Paz Palace

The building was designed by French architect Louis Sortais and built between 1902 and 1914 at the behest of José C. Paz, the proprietor of the city's then-second most-circulated newspaper, La Prensa.

Built entirely with material imported for the purpose from France, the palace stands near the eastern end of Santa Fe Avenue, in the Retiro section of Buenos Aires.

The Officers' Cultural Foundation, which administers the palace as a museum and hosts lectures, expositions and concerts, is maintained in conjunction with the Catholic University of Argentina.

Its oldest pieces include a chain mail armor belonging to the Byzantine Emperor Comnenus (c. 1100), crossbows, maces, two-handed swords, flails and other weapons dating from the Crusades, and an arquebuse used during the Battle of Aguere in Spain.

The museum also houses a large collection of banners and weapons dating from the Argentine War of Independence, including a locally modified Mauser rifle prized at the time for its durability, as well as a modern artillery section tracing the development of the early machine gun during the 19th century.