This week we visited another three maps. The Imperial Map Monument commemorates the three empires that settled on the shores of the nearby Orkhon River, near the town of Kharkhorin, Mongolia. The monument consists of a large pile of stones carefully assembled into a cone with nine poles protruding from the top and three colourful mosaics / maps representing each of the empires.
Kharkhorin, known at the time as Karakorum was the capital of the Mongol Empire.
This week was the first visit by Where On Google Earth to the country of Equatorial Guinea. The actual location is the Parque Nacional de Malabo in the city of Malabo.
Malabo is the capital of Equatorial Guinea, located on the north coast of the island of Bioko off the coast of Cameroon and to the northwest of the mainland part of the country. The island of Bioko was once known as Fernando Po, named after the first European explorer who visited in 1472.
This week, we visited Cape Town, South Africa to look for a special set of glasses – those worn by ex-South African President, Nelson Mandela. Overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, the new memorial, titled Perceiving Freedom, stares out at Robben Island, home to the prison where Mandela was incarcerated for nearly three decades. It is meant to draw a connection to Mandela’s time behind bars. As per a statement from the artist, Michael Elion, the sculpture “links us to the mind of a man whose incredible capacity to transcend enduring physical hardship, with unwavering mental fortitude and dignity, transformed the consciousness of an entire country.”
The memorial has not been without controversy. Duane Jethro, writing for Africa is a Country, describes “Perceiving Freedom” as “a pathetic appropriation of commemoration as cover for a commercial promotion. Really, it’s a stunning emetic trigger that suggests that Nelson Mandela is beckoning us from the afterlife to buy Ray-Ban sunglasses, to do our duty for reconciliation and nation-building by consuming this luxury product,” he writes.
Between the town of Regent and north to Interstate 94 in North Dakota, United States, there is a wonderful stretch of highway along which Gary Greff has constructed several large sculptures – the one in the image was the grasshopper, but there are geese, fish, tin people, a pheasant and even Teddy Roosevelt, a US President.
In the tiny village of Sno, one artist’s dream to eternalise Georgia’s great poets, writers and kings has re-shaped the landscape.
The sculptor behind the so-called ‘Gigantic Heads’, Merab Piranishvili, wants to create an open-air museum to teach visitors about the nation’s literary, artistic and cultural heavyweights.
Some draw comparisons between Sno and Easter Island or even Mount Rushmore. In reality, this is quite a small-scale project (at least for now), but it’s still very impressive.
The Atameken Ethno-Memorial map is located in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. It was opened in 2018 and consists of a map of the country.
On an area equal to two football fields, there are smaller copies of over two hundred main architectural structures and monuments of Kazakhstan, as well as forests, mountains and hills.
In the Movie “A Christmas Story”, the father character enters a contest and wins “a major award”. Unaware of what it is, the family awaits the arrival until this very moment:
Ok, so how did that become this? And why in Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA?
Well, it’s quite a circuitious story.
A professor at the University of Oklahoma Art School, Noland James, was born in Chickasha. At some point in his life, he created a lamp using the bottom half of a mannequin
This lamp sat in his office for most of his teaching career and was a subject of interest for many students, faculty and vistors. Once such “admirer” was later to find himself on the production team for “A Christmas Story” and designed the leg lamp for the movie. Was he inspired by Dr. James’s lamp? No one seems to know, but the city leadership of Chickasha took that info and most definintely ran with it.
Starting in 2020, they started using a giant inflatable leg lamp in their Christmas parade. They used the same inflatable in their “Christmas in July” parade in 2021 and their 2021 Christmas (presumably in December?) parade. Such was the publicity and acclaim, that they decided to erect this monstrosity er, statue in the town square by the old train station.
If you visit this small town 50 or so miles south of Oklahoma City, you can also see Dr. James’ original artwork, at the Grady County Historical Society.
Those who won the “Major Award” by finding it before the hint:
Graham Hedley
hhgygy
Garfield
Bas van Limpt
Angie CF
Martin de Bock
and those who had to settle for a “Minor Award” by finding it after:
One could say that this location started off with a small seed of an idea. It started as a humble tribute from a son to his father. From there, it developed a measure of celebrity and in some ports of call, evolved into a “destination” in its own right. Tim McGinn, owner of the pistachio ranch, said he wanted to “honor the memory of his father, Tom McGinn, who originally founded the pistachio and grape-producing farm.” The World’s Largest Pistachio was built in 2007. The location is just north of the town of Alamagorda, New Mexico in the southwest US.
The Big Merino is a 15 metres tall concrete merino ram, located in Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia. Nicknamed “Rambo” by locals, the Big Merino contains a gift shop on the ground floor and a wool display on the second floor. Visitors can climb to the top and look out through the Merino’s eyes to view the local area.
The Big Merino was officially opened on 20 September 1985 at 98 Hume Street, Goulburn, approximately 800 metres north-east of its current location.
In 1992 the Hume Highway bypassed the town, which resulted in a loss of 40 busloads of tourists to the Big Merino complex per day. On 26 May 2007, the Big Merino was moved to a location closer to the new Hume Highway to increase visitor numbers, and is now located near the freeway interchange at a service station. A drive-through car wash now occupies Rambo’s original location.
This site is part of a network of laboratories and research centers dedicated to agriculture advancements and improving food access in this west African nation. It appears to be a station of the larger Centre National de Recherches Agronomiques division of ISRA.
Those who found the location were:
Eloy Cano
Garfield
Which, also means that Eloy and Garfield are the winners of this series with 19 points each. Congrats!!
For those into the stats of this game, we’ve been to Senegal twice and on both occasions have had only two correct responses: for those wanting a challenge made easier by the fact you know the country, here is the image from the other time:
