Some artwork is just so anachronistic that my eye twitched when I came upon this very different artwork.
The history dates back to 1989 when there was an old railroad trestle that passed through here. When the demolition crew hit this particular one, it refused to crumble and so they left it behind. And a few years later, South Carolina artist and muralist Richard Lane arrived and thought it looked like an Egyptian obelisk. And so in 1993, he decided to paint a mural on the structure depicting Ra, the Egyptian sun god, along with various symbols and hieroglyphs.
Some of the symbols translate to the titles of Beatles songs "Here Comes the Sun" and "All You Need is Love." Underneath Ra's throne is a scarab, which in mythology rolled the sun across the sky. If you stand at the base of the obelisk on a sunny day, the light from the sun will create a glow above Ra's head, which means the scarab is working.
In 2004, the obelisk became the centerpiece of a "pocket park" with benches around it as well as a sidewalk leading up to it. In October of 2018, artists Jeff Donovan and Georgia Lake matched colors, aligned symbols, and repainted the mural of Ra keeping true to the work of Richard Lane.
There isn't much parking nearby but I found a spot to leave the car for a few while I checked it out. Enjoy!
[Review 14757 overall, 258 of 2021, number 795 in South Carolina.] read more