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One He Made Earlier adj IMG_2087
One He Made Earlier adj IMG_2087

For the Fourth Plinth. A 1:30 scale replica of HMS Victory in a giant glass bottle by Yinka Shonibare, was installed on the plinth in May 2010.

(The silhouette reminds me of Blue Peter, a TV show beloved of generations of British children.)

In the 1820s, George IV engaged the architect John Nash to redevelop the area that is now Trafalgar Square as part of his Charing Cross Improvement Scheme. The National Gallery was built on the north side in 1832-8 to a design by William Wilkins and the square was completed in 1845 to plans by Sir Charles Barry.

Nelson’s Column had been planned independently of Barry’s work. In 1838 a Nelson Memorial Committee had proposed a monument to the victor of Trafalgar, funded by public subscription. The winning design, by the architect William Railton, being for a Corinthian column topped by a statue of Nelson, with an overall height of more than 200 feet, guarded by four sculpted lions. The overall height was reduced to 170 feet, and it was made, with bronze reliefs and lions 1840/54/67. Barry was unhappy about Nelson’s column "it would in my opinion be desirable that the area should be wholly free from all insulated objects of art".

Barry's scheme provided two plinths for sculptures on the north side of the square. A bronze equestrian statue of of George IV by Sir Francis Chantrey was installed on the eastern one in 1844, while the other remained empty until the late twentieth century. (Two more statues on plinths were added during the nineteenth century; General Sir Charles James Napier by George Cannon Adams in the south-west corner of the square in 1855, and Major-General Sir Henry Havelock by William Behnes, in the south-east in 1861.)

In 2000, the then Mayor of London Ken Livingstone controversially expressed a desire to see the two generals replaced with statues of people "ordinary Londoners would know". Since 1998 the empty plinth in the north-west corner of the square - which has become known as the "Fourth Plinth" – has been used to show a series of specially commissioned artworks. The scheme was initiated by the Royal Society of Arts and continued by a Fourth Plinth Commission, appointed by the Mayor of London.

A major redevelopment of the square to plans by Foster and Partners was completed in 2003.

From the Wikipedia article:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trafalgar_Square

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Taken on: December 3, 2011
Sets appears in:   • London & Open House London   
Camera: Canon PowerShot SX230 HS, f/5.9, 1/1250 sec, 70mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)
Camera: Canon PowerShot SX230 HS
Aperture: f/5.9
Exposure Time: 0.001 sec (1/1250)
Focal Length: 70mm
ISO: 100
Exposure Bias: -1 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
Exposure Mode: Manual
Metering Mode: Multi-segment
White Balance: Auto
Color Space: sRGB
Software: PaintShop Pro 14.00
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One He Made Earlier adj IMG_2087

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