You are standing in front of the Equestrian Statue of King Christian V on Kongens Nytorv (the King's Square). The square was established by King Christian V in 1670, the year he was crowned. After the introduction of autocracy, the king needed a square that could symbolize royal power and present Copenhagen as the king's city. In 1671, the Danish West India-Guinea Company was established, chartered by Christian V, gaining monopoly on trade between The Gold Coast (Ghana) and the Danish West Indies and Denmark-Norway. The company was in charge of the enslavement trade and the sugar plantation complex in the Danish West Indies. The equestrian statue of Christian V was erected on the square by the French sculptor Abraham Cesat Lamoureux  in 1688. It is said that the original statue was gilded in lead covered with golden leaves and that the figure laying under the horse was made as a support structure at the weakest point of the statue, so that the soft metal it was made of would not collapse. The statue has since been recast in bronze and restored several times.

On this vast plane, a lone rider.
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Purged upon the body of a man. Struggling to survive
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He rides victorious?
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or careless?
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King Christian V
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Christiansborg in Accra where many were

taken away
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Now here...
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A lone rider
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Riding over what?
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The spoils of empire?
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May this now be repeated again.
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May this never, never be done again
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May this not be repeated…