Spanish National Day sees rivaling rallies at Barcelona’s Columbus monument
Far-right groups take to the streets to celebrate holiday, while anti-racist activists condemn colonialism and demand reparations
columbus
Small fire lit at base of Colombus statue in Barcelona
Monument has come into question over recent movement against historical colonialist figures
Reconsidering Columbus: colonialism’s thorny heritage in Barcelona
From the conquistador’s statue to the fortune that made Gaudí’s work possible, the city may be inseparable from its looted legacy
Unionists come together en masse for Spain's National Day
Ciutadans, People's Party, and far-right Vox participate in Barcelona's main October 12 march
CUP wants Columbus statue in Barcelona to be removed
The representatives of pro-independence radical left CUP in Barcelona’s City Hall, CUP-Capgirem Barcelona, will ask for the removal of the iconic statue of Christopher Columbus, located at the end of the Rambla street, close to Barcelona’s port. They feel that the 60-metre-high monument, which was installed in the Catalan capital in 1888 to coincide with the Universal Exposition, “praises the conquest of America”. The three representatives from CUP-Capgirem Barcelona will suggest changing the Columbus monument for a memorial to the indigenous peoples of the Americas and the slaves brought to that continent, and their resistance in the face of “imperialism, oppression and segregation”. Liberal ‘Convergència’ have already opposed the removal of the monument and left wing pro-independence ERC said they will study CUP-Capgirem’s proposal, which will be discussed during a plenary session this Friday.
The pact between Columbus and the Catholic Monarchs prior to America’s discovery on show in Barcelona
An exhibition, with documents dating from between the 10th century and 1493, displays the oldest preserved copy of the ‘Capitulations of Santa Fe’. This agreement was signed by the Catholic Kings in April 1492 and accepted Christopher Columbus’ terms to undertake the trip after which Europeans would become aware of the Americas. The document granted Columbus the titles of Admiral, Viceroy and Governor-General of all the lands he would discover and set that he would keep a tenth of all future profits. The copy dates from 1493 and it is only rarely on display. It has been kept in the Archives of the Aragon Crown in Barcelona and now is on show along with 42 other documents showing the symbolic conception of travelling in the Middle Ages.
“Everything about the Catalan Columbus” – a book to explain the belief that the explorer was from Catalonia
Ramon Navarro has published a new book that aims to “clearly” describe the results of three generations of research about the origins of Christopher Columbus