Apple of Lights
The Block of Lights is a historic block in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, which is surrounded by Bolívar, Moreno, Alsina streets, Julio A. Roca Avenue (Diagonal Sur) and Peru (this last continuation of the pedestrian street Florida). In it are located the National College of Buenos Aires, the Church of San Ignacio, the old building of the University of Buenos Aires and other historical buildings. It has been baptized that way by the newspaper El Argos on September 1, 1821, due to the intellectual institutions that were installed there.
In 1942, the Church of San Ignacio and the Hall of the Old Board of Representatives were designated as Historic Monuments. In 1943, the Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires was designated a Historic Site. In 1981 the designation of Historical Monument was extended to the former Jesuit Attorneys (Peru 272 and Alsina) and to the former Jesuit Residences (Peru 272/94 and Moreno). In that same year, the entire complex between Moreno, Perú, Alsina and Bolívar streets was declared a Historic Site.
Origin of name
The newspaper El Argos, of Buenos Aires, on September 1, 1821, proposed that Manzana de las Luces, or any other title that means the same thing, should give it to the block where the famous "Temple of San Ignacio" was located, in a note that listed the institutions that operated on the property and that over the years would add up to 44. This name is the one used until today.
History
Jesuit period
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The first Jesuit mission arrived in Buenos Aires in 1608, settling in what is now the eastern half of what is now Plaza de Mayo, called Plaza de la Victoria, next to the Fort of Buenos Aires. But in 1661 there were fears of corsair attacks on the city, and for strategic reasons, the Jesuits had to move. It was then that Isabel de Carvajal, widow and childless, donated the land located between the current streets of Peru, Bolívar, Alsina and Moreno for them to settle on.
The construction of the Church of San Ignacio began in 1686, according to the plans of the architect Juan Kraus S.J. When Kraus died, other European Jesuit architects took charge of the works, being inaugurated in 1722 and consecrated in 1734. These walls are made by hand and made up of bricks and adobe.
On August 20, 1662, the Colegio de San Ignacio decided to move to the block, which was provisionally located in another building. In 1710 the architect Kraus designed the Cloister of the College and began the work, completed in 1729. Complying with the orders of the Royal Expulsion Decree issued by Carlos III of Spain, the Society of Jesus had to leave Buenos Aires on July 3, 1767, so in 1772 the Royal College of San Carlos was inaugurated, renamed in 1783 as Colegio Convictorio Carolino, where the National College of Buenos Aires currently operates.
In 1730, the Jesuits also built the Missions Attorney's Office, on the current corner of Perú and Alsina, whose plans are attributed to the Jesuit architect Juan Bautista Prímoli. The Attorney General's Office was in charge of managing the commercial benefits that the Mission had, as well as the lodging of the indigenous people of the reductions that came to carry out different tasks. In the building there was a school and the apothecary or pharmacy, located in the northern sector, as well as warehouses and rooms, located in the western and southern sectors.
Time of the Viceroyalty
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Due to the aforementioned order given by Carlos III, the Jesuits withdrew in 1767, but during the time of the viceroyalty constructions were also carried out. The first theater in Buenos Aires was built in what used to be the Colegio ranchería, in front of the Manzana, giving the city a great cultural boost. Using some classrooms from the old school, the Real Colegio San Carlos was inaugurated, the Royal Printing Office for Foundling Children began to operate, the Protomedicato was founded in the sector of the former Jesuit Attorney General's Office and in the old orchard of the school, five rental houses were built.
The Tribunal del Protomedicato was put into operation in the viceroyalty in 1780, and the seat of the court was the former Attorney of the Missions.
The rental houses were built in the old school garden, at the corner of Peru and Moreno streets. Its construction was in charge of the Portuguese architect José Custodio de Sáa y Faría and began in 1782. In the basement of these houses the viceroy ordered the construction of thirty-four dungeons to house the Oruro insurgents. Throughout the XIX century, these buildings were the headquarters of: the General Archive, the Court of Accounts, the Public Library, of the Vaccine Administration, the Department of Schools, the Topographic Department, the Bank of the Province of Buenos Aires, the Commercial Court, the General Government Notary, the Buenos Aires Customs, the newspaper " La Prensa", of the Deliberative Council of the City of Buenos Aires, of the National Academy of History, and of the Faculties of Exact Sciences and of Architecture of the University of Buenos Aires.
The Royal Printing House for Foundling Children was so named because part of the profits were used to help the Casa de Niños Expósitos. In 1780, Viceroy Juan José de Vértiz y Salcedo installed the printing press at the intersection of what is now Peru and Moreno streets, but it was moved in 1783 to the corner of Peru and Alsina, where it operated for more than forty years.
Independent time
The Patricios Regiment had its provisional headquarters in a sector of the Colegio Convictorio Carolino, located on the block. It was here where they entrenched themselves in the so-called mutiny of the braids, against the orders of their commander Manuel Belgrano, in 1811.
On March 16, 1812, the Public Library opened its doors at the corner of Moreno and Peru streets. Its creation was the first measure of a cultural nature taken by the Primera Junta, on September 7, 1810. The books that would be used would be the same as those owned by the Colegio de San Carlos, adding, among others, those donated by Bishop Azamor y Ramírez.
Between 1820 and 1854, it was the seat of the Buenos Aires Board of Representatives, also known as the Representatives Hall, it was a government body that operated in the Province of Buenos Aires and replaced the Cabildo de the City of the Holy Trinity and Puerto de Nuestra Señora del Buen Ayre.
On August 12, 1821, the University of Buenos Aires was founded in the San Ignacio Church. The place where it would work was the facilities of the old Attorney General's Office, at the intersection of Peru and Alsina streets. On August 28 of that same year, the General Archive of the Province of Buenos Aires was founded and installed on the block. On August 29, 1884, the name of the entity was changed to the General Archive of the Nation, which operated in the same place for several years.
This block was also the place where the Banco de la Provincia de Buenos Aires was installed for the first time. The activities of the institution began on September 6, 1822 in one of the profitable houses on the block, until it was moved in 1827 to its current property.
The Public Museum of Buenos Aires has also operated on this block. In 1854 it was moved from the Santo Domingo Convent to the former Missions Attorney's Office, where it occupied four rooms. The museum had directors such as Carlos Germán Burmeister, Carlos Berg, Florentino Ameghino and Ángel Gallardo.
Several educational institutions passed through the site of the Colegio de San Ignacio, not only during the viceroyalty but also during independence. In 1817 Juan Martín de Pueyrredón organized the Colegio de la Unión del Sud, which would be inaugurated a year later in those facilities. Then in 1823 it became the College of Moral Sciences, an institution where Esteban Echeverría, Vicente López, Juan María Gutiérrez, Miguel Cané (father), José Mármol, Félix Frías, Marcos Paz and Juan Bautista Alberdi studied. During the government of Juan Manuel de Rosas, the school was handed over to a group of Jesuit clergymen, and the institution was renamed Colegio de San Ignacio. After the expulsion of the Jesuits, accused of conspiring against the government, the school was renamed Colegio Republicano Federal. After the battle of Caseros, a barracks was installed there, and then the Ecclesiastical College.
The Hall of Representatives was built in 1821, at the corner of Moreno and Peru. The work was directed by the architect Próspero Catelin and was located in one of the profitable houses. The Provincial Legislature functioned there from 1822 to 1884, except for two and a half years. The General Constituent Congress also functioned from 1824 to 1827, the National Congress on that same date and from 1862 to 1864, the Provincial Constituent Congress of 1854 and the Provincial Conventions of 1860 and 1870.
Republican era
On March 14, 1863, the first national president, Bartolomé Miter, granted the definitive name to the National College of Buenos Aires by decree. Since then, it also became the property of the State. Meanwhile, the University installed its new faculties in the old Jesuit buildings. The engineer Charles Pellegrini carried out a total remodeling of the viceregal façade, adding a front, Corinthian columns and niches, together with the expansion of the facilities, maintaining that Italian appearance to this day.
The Deliberative Council of Buenos Aires met in the old Chamber of Representatives from 1894 to 1931, and the auditorium was later used as the Aula Magna of the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism until it moved in 1972.
The National Academy of History, then called the American History and Numismatics Board, operated in the General Archive of the Nation building from September 4, 1904 until 1906, the date on which it moved together with the Archive to the building of the old National Congress.
In the early years of the XX century, the old viceregal building of the Colegio de San Ignacio was demolished (with the exception of a gallery of the lower cloister that is located parallel to the church) in stages. In 1910 construction work began on the new building, which is in the French neoclassical style, according to a project by the architect Norbert Maillart. The official inauguration was in charge of President Roberto M. Ortiz, on May 21, 1938.
In Peru street, a building designed in 1907 by Alejandro Christophersen and Pedro Coni was built at the same time to house the Faculty of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences, which would later be demolished when the last remaining faculties were transferred to the Ciudad Universitaria and the block finally became a historical museum.
In 1937, the old Public Museum was transferred to a property in Parque Centenario, where it remains today but with the name of the Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences "Bernardino Rivadavia".
The northwest corner of the building was demolished at the end of the 1930s to allow the layout of Avenida Julio A. Roca, losing one of its entrances and the symmetry of its façade.
When it was transformed into a Museum in 1972, the authorities decided to demolish any construction that was not “authentic” of the Jesuits as a whole. Thus, all the extensions that had been built for University classrooms disappeared, and one of the buildings was completely demolished. In addition, the internal patios of the additions made throughout the century for the use of the faculties were cleared and an attempt was made to leave standing only what belonged to the viceroyalty period.
Viceregal Tunnels
A network of tunnels cut through a large part of the subsoil of the old city of Buenos Aires, most of them in a delicate state of conservation because they are part of the founding architectural conception of the city, 400 years old. They consisted of a cleverly conceived network of two tunnels running from south to north and one from east to west. Originating in the 18th century by the ingenuity of Jesuit priests, their construction was motivated by various reasons.
The subsoil of Buenos Aires presents several types of elements, which are detailed below, so that they can be identified and not confused with tunnels:
Documented background of the existence of the tunnels
There is a map dating from 1780, ordered by Viceroy Juan del Pino, in which the city center blocks are indicated in pink, highlighting buildings, monuments and squares, totaling 45 main city blocks, and the Manzana de las Luces is already delimited in detail, the tunnel or gallery called A and its prolongation towards the south towards the house of Juan Manuel de Rosas (Moreno and Bolívar) and the north end towards the Cabildo. This map bears witness that the tunnels were built at the end of the 18th century by the Jesuits before their expulsion.
19th century graphic media
“I have found in the Caras y Caretas of January 21, 1899, No. 16, when this publication was directed by none other than the famous writer Fray Mocho (José S. Álvarez) a news item within an article entitled 'Portfolio of curiosities (In the past and now)', signed by Fabio Carrizo, which I transcribe: “The house owned by Mr. Manuel Aguirre, at the corner of Victoria and Bolívar, is built on the basement – which still exists – where the inquisition must have settled in 1750.” The Inquisition is named, the institution in charge of safeguarding the purity of belief, which in no other document appears related to the mysterious tunnels.”1
The second mention of the existence of tunnels in Buenos Aires was given by the Gaceta Mercantil in its edition of April 17, 1848, where it mentions an underground gallery that led to the Men's Hospital that was located at Humberto 1 almost corner Balcarce, that is, bordering two buildings made by the Jesuits, the Church of Our Lady of Bethlehem (called San Telmo) and a residential house and for spiritual exercises. On May 16, the same newspaper published a communication from the Chief of Police Mr. Juan Moreno to Judge Eustaquio J. Torres. He informs him of the discovery of existing constructions in the subsoil of the city and comments on a gallery under Potosí street (Alsina) that crossed the Church of San Ignacio to one of the houses owned by José María Coronel that had previously belonged to the Society of Jesus and that they used them for spiritual exercises.
Later, four articles appeared in the newspaper La Nación in August 1909 under the title "Los subterraneos de Buenos Aires". They originated from the subsoil sanitation tasks carried out by Public Assistance – the municipal body responsible for popular health – in the blocks located around the church of San Ignacio and the secular convents of San Francisco and Santo Domingo.
19th century archeology
In 1893 the archaeologist Burmeister went through sections of tunnels and left some record of his studies on a map. At that time it was thought that these tunnels formed a network that linked the churches, the public buildings and the Fort, which faced the Río de la Plata.
20th century archeology
During the construction in April 1912 of the foundations for a drawing room in the building of the Faculty of Exact Sciences, a subsidence occurred in the ground at the height of Peru at 200, sections of a network of tunnels studied since then by the architect Héctor Greslebin. The architect gathered all the information about tunnels in various graphic media, and studied the writings of the German archaeologist Carlos Germán Burmeister. Héctor Greslebin named the tunnel sections: A, B, C and D. Tunnel B cuts perpendicular to A, runs parallel to the Patio de la Procuraduría and from there tunnel D starts with an entrance through Peru 208. Tunnel C emerges from a point in tunnel D, which runs parallel to Calle Perú to Moreno for a long stretch.
After studying them for a couple of years, he came to make a layout, initially based on the plans left by the engineer E. Topelberg in 1915, which appears with number 261 in the Archive of the General Directorate of Architecture, and especially the destinations where they led. He returned to study tunnel sections in 1918 accompanied by José Espinoza. 2 It used two entrances, one that was under the National College and another in the basement of the Museum of Natural History that was operating at that time in Peru 208.
Structure of the tunnels
Galleries carved directly into the rough stone with a pick, three or four meters deep, with a level floor, vertical walls and a vaulted crown, measures ranging from 0.90 to 1.60 m wide by 2 to 2.2m high. It became clear that for the construction of the tunnels they used compasses, the directions followed by the puncture of the peak are visible and recognizable.
Tunnel A starts under the courtyard of the Colegio Máximo, crosses the entire Church of San Ignacio and ends at Alsina street. Under the patio, the descent was carried out by an inclined plane in the southwest corner, which leads to a rectangular chamber, which was an old Jesuit cellar, in its walls you can see niches with the dimensions of Spanish pipes, which descended through said plane. inclined. This gallery A from the winery to the north end on Alsina street, measures 105.40 m in length, taking into account the sinuosities of its development.
The clear difference that gallery A shows between its winding portion to the south and the straight one to the north may be due to a change in technique or builder. Gallery B, which runs from east to west, cuts almost perpendicularly to the straight part of gallery A, those who had been conserving a section of 2.26 m high by 1.75 m wide on gallery B when they came across this gallery A decrease the height to 2.16 m by 1.57 m wide. So, From south to north (Rivadavia to Moreno) it linked Cathedral, Protomedicato, San Ignacio and is lost at the height of Moreno at 500. From west to east it linked the Convent of San Francisco, the Missions Office, and the Convent of Capuchin Nuns (from Defensa to Piedras). A short stretch goes from Casa de Niños Espositos, Missions Attorney's Office, Casa de la Virreina (Belgrano and Peru) (demolished) (from Alsina to Belgrano)
In 1972, the demolitions carried out in the Aula Magna of the Faculty of Engineering that was on the area of access or ventilation of the tunnels discovered for this reason. This area was delimited as a "rescue site" by the architects involved at the order of Jorge Gazaneo.
On November 18, 1974, the corner of Alsina and Bolívar streets collapsed, revealing a section of tunnels under San Ignacio with a total of 70 m of tunnel.
Uses
- Defence
- digged in depth and with prolongations (chicote)
- Cells, labyrinth traced to prevent projectiles, false outputs.
Ruth Tiscornia ruled against this theory, pointing out that if the works were carried out to defend the port, the governors would have used or alluded to them in their strategic plans, however, the viceroys did not leave any information about them and in 1806 when the English invasions were not used. The banks of the river were the city's best defense and the author believes that they were made solely for smuggling, as they were aimed at the Fort and Customs. The city has not been interested in tunnels since the creation of the country in 1810, an extremely striking fact. 1
- Communication
- - Churches, convents and cloisters, among themselves
- - Strong.
- - Women's and men's hospital. The men's hospital was in Humberto Primo corner Balcarce. The Women's Hospital was Public Assistance and it worked since 1774.
- - Procuraduría de Misiones
- Trade
- Puerto Santa María de los Buenos Ayres. Piracy, travelers and others.
- Warehouses with direct access to the river. Buenos Aires could not trade with the overseas ports, then they resorted to smuggling. It is known that this activity had become a formality in the Rio de la Plata, and the traders and the authorities participated in it. Smuggling reasons: Smuggling in virreinal times was not considered a crime. It was the resource that the inhabitants of Buenos Aires had to meet their needs as the city was deprived of free trade with the overseas ports. The ships that arrived were left to repair their helmets and temporarily discharged their drawers that placed in deposits where the goods was secretly replaced. The fastest and safest way to mobilize was the tunnels.
Probability of passage of slaves or people used for cheap labor, in viceregal times.
- House of the vice.
value enhancement (1972-1982) Since the studies carried out by Jorge Gazaneo's team in 1972, surveys and designs of the future site to be restored were carried out. Ten years later, the task of consolidating and rescuing heritage was carried out. Thus, superimposed floors and sub-floors were visualized separated by a layer of demolition materials (rubble) and with evidence of square brick and limestone tiles with drawings from the viceroyalty period. To control and record the findings, a 5 x 5 m topographic mesh was drawn up, taking a line parallel to the wall of the Attorney General's Office and 0.25 m from it as the starting axis. The wells dug between 5.6 and 2.6 m allowed to evaluate the following:
- 1- That in the proposed area to consolidate the three branches of the tunnel system that converge to the ventilation fireplace or access overlap different testimonies.
- 2- That the testimonies coincide with the traces of walls built by the Jesuits that bordered a claustral courtyard toward the east. The matching of thicknesses and continuity of the frosts is total as well as the materials and mixture used in the construction.
- 3- That such findings, due to their irregular invoice, indicate the function of foundations and were not walls of underground premises.
- 4- That the perimeter foundations laid out in evidence have been destroyed by sanitation works after the virreinal period, and by 1950 by the location of a column composed of normal profiles.
- 5- That there are identical reasons for explanation to the interruption of the continuity of the same wall where the existing gap coincides with the remains of a second column of equal invoice to the descripta.
- 6- That the vertical well that links to the three tunnels allows to observe the existence of a thick inner foundation parallel to the previous one and receives the discharge of three vaults, two tops under roof, and one at the level of the first floor.
The three branches of tunnels: the one that goes to the southeast has three masonry inclusions, remains of footings1 built in the XIX century that plug it. The branch that goes to the east was blocked by the works of the firing range sector of the Nacional Buenos Aires and the semi-basements of the Library of the Faculty of Engineering. The one that heads west for a few meters is an unfinished work. In all of them, evidence of the type of work is maintained and the marks of the shoe used to outline the section of the work are legible. As for the way of working and the detailing, it is a typical military work of which there are documents from the XVI century of the called "Italian School" which was used by the Spanish kings. It is worth mentioning Girolamo Maggi2 who wrote manuals on the subject of defenses dug into the ground, inspired Sebastien Le Preste de Vauban3 whose work is classic in terms of military treatises for defense works of the century XVII. In our country, Juan Martín de Pueyrredón was familiar with this bibliography and describes the techniques used to defend a city on the plains in a grid, a series of resources among which he cites tunnels similar to the ones we are discussing. Thus they concluded that the foundations reach a depth of 3.4 m up to a height of 4.5 m, and of tunnels whose floor level is located at a height of 5.6 m (hypothetical 6.4 m). They designed a polygonal plan that starts from the original vertical well used as an entrance of natural light over the tunnels. The plant is linked to the access staircase.
Institute of Support for the Cultural Activity of the Manzana de las Luces
The Institute of Support for the Cultural Activity of the Manzana de las Luces, was created in 1982 with the purpose of collaborating with the National Commission of the Manzana de las Luces in the achievement of its objectives, it was its Intermediate Entity until the year 2016.
Institute for Historical Research
It was created in 1977 to promote the investigation and dissemination of the events that occurred in the place. In La Manzana there are architectural testimonies not only from different national and provincial institutions, but also from institutions dating from the 17th and 18th centuries. The members of the institute believe that to investigate the history of the Apple is to recover the past of Buenos Aires.
News
Currently, the Manzana de las Luces is one of the main historical museums in downtown Buenos Aires, and artistic exhibitions are held in the Casas Redituantes sector.
An empty parking lot marks the site of the College of Engineering. On this land, in 2011, the new headquarters of the National Commission of Museums and Monuments and Historical Places (CNM) and the National Heritage Center (CNP) are projected with various smaller entities dedicated to this area. A draft competition was held by the Ministry of National Planning and the Central Society of Architects, and the first prize was awarded to the proposal of the architects Pablo Pschepiurca, María Hojman, Rodrigo Grassi, Enrique Speroni, Gabriel Martínez and Juan Martín Flores. The new building would allow the transfer of the CNM from its current location, in the backyard of the Cabildo de Buenos Aires, where it has operated in reduced facilities since 1940.
The architects propose a discreet rustic concrete façade that does not break the harmony of the old viceroyalty façades, behind which there will be a glazed building that will not touch the old handcrafted brick dividing walls of the existing buildings, leaving them exposed. sight and allowing a strong contrast between current and ancient materials. By placing two buildings, one on the façade facing Peru Street and the other on the back of the lot, a generous internal patio would be generated, a characteristic shared by the buildings of the Attorney General's Office and the House of Representatives, and which would allow the interior connection with both.. Finally, from the central patio a descending ramp will be built leading to the viceroyalty tunnels.