The Legislative Palace
One of the city’s most important architectural realisations, inaugurated on August 25,1925 in commemoration of the First Centenary since national independence. Two magnificent stained glass panes, designed by Juan Buffa and brought from Italy, can be seen in the Pasos Perididos Room. Its three floors and underground area, of a neo-classicist eclectic style, occupy some 8,000sqm.

The Matriz Church

The Matriz Church was the first public building erected in Montevideo. Its construction began in 1790 and was inaugurated in October 1804, occupying the lands that belonged to the Mayor Church founded in 1726 and which suffered a partial collapse. The architectural plans were made by the Portuguese engineer Don José Custodio de Saa y Faría, who was at Spain’s service, and the Spanish engineer Don José del Pozo was entrusted with the project’s construction and direction. The remains of some Uruguay’s important political, religious and military characters are kept inside this church

Cerros’s Fortress

Located on Cerro de Montevideo, Cerros’s Fortress is one of the three fortresses the Hispanic period of Uruguay’s history has left behind. Enriching its historical heritage, it is doubtlessly the most important one in this part of the continent, especially in the military engineering field. It was built during the first decade of the nineteenth century, as a result of the English invasions to Rio de la Plata, with the aim of becoming a guard for Montevideo’s Bay. Being placed on Montevideo’s highest point and having received the honour of appearing in the Republic’s heraldry, the Fortress was later given uses other than its original one.

Accommodating watchmen and functioning as a quarantine hospital, as a military prison and as a lighthouse location place were among those. Meanwhile, the military battery detached in the Fortress carried out the mission of welcoming the arrival of friendly ships and of reminding Montevideo’s inhabitants the daily decline of the Sun. Among others, a Krupp canon of Argentinean origin and built in 1889 constitutes a salient feature in the Artillery Room. Swords of diverse origins are exhibited in Sarandí Room, as well as replicas of swords with which General José Artigas was presented by Buenos Aires Province in 1811 and Córdoba province in 1815. Thus the visitor will be able to visit and see the invaluable collections distributed in Agraciada, Las Piedras, Small Arms and Rincón y Polvorín Rooms and get to the Fortress’s walls, full of evocations and legends, and from there, appreciate Montevideo’s magnificent view, surrounding the bay.

Rivera’s House

This building dates from the beginning of the nineteenth century, and is currently located in the corner of Rincon and Misiones streets. It was purchased by the independence hero General Fructuoso Rivera in 1834 and turned into a National Historical Museum on October 12,1942. Vestiges of the old construction are still preserved, such as the rustic patio on the West side and the stairway that communicated the roof with the different rooms downstairs, which were linked to one another by beautiful arches. The several greatly valuable archaeological and historical objects exhibited in this Museum are distributed among different rooms whose denomination reflects the periods in which Uruguay’s political, civil and military history developed, from its origins to the last colonial epoch.