BBC History Magazine

LETTERS

LETTER OF THE MONTH

Art attack

I enjoyed your article about the Festival of Britain (May) and was inspired to do an online search into the whereabouts of the artworks once the festival closed.

I was surprised to discover that the vast majority of these historic artefacts were destroyed, including the immense and imposing sculpture by Siegfried Charoux, which was smashed to pieces, and the Dome of Discovery and Skylon, which were both scrapped and their aluminium melted down. (below), created by Hungarian artist Peter Laszlo Peri, was rediscovered lying neglected in a hotel garden; thankfully, it has been restored and displayed close to where it was originally

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