THE LARGEST CARVING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20167, 8 June 1928, Page 12

THE LARGEST CARVING

AMERICAN MONUMENT WHOLE SIDE OF PRECIPICE USED SAN.FRANCISCO, May 24. The equestrian figure of Genera] Robert E. Lee, the great Confederate American soldier, in base relief on a sheer precipice more than 400 ft. high, on Stone Mountain, Georgia, is the first of a central group which will form the largest carving in history. From the top of, the general ’s head to the hoofs of~ f ‘ Traveller, ” his horse, is 130 ft., and from the tip ci the horse’s ears to his tail 175 ft. The carving w’ould cover the side of a building a city block in length and nine storeys high. The Great Sphinx of Egypt, if placed on General Lee’s shoulder, 'zould conceal only part of his head. It is intended that this gigantic piece of sculpture shall be done in three parts: First, equestrian figures of Jefferson Davis, General Lee and General Jackson; second, directly behind the leaders, two colour-bearers and six other generals to be chosen by the historical societies of the South; third, the marching army, so designed as to give the picture of thousands of marching soldiers. To this idea of carving the mountain into a gigantic panorama has been added the conception of a great memorial hall in the solid rock at the base of the monument. This -will be dedicated to the women of the South, and will include a museum, a great lagoon or reflection pool, a facade of colossal columns with an inscription in six languages: “To the valour of the Southern soldiers. The hall will be larger than the famous tombs of the second cataract of the Nile, and larger than most of the world’s natural caves. It is expected that the monument will outlast the ravages of time. Geologists estimate that this mountain erodes at the rate of a quarter of an inch in a thousand years.