Wednesday, January 29, 2014

The fallen

Last week a giant model of an eagle by Weta joined a long history of sculptures toppled by earthquakes. It was probably kicked off around 226 BC when a quake did for one of the Seven Wonders of the World - the 30 meter tall mega bronze statue known as the Colossus of Rhodes.. We've already covered some of the Christchurch tumblings but the Weta effort did prompt us to look at other quakes that have brought art down off its pedestal.

Images: Top, the Weta Eagle grounded by last week’s Wellington quake. Following left to right the Colossus of Rhodes post 226 BC (reconstruction), the statue of Louis Agassiz at Stanford University following the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, LACMA’s Vishnu sculpture after the 1994  Northridge earthquake, fallen statue following the 2010 Chile Earthquake, a Buddha post the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake, a statue damaged in the Washington National Cathedral after an earthquake in August 2011, John Robert Godley after Christchurch’s February 2011 quake and Peter Robinson suffers a minor slump during the 2013 quake in Wellington