Burns Statue, Kilmarnock

This statue, chiselled from Sicilian Marble, was the centre piece of Kilmarnock's Burns Monument, which stood in the Kay Park from 1879 until it was destroyed by fire started by vandals. The statue by William Grant Stevenson was chosen as winner of a public competition in which his brother, David, was second. Stevenson studied pictures of the poet which had been painted during his lifetime and based the head upon a cast of Burns's skull, and as a result the finished article is probably one of the most faithful representations of the poet anywhere. Its original cost was £800. The statue survived the fire and now stands in the rebuilt Burns Monument Centre.