Fundación Ecocentro - Patagonian Sea
Interpretation centre
Julio Verne 3784, Puerto Madryn
Phones:
(54 2965) 457470 / 71 / 72 / 73
The Ecocentro is a place for gathering and reflection that promotes a more harmonic attitude towards nature through education, science and art, inspired by the Patagonian sea.
The Ecocentro assembles an integrative vision in its exhibitions that combines an educational approach based upon discovery and different culture expressions presented by artists, musicians, poets, philosophers, etc.
Natural science and oceanographic museum
Domec García y Menéndez, Puerto Madryn
Phones:
(54 2965) 451139
The museum has been open to the public since 1972 at the Chalet Pujol, former home to Mr. Agustín Pujol, a distinguished businessman in the area.
At present, the museum is pleased to show the visitor a new exhibition named “The man and the sea” that emphasizes the principal bonds that since Prehistory till Present Times men of different cultural background have had with the sea and its resources.
This exhibition, displayed in 9 rooms distributed on three floors, highlights the Europeans’ vision of the sea before and after the Discovery of America as well as the natives’ connection with the sea, the scintific look on Patagonia natural resources in general and on the sea in particular, and the present links between the sea and society. To finish the visit, from the mirador, a view of the city in which its present and past can be compared.
The MEF constitutes an inspiring proposal that defines a new concept as regards museums: it is a Center of Scientific Activities related to palaeontology and natural sciences.
The MEF researcher team, worldwide known for its important discoveries and specialized investigations, is the basis of a fascinating exhibition, advanced extension programs and a wide range of activities that make the visit unique and complete inviting the visitor to amaze at the discovery of nature secrets led by those who have revealed them. Visitors at the MEF can engage in a scheduled exhibition that stimulates both children and adults’ curiosity on a trip that goes along a time line into the past, just from the first Patagonian inhabitants to the beginning of life on Earth.
On this trip we highlight the surprising presence of Dinosaurs, the programs in the Auditorium that consist of an audiovisual conference and a balanced combination of education and entertainment that let visitors and the MEF scientists interact.
The “Bryn Gwyn Park” (“White Low Hill”, in Welsh) represents a 40-million-year trip going through different layers of geological formations.
The most recent history backs from 10,000 years and belongs to the formation of Chubut River Valley, which starts in the Andean Mountain Range and flows in the Atlantic Ocean. The trip finishes 40 million years before when Patagonia was a wooded savannah similar to today’s African ones. The place was surveyed scientifically at the beginning of the century by scientists such as the Ameghino brothers, Simpson and Feruglio.
