Lighthouses found in Buenos Aires & Argentina

Art and function: lighthouses that guide us to supreme aesthetics.

Lighthouses, throughout history have always been of great relevance. Its deep purpose, that is to indicate land to those in the sea was very much accomplished always with incredible aesthetic relevance. These incredible constructions have accompanied man though his self-discovery journey; as far in our history as the Egyptian and Greek civilisations had built lighthouses to help those intrepid travellers come home, to our present, in spite of the outstanding technology that has been developed for ocean ships.
The familiarity in their surface, as travellers were approaching homeland, its been told that feels like a mother’s hug, transmitting that warmth and safe feeling.
As every other construction, lighthouses express the sense of an era, of the time they were built in. Its lines, curves, they way the light dances in the water showing the shore, can tell us very much of what those times were like. We might as well trace their achitectual background in other contemporary constructions, and often find out the revolutionary of those buildings. Why? Because of their importance to many people’s survival, these buildings often show the most outstanding techniques of an era, applied on behalf of that civilisation’s wellbeing. As the Egyptian pyramids express the best possible construction for a desert area, the Alexandria Lighthouse or the Rods lighthouse showed the best possible construction for a sea shore area.
Everywhere there’s a shore, lighthouses enlight us with their lines, curves and outstanding surface. They blend, as we said before, art and functionality.
In Argentina, there are two outstanding lighthouses –among more than 58 important ones throughout the national territory- that show precisely what we’ve been saying so far.
Located in the port area of Argentina’s capital city Buenos Aires, the Buenos Aires Yacht Club lighthouse was built during the late 20s of the twentieth century. Its aesthetics had been marked by a world-wide architectural trend: Art Decó. One can see in its delicate straight lines how the architects in charge of building this lighthouse blend functionality and art, including many decorative inputs to the basic construction, mixing up different materials to get the most out of each one of them. The BA Yact Club is located in the Puerto Madero area that during the early years of the twentieth century was the city’s most important port, today it’s busy port days are over, it has become one of BA’s most exquisite places. Old port houses have been renewed into gourmet restaurants of outstanding quality, out of the top hotels, a very exclusive residential area, and of course our city’s Yacht Club, a majesties gathering point for outdoor activities for all the family.
When visiting the city of tango, all our coast area is a must, for its elegance, high quality eating and relaxing options. This areas’ physiognomy very much expresses Buenos Aires history, the evolution of a portside city who has taken advantage of its position and influences to become the cultural, fashion and social Metropolis of Latin America.

Far south from the city of tango, Argentina runs all the way down to the most southern point of the world. The last continental stop before the long journey towards the Antarctic ices is Tierra del Fuego. In 1884, some few years after the southern boarder of Argentina was finally set, a group of magnificent artists built the San Juan del Salvamiento lighthouse in the Isla de los Estados. Imagine the magnitude of this building regarding its surrounding land that Jules Verne was so inspired about it that he wrote on of his most famous novels, The Lighthouse of the End of the World in 1905. Because of its location, the harsh weather and tide conditions this lighthouse was destroyed because of the pass of time and the lack of a strong conservation policy by the Argentinean governments. Its remains were taken to Ushuaia for exhibition a few years ago. In the 1920s in the northern part of the island there were build some other lighthouses that still remain to our days, Año Nuevo in Isla Observatorio, Le Maire, San Gonzalo, San Pío and Les Eclaireurs.
For their historical value as well as for they represent a state of mind, this southern Argentinean cities are highly recommended for those art loving and adventurous travellers who enjoy life’s pleasures in all of their variety. Adventure, fun and good living are an expression of life in the end of the world. People from all over the world have chosen this beautiful city as their home, as they pick up local customs they share their own traditions: the result is an awesome combination of cultures and people who work together for a better living.
This worldly recognised city has become a Mecca for those who love great eating, adventure and good living. Spas, gourmet restaurants, high class accommodation and a view not even Michel Angelo would have imagine make of this city one of our favourite places in the world.