New large-scale ‘Pool of Life’ mural unveiled in Liverpool - inspired by Carl Jung’s description of city

A spectacular large-scale new mural inspired by Carl Jung’s famous description of Liverpool as the ‘Pool of Life’ has been unveiled in the city centre.

Created by street artist Smug - aka Glasgow-based Sam Bates - the new interpretation of the Swiss psychoanalysist’s dream about the city spans a number of buildings on Harrington Street in the heart of the Cavern Quarter.

The artwork has been co-commissioned by Culture Liverpool and Liverpool BID Company on behalf of the Beatles Legacy Group to explore the extraordinary history of the area.

From the global music explosion it defined in the 60s to it becoming the centre of Liverpool’s ground-breaking and culturally defining counterculture of the ‘70s and ‘80s.

The Beatles Legacy Group Chair Peter Hooton said: "I visited New York in 2017 - I went for the anniversary of John Lennon's assassination in December - just looking around New York, which is the home of street art, there are some absolutely magnificent murals there.

“So, when I came back, I put forward an idea to do something, a mural which is a little bit different than the usual. We decided on Carl Jung's 1927 description of Liverpool being the 'Pool of Life'. This is Smug's interpretation.

"I think the idea behind it is to encourage debate and also, a lot of people don't know about Carl Jung's dream. The fact that he felt that this was a unique area and he'd never visited Liverpool, but he dreamt about it. He came to a very dark and sooty city, and if you remember or if you've seen photographs of Liverpool in the 60s when the Liver Buildings were black, and Saint Georges Hall was black. He said in the dream he saw cliffs and a magnolia tree."

The mural hints at the area's layered history drawing on the well-known names like Erics and The Cavern, which attract tourists from across the world, but also add greater depth in exposing the layers of history, architecture, commerce and trade which made up Jung's 'Pool of Life'.