Ted's photos - For Me & Youによって2020 - Buenos Aires - El Obelisco

El Obelisco is the National Historic Monument of Argentina. The Obelisco de Buenos Aires (Obelisk of Buenos Aires) is an icon of Buenos Aires. Located in the Plaza de la República in the intersection of avenues Corrientes and 9 de Julio (‘widest avenue in the world). The obelisk was erected in 1936 to commemorate the quadricentennial of the first foundation of the city. The obelisk was designed by Alberto Prebisch, a Tucuman modernist architect of German decent. Made from Cordoba white stone and erected in 31 days, the four sides of the 220-foot shaft each represent defining moments in the history of Buenos Aires: 1. the founding of the city in 1536, 2. its second and definitive foundation in 1580, 3. the inaugural raising of the Argentinian flag in the city in 1812. 4. the declaration of Buenos Aires as the nation’s capital in 1880. Various graffiti attacks over the years culminated in an activist group pouring paint from the top windows in the 1980s, leading to the raising of the fence around it and public closure. In 2005, the Obelisk was famously covered in a gigantic pink condom to commemorate World Aids Day and in 2006 it was transformed into a pencil to pay tribute to those students who were kidnapped and murdered on the ‘Night of the Pencils’ 30 years earlier.