Why is there a giant frog in the street at 37 Recoletos Avenue? By the Gran Madrid Casino’s gate stands a big and seemingly outlandish frog. This bronze sculpture, created by Eladio de Mora (alias dEmo), was installed in April 2014 as a gift to the City of Madrid.
Spain’s last casino closed over 90 years ago when gambling was forbidden during the Franco regime. To honour the return of casinos to Madrid, the Gran Madrid Casino gifted the lucky frog to the city. Why a frog? A frog was chosen for its symbolic fortune in many cultures around the world, particularly in the Chinese Feng Shui tradition.
According to tradition, frogs have traditionally been animals that bring good luck. According to legend, the origin of this tradition came because frogs are found near water, which is essential to survival. The presence of a frog always indicated life-saving water was near, turning the animals into symbols of luck.
Eladio de Mora is a famous sculptor in Spain and his bronze frog sculpture measures 11,5 ft, tall enough for people to walk beneath it and marvel at the 34 lucky symbols and numbers engraved in its underbelly.
Carved into the great big frog are several numbers and representative figures including an Egyptian beetle, a four-leaf clover, a horseshoe with seven nails, a rabbit, a dolphin, an elephant, an owl, a witch with a broom, a heart, a key, a star, a moon, the yin-yang, an eye, an X, a chicken bone, the Chinese Do, the Hindu Ohm, the symbol of infinity, an open hand with an eye in the palm, amongst others. Quite clearly there is no excuse for not getting lucky when you walk past this frog, no matter which country you are from or whatever beliefs you have, this frog caters for them.