Acronym

EJM-MJN

Founding Date

18 May 1946

Classification

Museum

Address

Pedro de Oñate s/n, Ciudad Jesús María, Departamento de Colón, Provincia de Córdoba, Argentina.

Telephone Numbers

+54 3525 420126

Fax number

+54 3525 420126

Links to social networks

https://www.facebook.com/Estancia-de-Jes%C3%BAs-Mar%C3%ADa-Museo-Jesus%C3%ADtíco-Nacional-115261212010691

Person in charge

Other members of the Executive

There are none

E-mail

mjn-jm@coop5.com.ar

Objectives of the institution

• To preserve, study and disseminate the historical, cultural and natural heritage of the institution and its surroundings, with focus on the evangelizing, missionary, educational and productive work developed by the Jesuits in the Estancia de Jesus Maria, as part of the comprehensive system implemented by the Society of Jesus in Argentina and South America.
• To recover and protect the Jesuit testimonials in the Estancia de Jesus Maria, coordinating actions to acknowledge its value.

• To develop historic, artistic, archaeological, and other research projects, related with the institution, its collections and programmes.
• To disseminate the values and significance of the Estancia jesuitica and the museum´s collections according to present need.

• To encourage, promote and implement the participation of the community in cultural, educational, and recreational activities to raise awareness on our heritage.

Heritage documents under its protection

In a broad sense the term patrimonial documents includes all those assets from the past that are our heritage in the present and the museum keeps, preserves, researches, exhibits, interprets and disseminates. In that regard, the museum lodges an extensive and varied heritage of over ten thousand objects, in its collections of Archaeology, Sacred Art, Sacred Ornaments, Silverware, Colonial Painting and Sculpture, Ancient Books, Historic Documents, Coins and Medals.

In particular, for the subject matter of interest for the Route of the Slave the institution has archaeological objects from Arroyo de los Reyes (Santa Fe, Argentina) which the specialists ascribe to African-American populations. Also documents in paper support referring to the Estancia de Jesus Maria in times of the Society of Jesus (16th to 18th centuries) and copies of Inventory and Valuation by the Board of Temporalities of Cordoba.

In general the state of conservation of the collections is good. The building, however, requires restoration.

The documents are used by internal and visiting researchers, with the proper accreditation. For the museum these research efforts are a source of information for the courses of internal capacity building and for professors, also for the renewal of the permanent exhibition, the implementation of temporary exhibitions, guided tours, educational activities with students from all the levels of the educational system, the participation in networks regarding to the subject matter with the Cordoba Group– the Slave Route UNESCO and the Network Conjunto Jesuitico of Cordoba World Heritage.

By way of example a list of activities undertaken:

- new museum script regarding the productive aspects of the ancient Estancia Jesuitica de Jesus Maria, highlighting the importance of the native people and the enslaved, the spaces that they inhabited, the way in which they lived, the work they carried out.

- Tours by candle lights called "Holy Week Evenings" which recover the presence of the enslaved in Jesus Maria since 2010.

- Temporary exhibition "Vientos, Olvidos and Despojos" (Winds, Oversights and Leftovers), the museum´s curatorship together with artist Hilda Zagaglia in 2016, an intervention focused on slavery and the enslaved, highlighting names, ages, prices, occupations, exploitation, jobs, ways of life on the premises.

- The Week of the Afro Argentineans on November since 2015: Tour "Penumbras y leyendas” (Gloom and Legends Tour).

- Museum renovation to highlight and give value to the spaces with presence of the enslaved of the house: Wine presses, kitchen, dish washing area, blacksmith's.

- Project to sign-post the productive spaces of the ancient Estancia Jesuitica de Jesus Maria presenting the economic, social, religious and cultural dimensions involved in the interpretation of our heritage.

Periodicals published by the institution

The Estancia de Jesus Maria - National Jesuit Museum and the Guanusacate Group of Historic Rescue publish the magazine "Entrega" since the year 2005. Since then the magazines have been published without interruption thanks to the support of the Municipality of Jesus Maria, making known the results of the research by different authors -most of them were not professional historians- on different subject matters of local interest: Immigrants, women, artists, architects, constructors, doctors, merchants, etc., buildings, plazas, productive establishments like mills, power stations. They stand out for the anthology, recuperation and dissemination of textual, photographic documentation and the interviews to the main characters of our local history.

In particular, la Entrega, Year 5, from September 7, 2010 was dedicated to slavery.

Other publications by the institution

The Catalogue of the Estancia de Jesus Maria – the National Jesuit Museum disseminates not only the collections and permanent exhibitions at the moment of the publication but also the results of the research efforts implemented in the last two decades with focus in the production, social subjects involved and the use of space in times of the Society of Jesus. The intention is to bring the values closer under the format of dissemination of values, meanings and interpretations of an extensive tangible and intangible Jesuit heritage.

The Catalogue of the Collection of Ancient Documents of the Estancia de Jesus Maria – the National Jesuit Museum results from the research, conservation and restoration projects, of ancient or historic documents developed by professionals working for the institution, and the information generated for the MEMORar system in the area of the Ministry of Culture of the Nation. Apart from making a detailed inventory of the documentary heritage, we may find in the documents the history of the estancia, the museum, the collection and the projects undertaken by the institution.