place

Equestrian statue of Charles I, Charing Cross

1638 establishments in England1638 sculpturesBuildings and structures completed in 1638Charles I of EnglandEquestrian statues in the United Kingdom
Grade I listed monuments and memorialsGrade I listed statues in the City of WestminsterRoyal monuments in the United KingdomSculptures of men in the United KingdomStatues of monarchsTrafalgar Square
Charles I, Trafalgar Square
Charles I, Trafalgar Square

The equestrian statue of Charles I at Charing Cross, London, is a work by the French sculptor Hubert Le Sueur, probably cast in 1633. It is considered the central point of London. Its location at Charing Cross is on the former site of the most elaborate of the Eleanor crosses erected by Edward I, which had stood for three and a half centuries until 1647. Charing Cross is used to define the centre of London and a plaque by the statue indicates that road signage distances are measured from this point. The statue faces down Whitehall towards Charles I's place of execution at Banqueting House.The first Renaissance-style equestrian statue in England, it was commissioned by Charles's Lord High Treasurer Richard Weston for the garden of his country house in Roehampton, Surrey (now in South London). Following the English Civil War the statue was sold to a metalsmith to be broken down, but he hid it until the Restoration. It was installed in its current, far more prominent location in the centre of London in 1675, and the elaborately carved plinth dates from that time.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Equestrian statue of Charles I, Charing Cross (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Equestrian statue of Charles I, Charing Cross
Charing Cross, London Covent Garden

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address External links Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Equestrian statue of Charles I, Charing CrossContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 51.50734 ° E -0.12768 °
placeShow on map

Address

Charles I

Charing Cross
SW1A 2DX London, Covent Garden
England, United Kingdom
mapOpen on Google Maps

linkWikiData (Q7604492)
linkOpenStreetMap (267214563)

Charles I, Trafalgar Square
Charles I, Trafalgar Square
Share experience

Nearby Places

Charing Cross
Charing Cross

Charing Cross ( CHARR-ing) is a junction in London, England, where six routes meet. Clockwise from north these are: the east side of Trafalgar Square leading to St Martin's Place and then Charing Cross Road; the Strand leading to the City; Northumberland Avenue leading to the Thames Embankment; Whitehall leading to Parliament Square; The Mall leading to Admiralty Arch and Buckingham Palace; and two short roads leading to Pall Mall. The name also commonly refers to the Queen Eleanor Memorial Cross at Charing Cross station. A bronze equestrian statue of Charles I, erected in 1675, stands on a high plinth, situated roughly where a medieval monumental cross had previously stood for 353 years (since its construction in 1294) until destroyed in 1647 by Cromwell and his revolutionary government. The famously beheaded King, appearing ascendant, is the work of French sculptor Hubert Le Sueur. The aforementioned homonymous monument, the "Charing Cross", was the largest and most ornate instance of a chain of medieval Eleanor crosses running from Lincoln to this location. It was a landmark for many centuries of the hamlet of Charing, Westminster, which later gave way to government property; a little of The Strand; and Trafalgar Square. The cross in its various historical forms has also lent its name to its locality, and especially Charing Cross Station. On the forecourt of this terminus station stands the ornate Queen Eleanor Memorial Cross, a taller emulation of the original, and built to mark the station's opening in 1864 – at the height and in the epicentre of the Gothic Revival – after the Palace of Westminster's rebuilding and before Westminster Cathedral's construction. Until 1931, "Charing Cross" also referred to the north end of Whitehall (between Great Scotland Yard and Trafalgar Square). In street numbering, Drummonds Bank, on the corner with The Mall, retains the associated address 49 Charing Cross (not to be confused with Charing Cross Road).Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has been the notional "centre of London" and is now the point from which distances from London are measured.

London
London

London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom with a total population of 9,002,488. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a 50-mile (80 km) estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Romans as Londinium and retains boundaries close to its medieval ones. Since the 19th century, "London" has also referred to the metropolis around this core, historically split between the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which largely comprises Greater London, governed by the Greater London Authority. The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries held the national government and parliament. As one of the world's global cities, London exerts strong influence on its arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, health care, media, tourism, and communications, and has sometimes been called the capital of the world. Its GDP (€801.66 billion in 2017) makes it the biggest urban economy in Europe, and it is one of the major financial centres in the world. In 2019 it had the second-highest number of ultra high-net-worth individuals in Europe after Paris and the second-highest number of billionaires in Europe after Moscow. As of 2021, London has the most millionaires of any city. With Europe's largest concentration of higher education institutions, it includes Imperial College London in natural and applied sciences, the London School of Economics in social sciences, and the comprehensive University College London. The city is home to the most 5-star hotels of any city in the world. In 2012, London became the first city to host three Summer Olympic Games.London's diverse cultures encompass over 300 languages. The mid-2018 population of Greater London of about 9 million made it Europe's third-most populous city, accounting for 13.4% of the population of the United Kingdom. Greater London Built-up Area is the fourth-most populous in Europe, after Istanbul, Moscow and Paris, with about 9.8 million inhabitants at the 2011 census. The London metropolitan area is the third-most populous in Europe after Istanbul's and Moscow's, with about 14 million inhabitants in 2016, granting London the status of a megacity. London has four World Heritage Sites: the Tower of London; Kew Gardens; the combined Palace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey, and St Margaret's Church; and also the historic settlement in Greenwich, where the Royal Observatory, Greenwich defines the Prime Meridian (0° longitude) and Greenwich Mean Time. Other landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge and Trafalgar Square. It has numerous museums, galleries, libraries and sporting venues, including the British Museum, National Gallery, Natural History Museum, Tate Modern, British Library and West End theatres. The London Underground is the oldest rapid transit system in the world.