Teucer statue

{{Infobox artwork

| title = Teucer

| italic title = yes

| image_file = Pontevedra - Sede Afundación Pontevedra 5.JPG

| image_upright = 0.75

| alt =

| caption = The statue in 2016

| artist = Cándido Pazos

| completion_date = {{Start date and age|2006|7|15|df=yes}}

| material = Bronze

| subject = Teucer

| condition = Good

| city = Pontevedra, Spain

| coordinates = {{coord|42|25|45.0|N|8|38|45.3|W|region:ES|display=inline,title}}

| designation1 =

| designation1_offname =

| designation1_date =

| designation1_number =

}}

Teucer is a statue created by the Spanish sculptor Cándido Pazos,{{Cite web|date=30 July 2006|title="Teucro" leva a Cándido Pazos á elite escultórica|url=http://www.galiciahoxe.com/mare/gh/teucro-leva-candido-pazos-elite-escultorica/idNoticia-69531|website=Galicia Hoxe|language=gl|access-date=18 March 2021|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924020626/http://www.galiciahoxe.com/mare/gh/teucro-leva-candido-pazos-elite-escultorica/idNoticia-69531|url-status=dead}} located in Pontevedra (Spain). It is located in Saint Joseph's Square above the clock of the central building of the former Provincial Savings Bank of Pontevedra and was inaugurated on 15 July 2006.

History

Teucer is the mythical founder of the city of Pontevedra. Legend has it that the mythical archer Teucer, son of King Telamon (King of Salamis), followed a mermaid, Leucoiña, in exile to the Ria de Pontevedra and then founded the city.

Before the foundation of the city, Teucer, together with his brother Ajax and his cousin Achilles, had gone to the Trojan War. But when this long war was over and they returned to their country, the heroes were not well received, even by their own families. Teucer, rejected by his father, went in search of a new homeland in the West and arrived in Iberia, travelled along the coast of Hispania, crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and founded a Greek colony called Hellenes, which would become Pontevedra.{{Cite web|date=26 June 2020|title=Teucro, el héroe griego que fundó Pontevedra|url=https://pontevedraviva.com/opinion/5697/teucro-heroe-griego-fundo-pontevedra-jose-antonio-lopez-rodriguez/|website=Pontevedra Viva|language=es}}

Description

The sculpture is made of bronze and is 6 metres high.{{Cite web|date=18 July 2006|title=Teucro ya pisa el reloj|url=https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/pontevedra/2006/07/18/teucro-pisa-reloj/0003_4954602.htm|website=La Voz de Galicia|language=es}}

It weighs 2 tons and is anchored by means of a steel spike to the small clock pavilion in the upper part of the Savings Bank of Pontevedra building. The sculpture gives a sensation of lightness that suggests it is floating in the air in a vacuum.{{Cite web|date=30 July 2006|title=El santiagués Cándido Pazos entra en la élite artística con sus últimas obras|url=https://www.elcorreogallego.es/hemeroteca/santiagu-s-c-ndido-pazos-entra-lite-art-stica-sus-ltimas-obras-IWCG69587|website=El Correo Gallego|language=es}}

Teucer is depicted as a young naked athlete with a modernist bow and the expression of having reached his destination.

Teucer in the city

The city named the oldest square in the old town centre Teucer in 1843, which had previously been called Town Square or Bread Square.{{Cite web|date=26 January 2020|title=Un país mágico: Pontevedra|url=http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/un-pais-magico/pais-magico-pontevedra/5493286/|website=RTVE|language=es}}

On the façade of the Pontevedra City Hall (1880) there is an inscription about the foundation of the town by the Greek archer Teucer.

In the Basilica of Saint Mary Major there is a statue of Teucer carrying the cudgel at the top of the right buttress of its main façade.Durán Villa, Francisco, 2000, Provincia de Pontevedra, Madrid, Editorial Mediterráneo, p. 76 In 1956, a granite statue of Teucer breaking the jaws of the Nemean lion with a cross behind it was added to the arch of the fountain that closes the square of the Pilgrim Virgin Church.

Gallery

File:Pontevedra - Sede Afundación Pontevedra 6.JPG|Statue of Teucer

File:Pontevedra 57-01a, Casa do Concello.jpg|Inscription on the façade of the city hall.

File:Pontevedra 57-01c, Casa do Concello.jpg|Inscription on the façade of the city hall (continued).

File:Pontevedra-Escolares en la plaza del Teucro (15163637876).jpg|Teucer Square

File:Pontevedra Galicia Estatua.jpg|Statue of Teucer on the square of the church of the Pilgrim Virgin

File:Teucrope.jpg

References

Bibliography

{{Cite book|last=Aganzo|first=Carlos|title=Pontevedra. Ciudades con encanto|publisher=El País-Aguilar|year=2010|isbn=978-8403509344|location=Madrid|page=100-101;118-119|language=es}}
{{Cite book|last=Durán Villa|first=Francisco|title=Provincia de Pontevedra|publisher=Editorial Mediterráneo|year=2000|isbn=8471563371|location=Madrid|page=76|language=es}}
{{Cite book|last=González y Zúñiga|first=Claudio|title=Historia de Pontevedra, o sea de la antigua Helenes fundada por Teucro|publisher=Establecimiento Tipográfico de la Viuda de Pintos|year=1846|location=Pontevedra|language=es}}