Monument al Doctor Robert, Modernist monument in Plaça de Tetuan, Barcelona, Spain
Monument al Doctor Robert is a modernist stone and bronze monument on Plaça de Tetuan in Barcelona. It rises on a tall base with column-like elements and allegorical figures representing different groups of society.
The monument was commissioned from sculptor Josep Llimona after Bartomeu Robert's sudden death in 1902, with architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner involved in the design. The first stone was laid on Plaça de la Universitat on 31 January 1904, and the monument was inaugurated on 13 November 1910. In 1940 the Francoist authorities dismantled it and stored it on Carrer de Wellington; two bronze figures were melted down in the 1940s for the image of the Virgin of Mercy. It was reinaugurated on Plaça de Tetuan on 15 May 1985 by King Juan Carlos I, Queen Sofía and mayor Pasqual Maragall.
The bronze figures show a priest, a blacksmith, and a reaper gathered around a poet holding the Catalan flag. This grouping makes the monument a visible symbol of Catalan identity right in the middle of the city.
The monument stands in the open on Plaça de Tetuan and is easy to reach on foot from the Tetuan Metro station on Line 2. It can be seen at any time of day with no entry fee required.
The rear group is carved in sandstone, not bronze, and depicts a medical visit: several figures surround a central maternal woman who personifies Medicine. Two original bronze pieces, a reaper shaking a man's hand and a flag, were melted down in the 1940s for the image of the Virgin of Mercy in the Basílica de la Mercè.
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