Not only just any dinosaur. As you quietly walk without bothering anyone on one of your morning ballades in the city magique, suddenly it appears -- not out of the corner of your eye, but smack flat across your entire vision field -- a life-size replica of the scarily famous Tyrannosaurus-Rex. Certainly more frightening when it was full of fleas (fleas?), teeth and fur, but now just lying in state in the most beautiful of locations, on the bank of the river Seine, in Paris.
The massive chrome skeleton is the work of French artist Philippe Pasqua, and has become a must-see of the museum-city, along with the original Statue of Liberty that stands erected down the river at another bridge. Not quite as popular as the Eiffel Tower, but still. Constructed of 350 bones made of chrome reflecting the light and water in a silver finish, the sculpture is an effort to add contemporary art along the river by its owner.
The work of art is sitting, or rather spread, on the landing dock of the boat company that offers river trips to tourists, Les Bateaux-Mouches. The 21-by-12-foot animal is an exact copy of what we know the beast to have been, one of the most documented animal of the Upper Cretaceous period, setting us back about 67 million years. T-Rex means tyrant lizard and the unfriendly carnivore had a bite force presumed to have been the strongest of the terrestrial animals. Charming.
But we know all that thanks to Jurassic Park, the movies. Always a favorite with children, this one is now admired by all ages alike. And even though the dinosaur was only living in what is now western North America, it found its way to Paris!
Check out the impressive photographs here.