Monument to the Immaculate Conception - Seville

In Seville, the Immaculate Conception has a monument in the center of the city, another example of the Marian devotion that has characterized the city for centuries.

Every December 8, Spain celebrates the Day of the Immaculate Conception, a holiday that originated as a religious festival associated with the Immaculate Conception, celebrating the Christian belief that the Virgin Mary had no trace of original sin from the moment of her conception. Therefore, the feast day is celebrated nine months earlier than on September 8, when the Church celebrates the Nativity of the Virgin.

The Monument to the Immaculate Conception has stood in the Plaza del Triunfo for more than a century, having been inaugurated in 1918 on December 8 (the day of her feast). This monument was erected as part of the renovation plans for the Barrio de la Santa Cruz in preparation for the Ibero-American Exhibition of 1929.

The statue with the figure of the Virgin is not only a tribute to her, but also contains four statues of four important personalities of the 17th century who were also characterized by their devotion to the Virgin and their relationship with the city of Seville: the Jesuit theologian Juan de Pineda, the poet Miguel Cid, the sculptor Juan Martínez Montañés and the painter Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. They all worked on works depicting this Catholic dogma and some of them are depicted with a figure of the Immaculate Conception, reinforcing this unity, which can also be seen in the monument.

The image of the Immaculate Conception that crowns the monument is based on Murillo's painting for the Hospital de los Venerables: 'La Inmaculada de los Venerables', a work that has hung in the Prado Museum in Madrid since 1941.

These statues are the work of Lorenzo Coullaut Valera and the four Conceptionists stand around the pedestal on which stands the column on which the Virgin stands.

Its privileged location , between the Cathedral and the Real Alcázar, means that it is in an area considered a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and one of the most visited in the city of Seville.

Besides being visible to all the tourists who come to the area, this monument also attracts residents, especially on the dates around December 8. Perhaps one of the groups most attached to this Sevillian monument are the university choral groups that gather around the statue of the Immaculate Conception to celebrate a vigil on the night of December 7 to 8.

Willem Vandenameele