The Monument to the Battle of Talavera is a monument located in Talavera de la Reina, Spain. It is a memorial to the casualties of the Battle of Talavera in July 1809, one of the bloodiest of the Peninsular War.
Monumento a la Batalla de Talavera | |
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| 39°59′07″N 4°50′51″W / 39.98535°N 4.84752°W | |
| Location | Talavera de la Reina, Spain |
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| Height | 27 metres (89 ft) |
| Beginning date | 1989 |
| Completion date | 1990 |
| Opening date | 2 October 1990 |
| Dedicated to | Battle of Talavera |
Description and history edit
Standing 27 metres (89 ft) high, the monument consists of three 300 kg plumes of concrete,[1] representing the Spanish, French and British armies, crowned by a bronze laurel wreath.[2] The losses at the battle accounted for 7,268 dead French soldiers, 5,363 British and about 1,200 Spanish ones.[2] The names of the military units that took part in the battle are engraved on the stone.[3] It was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Public Works.[4]
It lies on the southern foothills of the Cerro Medellín,[3] one of the key locations of the battle, next to the current-day A-5 highway. Built from 1989 to 1990,[4] it was inaugurated on 2 October 1990, during a ceremony attended by a mix of civil and military representatives from Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, and West Germany,[4] including Narcís Serra (Spanish Minister of Defence), José Bono (president of Castilla–La Mancha) and the Belgian, French, British and West German ambassadors.[5]
References edit
- Citations
- ^ Vado 1990, p. 68.
- ^ a b Vado 1990, p. 69.
- ^ a b "Monumento a la batalla de Talavera". Objetivo Castilla-La Mancha. 28 February 2015.
- ^ a b c Llave Muñoz 2013, p. 518.
- ^ Llave Muñoz 2013, p. 519.
- Bibliography
- Vado, Santiago F. del (1990). "Recuerdo de una batalla histórica" (PDF). Revista Española de Defensa. 3 (33). Madrid: Ministerio de Defensa: 68–69. ISSN 1131-5172.
- Llave Muñoz, Sergio de la (2013). "La batalla de Talavera (27-28 julio de 1809): un paisaje para la memoria". In Aldea Celada, José Manuel; López San Segundo, Carmen; Ortega Martínez, Paula; Soto García, Mª de los Reyes de; Vicente Santos, Francisco José (eds.). Los lugares de la historia. Salamanca: AJHIS. pp. 511–527. ISBN 978-84-616-5755-1.