Pirámide de Mayo

This guide to the Pirámide de Mayo in Buenos Aires opens on the torch-lit unveiling of May 1811, a monument rushed into public view still unfinished for its own anniversary, guarded around the clock for four days straight. It follows the pyramid's costly construction and its 1856 rebuilding by architect Prilidiano Pueyrredón, who wrapped a taller shell around the original and crowned it with a bronze figure of liberty. Along the way it names two men killed defending the revolution the monument honors, whose story the government was slow to settle.