"Blucifer" aka “Mustang” has been met with critical praise and public scorn, with The Denver Post describing it as “nothing short of a masterpiece,” while a local blogger says it “looks as if it galloped straight out of hell.”

Denver Airport

Denver International Airport (IATA: DEN, ICAO: KDEN, FAA LID: DEN), often called DIA, is, by land size at 53 square miles (140 km²), the largest international airport in the United States, and the third largest international airport in the world after King Fahd International Airport and Montreal-Mirabel International Airport.^[2] Runway 16R/34L is the longest public use runway in the United States.

In 2009, Denver International Airport was the tenth-busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic with 50,167,485 passengers. It was also the fourth-busiest airport in the world by aircraft movements with 606,006 movements.^[3]

The airport is located in northeastern Denver, Colorado, and is operated by the City and County of Denver. Denver International Airport is the busiest and largest airport in the United States without non-stop service to and from Asia, although the airport is actively seeking such flights.^[4] DIA was voted Best Airport in North America by readers of Business Traveler Magazine five years in a row (2005–2009)^[5] and was named “America’s Best Run Airport” by Time in 2002.^[6]

Denver International Airport is the main hub for low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines and commuter carrier Great Lakes Airlines. It is also the second-largest hub for United Airlines (after Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport), as well as a focus city for Southwest Airlines. Since commencing service to Denver in January 2006, Southwest has added over 40 destinations, making Denver its fastest-growing market.

Denver International Airport is the only airport in the United States to have designed and implemented an ISO 14001-certified environmental management system that covers the entire airport.^[7]

Both during construction and after the opening of the airport, Denver International Airport has set aside a portion of its construction and operation budgets for art. Gargoyles hiding in suitcases are present above the exit doors from baggage claim. There are many works of arts that call out Native American themes, and also murals displaying Nazis. The corridor from the Jeppensen Terminal and Concourse A usually contains additional temporary exhibits. Finally a number of different public art works are present in the underground train that links the main terminal with the concourses.

Mustang by New Mexico artist Luis Jiménez was one of the earliest public art commissions for Denver International Airport in 1993. Standing at 32 feet tall and weighing 9,000 pounds, “Mustang” is a blue cast-fiberglass sculpture with red shining eyes located between the inbound and outbound lanes of Peña Boulevard.^[9] Jiménez died in 2006 while creating the sculpture when a portion of it fell on him and severed an artery in his leg. At the time of his death, Jiménez had completed painting the head of the mustang. The sculpture was completed with the help of the artist’s staff, family, and professional race-car painters, Camillo Nuñez and Richard LaVato. Upon completion, the sculpture was sent to California for assembly and then shipped to Denver. “Mustang” was unveiled at DEN on February 11, 2008.^[10]

“Mustang” has received a mixed review from Colorado citizens. Many critics of the sculpture are attempting to have it removed, however the city plans to leave the installation in place for 5 years before making any decisions regarding its future. The controversy over the sculpture has received a great deal of media attention as well with coverage from the local news outlets to The Wall Street Journal, CNN, and The Daily Show.^[11][12]

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

White Horse

The first horseman as depicted in the Bamberg Apocalypse (1000-1020)

I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the seven living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on Conquest.— revelation 6:1-2˄ NIV

The white horse of the apocalyptic four has been argued to represent either evil or righteousness:

As Pestilence

The other three horsemen represent evil, destructive forces, and given the unified way in which all seven are introduced and described, it may be most likely that the first horseman is correspondingly evil. The rider of white horse is often associated with Plague, as the bow is the symbol of Apollo and Artemis, and in Greek stories, illness was thought to be caused by their arrows.^[1][2] The German Stuttgarter Erklärungsbibel casts him as civil war and internal strife. One interpretation—which was held by evangelist Billy Graham—casts the rider of the white horse as the Antichrist, or a representation of false prophets, citing differences between the white horse in Revelation 6 and Jesus on the white Horse in Revelation 19.^[3] In Revelation 19 Jesus has many crowns, but in Revelation 6 the rider has just one.^[4]

As righteous

Irenaeus, an influential Christian theologian of the second century, was among the first to interpret this horseman as Christ himself, his white horse representing the successful spread of the gospel.^[2] Various scholars have since supported this theory, citing the later appearance, in Revelation 19, of Christ mounted on a white horse, appearing as The Word of God. Furthermore, earlier in the New Testament, the Book of Mark indicates that the advance of the gospel may indeed precede and foretell the apocalypse.^[1][2] The color white also tends to represent righteousness in the Bible, and Christ is in other instances portrayed as a conqueror.^[1][2] However, opposing interpretations argue that the first of the four horsemen is probably not the horseman of Revelation 19. They are described in significantly different ways, and Christ’s role as the Lamb who opens the seven seals makes it unlikely that he would also be one of the forces released by the seals.^[1][2]

Besides Christ, the horseman could represent the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was understood to have come upon the Apostles at Pentecost after Jesus’ departure from earth. The appearance of the Lamb in Revelation 5 shows the triumphant arrival of Jesus in heaven, and the white horseman could represent the sending of the Holy Spirit by Jesus and the advance of the gospel of Jesus Christ.^[5]

Red Horse

The second horseman as depicted in a thirteenth-century Apocalypse manuscript

When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a huge sword.— revelation 6:3-4˄ NIV

The rider of the second horse is often taken to represent War. His horse’s color is red. In some translations, the color is specifically a “fiery” red. This color, as well as the rider’s possession of a large sword, suggests blood that is to be spilled on the battlefield.^[2] The second horseman may represent the war of conquest as opposed to civil war that the first horseman brings. The red horse could also be spiritual war brought by Christ. In Matthew 10:34 Jesus states “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” Also, God is referred to as a “consuming fire” twice in Deuteronomy and once in Hebrews; hence a fiery red sword.^[2][6]

Black Horse

The third horseman as depicted in the Angers Apocalypse Tapestry (1372-82)

When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”— revelation 6:5-6˄ NIV

The third horseman rides a black horse and is generally understood as Famine.^[2] The horseman carries a pair of balances or weighing scales, indicating the way that bread would have been weighed during a famine.^[6]

Of the four horsemen, the black horse and its rider are the only ones whose appearance is accompanied by a vocal pronunciation. John hears a voice, unidentified but coming from among the four living creatures, that speaks of the prices of wheat and barley, also saying “and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.” This suggests that the black horse’s famine is to drive up the price of grain but leave oil and wine supplies unaffected. One explanation for this is that grain crops would have been more naturally susceptible to famine years than olive trees and grapevines, which root more deeply;^[2][6] the statement might also suggest a continuing abundance of luxuries for the wealthy while staples such as bread are scarce, though not totally depleted.^[6] Alternatively, the preservation of oil and wine could symbolize the preservation of the Christian faithful, who used oil and wine in their sacraments.^[2]

The third horseman may also reference Daniel 11:38-39 “But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things. Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain.” The scales would represent the worshipping of forces and grain is a focus of both passages.

Pale Horse

The fourth horseman as depicted in the Bamberg Apocalypse (1000-1020)

When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hell was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.— revelation 6:7-8˄ NIV

The fourth and final horseman is named Death. Of all the riders, he is the only one to whom the text itself explicitly gives a name. Still others apply the names “Pestilence”^[7] or “Plague” to this horseman, based on alternative translations of the Bible (such as the Jerusalem Bible). Unlike the other three, he is not described carrying a weapon/object, instead he is followed by Hades. However, illustrations—like those above—commonly depict him carrying a scythe (like the Grim Reaper) or a sword.

The color of Death’s horse is written as khlôros (χλωρóς) in the original Koine Greek, which is often translated as “pale”, though “ashen”, “pale green”, and “yellowish green”^[6] are other possible interpretations. The color suggests the sickly pallor of a corpse.^[2][8] The natural colors of horse coats that could be indicated include dun, palomino, buckskin, or one of several color variants with dilution genes.^{[citation needed]}

The verse beginning “they were given power over the fourth of the earth” may refer solely to Death and Hades, or it may summarize the roles of all four horsemen; scholars disagree on this point.^[1]

Evil Murals

"In Peace and Harmony With Nature"

“In Peace and Harmony With Nature” is on the Georgia Guidestones:

1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature. 2. Guide reproduction wisely – improving fitness and diversity. 3. Unite humanity with a living new language. 4. Rule passion – faith – tradition – and all things with tempered reason. 5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts. 6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court. 7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials. 8. Balance personal rights with social duties. 9. Prize truth – beauty – love – seeking harmony with the infinite. 10.Be not a cancer on the earth – Leave room for nature – Leave room for nature.

Denver’s Anubis

A crew is installing a seven-ton, 26-foot-tall concrete sculpture of an Egyptian god at the airport.

Anubis, a statue with a jackal-head, will be built south of the Jeppesen Terminal.

Although part of the lore of the 9,000-pound “Mustang” is that its creator, Luis Jiménez, was tragically killed while making the piece, Anubis may be even more notorious. He’s the Egyptian god of death and the afterlife.

Anubis (Ancient Greek: Ἄνουβις) is the Greek name^[2] for a jackal-headed god associated with mummification and the afterlife in Egyptian mythology. In the ancient Egyptian language, Anubis is known as Inpu, (variously spelled Anupu, Ienpw etc.).^[3] The oldest known mention of Anubis is in the Old Kingdom pyramid texts, where he is associated with the burial of the Pharaoh.^[4] At this time, Anubis was the most important god of the Dead but he was replaced during the Middle Kingdom by Osiris.^[5]

He takes names in connection with his funerary role, such as He who is upon his mountain, which underscores his importance as a protector of the deceased and their tombs, and the title He who is in the place of embalming, associating him with the process of mummification.^[4] Like many ancient Egyptian deities, Anubis assumes different roles in various contexts, and no public procession in Egypt would be conducted without an Anubis to march at the head.