My World: Circle of Animals

Back to Hermann Park and Ai Weiwei's Circle of Animals.

You might remember from last week that Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads
is Ai Weiwei's re-creation on an oversized scale of the traditional zodiac sculptures
that once adorned the fabled fountain at Yuanming Yuan outside Beijing.


Designed by two European Jesuits in the 18th century the original animal heads surrounding the fountain-clock of Yuanming Yuan spouted water every two hours. In 1860, French and British troops raided Yuanming Yuan, and the heads were looted. To date only seven of the legendary 12 heads have been recovered; the location of the remaining five is still unknown.

The Circle of Animals overlooks McGovern Lake in Hermann Park.

Each head, without the pedestal, measures at least 4 feet in length.

The Horse

The Goat, The Monkey, The Pig and The Dog

The Rooster

You might remember Ai Weiwei, Chinese artist, architect and social activist,

 from the 2008 Olympics in China.

He designed the famous Bird's Nest. 

Because he is a critic of censorship and human rights violations, he has been in prison, tortured and is currently on a heavily restricted travel visa.

That made siting this exhibition difficult.

Google maps helped save the day!

The exhibition will move on to Princeton University 

and then to the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C.

Thank you to the Our World hosts.

Wishing you WELL and a JOY filled week. 

(P.S. I'm having back problems. Not nice since I had back surgery in 2003. Sitting at the computer is difficult. I'll see you when I can.)