RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Around a thousand people filled Virginia’s Capitol Square for the dedication Monday of statues honoring some of the state’s trailblazing women, part of a monument organizers say is unlike any other in the country.

The new women’s monument, about a decade in the making, will eventually feature a dozen life-sized bronze statues dotting a granite plaza a short distance from the Capitol in Richmond. Girl Scouts pulled blue drapes off the seven figures being dedicated Monday, including Native American chieftain Cockacoeske and Jamestown colonist Anne Burras Laydon, as the women’s names were read aloud.

Sculptor Ivan Schwartz called it “a new beginning, a deeply significant moment in the history of the nation, as we begin to address centuries-old sins of omission.” The artist said that as part of the art direction and research for the monument, he looked across America and found a “shameful” lack of statues dedicated to women.