The church of Santa Felicitas in Barracas: a memorial and its tunnels in Buenos Aires

In the south of Buenos Aires, in the neighbourhood of Barracas, there is a complex that most tourists skip. The Iglesia de Santa Felicitas was not born as a parish church, but as a monument to a family's grief. Felicitas Guerrero, widowed very young after the death of Martín de Álzaga, was killed on 29 January 1872 by Enrique Ocampo, a rejected suitor; she died the following day. Her parents had the temple raised on the spot, which also served as her first burial place. The church was opened for worship on 30 January 1876, on the fourth anniversary of her death.

The church

The building is the work of the architect Ernesto Bunge and is one of the few surviving examples in Buenos Aires of a nineteenth-century church of the German school: a historicist eclecticism blending neo-Gothic, neo-Romanesque and neo-Byzantine elements. Inside you will find the sculptural groups dedicated to the Álzaga family and to Felicitas with her son Félix, along with the figures of the Saviour and the twelve apostles created by the German sculptor Thor Waldeern. In 2012 the building was declared a National Historic Monument.

The historic complex

What makes the visit truly distinctive, however, is what surrounds the church. The Complejo Histórico Santa Felicitas also takes in the old Quinta Álzaga, today Plaza Colombia, the túneles from 1893 and the so-called Templo Escondido, the "hidden temple". In the early twentieth century the tunnels housed a large workers' refectory with room for about a thousand people: a plate of soup, stew and bread cost a few cents, and those who did not even have that were given the meal for free. Today that space is a museum devoted to immigrants, trades and the industries of the area. The Templo Escondido, also built in 1893 in neo-Gothic style, was never consecrated and preserves 28 fine French stained-glass windows.

The tours

The tours are the reason this place stays off the beaten track: you cannot walk in whenever you like. The guided routes through the complex (tunnels and Templo Escondido) are generally held on the last weekend of each month, with sessions at 3, 4 and 5 p.m. On the last Saturday of the month, at 8 p.m., there is an evening visit with dinner offering the workers' stew and a musical performance in the Templo Escondido. There are also themed routes, including a women's-history visit that passes through the rooms of the household's wards. The visit to the church proper can include a climb to the roof, with a view over the dome and the neighbourhood from the terrace. The openings are organised by a civic heritage volunteers' association, the GIPPHi: places are limited and the calendar changes from year to year, so it is best to write ahead to the reservations address.

A practical warning: this is a historic building with stairs and no lift, so access is difficult for those with mobility problems.

Getting there

To get there: the church stands at the corner of Isabel la Católica and Pinzón (Isabel la Católica 520), while the entrance to the cultural space and the tunnels museum is at Pinzón 1480. We are in the south of the city, an area less trodden than the centre; the easiest way is to combine metro or city buses with a short walk. To arrange a visit, the reservations email address is visitasguiadas@santafelicitasmuseo.org.ar. And yes, there is also a legend: it is said that every 30 January a woman in a wedding dress wanders among the gardens of the temple.

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