Buenos Aires has many spots and places that make you feel like you’re in another city. From Parisian streets to Asian-style corners, the world is in Buenos Aires. One of the city’s secret spots is in the Belgrano neighborhood, more precisely at the corner of Juramento Avenue and Vuelta de Obligado. Did you know that Buenos Aires has its own Roman Pantheon there?
Yes, Buenos Aires has its own Roman Pantheon, just like the one in the Italian capital. It’s the Parish Church of the Immaculate Conception, popularly known by locals as “La Redonda.” It’s inspired by the Pantheon in Rome, and we’ll reveal all its secrets.
A nod to the Pantheon of Agrippa right in the heart of Buenos Aires
The Parish Church of the Immaculate Conception is known to Belgrano residents as La Redonda, and its most distinctive feature is its neoclassical design, directly inspired by the Pantheon of Agrippa in Rome. Its most characteristic feature makes it a one-of-a-kind church in the city: it is the only church in all of Buenos Aires with a completely circular floor plan.
It has a dome 21 meters in diameter, and inthe center is a lantern or oculus that lets in natural light. It also houses a fresco dedicated to the Holy Spirit. The façade is classical in style, with a portico—through which you enter—flanked by Corinthian columns. One of its most important treasures is its German pipe organ (made by Laukhuff), installed in 1908.
A building with Italian influences and a history as an independent town
Construction on this “Pantheon of Rome” in Buenos Aires began in the 1860s under the direction of engineers Nicolás Canale and his son José Canale. After their deaths, the project was taken over by architect Juan Antonio Buschiazzo, and it was officially inaugurated on December 8, 1878.
Back then, Belgrano wasn’t part of the capital; it was an independent town, and its inauguration was attended by the president of the nation, Nicolás Avellaneda, and Governor Carlos Tejedor.
The literary secret that connects Sabato to this Roman Pantheon
This Roman Pantheon in Buenos Aires is also home to a literary legend linking it to Ernesto Sábato. In one of the chapters of *On Heroes and Tombs*, one of his characters pursues the members of a “Sect of the Blind” precisely through the surroundings, tunnels, and passageways of this very parish church in Belgrano.
Actually, this church doesn’t have any tunnels—that was a figment of Sábato’s imagination. But even without tunnels, knowing that we have a Roman pantheon in Buenos Aires just like the one in Italy is reason enough to visit it—and it’s free.
- 2042 Vuelta de Obligado (corner of Juramento Ave.), Belgrano, CABA.
