The Wellington monument is perhaps one of the strangest in London: the winner of Napoleon depicted as a naked Achilles. Without the appropriate inscription on the pedestal to understand who dedicated the monument, it would be difficult.

The commander and statesman, the Duke of Wellington is one of the most prominent figures of British history. In his youth he was considered incompetent, and his own mother said about him: "I don't know what I should do with my incapable Arthur". When Duke first came a-Courtin', "the debt-ridden young man with an unenviable future" refused. On that day, Wellington, passionate an Amateur violinist, he burnt his violin and chose a military career.

Ranks Duke basically bought (as was the norm in the British army). Once in India in a real combat situation, he showed composure and courage, coupled with outstanding military skills. Wellington won, maintaining strict discipline in the armies (up to flogging and hanging), gaining allies through diplomacy and caring for the supply of the army.

In Britain he returned a knight of the order of the Bath and a wealthy man. He waited for the Spanish campaign, in which Duke won fame as a military leader capable of defeating Napoleon. And when the deposed Napoleon, having escaped from the island of St. Helena, triumphantly entered Paris, Wellington became commander of the allied Anglo-Dutch army, which, together with the Prussians defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.

The monument in Hyde Park was established in 1822 in memory of those victories of Wellington. He cast his sculptor Richard Westmacott, depicting the Duke in the form of invulnerable ancient hero, the Central character of "the Iliad" by Homer. The statue is a copy of one of the figures tamer of horses from the Quirinal hill in Rome. The monument is huge: its total height is over 10 meters. Cast it in bronze of captured French cannons. When the enormous figure was ready, it became clear that it does not pass through the gates of Hyde Park, and the fence had to do a special hole.

The creation of Westmacott from the beginning was subjected to severe criticism: a giant Achilles became the first Nude male figure, exhibited in London for the public. Provided by the sculptor Fig leaf modestly sized in every way have been used in cartoons. Special piquancy of the situation was added the fact that the monument was built on the donations of the English ladies.

There is the Achilles-Wellington near Apsley house, the London residence of the Duke. On the other side of the mansion are a memorial to Wellington and Wellington arch, there is a street named after national hero: this corner of London just saturated with monuments dedicated to the great commander. In the city of London, at the entrance to the Royal exchange stands another monument to Wellington – horse, the sculptor sir Francis Leggatt Centre.