Originally sculpted in Rome by Aniceto Marinas in 1891,[1] the sculptural group depicts a winged statue holding a banner that emerges on top of a soldier, a cannon, a small boy and a number of corpses, male and female alike.
The ensemble was inaugurated in the morning of 4 May 1808 at its original location on the Glorieta de Ruiz Jiménez [es] (glorieta de San Bernardo), with the Count of Peñalver [es] (Mayor of Madrid) and Antonio Maura (Prime Minister) intervening as speakers in the ceremony,[3] and Alfonso XIII eventually proceeding to unveil the monument.[4]
There was no time to cast the bronze for the inauguration, and instead the plaster model of the sculptural group was installed, secretly disguised by a greenish paint, which soon faded after the rains, to the surprise of the Madrilenian people.[5] In October 1908, the bronze statue, cast in Madrid by "La Metaloplástica. Campins y Codina" foundry, was put on the pedestal.[6]
The cylindrical stone pedestal features an inscription reading "al pueblo / del / dos de mayo / de / 1808" ("to the People of the 2 May 1808"), surmounted by a bronze rendition of the municipal coat of arms.[5]
Over the years, the monument was moved to the Glorieta de Quevedo [es] and, in the 1960s,[n. 1] to its current location in some gardens near the Plaza de España and, since the 1970s, also the Temple of Debod.
