LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — King Louis XVI has not held court at the corner of Jefferson and Sixth streets for quite some time. Where the statue once stood is now just a black asphalt patch, the light that once shone on the city’s namesake has been covered, and faint bits of green paint still mark the protests of 2020.

At the height of the demonstrations that year, vandals damaged the statue, breaking off a marble hand and waving it through the crowd. The monument, a 1967 gift from Louisville’s French sister city, was later removed and placed in storage after suffering extensive damage.

Metro Councilmember Ben Reno-Weber said restoring the statue will not be easy or cheap.

“It needs just over $200,000,” Reno-Weber said. “Because it is such a specialized piece of art with significant damage, there aren’t many firms that can do the work.”

City crews tried to clean and protect the statue during the unrest, but those efforts may have done more harm than good.

“It was outside and improperly sealed,” Reno-Weber explained. “During the 2020 protests, it was vandalized. And we, in an attempt to keep it clean, power washed it every day, which is not in the instructions of care for said statue.”

King Louis was eventually removed from public view and stored at a municipal lot. His absence left a visible gap downtown, but city officials are now moving forward with plans to bring him back.

Metro Council approved money for repairs two years ago, but no contractors initially bid on the project. That changed when a city staff member located a qualified conservationist in Ohio willing to take on the restoration.

Once the work begins, it will take about a month to complete. But where King Louis will be displayed after his repairs remains uncertain.

“We have to figure out where to put it, because it is eight tons and complicated to move and place,” Reno-Weber said.

For now, the future of King Louis’s reign — whether he returns to his old spot at Sixth and Jefferson or finds a new throne elsewhere — remains to be seen.

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