URUGUAY
departamento: Montevideo

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Montevideo is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. As of the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of about 1,290,000, making up about 37% of the country's total population. Montevideo is situated on the southern coast of the country, on the northeastern bank of the Río de la Plata.

A Portuguese garrison was established at this site in 1723. The Portuguese garrison was expelled in 1724 amidst the Spanish–Portuguese dispute over the platine region. There is no official document establishing the foundation of the city, but the year 1726 is mostly recognised as the probable date. The complete independence from Buenos Aires as a real city was not reached 1730. It was also under brief British rule in 1807, but eventually the city was retaken by Spanish criollos who defeated the British invasions of the River Plate. During the May Revolution of 1810 and the subsequent uprising of the provinces of Rio de la Plata, the Spanish colonial government moved to Montevideo. In 1816, Portugal invaded the recently liberated territory and in 1821, it was annexed to the Banda Oriental of Brazil. The Treaty of Montevideo in 1828 gave birth to Uruguay as an independent state. In the early 20th century, many Europeans (particularly Spaniards and Italians but also thousands from Central Europe) immigrated to the city.

The Puente de los Baños de los Pocitos (Pier at the Pocitos Beach) [left, no. 4991] was constructed at the end of the 19th century.

The Artigas monument [near left, no. 4990], located in Independence Square in Montevideo, is an equestrian monument dedicated to the Uruguayan national hero José Gervasio Artigas. The monument was created by the Italian sculptor Angelo Zanelli in 1884. In September 1974, the creation of an underground mausoleum was arranged to house the remains of Artigas, which were removed from the National Pantheon of the Central Cemetery in 1972 and transferred to the Plaza in 1977. The mausoleum underwent a remodeling between 2010 and 2012. José Gervasio Artigas (1764–1850) led the Eastern Revolution of 1811, participated in the War of Independence of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (1810–1825), and was a leading figure in the movement for federalism in what are now Uruguay and Argentina.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montevideo; https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monumento_a_Artigas; https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Gervasio_Artigas]