King Bladud’s statue will be back on public view in Bath’s Parade Gardens at the end of the month thanks to work done by King Bladud’s Pigs project in partnership with Bath and North East Somerset Council.

The life size statue of King Bladud will be officially unveiled on Saturday 31 October by Chairman of Bath & North East Somerset Council, Councillor Bryan Chalker and Gitte Dawson from the King Bladud’s Pig project as part of Heritage Open Week. The statue of King Bladud will stand alongside a stone pig carved by Nigel Bryant and students from The City of Bath College.

The statue, sculpted by Pieroni in 1859, depicts King Bladud the supposed founder of the city of Bath. During the 19th century, the statue stood on the top of the fountain in Bath Street. In 1872, it was removed from Bath Street and has been in the grounds of various houses on Entry Hill and in the gardens of Springfield Nursing Home.

In 2007, the statue was placed in storage. Ever since then, the Council has been keen to get the statue back in its rightful place. This has now been possible thanks to support from Kind Bladud’s Pigs project who have cleaned the statue and helped with the installation.

To mark the unveiling of the statue, 30 of the brightly coloured King Bladud’s Pig sculptures from the 2008 project will also be on show in the Parade Gardens on the day.

Councillor Bryan Chalker, Chairman of Bath and North East Somerset Council said:

“Bath and North East Somerset Council is delighted that the statue of King Bladud can once again be enjoyed by the public and would like to thank King Bladud’s Pigs project for their help with the move. We want to celebrate the history of the city and get a new generation interested in learning more about the world class arts and culture on our doorstep.”

Gitte Dawson, King Bladud’s Pigs project, said:

”Right from the beginning, the King Bladud’s Pigs project team were keen to restore this statue to public view, and so were the members of the public! Some people donated money towards this end, and we are very pleased that it has been possible to finance both the installation of the statue and the creation of the stone-carved King Bladud’s Pig from the proceeds of our poster, book and mini pig sales which carried on long after the pigs had all been sold.

“This is in addition to the £200,000 the project raised for the Two Tunnels project. A display about that project – on which work is due finally to start in January 2010 – will also be available on the day.”