What does the monument of Paseo Colón and Independencia mean?

Surely you have passed by the School of Engineering of the University of Buenos Aires and wondered what the great monument in front of you was all about. Today we want to tell you what is the beautiful message that tells us.

Most of our monuments represent heroes, “heroes”, personalities that, for some reason, were important in our history. But there is one in the City of Buenos Aires that does not represent a human being but an idea: we are talking about Canto al trabajo, the work of Rogelio Yrurtia located at Paseo Colón e Independencia Avenue, in the neighborhood of San Telmo.

It is impossible to pass through there and not stop to look at it. The work is composed of 14 immense bronze human figures. Some of them drag an enormous stone, with a lot of effort and sacrifice; the others, on the other hand, look forward, towards the future, transmit a great force and the idea of progress. Those behind live the work as a condemnation, those ahead as a liberation.

Victoria Ocampo once wrote: “When you don’t have the courage to live as you think, you end up thinking as you live. The work can be something terrible or something wonderful, and that important message is placed in the middle of the City, with a monument the size it deserves, speaking to locals and tourists with the unique language that only a great work of art can convey.

Gabriela Saavedra

Argentina, licenciada en Comunicación Social y correctora. Me apasiona la escritura, la propia y la ajena. Mi amor por las palabras, por las frases mágicas y perfectas, me llevó a dirigir mi carrera profesional hacia la redacción, a lo que luego sumé la corrección para mejorar mis textos y, también, los de otros autores. Porque una imagen no siempre vale más que mil palabras. Gracias por leerme.