Huge £2.7m Temenos sculpture unveiled in Middlesbrough

A giant dual-ringed public art installation has been unveiled on Teesside.

The £2.7m Temenos structure has taken four months to piece together on the banks of the River Tees near Middlesbrough's Transporter Bridge.

Thousands of metres of steel wire have been woven between the two steel rings to create the 164ft (50m) high and 360ft (110m) long sculpture.

It was created by artist Anish Kapoor and structural designer Cecil Balmond.

It is the first of five planned "Tees Valley Giants", with four other artworks planned for Stockton, Hartlepool, Darlington and Redcar.

Sean Egan, director of Tees Valley Regeneration's Middlehaven project, said: "Lifting the rings into the correct positions was a huge task in its own right.

"However, people will be able to see for the first time the truly amazing scale of the artwork."

Temenos is a Greek word meaning land cut off and assigned as a sanctuary or holy area.

Funding for the project came from regional development agency One North East, Arts Council England and the Northern Rock Foundation, among others.