2021 Symbol of New York: The Story of the 'Charging Bull' on Wall Street

The Wall Street Statue of the Charging Bull is one of the most famous landmarks in New York City. Before the pandemic, the queue of tourists who wanted to take pictures with him almost never dried up. According to some estimates, about a thousand tourists came to see the sculpture every day. And now she is also a symbol of the year (according to the Chinese calendar, 2021 is the year of the White Bull), which came on February 12. And while New York's Chinatown continues to celebrate the New Year, we decided to tell about the history of its symbolic monument in this metropolis.

A 3,2-ton "attacking bull" appeared in front of the New York Stock Exchange on December 15, 1989. Medusa... Its author, an American of Italian descent Arturo di Modica, cast the bull in bronze and installed it in Manhattan at his own expense and on his own initiative. As conceived by the artist, "Attacking Bull" (the statue is 3,4 meters high and 4,9 meters long) personified the strength and power of the Americans who defeated the financial crisis of 1987. "Bulls" in the exchange slang are called traders focused on economic recovery and rising stock prices.

The sculptor worked on it for 2 years, and on the night of December 15, together with his assistants, he installed it on the Broad Street dividing strip - under the Christmas tree, facing the stock exchange. He spent 360 dollars of own funds for thatto cast and set the sculpture.

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For the city authorities, the appearance of the art object was as unexpected as for the New Yorkers: the installation of the sculpture was not agreed, its appearance in the middle of the street caused a traffic collapse. On the same day, the police decided to confiscate the sculpture, and the exchange administration took it out at its own expense - this upset many townspeople who did not have time to see it.

After public protests, the city authorities decided to accept the artist's gift and return it to the city - they found a place for the "Attacking Bull" two blocks to the south, on Bowling Green Square. There it is still located and during this time has become one of the main city attractions. The tourists even got into the habit of rubbing his genitals - it is believed that this brings good luck.

Incidentally, the art object can be observed right from home. On this link available broadcast from a webcam installed near the "Attacking Bull".

In 2004, di Modica, who still owns the copyright for the sculpture, announced that he was putting the bronze bull up for sale on the condition that the buyer would not move the statue from its current location. In 2006 and 2009, the sculptor filed lawsuits against a number of companies, including Wal-Mart, for obtaining illegal profit by using images of the statue in their advertising campaigns and selling copies of the bull. In 2009 di Modica sued the publishing house Random House for using a picture of a bull on the cover of a book about the collapse of financial departments Lehman Brothers.

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Since the city of New York does not own the statue, it stands in its current location thanks to a special permit issued in 1989, at the same time it was officially declared that "this location of the monument is temporary."

In the past three years, there has been talk of moving it, but in the summer of 2020 these plans were rejected - the statue will remain where it had spent the previous 31 years.