History
It was a gift from the Hispanic Society of America to Spain on the occasion of the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition . The founder of said society was Archer Milton Huntington , who was married to the sculptress Anna Hyatt Huntington. She was passionate about the history and culture of Spain and had visited Seville for extended stays. 1
The idea that the Hispanic Society would donate a monument for the Seville Exhibition must have come from the good relationship that the Hungtingtons had with some organizers of the exhibition such as Vicente Traver or the sculptor Mariano Benlliure . At the beginning of December 1927, the City Council commissioned Benlliure to choose a location. It was decided to place it next to the San Diego roundabout, on an avenue that since 1920 had been labeled Avenida del Cid.
In 1927 the author made a sculpture as a prototype that is in Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina. The same year she will create the statue for Seville.
According to the author, Alfonso XIII told her about Babieca , the Cid's horse:
I always wanted to know what kind of horse El Cid rode. Now, seeing the one you modeled, I agree with you that this is the only horse worthy of having been ridden by the Castilian hero
The plinth commemorates the relationship of the Cid with the city of Seville. The sculpture also appears in the film Citizen Kane , by Orson Welles , which spent several seasons in Seville. In November 2013, the artist Olek, with the support of the Seville City Council, crocheted a suit for the statue of El Cid. This artist had already done the same with the Wall Street bull and other famous statues.
Anne Huntington made several more copies with various destinations: The original was the one erected in front of the headquarters of the Hispanic Society , in New York; Later, at the same time as the one in Seville, others were made for the Balboa Park in San Diego , for the Lincoln Park in San Francisco, and for an avenue in Buenos Aires (on a smaller scale). In 1964 the Hispanic Society commissioned the Spanish sculptor Juan de Ávalos to make a copy, taking a mold from the statue in Seville, a copy bound for the city of Valencia.
(
visit link)
CID CAMPEADOR
"El Cid Champion
(Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, called El Cid Campeador; Vivar, current Spain, h. 1043 - Valencia, 1099) Castilian Knight. Son of Diego Laínez, a descendant of the semi-legendary Laín Calvo, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar was orphaned at a tender age and was educated alongside the infante Sancho, son of King Ferdinand I of Castile and León .
After the death of his father (1065), the infante Sancho began his reign as Sancho II of Castile; the new monarch named Rodrigo Díaz royal lieutenant. Around 1066, the prestige of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar was notably increased as a result of his victory in the single combat he had with the Navarrese knight Jimeno Garcés, to settle the domain of some border castles that the monarchs of Castile and Navarre disputed; the triumph earned him the nickname of Campeador.
As head of the royal troops, Rodrigo participated in the war between Sancho II of Castile and his brother Alfonso VI of León , who, defeated in the battles of Llantada (1068) and Golpejera (1072), was forced to seek refuge in the Muslim court of Toledo. Fate, however, wanted Sancho II to die in 1072, when he tried to take Zamora, with which Alfonso VI became sovereign of Castile and León.
Alfonso VI not only showed no resentment towards the Champion, but, aware of the value of his services, he honored him by granting him the hand of his niece, Doña Jimena , whom he married in July 1074. However, a few years later, In 1081, an inopportune expedition by Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar to Toledo lands without royal permission, which seriously jeopardized the negotiations undertaken by Alfonso VI to obtain the emblematic city of Toledo, caused the exile of Castile del Campeador and the confiscation of all your possessions.
Accompanied by his retinue, the Campeador first offered his services to the counts Ramón Berenguer II and Berenguer Ramón II of Barcelona, ??but, being rejected, decided to help al-Muqtadir, king of Zaragoza, in the fight he had with his brother at -Mundir, king of Lérida, Tortosa and Denia, who had the support of the counts of Barcelona and the monarch Sancho Ramírez de Aragón . At the service of al-Muqtadir, he defeated Berenguer Ramón II in Almenar (1082), and near Morella al-Mundir and the Aragonese sovereign (1084). It was during this period that he received the nickname of Cid, derived from the Arabic word sid , which means lord.
In 1086, the defeat of Alfonso VI of Castile and León against the Almoravids in Sagrajas led to the reconciliation of the monarch with Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, who received important domains in Castile. In agreement with the Castilian-Leon sovereign, the Cid Campeador left for Levante, where, between 1087 and 1089, he made tributaries to the Muslim monarchs of the Taifas of Albarracín and Alpuente and prevented the city of Valencia, governed by al-Qadir, an ally of the Castilians, fell into the hands of al-Mundir and Berenguer Ramón II.
In 1089, however, a new disagreement with Alfonso VI led to his definitive exile from Castile, accused of treason by the king. Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar decided to return to the east of the peninsula, became the protector of al-Qadir and once again defeated Berenguer Ramón II in Tévar (1090).
With his protégé dead, El Cid Campeador decided to act in his own interest, and in July 1093 he laid siege to Valencia, taking advantage of the internal conflict between supporters and opponents of liberating the city from the Almoravids. On June 15, 1094, El Cid entered Valencia and organized a Christian taifa that had a short-lived life after his death on July 10, 1099. Doña Jimena, his widow and successor, managed to defend the city with the help of the Count Ramón Berenguer III of Barcelona (who had married his daughter María in 1098), until in 1101 Valencia fell into the power of the Almoravids."
(
visit link)