Terra

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Just as Paris has the Eiffel tower and New York has the Empire State building, in the same way Buenos Aires has the Obelisco and Rio de Janeiro has Christ the Redeemer, there is a mass of cement with its own soul that stands out among the jazz and voodoo and the French Quarter with its Bourbon Street; a masterpeice of engineering that mixes with the old buildings at the center of the city, sad reminders of Hurricane Katrina and the contagious uproar of Mardi Gras.

Its easy to distinguish among the buildings which maintain the undeniable hint of the historic French and Spanish zones, its impossible to miss, just alongside the main highway into the city, close the old wearhouse and tourism areas.

There it stands unscathed, the New Orleans Superdome. A symbol of the strength of the most festive city in the United States.

The Superdome is a monster with a diameter of 679 feet and 253 feet tall, it is built on the old cemetery of Girod street, with a cost of $134 million. It first opened its doors on August 3, 1975.

David Dixon, one of the inspirational sons of the city, convinced the then governor of Louisiana, John McKeithen, to build the dome; Dixon, aside from being the father of the Superdome, was also the founder of the Saints, the NFL franchise in New Orleans.

Despite being a building ahead of its time, receiving concerts from huge artist and hosting the sad defeats of the Saints for decades, the Superdome would not reach its mythical connotations until August 2005.

Hurricane Katrina, the most destructive in United States history, generated material losses of 108 billion dollars. It took the lives of 1,833 people and in one night decimated the dreams of a city which is located under sea level at the mercy of the furious waters of the Gulf of Mexico, surrounded by the majestous Mississippi river and the great Pontchartrain Lake.

In just months, the Superdome became the symbol of tragedy and resurgence.

It was the venue that hosted the largest amount of victims after the great flood, its roof cracked and rays of light penetrating the interior, threatening its stability and the thousands of humans that were living the biggest nightmare of their lifes. The images quickly covered the entire world and the dome went from being the home of the Saints to a solid rock that withstood the storm and permitted citizens to get up and continue walking.

It seems almost a lie that only seven years ago, this city in which I walk today and which vibrates full-fledged from every corner; from the Warehouse District, the Riverwalk, Downtown was submerged in water.

A lot of things were said in the months in which the Superdome hosted the city's unfortunate citizens; there were accusations of looting, rape and even the death of a minor; regardles, today none of those accusations have been proven and they went on to become part of the urban legends of a city very similar to the ones described by Garcia Marquez in his magical realism.

The citizens of New Orleans launched a crusade to save their NFL franchise and Superdome, both which were on the verge of disappearing after the tragedy.

Many believed the Saints would be better off in a new city and some engineers reccomended demolishing the stadium; regardless, Tom Benson, one of the beloved sons of New Orleans, led the crusade to save the team and its home which had become a symbol of reconstruction.

Benson had already saved the Saints once, when he bought them in 1985 and appealed to all his power and friends to make sure the team stayed not only in New Orleans, but in the state.

It was a master plan that came to fruition on September 25, 2006, just a year after the tragedy. That monday night, the Saints returned to their remodeled home, after $193 million had been used to bring it back to life, and defeated their biggest divisional rivals, the Atlanta Falcons.

In the building that night were U2, Spike Lee, former president George Bush and 74,468 souls which represented the 1,800 dead and their families, and all those men and women that swam in the mortal waters of Katrina.

That game on that artificial turf sealed the reconstruction of New Orleans, it was the firm return of the city to normality, once again on the right path to returning to a normal life.

There was still a lot ot be done, clearly, one engineering feat and a football game would not resolve all the pain, poverty, social decomposition and absence of opportunity that Katrina left in its wake.

But having seen just a year earlier thousands of people resembling a refugee camp in Africa rather than a traditional American city and being able to see the smile return, was a strong strike towards a definitive recontruction.

After that game, it was engraved in the collective memory of the United States, and the world, that the Superdome was strong, erect and brave, supporting pain without fallling, and could represent the joy after the tragedy.

Today New Orleans, alongside Miami, is the City that has hosted the Super Bowl the most times, seven in total, and once more the Superdome is the epicenter of a flourishing city that refuses to give its soul to the water.