Description
The Columbus Monument is a 60-meter column topped by a bronze Christopher Columbus, at the foot of La Rambla beside Barcelona's port. An elevator inside the column climbs to a viewing platform just below the statue, with views over the harbor, the old city and the sea. A lion guards each of the staircases at the foot.
On top, the 7.2-meter bronze statue by Rafael Atché has Columbus pointing out to sea with his right hand and holding a scroll in his left. Toward the New World, supposedly. Those who have checked say he points south-southeast, somewhere toward Algeria. To point at his native Genoa, he would have to turn the other way.
The octagonal pedestal is where the sculptors showed off. Four winged victories take flight toward the corners of the world, and four seated figures stand for the realms of Catalonia, León, Aragon and Castile.
Eight bronze reliefs on the plinth tell the story of the voyage, from Columbus and his son asking for food at the monastery of La Rábida to his return to Barcelona. Lions guard the four staircases of the circular base.
The monument went up for the 1888 Universal Exposition. It was in Barcelona that Columbus reported to Ferdinand and Isabella after his first voyage. The idea came from Antoni Fages i Ferrer in 1856, and it took sixteen years before anyone listened.
It was a Catalan affair from start to finish. The winning designer was Gaietà Buigas, the labor and materials were Catalan, and only about twelve percent of the money came from public funds. Construction ran from 1882 to 1888, and the contest for the design was open only to Spanish artists.
On the statue's socle is the word "Tierra", land.
In 1986 an art project, the Honeymoon Miralda Project, even prepared a "wedding" between the monument and New York's Statue of Liberty.
On top, the 7.2-meter bronze statue by Rafael Atché has Columbus pointing out to sea with his right hand and holding a scroll in his left. Toward the New World, supposedly. Those who have checked say he points south-southeast, somewhere toward Algeria. To point at his native Genoa, he would have to turn the other way.
The octagonal pedestal is where the sculptors showed off. Four winged victories take flight toward the corners of the world, and four seated figures stand for the realms of Catalonia, León, Aragon and Castile.
Eight bronze reliefs on the plinth tell the story of the voyage, from Columbus and his son asking for food at the monastery of La Rábida to his return to Barcelona. Lions guard the four staircases of the circular base.
The monument went up for the 1888 Universal Exposition. It was in Barcelona that Columbus reported to Ferdinand and Isabella after his first voyage. The idea came from Antoni Fages i Ferrer in 1856, and it took sixteen years before anyone listened.
It was a Catalan affair from start to finish. The winning designer was Gaietà Buigas, the labor and materials were Catalan, and only about twelve percent of the money came from public funds. Construction ran from 1882 to 1888, and the contest for the design was open only to Spanish artists.
On the statue's socle is the word "Tierra", land.
In 1986 an art project, the Honeymoon Miralda Project, even prepared a "wedding" between the monument and New York's Statue of Liberty.