# Monument a Colom

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Content updated: 2026-06-22

Monument a Colom rises sixty metres above Barcelona, marking the city’s maritime edge with a bronze Columbus at its summit. The figure stands seven metres tall and points towards the sea. A forty-metre Corinthian column supports him, while an anchor decorates its shaft and an octagonal pedestal anchors the composition. Four staircases surround the twenty-metre-wide circular base, each flanked by two lions.

Built for Barcelona’s 1888 Universal Exposition, the structure commemorates Columbus’s return after his first voyage to the Americas. Antoni Fages i Ferrer proposed the idea in the mid-nineteenth century. Construction began in 1882 after a design competition selected Gaietà Buigas i Monravà’s plan, and it finished six years later. Catalan workers and materials supplied the project, which received mostly private funding.

Eight bronze reliefs show episodes from the voyage, including departure from Palos de la Frontera and arrival in the New World. Eight alternating coats of arms identify places connected with Columbus, from Huelva and Córdoba to Puerto Rico, Cuba and Barcelona. Inside, an elevator reaches a viewing platform below the statue, with views across the city, harbour, Sagrada Família and Montjuïc. The left hand holds a scroll, while the pedestal carries the word “Tierra”, meaning “land”.

- City: [Barcelona](https://mytuur.com/en/city/barcelona/)

## Photos

- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_MonumentaColom_6890cd397801b5804a80308e_0.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pedestal_of_Columbus_Monument.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_MonumentaColom_6890cd397801b5804a80308e_1.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Photo_of_Colombus_Monument_taken_with_iPhone_13_Pro.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_MonumentaColom_6890cd397801b5804a80308e_2.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Catalunya_Colom.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_MonumentaColom_6890cd397801b5804a80308e_3.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Leon_colon2.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_MonumentaColom_6890cd397801b5804a80308e_4.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Detalle_colon_barcelona_3.jpg)

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