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Things to do in Cordoba
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Ferreyra Palace
The Evita Fine Arts Museum is housed in
the Ferreyra Palace in Cordoba, Argentina, and the palace is a
beaux arts mansion that was designed by French architect Ernest
Sanson; built for a local important doctor and surgeon named
Juan Ferreyra in 1912 and not finished because of the world war
until 1916. This
particular piece of land was chosen specifically by the doctor
because it sat next to a park called Sarmiento that contained 43
acres of beautiful woods.
Ferreyra had studied in France and England; but stayed
with his wife and seven children in Paris most often.
The doctor had liked the styling of the Hotel Kessler in
Paris that the architectural team at Sanson's had done and
wanted them to design his home in Cordoba.
It is an extraordinary building, in that it was mastered
after the French classicism that was so prevalent during the
17th and 18th centuries in France.
The strict geometrical designs were softened with the
decorations of plants and animals motif that was further
improved with metal and glass coverings over the mansion.
The mansion stayed in the family until 2004, when it
became city property; which in turn renovated the structure into
the Ferreyra Palace Fine Arts Museum and opened in 2007.
Later that year, in December, it was renamed the Evita
Fine Arts Museum in honor of the former first lady, Evita Peron.
There are 12 exhibition halls, library, sculpture garden
and auditorium for 120 seats.
The wonderful collection contains over 500 works of art
that include; Francisco Goya, Emilio Caraffa, Joaquin Sorolla,
Juan Carlos Castingnino, Pablo Picasso, Gustave Courbet, Ricardo
Supisiche, Fernando Fader, Lino Enea Spilimbergo and Emilio
Pettoruti. It also
has traveling exhibits that coming quite often.
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National University of Cordoba
This university is the oldest in Argentina, and the second
oldest in the Americas, started in 1610, by the Society of Jesus
for the students in the area.
It was called the Collegium Maximun and was the pinnacle
of intellectual achievement for that era and was the forerunner
of the university it is today.
Later on, while still under Jesuit rule, it became known
as the Colegio Maximo de Cordoba; although it couldn't give out
degrees. In 1621,
Pope Gregory XV gave his approval and an official document was
sent to the colony to give authorization and approval for the
school to confer degrees.
It was then that the country's history of higher
education begun in the land.
In 1767, King Carlos III had the Jesuit priests expelled
and the control was given to the Franciscan order.
Philosophy and theology were the main subjects for the
next century and a half, after being created.
In 1687, secondary schools were started like the Our Lady
of Monserrat that was started by Ignacio Duarte Quiros.
By the end of the 1700s, law classes were started
changing the main focus from theology, and social sciences were
also started. A
problem arose between the Franciscans and the regular clergy
about the course of the college, when the king stepped in and
made it a new college called Royal University of Saint Charles
and Our Lady of Monserrat.
This created a school with the dual title of royal and
pontifical with a Monsignor Gregorio Funes becoming the
president and the regular clergy taking control.
The monsignor brought many new changes to the school and
more subjects. The
May Revolution started in 1810, and the new regime gained
control of the university but they let the monsignor stay as
president. Sometime
in 1820, parts of the school were sent to other parts of the
country, because of the chaos that was gripping the country; but
in the mid 1800s, a new constitution was ratified that decided
what the political scope of the country would become.
There were two universities in the nation at the time,
with the one at Buenos Aires being created in 1821, and both
were eventually nationalized and under government control.
In 1864, the study of theology was dropped and the
sciences were increased with the Academy of Exact Sciences and
the Astronomical Observatory.
The school of Medicine was created in 1877 and by 1886,
all universities were under law that decided how the bylaws
could be changed or amended.
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Plaza San Martin
The main plaza in Cordoba was built over 400 years ago and is a
very popular place for the locals to gather for whatever reason
they feel like. It
is the place of many fairs, exhibitions with a cathedral, 17th
century cabildo that was used as a police station and the statue
of General San Martin.
The heart of the city where walkways cross the plaza with
people always coming or going to work or other areas of
interest. There are
numerous trees that grow within the plaza, but none more
spectacular than the palo borracho or drunken stick that is
bulging and covered with thorns.
Also the jacaranda with its brilliant purple blossoms
that come alive in the spring.
The equestrian statue of the general faces west towards
Pasaje Santa Catalina between the old city hall and cathedral.
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