During the lecture on Wednesday Claire Turner told us about
one of the first exotic animals that they decided to bring into Belle Vue
Gardens, Maharajah the elephant – “The Elephant who walked to Manchester” a
book by David Barnaby explains the whole story of how the famous elephant made
it to Belle Vue Gardens. I was astonished to discover that the elephant
skeleton I had seen only a few weeks prior to this in Manchester museum was
that of the very same elephant. It touched me to know that this well-known elephant
has his spot in history, and that whilst Belle Vue is no longer a functional attraction
it still has elements spread through-out Manchester whilst most people pass
unknowingly.
On Friday the 21st March Manchester Histories
Festival will be releasing a digital map of the locations of items from the
Belle Vue collections. This is something I am eager to see as I feel it will
demonstrate how wide spread Belle Vue products are demonstrating how far it has
dispersed. I believe it is also an opportunity for people to share their stories
of the park and reminisce on a previous time. This inspires me knowing that old
historic items like that are mixed in between the modern day. It’s like the idea
of colour mixing with black and white on the same canvas.
Images sourced from (Top) Flickr: Chetham's Library (Bottom) bbc.co.uk
Images sourced from (Top) Flickr: Chetham's Library (Bottom) bbc.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment