El Ateneo Grand Splendid

El Ateneo Grand Splendid

El Ateneo Grand Splendid is a former theater and one of the most famous bookshops in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires . It is located on Avenida Santa Fe 1860 in the Recoleta district .

history

The building was originally built as a theater by the architects Peró and Torres Armengol for the client Max Glücksman. The paintings and the figure decorations refer to the armistice at the end of the First World War . The opening took place in May 1919. Already in the late 1920s it was converted into a cinema and in 2000 into the bookstore of the Ateneo chain, which still exists today.

The theater had a capacity for 1050 spectators, u. a. there were Carlos Gardel , Francisco Canaro , Roberto Firpo and Ignacio Corsini on. In 1924 the radio station Radio Splendid started operating in the theater to broadcast concerts from the house. After the conversion into a cinema, Argentina's first sound films were shown there.

In 2000 the building was renovated under the direction of the architect Fernando Manzone and converted into a book and music store. The cinema seats have been removed and replaced with bookshelves. In the former boxes there are now armchairs for reading and a café is located on the former stage. Structural details from the theater and cinema era such as the ceiling paintings by the Italian painter Nazareno Orlandi , the wood carvings, the crimson stage curtain and the auditorium lighting have been preserved. Despite the renovation, which also included escalators from the basement to the ground floor, the building still has the atmosphere of the theater it once was. The Ateneo Grand Splendid was named the second most beautiful bookstore in the world by The Guardian in 2008, with the first prize being in the Dominican Church in Maastricht .

The building has been listed as a cultural monument by the city of Buenos Aires since 2000.

Illustrations

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Web links

Commons : El Ateneo Grand Splendid  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Hugo Petruschansky: Cúpula del Grand Splendid / Cómo ver la obra . La Nación . July 18, 2004. Retrieved October 17, 2014.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Raquel San Martín: El Ateneo Grand Splendid, una joya entre las librerías del mundo . La Nación. January 17, 2008. Retrieved October 17, 2014.
3. ↑ Top shelves - The world's 10 best bookshops . In: The Guardian , January 11, 2008. Retrieved October 17, 2014. 
4. ↑ Sitios de Interés Cultural de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires (1994-2003) Buenos Aires Places of Cultural Interest, Leticia Maronese, Comisión para la Preservación del Patrimonio Histórico Cultural de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. 2004. ISBN 987-1037-22-8 . List "Sitios de Interes Cultural" , .xls file

Coordinates: 34 ° 35 ′ 46 ″  S , 58 ° 23 ′ 39 ″  W.