Sights in Córdoba
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Museo de la Memoria
A chilling testament to the excesses of Argentina’s military dictatorship, this museum occupies a space formerly used as a clandestine center for detention and torture. It was operated by the dreaded Department of Intelligence (D2), a special division created in Córdoba dedicated to the kidnap and torture of suspected political agitators and the ‘reassignment’ of their children to less politically suspect families.
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Museo Histórico Provincial Marqués de Sobremonte
It’s worth dropping into this museum, one of the most important historical museums in the country, if only to see the colonial house it occupies: an 18th-century home that once belonged to Rafael Núñez, the colonial governor of Córdoba and later viceroy of the Río de la Plata. It has 26 rooms, seven interior patios, meter-thick walls and an impressive wrought-iron balcony supported by carved wooden brackets.
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Cripta Jesuítica
The Jesuits, at the beginning of the 18th century, built the Cripta Jesuítica. It was originally designed as a novitiate and later converted to a crypt and crematorium. Abandoned after the Jesuit expulsion, it was demolished and buried around 1829 when the city, while expanding Av Colón, knocked the roof into the subterranean naves and built over the entire structure. It remained all but forgotten until Telecom, while laying underground telephone cable in 1989, accidentally ran into it. The city, with a new outlook on such treasures, exquisitely restored the crypt and uses it regularly for musical and theatrical performances and art exhibits. Entrances lie on either side…
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Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
In 1613 Fray Fernando de Trejo y Sanabria founded the Seminario Convictorio de San Javier, which, after being elevated to university status in 1622, became the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. The university is the country’s oldest and contains, among other national treasures, part of the Jesuits’ Grand Library and the Museo Histórico de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Guided visits are the only way to see the inside and are well worth taking. The guides let you wander through the Colegio and peek into the classrooms while students run around.
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Iglesia Catedral
The construction of Córdoba’s cathedral began in 1577 and dragged on for more than two centuries under several architects, including Jesuits and Franciscans, and though it lacks any sense of architectural unity, it’s a beautiful structure. Crowned by a Romanesque dome, it overlooks Plaza San Martín. The lavish interior was painted by renowned cordobés (Córdoban) painter Emilio Caraffa. Guided visits leave hourly between 9am and 5pm from Psje Santa Catalina 61, the entry on the north side of the cathedral.
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Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes Dr Genaro Pérez
This museum is prized for its collection of paintings from the 19th and 20th centuries. Works, including those by Emilio Caraffa, Lucio Fontana, Lino Spilimbergo, Antonio Berni and Antonio Seguí, chronologically display the history of the cordobés school of painting, at the front of which stands Genaro Pérez himself. The museum is housed in Palacio Garzón, an unusual late-19th-century building named for its original owner; it also has outstanding changing contemporary art exhibits.
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Parroquia Sagrado Corazón de Jesús de los Capuchinos
The marvelous neo-Gothic Parroquia Sagrado Corazón de Jesús de los Capuchinos, built between 1928 and 1934, whose glaring oddity is its missing steeple (omitted on purpose to symbolize human imperfection). Among the numerous sculptures that cover the church’s facade are those of Atlases symbolically struggling to bare the spiritual weight of the religious figures above them (and sins and guilt of the rest of us).
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Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús
Designed by the Flemish Padre Philippe Lemaire, the Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús dates from 1645 but was not completed until 1671, with the successful execution of Lemaire’s plan for a cedar roof in the form of an inverted ship’s hull. Lemaire, unsurprisingly, was once a boat builder. Inside, the church’s baroque altarpiece is made from carved Paraguayan cedar from Misiones province.
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Palacio Ferrerya
Nueva Córdoba’s landmark building, the Palacio Ferrerya was built in 1914 and designed by Ernest Sanson in the Louis XVI style. The building itself is amazing, and has recently been converted into a fine-arts museum, featuring more than 400 works in 12 rooms spread over three floors. If you’re into art or architecture, this place is a don’t miss.
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Manzana Jesuítica (Jesuit Block)
Córdoba's beautiful Manzana Jesuítica, like that of Buenos Aires, is also known as the Manzana de las Luces (Block of Enlightenment), and was initially associated with the influential Jesuit order. In 2000, Unesco declared the Manzana Jesuítica a World Heritage site, along with five Jesuit estancias throughout the province.
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Colegio Nacional de Monserrat
The Colegio Nacional de Monserrat dates from 1782, though the college itself was founded in 1687 and transferred after the Jesuit expulsion. Though the interior cloisters are original, the exterior was considerably modified in 1927 by restoring architect Jaime Roca, who gave the building its present baroque flare.
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Capilla Doméstica
The Capilla Doméstica, completed in 1644, sits directly behind the church on Caseros. Its ornate ceiling was made with cowhide stretched over a skeleton of thick taguaro cane and painted with pigments composed partially of boiled bones. Guided visits leave from inside the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba.
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Teatro del Libertador General San Martín
It’s well worth going to a performance here, if only to see the opulence of the country’s most historic theater. The theater was completed in 1891, and the floor was designed to be mechanically raised and leveled to the stage, so seats could be removed, allowing for grand parties for the aristocracy of the early 1900s.
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Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes Emilio Caraffa
One of the city’s best contemporary art museums is the neoclassical Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes Emilio Caraffa. It stands ostentatiously on the eastern side of Plaza España. Architect Juan Kronfuss designed the building as a museum and it was inaugurated in 1916. Exhibits change monthly.
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Iglesia de Santa Teresa y Convento de Carmelitas Descalzas de San José
Occupying nearly half a city block, the Iglesia de Santa Teresa y Convento de Carmelitas Descalzas de San José was completed in 1628 and has functioned ever since as a closed-order convent for Carmelite nuns. Only the church itself is open to visitors.
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Plaza San Martín
Córdoba's lovely and lively central plaza dates from 1577. Its western side is dominated by the white arcade of the restored Cabildo (colonial town-council building), completed in 1785 and containing three interior patios, as well as basement cells.
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Museo de la Ciudad
The restored Cabildo (colonial town-council building), completed in 1785, contains three interior patios, as well as basement cells. All are open to the public as part of the Museo de la Ciudad.
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Parque Sarmiento
The city unfolds into its largest open-space area at the Parque Sarmiento. The park was designed by Charles Thays, the architect who designed Mendoza's Parque General San Martín.
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Museo de Arte Religioso Juan de Tejeda
The Museo de Arte Religioso Juan de Tejeda exhibits religious artifacts, as well as paintings by cordobés masters.
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Museo Iberoamericano de Artesanías
The Museo Iberoamericano de Artesanías houses beautiful crafts from throughout South America.
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