Article
Christopher Columbus Loses His Barcelona Shirt
Published: Mon 01 Jul 2013 at 11:12
Updated: Mon 01 Jul 2013 at 11:12
For the past few weeks, the famous statue of Christopher Columbus in Barcelona has been resplendent in the shirt of the city's premier football team. A marketing stunt ahead of the derby match between Barcelona FC and Espanyol, it has been a popular photograph for tourists enjoying their holidays to Barcelona.
Now though, the famous explorer is back to his normal, unadorned state, atop the 60m plinth in the Catalan capital.
It will come as a relief to the Espanyol fans who took issue with the shirt being placed on the statue too. However, with about €100,000 being paid to local charities for the stunt, most have taken it in good heart.
A Unique Sight
It was certainly a memorable sight for visitors to the city, many of whom had arrived on cheap flights to Barcelona with Jet2.com from the UK. From Facebook to YouTube, tourists were eager to share their images with the world.
However, on June 9, the fun came to an end, as the oversized claret and blue shirt was removed. It only took 21 minutes too; one minute for every day Barca had the support of Columbus.
The job of getting the shirt in position was not so easy though, with the man in charge of the operation, Manuel Navarro, explaining:
“Taking the ‘pinny’ off the ‘doll’ was not so hard; it was putting it on that was difficult – that took more than five hours, we had to measure him first.”
Fortunately, with bargain flights to the city this summer, not too many people taking holidays to Barcelona will be losing their shirts.
