Trans-Atlantic Poetry (Navy Memorial Metro)

Two poems are inscribed all the wall in part of Ocean Piece, an artwork by Jorge Martin (1995). As far as I can tell, the artwork honors trans-Atlantic navigation and exploration. On the left (Western?) side of the artwork is an excerpt from Walt Whitman's poem "The Prayer of Columbus." The lines read:

All my emprises have been fill’d with Thee, 
My speculations, plans, begun and carried on in thoughts of Thee, 
Sailing the deep, or journeying the land for Thee; 
Intentions, purports, aspirations mine—leaving results to Thee.
  
O I am sure they really come from Thee! 
The urge, the ardor, the unconquerable will, 
The potent, felt, interior command, stronger than words, 
A message from the Heavens, whispering to me even in sleep, 
These sped me on.
  
By me, and these, the work so far accomplish’d (for what has been, has been); 
By me Earth’s elder, cloy’d and stifled lands, uncloy’d, unloos’d; 
By me the hemispheres rounded and tied—the unknown to the known. 

On the right (Eastern?) side of the sculpture - across a gentle bulge, which seems to me to evoke an ocean wave - is an excerpt from "Occident," a work by the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa. These lines read:


With two hands - Deed and Fate
We have unveiled in the same gesture, one
Raises the flickering and divine torch
While the other draws the veil aside.

Whether the hour was ripe or it owned
The hand that tore the Western veil,
Science was the soul and Audacity the body
Of the hand that unveiled it.

Whether the hand rose the glittering torch
Out of Fortune, Will or Tempest,
God was the soul and Portugal the body
Of the hand that bore it.


This artwork was a gift from the Lisbon Subway to the DC Metro (see this website for more). The oceanic and transportation-themed artwork is indeed fitting for its location: the Navy Memorial metro station.

GOTV (Get Out The Vote) Posters [Election 2008 Flashback]

These election posters (placed in spots were windows once were) encourage people to get out and vote in the 2008 elections. These were on the wall of an abandoned school building in the SE Quadrant, Inauguration Day 2009. Above (center), a poster featuring an adorable little girl encourages Spanish-speaking voters to take part in the election: Ella confia en ti para tomar la decisión correcta ... Tu país también. ¡Voto! ("She trusts you to make the right choices...so does your country.") On the left, a week-long pill box organizer has 4 compartments raised to read VOTE (a plea to elderly voters perhaps?).

Above, posters targeting African Americans (right) and Asian Americans (left). The whole "Wok + Dutch Oven = Asian American" thing is a bit silly, but it's an attractive poster nonetheless.

Justice Inscription

"LEGE ATQVE ORDINE OMNIA FIVNT" (Let all things be done according to law and order). Latin inscription above entrance, Department of Justice.

Art of the Parking Garage (National Building Museum ad)

This exhibition at the National Building Museum has now come and gone, but this ad was so clever I thought I should add it to this blog. I love the implied mathematical equation here: snail shell + parking sign = [implied result: spiral parking garage]. Read more about the photography exhibition here. Ad seen somewhere on the metro, May 2010.

The Language of Flags - US States etc.

This city abounds with flags - and not just in government buildings. In front of Union Station you can see the flags of all 50 states in the order they were admitted into the Union. Above (from L to R), the most recent states (Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska, and Hawaii), then DC, and finally all the other US territories and commonwealths (Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, US Virgin Islands, and Northern Mariana Islands).

Vexillology, the study of flags, employs an arcane lexicon that ultimately derives from medieval heraldry (see this website for some of this vocabulary). I would describe the Hawaiian flag (just right of center in the photo above) as something like "the British flag in the top-left corner with stripes on the rest of it" but the flag is officially described in these terms:

(1) The Hawaiian flag shall consist of eight horizontal stripes, alternately white, red, blue, etc., beginning at the top, having a jack cantoned in the dexter chief angle next to the point of suspension;

(2) The jack shall consist of a blue field charged with a compound saltire (crossing) of alternate tincture white and red, the white having precedence; a narrow edge of white borders each red side of the saltire;

(3) A red cross bordered with white is charged (placed) over all.
[From The Hawaii Revised Statues, Vol. 1, Ch. 5, Sec. 19 - see here]

The DC flag, above (center), is commonly understood to have heraldic origins (see my earlier posting for a fuller description).

I think that the most attractive use of flags as a decorative motif in a building is in the Kennedy Center. In the grand Hall of Nations, flags appear in alphabetical order by country name. Above, we see Australia (top left) followed by A's and B's.

In the equally-grand Hall of States, the flags are arranged chronologically according to date they were admitted into the Union. The flags begin with Delaware (in the back right) and proceed toward the front of the right-hand wall; they they start up again on the left-hand wall (front left of this photo) and proceed to the end, followed by the US "non-states."

For more on each of the 50 state flags, see this website.

The Language of Flags - DC

Above, the distinctive flag of the District of Columbia. Its stars and stripes evoke the US (federal) flag, but most descriptions say the DC flag design derives from the coat of arms of George Washington's family (see here for more on the flag's origins).

Here's the Washington family shield as it appears in 14th-century stained glass on a window in Selby Abbey, Yorkshire (England). In proper heraldic vocabulary, these design motifs should be designated as "mullets and bars" and not "stars and stripes" (see the last section of this page). For more about the Washington Window at Selby Abbey, see here. For an extensive website exploring the rich legacy of Washington's arms in American culture, see here.

I was trying to find out more about the symbolism of the DC flag but the website on DC symbols wasn't that informative. For what it's worth, I have heard somewhere (was it on a Capitol tour?) that the three stars represent the branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial) and bars symbolize equality. This could be an urban legend or even some sort of ironic political commentary - since DC residents lack equal legislative representation in Congress (i.e., DC has no voting representative). For more on the DC voting rights issue and how the flag is used on both sides of the issue, see this alternate version of the DC flag and this DC license plate).

Synagogue to Church (Judeo-Christian Palimpsest)

The building now known as the Tried Stone Church of Christ was once a synagogue. The Southeast Hebrew Congregation was founded on Capitol Hill by Orthodox immigrants from Eastern Europe in 1909, and after World War II this house of worship was built. The congregation relocated to Silver Spring, MD in 1971. When the church acquired this property, the new congregation changed the name of the building but retained the Ten Commandments (inscribed in Hebrew) which were part of the original entrance façade.

Above, a photo from early in 2008 before the entrance sign was changed. How fitting that different periods in the building's history are visible in the layers of stone and brick.

P.S. For a more famous appearance of the Ten Commandments in DC, see this post. See also this torah ark.

London: Churches and Museums

Various items from churches and museums in London.

This sign for the Chinese Church in London features a nicely stylized form of the Chinese word 華 (huá), which means "China" or "Chinese" in most contexts. Here, a "cross" (or Star of Bethlehem) motif is incorporated into the center of the character.

Near the church, in Chinatown, I saw this poster that teaches children the Pinyin romanization scheme for Chinese. Each sound in Mandarin is assigned a corresponding Roman letter. Most of the words chosen are simple, everyday ideas or objects: 大 (dà) = big, large; 土 (tǔ) = earth, dust. I'm confused by the image for for 你 (nǐ) - I always thought it just mean "you."

St. Dunstan in the West is a church that caters to the demographics of its congregation in a variety of ways. Here, an entrance sign asks visitors to pray for peace (in English, French, German, Russian, Greek, and Romanian). Although the church is Anglican, I noticed many (Greek and Romanian) Orthodox icons and motifs inside. The praying hands are, I suppose, German in origin, after Betende Hände by Albrecht Dürer (c. 1508).

All Hallows by the Tower isn't one of London's most famous churches but it's worth a visit (check out the crypt and the brass rubbing center). Some notable people associated with the church include William Penn (baptized here, 1644) John Quincy Adams (married here, 1797), and Thomas More (beheaded near here, 1535).

The crypt underneath the church allows you to view centuries of treasures. The medieval livery companies of London contributed funds to develop this space to display valued artifacts and documents. Appropriately, a French inscription reads "Conservez ce qu'ont vu vos peres" [Safeguard those things upon which your fathers have looked]. Why French? It's the language medieval guilds used in most of their administrative and civic documents.

There are maritime motifs all throughout the church itself (among other things, there's a Mariners Chapel). This heraldic device is the emblem of the old Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, which bore the Latin motto "Per Mare Ubique" [Everywhere By Sea]. What I find most curious is the use of sea horses as supporters for the shield device! Apparently sea horses do appear elsewhere in heraldic insignia but in more imaginative and stylized forms; see this website (scroll to "sea-horse") for other examples.

I end with this curious detail from a medieval comic strip (or "graphic novel") version of the Book of Revelations. This panel depicts Rev. 16:13-16, when the text describes "three unclean spirits like frogs" coming out of the mouth of the False Prophet, Dragon, and Beast. Read (and hear) more about this artwork, with larger image, at this Victoria and Albert Museum website.

Paris: Landmarks, Monuments, Museums

More linguistically-interesting things I saw in Paris.

A monument to peace within view of the Eiffel Tower. I can't tell how well the word "peace" is rendered in all these languages but the Chinese (和平) is at least legible. Not the best execution but well-intentioned. (By the way, I didn't see English anywhere among these languages! Hmmm...)

Louis Braille, inventor of the raised system of dots for the blind, is entombed beneath the Panthéon. This is one of the rare monuments that actively encourages visitors to touch and interact with it: a  bust, electronically illuminated Braille inscriptions, and audio recordings.

A similar installment for the blind can be found in the Pompidou Center. Here the Braille inscription and a textured pattern allow the visitor to appreciate a work of visual art.

Inside the Louvre Museum there's a series of signs that lay down "les règles de l'art" [the rules of art], i.e. what you're forbidden to do inside (e.g. no touching artworks, no flash photography etc.). I like the humorous and non-verbal aspect of these signs:

And, finally, a trilingual notice in the Palace of Versailles:

Paris: Neighborhoods (Jewish, Japanese, Latin)

This blog entry goes through a few distinctive neighborhoods in Paris: le Marais (the old Jewish Quarter), le quarter japonais (Japanese Quarter, around la Rue Sainte-Anne), and le quartier latin (Latin Quarter, near the Sorbonne - so called because university scholars used to speak Latin).

Here's a typical storefront in the Marais advertising merchandise in Hebrew and French. Incidentally, the word "Librarie" doesn't mean "library" - it means "bookshop" (the French word for library is "bibliotheque").

This excellent restaurant, "l'As du Fallafel," advertises its signature attractions in Hebrew: falafel (פלפל) and shwarma (השאוורמה). It's worth noting that the origin of falafel is disputed; some would claim it is Arab in origin. Whatever its origin, the food is delicious.

A closer view of the take-out order window reveals playing card aces (the word "As" in the restaurant name means "ace") and the motto of the establishment is "Toujour Imité Jamais Égalé" (Always Imitated, Never Equaled) - a nice jab at all the rival restaurants that have opened up nearby.

Along the Rue Sainte-Anne there's a stretch of Japanese restaurants - here's the menu for Naniwa-Ya, which probably has the best Japanese noodle soup I've ever eaten. The Japanese menu reads in the traditional manner, up-down and left-to-right. Oddly, the menu uses the letters YA rather than the kanji (character) 屋 or や (ya).

On one of the walls inside the Sorbonne I saw this sign advertising a photo competition for an international language study program. "No entiendo" is Spanish for "I don't understand," and the French translation ("Je ne comprends pas") is the URL for the website. I find it ironic that the acronym ESL (English as a Second Language) doesn't need any translation.

Inside one of the bathrooms in the university, some pedantic graffiti. One person demands that the maintenance staff replace the hand towels, and another person corrects the first person's grammatical error, correcting "essuies-main" to the proper French form "essuie-mains" (hand-towels).

Florence: Churches and Museums

Now for some more signs from Florence - these all come from churches or museums.

Ascending to the dome of the Duomo. I like the graffiti "conversations" that have ensued around this sign. Note someone has crossed out the name HUGO from the Spanish "Hugo y [and] Laura" and replaced it with LAURA ERIC underneath.

Some writing on the top of the dome of the Duomo. For some reason a lot of Korean and Chinese inscriptions. Nice little acrostic involving the names Alex and Andrew (center).

Writing on walls is, of course, an old practice. Here's a 17th century inscription on the way down.

Ten Commandments motif on the doors exiting the Duomo. You can just make out (most of) the Hebrew text of the first 5 commandments.

The translations inside the crypt of the Medici Chapel are mostly unremarkable - but it did strike me as odd how certain words were in bold. I suppose if you were in a hurry or something this could help you scan the text more efficiently.

Lastly, an idiosyncratic sign in the garden of the Franciscan monastery in Fiesole. The Latin NON EST TOTO SANCTIOR MONS (and Italian equivalent, underneath) mean "in the whole world there is no mountain more holy"). Curiously, the word "welcome" (benvenuto / benvenuta) is grammatically inflected in both its masculine and feminine forms (welcoming the male and female reader equally?). The icons for all the forbidden activities are cute.

Florence Edition: Dante

It's been months since I posted anything new here - much of the summer was spent away from DC. Just for fun, I'll be blogging about a few of the places I visited. I start with Florence.

The theme for this blog entry about Florence is Dante: signs of this renowned poet (d. 1321) can be found all throughout the city.

In the Duomo, this spectacular painting (Domenico di Michelino, 1465) depicts the poet gazing longingly at the city of Florence (he wrote The Divine Comedy while in exile from his beloved home). On the left you see the Inferno and center is Mount Purgatory (as described in the Purgatorio). The celestial spheres of Paradiso are above. This painting beautifully transforms (translates, if you will) the grand scope of the poet's allegory into a clear visual format - although it depicts a city with architecture that Dante would not have known (the dome did not exist as such in his day).

A detail of Dante's book reveals the opening lines of his poem. A little hard to read, since 1. the text appears in all capital letters with no word separations and 2. the spelling differs from most modern editions. The first page (left) reads: "Nel mezzo del chamino di nostra vita / Mi ritrova per una selva scura che la diritta via era smarita" [In the middle of our life's journey / I found myself in a dark wood, for the straight path was lost].

Many other signs evoking the works of Dante are strategically placed around the city; e.g., at one point along the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) crossing the Arno River, we see "in sul passo d'Arno" [at the crossing of the Arno]. Mildly interesting sign, I guess - but without any real context for the quote it seems pretty random. I wonder if most people even notice it.

One place of particular interest for Dante readers is the Casa di Dante, where the poet (most likely) once resided. There's much to love about this wall display - not only does it have a nice diagram of all of Dante's circles of hell, but it also manages to squeeze in the entire text of The Divine Comedy on a single panel in tiny font! And how did those footprints get on the wall?

A Florence location that has become a curious site of pilgrimage is the Chiesa di Santa Margherita de' Cerchi, which is allegedly near the place where Dante first met his beloved Beatrice Portinari (i.e., the subject of his early poetry and, later, his guide in the Paradiso). The entrance sign informs visitors that the church dates from 1032 and Beatrice was buried here.

Inside the church, a painting: "Dante meets Beatrice P., accompanied by her mother Cilia de' Caponsacchi and Monna Tessa" [i.e., nurse in the Portinari household]. In the Vita Nuova, Dante claims he met Beatrice walking down the street with two ladies and this encounter inspired him to write poetry about her. This painting seems to take some liberties here, as Dante claims he was 18 at the time of that meeting (this Dante looks much older).

At the tomb of Beatrice, visitors from around the world leave handwritten letters to her (most of these are written by women who are seeking love and asking Beatrice to intercede). I can't make out all the text here, but the one on the right is in Korean; the one of the left (with lipstick) reads "Dear Beatrice."

The "letters for Beatrice" phenomenon is mysterious and surprisingly recent in origin. For more on Dante's life and work (emphasis on The Divine Comedy), see this excellent website.

P.S. There is a Florence-DC connection I should note! In Meridian Park, you can see a statue of Dante clearly based on the painting in the Duomo (or something very much like it):

This portrayal of Dante looks pretty familiar. I see one major difference between this sculpture and the Duomo painting, though. The Dante in the Duomo holds an open book, but this Dante has his book closed.

Paris: Randomness

Last blog entry about Paris.

Displayed in a storefront window, this T-shirt offers a ironic, snooty twist on the "I [HEART] PARIS" cliché: "J' [aime] rein: Je suis Parisien" [I love nothing: I'm a Parisian].

Variation on the theme: I [SPACE INVADER] PARIS. Who knows what this is about? Strange thing is, there were lots of these signs all over the city.

In a little park, a bunch of cursive vowels and random vocalic word balloons. I got the sense this was supposed to represent the childlike joy one gets from playing outdoors, but I could totally be making that up.

On the Métro, I spotted this ad targeting people who want to learn English. The name and American flag/tongue thing strike me as incredibly cheesy. I'm also not sure "Wall Street" English is the best name - yes it conveys the idea of "practical" real-world English, but Wall Street doesn't have the best reputation as of late.

Another weird French take on American culture: this graphic novel (?) for sale in a storefront window reads I.R.$. (dollar sign replacing S). Sort of makes tax collection look glamorous and exciting!

P.S. I've just learned that there is Wikipedia about the "Space Invader" artist, who has "invaded" many cities - but Paris remains the most saturated.

P.P.S. For more on the "I [HEART] WHATEVER" motif, see this posting.