The tallest statue in Africa stands at nearly 200 feet tall and was constructed on top of a 328ft hill, and while it’s a marvel to look at, it was a highly controversial project.
The African Renaissance Monument, a towering 171ft bronze edifice perched atop the Collines des Mamelles just outside Dakar, Senegal, stands as Africa’s tallest statue.
Conceived by the then-President Abdoulaye Wade and brought to life by Senegalese architect Pierre Goudiaby, the monument was constructed by North Korea‘s Mansudae Overseas Projects.
Work to prepare the site on the 328ft high hill commenced in 2006, with the actual construction of the statue starting two years later in 2008.
Although initially set for completion in December 2009, the project faced delays, culminating in its grand unveiling in April 2010, a date that holds significant national pride as Senegal’s “National Day”, marking 50 years since the nation’s emancipation from French colonial rule.
The initiative was spearheaded by the then-Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, who saw it as a symbol of Senegal’s grand projects, designed to signal a new epoch in the African Renaissance.
It depicts a family reaching skyward, with the man lifting his child on his biceps and clasping his wife at the waist, embodying “an Africa emerging from the bowels of the earth, leaving obscurantism to go towards the light”.
The monument is a portrayal of an African family facing the North-West.
The responsibility for the monument’s design was given to Senegalese architect Pierre Goudiaby Atepa, noted in particular for creating the Door of the Third Millennium, which dominates the Corniche Ouest of Dakar.
The concept was “drawn” by President Wade himself, who claims 35 percent of the copyright, although the original impetus came from Senegalese artist Ousmane Sow, who later distanced himself from the project due to a clash with the country’s leader.
Thousands took to the streets to protest what they called “all the failures of President Wade’s regime, the least of which is this horrible statue”, with riot police on standby to keep the peace.
Opposition deputy leader Ndeye Fatou Toure slammed the monument as an “economic monster and a financial scandal in the context of the current [economic] crisis”. The massive statue came under fire for its hefty price tag of £16.6m.
The unusual payment was made not in cash but through 30-to 40-hectares of land, variously reported to have been donated by a Senegalese businessman or constituted state-owned land.
