The Paz Palace is a former mansion in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

, housing the Military Officers' Association, a social club maintained by the

Argentine military The Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, in es, Fuerzas Armadas de la República Argentina, are controlled by the Commander-in-Chief (the President) and a civilian Minister of Defense. In addition to the Army, Navy and Air Force, there are ...

Overview

One of Buenos Aires' most traditional

social club A social club may be a group of people or the place where they meet, generally formed around a common interest, occupation, or activity. Examples include: book discussion clubs, chess clubs, anime clubs, country clubs, charity work, criminal ...

s, the Military Officers' Association was founded in 1881 by

Nicolás Levalle Nicolás Levalle (1840-1902) was an Argentine military officer, who took part in several military campaigns, including the Battle of Cepeda, Battle of Pavón on occasion of civil wars, and the Battle of Pehuajó and Battle of Yatay, during the Pa ...

, a decorated officer in the

Argentine Army The Argentine Army ( es, Ejército Argentino, EA) is the Army, land force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of Argentina. Under the Argentine Constitution, the president of Argentina is the comman ...

who believed such a facility could help mitigate tensions among the officer corps from Argentina's then-fractious provinces. The club relocated to a palace facing San Martín Plaza in 1938. The building was designed by

French architect The following is a chronological list of French architects. Some of their major architectural works are listed after each name. Middle Ages Étienne de Bonneuil (late 13th century) * Uppsala Cathedral, Sweden Jean de Chelles (13th century ...

Louis Sortais and built between 1902 and 1914 at the behest of José C. Paz, the proprietor of the city's then-second most-circulated newspaper, ''La Prensa''. Built entirely with material imported for the purpose from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, the palace stands near the eastern end of

Santa Fe Avenue Avenida Santa Fe is one of the principal thoroughfares in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The artery is essential to the imaginary axis of Barrio Norte in Buenos Aires, comprising the areas influenced by the route of the avenue through Retiro, Recole ...

, in the Retiro section of Buenos Aires.Frommer's Review: Círculo Militar
/ref> Cannons Museo de Armas de la Nacion

The association established a number of cultural entities. The Officers' Cultural Foundation, which administers the palace as a museum and hosts lectures, expositions and concerts, is maintained in conjunction with the Catholic University of Argentina. The palace also houses the Officers' Library, a small publishing house devoted to the translation of military texts from overseas, as well as its own library, a collection of over 120,000 texts which serves as the primary resource for military history research in Argentina.''El Círculo Militar: 100 años despues.'' Secretaría de Información Pública, 1981.

Museum of Arms of the Nation

The National Museum of Armaments (Spanish:Museo de Armas de la Nación) is also housed in the Paz Palace. Argentina's most important military museum, it was inaugurated in 1941 and includes 15 rooms where its collection is divided chronologically and by country of origin. Its oldest pieces include a

chain mail Chain mail (properly called mail or maille but usually called chain mail or chainmail) is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh. It was in common military use between the 3rd century BC and ...

armor belonging to the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

Emperor

Comnenus Komnenos ( gr, Κομνηνός; Latinized Comnenus; plural Komnenoi or Comneni (Κομνηνοί, )) was a Byzantine Greek noble family who ruled the Byzantine Empire from 1081 to 1185, and later, as the Grand Komnenoi (Μεγαλοκομνην� ...

(c. 1100),

crossbow A crossbow is a ranged weapon using an Elasticity (physics), elastic launching device consisting of a Bow and arrow, bow-like assembly called a ''prod'', mounted horizontally on a main frame called a ''tiller'', which is hand-held in a similar ...

s, maces,

two-handed sword The English language terminology used in the classification of swords is imprecise and has varied widely over time. There is no historical dictionary for the universal names, classification or terminology of swords; a sword was simply a double ...

flail A flail is an agriculture, agricultural tool used for threshing, the process of separating cereal, grains from their husks. It is usually made from two or more large sticks attached by a short chain; one stick is held and swung, causing the othe ...

s and other weapons dating from the

Crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

s, and an

arquebuse An arquebus ( ) is a form of long gun that appeared in Europe and the Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. An infantryman armed with an arquebus is called an arquebusier. Although the term ''arquebus'', derived from the Dutch word ''Haakbus ...

used during the

Battle of Aguere The Battle of Aguere, or Battle of San Cristóbal de La Laguna, was fought between forces of the Crown of Castile, led by the Adelantado (military governor) Alonso Fernández de Lugo, and the natives of Tenerife, called Guanches. The battle took pl ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

. The museum also houses a large collection of banners and weapons dating from the

Argentine War of Independence The Argentine War of Independence ( es, Guerra de Independencia de Argentina, links=no) was a secessionist civil war fought from 1810 to 1818 by Argentine patriotic forces under Manuel Belgrano, Juan José Castelli and José de San Martín ...

, including a locally modified Mauser rifle prized at the time for its durability, as well as a modern artillery section tracing the development of the early

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles ...

during the 19th century. The library is reserved for the association's members and for researchers, though the military museum is open to the public and the Paz Palace itself can be visited through guided tours.

External links and references

Círculo Militar
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paz Palace Military of Argentina Military and war museums in Argentina Palaces in Buenos Aires Houses completed in 1914 Museums in Buenos Aires Museums established in 1941