Visit the heart of the 1810 revolution: the seat of the colonial administration, it has occupied the same place since 1580 and is an emblem of living history.
The Cabildo of Buenos Aires has occupied the same place since 1580, but its building underwent successive modifications. The first references of this emblematic construction come from the beginning of the XVII century. By 1608, it had adobe walls and a thatched roof. Inside, there was a hall for meetings and another one that functioned as a prison. In 1610, two hundred years before the First Junta, the roof was covered with tiles. Later, in the middle of the century, a balcony and towers made of wood and mud were added.
However, in 1725, it was in very poor condition and was demolished. Then, a new one began to be built, based on a project by the Italian architect Andrés Blanqui. Thus, the Cabildo as we know it began to take shape. The first floor was ready in 1748 and, in 1773, the tower appeared -a little higher than the current one- whose dome was covered with a tin roof. Yes, made of tin! That was the Cabildo of the patriots of 1810 and that was its period of greatest splendour.
It took eleven years after the Revolución de Mayo before it was abolished as an institution in 1821 and began to function as an administrative building.
In 1894, three arches in the north wing were removed to make way for Avenida de Mayo, and in 1931, three more were demolished in the south wing to make way for Avenida Julio A. Roca.
Since 1938 the Cabildo has housed the Comisión Nacional de Museos y de Monumentos y Lugares Históricos, and the Museo Histórico Nacional del Cabildo de Buenos Aires and the Revolución de Mayo.
Around 1940, the architect Mario Buschiazzo carried out the last major refurbishment of the building, partly restoring Blanqui's original design.
Museo Histórico Nacional del Cabildo
The Museum occupies the building where the Cabildo de la Trinidad y Puerto de Santa María de los Buenos Aires, capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, once functioned. In November 1939 it was opened to the public for the first time, but only the rooms on the upper floor were open to the public. In 1960, an act of Congress legalized its creation and its national jurisdiction.
The Museum's heritage is made up of the building itself and the collections made up of documents, paintings and objects from the XVII to the XX centuries. In the room dedicated to the Cabildo as an institution, the activity that was carried out in the times of the Spanish colony is reflected and you can see, among other objects, the Royal Standard and the Arca de Caudales, where the coins collected by the Cabildo through the collection of taxes were kept. Also, the 1801 Militia Regulations, a document that describes how the citizens were to form these armed corps to go into combat when they needed to defend the city.
For the celebrations of the Bicentenary of the Revolución de Mayo, renovation works were carried out and among the novelties are the incorporation of modern interactive systems of communication that favour the participation of the public. The Museo del Cabildo has two touch screens, one with the image of the painting of the "Cabildo Abierto del 22 de Mayo" and the other one with the locations of the most important geographical points of the city of Buenos Aires in the year 1810 and its location in 2010.