You are here

Texas: Central, South, and Gulf Coast » South Central Texas » San Antonio (Bexar County) » Downtown San Antonio » Alamo Cenotaph

Alamo Cenotaph

-A A +A
1939, Adams and Adams. Alamo Plaza
  • (Photograph by Gerald Moorhead )

This memorial, Spirit of Sacrifice, was commissioned in 1939 by the Texas Centennial Commission. Frank T. Drought served as consulting engineer and the sculpture was executed by San Antonio sculptor Pompeo Coppini. Resting on a base of pink Texas granite, the pedestal, inscribed with the names of those who perished at the Battle of the Alamo, and the vertical shaft are of gray Georgia marble. On the south face of the shaft is carved a twenty-three-foot-tall figure representing the Spirit of Sacrifice and a female figure symbolizing the State of Texas is represented on the north face. The dynamic upward thrusting geometry reinforces the raised arms of the high-relief figures. The east and west sides of the monument depict the defenders of the Alamo in bas-relief, with the major figures of James Bowie, James B. Bonham, David Crockett, and William B. Travis carved as nearly free-standing statues.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Gerald Moorhead et al.
×

Data

What's Nearby

Crockett Block
The Alamo
Emily Morgan Hotel (Medical Arts Building)
U.S. Post Office and Courthouse
Paseo del Alamo

Citation

Gerald Moorhead et al., "Alamo Cenotaph", [San Antonio, Texas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-01-SA2.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Texas

Buildings of Texas: Central, South, and Gulf Coast, Gerald Moorhead and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2013, 147-147.

If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.

SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.

,