Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 25, Number 10, 1 October 2008 — Kamehameha statue [ARTICLE]

Kamehameha statue

The King Kamehameha statue in Washington, D.C., has a new home, but visitors to the nation's eapital will have to wait until Dee. 2 to see it. "The King's statue will oeeupy a loeahon in the New Emaneipation Hall, whieh is part of the visitor eenter that features glass skylights with views, from underground, of the Capitol," Congressman Neil Abererombie's Washington offiee said in a Aug. 27 news release. "This will provide an absolutely grand setting for millions of visitors to view the statue and to appreeiate King Kamehameha's plaee in history."

Abererombie signed a letter in 2003 asking that the statue be reloeated from a "dark, baek row of Statuary Hall" to a more visible loeale, after a tour guide was videotaped saying the statue's plaeement reflected Congress' disapproval of Kamehameha's inunodest attire. The statue, along with one of Father Damien, had stood in Statuary Hall since 1969 as a gift from Hawai'i. The new visitor eenter is slated to open in December.