Angel of the North is free of its scaffolding
OUR striking photograph from March 1998 shows the Angel of the North.
It had been erected the previous month over the weekend of February 14 and 15, 1998, with the world waking up to the completed structure on Monday, 16.
Here, we see it pictured recently free of the scaffolding which supported it during construction.
Commissioned by Gateshead Council and created by artist Antony Gormley, it was built on the site of former pit head baths.
Constructed from 200 tonnes of weathered steel, the Angel stands 65ft high, with a wingspan of 175ft – about the same as a jumbo jet.
Twenty years on, the Angel of the North is a renowned regional symbol. Back then, it initially attracted some criticism with The Sun labelling it “a monumental clanger”.
What would they know?