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History of Norham Castle
For 450 years Norham Castle, first built in the 12th century, was one of the great English strongholds along the river Tweed, a barrier against the Scots. The Scots besieged it nine times, capturing it on four occasions. The remains of the impressive great tower still reveal signs of many building phases between the 12th and 16th centuries.
Norham Castle, dominated by its great tower, stands in a commanding defensive position beside the river Tweed
Norham’s founder was Ranulph Flambard, Bishop of Durham from 1099 until 1128. In the medieval period the Bishops of Durham enjoyed near-kingly powers, in return for enforcing order along the English–Scottish border.
The region could be wild and lawless, and sometimes erupted into open conflict. In wartime Norham’s English garrison defended the Tweed fords, an easy crossing point into England. Together with the nearby castles of Berwick and Wark, Norham was an essential part of the defences of the eastern border.
The importance of Norham was illustrated when Henry II ordered Hugh du Puiset, who became Bishop of Durham in 1153, to rebuild the castle. This Bishop Puiset did on a grand scale, erecting the great tower on the site of Flambard’s original two-storey hall to provide high-status accommodation.
Between 1208 and 1212 King John also spent large sums on the castle. Its strength was demonstrated in 1215 when Alexander II of Scotland besieged Norham for 40 days, but failed to take it. Peace between England and Scotland was signed at Norham in 1219, and lasted along the border for most of the 13th century.
The most noteworthy event in Norham’s history took place in May 1291, when Bishop Anthony Beck entertained Edward I (r.1272–1307) and his advisers at the castle while the king arbitrated between 13 competitors for the Scottish throne (a process known as the Great Cause).
Judgment was made in favour of John Baliol in 1292 at Berwick Castle, and three days later Baliol paid homage to Edward in the hall at Norham.
Edward I’s subsequent claims of overlordship over Scotland precipitated prolonged warfare in the borders. The Scots besieged Norham unsuccessfully in 1318, 1319 and 1322, and eventually took it in 1327, but it was restored to the bishop the following year.
Thereafter Norham benefited from a period of relative peace, before it was besieged by James IV of Scotland in 1497 in support of Perkin Warbeck, a pretender to the English throne. The castle resisted attack for two weeks before an English army relieved it.
Much more significant damage was done in 1513 when James IV invaded with a large army, and this time captured Norham after a short siege. In less than three weeks Norham was restored to the Bishop of Durham after the English defeated the Scots at the Battle of Flodden nearby. But the ferocious Scots bombardment had resulted in great damage.
Such was Norham’s importance that rebuilding began almost immediately, this time to transform the castle into a powerful artillery fortress. English military engineers made alterations so that the garrison could return fire with great force from covered positions. They rebuilt the wall to the outer ward, encasing its lower courses in earth to provide strength and absorb incoming shot, constructed gun towers and incorporated arched gun positions.
The castle was maintained for most of the century, but in 1596 Elizabeth I refused to spend any money on it, and after the union of the English and Scots crowns in 1605 it slowly fell to decay. The ruins then passed through many hands until 1923, when they were placed in the care of the state.
English Heritage
History of Norham Castle
For 450 years Norham Castle, first built in the 12th century, was one of the great English strongholds along the river Tweed, a barrier against the Scots. The Scots besieged it nine times, capturing it on four occasions. The remains of the impressive great tower still reveal signs of many building phases between the 12th and 16th centuries.
Norham Castle, dominated by its great tower, stands in a commanding defensive position beside the river Tweed
Norham’s founder was Ranulph Flambard, Bishop of Durham from 1099 until 1128. In the medieval period the Bishops of Durham enjoyed near-kingly powers, in return for enforcing order along the English–Scottish border.
The region could be wild and lawless, and sometimes erupted into open conflict. In wartime Norham’s English garrison defended the Tweed fords, an easy crossing point into England. Together with the nearby castles of Berwick and Wark, Norham was an essential part of the defences of the eastern border.
The importance of Norham was illustrated when Henry II ordered Hugh du Puiset, who became Bishop of Durham in 1153, to rebuild the castle. This Bishop Puiset did on a grand scale, erecting the great tower on the site of Flambard’s original two-storey hall to provide high-status accommodation.
Between 1208 and 1212 King John also spent large sums on the castle. Its strength was demonstrated in 1215 when Alexander II of Scotland besieged Norham for 40 days, but failed to take it. Peace between England and Scotland was signed at Norham in 1219, and lasted along the border for most of the 13th century.
The most noteworthy event in Norham’s history took place in May 1291, when Bishop Anthony Beck entertained Edward I (r.1272–1307) and his advisers at the castle while the king arbitrated between 13 competitors for the Scottish throne (a process known as the Great Cause).
Judgment was made in favour of John Baliol in 1292 at Berwick Castle, and three days later Baliol paid homage to Edward in the hall at Norham.
Edward I’s subsequent claims of overlordship over Scotland precipitated prolonged warfare in the borders. The Scots besieged Norham unsuccessfully in 1318, 1319 and 1322, and eventually took it in 1327, but it was restored to the bishop the following year.
Thereafter Norham benefited from a period of relative peace, before it was besieged by James IV of Scotland in 1497 in support of Perkin Warbeck, a pretender to the English throne. The castle resisted attack for two weeks before an English army relieved it.
Much more significant damage was done in 1513 when James IV invaded with a large army, and this time captured Norham after a short siege. In less than three weeks Norham was restored to the Bishop of Durham after the English defeated the Scots at the Battle of Flodden nearby. But the ferocious Scots bombardment had resulted in great damage.
Such was Norham’s importance that rebuilding began almost immediately, this time to transform the castle into a powerful artillery fortress. English military engineers made alterations so that the garrison could return fire with great force from covered positions. They rebuilt the wall to the outer ward, encasing its lower courses in earth to provide strength and absorb incoming shot, constructed gun towers and incorporated arched gun positions.
The castle was maintained for most of the century, but in 1596 Elizabeth I refused to spend any money on it, and after the union of the English and Scots crowns in 1605 it slowly fell to decay. The ruins then passed through many hands until 1923, when they were placed in the care of the state.
English Heritage
History of Norham Castle
For 450 years Norham Castle, first built in the 12th century, was one of the great English strongholds along the river Tweed, a barrier against the Scots. The Scots besieged it nine times, capturing it on four occasions. The remains of the impressive great tower still reveal signs of many building phases between the 12th and 16th centuries.
Norham Castle, dominated by its great tower, stands in a commanding defensive position beside the river Tweed
Norham’s founder was Ranulph Flambard, Bishop of Durham from 1099 until 1128. In the medieval period the Bishops of Durham enjoyed near-kingly powers, in return for enforcing order along the English–Scottish border.
The region could be wild and lawless, and sometimes erupted into open conflict. In wartime Norham’s English garrison defended the Tweed fords, an easy crossing point into England. Together with the nearby castles of Berwick and Wark, Norham was an essential part of the defences of the eastern border.
The importance of Norham was illustrated when Henry II ordered Hugh du Puiset, who became Bishop of Durham in 1153, to rebuild the castle. This Bishop Puiset did on a grand scale, erecting the great tower on the site of Flambard’s original two-storey hall to provide high-status accommodation.
Between 1208 and 1212 King John also spent large sums on the castle. Its strength was demonstrated in 1215 when Alexander II of Scotland besieged Norham for 40 days, but failed to take it. Peace between England and Scotland was signed at Norham in 1219, and lasted along the border for most of the 13th century.
The most noteworthy event in Norham’s history took place in May 1291, when Bishop Anthony Beck entertained Edward I (r.1272–1307) and his advisers at the castle while the king arbitrated between 13 competitors for the Scottish throne (a process known as the Great Cause).
Judgment was made in favour of John Baliol in 1292 at Berwick Castle, and three days later Baliol paid homage to Edward in the hall at Norham.
Edward I’s subsequent claims of overlordship over Scotland precipitated prolonged warfare in the borders. The Scots besieged Norham unsuccessfully in 1318, 1319 and 1322, and eventually took it in 1327, but it was restored to the bishop the following year.
Thereafter Norham benefited from a period of relative peace, before it was besieged by James IV of Scotland in 1497 in support of Perkin Warbeck, a pretender to the English throne. The castle resisted attack for two weeks before an English army relieved it.
Much more significant damage was done in 1513 when James IV invaded with a large army, and this time captured Norham after a short siege. In less than three weeks Norham was restored to the Bishop of Durham after the English defeated the Scots at the Battle of Flodden nearby. But the ferocious Scots bombardment had resulted in great damage.
Such was Norham’s importance that rebuilding began almost immediately, this time to transform the castle into a powerful artillery fortress. English military engineers made alterations so that the garrison could return fire with great force from covered positions. They rebuilt the wall to the outer ward, encasing its lower courses in earth to provide strength and absorb incoming shot, constructed gun towers and incorporated arched gun positions.
The castle was maintained for most of the century, but in 1596 Elizabeth I refused to spend any money on it, and after the union of the English and Scots crowns in 1605 it slowly fell to decay. The ruins then passed through many hands until 1923, when they were placed in the care of the state.
English Heritage
History of Norham Castle
For 450 years Norham Castle, first built in the 12th century, was one of the great English strongholds along the river Tweed, a barrier against the Scots. The Scots besieged it nine times, capturing it on four occasions. The remains of the impressive great tower still reveal signs of many building phases between the 12th and 16th centuries.
Norham Castle, dominated by its great tower, stands in a commanding defensive position beside the river Tweed
Norham’s founder was Ranulph Flambard, Bishop of Durham from 1099 until 1128. In the medieval period the Bishops of Durham enjoyed near-kingly powers, in return for enforcing order along the English–Scottish border.
The region could be wild and lawless, and sometimes erupted into open conflict. In wartime Norham’s English garrison defended the Tweed fords, an easy crossing point into England. Together with the nearby castles of Berwick and Wark, Norham was an essential part of the defences of the eastern border.
The importance of Norham was illustrated when Henry II ordered Hugh du Puiset, who became Bishop of Durham in 1153, to rebuild the castle. This Bishop Puiset did on a grand scale, erecting the great tower on the site of Flambard’s original two-storey hall to provide high-status accommodation.
Between 1208 and 1212 King John also spent large sums on the castle. Its strength was demonstrated in 1215 when Alexander II of Scotland besieged Norham for 40 days, but failed to take it. Peace between England and Scotland was signed at Norham in 1219, and lasted along the border for most of the 13th century.
The most noteworthy event in Norham’s history took place in May 1291, when Bishop Anthony Beck entertained Edward I (r.1272–1307) and his advisers at the castle while the king arbitrated between 13 competitors for the Scottish throne (a process known as the Great Cause).
Judgment was made in favour of John Baliol in 1292 at Berwick Castle, and three days later Baliol paid homage to Edward in the hall at Norham.
Edward I’s subsequent claims of overlordship over Scotland precipitated prolonged warfare in the borders. The Scots besieged Norham unsuccessfully in 1318, 1319 and 1322, and eventually took it in 1327, but it was restored to the bishop the following year.
Thereafter Norham benefited from a period of relative peace, before it was besieged by James IV of Scotland in 1497 in support of Perkin Warbeck, a pretender to the English throne. The castle resisted attack for two weeks before an English army relieved it.
Much more significant damage was done in 1513 when James IV invaded with a large army, and this time captured Norham after a short siege. In less than three weeks Norham was restored to the Bishop of Durham after the English defeated the Scots at the Battle of Flodden nearby. But the ferocious Scots bombardment had resulted in great damage.
Such was Norham’s importance that rebuilding began almost immediately, this time to transform the castle into a powerful artillery fortress. English military engineers made alterations so that the garrison could return fire with great force from covered positions. They rebuilt the wall to the outer ward, encasing its lower courses in earth to provide strength and absorb incoming shot, constructed gun towers and incorporated arched gun positions.
The castle was maintained for most of the century, but in 1596 Elizabeth I refused to spend any money on it, and after the union of the English and Scots crowns in 1605 it slowly fell to decay. The ruins then passed through many hands until 1923, when they were placed in the care of the state.
English Heritage
History of Norham Castle
For 450 years Norham Castle, first built in the 12th century, was one of the great English strongholds along the river Tweed, a barrier against the Scots. The Scots besieged it nine times, capturing it on four occasions. The remains of the impressive great tower still reveal signs of many building phases between the 12th and 16th centuries.
Norham Castle, dominated by its great tower, stands in a commanding defensive position beside the river Tweed
Norham’s founder was Ranulph Flambard, Bishop of Durham from 1099 until 1128. In the medieval period the Bishops of Durham enjoyed near-kingly powers, in return for enforcing order along the English–Scottish border.
The region could be wild and lawless, and sometimes erupted into open conflict. In wartime Norham’s English garrison defended the Tweed fords, an easy crossing point into England. Together with the nearby castles of Berwick and Wark, Norham was an essential part of the defences of the eastern border.
The importance of Norham was illustrated when Henry II ordered Hugh du Puiset, who became Bishop of Durham in 1153, to rebuild the castle. This Bishop Puiset did on a grand scale, erecting the great tower on the site of Flambard’s original two-storey hall to provide high-status accommodation.
Between 1208 and 1212 King John also spent large sums on the castle. Its strength was demonstrated in 1215 when Alexander II of Scotland besieged Norham for 40 days, but failed to take it. Peace between England and Scotland was signed at Norham in 1219, and lasted along the border for most of the 13th century.
The most noteworthy event in Norham’s history took place in May 1291, when Bishop Anthony Beck entertained Edward I (r.1272–1307) and his advisers at the castle while the king arbitrated between 13 competitors for the Scottish throne (a process known as the Great Cause).
Judgment was made in favour of John Baliol in 1292 at Berwick Castle, and three days later Baliol paid homage to Edward in the hall at Norham.
Edward I’s subsequent claims of overlordship over Scotland precipitated prolonged warfare in the borders. The Scots besieged Norham unsuccessfully in 1318, 1319 and 1322, and eventually took it in 1327, but it was restored to the bishop the following year.
Thereafter Norham benefited from a period of relative peace, before it was besieged by James IV of Scotland in 1497 in support of Perkin Warbeck, a pretender to the English throne. The castle resisted attack for two weeks before an English army relieved it.
Much more significant damage was done in 1513 when James IV invaded with a large army, and this time captured Norham after a short siege. In less than three weeks Norham was restored to the Bishop of Durham after the English defeated the Scots at the Battle of Flodden nearby. But the ferocious Scots bombardment had resulted in great damage.
Such was Norham’s importance that rebuilding began almost immediately, this time to transform the castle into a powerful artillery fortress. English military engineers made alterations so that the garrison could return fire with great force from covered positions. They rebuilt the wall to the outer ward, encasing its lower courses in earth to provide strength and absorb incoming shot, constructed gun towers and incorporated arched gun positions.
The castle was maintained for most of the century, but in 1596 Elizabeth I refused to spend any money on it, and after the union of the English and Scots crowns in 1605 it slowly fell to decay. The ruins then passed through many hands until 1923, when they were placed in the care of the state.
English Heritage
In Canada, there have been 463 cases of church arson between 2016 and 2023.
Ezra 7:25 “Now you, Ezra, in keeping with the wisdom of your God which you possess, appoint judges and court officials who can arbitrate cases on behalf of all the people who are in Trans-Euphrates who know the laws of your God. Those who do not know this law should be taught.”
Another photo from the series : - Trev, Zak and I went to Kingsbury Water Park on this beautiful, warm, springlike day. From there, we walked uphill to Kingsbury Parish Church, a beautiful, ancient building. The churchyard was wonderful - the best I've ever seen, so well maintained. The churchyard's maintenance man is in hospital - GET WELL SOON!.
The name Kingsbury is derived from the Saxon 'Chinesburie' meaning 'royal fortified house' or 'Kings Fort'. The 'bury' part of the name means 'fort' or 'defensive work'. The location of the church and remains of a medieval home (Kingsbury Hall) above the river suggest a good location for a 'defensive' work. Kingsbury Hall (or Bracebridge Hall as it was their family home for many years) is now only part lived in as a farmhouse. It was a fortified manor house and the remains of a curtain wall can still be seen. Kingsbury was founded by the same Angles tribe that established Curdworth and Minworth.
The village is mentioned in the Domesday survey. Two priests are recorded, so the church must have existed. So is Hemlingford Mill, which still exists. It was originally a water mill, used for many purposes including milling corn into flour and grinding gun barrels for muskets during the Napoleonic Wars. Later it was used as a garden centre. A bridge was built across the River Tame near to the mill in 1783. This was single carriageway so traffic lights were installed later on, until it was bypassed by a new road to serve the oil terminal in the 1960s. The centre section of the old bridge was swept away by a flash flood in the early 1980s and was replaced with modern concrete. It is now used for pedestrians only.
In 1473-4 during the Wars of the Roses there was a family dispute involving the Bracebridges and their distant relations, the Ardens (William Shakespeare's maternal ancestors) of Park Hall in Castle Bromwich. John Arden had fallen in love with Alice Bracebridge. John's father, Sir Walter, did not approve. John was kidnapped and taken to Bracebridge Hall. Sir Walter appealed to King Edward IV, who appointed Sir Simon de Montford of Coleshill and Sir Richard Bingham of Middleton to arbitrate. John and Alice were married in February 1474. In 1502 John inherited Park Hall in Castle Bromwich, while his younger brother Thomas settled at Wilmcote near Stratford upon Avon. Thomas had a son Robert, who was the father of Mary Arden, William Shakespeare's mother.
The stones of the church porch show evidence of arrow-sharpening grooves, sometimes said to have been done by soldiers but more probably by hunting parties or locals waiting their turn for the nearby village butts, as all males had to be proficient with a longbow.
Until the 19th century Kingsbury was a small hamlet, and the main landowner in the area was the Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel. The Birmingham and Derby Railway was built through Kingsbury in 1839 and industry was soon established, most notably coal mining and gravel extraction, which fuelled the expansion of the village.
Trev, Zak and I went to Kingsbury Water Park on this beautiful, warm, springlike day. From there, we walked uphill to Kingsbury Parish Church, a beautiful, ancient building. The churchyard was wonderful - the best I've ever seen, so well maintained. The churchyard's maintenance man is in hospital - GET WELL SOON!. This Cedar of Lebanon was a wonderful sight. Couldn't resist taking a photo. So stately and magnificent.
The name Kingsbury is derived from the Saxon 'Chinesburie' meaning 'royal fortified house' or 'Kings Fort'. The 'bury' part of the name means 'fort' or 'defensive work'. The location of the church and remains of a medieval home (Kingsbury Hall) above the river suggest a good location for a 'defensive' work. Kingsbury Hall (or Bracebridge Hall as it was their family home for many years) is now only part lived in as a farmhouse. It was a fortified manor house and the remains of a curtain wall can still be seen. Kingsbury was founded by the same Angles tribe that established Curdworth and Minworth.
The village is mentioned in the Domesday survey. Two priests are recorded, so the church must have existed. So is Hemlingford Mill, which still exists. It was originally a water mill, used for many purposes including milling corn into flour and grinding gun barrels for muskets during the Napoleonic Wars. Later it was used as a garden centre. A bridge was built across the River Tame near to the mill in 1783. This was single carriageway so traffic lights were installed later on, until it was bypassed by a new road to serve the oil terminal in the 1960s. The centre section of the old bridge was swept away by a flash flood in the early 1980s and was replaced with modern concrete. It is now used for pedestrians only.
In 1473-4 during the Wars of the Roses there was a family dispute involving the Bracebridges and their distant relations, the Ardens (William Shakespeare's maternal ancestors) of Park Hall in Castle Bromwich. John Arden had fallen in love with Alice Bracebridge. John's father, Sir Walter, did not approve. John was kidnapped and taken to Bracebridge Hall. Sir Walter appealed to King Edward IV, who appointed Sir Simon de Montford of Coleshill and Sir Richard Bingham of Middleton to arbitrate. John and Alice were married in February 1474. In 1502 John inherited Park Hall in Castle Bromwich, while his younger brother Thomas settled at Wilmcote near Stratford upon Avon. Thomas had a son Robert, who was the father of Mary Arden, William Shakespeare's mother.
The stones of the church porch show evidence of arrow-sharpening grooves, sometimes said to have been done by soldiers but more probably by hunting parties or locals waiting their turn for the nearby village butts, as all males had to be proficient with a longbow.
Until the 19th century Kingsbury was a small hamlet, and the main landowner in the area was the Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel. The Birmingham and Derby Railway was built through Kingsbury in 1839 and industry was soon established, most notably coal mining and gravel extraction, which fuelled the expansion of the village.
It's a Biblical verse- in practice!
Swords to ploughshares (or plowshares), is a concept in which military weapons or technologies are converted for peaceful civilian applications.
The phrase originates from the Book of Isaiah:
Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. –
— Isaiah 2:3–4
The ploughshare (Hebrew: אֵת ’êṯ, also translated coulter) is often used to symbolize creative tools that benefit humankind, as opposed to destructive tools of war, symbolized by the sword (Hebrew: חֶרֶב ḥereḇ), a similar sharp metal tool with an arguably opposite use.
(en): Toroidal trigonomorphosis of the centripetal illusion of Being through the n‑sphere of the centrifugal In-Between in-formation outlining a Vanishing-Line in the virtual lineaments of the Path (dào) half-opened by the Median Void (taìjítú) Breath (qì).
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Outlining a Theory of General Creativity . .
. . on a 'Pataphysical projectory
Entropy ≥ Memory ● Creativity ²
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Etude du jour:
"Il faut choisir : se reposer ou être libre." dit Thucydide. J’entends enfoncer ce clou plus profondément encore : "Il faut choisir, se reposer ou être créatif.", pour énoncer une parallaxe perspectiviste radicale : on n’a pas la Liberté d’arbitrer de plein gré entre toutes nos subordinations, mais on dispose de cette marge de Créativité qu’entrouvre l'inépuisable croissance de l’Entropie à notre infime puissance d’agir et de pâtir, et ce n’est pas une moindre responsabilité que d'apprendre à la transcender, bien au contraire.
"One must choose: to rest or to be free" says Thucydides. I want to poke this nail even more deeply: One must choose, to rest or to be creative, so enunciating a radical perspectivist parallax: one does not have the liberty to arbitrate voluntarily between all our subordinations, but we have the creative margin which the inexhaustible growth of Entropy opens up to our tiny power to act and to suffer, and it is no less responsibility than to learn to transcend it, on the contrary . .
( Jef Safi )
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". . Voyageur, il n'y a pas de chemin, le chemin se fait en marchant,
. . en arrière tu vois le sentier que jamais tu ne dois à nouveau fouler.
. . Voyageur, il n'y a pas de chemin, rien que des sillages sur la mer."
. . Caminante no hay camino, se hace camino al andar . .
. . y al volver la vista atrás se ve la senda que nunca se ha de volver a pisar.
. . Caminante no hay camino, sino estelas en la mar.
( Antonio Machado )
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rectO-persO | E ≥ m.C² | co~errAnce | TiLt
*Working Towards a Better World
A charming woman doesn't
follow the crowd
She is herself - Lesley Young
Thank you for your kind visit. Have a wonderful and beautiful day! xo❤️
Localisée dans la région de Mývatn, sur le fleuve Skjálfandafljót, cette cascade fait 12 mètres de hauteur sur 30 mètres de largeur. En l'an 1000, le parlement islandais (l'Alþing) décide de suivre l'avis donné par le Lögsögumad Þorgeir Þorkelsson, païen désigné pour arbitrer sur le choix de la religion dans l'île en 999, et adopte le christianisme. En revenant dans sa contrée, celui-ci montre l'exemple en jetant ses idoles de l'ancienne religion nordique dans cette chute. Le nom Goðafoss signifie "la chute des dieux" en souvenir de cet évènement.
Located in the Mývatn region, on the Skjálfandafljót River, this waterfall is 12 meters high and 30 meters wide. In the year 1000, the Icelandic parliament (the Alþing) decided to follow the advice given by Lögsögumad Þorgeir Þorkelsson, a pagan appointed to arbitrate on the choice of religion on the island in 999, and adopted Christianity. Upon returning to his homeland, he set an example by throwing his idols of the old Norse religion into this waterfall. The name Goðafoss means "fall of the gods" in memory of this event.
Recently, on May 30, 2009, I uploaded an image similar to this one. Much to my surprise, it was well-received by viewers. I don't know how people would take it over an edited image like this because as far as I am concerned, it obviously is presented on the unnatural side of it with color saturation pushed to the limit. It doesn’t take an expert to spot it – one can tell it is a product with the icing on the cake decorated in Photoshop or other similar software, and it is less likely coming straight from the oven. But then, who am I to stop what people would want to like?
And another surprise that took me a few long minutes to figure it out, and yet, still, I couldn't agree with, is when that particular image was shaken and baked by flickr algorithm and at the end of the day it clinched a place in EXPLORE. Oh well…. Of course I am indebted by the supports from all of you (with your visits, invites, faves and comments – thank you) and I don’t mean to disparage my own work either. But the issue I want to put forward is; others may like what we dislike, interested in what we impartial with, adore what we abhor, love what we loathe, or vice versa. Hence, my homespun assertion is that, things are neither too great nor too awful in this life. Come what may, it all takes the individuals to arbitrate what’s good or bad for them, what they like and what they don’t.
The above is a look-alike with the previously uploaded image in different composition, taken at the same place on the same day. And if you ask me, I prefer this one better with lovely silhouette of reeds to boot. But I can understand, different time, it would be received differently. That reminds me of one girl I was head-over-heel with in my younger days and I thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world but when I met her a few years ago with her six kids in tow; she no longer lives up to what I perceived of her back then. Oh yeah, perhaps I am a little confused. It’s a different issue. Age is catching up on her now.
Oner from the archives - The Galapogos Islands - minimal.
The Galápagos Islands (official name: Archipiélago de Colón, other Spanish name: Islas Galápagos, Spanish pronunciation: [ˈizlaz ɣaˈlapaɣos]) are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed on either side of the Equator in the Pacific Ocean surrounding the centre of the Western Hemisphere, 906 km (563 mi) west of continental Ecuador, of which they are a part. The islands are known for their vast number of endemic species and were studied by Charles Darwin during the voyage of the Beagle, as his observations and collections contributed to the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection.
The Galápagos Islands and their surrounding waters form the Galápagos Province of Ecuador, the Galápagos National Park, and the Galápagos Marine Reserve. The principal language on the islands is Spanish. The islands have a population of slightly over 25,000.[1]
The first recorded visit to the islands happened by chance in 1535, when Fray Tomás de Berlanga, the Bishop of Panamá, was surprised with this undiscovered land during a voyage to Peru to arbitrate in a dispute between Francisco Pizarro and Diego de Almagro. De Berlanga eventually returned to the Spanish Empire and described the conditions of the islands and the animals that inhabited them. The group of islands was shown and named in Abraham Ortelius's atlas published in 1570. The first crude map of the islands was made in 1684 by the buccaneer Ambrose Cowley, who named the individual islands after some of his fellow pirates or after British royalty and noblemen. These names were used in the authoritative navigation charts of the islands prepared during the Beagle survey under captain Robert Fitzroy, and in Darwin's popular book The Voyage of the Beagle. The new Republic of Ecuador took the islands from Spanish ownership in 1832, and subsequently gave them official Spanish names.[2] The older names remained in use in English language publications, including Herman Melville's The Encantadas of 1854.
Face à face entre Evian et Lausanne arbitré par Sirius (à gauche), Orion, Hyades et Aldebaran ainsi que les Pléiades tout à droite de l'image ...
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Face off between Evian (left, France) and Lausanne (right, Switzerland) arbitrated by Sirius (left), Orion, Hyades and Aldebaran as well as the Pleiades on the far right of the image...
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Gourze-2018-04-05-8980-Panorama
Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France.
El Musée d'Orsay es una pinacoteca ubicada en París (Francia), que se dedica a las artes plásticas del siglo XIX y, más en concreto, del periodo 1848-1914. Ocupa el antiguo edificio de la estación ferroviaria de Orsay y alberga la mayor colección de obras impresionistas del mundo, con obras maestras de la pintura y de la escultura como "Almuerzo sobre la hierba" y "Olympia" de Édouard Manet, una prueba de la estatua "La pequeña bailarina de catorce años" de Degas, "Baile en el Moulin de la Galette" de Renoir, varias obras esenciales de Courbet ("El origen del mundo", "Entierro en Ornans", "El taller del pintor") e incluso cinco cuadros de la "Serie des Catedrales de Rouen" de Monet. Cronológicamente, este museo cubre la historia del arte entre los maestros antiguos (que están en el Museo del Louvre) y el arte moderno y contemporáneo (en el Centro Georges Pompidou).
En el espacio que hoy ocupa el Museo de Orsay se encontraba el palacio y jardín de Margarita de Valois.
El edificio del actual museo se creó entre finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX como estación ferroviaria para la Exposición Universal de París (1900). En el terreno había existido otro edificio, empleado como sede del Consejo de Estado y luego de la Corte de Cuentas, organismo que supervisaba la gestión económica del país. Este edificio quedó destruido en un incendio en 1871, durante los sucesos de la Comuna de París.
El nuevo conjunto fue diseñado por el arquitecto Victor Laloux y se inauguró para las fechas del inicio del certamen. Constaba de un hotel y de la estación propiamente dicha (que permaneció 39 años en activo).
Tras ser empleado con diversos usos hasta la década de los años 1970, el edificio sería destinado a museo gracias a una resolución del Estado francés. En 1973, la Dirección de Museos de Francia concibió el proyecto de establecer un museo en la estación de ferrocarril de Orsay, que amenazaba ruina y en la que se hablaba de construir un hotel, que se inscribió en el Inventario suplementario de Monumentos Históricos el 8 de marzo de 1973. La decisión oficial de construir el museo llegó con el consejo de ministros del 20 de octubre de 1977.
Al ser un edificio con estructura de hierro, ello favorecía en parte la adaptación a los planteamientos museísticos de la actualidad. Se vació toda la estructura de la gran nave central para arbitrar una secuencia expositiva de un periodo artístico que posibilitase un recorrido lineal, mientras que se emplearon espacios anexos para albergar otros servicios.
Las obras de acondicionamiento de la estación a museo se llevaron a cabo entre los años de 1981 y 1986, haciéndose cargo de la remodelación exterior el estudio ACT-Architecture y de la adaptación interior un equipo a cargo de la arquitecta Gae Aulenti. La inauguración oficial se produjo el 1 de diciembre de 1986, por el presidente de la República, François Mitterrand. Abrió al público el día 9 del mismo mes.
Las tres plantas en que se divide el edificio albergan una excepcional colección de arte del siglos XIX y principios del XX, procedente de diversas instituciones museísticas, ordenada de forma cronológica, y que cuenta con obras impagables de grandes autores de la Historia del arte como Delacroix, Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat o Derain, entre muchos otros ejemplos de pintura y escultura.
Este museo ilustra también otra vertiente más conservadora del arte, desde el gusto académico en la estela de Ingres hasta el simbolismo de Puvis de Chavannes; pero son estilos artísticos menos populares actualmente, que quedan eclipsados por la colosal colección de impresionistas. Hay también un amplio repertorio de proyectos arquitectónicos, objetos decorativos, dibujos y fotografías.
The Musée d'Orsay is a gallery located in Paris (France), which is dedicated to the visual arts of the 19th century and, more specifically, from the period 1848-1914. It occupies the former Orsay railway station building and houses the largest collection of Impressionist works in the world, with masterpieces of painting and sculpture such as "Lunch on the Grass" and "Olympia" by Édouard Manet, proof of the statue "The Little Ballerina Fourteen" by Degas, "Dance at the Moulin de la Galette" by Renoir, several essential works by Courbet ("The Origin of the World", "Burial in Ornans", "The Painter's Workshop") and even five paintings from Monet's "Series des Catedrales de Rouen". Chronologically, this museum covers the history of art between the ancient masters (who are in the Louvre Museum) and modern and contemporary art (in the Georges Pompidou Center).
In the space that the Orsay Museum occupies today was the palace and garden of Marguerite de Valois.
The building of the current museum was created between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th as a railway station for the Universal Exposition of Paris (1900). On the land there had been another building, used as the seat of the Council of State and after the Court of Accounts, the body that supervised the country's economic management. This building was destroyed in a fire in 1871, during the events of the Paris Commune.
The new set was designed by the architect Victor Laloux and was inaugurated for the dates of the beginning of the contest. It consisted of a hotel and the station itself (which remained active for 39 years).
After being used for various uses until the 1970s, the building would be used as a museum thanks to a resolution by the French State. In 1973, the Directorate of Museums of France conceived the project to establish a museum at the Orsay railway station, which threatened ruin and in which there was talk of building a hotel, which was entered in the Supplementary Inventory of Historical Monuments on 8 March 1973. The official decision to build the museum came with the Cabinet of Ministers on October 20, 1977.
As it is a building with an iron structure, this partially favored adaptation to contemporary museum approaches. The entire structure of the great central nave was emptied to arbitrate an exhibition sequence of an artistic period that would make a linear journey possible, while adjoining spaces were used to house other services.
The works to refurbish the station into a museum were carried out between the years 1981 and 1986, with the ACT-Architecture studio remodeling the exterior and the team adapting the architect Gae Aulenti the interior adaptation. The official inauguration took place on December 1, 1986, by the President of the Republic, François Mitterrand. It opened to the public on the 9th of the same month.
The three floors into which the building is divided house an exceptional collection of art from the 19th and early 20th centuries, from various museum institutions, arranged chronologically, and which contains priceless works by great authors of art history such as Delacroix , Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat or Derain, among many other examples of painting and sculpture.
This museum also illustrates another more conservative aspect of art, from the academic taste in the wake of Ingres to the symbolism of Puvis de Chavannes; but they are less popular artistic styles today, which are overshadowed by the colossal collection of impressionists. There is also a wide repertoire of architectural projects, decorative objects, drawings and photographs.
Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France.
El Musée d'Orsay es una pinacoteca ubicada en París (Francia), que se dedica a las artes plásticas del siglo XIX y, más en concreto, del periodo 1848-1914. Ocupa el antiguo edificio de la estación ferroviaria de Orsay y alberga la mayor colección de obras impresionistas del mundo, con obras maestras de la pintura y de la escultura como "Almuerzo sobre la hierba" y "Olympia" de Édouard Manet, una prueba de la estatua "La pequeña bailarina de catorce años" de Degas, "Baile en el Moulin de la Galette" de Renoir, varias obras esenciales de Courbet ("El origen del mundo", "Entierro en Ornans", "El taller del pintor") e incluso cinco cuadros de la "Serie des Catedrales de Rouen" de Monet. Cronológicamente, este museo cubre la historia del arte entre los maestros antiguos (que están en el Museo del Louvre) y el arte moderno y contemporáneo (en el Centro Georges Pompidou).
En el espacio que hoy ocupa el Museo de Orsay se encontraba el palacio y jardín de Margarita de Valois.
El edificio del actual museo se creó entre finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX como estación ferroviaria para la Exposición Universal de París (1900). En el terreno había existido otro edificio, empleado como sede del Consejo de Estado y luego de la Corte de Cuentas, organismo que supervisaba la gestión económica del país. Este edificio quedó destruido en un incendio en 1871, durante los sucesos de la Comuna de París.
El nuevo conjunto fue diseñado por el arquitecto Victor Laloux y se inauguró para las fechas del inicio del certamen. Constaba de un hotel y de la estación propiamente dicha (que permaneció 39 años en activo).
Tras ser empleado con diversos usos hasta la década de los años 1970, el edificio sería destinado a museo gracias a una resolución del Estado francés. En 1973, la Dirección de Museos de Francia concibió el proyecto de establecer un museo en la estación de ferrocarril de Orsay, que amenazaba ruina y en la que se hablaba de construir un hotel, que se inscribió en el Inventario suplementario de Monumentos Históricos el 8 de marzo de 1973. La decisión oficial de construir el museo llegó con el consejo de ministros del 20 de octubre de 1977.
Al ser un edificio con estructura de hierro, ello favorecía en parte la adaptación a los planteamientos museísticos de la actualidad. Se vació toda la estructura de la gran nave central para arbitrar una secuencia expositiva de un periodo artístico que posibilitase un recorrido lineal, mientras que se emplearon espacios anexos para albergar otros servicios.
Las obras de acondicionamiento de la estación a museo se llevaron a cabo entre los años de 1981 y 1986, haciéndose cargo de la remodelación exterior el estudio ACT-Architecture y de la adaptación interior un equipo a cargo de la arquitecta Gae Aulenti. La inauguración oficial se produjo el 1 de diciembre de 1986, por el presidente de la República, François Mitterrand. Abrió al público el día 9 del mismo mes.
Las tres plantas en que se divide el edificio albergan una excepcional colección de arte del siglos XIX y principios del XX, procedente de diversas instituciones museísticas, ordenada de forma cronológica, y que cuenta con obras impagables de grandes autores de la Historia del arte como Delacroix, Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat o Derain, entre muchos otros ejemplos de pintura y escultura.
Este museo ilustra también otra vertiente más conservadora del arte, desde el gusto académico en la estela de Ingres hasta el simbolismo de Puvis de Chavannes; pero son estilos artísticos menos populares actualmente, que quedan eclipsados por la colosal colección de impresionistas. Hay también un amplio repertorio de proyectos arquitectónicos, objetos decorativos, dibujos y fotografías.
The Musée d'Orsay is a gallery located in Paris (France), which is dedicated to the visual arts of the 19th century and, more specifically, from the period 1848-1914. It occupies the former Orsay railway station building and houses the largest collection of Impressionist works in the world, with masterpieces of painting and sculpture such as "Lunch on the Grass" and "Olympia" by Édouard Manet, proof of the statue "The Little Ballerina Fourteen" by Degas, "Dance at the Moulin de la Galette" by Renoir, several essential works by Courbet ("The Origin of the World", "Burial in Ornans", "The Painter's Workshop") and even five paintings from Monet's "Series des Catedrales de Rouen". Chronologically, this museum covers the history of art between the ancient masters (who are in the Louvre Museum) and modern and contemporary art (in the Georges Pompidou Center).
In the space that the Orsay Museum occupies today was the palace and garden of Marguerite de Valois.
The building of the current museum was created between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th as a railway station for the Universal Exposition of Paris (1900). On the land there had been another building, used as the seat of the Council of State and after the Court of Accounts, the body that supervised the country's economic management. This building was destroyed in a fire in 1871, during the events of the Paris Commune.
The new set was designed by the architect Victor Laloux and was inaugurated for the dates of the beginning of the contest. It consisted of a hotel and the station itself (which remained active for 39 years).
After being used for various uses until the 1970s, the building would be used as a museum thanks to a resolution by the French State. In 1973, the Directorate of Museums of France conceived the project to establish a museum at the Orsay railway station, which threatened ruin and in which there was talk of building a hotel, which was entered in the Supplementary Inventory of Historical Monuments on 8 March 1973. The official decision to build the museum came with the Cabinet of Ministers on October 20, 1977.
As it is a building with an iron structure, this partially favored adaptation to contemporary museum approaches. The entire structure of the great central nave was emptied to arbitrate an exhibition sequence of an artistic period that would make a linear journey possible, while adjoining spaces were used to house other services.
The works to refurbish the station into a museum were carried out between the years 1981 and 1986, with the ACT-Architecture studio remodeling the exterior and the team adapting the architect Gae Aulenti the interior adaptation. The official inauguration took place on December 1, 1986, by the President of the Republic, François Mitterrand. It opened to the public on the 9th of the same month.
The three floors into which the building is divided house an exceptional collection of art from the 19th and early 20th centuries, from various museum institutions, arranged chronologically, and which contains priceless works by great authors of art history such as Delacroix , Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat or Derain, among many other examples of painting and sculpture.
This museum also illustrates another more conservative aspect of art, from the academic taste in the wake of Ingres to the symbolism of Puvis de Chavannes; but they are less popular artistic styles today, which are overshadowed by the colossal collection of impressionists. There is also a wide repertoire of architectural projects, decorative objects, drawings and photographs.
Localisée dans la région de Mývatn, sur le fleuve Skjálfandafljót, cette cascade fait 12 mètres de hauteur sur 30 mètres de largeur. En l'an 1000, le parlement islandais (l'Alþing) décide de suivre l'avis donné par le Lögsögumad Þorgeir Þorkelsson, païen désigné pour arbitrer sur le choix de la religion dans l'île en 999, et adopte le christianisme. En revenant dans sa contrée, celui-ci montre l'exemple en jetant ses idoles de l'ancienne religion nordique dans cette chute. Le nom Goðafoss signifie "la chute des dieux" en souvenir de cet évènement.
Located in the Mývatn region, on the Skjálfandafljót River, this waterfall is 12 meters high and 30 meters wide. In the year 1000, the Icelandic parliament (the Alþing) decided to follow the advice given by Lögsögumad Þorgeir Þorkelsson, a pagan appointed to arbitrate on the choice of religion on the island in 999, and adopted Christianity. Upon returning to his homeland, he set an example by throwing his idols of the old Norse religion into this waterfall. The name Goðafoss means "fall of the gods" in memory of this event.
La cinquantaine passée, Il boxe à domicile sur le ring qu’il a fait construire dans sa propriété de Key West. Il délaisse parfois les gants pour arbitrer des combats locaux. Avec moins de succès. Un soir, un certain « Shine » Forbes tente par trois fois de jeter l’éponge pour sauver son poulain mais Hemingway fait durer le plaisir et lui renvoie sa troisième tentative en pleine face.
Enragé, Forbes passe entre les cordes et étend le grand homme. Le match est arrêté. Plus tard dans la soirée, Forbes se rend au domicile d’Hemingway pour présenter ses excuses. Il s’attend à remettre les gants mais Hemingway lui tend la main et l’invite à venir s’entraîner le lendemain. Forbes restera le « sparring-partner » d’Hemingway jusqu’à la fin de sa vie en 1961.
In his late 50s, he boxed at home in the ring he had built on his property in Key West. He sometimes abandons the gloves to arbitrate local fights. With less success. One evening, a certain "Shine" Forbes tried three times to throw in the towel to save his foal but Hemingway made the pleasure last and sent him his third attempt in the face.
Enraged, Forbes passes between the ropes and stretches the big man. The match is over. Later that evening, Forbes goes to Hemingway's home to apologize. He expects to put the gloves back on, but Hemingway reaches out and invites him to come train the next day. Forbes will remain Hemingway’s sparring partner until the end of his life in 1961.
Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France.
El Musée d'Orsay es una pinacoteca ubicada en París (Francia), que se dedica a las artes plásticas del siglo XIX y, más en concreto, del periodo 1848-1914. Ocupa el antiguo edificio de la estación ferroviaria de Orsay y alberga la mayor colección de obras impresionistas del mundo, con obras maestras de la pintura y de la escultura como "Almuerzo sobre la hierba" y "Olympia" de Édouard Manet, una prueba de la estatua "La pequeña bailarina de catorce años" de Degas, "Baile en el Moulin de la Galette" de Renoir, varias obras esenciales de Courbet ("El origen del mundo", "Entierro en Ornans", "El taller del pintor") e incluso cinco cuadros de la "Serie des Catedrales de Rouen" de Monet. Cronológicamente, este museo cubre la historia del arte entre los maestros antiguos (que están en el Museo del Louvre) y el arte moderno y contemporáneo (en el Centro Georges Pompidou).
En el espacio que hoy ocupa el Museo de Orsay se encontraba el palacio y jardín de Margarita de Valois.
El edificio del actual museo se creó entre finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX como estación ferroviaria para la Exposición Universal de París (1900). En el terreno había existido otro edificio, empleado como sede del Consejo de Estado y luego de la Corte de Cuentas, organismo que supervisaba la gestión económica del país. Este edificio quedó destruido en un incendio en 1871, durante los sucesos de la Comuna de París.
El nuevo conjunto fue diseñado por el arquitecto Victor Laloux y se inauguró para las fechas del inicio del certamen. Constaba de un hotel y de la estación propiamente dicha (que permaneció 39 años en activo).
Tras ser empleado con diversos usos hasta la década de los años 1970, el edificio sería destinado a museo gracias a una resolución del Estado francés. En 1973, la Dirección de Museos de Francia concibió el proyecto de establecer un museo en la estación de ferrocarril de Orsay, que amenazaba ruina y en la que se hablaba de construir un hotel, que se inscribió en el Inventario suplementario de Monumentos Históricos el 8 de marzo de 1973. La decisión oficial de construir el museo llegó con el consejo de ministros del 20 de octubre de 1977.
Al ser un edificio con estructura de hierro, ello favorecía en parte la adaptación a los planteamientos museísticos de la actualidad. Se vació toda la estructura de la gran nave central para arbitrar una secuencia expositiva de un periodo artístico que posibilitase un recorrido lineal, mientras que se emplearon espacios anexos para albergar otros servicios.
Las obras de acondicionamiento de la estación a museo se llevaron a cabo entre los años de 1981 y 1986, haciéndose cargo de la remodelación exterior el estudio ACT-Architecture y de la adaptación interior un equipo a cargo de la arquitecta Gae Aulenti. La inauguración oficial se produjo el 1 de diciembre de 1986, por el presidente de la República, François Mitterrand. Abrió al público el día 9 del mismo mes.
Las tres plantas en que se divide el edificio albergan una excepcional colección de arte del siglos XIX y principios del XX, procedente de diversas instituciones museísticas, ordenada de forma cronológica, y que cuenta con obras impagables de grandes autores de la Historia del arte como Delacroix, Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat o Derain, entre muchos otros ejemplos de pintura y escultura.
Este museo ilustra también otra vertiente más conservadora del arte, desde el gusto académico en la estela de Ingres hasta el simbolismo de Puvis de Chavannes; pero son estilos artísticos menos populares actualmente, que quedan eclipsados por la colosal colección de impresionistas. Hay también un amplio repertorio de proyectos arquitectónicos, objetos decorativos, dibujos y fotografías.
The Musée d'Orsay is a gallery located in Paris (France), which is dedicated to the visual arts of the 19th century and, more specifically, from the period 1848-1914. It occupies the former Orsay railway station building and houses the largest collection of Impressionist works in the world, with masterpieces of painting and sculpture such as "Lunch on the Grass" and "Olympia" by Édouard Manet, proof of the statue "The Little Ballerina Fourteen" by Degas, "Dance at the Moulin de la Galette" by Renoir, several essential works by Courbet ("The Origin of the World", "Burial in Ornans", "The Painter's Workshop") and even five paintings from Monet's "Series des Catedrales de Rouen". Chronologically, this museum covers the history of art between the ancient masters (who are in the Louvre Museum) and modern and contemporary art (in the Georges Pompidou Center).
In the space that the Orsay Museum occupies today was the palace and garden of Marguerite de Valois.
The building of the current museum was created between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th as a railway station for the Universal Exposition of Paris (1900). On the land there had been another building, used as the seat of the Council of State and after the Court of Accounts, the body that supervised the country's economic management. This building was destroyed in a fire in 1871, during the events of the Paris Commune.
The new set was designed by the architect Victor Laloux and was inaugurated for the dates of the beginning of the contest. It consisted of a hotel and the station itself (which remained active for 39 years).
After being used for various uses until the 1970s, the building would be used as a museum thanks to a resolution by the French State. In 1973, the Directorate of Museums of France conceived the project to establish a museum at the Orsay railway station, which threatened ruin and in which there was talk of building a hotel, which was entered in the Supplementary Inventory of Historical Monuments on 8 March 1973. The official decision to build the museum came with the Cabinet of Ministers on October 20, 1977.
As it is a building with an iron structure, this partially favored adaptation to contemporary museum approaches. The entire structure of the great central nave was emptied to arbitrate an exhibition sequence of an artistic period that would make a linear journey possible, while adjoining spaces were used to house other services.
The works to refurbish the station into a museum were carried out between the years 1981 and 1986, with the ACT-Architecture studio remodeling the exterior and the team adapting the architect Gae Aulenti the interior adaptation. The official inauguration took place on December 1, 1986, by the President of the Republic, François Mitterrand. It opened to the public on the 9th of the same month.
The three floors into which the building is divided house an exceptional collection of art from the 19th and early 20th centuries, from various museum institutions, arranged chronologically, and which contains priceless works by great authors of art history such as Delacroix , Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat or Derain, among many other examples of painting and sculpture.
This museum also illustrates another more conservative aspect of art, from the academic taste in the wake of Ingres to the symbolism of Puvis de Chavannes; but they are less popular artistic styles today, which are overshadowed by the colossal collection of impressionists. There is also a wide repertoire of architectural projects, decorative objects, drawings and photographs.
Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France.
El Musée d'Orsay es una pinacoteca ubicada en París (Francia), que se dedica a las artes plásticas del siglo XIX y, más en concreto, del periodo 1848-1914. Ocupa el antiguo edificio de la estación ferroviaria de Orsay y alberga la mayor colección de obras impresionistas del mundo, con obras maestras de la pintura y de la escultura como "Almuerzo sobre la hierba" y "Olympia" de Édouard Manet, una prueba de la estatua "La pequeña bailarina de catorce años" de Degas, "Baile en el Moulin de la Galette" de Renoir, varias obras esenciales de Courbet ("El origen del mundo", "Entierro en Ornans", "El taller del pintor") e incluso cinco cuadros de la "Serie des Catedrales de Rouen" de Monet. Cronológicamente, este museo cubre la historia del arte entre los maestros antiguos (que están en el Museo del Louvre) y el arte moderno y contemporáneo (en el Centro Georges Pompidou).
En el espacio que hoy ocupa el Museo de Orsay se encontraba el palacio y jardín de Margarita de Valois.
El edificio del actual museo se creó entre finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX como estación ferroviaria para la Exposición Universal de París (1900). En el terreno había existido otro edificio, empleado como sede del Consejo de Estado y luego de la Corte de Cuentas, organismo que supervisaba la gestión económica del país. Este edificio quedó destruido en un incendio en 1871, durante los sucesos de la Comuna de París.
El nuevo conjunto fue diseñado por el arquitecto Victor Laloux y se inauguró para las fechas del inicio del certamen. Constaba de un hotel y de la estación propiamente dicha (que permaneció 39 años en activo).
Tras ser empleado con diversos usos hasta la década de los años 1970, el edificio sería destinado a museo gracias a una resolución del Estado francés. En 1973, la Dirección de Museos de Francia concibió el proyecto de establecer un museo en la estación de ferrocarril de Orsay, que amenazaba ruina y en la que se hablaba de construir un hotel, que se inscribió en el Inventario suplementario de Monumentos Históricos el 8 de marzo de 1973. La decisión oficial de construir el museo llegó con el consejo de ministros del 20 de octubre de 1977.
Al ser un edificio con estructura de hierro, ello favorecía en parte la adaptación a los planteamientos museísticos de la actualidad. Se vació toda la estructura de la gran nave central para arbitrar una secuencia expositiva de un periodo artístico que posibilitase un recorrido lineal, mientras que se emplearon espacios anexos para albergar otros servicios.
Las obras de acondicionamiento de la estación a museo se llevaron a cabo entre los años de 1981 y 1986, haciéndose cargo de la remodelación exterior el estudio ACT-Architecture y de la adaptación interior un equipo a cargo de la arquitecta Gae Aulenti. La inauguración oficial se produjo el 1 de diciembre de 1986, por el presidente de la República, François Mitterrand. Abrió al público el día 9 del mismo mes.
Las tres plantas en que se divide el edificio albergan una excepcional colección de arte del siglos XIX y principios del XX, procedente de diversas instituciones museísticas, ordenada de forma cronológica, y que cuenta con obras impagables de grandes autores de la Historia del arte como Delacroix, Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat o Derain, entre muchos otros ejemplos de pintura y escultura.
Este museo ilustra también otra vertiente más conservadora del arte, desde el gusto académico en la estela de Ingres hasta el simbolismo de Puvis de Chavannes; pero son estilos artísticos menos populares actualmente, que quedan eclipsados por la colosal colección de impresionistas. Hay también un amplio repertorio de proyectos arquitectónicos, objetos decorativos, dibujos y fotografías.
The Musée d'Orsay is a gallery located in Paris (France), which is dedicated to the visual arts of the 19th century and, more specifically, from the period 1848-1914. It occupies the former Orsay railway station building and houses the largest collection of Impressionist works in the world, with masterpieces of painting and sculpture such as "Lunch on the Grass" and "Olympia" by Édouard Manet, proof of the statue "The Little Ballerina Fourteen" by Degas, "Dance at the Moulin de la Galette" by Renoir, several essential works by Courbet ("The Origin of the World", "Burial in Ornans", "The Painter's Workshop") and even five paintings from Monet's "Series des Catedrales de Rouen". Chronologically, this museum covers the history of art between the ancient masters (who are in the Louvre Museum) and modern and contemporary art (in the Georges Pompidou Center).
In the space that the Orsay Museum occupies today was the palace and garden of Marguerite de Valois.
The building of the current museum was created between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th as a railway station for the Universal Exposition of Paris (1900). On the land there had been another building, used as the seat of the Council of State and after the Court of Accounts, the body that supervised the country's economic management. This building was destroyed in a fire in 1871, during the events of the Paris Commune.
The new set was designed by the architect Victor Laloux and was inaugurated for the dates of the beginning of the contest. It consisted of a hotel and the station itself (which remained active for 39 years).
After being used for various uses until the 1970s, the building would be used as a museum thanks to a resolution by the French State. In 1973, the Directorate of Museums of France conceived the project to establish a museum at the Orsay railway station, which threatened ruin and in which there was talk of building a hotel, which was entered in the Supplementary Inventory of Historical Monuments on 8 March 1973. The official decision to build the museum came with the Cabinet of Ministers on October 20, 1977.
As it is a building with an iron structure, this partially favored adaptation to contemporary museum approaches. The entire structure of the great central nave was emptied to arbitrate an exhibition sequence of an artistic period that would make a linear journey possible, while adjoining spaces were used to house other services.
The works to refurbish the station into a museum were carried out between the years 1981 and 1986, with the ACT-Architecture studio remodeling the exterior and the team adapting the architect Gae Aulenti the interior adaptation. The official inauguration took place on December 1, 1986, by the President of the Republic, François Mitterrand. It opened to the public on the 9th of the same month.
The three floors into which the building is divided house an exceptional collection of art from the 19th and early 20th centuries, from various museum institutions, arranged chronologically, and which contains priceless works by great authors of art history such as Delacroix , Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat or Derain, among many other examples of painting and sculpture.
This museum also illustrates another more conservative aspect of art, from the academic taste in the wake of Ingres to the symbolism of Puvis de Chavannes; but they are less popular artistic styles today, which are overshadowed by the colossal collection of impressionists. There is also a wide repertoire of architectural projects, decorative objects, drawings and photographs.
Mecca
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Coordinates: 21°25′00″N 39°49′00″E / 21.416667°N 39.816667°E / 21.416667; 39.816667
مكّة المكرمة
City of Mecca / Makkah Al Mukarrammah
Masjid al-Haram, the center of Mecca, and the source of its prominence
Nickname(s): Umm Al Qura (Mother of Villages)
Location of Mecca
Country Saudi Arabia
Province Makkah Province
Construction of Kaaba +2000 BC
Established Ibrahim
Joined Saudi Arabia 1924
Government
- Mayor Osama Al-Bar
- Provincial Governor Khalid al Faisal
Area Mecca Municipality
- Urban 850 km2 (328.2 sq mi)
- Metro 1,200 km2 (463.3 sq mi)
Population (2007)
- City 1,700,000
- Density 4,200/km2 (2,625/sq mi)
- Urban 2,053,912
- Metro 2,500,000
Makkah Municipality estimate
Time zone EAT (UTC+3)
- Summer (DST) EAT (UTC+3)
Postal Code (5 digits)
Area code(s) +966-2
Website Mecca Municipality
Mecca IPA: /ˈmɛkə/, also spelled Makkah IPA: [ˈmækə], Arabic: مكة Makka (in full: Makka al-Mukarrama IPA: [(Arabic) mækːæ(t) ælmʊkarˑamæ]; Arabic: مكّة المكرمة, literally: Honored Mecca) is a city in Saudi Arabia. Home to the Masjid al-Haram, it is the holiest city in Islam and plays an important role in the faith. As of 2008 the annual Hajj pilgrimage attracts two to three million pilgrims to the city,[1][2] and presents both opportunities for the city's economy, and challenges for its infrastructure. Culturally, the city is modern, cosmopolitan and ethnically diverse.[3][4][5][6]
Islamic tradition attributes the beginning of Mecca to Ishmael's descendants. In the 7th century, the Islamic prophet Muhammad proclaimed Islam in the city, by then an important trading center, and the city played an important role in the early history of Islam. After 966, Mecca was led by local sharifs, until 1924, when it came under the rule of the Saudis.[7] In its modern period, Mecca has seen a great expansion in size and infrastructure.
The modern day city is located in and is the capital of Saudi Arabia's Makkah Province, in the historic Hejaz region. With a population of 1.7 million (2008), the city is located 73 km (45 mi) inland from Jeddah, in a narrow valley, and 277 m (910 ft) above sea level.
Etymology
Mecca is the original English translation of the Arabic name. Historically, the city has also been called Becca.[8][9] In the 1980s, the Saudi Arabian government and others began promoting the spelling Makkah (in full form, Makkah al-Mukarramah), which more closely resembles the actual Arabic pronunciation. This spelling is starting to be taken up by many organizations, including the United Nations,[10] United States Department of State,[11] and the British Foreign Office, [12] but the spelling Mecca remains in common use. Another alternative is Meccah.[13]
Government
Mecca is governed by the Municipality of Mecca, headed by a mayor (Also known as Amin) appointed by the Saudi Government. The current mayor of the city is Osama Al-Bar. A municipal council of fourteen locally elected members is responsible for the functioning of the municipality.
Mecca is the capital of Makkah Province, which includes neighboring Jeddah. The governor was Prince Abdul Majeed bin Abdul Aziz from 2000 until his death in 2007.[14] On May 16, 2007, Prince Khalid al Faisal was appointed as the new governor.[15]
History
1787 Turkish artwork of the Holy Mosque and related religious sites (Jabal al-Nur)
Early history
According to Islamic tradition, the history of Mecca goes back to Ibrahim (ابراهيم, Abraham) when he built the Kaaba with the help of his son Ismā'īl (اسماعيل, Ishmael), around 2000 BC. The inhabitants were stated to have fallen away from monotheism through the influence of the Amelkites.[16] Historians state that the Kaaba later became the repository of 360 idols and tribal gods of all of Arabia's nomadic tribes. Until the 7th century, Mecca's most important god would remain to be Hubal, having been placed there by the ruling Quraysh tribe.[17][18]
Ptolemy may have called the city "Macoraba", though this identification is controversial.[19] In the 5th century, the Quraysh took control of Mecca, and became skilled merchants and traders. In the 6th century they joined the lucrative spice trade as well, since battles in other parts of the world were causing trade routes to divert from the dangerous sea routes to the relatively more secure overland routes. The Byzantine Empire had previously controlled the Red Sea, but piracy had been on the increase. Another previous route, that from the Persian Gulf via the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, was also being threatened by exploitation from the Sassanid Empire, as well as being disrupted by the Lakhmids, the Ghassanids, and the Roman–Persian Wars. Mecca's prominence as a trading center surpassed the cities of Petra and Palmyra.[20][21]
By the middle of the 6th century, there were three major settlements in northern Arabia, all along the southwestern coast that borders the Red Sea, in a habitable region between the sea and the great desert to the east. This area, known as the Hejaz, featured three settlements grown around oases, where water was available. In the center of the Hejaz was Yathrib, later renamed as Medina. 250 mi (400 km) south of Yathrib was the mountain city Ta’if, northwest of which lay Mecca. Though the area around Mecca was completely barren, Mecca was the wealthiest and most important of the three settlements. Islamic histories state that it had abundant water via the Zamzam Well, which was the site of the holiest shrine in Arabia, the Kaaba, and was also at the crossroads of major caravan routes.[22]. Actually the well of Zamzam was barely sufficient to support the small community there, the Kaaba was but one of many such Arabian Polytheistic temple found in the peninsula, and the city was the terminus for a single caravan route which ran from Mecca to Syria.[23]
The harsh conditions of the Arabian peninsula usually meant a constant state of conflict between the tribes, but once a year they would declare a truce and converge upon Mecca in an annual pilgrimage. This journey was intended for religious reasons, to pay homage to the shrine, and to drink from the Well of Zamzam. However, it was also the time each year that disputes would be arbitrated, debts would be resolved, and trading would occur at Meccan fairs. These annual events gave the tribes a sense of common identity and made Mecca extremely important throughout the peninsula.[24]
Muhammad's great-grandfather had been the first to equip a camel caravan, and they became a regular part of the town's economy. Alliances were struck between the merchants in Mecca, and the local nomadic tribes, who would bring leather, livestock, and metals which were mined in the local mountains. Caravans would then be loaded up in Mecca, and would take the goods to the cities in Syria and Iraq.[25] Islamic tradition claims that goods from other continents also flowed through Mecca. From Africa and the Far East towards Syria supposedly flowed spices, leather, drugs, cloth, and slaves; and in return Mecca was to have received money, weapons, cereals, and wine, which were distributed throughout Arabia. The Meccans signed treaties with both the Byzantines and the Bedouins, and negotiated safe passage for caravans, which included such things as water and pasture rights. These further increased Mecca's political power as well as economic, and Mecca became the center of a loose confederation of client tribes, which included those of the Banu Tamim. Other forces such as the Abyssinian, Ghassan, and Lakhm were in decline, and Meccan influence was the primary binding force in Arabia in the late 6th century.[24]
Muhammad
Main articles: Muhammad, Conquest of Mecca, and Muhammad in Mecca
Muhammad was born in Mecca in August[26] 570, and thus Islam has been inextricably linked with Mecca ever since. Muhammad was born in a minor faction, the Hashemites, of the ruling Quraysh tribe. Islamic tradition states that he began receiving divine revelations here in 610 AD, and began to preach monotheism against Meccan animism. After enduring persecution for 13 years, Muhammad emigrated (see Hijra) in 622 with his followers to Yathrib (later called Medina). The conflict between the Quraysh and the Muslims, however, continued: the two fought in the Battle of Badr, where Muslims defeated the Quraysh outside Medina; whilst the Meccans overcame the Muslims at the Battle of Uhud. Overall, however, Meccan efforts to annihilate Islam were unsuccessful, and during the Battle of the Trench in 627, the combined armies of Arabia were unable to defeat Muhammad.[27]
The Ottoman Empire, including MeccaIn 628, Muhammad and his followers peacefully marched to Mecca, attempting to enter the city for pilgrimage. Instead, however, both Muslims and Meccans entered into the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, whereby Muslims and Quraysh would cease fighting and Muslims would be allowed into the city the following year. Two years later the Quraysh violated the truce, but instead of continuing their fight, the city of Mecca shortly surrendered to Muhammad, who declared amnesty for the inhabitants and gave generous gifts to the leading Quraysh. Mecca was cleansed of all its idols and cult images in the Kaaba. Muhammad declared Mecca as the holiest site in Islam ordaining it as the center of Muslim pilgrimage, one of the faith's five pillars. Despite his conquest, however, Muhammad chose to return to Medina, leaving behind Attab bin Usaid to govern the city. Muhammad's other activities in Arabia led to the unification of the peninsula, putting an end to the wars that had disrupted life in the city for so long.[27][20]
Muhammad died in 632, but with the sense of unity that he had passed on to the Arabians, Islam began a rapid expansion, and within the next few hundred years stretched from North Africa well into Asia. As the Islamic Empire grew, Mecca continued to attract pilgrims not just from Arabia, but now from all across the Empire, as Muslims sought to perform the annual Hajj.
Mecca also attracted a year-round population of scholars, pious Muslims who wished to live close to the Kaaba, and local inhabitants who served the pilgrims. Due to the difficulty and expense of the Hajj, pilgrims arrived by boat at Jeddah, and came overland, or joined the annual caravans from Syria or Iraq.
Medieval and pre-modern times
The First Saudi State, Including MeccaMecca was never the capital of any of the Caliphates including the Ottoman Empire. Muslim rulers did, however, contribute to its upkeep. During the reign of Umar and Uthman Ibn Affan, concerns of flooding caused the caliphs to bring in Christian engineers to build barrages in the high-lying quarters, and also to construct dykes and embankments to protect the area round the Kaaba.[20]
In Islamic history, Muhammad's emigration to Medina established the city as the first capital of the nation. When the Umayyad Caliphate took power they moved the capital to Damascus, Syria, and then the Abbasid Caliphate moved the capital to Baghdad, Iraq. The center of the Islamic Empire remained at Baghdad for nearly 500 years, and flourished into a center of research and commerce. In the 13th century, the Mongols invaded Baghdad and sacked the city. This event was one of the most detested events in Islamic history. Soon after the Battle of Baghdad, the Mongols rampaged west and conquered Syria. The next city to quickly emerge as the center of power in the Islamic state was Cairo, in Egypt. When the Ottoman Empire came into prominence the capital was moved to Constantinople. However, Mecca remained a prominent trading center. Pilgrims arriving for the Hajj often financed their journey by bringing goods to sell in the Meccan markets, and acquiring goods there which they could sell when they returned home.[28]
Mecca re-entered Islamic political history briefly when it was held by Abd-Allah ibn al-Zubayr, an early Muslim who opposed the Umayyad caliphs. The Caliph Yazid I besieged Mecca in 683.[29]
Thereafter the city figured little in politics, it was a city of devotion and scholarship. For centuries it was governed by the Hashemite Sharifs of Mecca.
In 930, Mecca was attacked and sacked by Qarmatians, a millenarian Ismaili Muslim sect led by Abu Tahir Al-Jannabi and centered in eastern Arabia.[30] The Black Death pandemic hit Mecca in 1349.[31] In 1517, the Sharif of Mecca, Barakat bin Muhammed, acknowledged the supremacy of the Ottoman Caliph, but maintained a great degree of local autonomy.[32]
Mecca in 1850The city was captured in 1802 by the First Saudi State (also known as Wahhabis[citation needed]), and the Saudis held Mecca until 1813[citation needed]. This was a massive blow to the prestige of the Ottoman Empire, who had exercised sovereignty over the holy cities since 1517, and the lethargic Ottomans were finally moved to action. The task of bringing Mecca back under Ottoman control was assigned to their powerful viceroy of Egypt, Muhammad Ali Pasha,[33] who successfully returned Mecca following the victory at Mecca in 1813. In 1818, the Wahhabis were again defeated, but some of the Al Saud clan lived on to found the Second Saudi State that lasted until 1891, and later the present Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia
In June 1916, During the Arab Revolt, the Sharif of Mecca, Hussein bin Ali revolted against the Ottoman Empire from Mecca and it was the first city captured by his forces following Battle of Mecca (1916). Sharif Hussein declared a new state, Kingdom of Hejaz, and declared Mecca as the capital of the new kingdom. Following the Battle of Mecca (1924), the Sharif of Mecca was overthrown by the Saudis, and Mecca was incorporated into Saudi Arabia.[7]
View of Mecca 1910On November 20, 1979 two hundred armed Islamist dissidents led by Saudi preacher Juhayman al-Otaibi seized the Grand Mosque. They claimed that the Saudi royal family no longer represented pure Islam and that the mosque, and the Kaaba, must be held by those of the true faith. The rebels seized tens of thousands of pilgrims as hostages and barricaded themselves in the mosque. The siege lasted two weeks, and resulted in several hundred deaths and significant damage to the shrine, especially the Safa-Marwa gallery. While it was the Pakistani forces that carried out the bloodless assault, they were assisted with weapons and planning by a small team of advisors from The French GIGN commando unit.[34]
On July 31, 1987, during an anti-US demonstration by pilgrims, 402 people were killed (275 Iranian pilgrims, 85 Saudis [including policemen], and 45 pilgrims from other countries) and 649 wounded (303 Iranian pilgrims, 145 Saudis [including policemen] and 201 pilgrims from other countries) after the Saudi police opened fire against the unarmed demonstrators.
Geography
Mecca's skyline, 2008
The Zamzam well was once an important source of fresh water. Today it serves pilgrims who visit the Grand Mosque.Mecca is at an elevation of 277 m (910 ft) above sea level, and approximately 50 mi (80 km) inland from the Red Sea.[22] The city is situated between mountains, which has defined the contemporary expansion of the city. The city centers on the Masjid al-Haram area, whose altitude is lower than most of the city. The area around the mosque comprises the old city. The main avenues are Al-Mudda'ah and Sūq al-Layl to the north of the mosque, and As-Sūg Assaghīr to the south. As the Saudis expanded the Grand Mosque in the center of the city, where there were once hundreds of houses are now replaced with wide avenues and city squares. Traditional homes are built of local rock and are generally two to three stories. The total area of Mecca metro today stands over 1,200 km2 (460 sq mi).[35]
Central Mecca lies in a corridor between mountains, which is often called the "hollow of Mecca." Mecca's location was also important for trade, and it was the stop for important trade routes.[20]
In pre-modern Mecca, the city exploited a few chief sources of water. The first were local wells, such as the Zamzam Well, that produced generally brackish water. The second source was the spring of Ayn Zubayda. The sources of this spring are the mountains of J̲abal Saʿd (Jabal Sa'd) and Jabal Kabkāb, which lie a few kilometers east of Ḏj̲abal ʿArafa (Djabal 'Arafa) or about 20 km (12 mi) east southeast of Mecca. Water was transported from it using underground channels. A very sporadic third source was rainfall which was stored by the people in small reservoirs or cisterns. The rainfall, as scant as it is, also presents the threat of flooding and has been a danger since earliest times. According to Al-Kurdī, there had been 89 historic floods by 1965, including several in the Saudi period. In the last century the most severe one occurred in 1942. Since then, dams have been constructed to ameliorate the problem.[36]
Localisée dans la région de Mývatn, sur le fleuve Skjálfandafljót, cette cascade fait 12 mètres de hauteur sur 30 mètres de largeur. En l'an 1000, le parlement islandais (l'Alþing) décide de suivre l'avis donné par le Lögsögumad Þorgeir Þorkelsson, païen désigné pour arbitrer sur le choix de la religion dans l'île en 999, et adopte le christianisme. En revenant dans sa contrée, celui-ci montre l'exemple en jetant ses idoles de l'ancienne religion nordique dans cette chute. Le nom Goðafoss signifie "la chute des dieux" en souvenir de cet évènement.
Located in the Mývatn region, on the Skjálfandafljót River, this waterfall is 12 meters high and 30 meters wide. In the year 1000, the Icelandic parliament (the Alþing) decided to follow the advice given by Lögsögumad Þorgeir Þorkelsson, a pagan appointed to arbitrate on the choice of religion on the island in 999, and adopted Christianity. Upon returning to his homeland, he set an example by throwing his idols of the old Norse religion into this waterfall. The name Goðafoss means "fall of the gods" in memory of this event.
Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France.
El Musée d'Orsay es una pinacoteca ubicada en París (Francia), que se dedica a las artes plásticas del siglo XIX y, más en concreto, del periodo 1848-1914. Ocupa el antiguo edificio de la estación ferroviaria de Orsay y alberga la mayor colección de obras impresionistas del mundo, con obras maestras de la pintura y de la escultura como "Almuerzo sobre la hierba" y "Olympia" de Édouard Manet, una prueba de la estatua "La pequeña bailarina de catorce años" de Degas, "Baile en el Moulin de la Galette" de Renoir, varias obras esenciales de Courbet ("El origen del mundo", "Entierro en Ornans", "El taller del pintor") e incluso cinco cuadros de la "Serie des Catedrales de Rouen" de Monet. Cronológicamente, este museo cubre la historia del arte entre los maestros antiguos (que están en el Museo del Louvre) y el arte moderno y contemporáneo (en el Centro Georges Pompidou).
En el espacio que hoy ocupa el Museo de Orsay se encontraba el palacio y jardín de Margarita de Valois.
El edificio del actual museo se creó entre finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX como estación ferroviaria para la Exposición Universal de París (1900). En el terreno había existido otro edificio, empleado como sede del Consejo de Estado y luego de la Corte de Cuentas, organismo que supervisaba la gestión económica del país. Este edificio quedó destruido en un incendio en 1871, durante los sucesos de la Comuna de París.
El nuevo conjunto fue diseñado por el arquitecto Victor Laloux y se inauguró para las fechas del inicio del certamen. Constaba de un hotel y de la estación propiamente dicha (que permaneció 39 años en activo).
Tras ser empleado con diversos usos hasta la década de los años 1970, el edificio sería destinado a museo gracias a una resolución del Estado francés. En 1973, la Dirección de Museos de Francia concibió el proyecto de establecer un museo en la estación de ferrocarril de Orsay, que amenazaba ruina y en la que se hablaba de construir un hotel, que se inscribió en el Inventario suplementario de Monumentos Históricos el 8 de marzo de 1973. La decisión oficial de construir el museo llegó con el consejo de ministros del 20 de octubre de 1977.
Al ser un edificio con estructura de hierro, ello favorecía en parte la adaptación a los planteamientos museísticos de la actualidad. Se vació toda la estructura de la gran nave central para arbitrar una secuencia expositiva de un periodo artístico que posibilitase un recorrido lineal, mientras que se emplearon espacios anexos para albergar otros servicios.
Las obras de acondicionamiento de la estación a museo se llevaron a cabo entre los años de 1981 y 1986, haciéndose cargo de la remodelación exterior el estudio ACT-Architecture y de la adaptación interior un equipo a cargo de la arquitecta Gae Aulenti. La inauguración oficial se produjo el 1 de diciembre de 1986, por el presidente de la República, François Mitterrand. Abrió al público el día 9 del mismo mes.
Las tres plantas en que se divide el edificio albergan una excepcional colección de arte del siglos XIX y principios del XX, procedente de diversas instituciones museísticas, ordenada de forma cronológica, y que cuenta con obras impagables de grandes autores de la Historia del arte como Delacroix, Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat o Derain, entre muchos otros ejemplos de pintura y escultura.
Este museo ilustra también otra vertiente más conservadora del arte, desde el gusto académico en la estela de Ingres hasta el simbolismo de Puvis de Chavannes; pero son estilos artísticos menos populares actualmente, que quedan eclipsados por la colosal colección de impresionistas. Hay también un amplio repertorio de proyectos arquitectónicos, objetos decorativos, dibujos y fotografías.
The Musée d'Orsay is a gallery located in Paris (France), which is dedicated to the visual arts of the 19th century and, more specifically, from the period 1848-1914. It occupies the former Orsay railway station building and houses the largest collection of Impressionist works in the world, with masterpieces of painting and sculpture such as "Lunch on the Grass" and "Olympia" by Édouard Manet, proof of the statue "The Little Ballerina Fourteen" by Degas, "Dance at the Moulin de la Galette" by Renoir, several essential works by Courbet ("The Origin of the World", "Burial in Ornans", "The Painter's Workshop") and even five paintings from Monet's "Series des Catedrales de Rouen". Chronologically, this museum covers the history of art between the ancient masters (who are in the Louvre Museum) and modern and contemporary art (in the Georges Pompidou Center).
In the space that the Orsay Museum occupies today was the palace and garden of Marguerite de Valois.
The building of the current museum was created between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th as a railway station for the Universal Exposition of Paris (1900). On the land there had been another building, used as the seat of the Council of State and after the Court of Accounts, the body that supervised the country's economic management. This building was destroyed in a fire in 1871, during the events of the Paris Commune.
The new set was designed by the architect Victor Laloux and was inaugurated for the dates of the beginning of the contest. It consisted of a hotel and the station itself (which remained active for 39 years).
After being used for various uses until the 1970s, the building would be used as a museum thanks to a resolution by the French State. In 1973, the Directorate of Museums of France conceived the project to establish a museum at the Orsay railway station, which threatened ruin and in which there was talk of building a hotel, which was entered in the Supplementary Inventory of Historical Monuments on 8 March 1973. The official decision to build the museum came with the Cabinet of Ministers on October 20, 1977.
As it is a building with an iron structure, this partially favored adaptation to contemporary museum approaches. The entire structure of the great central nave was emptied to arbitrate an exhibition sequence of an artistic period that would make a linear journey possible, while adjoining spaces were used to house other services.
The works to refurbish the station into a museum were carried out between the years 1981 and 1986, with the ACT-Architecture studio remodeling the exterior and the team adapting the architect Gae Aulenti the interior adaptation. The official inauguration took place on December 1, 1986, by the President of the Republic, François Mitterrand. It opened to the public on the 9th of the same month.
The three floors into which the building is divided house an exceptional collection of art from the 19th and early 20th centuries, from various museum institutions, arranged chronologically, and which contains priceless works by great authors of art history such as Delacroix , Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat or Derain, among many other examples of painting and sculpture.
This museum also illustrates another more conservative aspect of art, from the academic taste in the wake of Ingres to the symbolism of Puvis de Chavannes; but they are less popular artistic styles today, which are overshadowed by the colossal collection of impressionists. There is also a wide repertoire of architectural projects, decorative objects, drawings and photographs.
Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France.
El Musée d'Orsay es una pinacoteca ubicada en París (Francia), que se dedica a las artes plásticas del siglo XIX y, más en concreto, del periodo 1848-1914. Ocupa el antiguo edificio de la estación ferroviaria de Orsay y alberga la mayor colección de obras impresionistas del mundo, con obras maestras de la pintura y de la escultura como "Almuerzo sobre la hierba" y "Olympia" de Édouard Manet, una prueba de la estatua "La pequeña bailarina de catorce años" de Degas, "Baile en el Moulin de la Galette" de Renoir, varias obras esenciales de Courbet ("El origen del mundo", "Entierro en Ornans", "El taller del pintor") e incluso cinco cuadros de la "Serie des Catedrales de Rouen" de Monet. Cronológicamente, este museo cubre la historia del arte entre los maestros antiguos (que están en el Museo del Louvre) y el arte moderno y contemporáneo (en el Centro Georges Pompidou).
En el espacio que hoy ocupa el Museo de Orsay se encontraba el palacio y jardín de Margarita de Valois.
El edificio del actual museo se creó entre finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX como estación ferroviaria para la Exposición Universal de París (1900). En el terreno había existido otro edificio, empleado como sede del Consejo de Estado y luego de la Corte de Cuentas, organismo que supervisaba la gestión económica del país. Este edificio quedó destruido en un incendio en 1871, durante los sucesos de la Comuna de París.
El nuevo conjunto fue diseñado por el arquitecto Victor Laloux y se inauguró para las fechas del inicio del certamen. Constaba de un hotel y de la estación propiamente dicha (que permaneció 39 años en activo).
Tras ser empleado con diversos usos hasta la década de los años 1970, el edificio sería destinado a museo gracias a una resolución del Estado francés. En 1973, la Dirección de Museos de Francia concibió el proyecto de establecer un museo en la estación de ferrocarril de Orsay, que amenazaba ruina y en la que se hablaba de construir un hotel, que se inscribió en el Inventario suplementario de Monumentos Históricos el 8 de marzo de 1973. La decisión oficial de construir el museo llegó con el consejo de ministros del 20 de octubre de 1977.
Al ser un edificio con estructura de hierro, ello favorecía en parte la adaptación a los planteamientos museísticos de la actualidad. Se vació toda la estructura de la gran nave central para arbitrar una secuencia expositiva de un periodo artístico que posibilitase un recorrido lineal, mientras que se emplearon espacios anexos para albergar otros servicios.
Las obras de acondicionamiento de la estación a museo se llevaron a cabo entre los años de 1981 y 1986, haciéndose cargo de la remodelación exterior el estudio ACT-Architecture y de la adaptación interior un equipo a cargo de la arquitecta Gae Aulenti. La inauguración oficial se produjo el 1 de diciembre de 1986, por el presidente de la República, François Mitterrand. Abrió al público el día 9 del mismo mes.
Las tres plantas en que se divide el edificio albergan una excepcional colección de arte del siglos XIX y principios del XX, procedente de diversas instituciones museísticas, ordenada de forma cronológica, y que cuenta con obras impagables de grandes autores de la Historia del arte como Delacroix, Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat o Derain, entre muchos otros ejemplos de pintura y escultura.
Este museo ilustra también otra vertiente más conservadora del arte, desde el gusto académico en la estela de Ingres hasta el simbolismo de Puvis de Chavannes; pero son estilos artísticos menos populares actualmente, que quedan eclipsados por la colosal colección de impresionistas. Hay también un amplio repertorio de proyectos arquitectónicos, objetos decorativos, dibujos y fotografías.
The Musée d'Orsay is a gallery located in Paris (France), which is dedicated to the visual arts of the 19th century and, more specifically, from the period 1848-1914. It occupies the former Orsay railway station building and houses the largest collection of Impressionist works in the world, with masterpieces of painting and sculpture such as "Lunch on the Grass" and "Olympia" by Édouard Manet, proof of the statue "The Little Ballerina Fourteen" by Degas, "Dance at the Moulin de la Galette" by Renoir, several essential works by Courbet ("The Origin of the World", "Burial in Ornans", "The Painter's Workshop") and even five paintings from Monet's "Series des Catedrales de Rouen". Chronologically, this museum covers the history of art between the ancient masters (who are in the Louvre Museum) and modern and contemporary art (in the Georges Pompidou Center).
In the space that the Orsay Museum occupies today was the palace and garden of Marguerite de Valois.
The building of the current museum was created between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th as a railway station for the Universal Exposition of Paris (1900). On the land there had been another building, used as the seat of the Council of State and after the Court of Accounts, the body that supervised the country's economic management. This building was destroyed in a fire in 1871, during the events of the Paris Commune.
The new set was designed by the architect Victor Laloux and was inaugurated for the dates of the beginning of the contest. It consisted of a hotel and the station itself (which remained active for 39 years).
After being used for various uses until the 1970s, the building would be used as a museum thanks to a resolution by the French State. In 1973, the Directorate of Museums of France conceived the project to establish a museum at the Orsay railway station, which threatened ruin and in which there was talk of building a hotel, which was entered in the Supplementary Inventory of Historical Monuments on 8 March 1973. The official decision to build the museum came with the Cabinet of Ministers on October 20, 1977.
As it is a building with an iron structure, this partially favored adaptation to contemporary museum approaches. The entire structure of the great central nave was emptied to arbitrate an exhibition sequence of an artistic period that would make a linear journey possible, while adjoining spaces were used to house other services.
The works to refurbish the station into a museum were carried out between the years 1981 and 1986, with the ACT-Architecture studio remodeling the exterior and the team adapting the architect Gae Aulenti the interior adaptation. The official inauguration took place on December 1, 1986, by the President of the Republic, François Mitterrand. It opened to the public on the 9th of the same month.
The three floors into which the building is divided house an exceptional collection of art from the 19th and early 20th centuries, from various museum institutions, arranged chronologically, and which contains priceless works by great authors of art history such as Delacroix , Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat or Derain, among many other examples of painting and sculpture.
This museum also illustrates another more conservative aspect of art, from the academic taste in the wake of Ingres to the symbolism of Puvis de Chavannes; but they are less popular artistic styles today, which are overshadowed by the colossal collection of impressionists. There is also a wide repertoire of architectural projects, decorative objects, drawings and photographs.
Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France.
El Musée d'Orsay es una pinacoteca ubicada en París (Francia), que se dedica a las artes plásticas del siglo XIX y, más en concreto, del periodo 1848-1914. Ocupa el antiguo edificio de la estación ferroviaria de Orsay y alberga la mayor colección de obras impresionistas del mundo, con obras maestras de la pintura y de la escultura como "Almuerzo sobre la hierba" y "Olympia" de Édouard Manet, una prueba de la estatua "La pequeña bailarina de catorce años" de Degas, "Baile en el Moulin de la Galette" de Renoir, varias obras esenciales de Courbet ("El origen del mundo", "Entierro en Ornans", "El taller del pintor") e incluso cinco cuadros de la "Serie des Catedrales de Rouen" de Monet. Cronológicamente, este museo cubre la historia del arte entre los maestros antiguos (que están en el Museo del Louvre) y el arte moderno y contemporáneo (en el Centro Georges Pompidou).
En el espacio que hoy ocupa el Museo de Orsay se encontraba el palacio y jardín de Margarita de Valois.
El edificio del actual museo se creó entre finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX como estación ferroviaria para la Exposición Universal de París (1900). En el terreno había existido otro edificio, empleado como sede del Consejo de Estado y luego de la Corte de Cuentas, organismo que supervisaba la gestión económica del país. Este edificio quedó destruido en un incendio en 1871, durante los sucesos de la Comuna de París.
El nuevo conjunto fue diseñado por el arquitecto Victor Laloux y se inauguró para las fechas del inicio del certamen. Constaba de un hotel y de la estación propiamente dicha (que permaneció 39 años en activo).
Tras ser empleado con diversos usos hasta la década de los años 1970, el edificio sería destinado a museo gracias a una resolución del Estado francés. En 1973, la Dirección de Museos de Francia concibió el proyecto de establecer un museo en la estación de ferrocarril de Orsay, que amenazaba ruina y en la que se hablaba de construir un hotel, que se inscribió en el Inventario suplementario de Monumentos Históricos el 8 de marzo de 1973. La decisión oficial de construir el museo llegó con el consejo de ministros del 20 de octubre de 1977.
Al ser un edificio con estructura de hierro, ello favorecía en parte la adaptación a los planteamientos museísticos de la actualidad. Se vació toda la estructura de la gran nave central para arbitrar una secuencia expositiva de un periodo artístico que posibilitase un recorrido lineal, mientras que se emplearon espacios anexos para albergar otros servicios.
Las obras de acondicionamiento de la estación a museo se llevaron a cabo entre los años de 1981 y 1986, haciéndose cargo de la remodelación exterior el estudio ACT-Architecture y de la adaptación interior un equipo a cargo de la arquitecta Gae Aulenti. La inauguración oficial se produjo el 1 de diciembre de 1986, por el presidente de la República, François Mitterrand. Abrió al público el día 9 del mismo mes.
Las tres plantas en que se divide el edificio albergan una excepcional colección de arte del siglos XIX y principios del XX, procedente de diversas instituciones museísticas, ordenada de forma cronológica, y que cuenta con obras impagables de grandes autores de la Historia del arte como Delacroix, Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat o Derain, entre muchos otros ejemplos de pintura y escultura.
Este museo ilustra también otra vertiente más conservadora del arte, desde el gusto académico en la estela de Ingres hasta el simbolismo de Puvis de Chavannes; pero son estilos artísticos menos populares actualmente, que quedan eclipsados por la colosal colección de impresionistas. Hay también un amplio repertorio de proyectos arquitectónicos, objetos decorativos, dibujos y fotografías.
The Musée d'Orsay is a gallery located in Paris (France), which is dedicated to the visual arts of the 19th century and, more specifically, from the period 1848-1914. It occupies the former Orsay railway station building and houses the largest collection of Impressionist works in the world, with masterpieces of painting and sculpture such as "Lunch on the Grass" and "Olympia" by Édouard Manet, proof of the statue "The Little Ballerina Fourteen" by Degas, "Dance at the Moulin de la Galette" by Renoir, several essential works by Courbet ("The Origin of the World", "Burial in Ornans", "The Painter's Workshop") and even five paintings from Monet's "Series des Catedrales de Rouen". Chronologically, this museum covers the history of art between the ancient masters (who are in the Louvre Museum) and modern and contemporary art (in the Georges Pompidou Center).
In the space that the Orsay Museum occupies today was the palace and garden of Marguerite de Valois.
The building of the current museum was created between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th as a railway station for the Universal Exposition of Paris (1900). On the land there had been another building, used as the seat of the Council of State and after the Court of Accounts, the body that supervised the country's economic management. This building was destroyed in a fire in 1871, during the events of the Paris Commune.
The new set was designed by the architect Victor Laloux and was inaugurated for the dates of the beginning of the contest. It consisted of a hotel and the station itself (which remained active for 39 years).
After being used for various uses until the 1970s, the building would be used as a museum thanks to a resolution by the French State. In 1973, the Directorate of Museums of France conceived the project to establish a museum at the Orsay railway station, which threatened ruin and in which there was talk of building a hotel, which was entered in the Supplementary Inventory of Historical Monuments on 8 March 1973. The official decision to build the museum came with the Cabinet of Ministers on October 20, 1977.
As it is a building with an iron structure, this partially favored adaptation to contemporary museum approaches. The entire structure of the great central nave was emptied to arbitrate an exhibition sequence of an artistic period that would make a linear journey possible, while adjoining spaces were used to house other services.
The works to refurbish the station into a museum were carried out between the years 1981 and 1986, with the ACT-Architecture studio remodeling the exterior and the team adapting the architect Gae Aulenti the interior adaptation. The official inauguration took place on December 1, 1986, by the President of the Republic, François Mitterrand. It opened to the public on the 9th of the same month.
The three floors into which the building is divided house an exceptional collection of art from the 19th and early 20th centuries, from various museum institutions, arranged chronologically, and which contains priceless works by great authors of art history such as Delacroix , Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat or Derain, among many other examples of painting and sculpture.
This museum also illustrates another more conservative aspect of art, from the academic taste in the wake of Ingres to the symbolism of Puvis de Chavannes; but they are less popular artistic styles today, which are overshadowed by the colossal collection of impressionists. There is also a wide repertoire of architectural projects, decorative objects, drawings and photographs.
Kingsbury a village in Warwickshire.
The name Kingsbury is derived from the Saxon Chinesburie meaning 'royal fortified house' or 'Kings Fort'. The 'bury' part of the name means 'fort' or 'defensive work'. The location of the church and remains of a medieval home (Kingsbury Hall) above the river suggest a good location for a 'defensive' work. Kingsbury Hall (or Bracebridge Hall as it was their family home for many years) is now only part lived in as a farmhouse. It was a fortified manor house and the remains of a curtain wall can still be seen. Kingsbury was founded by the same Angles tribe that established Curdworth and Minworth.
The village is mentioned in the Domesday survey. Two priests are recorded, so the church must have existed. So is Hemlingford Mill, which still exists. It was originally a water mill, used for many purposes including milling corn into flour and grinding gun barrels for muskets during the Napoleonic Wars. Later it was used as a garden centre. A bridge was built across the River Tame near to the mill in 1783. This was single carriageway so traffic lights were installed later on, until it was bypassed by a new road to serve the oil terminal in the 1960s.
In 1473–74 during the Wars of the Roses there was a family dispute involving the Bracebridges and their distant relations, the Ardens (William Shakespeare's maternal ancestors) of Park Hall in Castle Bromwich. John Arden had fallen in love with Alice Bracebridge. John's father, Sir Walter, did not approve. John was kidnapped and taken to Bracebridge Hall. Sir Walter appealed to King Edward IV, who appointed Sir Simon de Montford of Coleshill and Sir Richard Bingham of Middleton to arbitrate. John and Alice were married in February 1474. In 1502 John inherited Park Hall in Castle Bromwich, while his younger brother Thomas settled at Wilmcote near Stratford upon Avon. Thomas had a son Robert who was the father of Mary Arden, William Shakespeare's mother.
Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France.
"El Regreso de la pesca: remolcando del barco", Joaquin Sorolla, 1895.
El Musée d'Orsay es una pinacoteca ubicada en París (Francia), que se dedica a las artes plásticas del siglo XIX y, más en concreto, del periodo 1848-1914. Ocupa el antiguo edificio de la estación ferroviaria de Orsay y alberga la mayor colección de obras impresionistas del mundo, con obras maestras de la pintura y de la escultura como "Almuerzo sobre la hierba" y "Olympia" de Édouard Manet, una prueba de la estatua "La pequeña bailarina de catorce años" de Degas, "Baile en el Moulin de la Galette" de Renoir, varias obras esenciales de Courbet ("El origen del mundo", "Entierro en Ornans", "El taller del pintor") e incluso cinco cuadros de la "Serie des Catedrales de Rouen" de Monet. Cronológicamente, este museo cubre la historia del arte entre los maestros antiguos (que están en el Museo del Louvre) y el arte moderno y contemporáneo (en el Centro Georges Pompidou).
En el espacio que hoy ocupa el Museo de Orsay se encontraba el palacio y jardín de Margarita de Valois.
El edificio del actual museo se creó entre finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX como estación ferroviaria para la Exposición Universal de París (1900). En el terreno había existido otro edificio, empleado como sede del Consejo de Estado y luego de la Corte de Cuentas, organismo que supervisaba la gestión económica del país. Este edificio quedó destruido en un incendio en 1871, durante los sucesos de la Comuna de París.
El nuevo conjunto fue diseñado por el arquitecto Victor Laloux y se inauguró para las fechas del inicio del certamen. Constaba de un hotel y de la estación propiamente dicha (que permaneció 39 años en activo).
Tras ser empleado con diversos usos hasta la década de los años 1970, el edificio sería destinado a museo gracias a una resolución del Estado francés. En 1973, la Dirección de Museos de Francia concibió el proyecto de establecer un museo en la estación de ferrocarril de Orsay, que amenazaba ruina y en la que se hablaba de construir un hotel, que se inscribió en el Inventario suplementario de Monumentos Históricos el 8 de marzo de 1973. La decisión oficial de construir el museo llegó con el consejo de ministros del 20 de octubre de 1977.
Al ser un edificio con estructura de hierro, ello favorecía en parte la adaptación a los planteamientos museísticos de la actualidad. Se vació toda la estructura de la gran nave central para arbitrar una secuencia expositiva de un periodo artístico que posibilitase un recorrido lineal, mientras que se emplearon espacios anexos para albergar otros servicios.
Las obras de acondicionamiento de la estación a museo se llevaron a cabo entre los años de 1981 y 1986, haciéndose cargo de la remodelación exterior el estudio ACT-Architecture y de la adaptación interior un equipo a cargo de la arquitecta Gae Aulenti. La inauguración oficial se produjo el 1 de diciembre de 1986, por el presidente de la República, François Mitterrand. Abrió al público el día 9 del mismo mes.
Las tres plantas en que se divide el edificio albergan una excepcional colección de arte del siglos XIX y principios del XX, procedente de diversas instituciones museísticas, ordenada de forma cronológica, y que cuenta con obras impagables de grandes autores de la Historia del arte como Delacroix, Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat o Derain, entre muchos otros ejemplos de pintura y escultura.
Este museo ilustra también otra vertiente más conservadora del arte, desde el gusto académico en la estela de Ingres hasta el simbolismo de Puvis de Chavannes; pero son estilos artísticos menos populares actualmente, que quedan eclipsados por la colosal colección de impresionistas. Hay también un amplio repertorio de proyectos arquitectónicos, objetos decorativos, dibujos y fotografías.
The Musée d'Orsay is a gallery located in Paris (France), which is dedicated to the visual arts of the 19th century and, more specifically, from the period 1848-1914. It occupies the former Orsay railway station building and houses the largest collection of Impressionist works in the world, with masterpieces of painting and sculpture such as "Lunch on the Grass" and "Olympia" by Édouard Manet, proof of the statue "The Little Ballerina Fourteen" by Degas, "Dance at the Moulin de la Galette" by Renoir, several essential works by Courbet ("The Origin of the World", "Burial in Ornans", "The Painter's Workshop") and even five paintings from Monet's "Series des Catedrales de Rouen". Chronologically, this museum covers the history of art between the ancient masters (who are in the Louvre Museum) and modern and contemporary art (in the Georges Pompidou Center).
In the space that the Orsay Museum occupies today was the palace and garden of Marguerite de Valois.
The building of the current museum was created between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th as a railway station for the Universal Exposition of Paris (1900). On the land there had been another building, used as the seat of the Council of State and after the Court of Accounts, the body that supervised the country's economic management. This building was destroyed in a fire in 1871, during the events of the Paris Commune.
The new set was designed by the architect Victor Laloux and was inaugurated for the dates of the beginning of the contest. It consisted of a hotel and the station itself (which remained active for 39 years).
After being used for various uses until the 1970s, the building would be used as a museum thanks to a resolution by the French State. In 1973, the Directorate of Museums of France conceived the project to establish a museum at the Orsay railway station, which threatened ruin and in which there was talk of building a hotel, which was entered in the Supplementary Inventory of Historical Monuments on 8 March 1973. The official decision to build the museum came with the Cabinet of Ministers on October 20, 1977.
As it is a building with an iron structure, this partially favored adaptation to contemporary museum approaches. The entire structure of the great central nave was emptied to arbitrate an exhibition sequence of an artistic period that would make a linear journey possible, while adjoining spaces were used to house other services.
The works to refurbish the station into a museum were carried out between the years 1981 and 1986, with the ACT-Architecture studio remodeling the exterior and the team adapting the architect Gae Aulenti the interior adaptation. The official inauguration took place on December 1, 1986, by the President of the Republic, François Mitterrand. It opened to the public on the 9th of the same month.
The three floors into which the building is divided house an exceptional collection of art from the 19th and early 20th centuries, from various museum institutions, arranged chronologically, and which contains priceless works by great authors of art history such as Delacroix , Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat or Derain, among many other examples of painting and sculpture.
This museum also illustrates another more conservative aspect of art, from the academic taste in the wake of Ingres to the symbolism of Puvis de Chavannes; but they are less popular artistic styles today, which are overshadowed by the colossal collection of impressionists. There is also a wide repertoire of architectural projects, decorative objects, drawings and photographs.
(further pictures and information you can see be clicking on the link at the end of page!)
The medieval cloister in the core of the building goes back to the 13-14th Century. In the older area are still to see glazed lancet windows, in the northern part glazed rounded arched windows. Going through the cloister, you can, inter alia, admire a late gothic groin vault, fragments of frescoes from the 16th Century and numerous epitaphs. If you sit in Kreuzhof, you can discover Tuscan half-columns of the formerly open Renaissance arcades passage on the first floor.
Burial in the cloister and Kreuzhof and in the Jacobian Chapel
Burials of citizens primarily took place in Kreuzhof (ie, the "small cemetery" or "coemeteriolo") and in the cloister itself.
Many epitaphs in the cloister still testify thereof, the job titles also being cited (eg Physikus, Bader (master of leeches), pharmacist's wife, Tischdöckerin (woman laying the table) at Court, painter, etc).
Also single nobles can be found here, including the imperial notary Johannes de Hall(w)weil (+1520 ) from a Swiss species, [specifically sent for to come to Graz to arbitrate at the transfer of ,Murklosters (cloister in the vicinity of the river Mur)' from the ,Conventualen' to the ,Observants'].
Another cemetery was located at the north side around the chancel, so on today's Franziskanerplatz; it is later called - for a given reason - "Pestfriedhof" (pestilence cemetery).
A crypt under the choir of St. James Chapel is likely to have existed as early as 1330. {Maybe it was intended for the Habsburg Duke Henry the Meek, who was buried in 1327 in the monastery, but was later transferred to the family vault of the Habsburgs to Königsfelden in Switzerland.}
From the 15th Century the ,Jakobi-crypt' was in any case occupied by various influential aristocratic families:
The oldest surviving Epitaph (>however now in the cloister) of 1454 names Thoman Wolfsthaler, a brother-in-law of the Lords of Windischgrätz (>among other things, Styrian provincial governors)
1516 Epitaph for the brothers Andre and Wolfgang de Windischgrätz (also transmitted in 19. century into the cloister)
1549 the extremely elaborate epitaph for Christoph von Windischgräz to Waltstain and his wife
1592 Epitaph for Wolfgang Jöchlinger, wife and son Christoph
{1471 the skull of the than as 'high traitor" executed knight Andreas Greissenecker was buried under the threshold to Jacobian chapel. In 1987 he was found there during renovation work and was reverently laid to rest in a niche of the portal.}
Also all those above-described burial sites had to be abandoned in 1782 under Joseph II. The funeral of the Franciscan brothers since then is held on the St. Peter City Cemetery.
Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France.
"La danse", Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, 1868.
El Musée d'Orsay es una pinacoteca ubicada en París (Francia), que se dedica a las artes plásticas del siglo XIX y, más en concreto, del periodo 1848-1914. Ocupa el antiguo edificio de la estación ferroviaria de Orsay y alberga la mayor colección de obras impresionistas del mundo, con obras maestras de la pintura y de la escultura como "Almuerzo sobre la hierba" y "Olympia" de Édouard Manet, una prueba de la estatua "La pequeña bailarina de catorce años" de Degas, "Baile en el Moulin de la Galette" de Renoir, varias obras esenciales de Courbet ("El origen del mundo", "Entierro en Ornans", "El taller del pintor") e incluso cinco cuadros de la "Serie des Catedrales de Rouen" de Monet. Cronológicamente, este museo cubre la historia del arte entre los maestros antiguos (que están en el Museo del Louvre) y el arte moderno y contemporáneo (en el Centro Georges Pompidou).
En el espacio que hoy ocupa el Museo de Orsay se encontraba el palacio y jardín de Margarita de Valois.
El edificio del actual museo se creó entre finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX como estación ferroviaria para la Exposición Universal de París (1900). En el terreno había existido otro edificio, empleado como sede del Consejo de Estado y luego de la Corte de Cuentas, organismo que supervisaba la gestión económica del país. Este edificio quedó destruido en un incendio en 1871, durante los sucesos de la Comuna de París.
El nuevo conjunto fue diseñado por el arquitecto Victor Laloux y se inauguró para las fechas del inicio del certamen. Constaba de un hotel y de la estación propiamente dicha (que permaneció 39 años en activo).
Tras ser empleado con diversos usos hasta la década de los años 1970, el edificio sería destinado a museo gracias a una resolución del Estado francés. En 1973, la Dirección de Museos de Francia concibió el proyecto de establecer un museo en la estación de ferrocarril de Orsay, que amenazaba ruina y en la que se hablaba de construir un hotel, que se inscribió en el Inventario suplementario de Monumentos Históricos el 8 de marzo de 1973. La decisión oficial de construir el museo llegó con el consejo de ministros del 20 de octubre de 1977.
Al ser un edificio con estructura de hierro, ello favorecía en parte la adaptación a los planteamientos museísticos de la actualidad. Se vació toda la estructura de la gran nave central para arbitrar una secuencia expositiva de un periodo artístico que posibilitase un recorrido lineal, mientras que se emplearon espacios anexos para albergar otros servicios.
Las obras de acondicionamiento de la estación a museo se llevaron a cabo entre los años de 1981 y 1986, haciéndose cargo de la remodelación exterior el estudio ACT-Architecture y de la adaptación interior un equipo a cargo de la arquitecta Gae Aulenti. La inauguración oficial se produjo el 1 de diciembre de 1986, por el presidente de la República, François Mitterrand. Abrió al público el día 9 del mismo mes.
Las tres plantas en que se divide el edificio albergan una excepcional colección de arte del siglos XIX y principios del XX, procedente de diversas instituciones museísticas, ordenada de forma cronológica, y que cuenta con obras impagables de grandes autores de la Historia del arte como Delacroix, Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat o Derain, entre muchos otros ejemplos de pintura y escultura.
Este museo ilustra también otra vertiente más conservadora del arte, desde el gusto académico en la estela de Ingres hasta el simbolismo de Puvis de Chavannes; pero son estilos artísticos menos populares actualmente, que quedan eclipsados por la colosal colección de impresionistas. Hay también un amplio repertorio de proyectos arquitectónicos, objetos decorativos, dibujos y fotografías.
The Musée d'Orsay is a gallery located in Paris (France), which is dedicated to the visual arts of the 19th century and, more specifically, from the period 1848-1914. It occupies the former Orsay railway station building and houses the largest collection of Impressionist works in the world, with masterpieces of painting and sculpture such as "Lunch on the Grass" and "Olympia" by Édouard Manet, proof of the statue "The Little Ballerina Fourteen" by Degas, "Dance at the Moulin de la Galette" by Renoir, several essential works by Courbet ("The Origin of the World", "Burial in Ornans", "The Painter's Workshop") and even five paintings from Monet's "Series des Catedrales de Rouen". Chronologically, this museum covers the history of art between the ancient masters (who are in the Louvre Museum) and modern and contemporary art (in the Georges Pompidou Center).
In the space that the Orsay Museum occupies today was the palace and garden of Marguerite de Valois.
The building of the current museum was created between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th as a railway station for the Universal Exposition of Paris (1900). On the land there had been another building, used as the seat of the Council of State and after the Court of Accounts, the body that supervised the country's economic management. This building was destroyed in a fire in 1871, during the events of the Paris Commune.
The new set was designed by the architect Victor Laloux and was inaugurated for the dates of the beginning of the contest. It consisted of a hotel and the station itself (which remained active for 39 years).
After being used for various uses until the 1970s, the building would be used as a museum thanks to a resolution by the French State. In 1973, the Directorate of Museums of France conceived the project to establish a museum at the Orsay railway station, which threatened ruin and in which there was talk of building a hotel, which was entered in the Supplementary Inventory of Historical Monuments on 8 March 1973. The official decision to build the museum came with the Cabinet of Ministers on October 20, 1977.
As it is a building with an iron structure, this partially favored adaptation to contemporary museum approaches. The entire structure of the great central nave was emptied to arbitrate an exhibition sequence of an artistic period that would make a linear journey possible, while adjoining spaces were used to house other services.
The works to refurbish the station into a museum were carried out between the years 1981 and 1986, with the ACT-Architecture studio remodeling the exterior and the team adapting the architect Gae Aulenti the interior adaptation. The official inauguration took place on December 1, 1986, by the President of the Republic, François Mitterrand. It opened to the public on the 9th of the same month.
The three floors into which the building is divided house an exceptional collection of art from the 19th and early 20th centuries, from various museum institutions, arranged chronologically, and which contains priceless works by great authors of art history such as Delacroix , Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat or Derain, among many other examples of painting and sculpture.
This museum also illustrates another more conservative aspect of art, from the academic taste in the wake of Ingres to the symbolism of Puvis de Chavannes; but they are less popular artistic styles today, which are overshadowed by the colossal collection of impressionists. There is also a wide repertoire of architectural projects, decorative objects, drawings and photographs.
Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France.
"Bergère avec son troupeau", Jean-François Millet, 1863.
El Musée d'Orsay es una pinacoteca ubicada en París (Francia), que se dedica a las artes plásticas del siglo XIX y, más en concreto, del periodo 1848-1914. Ocupa el antiguo edificio de la estación ferroviaria de Orsay y alberga la mayor colección de obras impresionistas del mundo, con obras maestras de la pintura y de la escultura como "Almuerzo sobre la hierba" y "Olympia" de Édouard Manet, una prueba de la estatua "La pequeña bailarina de catorce años" de Degas, "Baile en el Moulin de la Galette" de Renoir, varias obras esenciales de Courbet ("El origen del mundo", "Entierro en Ornans", "El taller del pintor") e incluso cinco cuadros de la "Serie des Catedrales de Rouen" de Monet. Cronológicamente, este museo cubre la historia del arte entre los maestros antiguos (que están en el Museo del Louvre) y el arte moderno y contemporáneo (en el Centro Georges Pompidou).
En el espacio que hoy ocupa el Museo de Orsay se encontraba el palacio y jardín de Margarita de Valois.
El edificio del actual museo se creó entre finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX como estación ferroviaria para la Exposición Universal de París (1900). En el terreno había existido otro edificio, empleado como sede del Consejo de Estado y luego de la Corte de Cuentas, organismo que supervisaba la gestión económica del país. Este edificio quedó destruido en un incendio en 1871, durante los sucesos de la Comuna de París.
El nuevo conjunto fue diseñado por el arquitecto Victor Laloux y se inauguró para las fechas del inicio del certamen. Constaba de un hotel y de la estación propiamente dicha (que permaneció 39 años en activo).
Tras ser empleado con diversos usos hasta la década de los años 1970, el edificio sería destinado a museo gracias a una resolución del Estado francés. En 1973, la Dirección de Museos de Francia concibió el proyecto de establecer un museo en la estación de ferrocarril de Orsay, que amenazaba ruina y en la que se hablaba de construir un hotel, que se inscribió en el Inventario suplementario de Monumentos Históricos el 8 de marzo de 1973. La decisión oficial de construir el museo llegó con el consejo de ministros del 20 de octubre de 1977.
Al ser un edificio con estructura de hierro, ello favorecía en parte la adaptación a los planteamientos museísticos de la actualidad. Se vació toda la estructura de la gran nave central para arbitrar una secuencia expositiva de un periodo artístico que posibilitase un recorrido lineal, mientras que se emplearon espacios anexos para albergar otros servicios.
Las obras de acondicionamiento de la estación a museo se llevaron a cabo entre los años de 1981 y 1986, haciéndose cargo de la remodelación exterior el estudio ACT-Architecture y de la adaptación interior un equipo a cargo de la arquitecta Gae Aulenti. La inauguración oficial se produjo el 1 de diciembre de 1986, por el presidente de la República, François Mitterrand. Abrió al público el día 9 del mismo mes.
Las tres plantas en que se divide el edificio albergan una excepcional colección de arte del siglos XIX y principios del XX, procedente de diversas instituciones museísticas, ordenada de forma cronológica, y que cuenta con obras impagables de grandes autores de la Historia del arte como Delacroix, Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat o Derain, entre muchos otros ejemplos de pintura y escultura.
Este museo ilustra también otra vertiente más conservadora del arte, desde el gusto académico en la estela de Ingres hasta el simbolismo de Puvis de Chavannes; pero son estilos artísticos menos populares actualmente, que quedan eclipsados por la colosal colección de impresionistas. Hay también un amplio repertorio de proyectos arquitectónicos, objetos decorativos, dibujos y fotografías.
The Musée d'Orsay is a gallery located in Paris (France), which is dedicated to the visual arts of the 19th century and, more specifically, from the period 1848-1914. It occupies the former Orsay railway station building and houses the largest collection of Impressionist works in the world, with masterpieces of painting and sculpture such as "Lunch on the Grass" and "Olympia" by Édouard Manet, proof of the statue "The Little Ballerina Fourteen" by Degas, "Dance at the Moulin de la Galette" by Renoir, several essential works by Courbet ("The Origin of the World", "Burial in Ornans", "The Painter's Workshop") and even five paintings from Monet's "Series des Catedrales de Rouen". Chronologically, this museum covers the history of art between the ancient masters (who are in the Louvre Museum) and modern and contemporary art (in the Georges Pompidou Center).
In the space that the Orsay Museum occupies today was the palace and garden of Marguerite de Valois.
The building of the current museum was created between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th as a railway station for the Universal Exposition of Paris (1900). On the land there had been another building, used as the seat of the Council of State and after the Court of Accounts, the body that supervised the country's economic management. This building was destroyed in a fire in 1871, during the events of the Paris Commune.
The new set was designed by the architect Victor Laloux and was inaugurated for the dates of the beginning of the contest. It consisted of a hotel and the station itself (which remained active for 39 years).
After being used for various uses until the 1970s, the building would be used as a museum thanks to a resolution by the French State. In 1973, the Directorate of Museums of France conceived the project to establish a museum at the Orsay railway station, which threatened ruin and in which there was talk of building a hotel, which was entered in the Supplementary Inventory of Historical Monuments on 8 March 1973. The official decision to build the museum came with the Cabinet of Ministers on October 20, 1977.
As it is a building with an iron structure, this partially favored adaptation to contemporary museum approaches. The entire structure of the great central nave was emptied to arbitrate an exhibition sequence of an artistic period that would make a linear journey possible, while adjoining spaces were used to house other services.
The works to refurbish the station into a museum were carried out between the years 1981 and 1986, with the ACT-Architecture studio remodeling the exterior and the team adapting the architect Gae Aulenti the interior adaptation. The official inauguration took place on December 1, 1986, by the President of the Republic, François Mitterrand. It opened to the public on the 9th of the same month.
The three floors into which the building is divided house an exceptional collection of art from the 19th and early 20th centuries, from various museum institutions, arranged chronologically, and which contains priceless works by great authors of art history such as Delacroix , Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat or Derain, among many other examples of painting and sculpture.
This museum also illustrates another more conservative aspect of art, from the academic taste in the wake of Ingres to the symbolism of Puvis de Chavannes; but they are less popular artistic styles today, which are overshadowed by the colossal collection of impressionists. There is also a wide repertoire of architectural projects, decorative objects, drawings and photographs.
Leicester Square i/ˈlɛstər/ is a pedestrianisedsquare in the West End of London, England. It was laid out in 1670 and is named after the contemporary Leicester House, itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester.
The square was originally a gentrified residential area, with notable tenants including Frederick, Prince of Wales and artists William Hogarth and Joshua Reynolds. It became more down-market in the late 18th century as Leicester House was demolished and retail developments took place, becoming a centre for entertainment. Several major theatres were established in the 19th century, which eventually became converted to cinemas towards the mid-20th. Leicester Square holds a number of nationally important cinemas frequently used for film premières, including the Odeon Leicester Square, Empire, Leicester Square and Odeon West End, while the nearby Prince Charles Cinema is popular for showing cult films and marathon film runs. The square remains a popular tourist attraction, including hosting events for the Chinese New Year.
The square has always had a park in its centre, which was originally Lammas land. The park's fortunes have varied over the centuries, reaching near dilapidation in the mid-19th, but it has since been restored. The square was extensively refurbished and remodelled for the 2012 London Olympics.
The square lies within an area bound by Lisle Street, to the north; Charing Cross Road, to the east; Orange Street, to the south; and Whitcomb Street, to the west. The park at the centre of the Square is bound by Cranbourn Street, to the north; Leicester Street, to the east; Irving Street, to the south; and a section of road designated simply as Leicester Square, to the west. It is within the City of Westminster, and about equal distances north of Trafalgar Square, east of Piccadilly Circus, west of Covent Garden, and south of Cambridge Circus.
The nearest tube station is Leicester Square tube station, which opened in 1906. London bus routes 24, 29 and 176 run on nearby Charing Cross Road.
History
The land where Leicester Square now lies once belonged to the Abbot and Convent of Westminster Abbey and the Beaumont family. In 1536, Henry VIII took control of 3 acres (1.2 ha) of land around the square, with the remaining 4 acres (1.6 ha) being transferred to the king the following year. The Square is named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester, who purchased this land in 1630. By 1635, he had built himself a large house, Leicester House, at the northern end. The area in front of the house was then enclosed, depriving inhabitants of St Martin in the Fieldsparish of their right to use the previously common land. The parishioners appealed to King Charles I, and he appointed three members of the privy council to arbitrate. Lord Leicester was ordered to keep part of his land (thereafter known as Leicester Field and later as Leicester Square) open for the parishioners.
The square was laid out to the south of Leicester House and developed in the 1670s. The area was originally entirely residential, with properties laid out in a similar style to nearby Pall Mall.[4] In 1687, the northern part of the square became part of the new parish of St Anne, Soho. Leicester House was once the residence of Frederick, Prince of Wales while the poet Matthew Prior lived at what is now No. 21 around 1700 and artist William Hogarth lived at No 30 between 1733 and 1764, where he produced some of his best known works including Gin Lane. The magistrate Thomas de Veil, later to found Bow Street Magistrates' Court, lived at No 40 between 1729 and 1737; this location is now the Odeon West End. The painter Joshua Reynolds lived at No 47 from 1760 until his death in 1792; this location is now Fanum House, once the Automobile Association head office.
At the end of the 17th century, Lord Leicester's heir, Philip Sidney, 3rd Earl of Leicester, permitted a small amount of retail development in booths along the front of Leicester House. A statue of King George I was built on the square in 1760 following the coronation of his grandson, George III. The square remained fashionable throughout most of the 18th century, with notable residents including the architect James Stuart at No 35 from 1766 to 1788 and the painter John Singleton Copley at No. 28 from 1776 to 1783. Towards the end of the century, the square stopped becoming a desirable address and began to serve as a venue for popular entertainments. Brothels started appearing around Leicester Square during the century, and visitors could pay to watch the severed heads of traitors executed at Temple Bar through a telescope. Leicester House became home of a museum of natural curiosities called the Holophusikon in the 1780s. It was demolished in 1791–72 due to rising debts following the extinction of the Leicester peerage, and replaced by Leicester Place. That in turn was converted into a church in 1865 and is now the site of the Prince Charles Cinema.
In 1790, a new Royal Opera House was proposed to be built in Leicester Square. The scheme was led by The Prince of Wales, Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford and James Cecil, 1st Marquess of Salisbury and aimed to re-establish London as a centre for Italian opera and ballet, with an opera house to rival those in mainland Europe. The opera house was never built, as the royal patent, needed at that time to license a theatre, was refused. The plans for the original design are preserved in Sir John Soane's Museum and a 1790 painting by William Hodges, showing the finished design, is part of the Museum of London's collection.
By the 19th century, Leicester Square was known as an entertainment venue, with many amusements peculiar to the era, including Wyld's Great Globe, which was built for The Great Exhibition of 1851 and housed a giant scale map of the Earth. The construction of New Coventry Street made it easier for traffic to access the square, resulting in private residences being replaced by shops, museums and exhibition centres. Savile House, built in 1683, had become a museum by this time. Several hotels were established around the square, making it popular with visitors to London. The Alhambra Theatre was built in 1854 on the east side of the square, dominating the site. It temporarily closed two years later when the original owner, Edward Clarke, became bankrupt, but then reopened in 1858 as the Alhambra Palace. It enjoyed a surge in popularity after Queen Victoria and family came to see "Black Eagle – The Horse of Beauty". It burned down in 1882, but reopened the following year. In the early 20th century, the theatre became a popular venue for ballet. It was demolished in 1936 and replaced by the Odeon Cinema. The Empire Theatre of Varieties opened in 1881 on the former site of Savile House, but had a troubled start, closing for a time, until the end of the decade. The theatre had a notorious reputation for high-class prostitutes frequenting the theatre, and in 1894 the London County Council ordered the promenade on the upper balcony to be remodelled. A young Winston Churchill, then a cadet at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, helped destroy canvas screens that had been erected to prevent access to the balcony. The theatre closed in 1927, to be replaced by the Empire Cinema.
During the Winter of Discontent, where the incumbent Labour Party struggled to meet demands of trade unions and a shrinking economy, refuse collectors went on strike in January 1979. Leicester Square was turned into a de facto dump, earning it the nickname of "Fester Square". In the 1980s, the square was pedestrianised, cutting off all vehicular traffic. Access to the square for goods and deliveries is now controlled by specially designated marshals.
By the start of the 21st century, Westminster City Council were concerned that the square was too dangerous at night, and wanted to demolish sections of it to accommodate more cafes, theatres and cinemas, and less nightclubs. In 2010, a major redevelopment of Leicester Square took place as part of a Great Outdoors scheme proposed by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. The improvements included 12,000 square metres of granite paving and a water featuresurrounding the Shakespeare statue. The square re-opened in May 2012 after 17 months' work at a total cost of £15.3 million. The Greater London Authority said the refurbishments would accommodate more than 1,000 new jobs. The re-opening coincided with the 2012 Summer Olympics later that year.
Feature
In the middle of the Square is a small park. This was originally Lammas land that was available for common use on Lammas Day (12 August) for washing clothes and herding cattle. The Earl of Leicester was obliged to preserve these grounds, which were separated from the rest of the square with railings. In 1808, the garden was sold by the Leicester Estate into private ownership and subsequently deteriorated to the point of severe dilapidation by the mid-19th century.[6] In 1848, the land was subject to the significant legal case of Tulk v Moxhay. The plot's previous owner had agreed upon a covenant not to erect buildings but the law would not allow buyers who were not "privy" to the initial contract to be bound by subsequent promises. The judge, Lord Cottenham, decided that future owners could be bound by promises to abstain from activity. Otherwise, a buyer could sell land to himself to undermine an initial promise. When the Great Globe was erected, the statue of George I was buried under 12 foot of earth with the globe stuck on top. The statue was subsequently uncovered following the globe's demise, but by 1866 it had deteriorated due to vandalism and was sold for £16. Arguments continued about the fate of the garden, with Charles Augustus Tulk's heirs erecting a wooden hoarding around the property in 1873. These were quickly removed after the Master of the Rolls ordered that the land must be preserved for its original purpose.
The garden was saved by the Member of parliament Albert Grant, who purchased the park in 1874 for £11,060 and donated it to the Metropolitan Board of Works. The title deed for the square passed to the succeeding public bodies and is now in the ownership of the City of Westminster. After the purchase, the architect James Knowles redesigned the park. A statue of William Shakespeare surrounded by dolphins was constructed in the centre. The four corner gates of the park had one bust each of famous former residents in the square: the scientist Sir Isaac Newton; Sir Joshua Reynolds, the first President of the Royal Academy; John Hunter, a pioneer of surgery; and William Hogarth, the painter. The most recent addition was a statue of film star and director Charlie Chaplin in 1981. On the pavement were inscribed the distances in miles to several Commonwealth countries, including Canada, Kenya and Jamaica. After the Great Outdoors refurbishment of the square, only the statue of Shakespeare still remains.
EntertainmentEdit
Leicester Square is the centre of London's cinema land, and one of the signs marking the Square bears the legend "Theatreland". It contains the cinema with the largest screen and another with the most seats (over 1,600). The square is the prime location in London for film premières and co-hosts the London Film Festival each year. Similar to Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, the square was surrounded by floor mounted plaques with film stars' names and cast handprints. During the 2010–2012 refurbishment, many of the plaques were removed, confusing tourists who still expected to find them there.
The Leicester Square Theatre is based in nearby Leicester Place. It was constructed in 1955 as a church, before becoming the Cavern in the Town, a popular live music venue in the 1960s and 70s. The Sex Pistols played one of their first gigs at the club. It was converted into a theatre in 2002 as The Venue, and refurbished as the Leicester Square Theatre in 2008. In 2014, it began a production of a musical based on Oscar Wilde's De Profundis.
The Square has been the home for TKTS, formerly known as the Official London Half-Price Theatre Ticket Booth, since 1980. Tickets for theatre performances taking place around the West End that day and during the week are sold from the booth at a significant discount. The popularity of the booth has given rise to other booths and stores around the Square that advertise half-price tickets for West End shows. The Official London Theatre Guide recommends avoiding these booths as they are not official and do not contain the Society of Ticket Agents & Retailers (STAR) logo.
The Square is home to the 93,000 square feet (8,600 m2) Hippodrome Casino. Following a £40m refurbishment in 2012, the premises can now accommodate 2,000 patrons.
Global Radio has its headquarters on the east side of Leicester Square at No. 30, close to the Odeon. The building houses the radio stations Capital, Capital Xtra, Classic FM, Gold, Heart, LBC, Smooth Radio and Radio X.
CinemasEdit
The Odeon Leicester Square, which dominates the east side of the square, hosts many film premières. It has a capacity for 1,683 people, arranged in circle and stalls. The last 70mm film showing was Armageddon in 1998, after which the theatre began to use digital technology. The projection room still contains some of the original 1930s decor and normally houses two projectors. The Empire opened in 1962. It was previously the largest cinema on the square, but in 2013 it was subdivided to cater for an IMAX screen. The Odeon West End, on the south side, opened in 1930. It was not generally used for premières and was earmarked for demolition in 2014, to be replaced by a ten-storey hotel including a two-screen cinema. Westminster City Council reported 400 new jobs would be available after the redevelopment. Vue West End, on the north side, near the north east corner, was the first cinema in Europe to show a 3D film with Chicken Little in 2006.
A short distance from the west of the Square, on the south side of Panton Street, is the Odeon Panton Street. The Prince Charles Cinema, to the north of the square opened in 1962 with a "satellite dish" design where the audience looks upwards to the stage. The cinema became notorious for showing pornographic films during the 1970s, including Emmanuelle. It later became a favourite venue for showing cult films, including the The Rocky Horror Picture Show and a sing-along version of The Sound of Music, and marathon performances including all seven Muppet films back to back. Prices are considerably cheaper than the main cinemas in the square; in 2013 a ticket for a new release at the Prince Charles cost £10, compared to £24 at the Odeon.
Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France.
El Musée d'Orsay es una pinacoteca ubicada en París (Francia), que se dedica a las artes plásticas del siglo XIX y, más en concreto, del periodo 1848-1914. Ocupa el antiguo edificio de la estación ferroviaria de Orsay y alberga la mayor colección de obras impresionistas del mundo, con obras maestras de la pintura y de la escultura como "Almuerzo sobre la hierba" y "Olympia" de Édouard Manet, una prueba de la estatua "La pequeña bailarina de catorce años" de Degas, "Baile en el Moulin de la Galette" de Renoir, varias obras esenciales de Courbet ("El origen del mundo", "Entierro en Ornans", "El taller del pintor") e incluso cinco cuadros de la "Serie des Catedrales de Rouen" de Monet. Cronológicamente, este museo cubre la historia del arte entre los maestros antiguos (que están en el Museo del Louvre) y el arte moderno y contemporáneo (en el Centro Georges Pompidou).
En el espacio que hoy ocupa el Museo de Orsay se encontraba el palacio y jardín de Margarita de Valois.
El edificio del actual museo se creó entre finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX como estación ferroviaria para la Exposición Universal de París (1900). En el terreno había existido otro edificio, empleado como sede del Consejo de Estado y luego de la Corte de Cuentas, organismo que supervisaba la gestión económica del país. Este edificio quedó destruido en un incendio en 1871, durante los sucesos de la Comuna de París.
El nuevo conjunto fue diseñado por el arquitecto Victor Laloux y se inauguró para las fechas del inicio del certamen. Constaba de un hotel y de la estación propiamente dicha (que permaneció 39 años en activo).
Tras ser empleado con diversos usos hasta la década de los años 1970, el edificio sería destinado a museo gracias a una resolución del Estado francés. En 1973, la Dirección de Museos de Francia concibió el proyecto de establecer un museo en la estación de ferrocarril de Orsay, que amenazaba ruina y en la que se hablaba de construir un hotel, que se inscribió en el Inventario suplementario de Monumentos Históricos el 8 de marzo de 1973. La decisión oficial de construir el museo llegó con el consejo de ministros del 20 de octubre de 1977.
Al ser un edificio con estructura de hierro, ello favorecía en parte la adaptación a los planteamientos museísticos de la actualidad. Se vació toda la estructura de la gran nave central para arbitrar una secuencia expositiva de un periodo artístico que posibilitase un recorrido lineal, mientras que se emplearon espacios anexos para albergar otros servicios.
Las obras de acondicionamiento de la estación a museo se llevaron a cabo entre los años de 1981 y 1986, haciéndose cargo de la remodelación exterior el estudio ACT-Architecture y de la adaptación interior un equipo a cargo de la arquitecta Gae Aulenti. La inauguración oficial se produjo el 1 de diciembre de 1986, por el presidente de la República, François Mitterrand. Abrió al público el día 9 del mismo mes.
Las tres plantas en que se divide el edificio albergan una excepcional colección de arte del siglos XIX y principios del XX, procedente de diversas instituciones museísticas, ordenada de forma cronológica, y que cuenta con obras impagables de grandes autores de la Historia del arte como Delacroix, Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat o Derain, entre muchos otros ejemplos de pintura y escultura.
Este museo ilustra también otra vertiente más conservadora del arte, desde el gusto académico en la estela de Ingres hasta el simbolismo de Puvis de Chavannes; pero son estilos artísticos menos populares actualmente, que quedan eclipsados por la colosal colección de impresionistas. Hay también un amplio repertorio de proyectos arquitectónicos, objetos decorativos, dibujos y fotografías.
The Musée d'Orsay is a gallery located in Paris (France), which is dedicated to the visual arts of the 19th century and, more specifically, from the period 1848-1914. It occupies the former Orsay railway station building and houses the largest collection of Impressionist works in the world, with masterpieces of painting and sculpture such as "Lunch on the Grass" and "Olympia" by Édouard Manet, proof of the statue "The Little Ballerina Fourteen" by Degas, "Dance at the Moulin de la Galette" by Renoir, several essential works by Courbet ("The Origin of the World", "Burial in Ornans", "The Painter's Workshop") and even five paintings from Monet's "Series des Catedrales de Rouen". Chronologically, this museum covers the history of art between the ancient masters (who are in the Louvre Museum) and modern and contemporary art (in the Georges Pompidou Center).
In the space that the Orsay Museum occupies today was the palace and garden of Marguerite de Valois.
The building of the current museum was created between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th as a railway station for the Universal Exposition of Paris (1900). On the land there had been another building, used as the seat of the Council of State and after the Court of Accounts, the body that supervised the country's economic management. This building was destroyed in a fire in 1871, during the events of the Paris Commune.
The new set was designed by the architect Victor Laloux and was inaugurated for the dates of the beginning of the contest. It consisted of a hotel and the station itself (which remained active for 39 years).
After being used for various uses until the 1970s, the building would be used as a museum thanks to a resolution by the French State. In 1973, the Directorate of Museums of France conceived the project to establish a museum at the Orsay railway station, which threatened ruin and in which there was talk of building a hotel, which was entered in the Supplementary Inventory of Historical Monuments on 8 March 1973. The official decision to build the museum came with the Cabinet of Ministers on October 20, 1977.
As it is a building with an iron structure, this partially favored adaptation to contemporary museum approaches. The entire structure of the great central nave was emptied to arbitrate an exhibition sequence of an artistic period that would make a linear journey possible, while adjoining spaces were used to house other services.
The works to refurbish the station into a museum were carried out between the years 1981 and 1986, with the ACT-Architecture studio remodeling the exterior and the team adapting the architect Gae Aulenti the interior adaptation. The official inauguration took place on December 1, 1986, by the President of the Republic, François Mitterrand. It opened to the public on the 9th of the same month.
The three floors into which the building is divided house an exceptional collection of art from the 19th and early 20th centuries, from various museum institutions, arranged chronologically, and which contains priceless works by great authors of art history such as Delacroix , Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat or Derain, among many other examples of painting and sculpture.
This museum also illustrates another more conservative aspect of art, from the academic taste in the wake of Ingres to the symbolism of Puvis de Chavannes; but they are less popular artistic styles today, which are overshadowed by the colossal collection of impressionists. There is also a wide repertoire of architectural projects, decorative objects, drawings and photographs.
Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France.
El Musée d'Orsay es una pinacoteca ubicada en París (Francia), que se dedica a las artes plásticas del siglo XIX y, más en concreto, del periodo 1848-1914. Ocupa el antiguo edificio de la estación ferroviaria de Orsay y alberga la mayor colección de obras impresionistas del mundo, con obras maestras de la pintura y de la escultura como "Almuerzo sobre la hierba" y "Olympia" de Édouard Manet, una prueba de la estatua "La pequeña bailarina de catorce años" de Degas, "Baile en el Moulin de la Galette" de Renoir, varias obras esenciales de Courbet ("El origen del mundo", "Entierro en Ornans", "El taller del pintor") e incluso cinco cuadros de la "Serie des Catedrales de Rouen" de Monet. Cronológicamente, este museo cubre la historia del arte entre los maestros antiguos (que están en el Museo del Louvre) y el arte moderno y contemporáneo (en el Centro Georges Pompidou).
En el espacio que hoy ocupa el Museo de Orsay se encontraba el palacio y jardín de Margarita de Valois.
El edificio del actual museo se creó entre finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX como estación ferroviaria para la Exposición Universal de París (1900). En el terreno había existido otro edificio, empleado como sede del Consejo de Estado y luego de la Corte de Cuentas, organismo que supervisaba la gestión económica del país. Este edificio quedó destruido en un incendio en 1871, durante los sucesos de la Comuna de París.
El nuevo conjunto fue diseñado por el arquitecto Victor Laloux y se inauguró para las fechas del inicio del certamen. Constaba de un hotel y de la estación propiamente dicha (que permaneció 39 años en activo).
Tras ser empleado con diversos usos hasta la década de los años 1970, el edificio sería destinado a museo gracias a una resolución del Estado francés. En 1973, la Dirección de Museos de Francia concibió el proyecto de establecer un museo en la estación de ferrocarril de Orsay, que amenazaba ruina y en la que se hablaba de construir un hotel, que se inscribió en el Inventario suplementario de Monumentos Históricos el 8 de marzo de 1973. La decisión oficial de construir el museo llegó con el consejo de ministros del 20 de octubre de 1977.
Al ser un edificio con estructura de hierro, ello favorecía en parte la adaptación a los planteamientos museísticos de la actualidad. Se vació toda la estructura de la gran nave central para arbitrar una secuencia expositiva de un periodo artístico que posibilitase un recorrido lineal, mientras que se emplearon espacios anexos para albergar otros servicios.
Las obras de acondicionamiento de la estación a museo se llevaron a cabo entre los años de 1981 y 1986, haciéndose cargo de la remodelación exterior el estudio ACT-Architecture y de la adaptación interior un equipo a cargo de la arquitecta Gae Aulenti. La inauguración oficial se produjo el 1 de diciembre de 1986, por el presidente de la República, François Mitterrand. Abrió al público el día 9 del mismo mes.
Las tres plantas en que se divide el edificio albergan una excepcional colección de arte del siglos XIX y principios del XX, procedente de diversas instituciones museísticas, ordenada de forma cronológica, y que cuenta con obras impagables de grandes autores de la Historia del arte como Delacroix, Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat o Derain, entre muchos otros ejemplos de pintura y escultura.
Este museo ilustra también otra vertiente más conservadora del arte, desde el gusto académico en la estela de Ingres hasta el simbolismo de Puvis de Chavannes; pero son estilos artísticos menos populares actualmente, que quedan eclipsados por la colosal colección de impresionistas. Hay también un amplio repertorio de proyectos arquitectónicos, objetos decorativos, dibujos y fotografías.
The Musée d'Orsay is a gallery located in Paris (France), which is dedicated to the visual arts of the 19th century and, more specifically, from the period 1848-1914. It occupies the former Orsay railway station building and houses the largest collection of Impressionist works in the world, with masterpieces of painting and sculpture such as "Lunch on the Grass" and "Olympia" by Édouard Manet, proof of the statue "The Little Ballerina Fourteen" by Degas, "Dance at the Moulin de la Galette" by Renoir, several essential works by Courbet ("The Origin of the World", "Burial in Ornans", "The Painter's Workshop") and even five paintings from Monet's "Series des Catedrales de Rouen". Chronologically, this museum covers the history of art between the ancient masters (who are in the Louvre Museum) and modern and contemporary art (in the Georges Pompidou Center).
In the space that the Orsay Museum occupies today was the palace and garden of Marguerite de Valois.
The building of the current museum was created between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th as a railway station for the Universal Exposition of Paris (1900). On the land there had been another building, used as the seat of the Council of State and after the Court of Accounts, the body that supervised the country's economic management. This building was destroyed in a fire in 1871, during the events of the Paris Commune.
The new set was designed by the architect Victor Laloux and was inaugurated for the dates of the beginning of the contest. It consisted of a hotel and the station itself (which remained active for 39 years).
After being used for various uses until the 1970s, the building would be used as a museum thanks to a resolution by the French State. In 1973, the Directorate of Museums of France conceived the project to establish a museum at the Orsay railway station, which threatened ruin and in which there was talk of building a hotel, which was entered in the Supplementary Inventory of Historical Monuments on 8 March 1973. The official decision to build the museum came with the Cabinet of Ministers on October 20, 1977.
As it is a building with an iron structure, this partially favored adaptation to contemporary museum approaches. The entire structure of the great central nave was emptied to arbitrate an exhibition sequence of an artistic period that would make a linear journey possible, while adjoining spaces were used to house other services.
The works to refurbish the station into a museum were carried out between the years 1981 and 1986, with the ACT-Architecture studio remodeling the exterior and the team adapting the architect Gae Aulenti the interior adaptation. The official inauguration took place on December 1, 1986, by the President of the Republic, François Mitterrand. It opened to the public on the 9th of the same month.
The three floors into which the building is divided house an exceptional collection of art from the 19th and early 20th centuries, from various museum institutions, arranged chronologically, and which contains priceless works by great authors of art history such as Delacroix , Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat or Derain, among many other examples of painting and sculpture.
This museum also illustrates another more conservative aspect of art, from the academic taste in the wake of Ingres to the symbolism of Puvis de Chavannes; but they are less popular artistic styles today, which are overshadowed by the colossal collection of impressionists. There is also a wide repertoire of architectural projects, decorative objects, drawings and photographs.
Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France.
El Musée d'Orsay es una pinacoteca ubicada en París (Francia), que se dedica a las artes plásticas del siglo XIX y, más en concreto, del periodo 1848-1914. Ocupa el antiguo edificio de la estación ferroviaria de Orsay y alberga la mayor colección de obras impresionistas del mundo, con obras maestras de la pintura y de la escultura como "Almuerzo sobre la hierba" y "Olympia" de Édouard Manet, una prueba de la estatua "La pequeña bailarina de catorce años" de Degas, "Baile en el Moulin de la Galette" de Renoir, varias obras esenciales de Courbet ("El origen del mundo", "Entierro en Ornans", "El taller del pintor") e incluso cinco cuadros de la "Serie des Catedrales de Rouen" de Monet. Cronológicamente, este museo cubre la historia del arte entre los maestros antiguos (que están en el Museo del Louvre) y el arte moderno y contemporáneo (en el Centro Georges Pompidou).
En el espacio que hoy ocupa el Museo de Orsay se encontraba el palacio y jardín de Margarita de Valois.
El edificio del actual museo se creó entre finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX como estación ferroviaria para la Exposición Universal de París (1900). En el terreno había existido otro edificio, empleado como sede del Consejo de Estado y luego de la Corte de Cuentas, organismo que supervisaba la gestión económica del país. Este edificio quedó destruido en un incendio en 1871, durante los sucesos de la Comuna de París.
El nuevo conjunto fue diseñado por el arquitecto Victor Laloux y se inauguró para las fechas del inicio del certamen. Constaba de un hotel y de la estación propiamente dicha (que permaneció 39 años en activo).
Tras ser empleado con diversos usos hasta la década de los años 1970, el edificio sería destinado a museo gracias a una resolución del Estado francés. En 1973, la Dirección de Museos de Francia concibió el proyecto de establecer un museo en la estación de ferrocarril de Orsay, que amenazaba ruina y en la que se hablaba de construir un hotel, que se inscribió en el Inventario suplementario de Monumentos Históricos el 8 de marzo de 1973. La decisión oficial de construir el museo llegó con el consejo de ministros del 20 de octubre de 1977.
Al ser un edificio con estructura de hierro, ello favorecía en parte la adaptación a los planteamientos museísticos de la actualidad. Se vació toda la estructura de la gran nave central para arbitrar una secuencia expositiva de un periodo artístico que posibilitase un recorrido lineal, mientras que se emplearon espacios anexos para albergar otros servicios.
Las obras de acondicionamiento de la estación a museo se llevaron a cabo entre los años de 1981 y 1986, haciéndose cargo de la remodelación exterior el estudio ACT-Architecture y de la adaptación interior un equipo a cargo de la arquitecta Gae Aulenti. La inauguración oficial se produjo el 1 de diciembre de 1986, por el presidente de la República, François Mitterrand. Abrió al público el día 9 del mismo mes.
Las tres plantas en que se divide el edificio albergan una excepcional colección de arte del siglos XIX y principios del XX, procedente de diversas instituciones museísticas, ordenada de forma cronológica, y que cuenta con obras impagables de grandes autores de la Historia del arte como Delacroix, Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat o Derain, entre muchos otros ejemplos de pintura y escultura.
Este museo ilustra también otra vertiente más conservadora del arte, desde el gusto académico en la estela de Ingres hasta el simbolismo de Puvis de Chavannes; pero son estilos artísticos menos populares actualmente, que quedan eclipsados por la colosal colección de impresionistas. Hay también un amplio repertorio de proyectos arquitectónicos, objetos decorativos, dibujos y fotografías.
The Musée d'Orsay is a gallery located in Paris (France), which is dedicated to the visual arts of the 19th century and, more specifically, from the period 1848-1914. It occupies the former Orsay railway station building and houses the largest collection of Impressionist works in the world, with masterpieces of painting and sculpture such as "Lunch on the Grass" and "Olympia" by Édouard Manet, proof of the statue "The Little Ballerina Fourteen" by Degas, "Dance at the Moulin de la Galette" by Renoir, several essential works by Courbet ("The Origin of the World", "Burial in Ornans", "The Painter's Workshop") and even five paintings from Monet's "Series des Catedrales de Rouen". Chronologically, this museum covers the history of art between the ancient masters (who are in the Louvre Museum) and modern and contemporary art (in the Georges Pompidou Center).
In the space that the Orsay Museum occupies today was the palace and garden of Marguerite de Valois.
The building of the current museum was created between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th as a railway station for the Universal Exposition of Paris (1900). On the land there had been another building, used as the seat of the Council of State and after the Court of Accounts, the body that supervised the country's economic management. This building was destroyed in a fire in 1871, during the events of the Paris Commune.
The new set was designed by the architect Victor Laloux and was inaugurated for the dates of the beginning of the contest. It consisted of a hotel and the station itself (which remained active for 39 years).
After being used for various uses until the 1970s, the building would be used as a museum thanks to a resolution by the French State. In 1973, the Directorate of Museums of France conceived the project to establish a museum at the Orsay railway station, which threatened ruin and in which there was talk of building a hotel, which was entered in the Supplementary Inventory of Historical Monuments on 8 March 1973. The official decision to build the museum came with the Cabinet of Ministers on October 20, 1977.
As it is a building with an iron structure, this partially favored adaptation to contemporary museum approaches. The entire structure of the great central nave was emptied to arbitrate an exhibition sequence of an artistic period that would make a linear journey possible, while adjoining spaces were used to house other services.
The works to refurbish the station into a museum were carried out between the years 1981 and 1986, with the ACT-Architecture studio remodeling the exterior and the team adapting the architect Gae Aulenti the interior adaptation. The official inauguration took place on December 1, 1986, by the President of the Republic, François Mitterrand. It opened to the public on the 9th of the same month.
The three floors into which the building is divided house an exceptional collection of art from the 19th and early 20th centuries, from various museum institutions, arranged chronologically, and which contains priceless works by great authors of art history such as Delacroix , Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat or Derain, among many other examples of painting and sculpture.
This museum also illustrates another more conservative aspect of art, from the academic taste in the wake of Ingres to the symbolism of Puvis de Chavannes; but they are less popular artistic styles today, which are overshadowed by the colossal collection of impressionists. There is also a wide repertoire of architectural projects, decorative objects, drawings and photographs.
Leicester Square i/ˈlɛstər/ is a pedestrianisedsquare in the West End of London, England. It was laid out in 1670 and is named after the contemporary Leicester House, itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester.
The square was originally a gentrified residential area, with notable tenants including Frederick, Prince of Wales and artists William Hogarth and Joshua Reynolds. It became more down-market in the late 18th century as Leicester House was demolished and retail developments took place, becoming a centre for entertainment. Several major theatres were established in the 19th century, which eventually became converted to cinemas towards the mid-20th. Leicester Square holds a number of nationally important cinemas frequently used for film premières, including the Odeon Leicester Square, Empire, Leicester Square and Odeon West End, while the nearby Prince Charles Cinema is popular for showing cult films and marathon film runs. The square remains a popular tourist attraction, including hosting events for the Chinese New Year.
The square has always had a park in its centre, which was originally Lammas land. The park's fortunes have varied over the centuries, reaching near dilapidation in the mid-19th, but it has since been restored. The square was extensively refurbished and remodelled for the 2012 London Olympics.
The square lies within an area bound by Lisle Street, to the north; Charing Cross Road, to the east; Orange Street, to the south; and Whitcomb Street, to the west. The park at the centre of the Square is bound by Cranbourn Street, to the north; Leicester Street, to the east; Irving Street, to the south; and a section of road designated simply as Leicester Square, to the west. It is within the City of Westminster, and about equal distances north of Trafalgar Square, east of Piccadilly Circus, west of Covent Garden, and south of Cambridge Circus.
The nearest tube station is Leicester Square tube station, which opened in 1906. London bus routes 24, 29 and 176 run on nearby Charing Cross Road.
History
The land where Leicester Square now lies once belonged to the Abbot and Convent of Westminster Abbey and the Beaumont family. In 1536, Henry VIII took control of 3 acres (1.2 ha) of land around the square, with the remaining 4 acres (1.6 ha) being transferred to the king the following year. The Square is named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester, who purchased this land in 1630. By 1635, he had built himself a large house, Leicester House, at the northern end. The area in front of the house was then enclosed, depriving inhabitants of St Martin in the Fieldsparish of their right to use the previously common land. The parishioners appealed to King Charles I, and he appointed three members of the privy council to arbitrate. Lord Leicester was ordered to keep part of his land (thereafter known as Leicester Field and later as Leicester Square) open for the parishioners.
The square was laid out to the south of Leicester House and developed in the 1670s. The area was originally entirely residential, with properties laid out in a similar style to nearby Pall Mall.[4] In 1687, the northern part of the square became part of the new parish of St Anne, Soho. Leicester House was once the residence of Frederick, Prince of Wales while the poet Matthew Prior lived at what is now No. 21 around 1700 and artist William Hogarth lived at No 30 between 1733 and 1764, where he produced some of his best known works including Gin Lane. The magistrate Thomas de Veil, later to found Bow Street Magistrates' Court, lived at No 40 between 1729 and 1737; this location is now the Odeon West End. The painter Joshua Reynolds lived at No 47 from 1760 until his death in 1792; this location is now Fanum House, once the Automobile Association head office.
At the end of the 17th century, Lord Leicester's heir, Philip Sidney, 3rd Earl of Leicester, permitted a small amount of retail development in booths along the front of Leicester House. A statue of King George I was built on the square in 1760 following the coronation of his grandson, George III. The square remained fashionable throughout most of the 18th century, with notable residents including the architect James Stuart at No 35 from 1766 to 1788 and the painter John Singleton Copley at No. 28 from 1776 to 1783. Towards the end of the century, the square stopped becoming a desirable address and began to serve as a venue for popular entertainments. Brothels started appearing around Leicester Square during the century, and visitors could pay to watch the severed heads of traitors executed at Temple Bar through a telescope. Leicester House became home of a museum of natural curiosities called the Holophusikon in the 1780s. It was demolished in 1791–72 due to rising debts following the extinction of the Leicester peerage, and replaced by Leicester Place. That in turn was converted into a church in 1865 and is now the site of the Prince Charles Cinema.
In 1790, a new Royal Opera House was proposed to be built in Leicester Square. The scheme was led by The Prince of Wales, Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford and James Cecil, 1st Marquess of Salisbury and aimed to re-establish London as a centre for Italian opera and ballet, with an opera house to rival those in mainland Europe. The opera house was never built, as the royal patent, needed at that time to license a theatre, was refused. The plans for the original design are preserved in Sir John Soane's Museum and a 1790 painting by William Hodges, showing the finished design, is part of the Museum of London's collection.
By the 19th century, Leicester Square was known as an entertainment venue, with many amusements peculiar to the era, including Wyld's Great Globe, which was built for The Great Exhibition of 1851 and housed a giant scale map of the Earth. The construction of New Coventry Street made it easier for traffic to access the square, resulting in private residences being replaced by shops, museums and exhibition centres. Savile House, built in 1683, had become a museum by this time. Several hotels were established around the square, making it popular with visitors to London. The Alhambra Theatre was built in 1854 on the east side of the square, dominating the site. It temporarily closed two years later when the original owner, Edward Clarke, became bankrupt, but then reopened in 1858 as the Alhambra Palace. It enjoyed a surge in popularity after Queen Victoria and family came to see "Black Eagle – The Horse of Beauty". It burned down in 1882, but reopened the following year. In the early 20th century, the theatre became a popular venue for ballet. It was demolished in 1936 and replaced by the Odeon Cinema. The Empire Theatre of Varieties opened in 1881 on the former site of Savile House, but had a troubled start, closing for a time, until the end of the decade. The theatre had a notorious reputation for high-class prostitutes frequenting the theatre, and in 1894 the London County Council ordered the promenade on the upper balcony to be remodelled. A young Winston Churchill, then a cadet at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, helped destroy canvas screens that had been erected to prevent access to the balcony. The theatre closed in 1927, to be replaced by the Empire Cinema.
During the Winter of Discontent, where the incumbent Labour Party struggled to meet demands of trade unions and a shrinking economy, refuse collectors went on strike in January 1979. Leicester Square was turned into a de facto dump, earning it the nickname of "Fester Square". In the 1980s, the square was pedestrianised, cutting off all vehicular traffic. Access to the square for goods and deliveries is now controlled by specially designated marshals.
By the start of the 21st century, Westminster City Council were concerned that the square was too dangerous at night, and wanted to demolish sections of it to accommodate more cafes, theatres and cinemas, and less nightclubs. In 2010, a major redevelopment of Leicester Square took place as part of a Great Outdoors scheme proposed by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. The improvements included 12,000 square metres of granite paving and a water featuresurrounding the Shakespeare statue. The square re-opened in May 2012 after 17 months' work at a total cost of £15.3 million. The Greater London Authority said the refurbishments would accommodate more than 1,000 new jobs. The re-opening coincided with the 2012 Summer Olympics later that year.
Feature
In the middle of the Square is a small park. This was originally Lammas land that was available for common use on Lammas Day (12 August) for washing clothes and herding cattle. The Earl of Leicester was obliged to preserve these grounds, which were separated from the rest of the square with railings. In 1808, the garden was sold by the Leicester Estate into private ownership and subsequently deteriorated to the point of severe dilapidation by the mid-19th century.[6] In 1848, the land was subject to the significant legal case of Tulk v Moxhay. The plot's previous owner had agreed upon a covenant not to erect buildings but the law would not allow buyers who were not "privy" to the initial contract to be bound by subsequent promises. The judge, Lord Cottenham, decided that future owners could be bound by promises to abstain from activity. Otherwise, a buyer could sell land to himself to undermine an initial promise. When the Great Globe was erected, the statue of George I was buried under 12 foot of earth with the globe stuck on top. The statue was subsequently uncovered following the globe's demise, but by 1866 it had deteriorated due to vandalism and was sold for £16. Arguments continued about the fate of the garden, with Charles Augustus Tulk's heirs erecting a wooden hoarding around the property in 1873. These were quickly removed after the Master of the Rolls ordered that the land must be preserved for its original purpose.
The garden was saved by the Member of parliament Albert Grant, who purchased the park in 1874 for £11,060 and donated it to the Metropolitan Board of Works. The title deed for the square passed to the succeeding public bodies and is now in the ownership of the City of Westminster. After the purchase, the architect James Knowles redesigned the park. A statue of William Shakespeare surrounded by dolphins was constructed in the centre. The four corner gates of the park had one bust each of famous former residents in the square: the scientist Sir Isaac Newton; Sir Joshua Reynolds, the first President of the Royal Academy; John Hunter, a pioneer of surgery; and William Hogarth, the painter. The most recent addition was a statue of film star and director Charlie Chaplin in 1981. On the pavement were inscribed the distances in miles to several Commonwealth countries, including Canada, Kenya and Jamaica. After the Great Outdoors refurbishment of the square, only the statue of Shakespeare still remains.
EntertainmentEdit
Leicester Square is the centre of London's cinema land, and one of the signs marking the Square bears the legend "Theatreland". It contains the cinema with the largest screen and another with the most seats (over 1,600). The square is the prime location in London for film premières and co-hosts the London Film Festival each year. Similar to Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, the square was surrounded by floor mounted plaques with film stars' names and cast handprints. During the 2010–2012 refurbishment, many of the plaques were removed, confusing tourists who still expected to find them there.
The Leicester Square Theatre is based in nearby Leicester Place. It was constructed in 1955 as a church, before becoming the Cavern in the Town, a popular live music venue in the 1960s and 70s. The Sex Pistols played one of their first gigs at the club. It was converted into a theatre in 2002 as The Venue, and refurbished as the Leicester Square Theatre in 2008. In 2014, it began a production of a musical based on Oscar Wilde's De Profundis.
The Square has been the home for TKTS, formerly known as the Official London Half-Price Theatre Ticket Booth, since 1980. Tickets for theatre performances taking place around the West End that day and during the week are sold from the booth at a significant discount. The popularity of the booth has given rise to other booths and stores around the Square that advertise half-price tickets for West End shows. The Official London Theatre Guide recommends avoiding these booths as they are not official and do not contain the Society of Ticket Agents & Retailers (STAR) logo.
The Square is home to the 93,000 square feet (8,600 m2) Hippodrome Casino. Following a £40m refurbishment in 2012, the premises can now accommodate 2,000 patrons.
Global Radio has its headquarters on the east side of Leicester Square at No. 30, close to the Odeon. The building houses the radio stations Capital, Capital Xtra, Classic FM, Gold, Heart, LBC, Smooth Radio and Radio X.
CinemasEdit
The Odeon Leicester Square, which dominates the east side of the square, hosts many film premières. It has a capacity for 1,683 people, arranged in circle and stalls. The last 70mm film showing was Armageddon in 1998, after which the theatre began to use digital technology. The projection room still contains some of the original 1930s decor and normally houses two projectors. The Empire opened in 1962. It was previously the largest cinema on the square, but in 2013 it was subdivided to cater for an IMAX screen. The Odeon West End, on the south side, opened in 1930. It was not generally used for premières and was earmarked for demolition in 2014, to be replaced by a ten-storey hotel including a two-screen cinema. Westminster City Council reported 400 new jobs would be available after the redevelopment. Vue West End, on the north side, near the north east corner, was the first cinema in Europe to show a 3D film with Chicken Little in 2006.
A short distance from the west of the Square, on the south side of Panton Street, is the Odeon Panton Street. The Prince Charles Cinema, to the north of the square opened in 1962 with a "satellite dish" design where the audience looks upwards to the stage. The cinema became notorious for showing pornographic films during the 1970s, including Emmanuelle. It later became a favourite venue for showing cult films, including the The Rocky Horror Picture Show and a sing-along version of The Sound of Music, and marathon performances including all seven Muppet films back to back. Prices are considerably cheaper than the main cinemas in the square; in 2013 a ticket for a new release at the Prince Charles cost £10, compared to £24 at the Odeon.
Caerphilly Castle is a medieval fortification in Caerphilly in South Wales. The castle was constructed by Gilbert de Clare in the 13th century as part of his campaign to maintain control of Glamorgan, and saw extensive fighting between Gilbert, his descendants, and the native Welsh rulers. Surrounded by extensive artificial lakes – considered by historian Allen Brown to be "the most elaborate water defences in all Britain" – it occupies around 30 acres (12 ha) and is the largest castle in Wales and the second-largest castle in the United Kingdom after Windsor Castle. It is famous for having introduced concentric castle defences to Britain and for its large gatehouses. Gilbert began work on the castle in 1268 following his occupation of the north of Glamorgan, with the majority of the construction occurring over the next three years at a considerable cost. The project was opposed by Gilbert's Welsh rival Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, leading to the site being burnt in 1270 and taken over by royal officials in 1271. Despite these interruptions, Gilbert successfully completed the castle and took control of the region. The core of Caerphilly Castle, including the castle's luxurious accommodation, was built on what became a central island, surrounding by several artificial lakes, a design Gilbert probably derived from that at Kenilworth. The dams for these lakes were further fortified, and an island to the west provided additional protection. The concentric rings of walls inspired Edward I's castles in North Wales, and proved what historian Norman Pounds has termed "a turning point in the history of the castle in Britain".
The castle was attacked during the Madog ap Llywelyn revolt of 1294, the Llywelyn Bren uprising in 1316 and during the overthrow of Edward II in 1326–27. In the late 15th century, however, it fell into decline and by the 16th century the lakes had drained away and the walls were robbed of their stone. The Marquesses of Bute acquired the property in 1776 and under the third and fourth Marquesses extensive restoration took place. In 1950 the castle and grounds were given to the state and the water defences were re-flooded. In the 21st century, the Welsh heritage agency Cadw manages the site as a tourist attraction.
Caerphilly Castle was built in the second half of the 13th century, as part of the Anglo-Norman expansion into South Wales. The Normans began to make incursions into Wales from the late 1060s onwards, pushing westwards from their bases in recently occupied England. Their advance was marked by the construction of castles and the creation of regional lordships. The task of subduing the region of Glamorgan was given to the earls of Gloucester in 1093; efforts continued throughout the 12th and early 13th centuries, accompanied by extensive fighting between the Anglo-Norman lords and local Welsh rulers. The powerful de Clare family acquired the earldom in 1217 and continued to attempt to conquer the whole of the Glamorgan region.
In 1263, Gilbert de Clare, also known as "Red Gilbert" because of the colour of his hair, inherited the family lands. Opposing him in Glamorgan was the native Welsh prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. Llywelyn had taken advantage of the chaos of the civil war in England between Henry III and rebel barons during the 1260s to expand his power across the region. In 1265 Llywelyn allied himself with the baronial faction in England in exchange for being granted authority over the local Welsh magnates across all the territories in the region, including Glamorgan. De Clare believed his lands and power were under threat and allied himself with Henry III against the rebel barons and Llywelyn.
The baronial revolt was crushed between 1266 and 1267, leaving de Clare free to advance north into Glamorgan from his main base in Cardiff. De Clare started to construct a castle at Caerphilly to control his new gains in 1268. The castle lay in a basin of the Rhymney Valley, alongside the Rhymney River and at the heart of network of paths and roads, adjacent to a former Roman fort.. Work began at a huge pace, with ditches cut to form the basic shape of the castle, temporary wooden palisades erected and extensive water defences created by damming a local stream. The walls and internal buildings were built at speed, forming the main part of the castle. The architect of the castle and the precise cost of the construction are unknown, but modern estimates suggest that it could have cost as much as castles such as Conwy or Caernarfon, perhaps as much as £19,000, a huge sum for the period.
Llywelyn responded by intervening with his own forces but outright conflict was prevented by the diplomatic efforts of Henry III. De Clare continued building work and in 1270 Llywelyn responded by attacking and burning the site, probably destroying the temporary defences and stores. De Clare began work again the following year, raising tensions and prompting Henry to send two bishops, Roger de Meyland and Godfrey Giffard, to take control of the site and arbitrate a solution to the dispute.
The bishops took possession of the castle later in 1271 and promised Llywelyn that building work would temporarily cease and that negotiations would begin the following summer. In February of the next year, however, de Clare's men seized back the castle, threw out the bishops' soldiers, and de Clare – protesting his innocence in these events – began work once again. Neither Henry nor Llywelyn could readily intervene and de Clare was able to lay claim to the whole of Glamorgan. Work on the castle continued, with additional water defences, towers and gatehouses added.
Llywelyn's power declined over the next two decades. In 1276 Henry's son, Edward I, invaded Wales following a dispute with the prince, breaking his power in South Wales, and in 1282 Edward's second campaign resulted in Llwelyn's death and the collapse of independent Welsh rule. Further defences were added to the walls until work stopped around 1290. Local disputes remained. De Clare argued with Humphrey de Bohun, the earl of Hereford, in 1290 and the following year the case was brought before the king, resulting in the temporary royal seizure of Caerphilly.
In 1294 Madog ap Llywelyn rebelled against English rule, the first major insurrection since the 1282 campaign. The Welsh appear to have risen up over the introduction of taxation and Madog had considerable popular support. In Glamorgan, Morgan ap Maredudd led the local uprising; Morgan had been dispossessed by de Clare in 1270 and saw this as a chance to regain his lands. Morgan attacked Caerphilly, burning half of the town, but failed to take the castle. In the spring of 1295 Edward pressed home a counter-attack in North Wales, putting down the uprising and arresting Madog. De Clare attacked Morgan's forces and retook the region between April and May, resulting in Morgan's surrender. De Clare died at the end of 1295, leaving Caerphilly Castle in a good condition, linked to the small town of Caerphilly which had emerged to the south of it and a large deer park in the nearby Aber Valley.
Gilbert's son, also called Gilbert de Clare, inherited the castle, but he died fighting at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314 while still quite young. The family's lands were initially placed under the control of the Crown, but before any decision could be taken on the inheritance, a revolt broke out in Glamorgan. Anger over the actions of the royal administrators caused Llywelyn Bren to rise up in January 1316, attacking Caerphilly Castle with a large force of men. The castle withstood the attack, but the town was destroyed and the rebellion spread. A royal army was despatched to deal with the situation, defeating Bren in a battle at Caerphilly Mountain and breaking the Welsh siege of the castle.
In 1317 Edward II settled the inheritance of Glamorgan and Caerphilly Castle on Eleanor de Clare, who had married the royal favourite, Hugh le Despenser. ]Hugh used his relationship with the king to expand his power across the region, taking over lands throughout South Wales. Hugh employed Master Thomas de la Bataile and William Hurley to expand the Great Hall at the castle, including richly carved windows and doors. In 1326, however, Edward's wife, Isabella of France, overthrew his government, forcing the king and Hugh to flee west. The pair stayed in Caerphilly Castle at the end of October and early November, before leaving to escape Isabella's approaching forces, abandoning the extensive stores and £14,000 held at the castle. William la Zouche besieged the castle with a force of 425 soldiers, cornering the constable, Sir John de Felton, Hugh's son – also called Hugh – and the garrison of 130 men inside. Caerphilly held out until March 1327, when the garrison surrendered on the condition that the younger Hugh was pardoned, his father having been already executed.
Tensions between the Welsh and the English persisted and spilled over in 1400 with the outbreak of the Glyndŵr Rising. It is uncertain what part the castle played in the conflict, but it seems to have survived intact. In 1416, the castle passed through Isabel le Despenser in marriage to her first husband Richard de Beauchamp, the earl of Worcester, and then to her second husband, Richard Beauchamp, the earl of Warwick. Isabel and her second husband invested heavily in the castle, conducting repairs and making it suitable for use as their main residence in the region. The castle passed to Richard Neville in 1449 and to Jasper Tudor, the earl of Pembroke, in 1486.
After 1486, the castle went into decline, eclipsed by the more fashionable residence of Cardiff Castle; once the sluice-gates fell into disrepair, the water defences probably drained away. Antiquarian John Leland visited Caerphilly Castle around 1539, and described it as having "waulles of a wonderful thiknes", but beyond a tower used to hold prisoners it was in ruins and surrounded by marshland. Henry Herbert, the earl of Pembroke used the castle for his manorial court. In 1583 the castle was leased to Thomas Lewis, who stripped it of much of its stone to extend his house, causing extensive damage.
In 1642 the English Civil War broke out between the Royalist supporters of Charles I and those of Parliament. South Wales was predominantly Royalist in sympathy, and during the conflict, a sconce, or small fort, was built overlooking Caerphilly Castle to the north-west, on the site of the old Roman fort. It is uncertain if this was built by Royalist forces or by the Parliamentary army that occupied the area during the final months of the war in March 1646, but the fort's guns would have dominated the interior of the castle. It is also uncertain whether or not Caerphilly Castle was deliberately slighted by Parliament to prevent its future use as a fortification. Although several towers had collapsed by the 18th century, possibly as a result of such an operation, it is probable that this deterioration was actually the result of subsidence damage caused when the water defences retreated, as there is no evidence of deliberate destruction having been ordered.
The Marquesses of Bute acquired the castle in 1776. John Stuart, the first marquess, took steps to protect the ruins. His great-grandson John Crichton-Stuart, the third marquess, was immensely rich as the result of the family's holdings in the South Wales coalfields and was passionately interested in the medieval period. He had the site fully surveyed by the architect William Frame, and reroofed the great hall in the 1870s. The marquess began a process of buying back leasehold properties around the castle with the intent of clearing back the town houses that had been built up to the edge of the site.
The fourth marquess, John Crichton-Stuart, was an enthusiastic restorer and builder and commissioned a major restoration project between 1928 and 1939. The stonework was carefully repaired, with moulds made to recreate missing pieces. The Inner East Gatehouse was rebuilt, along with several of the other towers. The marquess carried out landscaping work, with the intent of eventually re-flooding the lakes, and thanks to several decades of purchases was finally able to demolish the local houses encroaching on the view of the castle.
By 1947, when John Crichton-Stuart, the fifth marquess, inherited the castle, the Bute family had divested itself of most of its land in South Wales. John sold off the family's remaining property interests and in 1950 he gave Caerphilly Castle to the state. The lakes were re-flooded and the final stages of the restoration work were completed in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 21st century the castle is managed by the Welsh heritage agency Cadw as a tourist attraction. In 2006, the castle saw 90,914 visitors. It is protected as a scheduled monument and as a grade I listed building. The Great Hall is available for wedding ceremonies.
Caerphilly Castle comprises a set of eastern defences, protected by the Outer East Moat and the North Lake, and fortifications on the Central Island and the Western Island, both protected by the South Lake. The site is around 30 acres (120,000 m2) in size, making it the second largest in Britain. It is constructed on a natural gravel bank in the local river basin, and the castle walls are built from Pennant sandstone. The castle's architecture is famous and historically significant. The castle introduced concentric castle defences to Britain, changing the future course of the country's military architecture, and also incorporated a huge gatehouse. The castle also featured a sophisticated network of moats and dams, considered by historian Allen Brown to be "the most elaborate water defences in all Britain".
The eastern defences were reached via the Outer Main Gatehouse, which featured circular towers resting on spurred, pyramidic bases, a design particular to South Wales castles. Originally the gatehouse would have been reached over a sequence of two drawbridges, linked by an intervening tower, since destroyed. To the north side of the gatehouse was the North Dam, protected by three substantial towers, and which may have supported the castle's stables. Despite subsidence damage, the dam still holds back the North Lake. The South Dam was a massive structure, 152 metres (499 ft) long, ending in a huge buttressed wall. The remains of the castle mill – originally powered by water from the dam – survive. Four replica siege engines have been placed on display. The dam ended in Felton's Tower, a square fortification designed to protect the sluicegates regulating the water levels of the dam, and the South Gatehouse – also called Giffard's Tower – originally accessed via a drawbridge, which led into the town.
Caerphilly's water defences were almost certainly inspired by those at Kenilworth, where a similar set of artificial lakes and dams was created. Gilbert de Clare had fought at the siege of Kenilworth in 1266 and would have seen these at first hand. Caerphilly's water defences provided particular protection against mining, which could otherwise undermine castle walls during the period, and are considered the most advanced of their kind in Britain.
The central island held Caerphilly's inner defences, a roughly square design with a walled inner and middle ward, the inner ward protected by four turrets on each of the corners. The walls of the inner ward overlooked those of the middle ward, producing a concentric defence of two enclosed rings of walls; in the medieval period, the walls of the middle ward would have been much higher than today, forming a more substantial defence. Caerphilly was the first concentric castle in Britain, pre-dating Edward I's famous programme of concentric castles by a few years. The design influenced the design of Edward's later castles in North Wales, and historian Norman Pounds considers it "a turning point in the history of the castle in Britain". Probable subsidence has caused the south-east tower in the Inner Ward to lean outwards at an angle of 10 degrees.
Access to the central island occurred over a drawbridge, through a pair of gatehouses on the eastern side. Caerphilly Castle's Inner East Gatehouse, based on the gatehouse built at Tonbridge in the 1250s, reinforced a trend in gatehouse design across England and Wales. Sometimes termed a keep-gatehouse, the fortification had both exterior and interior defences, enabling it to be defended even if the perimeter of the castle was breached. Two huge towers flanked the gatehouse on either side of an entrance that was protected by portcullises and murder-holes. The substantial size of the gatehouse allowed it to be used for accommodation as well as defence and it was comfortably equipped on a grand scale, probably for the use of the castle constable and his family. Another pair of gatehouses protected the west side.
Inside the inner ward was the castle's Great Hall and accommodation. Caerphilly was built with fashionable, high-status accommodation, similar to that built around the same time in Chepstow Castle. In the medieval period the Great Hall would have been subdivided with wooden screens, colourful decorations, with rich, detailed carving and warmed by a large, central fireplace. Some carved medieval corbels in the shape of male and female heads survive in the hall today, possibly depicting the royal court in the 1320s, including Edward II, Isabella of France, Hugh Despenser and Eleanor de Clare. To the east of the Great Hall was the castle chapel, positioned above the buttery and pantry. On the west side of the hall were the castle's private apartments, two solar blocks with luxurious fittings.
Beyond the central island was the Western Island, probably reached by drawbridges. The island is called Y Weringaer or Caer y Werin in Welsh, meaning "the people's fort", and may have been used by the town of Caerphilly for protection during conflicts. On the north-west side of the Western Island was the site of the former Roman fort, enclosing around 3 acres (1.2 ha), and the remains of the 17th-century civil-war fortification built on the same location.
The long-running British television show Doctor Who chose Caerphilly Castle as a filming location for several episodes, including "The End of Time" in 2009, "The Vampires in Venice" in 2010, two parter "The Rebel Flesh" and "The Almost People" in 2011; “Robot of Sherwood" in 2014 and “Heaven Sent” in 2015. For "The End of Time", producers used the residential quarters of the East Gatehouse, Constable's Hall and Braose Gallery for the filming of a dungeon in the fictional Broadfell Prison.
Caerphilly is a town and community in Wales. It is situated at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley.
It is 7 mi (11 km) north of Cardiff and 12 mi (19 km) northwest of Newport. It is the largest town in Caerphilly County Borough, and lies within the historic borders of Glamorgan, on the border with Monmouthshire. At the 2011 Census, the town had a population of 41,402 while the wider Caerphilly local authority area had a population of 178,806.
The name of the town in Welsh, Caerffili, means "the fort (caer) of Ffili". Despite lack of evidence, tradition states that a monastery was built by St Cenydd, a sixth-century Christian hermit from the Gower Peninsula, in the area. The Welsh cantref in the medieval period was known as Senghenydd. It is said that St Cenydd's son, St Ffili, built a fort in the area, giving the town its name. An alternative explanation is that the town was named after the Anglo-Norman Marcher Lord, Philip de Braose.
The town's site has long been of strategic significance. Around AD 75 a fort was built by the Romans during their conquest of Britain. An excavation of the site in 1963 showed that the fort was occupied by Roman forces until the middle of the second century.
Following the Norman invasion of Wales in the late 11th century, the area of Sengenhydd remained in Welsh hands. By the middle of the 12th century, the area was under the control of the Welsh chieftain Ifor Bach (Ifor ap Meurig). His grandson Gruffydd ap Rhys was the final Welsh lord of Sengenhydd, falling to the English nobleman Gilbert de Clare, the Red Earl, in 1266.[6] In 1267 Henry III was forced to recognise Llywelyn ap Gruffudd as Prince of Wales, and by September 1268 Llywelyn had secured northern Sengenhydd. Gilbert de Clare had already begun to take steps to consolidate his own territorial gains, beginning the construction of Caerphilly Castle on 11 April 1268. The castle would also act as a buffer against Llewelyn's own territorial ambitions and was attacked by the Prince of Wales' forces before construction was halted in 1270. Construction recommenced in 1271 and was continued under the Red Earl's son, Gilbert de Clare, 8th Earl of Gloucester. With only interior remodelling carried out to the castle by Hugh le Despenser in the 1320s, Caerphilly Castle remains a pure example of 13th century military architecture and is the largest castle in Wales, and the second largest in Britain (after Windsor).
The original town of Caerphilly grew up as a small settlement raised just south of the castle by De Clare. After the death of Gilbert de Clare at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314, Edward II became guardian of De Clare's three sisters and heiresses. In 1315 he replaced de Badlesmere with a new English administrator, Payn de Turberville of Coity, who persecuted the people of Glamorgan. Then, like many in northern Europe at the time, the region was in the throes of a serious famine. In coming to the defence of his people, Llywelyn Bren, the great-grandson of Ifor Bach and Welsh Lord of Senghenydd incurred the wrath of de Turberville, who charged him with sedition. Llywelyn appealed to Edward II to call off or control his self-interested agent, but Edward ordered Llywelyn to appear before Parliament to face the charge of treason. The King promised Llywelyn that if the charges were found true, he would be hanged. Llywelyn fled and prepared for war. On 28 January 1316, Llywelyn began the revolt with a surprise attack on Caerphilly Castle. He captured the constable outside the castle and the outer ward, but could not break into the inner defences. His forces burned the town, slaughtered some of its inhabitants and started a siege. The town was rebuilt but remained very small throughout the Middle Ages. The first evidence of its emerging importance was the construction of a court house in the 14th century, the only pre-19th century building apart from the castle that remains in the town.
At the beginning of the 15th century the castle was again attacked, this time by Owain Glyndŵr, who took control of it around 1403–05. Repairs to the castle continued until at least 1430, but just a century later the antiquary John Leland recorded that the castle was a ruin set in marshland, with a single tower being used as a prison. In the mid-16th century the 2nd Earl of Pembroke used the castle as a manorial court, but in 1583 the castle was leased to Thomas Lewis, who accelerated its dilapidation by removing stonework to build his nearby manor, the Van. The Lewis family, who claimed descent from Ifor Bach, left the manor in the mid-18th century when they purchased St Fagans Castle, the Van falling into decay.
During the 1700s, Caerphilly began to grow into a market town. During the 19th century, as the South Wales Valleys underwent massive growth through industrialisation, so too the town's population grew. Caerphilly railway station was opened in 1871, and in 1899 the Rhymney Railway built their Caerphilly railway works maintenance facilities; however, the expansion of the population in the 19th century was more to do with the increasing market for coal.
Caerphilly is separated from the Cardiff suburbs of Lisvane and Rhiwbina by Caerphilly mountain. The town is known outside Wales for Caerphilly cheese.
Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France.
El Musée d'Orsay es una pinacoteca ubicada en París (Francia), que se dedica a las artes plásticas del siglo XIX y, más en concreto, del periodo 1848-1914. Ocupa el antiguo edificio de la estación ferroviaria de Orsay y alberga la mayor colección de obras impresionistas del mundo, con obras maestras de la pintura y de la escultura como "Almuerzo sobre la hierba" y "Olympia" de Édouard Manet, una prueba de la estatua "La pequeña bailarina de catorce años" de Degas, "Baile en el Moulin de la Galette" de Renoir, varias obras esenciales de Courbet ("El origen del mundo", "Entierro en Ornans", "El taller del pintor") e incluso cinco cuadros de la "Serie des Catedrales de Rouen" de Monet. Cronológicamente, este museo cubre la historia del arte entre los maestros antiguos (que están en el Museo del Louvre) y el arte moderno y contemporáneo (en el Centro Georges Pompidou).
En el espacio que hoy ocupa el Museo de Orsay se encontraba el palacio y jardín de Margarita de Valois.
El edificio del actual museo se creó entre finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX como estación ferroviaria para la Exposición Universal de París (1900). En el terreno había existido otro edificio, empleado como sede del Consejo de Estado y luego de la Corte de Cuentas, organismo que supervisaba la gestión económica del país. Este edificio quedó destruido en un incendio en 1871, durante los sucesos de la Comuna de París.
El nuevo conjunto fue diseñado por el arquitecto Victor Laloux y se inauguró para las fechas del inicio del certamen. Constaba de un hotel y de la estación propiamente dicha (que permaneció 39 años en activo).
Tras ser empleado con diversos usos hasta la década de los años 1970, el edificio sería destinado a museo gracias a una resolución del Estado francés. En 1973, la Dirección de Museos de Francia concibió el proyecto de establecer un museo en la estación de ferrocarril de Orsay, que amenazaba ruina y en la que se hablaba de construir un hotel, que se inscribió en el Inventario suplementario de Monumentos Históricos el 8 de marzo de 1973. La decisión oficial de construir el museo llegó con el consejo de ministros del 20 de octubre de 1977.
Al ser un edificio con estructura de hierro, ello favorecía en parte la adaptación a los planteamientos museísticos de la actualidad. Se vació toda la estructura de la gran nave central para arbitrar una secuencia expositiva de un periodo artístico que posibilitase un recorrido lineal, mientras que se emplearon espacios anexos para albergar otros servicios.
Las obras de acondicionamiento de la estación a museo se llevaron a cabo entre los años de 1981 y 1986, haciéndose cargo de la remodelación exterior el estudio ACT-Architecture y de la adaptación interior un equipo a cargo de la arquitecta Gae Aulenti. La inauguración oficial se produjo el 1 de diciembre de 1986, por el presidente de la República, François Mitterrand. Abrió al público el día 9 del mismo mes.
Las tres plantas en que se divide el edificio albergan una excepcional colección de arte del siglos XIX y principios del XX, procedente de diversas instituciones museísticas, ordenada de forma cronológica, y que cuenta con obras impagables de grandes autores de la Historia del arte como Delacroix, Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat o Derain, entre muchos otros ejemplos de pintura y escultura.
Este museo ilustra también otra vertiente más conservadora del arte, desde el gusto académico en la estela de Ingres hasta el simbolismo de Puvis de Chavannes; pero son estilos artísticos menos populares actualmente, que quedan eclipsados por la colosal colección de impresionistas. Hay también un amplio repertorio de proyectos arquitectónicos, objetos decorativos, dibujos y fotografías.
The Musée d'Orsay is a gallery located in Paris (France), which is dedicated to the visual arts of the 19th century and, more specifically, from the period 1848-1914. It occupies the former Orsay railway station building and houses the largest collection of Impressionist works in the world, with masterpieces of painting and sculpture such as "Lunch on the Grass" and "Olympia" by Édouard Manet, proof of the statue "The Little Ballerina Fourteen" by Degas, "Dance at the Moulin de la Galette" by Renoir, several essential works by Courbet ("The Origin of the World", "Burial in Ornans", "The Painter's Workshop") and even five paintings from Monet's "Series des Catedrales de Rouen". Chronologically, this museum covers the history of art between the ancient masters (who are in the Louvre Museum) and modern and contemporary art (in the Georges Pompidou Center).
In the space that the Orsay Museum occupies today was the palace and garden of Marguerite de Valois.
The building of the current museum was created between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th as a railway station for the Universal Exposition of Paris (1900). On the land there had been another building, used as the seat of the Council of State and after the Court of Accounts, the body that supervised the country's economic management. This building was destroyed in a fire in 1871, during the events of the Paris Commune.
The new set was designed by the architect Victor Laloux and was inaugurated for the dates of the beginning of the contest. It consisted of a hotel and the station itself (which remained active for 39 years).
After being used for various uses until the 1970s, the building would be used as a museum thanks to a resolution by the French State. In 1973, the Directorate of Museums of France conceived the project to establish a museum at the Orsay railway station, which threatened ruin and in which there was talk of building a hotel, which was entered in the Supplementary Inventory of Historical Monuments on 8 March 1973. The official decision to build the museum came with the Cabinet of Ministers on October 20, 1977.
As it is a building with an iron structure, this partially favored adaptation to contemporary museum approaches. The entire structure of the great central nave was emptied to arbitrate an exhibition sequence of an artistic period that would make a linear journey possible, while adjoining spaces were used to house other services.
The works to refurbish the station into a museum were carried out between the years 1981 and 1986, with the ACT-Architecture studio remodeling the exterior and the team adapting the architect Gae Aulenti the interior adaptation. The official inauguration took place on December 1, 1986, by the President of the Republic, François Mitterrand. It opened to the public on the 9th of the same month.
The three floors into which the building is divided house an exceptional collection of art from the 19th and early 20th centuries, from various museum institutions, arranged chronologically, and which contains priceless works by great authors of art history such as Delacroix , Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat or Derain, among many other examples of painting and sculpture.
This museum also illustrates another more conservative aspect of art, from the academic taste in the wake of Ingres to the symbolism of Puvis de Chavannes; but they are less popular artistic styles today, which are overshadowed by the colossal collection of impressionists. There is also a wide repertoire of architectural projects, decorative objects, drawings and photographs.
Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France.
El Musée d'Orsay es una pinacoteca ubicada en París (Francia), que se dedica a las artes plásticas del siglo XIX y, más en concreto, del periodo 1848-1914. Ocupa el antiguo edificio de la estación ferroviaria de Orsay y alberga la mayor colección de obras impresionistas del mundo, con obras maestras de la pintura y de la escultura como "Almuerzo sobre la hierba" y "Olympia" de Édouard Manet, una prueba de la estatua "La pequeña bailarina de catorce años" de Degas, "Baile en el Moulin de la Galette" de Renoir, varias obras esenciales de Courbet ("El origen del mundo", "Entierro en Ornans", "El taller del pintor") e incluso cinco cuadros de la "Serie des Catedrales de Rouen" de Monet. Cronológicamente, este museo cubre la historia del arte entre los maestros antiguos (que están en el Museo del Louvre) y el arte moderno y contemporáneo (en el Centro Georges Pompidou).
En el espacio que hoy ocupa el Museo de Orsay se encontraba el palacio y jardín de Margarita de Valois.
El edificio del actual museo se creó entre finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX como estación ferroviaria para la Exposición Universal de París (1900). En el terreno había existido otro edificio, empleado como sede del Consejo de Estado y luego de la Corte de Cuentas, organismo que supervisaba la gestión económica del país. Este edificio quedó destruido en un incendio en 1871, durante los sucesos de la Comuna de París.
El nuevo conjunto fue diseñado por el arquitecto Victor Laloux y se inauguró para las fechas del inicio del certamen. Constaba de un hotel y de la estación propiamente dicha (que permaneció 39 años en activo).
Tras ser empleado con diversos usos hasta la década de los años 1970, el edificio sería destinado a museo gracias a una resolución del Estado francés. En 1973, la Dirección de Museos de Francia concibió el proyecto de establecer un museo en la estación de ferrocarril de Orsay, que amenazaba ruina y en la que se hablaba de construir un hotel, que se inscribió en el Inventario suplementario de Monumentos Históricos el 8 de marzo de 1973. La decisión oficial de construir el museo llegó con el consejo de ministros del 20 de octubre de 1977.
Al ser un edificio con estructura de hierro, ello favorecía en parte la adaptación a los planteamientos museísticos de la actualidad. Se vació toda la estructura de la gran nave central para arbitrar una secuencia expositiva de un periodo artístico que posibilitase un recorrido lineal, mientras que se emplearon espacios anexos para albergar otros servicios.
Las obras de acondicionamiento de la estación a museo se llevaron a cabo entre los años de 1981 y 1986, haciéndose cargo de la remodelación exterior el estudio ACT-Architecture y de la adaptación interior un equipo a cargo de la arquitecta Gae Aulenti. La inauguración oficial se produjo el 1 de diciembre de 1986, por el presidente de la República, François Mitterrand. Abrió al público el día 9 del mismo mes.
Las tres plantas en que se divide el edificio albergan una excepcional colección de arte del siglos XIX y principios del XX, procedente de diversas instituciones museísticas, ordenada de forma cronológica, y que cuenta con obras impagables de grandes autores de la Historia del arte como Delacroix, Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat o Derain, entre muchos otros ejemplos de pintura y escultura.
Este museo ilustra también otra vertiente más conservadora del arte, desde el gusto académico en la estela de Ingres hasta el simbolismo de Puvis de Chavannes; pero son estilos artísticos menos populares actualmente, que quedan eclipsados por la colosal colección de impresionistas. Hay también un amplio repertorio de proyectos arquitectónicos, objetos decorativos, dibujos y fotografías.
The Musée d'Orsay is a gallery located in Paris (France), which is dedicated to the visual arts of the 19th century and, more specifically, from the period 1848-1914. It occupies the former Orsay railway station building and houses the largest collection of Impressionist works in the world, with masterpieces of painting and sculpture such as "Lunch on the Grass" and "Olympia" by Édouard Manet, proof of the statue "The Little Ballerina Fourteen" by Degas, "Dance at the Moulin de la Galette" by Renoir, several essential works by Courbet ("The Origin of the World", "Burial in Ornans", "The Painter's Workshop") and even five paintings from Monet's "Series des Catedrales de Rouen". Chronologically, this museum covers the history of art between the ancient masters (who are in the Louvre Museum) and modern and contemporary art (in the Georges Pompidou Center).
In the space that the Orsay Museum occupies today was the palace and garden of Marguerite de Valois.
The building of the current museum was created between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th as a railway station for the Universal Exposition of Paris (1900). On the land there had been another building, used as the seat of the Council of State and after the Court of Accounts, the body that supervised the country's economic management. This building was destroyed in a fire in 1871, during the events of the Paris Commune.
The new set was designed by the architect Victor Laloux and was inaugurated for the dates of the beginning of the contest. It consisted of a hotel and the station itself (which remained active for 39 years).
After being used for various uses until the 1970s, the building would be used as a museum thanks to a resolution by the French State. In 1973, the Directorate of Museums of France conceived the project to establish a museum at the Orsay railway station, which threatened ruin and in which there was talk of building a hotel, which was entered in the Supplementary Inventory of Historical Monuments on 8 March 1973. The official decision to build the museum came with the Cabinet of Ministers on October 20, 1977.
As it is a building with an iron structure, this partially favored adaptation to contemporary museum approaches. The entire structure of the great central nave was emptied to arbitrate an exhibition sequence of an artistic period that would make a linear journey possible, while adjoining spaces were used to house other services.
The works to refurbish the station into a museum were carried out between the years 1981 and 1986, with the ACT-Architecture studio remodeling the exterior and the team adapting the architect Gae Aulenti the interior adaptation. The official inauguration took place on December 1, 1986, by the President of the Republic, François Mitterrand. It opened to the public on the 9th of the same month.
The three floors into which the building is divided house an exceptional collection of art from the 19th and early 20th centuries, from various museum institutions, arranged chronologically, and which contains priceless works by great authors of art history such as Delacroix , Degas, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat or Derain, among many other examples of painting and sculpture.
This museum also illustrates another more conservative aspect of art, from the academic taste in the wake of Ingres to the symbolism of Puvis de Chavannes; but they are less popular artistic styles today, which are overshadowed by the colossal collection of impressionists. There is also a wide repertoire of architectural projects, decorative objects, drawings and photographs.
I can't remember where I took this! Within the 13th century south curtain wall I think.
We don't know when the newly finished Bothwell Castle became habitable. It is known to have been in use in 1278, as in that year Walter de Moravia dated a charter from "Botheuyle". Just 13 years later, Edward I of England was asked to arbitrate between the various claimants for the vacant Scottish throne. The claimants were forced to acknowledge Edward as their Lord Paramount and accept his arbitration (a decision influenced in part by the fact that most of the claimants had large estates in England which they would have lost had they defied him). Edward then ordered that every Scottish royal castle be placed temporarily under his control, and while Bothwell was not 'royal', it is likely that it came under English control at this time too.
From the naming of John Balliol as King of Scots in November 1292, relations with a domineering Edward of England steadily deteriorated, a situation made worse by Scottish factional fighting. When Edward discovered in 1295 that a Franco-Scottish alliance (later known as the Auld Alliance) had been signed, he started preparations to invade the following year.
Leicester Square i/ˈlɛstər/ is a pedestrianisedsquare in the West End of London, England. It was laid out in 1670 and is named after the contemporary Leicester House, itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester.
The square was originally a gentrified residential area, with notable tenants including Frederick, Prince of Wales and artists William Hogarth and Joshua Reynolds. It became more down-market in the late 18th century as Leicester House was demolished and retail developments took place, becoming a centre for entertainment. Several major theatres were established in the 19th century, which eventually became converted to cinemas towards the mid-20th. Leicester Square holds a number of nationally important cinemas frequently used for film premières, including the Odeon Leicester Square, Empire, Leicester Square and Odeon West End, while the nearby Prince Charles Cinema is popular for showing cult films and marathon film runs. The square remains a popular tourist attraction, including hosting events for the Chinese New Year.
The square has always had a park in its centre, which was originally Lammas land. The park's fortunes have varied over the centuries, reaching near dilapidation in the mid-19th, but it has since been restored. The square was extensively refurbished and remodelled for the 2012 London Olympics.
The square lies within an area bound by Lisle Street, to the north; Charing Cross Road, to the east; Orange Street, to the south; and Whitcomb Street, to the west. The park at the centre of the Square is bound by Cranbourn Street, to the north; Leicester Street, to the east; Irving Street, to the south; and a section of road designated simply as Leicester Square, to the west. It is within the City of Westminster, and about equal distances north of Trafalgar Square, east of Piccadilly Circus, west of Covent Garden, and south of Cambridge Circus.
The nearest tube station is Leicester Square tube station, which opened in 1906. London bus routes 24, 29 and 176 run on nearby Charing Cross Road.
History
The land where Leicester Square now lies once belonged to the Abbot and Convent of Westminster Abbey and the Beaumont family. In 1536, Henry VIII took control of 3 acres (1.2 ha) of land around the square, with the remaining 4 acres (1.6 ha) being transferred to the king the following year. The Square is named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester, who purchased this land in 1630. By 1635, he had built himself a large house, Leicester House, at the northern end. The area in front of the house was then enclosed, depriving inhabitants of St Martin in the Fieldsparish of their right to use the previously common land. The parishioners appealed to King Charles I, and he appointed three members of the privy council to arbitrate. Lord Leicester was ordered to keep part of his land (thereafter known as Leicester Field and later as Leicester Square) open for the parishioners.
The square was laid out to the south of Leicester House and developed in the 1670s. The area was originally entirely residential, with properties laid out in a similar style to nearby Pall Mall.[4] In 1687, the northern part of the square became part of the new parish of St Anne, Soho. Leicester House was once the residence of Frederick, Prince of Wales while the poet Matthew Prior lived at what is now No. 21 around 1700 and artist William Hogarth lived at No 30 between 1733 and 1764, where he produced some of his best known works including Gin Lane. The magistrate Thomas de Veil, later to found Bow Street Magistrates' Court, lived at No 40 between 1729 and 1737; this location is now the Odeon West End. The painter Joshua Reynolds lived at No 47 from 1760 until his death in 1792; this location is now Fanum House, once the Automobile Association head office.
At the end of the 17th century, Lord Leicester's heir, Philip Sidney, 3rd Earl of Leicester, permitted a small amount of retail development in booths along the front of Leicester House. A statue of King George I was built on the square in 1760 following the coronation of his grandson, George III. The square remained fashionable throughout most of the 18th century, with notable residents including the architect James Stuart at No 35 from 1766 to 1788 and the painter John Singleton Copley at No. 28 from 1776 to 1783. Towards the end of the century, the square stopped becoming a desirable address and began to serve as a venue for popular entertainments. Brothels started appearing around Leicester Square during the century, and visitors could pay to watch the severed heads of traitors executed at Temple Bar through a telescope. Leicester House became home of a museum of natural curiosities called the Holophusikon in the 1780s. It was demolished in 1791–72 due to rising debts following the extinction of the Leicester peerage, and replaced by Leicester Place. That in turn was converted into a church in 1865 and is now the site of the Prince Charles Cinema.
In 1790, a new Royal Opera House was proposed to be built in Leicester Square. The scheme was led by The Prince of Wales, Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford and James Cecil, 1st Marquess of Salisbury and aimed to re-establish London as a centre for Italian opera and ballet, with an opera house to rival those in mainland Europe. The opera house was never built, as the royal patent, needed at that time to license a theatre, was refused. The plans for the original design are preserved in Sir John Soane's Museum and a 1790 painting by William Hodges, showing the finished design, is part of the Museum of London's collection.
By the 19th century, Leicester Square was known as an entertainment venue, with many amusements peculiar to the era, including Wyld's Great Globe, which was built for The Great Exhibition of 1851 and housed a giant scale map of the Earth. The construction of New Coventry Street made it easier for traffic to access the square, resulting in private residences being replaced by shops, museums and exhibition centres. Savile House, built in 1683, had become a museum by this time. Several hotels were established around the square, making it popular with visitors to London. The Alhambra Theatre was built in 1854 on the east side of the square, dominating the site. It temporarily closed two years later when the original owner, Edward Clarke, became bankrupt, but then reopened in 1858 as the Alhambra Palace. It enjoyed a surge in popularity after Queen Victoria and family came to see "Black Eagle – The Horse of Beauty". It burned down in 1882, but reopened the following year. In the early 20th century, the theatre became a popular venue for ballet. It was demolished in 1936 and replaced by the Odeon Cinema. The Empire Theatre of Varieties opened in 1881 on the former site of Savile House, but had a troubled start, closing for a time, until the end of the decade. The theatre had a notorious reputation for high-class prostitutes frequenting the theatre, and in 1894 the London County Council ordered the promenade on the upper balcony to be remodelled. A young Winston Churchill, then a cadet at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, helped destroy canvas screens that had been erected to prevent access to the balcony. The theatre closed in 1927, to be replaced by the Empire Cinema.
During the Winter of Discontent, where the incumbent Labour Party struggled to meet demands of trade unions and a shrinking economy, refuse collectors went on strike in January 1979. Leicester Square was turned into a de facto dump, earning it the nickname of "Fester Square". In the 1980s, the square was pedestrianised, cutting off all vehicular traffic. Access to the square for goods and deliveries is now controlled by specially designated marshals.
By the start of the 21st century, Westminster City Council were concerned that the square was too dangerous at night, and wanted to demolish sections of it to accommodate more cafes, theatres and cinemas, and less nightclubs. In 2010, a major redevelopment of Leicester Square took place as part of a Great Outdoors scheme proposed by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. The improvements included 12,000 square metres of granite paving and a water featuresurrounding the Shakespeare statue. The square re-opened in May 2012 after 17 months' work at a total cost of £15.3 million. The Greater London Authority said the refurbishments would accommodate more than 1,000 new jobs. The re-opening coincided with the 2012 Summer Olympics later that year.
Feature
In the middle of the Square is a small park. This was originally Lammas land that was available for common use on Lammas Day (12 August) for washing clothes and herding cattle. The Earl of Leicester was obliged to preserve these grounds, which were separated from the rest of the square with railings. In 1808, the garden was sold by the Leicester Estate into private ownership and subsequently deteriorated to the point of severe dilapidation by the mid-19th century.[6] In 1848, the land was subject to the significant legal case of Tulk v Moxhay. The plot's previous owner had agreed upon a covenant not to erect buildings but the law would not allow buyers who were not "privy" to the initial contract to be bound by subsequent promises. The judge, Lord Cottenham, decided that future owners could be bound by promises to abstain from activity. Otherwise, a buyer could sell land to himself to undermine an initial promise. When the Great Globe was erected, the statue of George I was buried under 12 foot of earth with the globe stuck on top. The statue was subsequently uncovered following the globe's demise, but by 1866 it had deteriorated due to vandalism and was sold for £16. Arguments continued about the fate of the garden, with Charles Augustus Tulk's heirs erecting a wooden hoarding around the property in 1873. These were quickly removed after the Master of the Rolls ordered that the land must be preserved for its original purpose.
The garden was saved by the Member of parliament Albert Grant, who purchased the park in 1874 for £11,060 and donated it to the Metropolitan Board of Works. The title deed for the square passed to the succeeding public bodies and is now in the ownership of the City of Westminster. After the purchase, the architect James Knowles redesigned the park. A statue of William Shakespeare surrounded by dolphins was constructed in the centre. The four corner gates of the park had one bust each of famous former residents in the square: the scientist Sir Isaac Newton; Sir Joshua Reynolds, the first President of the Royal Academy; John Hunter, a pioneer of surgery; and William Hogarth, the painter. The most recent addition was a statue of film star and director Charlie Chaplin in 1981. On the pavement were inscribed the distances in miles to several Commonwealth countries, including Canada, Kenya and Jamaica. After the Great Outdoors refurbishment of the square, only the statue of Shakespeare still remains.
EntertainmentEdit
Leicester Square is the centre of London's cinema land, and one of the signs marking the Square bears the legend "Theatreland". It contains the cinema with the largest screen and another with the most seats (over 1,600). The square is the prime location in London for film premières and co-hosts the London Film Festival each year. Similar to Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, the square was surrounded by floor mounted plaques with film stars' names and cast handprints. During the 2010–2012 refurbishment, many of the plaques were removed, confusing tourists who still expected to find them there.
The Leicester Square Theatre is based in nearby Leicester Place. It was constructed in 1955 as a church, before becoming the Cavern in the Town, a popular live music venue in the 1960s and 70s. The Sex Pistols played one of their first gigs at the club. It was converted into a theatre in 2002 as The Venue, and refurbished as the Leicester Square Theatre in 2008. In 2014, it began a production of a musical based on Oscar Wilde's De Profundis.
The Square has been the home for TKTS, formerly known as the Official London Half-Price Theatre Ticket Booth, since 1980. Tickets for theatre performances taking place around the West End that day and during the week are sold from the booth at a significant discount. The popularity of the booth has given rise to other booths and stores around the Square that advertise half-price tickets for West End shows. The Official London Theatre Guide recommends avoiding these booths as they are not official and do not contain the Society of Ticket Agents & Retailers (STAR) logo.
The Square is home to the 93,000 square feet (8,600 m2) Hippodrome Casino. Following a £40m refurbishment in 2012, the premises can now accommodate 2,000 patrons.
Global Radio has its headquarters on the east side of Leicester Square at No. 30, close to the Odeon. The building houses the radio stations Capital, Capital Xtra, Classic FM, Gold, Heart, LBC, Smooth Radio and Radio X.
CinemasEdit
The Odeon Leicester Square, which dominates the east side of the square, hosts many film premières. It has a capacity for 1,683 people, arranged in circle and stalls. The last 70mm film showing was Armageddon in 1998, after which the theatre began to use digital technology. The projection room still contains some of the original 1930s decor and normally houses two projectors. The Empire opened in 1962. It was previously the largest cinema on the square, but in 2013 it was subdivided to cater for an IMAX screen. The Odeon West End, on the south side, opened in 1930. It was not generally used for premières and was earmarked for demolition in 2014, to be replaced by a ten-storey hotel including a two-screen cinema. Westminster City Council reported 400 new jobs would be available after the redevelopment. Vue West End, on the north side, near the north east corner, was the first cinema in Europe to show a 3D film with Chicken Little in 2006.
A short distance from the west of the Square, on the south side of Panton Street, is the Odeon Panton Street. The Prince Charles Cinema, to the north of the square opened in 1962 with a "satellite dish" design where the audience looks upwards to the stage. The cinema became notorious for showing pornographic films during the 1970s, including Emmanuelle. It later became a favourite venue for showing cult films, including the The Rocky Horror Picture Show and a sing-along version of The Sound of Music, and marathon performances including all seven Muppet films back to back. Prices are considerably cheaper than the main cinemas in the square; in 2013 a ticket for a new release at the Prince Charles cost £10, compared to £24 at the Odeon.
albumen print on cardboard, carte de visite
Kózmata Ferencz (Pest), 1873.
purchased from an Israeli antique dealer, with other photos of late 19th century Budapest actors and singers (see below).
Theodor E. Ulieriu-Rostás collection. Accession number: cdv.2014.16.
Ellinger József (1820-1891) was a Jewish-Hungarian heroic tenor of international prominence, active in the 1850s and 1860s in München (where he wins a contest arbitrated by Ludwig II of Bavaria), Regensburg, Pest, Vienna etc. From 1866, he came back to Pest to become a permanent member of the National Theatre (Nemzeti Színház). In Hungary, he is remembered above all as the first Bánk Bán in Erkel’s original 1861 distribution – the role he also chose for his retirement concert in 1880. Operatic singing became and remains a living family tradition in the Ellinger-Maleczky family.
The portrait shows Ellinger in the role of Jean de Leyde (Leydeni János) in a Hungarian production of Meyerbeer’s Le prophète (A próféta), as indicated by the handwritten notes on the recto and verso. The photo can be dated with precision in 1873, after Kózmata had included his 1873 World Exposition medal on the verso, and just before the old name of Pest was officially supplanted by that of unified Budapest.
This photo resurfaced in Israel, as part of a set which included portraits of operetta singer Sík Gizella (fl. 1882-5), actresses Blaha Lujza (1850-1926) and Munkácsy Flóra (1836-1906), actor Nagy Imre (1849-1893) and his wife, Benza Ida (1846-1880), all datable in the 1870s or early 1880s. I’ve speculated about its Jewish-Hungarian origin in my comments on Sík Gizella’s portrait, but this photo brings another clue to the story: the calligraphic handwriting in red ink on the verso is almost identical to the one seen on Gabi’s portrait (see below) of Ellinger in the role of Bánk Bán! To whom might have belonged that handwriting, and how were these photos separated by thousands of miles? To be continued!
Leicester Square i/ˈlɛstər/ is a pedestrianisedsquare in the West End of London, England. It was laid out in 1670 and is named after the contemporary Leicester House, itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester.
The square was originally a gentrified residential area, with notable tenants including Frederick, Prince of Wales and artists William Hogarth and Joshua Reynolds. It became more down-market in the late 18th century as Leicester House was demolished and retail developments took place, becoming a centre for entertainment. Several major theatres were established in the 19th century, which eventually became converted to cinemas towards the mid-20th. Leicester Square holds a number of nationally important cinemas frequently used for film premières, including the Odeon Leicester Square, Empire, Leicester Square and Odeon West End, while the nearby Prince Charles Cinema is popular for showing cult films and marathon film runs. The square remains a popular tourist attraction, including hosting events for the Chinese New Year.
The square has always had a park in its centre, which was originally Lammas land. The park's fortunes have varied over the centuries, reaching near dilapidation in the mid-19th, but it has since been restored. The square was extensively refurbished and remodelled for the 2012 London Olympics.
The square lies within an area bound by Lisle Street, to the north; Charing Cross Road, to the east; Orange Street, to the south; and Whitcomb Street, to the west. The park at the centre of the Square is bound by Cranbourn Street, to the north; Leicester Street, to the east; Irving Street, to the south; and a section of road designated simply as Leicester Square, to the west. It is within the City of Westminster, and about equal distances north of Trafalgar Square, east of Piccadilly Circus, west of Covent Garden, and south of Cambridge Circus.
The nearest tube station is Leicester Square tube station, which opened in 1906. London bus routes 24, 29 and 176 run on nearby Charing Cross Road.
History
The land where Leicester Square now lies once belonged to the Abbot and Convent of Westminster Abbey and the Beaumont family. In 1536, Henry VIII took control of 3 acres (1.2 ha) of land around the square, with the remaining 4 acres (1.6 ha) being transferred to the king the following year. The Square is named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester, who purchased this land in 1630. By 1635, he had built himself a large house, Leicester House, at the northern end. The area in front of the house was then enclosed, depriving inhabitants of St Martin in the Fieldsparish of their right to use the previously common land. The parishioners appealed to King Charles I, and he appointed three members of the privy council to arbitrate. Lord Leicester was ordered to keep part of his land (thereafter known as Leicester Field and later as Leicester Square) open for the parishioners.
The square was laid out to the south of Leicester House and developed in the 1670s. The area was originally entirely residential, with properties laid out in a similar style to nearby Pall Mall.[4] In 1687, the northern part of the square became part of the new parish of St Anne, Soho. Leicester House was once the residence of Frederick, Prince of Wales while the poet Matthew Prior lived at what is now No. 21 around 1700 and artist William Hogarth lived at No 30 between 1733 and 1764, where he produced some of his best known works including Gin Lane. The magistrate Thomas de Veil, later to found Bow Street Magistrates' Court, lived at No 40 between 1729 and 1737; this location is now the Odeon West End. The painter Joshua Reynolds lived at No 47 from 1760 until his death in 1792; this location is now Fanum House, once the Automobile Association head office.
At the end of the 17th century, Lord Leicester's heir, Philip Sidney, 3rd Earl of Leicester, permitted a small amount of retail development in booths along the front of Leicester House. A statue of King George I was built on the square in 1760 following the coronation of his grandson, George III. The square remained fashionable throughout most of the 18th century, with notable residents including the architect James Stuart at No 35 from 1766 to 1788 and the painter John Singleton Copley at No. 28 from 1776 to 1783. Towards the end of the century, the square stopped becoming a desirable address and began to serve as a venue for popular entertainments. Brothels started appearing around Leicester Square during the century, and visitors could pay to watch the severed heads of traitors executed at Temple Bar through a telescope. Leicester House became home of a museum of natural curiosities called the Holophusikon in the 1780s. It was demolished in 1791–72 due to rising debts following the extinction of the Leicester peerage, and replaced by Leicester Place. That in turn was converted into a church in 1865 and is now the site of the Prince Charles Cinema.
In 1790, a new Royal Opera House was proposed to be built in Leicester Square. The scheme was led by The Prince of Wales, Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford and James Cecil, 1st Marquess of Salisbury and aimed to re-establish London as a centre for Italian opera and ballet, with an opera house to rival those in mainland Europe. The opera house was never built, as the royal patent, needed at that time to license a theatre, was refused. The plans for the original design are preserved in Sir John Soane's Museum and a 1790 painting by William Hodges, showing the finished design, is part of the Museum of London's collection.
By the 19th century, Leicester Square was known as an entertainment venue, with many amusements peculiar to the era, including Wyld's Great Globe, which was built for The Great Exhibition of 1851 and housed a giant scale map of the Earth. The construction of New Coventry Street made it easier for traffic to access the square, resulting in private residences being replaced by shops, museums and exhibition centres. Savile House, built in 1683, had become a museum by this time. Several hotels were established around the square, making it popular with visitors to London. The Alhambra Theatre was built in 1854 on the east side of the square, dominating the site. It temporarily closed two years later when the original owner, Edward Clarke, became bankrupt, but then reopened in 1858 as the Alhambra Palace. It enjoyed a surge in popularity after Queen Victoria and family came to see "Black Eagle – The Horse of Beauty". It burned down in 1882, but reopened the following year. In the early 20th century, the theatre became a popular venue for ballet. It was demolished in 1936 and replaced by the Odeon Cinema. The Empire Theatre of Varieties opened in 1881 on the former site of Savile House, but had a troubled start, closing for a time, until the end of the decade. The theatre had a notorious reputation for high-class prostitutes frequenting the theatre, and in 1894 the London County Council ordered the promenade on the upper balcony to be remodelled. A young Winston Churchill, then a cadet at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, helped destroy canvas screens that had been erected to prevent access to the balcony. The theatre closed in 1927, to be replaced by the Empire Cinema.
During the Winter of Discontent, where the incumbent Labour Party struggled to meet demands of trade unions and a shrinking economy, refuse collectors went on strike in January 1979. Leicester Square was turned into a de facto dump, earning it the nickname of "Fester Square". In the 1980s, the square was pedestrianised, cutting off all vehicular traffic. Access to the square for goods and deliveries is now controlled by specially designated marshals.
By the start of the 21st century, Westminster City Council were concerned that the square was too dangerous at night, and wanted to demolish sections of it to accommodate more cafes, theatres and cinemas, and less nightclubs. In 2010, a major redevelopment of Leicester Square took place as part of a Great Outdoors scheme proposed by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. The improvements included 12,000 square metres of granite paving and a water featuresurrounding the Shakespeare statue. The square re-opened in May 2012 after 17 months' work at a total cost of £15.3 million. The Greater London Authority said the refurbishments would accommodate more than 1,000 new jobs. The re-opening coincided with the 2012 Summer Olympics later that year.
Feature
In the middle of the Square is a small park. This was originally Lammas land that was available for common use on Lammas Day (12 August) for washing clothes and herding cattle. The Earl of Leicester was obliged to preserve these grounds, which were separated from the rest of the square with railings. In 1808, the garden was sold by the Leicester Estate into private ownership and subsequently deteriorated to the point of severe dilapidation by the mid-19th century.[6] In 1848, the land was subject to the significant legal case of Tulk v Moxhay. The plot's previous owner had agreed upon a covenant not to erect buildings but the law would not allow buyers who were not "privy" to the initial contract to be bound by subsequent promises. The judge, Lord Cottenham, decided that future owners could be bound by promises to abstain from activity. Otherwise, a buyer could sell land to himself to undermine an initial promise. When the Great Globe was erected, the statue of George I was buried under 12 foot of earth with the globe stuck on top. The statue was subsequently uncovered following the globe's demise, but by 1866 it had deteriorated due to vandalism and was sold for £16. Arguments continued about the fate of the garden, with Charles Augustus Tulk's heirs erecting a wooden hoarding around the property in 1873. These were quickly removed after the Master of the Rolls ordered that the land must be preserved for its original purpose.
The garden was saved by the Member of parliament Albert Grant, who purchased the park in 1874 for £11,060 and donated it to the Metropolitan Board of Works. The title deed for the square passed to the succeeding public bodies and is now in the ownership of the City of Westminster. After the purchase, the architect James Knowles redesigned the park. A statue of William Shakespeare surrounded by dolphins was constructed in the centre. The four corner gates of the park had one bust each of famous former residents in the square: the scientist Sir Isaac Newton; Sir Joshua Reynolds, the first President of the Royal Academy; John Hunter, a pioneer of surgery; and William Hogarth, the painter. The most recent addition was a statue of film star and director Charlie Chaplin in 1981. On the pavement were inscribed the distances in miles to several Commonwealth countries, including Canada, Kenya and Jamaica. After the Great Outdoors refurbishment of the square, only the statue of Shakespeare still remains.
EntertainmentEdit
Leicester Square is the centre of London's cinema land, and one of the signs marking the Square bears the legend "Theatreland". It contains the cinema with the largest screen and another with the most seats (over 1,600). The square is the prime location in London for film premières and co-hosts the London Film Festival each year. Similar to Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, the square was surrounded by floor mounted plaques with film stars' names and cast handprints. During the 2010–2012 refurbishment, many of the plaques were removed, confusing tourists who still expected to find them there.
The Leicester Square Theatre is based in nearby Leicester Place. It was constructed in 1955 as a church, before becoming the Cavern in the Town, a popular live music venue in the 1960s and 70s. The Sex Pistols played one of their first gigs at the club. It was converted into a theatre in 2002 as The Venue, and refurbished as the Leicester Square Theatre in 2008. In 2014, it began a production of a musical based on Oscar Wilde's De Profundis.
The Square has been the home for TKTS, formerly known as the Official London Half-Price Theatre Ticket Booth, since 1980. Tickets for theatre performances taking place around the West End that day and during the week are sold from the booth at a significant discount. The popularity of the booth has given rise to other booths and stores around the Square that advertise half-price tickets for West End shows. The Official London Theatre Guide recommends avoiding these booths as they are not official and do not contain the Society of Ticket Agents & Retailers (STAR) logo.
The Square is home to the 93,000 square feet (8,600 m2) Hippodrome Casino. Following a £40m refurbishment in 2012, the premises can now accommodate 2,000 patrons.
Global Radio has its headquarters on the east side of Leicester Square at No. 30, close to the Odeon. The building houses the radio stations Capital, Capital Xtra, Classic FM, Gold, Heart, LBC, Smooth Radio and Radio X.
CinemasEdit
The Odeon Leicester Square, which dominates the east side of the square, hosts many film premières. It has a capacity for 1,683 people, arranged in circle and stalls. The last 70mm film showing was Armageddon in 1998, after which the theatre began to use digital technology. The projection room still contains some of the original 1930s decor and normally houses two projectors. The Empire opened in 1962. It was previously the largest cinema on the square, but in 2013 it was subdivided to cater for an IMAX screen. The Odeon West End, on the south side, opened in 1930. It was not generally used for premières and was earmarked for demolition in 2014, to be replaced by a ten-storey hotel including a two-screen cinema. Westminster City Council reported 400 new jobs would be available after the redevelopment. Vue West End, on the north side, near the north east corner, was the first cinema in Europe to show a 3D film with Chicken Little in 2006.
A short distance from the west of the Square, on the south side of Panton Street, is the Odeon Panton Street. The Prince Charles Cinema, to the north of the square opened in 1962 with a "satellite dish" design where the audience looks upwards to the stage. The cinema became notorious for showing pornographic films during the 1970s, including Emmanuelle. It later became a favourite venue for showing cult films, including the The Rocky Horror Picture Show and a sing-along version of The Sound of Music, and marathon performances including all seven Muppet films back to back. Prices are considerably cheaper than the main cinemas in the square; in 2013 a ticket for a new release at the Prince Charles cost £10, compared to £24 at the Odeon.
Leicester Square i/ˈlɛstər/ is a pedestrianisedsquare in the West End of London, England. It was laid out in 1670 and is named after the contemporary Leicester House, itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester.
The square was originally a gentrified residential area, with notable tenants including Frederick, Prince of Wales and artists William Hogarth and Joshua Reynolds. It became more down-market in the late 18th century as Leicester House was demolished and retail developments took place, becoming a centre for entertainment. Several major theatres were established in the 19th century, which eventually became converted to cinemas towards the mid-20th. Leicester Square holds a number of nationally important cinemas frequently used for film premières, including the Odeon Leicester Square, Empire, Leicester Square and Odeon West End, while the nearby Prince Charles Cinema is popular for showing cult films and marathon film runs. The square remains a popular tourist attraction, including hosting events for the Chinese New Year.
The square has always had a park in its centre, which was originally Lammas land. The park's fortunes have varied over the centuries, reaching near dilapidation in the mid-19th, but it has since been restored. The square was extensively refurbished and remodelled for the 2012 London Olympics.
The square lies within an area bound by Lisle Street, to the north; Charing Cross Road, to the east; Orange Street, to the south; and Whitcomb Street, to the west. The park at the centre of the Square is bound by Cranbourn Street, to the north; Leicester Street, to the east; Irving Street, to the south; and a section of road designated simply as Leicester Square, to the west. It is within the City of Westminster, and about equal distances north of Trafalgar Square, east of Piccadilly Circus, west of Covent Garden, and south of Cambridge Circus.
The nearest tube station is Leicester Square tube station, which opened in 1906. London bus routes 24, 29 and 176 run on nearby Charing Cross Road.
History
The land where Leicester Square now lies once belonged to the Abbot and Convent of Westminster Abbey and the Beaumont family. In 1536, Henry VIII took control of 3 acres (1.2 ha) of land around the square, with the remaining 4 acres (1.6 ha) being transferred to the king the following year. The Square is named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester, who purchased this land in 1630. By 1635, he had built himself a large house, Leicester House, at the northern end. The area in front of the house was then enclosed, depriving inhabitants of St Martin in the Fieldsparish of their right to use the previously common land. The parishioners appealed to King Charles I, and he appointed three members of the privy council to arbitrate. Lord Leicester was ordered to keep part of his land (thereafter known as Leicester Field and later as Leicester Square) open for the parishioners.
The square was laid out to the south of Leicester House and developed in the 1670s. The area was originally entirely residential, with properties laid out in a similar style to nearby Pall Mall.[4] In 1687, the northern part of the square became part of the new parish of St Anne, Soho. Leicester House was once the residence of Frederick, Prince of Wales while the poet Matthew Prior lived at what is now No. 21 around 1700 and artist William Hogarth lived at No 30 between 1733 and 1764, where he produced some of his best known works including Gin Lane. The magistrate Thomas de Veil, later to found Bow Street Magistrates' Court, lived at No 40 between 1729 and 1737; this location is now the Odeon West End. The painter Joshua Reynolds lived at No 47 from 1760 until his death in 1792; this location is now Fanum House, once the Automobile Association head office.
At the end of the 17th century, Lord Leicester's heir, Philip Sidney, 3rd Earl of Leicester, permitted a small amount of retail development in booths along the front of Leicester House. A statue of King George I was built on the square in 1760 following the coronation of his grandson, George III. The square remained fashionable throughout most of the 18th century, with notable residents including the architect James Stuart at No 35 from 1766 to 1788 and the painter John Singleton Copley at No. 28 from 1776 to 1783. Towards the end of the century, the square stopped becoming a desirable address and began to serve as a venue for popular entertainments. Brothels started appearing around Leicester Square during the century, and visitors could pay to watch the severed heads of traitors executed at Temple Bar through a telescope. Leicester House became home of a museum of natural curiosities called the Holophusikon in the 1780s. It was demolished in 1791–72 due to rising debts following the extinction of the Leicester peerage, and replaced by Leicester Place. That in turn was converted into a church in 1865 and is now the site of the Prince Charles Cinema.
In 1790, a new Royal Opera House was proposed to be built in Leicester Square. The scheme was led by The Prince of Wales, Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford and James Cecil, 1st Marquess of Salisbury and aimed to re-establish London as a centre for Italian opera and ballet, with an opera house to rival those in mainland Europe. The opera house was never built, as the royal patent, needed at that time to license a theatre, was refused. The plans for the original design are preserved in Sir John Soane's Museum and a 1790 painting by William Hodges, showing the finished design, is part of the Museum of London's collection.
By the 19th century, Leicester Square was known as an entertainment venue, with many amusements peculiar to the era, including Wyld's Great Globe, which was built for The Great Exhibition of 1851 and housed a giant scale map of the Earth. The construction of New Coventry Street made it easier for traffic to access the square, resulting in private residences being replaced by shops, museums and exhibition centres. Savile House, built in 1683, had become a museum by this time. Several hotels were established around the square, making it popular with visitors to London. The Alhambra Theatre was built in 1854 on the east side of the square, dominating the site. It temporarily closed two years later when the original owner, Edward Clarke, became bankrupt, but then reopened in 1858 as the Alhambra Palace. It enjoyed a surge in popularity after Queen Victoria and family came to see "Black Eagle – The Horse of Beauty". It burned down in 1882, but reopened the following year. In the early 20th century, the theatre became a popular venue for ballet. It was demolished in 1936 and replaced by the Odeon Cinema. The Empire Theatre of Varieties opened in 1881 on the former site of Savile House, but had a troubled start, closing for a time, until the end of the decade. The theatre had a notorious reputation for high-class prostitutes frequenting the theatre, and in 1894 the London County Council ordered the promenade on the upper balcony to be remodelled. A young Winston Churchill, then a cadet at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, helped destroy canvas screens that had been erected to prevent access to the balcony. The theatre closed in 1927, to be replaced by the Empire Cinema.
During the Winter of Discontent, where the incumbent Labour Party struggled to meet demands of trade unions and a shrinking economy, refuse collectors went on strike in January 1979. Leicester Square was turned into a de facto dump, earning it the nickname of "Fester Square". In the 1980s, the square was pedestrianised, cutting off all vehicular traffic. Access to the square for goods and deliveries is now controlled by specially designated marshals.
By the start of the 21st century, Westminster City Council were concerned that the square was too dangerous at night, and wanted to demolish sections of it to accommodate more cafes, theatres and cinemas, and less nightclubs. In 2010, a major redevelopment of Leicester Square took place as part of a Great Outdoors scheme proposed by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. The improvements included 12,000 square metres of granite paving and a water featuresurrounding the Shakespeare statue. The square re-opened in May 2012 after 17 months' work at a total cost of £15.3 million. The Greater London Authority said the refurbishments would accommodate more than 1,000 new jobs. The re-opening coincided with the 2012 Summer Olympics later that year.
Feature
In the middle of the Square is a small park. This was originally Lammas land that was available for common use on Lammas Day (12 August) for washing clothes and herding cattle. The Earl of Leicester was obliged to preserve these grounds, which were separated from the rest of the square with railings. In 1808, the garden was sold by the Leicester Estate into private ownership and subsequently deteriorated to the point of severe dilapidation by the mid-19th century.[6] In 1848, the land was subject to the significant legal case of Tulk v Moxhay. The plot's previous owner had agreed upon a covenant not to erect buildings but the law would not allow buyers who were not "privy" to the initial contract to be bound by subsequent promises. The judge, Lord Cottenham, decided that future owners could be bound by promises to abstain from activity. Otherwise, a buyer could sell land to himself to undermine an initial promise. When the Great Globe was erected, the statue of George I was buried under 12 foot of earth with the globe stuck on top. The statue was subsequently uncovered following the globe's demise, but by 1866 it had deteriorated due to vandalism and was sold for £16. Arguments continued about the fate of the garden, with Charles Augustus Tulk's heirs erecting a wooden hoarding around the property in 1873. These were quickly removed after the Master of the Rolls ordered that the land must be preserved for its original purpose.
The garden was saved by the Member of parliament Albert Grant, who purchased the park in 1874 for £11,060 and donated it to the Metropolitan Board of Works. The title deed for the square passed to the succeeding public bodies and is now in the ownership of the City of Westminster. After the purchase, the architect James Knowles redesigned the park. A statue of William Shakespeare surrounded by dolphins was constructed in the centre. The four corner gates of the park had one bust each of famous former residents in the square: the scientist Sir Isaac Newton; Sir Joshua Reynolds, the first President of the Royal Academy; John Hunter, a pioneer of surgery; and William Hogarth, the painter. The most recent addition was a statue of film star and director Charlie Chaplin in 1981. On the pavement were inscribed the distances in miles to several Commonwealth countries, including Canada, Kenya and Jamaica. After the Great Outdoors refurbishment of the square, only the statue of Shakespeare still remains.
EntertainmentEdit
Leicester Square is the centre of London's cinema land, and one of the signs marking the Square bears the legend "Theatreland". It contains the cinema with the largest screen and another with the most seats (over 1,600). The square is the prime location in London for film premières and co-hosts the London Film Festival each year. Similar to Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, the square was surrounded by floor mounted plaques with film stars' names and cast handprints. During the 2010–2012 refurbishment, many of the plaques were removed, confusing tourists who still expected to find them there.
The Leicester Square Theatre is based in nearby Leicester Place. It was constructed in 1955 as a church, before becoming the Cavern in the Town, a popular live music venue in the 1960s and 70s. The Sex Pistols played one of their first gigs at the club. It was converted into a theatre in 2002 as The Venue, and refurbished as the Leicester Square Theatre in 2008. In 2014, it began a production of a musical based on Oscar Wilde's De Profundis.
The Square has been the home for TKTS, formerly known as the Official London Half-Price Theatre Ticket Booth, since 1980. Tickets for theatre performances taking place around the West End that day and during the week are sold from the booth at a significant discount. The popularity of the booth has given rise to other booths and stores around the Square that advertise half-price tickets for West End shows. The Official London Theatre Guide recommends avoiding these booths as they are not official and do not contain the Society of Ticket Agents & Retailers (STAR) logo.
The Square is home to the 93,000 square feet (8,600 m2) Hippodrome Casino. Following a £40m refurbishment in 2012, the premises can now accommodate 2,000 patrons.
Global Radio has its headquarters on the east side of Leicester Square at No. 30, close to the Odeon. The building houses the radio stations Capital, Capital Xtra, Classic FM, Gold, Heart, LBC, Smooth Radio and Radio X.
CinemasEdit
The Odeon Leicester Square, which dominates the east side of the square, hosts many film premières. It has a capacity for 1,683 people, arranged in circle and stalls. The last 70mm film showing was Armageddon in 1998, after which the theatre began to use digital technology. The projection room still contains some of the original 1930s decor and normally houses two projectors. The Empire opened in 1962. It was previously the largest cinema on the square, but in 2013 it was subdivided to cater for an IMAX screen. The Odeon West End, on the south side, opened in 1930. It was not generally used for premières and was earmarked for demolition in 2014, to be replaced by a ten-storey hotel including a two-screen cinema. Westminster City Council reported 400 new jobs would be available after the redevelopment. Vue West End, on the north side, near the north east corner, was the first cinema in Europe to show a 3D film with Chicken Little in 2006.
A short distance from the west of the Square, on the south side of Panton Street, is the Odeon Panton Street. The Prince Charles Cinema, to the north of the square opened in 1962 with a "satellite dish" design where the audience looks upwards to the stage. The cinema became notorious for showing pornographic films during the 1970s, including Emmanuelle. It later became a favourite venue for showing cult films, including the The Rocky Horror Picture Show and a sing-along version of The Sound of Music, and marathon performances including all seven Muppet films back to back. Prices are considerably cheaper than the main cinemas in the square; in 2013 a ticket for a new release at the Prince Charles cost £10, compared to £24 at the Odeon.
Caerphilly Castle is a medieval fortification in Caerphilly in South Wales. The castle was constructed by Gilbert de Clare in the 13th century as part of his campaign to maintain control of Glamorgan, and saw extensive fighting between Gilbert, his descendants, and the native Welsh rulers. Surrounded by extensive artificial lakes – considered by historian Allen Brown to be "the most elaborate water defences in all Britain" – it occupies around 30 acres (12 ha) and is the largest castle in Wales and the second-largest castle in the United Kingdom after Windsor Castle. It is famous for having introduced concentric castle defences to Britain and for its large gatehouses. Gilbert began work on the castle in 1268 following his occupation of the north of Glamorgan, with the majority of the construction occurring over the next three years at a considerable cost. The project was opposed by Gilbert's Welsh rival Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, leading to the site being burnt in 1270 and taken over by royal officials in 1271. Despite these interruptions, Gilbert successfully completed the castle and took control of the region. The core of Caerphilly Castle, including the castle's luxurious accommodation, was built on what became a central island, surrounding by several artificial lakes, a design Gilbert probably derived from that at Kenilworth. The dams for these lakes were further fortified, and an island to the west provided additional protection. The concentric rings of walls inspired Edward I's castles in North Wales, and proved what historian Norman Pounds has termed "a turning point in the history of the castle in Britain".
The castle was attacked during the Madog ap Llywelyn revolt of 1294, the Llywelyn Bren uprising in 1316 and during the overthrow of Edward II in 1326–27. In the late 15th century, however, it fell into decline and by the 16th century the lakes had drained away and the walls were robbed of their stone. The Marquesses of Bute acquired the property in 1776 and under the third and fourth Marquesses extensive restoration took place. In 1950 the castle and grounds were given to the state and the water defences were re-flooded. In the 21st century, the Welsh heritage agency Cadw manages the site as a tourist attraction.
Caerphilly Castle was built in the second half of the 13th century, as part of the Anglo-Norman expansion into South Wales. The Normans began to make incursions into Wales from the late 1060s onwards, pushing westwards from their bases in recently occupied England. Their advance was marked by the construction of castles and the creation of regional lordships. The task of subduing the region of Glamorgan was given to the earls of Gloucester in 1093; efforts continued throughout the 12th and early 13th centuries, accompanied by extensive fighting between the Anglo-Norman lords and local Welsh rulers. The powerful de Clare family acquired the earldom in 1217 and continued to attempt to conquer the whole of the Glamorgan region.
In 1263, Gilbert de Clare, also known as "Red Gilbert" because of the colour of his hair, inherited the family lands. Opposing him in Glamorgan was the native Welsh prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. Llywelyn had taken advantage of the chaos of the civil war in England between Henry III and rebel barons during the 1260s to expand his power across the region. In 1265 Llywelyn allied himself with the baronial faction in England in exchange for being granted authority over the local Welsh magnates across all the territories in the region, including Glamorgan. De Clare believed his lands and power were under threat and allied himself with Henry III against the rebel barons and Llywelyn.
The baronial revolt was crushed between 1266 and 1267, leaving de Clare free to advance north into Glamorgan from his main base in Cardiff. De Clare started to construct a castle at Caerphilly to control his new gains in 1268. The castle lay in a basin of the Rhymney Valley, alongside the Rhymney River and at the heart of network of paths and roads, adjacent to a former Roman fort.. Work began at a huge pace, with ditches cut to form the basic shape of the castle, temporary wooden palisades erected and extensive water defences created by damming a local stream. The walls and internal buildings were built at speed, forming the main part of the castle. The architect of the castle and the precise cost of the construction are unknown, but modern estimates suggest that it could have cost as much as castles such as Conwy or Caernarfon, perhaps as much as £19,000, a huge sum for the period.
Llywelyn responded by intervening with his own forces but outright conflict was prevented by the diplomatic efforts of Henry III. De Clare continued building work and in 1270 Llywelyn responded by attacking and burning the site, probably destroying the temporary defences and stores. De Clare began work again the following year, raising tensions and prompting Henry to send two bishops, Roger de Meyland and Godfrey Giffard, to take control of the site and arbitrate a solution to the dispute.
The bishops took possession of the castle later in 1271 and promised Llywelyn that building work would temporarily cease and that negotiations would begin the following summer. In February of the next year, however, de Clare's men seized back the castle, threw out the bishops' soldiers, and de Clare – protesting his innocence in these events – began work once again. Neither Henry nor Llywelyn could readily intervene and de Clare was able to lay claim to the whole of Glamorgan. Work on the castle continued, with additional water defences, towers and gatehouses added.
Llywelyn's power declined over the next two decades. In 1276 Henry's son, Edward I, invaded Wales following a dispute with the prince, breaking his power in South Wales, and in 1282 Edward's second campaign resulted in Llwelyn's death and the collapse of independent Welsh rule. Further defences were added to the walls until work stopped around 1290. Local disputes remained. De Clare argued with Humphrey de Bohun, the earl of Hereford, in 1290 and the following year the case was brought before the king, resulting in the temporary royal seizure of Caerphilly.
In 1294 Madog ap Llywelyn rebelled against English rule, the first major insurrection since the 1282 campaign. The Welsh appear to have risen up over the introduction of taxation and Madog had considerable popular support. In Glamorgan, Morgan ap Maredudd led the local uprising; Morgan had been dispossessed by de Clare in 1270 and saw this as a chance to regain his lands. Morgan attacked Caerphilly, burning half of the town, but failed to take the castle. In the spring of 1295 Edward pressed home a counter-attack in North Wales, putting down the uprising and arresting Madog. De Clare attacked Morgan's forces and retook the region between April and May, resulting in Morgan's surrender. De Clare died at the end of 1295, leaving Caerphilly Castle in a good condition, linked to the small town of Caerphilly which had emerged to the south of it and a large deer park in the nearby Aber Valley.
Gilbert's son, also called Gilbert de Clare, inherited the castle, but he died fighting at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314 while still quite young. The family's lands were initially placed under the control of the Crown, but before any decision could be taken on the inheritance, a revolt broke out in Glamorgan. Anger over the actions of the royal administrators caused Llywelyn Bren to rise up in January 1316, attacking Caerphilly Castle with a large force of men. The castle withstood the attack, but the town was destroyed and the rebellion spread. A royal army was despatched to deal with the situation, defeating Bren in a battle at Caerphilly Mountain and breaking the Welsh siege of the castle.
In 1317 Edward II settled the inheritance of Glamorgan and Caerphilly Castle on Eleanor de Clare, who had married the royal favourite, Hugh le Despenser. ]Hugh used his relationship with the king to expand his power across the region, taking over lands throughout South Wales. Hugh employed Master Thomas de la Bataile and William Hurley to expand the Great Hall at the castle, including richly carved windows and doors. In 1326, however, Edward's wife, Isabella of France, overthrew his government, forcing the king and Hugh to flee west. The pair stayed in Caerphilly Castle at the end of October and early November, before leaving to escape Isabella's approaching forces, abandoning the extensive stores and £14,000 held at the castle. William la Zouche besieged the castle with a force of 425 soldiers, cornering the constable, Sir John de Felton, Hugh's son – also called Hugh – and the garrison of 130 men inside. Caerphilly held out until March 1327, when the garrison surrendered on the condition that the younger Hugh was pardoned, his father having been already executed.
Tensions between the Welsh and the English persisted and spilled over in 1400 with the outbreak of the Glyndŵr Rising. It is uncertain what part the castle played in the conflict, but it seems to have survived intact. In 1416, the castle passed through Isabel le Despenser in marriage to her first husband Richard de Beauchamp, the earl of Worcester, and then to her second husband, Richard Beauchamp, the earl of Warwick. Isabel and her second husband invested heavily in the castle, conducting repairs and making it suitable for use as their main residence in the region. The castle passed to Richard Neville in 1449 and to Jasper Tudor, the earl of Pembroke, in 1486.
After 1486, the castle went into decline, eclipsed by the more fashionable residence of Cardiff Castle; once the sluice-gates fell into disrepair, the water defences probably drained away. Antiquarian John Leland visited Caerphilly Castle around 1539, and described it as having "waulles of a wonderful thiknes", but beyond a tower used to hold prisoners it was in ruins and surrounded by marshland. Henry Herbert, the earl of Pembroke used the castle for his manorial court. In 1583 the castle was leased to Thomas Lewis, who stripped it of much of its stone to extend his house, causing extensive damage.
In 1642 the English Civil War broke out between the Royalist supporters of Charles I and those of Parliament. South Wales was predominantly Royalist in sympathy, and during the conflict, a sconce, or small fort, was built overlooking Caerphilly Castle to the north-west, on the site of the old Roman fort. It is uncertain if this was built by Royalist forces or by the Parliamentary army that occupied the area during the final months of the war in March 1646, but the fort's guns would have dominated the interior of the castle. It is also uncertain whether or not Caerphilly Castle was deliberately slighted by Parliament to prevent its future use as a fortification. Although several towers had collapsed by the 18th century, possibly as a result of such an operation, it is probable that this deterioration was actually the result of subsidence damage caused when the water defences retreated, as there is no evidence of deliberate destruction having been ordered.
The Marquesses of Bute acquired the castle in 1776. John Stuart, the first marquess, took steps to protect the ruins. His great-grandson John Crichton-Stuart, the third marquess, was immensely rich as the result of the family's holdings in the South Wales coalfields and was passionately interested in the medieval period. He had the site fully surveyed by the architect William Frame, and reroofed the great hall in the 1870s. The marquess began a process of buying back leasehold properties around the castle with the intent of clearing back the town houses that had been built up to the edge of the site.
The fourth marquess, John Crichton-Stuart, was an enthusiastic restorer and builder and commissioned a major restoration project between 1928 and 1939. The stonework was carefully repaired, with moulds made to recreate missing pieces. The Inner East Gatehouse was rebuilt, along with several of the other towers. The marquess carried out landscaping work, with the intent of eventually re-flooding the lakes, and thanks to several decades of purchases was finally able to demolish the local houses encroaching on the view of the castle.
By 1947, when John Crichton-Stuart, the fifth marquess, inherited the castle, the Bute family had divested itself of most of its land in South Wales. John sold off the family's remaining property interests and in 1950 he gave Caerphilly Castle to the state. The lakes were re-flooded and the final stages of the restoration work were completed in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 21st century the castle is managed by the Welsh heritage agency Cadw as a tourist attraction. In 2006, the castle saw 90,914 visitors. It is protected as a scheduled monument and as a grade I listed building. The Great Hall is available for wedding ceremonies.
Caerphilly Castle comprises a set of eastern defences, protected by the Outer East Moat and the North Lake, and fortifications on the Central Island and the Western Island, both protected by the South Lake. The site is around 30 acres (120,000 m2) in size, making it the second largest in Britain. It is constructed on a natural gravel bank in the local river basin, and the castle walls are built from Pennant sandstone. The castle's architecture is famous and historically significant. The castle introduced concentric castle defences to Britain, changing the future course of the country's military architecture, and also incorporated a huge gatehouse. The castle also featured a sophisticated network of moats and dams, considered by historian Allen Brown to be "the most elaborate water defences in all Britain".
The eastern defences were reached via the Outer Main Gatehouse, which featured circular towers resting on spurred, pyramidic bases, a design particular to South Wales castles. Originally the gatehouse would have been reached over a sequence of two drawbridges, linked by an intervening tower, since destroyed. To the north side of the gatehouse was the North Dam, protected by three substantial towers, and which may have supported the castle's stables. Despite subsidence damage, the dam still holds back the North Lake. The South Dam was a massive structure, 152 metres (499 ft) long, ending in a huge buttressed wall. The remains of the castle mill – originally powered by water from the dam – survive. Four replica siege engines have been placed on display. The dam ended in Felton's Tower, a square fortification designed to protect the sluicegates regulating the water levels of the dam, and the South Gatehouse – also called Giffard's Tower – originally accessed via a drawbridge, which led into the town.
Caerphilly's water defences were almost certainly inspired by those at Kenilworth, where a similar set of artificial lakes and dams was created. Gilbert de Clare had fought at the siege of Kenilworth in 1266 and would have seen these at first hand. Caerphilly's water defences provided particular protection against mining, which could otherwise undermine castle walls during the period, and are considered the most advanced of their kind in Britain.
The central island held Caerphilly's inner defences, a roughly square design with a walled inner and middle ward, the inner ward protected by four turrets on each of the corners. The walls of the inner ward overlooked those of the middle ward, producing a concentric defence of two enclosed rings of walls; in the medieval period, the walls of the middle ward would have been much higher than today, forming a more substantial defence. Caerphilly was the first concentric castle in Britain, pre-dating Edward I's famous programme of concentric castles by a few years. The design influenced the design of Edward's later castles in North Wales, and historian Norman Pounds considers it "a turning point in the history of the castle in Britain". Probable subsidence has caused the south-east tower in the Inner Ward to lean outwards at an angle of 10 degrees.
Access to the central island occurred over a drawbridge, through a pair of gatehouses on the eastern side. Caerphilly Castle's Inner East Gatehouse, based on the gatehouse built at Tonbridge in the 1250s, reinforced a trend in gatehouse design across England and Wales. Sometimes termed a keep-gatehouse, the fortification had both exterior and interior defences, enabling it to be defended even if the perimeter of the castle was breached. Two huge towers flanked the gatehouse on either side of an entrance that was protected by portcullises and murder-holes. The substantial size of the gatehouse allowed it to be used for accommodation as well as defence and it was comfortably equipped on a grand scale, probably for the use of the castle constable and his family. Another pair of gatehouses protected the west side.
Inside the inner ward was the castle's Great Hall and accommodation. Caerphilly was built with fashionable, high-status accommodation, similar to that built around the same time in Chepstow Castle. In the medieval period the Great Hall would have been subdivided with wooden screens, colourful decorations, with rich, detailed carving and warmed by a large, central fireplace. Some carved medieval corbels in the shape of male and female heads survive in the hall today, possibly depicting the royal court in the 1320s, including Edward II, Isabella of France, Hugh Despenser and Eleanor de Clare. To the east of the Great Hall was the castle chapel, positioned above the buttery and pantry. On the west side of the hall were the castle's private apartments, two solar blocks with luxurious fittings.
Beyond the central island was the Western Island, probably reached by drawbridges. The island is called Y Weringaer or Caer y Werin in Welsh, meaning "the people's fort", and may have been used by the town of Caerphilly for protection during conflicts. On the north-west side of the Western Island was the site of the former Roman fort, enclosing around 3 acres (1.2 ha), and the remains of the 17th-century civil-war fortification built on the same location.
The long-running British television show Doctor Who chose Caerphilly Castle as a filming location for several episodes, including "The End of Time" in 2009, "The Vampires in Venice" in 2010, two parter "The Rebel Flesh" and "The Almost People" in 2011; “Robot of Sherwood" in 2014 and “Heaven Sent” in 2015. For "The End of Time", producers used the residential quarters of the East Gatehouse, Constable's Hall and Braose Gallery for the filming of a dungeon in the fictional Broadfell Prison.
Caerphilly is a town and community in Wales. It is situated at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley.
It is 7 mi (11 km) north of Cardiff and 12 mi (19 km) northwest of Newport. It is the largest town in Caerphilly County Borough, and lies within the historic borders of Glamorgan, on the border with Monmouthshire. At the 2011 Census, the town had a population of 41,402 while the wider Caerphilly local authority area had a population of 178,806.
The name of the town in Welsh, Caerffili, means "the fort (caer) of Ffili". Despite lack of evidence, tradition states that a monastery was built by St Cenydd, a sixth-century Christian hermit from the Gower Peninsula, in the area. The Welsh cantref in the medieval period was known as Senghenydd. It is said that St Cenydd's son, St Ffili, built a fort in the area, giving the town its name. An alternative explanation is that the town was named after the Anglo-Norman Marcher Lord, Philip de Braose.
The town's site has long been of strategic significance. Around AD 75 a fort was built by the Romans during their conquest of Britain. An excavation of the site in 1963 showed that the fort was occupied by Roman forces until the middle of the second century.
Following the Norman invasion of Wales in the late 11th century, the area of Sengenhydd remained in Welsh hands. By the middle of the 12th century, the area was under the control of the Welsh chieftain Ifor Bach (Ifor ap Meurig). His grandson Gruffydd ap Rhys was the final Welsh lord of Sengenhydd, falling to the English nobleman Gilbert de Clare, the Red Earl, in 1266.[6] In 1267 Henry III was forced to recognise Llywelyn ap Gruffudd as Prince of Wales, and by September 1268 Llywelyn had secured northern Sengenhydd. Gilbert de Clare had already begun to take steps to consolidate his own territorial gains, beginning the construction of Caerphilly Castle on 11 April 1268. The castle would also act as a buffer against Llewelyn's own territorial ambitions and was attacked by the Prince of Wales' forces before construction was halted in 1270. Construction recommenced in 1271 and was continued under the Red Earl's son, Gilbert de Clare, 8th Earl of Gloucester. With only interior remodelling carried out to the castle by Hugh le Despenser in the 1320s, Caerphilly Castle remains a pure example of 13th century military architecture and is the largest castle in Wales, and the second largest in Britain (after Windsor).
The original town of Caerphilly grew up as a small settlement raised just south of the castle by De Clare. After the death of Gilbert de Clare at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314, Edward II became guardian of De Clare's three sisters and heiresses. In 1315 he replaced de Badlesmere with a new English administrator, Payn de Turberville of Coity, who persecuted the people of Glamorgan. Then, like many in northern Europe at the time, the region was in the throes of a serious famine. In coming to the defence of his people, Llywelyn Bren, the great-grandson of Ifor Bach and Welsh Lord of Senghenydd incurred the wrath of de Turberville, who charged him with sedition. Llywelyn appealed to Edward II to call off or control his self-interested agent, but Edward ordered Llywelyn to appear before Parliament to face the charge of treason. The King promised Llywelyn that if the charges were found true, he would be hanged. Llywelyn fled and prepared for war. On 28 January 1316, Llywelyn began the revolt with a surprise attack on Caerphilly Castle. He captured the constable outside the castle and the outer ward, but could not break into the inner defences. His forces burned the town, slaughtered some of its inhabitants and started a siege. The town was rebuilt but remained very small throughout the Middle Ages. The first evidence of its emerging importance was the construction of a court house in the 14th century, the only pre-19th century building apart from the castle that remains in the town.
At the beginning of the 15th century the castle was again attacked, this time by Owain Glyndŵr, who took control of it around 1403–05. Repairs to the castle continued until at least 1430, but just a century later the antiquary John Leland recorded that the castle was a ruin set in marshland, with a single tower being used as a prison. In the mid-16th century the 2nd Earl of Pembroke used the castle as a manorial court, but in 1583 the castle was leased to Thomas Lewis, who accelerated its dilapidation by removing stonework to build his nearby manor, the Van. The Lewis family, who claimed descent from Ifor Bach, left the manor in the mid-18th century when they purchased St Fagans Castle, the Van falling into decay.
During the 1700s, Caerphilly began to grow into a market town. During the 19th century, as the South Wales Valleys underwent massive growth through industrialisation, so too the town's population grew. Caerphilly railway station was opened in 1871, and in 1899 the Rhymney Railway built their Caerphilly railway works maintenance facilities; however, the expansion of the population in the 19th century was more to do with the increasing market for coal.
Caerphilly is separated from the Cardiff suburbs of Lisvane and Rhiwbina by Caerphilly mountain. The town is known outside Wales for Caerphilly cheese.
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I went to Ben and Abby's today to look after Elsie. Immediately it was apparent she was under a thunder cloud, after a later than usual night due to the hottest day of the year so far yesterday . . . In a situation like this I have to remind myself that I am the adult here and must behave like one, even if I've had a bad night too! Abby arbitrated at different points of the day and asked me out of Elsie's earshot whether she was being an unreasonable mum . . . I have nothing but admiration for the way Abby and Ben are even and firm parents - because - Elsie is a joy to be with . . . most of the time!
We watched a little television (something we don't often do) and we went to the small park to play on the swings. After lunch we played for a little while (on eggshells) and then went to another park and we made peace without a word being spoken-just came home easy in each other's company . . . and then I dared to take a photo . ..