Christopher Columbus - Belgravia Square, London, UK
N 51° 29.905 W 000° 09.214
30U E 697567 N 5709095
A statue of Christopher Columbus, seated, recessed into the park behind railings.
Waymark Code: WMBDXG
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 05/10/2011
Views: 4
Columbus, Christopher (1451-1506), Italian Spanish navigator who sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean in search of a route to Asia but achieved fame by making landfall in the Americas instead.
On October 12, 1492, two worlds unknown to each other met for the first time on a small island in the Caribbean Sea . While on a voyage for Spain in search of a direct sea route from Europe to Asia, Christopher Columbus unintentionally discovered the Americas. However, in four separate voyages to the Caribbean from 1492 to 1504, he remained convinced that he had found the lands that Marco Polo reached in his overland travels to China at the end of the 13th century. To Columbus it was only a matter of time before a passage was found through the Caribbean islands to the fabled cities of Asia.
In the south corner of Belgrave Square sits the bronze statue of a rather youthful Christopher Columbus holding a rolled maritime chart and looking westwards towards the Americas. The statue, a gift of the people of Spain, was sculpted by Tomas Banuelos in 1992 and is mounted on a Portland stone base with two narrow grey granite bands. It is dedicated 'to all the peoples of the Americas in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the encounter of the two worlds' - a reference to Columbus' expedition to the Americas in 1492 to claim territory on behalf of Spain.
On the left side is the inscription:
"CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
1446-1506
THIS STATUE THE GENEROUS GIFT OF
THE PEOPLE OF SPAIN
IS DEDICATED TO
ALL THE PEOPLES OF THE AMERICAS
IN COMMEMORATION OF
THE 500th ANNIVERSARY OF
THE ENCOUNTER OF THE TWO WORLDS ".
URL of the statue: Not listed
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