After the Angel of Independence, this statue of Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt, is arguably the most well-known landmark in Mexico City. You can find her on Paseo de la Reforma, not far from Chapultepec Park. A well-worn anecdote has it that in 1944, two years after the monument was unveiled, Soledad Orozco, wife of President Manual Avila Camacho, was so scandalized by the statue's voluptuous nudity that she demanded it be covered with a loincloth. The art world's disapproval of her position was eclipsed by the support she got from the National League of Decency and Archbishop Luis María Martínez. The sculptor, Juan Fernando Olaguibel, was forced to concede her wish. In 1967, President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz decreed that the statue be returned to its original state. Olaguibel was obliged to start from scratch, as removing the loincloth would have caused too much damage to the first statue. The ceremony of its unveiling happened in the middle of the night, so as not to cause more scandal. The identity of the model - Helvia Martínez Verdayes - wife of a one-time director of the state oil monopoly, PEMEX - was not revealed until 1992.
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