Christopher Columbus Statue – Mexico City, Mexico

 

Removal and Relocation Frameworks. Explore definitions here.

Introduction

This case study focuses on the Monumento a Colón (Monument to Christopher Columbus) that was formerly located on Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City, Mexico. The monument is a statuary group composed of five figures. The figures depicted are Columbus himself and the “four friars”: Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, Fray Diego de Deza, Fray Juan Pérez de Marchena, and Fray Pedro de Gante. The purposes of the study are to examine the historical context in which the monument was erected and to detail the full scope of the issues that led to its removal and relocation.

Christopher Columbus—navigator, cartographer, and governor general of the West Indies in the service of the Spanish crown—remains a controversial figure in the Americas. His detractors view him as a contributor to colonization and an invader who took lands away from Indigenous Peoples. Those who support the monument maintain that he was a benefactor to the West.

Mexico became an independent sovereign state on September 27, 1821. In the two centuries since it gained independence from Spain, Mexico has become the ninth-largest economy in the world, exporting a wide range of goods. Mexico has a population of approximately 126 million across a total area of 1.97 million square kilometers. Many Indigenous tribes—the Nahua, Purépucha, Mixtec, Rarámuri, Totonac, and Otomí among them—live in Mexico.

Section 1: Monument to Columbus

Mexico City’s iconic Paseo de la Reforma (Promenade of the Reform) has featured several of the nation’s important monuments, including Diana the Huntress and Angel of Independence. Among the most famous and controversial was the Monument to Columbus that stood there for a century and a half.

For nearly 150 years, a statue of Christopher Columbus loomed over one of Mexico City’s busiest thoroughfares. But the grand monument space that had honored Christopher Columbus changed substantially in the short span of eleven months in 2020-21. Today, the roundabout that had been devoted to the “Admiral of the Atlantic” and four Catholic figures of the colonial period is known as Glorieta de las Mujeres que Luchan (Roundabout of the Women Who Fight). Atop the lofty pedestal is a stainless-steel silhouette of a young woman and the word justicia (justice).

Front View of the Glorieta de las Mujeres que Luchan. Photo Credit: G. C. Correa. 

1.1. Creation of the Monument

The Monument to Columbus was constructed in the 1870s on a roundabout at the intersection of Paseo de la Reforma and Avenida Morelos in Mexico City. The statue atop the monument, which is roughly 15 meters high, depicts Christopher Columbus opening a curtain to disclose the world while raising one hand that points to Europe. The mount is composed of two red limestone pedestals. Seated on the bottom pedestal’s corners are the four friars: Fray Bartolomé de las Casas preparing to write; Fray Diego de Deza leafing through the pages of the Bible; Fray Juan Pérez de Marchena studying a geographical chart and measuring the distance between Spain and the New World with a compass; and Fray Pedro de Gante holding a cross, an emblem of the Indigenous Peoples’ evangelization. Columbus’ famous Epistola, a map, and scenes from the conquest of the Americas are depicted in bas-reliefs on the pedestal’s four sides (Mexico Maxico Organization, 2003).

Habsburg Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico commissioned Manuel Vilar, a Spanish  sculptor, to design the first monument to Columbus, but the project was never launched. On a trip to Paris in 1873, Antonio Escandón, heir to a railway fortune, commissioned  French sculptor Charles Cordier to create sculptures to commemorate the discovery of  the New World and the spread of Christianity. Two years later, the opus was completed  and shipped to Mexico. Under the supervision of Mexican engineer Eleuterio Méndes (Tenenbaum, 1994), it was placed in the fast-growing city’s second roundabout in 1877. It  joined statues of other important figures from Mexican history on the thoroughfare. The project was a gift to the Mexican capital. 

Section 2: Christopher Columbus

2.1. Columbus as Malefactor 

Critics of Columbus maintain that he was a malefactor who committed many wrongs in  the New World. He imposed names on geographical features and referred to the  Indigenous Peoples he encountered as indios, or Indians. He never explicitly repudiated  his claim that he had reached the Far East, and it is unclear to what extent he realized the  Americas were an entirely different landmass (Dowlah, 2020). Some scholars also point  out that Columbus gained a place in the Western narrative of colonization and empire  development based on concepts of who was and was not “civilized” (Bartosik-Vélez, 45). 

Columbus was ousted from his position as colonial ruler after being accused by some  contemporaries of severe cruelty. Fray Bartolomé recounts in book two of his History of  the Indies (1561):

Consider what this history has been telling you of the oppression Columbus  imposed on Indian kings and nations in Hispaniola and Veragua; whether he  actually did it himself or allowed it to be done, it was an absurd and  unrighteous thing. It is not too bold to presume that his own anguish and  misfortune were sent as a divine punishment.

Columbus was detained and expelled from Hispaniola in 1500 because of his tense  relationship with the King of Spain and the colonial authorities in America. Later, he and  his heirs engaged in protracted legal battles about the rights they felt the crown owed  them (Dowlah, 2020).  

In the first century following his expeditions, Columbus’ reputation was damaged by  reports of his shortcomings as a colonial governor, and his name was mostly obscured.  However, in the late 16th century he began appearing as a figure in Italian and Spanish  plays and poems, and this helped save him from oblivion (Wilford, 1991).  

Though Columbus was widely honored in the 17th through the 20th centuries, he has  been viewed with a more critical eye in recent decades. Much criticism has focused on his  treatment of the Indigenous Taínos, whose population declined due to the horrors of slavery and diseases brought from Europe (Mills and Taylor, 1998).  

George Tinker and Mark Freeland, scholars of Native American history, contend that  Columbus is to blame for creating a vicious cycle that maximized profits while  simultaneously reducing Indigenous populations. They write:

Colón was directly responsible for instituting this cycle of violence, murder,  and slavery… Disease, only in combination with this cycle of brutal colonial  violence, could produce the death toll that we see on the island of Española.  Therefore, at best, the theory that disease did the business of killing and not  the invaders can only be seen as a gratuitous colonizer apologetic …. the truth  of the matter is much worse and should be called by its appropriate name:  American holocaust denial (Tinker and Freeland, 2008).

The Columbus statue’s Catholic iconography and symbolic representation of European  domination had made it a target of protesters in recent decades. Demonstrations took  place around Mexico on Columbus Day 1992, the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ arrival in  the New World. Following a protest organized by Indigenous groups, workers’ unions, and  counterculture collectives, the monument in Mexico City was vandalized. Demonstrators  tried to topple the Columbus statue by connecting ropes to a bus, but the Mexico City  police foiled the attempt. In subsequent demonstrations, the monument was shielded in  various ways to prevent the statue from being toppled (Reyes Castro, 2020).

2.2. Columbus as Benefactor 

Christopher Columbus’ admirers maintain that he was a gifted mariner whose actions led  to advancements in history and the start of globalization (Boivin, 2012). In fact, Columbus’  voyages were deemed such watershed events in world history that the term  “pre-Columbian” has historically been used to describe the cultures of the Americas  before Columbus’ arrival. Made possible by exceptional navigational skills and experience,  Columbus’ travels led to permanent communication between the two hemispheres.  Massive exchanges of organisms, plants, diseases, technology, mineral wealth, and ideas  took place during the “Columbian Exchange” that began in 1492.  

The historical figure of Columbus drew praise in the British colonies. Puritan preachers  turned Columbus into a unifying figure by citing his life story as an example of the  “developing American spirit” (West, 1992). In 1692, Cotton Mather connected Columbus’  voyages with the Puritans’ immigration to North America, describing them as key events  in the shaping of the modern period (Bercovitch, 2014). After the American Revolution,  the veneration of Christopher Columbus as the founder of the New World grew  quickly—part of the effort to create a national history and founding myth with fewer ties  to Britain (Burmila, 2017). His name served as the inspiration for Columbia, the female  national personification of the original thirteen colonies.  

The World’s Columbian Exposition was the official name of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair,  held to mark the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ arrival. The Columbian Issue, the first commemorative stamps ever produced by the United States Postal Service, featured  images of Christopher Columbus, Queen Isabella, and other figures from his lifetime. Historian Kris Lane refutes many of the claims made by critics of Columbus. Questioning  whether the term “genocide” is appropriate, Lane contends that Columbus’ objectives  and carelessness, rather than his deliberate actions, caused mass death and dislocation  (Lane, 2015). Other scholars agree with Lane that Columbus “…has been blamed for events  far beyond his own reach or knowledge” (Flint, 1999). 

Section 3: Imagery and Oppressive Monuments

How much does imagery add to an oppressive environment? The placement of statues  on Mexico City’s most iconic avenue—Paseo de la Reforma—adds meaning to what would  otherwise be an empty public space. The Monument to Columbus was placed in a  prominent location to honor his contributions to the New World as well as the Old. The statues of Columbus (now removed) and Aztec Emperor Cuauhtémoc, along with the Angel of Independence, are the most notable of the monuments. All three were placed in  the center of the city’s major traffic circles, are publicly accessible, and are highly visible to  the approximately 39 million people who travel the street every year (Secretaría del Medio Ambiente del Gobierno de la Ciudad de México, 2023).  

Fashioned after the grand boulevards of Europe and opened to the public on February 17, 1867, the nine-mile-long Paseo de la Reforma runs diagonally across the Mexican capital. The thoroughfare was originally known as Paseo de la Emperatriz (Promenade of the  Empress) but was renamed in honor of La Reforma (The Reform) after the fall of the  empire and Emperor Maximilian’s execution (Excélsior, 2013). 

The area surrounding the Monument to Columbus saw intense development in the late  19th and early 20th century. In the 1970s, the roundabout was converted to a small central oval to improve traffic flow. 

The Monument to Columbus on Paseo de la Reforma is a public work of art that sheds  light on power dynamics and a Eurocentric construction of history. Like many monuments to historical figures, it represents a particular group’s experience while ignoring historical complexities and other narratives such as those of the Nahua,  Purépucha, Mixtec, Rarámuri, Totonac, and Otomí peoples. 

Section 4: Framework – Removal and Relocation

4.1. Removal 

On October 10, 2020, the government of Mexico City removed the statues of Christopher  Columbus and the four friars from the roundabout on Paseo de la Reforma. The Monuments Toolkit team defines removal as “the act or process of extracting the monument from its original location. The monument exists in its original form, however, it is not accessible to the general public (i.e., in storage or non-public archives).”  

Prior to the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, anti-racist groups had started protesting  monuments to historical figures associated with colonialism and slavery. These protests grew in number and intensity after Floyd’s death. Pointing to Columbus’ controversial  ideas and actions, protesters vandalized and toppled numerous Columbus statues  throughout the Americas (The New York Times, 2020). 

A protest around the Monument to Columbus on Paseo de la Reforma had been planned  for October 12, 2020. When the monument’s statues were removed on October 10th for a scheduled restoration by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (Roa, 2020), the protest was shifted to the Columbus monument on the city’s Avenida Buenavista (Sánchez, 2020). 

The city government announced that the disposition of the monument’s sculptures would be decided following a round of discussions. These discussions took place in 2021  as part of the 500th anniversary celebration of the fall of Tenochtitlán (Santiago, 2020).

An antimonumenta (anti-monument)—a monument that directly challenges all facets of  a conventional public monument, including its form, theme, and meaning—took the  place of the statues of Columbus and the four friars. The Glorieta de las Mujeres que Luchan (Roundabout of the Women Who Fight), which features the sculpture Vivas Nos Queremos (We Want Us Alive), was installed on September 25, 2021, by several feminist collectives and the relatives of victims of gender violence (Proceso, 2021).  

On October 12, 2021, Claudia Sheinbaum, head of the government of Mexico City,  suggested replacing the statue of Columbus with a life-sized version of the Doncella de  Amajac (Young Woman of Amajac), a pre-Hispanic Huastecan artifact, to honor Indigenous women (Agren, 2021). The city government ultimately decided to place the  Doncella de Amajac on its own plinth in an adjacent traffic circle (Ruiz, 2023). 

The Glorieta de las Mujeres que Luchan is an example of a monument that uplifts. The  Monuments Toolkit team defines a monument of upliftment as “a monument erected by  a marginalized community to foreground forgotten stories. These narratives have been  suppressed politically or violently and tend to involve powerful individuals and groups.” 

The Roundabout of the Women Who Fight exemplifies this type of monument because it  honors Indigenous women and victims of femicide in Mexico. 

In an interview for this case study, Dr. Saúl Alcántara Onofre, president of ICOMOS-Mexico,  stated that removal of the statues of Columbus and the friars was necessary: 

There would be a loss of identity and image. But they do have to be removed.  Especially to be restored. Those that are historical must be evaluated and  analyzed for (historical) integrity…. Tactical urbanism I am against. Our city  cannot do this. Transfer the cultural message. May it endure and neither destroy nor undo.

Dr. Alcántara Onofre highlights the need to remove monuments as a way of ensuring  their protection as historical objects. Mexico is well positioned for such an undertaking  given the country’s long history and rich cultural heritage. 

4.2. Relocation 

When the statues of Columbus and the four friars were removed from Paseo de la  

Reforma for restoration, the city government’s intention was to relocate them initially to  Parque de las Américas, an urban park four kilometers southwest of the roundabout. The  Monuments Toolkit team defines relocation as “the act of placing the monument in an  alternate setting. The alternate setting is not the original location. The monument retains  its original meaning and the general public has access to the monument.” 

On September 5, 2021, the city declared that the statues would instead be moved to Parque América in Polanco (Andrew, 2021), a neighborhood with Californian-style architecture and an enclave of wealthy European expatriates. The government planned to  include the statues in a grand renovation of the park to showcase them more  appropriately. In a 2023 interview for this study, Mtra. María Teresa Ocejo Cazáres,  professor of architecture at the Autonomous University of Mexico-Azcapotzalco,  explained: 

…These entities (government agencies) decided to move the Monument to  Polanco at the Parque de las Américas. It [the park] is surrounded by the  Californian style architecture of the 1940s. The idea was to renovate the style  and aesthetic of the area. 

By 2023, the local government had canceled its plan to rehabilitate the park (possibly  because of budgetary constraints). Officials declared that the statues of Columbus and  the friars would ultimately be moved instead to the National Museum of the Viceroyalty in  Tepotzotlán, State of Mexico (Nava, 2023). 

4.3. Approach: Committees/Working Groups 

In addition to removal and relocation, a third proactive approach that was taken in the  case of the Monument to Columbus was the formation of committees/working groups. In  a 2023 interview for this study, Dr. Alcántara Onofre recounted how he got involved with  the statues of Columbus and the friars in 2021: 

I was invited by the Secretary of Urban Development to be on the Committee  on Monuments and Artistic Works in Public Spaces of Mexico City (COMAEP).  This committee is backed by the Head of Government and is given much  autonomy. We see all the problems associated with monuments and  infrastructure in public spaces. We learned through the media of Columbus’s  and Friars’ removal. This removal was owed to restoration and also because of  threats. A national discussion was opened about the statue and its return. It  was decided that it would be best to remove it to preserve its historical fabric.  There was A LOT of discussion…. A more radical situation was emerging by  groups with vested interests. The whole world used to see it as an aesthetic  statue on Paseo de la Reforma tied to the history of the street.

Committees and expert working groups can find solutions to complex problems surrounding monuments. COMAEP provides coordination as well as advisory and technical support for Mexico City regarding the incorporation, relocation, or removal of historical or artistic monuments, mural paintings, sculptures, and other artistic works.

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