On July 2, 1864, Congress established the National Statuary Hall: "States [may] provide and furnish statues, in marble or bronze, not exceeding two in number for each State, of deceased persons who have been citizens thereof, and illustrious for their historic renown or for distinguished civic or military services such as each State may deem to be worthy of this national commemoration."[1] The first statue was installed in 1870, and, by 1971, the collection included at least one statue from every state. In 1933, Congress passed House Concurrent Resolution No. 47, which limited each state to only one statue in the Statuary Hall. Others would be distributed throughout the Capitol building.[1] In 2000, Congress amended a law to allow states to replace their statues.[2] 15 statues have since then been removed and replaced.
The National Statuary Hall Collection comprises 60 statues of bronze and 39 of marble. Several sculptors have created multiple statues for the collection, the most prolific being Charles Henry Niehaus who sculpted eight statues currently and formerly in the collection. The US states that sent the statues, not Congress nor the Architect of the Capitol, are authorized to remove them. Kansas was the first state to replace a statue in 2003, and the first state to replace both in 2022.
Current
More information Commissioned by, Statue ...
Table featuring sculptures in the National Statuary Hall Collection
"Harlan Statue Project". Iowa.gov. Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs. August 13, 2015. Archived from the original on December 7, 2020. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
Murphy, Kevin (May 5, 2020). "Glick going home to Kansas". The Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on December 27, 2020. Retrieved December 27, 2020.