11. - National Halls of Culture and Expositions or the National Hall of Fine Arts. (Palais de Glace)
It was built in 1911 to hold an ice skating area (thence its name); it was later transformed into a popular dance hall, where Tango reigned supreme after 1912.

The palace halls were remodelled by the architect Alejandro Bustillo and opened as the Hall of Fine Arts in 1932. It is found on Posadas Street Nr. 1725 and since 1978 is host to the National Halls of Culture and Expositions or the National Hall of Fine Arts. The halls are big circular spaces lighted by day by their glass domes. Temporary art shows of paintings and sculptures are held there. Close to this palace you will see the Plaza Alvear, with a very good view of the area.

Opening hours are Mondays through Fridays from 1 PM to 8 PM, and Saturdays and Sundays from 3 PM to 8 PM. Tel.: 4805-4354.

12. - The Carlos Thays Park
With one of its sides situated at the corner of Avenida del Libertador and Avenida Callao, it is an attractive park in a very charming part of town. In it one can find the modern sculpture Masculine Torso - "Torso Masculino", made by the world famous Colombian sculptor Fernando Botero.

In this attractive park named in honour of the famous French landscape painter Carlos Thays, and close to the southern wing of the Faculty of Law and Social Science, one can also find the famous sculpture the Captive "La Cautiva", close to the intersection of the Avenidas Pueyrredn and Figueroa Alcorta.

The sculpture is the work of the Argentinean artist Lucio Correa Morales, who portrayed natives and criollo folks. The sculpture shows a captive native woman sitting on a broken adobe wall looking with pain on the ruins of her home, where she will never more live in. She is accompanied only by her children and a dog.

In this area you will also find, behind the above mentioned Faculty, the Municipal Centre for Exhibitions, where important exhibitions and fairs are held.

13. - The General Carlos Mara de Alvear Monument
This imposing equestrian monument, the work of the talented French artist Bourdelle, is placed in the corner of Posadas Street and Alvear Avenue. There is an attractive view of it from the old river bank at the Recoleta. The statue, which arrived from France in 1925, rests on a pedestal of polished granite, which is the work of the architect Alejandro Bustillo (1889-1982).

14. - Plazoleta San Martn de Tours
This small plaza or square, whose name evokes the patron saint of the city of Buenos Aires, has one side made up of the old river embankment extending at length from Avenida Alvear to Posadas Street, has many trees that were planted by the well known Recoleta cloistered monks during the XVIII century, when they lived in the Pilar monastery. Close by, between the Alvear and Quintana Aves, on the plaza Ramn J. Crcano, stands the monument to the memory of Ramn Falcn, chief of police of the city in 1909. In that year, Falcn was killed by the anarchist assassin Simn Radowitzky, who was arrested and sent to serve his sentence in the Ushuaia prison, located in the city with the same name in Tierra del Fuego, in the southernmost tip of the country and the continent.

15. - The National Museum of Fine Arts - Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (MNBA) and the Plaza Urquiza
The National Museum of Fine Arts opened its doors in 1896 under the direction of the painter Eduardo Schiaffino. It is an institution that holds the main cultural heritage of the country and is also one of the best museums on the whole continent. In its 32 exhibition halls divided up between the first up to the third floors there are always exhibitions going on, displaying national and international works of art such as paintings, sculptures and etchings.

Apart from these permanent exhibits, on the ground floor there is the pavilion of temporary exhibitions, the hall of architecture and the two sculpture yards with a magnificent view towards the Avenida Figueroa Alcorta and the Faculty of Law and Social Science.

The present building of the museum was restored in 1933, standing in the middle of the parks and public gardens of the Recoleta. Later on, it was remodelled and enlarged during the forties, sixties and eighties. The exhibit halls are not only spacious, they are also well illuminated, which causes the visitors less eye fatigue and need to move around, a concept that has been recently incorporated and adopted by other modern museum buildings in Europe and in the United States of America. The museum has opened subsidiary museums in the cities of Crdoba and Neuqun.

It has a permanent very complete exhibition of Argentinean works of art from the XIX and XX centuries of the following artists: Prilidiano Pueyrredn, Pellegrini, Morel, Della Valle, Svori, and Spilimbergo. There is also on display an important collection of masterpieces by world-class artists, amongst which we can mention El Greco, Goya, Manet, Monet, Degas, Rodn, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec and Van Gogh.

Opening hours are Tuesdays through Fridays and also Sundays between half past noon and 7:30 PM; and Saturdays between 9 AM to 7 PM. Guided tours on Tuesdays through Fridays and also Sundays at 4 PM, 5 PM and 6 PM, and Saturdays at 5 PM and 6 PM. In the museum shops and in the Association of Friends of Fine Arts, you can acquire reproductions, catalogues, art books and posters.

It is located on Avenida del Libertador Nr. 1473. Tel.: 4803-0802/8814/4691.

16. - Plaza Mitre and its Equestrian Monument to Bartolom Mitre
It is situated in the intersection of Agero Street and Libertador Av. The bronze equestrian figure represents the founder of the newspaper La Nacin and former president of Argentina (1862 and 1868), surrounded of allegories made out of white marble, all on a base of polished red granite.

17. - Plaza Chile and Plaza Uruguay
These two large plazas are separated by the Tagle Street and are flanked by the Libertador and Figueroa Alcorta Av. They are on the border of two beautiful barrios well worth the stroll: Palermo (Plaza Chile) and Recoleta (Plaza Uruguay). In the Plaza Republica Oriental del Uruguay, apart from the varied species of plants and luxuriant trees growing there, one can find the monument to Jos Gervasio Artigas (1764-1850), considered the founder of the Uruguayan nation.