A passion for pigeons is a worldwide phenomenon with a long history.
Some of you know that I am one of those people whith that passion.
Not only do I like pigeons I actually keep a few of them in a pigeon home at my house. In this former post you can read the story about how this pigeon thing started.
The photos of today’s post show that once up on a time lots more people loved pigeons, they even build beautiful houses for them! This little history lesson came to me via DarkRoastedBlend
First pigeon towers were built in ancient Egypt, and today pigeon houses can be found all over Europe and even in North America, although in these cases the birds are kept as a hobby or for racing.
So now and then you still see these terracotta-colored pigeon towers in the Iranian landscape. In the 16th century there were thousands of these buildings. They were built to collect the droppings as fertilizer for melon and cucumber fields… However, in modern times chemically produced fertilizers have drastically reduced the viability of the bird guano industry and as a result not many of these structures have survived to the present day. The droppings were also used in the process of tanning leather.
In England they are known as dovecotes or columbaria, from the Latin name of the pigeon family. English dovecotes were connected with a large estate or manor and were a symbol of status – the greater the land of the estate, the bigger the structure could be.
Pigeon Tower near Bruges, Belgium (15th century)
Sometimes you still see wooden pigeon houses in a small village in the
The Netherlands.
Jennifer // Nov 8, 2009 at 06:14
That’s fascinating Marion as pigeons often get such a bad press. Only last week a friend had a racing pigeon in her garage and took two days to catch it. It’s not the first time it’s happened so she knows to get in touch with a local pigeon fancier so that he can read the number and send it south on the first available lorry. She says that many of them are kept in converted garages and when they get tired they are very happy to settle down regardless of her car.
Pigeons in the art // Nov 3, 2010 at 13:15
[...] I am one of the few people who like pigeons. Not only do I like pigeons, I even keep 24 of them! Once upon a time it all started with a homer pigeon who losts it way and did not want to leave. Want to know more? Please click here or here. [...]