Plaza del Congreso

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Plaza del Congreso (Congress Square) is a public park facing the Argentine Congress in Buenos Aires. It is part of a 3-hectare area made up of three connected plazas to the east of the Congress building. A milestone in the square marks Kilometre Zero, the starting point for Argentina’s national highways.

The site began as land owned by colonial merchant Isidro Lorea. After the Lorea couple died defending the area during the British invasions of 1807, the carriage stop there became known as Plaza Lorea. In the late 19th century, the surrounding swamps were drained and the area was developed into a park with a water tower.

In 1896, the local sculptor Juan Eugenio Boverie added El Perdón on the promenade. In 1907 Buenos Aires bought one of the few surviving casts of Rodin’s The Thinker, associated with the area.

With the nearby Congress opening in 1906, planners created a larger Congressional Plaza. In 1908 a law approved the project, and French-Argentine urbanist Charles Thays designed a 3-hectare space across Montevideo Street, aligned with May Avenue, aiming for minimal demolition. Congressional Plaza opened in January 1910, ahead of Argentina’s 1910 centennial celebrations.

The centerpiece is the Monument to the Two Congresses, a major sculpture by Jules Lagae on a design by Eugène D’Huicque, completed in 1914. It honors the 1813 and 1816 assemblies and features allegories of the Republic along with other symbols.

Mariano Moreno Plaza lies to the east and is known for its own Rodin cast of The Thinker, dating from 1907, and for the nearby Kilometre Zero marker on Plaza Lorea, installed in 1935 and moved to its current position in 1944.

In 1997, the three plazas and the Monument to the Two Congresses were declared a National Historic Monument. The area has faced vandalism over the years, leading to fences and renovations to protect the monuments and fountains.