150 years of History, Poetry and Tradition in Buenos Aires.

This text is based on an article of La Nación Newspaper, writen by Nación Lidia Maseres Girbés. Pictures are from the same newspaper.

Opened in 1858, the Tortoni is one of the mythical places of Buenos Aires, not only because of its beauty and tradition, also because EVERYBODY have been there: Jorge Luis Borges, Benito Quinquela Martín, Carlos Gardel, Alfonsina Storni, Adolfo Bioy Casares, Tita Merello and other famous artists used to assist at the Coffee. We are talking about poets, writters, painters and acclaimed Tango singers, many of them remembered in portraits or sculptures. Others as Perez Celis have painting works exhibited there. Whole these points turns the Café Tortoni in a point of Architecture, History, Art, and Cultural not-to-miss in Buenos Aires. Fortunately, this is not the only jewel of this tipe in the City, but undoubtedly is one of the most beauty and representatives of them.

Locals and Tourist daily goes to Tortoni for living a special part of Buenos Aires and this is another good point, even when Tortoni is an “star hounded by flash lights”, there are still Porteños that goes to take a Coffee in the same way they have been done it since years, at the porteñean way, and it still possible to see “grupetes” (groups) of porteñeans “fixing the world” while they are drinking coffee arround a table, well done at the argentinian way.

The design of Tortoni is a Masterpiece of the danish Christophersen, an architect of the begining of SXX, who done, between others, the Stock Market building, Churches, Banks and Schools. Who can figure that a “little work” like the Café Tortoni will also turn in a recognized piece of Art? Christophersen didn´t know, but he built an georgeous front for the Tortoni, in a way of premonition about that this would be his Masterpiece for posterity.

By mid of XIX century, while Monet or Victor Hugo used to meet for talk in a coffee of a Napolitan named Tortoni at the Parisian Boulevard des Italiens, Touan, a french exiled at Buenos Aires, were building, at the other side of the world, a coffee where it would be breathed the same spirit. Both cafés Tortoni were incubating, greats artist and their masterpieces.

From those meetings in which almost nothing were consumed, but there was a lot of conversation, remains the  memories, the black and white images that covers the walls, the hairdressing salon (now a museum), the first familiar saloon in the city -in whitch the single men where forbidden-, and the inspirating atmosphere of the first habitues.

And there are so much things to know about the Café Tortoni and Buenos Aires, But I will tell you about when we visit it together!

            
            
                                                  (Puerto Madero)

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