14 Most Bizarre Monuments
- 6 years ago
From a weird golden fire hydrant to the Cosmonaut Grove here are 15 of the worlds most bizarre monuments ever made. \r
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6. B-52 Wreckage\r
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A harsh reminder of the brutal U.S. bombing campaign lies in the residential Ba Dinh district of Hanoi in Vietnam. Specifically, it commemorates the Christmas Bombing, a campaign of bombings carried out by Americans from December 18th to 29th 1972 intended to force the North Vietnamese leaders to sign a peace agreement. 1,318 civilians were killed as a result. In retaliation, the North Vietnamese forces launched over 1,200 missiles and shot down 15 B-52 bombers. Like many of the worlds most important monuments, this serves as a reminder of the darker sides of humanity and humanitys ability to destroy itself. \r
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5. Cosmonaut Grove\r
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This grove of trees lies behind the Cosmonaut Hotel in Kazakhstan and is part of a great tradition amongst Russian cosmonauts. The tradition started with the Soviet space program and Yuri Gagarin, whose tree stands the tallest today. Cosmonauts plant a tree shortly before departing on a voyage into space. The price also included cosmonauts walking down the grove to remember those who came before them. While astronauts of the past may not be alive, today their trees will remain and flourish in the forest for hundreds of years. \r
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4. The Golden Fire Hydrant\r
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Every April 18 this fire hydrant is given a fresh coat of gold paint to honor its service to the city of San Francisco and the Mission District during the Great Fire of 1906. When much of the city went up in flames following a huge earthquake the majority of water mains were broken, dooming many areas of San Francisco to be destroyed by the fire. This hydrant miraculously remained functioning and was the only one in the area to do so. Without this hydrant, people speculate that the Mission district would have burned to the ground. Oddly someone accidentally painted the hydrant silver in new, a mistake that was quickly corrected. \r
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3. Canberra Skywhale\r
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Canberra is a unique city to Australia in the same way Washington D.C. is to the United States. Both are the capitals of their respective countries, and each are entirely planned cities independent of a state. Canberra found a unique way to celebrate their 100 year anniversary when they unveiled this interesting hot air balloon in May of new. Feedback of the aircraft, which cost $170,000 and took 16 people seven months to create, was mixed. A lot of people feel that the total budget of the project, which including operating costs will be over $300,000 is extravagant for the results. The balloon can carry a pilot and two passengers as high as 3,000 feet. Artist Patricia Piccinini, one of Australias most successful sculptors, created the Skywhale. She grew up in Canberra and felt that it made a lot of sense to create a massive, artificial and natural-looking creature for a planned city that blends in with its natural environment.\r
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2. Old Bet\r
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In the early 1800s farmer and livestock trader Hachaliah (heck-a-LIE-uh) Bailey, a distant relative of James Bailey from Barnum and Bailey purchased Old Bet, an elephant at an auction. Bailey took Bet back to his farm in Somers, New York and quickly realized that he could make money off of her as an attrion. The pair began traveling throughout New England. In the summer of 1816 while on tour Bet was murdered by sawmill operator Daniel Davis. Davis shot the defenseless elephant twice, and she died on the side of the road. Old Bets memorial sits on the Elephant Hotel in Somers. People believe that Bet is one of the first elephants to come to America, though exly how she ended up in the states is a subject of debate. \r
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1. City\r
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Artist Michael Heizer, a pioneer of earth art, is almost done completing his lifes work in the middle of the Nevada desert, and its epic. City is over a mile long and is inspired by ancient ritual cities. The remarkable work is made from rocks, sand, and concrete that were mined and mixed on location. Heizer has been working on the piece since 1972, and its set to be open to the public in 2020. The land surrounding the project was under consideration to be part of a proposed repository at Yucca Mountain. Senator Harry Reid, an advocate for public lands, became infatuated with Heizers vision and made sure this didnt happen. At Reids urging President Obama declared 740,000 acres surrounding City a national monument, protecting the area from development as long as the United States is a country. The monument is built to outlast humanity. The artist explains that future societies will realize that wrecking City will take more trouble than its worth.
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6. B-52 Wreckage\r
\r
A harsh reminder of the brutal U.S. bombing campaign lies in the residential Ba Dinh district of Hanoi in Vietnam. Specifically, it commemorates the Christmas Bombing, a campaign of bombings carried out by Americans from December 18th to 29th 1972 intended to force the North Vietnamese leaders to sign a peace agreement. 1,318 civilians were killed as a result. In retaliation, the North Vietnamese forces launched over 1,200 missiles and shot down 15 B-52 bombers. Like many of the worlds most important monuments, this serves as a reminder of the darker sides of humanity and humanitys ability to destroy itself. \r
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5. Cosmonaut Grove\r
\r
This grove of trees lies behind the Cosmonaut Hotel in Kazakhstan and is part of a great tradition amongst Russian cosmonauts. The tradition started with the Soviet space program and Yuri Gagarin, whose tree stands the tallest today. Cosmonauts plant a tree shortly before departing on a voyage into space. The price also included cosmonauts walking down the grove to remember those who came before them. While astronauts of the past may not be alive, today their trees will remain and flourish in the forest for hundreds of years. \r
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4. The Golden Fire Hydrant\r
\r
Every April 18 this fire hydrant is given a fresh coat of gold paint to honor its service to the city of San Francisco and the Mission District during the Great Fire of 1906. When much of the city went up in flames following a huge earthquake the majority of water mains were broken, dooming many areas of San Francisco to be destroyed by the fire. This hydrant miraculously remained functioning and was the only one in the area to do so. Without this hydrant, people speculate that the Mission district would have burned to the ground. Oddly someone accidentally painted the hydrant silver in new, a mistake that was quickly corrected. \r
\r
3. Canberra Skywhale\r
\r
Canberra is a unique city to Australia in the same way Washington D.C. is to the United States. Both are the capitals of their respective countries, and each are entirely planned cities independent of a state. Canberra found a unique way to celebrate their 100 year anniversary when they unveiled this interesting hot air balloon in May of new. Feedback of the aircraft, which cost $170,000 and took 16 people seven months to create, was mixed. A lot of people feel that the total budget of the project, which including operating costs will be over $300,000 is extravagant for the results. The balloon can carry a pilot and two passengers as high as 3,000 feet. Artist Patricia Piccinini, one of Australias most successful sculptors, created the Skywhale. She grew up in Canberra and felt that it made a lot of sense to create a massive, artificial and natural-looking creature for a planned city that blends in with its natural environment.\r
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2. Old Bet\r
\r
In the early 1800s farmer and livestock trader Hachaliah (heck-a-LIE-uh) Bailey, a distant relative of James Bailey from Barnum and Bailey purchased Old Bet, an elephant at an auction. Bailey took Bet back to his farm in Somers, New York and quickly realized that he could make money off of her as an attrion. The pair began traveling throughout New England. In the summer of 1816 while on tour Bet was murdered by sawmill operator Daniel Davis. Davis shot the defenseless elephant twice, and she died on the side of the road. Old Bets memorial sits on the Elephant Hotel in Somers. People believe that Bet is one of the first elephants to come to America, though exly how she ended up in the states is a subject of debate. \r
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1. City\r
\r
Artist Michael Heizer, a pioneer of earth art, is almost done completing his lifes work in the middle of the Nevada desert, and its epic. City is over a mile long and is inspired by ancient ritual cities. The remarkable work is made from rocks, sand, and concrete that were mined and mixed on location. Heizer has been working on the piece since 1972, and its set to be open to the public in 2020. The land surrounding the project was under consideration to be part of a proposed repository at Yucca Mountain. Senator Harry Reid, an advocate for public lands, became infatuated with Heizers vision and made sure this didnt happen. At Reids urging President Obama declared 740,000 acres surrounding City a national monument, protecting the area from development as long as the United States is a country. The monument is built to outlast humanity. The artist explains that future societies will realize that wrecking City will take more trouble than its worth.