The stones of gratitude are the expression of an entire community toward the generous benefactors involved in building the social project “El Minuto de Dios”; starting with the first Banquete del Millón held in 1961, Father Rafael García Herreros wanted to engrave into stone memory the names of all the people and companies that, year after year, contributed to the construction of each of the sectors that make up this neighborhood today.
The stones of gratitude are the expression of an entire community toward the generous benefactors involved in building the social project “El Minuto de Dios”; starting with the first Banquete del Millón held in 1961, Father Rafael García Herreros wanted to engrave into stone memory the names of all the people and companies that, year after year, contributed to the construction of each of the sectors that make up this neighborhood today.
This set of stelae bearing the benefactors' names is located in the atrium of the Parroquia San Juan Eudes, surrounded by gardens, with a brazier whose base had the word “gratitude” engraved on it; there a flame was lit as a symbol honoring all the benefactors. A “T”-shaped cross was later installed among these stelae, from which Justo Arosemena's “Cristo desnudo” was suspended. When the building was brought down due to geological faults that threatened its stability and endangered the lives of worshippers, the area was fenced off, preventing public access to this space near the Plaza de Banderas.
In the 1970s, Abelardo Parra, an artist and sculptor living in Sector 1 of the Barrio Minuto de Dios, was commissioned to create a series of reliefs on different themes evoking both the sacraments and the neighborhood's social development. This is how we find stelae alluding to the Works of Mercy, to Pentecost, to the Sacraments, to the presence of Christ in the lives of believers, but also to the two cities in clear allusion to the book by Saint Augustine — thus life goes by, step by step, through birth, childhood, youth, maturity, old age, and death; another beautiful stela is the one alluding to death, where he breaks from the style he had used on the other stones and introduces a three-quarter view to highlight the volumes of both the skull and the beast.
Abelardo Parra's work lies halfway between primitivism and expressionism; his figures reveal the innocence of his inner world, but they also serve as his voice to express what, due to his hearing and speech limitations, he is unable to otherwise convey.
The Sala de Proyectos Bicentenario (SPB2) at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Bogotá welcomes the exhibition titled “Silencio”, a journey through Abelardo Parra's work captured in various techniques and materials.
The exhibition's opening will take place next Tuesday the 17th starting at 5:00pm, and it will remain open to the public until September 29