Lost – and found – Lincoln statue in Salzburg/Austria

[Angela]

Not long ago, the gentleman in charge of all the public statues in Salzburg swore to me a holy oath that it didn’t exist. But it does.
There is a copy of Anna Hyatt Huntington’s “Abraham Lincoln on the Prairie" to be found in the city of Salzburg.
The Austrian Minister of Education had originally seen this statue at the llinois State pavilion of the New York World’s Fair of 1963 and he admired it greatly.
A copy was gifted to Austria and due to a strike of the New York dock workers, it was taken to Genua/Italia via the USS Mountrail in 1965 and erected in Salzburg behind the freshly renovated “Teacher’s House” downtown on July 28th 1965. The ceremony was honored by a telegram from president Johnson who emphasized the friendship between two countries.
Nowadays, the ground is not public but privately owned and the statue now stands in the backyard of the “Muffin Hostel” at Leopoldskronstrasse. Apart from the fact that I can now make an offer on the privately owned statue (it would look GREAT in my backyard), I find this…sad.

[LincolnMan]

Wow! Never heard this before. Gene, Joe, Rob, and I just visited the same statie in New Salem. I have also seen the statue in Midland, Michigan- and a mini-version of it in Adrian , Michigan. There are other places where the statue has been placed also.

[Angela]

(11-03-2013 01:51 PM)LincolnMan Wrote:  Wow! Never heard this before. Gene, Joe, Rob, and I just visited the same statie in New Salem. I have also seen the statue in Midland, Michigan- and a mini-version of it in Adrian , Michigan. There are other places where the statue has been placed also.

This is a gorgeous statue! And yes, the man who is responsible for the statues in Salzburg had never heard about it before either.
I wanted to visit the one in New Salem during a trip this summer - but I could not leave Springfield, there was too much to do and see, and then ran out of time.

[RJNorton]

This is an amazing discovery, Angela! Thank you so much for sharing this. In addition to this one I know there are statues of Lincoln in Scotland, England, and three in Mexico. Does anyone know of any more outside the USA?

[Anita]

Roger, According to the International Lincoln Society there are Lincoln statues also in in Union Square, Guatemala; Brantford, Ontario
Canada; Ramat-Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv.

The site mentions other recognitions of Lincoln outside the USA such as streets named after him. http://internationallincolnassociation.org/Legacy.aspx

Laurie, It also states "Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the emir of Qatar, visited the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum on May 17, 2006 and later sent a $1 million check in support of it." Think he'd like to visit the Surratt House?

[Angela]

Thank you Roger! There is another one in France, on a college campus. But I remember seeing a picture and it was very much modern art.

[RJNorton]

Thank you, Anita and Angela! This is a question I sometimes receive from students, and I will add those locations to the list. Much appreciated!

[Angela]

Just wanted to let you all know that I am heading to Salzburg tomorrow and during the visit I plan on finding the statue mentioned above. I hope the pictures will not be too depressing since it might not be in a very good condition, but I'll post them anyhow.

[RJNorton]

Wonderful, Angela!!

[Eva Elisabeth]

Good success, Angela, and have a great trip and happy Labor Day!

[Anita]

Travel safely. May you be pleasantly surprised on the statue's condition. And who knows what else you may find related to Lincoln on this quest. Will be looking forward to your news and photos.

[Angela]

Greetings from Austria - success!
I found the statue I was talking about the other day in beautiful Salzburg/Austria.

Just as told, it stands in the backyard of what is today a Youth Hostel, opened only three month in the year. Since that period had not started, the place was abandoned but well taken care of (mostly).

The statue is nestled between trees and fairly well maintained and clean. A little less taken care of is the plaque which is hidden in a overgrowth a little to the side and the inscription is hardly readable anymore.

The place is anything but public. Visitors are kept out by a low fence and a gate that has a large sign which informs any possible intruder about this being “private ground” and to “keep out”.

Nevertheless, the gate happened to be open. Therefore, I applied the international definition of “private” which is “private – but only meant seriously if enforced by heavy locks, guard dogs or angry neighbors, threatening to call the police”.

Illegal trespassing on my record, I enjoyed the fact that I had not only the park but the statue to myself and to my camera for as long as it pleased me. It was great fun and only my bad choice in shoes kept me from climbing the horse to get even more angles.

I’m still working on finding out the official status of the statue that was a gift to Austria, yet sits on privately owned ground.

Can it be sold by the owner?
Would the owner have to grant access to the public if a visitor demanded it?

[Gene C]

Angela, how does it compare in size to the statue Rob took at New Salem?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/springfiel...6546929876

[Angela]

Gene, I'd say the same. I'm 5'7 - here is a pic to compare.

[RJNorton]

Angela, your photos are terrific! Thank you for posting!

I think Anna Hyatt Huntington's statue is a popular one as there are several in the USA. On his blog Bill Nash has a photo of himself with the statue in Midland, Michigan.