Barcelona a Prim

The project of creating a monument to the hero of the War of Africa emerged in 1880, ten years after his death. A contest was organized, won by Lluís Puiggener, while Josep Fontserè, the author of the urbanization of the Ciutadella Park, was in charge of the architectural project; the pedestal was the work of Josep Colomé. The foundation stone was laid on September 25, 1882, and the works lasted for five years. The cost of the monument was financed with the profits from a lottery made with the sale of a plot of land on Paseo de San Juan, which gave 124,919 pesetas. The equestrian statue of the general, made of bronze at the Comas i Cia foundry, was made with metal from mortars from Montjuic Castle. The work was inaugurated on May 26, 1887, with the general's son in attendance. During the Barcelona Universal Exhibition of 1888, the statue was located in front of the Palace of Industry, the main building of the exhibition; nowadays, it stands right at the entrance of the Barcelona Zoo.

On December 20, 1936, the statue was destroyed by the Libertarian Youths of Gracia, affiliated with the FAI, who took advantage of the bronze to make ammunition for the war. A few years later, in 1948, the monument was rebuilt by Frederic Marès, who relied on an old model and made a fairly similar copy.

The monument follows the usual canons of the time for this type of equestrian representation and is probably inspired by the equestrian statue of Henry IV made by François-Frédéric Lemot in 1817 for the Pont Neuf in Paris, which in turn is influenced by the monument to Cosimo I de' Medici in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, a work by Giambologna from 1594. The work presents a first parallelepiped-shaped body, on which the pedestal stands, which presents reliefs with scenes from the military feats of the character, the retreat from Mexico, and the Battle of Castillejos; this solution is identical to the monument to Philip IV made by Pietro Tacca in the Plaza de Oriente in Madrid. On the pedestal is the equestrian statue of Prim, dressed in military uniform with his cap in his hand, in a gesture of salute, represented in a serene attitude that was criticized by those who reproached him for being too cold. However, the figure of the general is stiffer than in the reliefs, treated with greater dynamism and fluidity, with clearer and more balanced compositions. In the reliefs, the characters are treated in a classical way, with geometric compositions (triangles and rectangles), with great care for details and the individualization of the characters.

Regarding Marès' intervention, although he relied on a plaster model by Puiggener that was preserved in the Barcelona History Museum, he made some modifications consisting mainly of greater work on the volumes and simplification of details, especially in the face, more synthetic and with clear and defined features, not as naturalistic as those of the original work. Among other things, he modified the horse's mane, which was more curly than in the original, which was combed and tied up; and he modified some details of the uniform, which he made more precise.