Monument to Federico García Lorca

History and description

The idea for the monument traces back to 1984, via a petition by Miguel Narros (then director of the Teatro Español), who asked the Ayuntamiento for the erection of a statue dedicated to García Lorca, on the 50th anniversary of the first time the play Yerma was performed.

A work by Julio López Hernández, its inception took place between 1984 and 1986. It was subsequently stored for about a decade at the Cuartel del Conde-Duque, during the reform works of its intended location, the Plaza de Santa Ana.

The full body bronze statue representing the poet is looking at the Teatro Español, while holding a lark about to take off between his hands. Larks and nightingales are common motifs in his poems.

The inscription reads madrid, a federico garcía lorca ("Madrid, to Federico García Lorca").

Still a symbol of the polarized past of Spain by the turn of the 21st century, according to David Crocker "the statue, at least, is still an emblem of the contested past: each day, the Left puts a red kerchief on the neck of the statue, and someone from the Right comes later to take it off". In April 2011, during a vandal attack, the lark was removed from his hands.