Banksy's Brexit mural, valued at approximately £1.4 million, has been destroyed for good, after a 2019 whitewashing and the demolition of the Dover building.
ADVERTISEMENTA mural by Banksy has been destroyed after the building it was painted on was demolished, according to a town council in Dover, England.
Banky’s mural featured a construction worker chipping away one of the 12 yellow stars on the European Union flag. It was created in the aftermath of the controversial Brexit vote in the UK, and became a tourist landmark in the coastal town.
It was valued at approximately £1.4 million (€1.6 million).
The Dover City Council said the building, that was “increasingly dilapidated and dangerous,” was one of many along Bench Street that was “blighting the local area and giving a poor impression of the town." They stated earlier this year that it would be demolished as part of a £24 million (€28 million) renovation project.
The Banksy mural “could not be viably conserved” without requiring “considerable costs to local taxpayers,” according to the Dover City Council.
In 2019, the mural was whitewashed.
The city said it had hired a firm to “scan and preserve” the mural so that it could “recreate it digitally or even physically” at some point in the future.
However, despite efforts to potentially restore the piece, the recent demolition marks the end of what was a culturally significant work.
