Plaza de Revolucion
Havana, Cuba
Che Guevera in Havana, Cuba
Plaza de la Revolución “Revolution Square” is one of the 13 largest outdoor plazas in the world. The square is notable as being where many political rallies take place and Fidel Castro and other political figures address Cubans. Fidel Castro has addressed more than a million Cubans on many occasions, such as 1 May and 26 July each year.
This sculpture of Che Guevara is a single line replica of the famous Alberto Korda photograph of Che. The sculptor on this was Cuban artist Enrique Avila Gonzales. The words “Hasta la Victoria Sempre” (Onward forever to victory) are in Che’s handwriting.
“Of all the faces, the one which required the most work was that of Che. It happened to be a contest in which I participated by invitation, along with 15 other projects. My hesitation was deciding on the material, maybe ceramic, maybe concrete…
“I did many, many drawings and sketches of possible formats, until I saw my son tracing lines on a piece of paper. I was surprised by its tremendous economy and simplicity, and right away the lines came to me and I immediately saw Che’s character in them. All that remained was choosing the material, and at that point of inspiration, it couldn’t have been anything other than steel, like his mettle.
“Another thing was Korda’s photo. It is so artistically impeccable. It is perfectly suitable for any other visual art form. When I was chosen to do the project, I went right away to his house and told him: Look Korda, I’m going to do a sculpture of your photo.
“He started to laugh and we had a toast to its completion. Once it was finished and installed, in 1993, I took him to see it and said: Well, there you have your photo.”
There is almost 15 tons of steel in the piece, donated by the French government.
The Korda photo was takin on March 5, 1960, during a memorial service for victims of the Le Coubre freighter explosion. It was not until 1967 that the photo passed into iconography with Kordas blessing. Korda,originally a Cuban fashion photographer, who died in 2001 never received royalties from the photo and as a supporter of the revolution believed that spreading the image would help spread Guevara’s ideals.