Trusting that you have now committed the barrio map to memory, I have decided against including it again. I did want to paste in a detailed map of the downtown, because this area is so elegantly laid out that I am not sure that I can convey the sense of it through words and photographs alone; however, I could not find a map online that suited my purpose, so words and pictures it is. I should make clear, when I refer to the downtown, I am referring to a district comprised of two barrios, San Nicolás and Monserrat, that are so similar and interconnected that it makes no sense to discuss them separately. (I’m not sure everyone shares my views on this. For many porteños downtown is really only one half of San Nicolas.)
So, what is it that makes this area so lovely? Wholly unencumbered by any real knowledge of the subject, I am tempted to say it is because the influence of Haussmanian Paris manifests itself here, not just in the beautiful Belle Epoch architecture, which abounds, but also in the open spaces and long views found all through the downtown. There are spacious plazas and parks abutting most of the important buildings, allowing the viewer to step back and take in the whole. In addition to which, there are many buildings and monuments visually related to other buildings and monuments – across great distances. To briefly described the layout: San Nicolas (immediately south of Retiro) and Monserrat (immediately south of San Nicolas) are divided, one from the other, by the Avenida de Mayo. The two barrios are bisected by the Avenida 9 de Julio (the widest street in the world) with the western half of San Nicolas being referred to as Tribunales, because the Palacio de Justicia is there, and the western half of Monserrat called Congreso, because the Palacio del Congreso is there. Are you confused yet? I’m just getting started.
At the eastern end of Avenida de Mayo is the Presidential Palace, known, for obvious reasons, as the Casa Rosa.
You may recognize this building from Alan Parker’s Evita, as Madonna was filmed standing on the very balcony from which Eva Perón (and her husband Juan – remember him?) addressed the people.
Behind the Casa Rosa is the Parque Colon, which looks out over the river; in front of it is the Plaza de Mayo. Plaza de Mayo, you may recall from my previous installment, is the most important plaza in B.A.
It was the centre of the city that was founded in 1580 and has been the political heart of Buenos Aires since Argentina declared independence in 1810 (on May 25, hence the name). It is here that the people come to celebrate and demonstrate. It is here that the Madres de Plaza de Mayo (the mothers of the disappeared) have marched, every Thursday afternoon, for the last thirty years. To be honest, the park itself is a bit scruffy, but it is hard to beat it for civic spirit.
On the north side of the plaza is the Cathedral Metropolitana, unexceptional, in our opinion, except for an extraordinary mosaic floor and some really lovely faux-finish-marble columns.
Also El Grand Libertador (yes, that would be San Martín) is entombed here.
On the south west corner of the plaza is the very pretty Cabildo, home of the city government from 1580 until 1820 and the oldest building on the plaza.
In the centre of the plaza is a French-built, statue of liberty-topped obelisk called the Pirámide, which was erected in 1811 to celebrate the first anniversary of the revolution.
Running northwest from the plaza is the architecturally fabulous Av. Roque Saenz Peña, which everyone calls Diagonal Norte. Where this road intersects with Av. 9 de Julio (the widest street in the world) there is another (much larger) obelisk echoing the Pirámide. (If you have a magnifying glass, you can see the Obelisco up at the far end of the street.)
Diagonal Norte extends one block beyond this, ending at Plaza Lavalle in front of the Palacio de Justicia. In the centre of this park is – not another obelisk, exactly – rather a statue of General Lavalle on top of a very tall column, which is somewhat reminiscent of the obelisks.
Here, as well, is another view of the Obelisco.
There is also a Diagonal Sur street (Av. Julio A. Roca) running southwest from Plaza de Mayo, which takes you into the heart of the Casco Histórico. Being the historical centre, it is not surprising that there are a lot of old buildings here. Among our favs was this pharmacy, which has been operating as such since 1834,
and the early 18th century San Francisco Basilica.
But back to Av. De Mayo.
Facing the Presidential Palace, at the far western end of Av. De Mayo, is the Palacio del Congreso…
in front of which is the Plaza del Congreso. It is all so beautifully symmetrical.
Walking down Avenida de Mayo, from the Congreso to the Casa Rosa, is one of the pleasantest things to do in Buenos Aires. It is a mile long, tree-shaded boulevard of beautiful fin-de-siècle buildings.
One of the first buildings of note, as you walk east from the Plaza del Congreso, is La Inmobiliaria, which is known for its lovely, red cupola-topped corner towers (obvious in the photo of the Plaza del Congreso above). Next to it is the wonderful Palacio Barolo.
This very peculiar edifice was built in the early 1920s by Mario Palanti, an Italian architect with a thing for Dante. Inspired by The Divine Comedy, the building is 100 metres tall – one metre for each canto of the poem; the very ornate lobby is intended to represent hell.
Doesn’t look too much like the inferno, does it? You can’t really see them in this photo, but the sconces are fire-breathing dragons. That is about as hellish as it gets. There are Latin inscriptions around the lobby and there was, at one time (it was stolen during some uprising), a statue of Dante there as well. Palanti even hoped that Dante’s ashes would find a final resting place here. Heading up, the next 14 floors — all offices — are purgatory (apt, we thought); a lighthouse tower at the top represents paradise.
In addition to its eccentric literary roots and rather bizarre architectural style(s), the Palacio Barolo was the tallest building in B.A., until the Edificio Kavanagh went up, and it is justly famous for the views from paradise. Ian and I ascended. I suppose there are other ways of getting there, but we took two elevators through purgatory then climbed the stairway to heaven.
This is the view west over the beautiful red cupolas of La Inmobiliaria, to the Plaza del Congreso and the Palacio del Congreso.
Continuing east along Av. De Mayo, you pass a number of formerly splendid theatres and hotels: one where Frederico Garcia Lorca lived for a while, one where Nijinsky spent his wedding night (who knew?). The facades of these buildings are beautiful, but they are now, for the most part, awaiting much needed restoration.
A block or two east of Av. 9 de Julio (the widest street in the world), you come to Café Tortoni, B. Aires’ most famous café. No need for restoration here: this is a beautiful old place that has been operating continuously and successfully for a century and a half.
In addition to the very beautiful interior, there is a great collection of paintings by famous (and not-so-famous) local artists that has built up over the years. Tortoni is, I think, on every tourist-must-see list, but nonetheless manages to retain the air of an old world coffee house (the coffee is good and the small glass of bubbly water that you get with an espresso comes from a Seltzer bottle).
Because hundreds of people came into the café only to take pictures, Ian and I took none, so I have nicked this from the internet.
I need to return to Plaza Lavalle now, because there are several buildings of note there, as well. Most famous, perhaps, is the Teatro Colon. Unfortunately it was closed for restoration (there is a lot of sprucing up happening, all over the city, leading up to the 2010 bicentennial) so we could not see the interior (nor could we see the exterior particularly well).
A block away is the almost-as-famous Teatro Cervantes. Unfortunately it was closed for the summer, so we couldn’t see the interior here, either.
In between these two theatres is the Templo Libertad, a neo-Byzantine synagogue dating from the late 19th century. (Buenos Aires has the largest Jewish population in Latin American and the 5th largest population outside Israel.)
The Palace of Justice (with the red mansard roof) is kitty corner, across the park from these buildings.
There is one more Palace in Tribunales that I need to mention and that is El Palacio de la Papa Frita.
I know I decided I would not talk about food in this travelogue, but I have to say, they make a fried potato here that is worth the trip to B.A. (if you like fried potatoes) – it looks like a thick potato chip, but has the texture of a crisp French fry, with a little steamy air pocket in the middle and… ah – maybe you had to be there. Moving right along…
It is time now, I suppose, to deal with Av. 9 de Julio (the widest street in the world). This is the one bit of the downtown with which I was not terribly impressed. Perhaps it was meant to be a grand avenue, along the lines of the Champs Elysée but, to me, it just looks and feels like a freeway running smack through the heart of the city. It takes about half an hour to cross (I think it is 18 lanes wide) and the traffic noise is deafening. From the middle of the street there is a fair (unobstructed, except for the cars and buses and trucks) view north to Recoleta, and south to nothing in particular. As we never wanted to pause for long in the middle of this, the widest street in the world, we took no pictures here, either, so I’ve lifted another shot from the internet.
This may be taken from the roof of the French embassy. You can just see the road beginning to bend around it. (And yes, that is the Obelisco, rising up in the middle of the street.)
Parallel to Av. 9 de Julio, about four blocks east, is Calle Florida. This is a pedestrian thoroughfare best known for shopping, but there are many interesting buildings along this street. For example, one of the most remarkable Burger Kings in the world is found here. Originally the homestead site of Ana Diaz, one of the original settlers of Buenos Aires, this bit of land was later the grounds of a beautiful, Belle Epoch mansion, which Burger King (and one assumes the B.A. city council) felt was an appropriate site for a fast food joint.
To be fair, while they disguised the outside pretty well, they left enough of the inside intact to make perfectly clear what they had destroyed.
But there are happier stories here. There is the Gallerias Pacifico. Built in the 1880s, it was inspired by Paris’ Bon Marché (or else Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emmanuel II, depending on who you read) and had several tiers of shops and a long arcade lit by a huge glass dome. It is a beautiful and beautifully preserved structure, but what makes it exceptional is that, in 1945, four of Argentina’s great artists – Antonio Berni (my fav!), Carlos Castagnino, Lino Enea Spilimbergo and Demetrio Urruchúa – were commissioned to paint a ceiling fresco depicting the history of mankind and there it still is, right in the middle of a shopping mall.
It is a bit like finding the Sistine Chapel ceiling in the Eaton Centre (or perhaps more accurately, it is like the discovering the J.E.H. MacDonald, F.H. Varley, and Frank Carmichael murals at St. Anne’s Church in Toronto).
In fact, there are dozens of wonderful, well preserved turn-of-the-century buildings along Calle Florida and all through the downtown. Too many to photograph, too many to name. Too many, really, to take in, in just one month. With time constraints one chooses a particular building to focus on, or a particular architectural feature. For me, I chose cupolas and various other roof ornamentations. They are everywhere in this area, in such a spectacular variety of shapes, sizes and colours, some almost austere, some utterly whimsical. They gave me such pleasure, these domes. So here is a small collection of those we managed to photograph (rather than just gawk at).
For more of Buenos Aires, click here to carry on with Puerto Madero and San Telmo.
