Valencia commissions copy of vandalized Luis de la Fuente mural from Barcelona

Valencia is giving a short-lived tribute to Spain’s football triumph a second life. The city council has commissioned artist Alberto León to recreate his mural of national coach Luis de la Fuente being lifted by his players after Spain won the World Cup.

The original work appeared in Barcelona at the end of July. It showed De la Fuente smiling broadly, with the trophy in one hand, but vandals destroyed it barely 24 hours after León completed it.

The new version will be painted from Thursday, Sept. 3, on the façade of the Municipal Activities Center for Older People in Montolivet. The building stands in Vicente Alcober Coloma Square, in Valencia’s Russafa neighborhood.

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In this way, the city demonstrates its pride in the national team’s achievements and establishes itself as a great urban canvas that supports and respects artists’ talent.

Tourism councillor Paula Llobet said the project would demonstrate the city’s pride in the national team’s achievements and reinforce Valencia’s support for urban artists. She said the mural’s brief existence in Barcelona gave the work “a very special added value.”

Llobet said the council contacted León after the vandalism and offered him the chance to recover the piece in Valencia, on a much larger surface and with technical improvements intended to preserve it. The project forms part of a broader municipal strategy to beautify the city’s districts and use urban art as a catalyst.

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The backstory of this mural gives it a very special added value, since Alberto León recently created the same piece in Barcelona, but barely 24 hours after its creation, this tribute suffered vandalism that destroyed it.