Fundación Proa

Fundación Proa is a contemporary art museum at the edge of La Boca — a converted Italian-Argentine house with a minimalist glass-and-steel extension that hosts exhibitions of international contemporary art at a level of ambition that rivals institutions many times its size. The museum was founded in 1996 by the Rocca family (founders of Tenaris, the steel company) and has consistently brought major international exhibitions to Buenos Aires — Marcel Duchamp, Louise Bourgeois, Ai Weiwei, and Yayoi Kusama have all had shows here.

The building itself is notable — the original 19th-century Italian-immigrant house (typical of La Boca's architecture) has been preserved as the museum's facade, while the interior has been replaced by clean white galleries and a glass-walled top floor with panoramic views of the Riachuelo, the port, and the La Boca waterfront. The rooftop terrace café, overlooking the river and the rusting hulks of abandoned ships, provides one of the most atmospheric lunch spots in Buenos Aires.

Proa's location — at the southern end of La Boca, past Caminito and into the working port area — means most visitors who are only doing the Caminito tourist circuit miss it entirely. This is a mistake. The exhibition programme is world-class, the building is beautiful, and the view from the terrace puts La Boca's industrial landscape into a context that the painted houses of Caminito deliberately obscure.