The record
Twenty metres of wall, fifty tonnes, shipped to Argentina in 1991 for the Columbus quincentenary — aboard a ship called the Leningrad.
For the five-hundredth anniversary of Columbus's crossing, Buenos Aires staged America '92 on exhibition grounds at the old port, with a full-scale replica of the Santa María at anchor, a rebuilt Maya pyramid, national pavilions and a dolphinarium. Twenty running metres of the Berlin Wall were brought over to sit alongside all that, on the argument that 1492 and 1989 were the two events the hemisphere should be thinking about.
The fifty-tonne load crossed the Atlantic in 1991 aboard a ship named — the Foundation's own account does not let this pass — the Leningrad. It was moved from the dock on twenty lorries. The artistic director Rafael Jijena Sánchez staged it hard: two segments hung from a crane above the entrance, standing for the iron curtain coming down; inside the pavilion, photographs of divided Berlin projected onto a wall built of segments; and for the braver visitor, a passage under two slabs meant to approximate an escape tunnel.
How did it get here?
Imported in 1991 with the support of Editorial Perfil, the largest publishing house in the Spanish-speaking world — which is also why a segment stands at Perfil's own headquarters in the city.
Sources & verification
Federal Foundation — Berlin Wall worldwide, site entry ↗
The America '92 exhibition, the twenty metres and fifty tonnes, the 1991 crossing aboard the Leningrad, the twenty lorries, Rafael Jijena Sánchez's staging and Editorial Perfil's support.
Source accessed 2026-09-17
Federal Foundation — Berlin Wall worldwide ↗
The source lists this place as a Berlin Wall location. Coordinates, where supplied, are source-reported and may represent a general area. This is not independent verification of authenticity, current presence, or public access.
Source accessed 2026-09-17 · Source record 240
Last verified: Not yet verified
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