00:00Hello and welcome to Manchester World. This is the second part of a series of explainers where
00:03I'll take a look at some of the most prominent statues in Manchester and explain a little bit
00:07about their history and why they're important to the city. Today we're looking at the Queen
00:11Victoria statue in Piccadilly Gardens. The statue was unveiled in 1901 just after the death of the
00:16monarch but was commissioned before that and the Queen actually sat for Onslow Ford, the sculptor,
00:20while he was creating it. The original plan had been for a marble monument but the Queen suggested
00:24that bronze may be better because of the impact that Manchester's smoky atmosphere could have on
00:28marble. The statue sees Victoria seated on a large throne holding a scepter and an orb with
00:32St George fighting a dragon sitting atop the throne. The statue was criticised heavily when
00:37it was revealed. The Westminster Review called it at once the most pretentious, the most incoherent
00:41and the most inept of any sculptural monument one has ever seen in England and in the song
00:45City Hog Goblins Markie Smith sings, so Queen Victoria is a large black slug in Piccadilly
00:50Manchester. Despite the criticism it stood now for 123 years in Piccadilly and has undergone
00:55extensive cleaning on a fair few occasions. Follow Manchester World for more. I'm Dirk Huston-Betts.
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