Evita Peron, a polarizing figure if ever there was one. But whatever you think about her, she had a very positive impact on Argentinian society and is celebrated by the people. For those who don’t know who she is, here is a quick recap from biography.com:
| “Eva Perón was born on May 7, 1919, in Los Toldos, Argentina. After moving to Buenos Aires in the 1930s, she had some success as an actress. In 1945, she married Juan Perón, who became president of Argentina the following year. Eva Perón used her position as first lady to fight for women’s suffrage and improving the lives of the poor, and became a legendary figure in Argentine politics. She died [of ovarian cancer] in 1952 [at the age of 33].” |
The Evita Museum, housed in one of the homes Eva had set up for poor women, is an interesting look at her life with a mix of exhibits, multi-media presentations, and quotations. The kids were asleep after a fun trip to the zoo, so my husband and I made our way to the museum which was practically next door.
There are lots of photos on display, and an impressive amount from her young life, before she came to Buenos Aires. She was born poor and illegitimate, and that shaped her life causes in the future. But she was quite pretty and smart so at the age of 15 she made her way to Buenos Aires to become a TV star. That didn’t pan out, but she became a famous radio personality in Buenos Aires. One display is a great life size poster of her Radio show with her picture on it.
For multimedia, we saw lots of videos of the people who rallied in the streets for Eva and her husband, as well as video from her diplomatic tour through Europe and South America at the young age of 28. There were also exhibits showing the changes she made, such as the workshops she set up for poor women to have work, the schools and nursery programs that Juan instituted, and of course, a powerful exhibit about her sudden (to the people) and untimely death at the age of 33, right at the height of her popularity.
The highlight for me, by far, had to be the clothing collection. They had several of Evita’s outfits from special occasions on display, and they did not disappoint. I love fashion, and Eva was a classic beauty. I actually pointed to one of the dresses and told my husband I wanted it, that’s how timeless her style was. Along with the dresses were some hats and shoes. I really wanted to go through the glass and try on the shoes, cute but sensible sized heels that I could see myself wearing with some of my outfits today.
Toward the end, my son woke up startled, and my husband and I took turns finishing the exhibit, as the other rocked the stroller back and forth (to keep the little one asleep) while stroking my son’s hair (to keep him calm from his wake-up from his very short nap). However the elevator ride down in the loud and jarring antique elevator woke up my daughter and now all bets were off. Thankfully, we had seen all the permanent exhibits, so we were more than happy to leave the museum to find someplace for two little ones to run off their energy. Off to our next stop…
* All photos taken by Atma Photography
Yes, I can totally picture you in that dress, and LOVE the shoes. She had style 😉
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