MURALS with a Caersws connection, created for the old Terminal One at Heathrow Airport, are to be auctioned this Saturday, April 21, in a hotel suite overlooking the runway and also online.

The 17 enamel panels were commissioned in 1958 and fully realised when the terminal opened 10 years later, and they are the work of the Polish artist Stefan Knapp, the late husband of Cathy Knapp who went on to create the Mid Wales Arts Centre at Caersws.

Having been imprisoned in a Russian gulag in the late 1930s, Knapp joined the Polish ‘Anders’ army based in the Soviet Union on his release in 1942.

He later transferred to Britain where he trained as a Spitfire pilot in the RAF during the Second World War, after which he studied at the Royal Academy and ths Slade School of Fire Art, embarked on an artistic career specialising in murals often of unprecedented size, working with artists like Salvador Dali and Jackson Pollock, and patenting a technique of painting with enamel paint on steel allowing him to create large murals for public buildings that could last for centuries.

His work included the longest mural in the world comprising 450 panels for a department store in New Jersey.

The disposal of the Heathrow murals is part of the ongoing dispersal of the contents of Terminal One following its closure in 2015, as part of Heathrow’s upgrade.

CA Global Partners, are auctioning the memorabilia which also includes fine art, sculpture, iconic signs and even a check-in desk, from 11am this Saturday.

No estimates are being put on the panels which have been divided into 10 lots, with the largest comprising 15 sections. Individual panels measure 3m x 3m within a steel frame and were restored by the British Airports Authority in 1996.