https://archive.metromod.net/viewer.p/69/2950/object/5140-11020687

Archive

Obelisco

• The Obelisk is undoubtedly the most well-known emblem of the city; it was built by architect Alberto Prebisch in 1936 for the 400th anniversary of the founding of Buenos Aires.
• Kind of Object
  MonumentBuilding
• Name
  Obelisco
• Alternative Names
  Obelisk
• Creator (Person)
  Alberto Prebisch
• Year Start
  20-03-1936
• Year End
  23-05-1936
• Material

  Concrete

• Known addresses in Metromod cities

  Plaza de la República, Avenida Corrientes 1051, San Nicolás, Buenos Aires

• Language
  Spanish
• Size

  67,5 mts. of height

• City
  Buenos Aires (AR)
• Introduction

  The Obelisk is undoubtedly the most well-known emblem of the city; it was built by architect Alberto Prebisch in 1936 for the 400th anniversary of the founding of Buenos Aires.

  Word Count: 29

• Content

  The architect Alberto Prebisch, born in Argentina to a German father, left an important imprint on the city. In addition to private homes, including the house of his brother Raul Prebisch, and the Ocampo building, located at Calle Chile 1368, he built the Obelisk which is undoubtedly the most well-known emblem of the city. Located at the intersection of Avenida Corrientes, Avenida 9 de Julio and Diagonal Norte, right in the middle of Plaza de la República, this tall four-sided monument is representative of Prebisch’s rational, purist and functional aesthetic.
  The commission from the Argentinian government arose in the context of the festivities for the 400th anniversary of the founding of Buenos Aires. The construction of the obelisk was part of a series of refurbishments carried out on Buenos Aires’s public thoroughfares –including the widening of Avenida Corrientes, the opening of Diagonal Norte, the opening of the Avenida Norte-Sud (today 9 de Julio) and the implementation of two new urban metro lines– and is located at their geographic centre.
  Avenida Corrientes went from being a regular street to a wide avenue, mainly to accommodate traffic but also so that the city government could restructure the city centre and its surrounding neighbourhoods. Once reconstructed and widened, however, this axis was immediately appropriated by the people who passed through it, turning Corrientes into a unique hub in the city. To this day, it is a place of both passage and destination, at all times of the day and night. In the downtown area, the bookstores and cafés on the avenue remain open all night.

  Word Count: 263

• Media

  

  Horacio Coppola, "Plaza de la República. Fiesta de la Bandera (Centro)", in Buenos Aires 1936: Cuarto centenario de su fundación. Visión fotográfica. Municipalidad de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, 1936.

• Bibliography (selected)

  Fara, Catalina. Un horizonte vertical. Paisaje urbano de Buenos Aires (1910–1936). Ampersand, 2020.

  Tell, Verónica. “Portraits of places: Notes on Horacio Coppola’s Photography and Short Urban Films.” Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies, vol. 24, no. 2, 2015, pp. 153–171. Taylor & Francis Online, doi: 10.1080/13569325.2015.1040743. Accessed 21 April 2021.

  Word Count: 43

• Author
  Laura Karp Lugo
• Depicted objects
  Obelisk
• Metropolis
  Buenos Aires
• Entry in process
  No
• Laura Karp Lugo. "Obelisco." METROMOD Archive, 2021, https://archive.metromod.net/viewer.p/69/2950/object/5140-11020687, last modified: 12-05-2021.
• Arte Madí Photomontage

  Photomontage

  Buenos Aires

  Conceived in 1947 as the logo of the Arte Madí group, this photomontage was devised by two masters of the Argentinian avant-garde, Gyula Kosice and Grete Stern.

  Word Count: 26

  Buenos Aires 1936. Visión fotográfica

  Photobook

  Buenos Aires

  For the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the foundation of Buenos Aires, photographer Horacio Coppola was commissioned by its municipality to portray the city.

  Word Count: 25