The mammoth's trunk in Ciutadella Park has been restored
The Barcelona City Council’s Urban Architecture and Heritage Department has completed the repair of the mammoth's trunk in Ciutadella Park, a reinforced concrete pachyderm that symbolises the park and receives numerous daily views.
Barcelona City Council has completely reconstructed the tip of the trunk and tail, restored holes and fissures in the eye sockets, and has taken the opportunity to perform a general cleaning of the mammoth sculpture in Ciutadella Park.
The mammoth’s limbs had disappeared, and to reproduce them faithfully, the restorers responsible for the intervention have documented themselves with photographs from different periods of the last century.
This partial restoration costing €5,263.51, is a city-led initiative by the Urban Architecture and Heritage Department, responsible for public art conservation and maintenance in Barcelona.
The City Council invests 1,140,000 euros annually in maintaining in perfect condition the artistic elements we find in our city’s streets, squares, and parks.
Chronicle of a Mammoth
The Board of Natural Sciences of Barcelona, established in 1906, is an independent organisation that proposed projects for the scientific facilities of Ciutadella Park.
In 1907, this organisation promoted the reconstruction in stone of the great animals of the past to complement the park’s scientific collections. So, following an idea from the priest Norbert Font i Sagué, the canon Jaume Almera and Artur Bofill, all three members of the Board, a life-sized mammoth was reproduced in December 1907. This pachyderm from the past was the first reinforced concrete sculpture made in Barcelona.
The initial idea was to have a series of 12 prehistoric animals. Following the construction of the mammoth, the project continued with the construction of new animal models from the past, including dinosaurs, mammals and some Paleozoic reptiles. These models, currently found in the Martorell Museum in Ciutadella Park, are a testament to the scientific knowledge available at that time.
The premature death of Norbert Font i Sagués, the driving force behind the project, stopped its continuity, and ultimately, out of the series of 12 prehistoric animals, only the mammoth was reproduced. It is thought that the mammoth was chosen to start the project because there were findings indicating that this species had lived near Barcelona and in different parts of Catalonia, where remains have been located in Sant Vicenç dels Horts, Sarrià, and La Garrotxa.