The red King Kong has been removed from Sants after a new fine from the City Council.

BarcelonaThe red King Kong sculpture that used to climb onto the ledge of an apartment building in the Sants neighborhood is now lying in a corner. The owner has decided to remove it after a new fine from Barcelona City Council, another step in a nine-year path of municipal sanctions.

This summer, the owner of the Cosmo Apartments already opted to cover the gorilla with a tarp and take it down from the ledge. Wild Kong The sculpture by French sculptor Richard Orlinski was still visible from the street, but its owner was confident that with this more discreet position, he could remain there in the hope of winning the legal battle with the city council.

However, after a new fine of around 1,600 euros, the owner has resigned himself to knocking down the sculpture to avoid further sanctions, explains lawyer Mario Sol Muntañola, who represents the owner of the building and the sculpture.

However, the owner of the property on Passeig Sant Antoni will continue to try to get the red gorilla to be displayed on the building's cornice. Muntañola is confident in mediation and that the city council will eventually reconsider its position, but if not, he is preparing to pursue legal action with a civil suit for the protection of the copyright. For his part, the creator of the sculpture argues that it should remain where it was because "it was conceived with the intention of being an urban art installation fully integrated into the architectural space and its surroundings."

The city council has always maintained that the property owner did not have a license to install advertising elements, as it believes the sculpture to be, because it sees it as a lure to attract more customers to the apartments. The red gorilla also faced a negative report from the Urban Landscape Institute, which also considered it to be an advertising claim that "caused a visual and landscape impact given its size, color, and location," contravening the ordinance on urban landscape uses.

It is not the first time that the Wild Kong It's now being removed from the façade due to City Council sanctions. The owner had already removed it in 2022, but replaced it last year. This prompted a new case from the City Council, which the property owner had attempted to resolve by covering the gorilla with a tarp.