E.B.'s entry, Oct. '06

[ElectricBadger]

The photo is entitled Empires. It encompasses the Place de la Revolution, a spot which is a nexus of many beginnings and endings. It was the location in which Louis XVI was beheaded during the French Revolution. This was a beginning of a new era of freedom and humanism, and the beginning of the end of monarchic tyranny. During the Revolution, it held the famous guillotines -- a rather grisly ending for thousands. It was later renamed the Place de la Concorde during the restoration monarchy, an end to excesses of civil leadership and a new beginning. The obelisk now present as a marker was originally from Luxor, a necropolis from a long vanished empire, and in the background is a triumphal arch, signifying the end of a successful Napoleonic campaign, and the beginning of a new rule in freed territories.