Angel of the North

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Angel of the North

The Angel of the North is a contemporary sculpture designed by Antony Gormley, which is located in Gateshead, England.

As the name suggests, it is a steel sculpture of an angel, standing 66 feet (20 m) tall, with wings measuring 178 feet (54 m) across — making it wider than the Statue of Liberty's height. The wings themselves are not planar, but are angled 3.5 degrees forward, which Gormley has said aims to create "a sense of embrace".^[1] It stands on a hill, on the southern edge of Low Fell overlooking the A1 road and the A167 road into Tyneside and the East Coast Main Line rail route, and just south of the site of Team Colliery [1].

[edit] Construction

Work began on the project in 1994, the total cost coming to £1m. Most of the project funding was provided by the National Lottery.

Due to its exposed location, the sculpture has to withstand winds of over 100 mph (160 km/h). Thus, 600 metric tonnes (661 tons) of concrete were used to create foundations (provided by Thomas Armstrong Ltd) which anchor the sculpture to rock 20 metres (66 ft) below.

The sculpture itself was created offsite, using Corten weather resistant steel, at Hartlepool Steel Fabrications Ltd in three parts – with the body weighing 100 tonnes (110 short tons), and two wings weighing 50 tonnes (55 short tons) each – then brought to its site by road. It took seven hours for the body to be transported from its construction site in Hartlepool, up the A19 to the site.

Construction work on the Angel was finished on 16 February 1998. At first, Angel of the North aroused some controversy locally — one local councillor, Martin Callanan, was especially strong in his opposition — and in the UK newspapers. It has now come to be considered by some as a landmark for the North East of England^[2]^[3]and has been listed by one organisation as an "Icon of England".^[4]

[edit] Maquettes

Several maquettes were produced during the development stage of the project.^[5] One, a human-size model from which the sculpture was created, was sold at auction for £2m in July 2008.^[6] An additional bronze maquette used in fundraising in the 1990s, owned by Gateshead Council, was valued at £1 million on the BBC show Antiques Roadshow on 16 November 2008. This was the most valuable item ever valued on the show.^[7]^[5]