Farewell mystery: there was no “time capsule” hidden in the monument to General Lee in Virginia

After removing huge pottery for a day and a half, with a certain mystery due to the legends which spoke of a supposed “time capsule” hidden in the huge monument to the general Robert lee In Richmond, Virginia’s capital, the search ended in disappointment: there was no capsule, there was no message since the time of secession, there was nothing hidden in this monument that drew criticism of those who consider Lee “a symbol of racism in America”.

The bronze statue of General Robert E. Lee, who commanded the Army of Northern Virginia during the Civil War, was removed Wednesday in Richmond, the city of Virginia that was the capital of the South during the terrible secession conflict that has bled the country between 1861 and 1865.

Built in 1890, the towering figure of Lee riding a horse is one of hundreds of Confederate monuments in the United States that are widely regarded as “symbols of racism” alluding to the defense of the slave model that Lee advocated in the field. battle.

Once the sculpture is removed, Workers began the search for the so-called “time capsule”, which was believed to have been hidden in one of the stones at the base of the impressive 12-meter-tall granite monument.

However, after lifting dozens of stones and finding nothing, the search was called off and the mystery remained anecdote. “After a long, hard day, it is a fact that the time capsule will not be found, and Virginia is tired of the lost causes,” said Grant Neely, communications manager in the governor’s office at the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

“The search for this moldy Confederate box is over. We will continue with our life. “ added the official without half measures, describing the humor of the local government after the displacement. It all comes from an article published in an 1887 newspaper, which claimed that this time capsule which had been hidden in the monument hid “relics of the civil war, Confederate coins, a bible, a photo of Abraham Lincoln in his coffin “and other objects.

In response to the disappointment of the search that ended without treasure, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam ordered that a new time capsule be placed on the monument’s pedestal, which in the future “Represent the Virginia of today, anchored in values ​​of inclusion, equity and diversity.”

Among the items that will contain the new 2021 model capsule will be a photograph of a black ballerina, a vial of expired anticovid vaccine, a sticker from the “Black Lives Matter” movement and a book about immigrants who settled in Virginia.

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