Bsas4U | Travel Blog » underground museums

El Zanjon: An Underground Museum in Buenos Aires

bsas4u — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 15:50:00 +0000

In the 1980’s, the Argentine Engineer Jorge Eckstein bought an abandoned house in San Telmo – in one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Buenos Aires - with the intention of renovating it and turning it into a restaurant. During the construction work however he happened upon something that was to change his life: a small on-site landslide uncovered an old cistern and the rooftop of a mysterious network of tunnels. These were the beginnings of what today has become an incredible museum. A visit to El Zanjón ( The Ditch) should without a doubt, be on your list of things to do in Buenos Aires; a tour through parts of the city, which only very few have set foot in – below Buenos Aires.

After this initial archeological discovery, a series of excavations began, which brought some light on the whole story: Below the piece of land where the Museum El Zanjón stands today, was were two underground streams met. So, the families that could afford it built tunnels to save the water from reaching the foundations of their houses. The oldest find is from a house built in 1740, but the main construction is that of a mansion built in 1830, that used to be the home of a rich Spaniard. The house after being his family home for years was transformed into a tenement building, a shopping gallery, even a parking lot in more recent years.

El Zanjón museum, a visit into Buenos Aires fascinating past!

Beyond the buildings rich history, one of the most interesting aspects of the guided visit to El Zanjon is to discover the various curios facts about Buenos Aires, such as the fact that the entire city’s ground level now is a meter above what it used to be or that the shores of the Rio de la Plata used to start a mere two blocks away from the building.

The over 500 foot network of tunnels took 20 years to dig up.

The anecdotes from the renovation process itself make the visit worthwhile. To give you an idea: all the bricks of the buildings are original, but were initially erected with mud. While renovating every single brick was taken down and replaced using cement. Jorge Eckstein’s passion and dedication to the building’s restoration is evident in every detail throughout the building, like for example the work put into the acoustics of the building, ensuring that the reverberations don’t affect the construction.

El Zanjon with a visit to the Casa Minima

Not long ago, Don Jorge (as he is affectionately known by his team) also began to restore another property, just across the street, where the famous Casa Minimastand, the building with the narrowest facade in Buenos Aires. Many tourists know the place and are intrigued to find out what the building is like on the inside – especially because of the intriguing amount of urban legends surrounding its construction. Well, the good news is that it is now possible to visit the Casa Minima, combined with a visit to El Zanjon.

The famous Casa Minima, just across the street from El Zanjon.

It’s fascinating to enter in to this tiny house and discover that in actual fact, it is only a small part of a huge building, with an incredible history itself. But we won’t give it all away, as this tour is all about the surprise factor and we wouldn’t want to spoil it for you! Don’t miss out on this great mystery tour of Buenos Aires on your vacation in Argentina.

For more tours and activities in Buenos Aires, have a look at our online catalogue at BsAs4U!

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Ciudad Emergente: Young culture in Buenos Aires

bsas4u — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 16:19:00 +0000

If you are visiting Buenos Aires between the 6^th and 10^th of May 2012, don’t miss out on one of the biggest events of the year! Ciudad Emergente is a free festival organized by Buenos Aires’s Minister of Culture, and has been going on since 2008. This year’s 5^thedition will be located, as every previous year, in the Cultural Center of Recoleta (Centro Cultural de Recoleta).

On its many stages you will be able to enjoy more than 50 bands and soloists from Argentina and other countries of the world, playing rock, pop and hip hop music. Throughout these 4 days, famous artists such as Ximena Sariñana, Adanowsky and Zoe (Mexico), Los Planetas and Russian Red (Spain), Mademoiselle K and Mustang (France), The Ganjas(Chile) and Macaco Bong (Brazil) will be performing their best songs for the crowd’s upmost delight. If you would like to see a program of the Buenos Aires Ciudad Emergente’s concerts, Click Here!

Image Credit: Ciudad Emergente

But Ciudad Emergente isn’t only about music. The festival also gives the chance for young artists to share their talent with the people of Buenos Aires. There will be digital art shows, poem recitals, fashion shows from new designers, urban street dancing and art, standup comedy, and cinema.

In 2011, half a million people assisted the spectacular event.

This year Ciudad Emergente in Buenos Aires will be combining exhibits of both street and digital art. It will be a great occasion to discover emerging young artists as well as a whole new concept of modern art. If you are a fashion lover, Ciudad Emergente is a great place to get a first peek at the new trends of some of South America’s best new designers. And if you enjoy a good laugh, the festival will be host to the funniest stand-up comedians Argentina has to offer.

Image Credit: Paper Blog

All entry to concerts and activities will be free, but it would be a good idea to arrive early because there are only a limited number of tickets. You can also check out Ciudad Emergente on Facebook!

And if you are looking for more things to do in Buenos Aires, you can also visit BsAs4U, where we offer a wide variety of tours and activities to do in this beautiful city in the safest and most comfortable conditions.

If you are looking for tours and activities in Buenos Aires during the Autumn, visit our official website

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Ciudad Emergente: Underground Art and Music

bsas4u — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 13:37:00 +0000

As Buenos Aires feels a distinct chill in the air this June, we are ever more grateful for exciting indoor activities to discover in this multicultural hub of South America, especially so when it is one of the hottest FREE events on the Buenos Aires cultural calendar: Ciudad Emergente 2011 whose last year welcomed more than 130 thousand visitors and this year is expecting a larger audience than last year.

Brought to you by Buenos Aires’ Ministry of Culture, the festival Ciudad Emergente 2011 (meaning ‘Emerging City’) is in its fourth edition and set to inspire a whole new audience with its young artistically talented program. This wildly popular festival, will be held from the 16 to 20 June in the Recoleta Cultural Centre; the perfect environment to establish underground culture and emerging talent in the genres of music, film, art, dance, fashion, standup comedy and all forms of artistic expression of this century.

Ciudad Emergente

During the 5-day festival the Recoleta Cultural Center’s courtyards, terraces, chapel and even the corridors will be filled from 3pm in the afternoon until 9pm at night with Ciudad Emergente 2011’s thrilling agenda, presenting 50 connoisseur bands, including international guests who will be playing rock, pop and all its derivatives to engage the audience and offer a sample of the underground talent that is waiting to explode to the surface.

Previous editions of Ciudad Emergente have worked to introduce new Argentine talent such as Los Alamos and Victoria Mil with international performers like theXimena Sariñana (Mexico), Macaco Bong (Brazil) and Russian Red (Spain), with an outcome proving that pop culture can establish strong global ties, while other areas of the culture festival exposed a massive following for hip-hop, as it made its mark through music and street dance. A space was also curated and developed by the makers of the prestigious International Film Festival Independent films for BAFICI (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente) to exhibit quality documentaries and short films for a wider audience. Together with poetry, digital art and fashion, Ciudad Emergente attracted attention and visitors from all over the globe to follow the new trends in Buenos Aires, Argentina and worldwide culture.

Make sure you get down to the Recoleta Cultural Centre for this special event to discover the exciting emerging talent that Ciudad Emergente produces this year and keep your finger on pulse of the hottest trends in Buenos Aires!

Check out this cool video!

For more travel activities during your visit in Buenos Aires click here

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