A Palace on the Port

Strolling along the Marina district trying to get our first glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge, which we did, but it was enshrouded in fog, we happened upon the Palace of Fine Arts. Never heard of it. Never knew it was here. But looking back away from the Bridge I spotted this giant domey thing just begging by its sheer size and grand architecture to be visited.

The Palace of Fine Arts opens up as you wander through it. Built around an artificial lagoon, its truly humungous Corinthian columns rise all around you topped by giant statuary:
some looked like gods
ancient heroes
four women standing around a giant block atop one column all looking in and bending over. I suggested they looked like they were crying, but Chris thought they were all checking their social media on their smartphones.

The Palace of Fine Arts was built in 1915 for an Expo in San Francisco. Having an expo in the middle of World War I is an interesting idea and a question for another time. I understand the Palace was one of ten Palaces for the Exhibition, the only one still standing . Apparently San Franciscans loved it so much that they set up a Palace of Fine Arts Preservation Society which clearly won the day. Because here it still stands, waiting to be discovered by a couple of Novocastrians looking for a giant bridge.

Its architecture, based on ancient Roman and Greek styles, is called Beaux Arts. No, I didn't know that the moment I saw it, as in "Ah Chris, notice this fine rotunda with interesting relief on the cupola in the Beaux Arts style". "Why I do declare you're right Stuart." I looked it up in Wiki. One of the original architects, Bernard Maybeck, came to our aid after we left as we were dry and parched and hungry, so headed off into a nice little establishment called Maybecks, with a stunning copper bar, for a beer and chips.
You can take the Aussie out of Australia but - - - -もっと詳しく