Vann Tower frieze, Virginia Union University
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Image Details
- Source:
- Flickr
- Collection:
- Ronnie Pitman
- Date:
- 2018-01-22 12:32:21
- Region:
-
Richmond, Virginia
(inherited from collection) - Description:
- Picture this: You are Leopold II, King of Belgium. It is the 1870s and you have claimed a large land area of Africa as your own private property. In 1885 this land area, 76 times larger than Belgium, was formally recognized by 14 European countries and the United States as the Congo Free State, though being Leopold's personally held nation, there was nothing free about it. In fact his dominion over the land and its people was so murderous and exploitative that in 1908 Leopold was forced to cede the Congo Free State to the Belgian government, at which time the name was changed to Belgian Congo. The basis of subsequent Belgian rule was threefold: "state," i.e. to benefit the Belgian nation; "missioniary," to serve the interests of the Catholic church; and, "private company," i.e. capitalist benefit to private companies. Naturally the Congolese eventually revolted and in 1960 they gained independence. In the midst of this colonial endeavor, in 1941, the Belgiain government found itself with a building in New York (from the 1939 World's Fair) that it could not could not dismantle and repatriate to Belgium because it was itself also now a country occupied by foreigners. This building, complete with a frieze supposedly celebrating African peoples subjugated by Belgium, was given to an American university (Virginia Union University) composed almost entirely of African-American students. This frieze is in two sections at the base of the tower pictured here: www.flickr.com/photos/pitmanra/24954446917/in/dateposted-... 37º33'46" N, 77º26'59" W Details of the frieze: sculpted bas-relief in ceramic sandstone. This frieze is believed to be the largest bas-relief executed in ceramic since the Archers of the Palace of Darius I at Suse, Persia, which dates to 510 B.C.
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- License:
- CC BY-NC 2.0
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