27 July 2014 ~ Golden Gate Park Statues

Listening to:  Oh, Rose ~ Prom

I wondered around a portion of Golden Gate Park and took several statue photos.

This statue of Robert Emmet was donated and dedicated in 1919. He was hanged and beheaded in Thomas Street, Dublin, and the last person to receive this barbaric sentence from a British court. Only 4 statues honoring him exist: San Francisco, Washington DC, Dublin, Ireland and Emmetsburg, Iowa.

A fountain in honor of philanthropist Phoebe Hearst.

This Francis Scott Key monument was built in 1888. The Star-Spangled Banner was not the national anthem of the United States, yet, as it did not achieve that distinction until 1931.

Before 1931, other songs served as the hymns of American officialdom. "Hail, Columbia" served this purpose at official functions for most of the 19th century. "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", whose melody is identical to "God Save the Queen", the British national anthem, also served as a de facto anthem.

The Goethe-Schiller Monument is replicated after the original from Wiemar, Germany, honoring perhaps the two most revered figures in German literature. Dedication of the monument in Golden Gate Park took place in August 1901.

The Beethoven statue was created by Henry Baerer and includes a heroic size head of the great German composer on top of a granite column, at the base of which is a life-size draped female figure who holds a lyre.

Giuseppe Verdi was an Italian composer primarily known for his operas.