The Temple of Modern Philosophy in the Jean-Jacques Rousseau park at Ermenonville is a famous 18th-century French folly, left unfinished on purpose. More information on this page in English. -- Myrabella (talk)
Info Deliberate ruins a full part of follies. Moreover, please note that this one is not "in ruins", but "unfinished". An important point here is that it has a philosophical intent, beyond its picturesque aspect and ornemental use. It was often the case for 18th century follies. One can read in en:Folly#Follies in 18th Century French and English Gardens: "The temple of philosophy at Ermenonville, left unfinished, symbolized that knowledge would never be complete, while the temple of modern virtues at Stowe was deliberately ruined, to show the decay of contemporary morals." Do you feel the difference? --Myrabella (talk) 12:44, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I understand the intended difference. Was the philosophy temple, in original state, designed to look like an active bulding site, not decayed?
I guess that most deliberate ruins don't have all necessary remainders of a complete building, but would reveal under investigation that they were never completed. And that therefore the difference in the ideas is hardly visible in the objects.
The inspiration was the temple of the Sibyl in Tivoli (a view). In Ermenonville, some roughly shaped stones are put on the ground in reserve to continue the temple; and there is a Latin inscription saying "Quis hoc perficiet?" (“who will complete this?”) --Myrabella (talk) 01:15, 4 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
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