Photo: This statue of Christopher Columbus overlooked a waterfront park in Boston until his head was forcibly removed.
We’ll be discussing Christopher Columbus in a moment. But first, a little bit about Louis XVI.
The City of Louisville, Kentucky is in the midst of a controversy. As are so many cities, these days.
A statue of the city’s namesake, King Louis XVI of France, was vandalized with spray paint during the Breonna Taylor protests in 2020. Someone broke off the King’s hand, perhaps intentionally.
Previously, the King had been portrayed as reaching for something… possibly a piece of fruit? It’s hard to say, because the statue is at least 200 years old, so there’s no one around who remembers what he was reaching for.
Louisville officials are still trying to figure out what to do with the statue, nearly four years after it was moved into storage. A close inspection has revealed numerous cracks in the marble. It would appear that leaving a marble statue out in the weather is not the best idea. Body parts an start falling off.
Jessica Bennett Kincaid, Louisville’s public art administrator, said the city has no plans to put King Louis back on display, for now.
“I think some might assume that we’re sort of stalling, but we just don’t have an obvious solution at this point,” she said.
It would have been a better choice, if the sculptor had portrayed the King getting the fruit out of his pocket. Not as dramatic, but more durable.
This particular situation touches me, personally, because I was likely named after Louis XVI. Or maybe after someone else named Louis. Possibly a great uncle, who was named after King Louis? I’m actually unfamiliar with my family’s genealogy.
The statue — commissioned by King Louis XVI’s daughter after his execution during the French Revolution — was moved multiple times after it was first displayed in 1830. The city of Montpellier, France donated the statue to its sister city Louisville in 1966. Could be, they knew about the cracks?
The King’s execution during the French Revolution involved the loss of his head. So maybe, losing a hand is not so terrible.
Statues of kings and explorers and politicians and war heroes in various American cities have been subject to vandalism and protest over the past few years. And some have indeed lost their heads.
Boston police, for example, are investigating the vandalism of a Christopher Columbus statue.
Columbus’ head was found nearby.
Mayor Marty Walsh noted to reporters that the statue has been subject to repeated vandalism, and said the city will take the statue down, and place it into storage to assess the damage.
“We’re also going to take time to assess the historic meaning of the statue,” Walsh said, adding that city officials will “have a conversation at some point” about whether to put the statue up again.
Columbus overlooked a park in a traditionally Italian part of Boston, which seemed appropriate to many people, given that Columbus was reportedly Italian.
He was, however, undocumented when he arrived in America.
Louis XVI never visited the U.S. as far as I know, but he also would have been undocumented, because the U.S. had not yet figured out how to document immigrants.
And then he was executed.
His cracked 9-ton statue finally ended up here in 1966, but now faces an uncertain future.
I wonder if the political leaders in Louisville are now thinking about changing the city’s name? I mean, considering it’s named after an undocumented guy from France who never visited the city.
I personally like the name, but I understand the problem with foreigners. If we’re trying to make America great again.