Miguel de Cervantes Statue

This bronze statue honors Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, author of Don Quixote and one of the most influential writers in Spanish and world literature. The bronze statue of Miguel de Cervantes stands in NYU’s “Willy’s Garden,” a courtyard just off Fifth Avenue between Washington Square North and Washington Mews. The sculpture is a replica of the celebrated nineteenth-century monument to Cervantes outside the Spanish Congress in Madrid. The New York version was presented as a gift from the city of Madrid to New York. It was initially installed in Bryant Park. When Bryant Park underwent major restoration, the statue was eventually transferred to New York University and installed in a courtyard near Washington Square, where it remains a physical symbol of Spanish literary culture and Spain's cultural relationship with New York. ^[1]