Bird Eater Sculpture Square: Plaza Mayor

Why does the statue smell bad?

The Plaza Mayor was first built (1580–1619) during Philip III’s reign and is a central plaza in the city of Madrid, Spain. It is located only a few Spanish blocks away from another famous plaza, the Puerta del Sol. There is a bronze statue of King Philip III at the center of the square, created in 1616 by Jean Boulogne and Pietro Tacca.

According to a known story about this statue, when the statue was first made, the horses mouth was open. Birds used to fly into it and would not be able to get out, so they would die inside. After 200 years of this bird-eating statue, the statue started to smell terrible. There are many different scenarios as to how they found out the birds were inside. One of the story says, in 1931, an anarchist blasted a bomb in the square. After the bomb explodes, the sculpture collapses and hundreds of dead birds come out of the sculpture’s mouth. Nobody knows the reason for this and the sculpture is restored, the horse’s mouth is closed.