Palmyra's Arch Of Triumph Recreated In London

[naomi24]

Mayor Boris Johnson told spectators they were gathered "in defiance of the barbarians" who destroyed the arch in the city, north-east of the Syrian capital Damascus, last year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36070721

A fine gesture, is it not? I hope it will be well-guarded while it's here.

[youngmafbog]

My suggestion would be that the secret services watch it vigilantly.

And then follow and remove those that try to destroy it as they will undoubtedly be of the ilk we do not want running freely around us.

[retrocop]

A fine gesture indeed but I find it heartbreaking that it comes as a model to remember it by. :-(

[naomi24]

Mindless, isn't it Retrocop.

[retrocop]

I am not a very emotional person but it brings tears to my eyes to think that stood since Roman times and managed to survive so long until mindless ignorant scum destroyed it in the name of a perverted religion.

[atalanta]

I visited Palmyra's ruins in their glory days, and I grieve for the place now. I do hope this "new" arch will be donated to Palmyra to replace the lost one. However, I spoke to a curator while I was there, who told me that under Palmyra were enough antiquities to fill 100 museums, which I don't doubt. I just hope that the world's archaeologists will send teams to excavate more antiquities, and set up at least one or two new museums to put them in.
And I'd like to offer the terrorists a gesture to commemorate their activities - two fingers.

[viv41]

And I reiterate that atlanta ......

[Gromit]

The Disneyfication of History and totally pointless.

Why not get Madam Tussards to litter it with waxworks of massacred Syrians to make it even more lifelike?

A complete waste of time, money and effort by all concerned.

[naomi24]

Retrocop, when this mindless destruction occurred, I was reprimanded here for having a tear in my eye, but I suspect my critic is one who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Atalanta, I can empathise with your impressions of the real thing entirely – and with your message to the perpetrators of this senseless atrocity Unfortunately the arch is just a scale replica of the original, which of course is irreplaceable.

[jno]

Gromit's right, it appears rather tacky. We do nothing to save the original but we put up a plastic-looking replica in Trafalgar Square for a couple of days. What's that all about?

[naomi24]

My critic was not Gromit - although having read what he's just written it could well have been.

[Gromit]

naomi24

Save your tear for the half a million dead Syrians.

It reminds me of the replica henge in 'Spinal Tap'.

[naomi24]

Gromit, //Save your tear for the half a million dead Syrians.//

That's what my critic said, and like you, never understanding that people who care about this world have tears enough for every tragedy and for every atrocity committed.

[Gromit]

Seems like you have more tears for lumps of stones than people.

This crappy fake in Trafalgar Square serves no purpose other than a focus for the plebs to tut tut at those uncultured Muslims.

[retrocop]

That would be the same uncultured muslims who were masters of their own destiny (fate) (kismet) who tried to big it large on the world stage,cause civil unrest, attempt to overthrow their government and got it back in spades. The same uncultured muslims who see a piece of Roman antiquity as a threat to their perverted culture.

[DTCwordfan]

Mindless destruction but then a top Syrian curator was reasonably optimistic that not too much has been destroyed, far less than first thought, and that re-build of much would be possible....probably an optimist but hey ho....who will finance it?

[naomi24]

Gromit, //Seems like you have more tears for lumps of stones than people. //

You clearly misunderstand me. I can't claim to shed tears for everyone - suicide bombers and the morons who did this for example, but as I indicated earlier, generally I'm pretty sympathetic.

//This crappy fake in Trafalgar Square serves no purpose other than a focus for the plebs to tut tut at those uncultured Muslims. //

I'm not a pleb, but nevertheless I fail to understand why this wanton destruction of something that is utterly irreplaceable should have passed without the condemnation it so richly deserves.

[Peter Pedant]

// mindless ignorant scum destroyed it in the name of a perverted religion.// retrocop

... and hadnt previously

Palmyra was 'converted' around 650 AD and they didnt pull down the existing buildings
Same for Egypt ( 650 again ) the temples had mosques built in or over them but werent destroyed

so why are they doing it 1500 y later ?

[Peter Pedant]

// //This crappy fake in Trafalgar Square serves no purpose other than a focus for the plebs to tut tut at those uncultured Muslims. //

is it a repro ? those uncultured Muslims were in fact blowing up repros, some of the time because a decent proportion of Palmyra is in museums in London Paris and Berlin
/

I think the sentiment may be correct
Why is there an Arch in Trafalgar Sq near all the museums which have preserved cultures past ?

because the original has been blown to smithereens for political/religious reasons....

[jno]

the closer you get to the arch the more tawdry it looks. It looks like something produced by a 3D printer, which I suppose is basically what it is, a sort of plastic replica. I don't know what it's actually made of but it looks plastic and it's this strange lurid yellow colour, nothing like the original or like any building stone I know of.

As an advertisement for digital archaeology - which is also what it is - it's a failure. They may have the technology to do this properly some day, but not yet.

http://digitalarchaeology.org.uk/

[Mamyalynne]

It's Egyptian Marble.