Nelson Mandela - Royal Festival Hall, South Bank, London, UK
N 51° 30.325 W 000° 07.006
30U E 700090 N 5709973
With the demise of Nelson Mandela on 5th December 2013 this bust can now, sadly, enter this category. It is located on the first floor level of the Royal Festival Hall at the top of the stairs leading up from Belvedere Road.
Waymark Code: WMN9VR
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/27/2015
Views: 5
The Museum of London website tells us:
The Nelson Mandela Statue is situated on the first exterior level of the Royal Festival Hall.
Mandela's story is inscribed on the plinth and was unveiled in 1985, the statue was for many years the focus of much political activism. The current bronze statue replaces the original fibreglass sculpture after it was repeatedly vandalised and finally set on fire.
The inscription reads: "The Struggle Is My Life" Nelson Mandela. Gaoled 5th August 1962. Sentenced to life imprisonment 12th June 1964 for his actions against apartheid. Erected by the Greater London Council. Unveiled by Oliver Tambo, President of the African National Congress 28th October 1985.
To this was also added: Nelson Mandela was released after 27 years imprisonment 11th February 1990. Awarded Nobel Peace Prize 19th December 1993. Inaugurated President of the Republic of South Africa and its Government of National Unity 10th May 1994.
The London Remembers website also tells us:
Its black polished-granite plinth was raised two feet for greater security after the original sculpture was destroyed. The original was offered to the Greater London Council in 1984 and unveiled a year later by the late ANC president Oliver Tambo while Mandela was still in jail.
The day after the unveiling Labour Party firebrand and anti-apartheid activist Tony Brand stood up in the House of Commons, complete with ANC T-shirt and goaded the then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Would she find time, he asked, "to go to the South Bank to see the statue of Nelson Mandela erected by the GLC?" She replied with a terse "No".
The sculpture lasted just over a year before being destroyed by fire, the last in a series of attacks by racist gangs who left a wall daubed with slogans such as "black murderers out of Britain".