La Vela di Colombo | |
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Year | 1992 (created) 1998 (installed) |
Dimensions | 6 metres (20 ft) (height) |
Location | Liberty State Park Jersey City, New Jersey |
La Vela di Colombo, or the Sail of Columbus, is a monument located along the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey. It commemorates the 500th anniversary of the journey of Christopher Columbus to America in 1492, the role of Genoa, Italy in the Age of Discovery, and Italian immigration to the Port of New York and New Jersey. [1]
The 6 meter (20 foot) tall bronze work weighing 240 hundredweight was designed by Italian sculptor Gino Gianetti. [2] The plaza which creates the setting for the statue was designed by the RBA Group. The Sail of Columbus is set atop four bronze mooring posts mounted on a stone base in the shape of a ship. The waterfront side of the sail depicts scenes of the explorer's travels. The inland side includes a scene with Columbus at the helm of his ship, the Santa Maria . [3]
The statue is a gift from the Italian government and the City of Genoa. It was originally transported to the United States in 1992, [4] [5] but a place to install it was not decided until 1998, when the National Italian-American Foundation and the Columbus Citizens Foundation dedicated the sculpture at its permanent location. [4] [6] [1]
A smaller version of the work can be found at Genoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport in Genoa, Italy. [4] [3] [5]
A separate stone plaque at the foot of the sculpture entitled Bridge of Nations is inscribed: [7]
A BRIDGE TO A NEW WORLD
FOUNDED BY THE IMAGINATION OF A DREAMER
FORGED WITH COURAGE - TRAVERSED BY GREATNESS
AN EVERLASTING CONNECTION BETWEEN OUR NATIONS
ITALY AND AMERICA - BRETHREN TOGETHER
MAY WE FOREVER SAIL
Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed four Spanish-based voyages across the Atlantic Ocean sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs, opening the way for the widespread European exploration and colonization of the Americas. His expeditions were the first known European contact with the Caribbean and Central and South America.
Columbus Day is a national holiday in many countries of the Americas and elsewhere, and a federal holiday in the United States, which officially celebrates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas. He went ashore at Guanahaní, an island in the Bahamas, on October 12, 1492 [OS]. On his return in 1493, he moved his coastal base of operations 70 miles east to the island of Hispaniola, what is now the Dominican Republic and established the settlement of La Isabela, the first permanent Spanish settlement in the Americas.
Liberty State Park (LSP) is a park in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located on Upper New York Bay in Jersey City opposite Liberty Island and Ellis Island. The park opened in 1976 to coincide with bicentennial celebrations and is operated and maintained by the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry. Liberty State Park covers 1,212 acres (490 ha).
Giulio Monteverde was an Italian naturalist sculptor and teacher.
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Bartholomew Columbus was a Genoese explorer and the younger brother of Christopher Columbus.
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L'Esposizione Internazionale Specializzata Genova '92 - Colombo '92 or more informally Expo 1992, was held in Genoa, Italy from 15 May to 15 August 1992. The theme was "Christopher Columbus, The Ship and the Sea", and the Expo was timed to celebrate the 500 years since the discovery of America by the Genoese sailor Christopher Columbus. Because of the theme, the expo was also known as Colombiadi. It was a specialized Exhibition with 54 countries represented. Total visitors were 694,800. The exposition ran at the same time as the larger and longer duration Seville Expo '92, a Universal Exposition, held in the city from whose port Columbus had sailed in 1492. The expo's logo was a "500" number with Genoa's flag; the mascot was a cat dressed like Christopher Columbus called "Gatto Cristoforo"
The ethnic or national origin of explorer Christopher Columbus has been a source of speculation since the 19th century. The consensus among historians is that Columbus's family was from the coastal region of Liguria, that he was born and spent his boyhood and early youth in the Republic of Genoa, in Genoa, in Vico Diritto, and that he subsequently lived in Savona, where his father Domenico moved in 1470. Much evidence derives from documents concerning Columbus's immediate family connections in Genoa and opinions voiced by contemporaries on his Genoese origins, which few dispute.
The Aquarium of Genoa is the largest aquarium in Italy. Located in the Old Harbour area of Genoa, Italy, the 33,000-square-foot (3,100 m2) aquarium is a member organization of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), and welcomes more than 1.2 million visitors each year.
Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer and navigator who completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean, opening the way for European exploration and colonization of the Americas. His expeditions, sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, were the first European contact with the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. He has been represented in many fictional and semi-fictional works, including plays, operas, films and TV, as well as literary works.
Genoa is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2023, 558,745 people lived within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 813,626 inhabitants, more than 1.5 million people live in the wider metropolitan area stretching along the Italian Riviera.
Harriet Tubman Square is a city square in Downtown Newark, New Jersey.
The Christopher Columbus statue in Newburgh, New York, was erected in 1992 by UNICO, an Italian American service organization active in the city. At the time, the majority of white residents in the city were Italian American, and as with most Columbus monuments, felt the statue represented their community. It commemorated the 500th anniversary of Columbus's voyage in 1492. This monument is one of two in the city conceived in recognition of Italian Americans.
The Monument to Christopher Columbus is a monument in Galway, Ireland. The memorial was erected in 1992, the year of the Columbus Quincentenary, to commemorate Christopher Columbus's visit to the city in 1477. It stands next to the Spanish Arch.
A statue of Christopher Columbus was a memorial in Washington Park in Newark, New Jersey, within the James Street Commons Historic District. It was made in Rome by Giuseppe Ciochetti and presented to the city by Newark's Italians in 1927. The statue was removed by the city in June 2020 to prevent its toppling in a Black Lives Matter protest.
There are three sculptures of Christopher Columbus in Hudson County, New Jersey created by Archimedes Giacomantonio. The tributes to Columbus become contentious around 2020 when there were calls for removal and subsequent rebuttals of their retention. Archimedes Aristedes Michael Giacomantonio, also known as Jock Manton, a corruption of his surname. was a native Jersey City