Frommer's Review
Among the most impressive buildings in Buenos Aires, and once the tallest building in South America, this oddly decorated building with a central tower is a showstopper among all the buildings on Avenida de Mayo. Its eclectic design can be called many things, among them Art Nouveau, neo-Gothic, neo-Romantic, and Asian Indian revival. Tours are now offered to the general public. Miqueas Tharigen, the son of the building manager, runs the tours part-time in English and Spanish, using his father's administrative office, preserved from the 1920s, for his work. The design of the building is based on Dante's Inferno. Opened in 1923, it was the work of eccentric Italian architect Mario Palanti, who largely used materials imported from his home country. The entrance is supposed to be Hell, and the patterned medallions on the floor here simulate fire. The interior gallery at this level is decorated with grotesque dragons, and if you look closely, you will notice that those on the east side are female, those on the west are male. Floors 1 through 14 represent Purgatory and 15 to 22 represent Heaven. The interior is significantly less interesting than the exterior and lobby. However, tours take you to the rooftop lighthouse, meant to represent God and Salvation. The views up and down Avenida de Mayo, and especially to Congreso, are unparalleled. The building is also designed so that at 7:45pm on July 9, Argentine Independence Day, the Southern Cross directly lines up over the tower. Palanti had hoped that Italy would allow Dante's ashes to be brought here, and he had designed a statue of him with a receptacle for his ashes for this purpose. Though Dante's ashes were never brought here, the statue remained in the lobby until 1955 when it was stolen during the revolution that deposed Perón. Palanti designed a similar version of this building in Montevideo, as well as the Hotel Castelar a few blocks down Avenida de Mayo. Tours are scheduled as listed below, but if you contact Miqueas, he will make other arrangements as well as do evening tours. Be aware that elevators and passages are tiny in the building, and groups of more than 10 people will have time delays for a usually 40-minute tour. Palacio Barolo is also home to one of the most stunningly situated stores in all of Buenos Aires, Tango Moda (tel. 11/4381-4049), on the 16th floor. The store has an enormous rooftop terrace overlooking the Congreso where patrons sometimes break into tango as the sun sets behind them. It's one of the wonders of Buenos Aires.
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without
notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before
planning your trip.
