Monument to Christopher Columbus (Buenos Aires)

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Columbus Monument, Buenos Aires, prior to its 2013 removal
Columbus Monument, Buenos Aires (detail)

The Monument to

Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Isabel and Ferdinand, to sail West. The other shows Columbus on his return, bringing indigenous slaves. The monument was made of Italian marble by an Italian sculptor in Italy, and until the requested changes in design, it had nothing to do with Argentina or the Italian immigrant community. On a number of points, the placement and symbolism of the Columbus statue became problemic for a number of Argentines after the 1992, the 500th anniversary of Columbus's voyage.[1]

The statue became a source of controversy in 2013, when President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner decided to replace Columbus with one of Juana Azurduy de Padilla, a Mestiza revolutionary army leader during the war of independence. The statue to Azurduy was commissioned with funding with the help of Bolivian president Evo Morales and inaugurated in July 2015. In 2013 the statue to Columbus was dismantled and for two years lay in pieces on the ground while the statue to Azurduy by Argentine sculptor Andrés Zerneri was constructed. The Argentine Italian community and other Argentines were outraged at the change. Legal battles were fought about the destination of the Columbus statue. In 2017 it was moved within the capital and placed at the waterfront on Avenida Costanera Rafael Obligado, adjacent to Aeroparque Jorge Newbery. The two years when it was in pieces caused damage to the marble, and it had to be restored. The new site required reinforcement of the ground, to support the tons of marble. The Azurduy statue was moved in 2017 to a less prominent place in the central core of Buenos Aires, in front of the Kirchner Cultural Center. The controversy over the Columbus and Azurduy statues highlights conflicts in Argentina over historical memory, national identity, and claims to public space.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ Frei, Cheryl Jiménez. "Columbus, Juana, and the Politics of the Plaza: Battles over Monuments, Memory and Identity in Buenos Aires," Journal of Latin American Studies, vol. 51, (3) August 2019, pp. 607–638.
  2. ^ Frei, "Columbus, Juana, and the Politics of the Plaza" pp. 607–638.

Further reading

  • Frei, Cheryl Jiménez. "Columbus, Juana, and the Politics of the Plaza: Battles over Monuments, Memory and Identity in Buenos Aires," Journal of Latin American Studies, vol. 51, (3) August 2019, pp. 607–638.

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