Inecita O''Reilly Kuker

Lauren Stewart - Buenos Aires - April  2017

In one of my trips to Buenos Aires at the end of the last century I went to visit my first cousin and godmother Inecita O’Reilly Kuker. She lived in an apartment in the neighbourhood of Belgrano very close to the Belgrano C train station. Her apartment overlooked a lovely park called Las Barrancas de Belgrano. After my visit I decided to go to town in the train. As the train left the station I saw something that made me think I was off my rocker. I saw the Statue of Liberty.

I returned a few days later and photographed my cousin there. In 2027 Rosemary went to Buenos Aires with our youngest daughter in tow. I had to photograph her by the Statue of Liberty.

After some research this is what I found out. The first Statue of Liberty is not in New York City. It is in Buenos Aires. It was inaugurated in 1875 ten years before. The sculptor was Frenchman Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, also responsible for the New York City version. The Buenos Aires replica is three metres high. An inscription on the statue states that this iron version was cast at the Val d'Osne foundry in France.

The statue, cast in iron was painted bronze. with age the paint became green.