The Prison Museum in Ushuaia: the history of penal labor at the end of the world

If you only have half a day in Ushuaia — go to the Museo Marítimo y del Presidio. It's not just a museum, it's a complex of four museums under one roof, housed in an actual penal prison that operated from 1902 to 1947. Anarchists, serial killers, political prisoners, and ordinary recidivists sat here. And it was they who built Ushuaia — the city you're standing in right now.

I've been taking guests here for years and still find something new every time. In this article — everything worth knowing before the visit: history, the main characters, what to see, how much it costs, and how to plan the visit.

Why a prison was built at the end of the world

End of the 19th century. Argentina had just secured Tierra del Fuego from Chile by the 1881 treaty. A huge territory, harsh climate, zero European population — only the Yagán and Selk'nam. How do you hold the land? The answer was found by looking at the British, who'd colonized Australia with the hands of convicts. The Argentines decided to repeat the playbook.

In 1896, President Julio Argentino Roca signed a decree to create a recidivist prison on Tierra del Fuego — the Presidio Nacional de Reincidentes. The idea was simple: exile the hardest cases here so they served their sentence and built the new Argentine outpost at the same time.

The first prisoners arrived in 1896 on the Isla de los Estados, and in 1902 the prison was moved to Ushuaia. At that time barely a few dozen people lived here: Anglican missionaries, a couple of officials, indigenous people. The prison became the core around which the city grew.

Architecture: a five-pointed star

The building was designed as a five-pointed star. In the center — a circular rotunda hall with a guard tower, from which five wings extend, each about 70 meters long. From a single point you could control every corridor at once — the classic panopticon scheme, invented by the philosopher Jeremy Bentham back in the 18th century.

The cells are small, about 4 square meters, with no heating. The walls are thick, made of stone and brick that the prisoners fired themselves. In winter the indoor temperature dropped to almost the outdoor temperature — and outside it was minus ten. Today the wings hold four separate museums, and some cells are preserved in their original state: a bunk, a bucket, a thin blanket. The atmosphere is oppressive.

The prison itself was built by the very convicts who'd later sit in it. The work took more than 20 years; it was only finally completed in the 1920s.

Famous inmates

Simón Radowitzky

A Ukrainian Jew, born in 1891 in Kamianets-Podilskyi. At 18 he emigrated to Argentina, became an anarchist. In 1909 in Buenos Aires he threw a bomb into the carriage of the police chief Ramón Falcón in retaliation for the shooting of a workers' demonstration. Falcón was killed. Radowitzky got life and was exiled to Ushuaia.

He served 21 years — most of it in solitary. He tried to escape several times; one attempt almost succeeded: his accomplices came up in a boat, but they were intercepted in the Beagle Channel. In 1930 President Hipólito Yrigoyen pardoned Radowitzky. He left for Uruguay, then fought for the Republicans in Spain, and died in Mexico in 1956.

His cell is marked with a separate plaque in the museum. On the wall — a portrait.

Cayetano Santos Godino

Nickname — Petiso Orejudo, "Little Big Ears." A serial child killer. By 16 he had killed four and tried to kill nine more, setting infants in prams on fire. One of the first documented serial killers in Argentine history. Got life, exiled to Ushuaia.

In the prison he was hated even by other inmates. He tortured cats in his cell, and in 1944 either his cellmates killed him or he died "under unclear circumstances." There's a cell of his in the museum and a copy of his medical record — chilling reading.

Ricardo Rojas

A well-known Argentine writer and historian, rector of the University of Buenos Aires. Exiled in 1934 for political opposition to the Justo regime. He served a little over a year, after which he wrote the book "Archipiélago" — one of the most famous accounts of life in the Presidio. His cell is also preserved.

Prisoner arrival and daily life

Convicts were brought from Buenos Aires by sea — the trip took 2–3 weeks. At the Ushuaia pier they were met in striped yellow-and-black uniforms and chains. From the port to the prison they were marched on foot along the main street. According to memoirs, this didn't particularly scare the townspeople — everyone knew that half the city, one way or another, worked for the prison.

The workday started at 5 AM. Prisoners were divided into brigades: loggers (cutting forest in the surrounding mountains), builders (erecting buildings in town), port workers (loading ships), railway workers (building and operating the narrow gauge that today runs as the tourist "Train of the End of the World"). For their work they were paid symbolic amounts that could be spent at the prison store.

Food — beans, bread, mate, sometimes mutton. In winter, fat was added for calories. Escape was practically impossible: to the nearest town in Chile — hundreds of kilometers through mountains and forest; to the Argentine mainland — a channel you couldn't survive without a boat. Over the prison's half-century of operation, successful escapes numbered fewer than five.

What the prisoners built

This is perhaps the most striking part. The Presidio's prisoners essentially built Ushuaia. A partial list:

• The Tren del Fin del Mundo railway — the narrow gauge that hauled timber from what is now the national park into town. Now operates as a tourist train.
• The port of Ushuaia — piers, warehouses, lighthouse.
• The city's power plant — the first in Tierra del Fuego.
• Most of the brick buildings of the old center, including the church and the municipal hall.
• Roads in the surroundings, including those leading to the national park.
• Logging sites and the sawmill.

When the prison was closed in 1947 by decree of President Juan Domingo Perón (he considered it a relic and a human rights violation), the city went into crisis: the whole economy rested on the convicts. As compensation Perón declared Ushuaia a free trade zone, and that saved the city.

Four museums inside one

After the prison was closed, the building was handed over to the Argentine Navy — there was a naval base here. In 1994, on the initiative of a private foundation, a museum opened. The complex now has four separate exhibits:

1. Prison Museum (Museo del Presidio)

The core exhibit. Restored cells, prisoners' personal belongings, photographs, documents. Mannequins in striped uniforms. Stories of specific people with biographies on the walls. One of the wings is left in a semi-ruined state — that's exactly how the building was found in the 1990s.

2. Maritime Museum (Museo Marítimo)

The history of exploration of the southern seas. Ship models, including the Beagle, Shackleton's Endurance, Charcot's Pourquoi-Pas?. A detailed section on Antarctic expeditions — Ushuaia was and remains the main departure port. Charts, navigation instruments, accounts of shipwrecks near Cape Horn.

3. Antarctic Museum (Museo Antártico)

Geography, climate, fauna of Antarctica. Exhibits from the stations, polar gear. Information on Argentina's territorial claims to its Antarctic sector.

4. Maritime Art Museum

Paintings, photographs, sculptures on the theme of the sea and Tierra del Fuego. Not the main part of the complex, but pleasant to walk through after three hours of prison atmosphere.

Practical information

The ticket is valid for 48 hours — an important feature. In one visit it's almost impossible to take everything in carefully: you'll get tired and your perception will dull. Better to come on day one for 2 hours, see the prison and the maritime museum, and on day two return for the Antarctic and the Art museum.

Getting there

The museum is in the northeastern part of the city, by the former naval base. From the central street San Martín — 15 minutes on foot. If you're walking from the port, look for the large yellow building with the long wings.

A taxi from the center costs $3–5 USD. Parking in front of the museum is free.

What I recommend to guests

When I'm running an overview tour of Ushuaia, the museum is always on the route. We go in for 1.5–2 hours: we see the main prison wing, drop into Radowitzky's and Santos Godino's cells, walk through part of the maritime museum with the Beagle model. That's enough to grasp the city's context.

If you're in Ushuaia for 3–4 days and you're into history — take the audio guide and budget at least half a day. Bring a warm jacket: the wings aren't heated, the indoor temperature is +10–12 °C even in summer.

You can come with kids under 10, but bear in mind: some exhibits are heavy (photos of frozen prisoners, murder stories). Explanations are given in Spanish only, English is in text panels.

What to see nearby

After the museum it's natural to walk along the Maipú waterfront — five minutes away on foot. Then — the old part of the city with early-20th-century buildings, many built by prisoners. On San Martín street — the best restaurants serving centolla (king crab). If you have energy left, another 20 minutes on foot is the port of Ushuaia and the monument to Malvinas veterans. Sunset on the waterfront — a mandatory program item.

Closing

The Prison Museum isn't a tourist attraction in the pure sense. It's a serious place with a difficult history that explains where Ushuaia came from and why it became what it is. Three hours here will give you more understanding of Tierra del Fuego than three days anywhere else.

If you're planning a trip to Ushuaia and want to include the museum in a program with good Russian-language context — write me on WhatsApp. We'll put together a 1–3 day itinerary, including a city overview, the museum, the Train of the End of the World, and the national park.