The UNESCO Courier - Volume 2023, Issue 6, 2023

Built at the end of the 19th century in San Isidro, north of Buenos Aires, Villa Ocampo is much more than just a bourgeois Belle Époque house. It still reverberates with the conversations of the many artists who stayed there at the invitation of the legendary mistress of the house – Victoria Ocampo. Bequeathed to UNESCO in 1973, this house is now a cultural centre open to all.

Socially engaged and a patron of the arts, a feminist before her time and an emblematic figure in the world of culture: Victoria Ocampo was all of these things. But it was her tireless work on behalf of the writers she knew and published in her magazine Sur that earned her a place in history.

There are many convergences between the writer’s thinking and the Organization’s mandate. The story of a close bond.

By opening the doors to her house, Victoria Ocampo aimed to stimulate a fertile dialogue between the intellectuals and artists of her time. García Lorca and Stravinsky, among many others, stayed there for a few days or even several months. A tireless patron of the arts, she didn’t hesitate to sacrifice a few of her personal possessions to give life to her project, built around friendship.

Free, engaged, stubborn, Victoria Ocampo was part of a gender perspective before the term even existed. By investing in the cultural milieu, she carved a new path and remains a reference point for the feminist movement.

The iconic magazine Sur, founded by Victoria Ocampo, was an activist, avant-garde literary journal that published leading 20th-century authors. Although Sur ceased circulation in 1993, the publishing house of the same name continues to operate.

Manuel Ocampo and his daughter put great care into designing this exceptional garden, which originally extended to the river.

On 15 January 1973, Mme Victoria Ocampo and her sister Mme Angelica Ocampo, of Argentina, donated to UNESCO a group of estates including the spacious Villa Ocampo at San Isidro, Buenos Aires. In accordance with the wishes of its donor, Victoria Ocampo, the villa will be used “for promotion, research, experimentation and development of activities related to culture, literature, art and social communication, which are aimed at improving the quality of human life…“ The villa is particularly appropriate as a setting for “permanent studios or for programmes of research, experimentation or production related to the cinema, television, theatre, music and literature, for translation or new forms of expression and communication, as well as new types and techniques of cultural and artistic creation and art education.”