Statue of John of Austria, Bronze memorial in Messina, Italy.
The memorial depicts a military commander in an authoritative stance positioned in front of a medieval church in Messina. The bronze work was created in the early 1570s and features detailed craftsmanship with a powerful, commanding pose.
Artist Andrea Calamech created this memorial following a major naval victory against Ottoman forces in the early 1570s. The work became one of the few surviving examples of his craftsmanship in the city, particularly after the destruction and rebuilding that occurred in 1908.
The statue stands in Piazza Catalani, at the end of Via Cesare Battisti, not in front of the Santissima Annunziata dei Teatini, which it faced from 1853 until the square was abolished after 1908. Messinesi call it the "statue of the guitarist" because of the shadow it casts on the building behind. The bronze plaques on the pedestal carry an inscription with the dates of the fleet's departure, the battle and the return, the number of ships and the senators' names.
The memorial stands near the center of Messina and is easily accessible on foot. Its location in front of a well-known church makes it straightforward to find and view from the street.
The statue's shadow on the building behind it has earned it the nickname "the guitarist's statue". A sword replaced an earlier broadsword in the 1852 restoration, was lost around the 1950s, and the bronze plaques on the base include a bird's-eye plan of 16th-century Messina.
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