Parque Lezama, Museo Histórico Nacional, Bs As, Argentina; bello lugar con mucha historia

Today we visited Lezama Park in Buenos Aires, a park steeped in history, now restored for the enjoyment of its residents. It is one of the sites where, according to historians, Pedro de Mendoza founded Buenos Aires. The land now occupied by the park was distributed by Juan de Garay in 1580 to Alonso de Vera, and it has always remained outside the city's central district. It was uninhabited land, popularly known as "Punta de Santa Catalina," at least until 1739 when it was purchased by María Bazurco, who then subdivided and distributed it. Towards the end of the 18th century, part of the current park was used by the Philippine Company, a slave trader. In 1808, it was purchased at a public auction by Daniel Mackinlay in 1812—who began the afforestation of the site—at that time it was called La Residencia (The Residence) and was the site of duels such as the one between Juan Mackenna and Luis Carrera in 1814. Finally, it was sold by the heirs of the Scotsman Mackinlay to the Englishman Charles Ridgley Horne in 1846. He expanded the original property by buying neighboring lands and built a mansion on what is now Defensa Street, but in 1852, with the fall of Juan Manuel de Rosas, he had to go into exile in Montevideo. For years the British flag flew over the mansion, and thus the residents of Buenos Aires became accustomed to calling it the Quinta de los Ingleses (The English Estate), as it appears on various urban maps of the time, and is mentioned in Esteban Echeverría's famous story, El Matadero (The Slaughterhouse). The property was sold in 1857 to José Gregorio de Lezama, a landowner from Salta, who annexed land up to what is now Brasil Street. Lezama remodeled the mansion and transformed the site into a significant private park designed by the Belgian landscape architect Charles Vereecke, as he was a great botany enthusiast. Today, the house is the National Historical Museum, where you can find all the events of our history. You can see the original invitations to the town council meeting of 1810, the original petition from the residents for independence from Spain, General San Martín's campaign cot, his room in France, where he died, with its original furniture, and much more to admire and learn about history firsthand. @museohistoriconacionalarg #youtube #buenosaires #argentina #santelmo #travel #tourism #walk #history #trips #park #destination