This cast bronze sculpture, by Uli Nimptsch, was original located in a garden outside the Selly Hospital out-patients department in Birmingham. It was moved in 2014 to a position alongside a footpath between the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the University of Birmingham in Edgbaston. The cost of moving the sculpture was covered by the Charles Henry Foyle Trust; the Trust which originally donated the sculpture to the Selly Oak Hospital.
The full article is reproduced below:
‘Naked Good Samaritan statue moved to Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.
The “Compassion” sculpture has been outside the now closed Selly Oak Hospital since 1961.
By Anuji Varma
14:00, 29 JUL 2014, UPDATED 13:47, 16 MAR 2015
A landmark statue has been moved to its new home outside a Birmingham hospital after a three-month restoration project.
The Bronze sculpture, called Compassion, was a familiar sight for generations of patients at Selly Oak Hospital after being installed in 1961.
Based on the Good Samaritan parable, it shows one man helping another.
But it was moved by crane in April after the hospital closed down and was taken away to be spruced up.
Now the statue, created by sculptor Uli Nimptsch, has been given a new home alongside a pedestrian walkway between the city’s new Queen Elizabeth Hospital and University railway station.
Graham Hackett, estates and design manager at University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB), said: “The Compassion statue holds a lot of affection for people who worked at Selly Oak.”
“So we have effectively moved a large slice of Selly Oak to the new hospital site.”
The statue, which sits on a stone plinth, has been maintained by local education charity, The Charles Henry Foyle Trust.
It made a donation to pay for the statue’s relocation.
The sculpture ws taken to a firm of conservation specialist to be restored.
Mr Hacket said: “There were quite a number of chips which needed repairing, and the statue was also set on bronze dowels set into the plinth which had cracked and needed fixing.”
“But the main restoration work consisted of cleaning and waxing.”
As well as planning permission, UHB also needed to obtain consent from English Heritage to move the sculpture as the site is within the Metchley Roman fort site, a scheduled ancient monument.'
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The sculpture is also known as ‘The Good Samaritan” as it is said to be based on the biblical parable (Luke 10:25- 37). The base of the sculpture is inscribed with lines from the poem ‘A Correct Compassion’ by James Falconer Kirkup, which was dedicated ton Mr Philip Allison after the poet watched Mr Allison perform a Mitral Stenosis Valvotomy operation in Leeds General Hospital.
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The lines quoted are:
‘WITH PROPER GRACE
INFORMING A CORRECT COMPASSION, THAT PERFORMS
ITS LOVE, AND MAKES IT LIVE.’
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The dedication of the sculpture on the supporting plinth is shown below:
‘*COMPASSION*
THIS STATUE WAS COMMISSIONED
AND PRESENTED TO
SELLY OAK HOSPITAL
BY THE
CHARLES HENRY FOYLE TRUST
ON THE SUGGESTION OF
ONE OF THE ORIGINAL TRUSTEES
THE LATE SIR ALBERT BRADBEER
1963’
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