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Rock Gate Park
Coral Castle (original name: Rock Gate Park) is a limestone architectural structure designed in Homestead, Florida by Edward Leedskalnin, a Latvian national amateur sculptor from the United States. The structure consists of large blocks of stone worked and carved in the form of walls, large tables and chairs, bas-reliefs and a large tower. Since 1984 it is a monument included in the US National Register of Historic Places. The two-story castle where Ed Leedskalnin lived, seen from outside the megalithic enclosure; in the foreground and fenced, a stone quarry used by Leedskalnin According to the biography of Joe Bullard, Leedskalnin, at the age of 26, was left by 16-year-old girlfriend Agnes Scuff the day before her wedding. To the disappointment, the young Latvian would have developed the idea of building a castle to impress his beloved, a purpose which was then realized with the construction of Coral Castle, but which did not obtain the success hoped for with the woman. The structure, originally known as Rock Gate Park, was built over a period of 28 years. Leedskalnin maintained a strict reserve about his work and the techniques used to lay the blocks. This secrecy, the sculptor's references to the knowledge of the constructive secrets of the pyramids, the addition of short autograph writings such as Magnetic Current, in which Leedskalnin condenses his scientifically heterodox ideas about electromagnetism and which contain the diagram of a perpetual motion machine, they are all elements that have fed over time a whirlwind of imaginative hypotheses about the methods of construction, such as the use of unknown natural forces or the aforementioned machine. The aura of mystery and the history of Agnes have contributed, in any case, to making Coral Castle a popular tourist attraction. After the author's death, the castle was inherited by a nephew who ceded it to an Illinois family in 1953. In 1981, the work of Leedskalnin was acquired by Coral Castle Inc., which gave it its current name and turned it into a museum. Coral Castle consists of a squat two-storey square tower, placed at the corner of a garden surrounded by megalithic walls that houses other structures and objects: a solar quadrant, a "telescope" pointing to the North Star, an obelisk, a well, a barbecue, a fountain, sculptures with the shape of stars and planets, tables that reproduce the profile of the Earth or Florida, rocking chairs that can swing in the shape of a crescent moon, stone beds and a throne. The whole structure is made of large blocks of stone joined together without using mortar. The stone used is oolithic limestone called coral stone. The work presents some noteworthy accomplishments also from the engineering point of view as a rotating door weighing 9 tons so well balanced that it can be operated by the slight pressure of a finger. The perfect balance had been obtained by Leedskalnin by placing the monolith on a truck bearing, on which a metal bar pivoted, by means of a hole, along the vertical axis of the door. The "mystery" of the door was unveiled in 1986 when the mechanism ceased to function for the first time due to the rusting of the metal bearing, forcing the owners of the museum to request the intervention of a team of engineers for the restoration. A number engraved on a stone of Coral Castle, considered by some to be related to the theories of its creator, is actually identical to the "immigration number" assigned to Leedskalnin and frequently exhibited outside. Another circular device containing 16 magnets, often also related to theories, is probably a simple dynamo. The third album by the English singer Billy Idol (Whiplash Smile, (1986) contains the single Sweet Sixteen, the lyrics of the song - whose video was shot at Coral Castle.
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