Francisco P. Moreno Museum of Patagonia, Natural history museum in Bariloche, Argentina.

The Francisco P. Moreno Museum of Patagonia is a natural history museum in Bariloche that displays objects related to natural science, prehistory, ethnography, and regional history. The institution occupies part of the Civic Center building and organizes its collection into four distinct sections for easy exploration.

The museum was founded in 1940 when the National Parks Administration acquired anthropological collections from Enrique Amadeo Artayeta, the institution's first director. This establishment marked the beginning of a systematic effort to gather and preserve knowledge about the history and cultures of Patagonia.

The ethnographic section displays objects and knowledge about indigenous communities that have lived in this region for centuries. You can see how these peoples built, lived, and dressed through items shown in the display cases.

The museum occupies part of the Civic Center complex, whose buildings are grouped around a plaza paved entirely in flagstone; the museum entrance is reached from that plaza. The complex was declared a National Historic Monument in 1987, so the exterior of polished green tuff, cypress and fitzroya with slate roofing is part of the visit. Inside there is an auditorium, a library and archives alongside the exhibition halls.

The museum holds the skull of Cipriano Catriel, a Mapuche-Tehuelche cacique, acquired by Francisco P. Moreno, who also took his poncho; Moreno wrote to his father that he had Catriel's head. The skull was displayed publicly, and the National Parks Administration has since resolved to return the remains, awaiting agreement among descendants on their reception.