What a fantastic city. Architecture, diverse culture, vibrancy, political history – it’s got something for everyone. We spent one week there and only just brushed the surface. If you are thinking of visiting it – and you should – then a week is the absolute minimum. If you have the time a month would be much better.
Its full name is “The Autonomous City of Buenos Aires” because in 1880, after years of political unrest it was federalised and politically removed from Buenos Aires Province and then in 1994 a constitutional amendment granted it autonomy.
Geographically, Buenos Aires centre is actually on the edge of the city and is a mix of old European buildings and modern skyscrapers.
Its most famous building is probably the “Casa Rosada” – named for its distinctive colour ……
…….. which lies on the eastern side of the “Plaza de Mayo”. Since 1880 the Casa has been the Presidential seat and most people remember it for the famous impassioned address made from one of its balconies by Eva Peron.
The Plaza’s first name was “Plaza Major” [main square] but in 1808 changed to “Plaza de Victoria” after a second British invasion [1807] was repelled. The first invasion in 1806 was also very short lived. In 1810 it was the scene of the May Revolution – and in 1811 became the “Plaza de 25 Mayo” at which time the pyramid in its centre was erected. The May revolution started the “Argentine War of Independence” against Royalist Spain with Independence being sworn in the Plaza in 1816. The National Constitution was signed there in 1860 and it became the “Plaza de Mayo” in 1884.
During the period of military dictatorship [1976-1983] which is also known as the “Dirty War”, around 30,000 people were “disappeared”. Every Thursday at 3.30pm the “Madres de la Plaza de Mayo” [the mothers of the missing] gather at the pyramid carrying photographs of those abducted and march round it as a reminder of that past injustice and to raise awareness of other current social justice causes.
Near to the pyramid the base of another statue has been covered by stones, most with names on……
We assume, though there is no actual plaque, that each one represents one of the “disappeared”.
I said there was political history – and that is just part of it. I wont bore you with the rest but if you want to know more I am sure Mr Google can assist!
At the western end of the square, we came across some form of re-enactment or play….
…. before viewing the “Cabildo”….
…. a mid C18 Town Hall – now a museum, and the “Cathedral Metropolitana”…..
…… the building of which was completed in 1827.
The “Avenida de Mayo” heads west from the plaza and at almost the other end is “El Palacio Barolo”, a 22-storey office block with a very unique design based on Dante’s Divine Comedy. The building is divided into three sections – “Infierno” [Ground Floor], “Purgatorio” [Floors 1-14]and “Paraiso” [Floors 15-22].
On the ground floor dragons surround the gallery…..
… and the gold-coloured medallions on the floor apparently represent hellfire.
Its height – 100m -is a reference to the number of “canti” [songs] in the poem and the 22 floors refer to the number of verses in each canto.
I think the lifts….
….. of which there are nine, have some symbolic meaning – which I can’t remember – and the lighthouse at the top…..
…… represents according to some, God, and according to others nine choirs of Angels because of the 300,000 “sparkplugs” in the light. I think the sparkplug bit might have got lost in translation and whilst I don’t know how many angels form a choir 33,333.33 recurring sounds as though nine angels got a bad deal!
The building was commissioned by businessman Luis Barolo and designed by architect Mario Palanti. A statue of them both…..
….. sits in part of “Heaven”, as does what was Barolo’s personal office.
Halfway up the stairs to heaven [cue song] you can walk out onto the part of the lower roof…
….. and the views from there, as well as the building balconies are excellent.
While we found Palacio Barolo interesting, we felt it was upstaged by the “Palacio de las Aguas Corrientes” [The Palace of Running Waters i.e. the waterworks].
Following successive outbreaks of cholera and typhoid, this magnificent building was built to house the running water supply tanks of the growing city at the end of the C19, and its ornate appearance was supposed to stress the importance of having good sanitation and fresh water. 12 water tanks with a total capacity of 72 million litres of water were housed on three floors supported by a structure of beams, columns and trusses.
Now, the lower two floors still function as the Administration offices of the city’s water company but fresh water production ceased in 1974. Its top floor houses a wonderful free museum – “Museo del Agua y de la Historia Sanitaria”. Fascinating.
For those who don’t know – as I didn’t – this valve is a device for the “Rectification of Alternating Current into Direct Current”. Afraid I am still none the wiser, but some of you clever folk out there will know what it means.
I said at the outset that Buenos Aires is very multicultural. This is because since the 19th century, the city, and Argentina in general, has been a major recipient of millions of immigrants from all over the world, making it a melting pot where several ethnic groups live together. Thus, Buenos Aires is considered one of the most diverse cities of the Americas. In particular, it has the largest Jewish population in Latin America and one of the largest in the world. The magnificent “Sinagoga de la Congregacion Israelita”, built in 1897, is testament to this.
For an up-market shopping experience residents and visitors head to the “Galarias Pacifico which was built in 1889 to house the “Au bon Marché” store – at the same time as other department stores such as Harrod’s were beginning to emerge. However, it was never used for its original purpose and, shortly after its failed inauguration, it was sold to the Buenos Aires Al Pacífico railroad, which gave it its current name. Between 1896 and 1940 it housed the ” Museo Nacional de Belles Artes” [quite what that has to do with railroads I’m not sure] and, in 1944, it was modified and then, for some reason, abandoned. Finally, restored again, to convert it back to a shopping centre, it reopened in 1992 and is now one of the most popular shopping centres in the city.
Apparently, you can take a self-guided audio tour though, given Mike’s love of shopping malls [not!], this probably wouldn’t have been a good idea. He just gave me enough time to walk to the central dome to take photos of the roof, decorated with murals by prominent Argentinian painters.
A shop that we did enjoy looking at was the “Librería del Colegio”, now called the “Librería de Avíla” – both names adorning the building.
It opened in 1785 as a pharmacy and, according to many historians, was the first place in the city that books and pamphlets were sold. It now specialises in old, often collector’s editions, of books and magazines.
Built in 1898 to produce the historic “La Prensa” newspaper, this building….
….. was declared a National Monument in 1985 and now, belonging to the City Government, it is called the “Casa de la Cultura”.
Another notable building is the “Teatro Colón”…..
…… a seven-storey performing arts venue. It seats 2,500 people with standing room for 500 more and, apparently, has astounding acoustics and a magnificent interior and, with hindsight, I wish we had made the time to take the 50 minute guided tour offered in English three times a day.
The theatre lies just beyond the “Plaza de la Republica” where tourists gather and queue to take selfies next to the 67m “Obelisco”. No selfie for us – we thought a general photo was perfectly sufficient.
According to the Lonely Planet, “after major football victories boisterous fans gather here to sing, jump in unison and honk horns”. As I write this, I am aware that last night [Sunday 14th July] Argentina beat Columbia in the final of the 2024 COPA tournament. I suspect there might have been some boisterousness!
I apologise if you are fed up of reading about buildings but as you might have gathered Buenos Aires is full of them and we really enjoyed walking around looking at them all. The final building we visited in the city was the “Centro Cultural Kirchner”…..
…. outside of which is the statue of homage to the Guerilla leader Juana Azurduy.
The building was modelled on the New York City Post Office and, originally, performed the same function in Buenos Aires.
Within its eight storeys it now houses multiple art galleries, events spaces and auditoriums. As usual, several exhibits left me wondering what they were about – particularly as my Spanish is not good enough to understand the often-complex descriptions.
The one exhibit that I did understand was the room dedicated to Eva Perón.
I don’t know whether they just used one of the old post office rooms or whether they brought fixtures and fittings from the Casa Rosada – but it looked very authentic……
…..and finally there was this car.
Produced in 1953, the “Justicialista Gran Sport” had a 4 cylinder Porsche engine and capable of reaching 90mph. It was dubbed “El Automóvil de la Revólucion Peronista”.
The far easterly edge of the city is home to the “Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur” – a 350-hectare nature reserve. We had originally planned to visit it on the Sunday of our week’s stay but having spent time at a Sunday market – which we hadn’t planned and which I will tell you about in my next post – and done other stuff which was planned, it was too late to do the nature reserve justice. We were also tired and in need of food and wine!
So, on Monday morning we set out for the reserve – only to find that it is closed on Mondays.
Actually, quite a lot of things are closed on Mondays, as we found out, even though Lonely Planet states them as open.
Adjacent to the reserve is the city’s most modern district – Puerto Madero – full of shiny skyscrapers and converted warehouses….
….and, having found the one above, we continued to enjoy “playing” with reflections.
The area reminded me a little of Liverpool’s waterfront…..
…. though Puerto Madero is much bigger and is crossed by four bridges, the most famous being the “Puente de la Mujer”…
…. constructed using plastic wood made from 100,000 PET bottles filled with single use plastic.
Two old ships are open to the public – but, Yes – you guessed it, not on Mondays.
The “Corbetta Uruguay”, built in Birkenhead, conducted surveys along Argentina’s coast and supplied bases in Antarctica until it was de-commissioned in 1926…….
……. and the “Fragata Sarmiento” was the training ship for more than 23,000 naval cadets and officers whilst travelling round the world 37 times between 1899 and 1938. Such a shame we couldn’t get on board.
On the opposite side was the marina….
…… which is always of interest to us though we did wonder where people sail to as the coastline is pretty bleak. Maybe to the small town of Tigre just up the river – but that, like the Sunday market, is going to be written about in a separate Buenos Aires post. Until then……
