The enormous stone pedestal that was once topped by the statue of Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia, will be taken down, and the land will be given back to the city of Richmond, weeks after the statue of the Confederate General was removed.
Outgoing Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D) made the announcement Sunday, the Associated Press reported. The move marks a reverse course for Northam, who said in September when the statue was taken down that the pedestal would remain.
“This land is in the middle of Richmond, and Richmonders will determine the future of this space,” Northam wrote Sunday in a statement announcing the move. “The Commonwealth will remove the pedestal and we anticipate a safe removal and a successful conclusion to this project.”
Preliminary work will begin Monday. The project will be “substantially complete” by the end of the year. The pedestal parts will be put in storage until the state decides next steps, a news release announcing the decision noted.
The pedestal, which is more than 40 feet in height, is covered in graffiti, some of it profane and mostly denouncing police, which prompted some members of the community to call for it to remain as a piece of protest art, the AP reported.
The state will also transfer ownership of the grassy island where the statue was located to the city of Richmond. The land was originally granted to the Commonwealth of Virginia in the 19th century, but state ownership led to logistics issues when it came to maintenance and security problems on the property. The city requested that the land be transferred to the city, Northam spokeswoman Alena Yarmosky said.
Yarmosky also said it was important to Northam, who will be replaced by Republican Glenn Youngkin in January. “It was important to us that we do it now and before we leave office,” she said.
Northam ordered the statue to be taken down in 2020 amid nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd. “In 2020, we can no longer honor a system that was based on the buying and selling of enslaved people,” Northam said at the time. Litigation held up the actual removal of the statue, but the Virginia Supreme Court ruled in September that the state could take down the statue. The statue itself was removed on September 8th.
“The Mayor appreciates the Governor’s willingness to transfer this land back to city control,” said Jim Nolan, a spokesman for Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, in a statement. “And because the Mayor believes Richmond deserves a clean slate when we take it, he supports the Governor’s decision to remove the pedestal.”
The city said it would accept the donation of the land “following the proper legal steps.”
The statue of Robert E. Lee was installed in 1890. It was one of five tributes to Confederates along Richmond’s Monument Avenue, the only one owned by the state of Virginia. The statues owned by the city were taken down in 2020 following the George Floyd protests.