Thursday, October 7, 2010

When stone seems to talk

I love to visit museums and historical sites and, not surprisingly, one of my first outings in Van on the shores of Lake Van in the very east of Turkey was to the historical museum. I have often found the monuments, statues and stone carvings are impressive because of their sheer size but, on closer inspection, the faces often lack expression. They are, in fact, 'stony'. Therefore an involuntary 'oh' escaped my lips when I came face to face with these 12 stelae which were mounted in the museum's courtyard. They were found near the town of Hakkari and date from the 11th century BC! A find which is unique to Anatolia. Tell me if it is just my imagination or do they seem to 'talk' to you too?

1 comment:

  1. The lifted eyebrows and eyes definitely give it an expression.

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