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Composed largely of rock formations and covering an estimated area of 0.12 km², these islands are an important sanctuary for marine fauna like the guanay guano bird, the blue-footed booby and the tendril. Other notable species include Humboldt penguins and two varieties of seals (fur seals and sea lions), amongst other mammals.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the model, the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
After the division of Czechoslovakia by Germany in 1939, Slovakia was left with a small air force composed primarily of Czechoslovak combat aircraft. This force defended Slovakia against Hungary in March 1939, in the Slovak–Hungarian War in March 1939 in which Hungary reoccupied Carpathian Ruthenia and parts of southern Slovakia. In this the SVZ suffered some losses against Royal Hungarian Air Force. Later, the SVZ also took part in the German Invasion of Poland. The SVZ took part in Axis offensives in the Ukraine and Russian Central front sectors of the Eastern Front under the lead of Luftwaffe in the Stalingrad and Caucasus operations. This engagement resulted in great losses of aircraft and personnel, though.
During the World War II, the Slovak Air force was charged with the defense of Slovak airspace, and, after the invasion of Russia, provided air cover for Slovak forces fighting against the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front. For the rest of the war the SVZ fought US Army Air Forces and Royal Air Force raids against Slovakia.
Among the many more or less outdated German aircraft types inherited from the Luftwaffe during the early stages of WWII was a small number of Hs 123 A-1 dive bombers. The Henschel Hs 123 was a small single-seat biplane dive bomber and close-support attack aircraft. The aircraft was designed to meet the 1933 dive bomber requirements for the reborn Luftwaffe. Both Henschel and rival Fieseler (with the Fi 98) competed for the production contract requirement, which specified a single-seat biplane dive bomber. The first prototype, the Hs 123 V1, was cleared for its maiden flight on 1 April 1935; General Ernst Udet, a World War I ace, flew it on its first public demonstration flight on 8 May 1935. The first three Henschel prototypes, with the first and third powered by 485 kW (650 hp) BMW 132A-3 engines and the second by a 574 kW (770 hp) Wright Cyclone, were tested at Rechlin in August 1936. Only the first prototype had "smooth" cowlings; from that point on, all aircraft had a tightly fitting, characteristic cowling that included 18 fairings covering the engine valves. The Henschel prototypes did away with bracing wires and although they looked slightly outdated with their single faired interplane struts and cantilever main landing gear legs attached to smaller (stub) lower wings, the Hs 123 featured an all-metal construction, clean lines and superior maneuverability. Its biplane wings were of a "sesquiplane" configuration, whereby the lower wings were significantly smaller than the top wings.
The overall performance of the Hs 123 V1 prototype prematurely eliminated any chance for the more conventional Fi 98, which was cancelled after a sole prototype had been constructed. During testing, the Hs 123 proved capable of pulling out of "near-vertical" dives; however, two prototypes subsequently crashed due to structural failures in the wings that occurred when the aircraft were tested in high-speed dives. The fourth prototype incorporated improvements to cure these problems; principally, stronger center-section struts were fitted. After it had been successfully tested, the Hs 123 was ordered into production with a 656 kW (880 hp) BMW 132Dc engine.
The Hs 123 was intended to replace the Heinkel He 50 biplane reconnaissance and dive bomber as well as acting as a "stop-gap" measure until the more modern and capable Junkers Ju 87 became available. As such, production was limited and no upgrades were considered, although an improved version, the Hs 123B, was developed by Henschel in 1938. A proposal to fit the aircraft with a more powerful 716 kW (960 hp) "K"-variant of its BMW 132 engine did not proceed beyond the prototype stage, the Hs 123 V5. The V6 prototype fitted with a similar powerplant and featuring a sliding cockpit hood was intended to serve as the Hs 123C prototype.
About 265 aircraft were produced and production of the Hs 123A ended in Autumn 1938. It was flown by the German Luftwaffe during the Spanish Civil War and the early to midpoint of World War II. At the outbreak of hostilities, Hs 123s were committed to action in the Polish Campaign. Screaming over the heads of enemy troops, the Hs 123s delivered their bombs with devastating accuracy. A frightening aspect of an Hs 123 attack was the staccato noise of its engine that a pilot could manipulate by changing rpm to create "gunfire-like" bursts. The Hs 123 proved rugged and able to take a lot of damage and still keep on flying. Operating from primitive bases close to the front lines, the type was considered by ground crews to be easy to maintain, quick to re-equip and reliable even under dire field conditions.
The Polish campaign was a success for an aircraft considered obsolete by the Luftwaffe high command. Within a year, the Hs 123 was again in action in the Blitzkrieg attacks through the Netherlands, Belgium and France. Often positioned as the Luftwaffe's most-forward based combat unit, the Hs 123s flew more missions per day than other units, and again proved their worth in the close-support role. With Ju 87s still being used as tactical bombers rather than true ground support aircraft and with no other aircraft capable of this mission in the Luftwaffe arsenal the Hs 123 was destined to continue in service for some time, although numbers were constantly being reduced by attrition.
The Hs 123 was not employed in the subsequent Battle of Britain as the English Channel proved an insuperable obstacle for the short-ranged aircraft, and the sole leftover operator, II.(Schl)/LG 2, went back to Germany to re-equip with the Messerschmitt Bf 109E fighter bomber (Jabo) variant. The Bf 109E fighter bomber was not capable of carrying any more bombs than the Hs 123. It did, however, have a greater range and was far more capable of defending itself. On the downside were the notoriously tricky taxiing, ground handling, and takeoff/landing characteristics of the Bf 109, which were exacerbated with a bomb load.
At the beginning of the Balkans Campaign, the 32 examples of the Hs 123 that had been retired after the fall of France were taken back into service and handed over to the Slovak Air Force to replace the heavy losses on the Eastern Front after combat fatigue and desertion had reduced the pilots' effectiveness. Most of Slovakia's obsolete biplanes were replaced with modern German combat aircraft, including the Messerschmitt Bf 109, so that the Hs 123s were initially regarded with distrust – but the machines proved their worth in the ensuing battles. The Slovak Hs 123s took part in the Battle of Kursk and supported ground troops, some were outfitted with locally designed ski landing gears which proved to be a very effective alternative to the Hs 123’s spatted standard landing gear which was prone to collect snow and mud and even block. After this deployment at the Russian front, the Slovak Air Force was sent back to defend Slovak home air space, primarily executed with Messerschmitt Bf 109 E and G types, Avia B-534, and some other interceptor types, also helped by Luftwaffe units active in the area.
Being confined to national borders, the Slovak Hs 123s were put in reserve and relegated to training purposes, even though they were occasionally activated to support German ground troops. From late August 1944 the remaining Hs 123s also actively took part in the suppression of the Slovak National Uprising against Germany.
Since Hs 123 production had already stopped in 1940 and all tools had been destroyed, the permanent attritions could not be replaced - due to a lack of serviceable airframes and spare parts the type’s numbers dwindled. When Romania and the Soviet Union entered Slovakia, they organized with some captured aircraft and defectors a local Insurgent Air Force to continue the fight against Axis forces in country, including the last operational Slovak Hs 123s. No aircraft survived the war.
General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 8.33 m (27 ft 4 in)
Wingspan: 10.5 m (34 ft 5 in)
Height: 3.2 m (10 ft 6 in)
Wing area: 24.85 m² (267.5 sq ft)
Empty weight: 1,500 kg (3,307 lb)
Gross weight: 2,215 kg (4,883 lb)
Powerplant:
1× BMW 132Dc 9-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine with 660 kW (880 hp),
driving a 2-bladed metal variable-pitch propeller
Performance:
Maximum speed: 341 km/h (212 mph, 184 kn) at 1,200 m (3,937 ft)
Range: 860 km (530 mi, 460 nmi) with a 100 l drop tank
Combat range: 480 km (300 mi, 260 nmi) with 200 kg (440.9 lb) of bombs
Service ceiling: 9,000 m (30,000 ft)
Rate of climb: 15 m/s (3,000 ft/min)
Armament:
2× 7.92 mm MG 17 machine guns, 400 rpg
Up to 450 kg (992.1 lb) of bombs under fuselage and wings
The kit and its assembly:
A relatively simple what-if project, and it took a while to figure out something to do with a surplus Airfix Hs 123 A kit in The Stash™ without a proper plan yet. The Hs 123 is an overlooked aircraft, and the fact that all airframes were used during WWII until none was left makes a story in Continental Europe a bit difficult. I also did not want to create a German aircraft – Finland was an early favorite, because I wanted to add a ski landing gear (see below), but since I won’t build anything with a swastika on it this option was a dead end. Then I considered an operator from the Balkans, e. g. Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia or Slovakia – and eventually settled for the latter because of the national markings.
The kit was built almost OOB, and the Airfix Hs 123 is a nice offering. Yes, it’s a simple kit, but its is IMHO a very good representation, despite the many rivets on the hull, a rather bleak interior and some sinkholes (e. g. on the massive outer wings struts). It goes together well, just a little PSR here and there. I just added a dashboard (scratched from styrene sheet) and modified the OOB 50 kg bombs with extended impact fuzes with a flat, round plate at the tip, so that the bomb itself explodes above soft ground or snow for a bigger blast radius.
The only major modification is a transplanted ski landing gear from a PM Model (Finnish) Fokker D.XXI, which had to be reduced in length to fit under the compact Hs 123. A small tail ski/skid was scratched from styrene sheet material.
Thankfully, the Hs 123 only calls for little rigging – just between the central upper wing supports and there is a characteristic “triangle” wiring in the cowling. All these, together with the wire antenna, were created with heated sprue material.
Painting and markings:
Finland had been a favorite because I would have been able to apply a more interesting paint scheme than the standard Luftwaffe RLM 70/71/65 splinter scheme with a low waterline that was typical for the Hs 123 during WWII. However, as a former Luftwaffe aircraft I retained this livery but decided to add a winter camouflage as a suitable thematic supplement to the skis.
The basic colors became Humbrol 65 underneath and 30 and 75 from above – the latter for a stronger contrast to the Dunkelgrün than Humbrol 91 (Schwarzgrün). Thanks to the additional whitewash mottles, which were inspired by a similar livery seen on a contemporary Bulgarian Avia B.534, I did not have to be too exact with the splinter camouflage.
The cockpit and cowling interior were painted with RLM 02 (Humbrol 240), the propeller blades became Schwarzgrün (Humbrol 91, further darkened with some black) and the bombs were painted in a dark grey (Revell 77) while the small 100 l drop tank became bare aluminum (Revell 99).
However, before the white mottles could be added, the kit received its decals so that they could be painted around the markings, just as in real life. The Slovak national markings had to be scratched, and I used standard white simplified German Balkenkreuze over a cross made from blue decal stripes. Later a separate red decal circle was placed on top of that. The only other markings are the red “7” codes, edged in white for better contrast (from a Heller Bf 109 K) and the fuel information triangles on the fuselage from the Hs 123’s OOB sheet. As an ID marking for an Eastern Front Axis aircraft, I retained the wide yellow fuselage stripe from the OOB, sheet, too, and added yellow tips on the upper wings’ undersides.
The whitewash camouflage was then created with white acrylic paint (Revell 05), applied with a soft brush with a rounded tip. Once this had dried, I treated the surfaces with fine wet sandpaper for a weathered/worn look.
Finally, after some soot stains behind the exhausts and around the machine gun nozzles, the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish and the rigging (see above) was done.
The Hs 123 might not be the sexiest aircraft of WWII, but I like this rugged pug which could not be replaced by its successor, the Ju 87, and served in its close support role until literally no aircraft was left. Putting one on skis worked quite well, and the exotic Slovak markings add a special touch – even though the national markings almost disappear among the disruptive whitewash camouflage! The result looks quite plausible, though, and the old Airfix kit is IMHO really underestimated.
Composed largely of rock formations and covering an estimated area of 0.12 km², these islands are an important sanctuary for marine fauna like the guanay guano bird, the blue-footed booby and the tendril. Other notable species include Humboldt penguins and two varieties of seals (fur seals and sea lions), amongst other mammals.
A GREEK TERRACOTTA MARIONETTE
HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 2ND CENTURY B.C.
Composed of ten articulated pieces, each hand modelled, including the legs, arms, hands, head, lower jaw and chin, and enlarged phallus, each with perforations for attachment, and now modernly reassembled in conformity with its ancient design
21 in. (53.3 cm.) high
Pre-Lot Text
THE HADDAD COLLECTION OF ANCIENT EROTIC ART, PART II
Provenance
Atanasatanasov Collection, 1970s.
English Private Collection.
Acquired by the current owner in 2001.
Lot Notes
Jointed terracotta figures are known from as early as the Geometric Period. They become more common in the 5th and 4th century B.C. and are usually female in form, clothed at first, nude later. Most were probably dolls, although some hold castanets, and were suspended from a string to make the figure dance, like a marionette (neurospaston). The present figure is possibly unique in terms of its large size and its macrophallus, indicating an apotropaic function. For a recent discussion of jointed dolls see pp. 267-268 in Neils and Oakley, Coming of Age in Ancient Greece, Images of Childhood from the Classical Past.
A thermoluminescence test result confirming the date accompanies this lot. A GREEK TERRACOTTA MARIONETTE
HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 2ND CENTURY B.C.
Composed of ten articulated pieces, each hand modelled, including the legs, arms, hands, head, lower jaw and chin, and enlarged phallus, each with perforations for attachment, and now modernly reassembled in conformity with its ancient design
21 in. (53.3 cm.) high
Provenance
Atanasatanasov Collection, 1970s.
English Private Collection.
Acquired by the current owner in 2001.
Lot Notes
Jointed terracotta figures are known from as early as the Geometric Period. They become more common in the 5th and 4th century B.C. and are usually female in form, clothed at first, nude later. Most were probably dolls, although some hold castanets, and were suspended from a string to make the figure dance, like a marionette (neurospaston). The present figure is possibly unique in terms of its large size and its macrophallus, indicating an apotropaic function. For a recent discussion of jointed dolls see pp. 267-268 in Neils and Oakley, Coming of Age in Ancient Greece, Images of Childhood from the Classical Past.
A thermoluminescence test result confirming the date accompanies this lot.
CNY6804131
Reminiscent - composed and played by Yiruma
©Jeremy Photography 2014
Other works featured here:
500px | Digital Rev | Facebook | GettyImage
Looking across the beautiful city skyline as the sun rises from the side, lighting it up.
I particularly have no deep impression of this place but it does give me the reminiscent of how photography has influenced my life from the start till present.
Good memories, bad memories; good times, bad times; Building up new and old network of friends. Facing new challenges. Changing into an entirely new me.
How then will my future be? What will these memories become of? How will I move from here on?
Awaiting myself to reveal these answers when tomorrow comes.
--------------------------------------------------------------
My images are posted here for your enjoyment only. All rights are reserved. Please contact me @ jeremyhuiphotography@gmail.com if you are interested in using one of my images for any reason. Thanks.
Originally composed in 932 AH / 1525 CE and dedicated to Sultan Süleyman I ("The Magnificent"), this great work by Piri Reis (d. 962 AH / 1555 CE) on navigation was later revised and expanded. The present manuscript, made mostly in the late 11th AH / 17th CE century, is based on the later expanded version with some 240 exquisitely executed maps and portolan charts. They include a world map (fol.41a) with the outline of the Americas, as well as coastlines (bays, capes, peninsulas), islands, mountains and cities of the Mediterranean basin and the Black Sea. The work starts with the description of the coastline of Anatolia and the islands of the Aegean Sea, the Peloponnese peninsula and eastern and western coasts of the Adriatic Sea. It then proceeds to describe the western shores of Italy, southern France, Spain, North Africa, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, western Anatolia, various islands north of Crete, Sea of Marmara, Bosporus and the Black Sea. It ends with a map of the shores of the the Caspian Sea (fol.374a).
See this manuscript page by page at the Walters Art Museum website:
Largely composed of baby sugar maples and ironwood, about a 5 acre slope not far from yesterday's shot. See it here large.
Explore #343 on Wednesday, October 8, 2008
I had taken a number of these flowers over 3 days. This one is as composed in camera. The D500 has a DX sensor.
All rights reserved © fairuz 2010
As each day comes to us refreshed and anew, so does my gratitude renew itself daily. The breaking of the sun over the horizon is my grateful heart dawning upon a blessed world.
160910.
La Seigneurie
La Seigneurie de l’île d’Orléans est une ferme composée de multiples jardins thématiques aménagés sur près de 10 hectares bordant la voie navigable du fleuve Saint-Laurent.
En juillet, découvrez la magnifique lavanderaie de la Seigneurie. Ce jardin est aménagé selon les couleurs de la Provence : mauve, jaune et vert. Les 75 000 plants de lavande sont plantés en diagonale pour donner l’illusion aux visiteurs d’une mer mauve sans interruption et encadrés d’une rangée de 500 sureaux jaune soleil et d’une seconde rangée de 500 cèdres verts. Au centre, une fontaine d’eau qui coule en continu. Tout près, des bancs victoriens vous permettent de prendre le temps de respirer le doux parfum de la lavande et de contempler les beautés de la nature telles que le fleuve Saint-Laurent, le mont Sainte-Anne et le clocher de l’Église de Saint-François.
De juin à octobre, poursuivez la visite en descendant l’Allée Royale afin de découvrir tous les autres. Le Jardin parfumé des 5 sens est composé de 2 sections : la première amène davantage le visiteur à développer ses sens du toucher et de l’odorat. Le but de sa conception : faire découvrir les 4 grandes familles de parfum du monde de la parfumerie soit le parfum méditerranéen, le parfum de sous-bois, le parfum hespéridé et le parfum floral. Grâce à la deuxième section, le visiteur développe le goûter en dégustant des fleurs directement sur place. La monarde avec son petit goût épicé est la grande favorite.
Pour accéder au prochain jardin, vous devez emprunter un pont métallique dessiné par la propriétaire. La thématique du Jardin fruitier a été de recréer un endroit paradisiaque pour déguster des fruits comme le faisaient Cléopâtre et Jules César. Près de la rivière La Savane, un podium en céramique d’Italie orné d’un banc vous permet d’écouter la sérénade des grenouilles du bassin d’eau. Des fraises, bleuets, mûres, cassis et groseilles sont tous des fruits que les visiteurs peuvent déguster sur place.
Le jardin Zen est près de la maison. Le visiteur admirera le magnifique pin Japonais sur la petite île en forme d’oiseau qui représente le Phoenix rouge. Vous remarquerez la queue du dragon grâce aux magnifiques roches disposées sur le lac. La haute montagne sur la gauche représente le tigre et la petite montagne à droite, le dragon.
Le Jardin d’ombre est exploité pour sa fraîcheur. Trois belvédères vous permettent de vous reposer en admirant différents mouvements de la rivière. Un festin en forêt est aménagé au milieu des vestiges d’un site historique d’un moulin à scie des années 1800. L’accent est surtout mis sur des vagues de végétaux avec des couleurs de feuillages et des textures différentes.
Le visiteur entre dans la forêt Zen en passant entre deux vieux pommiers. À la lisière du fleuve St-Laurent, la forêt Zen est propice à la méditation silencieuse. Au pied de la chute »La Savane », un joli petit banc vous invite à la réflexion. Profitez de ce moment de répit pour jeter »vos vieux péchés » dans le bassin!
1946 Shostakovitch composing.
He was born in St Petersburg on 25th Sept 1906 and died in Moscow on 9th Aug 1975
About 400 new cadets wait in line outside the U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School as they begin their four-year journey at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point July 12, 2020. Each Reception Day cohort will carry out the same requirements and tasks that are traditional of R-day. Candidates will be COVID-19 tested immediately upon arrival, wear facial coverings, and practice social distancing. The Class of 2024 is composed of 286 women, 493 minorities, 18 combat veterans and 13 international students. (U.S. Army photo by Bryan Ilyankoff, USMA West Point Public Affairs/released)
This photo is about 25 years old. It shows a collection of American composing sticks on the wall of my former Manhattan apartment. I gave the collection to the Smithsonian - and then began collecting composing sticks again.
Remembering the fallen. Two Poems here composed around twelve years ago.
'The Trench',
Where is the glory of war
not here amongst blood and entrails
of comrades slain before fighting
never raising their heads above the squalor
The heaving slum full of rats and lice
And the sickly stench of death
as the shells rained down
to scatter the limbs of the cursed
Empty helmets lie in the stagnant water
heads lost in furrows of mud
only the vermin prosper here
bloated by the spoils of battle
Those left to charge wallow like hogs
waiting for the bullets to pierce them
such waste for a few yards of churned soil
the fallen sway shredded on the barbs
The romance of conflict is myth
for those that perished at hells gates
many never to sleep in an British grave
splintered bones lie restless under the plough
To those scattered on foreign shores
where now the supposed glory of war.
'The Bomber Boys',
Youths hollow eyes churning stomachs relentless stress
they pray for a swift death above
The stench of the scared fills the bombers
enclosed in the turrets
much like caged birds
The bitter numbing cold
life now out of their control
searchlights seek them out
flak clawing ever closer
A few lucky to bail out
will the parachutes fail them
those spared tread the earth once more
haunted by more empty chairs in the mess
While the brave fighter boys grab the glory
loved by warfares romantics
indeed loved by us all
But romance has no place
amongst the battle scarred heavens
where the huns spat their venom
What about the Halifaxes and Stirlings
the lumbering Wellies and proud crews of the Lancs
All unsung
this waste of life too great
to begin to contemplate
Shunned and forgotten the bomber boys
but all heroes to those that carry the debt
only whispered about those gallant young airman
who hunted the hun with bombs and guns
Our glorious dead countless bled
though many burned
for our freedom and peace
now let them rest at ease.
My own humble gratitude to those who fell, bless them all.
Caluete is a sister company of Parahyba Logística and of course its fleet was not composed of Volvos but of Freightliners. This is just a small remnant of the company from the late 1990s.
Note, photo taken on May 5, 2003 when I Have ten Years Old.
Composed with a particular of the beutiful atrium in the raylway station of Florence (Santa Maria Novella)
Composed image. Both foreground and background were taken during the Festa di Sant'Efisio in Cagliari, Sardinia
Carline à feuilles de saule - Willow-leaved carline-thistle - Cabezote
Carlina salicifolia (L.f.) Cav. (floraison)
Matorral thermophile (alt. 600 m)
Las Montañas (Ténériffe, Canaries, Espagne)
Indigène (Canaries, Madère)
Photoshop Composing
Model left: www.deviantart.com/art/Barbarian-Warrior-2-57798186
Model right: www.deviantart.com/art/Pallas-56-67627853
Collosseum: www.deviantart.com/art/Colloseum-Rome-213275480
Background: www.deviantart.com/art/Background-6-401796670
Composing: www.facebook.com/michaelwfotografie
Yialousa (Greek: Γιαλούσα [from Αιγιαλούσα, meaning " Sea"]; Turkish: Yeni Erenköy), or Gialousa,is a town under the de facto control of Northern Cyprus, claimed by Cyprus. Yialousa is located on the Karpas Peninsula, and one of the sub-districts of the İskele District. In 2011, Yialousa had a population of 1,774.
In 1960, Yialousa had 2,538 inhabitants, only one of whom was a Turkish Cypriot, the rest being Greek Cypriot. By 1973, the population was 2,460, and composed of only Greek Cypriots. When the Turkish and Turkish Cypriot forces reached the town during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in August 1974, the Greek inhabitants could not move to the south of the island, which was controlled by the Republic of Cyprus. Residents of the village were forcibly evicted by the Turkish army, whilst some left the village gradually because of restrictions on freedom of movement and education, and to reunite with family members who had been taken as prisoners and had ended up in the southern portion of the island after they were returned. In 1976, displaced Turkish Cypriots from the Kokkina exclave (Turkish Erenköy) were resettled in the village, and it was renamed "Yeni Erenköy" ("New Erenköy").
Yialousa is twinned with:
Turkey Sincan, Ankara, Turkey
Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a de facto state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus. It is recognised only by Turkey, and its territory is considered by all other states to be part of the Republic of Cyprus.
Northern Cyprus extends from the tip of the Karpass Peninsula in the northeast to Morphou Bay, Cape Kormakitis and its westernmost point, the Kokkina exclave in the west. Its southernmost point is the village of Louroujina. A buffer zone under the control of the United Nations stretches between Northern Cyprus and the rest of the island and divides Nicosia, the island's largest city and capital of both sides.
A coup d'état in 1974, performed as part of an attempt to annex the island to Greece, prompted the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. This resulted in the eviction of much of the north's Greek Cypriot population, the flight of Turkish Cypriots from the south, and the partitioning of the island, leading to a unilateral declaration of independence by the north in 1983. Due to its lack of recognition, Northern Cyprus is heavily dependent on Turkey for economic, political and military support.
Attempts to reach a solution to the Cyprus dispute have been unsuccessful. The Turkish Army maintains a large force in Northern Cyprus with the support and approval of the TRNC government, while the Republic of Cyprus, the European Union as a whole, and the international community regard it as an occupation force. This military presence has been denounced in several United Nations Security Council resolutions.
Northern Cyprus is a semi-presidential, democratic republic with a cultural heritage incorporating various influences and an economy that is dominated by the services sector. The economy has seen growth through the 2000s and 2010s, with the GNP per capita more than tripling in the 2000s, but is held back by an international embargo due to the official closure of the ports in Northern Cyprus by the Republic of Cyprus. The official language is Turkish, with a distinct local dialect being spoken. The vast majority of the population consists of Sunni Muslims, while religious attitudes are mostly moderate and secular. Northern Cyprus is an observer state of ECO and OIC under the name "Turkish Cypriot State", PACE under the name "Turkish Cypriot Community", and Organization of Turkic States with its own name.
Several distinct periods of Cypriot intercommunal violence involving the two main ethnic communities, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, marked mid-20th century Cyprus. These included the Cyprus Emergency of 1955–59 during British rule, the post-independence Cyprus crisis of 1963–64, and the Cyprus crisis of 1967. Hostilities culminated in the 1974 de facto division of the island along the Green Line following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The region has been relatively peaceful since then, but the Cyprus dispute has continued, with various attempts to solve it diplomatically having been generally unsuccessful.
Cyprus, an island lying in the eastern Mediterranean, hosted a population of Greeks and Turks (four-fifths and one-fifth, respectively), who lived under British rule in the late nineteenth-century and the first half of the twentieth-century. Christian Orthodox Church of Cyprus played a prominent political role among the Greek Cypriot community, a privilege that it acquired during the Ottoman Empire with the employment of the millet system, which gave the archbishop an unofficial ethnarch status.
The repeated rejections by the British of Greek Cypriot demands for enosis, union with Greece, led to armed resistance, organised by the National Organization of Cypriot Struggle, or EOKA. EOKA, led by the Greek-Cypriot commander George Grivas, systematically targeted British colonial authorities. One of the effects of EOKA's campaign was to alter the Turkish position from demanding full reincorporation into Turkey to a demand for taksim (partition). EOKA's mission and activities caused a "Cretan syndrome" (see Turkish Resistance Organisation) within the Turkish Cypriot community, as its members feared that they would be forced to leave the island in such a case as had been the case with Cretan Turks. As such, they preferred the continuation of British colonial rule and then taksim, the division of the island. Due to the Turkish Cypriots' support for the British, EOKA's leader, Georgios Grivas, declared them to be enemies. The fact that the Turks were a minority was, according to Nihat Erim, to be addressed by the transfer of thousands of Turks from mainland Turkey so that Greek Cypriots would cease to be the majority. When Erim visited Cyprus as the Turkish representative, he was advised by Field Marshal Sir John Harding, the then Governor of Cyprus, that Turkey should send educated Turks to settle in Cyprus.
Turkey actively promoted the idea that on the island of Cyprus two distinctive communities existed, and sidestepped its former claim that "the people of Cyprus were all Turkish subjects". In doing so, Turkey's aim to have self-determination of two to-be equal communities in effect led to de jure partition of the island.[citation needed] This could be justified to the international community against the will of the majority Greek population of the island. Dr. Fazil Küçük in 1954 had already proposed Cyprus be divided in two at the 35° parallel.
Lindley Dan, from Notre Dame University, spotted the roots of intercommunal violence to different visions among the two communities of Cyprus (enosis for Greek Cypriots, taksim for Turkish Cypriots). Also, Lindlay wrote that "the merging of church, schools/education, and politics in divisive and nationalistic ways" had played a crucial role in creation of havoc in Cyprus' history. Attalides Michael also pointed to the opposing nationalisms as the cause of the Cyprus problem.
By the mid-1950's, the "Cyprus is Turkish" party, movement, and slogan gained force in both Cyprus and Turkey. In a 1954 editorial, Turkish Cypriot leader Dr. Fazil Kuchuk expressed the sentiment that the Turkish youth had grown up with the idea that "as soon as Great Britain leaves the island, it will be taken over by the Turks", and that "Turkey cannot tolerate otherwise". This perspective contributed to the willingness of Turkish Cypriots to align themselves with the British, who started recruiting Turkish Cypriots into the police force that patrolled Cyprus to fight EOKA, a Greek Cypriot nationalist organisation that sought to rid the island of British rule.
EOKA targeted colonial authorities, including police, but Georgios Grivas, the leader of EOKA, did not initially wish to open up a new front by fighting Turkish Cypriots and reassured them that EOKA would not harm their people. In 1956, some Turkish Cypriot policemen were killed by EOKA members and this provoked some intercommunal violence in the spring and summer, but these attacks on policemen were not motivated by the fact that they were Turkish Cypriots.
However, in January 1957, Grivas changed his policy as his forces in the mountains became increasingly pressured by the British Crown forces. In order to divert the attention of the Crown forces, EOKA members started to target Turkish Cypriot policemen intentionally in the towns, so that Turkish Cypriots would riot against the Greek Cypriots and the security forces would have to be diverted to the towns to restore order. The killing of a Turkish Cypriot policeman on 19 January, when a power station was bombed, and the injury of three others, provoked three days of intercommunal violence in Nicosia. The two communities targeted each other in reprisals, at least one Greek Cypriot was killed and the British Army was deployed in the streets. Greek Cypriot stores were burned and their neighbourhoods attacked. Following the events, the Greek Cypriot leadership spread the propaganda that the riots had merely been an act of Turkish Cypriot aggression. Such events created chaos and drove the communities apart both in Cyprus and in Turkey.
On 22 October 1957 Sir Hugh Mackintosh Foot replaced Sir John Harding as the British Governor of Cyprus. Foot suggested five to seven years of self-government before any final decision. His plan rejected both enosis and taksim. The Turkish Cypriot response to this plan was a series of anti-British demonstrations in Nicosia on 27 and 28 January 1958 rejecting the proposed plan because the plan did not include partition. The British then withdrew the plan.
In 1957, Black Gang, a Turkish Cypriot pro-taksim paramilitary organisation, was formed to patrol a Turkish Cypriot enclave, the Tahtakale district of Nicosia, against activities of EOKA. The organisation later attempted to grow into a national scale, but failed to gain public support.
By 1958, signs of dissatisfaction with the British increased on both sides, with a group of Turkish Cypriots forming Volkan (later renamed to the Turkish Resistance Organisation) paramilitary group to promote partition and the annexation of Cyprus to Turkey as dictated by the Menderes plan. Volkan initially consisted of roughly 100 members, with the stated aim of raising awareness in Turkey of the Cyprus issue and courting military training and support for Turkish Cypriot fighters from the Turkish government.
In June 1958, the British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, was expected to propose a plan to resolve the Cyprus issue. In light of the new development, the Turks rioted in Nicosia to promote the idea that Greek and Turkish Cypriots could not live together and therefore any plan that did not include partition would not be viable. This violence was soon followed by bombing, Greek Cypriot deaths and looting of Greek Cypriot-owned shops and houses. Greek and Turkish Cypriots started to flee mixed population villages where they were a minority in search of safety. This was effectively the beginning of the segregation of the two communities. On 7 June 1958, a bomb exploded at the entrance of the Turkish Embassy in Cyprus. Following the bombing, Turkish Cypriots looted Greek Cypriot properties. On 26 June 1984, the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktaş, admitted on British channel ITV that the bomb was placed by the Turks themselves in order to create tension. On 9 January 1995, Rauf Denktaş repeated his claim to the famous Turkish newspaper Milliyet in Turkey.
The crisis reached a climax on 12 June 1958, when eight Greeks, out of an armed group of thirty five arrested by soldiers of the Royal Horse Guards on suspicion of preparing an attack on the Turkish quarter of Skylloura, were killed in a suspected attack by Turkish Cypriot locals, near the village of Geunyeli, having been ordered to walk back to their village of Kondemenos.
After the EOKA campaign had begun, the British government successfully began to turn the Cyprus issue from a British colonial problem into a Greek-Turkish issue. British diplomacy exerted backstage influence on the Adnan Menderes government, with the aim of making Turkey active in Cyprus. For the British, the attempt had a twofold objective. The EOKA campaign would be silenced as quickly as possible, and Turkish Cypriots would not side with Greek Cypriots against the British colonial claims over the island, which would thus remain under the British. The Turkish Cypriot leadership visited Menderes to discuss the Cyprus issue. When asked how the Turkish Cypriots should respond to the Greek Cypriot claim of enosis, Menderes replied: "You should go to the British foreign minister and request the status quo be prolonged, Cyprus to remain as a British colony". When the Turkish Cypriots visited the British Foreign Secretary and requested for Cyprus to remain a colony, he replied: "You should not be asking for colonialism at this day and age, you should be asking for Cyprus be returned to Turkey, its former owner".
As Turkish Cypriots began to look to Turkey for protection, Greek Cypriots soon understood that enosis was extremely unlikely. The Greek Cypriot leader, Archbishop Makarios III, now set independence for the island as his objective.
Britain resolved to solve the dispute by creating an independent Cyprus. In 1959, all involved parties signed the Zurich Agreements: Britain, Turkey, Greece, and the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, Makarios and Dr. Fazil Kucuk, respectively. The new constitution drew heavily on the ethnic composition of the island. The President would be a Greek Cypriot, and the Vice-President a Turkish Cypriot with an equal veto. The contribution to the public service would be set at a ratio of 70:30, and the Supreme Court would consist of an equal number of judges from both communities as well as an independent judge who was not Greek, Turkish or British. The Zurich Agreements were supplemented by a number of treaties. The Treaty of Guarantee stated that secession or union with any state was forbidden, and that Greece, Turkey and Britain would be given guarantor status to intervene if that was violated. The Treaty of Alliance allowed for two small Greek and Turkish military contingents to be stationed on the island, and the Treaty of Establishment gave Britain sovereignty over two bases in Akrotiri and Dhekelia.
On 15 August 1960, the Colony of Cyprus became fully independent as the Republic of Cyprus. The new republic remained within the Commonwealth of Nations.
The new constitution brought dissatisfaction to Greek Cypriots, who felt it to be highly unjust for them for historical, demographic and contributional reasons. Although 80% of the island's population were Greek Cypriots and these indigenous people had lived on the island for thousands of years and paid 94% of taxes, the new constitution was giving the 17% of the population that was Turkish Cypriots, who paid 6% of taxes, around 30% of government jobs and 40% of national security jobs.
Within three years tensions between the two communities in administrative affairs began to show. In particular disputes over separate municipalities and taxation created a deadlock in government. A constitutional court ruled in 1963 Makarios had failed to uphold article 173 of the constitution which called for the establishment of separate municipalities for Turkish Cypriots. Makarios subsequently declared his intention to ignore the judgement, resulting in the West German judge resigning from his position. Makarios proposed thirteen amendments to the constitution, which would have had the effect of resolving most of the issues in the Greek Cypriot favour. Under the proposals, the President and Vice-President would lose their veto, the separate municipalities as sought after by the Turkish Cypriots would be abandoned, the need for separate majorities by both communities in passing legislation would be discarded and the civil service contribution would be set at actual population ratios (82:18) instead of the slightly higher figure for Turkish Cypriots.
The intention behind the amendments has long been called into question. The Akritas plan, written in the height of the constitutional dispute by the Greek Cypriot interior minister Polycarpos Georkadjis, called for the removal of undesirable elements of the constitution so as to allow power-sharing to work. The plan envisaged a swift retaliatory attack on Turkish Cypriot strongholds should Turkish Cypriots resort to violence to resist the measures, stating "In the event of a planned or staged Turkish attack, it is imperative to overcome it by force in the shortest possible time, because if we succeed in gaining command of the situation (in one or two days), no outside, intervention would be either justified or possible." Whether Makarios's proposals were part of the Akritas plan is unclear, however it remains that sentiment towards enosis had not completely disappeared with independence. Makarios described independence as "a step on the road to enosis".[31] Preparations for conflict were not entirely absent from Turkish Cypriots either, with right wing elements still believing taksim (partition) the best safeguard against enosis.
Greek Cypriots however believe the amendments were a necessity stemming from a perceived attempt by Turkish Cypriots to frustrate the working of government. Turkish Cypriots saw it as a means to reduce their status within the state from one of co-founder to that of minority, seeing it as a first step towards enosis. The security situation deteriorated rapidly.
Main articles: Bloody Christmas (1963) and Battle of Tillyria
An armed conflict was triggered after December 21, 1963, a period remembered by Turkish Cypriots as Bloody Christmas, when a Greek Cypriot policemen that had been called to help deal with a taxi driver refusing officers already on the scene access to check the identification documents of his customers, took out his gun upon arrival and shot and killed the taxi driver and his partner. Eric Solsten summarised the events as follows: "a Greek Cypriot police patrol, ostensibly checking identification documents, stopped a Turkish Cypriot couple on the edge of the Turkish quarter. A hostile crowd gathered, shots were fired, and two Turkish Cypriots were killed."
In the morning after the shooting, crowds gathered in protest in Northern Nicosia, likely encouraged by the TMT, without incident. On the evening of the 22nd, gunfire broke out, communication lines to the Turkish neighbourhoods were cut, and the Greek Cypriot police occupied the nearby airport. On the 23rd, a ceasefire was negotiated, but did not hold. Fighting, including automatic weapons fire, between Greek and Turkish Cypriots and militias increased in Nicosia and Larnaca. A force of Greek Cypriot irregulars led by Nikos Sampson entered the Nicosia suburb of Omorphita and engaged in heavy firing on armed, as well as by some accounts unarmed, Turkish Cypriots. The Omorphita clash has been described by Turkish Cypriots as a massacre, while this view has generally not been acknowledged by Greek Cypriots.
Further ceasefires were arranged between the two sides, but also failed. By Christmas Eve, the 24th, Britain, Greece, and Turkey had joined talks, with all sides calling for a truce. On Christmas day, Turkish fighter jets overflew Nicosia in a show of support. Finally it was agreed to allow a force of 2,700 British soldiers to help enforce a ceasefire. In the next days, a "buffer zone" was created in Nicosia, and a British officer marked a line on a map with green ink, separating the two sides of the city, which was the beginning of the "Green Line". Fighting continued across the island for the next several weeks.
In total 364 Turkish Cypriots and 174 Greek Cypriots were killed during the violence. 25,000 Turkish Cypriots from 103-109 villages fled and were displaced into enclaves and thousands of Turkish Cypriot houses were ransacked or completely destroyed.
Contemporary newspapers also reported on the forceful exodus of the Turkish Cypriots from their homes. According to The Times in 1964, threats, shootings and attempts of arson were committed against the Turkish Cypriots to force them out of their homes. The Daily Express wrote that "25,000 Turks have already been forced to leave their homes". The Guardian reported a massacre of Turks at Limassol on 16 February 1964.
Turkey had by now readied its fleet and its fighter jets appeared over Nicosia. Turkey was dissuaded from direct involvement by the creation of a United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) in 1964. Despite the negotiated ceasefire in Nicosia, attacks on the Turkish Cypriot persisted, particularly in Limassol. Concerned about the possibility of a Turkish invasion, Makarios undertook the creation of a Greek Cypriot conscript-based army called the "National Guard". A general from Greece took charge of the army, whilst a further 20,000 well-equipped officers and men were smuggled from Greece into Cyprus. Turkey threatened to intervene once more, but was prevented by a strongly worded letter from the American President Lyndon B. Johnson, anxious to avoid a conflict between NATO allies Greece and Turkey at the height of the Cold War.
Turkish Cypriots had by now established an important bridgehead at Kokkina, provided with arms, volunteers and materials from Turkey and abroad. Seeing this incursion of foreign weapons and troops as a major threat, the Cypriot government invited George Grivas to return from Greece as commander of the Greek troops on the island and launch a major attack on the bridgehead. Turkey retaliated by dispatching its fighter jets to bomb Greek positions, causing Makarios to threaten an attack on every Turkish Cypriot village on the island if the bombings did not cease. The conflict had now drawn in Greece and Turkey, with both countries amassing troops on their Thracian borders. Efforts at mediation by Dean Acheson, a former U.S. Secretary of State, and UN-appointed mediator Galo Plaza had failed, all the while the division of the two communities becoming more apparent. Greek Cypriot forces were estimated at some 30,000, including the National Guard and the large contingent from Greece. Defending the Turkish Cypriot enclaves was a force of approximately 5,000 irregulars, led by a Turkish colonel, but lacking the equipment and organisation of the Greek forces.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1964, U Thant, reported the damage during the conflicts:
UNFICYP carried out a detailed survey of all damage to properties throughout the island during the disturbances; it shows that in 109 villages, most of them Turkish-Cypriot or mixed villages, 527 houses have been destroyed while 2,000 others have suffered damage from looting.
The situation worsened in 1967, when a military junta overthrew the democratically elected government of Greece, and began applying pressure on Makarios to achieve enosis. Makarios, not wishing to become part of a military dictatorship or trigger a Turkish invasion, began to distance himself from the goal of enosis. This caused tensions with the junta in Greece as well as George Grivas in Cyprus. Grivas's control over the National Guard and Greek contingent was seen as a threat to Makarios's position, who now feared a possible coup.[citation needed] The National Guard and Cyprus Police began patrolling the Turkish Cypriot enclaves of Ayios Theodoros and Kophinou, and on November 15 engaged in heavy fighting with the Turkish Cypriots.
By the time of his withdrawal 26 Turkish Cypriots had been killed. Turkey replied with an ultimatum demanding that Grivas be removed from the island, that the troops smuggled from Greece in excess of the limits of the Treaty of Alliance be removed, and that the economic blockades on the Turkish Cypriot enclaves be lifted. Grivas was recalled by the Athens Junta and the 12,000 Greek troops were withdrawn. Makarios now attempted to consolidate his position by reducing the number of National Guard troops, and by creating a paramilitary force loyal to Cypriot independence. In 1968, acknowledging that enosis was now all but impossible, Makarios stated, "A solution by necessity must be sought within the limits of what is feasible which does not always coincide with the limits of what is desirable."
After 1967 tensions between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots subsided. Instead, the main source of tension on the island came from factions within the Greek Cypriot community. Although Makarios had effectively abandoned enosis in favour of an 'attainable solution', many others continued to believe that the only legitimate political aspiration for Greek Cypriots was union with Greece.
On his arrival, Grivas began by establishing a nationalist paramilitary group known as the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston B or EOKA-B), drawing comparisons with the EOKA struggle for enosis under the British colonial administration of the 1950s.
The military junta in Athens saw Makarios as an obstacle. Makarios's failure to disband the National Guard, whose officer class was dominated by mainland Greeks, had meant the junta had practical control over the Cypriot military establishment, leaving Makarios isolated and a vulnerable target.
During the first Turkish invasion, Turkish troops invaded Cyprus territory on 20 July 1974, invoking its rights under the Treaty of Guarantee. This expansion of Turkish-occupied zone violated International Law as well as the Charter of the United Nations. Turkish troops managed to capture 3% of the island which was accompanied by the burning of the Turkish Cypriot quarter, as well as the raping and killing of women and children. A temporary cease-fire followed which was mitigated by the UN Security Council. Subsequently, the Greek military Junta collapsed on July 23, 1974, and peace talks commenced in which a democratic government was installed. The Resolution 353 was broken after Turkey attacked a second time and managed to get a hold of 37% of Cyprus territory. The Island of Cyprus was appointed a Buffer Zone by the United Nations, which divided the island into two zones through the 'Green Line' and put an end to the Turkish invasion. Although Turkey announced that the occupied areas of Cyprus to be called the Federated Turkish State in 1975, it is not legitimised on a worldwide political scale. The United Nations called for the international recognition of independence for the Republic of Cyprus in the Security Council Resolution 367.
In the years after the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus one can observe a history of failed talks between the two parties. The 1983 declaration of the independent Turkish Republic of Cyprus resulted in a rise of inter-communal tensions and made it increasingly hard to find mutual understanding. With Cyprus' interest of a possible EU membership and a new UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1997 new hopes arose for a fresh start. International involvement from sides of the US and UK, wanting a solution to the Cyprus dispute prior to the EU accession led to political pressures for new talks. The believe that an accession without a solution would threaten Greek-Turkish relations and acknowledge the partition of the island would direct the coming negotiations.
Over the course of two years a concrete plan, the Annan plan was formulated. In 2004 the fifth version agreed upon from both sides and with the endorsement of Turkey, US, UK and EU then was presented to the public and was given a referendum in both Cypriot communities to assure the legitimisation of the resolution. The Turkish Cypriots voted with 65% for the plan, however the Greek Cypriots voted with a 76% majority against. The Annan plan contained multiple important topics. Firstly it established a confederation of two separate states called the United Cyprus Republic. Both communities would have autonomous states combined under one unified government. The members of parliament would be chosen according to the percentage in population numbers to ensure a just involvement from both communities. The paper proposed a demilitarisation of the island over the next years. Furthermore it agreed upon a number of 45000 Turkish settlers that could remain on the island. These settlers became a very important issue concerning peace talks. Originally the Turkish government encouraged Turks to settle in Cyprus providing transfer and property, to establish a counterpart to the Greek Cypriot population due to their 1 to 5 minority. With the economic situation many Turkish-Cypriot decided to leave the island, however their departure is made up by incoming Turkish settlers leaving the population ratio between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots stable. However all these points where criticised and as seen in the vote rejected mainly by the Greek Cypriots. These name the dissolution of the „Republic of Cyprus", economic consequences of a reunion and the remaining Turkish settlers as reason. Many claim that the plan was indeed drawing more from Turkish-Cypriot demands then Greek-Cypriot interests. Taking in consideration that the US wanted to keep Turkey as a strategic partner in future Middle Eastern conflicts.
A week after the failed referendum the Republic of Cyprus joined the EU. In multiple instances the EU tried to promote trade with Northern Cyprus but without internationally recognised ports this spiked a grand debate. Both side endure their intention of negotiations, however without the prospect of any new compromises or agreements the UN is unwilling to start the process again. Since 2004 negotiations took place in numbers but without any results, both sides are strongly holding on to their position without an agreeable solution in sight that would suit both parties.
Rosacée de 20-60 cm aux feuilles inférieres composées-pennées avec 2-5 paires de folioles, les terminales bien plus grandes. Inflorescence en cyme terminale lâche de 2-5 fleurs. Fleurs penchées caractéristiques à sépales pourpre sombre, corolle campanulée à 5 pétales dressés de 8-12 mm, jaunâtres lavés de pourpre. Akènes surmontés d'un style plumeux et articulé au milieu, à base velue et persistante, crochue au sommet.
Autre nom français : Benoîte aqautique. Espèce montagnarde, rare en plaine, hygrocline et neutrocline, préférentiellement sur substrat paratourbeux, en stations à mésoclimat frais (cf. P Jauzein et O Nawrot).
Badly composed photo (with top of pantograph missing) of Crossrail's Bombardier TRAXX loco 185 578 and an SBB Cargo sister loco running through Münsingen on 14 Septembe 2007. The leading loco has been new to Crossrail that year.
EXPLORE
It was lovely sunny day .. but with lovely temperature.. Sweden Suummer
We stopped somewhere on the south of Stockholm.. to view the city hall from the south island, another side of Baltic sea...
As I walked on slope walkway...The bulng color is lovely and the the blue sky.. but it was just building.. so I didn't take a shot.. but when I walked further and turned back ... at this location on the top slope, the statue column and the building.. all composed together and I love it
Stockholm
Sweden
Pérézia faux-carthame - Estrella blanca de la cordillera
Perezia carthamoides (D.Don) Hook. & Arn. (port)
Steppe de montagne (alt. 2950 m)
Puente del Inca (département de Las Heras, province de Mendoza, Argentine)
Indigène (Nord-Ouest de l'Argentine, Centre du Chili)
For this photo I was trying to capture the sunset from a different perspective. This photo is poorly composed because the horizon is slanted and it's not following the rule of thirds. It is successful because the picture is really crisp and the perspective is really cool. It was difficult to get rid of the bleak/green spots that the sun was creating on the lens of the camera.
José Honorato Lozano (1821 - 1885)
Letras y’ Figuras (Views of Manila)
signed (lower right)
Ca. 1850
gouache and watercolor on paper
22” x 33” (56 cm x 84 cm)
Opening bid: PHP 5,000,000
Literature:
Roces, Alfredo. Felix Resurrección Hidalgo & The Generation of 1872.
Eugenio Lopez Foundation, Inc., 1998, p. 66.
Provenance: The Benito J. Legarda, Jr. Collection
This enchanting work in watercolor by Jose Honorato Lozano from the 1840s shows a vanished, magnificent Manila inevitably altered by the 1863 and 1880 earthquakes, Spanish decline, Revolution, American modernization, the World War II holocaust, postwar demolitions, and careless city administrations. The painting is composed of three horizontal panels: the top and bottom panels have three sections each while the middle panel is a panoramic view of the Manila Bay.
The first section of the top panel shows Calle Anloague in Binondo (“Street of the Carpenters,” now Juan Luna street leading to the Divisoria entrepot) where several foreign trading firms are headquartered. We see an all–stone building or house on the left with the flag of the United States of America (in the 1840s), it is likely the head office of an American trading firm. (It can be disputed that this is a view of Calzada de San Sebastian [now R Hidalgo street] with its rows of elegant houses. The said street rose in importance during the 1830s when the rich of the long–established arrabales (districts) of Intramuros, Binondo, and Santa Cruz, in an effort to escape their crowded and smelly communities, started constructing big urban villas with the (then unheard–of) luxury of fruit and vegetable gardens and passable, clean estuaries/waterways at the back which were impossible to build in the older arrabales. However, the view really seems to be that of Calle Anloague, which is a much more important street at the time than Calzada de San Sebastian.)
The initial letter V is composed of well–dressed, hat–wearing laborers carrying logs. The letter I is formed by a well dressed native woman with a parasol and her companions. The second/middle section of the top panel shows a view of the commercial buildings, warehouses, and big houses lining the Pasig river from Santa Cruz to Binondo to Tondo (right to left). (This brings to mind personalities like the very rich Don Narciso Padilla, who during this exact time owns a fleet of ships, boats, and cascos [big bamboo rafts] which carries goods from the Pasig river all the way up north to the Ilocos and all the way down south to the Visayas, as well as rows of warehouses that stretch from Binondo to Tondo. This shipping and logistics empire is inherited by his daughter Dona Maria Barbara Padilla y Flores [“Dona Baritay”] who subsequently becomes known as La Reina de Rio Pasig because of her immense shipping and warehousing businesses; she becomes the mother of the master painter Don Felix Resurrección Hidalgo y Padilla.)
The letter E is formed by laborers carrying logs and an ambulant Chinese vendor selling lugaw rice porridge and its condiments as well as gupit noodles to his hungry customers. The letters W and S are composed of veiled women and well–dressed men. The third section of the top panel shows a bahay kubo/nipa hut in a rustic setting which is probably the Gagalangin area in Tondo, even then the most populous district of the city. There is a simple couple huddling in a bamboo shed. Tondo in the 1800s, specially the Gagalangin area with its charming front gardens, is a pleasant residential district inhabited by people of modest means but also by some of the richest families in Manila with fortunes from international and domestic trading, warehousing, manufacturing, financing, and even micro-financing. Tondo in the 1800s up to the prewar was a vastly different community compared to what it is today.
The second section is a panoramic view of the Manila Bay with many ships and boats. It is a beautiful, swimmable beach with fine sand, just like all the lovely beaches of Las Islas Filipinas. Tragically, the Americans would fill it with boulders, stones, and sand to make Dewey boulevard (now Roxas boulevard) during the early 1900s. There is a succession of interesting vignettes on the beachfront. From the left going right, we see a young, well–dressed principalia couple of the ruling class on their horses; two men with sparring roosters (cockfighting); a man on a carabao; the letter O formed by a man inside a casco (raft) or a boat; a mother and child just finished bathing in the sea; the letter F formed by a couple pounding rice on a wooden mortar; a female vendor with a small tapayan / earthenware water container on her head, a male vendor balancing a pole hung with 2 baskets, a mature, well–dressed principalia couple, and a female vendor selling rice cakes she is preparing on a papag or bamboo daybed.
The first section of the bottom panel shows a view outside Intramuros looking north to the Pasig river. From the left, we see the Puente de Espana (Bridge of Spain) which has been there since 1630, the Pasig river, the Magellan monument, and the Maestranza wall. The Maestranza is a long portion of the Intramuros walls facing north to the Pasig river with many chambers built in the early 1600s to accommodate soldiers as well as all sorts of goods being traded downstream and upstream. There is a big woven rice thresher in the middle of it all, likely for the processing of rice being grown in the areas around Intramuros.
The letter M is formed by musicians with a harp and guitar with chickens on top. The letter A is composed of a man amidst bamboo.
The second/middle section of the bottom panel shows the Plaza Mayor of Intramuros with the three major buildings flanking it: We see the Manila Cathedral in the middle (south), the Palacio del Gobernador on the right (west), and the Ayuntamiento/Casas Consistoriales on the left (east). It is still about 20 years before the great earthquake of 1863 which will level them all. (It is after that devastation that the Governor–General will transfer the seat of power to the far more modest riverside villa in the nearby San Miguel district that is the Palacio de Malacanan. The transfer of the Governor–General to San Miguel impels the rich --- specially the Spanish peninsular and the Spanish mestizo rich --- to construct grand villas with sprawling lush gardens in the area, setting off the most European incarnations of the Filipino bahay–na–bato. The idea of luxurious urban villas conceived in Calzada de San Sebastian achieves perfection in nearby San Miguel. Calle General Solano and Calle Aviles become the most fashionable addresses of the Filipino rich towards the end of the Spanish regime in 1898.)
The letter N is formed by women with a horse. The letter I is composed of a group of men with top hats and women. The letter L is made up of a bahay kubo, a big woven rice thresher, a man with sacks, and other men.
The third section of the bottom panel shows the Binondo church with a frontage of greenery (unbelievable to contemporary eyes). It looks like an orchard with rows of fruit trees.
The final letter A is formed by an old woman cooking with palayok earthenware pots, and there is a Chinese vendor balancing a pole from which hang a pair of tapayan vessels, probably filled with clean water.
Jose Honorato Lozano was one of several painters in Manila during the first half of the 1800s, along with the pioneering Damian Domingo, Juan Arzeo, and the younger Antonio Malantic and Justiniano Asuncion (“Capitan Ting”). In the tradition of miniaturismo (highly detailed art) popular in those days, Lozano specialized in the quaint art of letras y figuras, in which a full name was exquisitely spelled out with letters formed by vignettes with all kinds of subjects --- people, animals, plants, musical instruments, conveyances, landscape views, etc. These incredibly detailed works charmed the affluent locals who hung them in their reception rooms as well as the expatriate Spaniards and other Europeans who commissioned and brought them home as souvenirs of an exotic Asian sojourn.
This utterly charming Views of Manila from the erudite Benito J. Legarda , Jr. collection was likely commissioned by a British or American client. The work in watercolor was signed por Jose Honorato Lozano in elegant script on the lower right side. It is not known how it made its way to Legarda’s collection; it could have been acquired from a prominent Filipino family but it was most likely purchased from leading rare maps and books dealers in the USA or the UK (many of whom were his longtime friends), as were many of Legarda’s Filipiniana collections. This Jose Honorato Lozano Views of Manila stands on its own as a great Filipino work of art and an important, unassailable pictorial document of Spanish Manila as it was in the 1840s, almost two hundred years ago.
Lot 70 of the Leon Gallery auction in February 2021. Please see leon-gallery.com for more details.
"I composed the laws of space, now bow down to your master."
This is the evil brother of my self MOC. This is his V2 incarnation. His design is basically a cliché villain style with his custom wings and scythe that can switch into an axe.
Garden of Remembrance for Pan Am Flight 103 at the Dryfesdale Cemetery, at Lockerbie in Scotland.
A Garden of Remembrance surrounded by a wall enclosing lawns, flower beds and paths. The main memorial is set into the wall and is composed of three stone tablets, the centre one being the tallest, set on stone blocks. The names are in six columns with the lettering in black. Three stones of remembrance are set several yards in front of the main memorial with the inscription on the centre stone, and names on the stones either side. The lettering is in black. A plaque is set in the lawn, composed of bronze with a gold coloured edging and lettering. Various private plaques are set in the wall surrounding the cemetery.