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Providence parks commissioners sell Columbus statue to former mayor


Crews remove the Christopher Columbus statue in Providence, on June 25, 2020. (WJAR){ }
Crews remove the Christopher Columbus statue in Providence, on June 25, 2020. (WJAR)
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The Providence Board of Parks Commissioners on Thursday unanimously approved the sale of the Christopher Columbus statue to former Mayor Joseph Paolino for $50,000.

The city's statue has been safely collecting dust in storage since June 2020, after being vandalized multiple times.

"I didn’t want to see Christopher Columbus get melted down into scrap," said Paolino.

The statue was dedicated to the city 130 years ago. It was created in Rhode Island’s Gorham Manufacturing Company by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, the same man who designed the Statue of Liberty.

“It is a meaningful and valuable piece of art,” said Mayor Brett Smiley.

But after being splattered with red paint and vandalized multiple times over the years, the Parks Department moved it to storage.

It’s up to Paolino to decide where it goes next.

He said he’s considering the airport, convention center, museums, and the town of Johnston, which has a heavy population of people with Italian American heritage.

“There’s a number of ideas that I have. I want it to be protected. I want it to be appreciated and let the history, good and bad, of Columbus be a part of the display,” said Paolino.

City Councilman James Taylor, who represents the Elmwood neighborhood, said he thinks Paolino ripped them off.

“When they went to an auction house and asked what it was worth, it was worth around $500,000. So, we only got $50,000 for it,” said Taylor.

The commission said the $50,000 will go directly back to Columbus Square.

“I’d like to get a fountain put in there. It’s very neutral, but it’s going to be more than $50,000,” said Taylor.

Smiley said only two bids were made on the statue, Paolino’s and an antiquities dealer from out of state who bid $51,500.

“[They] likely would have turned around and likely to resell it,” said Smiley, “It is a meaningful and valuable piece of art that that commission hoped would stay local. [Paolino] was the only proposal that would have enabled that and a fair price is what someone is willing to pay for it.”

Paolino said he’s going to make phone calls to determine where the statue will go in the coming weeks.



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