Paseo de Colombia

The Paseo de Colombia skirts the north side of the Retiro’s Great Pond, and beside it flows the Ría, an artificial canal stretching about 160 meters and widening to as much as 19. At its center sits an island crowned by the statue of Diana. The rowing-boat landing occupies number 2. The whole dates to around 1900, the date of its first cartographic trace: the map that Facundo Cañada drew up that same year. The name is part of a constellation of Retiro walks named after Ibero-American republics. There Venezuela, Cuba, Chile, Argentina, Panamá, Bolivia, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Perú coexist, and among them stands Colombia as a sovereign republic, which is what the dedication points to. The idea for these names is said to have arisen from the Hispano-American Social and Economic Congress held in 1900. The direct link between that gathering and the street’s name does not appear in the municipal records, so the attribution remains plausible rather than proven.