''Temenos'' is a sculpture in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

Northern England Northern England, or the North of England, refers to the northern part of England and mainly corresponds to the Historic counties of England, historic counties of Cheshire, Cumberland, County Durham, Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland, Westmo ...

. It is approximately long and high and cost £2.7 million. The steel structure consists of a pole, a circular ring and an oval ring, all held together by steel wire. The name ''

Temenos A ''temenos'' ( Greek: ; plural: , ''temenē''). is a piece of land cut off and assigned as an official domain, especially to kings and chiefs, or a piece of land marked off from common uses and dedicated to a god, such as a sanctuary, holy g ...

'' comes from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

( < , temno, 'to cut') term for land cut off and assigned as an official domain, especially to kings and chiefs, or a piece of land marked off from common uses and dedicated to a god, a sanctuary, holy grove or holy precinct. The structure is in the

Middlehaven Middlehaven is the oldest part of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. It is directly south of the River Tees, and north of the current town centre, separated from it by the railway and A66. The area has had waves of regeneration since pos ...

area of Middlesbrough, close to where the

Transporter bridge A transporter bridge, also known as a ferry bridge or aerial transfer bridge, is a type of movable bridge that carries a segment of roadway across a river. The gondola is slung from a tall span by wires or a metal frame. The design has been us ...

is located; construction work started in autumn 2008 and was completed by spring 2010, and the sculpture was officially presented to the people of Middlesbrough on 10 June 2010. It was funded by the Government Initiative,

The Northern Way The Northern Way was a collaboration initiated in February 2004 between the three northern regional development agencies (RDAs), Northwest Development Agency, One NorthEast and Yorkshire Forward at the instigation of the then Deputy Prime Minis ...

, the regional development agency

One NorthEast One North East was the regional development agency for the North East England North East England, commonly referred to simply as the North East within England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of County DurhamNorth ...

, the

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council o ...

, the

Northern Rock Foundation Northern Rock Foundation was an independent charity and company limited by guarantee in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1997 when the Northern Rock company was floated on the stock exchange. Following the near-collapse of the bank and its na ...

Middlesbrough Football Club Middlesbrough Football Club ( ) is a professional association football club based in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Nicknamed the Boro, they were fo ...

and BioRegional Quintain.

History

The sculpture was part of the planned Tees Valley Giants, intended as a £15 million series of five art installations by the sculptor

Anish Kapoor Sir Anish Mikhail Kapoor (born 12 March 1954) is a British sculptor specializing in installation art and conceptual art. Born in Mumbai, Kapoor attended the elite all-boys Indian boarding school The Doon School, before moving to the United Ki ...

and the structural designer

Cecil Balmond Cecil Balmond OBE is a British Sri Lankan designer, artist, and writer. In 1968, Balmond joined Ove Arup & Partners, leading him to become deputy chairman. In 2000, he founded design and research group, the AGU (Advanced Geometry Unit). He curre ...

. The artwork was planned to be created in the towns of

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

Hartlepool Hartlepool ( ) is a seaside resort, seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is governed by a unitary authority borough Borough of Hartlepool, named after the town. The borough is part of the devolved Tees Valley area with an estimat ...

Redcar Redcar is a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast in the Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority. It is in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England, and is located east of Middlesbrough. The Teesside built-up area's Redcar subdiv ...

and

Stockton on Tees Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in County Durham, England, with a population of 84,815 at the 2021 UK census. It gives its name to and is the largest settlement in the wider Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. It is part of Teesside and the Tees V ...

, all in the

Tees Valley Tees Valley is a combined authority area in North East England, around the lower River Tees. The area is not a geographical valley. The combined authority covers five council areas: Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland ...

. The project was launched in July 2008 by Tees Valley Regeneration. If completed, the project would become the world's biggest public art project. In September 2012, Kapoor insisted that the other projects would go ahead, but by September 2016 no progress had been announced. The other four structures were never formally announced, and in June 2012 the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

revealed that plans for them had been put on hold; it currently seems unlikely that funding for them will be secured. In September 2012, Kapoor insisted that all of the structures would go ahead, but the project then slipped out of the news until May 2018 when Stockton Council was hoping to revive the scheme by seeking funding from

Tees Valley Combined Authority The Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) is the Combined authorities and combined county authorities, combined authority for the Tees Valley urban area in North East England consisting of the following five Unitary authority, unitary authoriti ...

for a second sculpture.

References

External links

*
''Temenos'' on Anish Kapoor's official website
{{Anish Kapoor Places in the Tees Valley Buildings and structures in Hartlepool Buildings and structures in Middlesbrough Redcar and Cleveland Buildings and structures in Stockton-on-Tees Outdoor sculptures in England Sculptures by Anish Kapoor Borough of Darlington Steel sculptures in England 2010 sculptures