LOUISVILLE, Ky. — According to a press release from Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer's office, the statue of King Louis XVI is being removed from downtown. The release cited public safety concerns as the reason for its removal.
The statue, which sits at the corner of Jefferson and 6th streets, has been subject to damage and vandalism amid protests.
"We have no statues of freedom, we have no statues of our youth and we have no statues of a foundation," Corey Tynes of Louisville said who watched the removal of the statue Thursday.
The release says the marble statue has sustained recent significant damage, including spray paint vandalism, surface abrasion from cleaning and breakage on the figure’s arms and feet. The statue cannot be reasonably cleaned and restored on-site.
"You can't fire those cops, you can remove a statue, but can you actually do your job?" Tynes said. "When you're dealing with injustice square that statue doesn't care."
City leaders in accordance with guidance from the 2018 Public Art and Monuments Advisory Committee Report said the removal is to prevent further damage to the statue.
"White men on tall pedestals are going to be viewed with skepticism," historian and archivist at UofL Tom Owen said referring to the current racial tensions. "King Louis was obviously a colonizer and certainly involved slaves in the West Indies."
Crews began work at 7 a.m. Sept. 3 and the statue was taken to a city storage facility.
Owen said while the statue does not mean much to some, to others it does because of its historical context connecting to Louisville.
The statue of King Louis XVI was sculpted in 1829 and was presented as a gift from Louisville's sister city, Montpellier, France in 1967.
Louisville was named after the French monarch following his support of the American revolutionaries.
For more than 20 years Owen has used the statue in his walking tours to explain the city's history, and he hopes years from now Louisville will be on the right side.
"Let us see some more solid efforts for remediating the grievances that have lingered so long," Owen said.
According to the release, future plans for the statue will be determined following a "conservation assessment."
►Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.
PHOTOS | Statues in Kentucky that have been removed
