BROUGHTON'S FORGOTTEN GIANT
Manuscript of Monte Cassino is a remarkable sculpture by Eduardo Paolozzi.
It sits at the top of Broughton Street outside St Mary’s Cathedral, and is often overlooked and somewhat neglected.
A public artwork by a great sculptor should be one of Broughton’s main attractions, but hundreds of people walk past it each day and not many, if any, stop to take a look. When was the last time you inspected Broughton’s forgotten giant?
The work is a three-part sculpture by Leith-born artist Professor Sir Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi (1924–2005), and was funded by Tom Farmer CBE and the City of Edinburgh Council. The sculptures themselves have seen better times, beaten by the weather, often surrounded by rubbish and cigarette butts and occasionally graffitied, but don’t let that deter you.
The sculptures do exactly what a public artwork should do. They draw you in with an intriguing and unusual look, which is not gimmicky or populist. It’s likely to attract children who will be fascinated by the large foot and hand, and it was specifically designed to collect rainwater and to allow children to play on it.
Paolozzi’s family came from Monte Cassino in Italy, a place devastated during the Second World War, which is where some of the deeper meaning in this artwork could be drawn from. Further reading can be found quite easily online but do we want to or need to look into something that is open and accessible to all?
I believe public artworks should be just what they say they are: public. They should be for everyone: those with an interest in art and those who have no interest whatsoever. They need to appeal to every level: children who want to play and adults who want to admire. They need to entice you and leave you wanting to know more, but at the same time leave you feeling fulfilled. For me Manuscript of Monte Cassino does all this.
Gateshead has its Angel of the North, Falkirk has its Kelpies, Broughton has its Manuscript of Monte Cassino and we should be proud of it. It needs to be welcomed, celebrated and revisited.
Next time you pass, spare a moment for Broughton’s forgotten giant. —Rhys Fullerton
Got a view? Tell us at spurtle@hotmail.co.uk and @theSpurtle and Facebook
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@theSpurtle Paolozzi's sculpture is everything public art should be: subtle, intriguing & near John Lewis. The bloody Kelpies are just big.
Broughton Spurtle @theSpurtle
@NewTownFlaneur ! But position IS crucial: relationship of Leith/St Mary's/Calton Hill. Will new overspill St James 25% respect or despoil?
NewTownCleanStreets @NTCleanStreets
@theSpurtle Maquette of Kelpies soon to be installed by CEC on new 'civic space' at Frasers Corner, for your delight, @NewTownFlaneur
NewTownCleanStreets @NTCleanStreets
@theSpurtle @NewTownFlaneur Manuscript of MC surrounded by passed-out drunks & junkies when went by today 1.30ish. Art-lovers thin on ground
@NewTownFlaneur @theSpurtle by all means we should cherish Paolozzi (my gran came from same Italian village) but why that & not other pieces
@NewTownFlaneur @theSpurtle "just big" ok then http://www.thehelix.co.uk/news-and-reviews/news/the-kelpies-one-year-on/#.VYGqoL1wbqA …
@LeithCitizen @theSpurtle Something introduced with a light & pyrotechnic show is not sophisticated public art- the comparison I make.
@NTCleanStreets The art lovers usually arrive at around 2pm when the drunks & junkies decamp to John Lewis. @theSpurtle
To be clear: was merely resting eyes during horizontal Tai Chi, & did not decamp to John Lewis afterwards. @NTCleanStreets @NewTownFlaneur
Peter Hill having met Eduardo Paolozzi , have been aware of these since day one !
@theSpurtle As far as I'm aware, traces of Kelpie have never been found in John Lewis products.@NTCleanStreets
New Town Flâneur @NewTownFlaneur
@theSpurtle Position is indeed crucial to the Manuscript. If the new overspill respects this, it will be by chance not design, I imagine.
Patrick Hadfield @patrickhadfield
Patrick Hadfield retweeted Broughton Spurtle
#Edinburgh is full of great public art.
@NewTownFlaneur @theSpurtle I love the Kelpies! Seeing them from the M9 always raises the spirits. I must take a closer look!
@patrickhadfield @NewTownFlaneur @theSpurtle Kelpies are better seen from a distance
New Town Flâneur @NewTownFlaneur
@KenWilson84 @patrickhadfield @theSpurtle The Kelpies' qualities are best appreciated from outer space.
@NewTownFlaneur @patrickhadfield @theSpurtle like much airport art they border on the kitsch
@theSpurtle @NewTownFlaneur @patrickhadfield exactamente! Too often 'public art' is gruesome and pompous
@NewTownFlaneur @LeithCitizen @theSpurtle @patrickhadfield was it not a horse's ass that appeared in The Godfather?
Broughton Spurtle @theSpurtle
@KenWilson84 @NewTownFlaneur @patrickhadfield Nothing wrong with big art so long as size is necessary or meaningful and not just bombastic.
@KenWilson84 @NewTownFlaneur @patrickhadfield If accept need for human use not wilderness, Kelpies transformed featureless bog interestingly
@theSpurtle @NewTownFlaneur @patrickhadfield are you channelling Yoda?
New Town Flâneur @NewTownFlaneur
@theSpurtle @KenWilson84 @patrickhadfield Indeed, and small Kelpies would be meaningless.
@KenWilson84 @theSpurtle @NewTownFlaneur @patrickhadfield people comparing Andy Scott's work to municipal transport sculpture are pitied!
@KenWilson84 @theSpurtle @NewTownFlaneur @patrickhadfield suggest they open a shop to be named Churlish & Sneer (personal opinion only)
@LeithCitizen @KenWilson84 @theSpurtle @patrickhadfield I reckon The Kelpies were inspired by The Godfather.
@NewTownFlaneur @LeithCitizen @theSpurtle @patrickhadfield was it not a horse's ass that appeared in The Godfather?
@KenWilson84 @LeithCitizen @theSpurtle @patrickhadfield I thought Marlon Brando was excellent.
@NewTownFlaneur @LeithCitizen @theSpurtle @patrickhadfield his inspirations included Strasberg and Alvin the Chipmunk
@theSpurtle i LOVE the foot once found it with painted toenails and empty beercans tied to the trees surrounding it as 'decoration'
@KenWilson84 @NewTownFlaneur @theSpurtle @patrickhadfield hehe I've enjoyed the joust,I feel like staedler or Waldorf on a grouchy day! #boo
@LeithCitizen @NewTownFlaneur @theSpurtle @patrickhadfield Staetdler? He of the famous ballpoints?
@theSpurtle @KenWilson84 @patrickhadfield I like featureless bogs more than I like metal horse heads.