Victoria Square, Birmingham, West Midlands, UK

            Victoria Square, officially the centre of Birmingham, was once one of the city's busiest traffic interchanges. However, by the 1990s pedestrianisation took priority, with landscaping based around water features and sculptures by Dhruva Mistry.

Officially this central feature is 'The River' but the 1¾ t bronze statue of a woman (2.8 × 2.5 × 4 m long) reclining in a Wattscliff sandstone pool is more famous as 'The Floozie in the Jacuzzi'. Unveiled in 1994, when the square was officially reopened by the Princess of Wales, the fountain required frequent repair and by 2008 was rarely used. The photo dates from 2010, when a £300,000 restoration had introduced a multi-coloured lighting system, but following a major leak in 2013, the fountain became a flower bed in 2015. It was transformed back to being one of Europe's largest fountains, with a flow exceeding 11,000 l/min, in 2021, in time for the city to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Behind the roundabout (part of the German-style christmas fair), the background is Birmingham Town Hall, a Grade I listed building opened in 1834 not as an administrative hub (the usual English use of the term 'town hall') but as a concert venue. Specifically, it was a new home for the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival, founded in 1784, which had outgrown St Philip's Church (Birmingham Cathedral, from 1905). The Town Hall is built from local Selly Oak brick, but is faced in Penmon 'marble' (limestone, not literally marble) donated by the owner of the quarry on Anglesey.

Taken in: UK / England / Brum (show map)

Taken on: December 27, 2010

Tags:

victoria

square

town hall

west

midlands

bronze

statue

floozie in the jacuzzi

roundabout

night « less

Sets appears in: • West Midlands

Groups appears in: • Night Images • The Midlands more » • Sculpture • Birmingham • Squares • Statues and Sculptures. • Public Sculpture (UK) • Hard Women • Birmingham at Night • Bronze Statues! « less

Camera: Canon EOS 450D, f/2.0, 1/50 sec, 50mm, ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 450D
Lens:	EF50mm f/1.8 II
Aperture:	f/2.0
Exposure Time:	0.02 sec (1/50)
Focal Length:	50mm
ISO:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop 24.0 (Windows)
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