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| Immigrants - Painting by Romulo Macció |
La Boca is the oldest, most
colorful, and most authentic neighborhood in Buenos Aires South
America ’s top football clubs.
Mass
settlement in La Boca began in 1840, with an influx of immigrants from Genoa , Italy Buenos Aires
La Usina del Arte
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| Symphony Concert Hall - La Usina del Arte |
Dubbed “the new home of culture” by Mayor
Mauricio Macri’s administration, the Usina
del Arte, an abandoned red brick electric factory near the Riacheulo, has
been scrubbed up and turned over to the arts.
And culture fans have plenty to be excited
about: boasting Buenos Aires ’ first symphony
concert hall, music, art, dance and theatre are just some of the plans on the
agenda for the centre, which will also be home to the Buenos Aires
The complex is just between Puerto Madero and
La Boca district. So it is possible that this space will work as a cultural
corridor between the two and it will enhance the neighborhood.
The complex, designed by Juan Chiogna, was
built between 1914 and 1916 by Martignone e Hijos and continued to produce
electricity until the early-1990s. This was when Carlos Menem’s administration
privatised utilities, and after its doors closed, the building was abandoned. From
outside, the building is quite spectacular, standing out from its run-down
surroundings. From the clock tower where the bell would be rung to call
electricity workers in for their shifts, to the Romeo and Juliet-like balconies
where orders would be called to workers in the front courtyard, each and every
historical detail has been preserved.
Inside the grand, luminous entrance hall,
many original parts of the building were also restored, such as the iron-cast
staircases that wrap round the side areas of the structure as well as some of
the old tiled flooring on the ground floor.
The Usina del Arte is currently not open
on a daily basis to the public. However, from now until December, free guided tours
are carried out on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, highly recommendable for
those who have yet to visit the building. It will also be open for specific
performances until the end of the year.
The
Usina is open at specific times for concerts, for details check the CityGovernment’s culture website.*
The Museo del Cine,
created in 1971, is now located in the building adjacent to the Usina on
Caffarena 49. It is open from Monday to Friday 11am-6pm and on Saturdays,
Sundays and bank holidays from 10am-7pm.
El
Obrero
Just
across from La Usina del Arte, there is an old traditional restaurant where you
can eat like a real “porteño”. You shouldn’t look for refined or exotic dishes
but for plentiful and simple dishes of the porteño cuisine. This bar opened in
1954, used to feed workers who worked at shipyards and garages near it. Visit
El Obrero for an authentic and memorable lunch. It is really worth it. Address: Agustín R. Caffarena 64.
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| La Boca Soccer Stadium |
Boca
Juniors is one of the biggest soccer teams in Argentina
Their
stadium, La Bombonera, is not so surprisingly located in the La Boca barrio. It
is possible to get tickets to most games and be a part of a truly Argentine
experience.
Everything
is intertwined and indivisible: not only is La Bombonera a part of a
neighborhood which witnessed its creation but it also defines its identity. It
was on this port suburb that football and Argentina
Settled
inside the football field building, this museum (with access through a gift
shop with a wide variety of blue and yellow souvenirs) opens up through a long
corridor where the pictures of all premier division players who have defended
the T-shirt since 1931 are on display. This is how worship of the past begins.
At the end of the corridor, inside a huge
football ball-shaped room, we could live the 360-degree experience of going
into the football field and stepping on the lawn of La Bombonera in a unique
spectacular audio-visual event.
Museo
de la Pasión Boquense
Brandsen
805, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad de Buenos AiresTel: +54 11-43621100
Once
a residence and studio of the artist Quinquela Martin, this museum has a
collection of early 20th century Argentine artists.Benito Quinquela Martin, an abandoned orphan who was
adopted by a Genoese immigrant couple in La Boca, was the man to take action. He
had become the most significant painter in Argentina ,
with his dramatic paintings of the port
of La Boca
But as La Boca was his inspiration, and had provided him
with family, friends and shelter after having been orphaned at an early age, he
felt he owed the barrio something in return. Quinquela
Martín is considered the port painter and one of the country’s most popular
painters. His paintings show port activity, vigor and harshness of daily life
in La Boca port. He had to work as a child carrying bags of coal and these
experiences influenced his artistic vision obras.
The
permanent exibit consists of works of figurative Argentine artists from the
late nineteenth century to today. Also includes a collection of figureheads,
unique in Latin America , represented by
interesting pieces from the late nineteenth century. In the room Sivori,
temporary exhibitions of great masters of Argentine art, renowned contemporary
artists and emerging artists perform; linking heritage with contemporary
production works. The third floor is currently the House – Museum Quinquela
where his great works and personal belongings are exhibited.
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| Tango Dancers - Caminito Street |
Quinquela Martin, the creator of “caminito” street
In
1959, Quinquela Martin and his artist friends
created the street of Caminito, as a means of recreating the way old La Boca used
to look – a reminder of where everyone had come from, not just in La Boca, but
Buenos Aires, and Argentina, because this barrio and its port had been the
gateway for many immigrants into this city and country (up until Puerto Madero
& then Puerto Nuevo were built as replacements in the early 1900s), who
then went on to make Buenos Aires and Argentina what they are today.
What
Quinquela Martin did was to rescue bits and pieces of the original immigrant
conventillos that were being torn down and replaced, and used them to create a
concentrated conventillo community around this small street, in what is
essentially an uninhabited open-air art and history exhibit, and officially the
world’s first outdoor pedestrian museum. There are also Tango dancers in the
street and you can pose with them and just give them ten to twenty pesos. . Many
artists also show off their work on the sides of the main street.
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| Staircase at PROA |
Once
you tire of the fútbol at La Bombonera and of the Maradona impersonators at
Caminito you can head over to Fundación Proa at Pedro de Mendoza 1929. It’s an
excellent modern and contemporary art museum that hosts international art
exhibitions and has a gourmet café with river views on the third floor. It’s
open from 11am to 8pm, Tuesday to Sunday.
Handcraft market
If
you visit Caminito on weekends, you will also be able to go shopping at the
Feria de la Ribera arts and crafts market, which starts at the front of
Caminito and goes around in front of the Riachuelo river. Here you will find
handmade crochet,scarves and shawls, traditional mate gourds and bombillas (the
metal straws used for drinking mate), jewellery and lots of other interesting
craft pieces, all at reasonable prices.
And
if you work up a hunger after traipsing around Caminito and the feria, we
strongly recommend an authentic Italian Pizzeria nearby in La Boca Banchero Pizzeria (Suarez 396 ). The restaurant
also happens to have been a favorite of Benito Quinquela Martin, the architect
of Caminito, so it is a fitting end to the outing – and delicious too!
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| Historical Bridges in La Boca - View from Caminito |
Safety in La Boca
As in most places where a popular tourist
attraction sits in the middle of an economically disadvantaged neighborhood, La
Boca can be dangerous for visitors who stray off the tourist path.
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