Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
DON'T MISS…
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The bullet holes left on the side of the Ministerio de Economía as a symbolic reminder of past in-
tolerance.
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The balconies where Juan and Evita Perón preached to their loving masses.
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The interior of the Banco de la Nación building - but only if you're an architecture fan!
PRACTICALITIES
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MAP
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cnr Av de Mayo & San Martín
When Juan de Garay refounded Buenos Aires in 1580, he laid out the large Plaza del
Fuerte (Fortress Plaza) in accordance with Spanish law. Later called the Plaza del Mer-
cado (Market Plaza), then the Plaza de la Victoria (after victories over British invaders in
1806 and 1807), the plaza acquired its present name of Plaza de Mayo after the date
Buenos Aires declared independence from Spain: May 25, 1810.
At the center of the plaza is the
Pirámide de Mayo
, a white obelisk built to mark the first
anniversary of BA's independence from Spain. Looming on the plaza's northern side is the
headquarters of
Banco de la Nación
(1939), the work of famed architect Alejandro Bustillo.
Most other public buildings in this area belong to the late 19th century, when the Av de
Mayo first connected the Casa Rosada with the Plaza del Congreso, obliterating most of
the historic and dignified Cabildo in the process.
Plaza de Mayo is famously known as being the preferred site of many civil protests;
note the unsightly barricades separating the plaza in two, meant to discourage large num-
bers of
piqueteros
(picketers) from congregating. But these barricades haven't prevented
the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo - the mothers of the 'disappeared children' during the the
Dirty War military dictatorship between 1976 and 1983 - from marching around the plaza
every Thursday afternoon at 3:30pm since 1977. Originally they demanded a full account
of the atrocities that occurred during this war, but in 2006 they declared a truce with
