This lifesized (or perhaps a but smaller) statue depicts a young friar standing, wearing his clerical garb, arms crossed and hugging a crucifix to his chest.
The plaque accompanying this sculpture reads:
"EL ILLMO Y RMO.SR.
DON FRAY BARTOLOME
DE LAS CASAS
EL GRAN PROTECTOR
DE LOS INDIOS"
which celebrates the friar for being the protector of the Indians.
There doesn't seem to be much information on the internet about Bartolome, but this website (
visit link) in Spanish informs us:
"FRAY BARTOLOMÉ DE LAS CASAS es uno de los hijos históricos más ilustres de Sevilla. A ella estuvo ligado por el nacimiento, crianza y posteriores relaciones familiares y dominicanas, especialmente con el convento de San Pablo. Sevilla, la capital-“plataforma”, que unió dos Continentes y sirvió al infatigable clérigo y religioso dominico de escala para sus viajes en una y otra dirección, fraguándose aquí, al menos en caracteres de imprenta, los importantísimos “Tratados” de su papel de mediador entre la Metrópoli y el Nuevo Mundo, en búsqueda inagotable e incansable de medios eficaces que ayudaran a resolver los tremendos problemas que surgieron inmediatamente después del “descubrimiento” y su tarea de lograr una legislación que salvaguardara los derechos de los Indios. Aquí, en Sevilla, vieron la luz los ocho importantísimos “Tratados”, que publicó el P. Las Casas en 1552, los cuales ocupan uno de los voluminosos tomos de la reciente edición crítica."
which Google translates (with several flaws) as:
"FRAY BARTOLOME DE LAS CASAS is one of the most illustrious sons of Seville Historic. She was bound by birth, upbringing and family relationships and Dominican later, especially with the convent of San Pablo. Seville, the capital, "platform", which united two continents and served the tireless Dominican religious cleric and scale for your travels in both directions, brewing here, at least in capital letters, the very important "Treaties" of their role a mediator between the metropolis and the New World, in endless and tireless search for effective means to help solve the tremendous problems that arose immediately after the "discovery" and their task of legislation to safeguard the rights of the Indians. Here in Seville, came to light eight very important "Treaties", which published the P. Las Casas in 1552, which occupy one of the big books of recent critical edition."