h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

FWR:

Lovely shot of village life. The tones and patterns of the brickwork are gorgeous. The warning sign adds to the gentle, olde-worlde feeling in this shot.

DG:

Y'all are used to this sort of thing, but to an outsider, the big, tall thingie in the middle of all those low buildings makes for a super contrast! The textures of all the materials makes the photo look rich. And then there's that sign...

Public squares benefit form having focal points, whether you use a church steeple, a tall Christmas tree, or an important municipal building. An Obelisk will do the trick. I just wonder why an ancient Egyptian structure dedicated to the sun god would win out over other possibilities?

Follies!

It has a lot to do with the way 18th-century Europe fell in love with the picturesqueness of ruins...and the Napoleonic wars, and colonialism, and rediscovering the antique world...it's a really loooong subject...

Thank you fr introducing it, Dmitri.

I sometimes forget about the Age of Reason's fascination with the ancient world. Of course, some of the notions that people came up with would hardly seem reasonable to us. Egyptian mummies were wildly popular throughout the 19th century. Even the mummified cats and other animals were prized. People would imagine all sorts of medical cures to be had from boiling the mummies' bandages .

I hadn't read much about the fascination with obelisks, though. I know that there are famous obelisks in Washington, D.C. and New York. Maybe I have a blind spot where purely decorative objects are concerned. I love tall structures when they seem to be there for helping people tell what time it is (many church steeples have clocks), or spot the enemies coming from a long distance (watchtowers), or intelligent placement of church bells so that the sound will carry as far as possible. Some bell towers have become quite famous, like that one in Pisa. Even the Eiffel Tower serves a purpose: you can go to the top and look out over Paris. What could be cooler than that?

I am really fond of the Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
http//www.pilgrim-monument.org/

Even on a foggy day, you could put it to use as an exercise station (there are 116 steps)

Give me an obelisk that can be climbed, and I will be okay with it.

I remember passing this particular obelisk. Mainly due to the restaurant at the square, where they wanted to serve your dessert as soon as you finished your main course, even if everyone else at the same table was still eating. Weird...

Maybe that problem could be solved by eating dessert first?