Monument als herois de 1811, Bronze memorial monument in Rambla Nova, Tarragona, Spain

The Monument to the Heroes of 1811, known as Els Despullats, stands on a stone podium at the junction of Rambla Nova with Carrer d'Ixart and Carrer Cañellas. Three sober bronze figures rise from a quadrangular stone block: a standing woman representing Tarragona holds the dead son, recalling Christian pietà iconography. The dead hero is inspired by one of Michelangelo's slaves.

The monument grew out of a 1889 collection meant as a gift to Marià Rius i Montaner, who asked that the money instead commemorate the defenders of 1811. The first stone of the pedestal was laid on 23 September 1910, Santa Tecla's day, and the definitive bronze was cast in early 1917. The finished work was shown in Madrid in 1922, but a reactionary campaign delayed its installation in Tarragona.

Locals call the monument Els Despullats, 'the naked ones', after the three unclothed bronze figures. The woman stands for Tarragona herself, holding her dead son in a pose recalling Christian pietàs and depositions. The sculptor Julio Antonio chose this image of grief over the usual military allegories of the era.

The monument stands on a stone podium at the junction of Rambla Nova with Carrer d'Ixart and Carrer Cañellas, on the Rambla de Sant Joan as it was known when the site was chosen in 1910. It is an outdoor public sculpture, visible at any hour; the bronze figures can be examined from the surrounding pavement.

The bronze figures echo compositional choices from Michelangelo's slave sculptures that were originally intended for Pope Julius II's tomb. This connection to Renaissance art adds an understated layer of meaning to the modern work.