Home to many of Buenos Aires most prominent government buildings, Montserrat is a neighbourhood in the east of the city’s Central Business District. Its southern extent includes one of the oldest residential districts in the Argentinian capital, with few buildings less than one hundred years old.
Plaza de Mayo is the focal point of Montserrat in its northeastern corner, flanked by the elaborate Catedral Metropolitana de Buenos Aires and Casa Rosada, the pink-coloured presidential palace where Eva Peron famously addressed the nation. The Museo Del Bicentenario nestles behind, exhibiting thousands of items belonging to former presidents, while the Museo Historico Nacional del Cabildo y la Revolucion de Mayo lies on the opposite end of the plaza. Situated within the elegant colonial-era Cabildo building, this museum displays 18th century paintings, jewellery, clothing and artefacts of cultural significance to Argentina. The grand boulevard of Avenida de Mayo stretches west from here, crossing the immense thoroughfare of Avenida 9 de Julio to the Plaza del Congresso where a monolith marks Argentina’s “Kilometre Zero”. To the south is the Historical Complex Cultural Manzana de las Luces, a city block which features some of the area’s earliest churches and missions, as well as military offices and a tunnel network used for smuggling goods during the Argentine War of Independence. Historic churches such as the Santo Domingo Convent and beautifully restored houses line the streets, stretching south towards the culturally-rich neighbourhood of San Telmo.
Montserrat is well served by the Buenos Aires Subway system, with numerous metro stations along Avenida de Mayo and Avenida 9 de Julio. Public buses also access the south of the neighbourhood whose historic streets are best explored on foot.
It was here in Montserrat that Spanish Adelantado Juan de Garay disembarked in 1580 and built the Fort of Juan Baltazar of Austria before the Jesuits began work on the Saint Ignatius Church in 1686. It was the Catalan Brotherhood of the Virgin of Montserrat’s chapel which became the neighbourhood’s namesake in 1769.