A bronze bust of Colombian national hero Antonio Narino sits on a sandstone plinth at the Ibero American Plaza.
Artist: Unknown
Artwork description
The bust of Colombian national hero Antonio Narino is made from bronze and stands approximately 70cm high. It is placed on a sandstone plinth 1.5m tall by 0.5m wide.
It is one of a series of busts of famous Latin American heroes displayed at the Ibero American Plaza. The series on Chalmers Street commemorates the contribution of Spanish and Portuguese speaking people to the history of Australia.
Antonio Narino was born in Santa Fe de Bogotá, Colombia in 1765 and died in the small town of Villa de Leiva in 1823. He was educated in philosophy and law. This background established the fundamentals of an independence that served as the liberating force for Colombia.
Narino was influenced by the ideas of the French Revolution and translated into Spanish the ‘Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen’. For this he was imprisoned and then exiled to Spain, but later escaped.
While in Europe, mainly France and England, Narino sought support for the ‘Criollo’ movement. He actively took part in all the struggles for Colombian independence until the constitution of the first republic. He intervened in the conception of the constitution and put in motion the first institutions as an independent nation. He is known as the precursor of Colombian independence.
