World Heritage Identification Number: 1681
World Heritage since: 2023
Category: Cultural Heritage
WHE Type: Memorial Sites
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇦🇷 Argentina
Continent: Americas
UNESCO World Region: Latin America and the Caribbean
Map
ESMA Museum and Site of Memory – A Testimony to Argentina's Dark Past
The ESMA Museum and Site of Memory, officially inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023, stands as a poignant reminder of Argentina's tumultuous past under military rule. Located within the complex of the Former Navy School of Mechanics in Buenos Aires, this site serves as a powerful testament to the human rights violations that occurred during the civil-military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983.
More to come…UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
This property is located within the complex of the Former Navy School of Mechanics in Buenos Aires, in the former Officers’ Quarters. This was the Argentine Navy’s principal secret detention centre during the civil-military dictatorship of 1976-1983. As part of a national strategy to destroy armed and nonviolent opposition to the military regime, the Officers' Quarters building at ESMA (Escuela Superior de Mecánica de la Armada) was used for holding captive opponents who had been abducted in Buenos Aires and interrogating, torturing and eventually killing them.Encyclopedia Record: Navy Petty-Officers School
The Higher School of Mechanics of the Navy of Argentina has gone through three major transformations throughout its history. Originally ESMA served as an educational facility of the Argentine Navy. The original ESMA was a complex located at 8151 Libertador Avenue, in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, in the barrio of Núñez. Additionally, It was the seat of U.T.3.3.2—Unidad de Tareas 2 of G.T.3.3 [es].Additional Site Details
Area: 0.907 hectares
Coordinates: -34.5366416667 , -58.4653333333
Image
© ownwork, CC BY-SA 3.0 Resized from original. (This derivative is under the same CC BY-SA license.)
