El Gato del Río ("The River Cat") is a sculpture by Colombian artist

Hernando Tejada Hernando Tejada Sáenz (February 1, 1924 in Pereira, Colombia – June 1, 1998 in Cali, Colombia), popularly known as Tejadita, was a Colombian painter and sculptor. His most well-known sculpture, '' El Gato del Río'', is a famous landmark of C ...

. The sculpture was inaugurated on July 3, 1996 and is located on the side of the

Cali River The Cali River is a river of western Colombia. It flows through the city of Cali and drains into the Cauca River. Its headwaters are in the Farallones de Cali of the Cordillera Occidental. See also *List of rivers of Colombia Atlantic Ocean ...

Cali, Colombia Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the secon ...

. Over time, it has turned into a famous landmark of the city along with the monument to

Sebastián de Belalcázar Sebastián de Belalcázar (; 1479/1480 – 1551) was a Spanish conquistador. De Belalcázar, also written as de Benalcázar, is known as the founder of important early colonial cities in the northwestern part of South America; Quito in 1534 and Ca ...

and Cristo Rey. Today the area near the sculpture has turned into a park with cat sculptures by several artists known as the ''Parque El Gato De Tejada'' or the "Cat Park".

History

In 1996, a plan was created to beautify the banks of the Cali River on the city’s north side. For this project, Tejada donated this sculpture to the city. The sculpture was created in bronze in the studio of Rafael Franco in Bogotá. To transport the sculpture to the city, the roof of the studio had to be removed. ''El Gato del Río'' was inaugurated on July 3, 1996, which is celebrated as the independence day in Cali. The monument was situated on the ''Avenida del Río'' in an area with high foot traffic. Below the sculpture is a plaque that reads:

El gato del río Escultura en bronce elaborada por el maestro Hernando Tejada Bajo el auspicio del gobernador del Valle del Cauca Germán Villegas Villegas y el alcalde de Santiago de Cali Mauricio Guzmán Cuevas Santiago de Cali Julio 3 de 1996

''Las novias del gato''

In 2006, the city planned a revitalization project for the area, which included adding new sculptures near ''El Gato del Río'' by other artists. The project consisted of adding 15 new cat sculptures of the same size and shape but painted by different Colombian artists. These new cat sculptures became known as ''las novies del gato'' ("the cat's girlfriends"). Famous Colombian artists contributed cats, including Maripaz Jaramillo, Roberto Molano, Diego Pombo, Cecilia Coronel, Pedro Alcántara, and

Omar Rayo Omar Rayo Reyes (January 20, 1928 – June 7, 2010) was a renowned Colombian painter, sculptor, caricaturist and plastic artist. He won the 1970 Salón de Artistas Colombianos. Rayo worked with abstract geometry primarily employing black, whi ...

. Today, there are more than 15 cat sculptures exhibited and some of these have been distributed throughout the city.

References

{{reflist 1996 sculptures Buildings and structures in Cali Bronze sculptures in Colombia