Thursday, September 12, 2013

Manhole Covers

Silent streets have many things to say.
~Mehmet Murat ildan


When you are the opposite of indifferent, you even find something as utilitarian as manhole covers interesting. Here we have covers from the U.S., Germany, Japan, and Norway. Japanese manhole covers are so impressive that there are even two books about them. There's also a book about ones in NYC.

Manhole cover, McCloud, California
photo by Bruce Fingerhood

Manhole in the city of Freiburg, Germany
photo by RuckSack Kruemel

Osaka, Japan manhole cover
photo by Tomohisa Suna

Manhole cover, Trondheim, Norway
photo by Elizabeth B. Thomsen

Seattle manhole cover
photo by Wayne Noffsinger

Manhole cover in Fuchu City, Japan
photo by Elena Gurzhiy

Manhole cover in Bergen, Norway

Lady's Slipper Manhole Cover in Minneapolis
photo by jpellgen

Manhole cover in Cologne, Germany
photo by R/DV/RS

Hiroshima manhole cover
photo by Metro Centric

Yokohama, Japan
photo by Paul Downey


3 comments:

HWY said...

Yes, it costs less to produce a plain, straightforward, utilitarian cover, but these examples prove that going that extra bit to make them beautiful or interesting shows that our species can rise above the mundane. We can make art everywhere.

Linda B said...

We met someone a long time ago who collected old manhole covers. Aren't they beautiful? Thanks for sharing these, Tabatha.

Tara @ A Teaching Life said...

Works of art!