The station building, opened in 1864, seems frozen in the 19th century. Today it's a railway museum: steam locomotives, carriages and period objects tell the story of one of South America's first trains. Across the street, Plaza Uruguaya offers the shade of large trees and benches for a break between visits. It's a photogenic, nostalgic corner of downtown, a few blocks from the Pantheon.

Carlos Antonio López launched the railway with British engineers from 1857. On October 21, 1861, the first stretch ran between San Francisco station and Ybyraty (today the Trinidad neighborhood), and the Central Station building opened on July 24, 1864. The square, laid out on the site of the former San Francisco convent and inaugurated in 1885, was named Uruguaya in gratitude to Uruguay, which returned the Paraguayan flags captured in the War of the Triple Alliance.