Replica of Lynchburg’s first public statue unveiled

LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) _ A replica of a historic downtown Lynchburg statue has been unveiled about three years after the 1883 artwork collapsed. Multiple media outlets report that the city’s newly cast form of an androgynous water bearer was unveiled Tuesday during the opening of a $5.8 million pedestrian project. The original water bearer had been installed as the city’s first public statue, but the zinc artwork fell under its own weight and shattered in 2012. Artist Ken Faraoni says he made the new statue out of bronze because it is a more enduring medium than zinc. City leaders hope the water bearer will be the first of many public art displays on the newly opened Bluffwalk, a pedestrian mall linking Commerce and Jefferson streets.