Pulcin della Minerva

Description:

• The Egyptian obelisk known as Pulcin della Minerva stands in the centre of Piazza della Minerva in front of the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. The name Pulcin della Minerva (Minerva's Chick) was given because of the obelisk's small size. Its position in front of a church important artistically and historically and behind the famous Pantheon, as well as the fact that it stands on an unusual marble base in the form of an elephant, has made the monument well known. What is not widely known is that the elephant, carved by Ercole Ferrata in 1667, was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (although subsequent modifications made the sculpture rather more bulky.) The choice of an elephant was made to symbolise the epigraph on the monument, which says that only a strong mind can support wisdom (as symbolised by the obelisk.)
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