In the afternoon there was plenty of time for another walk through the the city center of Buenos Aires. The Wandelgek decided to revisit La Recoleta for 1 specific purpose only, to visit the: Ateneo Bookstore.

In a previous blogpost, I already mentioned how much the inhabitants of Buenos Aires love to read books, but this bookstore is the pinnacle of that culture, where they re-used an old center of art, to create the best possible environment to search for books…

1. Argentina: Arrival in Buenos Aires and 1st citywalk through San Telmo, Monserrat and vicinity

The Ateneo bookstore is a very special bookstore about which The Wandelgek had read many things before visiting Argentina. One of those things was that it had been chosen as the most beautiful bookstore in the world in 2019. That immediately made it a must see bucketlist item for The Wandelgek and he was not disappointed at all of what he found. From his hotel it was a sturdy 3 kilometer walk to the bookstore (6 kilometers total).

He walked towards the Casa Rosada, diagonally crossed the Plaza de Mayo and followed the Avenida Roque Sáenz Peña or Diagonal Norte to the Obelisk at the Plaza de la Republica. Then he immediately turned right and kept to the right side of the Avenida de 9 Julio and followed it until he reached the Avenida Santa Fe.

Avenida de 9 Julio

Then he turned left and crossed the widest boulevard in the world. It is about 1 kilometer long, but it is not its length which is so impressive. It seriously takes between 10 to 15 minutes to cross it on foot. Why? Well, the avenue is 14 lanes (7 in each direction) and 140 meters wide, which makes it the widest city center avenue in the world. There are park-like pedestrian areas and it is decorated with statues and fountains, in addition to the wide walkways to the sides.

But as if this is not impressive enough, the avenue is flanked on either side by parallel streets of two lanes each. Futhermore, through the centre of the avenue runs one of the city’s Metrobus (Bus rapid transit) corridors, which stretches 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) and was inaugurated in July 2013. There are two wide medians between the side streets and the main road. It is currently the widest avenue in the world.

To cross the Avenida de 9 Julio, a pedestrian needs to cross all of the above mentioned areas: 4 lanes of 2 parallel streets, 14 lanes, a 2 way metrobus lane and several parks in between all of this. The Wandelgek needed to do this twice that afternoon.

Then he followed the Avenida Santa Fe on the left side for a long while until it crossed the Avenida Callao and there he crossed the road to the right side and kept following it for a little bit until he saw his bucketlist destination to the left

The most beautiful bookstore in the world

The Grand Splendid Ateneo Bookstore

El Ateneo Grand Splendid is a bookshop in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 2008, The Guardian placed it as the second most beautiful bookshop in the world. In 2019, it was named the “world’s most beautiful bookstore” by the National Geographic.

The Wandelgek entered and was completely blown away by its beauty…

This was mind numbing, perplexing and leaving him speechless in utter amazement, only to find out that he had only been entering its Entré area🤩…

There were two floors above…

Situated on Santa Fe Avenue in Barrio La Recoleta, the building was designed by architects Peró and Torres Armengol for impresario Max Glücksmann (1875-1946), and opened as a theatre called Teatro Gran Splendid in May 1919. The eclecticist building features ceiling frescoes painted by the Italian artist Nazareno Orlandi  and caryatids sculpted by Troiano Troiani, whose work also graces the cornice along the Palacio de la Legislatura de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires.

When he entered the main theater room, The Wandelgek was reminded of an old scene in an Italian theatre in a Sisi movie…

The theatre had a seating capacity of 1,050, and staged a variety of performances, including appearances by the tango artists Carlos Gardel, Francisco Canaro,  Roberto Firpo and Ignacio Corsini. Glücksmann started his own radio station in 1924 (Radio Splendid), which broadcast from the building where his recording company, Nacional Odeón, made some of the early recordings of the great tango singers of the day. In the late twenties the theatre was converted into a cinema, and in 1929 showed the first sound films presented in Argentina.

The ornate former theatre was leased by Grupo Ilhsa in February 2000. Ilhsa, through Tematika, owns El Ateneo and Yenny booksellers (totaling over 40 stores), as well as the El Ateneo publishing house.

The building was subsequently renovated and converted into a book and music shop under the direction of architect Fernando Manzone; the cinema seating was removed and in its place book shelves were installed.

Following refurbishment works, the 2,000 m² (22,000 sq ft) El Ateneo Grand Splendid became the group’s flagship store, and in 2007 sold over 700,000 books; over a million people walk through its doors annually.

Customer seating has been installed throughout the building, including the still-intact theatre boxes, and a café has been created at the back of what was once the stage. The ceiling, the ornate carvings, the crimson stage curtains, the auditorium lighting and many architectural details remain. Despite the changes, the building still retains the feeling of the grand theatre it once was. The Guardian, a prominent British periodical, named El Ateneo Grand Splendid second in its 2008 list of the world’s ten best bookshops. In 2019, it was named the “world’s most beautiful bookstore” by the National Geographic.

After roaming through the enormous bookstore and even finding a Harry Potter section…

… it was time for a cup of Italian style cappuccino in the bookstore’s restaurant. And what a location that restaurant had😍😍😍…

It was on the theater’s main stage between the curtains where once artists had performed.

Beneath you see the restaurant area on stage and the boxes where the wealthier audience or those of noble or royal blood could retreat to watch the show apart from the plebs.

These boxes were now confiscated by readers, who wanted to avoid the crowds, browsing through the many bookshelves, lounging on the comfy benches or sitting on a pluche chair, absorbed in the story of a book…

Then The Wandelgek walked back to his hotel again, which was another 3 kilometers. He needed a shower after having walked through Buenos Aires at temperatures well above 20° C.

At the Obelisk, The Wandelgek slightly detoured from his previous route and instead took the Avenida Corrientes towards the Rio de la Plata. Then he went right towards his hotel.

The Wandelgek was preparing for a wonderful evening program full of good food, good music and good performances. See my next upcoming blogpost…