Every Thursday I post a picture or two taken from above or below, and invite you to join in the challenge by posting your own photos with an up or down perspective.

Special thanks go to LadyoftheCakes and Cee Neuner for their entries last week, both perfect examples of looking up.

This week, I am featuring the statue of a very famous person, taken from below.

Yes, it’s Abraham Lincoln.  Capturing this image from below makes him look more serious and imposing than in the side-on view below.

This bronze statue by George Grey Barnard stands in Lincoln Square in Manchester, England.

It was a tribute from the USA to Britain to mark the 100 years of peace that had existed between the two countries since 1814 and the story is that it was originally intended to stand outside the Houses of Parliament in London.  However, not everyone was happy with Barnard’s depiction of Lincoln and, as a result, a more statesmanlike image of the president was sent to London at the end of the First World War.

The decision was taken to erect Barnard’s Lincoln in Manchester, a northern city that had been a very important ally to Lincoln’s Union during the American Civil War. As the largest processor of cotton in the world, Manchester took a strong moral and political stance by choosing to boycott Southern Cotton in protest against the use of slave labour.  Lincoln wrote a letter to the people of Manchester thanking them for their support; parts of this letter are engraved on the pedestal that supports the statue.

To see other entries and to link up your own contribution, please click here.  

Just enter your post’s URL and thumbnail photo to the Linky Tools list and leave a comment below.  I am looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

The list will open each Thursday at 00:01 GMT and will be open for a week.

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