Even broader than Corrientes, Av. 9 de Julio is a pedestrian's worst nightmare (fortunately, there is a tunnel underneath it). At the intersection with Corrientes, the famous Obelisco soars above the Plaza de la Republica. Dedicated in 1936, on the 400th. anniversary of the first Spanish settlement on the Rio de la Plata, the phallic Obelisco itself symbolizes Buenos Aires much as the Eiffel Tower represents Paris or the Washington Monument does Washington, DC.

West of Av. 9 de Julio, the city's major landmark and pride is the Teatro Colon (1908), at Libertad 621, one of the world's finest performing arts venues and the Southern Hemisphere's largest theater until the construction of the Sidney Opera House in 1973.