The mammoth in Ciutadella Park it shines again from top to bottom. Literally. The famous giant sculpture it had lost the tip of its trunk and a piece of its tailperhaps due to vandalism or perhaps due to intensive use as photographic scenario for Barcelonans and tourists of all ages and backgrounds.
A municipal repair has reversed the double amputation of this icon, which was not very striking but deteriorated a much-loved landscape of the city. Since the detached pieces of the animal have disappeared, the contracted specialists have had to model reproductions of the original elements.
Incidentally, the partial restoration has included a general cleaning of the skin of this extinct mammal and has fixed cracks and holes in his fangs faux ivory.
The intervention, piloted by the Department of Urban Architecture and Heritage Services of the Barcelona City Council, has cost 5,200 euros. It ended this October, after a few weeks of fences around the mammoth. The distance imposed by the fence has not, however, prevented the old mammoth from continuing to be the object of daily pilgrimage.
Unique in its kind
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This mammoth was the only sculpture that prospered from a set of 12 full-scale recreations of animals from the past, promoted by Norbert Font i Sagués at the beginning of the last century.
Of the 11 unborn companions, however, some of the models have survived to our days: they are half a dozen dinosaurs that would have turned the Ciutadella into the best set for Jurassic Park. Both the mammoth and the dinosaurs are kept in their original showcases by the Museu Martorell, immersed in an ambitious remodeling.