but statues and monuments are celebratory, not informative.
They are celebratory to the time they were made, it they are informative of history to everybody after then.
A bust of Julius Caesar is kept in a museum in Berlin, do you believe that means Germany is celebrating Roman atrocities? Or preserving a piece of classical art?
Are you really equivocating a statue displayed in an art museum as a work of art to a statue displayed in a public park?
I'm comparing a work of historical art to a work of historical art on their artistic and historic merits, yes.
I figured the actual question was obvious, but I guess I can streamline it further for you: Are you really comparing an art museum to a public park?
I'm comparing a public display to a public display, yes.
At this point you might as well say you're comparing minerals to minerals. That kind of reductionism strips your position of any semantic value it might once have had.