Statue of Junípero Serra, Bronze statue in Los Angeles Plaza Historic District, US
The statue of Junípero Serra is a bronze sculpture, a replica of Ettore Cadorin's 1930 work for the National Statuary Hall Collection, measuring about 8 feet 9 inches tall and resting on a concrete base. It stood in Father Serra Park, a section of the El Pueblo de Los Ángeles Historical Monument between the Santa Ana Freeway and Chinatown.
The statue was installed in 1932 to commemorate the Spanish missionary and his role in establishing missions across California. It remained a fixture representing this colonial history until it was removed decades later.
The plaza where it stood served as a gathering place where people encountered different views about Spanish colonial history in California. The monument itself became a focal point for discussing how Indigenous communities experienced that period.
The sculpture was located in the city center on a public plaza, making it easily accessible to visitors. The site remained open during daytime hours when people could view the work.
The bronze is a replica of Ettore Cadorin's 1930 statue made for the National Statuary Hall Collection in Washington, D.C. The original stands in the U.S. Capitol; the Los Angeles copy, about 8 feet 9 inches tall, was surveyed in 1994 by the Smithsonian's Save Outdoor Sculpture! program.
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