The USS ''Maine'' National Monument is an outdoor monument located at the Merchants' Gate entrance to

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

, at

Columbus Circle Columbus Circle is a traffic circle and heavily trafficked intersection in the New York City borough of Manhattan, located at the intersection of Eighth Avenue, Broadway, Central Park South ( West 59th Street), and Central Park West, at the so ...

, in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. It was cast on September 1, 1912 and dedicated on May 30, 1913 to the men killed aboard when the ship exploded in

Havana harbor Havana Harbor is the port of Havana, the capital of Cuba, and it is the main port in Cuba (not including Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, a territory on lease by the United States). Other port cities in Cuba include Cienfuegos, Matanzas, Manzanillo, ...

. In 1913, a USS ''Maine'' Monument designed by

Harold Van Buren Magonigle Harold Van Buren Magonigle (1867–1935) was an American architect, artist, and author best known for his memorials. He achieved his greatest success as a designer of monuments, but his artistic practices included sculpture, painting, writing, ...

was completed and dedicated in New York City. The monument consists of a pylon with a fountain at its base and sculptures by Attilio Piccirilli surrounding it. A sculpture group of gilded bronze figures atop the pylon represent Columbia Triumphant, her seashell chariot being drawn by three

hippocamp The hippocampus or hippocamp, also ''hippokampos'' (plural: hippocampi or hippocamps; grc, ἱππόκαμπος, from , "horse" and , "sea monster"

i, modeled by

Audrey Munson Audrey Marie Munson (June 8, 1891 – February 20, 1996) was an American model (person), artist's model and film actress, considered to be "America's first supermodel." In her time, she was variously known as "Miss Manhattan", the "Panama–Paci ...

. The bronze for this group reportedly came from metal recovered from the guns of the ''Maine''. On the park side of the monument is fixed a memorial plaque that was cast in metal salvaged from the ship. It is not known how many of these plaques by sculptor

Charles Keck Charles Keck (September 9, 1875 – April 23, 1951) was an American sculptor from New York City, New York. Early life and education Keck studied at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League of New York with Philip Martiny, ...

were produced, but they can be found in many locations across the United States. They were cast by the Jno Williams Bronze Foundry and widely publicized. On April 22, 2021, the memorial was vandalized during a protest in Columbus Circle. The memorial was sprayed with graffiti including "ACAB" (meaning all cops are bastards) and "Stonewall was a Riot" (in reference to the

Stonewall Riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous protests by members of the gay community in response to a police raid that began in the early morning hours of Ju ...

that occurred in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

on June 28, 1969).

References

External links

* {{Public art in Manhattan 1912 establishments in New York City 1912 sculptures Bronze sculptures in Central Park Columbus Circle Fountains in New York City Monuments and memorials in Manhattan Outdoor sculptures in Manhattan Sculptures carved by the Piccirilli Brothers Sculptures in Central Park Seashells in art Statues in New York City Vandalized works of art in New York City