Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Yorkshire Sculpture Park in the West Yorkshire countryside near Wakefield is one of the finest outdoor sculpture venues in the world, a 500-acre estate of eighteenth-century parkland and lakes in which permanent and changing displays of sculpture by major British and international artists are sited in a landscape of considerable natural beauty. The park was founded in 1977 and is consistently ranked among the leading visitor attractions in the north of England, its combination of outdoor sculpture, gallery spaces and the park landscape itself creating an experience quite unlike any conventional museum or gallery.
The permanent collection includes major works by Henry Moore, the greatest British sculptor of the twentieth century, who was born in Castleford only a few miles from the park and whose large bronzes inhabit the Yorkshire landscape with a particular rightness that reflects the deep connection between the sculptor and his native region. The Barbara Hepworth works in the collection provide a complementary perspective on the same mid-century British sculptural tradition, and the works of Andy Goldsworthy sited in various locations across the estate demonstrate the capacity of site-specific sculpture to animate and transform the landscape in which it sits.
The changing programme of temporary exhibitions brings major international artists to the park on a regular basis, and the gallery buildings at the centre of the park provide indoor exhibition space for work that requires a controlled environment. The Longside Gallery, the Chapel Gallery and the Underground Gallery each have their own character and provide different relationships between sculpture and indoor space.
The park is free to enter and is open daily throughout the year, making it one of the most generously accessible major art venues in Britain. The café and restaurant facilities and the management of the parkland for walking and wildlife watching add dimensions beyond the sculpture programme itself.