The Angel of Independence

The Angel of Independence stands as a golden bronze statue perched atop a hollow stone column in the center of the Paseo de la Reforma. Porfirio Diaz commissioned the monument for the centennial of the Mexican War of Independence in nineteen ten. During the earthquake of nineteen fifty-seven, the statue fell from its pedestal and shattered. Sculptor Jose Maria Fernandez Urbina oversaw the restoration, and the angel returned to her post a year later, holding her laurel crown and broken chain.