CARACAS (AFP) ― The remains of Latin American independence hero Simon Bolivar will soon be moved to a modern structure in Caracas that towers over nearby buildings like an enormous ship’s sail.
The 50-meter-tall structure, covered in white ceramic, was commissioned by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who fancies himself as the 19th century revolutionary’s ideological heir.
The mausoleum will be accessible through a vestibule connected to the National Pantheon, a much smaller 19th century neo-Gothic church where other Venezuelan heroes are buried.
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Simon Bolivar |
Known here simply as the “Liberator,” Bolivar is a towering figure in Venezuela’s history. A portrait of Bolivar adorns buildings throughout the country, and even the national currency is named after him.
Plans are for Bolivar’s remains to be placed in a mahogany sarcophagus covered with precious stones that will sit on a simple elevated granite platform under the curved structure. Sunlight will stream in through a single skylight.
Even before it was completed, this wave-shaped building has been a lightning rod for controversy, as its massive size and flashy architectural style clashes with the surrounding buildings.
“It reflects a disproportionate ego ― a distortion in the proportion of things,” said Venezuelan architect Oscar Tenreiro, who fretted that the looming mausoleum “minimizes” the nearby pantheon.
