Columbus

                    The United States considers October 12 as Columbus Day even though it is commemorated on the second Monday of October.  Columbus Day honors Christopher Columbus for his first voyage to America in 1492 and became a legal federal holiday in the United States in 1971.  Prior to that date, several states celebrated Columbus Day on October 12 with cities and organizations sponsoring parades and banquets.

                    The first Columbus Day celebration was held in 1792 when New York City celebrated the 300 year anniversary of the discovery of the New World.  President Benjamin Harrison called upon the people of the United States in 1892 to celebrate the 400 year anniversary of the event.  Since 1920 Columbus Day has been celebrated annually.

                    There are many monuments that honor Columbus even though the land he discovered was not named after him.  The Republic of Colombia in South America and the District of Columbia in the United States both bear his name.  There are also towns, rivers, streets, and public buildings named after him.  The United States is sometimes referred to as Columbia in poetic personifications.  There are about 350,000 volumes on the American republics located in the Columbus Memorial Library in Washington, D.C.  The above facts are from an article by Jack Santino in World Book Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, 865.

                    According to an Associated Press article on Monday, September 26, 2011, by Danica Coto out of San Juan, Puerto Rico, a bronze likeness of Columbus has been looking for a home for the past twenty years.  The statue was built by Russian artist Zurab Tsereteli, 77, in 1991 "to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Columbus' 1492 arrival in the New World.  The artist is internationally renowned for giant, expensive and sometimes unwanted works…."  He expects that his statue will eventually find a home.

                    The statue was "originally intended to grace the skies of a major U.S. city," but it has been "shuffled from one locale to another and currently lies in pieces" in the small Puerto Rican town of Arecibo.  There a businessman and the mayor of the small community are attempting "to finally erect it overlooking the Atlantic Ocean on the island's north coast."  Because many people now have an unfavorable view of Columbus, the statue often "inspires far more criticism than awe;" nevertheless, there are apparently numerous Puerto Rican towns/cities vying for the opportunity to be the final home of the statue.  Their leaders want the statue in order to use it "to lure tourists to their bailiwicks." 

The roughly 600-pound statue "would be the tallest structure in the Caribbean and among the tallest statues in the world."  At 300 feet, the statue is so tall that it could cause problems with air traffic; therefore, many permits, including one from the Federal Aviation Administration, are required before the monument can be permanently installed.


Here is a great article about Columbus.  I encourage all to read it.