RIO DE JANEIRO has its tall Cristo Redentore statue with its outstretched arms, New York City has the Statue of Liberty, and Gujarat has its tall Statue of Unity. And northeast England’s Gateshead has the Angel of the North with its outstretched wings.

The Angel was created by the sculptor Antony Gormley, and completed in 1998. For many years I had been looking forward to seeing it ‘in the flesh’, so to speak, and today, 22 April 2026, we drove to see it. I am sorry to say that it did not impress me. The angel’s outstretched wings, with a wingspan of 177 feet reminded me not of an angel but of a rusty aeroplane. 

Of the many sculptures by Gormley that I have seen over the years, this Angel is not amongst my favourites. Nevertheless,  I am glad that I have seen it, and walked around its base, but I am not sure it is worth going out of your way to see it. We happened to be staying a few miles from it in Washington,  (after which a city in the USA has been named) in Tyne and Wear, so we made a small detour to see the Angel.