Page 70 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Argentina

68  BUENOS AIRES AREA B Y AREA

Street-by-Street: Plaza de Mayo

The symbolic heart of Buenos Aires, Plaza de Mayo is a
welcome open-air space. During Spanish rule, this was an
unpaved marketplace and meeting point for sailors, colonial
officials, and traders. Today, the square is the city’s commercial
and administrative center, and has hosted political rallies and
music con certs, and even wit nessed aerial bombard ments.
The plaza is dominated by the famous Casa Rosada; at its
center is the Pirámide de Mayo, surrounded by towering palm Ministerio de Economía
trees. The plaza is flanked by other palatial buildings used This ministry has played a
mainly for administrative purposes. To the south begins the special role in the country’s
economic history.
broad boulevard of Avenida de Mayo.
1 . Casa Rosada
The Presidential Palace has a
bright façade, originally painted
with whitewash and oxblood.
It also contains the Museo
B A L C A R C E
Casa Rosada.
Estatua de
Garay

2 5 D E M A Y O

R E C O N Q U I S T A

2 . Banco de la Nación
Topped by a huge dome, the biggest
in Latin America when the bank was
completed in 1943, this was the first
building in Argentina to have escalators.
It was built by architect Alejandro Bustillo. S A N M A R T ĺ N

3 . Catedral
Key Metropolitana
Suggested route Consecrated in 1836, this
Neo-Classical church is the resting
place of the country’s liberator,
José de San Martín. A wooden image
of Santa María de la Rábida, the patron
saint of the Americas, can be seen on
the façade.
For hotels and restaurants in this area see p278 and p288

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