THE LARRINAGA COLLECTION: SEVEN WONDERS OF THE
ANCIENT WORLD
THE RECOVERY STORY
THE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD were triumphs of art and architecture and grand achievements of the human spirit. Today, efforts are being made to replace the six Wonders not with us any more. This would be a travesty of education and enduring knowledge for they did exist in magnificent splendor. Borne in the cradle of modern civilization, they are the holy grail of ancient art and architecture.
Ancient Wonders, INC is a certified non-profit endeavor dedicated to the educational revival of the original Seven Wonders of the World with a mission to expose the intriguing provenance of its supporting artwork.
The Recovery of a Cultural Treasure
March, 2005
Introduction
Through much of recorded time, the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World remain a historically significant teaching. These wondrous monuments have delighted and intrigued the minds of men for centuries.
The following is a summary of an investigation relative to the recovery of what has been described, by experts, as the world's finest presentments of the original Seven Wonders of the World. The artwork, lost for almost 40 years, involves a famous writer and historian from New York, a successful industrialist from Detroit, Michigan and a celebrated artist from Los Angeles, California, each having talents enabling extraordinary career achievements, together weave the creation of this historical and cultural treasure.
The Artist
Mario Larrinaga was born in Los Flores, Mexico during 1895. His mother was a Mexican Indian and his father a Basque sheepherder. Mario's father died early in life. At the age of 10, Mario, his brother and widowed mother migrated to the Los Angeles area. In 1911, Mario began an apprenticeship in a large scenic studio. This was to be the beginning of a long and distinguished career in the field of stage design, special effects and scenic artistry for the theater and motion picture industry. Mario married Isabelle Clark, the girl next door. During the 1920's, she became a Hollywood and Broadway chorus line dancer and, at times, she took minor stand-in parts during the silent movie era. She quit show business and was very successful in Real Estate. As both Mario's and Isabelle's careers flourished, they even owned and lived next door to the famous film star, Judy Garland.
Mario Larrinaga achieved considerable personal fame during the 1930’s and 1940’s when he became one of Hollywood’s most successful scenic artists and art director at three of the major movie studios: Universal, RKO and Warner Bros. Larrinaga worked with such famous directors as Cecil B. De Mille and Douglas Fairbanks. He created the original set designs and backgrounds for dozens of Hollywood films including such classics as King Kong in 1933 and Citizen Kane in 1941. He also gained recognition in New York as an illustrator for The Saturday Evening Post, Vanity Fair and Harper’s Bazaar magazines.
In 1951, after 35 years in which he helped birth the motion picture industry, Mario and Isabelle retired and moved to Taos, New Mexico. There, Mario enjoyed expressing the world around him in paint. In 1960, Mario founded Gallery A, to date, the oldest fine art gallery in New Mexico.
Cinerama
Cinerama was a series of full-length Hollywood movies produced in the mid-1950s to showcase the giant wide screen capabilities of the Cinerama process. The Seven Wonders of the World was the title of the third and most successful production.
Lowell Thomas was contracted by Hollywood’s Warner Corporation to produce and co-direct the Seven Wonders of the World. A man ahead of his time, Thomas was the first roving newscaster, a filmmaker, a radio and TV comentator, and an adventurer who wrote more than fifty books. Early in his career he was commissioned by President Woodrow Wilson to prepare historical records of World War One. Thomas made T.E. Lawrence famous with his exclusive coverage and later with the book With Lawrence in Arabia.
As an introduction to the Cinerama film, Thomas wanted to show his audience images of the illustrious Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Since only one of those was still in existence, the Pyramid of Giza in ruin, and no fine recreations of the other six, it became necessary to hire an artist with special talents to recreate the other six. The co-producer of the Cinerama film, Merian Cooper, had also been the producer of King Kong in 1933 where he had worked with Mario Larrinaga. He knew well of Larrinaga’s artistic reputation and award-winning motion picture artistry. Cooper and Thomas met with Larrinaga in Taos, New Mexico and persuaded him to undertake the recreation of the other six Ancient Wonders. Larrinaga accepted the commission but was later quoted regretting his decision because of the amount of required research. He knew the film was a documentary to be shown world-wide and the images had to be accurate.
For Cinerama, the pyramid was filmed and presented aerially. But much to Larrinaga’s chagrin, some of his paintings had to be compromised to fit the wide-screen theme of Cinerama. Although five of the six monuments under his commission were vertical in construction, he was directed to paint them in a horizontal format. Alterations to accuracy were made on three of the six recreations to better enhance width and visual appeal.
The 1956 Seven Wonders of the World Cinerama production was a huge success and later became the center of film buffs’ restoration efforts. The Larrinaga paintings were photographed by a renowned New York photographic studio of its time, Peter A. Juley & Son. After being photographed, the artwork, painted on glass panels, were destroyed.
The Commission
The F. Jos Lamb Company was a very successful machine tool company located in Detroit, Michigan. The owner, John Rye, was so impressed with the Cinerama depictions of the Seven Ancient Wonders, he formulated a marketing plan to parallel the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World with his modern marvels of high-tech metal cutting machining systems. He met with both Mario Larrinaga and Lowell Thomas in which he posed the proposition of commissioning Larrinaga to paint all seven of the Ancient Wonders. During negotiations, Rye explained how he built his reputation on high-accuracy machining systems and expressed his requirement for accurate depictions of the Seven Wonders.This pleased Larrinaga, for it gave him the opportunity to recreate all seven of the Ancient Wonders based on his laborious research. The commission was accepted with the condition that Larrinaga retain the copyright to the collection. The last of the seven paintings were completed in 1962 in a vertical format.
Shortly after receipt of the paintings, Rye had reproductions made of the collection and gifted them to his board members. Full sets of reduced lithographed prints were included in marketing portfolios and offered to his customer base made-up of Detroit automobile manufacturers: General Motors, Ford Motor, Chrysler and American Motors. On various occasions, the original paintings were put on display during on-site meetings in the company’s boardroom. Sometime in the mid-1960's, the marketing plan was abandoned. The paintings were then individually boxed, sealed and moved to a small locked storage room located in the company’s engineering building.
Lamb portfolio flyer
The Loss
Many years pass as do the memory of the stored paintings. In the mid 1980s, the company owner became embroiled in legal problems and was convicted of tax evasion. Shortly after resolution, he negotiated the sale of the company to a large international corporation and retired to the southwest part of the country.
During this time, Gallery A was investigating the whereabouts of Larrinaga's original collection of the Seven Ancient Wonders. After unsuccessful efforts in Detroit, Michigan, they tracked down one of the senior managers from the company retired and living in California. He relayed his recollection of the original paintings as each being gifted to the industrialist’s board members, all of whom had since retired. In hearing this, Gallery A abandoned any further efforts to locate the collection.
A large number of today’s web sites and publications referring to the Seven Ancient Wonders use a photograph of the Pyramid of Giza and photo picture scans of Larrinaga’s Cinerama paintings. Many times have the viewers of these web sites asked their authors as to the whereabouts of the original paintings. The web authors relay the answer from Larrinaga’s representative gallery, Gallery A, that the one and only original collection was lost many years ago and not recoverable.
The Recovery
Late in 1999, the corporation decided on a major downsizing effort. Most of the company’s facilities were planned to be evacuated and sold. In 2001, the liquidation was in full swing. The building housing the Seven Ancient Wonder paintings was scheduled for renovation. During a management review of the building, a small double-locked storage room was noticed in a dark corner of the mezzanine floor of the building. It was opened for the first time in many years. In addition to the seven boxed paintings, other pieces of artwork were found along with old Polaroid cameras from the 1960s. The storage room was emptied. Ignorant of the find, the contents from this room along with artwork and lobby furniture from other closed facilities were gathered in a central location and offered to senior management. After weeks of review, the Seven Ancient Wonders and five other paintings were left unclaimed. The reviewers noticed the (Ancient Wonder) paintings were attractive and somehow related, but due to the physical size of the collection, the non-neutral subject matter and unflattering green frames, they were passed over.
Early in 2002, the remaining items were offered to mid-management and employees. The Seven Ancient Wonders along with an abstract painting were purchased for inexpensive wall dressing of a newly reconditioned residential finished basement. The new owner of the Wonders accidentally discovered the celebrated reputation of Mario Larrinaga. This later led to the discovery the seven green-framed paintings were the lost original collection of Mario Larrinaga’s Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Post Script
The durability of the Seven Wonder concept continues with the recent Time-Life publication The Seven Wonders of the World. Digital scans from photographs of Larrinaga’s Cinerama paintings continue to be used as reference on internet web sites and TV documentaries. But the Lamb Company, who fostered the Larrinaga collection, has since closed all operations.
Mario Larrinaga served an extensive apprenticeship to creative art. His creativity and execution brought him a number of awards and recognition as a master craftsman in Hollywood and as an independent artist. His many years of practical experience developing techniques and procedures for strictly realistic backgrounds was a necessary requirement to produce the finest recreations of all seven of the Ancient Wonders. Thus, Larrinaga's crowning achievement, The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, are not mechanically projected sterile images but the sparkling products of a rich, inventive mind that combines great artistic sensitivity with a wide range of constructive moods.
It is coincidental the captors of Larrinaga’s 1933 King Kong named their find the Eighth Wonder of the World. After all, the great Kong did have attributes of a Wonder. He was big, exciting and absolutely amazing . . . . . and, as with all Wonders, something that had to be seen.
References and Contributors:
-
Gallery A, Taos, New Mexico
-
F. Jos. Lamb Company marketing portfolio (1962).
-
Retired Lamb Company personnel interviews (2004).
-
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
-
Cinerama production program, Seven Wonders of the World, (1956)
-
Dr. Alaa K. Ashmawy, Dean, American University in Dubai.
-
The Seven Wonders of the World, Time-Life, (2003).
-
The Seven Wonders of the World, Lowell Thomas, (1956) Hanover House
-
Cinerama film Seven Wonders of the World, Stanley Warner Corp., (1956) 10. Communication with Mario Larrinaga relatives.
My wife, Karen, with one of her favorites The Colossus of Rhodes
The Great Pyramid of Giza
Location
At the city of Giza, a necropolis of ancient Memphis, and today part of Greater Cairo, Egypt.
History
A great Ancient Egyptian civilization located off the west bank of the Nile built the great pyramids. They were tombs for their magnificent kings. The great pyramid of Giza is believed to have been built over a 20 year period around the year 2550 BC. The monument was built by the Egyptian pharaoh Khufu of the fourth dynasty, to serve as his tomb where he could start his majestic journey to the afterlife.
Large blocks of stone were cut, transported and placed. The outer casing was made up of dense, smooth white limestone giving the monument the appearance of a huge ceramic monolith. The outer stones were quarried at a location much further than the under-stones. Through the eons of time, the outer stones were removed by conquering armies for their own use.
Throughout their history, the pyramids of Giza have stimulated human imagination. They were referred to as “The Granaries of Joseph” and “The Mountains of Pharaoh”. When Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798, his pride was expressed through his famous quote: “Soldats! Du haut de ces Pyramides, 40 siécles nous contemplent” (Soldiers! From the top of these Pyramids, 40 centuries are looking at us).
Description
When it was built, the Great Pyramid was 145.75m (481 ft) high. Over the years, it lost 10 m (30 ft) off its top. It ranked as the tallest structure on Earth for more than 43centuries, only to be surpassed in height in the nineteenth century AD. The sloping angle of its sides is 51 degrees and 51 minutes. Each side is carefully oriented with one of the cardinal points of the compass, that is, north, south, east, and west. The horizontal cross section of the pyramid is square at any level. with each side measuring 229 m (751 ft) in length. The maximum error between side lengths is astonishingly less than 0.1%.
The structure consists of approximately 2 million blocks of stone, each weighing more than two tons. It has been suggested that there are enough blocks in the three pyramids to build a 3 m (10 ft) high, 0.3 m (1 ft) thick wall around France. The base area covered by the Great pyramid can accommodate St. Peter’s in Rome, the cathedrals of Florence and Milan, and Westminster and St. Paul’s in London combined.
On the north face, is the pyramid’s entrance. A number of corridors, galleries, and escape shafts either led to the King’s burial chamber, or were intended to serve other functions. The King’s chamber is located at the heart of the pyramid, only accessible through the Great Gallery and an ascending corridor. The King’s sarcophagus is made of red granite, as are the interior walls of the King’s Chamber. Most impressive is the sharp-edged stone over the doorway, which is over 3 m (10 ft) long, 2.4 m (8 ft) high and 1.3 m (4 ft) thick. The entire interior stones fit so well, a playing card won’t fit between them. The sarcophagus is only about 1cm smaller in dimensions than the chamber entrance.
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Location
On the east bank of the River Euphrates, about 50km south of Baghdad, Iraq.
History
The Babylonian kingdom flourished. It was not until the reign of Naboplashar (625-605 BC) of the Neo-Babylonian dynasty that the Mesopotamian civilization reached its ultimate glory. His son, Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 BC) is credited for building the legendary Hanging Gardens. It is said that the Gardens were built by Nebuchadnezzar to please his wife who had been brought up in Media and had a passion for lush mountain surroundings.
It wasn’t until the twentieth century that some of the mysteries surrounding the Hanging Gardens were revealed. Archaeologists are still struggling to gather enough evidence before reaching the final conclusions about the location of the Gardens, their irrigation systems, and their true appearance. One of Saddam Hussein’s pet projects was the reconstruction of this ancient wonder on the banks of the Euphrates.
Description
Detailed descriptions of the Gardens come from ancient Greek sources, including the writings of Strabo and Philo of Byzantium. Here are some excerpts from their accounts:“The Garden is quadrangular, and each side is four plethra long. It consists of arched vaults which are located on checkered cube-like foundations… The ascent of the uppermost terrace-roofs is made by a stairway…”
“The Hanging Garden has plants cultivated above ground level, and the roots of the trees are embedded in an upper terrace rather than in the earth. The whole mass is supported on stone columns… Streams of water emerging from elevated sources flow down sloping channels… These waters irrigate the whole garden saturating the roots of the plants and keeping the whole area moist. Hence the grass is permanently green and the leaves of trees grow firmly attached to supple branches… This is a work of art of Royal luxury”.
Most recent archaeological excavations at the ancient city of Babylon in Iraq uncovered the foundation of the palace. Other findings include the Vaulted Building with thick walls and an irrigation well near the southern palace. A group of archaeologists surveyed the area of the southern palace and reconstructed the Vaulted Building as the Hanging Gardens. However, the Greek historian Strabo has stated that the gardens were situated by the River Euphrates. So others argue that the site is too far from the Euphrates to support the theory since the Vaulted Building is several hundreds of meters away. They reconstructed the site of the palace and located the Gardens in the area stretching from the River to the Palace. On the river banks, recently discovered massive walls 25 m thick might have been stepped to form terraces… the ones described in Greek reference.
Statue of Zeus
Location
At the ancient town of Olympia, on the west coast of Greece, about 150 km west of Athens.
History
This is the statue of the god in whose honor the Ancient Olympic games were held. It was located on the land that gave its very name to the Olympics. At the time of the games, wars stopped, and athletes came from Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt and Sicily to celebrate the Olympics and to worship their king of gods: Zeus.
The ancient Greek calendar starts in 776 BC, for the Olympic games are believed to have started that year. The magnificent temple of Zeus was designed by the architect Libon and was built around 450 BC. Under the growing power of ancient Greece, the simple Doric-style temple seemed too mundane, and modifications were needed. The solution: A majestic statue. The Athenian sculptor Pheidias was assigned for the “sacred” task, reminiscent of Michelangelo’s paintings at the Sistine Chapel.
For many years, the temple attracted visitors and worshippers from all over the world. In the second century BC repairs were skillfully made to the aging statue. In the first century AD, the Roman emperor Caligula attempted to transport the statue to Rome, however, his attempt failed. After the emperor Theodosius I banned the Olympic games as a pagan practice in 391 AD, the temple of Zeus was ordered closed.
Description
Pheidias began working on the statue around 460 BC. Years earlier, he had developed a technique to build enormous gold and ivory statues. This was done by erecting a wooden frame on which sheets of metal and ivory were placed to provide the outer covering. Pheidias’ workshop in Olympia still exists, and is coincidentally – or may be not – identical in size and orientation to the temple of Zeus. There, he sculpted and carved the different pieces of the statue before they were assembled in the temple. The statue was so high that visitors described the throne more than Zeus body and features. The legs of the throne were decorated with sphinxes and winged figures of Victory. Greek gods and mythical figures also adorned the scene: Apollo, Artemis, and Niobe’s children.
The Greek Pausanias wrote:“On his head is a sculpted wreath of olive sprays. In his right hand he holds a figure of Victory made from ivory and gold… In his left hand, he holds a scepter inlaid with every kind of metal, with an eagle perched on the scepter. His sandals are made of gold, as is his robe. His garments are carved with animals and with lilies. The throne is decorated with gold, precious stones, ebony, and ivory”.
This wonder is said to be the greatest work in Greek sculpture.
Temple of Artemis
Location
The ancient city of Ephesus near the modern town of Selcuk, about 50 km south of Izmir (Smyma) in Turkey.
History
Although the foundation of the temple dates back to the seventh century BC, the structure that earned a spot in the list of Wonders was built around 550 BC. Referred to as the great marble temple, it was sponsored by the Lydian king Croesus and was designed by the Greek architect Chersiphron. The Temple was decorated with bronze statues sculpted by the most skilled artists of their time: Pheidias, Polycleitus, Kresilas and Phradmon.
The temple served as both a marketplace and a religious institution. For years, the sanctuary was visited by merchants, tourists, artisan and kings who paid homage to the goddess by sharing their profits with her. Recent archeological excavations at the site revealed gifts from pilgrims including statuettes of Artemis made of gold and ivory… earrings, bracelets and necklaces… artifacts from as far as Persia and India.
On the night of 21 July 356 BC a man named Herostratus burned the temple to ground in an attempt to immortalize his name, which he did indeed. Oddly enough, Alexander the Great was born the same night. The historian Plutarch later wrote that the goddess was “too busy taking care of the birth of Alexander to send help to her threatened temple”. When Alexander the Great conquered Asia Minor, he helped rebuild the destroyed temple, but the temple was not restored until after his death in 323 BC.
Description
The foundation of the temple was rectangular in form, similar to most temples at the time. Unlike other sanctuaries, however, the building was made of marble, with a decorated façade overlooking a spacious courtyard. Marble steps surrounding the building platform led to the high terrace which was approximately 80 m (260 ft) by 130 m (430 ft) in plan. The columns were 20 m (60 ft) high with Ionic capitals and carved circular sides. There were 127 columns in total, aligned orthogonally over the whole platform area, except for the central cella or house of the goddess.The temple housed many works of art, including four ancient bronze statues of Amazons sculpted by the finest artists at the time. When St. Paul visited the city, the temple was adorned with golden pillars and silver statuettes, and was decorated with paintings. There is no evidence that a statue of the goddess herself was placed at the center of the sanctuary, but there is no reason not to believe so.
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
Location
In the city of Bodrum (f.k.a. Halicarnassus) on the Aegean Sea, in southwest Turkey.
History
When the Persians expanded their ancient kingdom to include Mesopotamia, Northern India, Syria, Egypt and Asia Minor, the king could not control his vast empire without the help of the local governors or rulers – the Satraps. Like many other provinces, the kingdom of Caria in the western part of Asia Minor (Turkey) was so far from the Persian capital that it was practically autonomous. From 377 to 353 BC, king Maussollos of Caria reigned and moved his capital to Halicarnassus. Nothing is exciting about Maussollos’ life except the construction of his tomb. The project was conceived by his wife and sister Artemisia, and the construction might have started during the king’s lifetime. The Mausoleum was completed around 350 BC, three years after Maussollos’ death, and one year after Artemisia’s. For 16 centuries, the Mausoleum remained in good condition until an earthquake caused some damage to the roof and colonnade. In the early fifteenth century, the Knights of St. John of Malta invaded the region and built a massive crusader castle. When they decided to fortify it in 1494, they used the stones from the Mausoleum. By 1522, almost every block from the Mausoleum had been disassembled and used for construction.
Today, the massive castle still stands in Bodrum, and the polished stone and marble blocks of the Mausoleum can be spotted within the walls of the structure. Some of the sculptures survived and are today on display at the British Museum in London. These include fragment of statues and many slabs of the frieze showing the battle between the Greeks and the Amazons. At the site of the Mausoleum itself, only the foundation remains of the once magnificent Wonder.
Description
The structure was rectangular in plan, with base dimensions of about 40 m (120 ft) by 30 m (100 ft). Overlying the foundation was a stepped podium which sides were decorated with statues. The burial chamber and the sarcophagus of white alabaster decorated with gold were located on the podium and surrounded by Ionic columns. The colonnade supported a pyramid roof, which was in turn decorated with statues. A statue of a chariot pulled by four horses adorned the top of the tomb. The total height of the Mausoleum was 45 m (140 ft).
The beauty of the Mausoleum is not only in the structure itself, but in the decorations and statues that adorned the outside at different levels on the podium and the roof. These were tens of life-size as well as under and over life-size free-standing statues of people, lions, horses and other animals. The statues were carved by four Greek sculptors: Bryaxis, Leochares, Scopas and Timotheus, each responsible for one side. Because the statues were of people and animals, the Mausoleum holds a special place in history as it was not dedicated to the gods of Ancient Greece.
The Colossus of Rhodes
Location
At the entrance of the harbor of the Mediterranean island of Rhodes in Greece.
History
Throughout most of its history, ancient Greece was comprised of city-states which had limited power beyond their boundary. On the small island of Rhodes were three of the these: Ialysos, Kimiros and Lindos. In 408 BC, the cities united to form one territory, with a unified capital, Rhodes. The city thrived commercially and had strong economic ties with their main ally, Ptolemy I Soter of Egypt. In 305 BC, the Antigonids of Macedonia who were also rivals of the Ptolemies, besieged Rhodes in an attempt to break the Rhode-Egyptian alliance. They could never penetrate the city. When a peace agreement was reached in 304 BC, the Antagonids lifted the siege, leaving a wealth of military equipment behind. To celebrate their unity, the Rhodians sold the equipment and used the money to erect an enormous statue of their sun god, Helios.
The construction of the Colossus took 12 years and was finished in 282 BC. For years, the statue stood at the harbor entrance, until a strong earthquake hit Rhodes about 226 BC. The city was badly damaged, and the Colossus was broken at its weakest point – the knee. The Rhodians received an immediate offer from Ptolemy III Eurgetes of Egypt to cover all restoration costs for the toppled monument. However, an oracle was consulted and forbade the re-erection. Ptolemy’s offer was declined.
For almost a millennium, the statue lay broken in ruins. In 654 AD, the Arabs invaded Rhodes. They disassembled the remains of the broken Colossus and sold them to a Jew from Syria. It is said that the fragments had to be transported to Syria on the backs of 900 camels.
Description
The project was commissioned by the Rhodian sculptor Chares of Lindos. To build the statue, his workers cast the outer bronze skin parts. The base was made of white marble, and the feet and ankle of the statue were first fixed. The structure was gradually erected as the bronze form was fortified with an iron and stone framework. When the colossus was finished, it stood about 33 m (110 ft) high.
Legend has it, based on numerous accounts and sketches, the Colossus straddled a body of water thought to be the entrance to the harbor. Knowing the size of the statue, even on top of its marble pedestal, this would be impossible. It is more probable the Colossus straddled the entrance of a pool or tributary adjacent to the main harbor. This could explain the accounts of (small) boats sailing under the Colossus.
LIGHTHOUSE OF ALEXANDRIA
Location
On the ancient island of Pharos, now a promontory within the city of Alexandria in Egypt.
History
Shortly after the death of Alexander the Great, his commander Ptolemy Soter assumed power in Egypt. He had witnessed the founding of Alexandria, and established his capital there. Due to dangerous sailing conditions and flat coastline in the region, the construction of a lighthouse was necessary.
The project was conceived and initiated by Ptolemy Soter around 290 BC, but was completed after his death, during the reign of his son Ptolemy Philadelphus. The monument was dedicated to the Savior Gods: Ptolemy Soter (lit. savior) and his wife Berenice. For centuries, the Lighthouse of Alexandria (occasionally referred to as the Pharos Lighthouse) was used to mark the harbor, using fire at night and reflecting sun rays during the day. It was even shown on Roman coins, just as famous monuments are depicted on currency today.
Description
Of the six vanished Wonders, the Lighthouse of Alexandria was the last to disappear. Therefore we have adequately accurate knowledge of its location and appearance. Ancient accounts such as those by Strabo and Pliny the Elder give us a brief description of the “tower” and the magnificent white marble cover. They tell us how the mysterious mirror could reflect the light tens of kilometers away.
In 1166, an Arab traveler, Abou-Haggag Al-Andaloussi visited the Lighthouse. He documented a wealth of information and gave an accurate description of the structure which helped modern archeologists reconstruct the monument. The total height of the building including the foundation base was about 117 m (384 ft), equivalent to a 40-story modern building. The internal core was used as a shaft to lift the fuel needed for the fire. At the top stage, the mirror reflected sunlight during the day while fire was used during the night. In ancient times, a statue of Poseidon adorned the summit of the building.
Although the Lighthouse of Alexandria did not survive to the present day, it left its influence in various respects. From an architectural standpoint, the monument has been used as a model for many prototypes along the Mediterranean, as far away as Spain. And from a linguistic standpoint, it gave its name – Pharos – to all the lighthouses in the world… Just look up in the dictionary for the French, Italian or Spanish word for lighthouse.
Presented by Ancient Wonders, INC
don7aw@gmail.com
The Story Behind The Story
Back in the fall of 2003, I was invited to present the Larrinaga collection to the College of Architecture at Pennsylvania State University. I made preparations for many more formal exhibits, but later found Penn. State was to be my first and only presentation.
That evening after my presentation, I was invited to dinner as the guest of the Architectural College department head, Doctor Richard Behr and his wife, Judy. During dinner conversation, Judy asked me if I had a philosophical reason as to why I was chosen to own the Larrinaga collection. My answer was “I guess I was just lucky”. A short time later I was surprised when Judy again asked for my thoughts on why I was chosen to own this marvelous collection. I again dismissed the question as “just being in the right place at the right time, I guess”.
Later that night and for weeks afterward, Judy’s question haunted me. Then two months later on Christmas Eve, I found the answer. The following spring, I sat down and penned the attached notes. The following compilation of notes is a truthful account of what really happened. But I have found it to be of interest to only a very few.
Sincerely,
Don
THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY
May, 2004
It seemed to me organized religion was all about money and power. I searched for the Christ ever since I was a small boy but was always overwhelmed with doubt and suspicion. My wife Karen, an unwavering Christian, coaxed me into trying a new church she found. I agreed to attend only for its entertainment value as they had a great orchestra, an excellent chior and a highly skilled orator for a pastor. But Sunday after Sunday, after services, Karen and I would argue, her for Christianity, me against. One Sunday afternoon, we were really deep into a heated argument. I told her there were many logical reasons why Christianity didn’t make any sense. The most glaring ones I listed for her:
Why would God allow his son to come down to save us 2000 years ago when people were one foot out of caves and running around in sandals and blankets? They didn’t even know how to make a safety pin.
-
How could St. Thomas doubt his brothers and sisters on Easter Sunday? These were his closest spiritual buddies. He witnessed the miracles of Jesus during his lifetime, but still didn’t believe.
-
After being selected as the chosen people, witnessed the Passover, manna from heaven, parting of the Red Sea, etc., how could the Jews bring themselves to throw a wild pagan party while Mosses was away on Mt. Sinai?
-
With all the scandals and fraud associated with organized religions, how can any of them be trusted? I've met so many rotten religious people in my lifetime.
-
With the modern mind-bending discoveries of our sub-atomic world and the vastness of our universe, the Christian god seemed much too small. Still seething from the argument, I retired alone to the family room. There, I privately challenged God. I told Him " I very well may be talking to these four f---ing walls but if you are really there and think that I might be worth saving, show me more than what I see”. Still spitting-nails mad, I continued to chide Him... “Look at me as another doubting Thomas, I understand he was there with you, I wasn’t. I hear you came to him and proved yourself and so am I going to need something much more than what I see in order to believe, or else I'll know your nothing but a man-made, money making social crutch."
Now, there are some people who believe in miracles that are based on one or two coincidental events. But it was immediately after this little “prayer” a long string of improbable events unfolded. In fact, it started the very next day, a string of over two dozen coincidental and down right bizarre events, too many to explain in this short writing. But through the Larrinaga collection, I was given not only the answer to my first challenge to Christianity but all five of them.
When I found out the collection was the lost Larrinaga collection and probably very valuable, I decided to use them for an educational business.
In developing a business plan to get the collection exposed, I had to study and research the origins of the Seven Ancient Wonders. In my studies, I was absolutely amazed to find just how advanced the cultures and people were who designed, planned and built these magnificent monuments. Two months after my Penn. State presentation, while attending an evening Christmas Eve service with my wife, a strange thing happened. As I was admiring an ocean of poinsettia flowers surrounding the beautiful Christmas tree, I gazed at the nativity scene. Based on my studies, I thought, “what a perfect time for a Christ child to appear to man”. An instant later, the thoughts of my challenge I made to God and Penn. State's Judy Behr's repeated question came slamming back to me. All those strange events and string of wild coincidences leading to the Larrinaga collection recovery went flashing through my mind like bolts of lightening. The first question of my challenge was answered, in total. I was completely overwhelmed. At the ripe age of 58 years, my life would never be the same again.
A wishful thought on Christmas Eve? Or was the foundation to the answer of my challenge to God being laid way back when a very unlikely marketing idea was developed by a wealthy industrialist from Detroit? Let's face it, there's a closer relationship between a Chevy Corvette car and a jar of peanut butter than there is to a dirty, screaming metal cutting machine and the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. My marketing plan for the collection forced me into learning about the advanced cultures of the ancients, and in doing so, completely eliminated my number one reason for doubting Christianity. Later on, my other reasons also fell through more coincidental and bizarre events.
The Story Behind The Story October, 2007 In His divine methodical way, God answered not only the first but all five of my questions. And not only did He answer them, He made me experience them. In the Spring of 2004, I tried to organize all the bizarre events leading to the discovery of the collection. As the writing had a strong religious bias, I never publicized it. I was afraid I might offend someone, or even worse, brand me as a religious fanatic. Even after my miracle, my selfish plan was that if anyone asked for more Recovery Story details, I would keep them at arms length and offer to email them The Story Behind the Story. After I landed the Penn. State University presentation, my pride had no bounds. I had in my hands what was described to me as the holy grail of ancient art and architecture. I thought I was on my way to being a big-shot lecturer, to be envied by my peers and to use my good fortune as a platform to live-it-up. But, for the next four long years, after many thousands of dollars spent to solicit hundreds of exhibits throughout the country, I found I couldn't buy another presentation, anywhere.
This past summer, I gave up my quest to expose the Larrinaga collection. Far from being a rich man and laid off from work, I decided to sell the paintings. Against Karen's wishes, I contacted six well known auction houses. I was sure all six would be very interested to auction my collection but, for some strange reasons, none of them were interested. These auction houses have been known to auction off comic books but did not want anything to do with the Larrinaga collection. I was dumbfounded over their lack of interest. I knew the collection was valuable. GalleryA offered me a great deal of money for the collection back in 2003, but they went out of business early this year. But maybe, I thought, I'm not to “cash in” on my gift. Maybe I'm supposed to do something special with these paintings.
Well anyway, out of ideas on what to do with the collection, I gave up and did nothing. Then one day, I realized my business plan for the paintings were only to feed my pride and faults. I was so ashamed and told the Christ just how very sorry I was. It was immediately afterward, I received a formal request from the director of one of the most prestigious museums in the world. He asked to exhibit the Larrinaga collection....…all expenses paid. It was so unexpected. After four failed years to show the collection to a few hundred people in this country, this opportunity comes along promising to expose the paintings and the story to tens of thousands of people from all over the world.
Thunder of the Wonders
The Larrinaga collection was used to support a major exhibit on ancient Babylon by The British Museum in London. A cooperative effort by the Museum du Louvre in Paris, the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin and the British Museum, the final four month leg of the exhibit will expire this month in London. I was so fortunate to attend the opening reception with Lords & Ladys, ambassadors and members of parliament in attendance.
In the Story Behind the Story, I claim divine intervention in the form of a miracle, led me to the recovery of this art collection. I'm sure most people will argue that the recovery of this lost collection of art was due to just a long string of lucky coincidental events.
I am 63 years old. I've led a very active life. As a young man, I played baseball, football and hockey, climbed trees and fell out of a few, rode bikes without brakes, rode in cars without brakes. I used to ride motorcycles before helmet laws. In fact, I was hit not once but twice by cars while riding motorcycles. But in all of my 63 years, falling out of trees and bouncing off of cars, I've never experienced a broken bone, not one medical stitch or have I ever been admitted to a hospital for anything.
I am a bottom budget private pilot. During my 17 years of flying, I experienced six life-threatening in-flight events, three due to mechanical failures and three due to weather problems. Let me just breifly describe two of those events. My first mechanical fault happened when I had three of my children with me. Although there is no opportune time for an in-flight problem, we had an engine failure at the most inopportune time: low altitude. There was nothing but big trees and mobile homes under us. I could see a small lake out in front of us but didn't have enough altitude to make it over the trees. But we all walked away with nothing but wet feet.
My first weather fault happened before I got my instrament rating. While flying home from north Chicago, I became inveloped in a snow storm. As a non-instrament rated pilot, I entered what aviators call a death spiral, a total loss of control due to a loss of visual orientation. You may recall some years back, a young upcoming politician by the name of John Kennedy Jr. He was making a short flight in his small airplane with his wife. He was not instrament rated either and during that flight, he became disoriented and entered into a death spiral. I got out of mine, he didn't.
I had four more near-death in-flight events but always walked away unscathed.
I'm a recovering alcoholic. As an alcoholic, I experienced many nasty things associated with alcoholism, one major thing was atomobile accidents. I had many. I remember this one muli-car & truck pile-up I caused. I was driving a new borrowed Chrysler car. It was so mangled they had to drag it onto a flatbed truck to remove it. I had many more accidents. I even busted out a windshield with my head once. But, again, I never broke a bone, received a stitch or was I ever admitted to a hospital; not one DUI either.
I'm telling you all of this to make a point, and that is, I am not a stranger to long runs of lucky coincidences. I can accept my dodging great harm throughout my life as luck. But the events leading to the recovery of the Larrinaga collection was not just a long string of lucky coincidences. How else could the Christ answer all of my questions except through the Larrinaga collection, me being so ignorant of ancient history. I have no doubt whatsoever, that God answered my prayer of demands with a personal, perfect miracle. Yes, perfect because the miracle I received is as intense today as it was on that Christmas Eve night back in 2003. That's why I call it perfect, it doesn't diminish.
Almost 300 years ago, an English slave trader made an abrupt turn to the Christ. He describes his experience through a very famous hymn he wrote called Amazing Grace. Over 3000 years ago, an ancient book was compiled titled The Book of Psalms. One day, I accidentally stumbled on to Psalm #116. I was surprised to to find it was written by a guy just like me. In just 19 lines, he duplicates my experiences and trumpets to the world his receipt of his personal perfect miracle. Could it be God has been gifting personal perfect miracles, for all those who ask, for thousands of years? I find myself as that simple blind beggar in the Bible book of John. God made the man blind from birth through no fault of his, and God kept me from knowing Him for over 50 years at no fault of mine. And like the blind beggar, there are so many things in this world I don't understand. But the one thing we do understand is that we were both blind and now we see. The quest for happiness and acceptance in this fallen world always ends up short, no matter what degree of fame and fortune we attain. For those who are tired of that hollow feeling and had enough of man's spin on religion that muddy the waters of truth, there's a place to go. Get by yourself and, alone, just talk to Him. Ask, or if your mad enough, demand from Him more than what you see. The Christ will wash the mud from your eyes just as He did to the blind beggar 2000 years ago, and to me just a few years ago. (Its a great way to test the theory of atheism.) Don't pass up what He is offering to you. It has extreme value. Its time to make your choice, for the signs of the end-times will be veiled with the pride of man. Ancient Wonders, In the Name of Christ
"I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD AND KNOW MY SHEEP, AND AM KNOWN OF MINE. AND OTHER SHEEP I HAVE, WHICH ARE NOT OF THIS FOLD: THEM ALSO I MUST BRING, AND THEY SHALL HEAR MY VOICE; AND THERE SHALL BE ONE FOLD, AND ONE SHEPHERD."
THE END
|
|
