Statue of Queen Victoria, Brighton

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Statue of Queen Victoria, Brighton

The Statue of Queen Victoria stands in Victoria Gardens in the centre of Brighton on England’s south coast. It was unveiled in 1897, the year of Victoria’s diamond jubilee, and is a Grade II listed statue. It was commissioned by the town’s mayor, Sir John George Blaker, designed by Italian sculptor Carlo Nicoli, and made by the Sculptured Marble Company of London. Blaker announced the gift on 22 June 1897, and his daughter unveiled it on 8 December.

The gardens, previously known as North Steine Gardens, were opened to the public to mark the jubilee and renamed Victoria Gardens at the same time as the statue’s unveiling. The statue stands in the southern part of the park, and the unveiling ceremony included a military tattoo.

The statue is carved from Carrara marble and is a copy of an earlier Victoria statue that stood in Amritsar, India (made by Nicoli in 1888). Victoria is shown life-like in an elderly state, at the time of the Opening of Parliament, wearing the Order of the Garter’s sash and a veil beneath her crown, and she holds an unrolled scroll in her left hand to reference her rule over India. It is 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) tall, mounted on a plinth of equal height and three octagonal steps.

Victoria faces the statue of George IV and the Indian-style Royal Pavilion, though she reportedly disliked the Pavilion. Nicoli based the sculpture on photographs of the queen.

The statue was well received locally at its unveiling, though The Magazine of Art criticized it as not a good portrait or example of sculpture and noted that Nicoli did not sign the work (only the company’s name appears).

The statue has suffered graffiti over the years, and in 2022 Victoria’s left arm was severed for unknown reasons. It has been a Grade II listed building since 1971, protecting it from demolition or unauthorized modification.