The Jesuit Block in the City of Córdoba

The Jesuit Block in the City of Córdoba includes the Church of the Compañía de Jesús, the Domestic Chapel, the Jesuits Residence and the Principal’s Office of the National University of Córdoba –former Compañía de Jesús High School— with its own administrative buildings, the Cloisters, the Conferring Room, the Library and the Monserrat National High School.


In 1599 the Jesuits settled in Córdoba, in the plot of land provided by the local City Hall, where there had been a small chapel since 1589 that soon became too small to accommodate priests, students and faithful locals. This is why the building work began in 1606, which later on would become the present Jesuit Block. Successively, more buildings were built for the High School (1610), the University (1622), the Royal School of Our Lady of Montserrat (which was founded in 1687 but set up in its present site in 1782, after the expulsion of the Compañía), and also the Novitiate (towards 1710). The Church and the Domestic Chapel were built from 1644 to 1671. The old chapel, one of the oldest ecclesiastical buildings preserved in Argentina, constitutes the Domestic Chapel Sacristy.


The Jesuit estancias (large cattle ranches) in Córdoba are a singular sample of the productive organization of the religious members of Compañía de Jesús in the country, and this is still shown in a carefully preserved architecture. Though history demonstrated that the farms were acquired for economic purposes in order to support schools and universities, the estancias were of course used “for missionary purposes, thus turning into religious centers.”