Monuments to love

Love has inspired artists all over the world and most art has to do with love or the lack of it. Amazing works of art have been done dedicated to a beloved person to express passion, desperation, fidelity and other feelings concerned with love. I want to give you here a review of some of the buildings and statues that represent the most astonishing examples of art inspired by love.

When you first think of a monument of love, it isn’t strange that the Taj Mahal comes quickly to your mind. The reason is quite obvious, as it is considered one of the most beautiful examples of Mogol architecture, which is a mix of Indian, Islamic, Persian and even Turkish styles. Not only is the building beautiful, but so is the story that it recalls. It was constructed in India by the emperor Shah Jahan in honour of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. When she died, the emperor was absolutely devastated and ordered the construction of the mausoleum for her, full of gorgeous details. Not in vain is it included among the The Seven Wonders of the Modern World.

Another mausoleum dedicated to love is found in the Spanish city of Teruel, where the supposed mummies of Diego and Isabel, the lovers of Teruel, repose. Legend has it that Diego and Isabel were deeply in love, but Diego wasn’t accepted by Isabel’s family because his own family had lost their fortune. He went to war to seek his fortune and marry Isabel, but unfortunately, while he was away she was forced by her parents to marry Don Pedro de Azagra. When Diego returned he asked her eagerly for a kiss, which she sadly denied, out of respect for her husband. It is said that it was the deep pain over the loss of Isabel that killed him on that cold night. At Diego’s funeral, Isabel, extremely regretful, covered her face and head with a dark veil, gave him the kiss and suddenly died.

One of the most popular sculptures inspired by love is a work by the French sculptor, Auguste Rodin. We know it as The Kiss, although its original name is Francesca da Rimini, because it represents the story from Dante’s Inferno in which Francesca fell in love with her husband’s brother, who, by the way, was married. As soon as the deceived man discovered the infidelity, he murdered both lovers. The work was first embossed on Rodin's Doors of Hell, and later was done separately in white marble. There are three copies of the sculpture.

Another monument that has little to do with art, but very much with love, or at least fidelity, is the sculpture of Hachiko, the loyal dog. Hachiko used to wait at Shibuya station in Tokyo for his owner to come back from work at the university. Unfortunately, one day the teacher died and didn’t return. Nevertheless, Hachiko went, every day of his life until he died ten years later, to wait for his owner and friend. The people who saw him fed him and took care of him. After his death, a sculpture of this loyal dog was placed in Shibuya in his memory.

The Homomonument is a modern monument built in Amsterdam and dedicated not only to those homosexuals who were killed by the Nazis, but also to those who have been repressed all over the world, and symbolizes the fight against oppression, negation and discrimination. It is a big triangle composed of three smaller pink triangles made of granite. The triangle was chosen as it was the symbol that homosexuals were forced to display during the Nazi period. What's more, the direction of vertices has a meaning as well: one is pointing to the National War Monument in Dam Square; another to the house of Anne Frank, the little Jewish girl who hid herself from the Nazis; and the last to the site of the oldest homosexual liberation organization. A verse by the gay Jewish poet Jacob Israël de Haan is written in the triangle pointing the Anne Frank House: “Such an infinite wish of friendship”.

The list of constructions inspired by love is a never-ending story, as there are thousands of examples dedicated to those who have loved and been loved, to those who suffered for the loss of their loved ones, and to those who loved the wrong person and died as a result, like war heroes.

                                                                                   

The Wildcat