of the base was adorned with the national arms. A new fence was constructed and a gaslight placed at each corner. In 1859, the deteriorating condition of the plaster led the city to reface the base in marble. By 1873 the stucco and terracotta statues installed by Dubourdieu had not surprisingly begun to decay. Consequently, they were replaced with four Carrara marble statues which had originally been located on the first floor of the Banco Provincia on Calle San Martín. These were Geography, Astronomy, Navigation and Industry. These remained until 1912, when they were placed in storage. In 1972 they were installed in the old Plazoleta de San Francisco, at the intersection of Calles Defensa and Alsina, 150 metres from the modern Pyramid. In 2018 the statues were restored at their original positions at the corners of the pyramid. In 1883, on the orders of intendente de la ciudad de Buenos Aires Torcuato de Alvear, the Recova was demolished, joining the Plazoleta del Fuerte and the Plaza del Victoria to form the modern Plaza de Mayo. Alvear had considered demolishing the Pyramid and erecting a more grandiose monument in its place, but in order to do so, required the permission of the deliberative council in charge of the project. The council consulted the opinion of various distinguished citizens, including ex-presidents Bartolomé Mitre, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, and Nicolás Avellaneda. Mitre saw no reason to preserve the monument, because after its many renovations and additions it was no longer, in an authentic sense, the original Pyramid erected following the Revolution. He considered only the foundation worthy of preservation. Sarmiento also rejected the additions to the primitive structure. Avellaneda felt it should be restored to its original form and stripped of its more recent adornments, but not destroyed outright. In the end, none of these suggestions were acted upon, because although the majority favored demolition, the national government preferred the status quo. The Relocation In 1906, with a few years until the centenary of the May Revolution, plans were put forward for a new monument that would completely contain the Pyramid, which consequently had to be relocated to the center of the Plaza de Mayo. This was not realized until 1912. After the marble statues had been removed, the Pyramid was enclosed with wood for protection. Two rails were laid, four metres apart, supported by masonry pillars that could support a weight of