Busts on calle Obispo Codina

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Art · Subcategory: Sculpture · Year: 2012 · Authors: Eugenio Correa Rijo

These bronze busts of four leading Canary figures (Fray Juan Bautista Cervera, Manuel Verdugo y Albiturría, José de Viera y Clavijo and Diego Nicolás Eduardo), were commissioned by the Friends' Association of the Cathedral of the Canaries. These were added to the bust representing the bronze figure of architect Luján Pérez.

These busts were the work of sculptor Eugenio Correa Rijo, and represent the figures of Manuel Verdugo Albiturría (first bishop of the Diocese of the Canaries born on the islands), Fray Juan Bautista de Cervera (founder of the Concilliary Seminary of the Canaries and the Royal Economic Societies of the Archipielago), José de Viera y Clavijo (canon and archdeacon of Fuerteventura, the leading figure in the Enlightment movement in the Canaries), and Diego Nicolás Eduardo (rationalist canon and architect of the cathedral of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria).

The statues are carved in bronze over Arucas stone pedestals, and were commissioned on 23rd March 2007 by the Friends' Association of the Cathedral of the Canaries at the request of Cathedral dean José Lavandera López, archdeacon of Fuerteventura, director of the Sacred Art Diocesan Museum and the Historical Archive at the Diocesis of the Canaries.

The busts measure 50x50x25 centimetres and are set on 2 metre high pedestals. They stand on the remains of ashlar stone over the former choir area of the cathedral of the Canaries, which closes off the garden of the Bishop's Palace over calle Obispo Codina. 

They pay tribute to the efforts of these celebrated clergymen, who put huge efforts into the Diocesis of the Canaries, and especially for their support in the execution of works on the cathedral of the Canaries, a monument that has been declared a National Historical and Artistic Site, and Site of Cultural Interest. 

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