Folly
The best
plan is to profit by the folly of others.
Pliny the Elder (23/4
AD-79 AD)
Folly,
from the French folie, is a synonym for foolishness, often involving
poor judgement, or recklessness.
Was it
folly that led to the fashion for constructing decorative but apparently
purposeless buildings?
Follies were frequently built in the grand gardens
of English and French estates.
Some
ancient estates had genuine ruins in their grounds, but others designed their
own, as a romantic expression.
The
fashion for follies began in the 16th century, and by the 18th
century they were extremely popular. They took many forms, including exotic temples,
ruined castles, and other unexpected manifestations. Some, in France for example,
were romantic cottages and mills. Others found their inspiration in landscape
paintings.
Follies
are found across the world, but they are particularly numerous in the United Kingdom,
which has thousands. However, England is known as the country in which more were
built than anywhere else.
Famine Follies
refers to the works built during the 1845-1849 Great Famine of Ireland. In an
effort to provide relief for desperately impoverished people, projects were devised
that would not take work away from existing workers. Famine follies included deliberately
pointless structures like roads which went nowhere, piers built in bogs, and arches
leading to nothing.
While the Famine Follies might appear useless, at the time it did get people working that might otherwise have sat at home brooding and possibly suffering mentally because of that brooding and feeling useless. Some follies, like gazebos etc might even be useful for things like garden parties.
ReplyDeleteI learned about follies by watching British mysteries.
ReplyDeleteThis is making me think about our trip to Europe this summer...will there be enough jet fuel to return home...what folly awaits us fools for planning a trip at the same time the orange shitpile started a war to distract from his illegal behaviour. Yes...I'm a bit bitter. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteI never heard of the famine follies. Sounds like a pointless version of the later wpa, of the Roosevelt administration, which at least provided useful work to save people from starvation.
ReplyDelete