Panmure Passage

In a previous post (A walk, but not in the Park), I mentioned a sculpture that I walk by most every morning.  I recently was able to learn something about it.

Panmure Passage 

The artwork, called Panmure Passage, marks the site where the RRS Discovery, which was built in Dundee, was launched from the Panmure slip on 21 March 1901. Is made up of 11 upright slabs of granite, and represents the ship's hull.

The sculpture was designed by artist Marion Smith and was made from a 27-tonne block of Norden Granite imported from Portugal. Each cut out taken from the 11 upright slabs relates to a cross-section of the hull of the vessel. The artist wants members of the public to interact with the sculpture by looking through the cut outs, touching the surfaces and walking between the upright blocks.

Completed 2009; Length 615 cm; Width 180 cm; Height 240cm

The granite was imported as one block, and when sliced the slabs were labelled so that in the final sculpture the sequence that they had been cut was followed. This means that the original rough external shape of the block is still evident. The sculpture relates to the vessel being locked in ice between 1902 and 1904 during Scott’s first expedition to the Antarctic.  

Looking form left to right

Looking from right to left