Monuments of Buenos Aires: Spaniard's Monument
This is in my opinion one of the most beautiful monuments in Buenos Aires, not only for its magnificence, but also for its location, in the intersection of two wide boulevards: Avenue del Libertador and Avenue Sarmiento in Palermo.
Its real name is "Magna Carta and the Four Argentine Regions", but everybody knows it as "El monumento de los Españoles" (The Monument to the Spaniards). It was donated in 1910 by the Spanish community for the centenary of the May Revolution. But the construction suffered several problems. The first sculptor and winner of the design contest, Agustin Querol, died in 1909, and his creation had to be continued by another artist, Cipriano Folgueras, who also died shortly after. The work was even more delayed when the Spanish ship which brought the bronze pieces sunk on March, 1916 in the Brazilian coast, and replicas had to be ordered to Spain, which were finished in 1918. The monument was finally inaugurated on May 25, 1927.
The monument is made on a 24.5 meters high Carrara marble column, and symbolizes those things Argentina has in common with Spain (language, religion, work and lineaje). It is crowned by an enormous statue that represents the Republic or the Constitution, and raised over a fountain surrounded by groups of sculptures that represent Labour, and the regions of The Andes, The Plata, The Pampa, and Chaco.
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