Monumento al Gran Capitán
| MILITARY MONUMENT |
| 15TH-16TH CENTURIES |
| MEDIEVAL-MODERN ERA |
| LOCATION: PLAZA DE LAS TENDILLAS |
The monument to the ‘Gran Capitan’ or ‘Great Captain’ is located in the central Plaza de las Tendillas. Built in 1923 by sculptor Mateo Inurria, it is a bronze equestrian figure with a white marble head.
Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba was born in Montilla (Cordoba) on September 1, 1433 and died in Granada on December 2, 1515. He gained his sobriquet ‘Gran Capitan’ thanks the military genius he showed in the war against the Kingdom of Granada and the wars in Italy fought under the standards of the Catholic Monarchs.
Legend has it that tight-fisted King Ferdinand asked Gonzalo to account for all his expenses, however small, made from the royal coffers during his campaigns. This was taken as an insult by Don Gonzalo, who reputedly wrote the following caustic answer in reply:
“For picks, shovels and hoes, a hundred million ducats; for alms so that friars and nuns could pray for the Spanish, one hundred and fifty thousand ducats; for scented gloves so the soldiers did not smell the stench of battle, two hundred million ducats; for replacing the bells damaged by the continual peals of victory, one hundred and seventy thousand ducats; and, finally, for the patience required for having to lower myself to deal with such petty business with a king to whom I have given a kingdom, a hundred million ducats”.
