The Monserrat area traces its origins to the foundation of Buenos Aires itself, when, in 1580, Spanish
Adelantado Juan de Garay disembarked on the area's shores. The Fort of Juan Baltazar of Austria, the marginal settlement's first, was built in 1594 and, in 1608, newly arrived
Jesuits were granted a 2-hectare (5 acre) lot, nearby. The Jesuits began work on the
Saint Ignatius Church in 1686. Consecrated in 1734, it is the oldest existing church in Buenos Aires. Possessing the finest school and library at the time and offering colonial Buenos Aires' only truly classical education there, their property became popularly known as the "
Illuminated Block." The small city's growing population led to the introduction of a number of other religious orders in this area, notably the
Catalan Brotherhood of the
Virgin of Montserrat, whose chapel became the neighborhood namesake in 1769. The
Cabildo (City hall) became the scene of the 1810
pronouncements in favor of autonomy that later led to independence and, to commemorate the fact, in 1811 the iconic
May Pyramid was placed in what later became the
Plaza de Mayo. Little changed over the next seventy years, Monserrat's muddy shore and typically colonial grid of cobblestone streets came under a rapid modernization following Argentina's sudden economic development after 1875. Land reclamation and the creation of docks parallel to the area led to the construction of Paseo Colón (still a major thoroughfare) along Monserrat's eastern edge. The area's two adjoining squares became the
Plaza de Mayo in 1884, a milestone joined by the completion of the presidential executive building, the
Casa Rosada. This was followed by the massive razing of colonial architecture (including part of the Cabildo) to make way for the
Avenida de Mayo, opened in 1894 and
Congressional Plaza, in 1910. The avenue became home to the
Buenos Aires Metro's first stations, in 1913. The area's led central location and its presence therein of much of Argentina's governmental structure led to monumental construction over the next twenty years, notable among which are the
Buenos Aires City Legislature, the
Customs building, the offices of
La Prensa (today the
Buenos Aires House of Culture), the art-deco
NH City Hotel (off the Plaza de Mayo), the Ministry of Defense and
South Diagonal Avenue. Monserrat's western half was partitioned from the rest by the southward expansion of the massive
Nueve de Julio Avenue around 1950 and, partial to trendy high-rises, much of Monserrat's middle class and commercial office space market left, afterwards. The area became a largely bohemian quarter popular with
tango performers and artists, as well as many who preferred the area's close proximity to the growing
financial district to the north and its relatively low rent scale. Its rich architectural history and quaint, narrow streets have, as in neighboring
San Telmo, helped lead to renewed interest in Monserrat since around 1990, a change highlighted by the 1993 opening of the high-rise InterContinental Hotel. The area's numerous
Spanish restaurants and social clubs belonging to Buenos Aires' large
Spaniard community have long associated Monserrat with local Spanish tradition, helping make it attractive to tourism for cultural reasons, as well as those of ambiance. Among its historic buildings is the house where Viceroy
Santiago Liniers lived. This historical site is known by the name of
Casa de Liniers, and is located on the street Venezuela 469. Another of the historical sites is the
Iglesia Presbiteriana San Andrés, a Presbyterian church located on Belgrano Avenue. ==Gallery==