San Telmo, a neighborhood meaning art

Walking across the streets of San Telmo is a walk through the origins of the Buenos Aires. San Telmo's name comes from the devotion of the sailors and immigrant workers who placed their first houses there to San Pedro Telmo, as it was named the first church built in the neighborhood. The name and the streets of this special quarter and it reminiscence of the influence of the Rio de la Plata on Buenos Aires inhabitant's life and the strong Catholicism of the time.

Every corner of this San Telmo has many magical secrets and curiosities like La Casa Mínima a house built in 1813, with only 2.5 meters wide and 13 meters length, considered the narrowest house in the city. In spite of this historical character, San Telmo's main attractions are the traditional flea market at the Plaza Dorrego square and the artisans market that have place every Sunday along the Defensa St in a large street art exhibition of approx. 3km long, gathering the best craft makers, independent designers and collectors of antiques.

San Telmo's count as well with a large number of curious museums including the Museum of Puppets, the Toy Museum, the recently re-opened Museum of Modern Art MAMBA, notable for its minimalist interior design and the "Museum of the City of Buenos Aires among other Buenos Aires museums.

But San Telmo, as an icon of the urban culture that characterizes Buenos Aires, is home of another type of artistic expression that is not shown in any art gallery or museum, an art where the frames are the walls, an art whose artists are in process of legitimation, and from time to time receive special licenses to place their free thoughts in the street walls: the graffiti art. And art that adds even more character to San Telmo streets and that deserves to be praised, preserved and respected for all.

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