Trivia Thursday

Not having attended Triv last night because of another commitment, I can’t present you with one of last night’s triv questions. Here is one from a previous week:

Question:  

Name the landmark shown and the city and country in which it is located:

Answer:

A statue known as The Angel of the North, located in Gateshead, England

Some information about the statue:

The sculpture was designed by sculptor Anthony Gormley.

Anthony Gormley and a model of his erection.

According to Gormley

"People are always asking, why an angel? The only response I can give is that no-one has ever seen one and we need to keep imagining them. The angel has three functions - firstly a historic one to remind us that below this site coal miners worked in the dark for two hundred years, secondly to grasp hold of the future, expressing our transition from the industrial to the information age, and lastly to be a focus for our hopes and fears - a sculpture is an evolving thing."

"The hilltop 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. Now in the light, there is a celebration of this industry. The face will not have individual features. The effect of the piece is in the alertness, the awareness of space and the gesture of the wings - they are not flat, they're about 3.5 degrees forward and give a sense of embrace. The most important thing is that this is a collaborative venture. We are evolving a collective work from the firms of the North East and the best engineers in the world." 

Statue facts from Gateshead Council’s website:

· It is believed to be the largest angel sculpture in the world

· It is one of the most viewed pieces of art in the world - seen by more than one person every second, 90,000 every day or 33 million every year

· It is one of the most famous artworks in the region - almost two thirds of people in the North East had already heard of the Angel of the North before it was built

· Its 54 metre (175 foot) wingspan is bigger than a Boeing 757 or 767 jet and almost the same as a Jumbo jet

· It is 20 metres (65 feet) high - the height of a five storey building or four double decker buses

· It weighs 200 tonnes - the body 100 tonnes and the wings 50 tonnes each

· There is enough steel in it to make 16 double decker buses or four Chieftain tanks

· It will last for more than 100 years

· It will withstand winds of more than 100 miles per hour

· Below the sculpture, massive concrete piles 20 metres deep will anchor it to the solid rock beneath

· It is made of weather resistant Cor-ten steel, containing a small amount of copper, which forms a patina on the surface that mellows with age

· Huge sections of the Angel - up to six metres wide and 25 metres long - were transported to the site by lorry with a police escort

· The total cost of The Angel of the North was £800,000

· There is unique species of daffodil named the Angel of the North due to its orange, rusty hue and lofty height. The Angel of the North daffodil has been verified and registered with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)

Additional facts not on the Council website:

· Prior to its construction in 1998 there had been a vocal campaign against it by councillors and residents. A previous proposed Gormley statute 30 metres in height and made of red brick had been stopped.

· Today, according to a Durham University study, 72% of local residents say the Angel of the North makes them feel good whenever they see it, and it makes 64% proud of Gateshead.

Some pics:

By the way:

· Street artist and now mainstream artist Banksy has done his own version of Angel of the North. His statue, of the same name, was part of a 2009 exhibition.

· Damien Hirst’s 20m (66ft) high statue of a naked, pregnant woman wielding a sword, titled Verity, takes pride of place on Ilfracombe seafront, Devon. It has been loaned to the town for 20 years and has been dubbed The Angel of the West.

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