Tribute to the Three Cultures (1997)

Author: Manuel Clemente Ochoa (Cascante, 1937).
Promoter/financing: Tudela City Council.
Inauguration/installation: July 15, 1997.
Location: place de las Tres Culturas, traffic circle in front of Muro street and entrance to the place de la Judería.

On July 15, 1997, Tudela inaugurated the Tribute to the Three Cultures, located in the place that bears his name, next to the entrance of the Jewish quarter and the historical access to the city. The monument pays homage to the exemplary coexistence that the three monotheistic cultures, Jewish, Muslim and Christian, developed in Tudela during several centuries and that gave such splendid fruits to culture and science, thus valuing the multicultural bequest of the city. 

The author of the monument, Manuel Clemente Ochoa, from Cascantino, has a long career in the field of public sculpture. His language, inspired by the teachings of Henry Moore and Constantin Brancusi, is characterized by a schematic figuration that evolves towards abstraction, interested in the play of full and empty spaces, in verticality and in the interaction between subject and space, elements that enhance its visual impact in open environments. Ochoa usually works with materials such as stainless steel and corten steel, which allow him to explore textures, reflections and contrasts. His sculptures tend towards monumentality and symbolic presence in the urban space.

The sculpture, 6.70 meters high and made of stainless steel, rises with a decided verticality that combines solidity and lightness. Clemente Ochoa does not represent in a figurative way the coexistence of the three cultures in Tudela, but proposes an abstract metaphor, thus conforming to his maxim of suggesting to the spectator that, before his works, he should not wonder about their meaning, but let himself be carried away by the pure aesthetic pleasure to reach his understanding and enjoy them. The author means that values such as meeting, friendship, affection and integration are present in the work, avoiding resorting to a conventional figurative solution. The stainless steel, with its ability to reflect light and multiply brightness, turns the surface into a mirror that changes depending on the time of day and light conditions, and the light composition points to the sky. In final, this is a very characteristic work within the production of the Navarrese sculptor for its vertical impulse, its reflections on the steel, the light and ascending forms and its great visual and decorative impact.