The Beatles Statue is a monument in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, England, placed at the

Pier Head The Pier Head (properly, George's Pier Head) is a riverside location in the city centre of Liverpool, England. It was part of the former Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City UNESCO World Heritage Site, which was inscribed in 2004, but revoked in ...

, near the intersection of Brunswick Street and Canada Boulevard. It was designed by sculptor Andy Edwards, and unveiled on 4 December 2015. It consists of four

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

statues depicting the members of

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

, and

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

History

The monument was designed by sculptor Andy Edwards. It was donated to the city of

The Cavern Club The Cavern Club is a music venue on Mathew Street, Liverpool, England. The Cavern Club opened on 16 January 1957 as a jazz club, later becoming a centre of the rock and roll scene in Liverpool in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The club beca ...

, a local music venue associated with

, and unveiled on 4 December 2015, by Ann O'Byrne, the city deputy mayor, and

Julia Baird Julia Baird may refer to: * Julia Baird (teacher) (born 1947), British retired teacher and half-sister of John Lennon * Julia Baird (journalist) (born 1970), Australian journalist {{hndis, Baird, Julia ...

's sister. The ceremony coincided with the 50th anniversary of the last concert the band played in Liverpool on 5 December 1965.

Characteristics

The monument is placed in

at the

, near the intersection of Brunswick Street and Canada Boulevard. It consists of four

statues depicting members of

, that are, from left to right,

, and

. The figures are larger than their real counterparts, and are depicted walking together through the street. They were based on a photograph of the group, taken at the location in 1963. McCartney holds a camera near his chest in his left hand, as a tribute to his wife,

Linda McCartney Linda Louise, Lady McCartney ( Eastman; September 24, 1941 – April 17, 1998) was an American photographer, musician, cookbook author, and activist. She was the keyboardist and harmony vocalist in the band Paul McCartney and Wings, Wings tha ...

, who was a photographer. Harrison is wearing a belt with a

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

inscription on it, which translates to "The Infinite Beyond Conception, we meditate upon that Light of Wisdom, which is the Supreme Wealth of the Gods. May it grant us to increase in our meditation". To the sole of Ringo’s right shoe, is attached a card with a

postal code A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or numerical digit, digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, inclu ...

"''L8''", referencing the area of Welsh Streets in which he grew up. He is also set back from the others, representing the order they were typically positioned on stage, with Ringo being behind the others on the drum kit. In Lennon's right hand are two

acorn The acorn is the nut (fruit), nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'', ''Notholithocarpus'' and ''Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains a seedling surrounded by two cotyledons (seedling leaves), en ...

s, which were cast from acorns collected from near

The Dakota The Dakota, also known as the Dakota Apartments, is a Housing cooperative, cooperative apartment building at 1 West 72nd Street (Manhattan), 72nd Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The Dakota was constru ...

apartment building in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, where he lived and was

murdered Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excu ...

in 1980. They are a reference to him mailing acorns to world leaders as a message of peace in the 1960s.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beatles Statue, the Monuments and memorials in Liverpool 2015 establishments in England 2015 sculptures Buildings and structures completed in 2015 Outdoor sculptures in Liverpool Statues of men in the United Kingdom Sculptures of men in England Bronze sculptures in England Monuments and memorials to the Beatles