Monument To Philip IV In Madrid, Spain Editorial Photo

The Monument to Philip IV or Fountain of Philip IV is a memorial to Philip IV of Spain in the centre of Plaza de Oriente in the Spanish capital of Madrid. It was raised at the insistence of Isabella II of Spain in the first half of the 19th century. However, its equestrian statue of the king dates to the 17th century, it begun in 1634 and shipped to Madrid in 1640, the year of his death. The daring stability of the statue was calculated by Galileo Galilei: the horse rears, and the entire weight of the sculpture balances on the two rear legs—and, discreetly, its tail— a feat that had never been attempted in a figure on a heroic scale, of which Leonardo had dreamed.