After months of work, a City of Turlock subcommittee has located a site for a donated statue of Queen Shamiram, the first female ruler of the Neo Assyrian Empire.
On Thursday, the Turlock City Arts Commission unanimously accepted a recommendation to site the statue at Turlock City Hall. The nine-foot tall bronze statue depicting Shamiram, valued at $250,000, will be displayed on Broadway near the engineering department, in an alcove in front of a balcony.
The location was recommended by an ad-hoc committee, but was ultimately chosen by the statue's donor Narsai David, a chef, radio, and television personality, originally of Turlock.
David donated the statue to the City of Turlock in January, after California State University, Stanislaus declined the piece. The college said the artwork did not fit into the university's public art plan.
An ad-hoc subcommittee, comprised of Turlock City Arts Commissioners and Turlock Parks, Recreation, and Community Programs Commissioners, then drafted several lists of acceptable sites, all of which were rejected by David for various reasons. Throughout the process, CSU Stanislaus remained David and the local Assyrian-American community's preferred site.
In April the college said it might, eventually, allow the statue to be sited there, but that a decision would take at least two years. At the same time, the subcommittee recommended two city-owned sites: the Turlock Senior Center, located at 1191 Cahill Ave., and the Carnegie Arts Center, located at 250 N. Broadway.
No word was heard from the subcommittee until Thursday, when the City Hall location came to light and earned the support of the Turlock City Arts Commission.
The City Hall location is not yet final. The Turlock City Arts Commission will hold a public hearing to discuss the site in the coming months, after David completes some paperwork. That recommendation will then go to the Turlock City Council for final approval.
If approved, David will pay for all installation costs. There is no firm time frame as to when that installation would occur.
The Arts Commission's suggested location at City Hall for the Queen Shamiram statue.
He should have used that money to fix Monte Vista Avenue in front of the College