Colston statue to go on permanent display

A statue of the transatlantic slave trader Edward Colston will go on display at Bristol's M Shed museum after councillors rubberstamped the move yesterday (21 February).

The Art Newspaper reports that Bristol City Council's planning committee removed the statue’s Grade-II listing as part of the process for making it part of the museum’s collection.

The statue was toppled by protesters in 2020 before being plunged into Bristol Harbour. It was included in a temporary exhibition at the M Shed Museum but has been out of public view since January 2022.

A city-wide survey by the We Are Bristol History Commission found that 80% of respondents were supportive of the statue going on display at M Shed.

The commission’s chair, Professor Tim Cole of Bristol University, said: “I was pleased to see that the planning committee approved the officer's report recommending that the statue enter permanently into the museum collection. 

"Museum display emerged overwhelmingly in the conversation we — as a history commission — had with the city in 2021 as the most appropriate site for this contested and complex object."