The Argentinean Congress Building: a microcosm for a country in beautiful dispair

I finished my Masters of International Public Health at the University of Sydney that same month. My nine months in Australia were, for the most part, amazing. I´m currently writing from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I´ve spent the last month visiting my host family from the youth exchange I did in 2001. I have lots of catching up to do on my blog--both in random stories and in the events of my life.

I couldn´t help but write about the congressional building in Buenos Aires. For a good story, the details of my life can certainly wait.


The Argentinean Congress Building: a microcosm for a country in beautiful dispair
The Argentinean congress and senate building in Buenos Aires represents the country in entirely too many ways. In short, the building is architecturally beautiful, but the organization inside is a disaster. microcosm

I entered the congressional side of the building at 1pm to inquire about tours. The attendant told me to return at 4pm for a guided tour. At 3:50pm, I returned and was told there would be no tour. Because the President of Brazil is arriving tomorrow, they have cancelled all tours out of security concerns. Understandable. But why wouldn´t they have arranged that days ago? The idea had just come to them in the last 3 hours apparently.

I decided to try the opposite side of the building to see if I could tour the Senate. The attendant said that she hadn´t talked to the guide, but thought she would probably come. Fifteen minutes after the tour was supposed to begin, the guide arrived and welcomed us in broken English. Security at the Senate was abysmal. None of the tourists were required to pass their items through the x-ray machine and were simply waived through when the metal detector beeped loudly.

We were immediately taken to the main entrance where President Lula would be walking the next day. The fact that one side of the building refused to give tours, but the other ignores all security precautions and told me exactly where the President will be is baffling.

The guide first explained that the cost of construction of the building cost twice that which was originally planned. My Question: Why? Guide´s Answer: Corruption.

After explaining that the stained glass was a copy made in Argentina because the French original had been broken, the guide explained that ¨I can´t take you into the next room. But it is open and I suppose you have come to see¨.

Okay. Let´s go.

My favorite part of the ¨Room of Lost Steps¨ (Named because nothing happens in the room except people crossing it) is the monumental portrait of the signing of the constitution in 1853. The portrait was painted in 1923 and as the guide put it, the artist ¨used his imagination¨--aka they have no idea what the scene actually looked like.

The next room held a large box containing three veils with a bronze plate from the national airlines: Aerolineas Argentinas. After Eva Peron died, her body was ¨lost¨ for an entire month. Nobody really knows what happened to the body, but Aerolineas Argentinas just kinda ¨found¨ it a month later. Her hand had been cut off. Why? ¨It was political¨, says the guide.

The Senate room was typical of most countries except that each Senator´s small desk had four buttons: affirmative vote, negative vote, abstain, and espresso. The espresso room is located in the heart of the senate and immediately brings fresh espresso to the senator who desires. Bronze ashtrays dot every desk as well, which surprised me for a national senate. The guide explained that one year ago legislation was passed to ban smoking throughout the entire congressional building, as well as, bars and restaurants of Buenos Aires. She then put her hand to her face, shook her head and said she often still finds Senators smoking in the chambers.

Unbelievable! They pass legislation for the entire capital but refuse to follow the laws themselves in the most formal of places!

¨Why?¨, I asked.

¨Something is wrong...with the minds of our people¨