SculpturePhiladelphia · US
Francisco de Miranda
On the Benjamin Franklin Parkway where 20th Street crosses into Logan Circle, a 10-foot bronze swordsman stands with his cape caught in an invisible wind. This is Francisco de Miranda, a Venezuelan-born revolutionary who fought in three of the great upheavals of his age, and the statue is a gift from the government of Venezuela to the city of Philadelphia. The monument is easy to miss on a busy visit to the nearby Franklin Institute, but it is one of the most quietly meaningful stops along the Parkway: a meeting point between the story of American independence and the movements it helped inspire across Latin America. It is open to view around the clock in a public setting and is reached by a wheelchair-accessible entrance.