The 86 years of the Obelisk of Buenos Aires

The Obelisk is considered an icon of the City of Buenos Aires, in the postcards that travel around the world, countries seduce with images of their most emblematic buildings; Paris with the Eiffel Tower, London with the Big Ben or New York with the Statue of Liberty, one of those images of Argentina and unmistakable symbol of the City is the Obelisk. Next May 23rd, this protagonist of countless events will be 86 years old, it is a good opportunity to learn more about it.

The project of opening the Avenida 9 de Julio, as an artery crossing the city from north to south, was from the late nineteenth century and although it was included in various plans and projects, the National Law 8855, which approved the expropriation for public utility purposes of the properties located on the future route of the Avenue, dates from 1912.

Those were times of change and everything was framed in a vast public works plan that implied the restructuring and modernization of the city beyond the axis that until then was the Plaza and Avenida de Mayo; it was the time to solve traffic and vehicle speed problems and for this purpose the opening of Avenida 9 de Julio contemplated a traffic circle at the intersection of the current Avenida Corrientes and Diagonal Norte; the Plaza de la República, in addition to the widening of Avenida Corrientes.

The exact address of the Obelisk is: Av. Corrientes 1066, City of Buenos Aires, (Source: GCBA) but...in the same place where it was previously located: the Hippodrome, circus stage where the famous clown Frank Brown performed, the primitive Luna Park stadium, the Teatro del Pueblo and the church of San Nicolás de Bari, erected during the colony in the so-called Calle del Sol, then San Nicolás and later Corrientes, which also gave its name to the neighborhood where it was located.

For several reasons, the church of San Nicolás de Bari was a historical temple: Mariano Moreno and Manuel Dorrego were baptized in it, the remains of the presbyter Manuel Alberti, member of the First Government Junta of 1810, who died in January 1811, were laid to rest in it, and the Argentine flag flew for the first time on August 23, 1812, in its tower. The church was demolished in 1931 and moved to its present location: 1364 Santa Fe Avenue. It is the only colonial church that does not exist today.

With the whole area restructured, the Mayor Mariano de Vedia y Mitre proposed to the National Government to erect an obelisk in the Plaza de la República as a symbol of the fourth centenary of the foundation of the City of Buenos Aires.

A monument that would do justice to such an event and the decree of its creation referred to a work ... "That would show the people of the Republic the true importance of the event..." "...that there is no monument in the City that symbolizes the homage of the Capital of the entire Nation..." The Obelisk was born.

Work began in March 1936 and was completed two months later, a real challenge for the time.

On May 23, 1936, the great Obelisk was inaugurated, the work of the architect Alberto Prebisch, one of the main references of Argentine modernism.

In order to optimize time and facilitate the pouring of concrete, it was built in two-meter sections. The materials used included 1300 m² of white stone from Olaen, Córdoba.

The resolution of the structure was achieved with the location of two large bases on the sides of the tunnel of the subway line D (under construction and inaugurated in 1937), which also rested on the lower tunnels of Line B (1930), on these two bases were placed five large beams that served as support for a large slab on which the obelisk rests.

Its total height is 67.5m; at 63.5m begins the apex which is 3.5m. It has only one entrance door facing west of the city and at the apex, four windows that are reached by a marine staircase of 206 steps, with seven landings at intervals of eight meters, except one of them at a distance of six meters. Seen from below, the diamond-shaped landings are of limited capacity, in some sections the wall is so close that the cement rubs the back of the person climbing, not so the square landings that allow a complete turn inside the obelisk.

At the top is a plate with two holes: the "eyes of fire" that allow the passage of sunlight into the interior and welcome the wonderful blunt tip that ends the obelisk.

From the windows located at the blunt end, you can see towards the four cardinal points of the City; from the west window, Corrientes Avenue, towards Callao Avenue, in the east window, you can see Corrientes Avenue in the opposite direction; towards Leandro N. Alem Avenue and Puerto Madero and also Diagonal Norte towards Plaza de Mayo; the south window, you can see the building of the Ministry of Social Action of the Nation and the 25 de Mayo Highway. Alem and Puerto Madero and also Diagonal Norte towards Plaza de Mayo; the south view is of the National Ministry of Social Action building and the 25 de Mayo Highway, and from the north window you can see the Dr. Arturo Umberto Illia Highway (AV1Norte) and the Río de la Plata.

The internal walls are carved with legends indicating the date, year and participants of the completion of the work, as well as the inauguration date. Cameras, radar and lightning rods are located on the exterior.

On the outside of the four faces there are inscriptions that recall different historical facts: the North front says: "In this place, in the tower of San Nicolás, the national flag was hoisted for the first time in the city on August XXIII of MDCCCXII", on the west front it says; "Federal Capital, law dictated by the National Congress on September XX of MDCCCLXXX at the initiative of President Nicolás Avellaneda, decree of President Julio A. Roca VI de Diciembre de MDCCCLXXX", the inscription on the south front reads; "Segunda fundación por Juan de Garay XI de Junio de MDLXXX" and also in a small rectangle the poem "El Obelisco" that Baldomero Fernandez Moreno wrote in a tribute to Alberto Prebisch (according to the anecdote, it was written during a dinner at the Hotel Alvear, on a napkin and given to Prebisch's wife), finally on the east front, the inscription reads: "Buenos Aires to the Republic, on the IV centenary of the foundation of the city by Don Pedro de Mendoza XI of February MDXXXVI."

In its beginnings, the Obelisk was rejected and ironically nicknamed "cement paperweight", "punch" or "stake". On June 21, 1938, pieces of masonry were detached, so that a year later it was voted in the City Council of Buenos Aires its demolition, arguing reasons of public safety, economic and aesthetic, had to intervene the President of the Republic Roberto M. Ortiz who said that the monument was reminiscent of a monument to the city of Buenos Aires. Ortiz who expressed that the monument recalled an important event such as the first foundation of Buenos Aires, and that the Ministry of Public Works would pay the repair expenses, while the mayor of the city of Buenos Aires, Arturo Goyeneche vetoed the Ordinance approving the demolition. The repair was carried out, but the legend indicating Prebisch as the architect of the work was lost.

On different occasions, the Obelisk was intervened: in the last days of 1973, it was decorated as a Christmas tree; in 1975 it was used to give two messages to the citizen: "Silence is health" and "Keep Buenos Aires clean", in 2005 it was covered with a pink cloth simulating a condom to commemorate the World Day for the fight against AIDS and in 2009 it was decorated with a bracelet with the slogan "Say no More" to announce the return to the stage of the musician Charly Garcia, and on occasions it was illuminated to commemorate significant dates.

Some of these interventions aroused the most heated controversy, and perhaps the one that caused the most surprise due to its originality was the one carried out in 2015 by the artist Leandro Erlich, who tried to create the illusion that the apex had been removed; To achieve this, the monument was covered with an iron coating that simulated its concrete, while a replica of the tip was placed in the Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires (Malba), from its windows the visitor could see the real views of the obelisk simulating to be at its peak. In the artist's words, the fantasy of seeing the obelisk from the inside was generated, since it is always seen from the outside and from below.

Regularly, the Ministry of Public Space and Urban Hygiene of the City Government is in charge of the maintenance of the building, which has the "keys to the obelisk" and authorizes any entry, since some safety measures are required (climbing harness, safety ropes, gloves, helmets). Thus, only some national and foreign media have visited it to show it inside.

The general public can visit the inside of the obelisk; only on exceptional occasions, one of them was when the obelisk turned 75 years old and to celebrate it, 75 neighbors out of the 15,000 registered were allowed to go up.

Then, on the 80th birthday, an invitation was sent through social networks to participate in the experience, and out of the 21,143 people who registered, eighty tickets were drawn.

In the coming days and on the occasion of his 86th birthday, the public was also invited, through the media and social networks, to participate in the selection to make the visit, such event, as expected, will be reflected by the press.

The Obelisk was more than a postcard of the city, present in the happiest moments and in the most distressing claims, at times it was for River and at others for Boca, but always for the National Team, it celebrated Democracy and the Bicentennial and throughout its history it has been the undisputed center of popular expression.