EXHIBITION AT THE NAVAL MUSEUM: THE MONUMENT THAT NEVER CAME TO EXIST

Almost 100 years ago, around this time, a committee based in Donostia was preparing to commemorate and celebrate the 400 years of the First Voyage Around the World. Conscious of the ignorance that existed at international level about the figure of Juan Sebastián de Elcano, they organized in 1921 a contest for the construction of a great monument on the summit of San Antón Mountain, in Getaria. The winning project was the work of the Canarian rationalist architect Miguel Martín Fernández de la Torre in collaboration with his brother Néstor, a modernist and symbolist painter. However, the monument was never built.

Even so, a magnificent collection of plans and figures of this monument project is preserved, and the Naval Museum of Donostia has collected them in an interesting exhibition that can be visited until February 18th 2018. These works were forgotten and abandoned for decades. They were subjected to serious damage and even theft. The majority were discovered five years ago, and they have recovered their original magnificence thanks to a specific restoration promoted by the Town Council of Getaria, which has also benefited from collaboration with the Regional Government of Gipuzkoa and the Basque Government.

You will find more information about this exhibition in this link.