The Fourth Plinth  

 

 

ADDRESS

Trafalgar Square, Westminster, London WC2N 5DS

 

 

TELEPHONE

020 7983 4100 

 

OPENING TIMES

24 hours daily

 

PRICES

FREE

 

Nearby

Hotels, Entertainment, Shopping, Restaurants, Education, Leisure, Pubs, Nightlife, Venue hire  

 

Email to a friend

 

• Visitor Information
• Images

The Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square remained empty after its completion in 1841 - it was designed for an equestrian statue of one of Britain's Colonial heroes, but the money ran out before it could be completed. It has now become Britain's most prominent site for contemporary sculpture; each new work being given 12 to 18 months on display. These began with Mark Wallinger's Ecce Homo in 1999 and have included Bill Woodrow's sculpture of a head bound by a book and tree roots, Rachel Whiteread's 'Monument' - a mirror image cast of the plinth itself - as well as a very short lived appearance of a waxwork of David Beckham. Subsequently, the pregnant, nude body of disabled artist Alison Lapper by Marc Quinn was unveiled in 2005 and a bright blue cockerel took to the plinth in 2013. Placing modern art in such a prominent, historic square is no easy task and plenty of the sculptures have risked rousing the critics but almost all became a part of the Square as much loved as Nelson and the lions.

Fourth Plinth Sculptures:
Ecce Homo by Mark Wallinger (1999) Regardless of History by Bill Woodrow (2000) Monument by Rachel Whiteread (2001)
David Beckham (2002)
Alison Lapper Pregnant by Marc Quinn (2005)
Model for a Hotel by Thomas Schtte (2007) One & Other by Antony Gormley (2009) Nelson's Ship in a Bottle by Yinka Shonibare (2010) Powerless Structures, Fig. 101 by Elmgreen & Dragset (2012) Hahn/Cock by Katharina Fritsch (2013)

The Fourth Plinth  Michael Rakowitz - The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist, Fourth Plinth, 28th March 2018 to March 2020.