(photo by viryakala)
A monument in Georgia with instructions in 8 languages on how to re-build a post-apocalyptic society
They’re called the Georgia Guidestones and they actually look like the Ten Commandments. The five 16-feet-tall granite walls overlook a barren knoll in northeastern Georgia, supporting a 25,000-pound capstone. But what’s even more astonishing than their massiveness (four of the five slabs weigh more than 20 tons each!) is what is inscribed on the rock: carved on the polished granite are directions in eight different languages instructing the survivors of a supposed apocalypse on how to properly rebuild society.
The directives are written in Russian, English, Spanish, Babylonian cuneiform, classical Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphics, Sanskrit, Swahili, Hindi, Hebrew and Arabic.
The monument’s origin story is a long and convoluted one and, although no one knows who really commissioned the project and to what intent, the general consensus is that in June of 1979, a man going by the pseudonym Robert C. Christian approached the Elberton Granite Finishing Company representing a “small group of loyal Americans” that were intent on installing a rather complex stone monument. Over four decades later, the details of the commission and the history of the art piece have yet to be fully discovered.
The instructions:
Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
Guide reproduction wisely—improving fitness and diversity.
Unite humanity with a living new language.
Rule passion—faith—tradition—and all things with tempered reason.
Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
Balance personal rights with social duties.
Prize truth—beauty—love—seeking harmony with the infinite.
Be not a cancer on the Earth—Leave room for nature—Leave room for nature.
