Statue of Nelson Mandela, Parliament Square

Sculpture in London, by Ian Walters

Nelson Mandela

Artist| Ian Walters
Year| 2007
Type| Bronze
Location| London, SW1
United Kingdom

Nelson Mandela is a bronze sculpture in Parliament Square, London, of former President of South Africa and anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela. Originally proposed to Mandela by Donald Woods in 2001, a fund was set up and led by Woods's wife and Richard Attenborough after the death of Woods. The then Mayor of London Ken Livingstone obtained permission from Westminster City Council to locate the statue on the north terrace of Trafalgar Square, but after an appeal it was located in Parliament Square instead where it was unveiled on 29 August 2007.

## Description

[edit]

The statue is 9 feet (2.7 m) high,[1] and made in bronze.[2] The plinth the statue stands on is shorter than the other statues located in Parliament Square.[3] It was created by English sculptor Ian Walters, at a cost of £400,000.[4][5] Walters had previously created the bust of Mandela located on the South Bank in London.[6] Fellow sculptor Glyn Williams criticised the statue at a public inquiry during the planning process, saying that it is "an adequate portrait but nothing more".[7]

## History

[edit]

Donald Woods originally proposed the idea of a statue of Nelson Mandela for London;[2] the fundraising to create the statue was led by his wife and Lord Richard Attenborough after his death.[6] Woods gained approval from Mandela in 2001, with the original idea to site the statue on a fifth plinth to be located outside the High Commission of South Africa in Trafalgar Square.[8] The fund was officially launched at London's City Hall on 24 March 2003.[6]

Detail of the statue

In 2004, Mayor of London Ken Livingstone publicly pledged his support for a statue of Nelson Mandela for Trafalgar Square at a celebration in the square of the 10th anniversary of democracy in South Africa. "It will be a square of two Nelsons. The man up there, his battle of Trafalgar was the defining battle that paved the way for 100 years of British empire, and Nelson Mandela looking down on this square will symbolise the peaceful transition to a world without empires."[9] Westminster City Council turned down the planning application to position the statue in the square's north terrace near the National Gallery on the grounds that it would impede events in the area and would end the symmetrical layout of that part of the square. The Mayor appealed to the office of the Deputy Prime Minister, which agreed with the council's decision.[1] However the Deputy Prime Minister stated that he supported the location of the statue on an alternative site, while the council suggested placing the statue outside the High Commission of South Africa along the side of the square.[1] The Liberal Democrats of the London Assembly later criticised the use of £100,000 by the London Mayor to appeal Westminster Council's decision, saying that "Thousands of pounds of taxpayers money is set to be wasted in these costly arguments."[10]

In April 2007, Westminster City Council completed a further review of possible locations for the statue. It was decided to locate the statue in Parliament Square alongside the statues of other important figures including Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Disraeli, Jan Smuts, and Churchill.[11] The statue was unveiled by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on 29 August 2007, in a ceremony held in Parliament Square.[12] Among the attendees were Mandela, his wife Graça Machel, and Livingstone.[2] In a speech, Mandela said that it fulfilled a dream for there to be a statue of a black man in Parliament Square.[12]

The statue was temporarily covered up in June 2020 after protesters defaced a statue of Winston Churchill, attempted to vandalise The Cenotaph in London, and pulled down a statue of Edward Colston was in Bristol during the Black Lives Matter protests. Far-right group Britain First called for the statue of Mandela to be "torn down".[13]

## See also

[edit]

* Statue of Nelson Mandela, Johannesburg
* Statue of Nelson Mandela, Balcony Cape Town City Hall overlooking the Grand Parade

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c "Mayor fails in Mandela statue bid". BBC News. 21 December 2005. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
2. ^ a b c "Nelson Mandela statue is unveiled". BBC News. 29 August 2007. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
3. ^ Shukor, Steven (29 August 2007). "Mandela statue is 'beacon of hope'". BBC News. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
4. ^ "Parliament Square may get Mandela". BBC News. 6 April 2006. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
5. ^ "Plans for Mandela statue rejected". BBC News. 2 July 2004. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
6. ^ a b c "Mandela Statue Fund launched". BBC News. 24 March 2003. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
7. ^ Arendt, Paul (4 October 2005). "New fallout over Mandela statue". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
8. ^ "Mandela statue planned for Trafalgar". BBC News. 15 March 2001. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
9. ^ "Mayor's pledge for Mandela statue". BBC News. 27 April 2004. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
10. ^ "'Appeal fund' for Mandela statue". BBC News. 5 November 2004. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
11. ^ "Mandela statue for Parliament Sq". BBC News. 20 April 2007. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
12. ^ a b Alleyne, Richard (30 August 2007). "Nelson Mandela stands tall in London". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
13. ^ Dearden, Lizzie (12 June 2020). "Winston Churchill and Nelson Mandela statues covered up ahead of Black Lives Matter counter-protests". The Independent. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Statue of Nelson Mandela, Parliament Square, London.

* Transcript of Nelson Mandela's speech at the unveiling – NelsonMandela.org

* v
* t
* e

Nelson Mandela

* 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013
President of South Africa (1994–1999)
* President of the African National Congress (1991–1997)

Life|

* Early life
* Mandela and Tambo law firm
* UMkhonto we Sizwe
* 1955 Congress of the People
* Freedom Charter
* Treason Trial
* Rivonia Trial
* Robben Island
* Pollsmoor Prison
* Victor Verster Prison
* Negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa
* Liliesleaf Farm
* Mandela House and museum
* Nelson Mandela Children's Fund
* The Elders
* 70th Birthday Tribute
* 90th Birthday Tribute
* Awards and honours
* Death and state funeral
* state memorial service attendees
* funeral attendees

Presidency|

* 1994 election
* Presidency
* Government of National Unity
* Reconstruction and Development Programme
* Truth and Reconciliation Commission
* Constitution of South Africa
* 1995 Rugby World Cup
* Intervention in Lesotho
* Mahlamba Ndlopfu

Books and
speeches|

* "I Am Prepared to Die" (1964 speech)
* Long Walk to Freedom (1994)
* Mandela: The Authorised Biography (1999)
* Conversations With Myself (2010)
* Dare Not Linger: The Presidential Years (2017)

Legacy and
namesakes|

* Mandela Day
* Nelson Mandela Forum
* Nelson Mandela Institution
* 46664 concerts
* Mandela Rhodes Scholarship
* Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Mandela Rules)
* Nelson Mandela Challenge
* Nelson Mandela Challenge Plate
* Nelson Mandela Invitational
* Nelson Mandela International Airport
* Nelson Mandela Square
* Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality
* Mandela National Stadium
* Nelson Mandela Bridge
* Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital
* Ponts Nelson-Mandela
* Nelson Mandela University

Film depictions|

* Mandela (1987)
* Death of Apartheid (1995)
* Mandela (1996)
* Mandela: Son of Africa, Father of a Nation (1996)
* Mandela and de Klerk (1997)
* Goodbye Bafana (2007)
* Endgame (2009)
* Invictus (2009)
* Winnie Mandela (2011)
* Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013)
* Mandela's Gun (2016)

Family|

* Ngubengcuka (great-grandfather)
* Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa (father)
* Nosekeni Fanny (mother)
* Evelyn Mase (wife)
* Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (wife)
* Graça Machel (wife)
* Makgatho Mandela (son)
* Makaziwe Mandela (daughter)
* Zenani Mandela-Dlamini (daughter)
* Zindzi Mandela (daughter)
* Ndileka Mandela (granddaughter)
* Mandla Mandela (grandson)
* Zoleka Mandela (granddaughter)
* Ndaba Mandela (grandson)

Related|

* African National Congress
* history
* International Tribute Concert
* Madiba shirt
* "Free Nelson Mandela" (song)
* "Mandela Day" (song)
* "Rise Up" (song)
* "Bring Him Back Home (Nelson Mandela)" (song)
* Nelson Mandela (EP)
* Atlanta sculpture
* Cape Town City Hall statue
* Johannesburg statue
* London statue
* Pretoria statue
* Washington, D.C. statue
* Ismail Ayob

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Public art and memorials in London

Portrait sculpture

| British/English
royalty|

* Boudica
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* Richard I
* Queen Eleanor (Charing Cross)
* Edward VI
* St Thomas' Hospital: bronze
* stone
* Charles I
* (Interregnum: Oliver Cromwell)
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* St James's
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* Trafalgar Square
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* Elizabeth II (planned)

|

Arts|

* John Betjeman
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Military|

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Nurses|

* Edith Cavell
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Politics|

| British|

| Prime ministers|

* Clement Attlee
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|

Other politicians|

* Robert Clayton
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International|

* Simón Bolívar
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Religion|

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Science and
engineering|

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Social reformers
and humanitarians|

* Thomas Barnardo
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* Margaret MacDonald
* Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst
* Sylvia Pankhurst
* Robert Raikes
* Raoul Wallenberg

Sport|

* Harry Kane (planned)
* Bobby Moore
* Upton Park—with Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters and Ray Wilson
* Wembley

Fictional
characters|

* Paddington Bear
* Peter Pan
* Sherlock Holmes

See also|

* Talking Statues
* Statues in London on Wikimedia Commons

Other monuments and memorials

* 7 July bombings
* Queen Alexandra
* Anti–air war
* Bali bombings
* Lady Burdett-Coutts
* Lord Cheylesmore
* Cleopatra's Needle
* Conscientious objectors
* COVID-19 pandemic
* Michael Faraday
* Firefighters
* W. G. Grace
* Great Fire of London
* Golden Boy of Pye Corner
* The Monument
* Heroic self-sacrifice
* Journalists
* Police
* Queen Elizabeth Gate
* Silver Jubilee Crystal Crown
* Star and Garter Home
* Stratford Martyrs
* Suffragettes
* Victims of the Atlantic slave trade (planned)
* Virginia colonists
* Wellington Arch
* Wellington Monument
* Whittington Stone
* Windrush generation
* Custard Apple (Annonaceae), Breadfruit (Moraceae) and Soursop (Annonaceae)
* National Windrush Monument
* Mary Wollstonecraft

| War memorials|

| Pre-C20|

* Animals in War
* Guards Brigade (Crimean War)
* Gurkhas (1816–)
* Marble Arch
* New Zealand Campaign (1863–1864)
* Siege of Cádiz
* Westminster School

|

Boer Wars|

* 61st Battery Royal Field Artillery (Woolwich)
* Barnet Boys School
* Royal Artillery (The Mall)
* Royal Marines

WWI · WWII|

* The Cenotaph

* Africa and the Caribbean
* Australia
* Battle of Britain
* Belgium
* Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red
* Burma Railway
* Canada
* La Délivrance
* Flanders Fields Memorial Garden
* Malta
* Memorial Gates
* Merchant Navy
* Ships named on the memorial
* New Zealand
* Poland
* South Africa
* Submarines
* Women of World War II

| Regimental|

* 24th Division
* Cavalry
* Chindits
* Civil Service Rifles
* Eagle Squadrons
* Fleet Air Arm
* Guards Brigade
* Imperial Camel Corps
* Machine Gun Corps
* Rifle Brigade
* Royal Air Force
* RAF Bomber Command
* Royal Artillery
* Royal Fusiliers
* Royal Naval Division
* Royal Tank Regiment

|

Local|

* London Troops

* Arkley
* Bromley
* parish
* Chingford
* Chipping Barnet
* Cockfosters
* Croydon
* East Barnet
* Enfield Town (3 memorials)
* Finchley
* Friern Barnet (parish)
* Fulham
* Golders Green
* Hampstead
* Hampton Wick
* Hendon
* Hornsey
* Islington
* Kingston
* Monken Hadley
* New Barnet
* New Malden
* Paddington
* Poplar
* Rainham
* Richmond
* St Michael, Cornhill (parish)
* St Saviour, Southwark (parish)
* Silvertown
* Streatham
* Twickenham
* Wood Green

Corporate|

* Baltic Exchange
* Bank of England
* British Medical Association
* Dulwich College
* Old
* New
* Great Eastern Railway
* Great Western Railway
* Lincoln's Inn
* London and North Western Railway
* London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
* Pearl Assurance†
* South Suburban Gas Company

Holocaust|

* Victoria Tower Gardens (planned)

* Hyde Park
* Kindertransport

Post-WWII|

* Victims of Communism
* Korean War
* Iraq and Afghanistan

Blue plaques|

* Camden
* Kensington and Chelsea
* City of Westminster

Other works

| Sculptures|

* Atalanta
* The Barbican Muse
* Bellerophon Taming Pegasus
* The Bermondsey Lion
* Big 4‡
* Bull
* The Burghers of Calais
* Christ Child
* Cornerstone
* Crystal Palace Dinosaurs
* The Diver
* Dolphin lamp standards
* Dragon boundary marks
* Elfin Oak
* Enwrought Light
* Father Time
* Fulcrum
* The Gold Smelters
* Gorilla
* The Hampstead Figure
* Homage to Leonardo
* Icarus
* Labyrinth
* Liberty Clock
* London Noses
* London Pride
* The Meeting Place
* The Messenger
* Millennium Dial
* Monolith and Shadow
* The Naked Ladies
* The Neighbours
* Nelson's Ship in a Bottle
* Nike
* Paternoster Vents
* Peckham Arch
* Physical Energy
* Platforms Piece
* Pope's Urn
* Putney Sculpture Trail
* The Queen's Beasts
* The Rush of Green
* St Paul's Cross
* Sculpture in the City‡
* Skylon†
* Slipstream
* South Bank Lion
* Still Water
* Tortoises with Triangle and Time
* Traffic Light Tree
* Union (Horse with Two Discs)
* The Watchers
* The World Turned Upside Down
* The Young Lovers

| Fourth plinth, Trafalgar Square‡|

* The End
* Hahn/Cock
* Nelson's Ship in a Bottle
* One & Other

|

Elisabeth Frink|

* Blind Beggar and his Dog
* Horse and Rider
* Paternoster

Barbara Hepworth|

* Meridian†
* Single Form (Memorial)
* Two Forms (Divided Circle)†
* Winged Figure

Henry Moore|

* The Arch 1979–1980
* Draped Seated Woman 1957–58
* Knife Edge Two Piece 1962–65
* Large Standing Figure (Knife Edge)
* Locking Piece
* Three Standing Figures 1947

Eduardo Paolozzi|

* The Artist as Hephaestus†
* Piscator

The Line‡|

* ArcelorMittal Orbit
* Here
* Quantum Cloud
* Liberty Grip
* A Slice of Reality

Fountains|

* Buxton Memorial
* Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain
* Diana Fountain, Bushy Park
* Diana Fountain, Green Park
* Edward VII Jewish Memorial Fountain
* Henry Fawcett Memorial
* The Horses of Helios
* Guilford Place
* Matilda Fountain
* Poets' Fountain†
* Readymoney Drinking Fountain
* Revolving Torsion
* Roehampton
* St Lawrence Jewry and St Mary Magdalene
* Shaftesbury Memorial ("Eros")
* Lady Henry Somerset Memorial
* Victoria Park

Murals|

* Brixton
* Children at Play
* Cable Street
* Dulwich
* Old Kent Road
* National Covid Memorial Wall
* Poplar Rates Rebellion
* Poured Lines
* Sutton twin towns
* Sutton Heritage Mosaic

| Banksy|

* From this moment despair ends and tactics begin
* Girl with Balloon†
* One Nation Under CCTV†
* Pulp Fiction†
* Slave Labour†

|

Land art|

* Northala Fields

See also|

* Art on the Underground
* Tube map covers
* Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm
* London Mural Preservation Society
* Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association

By location

* City of London
* Barking and Dagenham
* Barnet
* Bexley
* Brent
* Bromley
* Camden
* Croydon
* Ealing
* Enfield
* Greenwich
* Hackney
* Hammersmith and Fulham
* Haringey
* Harrow
* Havering
* Hillingdon
* Hounslow
* Islington
* Kensington and Chelsea
* Kingston
* Lambeth
* Lewisham
* Merton
* Newham
* Redbridge
* Richmond
* Southwark
* Sutton
* Tower Hamlets
* Waltham Forest
* Wandsworth

City of Westminster|

* Belgravia1
* Covent Garden2
* Green Park
* Hyde Park
* Kensington1
* Kensington Gardens1
* Knightsbridge1
* Mayfair
* Millbank
* Paddington
* Pimlico
* St James's
* St Marylebone
* Soho
* Strand
* Trafalgar Square
* Victoria
* Victoria Embankment3
* Westminster
* Whitehall

* 1 Partly in Kensington and Chelsea
* 2 Partly in Camden
* 3 Partly in the City of London

Key: † No longer extant, on public display or in London (see List of public art formerly in London) * ‡ Changing displays

* v
* t
* e

Parliament Square, London

Buildings|

| Current|

* Clockwise from Southwest: Middlesex Guildhall
* Supreme Court
* 12 Great George Street
* RICS
* Government Offices Great George Street
* HM Treasury
* HM Revenue and Customs
* 10 Bridge Street
* St Stephens Tavern
* Portcullis House
* Westminster Underground Station
* Palace of Westminster
* Elizabeth Tower
* Big Ben
* New Palace Yard
* Westminster Hall
* House of Commons
* House of Lords
* St Margaret's Westminster
* Westminster Abbey

|

Former|

* Buxton Memorial Fountain

Statues|

| In the square|

* Clockwise from Southwest: Mandela
* Peel
* Gandhi
* Disraeli
* Fawcett
* Derby
* Palmerston
* Smuts
* Lloyd George
* Churchill

|

By Middlesex Guildhall|

* Lincoln
* Canning

Nearby|

* Cromwell

Adjacent streets|

* Broad Sanctuary (leading to Victoria Street)
* Little Sanctuary
* Little George Street
* Great George Street (leading to Birdcage Walk)
* Parliament Street (leading to Whitehall)
* Bridge Street (leading Westminster Bridge)
* Abingdon Street (leading to Millbank)

Architects|

* Charles Barry
* George Grey Wornum
* Augustus Pugin
* John Brydon
* J.S. Gibson
* Michael Hopkins and Partners

Events|

* Black Friday (1910)
* Parliament Square Peace Campaign (Brian Haw)
* 2010 United Kingdom student protests

* Category
* Commons

51°30′01″N 0°07′38″W﻿ / ﻿51.50041°N 0.12734°W﻿ / 51.50041; -0.12734
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