Praying Hill

“The Corsicans want to see clearly. Freedom must walk by the torch of philosophy. Won't they say that we fear the light?"

All image credits: Tom Martin

According to legend, the Corsican flag’s representation of a Moor’s head has its origins in the 13th century when a young Corsican woman was kidnapped by Moorish slavers. In managing to free her, her fiancé triggered a battle between the two sides as a result of which the Moorish leader Mansour Ben Ismaïl was beheaded. His severed head thus became a symbol of Corsica in remembrance of the victory.

Myth has it that the Moor’s eyes were originally covered; in 1760, General Pasquale Paoli reportedly ordered that the blindfold be raised, stating: “The Corsicans want to see clearly. Freedom must walk by the torch of philosophy. Won't they say that we fear the light?"

Le jardin des curiosités (the garden of curiosities) is a park in Lyon’s 5th arrondissement with a panoramic view of the city from atop the Fourvière hill. In the garden are six sculptures bearing inscriptions that suggest ways to contemplate the “real,” the “absent,” and the “imagined.”