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Bench of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara

2017 establishments in Mexico2017 in Mexico2018 disestablishments in Mexico2020 establishments in MexicoBronze sculptures in Mexico
Controversies in MexicoCultural depictions of Che GuevaraCultural depictions of Fidel CastroOutdoor sculptures in Mexico CitySculptures of men in MexicoStatues in Mexico CityUse American English from September 2021Vandalized works of art in Mexico

The Monumento Encuentro (lit. transl. Monument Encounter) refers to two bronze statues seated on a bench in Colonia Tabacalera, Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City. Otherwise known as the bench of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara and the statues of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, the artwork features sitting statues of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, major figures of the Cuban Revolution (1953–1959). The monument references the first time both met in 1955 in Tabacalera. The sculptures were designed by Óscar Ponzanelli in 2017. Upon its inauguration, the monument received negative reception.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Bench of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Bench of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara
Calle Ignacio Mariscal, Mexico City

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N 19.4377 ° E -99.1522 °
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Ché Guevara y Fidel Castro

Calle Ignacio Mariscal
06030 Mexico City
Mexico
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Antimonumento +43
Antimonumento +43

An antimonumento was installed in front of the Superior Court of Justice of Mexico City, on the median strip of Paseo de la Reforma Avenue, in the Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City. The work included the installation of a red number 43 made of metal along with a plus symbol, in reference to the forty-three students kidnapped—and possibly killed—in Iguala, Guerrero, in 2014 after being arrested for allegedly committing criminal offenses, plus the six students and witnesses killed during that event, and to honor the more than 150,000 people killed since the start of the Mexican drug war and the 30,000 disappeared persons reported by 2015. The anti-monument was installed by peaceful protesters during a demonstration on 26 April 2015 as a plea for justice and to prevent the case from being forgotten by the authorities and society. The sculpture became the first of its kind in Mexico and would inspire the installation of other guerrilla-like memorials throughout the city and in other states of the country. The artwork was never given an official name and those who installed it referred to it simply as either Antimonumento or +43. After the subsequent installation of other unnamed anti-monuments, like the Antimonumento +65 and the Antimonumento +72, the Antimonumento +43 received its name after its physical characteristics. Demonstrators added the slogan of those seeking justice for the case ("Because they were taken alive, we want them back alive!") to the border of the sidewalk and subsequently installed a complement in front of both elements, a concrete turtle with forty-three rocks on its shell with little turtles painted with the names of each of the disappeared on them.

Paseo de la Reforma
Paseo de la Reforma

Paseo de la Reforma (translated as "Promenade of the Reform") is a wide avenue that runs diagonally across the heart of Mexico City. It was designed by Ferdinand von Rosenzweig in the 1860s and modeled after the great boulevards of Europe, such as the Ringstraße in Vienna and the Champs-Élysées in Paris. After the French intervention in Mexico overthrew the constitutional President Benito Juárez, the newly crowned Emperor Maximilian made his mark on the conquered city. He commissioned a grand avenue linking the city center with his imperial residence, Chapultepec Castle, which was then on the southwestern edge of town. The project was originally named Paseo de la Emperatriz ("Promenade of the Empress") in honor of Maximilian's consort Empress Carlota. After her return to Europe and Maximilian's subsequent execution, the restored Juárez government renamed the Paseo in honor of the Reform War. It is now home to many of Mexico's tallest buildings such as the Torre Mayor and others in the Zona Rosa. More modern extensions continue the avenue at an angle to the old Paseo. To the northeast it continues toward Tlatelolco, where it changes its name near the Plaza de las Tres Culturas. There it divides into Calzada de Guadalupe and Calzada de los Misterios that continue toward La Villa. Its western portion going west from Chapultepec Park passes south of Polanco on its way through the affluent neighborhood of Lomas de Chapultepec and then into Cuajimalpa and Santa Fe on the outskirts of the city, although when it reaches this point it is more a highway than a promenade.