It is still to be decided whether Karl Marx’s grave in Highgate Cemetery will be repaired after being vandalised this week.
Chris Paine, from Historic England who helps to look after the memorial, has said the damage may be left as it is as it now stands to represent a moment in history.
He speaks of the importance of “telling a story through damage” – but also stresses that the decision to repair it or not will be made alongside the Friends of Highgate Cemetery and the Marx Grave Trust.
The Grade 1-listed monument was attacked earlier in the week with what is thought to be a hammer, although no witnesses have yet come forward. The Metropolitan Police may close the investigation due to lack of evidence.
The section damaged was the marble plaque engraved with his and his wife’s name which was taken from Marx’s original 1883 gravestone and incorporated in the 1954 memorial.
Karl Marx's memorial has been vandalised! It looks like someone has had a go at it with a hammer. It's a Grade I-listed monument; this is no way to treat our heritage. @MarxLibrary @HeritageCrime We will repair as far as possible. pic.twitter.com/6nY2TJOjw7
— Highgate Cemetery (@HighgateCemeter) February 5, 2019
Ian Dungavell, the chief executive of the Friends of Highgate Cemetery Trust, condemned the incident, calling it “mindless vandalism, not political commentary.”
“You don’t have to be a Marxist to think this is an important monument,” added Dungavell.
But this isn’t anything new – the grave has been repeatedly targeted by vandals since it’s installation, most notably when a pipe bomb blew up part of the face in 1970.
He is a controversial figure as he is thought of as the father of communism.
