Outdoor Sculpture in Baltimore: A Historical Guide to Public Art in the Monumental City

In the first half of the nineteenth century, the most impressive sculptural monuments in America were under construction in Baltimore. Before New York, Philadelphia, and even Washington, D.C., the city built a monument to George Washington, and Baltimore commissioned the country’s first public monument dedicated to those killed in battle. After touring both these sites in 1827, President John Quincy Adams declared Baltimore “the Monumental City,” a moniker still used today.

Cindy Kelly leads readers to more than 250 sculptures found throughout Baltimore with eighteen walking and driving tours, each with accompanying maps to make finding the pieces easy. Including a brief synopsis—including title, location, sculptor, date, medium, donor—and a photograph, Kelly tells the fascinating stories behind Baltimore’s monuments.

Kelly mined local archives and conducted interviews with contemporary artists to uncover the details behind the city’s public sculptures. As she talks about how each piece was commissioned, constructed, and dedicated, the rich cultural, economic, and social history of the city unfolds.

From the nineteenth-century splendor of Mount Vernon Place to the twentieth-century sculpture of the Inner Harbor, Kelly invites us to see Baltimore in a wholly fresh perspective. Follow her as she guides readers to the extraordinary outdoor art that makes Baltimore “the Monumental City.”