Palacio Barolo, a nod to Dante's Divine Comedy

Did you know that the Palacio Barolo has a twin building on the other side of the Río de la Plata? It is the Palacio Salvo, built by the same architect in Montevideo, Uruguay, and inaugurated in 1928.

The Barolo Palace, located in the Monserrat neighborhood, was built by the Italian architect Mario Palanti for the businessman Luigi Barolo. Opened in 1923, it was then the tallest building in South America, until the Kavanagh was built in 1935.

 The Barolo was the first reinforced concrete building almost 100 meters high and is topped by a rotating lighthouse with 300,000 candles on the 22nd floor which, in 1923, transmitted with its lights the result of the fight for the world boxing title between Luis Angel Firpo and Jack Dempsey in New York.

 In 2010, the city government promoted the restoration of the magnificent lighthouse so that it could participate in the Argentine bicentennial festivities. Both Palanti and Barolo were admirers of Dante Alighieri and there are many references to the Divine Comedy in the building, such as the general division of the project into three parts, which correspond to the work's hell, purgatory and heaven.

Furthermore, the building is reminiscent of Indian architecture, as Palanti took references from the Palace of Winds in Jaipur and the Rajarani temple in Bhubaneshvar.

Information:

• Adress: Av. de Mayo 1370, C1085 CABA
• Tel: 011 3221-1331
• palaciobarolo.com.ar/visitas-guiadas