equestrian statue An equestrian statue is a statue of a rider mounted on a horse, from the Latin ''eques'', meaning 'knight', deriving from ''equus'', meaning 'horse'. A statue of a riderless horse is strictly an equine statue. A full-sized equestrian statue is a ...

of Field Marshal

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (; 1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was a British Army officer and statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures in Britain during t ...

, is located outside the

Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow The Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) is the main gallery of contemporary art in Glasgow, Scotland. GoMA offers a programme of temporary exhibitions and workshops. GoMA displays work by local and international artists as well as addressing contempo ...

(formerly the Royal Exchange) in Scotland. It is one of Glasgow's most iconic

landmarks A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern-day use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures ...

. It was sculpted by the Italian-born French artist

Carlo Marochetti Baron Pietro Carlo Giovanni Battista Marochetti (14 January 1805 – 29 December 1867) was an Italian-born French sculptor who worked in France, Italy and Britain. He completed many public sculptures, often in a neo-classical style, plus re ...

and erected in 1844, thanks to public funding to mark the successful end in 1815 of the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

. Since at least the 1980s it has been traditionally capped with a

traffic cone Traffic cones, also called pylons, witches' hats, road cones, highway cones, safety cones, caution cones, channelizing devices, construction cones, roadworks cones, or just cones, are usually cone-shaped markers that are placed on roads or footpa ...

by members of the public. It is a

Category A listed Category, plural categories, may refer to: General uses *Classification, the general act of allocating things to classes/categories Philosophy * Category of being * ''Categories'' (Aristotle) * Category (Kant) * Categories (Peirce) * Category ( ...

sculpture.

Statue

The statue of the Duke on his favourite horse Copenhagen was sculpted by the Italian-born French artist

and erected in 1844. It is

Category-A listed This is a list of Category A listed buildings in Scotland, which are among the listed buildings of the United Kingdom. For a fuller list, see the pages linked on List of listed buildings in Scotland. Key The organization of the lists in th ...

Traffic cone

In recent times the statue has become known for being capped with a

. Continued over many years, the act has been described as a display of Glaswegian humour and spirit, and is believed to date back to at least the 1980s. In 2005

Glasgow City Council Glasgow City Council (Scottish Gaelic: ''Comhairle Baile Ghlaschu'') is the Local government in Scotland, local government authority for Glasgow, Glasgow City council area, Scotland. In its modern form it was created in 1996. Glasgow was former ...

and

Strathclyde Police Strathclyde Police was the territorial police force responsible for the Scottish council areas of Argyll and Bute, Glasgow City, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, ...

took a stance of asking the public not to replace the cone, citing minor damage to the statue and the potential for injury when attempting to place one. In 2011 the

Lonely Planet Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books. History 20th century Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen Wheeler, Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 19 ...

guide included the statue in its list of the "top 10 most bizarre monuments on Earth". In 2013 Glasgow City Council put forward plans for a £65,000 restoration project, which included a proposal to double the height of its

plinth A pedestal or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...

and raise it to more than in height to "deter all but the most determined of vandals". Their planning application contained an estimate that the cost of removing traffic cones from the statue was £100 per callout, and that this could amount to £10,000 per year. The plans were withdrawn after significant public opposition, including an online petition that received over 10,000 signatures. As the council indicated that action against the practice could still be considered, the art-political organisation

National Collective National Collective was a political organisation self-described as an "open and non-party ..group of artists and creatives" who support Scottish independence active from 2011 to 2015. The organisation was founded in late 2011 by Ross Colquhoun, An ...

organised a rally in defence of the cone. In 2014, in support of the

Scottish independence referendum A referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom was held in Scotland on 18 September 2014. The referendum question was "Should Scotland be an independent country?", which voters answered with "Yes" or "No". The "No" side won ...

, it was fitted with a "Yes" cone as well as a flag fitted in its

stirrup A stirrup is a light frame or ring that holds the foot of a rider, attached to the saddle by a strap, often called a ''stirrup leather''. Stirrups are usually paired and are used to aid in mounting and as a support while using a riding animal ...

. The cone was replaced with a gold-painted one during the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

as a celebration of Scotland's contribution to the record haul of

gold medals A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

won by

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their British Olympic team. The brand was developed after the nation's poor performance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is now a trademark of the BOA. ...

. A replica of the statue, complete with cone, appeared at the

2014 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony The opening ceremony for the 2014 Commonwealth Games was held at Celtic Park in Glasgow, Scotland, between 21:00 and 23:40 BST, on 23 July 2014. Proceedings Countdown The ceremony began with a dramatic countdown, starting at 30 seconds, which ...

, and a gold cone was then again placed on the statue to mark the success of the games. In 2015 Glasgow City Council tested CCTV software worth £1.2 million, checking to see whether it could automatically detect people putting cones on the statue, which it could. On Brexit Day (31 January 2020), pro-European supporters placed a cone painted to represent the

flag of Europe The flag of Europe or European flag consists of twelve Or (heraldry), golden stars forming a Circle of stars, circle on a Azure (heraldry), blue field. It was designed and adopted in 1955 by the Council of Europe (CoE) as a symbol for the who ...

on its head. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

it was adorned with a cone and a blue

surgical mask A surgical mask, also known by other names such as a medical face mask or procedure mask, is a personal protective equipment used by healthcare professionals that serves as a mechanical barrier that interferes with direct airflow in and out of r ...

around its ears to reflect the pandemic and lockdowns in the country. In March 2022, in support of Ukraine and as a protest against Russia's invasion of it, it was fitted with a cone with the colours of the

Ukrainian flag The national flag of Ukraine (, ) consists of equally sized horizontal bands of blue and yellow. The blue and yellow bicolor flag was first seen during the 1848 Spring of Nations in Lemberg (Lviv), the capital of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lo ...

. In June 2023, to promote his exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art, the graffiti artist

Banksy Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist, and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive ep ...

declared that the statue was his "favourite work of art in the UK". On 21 June the Scottish climate change campaigning group This Is Rigged placed a cone with their logo on the statue, and invited Banksy to support their cause.

Statue

Traffic cone

See also

References

External links

Further reading