Monuments to Cajal in Madrid, Spain: Rejection of public tributes.

Monuments to Cajal in Madrid, Spain: Rejection of public tributes. Rev Neurol (Paris). 2018 Oct 09;: Authors: Giménez Roldan S Abstract During Santiago Ramón y Cajal's lifetime, two monuments to him were erected in Madrid. However, Cajal excused himself from attending their inaugurations for reasons that have so far remained unexplained. The present report has therefore investigated the political context and personal circumstances that might account for his behavior. The first monument is a fountain in El Retiro Park, the work of sculptor Victorio Macho, inaugurated in 1926 during a major confrontation between progressive intellectuals and physicians against the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera. An official press release warned of a prison sentence for those who attempted a second (illegal) inauguration. The second monument appeared in 1931, barely a month after the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic. This full-body statue, standing>3m (around 10ft) high on a narrow pedestal, was financed by medical students and sculpted by Lorenzo Domínguez, a Chilean medical student. Its unlikely height and thinness earned it the nickname 'The Pencil'. At present, it flanks the entrance to Cajal's old classroom at the Madrid College of Physicians. Closer inspection reveals fractures as evidence of its having been broken into pieces at some point, presumably during bombings that took place in 1936. The calcareous Novelda stone ...
Source: Revue Neurologique - Category: Neurology Tags: Rev Neurol (Paris) Source Type: research