Re: Alexander Stirling Calder, created the lyrical Swann Fountain for Logan Circle in 1924
2003.09.05 14:33
I'm not sure if there is some confusion here, but Alexander Stirling Calder is the modern Calder's father. The Swan Fountain is in a classical style. There are three generations of Calder sculptors, and all three are represented along the axis of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, at City Hall, at Logan Circle, and within the Great Hall of the Philadelphia Museum of Art respectively.
In terms of Logan Circle being chosen as the site of the Papal Mass, it might be important to remember that the Roman Catholic Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul has stood at Logan Square (later Logan Circle) since the mid 1800s. Nonetheless, it is interesting that a Pope should one day celebrate Mass at a site that matches the size (in footprint) of Hadrian's Tomb, today's Castel Sant'Angelo, which was once a place of refuge for Popes while Rome was being invaded during the 16th century. [Moreover, in terms of my current interest of merging real Philadelphia with Piranesi's virtual Rome, the presence of the Pope in both 'scenarios' adds significantly to the mix.]
Something fuzzy in the back of my mind is telling me that the architect of the Papal Mass Platform was Bob Bochek(sp?), who was then the city architect at the Department of Public Property. I may be wrong here, however, because I knew (of) Bochek since 1982, and I'm not sure he was in Philadelphia in 1979. In any case, he had an aerial photograph of the Pope celebrating Mass at Logan Circle hanging in his city office in 1983.
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