Battle for return of park's Moore bronze

Campaigners are fighting to have a sculpture by Henry Moore returned to a London park where it has stood for nearly 30 years.

Itwas removed from Greenwich Park recently by the Henry Moore Foundation because of fears of graffiti.

The foundation is also said to have demanded a large rise in the annual indemnity for the sculpture from the Royal Park, which manages its site.

The bronze, called Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge, is 11ft tall and weighs a tonne. It was cast in 1976. Moore chose the piece for the park and selected its exact location.

The furore has prompted renewed calls for the return of another Moore statue, Arch, which was removed from Kensington Gardens 12 years ago.
A sign near the bare plinth in Greenwich Park says Knife Edge will form part of an exhibition at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, from September until next March.

But a spokesman for the Friends of Greenwich Park said: "We do not believe the statue will be returned. It is a serious loss.

"The real concern is that it will not come back to us after Kew but go back to the Henry Moore Foundation in West Yorkshire. It is our only piece of sculpture in the park and it is terrible to lose it on the 10th anniversary of Greenwich becoming a World Heritage Site."

Friends of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens renewed calls to have their Moore sculpture returned. In 1996, it was taken down to be placed in storage because the statue, made of porous travertine, was being battered by weather and becoming unstable.

Jackie Hyer, co-chairman of the Friends of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, said: "Last summer the Henry Moore Foundation did an MRI scan on it.

"They have done a survey to find out how to fix it. I don't know what the outcome will be. We talk about it all the time in meetings. Ourselves and the CEO of the Royal Parks are keen for it to be put back. We want to try to keep it on the axis between Kensington Palace and the Long Water."

The group hopes the billionaire Carlo Bilotti will fund the restoration work, after he came forward in 2005 to rescue Arch.