Puerta 1808

Puerta 1808 is a 15-meter-tall abstract sculpture made of carbon steel, installed in 2007 at the corner of Paseo de la Reforma and Avenida Juárez in Mexico City. The work by artist Manuel Felguérez symbolically marks the entrance to the city's historic center and honors Francisco Primo de Verdad, a lawyer who died in prison in 1808. The number in the name refers to the events that foreshadowed the independence movement of 1810. The structure is made up of geometric forms such as triangles, a split truncated cone, and arched beams. Felguérez later described the sculpture as alive, because political demonstrations and graffiti keep changing its appearance, giving it a dynamic meaning that would only come to an end in a just society.