Don Diego de Gardoqui (1977)

by Luis Antonio Sanguino (b. 1934)

Photo Caption: Photo Caitlin Martin © 2014 for the Association for Public Art
Sister Cities Park, 18th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway
1977

  • Title

    Don Diego de Gardoqui

  • Artist

    Luis Antonio Sanguino (b. 1934)

  • Year

    1977

  • Medium

    Bronze, on granite base

  • Dimensions

    Height: 8'

  • Themes

    Presidents and Leaders

Gift of Juan Carlos I and the Government of Spain to the City of Philadelphia

Owned by the City of Philadelphia


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At A Glance

  • Part of the Museum Without Walls™: AUDIO program

  • Don Diego de Gardoqui served as a financial intermediary during the Revolutionary War, helping bring funds and arms from Spain to America

  • Gardoqui became Spain’s first ambassador to the United States

Born into a wealthy Basque business family, Don Diego de Gardoqui served as a financial intermediary during the Revolutionary War, helping bring funds and arms from Spain to America. He then became Spain’s first ambassador to the United States. This bronze sculpture of Gardoqui was a gift of the Spanish government for the U.S. Bicentennial. The statue stands near Thomas Fitzsimons in Sister Cities Park.

Detail of Don Diego de Gardoqui
Photo Caitlin Martin © 2013 for the Association for Public Art

Voices heard in the program:

Florinda Doelp is the granddaughter of Giuseppe Donato, who created the sculpture of Thomas Fitzsimons. She lives in Philadelphia in a home filled with work by her grandfather.

Daniel Rolph is an historian for The Historical Society of Pennsylvania and Senior Lecturer in history at Montgomery County Community College. He has studied the life of Don Diego de Gardoqui.

John Carr was the Founding Principal Conservator of Materials Conservation, a preservation firm that was based in Philadelphia. He worked on the conservation of the sculpture of Don Diego de Gardoqui.

Segment Producer: Alex Gallafent

A program of the Association for Public Art (formerly the Fairmount Park Art Association), Museum Without Walls: AUDIO is an innovative and accessible outdoor sculpture audio program for Philadelphia’s preeminent collection of public art.

User calls Museum Without Walls Audio for Robert Indiana's LOVE sculpture
Photo Albert Yee © 2010 for the Association for Public Art

A “multi-platform” interactive audio experience – available for free by cell phone, mobile app, or on our website – Museum Without Walls: AUDIO offers the unique histories that are not typically expressed on outdoor permanent signage.

Unlike audio tours that have a single authoritative guide or narrator, each speaker featured in Museum Without Walls: AUDIO is an “authentic voice” – someone who is connected to the sculpture by knowledge, experience, or affiliation.

Over 150 unique voices are featured, including artists, educators, scientists, writers, curators, civic leaders, and historians.

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This artwork is part of the Along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway tour

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