 |
 |
|
 |
  |
|
 |
  |
|
 Marcelo Sola  Marcelo Sola (1) Guillermo Scipione (2) |
||
| In Córdoba City, you can travel back in time and discover the marvellous work done by Jesuits as you visit the old buildings belonging to this Order and get dazzled by the objects ... |
 |
|
In Córdoba City, you can travel back in time and discover the marvellous work done by Jesuits as you visit the old buildings belonging to this Order and get dazzled by the objects kept here in the so called Jesuit Square which has been declared Cultural Heritage to Humanity by UNESCO.
To go on this wonderful visit, you can go to the Tourism Office located around the City Hall on Deán Funes Street, between San Martín and Rivera Indarte Streets - downtown Córdoba-. Guided tours depart from here. Another alternative is to go directly to Obispo Trejo Street between Caseros and Duarte Quirós Streets where the Jesuitic Square is located. Once you start riding to the emblematic buildings, the guide will take you back in time and tell you that the Jesuits Religious Order settled in Córdoba City in 1599 and turned it into a neuralgic place of their evangelizing, pedagogic and missionary work. |
 |
|
Thus, Córdoba was the main referent in the cultural field in River Plate area and Tucumán area.
As time went by, Jesuits got more and more power and, thus, turned into a threat to King Charles III in 1767 who decided to expel the Religious Order from all the territories under the Spanish Domain. In spite of this, Jesuits could bequeath a valuable heritage to Córdoba City including one of the most prestigious Universities in Latin America- founded in 1613-, the majestic Church of Jesus' Company- oldest in the country-, the first printing house in the River Plate Viceroyalty- located in the underground of Monserrat National College. |
 |
|
You will soon get to the Church belonging to Jesus' Company where you will stop for the first time and just contemplate. You will be in the oldest Temple of Argentina since it was built in 1640.
From the Square opposite the Church, you will observe the details of the front which seems a stone fortress. Since there were not big enough pieces of wood in the region, a new way of building the vault was created- the nave has a shape of an upside down boat hull or keel. Inside , you will discover "fifty sacred emblems". They are rectangular and located at a height of 10 meters expressing a summary of the history of Jesus' Company. The guide will tell you that the door on the left used to be the main entrance to the University, the central door was the entrance for the Spanish while the door on the right was the entrance to the Chapel of Natives , currently called Our Lady of Lourdes. |
 |
|
You will observe that the style of the Church is mainly " Romantic" while the two towers belong to " High Peru Style" with a decoration made of Toad Stone. The pulpit has two styles _ at the bottom it is simple and at the top Barroque. This is the result of the joint of European and Native cultures.
After a while, after having record in your mind each and every detail of this emblematic building , you will go to the building next to it where the Rectorate of Cordoba National University is located. Once there, you will be told that the University was built because Trejo y Sanabria Bishop bequested all his property in 1613. The degree you could get after studying here was that of Doctor in Art and Theology. As you enter the University, you will be dazzled at the Conferring Room where there is artistic furniture and also at the Museum of C.N.U. The main library outstands because of the rich collection of incunabular and numerous editions of the Jesuits published before 1767. |
 |
|
It is important to visit the pavilion that keeps the original Argentinean Civil Code and the personal library of its author " Dr. Dalmacio Velez Sarsfield".
From the University building , you will go to the corner of Duarte Quiros street and Obispo Trejo Street to visit Monserrat National College. The Real Students' Quarters of Our Lady of Monserrat is a college with its own mystic- full of tradition. Leaders of the emancipation as well as some of the first ruling members of the National Organization, among them Juan Jose Paso, Juan Jose Castelli and Jose Maria Paz . |
 |
|
Once inside, you will see some classrooms, you will sit on some old desks and enjoy the big patio where there are fountains made of Carrara marble and statues of the Jesuitic Order.
As you finish the tour, you will realize that you will have gone on a tour to your past. History will have been a present to your eyes and to all your senses, to listen to it and feel it in order to explain better the idiosyncrasy of Argentinean People. |
 |
See also: Hotels and accommodation in Córdoba |
| Back to Córdoba |
© 2003-2008 Total or partial reproduction forbidden. Derechos de Autor 675246 Ley 11723