Seeing as it's the start of the month of love I thought I'd post a photo of the Eros statue in Sefton Park. This is a replica of the famous statue on top of the Shaftesbury Memorial in Piccadilly Circus, London.
So I did a bit of research to find out more about its history. I knew that this was an aluminium copy of the original statue and was returned to the park when Liverpool was Capital of Culture in 2008.
But what I didn't know is that it's not Eros at all! It's his brother Anteros, in Greek mythology he was the god of selfless love. The statue in Piccadilly Circus was unveiled in 1893 as a memorial to the Earl of Shaftesbury, a social reformer who campaigned to help the poor and vulnerable. After his death his biographer said 'No man has ever done more to lessen the extent of human misery or to add to the sum total of human happiness'.
I really do learn something new every day doing this project.
