The Christopher Columbus Monument was the newest of Baltimore's three monuments dedicated to the explorer
Christopher Columbus. Located in Columbus Piazza, in front of
Scarlett Place condominiums, the sculpture was designed by Mauro Bigarani and was commissioned by donations from the Italian American Organization United of Maryland and the Italian American community of Baltimore.
Vandalism and destruction On
Independence Day 2020, a group of protestors gathered at the piazza to remove the statue by lassoing the top of the monument, according to footage of the event. The monument subsequently fell to the ground and broke into fragments. The protesters continued by rolling the body of the statue into the
Jones Falls canal of the
Baltimore Harbor. The event came days before a warning made by the organization known as the Baltimore BLOC that the group would be destroying the monument if the city did not take upon the action themselves. Afterwards, Baltimore BLOC celebrated and applauded their "kinfolk" involved in the statue's destruction. During the days leading up to the statue's demise, former State Senator
John Pica attempted to raise funds for the statue's relocation, which was estimated to be approximately $100,000. On June 26, 2020, supporters of the monument, including state delegates
Nino Mangione (Delegate Pat McDonough who was at the ceremony in 1984)
Kathy Szeliga as well as state senator
Johnny Salling, gathered to promote keeping the monument as it stands. As with many of the recent monument removals across America, reactions were mixed. Governor
Larry Hogan denounced the vandalism and instead encouraged having a "constructive dialogue" regarding monument removal. Mayor
Jack Young commented that the statue's destruction was "part of a national and global reexamination over monuments".
Replicas The statue was fished out of the river by the
Knights of Columbus. The statue had broken into twelve pieces and was determined to be unsalvageable, however the Knights of Columbus said they would reproduce it. By October of 2020, a statue mold was being made. It was estimated to cost $80–85,000, and that they had raised nearly half the funds at that point. It will not return to its original spot. In November the
National Endowment for the Humanities announced that they would give $30,000 to the Knights of Columbus to help assist with the recreation of the statue, along with three others. Two replicas were created using a mixture of resin and marble remnants from the original statue. On October 13, 2025, it was announced that one of the replicas would be displayed on the grounds of the
White House. ==See also==