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Friday, March 09, 2012

Photohunters: Symbolic and Power



I flipped through my photo archives trying to think of a way to combine the two photohunt words: symbolic and power.
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Since I live in Raleigh which is the state capital of North Carolina, I ran across photos I've taken through the years of the State Capitol.
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The capitol can be symbolic of the power of government.
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As the buildings downtown have gotten taller and taller the capitol is somewhat diminished. I guess tall buildings for banks and other commerce could be symbolic of the power of money.
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Note- During the colonial period NC had modest government facilities in Edenton, NC in 1722. When the population of NC shifted, New Bern was selected as the center of power in 1766. Tryon's Palace was built in New Bern between 1767 and 1771 for the Governor as well as state offices. However, during the revolutionary war the government took to the road when New Bern was under attack. Later since the population had move westward the state convention came up with a plan for the current capital in the central part of the state and Raleigh was designed for that purpose.
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The first state house in Raleigh, North Carolina was built in 1796 but it burned down in 1831. The State Capitol in the shots above was built between 1833 and 1840. The fact that a capitol burned down could be symbolic of the power of fire being greater than the power of man.
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The NC state legislature met in the State Capitol from 1840 until 1963 when the legislative building below was completed. Now the Governor has offices in the Capitol but the General Assembly meet in the State legislative building which is a block away from the State Capitol. You don't get an accurate sense of the size of the legislative building from the shot below but it covers a city block.
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Click for the Power Photohunt theme, and or click for the symbolic photohunt theme.

14 comments:

Cezar and Léia said...

Dear Carver, the building is wonderful and I'm delighted by so wonderful sunny day in your pictures!Excellent shots!
Léia

Sue said...

These are great choices for both themes! The building just says here is power! I just went with "power" this week. Happy weekend and happy hunting!

Avory said...

This reminds me I still haven't sent you those photos I took for you when I was walking across the Hill. The fact that Dan and Judith have e-mailed on phone isn't really it b/c I was texting, not e-mailing (I've e-mailed you from it too). But I will upload them to my computer soon and send, I just thought it would be fun to say "here's where I'm walking now, I took pictures for you." Oh well.

Annie said...

A very interesting post and your photos are great. Makes me realize how much NC history I've forgotten from my school days. :)

Have a good weekend and Go Heels!

Anonymous said...

superb take on both themes. the photos are amazing and the history lesson is a bonus.

happy weekend.

Sallie (FullTime-Life.com said...

Amazing the way you come up every week with a perfect way to combine these two themes. (And I am afraid I'd never be able to come up with a good one for either.) That's a lovely capital building. At one time on our RV journeys we hoped to be able to visit every State Capitol, but we didn't too too well on that. You can learn a lot by visiting them.

eastcoastlife said...

That's an impressive capital building. They don't build buildings like this anymore in the USA, do they?

YTSL said...

Hiya Carver --

I've never been to Raleigh but have visited New Bern! So am glad you mentioned it in your post this week. :)

keeyit said...

Flags and capital, yeah very important as symbolic and power of country~

Very match theme this saturday~

Eden said...

Very nice! Thank you for the info you shared.

Mine is up now too. Do come and visit. It's right here: http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/eden/

Gattina said...

Very nice and interesting combination of the themes !

ancient one said...

I love that you used lots of pictures and lots of words to explain them. I learn so much about things I should already know.

Sandi @the WhistleStop Cafe said...

Great choices!
Let's 'play' next weekend at The Saturday PhotoHunt.

ev said...

Wow!thanks for sharing the history of your place. The city looks great.