Tag Archives for stonehenge replica

African Stonehenge

african-stonehange

photo from advertisement

We’ve posted Stonehenge replicas from Europe, North America, Asia,  and Oz so far. We’ve had New Zealand, too, but if we’re checking off continents only three are left and we would like to cover them all. Fortunately for us, not far outside of Johannesburg, South Africa, in Parys, Gauteng Province, there is a lodge and conference center called–you guessed it–Stonehenge, and, as the ad says, “As Guests enter Stonehenge, they are greeted by large replication of the celebrated Stonehenge Monument and throughout the complex natural, strategically placed granite plinths reinforce the African Ambience.”

OMG, score! The picture above is the only one we could find, so we don’t know if the ‘replication’ consists of more than two trilithons, but that’s enough for us to count it. They’re actually nice big square trilithons that put us in mind of the Montana Stonehenge, except for that lovely pinkish cast. (We’re waiting for photo permissions, but will get you Montana’s one of these days so you can compare.)

It’s impossible to score this accurately since we don’t know how much more of it there is, but, hey, we’ve never scored accurately before,  so why start now? Score: 6 druids, plus an extra  ∏ for being in Africa! Anyone who can direct us to replicas in Antarctica or South America gets . . . a handwritten note and our eternal gratitude, or something cooler if we can think of it. Get someone on the space station to make a henge and get us the picture and, Wow! We’ll be like BFFs forever! Srsly!!!

Polystyrene Henge and the Topic of Henge Addiction

foam-henge

model and photo by Sarah Denton of the Matchstick Henge Facebook Group

The term is henge addiction, that rare and possibly fatal need to make henges from anything, all the time. The support group for it on Facebook is Matchstick Henge, and while for now its numbers are low, they are bound to increase as awareness reaches the general public.

Of course at Clonehenge we advise caution and we hope people will examine closely the question of whether this is a lifestyle choice or something genetic, born into one’s very nature.  As you can see above, the syndrome can result in some admirable henges, in this case made at home with just a cutting utensil, some polystyrene or styrofoam, glue, matchsticks, paint and cardboard.

Bravo, Sarah, for making something good from life’s challenges! Perhaps we shouldn’t be framing this as a disease to be cured but as a condition which, if handled correctly, could be a boon for all mankind.

Score: 7 druids for this crafty henge. We hope the glue fumes have cleared away by now, Sarah!

Tankhenge, Berlin

01-tankhenge-framing-rieschstaag-berlin-92-rene-menges

photo by Rene Menges, reblogged from Edgecentral

From the pleasure gardens of Thailand we go to post-Wall Berlin and the notorious Tankhenge built by the Mutoid Waste Company from German Panzers. Here you see it framing the Reichstag in 1992.

It is a striking piece of art more than it is a Stonehenge replica but we include it as many  Stonehenge replica lists have done before us. The Mutoid Waste Company, as Edgecentral says, is known for “mutating the refuse of modern culture into the Marvelous.” They seem to have a fondness for henges made of machines, and we’ll post their Planehenge somewhere down the line.

This is an exciting piece of guerilla sculpture, but we can’t bring ourselves to score it with druids. This henge scores 7 hunks of the Berlin Wall!

Nong Nooch Henge, Thailand

nong-nooch-foto

We’ve been slowing down lately, posting just one henge per day most days, but this feels like a two henge day, so it’s off to the naughty tourist spot of Pattaya, Thailand and the incredible Nong Nooch Gardens, where stands this sensationally situated pseudo-Stonehenge (ah, the peculiar pleasures accompanying alliteration!).

Lest you, as we did, mistake this for a tiny model henge like those at Cockington Green Gardens or Babbacombe Model Village (yet to come in this blog, possibly right around Christmas), check out the picture below, in which elephants giving tourist rides give some perspective:

nong_nooch_30

Every picture of these gardens gives the impression of a fantasy land. Work, money and imagination must have come together in a perfect storm of creation. We don’t know why Stonehenge was chosen as one of their conceits, but it works for us. Score: 7 druids for this OTT portrayal of our favourite pile of stones!

(Permission pending for the top photo, from a website that combines the Italian language with something about tourism in Tonga. ?! Don’t ask us!)

Share

Sconehenge

cover1

The perfect convergence of shape and name make the lowly scone a favoured choice of henge material. Zazzle.com advertises a poster of a sconehenge, complete with ancient gingerbread Flintstone ( NOT one of the F4J, we trust!), and a search for sconehenge on Google yields bakeries, a bed and breakfast and actual scone henges of varying degrees of complexity.

The one pictured above was made virtually–a quick look reveals the same scone being used in different positions. Still, it makes a nice cover for this album by Celtic musical group Carnival of Souls. Few scone henges we’ve seen have the benefit of a landscape background and we think it takes this one up a notch.

We will try to separate our rating of this henge from the group’s inclusion of the song Queen of Argyll, written by Andy M. Stewart with whom we shared a few ales back in the days when he toured with Silly Wizard. Ah, fun times and a great song!

Score: 6 druids for the henge of scone!

Odessa Henge, Texas Rocks!

odessa

photo by Texas Bob, with permission

When you talk about Stonehenge in Texas you have to specify which one. There are two–that is, two that are well-known–in the Lone Star State: one of stone and one we’ll get to another day. The Odessa Stonehenge, shown above, seems to us the nicer of the two.

Built in 2004 of limestone slabs, the monument is truer to the original than many and great care was taken in aligning it. As this article says, “The replica is across the street from society’s monuments of Home Depot, OfficeMax and Starbucks.”  Note the Texas flag waving behind the stones.

More nice pictures of Odessa’s Stonehenge can be seen here (winter comes even to Texas) and here (as does the moody dusk). While its proportions are a little off and the replacement of one slab with two detracts from the look a little, this is a remarkably impressive monument to be stuck in suburban America.  Some replica builders could learn much from it. Score: 8 druids!

Cheesehenge

cheesehenge

photo by Scott Weichert

As we insinuated in an earlier post, cheesehenges may be the most numerous Stonehenge replicas on the web. Virtual cheesehenges abound on Youtube, seemingly because it’s an exercise used for teaching a computer language called Maya 8.5.

Scott Weichert’s picture above appears to have been made with real cheese, but in fact no cheeses were harmed in the making of this henge. Images of cheese were plugged into a dramatically enhanced picture of Stonehenge. Still, we like the picture and it’s a good example of a Swiss cheesehenge, Swiss inexplicably being the most popular kind of cheese with which to build a henge.

How to score what is really a sample of a type? The person who made this did use Stonehenge,and we like the inclusion of the bump on top of one stone lacking a lintel. Not everyone knows that the lintels were kept in place with tongue and groove joints and it is always a nice touch. Score: 7 druids for this surreal photo. Keep on henging that cheese, people!

Cockington Green Stonehenge

cockington-green1

photo by Julie Anderson

Today it’s off to Canberra in Australia and Cockington Green Gardens, beds planted around crafted miniature buildings that portray places around the world, with the original section based on Great Britain. And you can’t have Great Britain without a Stonehenge replica, in this case complete with tiny tourists. (It must be a view of the past. When were tourists last permitted to wander among the stones?)

It’s a fascinating little replica, with its disproportionally tall and slender stones. Clearly the attempt is to portray Stonehenge as it now stands with some stones fallen. The tiny people seem to get moved around. Every picture we’ve seen shows them posed differently. The interesting thing here is seeing Stonehenge portrayed as a part of England and not as the timeless, placeless array of stones most replicas try to depict.

The nearby hedges certainly dampen the effect (one website calls it Stonehedge), but we allow for the fact that everything is more difficult to do in the southern hemisphere because it has to be done upside-down. We award 7 druids to the Stonehenge that could easily be crushed by a dwarf!

Carhenge, little henge on the prairie

carhenge

photo by Rich Koele, used by permission

Out in the Nebraska prairie one weekend in 1987 this mighty, prototypically American monument was raised by Jim Reinders and members of his family attending a reunion. Celebrated in news stories and in many elements of pop culture, it may be the best known of all the Stonehenge replicas. It certainly stands as a brilliant example of the Clonehenge principle: there is a human imperative to build Stonehenge replicas of anything vaguely resembling the original’s sarsen stones.

Unlike some builders of henges, Mr. Reinders had some knowledge of Stonehenge and did go to the trouble of duplicating features such as the heelstone, the inner trilithons, and the slaughter stone (Aubrey holes are still being placed). That and the grey paint used to protect the cars from rust give this henge a surprisingly authentic look considering the materials used. (This is unlike Cadillac Ranch, which is just a row of cars dug part way into the ground.)

carhenge-model

Click around the official Carhenge website, and you can see pictures of Carhenge in many weathers and from many angles, plus the picture above, of a model Carhenge brilliantly made by ten year old Ryan Ceason of Farmington, MN, entirely from pictures without ever seeing the monument, for a social studies project on landmarks. We couldn’t resist asking permission to post this replica of a replica of Stonehenge, and we’re grateful to his mom, Mara, for getting back to us. It’s a Clonehenge to the second power!

Many thanks to Hallie Widner of the Carhenge website, to Rich Koele, and to the model maker and family. We score Carhenge itself a solid 8 ½ druids, and to the model of Carhenge we award 9 1962 Cadillacs!

Here it is on Google Street View. Not very clear, but it’s there!

And, sent in by friend of the blog David Raven, a Nebraska show’s video about Carhenge, with a little history.

Soaphenge

soaphenge

photo by mj*laflaca on Flickr

One of the commoner substances used for home henges is soap. (It doesn’t rival cheese, but that’s a subject for a time when we’re less hungry.) The sign on this example says, “Thanks for making the pilgrimage to soaphenge to celebrate summer solstice with us! Peace be with you.” We checked the website of this soap company, but this display seems to have been the whim of the moment rather than a company policy. No sign of Stonehenge on that site.

We will post more good soaphenges if they’re offered. It’s hardly fair to score this, since it seems to have been off the cuff. Taking into account the little soap chips for stones and the fallen uprights, we’ll give it six druids for demonstrating the spirit of Clonehenge–how people just can’t resist building a trilithon!