The Robert Hooke Biodiversity Bell - Festival Gardens, London, UK
N 51° 30.808 W 000° 05.841
30U E 701402 N 5710921
The Robert Hooke Biodiversity Bell is a new addition to the area to the south of St Paul's Cathedral. The bell is upside down and is mounted on a block of Portland stone.
Waymark Code: WMJ780
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 10/05/2013
Views: 7
This bell, including the plinth, stands about six feet high with a mouth of
about two to three feet. Sadly, this one is being used as a rubbish bin.
The plaque on the front of the plinth reads:
The Robert Hooke
Biodiversity Bell
Cast from a Portland stone mould
as part of a MEMO project
On top of the plinth is another plaque offering an explanation:
The Robert Hooke Biodiversity Bell
The bell was designed by sculptor, Marcus Vergette and cast at Taylor's Bell
Founders in Loughborough from a mould of the same fossil-rich Portland
limestone of which the base, St Paul's and so much of central London is
made.
This is the final scale model for a much larger 'geological' bell to be
tolled whenever a species goes extict worldwide and will be sited at the
MEMO Project on the Isle of Portland. During the aftermath of the Great Fire
of London Robert Hooke first deduced that species could go extinct from
giant ammonite fossils in Portland stone.
MEMO is a collaboration of scientists and sculptors determined to build a
global monument recording global species extinctions into the future. The
purpose is to capture the public imagination on the subject of biodiversity
loss. A spiral design based on the fossil forms of the surface of the bell
was granted full planning permission in 2012 for a spectacular cliff top
site on Portland overlooking the 'Jurassic Coast' World Heritage Site.
www.memoproject.org
A very interesting leaflet about the project can be found at the
MEMO Project website.
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