The monumental equestrian sculpture El Cid Campeador dominates the central terrace in front of the Hispanic Society Museum &amp; Library.El Cid, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, is a war hero of the Reconquista period of medieval Spanish history and literature. The sculpture presents him as an idealized mounted warrior and became an important visual symbol of the Hispanic Society.

on 155th St., between Riverside Dr. and Broadway

El Cid Campeador

Anna Hyatt Huntington, wife of Archer M. Huntington who owned the land, created all of the statues within the courtyard. She is considered among the greatest female American Sculptors, active for a period of approx 70 years, around the first half of the 20th century. As a child she was fascinated with animals, particularly horses, who would become the main subjects of her work. She married Archer M. Huntington on March 10th, her 47th birthday. This was also Archer's birthday, and so the couple called March 10th their 3-in-1 day. Their marriage is known as one of mutual respect. Both valued culture and the arts, and encouraged the other to pursue and achieve great things. Anna's work is of a traditional and academic style, often described as an anatomical study. As modern art began to gain popularity, Huntington was quoted in American Women Sculptors describing modern works "as an overwhelming flood of degenerate trash drowning sincere and conservative workers in all the arts." 

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Jean Parker Phifer, NYC architect and author of Public Art New York, reads a selection about the sculptures at the Hispanis Society of America, celebrating the history and sculpture of Spain.

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A description of the statues dominating the courtyard of Audubon Terrace.

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Anna Hyatt Huntington married the Society's founder, Archer Huntington, in 1923. The first casting of her El Cid was presented to the city of Seville, while the first replica was installed at Audubon Terrace in 1927.

Other Spanish figures represented as sculptural works in the central terrace include Boabdil, the last king of Granada, and Don Quixote, further embedding Spanish historical and literary imagery into the architecture of Audubon Terrace.

El Cid Campeador

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