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Statue of Alexander von Humboldt (Philadelphia)

Coordinates: 39°58′56″N 75°12′21″W / 39.98224°N 75.20581°W / 39.98224; -75.20581
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Alexander von Humboldt statue
The monument in 2024
Map
39°58′56″N 75°12′21″W / 39.98224°N 75.20581°W / 39.98224; -75.20581
LocationFairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
DesignerFriedrich Drake
MaterialBronze
Granite (pedestal)
Beginning dateSeptember 13, 1869
Completion date1871
Dedicated date1876
Dedicated toAlexander von Humboldt

The Alexander von Humboldt statue is a monumental statue of Alexander von Humboldt in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Located in Fairmount Park, the statue was completed in 1871 and donated to the city in 1876.

History

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Alexander von Humboldt was a Prussian polymath active during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.[1] In May 1804, on the last stage of his scientific journey through the Americas, he visited Philadelphia.[2] On September 13, 1869, on the centennial anniversary of Humboldt's birth, the cornerstone for a monument honoring him was laid in Fairmount Park, on a knoll overlooking the Girard Avenue Bridge, by the city's German society.[3] The statue on Humboldt was designed by Friedrich Drake, a German sculptor based in Berlin.[4] It was dedicated in 1871.[5] Several years later, in 1876, on the centennial of American independence, the statue was gifted to the city of Philadelphia and dedicated again.[6] According to the Association for Public Art, the statue was moved to another part of the park in 1977.

Design

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The monument consists of a bronze sculpture of Humboldt placed on a granite socle. Humboldt is wearing a long coat, with his left hand on a globe. In his right hand is a scroll with "COSMOS" written on it.[6]

See also

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References

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Bibliography

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  • Philadelphia, a Guide to the Nation's Birthplace. Compiled by the Federal Writers' Project, sponsored by the Pennsylvania Historical Commission (1st ed.). The Telegraph Press. 1937. p. 549. ISBN 978-1-62376-058-8 – via Google Books.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  • Andreas W. Daum, "Nation, Naturforschung und Monument: Humboldt-Denkmäler in Deutschland und den USA" [Humboldt monuments in Germany and the US]. Die Kunst der Geschichte: Historiographie, Ästhetik, Erzählung, ed. Martin Baumeister et al. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2009, 99‒124.
  • Pohlsander, Hans A. (2010). German Monuments in the Americas: Bonds Across the Atlantic. Peter Lang. ISBN 978-3-0343-0138-1 – via Google Books.
  • Scharf, J. Thomas; Westcott, Thompson (1884). History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884. Vol. III. L. H. Everts & Company – via Google Books.
  • Tatlock, Lynne; Erlin, Matt, eds. (2005). German Culture in Nineteenth-century America: Reception, Adaptation, Transformation. Camden House Publishing. ISBN 978-1-57113-308-3 – via Google Books.
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