Let no one say that there are no wondrous sights in Canada. Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan has Mac the Moose, which at least approaches the level of twenty-first century Sphinx, north of the 48th parallel. Imagine the first gaggle of Saskatchewan motorists to drive by that one. The awe.
What makes this thing even better is the revelation that Mac had to have his antlers redone and built off a little to fend off a "world's biggest moose" challenge from the Big Elk from Norway. Who knew it was such a competitive field?
2 comments:
No, I wasn't at all familiar with the giant moose statue of Saskatchwan - in Moose Jaw at that! Yeah, one can only imagine just how exciting it was for those drivers seeing it for the first time - the second time they could be forgiven for looking in another direction. Antlers redone indeed! I think the Big Elk is more attractive even if it is technically smaller than the moose.
Most of the very large statues in the world, far bigger the the Statue of Liberty, are religious - Buddhas, Qwan Yins, and Indian gods. They're all fine and there are some I wouldn't mind seeing but my favorites are of horses.
The first is the Kelpies in Scotland:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpvgqnd3nxzo
And the second is the magnificent Equestrian Statue of Genghis Khan.
https://mongolia.com.co/genghis-khan-equestrian-statue/
The most literal thing that the city fathers in Moose Jaw could have done was do some kind of public artwork that was just a moose's jaw. Of course that would have also been rather off-putting, so they probably made the right choice. The Big Elk is impressive looking. And he's made of polished stainless steel, so drivers can fix their hair and makeup while staring into his knee.
Buddhist and Hindu statues have reached very large scales. Perhaps to remind believers that there are other believers nearby. This kind of thing isn't unheard of in Western religions either. Witness the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio.
Not gonna lie. The prospect of being watched over by a giant Genghis Khan is more than a little intimidating. The Kelpies are beautiful and feel like such an essential part of Scotland it's easy to forget that they were only completed about a dozen years ago.
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