Stop 5: The German Fountain: Plaza Alemania

A total of 122 submissions from mainly artists based in Germany were made for the design of this monument. After the first selection was made in Berlin, the committee in Buenos Aires selected the proposal of Gustav Bredow.

In 1910, the construction of the German Fountain started joining the list of monuments approved by the Centennial commission in order to renew the urban landscape of Buenos Aires. In that plan of renewal there was a clear allusion to the Europeanness and Whiteness of Argentina as the Greek motives of the fountain reminds us.

As Dr. Bryce observes, the German Fountain emphasizes Argentine agriculture, which reflected German-Argentine involvement in the Argentine pampas. Germans in Argentina played a key role in the development of settlements in the pampas and the four naked Greek figures represent indeed livestock breeding (on the left) and agriculture (on the right).