This is a large monument dedicated to the figure of Lucifer, the fallen angel. It depicts the exact moment of his expulsion from Paradise, caused by his disobeying and defying God. The sculpture captures the moment when the spirit of evil, represented in the form of a serpent, enters his body. It was donated by the Crown to the City of Madrid for its adornment although upon the condition that a beautiful, dignified and suitable pedestal be made for the sculpture. It was created by the architect Francisco Jareño y Alarcón.

The original model had been made in plaster by the sculptor Ricardo Bellver during his retirement in Rome, as a tribute to John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost, and whose merit was recognized immediately. On being notified, the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando proposed to the Minister of State that it be reproduced in marble or bronze. King Alfonso XII decided to pay the costs of its smelting, facilitating its presentation at the National Exhibition of 1878, where it obtained a First-Class Medal, and at the Universal Exhibition in Paris of the same year. It was inaugurated at its current location by the Queen Regent María Cristina of Hapsburg in 1885.

© Vicente Tofiño