Architectural, Cultural sights in Argentina
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Casa Rosada
Standing before this rosy Renaissance-style palace, you can easily imagine Eva Perón pontificating from the lower balcony. This is the Casa Rosada (Pink House), home to Argentina’s presidential offices. Construction began in 1862 on the site of Buenos Aires’ fort, and the building was painted pink shortly after. Visitors marvel at the picturesque coral hue without realizing the gritty fact behind it – at the end of the 19th century, ox blood added color and texture to ordinary whitewash.
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El Abasto
The bustling barrios of Abasto and Once, while a little dodgy at night, are part of the ‘real’ Buenos Aires that’s largely unaffected by the tourist trade. Walk west from Congreso along Av Corrientes, or take a quick taxi or Subte ride, to reach this cultural melting pot and commercial district crammed with colorful fabric shops and family-run Jewish and Peruvian eateries. The neighborhood’s centerpiece is the historic Mercado de Abasto, previously a massive fresh produce market and now a beautifully restored structure that houses the shopping mall called simply El Abasto. Nearby, on a gentrified street off Av Anchorena is the former home of tango legend Carlos…
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'Che' Guevara's First Home
The apartment building at Entre Ríos 480, designed by Alejandro Bustillo, was where Ernesto Guevara Lynch and Celia de la Serna lived in 1928 after the birth of their son, Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, popularly known as 'Che.' According to biographer Jon Anderson, young Ernesto's birth certificate was falsified (he was born more than a month before the official date of June 14), but this was certainly Che's first home, although briefly.
It's now a private flat, so you can't go inside, but fans of this revolutionary figure will still enjoy such trivia, and may want to also check out the Guevara family home in Córdoba, which is now a museum.
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Casa de Joaquín V González
One of Argentina's greatest educators, and founder of the Universidad de La Plata, lived in the Casa de Joaquín V González.
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Casa de Horacio Quiroga
Casa de Horacio Quiroga is at the southern end of town (a 20 to 30 minute walk), offering grand views of the Río Paraná. A small museum contains photos and some of the writer's possessions and first editions.
Quiroga's permanent Casa de Piedra is one of those simple but lovely houses that artists seem to inhabit, and holds various memorabilia, including butterfly specimens, an enormous snakeskin and the writer's rusted motorcycle. A replica of his initial wooden house, built for the 1996 biographical film Historias de Amor, de Locura y de Muerte (Stories of Love, Madness and Death), stands nearby.
Horacio Quiroga was a poet and novelist who also dabbled in other…
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Samay Huasi
Joaquín V González, writer and founder of the prestigious La Plata university in Buenos Aires, used Samay Huasi, a finca (ranch) 2km from Chilecito, as his country retreat. The verdant grounds counterpoint the rocky cactus hills around them. González’ bedroom is preserved, as well as scrapbook material from his life. More interesting is a collection of paintings, mostly of the area; a canvas by González’ friend Alberto Alice, Claro de Luna, stands out. Below is a somewhat depressing natural sciences, archaeology and mineralogy collection.
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Pasaje de la Defensa
In the late 19th century a yellow-fever epidemic hit San Telmo and drove the rich into higher ground, west and north of the present-day Microcentro. As European immigrants began to pour into the city, many older mansions in San Telmo became conventillos (tenements) to house poor families. One such conventillo was the Pasaje de la Defensa. Originally built for the Ezeiza family in 1880, it later housed 32 families. These days, it’s a charmingly worn building with antique shops clustered around atmospheric leafy patios.
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Casa de la Independencia
Unitarist lawyers and clerics (Federalists boycotted the meeting) declared Argentina’s independence from Spain on July 9, 1816, in the dazzlingly whitewashed late-colonial Casa de la Independencia. Portraits of the signatories line the walls of the room where the declaration was signed, the only actual original part of the structure – the rest has been rebuilt. There’s plenty of information in Spanish on the lead-up to these seismic events, but you can also get a guided tour (free) in English.
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Casa de San Martín
It’s a measure of the esteem that Argentines hold for the Liberator that they have built Casa de San Martín, an ornate building to protect the ruins of the house where he was born in 1778 and lived his first three years. The house actually dates from the early 17th century and was one of the Jesuit buildings. San Martín’s parents’ remains are here, and a campaign is underway to bring the man himself (he currently rests in the cathedral of Buenos Aires). No chance.
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Palacio San Martín
Built in 1912 for the powerful Anchorena family, this impressive mansion is actually three independent buildings around a stone courtyard. It was designed by architect Alejandro Christophersen and sports marble staircases, grandiose dining rooms and a garden containing a chunk of the Berlin Wall. A small but good museum displays pre-Columbian artifacts from the northwest, along with some paintings by Latin American artists. Tours are available; call for more information.
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Museo Histórico
In Casa Fotheringham, a pioneer residence that was the province’s first government house, the Museo Histórico focuses on the foundation and development of Formosa. The museum is small and well organized. The province was part of the Paraguayan Chaco until the 19th-century War of the Triple Alliance, and the museum also houses uniforms, weapons and relics from the period. There are a few old indigenous weavings on display as well.
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Palacio Paz
This gorgeous palace, also called the Círculo Militar, was once the private residence of José C Paz, founder of the still-running newspaper La Prensa. Inside are ornate rooms, salons and halls with wood-tiled floors, marble walls and gilded details. Nearly everything was ordered from Europe and assembled here. Tours in English (AR$34) are at 3:30pm Wednesday and Thursday.
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Palais de Glace
The name (and circular shape) give it away – the Palais de Glace was once the ice-skating rink of BA’s high society. The glamorous belle-epoque structure, built in 1910, also served as a tango ballroom before being declared a National Monument in 2004. Now the landmark building exhibits visual arts; on weekend afternoons, guided tours of the building (in English) start at 5pm (bookings required).
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Museo Casa Ernesto 'Che' Guevara
Though the Guevaras lived in several houses in the 1930s, their primary residence was Villa Beatriz, which has now been converted into the Museo Casa Ernesto 'Che' Guevara. The museum focuses heavily on the legend's early life, and, judging by the photographs, Che was a pretty intense guy by the time he was 16, and definitely had his cool look down by his early 20s.
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Casa del Obispo Colombres
In the center of Parque 9 de Julio (formerly Bishop Colombres’ El Bajo plantation), handsome 18th-century Casa del Obispo Colombres is a museum dedicated to the sugar industry, which the active cleric (an important figure in the independence movement) effectively set up. The information panels are translated into English.
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Jardín Botánico Carlos Thays
Escape the din of Plaza Italia inside this lush botanical garden, designed by renowned landscape architect Carlos Thays and opened in 1898. It blooms with over 3000 tree and plant species, Roman-style sculptures, floating lily pads on still ponds and an antique iron-and-glass greenhouse originally shown at the 1900 Paris Exhibition.
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Castillo San Carlos
At the northeastern edge of town are the ruins of Castillo San Carlos, built by a French industrialist who mysteriously abandoned the property years later. French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry briefly lived in the building; there's a monument to The Little Prince nearby. There's no charge for wandering around the ruins.
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Villa Ocampo
The glamorous Unesco site Villa Ocampo is a wonderfully restored mansion and reminder of a bygone era. Victoria Ocampo was a writer, publisher and intellectual who dallied with the literary likes of Borges, Cortázar, Sabato and Camus. The gardens are lovely here; tours and a cafe are also available.
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Casa de la Cultura
Dating from the early 20th century, the unusual Casa de la Cultura has occasional public exhibitions, and is the place to contact for entrance to other historic houses around town and the museum, if there’s nobody there during opening hours.
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Palacio Haedo
On an odd triangular block at the corner of Florida and Santa Fe, the neo-Gothic Palacio Haedo was the mansion of the Haedo family at the turn of the 19th century; it now houses the country’s national park service.
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Casa de Fray Mocho
Casa de Fray Mocho was the birthplace of José Álvarez, founder of the influential satirical magazine Caras y Caretas at the turn of the 20th century; Fray Mocho was his pen name.
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Viejo Casco
If you have a vehicle, visit Viejo Casco, the big house of former Estancia Santa María, whose land the provincial government expropriated before transferring it to the national park system.
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Casa de Andrade
In the mid-19th century, the colonial Casa de Andrade belonged to entrerriano (from the province of Entre Ríos) poet, journalist, diplomat and politician Olegario Andrade.
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