Monument to Cristobal Colon
The monument to Cristobal Colon (in Catalán, Monument a Cristobal Colom), is a combination of sculptures located in Portal de la Paz square of Barcelona, in old town district, very close to Tablao Flamenco Cordobes Barcelona. It was built to pay tribute to Cristobal Colom, in front of the old port of the city. The author of the project was the architect Gaietà Buigas i Monravà. Several artists also worked in the sculptoric decoration like Eduard B. Alentorn, Rafael Atché, Pere Carbonell, Manuel Fuxà, Josep Llimona, Rossend Nobas, Antoni Vilanova, Francesc Pagès and Agapit Vallmitjana. The fundition was made by Alejandro Wohlguemuth.
The monument was built in the context of the improvement works of Barcelona's coast, done because of the Universal Barcelona Expo in 1888. It was inaugurated the 1st june of 1888, right in the Expo. It become almost immediately one of the icons of the city. Inside the column there is an elevator that allows you to go up until the half sphere situated under the statue and from where you can see the city.
The idea of erecting a building dedicated to the discoverer of America, Cristobal Colon, arose some time before, when, in the middle of XIX century, the city council though of crowning the column of the Plaza del Duque de Medinacelli with a navigator statue.
The definitive plan started in 1881, driven by Antoni Fages i Ferrer, a developer of cultural initiatives and an enthusiastic of everything related with the America discovery. Antoni convinced Carles Franconi, an art critic and civil servant of the city and also one of the secretaries of the Universal Exposition of 1888.
Once the green was given by the major of Barcelona, the process of the project started and, in September 6th 1881, the first stone of the monument was put.
The funding of the project generated polemic. In the beginning, the idea was to construct the monument with contributions made by the citizens but, in the end, the city council had to take charge of the spending because the citizen contributions were insufficient and because the original budget was thoroughly increased (from 300.000 to 1.062.689 pts). On the other side, the city council of Madrid gave 30 tones of bronze for the monument from war material.
For the execution of the monument to Cristobal Colon they announced a competition projects in may 1882, a jury presided by Ramon de Sentmenat i Despujol, president of the Fine Arts Academy, who chose 2 projects signed by the architects Maurici Auger and Gaietà Buïgas. However, this choice didn't like the citiy council and they announced a new competition with a jury formed by Rossend Nobas, Camil Oliveras, Josep Pellicer, Tomàs Moragas and Macari Planella. Even so, the new jury chose the same projects and finally, the one designed by Gaietà Buïgas was chosen because it required a lower budget.
In relation to the sculptural part, another competition was announced with a jury formed by the art critic Miquel Badia and the sculptors Joan Roig i Solé, Josep Reynés and Luís Puig Gener. They all chose a group of various sculptors to make the different parts of the project.
A the end of the flamenco show, keep walking down Las Ramblas and you will see the moment to Cristobal Colon, it's impossible to miss it! Close to Tablao Flamenco Cordobes there are plenty of interesting places to visit. You can check most of them in the location section of our web. He hope you'll enjoy them!
