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| Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral, Cordoba |
In Cordoba, we didn't need to tick off every site, as we'd been here before, but now, with a bit more time on our hands, we did take a tour of the Jesuit Manzana.
If you know a bit of Spanish, you may know that manzana means apple, which may be causing you some confusion, as it did us when we first saw the word in this context. No apples were involved; in this instance, manzana means block.
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| Cordoba University |
The tour is run by the university, which now occupies most of the former site. The world of education is important here in Cordoba, where the city is nicknamed La Docta, or the learned one.
Its dominance owes much to the Jesuits, who built up a university for those studying to become part of the order. Whilst the focus was then of course on theology, they did allow some additional study areas, and over time, both the content and the type of students were broadened.
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| Cordoba University |
The tour took us to the library, which houses a number of old and rare books, including a bible from 1645 that's written in seven different languages.
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| Cordoba University |
It also took us into the room where students would have had to read out, and be questioned on, their final dissertations. The process for any single student could take a couple of days, and they spent that time sat in a lone chair, with rows of examiners on one side, and other students on the other.
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| Cordoba University |
It was in this room that students barricaded themselves in 1918 as part of their attempts to gain reforms of the university. Up until this time, the universities in Argentina, and here in particular, were very much controlled by catholic and conservative regimes. This included decisions about the appointment of the heads and lecturers, which was a source of much discontent.
The students rose up against this regime, and won reforms that allowed the university to become more autonomous, and established student participation in its leadership. These reforms gradually spread across other universities in Argentina.
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| Church of the Society of Jesus |
After the university buildings, the tour took us to the Iglesia de la Compañia de Jesus, or the Church of The Society of Jesus.
The church, one of the oldest of those in the city in terms of when it was completed, was built between 1640 and 1668. It originally had two side chapels, the southerly one being for the white Spanish, and the northerly being for the black indigenous population and black African slaves.
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| Church of the Society of Jesus |
On a side note here, based on the current population, you could be forgiven for having no idea that black Africans were ever in Argentina, but in fact they were used as slaves here, just as in other South American countries and the USA. In Brazil, the black African heritage and culture is still evident, but here in Argentina, that is not the case, and it has all but disappeared.
Slavery was officially abolished in 1813, but continued anyway for around forty more years.
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| Church of the Society of Jesus |
After that, it seems that the black African population was not really wanted and a couple of factors combined to largely wipe them out. Firstly, black Africans were major casualties of local wars, in particular the 1865-70 war with Paraguay. Then in 1871, there was a major outbreak of yellow fever in Buenos Aires.
The incidence of deaths of black Africans may have been a simple matter of coincidence, but there are also some who believe that Sarmiento, President at that time, may have orchestrated them into the military and areas where disease was prominent, to help reduce numbers. It is unclear whether there is any real evidence to support such allegations. Sarmiento appears generally to have been a more progressive President, but not a very popular one, so it could be true, or it could just be the rumblings originating from those who were unhappy with him.
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| Church of the Society of Jesus, side chapel |
In any case, numbers of black African men in particular were decimated, leading to women marrying white men, and the gradual dilution of the genes. These day, it seems that there remains a culture of whiteness in Argentina, so even if you have black African heritage in you, it is unlikely that you would celebrate it.
After that not so cheery interlude, let's get back to the church. The outside if the church is simple and even quite austere. Some experts believe that the outside was never properly finished, and there would have been plans to add decorative features. There is also much debate as to the reason for the holes in the walls. There is some suggestion that they could be putlog holes, to house a wooden spur that held scaffolding or a walkway in place, but it seems to be to low down to be just that. So answers on a postcard please...
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| Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral, Cordoba |
The roof of the church is unusual, because the builder had made boats, so his solution for a roof that needed to cover a large expanse was basically the upturned keel of a boat.
Aside from Jesuit manzana, we also took another look inside the Cathedral, and generally wandered around looking at old part of the city, but Nic's sprained ankle meant that we didn't get too far afield in our walkabouts.
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| Cappuchin Church of the Sacred Heart, Cordoba |
We made it back to the Cappuchin Church of the Sacred Heart, which must have been cleaned since we were last here, as the multi coloured outside seemed rather more vibrant.
Disappointingly though, there was scaffolding on the front. I know that it is totally unreasonable of me, because works on places are necessary, but it is annoying when you go to a lovely building and it's covered in tarpaulins.
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| Archivo Provincial de la Memoria, Cordoba |
We did make sure to get into the Archivo Provincial de la Memoria, which is all about the plight of people during the 'Dirty War' that ran from the early 1970s up to 1983.
The military junta that was in control at that time arrested, imprisoned, tortured and often killed, those who opposed their regime.
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| Archivo Provincial de la Memoria, Cordoba |
There are some 30,000 'Disappeared', who are believed to have been murdered, but in many cases, their fate and whereabouts is unknown.
Some of you may recall that last time we were in Argentina, I wrote about the 'Madres' of the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, which is the group of mothers that walks in protest every week to try to find out the fate of their loved ones.
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| Archivo Provincial de la Memoria, Cordoba |
But it isn't just about the young men and women who disappeared. Some of those people had young children, who were taken away and given to couples who supported the regime.
Some of those children have since been identified and reunited with their biological families, but many remain lost and unaware of their true identities.
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| Archivo Provincial de la Memoria, Cordoba |
This place, which was a secret detention centre, where some 3000 of those arrested would have been brought and tortured, is now a archive for records and testimonies, and used as an educational tool.
There were a couple of school trips making their way around when we were there, which is good to see, as I believe it is really important that we understand the bad bits of our past as well as the good stuff; sadly, that is something that we in the UK seem to have failed at.
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| Archivo Provincial de la Memoria, Cordoba |
This is clearly a good place for educational purposes, but for ourselves, we didn't find the archive very useful. The information was limited, and it didn't really tell us much that was new.
That said, I think it is still an interesting place to come, as if nothing else, it helps you to envisage the terrible things that happened here, and the raw emotions in some of the displays are evident even if you don't understand everything.
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| Cappuchin Church of the Sacred Heart, Cordoba (with Creambury café) |
On a happier note, as we were in Cordoba over my birthday, and we enjoyed a wander through the artisan markets and shops in Guemes.
We also allowed ourselves a bit of a break in the eating plans, and we found a few great places to partake of tasty things. Our favourite restaurants were, unusually for us, both in hotels.
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| Cappuchin Church of the Sacred Heart, Cordoba |
One was Republica, which was in our own hotel, and the other was Sibaris in the Hotel Windsor. We also enjoyed excellent medialunas (sweet croissant) in Medialunas Calentitas, and some very tasty chocolate, dulce de leche and meringue cake in Creambury café. We even treated ourselves to a couple of cocktails in two bars, Don't Worry Guemes, and MILK. Well, you can't be good ALL of the time!
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| Church and Convent of Santa Catalina, Cordoba |
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| Plaza San Martin, Cordoba |
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| Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral, Cordoba |
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| Jesuit crypts, Cordoba |
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| Archivo Provincial de la Memoria, Cordoba |
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| Archivo Provincial de la Memoria, Cordoba |
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| Church of Saint Teresa and San Jose Convent, Cordoba |
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| Cordoba University |
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| Cordoba University |
