This sculpture was made by Joaquín Arias Méndez and Pedro Medina Guzmán at the request of the former governor of Jalisco, Agustín Yáñez, and was inaugurated in 1956. According to the aforementioned creators of the sculpture, the Minerva represents “justice, wisdom and strength” that guard the city, values that are written on the base of the sculpture.
The names of people who have contributed to the development of Guadalajara can also be found on the sculpture. Minerva is a Roman goddess who is linked to wisdom, medicine, crafts, art, poetry and commerce. Experts point out several points in common with the Greek goddess Athena, however, their respective histories have very different backgrounds.
THE EMBLEMATIC MONUMENT OF GUADALAJARA
It is a circular fountain with a diameter of 74 meters. At its center is the statue of the goddess Minerva (the Roman version of the goddess Athena), which measures eight meters from head to toe. She is a standing female figure with her right leg slightly set back and her trunk slightly turned to give the impression of movement; she is wrapped in a two-piece, sleeveless tunic, cinched at the waist. Over her shoulders and covering her chest she carries the aegis; on her head she wears a Roman-style crested war helmet. He holds in his hand a long spear or pike resting on the ground pointing upwards, slightly higher than the height of the crest of the helmet. In his left hand he holds a round argolic shield in the center of which appears the gorgoneion; leaning against the ground and between it and the shield is a thick python snake. It stands almost at the center of the circle formed by the fountain on an almost cubic pedestal which is flanked by two long walls slightly lower than the pedestal. Engraved on these walls are two legends; on the front side:
“JUSTICE, WISDOM AND FORTITUDE GUARD THIS LOYAL CITY”.
and on the back side:
“TO THE GLORY OF GUADALAJARA”
