Monument to Fernando León y Castillo

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Art · Subcategory: Sculpture · Year: 1928 · Authors: Mariano Benlliure

[...] One of the most relevant sculptures is dedicated to politician Fernando León y Castillo, who was Foreign Minister and Embassador in París at the time of the Restauración. This work was made in the 1920s by sculptor Mariano Benlliure. It is an important monumental piece whose purpose was to exalt this leading figure, in full size and in a realistic style in its statue form in the centre of the monument. [...] From its present-day position it stands tall over the bay and the Port of La Luz, while its very existence is owed very much to the island politician's great cooperative deeds. The monument to León y Castillo is a tribute to the one of the greatest characters to have existed in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

It was inaugurated in 1928 in Santa Catalina Park, but in 1949 it was decided that is should be moved to its current location, integrated into monumental fountain. Its sculptor, Benlliure, takes painstaking detail as if it were a portrait. In the middle part the protagonist rises up, between the two bas-reliefs recreating a parliamentary setting and the disembarking of the the marquiss's remains at the port of Las Palmas

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