The Columbus statue in South Philly has been unboxed. Its fate is still up in the air. Here’s what to know.

After more than two years in a box, the statue of Christopher Columbus at Marconi Plaza on Broad and Oregon Streets in South Philadelphia has been re-revealed.

The move came following a Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court order last week that required the City of Philadelphia to remove the box, which it installed in June 2020. Crews took down the structure around the statue on Sunday night, days after the city said it was “disappointed in the Court’s ruling,” but was “working to comply” with the order.

The court also upheld a previous ruling in which a judge said that the city didn’t follow the legally required process to remove the statue.

It is the latest development for the statue, which has stood at Marconi Plaza since 1976, and had a presence in Philadelphia since 1876. Here is what you need to know:

The conflict over the statue came amid the racial justice protests of June 2020 following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Those protests brought a broader nationwide reckoning about the legacy of racism in the United States, including over which historical figures we choose to honor.

But Columbus was a controversial figure both nationwide and in Philadelphia before 2020. In 2019, for example, Native American rights activists protested a groundbreaking ceremony at Columbus Square in South Philadelphia, saying the park’s namesake was a killer and enslaver who did not deserve the honor. And in 2018, the Columbus monument in Marconi Plaza was defaced with graffiti that read, “end Columbus Day,” “genocide,” “stolen land,” and “Italian Americans against racism.”

Some Italian American groups have defended Marconi Plaza’s Columbus statue as a symbol for their heritage. But historians have noted that Columbus did not set foot on the United States’ mainland, and have documented his enslavement and abuse of Indigenous peoples.

In June 2020, the city removed the controversial statue of former Mayor and Police Commissioner Frank L. Rizzo from Thomas Paine Plaza in Center City, prompting demonstrations at the Columbus monument in Marconi Plaza.

Demonstrators at the statue, some of whom were armed, said that they believed protesters hoped to tear the monument down, while others noted that they considered Columbus an emblem of their Italian American heritage. The situation quickly escalated, leading to physical confrontations, which some observers claimed police allowed to happen.

Following those incidents, Mayor Jim Kenney said that a “boxing apparatus” would be installed around the statue to preserve it, and called on the Philadelphia Art Commission to review “the statue, its location, and its appropriateness in a public park.”

The Philadelphia Historical and Art Commissions voted to remove the statute from Marconi Plaza and place it in temporary storage as the city deliberated a new permanent home for the monument. But that action was quickly halted by a court decision that paused the statue’s removal. The years-long legal battle between the city and the group Friends of Marconi Plaza, who sought to preserve the statue, continued to play out in court.

On Friday, Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled that the city must remove the plywood box, reversing a 2021 court decision.

Attorney George Bochetto, who represents Friends of Marconi Plaza, hailed the order as an “authoritative opinion on many, many levels.”

The city removed the box about 9:30 p.m. Sunday. Workers disassembled the box with the aid of a cherry picker and several spotlights.

Mabel Negrete, executive director of Indigenous People’s Day Philly Inc., told The Inquirer that members of the region’s Indigenous community were “fed up” with the statue controversy.

“It’s tiring, because we’re talking about a community that is very in the minority,” Negrete said. “Unfortunately, the Italian Americans that are pro-Columbus do not see the role they play, from the 1800s to this day, in the propaganda to remove Native Americans within the United States. This is a propaganda of proliferation within the country.”

Rich Cedrone, president of Friends of Marconi Plaza, said he was “very pleased” with the court decision, and called the appeals process a “long, hard battle.”

The city is “reviewing the ruling,” spokesperson Kevin Lessard said. He added that while the city will respect the court’s decision, it will also “continue to explore our options for a way forward that allows Philadelphians to celebrate their heritage and culture while respecting the histories and circumstances of everyone’s different backgrounds.”

The city has not yet decided whether to petition the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to hear an appeal of the Commonwealth Court’s decision, said Andrew Richman, chief of staff of the city’s Law Department. A successful appeal could allow the city to move the statue or reinstall the box. The city has 30 days from Friday’s decision to file an appeal.

But for now, Lessard said, the city will consider adding more context to the statue.

“The City will also explore adding a plaque or signage to the Christopher Columbus statue that recontextualizes Columbus’ complex history,” he said.