NewsConfederate monuments
The war over racist monuments is escalating throughout the US
The disposal of Confederate monuments will not erase America’s history, but some say removing them from public view is crucial to moving forward
NewsMonuments
Tribal leaders and organisations call for the removal of Mount Rushmore monument
Leaders argue that Trump's plan for a rally there is an "unforgivable affront"
ArchiveSeptember 1999
A wound still festering at the heart of Germany
Parliament has finally voted to build Berlin's memorial to the Holocaust
ArchiveMarch 2008
Why the US military's proposal to dispose of Saddam Hussein’s Victory Monument is misguided
They represent good and bad aspects of Iraq’s modern history and cannot simply be obliterated
CommentSocial history
Statues are part of history, but do a poor job of recording it
Monuments tell us more about those who set them up than those they represent, says Classics professor Matthew Sears
Latest in Monuments and their histories
City of London to remove statues of politicians with slavery links
'When the politics change, so must the statues'
Drowned, beheaded and restored: Napoleon statue returns to museum after 282 days in exile
Turkish president appeals ruling that he must pay damages to artist
Lenin’s head to come in from the Berlin cold
Tate finds 370-year-old bullet hole in Charles I statue
Eisenhower's heirs attack Gehry’s plans for memorial to the late US president
Memorials to Norway massacre victims prove divisive
Why the US military's proposal to dispose of Saddam Hussein’s Victory Monument is misguided
Two new Holocaust memorials for Berlin
Selection of Chinese sculptor to create Martin Luther King memorial angers black artists
18th-century statue of St James removed from the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela
The US finally unveils its Second World War memorial
Memorials multiply in the US
Somebody loves Lenin in Finland
A wound still festering at the heart of Germany
Richard Meier to obliterate Mussolini’s mark
Action urgently needed to save Brancusi’s Endless Column
Italy will return Axum obelisk to Ethiopia
What to do with your Socialist-Realist art
“We buy figureheads, busts, portraits, banners—at high prices”
How Saddam Hussein's ideology was enshrined in his art commissions
Penalties for defacing monuments to Communism are being debated in the Soviet parliament
NewsMonuments
Confederate throne returned, two people arrested in New Orleans
The anti-racist group White Lies Matter had threatened to use the monument to Jefferson Davis as a toilet, but turned over the work unharmed
NewsMonuments
Stitching together a monument to sick kids, one bead at a time
Anishinaabe artist Nico Williams’s testament to the bravery of children facing difficult illnesses has been created using pieces that record every procedure, test or jab of a needle they undergo
NewsConfederate monuments
Jefferson Davis memorial throne stolen from Confederate cemetery—and under threat of being turned into a toilet
A group calling themselves White Lies Matter demands that the United Daughters of the Confederacy hang a banner critiquing white supremacy before they will return the ornate stone chair
NewsPolitics
Keep your distance, former culture ministers warn UK government
Independence of museums and heritage bodies is at risk, say Ed Vaizey and Chris Smith, as Johnson’s government pushes ‘anti-woke’ agenda
NewsMuseums
Are museums as Covid-risky as saunas? Culture leaders outraged over late reopening of English art spaces
Commercial galleries, non-essential retail, and even gyms have been given the green light to open before museums under the UK government's "roadmap" to lift coronavirus restrictions
NewsControversies
Bank of England wades into UK's escalating culture war on controversial monuments, saying it will remove images of slave owners
“Retain and explain” or restrain and refrain? Culture chiefs raise the alarm on government’s policy to keep problematic statues ahead of crucial meeting
NewsMonuments
Dolly Parton turns down memorial statue in Tennessee, saying she doesn’t want to be ‘put on a pedestal’
Lawmakers introduced a bill last month to honour the country singer’s contributions to the state
NewsMonuments
Chicago’s list of 41 public statues for review includes depictions of Native Americans and several monuments of Abraham Lincoln
The city-formed advisory committee is now asking for public feedback on the works, as well as considering proposals for new monuments
NewsStatues
Keep problematic monuments and ‘explain them’, UK government to tell cultural leaders
Opponents argue that some public statues reinforce racism, chauvinism, sexism and homophobia
NewsMonuments
Actor Riz Ahmed and Chisenhale director Zoé Whitley selected for new commission to diversify London's public monuments
New 15-member body will focus on the capital’s statues, street names and memorials
NewsStatues
City of London to remove statues of politicians with slavery links
The decision to take down historic William Beckford and John Cass sculptures could go against new UK government policy
CommentMonuments
Tearing down troubling statues is not lying about our history—it is removing impediments to truth
The UK communities secretary Robert Jenrick's plans to prevent the removal of controversial monuments reveals his inability to view the past as shifting and complex
NewsMonuments
Vilified statue of Abraham Lincoln and kneeling slave removed from Park Square in Boston
Artist’s campaign and petition prompted dismantling of ‘Emancipation Group’ piece—but original still stands in Washington DC
NewsMiami Art Week
Mama said: Najja Moon’s new Miami Beach monument honours mothers in their own words
The abstract sound sculpture, the first commission for a fifth plinth in Collins Park, will emit recordings of women speaking maternal affirmations, reminders and critiques
CommentDiary of an art historian
People see only 'silver tits' and 'bouffant pubes' now—but I predict Mary Wollstonecraft sculpture will become widely admired
One of the iron rules of art history is that the more derided a work of art at first, the more celebrated it will become
NewsPublic sculpture
Twitter explodes with debate around long-awaited statue of feminist trailblazer Mary Wollstonecraft
Sculpture by Maggi Hambling is the result of a decade-long campaign to honour the 18th-century women's rights advocate
NewsMemorials
In honour of Armistice Day, more than 100 English war memorials listed as sites of historical importance
Monuments commemorating the First and Second World Wars—mostly built in small towns and villages—are added to Historic England's list of protected places
NewsMonuments
Mellon Foundation announces $250m grant to 'reimagine and rebuild' US monuments and memorials
Amid increased unrest over memorials since the Black Lives Matter protests erupted, the grant will help fund new storytelling spaces across the country
NewsMonuments
Ruth Bader Ginsburg to be memorialised with statue in Brooklyn
Governor Andrew Cuomo has suggested a site for the monument of the Supreme Court justice, overlooking the Statue of Liberty
NewsMonuments
Having weathered protests, controversial Confederate statue is felled by hurricane
Officials voted recently to keep the monument on courthouse property in Lake Charles, Louisiana, but Hurricane Laura made an executive decision
NewsMonuments
The complicated history of the first monument to Sacajawea, funded by suffragists and designed by a woman
The Indigenous guide who helped the Lewis and Clark Expedition across America’s western territories was later celebrated by the women’s vote movement—but her story was never fully told
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Debate flares as British Museum moves bust of slave-owning founder Hans Sloane
As part of the museum's efforts to address Britain’s colonial past, officials acknowledge that the collector "exploited slaves"
AnalysisLooting
How recent anti-racism protests have pushed a longstanding debate about colonial looting in Europe
As the Black Lives Matter movement goes global, museums face renewed demands to restitute artefacts plundered from Africa
NewsMonuments
As monuments to Christopher Columbus come down across the US, Italian-Americans campaign to protect a symbol of 'culture heritage'
Some Italian-Americans, including the New York governor Andrew Cuomo, say statues of Columbus symbolise the history of Italians in the US
NewsProtest art
Artist Chen Weiming to create a monument to Hong Kong protests in California's Mojave Desert
As US levies toughest sanction yet on China for its destruction of Hong Kong’s relatively free political system, Weiming says he wants to pay tribute to the "people's fight for freedom"
AnalysisMonuments
So we’re bringing down statues—but what kind of monuments would we like to see instead?
Perhaps the time has come to remove the plinth and stop celebrating individual heroes
CommentMonuments
The problem with Marc Quinn's Black Lives Matter sculpture
Racism runs far deeper than representation, says the artist Thomas J. Price
NewsMonuments
Marc Quinn's Black Lives Matter sculpture removed by Bristol council
Statue that replaced toppled monument to slave trader Edward Colston has polarised opinion
CommentDiary of an art historian
'When the politics change, so must the statues'
History can teach us a lot about how to—and how not to—deal with problematic historic monuments
NewsMonuments
Marc Quinn sculpture of Black Lives Matter activist replaces statue to slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol
Installed overnight, the work depicts local resident Jen Reid who was photographed on the site when the monument was toppled last month
CommentPhotography
Photographs are the monuments of our online visual culture
But which ones will ascend to a more permanent station in today’s social imagination?
NewsMonuments
What to do with all those toppled monuments? Artist suggests turning Chicago dump site into sculpture park
The conceptual artist JB Daniel has offered a location for America’s unwanted statues in an industrial wasteland bounded by the Calumet River
NewsMonuments
Signed, sealed, delivered: new monument honours couriers on the front line of the coronavirus pandemic
Unveiled in a business centre in Moscow, the statue by contemporary artist Alexey Garikovich was commissioned by top Russian e-commerce and foodtech companies
NewsMonuments
Russian art collector Andrei Filatov offers to buy America’s problematic statues
His Art Russe Foundation has made offers to preserve monuments of Theodore Roosevelt and Alexander Baranov that have been the target of protesters in the US
NewsMonuments
Controversial Roosevelt statue will be removed from entrance to New York’s American Museum of Natural History
The former president’s great-grandson supports the removal of “relics of another age”
NewsProtests
National Trust for Historic Preservation supports removal of Confederate statues that glorify white power
Trust says such monuments “do not reflect, and are in fact abhorrent to, our values”
NewsMonuments
Riga installs six-metre statue to honour medical workers
Sculpture by Latvian artist Aigars Bikse is in a prominent spot in front of the National Museum of Art
NewsMonuments
Museum world rallies behind curator investigated for tweets on how to damage bronze statues
UK arts professionals express support for Madeline Odent whose comments prompted a backlash on Twitter
NewsMonuments
Artist of African descent must create France's new slavery memorial, campaign group says
Culture ministry launches open call for monument that will be sited near the Musée du Louvre
NewsBanksy
Banksy proposes new Bristol memorial of protesters toppling slave trader statue
Street artist says the idea would cater both to critics and defenders of the monument of Edward Colston
NewsMonuments
Campaign launched by teenager to remove statues of Congo coloniser Leopold II gains pace in Belgium
Monuments of the king were targeted by anti-racism protestors last weekend
NewsMonuments
Statues of slavers around London could be pulled down under mayor’s new diversity plan
Sadiq Khan wants to review and improve "the diversity of public landmarks" after protestors toppled the statue of Edward Colston in Bristol
Commentcolonialism
Edward Colston monument: 'UK must face the truth of what helped it become a mighty power'
Once it is fished out of the water in Bristol, the statue of slave trader Edward Colston should go in a museum. But what kind of a museum?, asks writer Bonnie Greer
NewsMonuments
Protesters topple monument to slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol—mayor wants to place it in a museum
Controversial statue was dismantled and thrown into the harbour during a Black Lives Matter rally
NewsConfederate monuments
Virginia vows to remove monument to Confederate general Robert E. Lee amid ongoing anti-racism protests
Governor says that the state will "no longer preach a false version of history" as calls for racial justice echo across the nation
NewsProtests
Monuments across the US are toppled, damaged as protests over George Floyd's death continue
Lawmakers mobilise the National Guard to quell destruction while demonstrators deface Confederate memorials and public works emblematic of white supremacy
NewsPublic art
Sculpture confronting Germany's colonial past installed at Berlin’s long-awaited Humboldt Forum
Kang Sunkoo’s bronze Statue of Limitations shows a black flag at half-mast
NewsControversies
'Intrusive addition': Antony Gormley’s memorial to mathematician Alan Turing draws fire
Some critics support the proposed sculpture for Cambridge University while others question the competition process
NewsMichael Rakowitz
Iraqi-US artist Michael Rakowitz's new anti-war monument in Margate points accusing finger at UK government
Seafront commission, which references the invasion of Iraq in 2003, is part of England’s Creative Coast: Waterfronts initiative
NewsPublic art
As debate rages around controversial US monuments, New York park invites artists to make their own
The year-long programme Monuments Now at Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens aims to evaluate ideas around public art
NewsPublic art
'We must stop memorialising such a dark part of our history': official stance on Confederate monuments is shifting
Memorials honouring controversial generals continue to stir debate in many Southern states, but lawmakers are finding creative ways to deal with them
FeatureArt Basel in Miami Beach 2019
Memorialising an American tragedy
Survivors, artists and lawmakers debate if public memorials to mass shootings in the US hurt more than they help
InterviewExhibitions
‘Public art is propaganda, frankly’: Hank Willis Thomas discusses gun violence and the urgent need for alternative memorials
A host of the artist’s exhibitions and public projects open in various locations across the US open this year
NewsMonuments
Orlando chooses its memorial to Pulse shooting victims
More than three years after the massacre, a winning design has been selected for a $45m museum and memorial campus, but some survivors and victims’ families would rather it stay unbuilt.
NewsPublic art
New York opens applications for two new monuments honouring black history
The city forges ahead with its campaign to build new memorials, as public officials face pressure to reform selections process
ReviewExhibitions
The Empire strikes back? Kara Walker's fountain makes a splash at Tate
US artist takes on British Empire’s legacy and the Transatlantic salve trade in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall
NewsMonuments
Designs for new D-Day monument in Normandy will go on sale at Masterpiece
David Williams-Ellis' sculpture for the British Normandy Memorial will be unveiled today by May and Macron
BlogIn the frame
Rise up: new monument to honour Stonewall heroines Marsha and Sylvia
NewsMonuments
Virginia judge rules that two Confederate statues in Charlottesville are war memorials
City Council members seeking to remove them argued that they were actually monuments to white supremacy
NewsMonuments
Erdogan says museum and former cathedral Hagia Sophia will become a mosque again
The Turkish president wants the monument to serve as a place of worship flouting international pressure to retain the site’s current neutral status
NewsIn the frame
New York to build monuments to four more female trailblazers
Honourees range from Billie Holiday to a pioneer in public health
NewsEthics
University of North Carolina rejects plan for museum to house toppled Confederate statue
UNC Chapel Hill seeks another solution to preserve Silent Sam, described as a “monument to white supremacy”
NewsArt Basel in Miami Beach
Doris Salcedo's army of women reshape the meaning of guerrilla weapons
Some of the 15,000 women who were raped or sexually assaulted during the 53-year war in Colombia are telling their stories through a new memorial
NewsMonuments
First She Built NYC monument to honour Shirley Chisholm
A statue of the “unbought and unbossed” first black US congresswoman is to be unveiled in Prospect Park in 2020
NewsMonuments
Kant monument splashed with pink paint in Kaliningrad
Defacement may be politically motivated as nationalists see the veneration of the German figure as unpatriotic
NewsChelsea Manning
Chelsea Manning says watching students toppling Confederate monument was 'inspiring'
Speaking at an event organised by London's Institute of Contemporary Arts, the whistleblower said the statue's removal aligned with her own passion for 'direct action'
NewsSocial history
Canada struggles with monuments tied to colonialism
Echoing a conflict in the US, the nation contends with calls to remove controversial memorials
NewsPublic art
Public sculpture will commemorate Chattanooga lynching victim 100 years on
Memorial part of push for new works that challenge history of white supremacy in the US
NewsMonuments
New York City to move one controversial monument, while others remain
A commission created to review “symbols of hate” on city property has decided most will stay put with signage added to explain their history, while new works will be created to honour underrepresented communities
InterviewMonuments
How the Vietnam Veterans Memorial went from an art battleground to a solemn destination
James Reston, the author of a book on the site’s history, talks to us about the power of monuments
CommentPublic art
‘The newly empty plinths are all potential Fourth Plinths’
The artist Hew Locke says a creative response to memorials dedicated to slave owners and empire builders can reveal hidden histories
NewsMonuments
David Adjaye and Ron Arad unanimously selected to design UK Holocaust and Memorial Centre
Rachel Whiteread and Anish Kapoor also competed for the prestigious commission honouring victims of Nazi persecution
FeaturePolitics
The sculptures that unite America
As the debate rages about divisive Confederate monuments, five leading US scholars and curators pick the nation’s greatest memorial sculptures
InterviewFrieze 2017
Kiluanji Kia Henda: The right way to fill a city’s plinths
The Frieze Artist Award winner brings an Angolan take on the public sculpture debate
NewsFrieze 2017
Artists step up to the plate in statues debate
Colonial monuments and the US flag are subverted at Frieze London
NewsMonuments
Canada’s first national Holocaust memorial opens in Ottawa
Daniel Libeskind-designed monument in concrete and metal has the shape of a distorted Star of David
NewsPolitics
Charlottesville riot hastens removal of Confederate monuments throughout the US
City and state governments around the country are looking at what to do with the controversial statues
NewsCommissions
German parliament approves plan for unification memorial in Berlin
“Unity seesaw” is to be unveiled in 2019 in front of the city palace
NewsPolitics
Serbian political party slams decision to build Andy Warhol monument in Belgrade
Vice president of the Democratic Party of Serbia describes Pop art as a ‘fad’
News
Jeff Koons unveils plans for a memorial to the victims of the Paris terror attacks
But funding still needs to be found for Bouquet of Tulips, which is modelled on the Statue of Liberty
NewsMonuments
Lenin’s four-tonne head goes on show in Medieval Berlin Fortress
Monument of communist revolutionary was dug up for new permanent exhibition on statues of past political leaders
News
US presidents and Taiwan back Eisenhower Memorial
Frank Gehry revises controversial design but the family of the soldier and statesman remains unimpressed
NewsMonuments
New Orleans mayor moves to make sure the South will not rise again
Artists could subvert statues of Confederate heroes, assuming Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and others stay put on their plinths
ArchiveMay 2015
Drowned, beheaded and restored: Napoleon statue returns to museum after 282 days in exile
Conservation treatment may resolve conflicting accounts of monument's history
ArchiveMarch 2015
Turkish president appeals ruling that he must pay damages to artist
Mehmet Aksoy's Monument to Humanity was razed by local council after Recep Tayyip Erdogan called it a "monstrosity"
ArchiveOctober 2014
Lenin’s head to come in from the Berlin cold
The statue stood in Lenin Square until 1990, when it was cut into 129 pieces and buried in the woods
ArchiveNovember 2013
Tate finds 370-year-old bullet hole in Charles I statue
The sculpture was famously attacked by Parliamentarians shortly after the outbreak of the English Civil War
ArchiveDecember 2012
Eisenhower's heirs attack Gehry’s plans for memorial to the late US president
The family is objecting to the "extravagant" scheme
ArchiveMarch 2012
Memorials to Norway massacre victims prove divisive
Artist Nico Widerberg’s sculptures welcomed by many, but the way an anonymous donor is funding them upsets others
ArchiveMarch 2008
Two new Holocaust memorials for Berlin
Parliament approves final budgets for monuments to homosexuals and Roma and Sinti people murdered by the Nazis
ArchiveMay 2007
Selection of Chinese sculptor to create Martin Luther King memorial angers black artists
More than 4,000 people have signed a petition to appoint an African American architect and artist for the monument
ArchiveFebruary 2003
Memorials multiply in the US
We take stock of the mania for commemoration that has overtaken New York and Washington, DC
ArchiveJuly 2000
Somebody loves Lenin in Finland
Public outcry scuppered Helsinki officials' plan to buy granite bust of the Communist leader
CommentMuseums & Heritage
US needs monuments celebrating African American history, not Confederate statues
Telling America’s overlooked stories is fundamental to building a true national identity, says preservationist Brent Leggs
Brent Leggs