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Named the Greatest Briton of all time in a 2002 poll, Churchill is widely regarded as being among the most influential people in British history, consistently ranking well in opinion polls of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, DL, FRS, RA (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. Widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the 20th century, Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historian, a writer (as Winston S. Churchill), and an artist. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature, and was the first person to be made an honorary citizen of the United States.
Churchill was born into the aristocratic family of the Dukes of Marlborough, a branch of the Spencer family. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was a charismatic politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer; his mother, Jennie Jerome, was an American socialite. As a young army officer, he saw action in British India, the Sudan, and the Second Boer War. He gained fame as a war correspondent and wrote books about his campaigns.
At the forefront of politics for fifty years, he held many political and cabinet positions. Before the First World War, he served as President of the Board of Trade, Home Secretary, and First Lord of the Admiralty as part of Asquith's Liberal government. During the war, he continued as First Lord of the Admiralty until the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign caused his departure from government. He then briefly resumed active army service on the Western Front as commander of the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers. He returned to government as Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War, and Secretary of State for Air. In 1921–1922 Churchill served as Secretary of State for the Colonies, then Chancellor of the Exchequer in Baldwin's Conservative government of 1924–1929, controversially returning the pound sterling in 1925 to the gold standard at its pre-war parity, a move widely seen as creating deflationary pressure on the UK economy. Also controversial were his opposition to increased home rule for India and his resistance to the 1936 abdication of Edward VIII.
Out of office and politically "in the wilderness" during the 1930s, Churchill took the lead in warning about Nazi Germany and in campaigning for rearmament. At the outbreak of the Second World War, he was again appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. Following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain on 10 May 1940, Churchill became Prime Minister. His steadfast refusal to consider defeat, surrender, or a compromise peace helped inspire British resistance, especially during the difficult early days of the war when the British Commonwealth and Empire stood alone in its active opposition to Adolf Hitler. Churchill was particularly noted for his speeches and radio broadcasts, which helped inspire the British people. He led Britain as Prime Minister until victory over Nazi Germany had been secured.
After the Conservative Party lost the 1945 election, he became Leader of the Opposition to the Labour Government. After winning the 1951 election, he again became Prime Minister, before retiring in 1955. Upon his death, Elizabeth II granted him the honour of a state funeral, which saw one of the largest assemblies of world statesmen in history.
Is this consistent with your idea of automotive perfection? Robert’s gorgeous '69 Camaro was built by our friends at Detroit Speed! It's powered by a Mast Motorsports LS7 with a 6-speed Bowler Performance transmission and rides on DSE's Hydroformed Subframe, DSE minitubs, DSE QUADRALINK rear suspension, DSE/JRi double-adjustable coilovers, Baer brakes, 275/35ZR18 & 335/30ZR18 BFGoodrich Rival S tires, and 18x10/18x12 Forgeline CR3 wheels finished with Satin Gunmetal centers, Polished outers, & tall center caps! See more at: www.forgeline.com/customer_gallery_view.php?cvk=1807
Aldosa, La Massana, Vall nord, Andorra, Pyrenees - (c) Lutz Meyer
More Aldosa, La Massana, Vall nord, Andorra, Pyrenees: Follow the group links at right side.
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About this image:
* Half frame format 3x2 image
* Usage: Large format prints optional
* Motive is suitable as symbol pic
* "Andorra authentic" edition (20 years 2004-2024)
* "Andorra camis & rutes" active collection
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* for large metadata-controlled business collections: photo-archives, travel agencies, tourism editiorials
We offer 200.000+ photos of Andorra and North of Spain. 20.000+ visable here at Flickr. Its the largest professional image catalog of Andorra: all regions, all cities and villages, all times, all seasons, all weather(s). Consistent for additional advanced programming. For smartphones and web-db. REAL TIME!
It's based on GeoCoded stock-photo images and metadata with 4-5 languages. Prepared for easy systematic organising of very large image portfolios with advanced online / print-publishing as "Culture-GIS" (Geographic Info System).
More information about usage, tips, how-to, conditions: www.flickr.com/people/lutzmeyer/. Get quality, data consistency, stable organisation and PR environments: Professional stockphotos for exciting stories - docu, tales, mystic.
Ask for licence! lutz(at)lutz-meyer.com
(c) Lutz Meyer, all rights reserved. Do not use this photo without license.
En vías de extinción, el encaje de bolillos es una técnica de encaje textil consistente en entretejer hilos que inicialmente están enrollados en bobinas, llamadas bolillos, para manejarlos mejor. A medida que progresa el trabajo, el tejido se sujeta mediante alfileres clavados en una almohadilla, que se llama "mundillo". El lugar de los alfileres normalmente viene determinado por un patrón de agujeritos en la almohadilla.
El encaje de bolillos se puede realizar con hilos finos o gruesos. Tradicionalmente, se hacía con lino, seda, lana y posteriormente con algodón. También con hilos de metales preciosos. Hoy en día también se realiza con una gran variedad de fibras sintéticas, con alambres u otros filamentos.
Entre los elementos de diseño que se pueden realizar hay tejidos (tela), redes , trenzas, puntillas, cuadros y rellenos, aunque no todos los tipos de encaje de bolillos incluyen todos esos elementos.
Muchos tipos de encaje se inventaron durante la época de apogeo del bordado (aproximadamente entre 1500 y 1700) antes de que las máquinas bordadoras automáticas estuvieran disponibles.
La aparición de la máquina bordadora diseñada por John Heathcoat en 1806 al principio sirvió de acicate a los artesanos para que inventaran diseños más complicados que las máquinas no podían realizar, aunque finalmente la mecanización dejó sin trabajo a los artesanos casi completamente. La reaparición del bordado es un fenómeno reciente y, en general, es considerado como un hobby, aunque sigue habiendo gremios de artesanos que se reunen periódicamente en lugares como Devonshire (Inglaterra y Orange County (California). En los pueblos europeos donde el encaje fue una vez una industria importante, en especial, Bélgica, Inglaterra y Francia, las encajeras todavía enseñan su arte y venden sus mercancías, aunque su clientela ya no es la misma, de la nobleza más rica se ha pasado al turista curioso.
Si quieres cualquier foto de las que ves, pidemela. Todas están a la venta desde sólo 5 Euros.
If you want any pictures of what you see, ask me. All are available from only 5 Euros.
Exif data auto added by theGOOD Uploadr
File Size : 0.4 mb
Camera Make : Canon
Camera Model : Canon EOS 60D
Software : Adobe Photoshop CS5 Windows
Exposure : 0.040 seconds
Aperture : f/7.1
ISO Speed : 250
Focal Length : 63 mm
Subject Distance : 0.4 meters
(per circa 10 muffin)
150 gr di carote
80 gr di farina integrale
10 gr di zucchero
30 gr di miele
1 uovo
3 cucchiai di olio di semi
1 arancia
mezza bustina di lievito
Mischiate lo zucchero e il miele (eventualmente fondendolo casomai fosse cristallizzato) al tuorlo dell'uovo fino a renderlo cremoso. Aggiungete la scorza dell'arancia,la farina integrale e le carote passate precedentemente al mixer; quindi il succo dell'arancia,l'olio e il lievito mescolando bene.Casomai l'impasto dovesse risultare troppo consistente potete aggiungere a scelta dell'altro succo d'arancia o del latte. In ultimo aggiungete delicatamente l'albume montato a neve.
Versate il composto negli stampini da muffin e passate in forno gia' caldo a 160 gradi per circa 15-20 minuti.
Sara' l'arancia,saranno le carote ma tutto quest'arancione e' come un'esplosione di colore che sa gia' d'estate!
Vianaar is Goa's leading real estate development company, Building beautiful holiday homes in the serene villages of north Goa.
Vianaar has a in house design team lead by team of over 20 years of industry experience which handles the interior design and also works in sync with renowned architects to ensure all Vianaar developments are in harmony with the Goa culture and architecture ensuring that the local ecosystem is not disturbed.
The team at Vianaar makes sure that all our projects are eco friendly and the company takes a number of green initiatives to ensure that. Vianaar not only provides adequate green cover within its project premises
The company values its relationship with its customers and endeavours to delight them and exceed their expectations.
Vianaar's projects are affordable and quality is consistent, the company has set up its own in house construction team to carry out the execution of all its projects. Vianaar partners with leading industry professionals to create outstanding projects which are creditworthy of design and quality appreciation.
The company also runs a 'Vianaar Foundation' that focuses on various social issues and works to provide help to numerous sections of the society such as: Education, Food, Shelter and Human Rights.
Vianaar is growing at a rapid pace and along the journey helping realize dreams of various individuals to own a beautiful and luxurious home in Goa at affordable prices.
Key Description of Vianaar
•Vianaar is a real estate company and best real estate developers in Goa.
•Vianaar has established itself as a pioneer in developing beautiful holiday homes in Goa.
•We pride ourselves in delivering projects on time and also surpassing our client's expectations.
•All Vianaar's projects are affordable and quality is consistent, the company has set up its own in house construction team to carry out the execution of all its projects.
Inspired by the consistently sold-out Writing for Film & Television Summer Intensive Program, the Two-Weekend Intensive was designed for aspiring film and television writers with busy weekday schedules. Over the course of two weekends, participants learn a variety of screenwriting tools, techniques, and exercises that closely represent what students learn in the one-year Writing for Film & Television program.
Find out more about VFS’s one-year Writing for Film & Television program at vfs.com/writing.
Autumn is consistently a great time to visit, with the foliage adding so much in spectacular, rich colors. And even during the latter part of the season, there is something so special about the bareness of many trees and vegetation. The nice thing as an observer of nature’s critters is that the birds are so much more visible. Even if they are at a fair distance, at least, one can appreciate their features. Also, many fall berries and other fruits and nuts, often with bright colors and interesting shapes, accentuate the landscape as seen only at this time of year.
Art is also an integral part of Duke Farms (as you can see from our DUKE FARMS SET), and the Sphinx Guardian of the Orchid Range at Sunset is something special. This angle was chosen, for I wanted to capture a sense of what she’s taking in as she sits as sentinel.
The late, Doris Duke, had left a wonderful legacy in converting her magnificent estate into a Natural Wildlife Preserve for the public’s education and enjoyment. The paths throughout the estate offer such splendid scenery. One is forever exploring, always seeing something subtly beautiful. There are always pleasant surprises, from the general scenery to the world of the wildlife, even tiny insects and flowers are enjoyable to observe. The bucolic nature of the preserve is so relaxing—akin to meditating while experiencing the landscape. The beauty of visiting Duke Farms is that so many incredible views are there simply by observing all of the surroundings. Spotting new and fascinating wildlife—both animals and plants—always adds to the experience.
Andorra living: Urbanitzacio Sant Miquel d'Engolasters, E-E, Andorra city, Andorra - (c) Lutz Meyer
More Engolasters & Escaldes-Engordany: Follow the group links at right side.
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About this image:
* Half frame format 3x2 image
* Usage: Large format prints optional
* Motive is suitable as symbol pic
* "Andorra authentic" edition (20 years 2003-2023)
* "Andorra camis & rutes" active collection
* Advanced metadata functionality on dynamic websites or apps
* for large metadata-controlled business collections: photo-archives, travel agencies, tourism editiorials
We offer 200.000+ photos of Andorra and North of Spain. 20.000+ visable here at Flickr. Its the largest professional image catalog of Andorra: all regions, all cities and villages, all times, all seasons, all weather(s). Consistent for additional advanced programming. For smartphones and web-db. REAL TIME!
It's based on GeoCoded stock-photo images and metadata with 4-5 languages. Prepared for easy systematic organising of very large image portfolios with advanced online / print-publishing as "Culture-GIS" (Geographic Info System).
More information about usage, tips, how-to, conditions: www.flickr.com/people/lutzmeyer/. Get quality, data consistency, stable organisation and PR environments: Professional stockphotos for exciting stories - docu, tales, mystic.
Ask for licence! lutz(at)lutz-meyer.com
(c) Lutz Meyer, all rights reserved. Do not use this photo without license.
bauhaus building, dessau, germany, 1925-1926, architect: walter gropius
Gropius consistently separated the parts of the Bauhaus building according to their functions and designed each differently. He thereby arranged the different wings asymmetrically – in relation to what is today the Bauhausstraße and the Gropiusallee respectively. In order to appreciate the overall design of the complex, the observer must therefore move around the whole building. There is no central viewpoint.
The glazed, three-storey workshop wing, the block for the vocational school (also three storeys high) with its unostentatious rows of windows, and the five-storey studio building with its conspicuous, projecting balconies are the main elements of the complex. A two-storey bridge which housed, e.g., the administration department and, until 1928, Gropius’s architectural practice, connects the workshop wing with the vocational school. A single-storey building with a hall, stage and refectory, the so-called Festive Area, connects the workshop wing to the studio building. The latter originally featured 28 studio flats for students and junior masters, each measuring 20 m². The ingenious design of the portals between the foyer and the hall and a folding partition between the stage and the refectory, along with the ceiling design and colour design, impart a grandiose spatial coalescence to the sequence of foyer-hall-stage-refectory, shaping the so-called Festive Area. The façade of the students’ dormitory is distinguished in the east by individual balconies and in the south by long balconies that continue around the corner of the building.
The entire complex is rendered and painted mainly in light tones, creating an attractive contrast to the window frames, which are dark. For the interior, the junior master of the mural workshop, Hinnerk Scheper, designed a detailed colour plan that, by differentiating between supporting and masking elements through the use of colour, aimed to accentuate the construction of the building.
Mangosuthu Buthelezi - Prince Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi (27 August 1928 – 9 September 2023) was a South African politician and Zulu prince who served as the traditional prime minister to the Zulu royal family from 1954 until his death in 2023. He was appointed to this post by King Bhekuzulu, the son of King Solomon kaDinuzulu (a brother to Buthelezi's mother Princess Magogo kaDinuzulu).
Buthelezi was chief minister of the KwaZulu bantustan during apartheid and founded the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in 1975, leading it until 2019, and became its president emeritus soon after that. He was a political leader during Nelson Mandela's incarceration (1964–1990) and continued to be so in the post-apartheid era, when he was appointed by Mandela as Minister of Home Affairs, serving from 1994 to 2004.
Buthelezi was one of the most prominent black politicians of the apartheid era. He was the sole political leader of the KwaZulu government, entering when it was still the native reserve of Zululand in 1970 and remaining in office until it was abolished in 1994. Critics described his administration as a de facto one-party state, intolerant of political opposition and dominated by Inkatha (now the IFP), Buthelezi's political movement.
In parallel to his mainstream political career, Buthelezi held the Inkosiship of the Buthelezi clan, being the son of Inkosi Mathole Buthelezi, and was traditional prime minister to three successive Zulu kings, beginning with King Cyprian Bhekuzulu in 1954. He was himself born into the Zulu royal family; his maternal grandfather was King Dinuzulu who was a son of King Cetshwayo and whom Buthelezi played in the 1964 film called Zulu. While leader of KwaZulu, Buthelezi both strengthened and appropriated the public profile of the monarchy, reviving it as a symbol of Zulu nationalism. Bolstered by royal support, state resources, and Buthelezi's personal popularity, Inkatha became one of the largest political organizations in the country.
During the same period, Buthelezi publicly opposed apartheid and often took a patently obstructive stance toward the apartheid government. He lobbied consistently for the release of Nelson Mandela and staunchly refused to accept the nominal independence which the government offered to KwaZulu, correctly judging that it was a superficial independence. However, Buthelezi was derided in some quarters for participating in the bantustan system, a central pillar of apartheid, and for his moderate stance on such issues as free markets, armed struggle, and international sanctions. He became a bête noire of young activists in the Black Consciousness Movement and was repudiated by many in the African National Congress (ANC). A former ANC Youth League member, Buthelezi had aligned himself and Inkatha with the ANC in the 1970s, but in the 1980s their relationship became increasingly acrimonious. It emerged in the 1990s that Buthelezi had accepted money and military assistance from the apartheid regime for Inkatha, which stoked the political violence in KwaZulu and Natal in the 1980s and 1990s.
Buthelezi also played a complicated role during the negotiations to end apartheid, for which he helped set the framework as early as 1974 with the Mahlabatini Declaration of Faith. During the Congress for a Democratic South Africa, the IFP under Buthelezi lobbied for a federal system in South Africa with strong guarantees for regional autonomy and the status of Zulu traditional leaders. This proposal did not take hold and Buthelezi became aggrieved by what he perceived as the growing marginalisation both of the IFP and of himself personally, as negotiations were increasingly dominated by the ANC, and the white National Party government. He established the Concerned South Africans Group with other conservatives, withdrew from the negotiations, and launched a boycott of the 1994 general election, South Africa's first under universal suffrage. However, despite fears that Buthelezi would upend the peaceful transition entirely, Buthelezi and the IFP relented soon before the election, and not only participated, but also joined the Government of National Unity formed afterwards by newly elected President Mandela. Buthelezi served as Minister of Home Affairs under Mandela and under his successor, Thabo Mbeki, despite near-continuous tensions between the IFP and the governing ANC.
In subsequent years, the IFP struggled to expand its popular base beyond the new province of KwaZulu-Natal, which had absorbed KwaZulu in 1994. As the party's electoral fortunes declined, Buthelezi survived attempts by rivals within the party to unseat him. He remained the IFP's president until the party's 35th National General Conference in August 2019, when he declined to seek re-election and was succeeded by Velenkosini Hlabisa. In the 2019 general election, he was elected to a sixth consecutive term as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the IFP. He was the oldest MP in his country at the time of his death in 2023.
Buthelezi's role during the final decades of apartheid is controversial, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission found that the IFP under Buthelezi's leadership "was the primary non-state perpetrator" of violence during the apartheid era and named him as "a major perpetrator of violence and human rights abuses"
LINK to video - Watch | Documentary | Remembering Mangosuthu Buthelezi 1/3 - www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9DTNL7l9PA
LINK to video - Watch | Documentary | Remembering Mangosuthu Buthelezi 2/3 - www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDXv76-av5I
LINIK to video - Watch | Documentary | Remembering Mangosuthu Buthelezi 3/3 - www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXWUt9mDZSs&t=24s
"To every ω-consistent recursive class κ of formulae there correspond recursive class signs r, such that neither v Gen r nor Neg (v Gen r) belongs to Flg (κ) (where v is the free variable of r)."
– Kurt Gödel, Proposition VI, "On Formally Undecidable Propositions in Principia Mathematica and Related Systems I" (1931).
"Like all music, the figured bass should have no other end and aim than the glory of God and the recreation of the soul; where this is not kept in mind there is no true music, but only an infernal clamour and ranting."
– Johann Sebastian Bach
"Now, I should like to say something else to you about the connection with music, primarily that of Bach, i.e. the Fugue or, put more simply, the canon....It has a great deal in common with my own motifs, which I make turn on various axes too. Nowadays I have such a powerful sense of relationship, of affinity, that when I am listening to Bach I frequently get inspired and feel an overwhelming instinct for his insistent rhythm, a cadence seeking something of the infinite. In the Fugue everything is based on a single motif, often consisting of just a few notes. In my work, too, everything revolves around a single closed contour."
– M. C. Escher, letter of 1940.
"That swarm of ants that I observed, each one following the one ahead, have every one been Indra in the world of the gods by virtue of their own past action. And now, by virtue of their deeds done in the past, they have gradually fallen to the state of ants."
– Krsna, "Indra and the Ants".
© yohanes.budiyanto, 2014
PRELUDE
The 1st of August, 2014 was such an historic day as the world finally welcomed the birth of the first in line to the Parisian throne after a painstaking and extraordinary "labor" process that took four years in creation, and almost a decade in the making. I was not talking about a French rival to baby George, but instead a newborn that has sent shivers down the spines of Paris' oldest and current Kings and Grand Dames from the day it was conceived. Yes, I was referring to The Peninsula Paris, the youngest sister to the legendary Peninsula Hong Kong (circa 1928).
Ever since the project was announced to the public four years ago, it has been on my top list of the most eagerly awaited hotel openings of the decade. So when the hotel announced 1st of August as an opening date back in March, I immediately issued my First Class return tickets to the City of Light, risking the usual opening delay. A man of his word, Peninsula Paris finally opened as scheduled.
HISTORY
The Peninsula brand needs no introduction, as it is synonymous with quality, technology, innovation, craftsmanship and sophistication, -much like a slogan for French top brands and their savoir faire. Despite having only 10 current properties worldwide in its portfolio (Paris is its tenth), each Peninsula hotel is a market leader in each respective cities, and consistently tops the chart in many bonafide travel publications and reigns supreme as the world's best, especially elder sisters in Hong Kong and Bangkok. The Peninsula model is different from other rival hotel groups, which usually expand aggressively through both franchise and managed models worldwide. Instead, the Peninsula focuses on acquiring majority to sole ownership on all its properties to ensure control on quality (Hong Kong, New York, Chicago and Tokyo are 100% owned; Bangkok, Beijing and Manila are over 75%; Shanghai is 50%, while Beverly Hills and Paris are the only two with only 20% ownership).
The history of the Peninsula Paris could be traced back to a modest villa aptly called Hotel Basilevski on the plot of land at 19 Avenue Kleber back in 1864, -named after its Russian diplomat owner, Alexander Petrovich Basilevski, which caught the attention of hotelier Leonard Tauber for his prospective hotel project. The Versailles-styled property was partly a museum housing Basilevski's vast and impressive collection of 19th century medieval and Renaissance art, which eventually was acquired by Alexander III, -a Russian Tsar, at the sums of six millions francs. These collections were later transported to the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and formed the base collection for the newly established Department of Medieval and Renaissance Art. After Basilevski sold the villa and moved to a more palatial residence at Avenue du Trocadero, the property was then acquired and rebranded the Palais de Castille as the residence of the exiled Queen Isabella II of Spain in 1868, who seeked refuge and continued to live there until 1904. Upon her death, the property was later demolished in 1906 to make way for the Majestic hotel, which finally opened in 1908 with much satisfaction of Leonard Tauber, who has eyed the premise from the very beginning.
The Majestic Hotel was exquisitely designed in the Beaux-Art style as a grand hotel by prominent architect of that time, Armand Sibien. Together with The Ritz (circa 1898), the two became the most preferred places to stay and entertain in Paris of the time. The Majestic has attracted the well-heeled crowd, and hosted many high profile events, most notably for a particular dinner hosted by rich British couple Sydney and Violet Schiff on 18 May 1922 as the after party of Igor Stravinsky's 'Le Renard' ballet premiere, and the hotel becomes an instant legend. The guests list were impressive: Igor Stravinsky himself, Pablo Picasso, Sergei Diaghilev, and two of the 20th century most legendary writers: James Joyce and Marcel Proust, who met for the first and only time before Proust's death six months later. Since then, the Majestic continued to draw high profile guests, including George Gershwin on 25 March 1928, where he composed "An American in Paris" during the stay.
If the walls could talk, the Majestic has plenty of stories to tell. It was once converted into a hospital during the infamy in 1914, and the British took residency at the hotel during the Paris Peace Conference back in 1919. The hotel was then acquired by the French State in 1936 as the offices of the Ministry of Defence; and later had a stint as the German Military High Command in France between October 1940 to July 1944 during the World War II. Post war, it then became the temporary home for UNESCO from 16 September 1946 until 1958. More than a decade after, the Paris Peace talks was opened by Henry Kissinger in one of its spectacular Ballrooms in 1969 with the Northern Vietnamese. Four years later, the Paris Peace Accord was finally signed at the oak paneled-room next to the Ballroom on 27 January 1973, which ended the Vietnam War. This triumphant event has also led to another victorious event when Henry Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize that same year.
The hotel continued to serve as the International Conference Center of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs until it was up for sale by the government in 2008 as part of the cost cutting program to the Qatari Diar, -which later transferred its ownership to Katara Hospitality, for a staggering USD 460 million. An excess of USD 600 million was further spent on the massive rebuilding and refurbishment not only to restore the hotel to its former glory, but also to transform it into a Peninsula with the highest standard.
The epic restoration work was led by prominent French architect, Richard Martinet, who has also previously work with the restoration of Prince Roland Bonaparte's former mansion into the Shangri-La Paris and also the Four Seasons George V; and involved teams of France's leading craftsmen; heritage designers and organisations; stonemasons from historic monument specialist; master glass crafters; crystal manufacturer; wood, moulding and gilder restoration experts, -many of whom are third generation, and have carried out high profile projects such as the Palace of Versailles, Louvre Museum, the dome of Les Invalides, the Grand and Petit Palais, and even the flame of the Statue of Liberty in New York. The result is truly breathtaking, and it was certainly money well spent to revive and recreate one of the nation's most treasured landmark. One of my favorite places within the hotel is the Main Lobby at Avenue des Portugais where the grand hall is adorned with a spectacular chandelier installation comprising 800 pieces of glass leaves inspired by the plane trees along Avenue Kleber. The work of Spain's most influential artist since Gaudi, Xavier Corbero, could also be found nearby in the form of a beautiful sculpture called Moon River.
Katara Hospitality owns 80% of The Peninsula Paris, and already has a spectacular portfolio ownership consisting some of the world's finest hotels, including The Raffles Singapore, Le Royal Monceau-Raffles Paris, Ritz-Carlton Doha, Schweizerhof Bern, and most recently, 5 of the InterContinental Hotel's European flagships, including Amstel in Amsterdam, Carlton in Cannes, De la Ville in Rome, Madrid and Frankfurt. It is interesting to note that Adrian Zecha, founder of the extraordinary Amanresorts chain is a member of the Board of Directors at Katara since September 2011, lending his immense hospitality expertise to the group.
At over USD 1 billion cost, the Pen Paris project is easily the most expensive to ever being built, considering it has only 200 rooms over 6 storeys. As a comparison, the cost of building the 101 storey, 494m high Shanghai World Financial Center (where the Park Hyatt Shanghai resides) is USD 1.2 billion; whereas Burj Khalifa, the current tallest building on earth at 163 storey and 828m, costed a 'modest' USD 1.5 billion to build. The numbers are truly mind boggling, and The Peninsula Paris is truly an extraordinary project. It might took the Majestic Hotel two years to build; but it took four years just to restore and reincarnate it into a Peninsula.
HOTEL OPENING
On a pleasant afternoon of 1 August 2014, the hotel finally opened its door to a crowd of distinguished guests, international journalists, first hotel guests and local crowds who partake to witness the inauguration and rebirth of a Parisian legend and grande dame (Many A-list celebrities and even Head of State flocked to the hotel to witness its sheer beauty). It was an historic day not just for Paris, but also for the Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Group as it marks their arrival in Europe with its first ever Peninsula, while the second is already on the pipeline with the future opening of The Peninsula London, located just behind The Lanesborough at Knightsbridge.
The eagerly-awaited opening ceremony was attended by the Chairman of Katara Hospitality, His Excellency Sheikh Nawaf Bin Jassim Bin Jabor Al-Thani; CEO of Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Limited (HSH), Clement Kwok; Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, Laurent Fabius; General Manager of the Peninsula Paris, Nicolas Béliard; and the event kicked off with an opening speech by the famous French Secretary of State for Foreign Trade, the Promotion of Tourism and French Nationals Abroad, Madame Fleur Pellerin, who clearly stole the show with her public persona. A ribbon cutting and spectacular lion dance show concluded the event, which drew quite a spectacle on Avenue des Portugais as it brought a unique display of Asian heritage to the heart of cosmopolitan Paris.
LOCATION
The Peninsula Paris stands majestically at the tree-lined Avenue Kléber, just off the Arc de Triomphe. Personally, this is an ideal location in Paris as it is a stone's throw away from all the happenings at the Champs-Élysées, but is set away from its hustle and bustle, which is constantly a tourist trap day and night. Once you walk pass the leafy Avenue Kléber, the atmosphere is very different: peaceful and safe. The Kléber Metro station is just a few steps away from the hotel, providing guests a convenient access to further parts of town.
Champs-Élysées is the center of Parisian universe, and it is just a short and pleasant stroll away from the hotel, where some of the city's most legendary commercial and cultural institutions reside. For a start, Drugstore Publicis at the corner by the roundabout has been a legendary hang-out since the 1960s, and is my ultimate favourite place in town. The Post Modern edifice by architect Michele Saee (renovated in 2004) houses almost everything: a Cinema; side walk Brasserie & Steak House; Newsagency; Bookshop (you can find Travel publications and even the Michelin Guide); upscale Gift shop and Beauty corner (even Acqua di Parma is on sale here); Pharmacy (whose pharmacist thankfully speaks English and gladly advises you on your symptoms); upscale deli (stocking pretty much everything from Foie gras burger on the counter, to fine wines & cigar cellar; to Pierre Herme & Pierre Marcolini chocolates; Dalloyau bakery; Marriage Freres tea; and even the Petrossian Caviar!). Best of all, it features a 2 Michelin star L'atelier de Joel Robuchon Etoile on its basement; and the store is even opened on Sunday until 2am. It is a one stop shopping, eating and entertainment, showcasing the best of France.
Further down the road, Maison Louis Vuitton stands majestically on its own entire 7 storey building, which was opened in 2005 as one of the biggest flagship stores in the world, covering a total area of 1,800m2. Designed by Eric Carlson and Peter Marino, the entire store is an architectural marvel and the temple of luxury, elegance and sophistication. This is one of the very few stores to open in Sunday as the French Labour Unions prohibits commercial stores to open on Sunday, unless if it involves cultural, recreational and sporting aspect. Initially, Maison LV was ordered by the court to close on Sunday, but LVMH finally wins an appeal in 2007 on the grounds of cultural experience; and the store has continued to draw endless queue on Sunday.
A block away from Maison LV is the legendary Parisian Tea Room of Ladurée, which was founded in 1862 by Louis Ernest Ladurée on its original store at 16 Rue Royal as a bakery. The Champs-Élysées store was opened in 1997 and has since attracted an endless queue of tourists and locals who wish to savour its legendary Macarons and pastries. The Ladurée phenomenon and popularity could only be rivaled by fellow Frenchmen Pierre Hermé, who has also attracted a cult of loyal fans worldwide. It may not have a flagship store at Champs-Élysées, but one could easily stop by Drugstore Publicis for a quick purchase to ease the craving.
For those looking for upscale boutiques, Avenue Montaigne located just nearby on a perpendicular, and features the flagship presence of the world's finest luxury fashion labels: Armani, Bottega Veneta, Valention, Prada, Dior, Versace, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Saint Laurent, Fendi and Salvatore Ferragamo to name a few. For the ultimate in shopping extravaganza, head down to Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré where all money will (hopefully) be well spent.
Champs-Élysées is the most famous and expensive boulevard in the world, yet it has everything for everyone; and myriad of crowds flocking its grand boulevards for a pleasant stroll. It has no shortage of luxury stores, but it also offers mainstream stores for the general public, from Levi's to Zara and Lacoste; to McDonalds and Starbucks; and FNAC store (French answer to HMV).
In terms of fine dining experience, the areas around Champs-Élysées has plenty to offer. I have mentioned about the 2 Michelin L'atelier de Joel Robuchon Etoile at the Drugstore Publicis, which was excellent. Robuchon never disappoints as it consistently serves amazing French cuisine amidst its signature red and black interior everywhere I visited, including Tokyo (3 Michelin), Hong Kong (3 Michelin), Paris (2 Michelin) and Taipei.
During my stay, I also managed to sample the finest cuisine from the kitchens of two, 3-Michelin Paris institutions: Pierre Gagnaire at Rue Balzac, just off Champs-Élysées; and Epicure at Le Bristol by Chef Eric Frechon on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, which was undoubtedly the best and most memorable dining experiences I have ever had in Paris to date. It is certainly the gastronomic highlight of this trip.
Other 3 Michelin establishment, such as Ledoyen is also located nearby at an 18th century pavilion by the Gardens of Champs-Élysées by newly appointed famous French Chef Yannick Alléno, who previously also resided at the Le Meurice with 3 Michelin, until Alain Ducasse took over last year during the Plaza Athénée closure for expansion.
August is a time of misery for international visitors to Paris as most fine dining restaurants are closed for the summer holiday. When choices are limited, foodies could rely on Epicure and Robuchon, which are opened all year round; and also the 2 Michelin star Le Cinq at the Four Seasons George V. Although its food could not compete with Robuchon, Epicure and Gagnaire, guests could still enjoy the beautiful surroundings.
ROOMS:
On my visit to Paris last year, I was not too impressed with my stay at the Four Seasons George V, as everything seemed to be pretty basic: the room design; the in-room tech and amenities; and even the much lauded service. It simply does not justify the hefty price tag. The only thing stood out there were the ostentatious designer floral display at the lobby, which reportedly absorbed a six digit figure budget annually. When I saw them at the first time, this was what came to mind: guests are paying for these excessive flowers, whether you like it or not.
Fortunately, the Peninsula Paris skips all this expensive gimmick, and instead spends a fortune for guests to enjoy: advance room technology; a host of complimentary essential amenities, including internet access, non-alcoholic minibar, and even long distance phone calls. In fact, every single items inside the room has been well thought and designed for guest's ultimate comfort.
Ever since The Peninsula Bangkok opened in 1998 to much success, the group has used it as a template for its signature rooms for future sister hotels, which consists of an open plan, ultra-wide spacious room equivalent to a 2 bays suite, with 5-fixtures bathroom, and a separate Dressing Room, which soon becomes a Peninsula signature.
The Peninsula Tokyo followed this template when it opened in 2007 to rave reviews; and it was soon adopted as a model for Peninsula Shanghai, which later opened in 2009 as the flagship property in Mainland China. This layout is also being applied at The Peninsula Paris, albeit for its Suites categories, i.e. Junior Suite, which measure at an astonishing 50 - 60m2. The entry level Superior and Deluxe Rooms lack the signature layout with smaller size at 35 - 45m2, but they are already spacious for a Parisian standard; and each is equipped with Peninsula's signature technology.
Technology is indeed at the core of the Peninsula DNA, and no expense is spared in creating the world's most advance in-room technology. When other hotels try to cut costs and budgets on in-room technology with lame excuses, the Peninsula actually spends a fortune to innovate and set a new benchmark. In fact, it is probably the only hotel group to have its own Technology laboratory at a secret location deep inside Aberdeen, Hong Kong, where in-room tech is being developed and tested. It was here where innovative devices, such as the outside temperature indicator; my favourite Spa Button by the bathtub; or even the portable nail dryer for the ladies are invented. The Peninsula took the world by storm when it introduced the Samsung Galaxy tablet device at the Peninsula Hong Kong in 2012, which is programmed in 11 languages and virtually controls the entire room, including the lights, temperature, curtains, TV, radio, valet calls and Do Not Disturb sign. It even features touch screen Room Service Menu, hotel information, city guide, and a function to request room service and housekeeping items, thus creating an entirely paperless environment.
All these technological marvel are also being replicated at the Peninsula Paris, together with other 'standard' features, such as Nespresso Coffee Machine; flat-screen 3D LED television; LED touch screen wall panels; an iPod/iPad docking station; memory card reader; 4-in1 fax/scanner/printer/photocopier machine; DVD player; complimentary in-house HD movies; complimentary internet access and long distance calls through the VOIP platform. Even the room's exterior Parisian-styled canopy is electronically operated. All these technological offerings is so extremely complex, that it resulted in 2.5 km worth of cabling in each room alone.
Bathroom at the Junior Suite also features Peninsula's signature layout: a stand alone bathtub as the focal point, flanked by twin vanities and separate shower and WC compartments amidst acres of white marble. Probably the first in Paris, it features a Japanese Toilet complete with basic control panel, and a manual handheld bidet sprayer.
When all these add up to the stay, it actually brings a very good value to the otherwise high room rates. Better yet, the non-alcoholic Minibar is also complimentary, which is a first for a Peninsula hotel. The Four Seasons George V may choose to keep looking back to its antiquity past and annihilate most technological offerings to its most basic form, but the Pen always looks forward to the future and brings the utter convenience, all at your finger tip. The Peninsula rooms are undoubtedly the best designed, best equipped and most high-tech in the entire universe.
ROOM TO BOOK:
The 50 - 60m2 Junior Suite facing leafy Avenue Kléber is the best room type to book as it is an open-plan suite with Peninsula's signature bathroom and dressing room; and the ones located on the Premiere étage (first floor) have high ceilings and small balcony overlooking Kleber Terrace's iconic glass canopy. Personally, rooms facing the back street at Rue La Pérouse are the least preferred, but its top level rooms inside the Mansart Roof on level 5 have juliet windows that allow glimpse of the tip of Eiffel Tower despite being smaller in size due to its attic configuration. Superior Rooms also lack the signature Peninsula 5 fixtures bathroom configuration, so for the ultimate bathing experience, make sure to book at least from the Deluxe category.
If money is no object, book one of the five piece-de-resistance suites with their own private rooftop terrace and gardens on the top floor, which allow 360 degree panoramic views of Paris. Otherwise, the mid-tier Deluxe Suite is already a great choice with corner location, multiple windows and 85m2 of pure luxury.
DINING:
Looking back at the hotel's illustrious past, the Peninsula offers some of the most unique and memorable dining experiences in Paris, steep in history.
The area that once housed Igor Stravinksy's after party where James Joyce met Marcel Proust for the first time is now the hotel's Cantonese Restaurant, aptly called LiLi; and is led by Chef Chi Keung Tang, formerly of Peninsula Tokyo's One Michelin starred Hei Fung Terrace. Lili was actually modeled after Peninsula Shanghai's Yi Long Court, but the design here blends Chinese elements with Art Nouveau style that flourished in the late 1920s. It also boasts a world first: a spectacular 3x3.3m fiber optic installation at the entrance of the restaurant, depicting the imaginary portrait of LiLi herself. The Cantonese menu was surprisingly rather simple and basic, and features a selection of popular dim sum dishes. The best and most memorable Chinese restaurants I have ever experienced are actually those who masterfully fuse Chinese tradition with French ingredients: Jin Sha at the Four Seasons Hangzhou at Westlake; 2 Michelin Tin Lung Heen at Level 102 of the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong; Jiang at Mandarin Oriental Guangzhou by Chef Fei; and Ya Ge at Mandarin Oriental Taipei. Ironically, the world's only 3 Michelin star Chinese restaurant, Lung King Heen at the Four Seasons Hong Kong failed to impress me.
The former Ballroom area where Henry Kissinger started the Paris Peace talks with the Vietnamese has now been transformed as The Lobby, which is a signature of every Peninsula hotels where the afternoon tea ritual takes place daily. The spectacular room with intricate details and crystal chandeliers has been meticulously restored, and is an ideal place to meet, see and be seen. Breakfast is served daily here, and guests could choose to have it either inside or outside at the adjoining al fresco La Terrasse Kléber, which connects all the F&B outlets on the ground floor, including Lili. Guests could choose from a Chinese set breakfast, which includes dim sum, fried vermicelli, and porridge with beef slices; or the Parisian set, which includes gourmet items such as Egg Benedict with generous slices of Jamon Iberico on top. The afternoon tea ritual is expected to be very popular as renowned Chef Pattissier Julien Alvarez, -who claimed the World Pastry Champion in 2009; and also the Spanish World Chocolate Master in 2007 at the tender age of 23, is at the helm; and the venue quickly booked out from the opening day.
Next to the Lobby is a small, intimate bar covered in exquisite oak panelling where Henry Kissinger signed the Paris Peace Accord back in 1973 that ended the Vietnam War. Kissinger politely declined the offer to have the Bar named after him, and instead it is simply called Le Bar Kléber.
On the top floor of the hotel lies the signature restaurant L'Oiseau Blanc, which is named after the French biplane that disappeared in 1927 in an attempt to make the first non-stop transatlantic flight between Paris and New York. A 75% replica of the plane has even been installed outside the main entrance of the restaurant with the Eiffel Tower on its background. The restaurant is divided into 3 distinct areas: a spectacular glass enclosed main dining room; a large outdoor terrace that runs the entire length of the hotel's roof; and an adjoining lively bar, all with breathtaking uninterrupted views of Paris' most identifiable landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower and the Sacré-Cœur at the highest point of the city at Montmartre.
L'Oiseau Blanc is led by Chef Sidney Redel, a former protégé of Pierre Gagnaire, and serves contemporary French cuisine focussing on 'terroir' menu of locally sourced seasonal ingredients from the region. During my stay, tomato was the seasonal ingredients, and Chef Redel created four courses incorporating tomato, even on dessert. While the food was of high quality, personally the menu still needs fine tuning, considering the sort of clientele the Pen is aiming for: the ultra rich (Chinese), who usually seek top establishments with luxury ingredients, such as caviar, black truffle, foie gras, blue lobster, Jamon Iberico, Wagyu beef, Kurobuta pork and Challans chicken.
LEISURE:
The Peninsula Paris features one of the best health and recreational facilities in the city, housed within the basement of the hotel, and covers an expansive area of 1,800m2. For a comparison, rival Mandarin Oriental Spa covers a total area of only 900m2 over two floors. The Peninsula Spa is undoubtedly one of the nicest urban spa that I have been to, it easily beats the Spa at the Four Seasons George V. The pool is also one of the city's largest at 22m long, -compared to both the Shangri-La and Mandarin Oriental at 15m; the George V at only 9m, which is more like a bigger jacuzzi. The only two other pools better than the Peninsula is the one designed by Phillippe Starck at the Le Royal Monceau at 28m; and the spectacular grand pool at the Ritz.
There is the usual 24 hours gym within two fitness spaces equipped with Technogym machines and free weights; and the locker rooms features steam, sauna, and experience shower room. There is a total of 8 treatment rooms within the Spa area, and the highlight is certainly the Relaxation Room, which is equipped with amazing day beds with specially placed deep cushions. The best part? the beds are electronically operated, much like a first class seat on a plane.
X-FACTOR:
The Peninsula signature technology; The Spa Button in the bathroom; VOIP technology for complimentary long distance calls; The top suites (Historic, Katara and Peninsula Suites); Xavier Corbero's Moon River sculpture at the Lobby; Lili; The Lobby and Bar where Henry Kissinger signed Paris Peace Accord; L'Oiseau Blanc Restaurant; The 1,800m2 Peninsula Spa; and the 1934 Rolls Royce Phantom II.
SERVICE:
There are a total of 600 staffs for just 200 rooms, so the service level is expected to be high; but it is perhaps unfair to judge the service during the opening weeks when all staffs were not at their best due to the intense preparation leading to the opening event. Furthermore, teething problems are expected for a newly opened hotel as great hotels are not born overnight, but takes a good few years of refinement.
Nonetheless, I was actually quite impressed with the level of service during the whole stay, as the majority of the staffs showed great attitude and much enthusiasm, which is a testament of great intense training. As one of the first guests arriving on the opening day, check-in was truly delightful and memorable as a battalion of staffs of different ranks welcomed and wished the most pleasant stay. The mood could not have been more festive as moments later, the hotel was finally inaugurated.
I was also particularly impressed with the service at both LiLi and The Lobby where staffs performed at an exceptional level like a veteran. There are two distinct qualities that made a lot of difference during the stay: humility and friendliness, which is quite a challenge to find, not only in Paris and the entire Europe, but even in Asian cities, such as Hong Kong. It is like finding needles in a haystack. A genuine smile seems to be a rare commodity these days, so I was happy to see plenty of smiles at the Peninsula Paris during the stay, from the signature Peninsula Pageboys to waiters, Maître d, receptionists and even to Managers and Directors. In fact, there were more smiles in Paris than Hong Kong.
When I woken up too early for breakfast one day, the restaurant was just about to open; and there were hardly anyone. I realized that even the birds were probably still asleep, but I was extremely delighted to see how fresh looking and energetic the staffs were at the dining room. There was a lot of genuine smile that warmed the rather chilly morning; and it was a great start to the day. One of the staffs I met during the stay even candidly explained how they were happy just to be at work, and it does not feel like working at all, which was clearly shown in their passion and enthusiasm.
That said, the Shangri-La Paris by far is still my top pick for best service as it is more personalized and refined due to its more intimate scale. The Shangri-La Paris experience is also unique as guests are welcomed to a sit down registration by the historic lounge off the Lobby upon arrival, and choice of drinks are offered, before being escorted to the room for in-room check-in. Guests also receive a Pre-Arrival Form in advance, so the hotel could anticipate and best accommodate their needs. During the stay, I was also addressed by my last name everywhere within the hotel, so it was highly personalized. I did receive similar treatment at The Peninsula Paris, -albeit in a lesser extent due to its size; and even the housekeeping greeted me by my last name. Every requests, from room service to mineral water were all handled efficiently at a timely manner. At times, service could be rather slow at the restaurants (well, it happens almost everywhere in Paris), but this is part of the Parisian lifestyle where nothing is hurried; and bringing bills/checks upfront is considered rude. I did request the food servings to be expedited during a lunch at LiLi on the last day due to the time constraint; and the staffs managed to succeed the task not only ahead of the time limit, but also it never felt hurried all along. Everything ran as smooth as silk.
VERDICT:
It was a personal satisfaction to witness the history in the making during the opening day on 1 August 2014, as the Peninsula Paris is my most eagerly awaited hotel opening of the decade. It was also historic, as it was a first in my travel to dedicate a trip solely for a particular hotel in a particular city (in this case Paris, some 11,578km away from home), without staying at other fine hotels. It was money well spent, and a trip worth taking as it was an amazing stay; and certainly a lifetime experience.
The Peninsula Paris could not have arrived at a better time, as two of the most established Parisian grande dames (Ritz and de Crillon) are still closed for a complete renovation, and will only be revealed in 2015; so there is plenty of time to adapt, grow and hone its skills. But with such pedigree, quality and illustrious history, the Pen really has nothing to be worried about. The Four Seasons George V seems to have a cult of highly obsessed fans (esp. travel agents) worldwide, but personally (and objectively), it is no match to the Peninsula. Based on physical product alone, the Pen wins in every aspect as everything has been meticulously designed with the focus on guest comfort and convenience. In terms of technology, the Pen literally has no rival anywhere on the planet, except from the obvious sibling rivalry.
The only thing that the Pen still needs to work on is its signature restaurants as all its rival hotels have at least 2 Michelin star restaurants (L'abeille at the Shangri-La; Sur Mesure at the Mandarin Oriental; and 3 Michelin at Epicure, Le Bristol; Le Cinq at the Four Seasons George V and Alain Ducasse at Le Meurice). L'Oiseau Blanc design is truly breathtaking and would certainly be the most popular gastronomic destination in Paris, but at the moment, the food still needs some works.
There were the expected teething problems and some inconsistencies with the service; but with years of refinement, The Peninsula Paris will no doubt ascend the throne. Personally, the Shangri-La Paris is currently the real competitor, together with the upcoming Ritz and de Crillon when they open next year, especially when Rosewood has taken over Crillon management and Karl Lagerfeld is working on its top suites. The two, however, may still need to revisit the drawing boards and put more effort on the guestrooms if they ever want to compete; because at the moment, The Peninsula Paris is simply unrivaled.
UPDATE 2016:
*I have always been very spot-on with my predictions. After only two years since its opening, The Peninsula Paris has been awarded the much coveted Palace status. In fact, it is the only hotel in Paris to receive such distinction in 2016. Congratulations, it is very much deserving*
PERSONAL RATING:
1. Room: 100
2. Bathroom: 100
3. Bed: 100
4. Service: 90
5. In-room Tech: 100
6. In-room Amenities: 100
7. Architecture & Design: 100
8. Food: 80
9. View: 80
10. Pool: 95
11. Wellness: 95
12. Location: 95
13. Value: 100
Overall: 95.00
Compare with other Parisian hotels (all with Palace status) that I have stayed previously:
SHANGRI-LA HOTEL, PARIS: 95.00
PARK HYATT PARIS-VENDOME: 90.00
My #1 ALL TIME FAVORITE HOTEL
LANDMARK MANDARIN ORIENTAL, HONG KONG: 95.38
THE PENINSULA, PARIS
19, Avenue Kléber, Paris
Awarded Palace Status in 2016
General Manager: Nicolas Béliard
Hotel Manager: Vincent Pimont
Executive Chef: Jean-Edern Hurstel
Head Chef (Lili): Chi Keung Tang
Head Chef (L'oiseau Blanc): Sidney Redel
Head Chef (The Lobby): Laurent Poitevin
Chef Patissier: Julien Alvarez
Architect (original Majestic Hotel, circa 1908): Armand Sibien
Architect (renovation & restoration, 2010-2014): Richard Martinet
Interior Designer: Henry Leung of Chhada Siembieda & Associates
Landscape Designer: D. Paysage
Art Curator: Sabrina Fung
Art Restorer: Cinzia Pasquali
Artist (Courtyard installation): Ben Jakober & Yannick Vu
Crystal work: Baccarat
Designer (Lili fiber optic installation): Clementine Chambon & Francoise Mamert
Designer (Chinaware): Catherine Bergen
Gilder Specialist & Restorer: Ateliers Gohard
Glass Crafter (Lobby Installation): Lasvit Glass Studio
Master Glass Crafters: Duchemin
Master Sculptor (Lobby): Xavier Corbero
Metalwork: Remy Garnier
Plaster & Moulding Expert: Stuc et Staff
Silverware: Christofle
Silk & Trimmings: Declercq Passementiers
Wood Restoration Expert: Atelier Fancelli
Hotel Opening Date: 01 August 2014
Notable owners: Katara Hospitality; Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Group (HSH)
Total Rooms & Suites: 200 (including 35m2 Superior, 45m2 Deluxe, 50m2 Grand Deluxe, 55m2 Premier and 60m2 Grand Premier Rooms)
Total Suites: 34 Suites (including 70m2 Superior, 85m2 Deluxe and 100m2 Premier
Top Suites: Historic Suite, Katara Suite, and The Peninsula Suite
Bathroom Amenities: Oscar de la Renta
Restaurants: The Lobby (All day dining & Afternoon tea), LiLi (Cantonese), L'Oiseau Blanc (French), La Terrasse Kléber
Bars and Lounges: Le Bar Kléber; Kléber Lounge; Cigar Lounge; and L'Oiseau Blanc Bar
Meeting & Banquets: Salon de l'Étoile for up to 100 guests, and 3 smaller Function Rooms
Health & Leisure: 24 hours gym & 1,800m2 Peninsula Spa with 22m indoor swimming pool and jacuzzis; Steam & Sauna, Relaxation Room, and 8 treatment rooms
Transport: chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce Extended Wheel Base Phantom; a 1934 Rolls Royce Phantom II; 2 MINI Cooper S Clubman; and a fleet of 10 BMW 7 Series
Complimentary facilities: Non-alcoholic Minibar; Wired and Wireless Internet; VOIP long distance calls; HD Movies; Daily fruit Basket; International Newspaper; Chauffeured MINI Cooper S Clubman for Suites guests; and Chauffeured Rolls Royce for top Suites
paris.peninsula.com
Madonna and Child
FILIPINO
17th Century
Ivory, gilding and polychromy.
Image of the Madonna and Child consistent with similar "Philippine-Made" images of the 17th century. The Virgin cradles the infant on her left arm while supporting the child with her righ while clutching his foot by the toes. This is similar to how the great Spanish sculptor Juan Martinez Montanez carved his Madonnas. Part of the Virgin's tresses peeks from under a veil that folds gently at the top of the Virgin's head. The hair falls in ropy strands around her shoulders consistent with archaic renderings of the Virgin's hair.
The Virgin's mantle crosses her torso latereally from the left and gathered right and under the child. Notice the fine carving around the hem of the Virgin's mantle. The Virgin's gown contains traces of gilding and polychromy. The gown is carved in a somewhat agitated manner (what Estella Marcos would describe as "mantos alborotos"). The gown terminates in gently "bunched" folds around the Virgin's feet.
A "suksuk" or tuck is present in the back of the image. See next photo. The ensemble mounted on a carved, gesso and gilt base.
Height: 31 cm or 12.25 in
Provenance: Private Collection, Mexico City.
Published in: Navarro de Pintado, B. 1985. Marfiles cristianos del Oriente en Mexico [Christian oriental ivories in Mexico]. Mexico City: Fomento Cultural Banamex. pl. 53.
Popular culture depictions of zombies have evolved into a relatively consistent archetype generally consistent with the Romero zombie and characterized by the following traits:
• A body comprised of a deceased human body that has subsequently reanimated, usually because of a viral infection incurred in the brain while the body was still living.
• Reduced speed of movement relative to normal humans (however, some recent theatrical depictions of zombies portray them as moving as fast as a healthy human, or even faster). This is possibly due to their decaying muscles (leading to slow movement) or adrenaline (leading to quick movements).
• Increased endurance relative to normal humans; some sources attribute this to removal of normal neurological limits to muscle endurance (e.g., Golgi tendon reflex). This could also mean their inability to feel pain at times, as they are not affected by nerves.
• Profoundly reduced or absent cognitive function - Zombies may have impaired eyesight, hearing or smelling. However, they are known to be attracted by bright lights or loud noises, possibly meaning that they may instead be highly sensitive to them. Some even believe that zombies are attracted to the anything that make noise which is widely supported and seen in films and media like the Walking Dead and even in Night of the Living Dead.
• An insatiable and endless desire to consume living animal flesh, usually human, sometimes favoring brains. Some depicts zombies simply possessing the desire to kill.
• Lack of normal human biological functions such as sleep, digestion,
• Lack of normal human biological requirements such as conventional food, sleep, or even oxygen.
• Supernatural resistance or immunity to traumatic injury of any part of the body except for the brain. This is mainly due to the death of their nerves which makes them unable to experience pain or irritation.
• Vulnerable only to attacks that remove the head or destroy the brain. Some zombies are depicted to also be vulnerable to powerful attacks (crushing of the body, high-caliber shot) which also kills them outright, but the simplest way, still, is to remove the brain.
• Has high aggression and little intelligence and has the some of the traits of a rabid person.
• Ignores or is oblivious of fellow zombies.
• In some depictions zombies can be seen eating each other if there is a lack of humans, as was the case in the video game "Resident Evil Operation Racoon City", however it seems they favor humans as they will stop eating each other should a human get too close.
[zombipedia]
zombie.wikia.com/wiki/Zombie_Wiki
Singapore Zoo ranks consistently (after San Diego Zoo) as one of the best in the world.
The white Bengal tigers – this one originally from a zoo in Indonesia – are a popular attraction at the Singapore Zoo.
For the story, please visit: www.ursulasweeklywanders.com/travel/teeth-claws-and-colou...
Niagara Falls is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 48,671. It is adjacent to the Niagara River, across from the city of Niagara Falls, Ontario, and named after the famed Niagara Falls which they share. The city is within the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area and the Western New York region.
While the city was formerly inhabited by Native Americans, Europeans who migrated to the Niagara Falls in the mid-17th century began to open businesses and develop infrastructure. Later in the 18th and 19th centuries, scientists and businessmen began harnessing the power of the Niagara River for electricity and the city began to attract manufacturers and other businesses drawn by the promise of inexpensive hydroelectric power. After the 1960s, however, the city and region witnessed an economic decline, following an attempt at urban renewal under then Mayor Lackey. Consistent with the rest of the Rust Belt as industries left the city, old line affluent families relocated to nearby suburbs and out of town.
Despite the decline in heavy industry, Niagara Falls State Park and the downtown area closest to the falls continue to thrive as a result of tourism. The population, however, has continued to decline from a peak of 102,394 in the 1960s due to the loss of manufacturing jobs in the area.
Before Europeans entered the area, it was dominated by the Neutral Nation of Native Americans. European migration into the area began in the 17th century. The first recorded European to visit the area was Frenchman Robert de la Salle, who built Fort Conti at the mouth of the Niagara River early in 1679, with permission from the Iroquois, as a base for boatbuilding; his ship Le Griffon was built on the upper Niagara River at or near Cayuga Creek in the same year. He was accompanied by Belgian priest Louis Hennepin, who was the first known European to see the falls. The influx of newcomers may have been a catalyst for already hostile native tribes to turn to open warfare in competition for the fur trade.
The City of Niagara Falls was incorporated on March 17, 1892, from the villages of Manchester and Suspension Bridge, which were parts of the Town of Niagara. Thomas Vincent Welch, a member of the charter committee and a New York state assemblyman and a second-generation Irish American, persuaded Governor Roswell P. Flower to sign the bill on St. Patrick's Day. George W. Wright was elected the first mayor of Niagara Falls.
By the end of the 19th century, the city was heavily industrialized, due in part to the power potential offered by the Niagara River. Tourism was considered a secondary niche, while manufacturing of petrochemicals, abrasives, metallurgical products and other materials was the main producer of jobs and attracted a large number of workers, many of whom were immigrants.
Industry and tourism grew steadily throughout the first half of the 20th century due to a high demand for industrial products and the increased mobility of people to travel. Paper, rubber, plastics, petrochemicals, carbon insulators and abrasives were among the city's major industries. This prosperity would end by the late 1960s as aging industrial plants moved to less expensive locations. In addition, the falls were incompatible with modern shipping technology.[further explanation needed]
In 1956, the Schoellkopf Power Plant on the lower river just downstream of the American Falls was critically damaged by the collapse of the Niagara Gorge wall above it. This prompted the planning and construction of one of the largest hydroelectric plants to be built in North America to that time, generating a large influx of workers and families to the area. New York City urban planner Robert Moses built the new power plant in nearby Lewiston, New York. Much of the power generated there fueled growing demands for power in downstate New York and New York City.
The neighborhood of Love Canal gained national media attention in 1978 when toxic waste contamination from a chemical landfill beneath it forced United States President Jimmy Carter to declare a state of emergency, the first such presidential declaration made for a non-natural disaster. Hundreds of residents were evacuated from the area, many of whom were ill because of exposure to chemical waste.
After the Love Canal disaster, the city—which had already been declining in population for nearly two decades—experienced accelerated economic and political difficulties. The costs of manufacturing elsewhere had become less expensive, which led to the closure of several factories. The city's population eventually dropped by more than half of its peak, as workers fled the city in search of jobs elsewhere. Then, much like the nearby city of Buffalo, the city's economy plummeted when a failed urban renewal project destroyed Falls Street and the tourist district.
In 2001, the leadership of Laborers Local 91 was found guilty of extortion, racketeering and other crimes following an exposé by Mike Hudson of the Niagara Falls Reporter. Union boss Michael "Butch" Quarcini died before trial, while the rest of the union leadership was sentenced to prison.
In early 2010, former Niagara Falls Mayor Vincenzo Anello was indicted on federal charges of corruption, alleging the mayor accepted $40,000 in loans from a businessman who was later awarded a no-bid lease on city property. The charges were dropped as part of a plea deal after Anello pleaded guilty to unrelated charges of pension fraud, regarding a pension from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, of which he is a member. He was sentenced to 10 to 16 months in prison.
The city's decline received national exposure from Bloomberg Businessweek in 2010.
On November 30, 2010, the New York State Attorney General entered into an agreement with the city and its police department to create new policies to govern police practices in response to claims of excessive force and police misconduct. The city committed to create policies and procedures to prevent and respond to allegations of excessive force, and to ensure police are properly trained and complaints are properly investigated. Prior claims filed by residents will be evaluated by an independent panel.
In 2020, a public square named Cataract Commons opened on Old Falls Street. It is a public space for outdoor events and activities.
The city has multiple properties on the National Register of Historic Places. It also has three national historic districts, including Chilton Avenue-Orchard Parkway Historic District, Deveaux School Historic District and the Park Place Historic District.
Niagara Falls is at the international boundary between the United States and Canada. The city is within the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area and is approximately 16 miles (26 km) from Buffalo, New York.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 16.8 square miles (44 km2), of which 14.1 square miles (37 km2) is land and 2.8 square miles (7.3 km2) (16.37%) is water. The city is built along the Niagara Falls and the Niagara Gorge, which is next to the Niagara River.
Niagara Falls has a humid continental climate (Dfa). The city experiences cold, snowy winters and hot, humid summers. Precipitation is moderate and consistent in all seasons, falling equally or more as snow during the winter. The city has snowier than average winters compared to most cities in the US, however less than many other cities in Upstate New York including nearby Buffalo and Rochester. Thaw cycles with temperatures above 32 °F (0 °C) are a common occurrence. The hottest and coldest temperatures recorded in the decade through 2015 were 97 °F (36 °C) in 2005 and −13 °F (−25 °C) in 2003, respectively. 38% of warm season precipitation falls in the form of a thunderstorm.
Buffalo Avenue – runs along the south end along the Niagara River once home to a vast number of old families with architecturally significant mansions; further east (past John Daly Boulevard) the street is surrounded by a number of industrial sites to 56th Street before returning to a residential area and ending at the Love Canal area at 102nd Street.
Central District
Deveaux – Located in the northwestern corner (west of the North End) along the Niagara River is residential area built in the 1920s to 1940s. Named for Judge Samuel DeVeaux who left his estate to be established as the Deveaux College for Orphans and Destitute Children in 1853 (closed 1971), now the site of DeVeaux Woods State Park and DeVeaux School Historical District.
Downtown – Area around the Falls and home to hotels including Seneca Niagara Resort Casino, Niagara Falls State Park, Niagara Falls Culinary Institute (formerly Rainbow Centre Factory Outlet)
East Side – the area bounded by the gorge on the west, Niagara Street on the south, Ontario Avenue on the North and Main Street (NY Rt 104) on the east.
Hyde Park – Located near the namesake Hyde Park next to Little Italy as well as home to Hyde Park Municipal Golf Course.
LaSalle – Bounded by 80th Street, Niagara Falls Boulevard, Cayuga Drive and LaSalle Expressway was built up in the 1940s to 1960s. Cayuga Island is linked to neighborhood. The actual neighborhood where the Love Canal was to be built.
Little Italy – home to a once predominately Italian community that runs along Pine Avenue from Main Street to Hyde Park Boulevard
Love Canal – Established in the 1950s on land acquired from Hooker Chemical Company. Most of the neighborhood was evacuated in the 1980s after toxic waste was discovered underground. Resettlement began in 1990.[24]
Niagara Street – residential area east of Downtown along Niagara Street (distinct from Niagara Ave.) once home to a predominately German and Polish community.
North End – runs along Highland Avenue in the north end of the city before it merges with Hyde Park Boulevard.
As of the census of 2010, there were 50,193 people, 22,603 households, and 12,495 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,987.7 people per square mile (1,153.5 per square km). There were 26,220 housing units at an average density of 1,560.7 per square mile (602.6/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 70.5% White, 21.6% African American, 1.9% Native American, 1.2% Asian, 0% Pacific Islander, 0.8% from other races, and 3.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.0% of the population.
There were 22,603 households, out of which 23.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 29.8% were married couples living together, 19.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.7% were non-families. 38.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 4.02.
In the city, 22% of the population was under the age of 18, 10.1% aged from 18 to 24, 24.2% from 25 to 44, 28.2% from 45 to 64, and 15.5% were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $26,800, and the median income for a family was $34,377. Males had a median income of $31,672 versus $22,124 for females. 23% of the population was below the poverty line.
Niagara Falls has a number of places of worship, including the Salvation Army, First Assembly of God Church, First Unitarian Universalist Church of Niagara, St. Peter's Episcopal Church, First Presbyterian Church, St. Theresa Roman Catholic Church in Deveaux, and the Reform Jewish Temple Beth El. The Conservative Jewish Temple Beth Israel closed in 2012.
Niagara Falls has struggled with high rates of violent and property crime; FBI crime data indicate that the city has among the highest crime rates in New York state. In response to gun violence, volunteer groups such as Operation SNUG mobilized to promote positive community involvement in the troubled areas of the city.
Comptroller reported that Niagara Falls has "struggled through decades of population losses, rising crime and repeated attempts to reinvent itself from a manufacturing town with some tourism to a major tourist destination." The city became a boomtown with the opening of the New York State Power Authority's hydroelectric Niagara Power Plant in the 1960s; the cheap electricity produced by the plant generated power for a burgeoning manufacturing industry. Along with the rest of Western New York, Niagara Falls suffered a significant economic decline from a decline in industry by the 1970s. Today, the city struggles to compete with Niagara Falls, Ontario; the Canadian side has a greater average annual income, a higher average home price, and lower levels of vacant buildings and blight, as well as a more vibrant economy and better tourism infrastructure. The population of Niagara Falls, New York fell by half from the 1960s to 2012. In contrast, the population of Niagara Falls, Ontario more than tripled. In 2000, the city's median household income was 36% below the national average. In 2012, the city's unemployment rate was significantly higher than the statewide unemployment rate.
Significant sources of economic activity in the region includes the Niagara Falls International Airport, which was renovated in 2009; the Seneca Gaming Corporation's Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel, which opened in the 2000s respectively; and the nearby Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station.
In late 2001, the State of New York established the USA Niagara Development Corporation, a subsidiary to the State's economic development agency, to focus specifically on facilitating development in the downtown area. However, the organization has been criticized for making little progress and doing little to improve the city's economy.
From 1973 to 2002, the city had a Convention and Civic Center on 4th street. In 2002 the venue was converted into the Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel. In 2004, a new Niagara Falls Convention Center (NFCC) opened on Old Falls Street. The Old Falls Street venue has 116,000 square feet for exhibitions and meetings, and a 32,200-square-foot event/exhibit hall.
The city is home to the Niagara Falls State Park. The park has several attractions, including Cave of the Winds behind the Bridal Veil Falls, Maid of the Mist, a popular boat tour which operates at the foot of the Rainbow Bridge, Prospect Point and its observation tower, Niagara Discovery Center, Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center, and the Aquarium of Niagara.
Several other attractions also near the river, including Whirlpool State Park, De Veaux Woods State Park, Earl W. Brydges Artpark State Park in nearby Lewiston (town), New York, and Fort Niagara State Park in Youngstown, New York.
Attractions in the downtown include the Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel and Pine Avenue which was historically home to a large Italian American population and is now known as Little Italy for its abundance of shops and quality restaurants.
The Niagara Power of the New York Collegiate Baseball League play at Sal Maglie Stadium. The team is owned by Niagara University. The Cataract City Wolverines of the Gridiron Developmental Football League are a minor league football team based in Niagara Falls. The team played their inaugural season in 2021.
In 2017, the Tier III junior North American 3 Hockey League team, the Lockport Express, relocated to Niagara Falls as the Niagara Falls PowerHawks.
Former sports teams based in Niagara Falls include the Class-A Niagara Falls Sox, the Class-A Niagara Falls Rapids, the Niagara Falls Lancers of the Midwest Football League, and the Western New York Thundersnow of the Premier Basketball League and American Basketball Association.
The City of Niagara Falls functions under a strong mayor-council form of government. The government consists of a mayor, a professional city administrator, and a city council. The current mayor is Robert Restaino.
The city council serves four-year, staggered terms, except in the case of a special election. It is headed by a chairperson, who votes in all items for council action.
On a state level, Niagara Falls is part of the 145th Assembly District of New York State, represented by Republican Angelo Morinello. Niagara Falls is also part of the 62nd Senate District of New York State, represented by Republican Robert Ortt.
On a national level, the city is part of New York's 26th congressional district and is represented by Congressman Brian Higgins. In the United States Senate, the city and the state are represented by senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand.
Founded in 1892 Niagara Falls Police Department provide local law enforcement in the city with 155 sworn officers. This force is not to be mistaken for the Town of Niagara, New York which has a smaller force founded in 1954.
Residents are zoned to the Niagara Falls City School District. Niagara University and Niagara County Community College are the two colleges in Niagara County.
Since Niagara Falls is within the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area, the city's media is predominantly served by the city of Buffalo.
The city has two local newspapers, the Niagara Gazette, which is published daily except Tuesday and The Messenger Of Niagara Falls, NY which is published quarterly. The Messenger Of Niagara Falls, NY, which is officially Niagara Falls, New York's, first black-owned and operated news publication, founded October 2018. The Messenger Of Niagara Falls, NY published its inaugural issue April 2019. The Buffalo News is the closest major newspaper in the area. The city also is the home to a weekly tabloid known as the Niagara Falls Reporter.
Three radio stations are licensed to the city of Niagara Falls, including WHLD AM 1270, WEBR AM 1440, and WTOR AM 770.
Niagara Falls is primarily served by the Buffalo Niagara International Airport for regional and domestic flights within the United States. The recently expanded Niagara Falls International Airport serves the city, and many cross border travellers with flights to Myrtle Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Punta Gorda. Toronto's Pearson International Airport on the Canadian side is the closest airport offering long-haul international flights for the Niagara region.
The city is served by Amtrak's Maple Leaf and Empire train services, with regular stops at the Niagara Falls Station and Customhouse Interpretive Center at 825 Depot Ave West.
Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority is the public transit provider in the Buffalo metro area, with hubs at the Portage Road and Niagara Falls transportation centers.
Six New York State highways, one three-digit Interstate Highway, one expressway, one U.S. Highway, and one parkways pass through the city of Niagara Falls. New York State Route 31, New York State Route 104, and New York State Route 182 are east–west state roadways within the city, while New York State Route 61, New York State Route 265, and New York State Route 384 are north–south state roadways within the city. The LaSalle Expressway is an east–west highway which terminates near the eastern edge of Niagara Falls and begins in the nearby town of Wheatfield, New York. The Niagara Scenic Parkway is a north–south parkway that formerly ran through the city along the northern edge of the Niagara River. It remains in sections and terminates in Youngstown, New York.
Interstate 190, also referred to as the Niagara Expressway, is a north–south highway and a spur of Interstate 90 which borders the eastern end of the city. The highway enters the city from the town of Niagara and exits at the North Grand Island Bridge. U.S. Route 62, known as Niagara Falls Boulevard, Walnut Avenue, and Ferry Avenue, is signed as a north–south highway. U.S. Route 62 has an east–west orientation, and is partially split between two one-way streets within Niagara Falls. Walnut Avenue carries U.S. Route 62 west to its northern terminus at NY 104, and Ferry Avenue carries U.S. Route 62 east from downtown Niagara Falls. U.S. Route 62 Business, locally known as Pine Avenue, is an east–west route which parallels U.S. Route 62 to the south. Its western terminus is at NY 104, and its eastern terminus is at U.S. Route 62.
Two international bridges connect the city to Niagara Falls, Ontario. The Rainbow Bridge connects the two cities with passenger and pedestrian traffic and overlooks the Niagara Falls, while the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge, which formerly carried the Canadian National Railway, now serves local traffic and Amtrak's Maple Leaf service.
New York, sometimes called New York State, is a state in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders New Jersey and Pennsylvania to its south, New England and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec to its north, and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. With almost 19.6 million residents, it is the fourth-most populous state in the United States and eighth-most densely populated as of 2023. New York is the 27th-largest U.S. state by area, with a total area of 54,556 square miles (141,300 km2).
New York has a varied geography. The southeastern part of the state, known as Downstate, encompasses New York City, the most populous city in the United States, Long Island, the most populous island in the United States, and the lower Hudson Valley. These areas are the center of the New York metropolitan area, a sprawling urban landmass, and account for approximately two-thirds of the state's population. The much larger Upstate area spreads from the Great Lakes to Lake Champlain, and includes the Adirondack Mountains and the Catskill Mountains (part of the wider Appalachian Mountains). The east–west Mohawk River Valley bisects the more mountainous regions of Upstate, and flows into the north–south Hudson River valley near the state capital of Albany. Western New York, home to the cities of Buffalo and Rochester, is part of the Great Lakes region and borders Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Central New York is anchored by the city of Syracuse; between the central and western parts of the state, New York is dominated by the Finger Lakes, a popular tourist destination. To the south, along the state border with Pennsylvania, the Southern Tier sits atop the Allegheny Plateau, representing the northernmost reaches of Appalachia.
New York was one of the original Thirteen Colonies that went on to form the United States. The area of present-day New York had been inhabited by tribes of the Algonquians and the Iroquois Confederacy Native Americans for several thousand years by the time the earliest Europeans arrived. Stemming from Henry Hudson's expedition in 1609, the Dutch established the multiethnic colony of New Netherland in 1621. England seized the colony from the Dutch in 1664, renaming it the Province of New York. During the American Revolutionary War, a group of colonists eventually succeeded in establishing independence, and the former colony was officially admitted into the United States in 1788. From the early 19th century, New York's development of its interior, beginning with the construction of the Erie Canal, gave it incomparable advantages over other regions of the United States. The state built its political, cultural, and economic ascendancy over the next century, earning it the nickname of the "Empire State." Although deindustrialization eroded a significant portion of the state's economy in the second half of the 20th century, New York in the 21st century continues to be considered as a global node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance, and environmental sustainability.
The state attracts visitors from all over the globe, with the highest count of any U.S. state in 2022. Many of its landmarks are well known, including four of the world's ten most-visited tourist attractions in 2013: Times Square, Central Park, Niagara Falls and Grand Central Terminal. New York is home to approximately 200 colleges and universities, including two Ivy League universities, Columbia University and Cornell University, and the expansive State University of New York, which is among the largest university systems in the nation. New York City is home to the headquarters of the United Nations, and it is sometimes described as the world's most important city, the cultural, financial, and media epicenter, and the capital of the world.
The history of New York begins around 10,000 B.C. when the first people arrived. By 1100 A.D. two main cultures had become dominant as the Iroquoian and Algonquian developed. European discovery of New York was led by the Italian Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524 followed by the first land claim in 1609 by the Dutch. As part of New Netherland, the colony was important in the fur trade and eventually became an agricultural resource thanks to the patroon system. In 1626, the Dutch thought they had bought the island of Manhattan from Native Americans.[1] In 1664, England renamed the colony New York, after the Duke of York and Albany, brother of King Charles II. New York City gained prominence in the 18th century as a major trading port in the Thirteen Colonies.
New York played a pivotal role during the American Revolution and subsequent war. The Stamp Act Congress in 1765 brought together representatives from across the Thirteen Colonies to form a unified response to British policies. The Sons of Liberty were active in New York City to challenge British authority. After a major loss at the Battle of Long Island, the Continental Army suffered a series of additional defeats that forced a retreat from the New York City area, leaving the strategic port and harbor to the British army and navy as their North American base of operations for the rest of the war. The Battle of Saratoga was the turning point of the war in favor of the Americans, convincing France to formally ally with them. New York's constitution was adopted in 1777, and strongly influenced the United States Constitution. New York City was the national capital at various times between 1788 and 1790, where the Bill of Rights was drafted. Albany became the permanent state capital in 1797. In 1787, New York became the eleventh state to ratify the United States Constitution.
New York hosted significant transportation advancements in the 19th century, including the first steamboat line in 1807, the Erie Canal in 1825, and America's first regularly scheduled rail service in 1831. These advancements led to the expanded settlement of western New York and trade ties to the Midwest settlements around the Great Lakes.
Due to New York City's trade ties to the South, there were numerous southern sympathizers in the early days of the American Civil War and the mayor proposed secession. Far from any of the battles, New York ultimately sent the most soldiers and money to support the Union cause. Thereafter, the state helped create the industrial age and consequently was home to some of the first labor unions.
During the 19th century, New York City became the main entry point for European immigrants to the United States, beginning with a wave of Irish during their Great Famine. Millions came through Castle Clinton in Battery Park before Ellis Island opened in 1892 to welcome millions more, increasingly from eastern and southern Europe. The Statue of Liberty opened in 1886 and became a symbol of hope. New York boomed during the Roaring Twenties, before the Wall Street Crash of 1929, and skyscrapers expressed the energy of the city. New York City was the site of successive tallest buildings in the world from 1913 to 1974.
The buildup of defense industries for World War II turned around the state's economy from the Great Depression, as hundreds of thousands worked to defeat the Axis powers. Following the war, the state experienced significant suburbanization around all the major cities, and most central cities shrank. The Thruway system opened in 1956, signaling another era of transportation advances.
Following a period of near-bankruptcy in the late 1970s, New York City renewed its stature as a cultural center, attracted more immigration, and hosted the development of new music styles. The city developed from publishing to become a media capital over the second half of the 20th century, hosting most national news channels and broadcasts. Some of its newspapers became nationally and globally renowned. The state's manufacturing base eroded with the restructuring of industry, and the state transitioned into service industries.
The first peoples of New York are estimated to have arrived around 10,000 BC. Around AD 800, Iroquois ancestors moved into the area from the Appalachian region. The people of the Point Peninsula complex were the predecessors of the Algonquian peoples of New York. By around 1100, the distinct Iroquoian-speaking and Algonquian-speaking cultures that would eventually be encountered by Europeans had developed. The five nations of the Iroquois League developed a powerful confederacy about the 15th century that controlled territory throughout present-day New York, into Pennsylvania around the Great Lakes. For centuries, the Mohawk cultivated maize fields in the lowlands of the Mohawk River, which were later taken over by Dutch settlers at Schenectady, New York when they bought this territory. The Iroquois nations to the west also had well-cultivated areas and orchards.
The Iroquois established dominance over the fur trade throughout their territory, bargaining with European colonists. Other New York tribes were more subject to either European destruction or assimilation within the Iroquoian confederacy. Situated at major Native trade routes in the Northeast and positioned between French and English zones of settlement, the Iroquois were intensely caught up with the onrush of Europeans, which is also to say that the settlers, whether Dutch, French or English, were caught up with the Iroquois as well. Algonquian tribes were less united among their tribes; they typically lived along rivers, streams, or the Atlantic Coast. But, both groups of natives were well-established peoples with highly sophisticated cultural systems; these were little understood or appreciated by the European colonists who encountered them. The natives had "a complex and elaborate native economy that included hunting, gathering, manufacturing, and farming...[and were] a mosaic of Native American tribes, nations, languages, and political associations." The Iroquois usually met at an Onondaga in Northern New York, which changed every century or so, where they would coordinate policies on how to deal with Europeans and strengthen the bond between the Five Nations.
Tribes who have managed to call New York home have been the Iroquois, Mohawk, Mohican, Susquehannock, Petun, Chonnonton, Ontario and Nanticoke.
In 1524, Giovanni da Verrazzano, an Italian explorer in the service of the French crown, explored the Atlantic coast of North America between the Carolinas and Newfoundland, including New York Harbor and Narragansett Bay. On April 17, 1524, Verrazzano entered New York Bay, by way of the Strait now called the Narrows. He described "a vast coastline with a deep delta in which every kind of ship could pass" and he adds: "that it extends inland for a league and opens up to form a beautiful lake. This vast sheet of water swarmed with native boats". He landed on the tip of Manhattan and perhaps on the furthest point of Long Island.
In 1535, Jacques Cartier, a French explorer, became the first European to describe and map the Saint Lawrence River from the Atlantic Ocean, sailing as far upriver as the site of Montreal.
On April 4, 1609, Henry Hudson, in the employ of the Dutch East India Company, departed Amsterdam in command of the ship Halve Maen (Half Moon). On September 3 he reached the estuary of the Hudson River. He sailed up the Hudson River to about Albany near the confluence of the Mohawk River and the Hudson. His voyage was used to establish Dutch claims to the region and to the fur trade that prospered there after a trading post was established at Albany in 1614.
In 1614, the Dutch under the command of Hendrick Christiaensen, built Fort Nassau (now Albany) the first Dutch settlement in North America and the first European settlement in what would become New York. It was replaced by nearby Fort Orange in 1623. In 1625, Fort Amsterdam was built on the southern tip of Manhattan Island to defend the Hudson River. This settlement grew to become the city New Amsterdam.
The British conquered New Netherland in 1664; Lenient terms of surrender most likely kept local resistance to a minimum. The colony and New Amsterdam were both renamed New York (and "Beverwijck" was renamed Albany) after its new proprietor, James II later King of England, Ireland and Scotland, who was at the time Duke of York and Duke of Albany The population of New Netherland at the time of English takeover was 7,000–8,000.
Thousands of poor German farmers, chiefly from the Palatine region of Germany, migrated to upstate districts after 1700. They kept to themselves, married their own, spoke German, attended Lutheran churches, and retained their own customs and foods. They emphasized farm ownership. Some mastered English to become conversant with local legal and business opportunities. They ignored the Indians and tolerated slavery (although few were rich enough to own a slave).
Large manors were developed along the Hudson River by elite colonists during the 18th century, including Livingston, Cortlandt, Philipsburg, and Rensselaerswyck. The manors represented more than half of the colony's undeveloped land. The Province of New York thrived during this time, its economy strengthened by Long Island and Hudson Valley agriculture, in conjunction with trade and artisanal activity at the Port of New York; the colony was a breadbasket and lumberyard for the British sugar colonies in the Caribbean. New York's population grew substantially during this century: from the first colonial census (1698) to the last (1771), the province grew ninefold, from 18,067 to 168,007.
New York in the American Revolution
Further information: John Peter Zenger, Stamp Act Congress, Invasion of Canada (1775), New York and New Jersey campaign, Prisoners of war in the American Revolutionary War, and Intelligence in the American Revolutionary War
New York played a pivotal role in the Revolutionary War. The colony verged on revolt following the Stamp Act of 1765, advancing the New York City–based Sons of Liberty to the forefront of New York politics. The Act exacerbated the depression the province experienced after unsuccessfully invading Canada in 1760. Even though New York City merchants lost out on lucrative military contracts, the group sought common ground between the King and the people; however, compromise became impossible as of April 1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord. In that aftermath the New York Provincial Congress on June 9, 1775, for five pounds sterling for each hundredweight of gunpowder delivered to each county's committee.
Two powerful families had for decades assembled colony-wide coalitions of supporters. With few exceptions, members long associated with the DeLancey faction went along when its leadership decided to support the crown, while members of the Livingston faction became Patriots.
New York's strategic central location and port made it key to controlling the colonies. The British assembled the century's largest fleet: at one point 30,000 British sailors and soldiers anchored off Staten Island. General George Washington barely escaped New York City with his army in November 1776; General Sir William Howe was successful in driving Washington out, but erred by expanding into New Jersey. By January 1777, he retained only a few outposts near New York City. The British held the city for the duration, using it as a base for expeditions against other targets.
In October 1777, American General Horatio Gates won the Battle of Saratoga, later regarded as the war's turning point. Had Gates not held, the rebellion might well have broken down: losing Saratoga would have cost the entire Hudson–Champlain corridor, which would have separated New England from the rest of the colonies and split the future union.
Upon war's end, New York's borders became well–defined: the counties east of Lake Champlain became Vermont and the state's western borders were settled by 1786.
Many Iroquois supported the British (typically fearing future American ambitions). Many were killed during the war; others went into exile with the British. Those remaining lived on twelve reservations; by 1826 only eight reservations remained, all of which survived into the 21st century.
The state adopted its constitution in April 1777, creating a strong executive and strict separation of powers. It strongly influenced the federal constitution a decade later. Debate over the federal constitution in 1787 led to formation of the groups known as Federalists—mainly "downstaters" (those who lived in or near New York City) who supported a strong national government—and Antifederalists—mainly upstaters (those who lived to the city's north and west) who opposed large national institutions. In 1787, Alexander Hamilton, a leading Federalist from New York and signatory to the Constitution, wrote the first essay of the Federalist Papers. He published and wrote most of the series in New York City newspapers in support of the proposed United States Constitution. Antifederalists were not swayed by the arguments, but the state ratified it in 1788.
In 1785, New York City became the national capital and continued as such on and off until 1790; George Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States in front of Federal Hall in 1789. The United States Bill of Rights was drafted there, and the United States Supreme Court sat for the first time. From statehood to 1797, the Legislature frequently moved the state capital between Albany, Kingston, Poughkeepsie, and New York City. Thereafter, Albany retained that role.
In the early 19th century, New York became a center for advancement in transportation. In 1807, Robert Fulton initiated a steamboat line from New York to Albany, the first successful enterprise of its kind. By 1815, Albany was the state's turnpike center, which established the city as the hub for pioneers migrating west to Buffalo and the Michigan Territory.
In 1825 the Erie Canal opened, securing the state's economic dominance. Its impact was enormous: one source stated, "Linking the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes, the canal was an act of political will that joined the regions of the state, created a vast economic hinterland for New York City, and established a ready market for agricultural products from the state's interior." In that year western New York transitioned from "frontier" to settled area. By this time, all counties and most municipalities had incorporated, approximately matching the state's is organized today. In 1831, the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad started the country's first successful regularly–scheduled steam railroad service.
Advancing transportation quickly led to settlement of the fertile Mohawk and Gennessee valleys and the Niagara Frontier. Buffalo and Rochester became boomtowns. Significant migration of New England "Yankees" (mainly of English descent) to the central and western parts of the state led to minor conflicts with the more settled "Yorkers" (mainly of German, Dutch, and Scottish descent). More than 15% of the state's 1850 population had been born in New England[citation needed]. The western part of the state grew fastest at this time. By 1840, New York was home to seven of the nation's thirty largest cities.
During this period, towns established academies for education, including for girls. The western area of the state was a center of progressive causes, including support of abolitionism, temperance, and women's rights. Religious enthusiasms flourished and the Latter Day Saint movement was founded in the area by Joseph Smith and his vision. Some supporters of abolition participated in the Underground Railroad, helping fugitive slaves reach freedom in Canada or in New York.
In addition, in the early 1840s the state legislature and Governor William H. Seward expanded rights for free blacks and fugitive slaves in New York: in 1840 the legislature passed laws protecting the rights of African Americans against Southern slave-catchers. One guaranteed alleged fugitive slaves the right of a jury trial in New York to establish whether they were slaves, and another pledged the aid of the state to recover free blacks kidnapped into slavery, (as happened to Solomon Northup of Saratoga Springs in 1841, who did not regain freedom until 1853.) In 1841 Seward signed legislation to repeal a "nine-month law" that allowed slaveholders to bring their slaves into the state for a period of nine months before they were considered free. After this, slaves brought to the state were immediately considered freed, as was the case in some other free states. Seward also signed legislation to establish public education for all children, leaving it up to local jurisdictions as to how that would be supplied (some had segregated schools).
New York culture bloomed in the first half of the 19th century: in 1809 Washington Irving wrote the satirical A History of New York under the pen name Diedrich Knickerbocker, and in 1819 he based Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in Hudson Valley towns. Thomas Cole's Hudson River School was established in the 1830s by showcasing dramatic landscapes of the Hudson Valley. The first baseball teams formed in New York City in the 1840s, including the New York Knickerbockers. Professional baseball later located its Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Saratoga Race Course, an annual summer attraction in Saratoga Springs, opened in 1847.
A civil war was not in the best interest of business, because New York had strong ties to the Deep South, both through the port of New York and manufacture of cotton goods in upstate textile mills. Half of New York City's exports were related to cotton before the war. Southern businessmen so frequently traveled to the city that they established favorite hotels and restaurants. Trade was based on moving Southern goods. The city's large Democrat community feared the impact of Abraham Lincoln's election in 1860 and the mayor urged secession of New York.
By the time of the 1861 Battle of Fort Sumter, such political differences decreased and the state quickly met Lincoln's request for soldiers and supplies. More soldiers fought from New York than any other Northern state. While no battles were waged in New York, the state was not immune to Confederate conspiracies, including one to burn various New York cities and another to invade the state via Canada.
In January 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed the slaves in states that were still in rebellion against the union. In March 1863, the federal draft law was changed so that male citizens between 20 and 35 and unmarried citizens to age 45 were subject to conscription. Those who could afford to hire a substitute or pay $300 were exempt. Antiwar newspaper editors attacked the law, and many immigrants and their descendants resented being drafted in place of people who could buy their way out. Democratic Party leaders raised the specter of a deluge of freed southern blacks competing with the white working class, then dominated by ethnic Irish and immigrants. On the lottery's first day, July 11, 1863, the first lottery draw was held. On Monday, July 13, 1863, five days of large-scale riots began, which were dominated by ethnic Irish, who targeted blacks in the city, their neighborhoods, and known abolitionist sympathizers. As a result, many blacks left Manhattan permanently, moving to Brooklyn or other areas.
In the following decades, New York strengthened its dominance of the financial and banking industries. Manufacturing continued to rise: Eastman Kodak founded in 1888 in Rochester, General Electric in Schenectady, and Endicott-Johnson Shoe Company in the Triple Cities are some of the well-known companies founded during this period. Buffalo and Niagara Falls attracted numerous factories following the advent of hydroelectric power in the area. With industry blooming, workers began to unite in New York as early as the 1820s. By 1882, the Knights of Labor in New York City had 60,000 members. Trade unions used political influence to limit working hours as early as 1867. At the same time, New York's agricultural output peaked. Focus changed from crop-based to dairy-based agriculture. The cheese industry became established in the Mohawk Valley. By 1881, the state had more than 241,000 farms. In the same period, the area around New York harbor became the world's oyster capital, retaining that title into the early twentieth century.
Immigration increased throughout the latter half of the 19th century. Starting with refugees from the Great Famine of Ireland in the 1840s, New York became a prominent entry point for those seeking a new life in the United States. Between 1855 and 1890, an estimated 8 million immigrants passed through Castle Clinton at Battery Park in Manhattan. Early in this period, most immigrants came from Ireland and Germany. Ellis Island opened in 1892, and between 1880 and 1920, most immigrants were German and Eastern European Jews, Poles, and other Eastern and Southern Europeans, including many Italians. By 1925, New York City's population outnumbered that of London, making it the most populous city in the world. Arguably New York's most identifiable symbol, Liberty Enlightening the World (the Statue of Liberty), a gift from France for the American centennial, was completed in 1886. By the early 20th century, the statue was regarded as the "Mother of Exiles"—a symbol of hope to immigrants.
New York's political pattern changed little after the mid–19th century. New York City and its metropolitan area was already heavily Democrat; Upstate was aligned with the Republican Party and was a center of abolitionist activists. In the 1850s, Democratic Tammany Hall became one of the most powerful and durable political machines in United States history. Boss William Tweed brought the organization to the forefront of city and then state politics in the 1860s. Based on its command of a large population, Tammany maintained influence until at least the 1930s. Outside the city, Republicans were able to influence the redistricting process enough to constrain New York City and capture control of the Legislature in 1894. Both parties have seen national political success: in the 39 presidential elections between 1856 and 2010, Republicans won 19 times and Democrats 20 times.
By 1901, New York was the richest and most populous state. Two years prior, the five boroughs of New York City became one city. Within decades, the city's emblem had become the skyscraper: the Woolworth Building was the tallest building in the world from 1913, surpassed by 40 Wall Street in April 1930, the Chrysler Building in 1930, the Empire State Building in 1931, and the World Trade Center in 1972 before losing the title in 1974.
The state was serviced by over a dozen major railroads and at the start of the 20th century and electric Interurban rail networks began to spring up around Syracuse, Rochester and other cities in New York during this period.
In the late 1890s governor Theodore Roosevelt and fellow Republicans such as Charles Evans Hughes worked with many Democrats such as Al Smith to promote Progressivism. They battled trusts and monopolies (especially in the insurance industry), promoted efficiency, fought waste, and called for more democracy in politics. Democrats focused more on the benefits of progressivism for their own ethnic working class base and for labor unions.
Democratic political machines, especially Tammany Hall in Manhattan, opposed woman suffrage because they feared that the addition of female voters would dilute the control they had established over groups of male voters. By the time of the New York State referendum on women's suffrage in 1917, however, some wives and daughters of Tammany Hall leaders were working for suffrage, leading it to take a neutral position that was crucial to the referendum's passage.
Following a sharp but short-lived Depression at the beginning of the decade, New York enjoyed a booming economy during the Roaring Twenties. New York suffered during the Great Depression, which began with the Wall Street crash on Black Tuesday in 1929. The Securities and Exchange Commission opened in 1934 to regulate the stock market. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected governor in 1928, and the state faced upwards of 25% unemployment. His Temporary Emergency Relief Agency, established in 1931, was the first work relief program in the nation and influenced the national Federal Emergency Relief Administration. Roosevelt was elected President in 1932 in part because of his promises to extend New York–style relief programs across the country via his New Deal. In 1932, Lake Placid was host to the III Olympic Winter Games.
As the largest state, New York again supplied the most resources during World War II. New York manufactured 11 percent of total United States military armaments produced during the war and suffered 31,215 casualties. The war affected the state both socially and economically. For example, to overcome discriminatory labor practices, Governor Herbert H. Lehman created the Committee on Discrimination in Employment in 1941 and Governor Thomas E. Dewey signed the Ives-Quinn Act in 1945, banning employment discrimination. The G.I. Bill of 1944, which offered returning soldiers the opportunity of affordable higher education, forced New York to create a public university system since its private universities could not handle the influx; the State University of New York was created by Governor Dewey in 1948.
World War II constituted New York's last great industrial era. At its conclusion, the defense industry shrank and the economy shifted towards producing services rather than goods. Returning soldiers disproportionately displaced female and minority workers who had entered the industrial workforce only when the war left employers no other choice. Companies moved to the south and west, seeking lower taxes and a less costly, non–union workforce. Many workers followed the jobs. The middle class expanded and created suburbs such as the one on Long Island. The automobile accelerated this decentralization; planned communities like Levittown offered affordable middle-class housing.
Larger cities stopped growing around 1950. Growth resumed only in New York City, in the 1980s. Buffalo's population fell by half between 1950 and 2000. Reduced immigration and worker migration led New York State's population to decline for the first time between 1970 and 1980. California and Texas both surpassed it in population.
New York entered its third era of massive transportation projects by building highways, notably the New York State Thruway. The project was unpopular with New York City Democrats, who referred to it as "Dewey's ditch" and the "enemy of schools", because the Thruway disproportionately benefited upstate. The highway was based on the German Autobahn and was unlike anything seen at that point in the United States. It was within 30 miles (50 km) of 90% of the population at its conception. Costing $600 million, the full 427-mile (687 km) project opened in 1956.
Nelson Rockefeller was governor from 1959 to 1973 and changed New York politics. He began as a liberal, but grew more conservative: he limited SUNY's growth, responded aggressively to the Attica Prison riot, and promulgated the uniquely severe Rockefeller Drug Laws. The World Trade Center and other profligate projects nearly drove New York City into bankruptcy in 1975. The state took substantial budgetary control, which eventually led to improved fiscal prudence.
The Executive Mansion was retaken by Democrats in 1974 and remained under Democratic control for 20 years under Hugh Carey and Mario Cuomo. Late–century Democrats became more centrist, including US Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1977–2001) and New York City Mayor Ed Koch (1978–1989), while state Republicans began to align themselves with the more conservative national party. They gained power through the elections of Senator Alfonse D'Amato in 1980, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in 1993, and Governor George Pataki in 1994. New York remained one of the most liberal states. In 1984, Ronald Reagan was the last Republican to carry the state, although Republican Michael Bloomberg served as New York City mayor in the early 21st century.
In the late 20th century, telecommunication and high technology industries employed many New Yorkers. New York City was especially successful at this transition. Entrepreneurs created many small companies, as industrial firms such as Polaroid withered. This success drew many young professionals into the still–dwindling cities. New York City was the exception and has continued to draw new residents. The energy of the city created attractions and new businesses. Some people believe that changes in policing created a less threatening environment; crime rates dropped, and urban development reduced urban decay.
This in turn led to a surge in culture. New York City became, once again, "the center for all things chic and trendy". Hip-hop and rap music, led by New York City, became the most popular pop genre. Immigration to both the city and state rose. New York City, with a large gay and lesbian community, suffered many deaths from AIDS beginning in the 1980s.
New York City increased its already large share of television programming, home to the network news broadcasts, as well as two of the three major cable news networks. The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times became two of the three "national" newspapers, read throughout the country. New York also increased its dominance of the financial services industry centered on Wall Street, led by banking expansion, a rising stock market, innovations in investment banking, including junk bond trading and accelerated by the savings and loan crisis that decimated competitors elsewhere in New York.
Upstate did not fare as well as downstate; the major industries that began to reinvigorate New York City did not typically spread to other regions. The number of farms in the state had fallen to 30,000 by 1997. City populations continued to decline while suburbs grew in area, but did not increase proportionately in population. High-tech industry grew in cities such as Corning and Rochester. Overall New York entered the new millennium "in a position of economic strength and optimism".
In 2001, New York entered a new era following the 9/11 attacks, the worst terrorist attack ever to take place on American soil. Two of the four hijacked passenger jets crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, destroying them, and killing almost 3,000 people. One flew into the Pentagon demolishing the walls. The final one was almost taken back over by the passengers aboard and crashed into an open grassland with 296 out of the 500 people dead. Thousands of New Yorkers volunteered their time to search the ruin for survivors and remains in the following weeks.
Following the attacks, plans were announced to rebuild the World Trade Center site. 7 World Trade Center became the first World Trade Center skyscraper to be rebuilt in five years after the attacks. One World Trade Center, four more office towers, and a memorial to the casualties of the September 11 attacks are under construction as of 2011. One World Trade Center opened on November 3, 2014.
On October 29 and 30, 2012, Hurricane Sandy caused extensive destruction of the state's shorelines, ravaging portions of New York City, Long Island, and southern Westchester with record-high storm surge, with severe flooding and high winds causing power outages for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, and leading to gasoline shortages and disruption of mass transit systems. The storm and its profound effects have prompted the discussion of constructing seawalls and other coastal barriers around the shorelines of New York City and Long Island to minimize the risk from another such future event. Such risk is considered highly probable due to global warming and rising sea levels.
PAUL McCARTNEY ONE ON ONE JUNE 30, 2016 ROCK WERCHTER BELGIUM 2 DVD
June 30, 2016 Thursday at Rock Werchter, Werchter, Belgium! Mainly HD footage and close - great edits to make
complete as possible, along with great audio!!! 30 Songs and all complete and 95% all close - steady and excellent!
With multi angles too! The audio stays the same, instead of changing - and all songs levelled so the volume is consistent!
This has been done since 2012 live shows - 38 Chapters - Approx 180 Minutes - AUDIENCE FILMED. THIS IS EXCELLENT!
VIDEO SAMPLE: youtu.be/ccE9bWb_oQk
DISC ONE:
PLAY ALL: Ads & news reports
01 A Hard Day’s Night
02 Save Us
03 Can’t Buy Me Love
04 Letting Go
05 Let Me Roll It
06 I’ve Got A Feeling
07 My Valentine
08 Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five
09 Maybe I’m Amazed
10 We Can Work It Out
11 In Spite Of All the Danger
12 Love Me Do
13 Blackbird
14 Here Today
15 New
16 Lady Madonna
17 FourFiveSeconds
18 Eleanor Rigby
DISC TWO:
01 Being For The Benefit of Mr Kite!
02 Something
03 Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
04 Band On The Run
05 Back In The USSR
06 Let It Be
07 Live and Let Die
08 Hey Jude
09 Encore - Flags
10 Hi Hi Hi
11 Birthday
12 The End
BONUS:
13 News Report 1
14 News Report 2
15 News Report 3
16 News Report 4
17 Letting Go
18 Blackbird
19 Here Today
20 Being For The Benefit of Mr Kite!
My Dad left me and this world when was about to leave college and when i needed him the most.
Anyways with a lot of difficulties i faced the reality and like all adolescents, I passed out of college into a sea of societal demons, mothers expectations and my own dreams.
My dream was to enter into the field of media be it becoming an actor or an anchor.
When i was in college due to my presence in most of extra curricular activities i was a very popular student who was always in demand when it came to hosting college festivals and shows but once i was out of college i faced reality and faced confusion in terms of whether to keep anchoring as a hobby and work full time in Merchant Navy and follow my Dad’s footsteps.
Had even got admission for the training but my heart was not into it i and finally i decided against it and follow my dreams of getting into the entertainment business.
I became an assistant for a movie, acted in a couple of short films, started hosting with local orchestra group and through the journey of hosting i realised that hosting Sangeet Sandhya is my niche
I was good in hosting it and through Word of mouth praising within no time I became a household name in the Sangeet Sandhya i.e. pre wedding gigs.
My mom was still unsure about my profession but as the praise for my work began to trickle in through her well wishers and neighbours, she and my family developed a sense of ease, started developing faith in my talent and with my choice of career.
I have immense faith my talent and I work to express and not impress.
My mother has always taught me to be grounded and be consistent in whatever i do.
Her advise always comes handy and makes me more committed to my profession.
Lastly i m sure my dad somewhere up there is a very proud and very happy with my achievements, still long way to reach my goals and i m sure his duas are with me.
bauhaus building, dessau, germany, 1925-1926, architect: walter gropius
Gropius consistently separated the parts of the Bauhaus building according to their functions and designed each differently. He thereby arranged the different wings asymmetrically – in relation to what is today the Bauhausstraße and the Gropiusallee respectively. In order to appreciate the overall design of the complex, the observer must therefore move around the whole building. There is no central viewpoint.
The glazed, three-storey workshop wing, the block for the vocational school (also three storeys high) with its unostentatious rows of windows, and the five-storey studio building with its conspicuous, projecting balconies are the main elements of the complex. A two-storey bridge which housed, e.g., the administration department and, until 1928, Gropius’s architectural practice, connects the workshop wing with the vocational school. A single-storey building with a hall, stage and refectory, the so-called Festive Area, connects the workshop wing to the studio building. The latter originally featured 28 studio flats for students and junior masters, each measuring 20 m². The ingenious design of the portals between the foyer and the hall and a folding partition between the stage and the refectory, along with the ceiling design and colour design, impart a grandiose spatial coalescence to the sequence of foyer-hall-stage-refectory, shaping the so-called Festive Area. The façade of the students’ dormitory is distinguished in the east by individual balconies and in the south by long balconies that continue around the corner of the building.
The entire complex is rendered and painted mainly in light tones, creating an attractive contrast to the window frames, which are dark. For the interior, the junior master of the mural workshop, Hinnerk Scheper, designed a detailed colour plan that, by differentiating between supporting and masking elements through the use of colour, aimed to accentuate the construction of the building.
This is my first outing with my Pentax 67 medium format camera. i was testing the light meter and it seems to be at least 3 stops over. I metered with a hand held Sekonic light meter and it proved consistent results against the prism meter.
Newport Beach, incorporated in 1906, is an affluent city in Orange County, California, 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown Santa Ana. The population was 85,186 at the 2010 census. The city's median family income and property values consistently place high in national rankings. Beachgoers have flocked to Newport Beach since the Pacific Electric Railway started bringing them in 1905. Attractions include the city beaches from the Santa Ana River to the tip of the Balboa Peninsula, Corona del Mar State Beach, and the beaches at Crystal Cove State Park. Newport Beach is renowned for good surfing, especially between Newport Pier and the Santa Ana River. At the tip of the Balboa Peninsula, The Wedge offers world-class bodyboarding and bodysurfing. Newport Pier and Balboa Pier draw fishermen and sightseers. A boardwalk (actually a concrete path) runs 2.9 miles (4.7 km) from 36th Street in West Newport, past Newport Pier and Balboa Pier, to between E and F Streets on the Balboa Peninsula.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newport_Beach,_California
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_...
Who here likes consistency? You know, that warm, familiar feeling every time you go to Taco Bell (going down or out.. up to you)... very consistent? You've been there enough times and you've generally had all their menu items and your opinion is that "it's alright". Then there's that one time out of the blue, you decide to try something vegetarian off the Fresco menu, only to realize it was a horrible, horrible mistake? Well, that's kind of like what happened with this particular entry: Figma Megumin from Kono Sabarashii Sekai ni Shyukufuku wo!.. however you pronounce that.
As with 99% of the magical girl entries on my list, I know nothing about the actual character. Couple of Wiki pages presents a personality that, as expected, fits the way she looks. As taken from a Fandom page:
"Megumin is a straightforward girl, who speaks in an old-style Japanese dialect. She can be very hyper and lively at times and has chuunibyou tendencies like the rest of the Crimson Demon villagers. She is very intelligent, but has very little self-control, especially when it comes to using Explosion magic. She has no problem wasting her spell on empty plains or abandoned castles, as long as she can use Explosion once a day."
There seemed to be quite a bit of excitement when the figure was announced a while back, so as I always do, I found a decent deal on one that had a few issues while out and about, figuring "it's a Figma, it'll be alright" and away I went. The issues being that this was an Amazon Warehouse deal, so it wasn't complete, though the only thing that was missing was the instruction manual. The peg holding her cape in place had snapped off, and her head wasn't in place, of which the latter I figure I could just go home and pop that sucker right back in because, well, wouldn't be the first time a head came off a Figma after being jostled.
Well, jokes on me. After trying with no success, I took to the Internet, and read a crap ton of negative reviews on this figure, ranging from poor QC to horrible design. The head thing? Wasn't the only one; several complaints on Amazon said the same thing, with most not even bothering to try to attach the head. I had to grind the hole to widen it before the neck joint would actually fit, and now it's a bit loose and prone to falling off. I read stories of the staff showing up broken. Seems overall, these Konosuba girls (as they are called) have been plagued with QC issues.. I'm glad I didn't pay MSRP on this figure, let me tell you.
Megumin comes with a typical payload when it comes to Figma. There's the figure, three total face plates (slight smile, attacking, scared), her hat, her cape, alternate hair with eye patch, energy effect for eye, staff, purple orb for staff, spell effect with staff end for attaching said effect, her Familiar Chomosuke, six additional hands plus one dedicated spell casting hand, and the usual Figma stand.
Based on the screen caps I've seen, it appears that overall, Max Factory has captured the overall silhouette of Megumin herself, and her look when equipped with her gear. Of course, she's a lanky Japanese school girl, so not exactly hard for Figma to replicate. Chomosuke is freakin' adorable.. not quite Kirby adorable, but pretty damn close. Sculpting details are up to snuff, with clean fingers, good texture detailing on the outfit, and some minor muscle definition on her bare back. Face plates look spot on.
Articulation is pretty typical for a Figma.. when she doesn't have her cape on. You have full motion ankles, single jointed knees, full motion hips, waist, mid torso movement, full motion shoulders combined with bicep swivel, standard elbows, wrists, and head articulation. Mid torso movement is limited due to the joint being embedded inside her outfit, which is a soft rubber material. I'm not sure if it's like this for all the recent Figma (I'm kind of behind schedule), but Megumin features this hinged joint which allows for a deeper range of motion when it comes to head tilt, while at the same time offering the same ball jointed base base of head joint that permits the standard range of motion there. The cape itself has two points of articulation, allowing for a simulated flow look which is great, but putting the cape on also limits the range of motion when it comes to raise the arms up into an overhead position. Her skirt also limits the movement of the upper legs, which in turn limits the number of stances you can have her in. Because of this, I found it very difficult to balance Megumin on her tiny feet, and as such a stand is pretty much needed for everything.
Paint work is, as expected, solid across the board. Even the yellows appear to be well applied, with no significant overspray or lumpy paint residue. The only ugly paint spot are the silver on her buckle and her necklace, which are relatively ugly, but not "gouge my eyes out" level. Decal work is at its usual level of excellence.
Building quality and design is where things kind of went South. I've already talked about my problems out the box above, but there's more to discuss. First and foremost, that stupid, stupid hat. So, someone, in their infinite wisdom, decided that rather than have the hat attach via a peg or something like that, decided the best way to have the hat sit on her head is the put a really thin piece of plastic on the inside of the hat, and have that clip between the two hair pieces.. sounds alright in theory until you realize actually getting the thing to fit in their is a nightmare because there really isn't enough clearance to slide the front hair piece in place should you try to get the hat in place first. So instead you end up leaving a slight gap, and cramming the hat on her head, hoping for the best. The eye effect is a separate piece, and it is up to the owner to use their hamburger finger to squeeze this tiny plastic piece, probably the size of a syringe needle, into place so it doesn't fall out of the hair. I found that the joints on the figure, while fine by themselves, aren't really meant to carry the weight of the staff, particularly if it has the energy effect attached on the end of it. The body itself is pretty typical build, so no too many complaints here.
So in the end, we had the potential for an outstanding Figma, one having vibrant colour and personality., only to have a multitude of QC issues and crappy design choices knock it down a few pegs. Without her hat and cape, Megumin is honestly average at best, as she really can't do much other than sligh variations of standing up. I guess if the cape wasn't broken on mine, at least I would keep the cape on constantly as it does add to the character. But that hat.. it's such a hassle to put it on you either never take it off or you just give up. The best parts of this set are the scared face and of course, Chomosuke.
Better luck next time, I suppose.
North Pier is the most northerly of the three coastal piers in Blackpool, England. Built in the 1860s, it is also the oldest and longest of the three. Although originally intended only
as a promenade, competition forced the pier to widen its attractions to include theatres and bars. Unlike Blackpool's other piers, which attracted the working classes with open air
dancing and amusements, North Pier catered for the "better-class" market, with orchestra concerts and respectable comedians. Until 2011, it was the only Blackpool pier that
consistently charged admission.
The pier is designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building, due to its status as the oldest surviving pier created by Eugenius Birch. As of 2012 it is still in regular use,
despite having suffered damage from fires, storms and collisions with boats. Its attractions include bars, a theatre, a carousel and an arcade. One of the oldest remaining Sooty
glove puppets is on display commemorating Harry Corbett buying the original puppet there.
North Pier was built at the seaward end of Talbot Road, where the town's first railway station, Blackpool North, was built. Its name reflects its location as the most northerly of
Blackpool's three piers. It is about 450 yards (410 m) north of Blackpool Tower, which is roughly the midpoint of Blackpool's promenade. The sea front is particularly straight and
flat on this stretch of coastline, and the 1,650 feet (500 m) pier extends at right angles into the Irish Sea, more or less level with the promenade.
History: The construction of Blackpool Pier (eventually North Pier) started in May 1862, in Layton-cum-Warbreck, part of the parish of Bispham. In October 1862 severe storms
suggested that the planned height of the pier was insufficient, and it was increased by 3 feet (0.91 m) North Pier was the second of fourteen piers designed by Eugenius Birch,
and since Margate Pier was destroyed by a storm in 1978, it is the oldest of the remaining examples of his work still in use. It was the first of Birch's piers to be built by Glasgow
engineering firm Richard Laidlaw and Son.
The pier, which cost £11,740 to build, originally consisted of a promenade 1,405 feet (428 m) long and 28 feet (8.5 m) wide, extending to 55 feet (17 m) wide at the pier-head. The
bulk of the pier was constructed from cast iron, with a wooden deck laid on top. The cast iron piles on which the structure rests were inserted using Birch's screw pile process; the
screw-tipped piles were twisted into the sand until they hit bedrock. This made construction much quicker and easier, and guaranteed that the pier had a solid foundation. The
cast iron columns, 12 inches (300 mm) in diameter, were filled with concrete for stability at intervals of 60 feet (18 m), and supported by struts that were on average were slightly
more than 1 inch (25 mm) thick.The pier's promenade deck is lined with wooden benches with ornamental cast iron backs. At intervals along the pier are hexagonal kiosks built
around 1900 in wood and glass with minaret roofs topped with decorative finials. On opening two of the kiosks were occupied by a bookstall and confectionery stall and the
kiosks near the ends of the pier were seated shelters. The pier-head is a combination of 420 tons of cast iron and 340 tons of wrought iron columns; standing 50 feet (15 m)
above the low water line, it sees a regular 35 feet (11 m) change in sea level due to the tide.
The pier was officially opened in a grand ceremony on 21 May 1863, even though the final 50 yards (46 m) had not yet been completed. All the shops in the area were closed
and decorated with flags and streamers for the ceremony, which included a procession and a cannon salute, and was attended by more than 20,000 visitors. Although the town
only had a population of approximately 4,000, more than 200,000 holiday makers regularly stayed there during the summer months; this included 275,000 admissions in 1863,
400,000 in 1864 and 465,000 the following year. The pier was officially opened by Major Preston, and he and 150 officials then travelled to the Clifton Hotel for a celebratory
meal.
The pier was intended primarily for leisure rather than seafaring; for the price of 2d (worth approximately £4.90 in 2012) the pier provided the opportunity for visitors to walk close
to the sea without distractions.This fee was insufficient to deter "trippers'", which led to Major Preston campaigning for a new pier to cater for the 'trippers'. In 1866, the
government agreed that a second pier could be built, despite objections from the Blackpool Pier Company that it was close to their pier and therefore unnecessary
As permitted by the original parliamentary order, a landing jetty was built at the end of North Pier in incremental stages between 1864 and 1867. The full length of the jetty was
474 feet (144 m), and the extensions increased the pier's total length to its current 1,650 feet (500 m). The Blackpool Pier Company used the jetty to operate pleasure steamers
that made trips to the surrounding areas. In 1871 swimming and diving lessons were added to the pier.
In 1874, the pier-head was extended to allow Richard Knill Freeman to incorporate a pavilion, which opened in 1877. The interior decoration led it to be known as the "Indian
Pavilion", and it was Blackpool's primary venue for indoor entertainment until the Winter Gardens opened in 1879.
To differentiate itself from the new pier, North Pier focused on catering for the "better classes", charging for entry and including attractions such as an orchestra and band
concerts, in contrast to the Central Pier (or the "People's pier"), which regularly had music playing and open-air dancing. The pier owners highlighted the difference, charging at
least a shilling (worth approximately £19.90 in 2012) for concerts and ensuring that advertisements for comedians focused on their lack of vulgarity. Sundays were given over to a
church parade.
On 8 October 1892, a storm-damaged vessel, Sirene, hit the southern side of the pier, causing four shops and part of the deck to collapse onto the beach below. Several columns
were also dislodged, and the ship's bowsprit hit the pier entrance. All eleven crew members were rescued when they were hauled onto the pier. Damage to the pier was
estimated to be £5,000 and was promptly repaired.
Nelson's former flagship, HMS Foudroyant, was moored alongside North Pier for an exhibition, but slipped anchor and was wrecked on the shore in a violent storm on 16 June
1897, damaging part of the jetty. The wreck of the ship broke up during December storms.
The pier was closed for the winter during 1895–6 as it unsafe; as a result, the pier was widened as electric lighting was added.
An Arcade Pavilion was added in 1903 at the entrance to the pier and contained a wide range of amusements to suit all tastes. Further alterations were made to the pier in 1932-
3 when the open air stand was replaced with a stage and sun lounge.
In 1936, a pleasure steamer returning from Llandudno crashed into the pier. The collision left a 10 feet (3.0 m) gap, and stranded a number of people at the far end.
The 1874 Indian Pavilion was severely damaged by fire in 1921. It was refurbished, but was then destroyed by a second fire in 1938. In 1939 it was replaced by a theatre, built in
an Art Deco style. At around the same time, the bandstand was removed and replaced with a sun lounge.
In the 1960s, the Merrie England bar and an amusement arcade were constructed at the end of the pier nearest to the shore. The 1939 theatre, which is still in use, narrowly
escaped damage in 1985 when the early stages of a fire were noticed by performer Vince Hill. In the 1980s, a Victorian-styled entrance was built. In 1991 the pier gained the
Carousel bar as an additional attraction, and a small tramway to ease access to the pier-head. By this point, the pier had ceased to have any nautical use, but the jetty section
was adapted for use as a helicopter pad in the late 1980s. Storms on 24 December 1997 destroyed the landing jetty, including the helipad.
The North Pier is one of the few remaining examples of Birch's classic pier architecture and is a Grade II Listed building, the only Blackpool pier to hold that status. It was
recognised as "Pier of the Year" in 2004 by the National Piers Society.
North Pier's attractions include a Gypsy palm reader and an ice cream parlour, the North Pier Theatre, a Victorian tea room, and the Carousel and Merrie England bars. The
arcade, built in the 1960s, has approximately eleven million coins pass through its machines each year.
One of the earliest Sooty bear puppets used by Harry Corbett is on display on the pier. Corbett bought the original Sooty puppet on North Pier for his son, Matthew. When Corbett
took the puppet on BBC's Talent Night programme, he marked the nose and ears with soot so that they would show up on the black and white television, giving the puppet its
name.
The Carousel bar on the pier-head has a Victorian wrought iron canopy, and its outdoor sun-lounge is classified as the largest beer garden in Blackpool. Next to the bar is a two
tier carousel, the "Venetian Carousel", which is protected from sand and spray by a glass wall.
After the fire in 1938, the pavilion was replaced with a 1,564 seat theatre which has since hosted a number of acts including; Frankie Vaughan, Frank Randle, Tessie O'Shea,
Dave Morris, Bernard Delfont, Morecambe and Wise, Paul Daniels, Freddie Starr, Russ Abbott, Bruce Forsyth, Des O'Connor, Joe Longthorne, Lily Savage, Brian Conley and
Hale and Pace.
In 2002 a heritage room with photographs was opened up, the foyer entrance was refurbished and a disabled lift added. By 2005, there was no longer a live organist playing in
the sun lounge although other live entertainment continues. In 2013, the live organist was brought back into the sun lounge.
The pier was built and owned by the Blackpool Pier Company, created with three thousand £5-shares in 1861 (worth approximately £2,990 in 2012). The same firm operated the
pier in 1953, and the company was incorporated in 1965. The Resorts Division of First Leisure, including the pier, was sold to Leisure Parks for £74 million in 1998. In 2009, the
pier was sold to the Six Piers group, which owns Blackpool's other two piers, and hoped to use it as a more tranquil alternative to them. The new owners opened the Victorianthemed
tea room, and built an eight-seat shuttle running the length of the pier.
In April 2011, the pier was sold to a Blackpool family firm, Sedgwick's, the owners of amusement arcades and the big wheel on Blackpool's Central Pier. Peter Sedgwick
explained that he proposed to his wife on North Pier forty years ago, and promised to buy it for her one day. He said that he wants to restore the Victorian heritage of the pier and
re-instate the pier's tram. An admission charge of fifty pence to access the board-walk section of the pier was abolished by the Sedgewicks.
A petition to wind up the Northern Victorian Pier Limited (the company used by the Sedgwick family to manage Blackpool North Pier) was presented on 17 September 2012 by
Carlsberg UK Limited, a creditor of the Company, and this was to be heard at Blackpool County Court on 15 November 2012.
At the 11th hour, an agreement to pay the outstanding balance owed to Carlsberg was made and Peter Sedgwick's company escaped liquidation.
[Wikipedia]
The Japanese spent the 1970s and 80 consistently improving quality and features in the cars they produced. This led Toyota to introduce a new marque to sit above their mainstream cars, named Lexus. Nissan did the same with Infinti, Mazda with Amati, and Honda with Acura.
The first model to wear the Acura badge was the Legend - also sold globally under the Honda badge. The Legend was laucned in 1985, with a Coupe model following in 1987. The Legend was the first Honda to feature on V6 engines, initially of 2.5L , then 2.7L capacity, producing 165 PS and 180 PS respectively. The powertrain was mounted longitudinally, and drove the front wheels only - Honda had not yet marketed a rear-drive saloon car.
Though the US was considered the primary market for the car, and this showed strongly in the styling of the Coupe model.
The second generation Honda / Acura Legend was launched in 1990, again featuring both Saloon and Coupe models.
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Il secondo e terzo progetto per la tomba di Giulio II (1513-1516)
Nel febbraio 1513, con la morte del papa, gli eredi decisero di riprendere il progetto della tomba monumentale, con un nuovo disegno e un nuovo contratto nel maggio di quell'anno. Si può immaginare Michelangelo desideroso di riprendere lo scalpello, dopo quattro anni di estenuante lavoro in un'arte che non era la sua prediletta. La modifica più sostanziale del nuovo monumento era l'addossamento a una parete e l'eliminazione della camera mortuaria, caratteristiche che vennero mantenute fino al progetto finale. L'abbandono del monumento isolato, troppo grandioso e dispendioso per gli eredi, comportò un maggiore affollamento di statue sulle facce visibili. Ad esempio le quattro figure sedute, invece che disporsi sulle due facciate, erano adesso previste in prossimità dei due angoli sporgenti sulla fronte. La zona inferiore aveva una partitura analoga, ma senza il portale centrale, sostituito da una fascia liscia che evidenziava l'andamento ascensionale. Lo sviluppo laterale era ancora consistente, poiché era ancora previsto il catafalco in posizione perpendicolare alla parete, sul quale la statua del papa giacente era retta, da due figure alate. Nel registro inferiore invece, su ciascun lato, restava ancora spazio per due nicchie che riprendevano lo schema del prospetto anteriore. Più in alto, sotto una corta volta a tutto sesto retta da pilastri, si trovava una Madonna col Bambino entro una mandorla e altre cinque figure[50].
Tra le clausole contrattuali c'era anche quella che legava l'artista, almeno sulla carta, a lavorare esclusivamente alla sepoltura papale, con un termine massimo di sette anni per il completamento.
Lo scultore si mise al lavoro di buona lena e sebbene non rispettò la clausola esclusiva per non precludesi ulteriori guadagni extra (come scolpendo il primo Cristo della Minerva, nel 1514), realizzò i due Prigioni oggi al Louvre (Schiavo morente e Schiavo ribelle) e il Mosè, che poi venne riutilizzato nella versione definitiva della tomba[55]. I lavori vennero spesso interrotti per viaggi alle cave di Carrara.
Nel luglio 1516 si giunse a un nuovo contratto per un terzo progetto, che riduceva il numero delle statue. I lati vennero accorciati e il monumento andava assumendo così l'aspetto di una monumentale facciata, mossa da decorazioni scultoree. Al posto della partitura liscia al centro della facciata (dove si trovava la porta) viene forse previsto un rilievo bronzeo e, nel registro superiore, il catafalco viene sostituito da una figura del papa sorretto come in una Pietà da due figure sedute, coronate da una Madonna col Bambino sotto una nicchia[50]. I lavori alla sepoltura vengono bruscamente interrotti dalla commissione da parte di Leone X dei lavori alla basilica di San Lorenzo[43].
Michelangelo e Sebastiano del Piombo
In quegli stessi anni, una competizione sempre più accesa con l'artista dominante della corte papale, Raffaello, lo portò a stringere un sodalizio con un altro talentuoso pittore, il veneziano Sebastiano del Piombo. Occupato da altri incarichi, Michelangelo spesso forniva disegni e cartoni al collega, che li trasformava in pittura. Tra questi ci fu ad esempio la Pietà di Viterbo[56].
Nel 1516 nacque una competizione tra Sebastiano e Raffaello, scatenata da una doppia commissione del cardinale Giulio de' Medici per due pale destinata alla sua sede di Narbona, in Francia. Michelangelo offrì un cospicuo aiuto a Sebastiano, disegnando la figura del Salvatore e del miracolato nella tela della Resurrezione di Lazzaro (oggi alla National Gallery di Londra). L'opera di Raffaello invece, la Trasfigurazione non venne completata per la scomparsa dell'artista nel 152
A Firenze per i papi medicei (1516-1534)
La facciata di San Lorenzo (1516-1519)
Nel frattempo infatti il figlio di Lorenzo il Magnifico, Giovanni, era salito al soglio pontificio col nome di Leone X e la città di Firenze era tornata ai Medici nel 1511, comportando la fine del governo repubblicano con alcune apprensioni in particolare per i parenti di Michelangelo, che avevano perso incarichi d'ordine politico e i relativi compensi[58]. Michelangelo lavorò per il nuovo papa fin dal 1514, quando rifece la facciata della sua cappella a Castel Sant'Angelo (dal novembre, opera perduta); nel 1515 la famiglia Buonarroti ottenne dal papa il titolo di conti palatini[59].
In occasione di un viaggio del papa a Firenze nel 1516, la facciata della chiesa "di famiglia" dei Medici, San Lorenzo, era stata ricoperta di apparati effimeri realizzati da Jacopo Sansovino e Andrea del Sarto. Il pontefice decise allora di indire un concorso per realizzare una vera facciata, a cui parteciparono Giuliano da Sangallo, Raffaello, Andrea e Jacopo Sansovino, nonché Michelangelo stesso, su invito del papa. La vittoria andò a quest'ultimo, all'epoca impegnato a Carrara e Pietrasanta per scegliere i marmi per il sepolcro di Giulio II[58]. Il contratto è datato 19 gennaio 1518[59].
Il progetto di Michelangelo, per il quale vennero eseguiti numerosi disegni e ben due modelli lignei (uno è a oggi a Casa Buonarroti) prevedeva una struttura a nartece con un prospetto rettangolare, forse ispirato a modelli di architettura classica, scandito da potenti membrature animate da statue in marmo, bronzo e da rilievi. Si sarebbe trattato di un passo fondamentale in architettura verso una concezione nuova di facciata, non più basata sulla mera aggregazione di elementi singoli, ma articolata in modo unitario, dinamico e fortemente plastico[60].
Il lavoro procedette però a rilento, a causa della scelta del papa di servirsi dei più economici marmi di Seravezza, la cui cava era mal collegata col mare, rendendo difficile il loro trasporto per via fluviale fino a Firenze. Nel settembre 1518 Michelangelo sfiorò anche la morte per una colonna di marmo che, durante il trasporto su un carro, si staccò colpendo micidialmente un operaio accanto a lui, un evento che lo sconvolse profondamente, come raccontò in una lettera a Berto da Filicaia datata 14 settembre 1518[61]. In Versilia Michelangelo creò la strada per il trasporto dei marmi, ancora oggi esistente (anche se ampliata nel 1567 da Cosimo I). I blocchi venivano calati dalla cava di Trambiserra ad Azzano, davanti al Monte Altissimo, fino al Forte dei Marmi (insediamento sorto proprio in quell'occasione) e da lì imbarcate in mare e spedite a Firenze tramite l'Arno.
Nel marzo 1520 il contratto fu rescisso, per la difficoltà dell'impresa e i costi elevati. In quel periodo Michelangelo lavorò ai Prigioni per la tomba di Giulio II, in particolare ai quattro incompiuti oggi alla Galleria dell'Accademia. Scolpì probabilmente anche la statua del Genio della Vittoria di Palazzo Vecchio e alla nuova versione del Cristo risorto per Metello Vari (opera portata a Roma nel 1521), rifinita da suoi assistenti e posta nella basilica di Santa Maria sopra Minerva[58]. Tra le commissioni ricevute e non portate a termine c'è una consulenza per Pier Soderini, per una cappella nella chiesa romana di San Silvestro in Capite (1518)[62].
La Sagrestia Nuova (1520-1534)
Il mutamento dei desideri papali venne causato dai tragici eventi familiari legati alla morte degli ultimi eredi diretti della dinastia medicea: Giuliano Duca di Nemours nel 1516 e, soprattutto, Lorenzo Duca d'Urbino nel 1519. Per ospitare degnamente i resti dei due cugini, nonché quelli dei fratelli Magnifici Lorenzo e Giuliano, rispettivamente padre e zio di Leone X, il papa maturò l'idea di creare una monumentale cappella funebre, la Sagrestia Nuova, da ospitare nel complesso di San Lorenzo. L'opera venne affidata a Michelangelo prima ancora del definitivo annullamento della commissione della facciata; dopotutto l'artista poco tempo prima, il 20 ottobre 1519, si era offerto al pontefice per realizzare una sepoltura monumentale per Dante in Santa Croce, manifestando quindi la sua disponibilità a nuovi incarichi[58]. La morte di Leone sospese il progetto solo per breve tempo, poiché già nel 1523 venne eletto suo cugino Giulio, che prese il nome di Clemente VII e confermò a Michelangelo tutti gli incarichi[58].
Il primo progetto michelangiolesco era quello di un monumento isolato al centro della sala ma, in seguito a discussioni con i committenti, lo cambiò prevedendo di collocare le tombe dei Capitani addossate al centro delle pareti laterali, mentre quelle dei Magnifici, addossate entrambe alla parete di fondo davanti all'altare.
L'opera venne iniziata nel 1525 circa: la struttura in pianta si rifaceva alla Sagrestia Vecchia, sempre nella chiesa di San Lorenzo, del Brunelleschi: a pianta quadrata e con piccolo sacello anch'esso quadrato. Grazie alle membrature, in pietra serena e a ordine gigante, l'ambiente acquista un ritmo più serrato e unitario; inserendo tra le pareti e le lunette un mezzanino e aprendo tra queste ultime delle finestre architravate, dà alla sala un potente senso ascensionale concluso nella volta a cassettoni di ispirazione antica.
Le tombe che sembrano far parte della parete, riprendono nella parte alta le edicole, che sono inserite sopra le otto porte dell'ambiente, quattro vere e quattro finte. Le tombe dei due capitani si compongono di un sarcofago curvilineo sormontato da due statue distese con le Allegorie del Tempo: in quella di Lorenzo il Crepuscolo e l'Aurora, mentre in quella di Giuliano la Notte e il Giorno. Si tratta di figure massicce e dalle membra poderose che sembrano gravare sui sarcofagi quasi a spezzarli e a liberare le anime dei defunti, ritratti nelle statue inserite sopra di essi. Inserite in una nicchia della parete, le statue non sono riprese dal vero ma idealizzate mentre contemplano: Lorenzo in una posa pensierosa e Giuliano con uno scatto repentino della testa. La statua posta sull'altare con la Madonna Medici è simbolo di vita eterna ed è fiancheggiata dalle statue dei Santi Cosma e Damiano (protettori dei Medici) eseguite su disegno del Buonarroti, rispettivamente da Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli e Raffaello da Montelupo.
All'opera, anche se non continuativamente, Michelangelo lavorò fino al 1534, lasciandola incompiuta: senza i monumenti funebri dei Magnifici, le sculture dei Fiumi alla base delle tombe dei Capitani e, forse, di affreschi nelle lunette. Si tratta comunque di uno straordinario esempio di simbiosi perfetta tra scultura e architettura[63].
Nel frattempo Michelangelo continuava a ricevere altre commissioni che solo in piccola parte eseguiva: nell'agosto 1521 inviò a Roma il Cristo della Minerva, nel 1522 un certo Frizzi gli commissionò una tomba a Bologna e il cardinale Fieschi gli chiese una Madonna scolpita, entrambi progetti mai eseguiti[62]; nel 1523 ricevette nuove sollecitazioni da parte degli eredi di Giulio II, in particolare Francesco Maria Della Rovere, e lo stesso anno gli venne commissionata, senza successo, una statua di Andrea Doria da parte del Senato genovese, mentre il cardinal Grimani, patriarca di Aquileia, gli chiese un dipinto o una scultura mai eseguiti[62]. Nel 1524 papa Clemente gli commissionò la biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, i cui lavori avviarono a rilento, e un ciborio (1525) per l'altare maggiore di San Lorenzo, sostituito poi dalla Tribuna delle reliquie; nel 1526 si arrivò a una drammatica rottura coi Della Rovere per un nuovo progetto, più semplice, per la tomba di Giulio II, che venne rifiutato[58]. Altre richieste inevase di progetti di tombe gli pervengono dal duca di Suessa e da Barbazzi canonico di San Petronio a BolognaL'insurrezione e l'assedio (1527-1530)
Un motivo comune nella vicenda biografica di Michelangelo è l'ambiguo rapporto con i propri committenti, che più volte ha fatto parlare di ingratitudine dell'artista verso i suoi patrocinatori. Anche con i Medici il suo rapporto fu estremamente ambiguo: nonostante siano stati loro a spingerlo verso la carriera artistica e a procurargli commissioni di altissimo rilievo, la sua convinta fede repubblicana lo portò a covare sentimenti di odio contro di essi, vedendoli come la principale minaccia contro la libertas fiorentina[63].
Fu così che nel 1527, arrivata in città la notizia del Sacco di Roma e del durissimo smacco inferto a papa Clemente, la città di Firenze insorse contro il suo delegato, l'odiato Alessandro de' Medici, cacciandolo e instaurando un nuovo governo repubblicano. Michelangelo aderì pienamente al nuovo regime, con un appoggio ben oltre il piano simbolico. Il 22 agosto 1528 si mise al servizio del governo repubblicano, riprendendo la vecchia commissione dell'Ercole e Caco (ferma dal 1508), che propose di mutare in un Sansone con due filistei[58]. Il 10 gennaio 1529 venne nominato membro dei "Nove di milizia", occupandosi di nuovi piani difensivi, specie per il colle di San Miniato al Monte[58]. Il 6 aprile di quell'anno riceve l'incarico di "Governatore generale sopra le fortificazioni", in previsione dell'assedio che le forze imperiali si apprestavano a cingere[63]. Visitò appositamente Pisa e Livorno nell'esercizio del proprio ufficio, e si recò anche a Ferrara per studiarne le fortificazioni (qui Alfonso I d'Este gli commissionò una Leda con il cigno, poi andata perduta[62]), rientrando a Firenze il 9 settembre[58]. Preoccupato per l'aggravarsi della situazione, il 21 settembre fuggì a Venezia, in previsione di trasferirsi in Francia alla corte di Francesco I, che però non gli aveva ancora fatto offerte concrete. Qui venne però raggiunto prima dal bando del governo fiorentino che lo dichiarò ribelle, il 30 settembre. Tornò allora nella sua città il 15 novembre, riprendendo la direzione delle fortezze[58].
Di questo periodo rimangono disegni di fortificazione, realizzate attraverso una complicata dialettica di forme concave e convesse che sembrano macchine dinamiche atte all'offesa e alla difesa. Con l'arrivo degli Imperiali a minacciare la città, a lui è attribuita l'idea di usare la platea di San Miniato al Monte come avamposto con cui cannoneggiare sul nemico, proteggendo il campanile dai pallettoni nemici con un'armatura fatta di materassi imbottiti.
Le forze in campo per gli assedianti erano però soverchianti e con la sua disperata difesa la città non poté altro che negoziare un trattato, in parte poi disatteso, che evitasse la distruzione e il saccheggio che pochi anni prima avevano colpito Roma. All'indomani del ritorno dei Medici in città (12 agosto 1530) Michelangelo, che sapeva di essersi fortemente compromesso e temendo quindi una vendetta, si nasconde rocambolescamente e riuscì a fuggire dalla città (settembre 1530), riparando a Venezia[63]. Qui restò brevemente, assalito da dubbi sul da farsi. In questo breve periodo soggiornò all'isola della Giudecca per mantenersi lontano dalla vita sfarzosa dell'ambiente cittadino e leggenda vuole che avesse presentato un modello per il ponte di Rialto al doge Andrea Gritti.
La Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana (1530-1534)
Il perdono di Clemente VII non si fece però attendere, a patto che l'artista riprendesse immediatamente i lavori a San Lorenzo dove, oltre alla Sagrestia, si era aggiunto cinque anni prima il progetto di una monumentale libreria. È chiaro come il papa fosse mosso, più che dalla pietà verso l'uomo, dalla consapevolezza di non poter rinunciare all'unico artista capace di dare forma ai sogni di gloria della sua dinastia, nonostante la sua indole contrastata[63]. All'inizio degli anni trenta scolpì anche un Apollino per Baccio Valori, il feroce governatore di Firenze imposto dal papa[58].
La biblioteca pubblica, annessa alla chiesa di San Lorenzo, venne interamente progettata dal Buonarroti: nella sala di lettura si rifece al modello della biblioteca di Michelozzo in San Marco, eliminando la divisione in navate e realizzando un ambiente con le mura scandite da finestre sormontate da mezzanini tra pilastrini, tutti con modanature in pietra serena. Disegnò anche i banchi in legno e forse lo schema di soffitto intagliato e pavimento con decorazioni in cotto, organizzati in medesime partiture. Il capolavoro del progetto è il vestibolo, con un forte slancio verticale dato dalle colonne binate che cingono il portale timpanato e dalle edicole sulle pareti.
Solo nel 1558 Michelangelo fornì il modello in argilla per lo scalone, da lui progettato in legno, ma realizzato per volere di Cosimo I de' Medici, in pietra serena: le ardite forme rettilinee e ellittiche, concave e convesse, vengono indicate come una precoce anticipazione dello stile barocco.
Il 1531 fu un anno intenso: eseguì il cartone del Noli me tangere, proseguì i lavori alla Sagrestia e alla Liberia di San Lorenzo e per la stessa chiesa progettò la Tribuna delle reliquie; Inoltre gli vennero chiesti, senza esito, un progetto dal duca di Mantova, il disegno di una casa da Baccio Valori, e un tomba per il cardinale Cybo; le fatiche lo condussero anche a una grave malattia[58].
Nell'aprile 1532 si ebbe il quarto contratto per la tomba di Giulio II, con solo sei statue. In quello stesso anno Michelangelo conobbe a Roma l'intelligente e bellissimo Tommaso de' Cavalieri, con il quale si legò appassionatamente, dedicandogli disegni e composizioni poetiche[58]. Per lui approntò, tra l'altro, i disegni col Ratto di Ganimede e la Caduta di Fetonte, che sembrano precorrere, nella potente composizione e nel tema del compiersi fatale del destino, il Giudizio Universale[64]. Rapporti molto tesi ebbe, invece, con il guardarobiere pontificio e Maestro di Camera Pietro Giovanni Aliotti, futuro vescovo di Forlì, che Michelangelo, considerandolo troppo impiccione, chiamava il Tantecose.
Il 22 settembre 1533 incontrò a San Miniato al Tedesco Clemente VII e, secondo la tradizione, in quell'occasione si parlò per la prima volta della pittura di un Giudizio universale nella Sistina[58]. Lo stesso anno morì il padre Ludovico[58].
Nel 1534 gli incarichi fiorentini procedevano ormai sempre più stancamente, con un ricorso sempre maggiore di aiuti
L'epoca di Paolo III (1534-1545)
Il Giudizio Universale (1534-1541)
L'artista non approvava il regime politico tiranneggiante del Duca Alessandro, per cui con l'occasione di nuovi incarichi a Roma, tra cui il lavoro per gli eredi di Giulio II, lasciò Firenze dove non mise mai più piede, nonostante gli accattivanti inviti di Cosimo I negli anni della vecchiaia[65].
Clemente VII gli aveva commissionato la decorazione della parete di fondo della Cappella Sistina con il Giudizio Universale, ma non fece in tempo a vedere nemmeno l'inizio dei lavori, perché morì pochi giorni dopo l'arrivo dell'artista a Roma. Mentre l'artista riprendeva la Sepoltura di papa Giulio, venne eletto al soglio pontificio Paolo III, che non solo confermò l'incarico del Giudizio, ma nominò anche Michelangelo pittore, scultore e architetto del Palazzo Vaticano[58].
I lavori alla Sistina poterono essere avviati alla fine del 1536, per proseguire fino all'autunno del 1541. Per liberare l'artista dagli incarichi verso gli eredi Della Rovere Paolo III arrivò ad emettere un motu proprio il 17 novembre 1536[58]. Se fino ad allora i vari interventi alla cappella papale erano stati coordinati e complementari, con il Giudizio si assistette al primo intervento distruttivo, che sacrificò la pala dell'Assunta di Perugino, le prime due storie quattrocentesche di Gesù e di Mosè e due lunette dipinte dallo stesso Michelangelo più di vent'anni prima[65].
Al centro dell'affresco vi è il Cristo giudice con vicino la Madonna che rivolge lo sguardo verso gli eletti; questi ultimi formano un'ellissi che segue i movimenti del Cristo in un turbine di santi, patriarchi e profeti. A differenza delle rappresentazioni tradizionale, tutto è caos e movimento, e nemmeno i santi sono esentati dal clima di inquietudine, attesa, se non paura e sgomento che coinvolge espressivamente i partecipanti.
Le licenze iconografiche, come i santi senza aureola, gli angeli apteri e il Cristo giovane e senza barba, possono essere allusioni al fatto che davanti al giudizio ogni singolo uomo è uguale. Questo fatto, che poteva essere letto come un generico richiamo ai circoli della Riforma Cattolica, unitamente alla nudità e alla posa sconveniente di alcune figure (santa Caterina d'Alessandria prona con alle spalle san Biagio), scatenarono contro l'affresco i severi giudizi di buona parte della curia. Dopo la morte dell'artista, e col mutato clima culturale dovuto anche al Concilio di Trento, si arrivò al punto di provvedere al rivestimento dei nudi e alla modifica delle parti più sconvenienti.
Una statua equestre
Nel 1537, verso febbraio, il duca d'Urbino Francesco Maria I Della Rovere gli chiese un abbozzo per un cavallo destinato forse a un monumento equestre, che risulta completato il 12 ottobre. L'artista però si rifiutò di inviare il progetto al duca, poiché insoddisfatto. Dalla corrispondenza si apprende anche che entro i primi di luglio Michelangelo gli aveva progettato anche una saliera: la precedenza del duca rispetto a tante commissioni inevase di Michelangelo è sicuramente legata alla pendenza dei lavori alla tomba di Giulio II, di cui Francesco Maria era erede[62].
Quello stesso anno a Roma riceve la cittadinanza onoraria in Campidoglio[
Piazza del Campidoglio
Paolo III, al pari dei suoi predecessori, fu un entusiasta committente di Michelangelo[65].
Con il trasferimento sul Campidoglio della statua equestre di Marc'Aurelio, simbolo dell'autorità imperiale e per estensione della continuità tra la Roma imperiale e quella papale, il papa incaricò Michelangelo, nel 1538, di studiare la ristrutturazione della piazza, centro dell'amministrazione civile romana fin dal Medioevo e in stato di degrado[62].
Tenendo conto delle preesistenze vennero mantenuti e trasformati i due edifici esistenti, già ristrutturati nel XV secolo da Rossellino, realizzando di conseguenza la piazza a pianta trapezoidale con sullo sfondo il palazzo dei Senatori, dotato di scala a doppia rampa, e delimitata ai lati da due palazzi: il Palazzo dei Conservatori e il cosiddetto Palazzo Nuovo costruito ex novo, entrambi convergenti verso la scalinata di accesso al Campidoglio. Gli edifici vennero caratterizzati da un ordine gigante a pilastri corinzi in facciata, con massicce cornici e architravi. Al piano terra degli edifici laterali i pilastri dell'ordine gigante sono affiancati da colonne che formano un insolito portico architravato, in un disegno complessivo molto innovativo che rifugge programmaticamente dall'uso dell'arco. il lato interno del portico presenta invece colonne alveolate che in seguito ebbero una gran diffusione[66], I lavori furono compiuti molto dopo la morte del maestro, mentre la pavimentazione della piazza fu realizzata solo ai primi del Novecento, utilizzando una stampa di Étienne Dupérac che riporta quello che doveva essere il progetto complessivo previsto da Michelangelo, secondo un reticolo curvilineo inscritto in un'ellisse con al centro il basamento ad angoli smussati per la statua del Marc'Aurelio, anch'esso disegnato da Michelangelo.
Verso il 1539 iniziò forse il Bruto per il cardinale Niccolò Ridolfi, opera dai significati politici legata ai fuorusciti fiorentini[5
La Crocifissione per Vittoria Colonna (1541).
Dal 1537 circa Michelangelo aveva iniziato la vivida amicizia con la marchesa di Pescara Vittoria Colonna: essa lo introdusse al circolo viterbese del cardinale Reginald Pole, frequentato, tra gli altri, da Vittore Soranzo, Apollonio Merenda, Pietro Carnesecchi, Pietro Antonio Di Capua, Alvise Priuli e la contessa Giulia Gonzaga.
In quel circolo culturale si aspirava a una riforma della Chiesa Cattolica, sia interna sia nei confronti del resto della Cristianità, alla quale avrebbe dovuto riconciliarsi. Queste teorie influenzarono Michelangelo e altri artisti. Risale a quel periodo la Crocifissione realizzata per Vittoria, databile al 1541 e forse dispersa, oppure mai dipinta. Di quest'opera ci restano solamente alcuni disegni preparatori di incerta attribuzione, il più famoso è senz'altro quello conservato al British Museum, mentre buone copie si trovano nella concattedrale di Santa Maria de La Redonda e alla Casa Buonarroti. Inoltre esiste un'opera attribuita a Michelangelo, sulla base di un testamento di un conte viterbese datato al 1725, esposta nel Museo del Colle del Duomo di Viterbo.
Secondo i progetti raffigurava un giovane e sensuale Cristo, simboleggiante un'allusione alle teorie riformiste cattoliche che vedevano nel sacrificio del sangue di Cristo l'unica via di salvezza individuale, senza intermediazioni della Chiesa e dei suoi rappresentanti.
Uno schema analogo presentava anche la Pietà per Vittoria Colonna, dello stesso periodo, nota da un disegno a Boston e da alcune copie di allievi.
In quegli anni a Roma Michelangelo poteva quindi contare su una sua cerchia di amici ed estimatori, tra cui oltre alla Colonna, Tommaso de' Cavalieri e artisti quali Tiberio Calcagni e Daniele da Volterra
Cappella Paolina (1542-1550)
Dal 1542 il papa gli commissionò quella che rappresenta la sua ultima opera pittorica, dove ormai anziano lavorò per quasi dieci anni, in contemporanea ad altri impegni[65]. Il papa Farnese, geloso e seccato del fatto che il luogo ove la celebrazione di Michelangelo pittore raggiungesse i suoi massimi livelli fosse dedicato ai papi Della Rovere, gli affidò la decorazione della sua cappella privata in Vaticano che prese il suo nome (Cappella Paolina). Michelangelo realizzò due affreschi, lavorando da solo con faticosa pazienza, procedendo con piccole "giornate", fitte di interruzioni e pentimenti.
Il primo a essere realizzato, la Conversione di Saulo (1542-1545), presenta una scena inserita in un paesaggio spoglio e irreale, con compatti grovigli di figure alternati a spazi vuoti e, al centro, la luce accecante che da Dio scende su Saulo a terra; il secondo, il Martirio di San Pietro (1545-1550), ha una croce disposta in diagonale in modo da costituire l'asse di un ipotetico spazio circolare con al centro il volto del martire.
L'opera nel suo complesso è caratterizzata da una drammatica tensione e improntata a un sentimento di mestizia, generalmente interpretata come espressione della religiosità tormentata di Michelangelo e del sentimento di profondo pessimismo che caratterizza l'ultimo periodo della sua vita.
La conclusione dei lavori alla tomba di Giulio II (1544-1545)
La Tomba di Giulio II
Dopo gli ultimi accordi del 1542, la tomba di Giulio II venne posta in essere nella chiesa di San Pietro in Vincoli tra il 1544 e il 1545 con le statue del Mosè, di Lia (Vita attiva) e di Rachele (Vita contemplativa) nel primo ordine.
Nel secondo ordine, al fianco del pontefice disteso con sopra la Vergine col Bambino si trovano una Sibilla e un Profeta. Anche questo progetto risente dell'influsso del circolo di Viterbo; Mosè uomo illuminato e sconvolto dalla visione di Dio è affiancato da due modi di essere, ma anche da due modi di salvezza non necessariamente in conflitto tra di loro: la vita contemplativa viene rappresentata da Rachele che prega come se per salvarsi usasse unicamente la Fede, mentre la vita attiva, rappresentata da Lia, trova la sua salvezza nell'operare. L'interpretazione comune dell'opera d'arte è che si tratti di una specie di posizione di mediazione tra Riforma e Cattolicesimo dovuta sostanzialmente alla sua intensa frequentazione con Vittoria Colonna e il suo entourage.
Nel 1544 disegnò anche la tomba di Francesco Bracci, nipote di Luigi del Riccio nella cui casa aveva ricevuto assistenza durante una grave malattia che l'aveva colpito in giugno[58]. Per tale indisposizione, nel marzo aveva rifiutato a Cosimo I de' Medici l'esecuzione di un busto[62]. Lo stesso anno avviarono i lavori al Campidoglio, progettati nel 1538
Vecchiaia (1546-1564)
Gli ultimi decenni di vita di Michelangelo sono caratterizzati da un progressivo abbandono della pittura e anche della scultura, esercitata ormai solo in occasione di opere di carattere privato. Prendono consistenza invece numerosi progetti architettonici e urbanistici, che proseguono sulla strada della rottura del canone classico, anche se molti di essi vennero portati a termine in periodi seguenti da altri architetti, che non sempre rispettarono il suo disegno originale[
Palazzo Farnese (1546-1550)
A gennaio 1546 Michelangelo si ammalò, venendo curato in casa di Luigi del Riccio. Il 29 aprile, ripresosi, promise una statua in bronzo, una in marmo e un dipinto a Francesco I di Francia, che però non riuscì a fare[62].
Con la morte di Antonio da Sangallo il Giovane nell'ottobre 1546, a Michelangelo vennero affidate le fabbriche di Palazzo Farnese e della basilica di San Pietro, entrambe lasciate incompiute dal primo[58].
Tra il 1547 e il 1550 l'artista progettò dunque il completamento della facciata e del cortile di Palazzo Farnese: nella facciata variò, rispetto al progetto del Sangallo, alcuni elementi che danno all'insieme una forte connotazione plastica e monumentale ma al tempo stesso dinamica ed espressiva. Per ottenere questo risultato accrebbe in altezza il secondo piano, inserì un massiccio cornicione e sormontò il finestrone centrale con uno stemma colossale (i due ai lati sono successivi).
Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano (1546-1564)
Per quanto riguarda la basilica vaticana, la storia del progetto michelangiolesco è ricostruibile da una serie di documenti di cantiere, lettere, disegni, affreschi e testimonianze dei contemporanei, ma diverse informazioni sono in contrasto tra loro. Infatti, Michelangelo non redasse mai un progetto definitivo per la basilica, preferendo procedere per parti[67]. In ogni caso, subito dopo la morte dell'artista toscano furono pubblicate diverse stampe nel tentativo di restituire una visione complessiva del disegno originario; le incisioni di Étienne Dupérac si imposero subito come le più diffuse e accettate[68].Michelangelo pare che aspirasse al ritorno alla pianta centrale del Bramante, con un quadrato inscritto nella croce greca, rifiutando sia la pianta a croce latina introdotta da Raffaello Sanzio, sia i disegni del Sangallo, che prevedevano la costruzione di un edificio a pianta centrale preceduto da un imponente avancorpo
Demolì parti realizzate dai suoi predecessori e, rispetto alla perfetta simmetria del progetto bramantesco, introdusse un asse preferenziale nella costruzione, ipotizzando una facciata principale schermata da un portico composto da colonne d'ordine gigante (non realizzato). Per la massiccia struttura muraria, che doveva correre lungo tutto il perimetro della fabbrica, ideò un unico ordine gigante a paraste corinzie con attico, mentre al centro della costruzione costruì un tamburo, con colonne binate (sicuramente realizzato dall'artista), sul quale fu innalzata la cupola emisferica a costoloni conclusa da lanterna (la cupola fu completata, con alcune differenze rispetto al presunto modello originario, da Giacomo Della Porta).
Tuttavia, la concezione michelangiolesca fu in gran parte stravolta da Carlo Maderno, che all'inizio del XVII secolo completò la basilica con l'aggiunta di una navata longitudinale e di una imponente facciata sulla base delle spinte della Controriforma.
Nel 1547 morì Vittoria Colonna, poco dopo la scomparsa dell'altro amico Luigi del Riccio: si tratta di perdite molto amare per l'artista[58]. L'anno successivo, il 9 gennaio 1548 muore suo fratello Giovansimone Buonarroti. Il 27 agosto il Consiglio municipale di Roma propose di affidare all'artista il restauro del ponte di Santa Maria. Nel 1549 Benedetto Varchi pubblicò a Firenze "Due lezzioni", tenute su un sonetto di Michelangelo[58]. Nel gennaio del 1551 alcuni documenti della cattedrale di Padova accennano a un modello di Michelangelo per il coro[62].
La serie delle Pietà (1550-1555 circa)
Dal 1550 circa iniziò a realizzare la cosiddetta Pietà dell'Opera del Duomo (dalla collocazione attuale nel Museo dell'Opera del Duomo di Firenze), opera destinata alla sua tomba e abbandonata dopo che l'artista frantumò, in un accesso d'ira due o tre anni più tardi, il braccio e la gamba sinistra del Cristo, spezzando anche la mano della Vergine. Fu in seguito Tiberio Calcagni a ricostruire il braccio e rifinire la Maddalena lasciata dal Buonarroti allo stato di non-finito: il gruppo costituito dal Cristo sorretto dalla Vergine, dalla Maddalena e da Nicodemo è disposto in modo piramidale con al vertice quest'ultimo; la scultura viene lasciata a diversi gradi di finitura con la figura del Cristo allo stadio più avanzato. Nicodemo sarebbe un autoritratto del Buonarroti, dal cui corpo sembra uscire la figura del Cristo: forse un riferimento alla sofferenza psicologica che lui, profondamente religioso, portava dentro di sé in quegli anni.
La Pietà Rondanini venne definita, nell'inventario di tutte le opere rinvenute nel suo studio dopo la morte, come: "Un'altra statua principiata per un Cristo et un'altra figura di sopra, attaccate insieme, sbozzate e non finite".
Michelangelo nel 1561 donò la scultura al suo servitore Antonio del Francese continuando però ad apportarvi modifiche sino alla morte; il gruppo è costituito da parti condotte a termine, come il braccio destro di Cristo, e da parti non finite, come il torso del Salvatore schiacciato contro il corpo della Vergine quasi a formare un tutt'uno. Successivamente alla scomparsa di Michelangelo, in un periodo imprecisato, questa scultura fu trasferita nel palazzo Rondanini di Roma e da questi ha mutuato il nome. Attualmente si trova nel Castello Sforzesco, acquistata nel 1952 dalla città di Milano da una proprietà privata[
Le biografie
Nel 1550 uscì la prima edizione delle Vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori di Giorgio Vasari che conteneva una biografia di Michelangelo, la prima scritta di un artista vivente, in posizione conclusiva dell'opera che celebrava l'artista come vertice di quella catena di grandi artefici che partiva da Cimabue e Giotto, raggiungendo nella sua persona la sintesi di perfetta padronanza delle arti (pittura, scultura e architettura) in grado non solo di rivaleggiare ma anche di superare i mitici maestri dell'antichità[70].
Nonostante le premesse celebrative ed encomiastiche, Michelangelo non gradì l'operazione, per le numerose scorrettezze e soprattutto per una versione a lui non congeniale della tormentata vicenda della tomba di Giulio II. L'artista allora in quegli anni lavorò con un suo fedele collaboratore, Ascanio Condivi, facendo pubblicare una nuova biografia che riportava la sua versione dei fatti (1553). A questa attinse Vasari, oltre che in seguito a una sua diretta frequentazione dell'artista negli ultimi anni di vita, per la seconda edizione delle Vite, pubblicata nel 1568[70].
Queste opere alimentarono la leggenda dell'artista, quale genio tormentato e incompreso, spinto oltre i propri limiti dalle condizioni avverse e dalle mutevoli richieste dei committenti, ma capace di creare opere titaniche e insuperabili[65]. Mai avvenuto fino ad allora era poi che questa leggenda si formasse quando ancora l'interessato era in vita[65]. Nonostante questa invidiabile posizione raggiunta dal Buonarroti in vecchiaia, gli ultimi anni della sua esistenza sono tutt'altro che tranquilli, animati da una grande tribolazione interiore e da riflessioni tormentate sulla fede, la morte e la salvezza, che si trovano anche nelle sue opere (come le Pietà) e nei suoi scritti[
Altri avvenimenti degli anni cinquanta
Nel 1550 Michelangelo aveva terminato gli affreschi alla Cappella Paolina e nel 1552 era stato completato il Campidoglio. In quell'anno l'artista fornì anche il disegno per la scala nel cortile del Belvedere in Vaticano. In scultura lavorò alla Pietà e in letteratura si occupa delle proprie biografie[58].
Nel 1554 Ignazio di Loyola dichiarò che Michelangelo aveva accettato di progettare la nuova chiesa del Gesù a Roma, ma il proposito non ebbe seguito[62]. Nel 1555 l'elezione al soglio pontificio di Marcello II compromise la presenza dell'artista a capo del cantiere di San Pietro, ma subito dopo venne eletto Paolo IV, che lo confermò nell'incarico, indirizzandolo soprattutto ai lavori alla cupola. Sempre nel '55 morirono suo fratello Gismondo e Francesco Amadori detto l'Urbino che lo aveva servito per ventisei anni[58]; una lettera a Vasari di quell'anno gli dà istruzioni per il compimento del ricetto della Libreria Laurenziana[62].
Nel settembre 1556 l'avvicinarsi dell'esercito spagnolo indusse l'artista ad abbandonare Roma per riparare a Loreto. Mentre faceva sosta a Spoleto venne raggiunto da un appello pontificio che lo obbligò a tornare indietro[58]. Al 1557 risale il modello ligneo per la cupola di San Pietro e nel 1559 fece disegni per la basilica di San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, nonché per la cappella Sforza in Santa Maria Maggiore e per la scalinata della Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana. Forse quell'anno avviò anche la Pietà Rondanini[58].
Porta Pia a Roma (1560)
el 1560 fece un disegno per Caterina de' Medici con un disegno per la tomba di Enrico II. Inoltre lo stesso anno progetto la tomba di Giangiacomo de' Medici per il Duomo di Milano, eseguita poi da Leone Leoni[58].
Verso il 1560 progettò anche la monumentale Porta Pia, vera e propria scenografia urbana con la fronte principale verso l'interno della città. Il portale con frontone curvilineo interrotto e inserito in un altro triangolare è fiancheggiata da paraste scanalate, mentre sul setto murario ai lati si aprono due finestre timpanate, con al di sopra altrettanti mezzanini ciechi. Dal punto di vista del linguaggio architettonico, Michelangelo manifestò uno spirito sperimentale ed anticonvenzionale tanto che si è parlato di "anticlassicismo
Santa Maria degli Angeli (1561)
Ormai vecchio, Michelangelo progettò nel 1561 una ristrutturazione della chiesa di Santa Maria degli Angeli all'interno delle Terme di Diocleziano e dell'adiacente convento dei padri certosini, avviati a partire dal 1562. Lo spazio della chiesa fu ottenuto con un intervento che, dal punto di vista murario, oggi si potrebbe definire minimale[72], con pochi setti di muro nuovi entro il grande spazio voltato del tepidarium delle terme, aggiungendo solo un profondo presbiterio e dimostrando un atteggiamento moderno e non distruttivo nei confronti dei resti archeologici.
La chiesa ha un insolito sviluppo trasversale, sfruttando tre campate contigue coperte a crociera, a cui sono aggiunte due cappelle laterali quadrate.
Console dell'Accademia delle Arti del Disegno
Il 31 gennaio 1563 Cosimo I de' Medici fondò, su consiglio dell'architetto aretino Giorgio Vasari, l'Accademia e Compagnia dell'Arte del Disegno di cui viene subito eletto console proprio il Buonarroti. Mentre la Compagnia era una sorta di corporazione cui dovevano aderire tutti gli artisti operanti in Toscana, l'Accademia, costituita solo dalle più eminenti personalità culturali della corte di Cosimo, aveva finalità di tutela e supervisione sull'intera produzione artistica del principato mediceo. Si trattava dell'ultimo, accattivante invito rivolto a Michelangelo da parte di Cosimo per farlo tornare a Firenze, ma ancora una volta l'artista declinò: la sua radicata fede repubblicana doveva probabilmente renderlo incompatibile col servizio al nuovo duca fiorentino
La morte
A un solo anno dalla nomina, il 18 febbraio 1564, quasi ottantanovenne, Michelangelo morì a Roma, nella sua residenza di piazza Macel de' Corvi (distrutta quando venne creato il monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II), assistito da Tommaso de' Cavalieri. Si dice che fino a tre giorni prima avesse lavorato alla Pietà Rondanini[65]. Pochi giorni prima, il 21 gennaio, la Congregazione del Concilio di Trento aveva deciso di far coprire le parti "oscene" del Giudizio Universale.
Nell'inventario redatto qualche giorno dopo il decesso (19 febbraio) sono registrati pochi beni, tra cui la Pietà, due piccole sculture di cui si ignorano le sorti (un San Pietro e un piccolo Cristo portacroce), dieci cartoni, mentre i disegni e gli schizzi pare che fossero stati bruciati poco prima di morire dal maestro stesso. In una cassa viene poi ritrovato un cospicuo "tesoretto", degno di un principe, che nessuno si sarebbe immaginato in un'abitazione tanto povera[
Le solenni esequie a Firenze
La morte del maestro venne particolarmente sentita a Firenze, poiché la città non era riuscita a onorare il suo più grande artista prima della morte, nonostante i tentativi di Cosimo. Il recupero dei suoi resti mortali e la celebrazione di esequie solenni divenne quindi un'assoluta priorità cittadina[73]. A pochi giorni dalla morte, suo nipote Lionardo Buonarroti, arrivò a Roma col preciso compito di recuperare la salma e organizzarne il trasporto, un'impresa forse ingigantita dal resoconto del Vasari nella seconda edizione delle Vite: secondo lo storico aretino i romani si sarebbero opposti alle sue richieste, desiderando inumare l'artista nella basilica di San Pietro, al che Lionardo avrebbe trafugato il corpo di notte e in gran segreto prima di riprendere la strada per Firenze[74].
Appena arrivata nella città toscana (11 marzo 1564), la bara venne portata in Santa Croce e ispezionata secondo un complesso cerimoniale, stabilito dal luogotenente dell'Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, Vincenzo Borghini. Si trattò del primo atto funebre (12 marzo) che, per quanto solenne, venne presto superato da quello del 14 luglio 1564 in San Lorenzo, patrocinato dalla casata ducale e degno più di un principe che di un artista. L'intera basilica venne addobbata riccamente con drappi neri e di tavole dipinte con episodi della sua vita; al centro venne predisposto un catafalco monumentale, ornato di pitture e sculture effimere, dalla complessa iconografia. L'orazione funebre venne scritta e letta da Benedetto Varchi, che esaltò "le lodi, i meriti, la vita e l'opere del divino Michelangelo Buonarroti"[74].
L'inumazione avvenne infine in Santa Croce, in un sepolcro monumentale disegnato da Giorgio Vasari, composto da tre figure piangenti che rappresentano la pittura, la scultura e l'architettura[74].
I funerali di stato suggellarono lo status raggiunto dall'artista e furono la consacrazione definitiva del suo mito, come artefice insuperabile, capace di raggiungere vertici creativi in qualunque campo artistico e, più di quelli di qualunque altro, capaci di emulare l'atto della creazione divina.
Da Wikipedia, l'enciclopedia libera.
Foto d'anonimo anni '60;
Michelangelo BuonarrotiRaccolta Foto de Alvariis;
Size: 6”x6”
Tesserae: Scrap stained glass, millefiori, vitreous tile, and salvaged mirror, on 1/4" environmental MDF
Statement:
This work depicts an abstract forest at dawn. On a salvaged mirror substrate, I have used scrap stained glass for the leaf canopy and the hilly ground, with accents of Italian glass millefiori. I left the tree trunks and branches as "open cut-outs" with no tessera, which allows the mirror substrate to show through and form the tree trunks and branches. The trees are all "interlocked" with one another by their web of branches. My intention with the overall composition is to suggest that between the heavens and the earth we are all interconnected ("Beyond Borders") and by using the mirror as a major element, I hope to remind anyone who views the piece and sees their reflection in the trees, that they, too, are part of that infinite connection.
About me:
My name is Francesca De Lorme and I am the owner of Studio Fresca in northeastern Vermont. While I enjoy art of all kinds and work in a variety of media, as well as teach art part-time at nearby Burke Mountain Academy, I am totally and irrevocably smitten with mosaic. When I'm not delving into dumpsters or scavenging around salvage yards, I create Mixed-Media Mosaic Art using primarily recycled, salvaged and reclaimed materials — and I love the entire process. The art and craft of making mosaics is totally engrossing to me because it involves the heart in the passion of creation, the head in fitting together all the elements of the puzzle, and the hands in fine craftsmanship. For me, art is both interaction and expression; an exploration of discovery that perfectly weds the mind, the soul and the body in an ongoing, thought-provoking, and always entertaining, dialog...with myself, with the world around me — and with ALL the stuff, both physical and metaphysical, of life. I am affiliated with several local and national artists associations and my work has been consistently chosen for exhibit in major and minor juried shows. I also offer small group and individual classes; serve as Artist-in-Residence for schools; plan, design and coordinate community public art projects; and sell some mosaic materials and supplies.
Francesca De Lorme
Studio Fresca
Website: www.studiofresca.com
Vermont, USA
The Japanese spent the 1970s and 80 consistently improving quality and features in the cars they produced. This led Toyota to introduce a new marque to sit above their mainstream cars, named Lexus. Nissan did the same with Infinti, Mazda with Amati, and Honda with Acura.
The first model to wear the Acura badge was the Legend - also sold globally under the Honda badge. The Legend was laucned in 1985, with a Coupe model following in 1987. The Legend was the first Honda to feature on V6 engines, initially of 2.5L , then 2.7L capacity, producing 165 PS and 180 PS respectively. The powertrain was mounted longitudinally, and drove the front wheels only - Honda had not yet marketed a rear-drive saloon car.
Though the US was considered the primary market for the car, and this showed strongly in the styling of the Coupe model.
The second generation Honda / Acura Legend was launched in 1990, again featuring both Saloon and Coupe models.
Prezzo: 30,00€
Un olio detergente con la consistenza di un gel.
Quando viene a contatto con l’acqua si trasforma in un delicatissimo latte, in grado di rimuovere a fondo sia il make up sia le impurità prodotte dalla pelle e derivanti dall’ambiente sempre in modo delicato e rispettando il nostro film idrolipidico.
Dalla preziosa consistenza, nutre, deterge e strucca la pelle del viso in profondità senza seccare. È ricco di principi attivi preziosi per una detergenza accurata e per il benessere globale della pelle. L’Olio di Mandorle Dolci di Sicilia e l’Olio Extra vergine di Oliva assicurano l’elasticità cutanea, gli estratti di Camomilla e Calendula svolgono un’azione lenitiva e antinfiammatoria favorendo la cicatrizzazione dei tessuti, i meristemi di Quercia tolgono le infiammazioni e Tè verde e Acido gallico sono antiossidanti e prevengono i radicali liberi.
Bisogna applicarlo con un leggero massaggio sul viso asciutto, bagnare il viso con acqua tiepida, continuare a massaggiarlo fino ad eliminare tutti i residui.
3 minuti mattino e sera per far splendere la pelle:
Prelevate una piccola quantità di Olio Ricco Detergente,
Massaggiate sul viso asciutto, insistendo sulle zone con più make-up e sulla zona T
Bagnate il viso con dell’acqua tiepida e create un latte, massaggiate delicatamente e rimuovete l’eccesso di prodotto con acqua oppure con l’ausilio di un pannetto umido.
125ml
I snapped this beautiful tree while it was vulnerable to the gentle washing it was getting from the rain which has been fairly consistent the last few days. It was beautiful sitting out on my balcony feeling and listening to this rather gentle buffing from God.
It makes me think of the countries that are experiencing severe weather and all the problems that go with such extreme weather. I truly believe that the natural disasters or as some might say impersonal workings of Mother Nature, are, and I emphasize are, vital messages from God! Actually we refer to weather calamities as Acts of God without really considering what His actual role is concerning such!
I remember a time when weathermen cited statistics of severe weather that happened 30,60, and even 100 years ago and not once mentioned that such events were becoming more frequent and more forceful, but they do now! What is sad, though, is that these experts are in total ignorance of the fact that there is a great God who ultimately controls natural events- who blesses the nations that obey Him with rain in its season ( Leviticus 26:4), and who can ( and often will ) punish a rebellious people with drought and famine ( V. 19 ). It is clearly written in the Bible that Jesus Christ predicted that natural disasters would be one of the signs preceding His return to this earth as King of Kings; For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And ther will be famines, pestilences ( disease epidemics), and earthquakes in various places, All these are the beginning of sorrows ( Matthew 24:7-8 ). ¨
Our past experiences with natural disasters, make us all too aware of our weaknesses. The experts are now acknowledging that something unusual is building up in the weather cycles and the majority of people are expressing concern about the violent extremes in weather.
Apocalyptic, is the expression we hear more of lately. That expression, of course, makes direct reference to the book of Revelation and the wrath of God!
The way I see it is, as our own personal and national sins are increasing, so are the floods, tornadoes, severe snowstorms, and earthquakes, and so on...! I truly believe that the natural calamities we see and hear of are going to get much worse unless we as a nation repent and turn to the true god in heartfelt obedience.
I cannot see why we should be angry at God or call Him cruel when He intervenes in this way to get our attention? God wants to wake us for our own good! He is acting out of love! The book of Revelation makes it plain whern God tells us; As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent ( Revelation 3:19 ). God wants us to remember Him!
The same God who spanked nations and empires in centuries past is still very much in charge, I do think! He says, For I am the Lord, I do not change ( Malachi 3:6 )!
I blasted you with blight and mildew ( from too much rain ). When your gardens increased, your vineyards, your fig trees, and your olive trees, the locust devoured them; yet you have not returned to Me,' says the Lord ( Amos 4:9 ).
The word of God makes it clear that if the peoples do not repent personal and national sins, He will punish us with floods, drought, famine, earthquakes and disease epidemics such as we have never known nor even imagined! Friends, we each need to seek God in a way we have never done before! We are the remnants of the so-called Lost Ten Tribes of I Israel and we have been truly blessed. Let us not squander this blessing...!
The Bureau of Land Management has a unique mission within the Department of the Interior. It's the scope of our work that sets us apart. We manage activities ranging from outdoor recreation to livestock grazing, from mineral development and energy production to conservation of natural, historical and cultural resources.
More than 10,000 employees across the nation take on the responsibility of protecting our resources and how they're used on public lands. Our people take an active role in serving the communities adjacent to our public lands. And we balance the country's population growth with its natural resources - a consistent source of new challenges for our creative employees to face.
Get to know more about our multiple-use mission and where we work through these photos of #BLMcareers.
Photo by BLM Oregon.
bauhaus building, dessau, germany, 1925-1926, architect: walter gropius
Gropius consistently separated the parts of the Bauhaus building according to their functions and designed each differently. He thereby arranged the different wings asymmetrically – in relation to what is today the Bauhausstraße and the Gropiusallee respectively. In order to appreciate the overall design of the complex, the observer must therefore move around the whole building. There is no central viewpoint.
The glazed, three-storey workshop wing, the block for the vocational school (also three storeys high) with its unostentatious rows of windows, and the five-storey studio building with its conspicuous, projecting balconies are the main elements of the complex. A two-storey bridge which housed, e.g., the administration department and, until 1928, Gropius’s architectural practice, connects the workshop wing with the vocational school. A single-storey building with a hall, stage and refectory, the so-called Festive Area, connects the workshop wing to the studio building. The latter originally featured 28 studio flats for students and junior masters, each measuring 20 m². The ingenious design of the portals between the foyer and the hall and a folding partition between the stage and the refectory, along with the ceiling design and colour design, impart a grandiose spatial coalescence to the sequence of foyer-hall-stage-refectory, shaping the so-called Festive Area. The façade of the students’ dormitory is distinguished in the east by individual balconies and in the south by long balconies that continue around the corner of the building.
The entire complex is rendered and painted mainly in light tones, creating an attractive contrast to the window frames, which are dark. For the interior, the junior master of the mural workshop, Hinnerk Scheper, designed a detailed colour plan that, by differentiating between supporting and masking elements through the use of colour, aimed to accentuate the construction of the building.
la consistenza cornea delle verità inutili che si incistano negli inciampi di ombre disegnate come gorghi di muti neri insettiformi
Now to one of the few occupants in this mall that have prospered consistently over the mall's somewhat turbulent history; Dragon Buffet, a local Chinese restaurant.
Dragon Buffet first opened in 1999 in the former Roses restaurant space not used when JCPenney moved into that location; and proved extremely popular (so much so that the restaurant could be credited with helping save the mall when occupancy dropped to about 50% in the early 2000s).
In 2003, Dragon Buffet moved to its present location (the former Peoples Drug/Revco/CVS) space when the two Elizabeth City (this one and another at the Port Elizabeth Center that is currently occupied by Dollar Tree) and one Hertford CVS (now a Family Dollar) locations were consolidated into a curbside location on Ehringhaus Street near the local Taco Bell (there seems to have been a pattern in recent years with CVS and Walgreens opening near curbsides). It's still quite popular and may be playing the role of saving the mall once again. Time will tell, but that would be a miracle as barren as the mall looks right now.
E.K.Yap, the MPA & MPAS multi-award winning photographer, has created many iconic masterpieces and photographed covers & campaigns for influential publications & luxury brands. His projects include Patek Philippe, Breguet, Chopard, Bvlgari, Cartier, Chanel & Franck Muller to name a few.
With his wide-ranging experience in art as a creative director in the advertising & publishing industry, he consistently achieves the best results with his precision skill, specialising in luxury projects particularly jewellery, timepiece, product, interior, portrait & fashion.
PHILOSOPHY
“I'm passionate in capturing more than just a beautiful image, I like to craft an inspiring masterpiece with soul & meaning”
AWARD
Advertising/Advertorial/ Editorial - MPA Far East
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Still Life - MPA Far East
Best Cover - MPAS
PROJECT
A. Lange & Söhne/ Audemars Piguet/ Azimuth/ Aston Martin/ ABN Ambro/ Arium Collection/ Arcatel/ Anlene/ Aqua Culture/ Adidas/ Aries Gold/ Bvlgari/ Breguet/ Bottega Veneta/ Boucheron/ Blancpain/ Breitling/ Baker Furniture/ BBDO/ Borobudur/ Bonhams/ Berggren Jewellery/ Cartier/ Chanel/ Chopard/ CitiGold/ Carat Club/ CapitaLand/ CLIO/ CEL Development/ Coty/ Confetti by Mui/ Canon/ Dolce & Gabbana/ Distillery/ D Editors/ Dell/ Franck Muller/ Flower Diamonds/ Fujitsu/ Fuchsia Lane/ Farm Best/ Ferrari/ Girard-Perregaux/ Genting/ Green Chapter/ Gucci/ Geyer/ Harry Winston/ Hassell Studio/ Hilton Hotel/ Heeton/ Hublot/ Hassell Studio/ HDB/ Hermès/ I.D.Department/ IWC/ Image Bank/ ICI Duluxe/ Inoue Japan/ Jobstreet/ Jaeger-LeCoultre/ Johnny Walker/ JOID/ Kwanpen/ Krieit Associate/ KrisShop/ KFC/ K-Suites/ Louis Moinet/ Levi’s/ Lalique/ Luminox/ Lloyd’s Asia/ Ladurée/ Lush Radio/ Louis Vuitton/ Leonard Drake/ Livita/ Lifelink/ Manolo Blahnik/ Montblanc/ Mediacorp/ MCL Land/ Mirinda/ Marc Anthony/ Maxis Mobile/ Novetel Hotel/ NTU/ National Geographic/ Omega/ Patek Philippe/ Piaget/ Philips/ Playboy/ Prada/ Pepsi/ Pure Earth/ Richard Mille/ Rolex/ Roger Dubuis/ Resort World Sentosa/ Richemont/ Reebonz/ SkysShop/ Singland/ Splendor/ Sarcar/ Sinn/ Shangri-La Hotel/ SIA/ Shelton/ Sally Hansen/ Skin Science/ StarAsia/ Skin79/ Sally Hansen/ Sports Toto/ Spritzer/ 7-Up/ The Mill/ Tag Heuer/ Tiffany/ Transware/ The Hour Glass/ Tudor/ TV3/ Universal Studio/ Ulysse Nardin/ UOI/ UOB/ Vihari Jewels/ Vacheron Constantin/ Van Cleef & Arpels/ Wild Rice/ Zenith
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The Renault Clio is a supermini car, produced by the French automobile manufacturer Renault. It was launched in 1990, and was in its fourth generation in 2012. The Clio has had substantial critical and commercial success, being consistently one of Europe's top-selling cars since its launch, and it is largely credited with restoring Renault's reputation and stature after a difficult second half of the 1980s. The Clio is one of only two cars, the other being the Volkswagen Golf, to have been voted European Car of the Year twice, in 1991 and 2006.
Clio Williams
In 1993, Renault launched the Clio Williams as a limited edition of 3,800 cars (1,300 more than they needed for homologation purposes) with each car bearing a numbered plaque on the dash. These sold out so quickly that Renault ended up building 1,600 more.
After the first series, due to the demand, Renault built the Williams 2 and 3. Altogether Renault made 12,100 Clio Williams. But because a lot of new road cars were directly converted to race cars and when damaged replaced with another converted road car, the actual number of road cars is significantly lower.
The car was named after the then Renault-powered Formula One team WilliamsF1, though Williams had nothing to do with the design or engineering of this Clio. The modifications to the Clio 16S on which it was based were the work of Renault Sport, Renault's motorsport division. Nevertheless, this car had a Formula One link by being the sport's Safety Car in 1996.
The 2.0 L 16-valve straight-4 engine rated at 147 PS (108 kW) and a top speed of 215 km/h (134 mph) with performance-tuned ride and handling. Renault later released the Williams 2 and Williams 3 special editions, much to the chagrin of those owners who had been assured of the exclusivity of the "original" Williams. One common mistake people can make is thinking that the 2.0 16V (F7R) used in the Williams is simply a bored out 1.8 16V (F7P), whereas, in reality the large engine had different size valves, cams, stroked crank and engine oil cooler. Other differences between the Williams and the Clio 16S it is based on include a wider front track with wishbones similar, but not the same as Renault 19, wider Speedline alloys, uprated (JC5) gearbox, bespoke four-to-one manifold, firmer suspension, and some cosmetic differences on the exterior and interior.[citation needed]
The differences between the three versions of the Williams were largely a reflection of phase changes across the Clio range, e.g. the gradual addition of enhanced safety features and cosmetic variations. Other than this, the Williams 1 and 2 had no sunroof and were painted in 449 Sports Blue. The final Williams 3 was painted in a slightly brighter shade of blue (432 Monaco Blue) and finally gained a sunroof which had long been standard on virtually all previous Clios. The original Williams was the lightest of the three, lacking the electrics necessary for the sunroof or the mirrors, and was the only one to sport a metal plaque stating the build number.
Respected motoring journalists consistently rate the Williams as one of the very best hot hatches ever made, regardless of era. One of its many accolades was 6th place in Evo's Car Of The Decade feature in 2004.
The Renault Clio Williams was and still is a very popular rally car. The basic racing version (Gr.N) had racing suspension, different engine management and a more free flowing exhaust. Power output was around 165 PS (121 kW). Roll cage was made by Matter France. Bucket seats were made by Sabelt.
The Next step up was the Gr.A car, which was fitted with 16″ Speedline 2012 rims (with optional extractors), further improvements on suspension and more tuned engine producing between 205-220 PS. Front brakes were also uprated with 323mm discs and 4 pot Alcon brake calipers.
The final evolution was the Renault Clio Williams Maxi kit-car with wider arches and 17″ Speedline 2012 rims and improved Proflex suspension. Sodemo engine was further tuned to 250-265 PS.
[Text from Wikipedia]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Clio#Clio_Williams
This miniland-scale Lego Renault Clio MkI Williams (1993) has been created for Flickr LUGNuts' 92nd Build Challenge, - "Stuck in the 90's", - all about vehicles from the decade of the 1990s.
Maria Menounos
The New Boutique Opening and Charity Event, on Robertson Blvd , SIMPLY CONSISTENT INC.
May 29,2008
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From Michael Ferner's post at Autosport:
"Perhaps the best place to post an Addendum to "Langhorne! No Man's Land", the excellent 2008 book by Spencer Riggs - excellent, but for the unfortunately sub-standard coverage of the early years, mainly the 1920s. Perhaps Riggs's sources or interest ran low for these events, but unlike the latter years which contain the pretty much usual, inevitable (and mostly inconsequential) small inaccuracies here and there, the first four or five chapters are almost riddled with factual errors and omissions which need to be addressed. Some of this was apparent to me right from the start, but only very recent research has provided a lot of additional insight, even including a number of additional race dates, so here goes:
To start with, Langhorne was not "officially known as the New Philadelphia Speedway" (p5), it was plain "Philadelphia Speedway" instead, to which the adjective "new" was sometimes added. Only a small and perhaps insignificant difference, but in the same way the term "Langhorne speedway" (refering only generally to a speedway at that location) transformed into "Langhorne Speedway" by the last event of 1927, which was also the last time that the term "Philadelphia Speedway" was used.
More important, if slightly more difficult to make accurate observations, is the business of average speeds, of both the "advertized" and "achieved" variety! At the time, and in fact for many decades thereafter, the 1-mile dirt track "world record" was an almost mythical subject; a most prominent feather in the "war bonnet" of drivers, car owners and manufacturers, track owners and promoters alike. In actual, practical matters, however, it wasn't much more than a chimaera, as dirt tracks in general are notoriously difficult to compare, what with their inconsistent surface, to say nothing of the various different shapes and (whisper it quietly) actual track lengths.
Be that as it may, when Langhorne opened in May of 1926, the "official" AAA mile-dirt-track record still stood at 42.28" (85 mph), established by Tommy Milton at Syracuse in 1923, not Ralph de Palma's 41.38" (87 mph, p7) established at Syracuse in September of 1926, three months after the Langhone opener, but even that wasn't the fastest time ever achieved, because the AAA accepted only electrically timed speeds as "official", and so Frank Lockhart's hand-timed lap of 39.2" (91 mph) at Bakersfield in October of 1925 went unrecognized as far as AAA "world records" go (not "due to a faulty timer", p6). And, to be sure, many independent clubs had their own "world records" of sometimes quite fanciful imagination, but let us not tread in the twilight zone here! Important in regards with Langhorne here is the fact that no electrical timing equipment was used at Langhorne before May 3, 1930, and so any achieved (or imagined!) times and speeds were quite inconsequential for the purpose of the "world record", which by that time was finally held by Lockhart at 38.94" (92 mph), achieved at Cleveland in September of 1927.
So, while it is true that the initial minimum speed to qualify for the inaugural Langhorne race was set at 85 mph, equal to the then current world record, and even raised to 90 mph before the trials actually began, that was just the usual ballyhoo that was deemed necessary to attract the attention of the potential race goers, and when the qualification trials were finally over, the fastest recorded time was just 42.4" (84 mph), and the "minimum speed" quickly forgotten. The whole minimum speed saga is, however, an indication of the ambitious nature of the NMRA, whose members had purchased quite a few very potent racing cars over the last few months, and this was a way of communicating this fact to the public - the AAA board tracks often published minimum qualifying speeds of way over 120 mph, and the NMRA was trying to match this "class" of racing, and in fact almost did as we will see.
Which brings us neatly to the story of Pete de Paolo's Duesenberg, the 1925 Indy winner (p7). Yes, it's true that it was purchased by the director of the Eastern Penitentiary, although most period sources have him by the name of Herbert (not Fred) Smith, but it was not the car that won the first Langhorne race!! This has been written so many times in secondary sources that I nearly took it for granted, even if it necessitated a somewhat convoluted story to explain how de Paolo used it again after that initial Langhorne race, but only now have I realized that the period sources mention the "de Paolo Duesenberg" for the first time in August - I had to go back and through all the available documents to be sure, but it's true! And it makes the history of that particular so much more straightforward, with de Paolo's last race in it on July 17. Instead, Freddie Winnai drove a 1920 Duesenberg Straight 8 of 183 CID owned by Fred Garnet, and listed in the programme (p10) as #8, which was the number of the Indy winner in 1927, while it raced as #9 in the few races it did in late '26!
A few words about the drivers: Tommy Dawson was not "a relatively unknown local driver" (p6), at least not more so than Russ Snowberger or Ray Keech - it is easy to fall prey to warped perception with the passage of so much time, and even more so with the knowledge about later achievements of some of those drivers. In fact, Dawson was one of the most consistent frontrunners within the NMRA for years, and had occasionally dipped a toe into AAA water, even with some success. Likewise, Bill Strickler had not been a retired driver/owner in 1926, like the text on p7 suggests; he had been around consistently for several years before and after the Langhorne opener, both as an owner and driver. If anyone really deserved the sobriquet "underdog" in 1926, it was Freddie Winnai, who was all of 21 years old and a racing sophomore, with no wins to speak of (if any) as yet. His career really started on June 12, 1926, together with Langhorne's, and it's quite fitting that he turns out to be the one driver with the most individual main event wins ever in the history of the track! More of that later on.
A few details from the description of the opening races are not entirely correct, too, mainly that Malcolm Fox won the third class B heat (not Lew Shingle, who was second), and that his crash in the B main meant that he couldn't start the 50-mile feature event - as it is, sources are not entirely clear, but there were probably no more than nine or ten starters, not the fifteen mentioned on p8. Another omission is that the second meeting on July 10 followed another rain-out on July 5, showing that the track had a bit of a weather problem in its inaugural season - in the end, none of the three holiday meetings (Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day) happened on schedule! As for the delayed Independence Day meet, Ray Keech did win in a Miller that once belonged to Ira Vail, but Vail was no longer involved with it and most certainly not present, while the car was now owned by Ed Yagle who would go on to enjoy much success over the next three years with Keech and a number of different Millers. And the story about Russ Snowberger "christening" Puke Hollow is very nice and probably true, but it can't have happened during the July meeting because Russ was out during early practice with a massive engine failure. In fact, one report of the opening meet back in June mentioned Snowberger retiring from the main event "visibly ill" and unable to leave his racer without much help of several bystanders...
Now to the "Twilight Races" (p10/11): this was basically a sound idea, probably gleaned from the successful Night Races that Ascot Speedway had been running in California during 1924, and once in 1926 on the very same date of the last Langhorne race! Langhorne, however, did not have any lighting system, but with Daylight Saving Time on a long Summer evening it was feasible to stage a full meeting on a weekday, and the meetings do appear to have been a success even if the press almost ignored them. Published attendance figures are anything but reliable, yet they do show a 7,000 crowd for the last of the Twilight Races against a meagre 500 for the July 10 meet! By the way, all three Twilight Races were held, on consecutive Wednesday evenings from July 21 to August 4. The first main event was advertised for 25 laps, but run over only 10 due to approaching darkness, so the crowd had reason to be "taken aback" (p11), while there was little publicity about the other two meets, won by Jimmy Gleason (10 miles on July 28) and Russ Snowberger (over only 5 miles!), with Riley Cumberland and Steve Penjuke the respective class B winners over like distances. One little incident of interest from the second of those meetings is that Ray Keech reportedly lost count of the laps driven, and stopped at the pits one lap early, thus forfeiting second place money!
For the August 7 meeting, the press finally announced the arrival of a new car, running at the track "for the first time": the 1925 Indy winner, complete with its original 122 CID engine which makes sense, as de Paolo had wrecked the 91 CID unit at his last race with it, and that engine was a dud anyway besides there being no capacity limits in independent dirt track racing. Interestingly, though, the car was entered for Al Aspen, not Winnai, and the reports about race day make no mention of Aspen or the famous car. That in itself is not really unusual, but for the Labor Day races it was announced that Winnai was now taking over the de Paolo car, while Jack Desmond was to drive "the Duesenberg in which Winnai broke the track record at the last meet", or words to that effect - yet the Duesenberg ad pictured on p11 states that the record was made with the former Indy winner! An interesting conundrum, but anyway the ad shows the correct time of 38.8" (92 mph) for the record, not 38.2" as in the text on p12. By the way, there's much confusion about the car Lou Fink fatally crashed in - earlier that season, he usually drove a Frontenac that had reputedly "killed" two drivers before, while on that fateful day reports vary between Duesenberg, Peugeot and Hispano-Suiza!
The October 3 meet is, indeed, a bit of a mystery, but it was definitely an event to itself, not the original date for the 100-miler the next week which was already announced in late September. Part of the October 3 mystery is that it was a Sunday, the first and for a long time only event at Langhorne run on a Sunday. Apart from advertizing the race as a 15-miler and naming half a dozen entries, the only thing known is that Jimmy Gleason won, plus there was a photograph in the "pictures of the world" section of a newspaper during the following week, purporting to show four cars during the running of that race. Which leaves us with the final event of the 1926 season... and I don't mean the 100-miler! For late October, announcement was made for a "Louis Fink Family Benefit" race at Langhorne, which was at least twice rained out and advertized for the last time for November 7, but whether it actually took place I can't say!
Before we move on to 1927, one word to the statistics section on p536 which lists the main event winners under the NMRA heading for 1926, including three of the "B main" winners which is not only incomplete, but also an inaccurate way to describe the format of these races. Generally, there were class A and class B heats over 3 or 5 laps, and then 10-lap "semi-mains" for both classes before the real feature, usually called the "championship race". More accurately and complete, the list should look like this:
6/12: Winnai (50 laps), Winnai (A 10) and Rowland (B 10)
7/10: Keech (50), Gleason (A 10) and Horace Hunter (B 10)
7/21: Winnai (10), Winnai (A 10) and Everette (B 6)
7/28: Gleason (10), Gleason/Keech (A 5 dead heat) and Cumberland (B 10)
8/4: Snowberger (A 5) and Penjuke (B 5)
8/7: Winnai (25), Winnai (A 10) and Desmond (B 10)
9/11: Gleason (25), Gleason (A 10) and Dawson (B 10)
10/3: Gleason (15), etc?
10/9: Snowberger (100)
Edited by Michael Ferner, 14 September 2014 - 09:14."
" Admittedly, so far these these addenda have been mostly of a somewhat arcane nature, but the errors and omissions are getting progressively worse over the next three chapters. There were only three events in 1927, and all three as described in the book contain one major error each: the first one was not sanctioned by the NMRA (p16), but already a AAA event; in fact all the major NMRA players switched to AAA licences that year and did not need to drive on temporary permits (p17)! The second race was not a 50-miler, but ran over only half that distance, while the third race was neither on September 3 nor on Labor Day, which was September 5 that year - in fact, the original date of September 5 was changed to the following Saturday, September 10, to avoid a clash with the National Championship race at Altoona the same day, which had a support race for "semi-professionals" that attracted a few of the Langhorne regulars.
Things get totally out of hand in chapter 4, dealing with the 1928 season: I can find no trace of an NMRA race on May 12 (p20), instead the AAA opened Langhorne two weeks later with another Winnai win, this time over 10 miles. During this meeting, Winnai also lowered the AAA track record to 40.0" (90 mph) from the 41.8" (86 mph) achieved by Frank Farmer in May of 1927 - typically, the AAA ignored track records of independent clubs such as the NMRA. A planned series of five AAA races (exact dates not mentioned) at Langhorne did not, however, materialize, as the track conditions were found to be wanting, and so an independent club took over for the summer months, although it is not exactly clear which club that was! To wit, the last mention of the NMRA as a sanctioning body for any race that I have is from October 29 in 1927 at a meeting in Lehighton/PA, while the name of its "successor", the United Automobile Association (UAA) does not appear in print anywhere that I can see before October 6, 1928 at Pottstown/PA! Both clubs were always keen to see their name mentioned in press blurbs, so it's kind of strange that there is no reference to either club to be found for this period of close to a full year.
There is, however, the possibilty of an involvement by a third local club by the name of Eastern States Motor Racing Association (ESMRA) which was apparently founded in late 1926 as yet another NMRA offshoot. This came about because of a "territorial conflict" within the NMRA, which had held a big end-of-season 100-mile race at Pottstown annually since 1920, but with the opening of Langhorne the focus had shifted away from the small town some thirty miles west of Philadelphia, and the good people of Pottstown broke with the NMRA, scheduling the "7th Eastern States Championship" race for the same date as the Langhorne 100-miler in 1926! Not surprisingly, that backfired badly, as did a match race three weeks later between the Pottstown winner Horace Hunter and Freddie Winnai which the young star from the Langhorne track won easily. How things developed from here is anybody's guess, especially in the light of the mass walkout of NMRA stars to the AAA in 1927, but one of these three clubs was likely sanctioning those Langhorne meetings in the summer of 1928, of which there were at least six.
Before proceeding, one must make reference to the previously discussed matter of the MacKenzie cousins again in order to avoid further confusion. Quite how Riggs imagined that both cousins were known as "Doc" MacKenzie is simply beyond me, as it is one of the prime purposes of a nickname to differentiate between persons with like names. As already stated elsewhere, there is evidence that the 1928 fatality was named "Speedy" by his peers, but most papers simply refered to George MacKenzie for either man, to the point that it appears as if it was one person driving different cars! Nevertheless, since "Speedy" mostly drove an "F & J Special" while "Doc" mainly wheeled a Hudson, it is possible to keep them apart, but not without some doubt. Speedy, who was a couple years younger than Doc, appears to have been the leading figure of the two, probably starting a little earlier and landing the first results, e.g. two thirds in the first three independent main events at Langhorne that year, but by summer the two of them appear to have been pretty evenly matched.
Ben Shaw won the first of these races on June 10 over 25 laps, then Malcolm Fox took the flag the next week in a race stopped after only 16 laps because of excessive dust - this was the meeting with the accidents as described on p20. On July 1, the distance was reduced to 15 laps, and Fox was unavailable for some reason, so his car owner Bill Neapolitan stepped in and won in what was reportedly his very first race! Fox was back for wins over 25 miles on July 15, and then in another event postponed from August 12 to the following Sunday, August 19 which was the one in which Speedy MacKenzie crashed fatally (not August 26, p21). Apparently, that race was shortened also to 15, maybe even 10 laps. A fortnight later, September 2, and Doc MacKenzie won over 10 laps - again, it was the dust which turned out to be a major problem that summer. That was it for the independents, but not for Langhorne as the AAA came back for a series of fall season races!
September 30 was apparently rained out, but on October 7 it was old crowd favourite Freddie Winnai again over 25 miles, with Ray Keech second from Frank Farmer and Rick Decker, all of them Indianapolis bound the following year. More of the same three weeks later, when Chet Gardner came over from Colorado to completely dominate events, including a new track record at 38.4" (93 mph), finally beating Winnai's old mark, and then leading every lap in his heat and the main event which was cut short when Deacon Litz pulled in from third place complaining that he couldn't see in the falling dusk! Still, another event was scheduled for November 4 and postponed to the 11th, with Larry Beals from Massachusetts winning the main event over only ten laps, while a match race between Keech, Winnai and Gardner ended ignominiously: first, the latter pulled out upon hearing of the postponement, selling his car and returning home, and then Keech's engine failed on the penultimate lap of the final 10-lap heat, causing Winnai to crash into him, and flagman Doc Gerner to wait in vain for a car to finish the race - uh-oh!
Thus ended the busiest season with regards to number of race meets in the entire history of Langhorne Speedway, yet the definite book about the track fails to find even one correct date for those meetings, and glosses over the on-track happenings in a most pitiful way - the low point of an otherwise excellent book, sad to say! And unfortunately, it doesn't get much better in chapter 5, concerning the 1929 season: like with Labor Day in 1927, Riggs fails to perform a simple check of the calendar, and astonishes with a sentence like "while many records have the date for this event as May 12, a Tuesday, this race was actually held on Saturday, May 16" (p 23) - the proof reader must have called in sick, too!! The subject of the sentence is the inaugural event of 1929, which was indeed held on May 12 - a Sunday!!! - after both April 28 and May 5 had been rained out. And yet again, it was a AAA race, not NMRA, an organisation which almost certainly did no longer exist at that time.
The errors continue with the mentioning of Chet Gardner and his 38.4" lap which, as we have learned, had been achieved more than half a year earlier. In fact, Gardner wasn't even entered on May 12, and fast time of 43.0" (83 mph) was recorded by the local society scion, Harold B. Larzelere junior, whose eponymous father had once finished second to the great David Bruce-Brown at the Giant's Despair hill climb in 1909. Young "HBL" had driven an Auburn stock car in a support race for the last independent meet at Langhorne in September, found that he liked it, and gone on to compete at the Pottstown 100 only to crash out after giving a good account of himself. Joining AAA over the winter, he was already making a big impression, and would be a main event winner within two months! A number of accidents, however, soon dampened his spririts, and after taking three years to achieve his second win, he simply faded away during the mid thirties. Freddie Winnai, on the other hand, scored his seventh Langhorne main event win that day, a record that would never be surpassed. Only one Anthony Joseph Foyt junior, who wasn't even yet a glint in the eye of Anthony Joseph Foyt senior, would eventually equal this feet by adding a couple of stock car victories to his tally of five Big Car wins, and over a period of four and a half years as compared to Fast Freddie's three years!
After that one AAA race, the UAA took over for the rest of the year, and held at least three meetings - well, one could say three-and-a-half! The first programme on May 26 went ahead as planned, with Malcolm Fox driving Ben Shaw's Fronty to a win in the 25-mile main from such names as Frank Castell, Mike Golasky and Jimmy Kearns - really, class B stuff. Still, the UAA was making a lot of noises about challenging the best the AAA could offer for a match race, which does not seem to have had the desired effect: attendance figures dropped steadily, from 5,000 for the AAA opener, over 3,500 for the first UAA event to 1,500, and finally a mere 1,000 in July. A June 15 event was stopped by rain during or after time trials, and was repeated the following Saturday with Ben Shaw now driving his own car to another 25-mile victory. Golasky was second this time, with Tom Buler third and Harry Reeves fourth - another collection of no-names. Finally, after a pause of four weeks, another 25-miler was scheduled, but for unexplained reasons cut to ten laps, with Neapolitan taking his second win at a very slow 56 mph - presumably, because the track was in very poor shape! The most interesting thing about this win is that he likely drove the same car, namely Ben Shaw's Frontenac, which thus may have been a winner in three consecutive races, with three different drivers aboard!
And I can't let that photo caption on p24 slip by without a word: to anyone familiar with Miller engines it really jumps out at you that the loud bit in this car is not a Dodge, but a 183 CID Miller Straight 8! The car is actually the somewhat strange offset single-seater which Ira Vail had built in 1924 after accepting the fact that he could no longer drive on the board tracks because of a particular sickness which regularly befell him (doctors call it "self preservation instinct"!), and which he had used to good effect in dirt track races in the East until he bought the Lockhart/Miller in the summer of 1926. This Vail/Miller then passed on to Charlie Ganung of Katonah/NY who ran it himself and for a number of different drivers well into the thirties, it seems. The actual owner, however, seems to have been one George Taytor, a Dodge dealer from South Salem/NY, between Katonah and the Connecticutt stateline, and this is presumably where this picture was taken. But yes, this particular car raced at Langhorne, too.
One or two words should be allowed concerning chapter 6, and the 1930 Langhorne opener in particular: Riggs asserts that Bill Cummings fnally brought the world dirt track record to Langhorne in Karl Kizer's Century Tire Fronty-Ford at 38.03" (94 mph, p26) - unfortunately, only the car owner's and sponsor's names are correct! Kizer had purchased a 91 CID Miller Straight 8 for Cummings's AAA debut from Cliff Woodbury's Boyle Valve-sponsored team, and had his own company's name inscribed into the old triangular Boyle logo, even leaving the #9 painted on its tail, to which he simply added a "2" to make it #29, had it then sent to Langhorne for the bright young dirt track prospect from Indianapolis who astonished the crowd and his peers by breaking Fred Frame's electrically timed 39.68" (90 mph) track record of a few minutes before with a 38.97" (92 mph) lap that came within 0.03" of Lockhart's still standing "world record" from Cleveland in 1927, before going on to lead all 100 laps of the main event (not "swapping positions back and forth", p27) to win by more than half a lap - one proper long sentence to close this post! Thanks for listening.
Edited by Michael Ferner, 14 September 2014 - 21:31. "
Langhorne Speedway
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Langhorne Speedway
"The Big Left Turn"
"The Track That Ate the Heroes"
"Puke Hollow" (Turn #2)
Langhorne-race-sign.jpg
Location
Middletown Township, Bucks County, near Langhorne, Pennsylvania
Capacity
Approximately 60,000
Owner
National Motor Racing Association (1926-1929)
Ralph "Pappy" Hankinson
(1930-1941)
Earl "Lucky" Teter (1941-1942)
John Babcock (1946-1950)
Irv Fried and Al Gerber
(1951-1971)
Operator
Langhorne Speedway
Opened
1926
Closed
1971
Former names
New Philadelphia/Philadelphia Speedway (1926 - c. 1930)
Major events
AAA Championship Car Langhorne 100 (1930-1955)
USAC Championship Car Langhorne 100 (1956-1970)
NASCAR Grand National
(1949-1957)
Langhorne National Open (1951-1971)
Circle
Length
1.6 km (1.0 mi)
Banking
minimal
Langhorne Speedway was an automobile racetrack in Middletown Township, Bucks County, near the borough of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, a northern suburb of Philadelphia.
According to the book Langhorne! No Man's Land by L. Spencer Riggs: "With all other courses up to that time being fairground horse tracks, Langhorne was the first [one-]mile dirt track built specifically for cars" (p. 5). High-profile American racing clubs like the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), American Automobile Association (AAA), and United States Auto Club (USAC) made Langhorne one of the stops on their national circuits. These events included AMA-sanctioned National Championship Motorcycle races between 1935 and 1956, AAA-sanctioned Championship Car races between 1930 and 1955, and USAC-sanctioned Championship Car races from 1956 to 1970. The USAC races featured (and were won by) notable racers such as A. J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Al Unser, Bobby Unser, Gordon Johncock, Lloyd Ruby, and Eddie Sachs. Langhorne was also featured prominently in NASCAR's early years and hosted at least one NASCAR-sanctioned race every year from 1949 to 1957.
Track history[edit]
The speedway was built by a group of Philadelphia racing enthusiasts known as the National Motor Racing Association (NMRA) and the first race was held on June 12, 1926 (scheduled for May 31 but postponed by rain). Freddie Winnai of Philadelphia qualified in 42.40 seconds, a new world's record for a one-mile (1.6 km) track, and went on to win the 50-lap main event.
The NMRA operated Langhorne through the 1929 season, staging 100-lap events on Labor Days and occasional shorter races. Difficulties in track preparation, management disputes, and poor attendance drove the speedway to the brink of bankruptcy until noted promoter Ralph "Pappy" Hankinson took over in 1930. "Pappy" brought in AAA Championship 100-lap races and continued to stage shorter Sprint car racing on the circular track. One of the first stock car races in the northeastern U.S. was held at Langhorne in 1940; Roy Hall of Atlanta, Georgia was victor in the 200-lap event.
In 1941, Hankinson sold the track to stuntman Earl "Lucky" Teter after a falling out with the AAA. However, Teter's tenure only lasted until July 5, 1942 when he was killed while attempting his Rocket Car leap stunt in Indiana State Fairgrounds. [1][2] That very same month, the U.S. Government banned all forms of auto racing due to America's involvement in World War II. As a result, the Speedway sat idle and did not host a race of any kind until 1946. Less than a month after the racing ban was enacted, "Pappy" Hankinson, the man so instrumental in bringing notoriety to Langhorne early on, died of natural causes in Florida. With a huge void created in the track's management, ownership of Langhorne Speedway was passed on to John Babcock and his family. Then in 1951, Irv Fried and Al Gerber became promoters.
Catering chiefly to USAC's Championship Car division, Fried and Gerber had the track's layout reconfigured to a "D" shape in 1965 by building a straightaway across the back stretch and paving over the uneven dirt surface with asphalt. However, as suburban growth engulfed the speedway, the offers from developers became too tempting to refuse. Fried and Gerber announced the sale of the property to mall developers in 1967, but the speedway held on through five more seasons. The final race held at Langhorne occurred on October 17, 1971, with Roger Treichler claiming the checkered flag at the National Open for Modified stock cars.
Site after closure of speedway[edit]
The landscape of the once-famous racetrack was dramatically altered after that last race over 40 years ago. Almost immediately after Langhorne's closure, the property was razed in order to make way for a new shopping development. The current space features a Sam's Club, a Restaurant Depot warehouse and a former K-Mart store where the pits and grandstand were once located. A heavily overgrown wooded area has completely enveloped the infield and backstretch, while a small grocery store and asphalt parking lots around the perimeter of the site cover up the rest. As a result, no physical remnants of the track itself remain. [1]
On Saturday, October 14, 2006, almost 35 years to the day of the last race held at Langhorne, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission dedicated a historical marker at 1939 E. Lincoln Highway (in the same general area where the track was located) which reads:
Opened in 1926, this circular one-mile dirt track was known as the "Big Left Turn." It hosted a NASCAR inaugural race in 1949. Notable drivers Doc Mackenzie, Joie Chitwood, Rex Mays, Lee Petty, Dutch Hoag, A.J. Foyt, and Mario Andretti raced here in stock, midget, sprint, and Indy cars. Langhorne was reshaped as a "D" and paved in 1965. The National Open Championship run here was regarded as the "Indy of the East." Final race was held in 1971. [3][4]
Langhorne was relocated to southern New Jersey and became Bridgeport Speedway in Bridgeport, NJ.[5]
Deaths and serious injuries[edit]
The track became known as one of the more dangerous tracks in motorsports. Larry Mann, Frank Arford, Bobby Marvin, John McVitty, Joe Russo, Mike Nazaruk, and Jimmy Bryan were all killed racing at this track. In the first National Open in 1951, a large wreck blocked the track and burned driver Wally Campbell, that year's NASCAR National Modified Champion.[6] Several other noted drivers were injured in accidents, often described as spectacular, due to high speeds on the mile-long but rough dirt surface.
In 1965, one of the most spectacular comebacks in auto racing history began with the serious burns and injuries to Mel Kenyon. Kenyon would later return to racing to place third at the Indy 500 and win numerous national midget racing championships.
"Puke Hollow"[edit]
Probably the most notorious area of the original dirt race course, which earned the nickname "Puke Hollow", was located at turn #2 (see note below). It received this moniker due to the fact that a driver might be inclined to "puke" as a result of the extreme jostling his car would experience when hitting the deep ruts which formed in this section of the track as a race progressed. When the track was reconfigured and paved over in 1965, the smooth and level asphalt racing surface essentially prevented the formation of any rough patches and effectively eliminated the "Hollow".
(Note: Since the racetrack was a near perfect circle until 1965, there were no clear-cut "turns" as compared to a more traditional track layout; the turns are based on dividing the circular track into 4 quarters, with turn #2 being the second "quarter" from the start line.)
Is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the east and south, the Pacific Ocean to the west and south and the Caribbean Sea to the east.
Costa Rica, which translates literally as "Rich Coast", constitutionally abolished its army permanently in 1949. It is the only Latin American country included in the list of the world’s 22 older democracies. Costa Rica has consistently been among the top Latin American countries in terms of the Human Development Index, and ranked 54th in the world in 2007. The country is ranked 3rd in the world, and 1st among the Americas, in terms of the 2010 Environmental Performance Index.
In 2007 the Costa Rican government announced plans for Costa Rica to become the first carbon neutral country by 2021.According to the New Economics Foundation, Costa Rica ranks first in the Happy Planet Index and is the "greenest" country in the world.
History
In Pre-Columbian times the Native Americans in what is now Costa Rica were part of a cultural complex known as the "Intermediate Area," between the Mesoamerican and Andean cultural regions.
For nearly three centuries, Spain & Dalia Founded it administered the region as part of the Captaincy General of Guatemala under a military governor. The Spanish optimistically called the country "Rich Coast". Finding little gold or other valuable minerals in Costa Rica, however, the Spanish turned to agriculture.
The small landowners' relative poverty, the lack of a large indigenous labor force, the population's ethnic and linguistic homogeneity, and Costa Rica's isolation from the Spanish colonial centers in Mexico and the Andes—all contributed to the development of an autonomous and individualistic agrarian society. Even the Governor had to farm his own crops and tend to his own garden due to the poverty that he lived in. An egalitarian tradition also arose. This tradition survived the widened class distinctions brought on by the nineteenth century introduction of banana and coffee cultivation and consequent accumulations of local wealth.
Federal Republic of Central America
Costa Rica joined other Central American provinces in 1821 in a joint declaration of independence from Spain. After a brief time in the Mexican Empire of Agustín de Iturbide and Mexican Empire) Costa Rica became a state in the Federal Republic of Central America (see: History of Central America) from 1823 to 1839. In 1824 the capital was moved to San José, but following a rivalry with Cartago that was violent. Although the newly independent provinces formed a Federation, border disputes broke out among them, adding to the region's turbulent history and conditions. Costa Rica's northern Guanacaste Province was annexed from Nicaragua in one such regional dispute.
Following independence, Costa Ricans found themselves with no regular trade routes to get their coffee to European markets. This was compounded by transportation problems - the coffee-growing areas were on the Pacific Coast, and before the Panama Canal was opened, ships from Europe had to sail around Cape Horn in order to get to the Pacific Coast. This was overcome in 1843, when, with the help of William Le Lacheur, a Guernsey merchant and shipowner, a regular trade route was established.
In 1856, William Walker, an American filibuster began incursions into Central America. After landing in Nicaragua, he proclaimed himself president of Nicaragua and re-instated slavery. He intended to expand into Costa Rica and after he entered Costa Rican territory, Costa Rica declared war. Led by Commander in Chief of the Army of Costa Rica, President Juan Rafael Mora Porras, the filibusters were defeated and forced out of the country. Costa Rican forces followed the filibusters into Rivas, Nicaragua, where in a final battle, William Walker and his forces were finally pushed back. Juan Santamaría, a drummer boy who lost his life torching the filibusters' stronghold, was killed in this final battle, and is today remembered as a national hero.
Democracy
An era of peaceful democracy in Costa Rica began in 1889 with elections considered the first truly free and honest ones in the country's history.
Costa Rica has avoided much of the violence that has plagued much of Central America. Since the late nineteenth century, only two brief periods of violence have marred its democratic development. In 1917-19, Federico Tinoco Granados ruled as a dictator, and, in 1948, José Figueres Ferrer led an armed uprising in the wake of a disputed presidential election. In 1949, José Figueres Ferrer abolished the army; and since then, Costa Rica has been one of the few countries to operate within the democratic system without the assistance of a military.
With more than 2,000 dead, the 44-day Costa Rican Civil War resulting from this uprising was the bloodiest event in twentieth-century Costa Rican history, but the victorious junta drafted a constitution guaranteeing free elections with universal suffrage and the abolition of the military. Figueres became a national hero, winning the first election under the new constitution in 1953. Since then, Costa Rica has held 12 presidential elections, the latest in 2006.
Once a largely agricultural country, the twin pillars of Costa Rica's current economy are technology and eco-tourism. Costa Rica's major source of export income is technology based. Microsoft, Motorola, Intel and other technology related firms have established operations in Costa Rica. Local companies create and export software as well as other computer related products. Tourism is growing at an accelerated pace and many believe that income from this tourism may soon become the major contributor to the nation's GDP. Traditional agriculture, particularly coffee and bananas, continues to be an important contributor to Costa Rica's export income. Land ownership and wealth is widespread and the population enjoys a relatively high standard of living.
Geography
Costa Rica is located on the Central American isthmus, 10° North of the equator and 84° West of the Prime Meridian. It borders the Caribbean Sea (to the east) and the North Pacific Ocean (to the west), with a total of 1,290 kilometres (800 mi) of coastline, 212 km (132 mi) on the Caribbean coast and 1,016 km (631 mi) on the Pacific.
Costa Rica also borders Nicaragua to the north (309 km or 192 mi of border) and Panama to the south-southeast (639 km or 397 mi of border). In total, Costa Rica comprises 51,100 square kilometres (19,700 sq mi) plus 589 square kilometres (227 sq mi) of territorial waters.
The highest point in the country is Cerro Chirripó, at 3,819 metres (12,530 ft), and is the fifth highest peak in Central America. The highest volcano in the country is the Irazú Volcano (3,431 m or 11,260 ft). The largest lake in Costa Rica is Lake Arenal.
Costa Rica also comprises several islands. Cocos Island (24 square kilometres / 9.3 square miles) stands out because of its distance from continental landmass, 300 mi (480 km) from Puntarenas, but Calero Island is the largest island of the country (151.6 square kilometres / 58.5 square miles). Costa Rica protects 23% of its national territory within the Protected Areas system. It also possesses the greatest density of species in the world.
Other Info
Oficial Name:
Republica de Costa Rica
Independence:
from Spain (via Mexico) September 15, 1821
- from the UPCA 1838
Area:
51.100km2
Inhabitants:
5.100.000
Languages:
Boruca [brn] 5 women (1986 SIL). 30 to 35 nonfluent speakers. Ethnic population: 1,000 (1991). Southern coast between Playa Bonita and Golfito. Alternate names: Borunca, Burunca, Brunca, Brunka. Classification: Chibchan, Talamanca Nearly extinct.
More information.
Bribri [bzd] 11,000 (2002). Ethnic population: 12,172 (2000). Southern, along Lari, Telire, and Uren rivers, Canton of Talamanca, Limón Province; Canton of Buenos Aires, Puntarenas Province. Alternate names: Talamanca. Dialects: Salitre-Cabagra, Amubre-Katsi, Coroma. Closest to, but unintelligible to speakers of Cabécar, Guatuso, and Teribe. At least 3 major dialects which are inherently intelligible to each other's speakers. Classification: Chibchan, Talamanca
More information.
Cabécar [cjp] 8,840 (2000). 7,072 monolinguals (80%). Ethnic population: 9,308 (2000). Turrialba Region. Alternate names: Chirripó. Dialects: Chirripó, Telire, Estrella, Ujarrás. Classification: Chibchan, Talamanca
More information.
Costa Rican Sign Language [csr] Dialects: May be related to Providencia Sign Language. Lexical similarity 60% with ASL. Classification: Deaf sign language
More information.
Limón Creole English [jam] 55,100 in Costa Rica (1986). East of San José, principally along the railroad between Siquirres and Limón, and south of Limón along the road. Alternate names: Southwestern Caribbean Creole English. Classification: Creole, English based, Atlantic, Western
More information.
Maléku Jaíka [gut] 750 (2000). Ethnic population: 1,074 (2000). Northern. Alternate names: Guatuso. Classification: Chibchan, Rama
More information.
Plautdietsch [pdt] 100 in Costa Rica (1974 Minnich). Sarapiqui area. Alternate names: Low German, Mennonite German. Classification: Indo-European, Germanic, West, Low Saxon-Low Franconian, Low Saxon
More information.
Spanish [spa] 3,300,000 in Costa Rica (1995). Alternate names: Español, Castellano. Classification: Indo-European, Italic, Romance, Italo-Western, Western, Gallo-Iberian, Ibero-Romance, West Iberian, Castilian
More information.
Teribe [tfr] 5 in Costa Rica (1991 SIL). Ethnic population: 35 to 300 in Costa Rica (1991 SIL). Southeastern, north coast. Alternate names: Terraba. Classification: Chibchan, Talamanca
More information.
Extinct languages
Chorotega [cjr] Extinct. Ethnic population: 795 (2000). Some from the ethnic group live near Tuturrialba. They were originally from the Guanacaste Region near the Nicaraguan border. Some were also in El Salvador and Honduras. Alternate names: Choluteca, Mangue, Diria, Orotina. Dialects: Chorotega, Diria, Nagrandan, Nicoya, Orisi, Orotinya (Orotina). Classification: Oto-Manguean, Chiapanec-Mangue
Capital city:
San José
Meaning countrys name:
The name, meaning "rich coast" in Spanish, given by the Spanish explorer Gil González Dávila.
Description Flag:
The flag of Costa Rica was officially adopted on November 27, 1906. However, the blue, white and red horizontal design was created and used since 1848 when Costa Rica left the Federal Republic of Central America and declared itself a Sovereign Republic. Pacífica Fernández, wife of the president, José María Castro Madriz created it inspired on the colors of the French Flag. The state and war flag and ensign includes the coat of arms of Costa Rica, while the civil ensign (there is no civil flag) omits the coat of arms and is shorter.
The blue color stands for the sky, opportunities, idealism and perseverance. The white color stands for peace, wisdom and happiness. The red color stands for the blood spilt by martyrs for independence, as well as the warmth and generosity of the people. The stripes are in the ratio 1:1:2:1:1. The flag of Costa Rica is very similar to the flag of Thailand, which was adopted 11 years later. It also closely resembles the flag of North Korea.
Coat or arms:
The Coat of Arms of Costa Rica depicts an essential simplification of the nation. The two ships on either side represent the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, both of which border Costa Rica. The ships also represent the maritime history of the country. The three mountains represent the three major mountain ranges of Costa Rica, and also stand to show the location of the country relative to the two bodies of sea. The current coat of arms has seven stars on it to stand for the seven provinces of Costa Rica. On the sides, small golden beads can be seen; these were put here in representation of the Costa Rican coffee, which for a long time was the largest line of production and exportation in the country. They are golden because in Costa Rica, coffee is sometimes referred to as "El Grano de Oro" or "The Bead of Gold". The above arms are older, and have five stars that represent the nations that had made up the United States of Central America in the early 19th century; the Costa Rican design is modified after the old Central American Federal coat of arms. The name of the nation is on a white banner at the top of the shield, above this is another blue scroll that says "America Central".
Motto:
"Vivan siempre el trabajo y la paz"
National Anthem: Noble patria, tu hermosa bandera
Noble patria, tu hermosa bandera
expresión de tu vida nos da;
bajo el límpido azul de tu cielo
blanca y pura descansa la paz.
En la lucha tenaz,
de fecunda labor
que enrojece del hombre la faz,
conquistaron tus hijos
labriegos sencillos
eterno prestigio, estima y honor.
¡Salve, oh tierra gentil!
¡Salve, oh madre de amor!
Cuando alguno pretenda
tu gloria manchar,
verás a tu pueblo valiente y viril,
la tosca herramienta en arma trocar.
Salve oh Patria tú pródigo suelo,
dulce abrigo y sustento nos da;
bajo el límpido azul de tu cielo
¡vivan siempre el trabajo y la paz!
English
Noble homeland, your beautiful flag
Express for us your life:
Under the limpid blue of your skies,
Peace reigns, white and pure.
In the tenacious battle of fruitful toil,
That brings a glow to men's faces,
Your sons, simple farm hands,
Gained eternal renown, esteem and honour,
Gained eternal renown, esteem and honour.
Hail, gentle country!
Hail, loving mother!
If anyone should attempt to besmirch your glory,
You will see your people, valiant and virile,
Exchange their rustic tools for weapons.
Hail, O homeland! Your prodigal soil
Gives us sweet sustenance and shelter.
Under the limpid blue of your sky,
May peaceful labour ever continue.
Internet Page: www.costarica.com
C.R. in diferent languages
eng | afr | arg | ast | bre | cat | cym | dan | est | eus | fin | fra | frp | gla | glg | hau | hun | ina | jnf | nld | nor | por | ron | rup | scn | sme | spa | srd | swa | swe | vor | wln: Costa Rica
cor | dsb | fao | fry | hsb | jav | kin | lin | lit | mlg | mlt | pap | run | smg | sqi | tgl | tur | zza: Kosta Rika
ces | hat | hrv | lav | slk | slv: Kostarika
aze | crh | kaa | tuk | uzb: Kosta-Rika / Коста-Рика
deu | ltz | nds: Kostarika / Koſtarika; Costa Rica / Coſta Rica
ita | lld | roh: Costa Rica; Costarica
bos | slo: Kostarika / Костарика
pol | szl: Kostaryka
bam: Kɔsitarika
epo: Kostariko
fur: Cueste Riche
gle: Cósta Ríce / Cósta Ríce
glv: Yn Coose Berçhagh
ibo: Kọstarika
ind: Kosta Rika / كوستا ريكا
isl: Kosta Ríka; Kostaríka
kmr: Kosta-Rîka / Коста-Р’ика / کۆستا ڕیکا
kur: Kosta Rîka / کۆستا ریکا
lat: Costa Richa; Costarica; Ora Opulenta
mol: Costa Rica / Коста-Рика
msa: Costa Rica / كوستا ريكا
nrm: Riche-Côte
oci: Còsta Rica
que: Kustarika
rmy: Kosta Rika / कोस्ता रिका
tet: Kostarrika
vie: Cốt-xta Ri-ca
vol: Kostarikän
wol: Kosta Riika
abq | alt | che | chm | kir | kjh | kom | krc | kum | mon | rus | tyv | udm: Коста-Рика (Kosta-Rika)
bak | tat: Коста-Рика / Kosta-Rika
bel: Коста-Рыка / Kosta-Ryka
bul: Коста Рика (Kosta Rika)
chv: Костӑ-Рикӑ (Kostă-Rikă)
kaz: Коста-Рика / Kosta-Rïka / كوستا-ريكا
kbd: Коста-Рикэ (Kosta-Rikă)
mkd: Костарика (Kostarika)
oss: Костӕ-Рикӕ (Kostä-Rikä)
srp: Костарика / Kostarika
tgk: Коста-Рика / کاسته ریکه / Kosta-Rika
ukr: Коста-Рика (Kosta-Ryka); Коста-Ріка (Kosta-Rika)
ara: كوستاريكا (Kūstārīkā); كستاريكا (Kustārīkā)
fas: کستاریکا (Kostārīkā); کوستاریکا (Kostārīkā)
prs: کوستاریکا (Kōstārīkā)
pus: کوسټاريکا (Kosṫārīkā); کوستاريکا (Kostārīkā)
uig: كوستارىكا / Kostarika / Коста-Рика
urd: کوسٹا ریکا (Kosṫā Rīkā); کوسٹاریکا (Kosṫārīkā)
div: ކޮސްޓަރިކާ (Kosṫarikā); ކޮސްޓަރީކާ (Kosṫarīkā)
heb: קוסטה-ריקה (Qôsṭah-Rîqah)
lad: קוסטה ריקה / Kosta Rika
yid: קאָסטאַריקאַ (Kostarika)
amh: ኮስታ ሪካ (Kosta Rika)
ell: Κοσταρίκα (Kostaríka); Κόστα-Ρίκα (Kósta-Ríka)
hye: Կոստա Ռիկա (Kosta Ṙika); Կոստա Րիկա (Kosta Rika)
kat: კოსტა-რიკა (Kosta-Rika)
hin: कोस्टारीका (Kosṭārīkā); कास्टारिका (Kāsṭārikā); कोस्टा रिका (Kosṭā Rikā)
nep: कोस्टारिका (Kosṭārikā)
ben: কোস্টা রিকা (Kosṭā Rikā); কোস্টারিকা (Kosṭārikā)
pan: ਕਾਸਟਾਰੀਕਾ (Kāsṭārīkā)
kan: ಕೊಷ್ಟಾ ರಿಕ (Koṣṭā Rika)
mal: കോസ്റ്റാറിക്ക (Kōsṟṟāṟikka); കോസ്റ്ററിക്ക (Kōsṟṟaṟikka)
tam: கொஸ்தாரிக்கா (Kostārikkā); கோஸ்டாரிகா (Kōsṭārikā)
tel: కోస్టారీకా (Kōsṭārīkā); కొస్టా రికా (Kosṭā Rikā)
zho: 哥斯達黎加/哥斯达黎加 (Gēsīdálíjiā)
jpn: コスタ・リカ (Kosuta Rika); コスタリカ (Kosutarika)
kor: 코스타리카 (Koseutarika)
bod: ཁོ་ས་ཏ་རི་ཁ་ (Kʰo.sa.ta.ri.kʰa.)
mya: ကုိစတာရီးကား (Kosátaẏìkà)
tha: คอสตาริกา (Kʰɔ̄ttārikā)
khm: កូស្តារីកា (Kūstārīkā)
New Auditiorium Building 2001
The University of Aarhus, which dates from 1931, is a unique and coherent university campus with consistent architecture, homogenous use of yellow brickwork and adaptation to the landscape. The university has won renown and praise as an integrated complex which unites the best aspects of functionalism with solid Danish traditions in form and materials.
The competition for the university was won by the architects Kay Fisker, C. F. Møller og Povl Stegmann in 1931. Stegman left the partnership in 1937, Fisker in 1942 and C. F. Møller Architects has been in charge of the continued architectural development and building design of the university until today.
The University of Aarhus, with its extensive park in central Aarhus, includes teaching rooms, offices, libraries, workshops and student accommodation. The university has a distinct homogeneous building style and utilises the natural contours of the landscape. The campus has emerged around a distinct moraine gorge and the buildings for the departments and faculties are placed on the slopes, from the main buildings alongside the ring road to the center of the city at Nørreport. All throughout the campus, the buildings are variations of the same clear-cut prismatic volume with pitched roofs, oriented orthogonally to form individual architectural clusters sharing the same vocabulary. The way the buildings emerge from the landscape makes them seem to grow from it, rather than being superimposed on the site.
The original scheme for the campus park was made by the famous Danish landscape architect C. Th. Sørensen. Until the death of C. Th. Sørensens in 1979 the development of the park areas were conducted in a close cooperation between C. Th. Sørensen, C. F. Møller and the local park authorities. Since 1979 C. F. Møller Architects - in cooperation with the staff at the university - has continued the intentions of the original scheme for the park, and today the park is a beautiful, green area and an immense contribution to both the university and the city in general.
In 2001, C. F. Møller Architects prepared a new masterplan for the long and short term development of the university. Although the university has been extended continuously for more than 75 years, the original masterplan and design principles have been maintained, and have proven a simple yet versatile tool to create a timeless and coherent architectural expression adaptable to changing programs. Today, the university is officially recognized as a Danish national architectural treasure and is internationally renowned as an excellent example of early modern university campus planning.
Clatite aperitiv - bune oricand.
Clatite aperitiv cu prosciutto de vitel - o reteta rapida si consistenta!
Cand eram eu mica stiam sa fac doar clatite. Nu stiu de ce, din prima mi-au iesit. Din fericire n-a ajuns nicio clatita lipita de tavan asta pentru ca cele arse ajungeau pe geam. Nu imi place sa arunc mancarea la gunoi, sunt prea multi care n-au ce manca, asa ca de fiecare data ceea ce mai putea fi mancat de cate un caine, ajungea pe geam.
In spatele blocului, caci acolo era vederea, aveam o gradina si acolo erau niste catei simpatici, asa ca eu, suflet bun, aveam grija ca burticile lor sa fie fericite.
Revin la reteta pe care ti-o propun si iti spun ca este foarte simpla. Daca eu la 5 ani stiam sa fac clatite, sigur iti ies si tie.
Pentru 4 clatite ai nevoie de:
(cantitatile s-ar putea sa nu fie tocmai exacte pentru ca de obicei le fac din ochi)
un ou;
100 gr de faina alba;
100 ml lapte;
o lingura de ulei de floarea soarelui (Floriol);
oregano;
piper;
tarhon.
Eu amestec ingredientele uscate mai intai, apoi pun oul, laptele si uleiul. Pun ulei in compozitie ca sa nu mai fiu nevoita sa pun in tigaie si atunci si clatitele ies mai putin uleioase. In plus tigaia pentru clatite de la Tefal chiar nu are nevoie de extra ulei.
Asadar clatitele, daca ai plita cu inductie, le faci in 10 minute cu tot cu amestecatul compozitiei.
Apoi, pentru umplutura ai nevoie de:
2-3 castraveti murati;
2 morcovi medii;
200 gr de prosciutto.
Eu am descoperit un prosciutto genial. Este cubulete, un prosciutto de vitel cu care te poti juca in nenumarate retete. Este super gustos si nu are coloranti sau cum scrie pe mai toate ambalajele "preservative free" :))
Cum spuneam, pentru a umple clatita am ras morcovul, am taiat castravetii murati fasii, le-am aruncat in clatita si apoi, in exces am pus cubulete de prosciutto de vitel. Am pus sa fie, ca sa simti gustul.
Aceasta varianta de clatite aperitiv trebuie sa sature. De aceea am facut doar 4. Cate una per om si crede-ma ca te saturi cu o clatita.
Pe deasupra, acum vine nebunia. Am batut doua oua pe care le-am amestecat cu 150 de gr de iaurt grecesc de la Olympus. Este minunat acest iaurt grecesc, este cremos si foarte gustos. In plus eu am ales varianta cu putina grasime, si chiar si asa, iaurtul are gust. Am amestecat toata nebunia plus niste condimente, ierburi si altele, dupa gust. Am pus peste clatite sosul si apoi am bagat tava la cuptor pentru 20 de minute la 180 de grade.
Si asta este tot. Pofta buna!
aruncam mancarea pe geam, cand eram mica, castraveti murati, clatita, clatite, clatite aperitiv, compozitie, condimente, cuptor, faina, floriol, gustoasa, iaurt grecesc olympus, ierburi, lapte, minute, morcovi, morcovi rasi, olympus, oregano, piper, reteta rapida, satioasa, tarhon, tefal, ulei de floarea soarelui
The U.S. Military District of Washington Joint Armed Forces Color Guard Presents the Colors, during the 2017 Organization of Professional Employees of the US Department of Agriculture (OPEDA) Unsung Hero Award Program, in Washington, D.C. OPEDA in partnership with the USDA Departmental Management kick off Public Service Recognition Week by recognizing USDA employees who have demonstrated extraordinary effort in performing tasks, who have unselfishly shared their time and expertise, and consistently and willingly extended a helping hand, by honoring them at All USDA employees and their guests were invited to attend. For more information about USDA and OPEDA please see www.usda.gov and www.opeda.org. USDA Photo by Lance Cheung.