How does this artwork elucidate its Replacement?
The work is protected by the university's artwork commission for the University City of Caracas campus World Heritage Site. In 2004, a replica was commissioned by the council of the City of Caracas so that the original statue could be protected. The replica was made by Silvestre Chacón. However, during the process of casting the replica, the original was significantly damaged; it has since been repaired by restorer Fernando de Tovar, who described the replica as "ridiculous". Despite the repair and calls to put the original back on display, until 2022 it was kept locked in a workshop at UCV. While the original was being repaired, the Caracas council had fought and lost a legal battle with the university to assume care of it; in response, then-mayor Freddy Bernal placed the replica on the highway pedestal before the university could reinstate the original. Between then and the illicit removal of the statue in 2022, the rivalry of ownership and the ideological significance of the statue intensified. The Institutional Assets and Monuments of Venezuela project wrote that objections to the replacement suggest that because the original statue is the one that holds heritage value, it is the one that the public should be able to appreciate. Followers of María Lionza also debated the benefits of returning the statue to its original location on the campus; some members of the university and the government instead wanted to move the statue further away from the city center. Another replica was installed at Chivacoa, near Sorte mountain, in 2006.
University City of Caracas María Lionza Caracas Chivacoa pedestal University City Sorte mountain Freddy Bernal World Heritage Site