A Tomb Fit For A King

What does one look like? Here's the design chosen for the tomb of the recently-recovered body of Richard III:



Here's the tomb of another, not quite a king but a truly great figure in English royalty: Edward "The Black Prince" of Wales.

8 comments:

DL Sly said...

Gotta say, while the top one looks "stately and nice", Edward's looks more befitting a King of the realm.
Yanno, imho.
0>;~]

Grim said...

That's how it struck me as well.

DL Sly said...

I wonder if the reason for the choice of plain stone is because we no longer look upon death as the friend at the end of a long journey as we once did. We fear death now and to be forced to look upon it, somehow, offends our "civilized" sensibilities.
I don't know. but I'd much rather look upon the visage of Prince Edward cast in gold than a cold stone box.

Eric Blair said...

Well, he was hardly going to get an effigy like the Black Prince. I'm not even sure that effigys were still the style in 1485.

Still, it's better than an unmarked grave, no?

Grim said...

I aspire to no better than an unmarked grave, myself. Scatter my ashes on the mountains I loved, and I will rest as well as in any hallowed ground.

DL Sly said...

Please don't misunderstand my comment to demean what they are doing. I honor their choice for how they want to remember their king. I was simply pixelating my opinion of the differences.

raven said...

I do not think it stately, but cold and modernist. Richard would have hated it, or been baffled by it.

douglas said...

It looks like something designed to satisfy the requirements a committee came up with that ended up being too broad in some ways and too narrow in others. If you can't celebrate the man, and can't express negative feelings, you get a plain stone block with a few 'tasteful' details.

I wish people would understand how dramatically requirements can affect a design.