Historic Circuit

Certainly the story is one of the windows where the city is best viewed; and in this sense it is undoubted that who wants to know luxury jewels of the past, can not stop making the tour of the “Historical Center”. This is where Córdoba is really known. Starting from our hotel you can walk the history of the City of Córdoba on foot.

1. Plaza San Martín

At first, the entire property lacked trees and monuments, to such an extent was the freed space that was often the site used for bullfighting. Only in the nineteenth century began the incorporation of ornamentation, with trees and flowers that embellished it remarkably. In 1946 the equestrian monument of General San Martín was installed, which was made by the exalted sculptors Fontana and Locatti.

2. Cabildo

This building represents the most important institution of viceregal politics and later the place where the bases of the new juridical and political order of the province were established. It was built around 1610, but it took almost a century and a half to have the look it has today.

This construction has its main façade facing Plaza San Martín, it presents an important gallery with arches that define its net colonial cut.

It only has a ground floor and a first floor. Thanks to a permanent work of restoration you can appreciate its courtyard, and have also unraveled some of the tunnels that allow us to access the most intense colonial history, the most secret, which is jealously guarded by all the archaeological material that is has been able to rescue.

3. Catedral

In front of the Plaza San Martín is the Cathedral Church, National Historical Monument. The original building dates from the year 1582, in which the first church is built under the invocation of Nuestra Señora de la Peña.

After almost a century, the precarious building collapsed, forcing the councilors to face a new construction that in this case extended for almost 100 years, plagued by economic stumbling blocks and errors since the labor force employed was not the more suitable

A magnificent building that represents the most select colonial architectural style, with a splendid central dome its interior is divided into 3 naves and the decoration was largely dependent on the artist Emilio Caraffa.

The mortal remains of Dean Gregorio Funes are kept in the atrium, the tomb of General José María Paz and his wife is also in a privileged place.

4. Pasaje Santa Catalina

Located on the side of the Cabildo and the Cathedral, the Santa Catalina Passage, of Cuzco style, allows you to visit both buildings to get to the Santa Catalina Church.

The style that the passage possesses, its cobbled and narrow street, earned it the name for many years: Passage of the City of Cuzco.

Today, it has been transformed into a passage of great importance, since in less than 100 meters we can connect the main square with relevant historical points in Córdoba Capital.

5. Monasterio Santa Teresa

This building was built in 1628 by the generosity of one of the most exalted residents of the city, called Don Juan Tejeda; who asked for the intercession of Santa Teresa on the occasion of a serious illness of one of her daughters.

Since grace was granted, Don Juan began the construction of a church that represents a true jewel of colonial art in the province of Córdoba. Later Tejeda dies and the women of his house, including his wife, profess in religious life with the Discalced Carmelite sisters.

6. Museo de Arte Religioso Juan de Tejeda

The other family house soon became a cloister, which housed this congregation.
At present, the house has been transformed into the Museum of Religious Art Juan de Tejeda, which houses important collections of sacred art of the country.
There are still elements of the life of the cloistered nuns who occupied this property. We can visit this architectural complex at 158 ​​Independencia Street.

7. Templo de la Compañía de Jesús

Very close to the Plaza San Martín, Obispo Trejo street highlights a series of buildings detailing the work of the Jesuits within this city and its magnificent contribution to transform it into “the learned”.

This religious congregation had settled in Córdoba at the end of the 16th century and, being insufficient the space allocated in the town hall for the installation and instruction of the new priests, was assigned one of the most emblematic properties of the city, known today as ” Jesuitical apple “. This sector of the city includes the Temple of the Company of Jesus and its Domestic Chapel.

The building of the Temple of the Company dates from 1671; considered the oldest in the country, it has been established as a National Historic Monument.

The main temple also boasts two side chapels of significant architectural beauty: one dedicated to the Virgin of Lourdes and the other called Chapel of the Spaniards (current Hall of Degree) where the graduation ceremonies of the University were held.

Next to the greater temple the Domestic Chapel is developed, that represents better than any other building the architecture of colonial stage, with roof of wooden beams, bound of tacuaras and covered by the best fabrics of time.

8. Rectorado de la Ciudad de Córdoba

It was the seat of the Rector of the oldest university in the country, which began to function as such in 1613 with only two careers: art and theology.

It was Bishop Trejo and Sanabria who was in charge of founding this worthy institution that can be visited today, visiting its internal courtyards, accessing on the first floor a wonderful library, which was also the seat of the Jesuits’ private library for a long time. works that were guarded with much effort by the congregation.

In honor of Dr. Dalmacio Vélez Sársfield, a temple was built in 1935 to honor the author of our Civil Code, as well as protecting a large part of the cultural heritage contained in his writings and his most closely guarded texts.

9. Colegio Nacional Monserrat

This cultural institution of Córdoba was also founded by the Jesuit congregation in the year 1687.
In the twentieth century it became dependent on the Rectorate of the University of Córdoba and transformed into one of the most elevated secondary schools in the country.

It was the architect Jaime Roca who was in charge of rebuilding the building in 1930, respecting the baroque style and the interior design that keeps immense patios and galleries with important details of ornamentation.

The original coat of arms is kept in the teachers’ room, built in toad stone and adorning such a prestigious academic campus.

10. Museo de Paleontología

This museum works on the 1st floor of the National Academy of Sciences and depends on the University of Cordoba. Located in Vélez Sársfield 249, it has an important collection of fossils; A copy of Epachtosaurus sciuttoi is presented in one of its rooms.

The fossil remains of a spider about 50 centimeters in diameter, which was found in an excavation in a quarry in the province of San Luis, are also on display.

Arranged chronologically, these rooms reconstruct the evolution of the planet and the different environments that are recreated with the exhibition of fossil remains of animals and plants belonging to each geological period.

11. Basílica Santo Domingo

Built in the 16th century, its facade has a Renaissance style completed by the Kanepa brothers.
Unfortunately, over the years and the successive floods through the Arroyo de La Cañada, the Basilica underwent structural modifications that renewed its aesthetic.

12. Museo de Bellas Artes “Dr. Genaro Pérez”

Founded in 1943, the Dr. Genaro Pérez Municipal Museum of Fine Arts has been transformed into the museum with the most complete and best-preserved collections of Argentine art.

This collection includes: paintings, drawings, engravings and sculptures, from the precursors of the 19th century and the art of the 20th century to the present day.

13. Cripta del Antiguo Noviviado Jesuítico

Located at the intersection of Av. Olmos and Rivera Indarte streets, it is an underground temple from the beginning of the 18th century belonging to the Old Novitiate of the Jesuit Order.
The history buried the construction under Av. Columbus until the year 1989, moment in which it is rediscovered and historically revalued.

14. Centro Municipal de Exposiciones Obispo Mercadillo

Crossing the street diagonally from the Cabildo we accede to a building of clear colonial style, which was the home of the Bishop Mercadillo, outstanding clergyman to whom Córdoba owes the installation of the bishopric of the Intendance of Córdoba del Tucumán in this city, in the year 1698

The first floor was used by the priest as a private oratory, and today it holds a space that is dedicated to exhibiting artistic samples from different authors.
The front of the first floor shows a grating-balcony that represents one of the most outstanding colonial blacksmithing works of the city. This building has been declared a National Historic Monument.

15. Museo Sobremonte

Located in the streets Rosario de Santa Fe and Ituizango, this property dates from the 18th century, built by José Rodriguez and was rented by the Governor Marqués de Sobremonte.

Today transformed into an important museum, which rescues the oldest expressions of life in the colonial era, which is summarized in furniture, silver, porcelain and a library of first level.

The internal structure is composed of numerous patios that serve as distributors between the different rooms that house the most outstanding collections of the museum.
Balconies and very elaborate bars give a picturesque view inside a city that preserves in this type of property all the traits of a very rich past.

16. Paseo Sobremonte

A walk with a lot of history, since this property was sent to build by the Viceroy Sobremonte back in 1785. Originally known as “Paseo de las Alamedas”, there was reserved the water necessary for the supply of the city.

In 1957 it was remodeled according to the project of the architect Carlos David, who placed in the nerve center a beautiful fountain surrounded by trees that give frame to the Palace of Justice that, with its classic style, was built in 1936. Inside it they keep important works of art, and they are the remains of Dalmacio Vélez Sarsfield.