Ciudad Vieja (, ''Old City'') is a ''

barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish language, Spanish word that means "Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city delimited by functional (e.g. residential, comm ...

'' (neighbourhood or district) of

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

. Located in a

peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

at the mouth of the

Bay of Montevideo The Bay of Montevideo () is the bay around the city of Montevideo, Uruguay in the Río de la Plata. It was previously named by Pedro de Mendoza as "Bahía de la Candelaria". Description The bay has a round shape – approximately in diameter ...

, it is the city's

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

. It was founded in 1724 as a walled city by the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...

. Following Uruguay’s independence, it became a district of the expanding city, which quickly grew beyond the original fortress, later dismantled. As one of the city's central districts, it forms part of its

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

alongside

Centro Centro may refer to: Places Brazil *Centro, Santa Maria, a neighborhood in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * Centro, Porto Alegre, a neighborhood of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * Centro (Duque de Caxias), a neighborhood of Du ...

and

Cordón Cordón is a central ''barrio'' (neighbourhood or district) of Montevideo, Uruguay. Part of the city's central business district, alongside Centro and Ciudad Vieja, the 18 de Julio Avenue that runs through the area is home to commercial spaces, o ...

. It serves as a key office district, housing several commercial banks and other financial institutions, government buildings, as well as museums, cultural venues, theaters and art galleries. The district also features a high concentration of

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

, and Neoclassical buildings.

History

Until 1829 it was surrounded by a wall that protected it from possible invasions. After the wall was torn down, the only part of it that was preserved was the main gateway to the Citadel, which remains to this day as an

emblem An emblem is an abstract art, abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a monarch or saint. Emblems vs. symbols Although the words ''emblem'' and ''symbol'' ...

of Montevideo. Some street names recall the presence of the wall, like Ciudadela (''

citadel A citadel is the most fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of ''city'', meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. ...

'') or Brecha (''breach''), which owns its name to the breach in the wall that the British managed to open to enter the city during the 1807 British invasion and brief occupation of the city before they were defeated.

Present

The main street, Sarandí, was turned into a pedestrian walkway in 1992, which increased its commercial and tourist attractiveness. In 2005 it was extended beyond the Constitution Square. Ciudad Vieja has elegant buildings from the colonial era and the first decades of independence. The Cabildo (built between 1804 and 1812), the

Solís Theatre Solís Theatre (''Spanish'': Teatro Solís) is Uruguay's most important and renowned theater. It opened in 1856. The building was designed by the Italian architect Carlo Zucchi. It is located in Montevideo's Old Town, right next to the Plaza ...

, the Metropolitan Cathedral, and several museums, like the

Museo Torres García The Museo Torres García is located in the historic Ciudad Vieja (Old Town) of Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has ...

are among the most impressive ones. Also, several design shops and recycled loft floors flourish in the streets near the port.

Important buildings

Bolsa de Valores de Montevideo The Montevideo Stock Exchange or Bolsa de Valores de Montevideo (BVM), also known as the Bolsa de Montevideo, is the principal stock exchange of Uruguay. It is based in Montevideo and was founded in 1867. The institution's primary function is to ...

Cabildo de Montevideo The Montevideo Cabildo (Spanish language: Cabildo de Montevideo) is the public building in Montevideo that was used as the city hall, government house during the Colonialism, colonial times of the Viceroyalty of the River Plate. Today the building ...

* Mercado del Puerto * Palacio Taranco *

Central Bank of Uruguay The Central Bank of Uruguay (, BCU) is the central bank of Uruguay. History The Central Bank of Uruguay was established on July 6, 1967 as an autonomous state entity (), with the passing of the 196th article of the Constitution of 1967. Prior ...

* Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, St. Philip and St. James (head of the Roman Catholic Church in Uruguay) *

Parish Church of St. Francis of Assisi Saint Francis of Assisi Parish Church, commonly known as Meycauayan Church or locally as , is a Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines, Roman Catholic church located in Meycauayan, Bulacan Philippines. It is one of the oldest parishes in Bula ...

(Roman Catholic) * Church of Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Vincent Pallotti (Roman Catholic,

Pallottines The Pallottines, officially named the Society of the Catholic Apostolate (), abbreviated SAC, is a Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right for men in the Roman Catholic Church, founded in 1835 by the Roman Catholic priest Saint Vincent Pa ...

) * Cathedral of The Most Holy Trinity, popularly known as the English Temple (

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

) * Sephardic Jewish Community (Synagogue)Jewish Tourism in Uruguay - Temples
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Gallery

File:Ciudadela3.jpg, The Gateway of Ciudadela, was the entrance to the fortress of Montevideo File:Calle en Ciudad Vieja 2006.jpg, Street in the Ciudad Vieja

References

Bibliography

External links

Intendencia de Montevideo / Historia de la Ciudad Vieja

Fotos of Ciudad Vieja

{{Authority control Barrios of Montevideo Entertainment districts