Larreta's Andalusian garden: the hidden Alhambra of Belgrano, Buenos Aires

A block from the congestion of avenida Cabildo, at the corner of Juramento and Vuelta de Obligado in the neighbourhood of Belgrano, a plain façade conceals six thousand square metres of garden you would not expect to find in South America. This is the Museo de Arte Español Enrique Larreta, and behind its rooms of Spanish art opens an Andalusian garden designed on the model of the Hispano-Islamic gardens of Granada.

The history of the house

The house has a layered history. It was built in 1886 by the architect Ernesto Bunge; in 1903 it passed into the family of Enrique Larreta, writer and diplomat, when he married Josefina Anchorena. Larreta is the author of "La gloria de Don Ramiro" (1908), a novel set in the Spain of Philip II and considered one of the peaks of Spanish-American modernism. During the years he spent in Europe as a diplomat he was captivated by the gardens of the Alhambra, and on returning to Buenos Aires he transformed the orchard surrounding the quinta into a garden of Andalusian design. After his death the collection and the house passed to the city: the municipal government bought the property in 1961 and reopened it as a museum of Spanish art in 1962.

The Andalusian garden

The garden is the main reason to come all this way. Its structure follows Hispano-Islamic logic: narrow paths bounded by box hedges forming a labyrinthine design, meant to be walked slowly. Among the hedges grow orange trees, palms, hydrangeas and agapanthus, and a century-old wisteria that in spring covers a pergola. Water, the cornerstone element of this tradition, returns in the fountains and basins, while the majolica and decorative details openly echo the models of Granada. It is a garden conceived as a place of meditation rather than of scenic promenade, and it shows: even with the museum open, little noise reaches in here.

The collection

Inside it is worth devoting time to the collection Larreta assembled on his travels: panels and paintings, wooden sculptures, furniture, ceramics, sixteenth-century armour and weapons, old books. The rooms preserve the atmosphere of a lived-in home, and it was, fittingly, a meeting place for writers such as Manuel Mujica Láinez, Manuel Gálvez, Horacio Quiroga and Eduardo Mallea. It is a museum you can see in an hour or a little more, which makes it easy to slot into a morning in Belgrano together with the Barrancas and the porteño Chinatown, a few steps away.

Getting there

How to get there: the entrance is at Juramento 2291. The most convenient metro station is Juramento, on line D, a couple of minutes' walk away; on the surface the Mitre railway line also runs, with the Belgrano C station. The main entrance is not suitable for people with mobility disabilities: the accessible entrance is at Vuelta de Obligado 2155, notifying the staff beforehand.

As for opening hours, it is worth checking the official site before going, because they vary and change over time: broadly the museum opens Wednesday to Monday, closed on Tuesdays, and offers guided tours in the afternoon; guided tours devoted to the garden alone are generally on the first Saturday of the month. It remains one of the least frequented spots in Belgrano despite its central location: most of those walking along Cabildo pass by the gate without imagining what lies behind it.