Nelson statue
The Nelson statue by Richard Westmacott (1775-1856) stands on Bull Ring in Birmingham , England .
financing
The bronze statue was the first publicly funded statue in Birmingham and the first statue of Horatio Nelson in Britain . Erected in 1809, the memorial was funded by public subscription of £ 2,500 by the people of Birmingham . Nelson visited Birmingham on August 31, 1802, a year before he sailed against Napoleon's fleets . The statue was unveiled on October 25, 1809.
description
The statue shows Nelson standing in uniform , his left arm resting on an anchor on the bow of the miniature model of the HMS Victory . On the deck of the Victory, part of the mast of the French Orient is shown, the flagship of the French fleet that was sunk during the sea battle at Abukir . The statue originally stood on a cylindrical marble plinth on which the population of Birmingham was depicted. The ensemble consisted of a statue, iron bars and upright cannons at the corners of the statue in which lamp posts were attached.
The statue originally stood on the site of the Old Cross , a two-story building consisting of an open space and a meeting hall above, built in 1703 and demolished in August 1784.
The Nelson statue has been listed as a Grade II * protected monument since April 25, 1952 .
It was implemented in 1961 as part of the first redesign of the Bull Ring, whereby the marble plinths, cannons and lanterns have been lost. Following the recent redesign of the square, the statue was relocated near the original location north of St Martin in the Bull Ring church and is now (2014) between the buildings of the Bullring Shopping Center and the Selfridges department store chain. Nelson thus looks again over the church of St Martin in the Bull Ring and stands today on a simple plinth, surrounded by iron bars connected with an iron rope. The installation of the original iron grilles was delayed due to health and safety concerns at the Bullring. The grilles were restored and installed in September 2005 in time for the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of Trafalgar Day.
The statue is the centerpiece of the annual Trafalgar Day celebrations in Birmingham.
A commemorative coin was produced by St. Paul's Mint to mark the 200th anniversary of the unveiling in 2009.
literature
- Solid Citizens - Statues in Birmingham , Bridget Pugh and Anne Irby Crews, 1983, Westwood Press, Sutton Coldfield, ISBN 0-9502636-5-6
- Public Sculpture of Birmingham including Sutton Coldfield , George T. Noszlopy, edited Jeremy Beach, 1998, ISBN 0-85323-692-5
- A History of Birmingham , Chris Upton, 1993, ISBN 0-85033-870-0
Individual evidence
- ^ English Heritage . "Details from listed building database (216830)" . Images of England.
Web links
- Nelson in the Bull Ring - 200 years . Retrieved April 3, 2014.
Coordinates: 52 ° 28 ′ 39 " N , 1 ° 53 ′ 38" W.