Santa Ana Chapel

Glew is a little town in Almirante Brown, half an hour from Buenos Aires, to the south. Its name comes from the first owner of these lands, Juan Glew. In 1905, Santa Ana Chapel was inaugurated. At the same time, in Buenos Aires, Raul Soldi was born. He would be one of the most known Argentinean plastic artists. This story began in the early 1950s, when Soldi arrived in the town and immediately loved its quiet streets, with only a few sulkies coming and going from time to time. Shortly after he bought a weekend house where he stayed during the summers. There he met Santa Ana Chapel which was built by Pablo Regazzoni in neoclassical style. It had a double bell tower, with a brick facade, a gable roof, white walls covered with lime and wooden saints. This motivated the painter to give it color and paint different figures. So, since 1953 he worked during 23 summers with the frescoes renaissance technique. First, he prepared the walls and then he applied paint with a spatula. He finished one series of 13 frescoes that showed Virgin Maria’s life. A curiosity is that it’s possible to recognize some places or landscapes, and some people from the town, for example the place where the Virgin was born was the yard of a house near the temple. You can also discover the windmills, the village library and even the façade of the chapel. Above, where the choir stans, is the figure of the poet friar and next to him the parish priest and the altar boy of that time. Santa Cecilia, who is sitting on the organ, is the girl who sang on Sunday Mass. Other figures represent the friend of the teacher’s wife, through whom he met the town, and the person who cleaned the place. Santa Ana is a known neighbor who sang at the church choir. The paintings have been restored and they are well preserved. Later he bought a second and a third house where the Soldi Fundation works today. Here you can find 60 works, oil paintings, drawings and engravings that he donated in life. Daniel Soldi, the artist’s son, is in charge of the foundation.