Monumento a Bernardo O'Higgins, Bronze equestrian statue in Plaza de la Ciudadanía, Santiago, Chile.
The Monumento a Bernardo O'Higgins is a bronze equestrian statue standing on a marble and granite pedestal in the Plaza de la Ciudadanía in front of La Moneda Palace. It depicts the leader of Chilean independence mounted on horseback, riding over a fallen Spanish royalist soldier from the Battle of Rancagua.
French sculptor Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse created this memorial and it was inaugurated on May 19, 1872, during Federico Errázuriz Zañartu's presidency. Later, in 1978, the structure was temporarily relocated to house O'Higgins's remains in an underground crypt.
Two of the four pedestal reliefs were carved by Chilean sculptor Nicanor Plaza: the Combat of El Roble, showing O'Higgins wounded in the leg, and his Abdication, based on a painting by French artist Raymond Monvoisin. Carrier-Belleuse made the other two, the departure of the Liberating Squadron with O'Higgins and minister José Ignacio Zenteno on horseback, and the meeting with San Martín at Maipú. Each relief carries a phrase spoken by O'Higgins.
The monument stands directly in front of La Moneda Palace and is easily reached on foot, making it a natural stopping point for visitors. It is freely accessible and serves throughout the year as a location for national ceremonies and patriotic events.
The 1978 Altar de la Patria was built to hold O'Higgins's remains in a crypt beneath the esplanade at the entrance to Paseo Bulnes, with the equestrian statue set above street level behind a copper amphora holding the Llama de la Libertad. The complex was demolished for the Plaza de la Ciudadanía, inaugurated in 2006 by President Ricardo Lagos.
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