Iglesia Catedral

Dominating the prospect from Plaza San Martín, one of Argentina’s few notable 17th-century buildings, Córdoba’s cathedral was the work of a succession of architects, most notably the Jesuit Andrés Blanqui (who designed the neoclassical facade) and the Franciscan Vicente Muñoz (responsible for the Romanesque dome). Begun in 1677, this long-term project sometimes resulted in contradictory styles—the towers were the work of an anonymous architect, and postdated the building’s inauguration in 1758. The richly decorated interior is the work of Catamarca-born painter Emilio Caraffa (1863–1939).

The cathedral is also the final resting place of several distinguished cordobeses, including the priest-politician Gregorio Funes (1749–1829), who played a key role in the independence movement, and General José María Paz (1791–1854), whose military career spanned the wars of independence and the civil wars against Rosas. The most offbeat presence, though, is the literally heartless Fray Mamerto Esquiú (1826–1883)—following his sudden death and an autopsy, the onetime Franciscan bishop of Córdoba left his heart in his birthplace of Catamarca. There, preserved in alcohol in a glass urn, the organ once appeared mysteriously on the roof of the order’s landmark church; it now remains locked in the convent.