Lewis | September 3, 2015 | 0 Comments
Every now and then, we love to bring you interesting articles from the worlds of landscaping, construction and architecture in this blog. We feel it complements news about us, our services and our multiple blog series very well.
Recently, an article concerning the demolition and re-construction of an entire Swedish city was covered on this blog. Before that, we published infrequent posts about renowned architect Sir David Chipperfield, a sustainable building the Saharan desert and even the possibility of London becoming a National Park!
However, we feel this latest development tops the lot.
Especially if you’re a fan of Lord of the Rings…
Whether you’re familiar with J.R.R. Tolkien’s groundbreaking novels, or Peter Jackson’s film adaptations of them, or even both, the news that a group of architects are attempting to ‘crowd-fund’ the construction of Minas Tirith should excite you!
In both the novels and the films, Minas Tirith is a fictional city and castle. It is depicted in the featured photo for this article, in the form of a matchstick sculpture (thank you Foter.com!). Look familiar? It played a pivotal role in the final instalment The Return of the King. It is the setting of the biggest battle in the franchise.
As you can imagine, or even relate to, it is a setting that stays in the mindset of Lord of the Rings fandom all over the world. Therefore, the idea of a lifesize replica of the city in the South of England should excite an indeterminate number of people!
Naturally, such a project will be expensive. That is why this group of architects estimate that almost £2bn will have to be raised to pay for the land, labour and the materials.
This may seem absolutely ridiculous, especially considering they are currently within a 60-day limit to raise the money. But contrary to what I thought when I found the article on The Telegraph, it is not a hoax, a publicity stunt or the like. It is genuine. It has been touted to be completed by 2023.
Jonathan Wilson, the leader of the campaign, stressed that his team “of architects and structural engineers…are passionate about creating a beautiful, inspirational and fully-functioning replica” of Minas Tirith.
This may excite many, including myself and I’m not the biggest fan! However, please don’t get too ahead of yourself before you start planning a visit to the South of England. After eleven days of the 60 they have been allocated to raise the astronomical funds, the total sat at a mere £400.
But who knows? There are days left!
Oakleigh Manor Limited are a multi-disciplinary company specialising in providing all outdoor needs under one roof, for all size and styles of external spaces. Our expertise has led us to numerous national awards, but what fuels us every day is the ethos we adopt: to create unique, bespoke projects. You can see perfect examples of these by looking at our Garden Maintenance webpage.
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Photo credit: <a href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/edenpictures/9303512933/”>edenpictures</a> / <a href=”http://foter.com/”>Foter</a> / <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/”>CC BY</a>