BNHA Francis Scott Key Monument

Erected in 1911, the monument depicts Francis Scott Key’s return to Baltimore after the perilous fight. He stands holding his manuscript up to a figure of Columbia. At the base of the monument are bas relief sculptures of the bombardment of Fort McHenry during the September 1814 Battle of Baltimore.

The monument was the work of sculptor Marius Jean Antonin Mercié, a prominent French artist of the 19th century. Funding for the monument came from a donation by Charles Marburg, a wealthy Baltimore merchant who ran a successful tobacco business. Marburg dedicated the money weeks before his death in 1907.