Victoria Monument, Liverpool

{{Short description|Monument at Derby Square in Liverpool, England}}

{{About|the Victoria Memorial in Liverpool|other monuments to Queen Victoria|Victoria Monument (disambiguation)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

File:Victoria Monument, Derby Square, Liverpool.jpg

The Queen Victoria Monument is a large neo-Baroque{{cite web |url=http://www.liverpoolworldheritage.com/visitingthewhs/areas/castlestreet/monumenttoqueenvictoria.asp |title=Monument to Queen Victoria |work=Liverpool World Heritage |publisher=City of Liverpool |access-date=February 4, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229220415/http://www.liverpoolworldheritage.com/visitingthewhs/areas/castlestreet/monumenttoqueenvictoria.asp |archive-date=February 29, 2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }} or Beaux-Arts{{cite book |last=Crouch |first=Christopher |title=Design Culture in Liverpool, 1880–1914: The Origins of the Liverpool School of Architecture |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=35ovbqnVXk0C&pg=PA132 |access-date=February 4, 2013 |year=2002 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |location=Liverpool |isbn=9780853238942 |page=131}} monument built over the former site of Liverpool Castle at Derby Square in Liverpool.

A large ensemble featuring 26 bronze figures by C. J. Allen (some in New Sculpture style),{{cite web |url=http://www.victorianweb.org/sculpture/allen/3.html |title=Queen Victoria Monument |author= Jacqueline Banerjee and George P. Landow |work=The Victorian Web |access-date=February 5, 2013}} it was designed by F. M. Simpson of the Liverpool School of Architecture, in collaboration{{cite book |last=Richmond |first=Peter |title=Marketing Modernisms: The Architecture and Influence of Charles Reilly |url=https://archive.org/details/marketingmoderni0000rich |url-access=registration |access-date=February 4, 2013 |year=2001 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |location=Liverpool |isbn=9780853237662 |page=[https://archive.org/details/marketingmoderni0000rich/page/25 25]}} with the local architectural firm{{cite web |url=http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/architect_full.php?id=202887 |title=Basic Biographical Details – Willink & Thicknesse |work=Dictionary of Scottish Architects |access-date=February 5, 2013}} of Willink and Thicknesse and built of Portland stone. The foundation stone was laid on 11 October 1902 by Field Marshal Lord Roberts, Commander-in-Chief of the Forces.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener in Liverpool|date=13 October 1902 |page=8 |issue=36897}} The monument was unveiled on 27 September 1906. It is a Grade II Listed structure, a preservation category for structures of special public interest.

Sharples and Pollard, in the Liverpool volume of the Pevsner Architectural Guides, describe the work as Allen's greatest, and as one of the most ambitious monuments to Queen Victoria.{{cite book |last1=Sharples |first1=Joseph |last2=Pollard |first2=Richard |title=Liverpool |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WZQLDM9oekgC&pg=PA149 |access-date=February 4, 2013 |year=2004 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |isbn=978-0300102581 |page=149}}

There are four groups of figures around the pedestal, representing agriculture, commerce, industry and education. Among the figures representing education is a statue modelled on Sir Oliver Lodge. A large ({{convert|4.42|m|foot}}) statue of Queen Victoria is at the centre, centred in four groups of columns which support a baldacchino-like open dome (which Terry Cavanagh called the monument's "least successful feature").{{cite book |last=Cavanagh |first=Terry |title=Public Sculpture of Liverpool |year=1996 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |location=Liverpool |isbn=978-0853237112 |page=43}} On top of the column groups are four allegorical figures representing justice, wisdom, charity, and peace. Atop the dome itself is a large figure representing fame.

In 2002, as part of the Liverpool Biennial festival, Japanese artist Tatsurou Bashi (b. 1960) created a hotel room around the statue of the Queen entitled Villa Victoria, in which paying guests could spend a night.[https://archive.today/20130420225617/http://liverpoolbiennial.co.uk/programmes/festivals/artists/0/8/2002/192/tatsurou-bashi/ Villa Victoria] Liverpool Biennial website

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