The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Search for mural’s new home continues
AN iconic mural in Peterborough city centre has been successfully removed, but the search to find a new home for it continues.
The landmark mural has been removed from the side of Bridge House on Town Bridge by workmen over the past few weeks.
The 56-year-old mural was split up into 91 slabs, measuring one metre squared, by workmen from Mcfletch Construction and the slabs have been placed in storage at nearby warehouses.
The removal, which was completed earlier this month, was carried out as part of the demolition of Bridge House which is being knocked down as part of plans to re-generate the city’s South Bank area.
But planning bosses at Peterborough City Council say they are no closer to finding a permanent home for the mural.
Geoff Badger, building services manager for the council, said: “The removal of the mural went completely to plan, the workmen took very precise care to remove all the slabs and keep them in perfect condition.
“There were no hiccups whatsoever and the whole process only took just over two weeks. The slabs have gone into storage at warehouses and the next stage of the process is to find a new home for the mural.
“That search is still on-going and we will continue to be looking at a number of options.”
Council leader Cllr Marco Cereste said a number of obstacles needed to be overcome to find the mural a new home including finding a space large enough to display it.
City historians had previously voiced their concerns about the mural languishing in storage for a lengthy period of time.
Chairman of Peterborough Civic Society Peter Lee said: “If the mural is put into storage then someone will have to pay to re-erect it.
“I can imagine the council saying ‘sorry, but we don’t have the money’.
“It should be built into the budget of the development of the South Bank.”
The mural features luminaries like Archimedes, Sir Isaac Newton and scholar Thomas Bradwardine and also figures from mythology including Nusuki, the Assyrian god of light and fire, and Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom and the arts, and celebrates the growth of science and engineering.
Picture: et reader Brian Pearce.