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Buenos Aires, Argentina > Buenos Aires attractions > Museo Casa de Ricardo Rojas Museo Casa de Ricardo RojasCharacas 2837 (@ Anchorena); Tel. + (011.54.11) 4824.4039
The Museum House of Ricardo Rojas is most notable for its extensive collection of over 20,000 magnificently bound texts, but it is the faded charm of the house that also draws visitors. Before entering guests may be challenged by a security guard – it seems the house doesn’t receive so many visitors and security may be shocked when someone wishes to enter. The guard leads visitors to a reception area where a charming and hunched hostess takes one by the arm and directs the process of signing in and donation. One shiny peso seems to appease her. On my visit late on one Thursday afternoon, there had only been one other couple present on the grounds. While visitors may prefer to wander about by themselves – inspecting the garden fountains, or taking time to paw through the selection of texts – the house can only be visited under the supervision of a museum escort. Ricardo Rojas was a literary figure of quite a different order than the revered figures of Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortázar. Instead of creating bizarre works of impossibility and philosophical intrigue, Rojas focussed on more scholarly pursuits, exemplified in his monumental History of Argentine Literature, although more traditional novels were also constant amongst his output. Besides his writing he invested himself in political and university offices. Due to his political beliefs – expounded in a study entitled Tomorrow’s Radicalism - he spent the first five months of 1934 exiled in Ushuaia. By his golden years his due contribution was recognised and numerous awards were conferred upon him, including a post as ambassador to Peru. The house is mostly constructed of dark woods. Given that the museum is approaching its fiftieth year in public hands, some deterioration is obviously expected. The escort makes the serious business of maintaining the house into something of a fun activity as she directs almost every step, pointing out the delicacy of the floor boards, and grimacing when a board creeks. Tours last about twenty minutes, although if one wishes to spend more time in a particular section, escorts are only too happy to oblige.
—Museo Casa de Ricardo Rojas review by Murdoch Stephens
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