A Giant sculpture which Henry Moore gave to the nation has finally been re-installed 16 years after it was branded dangerous and had to be taken down.
The Arch, six metres high and created from Roman limestone, was restored after developments in technology made it possible to insert an invisible steel support structure inside the37-tonne work.
Unveiling it in Kensington Gardens, Colin Buttery, deputy chief executive of the Royal Parks, said they had always wanted it back but had long feared that it would not prove possible.
Hi-tech scans at Imperial College in 2004 revealed the source of the problem and pointed to a solution.
Mr Buttery said: “The construction wasn’t designed by an engineer, it was designed by an artist, and all the stresses and strains on the weighty structure put the joining of the individual stones under stress and it became unstable,” he said. “But through modern engineering techniques, we’ve been able to provide it with an internal skeleton.”
Once it became clear that restoration was possible, the Royal Parks decided to aim for re-installation in time for the London Games when millions of people will be flooding into nearby Hyde Park for free concerts and Olympic and Paralympic events. The restoration has cost the park service £125,000 and it is now looking for a sponsor for landscaping the site.
Anita Feldman from the Henry Moore Foundation said: “It is exceptionally rewarding to see this landmark sculpture re-sited in its original position.” Moore presented it in 1980, six years before he died at 88. It has been in storage since being dismantled as structurally unstable in 1996. Other versions are in glass fibre and bronze.
