Campaign to move statues from square to city parks

Senior reporter

Monday 1 October 2012

LOBBYING is under way for the historic statues adorning one of Scotland's most famous public spaces to be relocated to several major city parks.

ICONS: Queen Victoria, far left, and Walter Scott, above left, alongside Robert Burns. Picture: Colin Mearns REVEALED: The Herald reported the square might lose statues.

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GERRY BRAIDEN

A number of Glasgow councillors have begun to champion possible moves if plans to revamp George Square result in the 12 monuments being moved.

One opposition councillor has already asked if the equestrian statues of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert could be relocated to Queen's Park on the city's south side, while a party colleague has suggested that Robert Burns or fellow poet Thomas Campbell would not be out of place at Pollok Park, home to the Burrell Collection.

The bids come as it emerges leading academics specialising in sculpture contacted Glasgow City Council with a report recommending the statues be moved to other parts of the city to allow them to be better appreciated.Ray McKenzie, former head of sculpture at Glasgow School of Art, and colleague David Harding, ex-head of environmental design, said their proposal was "an extremely radical measure and may well provoke a hostile reaction" but that any time there had been discussion about the statues' relocation "the status quo has been maintained on nostalgic grounds". The Herald reported earlier this month how all 12 statues in George Square will be removed in the coming months as part of a £15 million plan to revamp the area by 2014.It has not yet been decided whether the statues will be moved back to their original locations.Calling for the royal statues to be moved to Queen's Park, the SNP's Mhairi Hunter said: "There are lots of local references to the couple: Victoria Road itself, Albert Road, Albert Avenue and the nearby Victoria Infirmary. We even have a couple of pubs named after them – the Victoria Bar and the Albert Bar. "I've discussed this with a number of people and they seem quite keen on the idea. "It would add something new to the park for people who use it regularly and might bring more visitors to the area to see the royal couple in their new home."Party colleague David McDonald, who is also on the board of Pollok House, said: "If the council is committed to removing statues from the square they must ensure the iconic figures commemorated find new appropriate homes."Areas like Pollok Park could become a poets' park, welcoming statues of Robert Burns and Thomas Campbell, enhancing the visitor experience, and promoting new uses for the park like poetry festivals and literary events." Meanwhile, a number of councillors will launch a bid next week to ensure greater involvement for cross-party elected members and community councils in the plans to regenerate George Square.In the report by the School of Art academics, the pair state: "The question we ask is whether their present location, distributed with somewhat regimental formality on an otherwise featureless expanse of asphalt, provides the most effective means for them to perform their role as historical and aesthetic objects."We believe it does not, and that their relocation may be necessary for the successful re-design of the square." As well as backing the move of Victoria and Albert to Queen's Park, they recommend the statue of Sir Robert Peel to be located in the vicinity of Strathclyde Police headquarters or close to Glasgow University, where he was rector.The 19th-century politician James Oswald could go to the western end of Sauchiehall Street, Robert Burns could be positioned somewhere along the main route to Ayr and William Ewart Gladstone could be put the city's Botanic Gardens, where he made his inaugural address.The report recommends sitting military men Sir John Moore and Lord Clyde alongside the Duke of Wellington to "create a unified group from three of Britain's greatest military heroes".Sir Walter Scott would require a wide open space like Glasgow Green although, the report states, there are "many other fascinating possibilities".Thomas Campbell, the poet and essayist, could go to a regenerated High Street, close to his birthplace, while inventor James Watt could be another candidate for High Street or Glasgow Green and chemist Thomas Graham to the Strathclyde University campus. A consultation document on the future of the statues is due to be made public in the coming weeks.

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Campaign to move statues from square to city parks

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