MEXICO CITY -- A statue of Christopher Columbus that was taken down from Mexico City’s central boulevard won’t be going back up for months.

Restorers say that years of protest graffiti and weather have taken their toll on the 1877 statuary and it will not be ready for reinstallation until the first half of 2022, and when it does go back up it will be at a less prominent and sensitive location.

It was removed last year supposedly for restoration, shortly before Oct. 12, which Americans know as Columbus Day but Mexicans call “Dia de la Raza,” or “Day of the Race” — the anniversary of Columbus’ arrival in the Americas in 1492. Protesters frequently targeted the Columbus statue for graffiti.

City authorities announced this week that Columbus and the four missionaries who surround him will be reinstalled in a park in an upscale Mexico City neighborhood. The prime site on the city’s iconic Reforma boulevard will be given to a statue representing an Indigenous woman, but a replacement hasn't been picked yet.