Richard Coeur de Lion

Richard Coeur de Lion stands in Old Palace Yard outside the Palace of Westminster, a bronze equestrian statue of the 12th-century king Richard I. It faces the entrance to the House of Lords on a granite pedestal designed by the same sculptor. Carlo Marochetti created the statue, which was first shown in clay at the Great Exhibition of 1851. The work was later cast in bronze with support from Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. A long dispute over its location delayed installation until 1860. Bronze bas-reliefs were added to the pedestal in 1867. The statue is one of the few non-British works chosen for the Parliamentary estate. Marochetti’s design shows Richard in crowned helmet and chainmail, sword raised, while the horse appears ready to charge. Bas-reliefs depict Crusaders at Ascalon and Richard pardoning his fatal archer. The west-side panel is the only one visible from the street. Marochetti drew inspiration from Lorenzo Ghiberti’s doors in Florence for the reliefs. The inscription on the pedestal reads RICHARD I CŒUR DE LION / 1189–1199. Visitors see the statue from the surrounding yard, though the area is used as a car park for the House of Lords. The horse’s tail once fell off after the Great Exhibition and had to be repaired. During the Blitz a German bomb landed metres away, damaging the pedestal and bending Richard’s sword. A conservation project in 2009 restored the statue to its condition before the war. The work remains a rare example of Italian craftsmanship in Westminster.