All articles tagged with #monuments
Axios reports President Trump remains fixated on war, tariffs and monuments despite poor polls and looming midterms, a pattern insiders say demoralizes donors and threatens Republican gains as he resists shifting to economy-focused messaging.
President Trump signed an executive order that reduces Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears monuments in Utah by about 90% (from roughly 3 million acres to 300,000), aiming to open land to energy development. Utah Governor Spencer Cox praised the move as aligning with the Antiquities Act, while Native groups criticized it for erasing cultural sites. The sites were designated as monuments by Clinton in 1996 and Obama in 2016.
A Massachusetts district judge ruled that the Trump administration’s removal of history and science materials from national monuments under the 2025 executive order violated policy and set a dangerous precedent, ordering the reinstatement of all signage and exhibits and giving the White House 21 days to comply; plaintiffs include conservation groups such as the NPCA and the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks.
In DC’s Freedom Plaza, a newly installed statue of Caesar Rodney—described as a signer of the Declaration of Independence and an enslaver—has sparked conversation about whom public monuments honor, with the post hinting at more statues to come and prompting reflection on how history is publicly displayed.
President Trump says he will establish the National Garden of American Heroes along West Potomac Park to display 250 statues of prominent Americans, a plan that could spur new fights over federal approvals for projects near the National Mall even as Congress has allocated funding for the statues.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is bringing the Rocky Balboa statue indoors for a new exhibition, Rising Up: Rocky and the Making of Monuments, framing the fictional hero within a long arc of boxing imagery and Philadelphia identity. After decades of tension, the museum embraces the statue as part of public art and cultural history; it will move inside to a permanent high-spot after the show closes, while a Joe Frazier statue will replace it on the steps and the outside statue remains on loan from Stallone.
Following New York Times allegations that Chavez sexually assaulted minors and that Dolores Huerta faced abuse, California cities are quickly erasing Chavez from public spaces, pulling down statues, repainting murals, and renaming streets and the Chavez Day holiday to honor farmworkers, sparking debate among officials and historians about how to reckon with controversial legacies and ensuring broader recognition for the farmworker movement.
A private park in North Carolina, Valor Memorial, is re-erecting Confederate statues that were removed from public spaces following social justice protests, raising debates about historical memory and racial issues.
The Pentagon is planning to restore a controversial portrait of Confederate General Robert E Lee at West Point, despite recent laws aimed at removing Confederate symbols from military sites, sparking debate over historical preservation versus honoring recent legislation and social movements.
Ukraine has replaced the hammer-and-sickle symbol on the Mother Ukraine statue in Kyiv with the country's trident coat of arms, as part of efforts to reclaim its cultural identity from the Communist past amid Russia's ongoing invasion. The statue, erected in 1981, now features the Ukrainian tryzub on its shield instead of the Soviet emblem. The revamp coincides with a new name for the statue and is part of a broader campaign to remove Soviet and Russian influence from public spaces in Ukraine. The movement away from Soviet symbols has accelerated since Russia's invasion in 2022.
Saddam Hussein's statues and images have been removed from Baghdad, but the hope that came with wiping away his oppressive visual presence has evaporated due to years of brutal violence, a wrecked economy, and rampant corruption by the new political elite of sectarian-based factions. Some of Saddam's signature monuments remain in place, largely because they had a nationalist meaning that went beyond him. The domination of Iran-backed Shiite parties in the government has led to the proliferation of Shiite imagery around Baghdad.
Saddam Hussein's statues and images have been removed from Iraq, but the hope that came with it has evaporated due to years of violence, a wrecked economy, and rampant corruption by the new political elite of sectarian-based factions. Some of Saddam's signature monuments remain in place, largely because they had a nationalist meaning that went beyond him. The Victory Arch and the al-Shaheed Monument still tower over the Tigris River. Saddam's presence can still be found on the American University in Baghdad campus, where his initials are etched on the walls and ceilings.
Eddy Merckx, one of the greatest cyclists of all time, has praised Tadej Pogačar's victory at the Tour of Flanders, saying that the Slovenian rider can win everything. Merckx also had praise for Mathieu van der Poel and Neilson Powless, but criticized DSM's strategy and Wout van Aert's performance. Merckx believes that Pogačar can win all five Monuments in his career and repeat his victory in Flanders in the years to come.