Chile: first Luther monument in Spanish-speaking Latin America

For the first time in the history of Spanish-speaking Latin America, a square has been renamed, and a monument erected in honor of Martin Luther.

On Reformation Day, 31 October 2002, a square in Santiago de Chile in the suburb of Huechuraba was renamed “Plaza de la Reforma,” and a bronze bust of the Reformer was unveiled by Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chile President Rev. Gloria Rojas and Lutheran Church in Chile Bishop Kurt Gysel, accompanied by guests. Many representatives of Protestant churches, the Greek-Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, parliament and other government representatives, the German embassy and Goethe Institute, attended the ceremony.

Chairperson of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference, Archbishop Cardinal Errazuriz, conveyed “good wishes for this day and for the life of the church.” The mayor of the “Luther City” of Wittenberg, Germany, Eckhard Naumann, sent a greeting in Spanish. The dates of the Reformer’s life and the Reformation principles are chiseled into the monument’s marble base: “Through Christ alone, through grace and faith alone, through Holy Scripture alone.”  A young artist, Serena Piacentini, who was born and grew up in Germany, designed the monument.