British Isles Friday

Joy's Book Blog is hosting this weekly meme.

May 2010 - Glasgow Scotland

On a wet dull day...

We visited the People's Palace in Glasgow.

The Doulton Fountain, gifted to Glasgow as part of the International Exhibition of 1888, was moved to the Green in 1890. Designed by architect Arthur E. Pearce, the 48 ft tall fountain was built by the Royal Doulton company to commemorate Queen Victoria's reign. It featured a 70 ft wide basin, with a slightly larger than life-size statue of Queen Victoria, surrounded by four life-size statues of water-carriers representing Australasia, Canada, India and South Africa.

A lightning strike in 1891 destroyed the statue of Victoria, and rather than let the city replace the statue with an urn, Doulton paid for a second hand-made statue to be produced. In the 1960s the fountain was allowed to fall into a state of disrepair with the water supply being turned off. However in 2002 a £2 million restoration program was started that restored the fountain to its original condition. As of 2004, the fountain has been placed in a new location, in front of the People's Palace

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