{"id":1144717,"date":"2026-08-12T17:13:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T17:13:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1144717\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T17:13:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T17:13:37","slug":"edinburgh-council-could-approve-temporary-ban-on-public-art-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1144717\/","title":{"rendered":"Edinburgh Council could approve temporary ban on public art projects"},"content":{"rendered":"

Edinburgh Council<\/a> could approve a temporary ban on public art projects in Princes Street Gardens when it meets on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Council officers have proposed a \u201ctemporary moratorium\u201d on new artworks until a \u201cstatue and memorialisation plan\u201d<\/a> and wider Princes Street and Waverley Valley Strategy are signed off.<\/p>\n

This would not affect ongoing projects such as the memorial for one of Edinburgh\u2019s greatest literary exports \u2014 Muriel Spark<\/a> \u2014 and a sculpture to commemorate those impacted by the Infected Blood Scandal, but would nix any nascent memorial projects for the gardens.<\/p>\n

Princes Street Gardens<\/a> is one of the capital\u2019s statue hotspots, with more than 20 statues and monuments standing in the gardens, and another two on the way.<\/p>\n

\"WojtekWojtek the Bear is one of Princes Street Gardens\u2019 most recognisable \u2013 and photographed \u2013 monuments<\/p>\n

When the Muriel Spark installation was in development in August last year, there was some discussion in the city council about instead constructing the statue in Bruntsfield Links.<\/p>\n

Councillors eventually requested council officers to find alternative memorial locations and \u201cachieve a better spread across the city\u201d.<\/p>\n

Although it came too late to change the \u201cSpirit of Spark\u201d memorial location, council officers, in a report for the Culture and Communities Committee on Thursday, now appear to have taken up that advice: \u201cThere is a heavy concentration of monuments and memorials in the [Princes Street] gardens, and more proposals being received on an ongoing basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cStakeholders, including Edinburgh World Heritage, City Councillors and event organisers have recently expressed concerns about the siting of new permanent statues, monuments and artworks in the gardens, and provided suggestions for consideration for any future proposals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The officers added: \u201cIt is recommended that Committee agrees a temporary moratorium on any future requests for locating new public art works in Princes Street Gardens, and that a statue and memorialisation plan with firm locational criteria to guide any new proposals is developed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is to be aligned with the timing of the wider Princes Street and Waverley Valley Strategy and reported accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The council\u2019s public art panel meets on a regular basis, with a maximum of three proposals considered at each meeting. Recent presentations have been received from the Sean Connery Foundation and Haemophilia Scotland.<\/p>\n

Council officers also gave an update on three statues approved last year.<\/p>\n

The Spirit of Spark statue has gathered momentum, and Jacqueline Donachie has now been selected as the designer of the memorial.<\/p>\n

The Royal Regiment of Scotland 20th Anniversary statue was unveiled on 1 July by King Charles III.<\/p>\n

A memorial sculpture to remember those impacted by the Infected Blood Scandal is still in its early stages.<\/p>\n

Councillors will vote on the moratorium proposal at Thursday\u2019s meeting of the Culture and Communities Committee<\/a>, which begins at 10am.<\/p>\n

\"\"Jacqueline Donachie who will sculpt the Spirit of Spark
\n\"image_pdf\"<\/a>\"image_print\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Edinburgh Council could approve a temporary ban on public art projects in Princes Street Gardens when it meets…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1144718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,1102,311301,4884,29457,167271,34379,65698,712,16,15],"class_list":["post-1144717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edinburgh","tag-britain","tag-edinburgh","tag-edinburgh-statues","tag-great-britain","tag-memorials","tag-muriel-spark","tag-princes-street","tag-princes-street-gardens","tag-scotland","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117083664400821675","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1144717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1144718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1144717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1144717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1144717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}