I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
Percy Bysshe Shelley, pub 1818.
OK – a starter for 10 points. We (probably) all know that Shelley was talking about a statue of Ramses II in Egypt, like this one below, fallen on hard times:
But the harder question is: Where is this ancient ruined column situated?
And why is it so ruined?
I would have said Christchurch, but it would have been too obvious. It’s close to some untouched valleys, so possibly near the Town Belt or some other reserve like Ohariu Valley or the proposed Lincolnshire sub-division.
Warm. But, not quite.
Is it at West Wind – the wind farm near Makara? It looks like the ruin of the old post office. No idea why the column is so ruined though.
Part of the command structure of the gun emplacement system at Makara?
David is right – it’s at the former Post Office radio/telegraph receiving station on Quartz hill above Makara. Now intentionally ruined to create a lookout at the Meridian West Wind farm. There used to be a whole village of state housing for the operators and their families nearby – http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19450628.2.23.1
Damn I wish I’d seen this earlier – I have about 100 photos of that particular ruin. I don’t know what it is that makes me love it but I do.