Did you know? The first statue dedicated to Shakespeare in London was erected inside Westminster Abbey, 124 years following Shakespere’s death. The public statue of William Shakespeare (1564-1616) standing in the heart of London’s theatre district is an exact reproduction of William Kent and Peter Scheemakers’ 1740 memorial to Shakespeare located in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey. The white marble statue reproduction by G. Fontana, unveiled in 1874, also includes an inscription from Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night which reads, ‘There is no darkness but ignorance’ and is surrounded by a fountain with water spouting from the beaks of dolphins. The addition of a new water feature which uses recycled water to send jets of water two meters in the air was recently added in 2012.
- Shakespeare Statue
- Leicester Square, WC2H
