Tag Archives: Statue

Angel of the North

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Angel of the North

The guardian of the north is the Angel of the North.

  • The Angel of the North is a modern-styled statue depicting an angel with spread wings, found in the area of England’s Gateshead, in Europe.
  • Known as the largest angel statue in the world, the Angel of the North reaches 20 metres (65 feet) in height and has wings that spread over a distance of 54 metres (177 feet) in length.
  • The wings of the Angel of the North, also called ‘Gateshead Flasher‘, feature a 3.5° forward tilt, chosen to display a feeling of embrace.
  • British sculptor Sir Antony Gormley designed the Angel of the North under commission by the Gateshead Council in 1994, and it was completed in early 1998.
  • The Angel of the North was designed to mark a coal mine located below the site; to symbolise movement into an information age; and act as a pivotal point for hopes and fears.
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The Angel of the North
Image courtesy of Auntie P/Flickr
  • The Angel of the North has been engineered to withstand gales of around 160 kilometres per hour (100 miles per hour), and it was carefully engineered by Ove Arup & Partners.
  • Weather resistant brown steel, known as corten steel, that contains a small amount of copper, was used as the main material to enhance the Angel of the North‘s durability in outside weather, and the sculpture was built in four parts – the two wings and body which were manufactured off-site, plus the concrete foundations created on-site.
  • The wings and body of the Angel of the North combined, weigh 200 tonnes (220.5 tons), while the foundation weighs 600 tonnes (661.5 tons) and reaches at least 20 metres (66 feet) underground.
  • The final Angel of the North statue had a total cost of 800,000 pounds (roughly 1.24 million USD), while smaller scaled models have been sold for as much as 1 and 2 million pounds.
  • The viewing rate of the Angel of the North averages around 90,000 people each day due to vehicles passing by in the area, which equates to over a person a second, while the approximate number of visitors to the sculpture in a year is 150,000 people.
Bibliography:
Angel of the North, 2015, Gateshead Council, http://www.gateshead.gov.uk/Leisure%20and%20Culture/attractions/Angel/Home.aspx
Angel of the North, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_of_the_North

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Great Sphinx of Giza

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Great Sphinx of Giza

The Great Sphinx of Giza has survived the ages.

  • The Great Sphinx of Giza is a statue depicting a mythical sphinx – a lion with a human head, located near the Pyramids of Giza, near Cairo in Africa’s Egypt.
  • ‘The Great Sphinx of Giza’ is also known as ‘the Sphinx’, and can be literally translated as ‘the terrifying one’ or ‘Father of Dread’.
  • The height of the Great Sphinx of Giza reaches 20 metres (66 feet), while the statue is approximately 73 metres (239 feet) in length and 19 metres (63 feet) in width.
  • The Great Sphinx of Giza is the largest statue carved from a single rock and the oldest statue of its kind, in the world, and it is believed that the monument was carved from limestone around 2558 to 2532 BC, by the Ancient Egyptians.
  • The Great Sphinx of Giza is generally accepted to depict the Old Kingdom Pharaoh Khafre (or Khafra) who reigned at the time of its construction, although there are no known records of the Sphinx until the New Kingdom beginning 1550 BC.
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The Great Sphinx of Giza
Image courtesy of Jack Versloot/Flickr
  • The Great Sphinx of Giza remained mostly covered by sand for thousands of years, although there were efforts to excavate it by some Ancient Egyptian pharaohs of the past, including Thutmose IV, around 1400 BC.
  • The first excavations of modern times on the Great Sphinx of Giza, were performed in 1817 by Italian Giovanni Battista Caviglia, an Egyptologist, while the statue was fully uncovered by 1936, after multiple excavations in the 1800 and 1900s, led by various people.
  • The nose of the Great Sphinx of Giza appears to have been chiselled or broken off on an unknown occasion in the past, and there is evidence the statue once featured a beard.
  • The Great Sphinx of Giza has been commonly depicted, and occasionally mocked, in artistic media, with early depictions from the 1500s being notably amusing.
  • There is evidence of the Great Sphinx of Giza being significantly eroded by wind-blown sand over thousands of years, and protecting the statue from further decline is of continual concern.
Bibliography:
Great Sphinx of Giza, 2015, Sacred Destinations, http://www.sacred-destinations.com/egypt/giza-sphinx
Great Sphinx of Giza, 2015, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Sphinx_of_Giza
Winston A, The Great Sphinx of Giza, an Introduction, 2013, Tour Egypt, http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/sphinx1.htm

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Christ the Redeemer Statue

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Christ the Redeemer Statue

The statue of the amazing Christ the Redeemer.

  • Christ the Redeemer is a statue of Jesus Christ, in the art deco style, with his arms open symbolising peace, and is located on Corcovado Mountain in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the statue’s Portuguese name is ‘Cristo Redentor’.
  • Christ the Redeemer is believed to be the largest art deco statue and is the fifth largest Jesus statue on earth, seeing approximately 1 million visitors every year, and was deemed one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007.
  • Christ the Redeemer statue is 30 metres (98 feet) in height, standing on an 8 metre (26 feet) high podium, with arms spread 28 metres (92 feet) wide.
  • The material used to make Christ the Redeemer statue was 635 tonnes (700 tons) of concrete, reinforcements, and small 3 cm triangular soapstone tiles from Sweden and was in made in separate pieces and put together on site.
  • In the mid 1850s, it was proposed that a religious statue be built on Corcovado Mountain, but the idea was dismissed, and it wasn’t until the 1920s that a proposal was put forward by the Catholic Circle of Rio de Janeiro to build a religious statue, and accepted, and the design that was settled upon was Christ the Redeemer.
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The Redeemer
Image courtesy of Zole4/ Free Digital Photos
  • Christ the Redeemer statue took 9 years to build, from 1922 to 1931, and was designed and engineered by Brazilian Heitor da Silva Costa and sculpted by Paul Landowski, a Polish-Frenchman.
  • At the time of construction, Christ the Redeemer would have cost approximately $250,000 USD to build, which would equate to about $3.2 million USD in 2013.
  • In 2008, Christ the Redeemer was struck by lightning in an intense lightning storm, leading to a large, four month restoration project  in 2010, costing $4 million USD.
  • In celebration of Christ the Redeemer’s 75th anniversary in 2006, a chapel was built at the base of the statue.
  • In 2010, during the restoration process, the head and an arm of Christ the Redeemer was the subject of graffiti, which was said to be done by a house painter, and the act was declared ‘a crime against the nation’.
Bibliography:
Christ the Redeemer (Statue), 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_the_Redeemer_(statue)>
Christ the Redeemer Statue – 1 of 7 New Wonders of the World (45 Inspiring Pics), 2011, Love these Pics, <http://www.lovethesepics.com/2011/04/christ-the-redeemer-statue-1-of-7-new-wonders-of-the-world-45-inspiring-pics/>

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