RICHMOND, Va. – The Department of General Services is moving the Edgar Allen Poe statue on Capital Square.
DGS is moving the statue from the southwest portion of Capitol Square to the northwest corner of it.
The statue is being relocated because of construction of the “Mantle”, the Virginia Indian Tribute, and the planed Virginia Women’s Monument, “Voices from the Garden.”
The Capitol Square Preservation Council supports the move because the new monuments are much larger than the Poe statue and change the context of that portion of Capitol Square. Poe will join several other single-honorary statues on the north side of the grounds.
Fine Art Specialist will be completed the week of Nov. 20, and a company that specializes in art relocation and has completed other projects on Capitol Square, including the mounting of the Thomas Jefferson statue inside the Virginia Capitol extension.
George Edward Barksdale, a retired physician who greatly admired Poe, is the reason that the statue was added to Capitol Square in 1956.
