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Colon Opera House
Buenos Aires

Cultural Stuff


First and foremost on the cultural route in Buenos Aires is a visit to the famed Teatro Colon, one of the world's great opera houses, occupying an entire city block with miles of underground salons, dressing rooms and store rooms. Closed December through February, it offers a range of presentations the rest of the year. If you want to attend a performance, check immediately upon arriving in the city; you'll have to go and stand in line, or arrange for the hotel concierge to obtain tickets for you at a hefty surcharge. You can take a guided tour of the Teatro Colón Monday to Sunday, including holidays, from 9:00 am to 3:45 pm (last tour departs at 3:45 pm) and last approximately one hour.

BUEtelmo3.tif (600834 bytes) SAN TELMO

A more eclectic cultural experience is visiting the historic barrio San Telmo, one of the oldest neighborhoods of Buenos Aires. There are many fine turn-of-the century mansions, narrow streets, tree shaded plazas.

Sunday is a great day to visit - there is an outdoor antique flea market that is fun to explore and sidewalk cafes from where you can "people watch".

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BUEcaminto2.tif (1392822 bytes) LA BOCA

Another special cultural experience is a visit to the barrio of La Boca, the city's first port and the settlement of mostly Italian immigrants between 1880 and 1930. Once an old railroad branch, Caminito (the "Little Street") today is gaily painted and home to an open air artists'  galleries and often spontaneous eruptions of  tango music and dancing.

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RECOLETA

The barrio of Recoleta is another historical-cultural area.  Here is the famed Recoleta Cemetery, a city within a city and the most important site in Argentina for architectural design of graves, monuments and vaults. It also is one of the most fashionable barrios with many elegant mansions and boasts the Patio Bullrich shopping center, probably one of the most exclusive in Buenos Aires. Recoleta has many sophisticated boutiques, sidewalk cafes and some of the most renowned restaurants in the city.

Buenos Aires also has many excellent museums - here are a few of the most popular with visitors: 

National Fine Arts: Libertador Ave. 1473 – Opened: Tuesdays through Fridays from 12:30 pm to 7:30 pm. Saturdays and Sundays from 09:30 am to 7:30 pm – The building was originally the water purification plant for the city which was recycled by Arq.Alejandro Bustillo. Paintings, sculptures, tapestries, engravings, drawings and objet d’art make up the more than 11,000 works in the museum’s collection. Such world famous masters as El Greco, Rubens, Goya are on exhibition. There is an autstanding selection of XIX and XX century French paintings as well as an exceptional collection of XIX and XX century Spanish School painters. Certainly a visit to the collection of Argentine art is a visit through a gallery of images that represents the history of our culture.

National Museum of Decorative Art: Libertador Ave. 1902 - Opened every day 2 pm to 7 pm – The building, constructed in the French style in 1911, was the residence of the Errazuriz family. The main floor exhibits decorative arts (furniture, tapestry, gold and silver work, ivory, porcelain and screens), paintings, sculptures and religious images of the XVI and XIX centuries. In the Zubov Room in the first floor European miniatures of the XVI through XX centuries, oil and watercolor paintings, Chinese porcelain and silverware can be seen.

Jose Hernandez Museum of Argentine Motifs: Libertador Ave.2373 – Opened Wednesdays through Fridays from 1 pm to 5 pm and Saturdays and Sundays from 3 pm to 7 pm – This museum houses complete collections of Argentine folk and national culture: riding gear, knives, stirrups, gaucho buckles, mates and other traditional objects. The most important creole and modern silver collection in the country. Gift shop includes native Indian and provincial arts and crafts.

Isaac Fernandez Blanco Museum of Spanish American Art: Suipacha 1422 – Opened: Tuesdays through Sundays from 2 pm to 8 pm – The most important silvercraft collection of liturgical and non-religious objects from the colonial period in South America.

"Eduardo Sivori" Plastic Arts Museum: Infanta Isabel Ave. 555 – Opened Tuesdays through Fridays from noon to 7 pm. Saturdays and Sundays from 10 am to 7 pm – This museum specializes in Argentine works of art exhibitions. It houses a large collection of paintings, sculptures, engravings, tapestry from the 19th and 20th centuries. Its patrimony of over 4,200 pieces represents many generations of plastic artists until the present time.

"Enrique Larretta" Spanish Arts: Juramento 2991 – Opened every day from 3 pm to 8 pm – This museum used to be a wonderful summerhouse by the end of the 19th century. Today, it houses an important collection of paintings, sculptures, furniture and ceramics from Spain. It has an Andalusian yard and keeps the structure of the original house.

"Casa Rosada (Government House)"Museum: Hipolito Irigoyen 219 – Opened: Mondays through Fridays from 2 pm to 6 pm (except Wednesdays). Sundays from 2 pm to 6 pm – A collection of gifts and presidential belongings of all the Argentians presidents. Many portraits of Peron and Evita can be seen as well as old carriages used at the end of the XIX century and beginning of the XX century.

"Malba" (Latin American Arts Museum): Avenida Figueroa Alcorta 3415 – Oponed: Mondays, Thursdays & Firdays 12 noon to 7:30 pm, Wednesdays 12 noon Hill 9 pm, Saturdays & Sundays 10 am Hill 7 pm. Permanent collection of Latin American Art from the beginning of XX century to nowadays. Includes paintings, drawings, sculptures and objects of artists from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Uruguay and Venezuela.