Massive gold flag artwork opens to public at castle

The flags were hoisted on Thursday

An artwork made up of more than 500 gold flags has been unveiled at a castle.

The flags were hoisted on to the south lawns of Lowther Castle, in Cumbria, on Thursday and will remain there for just two weeks.

Durham artist Steve Messam had previously created a temporary artwork made up of three miles (5km) of yellow fabric sails on the North Pennines.

In the new work, he said he wanted to have a “big wash of colour” right across the grass.

The artwork, which is made up of 520 flags set at different heights, feels like “meadows of flowers”, said Mr Messam.

The entire work measures about 1050ft (320m) by 145ft (45m), and each flag is up to 8ft (2.5m) long and 5ft (1.5m) high.

There are 520 flags in total in the artwork

Mr Messam said the piece changed with the weather and needed to be experienced in person.

“It’s about being there and it’s about witnessing it and feeling the piece,” he said.

“Being in the presence of something that is so vast as an artwork has an emotional effect on you.”

The artwork can be seen by the public until 6 May

People can see the flags in person until 6 May.

“It’s only there for two weeks and when it’s gone – it’ll never happen again,” he said.

“So you’ll never have that experience ever again.”