Gallerías Pacificos

Yesterday, after we turned over the keys to our apartment which we had called home for the last five weeks, we walked back towards the centre of the city to the Gallerías Pacíficos.  We weren't interested in shopping but wanted to see this famous and more recently infamous building. The Gallerías Pacificos was designed in 1889 and served many purposes before becoming primarily a shopping mall: a market, the first location of the fine arts museum and later, the offices of the British and Pacific Railway.  This company planned to build a railway from Buenos Aires to Chile, thus giving Buenos Aires access to the Pacific Ocean.  The railway did not materialize, but the company gave its name to the building - Edificio Pacífico.  In 1945 a large central cupola was added and frescos by well known Argentine artists were commissioned to decorate it.  This gives the Gallerías a very elegant interior.  In 1987 a film crew was working in the basement of the Edificio Pacífico and discovered an abandoned torture centre left over from the Dirty Wars.  It contained some grim evidence of past crimes against Argentina's own citizens.  In 1989 the building was named a National Historic Monument. In 1991, more frescos were added and it was reopened as the Gallerías Pacífico to house a high-end shopping mall.  One side of the Gallerías Pacificos borders on Florida Street, a busy pedestrian street full of shops, tourists, hawkers, money changers and street performers. Across the street from the shopping mall is another impressive building called the Naval Centro, built in 1888 as a sports and social club for Argentina's naval officers.