Chasing Statues Continued

After being unable to locate Miss Electra, I sent an email to Alabama Power Co. about where she was located.  They went out and checked and told me she was still on top of the building and that flags there may have obscured her.

We had a meeting at Liberty Park this morning and once we finished, we headed to downtown again to take a picture of Miss Electra.  But wait!  My daughter suggested adding the statue of Nike at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens.  So we made a detour for lunch at Oak Hill in Homewood and then headed to the Gardens.

One of the first sculptures you see is this fountain.  Had it been warm here today instead of the 50's, kids would have been playing in it!

Near the fountains is the Crane Statue and Reflecting Pool.

According to Simple English Wiki:


Nike is the goddess of victory in Greek mythology. She was the daughter of Styx and Pallas and the sister of Cratos, Bia, and Zelus. Nike and her brothers and sister were all friends of Zeus.
Nike could run very fast, had wings and brings good luck. She is usually worshipped at the same time as Athena. Nike is often linked with sport, with companies named for her like Nike Inc. A picture of Nike also appears in all the medals for the Summer Olympics. Her Roman name is Victoria.

Here's the Nike statue at the Botanical Gardens:

David's comment?  "I don't see any shoes here."

I love roses, so we headed off for the rose garden where we also found "Last Dance."  So strange looking.  Almost the same from every angle.

Off to the Southern Living Gardens!  Here we found a pond statue.  Her name is Echo.  Not sure about the frog's name!

One of the side gardens had a small pond with an unnamed statue.  We named her snake charmer!

This next one I took "JUST BECAUSE!"

On the way out of the Gardens, we met two lovely ladies from Louisiana.  They'd been to Bluegrass Underground in McMinnville, TN.  We're going to have to check that place out!

OK, back to the reason all this got started!  On to Downtown Birmingham.  Here in all her glory is Miss Electra!

Here's the "story" of Miss Electra and Vulcan!

"Miss Electra" has lightning bolts for hair and no clothes. Her sculptor named her "Divinity of Light" in 1926, but the less-stuffy Miss Electra was adopted by locals, and the name stuck. Electra stands on tiptoes 20 stories above ground, on the roof of the Alabama Power Building. She appears to be ready to either hurl electricity into downtown or to fry any Birmingham evil-doer with a bolt from the blue. 23 feet tall, yet she is the smallest of the city's three mythical giants, trailing the replica Statue of Liberty (36 feet) and Vulcan the Iron Man (56 feet). Electra is butt naked, like Vulcan, but her lofty perch keeps gawkers at a respectful distance. "

Part of the story goes that Miss Electra and Vulcan loved each other, but Miss Liberty loved Vulcan, too.  It was all unrequited love.  Miss Liberty eventually was moved away from the area, but now Vulcan and Miss Electra can look at each other every day!

Catch us down the road!

Jenny :)