Columbus Obelisk, Obelisk monument in Herring Run Park, Baltimore, United States.
The Columbus Obelisk is a slender brick and stucco monument standing in Herring Run Park in Baltimore, Maryland. It rises from a plain base and bears an inscription on its shaft dedicated to Christopher Columbus.
A French consul gifted this monument to Baltimore in 1792, three centuries after Columbus first reached the Americas. It originally stood on North Avenue before being moved to Herring Run Park in 1964.
The obelisk carries a Latin inscription honoring Columbus as the discoverer of America, placed there by a French consul in a gesture of goodwill toward the new nation. Today, visitors walking through the park can read that inscription and notice how the language and framing of the dedication reflect the thinking of the late 18th century.
The monument stands in a public park that is easy to reach on foot and free to enter at any time. Walking around the obelisk lets you read both the original inscription and the metal tablet that was added when it was moved.
This is considered the first Columbus monument erected in the United States, predating every other memorial to the explorer in the country. When the city moved it in 1964, workers attached a metal tablet to the structure documenting the relocation, so the monument now carries its own history of being moved.
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