'' (1892) Conceived in the context of the celebrations for the 400th anniversary of Columbus' arrival to the Americas, the project follows a design by (died 1896). Commissioned by the
Spanish Government, the bronze parts were cast in
Paris at the . The monument was initially intended to be erected at
Havana's
Parque Central, yet the Cuban rebellion and ensuing independence from Spain aborted such plans. The bronze elements remained then in Paris while the ashlar pieces were stored in
Pontevedra. Valladolid, death place of the Genoese explorer, competed with other Spanish cities such as
Seville and
Madrid for the monument. The
Council of Ministers decided to award the monument to the city of Valladolid in 1901. The building works relative to the concrete socle were carried out by the Compañía anónima de Hormigón armado de Sestao in 1903. The monumental ensemble was unveiled on 14 September 1905. Four bronze reliefs on the pedestal illustrate events in the life of Columbus, including the meeting of Columbus with some friars (dominicans from
Salamanca or franciscans from
La Rábida), the departure from the port of
Palos, the arrival to the Americas and the reception by the Catholic Monarchs in Barcelona. Four seated statues representing
Study,
History,
Nautics, and
Value lie on the four corners of the monument. The truncated pyramid conforming the middle body of the monument completes with a medallion of the
Catholic Monarchs, a regal coats of arms featuring the
Eagle of Saint John, an image of the
Virgin Mary and a lion crowned by a
castle. Above, the
Earth globe, made of white stone from the quarries of
Ibeas, is circumvented by a bronze ribbon that reads , with the letter
from the later motto being scratched by the lion from below. Above the globe, a kneeling figure of Columbus and a cloaked and veiled female allegory of Faith'' holding a cross and a 2-liter chalice top the monument, that stands 16.40 metre high and weighs 7,000 kg. On 12 October 2019, the monument came out covered in red paint and tagged with a
graffiti reading: '''' ("
Spanish nationalism is Fascism"). Left-wing and
Castilian nationalist youth organization 'Yesca' took credit of the authorship of the vandal attack in social media. File:Callejeando por Valladolid (35347699055).jpg|One of the basement's bronze reliefs File:Detalle del monumento a Cristóbal Colón en Valladolid 6.JPG|The coat of arms File:EstatuaColonValladolid.jpg|Columbus and
Faith ==See also==