THE people of Norway rue the day they let the Antony Gormley statues go, it was revealed last night.
The 100 iron men, which now stand on Waterloo beach, spent a year on Sola Beach in Stavanger. Sven Egil Ombal, the culture editor on the city's respected regional newspaper the Stavanger Aftenblad, says the Norwegians would take back Another Place in an instant.
Like Liverpool, 2008 will be a big year for Stavanger when it will celebrate the title of non-EU Capital of Culture.
Mr Ombal said: "Many people in our city still have posters of Another Place in their houses.
"If we could have kept hold of them, we would have without a doubt.
"It was a wonderful year. People would go to the beach and dress the statues up and dance around them.
"We held a photographic competition where readers had to send in pictures of the statues. It was the most successful competition we have ever held with more than 1,000 entries."
But even in Stavanger, there was opposition to Gormley's work.
He said: "There were many strong objections, because the beach they were installed at is a conservation area.
"But throughout the year, people who had opposed it began to change their mind, and by the end they all loved the statues.
"We could not have kept the iron men because the beach was protected, but if it had been possible, they would have done it. It put the area on the map."
Mr Ombal spoke following the launch of the Daily Post's campaign to keep Another Place on Waterloo beach.
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