President Javier Milei will stage a ceremony this Saturday to formally rechristen the building known as the Centro Cultural Kirchner (CCK) as the “Centro Cultural Palacio Libertad Domingo F. Sarmiento.”
Back in May, the government said it would rename the former central Post Office building the “Palacio Libertad,” with the name announced by Presidential Spokesperson Manuel Adorni.
However, it has finally decided to add the name of former president Domingo F. Sarmiento to the building’s new moniker.
The Casa Rosada says the new name does not respond to any "partisan decision” – a claim that holds little weight, given that the name of Milei’s party is La Libertad Avanza and the decision to strip away the name of former president Néstor Kirchner.
President Milei is expected to publish a resolution in the Official Gazette on Friday to formally change the name of the former Post Office to the “Freedom Palace,” before hosting a ceremony the following day to celebrate the new moniker.
In order to celebrate the new branding, on Saturday President Milei will head a rally in the building to the tune of a symphonic orchestra. The day marks the 150th anniversary of the end of the 1868-1874 presidency of Sarmiento, named the so-called "father of the classroom” due to his pro-education policies.
The event will start at 7pm and will be broadcast on TV Pública and the President’s Office social networks, such as the Casa Rosada YouTube channel.
On Thursday, Culture Secretary Leonardo Cifelli is scheduled to go before the Culture Commission of the Chamber of Deputies to answer different requests for reports and express himself over the change of name of the cultural centre.
Ever since the announcement, the new name had entered a limbo. Even though the CCK still officially bore its name, the government has been publicising activities there as taking place at the "Palacio Libertad."
“The CCK itself has not changed, nor have its social networks or its website, or its brand identity. That will happen when the change is official,” government sources said.
The government had reportedly considered naming the building after an iconic Argentine leader or cultural figure. Among the names considered were Julio Argentino Roca, Jorge Luis Borges, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento and Bartolomé Mitre.
Initially opened nearly a century ago, the Retiro building was for decades home to the Buenos Aires Central Post Office.
In 2005, Néstor Kirchner led efforts to turn the then-abandoned building into a massive cultural centre. At great expense, the site was refurbished, reformed and eventually re-opened a decade later in 2015 as the Centro Cultural Kirchner, in honour of the late former president, who had died five years earlier.
Designed in a beaux-arts style, the CCK is home to a stunning concert hall known as "the blue whale," that seats almost 2,000 people. It also has venues for music, art installations, live theatre performances and regularly hosts exhibitions.
Former president Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) tried to change the building’s name during his time in office, but didn’t follow through with the plan.
President Milei suggested on the campaign trail last year that he would seek to change the building’s name if he won the presidential election.
--TIMES/PERFIL
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