Heraclio Niz statue to be polished and placed on pedestal

Arrecife Ayuntamiento have announced that the statue of Heraclio Niz, on Calle Real in Arrecife, is going to be polished and placed on a pedestal with a new name plate.

The bronze statue at the bottom of Calle Real is of a policeman called Heraclio Niz. He is a famous Canarian wrestler and local policeman who was a well-loved local figure in the 60s and 70s.

Known as El Pollo de Arrecife, “the bantam of Arrecife”, in 1966 the makers of the film One Million Years BC asked local Canarian wrestling clubs to provide extras to play cavemen, meaning that world got to see Niz and his mates dressed in a skin and chewing a bone.

This weekend, mayor of Arrecife, Yonathan de León, announced that in the future the statue will be cleaned and polished so that it can be placed on a pedestal. Additionally, a new name plate has been ordered as the current one is partially broken.

Do you know the stories behind some of Lanzarote’s other statues?