''Empowerment'' is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

in the centre of the city of

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Designed by the artist Stephen Broadbent, sponsored by Alstom UK Ltd, Lincoln Co-operative Society, and other Lincoln businesses and organisations, donated to Lincoln City Council. The sculpture was completed in 2002, unveiled on 2 February, and spans the

River Witham The River Witham is a river almost entirely in the county of Lincolnshire in the east of England. It rises south of Grantham close to South Witham at , passes through the centre of Grantham (where it may be closely followed using the Riversi ...

in Lincoln's City Square. It takes the form of two

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...

-and- steel human figures reaching to each other across the water. The design is intended to echo the shape of

turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced by a turbine can be used for generating ...

blades, in recognition of Lincoln's industrial heritage, which transform into dynamic figures that reach out to empower one another, just as the blades empower one another within the turbine. The statue was commissioned with the intent to create a bold and striking sculpture to celebrate the

millennium A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting point (ini ...

, that spans the River Witham in Lincoln’s city centre and act as a focal point in the space. At tall, ''Empowerment'' is the largest sculpture in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

. Increasingly, it is now used alongside more traditional images of Lincoln — the

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

and castle — as a recognisable '

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

emblem' of the city, similar to the adoption of the Angel of the North as a symbol of North East England.Visit Lincolnshire

References

External links

The sculptor's web site
Buildings and structures in Lincoln, England Outdoor sculptures in England Tourist attractions in Lincolnshire 2002 sculptures Aluminium sculptures in the United Kingdom Steel sculptures in England {{UK-sculpture-stub