La Vida Loca

Traveling to Spain was more of an experience than I had ever imagined. I never thought that I could grasp so much culture in such a short amount of time. From the beginning of this program, especially in geography, we have learned about the differences between the different Spanish cities. After learning how Catalans speak a different language, and all of the struggles that Spain has had to create a balance in the country, I really thought more into the idea of nationalism that we talk about in class.
Throughout all of our classes in this program, we have focused on how nationalism and cultural identity are portrayed in each country. This study tour not only let me learn more about the different Spanish nationalities, but it also helped reinforce how much these people take pride in where they are from.
In Barcelona, there was a great sense of nationalism because throughout the city there were different monuments and statues of contributors of the city. Specifically, the Christopher Columbus statue stuck out to me because it showed Barcelona’s great pride in the world traveler and what he had brought to the city. This statue is also in a main center of town, Las Ramblas, which is often visited by tourists and is also a main attraction to the city. This statue represents the cities pride and culture because it was very large, and shows visitors their own nationality to the city of Barcelona.
When looking at this statue, an outsider may not be able to realize what it stands for. Before being notified that the statue was in fact of Columbus, I thought it was a very unique figure in the middle of the city.
The bronze statue of Columbus stands 7.2 meters, and on the bottom pedestal, there are four bronze winged Victories that take flight. Looking into these, I found that these bear the 4 corners of the world. When looking at the statue, I found that there is a plinth with eight bronze panels that depict important scenes of Columbus’s first voyage. These are very interesting and show off his first journey to the Americas. Some of these include: Columbus and his son asking for food at the La Rabida Monastery, Columbus explaining his plans to the monks of the La Rabida Monaster, Columbus meeting King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in Córdoba, Columbus appearing at the council gathering in the Monastery of San Esteban in Salamanca, Columbus meeting the King and Queen in Santa Fe, Columbus leaving port from Palos de la Frontera on 3 August 1492, Columbus's arrival in the New World, and Columbus greeting the King and Queen after his return in Barcelona.
This statue, which is also known as Colon, was constructed for the Exposicion Universal de Barcelona and is located at the spot where Columbus returned to Spain after his voyage to the Americas. When doing a little research, I learned that the Columbus statue is a reminder that Barcelona is where the voyager reported to Queen Isabella and Ferdinand after he discovered the Americas.
This statue idea came in 1856 by an artist who proposed that it be constructed entirely by Catalans. The fact that Catalans constructed this statue shows the pride that the Catalan people have for their country, and for this heroic monument
The statue itself is unique and can leave many tourists wondering its significance. When looking at the statue it looks like Columbus is pointing in one direction. He is actually pointing toward the New World with his right hand, while holding a scroll in the left hand. In his left hand, he is holding a scroll that says “Tierra”, which means land. The significance here is that he is actually pointing to the east towards his supposed home city of Genoa instead of toward the west where the New Worlds were located.
This statue tells you a lot about the cities nationality because it portrays the pride they have in the nations hero. This statue reminded me a lot about what we discuss in class, especially with our readings on how every culture is different. Going back to the readings on cultural identity, I think that the Christopher Columbus statue represents the identity of Barcelona’s culture.
This statue reminded me of the reading “Introduction: Food, Identity, and Diversity” in Culinary Cultures of Europe: Identity, Diversity and Dialogue because it made me think of how every culture has its differences. This statue showed that every culture and place is going to have something that they are proud of and something that is different. Although Columbus was a national hero in Spain, this specific spot is significant because this is where he reported to Queen Isabella and Ferdinand. This statue shows how the people of Barcelona are proud to have a hero like him represented in such a traffic filled region of the city.
The study tour was a great way for me to grasp the city of Barcelona’s identity and see how they take pride in the nations hero. I am glad that I got to see something like this because it gave me more perspective of what the cultural identity of the city is like.