#historical monuments

[bizarrepotpourri]

Statue of an executioner in the main square of Bardejov, Slovakia.

#Bardejov #Slovakia #historical monuments #statues #executioner #execution #beheading #axe and block

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"Confederate monuments bear what the anthropological theorist Michael Taussig would call a public secret: something that is privately known but collectively denied. It does no good to simply reveal the secret — in this case, to tell people that most of the Confederate monuments were erected not at the end of the Civil War, to honor those who fought, but at the height of Jim Crow, to entrench a system of racial hierarchy. That’s already part of their appeal. Dr. Taussig has argued that public secrets don’t lose their power unless they are transformed in a manner that does justice to the scale of the secret. He compares the process to desecration. How can you expect people to stop believing in their gods without providing some other way of making sense of this world and our future?

Swords Into Plowshares might have been the first to propose melting, but other communities are working out their own creative visions for Lee’s afterlife. One of the biggest changes so far has been at Arlington House, the historic plantation mansion at the center of Arlington National Cemetery, which is the official national Robert E. Lee Memorial. In 2021, Arlington House reopened with displays not only about Lee’s family, who lived there after they inherited it from Lee’s father-in-law, but also about the lives of the families enslaved there. Even Lee’s burial site at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va. — where he served as president after the war — has changed. The university decided to focus on Lee the civilian rather than Lee the general, for example by moving a prominent portrait of him in uniform. And it constructed a wall to enclose the large sculpture of Lee that once claimed an insistent place in the university’s chapel.

Covering this story over the past few years, I’ve come to realize two things. First, when a monument disappears without a ceremony to mark why it is coming down, a community has no chance to recognize that it has itself changed. (Ideally the ceremony is public, but because of safety concerns, the melting I attended was not.) Second, if you are outraged that something’s happening to your community’s heroic statue of Lee, you’re not going to be any less outraged if the statue is moved to some hidden storeroom than if it’s thrown into a landfill. So if all changes, large or small, will be resisted, why not go for the ones with the most symbolic resonance?

That’s why the idea to melt Lee down, as violent as it might initially seem, struck me as so apt. Confederate monuments went up with rich, emotional ceremonies that created historical memory and solidified group identity. The way we remove them should be just as emotional, striking and memorable. Instead of quietly tucking statues away, we can use monuments one final time to bind ourselves together into new communities.

...

When the remaining legal barriers were cleared (including a last-minute lawsuit that sought to have the statue reassembled), Lee was finally ready to surrender to the furnace. The foundryman turned on the propane supply and laid Lee’s sword across the hole in the lid. He told the spectators that the metal had to get hot enough to release any moisture before he maneuvered it down through the hole into the crucible.

When he did, its blade stuck up out of the furnace for a moment, then melted down “like a stick of butter,” as Dr. Schmidt put it.

Lee’s face was the last piece to go into the crucible. Given how often the monument and its ideals were celebrated with flames — from Klansmen’s torches to the tiki torches of white nationalists in 2017 — it seemed fitting for flames to close over the monument.

...

Dr. Douglas, Swords Into Plowshares’ other co-founder, apologized that the ceremony could not be public. She thanked those in attendance, telling us we were witnessing it on behalf of Charlottesville’s residents, including those long gone who lived under slavery. Someday, she said, when we think of Civil War heroes, we will imagine not Lee but, instead, those who fought for their freedom against him.

The man in the protective visor dropped the red-hot piece of metal that once represented Lee on the ground. It fell to pieces, which he fed into the crucible. A line of cameras faced him, making new images of history as the old image finally disappeared in flames.

- Erin Thompson, "The Most Controversial Statue in America Surrenders to the Furnace." New York Times. October 24, 2023. Photo by Eze Amos.

#swords into plougshares #confederate monuments #robert e. lee #tear them down #historical monuments #american civil war #historical memory #united states history #united states politics

[nevzatboyraz44]

historical monuments...

#historical monuments #türkiye #doğa #travel photography #travel destinations #travel #manzara #view #natural #europe #africa #Spotify

[pensamentsisomnis]

Photo of The Day

#barcelona #barcelona secreta #bcn #historical monuments #street photo barcelona #barcelona travelers #photo of the day

[fefiemmanouil1]

awaking

#castle #angels #status #mausoleum #tombs #museum #historical monuments #2nd century #castel sant'angelo #rome

[nabeelyakzan]

Saida's Sea Castle (Arabic: قلعة صيدا البحرية) was built by the crusaders in the thirteenth century.

To support my work, check out my Print Shop!

#photographers on tumblr #lebanon #street photography #beirut #lensblr #original photographers #middle east #oriental #film photography #streetphotography #history #historical monuments #saida #castle

[pranjalj23]

Shell Grotto in Margate, Kent

Despite lot of history and secrets this is most adorable places to visit. The design and arrangement of shells so perfectly over many years is quite amusing.

#shell grotto #margate #seashells #beautiful places #visitengland #architecture #history #design #amazingarchitecture #historical monuments #historical places

[itsvickytoria]

“I cannot let you burn me up, nor can I resist you. No mere human can stand in a fire and not be consumed.”

Possession by A.S. Byatt

#stranger things #eddie munson #mood board #chrissy stranger things #eddie stranger things #chrissy #chrissy deserved better #eddie #aesthetic #chrissy x eddie #historical monuments #historical romance #stranger things season 4 #new family power #chrissy is a marquess #well her dad is #eddie is a knight #dont at mw #eddissy #eddissy moodboard #st4

[satashiiphotography]

I would like to report that six months later, sad lion is still sad. Lucerne, Switzerland, December 2022.

Photo credit @satashiiphotography

#lion of lucerne #lucerne #switzerland #historical monuments #iphone photos

[khudrang]

Kuber Bhandari Temple, India

#india #asia #south east asia #travel #hindu mythology #temples #art #culture #architecture #heritage #history #historical monuments #historical building #indian art #indian architecture #asian art #asian architecture #adventures #trip #art aesthetic #monument #destiny's rainboww

[flyingbeyondthehorizon]

📍𝓥𝓲𝓬𝓽𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓪 𝓜𝓮𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓪𝓵, 𝓦𝓮𝓼𝓽 𝓑𝓮𝓷𝓰𝓪𝓵, 𝓘𝓷𝓭𝓲𝓪

#history #victoria memorial #aesthetic #tumblr #explore #explore page #beauty #photograph #photographer #photography #history era #historical monuments #india #britain #british #literature #academia aesthetic #classic academia #art academia #academia life #light academia #england #bengal #monument

[irmita29]

Eiffel Tower, Paris France

May 27th, 2022

#parisfrance #parisphoto #europe #travel #my travels #my photos #photography #eiffel tower #history #historical monuments #landscape #nature

[robertocastigliaphotography]

Castello Piccolomini di Capestrano. (AQ) Abruzzo. Italy

#italian photography #robertocastigliaphotography #capestrano #abruzzo #italia #italy #europa #europe #castles of the world #national monument #historical monuments #historical architecture #ancient buildings #ancient architecture #medieval castles #valledeltirino #ancient italy #original photography blog #travel photography #photography on tumblr

[heyitsmalliekatt]

Guard watchtower, Alcatraz Island.

San Francisco, California, May 2022.

#buildings #old building #historical monuments #alcatraz #san francisco #travel #travel photography #photography #my travels

[pensamentsisomnis]

#barcelona #catalonia #historical monuments #barcelona streets #traveler #travel photography #travel destinations

[godofglitter]

In a spontaneous (and probably highly illegal) decision, I decided to enter a half-renovated palace looking building in Mubarak Mandi Complex, Jammu. No one stopped me, precisely because there was no one around- the entire enclosed polygon of tall buildings of maharajas who'd probably thought they'd be ruling forever had a neglected, forgotten look about it. Even the locals didn't seem to know of the existence of the small museum, or the British style fountains on four corners of a Mughal and Dravidian style garden, enclosed by the Rajputana looking palace buildings. So many religions, ruling families, races- all blending together homogeneously, without the added colour of communalism that often (unfortunately) divides other significant melting pots such as Delhi, where I have grown up seeing firsthand the segregation of Mughalai versus Rajputana, each distinct and prideful in a lack of confluence with the opposite party. Here in Jammu for the first time I saw a masjid down the road from a temple, jhatka and halal shops standing shoulder to shoulder with a pure vegetarian vaishno dhaba, people living in seemingly true fraternity- and above all, harmony.

I am sure this is a gross romanticisation of the political atmosphere of one of India's most controversial and warred upon regions. And yet this picture- of a roof panel at that palace I very illegally entered- sparks these bittersweet emotions in me that awaken the inner idealist. This panel is a glimpse into Dogra history, and all the diverse factors that form it- and yet even as we speak, vital parts are being slowly replaced by fresh, bright, unmarked wood. The glass half empty side of my brain cries at the loss of history, cries for the beautiful and intricate artwork on the inner walls of the palace that are being covered by sterile white paint, for the erasure of an entire culture by controversy such that even the descendants of the kings themselves don't know who they are. And yet, unbidden as hope, the glass half full side of my brain sees this blank wood with rosy eyes, perhaps reminiscent of the perspective of the artisans who first set out to paint this beauty in the first place- seeing these empty spots as fresh slates onto which we can paint our own stories of love and peace.

#india #indian history #jammu and kashmir #jammu #dogra history #historical #historical monuments #palaces #indian palaces #maharaja #indian art