Chemnitz
I wasn’t in Chemnitz long, as there isn’t much to see. But I did walk to the centre from the train station, have a reasonable gluten-free lunch and then get a tram back to the station.
The enormous head of Karl Marx in the main square is a real compliment to his philosophy. I’ve not seen the one in Highgate Cemetery on his grave, but judge for yourself which is the best.
Bus Art
This is the first I’ve seen, but there are several over London.
This one was by the Bank of England
There is more about the sculpture trails here.
Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden
I like sculpture and I spent a pleasant half-an-hour in the garden of the Babara Hepworth Musem in the rain.
We need to get more of our great sculptures out of the sterile museums and into the open air.
I know there’s a security problem with bronzes, but if we choose the locations carefully, we should be able to minimise the theft.
Liverpool Resurgent Or Phred!
Jacob Epstein‘s sculpture entitled Liverpool Resurgent sits on the front of the Lewis’s Department Store in Liverpool.
When I was at Liverpool University in the 1960s, during Panto or Rag Week, we used to walk down Brownlow Hill to pay homage to the sculpture, who was always known colloquially as Phred.
Is There Space On The Overground For Large Art?
In November 2013, I had a letter published in The Times entitled Underground Art.
As I had a bit of time to waste, I checked out some of the stations near where I live, as to their suitability of placing a large sculpture on the platforms.
Dalston Junction, Highbury and Islington and Caledonian Road and Barnsbury stations have space for the right piece of large art, but the space at Canonbury is such, that you could position a small tank engine there, if the platform was strong enough.
Other stations might not be suitable, as most do not have the large island platforms of these four stations.
I have no idea how much suitable sculpture would be available. I have read or viewed reports that a lot of art is now in store, because of the danger of theft. So why shouldn’t it be safely on display on stations?
Obviously, it would need to be installed using a maintenance train. But that in itself is a big deterrence against scrap metal thieves, as they’d probably have to get the art out that way.
Who Nicked Me Titfer?
I took this picture of the statue of the Duke of Wellington.
Who Nicked Me Titfer?
Someone has stolen the road cone, he usually wears as a hat!
There’s a report about this on Scotland Now!
The Robert Hooke Biodiversity Bell
I passed this work by St. Paul’s Cathedral.
It is mentioned on many web sites, but it doesn’t seem to have a serious entry on the web. This blog gives a good explanation.
To me Robert Hooke is best known for Hooke’s Law, one of the basic laws of physics, that anybody who studied that subject will probably know. But Hooke did a lot more than find the law that bears his name.
He is one of those amazing characters that populate the history of science.
The Kindertransport Sculpture At Gdansk Station
I hadn’t expected to find this in Gdansk, but when I saw this, I knew exactly what it commemorated, as I pass the other statues at Liverpool Street station regularly.
There’s more about the Kindertransport sculptures here.
For some reason, I didn’t take a lot of pictures. You can never take too many!
Writing this blog with hindsight, my route home from Gdansk could have followed the route of the Kindertrannsport, which is marked by the moving statues. The two I missed are in Berlin and at the Hook of Holland. I actually went very near the one in Berlin, but I didn’t know it was there.
Countryfile Is Showing The Gormley Statues
Just watching Countryfile and it’s showing the Gormley statues on Crosby Beach.
A Walk Along The Beach
I took the Nortern line to Blundellsands and Crosby station from where I walked along the beach and the promenade to Hall Road station.
It was an easy walk of a couple of kilometres, although it was extremely windy.
I was reminded of the story Jimmy Edward told of eating a sandwich on a horse in a high wind, when he missed and took a large bite of ,moustache instead, as I tried to eat my lunch in the small amount of shelter on the promenade.
I was able to get close to Antony Gormley‘s figures called Another Place. I liked them and so did a couple of local dog walkers. On the rest of my trip, I said I’d been to see them several times and everybody I spoke to, said that they liked them!
As the trains run every fifteen minutes, you shouldn’t have to wait long for a train, at the end of your walk.
My only regret was that I didn’t walk it in a Southerly direction, as that way, I would have been blown along in just a few minutes.
The Anonymous Widower 