The city of Córdoba is known as “the Docta” (the educated) and since its origins it was the center of important universities where prominent figures of the country were educated.

1. Museums:
There are 22 museums in the city of Córdoba, which are owned by private companies, the province and the municipality.
The municipal museums are the following:

OBISPO FRAY JOSÉ ANTONIO DE SAN ALBERTO MUSEUM
This museum has an odd belfry in an angle and permanent exhibitions of religious images. It is located next to the Colegio de las Huérfanas (Orphans’ School), one of the first centers of women’s education in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in which the first printing press in the country started to work around the mid 18th century.

JUAN DE TEJEDA RELIGIOUS ART MUSEUM
Beautiful religious art relics are exhibited here. Its atmosphere is so unique that in the courtyard, a visitor can feel away from the dizzy speed of the town center.
DEÁN GREGORIO FUNES ECLESIASTIC MUSEUM AND OBISPO MERCADILLO MUNICIPAL EXHIBITION CENTER
The museum is a picturesque building that dates back to the 18th century. In this building, where the forged iron balcony stands out, permanent shows and exhibitions are held.

DR. GENRARO PÉREZ FINE ARTCIPAL MUSEUM
It is a big French-style house which the province Governor, Dr. Félix T. Garzón ordered to build. The museum located on Av. Gral. Paz 33 shows national and local painting collections.
Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and from 4:30 p.m.
to 8:00 p.m.


SAN ROQUE CHURCH AND OBISPO SALGUERO MUSEUM
The temple construction dates back to 1760. Reverend Diego Salguero y Cabrera ordered to build the church which has a fine wood-carved pulpit. Next to the church, the museum shows the history of medicine in Córdoba through its exhibitions.

OTHER MUSEUMS
It is important to highlight the multiple museums the city has: Contemporary Art Museum, "Bartolomé Mitre" Natural Sciences Museum, "Pedro Ara" Anatomy Museum, History and Natural Sciences Museum, "Cristóbal de Aguilar" Theater and Music Museum, Medical History Museum, "Dr. Alfredo Stelzner" Mineralogy Museum, Anthropology Museum, Paleontology Museum, Observatory Meteorology Museum, University Reform Museum, Ibero-American Crafts Museum.

WORLD CULTURAL HERITAGE:
The Jesuit congregation had a great influence on the city of Córdoba and its surroundings in such way that the heritage left by this Congregation has been declared World Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO.
Saint Ignatius Loyola, the Order’s founder, was born in 1491 in a noble and military family. In 1522 he decided to quit arms and join the church’s army. Having started his studies to become a priest, he met Francisco Javier Diego Lainez, Pedro Fabro and Alfonso Samerón in Paris, with whom he shared the constitution of a new order, Society of Jesus, under the motto "For the greater glory of God". They fought for youth education and evangelizing missions in the newly- conquered territories.
Since then, Saint Ignatius Loyola’s Order was known by the academic prestige of its schools and universities.

Jesuit Block:

Compañía de Jesús Church (1640 – 1676)
The austere facade contrasts with the richly- ornamented temple interior.
It was built with the shape of a Latin cross with a chapel on each side. The vault built like an inverted keel, the frieze of sacred ventures, the altarpiece and the pulpit crafted with the gold leafing technique; they all stand out.

Domestic Chapel (1644 – 1668)
This privately- used Jesuits’ chapel is a faithful representative of aesthetic exquisiteness balanced with engineering precision.
The chapel’s cover, as well as the one for the main temple and the altarpiece from the Jesuit period, allows us to appraise the South American baroque at its maximum splendor.

Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (UNC, National University of Córdoba)
The building, that originally had only one storey, corresponds to the urban convent typology. The main courtyard was also the first botanic garden. Largely reformed along the centuries, it faced the last alteration in the year 2000.

Colegio Nacional del Monserrat (Monserrat National School)
This building, just like the University building, has a big courtyard. In 1927, the building was redesigned by modifying the patio and adding the clock tower, which is today the School symbol, based on architect Jaime Roca’s project in neoplateresque language.

Nowadays
The old complex of the Jesuit Block was declared World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO, in November 2000.
The Trejo’s House is the first University in our country and the fourth in South America, what makes it, with 400 years of history, one of the most prestigious focus of cultural education in the continent.
The Society of Jesus Order incorporated technological knowledge to the history of South America. Due to its remarkable influence in physicians’ education, the city of Córdoba proudly holds the seal of “la docta” (the educated).
In this higher education center, many important figures such as Vélez Sársfield, Manuel Lucero and Santiago Derqui, among others were educated. The ideas that influenced the emergence of our nation were gestated here.

University Historical Museum
At present, the building holds the Historical Museum of the National University of Cordoba, opened on December 8th, 2000.
When walking through its cloisters and vaulted rooms, visitors can marvel at the enormous Jesuit library, appraise the multiple branches of knowledge in those times and value the thorough press printing work, and find evidence of the events that wrote our history in the documents of the university general historical archive.
In the Graduation Room, you will know the customs and academic ceremonies that were held at the university since the colonial period.
In one of the old galleries of Monserrat School, there are exhibitions of 19th century instruments that belonged to the physics study room and that prove the high scientific level of the institution.
The temporary exhibition rooms hold exhibitions referred to the history of the National University of Córdoba and important donations made by individuals, which increase the cultural heritage of the Trejo House.
Jesuit Estancias (ranches)
Córdoba is surrounded by stunning natural resources and sprinkled with cultural elements that have earned the international recognition from UNESCO: Santa Catalina, Jesús María, Caroya, Alta Gracia and La Candelaria Jesuit Estancias.
From this ensemble, it is important to mark the route that links the capital with Santa Catalina, the first part of the Camino Real (Royal Road) and the path along which the Spanish conquerors traveled to carry mules and fabrics from Córdoba to the Potosi mines in Peru. An odd fascinating fusion of culture and nature remained there: a perfect encounter that keeps on surprising visitors. Along these lines, you can visit Santa Catalina, Jesús María and Caroya Jesuit Estancias.
Of course you can start with a visit to the Lights Block, one of the most beautiful cultural cores of Latin America, before leaving the city to start enjoying the natural beauty of the Sierras Chicas.
These estancias were part of a big production project aimed at supporting the religious and educational institutions that the Jesuit religious Order founded in Córdoba. Unlike the settlements in Paraguay and the north of Argentina, whose purpose was the natives’ social and educational reorganization, the agricultural and vinicultural production flourished in the settlements in Córdoba, and at the same time “some of the most beautiful colonial architecture works in the country" were built, as it is stated in Córdoba’s Arquitecture Guide published in 1996 by the cities of Córdoba and Sevilla.
According to this guide, the estancias correspond to the type of monastic ensemble established for centuries in Europe and then moved to South America: A church, adjacent graveyard, cloisters for the monks’ residence and for the natives’ workshops and housing. “They are related by the intelligence and ability of their authors to adapt the European solutions to the local environmental and technological conditions, from which highly original works have resulted", state the writers Marina Waisman, Juana Bustamante and Gustavo Ceballos. "But maybe the most shocking and suggestive effect is when, by walking a deserted road, you suddenly discover, rising up through the wild vegetation, the slender Santa Catalina towers crowned by onion-like Germanic small domes. It is when you experience the amazement before the impressive adventure of those monks and their crazy venture, that you can perceive the faith and energy that must have driven them to create civilization in the middle of the desert. Santa Catalina, with its church from southern Germany and its Italian cloisters, with its workshops in rough stone masonry, undoubtedly is one of the most valuable jewelry of the colonial architecture in this country”.