The Yuri Gagarin Statue is a zinc statue depicting the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin standing on top of a globe wearing a spacesuit. The figure was unveiled on July 14, 2011 and rests in the Mall in London, close to Admiralty Arch and facing opposite of the Statue of Captain Cook.[1]
The 3.5m high statue is a replica of an original in Lyubertsy, where Gagarin was trained as a foundry worker.[2] The statue was a gift to the British Council from the Russian space agency Roscosmos as a part of several cultural events commemorating the 50th anniversary of the first manned spaceflight. The location of the statue was chosen to be where Gagarin first met then Prime Minister Harold MacMillan.[3]
The statue's location in the Mall is currently temporary, and it will eventually need to be moved. There is a proposal to move it to Manchester.[4]