The often-vandalized Christopher Columbus statue that was removed from its North End perch this summer after someone beheaded it will not return to its longtime waterfront home, but will be re-located to a different spot in the historically Italian-American neighborhood, according to officials.
The city has reached an agreement to place the repaired sculpture at a North Margin Street development of the Knights of Columbus, a Roman Catholic fraternal organization, according to authorities. The new location is located about a half-mile from the statue’s former home in Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park.
Where the monument of the controversial Italian mariner used to be, the city plans on placing a new “Italian-American Immigrant statue,” officials said. That process will be “guided by the North End community,” city officials said in a statement.
“The new statue will highlight the contributions of the North End Italian immigrant community,” Mayor Martin J. Walsh said at a virtual meeting of the North End/Waterfront Council Monday. “That was the original intent of the statue when it was put up over 40 years ago.”
City Councilor Lydia Edwards, whose district includes the North End, called the plan for the Columbus statue a “reasonable solution.”
“I’m excited for the community process for the new statue,” she said in a Tuesday statement. “I want that process to be led by those in the community, especially Italian-Americans.”
The 6-foot Carrara marble statue of Columbus, hailed for centuries for discovering the New World for Europeans but later vilified for the genocide of indigenous people, was beheaded in June, and the city removed it as authorities reassessed its future amid an ongoing, passionate national debate about the rights and treatment of people of color and a broad reappraisal of monuments that recall historical injustices.
Jean-Luc Pierite, president of the board of directors for the North American Indian Center of Boston, said in an e-mail he is concerned that the Walsh administration “is setting an expectation for replacement without considering the diverse perspectives of City of Boston residents.”
“Furthermore, the City of Boston should address the problematic history of the installation of the statue and the renaming of the park,” he said. “Without addressing these issues, the public process is undermined along with the mayor’s own declaration of racism as a public health crisis.”
Since its removal in the summer, the Boston Art Commission received two conservation reports that stated repairs to restore the head and neck area of the statue would be visible and that “the structural integrity of the artwork cannot be improved to mitigate future structural damage,” city officials said.
The statue, which is owned by the Boston Parks Department and stands on a 5-foot pedestal, has been targeted several times since it was erected in 1979.
In 2004, the statue was splashed with red paint, with the word “murderer” spray-painted on the base. Two years later, Columbus was decapitated, with the head found six days later on Sheaf Street in the neighborhood. In 2015, the words “Black Lives Matter” were spray-painted on the structure and red paint was dumped on the head.
Statues of Columbus across the nation are often vandalized on Columbus Day, which is Monday. Earlier this year, protesters in Virginia pulled down an 8-foot-tall statue of Columbus, dragged it 200 yards, and dumped it into a lake, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
The North End’s Columbus statue is not the only piece of public art in Boston to be the subject of recent debate.
In late June, the art commission voted to remove a controversial statue depicting Abraham Lincoln standing over a half-dressed, kneeling formerly enslaved man.
“The Emancipation Group” is a replica of a statue in Washington D.C. by Charlestown-born 19th-century sculptor Thomas Ball. The statue has been criticized since its installation for the demeaning pose of the formerly enslaved man. The man depicted is Archer Alexander, a Black man who helped the Union Army and fled slavery and was again enslaved under the Fugitive Slave Act.
Discussions regarding that statue’s future in Boston were framed by protests against racism that led communities to reexamine monuments of slave traders and Civil War generals, and those that are perceived to demean Black men and women.
Material from the Associated Press and previous Globe coverage was used in this report.
Danny McDonald can be reached at daniel.mcdonald@globe.com. Follow him @Danny__McDonald.