Palais de Glace

Built in 1911 as an ice skating rink and social club, the Palais de Glace went on to help promote tango when the dance was still opposed by the city's bourgeois elite. Designed by J. L. Ruiz Basadre and modelled on the Palais des Glaces in Paris, the Belle Époque building in Recoleta has a domed roof with a large central skylight that once lit the circular rink below.

As skating fell out of fashion, the building became an elegant dance hall where many well-known tango orchestras and dancers appeared. After the venue declined in the late 1920s, the state took it over in 1931. The architect and artist Alejandro Bustillo remodelled the interior into exhibition rooms while respecting the original design, three large murals were painted on the interior walls in 1934, and the exterior was radically altered in 1935.

Since 1960 the building has hosted the Salón Nacional de Bellas Artes (National Exhibition of Fine Arts), along with other art exhibitions and musical events. It was declared a National Historic Monument in 2004.