Argentina Guide
The Northwest
Museo El Tribuno Pajarito Velarde
Opening time: Mon– Sat 9am–6pm
Price: $2
Address: Pueyrredón 106 and España
The curious Museo El Tribuno Pajarito Velarde was the home of a colourful local personality, Guillermo Velarde Mors (born 1895), who died in his magnificent wooden bed here in 1965. Mors was nicknamed "Pajarito" ("little bird"), apparently because of his tendency to peck away at his food and to whistle in public. A controversial bohemian born into a wealthy, influential family, he worked in turn as a lawyer, journalist and banker, but retired from his last job, at the Banco Provincial de Salta, at the age of 37 to create a kind of arts club. While promoting artists, writers and musicians, especially local folk singers and groups, at a time when they lacked social kudos, he also went out of his way to cause scandals – he particularly liked provoking the nuns who ran the girls' school opposite his house. Respected as a great patron of the arts, he was also marginalized by local society, owing to his outlandish lifestyle – he never married, had lots of affairs and his music sessions often degenerated into drunken orgies. Crammed full of his fascinating belongings – including a hat donated by an admiring Carlos Gardel (two tangos were composed in Pajarito's honour) – this humble adobe house is a fitting tribute to both an original local character and the history of Salta's socio-cultural life in the twentieth century. The mischievous curator, Carol, delights in shocking visitors with some of Pajarito's prize trinkets, several of which are in dubious taste, but unfortunately her lively explanations are in Spanish only.