san telmo

Circuits guide

San TelmoEl Viejo AlmacnAv. Independencia 303, San TelmoThis ancient building dating from the turn of the 19th century,located on a corner with no chamfer, houses a tanguera (tangobar) inaugurated by popular tango singer Edmundo Rivero.The name of this bar was inspired by the tango "Sentimiento Gaucho" lyrics by Juan Andrs Caruso, andmusic by Francisco and Rafael Canaro which sings: "In an old store on Paseo Coln/ frequented by thosewho have lost all faith/ in a dark spot I happened to find/ a dirty and drunk old man dressed in rags".

Museo Histrico NacionalDefensa 1600, San TelmoThis museum was founded in 1889, and in 1897 was moved to thislarge house, residence of the Lezama family. The building, designed in an Italianate style, dates from themid-19th century.The wealth of this museum is mainly made up of evidences of theMay Revolution and the Wars of Independence. It also has a sectiondevoted to Argentinian native cultures.

Plaza DorregoHumberto 1 400, San TelmoThis public square was known as Alto de las Carretas (CarriageStop) because carts drawn by either oxen or horses used to stophere. From 1822 to 1867, a market place settled here, and in 1900the square acquired its current name.Today, Dorrego Square has become famous for its hustling antique fair held on Sundays, which conveysthe identity of this traditional district.

Fbrica CanaleAv. Martn Garca 320, BarracasThis building, a true exponent of the industrial and utilitarian design, known at present as Lezama Palace,housed the factory of the traditional Canale biscuits.In 1875, don Jos Canale, a Genoese immigrant, opened a smallbakery on the corner of Defensa and Cochabamba streets. In thecourse of time, his business grew and the bakery was moved tothis place, in front of Parque Lezama. Here, it continued thriving, in tune with the industrial growth of thecountry, and became one of the leading factories in the south of the city.For the last few years, the premises have housed major events as

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well as architecture exhibitions.

Facultad de Ingeniera (Sede Av. Paseo Coln)Av. Paseo Coln 850, San TelmoaThis building dates from the mid-20th century and was intended tohouse the Mara Eva Duarte de Pern Foundation, but its founderdied in 1952 and never actually used the premises. Once Juan Domingo Pern was removed from office,the building was altered and destined to the School of Engineering of the University of Buenos Aires.This monumental Neoclassical construction, built in a style typical of its time, is a replica of the building ofthe School of Law located at Recoleta Distric.

Mercado de San TelmoEstados Unidos, Defensa, Carlos Calvo y Bolvar, San TelmoThis building, inaugurated in 1897, maintains its original internal structure made of iron beams, arches andcolumns, with tin and glass roofs. A grand dome emerges from the center.The project was designed by Antonio Buschiazzo (1845-1917), thesecond architect to obtain a degree in Buenos Aires. Buschiazzoarrived here from Italy when he was four years old. During theadministration of city mayor Torcuato de Alvear, he worked asPublic Works Director. He designed banks, hospitals, dwellings andpublic buildings, and was one of the main architects involved inthe Avenida de Mayo project.

Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires (Mamba)Av. San Juan 350, San TelmoThis building best reflects the 19th-century English architecture of the industrial era, featuring iron frames,large windows and abrick faade. It served as a tobacco warehouse for the NoblezaPiccardo firm. Later on, in 1980, it was acquired by the City Council of Buenos Aires.Since 1989 it has housed the Museum of Modern Art, which untilthen had operated in General San Martn Theater.The museum treasures works by Argentinian artists from the 1940s,1950s, and 1960s, and boasts a large collection of the most renowned international artists such as SpanishSalvador Dal, Pablo Picasso and Joan Mir, or French Henri Matisse, among others. It also holds itinerantexhibitions and has a library filled with documents concerning local and foreign artists.

Secretara de Agricultura, Ganadera, Pesca y Alimentos (Ex-Ministerio de Agricultura)Av. Paseo Coln 922, San TelmoThis building complex, conceived to house this Secretariat, wasdesigned by two architecture firms: Andrs Vanelli and Sons, and


Kimbau & Co. Built in eclectic style, it features neogothic influences that merge with a monumental touch,typical of public works built at the turn of the 20th century.

Zanjn de GranadosDefensa 755, San TelmoThe Tercero del Sur brook, a scant watercourse known in the timesof Juan de Garay as the Zanjn de Granados, used to flow fromPlaza Constitucin to the Ro de la Plata through San Lorenzo alley.In the 1980s, the present owner of the place made an involuntaryarchaeological discovery: while trying to recover the original Italian faade and courtyards dating from theturn of the 19th century, he came across the foundations of an 18th century dwelling and several objectsfrom Colonial times, discoveries which are displayed in the house.

Pasaje San LorenzoSan Lorenzo 300, San TelmoaMost of the buildings lining this two-block alley date from the mid-19th and early 20th centuries. One of them, a typical 18th centurygallery called Los Patios de San Telmo, houses artists studios andcraftsmens workshops, and is open for visitors.

Casa MnimaSan Lorenzo 380, San TelmobThis house, part of an 1820s dwelling, and scarcely 2.5-meterwide, is the narrowest in the city. Its simple faade features adouble leaf door with green panels, and a balcony with iron railingon the upper floor.

Bar SurEstados Unidos 299, San TelmoThis caf is placed right on the ancient southern border of the city,as shown on maps dating from the 1580foundation. The borderran along present Estados Unidos Street, and accordingly the nameis Bar Sur (South Bar).It opened in 1967 and was one of the first bars to offer eveningtango shows. It is still a reference point for local music.

Iglesia Dinamarquesa


Carlos Calvo 257, San TelmoThe construction of this church was financed by the Danish immigrant community in Buenos Aires, with thesupport of the Danish Church Abroad organization. Its style is Neogothic, as can be appreciated in its towerand roofs. Inaugurated in 1931, the original project was in charge of Danish architects Rnnow andBisgaard. The front staircase is an allegory of Jacobs Dream.Most of the services in this Lutheran church are offered in Spanish.Several cultural activities are also held here.

Casa de Juan Carlos CastagninoBalcarce 1016, San TelmoPainter and draftsman Juan Carlos Castagnino (1908-1972) lived inthis late 18th century house in the 1960s.Castagnino was born in Mar del Plata and was one of the mostimportant contemporary painters in Argentina. He studied at theSuperior Beaux Arts School Ernesto de la Crcova, and also at thestudios of two major local artists: Lino E. Spilimbergo and MiguelCarlos Victorica. He later on completed his studies in Europe.Especially widespread are the illustrations he made in 1962 at therequest of Eudeba publishing house, for a special edition of JosHernndezs Martn Fierro, one of the chief works of ArgentinianGaucho literature.

Galera del Viejo HotelBalcarce 1053, San TelmoThis former hotel was built around 1890. In 1979, it became an artgallery that also houses painters and sculptors studios. Althoughthe faade was refurbished, it preserves its original Italianatefeatures inside.

Antigua Tasca de Cuchilleros, A tragic love story is concealed within the walls of this house built at the turn of the 19th century.Margarita was the daughter of sergeant Oliden, a member of theMazorca, an organization that supported Governor Juan Manuel deRosas. Her father wished his daughter to marry Ciriaco Cuitio,then chief of the organization. But Margarita had fallen in lovewith popular singer Juan Cruz Cuello, and disobeying her fatherswishes, she ran away with her lover. Cuitio, the slighted fianc,chased them up to the town of Lujn and wounded Margarita, whofinally died in this house.


Casa de Esteban de Luca, Esteban de Luca, a military man, poet, journalist and author, in1810, of the first National Song called "Marcha Patritica" (Patriotic March) lived in this late 18th centuryhouse. De Luca also excelled at the fight against the English forces that invaded the city in 1806 and 1807.The house, currently a National Monument, has been restored andpreserves architectural elements of its time.

Galera Solar de FrenchDefensa 1056, San TelmoOn this site lived Argentine patriot Domingo French. The frontstructure dates from the beginning of the 20th century, whereasthe others, featuring neocolonial detailing, were built in the 1930s.At the entrance hall there is a majolica portraying Domingo Frenchand Antonio Luis Beruti's participation in the events that led to the 1810 May Revolution. It is said that bothpatriots delivered white and light blue ribbons among supporters of independence, whowore them on their lapels to be distinguished from the royalists.

Museo Penitenciario Argentino Antonio BallvHumberto 1 378, San TelmoThis building, declared a National Monument, dates from 1760 andwas designed by Italian architect Antonio Masella. Originally, ithoused a retreat home for elderly priests and was part of a Jesuitinstitution complex.After the expulsion of the Order in 1767, the site was used, in asteady succession, as a hospital, a childrens asylum, a warehouseand a prison for debtors. By the end of the 19th century it becamea womens reformatory and served as such until 1974.In 1978 the Penitentiary Service Museum was settled here. It displays uniforms, weapons, photographs anddocuments which illustrate the history of prisons in the country.Inside the complex there is a chapel known as Nuestra Seora delCarmen (Our Lady of Carmen), built in 1734, which maintains itsoriginal architectural detailing. Also worth mentioning is the inner courtyard, which is one of the oldest in theCity.

Iglesia de Nuestra Sra. de Beln - Parroquia de San Pedro TelmoHumberto 1 340, San Telmoa1Declared National Monument, Nuestra Seora de Beln church isone of the earliest temples in the city. Its construction began in1735, and was designed by Jesuit architects Andrea Bianchi andJuan Prmoli, and their secular peers Antonio Masella and Jos


Schmidt. After the expulsion of the Jesuits, the work was carriedon by the religious order of the Bethlemites.In 1942 important improvements were made, and the cloisters werefinally restored in 2000. At present, this site houses a museum which holds over two-hundred-year-oldartifacts. The temple and the cloisters belong to the parish church that bears the districts name.

Protomedicato - Escuela Guillermo RawsonHumberto 1 343, San TelmoThis site was occupied by the order of the Bethlemites duringthe 18th century. The magnolias lining the entrance date back tothat time.In Colonial times, the Protomedicato, an institution concernedwith the regulation of medical practice and care in America, wassettled here.Later on, between 1858 and 1887, the first School of Medicine ofBuenos Aires operated here. The building features detailing inneocolonial style.

Pasaje La DefensaDefensa 1179, San TelmoThis traditional two-story mansion, built in the 1880s, was theresidence of the Ezeizas, a distinguished family in the city.The house has different rooms which converge into a side balcony.The ground floor boasts three courtyards: Patio del Tiempo (TimeYard), Patio del rbol (Tree Yard), and Patio de los Ezeiza (TheEzeizas Yard). On the upper floor there is a large common courtyard.For some years the building housed a school for deaf mute students.In 1981 it was turned into a shopping arcade specialized in antiques, clothes, paintings, and different kindsof memorabilia.

Ex fundacin San TelmoDefensa 1344, San TelmoThis mansion was built around 1860, and was later on refurbishedin the 1980s by architect Osvaldo Giesso. Its faade is a replica of an 18th century house.From 1980, and for more than a decade, it served as the headquarters of the San Telmo Foundation, aninstitution devoted to the organization of cultural activities associated with Argentinian Literature.At present, it houses an art gallery and a school of drama.

Iglesia Ortodoxa Rusa de la Santsima TrinidadBrasil 315, San TelmoThis church, designed in 17th-century Muscovite style, was inaugurated


in 1904. The original project was undertaken by architect MihailPreobrazensky, from the Holy Synod of Russia, and then adapted inBuenos Aires by his peer Alejandro Christophersen, who designed,among many other works, San Martn Palace at Retiro District.From each of its blue domes emerges a cross facing East, fixed tothem with chains, as it is usually done in Russia. The faade boasts three stained-glass windows depictingdifferent biblical scenes and, on the pediment, a mosaic made in Saint Petersburg representing the HolyTrinity.

Monumento Fuente a Don Pedro de Mendoza Calles Defensa, Brasil, Martn Garca y Av. Paseo Coln., San TelmoaThis work by Uruguayan sculptor Juan Carlos Oliva Navarro, who later on took up the Argentine citizenship,was inaugurated in June 1937.The monument evokes don Pedro de Mendoza. The bronze statue of the conqueror sticking his sword intothe ground as a symbol of taking possession of the lands contrasts with an impressive bas-relief of anIndian figure. On the sides there are allegorical scenes of "The Dream of the Silver Mountain" and "TheFoundation". At the back there is another bas-relief of the "Magadalena", the flagship of the expedition, withthe names of its twenty-seven members. At the bottom of the monument thereis a fountain with two drains representing Guadalquivir River and Ro de la Plata, the starting point and finaldestination of the expedition.

Parque Lezama - Patio de Esculturas y AnfiteatroCalles Defensa, Brasil, Martn Garca y Av. Paseo Coln., San TelmocResembling an ancient Greek amphitheater, it was built in 1914 taking advantage of the natural slope of theplot in this section of the park that faces Brasil Street. At weekends, open-air shows are usually held here.

Parque Lezama - Patio de Esculturas y AnfiteatroCalles Defensa, Brasil, Martn Garca y Av. Paseo Coln., San TelmocResembling an ancient Greek amphitheater, it was built in 1914 taking advantage of the natural slope of theplot in this section of the park that faces Brasil Street. At weekends, open-air shows are usually held here.

Bar BritnicoAv. Brasil 399, San TelmoThis mythical caf, opened in 1928, was originally called La Cosechera (The Harverster). It was a gatheringpoint for English WWII veterans, who stayed in a lodging house on Juan de Garay Avenue. It was alsofrequented by workers of the British Ferrocarriles del Sur company, who were lodged in a set of buildingsknown as Casas de los ingleses (the Englishmens houses), located on Caseros Avenue.It is said that here, at one of its tables, Argentinian writer Ernesto Sbato was inspired to write some pages


of his famous novel On Heroes and Tombs.

Bar Plaza DorregoDefensa 1098, San TelmoaThis bar, located on the ground floor of this Italianate-style building which dates from the 1880s, hadoriginally housed a typical grocers shop of that time, wherealcoholic drinks were served as well. It was then known as Almacn de Besio (Besios Grocery Store), afterhis owners last name.Although the shop has changed its name with time, the bar has remained and preserves some of its earliestitems, like the old expresso-coffee machine and several drawers made of wood and glass where somegoods sold in bulk such as beans, coffee beans, noodles or mate-tea were kept. Today, its worn-outwoodentables, engraved with love statements and the names of soccer clubs, give evidence of its regularcustomers.One of the photographs on its walls brings back to life a memorable occasion: the meeting of Jorge LuisBorges and Ernesto Sbato, who shared a cup of coffee here in the 1970s.

El CruceiroCalles Defensa, Brasil, Martn Garca y Av. Paseo Coln., San TelmoeThis monument, made in Corunna, was given in 1980 by the Galician community to the city of Buenos Airesowing to the 400th anniversary of its Second Foundation.The work is made up of a granite column whose plinth contains earth from the four Galician provinces:Corunna, Lugo, Orense and Pontevedra. The capital is crowned with a crucifix, typical of that Spanishregion.

Monumento a la Cordialidad Argentino UruguayaCalles Defensa, Brasil, Martn Garca y Av. Paseo Coln., San TelmodThis work, also known as Monument to Argentinian-Uruguayan Brotherhood, was a gift of the OrientalRepublic of Uruguay to the city of Buenos Aires on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of its 1536foundation.It was the joint work of sculptor Antonio Poena and architect Julio Villamaj, both of Uruguayan origin. Ithas a bronze column (15-meter tall and 4 meters in diameter) set on a prow extending along two aileronswith sea horses engravings. From the prow emerges a bronze female figure called La Ofrenda (TheOffering). Both the constellations of the Southern sky and the Zodiac signs are engraved on the column.

Monumento Canto al TrabajoAv. Paseo Coln 800, San Telmob


Argentinian artist Rogelio de Yrurtia (1879-1950) executed thiswork in Paris, in 1907. The sculpture comprises fourteen bronzefigures dragging a large stone, a symbol of human labor in pursuitof progress. The leading five statues represent the Family: thefather advancing serenely and expectantly; the mother lookingforward, as though inquiring into her childrens future; and thethree little ones symbolizing hope.

Loba RomanaCalles Defensa, Brasil, Martn Garca y Av. Paseo Coln., San TelmofThis work was a gift of the Italian capital to the city of Buenos Aires on the occasion of the hundredthanniversary of the May Revolution. It depicts Romulus and Remus legend, the twin brothers abandoned bytheir mother by the Tiber and rescued by ashe-wolf. Some years later, Romulus and Remus founded the city of Rome on the same site.Argentinian sculptor Gonzalo Leguizamn Pondal made the decorative pedestal featuring a fountain withtwo bas-relieves in bronze evoking the Ro de la Plata and the Tiber River.

Atelier de Juan Carlos PallarolsDefensa 1094 Piso PA, San TelmobThis building has housed successive generations of silversmiths from the Pallarols family. Native ofCatalonia, Spain, the Pallarolls came to Argentina at the turn of the 19th century. Today, Juan Carlos, bornin the province of Buenos Aires, works inthe family atelier and constitutes the sixth generation in the trade.This renowned silversmith chisels masterpieces in silver, gold, gems and bronze, and his works areworld-famous. Foreign celebrities such as H. H. John Paul II, Princess Diana of Wales, Princess Mxima ofThe Netherlands, and Prince Felipe ofSpain and his wife, have received his crafts.For seventy years, the Pallarols have chiseled the presidential baton of the Argentine Republic, which ismade of silver and Urunday wood, from an indigenous tree.Many other well-kown artists have chosen San Telmo District, such as painter Jorge Rajadell (1056Defensa Street), and masters in the local fileteado craft Martiniano Arce (1089 Per Street) and JorgeMuscia (370 Carlos Calvo Street), among others.

Museo del ClaustroHumberto 1 340 Piso C1103, San Telmoa2

Fuente Du Val DOsne (Parque Lezama)Calles Defensa, Brasil, Martn Garca y Av. Paseo Coln., San Telmo


gThis fountain bears the name of the French foundries where it was cast. The top of it features a largebalustrade, a former viewing-point at the Lezamass country estate. In the front of this circular fountainthere is a niche holding the images of Naiad and Neptune.


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