[Recap] Sans Souci Palace Meet-up

On July 21, together with @SilvyC we held the meetup at the beautiful Sans Souci Palace in Victoria, San Fernando, Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The meet-up consisted of a guided tour through the Palace, and a delicious snack in a beautiful coffee shop near it, at the end.

We arrived together on schedule, and we waited at the door until it was time to enter. The guides divided all the attendees into two groups and we came into the residence.

It was a cloudy day and threatened all the time that it was going to rain. However, the weather allowed us to make the whole tour through the palace without problem.

The entrance to the Palace is impressive! From the street it is not possible to see the construction. You only see the gate and the entrance path surrounded by the garden vegetation. It is really a spectacle, to see the beautiful construction appearing between the trees little by little, as one enters the access road. The guides told us that this distribution of the entrance is not accidental, but that it was built with the purpose of giving a certain suspense to the entrance, allowing the visitor to contemplate all the majesty of the beautiful construction. This also allowed homeowners to boast and show the power and money of the family to their visitors.

This neoclassical palace was ordered to be built between 1914 and 1918 by Carlos María Alvear and his wife Mercedes Elortondo to be their summer residence. At that time, the richest families in Buenos Aires used to live the Argentine winter in Paris, and returned in summer. The luxury ideal in those times was based on what life was like in Paris. All aristocratic families wanted their residences to look as similar as possible to those of the European city. Because of that, for the construction of their residences, they hired French architects who built their mansions in Buenos Aires similar to other beautiful Parisian buildings. To achieve the maximum possible resemblance, they even brought materials for the construction by boat from France.

The Alvear family is a wealthy and aristocratic family that had great power and an excellent pass in the life of Buenos Aires in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Great personalities of the history of Argentina belonged to this family, as:

  • General Carlos María de Alvear, who was a hero of the battle of Ituzaingó and was part of the Directory of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (grandfather of the palace owner)
  • Torcuato de Alvear who was the first Mayor of the City of Buenos Aires between 1883 and 1887, son of General Carlos María de Alvear and uncle of the palace owner.
  • Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear, son of Torcuato de Alvear and cousin of the palace owner, who was President of the Argentine Nation between 1922 and 1928.

This palace consisted, at the time of its construction, of 7 thousand square meters built and gardens that spanned over 50 hectares. Currently the building remains intact but only 2 hectares of gardens remain within the current property. The architecture of the palace was inspired by the classical architecture of the Palace of Versailles and for the construction, the French architect, René Sergent, who was at that time, the best architect which speciality was neoclassical and versatile style, was hired. The architect also built the Bosch Palace in the City of Buenos Aires, that is actually the official residence of the United States ambassador, the Errázuriz Palace, now the Museum of Decorative Art, and many other luxury residences of the time.

The beautiful gardens of the palace were designed by the famous French landscape architect Carlos Thays, who was one of the greatest landscape designers in Buenos Aires. The most important parks and squares in Buenos Aires show the influence of Carlos Thays including the Parque Centenario, the Parque Lezama, the Parque Patricios, the Belgrano Ravines and the squares of Constitucion, Congreso, and Plaza de Mayo. in addition to the beautiful Botanical Garden from the city of Buenos Aires that today has his name.

Years after its construction, the palace was bought by Durini family, when the Alvear family no longer inhabited it, and was virtually abandoned and became in total deterioration. The Durini family performed the restoration work, and lived in the palace for several years.

Currently the palace is not inhabited by the family that still owns it, but it is dedicated exclusively to commercial activity. It can be rented for luxurious events or even to spend a season in one of the individual departments that were adapted in what were some of its old rooms.

The tour through the palace is really impressive. The rooms are beautiful, full of marble and oak from Slavonia. It really impresses the huge spaces, the high ceilings and the large doors with beautiful princely ironworks brought from France, in each of the rooms. We toured the beautiful gardens full of local and imported sculptures, fountains and plants. Once inside, we visited the blue hall, the hall of mirrors, the golden hall, the games room and the dinning room. All of them with different decorations, including different colors and beautiful ornaments.

The Imperial Hall is the principal hall of the Palace and it is really impressive! It has a beautiful marble staircase which allows access to the superior rooms and a beautiful glazed dome in the middle of the living room.

The beautiful art nouveau winter garden with beveled glass, and the gallery that offers a beautiful view over the park and has direct access to the halls, was the part of the palace that I liked most.

We were also allowed access to the chapel and the subsoil area where the old palace kitchen is located.

We really enjoyed the tour taking lots of photos, listening to the history of those who lived in the palace, and enjoying the beautiful views of the building.

As a touch of color, during the tour we were joined by María Sol Durini, one of the current owners of the palace, daughter of Carlos Durini who bought and remodeled the Palace in the 50s. She told us some interesting stories and showed us several details that has the construction, in addition to telling us that sometimes during the week, dinners are organized with recognized Chefs that you can sign up can attend.

At about 5:30 p.m., we finished the tour through the Palace with our cell phones full of beautiful photos and the mind traveling towards beautiful past times. We thanked the guides and headed to the Süss Cupcake Café located just four blocks from the palace entrance, where we shared a delicious snack.

We were barely getting to the coffee shop, when a strong storm broke out. It ended up giving the ideal setting to enjoy the delicacies sold in that coffee shop. Silvina asked for a smoothie and I ordered a tea. We also shared some chocolate pancakes that were really delightful.

Being 7 pm, we finished the meeting and returned home.

I leave here the link to see more photos and some videos of the beautiful tour of the Palace.

Until the next meet-up!

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Excelente la recap @Cecilita me encantó haber compartido ése día contigo, la historia del palacio, hermosas quedaron las fotos también. Y por supuesto el final con esas delicias que compartimos.

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Fue lindo leer cómo la pasaron en este meet-up, @Cecilita . Me gustaría haber ido pero no estaba segura si iba a poder ir y entre dudas se terminaron los cupos, que como bien dijiste se acabaron rápido.

Me encanta la cantidad de detalles que agregaste sobre el lugar sobre lo que explicaron. También me gusta como hiciste los collages, y las fotos.

Y obvio, la comida del final también me encanta jajajaj, se ve muy buena.

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That is an amazing building @Cecilita I’m glad you had a fun Meetup. Thanks for sharing the building with us.

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Hi @Cecilita ,

Thank you so much for sharing this fantastic recap! I really enjoyed reading your detailed description of the Sans Souci Palace and looking at all the amazing photos. The palace and its gardens are magnificent, it looks like this was the perfect weather for taking pictures!

It’s great that you’ve also treated yourselves with a sweet snack at the Süss Cupcake Café! Was it very crowded? I guess most of the tourists who visited this marvellous palace stop there afterwards, right?

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@Cecilita very interesting meeting!! Reading it was a pleasure!!

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Nice building Beautiful meetup @Cecilita thank you for sharing with us…

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Hi @RadieN !

The coffee shop was very very nice and it was not crowded, although we catched the very last table. :slight_smile:

Thanks for your comment!

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Thanks for your comments @PaulPavlinovich , @NirmalTeja and @Male2019 !

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Hola @Cecilita , casi se me pasa el comentar esta meet-up, que me parece una cosa de otro mundo por lo que es el palacio, sus jardines, su decorado interior es increíble, y de la manera tan magistral en que lo muestras mas aun, me da muchas ganas de poder ir a visitarlo en alguna ocasión. La historia de construcción es tan interesante como que sus dueños pasaban el verano en Europa cuando aquí era invierno, así como eso muchas otras excentricidades.

Farid

@Cecilita @SilvyC qué buen plan!!! Me hubiera encantado ir con con ustedes. Soy fan de los palacios, las mansiones y las casas antiguas (también de las tortas y las cosas ricas). Me dieron unas ganas tremendas de conocer este magnífico lugar. Ya mismo lo agrego a mi lista de “Lugares por Visitar” en Buenos Aires, y espero poder unirme al próximo Meet-up! Felicitaciones chicas!! Excelente trabajo!

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Muchas gracias @CaroGuiniazu la verdad estuvo muy buena la salida, la pasamos muy bien con Ceci y aprendimos bastante sobre la historia del palacio. El lugar de la merienda la verdad es muy recomendable, no dejes de ir si haces la visita al Palacio. Espero que algún día podamos compartir un Meet up.

Saludos :raising_hand_woman:t2:

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@SilvyC Ojalá Silvy!! Tengo muchas ganas de ir a Buenos Aires. Siempre hay miles de cosas para hacer, pero me gustaría visitar todos los palacios: el Palacio Sans Souci, el Palacio Barolo, y el Palacio de los Patos. En cuanto pueda viajar, les aviso y organizamos una salida de chicas. Beso enorme!!

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El Barolo es uno de mis pendientes @CaroGuiniazu dale, cuando estés por venir organizo algo. Besos!

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