Welcome to “Downtown: Declassified,” your new guide to downtown Columbia. This column is meant to serve as part-travel guide, part-dining and shopping guide and part-local history guide. If you’re looking to get better acquainted with the downtown area, I’ve got you covered with places to go, things to see and people to meet.

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To paraphrase Dante:

_“Midway upon the school year,
I found myself within Columbia perplexed,
For the straight forward pathway led me to this really cool-looking sculpture and I had not the slightest clue what it was.”_

Well, dear reader, allow me to be your Virgil … except with better hair, and we’re not in Hell. We’re in an amazing small town with such a vibrant culture, and I don’t speak a word of –– never mind.

All references to great works of literature I’ve never read aside, I’ve come across the nutcracker-shaped sculpture in front of City Hall many a time. I’ve never quite figured out what it’s supposed to be.

Is it a clothespin? Is it some kind of … laundry monument? Is it supposed to be a pair of pants? A homage to menswear throughout the ages? But why? What does it mean?!

After admiring this mysterious sculpture from afar, I decided it was high time to get a closer look… Well, as close as I could get.

Full disclosure: I wrote this while still on break and 16 hours away from the sculpture in question. But distance wasn’t enough to keep me from getting to the bottom of this CoMo conundrum.

If you, dear reader, have also ever lost sleep over wondering what on earth that sculpture is, remain insomnious no longer. After conducting some initial research that may or may not have begun with Googling “what the #$%& is that thing in front of city hall 65201,” here’s what I learned:

It’s a keyhole, and a very symbolic one at that.

The sculpture, built in 2010 by artist Howard Meehan of New Mexico, is called “Keys to the City.” Made of steel and featuring color-changing LED panels, the structure displays images of CoMo landmarks and local legends, such as the Columns on the David R. Francis Quadrangle and John William “Blind” Boone.

Meehan’s creation measures 16 feet across and reaches 19 feet into the brisk Columbia air. The LED panels illuminate at night, bathing the corner of Broadway and Eighth with an array of hues.

But why? Why an illuminated keyhole, instead of, say, an unassuming obelisk? And why in front of City Hall?

For this question, I got in touch with Sarah Dresser, program specialist at the City of Columbia Office of Cultural Affairs. In a way, the structure “draws you in” to City Hall she says, and thus, civic participation. The structure’s shape is meant symbolize the idea that the key to a community’s prosperity and wellbeing is members who are engaged and involved.

The sculpture is a part of Columbia’s Percent for Art program, which led me to my next question:

The what?

Dresser explained that the program dictates that any above-ground construction or renovation project with a budget of $1 million or more can designate 1 percent of its total cost for public art. So, when City Hall was renovated, its “percent for the arts” was used to fund “Keys to the City,” as well as art found in the interior of the building, including artwork from local painter Lampo Leong and bronze sculptures by fellow Columbia-based artist Chris Morrey. Their art can be found on the second and third floors of City Hall, respectively.

In 2011, “Keys to the City” was given the Inspiration Award at the second Columbia Image Awards. The Columbia Image Awards, held every two years since the ceremony’s inception in 2009, recognize residents and local businesses who enhance and improve the City of Columbia.

The Inspiration Award is given to outdoor works of art. In 2009, “Cypher,” the structure in front of the Daniel Boone Regional Library, took home the prize.

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So there you have it, dear reader. A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, unlocked.