The story
Imagine a fourteen-year-old girl standing before the Viceroy of the Rio de la Plata. It is the very beginning of the 1800s, a time when marriages are business deals arranged by fathers. But this girl, Mariquita Sanchez, has refused the man her parents chose. She is in love with her cousin, Martin Jacobo Thompson, and she is bold enough to take her own father to court for the right to marry him. She won that battle, and that spirit of defiance never really left her. As you walk down this street today, you are walking through a tribute to a woman who helped birth a nation from her own living room.
Mariquita Sanchez de Thompson was born in 1786 into a wealthy family, but she became the most influential salon-holder of the Argentine revolution. For decades, her home was the place where the greatest minds of Buenos Aires gathered to plot independence and debate the future. She was a writer, a thinker, and a patron of the arts who lived through the most turbulent years of the nineteenth century.
The most famous story told about her takes place on a May evening in 1813. The story goes that within the walls of her house, the Argentine National Anthem was performed for the very first time. While some historians debate the exact date and setting, the image of Mariquita standing by her piano, singing those first notes of freedom, has become a cornerstone of Argentine identity. She was more than just a host; she was a political force who used her social standing to push for education and women’s rights long before those concepts were mainstream.
This particular street was given her name in 1995. At that time, the city was transforming the old, abandoned docks into the modern district of Puerto Madero. The planners made a historic decision: every street in this new neighborhood would be named after a prominent woman. It was a way to weave the often-overlooked female figures of history back into the map of the city.
Today, the street is a short but elegant stretch that captures the contrast of modern Buenos Aires. It connects the busy Juana Manso street with the wide Avenida de los Italianos. As you walk, you will see the shimmering glass of high-end residential towers reflecting the sky. On one side, you have the edge of the Parque Mujeres Argentinas, a large green space that offers a breath of fresh air amidst the architecture. It is a quiet, polished place, a far cry from the dusty, colonial streets Mariquita would have known. Before you keep going, take a moment to look at the glass facades of the buildings around you. Try to find the reflection of the trees from the park in the windows; it is a lovely reminder of how the city’s past and its green spaces are always trying to find a way to meet.