Hello folks! This is just a quick note to followers of this blog. Monumental Photography is moving to kelleysomnibus.wordpress.com. This is a way to consolidate and organize all of the history blogs I use. The new blog can also be found at http://www.ryankelley.net, where you can find out more about my documentary films and writing. I will begin posting great photos of monuments from around the world twice a month beginning very shortly. Thanks for following. I look forward to continuing our conversations in the future.
Author: kelleysomnibus
Bannister and Landy: The Miracle Mile
Copyright Don Janus
Yesterday, May 6, marked the 60th anniversary of the first sub four-minute mile in recorded history. British runner Roger Bannister set the record in 1954, during a meet between the British Amateur Athletics Association and Oxford University at Iffley Road track in Oxford. Bannister set a British record in the 1500 meters at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki. He finished a disappointing fourth at those games and briefly considered retiring from running. It was then that he decided to become the first man to run a sub four-minute mile.
The four-minute mark loomed large in the minds of distance runners in the period following World War II. Up until that point, the world record had been broken fairly consistently. The disruption in training caused by the war, however, left Gunder Hägg of Sweden as the record holder from July 17, 1945 onward. Bannister was not the only man with a legitimate shot at breaking the four-minute barrier. Australian John Landy and American Wes Santee both recorded times of 4:02 in 1953. In fact, Landy broke Bannister’s record in June 1954 with a time of 3:57:9. This week’s monument, photographed by Don Janus, encapsulates the rivalry between Landy and Bannister. Specifically, it pays homage to the Aug. 7, 1954 race between the two men during the British Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, Canada. It was the first mile race where two runners finished in under four minutes. It was also the only time the two men raced against each other. Bannister, lagging behind, used a burst of speed during the last 90 yards to win the race. The sculpture depicts the moment Bannister, on the left, passed Landy as Landy looked over the wrong shoulder for his competitor.
The bronze statue was created by Jack Harman, based on a photograph by Vancouver Sun photographer Charlie Warner. The statue was created in 1967 and stood in front of Empire Stadium, site of the race, until the stadium was demolished in 1993. It now stands at the Pacific National Exhibition, an area in Vancouver that hosts a 17-day summer fair annually. Upon seeing the sculpture, Landy joked: “While Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt for looking back, I am probably the only one ever turned into bronze for looking back.”
Bannister, 85, and Landy, 84, have both gone on to do much outside of the sports realm. After breaking the world record, Bannister had a distinguished 40-year career as a neurologist. He was knighted in 1975. Landy, a noted naturalist, has written two books on natural history and was a distinguished public speaker for many years. In 2001, he was appointed Governor of Victoria, Australia, serving until 2006.
The world record in the mile continued to fall three or four times a decade until July 7, 1999, when Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco set the mark at 3:43:13. After nearly 15 years, that mark has yet to be broken.
The Fate of Offensive Georgia Statue Hangs in the Balance
Copyright Peter Radunzel
What do you do with a memorial to someone you don’t want to memorialize anymore? If recent military history is any indication, you topple the monuments to the old ways as soon as possible. What happens when the revolution is one of the mind? What happens when the hearts and minds of a country change, rendering the ideals and values a memorial stands for obsolete? In the case of Thomas E. Watson, photographed here at the Georgia State Capitol, your statue gets moved.
Watson was a Georgia politician, first elected to the state legislature in 1882 at the tender age of 26. The young Watson proved to be an idealistic champion of reform, fighting unsuccessfully against the corruption rampant among railroad companies in the state. In 1890, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat. His crowning achievement during his time in Congress was authoring the bill that made Rural Free Delivery a reality. RFD created the system of roadside mailbox delivery from the U.S. Post Office still used today. prior to that time, residents of rural communities had to collect mail in the nearest town. Watson soon threw his allegiance to The Populist Party, a short-lived third party collection of reformers hostile to a national bank, railroads, and wealthy elites. In 1896, he was the Populist Party’s candidate for Vice-President, receiving 217,000 votes.
After his time in Congress, Watson began a lucrative career newspaper publisher. As his personal wealth grew, his political views began to shift. Gone were his agrarian and socialist sympathies. He was still the Populist Party standard-bearer, however, being nominated by the party for President in both 1900 and 1904. His views became increasingly anti-Catholic, even going so far as to call for the re-creation of the Ku Klux Klan. In 1913, Watson advocated the lynching of convicted Jewish-American factory superintended Leo Frank for the murder of a 13-year-old female factory worker named Mary Phagan. When prominent citizens of Marietta, Georgia did just that in 1915, Watson lauded the act in the pages of his newspaper.
Watson died in 1922 at the age of 66. Ten years later, a statue was dedicated to him near the entrance to the Georgia State Capitol. According to news reports of the time, thousands were on hand to see the unveiling of the statue. The likeness stood there, fist defiantly raised, for 83-years. The statue was moved in November 2013 after a prolonged effort on the part of activists to have the statue taken down. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R), said the move was done for safety reasons while repairs were being made to the steps of the Capitol. Removal of the statue was done when state offices were closed as part of the state’s late observance of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s birthday.
The odyssey of Watson’s statue does not seem to be quite over, though. The statue was moved across the street from the Capitol to Talmadge Plaza Park. The park’s prominent location in downtown Atlanta has left some residents and activists calling for the statue to be boxed or destroyed outright. Where Watson will end up is anybody’s guess.
The Perils of Primavera
Copyright Ben Rimmer
Florence was the first city of the Renaissance. It was from the heart of that city that the flowering of arts and literature took shape and spread throughout Europe. It is the city where Leonard da Vinci and Michelangelo did some of their best work. It is no surprise, then, that art is built into the very foundations of the city. Such is the case with the Ponte Santa Trinita and the four statues of the seasons that have watched over it since 1608. One of these statues, pictured above in a photo by Ben Rimmer, was Primavera, or Spring by Pietro Francavilla. Summer and Autumn were created by Giovanni Caccini and Winter by Taddeo Landini. The sculptures have lived a perilous existence, due in part to the location of the Ponte Santa Trinita itself.
The Ponte Santa Trinita, Italian for “Holy Trinity Bridge,” spans the Arno river and was built in 1567. The bridge is itself is a work of art, involving three flattened ellipses and making it the oldest elliptical bridge in the world. The four statues were commissioned to celebrate the Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo II de’ Medici’s wedding to Maria Magdalena of Austria. World War II proved almost lethal to the four statues. In August 1944, Allied forces pressed deeper into Italy. As the Germany army retreated, four of the five bridges spanning the Arno were destroyed. Only the Ponte Vecchio was spared. Art critic Emilio Lavagnini said the destruction of Ponte Santa Trinita was the most important piece of architecture destroyed by the war in Italy.
Restoring the bridge and the damaged statues took years after the close of the war in 1945. Piece after piece of the bridge and statues were dredged from the river. Architect Riccardo Gizdulich studied had handmade chisels produced to construct the bridge in much the same way Bartolomeo Ammanati had constructed it in 1569. Stone from the same quarry was used to piece the bridge together. Art historian Bernard Berenson raised money abroad for the construction, though the bulk of the project was paid for by the Italian government. Primavera was headless for many years. It was rumored that an American GI had stolen it. It was not until 1961 that her head was found in the Arno and put back in its rightful place. Let’s hope she keeps it for at least another 400 years.
The Myth of Abner Doubleday and Baseball
Copyright Scott Nelson
Baseball season is in full swing here in the United States, despite the chilly weather we’re still seeing in the northeast. This week, we celebrate that great American tradition by paying homage to Abner Doubleday. For many years, Abner Doubleday was considered the inventor of baseball. That story is pure legend. The truth of his life, however, is much more interesting.
Doubleday eventually found himself on administrative duty in Washington. He was a staunch supporter of Abraham Lincoln and rode with him on the train to Gettysburg, where Lincoln delivered The Gettysburg Address, one of the key speeches in American history. After the war, Doubleday commanded troops in Texas and San Francisco, where he eventually became president of the American Theosophical Society, whose members included Thomas Edison. He spent much time writing, eventually penning two major works on the Civil War.
Doubleday’s connection to baseball comes from a 1907 report claiming Doubleday invented the sport in a cow pasture in Cooperstown, New York in 1839. In the years leading up to the report, a vicious debate raged in the United States on the origins of baseball. Had baseball been invented in the United States or was it a variation on a British game called rounders? National League president Abraham G. Mills and Chicago Cubs president Albert Spalding certainly didn’t want to believe the game was British. Sportswriter Henry Chadwick, a native of Britain, believed the game had indeed evolved from rounders. He outlined similarities between the two games in a 1903 article. A commission was formed to research the truth–a committee of men handpicked by Spalding.
Enter Abner Graves, an engineer told the Akron Beacon Journal in 1905 that Doubleday had invented the game. Graves said he saw Doubleday diagram the game of a baseball field. Spalding wrote to Graves asking for proof. Graves told Spalding that no copies of the diagram survived and that almost all of the players were dead. He did, however, send Spalding a diagram he claimed looked just like the one Doubelday had drawn up. That was enough for Spalding, the 1907 report by Mills gave Doubleday–and America–credit for inventing the game.
There are some problems with that version of history. Doubleday wasn’t in Cooperstown at all during 1839. He was a cadet at West Point–a first year cadet, to be exact, one who would have rarely been given leave. Doubleday left a prodigious body of written work, with only one mention of baseball–in 1871. Graves, if he did see the diagram, would have been five in 1839. Graves was also committed to an insane asylum as an old man. Mills’ bias was obvious, too. Remember the Theosophical Society? Mills donated money to the organization.
Despite evidence to the contrary, the myth is resoundingly resilient. The National Baseball Hall of Fame was built in Cooperstown, New York in 1939, site of Doubleday’s mythical first game. In 2010, Tim Arango of the New York Times revealed that Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig had written a letter, satating: “I really believe that Abner Doubleday is the ‘Father of Baseball’.” History is forgotten, but myth dies hard…especially when there is money to be made.
This week’s statue was photographed by Abner Doubleday’s 5th great-grand nephew, Scott Nelson. The statue stands on Reynolds Avenue. The statue stands nine feet tall on an eleven foot tall granite base. The sculptor was John Massey Rhind. It was dedicated on September 25, 1917 by the State of New York.
Grover Cleveland at Buffalo, New York City Hall
Copyright Brady Carlson
American history classes were once rife with presidential errata. In my school days, presidential trivia was the bedrock of learning about the American experience. Some of the first bits of knowledge generations of American school children learned concerned presidents. These bits and pieces of presidential lives loom large in American history: Washington’s cherry tree, Lincoln’s fence rail, and Roosevelt’s big stick are all touchstones for students of American history.
In the course of human affairs, though, some presidents get lost in the shuffle. One of the eras that seems to burst with forgettable presidents is the late 19th Century. We at Monumental Photography refer to these men as The Muttonchop Presidents. The Muttonchop Era began March 4, 1877 with the inauguration of Rutherford B. Hayes and ended March 4, 1897 with the inaugural of the clean-shaven William McKinley. In between, the U.S. was led by Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, and Grover Cleveland (again). Arthur was the only one to have true muttonchops, but all men represent a period when facial hair was the norm for the U.S. President. The prior two presidents, Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant, were the first two presidents to wear beards. They, however, are not include on the list of forgettable presidents–freeing millions of humans from bondage and winning the American Civil War tends to make a man stand out in a crowd. The Muttonchop Presidents were remarkable men in their own right, however, even if they do get lost in a sea of Gilded Age grooming habits.
This week, we look at Grover Cleveland in front of City Hall in Buffalo, New York, courtesy of photographer Brady Carlson. Cleveland holds the distinction of being the only U.S. President to be elected to two non-consecutive terms, which makes him both the 22nd and 24th President of the United States. Cleveland was elected president in 1884 and 1892. In between those elections, he was defeated by Rutherford B. Hayes. Opponents of the Electoral College take note: despite losing the electoral vote, Cleveland received 48.6 percent of all votes, while Harrison had just 47.8. So, the winner was the loser–or the loser was the winner, depending on your point of view. It was the third time in U.S. history that had happened. It would not happen again until 2000, when George W. Bush defeated Al Gore.
Cleveland was a shrewd politician and a conservative icon in the days before Fox News. he was pro-business, fiscally conservative, and a champion of political reform. He took on–and defeated–the boss politics and patronage systems running rampant both in his home state of New York and nationally as chief executive. His crusade for reform as Mayor of Buffalo and, later, as Governor of New York was so popular that an entire wing of the Republican Party threw their support to Cleveland in the 1884 election. This group was given one of the greatest nicknames in U.S. political history, the Mugwumps.
The statue pictured was one of two by sculptor Bryant Baker at the dedication of Buffalo’s new City Hall in 1932. The other statue is of Buffalo native and forgettable 13th President Millard Fillmore. Cleveland’s statue is a bronze statue on an engraved polished granite base. On the rear of the base is inscribed: “I have tried so hard to do right.”
A guy named Grover with great facial hair whose followers were called Mugwumps–it sounds like the makings of a great alt-country act. This guy should have much more cred with the hipsters. Long live the Muttonchop Presidents!
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.
Lenin Statue in Kiev, Ukraine
Today we have a statue of a forward-looking Vladimir Lenin by U.K. photographer Stacey Raven. Raven, whose work can be seen at www.staceyravenphotography.co.uk, took the photo during a much more peaceful time for Kiev and the Ukrainian people.
The people of Ukraine have had a monumental week. Violent protests against the government last week led to the deaths of an estimated 77 people as police used live ammunition to quell the protests. Protests initially broke out in November when Ukranian President Viktor Yanukovych rejected an accord with the European Union. Protesters wanted closer ties with the western world, while Yanukovych’s government drew closer to Russia and the east.
Last week’s events led to the Ukranian parliament ousting Yanukovych, the release of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko from prison, and the looming threat that Ukraine could break in two along east-west lines. In many ways, Ukraine is in-between two worlds: a European country that was once part of the Soviet Union.
One of the most potent symbols of the influence of old-school Soviet politics on the country was the statue of Vladimir Lenin, Marxist revolutionary and first Premier of the Soviet Union. Statues to Lenin were ubiquitous in the Soviet Union, and many statues still exist. According to The Daily Mail, over 100 monuments to the leader have been toppled as of this writing. This particular Lenin became a so-called “reclining Lenin” on December 8 of last year. He also lost his head. Better monuments losing their heads than people, I suppose.
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