Crews started to remove the statue of Christopher Columbus across from the state capitol early Monday morning.
There was no notice of the removal in advance.
The statue is located at Washington and Lafayette Streets.
The action comes soon after statues in New Haven, Middletown, and New London were also removed.
It was not immediately clear where the statue was taken.
Mayor Luke Bronin will be working with members of the Greater Hartford Italian American community to come up with an alternative way of honoring their contributions to Hartford, and those conversations are ongoing.
“We took down the statue of Christopher Columbus early this morning, and we will continue the process of working with the Italian American community in Hartford and Greater Hartford to find a better way to honor and commemorate the Italian American community's immense contributions to our community and our country,” said Mayor Bronin. “Even during his own life and by the standards of his own time, Columbus was known and punished for his extraordinary tyranny and brutality, and there are better ways and more worthy heroes to honor the proud heritage and legacy of our Italian American community.”
Columbus supporters see the explorer as an important symbol of Italian American heritage, while opponents condemned Columbus as a white supremacist who touched off centuries of European oppression and the decimation of Indigenous peoples.
A Christopher Columbus statue in New Haven was removed after protesters clashed in brief skirmishes. Opponents and supporters of the 1892 statue gathered June 24 in Wooster Square Park. There was shouting and shoving.
Columbus statue removed in Hartford
Other cities are also dealing with public anger about statues of Columbus.
In Boston, one was beheaded before being taken down. Protesters in Richmond, Virginia, and Minneapolis pulled down statues. The one in Richmond was tossed in a lake.
Columbus, Ohio, says it will take down its Columbus statue, and some have suggested renaming the town Flavortown, in honor of celebrity chef Guy Fieri, a native son.
A statue of Christopher Columbus was temporarily removed from Middletown's Harbor Park over the weekend in preparation for construction work, but officials are considering making the move permanent amid debate nationally over the explorer's legacy.
Maintenance work at the park is scheduled to start in early July, and Mayor Ben Florsheim said that the temporary removal and storage of the statue was approved at the last meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission.
