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Szék (Sic) is a sleepy village not far from Kolozsvár (Cluj) in Transylvania (Romania).
The Szék community managed to preserve its unique folk traditions, distinctive styles of music, dance, embroidery, and costume through the centuries. Many of the older villagers still wear their traditional costume as they go about their everyday life.
In the unquiet shadows of this forsaken place, where the angles of reality seem to contort in mockery of geometric law, one finds the decayed vestiges of human creation. The stairs, charred by the touch of aeons and the neglect of those who once tread upon them, spiral upwards in a helix that might have been designed by the inhabitants of a darker, twisted dimension.
The walls, swathed in the crumbling vestiges of brick and mortar, bear the scars of unspoken calamities, their once vivid hues leached away to a ghostly pallor. The ceilings loom overhead, a canopy of oppressive concrete, heavy with the weight of years and the dust of desolation.
Through the gaps in this decrepit cocoon, one can glimpse the sterile light that dares not fully penetrate this domain of gloom. It is a liminal space, caught between the bleak realms of abandonment and the inscrutable infinity of the cosmos, where one might easily imagine the eldritch whispers of time echoing through the void. Here, in the silence that is not silence, the air seems to hold its breath, as if anticipating some unnamed dread that lurks just beyond the reach of sight.
Wuchazi bridge above FuHe river illuminated at night against Global Center building
Chengdu, Sichuan province, China
#chengdu #architecture #night
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St. Bernard de Clairvaux Church is a medieval Spanish monastery cloister which was built in the town of Sacramenia in Segovia, Spain, in the 12th century but dismantled in the 20th century and shipped to New York City in the United States. It was eventually reassembled at 16711 West Dixie Highway, North Miami Beach, Florida, where it is now an Episcopal church and tourist attraction called Ancient Spanish Monastery. It is the oldest European-built structure in the Western Hemisphere.
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Legend has it that this church was built by Otho the Great, to whom the Virgin appeared and told him to build build her a church in, what wasthen, a three-cornered meadow scattered with scarlet lilies. A document of 999 says that refugees from the mainland founded this church in the 7th century and dedicated it to the Virgin. The church was rededicated when the body of Saint Donatus, the patron saint of Murano, was brought here from Cephalonia in 1125 by Doge Domenico Michiel, along with the bones of a dragon the saint had slain. This date also seems to be when the church was built in its current form, with the work completed in 1141, a date which is recorded on the mosaic floor. Some of the remains of San Gerardo Sagredo were translated here in 1333 and the urn is taken to San Giorgio Maggiore every hundredth anniversary of his departure to spend a night there.
Базилика Санта Мария и Сан Донато известна своим византийским мозаичным полом 12-го века. Похожий пол можно увидеть в Базилике на площади Сан Марко в Венеции. Кроме того стоит обратить внимание на мозаичный купол с изображением Девы Марии в апсиде. По легенде, здесь находились кости дракона, убитого Св. Донатусом.
Se trataba de un templo románico, en pleno corazón del casco antiguo de la ciudad, construido en los siglos XII y XIII
In the mid-90s of the 19th century, the Baryatinsky family bought a small plot next to Pochtovaya Street (now Sverdlova) in the upper part of Count Mordvinov Park. And, after some time, work begins on the construction of the estate on its territory, to which the architect Oscar Emilevich Wegener was involved.
As a result, a house with 17 rooms in neo—Romanesque style with an arched entrance was built on the site (locals call it "the house with an arch"), for which 2 gray granite steamers were specially brought from Finland. The architecture actively used elements of Art Nouveau characteristic of Yalta at that time, as well as balconies and terraces on the south side.
В середине 90-х годов 19 века семья Барятинских покупает небольшой участок рядом с улицей Почтовой (сейчас Свердлова) в верхней части парка графа Мордвинова. И, спустя некоторое время, на его территории начинаются работы по строительству имения, к которым был привлечён архитектор Оскар Эмильевич Вегенер.
В результате на участке был построен дом с 17 комнатами в неороманском стиле с арочным въездом (местные жители его так и называют — «дом с аркой»), для которого из Финляндии специально привезли 2 парохода серого гранита. В архитектуре активно использовались характерные для Ялты того времени элементы модерна, а также балконы и террасы с южной стороны.
Jesus walks says Kanye West. Jesus stands shows New Orleans. We all need heroes. No matter how small or big. Don't let them convince you otherwise
Leica M9 with NOCTILUX 50mm @ f0.95 More to follow on my blog www.artq.com
While Paris is celebrating the Seine’s return to swimmable status after 100 years, Copenhageners have been enjoying a dip in their waterways for decades. The city boasts the cleanest urban water in the world, so it’s no surprise that the canals are bustling with swimmers, rowers, and kayakers all summer long. Here, the water isn’t just a scenic backdrop—it’s a way of life.
Santa Maria dei Miracoli presso San Celso is a church and a sanctuary. The construction was begun by Gian Giacomo Dolcebuono and Giovanni Battagio in 1493, to house a miraculous icon of the Madonna, initially on the central plan. The first part to be built was the octagonal dome, covered externally by a tambour with a loggia and arcades decorated by twelve brickwork statues by Agostino De Fondulis, designed in Lombard style by Giovanni Antonio Amadeo (1494-1498). In 1506 to the original edifice a complex with nave and two aisles was added, the former covered by a monumental barrel vault also by Amadeo; the presbytery received a polygonal ambulatory inspired to that in the Duomo. In the 16th century also the square portico in classical style was added, perhaps designed by Cesare Cesariano or Cristoforo Lombardo (il Lombardino). The massive eclectic and Mannerist style façade was designed by Galeazzo Alessi in the late 16th century and was realized by Martino Bassi; it is decorated by numerous statues and reliefs by Stoldo Lorenzi and Annibale Fontana.
Комплекс Санта-Мария дей Мираколи состоит из церкви Св. Цельсия (chiesa di San Celso) и храма Санта-Мария прессо Сан-Челсо (Santa Maria presso San Celso). Первая церковь, восходящая к древним временам, была перестроена в 996 году рядом с бенедиктинским монастырем, при реконструкции в XI веке она была перестроена в романском стиле: трехнефная базилика с единой абсидой. Нынешний фасад, продвинутый назад, по сравнению с оригинальным, является результатом стилистической реконструкции, осуществленной Луиджи Каноника (1851-54). Справа возвышается мощная колокольня в романо-ломбардском стиле, являющаяся одной из старейших в городе. Сантуарий был выполнен после 1490 года и заменил небольшую капеллу поздней готики (1429-39), которая уже не вмещала большого количества паломников, приходивших поклониться чудодейственному образу Девы Марии, хранившемуся там. Строительство купола (украшенного статуями из терракоты Агостина де Фонтутиса) и тибуриума было поручено Джованни Антонио Амадео и Джан Джакомо Дольчебуоно в 1497 году. В 1505 году Кристофоро Солари начинает строительство тройного портика перед фасадом, который стал первым миланским образцом зрелого классицизма; внутри открытая кладка кирпича с отдельными коринфскими бронзовыми капителями, снаружи отделан белым мрамором. Позднее церковь быда расширена под руководством Чезаре Чезариано (с 1513 года) и Кристофоро Ломбардо (с 1528 г.) путем строительства крытой галереи и боковых нефов. В 1563 году начались работы на фасаде, по проекту Галеаццо Алесси, позднее дополненные Мартино Басси.
Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China - July 27, 2024 : Hangzhou International Convention Center, featuring its spherical facade with reflective glass surfaces. It is illuminated with blue light among other skyscrapers
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Writer Anton Chekhov and seaside town of Yalta are linked in many ways. One of his most famous short stories, "The Lady With The Dog," is set in the romantic oasis. White Dacha, sits virtually unchanged since he left it on May 1, 1904, a few months before he died.
The dacha -- a fin-de-siecle, three-story structure -- sits on a steep road to the northwest of the city. It was built when Chekhov, because of lung problems, was advised to move to a warmer climate from his beloved Melikhovo, a town outside Moscow. He moved to the Yalta house in 1899 and left five years later for Germany, where he would die.
The White Dacha has changed little since Chekhov left it for the last time. The garden is filled with trees that he planted. Composer Sergei Rachmaninov once played the piano that sits on the ground floor, and Maxim Gorky sat on a green bench in the corner of the luscious garden.
Знаменитый Дом-музей А.П.Чехова в Ялте, известный также как «Белая дача», практически, единственный чеховский музей, в котором сохранилась подлинная обстановка: дом, мебель, вещи и даже предметы стоят на тех же местах, как было при жизни великого драматурга. Экспозицией под открытым небом можно назвать и мемориальный сад, который Чехов планировал и создавал лично. По задумке Антона Павловича это должен был быть «Сад вечной весны», где вне зависимости от времени года постоянно что-то должно цвести. Так оно и вышло - Белая дача, буквально, круглый год утопает в зелени и буйстве красок. И по сей день в саду сохранилось порядка 30% растений, которые еще помнят тепло рук писателя.
Palazzo Ducale was devastated by a fire in 1577, forcing the Republic Senate to move from there its famous Venetian prisons: the Pozzi and the Piombi. The new jail cells, wider and safer, were relocated on the shore in front of the Rio di Palazzo and then used through the following centuries until 1919. At the beginning of the 1600, the doge Marino Grimani commissioned to architect Antonio Contin the edification of a bridge to connect the rooms of the Magistratura directly to the prisons, in order to have the culprits transferred there straight after the sentence. The bridge of Sighs was built according to the Baroque style, using stones from Istria, known as a calcareous microcrystalline, solid and barely porous ones, particularly resistant to the erosion caused by the salt. You can notice the figure of the Justice with the doge Grimani’s family crest below it, right in the middle of the external facade. The prisoners, usually handcuffed while crossing the bridge, were probably having one last look at the sky and, while giving it up, heaved the last sigh of their now lost freedom. Following the vox populi, it was Lord Byron, who had found in Venice his safe haven from his debts and his motherland’s scandals, to give this name to the bridge. With the time passing by, the elegance of its structure and its charming view have become a proper spot for the lovers.
Построен Мост Вздохов над Дворцовым каналом в далеком 1602-м году по проекту Антонио Конти. Современные специалисты утверждают, что в самом начале XVII века архитектор выбрал для него стиль Барокко, что совсем неудивительно для Италии, где в те времена все без исключения стремились к роскоши и даже к излишествам. При этом следует учитывать тот факт, что возводилась эта переправа через довольно мрачный канал с единственной целью – соединить всем хорошо известный Дворец Дожей и страшную тюрьму. В начале XIX века (т.е. уже после падения республики) Венецию посетил знаменитый поэт Байрон. Помимо всех прелестей города, Байрона чрезвычайно заинтересовала история главной венецианской тюрьмы. Он-то в поэтическом порыве и дал маленькому мостику название, закрепившееся навсегда — мост Вздохов. Конечно же, имелись в виду вздохи заключённых, которые, услышав приговор, проходят через мост и в последний раз в жизни видят в окошко кусочек венецианского неба.
Corno del Renon prides itself with the prettiest 360° view in South Tyrol - and rightly so! “For who wishes to see all of Tyrol at one sight shall climb these heights”, thus wrote Ludwig Purtscheller, mountaineer of the later 19th century, about Rittner Horn/Corno del Renon. And, if you’ve ever experienced the vastness that opens in front of you up there, if you’ve ever felt that rush of goosebumps at the sight of so much unfiltered beauty, you will surely agree with Purtscheller: The view at the top here reaches 360° to the horizon and back - absolutely open, clear and unobstructed. The onlooker’s eyes roam from the Dolomites - UNESCO World Heritage Site – spreading in one arch from southeast to south, over the summits of Peitlerkofel/Sass de Putia to the Geißlerspitzen/Gruppo delle Odle peaks, to Schlern/Sciliar and further on over Rosengarten/Catinaccio to Latemar all the way to Schwarzhorn/Corno Nero and Weißhorn/Corno Bianco.
Corno del Renon гордится самым красивым видом на 360 ° в Южном Тироле - и это правильно! «Ибо тот, кто хочет увидеть весь Тироль с одного взгляда, поднимется на эти высоты», - так писал Людвиг Пурчеллер, альпинист конца 19-го века, о Риттнер-Хорн / Корно-дель-Ренон. И, если вы когда-либо испытывали необъятность, которая открывается перед вами там, если вы когда-либо чувствовали прилив гусиной кожи при виде такой нефильтрованной красоты, вы наверняка согласитесь с Пурччеллером: вид сверху здесь достигает 360 ° к горизонту и обратно - абсолютно открытый, чистый и беспрепятственный. Глаза наблюдателя бродят от Доломитовых Альп - объекта всемирного наследия ЮНЕСКО - простираются в одной арке с юго-востока на юг, над вершинами Пейтлеркофель / Сасс-де-Путия до вершин Гейслерспитцен / Группо делле Одле, до Шлерна / Шилиар и далее по Розенгартену / Катиначчо до Латемара вплоть до Шварцхорна / Корно Неро и Вайсхорна / Корно Бьянко.
i wish you a happy new year! good experiences, new insights, and exciting people! Anyone who takes photographs captures the present and is interested in people and their living conditions. And the broader curiosity and openness are found in humanity, the less there will be hate and violence.
The importance of defending airfields against attack was realised before the outbreak of World War II and a strategy evolved as the war went on. Initially based on the principle of defence against air attack, anti-aircraft guns, air raid shelters and dispersed layouts, with fighter or `blast' pens to protect dispersed aircraft, are characteristics of this early phase. With time, however, the capture of the airfield became a more significant threat, and it was in this phase that the majority of surviving defence structures were constructed, mostly in the form of pillboxes and other types of machine gun post. The scale of airfield defence depended on the likelihood of attack, with those airfields in south or east England, and those close to navigable rivers, ports and dockyards being more heavily defended. But the types of structure used were fairly standard. For defence against air attack there were anti-aircraft gun positions, either small machine gun posts or more substantial towers for Bofors guns; air raid shelters were common, with many examples on each airfield; and for aircraft, widely dispersed to reduce the potential effects of attack, fighter pens were provided. These were groups together, usually in threes, and took the form of `E' shaped earthworks with shelter for ground crew. Night fighter stations also had sleep shelters where the crew could rest. For defence against capture, pillboxes were provided. These fortified gun positions took many forms, from standard ministry designs used throughout Britain and in all contexts, to designs specifically for airfield defence. Three Pickett-Hamilton forts were issued to many airfields and located on the flying field itself. Normally level with the ground, these forts were occupied by two persons who entered through the roof before raising the structure by a pneumatic mechanism to bring fire on the invading force. Other types of gun position include the Seagull trench, a complex linear defensive position, and rounded `Mushroom' pillboxes, while fighter pens were often protected by defended walls. Finally, airfield defence was co-ordinated from a Battle Headquarters, a heavily built structure of which under and above ground examples are known. Defences survive on a number of airfields, though few in anything like the original form or configuration, or with their Battle Headquarters. Examples are considered to be of particular importance where the defence provision is near complete, or where a portion of the airfield represents the nature of airfield defence that existed more widely across the site. Surviving structures will often be given coherence and context by surviving lengths of perimeter track and the concrete dispersal pads. In addition, some types of defence structure are rare survivals nationally, and all examples of Pickett- Hamilton forts, fighter pens and their associated sleep shelters, gun positions and Battle Headquarters closely associated with defence structures, are of national importance.
Despite the loss of parts of West Malling airfield to modern development, elements of its World War II defences survive well and represent a range of structures originally present. The Pickett-Hamilton fort is a well-preserved example of a rare form of gun emplacement, 242 of which were installed on 82 airfields in 1940-41 by a commercial construction company. The structure remains substantially unchanged and still retains all the principal elements of its original design, including its operating equipment. Its use in this location illustrates the often unique character of airfield structures, in this case specifically designed for the defence of the flying field. The anti-aircraft defences at West Malling are also notable for the survival of a Bofors Light Anti-aircraft gun tower at the north western corner of the former airfield, one of only three examples recorded on airfields nationally (the other two survive at Brooklands and Weston-super-Mare). As such, it is an important historic structure, serving as a physical record of similar emplacements which have been demolished elsewhere. The Type 24 irregular hexagonal pillbox is the most common form of pillbox built between 1939 and 1941. Pillboxes are especially representative of World War II defence structures and its association with the adjacent airfield adds to the significance of the structure. The pillbox, located on the southern side of West Malling airfield survives comparatively well. Its presence, as well as the strengthening of its walls in concrete, illustrates the perceived vulnerability of the airfield to attack by heavy German artillery. The importance of the surviving defence structures at West Malling is further enhanced by the overall significance of the airfield itself and the necessity to safeguard crucial elements in the defence of Britain against the threat of invasion during the greatest conflict of the 20th century.
Details
The monument, which falls into three separate areas, includes a Bofors Light Anti-aircraft gun tower, a Pickett-Hamilton fort and a Type 24 pillbox. These structures formed part of the World War II defences of West Malling airfield, situated at Kings Hill, on top of the Greensand ridge, about 5km west of Maidstone. West Malling opened in 1930 as a private airfield for the Maidstone School of Flying, and was subsequently registered as Maidstone airport two years later. With the outbreak of World War II the airfield, which fell within Fighter Command's strategically important 11 Group (that part of Fighter Command covering the south east of England), was requisitioned by the RAF and soon re-opened as a front line fighter station in June 1940, and a satellite airfield to Biggin Hill, the principal fighter station in the area. A series of German bombing raids in August 1940 rendered the airfield unserviceable during the Battle of Britain, although it became a leading night fighter station the following year and played a key role in the 1944 campaign, code named Operation Diver, to defend the South East against the V1 flying bomb. With the end of the war West Malling became the main rehabilitation centre for prisoners of war returning from Germany. By this time its former grass runways, reinforced with Somerfield track (a heavy steel netting), had been replaced in concrete to meet the needs of the new jet aircraft. After the war the airfield was used for peacetime training, and during the 1960s the station was placed on `care and maintenance' by the RAF. The site was acquired by Kent County Council in 1970 and many of the airfield buildings are now used as offices by Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council. Since the 1990s, parts of the airfield have been lost to modern development. With the deepening threat of German invasion, the defence of Britain's airfields became a high priority during 1940. Fear of German `blitzkrieg' or `lightening' war tactics (involving rapid assault by air and seaborne troops, as witnessed in Europe in the Spring of 1940), led to the implementation of a national strategy for the defence of airfields in September 1940. West Malling was identified as one of 149 important airfields, located within 20 miles of vulnerable ports which could be targets for seaborne landings. Heavy defence of these airfields was therefore crucial to prevent capture of strategic landing grounds by enemy paratroops or gliderborne forces, rapidly followed by the arrival of transport aircraft carrying the principal invasion force. By the end of 1940, three Pickett-Hamilton forts had been installed at West Malling. These structures were designed in June 1940 by the New Kent Construction Company, specifically for the close defence of airfield runways. One of these forts was located towards the northern end of the flying field and survives next to what is now a modern access track. The structure consists of two, vertically sunken concrete cylinders, one mounted inside the other. The inner cylinder, known as the lifting head, remains in its lowered position, flush with the ground surface. The lifting head, pierced with three apertures for its main Vickers or Bren gun, was designed to be raised to its firing position by means of a pneumatic jack, supplemented by a manual pump for emergency use. The fort retains most of its original features, including its internal operating equipment as well as the access hatch in the lid of the lifting head through which the crew of two men entered at ground level. The second fort was removed from the airfield in 1983, and survives on display at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford. The location of the third fort has not yet been identified. Adjacent to the southern perimeter track at West Malling is a Type 24 hexagonal pillbox which originally formed part of an inner and outer series of about 20-30 pillboxes. The small squat structure measures about 6m by 5.5m and is entered through a doorway on its longer eastern side. The entrance is protected by a low externally attached brick wall, and is flanked by one of two loopholes, the second of which is located in the opposite wall of the pillbox. In accordance with orders issued in 1941, the walls of the original brick built structure were thickened by the external application of reinforced concrete, and evidence suggests that at least two additional loopholes were also blocked at this time. These measures were intended to strengthen pillboxes at vulnerable locations against heavy German artillery. The presence of a recess in the edge of the roof above each opening suggests that further protection for the gun crew may have been provided in the form of shields, designed to deflect flame-throwers. A rare surviving example of a Bofors Light Anti-aircraft gun tower also survives close to a modern roundabout, at the north western approach to the airfield. The concrete and brick built tower appears to conform to type `DFW 55087', which was designed at the end of 1939, with the earliest examples constructed during the first half of 1940. The tower was designed to raise a 40mm Bofors gun and its operational equipment, above surrounding obstacles in order to achieve an all-round field of fire in defending the airfield from attack by fast moving, low flying enemy aircraft. The tower stands to a height of about 20m and consists of two parallel, independent structures, separated for much of their height by a 1m gap and linked at intervals by cantilevered concrete bridges to allow movement between the towers. At ground level, the gap functioned as a passageway, providing access to the chambers on either side. The combined structure measures 9m from north to south by 4m east to west and each tower was constructed on four levels: three internal levels contained the magazine and accommodation chambers, lit by vertical two-light windows. The emplacement was located on the flat concrete roof, which projects beyond the brick walls of the tower and was reached via a ladder from the chamber below. The ordnance was centrally mounted on the roof of the northern tower and was served by ammunition lockers at each corner of the roof space. The roof of the southern tower supported the target predictor and was separated from the gun platform by a narrow intervening gap, above the passage below, to insulate this sensitive equipment from the vibration of the Bofors gun. Several temporary station buildings survive around the airfield perimeter. These derelict structures include externally rendered, temporary brick buildings, dispersed from the main technical site in anticipation of concentrated bombing raids. These structures are not included in the current scheduling. Among the more architecturally sophisticated airfield buildings, the Neo-Georgian style Officers' Mess is Listed Grade II. Several semi-sunken Stanton air raid shelters survive, in buried form, near the barrack buildings. These are infilled and are not therefore included in the scheduling. Other structures associated with the defence of the airfield, such as the battle headquarters and the protected aircraft dispersal pens, were destroyed towards the end of the 20th century, although further, as yet unidentified elements may survive beyond the area of the monument. All modern fixtures and fittings associated with the Bofors tower, including modern doors and window boxes, and all modern materials and equipment stored within the tower are excluded from the scheduling; the ground beneath these features, or the structures to which they are attached, however, is included.
MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.
The Windmill Tower:
The oldest convict-built structure surviving in Queensland, the windmill tower has accommodated a range of uses. Constructed in 1828 to process the wheat and corn crops of the Moreton Bay penal settlement, it had a treadmill attached for times when there was no wind but also as a tool for punishing convicts. The mill ceased grinding grain in 1845 and the treadmill was removed sometime before 1849. From 1855 the tower was reused as a signal station to communicate shipping news between the entrance of the Brisbane River and the town. Substantial renovations were made to it in 1861 including the installation of a time ball to assist in regulating clocks and watches. Twenty years later a cottage for the signalman was constructed to the immediate west of the tower, with a detached kitchen erected to the south two years after that. Both were later demolished. The windmill tower was used as a facility for early radio, telephony and television communications research from the 1920s and underwent substantial conservation work in the 1980s and 2009.
In May 1825, after eight months of occupation at Redcliffe, the contingent of convicts, soldiers, administrators and their families comprising the Moreton Bay penal settlement relocated to the site of present-day Brisbane's central business district. The growing settlement was to be self-sufficient in feeding its residents by cultivating corn (also known as maize) and wheat crops at the government farm, which were then processed into meal and flour by hand mills.[1] By 1827, with a substantial crop to process, the settlement storekeeper recommended a treadmill be erected to grind the crop into flour. Commandant Logan indicated at this time that such a devise at Brisbane town would be of service and also provide an avenue for the punishment of convicts.[2]
There is little evidence confirming details of the windmill tower's planning and construction. In July 1828, Peter Beauclerk Spicer, the Superintendent of Convicts at the time, recorded in his diary that convicts were 'clearing ground for foundations for the Mill' and proceeded to dig a circular trench that reached bedrock and had a circumference of approximately 9 metres.[3] Allan Cunningham noted soon after that construction was in progress. The mill was constructed on the highest point overlooking the settlement on what is now Wickham Terrace. By 31 October 1828 the first grain was being ground at the site by a mill gang; however it is supposed that this was done by a treadmill as the rotating cap and sails associated with the wind-powered operation of the mill were not brought to the site until November.[4] Circumstantial evidence suggests that the wind-powered grinding of grain did not begin until December.
There were two pairs of millstones inside the tower, each driven independently by the treadmill and sail mechanisms. The former was located outside the tower, a shaft connecting the treadwheel and the mill cogwheels inside. Two sketches from the early 1830s show the windmill tower and its sail stocks in place,[5] while an 1839 description depicts a tower built from stone and brick, comprising four floors, a treadmill and windmill. From 1829 the windmill tower was said to be continually requiring repair, possibly because its equipment was all made from locally-available timber rather than iron[6].
The treadmill was an important component of the mill, for use as punishment without trial, and for times when there was no wind but the amounts of grain sufficient to sustain the settlement still required processing. No plans exist of the Brisbane treadmill, however, the Office of the Colonial Architect produced a standard Design for Tread Mill Adapted for Country Districts Average Estimate £120.[7] Between 25 and 30 men worked at the mill at any one time. Sixteen operated the treadmill, although as there are no plans, it is uncertain whether it comprised a standard 16-place treadmill, or two 8-place sections connected to a common shaft. Each man would climb five steps to get onto the wheel, standing on the 9 inch wide treads and holding on to the rail. The men would then work as though ascending steps to operate the treadmill. Some undertook this task while in leg irons, while the more able used one hand to hold on and the other to draw sketches of people, animals and scenes on the boards of the mill. The men would work from sunrise to sunset with three hours rest in the middle of the day in summer, and two hours in winter.[8] [9] The first casualty of the treadmill, which produced the first official record of its existence, occurred in September 1829 when prisoner Michael Collins lost his life after being entangled in the operating mechanism. Maps of 1840s Brisbane feature a rectangular structure attached to the outside of the tower, Robert Dixon's in particular showing a 6 x 5 metre structure, probably the treadmill, located on ground that was to become Wickham Terrace.
In July 1841 the Brisbane tower was reputedly the site of a public execution of two Aboriginal men who had been convicted in Sydney of the murder of Assistant Surveyor Stapylton and one of his party near Mount Lindsay. They were returned to Moreton Bay and hanged with about 100 Aboriginal people present, however it may be that the execution took place elsewhere on what was known as Windmill Hill.[10]
Indicative of the prominence of its physical position, the tower served as one of the stations for the trigonometrical survey of the Moreton Bay district conducted by Robert Dixon, Granville Stapylton and James Warner from May 1839 in preparation for the area being opened to free settlement.[11]
In February 1836 the windmill tower was struck by lightning, causing severe damage throughout, including to the treadmill. A convict millwright was brought from Sydney in June for the repairs, which amounted to a major rebuild of the structure that was not completed until May 1837.[12] In April 1839, with the closure of the Moreton Bay penal settlement being planned, the windmill tower was one of the buildings recommended for transfer to the colony. This was approved in 1840-41 but it continued to sporadically process grain until 1845, when due to crop failure, a stagnant population and the availability of imported flour, it finally ceased being used. The penal settlement had officially closed in February 1842. The treadmill operated until 1845 and had been removed by October 1849[13].
The windmill tower in Brisbane is the oldest of its type left standing in Australia and further distinguished by having been built by convict labour. The earliest standing stone windmill towers extant around the country date from the 1830s and include: one built in 1837 in South Perth, Western Australia[14]; another built in the same year at Oatlands in Tasmania which operated until 1890[15]; and another built at Mount Gilead near Campbelltown in New South Wales in 1836[16]. Most were built to process grains into flour. Other surviving mill towers are the one built in 1842 by FR Nixon at Mount Barker in South Australia; Chapman's mill built around 1850 at Wonnerup in Western Australia[17], and another built at a similar time on an island in the Murray River near Yunderup in Western Australia[18]. None of the nineteen windmill towers that characterised the early settlement at Sydney have survived.[19] Technological developments, most particularly steam power which was more dependable than wind power or that generated by convict labour at a treadmill, rendered wind-driven mills largely redundant.
After the cessation of milling operations there were discussions about possible future use of Brisbane's windmill tower. In December 1849 the tower was put up for auction and bought by a government official who promptly sought tenders for removal of it and its machinery (the auction terms required it to be cleared away by three months after the sale).[20] Ownership of the place quickly reverted to the Crown because of a legal problem with the sale, but not before some dismantling had occurred.[21] In a January 1850 article the Moreton Bay Courier continued its appeal for the windmill not to be pulled down and secured by the town, arguing that aside from its landmark and picturesque qualities it was the ‘best fixed point for land measurement in the district'. In this vein the site was the most accessible viewing point for the picturesque landscape of Brisbane and its environs. Despite earlier calls to erase evidence of Brisbane's convict past, 'sentiment and pragmatism combined to override the detrimental taint of convictism' saving the tower from destruction. The sails were still in place in 1854 and appear in a painting of the windmill completed in 1855.[22]
By 1855 Brisbane was the leading Queensland port and it became important to establish signal stations to communicate shipping news between the entrance of the Brisbane River and the town, one of which was set up on Windmill Hill. This required modifications to the tower to include a semaphore station connected to the electric telegraph. Information on ships entering the river was converted to semaphore signals using flags hoisted on a mast erected on top of the tower. The renovations were undertaken by John Petrie in October 1861 to plans by colonial architect Charles Tiffin and included the removal of the windmill stocks or arms and wheels; the laying of floors on each storey; new doors and windows; a weatherproof floor on the top of the tower with an iron railing; a new winding staircase from bottom to top; repair of stone, brickwork and plastering; and the installation of a high flagstaff to fly signals.[23] The tower's renovation at this time also fitted it out as a public observatory and it became known by that term.[24] The following year it became the first home of the newly founded Queensland Museum; serving this purpose until 1868 when other accommodation was provided in the old convict barracks or parliamentary building on Queen Street.[25]
Petrie also installed a time ball on the tower to provide a reliable authority for regulating clocks and watches. It was dropped at one o'clock each day based on observations relayed by telegraph from Sydney. The time ball was replaced by a time gun in 1866, with an embankment and shed constructed to hold the gun in 1874. After 1882 the gun and shed were moved to the eastern section of the current reserve before the shed was demolished in 1908. The time gun proved useful to people as far away as Logan, Caboolture and Ipswich. The old gun was replaced in 1888 with another before a new electrically-controlled time ball was installed in 1894. This was associated with the legislated implementation of a single time throughout the colony, being designated as ten hours earlier than the mean time at Greenwich. Adjustments were made to the tower at this time to accommodate the new time ball. The roof was lowered and the flagstaff pared down.[26]
A cottage for the signalman was constructed in 1883 to the immediate west of the tower to plans prepared by Government Architect FDG Stanley and on part of the Waterworks reserve. Two years later a detached kitchen was also constructed behind it to the south of the tower. Use of the signal station was discontinued in 1921 by the state government, which then sought a new use for the structure and land. [27] Despite this the flagstaff remained in place until 1949. From January 1893 the Fire Brigade implemented a nightly observation post from a specially-constructed platform on top of the tower. This was used until around 1922.
The Commonwealth government assumed responsibility for the site in 1901 but control reverted to the state in 1908 when it was designated as an Observatory Reserve. In 1902 it had been connected to the Railway Telegraph Office at Roma Street so that the railways had the correct time for their operations. The evidence of historical photographs suggests that sometime between 1902 and 1912 the cabin at the top was increased in size.[28] The time ball remained in operation until 1930.
The site was placed under the trusteeship of the Brisbane City Council in 1922. The site of the cottage remained in the hands of the Waterworks Board and a boundary re-arrangement had to occur to allow its continued use in relation to the observatory. At this time the Queensland Institute of Radio Engineers began wireless radio and telephony research at the tower, and used the signalman's cottage to meet two nights a month. Apparatus to operate a wireless radio station was installed in 1926. The cottage was occupied on a more regular basis in order to reduce the risk of vandalism to the tower, but fell vacant. In 1926 the City Architect, AH Foster, proposed a plan for beautifying the observatory, which included removal of the cottage and adjacent sheds. The tender of Messrs Guyomar and Wright to remove the cottage, shed and outhouse for £60 was accepted.[29] At this time the stone and wrought iron wall along Wickham Terrace was erected. It was intended to add 'dignity to the historical reserve, and harmonise with the massive character of the Tower'.[30]
From 1924 Thomas Elliott installed equipment in the tower to undertake cutting-edge television research; he and Allen Campbell giving a demonstration from the site in 1934 which constituted Queensland's first television broadcast. It was considered by many at the time as the most outstanding achievement thus far in the history of television in Australia. They gained a license from the government and continued experimental broadcasting from the tower until about 1944.[31]
From 1945 the Brisbane City Council was considering suitable action to preserve the tower, which had become a popular visitor attraction. Some restoration work was carried out in 1950 on the advice of Frank Costello (then Officer in Charge of Planning and Building with the City Council), which included removal of old render and re-rendering the entire structure. It was at this time that the flagstaff was removed in preparation for making the open ground of the reserve 'a real park'. Certainly these conservation efforts considered the heritage value of the place as well as the public's use of it.
However by 1962 the windmill tower was again in poor condition. Floodlighting to enhance its appearance for tourists was undertaken for the first time during the Warana Festival five years later. In the early 1970s the Council and the National Trust of Queensland undertook detailed investigations regarding restoration and transfer of trusteeship from the council to the trust (the latter were abandoned in 1976). None of the original plans or any of the original windmill machinery parts could be located at that time. Based on these findings the National Trust formed the opinion that the building should be preserved in its present form and not reconstructed to its windmill form.
In 1982 City Council undertook some external maintenance work on the observation house or cabin, including replacement of deteriorated timber to the balcony and sills, and corrugated iron on the roof, and repair of the time ball and its mast (which was shortened by about 300 mm to remove some part affected by dry rot).[32]
In 1987 a consortium of companies involved in the construction of the Central Plaza office building offered to assist the Brisbane City Council with the conservation of the Windmill Tower. To inform this work a conservation study was undertaken by Allom Lovell Marquis-Kyle Architects, which also oversaw conservation work[33]. Preliminary archaeological investigations undertaken at this time identified the remains of the original flagstaff base which was reinstated.[34] The conserved Windmill Tower was opened by the Lord Mayor of Brisbane on 3 November 1988. A further archaeological investigation was carried out at the site in 1989-90 by a University of Queensland team, revealing clear stratigraphic layers datable to each of the key phases of use of the site.[35] In August 1993 further investigations of the fabric of the tower were undertaken to explore the extent of the footings and the nature of construction of the curb and cap frame. More conservation work was carried out in May 1996. [36]
In 2009 the Brisbane City Council received considerable funding to carry out restoration work of the windmill tower through the State Government's Q150 Connecting Brisbane project. It was intended that the structure be publically accessible to allow visitors to experience the view from its observation platform, a practice that has been commented on since the 1860s.[37] In 2008 - 2009 the Brisbane CBD Archaeological Plan assessed the area of the observatory reserve and a length of Wickham Terrace associated with it as having exceptional archaeological research potential because of the combination of its association with the penal settlement and the low level of ground disturbance that has occurred there since.[38]
The Tower Mill Hotel:
Spring Hill is Brisbane’s oldest suburb containing many of Brisbane’s oldest structures. Opposite the site of the Tower Mill Motel is the convict-built windmill tower dating from 1828 and nearby the town’s first purpose-built reservoirs dating from 1866.
Being close to the town centre, Spring Hill developed as the town developed with fashionable, more expensive houses on the ridgeline above Brisbane Town and cheaper housing on the lower slopes and gullies. As the town spread in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, newer suburbs further out attracted development and Spring Hill was, by the early twentieth century, crowded, a bit run-down and cheap. In the postwar era, as prosperity returned in the 1950s and 1960s, a wave of new development swept the city. Young professionals and artists were attracted to Spring Hill as it was close to the city centre and the suburb experienced somewhat of a revival and the beginnings of gentrification.
The increased frequency and affordability of international travel also had an impact as Australia became a destination and new international style hotels were built. In Brisbane, the traditional corner hotels lacked the facilities and accommodation standards required by the growing modern tourist market. In the 1960s a number of new hotels were built, with the Tower Mill Motel being one of the first and an outstanding example of the new modern international style.
The site of the motel was previously occupied by a doctor’s surgery in-keeping with the development of Wickham Street over time as the location of private hospitals and specialist clinics. The site was purchased by Chacewater Pty Ltd who applied in November 1964 to build a seventy unit motel designed by architect, Stephen Trotter, estimated to cost £285,000.
Stephen Trotter was born in Brisbane in 1930 and trained in the offices of Mervyn Rylance and Fulton and Collin. He gained a Diploma of Architecture (Qld) in 1954 and became a registered architect in 1955. He started in practice as an associate of Fulton and Collin in 1958. His time with Mervyn Rylance, who specialized in Old English designs, instilled in Trotter a desire to design buildings that responded to the sub-tropical climate of Brisbane. In 1962 John Gillmour, Stephen Trotter and Graham Boys became partners in the firm. Influenced by the new international styles being constructed overseas and the new engineering technologies being developed after the war, Stephen Trotter successfully applied for a Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) Sisalkraft Scholarship in 1962. His application included the design of the Tower Mill Motel in his portfolio of works as an indication of his desire to study design responses to climatic conditions. Trotter’s whirlwind three-month tour of the world resulted in a study entitled “Cities in the Sun” which identified the elements of design relating to hot, dry; hot wet, warm wet and warm dry climates in the subcontinent, Persia, Oceania, South America, North America and Europe.
The Tower Mill Motel features a striking circular form, distinctive concrete sun-shading and a restaurant on the top floor. The circular form and roof detailing mirror the circular form and detailing of the diminutive historic windmill tower across the road. Embracing the new design technologies of the international style, the Tower Mill Motel features expressed concrete floor plates and columns and concrete awnings shading the full height glazed walls. It is completely different from the international style hotels being built in the city at this time which, although featuring curtain walls and full height glazing, generally adhered to a rectangular footprint and identical room layouts.
Stephen Trotter remained as a partner of Fulton, Collin, Boys, Gilmour and Trotter until 1999. During this period he taught architecture at the Queensland Institute of Technology (QIT now QUT), instilling an understanding of the importance of the environment and energy efficiency in building design to a generation of architecture students. As well as lecturing at QIT for nineteen years, Trotter was involved in the Queensland Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects for a number of years. Trotter retired from Fulton Trotter in 1999, however his sons Mark and Paul are now directors. Stephen Trotter also made an outstanding contribution to the University of Queensland residential college, International House, for over sixty years and he was made a Fellow in November 2011. Stephen Trotter passed away on 30 July 2015, aged 84.
The Tower Mill Motel was completed in 1964 and went on to become a destination for overseas visitors.
The outstanding innovative design of the Tower Mill Motel, not only is a unique example of a 1960s cyclindrical building that is sensitively designed to respond to the site and climate. The hotel was subdivided for 107 strata titled units in December 2002 with some being sold into private ownership and some being retained for use as hotel rooms. A recent change in ownership has seen the purchase of a number of private units to facilitate the return of the whole building to use as a hotel.
Source: Queensland Heritage Register & Brisbane City Council Heritage Register.
Ragusa (Italian: [raˈɡuːza] Sicilian: Rausa; Latin: Ragusia) is a city and comune in southern Italy.
The concrete pier over the shallow sea water near the beach of Koh Chang Island with turning on street lamps and morning sky at sunrise (dawn). Trat Province, Thailand. Silhouette of small fishing boat in the frame of the pier column.
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In the city of Tabriz, Iran.
From Wikipedia: Maqbarat-o-shoara (Arabic: مقبرةالشعراء) or the Mausoleum of Poets (مزارِ شاعران Mazār-e Shāerān or مزارِ سرایندگان Mazār-e Sorāyandegān) is a graveyard belonging to classical and contemporary poets, mystics and other notable people, located in the Surkhab district of Tabriz in Iran. It was built by Tahmaseb Dolatshahi in the mid-1970s while he was the Secretary of Arts and Cultures of East Azarbaijan.
On the east side of Sayyed Hamzeh's grave and Ghaem Magham's grave, there is a graveyard containing the graves of important poets, mystics, scientists and well-known people of Tabriz. The Mausoleum was first mentioned by the medieval historian Hamdollah Mostowfi in his Nozhat ol-Gholub. Hamdollah mentions it being located in what, at the time, was the Surkhab district of Tabriz.
Since the 1970s, there have been attempts to renovate the graveyard area. Some work has been carried out like the construction of a new symbolic building on this site.
The first poet buried in this complex is Asadi Tusi (999-1072).