Moving Leonardo’s Horse: A Question of Logistics or Pedigree?

MILAN — Thousands of years after the citizens of Troy learned about the complications posed by outsize equine sculptures, the modern residents of Milan find themselves embroiled, again, in a debate about how to make the most of a gift horse: a colossal bronze steed presented by a group of American donors.

Moving Leonardo’s Horse: A Question of Logistics or Pedigree? MILAN-master675

Moving Leonardo’s Horse: A Question of Logistics or Pedigree? MILAN-master675

Inspired by an uncompleted statue designed by Leonardo da Vinci (the sole clay cast was destroyed in 1499), the 24-foot-tall, 15-ton stallion arrived in Milan in 1999, by way of a foundry in Beacon, N.Y., and was positioned in a pedestrian piazza at the city’s racetrack in the San Siro district.

For its admirers, installing the sculpture in a site where it gets few visitors aside from bettors — whose interest in static horses is understandably limited — has been tantamount to putting it out to pasture.

Now, with the opening of the World Exposition in Milan less than 15 months away, calls have intensified to move the horse to a more visible position and even to make it a symbol of the city during the fair, which officials hope will draw millions of visitors to the Lombardy capital.

The bronze horse “would be a landmark,” a cultural monument akin to the Statue of Liberty, said Carlo Orlandini, president of the Committee for the Great Horse, a volunteer group that has lobbied for years to transfer the steed to a more decorous post.

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/24/world/europe/moving-da-vincis-horse-a-question-of-logistics-or-pedigree.html?_r=0

Moving Leonardo’s Horse: A Question of Logistics or Pedigree?

Moving Leonardo’s Horse: A Question of Logistics or Pedigree?

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