The natural history museum of La Plata is one of the finest in South America and among the most important paleontological collections in the world. The building itself — a circular neoclassical structure built in 1888, with a grand entrance portal and a domed interior — is as impressive as what is inside. The museum was conceived by Francisco Moreno, a legendary Argentine naturalist and explorer who crossed Patagonia repeatedly in the 1870s and 1880s and sent bones, fossils, and specimens back to La Plata by the crate.
The dinosaur galleries are the centrepiece, and they are extraordinary. Argentina has one of the world's richest fossil records — Patagonia in particular has yielded enormous titanosaur sauropods, fearsome predators like Giganotosaurus, and some of the earliest-known dinosaur species. The museum's collection puts these in context with well-designed displays and casts of many of the most famous specimens. Beyond the dinosaurs, the museum holds large anthropology collections relating to Argentina's indigenous peoples, an extensive zoology hall, and significant Egyptian and pre-Columbian artefacts. Allow at least two hours.
story: "The museum's founder, Francisco Perito Moreno, donated the land for what is now the Argentine territory of Patagonia's Los Glaciares region to the Argentine government in 1903, refusing payment. In recognition, the Argentine Congress gave him the land back — and he promptly donated it again to the national park system. The Perito Moreno Glacier bears his name."