Monument to Calvo Sotelo

The monument was an initiative of the "National Junta for the homage to the Glorious Proto-Martyr of the Crusade Don José Calvo Sotelo" [sic], an entity reanimated in 1954 by the Francoist dictatorship in order to resume earlier Burgos government's projects dating back to 1938 intending to commemorate the aforementioned politician and delayed by the then ongoing state of war.[1]

The location of the monument was decided in 1958.[2] Commissioned to Manuel Manzano-Monís (architect) and Carlos Ferreira de la Torre (sculptor), the monument fuses the aesthetics of Italian fascism with the Spanish vanguard of the time.[3]

Made of reinforced concrete,[4] the single written inscription on the material reads España a Calvo Sotelo ("Spain to Calvo Sotelo").[5]

It was unveiled on 13 July 1960.[3] It was slightly relocated in 1992 during the works of reform of the Plaza de Castilla and put on a raised platform in the south end of the plaza.[6] Its frontal perspective generates an axis of symmetry with the Puerta de Europa twin towers.[4]

The monument has sparked several controversies, especially regarding the inconvenience for its permanence in the square.[4]

Citations

Bibliography

• Arroyo Fernández, María Dolores (2016). "De La Castellana a Madrid Río: ámbitos de regeneración, intervención y comunicación artística". In Chaves Martín, Miguel Ángel; Lorente, Jesús-Pedro (eds.). Barrios Artísticos y Distritos Culturales. Nuevos espacios para la creatividad y la revitalización urbana (PDF). Madrid: Icono14 Editorial. pp. 289–316. ISBN 978-84-940289-7-7.
• Canosa Zamora, Ángela; García Carballo, Ángela (2016). "Madrid Km 0. La intervención franquista en la construcción de algunos paisajes simbólicos de la capital". Estudios Geográficos. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. 77 (281): 415–442. doi:10.3989/estgeogr.201613. ISSN 0014-1496.
• Olaya, Vicente G.; Serrato, Fran (3 February 2016). "El obelisco franquista derribado estaba protegido por Patrimonio". El País.
• Rubio García, Fernando (2015). "Fuentes documentales del Archivo de la Diputación de Badajoz" (PDF). Revista de Estudios Extremeños. Badajoz: Centro de Estudios Extremeños. 61 (3): 2113–2168. ISSN 0210-2854.
• Terrasa, Jacques (2013). "Calvo Sotelo fotografiado por Alfonso el 13 de julio de 1936: ¿una imagen póstuma para el carisma?" (PDF). Iberic@l. Revue d'études ibériques et ibéro-américaines. Paris: CRIMIC: 25–40. ISSN 2260-2534.