The monument to the people of the Two of May

Al Pueblo del Dos de Mayo de 1808 is an instance of public art in Madrid, Spain. The sculptural work, created by Aniceto Marinas, is an homage to the role of the Madrilenian people during the 1808 Two of May uprising. Originally sculpted in Rome in 1891, the sculptural group depicts a winged statue holding a banner that emerges on top of a soldier, a cannon, a small boy, and a number of corpses, male and female alike. The ensemble was unveiled on 4 May 1808, although the bronze statue was not ready and instead only the plaster model was installed, secretly disguised by a greenish paint.

The bronze statue, cast in Madrid by La Metaloplástica. Campins y Codina foundry, was put on the pedestal later that year. The cylindrical stone pedestal features an inscription reading 'al pueblo / del / dos de mayo / de / 1808' ('to the People of the 2 May 1808'), surmounted by a bronze rendition of the municipal coat of arms. Over the years, the monument was moved to the Glorieta de Queveda and, in the 1960s, to its current location in some gardens near the Plaza de España and, since the 1970s, also the Temple of Debod.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons