OVER 100,000 pairs of spectacles have been donated by the public to a new Liverpool artwork which opened yesterday to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust.

The impressive RESPECTacles display in Liverpool town hall also includes glasses donated by celebrities ranging from Archbishop Desmond Tutu, to Jerry Springer, Dame Edna Everage and Tony and Cherie Blair.

Ringo Starr also made time to donate a pair of his shades to the project during his recent visit to launch Capital of Culture.

All of the glasses will be donated to Vision Aid Overseas to help visually impaired people in the developing world.

The RESPECTacles project is based on a famous Second World War picture of a pile of mangled spectacles left in the Auschwich-Berkenau death camp – a stark reminder of the scale of death and suffering during the Holocaust.

It forms part of a series of events leading up to National Holocaust Memorial Day on Sunday, January 27, which marks the liberation of Auschwitz-Berkenau.

A Holocaust Memorial Day service led by Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathon Sacks and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, will be held at Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall on January 27.

Liverpool is on course to break the world record for the biggest collection of glasses which can still be donated via the town hall, any Liverpool library or One Stop Shop.

ARCHBISHOP VISITS: P16