Divisive mark of reconciliation

More than half a century after the twinning of the two great European university cities, the partnership is holding together well and next month a large delegation of Bonn dignitaries will be flying over from Germany for a special celebration to mark the official opening of the square named in their honour.

But for all their politeness, you have to wonder whether the Bezirksburger of Bonn and his colleagues must ask themeselves why, of all the historic streets, corners and crannies of Oxford, it is the square at the end of New Road that their city must forever be associated with.

For you would, after all, be very hard pressed to think of anywhere else in Oxford that has stirred so much anger and bitter disappointment since it was opened in a blaze of glory in 1974.

Over more years than anybody would care to remember the square has stood out as the ultimate blackspot of drunkenness and violence. By the mid-1980s some of Oxford’s largest stores, based around Bonn Square, were so incensed that they demanded a rates cuts because of the problems from drunks and punks. Members of the congregation at the New Road Baptist Church, which overlooks the square, were even reduced to demanding iron railings to shield church-goers from the activities of alcoholics and glue-sniffers.

The Bonn visitors who follow more recent events will know that Bonn Square has become something of an eco-battleground, with one demonstrator occupying a tree for 12 days in a bid to bring tree-cutting to a halt. At one stage police even set up ‘a ring of steel’ around the treehouse of the homeless eco-protester.

And if they imagined things were about to get better, news that the Tirah Memorial, the first war memorial to have been erected in Oxford, had been vandalised three weeks ago, will come as a blow.

The monument, to commemorate the men of the Second Battalion of the Oxfordshire Light Infantry who died in the campaign on the north-west frontier of India, was left covered with graffiti.

But some would strongly argue that vandalism in Bonn Square, has not been limited to idiots with spray cans. For there is no shortage of people who remain furious about what they have viewed as the deliberate destruction of what had once been a well maintained public garden. Old photographs in The Oxford Times library show a circular lawn and benches in the shade of trees in a memorial garden that brings to mind Paris.

The city council was blamed for neglect and the felling of trees.

But it was the long-awaited £2m renovation of the square last year, which has again put Bonn Square in the centre of controversy. The city council appeared to be taking no chances with the historic site when, in 2005, it launched an international design competition. With massive understatement, architects were told “the area was not currently living up to its potential”.

The aim was bold: “To create a dynamic city square, which would appeal to all members of the community as a space to pause, relax and be entertained.”

The winning design, submitted by Graeme Massie Architects, was judged to create “a sympathetic, yet radical reinterpretation of the space”. Surfaced in sandstone, it is said to offer “a unified, uncluttered look”, with new trees (selected for their seasonal variation) bronze seating, landmark, structural lighting, and opportunities for public art performance and events.

As the building work continued last autumn, the city council pledged it would deliver a “new lease of life” to the whole city centre.

The sense of optimism was summed up by council cabinet member Colin Cook. “This area of the city centre,” he said, “has been lacking a high-quality public space for some years, so the regeneration of Bonn Square is great news for Oxford.”

But as soon as the building fences came down, the damning letters began arriving at The Oxford Times and our sister paper the Oxford Mail.

Bob Vincent, of Iffley Road, condemned the redesigned square as “a boring slab of nothingness”. He added: “Not a plant, or tree — just bricks and concrete. Whoever planned it must have been in the grip of manic depression.”

Other readers complained of “a barren stone surface” and “visual sterility”. And then to add insult to injury, it emerged that the sloping sandstone surface unwittingly provided the perfect play area for young skateboarders.

It is sometimes easy to forget that Bonn Square was created as a monument to reconciliation and friendship. But we are about to be reminded of that fact again by the Boars Hill artist, Diana Bell, who has been given the challenging task of making us love the place at last.

For our friends from Bonn have certainly not given up on the square named in their honour, tempting though it may have been, given that the street named after Oxford in Bonn in 1971 is a highly fashionable shopping area.

To mark the official unveiling of the square on May 22, the city of Bonn decided as a gift to Oxford to commission a sculpture and turned to a well known local sculptor.

Ms Bell, who works at Magdalen Road Studios, Oxford, where she is director, specialises in public art. Examples of her work include a large sculpture for the Lidl supermarket in Oxford and the sculpture at the new Headington Manor Hospital, United, which celebrates the site’s footballing past.

But she is well aware of the weight resting on her shoulders this time, as she faces the prospect of creating a symbol of the Bonn-Oxford friendship and a piece of art the public will warm to.

“Many people do not know anything about the history of Bonn Square,” Ms Bell told me. “But it’s important because Oxford was the first UK city to approach a German city in friendship after the war. And that was a remarkable thing.”

In recent months she has submerged herself in the history of the site, where a church was first built soon after the establishment of Oxford Castle in 1071. Named St Peter-Le-Bailey, because it sat within the outer wall of the castle, it was granted to St Frideswide’s Priory in 1122. Remarkably, it was still standing in the early 18th century, only being replaced when a tower collapsed in 1726. The new church did not survive very long, having to be demolished to accommodate a road-widening scheme in Queen Street, and the churchyard was turned into a memorial garden in 1897.

“In my view you can’t just sweep away history and start afresh,” she said. “Just take the New Road Baptist Church. When you read about it, you find that one of the walls formed part of the Royal Mint in New Inn Hall Street during the reign of Charles I.”

Her Bonn square sculpture will be of two piles of books, cast in bronze.

“They have an antique appearance, which will make them look like real books from a distance,” she said. The titles of the books will be indented into the bindings and will be clearly readable: Knowledge, Understand, Friendship and Trust — one pile in English, the other in German.

Other real looking bronze books will be attached to the benches in the square. “I like public art so that people can interact with it. People will be able to sit on the benches and touch the books, lean on them, put their sandwiches on them?”

And, I ask mischievously, bottles of cider? “Bottles of cider, too. It is not meant to be precious.”

She recalled many visits to the site during the planning, often taking her camera. “I once sat and chatted to two homeless men who were intrigued about what I was doing. So I explained everything and they really liked the idea of the books.”

On May 22, after a tour of the city, the Lord Mayor of Oxford, Susanna Pressel will lead a delegation from Bonn to the square, just as her much-loved predecessor Olive Gibbs had on October 5, 1974, when it was first given its name. After speeches from both the Oxford Mayor and the Mayor of Bonn, the new square will be officially opened and Diana Bell’s sculpture unveiled.

Entries for a photographic competition for children, with the theme of friendship, to mark the event, will also be viewed, while the following day a ‘burgerfest’ will be held, with morris dancing, Irish dancing, drummers and the Bonn Beuel Jazz Band.

Let’s hope the Bonn visitors like the bronze books and their new square, destined to remain as a unique symbol of reconciliation between the peoples of Europe and such bitter division at home.