HMS Victory in a bottle
Updated on 29 December 2009
The fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square is to be occupied by an artwork that relates to the square's history for the first time.
HMS Victory, Lord Nelson's flagship at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805, will be depicted in a bottle in a sculpture that will be placed on the plinth in May.
The model was made in London and is 11 feet long and seven feet tall. The bottle will be made by a specialist aquarium manufacturer in Italy.
The artist Yinka Shonibare, who was born in London but brought up in Nigeria, told Channel 4 News: "It is almost like having a giant toy in the square really, but a meaningful giant toy.
"I am the type of artist who believes strongly that a work of art should seduce, entertain, provoke and be historically relevant.
"The battle against Napoleon allowed Britain to expand the empire and also I was thinking about multi-cultural London. There are all kinds of people here and one of the reasons for that is because of the expansion of the empire so in terms of my own background and relationship to Britain it seems absolutely apt to do this.
"Ships in bottles are generally quite magical things and following that I hope people will want to ask a few questions about why the artist chose that particular ship, why the colourful sails, and then I hope people will want to know a bit more about the history.
"'Why is it called Trafalgar Square?', 'why is Nelson's Column there?', 'what's the history?' and 'why aren't we all speaking French now?'"
The plinth has become a prestigious spot for displaying artwork.
Around 3,000 people pass it every hour and earlier this year the artist Antony Gormley handed it over to members of the public to use it however they like for an hour at a time.
There are six permanent statues on display in Trafalgar Square: Lord Nelson stands at the top of Nelson's Column; King George IV, Henry Havelock and Sir Charles James Napier occupy the other three plinths and there are statues of King James II and George Washington.
There is also a bust of Amdiral Cunningham.
The original HMS Victory is currently on display as a museum ship in dry dock in Portsmouth.
