Brummies go ape for the return of King Kong
A KING KONG statue returned to Birmingham yesterday after a 50-year absence from the city.
Campaigners hailed the 23ft gorilla sculpture as a “welcoming” symbol for visitors.
It was unveiled inside a new pop-up park on Great Hampton Row near the Jewellery Quarter in time for next week’s Commonwealth Games.
A smaller version of the fictional ape first stood in Manzoni Gardens behind the city’s Bull Ring shopping centre in 1972 and was said to have made a lasting impression on residents despite being moved on after just four months. Various campaigns and petitions over 30 years had called for King Kong’s return but without success.
The original sculpture was taken to Edinburgh but now stands in a garden overlooking the Penrith Hills in Cumbria. Lesley Maby, whose late husband Nigel purchased the statue for £12,000 in the 1970s, said she has no intention to sell Kong.
Property developers struck a deal with Nicholas Monro, the original sculptor, to create a bigger replica after ideas were sought to celebrate hosting the Commonwealth Games.
Marcus Hawley, the founder of Cordia Blackswan, which financed the sculpture, said: “He’s not just a big statue of a gorilla, he’s very much a piece of art.
“He’s ugly and beautiful and terrifying and funny and self-deprecating all at the same time.
“It’s those qualities that people really love about him in Birmingham because it’s really symbolic of our city and who we are and how we are as a city, we’re welcoming, you don’t need to be from here to be of Birmingham.”
Mr Hawley added that the public’s reaction was “fantastic” and that locals “have been trying to bring back King Kong” his entire life.