AT A GLANCE
Why go?
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.↗
Good to know
- Sculpture
- Open 24 hoursEvery day
- 1 kmfrom Philadelphia center
- Wheelchair accessentrance
- 4.9 / 515 reviews
- Philadelphia
Who Francisco de Miranda Was
Francisco de Miranda (1750–1816) is sometimes called "The Great Universal American," and for good reason. As a young man he commanded Spanish forces in support of the American Revolution, later led troops in the French Revolution, and is remembered above all for his lifelong effort to free Latin America from Spanish rule. Briefly he headed an independent Venezuela before Spain counterattacked, and he died in a Spanish prison.
