On the eastern side of Plaza de Mayo stands a beautiful and impressive building known as Casa Rosada (“pink house). It is thought that the color of the building comes from the 19th century habit of mixing cow’s blood with white paint. When it was built in the 19th century, it was overlooking the river although with subsequent landfill it is now well inland and more than a kilometer from the river.
This Casa Rosada houses the President of Argentina’s offices; the Presidential residence is in Olivas, north of here. The building is probably best know for It association with Eva Perón. It was from the Presidential balcony of Casa Rosada that she often addressed her many supporters in Plaza de Mayo, including her final farewell with the now famous line: “don’t cry for me Argentina.” An interesting fact: Actress/singer Madonna is one of the only people allowed to visit the famous balcony while she was filming the movie Evita.
Free hour-long guided tours are given on weekends to limited parts of the building which must be booked online in advance. We visited on a weekday so this option wasn’t open to us.
