Angel

Northumberland break 1

I've recently returned from an enjoyable few days' break in Northumberland, one of my favourite areas of the UK, so I will post a few photos I took along the way. 

Literally 'along the way', I stopped off to see the huge statue known as 'The Angel of the North'. Situated beside the main A1 road in Gateshead, its colossal size means it is visible to road and rail travellers making the journey north. Created by the sculptor Anthony Gormley and made of Corten steel, which weathers to a rusty brown, it was erected in 1998. It stands at an astonishing 20m (66ft) tall, with a wingspan of 54m (175 ft), and weighs 208 tonnes, mounted on foundations that are as deep as the statue is high. The external ribs break up the wind and direct it downwards, to give the sculpture the necessary stability. 

Gormley himself said: "The hill top site is important and has the feeling of being a megalithic mound. When you think of the mining that was done underneath the site, there is a poetic resonance. Men worked beneath the surface in the dark.... It is important to me that the Angel is rooted in the ground—the complete antithesis of what an angel is, floating about in the ether. It has an air of mystery. You make things because they cannot be said."

I was at first a little puzzled by the shrines and mementoes all around the statue - and then realised that they were there because of the symbolism of 'the Angel', watching over us. Several seemed to be memorials to children, really very poignant.  

When the statue was first erected, there was a certain amount of controversy but most people now seem to quite like it. It is certainly impressive and memorable, an icon.