A 36-foot-tall stainless steel sculpture by Jaume Plensa collapsed outside the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame last month, with museum officials saying the cause of the failure remains unclear, according to the university’s student-run paper The Observer.
The work, Endless, was found broken into two pieces on December 10 after standing outside the museum for nearly three years. No injuries were reported, and officials said there was only minor damage to the surrounding concrete.
“We don’t know what happened,” Joseph Becherer, the museum’s director and curator, told The Observer, adding that there was no evidence of an external force contributing to the collapse.
As a precaution, museum staff dismantled and removed the remaining portion of the sculpture the same day. The work is now being stored at an undisclosed location while officials determine next steps.
Installed in 2023 as a permanent outdoor commission, Endless was created specifically for the museum by Plensa and donated by alumnus Charles Hayes ’65, who also funded the adjoining Hayes Sculpture Park. The sculpture—composed of letters drawn from multiple alphabets—reflects a motif the artist has frequently used to explore language and shared humanity.
The museum conducts regular maintenance and annual inspections of its outdoor works, Becherer said, making the collapse an unexpected development for the institution.
