''Transport'' is a sculpture by Antony Gormley in the crypt of

Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the ...

in Kent. It was installed in 2011 and is made from nails from the roof of the cathedral.

Design

The sculpture is in the shape of a human body and is 6ft in length. It is constructed from iron nails removed from the roof of the south-east transept of the cathedral as it was undergoing repairs. ''Transport'' is suspended from the ceiling of the crypt of the cathedral, and hangs above the location of the first tomb of

Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...

Reception

Gormely said of the piece that "We are all the temporary inhabitants of a body. It is our house, instrument and medium. Through it, all impressions of the world come and from it all our acts, thoughts and feelings are communicated". The

Dean of Canterbury The Dean of Canterbury is the head of the Chapter of the Cathedral of Christ Church, Canterbury, England. The current office of Dean originated after the English Reformation, although Deans had also existed before this time; its immediate precur ...

, Robert Willis, said that the "The sense of passage which the word Transport conveys tunes well with the constant movement of people through this place of prayer and creativity ... It also suggests the way in which sacred spaces communicate a sense of time and eternity, of the finite and the infinite". Reviewing the piece in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' at the time of its unveiling, Nancy Durrant wrote that " ... contemporary artists are a secular bunch and this flickering form, both solid and at the same time delicate, has as much to do with the fragility of the Earth-bound human body and its precariousness as the home of thought, feeling and spirit as it does with any notions of doctrinal Christianity". The relationship between Gormley's ''Transport'' and

Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He wa ...

's ''

Canterbury Tales ''The Canterbury Tales'' ( enm, Tales of Caunterbury) is a collection of twenty-four stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. It is widely regarded as Chaucer's ''magnum opus' ...

'' was extensively analysed by Helen Barr in her 2015 book ''Transporting Chaucer''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Transport 2011 sculptures Canterbury Cathedral Iron sculptures in the United Kingdom Sculptures of people Sculptures by Antony Gormley