(Attraction Dance Group Performance: Stonehenge makes its brief appearance from 16 to around 28 seconds into the performance.)

People clearly cannot help themselves! Lately the Stonehenge replicas have been showing up faster and faster, not just new replica, but new KINDS of replicas. The one in the video above, for example, is created as part of a “shadow dance”, in which dancers’ bodies create silhouettes resembling things, in this case Stonehenge, as well as the Tower Bridge, and so on. (But who cares after Stonehenge, really?)

Another recent television Stonehenge replica bit appeared on the Conan O’Brien show, when the musical group Fall Out Boy did a Spinal Tap tribute that included the legendary miniscule trilithon being lowered onto the stage:

Now, let us explain you a thing: the more involved you get with Stonehenge replicas, the less enthusiastic you become about Spinal Tap. Every time a Stonehenge replica is mentioned, some tiresome wag, impressed with his or her own cleverness, has to make a remark about it being crushed by a dwarf or quote lyrics from the song in the movie. If we had time we would do a blog of those comments and title it, Adventures in Nope. Still, we have to count the above performance as an appearance of a Stonehenge replica. Grudgingly.

Meanwhile, we have been seeing more small replicas: a Stonehenge cake, a careless foamhenge, a school project replica, a Stonehenge of wotsits, and, inevitable now that 3d printing is all the rage, a 3D printed Stonehenge!

3D printed Stonehenge by MakerBot

There is also a small, rather Picasso-esque Stonehenge someone’s mum made for her garden, but permissions are pending, so it will have to be posted later if at all.

We are now convinced that the compulsion to make Stonehenge replicas is emerging as a serious psychological problem, and that it should be listed in the DSM as Compulsive Henging Disorder. By early recognition of this burgeoning syndrome we might be able to stem the tide of Stonehenge replicas of every material and description that could inundate the world of the future, a tsunami of Stonehenges threatening to overwhelm the world as we know it and create a Clonehenge apocalypse of unimaginable proportions!!!

What? Yes. Yes. It IS a load of bollocks, actually, but we have to fill the blog somehow. The point, however, should not be lost: something is forcing people to build Stonehenge replicas and making them think that it is their idea. Is it possible that Stonehenge itself is an alien life form seeking to reproduce itself by infecting the human mind like a virus or like the fungus that infects ant brains and makes them climb to a high point where a bird is likely to eat them? Is it possible that by the end of this sentence we will decide it’s time to end this post?

Possibly! It remains to be seen!

Until next time, friends, happy henging!

Sergio Greif, henge, and curious dogs

Olá! We greet you from Brasil, como Brasileiros! Yes, it is literally true that we are in Brazil, given the modern usage of the word literally! Poor word, it has a bad case of inflation. But—back to the henge! (Great titles for a book, there: Back to the Henge. You’re welcome.) The miniature Stonehenge in the picture above was sent to us by charming reader Sergio Greif of somewhere in Brazil. We have been meaning to post it since February, but, well, we didn’t, so now we are. (Is it just us, or do those dogs look like they are eager to celebrate the solstice?)

This is not our first henge from Brazil, not even our second. Very early on, we posted the beautiful mosaic fruit jelly henge:

And about a year and a half ago we posted our first South American permanent replica in São Paulo, Brazil at the Center for the Study of the Universe (!!). So Brazil appears to be a pretty happening place, hengewise.

Quartzite henge on moss, another view, with fewer distractions

As some of you may know, we had two email apocalypses, and unfortunately the original email from Mr. Greif has been lost, but part of it was preserved on the Clonehenge Facebook group and read as follows:

Here is a Brazilian Stonehenge, made in white quartzite and natural live moss specifically at December 23, 2012. Hope you like it.

 all the best, Sergio Greif

As you can see, we don’t actually know much about this henge, the why of it, especially, but it is lovely, and we’re curious about the source of the quartzite. Did Mr. Greif somehow cut those pieces to size? Were they left over from some other project? The live moss is certainly a nice touch, bringing it close to falling into the miniature garden category that has become so popular.

Score? We give it 6 druids! That might seem a little high to some, but this thing has a charm about it, and we like the presentation, with the flower petals in one picture and such cuteness in the other (referring to the dogs, of course. Well, mostly… ) Thank you, sir. Some very nice henging going on in your country!

While we’re on the topic of smaller Stonehenge replicas, the Henge Collective is still hard at work, and posted a set of pictures depicting Fimohenge, a small henge of a kind of modeling clay. Eventually, we are told, this model will be the basis of an animated Henge Collective movie! The planet holds its breath in anticipation. In the future, all art will be henge art.

That is literally true!

Keep sending in your pictures, or posting them on the Clonehenge group or page on Facebook. You can even find us at @Clonehenge on Twitter. We haven’t made the move to App.net, but we will if people start switching over! We go where you go, to bring you the henges you need, when you need them!

Until next time, friends, happy henging!

Stonehenge replica at the Moscow Planetarium

We don’t mean to brag (LYING!!!), but on our page of the 76 large, permanent replicas, we asserted, “Surely Russia and India must each have at least one!” Well, guess what, you sweet little hengers? We found one in Russia, OH YES WE DID! Well, sort of. It is permanent, but calling it large might be stretching the truth. A bit. As seen here: (What shirt?)

waist high

In the past we have pointed out, for the benefit of would-be hengefinders, that planetariums are great places to look for Stonehenge replicas, because their designers and builders like to reference mankind’s observation of the stars throughout history and prehistory, and, right or wrong, Stonehenge is understood by many to have been an astronomical observatory. Great justification for science-types to let their mystical side out a little!

The Moscow Planetarium Henge is a  fairly standard planetarium replica, in the precise placement and clean lines of the stones. It is a little stiff and overly uniform, although we must give them credit for noticing the basic shape of the stones, and including not only the inner trilithon horseshoe, but also the bluestones inside it. They did, however, skip the inner bluestone circle, which is a shame. Afraid of tourists tripping over them, perhaps.

Still, we like it overall, an eye-pleasing take on the idea of what Stonehenge may have looked like originally but leaving out a couple of lintels and part of at least one sarsen in order to give visitors easy access to the inner space. Letting people walk around inside it is a plus!

Moscow Planetarium and replica

Score? We award 8½ druids for this lovely bit of sculpture, to which we might give the title Stonehenge as Designed by Steve Jobs. If you go to Moscow, it’s worth a visit!

Before we go, we’ll add a photo of a Russian Stonehenge-building craft set from toy website Igranadom.ru .

Stonehenge craft set

We doubt sets made at home will look like this, but the makers did get a nice result here! Worth 6½ druids, we think. It’s good to know that Russians make Stonehenges just like people do all over the world. Stonehenge replicas make all of us family. This could be the key to world peace! Don’t forget to hug a henger today!

Coming up soon (ha ha jk!) we have an enigmatic Stonehenge replica in Illinois, USA, the new one in Alabama, USA (eventually), some small replicas sent in by readers (Thank you! Send moar!), and eventually another European henge-ish public sculpture. Judging by the number of people who search “How to make a Stonehenge model” and thus find Clonehenge, there won’t be a shortage of things to post on this blog for a very long time to come! Remember, keep your eyes peeled for Stonehenge replicas, and until next time, friends, happy henging!

P. S.: Asking for opinions: should this one be added to the list of large permanent replicas, or is it too small?

James McCormick’s Stonehenge, mentioned in the interview

GUYS! We were on the radio! \o/

Yes, yes, it was back in February, but we haven’t posted it until now, because of reasons. Reasons like, well, we forgot to see if the interview was online. But now we remembered! You can hear just the interview here. Or you can hear the whole show here: CLONEHENDGE . Yes, they spelled it that way. No, we don’t mind, and it’s possible they are pulling our legs (or, as we call them, uprights). Our interview runs from shortly after the 13 minute mark to just after the 25 minute mark on the show.

Peghenge, henge and photo by Felder Rushing

It was fun! Our thanks to peghenge creator, Felder Rushing! And to all, happy henging!

The Ada Stonehenge, aka Gates of Belgrade, photo by paramecijum, used with permission

Welcome back, Gentle Readers! Today our continuing tour of Stonehenge-ish things around the world takes us to the historic and beautiful city of Belgrade. The scene above was taken in a park that is on an island in the Sava River as it flows through the city, the island Ada Ciganlija. The official name of the collective sculptures seen here is the Gates of Belgrade, but they’re sometimes called Stone Town or the Ada Stonehenge. Which is where we come in.

From the Real Housewife of Belgrade, with permission

These sculptures were created by sculptor Ratko Vulanovic. As you can see in this video, he is one of those people you can’t help but love, even if he doesn’t say one word you understand. There is also a wonderful-seeming article here, about him and the Stone Town sculptures he has created, but we have not been able to get a good translation of it. It seems to say that he loved stone from a young age, admiring cyclopean walls and world-famous Stonehenge, that he has a mythic personality, athletic muscles, superhuman strength, a white beard and golden hands. It says he began to process boulders as the ancients did, eventually forming a whole city of stone, but that it looked supernatural and since people are not allowed to compete with the gods, those gods of the lower world took apart his achievement.

This is true. In Niksic, Montenegro, he laboured over a grouping of these sculptures in 1993 near the Palace of King Nicola, as the article puts it, drawing “from the stone wonderful synergy of beauty, rapture and awe” with “hints of stone Empire Luxor, Baalbek, Pompeii, their phantasmagorical streets, squares, colonnades, capitals and portals.” But in 2008, Niksic officials had the sculpture group, called Kameni Grad, or Stone Town, destroyed. Only photographs of that masterpiece remain.

Stone Town, Niksic.

It is not clear to us whether the Gates of Belgrade include any of the stone used in the former sculpture, but many people see it as the new Stone Town. It seems hard to believe, but more than one source suggests that Vulanovic received little or no money for the work. They call it his gift to Belgrade. Meanwhile, vandals have been at work destroying the new sculptures, knocking the stones down some time in 2011. The article that mentions that says that it was hoped that one of the cranes being used to build the beautiful new bridge across the Sava might help Mr. Vulanovic to set the stones back up. We hope it was done!

It says he comes out very early in the morning and washes in the cold fountain, then works all day carving stone and wood. We think it says that when the journalist exclaims that it is -10 degrees C, Vulanovic says, there is no creativity without passion!

Usually we’re funny on this blog, or we try to be, but once in a while we’re awed. This is one of those times. This isn’t a true Stonehenge replica, but we’re glad it was brought to our attention. The research for it took us on a journey of discovery, not all of which we had room for here, discovery of a great artist and of a culture that writes and thinks in grand terms about its great artists. Today we’re grateful to have gotten a glimpse of that man and that world. We won’t award this man any druids. We think he may be one.

Ratko Vulanovic

P.S.: We’re also tracking down stories of a sculptor known for Stonehenge-like sculptures, including one in Zurich. We’ll get to that post somewhere down the line. We have sillier things to share before that. And until next time, dear friends, happy henging!

Sculpture by Lesley-Anne Raven at Cobweb Corner

Greetings to our readers. [heart] [heart] [heart!] We don’t have either of our new large permanent replica posts ready yet, but we wanted to put something up here for Valentine’s Day and look what we found!! THIS!!!! And you may well ask, “What is it?”

On the Stone Henge [sic] page of Cobweb Corner, Ms. Raven includes this among many interesting items she calls  “Stone Henge* inspired incense burners and candleholders”. Here’s another.

What’s that you say? Aren’t these a little on the precious side for Clonehenge? Too cute? Are you wondering if we know the craft person and are getting kickbacks on every item sold? And we say, “No, but thanks—what a great idea! We’ll work on that.” On the other hand, if we ever started making money from Clonehenge, we might have to start actually working at it, and no one would want that, least of all us!

We’re posting this because: A. Our policy is to illustrate all of the ways in which people are reproducing Stonehenge; and B. We were completely at a loss as to how to celebrate Valentine’s Day on Clonehenge until this came along. This chocolate henge looks yummy, but we didn’t ask permissions in time.

We’re not awarding druids for this. We give it five strawberry creams and a ♥! And we accompany it with our words from last Valentine’s Day:

Happy Valentine’s Day to all, with or without a real lover. We all know you singles have your dreams and fantasies. You may be doing as well or better than many who face the challenge of the real thing (our own partner, for example, has us to put up with…).

You know what your Valentine wants: a Stonehenge replica, of course! Make it from biscuits or chocolate candies. Hide that ring and its glittering rock among the stones. There are few things more romantic and at the same time subliminally sexual than that shaft of light streaming in between a pair of uprights! If you make one, send us pictures. Of the henge only, please. There are plenty of sites for those other photos!

Meanwhile, as spring approaches, we have great line up of henges ahead for you. An interview with the amazing Mark Cline (of Foamhenge fame, and who is currently constructing the new Alabama addition to our list of large permanent replicas)  is in the works, and one of our trusty henge-o-racks may be heading over to meet him at the new fibreglass replica to get pictures of him and the henge while it’s being painted!

We have a public sculpture in Zurich to look at, a lovely small quartzite model from Brazil, and another small model that is a pun on the glacier theory of the bluestones (Yes. We get all kinds.), the Serbian sculpture mentioned before, probably some snowhenges, and many other odd and fun things to come! Enjoy your sweetheart tomorrow, or conversely, enjoy being bitter about not having one. Remember, Stonehenge needs love, and until next time, friends, happy henging!

*Stone Henge is one of many common misspellings of Stonehenge, including Stonehedge, Stongehenge, Stoneghenge Stonhenge and others. Each has its adherents, but to find everything about Stonehenge on the internet, one has to search them all.

Just a brief note. The link above leads to a great bit of video about Achill Henge, on the island of Achill, in County Mayo in Ireland. For those who don’t know, this was built surreptitiously by Joe McNamara, possibly to represent the tomb of the Celtic Tiger, the days of Ireland’s great prosperity. Mr. McNamara is the only person we know of to be arrested for henging, and he has since been ordered to take the henge down, so far, apparently, not complying. We have done a number of posts on Achill Henge and the controversy surrounding it. Here is the first: Achill Henge.

Not only does the video contain an interesting discussion of the monument itself, but the video of Achill and the sea around it is stunningly beautiful! If we could manage it, we would organise a Clonehenge tour to Achill!

We hope to have another post up by Valentine’s Day. Wish us luck! And until next time, friends, happy henging!

Peghenge, henge and photo by Felder Rushing

It has been cold here in Clonehenge Central. England has had snow, and the usual rude snow sculptures have shown up in our internet feed. But down in the state of Mississippi, it is warm and lovely, and people can do their gardening—and garden henging—all year long. So it should be no surprise to anyone that the Stonehenge virus has had its way with people there just as it has everywhere else.

Meet Mr. Felder Rushing, native of Mississippi, radio personality, eccentric garden pundit and–henge enthusiast! Last week we were taking a healthful stroll around the Internet just to get the kind of fresh air, sunshine, and exercise you can’t get if you confine yourself to the social networks, when we stumbled on, without crushing it, we might add, the henge you see above. Some might call it a clothespin henge, but Peghenge would be a more familiar usage for most of our readers.

From there one (healthy aerobic) click took us to to his eclectic page of henges, which starts with Stonehenge itself and goes on through Avebury (we approve), a number of familiar Stonehenge replicas, on to his own and a friend’s garden henges, and to Newgrange and the white horses, by which we mean the chalk horses cut into a few English hillsides. No sign of the Uffington, but we’re in a forgiving mood.

James McCormick’s Stonehenge, from Rushing’s website

The picture above is a stone circle in the garden of one of his friends, James McCormick in Starkville, Mississippi. Rather nice, we think! True, there are lintels only in the center, and they’re in a circle, not a horseshoe, but the reference is clear, it is aesthetically pleasing, and we have learned it is astronomically correct. We award this little gardenhenge 5 ½ druids!

And Peghenge? It is tempting to award it a higher score for its outer lintels and the correctly-formed inner horseshoe, but, since this Felder Rushing is a famous gardener, writer, radio personality (his show is called The Gestalt Gardener), and speaker who also has a cottage farm in Shropshire, should we not hold him to a higher standard? Score for the peghenge is also 5 ½ druids! We hope, sir, that this will spur you on to even greater Feats of Henging Glory.*

Meanwhile, our huge staff of researchers, as well as our roomful of idea people and writers, are working on another post from the Deep South. Mark Cline, of Virginia’s Foamhenge fame, has dazzled the henging world with a new creation, a fibreglass Stonehenge in Alabama, rumoured to be guarded by dragons and Chinese warriors! It is new,and information is hard to come by, but we have enough to add it to our list of large permanent replicas.

The other one is a set of Stonehenge-related sculptures on an island in the Serbian city of Belgrade. The research on this one has taken so many turns, involving politics, a formidable sculptor, a soul-stirring sculpture garden that was once behind the prince’s palace and is now destroyed forever, and the like, that we’re having trouble getting the article small enough for posting. But our huge staff is up to any task and will persevere! Meanwhile, this, too has been added to our list of large permanent replicas, bringing the grand number to 75. This is a world of wonders!

And so, dear friends and readers, when you start to despair for the world, think of all of the people out there who shrug off their troubles and in the face of certain disaster decide to build another Stonehenge! The impulse to have a laugh outdistances everything else about human nature. You have to love us. Ish.So, until next time—happy henging!

*Note: We have been prevailed upon by the great Simon Burrow, recent winner of the End-of-the-World Clonehenge Contest, and venerated Hengefinder, among the oldest friends of the blog, etc., to reconsider the Peghenge scoring. So Mr. Rushing’s fine creation is now awarded 6½ druids! Use them well, sir.

Citrus henge, courtesy of champion henger, Simon Burrow

Congratulations to long(est) time friend of the blog, henger and Hengefinder Simon Burrow, for receiving the Grand Prize in the Clonehenge 2012 End of the World Henge Fest and Contest! We had few entries, but all were excellent, and the decision was not easy. In the end it was this entry’s spirit, closely aligned with the Spirit of Clonehenge, that allowed it to break ahead of the pack. In his blog post describing CitrusHenge, Mr. Burrow writes,

“On a very recently discovered and translated Mayan carving it said something like: ‘build a Stonehenge replica out of citrus and the 2012 apocalypse will be averted.’ So we did and it was. Saved that is.”

We think it’s only fair that the henge that saved the world from apocalypse should win the contest! Of course, it has faults. The inner trilithon does not open toward a three-lintel stretch in the outer circle. And, let’s face it, grapefruits don’t work all that well as lintels. We suggest that if our champion continues to grow citrus fruit, he create some molds shaped like megaliths and have the fruit grow into them. Score: 6½ druids! (And that’s only so we can save face, having “picked” it as champion.)

One more note before we go on to the glorious runners up. In his blog post, Mr. Burrows mentions that someone beat him to the idea of a citrus henge (with this remarkable creation) and goes on to say:

“But I am undeterred in my desire for henging glory. Next I’m going to make the extravagant claim that I have created a record number of Henge-like installations. I’m going for the Guinness Book of World Records.” We wish him well, and we suggest he keep an eye on the Henge Collective, his most obvious rivals for the record. (Do NOT click on that link and look at the top post as of January 15, 2013, by Tom McCarthy. N so very SFW!)

Next, the runners up, but first a philosophical story, because we are, you know, a blog with cosmic and spiritual concerns, innit? So a woman walks into a butcher shop, looks at the pork chops, the filet mignon, the beef heart, the tenderloin, the pork roast, and asks “Which piece of meat is the best?” And the butcher says, “Madam, every piece of meat in this shop is the best!” See? Deep.

Well, as it is with the meat in that shop, and, harder to see, the moments of our lives and people on the planet, so it is with henges! Every entry in the contest was in some way the best. (Yes, that’s where we were going with it! Lame-R-Us.)

The runners up are, a) Sammy Glastonbury’s lava lamp henge, which wins Most Beautiful and Creative; and b) Allan Sturm’s large and work-intensive End of the World Dance Party Henge, which wins the Would Win in Any Universe Where Clonehenge Was a Serious Blog Award.

One other henge is worth mentioning in connection with the contest. On Twitter we found a henge that, depending on the actual date of its creation, might have qualified for the contest, an impressive holiday gingerbread henge created by Sort-of kind-of celebrity Greg Jenner. We have seen many of this genre, but this was one of the best:

Gingerbread henge by Greg Jenner and friend

It is very well done. Take a look at the base it is set on. Did someone take pictures of a lawn and cut them up to use for this? The stone proportions are pretty good, the scattering of single and broke stones is nice, and the center trilithon horseshoe is shown, as is befitting a creation by the esteemed Historical Consultant to the CBBC’s Horrible Histories. Score: 7 druids, sir! Well done. You should have submitted…

Sammy Glastonbury’s Lava Lamp Henge

Allan Sturm’s Dance Party Henge (see the Clonehenge Facebook group for construction photos)

So there it is, folks, the promised permanent page announcing the winners. We are impressed at the quality of entries* and want to thank the entrants for making the world more fun and for adding much-needed henges to our infrastructure. As the ancient prophets said, if people built more henges and argued less, peace would at last spread over the world, and all want and anguish would be abolished forever. Probably a very bad translation, but we’re going with it!

We have two new large permanent replicas to add, so we will be back doing regular posts very soon, maybe before the next winter solstice!!! Don’t forget to do the snowhenges and send us pictures. Happy henging!

*Okay, yes, we would have liked to see the Iron Man/My Little Pony mashup henge, but who knows what lies ahead?

Poster from Allan Sturm’s LoveSmack Studios

Greetings, henge lovers everywhere, and a happy solstice to you all from your friends at the Clonehenge blog!

Yes, you read the poster right. It says, “Dance inside a giant to-scale Stonehenge!” Yes, it says other things, too, but we are not the sexism police. We are the Stonehenge replica fandom. Focus! We have before us an exciting henging first–the Stonehenge dance floor!

This is a poster for an End of the World Party. (Apparently at the end of the world, fonts turn into zombies and parts of them begin to fall off. But once again, focus!) The end of the world. Ish. As of this writing, it is 21 December in Europe and Great Britain, but there have been no signs of the world ending. How Stonehenge ties in with the end of the world we’re not sure, either, but who are we to blow against the wind? Let’s see a few of the other pictures posted on the Clonehenge Facebook group recently as the apocalypse approacheth.

Citrus henge, courtesy of champion henger, Simon Burrow

Friend and recent poster on this blog, Simon Burrow, posted this artistic citrus henge two days ago. Mr. Burrow is known for henging with unusual materials and with some frequency. If there were a thing like a henging problem, this henger might be said to have one. BUT there is not! So onward.

Photo posted by Bob Carlson–not sure who did the henging

Ah, the days when Stonehenge was beset by eldritch creatures of the sea! Who wouldn’t want to make a replica of those epic times? Here’s one, a little short on lintels, but impressive nonetheless, posted by the mysterious Bob Carlson. We don’t know much about him, but anyone who henges AND speaks Welsh is all right by us!

A snowhenge, posted by Rufus T. Firefly

And from R. T. Firefly of Henge Collective fame we have this snowhenge from another year. Don’t let that smile fool you–the creature shown here has teeth like a piranha and a temperament to match! If you see one at a henge, turn and run for your life. You have been warned!

miniature Stonehenge garden by Two Green Thumbs Gardens

And, yes, we have posted this last one before, but its popularity never dies–the miniature Stonehenge garden by Janit Calvo at Two Green Thumbs Miniature Garden Center. We include it again because she has furnished the curious with a blog post called How to Make a Miniature Stonehenge Garden for the End of the World. Timely! Briefly. Even better, she mentions us!!!

So there is our solstice/apocalypse post. Another year gone by, another turn of the sun, another special day for henges and hengers. It is also the last day for submissions to our henging contest. If you don’t know how to submit your entries, leave a comment on this post and we’ll answer.

Until next time friends, in this world or the next, happy henging!