National Monument of Costa Rica

National Monument (Monumento Nacional) in San José

Photo of the inauguration ceremony on September 15, 1895

Photo of National Campaign veterans at the inauguration

The National Monument of Costa Rica , Spanish Monumento Nacional de Costa Rica , is a monument erected in 1895 in the Costa Rican capital San José to commemorate the national campaign 1856/57 ("Campaña Nacional"), during which the US filibuster William Walker was evicted from Nicaragua . The monument was created in Paris in 1891 by the French sculptor Louis-Robert Carrier-Belleuse and inaugurated on September 15, 1895 by President Rafael Yglesias Castro . Veterans of the war, who wore period uniforms for the occasion , also attended the inauguration ceremony .

description

The monument is located in the center of San José in the National Park ( Parque nacional ) between the 1st and 3rd Avenida and the junctions with 15th Calle . Immediately to the northwest of the monument is the National Library of Costa Rica ( Biblioteca Nacional "Miguel Obregón Lizano" ).

The monument consists of a stone pedestal on which a bronze group of sculptures rests. Analogous to the four cardinal points, the pedestal has four bronze reliefs related to the national campaign:

1. The battle of Santa Rosa ,
2. The Second Battle of Rivas , in which the national hero Juan Santamaría fell on April 11, 1856 ,
3. The capture of the Río San Juan ,
4. Illustrations of the leaders of the national campaign headed by Juan Rafael Mora .

The bronze group of sculptures consists of five female and one male figures. The five female figures represent the five Central American republics:

1. The figure with the Phrygian cap and the flag of Costa Rica symbolizes both Costa Rica and freedom ,
2. the figure with a broken sword represents Nicaragua , which was conquered by Walker.
3. The figure El Salvador carries a sword,
4. the figure Guatemala carries an ax and
5. the figure of Honduras carries a bow and arrow .

The male figure represents the fleeing William Walker.

Web links

Commons : Monumento Nacional de Costa Rica  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• The Costa Rican journalist Alejandro Ugalde explains the history of the monument in a video clip, short article on YouTube , 2012, length approx. 8 min.
• Contribution of the Costa Rican television from 2015 to the memory of the 120th anniversary of the inauguration, video on YouTube , length approx. 2 min.