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#Monuments
It was constructed for the Exposición Universal de Barcelona (1888) in honor of Columbus' first voyage to the Americas. The monument serves as a reminder that Christopher Columbus reported to Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand V in Barcelona after his first trip to the new continent.
Statue and column
At the very top of the monument stands a 7.2 m (24 ft) tall bronze statue atop a 40 m (131 ft) tall Corinthian column. The statue was sculpted by Rafael Atché and is said to depict Columbus pointing towards the New World with his right hand, while holding a scroll in the left. It is a commonly held belief that instead of pointing to the west towards the New World, the statue points east towards Columbus's supposed home city of Genoa.[2] This, however, is not true, as the statue points south-southeast (a more southerly direction than the adjacent Rambla Del Mar and almost a perfect extension of the direction of La Rambla, Barcelona) and in effect is pointing at a point somewhere near the city of Constantine, Algeria. To point at Genoa in northern Italy the statue would have to face east-northeast and point up the coastline. It is more likely that the statue is situated in the current way simply to have Columbus point out to sea underscoring his achievements in naval exploration. The statue is atop a socle, on which the word "Tierra" (land) is inscribed.
Pedestal of Columbus Monument
Statue of Father Bernat de Boïl, with the medallions of the Marqués and Marquessa de Moya behind
The column, hung with a device bearing an anchor, stands on an octagonal pedestal from which four bronze winged victories or Phemes take flight towards the four corners of the world, above paired griffins. Four buttresses against the octagonal pedestal bear portrait medallions that depict persons related to Columbus:
1. Martín Alonzo Pinzón
2. Vicente Yáñez Pinzón
3. Ferdinand II of Aragon
4. Isabella I of Castile
5. Father Juan Pérez
6. Father Antonio de Marchena
7. Andrés de Cabrera, Marqués de Moya
8. Beatriz Fernández de Bobadilla, Marquessa de Moya