Wellington Arch

Look up! This is the Wellington Arch. Standing tall and proud, it dominates the landscape at Hyde Park Corner. It was one of two triumphal arches commissioned by King George IV in the 1820s to commemorate the victories of the British in the Napoleonic Wars. The other arch is the famed Marble Arch, which was originally sited in front of Buckingham Palace. Originally known as the Green Park Arch, it was designed by the celebrated architect Decimus Burton. It was built between 1826 and 1830, and it was moved to its current site in 1882, just a short distance to the west. The arch was designed in the Corinthian order, a style of ancient Greek architecture. Many of the decorative elements that were planned for the arch were omitted due to budget constraints. The King needed the money to finish Buckingham Palace! Decimus Burton was a champion of the Neoclassical style, and he wanted to create a truly remarkable monument, but the King’s need for economy meant that the arch wasn’t as embellished as it was originally intended to be. It’s a bit of a shame, but you can still see the grandeur of the arch, even without all the bells and whistles! The arch was designed originally not to be topped with a statue, but with a ‘quadriga’, a four-horse chariot pulling an ancient Greek figure, perhaps of Nike, the goddess of victory. But the statue of the first Duke of Wellington by the sculptor Matthew Cotes Wyatt, was finally placed upon the arch in 1846. Despite the fact that the Duke was a national hero, the placement of such a large statue was massively controversial. The public found it just too overwhelming and some even felt it diminished the architectural beauty of the arch. The arch was moved to its present position in 1882 and during that time the contentious statue was removed. It found a new home in Aldershot, a town about an hour outside of London. In 1912 the bronze statue of Nike, by Captain Adrian Jones, was installed on the arch. It’s a bit of a tale of two statues! Now, you can still admire the Wellington Arch for the splendid example of Neoclassical architecture that it is, and you can enjoy the breathtaking views from the top of the arch. Oh, and if you look closely, you might notice that the arch helps to ventilate a road tunnel beneath Hyde Park Corner. What a multi-faceted marvel.