Page 88 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Argentina

86  BUENOS AIRES AREA B Y AREA

7 Parque Lezama magnet for tourists, local and
international, Parque Lezama
Cnr Brasil & Defensa. City Map 1 E2. is a quiet community area, well
@ 10, 24, 29, 39, 64, 130, 152.
Open daily. used by San Telmo residents. On
the weekends especially, elderly
Many historians claim that this porteños can be spotted here
peaceful park is the likely site playing chess, while families
where Pedro de Mendoza made picnic and youngsters play,
landfall in Buenos Aires in 1536 cycle, and skate around.
while sailing up Río de la Opposite the park, on the
Plata. A monu ment in the corner of Brasil and Almirante
corner of the park at Brasil Brown, is the famous Mural
and Defensa records this Escenográfico Parque Lezama.
event as the “first foundation In the popular tradition of
of Buenos Aires,” though artists such as Antonio Berni,
Mendoza failed to actually Quinquela Martín, and
establish a city. Between the Florencio Molina Campos, it
17th and 19th centuries, celebrates iconic characters
the land belonged to a of the traditional barrio – the
num ber of families, some tango dancer, the soccer
with British connections. player, the barrio cop, and
The striking sky-blue onion domes In the 1860s the famed the nosy neighbor. Among
of the Iglesia Ortodoxa Rusa landscape architect José the well-known faces here are
Gregorio Lezama had a private crooner Carlos Gardel, soccer
6 Iglesia Ortodoxa park and botanical gardens legend Diego Maradona,
Rusa laid out here, and many of the and button-accordion virtuoso
soaring tipa and palm trees date Aníbal Troilo.
Brasil 315. City Map 1 E2. Tel (011) from this period. In 1894 his Parque Lezama is often the
4361-4274. @ 10, 29. Open varies estate sold the land to the venue for small concerts
according to church itinerary. municipal autho rities, and, three hosted by local bands as well
8 3pm, second Sun of month; for years later, the Lezama mansion as a weekend crafts fair
tours in English book ahead. 5 5pm
Sat, 10am Sun. ∑ iglesiarusa.org.ar became the Museo Histórico organized by artisans, which
Nacional. Unlike Parque 3 de stretches north along Calle
Work on the Iglesia Ortodoxa Febrero (see p110), which is a Defensa to Avenida San Juan.
Rusa began in 1901, with a
ceremony attended by
Argentina’s president, Julio A.
Roca, and it was completed in
1904. Topped by five onion
domes, the church was built
using raw materials imported
from St. Petersburg in Russia and,
even after its completion, Tsar
Nicholas II continued to send
artworks and other valuables to
decorate the inte rior. As well as
a variety of Byzantine works and
icons, a painting of the last
Russian tsar, by Argentinian artist
Carlos Gonzalez Galeano, can
also be viewed inside.
The number of domes
represents Jesus and the four
apostles who were the authors
of the four gospels. The
sky-blue color and star motifs
of the domes are intended
to emulate the sky. The chains
that hang between them,
while unnecessary in Buenos
Aires’s temperate climate, are
employed in Russia to stabilize
the cupolas in the event of
strong gales. A stroll through the Sunday crafts fair at Parque Lezama
For hotels and restaurants in this area see p278 and pp288–9

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