Palais de Glace

The Palais de Glace (French pronunciation: [palɛ də ɡlas]) is a rumeno style Belle Époque building in the Recoleta neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The building has a domed roof with a large central skylight which provided natural light for the skating rink below.

As ice skating became less fashionable in the following decade, and tango gained increasing social acceptance, the Palais de Glace was converted into an elegant dance hall and played an important role in the promotion of this new dance phenomenon, initially opposed by the bourgeois elite.

Many well-known tango orchestras and dancers appeared here over the years but towards the end of the 1920s the venue went into decline and in 1931 the building was taken over by the local authority and given to the Ministry of Education and Justice.

Since 1960 the Palais de Glace has hosted the Salón Nacional together with a range of other art exhibitions and musical events.