Category Archives: Sculpture Saturday – Silent Sunday

Photos showing sculptures in all media and photos depicting silence anywhere in the world.

Sculpture Saturday: Basel

Linked to Mind Over Memory who hosts this challenge.

It was just a few hours stopover in Basel – a town in which I hope to spend more time on my next trip to Switzerland. Neat, tidy, like all Swiss towns yet with a quirkiness that is all its own. I particularly remember some very lovely small shops and even in the short time I spent there I managed to pick up some interesting souvenirs.

Then I looked up and saw it.

The building is called the Rosshof and the sculptor of this work is Hubertus von der Goltz. I knew nothing about him until I saw this work but since then I’ve enjoyed seeing his installations and his work online. His website is worth a visit.

Sculpture Saturday in Pézenas

Hosted at https://nofixedplans5.wordpress.com/2020/11/14/sculpture-.saturday-9/

Statue to the 17th century French playwright Moliėre by Jean-Antoine Injalbert

This statue to the great French playwright Moliėre, one of the great comic-writers of all time and described by Stendahl as “Molière, the great painter of man”, is to be found in the town of Pézenas in the Langudoc-Rousillon area of France, where he lived for many years. He had an acting troupe which worked in both Paris and Pézenas and had as patron, the brother of the King, the Duke of Orleans.

He led an extraordinary life and his death became legend; he died on stage, while performing his final play, Le Malade Imaginaire, or rather, he collapsed on stage, and died a few hours later at his home. At that time, the Catholic church in France condemned the theatre as a school for scandal, held all actors to be ipso facto excommunicated, and forbade their burial in consecrated ground – which included every cemetery in Paris. Two priests refused to visit him to administer the sacraments and the third arrived too late.

The white marble statue was sculpted by Jean-Antoine Injalbert in 1897 and it shows the maid Lucette from Moliere’s play Monsieur de Pourceaugnac paying tribute to the master playwright with a goat-footed satyr representing Satire sitting at the bottom of the statue. Masks of the actors Coquelin Cadet and Jeanne Ludwig are on the back of the monument

Moliėre

In 1792 his remains were brought to the Museum of French monuments and in 1817 transferred to Le Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris.

Further challenges over at https://nofixedplans5.wordpress.com/2020/11/14/sculpture-.saturday-9/ 

Silent Sunday in Crete

The Oldest Byzantine Church in Crete

It definitely was a silent Sunday when we came across this deserted Byzantine church which we later found to be the oldest in Crete. Overgrown with grasses and weeds, it still has charm and I remember well the smell of the herbs underfoot as we explored the near-ruined building.

Silent Sunday on the Gota Canal

The Göta Canal which links Sweden’s two cities Stockholm and Gothenburg, runs through the heart of Sweden. A one-way trip on one of the historic ships that plies the route takes 6 days; it is like a journey into another world.

Cruising through archipelagos with thousands of small islands, one river, eight lakes, two seas and three canals with 66 locks (in one case ascending 91 metres) the ship makes several stops at places of interest along the way.

The ships used were built between 1874 and 1831 and are considered historically important. Furnished in a period style there is neither radio nor TV on board any of the ships, and the use of mobile phones is discouraged. Between 40-50 guests are accommodated in small cabins about the size of a sleeping compartment on a train with bunk beds and a wash basin with hot ad cold water. Communal showers only, I’m afraid, but the food makes up for it.

Fresh lake fish every day, game from the forest, the freshest of vegetables and saladings, lots of the berries for which Scandinavia is famous and of course that marvellous coffee and cake.

This journey along one of the world’s great canals is an experience like no other but is only available during the summer months. And in those cabins you really get to experience what travelling was like in the 19th century on board these ships that carried immigrants from rural Sweden out to America.

The 190 kilometres of the Göta Canal were dug out by hand between 1810 and 1832 and it runs from Sjötorp in the west to Mem in the east, it is three metres deep and approximately 14 metres wide.

Sculpture Saturday: Budapest

Challenge hosted by Sally Kelly over at Ruined for Life: Phoenix Edition.

Heroes’ Square, Budapest

Designed in 1896 to mark the 1000th Anniversary of the Magyar conquest of the Carpathian Basin, Heroes’ Square (a name given to it in 1932) was designed in 1896 for the celebration of the Millennium of Hungary. The 36-m high column, topped by the Archangel Gabriel holding the Hungarian crown and cross, dominates the square. Around the base of the column are sculptures of Magyar chieftains from the 9th century mounted on horses. The colonnades that run behind the column hold 14 statues of earlier rulers and statesmen from King Stephen to Lajos Kossuth.

Base of Millennium Column in Heroes’ Square, Budapest
Magyar Chiefs at base of Millennium column, Budapest

SILENT SUNDAY: KHAO SOK NATIONAL PARK, THAILAND.

Only the Singing Bamboos

It actually was a Sunday and the silence was all enveloping, as was the humidity. I had to turn back after half an hour as I couldn’t cope with the perspiration dripping into my eyes, the mozzies, the dampness all around me and the general feeling of too much growth and things rotting. It was a weekend party with some Thai friends but let’s face it, I’m just not cut out for roughing it in the jungle and being uncomfortable.

Sculpture Saturday

Sculpture Saturday is hosted by Mind Over Memory

As my sculpture of Dionysus uploaded a couple of few weeks ago only showed part of the work I thought I’d add a few more pictures to show the whole carving.  It shows some members if the family of Bacchus.

Father: Zeus (supposedly the face of Robert Stigwood who commissioned the piece).

The God Zeus - Father of Dionysus

Wife Aphrodite

Dionysis & wife

Some of the symbols of Dionysus are also found in the sculpture.  

  • The Grapes and Goblet:   The symbol of the Grapes and Goblet relate to his role as the god of wine. He taught mortals how to plant and tend the grapevine, press the juice and make it into wine.

  • The ram signifies more the decadent side of Dionysus and is more often associated with the Roman version of the myth in which Dionysus is called Bacchus.

  • Ivy:  Ivy or holly vines were a symbol of immortality and decadent indulgence, Dionysus was often depicted wearing this type of wreath which was associated with merry making and celebrations

The finished tree
The Finished Work, located at Barton Manor, Isle of Wight

Link to Mind Over Memory to add Post.

Sculpture Saturday

Prior to taking a tour through the Vienna Woods I took a walk in the Stadt Park which is full of statues to musicians. Pride of place, of course, goes to the favourite son, Johann Strauss.

Link to Mind Over Memory who hosts this challenge.