Córdoba, Argentina is a University town with a deep educational heritage. We spent a few days visiting the museums, art galleries and hip bars and restaurants of this old colonial city in the centre of Argentina.

Córdoba, Córdoba

It can get a bit confusing sometimes here in Argentina, where they have a penchant for naming the capital of the province the same name as the Province (or is it the other way around?). Mendoza, Mendoza. Santa Fe, Santa Fe. Córdoba, Córdoba. (But ironically, not the province of Buenos Aires – the capital of that would be La Plata. The City of Buenos Aires is like Washington, DC.)

We have to be honest up front and say that Córdoba, Argentina was not our favourite place to visit (as opposed to Córdoba, Spain, which was fascinating). It’s a University town so has lots of life but we struggled a little to get excited about the limited sights the city offers a tourist. To be fair, we didn’t do any day trips to the nearby Sierra mountains, which may offer more charm.

Córdoba is known as an educational and scientific hub. It has an ongoing rivalry with Buenos Aires maybe because Córdoba was the largest city in the country for almost 200 years before Buenos Aires was declared the capital in 1776.

Like many colonial cities there are lots of churches. The interesting thing in Córdoba is that when it was founded and the grid system of streets was carefully laid out by the Spanish, the different religious groups were allocated specific city blocks where they could build. So as you walk around the old town, you can see churches with all different styles of architecture and art.

The Iglesia del Sagrado Corazon de Jesus just one block from our apartment was an incredible gothic style church of different coloured stones. The lighting in the evening makes it even more stunning.

The mosaics on the many domes of the Basilica de Santa Domingo are stunning

The main cathedral is quite spectacular both outside and in.

Those white lines on the pavement in front of the church line up with its shadow at a certain time of day and year. All of the buildings in the old town had these lines – cool idea!

Manzana Jesuitica

One of these city blocks was allocated to the Jesuits who in the 1600’s were busy settling up communities all over this area of South America. This block has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site due to the fact it is where one of the oldest Universitiy in South America started and continues to this day.

Part of the issue we had with Córdoba was the fact it is promoted to tourists but the sites aren’t very easy to access as a tourist. The UNESCO site of the Manzana is a classic example. It’s split into three parts which are all accessed separately and at varied opening times known seemingly only to a select few. We’d tried to visit the Colegio Nacional de Monserrat, one of the first high schools set up in the country and sill in operation, on our first afternoon only to be told it opened after 4pm. So, we changed plans and came back at 4:30pm only to be told that now it was closed. This is all in rapid-fire Spanish mind you so we were more than a little confused that the most significant tourist attraction in the city appeared only open for 30 minutes a day.

Across Argentina the tourist information people have been awesome and given us lots of tips we couldn’t find online. Our Córdoba experience was a little different. When we walked in and tried English first we were met by blank stares and a startled ‘Como?’ (What?). So, our stilted Spanish it would be. The woman then proceeded to simply point at the various numbers on the map and repeat their names in Spanish. No terribly helpful. When we tried to explain our two attempts to visit the Manzana she just told us to go there straight away because 3pm was the time. We raced around the corner and then were ushered in to a tour that had just started. Our guess is that the only way to access the site is via a guided tour possibly at 3pm, or maybe at 4pm.

The tour was less than inspiring with the guide wearing an expression like he’d prefer to be stabbing his eye with a sharp pencil rather than running the tour. It consisted of about 25 minutes of talking and showing us the staff room from the doorway, a central patio and a room filled with some 18th century scientific instruments (these were by far the coolest thing).

We had a little more luck with the second section of the site which has been converted to a museum and is run by the National University of Córdoba. The museum is the first building of the University officially founded in 1613. The Jesuits had been running an educational facility for some years but it wasn’t until 1613 that it opened to the broader public. This was the result of the Jesuits accessing funding from a bishop. The will of Bishop Trejo decreed that to continue to receive funding, the college must allow students not just of the Jesuit faith but anyone from the community interested in studying Latin, arts and theology. And so the University was born.

The rooms on display house some of the important 18th and 19th century maps and books brought from Spain to the University by the Jesuits. The maps are interesting as they show the development of regions and countries of South America during the colonial period 1500 – 1800.

Disturbingly there is only a passing reference to the fact that over 200 African slaves lived in the Jesuit block and were used to build and maintain the complex while the Jesuits were there.

Several of the books on display are those studied by the students of the fledgling university and show doodles in the margins by students in the 1800’s. It seems kids don’t change.

One of the most interesting books was the 10 volume polyglot bible printed in 1654. It is written in 6 different languages including Arabic, one column per language. (Michelle: I thought you took a picture of this? Al: I thought YOU took a picture of it! Oh well – move on to the church, maybe they won’t notice)

The third section of the Jesuit block is the Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus. This is unique because the builder was a shipbuilder so the ceiling is in the shape of a ship’s hull and is made of leather.

London Bus Tour

In the hopes of getting a better feel for the place we took a city bus tour. The tour guide was great, explaining everything both in Spanish and English. We also got to wear some fun sombreros on the bus (And it was an actual London city bus imported from England)

In Search of Art

We had heard Córdoba had some excellent art galleries. What we found was they have some beautiful old colonial homes with a few pieces of art on the walls. In one gallery the attendant explained they are more focussed on showcasing the building than displaying many works. Unfortunately the modern art museum was closed while they prepared a new exhibition.

Down the Laneway

Given 15% of the city’s population is students it’s not surprising the city has a lively feel. One of the areas we found ourselves going back to several times was Guemes. The old area has been transformed to small laneways of hip bars, cafes and restaurants. We had some delicious cocktails and very good food in the area.

Córdoba, Argentina In a Very Small Nutshell

When we left Buenos Aires we had a choice of flying straight to Salta, or stopping in Córdoba for a few days first. I’m afraid we really wouldn’t recommend making the stop, unless you are driving or take some day trips out of the city to see the countryside. There just isn’t enough here to justify the time and expense (Sorry Córdoba!)

You can’t love everywhere you go. It makes you appreciate the truly great places! On the plus side, since we weren’t busy racing around it did give us some time to plan the next part of our trip: Salta and North West Argentina, and then on to Bolivia. Look for our next post on Salta and Jujuy coming soon! (We’ll even teach you how to pronounce Jujuy…)