|
Built by Caja Madrid in commemoration of its third centenary, the Obelisk is a steel and bronze 93m-high cylinder with an internal diameter of 2m and a weight of 572 tons. Formed by steel with thicknesses that vary from 80mm in the base up to 25mm in the ornament, a total of 493 golden bronze tilting slats or posts have been anchored in this shaft, grouped in 11 sections along the shaft. Each of them are formed by 42 golden bronze posts or bars connected in their ends with the following one, both upper and lower bars. Inside the shaft there are the drive mechanisms, as well as an internal staircase towards the ornament.
Located in the centre of Plaza de Castilla, in the perspective axis of Paseo de la Castellana, the monument is anchored on a steel tripod that isolates it from the traffic tunnel of Castellana. Its base is formed by a truncated cone elevated in its apex up to 6m over the slope of the Plaza. Santiago Calatrava has defined it as a work of art “riding among architecture, sculpture and engineering”. He added: “My objective is to give the work of art a special character, a sense of modernity and future through a great column located in the middle of the Plaza and with a pointed finishing in order to support the sky of Madrid. Also, the fact of being made of bronze will provide sympathy to the sculpture when it is illuminated by the setting sun of Madrid. As regards my sources of inspiration, the obelisk does not imitate any element, although if I had to name one it would be the work of art ‘La columna sin fin’, located in Rumania and created by Constantin Brancusi.”
|
Plan Magazine
