Guardian - mining memorial, Steel mining memorial at Six Bells Colliery, Wales.
The Guardian is a steel sculpture portraying a miner figure, standing 20 meters high and constructed from 20,000 welded steel strips. It sits within Parc Arael Griffin, a site that occupies the former location of Six Bells Colliery in South Wales.
The memorial honors 45 miners who died in an underground explosion at Six Bells Colliery on June 28, 1960. This disaster was one of the deadliest incidents in Welsh mining history.
The names of the fallen miners are inscribed on surrounding panels, alongside a poem by Gillian Clarke, the National Poet of Wales. This makes their individual stories visible to anyone who walks through the site.
The memorial sits within a public park that provides visitor amenities including a heritage center and cafe for refreshments. The location is accessible and offers plenty of space for walking around and spending time at the site.
The steel framework creates an optical effect from a distance, making the miner figure appear transparent and seeming to blend with the forest beyond. This visual quality gives the sculpture a striking presence that changes depending on where visitors stand.
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