Monument to José María Iribarren (1972)

Author: Luis Eduardo Gil Munilla and Antonio Loperena Eseverri (Arguedas, 1922-Tudela, 2010).
Promoter/financing: Popular subscription.
Inauguration/installation: April 2, 1972.
Location: Herrerías Street. Moved in 2005 to Yanguas y Miranda Street.

On Sunday, April 2, 1972, coinciding with Easter and the Descent of the Angel, one of the most traditional events in Tudela, the monument that the people of Tudela dedicated to José María Iribarren, a writer born in Tudela in 1906 and died in Pamplona in 1971, was inaugurated in Herrerías Street. Academic of the language and Favorite Son of Tudela, his varied work included historical, linguistic, literary and costumbrista works. He was the most widely read writer from Navarre in the 20th century, praised by authors such as Dámaso Alonso and Azorín. The inauguration was presided over by the writer's widow, Javiera Moso, together with his brother Jesús Luis Iribarren; a Pro-Monument Commission had been created for this purpose, headed by Mr. Teófilo Martínez, who in his speech thanked "the partnership all the friends, enthusiasts and all those who have made it possible for this monument to become a reality". In the academic act celebrated later in the Hall of the high school of San Francisco Javier, Francisco Ynduráin, Full Professor the University of Madrid and Academician of the language, who praised the writer for his sharpness of vision, and also the sculptor Loperena for giving the eyes a lively expression with which he transmitted the ideas.

It was, in fact, Antonio Loperena Eseverri the author of the bust, a self-taught artist who completed his training with studies in the Pamplona workshop of Constantino Manzana and with various trips to Italy, Egypt, Mexico and Venezuela. Loperena developed a wide career with a figurative and realistic style, with a deep connection to the land, its trades and traditions, paying special attention to the clothing and the characterization of the faces in which he sought the portrait of popular "types" to achieve the viewer's emotion. He has religious works, especially in churches of the Ribera Navarre, and also highlights his works of funerary character, destined to the ornamentation of pantheons in cemeteries. But above all, he is the author of a group of public works in which he mainly uses stone and marble.

Loperena, a staff friend of the writer, put all his efforts into this work, which he carved in pink marble stone from Sepúlveda (Segovia), resulting in a bust of enormous liveliness, with a face with an expressive look, a clear forehead and hair combed in waves. In its original configuration, the monument consisted of a pedestal of gray granite from Toledo on which the bust of the writer was placed, according to the project of the building engineer Luis Eduardo Gil Munilla. In 2005, on the occasion of its transfer from Herrerías to Yanguas y Miranda Street, the bust was installed on a steel pedestal. And twenty years later, in 2025, the Tudela City Council agreed to carry out conservation and restoration work on the bust, including biological cleaning, removal of graffiti and reintegration of lost volumes.