Fountain of the Fallen Angel

A monument to Satan in the same country that gave us the Inquisition

Category Strange Statues

Strange Statues http://atlasobscura.com/category/unusual-monuments/strange-statues

Though Spain may have loaned its name to one of the most famous Christian witch-hunts in human history, the country's capital city holds unique bragging rights for having what is commonly acknowledged as the only public monument to the Devil himself.

Located in the gardens of the expansive Parque del Buen Retiro, the statue of the Fallen Angel (Ángel Caído) is set atop a marble pillar in the midst of a fountain. Lucifer is depicted at the moment he is cast out of Heaven, as inspired by a passage in John Milton's Paradise Lost.

Sculptor Ricardo Bellver cast the statue in bronze for the third World's Fair in Paris, after which point the piece was acquired by the Museo del Prado. The statue was later donated to the city of Madrid and inaugurated at its current location in 1885.

The statue is renowned equally for its discordant subject matter, as well as Bellver's ability to imbue a sense of tension and anguish in his rendering of Satan.

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  • Hours Sunrise-sunset
  • Address Parque del Buen Retiro, Madrid, Spain
  • Cost Free.
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Within easy walking distance of the city's "Big Three" museums (Prado, Reina Sofia, Thyssen-Bornemisza), accessed by the Atocha metro station.

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Comments

  • & Anonymous February 6, 2010
    You have a nice bronze copy (I think is the original model) in Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (near Puerta del Sol, city center). If you like the statue of Retiro, don't miss this!!
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