Monument to Francisco Bolognesi, Military monument in Lima District, Peru
The Monument to Francisco Bolognesi is an 18-metre memorial of granite, Carrara marble and bronze at Plaza Bolognesi in Lima. It rises from three granite steps through a greenish three-part base with four black metal plaques reproducing Juan Lepiani's paintings and listing the council of war commanders, then a stone pillar with bronze battle scenes and allegories of the Patria and History, crowned by a white capital, the figures of Gloria and Fama, and the standing colonel holding the flag.
Colonel Francisco Bolognesi died defending Peru at the Battle of Arica in 1880 against Chilean forces. A first monument was built in 1905 and replaced in 1954 with the current bronze sculpture, which shows him in a pose considered more heroic than the original.
The monument stands at Plaza Bolognesi, a roundabout connecting several neighborhoods in central Lima. Every year on June 7, people gather there for a flag ceremony marking the Battle of Arica.
The monument is reachable from several streets since it sits at a central roundabout connecting different parts of the city. It can easily be combined with other points of interest in central Lima.
The 1905 original was replaced in 1954 because the earlier depiction was judged to lack the heroic quality expected of a national figure. This swap shows how public monuments are sometimes reworked to match a country's changing image of its heroes.
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