With the equestrian statue of Prince Albert returning to Holborn Circus – in a slightly different location to where it was before – the Footprints of London team have been thinking about other sculptures that have moved.

Gagarin Statue in The Mall picture Copyright Jen Pedler

In 2011 the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) presented the British Council with the statue of Gagarin to mark the 50th anniversary of his achievement, as a gift to the British people. It was installed on the Mall in central London for a period of 15 months.

Gagarin Statue in Greenwich

the Yuri Gagarin statue outside the Royal Greenwich Observatory where it was officially unveiled on 7th March 2013 by Gagarin’s daughter Elena Gargarina. Yuri Gagarin, who became the first human in space, in April 1961, is shown in his spacesuit standing on the globe. The zinc alloy statue is a copy of one by Anatoly Vovikov originally commissioned by the small Russian town of Lyubertsy near Moscow where the young Gagarin trained as a steel foundry worker. Yuri Gagarin died in a MIG fighter jet training flight accident seven years after his epic space flight achievement.

More Art on the move soon!