| National Covid Memorial Wall | |
| Italic Title: | no |
| Artist: | Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice |
| Year: | 2021 |
| Subject: | COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom |
| Length Metric: | 500 |
| Length Imperial: | 1/3 |
| Metric Unit: | m |
| Imperial Unit: | mi |
| City: | London |
The National Covid Memorial Wall in London is a public mural painted by volunteers to commemorate victims of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.[1] Started in March 2021 and stretching more than NaNmiles along the South Bank of the River Thames, opposite the Palace of Westminster,[2] the mural consists of approximately 245,000 red and pink hearts, one for each of the casualties of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom who died with COVID-19 on their death certificate.[3] The intent was for each heart to be "individually hand-painted; utterly unique, just like the loved ones we’ve lost".[4]
The mural was organized by campaign group Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, with the help of the campaign group Led By Donkeys. Volunteers cleaned the wall and removed graffiti before hand-painting approximately 150,000 red hearts over 10 days from 29 March 2021.[5] Bereaved families filled these hearts with messages and the names of lost loved ones, with more continuing to be added over subsequent months. Though the project was started without council permission,[6] it gained widespread support and public recognition, so has not been removed by authorities.[7] As the hearts and text have faded, bereaved volunteers continue to repaint hearts with longer-lasting masonry paint, to rewrite dedications, and to add new dedications.[8]
The mural stretches more than NaNmiles along the South Bank of the River Thames from Westminster Bridge to Lambeth Bridge, opposite the Palace of Westminster. Being outside of St Thomas' Hospital, it also encompasses an older plaque dedicated to the 1994-6 human BSE outbreak.
On 29 March 2021, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer visited the mural, which he described as a "remarkable memorial", before calling on Boris Johnson to visit the mural personally and engage with the families of the deceased. Johnson later visited the wall for "quiet reflection" and was criticised by the co-founder of the group, who said that the visit, which did not include a meeting with bereaved families, was "a late evening visit under cover of darkness ... a cynical and insincere move that is deeply hurtful".[9] [10]
Volunteers continue to add hearts to match the UK's COVID-19 death toll.[11]
While the original plan for the unauthorised mural included provision to clean the area after a period of time, campaigners have argued that the mural should remain indefinitely as a permanent memorial. The former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, had previously promised a "fitting and permanent" memorial to those who died from COVID-19 after the conclusion of the pandemic. In March of 2023, the Commission for Covid Commemoration (headed by Baroness Nicky Morgan) recommended to the government that the wall be made a permanent memorial. Discussions have begun between the Friends of the Wall (the bereaved volunteers who maintain the wall),[12] the DCMS, St. Thomas’ Hospital, and the local planning authority to explore how to work together to ensure this unique memorial can be preserved.