A Christopher Columbus statue taken down in 2020 during nationwide discussions on race and history after George Floyd’s death has now been placed in a new museum that focuses on New Haven, Connecticut’s past.
Mayor Justin Elicker and other city leaders said on Friday that they’ve made an “art loan agreement” with the Lost in New Haven Museum. The museum plans to include the 1892 statue of Columbus, the 15th-century explorer, in its large collection.
“It is a privilege to be entrusted with the stewardship of New Haven’s Christopher Columbus Memorial, an important artifact in the city’s history,” said Robert Greenberg, the museum’s founder. He said the museum honors the immigrants who built New Haven, while recognizing that the city was founded on land originally belonging to the Quinnipiac people.
“We are committed to presenting this history in its entirety,” he said in a statement.
The New Haven Parks Commission decided to remove the statue after it was vandalized several times. Many locals called for its removal, though it sparked debate.
The gold dome of the Georgia Capitol gleams in the sunCritics of the statue described Columbus as a white supremacist who started centuries of European violence against Indigenous peoples. Supporters, on the other hand, said the statue represented Italian-American heritage. It had stood for generations in Wooster Square, a neighborhood with deep Italian roots.
There were brief clashes between supporters and opponents during the statue’s removal.
In 2022, an Italian-American group went to court to try to get the statue returned, but they lost. At one point, there were talks about moving the statue to the Knights of Columbus Museum in New Haven, but that didn’t happen.
Robert Bonanno, who leads the Greater New Haven Italian American Heritage Committee, said he was glad the statue will now be in the museum.
“I grew up in Wooster Square, and the Columbus Memorial is an important part our community’s history,” he said. “I am very happy that the statue will be going to the Lost in New Haven museum and that it will be displayed so that people will be able to continue to see it in an appropriate setting.”
Last year, the city put up a new monument honoring immigrants in place of the Columbus statue.
