Marble Arch Mound: Thousands now FLOCK to derided attraction as spectacular light show draws crowds

The much pilloried £6m hillock has achieved unlikely cult status

It has been derided around the world as London’s worst tourist attraction.

But now the much pilloried £6million Marble Arch Mound has achieved unlikely cult status after a spectacular light installation opened in its hollow interior.

Almost 5,000 visitors climbed to the summit of the 25 metre West End hillock on Saturday, the highest number since it launched in late July.

In its first week a daily average of just 95 made the effort to trudge the 130 steps to the top, although they were then being charged for the experience. The fee was waived after the disastrous debut.

Handout

The Mound’s installation, called Lightfield, is comprised of 12 interconnected LED cubes and was created by the British artist Anthony James. It can be seen for free by visitors to the Mound as they descend from the viewing platform.

Contemporary art website FAD Magazine named Lightfield as one of Mayfair’s top six exhibitons and described it as creating “mind bending illusions.”

There have even been a handful of favourable comments about the Mound on social media with Tiktok influencer hrhqueengld saying “stop hating on the mound, it’s got a juicy interior.”

The surge means that by Tuesday a total of 102,587 people had visited in less than two months, according to figures from Westminster council.

Marble Arch Mound
Visitors to the much-derided attraction which opened in late July
PA

That puts it on track to outperform long established London attractions such as the City’s Monument to the Great Fire - climbed by 182,492 people in the whole of 2019 - by the time it shuts in January.

The Mound’s renaissance will be addressed by Westminster leader Rachel Robathan on Wednesday evening at a full meeting of the authority when she will tell fellow councillors that the launch troubles “are now fading. People going up the Mound and viewing the lightshow increasingly like it.”

Marble Arch Mound

Marble Arch Mound is set to close
1/39

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in