El Oso y el Madroño
Bronze statue of a bear reaching into a strawberry tree, the city's medieval heraldic symbol.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to El Oso y el Madroño in Madrid opens with the odd habit of rubbing the bronze bear's heel for luck, a tradition nobody can trace to any old legend or decree, then traces the statue itself back to a medieval land dispute between the city council and the cathedral clergy. You'll hear how the settlement put a bear and a strawberry tree on Madrid's coat of arms centuries before sculptor Antonio Navarro Santafé modeled this 1967 bronze on a real captive bear at the Retiro zoo. The statue has moved more than once, and always ends up back here.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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