A monument to Manuel Curros Enríquez in A Coruña

In the heart of A Coruña, the Monumento a Curros Enríquez stands as a tribute to the writer Manuel Curros Enríquez, who passed away in 1908. The sculpture, created by the Galician sculptor Francisco Asorey, was inaugurated in 1934. It is situated in the Méndez Núñez Gardens and is composed of large stone blocks that resemble dolmens or altars.

The base of the monument is surrounded by water and features native Galician plants alongside representations of monsters. At the center stands a 3.30-meter-tall figure of Curros Enríquez holding a lyre. The sculpture is flanked by scenes of Galician rural life: on one side, figures representing laborers with an ox, and on the other, women representing agriculture with a horse. Above them, a nude woman with raised arms represents the apotheosis of Galicia.

The path to the monument's completion was long. A commission to raise funds was created in 1908, but failed to reach its goal initially. In 1921, the Real Academia Galega decided to dedicate the funds to a monument in A Coruña, and a competition was held in 1922. Although the first stone was laid in 1923, work was paused several times. Finally, after a second competition, Francisco Asorey was awarded the first prize, and the monument was inaugurated on August 11, 1934, by the president of the republic, Niceto Alcalá-Zamora.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons