-Caveat Lector- Exploring Cult of Ruins in U.K. By GRAHAM HEATHCOTE .c The Associated Press LONDON (AP) - Sir John Soane, the great British architect, wasn't content simply to design the Bank of England built in 1833: He also commissioned a drawing of how the bank might appear one day as a ruin. Soane's fascination with ruins extended to the garden of his London home, where, like other fashionable gardeners of the day, he erected a mock ruin. So the house, now known as Sir John Soane's Museum, is a fitting site for the ``Visions of Ruin'' exhibition running through Aug. 28. Spanning 250 years, the exhibition looks at the treatment of ruins in paintings, drawings, models, books and photographs. False ruins, also known as ``follies,'' enjoyed a great vogue in the 18th century. London's Kew Gardens has a brick and stone gateway fashioned to be a Roman ruin, designed in the 1750s by Sir William Chambers. Artists drew and painted what they thought cities would look like as ruins, and Antoine Careme, a Paris chef, even served blancmanges in the shape of Roman ruins. Hubert Robert, a French painter whose death certificate described him as ``Robert of the ruins,'' was particularly attracted to ancient remains. Robert's paintings inspired the critic Denis Diderot to write in 1767: ``How old this world is! I walk between two eternities. Wherever I turn my eyes, the objects that surround me foretell an end and help me resign myself to the one that awaits me. What is my ephemeral existence compared to that of this crumbling stone?'' The exhibition notes that the tradition has not died. This year's Chelsea Flower Show had a ``Millennium Ruin'' designed by a manufacturer of landscape ornaments and architectural stonework. And architects Julian and Isobel Bannerman have designed an artificial ruin in the form of a gatehouse tower to conceal a client's satellite dishes. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
