Mar del Plata Museum of the Sea
The Museum of the Sea was a museum of marine biology and aquarium in the seaside city of Mar del Plata, Argentina. The museum closed its doors in September 2012, after 12 years in operation. Overview. A gift box containing 15 seashells, and delivered to 18-year-old Benjamín Sisterna from his brother in 1932, created a lifelong fascination with sea shells and oceanography in the young man. Twenty-six trips around the world in sixty years resulted in a personal collection of over 30,000 shells, fossils and marine invertebrates, among other items . Sisterna's death in 1995 left the collection to his heirs, who began work on the "Museo del Mar", The Museum of the Sea, in Mar del Plata. Born in Santa Fe, Argentina, a city far from the Atlantic Ocean, Sisterna had lived in seaside mar del Plata for the last 40 years of his life. Inaugurated on September 22, 2000, the museum was divided into four levels: The museum closed its doors in 2012 due to the lack of official funds to continue its activities. The multinational technological company Globant acquired the building in 2014. One of its founders  is Guibert Englebienne Jr, an entrepreneur born in Mar del Plata and whose family has deep roots in the city.