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Galerías Pacífico

Galerías Pacífico
Buenos Aires - Galerías Pacífico.jpg
View of the facade.
Location Buenos Aires, Argentina
Address Florida St. and Córdoba Avenue
Opening date 18 May 1992; 24 years ago (1992-05-18)
Architect Juan C. López & Assoc.
No. of stores and services 150
Total retail floor area 11,200 m2
No. of floors 3
Website galeriaspacifico.com.ar

Galerías Pacífico is a shopping centre in Buenos Aires, Argentina, located at the intersection of Florida Street and Córdoba Avenue.

The Beaux Arts building was designed by the architects Emilio Agrelo and Roland Le Vacher in 1889 to accommodate a shop called the Argentine Bon Marché, modelled on the Le Bon Marché in Paris.

In 1896 part of the building was transformed into the first home for the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes and in 1908 the British-owned Buenos Aires and Pacific railway company acquired part of the building for offices. The company's name derived from the fact that its intention was to operate a train service linking Buenos Aires and Valparaíso in Chile, thereby giving access to the Pacific Ocean. From that time onwards the building became known as Edificio Pacífico.

In 1945 the building was remodelled by architects José Aslan and Héctor Ezcurra, and the offices were separated from the rest of the building. A large central cupola was constructed and decorated with 12 frescos by artists Lino Enea Spilimbergo, Antonio Berni, Juan Carlos Castagnino, Manuel Colmeiro and Demetrio Urruchúa. These frescos, executed in 1946, are some of the most important in Buenos Aires.

In The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein describes how the building was used as a torture center by the military junta that ruled Argentina from 1976 through 1983:


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