Max Abroad : The Best of Spain

Though Spain may have loaned its name to one of the most famous Christian witch-hunts in human history, the country’s capital city holds unique bragging rights for having what is commonly acknowledged as the only public monument to the Devil himself.

Located in the gardens of the expansive Parque del Buen Retiro, the statue of the Fallen Angel (Ángel Caído) is set atop a marble pillar in the midst of a fountain. Lucifer is depicted at the moment he is cast out of Heaven, as inspired by a passage in John Milton’s Paradise Lost.

Sculptor Ricardo Bellver cast the statue in bronze for the third World’s Fair in Paris, after which point the piece was acquired by the Museo del Prado. The statue was later donated to the city of Madrid and inaugurated at its current location in 1885.

The statue is renowned equally for its discordant subject matter, as well as Bellver’s ability to imbue a sense of tension and anguish in his rendering of Satan.

The statue is within easy walking distance of the city's "Big Three" museums (Prado, Reina Sofia, Thyssen-Bornemisza) and is accessed by the Atocha metro station.