Museum

This museum, founded and developed by Eduardo and Isabel Lucio, is comprised of an important private collection of rocks and minerals. This collection includes all the main geological profiles of the distinct regions of Patagonia. The museum contains specimens of notable mineralogical and aesthetic rarity, the only displays of their kind in the world, exhibited both in their natural state and in a cut-and-polished format. The museum stands out for its scientific, educational, cultural, and tourist values.

The museum also includes an open-air sector, where visitors are able to pass through THE THEMATIC PARK OF PATAGONIAN GEOLOGY. This park showcases beautiful rocks, mounted over trunks and roots of trees taken from the Andean forests of Patagonia. There are also water fountains with stylistic designs of the surrounding mountain ranges. These fountains merge stone and wood, set in a harmonious perspective, and naturally framed by a magnificent, background--the mountain peaks which grace our district.

Recently, the Thematic Park has been enriched with a striking Andean Pyramid. This Pyramid has been constructed upon a central base of Andean Quartz crystals, and is crowned by a hexagonal prism. The crystals are mounted above a cone of basaltic rocks of volcanic origin, and the pyramid’s circular base rests upon a formation of plutonic rocks. These foundation rocks are characteristic of the basins of our district, basins which were formed by fluvio-glacial geological processes. The conjunction of different rocks in the design elevates the viewer’s energy levels, thus facilitating appreciation for the majestic architecture of the mineral world and the identification of such architecture as an integral part of the cosmos.

The Andean Pyramid is designed to bring about an emotional encounter with nature and her distinct expressions. The entire collection represents the birth of the universe and the implications of this birth for the spiritual development of life.

The Museum was declared “of municipal interest“ by the Honorable Deliberative Council of the Municipality of El Bolsón. It was also designated ”of tourist, educational, and cultural interest“ by the Provincial Legislature of Rio Negro.

The Museum is under the personal supervision and care of its owners, Eduardo and Isabel Lucio, who also serve as hosts. The Lucios make every effort to awaken in their visitors an appreciation for the stones—not only from a mineralogical perspective but also from a cultural one, thereby inviting visitors to embark on an aesthetic approach to the mineral world. Eduardo and Isabel guide visitors towards an encounter with Nature and Culture through their manifestations in stone.

In the Museum’s gift shop, unaltered natural mineral are offered for sale. Also available for sale are cut, polished, or carved specimens produced in our own stone workshop (which is also located on the premises). Here, visitors will find an extensive variety of minerals in their natural state, including specimens of quartz crystal, amethyst, jasper, agate, celestina, thunder egg, obsidian, opal, carnelian, calcite, fluorite, olivine, aragonite, and chalcedony. Also for sale are many kinds of opal geodes of red jasper or of quartz crystal. The gift shop offers cut-and-polished landscape specimens, set or loose gems, artistic wood carvings, stone murals, stone lamps, water fountains, stone clocks, stone boxes, and many other stone-based creations.

Likewise we offer for sale pedagogical materials of our own creation, mineral collections accompanied by complete scientific annotations, as well as a book about the precious stones of Patagonia, authored by Eduardo and Isabel Lucio.