Toppled statue of slave trader to go back on display in Bristol

A statue of transatlantic slave trader Edward Colston that was pulled down by protesters will return to public display at a museum in Bristol next year.

The controversial monument gained worldwide attention after it was toppled during a Black Lives Matter demonstration in 2020 before being thrown into the city’s harbour.

It was temporarily displayed at M Shed Museum from June 2021 to January 2022 but has been out of public view since.

Following a city-wide consultation and a We Are Bristol History Commission report, the statue will be included in a new M Shed exhibition on protest and racial injustice from March next year.

In a blog post, Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees said: "The vast majority (80 per cent) of Bristol residents who responded agreed that the best place for the statue in the future was in one of our museums."

"To help make this a reality, an application to regularise the legal position of the listed asset, away from its plinth, has recently been submitted, which will go to a planning committee early in the new year."

Rees said the application was submitted following discussions with Historic England.

Last month the Department for Culture, Media and Sport published a five-step "tool-kit" for cultural decision-makers to follow when faced with calls to remove a public statue or monument.

Known as ‘retain and explain’, the government's strategy for contentious heritage assets has, since 2021, been to keep them in place, accompanied by an explanation of their historical context.