Recoleta Neighborhood, City of Buenos Aires, Argentina

Recoleta is a central and residential neighborhood of Buenos Aires; it is an historic and architectonic zone. Its name comes from the Monastery of the Recoletos Fathers, members of the Franciscan order. It was established at the beginning of the XVIII century, it was founded in a monastery in honor to Nuestra Señora del Pilar (The Recoleta) and it is located close to the cemetery.  
Del Pilar Square is the geographic center of the neighborhood. It is one of the most elegant and expensive neighborhoods of Buenos Aires; it includes familiar mansions and luxury hotels like The Alvear Palace, the most luxury one.

Museums and Cultural Centers

Close to the cemetery, you will find the Centro Cultural La Recoleta, one of the most important exhibition rooms of the city. It is located 150 meters away from the Fine Arts Museum (MNBA) which presents valuable works of art. The Palais Glace is placed to the west; this is an ice rink that dates back from the middle of the XX century.
Walking 15 blocks to the north, by following the Figueroa Alcorta Avenue, you will find other Fine Arts museums (in Palermo neighborhood). There are also several gallery arts.
The National Library was built for over 20 years, it was finished in 1993. It has more than four million books, including 22 books published before15000. The most important exemplar is an exemplar of The Divine Comedy by Dante.
In the Recoleta neighborhood, the oldest and prestigious schools are placed: as Carlos Pellegrini, Commerce Superior Institute, Champagnat s, “Escuela Argentina Modelo”, Nuestra Señora de la Misericordia and Del Salvador.

Statues

The neighborhood has numerous statues and sculptures in parks and squares.  Many people say about the Recoleta: “Recoleta is the neighborhood with more statues in the world”. The principal statues are: El Ultimo Centauro, El Arquero and the equestrian statue in honor to Carlos Maria de Alvear; the works of Antoine Bourdelle, The Florais Generica by Eduardo Catalano and the Torso Masculino Desnudo by Fernando Botero are important art works too.
 In the cemetery, there are valuable works of art like the Cristo Muerto made by Giulio Monteverde. The Basilica El Pilar is really appreciated because of its colonial art and its beautiful apostle sculpture of Alonso Cano.

Green Areas

There are many squares and parks on the Libertador and Figuero Alcorta Avenues, main squares like Alemania, Austria, Uruguay, Chile, Francia and Intendente Alvear. The famous Vicente López Square is situated in the intersection of Montevideo and Thays Park.

Architecture

Since the end of the XIX century and at the beginning of the third decade of the XX century, in the Recoleta neighborhood, a great quantity of châteaux (replicas of Loira) and petits hotels with a French style was built; most of them were built by French architects. Most of the materials were carried from Europe (boiseries, tiles, marbles for steps, bronze and smithy, chandeliers with teardrop crystals, lampshades, big mirrors and beveled edge large windows, vitraux, mosaics and fountains). Some of such constructions were demolished in 1960 in order to built new constructions.
La Recoleta presents a French architecture. In the Alvear Avenue, there are many important constructions: the Duhau Palace (former house of the Duhau family), the representation of the Vatican, The Hockey Club and the Alvear Hotel (the Italian embassy).

El tango

In here, there were small lagoons used for adorning the gardens of an expensive cabaret: El Pabellon de Las Rosas - the building kept the aura of La Belle Époque. The famous tango singer, Carlos Gardel, gave fame to this place. El Pabellón de Las Rosas and Armenonvielle were, sometimes, places were different gangs fight ("compadritos" and "jailaifes"). In the middles of 1910, these places were destined for dancing and that is when the tango was accepted- after many unexpected events- as a way of dancing (especially as a type of dance) by the upper class. (Actually, the tango was previously accepted in Paris).
Many of the tango lyrics, as a musical genre, reflect the life of this neighborhood. One of them, created by Horacio Ferrer, whose music belongs to the famous tango musician, Astor Piazzolla, is the popular “Balada de un loco” which mentions two streets of the neighborhood: Callao and Arenales.
”Ya sé que estoy piantao, piantao, piantao…../No ves que va la luna
"Ya sé que estoy piantao, piantao, piantao... / No ves que va la luna rodando por Callao/que un corso de astronautas y niños, con un vals,/ me baila alrededor... ¡Bailá! ¡Vení! ¡Volá!"

Gastronomic Area  

The zone is plenty of restaurants, cinemas, discotheques, cafés and bars. It is one of the most visited zones of the city, not only during the day, but also at night.

Shops and Restaurants

In the neighborhood, there are subsidiaries of the most important clothing shops in the world. It is also a gastronomic center; some of its restaurants were internationally awarded and they are located in the Ortiz pedestrian walk.

WHAT TO VISIT IN LA RECOLETA?

Cemetery

It is located in Junín Nº 1790.
The Recoleta cemetery is one of the main attractions of the neighborhood. It was designed by Prosper Catelin, a French architect and by Bernardino Rivadavia´s initiative (ex president). It was inaugurated in 1822.
It is close to the former monastery of the Recoletos Fathers. It presents an exceptional funeral architecture belongs to the XIX century. It contains familiar mausoleums and vaults of bourgeois class. There are remains of famous people of the Argentinean history too.
In 1822, the cemetery that belonged to the Recoletos, turned into a public cemetery after the religious order expulsion. It covers six hectares where there are remains of leaders, independence warriors, presidents, writers, scientists and artists.

Francia Square

It is located among Del Libertador Avenue, Ricardo Levene, Dr. Luis Agote and Pueyrredón Avenues
The Intendente Alvear Square, commonly known as “Francia Square”, is located in front of the cemetery and the cultural centre. In 1960, it was famous because of its craft fair called “feria hippie” (most of its members belonged to this movement). After some time, the fair was plenty of scalpers and hawking people.
Nowadays, the government has reorganized the fair by inviting craftsmen and promoting the advantages of tourism. The craftsmen were organized and they have been evaluated and registered.
The central monument was the first one in the location. It was built by Edmond Peynot. It was inaugurated in 1919. It was donated in honor to the hundredth anniversary of the May Revolution.

La Biela

It is located between Quintana and Roberto M. Ortiz
It is located in front of the Francia Square. This is a popular place for famous people belong to the areas of politics, art, journalism and sport. Initially, it was called “Areo bar” or “La Veredita”. Its name comes from the decades of fifties and seventies when motoring language was so popular – “tuerca”, in porteño.  Some famous motoring customers were: Juan Manuel Fangio, Froilán González, Manuel Gálvez and Bjoy Casares.
Since 1942, it was called La Bieta (the former Café Aero Bar), then it was the meeting place for young people who loved motoring. Its success motivates the opening of gastronomic places in front of the cemetery. In 1999, it was declared a Cultural Place by The City Council. The bar is located on Quintana Avenue (it appears in the Cristobal Barrientos´ maps of 1772). It was called “the long street” because there was not any other avenue that crossed to the Callao Avenue.

National Library

It is located in Agüero Nº 2502
The National library was founded in 1811. It has a collection of 2.000.000 books and its newspaper library is the most important one in Latin America. The actual building was designed by Clorindo Testa in collaboration with Alicia Cazzaniga and Francisco Bullrich. After three decades, it was inaugurated in 1992. It has nine reading rooms, an auditorium hall and a librarian training hall. It can hold up 940 people.

República Oriental del Uruguay Square

It is located among Del Libertador, Austria, Tagle and Figueroa Alcorta Avenues

In the middle of the square, there is a monument devoted to José Gervasio de Artigas. This work belongs to the sculptor José Luis Zorrilla de San Martin and the architect Alejandro Bustillo.

Mitre Square

It is located between Del Libertador Avenue and Luis Agote

This is one of the most exclusive residential zones of Buenos Aires located behind the “Barranca of Mitre” Square. Among the French architecture buildings, the Great Britain embassy stands out.
Bartolome Mitre was an Argentinean politician, he was born in 1821 and he was elected president in 1862.

Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (National Fine Arts Museum)

It is located on Del Libertador Avenue Nº 1473

It is the most important museum of the country and one of the main ones of America. It has 32 rooms where itinerant exhibitions take place. Its material collections go up to 10.000 objects.
The main paintings belong to Goya, El Greco, Tintoretto, Rembrandt, Degas, Van, Gogh, Picasso, Kandinsky, Miró, Bourdelle, Rodín, Cándido López and Prilidiano Pueyrredón.

Faculty of Law

It is located on Figueroa Alcorta Avenue Nº 2263

The Faculty of Law of Buenos Aires University was founded in 1821 by Dr. Antonio Saenz, the chancellor. The building is the result of preliminary drafts awarded to the architects Arturo Ochoa, Ismael Chiapore and Pedro Vivent. It is inspired in Doric style, it has no decoration apart from its own monumental structure (according to classical art). It covers 40.000 square meters.
Inside the building, there is a museum, an art gallery and a library.

Torcuato de Alvear Square

It is located among Del Libertador Avenue, Pueyrredón, Alvear and Junín

In this square, there is one of the most prestigious craft fairs of Buenos Aires every weekend. It possesses a major presence of street artists. There are historic buildings and a commercial centre.

Monument to C. M. Alvear

The monument to Carlos Maria de Alvear is a work of the sculptor Antonio Emilio Bourdelle, a disciple and collaborator of Auguste Rodin. Bourdelle took almost ten years to build it. The general Carlos Maria de Alvear was a collaborator of San Martin, the president of the Meeting in the XIII century and the Supreme Director of “Provincias Unidas Del Río de La Plata” in 1815.

Palais de Glace

It is located in Posadas Nº 1725
It was the first ice rink in Buenos Aires that worked from 1911 to 1921. Then, it was turned into an elegant tango hall. Nowadays, it is an exhibition center.

Alvear Avenue and Alvear Hotel

It was originally named “Bella Vista”. It was designed in 1885 by the initiative of Don Torcuato de Alvear, the first quartermaster of Buenos Aires, in honor to his father Carlod Maria Alvear.
The hotel is one of the most important hotels of the city. It is a-1928-building. It possesses 280 large rooms and roomy balconies overlooking the river.

Recoleta Cultural Centre

It is located in Junín Nº 1930

It was inaugurated in 1979. It operates within a XIX century-building which belonged to the Recoletos Monks. It was remodeled by Jacques Bedel, Luis Benedit and Clorindo Testa. It has 27 exhibition rooms where there are Fine Arts samples; and where it is possible to attend to concerts, theater, dancing, diverse performances, electro acoustic music, and video.

Nuestra Señora del Pilar Basilica

It is located in Junín Nº 1892

It was finished in 1732 by Andres Blanqui, a Jesuit architect. It contains altarpieces, apart from most of the statues and objects of that epoch. There is a museum close to it.