The Congress of the Argentine Nation

        The building of the Congress of the Argentine Nation is located in Buenos Aires, at the western end of Avenida de Mayo. Its main entrance faces towards the front of Casa Rosada (which is twelve blocks away, at the Eastern end of the same avenue), as a metaphor for the complementary nature of the legislative and the executive branch. 

        In 1896 the construction was awarded to the Italian architect Vittorio Meano, who was also the second constructor of the Colón Theater. After Meano’s death in 1904, the construction was assigned to the Belgian Jules Dormal Godet, who respected Meano’s original proyect.

Inaugurated in 1906, important details of the building were not completed until 1946; therefore, when something took longer than expected, porteños used to say “it takes longer than the congress construction”.

The Kilometre Zero for all Argentine National Highways is marked on a milestone at La Plaza del Congreso, in front of the building. 

UNDER CONSTRUCTION (CIRCA 1905)

1910 - TAKEN FROM THE CORNER OF HIPÓLITO YRIGOYEN AND AV. ENTRE RÍOS

History & Present of Lunfardo

Lunfardo originated as a criminal jargon at the end of the 19^th century in Buenos Aires and its arrabales [“outskirts”]. At first, it was spoken by thieves, procurers and fraudsters as a code language used to make communications unintelligible to others, but soon lunfardo spread to tango lyrics and finally to all social classes. That outlaw origin explains the variety of synonyms that lunfardo has for criminal activities and characters (and also the very name given to the jargon: the word “lunfardo” means “thief”).

Lunfardo was the linguistic result of the cultural mixing created by the European immigration, so its terms mostly have its roots in European languages (dialects of Italian, Spanish and French), but also some lunfardo words come from African and South American aboriginal languages (Quechua, Guaraní). It is not a language itself, because lunfardo follows the Spanish grammar and syntax, but its “dictionary” became so extensive that allowed an entire poetry and literature. 

It was banned in 1943 by the military dictatorship, that’s why many tango lyrics underwent ridiculous alterations until lunfardo was again permitted in 1947.

Nowadays lunfardo is part of the colloquial language of Buenos Aires and other cities of Argentina. Through the years, some of its terms have fallen into disuse, but many of them are still used with the same meaning they had more than one hundred years ago.

These are some lunfardo words you can hear in the streets and cafés of Buenos Aires:

Afanar  v.t. to steal

Apoliyar  v.i. to sleep

Bardo n. mess, confusion, muddle. Hacer ~ to make trouble, to provoke

Bife  n. slap, punch

Bondi  n. streetcar; bus

Cana  n. police; prison. Mandar en ~ to denounce, to inform on

Chamuyar  v.t. to convince; to speak loquaciously to achieve something; to deceive; to seduce

Chanta  adj. deceitful, unreliable

Deschavar(se)  v.t. to denounce; to give away

Escabiar  v.i. to drink (alcohol)

Laburar  v.i. to work 

Mina  n. woman

Orto  n. (vulg.) butt. Tener ~ to be lucky

Quilombo  n. originally “brothel”, also “mess”

Rati (vesre –reversing the order of syllables within a word– of Tira)  n. policeman

History of La Casa Rosada

                La Casa Rosada [“The Pink House”], located in front of the historic Plaza de Mayo, is the seat of the executive branch of the government of Argentina and one of the most emblematic buildings of Buenos Aires. It underwent many changes before assuming its present form. In fact, three architects took part in the construction during the 19^th century: the Swedish Carl Kihlberg built the Central Post Office, Henrik Åberg (Swedish as well) refurbished the old State House, and the Italian Francesco Tamburini (also the author of the first project for the Colón Theater) in 1884 joined the two neighboring buildings and designed the great central archway on Balcarce Street.  

            The pink colour of the walls has it origin in the 19^th century custom of mixing the whitewash paint with hog’s or bull’s blood because their fixative properties. 

THE OLD STATE HOUSE AND THE CENTRAL POST OFFICE BUILDING 

(TAKEN FROM THE PRESENT CORNER OF RIVADAVIA AND 25 DE MAYO. CIRCA 1880)

THE NEW STATE HOUSE (WITH THE REFURBISHMENT OF HENRIK ÅBERG) 

AND THE CENTRAL POST OFFICE BUILDING BEFORE TAMBURINI’S WORK

TAMBURINI’S ARCHWAY (DETAIL) 

THE PRESENT CASA ROSADA