Palacio Barolo

The Palacio Barolo is a building located on the Avenida of Mayo, in the district of Monserrat, with Buenos Aires, Argentine.
It was built between 1919 and 1923 by the Italian architect Mario Palanti, at the request of Shine Barolo, a tycoon of the textile. It was at the time the building highest of South America with its 100 m height and its 18 stages. It will be détrôné only in 1935 by the construction of the Kavanagh.

The architect took as a starting point the Divine comedy of Dante for the decoration:

the 100 meters height represent the 100 songs of the poem
it is divided into 3 distinct sections which correspond to the 3 books: the hell, purgatory, and the paradise
the hall is overcome by 9 vaults which represent the 9 infernal hierarchies
each stage has 11 or 22 offices, which corresponds to the number of stanzas of the songs

The building is surmounted by a Phare, which was at the origin to make it possible to exchange signals with the Palacio Salvo with Montevideo (Uruguay), built by the same architect in 1925.

The building is used still today as offices. Its headlight always has 300 000 candles in conditions of functioning.

In 1997 Palacio Barolo was declared National Historic building .

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