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Two giant statues, named the Kelpies, have been unveiled on the bank of the Forth and
Clyde Canal in Scotland. The pair of horse heads have become the world's largest equine
sculptures - standing 30 metres tall and weighing 300 tonnes.
The project began in this studio in Glasgow seven years ago, when sculptor Andy Scott
created these smaller models designed as a tribute to the horse powered heritage of Scotland.
The Kelpies are a mythological Scottish sea horse, a beast who inhabits the dark waters
of the Scottish Lochs. It was an interesting standpoint for the project, but for me going
on from the title of Kelpies, the project's become much more to do with the history of
the horses, the social history of the horses. Heavy horses, and how they would have been
used obviously drawing the canal barges along the canals, but also in all the other industries
around the area. You know, all the agriculture and the fields around would have had horses,
so for me it's that interesting celebration of the legacy of the horses.
Years later, a 5 million pound project has seen these designs transformed into public
art that will now dominate the horizon. The site will open to the public in the summer of 2014 after
work is completed on visitor and parking facilities.