"Long before the Obradoiro changed its name to abandon the name of Alfonso XII, the most popular square in the Galician capital had an imposing statue of the politician and jurist Eugenio Montero Ríos. The figure was commissioned by the Santiago City Council in 1915, just one year after the politician's death. This tribute was devised by the local Corporation, which at that time was headed by Luis Blanco Rivero.
The statue, made by the artist Mariano Benlliure, was inaugurated in July 1916, in an event attended by the president of Congress, several ministers, figures from the liberal party and some conservatives, as well as a good number of residents of Compostela. The mayor took advantage of the occasion to give a speech and, on behalf of the honoree, Eugenio Montero Villegas attended the event.
Twelve years later the statue was moved to the Plaza de Mazarelos."
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"Eugenio Montero Ríos
(1832/11/13 - 1914/05/05)
Spanish politician, Prime Minister (1905)
Born on 13 November 1832 in Santiago de Compostela in 1832.
Professor of Canon Law in his native city and in Madrid.
He became Minister of Grace and Justice after the triumph of the 1868 Revolution.
He took part in the foundation of the Institución Libre de Enseñanza and joined Sagasta's Liberal Party (1884) from the Democratic Left.
Minister, again, of Grace and Justice and of Public Works, he promoted the marriage and civil registry laws. President of the Senate, in 1898 he chaired the delegation that negotiated the Treaty of Paris, which gave independence to Cuba and the Philippines.
President of the Supreme Court and president of the Council of Ministers for a few months in 1905. Between 1911 and 1913 he was again president of the Senate.
He was a member of the Royal Academy of History and of the Royal Academy of Moral and Political Sciences.
Eugenio Montero Ríos died on 5 May 1914 in Madrid."
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The statue is a bronze statue of more than two metres high on a huge stone pedestal that reaches up to four metres. Altogether it will rise almost six metres.
It shows the figure wearing a lawyer's robes and holding a law book, representing his work as a jurist.
He is gazing into the distance with a certain pensive touch.