The main cultural assets of Argentina

Argentina has a wide diversity of cultural and natural heritage given the extensive territory and the geographical and environmental variety of the country. Our values and traditions are reflected in an endless diversity of movable heritage, archives, archaeological and paleontological sites, including underwater cultural heritage, built heritage and manifestations of intangible cultural heritage that acquire specificity according to their geographical origin. The Ministry of Culture is responsible for directing policies for the conservation, safeguarding and dissemination of tangible and intangible heritage, in conjunction with the ministries and/or secretariats of culture of the various jurisdictions, in accordance with the country's federal organization.

The legal framework on cultural heritage conservation

Argentina has ratified all the international conventions on the protection of cultural heritage and the dissemination of culture issued by UNESCO, from the 1954 Hague Convention and its two protocols, to the 2005 Convention on Cultural Diversity and the 2015 Recommendation on the Promotion of Museums; the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention and the OAS San Salvador Convention, as well as regional provisions within the scope of MERCOSUR (Southern Common Market), and the resolutions adopted by the United Nations and its agencies on the promotion and protection of cultural heritage.

At the federal level, Argentina has a wealth of legislation on the protection of cultural heritage that dates back to 1912 with the first law on the protection of archaeological and paleontological heritage, replaced in 2003 by Law 25743; Law 12665 on the protection of national historic monuments; Law 15930 on the General Archive of the Nation; Law 25197 on the registration of cultural heritage and Law 24633 on the international circulation of works of art and simultaneously on the protection of cultural heritage, just to name a few. In addition to the federal legislative and regulatory corpus, there are also provincial laws for the protection of cultural heritage.

The cultural and natural sites on the World Heritage List

The Argentinean sites included in the UNESCO World Heritage List reflect a wide spectrum of our world’s cultural and natural resources. By including both natural and cultural sites and categories not well-represented in the List, such as cultural landscapes, modern movement assets or Valdivian Temperate Forests, as well as considering geographical coverage in our federal country and the importance of international cooperation in the identification and conservation of our common heritage, Argentina aspires to go beyond the narrow definitions of heritage and strives to acknowledge and protect sites that are outstanding manifestations of human coexistence with nature, human interactions and cultural cohabitation.

Argentinean World Heritage sites (Text and websites in Spanish)

• Parque Nacional Los Glaciares (Provincia de Santa Cruz, Argentina). Patrimonio Natural. Inscripción: 1981. Criterios: (vii) y (viii).
  
• Misiones Jesuíticas Guaraníes, San Ignacio de Miní, Santa Ana, Nuestra Señora de Loreto y Santa María la Mayor (Argentina), San Miguel de las Misiones (Brasil) (Provincia de Misiones, Argentina / Estado de Río Grande del Sur, Brasil). Patrimonio Cultural. Inscripción: 1983 /1984. Criterio: (iv).
  
• Parque Nacional Iguazú (Provincia de Misiones, Argentina). Patrimonio Natural. Inscripción: 1984. Criterios: (vii) y (x).
  
• Cueva de las Manos, Río Pinturas (Provincia de Santa Cruz, Argentina). Patrimonio Cultural. Inscripción: 1999. Criterio: (iii).
  
• Península Valdés (Provincia de Chubut, Argentina). Patrimonio Natural. Inscripción: 1999. Criterio: (x).
  
• Parques Naturales Ischigualasto-Talampaya (Provincias de San Juan y La Rioja, Argentina). Patrimonio Natural. Inscripción: 2000. Criterio: (viii).
  
• Manzana y Estancias Jesuíticas de Córdoba (Provincia de Córdoba, Argentina). Patrimonio Cultural. Inscripción: 2000. Criterios: (ii) y (iv). Ver también el Museo Nacional Estancia Jesuítica de Alta Gracia y Casa del Virrey Liniers.
  
• Quebrada de Humahuaca (Provincia de Jujuy, Argentina). Patrimonio Cultural. Inscripción: 2003. Criterios: (ii), (iv) y (v).
  
• Qhapaq Ñan, Sistema Vial Andino (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú). Patrimonio Cultural. Inscripción: 2014. Criterios: (ii), (iii), (iv) y (vi).
  
• La Obra arquitectural de Le Corbusier: una contribución excepcional al Movimiento Moderno (Argentina, Bélgica, Francia, Alemania, India, Japón y Suiza). Patrimonio Cultural. Inscripción: 2016. Criterios: (i), (ii) y (vi).
  
• Parque Nacional Los Alerces (Provincia de Chubut, Argentina). Patrimonio Natural. Inscripción: 2017. Criterios: (vii) y (x).
  

Argentina is a Member State of ICCROM since 29/08/1988

Mandates in ICCROM Council since 1958:

ICCROM Staff since 1959: - None -

Governmental Cultural Institutions

• Secretaría de Patrimonio Cultural
  
• Comisión Nacional de Monumentos, de Lugares y de Bienes Históricos
  
• Dirección Nacional de Bienes y Sitios Culturales
  
• Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Pensamiento Latinoamericano
  

Museums and Cultural Heritage Institutions

• Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (CABA)
  
• Museo Histórico Nacional (CABA)
  
• Museo de La Plata
  
• Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia
  
• Museo Etnográfico Juan B. Ambrosetti
  

* ICCROM reserves the right to moderate the content provided by Member States for country profiles to ensure that they remain within the scope of ICCROM’s mission and pertinent to cultural heritage. However, ICCROM does not take responsibility for the accuracy and validity of the content supplied. The ideas and opinions expressed are those of the Member States.