In Caracas, Venezuela, a 160-foot monument rises, fortified with near indestructible, imported steel and sheathed in white Spanish ceramic tiles. Brashly abstract and colossal in size, the building marks the new site of the remains of Simón Bolívar, the South American revolutionary who rallied countries such as Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru to win their independence from Spain. Despite its noble background, the slick sculptural protrusion, commissioned by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, has been subject to criticism from every angle.
The saga of Caracas's new monument began two years ago, when Chávez ordered that the remains of Bolívar be exhumed and studied by international scientists. Chávez was determined to procure evidence of the founding father’s poisoning, despite the general consensus among historians that "the Liberator" had died of tuberculosis. Turns out, these historians were right; no evidence of poisoning was found. Nevertheless, the move gave new impetus to a long tabled scheme to move Bolívar's remains from the National Pantheon — where the revolutionary had been sharing glory with more than 100 other Venezuelans — to a more dignified space.
Then came the plans for a new mausoleum, most of which to this day remain veiled in secrecy. Chávez appointed former culture minister and Spanish-born architect Francisco Sesto as "Minister of State for the Transformation of Greater Caracas" — a newly minted title — and Sesto was to foresee the construction of a glorious new sepulcher for Venezuela's foremost founding father. Rather than solicit design proposals for a jury to assess, Sesto gifted the hefty $140-million commission to a still unknown architect, and construction of the mausoleum was scheduled for completion in December 2011.
The lack of transparency, coupled with mounting delays in construction, would have been enough for locals to criticize, particularly for those who would find any singular $140-million construction a wasteful proposition in a neighborhood desperate for better housing and healthcare. But the austerely contemporary, imposing design quickly became an easy target for disapproval. Several have likened the façade to a skate park half pipe. On a more pragmatic level, some critics worry that the sloping form will send heavy rainfall flooding into the adjacent National Pantheon, a modest, neoclassical former church.
"One appreciates the enormous mass, limpid and seductive in itself but gigantic and absurd, out of context, possessive of the same sin as the political system from which it originates," said Venezuelan architect Oscar Tenreiro to Associated Press reporters. Tenreiro's terse analysis sums up the mausoleum’s mixed reception: While many are undoubtedly proud to see a glistening new monument in Caracas, there is no hiding the self-serving will of its creator, Chávez, a political leader grappling with his own mortality.
To historian Elias Pino, Chávez, who has been battling cancer while preparing for re-election, has a clear agenda. "The political intent is that President Hugo Chávez be proclaimed the agent of Bolívar's will and interpreter of the gospel of Bolívar," he said. As Pino sees it, the grossly oversized and shamelessly out-of-context building "will not just be the mausoleum of Bolivar but also the entrance of President Chávez into the pantheon of patriots."