Cordoba II
Aug. 8th, 2019 10:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lupestripeOur only full day in Cordoba was Thursday 4 July, but as we had seen so much of the city the previous day, we weren't in a particular hurry to get up. Our furry friends had agreed to meet us later in the day, which gave us a few hours to mooch around and see some more of the sights. Wolfie's ankle was in a little bit of pain due to an awkward driving position so we had to take it easy, but this still didn't really prevent us from doing what we needed to do. It was a wonderfully sunny day, if slightly cold, so it was a pleasure strolling around too.
Our first stop was the Cripta Jesuitica, which was built underground in the eighteenth century. Originally intended to be a novitiate, it was later converted to a crematorium and crypt. It was abandoned after the Jesuit expulsion and then concreted over in 1829 when Avenida Colon expanded. Even now, it's entrance is right in the middle of the shopping street but unfortunately it was all gated, meaning we couldn't get inside. Undeterred, we headed around the corner to the impressive Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes Dr Genaro Perez, one of the many art galleries in the city. Featurning paintings and modern art from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a lot of this stuff I simply didn't get. The fighter aircraft with the Jesus strapped to it was a very interesting juxtaposition though and certainly made one think.
Our next main stop was the Museo Historico de la Universidad National de Cordoba in the Menzana Jesuitica, the original Jesuit foundations of the city. Cordoba is the site of the oldest university in Argentina, with Fray Fernando de Trejo y Sanabria founding the Seminario Convictorio de San Javier in1613 and it being promoted to university status nine years later. The nice lady on the front desk said there were no tours available, but she said we could collar the security guards on our way around and they would let us into the various rooms. She also gave us a leaflet detailing the background to the university, meaning we got to understand the context behind all of the important rooms. This included the wonderous Jesuit Collection, the first library of the university which had been compiled during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. I am no stranger to old books, but even now I get a thrill of seeing leather bound voices from the past. There were many subjects in here including Physics, Medicine and Geometry, with the majority of books coming from Europe or Peru. At its peak, there were 6000 books in the library but now only 2500 remain.
Another thrill for someone who enjoys cartography was the map room, particularly as it enabled me to chart the political history of South America from its discovery through to the twentieth century. This was a fascinating journey of very high interest. Equally, the neo-baroque cream and brown Graduation Hall was another highlight and wasn't too dissimilar to my old formal hall at Magdalene College. With various paintings on the wall and a real atmosphere of grandeur, it was incredible to think of all the graduations which had taken place here over the years. Next to all this was the stunning Church of the Society of Jesus, one of the places we had visited the evening before, but certainly a place worthy of a second look. This was actually Pope Francis's church for a while and is set in the Latin Baroque Style.
We wandered around the neat courtyard for a while, seeing a number of active university rooms and a huge periodic table on the wall, before walking further down the street to visit the Colegio National de Monserrat. This is a living school and, it being lunchtime, was swarming with children on their break. There was a museum here which we knew was closing at 1pm, giving us about fifteen minutes to look around. We had seen it when we were in the Jesuit Collection and we managed to sweet-talk the security guard and then the museum creator to letting us have a quick look. Focusing on steam and eletrical machinery predominantly of the nineteenth century, it was certainly an interesting walk around, albeit one very familiar to me as I have a degree in the History and Philosophy of Science. Still, as a teaching space it was certainly interesting and although a small section of it was closed off, I still think it was a worthwhile visit (and one we did manage to do in the time available).
We fancied some lunch after this so stopped off at a bakery that we had perchance seen, opting for salami and cheese sandwiches as we were thoroughly sick of the ham and cheese version. We then wandered around for a while eating our food, which was on the high quality end for a high street sandwich. We soon made our way back to Plaza San Martin and headed down an alleyway alongside the Iglesia Cathedral. Down here was the former base of the Department of Intelligence (D2), a special division which dealt in detention and torture for the military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983. I never knew about this period of Argentina's history and the whole museum was an incredibly sobering experience, even if all of the signs being in Spanish did shield me somewhat from the full horrors of it (although I did learn the Spanish for kidnapping here). The space is stark and altered from the 1980s as the perpetrators tried to cover their tracks, but you could still feel the tension here. Most harrowing perhaps was the photographs of all their victims which had come from a roll of film they had left behind. Taken between February and June 1976 using familiar brands such as Kodak, it gave a real sense of immediacy, particularly when it is considered that some of the people tortured have not been seen since. There was a room dedicated to the lives of some of these people, with their possessions such as record players and mopeds on display, while deeper into the complex there were the underground rooms and tight prison cells where these atrocities took place. In one of these at least, there was television footage of when some of the perpetrators were brought to trial in 2006, but there is still a large number of cases to answer. The wall of photogtaphs of the missing was again sobering and, despite the complicated history, it did hearten me slightly that it was the Falklands War that effectively ended this brutal regime as that had been used as a distraction to sedate a restive population.
Our friends, including Warren and Zaki, had started to assemble on Telegram by this point so we walked up to Paseo del Buen Pastor, a cultural centre and performance space built in 1901. At the heart of this is a delightful chapel but alas it was not open, so we could only look around it. Beyond this there is a number of bars and restaurants in an area which was once a women's prison while near the entrance there are a few rooms dedicated to dubious modern art. It was in here where we waited for our friends, as it was quite nippy outside, but we soon got bored and checked out the grounds with its numerously weird metallic statues. There was also some concrete pillars supporting the main structure upon which there were photographs of women, 26 of whom escaped from the prison on 24 May 1975. They had been detained for political reasons.
After this, we went over the road to the Parroquia Sagrado Corazon de Jesus de los Capuchinos again and seeing the gate to the front yard being open, we hoped that we could actually look around the church too. Alas, we couldn't, but we were able to get some great pictures of the multi-coloured stonemasonry close up and we were permitted to enter the church later on, where we got to see the beautiful green and grey stone work and stained glass windows which reminded me very much of the cathedral in Florence. The alter was a beautiful gold colour while at the back there was a wonderous winding staircase that went right up into the roof of the church, a feature I had never seen before. One of the furs decided to walk up there and back down again, which was interesting.
Before we had gotten into the church, we spent a little time over at the Museo Superior de Bellas Artes Evita and the Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes Emilio Caraffa. The highlight for me in the former was the building itself, with the architecture on the outside and inside quite stunning. The sweeping staircase up onto the various floors was a nice feature and we had a pleasant hour or so looking at all of the exhibits. The same was true in the second museum too, with the basement being my favourite area as it detailed the changes within the city, particularly those of the early twentieth century, which seemed to be the most dramatic. Our furry friends could fill us in with all the detail here, our ignorance with Spanish again causing issues, while further down the basement, it was interesting seeing a range of more modern exhibits straight out of the 1960s. This included objects and artwork from around that time.
By now we were all museumed out, as we had been on our feet for the best part of six hours. It was getting towards 6pm and some of the furs needed to leave, leaving us as a party of five. It was suggested that we go to a local cafe, the Futura Panificacion, which sounded like a good idea as it was close by and we needed a seat. As we went, we noticed the fantastically named Cell Fox mobile phone store, whose logo was the WiFi logo but with foxy ears. One of our party spent an awful lot of time in here trying to sort out a new cable for us, as I had inadvertently dropped the battery pack to which it had been attached onto the pavement. This had buggered the wire, but the prices they were charging were far higher than eBay back home, so I refrained. Anyway, we visited Cell Fox after going to the cafe, which sold a mean hot chocolate (albeit from one of those early 90s vending machines) and a range of excellent local pastries, which we enjoyed immensely.
Food was on our mind too and it was suggested that we go to Johnny B. Good which was just down the road. However, one of the furs didn't have much money and thought it too expensive. Meanwhile, we were just counting down the minutes to 7pm, as there was due to be a musical performance at the water fountains outside the Buen Pastor. This takes place at 7pm, 8pm and 9pm every night and basically sees the jets of water inside the pool choreographed with some music and a light show. We had twenty minutes to kill so we went back into the Buen Pastor to see the dodgy art again as it was warm, before taking our place right in front of the fountain waiting for the show to begin. There was three songs, each lasting about five minutes, with the jets of water being thrust to different heights depending on the music. It was all timed really well and it was quite exhilarating, even if there were only a handful of people watching. There was one drunk, perhaps druggie, who was dancing along next to us and although he was harmless in the end, it was a tiny bit intimadating. Still, he chugged off as soon as the show was done, while I couldn't wipe the smile off my face as it was such a good show. We had to leave too though and needing food, it wa decided we go to a local food court down by the river.
The food court was in a very grand building and was full of a range of options. We decided to go here largely because of price, refusing the initial suggestion of Burger King as we were in Argentina. On our way to the food court down Avenida H Yrigoyen, we noticed there was a small farmers' market, so we stopped off to sample some exquisite meats. I would have happily eaten here, but proper food would have been better, so after a tough choice whittling down all of the options, we decided to go for a budget steak. This was nice enough although a little gristly, the tough meat seeing me go through five weak plastic forks. We also got a bottle of Malbec which had been chilled, a travesty for red wine, but I suppose it filled a hole and it was adequate enough. It was also good speaking to the furs about a range of things before they walked us back to our hotel around 10pm. On the way, we noticed a sign saying the Falklands were Argentinian - non-negotiable which proved to be a little awkward and we were told this was a meeting point for Falkland veterans. There was also a huge chessboard on this little square which was right behind the Museo de la Memoria and the main cathedral. It was surprising we hadn't been here before.
It was sad saying goodbye to our furry friends, but we thanked them for their hospitality and wished them well for the furmeet on Sunday, a furmeet that had we known about, we would have stayed for. They then headed off and we opted for a cheeky beer pretty much back where we had been before, opposite the food market. This was Barbeer, which had a good range of beer on draft and two annoying loud pricks sat in the bar area. Still the restaurant was huge, so we got to find a seat pretty quickly away from them, only for them to head our way about twenty minutes later. Still, we were only stopping for one drink before bed and it was a really nice way to end our fantastic yet busy time in Argentina's second city.
Our first stop was the Cripta Jesuitica, which was built underground in the eighteenth century. Originally intended to be a novitiate, it was later converted to a crematorium and crypt. It was abandoned after the Jesuit expulsion and then concreted over in 1829 when Avenida Colon expanded. Even now, it's entrance is right in the middle of the shopping street but unfortunately it was all gated, meaning we couldn't get inside. Undeterred, we headed around the corner to the impressive Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes Dr Genaro Perez, one of the many art galleries in the city. Featurning paintings and modern art from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a lot of this stuff I simply didn't get. The fighter aircraft with the Jesus strapped to it was a very interesting juxtaposition though and certainly made one think.
Our next main stop was the Museo Historico de la Universidad National de Cordoba in the Menzana Jesuitica, the original Jesuit foundations of the city. Cordoba is the site of the oldest university in Argentina, with Fray Fernando de Trejo y Sanabria founding the Seminario Convictorio de San Javier in1613 and it being promoted to university status nine years later. The nice lady on the front desk said there were no tours available, but she said we could collar the security guards on our way around and they would let us into the various rooms. She also gave us a leaflet detailing the background to the university, meaning we got to understand the context behind all of the important rooms. This included the wonderous Jesuit Collection, the first library of the university which had been compiled during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. I am no stranger to old books, but even now I get a thrill of seeing leather bound voices from the past. There were many subjects in here including Physics, Medicine and Geometry, with the majority of books coming from Europe or Peru. At its peak, there were 6000 books in the library but now only 2500 remain.
Another thrill for someone who enjoys cartography was the map room, particularly as it enabled me to chart the political history of South America from its discovery through to the twentieth century. This was a fascinating journey of very high interest. Equally, the neo-baroque cream and brown Graduation Hall was another highlight and wasn't too dissimilar to my old formal hall at Magdalene College. With various paintings on the wall and a real atmosphere of grandeur, it was incredible to think of all the graduations which had taken place here over the years. Next to all this was the stunning Church of the Society of Jesus, one of the places we had visited the evening before, but certainly a place worthy of a second look. This was actually Pope Francis's church for a while and is set in the Latin Baroque Style.
We wandered around the neat courtyard for a while, seeing a number of active university rooms and a huge periodic table on the wall, before walking further down the street to visit the Colegio National de Monserrat. This is a living school and, it being lunchtime, was swarming with children on their break. There was a museum here which we knew was closing at 1pm, giving us about fifteen minutes to look around. We had seen it when we were in the Jesuit Collection and we managed to sweet-talk the security guard and then the museum creator to letting us have a quick look. Focusing on steam and eletrical machinery predominantly of the nineteenth century, it was certainly an interesting walk around, albeit one very familiar to me as I have a degree in the History and Philosophy of Science. Still, as a teaching space it was certainly interesting and although a small section of it was closed off, I still think it was a worthwhile visit (and one we did manage to do in the time available).
We fancied some lunch after this so stopped off at a bakery that we had perchance seen, opting for salami and cheese sandwiches as we were thoroughly sick of the ham and cheese version. We then wandered around for a while eating our food, which was on the high quality end for a high street sandwich. We soon made our way back to Plaza San Martin and headed down an alleyway alongside the Iglesia Cathedral. Down here was the former base of the Department of Intelligence (D2), a special division which dealt in detention and torture for the military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983. I never knew about this period of Argentina's history and the whole museum was an incredibly sobering experience, even if all of the signs being in Spanish did shield me somewhat from the full horrors of it (although I did learn the Spanish for kidnapping here). The space is stark and altered from the 1980s as the perpetrators tried to cover their tracks, but you could still feel the tension here. Most harrowing perhaps was the photographs of all their victims which had come from a roll of film they had left behind. Taken between February and June 1976 using familiar brands such as Kodak, it gave a real sense of immediacy, particularly when it is considered that some of the people tortured have not been seen since. There was a room dedicated to the lives of some of these people, with their possessions such as record players and mopeds on display, while deeper into the complex there were the underground rooms and tight prison cells where these atrocities took place. In one of these at least, there was television footage of when some of the perpetrators were brought to trial in 2006, but there is still a large number of cases to answer. The wall of photogtaphs of the missing was again sobering and, despite the complicated history, it did hearten me slightly that it was the Falklands War that effectively ended this brutal regime as that had been used as a distraction to sedate a restive population.
Our friends, including Warren and Zaki, had started to assemble on Telegram by this point so we walked up to Paseo del Buen Pastor, a cultural centre and performance space built in 1901. At the heart of this is a delightful chapel but alas it was not open, so we could only look around it. Beyond this there is a number of bars and restaurants in an area which was once a women's prison while near the entrance there are a few rooms dedicated to dubious modern art. It was in here where we waited for our friends, as it was quite nippy outside, but we soon got bored and checked out the grounds with its numerously weird metallic statues. There was also some concrete pillars supporting the main structure upon which there were photographs of women, 26 of whom escaped from the prison on 24 May 1975. They had been detained for political reasons.
After this, we went over the road to the Parroquia Sagrado Corazon de Jesus de los Capuchinos again and seeing the gate to the front yard being open, we hoped that we could actually look around the church too. Alas, we couldn't, but we were able to get some great pictures of the multi-coloured stonemasonry close up and we were permitted to enter the church later on, where we got to see the beautiful green and grey stone work and stained glass windows which reminded me very much of the cathedral in Florence. The alter was a beautiful gold colour while at the back there was a wonderous winding staircase that went right up into the roof of the church, a feature I had never seen before. One of the furs decided to walk up there and back down again, which was interesting.
Before we had gotten into the church, we spent a little time over at the Museo Superior de Bellas Artes Evita and the Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes Emilio Caraffa. The highlight for me in the former was the building itself, with the architecture on the outside and inside quite stunning. The sweeping staircase up onto the various floors was a nice feature and we had a pleasant hour or so looking at all of the exhibits. The same was true in the second museum too, with the basement being my favourite area as it detailed the changes within the city, particularly those of the early twentieth century, which seemed to be the most dramatic. Our furry friends could fill us in with all the detail here, our ignorance with Spanish again causing issues, while further down the basement, it was interesting seeing a range of more modern exhibits straight out of the 1960s. This included objects and artwork from around that time.
By now we were all museumed out, as we had been on our feet for the best part of six hours. It was getting towards 6pm and some of the furs needed to leave, leaving us as a party of five. It was suggested that we go to a local cafe, the Futura Panificacion, which sounded like a good idea as it was close by and we needed a seat. As we went, we noticed the fantastically named Cell Fox mobile phone store, whose logo was the WiFi logo but with foxy ears. One of our party spent an awful lot of time in here trying to sort out a new cable for us, as I had inadvertently dropped the battery pack to which it had been attached onto the pavement. This had buggered the wire, but the prices they were charging were far higher than eBay back home, so I refrained. Anyway, we visited Cell Fox after going to the cafe, which sold a mean hot chocolate (albeit from one of those early 90s vending machines) and a range of excellent local pastries, which we enjoyed immensely.
Food was on our mind too and it was suggested that we go to Johnny B. Good which was just down the road. However, one of the furs didn't have much money and thought it too expensive. Meanwhile, we were just counting down the minutes to 7pm, as there was due to be a musical performance at the water fountains outside the Buen Pastor. This takes place at 7pm, 8pm and 9pm every night and basically sees the jets of water inside the pool choreographed with some music and a light show. We had twenty minutes to kill so we went back into the Buen Pastor to see the dodgy art again as it was warm, before taking our place right in front of the fountain waiting for the show to begin. There was three songs, each lasting about five minutes, with the jets of water being thrust to different heights depending on the music. It was all timed really well and it was quite exhilarating, even if there were only a handful of people watching. There was one drunk, perhaps druggie, who was dancing along next to us and although he was harmless in the end, it was a tiny bit intimadating. Still, he chugged off as soon as the show was done, while I couldn't wipe the smile off my face as it was such a good show. We had to leave too though and needing food, it wa decided we go to a local food court down by the river.
The food court was in a very grand building and was full of a range of options. We decided to go here largely because of price, refusing the initial suggestion of Burger King as we were in Argentina. On our way to the food court down Avenida H Yrigoyen, we noticed there was a small farmers' market, so we stopped off to sample some exquisite meats. I would have happily eaten here, but proper food would have been better, so after a tough choice whittling down all of the options, we decided to go for a budget steak. This was nice enough although a little gristly, the tough meat seeing me go through five weak plastic forks. We also got a bottle of Malbec which had been chilled, a travesty for red wine, but I suppose it filled a hole and it was adequate enough. It was also good speaking to the furs about a range of things before they walked us back to our hotel around 10pm. On the way, we noticed a sign saying the Falklands were Argentinian - non-negotiable which proved to be a little awkward and we were told this was a meeting point for Falkland veterans. There was also a huge chessboard on this little square which was right behind the Museo de la Memoria and the main cathedral. It was surprising we hadn't been here before.
It was sad saying goodbye to our furry friends, but we thanked them for their hospitality and wished them well for the furmeet on Sunday, a furmeet that had we known about, we would have stayed for. They then headed off and we opted for a cheeky beer pretty much back where we had been before, opposite the food market. This was Barbeer, which had a good range of beer on draft and two annoying loud pricks sat in the bar area. Still the restaurant was huge, so we got to find a seat pretty quickly away from them, only for them to head our way about twenty minutes later. Still, we were only stopping for one drink before bed and it was a really nice way to end our fantastic yet busy time in Argentina's second city.
