December 5, 2019: An Excursion to the Paraná Delta
	December 3, 2019: Two Ship Tours in Buenos Aires
	Return to the Index for 2019

This morning, our cruise officially comes to a close as we depart the Viking Jupiter. Most passengers are heading directly to the airport, but a good many, like ourselves, are staying on in Buenos Aires or elsewhere nearby for a few more days. For our part, we are transferring to the apartment that Greg found for us for the next three nights, although Fred and I will spend the night of December 5th in Foz du Iguacu ahead of a day at Iguassu Falls.

Transferring to Our Apartment

We shlepped our luggage out to the curb in front of the Cruise Terminal- taking the Viking-supplied shuttle bus for the last time- and grabbed a large taxi that we could get all our stuff into.

On the map at left, I can show you just where the apartment building is, although I will freely admit that my marking of the route from the port to the apartment is approximate. When I am riding in a car (not driving) I tend not to be able to remember a route nearly as well as if I actually drive it. But I can work backward to make an educated guess as to the route we took. Which I guess is not really that important anyway.

Taking pictures out the rapidly-moving taxi window was tricky, although Fred tried a number of them. One that did turn out fairly well was his photo of the Monument to the Carta Magna and Four Regions of Argentina which is located in the intersection of Del Libertador and Sarmiento Avenues. It is commonly referred to as the "Monument of the Spanish".

The monument was a donation from the Spanish community in celebration of the centenary of the Revolución de Mayo of 1810 (which marked the formal beginning of Argentina's independence from Spain). It was built entirely in bronze and Carrara marble. The sculpture was dedicated in 1927.

When we got to the building, the owner of the apartment had the building maintenance guy waiting for us in the little lobby to give us keys and take us upstairs to the seventh floor where the apartment was.

Our Apartment in Buenos Aires

Our Air B&B apartment was just across the street to the north of Parque Las Heras in the Palermo district of the city. Greg had made all the arrangements online for the apartment, which turned out to be quite nice.

At left is an aerial view of the few blocks of Avenue General Las Heras where our apartment building was situated.

At right is a photo of our apartment building. Neither Fred nor I thought to go across the street and take this picture ourselves, so I am using an image courtesy of Google Maps Street View. Our apartment was on the right side of the building on the 7th floor.

There were two apartments per floor. The living room and kitchen are on the front, and the bedroom and bath are in the back. These apartments had great views of the park and the city from the balcony in front, and views out towards the river from the back bedroom.

On the 8th-9th, and 10th-11th floors, there are also two apartments, but these are two-story affairs, each with two bedrooms and two baths. (It is possible that they actually have three bedrooms, but I forgot to ask. Ours was a one-bedroom, one-bath, one-floor unit, with the bedroom in back, the kitchen and living room in front, and the bath between them. The apartment was not large, but there was plenty of room for the three of us. Greg had a sofa bed in the living room where he could set up his CPAP machine at night.

On the last day of our stay here, I did take a picture of the building just as we were getting into the cab that would take us to the airport for our flight home. You can see that the balconies for the two apartments are actually separated, so you can look down on three sides. I found being out on the balcony a bit disconcerting, but I think that over the years I have developed something of a fear of heights.

At left, again courtesy of Google Maps Street View, is a closer view of the front of the building. The actual entrance is on the right side at street level (floor zero, as most of the rest of the world counts stories) and a little pizza place on the ground floor at left.

We had two sets of two keys- one key for the actual apartment and the other for the door from the lobby to the street. We felt very secure and safe, and we were high enough so that noise wasn't really a factor.

Just after we arrived we went to a bodega down the street and laid in a supply of snacks and drinks to last us during our three-day stay. We relaxed for a while, admiring the view from the balcony. We took pictures from the balcony throughout our stay, but let me just aggregate them all here.

The View from Our Balcony

Here are two of the best views from the balcony, taken on Thursday, our second day in the apartment, when the weather was really nice:

The View South Across Parque Las Heras

Looking Southwest Down Avenue General Las Heras

Fred took an interesting view with his zoom lens of some of the trees on the far side of the park and the group of buildings in the distance beyond them, and you can see that picture here. And across the street to the southeast was a neat old building, which turned out to be the Buenos Aires National Academy of Medicine- an Argentine non-profit organization and learned society. It is the oldest medical Academy in Argentina, and was founded in Buenos Aires in 1822, coinciding with the establishment of the University of Buenos Aires School of Medicine.

The Buenos Aires Botanical Garden

As soon as we got our stuff squirreled away in the apartment, we got out a map to see where we might go and what we might see. We had passed the signs point to the Botanical Garden on our way here, so since it was only a few blocks down the street we thought we might head over there first. Above, on the aerial view I used for our transfer here from the ship, you can see how close the garden is to the apartment.

At Plaza Alferez Jose Maria Sobral

We began on the north side of the street, and when we got to the intersection at the northwest corner of Las Heras Park, where we ran across a bakery that was quite good, we found that on our side of the street there was another, smaller "pocket park" called Plaza Alferez Jose Maria Sobral. These small parks are ubiquitous around Buenos Aires. From here north to the river are some of the city's largest green areas, but throughout the city you are rarely much more than a quarter mile from one of these little squares.

That's a nice feature of city life, as it gives residents a place where they can come and sit with their four-legged friends. This one has a monument to the park's namesake, Alférez de Navío José María Sobral (1880–1961). Sobral was an Argentine military scientist, who rose to prominence by participating in the Swedish Antarctic Expedition (1901–1904) becoming the first Argentine to overwinter in Antarctica. Later he pursued studies at Uppsala University becoming the first Argentine to obtain a geology degree. Sobral worked briefly as ambassador to Norway in 1930 before returning to Argentina to work at YPF (Argentina's premier energy company).

At this intersection, we crossed Las Heras Avenue, and here you can look back to the north side of the street at some of the apartment buildings that we had passed on the way to Sobral Park. We continued west along the south side of the street now, and eventually crossed República Árabe Siria street and came abreast of the Botanical Garden. Thinking that the entrance would be ahead of us at Plaza Italia, we continued walking west on Las Heras alongside the Botanical Garden.

We did pass one gate through the wrought-iron fence, but the sign said that it was for a cafe only, and there was no entry to the garden here, so we continued on- passing this beautiful old tree just before we got to Plaza Italia. It was when we got to the plaza and traffic circle that we discovered that the garden entrance was yet around on the southwest side of the garden. Had we known this, we could have taken a shorter route, but at least we got to see Plaza Italia- which is a transportation crossroads and a nice place to live:

Coming around by Plaza Italia put us on Santa Fe Street, and we found the entrance to the Botanical Garden a couple hundred feet along to the southeast.

The Buenos Aires Botanical Garden (official name in Spanish: Jardín Botánico Carlos Thays de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires) was located here in the Palermo district a ten-minute walk west of the apartment building. The garden is triangular in shape, and is bounded on its long side by General Las Heras Avenue, and on its shorter sides by Santa Fe Avenue and República Árabe Siria Street. Plaza Italia, one of Buenos Aires' most well-known circles, is at the western point of the triangle.

The garden, which was declared a national monument in 1996, has a total area of just over 17 acres, and holds approximately 5,500 species of plants, trees and shrubs, as well as a number of sculptures, numerous monuments, and five greenhouses. There is also a main Garden House that serves as a headquarters, display house, cafe, and such.

We weren't sure where the entrance was, so we walked west along Las Heras towards Plaza Italia, thinking the entrance might be on that square, but we found that we needed to go around to the south to the entrance midway along that side of the triangle. We were just a bit surprised to find that there was no admission charge.

When we came into the garden, we could see the large garden house across a small lawn ahead of us, but rather than go there immediately, we followed the walkway around to our left, heading back in the direction of Plaza Italia. We had no particular plan for touring the garden; we thought we would just follow the walkways and see what all there was. In general, though, we made a large clockwise tour through the garden, with the garden house in the center of our route. We ended up back at the garden house, as the nearby entry was the only one open.

Almost immediately we came by the first of a number of copies of the Botanical Garden map; there was an identical sign near all the other entrances that are sometimes used. In the garden itself, there were just directional arrows pointing to the various "areas" that were delineated on the garden map.

As we started our tour, I made my one movie here in the Botanical Garden, and you can use the player below to watch it:

Beginning Our Botanical Garden Tour (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)

Designed by French architect and landscape designer Carlos Thays, the garden was inaugurated on September 7, 1898. Thays and his family lived in an English style mansion, located within the gardens, between 1892 and 1898, when he served as director of parks and walks in the city. The mansion, built in 1881, is currently the main building of the complex.

The botanical garden makes use of three distinct landscape gardening styles- the symmetric, the mixed, and the picturesque; the picturesque gardens include the Roman, French and Oriental gardens.

The Roman garden holds species of tree that the first century Roman botanist Pliny the Younger had in his villa in the Apennine mountains, such as cypresses, poplars, and laurels.

The French garden utilizes the symmetric French style of the 17th and 18th centuries, while in the Oriental garden, the plants are ordered by origin. In the latter garden you can see Ginkgo Biloba from Asia, Acacias, Eucalyptus, and Casuarinas from Oceania, oaks and hazelnut trees from Europe, and brackens and palms from Africa.

An area I've not, understandably, seen the equivalent of elsewhere, was the Argentinean Indigenous Americas garden. It has an abundant collection of flora from Argentina and the Southern Cone worked into the design. Included are Araucaria and Blue Patagonian Spruce, as well as numerous other evergreen trees.

In other sections plant species are systematically ordered by their taxonomic qualification. There are also other plants from the Americas, such as sequoias from United States and "Palo Borracho" Chorisia speciosa, also called Floss silk tree from Brazil and Northern Argentina.

So how best to bring you along on our tour through the Botanical Garden here in Buenos Aires? I want you to see what we saw- the plants and flowers, the garden walks, the greenhouses, and, in a bit of a surprise, all the statuary we found throughout the garden. To let you look at all of this easily, I've integrated our pictures together into time sequence and then created a slideshow.

So I can make the pictures- particularly of the sculpture- as large as possible, when you click on the image at right (which shows Fred and I with the garden's largest greenhouse in the background), the slideshow will actually open in a new window that I have sized and positioned for your common widescreen monitor. (If you are prompted to allow a script to run, you may safely do so. In this new window, the slideshow will work like all the others in this album. You can use the little arrows in the lower corners of each picture to move forward and backward through the slides. Just refer to the slide numbers in the upper left corner of each picture to see where you are in the sequence of images. We hope you enjoy walking through this small but well-laid-out botanical garden with us.

Within the garden is the Municipal Gardening School Cristóbal María Hicken, which is linked to the Faculty of Agronomy of the University of Buenos Aires. Other attractions include the five winter-houses, the biggest of which is in Art Nouveau style and received recognition in the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1889. It is 115 feet long, 26 feet wide, and contains 2500 tropical plants and is considered to be the only winter-house in that style still conserved in the world. The Botanic Library has 1,000 books and 10,000 publications from all parts of the world, which are freely available to visitors. The park also contains a Botanical Museum.

In recent years, the Botanical Garden has become home to a large population of cats. The cats are not feral animals born in the Garden, but are all domestic cats abandoned there by owners who wished for unknown reasons to get rid of their pets. During the summer, abandonment rates are as high as one cat a day, and garden authorities and security personnel have so far been unable to stop the practice. Thanks to the dedication of volunteers in the animal protection community, cats are allowed to live in the Garden, where they are fed, vaccinated, neutered/spayed, and adopted out where possible.

Our walk through the Buenos Aires Botanical garden brought us back to the main entrance- the only one that was open- where we left the gardens to do some more walking around town.

Parque Las Heras

From the garden entrance, we circled back around to the north side of the garden to head back towards the apartment. Greg wanted to relax and then do a bit of shopping, so Fred and I continued our walk around our neighborhood with a visit to Parque Las Heras- right across the street from our apartment building.

We walked back east along Avenue Las Heras, and at Avenue Republica India, we crossed Avenue Las Heras to continue walking east. About two blocks before the apartment we came to the northwest corner of Parque Las Heras, so while Greg continued on to the apartment, we crossed the street again to visit the park. On that corner, we discovered a very nice bakery/cafe. We went inside the little cafe, shared a pastry, and then walked a couple of blocks south towards a park entrance.

This entrance was at a residential intersection, so we crossed around that intersection to get to the park. As we did, was passed a colorful monumental pedestal apparently dedicated to indigenous Argentines.

The Las Heras Park is right at the boundary of three Buenos Aires neighborhoods- Palermo, where we are staying; Recoleta, where the famous cemetery is; and Barrio Norte, a rather nice residential neighborhood. The park covers an area of about 30 acres, bounded by General Las Heras and Coronel Díaz avenues, and Jerónimo Salguero and Juncal streets.

Looking Northwest Across Parque Las Heras

Right at the entrance to the park we came across another colorful mural that consisted of five what I were assumed typical Argentines from around the city. We entered the park to walk across to the other side, and pretty soon we passed a dog park. This turned out to be a harbinger, for if we saw one common sight here in Buenos Aires, it was the profusion of dog walkers- each of whom seemed to be shepherding between five and eight animals. There are a lot of apartment buildings around this neighborhood, and it must be that a pretty sizeable percentage of their residents have at least one dog.

The land where the park is now located used to be the site of the National Penitentiary, which was built in the 1870s. The penitentiary was the site of the execution of General Juan José Valle, leader of the frustrated civic-military uprising of 1955 against the government of General Pedro Eugenio Aramburu who had overthrown Juan Domingo Perón in September of the same year. In 2008, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner signed a measure creating a National Historic Site in the park.

The name of the park comes from the avenue that bounds it on the north (the street between the park and our building), that name paying tribute to the Argentine patriot soldier Juan Gualberto Gregorio de Las Heras, a participant in the Wars of Independence. There are lots of games and stuff sprinkled through the park; here are a couple of pictures:

We left the park at its northeast corner, right at the intersection of General Heras and Colonel Diaz (telling, that there are so many streets that actually use the military titles of the persons they were named after). As we crossed Las Heras, we looked west; that's our building in the middle of the picture.

Plaza Chile

So we continued on our walk, this time crossing General Las Heras and heading down towards Avenue del Libertador- one of Buenos Aires' widest and busiest. We actually zig-zagged a bit, just to see what the quieter residential streets looked like.

When we came out onto Avenue del Libertador, we could see that a block east there seemed to be another park area, so we walked down that way and crossed the avenue to the north. We found ourselves (according to a small sign) at the southwest corner of Republic of Chile Square, commonly called Plaza Chile, also located here in our neighborhood of Palermo.

It was given its name in 1943, and the name was recorded in the Municipal Bulletin of Buenos Aires. Located in the Plaza (which is really not a paved plaza like many that we have seen in Europe, Central America, and South America, but more like a park) is the Chilean Embassy, which is undoubtedly why the statuary and place hames within the two-square-block park are mostly Chilean or commemorate the relationship between Chile and Argentina.

Once across the broad avenue, we could look back at the south side of the street, where the boundary between the Recoleta neighborhood (on the left) and our Palermo neighborhood (on the right) was immediately to the right of the Decorative Arts Museum:

The South Side of Avenue Libertador

From across Avenue del Liberatdor we saw that beautiful building with a row of flowering jacaranda trees in front; this was the Museum of Decorative Arts. Nearby are the Museum of Latin American Art and the Metropolitan Museum. The Museum of Decorative Arts is in a beautiful old building the story of which begins in 1897, when future prominent diplomat Matías Errazúriz married Josefina de Alvear, the granddaughter of a revered Independence-era leader- Carlos María de Alvear.

Museum of Decorative Arts

Fourteen years later, the couple commissioned French architect René Sergent to design a mansion for the now Ambassador to France. The ornate Neoclassical structure inspired a similar palace nearby which is today the United States Ambassador's residence. When their mansion was completed in 1916, the couple devoted the following years to decorating the palace, purchasing a large volume of antiques and other objets d'art. When Josefina died in 1935, Matias bequeathed the mansion to the Argentine government, and it became the National Museum of Decorative Arts in 1937. Here are some closer views:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

Back across the street, here in Plaza Chile, we found large trees, orange gravel paths and numerous sculptures and monuments, beginning with one right at the corner of the park across the street from the Museum of Decorative Arts.

This sculpture, by the Argentine artist Alberto Lagos, represents a repentant archer trying to break his bow after participating in the torture of Saint Sebastian, preacher of Catholicism, in the times of the Diocesan emperor.

This large image of a young man in the act of stretching his bow to the breaking point acquires a monumental character due to its colossal size, the expressive breath that it radiates and the subtle force with which the sculptor has managed to transmit the conflict between muscle power and the stubborn flexibility of the bow. That's why there are three images here from different angles. This particular sculptor is known for using the tension of the active body as a reflection of a spiritual restlessness in many of his urban works.

An Argentine sculptor educated in the French academic tradition, Lagos spent long periods in Paris between 1909 and 1925, where he was a student of Segoffin, an admirer of Rodin, a companion of Landowski and Paulin, and deserved recipient of awards and official acquisitions. He was well-known as a young "enfant terrible" in the artistic and social circles of the time, celebrated not only for his gifts as a sculptor, but also for his gift of engaging with people. Oddly, he was also sought after due to the exquisiteness of the recipes he developed as a result of his interest in the culinary arts.

Since we were right at the corner of the plaza, we could look north along the street at the plaza's western boundary, and we saw more sculptures ahead- one of them being in a small traffic circle a couple of hundred feet away.

El Abuelo Inmortal

The Immortal Grandfather, is a bronze monument on a granite pedestal located just at the west side of Plaza Chile on Grand Bourg Square. It pays pays homage to the figure of General José de San Martín and represents him in his old age, along with his granddaughters (María Mercedes and Josefina Dominga) and carrying out tasks far from his life as a military man.

The sculpture, by Ángel Eusebio Ibarra García (1892-1972) was dedicated in 1951. The sculpture is about 18 feet high.

This particular monument is actually just outside Plaza Chile, but when we came back from having walked out into the traffic circle, we were at the west side of Plaza Chile. Here, we came across a semi-circular installation of seven commemorative sculptures that recalled six figures known as "The Collaborators" for the help that they provided San Martin in his efforts to liberate the countries of South America.

Of course, I wanted to record each of the monuments, so I spent a few minutes doing that. I recorded the name of the individual honored and the artist who did the sculpture (in parentheses). To see a large image of any of the sculptures, just click on its thumbnail:

Alejandro María Aguado- San Martin's friend during his exile (Vicente Roselli)

General Juan Martín de Güemes (Mario Arrigutti)

General Juan Antonio Álvarez de Arenales (Horacio A. Ruiz Pombo)

Gregorio Las Heras (Orio dal Porto)

General Martín de Pueyrredón (Wifredo Valdrich)

Peruvian Marshal Ramón Castilla (Vicente Torró)

As you can see from the panoramic view above, there were actually seven monuments in the semi-circle. The seventh, the one in the middle, was a statue of the Virgin Mary that was dedicated to San Martin himself. Fred also got a picture of me at The Collaborators, just after I'd photographed the statue of the Virgin Mary. While I was photographing the rest of the statues, Fred walked a bit east through the park, and from a vantage point behind The Collaborators, got this wonderful view of most of the park known as Plaza Chile with me walking down the path towards him. You can also see our next destination all the way at the right side of the picture in the scrollable window below:

The path took us east through the park a short distance until we came to the path leading north towards the Chilean Embassy and the large monument to Bernardo O'Higgins.

The Bernardo O'Higgins Monument

Bernardo O'Higgins (1778–1842) was a Chilean independence leader who, together with José de San Martin, freed Chile from Spanish rule in the Chilean War of Independence. He is seen as one of Chile's founding fathers. O'Higgins was the illegitimate son of the later Viceroy of Peru, who was concerned about his education, but whom he never met in person. At seventeen Bernardo was sent to London to complete his studies. There he became acquainted with the American ideas of independence.

Having returned in Chile he became a member of the anti-Royalist camp of the independence movement. This camp was deeply split along lines of patronage and personality, by political beliefs, and by geography. The Carrera family, having already seized power, supported a specifically Chilean nationalism, as opposed to the broader Latin American focus of the other group, which included O'Higgins and José de San Martín.

Defeated by the Spanish troops in 1814, O'Higgins went in exile in Argentina. There he met José de San Martin and together with him he returned to Chile in 1817 to defeat the royalist army in three battles. San Martín was offered the position of power in Chile, but he declined, in order to continue the fight for independence in the rest of South America. O'Higgins accepted the position instead, and became the leader of an independent Chile.

The Equestrian Monument to Bernardo O'Higgins

Carrera was imprisoned to prevent his involvement in Chilean affairs and executed under questionable circumstances in 1821. For six years, O’Higgins was a largely successful leader, and his government initially functioned well.

In time, however, O'Higgins began to alienate important political groupings within the still-fragile Chilean nation. Powerful large landowners resisted his radical and liberal reform proposals, such as the establishment of democracy and abolition of titles of nobility. O'Higgins was deposed by a conservative coup in 1823 and lived in exile for the rest of his life near Lima in Peru.

The equestrian monument to Bernardo O'Higgins was sculpted by Gino Córdova and installed here in 1918. The sculpture is ten feet high and sits atop a twenty-foot pedestal. At the top of the pedestal's two long sides, there are intricate bas-reliefs of battle scenes.

We knew that Greg wanted to go out and walk around some more, so we thought we should head back to collect him. We left the park, went back to the corner to cross back to the south.

Here is the southwestern corner of the park where we are going to cross Avenue Libertador- using the crosswalk you can see in the picture. As we crossed the avenue, I thought I would make a movie. Not stirring stuff, but it will give you a good feel for what walking along major streets in Buenos Aires is like. You can use the player below to watch the movie:

Crossing Avenue Libertador (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)

Visiting the Plaza Chile was interesting, but there was still a lot more to see in Buenos Aires.

Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral

When we returned to the apartment, we sat down with Greg and mapped out an afternoon walk. Actually, the afternoon walk would include an afternoon ride on the Buenos Aires metro system. Our destination was back to Plaza de Mayo, in the center of town about three miles from the apartment. We'd been there briefly on our shore excursion yesterday, but we arrived late and stayed only a short time, so we wanted to revisit this old central square.

We walked from the apartment about a quarter mile south to the Bulnes Metro Station where we bought one-trip tickets to the Bolivar Station near the plaza. We just missed a train, so I made a quick movie in the underground station before the next one arrived:

The Bulnes Subway Station

The subway ride took about fifteen minutes, as there were a fair number of stops. While the station wasn't very crowded, the train was, but it was a pleasant ride. We came up aboveground at the west end of Plaza de Mayo.

We came up aboveground from the Bolivar Station and found ourselves just southwest of Plaza de Mayo, so we walked a short way up to the Plaza, then crossed the west end of it to come to our first stop- Buenos Aires' Metropolitan Cathedral. I have shown our path and the location of the cathedral on the aerial view at left.

The Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral is the main Catholic church in Buenos Aires, and it sits on the corner of San Martín and Rivadavia streets. It is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires and the primatial church of Argentina.

The Cathedral of Buenos Aires was rebuilt several times since its humble origins in the 16th century. The present building is a mix of architectural styles, with an 18th-century nave and dome and a severe, 19th-century Neoclassical façade without towers. The interior features precious 18th-century statues and altarpieces, as well as abundant Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Baroque decoration.

Walking over to the church, I thought about taking more pictures of the facade, but then I thought I would instead just use one from our visit here yesterday.

Construction of a façade for the Cathedral began in the early 19th century directed by Spanish architect Tomás Toribio, but the project did not advance much. It was only in 1821, under Governor Martín Rodríguez and his Minister Bernardino Rivadavia, that plans to complete the cathedral were taken seriously. Starting in 1826, French architects Prosper Catelin and Pierre Benoit built a new Neoclassical façade for the cathedral inspired by the Palais Bourbon in Paris. Construction was temporarily halted in 1827, and when it resumed, progress was slow until its final completion. The façade of the building consists of a tall portico, inspired by Classical architecture, with twelve columns and a triangular pediment on top. The portico lends the building the appearance of an ancient temple rather than a Catholic church. The original project did not call for towers to be built and, even though there were later plans to build two towers, they were never carried out.

The decoration of the facade was only finished between 1860 and 1863, when French sculptor Joseph Dubourdieu created the reliefs of the pediment. The scene represents the reunion of Joseph with his brothers and father Jacob in Egypt, and was intended as an allegory of the unity of the Argentine nation after several fratricidal wars. Dubourdieu also completed the Corinthian capitals of the columns of the portico.

Like most famous or notable churches in large cities, the cathedral is pretty much open, although you always run the risk that a service might be in progress and your ability to move around inside might be limited; we have certainly been in lots of churches where this has been the case, but today all we encountered were a few tourists like ourselves wandering around inside.

The Altar, Apse, and Chancel in the Metropolitan Cathedral

The Cathedral of Buenos Aires is a Latin cross building with transept and three-aisles with side chapels connected by corridors. Originally the interior was only decorated with altarpieces, but at the end of the 19th century the walls and ceilings of the church were decorated with frescoes depicting biblical scenes.

The cathedral still has some elements dating from colonial times. The most important is the main gilt wood altarpiece in Rococo style, dating from 1785 and executed by Spanish sculptor Isidro Lorea. The altarpiece occupies the main chapel and has a statue of the Virgin Mary and a representation of the Holy Trinity in its canopy.

The Nave of the Metropolitan Cathedral

In 1907, the floor of the cathedral was covered with Venetian-style mosaics designed by the Italian Carlo Morra. Repair work for the entire floor was started in 2004 and completed in 2010.

Inside the Metropolitan Cathedral (Mouseover Image If Video Controls Not Visible)

We took quite a few pictures and movies in the open nave of the church. The two of the best pictures are displayed above, and the best movie is at left, but below are some additional views of the inside of the church that are worth including here.

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

Another notable colonial sculpture is the Christ of Buenos Aires, a large image of the crucified Christ located in the altarpiece of the lateral arm of the transept. The statue was carved by Portuguese sculptor Manuel do Coyto in 1671 and is the oldest in the cathedral. According to the faithful, it miraculously saved the city from a flood in the 18th century.

The two pulpits of the cathedral, in transitional Rococo-Neoclassical style, were created in 1789–1790 by the Spanish sculptor Juan Antonio Gaspar Hernández, who would later (1799) direct the first art school of Buenos Aires. I have mentioned before it seems as if pulpits are as varied as are churches; it never seems that any two of them are the same.

There was a lot of carved wood in this particular church, and you can see much of it around the pulpits at right and other of the pictures as well. Near the doors to the church, was this carved wood enclosure; at first I thought it was a confessional, but walking around it I didn't think so. You can see there is some Latin writing on it, but I have no idea what it says.

In the the transcept opposite the carved crucifixion, was this beautiful gilt facade, although I am not sure what these are usually called. Fred also used his zoom to get this closeup view of the figure (which I assume is the Virgin Mary).

As do many Catholic churches, the Metropolitan Cathedral has a number of side chapels- eight of them in this church. Each is different and, I believe, each side chapel is typically dedicated to some notable or other or financed by one church patron or another. I tried to take good pictures of each of these chapels, and here they are:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

Let's look at some different views inside the church. Fred and I walked to the front of the church and stood right at the foot of the four marble steps that lead up to the altar, and made our pictures and movies from either side.

Panning Around the Inside of the Metropolitan Cathedral (Mouseover Image If Video Controls Not Visible)

In the movie at left, I am standing off to the left side of the steps up to the altar area, and I will pan around the church. There is a neat background of Gregorian chanting, so it lends a nice air to the movie. From here, Fred was also able to get a good view of the underside of the dome over the crossing.

Fred got good views of the two largest stained glass windows (high up near the dome) and also of the altar itself- from the front and from the side. Here are those pictures:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

The church was quite beautiful, of course, as old cathedrals usually are, and we must have spent an hour or so inside. Before we left, though, there was one more point of interest inside the cathedral.

In 1880, the remains of General José de San Martín were brought from France and placed in a mausoleum, reachable from the right aisle of the church. The mausoleum was specially designed by French sculptor Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse, with marble of various colours. The black sarcophagus is guarded by three life-size female figures that represent Argentina, Chile and Peru, three of the regions freed by the General. The mausoleum also has the remains of Generals Juan Gregorio de las Heras and Tomás Guido, as well as those of the Unknown Soldier of the Independence.

Chile, Argentina, and Peru

A really nice church, and I am glad we got the opportunity to come in and look around.

Plaza de Mayo and Casa Rosada

You may recall that we were here in Plaza de Mayo late yesterday, at the tail end of our bus tour around Buenos Aires. But we didn't arrive here until after six and so didn't stay in the plaza for more than fifteen or twenty minutes before being taken back to the ship. So today, after visiting the Cathedral, we've come out into the Plaza to have another look around.

To get to the Plaza, of course, we just left the front of the church, went down the steps and then across the street. This put us at the northwest corner of the rectangular plaza.

The Plaza de Mayo (May Square) is a city square and the main foundational site of Buenos Aires. It was formed in 1884 after the demolition of the Recova building, unifying the city's Plaza Mayor and Plaza de Armas, by that time known as Plaza de la Victoria and Plaza 25 de Mayo, respectively. The city center of Buenos Aires, Plaza de Mayo has been the scene of the most momentous events in Argentine history, as well as the largest popular demonstrations in the country. On the occasion of the one-year anniversary of the May Revolution in 1811, the May Pyramid was inaugurated in the square's hub, becoming Buenos Aires' first national monument.

The plaza is today located in the financial district known as "microcentro", in the Monserrat neighborhood. It is bounded by Bolívar, Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce and Avenida Rivadavia streets; and from its west side three important avenues emanate and run for miles through Buenos Aires- Avenida Presidente Julio Argentino Roca, Avenida Roque Sáenz Peña, and Avenida de Mayo. Surrounding the square are several significant monuments and points of interest: the Cabildo (now the National History Museum), the Casa Rosada (more below), the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Buenos Aires City Hall, and two or three major financial institutions, including (shown here in a picture taken looking north from the plaza) the Bank of the Argentine Nation (at left) and Galicia Bank (skyscraper, background). Underneath the plaza are three subway stations- Plaza de Mayo (Line A), Catedral (Line D), and Bolívar (Line E) (the station where we arrived).

Casa Rosada

The Casa Rosada (Pink House) is the executive mansion and office of the President of Argentina. The palatial mansion is known officially as "Government House". Normally, the President lives at the Quinta de Olivos, the official residence of the President of Argentina, which is located in Olivos, a near-suburb. The characteristic color of the Casa Rosada is baby pink, and is considered one of the most emblematic buildings in Buenos Aires. The building also houses a museum, which contains objects relating to former presidents of Argentina. It has been declared a National Historic Monument of Argentina.

The Casa Rosada sits at the eastern end of the Plaza on a site that was originally at the shoreline of the Río de la Plata, and which was first occupied by the "Fort of Juan Baltazar of Austria", a structure built on the orders of the founder of Buenos Aires, Captain Juan de Garay, in 1594. Its 1713 replacement by a masonry structure (the "Castle of San Miguel") complete with turrets made the spot the effective nerve center of colonial government.

Following independence, President Bernardino Rivadavia had a Neoclassical portico built at the entrance in 1825, and the building remained unchanged until, in 1857, the fort was demolished in favor of a new customs building. Under the direction of British Argentine architect Edward Taylor, the Italianate structure functioned as Buenos Aires' largest building from 1859 until the 1890s.

Fred and I and Casa Rosada

The old fort's administrative annex, which survived the construction of Taylor's Customs House, was turned into Presidential offices by Bartolomé Mitre in the 1860s and his successor, Domingo Sarmiento, who beautified the drab building with patios, gardens and wrought-iron grillwork. It was at this time that the building took on its pink color. The majority opinion is that the building was made that color by Sarmiento who sought to defuse political tensions by mixing the red and white colors of the country's two opposing political parties. An alternative explanation suggests that the original paint contained cow's blood to prevent damage from the effects of humidity.

Presiding over an unprecedented socio-economic boom, President Julio Roca commissioned a replacement for the cramped State House with a building resembling the neighboring Central Post Office in 1882. The two now similar structures were then integrated when Roca had architects design the iconic Italianate archway between the two in 1884. The resulting State House, still known as the "Rose House", was completed in 1898 following its eastward enlargement, works which resulted in the destruction of the customs house.

The Casa Rosada is still used, at least in part, as the State Office, but it also houses a Historical Museum (created in 1957) of presidential memorabilia. The remains of the former fort were partially excavated in 1991, and the uncovered structures were incorporated into the Museum of the Casa Rosada. Located behind the building, these works led to the rerouting of Paseo Colón Avenue, unifying the Casa Rosada with Parque Colón (Columbus Park) behind it. Restoration of the surviving portions of Taylor's Customs House are ongoing, while the Casa Rosada's last major renovation ended in 2011.

The Casa Rosada and the other 19th-century buildings around the Plaza are now an interesting contrast to the new skyscrapers that have been built not far away. Many of Buenos Aires' newest structures (particularly high-rise residences) are on the river side of the canal that runs north-south east of Casa Rosada.

Equestrian Monument to General Manuel Belgrano

The Equestrian monument to General Manuel Belgrano is a landmark of Buenos Aires; it depicts Belgrano holding the Flag of Argentina, and it is made of bronze over a pedestal of granite.

In 1870 generals Mitre, Martínez, and Guerrico appointed a commission to create the Belgrano Monument, and that commission enlisted French sculptor Carrier-Belleuse (Belgrano) and Spanish sculptor Manuel de Santa Coloma (the horse).

The finished statue was moved here in 1872 and dedicated the next year in a large patriotic event attended by over 20,000. In the 1880s, the base was raised and the statue rotated to face north, instead of towards the Cabildo, so the occupants of Casa Rosada would have a view of something other than the General's back and his horse's ass. Here, looking towards the southeast corner of Plaza de Mayo, is a colorful view of the Monument.

Right in the center of Plaza de Mayo is the May Pyramid, the oldest national monument in the City of Buenos Aires.

The May Pyramid

The construction of the Monument was ordered in 1811 by the Primera Junta to celebrate the first anniversary of the May Revolution, and its original position was at the west end of the plaza. In 1912, after numerous renovations, it was moved 180 feet east to its current position. The monument is crowned by an allegory of Liberty and the entire structure is over seventy feet high.

Looking Northwest at the May Pyramid

Despite the success of the move, the project to surround the Pyramid with a larger monument never materialized. Many remained hopeful that the Pyramid would be restored to its historical origins, including the return of the original steps and railing, and the removal of the "shell of stucco and inappropriate figures". However, later resolutions limited further reforms to ground level. The foundation was repainted and the arms restored to their 1813 condition. The original railing was, ultimately, restored.

The Pyramid was declared a historical monument in 1942, and a 2005 law conferred the status of a historical site on the area surrounding the Pyramid, which is notable for sidewalk paintings of shawls representing the Madres de Plaza de Mayo. The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo was a movement of Argentine mothers who campaigned for their children who had been "disappeared" during the military dictatorship, pursuing the government for answers between 1977 and 2006. On December 8 of that year, at the request of her children, the ashes of the organization's founder, Azucena Villaflor, were buried at the base of the Pyramid, where she had organized her first protest.

Our Walk Home from Plaza de Mayo

For the first part of our trek back to the apartment in the fading light of late afternoon (but not fading too quickly, as it is late spring down here), we'll be going from Plaza de Mayo northwest along Avenue Presidente Roque Sáenz Peña to the intersection with Avenue 9 July and one of Buenos Aires' most familiar landmarks- the Obelisco.

Our Route to the Obelisco

At left is an aerial view of this small part of Buenos Aires northwest of Plaza de Mayo, and you can clearly see the north-south throughfare known as Avenue 9 July- the widest in the city.

As we started up the avenue from the plaza, the Metropolitan Cathedral was off to our left. As we passed it, we could see the dome of the church from the outside- complementing the pictures we took of it from the nave of the church.

Avenue Presidente Roque Sáenz Peña is one of the many diagonal streets here in Buenos Aires. Old European cities have very few streets that run in straight lines for very far- although every city has a few. Taken as a group, though, they make stateside cities, with their grid patterns, mundane and ordinary. Parts of Buenos Aires are grids, though, and when there are diagonal streets like this one, and they cross over grid-pattern streets, you get a great many corner properties that are pie-shaped, and utilizing these spaces lead to a proliferation of beautiful buildings like this one.

This was a very busy street- both with pedestrians and automobiles- but you could tell that the neighborhood was a good one from the kinds of shops and businesses you pass and also from the way most of the people were dressed. The avenue was also extremely clean, as was most of Buenos Aires.

Bartolome Mitre and Saenz Pena

Here is another very pretty building; it stands at the intersection of Saenz Pena and Bartolome Mitre and is, apparently, an office building. There are stores on the ground floor, of course, but when we passed we saw a series of brass signs at one of the building entry points. The only name I recognized was Cap Gemini, the international consulting firm.

Monumento a Roque Sáenz Peña

Roque Sáenz Peña (1851-1914) was an Argentine politician, diplomat and lawyer. Not to bury the lead, he was President of Argentina from 1910 to 1914. He fought for Peru in the Pacific War, but became a diplomat when he returned to Argentina, and was Ambassador to Uruguay. During his tenure as President, the first underground line in Buenos Aires was built, but it was during his tenure that the so-called Sáenz Peña Law was passed; it established the universal, secret and obligatory vote.

The sculpture atop this monument was created by Jose Fioravanti (1896-1977), an Argentine sculptor and the country's most famous. Self-taught artist, he is considered one of the pioneers of sculpture in Argentina. His work can be found in museums in the Americas and Europe.

The monument itself is done an Art Deco style, and was inaugurated on August 8, 1936. On the back, a fountain frames the bas-relief of a female figure. She represents Sáenz Peña's idea of "America for Humanity". Two sculptural groups accompany the honoree. "La Acogida" is made up of a naked woman who receives a child, hinting at the Argentine politician's concern for helpless children. The vigorous image of a man with the sword and the table of the Law symbolizes "The Secret and Obligatory Vow", remembering the achievement of universal suffrage (which is obligatory here in Argentina). The sculpture of the "State Man" appears seated, with his hands resting on a book. His strong features and determined expression shows Fioravanti's "essentialist" tendency that condenses the outstanding characteristics of Roque Saénz Peña.

Continuing along, the avenue crosses Avenida Florida, the pedestrian street that Fred and I walked along on our first day here. Here are more examples of the interesting corner buildings that you find at every intersection along the avenue. At one point, we came past this streetside bench that looked for all the world like an upholstered settee. Actually, it was formed concrete, which I only discovered when I sat down on it expecting something a good deal softer! Anyway, we continued on down to Avenue 9 July, taking a few more pictures along the way.

At the far left is a monument to Argentine politician Lisandro de la Torre (1868–1939). De la Torre became a lawyer in 1890, and his thesis about municipalities and communes, as well as other works of his, gave rise to the idea of municipal autonomy in Argentina, which was included in the Argentine Constitution in 1994. In 1898 he founded the newspaper La República. At the near left is another interesting corner structure- the La Union Building. Below, I'm in a crosswalk looking down one of the side streets we passed:

Just as we reached the broad Avenue 9 July, Fred looked across the street and south a good ways and spotted this building with an image of Eva Peron on the side. And then we came to the widest street in the city- Avenue 9 July.

July 9 Avenue is the major thoroughfare in the city centre of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Its name honors Argentina's Independence Day, July 9, 1816. The avenue runs around 2 miles from the waterfront in the north to the major southern expressway. The avenue has up to seven lanes in each direction and is flanked on either side by parallel streets of two lanes each. There are two wide medians between the side streets and the main road. When we reached it, the Obelisco was right in front of us.

The Obelisco in Buenos Aires

The Obelisco de Buenos Aires (Obelisk of Buenos Aires) is a national historic monument and icon of Buenos Aires. Located in the Plaza de la República in the intersection of avenues Corrientes and 9 de Julio, it was erected in 1936 to commemorate the quadricentennial of the first foundation of the city.

The Obelisk was designed by architect Alberto Prebisch (one of the main architects of the Argentine modernism. Construction took an amazing 2 months and cost about $2 million in today's US dollars. It required 24,000 cu ft of concrete and 14,600 sq ft of Olaen white stone from Córdoba. The 221-foot obelisk, crowned by an fifteen-foot apex, was built by Siemens of Germany, and has a lightning rod on top whose cables run through the interior of the obelisk.

The entrance is on the west side and when you climb the straight staircase of 206 steps (with landings every 25 feet) you are in a small observation room with four windows.

Even given all this, in June, 1939, the City Council sanctioned the demolition of the Obelisco, citing economic, aesthetic and public safety reasons. However, the ordinance was vetoed by the mayor, who said the measure was "lacking in value and jurisdiction" as it infringed on executive power. But he said that the main reason was the the Obelisco was by then a monument under the jurisdiction and custody of the Nation whose heritage belongs to it.

To make way for the Obelisco, a church had to be demolished; it had contained the Argentine flag was officially hoisted for the first time in Buenos Aires, 1812. In 1938, some of the stone cladding came off only hours after a huge public event at the Obelisco, so the stone slabs were replaced by concrete colored and molded to look similar.

About the only indignity the Obelisco hasn't suffered has probably been being painted green for St. Patrick's Day. But it has been decorated as a Christmas Tree (1972), sheathed in a giant pink condom (World AIDS Day in 2005), and turned into a giant pencil to commemorate the 30th anniversary of "La Noche de los Lápices" (the "Night of the Pencils" in 1975 when the military dictatorship kidnapped and murdered upwards of eight students).

Vandalism has been common at the Obelisco- most of it taking the form of politically oriented graffiti. In the 1980s, an activist group broke in and spilled paint from the top windows, causing the city government to erect a controversial fence around its base in 1987. Subsequent to a major 2005 restoration, the Obelisco was closed to all but bungee jumping by a commerical firm that donates part of its fees to at-risk youth organizations.

The Obelisco on Avenue 9 July

In the picture at right, we have reached and crossed Avenue 9 July, and are looking back at the Obelisco and, just to its right, Avenida Presidente Roque Sáenz Peña heading back towards Plaza de Mayo.

The idea of constructing July 9 Avenue was first proposed in 1890 to connect the northern and southern parts of the city, but it took over twenty years to get municipal approval, and a 100-foot wide avenue was planned. But in the years prior to WWI, progress was slow and the land acquisition process haphazard. This led to negative effects on the center city, and a scandal of major proportions.

Construction actually did not move ahead significantly until the 1930s, when the realization of the plan actually resulted in an avenue which, along with medians, occupied the width of an entire city block, the distance between two streets in the checkerboard pattern used in Buenos Aires. The entire avenue, along with its flanking streets, ended up being almost 300 feet wide. That's why it takes three or four traffic-light-cycles for pedestrians to make it across the avenue, which was completed in the 1960s. (The connections to southern arterial roadways were not completed until the 1980s- almost a century after the initial proposals.)

Having crossed the avenue, we found ourselves on the final block of Avenue Presidente Soque Sáenz Peña- a short stretch of the street that ends at Plaza Lavalle. Right when we started up that street, we came to a rather odd structure. It seemed to be like a local police station- but very small- and with an observation platform on top o fit. If you went around the far side, the entire roof of the structure was a long flight of steps- much like those in a stadium. These bring you to the top of the structure where you can look out over Plaza Republica- the name of the area around the Obelisco.

Looking Across Plaza Republica (Mouseover Image If Video Controls Not Visible)

I made a movie from up here of the activity going on down on Avenue 9 July. It will give you a better impression than the still images do of just how wide the avenue is and how busy it is. I am pretty sure it is the widest I have ever seen. The movie player is at left.

From the top of this structure we also took a number of pictures of Plaza Republica, but they are kind of repetitive. The best of them is this selfie of Fred and me with the Obelisco in the background.

We continued northwest along this one-block section of Sáenz Peña until we came to Plaza Lavalle- a park surrounded by some of the city's most important historical, institutional and cultural sites. The area was originally "Zamudio hollow", a vacant lot where a lagoon existed in the 18th century. In 1822 the area became an artillery park (with an arms factory and powder store) known as Plaza del Parque. In 1878 the area, now two city blocks, was named for Juan Lavalle, a hero of independence. The third square block area on the north was added in 1937.

As I said, Plaza Lavalle occupies three city blocks oriented north-south. I want to use an aerial view of the square, so have rotated it so that north is to the right. We entered the plaza from its southeast corner (lower left in the image), and once we'd had a chance to wander around the look at the many interesting or famous buildings that front the plaza, we left it via the street just above the Metro Station symbol on the aerial view; this had us continuing west.

Coming into the plaza we were going along a diagonal walk and we could see quite a bit from along that walk.

Let's just take a look at this plaza and at some of the important structures that surround it or that have been erected in it. I've labeled most of them on the aerial view so I don't have to keep referring to compass directions.

Looking to our right (north) immediately on entering the plaza, we could see the buildings along Libertad Street (the view at right), which is the eastern border of the park.

Looking in that direction, the building(s) closest to us were part of the Instituto Libre de Segunda Enseñanza, which is a high school that is connected with the University of Buenos Aires. There is a strict admissions process, and only the best students are chosen, for entry to the Institute means that once a student graduates, they can continue on to University without needing to take the entrance exams for it. The school has received numerous academic awards, and is considered one of Argentina's two best high schools.

The first complete building beyond the high school turned out to be the President Roca School; it is the one with the triangular Greek pediment atop the columned entrance. The building was declared a National Historic Monument just two years ago, in 2017.

The President Roca School

The School was part of the 1899 school building plan, but it is a unique building: it was built as a Model School of the National Council of Education. The 40,000 square foot, 12-classroom building (400 students per shift) has a beautiful Assembly Hall, laboratory, library, workshops, and large common spaces. There's also a 6000 sq ft open patio, a smaller covered patio, and a rear garden.

The classrooms are large (not your typical cramped spaces chockablock with desks) and bathed in natural light, and when built were state-of-the art and built with good materials. The acoustics were impeccable. The monumental portico and the ornamental details of the façade were classic, and the inscription above translates to "the letters vivify the spirit, the book liberates". Much of the granite used in the facade was carved right in the plaza.

The building was inaugurated in 1903 and classes began in 1904. The building was designed by the Italian architect Carlos Morra (1854-1926), a teacher of Argentine architecture, who specialized in schools and who, could count two Popes among his ancestors. The Presidente Roca School was seen as the most perfect architectural achievement of the popular education policy that was instituted in 1849. Political discussions were allowed as secularists and clerics shared an honest passion for popular education. The ideal of egalitarian educational opportunities for all Argentine children was a 50-year institution when the school opened- probably the most enlightened in all the Americas at the time.

The school benefited from great teachers and directors and many experimental educational ideas were tried over the years- all with a view towards improving the opportunities available to all students. These included the complete integration of the arts and sciences as well as the establishment of "school clubs"- even the establishment of a school radio station. The school has just completed a renovation program to ensure its continued benefit to the community.

Teatro Colon

Beyond the the Roca School, and part of the middle block of the Plaza Lavalle, is the Teatro Colón (Spanish: Columbus Theatre) which is the main opera house in Buenos Aires. It is considered one of the ten best opera houses in the world by National Geographic, and is acoustically considered to be amongst the five best concert venues in the world. The front of the theatre actually faces Avenue 9 July, but most patrons use the Lavalle entrance as it is much easier for those patrons that drive or take the Metro to the theatre.

The present Colón replaced an original theatre which opened in 1857. Towards the end of the century it became clear that a new theatre was needed and, after a 20-year process, the present theatre opened on 25 May 1908, with Giuseppe Verdi's Aïda.

The Teatro Colón was visited by the foremost singers and opera companies of the time, who would sometimes go on to other cities including Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

After almost a century of huge international success, the theatre's decline became clear and plans were made for massive renovations. After an initial start of works to restore the landmark in 2005, the theatre was closed for refurbishment from for almost four years. It re-opened on 24 May 2010, with a programme for the 2010 season.

As you can see on the aerial view above, when we entered Plaza Lavalle we were walking northwest on a diagonal walkway that would take us to the street we wanted to continue on- Tucuman. Ahead of us, across the square, we could see a building simply called the Tucuman-Talcahuano Building, taking its name from the corner on which it sits.

At right are two more views of this interesting building- one taken just after we entered the square, and another taken when we passed by the building when we left the square. This building is a good example of something our tour guide told us yesterday.

Like many cities, Buenos Aires has a great deal of beautiful architecture and wants very much to preserve it. On the other hand, many of the buildings in the city, while beautiful, are no longer cost-efficient or sometimes even serving a purpose at all. In the USA, developers (sometimes over the outcry of residents and architecture buffs) tear these buildings down completely- assuming they aren't placed on some historic register or other.

Some cities compromise. A developer, as here, may wish to put up a modern building, but he has to work with the city and its historical and architectural boards to see how best to preserve the beauty and history of whatever is on the site already- assuming it is of interest (not all old buildings are beautiful or historic). In this case, we have an example of the preservation of part of the facade of the existing building, which has been integrated into the new building constructed behind it, and we have this old colonial tower attached to a modern curtain-wall office block.

We are crossing the southern block of the plaza, but in the center block is the column in memory of Juan Lavalle (1797-1841)- an Argentine military and political figure. At left are two views of the column taken from different angles.

Born in Buenos Aires to a high-ranking official in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, Lavalle joined the Regiment of mounted grenadiers as a cadet in 1812. In 1813 Army Lieutenant Lavalle participated in the siege of Montevideo and in 1815 fought against José Artigas. In 1816 Lavalle joined the Army of the Andes of the "liberator" José de San Martín and took part in a number of significant battles.

As a result of disagreements with Simón Bolívar, Lavalle returned to Buenos Aires in 1823. He would later govern Mendoza Province for a short time, but then commanded 1200 cavalry in the war against Brazil and received a field promotion to General.

Returning again to Buenos Aires, Lavalle eventually led a coup to take power from the federal governor Manuel Dorrego, and had him executed without trial. He was aiming to destroy the Federal Party, but the resistance continued. When José de San Martín returned from Europe. Lavalle offered him the government of Argentina as he was probably the only man with authority over both sides, but San Martin realized he would have to eliminate one side or the other, so he refused and returned to self-exile in Europe.

What followed was a further fifteen years of civil war between the various factions within the Argentine and in Uruguay. Various military leaders, each with his own core of support, battled for control- all of this going on during the period of French meddling in these affairs. The chaotic situation came to an end, at least for Lavalle, when he was killed by a Montonera detachment in 1841. His followers spirited his body away to Bolivia, eventually burying his flesh in an unmarked grave but carrying his bones, which are today buried at the La Recoleta Cemetery, with them.

I've shortened the story of Lavalle's career, but even after a rereading can't quite figure out why he would deserve a square named for him and a column with his figure upon it. I can only assume that Argentines consider the outcome of the internecine conflicts in the 1800s to have resulted in today's modern state.

The Palace of Justice on Lavalle Square

The most important building on Lavalle Square is at its southwest corner, which was ahead of us and a bit to our left. It is as beautiful a building as the Teatro Colon, but the facade facing the square is much larger. It is the "Palace of Justice of the Argentine Nation, more often referred locally as Palacio de Justicia or Palacio de Tribunales).

This building, shown at right in a picture put together from three pictures I took of the facade, is the seat of the Supreme Court and other lower courts. Designed in a monumental Eclectic neoclassical style and constructed between 1905 and 1910, the building is a National Historic Landmark, and has a total floor area 650,000 sq ft, so it is quite large.

As we walked diagonally across the southernmost block of Lavalle Square, we passed some very pretty fountains. When we got to the west side of the square, we could look back across it at another neat view of the Teatro Colon. Greg will actually be attending a performance there tomorrow night when Fred and I leave for Iguassu Falls.

We continued walking west and north through the city, heading generally back towards the apartment. The first part of our walk was west for maybe eight or ten blocks along Avenue Tucuman.

Iglesia del Salvador

About five blocks west of the square, we came to this small Catholic church, and the first thing I noticed about the Iglesia del Salvador was the bright blue frieze with the words “Jesv Cristo Salvatori” and the bright blue pediment with gold stars above it. These splashes of color— and the three bright mosaics below them— brighten up the façade of one of the most important Jesuit churches in Argentina.

Also making the church stand out are the four soaring Corinthian columns and two domed bell towers, one with a clock. Construction of the Renaissance-style church began in 1872, thanks largely in part to private and quite generous contributions from two families, and lasted until about 1887.

We didn't go inside, but perhaps we should have, for I discovered on doing this page that there are notable frescoes of various scenes of Jesus preaching that cover the ceilings of the two side aisles, many of the side chapels are quite beautiful, and there are beams made from the quebracho tree that line the ceiling. There is also, apparently, an impressive altar with green malachite columns.

The plaque outside noted that the church was declared a National Historical Place in 1942— right around the time Juan Perón was frequently attending Mass here.

As it turned out, we did not walk all the way back to the apartment. We did pass an interesting mural just before we got to one of the subway stations on the line that would take us home. So since we'd aready gotten fare cards, we thought we would use them up and ride the subway back to the same station we'd departed from. Just before heading below ground, I took one last picture of this new, modern residential tower. After the short ride back, we came aboveground and walked through a new shopping mall on the way back to Parque Las Heras (Greg bought a "souvenir" shirt). We'd had a great day, and we went out for a casual meal before retiring for the night.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	December 5, 2019: An Excursion to the Paraná Delta
	December 3, 2019: Two Ship Tours in Buenos Aires
	Return to the Index for 2019