Ciudad Vieja

Ciudad Vieja (Old City) is the name of the oldest part of Montevideo city, the capital of Uruguay. Nowadays, Ciudad Vieja is a neighbourhood of this city. In the last couple of years it has gone through a major transformation that has made it the main nightlife centre in town.

Until 1829 it was surrounded by a wall that protected it from possible invasions, though the defences. After the wall was torn down, the only kept part was its gateway, which is up to this day an emblem of this part of town. Some streets remind the presence of the wall, like Ciudadela (citadel) or Brecha (breach), which has this name due to the fact that it was near but at this point that the British managed to open a breach on the wall during the 1807 British invasion. The old street Sarandí was turned into a pedestrian walkway in 1992, which increased its commercial and tourist attractiveness. In 2005 it was extended to beyond the Constitution Square.

Ciudad Vieja has the most beautiful buildings from the colonial period and the first decades of independence. The Cabildo (built between 1804 and 1812), the Solís Theatre, the Metropolitan Cathedral and several museums, like the Torres García Museum are among the most impressive ones.