The Victoria Memorial is a historical monument dedicated to Queen Victoria, and it is located at the end of The Mall in London, right in front of the Buckingham Palace. Designed and executed by the sculptor Sir Thomas Brock, where he created this interesting memorial in 1901, and the Victoria Memorial was unveiled on 16 May 1911 by King George V.
Even though it was unveiled on this date, the memorial was incomplete, and additional work was required to be done, so it was finally completed in 1924. The Victoria Memorial was the centerpiece of an ambitious urban planning scheme, which included the creation of the Queen’s Gardens to a design by Sir Aston Webb, and the refacing of Buckingham Palace, by the same architect.
Architecturally, the Victoria Memorial features a gilded bronze Winged Victory statue at the top of the central pylon. This statue stands on a globe and holds a victor’s palm in the left hand. The symbol behind this is the rule of Queen Victoria who managed to rule about 25% of the world’s total land surface, while the victor’s palm symbolizes victory, triumph, and honor. Beneath the Winged Victory statue are personifications of Constancy, holding a compass with its needle pointing true north, and Courage, holding a club.
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Moving down the memoerial, and beneath these, on the eastern and western sides you cna see two eagles with their wings outspread, representing the British Empire. Below these, enthroned statues of Queen Victoria (facing The Mall) and of Motherhood (facing Buckingham Palace), with Justice (facing north-westwards towards Green Park) and Truth (facing south-eastwards).
These were created from single solid pieces of marble, with Truth being sculpted from a block weighing 40 tonnes. At the four corners of the monument are massive bronze figures with lions, representing Peace (a female figure holding an olive branch), Progress (a nude youth holding a flaming torch), Agriculture (a woman in peasant dress with a sickle and a sheaf of corn), and Manufacture (a blacksmith in modern costume with a hammer and a scroll).
The monument is 25 m (82 ft) high, and the Victoria Memorial remains the tallest monument to a King or Queen in England, and entire United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Being one of the biggest landmarks in front of the most important building within the Kingdom, the Victoria Memorial is something definitely worth seeing in person.
Overall, when you are visiting the UK’s capital, London, missing the Victoria Memorial is an impossible feat, and it is certain that it would be the first thing you notice before seeing the Buckingham Palace. Serving as a great memorial to a queen that is famous for her historic 63-year reign, which defined the “Victorian Era” of industrial, cultural, and political expansion, making Britain a dominant global power, the Victoria Memorial will remain as one of the most important memorials ever built in England and the United Kingdom.
