St. Andrew’s Day: Students asked to help find saint’s missing hand
People used to touch the statue's fingers to bring them luck until the hand went missing
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.An appeal has been made on St Andrew's Day for a statue of the saint to be reunited with its hand.
Current and former students of the University of St Andrews are being asked for information which could solve a decades-old mystery of the disappearing ‘lucky’ hand.
The large statue of the saint was gifted to Scotland’s oldest university in the 1960s – and at some point over almost four decades based in the Botanic Garden car park in St Andrews it lost its left hand.
Before its donation to the university, the statue stood in the foyer of the North British & Mercantile Insurance Company building in Edinburgh, where staff touched the statue's hand for luck.
On St Andrew’s Day, the university has unveiled plans to clean, restore and move the statue to a central location and put it on display.
Ahead of the move, the institution has appealed to generations of students past and present for information on the missing hand.
Dr Katie Stevenson, who is leading the restoration project, said: “The hand of St Andrew is an important part of the statue's history.
“Before it came to the university in the 1960s, St Andrew sat in the foyer of the North British & Mercantile Insurance Company building in Edinburgh and as members of staff came in to work they touched his fingers to bring them luck.
“We are pleased to be able to retrieve Andrew for conservation and repair and we hope that his new home in the gardens of the university museum on The Scores in St Andrews will allow people to enjoy him. It would be wonderful if we could locate his original hand for our repair work.”
The statue will be moved from its current location for restoration work before the end of this year.
Additional reporting by PA
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments