Hello fellow Borians! Recently I've had monuments on my mind and I felt like opening a discussion of them here. This is probably not going to be everyone's cup of tea so if you don't want to type a lot of shit about big man-made structures, then kindly excuse yourself from the thread
Now let's get to question at hand. What do you consider your favorite monument(s)? Why are they your favorite? If it's not too much trouble, try to provide pictures of your choice and feel free to add historical trivia if that suits your fancy. I'll go first.
It's likely that my most beloved monument is
La Liberté éclairant le monde (lit.
Liberty Enlightening the World), or
The Statue of Liberty.
I am utterly transfixed by the beauty of this marvelous statue. Many of you likely know that it was a gift to us from the people of France, designed by one Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi. What you might not know is that at the time, support for the building of this statue was not overwhelming in the media
or the government. At one point during its development, funding was crowd-sourced to finish the pedestal and yielded over 100,000 donations, many of which were less than a dollar. I'm supremely thankful that the statue was finished and still stands tall today, as its allegorical nature, symbolic origins, and labored construction combine into one of the few remaining American icons that sincerely inspires patriotic feelings in me.
Sadly, I haven't yet seen it in person (so ashamed :'() but I vow to do so sometime in the very near future. I could probably write more about the history of the statue, like how it ended up on an island in the middle of the New York bay, or the beautifully poetic tribute to the colossus from Emma Lazarus that continues to be quoted over 125 years later, but really I'd rather let these images tell the story
Your turn!
