table, you move the sand around to form the topography of the land.  Then you can make it rain by spreading your hand.  The idea is to demonstrate how water moves over the topography.

Know what else I liked?  This Argentina-specific graphic of geologic time:

Wanna see more minerals?

I will never not find it fascinating that some minerals naturally grow in distinctive shapes.

Finally, I will close this out with a geode.

The label doesn’t tell you this but the very nice geologist will, this geode is an enhydro agate–a geode with water inside of it.  Did you know that was a thing?  I had no idea that was even a thing!

The MUMIN is free and open to the public Monday through Friday from 9am-5pm (closed on holidays).  Take your ID though because you need that to get in.  It’s very close to the Plaza de Mayo and easily accessible by all the subway lines that go there.  Go while you can.