Art historian protests the restoration of the monument walls in 2020

A technical historian who chaired the General Arts Committee in Louisville said that he would leave his position amid plans to restore a statue of King Louis XVI who were introduced by the demonstrators in 2020 after the killing of the police Brina Taylor.

in An article published in Fasting mailChris Ritz, a scientist who published two books on painter Martin Kipnberger, Louisville, Kentucky, accused of trying to “erase all evidence” on the protests for the year 2020 on the five -year anniversary. It raised concerns about the cost of restoring sculpture, which he described as “unable to”, and interrogated the real motivation to pay the amount.

“There are legitimate reasons for caring for this statue, but, from where I sit, they do not justify the high mark of that care,” he wrote. “In fact, it is difficult to imagine that anyone will support these expenses if the statue is damaged by chance or God’s action.”

Moreover, Ritz wrote, “I am afraid that the real goal of this money to send a message that our city is hostile to the anti -police protests and that we prefer to pretend to kill Mrs. Taylor never from facing the fact that it has not changed enough to prevent such tragedies in the future.”

Luisville’s name statue was damaged on May 28, 2020, on the same day when the city released 911 calls from her boyfriend and Jeeran Taylor describing her killing. Taylor was shot on March 13, 2020, during a police raid on her apartment. Her family received $ 12 million by Louisville later that year; One of the officers who opened the fire during that raid was condemned using excessive force in 2024.

The Louis XVI statue was produced by Achille Valua, a member of the Jack Louis David Studio. It was initially constructed in Montpellier, France, in 1829, but that city did not give it to Louisville until 1966.

On May 28, 2020, a man withdrew one of the hands of the sculpture. During the summer, as the protests continued in the nation and the long effects fell, Louis XVI statue on the walls. Ultimately, however, Luisville officials decided to wrap, claiming safety concerns.

Questions have been discussed about what to do with the statue since then. Survey 2022 I found only 60 percent of Louisville residents The statue is believed to represent their values. The city’s research revealed that the statue had been structurally damaged before the 2020 protests.

But Luisville officials continued to pay attempts to restore work – even the role of the City Committee for Public Art, which was headed by Ritz, advised not to do so.

The city estimated the cost of restoring the sculpture and putting it on its offer at $ 200,000. Ritz, a professor of art history at Louisville University, said that the estimated market value is only $ 60,000. “He also claimed that even if the statue was fixed,” it could never return abroad “because its marble was very cracked.

“This city deserves a great art,” Ritz wrote. “And I don’t want fate.

His resignation comes at a time when high -ranking American politicians continue to argue about the best ways to deal with general effects. in Modern executive order This was targeted by the Smithsonian Foundation, President Donald Trump wrote that museums must adhere to themselves with “official public attractions and well -being that reminds Americans of our exceptional heritage, consistent progress towards becoming a more ideal union, and an unparalleled record of progress in freedom, prosperity, and human prosperity.” His command requires politicians to “take measures to restore” the features that have been taken away since the beginning of 2020.

Moreover, Trump wrote, politicians must ensure that the current monuments are not “not inappropriately witnessing or living Americans.”

Some museums took a different position. The coordinator Hamza Walker was preparing a long -awaited offer called “antiquities“This will lead for the first time in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles this fall. In addition to contemporary artworks, the exhibition will contain the effects of the possibility of its operation, which shows” its roots in the funerary motive to (their ascension) as a crystalline symbol of a white ideology, whose return has become increasingly increasing against calling to the civil right. “