The Àngel Fallen Monument

[luis triguez]

Some people asked me for stories. In the two years that I post in the

Photonet forums I did it many times. This one is rejected by the

moderator of the Nikon forum and recategorized to a general one, which

I don�t belong to. Maybe I`m going to be luck with the one I fill like

at home: The Classic Cameras.

 

Here it is:

 

In 1874 a curious and horrifying initiative was ordered by a duke

called Fern஠N��ez: To make a monument to the Devil.

 

This nobleman did not hear the protests from the Madrid people of the

epoch, which were scandalized to the idea for elevating a monument to

Satan.

 

The daring duke donated the quantity of 11,000 duros -66,000 dollars

more o less at that time- to go on with the project. In October 23rd

of the same year, the Fallen Angel`s statue was inaugurated after

fifty years of the Inquisition ended in Spain

 

Ricardo Bellver, the sculptor, was awarded in the National Exposition

of 1878, for this statue.

 

Some body told me that this one is the only Devil`s statue in the

world. Do you know of some other one?<div></div>

[vivek iyer]

I love the shot, Luis, The red sky you have captured there as the background is superb and I suppose fits in well with the fallen angel story.

 

My thoughts on the other matters..

 

Spanish Inquisition- one of the worst criminal acts in human history.

 

I knew of a (presumably respected and powerful) man from a few years ago, who always exclaimed, "Santa Maria!" whenever he knew he was doing something wrong! In my view, everything (good/bad) exist in our minds.

Some of us cling on to a pedestal even when we have fallen very deep into the abyss.

[luis triguez]

-Some of us cling on to a pedestal even when we have fallen very deep into the abyss-

 

Great truth and deep thought, Vivek.

 

I opted to darken the background with Photoshop and turned it red, as you say, to suggest an infernal sky of flames.

[rs1]

It is a nice shot! The red sky and the angle you chose, makes the angel look very tormented and very fallen.

[rs1]

Another thing I forgot to say. What makes the shot even nicer is the angel looks like he's really suffering but the pigeons don't seem to care... :-)

[kram]

Yes there is at least one other Lucifer sculpture, albeit he is playing a supporting role.<div></div>

[karel_peijnenborg]

"Spanish Inquisition - one of the worst criminal acts in human history."

 

Recent research seems to indicate that the picture of a bloodbath doesn't seem justified:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Inquisition#Death_tolls

 

regards

[vivek iyer]

"Recent work, sponsored by the Catholic Church, also points to a significantly lower death toll. Professor Agostino from their activities. Recent work, sponsored by the Catholic Church, also points to a significantly lower death toll. Professor Agostino Borromeo, an historian of Catholicism at the Sapienza University in Rome, writes that about 125,000 people were tried by church tribunals as suspected heretics in Spain. Of these, about 1,200 - 2,000 were actually executed, although more killings were performed by non-church tribunals."

 

Karel, The devil is in the details. Even if you take the "reduced" numbers that comes out of the work sponsored by the Catholic Church, one has to factor in the total population that existed at that time. The inquisitions fomented/justified a great deal of hatred in the name of one religion.

[karel_peijnenborg]

I am sorry if I gave the impression that I wanted to downplay the fateful results of the (Spanish) Inquisition. The Catholic Church doesn't feel that need either: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church#The_Inquisition

 

I just wanted to question the unjustified exaggerations. With numbers in that ballpark, the numbers of executed Catholics under Protestant government might not be much lower. And if you are looking for REAL bloodbaths, try the Terror: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reign_of_Terror

 

Regards

[vivek iyer]

Karel, OK. I am convinced of the bloody history. Any wrongs aren't justified by other "more wrongs".

 

And yes, I should have said just Inquisition and not particularly the Spanish one, in my earlier post.

[karel_peijnenborg]

I am not certain why you see the need to mention that "any wrongs are not not justified by "more wrongs" ". That should be obvious. My mention of the Reign of Terror was not meant to justify the Inquisition(s), but to challenge your statement that the Spanish Inquisition was one of the worst criminal acts in history.

 

This is a common misconception, but still a misconception. Don't take me wrong: the Inquisition is an embarassment for my Church, alright. But bad as it is, it is no justification for exaggerations like "the worst crime in history", which can only be made without any historical perspective at all. The Inquisition was generally preferable over secular justice, strange as that may sound.

 

Regards

[summitar]

Organized religion is an embarrassment to the human intellect, especially since Darwin, DNA, modern physics, medicine, genetics and germ theory. Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker, and other snake oil selling televangelists are an embarrassment to snakes.

[luis triguez]

we are alive.

 

I love this form endeed :-)

[vivek iyer]

Karel, I cut any responses short for a specific reason- to stop any arguments/discussions over religion. My understanding of the Church sanctioned executions and how it played out much later many centuries later remain unchanged.

 

I agree with Mr Kennedy.

[jmoody]

I'm not sure that wax "sculptures" count, but I think I found one more...

[summitar]

For clarification. I wish to add that I think the actions and words of Jesus Christ are eternal and immortal in their conveyance of love, compassion, and foregiveness regardless of sect, tribe, secular preference, whatever. Most organized religions need something to hate, especially the bigotted regligious right in the US, which started out with skin color, and when that was deemed unversally unacceptable, turned to hatred of homosexuals and freedom of choice. These people are simply not Christians; they long to smite and slew, perhaps a reaction to their own distorted and cramped lives. I give them credit for (mostly) keeping their impulses in check, unlike the psychotic you-know-who.

[q.g._de_bakker]

<i>"For clarification. I wish to add that I think [...]<br>I give them credit for (mostly) keeping their impulses in check, unlike [...]"</i><br><br>... unlike a holier-than-thou zealot who keeps talking religion in a photography forum?

[vivek iyer]

Q.G. Because of the choice of your words, you include yourself in that club. I mean the Z word.

[summitar]

I am far from holier than thou, and the thread was veering into the Spanish inquisiiton without any help from me. I respect the right of people to have their own opinions, with the understanding that respecting the right is not the same as respecting the opinion. I do resent the efforts of the religious nutcakes to impose their antediluvian mythology on everyone else. But hey, lets get back to phtography. There are a lot of classics out there that are under represented in this forum. Where are all the Voigtlanders, Kodak SLRs, Retinas, SRTs, and Konicas? Show us what you got? If your camera was made before 1970, post your stuff here, not in the Minolta, Nikon, etc. forums, or is it fora?

[karel_peijnenborg]

Vivek, I quite agree. I just wanted to make a statement of fact (to the extent of my knowledge), not to start a discussion about religion.

 

As regards the question of Luiz about other statues of fallen angels: this statue is said to be the only one with a "fallen angel" as subject: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parque_del_Retiro. There might be more paintings from that period and later.

 

In mediaeval times and shortly after, the devil was depicted extensively, in paintings and carvings, always as the enemy, the demon out to get you, evil personified. When in the 18th/19th century religion came under critique, the devil could assume other meanings, like the romantic hero who meant well, was misunderstood, and rejected, and the romantic rebel, the enemy of organized religion, and therefore cast out, or the nihilist, who knows himself as bad as all the rest, but refuses to fool himself, again not receiving much sympathy. These images live to this day. But for them to find a wealthy patron who doesn't mind all the expense for the fun of offending his contemporaries, perhaps would require the end of the 19th century, and that might be why there seems to be just one such a monumental statue.

 

Regards<div></div>

[summitar]

Since one of the keywords is fallen, how about a photo from the Spanish Civil War monument in the "Valley of the Fallen"? A massive monument where Franco is entombed. Let me say that

Spain is one of the most beautiful and wonderful countries on Earth. But was Franco an anti-communist hero or a facist villain?<div></div>

[fernando_mcsoto]

I will stick to the fallen angel monument.

 

 

 

Yes. For many years it has been the only public monument dedicated to Satan in the Western Hermisphere, and I think that it still is.

 

 

 

 

There are many private or hiden representations of Satan in non-easy accesible places like the back of the chairs of some choirs in some European medieval cathedrals. They were made by Medieval anti-religious artist who hided them from the view of the public and the Church. There are some non-open spaces (temples) where there are works dedicated to the cult of Satá® too. However, this is the only public monument dedicated to Satan in the Western hemisphere.

 

 

 

In 1874 there was a government that lasted two years that established a Fedelist Republican government based on an strong anti-religious ideology. It was the fist time in Spanish history, where a government counted with a majority of franc-masons. This government was a reaction to hundreds of centuries of religious monarchy and centralised government. The mood among the Spanish dirigentsia was for such monument. Interesting that the monarchy and the dictatorship did not react against the monument and that the monument is still there.

 

 

I have always been surprised that followers of the modern cult to Satan, that is so popular among certain European youth nowadays, have never come to adore him on this monument. I think that it is the proof that Satan cult is still not as extended in Spain as it is in Germany or in the UK (where they always try to organised black masses in places like the Calanish Stones or Stonhedge).

[luis triguez]

Gracias Fernando. This amplifying our knowledge.

 

We`ll talk about the Valley of The Fallen Monument in another post, which need clarifying how and why many people died to construct the Francos�s pharaonic dreams.

[vivek iyer]

Fernando,

 

"(where they always try to organised black masses in places like the Calanish Stones or Stonhedge)"

 

I am unsure if these are classified as "Satan" worship (I would like to hear from some who are well versed in British history). If that is so, it is very unfortunate and reflects the power struggle of the Church hierarchy that goes back to the medieval times. Followers of John the baptist (who baptised Jesus) are also branded as "satan" worshippers too?

[karel_peijnenborg]

The (attempted) celebrations at f.i. Stonehenge are not devil worship, but (Neo-)Paganism. No doubt there are links, but Paganism as it is flourishing now is not centered around the devil. That for people in some religions other gods and the (deified) forces of nature are the same as the devil, is of no consequence to how Neopagans generally view themselves. For instance: Cernunnos, the horned god of horned animals, might be identified by Christians as the devil, but that doesn't make Cernunnos worshippers devil worshippers. Devil worshippers, or Satanists, explicitly center their (anti)religion on Satan.

 

But about the statue, isn't it just a beautiful statue? Why tear it down?

 

@Fernando: that medieval devil carvings were made by antireligious artists is by no means certain to me. Do you have more information? The devil (and eternal damnation) in that period were generally used as a powerful reminder of what could be in store for you if you didn't live the good life. And they were an excuse for artists to let their imagination run free.

 

Regards