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

When completed, it received the blessing of Pope Leo XIII and was shipped to Chicago. It was first displayed at the Italian Pavilion at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Then it was moved to the corner of the newly constructed Columbus Memorial Building, located on State and Washington Streets in downtown Chicago.

From (visit link)

"The Columbus statue lost its perch on the Columbus Memorial Building when the building was torn down in 1959. For six years the statue reclined on its back in a lumberyard until the Chicago Tribune published a story about it inglorious situation. According to the Chicago Tribune, "Chicagoans of Italian extraction acted, and several months later the statue was back on its feet again, a star attraction of the city's 1965 Columbus Day parade." A committee headed by Attorney Victor A. Arrigo was instrumental in sparking community interest in the statue. As a result of this community spirit, the statue was formally dedicated in Columbus Plaza (Arrigo Park) on Columbus Day the next year (1966)."

From Art Inventory site:
"Christopher Columbus dressed in armor with a short cloak over top. He touches his chest with his proper left hand. His proper right hand is at his side holding a bar which is connected to a post wrapped with heavy rope. The sculpture stands on an oval base located in the center of a fountain pool. Around the fountain there is a fence with a row of bushes and another fence."

TITLE: Christopher Columbus ARTIST(S): Ezekiel, Moses Jacob, Sir, 1844-1917, sculptor. DATE: 1891. Cast July 22, 1892. Relocated 1966. MEDIUM: Sculpture: bronze; Base: granite. CONTROL NUMBER: IAS 87580083 Direct Link to the Individual Listing in the Smithsonian Art Inventory: [Web Link] PHYSICAL LOCATION: In the center of a granite fountain in Columbus Plaza of Arrigo Park on the corner of Loomis and Polk streets in the Old Italian section of Chicago. DIFFERENCES NOTED BETWEEN THE INVENTORY LISTING AND YOUR OBSERVATIONS AND RESEARCH: none

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