Seville is full of sculptures of kings, bullfighters, writers, painters… Most of them are recognizable at first glance because they are usually the busts of these famous people. This is what happens with the sculpture of Cervantes, with that of Aníbal González and even with that of the Cid Campeador.
However, in the city there are also other sculptures that pay homage to an entire generation of writers, a part of the population, values or the works of some well-known authors. What happens with it is that either it goes unnoticed among the passage of hundreds of people, or you have to go up to its inscriptions to find out what it is about. These are five of these unique sculptures that are spread throughout the capital:
Monument to tolerance
It is, perhaps, one of the best known since it is located on the Sal dock, next to the Guadalquivir river and very close to the Triana Bridge. However, not everyone knows that this peculiar sculpture is a tribute to tolerance. It was built in the 90s by the sculptor and painter Eduardo Chillida and was inaugurated in 1992, coinciding with the Universal Exhibition in Seville.
It was a project funded by the Friends of Sefarad Foundation and commemorates the edict of Granada of 1492, by which the Catholic kings expelled the Jews from their kingdoms. The construction was intended to commemorate the execution of five members of a Jewish family at the time of the expulsion.
Monument to the Generation of ’27
It is possible that if you have passed through Puerta de Jerez you have noticed that there is a sculpture of a woman lying down, reading over a fountain. It is a statue that pays tribute to the Generation of ’27 and was inaugurated in 2011. The woman represents the muse of poetry, a source of inspiration.
The group of Spanish poets and writers from the literary scene of the 1920s was called the Generation of ’27. As a curiosity, on the back of the fountain the names of all the poets who were part of that stage appear. Also as a tribute, the streets of the adjacent Cristina gardens are labeled with the names of these illustrious poets.
Monument to the Third Age
Curiously, in Seville there are two monuments dedicated to the elderly. One of them is located on Avenida El Greco and is a bronze sculpture that represents an old man sitting on a bench. Next to it is a plaque with the following text: “Monument tribute to the elderly. This title is followed by a poem by Antonio Machado:
Of the parks, the olmedas are the good groves that have seen us play, when our hair was blonde and, with snow on them, they must see us meditate.
The author of this work is Guillermo Plaza Jiménez and it was inaugurated in 2005.
Monument to Bécquer
This is undoubtedly the monument best known to Sevillians of all those previously mentioned. Located in the heart of María Luisa Park, the Bécquer roundabout is made up of several female sculptures inspired by the rhyme The installation works of the monument were carried out by the municipal architect, Juan Talavera y Heredia
Monument to Clara Campoamor
In the Plaza de la Pescadería, next to Alfalfa, there is a statue of a girl reading sitting on a pile of books. Although it does not seem that there may be a relationship, this sculpture pays tribute to Clara Campoamor. It is the work of the sculptor Anna Jonsson with advice from Margarita Aizpuru, installed in this environment in 2007.
The girl sitting there is surrounded by books like “Stories in Limbo”, “Violet Stories” or “Invisible Stories”. One of the books that the little girl reads has a date: 1931. This was the year in which Clara Campoamor participated in the draft of the Constitution of the New Republic where she tried to establish that there would be no sex discrimination, legal equality between children and daughters, universal suffrage, divorce and other advances.
The explanatory plaque reads the following: Tribute to Clara Campoamor, for her unmatched contribution to the freedom of women, what was her fight is part of the present of our rights.
