Lezama Park

The Parque Lezama is a public park in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires. It is located in the San Telmo district.

Overview

Historians believe the gorge in the eastern part of the park could have been the place where Pedro de Mendoza 1536 for the first time in Buenos Aires went ashore. Then in 1790 the then small settlement Buenos Aires was the area of the present park, located south purchased by Manuel Gallego y Valcárcel and was later resold several times. Charles Ridgley Horne eventually built on the western corner (now Calle Defensa ) is a manor house in baroque style. When Juan Manuel de Rosas was deposed, and Ridgley Horne went as his former ally into exile and the land was sold to José Gregorio Lezama, who added parcels to the north and the park today and thus gave its present proportions.

Lezama beautified both the house and the land, planted rows of Tipuana and jacaranda trees before these tree species were almost typical of Buenos Aires. After his death in 1894 sold Lezama 's widow, the eight -acre property to the city with the proviso to turn it into a park in memory of her late husband. The villa at Calle Defensa 1897 converted into the National Museum of History and the garden created in 1904 by the landscape architect Carlos Thays with gates, a rose garden, a pavilion, a sculpture garden and an esplanade. The area of ​​the park in 1901 enhanced by the inauguration of the Russian Orthodox Church of Buenos Aires and by the construction of several buildings in the style of the Second Empire.

In the 1930s, the fence was removed and built several monuments, including the Monumento a Pedro Mendoza. In recent decades, the park was increasingly signs of age, also caused by the theft of decorative urns and bronze sculptures. The Mayor Mauricio Macri initiated in 2008 renovations at the park. Among the measures that should be completed by the end of 2009, include a new fence along the lines of the old as well as a sundial.