Monumento Al Ahogado
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''La Mano'' (''The Hand'') is a sculpture in
Punta del Este Punta del Este () is a seaside city and peninsula on the Atlantic Coast in the Maldonado Department of southeastern Uruguay. Starting as a small town, Punta del Este later became internationally known as a resort for the Latin and North American j ...
by
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
an artist Mario Irarrázabal. (Chilean newspaper, in Spanish) It depicts five human
finger A finger is a limb of the body and a type of digit, an organ of manipulation and sensation found in the hands of most of the Tetrapods, so also with humans and other primates. Most land vertebrates have five fingers ( Pentadactyly). Chambers ...
s partially emerging from sand and is located on Parada 1 at Brava Beach in
Punta del Este Punta del Este () is a seaside city and peninsula on the Atlantic Coast in the Maldonado Department of southeastern Uruguay. Starting as a small town, Punta del Este later became internationally known as a resort for the Latin and North American j ...
, a popular tourist town in
Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
. It is also known as either ''Los Dedos'' (''The Fingers''), or ''Hombre emergiendo a la vida'' (''Man Emerging into Life''). In English, its popular name is ''The Hand''. It is a famous sculpture
- Puntadeleste.com (Uruguayan website, in Spanish) that has become a symbol for Punta del Este since its completion in February 1982 Punta del Este: para extasiarse de belleza
- La Capital (Argentinian newspaper, in Spanish) and in turn has become one of Uruguay's most recognizable landmarks.


History

The sculpture was made by Chilean artist Mario Irarrázabal during the summer of 1982, while he was attending the first annual International Meeting of Modern Sculpture in the Open Air in Punta del Este. There were nine sculptors, and he was the youngest one. There was a fight for the places assigned on a public square, so he decided to make his sculpture on the beach. He was inspired to make a sculpture of a hand "drowning" as a warning to swimmers, as the waters at La Barra up the beach had rougher waves which were better for surfing, while the other way, waters at Solanas were much more suited for swimming practices and windsurfing activities. While Irarrázabal had the entire summer to complete the project, he managed to finish in the first six days, despite facing minor delays due to the strong southeast wind which is common in Punta del Este. The concrete and plastic fingers were reinforced with steel bars, metal mesh, and a degradation-resistant solvent covering the plastic on the outside. Throughout that summer, sculptors from around the world worked on their creations at the beach, but only Irarrázabal's continues to sit on the beach today, not having left its original spot, and remaining largely untouched. It gained Irarrázabal worldwide acclaim and is popularized by tourist photographs and reproductions on postcards. He later made near or exact replicas of the sculpture for the city of
Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
(in 1987), the ''
Mano del Desierto The ''Mano del Desierto'' is a large-scale sculpture of a hand located in the Atacama Desert in Chile, about 60 km to the south and east of the city of Antofagasta, on the Panamerican Highway. The nearest point of reference is the "Ciudad E ...
'' (Hand of the Desert) in the
Atacama Desert The Atacama Desert ( es, Desierto de Atacama) is a desert plateau in South America covering a 1,600 km (990 mi) strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes Mountains. The Atacama Desert is the driest nonpolar desert in the ...
in Chile (1992), and in
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400  ...
(1995).


See also

* '' The Awakening'', a 1980 sculpture that also features hands emerging from the ground * ''
Mano del Desierto The ''Mano del Desierto'' is a large-scale sculpture of a hand located in the Atacama Desert in Chile, about 60 km to the south and east of the city of Antofagasta, on the Panamerican Highway. The nearest point of reference is the "Ciudad E ...
'', a 1992 sculpture of a giant hand by the same artist


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mano De Punta Del Este Outdoor sculptures Monuments and memorials in Uruguay 1982 sculptures Concrete sculptures Punta del Este Buildings and structures in Punta del Este