The Buenos Aires Customs House (''Aduana'') is a government building and architectural landmark in the Montserrat section of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the Capital city, capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata ...

Overview

The French neoclassical building housing the Argentine General Customs Directorate (DGA) was commissioned during the administration of President José Figueroa Alcorta, and resulted from the marked expansion in

Argentine foreign trade Foreign trade of Argentina is all about the economic activities going on within and outside Argentina especially with regards to exports, imports, inter-national trades and so on. Modern history Agriculturally and thinly populated, Argentina ...

and the

economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with t ...

in the generation up to 1910, when the nation's GDP was estimated to have grown by over 8% a year. Local architects Eduardo Lanús and Pablo Hary were commissioned in 1909 to design the new administrative offices for the ''Aduana'', which was noteworthy not only for its façade and its two turrets, but also for its use of

carrara marble Carrara marble, Luna marble to the Romans, is a type of white or blue-grey marble popular for use in sculpture and building decor. It has been quarried since Roman times in the mountains just outside the city of Carrara in the province of ...

cladding throughout, as well as its numerous allegorical details such as the ornamental bull's heads and the marble

caryatid A caryatid ( or or ; grc, Καρυᾶτις, pl. ) is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term ''karyatides'' literally means "ma ...

s along the cornice, some bearing intricate wrought-iron acanthus and

laurel wreath A laurel wreath is a round wreath made of connected branches and leaves of the bay laurel (), an aromatic broadleaf evergreen, or later from spineless butcher's broom ('' Ruscus hypoglossum'') or cherry laurel ('' Prunus laurocerasus''). It is a ...

s.''La Nación'': Declararon monumento histórico nacional al edificio de la Aduana
/ref> The building was inaugurated by President Figueroa Alcorta in October 1910, days before his retirement. Following refurbishment works, on September 28, 2009, the Customs Building was declared a

National Historic Monument National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ...

by President

Cristina Kirchner Cristina is a female given name, and it is also a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Cristina (daughter of Edward the Exile), 11th-century English princess * Cristina (singer), Cristina Monet-Palaci (1956–2020), American ...

The government bureau housed therein, the DGA, traces its origins to the

San Nicolás Agreement The San Nicolás Agreement () was a pact signed on May 31, 1852 and subscribed by all but one of the 14 provinces of Argentina, provinces of the United Provinces of the River Plate (the exception was Buenos Aires Province, Buenos Aires). The treat ...

of 1852, whereby all

customs duties A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and ...

were nationalized. The provision, rejected by the

Province of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...

, was first enforced following Buenos Aires leader

Bartolomé Mitre Bartolomé Mitre Martínez (26 June 1821 – 19 January 1906) was an Argentine statesman, soldier and author. He was President of Argentina from 1862 to 1868 and the first president of unified Argentina. Mitre is known as the most versatile ...

's 1860 defeat at the Battle of Cepeda. The National Customs Administration was established in 1862, when following Mitre's election as president, Economy Minister Dalmacio Vélez Sársfield established the bureau (he had developed the Argentine Commercial Code in 1858).Rock, David. ''Argentina 1516-1982''. University of California Press, 1987. The building reflected the importance of customs duties to the national treasury itself, which from the colonial era of the

Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata ( es, Virreinato del Río de la Plata or es, Virreinato de las Provincias del Río de la Plata) meaning "River of the Silver", also called " Viceroyalty of the River Plate" in some scholarly writings, i ...

until 1930, accounted for around 80 percent of government revenues. The bureau's importance declined after 1945, since which date these revenues have contributed 10-20 percent of the national budget. The bureau's autonomy later led to significant improprieties, notably the development in 1988 of a "parallel customs" by President

Raúl Alfonsín Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín (12 March 1927 – 31 March 2009) was an Argentine lawyer and statesman who served as President of Argentina from 10 December 1983 to 8 July 1989. He was the first democratically elected president after more than ...

's administrator of the office, Carlos Delconte, and that of a

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. Originally and ...

network in 1991 overseen by President

Carlos Menem Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. Ideologically, he identified as a Peronist and supported economically liberal policies. ...

's customs administrator and brother-in-law, Ibrahim al-Ibrahim (a Syrian national who spoke almost no Spanish).''The New York Times''. August 6, 1991. Ultimately, the customs bureau was transferred to the Federal Public Revenue Administration (AFIP) by a 1997 decree signed by President Menem.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buenos Aires Customs Government buildings in Argentina Buildings and structures in Buenos Aires Government buildings completed in 1910 National Historic Monuments of Argentina Custom houses 1910 establishments in Argentina