World's largest equestrian bronze installed

April 11, 2007

John Houser and his son Ethan standing on base of the Onate monument, at the International Airport, El Paso, Texas. All photos: © Jody Schwartz

It's big, it's bronze, and it's beautiful. The Texas town of El Paso, a bustling city with a colourful history, is now home to the world's largest equestrian bronze figure.

The massive statue, which stands nearly 12m tall, is made up of 400 pieces. It consumed nearly 10 tonnes of bronze and requires more than 4.5 tonnes of supporting steel.

The art work, called The Equestrian, portrays Mexican conquistador Don Juan de Onate riding a rearing Andalusian stallion.

It has been installed at El Paso's international airport, and will be formally dedicated at a ceremony on April 21.

The sculpture is the work of artist John Houser.

Houser has been working on the project for nearly 10 years, when the city first asked him to create a statue of Onate as part of a series of commissions to celebrate the city's past.

Houser travelled to Spain as part of the commission, to gather historical information that would help in creation of the work.

Above, below and bottom: the statue is installed at El Paso.

The enlarging and modeling took a total of eight years. While the $US250,000 commission from the city required him to produce an artwork bigger than life size, a strong fundraising effort pulled together more than $US1.3million, enabling the sculpture to be built to its remarkable size.

The events of September 11 saw fundraising stall, but El Paso's international airport stepped in with $US700,000 to ensure the project's completion.

The commission attracted protests from those who hated Onate and what he stood for, so in the later stages the artwork's name was changed to The Equestrian to reflect the importance of the horse in the development of the West.

In 2006, the pieces of the statue were sent from New Mexico, where they had been created, to the Eagle Bronze Foundry in Lander, Wyoming, for final finishing work, where it was assembled for the first time.

Later, it was moved in five pieces to a hangar at El Paso International Airport. In October last year it was taken to the massive concrete base that had been built to support it, and was assembled. Two cranes were required to haul the parts into place.

Celebrations are planned around the April 21 dedication of the statue.