This Dazzling Museum Reunites Lola Mora’s Long-Separated Sculptures
Nestled in a lush Andean forest in a breathtaking building by César Pelli, the Lola Mora Cultural Center gives six marble masterpieces by the pioneering Argentine sculptor a permanent home after a century apart
Lola Mora was one of Latin America’s first female sculptors of international renown, but her rise to acclaim was fraught with controversy. Influenced by late-19th-century Italian sculpture, the Argentine trailblazer depicted the human body with striking naturalism and sensuality—qualities that made her monumental public commissions especially provocative. In 1907, her Carrara marble statues took their place outside the newly constructed Palace of the Argentine National Congress in Buenos Aires, where they quickly attracted the ire of politicians who objected to their nudity. Following years of scandal, officials ordered their removal in 1921 and transferred them to the northwestern province of Jujuy. There, the sculptures stood scattered across public squares and gardens for over a century, exposed to the elements and occasional vandalism.
Now, the newly opened Lola Mora Cultural Center reunites six of her most notable sculptures within a purpose-built museum in northwest Argentina. The long-awaited tribute also celebrates another Argentine luminary: architect César Pelli, who led the project before his death in 2019. Its completion marks his final commission as lead architect and his firm Pelli Clarke & Partners’ first museum in South America, uniting two of the country’s most influential creative figures. “Projects like this don’t come along often, and this gave my father the opportunity both to remember his upbringing and to celebrate the history of one of Argentina’s most important artists,” says Rafael Pelli, César’s son and a partner at Pelli Clarke & Partners. “He took great pride in contributing a public, community-oriented building open to everyone in Argentina.”
Nestled at the foot of the Andes amid dense subtropical Yunga forest, the museum overlooks San Salvador de Jujuy. Its 32,200-square-foot, single-story structure evokes a sculptor’s chisel, with a narrow entrance that gradually widens into a lobby and exhibition hall enclosed by floor-to-ceiling glass. Overhead, a sweeping cantilevered roof eliminates the need for interior columns, offering unobstructed views of Mora’s marble sculptures—six allegorical works titled The Lions, Liberty, Progress, Work, Peace, and Justice—against a verdant panorama of forest and Andean peaks. Beyond the main gallery, the museum also includes an interpretation center, restaurant, library, gift shop, and atelier that welcomes visiting artists and temporary exhibitions.
“The museum gives the sensation of being in nature,” says Victoria Martinez Fascio, the museum’s director. “There are moments when I forget I’m inside a building at all, as the works stand against the striking backdrop of the landscape.” That intimate connection to the outdoors continues across the 37-acre site, which features lush gardens by Balmori Associates, the landscape architecture firm founded by César Pelli’s late wife, Diana Balmori.
The architects took great care to preserve the surrounding ecology, relocating native trees and working with the terrain’s natural contours. A pedestrian bridge, for example, spans a wooded ravine with minimal disruption to the landscape—a key part of César’s directive to protect the site’s extraordinary biodiversity. That environmental sensitivity also informed the museum’s infrastructure. Photovoltaic panels, solar collectors, and a wind turbine generate approximately 120 percent of its energy requirements, while a circular water management system harvests rainwater for irrigation. The project also earned LEED Gold certification.
The museum’s greatest achievement, however, lies in reuniting Mora’s six meticulously restored Carrara marble sculptures in a setting worthy of their significance. “The creation of the Lola Mora Cultural Center has brought together two of Argentina’s greatest creatives from different eras—César Pelli and Lola Mora—making this opening a very proud moment for our country,” continues Martinez Fascio. “For more than a hundred years, Lola Mora’s sculptures were scattered, absorbed into the streetscape, often walked past without a second glance. Reunited now in a space created for them, the public can finally see them in their full magnificence.”