Each of the 140 or so plantation houses that are scattered about Curaco are worthy of their own museums, but sadly most lay in ruins or have been converted to restaurants or hotels. One of the few that serves a cultural function is Rooi Catootje, located in one of Curaçao’s busiest residential areas. When you enter this charming plantation house built circa 1820 you’re entering a completely different era. The museum displays antique furniture and permanent exhibits of memorabilia collected by four generations of the Maduro family, the owners of the property. Items such as postcards, phonograph records, stamps, bank notes and coins can all be admired here, but behind the museum is yet another striking building which was erected in 2010. It houses an innovative, state-of-the-art library that stores documents, books, manuscripts, periodicals and other archival materials that have been collected on Curacao over the past six decades.