Tower of London poppies: Calls for awe-inspiring display to be extended after overwhelming public demand

 
Overwhelming popularity: the installation is due to be dismantled from next week
Reuters

Pressure was growing today for the breathtaking ceramic poppy field at the Tower of London to be kept longer as overwhelming crowds rush to see it.

With thousands pressing to glimpse the heart-rending exhibition created for the centenary of the First World War, the Standard has learned that mayor Boris Johnson called Royal palace chiefs to beg for it to run an extra week or two.

“The poppy field at the Tower is a unique and poignant focus of remembrance in this centenary year,” the Mayor told the Evening Standard.

“It has grown rapidly in popularity, to such an extent that it is now a global visitor attraction.

“I’m keen to explore whether we can keep the exhibition open for longer, to give as many people as possible the chance to glimpse something so incredible, whilst easing the pressure on numbers.”

But Historic Royal Palaces, the agency which runs the Tower of London, intends to start dismantling the installation in exactly a week on November 12 - the day after Armistice Day.

A spokesman said an extension is “unlikely” and that the transient nature of the exhibition was part of the artists’ intention to illustrate the frailty of lives lost in the war.

A team of 8,000 volunteers has been lined up to start removing and cleaning poppies, and then to dispatch them to buyers who have paid £25 each, raising £11.2 million for six Service charities.

Mr Johnson is due to speak by phone this lunchtime to Michael Day, the chief executive of Historic Royal Palaces. A source said: “It may be a battle to keep it open but the public demand to see the poppy field is overwhelming. The Mayor thinks they have done a fantastic job but does not want people to miss out and wants to keep the crowds safe.”

The installation features 888,246 ceramic poppies - one for each British life lost in the 1914 to 1918 conflict.

It opened on August 5 and was visited by the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh, but as the spreading sea of red neared completion it caught the public’s imagination more than ever. Visitors were last week asked to delay their trips due to high levels of congestion during school half-term, while Tower Hill Tube station was closed last weekend for planned line upgrades.

Mr Johnson fears crowds will become a torrent as people become more aware of the exhibition and realise that there is a strict deadline before is disappears for ever.

The Tower of London poppy display - in pictures

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Special safety barriers have already had to be erected to stop people leaning over to see the poppies from the queues. City Hall officials say public safety could have been endangered but for a routine maintenance close of Tower Hill underground station which slowed the crowds down.

The installation, called Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, reaches a climax on Tuesday when the final poppy will be planted before the two-minute silence at 11am.

Tory MP David Amess, who asked David Cameron about the “stunning and deeply moving” exhibit at Prime Minister’s Questions, told the Standard that he backed calls for a “brief extension”.

He said: “I think it’s just the most incredible exhibition and a brilliant idea. We will never see the likes of it again. I’m very much in favour of it being extended for a brief period.

“I think this was a remarkable way to commemorate the centenary. It has touched the hearts of the population. Giving the huge effort that has gone into preparing it, I want as many people as possible to see it.”

This week Historic Royal Palaces, the charity that manages the Tower, was forced to install 8ft-high temporary wooden hoardings to block the view of the poppies from Tower Hill after gauze screens were torn down.

A spokeswoman said people were so desperate to view the display, by Paul Cummins and Tom Piper, that crowds were spilling into the road. “We have been overwhelmed with the public support and number of people coming down,” she said. “We needed to ensure we were providing as safe an experience as possible.”

The spokeswoman said the exhibition was unlikely to be extended. “November 11 is a very purposeful day,” she said. “Armistice Day is a very important day for us. The artists wanted the installation to be quite transient to reflect the ephemeral nature of life during the First World War.”

One beneficiary from the sale of the poppies, military charity SSAFA, backed the closure of the exhibition next week. A spokeswoman said: “Its transience is part of the overall artistic concept.

“Now that around four million people are thought to have visited the poppies, we appreciate that Historic Royal Palaces needs to fulfil its obligation to those who have bought a poppy, and thereby generously supported the charities who are benefiting from the proceeds from their sale.”

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