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# Christopher Columbus Statue Gets an Axe to the Face
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/christopher-columbus-statue-gets-an-axe-to-the-face/
- Published: 2015-10-14T01:44:50.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:15:05.000Z
- Description: Someone in Detroit celebrated Columbus Day this year by taping an ax to a bust commemorating the explorer, splashing on some red paint for full dramatic effect.
- Author: Claire Voon
- Tags: In Brief, Christopher Columbus, Detroit, Vandalism, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:13 (2014, 2015, part 3)

![The axed Columbus (courtesy Imgur)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/10/someones-not-that-excited-to-celebrate-columbus-day-imgur.jpg)

Columbus, axed (photo via Imgur)

In a not-so-subtle act of defiance against the [contentious Christopher Columbus](http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-34507426?ref=hyperallergic.com), someone in Detroit celebrated Columbus Day this year by [taping](http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2015/10/12/christopher-columbus-gets-ax-head-detroit/73829246/?ref=hyperallergic.com) an ax to a bust commemorating the explorer, splashing on some red paint for full dramatic effect, the [*Detroit Free Press*](http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2015/10/12/christopher-columbus-gets-ax-head-detroit/73829246/?ref=hyperallergic.com) reported. The hatchet was removed shortly after the discovery of the defacement, and city officials cleaned the fake blood this morning, according to [HistoricDetroit.org](https://www.facebook.com/HistoricDetroit/photos/a.359322064134555.77617.163561400377290/948976318502457/?type=3&permPage=1). Cristoforo is now squeaky clean, after receiving a 10-minute scrub courtesy of a power washer, and he continues to preside over a busy intersection in downtown Detroit, near city hall. The culprit has not yet been caught.

The bust, made of bronze with a Travertine marble base, is the work of Italian sculptor Augusto Rivalta and was dedicated exactly 105 years ago on Columbus Day, in honor of the city’s Italian population. It also features a plaque that describes Columbus as a “great son of Italy” who “discovered America.”

This hasn’t been a great year for the 15th-century colonizer. In July, he somehow got caught up in another public art protest far beyond his time, when vandals in Boston [tagged](http://www.wcvb.com/news/vandals-tag-columbus-statue-with-black-live-matter/33895742?ref=hyperallergic.com) another statue of Columbus with red paint. There they left a more anachronistic message: “Black Lives Matter.”

*h/t* [Detroit Free Press](http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2015/10/12/christopher-columbus-gets-ax-head-detroit/73829246/?ref=hyperallergic.com)