Description: It’s great when you stumble across something you have never heard of when you are travelling. I must confess that I knew little about Montevideo before visiting there so it was no surprise that the city provided some unexpected sights and experiences. The Artigas Mausoleum in the middle of the Plaza Independencia was one of these. The mausoleum is below ground and a 24-hour guard watches over Artigas’ remains. The public is free to walk in any time so we did on one of the occasions we were at the plaza.
The mausoleum is impressive and surprisingly large. There are two flights of wide stairs leading down from the plaza. We were the only visitors there so we took our time to let our eyes adjust to the relative darkness. We then walked around, past the remains, looking at the structure itself. We decided that it was a fitting tribute to a man who was a giant in Uruguay’s history.
Artigas had been a soldier of the colonial guard, which watched over the western Uruguayan borders protecting them from the odd Indian or Portuguese attack. With the rebellion of 25 May 1810 in Buenos Aires, similar sentiments came over to this side of the river. In 1811, Artigas was commissioned in the patriot army in Buenos Aires, and returned to lead the fight in the Banda Oriental, slowly moving on the royalist center here in Montevideo. After several twists and turns, Artigas – with help from Buenos Aires – captured Montevideo in 1814.
He had always hoped for a confederation of equal provinces and became a leading voice for Federalism. Artigas became a very popular figure much to the dismay of the Unitarians in Buenos Aires. They launched a couple of forays across the river at him, which he defeated, and he proclaimed Uruguay, Entre Rios, Corrientes and Santa Fe to be the League of Free Peoples of the Littoral with himself as Protector.
Not a dictator in the true sense of the word, he preferred to work through local cabildos. He is best known for his attempts to break up large haciendas to give unused lands to some of his humble followers, but what really scared the porteno Unitarians was his naïve belief that government by the people should include everyone – even the lower classes and Indians. The people in Buenos Aires were only too glad to see the Portuguese invade Uruguay in 1816, watching as Artigas finally fled Uruguay in 1820 living the last 30 years of his life in a Paraguayan exile.
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