Monument Shifts: Concealment, Repatriation, Toppling in Public Art

A recent article on Artribune examines how public monuments change meaning through three distinct interventions: concealment, repatriation, and toppling with museum recontextualization. The cases are Luigi Montanarini's fresco 'Apoteosi del fascismo' in Rome's Foro Italico, the Stele of Axum in Ethiopia, and the statue of Edward Colston in Bristol, UK. The fresco, created in 1936, depicts Mussolini and was covered in 1944, remaining hidden until 1997 when restoration began at the urging of Francesco Zurli. The Stele of Axum, dating from the 1st-4th century AD, was taken to Italy in 1937 and returned to Ethiopia in 2003 after lengthy negotiations. The Colston statue, made by John Cassidy, was toppled by Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020, later displayed at M Shed museum in 2021, and entered the permanent collection of Bristol Museums in 2024, now exhibited lying down with interpretive materials. Curator Lisa Parola, author of 'Giù i monumenti' (Einaudi, 2022), comments on the need for interpretation and how monuments speak to communities, noting that the Colston statue's new display highlights contradictions and the role of the plinth. The article argues that monuments require not just preservation but also tools for interpretation, such as texts and educational programs, to remain comprehensible.