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On Monday afternoon, videos showed the area surrounding Pike's statue in Washington with a sign that read "Area close. Historic preservation work in progress". "The restoration aligns with federal responsibilities under historic-preservation law and recent executive orders to beautify the nation’s capital and restore pre-existing statues," the National Park Service in a statement. These confederate statues caused US protests. Knocked down, they're the centre of a new art show The statue, which was built in 1901, has been a source of controversy for many years. Members of local government have been calling for its removal for decades. Holmes Norton, a long-time critic, has introduced legislation to remove the Pike statue permanently multiple times. "Pike himself served dishonourably," she said in a statement after the statue was restored. "He took up arms against the United States, misappropriated funds, and was ultimately captured and imprisoned by his own troops." "Confederate statues should be placed in museums as historical artifacts, not remain in parks or other locations that imply honor," Holmes Norton added. Pike's statue was the only monument to a Confederate general in the nation's capital before it was pulled down in 2020. Pike was a longtime leader of the Freemasons, a centuries-old secretive society, who paid for the statue. His body is interred at the Washington headquarters of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, which also contains a small museum in his honour. Pike's critics have accused him of being instrumental in the formation of the Ku Klux Klan. Masons insist that evidence doesn't support the allegations.
