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As I meander through the city of Madrid on foot week after week, I start to notice one, then two, and then a whole slew of statues. But not the typical statues that are erected in cities and town across the globe: royalty, historical figures and other famous people.
Instead, these are statues of regular folks.
And not even specific regular folks, just general everyday people. These bronze (I think they’re all bronze) statues are meant to recognize and celebrate the people who form the backbone of the city: the workers, the street vendors, the students.
El Vecino Curioso
The first “everyday citizen” statue I see is El Vecino Curioso (The Curious Neighbor), by sculptor Salvador Fernández Oliva.
Near the corner of Calle de Bailén and Calle Mayor, this figure looks down at the Restos de La Antigua Iglesia de la Almudena (Remains of the Ancient Church of Almudena). Almudena Cathedral was built on the site of Madrid's first mosque, and excavations have since revealed the remains of Moorish and medieval city walls.
I first notice this statue when I walk past and see a woman posing beside it for a photo with one of her hands on it’s bum and an embarrassed grin on her face. Apparently the Curious Neighbor’s butt is magical: If you touch it, you’ll return to Madrid. (Magical secret number two: If you buy a plane ticket, you’ll return to Madrid.)
El Lector
In an earlier post, I mentioned getting my first library card at a local library. In front of the Biblioteca Pública Municipal Iván de Vargas (Iván de Vargas Municipal Public Library), I notice another statue. This one is El Lector (The Reader), by artist Félix Hernando García.
Located on Calle de San Justo near Calle de Segovia, this figure leans on a concrete slab/seating area with a book in hand, “inviting citizens to use the new facilities” (new in 2011).
El Barrendero Madrileño
The third statue I see is Monumento al Barrendero Madrileño (Monument to the Madrid Street Sweeper), which is in the Plaza de Jacinto Benavente.
For a moment I think it is a real person, until I see that either he’s the laziest sweeper in the world or a statue. Apparently it’s one of the most photographed statues in Madrid. The artist is, again, Félix Hernando García, who pays homage to the ordinary workers who help keep the city clean.
And, by the way, the city is clean.
Every time I’m out walking, I see city workers clad in their blue uniform with reflective yellow jacket carrying out their jobs with a portable cart, sometimes chasing down a piece of paper getting whisked away by a breeze. And distributed throughout the city are countless regular garbage cans plus 30,000 large, dumpster-like bins that are divided into five categories:
Green for glass
Blue for paper/cardboard
Yellow for plastic and metal containers like soda cans
Brown for organic waste
Grey for miscellaneous waste, like diapers, ceramics, hygiene products
These bins, as well as the trash cans put out in front of residential buildings, are collected four or five days per week. And if you have old furniture or other large items, each barrio (neighborhood) collects it on one specific day per month (in my area it’s the first Tuesday); you just need to put it next to the garbage bin.
(Wow, whoddu thunk that I’d ever write several paragraphs about trash disposal??)
El Hombre Sentado
The fourth bronze statue I come across – and this is when I cleverly deduce that this is a city-wide theme, not just a few works of art displayed in random locations – is the Hombre Sentado (Seated Man).
This statue – of a man sitting on a bench reading a newspaper that says “Together we will rehabilitate” – is also by Félix Hernando García.
I come across this fellow as I make my way back home one evening, winding through small cobblestone streets and cutting across the Plaza Paja, a quiet little plaza surrounded by the Capilla de Nuestra Señora y de San Juan de Letrán (Chapel of Our Lady and of Saint John of Letrán), a Roman Catholic chapel built in 1669, and the Capilla de la Virgen de los Desamparados (Chapel of the Virgin of the Forsaken).
By the way, if I might take a quick detour for a moment, I’d like to call your attention to all the different meanings of “paja”:
So, anyway, now I walk around Madrid with one eye open for these Where’s Waldo?-type of statues. I’ve got to be careful, though. One time I whipped out my camera only to discover that it wasn’t a statue – it was a real, albeit extremely still, person.
El Farolero Madrileño
On my way to a wine tasting one evening, I spot this one: The Farolero Madrileño (Madrid Lamplighter), yet another work of art by artist Félix Hernando García, on Calle de Concepción Jerónima between Calle de Duque de Rivas and Calle del Conde Romanones.
This sculpture is a tribute to a job of yesteryear: the lamplighter. This was a person who went around the city lighting the individual street lamps – which used oil until they were replaced with electric lighting in the late 19th century.
El Vendedor de Lotería
Next statue sighting: El Vendedor de Lotería (The Lottery Seller), on the corner of Calle del Prado and Calle San Agustín, by sculptor Santiago de Santiago. On Maps, this statue is called Fortunato Vendedor ONCE (pronounced “ON-thay” in Spain or “ON-say” in any other Spanish-speaking country).
Founded in 1938, ONCE (Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles) is Spain’s national organization for the blind and is more or less self-funded via the sale of lottery tickets. This statue, "Fortunato" (or “Luck”), represents all the lottery ticket sellers over the last almost century, and you can see him holding a string of tickets that are slung over his shoulder.
Tras Julia
One day on my way to a photo place to get a picture taken for my Spanish ID card, I see Tras Julia (Behind Julia) on Calle del Pez near Calle de San Bernardo in the neighborhood of Malaseña. This sculpture is by Antonio Santín Benito (I guess Félix Hernando García was off that day).
This statue is of “Julia,” the first female student to attend the Universidad Central (Central University), later called Universidad de Madrid (Madrid University), in the 19th century. Apparently, she dressed up as a young man to get an education, since women weren’t allowed in.
This may or may not be legend. Some people think this story might actually be about Concepción Arenal who wanted to be a lawyer and, in 1842, disguised herself as a man (even cutting her hair short) to audit classes at the Faculty of Law of the Central University in Madrid.
La Paseante
La Paseante (The Walker) is a statue I deliberately come across. By now my curiosity is out of control, and I look up what other statues are dotting the sidewalks of Madrid. This glamorous-looking gal, by sculptor Roberto Manzano Hernández, is right in front of the Escuela de Arte La Palma (La Palma School of Art) on Calle de la Palma near Calle de San Bernardo.
Apparently, The Walker represents a woman, real or imagined, who, while taking a stroll, looks back over her shoulder at something that catches her eye in the art school.
Joven Estudiante Caminando
This sculpture is in the Plaza de San Ildefonso near the corner of Plaza de San Ildefonso and Called de Colón. But every source I find calls this statue by a different name:
La Estudiante de Malasaña (The Student from Malasaña)
La Joven Caminando (Young Woman Walking)
Joven Estudiante Caminando (Young Student Walking)
Suffice it to say, sculptor Rafael González García created a statue of a figure who is young, who is a student and who is walking. She wears a backpack and carries a satchel or book.
Apparently, he named her “Susana” after his daughter, and she is walking towards La Palma School of Art, where the artist taught. I’m not certain about this, since La Palma School of Art is 600 meters (656 yards or roughly a third of a mile) away – two blocks up, three blocks over – and if she really were heading there, you’d think they’d put the statue a little closer.
So there you have it. And these are only about half the statues I’ve discovered online. Perhaps I’ll continue my treasure hunt another time to personally visit all of them.
But what I love about these statues is that they represent a wide range of ordinary people doing everyday life activities, and this offers a much more inclusive glimpse into the history of Madrid beyond just its famous monuments and historical figures.
CLICK HERE TO READ the next post, ADJUSTING TO LIFE IN SPAIN: [TBA]
Note: All photos taken or created (using DALL-E) by Selena Templeton, unless otherwise noted.
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