A towering new Roman head sculpture has been installed near to the Antonine Wall to the north of Glasgow in North Lanarkshire for members of the public to go and visit.
The six-metre Roman head sculpture, named Silvanus following a public naming competition, means Roman god of the woods, and sits at the Nethercroy site of the Antonine Wall near Kilsyth.
It sits alongside a replica Roman distance stone that was originally found at Westerwood in Cumbernauld and which has now been replicated by stonemasonry students at the City of Glasgow College.
Created by artist Svetlana Kondakova and Big Red Blacksmiths, the sculpture looks out from the line of the Antonine Wall across the Kelvin Valley towards what the Romans considered ‘barbarian’ territory, beyond the edge of the Roman Empire.
The installations aim to raise awareness of Roman heritage and the significance of this historical site to the local community and visitors from further afield, with the Nethercroy site chosen for its proximity to the Wall and a major path network with easy access to the Forth and Clyde Canal and the John Muir way, encouraging people to visit and steep themselves in the area's history.
Emma McMullen, Antonine Wall Project Manager at West Dunbartonshire Council, said: “We are delighted to launch the replica distance stone and sculpture to raise awareness of the area’s Roman heritage amongst the local community and for visitors to Croy Hill.
"The unique partnership with City of Glasgow College has added significant value in terms of proving opportunities for the students involved and the sculpture is already proving to be a draw to the local area, putting the Antonine Wall at Croy Hill firmly on the map.”
The sculpture was commissioned as part of The Rediscovering the Antonine Wall project, which is delivering a wide range of community-led projects along the line of the wall with the aim of raising awareness of the Antonine Wall World Heritage Site among local communities, give them the opportunity to explore and share aspects of Roman heritage that are important to them locally, and encourage community-led regeneration and place-making.
And it will soon be joined by another equally impressive - and huge - sculpture installation at Lambhill Stables in north Glasgow, which has already been given the name Aurelius and which arrived on site this morning to be unveiled in the not-too-distant future.
We can't wait to go check both of them out!
