Constructed in 1988, during Albania’s communist regime (1946-1991), the Qendra Ndërkombëtare e Kulturës “Pjetër Arbnori” (International Cultural Centre “Pjetër Arbnori”), best known as the “Pyramid of Tirana” used to commemorate Albania’s communist dictator Enver Hoxha. To many, it symbolises a dark period of Albania’s history, characterised by political oppression. Following… Read More
João Maria Ferreira do Amaral was the Portuguese Governor of Macau between 1846-1849, his commitment to formalizing Macau and Portugal’s colonial relationship, lead to his assassination by Chinese peasants. He became emblematic of the ambiguous colonial relationship between the two countries, leading to his statue being removed during the decolonization… Read More
In 1932, German citizens gathered for the dedication of the Kolonialelefant in Bremen. The Bremen Colonial Society created this monument in memory of the German soldiers who died in the German colonies during the First World War. As well as to glorify colonialism and bolster the neo-colonial movement (after… Read More
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… Read More
Curt von François (1852-1931) was a German military officer and colonialist, most well known in Namibia for his role in the genocide of the Namaqua and Herero peoples. A statue of him was erected in 1965 in Windhoek, Namibia, to mark the 75th anniversary of his supposed ‘founding’ of the… Read More
The Victory Monument in Bolzano was erected on the orders of Benito Mussolini in 1928. Since then, it has been at the symbolic centre of ethnic clashes between the German- and Italian-speaking communities and a symbol of the unresolved legacy of Italian Fascism. Until recently, the monument has been one… Read More
Kristen Visbal’s iconic Fearless Girl statue has been the subject of heated and ongoing contestation since its installation on New York’s Wall Street in 2017 and its subsequent relocation. Controversy arose over the significance and suitability of its original positioning opposite Arturo Di Modica’s Charging Bull (1989). The statue also… Read More
On the night of January 9, 2021, students protested outside of Jaffna University against the university’s decision to destroy a memorial commemorating the Tamil victims of the three-decade-long civil war. The war ended in 2009 at Mullivaikkal, a small village in the northeast coast, and the memorial was erected ten… Read More
The Japanese American Memorial to Patriotism During World War II in Washington, D.C., United States, is a monument to the 112,581 Japanese Americans incarcerated by the U.S. Government during World War II. It also commemorates Japanese Americans who served in the U.S. Military. The inscriptions in the memorial received criticism… Read More
In 1936, the Dutch fascist party NSB constructed a complex in the town of Lunteren called Mussert’s Wall (Muur van Mussert), where they would hold political rallies. After being neglected for decades after World War II, in 2015, a national discussion arose following requests by local and national heritage organisations… Read More
In 2015, a citizen advisory committee including several Indigenous activists proposed that ‘Lake Calhoun’—christened for John C. Calhoun, antebellum politician, slavery advocate, and proponent of the Indian Removal Act—be restored to its original Dakota place name, ‘Bde Maka Ska’, meaning ‘White Earth Lake’. What followed was a contentious legal battle… Read More
The Isted Lion, created to commemorate the Danish victory in the 1850 Battle of Isted, has been the subject of German-Danish debates about national and cultural identity in the historically contested Schleswig border region since it was first erected in 1862. This case study examines the journey of the statue… Read More