The Cabildo of Buenos Aires ( es, Cabildo de Buenos Aires) is the public building in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

that was used as seat of the

town council A town council, city council or municipal council is a form of local government for small municipalities. Usage of the term varies under different jurisdictions. Republic of Ireland Town Councils in the Republic of Ireland were the second ti ...

during the colonial era and the government house of the

Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata ( es, Virreinato del Río de la Plata or es, Virreinato de las Provincias del Río de la Plata) meaning "River of the Silver", also called "Viceroyalty of the River Plate" in some scholarly writings, in ...

. Today the building is used as a museum.

History

Mayor Manuel de Frías proposed the building of the cabildo in what is now the

Plaza de Mayo The Plaza de Mayo (; en, May Square) is a city square and main foundational site of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was formed in 1884 after the demolition of the Recova building, unifying the city's Plaza Mayor and Plaza de Armas, by that time kn ...

on March 3, 1608, since the government of the city lacked such a building. Its construction financed with taxes from the port of Buenos Aires, the building was finished in 1610 but was soon found to be too small and had to be expanded. In 1682, due to lack of maintenance, the building was almost in ruins, and the construction was planned of a new cabildo that was two stories high and 11 arches wide. Construction of the new building did not start until 23 July 1725, was suspended in 1728, and restarted in 1731. Soon construction was, however, again suspended due to lack of funds. The tower of the new cabildo was finished in 1764, yet even by the time of the

May Revolution The May Revolution ( es, Revolución de Mayo) was a week-long series of events that took place from May 18 to 25, 1810, in Buenos Aires, capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. This Spanish colony included roughly the terri ...

in 1810 the cabildo was still not completely finished. In 1880 the architect

Pedro Benoit Pedro Benoit (February 18, 1836 – April 4, 1897) was an Argentine architect, engineer, and urbanist best known for designing the layout of the city of La Plata. Life and times Pedro Benoit was born in Buenos Aires in 1836 to María Josefa ...

raised the tower by 10 meters and with a dome covered with glazed tiles, instead of the traditional colonial red tiles. The tower was demolished nine years later in 1889 to create space for the

Avenida de Mayo May Avenue ( es, Avenida de Mayo) is an avenue in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina. It connects the Plaza de Mayo with Congressional Plaza, and extends in a west–east direction before merging into Rivadavia Avenue. History and overview B ...

avenue and the three northernmost arches of the original eleven were demolished. In 1931, to create room for the Julio A. Roca avenue, the three southernmost arcs were removed, thereby restoring the central place of the tower, but leaving only five of the original arches. In 1940, the architect

Mario Buschiazzo is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his crea ...

reconstructed the colonial features of the Cabildo using various original documents. The tower, the red tiles, the iron bars on the windows and the wooden windows and doors were all repaired.

National Museum of the Cabildo

Currently, the cabildo hosts the National Museum of the Cabildo and the

(Museo Nacional del Cabildo y la Revolución de Mayo), in which paintings, artifacts, clothes and jewelry of the 18th century are on display. The patio of the cabildo still has its 1835 ornamental water well.

References

Gallery

File:Cabildo-Plaza-HDR.jpg, View from the Plaza de Mayo File:Cabildo of Buenos Aires - tower.jpg, Closeup view of the tower File:Cabildo-Patio-TM.jpg, View of the back of the main building from the Patio File:Cabildo-lado-HDR.jpg, View of the side of the complex, from Avenida de Mayo File:Cabildo-noche 02-TM.jpg, View of the Cabildo at night

External links

Website of the Museo Nacional del Cabildo
(in Spanish)

{{Authority control Cabildos Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata History of Buenos Aires Buildings and structures in Buenos Aires History museums in Argentina Buildings and structures completed in 1610 National Historic Monuments of Argentina Museums in Buenos Aires 1610 establishments in the Spanish Empire