The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1909-05-23

Great Statue to queen victoria-Com,
memorating . Great Fire.

FROM TI-Bus.
After eight years work tho Queen Vic.
toria memorial In front Of B%uckinRham
Palace 10 nearing completion. and 1t wtlLnot
be long ere Londoners and visitors 10 the
metropolis are able to view one OF the finest
monuments In the world. Altogether il
will cost q quarter OF a million sterling. and
$50 tons Of marble will have been used ip thu
construction Of figures and ststuettes which
20 to make UP this memorial to THE Great
White Queen"
The figure OF her late Majesty will be M
less than IsH feet IN height, and will depir,
her dressed In robes of state. sitting en-.
throned with orb and sceptre. All tho
world wal ransacked for q seventy ton blocl.
Of fiawless marble from which the statue
might be carved; but such a block could
not be obtained. and consequently Mr.,
Thomas Brock, the famous sculptor, ha,
been compelled to \ use several srnslls,
blocks. the largest Of which weighs twe Y.
Ave tons.
The Queen Victoria memorial Ia probably
the most costly In the kingdom. althouRh
the famous Albert memorial must have cost
between f4oo.0oO and s5o0.oo The cost.
provided by public subscription, was given
as Ei20, 900. but 1t is asserted that Qusen
victoria's private contribution exceeded
that amount. The Albert Hall Is really part
Of the Albert memorial. for II was after ths
exhibition of 1851 that Prince Albert pro.
posed the erection OF q great hall for music.
and when he had passed away a national
subscription wa raised to carry out hi,
wish, GOO 900 being obtained.
A grateful nation. too, subscribed ESQ Nh
for the erection OF the Nelson column In
Trafalgar Square. while the fact should not
be overlooked that every penny Of the sio,ooo
spent on the statue Of Achilles in Hyde PARK
was raised by the women Of England.
This was not the only honor done to
the memory Of wellington. The statue IN
front Of the Royal Exchange cost ell SOC.
while among other memorials to the great
soldier might be mentioned the arch on
tho north side of the nave in st. Pault
Cathedral, which cost 10000. and tn.
college near sandhurst for the education
of sons Of ohioers, on which E1OO, 900 VA
spent.
Thirteen, thousand seven' hundred pounds
vas expended by our forefathers on the
monument In Fish Street Hill which va
erected to commemorate the great fire Of
London. Strangely enough. one OF the
most interesting monument In London
cost the nation not . penny piece. In 1919
Mehemet Ali told the British Government
IL might have Cleopatra's Needle. which
had been erected about 1900 years before
the time Of Christ by Thothmes ILL.,; but
tho offer was UNDECIDED, and the monument
lay on the sands of Egypt until by the
generosity Of DR.. Erasmus Wilson 1T "
transported to England and erected on
the Thames ~Embankment in 1878. IL cost
him ETC. 900, and even then the monolith
was nearly lost in the Bay Of Biscay.
The Marble Arch. by the way. which
originally stood on the site chosen for the
Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham
Palace cost in the first place csc. 900 to build
and q further sum Of Eli 900 to take down,
remove and reerect at its present position,
nearly opposite Edgware road. The other
great entrance to the park. Hyde Park
Corner. though not SO impressive, cost
nearly twice as much as Marble Arch,
namelx eli 0O0.