Situated on Libertador Avenue 1473, this museum has one of the most important art collections in Latin America. The ground floor of the museum houses a fine international collection of paintings from the Middle Ages up to the 20th century. It contains paintings by El Greco, Rubens, Tiepolo, Van de Velde, Tiziano, Zurbarán, and Goya, among others.

In April 2019, the Museum has been renewed to present to the public two permanent galleries dedicated to the Pre-Columbian Art and Colonial Art collections in the ground floor, with around 400 pre-Hispanic pieces from the Argentinian North-West cultures. 

Nineteenth century French painting is thoroughly represented, with works by Corot, Manet, Boudin, Cézanne, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Rodin, Degas, and others. There are also works by 19th century and early 20th century Spanish artists, including Ramón Casas, Ignacio Zuloaga and Pablo Picasso.

The National Museum of Fine Arts has reopened to the public, after 70 years, the rooms for the Guerrico Collection, which include ivory pieces, vases, silver pieces, and a group of European sculptures and paintings from the 19th century, which from now on are an integral part of the permanent collection of the museum

Considered as the first Argentine collector, Manuel José de Guerrico (1800-1876) started to build his art collection at his home in Paris, which he brought to Argentina in 1848. It was later enriched by his son José Prudencio (1837-102), who donated 22 pieces with the purpose of contributing to the creation of the National Museum of Fine Arts in 1859. In 1938 the whole of the collection, that is now on exhibition, was donated to the museum by the descendants of both collectors. It was composed of 627 pieces: paintings, sculptures, miniatures, porcelains, boxes, fans, lacquers, ivories, crystals, wood carvings, silver pieces. On that year the collection was in exhibition for a while and then put away in the deposit. Today the pieces of this collection are exhibited again in a room especially built to recreate the way in which art collections were displayed at the end of the 19th century, with dim lights and dark walls.





Some of the outstanding pieces of the collection are: works from the Barbizon School; "The sacrifice of Melquisedec"; scenes from the Flemish genre; religious Italian and Spanish paintings; "Monk praying", by Francisco Zurbarán; "Diana Surprised" (picture), by Joseph Lefebvre; "The murder of Dr Manuel Vicente Mazza", by Prilidiano Pueyrredón, "Portrait of André Gil" and "Rocks", by Gustave Courbet; "Ville d`Avray", by Camille Corot, among others. There are also some works from previous centuries, like "Hebrews picking up Manna in the desert", by Giovanni Tiépolo (1692-1769).

Among the sculptures, a dozen of anonymous bronzes from the 17th and 18th centuries; some pieces by artists like Gustave Doré and Antonio Tantardini; and the work "La defense" by Auguste Rodin, along with Japanese carvings, or silver Argentine "mates" from the colonial times.

La Isla (The Island), enclosed between Gelli y Obes, Copérnico, and Galileo streets in Recoleta, is dominated by sophisticated and high class buildings and embassies. Due to its particular layout, with stairs and slopes, this spot is almost free of traffic and noise. All these features make this one of the most exclusive and upscale areas in Buenos Aires.






This peaceful retreat was once a country estate owned by the Hale Pearson family, with an English style park. Around 1910 the estate was sold and divided into different plots of land, and the final design was performed by architect Bouvard, director of Parks in Paris. From the original estate is the present British Residence building, a landmark of La Isla:

The equestrian monument of Bartolome Mitre, inaugurated in 1927, is the work of Italian sculptors Luis Calandra, David and Eduardo Rubino. It is located on a slope on Libertador Avenue and Aguero St, which makes it very imposing from below.

Bartolome Mitre was an outstanding Argentine politician, elected President of the Nation between 1862 and 1868. He was also the founder of the Argentine newspaper "La Nación".
The figure of the General is made in bronze, the basement in red granite, and it is surrounded by allegoric groups made of Carrara marble: in the front, the "Winged Victory", surrounded by: "The civil courage" (represented by and athlete wrestling a lion), "The family" (symbolized by a young mother with a sleeping child), and on the back "The victory", "The anguish", "The harmony", and "The study and thinking".

This neighborhood accounts for many tourist attractions, like Recoleta Cemetery, The National Museum of Fine Arts, the artisans´fair, the Decorative Arts Museum, The Flower, the colonial Del Pilar Church, among others. There are also great restaurants, bars, cafés, and stylish shops. This is a nice area to stay, for walking along the streets, visit the numerous art galleries and museums, or just seat and relax to have a coffee and people watch at one of the terraces outside the Recoleta Cemetery or at the Buenos Aires Design Center.

According to a recent survey by NBC network, Alvear Avenue was chosen as the fifth most elegant and sophisticated avenue in the world, after the Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue in New York, Les Champs Elysées in Paris, and Oxford St, in London for the quality and glamour of its shops and mansions.

The milestone of Alvear Avenue is the luxurious Alvear Palace Hotel, one of the finest in South America and the world. This hotel has welcomed many presidents and illustrious guests from all over the world. It is also famous for its Sunday Brunches and afternoon teas at its restaurant L´Orangerie, which you can attend even if you are not a guest at the hotel.

Buenos Aires is a city of diverse architectural influences, especially from Italy, Spain and France. We can recognize the Parisian flair of Buenos Aires in the San Martin Palace (above), located on 761 Arenales Street, inspired in the French architecture of the 18th century.

It is also visible in the Military Circle, former Palacio Paz, in 750 Santa Fe Av, which was the biggest private residence in Buenos Aires until it was acquired by the government in 1935:

Or in the City Government Building, which Assembly Room is an exact reproduction of one of the rooms in Versailles:

During the decade of the 1820´s, the first French engineers arrived to this country, especially hired by the government. Prosper Cetellin projected the neoclassical frontispiece of the Metropolitan Cathedral. Charles Henri Pellegrini started the construction of the Colon Theater. Pierre Benoit was in charge of the urban layout and the construction of several buildings in the capital of the Province of Buenos Aires, La Plata, which Cathedral was inspired in the Amiens Cathedral. Benoit has been the architect who built the most during 19th century.

In 1869, Jules Dormal arrived in Argentina from Belgium. Formed at l´École Polytechnique of Paris, Dormal is the author of high quality buildings, such as the Brazilian Embassy, inspired in the Museum Jacquemart-André of Paris:

as well as the government building in La Plata, and the interior of the Colon Theatre, among other projects. Other outstanding architects formed at the Ecole who left their legacy in Buenos Aires were Gastón Louis Malletl and Norbert Maillart, responsible of great public buildings such as the Central Posts, the National School of Buenos Aires and the Justice Courts.

The French influence was also extended to the urban design, interior decoration and landscaping. In the latter, it was very important the influence of renowned landscaper Charles Thays. Among his projects are the Botanical Garden, Palermo and several other public parks, as well as the parks of private residences in several provinces.

The area around Alvear Avenue is like a piece of Paris transported to Buenos Aires. Its upscale buildings and shops make it one the finest shopping avenues in the world. The renowned and elegant Alvear Palace Hotel is one of the milestones of this French style neighborhood: