THE ROYAL Borough of Greenwich has been chosen as the recipient of a gift to London from Ancient Olympia – a new bronze sculpture.
The 700kg sculpture of Nike the Greek Goddess is almost 4-metres tall and was created at the Kaparos Foundry in Greece.
The gift from Ancient Olympia to London is for its staging of the Games of the XXX Olympiad. The Royal Borough of Greenwich was one of six Host Boroughs, with events held at Greenwich Park, the Dome and at the Royal Artillery Barracks, Woolwich.
The sculpture, which is currently in transit across Europe, is expected to arrive in the UK later this week and will then be moved to its new home at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich.
It had been hoped the sculpture would have arrived last week when the Mayor of Ancient Olympia, Efthymios Kotzas, attended a reception in Woolwich, but he instead presented the Mayor of Greenwich, David Grant, with a model of the sculpture (see below).
UPDATED – The bronze statue will be unveiled at the Royal Arsenal on 9th September.
Nike? Nike? But then I suppose Adidas, the God of Tier One Sponsorship, has been overdone during the past few weeks; since no-one is classing the gift as ‘ambush marketing’ I wonder can we expect further statues of Pepsi, Goddess of Wham, or that ancient Romano-celtic diety Burgerking?
Boo that Woolwich gets it.
Greenwich never gets anything. It’s so unfair.
Nelson’s –
You’re having a turkish, aren’t you? Ship In A Bottle? Yours, isn’t it?
Why should Woolwich get the statue Greenwich held more with the royal family attending and would really nice in Greenwich park
Why should Woolwich get the statue Greenwich held more with the royal family attending and would look really nice in Greenwich park
I’ve also heard that the council will be announcing it is to enter into a twinning arrangement with Ancient Olympia which would be fairly prestigious. Not had that officially confirmed yet though.
What on earth do the royal family have to do with the location of a statue? Is this a veiled reference to Prince Philip?