Miajadas Tomato

The economy of Miajadas relies heavily on the cultivation and processing of tomatoes. Local producers churn out fried tomatoes, tomato juice, tomato soup, ketchup, and more. Residents are so proud of their cash crop that they decided pay tribute by building a giant tomato along the highway.

Miajadas is a little town located in central Cáceres, a province in the autonomous community of Extremadura in Spain. To celebrate the local tomato industry, the Miajadas city council commissioned the large tomato sculpture. To form the round shape, artist Miguel Ángel Martín Gallardo curved a fiberglass exterior around steel ribs. The tomato is 18 feet (5.5 meters) in diameter and sits atop a base that holds it 40 feet (12 meters) high.

So that it could be seen well by all the drivers on the A-5 highway, it was installed on the side of a roundabout on the highway in 1999.