means A pedestal is the base or supporting block on which a statue, column, or other object stands — and, figuratively, an elevated position of admiration we place people on.

from From the Italian piedestallo, literally 'foot of the stall' — piede (foot, from Latin pes) plus stallo (a stall or standing-place, of Germanic root). The word marched into French as piédestal and then into English in the 1500s, carrying its plain architectural sense: the foot that lets the statue stand. The lofty metaphor — putting someone 'on a pedestal' — came later, once we noticed that what we raise up high we can also watch topple.