A temporary capsule of elements from current events was installed on Saturday on the pedestal massif that once contained a statue dedicated to Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
The crews gathered Saturday at the site of Richmond, Virginia, where the statue of Lee was removed to install the capsule full of memories that marked the pivotal news, a government official confirmed to The Associated Press. The time capsule was installed on the pedestal that formerly served as the base for the Confederate statue.
The capsule includes articles related to the coronavirus pandemic and the movement for racial justice during the months following the assassination of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.
The Hill has contacted the office of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) for additional information.
The facility comes after crews spent more than 12 hours Thursday trying to locate an 1887 time capsule that officials believed was buried inside the 40-foot-tall granite pedestal beneath Lee’s statue.
However, the AP noted that the teams were unable to locate the original copper capsule despite using it. radar devices that penetrate the ground, a metal detector and other construction equipment.
Northam chief of staff Clark Mercer told the AP after crews interrupted the search: “It’s disappointing not to find the time capsule.”
“We looked at where we thought it was,” he added. “It doesn’t stop us (in the future) from finding it, but for now the mystery will continue.”
Hundreds of people had gathered in the area on Wednesday to celebrate the removal of the statue of Lee, which for years had been hailed by critics as a lasting symbol of white supremacy.
People cheered as a massive crane lifted the monument off the pedestal and left it on the ground, before workers began cutting the statue into pieces so it could be easily transported under overpasses from the road to a facility. state, where it is expected to remain until the final decision on its placement is made.
Northam first announced in June 2020 that the statue would be removed, although the project was delayed by more than a year due to lawsuits filed by a group of Richmond residents and a descendant of the family who gave the statue to Virginia.
The Virginia Supreme Court unanimously ruled earlier this month on moving forward with the statue’s removal, arguing that the state government was not bound by prior agreements that had previously prohibited the removal of state-owned monuments.
Northam was among those who gathered Wednesday to see how the statue was removed, and wrote in a statement later:It is time to show history as history and to use public memorials to honor the full and inclusive truth of who we are today and in the future. ”