[Unveiled
1913] Sculpted: 1901-1913 Architect: H. Van Buren Magonigle • USA Sculptor: Attilio Piccirilli 1901-1913 • Italy
Gift of the National Maine Monument
Fund Committee
At the entrance of Merchants'
Gate, the
main gateway into Central Park, stands
the colossal marble statue and fountain of the
Maine Monument. A powerful 1913
Beaux Arts monument to commemorate the
controversial sinking of the battleship Maine
in 1898 and created in a 1901 design contest
sponsored by a Spanish-American War
commission vice-chaired by media magnate
William Randolph Hearst who had a driving
interest in promoting the cause.
It is a massive 44-foot limestone pylon,
crowned at the top with a gilded bronze
sculpture of Columbia Triumphant in a
seashell chariot pulled by three hippocampi,
sea horses that signifies the United States'
dominance of the seas. At the pylon's base,
surrounding the ship are the mythological
figures, Victory, Peace, Courage, Fortitude
and Justice.
Though the destruction of the Maine as it
sank in the harbor of Havana, Cuba claiming
the lives of 266 seamen, was later revealed
to be a terrible accident the popular
jingoistic slogan, "Remember the Maine" lives on.
