Fifty years ago, an 18 ft-tall statue of King Kong by Nicholas Monto was commissioned for display in Manzoni Gardens, behind the old Bull Ring shopping centre in Birmingham. Monro’s brief was to make something ‘city orientated’ so he chose King Kong because of his association with New York and “for my own petty reasons”.
The statue was moved from its original site to various spots around the city before being sold on numerous times in different parts of the country, including Edinburgh, Leeds and finally Penrith. BUT many Brummies of a certain age (ahem) consider it to be their own.
This 23 ft-tall version was created to coincide with the Commonwealth Games due to start on Thursday, and dominates a pop-up park in the Jewellery Quarter.
My youngest daughter and I went to visit it today. There was live music and cocktails and a lot of pride in our often maligned city. We had a lovely, happy day.
I found Birmingham a lovely city when I went to meet a @thistle01 a good few years ago now.
Joyce took me to the wonderful library & various places. I would have loved to have gone to the jewellery quarter. King Kong is very tall!
Joyce took me to the wonderful library & various places. I would have loved to have gone to the jewellery quarter. King Kong is very tall!