Comments (0) Best Neglected Statue - 2008
Gandhi Monument
Just why such a beautifully executed statue to the late, great Mohandas Gandhi should be hidden in such an obscure (and, let's face it, ignominious) location has long been a mystery to us. London's Gandhi statue stands proudly outside University College, where he studied law; another in South Africa marks the spot where he was first ejected from a first-class train. Our statue, which the city accepted as a gift from the Gandhi Memorial International Foundation in 1988, is next to a loading dock behind the Ferry Building. The plaque beneath it quotes Gandhi as saying, "Nonviolence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind" — a bit ironic, considering the violence done to the statue over the years. Vandals have defaced it, and passersby routinely use the pedestal as a trash receptacle.
