Monuments exist as a testament to the greatness/significance of whatever event or person they are commemorating. Because while human
memory might fail and books might deteriorate, solid granite or marble
will survive for centuries to tell tales of all the important things
past. The following monuments however are nothing like that and seem to
exist solely for the sake of being weird.
1. Mimizuka (Kyoto, Japan)
When you travel abroad it’s only natural to want to bring back some souvenirs with you, like a snow globe or a keychain perhaps? But if you were a 16th century Japanese warrior in Korea, away from your country fighting a bloody war, you wouldn’t care about such trifle things. Snow globes that is. You still would want some souvenirs of course, like maybe Korean noses and ears to show off to the family.
A few centuries ago, facial body parts
were a popular war trophy in Japan, and during one of the country’s many
invasions of the Asian mainland (from 1592 to 1598) the samurai
gathered ears and noses from over 38,000 killed Koreans and enshrined
them in Kyoto for reasons most likely connected with their rampaging
insanity. Today that is Mimizuka – literally translating to “Ear Mound” –
a monument commemorating Japan’s invasion of Korea, built around a
piece of dirt covering a bunch of ears from murdered foreign civilians.
Didn’t these guys ever see “Poltergeist”? Nothing good will come out of this…2. Underwater Sculpture Park (Grenada)
Every monument is a statement. It might
be something about equality and freedom, as represented by, say, the
Statue of Liberty, or it could be a statement of the country’s weird ear
fetish, like with Mimizuka. Whatever the case may be, it’s always a
good idea to display your monument openly, so your message can reach the
most people.
Sculptor Jason de Caires Taylor however
had a different idea about this and set himself up as the world’s first
underwater artist. His works can be found at the bottom of Moliniere Bay
in Grenada, consisting of dozens of statues built on land and submerged
in the area on May 2006. Taylor’s underwater monuments supposedly
highlight ecological processes and themselves act as an artificial reef
for the local marine life.
The statues are located in the shallow
parts of the Moliniere Bay and are easily accessible to scuba divers,
people with glass bottom boats and mermaids.
3. The Chinese Penis (Changchun, China)
Who would have thought that the world’s
largest penis would come from China of all places? Well it does, and it
measures a walloping 30 feet in erect form, standing proudly in the
middle of Longwan Shaman Amusement Park, in Changchun.
Before you get any ideas, this is a
penis monument we’re talking about here. The Chinese, in the most
obvious case of overcompensating for something, actually built a massive
steel and straw penis totem, named The Sky Pillar, in memory of the
shaman Ewenki, an important figure in Chinese shamanistic mysticism. The
Sky Pillar is supposedly symbolizing the Chinese’s pursuit of happiness
and prosperity, proving that the East and the West have two vastly
different ideas of happiness.
A few tourists have protested the Straw
Penis but the majority seemed to not mind it, even if the monument does
stand in the middle of a park visited mostly by children. But hey, if
the local government won’t step in to flash your children, then who
will?
4. The Tikrit Bush Shoe
In December 2008, President Bush decided
to take a trip around the Middle East and visit all the places America
has “liberated”, because as we all know 2008 marked the time when all
hostilities in that region stopped and the war was officially over. In
the end Bush held a press conference in Baghdad’s Green Zone where,
because nobody likes a gloater, one of the reporters took off his shoe
and threw it at Bush, instantly making history.
To celebrate this hilarious event and
prove they can take a joke, in early 2009 the Iraqis unveiled a large,
sofa sized replica of the infamous shoe in Tikrit, the birthplace of
Saddam Hussein. Also, a green bush was planted inside it. Hey, there is
no reason to not find joy and laughter in life, even if your country has
been torn apart by military conflict.
5. Enema Monument
Everyone has something that they are
particularly proud of, but you don’t see your neighbor building a statue
to immortalize that one time he spit at more than 35 yards, no matter
how impressive that might have been. That is why it’s so weird to see
the Russian town of Zheleznovodsk be proud enough of their enema
treatments to build a $42,000 monument commemorating just that.
The Mashuk Akva-Term Sanatorium, quite
famous for treating constipation and other gastrointestinal problems, is
currently the site of a 5-foot tall, 800-pound bronze enema syringe
held up by three Botticelli angels, celebrating the supposed wonders of
this frightening inner-butt procedure. The head of the Sanatorium claims
there is not a hint of irony in this, because the enema has basically
became the symbol of the region, which is something you think they would
want to keep to themselves.
It’s nice that the people there have
something to be proud of but this is like Baltimore commissioning a
statue to memorialize the city’s impressive dope fiend population.
6. Mount Rushmore
You might be thinking that you know Mt.
Rushmore and that there is nothing weird about it. It is after all a
symbol of America, honoring the 4 great presidents: Washington, Lincoln,
Roosevelt, and the fourth guy. If there is anything strange about it,
it’s the fact that it keeps giving red blooded patriots raging erections
despite depicting a bunch of dudes.
That is all fine and dandy but it avoids
a few crucial pieces of information: Mt. Rushmore is a full out symbol
of American oppression. It’s not just because the monument was designed
and carved out by Gutzon Borglum – a member of the Ku Klux Klan, who
even sat at the Imperial Koncilium during the changing of KKK’s
leadership. It’s also not about the fact the Borglum chose the 4
presidents for the monument based on their contributions to America’s
expansion, which you might remember included mostly murder of native
tribes back then.
It’s about what Mt. Rushmore was
supposed to be and where it was built. The 4 presidents were carved into
what was known in the past as the Six Grandfathers, a sacred site for
the Lakota Sioux tribes, which was taken from them and desecrated
without as much as a “Thank You, and Good Luck”. And after the white man
dynamited and carved himself a piece of that holy rock, what did we do?
We did not follow through, that’s what. Did you know that Mt. Rushmore
is not finished?
The original plan didn’t call only for
faces. The presidents were supposed to be carved all the way down to
their waists. It was simply never finished due to time and budget
constraints. Just something to keep in mind the next time you are in
South Dakota: Gaze upon Borglum’s laziness and shake your head.
source : http://www.weirdworm.com/6-weird-monuments-from-around-the-world
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