During a recent trip to Mexico City, I was in a car that passed around the small glorieta (traffic circle) at the entrance to Los Pinos, the former residence of the Mexican president. I caught a glimpse of a large sculpture that I had never seen before. I made a point of going back another day to give it a closer look. I’m glad I did.
In 2015, a new sculpture made of steel was unveiled in the center of Glorieta de Lealtad (Loyalty). It’s a magnificent steel sculpture of the familiar Mexican national symbol of an eagle grasping a rattlesnake while perched on a nopal cactus, created by David Madero Álvarez of Coahuila.
What really catches your eye is the detail. On sunny days, the light glimmers and shines from all the different angles of the painstakingly crafted feathers of the bird, the scales of the snake, the needles of the nopal. It’s beautiful and inspiring.
