St. Patrick and the Many Monuments of the Hill of Tara

Copyright Doran Cellarius Fotografie

The past building over the past.  it is a theme that runs through many of the photos we post here on Monumental Photography and on our sister blog, Lost Places.  There are few places in the world where the past had usurped and blended with the past like it has in Ireland.  This week, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, we see the old Catholic saint himself.  This is not just any St. Patrick, though, this is the St. Patrick statue on the Hill of Tara.  This impressive photo was taken by Doran Cellarius, who says it was the shamrock in St. Patrick’s hand that drew his attention to the statue.

St. Patrick was born in Britain while it was still under the control of the Roman Empire, sometime around the second half of the 5th Century.  At the age of 16, Patrick was captured by Irish pirates, who took him off to Ireland and held him prisoner for six years.  Patrick worked as a shepherd in Ireland, where he became a devout Christian.  Patrick heard a voice one day telling him that a ship was ready to carry him home.  Patrick ran away from his captors and found passage back to Britain.  The ship landed in Britain, where the crew walked for 28 days in the wilderness and nearly starved before finding a herd of wild boar to eat.  Patrick returned to his family, but eventually felt compelled to spread Christianity throughout Ireland.  One of the ways he discussed the trinity, legend has it, was through the three cloves of the shamrock.  St. Patrick’s first spiritual mission, according to legend, was the Hill of Tara.

The Hill of Tara had a symbolic history long before St. Patrick.  The 646-foot hill was the seat of kings in prehistoric Ireland.  The coronation stone, called The Lia Fáil, or Stone of Destiny, was located on the hill.  The hill was the seat for 142 kings, who held lavish inaugural feasts on the hill.  Ancient Irish mythology holds that the hill was the dwelling of the gods and the portal to a world of eternal life and joy.

Archaeological evidence suggests the importance of the hill.  An Iron Age site called Ráith na Ríogh or the Fort of Kings sits at the top of the hill, enclosed by an internal ditch and external bank.  In the middle of two enclosed earthworks inside sits the Stone of Destiny, or what is believed to be the Stone of Destiny.  According to legend, the stone would scream once the would-be king completed a series of challenges.  The hill houses other archaeological sites with names like the Rath of the Synods, the Mound of Hostages, and the Sloping Trenches.

St. Patrick’s church is on the eastern side of the hilltop.  The modern church was built in 1822, but a Christian church on the hill dates to the 1190’s.  St. Patrick chose the hill specifically because of it’s symbolic and spiritual significance.   One sacred place–multiple meanings.  Somehow through the years, it becomes an excuse for college kids to drink too much.  History winds in ways none of us can ever foresee.

Happy Birthday Lawrence Welk: Here’s His Statue Near Escondido, California

Our never-ending quest to bring you the strangest statuary, the most monumental monuments, and the most enticing effigies brings us to Interstate 15 outside of Escondido, California.  This week we celebrate the birthday of Lawrence Welk, who was born March 11, 1903.  This statue stands outside the Lawrence Welk Museum.  Younger readers may not recognize the name, but for earlier generations of Americans, the name spawns a visceral reaction.  Welk was an accordionist, bandleader, and host of The Lawrence Welk Show, which ran from 1951-82.

The format of Welk’s show was the same virtually every week.  The show opened with Welk’s theme “Bubbles in the Wine” playing amid faux champagne bubbles floating through the ballroom.  Welk would then introduce the night’s theme in a heavy German accent.  The show consisted of several songs from the band and a number of skits as well.  The show featured a variety of musical numbers from the big band era through the 60’s and 70’s, but is most associated with songs from the big band era of the 1940’s.

Welk was a shrewd businessman and knew what sold to mainstream American television audiences of the 1960’s and 70’s.  His performers, which he dubbed his “musical family,” were held to an unofficial set of moral standards.  Alice Lon was famously fired for crossing her legs on a desk in 1959.  By and large, Welk gave America what it wanted, though.  Letters from fans often dictated what performers were featured and what performers saw their solo opportunities diminish.

After his death in 1992, his music earned a reputation as unequivocally un-hip.  While it is true that Welk’s “champagne music” style ostracized many contemporary jazz artists, as was the case when famed clarinetist Pete Fountain quit the band in the 1960’s.  This all-or-nothing view of Welk, however, does a disservice to a band leader whose band stayed relevant for over 30 years.  The Lawrence Welk Show launched the careers of several country acts of the 60’s and 70’s and was the first variety show to regularly feature an African-American when he hired dancer Arthur Duncan in 1964.

Welk’s band continues to perform in Branson, Missouri and the show continues to air in reruns on PBS stations throughout the United States, ensuring that, whichever way the musical wind blows, the bubbles will keep on popping.

Ancient Dog Sculpture from The Vatican

Copyright Robby Virus

These charming canines come to us courtesy of photographer Robby Virus.  Robby is a gifted urban photographer.  Some of his work will be seen in my upcoming documentary “Dixie.”  He shot this sculpture not in the urban sprawl of any U.S., though.  This shot was taken in The Vatican Museum during a trip to Rome.  More info on what Robby is doing can be found here: www.flickr.com/photos/25229906@N00/, here: www.projectpimento.com, and here: bloggingthecanon.blogspot.com/.

The Romans had a great affinity for dogs.  They kept many varieties of dogs and for many purposes.  The two most famous are perhaps the Molossian breed, an ancestor to the modern mastiff, and the hound-like Laconian (aka Spartan) breed.  The Molossian was mainly used by shepherds to protect their flocks and guard their homes.  The most famous Molossian comes from the Satyricon and was named Scylax.  Xenphon recommends Laconian (aka Spartan) hounds for hunting wild boar, citing their bravery in the face of larger animals.

The Romans imported breeds from conquered territories as well.  The Vertragus breed was “swifter than thought” according to Arrian in the Cynegeticus.  The breed was an imported hound from Celtic Britain and was most likely the ancestor to the modern greyhound.  Classical Roman art attests to a wide variety of breeds imported from conquered Britain, including, according to Claudian, dogs that “can break the backs of mighty bulls.”  These animals, which may have been Irish Wolfhounds, were a spectacle in the arena as well, matched against lions, leopards, elephants, gladiators, and slaves.

Despite being put to both utilitarian and entertainment purposes by the Romans, there is evidence to suggest dogs have been mankind’s best friend for millennia.  In the 19th Century, archeologists learned they could pour plaster into holes left by the bodies at Pompeii, the city famously suffocated by volcanic ash in 79 A.D.  The plaster impressions captured inhabitants at their moment of death.  One of the plaster casts was of a guard dog, curled and twisted just as it was the second it died, still wearing its collar.