A Francesc Layret, Bronze and stone sculpture in Sant Antoni, Barcelona, Spain

A Francesc Layret is a monument by Frederic Marès in Plaça de Goya, Sant Antoni. On a podium-like pedestal stands a bronze female figure with bare torso and raised left arm holding a torch, symbolising the Republic. Flanking her are two stone male figures: a peasant with wheat ears and a worker with a mallet and cogwheel. At the back, a woman holds a child, personifying the defenceless, and a bronze medallion with Layret's portrait and dates sits at the base.

The first stone was laid in 1934 at what was then Plaça de Sepúlveda, funded by popular subscription; Frederic Marès's monument was inaugurated on 20 April 1936 by President Lluís Companys and mayor Carles Pi i Sunyer. In 1939 the Francoist authorities dismantled it along with other left-wing or Catalanist monuments, and it was stored in a municipal warehouse on Carrer de Wellington. It was restored to its original site and reinaugurated on 27 May 1977.

The monument's name refers to Francesc Layret i Foix, a labour lawyer born in Barcelona in 1880 and assassinated on 30 November 1920 by gunmen of the employer-linked Sindicat Lliure. The bronze medallion at its base carries his portrait and dates, and the allegorical figures of the Republic, the countryside, the city and the helpless make his defence of workers and the dispossessed visible to passers-by.

The monument stands on a podium-like pedestal in the middle of Plaça de Goya, beside the Ronda de Sant Antoni and a short walk from Plaça de la Universitat. It is a compact sculptural group, so it can be seen from all sides in a few minutes; the bronze portrait medallion with Layret's name and dates sits at the base, and the woman with a child is on the rear face.

A bronze medallion embedded in the stone pedestal shows Layret's portrait while displaying elements of the Catalan Noucentisme artistic style. This artistic detail connects personal remembrance with regional artistic traditions.