Shelbourne hotel statues to be reinstalled
One of the Nubian princess statues erected outside the Shelbourne hotel in Dublin in 1847. The statues were removed in July, but will now be reinstalled. Picture: Marc O’Sullivan
The Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin is to reinstall four statues it removed from outside its premises earlier this year.
The owners of the hotel took the bronze sculptures away in July, as statues of associated with colonialism and oppression were removed around the world following protests and pressure from the Black Lives Matter movement.
It was thought that the statues depicted slaves.
The removal itself was controversial, given that the front of the hotel is listed as a protected structure.
It has been disputed whether the statues depict slaves, though, with historians claiming the sculptures are actually of Egyptian and Nubian women, and that the rings on the statues are not shackles, but jewellery.
The is reporting that Kennedy Wilson, the American property company which owns and operates the Shelbourne, now intends to reinstall the statues.
No date for the reinstallation has yet been scheduled.
