Criticism[edit]
Expense[edit]
Thousands of people protested against "all the failures of President Wade's regime, the least of which is this horrible statue" on the city's streets beforehand, with riot police deployed to maintain control.
[3] Deputy leader of the opposition
Ndeye Fatou Toure described the monument as an "economic monster and a financial scandal in the context of the current [economic] crisis".
The colossal statue has been criticized for its cost at
US$ 27 million (
£16.6m).
[1] The payment was made in kind, with 30 to 40 hectares of land that will be sponsored by a Senegalese businessman.
[7]
Style[edit]
Senegalese opposition leaders also questioned the style of the project, while art critics argued that the body shapes are cartoon-like, with only vaguely African facial features.
[1][
failed verification] It was also suggested that the monument is a stark representation of the macho sexism of African authoritarian rulers.
[8] The statue's design was derided internationally because of false claims of its Senegalese origin, actually having been designed by a Romanian architect and built by a North Korean sculpting company famous for various projects and large statues throughout Africa since the 1970s.
[9] It was a poorly received piece by art critics around the world after its much-delayed unveiling in 2010 and was compared by some to the infamous (and once-abandoned)
Christopher Columbus statue project that was unveiled in
Arecibo,
Puerto Rico in 2016.
[10] Local
imams argued that a statue depicting a human figure is
idolatrous and objected to the perceived immodesty of the semi-nude male and female figures.
[11]
In December 2009, President Abdoulaye Wade apologised to Senegal's Christian minority for comparing the statue to
Jesus Christ.
[1]
Revenue[edit]
The project has also attracted controversy due to Wade's claim to the
intellectual property rights of the statue, and insisting that he is entitled to 35 percent of the profits raised.
[11] Opposition figures have sharply criticised Wade's plan to claim intellectual property rights, insisting that the president cannot claim copyright over ideas conceived as a function of his public office.
[12][1]
Local artists[edit]
Ousmane Sow, a world-renowned Senegalese sculptor, also objected to the use of North Korean builders, saying it was anything but a symbol of African Renaissance and nothing to do with art.
[13]