De Lesseps Statue in Port Said

In 1899, a statue of the engineer of the Suez Canal, Ferdinand De Lesseps, was erected at its northern entrance, where it stood until 1956 when it was moved into a warehouse. In 2014 an announcement that the statue would be reinstalled sparked controversy due to De Lesseps’s colonial legacy and the harsh conditions that workers were subjected to under his supervision during the construction of the canal. This case study explores the controversies surrounding the statue’s return and how it ultimately was transferred to a museum after years in storage.