The Angel of the North is known to be a sculpture that was designed by Antony Gormley which is located in Gateshead in England. The sculpture which was completed in the year 1998 is a steel sculpture which is about 20 meters long. It also has wings that measure about 177 ft. across. However, when you see the sculpture you will notice that the wings do not stand straight sideways but they are kind of angled in 3.5 degrees going forward.
The Angel of the North stands on a hill that is in Britley and it overlooks the A167 and the A1 roads into the East Coast main line and the Tyneside.
The concept of the Angel of the North Newcastle
Antony Gormley gave the significance of the Angel of the North in a three-fold way. The first fold was to signify that beneath the site where its construction took place, the coal miners were working or rather worked for around two centuries. The second fold was to mainly grasp the transformation that took place from an industrial age moving to an information age. The third fold was meant to serve as a kind of focus for all our evolving fears and hopes.
The construction of the Angel of the North
The construction work of the Angel of the North started in the year 1994 and it cost a total of £800,000. The national lottery was the one who provided most of the funding of the sculpture. The sculpture of the Angel of the North was completed in the year 1998 February the 16th.
Since the sculpture was in an exposed location, it was built in a way that it could be able to withstand winds that went over 160km/h. therefore, foundations that weighed 600 tonnes were used when it came to the building of the sculpture. The sculpture was first built at the Hartlepool steel fabrications with the use of steel that was weather resistant. Once it was completed, it was then brought to the site by road. It took transporters around 5 hours to take the sculpture to its site.
There was a lot of controversies that was brought about by the Angel of the North in the British newspapers. This was especially so with a local councilor who was known as Martin Callanan who was very strong with his opposition. However, as years have gone by, the sculpture has been considered to be a kind of landmark for the North East part of England. It has also been listed by one organization to be the icon of England. It has also been used in different television series and films in Tyneside.
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