Monumento a Juan Sebastián de Elcano - Seville

The Monument to navigator Juan Sebastián Elcano consists of a monumental complex that pays tribute to the first circumnavigation of the world completed on September 8, 1522 with his arrival in Seville.

Made of stone, bronze and vegetation , it consists of a semi-circular limestone face 2.5 meters high and 7 meters wide, with a world map carved in hollow relief . At the front is the bronze figure of the navigator, 2 meters high, representing his triumphal entry into Seville. At his feet is a seagull representing a maritime symbol and a column 12 meters high with a diameter of 2 meters on which the feat of the voyage around the world is told in low relief . The column is crowned by a bronze wind rose.

The column is in turn divided into four levels, each with ten figures.

The first level depicts the departure of the expedition from Seville , the figures represent different social classes saying goodbye to the expedition, representing the upper class two intertwined figures dressed in luxuriously decorated costumes, other characters can easily are identified because their faces are engraved, José Hernández Díaz and Antonio Sancho Corbacho (companions and friends of the artist) can be identified, as the working class we see a self-portrait of the author, dressed in a period costume and carrying a dog his feet as a sign of loyalty, and the sailor with his back turned represents his own son.

The second level is a representation of the peoples with whom they contact on their various landings, with sailors scanning the horizon, others with sails and provisions, still others naked with wreaths of flowers.

On the third level we see the battle with some peoples and the subsequent death of Magellan , whose body lies on the ground, with swords, spears, etc. Two scenes can be distinguished, separated by a tree, on one side Indians, on the other side, navigators.

On the fourth level there is a representation of the return to the city of Seville and the visit to the Virgen de la Antigua, in the Cathedral of Seville, as a thank you for surviving. There are also two groups distinguished, right and left, with two angels above them. At the front of the march is Juan Sebastián Elcano, above his head we see the year in which the work was completed and on a ribbon hanging on his back appears the signature of the artist, Antonio Cano. The historical documentation comes from the chronicle of the sailor Antonio Pigafetta, Relación del primer viaje alrededor del mundo (Report of the first voyage around the world).

The monument inaugurated on October 27, 1972. The reason for the monument was to commemorate the achievement of 250 sailors , who started their journey from Seville on August 10, 1519, in five ships (the Trinidad, the San Antonio, the Concepción, the Santiago and the Victoria), led by the navigator and conqueror Fernando de Magallanes. On September 8, 1522, a total of 18 men were the first to return to Seville aboard the Victoria, captained by Juan Sebastián Elcano, because Ferdinand Magellan had been killed in the Philippines during a confrontation with the natives.

In 1974, lights and water were added to the nave, which in turn became a luminous fountain .

Willem Vandenameele