EMBLEMS OF LOVE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 21, 25 January 1936, Page 3 (Supplement)

EMBLEMS OF LOVE.

WOMEN'S MONUMENTS. THE GLORIOUS TAJ MAHAL. • (By LILT S. KRUG.) i Why are comparatively so few monuJ nients erected to women, is an interest- - ing question. Is it injustice, or are ? there so few women in the world who . have deserved a monument? Or does ' the world believe that women's modesty 1 will not allow personal distinction? 2 What are the usual motives for which j monuments are built ? People of all . nations like to distinguish their famous J fellowmen, particularly after their death, as frequently during lifetime they * do not recognise their greatness. How ' often well-known poets and painters ( have starved to death! A nation honours its leaders, poets and . other outstanding persons and the sov- . ereign favours his brave generals and glorious subjects with a monument, i However, already m ancient times [ women, too, were glorified by memorials, i Let us recall those of the vestal virgins, the priestesses of virtue and the Holy Flame in the Roman Empire or that of the mother of the cruel Emperor Nero. Most of the women's monuments are emblems of love, the original sphere of womanhood; others are memorials by their surviving husbands, while 6ome will remind us of women's bravery and sacrifices offered to their beloved country. Many female monuments represent the wives of rulers or great women sovereigns who proved equal to or even surpassed their male colleagues in ability to govern a country, for example Queen Elizabeth, Maria Theresa of Austria and both Katharines of Russia. In spite of the scarcity of women's monuments in the world, it is a woman who possesses the greatest number on earth, namely Queen Victoria, whose monuments are found in all five continents. We often notice female figures used as a symbol on triumphal columns or national monuments, as the statue of Liberty in the harbour of New York, or the Niederwald monument in Germany at a lovely spot on the Rhine. Statues of Bronze. Also cities are often personified by

h female figures. At la Place de la Concorde in Paris several citizens are represented by female statues of bronze, simi--1 lar in thought to the Berolina, the proi tecting goddess of Berlin. Sometimes n nations are symbolised also by female s figures,' for instance France by her Mari- ,, anne and Japan by the goddess of the i Sun to whom this country attributes all 1 her existence. (It is amazing that only . in German and Japanese the sun is r thought of as female. In all other i modern languages the sun is male.) In northern European countries strong 1 war goddesses, the mythological Wali kuren, are frequently found on war t monuments. The brave Jeane d'Arc . often personifies in France the goddess - of war. Some nations used to erect monuments to their women who sacri- > ficed life and reputation to benefit their country, such as Edith Cavill and "Petite Gabriele," whose monuments I saw in . Brussels. The National Boer Monument in Bloemfontein, South Africa, is another women's monument which tells us the story of about 26,000 Boer women who lost their lives in the South African War. Also in South Africa at Port Elizabeth, above the harbour, near the lighthouse in a lovely environment is erected a plain pyramid of bricks as the memorial to Elizabeth Lady Duncan, the ; Governor's wife, who died in the spring of her life. The inscription reads: "To the memory of the most perfect human being who has given her name to the city below"; most impressive and beautiful words with which a loving husband could honour his wife. Last Wish Fulfilled. Finally we owe to a woman oae of the most marvellous of the seven wonders of the world, the Taj Mahal, in Agra, in India, a fairy tale of love and art and a noble symmetry of shape and lines. The tomb which Emperor Shah Jehan has given to his favourite wife, the handsome Empress Muntaz, seems in its beauty not to be of this world. To it is due his reputation: "Shah Jehan, the great architect." He was disconsolate after the Empress' early death and wanted to fulfil her last wish, "to build a tomb more gorgeous than the world had ever seen before." No plan artists made for the last resting place of his beloved wife satisfied him until he found a Turkish sculptor who designed the present Taj Mahal. He charged him with the building of the tomb and gave him and his assistants a princely reward. Twenty thousand workers were and after 48 vears this archi-

' enlistea, ana anur yeais ttiguitectural wonder was created. One has to see the splendid specimen of marble and jewels before one can comprehend its glory. From all parts of the world quantities of gold, jade, onyx, diamonds, turquoise, rubies, emeralds and other precious stones were ordered, of which the hundreds of the gracious flower designs consist. The white, sparkling marble dome in its lovely, quiet lines ornamented with four minarets is more than beautiful, with its background of dark green trees in the park. The three-inch marble trellis which surrounds the sarcophagus of the Empress and the Emperor is carved like the fragrant laces for which Brussels is well known. I have seen all seven wonders of the world, but none has affected me as much as the Taj Mahal in its almost superhuman splendour, seen by bright moonlight. It tells us a tale of love, culture, taste, as well as Indian extravagance and cruelty. After the tomb wa6 completed Shah Jehan ordered that the architect's eyes should be put out so that he could never reproduce or excel this miracle of art.