The first outdoor statue of Swami Vivekananda in the UK, sculpted in Portland stone was unveiled on 28 July to commemorate Swamiji's arrival to England 125 years ago outside of Harrow Arts Centre.
A vision of the late and former Mayor Cllr Mrinal Choudhury, who passed away on 1 August 2020, the statue was unveiled by The Mayor of Harrow Ghazanfar Ali. Deputy Mayor Sasikala Suresh, Manmeet Singh Naran, Minister for Coordination at the Indian High Commission and Swami Sarvasthananda of Ramakrishna Vedanta Centre, UK were also present.
Swami Vivekananda travelled to the UK twice, in 1895 and 1896, lecturing successfully here. In November 1895, he met Margaret Elizabeth Noble an Irish woman who would become Sister Nivedita. During his second visit to the UK in May 1896 Vivekananda met Max Muller, a noted Indologist from the University of Oxford who wrote Ramakrishna's first biography in the West.
