Nelson Mandela was joined by Britain’s political leaders, anti-apartheid and anti-racism campaigners, community and church representatives and thousands of members of the public for the unveiling of a nine foot statue of the great South African leader in Parliament Square.
At the ceremony led by Lord Richard Attenborough, trustee of the Mandela Statue Fund, Mr Mandela, was honoured in speeches by London Mayor Ken Livingstone, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and Wendy Woods, anti-apartheid activist and wife of the late Donald Woods who had initially proposed the statue in 2000.
The ceremony marked the culmination of a seven-year campaign for the statue to be erected in central London, lead by the Mayor of London, Wendy Woods and Lord Attenborough.
At the event, Mr Mandela said: "Though this statue is of one man, it should in actual fact symbolise all of those who have resisted oppression, especially in my country."
Mr Brown hailed Mr Mandela as the "greatest and most courageous leader of our generation".
Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said: "The statue of Nelson Mandela is to be placed in Parliament Square to demonstrate that the struggle of the South African people to overcome the tyranny of the racist apartheid state was itself the struggle for universal human rights."
Lord Attenborough said: "How appropriate that the most revered statesman of our time, a man who refused to succumb to bitterness or seek revenge, who went on to lead his people to freedom, should stand for all time in Parliament Square."