Happy birthday, Mom!
Evita Museum
The Evita Museum celebrates the life of María Eva Duarte de Perón who became the second wife of Juan Perón and first lady of Argentina from June, 1946, until her death in July, 1952, at age 33.
This politician, actress, activist, and philanthropist was adored by millions. Fondly known as Evita, she is widely remembered for her efforts to help the poor and for her role in helping women win the right to vote. She called her supporters “descamisados” or shirtless ones, because many were from poorer social classes.
The museum’s collection includes dresses, objects, and mementos that belonged to Evita. Interactive exhibits focus on different moments in her life.
Teatro Colón
Teatro Colón (Columbus Theater) was named after the explorer, Christopher Columbus, because the theater’s original investors and designers were of Italian descent.
Teatro Colón is the main theater for opera and classical concerts. Its grand staircase stands out magnificently with its marble and sedimentary rocks of different colors, as well as its beautiful French stained glass windows. The marble came from Portugal, Spain, and Italy. Construction was financed by wealthy families.
Construction started in 1889. It was planned to open in 1892 on the 400th anniversary of the date that Columbus arrived in the Americas. However, the first lead architect died in 1891. His apprentice took over, but he was killed by his wife’s lover. Both of these lead architects were Italian, and both died at age 44. The third architect, a French man was older than 44. Due to various delays, the first performance wasn’t held until 1908.
The opera season in Buenos Aires runs from March to December. The first performance will be Aida.
This theater holds 2,478 people. The famous opera tenor, Luciano Pavarotti, said that the acoustics in the main auditorium are perfect. They have measured 1.6 seconds of reverberation, so there is no echo. Everything can be heard during the performance, candy wrappers, coughing, etc. We had to be silent when we went in because they were testing sound and lights. According to a survey carried out by an acoustics expert among leading international opera and orchestra directors, the Teatro Colón has the room with the best acoustics for opera and the second best for concerts in the world.
At the time the theater was built, young widows were not allowed out in public for several years after the death of their husbands. Many were exiled to their homes, rarely allowed out in public and only with family members as escorts. To provide these young women some relief, the theater was built with eight private rooms, screened-in for privacy. Widows were escorted in, accompanied by a sister, mother, or other appropriate relative, and kept from prying eyes of the public. Our guide told us that widowers (men) would wear black arm bands for a year to signify mourning.
Palacio Barolo
Late in the afternoon we stopped at Palacio Bartolo, a landmark office building located in the Monserrat neighborhood of Buenos Aires, for a 90-minute guided tour. It opened in 1923. Until the 1930’s this building at 330 feet was the tallest in the city. Luis Barolo paid money to get special permission to build higher than allowed in the city. In 1997 Palacio Barolo was declared a National Historic Monument.
The building design includes numerous analogies and references to the Divine Comedy, by the poet Dante Alighieri. The floors are divided into three “sections” with the basement and ground floor representing Hell, floors 1-14 representing Purgatory, and floors 15-22 symbolizing Heaven.
The height at 100 meters (330 feet) and 22 stories correspond with the first 100 cantos of Dante’s work and 22 stanzas of the poem.
There are nine points to enter the building. Each represents one of the nine hierarchies of Hell identified by Dante- limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, wrath, heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The lighthouse that sits atop the building symbolizes the nine angelic choirs.
Inside the structure, some of the moulding depicts monsters. Much of the marble and granite is dark.
There are seven elevators that serve the first 14 floors in the building. Six of the elevators carry a maximum of seven people each. The 7th is a one-person elevator that goes to the top of the building. We climbed a narrow circular stairway that wrapped around that 7th elevator to get to the lighthouse.
260 small businesses operate in the building – from sneakers to massages, from several travel agents to a store that sells clothes for tango, to offices and studios of architects, accountants, lawyers, and designers. There is a Spanish language school for foreigners. That makes me want to come back here.
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