Montevideo, Jan 8 (EFE).- Uruguay’s president, Luis Lacalle Pou, on Saturday inaugurated the Atchugarry Museum of Contemporary Art (MACA) created by Uruguayan sculptor Pablo Atchugarry to attract art from all over the world to the country.

Lacalle Pou cut the ribbon on the museum located in the town of Manantiales, near the popular tourist destination, Punta del Este, in the southeast of the country using a pair of wooden scissors which, in the words of Atchugarry, were created by Italian artists for the occasion.

The president said during the inauguration, which was also attended by former presidents Julio María Sanguinetti (1985-1990 and 1995-2000) and José Mujica (2010-2015), that the MACA will be “a symbol and a reference of the entire country in the world.”

At the event, during which thousands of visitors toured the gardens of the Atchugarry Foundation complex that surround the colossal wooden building designed by renowned Uruguayan architect Carlos Ott, two exhibitions of international appeal were also inaugurated.

One of them was “Christo and Jeanne-Claude in Uruguay”, comprising more than 50 works exhibited in South America for the first time and focused on the famous works of the acclaimed artist duo known for their large-scale, site-specific environmental installations, often large landmarks and landscape elements wrapped in fabric.

The other exhibition contains heliographies by Argentine artist León Ferrari.

The museum will also feature Atchugarry’s permanent collection, composed of more than 100 works by international artists, including Uruguay’s Joaquin Torres-Garcia and Carmelo Arden-Quin and Argentina’s Julio Le Parc.

The MACA is made up of two adjoining buildings with more than 5,000 square meters of exhibit space erected in pink eucalyptus wood at the site, where Atchugarry – whose work “Contemporary Day” broke a personal sales record in December at Sotheby’s – installed a sculpture garden some time ago. EFE