Monumento Faro de Colón (Columbus Lighthouse Monument)

The true vocation of architect Casto Fernández-Shaw was as an inventor. This explains, as Fernández-Shaw verified, his initial attempt to qualify as a mining engineer and goes some way to explaining the Monumento Faro de Colón (Columbus Lighthouse Monument) project he submitted for the tender held by the Unión Panamericana to erect a monument in honour of the navigator in Santo Domingo.

As attested by this maquette made by Fernández-Shaw years later, in 1950, the proposal stands out for different reasons. Firstly, its conical form, with a double spiral (one ascending, the other descending) which rises up to the peak and is finished off with a cupola with forms that recall Bruno Taut’s Glass Pavilion. Monumentality is another conspicuous element in Fernández-Shaw’s design, which reached a height of 180 metres and had a diameter of 140 metres at the base. Finally, of note is the combination between engineering and Futurist iconography, captured in a complex system which would allow the structure to turn slowly on its axis.

In 1930, Fernández-Shaw’s Faro de Colón was one of the projects chosen to make up the Exhibition of Modern Architecture and Painting, organised by the Ateneo Guipuzcoano in San Sebastián.



Francisco Rojas Serrano