  The Bethe ansatz in its several formulations is the common tool for the exact
solution of one dimensional quantum Hamiltonians. This ansatz asserts that the
several eigenfunctions of the Hamiltonians are given in terms of a sum of
permutations of plane waves. We present results that induce us to expect that,
alternatively, the eigenfunctions of all the exact integrable quantum chains
can also be expressed by a matrix product ansatz. In this ansatz the several
components of the eigenfunctions are obtained through the algebraic properties
of properly defined matrices. This ansatz allows an unified formulation of
several exact integrable Hamiltonians. We show how to formulate this ansatz for
a huge family of quantum chains like the anisotropic Heisenberg model,
Fateev-Zamolodchikov model, Izergin-Korepin model, $t-J$ model, Hubbard model,
etc.
