San Telmo is one of the oldest and most bohemian neighborhoods of Buenos Aires. It is situated on the coast of the Rio de la Plata (River of Silver), between the Plaza de Mayo and La Boca, in the south of the city. The houses are conserved in the old colonial style with wide, cobblestone streets. Close to the port, this neighborhood owes its name to Saint Peter Telmo, the patron saint of the Spanish and Portuguese seafarers.
Up until 1871 it was inhabited by the aristocratic families of Buenos Aires. But in 1871 there was a terrible epidemic of Yellow Fever and these families moved to barrio La Recoleta. So in San Telmo, large old houses and small stylish palaces were left and subdivided into multiple rooms for poor families and the growing European immigrant population at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century. These subdivided mansions were called "conventillos" or tenement houses.
On the patios of these tenement houses, scattered throughout the poor neighborhoods of Buenos Aires and the suburbs, is where Tango was born, fusing traditional African music with Spanish, Italian, and Central European music.
San Telmo is actually characterized by the bohemian lifestyle and artistic and cultural activity, street fairs, antique commerce, street tango and ballroom tango, the rebirth of Candombe (musical expression due to African influences), as well as for the beautiful Lezama Park where the National Historical Museum is located and where some historians believe that the first settlement was established of what would later become the city of Buenos Aires.
Also in San Telmo stand the oldest buildings of Buenos Aires and numerous bars, pubs, and cultural centers.