Discover Salto: Theatre, Museums and City Walks

Salto offers several specific ways to plan a cultural itinerary: a historic theatre, museums with different focuses, and walks through various parts of the city. When comparing hotels in Salto, choosing your focus can help with planning: would you like to include mainly theatre and museum history, or explore the city on one of the routes described?

Historic cultural sites in Salto

The Teatro Larrañaga was inaugurated in 1882 and declared a National Historic Monument. Its auditorium has 600 seats, divided between boxes, the stalls and the gallery. The number of seats and their arrangement give a concrete sense of the auditorium; the theatre’s inauguration and listed status also place it in the city’s history.

Another historic connection is the residence at Uruguay 1067 in the city centre: in 1963, Luis Armstrong and María Irene Olarreaga Gallino donated it to the Intendencia de Salto as the permanent home of the Museo de Bellas Artes y Artes Decorativas María Irene Olarreaga Gallino. Palacio Gallino was declared a National Historic Monument in 1999. These two facts offer different perspectives on Salto: a donation for a designated museum purpose and a historic monument designation.

The Catedral Basílica San Juan Bautista is located on Calle 25 de Agosto, between Uruguay and Artigas. You can check this street address for specific directions when you are there. The cathedral is also a starting point for the city’s historic and cultural walk.

Museums and biographical traces

The Museo Horacio Quiroga is housed in the former Quiroga family home, where the writer spent his childhood and youth. The museum displays books, photographs and personal belongings, as well as a wood carving containing Quiroga’s mortal remains. The family history and the objects on display offer two different ways of engaging with this place.

The Museo de Bellas Artes y Artes Decorativas María Irene Olarreaga Gallino is also connected with a former residence: the 1963 donation was expressly intended to provide the museum with a permanent home. Together with the Teatro Larrañaga and the Catedral Basílica, this story offers several perspectives on Salto, although the sites do not share the same historical function.

Comparing city walks

The historic and cultural walk is about two kilometres long. It begins at Plaza Artigas and the Catedral San Juan Bautista, passes, among other places, the former Mercado 18 de Julio, the Museo de Bellas Artes, the Teatro Larrañaga and the Museo Arqueológico y de Ciencias Naturales, and ends at the Intendencia de Salto. The route thus connects several central cultural sites along one continuous walk.

The Costanera Sur route is also about two kilometres long, but has a different focus: it passes, among other places, the monument to Horacio Quiroga and the Altar del Papa. Costanera Sur includes a terrace overlooking the Río Uruguay and a plaza in honour of the saladero industry. In contrast to the historic walk, the focus here is on the listed stops along the Costanera and the river view.

The walk through Salto’s port area covers just under three city blocks. From the government building, it goes past the customs house and the former railway pier and harbour, ending at Plaza de los Inmortales. A separate development is the transformation of the former Muelle Ferroviario into a modern quay on the Río Uruguay: this adds another change to the site’s port history. The different route lengths help with choosing: two routes of approximately two kilometres can be compared with a walk of just under three city blocks.

In the Departamento De Salto

Beyond the city of Salto, the Departamento De Salto offers other cultural themes. The Museo de Arqueología y Ciencias Naturales displays collections focused on archaeology and palaeontology. The Museo Histórico del Río Uruguay brings together, among other things, documents, photographs, objects from sunken ships, ship models, uniforms, flags, old tickets and items from life on board. Visits must be arranged in advance.

Parque Benito Solari is also part of the wider destination of Departamento De Salto. The 17-hectare park in the city of Salto was laid out in the French style in 1900. Its features include numerous tree and flower species, a lake with a statue, paths and other design elements. This park and the museums’ collections offer different points of interest from the historic walks and cultural sites that you can explore directly in the city of Salto.

For the wider travel overview: Departamento De Salto.