The Toros de Guisando are a group of four standing bull sculptures from the 5th to 3rd centuries BCE; they belong to the Verracos group.
The Toros de Guisando are in the east of today’s province Ávila in the municipality of El Tiemblo near the border with the province of Madrid at an altitude of about 650 m above sea level. A stream and one of the many cattle drive routes in Spain (Cañadas Reales) pass very close by.
The four massive looking bull figures made of granite (height approx. 1.40 m; length approx. 2.10 m) form a row in a north-south direction; the heads, therefore, look exactly to the east – i.e. in the direction of the rising sun. On the heads of two of the animals, holes can be clearly seen, into which the horns could previously be inserted. There are also sagging and lateral skin folds on the neck that are clearly reminiscent of cattle. In three of the bulls the drooping tails with tassels can be clearly seen; in another the scrotum. The legs of the bulls are not free, but – because of the better stability – are connected to each other via a rectangular base plate and small cubic blocks – remnants of the original granite stones.
The southernmost of the four bulls has a Latin inscription on its back, which can be read as follows: LONGINUS PRISCO, CALAETQ PATRI.F.C .. (translation: Longinus from the tribe of the Calaeticer in memory of his father Priscus).
