A Place Called Vietnam

When you mention the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial in Washington, D.C., most people think of the Wall. There was a lot of controversy concerning that memorial, so let me state that while I’m not showing it here, it is not because I dislike it. The Wall is powerful. But I’ve always been drawn to more literal depictions of things, rather than abstracts, so I wanted to take a moment to look at a second portion of the memorial – the statues of the three solders that stand near the etched roll of names.

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An eternal guard

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Boyd Wordless Wednesday

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Tomb sculptures wordless Wednesday

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Mourner statues

In further evidence that I can find funerary monuments anywhere, I took a number of photos of mourner statues at the Cleveland Museum of Art. This statue is from the tomb of Philip the Bold, the Duke of Burgundy. The statue is about 600 years old, dating to the first decade of the 15th century. And those of you who know my other passion for prayer beads, he’s also holding a set of prayer beads.

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Seeing stars

Other cemetery bloggers I read have noted the presence of five-pointed stars protruding from the foreheads of angel statues in cemeteries. I haven’t found as many as others have found, but these two examples are in Spring Grove Cemetery.

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A lovely place to spend forever

I’m not sure that I have any words that could illuminate more than this sculpture and its placement. It was recently installed – it definitely was not there this time last year, and it absolutely took my breath away.

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Beneath my feet and enigmatic face…

I don’t know any more about this monument than what is engraved on the stone. Davis Lawler erected it in memory of his parents – why a Sphinx made an appropriate monument to them, I don’t know. But then, that’s kind of appropriate, isn’t it?

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Green with…oxidation?

If you walk around enough cemeteries, you’ll notice that many statues and monuments have metal that has taken on a distinctive blue-green hue, just like the Statue of Liberty. If you’re like me, you learned about why this happens in some middle school science class and then promptly forgot. So if you already know this answer, you can skip the rest of this paragraph and just look at the pretty pictures. But for those of you who pushed out this science knowledge to have more room to remember the names of all the Muppets and the entire script of The Princess Bride, stay with me. The metal monuments and statues and plaques that go green because the alloys they are made of contain copper. When copper is exposed to water, it oxidizes and forms a layer that actually protects the metal underneath from degrading further. The patina and color are called verdigris.

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Our Angel Baby

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