Buenos Aires Sights

  1. Cabildo de Buenos Aires

    Built in 1725, this was the original seat of government and the birthplace of the struggle towards independence from Spain. Its current arcade, built in 1940, is a restoration of the original 11 arches that stretched across the width of Plaza de Mayo until they were demolished to make room for Av de Mayo and Av Julio Roca. Inside, a small museum offers a fine view over Plaza de Mayo.

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  2. Casa Rosada

    Taking up the whole east side of the Plaza de Mayo is the pink facade of Casa Rosada (Pink House), the presidential palace where Evita famously energized adoring crowds from the balcony during the 1940s. Around the southern side of the building is Museo de la Casa Rosada, which houses the catacombs of the Fuerte Viejo, an 18th-century colonial ruin.

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  3. Centro Cultural Recoleta

    Adjacent to the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Pilar, this is one of BA's best cultural centers, with great art exhibitions, musical performances, poetry readings, and workshops. The center's bookstore is also very good.

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  4. Fundación Proa

    This modern and contemporary art museum and foundation hosts six temporary shows a year of adventurous work from Argentina and abroad. They also hold art workshops, courses, conferences and concerts. They sometimes close in between exhibitions so call ahead.

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  5. Malba (Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires)

    Opened in 2001, this splendid museum houses the Costantini collection of modern Latin American art, along with adventurous temporary exhibits. It also fosters an active film preservation program with a regular schedule of art-house cinema. In addition, there's an excellent bookstore and gift shop, and its hip cafe is popular with Palermo's art-lovers.

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  6. Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA)

    If there's one art museum you don't want to miss, MALBA is it. Opened in 2001 and housing the private collection of Argentine multimillionaire Eduardo Costantini, MALBA is home to exceptional works by Latin American greats including Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, and Argentines Antonio Berni, Xul Solar and Emilio Pettoruti. Temporary exhibits are almost always exceptional as well.

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  7. Museo de Arte Moderno

    Set in a former tobacco factory, this stunning and highly underrated modern and contemporary art museum has a quality collection of Argentine and Latin American art, some work by big international names such as Picasso, Matisse, Dali, Kandinsky, Delauny and Mondrian, as well as rotating exhibitions of art, photography, and experimental film and video.

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  8. Museo de Arte Popular José Hernandez

    This wonderful small museum has a permanent collection of indigenous Argentine crafts and popular arts, including colorful textiles, decorative masks, and Carnaval costumes.

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  9. Museo de Artes Plásticas Eduardo Sívori

    Situated within our favorite Buenos Aires park, this modern art museum has an outstanding collection of paintings and sculptures by over 100 of Argentina's best artists. It's quite a range of work, both in quality and quantity, and well worth a visit before a saunter through the nearby Rosedal rose garden in Parque de 3 Febrero.

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  10. Museo de Bellas Artes de la Boca Benito Quinquela Martín

    Argentine painter Benito Quinquela Martín (1890-1977) lived and worked in this enormous waterfront building; it's now a fascinating museum housing an outstanding collection of his haunting paintings of ships and dockworkers, along with works by other Boca artists. Note that there's no English translation on the signage.

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  12. Museo de la Ciudad

    This intriguing museum explores the relationships between the built environment and social life of the city through stunning old photographs, architectural plans, drawings and details, antique furniture and other fascinating artifacts.

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  13. Museo de la Immigracion

    This engaging museum uses old photographs, films and mementoes to tell the stories of the many thousands of European immigrants who arrived in BA in the late 1880s.

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  14. Museo de la Pasión Boquense

    No visit to La Boca is complete without visiting this slick museum and shrine to the Boca Juniors football club. A highlight is stepping inside a giant soccer ball, where a 360-degree movie screen transports you into a crowd-filled stadium - obviously not as good as the real thing, but close enough.

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  15. Museo Evita

    Saint or tyrant, this is museum is all about Argentina's adoration of Eva (Evita) Perón. It's a highly educational walking tour through her life, with nice touches such as a video montage set to tango electrónica - an unexpected break after admiring all her fabulous gowns. Information is available in English.

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  16. Museo Fragata Sarmiento

    This elegant former naval ship sailed around the world 40 times between 1899 and 1938 before serving as a training school for Argentina's navy. While there's some interesting nautical paraphernalia on board, porteños prefer to laze about on the deck in the sunshine.

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  17. Museo Histórico Nacional

    This intimate museum is housed in a splendid mansion that belonged to Gregorio Lezama who established the verdant gardens that are now Parque Lezama. It provides a great introduction to Argentina's history. Different rooms take visitors from 'discovery' through invasions, revolution and independence to modern presidencies, illustrated with wonderful paintings by Argentine masters, along with furniture, clothes, weapons, and other artifacts.

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  18. Museo Municipal de Arte Hispanoamericano Isaac Fernández Blanco

    This engaging museum in an elegant neo-colonial mansion displays an exceptional collection of colonial art including paintings, Jesuit statuary, costumes, furniture, colonial silverware, and antiques. It's set in lovely landscaped gardens that offer a wonderful sanctuary from the bustling city.

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  19. Museo Nacional de Arte Decorativo

    Housed in the opulent Beaux-Arts mansion Palacio Errázuriz (1911-17), which once belonged to Chilean aristocrats, this wonderful museum displays some 4000 pieces of decorative art, from Louis XIV furniture to Renaissance paintings.

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  20. Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes

    Argentina's most important fine-arts museum is home to an outstanding and enormous collection of 19th- and 20th-century Argentine art, as well as works by European masters such as Renoir, Rodin, Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Gauguin, Rembrandt and Van Gogh. Art-lovers could easily allow a day here.

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  21. Museo Xul Solar

    This stunning museum shows the fantastic work of painter, musician, traveler, and inventor Alejandro Xul Solar (1887-1963), a leading figure of the Latin American avant-garde. A friend of Borges, Solar had wide-ranging interests - philosophy, astrology, indigenous cultures, ethnography, anthropology, theology, and mysticism - and his work, influenced by expressionism, symbolism, cubism and futurism, mirrors those interests.

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  23. Palacio de las Aguas Corrientes

    This spectacular building, inaugurated in 1894, is decorated with hundreds of thousands of glazed terracotta tiles. Home of the city's now privatized waterworks, 12 giant tanks once filled the building, distributing water to the city. A small museum inside has a fascinating collection of pretty tiles and faucets, and antique toilets and urinals.

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