Politics
NEW: White House Unveils Columbus Statue Built From Remains Of Sculpture Destroyed By BLM Rioters
The Trump Administration on Sunday unveiled a 13-foot, one-ton replica of a Christopher Columbus statue was installed on the north side of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, adjacent to the White House. The replica incorporates pieces of the original statue that was toppled in Baltimore during the Black Lives Matter riots in 2020.
The installation was carried out through collaboration between the Trump Administration and the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations (COPOMIAO). It forms part of broader efforts associated with the White House’s America250 initiative.
The original statue was unveiled in October 1984 in Baltimore’s Little Italy neighborhood, at Columbus Piazza in the Inner Harbor area. President Ronald Reagan and then-Mayor William Donald Schaefer attended the dedication at the time.
It was a gift from the Italian American Organizations United of Maryland and was carved from Italian Carrara marble by artist Mauro Bigarani. The monument stood approximately 13 to 14 feet tall, with a base featuring representations of Columbus’ ships, the Niña, Pinta, and Santa María, and an inscription identifying him as the “Discoverer of America.”
On July 4, 2020, during nationwide unrest and rioting following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the statue was pulled down with ropes, shattered into multiple pieces, and the fragments were rolled into the Jones Falls section of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.
Local artist and fisherman Tilghman Hemsley organized the recovery effort shortly afterward, and managed to recover roughly 80 percent of the fragments with dive teams.
Protesters just took down the Christopher Columbus statue in Baltimore’s Little Italy. pic.twitter.com/ViPk5eKOtz
— Louis Krauss (@louiskraussnews) July 5, 2020
Late last year, the Trump Administration contacted sculptor Will Hemsley to lead the restoration process.
Using 3-D scans of the recovered pieces and a small commemorative model as reference, he digitally reassembled the statue like a puzzle and created a mold. The replica was formed from a composite material of crushed marble dust mixed with resin.
Two identical replicas were produced; with the one installed at the White House incorporating elements from the shattered original
The project received support from private donations by the Italian American community, as well as federal grants including funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The recreation was completed around 2021 but remained in storage for several years while Baltimore officials declined to reinstall it at the original site.
On Sunday, the statue was officially unveiled in a plaza area on the north side of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, visible from public spaces along 17th Street NW and Pennsylvania Avenue.
“Columbus statues have long stood as symbols of pride and cultural identity for more than 18 million Americans of Italian descent. For over a century, Columbus’s legacy helped Italian immigrants navigate prejudice and hardship, serving as a source of unity and belonging as they built new lives in this country,” said COPOMIAO President Basil M. Russo.
“Columbus Day itself emerged in the aftermath of the 1891 New Orleans lynching, when 11 Italian immigrants were killed by a mob of thousands, an event that prompted a national effort to promote the acceptance and assimilation of Italian Americans. This history remains central to why these monuments matter.”
Trump has now installed the Christopher Columbus statue on the White House’s grounds.
He ended up putting it outside the EEOB building, per our photos snapped today. https://t.co/tBR9WvQaXu pic.twitter.com/1VaMVsUTdm
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) March 22, 2026
RELATED: Trump Orders Restoration Of Monuments & Statues That Were Scrapped Under Biden Admin
