Statue of Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela stands in bronze on Parliament Square in the City of Westminster, surrounded by statues of other leading figures. The square itself is a paved open space near the Palace of Westminster, with the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey close by. The statue was placed there after plans to put it in Trafalgar Square were refused. The statue is worth the journey because it remembers a man who led South Africa from apartheid to democracy. It was proposed by Donald Woods and funded by his wife and Lord Richard Attenborough after his death. Sculptor Ian Walters worked from sittings with Mandela in 2001, though he died before the unveiling in 2007. The plinth is shorter than those of other statues in the square, making Mandela’s figure easier to see. Visitors find a nine-foot bronze figure on a low plinth, standing among statues of Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Disraeli, Jan Smuts and Churchill. The square is a quiet place to stand and look at the statue and the surrounding buildings. The unveiling ceremony was attended by Mandela himself, his wife Graça Machel, and the then Mayor of London Ken Livingstone.