Plaza del Congreso (Congress Square), Buenos Aires

Congress Square, inaugurated in 1910, anchors the western end of May Avenue. It is named after the Argentine Congress, whose imposing 1906 building rises directly in front of it. Congress Square forms the first section of a chain of three aligned public spaces running eastward: Congress Square, Mariano Moreno Square, and Lorea Square.

If you enter from the west side, the first major structure you’ll encounter-right in the center of Congress Square-is the Monument to the Two Congresses completed in 1914. The monument features the Allegory of the Republic, a bronze female figure posed on a Neoclassical stone platform. Below her, bronze representations of Neptune and surrounding sea creatures frame the fountain basin, symbolizing Argentina’s vast maritime borders.

Continue walking east and you’ll seamlessly step into Mariano Moreno Square, which directly adjoins Congress Square. This second plaza is home to several notable monuments. One of them is Kilometer Zero, the marker from which distances along Argentina’s national highways are measured. Just behind it stands the Monument to Alfredo L. Palacios, a prominent socialist politician. As you continue a few steps farther, you’ll encounter The Thinker by Auguste Rodin. This bronze sculpture is one of only eight cast from Rodin’s original mold, making it an extraordinary and unexpected feature in the city’s civic core.

As you move farther southeast, the open space narrows into Lorea Square, the final plaza in the trio. Here you’ll find a monument dedicated to José Manuel Estrada, a 19th-century Catholic intellectual known for his strong opposition to secular education reforms. Because Lorea Square is smaller and quieter than the previous two plazas, it offers a natural pause and a good spot to take in the linear design of the entire three-plaza layout.