SAN PEDRO GONZALEZ TELMO CHURCH

Humberto 1° 340
Tel. 4361-1168
Open Mondays through Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 12 a.m. and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
January and February: Open Mondays through Saturdays from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.,
Sundays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The whole parish church of San Pedro González Telmo is a museum piece itself. With its 270 years' history, is harbors extremely valuable collections of 17th and 18th century religious art. Within the temple, there are different artistically relevant images such as the Christ of agony carved in quebracho wood and made in Cuzco. The perfect anatomy of the figures ribs and veins is amazing. Also worthy of mentioning are a figure of Jesus Christ and a Pietá. Amongst the noteworthy paintings, there is one of San Martín de Tours on the altar of Golgotha (17th century) that came from the old home for men run by the Bethlehemites before their arrival in San Telmo. Under the choir there is a figure of San Francisco de Paula attributed to one of Velasquez's disciples, and another of San Francisco de Sales (18th century) from a French school. The sacristy contains a collection of 12 oil paintings titled The Sibyls, dating back to the 17th century, a unique piece in Argentina representing the 12 prophetesses. Scholars have determined the influence of two schools in these paintings: a European school and a Cuzco art school.
The exact date this collection arrived in Buenos Aires is uncertain, but it was already in the city in 1813, when the first parish priest took over the church from the Bethlehemite fathers. Another important painting is "The Descent of Christ ", which hangs above The Sibyls, and is said to belong to the school formed by the disciples of the Flemish painter Peter Rubens.