I love the art that remains from ancient times, but never more than when it is in the open and partially covered by nature. The way people so long ago mirrored nature in creative works, and the continuity of living trees and flowers living around the ruins today seems beautiful to me. It is not that I long for a time gone by, I don’t. Even the name ruins shows we understand all highly developed cultures fall eventually. Through weakness, fate, or the random collection of errors, nothing escapes this transformation. And so the ruins inspire a vague fear along side the pleasure of their beauty. Still, I love being transported away from the “now” of me, into the timelessness of human worship, power and creativity.
Why do you think we love looking at ancient art and artifacts?
Please leave a comment to share your thoughts.
J.J.Brown Author Blog 
2 responses to “Nature of Ruins”
Hi Sophia,
The Native American museum downtown I’m thinking, but even there the artifacts are not in a natural setting. No part of our city remains untouched, to see what came before us here.
I’ll have to look closer I think, thanks for raising the question.
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I think you very eloquently describe why I like looking at artifacts, too! However, most of the artifacts I have seen were in museums. And unfortunately, I can’t even recall seeing any artifacts in their natural setting. Perhaps I need to travel more. NYC is a city full of contemporary structures, and I don’t know if there are any natural artifacts here. What do you think?
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