Julian Cope presents Head Heritage | The Modern Antiquarian Forum

thesweetcheat

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Re: Stonehenge Solstice: is there a risk?

Jul 03, 2010, 12:11

Just been reading a satirical novel called "England, England" by Julian Barnes. It takes the premise of building replicas of England's major tourist sites (Stonehenge included) on the Isle of Wight so that visitors can see all the sites in a small area and not have to bother making the journeys between locations. It also includes a bit of (probably made-up, but possibly not) research, using the Bayeaux Tapestry as an example, that most people are as satisfied with visiting a replica as visiting the "real" thing (it makes lots of points about what is "real" of course). In the case of the Bayeaux Tapestry, visitors see a full size replica before they see the original and many then don't see the need to see the original at all.

Anyway, taking this piece of satire as a guide to the way people really view "heritage", the best alternative is to construct a replica Stonehenge for events, festivals, tourist coaches, etc. You could even build it "complete". This would leave the "real" thing in the preserve of stone-heads, nutty theorists, Channel 4 documentarians and the like, while the tourists and festival-goers happily utilise Stonehenge Mk II.

In reply to:
Stonehenge Solstice: is there a risk? (Littlestone)

Replies:
Re: Stonehenge Solstice: is there a risk? (Littlestone)
Re: Stonehenge Solstice: is there a risk? (BuckyE)

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