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A Life in Stone: Top 5 Stone Sculptures To Visit
Other | Thursday 5th September 2013 | Natalie
A Life in Stone: Top 5 stone sculptures to visit around the world...
The Leshan Giant Buddha
Built during the Tang Dynasty (618–907AD), The Leshan Giant Buddha is the largest stone Buddha in the world. Itt lies at the confluence of the Minjiang, Dadu and Qingyi rivers in the southern part of Sichuan province in China. The stone sculpture faces Mount Emei with rivers flowing below its feet.
The Apennine Colossus
The Apennine Colossus is one of the most fantastical features to visit whilst in the gardens of Villa Medici at Pratolio, located 7 miles north of Florence, Italy. Measuring at about 35 feet tall, the personified sculpture represents the faint line between man and landscape as the smooth skin emerges out of the rough terrain of the Apennine mountain range. The colossal sculpture evokes the figure of Atlas in Virgil’s eminent Aeneid.
Natural Rock Face
Located in the Wrangell-Petersburg Census Area, Alaska, this extraordinary stone formation looks like the very face of a human. This natural phenomenon is a must-see – nature is magical right?
Mano de Desierto
The Mano de Desierto sculpture is located in the Atacama Desert in Chile. The Chilean sculptor Mario Irarrázabal skilfully constructed this very sculpture. It stands at an altitude of 1,100 meters above sea level. Irarrázaba symbolically used the human figure in order to express emotions like inequality, isolation, sorrow and torture. It is believed that Irarrázaba deliberately used an exaggerated scale to accentuate human vulnerability and helplessness
Moai
Moai are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people from rock on the Chilean Polynesian Island of Easter Island between the years 1250 and 1500. Almost all Moai have overly large heads three-eighths the size of the whole statue. The Moai emblematically stand on the island as the living faces of deified ancestors.
Natalie Blow
