El Oso y el Madroño, Madrid

El Oso y el Madroño is the public sculpture of a bear leaning against a strawberry tree, and it embodies Madrid’s coat of arms. Antonio Navarro Santafé created it, and it was inaugurated on 19 January 1967. The work combines stone and bronze, rises 4 m high, weighs about 22 tons, and stands on a stepped granite pedestal.

The tree reaches above the animal while the bear places both paws on its trunk and turns its muzzle toward a fruit. The emblem’s story reaches back to the 13th century, when the bear and tree replaced an earlier bear-only design. That change represented an agreement dividing control of pasture and trees between the city authorities and the clergy. The tail and heel have become discolored where visitors touch them for luck, although that gesture has no documented history as a Madrid tradition.