The statue of King Louis XVI, the city’s namesake, was spray-painted and damaged by protestors during the Breonna Taylor protests in 2020.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Standing where a statue of King Louis XVI once was, Chris Reitz said the piece is why he’s stepping down as the city’s Commission on Public Art (COPA) chair.
He believes King Louis’ statue — graffitied and missing a hand — should stay as is.
Protestors spray-painted it during the Breonna Taylor protests in 2020.
“It was central to the Black Lives Matter protest that happened after Breonna Taylor’s killing here in 2020,” Reitz said.
Metro Council has already dedicated $200,000 to clean it up.
Councilmember Anthony Piagentini co-sponsored a resolution in 2020 to restore it.
“Vandalism is not artwork,” Piagentini said. “This was just vandalism, plain and simple. We need to clean it up, then tell the full story.”
Reitz doesn’t want the Louisville Metro Government to restore the marble to it’s former state.
“In its current state, it is a document to a historic protest,” Reitz said. “If we remove the graffiti, it is a broken statue to a decapitated King,” he said.
Piagentini said graffiti should not be the statue’s final form, like other city property that was cleaned off after the protests.
“The protests and the graffiti are part of the story, but that’s it,” Piagentini said. “King Louis is artwork that was passed down from generations through hundreds of years of history.”
Reitz sees it differently.
“I don’t like what that message seems to suggest, which was it doesn’t matter the cost, it doesn’t matter if it was practical, you must remove evidence of this protest,” Reitz said.
Reitz said COPA was never consulted in the decision-making process.
“I’ve often heard: why this one? Why are you falling on your sword for this statue?,” Reitz said. “The answer is this statue is broken beyond repair. Full stop, it cannot go outside anymore.”
He said the condition of the marble requires the King to remain indoors.
But Piagentini said public art goes in public spaces.
“There is overwhelming support to put it back in its location or somewhere near there where it is publicly available,” Piagentini said.
He said restoration is already underway.
Reitz said, since the statue is being restored, it won’t involve him.
“If it ends up in a public space, indoors, and cleaned – I don’t know what kind of space that’s going to be, but I suspect there won’t be many visitors,” Reitz said.
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