Liverpool Plinth

For a few decades, the Liverpool Parish Church (also known as Our Lady and Saint Nicholas, or just St. Nick’s) once displayed a statue named “Christ on a Donkey” on a plinth within a small enclosed area facing Chapel Street. Due to the elements, the statue began falling apart, so it was removed in the early 2000s, leaving behind an empty plinth.

The plinth would remain empty for over a decade, but eventually, the church decided to replace the sculpture. Inspired by the Fourth Plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square, the church set up a collaboration with the Liverpool BID (Business Improvement District) Company to commission a series of sculptures from local artists that would stand on the plinth for 12-month periods.

The first sculpture, a gold-colored compact car named “Gold Lamé” by Tony Heaton, was unveiled in June 2018. Several other sculptures have followed since, and they have tended to focus on psychological, social, or political issues. The continuously changing sculptures have brought a small amount of artistic flare and social commentary to what was otherwise a relatively ordinary street on the edge of Liverpool’s central business district. While visitors may be confused to see what looks like a giant scarf or a floating white chair outside the church, local residents and office workers appreciate the sculptures as another small quirky part of the city’s identity.