This very tall marble statue of Santiago Ramon y Cajal can be seen in the "Cajal Garden" of the Ilustre Colegio Oficial de Médicos de Madrid in Madrid.
The statue, popularly known as "el Lapicero" (the pencil) due to its characteristic form, was sculpted in 1931 by chilean artist Lorenzo Dominguez (former student in the local school of Medicine) and dedicated to their still living Master by his students.
The day of the inauguration, the students official talk was entrusted to Eduardo Ortiz de Landázuri, who said - among other things -: "no hemos erigido este monumento para recuerdo de su obra, pues para recordar a Cajal sólo hace falta una cosa…: estudiar" (we have not erected this monument for memory of his work, because to remember Cajal just one thing is needed: to study)1.
The statue was in the garden of the old school of Medicine of San Carlos until it was moved to this more protected location, next to the entrance door of the Aula de Cajal. In 1998, a modern replica of the monument was placed in the original location in the garden.
- Photos by Luca Borghi ti.supmacinu|ihgrob.l#| (August 2013), courtesy of the Ilustre Colegio Oficial de Médicos de Madrid
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