Fifty-three weeks after it was moved to Holton Plaza to make way for construction related to the Core Campus Project, the iconic George Mason statue was returned to its home on 亚洲AV鈥檚 Wilkins Plaza.
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The statue, located on the plaza between the Johnson Center and the deLaski Performing Arts Building, will be part of the Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial that is expected to be installed by the week of July 19.
The memorial, designed by landscape architects Perkins & Will, in association with a diverse team of Mason faculty, staff and students, intertwines the narratives of two of George Mason IV鈥檚 slaves: Penny, a 10-year-old girl, and James, Mason鈥檚 personal manservant.
鈥淭he replacement of the statue marks another significant milestone in the Core Campus Project,鈥 Cathy Pinskey, program director at Mason Facilities, said of the project that is transforming the center of the Fairfax Campus. 鈥淲ith the installation of the memorial, it won鈥檛 be long until the entire reimagining of Wilkins Plaza is complete.鈥
The moving of the bronze Mason statue by the Baltimore firm of North American Millwright was fairly straightforward.
After it was loosened from its base, the statue was picked up by a forklift, strapped onto the back of a flatbed truck and shuttled from Holton Plaza to Wilkins Plaza.
There it was placed on a newly constructed base that includes some of Mason鈥檚 most famous writings, which explain his important and complex role in American history, as author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights and a slaveholder.
The statue鈥檚 next appointment is for a thorough cleaning and application of a protective wax finish, Pinskey said.
As for the constructed base upon which the Mason statue sat at Holton Plaza, Pinskey said the next occupant is to be determined.