I was watching Doctor Who on Netflix last night and in one of the episodes an alien ship crashes into Big Ben, destroying one side of the top of the tower.
If such a thing were to occur (well, not necessarily an alien ship, but y’know, something badly damaging it) surely Big Ben would be fully restored, but it got me wondering what famous monuments or landmarks would not be rebuilt/restored if destroyed.
The WTC has been replaced, but not rebuilt. The Pyramids and the Sphinx, like all ancient ruins throughout the world, will only ever be maintained as they are. Saddam “rebuilt” Babylon, but that was just a narcissistic vanity project.
So what monuments or famous landmarks do you think would NOT be rebuilt or restored if destroyed (or badly damaged)?
I think the Taj Mahal would be far too expensive to rebuild. Memorials in Washington like the Washington Monument, Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials would likely be rebuilt, as would the Capitol and White House. I’m doubtful about the St. Louis Arch and Space Needle, ditto the CN tower.
FYI, the Taj Mahal was copied in Bangladesh. “Only” about $56 million, although I suppose they didn’t include all of the gemstones that were in the original.
There are a number of lesser monuments, many put up ca. 1880-1920, that commemorate people and events we wouldn’t commemorate today. (Mostly very racist politicians and organizations.)
I think sheer sentimentality would see any major landmark or memorial rebuilt, even if it made no real sense otherwise.
The Old Man of the Mountain collapsed in 2003. It was a semi-big deal in NH, its on their state quarter, license plates and state-highway signs. Senator Jeanne Shaheen is rumoured to have the profile tattooed on her left bicep.
There was talk of making a replica after the collapse, but there isn’t really much point. The thing only vaguely looked like a face in the first place. It was only impressive because it was a naturally formed formation. A man-made one would be kind of pointless, so it looks like there won’t be any attempt to reconstruct it.
Falls into the category of racism-tinged monuments from another era. I think yes, someone would replicate it in much smaller scale should a meteorite pulverize the original, but a replacement in full scale would never be undertaken these days.
Three famous confederates guys carved at a site used for Klan rallies. Not sure if the horses were racist to, but I assume so.
(also, its kind of meh as a memorial. From the ground it just looks like the work of a really ambitious graffiti artist. Lincoln not only beat Lee and Davis in the war, he got a much better looking memorial.)
Stone Mountain evolved from original planning to final execution. It was far more neoconfederate/racist/klanny in earlier iterations, and still represents the Klan influence by location alone.
Stonehenge. There wouldn’t really be a point in ‘reconstructing’ it. Could put up a Concrete henge in it’s place I s’pose. But I bet that’s been done somewhere already. It’s the age/history of the stones that make the place special.
Though I’m not sure what type of event could destroy a pile of 25 ton rocks, you probably don’t want to be nearby when it happens.
I hope you’re right, but people have driven cars into it in the past and they always repaired it when I was a kid. I always thought the look on his face was “boy did we get our asses handed to us.”
Mt. Rushmore might be “rebuilt”, but almost certainly with at least one change - for example, replacing Teddy Roosevelt with FDR.
Other than the Washington Monument, I don’t think any of the monuments in DC would be rebuilt. Maybe the Lincoln Memorial, but that would give somebody the opportunity to improve on it. Of course, the Capitol and the White House would be rebuilt, but those are buildings more than monuments.
It also depends on what you mean by “rebuilt”; if something were to happen to the Golden Gate Bridge, its replacement would certainly have improvements - for starters, a second deck that could withstand the winds (and possibly a third, possibly “sealed”, deck, which would allow the subway to cross into Marin and Sonoma Counties as originally intended).
