Edward Colston statue should be displayed in museum, says commission

The deposed statue of slave trader Edward Colston should be put on display in a museum in its current state, an independent commission has recommended.

The We Are Bristol History Commission said the statue should enter the permanent collection of Bristol’s museum service and preserved in its current condition.

It said it should be exhibited and the history of Colston should be presented in a “nuanced, contextualised and engaging way”.

The commission also said the plinth in Bristol should remain and a new plaque installed to explain the history of Colston and how the memorial was toppled during a Black Lives Matter protest in June 2020.

After being damaged and daubed with graffiti, it was rolled into the nearby harbour by protesters.

Days later it was recovered from the water and put on temporary display in the M Shed museum. It is now in storage.

The presence of the Colston statue has divided Bristol for decades, with many people campaigning to have it removed.

In the wake of its toppling, Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees established the commission to consider the next steps.

The commission examined nearly 14,000 responses from a survey conducted into what should happen to the statue and the plinth.

Professor Tim Cole, chair of the commission, said: “Starting out on this process of consultation, I was unsure how united or divided the city would be.

“Reading through the thoughtful comments that people wrote, it is clear that not only are the events of June 2020 and what we do now something that many care about, but there is also considerable shared thinking and feeling in the city.”