Before the building of Nelson's Column there was a an area largely consisting of the royal stables. A square was planned and a commemoration to the Battle of Trafalgar was to be included. One submission was put forward by a Colonel Trench - a pyramid of tiers, each one of them to symbolise a year in the wars with France: it would have reach the same height as St Paul's, a lofty 364ft.
A cross section diagram shows the high of a huge pyramid cemetery planned by Thomas Willson to sit on top of Primrose Hill. The figures in the foremost image reveal its scale. (It may be necessary to click on the image for an enlargement.)
Images from London as it might have been.
3 comments:
http://www.travelgrotto.com/images/Travelogue/Europe/Italy/Rome/rome-pyramid.jpg
You have no doubt, already come across this pyramid which is in Rome, I walked past it once in a quest to find the out-of-the-city tombs of gladiators on the Apennine way, which, if I remember correctly, is a straight road (surprisingly) out to the south of the city.
And indeed we did see various tombs, most memorably a Childs sarcophagus, which had been adapted as a drinking fountain for horses and humans.
The walk dragged on and on into the evening, as each tomb seemed to be not quite good enough to turn back for.
It was only once the tarmac began to run out that we considered turning back. However, a few more paces and we discovered, in the fading light, that beneath the disintegrating dust track was emerging the original Roman black basalt road slabs, with the deep gorges that the wheels of Roman carts and chariots had carved.
It then finally felt fitting to turn back, and with aching feet, we hitched a lift to town, through the great arches of the remarkable defensive walls, and back past the white pyramid, glowing in the tungsten.
I've never been there, but I'd love to see it. Its thought to be the reason that so many pyramids started cropping up in England; young men seeing it on their Grand Tour - seems unlikely that they would have ventured as far as Egypt!
I dont know, i've seen portfolios of etchings by various young grand tour takers showing egypt and morrocco ect. so they certainly ventured that far. It's the uncharacteristic un-egyptian steepness of the pyramids in England that make me think that the grand tour-ers were perhaps more impressed by the Roman pyramid than the egyptian ones. It certainly is very elegantly proportioned. The use of carracalla marble (something that the pyramids at giza have lost) certainly lends them elegance too. i'd have one over my grave, but actually i plan to be buried in the ice in the north pole wearing something inapropriate and embracing my bycycle. next time maybe...
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