Route The river Ebro

2. From the Third Millennium Bridge to the Pavilion Bridge

Therefore, the first work of art we are going to visit in our walk is placed on the right bank, between the Third Millennium Bridge and the Pavilion Bridge. There, in a green area, we find the Mudejar Spiral made by Madrid artist Diana Larrea. People can walk over it and contemplate the way bricks are laid down. Unlike the Spiral Jetty of Robert Smithson, this work does not end in the water but links paths, serving as visual connection between the river and the city. It belongs, among all, to what the Expoagua Art Zaragoza 2008 called works to solve linking problems of very different origin: between natural environment and urban layout, and "difficult" separation areas between different architectural and development projects. In origin, the project was a whale-shape sculpture 6 m high and 20 m long called "Leviathan", stuck on a bank of the Water Park. Finally, the work was placed in horizontal position and in an appropriate area where there are many other structures with a great visual power. On the other hand, its curves match perfectly well with those of the two nearby bridges.

The gladiolus-shape bridge planned by the English-Iraki architect Zaha Hadid -used as pavilion and entry gate to the Expo- will be managed by Ibercaja as exhibition center. This bridge is a good starting point to visit the site of the International Expo. Even though the bridge is closed now, the famous sculpture made by Jaume Plensa called The Soul of the Ebro can be peeped out from the other bank. This sculpture was one of the most photographed views of the international event, and cost half a million euros, being the most expensive piece of the Arts Programme. After the resounding success of this Catalan sculptor in 2004 with his spectacular Crown Fountain of Chicago, two years later he was invited by Expoagua to plan a new project for Zaragoza, but he presented the same human sit silhouette exposed so many times in other places. Finally, his work was not put neither beside the river nor on a water sheet. Therefore, it is difficult to identify this work as an allegory of the Ebro. We have to take also into account that Plensa placed the following year in Moscow another identical replica named Knowledge House, and in Prague another one named We, in hommage, supposedly, to Kafka and the huge "golem" of Jewish literary tradition. This provoked a decrease in the possibilities of this sculpture to become an icon of Zaragoza; but, undoubtedly, it is one of the best public art works of the city.