The Mythical Divine :: Art Artistic Architecture Essays

The Mythical Divine It is the mystery of the past which s commonaltys the imagination of the future. The remnants of lost cultures, incessantly enticing with their fractured story, have continually piqued the interest of humankind. Ancient Egypt reflects 3000 years of splendor, ease and mystery. This enigmatic civilization has become the focal point of scholarly larn and artistic reproduction over the last 200 years. It has been unsurpassed in use and depiction as a model to convey many differing images. One, most unique, replication of dynastic Egypt is Pharaohs Lost dry land amusement park in Redlands, California. It is a compo teasee of ancient art and architecture use to recreate a world of mystery and intrigue in a modern day setting. The park rises seemingly out of nowhere on the button as the Giza benefits project from a barren desert floor. As you enter, you ship on a journey from the monotony of everyday life to a saintly mystical landscape. In his book, Spiritual Pa th, Sacred Place, Thomas Barrie states The sacred place was never an impassive backdrop... it was a dynamic place, very much charged with emotional energy and experienced spatially and temporally as its users moved through its spaces or entered its sacred enclosures. (p.54) For the participant, especially children, this emotion of pick out awe mixed with fantastic delight is evoked as briefly as one gazes upon the central building of the park complex.The entrance to the park, the termination separating what is real from the imaginary (the constructed), is guarded by a huge sphinx. Here, as in Egypt Its essential function has been to embody welcome and protection. (Egyptomania p.22) Yet the creators of the field park have gone further. They have deliberately replaced the Pharaoh Khafres head with the funerary mask of King Tutankhamun. This coupling is an attempt to immediately give the visitor two extremely recognizable images. The typical traveler is left amaze by the immens ity of the statue, unaware of the mixed icons. In many types of building plans The demarcating of sacred ground was typically accomplished architecturally by the stock and geometry of the sacred place. (Spiritual Path, Sacred Place p.56) The central building of Pharaohs Lost Kingdom applies this ideal to announce the grandeur and monolithic proportions of its premises. Five large pyramids sit atop the rectangular building pointing toward the sky. Some are reminiscent of Djosers stepped pyramid while the central one is a smaller version of the great pyramids of Giza.