Singer-Songwriter Phil Collins Helps Unveil Alamo Timeline Sculptures

By Morgan Montalvo

Phil Collins, rock music legend and dedicated student of Alamo  history, was in San Antonio today for the presentation of seven bronze  sculptures that depict the history of historic mission and site of one  of the defining battles of the war for Texas independence, News Radio 1200 WOAI's Morgan Montalvo reports.

The set of sculptures were part of Collins' personal collection of  Alamo artifacts and memorabilia, and now stand on pedestals in front of  the Long Barracks in front of the grounds.

At the 1:30 p.m. unveiling Collins told visitors that the set of  renderings were the product of an idea conceived by he and George  Nelson, an artist archaeologist, s well as longtime friend of the  entertainer.  The sculptures, Collins said, were to be part of a traveling Alamo  exhibit "to put some bronzes, some dioramas, on the traveling museum  that would give kids who can't come here an idea of what the place  looked like way back."

Ultimately the pieces would become part of a sidewalk exhibit that  offers period-by-period overhead depictions of the Alamo and its  environs starting in the 1700s.

Nelson told the gathering that his products are the result of 50  years of personal research, and credited photographers and mapmakers,  whose work in many cases dates back centuries, with contributing to the  sculptures' scale and appearance.

The three-dimensional depictions not only give the viewer an  on-high impression of the grounds across time, they will also allow  sight-impaired visitors to gauge the complex though touch. 

Nelson said the sculptures also communicate a need for the public  to be involved  in the Alamo's preservation " because this is one of the  most - unfortunately - destroyed archaeological historical places in  the United States."It's also one of the most important," Nelson said.

PHOTO: MORGAN MONTALVO


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