A 40-foot black granite obelisk on the Plaza del Quinto Centenario, behind the Cuartel de Ballajá. The sculpture was commissioned for the 500th anniversary of Columbus's first voyage in 1992 and is made of more than a hundred ceramic shards by the Puerto Rican artist Jaime Suárez, set into stacked granite slabs.
The work is meant to evoke a Taíno totem rising from the soil — it is striking from a distance, and worth a closer look for the inlaid pottery. The plaza itself, with its fountain and views down to El Morro, is one of the quieter places in the old city.