Nelson's Column: history, architecture and interesting facts

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

The famous square of King William IV of England, located in the very center of the British capital, was named Trafalgar Square due to the grandiose victory of England at the Spanish Cape Trafalgar. Nelson's Column rises majestically in the center of the square. A statue of G. Nelson stands proudly at the top of the famous column.

History

Architect W. Railton in the middle of the XIX century. designed the monument. The height of the Trafalgar Column was about 46 meters (without the statue). British sculptor Edward Bailey made a sandstone statue of General Nelson 16 feet (5.5 meters) high. Construction lasted 3 years and ended in 1843. Its pedestal is decorated with bronze panels. They depict the brilliant victories of General Nelson. Sculptors such as Ternaus, Carew, Watson and Wooddington worked on the creation of relief frescoes. Admiral Nelson's column cost the government £47,000 (now around £3.5 million).

Architecture

Nelson's Column is 167 feet (51 meters). Bronze acanthus leaves adorn the top of a Corinthian column. They are cast from captured Napoleonic cannons. Nelson's column at the base is cast from the artillery pieces of the English ship Royal George. The statue of the general looks south towards the British Navy. On four sides, the column is decorated with bronze frescoes.

The talented sculptor of the era of romanticism Henry Landseer poured sculptures of lions from bronze. Four bronze lions sit majestically around the column. They were added 24 years after the completion of the column. The area where Nelson's Column is located is surrounded by important buildings: the National Gallery, the Admir alty Arch, made of Portland stone, the famous parish church of St. Martin with a golden crown on the spire. In the middle of the XX century. several fountains appeared around the famous column.

Interesting facts

At the beginning of the XX century. Arthur Ferguson, a swindler from Scotland, estimated the monument to Lord Nelson at 6,000 pounds (8,000 dollars). In 1925, Nelson's Column was "sold" to a naive US tourist. Interestingly, Ferguson managed to sell Big Ben (or the Elizabeth Tower) for a thousand pounds, rented the White House for a hundred thousand pounds, and even sold the Eiffel Tower for scrap. By the way, the gullible Texan "rented" the White House for almost a hundred years

• Nelson's Column where it is, we know. But where, if not in Berlin, did Adolf Hitler dream of seeing her? He wanted to smuggle her out of Britain. For a dictator she hadsacred meaning.
• In the capital of foggy Albion, in the maritime museum, you can see a model of the monument. It is more than 20 times smaller than the original.
• At the end of XX century. the column was "subdued" twice. The first to dare to climb the column was John Knucks, and 19 years later, Gary Wilmot. Both incidents took place during the filming of the BBC.
• More than a hundred years ago, lightning struck the left hand of the statue of the famous Admiral Nelson. In mid-2006, the general's limb was "cured".
• The highest point of the column is the quartz feather on the admiral's headdress.
• In Dublin (Ireland) a column was built in honor of Nelson. The monument in Dublin turned out to be extremely similar to the column in London. The height of the column was about 40 meters. It was blown up in 1966.

Restoration of the column

At the beginning of the 21st century, Nelson's Column underwent restoration. It cost the government of Foggy Albion 520 thousand dollars. Work began at the end of July 2006 and lasted four months. It was the first restoration in 20 years. A laser revision of the statue revealed that it is 5 meters lower than previously thought. London guides previously indicated that the H. Nelson memorial was over 56 meters high. However, after a thorough restoration, it was confirmed that the column of the famous general was reduced to real figures - 51 meters.