What is the significance of the Commonwealth Games Bull and why is it so important to Birmingham?
It is synonymous with the Bullring, Birmingham's shopping centre, which has actually been a Bull Ring market area since the Middle Ages where bulls were once baited before slaughter
The enormous, 30ft armoured bull was a central part of the opening ceremony, which was directed by Peaky Blinders ' creator Steven Knight. During the ceremony, the 10 metre tall beast emitted smoke and cried tears of blood. Tens of thousands of people have been to see the structure since it arrived in Centenary Square.
The bull is synonymous with the Bullring, Birmingham's shopping centre, which is home to a six tonne bronze bull statue that emerged surrounded by dry ice on the day the centre opened on September 4, 2003. The sculpture was declared one of the worldâ€
s top ten public works of art in 2015.
But there was a Bull Ring shopping centre in the city long before this. In fact there has been a Bull Ring market area in Birmingham since the Middle Ages where bulls were once held before slaughter.
In the 16th century, John Cooper was given the right to bait bulls at a site opposite St Martins Church and so it became known as the Bull Ring. The 'ring' part of the location's name refers to a hoop of iron, to which bulls were tied for baiting before slaughter, as this was wrongly thought to tenderise the meat. Bull-baiting stopped at the Bull Ring in 1798 when it moved to Handsworth, but the site kept its famous name.
The original Bull Ring Market Hall was built in 1835 and was home to 600 stalls and an ornamental fountain. But it was gutted in 1940 after being hit by a German incendiary bomb. However, it remained in use, despite being roofless, into the 1960s.
The first Bull Ring shopping centre - an £8 million, 23 acre, air conditioned centre said to be the biggest indoor shopping mall outside of America - was opened by the Duke of Edinburgh in May 1964. Many will remember this building as it stood in place for 36 years until demolition began in 2000 to make way for the Bullring as we know it today.
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