The Palace of Fine Arts – San Francisco

Ladies Weeping - Palace of Fine Arts

 

The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco was constructed as a temporary attraction in playing host to the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, The Fair, which opened on February 20, 1915, San Francisco was honoring the discovery of the Pacific Ocean and the completion of the Panama Canal; it was also celebrating its own resurrection after the shattering earthquake and fire of 1906.

 

Those column-top statues of sorrowing (weeping) maidens turned away from prying eyes are using their tears to water the long-gone oaks that originally stood in the planters that they surround.  One story I heard was that the tears were for the dead soldiers (lost love?) of the Panama Canal Zone war.

 

I like the romantic aspects of this.