Abstract

MIRALLES-SANGRO, Mª Teresa  and  DURAN ESCRIBANO, Marta. The nurse in Madrid`s monuments (1908 - 1936). Index Enferm [online]. 2005, vol.14, n.51, pp.65-69. ISSN 1699-5988.

The Contemporary Era saw its beginnings in Spain in 1808. This brought great changes and socio-political, economical and cultural conflicts. These lasted through the XIXth Century and did not see their end until the first third into the XXth Century. We will be analysing nursing influence in its social context. As well, we will striving to discover its presence in the public/private monuments as social recognition. The aim will be to look at Madrid's female images and select those representing the nursing profession. We chose this chronological frame due to the fact that, on the one hand, nursing as a profession started in the XIXth Century and, on the other one, it was in this same period that this type of monument started to appear in cities. In our research we came across the monument to the Duchess of ‘la Victoria’, its origin, date and artistic style. The Red Cross identified its nurses with it. It illustrated their work with the ‘injured soldiers in the Morocco’s campaign’ and achieved the iconographic analysis of a monument related to nursing care identifying its iconographic theme, historic context and iconological interpretation. Our conclusion is that nurses had little possibility of recognition in the social scheme at the time but, they excelled in their care and professionalism and through this they gained social acknowledgement.