Casa Rosada or the Pink Palace in Buenos Aires

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Casa Rosada or the Pink Palace in Buenos Aires

Casa Rosada is the Official Presidential Office in Buenos Aires and one of most famous buildings in the Capital Federal.It is a great architectural icon of the city. Foreigners like to refer to it as the “Pink Palace” and Argentineans find  it hilarious.

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View from Playa de Mayo during the 200 years celebration of independence in 2010.

why is casa rosada painted pink?

Casa Rosada is situated at the eastern end of Plaza de Mayo. You cannot miss the building because it really is pink! There are two stories to why the building is pink. The first one claims that it dates back to 1873 when it was built. There were two main political parties at the time, one white and the other red.  They couldn’t decide what colour to paint the building so they have compromised and decided on pink. It became a symbol for unity.

The other reason, which is more likely, is that Casa Rosada’s was painted pink, as a result of the mixing of cow’s blood into white paint, which was meant to protect the building from the ravages of Buenos Aires’s humid climate.

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Beautiful architecture.

The famous balcony

It is a major tourist attraction in Buenos Aires because it is from this balcony that the famous Evita Peron has made many appearances. Evita Peron made her final farewell speech from this balcony before she died. It is also from this balcony that Madonna was singing the famous song “Don’t cry for me Argentina” in the movie “Evita”. Madonna was one of a very limited number of people who were allowed to visit the balcony.

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The official poster from the movie “Evita” with Casa Rosada.

But a lot of Argentinians will remember this balcony from where the military dictator Leopoldo Galtieri’s declared war against the United Kingdom in 1982 over the Falkland Islands.

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The famous balcony.

The building has been declared a National Historic Monument in Argentina. The building was built in an Italian style and is known by the locals as “Casa de Gobierno” or Government House. Interestingly, this site didn’t become the home to the Argentine government’s executive offices until 1860. Since then each president of Argentina has worked here.

The president of the country is not living in the building and has a separate presidential residence. One of the former presidents did make a wing of the palace his residence for a short period of time.

When Argentina is celebrating “25 de Mayo” (Independence from Spain) each year, they close the area in front of the Palace. There are always festivities in and around Plaza de Mayo and the President flies over the area in the Presidential helicopter and also speaks to the nation from the Palace.

Playa de Mayo and the area in front of the building is famous for political demonstrations and picketing.

You can also watch the changing of the guards every hour on the hour. Another great place to visit is the Presidential Museum. The Museum is situated to the side of the palace, close to the subte (metro) entrance. It has a lot of interesting information about the presidents over the centuries. Personal items from former presidents are also on display. The tour takes you underground to basements of some of the buildings.

There are periodic tours to the palace itself. You can wait early morning at the front gates and enter the building in groups, where you will receive a group number. Be prepared to have all your personal items X-rayed. Security is tight because they have to ensure the safety of the president.

The tour will take your through ornate chambers where there are many marble busts of past presidents and beautiful art. You will however not be able to visit the balcony!

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Madonna performing from the famous balcony in the movie Evita.

Earlier this year I did manage to secure a visit to Casa Rosada and it comes highly recommended. I will write a separate post about my visit.

Evita Peron Balcony
© Photographer: Nelieta Mishchenko | Agency: Dreamstime.com

I have been fortunate to have done quite a bit of travelling. By heart I am an adventurer and I love exploring new places, cultures and food. Travelling can become stressful and expensive. Over the years I have learnt to travel as cost effective as possible, simply by travelling more clever. Nelmitravel.com is a Adventure and Budget Travel site where I review Airlines, Accommodation, Transport, Restaurants and give helpful travel information.

16 Comments

  1. The words Casa Rosado immediately made me think of 'Evita', I saw the performance in London and knew all the songs of the musical by heart :)Dankie for the memory!

  2. Really interesting storyline… I look forward to your postings always interesting..Ever spent anytime in Italy? We are going back next Sept. 2012http://jpweddingphotograpy.blogspot.com/2011/05/im-feeling-blue.html

  3. As always Nelieta I love your storehouse of information. We are always enriched by it. Thank you for sharing this.

  4. Hi Claire thank you very much for your visit and comment. Argentina is a wonderful country to travel. I am never bored and always discover something new and wonderful. I will post a bliog about her grave and the very interesting story of her tomb..stay put!

  5. Hi Jim, thank you for the compliment. I love history,travelling and photography. So this is an excellent way for me to combine them all 🙂 Yes I have been to Italy 🙂 It is an amazing country! I will write some more about Rome before you travel next year 🙂

Thank you for visiting. Have a fabulous day!