The Statue of

Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as ''Yuriy'', ''Youri'', or ''Yury''. (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space. Tr ...

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, is a zinc statue depicting the cosmonaut wearing a spacesuit and standing on top of a globe. The figure was originally unveiled on 14 July 2011 at a temporary location in the Mall, close to

Admiralty Arch Admiralty Arch is a landmark building in London providing road and pedestrian access between The Mall, which extends to the southwest, and Trafalgar Square to the northeast. Admiralty Arch, commissioned by King Edward VII in memory of his moth ...

and facing the statue of Captain James Cook. It was later moved to the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, at a site overlooking the

Prime Meridian A prime meridian is an arbitrary meridian (a line of longitude) in a geographic coordinate system at which longitude is defined to be 0°. Together, a prime meridian and its anti-meridian (the 180th meridian in a 360°-system) form a great c ...

line, and was unveiled at the new location on 7 March 2013. There had been an unsuccessful proposal to move it to

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. The high statue is a replica of an original by Anatoly Novikov in

Lyubertsy Lyubertsy ( rus, Люберцы, p=ˈlʲʉbʲɪrtsɨ) is a city and the administrative center of Lyuberetsky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia. Demographics Population: History It was first mentioned in 1621 and was granted town status in 192 ...

, where Gagarin was trained as a foundry worker. The statue was a gift to the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

from the Russian space agency

Roscosmos The State Space Corporation "Roscosmos" (russian: Государственная корпорация по космической деятельности «Роскосмос»), commonly known simply as Roscosmos (russian: Роскосмос) ...

as a part of several cultural events commemorating the 50th anniversary of the first human spaceflight. The original location of the statue was chosen to be where Gagarin first met the then Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.

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* {{Portal bar, London, Soviet Union, Spaceflight, Visual arts 2011 sculptures Outdoor sculptures in London Gagarin, Yuri Zinc sculptures Buildings and structures in the Royal Borough of Greenwich Monuments and memorials to Yuri Gagarin 2011 establishments in England Monuments and memorials in London Maps in art Diplomatic gifts

See also

References

External links