Columbus statue removed from a Connecticut city in 2020 finally finds a home at a new museum

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — (AP) — A Christopher Columbus statue removed in 2020 amid a climate of racial reckoning after the police killing of George Floyd has finally found a home in a new museum dedicated to preserving the history of New Haven, Connecticut.

Mayor Justin Elicker and other officials on Friday announced an “art loan agreement” has been reached with the Lost in New Haven Museum, which plans to display the 1892 monument to the 15th century explorer as part of its wide-ranging 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 is dedicated to celebrating the immigrants who built the New Haven while recognizing the city was developed on unceded land of the indigenous Quinnipiac people.

“We are committed to presenting this history in its entirety,” he said in a statement.

The New Haven Parks Commission decided to take down the statue after it was vandalized multiple times. Many residents demanded its removal, but the decision to do so was controversial.

Those who wanted the statue gone condemned the 15th-century Italian explorer as a white supremacist who touched off centuries of European oppression and the decimation of Indigenous peoples. Columbus supporters, meanwhile, called the statue an important symbol of Italian-American heritage. It was located for generations in Wooster Square, which is surrounded by an historically Italian neighborhood.

Demonstrators from both sides briefly skirmished with each other when the statue was taken down.

An Italian-American group in 2022 sued unsuccessfully to force the statue to be moved back. There was also some discussion about locating the memorial in the Knights of Columbus Museum in New Haven but nothing materialized.

Robert Bonanno, president of the Greater New Haven Italian American Heritage Committee, said he was pleased the statue will now be located in the museum.

“I grew up in Wooster Square, and the Columbus Memorial is an important part our community’s history," he said in a statement "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 dedicated a new monument to immigrants to replace the Columbus statue.