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