{"id":664084,"date":"2026-02-02T14:35:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T14:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visitagijon.siketing.com\/rutas\/the-city-of-sculptures\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T22:02:53","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T22:02:53","slug":"the-city-of-sculptures","status":"publish","type":"ruta","link":"https:\/\/visitagijon.siketing.com\/en\/rutas\/the-city-of-sculptures\/","title":{"rendered":"The City of Sculptures"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Recommended route to be done by sections or areas, depending on the area of Gij\u00f3n\/Xix\u00f3n that you want to visit.<\/p>\n<p>Sculptural art has undergone profound changes in recent decades. As a result of these, it now occupies forms and plots previously reserved for other artistic manifestations, also using materials that have nothing to do with the classic marble, bronze or stone. Sculptures that overflow the scale to occupy voluminous spaces, as if they were large buildings, that provide interior spaces on which we walk or under which we look outside or can take shelter, as is the case with Eduardo Chillida&#8217;s <em>In Praise of the Horizon<\/em>. From the seventies, cities were filled with open-air sculptures, public art, often not without controversy and conflicts.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/visitagijonturismo.com\/gijon\/uploaded\/Rutas\/gijon_cultura_esculturas_pelayo_ivan_fdez%5B1%5D.jpg\" width=\"750\" height=\"500\" class=\"img-responsive\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Sculptural works located in public spaces in Gij\u00f3n\/Xix\u00f3n began to be implemented in the last decade of the nineteenth century. It was the time of the rise of the commemorative monument in Spain, characterized by large statues in bronze, stone or marble on high pedestals. Two examples of this way of understanding sculpture in public spaces remained in Gij\u00f3n\/Xix\u00f3n: the <em>Monument to Pelayo<\/em> by Jos\u00e9 M\u00aa L\u00f3pez and the <em>Monument to Jovellanos<\/em> by Manuel Fux\u00e1 in 1891. This trend continued at the beginning of the twentieth century, including a variant: the bust, with representative examples of the 20s being the <em>Monument to Evaristo<\/em> San Miguel and the <em>Monument to Manuel Orueta<\/em><strong> <\/strong>by Emiliano Barral, inaugurated in 1927 and the first attempt to renovate commemorative sculpture.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/visitagijonturismo.com\/gijon\/uploaded\/Rutas\/009_Madre_del_Emigrante_031217P1120609%5B1%5D.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"501\" class=\"img-responsive\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Isabel la Cat\u00f3lica Park, created in the 50s, hosted a large number of sculptural works, in many cases related to illustrious people from Gij\u00f3n, among which the following stand out: the painters Evaristo Valle and Nicanor Pi\u00f1ole by Manuel \u00c1lvarez Laviada, the industrialist Romualdo Alvargonz\u00e1lez Lanquine by Gerardo Zaragoza; the Fleming Monument, the first in the world dedicated to the discoverer of penicillin, inaugurated in 1955 and made by the sculptor Manuel \u00c1lvarez Laviada and the architect Luis Moya. In 1970 Ram\u00f3n Muriedas installed his Monument to the Mother of the Emigrant in the Rincon\u00edn, the first sculptural work of modern language installed in a public space in the city. In the 70s, the Monument to Caesar Augustus was also inaugurated.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>FUN FACT: Pelayo&#8217;s sculpture is the protagonist of different moments in the Gij\u00f3n\/Xix\u00f3n festivities. From the branching of his fountain in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gijon.es\/turismo\/foguera-de-san-xuan\">San Xuan<\/a>, through his conversion into a &#8216;pourer&#8217; during <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gijon.es\/turismo\/fiesta-de-la-sidra-natural\">the Natural Cider Festival<\/a> and, the most awaited moment of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gijon.es\/directorio\/antroxu\">Antroxu<\/a> when, after the proclamation, the brass bands go to the Monument to disguise Pelayo as another Gij\u00f3n.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/visitagijonturismo.com\/gijon\/uploaded\/Rutas\/arbol_de_la_ciencia%5B1%5D.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"750\" class=\"img-responsive\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The first steps towards the renovation of public sculpture were taken in the 80s. In the new urban spaces, sculptures were installed characterized by the use of new plastic languages and materials. Examples of these creations are the Severo Ochoa Park Playground, made by Grupo G, <em>Homage to Navigation<\/em> by Vicente V\u00e1zquez Can\u00f3nico and <em>Tree of Science<\/em> by Juan Zaratiegui. The &#8216;modernising&#8217; trend was consolidated throughout the nineties with a new concept of sculpture, created for a specific place, designed to give a new image to the urban space and recovering the monumental scale.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/visitagijonturismo.com\/gijon\/uploaded\/Rutas\/nordeste%5B1%5D.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"750\" class=\"img-responsive\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Works linked to important urban planning operations that were commissioned to significant artists. Eduardo Chillida&#8217;s <em>In Praise of the Horizon<\/em> was followed by the <em>Monument to World Peace<\/em>, by Manuel Arenas, <em>Escalada<\/em>, by Pablo Maojo, <em>G\u00e9nesis <\/em>by Joaqu\u00edn Rubio Cam\u00edn, <em>Nordeste<\/em>, by Joaqu\u00edn Vaquero Turcios and the arrangement of spaces in the Plaza del Humedal, with the <em>Luminous Cube in Medio Arco<\/em>, by Alejandro Mieres. In La Providencia, <em>Paisaje<strong> <\/strong>Germinador<\/em>, by Miguel \u00c1ngel Lombard\u00eda, and <em>Homenaje a Galileo Galilei XV,<\/em> by Amadeo Gabino, were installed; in the Rincon\u00edn park the united links of <em>Solidaridad<\/em>, the work of Pepe Noja; and in the May\u00e1n de Tierra, the <em>Shadows of Light<\/em> by Fernando Alba rise.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/visitagijonturismo.com\/gijon\/uploaded\/Rutas\/torre_de_la_memoria%5B1%5D.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"750\" class=\"img-responsive\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Other sculptures have seen the light of day on the threshold of two centuries: <em>Evocation<\/em>, in homage to the journalist Francisco Caranto\u00f1a by J. Rubio Cam\u00edn; <em>Andar\u00edn<\/em>, by Miquel Navarro; <em>Monument to the Republic<\/em> by Acisclo Manzano and Xaime Quessada; <em>En la memoria-Na memoria<\/em>, by Mar\u00eda Jes\u00fas Rodr\u00edguez and the <em>Torre de la Memoria<\/em> by Francisco Fresno. These are joined by others of figurative tendency, such as <em>Sentimientos <\/em>by Manuel Garc\u00eda Linares or <em>Copulaciones <\/em>by Pedro Sanjurjo Pieycha, among others. In 2001 it was installed in the Parque del Rincon\u00edn <em>Sin T\u00edtulo<\/em>, owned by Herminio \u00c1lvarez. Subsequently, <em>Castillo de Salas<\/em> and the <em>Monument to the Asturians deported to the Nazi camps<\/em> were installed, in the surroundings of La Providencia.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>FUN FACT: Rivers of ink sparked controversy over the installation of the <em>Elogio del Horizonte<\/em> in Gij\u00f3n\/Xix\u00f3n. However, the passage of time has made it one of the main symbols of the city, which as the author expressed at the time is &#8216;an open work, which lends itself to all the interpretations that want to give it&#8217;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recommended route to be done by sections or areas, depending on the area of Gij\u00f3n\/Xix\u00f3n that you want to visit. Sculptural art has undergone profound changes in recent decades. As&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":191801,"template":"","route_category":[20532,20237,20533,20152],"class_list":["post-664084","ruta","type-ruta","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","route_category-cultural-trail-en","route_category-gijon-en","route_category-highlights-en","route_category-walking-en"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The City of Sculptures - Visita Gij\u00f3n<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The City of Sculptures - Visita Gij\u00f3n\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Recommended route to be done by sections or areas, depending on the area of Gij\u00f3n\/Xix\u00f3n that you want to visit. 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