Uruguay to turn bronze Nazi eagle into a dove of peace

This "symbol of violence and war" of 350 kilos will be transformed into a "symbol of peace and union", Luis Lacalle Pou told the press in Montevideo.

The two-metre wingspan sculpture adorned the stern of Admiral Graf Spee, a battleship involved in one of the first naval skirmishes of World War II. Captain Hans Langsdorff scuttled the battleship - one of the largest in the Third Reich - on December 17, 1939, after the Battle of the Rio de la Plata against British ships.

The sculpture was only found in 2006, after ten years of searching in Uruguayan waters.

After a procedural battle, the Supreme Court of Uruguay ruled that the eagle was the entire property of the state.

A bronze eagle, once on the stern of the German battleship "Admiral Graf Spee", is recovered from the waters of the Rio de la Plata estuary, February 13, 2006 in Uruguay © - / ALFREDO ETCHEGARAY / AFP / Archives

Uruguayan artist Pablo Atchugarry has been chosen to make the bronze peace dove, which is expected to be completed in November.

© 2023 AFP