El Ateneo Grand Splendid

This guide to El Ateneo Grand Splendid in Buenos Aires traces the building from its 1919 opening as a tango theater built for entrepreneur Max Glücksmann, through its later years as a radio station and a record label pressing early tango recordings by artists like Carlos Gardel. It follows the venue's shift from live orchestras and silent films toward something new arriving on screen, and its eventual transformation into today's bookstore beneath the original painted ceiling. Look up at Nazareno Orlandi's frescoes as you browse the shelves.