It is a bronze equestrian sculpture , with the exception of the head, which is carved in white marble. It was built by Mateo Inurria from Cordoba in 1923, although it was moved to its current location in 1927.
History
Projects (1897, 1909 and definitive in 1915)
The first attempt to pay homage to the Great Captain arose in 1842 by the Royal Academy of Córdoba .
Since the end of the 19th century, the Córdoba City Council had been considering the possibility of erecting a monument in commemoration of the Great Captain, mainly due to the avenue that it had been creating in the western part of the city. The first project commissioned to the sculptor Mateo Inurria dates from 1897, while, once the first section of Gran Capitán avenue was inaugurated on June 5, 1907, the initial thrust of the project was recovered, carrying out another project in 1909.
Antonio García Pérez , captain and professor at the Toledo Infantry Academy , began a plea demanding for Córdoba the celebration of the IV Centenary of the death of the Great Captain, finding among others, the placement of a monument at the intersection of the avenue of the Great Captain and the creation of a commission to be in charge of its construction. The following years were spent by Mateo Inurria working on the monument, while, from the Commission, the issue was not taken up again with insistence, until the confirmation of the celebration of the IV Centenary of the death of the Great Captain in 1915, when the Spanish Government awarded Córdoba the celebration of the Centenary after disputing it with Granada. Therefore, Mateo Inurria carried out the last and definitive project for the monument that year.
Fundraising (1915-23)
For the collection of funds, the model used in Madrid of the opening of a popular subscription to cover the expenses of the Monument to Emilio Castelar was followed . In this way, on January 4, 1915, the promonument popular subscription was opened and the mayor Enríquez Barrios signed with the sculptor on February 13, for which the fixed price of 100,000 pesetas was kept, which would be paid in three installments. . However, the sculptor did not receive his entire salary during his lifetime and, after his death in 1924, the City Council made accounts with his heirs.
The City Council of Córdoba, the army, individual donations, donations from cultural associations, as well as municipalities of the province, were the ones that subscribed to the greatest extent the subscription itself. However, the popular subscription never reached 100,000 pesetas, which led to the creation of a subcommittee to obtain more funds, an objective that did not come to fruition. Despite the fact that on March 2, 1915, the foundation works of the monument began, which could not be continued due to the non-collection of funds.
In 1920, the wishes of the City Council to achieve the erection of the monument were renewed, but once again the shortage of funds on the part of the consistory meant that the years passed without the necessary funds being obtained.
Inauguration and move
Until the arrival of the year 1923, the necessary funds could not be obtained to be able to pay for the monument. Therefore, the Monument to the Great Captain was inaugurated on November 15, 1923, originally being located at the crossroads of Avenida del Gran Capitán and Ronda de los Tejares. 1 The infantes Carlos de Borbón-Dos Sicilias and his wife Luisa de Orleans attended the inauguration , as well as Luis Bermúdez de Castro , head of War of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship .
However, the passing of the years had caused the configuration of Avenida de Canalejas (Ronda de los Tejares) to fill up with vehicles and the monument made traffic difficult. Therefore, the municipal architect Félix Hernández elaborated a project in the new Plaza de las Tendillas for the incorporation of the monument. Thus, in 1927 it was moved to the Plaza de las Tendillas, counting on the neighborhood opposition that did not approve the change of location.
Restorations
During the 20th century there were different reforms of the fountain that surrounds the monument, the current one being the reform of the year 1999. At that time the idea of ??returning to the monument to Ronda de Tejares or moving it within the same square was raised, although both ideas were discarded.
In October 2003, the monument underwent a thorough restoration where varnish and protective layers were applied, at a cost of 27,106 euros, charged to the Tourism Excellence Plan. On December 23, 2003, it was reopened by Mayor Rosa Aguilar .
Legends
One of the most widespread legends that circulate in Córdoba about the monument to the Great Captain, is about the head that includes the statue is the head of the bullfighter Lagartijo . Nothing is further from reality. Professor Ramón Montes pointed out the cause of the material and chromatic difference between the head and the rest of the sculpture:
The equestrian figure is made of bronze, except for the head, which is made of white marble. This resource, which Inurria used to contrast and give it a more genuine expression. Based on this fact, there is a hoax according to which the head of the Great Captain is that of the Lizard. Nothing further from reality. Both heads, in bronze, are on display at the Museum of Fine Arts, where the error can be verified.
Page 386, volume III of the work CORDOBA , GEVER publishing house,
José María Palencia Cerezo stated along the same lines in one of the most complete studies carried out to date on the monument:
(...) there is no type of documentary or literary testimony in this regard that could lead to raising it. Secondly, because nothing is included in the contract signed in 1915 with the Córdoba City Council on this matter. And lastly, because if he had proceeded in this sense, Inurria would have sailed against the current, turning one of his most emblematic works into a nonsensical pastiche of the period.
The Great Captain of Córdoba to Italy at the King's Service . In the chapter The Monument to the Great Captain of Córdoba . Jose Maria Palencia Cerezo.
Actually, the model for the head was an organist from the church of San Nicolás de la Villa .
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