Image Library
ELEPHANT TAKES TRUNK ROAD TO THE ALPS
The great military leader Hannibal managed to get at least one of his elephants across the Alps – now, over 2220 years later, the McArthurGlen Group is set to repeat the journey.
Elephant Tour 2008
15th May in London
23rd May in Swindon Designer Outlet
30th May in Ashford Designer Outlet
5th June in Roermond Designer Outlet
12th June in Troyes Designer Outlet
19th June in Serravalle Designer Outlet
26th June in Barberino Designer Outlet
4th July in Castel Romano Designer Outlet
McArthurGlen Group, Europe’s leading developer, owner and manager of designer outlets, is taking a life-sized elephant sculpture, standing 15ft tall (taller than a Routemaster bus), 22ft long and weighing 6tons, on a 3290km journey that will take it across the Alps to its new home, in Italy.
Prior to its Alpine adventure, the charging African Bull Elephant bronze sculpture is embarking on an epic road trip across the UK and calling at two of McArthurGlen’s UK Designer Outlet locations, Swindon and Ashford. Road users are being told to keep an eye out for the huge beast as it gracefully meanders its way across the country on the back of a customised transporter.
It promises to be one of the strangest sights to hit the UK’s highways and certainly brings a new meaning to the phrase ‘trunk road’.
It will take 2 weeks to travel across Britain before heading to the port of Harwich, where it continues on its journey across Europe and the Alps before taking up its place on permanent display at Castel Romano Designer Outlet, near Rome. En-route it will visit McArthurGlen Designer Outlets at Roermond (Netherlands), Troyes (France), Barberino (near Florence) and Serravalle (near Milan) before settling in its new home.
The bronze was commissioned by McArthurGlen’s Chairman, Joey Kaempfer, a passionate art collector, and realised by renowned artist and sculptor Mark Coreth. Joey Kaempfer comments:
“This is a wonderful opportunity to share my passion for the arts with a wide audience, the awesome scale of this amazing sculpture creates a captivating contrast with its surroundings wherever it goes and gets a reaction from everyone that sees it. We are constantly striving to improve the quality of experience for our customers at McArthurGlen Designer Outlets and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to provide adults and children with something truly memorable and fun.”
The logistical challenge of transporting the bronze is as formidable as the sculpture itself. Every inch of the journey has been scrutinised for access, low bridges, narrow roads and tunnels and has demanded scrupulous planning, including the adoption of some challenging diversions. For example, the sculpture was too large to fit through the Channel Tunnel so will make its way across the channel by ferry.
Kenyan-born artist and sculptor Mark Coreth takes his inspiration from his upbringing in Kenya, where he developed his passion for animals and their wellbeing. His previous commissions include a sculpture of three life-sized albatross for the Falkland Islands Memorial Chapel that was unveiled by The Queen in 2007 and he regularly exhibits his work at Sladmore Gallery in London.
Mark comments: “I’m pleased that this sculpture will be in a location where members of the public can see it and enjoy it on a daily basis. I’m happy to think that people who might otherwise never enjoy an encounter of this kind in the wild will be able to appreciate the scale and beauty of this magnificent creature”.
The elephant adds to McArthurGlen’s collection of ‘objets d’art’ already on display at a number of its outlets across Europe.