Christopher Columbus - Chicago, IL - Smithsonian Art Inventory Sculptures on Waymarking.com

From excellent overview at (visit link)
"Portrays Columbus as mystical figure, surveying horizon. On the four sides of the pedestal medallions are engraved with a sailing vessel (west), the portrait of Amerigo Vespucci (north), the coat of arms of the city of Genova (east), and the portrait of Paolo Toscanelli (Adgorn note: geographer whose maps influenced Columbus)(south).

INSCRIPTIONS:
On the upper front side of the pedestal:
TO
CHRISTOPHER
COLVMBVS
DISCOVERER
OF AMERICA

On the pedestal:
East:
BY THE GRACE OF GOD
AND IN THE NAME OF
HER MAJESTY QVEEN ISABELLA
HAS TAKEN POSSESSION
OF THIS LAND
OCTOBER 12 1492

North:
DEDICATED AT THE CHICAGO
CENTURY OF PROGRESS
EXPOSITION. COLVMBVS
SYMBOLIZES THE ENDVRING
MVTVAL RESPECT AND
VNDERSTANDING BETWEEN
ITALY AND THE VNITED STATES

West:
FROM LAST WILL OF COLVMVS
"STENDO YO NACIDO
IN GENOVA"
"AS A NATIVE OF GENOA"
South-West:
COLVMBVS
MONVMENT COMMITTEE
[followed by the names of the members]

South:
ERECTED BY
THE ITALIAN AMERICANS
OF ILLINOIS
VNDER THE AVSPICES
OF THE COLVMBVS
MONVMENT COMMITTEE

South-East:
THIS
MONVMENT
HAS SEEN THE
GLORY OF THE
WINGS OF ITALY
LED BY
ITALO BALBO
JULY 15 1933"

This last entry refers to the flight by the Italian Secretary of State for Air Italo Balbo. Wikipedia entry: "From July 1 - August 12, 1933 he led a flight of 24 flying boats on a round-trip flight from Rome to the Century of Progress in Chicago, Illinois. The flight had seven legs; Orbetello — Amsterdam — Derry — Reykjavík — Cartwright — Shediac — Montreal ending on Lake Michigan near Burnham Park. In honor of this feat, Mussolini donated a column from Ostia to the city of Chicago; it can still be seen along the Lakefront Trail, a little south of Soldier Field. Chicago renamed Seventh Street "Balbo Drive" and staged a parade in his honor."

From the Art Inventory site:
The statue and its pedestal form the central elements of a large curving exedra. Depicted in low relief in roundels on each of the flat sides of the Art Deco style pedestal are the Santa Maria; Paolo Toscanelli, his tutor who taught him that the world was round; Amerigo Vespucci, whose name was given to the New World; and the seal of the City of Genoa, Columbus's birthplace. Embellishing the four corners of the base are highly stylized busts that present four ideals of mankind: faith, courage, freedom, and strength.


So the Italian influence at the 1933-34 Century of Progress Fair was significant, given that both Columbus Dr. and Balbo Dr. remain street names today, and this monument plus the Ostia Column (see waymarks WM3BP9 and WM38GC) are 2 of the few remnants of the fair still in place.

TITLE: Christopher Columbus ARTIST(S): Brioschi, Carlo, 1879-1941, sculptor. DATE: 1933. Dedicated Aug. 3, 1933. MEDIUM: Sculpture: bronze; Base: white marble or granite. CONTROL NUMBER: IAS 75004278 Direct Link to the Individual Listing in the Smithsonian Art Inventory: [Web Link] PHYSICAL LOCATION: In Grant Park at Roosevelt & Columbus Drive, across the way from the Field Museum DIFFERENCES NOTED BETWEEN THE INVENTORY LISTING AND YOUR OBSERVATIONS AND RESEARCH: none

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