Mohandas K. Gandhi

The bronze statue of Mohandas Gandhi standing behind the Ferry Building is one of the most frequently vandalized pieces of public art in San Francisco. Since its installation in 1988, the figure has lost its wire-frame glasses to theft at least five times, and his walking staff has been broken on several occasions. The San Francisco Arts Commission maintains a specialized repair process to replace these items, with costs for the maintenance often running into the thousands of dollars per incident. Despite its vulnerability, the statue remains a fixed part of the city's civic art collection as a permanent memorial to Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence.