WATCH NOW: Virginia museum says Lee statue, formerly at U.S. Capitol, will tell story of 'change over time'

BY ANDREW CAIN Richmond Times-Dispatch 36 min ago

Virginia's statue of Robert E. Lee, which stood in the U.S. Capitol for 111 years, has arrived in Richmond, where the Confederate general is no longer put on a pedestal - literally. ... Workers peeled protective blankets and plastic wrapping from sculptor Edward Valentine's 700-pound bronze statue of Lee, which reclined Tuesday morning on foam and wood pallets in a former exhibit gallery at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.

"We're really grateful to the commonwealth to be able to add this piece to our collection," said Andrew Talkov, the museum's senior director for curatorial affairs. The statue will enable the museum to tell "a critical story about change over time." .. The statue has been separated from its marble base, which is 3,500 pounds - "every bit of it," - said Michael Sullivan of Hutchison United Rigging of Beltsville, Md., the crew that removed the statue from the U.S. Capitol and transported it to Richmond, where it reached temporary storage via a freight elevator.

The museum will own the statue and the state will store the base separately. The marble is too heavy for floors at the museum, according to Julie Langan, director of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. ... In a year of reckoning over race, a state commission voted in August to recommend removal of the statue from Statuary Hall. Last week the panel recommended that Virginia replace Lee with a statue of teenage civil rights pioneer Barbara Johns.

The statue depicts Lee in his Confederate uniform, holding a sword in his left hand, and his hat and gloves in his right. The statue will remain in temporary storage for the time being while curators inspect it. Talkov, who donned gloves to keep his hands from transferring oil to the metal, noted Tuesday that the statue appears to be in good shape. ... The statue - which will be re-covered with blankets to protect it from dust and other elements - will move to more secure storage during the museum's renovation. The museum will be closed to guests until April. The statue likely will not be displayed for several years.

For now it shares a storage space with an array of other Virginia artifacts, such as a dollhouse that Texas artist Mildred Grinstead modeled after Richmond's 18th century Wilton House; a restored 1830s high-style carriage; Arthur Ashe Boulevard street signs the museum is holding for the city; and a clock from Thalhimers Department Store. ... The Thalhimers clock is an example of how objects can reflect different perspectives on history, Talkov said. For years the museum displayed it as a reminder of a beloved retail establishment. But in a 2019 exhibit to mark the 400th anniversary of the first enslaved Africans' arrival in Virginia, the museum presented the clock as a witness to the civil rights movement, which included a 1960 sit-in at Thalhimers by 34 Virginia Union University students.

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The statue of Robert E. Lee that had been moved to the Virginia Museum of History and Culture from the U. S. Capitol lies on a pallet after being unloaded at the museum in Richmond, VA Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020.

BOB BROWN

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acain@timesdispatch.com

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Twitter: @AndrewCainRTD