1991 Jaguar XJR-15

$1,270,000 USD | Sold

 

From Sothetheby's:

Jaguar’s dominance of the 24 Hours of Lemans during the 1950s was absolute: five victories in seven years culminating with an extraordinary three years in a row from 1955-1957. Following the dominance of the hallowed C- and D-Type Jaguars however, the team at Coventry abandoned their racing efforts and left the famous endurance race for three decades.

 

In the early 1980s, Tom Walkinshaw, a Scottish racecar driver and engineer was making waves in the racing world with his rally prepped Range Rovers. After one of his tuned Rovers grabbed the crown at the Dakar Rally in 1982, Walkinshaw and his company Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) began a close relationship with British Leyland. His Jaguar XJS and Rover designs saw immediate success across many British, European, and French touring car championships, which caught the attention of Jaguar chairman John Egan. Egan was keen on returning the leaping-cat marque to the top of the racing world. Jaguar and Walkinshaw’s TWR formed a dedicated partnership, JaguarSport, to make Egan’s dream a reality.

 

Using highly tuned versions of Jaguar’s iconic 5.3-liter V-12 engines, JaguarSport saw immediate success, dominating the likes of Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and Toyota in Group C racing. This culminated in Jaguar’s return to the winner’s circle at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1988 and then again in 1990. The team also added wins at the 24 Hours of Daytona in both years, for good measure.

 

In this heady environment, Walkinshaw sensed strong demand amongst many of the world’s wealthiest auto aficionados for an ultra-exotic and ultra-exclusive road car based on a successful competition car—in essence, a Le Mans racer for the street. In November 1990, a JaguarSport press release announced the introduction of the stunning XJR-15, which used the same technology and expertise of the Le Mans-winning XJR-9 and XJR-12, but in a more useable, track-ready road car. As such, the XJR-15 would be developed in the mold of iconic road-going racecars such as the Jaguar D-Type and Ferrari 250 GTO. Just 50 were scheduled for production.

 

The XJR-15 used a central monocoque chassis tub similar in concept to that of the Tony Southgate-designed, Le Mans-winning XJR-9; however, this new tub, designed Jim Router and Dave Fullerton, differed somewhat in its dimensions. The body was designed by Peter Stevens, who was also responsible for the McLaren F1, and was constructed with a unique carbon fiber and Kevlar composite. The XJR-9 suspension was retained at all four wheels, with fabricated wishbones and horizontal pushrod-spring dampers at the front and coil springs at the rear. Four-piston AP Racing calipers mated to disc brakes housed completely within the wheels provided stopping power.

 

The Group C-specification engine was a 450-brake horsepower, 6.0-liter, all aluminum, dry-sump V-12 fitted with a Cosworth forged crankshaft and connecting rods, aluminum pistons, and a fuel-delivery system armed with Zytec electronically controlled sequential fuel injection. Power was transferred to the rear wheels via a TWR-designed, six-speed transaxle with straight-cut gears and outfitted with an AP triple-plate carbon clutch.

 

Walkinshaw’s work resulted in a car that weighed just 2,315 pounds and was endowed with awesome handling, an excellent power-to-weight ratio, and race-proven reliability, all with an astounding 215-mph top speed. This incredibly unique performance package came in at a price of nearly one million US dollars when new.

 

Serial number 018, presented here, is one of only 50 production examples completed and one of 27 constructed in road-going specification. As such, it was equipped with a five-speed transaxle rather than the race-tuned, six-speed Le Mans gearbox. This car is known as the “Japan Study Car,” which was originally used for aerodynamic studies and testing of hybrid energy recovery systems by a former Nismo Racing engineer. It was restored to original specification by XJR-15 experts Bespoke Motors in Australia in 2015 and has since been expertly maintained over its less than 1,000 miles of use. The car rides on six-spoke, 17-inch O.Z. Racing alloy wheels wrapped in new Pirelli P-Zero tires.

 

The XJR-15’s spartan interior features gray leather racing seats and hardwired headsets for easy conversation when cruising in the triple digits. The bare carbon-fiber and Kevlar tub, with its distinctive black and silver weave, is exposed throughout the cabin, creating a unique backdrop for the gauge cluster, Nardi racing steering wheel, and rocker-panel-mounted shifter.

 

Accompanying documentation includes service invoices detailing significant work performed within the last four years. This included a bare-body repaint in factory-correct dark blue at a cost of over $15,000, after which protective clear film was professionally applied to the entire exterior. Other recent work included changing all fluids, recharging the air-conditioning system, re-shimming the carbon clutch, and installing new belts, gaskets, spark plugs, and tires, at a cost of more than $20,000.

 

Accompanying the car are spare parts from the Japan Study Car program, including the original rear body panel, the mold used to make that panel, the wheels and tires fitted to the car during testing, and a Zytec ECU. The car also comes with a second set of matching seat cushions that allow drivers as tall as six feet, five inches to fit comfortably.

 

As a rare, road-ready edition of the car that returned Jaguar to the top of the racing world, this well-maintained, low-mileage XJR-15 is even more special, given its documented history as the Japan Study Car, and will be a prized member of any collection.

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Kristina and I headed over to RM Sotheby's at the Monterey Conference Center to view some glorious cars at their auction preview.

- - -

Had a blast with our auto-enthusiast friend and neighbor, Fred, at Monterey Car Week 2022.

Lake Zurich is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zurich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or Zurichsee can be used to describe the lake as a whole, or just that part of the lake downstream of the Seedamm at Rapperswil, whilst the part upstream of Rapperswil may be called the Obersee or Upper Lake.

 

Lake Zurich is formed by the Linth river, which rises in the glaciers of the Glarus Alps and was diverted by the Escher canal (completed in 1811) into Lake Walen from where its waters are carried to the east end of Lake Zurich by means of the Linth canal (completed in 1816). The waters of the Lake of Zurich flow out of the lake at its north-west end, passing through the city of Zurich; however, the outflow is then called the Limmat. The culminating point of the lake's drainage basin is the Todi at 3,614 metres above sea level.

The Road to Hope ride is Law Enforcement United's flagship event and culminates in Washington, D.C., to kick off Police Week. Each rider carries a flag with the name and information about the fallen hero they are representing on this grueling ride.

 

More than 450 riders work hard to raise funds and train for the three-day bicycle ride from Chesapeake, VA and Reading, PA to Washington, D.C. each May.

 

The "Road To Hope" is about helping survivors know that they are not alone and enable resources like Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.) and the Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP) to help these families rebuild and to preserve the memories and honor their fallen hero.

 

This year the guest speaker at the end of the ride was Deputy Director of the U.S. Marshals Service David Harlow.

 

Photo by: Shane T. McCoy / US Marshals

From press reports

 

China's sole aircraft carrier arrived in Hong Kong for the first time on Friday 7 July in a display of military might less than a week after a high-profile visit by President Xi Jinping. The vessel set off from Qingdao, in China's east, on 25 June.

 

President Xi's trip marked 20 years since Hong Kong was handed back to China by Britain, and analysts said it left little doubt that Beijing viewed the city as a destabilising hotbed of unacceptable political dissent.

 

His three-day visit culminated in a 30-minute speech warning that any challenge to Beijing's control over the city crossed a "red line", seen as a salvo against a new wave of activists calling for self-determination or independence, concepts intolerable to Beijing.

 

President Xi also inspected a parade of Chinese troops on 30 June at the city's biggest military parade in the past two decades, where helicopters and armoured vehicles were displayed.

 

The 305 metre-long Liaoning, a secondhand Soviet ship built nearly 30 years ago and commissioned by the People’s Liberation Army Navy in 2012, arrived in Hong Kong at around 7.30am local time. The hull was built nearly 30 years ago for the Soviet navy, but the ship was never completed.

 

The ship’s journey from a Ukrainian shipyard to the Chinese navy was hardly routine. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, construction was halted in 1992 and the carrier was put up for sale. It then took six years before a Chinese businessman purchased it for US$20m, saying he planned to tow it to Macau and open a floating hotel and casino.

 

But the purchase and story were a cover, with the ship eventually delivered to the Chinese navy in 2002. The military spent the next decade refitting and upgrading the ship, and it was declared combat ready in 2015. China launched its first domestically built carrier in April 2017 but it will not be operational until 2020.

  

The Chinese Navy is said to be building a force with "blue-water capability," able to operate in oceans around the world in a similar way to the US. China is rapidly increasing its military budget, currently the second largest in the world, raising spending by 7% in 2017.

 

China's aircraft carriers lag behind the capabilities of their US counterparts. Sam Roggeveen, a senior fellow at Sydney's Lowy Institute said both of China's carriers were technologically outdated.

 

"They still have what they call the ski jump, which is the 15-degree incline at the front of the ship ... to give aircraft more lift," he said.

 

"The reason that's important is that it's very much a second-best solution for launching aircraft off a carrier. The Americans use what's called a catapult, which slings aircraft off at much higher speeds.”

 

China's national defence ministry contradicted itself over the purpose of the flotilla’s visit, first saying it was part of a “routine training mission”, and later announcing it was organised to mark 20 years since the People’s Liberation Army entered the city at the end of British rule.

Some observers believe that the port call – which started on 7 July, the anniversary of the 1937 Marco Polo Bridge incident marking the start of full-scale war between China and Japan – was intended to serve the purpose of national education, and that the opening of the carrier to the public was “soft publicity” to impress Hongkongers with China’s military might.

Some saw the naval convoy as underlining President Xi’s hardline message.

“The Liaoning’s visit is an escalation of Beijing’s efforts to squeeze Hong Kong and is meant to show that the military has a role in safeguarding the Chinese government’s interests in Hong Kong,” said Willy Lam, a politics professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

“The unsubtle message is that if there is any mass protests or things get out of hand, Beijing will not hesitate to call upon soldiers to quell any perceived rebellion against the Communist party.”

Yvonne Chiu, assistant professor in the department of politics at the University of Hong Kong, said sailing the Liaoning into Hong Kong's harbor was partly a political gesture.

 

"It shows to Hong Kong and the rest of the world that Hong Kong is very much part of China," Chiu said.

 

"There's no quicker way of whipping up some nationalist sentiment and pride than to rally around a big military symbol," Chiu said.

 

"It's an ongoing concern about whether Hong Kong people are sufficiently patriotic, so rallying around an aircraft carrier, it can only help."

 

UK and US officials have expressed concern over receding freedoms in Hong Kong and the creeping influence of the Chinese officials over the local government. The show of military might served to “remind the west that Beijing is in control and will use whatever means to crush efforts to undermine China’s sovereignty”, Lam said.

 

Xi put on a display of martial might during his visit, presiding over the largest military parade since the UK handed the city back to China in 1997. The parade and aircraft carrier visit is highly significant and the Chinese garrison in the city typically keeps a low profile, rarely seen on the streets in uniform.

 

The Liaoning was escorted by two guided-missile destroyers, a guided-missile frigate and two corvettes from Hong Kong’s naval garrison, along with 20 police launches and dozens of government marine vessels clearing a path.

 

Authorities set up a temporary no-fly zone in the area where the Liaoning was berthed near the city's Tsing Ma suspension bridge.

J-15 fighter jets sat on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Liaoning.

 

Hong Kong’s leader, chief executive Carrie Lam, welcomed the flotilla at the city’s main naval base, saying she hoped the visit would instill a sense of patriotism among an increasingly divided society.

 

“I believe this can let citizens experience the country’s military development, especially the development of the naval force,” Lam said.

 

“This will greatly enhance Hong Kong citizens’ understanding and recognition of the country.”

 

Sally Fitzgibbons Claims Rip Curl Women's Pro Bells Beach, Maiden Event Win

 

BELLS BEACH, Victoria/Australia (Saturday, April 23, 2011) – Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), 20, claimed her maiden ASP Women’s World Title event win today after a hard-fought Final with current ASP Women’s World No. 1 Carissa Moore (HAW), 18, taking out the Rip Curl Women’s Pro Bells Beach presented by Ford Fiesta and firmly announcing herself as a threat to the 2011 ASP World Title race.

 

The second stop of the 2011 ASP Women’s World Title season, the Rip Curl Women’s Pro Bells Beach enjoyed some of the best conditions ever offered to the ASP Top 17, culminating in this afternoon’s epic clash in glassy three-to-four foot (1.5 metre) waves at Rincon.

 

Fitzgibbons, who finished Runner-Up in three events in 2010 as well as finishing the season in the Runner-Up spot, consistently outshined her fellow ASP Top 17 members at Bells Beach, launching into incredible high scores from the opening round of competition.

 

“This is so overwhelming,” Fitzgibbons said. “It’s been a long journey for me to finally win and this is incredible. I can’t feel my arms or legs and I’m just trying to keep from crying right now. It’s been a really long time coming and I want to thank all the girls for pushing me as well as all my family and friends who have supported me over the years.”

 

Today’s maiden victory was made all the more emotional for the young Australian, clinching the title in the event’s 50th year of operation, surrounded by her heroes and sporting icons.

 

“It’s extra special to win it this year for the 50 years event,” Fitzgibbons said. “Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always watched my heroes surf and win here and I’ve always dreamed of ringing the Bell and now that it’s happened, I don’t know what to say. The other night at the 50-year ball, I saw all my icons on stage and I was so inspired. So to win right now is a dream come true.”

 

Fitzgibbons now sits at ASP Women’s World No. 2 with today’s win.

 

Moore continued her rampage amongst the world’s best here at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, only falling short to Fitzgibbons in the Final. The gracious Hawaiian remains firmly in the driver’s seat in this year’s hunt for the ASP Women’s World Title, and will look to further cement her position at next week’s event in New Zealand.

 

“I’m stoked to have made the Final with Sally (Fitzgibbons),” Moore said. “For her to come out on top was awesome. We’ve have a lot of good clashes last year and this year, and her win’s been a long time coming so congrats to her. Of course I would have liked to have rung the Bell, but that may have to happen next year.”

 

Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), 23, reigning four-time ASP Women’s World Champion, enjoyed more of a return to form at Bells Beach, but the former three-time event winner was unable to overcome a rampaging Fitzgibbons in their Semifinal clash. Today’s Equal 3rd place finish has Gilmore sitting in ASP Women’s World No. 4 heading into the New Zealand event.

 

"I felt really good this event, my surfing felt more confident,” Gilmore said. “I'm happy with my performance, but hopefully I'm just building towards No. 1. Sally (Fitzgibbons) was so in form, she was throwing away scores that I was keeping as my top two, she's well deserving of the win."

 

Silvana Lima (BRA), 26, past event winner, put on a valiant effort in today’s conditions but ultimately fell to eventual winner Moore in her Semifinal heat.

 

“Very happy with my performance at Bells and that we had good waves for the girls,” Lima said. “I’m sad that I couldn’t make the Final, but Carissa (Moore) was surfing really well and she deserves it. I’m looking forward to New Zealand.”

 

The next stop on the 2011 ASP Women’s World Title season will be the Subaru Pro TSB Bank Women’s Surf Festival in Taranaki, New Zealand from April 27 – May 1, 2011.

 

Highlights from the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach presented by FORD will be available via www.live.ripcurl.com and broadcast live on Fuel TV in Australia and ESPN in Brazil.

 

The Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach presented by Ford Ranger completed Round 4 of competition this morning with Joel Parkinson (AUS), 30, Kelly Slater (USA), 39, Jordy Smith (ZAF), 23, and Mick Fanning (AUS), 29, all taking out wins and advancing straight through to the Quarterfinals.

 

Event organizers will reconvene tomorrow morning at 7am to assess conditions for a possible 7:30am start.

 

When the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach presented by Ford Rangers resumes, up first will be Owen Wright (AUS), 21, against Bede Durbidge (AUS), 28, in the opening heat of Round 5.

 

For more information, log onto www.aspworldtour.com

  

RIP CURL WOMEN’S PRO BELLS BEACH FINAL RESULTS:

1 – Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 16.77

2 – Carissa Moore (HAW) 15.40

 

RIP CURL WOMEN’S PRO BELLS BEACH SEMIFINAL RESULTS:

SF 1: Carissa Moore (HAW) 15.10 def. Silvana Lima (BRA) 12.60

SF 2: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 18.37 def Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 12.60

 

RIP CURL WOMEN’S PRO BELLS BEACH QUARTERFINAL RESULTS:

QF 1: Silvana Lima (BRA) 15.57 def. Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 9.60

QF 2: Carissa Moore (HAW) 13.34 def. Courtney Conlogue (USA) 5.90

QF 3: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 15.00 def. Tyler Wright (AUS) 11.44

QF 4: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 18.56 def. Coco Ho (HAW) 14.53

 

RIP CURL WOMEN’S PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 4 RESULTS:

Heat 1: Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 14.50 def. Chelsea Hedges (AUS) 8.50

Heat 2: Courtney Conlogue (USA) 12.50 def. Melanie Bartels (HAW) 12.04

Heat 3: Tyler Wright (AUS) 13.60 def. Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS) 12.47

Heat 4: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 18.83 def. Pauline Ado (FRA) 11.50

 

ASP WOMEN’S WORLD TITLE TOP 5 (After Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach):

1. Carissa Moore (HAW) 18,000 pts

2. Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 16,400 pts

3. Tyler Wright (AUS) 13,200 pts

4. Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 11,700 pts

5. Silvana Lima (BRA) 11,700 pts

 

RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 4 RESULTS:

Heat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 15.26, Owen Wright (AUS) 13.84, Adriano de Souza (BRA) 9.14

Heat 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 13.67, C.J. Hobgood (USA) 12.17, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 11.04

Heat 3: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 14.27, Chris Davidson (AUS) 13.37, Tiago Pires (PRT) 11.63

Heat 4: Mick Fanning (AUS) 19.10, Jadson Andre (BRA) 13.17, Michel Bourez (PYF) 11.40

 

RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 5 MATCH-UPS:

Heat 1: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. Bede Durbidge (AUS)

Heat 2: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Adriano de Souza (BRA)

Heat 3: Chris Davidson (AUS) vs. Michel Bourez (PYF)

Heat 4: Jadson Andre (BRA) vs. Tiago Pires (PRT)

 

Photo / ASP/Kirstin

The Road to Hope ride is Law Enforcement United's flagship event and culminates in Washington, D.C., to kick off Police Week. Each rider carries a flag with the name and information about the fallen hero they are representing on this grueling ride.

 

More than 450 riders work hard to raise funds and train for the three-day bicycle ride from Chesapeake, VA and Reading, PA to Washington, D.C. each May.

 

The "Road To Hope" is about helping survivors know that they are not alone and enable resources like Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.) and the Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP) to help these families rebuild and to preserve the memories and honor their fallen hero.

 

This year the guest speaker at the end of the ride was Deputy Director of the U.S. Marshals Service David Harlow.

 

Photo by: Shane T. McCoy / US Marshals

To culminate the Social Studies unit in 3rd grade, all third grade classes at our school walked to town and visited the City Hall where we met the mayor, the police department and the jail, the Alapaha Bank, the Chamber of Commerce (the oldest jail building in Georgia), a beauty salon (with tanning bed and massage), and the court house.

Dance of Spring (Song of the Birds), 1924

Oil on canvas

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri, Bebe and Crosby Kemper Collection, gift of the Enid and Crosby Kemper Foundation, 2003.03.01

 

Here Stella assembles a classical temple of flora and fauna—in his own words, culled “from the elysian lyricism of the Italian spring.” Flowers rise from a pink lotus at the base of a central column, culminating in the curious combination of a lupine and a longhorn steer’s head flower, a floral form that resembles a bull’s skull. Below perch three sparrows, the national bird of Italy and a favorite of Stella’s.

 

Joseph Stella: Visionary Nature

February 24 – May 21, 2023

 

Italian-born American modernist Joseph Stella (1877–1946) is primarily recognized for his dynamic Futurist-inspired paintings of New York, especially the Brooklyn Bridge and Coney Island. Lesser known, but equally as ambitious, is his work dedicated to the natural world, a theme that served as a lifelong inspiration. Throughout his career, Stella produced an extraordinary number of works—in many formats and in diverse media—that take nature as their subject. These lush and colorful works are filled with flowers, trees, birds, and fish—some of which he encountered on his travels across continents or during his visits to botanical gardens, while others are abstracted and fantastical. Through these pictures, he created a rich and variegated portrait of nature, a sanctuary for a painter in a modern world.

 

Joseph Stella: Visionary Nature is co-organized by the High and the Brandywine River Museum of Art and is the first major museum exhibition to exclusively examine Stella’s nature-based works. The exhibition features more than one hundred paintings and works on paper that reveal the complexity and spirituality that drove Stella’s nature-based works and the breadth of his artistic vision. Through expanded in-gallery didactics, including a graphic timeline of Stella’s career and a short film, the exhibition digs deeply into the context of the works, exploring their inspirations, meanings, and stylistic influences.

 

Touring Dates:

Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida (October 15, 2022–January 15, 2023)

Brandywine Museum of Art, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania (June 17, 2023–September 24, 2023)

 

www.nytimes.com/2022/11/30/arts/design/joseph-stella-flor...

 

www.forbes.com/sites/natashagural/2022/12/21/joseph-stell...

 

www.atlantamagazine.com/news-culture-articles/joseph-stel...

 

If you know the painter Joseph Stella, it’s probably from his famous urban landscapes like Brooklyn Bridge (1921), a futurist interpretation of New York’s dramatic 20th-century industrialization. But Stella was just as captivated by the botanical world as he was by cityscapes, and today, Atlantans can see that side of the artist in vivid color. Joseph Stella: Visionary Nature, an explosive new exhibit at the High Museum of Art, features dozens of his flower and plant-filled paintings and drawings. In Atlanta through May 21, the exhibit travels chronologically through Stella’s lifelong love-affair with the natural world, from an early study of a piece of bark to the epic, intricate Tree of My Life.

 

Visionary Nature was a joint effort between the High; the Norton Museum in West Palm Beach, Florida; and the Brandywine Museum in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, where it heads next. “They were really focused on [Stella’s] nature works, and we have a great work by Stella here at the High,” said Stephanie Heydt, the museum’s Margaret and Terry Stent Curator of American Art. “It was a great collaboration.”

 

Stella was born in 1877 in Muro Lucano, a hilly city in southern Italy. He immigrated to New York originally intending to follow his brother into medicine, but after a uninspired stint in medical school, he pivoted to painting. Stella studied briefly under the impressionist painter William Merritt Chase at the New York School of Art and soon developed a reputation as a sensitive interpreter of the urban working class.

 

The High’s exhibit features of some of these early works, in which the natural world spills out amidst the smokestacks and steel mills of America’s industrial revolution. “This is the Progressive Era at the turn of the twentieth century,” Heydt explained. “And he’s looking at the people in his own community, specifically the Italian immigrants.”

 

Traveling back in Europe, Stella was inspired by the contemporary artists he saw there: the cubism of Pablo Picasso and early futurism of Umberto Boccioni. He drew on these sources back in the U.S, earning acclaim for his dynamic geometric paintings of the metropolis; several choice selections, including American Landscape (1929), and Smoke Stacks (1921), are on view in this exhibit.

 

But even as Stella built his career on the towering achievements of urban industry, he yearned for the sunny landscapes of his youth. He frequented havens like the Bronx Botanical Gardens, which opened in 1891 and offered escape from New York’s sooty streets. Walking through Brooklyn one day, he later wrote in an essay, he stumbled across a sapling.

 

“This little tree is coming up from a crack in the sidewalk, shadowed by a factory, and he sees himself in this tree,” Heydt said. “He says, This is me.”

 

That encounter inspired Tree of My Life (1919) a florid aria sung to the natural world. A sturdy olive tree—Stella himself—anchors the canvas, surrounded by a vortex of tropical plants, birds, and, in the background, Stella’s native Italian hills. Brandywine Museum Director Thomas Padon envisaged the exhibit after seeing Tree of My Life in a private collection. “I was transfixed,” Padon told the New York Times.

 

Stella painted Tree of My Life and Brooklyn Bridge within a year of each other, announcing a duality that would define the rest of this career. While he painted flowers throughout his life, it was his moody, futurist treatments of New York that made him an art-world celebrity. European artists fleeing World War I were landing in New York in droves, sparking a new creative fascination with the cutting-edge American city. “(Marcel) Duchamp says the art of Europe is dead, and this century is about America,” explained Heydt. “Stella’s understood to be one of the first American-based painters to figure out . . . how to paint the new modern city.”

 

But Stella’s love of the natural world—and of Europe—endured. He returned to botanical themes throughout his life, infused with the Old Master styles of the Italian Renaissance. Many works in this exhibit invoke the sun-drenched vistas and towering cathedrals of Italy, overrun by sumptuous flowers that are decidedly not native to the Iberian peninsula. Stella—a native turned immigrant—seems to delight in the contradiction: in Dance of Spring (1924), tropical orchids and calla lilies burst open in a beam of beatific light, like Jesus rising to the heavens in a Raphael. Purissima (1927), part of the High’s own collection, evokes the iconic Renaissance Madonna, here transformed by Stella’s whimsy: the stamens of a lily serve as her celestial crown, while snowy egrets (the Florida kind) grace her sides.

 

With saturations of color abounding in every room, Visionary Nature enjoys an added depth through words. Stella was a prolific writer, and the exhibit makes canny use of text to explore his passion for the living world. “My devout wish,” reads one such diary segment on view, “That my every working day might begin and end . . . with the light, gay painting of a flower.” In a unique addition to their exhibition, the High created a short video featuring more of Stella’s own thoughts. “We wanted to end with his voice telling us how he felt about various paintings in the show . . . or his ideas about art,” explained Heydt.

 

Stella, who died in 1946, spent the last years of his life in ill health, largely confined to his studio. He never stopped painting the natural world; a few of those last works, modest trees still full of flair, are on view here. A few years before his death, his friend and fellow artist Charmion von Wiegand paid a visit to his studio. She found Stella amidst a riot of color, studiously painting his favorite subject. “Flower studies of all kinds litter the floor,” wrote von Wiegand, “and turn it into a growing garden.”

From press reports

 

China's sole aircraft carrier arrived in Hong Kong for the first time on Friday 7 July in a display of military might less than a week after a high-profile visit by President Xi Jinping. The vessel set off from Qingdao, in China's east, on 25 June.

 

President Xi's trip marked 20 years since Hong Kong was handed back to China by Britain, and analysts said it left little doubt that Beijing viewed the city as a destabilising hotbed of unacceptable political dissent.

 

His three-day visit culminated in a 30-minute speech warning that any challenge to Beijing's control over the city crossed a "red line", seen as a salvo against a new wave of activists calling for self-determination or independence, concepts intolerable to Beijing.

 

President Xi also inspected a parade of Chinese troops on 30 June at the city's biggest military parade in the past two decades, where helicopters and armoured vehicles were displayed.

 

The 305 metre-long Liaoning, a secondhand Soviet ship built nearly 30 years ago and commissioned by the People’s Liberation Army Navy in 2012, arrived in Hong Kong at around 7.30am local time. The hull was built nearly 30 years ago for the Soviet navy, but the ship was never completed.

 

The ship’s journey from a Ukrainian shipyard to the Chinese navy was hardly routine. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, construction was halted in 1992 and the carrier was put up for sale. It then took six years before a Chinese businessman purchased it for US$20m, saying he planned to tow it to Macau and open a floating hotel and casino.

 

But the purchase and story were a cover, with the ship eventually delivered to the Chinese navy in 2002. The military spent the next decade refitting and upgrading the ship, and it was declared combat ready in 2015. China launched its first domestically built carrier in April 2017 but it will not be operational until 2020.

  

The Chinese Navy is said to be building a force with "blue-water capability," able to operate in oceans around the world in a similar way to the US. China is rapidly increasing its military budget, currently the second largest in the world, raising spending by 7% in 2017.

 

China's aircraft carriers lag behind the capabilities of their US counterparts. Sam Roggeveen, a senior fellow at Sydney's Lowy Institute said both of China's carriers were technologically outdated.

 

"They still have what they call the ski jump, which is the 15-degree incline at the front of the ship ... to give aircraft more lift," he said.

 

"The reason that's important is that it's very much a second-best solution for launching aircraft off a carrier. The Americans use what's called a catapult, which slings aircraft off at much higher speeds.”

 

China's national defence ministry contradicted itself over the purpose of the flotilla’s visit, first saying it was part of a “routine training mission”, and later announcing it was organised to mark 20 years since the People’s Liberation Army entered the city at the end of British rule.

Some observers believe that the port call – which started on 7 July, the anniversary of the 1937 Marco Polo Bridge incident marking the start of full-scale war between China and Japan – was intended to serve the purpose of national education, and that the opening of the carrier to the public was “soft publicity” to impress Hongkongers with China’s military might.

Some saw the naval convoy as underlining President Xi’s hardline message.

“The Liaoning’s visit is an escalation of Beijing’s efforts to squeeze Hong Kong and is meant to show that the military has a role in safeguarding the Chinese government’s interests in Hong Kong,” said Willy Lam, a politics professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

“The unsubtle message is that if there is any mass protests or things get out of hand, Beijing will not hesitate to call upon soldiers to quell any perceived rebellion against the Communist party.”

Yvonne Chiu, assistant professor in the department of politics at the University of Hong Kong, said sailing the Liaoning into Hong Kong's harbor was partly a political gesture.

 

"It shows to Hong Kong and the rest of the world that Hong Kong is very much part of China," Chiu said.

 

"There's no quicker way of whipping up some nationalist sentiment and pride than to rally around a big military symbol," Chiu said.

 

"It's an ongoing concern about whether Hong Kong people are sufficiently patriotic, so rallying around an aircraft carrier, it can only help."

 

UK and US officials have expressed concern over receding freedoms in Hong Kong and the creeping influence of the Chinese officials over the local government. The show of military might served to “remind the west that Beijing is in control and will use whatever means to crush efforts to undermine China’s sovereignty”, Lam said.

 

Xi put on a display of martial might during his visit, presiding over the largest military parade since the UK handed the city back to China in 1997. The parade and aircraft carrier visit is highly significant and the Chinese garrison in the city typically keeps a low profile, rarely seen on the streets in uniform.

 

The Liaoning was escorted by two guided-missile destroyers, a guided-missile frigate and two corvettes from Hong Kong’s naval garrison, along with 20 police launches and dozens of government marine vessels clearing a path.

 

Authorities set up a temporary no-fly zone in the area where the Liaoning was berthed near the city's Tsing Ma suspension bridge.

J-15 fighter jets sat on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Liaoning.

 

Hong Kong’s leader, chief executive Carrie Lam, welcomed the flotilla at the city’s main naval base, saying she hoped the visit would instill a sense of patriotism among an increasingly divided society.

 

“I believe this can let citizens experience the country’s military development, especially the development of the naval force,” Lam said.

 

“This will greatly enhance Hong Kong citizens’ understanding and recognition of the country.”

 

Cadets from 2nd Regiment tackle their culminating Field Training Exercise (FTX) during Cadet Summer Training at Fort Knox, Ky., June 24, 2022. The FTX was Cadre assisted and had Cadets conduct various essential tasks, such as reconnaissance, ambushes, or assaults, against opposing forces. After 2nd Regiment finished with Panther, they will go on to point Grizzly, where the FTX will be completely lead by Cadets. | Photo by Nathan Abbott, CST Public Affairs Office.

Zürich - Wasserkirche und Türme vom Grossmünster

 

The Wasserkirche ("Water Church") of Zürich, first mentioned as ecclesia Aquatica Turicensi around 1250 and as wazzirkilcha in 1256, is a church built on a small island in the Limmat, situated between the two main churches of medieval Zürich, the Grossmünster and the Fraumünster, at the Limmatquai and the Münsterbrücke.

 

Overview

 

It seems likely that the original building was used for cult meetings. The meetings were centred on a stone now located in the crypt of the church. According to medieval tradition, the site was used for the execution of Saints Felix and Regula. The church was built in the 10th century and modified at various points, culminating in a complete reconstruction that was completed in 1486. During the course of the Reformation, the Wasserkirche was identified as a place of idolatry. Eventually it was secularised, becoming the first public library of Zürich in 1634, when it became a seat of learning that greatly contributed to the foundation of University of Zürich in the 19th century. The island was connected with the right bank of the Limmat in 1839 with the construction of the Limmatquai. The library was merged into the Zentralbibliothek in 1917, and the church was used as a storage room for crops for some time, until reconstruction work and archaeological excavations were undertaken in 1940. Following this the building was again used for services by the Evangelical-Reformed State Church of the Canton of Zürich.

 

The Helmhaus is an extension of the church to the north, first mentioned in 1253 as a court of criminal justice, at which time it was a simple wooden structure covering the eastern end of the bridge. It was extended to a larger wooden structure in 1563, and replaced with a stonework hall in 1791.

 

Cultural heritage of national importance

 

The building Helmhaus und Wasserkirche is listed in the Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance as a Class A object of national importance.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

The Grossmünster (German pronunciation: [ɡʁoːsˈmʏnstɐ]; "great minster") is a Romanesque-style Protestant church in Zürich, Switzerland. It is one of the four major churches in the city (the others being the Fraumünster, Predigerkirche, and St. Peterskirche). Its congregation forms part of the Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of Zürich. The core of the present building near the banks of the Limmat was constructed on the site of a Carolingian church, which was, according to legend, originally commissioned by Charlemagne. Construction of the present structure commenced around 1100 and it was inaugurated around 1220.

 

The Grossmünster was a monastery church, vying for precedence with the Fraumünster across the Limmat throughout the Middle Ages. According to legend, the Grossmünster was founded by Charlemagne, whose horse fell to its knees over the tombs of Felix, Regula and Exuperantius, Zürich's patron saints. The legend helps support a claim of seniority over the Fraumünster, which was founded by Louis the German, Charlemagne's grandson. Recent archaeological evidence confirms the presence of a Roman burial ground at the site.

 

Historical significance

 

Huldrych Zwingli initiated the Swiss-German Reformation in Switzerland from his pastoral office at the Grossmünster, starting in 1520. Zwingli won a series of debates presided over by the magistrate in 1523 which ultimately led local civil authorities to sanction the severance of the church from the papacy. The reforms initiated by Zwingli and continued by his successor, Heinrich Bullinger, account for the plain interior of the church. The iconoclastic reformers removed the organ and religious statuary in 1524. These changes, accompanied by abandonment of Lent, replacement of the Mass, disavowal of celibacy, eating meat on fast days, replacement of the lectionary with a seven-year New Testament cycle, a ban on church music, and other significant reforms make this church one of the most important sites in the history of the reformation and the birthplace of the Swiss-German reformation.

 

Burials

 

Saints Felix and Regula

Conrad Gessner

Peter Martyr Vermigli

 

Architecture

 

The twin towers of the Grossmünster are regarded as perhaps the most recognized landmark in Zürich. Architecturally, the church is considered Romanesque in style and thus a part of the first pan-European architectural trend since Imperial Roman architecture. In keeping with the Romanesque architectural style, Grossmünster offers a great carved portal featuring medieval columns with grotesques adorning the capitals. A Romanesque crypt dates to the 11th and 13th centuries.

 

Bollinger Sandstein was used for the construction. The two towers were first erected between 1487 and 1492. Originally, they had high wooden steeples, which were destroyed by fire in 1763, following which the present neo-Gothic tops were added (completed 1787). Richard Wagner is known to have mocked the church's appearance as that of two pepper dispensers. The church now features modern stained-glass windows by Swiss artist Augusto Giacometti added in 1932. Ornate bronze doors in the north and south portals by Otto Münch were added in 1935 and 1950.

 

The church houses a Reformation museum in the cloister. The annex to the cloister houses the theological school of the University of Zurich.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Die Wasserkirche ist eine Kirche am rechten Ufer der Limmat in der Altstadt in der Schweizer Stadt Zürich.

 

Ursprünglich stand die Kirche auf einer kleinen Insel in der Limmat, woraus der Name herkommt. Heute wird die Kirche nur noch auf einer Seite von der Limmat begrenzt, da bei der Aufschüttung des Limmatquais die Insellage zerstört wurde. Vor der Reformation spielte die Wasserkirche eine wichtige Rolle für die Verehrung der Zürcher Stadtheiligen Felix und Regula, da sie deren Hinrichtungsstätte bezeichnete.

 

Geschichte

 

Vor der Reformation

 

Archäologische Funde in der Krypta der Wasserkirche lassen darauf schliessen, dass bereits im Altertum eine religiöse Kultanlage auf der kleinen Insel in der Limmat stand. Der Legende nach sollen um 300 n. Chr. die späteren Zürcher Schutzpatrone Felix und Regula auf einem Findling auf der Insel hingerichtet worden sein. Als Angehörige der Thebäischen Legion waren sie zum Christentum übergetreten. Zur Strafe hierfür wurden sie gefoltert und enthauptet. Der Legende nach standen Felix und Regula aber wieder auf, trugen ihre Köpfe 40 Schritte den Hügel hinauf und legten sie dort ab. An dieser Stelle wurden sie begraben, und später wurde dort das Grossmünster errichtet.

 

Wohl um das Jahr 1000 wurde auf der Insel eine kleine romanische Kirche errichtet, die zusammen mit dem Grossmünster und dem Fraumünster eine Prozessionsachse zur Verehrung der Heiligen Felix und Regula bildete. Zentraler Kultort in der Wasserkirche war der Hinrichtungsstein, der heute noch in der Krypta erhalten ist. Urkundlich erwähnt wird eine ecclesia Aquatica Turicensi (Latein, sinngemäss: Wasserkirche Zürich) erstmals 1250. Der deutsche Name wazzirkilcha erscheint erst 1256 in einer anderen Urkunde.

 

Die frühe Bedeutung der Kirche ist unklar. Die Annahme, dass sie die älteste Kirche Zürichs sei, scheint widerlegt durch ihre schlechte Dotierung, die nicht einmal für einen ständigen Priester reichte. Eine These besagt, dass die Gerichtsstätte vor der Kirche, das sogenannte Stangen- oder Volksgericht, darauf hinweise, dass die Wasserkirche ursprünglich die Taufkirche des Grossmünsters war. Eine ähnliche Situation bestand in Basel mit der St. Johanneskapelle. 1256 gelangte die Wasserkirche jedenfalls durch Vergabung der Grafen von Kyburg und der Ritter von Hottingen an die Propstei des Grossmünsters.

 

Im 13. Jahrhundert wurde die romanische Wasserkirche im gotischen Stil umgebaut. Vom romanischen Vorgängerbau sind nur wenige Reste erhalten. Bereits 1477 entschloss sich der Stadtrat von Zürich, die Wasserkirche abzureissen und ihrer Bedeutung angemessen in prunkvollerem Stil neu aufzurichten. Unter dem Baumeister Hans Felder entstand der heutige spätgotische Bau, der um 1486 geweiht wurde. Die Innenräume wurden mit kostbaren Fresken und Verzierungen ausgestattet, die nur als Fragmente erhalten sind. Beim Bau wurde eine schwefelhaltige Quelle entdeckt, der Heilkräfte zugeschrieben wurden. Als «Gesundbrunnen» diente die Quelle danach den Pilgern zur Heilung von Krankheiten und Beschwerden. Seit ihrer Neuerrichtung diente die Kirche auch als Aufbewahrungsort für die im Schwabenkrieg und den Mailänder Kriegen von Zürich erbeuteten Banner.

 

Während der Reformation wurden 1524 die Bilder, Altäre und die Orgel aus der Wasserkirche entfernt. Die erbeuteten Banner gelangten ins Zeughaus, die Heilquelle wurde zugeschüttet. Das Gebäude diente danach als Lagerhaus und wurde deshalb mit zwei Zwischenböden versehen – die langen, hohen Spitzbogenfenster in zwei kleinere Fenster unterteilt. Im Erdgeschoss fand zeitweise ein Markt statt.

 

Stadtbibliothek

 

1634 wurde die Wasserkirche erneut umgenutzt. Sie wurde zur «Gemeinen Bürger-Bücherei» umgestaltet, der ersten Stadtbibliothek von Zürich. 1717 liess der Stadtrat die Zwischenböden ausbrechen und das Innere mit einer barocken hölzernen Galerie versehen. Damit wurde die Höhenwirkung des Gebäudes wiederhergestellt. 1791 wurde auch die Quelle erneut gefunden. 1839 wurde beim Neubau des Limmatquais der Wassergraben zwischen der Insel und der Stadt endgültig zugeschüttet. Die Stadtbibliothek zog aus der Kirche erst 1917 wieder aus, als die Gebäude der neuen Zentralbibliothek am Zähringerplatz eingeweiht wurden. Dort sind noch einzelne Objekte des Bibliotheksmobiliars der Wasserkirche zu sehen.

 

Wiederherstellung als Kirche

 

1928 und 1940 wurde die Wasserkirche nach langem Streit gründlich renoviert, wobei man versuchte, den ursprünglichen Zustand wiederherzustellen. Die ursprüngliche Fenstereinteilung wurde rekonstruiert, die Zwischenböden entfernt und das nördlich angebaute sogenannte «Wasserhaus» abgerissen. Dabei wurden die barocken Holzgalerien der Bibliothek zerstört. Drei Fenster des Chors wurden von Augusto Giacometti gestaltet. Seither wird die Kirche wieder als evangelisch-reformiertes Gotteshaus genutzt.

 

Ausstattung

 

Glocke

 

Im Dachreiter hängt eine Glocke im Ton c″.

 

Orgel

 

Die Orgel wurde 1943 durch Orgelbau Kuhn erbaut. Das Schleifladen-Instrument hat 28 Register auf zwei Manualen und Pedal. Die Spieltrakturen sind mechanisch, die Registertrakturen sind pneumatisch.[ Die Organisten an der Wasserkirche waren seit 1943: Viktor Schlatter, Max Schindler, Hans Vollenweider (1985–1993) und Claudia Hinden (1993–2010).

 

Krypta

 

Die Krypta der ersten, im 10. Jahrhundert errichteten Wasserkirche, war als Unterkirche rund um einen Findling gebaut, der als Hinrichtungsstein von Felix und Regula verehrt wurde. Nach Umbauarbeiten in der Krypta wegen eindringenden Wassers und Erweiterungen der Oberkirche war der verehrte Stein bald nur noch über einen Schacht zugänglich. Weiter finden sich in der Krypta noch Gräber von Adligen aus dem frühen 11. Jahrhundert.

 

Ab 1940 wurden erstmals Grabungen in der Krypta durchgeführt. Seit 1988 ist die Krypta der Wasserkirche öffentlich zugänglich. In den Jahren 2004 und 2005 wurden erneut archäologische Untersuchungen durchgeführt. 2006 wurde die archäologische Ausstellung in der Krypta wiedereröffnet.

 

Helmhaus

 

Das Helmhaus ist auf der nördlichen Seite an die Wasserkirche angebaut. Urkundlich wurde es erstmals 1253 als Gerichtsstätte erwähnt. Die Lage auf einer Insel, bei einer Quelle und einer wohl bereits vorchristlichen Kultstätte lässt vermuten, dass die Gerichtsstätte eine lange Tradition aufweist.

 

Ursprünglich war das Helmhaus nur eine gedeckte Erweiterung der Münsterbrücke vor der Wasserkirche. 1563/1564 wurde durch Conrad Bodmer ein grösseres Holzgebäude errichtet, um dem ebenfalls hier abgehaltenen Leinwandmarkt mehr Platz zu verschaffen. In der Markthalle im Erdgeschoss befand sich das Urmass der Zürcher Elle und eine Statue des Erbauers, die heute im Schweizerischen Landesmuseum zu besichtigen ist. Das heute noch bestehende Steingebäude erbaute Hans Conrad Bluntschli d. Ä. 1791–1794. Die Situation des Gebäudes veränderte sich 1838 durch den Neubau der Münsterbrücke drastisch, da seither der Verkehrsweg über die Limmat vor dem Helmhaus verläuft und nicht mehr durch das Erdgeschoss hindurch. Der immer noch sichtbare breitere Bogen auf der Limmatseite war der ursprüngliche Durchlass für die Strasse.

 

Heute ist das Helmhaus ein bedeutendes Museum für zeitgenössische Kunst, das vor allem Werke Schweizer Künstler oder von Künstlern, die in der Schweiz leben, zeigt.

 

Wasserhaus

 

An der Ostseite der Wasserkirche war bis 1940 das Wasserhaus angebaut. Ursprünglich stand an der Stelle ein Waaghaus, das nachweislich 1570 durch ein Kaufhaus ersetzt wurde. Der Name «Wasserhaus» rührt von seiner Lage über dem Wasser zwischen der Kirche auf der Insel und der damaligen Reichsstrasse (heute Limmatquai). 1794 wurde das Gebäude abgerissen, und ein neuer Anbau für die Bürger-Bibliothek wurde errichtet, der 1940 entfernt wurde, um die Ostseite der Wasserkirche freizulegen und das Limmatquai zu erweitern.

 

Zwingli-Denkmal

 

1881 wurde ein Wettbewerb für ein Denkmal zu Ehren des Reformators Huldrych Zwingli ausgeschrieben, doch konnte sich das Preisgericht für keinen der zahlreich eingereichten Entwürfe entscheiden. Nach zwei weiteren, engeren Konkurrenzen gab die Jury schliesslich 1883 dem Modell des österreichischen Bildhauers Heinrich Natter gegenüber demjenigen des Baslers Ferdinand Schlöth den Vorzug. 1885 wurde ausserhalb der Wasserkirche in der Verlängerung des Chors das Denkmal eingeweiht; das Jubiläum des 400. Geburtstags von Zwingli hatte man knapp verpasst, da die Finanzierung sich hingezogen hatte. Die benötigten Gelder stammten aus landesweiten Sammlungen, von Konzerten im Gross- und Frauenmünster sowie von internationalen Beiträgen, die aus den protestantisch geprägten Ländern Deutschland, Holland und Amerika stammten. Zwingli ist überlebensgross als Kriegsmann und Reformator dargestellt, der in seinen Händen ein Schwert und eine Bibel hält, was auch an seinen Tod im Krieg erinnert. Ergänzend zum Denkmal, das nur Name und Lebensdaten bekanntgab, wurde 2005 eine Informationstafel mit einigen weiteren Informationen zum Zürcher Reformator und seiner Bedeutung für die Stadt angebracht.

 

Der Platz des Zwingli-Denkmals hinter der Kirche wurde auch als Standort für eine Gedenktafel für die 75 Frauen und vier Männer, die zwischen 1478 und 1701 in Zürich als Hexen zum Tode verurteilt wurden, vorgeschlagen. Von diesem Ort – der damals aber noch mitten in der Limmat lag – seien sie wie andere Angeklagte in den Wellenberg überführt worden, wo sie eingesperrt und gefoltert wurden, bevor man sie verbrannte.

 

An der Limmat wurden nicht nur Hexen verbrannt, sondern in ihr auch Täufer ertränkt, die sich in den 1520er Jahren für die Wiederherstellung des «wahren Christentums» eingesetzt hatten und in ihrem Vorhaben radikaler als Zwingli vorgegangen waren. Ihre Auflehnung gegen die Kirche und Obrigkeit führte zu Konsequenzen wie Geldbussen und Todesstrafen. 2004 wurde am Ufer der Limmat bei der Schipfe eine Gedenktafel angebracht, die an die Verfolgung der Täufer erinnern soll.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Das Grossmünster ist eine romanische Kirche in der Altstadt von Zürich, erbaut zwischen 1100 und 1220. Die erste Altarweihe war 1104 für die Krypta und 1107 für den Chor. Die Schlussweihe erfolgte 1117 durch Erzbischof Bruno von Trier. Bis zur Reformation war das Grossmünster zugleich Teil eines weltlichen Chorherrenstifts und Pfarrkirche; die Kirchenpatrone waren Felix und Regula sowie Exuperantius. Die Gräber mit den Reliquien der beiden erstgenannten, die zugleich als Stadtpatrone gelten, befanden sich in der Zwölfbotenkapelle an der Stelle des heutigen Treppenhauses. Die Pfarrei Grossmünster war der Ausgangspunkt der Reformation durch Huldrych Zwingli 1522–1525, und heute dient das Grossmünster als Pfarrkirche der evangelisch-reformierten Landeskirche.

 

Das Grossmünster gehört zusammen mit dem Fraumünster und der St.-Peter-Kirche zu den bekanntesten Kirchen der Stadt Zürich. Die charakteristischen Doppeltürme mit ihren neugotischen Turmabschlüssen von 1787 sind das eigentliche Wahrzeichen der Stadt.

 

Name

 

Der Name «Grossmünster» stammt erst aus dem 14. Jahrhundert. Ursprünglich wurde die Kirche in den Urkunden schlicht mit «Zürcher Kirche» (Turicina ecclesia) bezeichnet. 1272 taucht das «Münster» in der Bezeichnung Monasterium praepositurae Thuricensis erstmals auf. Monasterium, deutsch Münster, ist die lateinische Bezeichnung für Kloster. «Grossmünster» erscheint erstmals 1322, wohl zur Unterscheidung vom kleineren Fraumünster.

 

Gründungslegende

 

Das Grossmünster ist ursprünglich der Ort der Verehrung der Stadtheiligen Felix und Regula. Bereits das älteste schriftliche Zeugnis der Heiligenlegende (Codex 225, ff. 473–478), aufgezeichnet wohl im späteren 8. Jahrhundert, zur Regierungszeit Karls der Grossen, erwähnt, die Heiligen lägen hier «mit grossem Schmuck» und es seien hier bereits «von alters her» viele Blinde und Lahme geheilt worden. Eine Erwähnung einer Mönchsgemeinschaft oder gar einer Stiftung durch Karl den Grossen fehlt hier allerdings noch. Die Verehrung dieser Heiligen war zur Zeit der Verfassung dieser Legende jedoch vermutlich noch nicht alt. Es wurde vermutet, der Anlass zur Verfassung der Legende sei entweder die Auffindung eines auffälligen römischen Grabes an dieser Stelle, oder aber eine Translation der Reliquien der zuvor in Chur verehrten Regula gewesen.

 

Die Legende der Klostergründung durch Karl den Grossen ist hochmittelalterlich und wird ab dem 12. Jahrhundert fassbar. Danach sei Karl der Grosse von einem flüchtenden Hirsch von Köln bis nach Zürich gelockt worden. Hier seien der Hirsch, die Hundemeute und auch das Pferd Karls im Wald auf die Knie gesunken. Herbeieilende Einsiedler informierten den Kaiser, an dieser Stelle lägen heilige Märtyrer begraben. Unter Mitwirkung der Priesterschaft des Landes habe Karl diese Märtyrer ausgraben und in geschmückte Särge legen lassen.

 

Das älteste Zeugnis für die Existenz der Legende dürfte ihre bildliche Darstellung als Relief auf einem Pfeilerkapitell im Grossmünster sein. Es zeigt den Kaiser in dem Moment, in dem sein Pferd sich hinkniet. Daneben sind die beiden Heiligen mit Märtyrerpalmen dargestellt. Im Zusammenhang des Anspruchs der Gründung durch Karl steht die Überführung von Reliquien Karls des Grossen nach Zürich im Jahr 1233, nach der Fertigstellung des Baus des Grossmünsters um 1220. Die Parallelen zur Gründungslegende des Fraumünsters sind unübersehbar, besonders die Rolle des Hirschen in der Bestimmung des Orts; das Grossmünster sucht hier das mächtigere Fraumünster an Alter und Ehrwürdigkeit zu übertreffen, statt Gründung durch Karls Enkel Ludwig wird Gründung durch Karl selbst beansprucht. In die gleiche Zeit fällt auch die Einführung von Exuperantius als drittem Heiligen. Auch in dieser Frage ging es um politische Rivalitäten zwischen Grossmünster, Fraumünster und dem aufstrebenden Bürgertum.

 

Die Gräber der Heiligen waren bis zur Reformation in der Zwölfbotenkapelle (Boten = Apostel) für die Pilger zugänglich. In der gleichen Kapelle wurden auch die Reliquien Karls des Grossen aufbewahrt. Die Häupter der Heiligen befanden sich dagegen in kostbaren Reliquiaren im Stiftsschatz; sie wurden im Hoch- und Spätmittelalter jeweils in einer Prozession am Festtag der Heiligen durch die Stadt getragen.

 

Propstei St. Felix und Regula

 

Das spätere Kollegiatstift dürfte in frühkarolingischer Zeit organisch aus dem Wallfahrtsort zur Verehrung der Märtyrergräber und möglicherweise in der Nähe bestehenden Einsiedeleien gewachsen sein. Dies im Gegensatz zum Fraumünster, das im Jahr 853 von Ludwig dem Deutschen gestiftet wurde. Es ist unbekannt, wann zuerst eine Kirche an der Stelle des späteren Grossmünsters gebaut wurde. Es gibt einen Hinweis auf einen Bischof Theodorus, der bereits vor 820 hier eine Kirche geweiht haben soll. Die kaiserliche Urkunde, auf der diese Angabe beruht, ist allerdings nur durch eine Erwähnung Bullingers bekannt und ist heute verloren. Nachweislich ist das Bestehen des Klosters durch seine Bestätigung als Kollegiatstift durch Karl den Dicken im Jahr 870. Danach fehlt jegliche Nachricht über die Geschichte der Kirche bis zu ihrem Abbrennen im Jahr 1078, was den Anlass gab zum Bau der noch heute bestehenden romanischen Kirche.

 

Die Propstei wies im Hochmittelalter 24 Chorherren und 32 Kaplane auf und war neben der Konstanzer Münster das bedeutendste Stift im historischen Bistum Konstanz. An der Spitze des ursprünglichen Konvents stand spätestens seit 1114 ein Propst, den das Stift gemäss eines königlichen Privilegs aus diesem Jahr ebenso wie den Priester selbst wählen durfte. Der Konvent wird als «weltlich» bezeichnet, weil die Gemeinschaft, Chorherren genannt, nach der Aachener Regel zusammenlebte, die im Gegensatz zur strengeren Benediktinerregel keine Weltabgeschiedenheit und keinen Verzicht auf Privatbesitz forderte. In der Gregorianischen Reform im 11. Jahrhundert sollten solche Chorherrengemeinschaften sich neu der Augustinischen Regel unterordnen. Die Chorherren im Grossmünster hielten aber an der alten Aachener Ordnung fest und bildeten damit ein nicht reguliertes oder «weltliches» Chorherrenstift.

 

Die in Zürich residierenden Chorherren waren zur Teilnahme am Kirchendienst (Stundengebet) verpflichtet, hatten ihre geistlichen Aufgaben und führten die weltlichen Geschäfte des Stifts, legten aber, anders als Mönche, keine Gelübde ab. Seit dem 13. Jahrhundert wohnten die Chorherren in den Chorherrenhäusern in der Umgebung der heutigen Kirchgasse. Viele von ihnen studierten an ausländischen Universitäten und erwarben Doktorate.

 

Als Reichsstift verfügte das Grossmünster rund um Zürich über Güter und Einkünfte. Albisrieden, Schwamendingen, Fluntern, Höngg und Meilen waren die wichtigsten Güter. Daneben reichte Streubesitz bis an die Töss, den Rhein, die Reuss, den Zuger- und Obersee.

 

Bis zum Auftreten der Bettelorden im 14. Jahrhundert war das Stift Grossmünster im Bistum Konstanz führend in der Pflege der Musik. Der Chorherr Konrad von Mure stiftete 1259 eine Pfründe für einen eigenen Kantor (Gesangsmeister) und redigierte 1260 den Liber ordinarius des Grossmünsters, eine detaillierte Ordnung über die Festgesänge, von denen einzelne von Chorherren selbst gedichtet und komponiert worden waren. Weitere bedeutende Chorherren in der Geschichte des Stiftes waren Rüdiger III. Manesse, Rudolf von Homberg, Berater Kaiser Heinrichs V. und Bischof von Basel, und Johannes II. von Zürich, Kanzler König Albrechts, Bischof von Eichstätt und Strassburg.

 

Während der Reformation sicherten Propst Felix Frey (1482–1555) und das Kapitel, dem tüchtige Juristen angehörten, 1523, nach langen Verhandlungen mit dem Rat, das Fortbestehen des Stiftes. Die Vogt- und Gerichtsrechte wurden an den Rat von Zürich übertragen. Der Grundbesitz verblieb bis zur endgültigen Aufhebung des Stifts 1832 beim Grossmünster.

 

Nach der Reformation widmete sich das reformierte Chorherrenstift der Pflege des theologischen Nachwuchses. Neben einer Lateinschule und einem höheren Gymnasium befand sich in den Stiftsgebäuden eine von Ulrich Zwingli gegründete theologische Akademie, die zuerst «Prophezei» danach «Carolinum» genannt wurde. Hier wurde die Zürcher Bibel erarbeitet, wozu man 1525 aus dem Barfüsserkloster Basel den Hebraisten Conrad Pellikan berufen hat. Nach Zwinglis Tod in der Schlacht von Kappel 1531 wurde Heinrich Bullinger sein Nachfolger als Schulherr und Antistes. Das Stift und seine Bibliothek wurde zur Keimzelle der heutigen Universität Zürich (gegründet 1833), die in ihrem Siegel immer noch auf das Grossmünster verweist.

 

Nach der Aufhebung des Stifts 1832 wurden die Gebäude verkauft und 1849 abgerissen, um einem Neubau von Gustav Albert Wegmann im neoromanischen Stil Platz zu machen. In diesem sog. Grossmünsterschulhaus war bis 1976 die Töchterschule beheimatet, ein städtisches Gymnasium für Mädchen. Der Kreuzgang des Chorherrenstifts, der teilweise noch aus dem 12. Jahrhundert stammte, wurde beim Abriss zerlegt und 1851 mit vielen neuen Teilen ergänzt in den Neubau integriert. Seit 1976 befindet sich in den Gebäuden das theologische Seminar der Universität Zürich.

 

Pfarrkirche

 

Seit dem 9. Jahrhundert war das Grossmünster auch Pfarrkirche einer Kirchgemeinde, ursprünglich zuständig für eine «Grosspfarrei» im spärlich besiedelten Gebiet zwischen Limmat und Glatt, später für die «mindere» Stadt rechts der Limmat, die sich im 12. und frühen 13. Jahrhundert herausbildete. Die Pfarrkirche für die ältere Stadt links der Limmat war St. Peter. Huldrych Zwingli kam 1519 als Leutpriester ans Grossmünster. Als Nachfolger Zwinglis wurde Heinrich Bullinger 1531 nicht nur Pfarrer am Grossmünster, sondern als Antistes das Oberhaupt der reformierten Kirche in Zürich überhaupt. Auch Bullingers Nachfolger waren als Pfarrer am Grossmünster gleichzeitig Vorsteher der Zürcher Staatskirche. Der letzte in dieser Reihe war Johann Jakob Hess, in dessen Amtszeit die in der Helvetik durchgesetzte Trennung von Kirche und Staat fiel. Sein Nachfolger war Georg Gessner, der immer noch den Titel des Antistes innehatte, obwohl während seiner Amtszeit die moderne reformierte Landeskirche des Kanton Zürich gegründet wurde. Die alte Kirchenordnung der Stadt Zürich blieb allerdings noch bis 1895 in Kraft, als Diethelm Georg Finsler als letzter Antistes jahrelang für die Abschaffung des eigenen Amtes kämpfte und schliesslich 1895 erster Präsident des Stadtzürcher Kirchenrats wurde.

 

Von 1833 bis 2018 bestand eine eigene Kirchgemeinde zum Grossmünster innerhalb der evangelisch-reformierten Landeskirche des Kantons Zürich. Nachfolger Finslers als Pfarrer am Grossmünster war sein Sohn Rudolf, von 1899 bis zu dessen krankheitsbedingtem Tod 1921. Seit seiner Zeit war das Pfarramt in der Kirchgemeinde mit keinem weiteren Amt mehr verbunden, und das Grossmünster war einfach Pfarrkirche der Zürcher Altstadt rechts der Limmat, neben seiner Rolle als Kulturdenkmal, touristischer Attraktion und Aufführungsort von Konzerten. Seit Finslers Zeit gibt es zwei Pfarrstellen am Grossmünster, gegenwärtig (Stand 2021) amten Christoph Sigrist (seit 2003) und Martin Rüsch (seit 2011). 2019 schliesslich wurden die 32 Kirchgemeinden der Stadt fusioniert, seither ist das Grossmünster als Pfarrkirche dem ersten Kirchenkreis zugeordnet.

 

Baugeschichte

 

Erste Vorgängerbauten des Grossmünsters sind nur vermutet. Archäologische Funde weisen auf ein römisches Gräberfeld im Umfeld des Grossmünsters hin. Es bestand wohl ein kleineres Memorialgebäude und ein Konvent zur Betreuung von Pilgern. 870 wurde der Konvent von Karl dem Dicken in ein Chorherrenstift umgewandelt. Das Grossmünster stand als Grablege in einem Zusammenhang mit der Wasserkirche, der Hinrichtungsstätte von Felix und Regula, und dem Fraumünster auf der anderen Seite der Limmat, in dem die wichtigsten Reliquien der Heiligen aufbewahrt wurden. Verbunden durch den Münstersteg bildeten die drei Kirchen als «Prozessionsachse» den Kern der jährlichen Prozessionen im Hochmittelalter; der genaue Verlauf der Prozession, nach der Beschreibung durch Konrad von Mure um 1260, war allerdings komplizierter und lässt sich nicht genau rekonstruieren; es wurden dabei auch die heute nicht mehr bestehende Lindenhofkapelle berührt sowie einzelne Punkte an der Stadtgrenze.

 

Reste eines Vorgängerbaus der heutigen Kirche wurden bei Renovationsarbeiten in den 1930er Jahren entdeckt und dem 11. Jahrhundert zugewiesen. Die heute noch bestehende romanische Kirche wurde um 1100 begonnen und 1220 vollendet. Der Vorgängerbau wurde dazu schrittweise abgebrochen. Der Bau wurde in sechs Etappen vollzogen, die jeweils Abweichungen vom ursprünglichen Bauplan aufweisen, da neue Stilrichtungen in der Architektur aufgenommen wurden. Veränderungen im Innern und am Äussern der Kirche wurden jedoch fortlaufend bis ins 20. Jahrhundert vorgenommen. Erst zwischen 1487 und 1492 wurden die Türme auf Initiative von Hans Waldmann auf gleiche Höhe gebracht und mit Nadelhelmen versehen. 1498 wurde der Dachreiter in seiner heutigen Form vollendet.

 

Die deutschschweizerische Reformation ging vom Grossmünster aus, da der Reformator Huldrych Zwingli seit 1519 dort als Leutpriester predigte. Auf seine Initiative liess der Stadtrat von Zürich 1524 die Altarbilder aus der Kirche entfernen. 1526 wurde vor dem Chor ein Kanzellettner eingebaut, der aus den zerstörten Altären der Zürcher Kirchen bestand. Damit wurde die Umnutzung der Kirche deutlich. Nicht mehr «Gottesdienst» an den Altären im Chor, sondern die Predigt stand nun im Zentrum. Die Überreste von Felix und Regula wurden von Zwinglis Nachfolger, Heinrich Bullinger, aus der Zwölfbotenkapelle entfernt. Dabei seien nur einige Knochenreste, Kohle, ein Ziegelstein und eine Haselnuss zum Vorschein gekommen.

 

Am Abend des 24. August 1763 zerstörte ein Blitzschlag den Glockenturm und entzündete den mit Schindeln gedeckten Spitzhelm. Mit nassen Ochsenhäuten konnten die Glocken vor dem Schmelzen gerettet werden. Während mehrerer Jahre blieb der Turm eine Brandruine und es wurde über einen Gesamtneubau des Grossmünsters nach Plänen Gaetano Matteo Pisonis diskutiert. Der Widerstand des Pfarrers Johann Jakob Breitinger verhinderte einen Abbruch.

 

1770 wurden die Türme mit einer flachen Terrasse und Balustraden im Stile Louis-seize versehen. 1781 bis 1787 entstanden die heutigen charakteristischen neugotischen Turmabschlüsse durch Johann Caspar Vögeli und Johannes Haggenmiller. Am Nordturm wurde das romanische Glockengeschoss abgerissen und durch eine Kopie des spätgotischen Südturms ersetzt. Beide Türme wurden zudem mit einer Wächterstube aufgestockt. Auch im Innern wurde im Stil des Barocks umgebaut.

 

Ab 1845 wurde das Grossmünster massiv umgestaltet. Das Treppenhaus zu den Emporen über dem nördlichen Hauptportal wurde abgerissen und ins Innere verlegt – und zwar in den Teil der ehemaligen Zwölfbotenkapelle, wo sich die Heiligengräber befunden hatten. Baumeister August Stadler liess auch den Lettner abreissen. 1849 wurden das Stiftsgebäude abgebrochen und bis 1897 sämtliche barocken Elemente wie Stuckaturen und Gips entfernt. Man wollte ganz nach dem denkmalpflegerischen Verständnis des 19. Jahrhunderts den ursprünglichen romanischen Innenraum wiederherstellen und zerstörte dazu jüngere Bausubstanz. 1913–1915 wurde die Innenrenovation und gleichzeitige Rekonstruktion durch den Stadtbaumeister Gustav Gull und den Kantonsbaumeister Hermann Fietz abgeschlossen. Das Äussere wurde 1931–1936 gründlich renoviert, wobei die 62 Meter hohen Türme etwas verändert wurden. 1989/1990 wurden diese Veränderungen wieder rückgängig gemacht.

 

Baubeschreibung

 

Typisch für die deutsche Romanik ist die Westfassade ohne Portal.

 

Die Hauptfassade liegt im Norden. Das triumphtorartige Hauptportal ist der Anfang des Prozessionsweges von den Gräbern der Heiligen Felix und Regula bis zu deren Reliquien im Fraumünster. Das Portal hat nur wenig romanische Originalsubstanz. Auf dem linken Kapitell ist König David mit einem Streichinstrument abgebildet. Seit 1950 sind am Türsturz folgende Worte Zwinglis zu lesen:

 

«Verschaffend dass das Gottlich Wort Truewlich by üch gepredget werde + damit werdend ir üwer vatterland behalten + ob’s glych dem Tüfel Leid wär + denn wo Gotzforcht ist + da ist die Hilff Gottes + Huldriych Zwingli».

Die 1950 von Otto Münch geschaffene Bronzetüre zeigt einzelne biblische Geschichten. Auch die Tür der Südfassade stammt von Münch und zeigt Bilder aus der Reformationsgeschichte.

 

Die Westfassade ist geprägt von zwei quaderförmigen, 64 Meter hohen Doppeltürmen. Der Karlsturm genannte Südturm kann bestiegen werden: 187 Stufen führen zur Aussichtsplattform in 50 Meter Höhe. Aussen am Turm in Richtung Limmat ist eine Sitzfigur von Kaiser Karl den Grossen angebracht. Der Nordturm – auch als Glockenturm bezeichnet – wird von einem Relief des Reformators Heinrich Bullinger verziert. Hoch darüber schwebt ein Pferd mit Reiter, das die älteste Reiterdarstellung nördlich der Alpen sein soll. Die Figur stammt von ca. 1180 und könnte ein Herrschaftszeichen des Stadtherrn Berchthold IV. von Zähringen sein, das auf die benachbarte Pfalz hinwies.

 

Innenraum

 

Der Innenraum ist schlicht gehalten. Er enthält neben den Sitzbänken und einem Chorgestühl nur eine Kanzel (1853) und einen Taufstein (1598), der zugleich als Abendmahlstisch dient.

 

Seit 1933 zeigen drei farbige Chorfenster von Augusto Giacometti die Weihnachtsgeschichte. Sehenswert sind die romanischen Kapitelle im Schiff und Reste der ursprünglichen Ausmalung im Chor. An der Nordwand ist in einer Nische eine kleine Darstellung des Schweisstuches der Veronika aus dem 16. Jahrhundert erhalten.

 

Krypta

 

In der Krypta, dem ältesten Teil der Kirche, sind stark verblasste Wandmalereien aus dem 14./15. Jahrhundert zu sehen, die das Martyrium der Patrone Felix und Regula darstellen. Sie werden Hans Leu dem Älteren zugeschrieben. Hier ist auch das Original der Sitzfigur Karls des Grossen vom Südturm deponiert.

 

Auch im Rest der ehemaligen Zwölfbotenkapelle sind Reste von Fresken zu sehen und ein Modell des ursprünglichen Münsterbaus. Von der ehemaligen Ausstattung der Zwölfbotenkapelle ist ein Teil der ältesten Zürcher Stadtansicht von Hans Leu d. Ä. gerettet worden. Die Tafeln wurden stark verkleinert und teilweise übermalt, da die im Vordergrund abgebildeten Szenen aus dem Martyrium der Stadtheiligen nach der Reformation nicht mehr interessant schienen. Kopien der Tafeln können im Baugeschichtlichen Archiv der Stadt Zürich, die Originale im Schweizerischen Landesmuseum besichtigt werden.

 

Sakristei

 

Die Sakristei diente vom 16. Jahrhundert bis zur französischen Revolution dem Stadtstaat Zürich als Schatzkammer. Hiervon zeugt nur noch eine Eisentruhe. Heute befindet sich hierin unter anderem: Zwei Zinnkannen von 1580, diverse weitere Kirchengeräte, Bibelausgaben und Übersetzungen von 1524 bis zur Gegenwart, sowie Literatur über das Grossmünster und seine Geistlichen.

 

Fenster

 

2005 veranstaltete die Kirchgemeinde einen Einladungswettbewerb, um die bisher weiss gebliebenen westlichen Fenster im Längsschiff neu zu gestalten. Die Mittel stammten aus einem Legat mit künstlerischem Auftrag. 2006 fiel die Wahl auf den Kölner Gegenwartskünstler Sigmar Polke. Seine Gestaltung versieht die sieben hinteren westlichen Fenster des Schiffs mit abstrakten Mustern aus geschnittenen Achaten und die fünf vorderen mit buntem gerasterten Glas. Gegen den Chor hin zeigen die bunten Glasfenster vom Abstrakten ins Figurative übergehende Darstellungen mit alttestamentlichen Bezügen. Als grösstes und letztes von Polkes Werken sind die Fenster seit Oktober 2009 fertiggestellt.[

 

Orgeln

 

Die erste Orgel stammte vermutlich aus dem 14. Jahrhundert. 1418 wurde der Erfurter Theodor Sebach als Organist angestellt und war damit auch für die Instandhaltung seines Arbeitsgerätes zuständig. 1505 entstand ein Neubau, der nach einer Anweisung von Zwingli schon 1527 abgerissen wurde. Erst 1876 erklang wieder eine Orgel, es war die von Johann Nepomuk Kuhn. Nachdem sie zunehmend störanfällig wurde, war ein Neubau notwendig. Die jetzige Orgel wurde 1960 von der Orgelbaufirma Metzler (Dietikon) erbaut. Diese begann schon 1937, statt verschleißanfälliger und hohen Winddruck erfordernder pneumatischer Trakturen wieder Orgeln mit mechanischen Spielanlagen zu fertigen. Aus diesem Grund votierte der damalige Organist Victor Schlatter ausdrücklich für einen Neubau von Metzler. Die Orgel steht auf der Empore im Westteil der Kirche. Sie hat 67 Register auf vier Manualen und Pedal. Die Holzpfeifen des Principalbass 32′ sind aus der Kuhn-Orgel übernommen.

 

Glocken

 

Der Nordturm beherbergt ein vierstimmiges Geläut, das von Jakob Keller (Unterstrass bei Zürich) im Jahre 1889 gegossen wurde und in der Schlagtonfolge c1–e1–g1–c2 erklingt. Seit einer Sanierung der Glockenanlage hängen die Glocken an kunstvoll geschnitzten Holzjochen und verfügen über weichere Eisenklöppel. Im Dachreiter hängt die fünfte Glocke im Schlagton c2; sie erklingt abends um 20 Uhr. Sie wurde 1716 in der Glockengiesserei Füssli gegossen. Zum täglichen Betläuten ertönen mittags um 11 Uhr die e1-Glocke und abends um 18 Uhr (im Winter 17:30 Uhr) die dritte Glocke (g1). Am Samstagabend um 19 Uhr läuten, gemeinsam mit den übrigen Innenstadtkirchen, alle vier Glocken 15 Min. lang den Sonntag ein. Zum Sonntagsgottesdienst gibt es ein – nach alter «zwinglianischer» Sitte – zweimaliges Zeichenläuten mit der dritten Glocke; um 08:55 und 09:25 Uhr. Zum Gottesdienst selbst rufen wiederum alle Glocken. Die grosse Glocke wird am Sonntagabend um 19 Uhr genutzt, um den Sonntag auszuläuten. Ebendiese findet auch zum «Sechseläuten» Verwendung.

 

Stiftsbibliothek Grossmünster

 

Orte der Buchaufbewahrung:

 

Seit der Gründung waren die für die Liturgie und die Seelsorge notwendigen Bücher vorhanden. Sie wurden vom 12. Jahrhundert an in der sog. «Grossen unteren Sakristei» (Abb. siehe «A») aufbewahrt, von Mitte des 13. Jahrhunderts an im sog. «Schatzgewölbe», der «oberen Sakristei» (Abb. siehe «B»). Von 1482 bis 1522 wurde über dem Westflügel des Kreuzgangs eine neue Bibliothek erbaut und eingerichtet, die hier bis zur Aufhebung des Stifts im Jahre 1808 bestehen blieb (Abb. siehe «C») und später zum Grundstock für eine Kantons- und Universitätsbibliothek wurde, seit 1914 Zentralbibliothek Zürich.

 

Zuwachs: Chorherren und Stifter äufneten die Bibliothek. Während der Ungarneinfälle brachten die Benediktinermönche von Disentis im Jahr 940 die Reliquien sowie 3 Kreuze, 9 Glocken und 9 Bücher nach Zürich in Sicherheit. Mitte 13. Jahrhundert wurde der als Kantor wirkende Chorherr Konrad von Mure als Schriftsteller bekannt; er hatte in Paris studiert und dort eine juristische Pergamenthandschrift gekauft, die heute noch in der Zentralbibliothek Zürich (Ms. Car. C 151) vorhanden ist.

 

Verwaltung: Die überlieferten Statutenbücher des Stifts, angelegt im Jahr 1346, enthalten auch die Vorschriften über die Rechte, Pflichten und Einkünfte des Bibliothekars (Librarius genannt). Er hatte die Bücher des Stifts, die zum Stiftsschatz gehörten, sorgfältig zu verwahren, für Pflege und Reparaturen zu sorgen und Ausleihen gegen eine schriftliche Quittung zu überwachen. Ausleihen nach auswärts (extra muros) brauchten die Zustimmung des Kapitels. Der Propst musste jährlich den Buchbestand zusammen mit zwei Chorherren überprüfen; für fehlende Bücher haftete der Librarius persönlich.

 

Bis zur Reformation: Der vielseitig schriftstellerisch tätige Chorherr Felix Hemmerlin, der sein Doktorat in Rechtswissenschaften in Bologna erworben hatte und in Zürich die grösste Privatbibliothek nördlich der Alpen sein eigen nannte, hat viele der noch vorhandenen Handschriften des Stifts mit Notizen und oft mit seinem Namenszug versehen. Seine eigene Bibliothek wurde nach seiner Gefangensetzung in alle Winde zerstreut. – Weitere mittelalterliche Handschriften stammen aus dem Besitz des Chorherrn Jacobus de Cham (1446–1496), der als Jurist an der Universität Pavia doktoriert hatte, Kaplan des Herzogs Galeazzo Sforza von Mailand gewesen und von 1473 bis 1494 Propst des Grossmünsters war. Zwei Bände Jurisprudenz in Papier-Handschriften, in Zürich eingebunden, stammen aus seinem Besitz. Zu Lebzeiten verkaufte Peter Numagen, der humanistisch interessierte Kaplan zu St. Leonhard, seine gut dotierte Bibliothek an das Stift, welches zu Gunsten seiner unehelichen Tochter eine Schuldverschreibung ausstellte, die im Jahre 1551 noch nicht abbezahlt war. Der Chorherr Johannes Mantz († 1518) vergabte seine etwa 60 Bücher an die Stiftsbibliothek, und sein Bruder Caspar vollzog das Legat 1519.

 

Ein prominenter Benutzer der Bibliothek war der Freiburger Ritter, Notar und Staatsmann Peter Falck, der vor Antritt seiner zweiten Reise nach Jerusalem 1519 das Stift besucht hat. Von Propst Frey erhielt er die Erlaubnis, die Sammelhandschrift (heute Zentralbibliothek Zürich Ms. Car. C 58) zu benutzen, welche die Reisebeschreibungen des Aachener Theologie-Professors Guillelmus Textor (Zewer) ins heilige Land, sowie jene des Bernhard von Breidenbach, geschrieben von Textors Adoptivsohn Peter Numagen im Jahr 1491 enthalten.

 

Nach der Reformation: In den Wirren der Reformation gingen vor allem die liturgischen Pergamenthandschriften verloren, und Buchbesitz von Kirchen und Klöstern in Stadt und Land zerstreute sich. Nach Zwinglis Tod wurde die Stiftsbibliothek neu gegründet. Das Stift kaufte dessen Bibliothek aus den Händen seiner Witwe. Conrad Pellikan erstellte als Bibliothekar von 1532 bis 1551 einen Katalog, in welchen er die noch vorhandenen Bücher der mittelalterlichen Stiftsbibliothek und die seitherigen Neuzugänge eingetragen hat. Die mittelalterliche und frühneuzeitliche Stiftsbibliothek konnte anhand von Konrad Pellikans Katalog von 1531/1552 rekonstruiert werden, und der Buchbestand ist zum grössten Teil in der Zentralbibliothek Zürich erhalten.

 

(WikipediaI)

The day’s activities culminated with the Korean Music Festival at 32nd Street and Fifth Avenue, headlined by acclaimed Korean-American electric violinist Eugene Park.

 

This Juilliard-trained musical innovator, who made his professional debut at age 13 at Lincoln Center, seamlessly melds classical traditions with popular music.

 

Described in 1993 by William Grimes in The New York Times as “Paganini with a few dashes of Pete Townshend thrown in,” Park has gone on to record two CDs for Sony Music, selling more than one million copies.

 

The Music Festival included appearances by Vongku Pak’s Blue & White: Korean Fused Band, merging traditional Korean rhythm with that of other cultures; Kwon Jeon, the #2 ranked soccer freestylist; the Korean-American Youth Chamber Orchestra, a 25-piece orchestra performing well-known Korean classics; and Su Lee, a New York-based pop singer.

Attendees enjoyed dance performances by the Song Hee Lee Dance Company, the Cheongsah Chorong Company, Naru Korean Traditional Performing Art Dance Company, the Jung Hyesun Traditional Dance Company, the Woori Garak Dance Academy, the Korean Traditional Music & Dance Institute of New York, and Korean Traditional Dance of Choomnoori (Korean traditional puppet dance). The Korean Channel (TKC) hosted the TKC Singing Contest.

 

This year for the first time New Yorkers could take their chance at singing Korean songs for prizes including a round-trip ticket to Korea.

A global art phenomenon culminates in a fiery finale at Melbourne Festival, as the subversive and political Santiago Sierra carries out one last act of obliteration to conclude his globetrotting work, DESTROYED WORD.

    

Since 2010, Sierra’s project has traversed the world, commissioning the construction of giant letters from materials of local importance, and then publicly – and dramatically – destroying them. Having built and torn down structures in Iceland, Germany, Austria, New Zealand, France, Holland, Sweden, India and Papua New Guinea, the project now comes to Melbourne for the destruction of the tenth and final letter.?

    

In the forecourt of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, the last letter of DESTROYED WORD will be constructed and then set aflame. With the burning of this pyre the semantic secret of Sierra’s work will be delivered: together the ten letters spell a word, to be revealed with this final destruction – a unifying theme to tie together this orgy of construction and demolition.

    

Each dramatic obliteration has been captured on film, and with the burning of the tenth letter, the archival record of the construction and deletion of each DESTROYED WORD will be on exhibit in the National Gallery of Victoria, the individual acts joining to form an immense work that revels in our collective fascination with creation and destruction.

27 June 2022, Turin, Italy. – INNOVATION 4 CHANGE (I4C) DemoDay 2022 culminated today in a long-expected event that was launched at the historical site Castello del Valentino in Turin. The five members of the UNICRI Team "Kokorò" pose for a portrait: From left to right: Eva Vanessa Bruno, Giovanni Faedda, Adriano Aimar, Brenda salvi Gutierrez, and Laura De Bortoli.

 

CHALLENGE the UNICRI Team "Kokorò" worked on for five months: Develop preventative solutions to keep children safe from predators online.

 

SOLUTION: Kokorò is a virtual companion and a sex-education ecosystem that connects children, parents, and schools through educational games, spaces for sharing emotions, and courses. Moreover, it also facilitates the reporting of potential child abuse.

 

This year's winner was Team Ferrovie dello Stato Italiano, with their Greensect waste processing system. Second place went to Team UNICRI, while third place was shared by Team Movyon and Team CNH Industrial.

I4C is the main Impact Innovation program in Italy, organized by Collège des Ingénieurs, CERN IdeaSquare and Politecnico di Torino. Every year, I4C identifies 10 challenges with global impact, pitched by institutions and multinationals. To match these challenges, 10 multidisciplinary teams are selected to work on sustainable solutions and solve the challenge. They have five months to resolve the task and present their pitch. The teams are formed by MBA CDI students and one PhD student enrolled in various European universities, as well as storytellers from Scuola Holden.

©UNICRI/Freya Morales

For more information about I4C: www.innovation4change.eu/

And read our press release here: unicri.it/News/Innovation4Change-Hackaton-AI-for-Safer-Ch...

The culminating event for R-Day is the Oath Ceremony on the Plain. Despite on and off rain showers throughout the day, the skies broke for the final event. The Commandant of Cadets, Brig. General Richard Clarke gave the oath to the Class of 2017.

Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle

 

The Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle, designed for NASA’s Project Mercury, was the first American manned space booster. It was used for six sub-orbital Mercury flights from 1960–61; culminating with the launch of the first, and 11 weeks later, the second American (and the second and third humans) in space.

 

A member of the Redstone rocket family, it was derived from the U.S. Army’s Redstone ballistic missile and the first stage of the related Jupiter-C launch vehicle; but to human-rate it, the structure and systems were modified to improve safety and reliability.

 

The four subsequent Mercury human spaceflights used the more powerful Atlas booster to enter low Earth orbit.

 

•General Specifications:

oFunction: Human-Rated Sub-Orbital Launch Vehicle

oManufacturer: Chrysler Corporation

oCountry of Origin: United States

•Size:

oHeight: 25.41 m (83.38 ft)

oDiameter: 1.78 m (5.83 ft)

oMass: 30,000 kg (66,000 lb)

oStages: 1

•Capacity:

oPayload to Sub-Orbital Trajectory: 1,800 kg (4,000 lb)

•Launch History:

oStatus: Retired

oLaunch Sites: Launch Complex 5, Cape Canaveral, Florida

oTotal Launches: 6

oSuccesses: 5

oFailures: 1

oFirst Flight: November 21, 1960

oLast Flight: July 21, 1961

oNotable Payloads: Mercury Spacecraft

•Single Stage:

oEngines: 1 Rocketdyne A-7

oThrust: 350 kN (78,000 lbf)

oSpecific Impulse: 215 sec

oBurn Time: 143.5 seconds

oFuel: LOX/ethyl alcohol

 

Modifications from the Redstone Missile

 

NASA chose the U.S. Army’s Redstone liquid-fueled ballistic missile for its suborbital flights as it was the oldest one in the US fleet, having been active since 1953 and had many successful test flights.

 

The standard military Redstone lacked sufficient thrust to lift a Mercury capsule into the ballistic suborbital trajectory needed for the project; however, the first stage of the Jupiter-C, which was a modified Redstone with lengthened tanks, could carry enough propellant to reach the desired trajectory. Therefore, this Jupiter-C first stage was used as the starting point for the Mercury-Redstone design. The Jupiter-C’s engine, however, was being phased out by the Army, so to avoid potential complications such as parts shortages or design revisions, the Mercury-Redstone designers chose the Rocketdyne A-7 engine used on the latest military Redstones. Hans Paul and William Davidson, propulsion engineers at the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA), were assigned the task of modifying the A-7 to be safe and reliable for manned flights.

 

During 1959, most of ABMA were preoccupied with the Saturn project, but those engineers who could find enough free time in their schedule were invited to work on man-rating the Jupiter-C. As a starting point, the most obvious step was getting rid of its staging capability as the Mercury-Redstone would not utilize upper stages. Many of the more advanced Jupiter-C components were also removed for reliability reasons or because they were not necessary for Project Mercury.

 

The standard Redstone was fueled with a 75 percent ethyl alcohol 25 percent water solution, essentially the same propellants as the V-2, but the Jupiter-C first stage had used hydyne fuel, a blend of 60 percent unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) and 40 percent diethylenetriamine (DETA). This was a more powerful fuel than ethyl alcohol, but it was also more toxic, which could be hazardous for an astronaut in a launch pad emergency. Furthermore, hydyne had never been used with the new A-7 engine. The Mercury-Redstone designers rejected hydyne and returned to the standard ethyl alcohol fuel. The lengthened propellant tanks were thus also necessary in lieu of using less powerful fuel.

 

Use of alcohol created a problem with the Mercury-Redstone in that the graphite thrust vector vanes could be eroded due to the significantly longer burn time, hence NASA put out a requirement that the launch vehicles needed high quality vanes.

 

Because Mercury-Redstone had larger propellant tanks than the Redstone missile, an additional nitrogen bottle was added for tank pressurization, and an extra hydrogen peroxide tank for powering the turbopump due to the longer burn time.

 

The most important change in making the Mercury-Redstone a suitable vehicle for an astronaut was the addition of an automatic in-flight abort sensing system. In an emergency where the rocket was about to suffer a catastrophic failure, an abort would activate the launch escape system attached to the Mercury capsule, which would rapidly eject it from the booster. Either the astronaut or the ground controllers could initiate an abort manually, but some potential failures during flight might lead to disaster before an abort could be manually triggered.

 

The Mercury-Redstone’s automatic in-flight abort sensing system solved this problem by monitoring the rocket’s performance during flight. If it detected an anomaly which might threaten the astronaut, such as loss of flight control, engine thrust, or electrical power, it would automatically abort, shutting down the engine and activating the capsule’s escape system. The abort system could not shut off the engine until at least 30 seconds after liftoff in order to prevent a malfunctioning launch vehicle from coming down on or near the pad; during the initial 30 seconds, only the Range Safety Officer could terminate the flight. Review of flight data from the more than 60 Redstone and Jupiter C launches since 1953 was used to analyze the most likely failure modes of this launch vehicle family. In the interest of simplicity, the abort sensing system had to be kept as simple as possible and only monitor parameters that were vital to booster operation. An automatic abort could be triggered by any of the following conditions, all of which could be indicative of a catastrophic launch vehicle malfunction:

 

•Pitch, yaw, or roll angle deviating too far from the programmed flight profile,

•Pitch or yaw angle changing too rapidly,

•Pressure in the engine’s combustion chamber falling below a critical level,

•Loss of electrical power for the flight control system, or

•Loss of general electrical power (including power for the abort sensing system itself), which could indicate a catastrophic failure.

 

Instant abort capability was important because certain failure modes such as loss of thrust upon liftoff (for example the third Redstone test flight in May 1954) could result in an immediate catastrophic situation. Other failure modes such as deviation from the proper flight path or a drop in engine chamber pressure during ascent did not necessarily present an immediate risk to the astronaut’s safety and he could either initial a manual abort by pulling a lever in the capsule to activate the Launch Escape System or ground control could send a command to activate it.

 

The range safety system was modified slightly in that a three-second delay would take place between engine cutoff and missile destruct so as to give the escape tower enough time to pull the capsule away.

  

Schematic View

 

The most visible difference between the Jupiter-C first stage and the Mercury-Redstone was in the section just below the Mercury capsule and above the propellant tanks. This section was known as the aft section, a term which was inherited from the military Redstone. (The actual rear end of the rocket was called the tail section.) The aft section held most of the Mercury-Redstone’s electronics and instrumentation, including the guidance system, as well as the adapter for the Mercury capsule. In the military Redstone and the Jupiter-C first stage, when the rocket had burned out, its lower portion, containing the rocket engine and propellant tanks, would separate from the aft section and be discarded, and the aft section, with its guidance system, would direct the top half of the rocket during its unpowered ballistic flight. However, in the Mercury-Redstone, the aft section was permanently attached to the lower portion of the rocket. When the rocket had shut down, the Mercury capsule would separate from the aft section and would rely on its own guidance.

 

Other changes were made to improve the Mercury-Redstone’s reliability. The standard Redstone’s ST-80 inertial guidance system was replaced in the Mercury-Redstone with the simpler LEV-3 autopilot. The LEV-3, whose design dated back to the German V-2 missile, was not as sophisticated or as precise as the ST-80, but it was accurate enough for the Mercury mission and its simplicity made it more reliable. A special instrument compartment was built in the “aft section” to hold the most important instrumentation and electronics, including the guidance system, the abort and destruct systems, the telemetry instrumentation, and the electrical power supplies. To reduce the chance of failure in this equipment, this compartment was cooled before launch and kept pressurized during flight.

 

The fuel prevalves were deleted from the Mercury-Redstone in the interest of improved reliability, since if they closed during a launch, an abort condition could be triggered. On the three unmanned flights, it was discovered that the Mercury-Redstone exhibited a roll transient of 8° per second versus 4° for the Redstone missile. Although this was below the 12° per second roll transient required to trigger an abort, the roll rate sensor was removed from the two manned flights to reduce the chances of an accidental abort (the booster still retained the roll attitude angle sensor which would be triggered at 10°).

 

Mercury-Redstone 1A and Mercury-Redstone 2 both experienced overacceleration in flight, the former due to a problem with an accelerometer, the latter due to a problem with the LOX regulator which oversupplied the engine with oxidizer and caused thrust termination to occur 1.2 seconds early. The ASIS system activated and the escape tower yanked the capsule away, subjecting its chimpanzee passenger to high G loads. The third flight, Mercury-Redstone BD, was designed as an engineering test to correct these problems before the booster could be considered man-rated.

 

The space between the pressurized instrument compartment and the capsule was originally intended to hold a parachute recovery system for the rocket, but it had been left empty after this system was abandoned. The three unmanned Mercury-Redstone flights exhibited high vibration levels and structural bending in the adapter area, so Alan Shepard’s flight included 340 pounds of lead-infused plastic in the adapter section along with additional bracing and stiffeners. After Shepard still reported noticeable vibration during launch, Gus Grissom’s booster included even more ballast. The Atlas booster used for orbital Mercury flights had also experienced this issue, but with more catastrophic results as Mercury-Atlas 1 was destroyed in-flight due to structural failure caused by excessive flexing at the point where the booster mated with the capsule adapter.

 

In total, some 800 modifications were made to the Redstone design in the process of adapting it for the Mercury program. The process of man-rating Redstone was so extensive that NASA quickly found themselves not using an off-the-shelf rocket, but what was in effect a completely new one and thus negating all of the hardware and flight test data from previous Redstone and Jupiter-C launches. This created a series of disputes between Von Braun’s team at ABMA and NASA, as the former preferred simply making the abort system as foolproof as possible so as to guarantee that the astronaut would be bailed out of a malfunctioning launch vehicle, while the latter favored maximum booster reliability to minimize the chance of aborts happening at all.

 

Proposed Parachute Recovery System

 

The Mercury-Redstone designers originally planned for the rocket to be recovered by parachute after its separation from the Mercury capsule. This was the first significant effort to develop a recoverable launch vehicle and the first to reach the testing phase.

 

The recovery system, at the top of the rocket, would have used two stages of parachutes. In the first stage, a single parachute, 17 feet (5.2 m) in diameter, would stabilize the rocket’s fall and slow its descent. This parachute would then draw out a set of three main parachutes, each 67 feet (20 m) across. The rocket would come down in the Atlantic Ocean, to be recovered by ship.

 

To determine the feasibility of this system, several tests were performed on full-sized Redstones, including water impact and flotation tests, and an exercise at sea in which a floating Redstone was picked up by a Navy recovery ship. All these tests showed recovery of the rocket to be workable. Further development was halted, however, due to lack of funding, so the parachute system was not tested.

 

Flights

 

Mercury-Redstone flights were designated with the prefix “MR-”. Confusingly, the Mercury-Redstone boosters used for these flights were designated in the same way, usually with different numbers. (In photographs, this designation can sometimes be seen on the rocket’s tail end.) Two rockets, MR-4 and MR-6, were never flown. Although there had been rumors that NASA in the very beginning of Project Mercury had intended to launch each astronaut on a suborbital mission before beginning orbital Atlas flights, they only purchased eight Mercury-Redstone boosters, one of which was damaged in the unsuccessful MR-1 launch and not reused, and another used for the MR-BD flight (the original schedule was for one unmanned Mercury-Redstone flight, one chimpanzee flight, and six manned flights). Since Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom’s flights were successful and since the Soviet Union had flown two orbital manned space flights by the late summer of 1961, there was no need to continue with Redstone missions.

 

•MR-1

oRocket Designation: MR-1

oLaunch Date: November 21, 1960

oComments: Empty capsule; launch abort; rocket shut down at liftoff due to electrical fault.

•MR-1A

oRocket Designation: MR-3

oLaunch Date: December 19, 1960

oComments: Empty capsule.

•MR-2

oRocket Designation: MR-2

oLaunch Date: January 31, 1961

oComments: Carried chimpanzee Ham.

•MR-BD

oRocket Designation: MR-5

oLaunch Date: March 24, 1961

oComments: Empty nonfunctional “boilerplate” capsule.

•MR-3

oRocket Designation: MR-7

oLaunch Date: May 5, 1961

oComments: Carried astronaut Alan Shepard.

•MR-4

oRocket Designation: MR-8

oLaunch Date: July 21, 1961

oComments: Carried astronaut Gus Grissom.

1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Alloy Gullwing

$5,010,000 USD | Sold

 

From Sotheby's:

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

 

Alan Kay (born 1940), Computer Scientist

 

In 1954, decades of incremental technological development, design, and success on the racetrack by Mercedes-Benz—inventor of the automobile and the dominant brand in automotive innovation—culminated with the launch of the most iconic car of all time, the 300 SL “Gullwing.” Instantly changing the game, it shifted the paradigm in automotive design and performance forever.

 

After names such as Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio, racing heroes indelibly etched into the automotive history books, had achieved unprecedented success in competition with the 300 SLR (W196S), Rudolf Uhlenhaut’s engineering brilliance saw these pure racecars take production form in the 300 SL “Gullwing” Coupe of 1954. The 300 SL was a fully road-legal production car, yes, but it was also so much more than that: Beneath its shapely skin was an Uhlenhaut-designed, racing-style tubular chassis, and its styling fundamentals would be closely mirrored in the gullwinged 300 SLR “Uhlenhaut Coupe,” which recently became the most valuable car in history after a $150 million RM Sotheby’s sale.

 

As the fastest production car in the world upon its debut, the 300 SL clearly had Silver Arrow dominance in its DNA. In sum, the Gullwing was an exquisite reflection of Mercedes-Benz’s position at the pinnacle of the automotive space in the mid-1950s, exceeding all that Ferrari, Jaguar, Alfa Romeo, and Aston Martin could throw at them.

 

More than 60 years later, it is for good reason that “Gullwing”’ is a name that resonates with everyone, not simply car collectors. It transcends generations, connects old with new, and is both classic and sporty. It can be found in lyrics of hip-hop songs, Hollywood cinema, and even Andy Warhol pop-culture contemporary art. DeLorean’s futuristic car pulled the Gullwing doors in the 1980s—as did Tesla in the 2020s with their Model X. All serves as recognition of the incredible, outsized impact of the Gullwing, a car that was only ever owned by the fortunate few.

 

BRED FOR COMPETITION

 

In the 1950s, as in the modern era, Mercedes-Benz understood that its clients valued exclusivity, so they limited Gullwing production to 1,371 standard cars. For dedicated racers, as well as those sophisticated enthusiasts who wanted the almost unattainable, the factory minted an additional 29 competition-bred special-order cars with a lightweight alloy body, a more powerful engine, and other bespoke options. These were the 300 SL Alloy Gullwings: The 300 SL variants most directly linked to the world-beating 300 SLRs, and cars that—even in comparison to their already desirable steel-bodied counterparts—have long been the ultimate prizes for the world’s top collectors.

 

Distinctive in many ways from their standard steel-bodied brethren, these incredibly rare and historically significant Alloy coupes thrived at fulfilling the purpose for which they were built. All the most important race victories achieved by the 300 SL were, in fact, secured by one of these lightweight competition versions of the model (in addition to “secret” works entries and prototypes). Works-supported drivers secured no fewer than 50 important victories in sports car races across Europe and North America between 1954 and 1957. Notable triumphs include the Nürburgring 1000 KM, Tour d’Europe, Mille Miglia, Coppa d’Oro, Acropolis Rally, and Liège–Rome–Liège (as well as multiple SCCA and European Rally championships).

 

CHASSIS NUMBER 5500786

 

This rare 300 SL Alloy example was ordered new by Rene Wasserman, an industrialist and sports car enthusiast living in Basel, Switzerland. Research confirms that it is the 21st of those 24 alloy-bodied cars scheduled for production during the 1955 calendar year (although it was actually completed before car number 20). The car’s factory build sheet, a copy of which is on file, notes that Wasserman ordered his new alloy Gullwing with a plethora of special options, including special high-gloss white paint (DB 50), a red leather interior (1079), two-pieces of matching luggage, sports suspension, sealed-beam headlights with separate parking lights, 3.64 ratio rear axle, Rudge wheels and instruments in English, and the Sonderteile (“special parts”) engine with an impressive 215-horsepower output—surely making it one of the most well-specified Gullwings built.

 

The car was completed on 5 October 1955, and rather than having it delivered to Switzerland, Wasserman picked up the car himself in late November and drove his new 300 SL back home. While it is not known when Wasserman sold the car, by the early 1960s it had been exported to the United States, where its second owner was Jerome Seavey of Chicago, Illinois, followed by John K. Scattergood III, a principal at Blenheim Motors, located in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania.

 

THE SENATOR’S GULLWING

 

This 300 SL remained in Pennsylvania with its next owner, Keystone State politician and enthusiast Senator Theodore Newell Wood. Along with representing the 20th District of Luzerne, Susquehanna, Pike, Wayne, and Wyoming counties in the Pennsylvania State Senate, Senator Wood enjoyed sports car racing in his spare time and served as the president of the Hill Climb Association. He also founded the Brynfan Tyddyn Road Races, which were held from 1952 to 1956, with the last year featuring Carroll Shelby as a driver. The SCCA even gave Senator Wood a free lifetime membership for his efforts in sponsorship and participation in racing in the Northeast.

 

After passing through the hands of Bill Kontes and Joe Marchetti, the 300 SL was acquired by Leslie Barth in 1983. Barth kept the car until 1989. In its next ownership, with Swedish businessman and collector Hans Thulin, it was consigned to Kienle Automobiltechnik in Stuttgart, Germany. One of the world’s foremost facilities, Kienle is known for their restorations of Mercedes-Benzes, and 300 SLs in particular. The car was sold to a German collector, who in turn commissioned Kienle to perform a full restoration. Notably, damage to alloy-bodied 300 SLs is remarkably common, as the aluminum is notoriously thin and can quite literally bend under the pressure of an ill-placed hand. Furthermore, the bodies are known to deteriorate at the mounting points, where aluminum meets steel. As a result, almost all lightweight examples have been reskinned or repaired at some point, and on this particular car, any parts of the body that were irreparable were replaced.

 

Upon completion, the car was repainted in traditional Mercedes-Benz Silver-Grey Metallic (DB 180) and retrimmed in its original interior color of red leather (1079). As is to be expected, the quality of the workmanship is absolutely superb, with the tremendous attention to mechanical detail and factory-correctness befitting a Kienle restoration.

 

After passing through a collector in Switzerland, the car was acquired by its current custodian. The Gullwing has been preserved in immaculate condition ever since, with its odometer displaying 2,607 kilometers (~1,620 miles) at time of cataloguing, presumably accrued since Kienle’s restoration. As a result of its limited road use, a recent inspection indicates that to bring the car back to its peak performance level, a light mechanical servicing would be in order. The inspection further revealed the car retains its numbers-matching chassis, engine, gearbox, rear axle, steering box, and front axles.

 

Undeniably exclusive, this spectacular 300 SL features all of the highly desirable options and accessories one would want on an Alloy Gullwing, including the more powerful Sonderteile engine, sports suspension, Rudge knock-off wheels, special-order upholstery, and a two-piece luggage set executed in matching red leather.

 

The 300 SLRs have long been regarded by the collector community as being the world’s most valuable cars. This was proved to be true in May 2022 when RM Sotheby’s sold the 300 SLR “Uhlenhaut Coupe” for nearly $150 million. As a special production counterpart, the 300 SL Alloy Gullwing represents the “holy grail” of all Gullwings—and as one of only 29 cars built, this example will instantly become the centerpiece of any truly great collection.

---

Kristina and I headed over to RM Sotheby's at the Monterey Conference Center to view some glorious cars at their auction preview.

- - -

Had a blast with our auto-enthusiast friend and neighbor, Fred, at Monterey Car Week 2022.

This canvas is one of a series of four evidently representing various attributes of love, or perhaps different stages of love culminating in happy union. They were clearly designed as compartments of a decorated ceiling and might conceivably relate to a nuptial bedchamber. Veronese used this type of 'oblique perspective' for ceiling decorations in Venice: the angle of foreshortening corresponds to a viewpoint obliquely beneath the painting, avoiding the extreme distortion of figures imagined as directly above the viewer's head. By 1637 the four allegories, now all in the National Gallery, were recorded in the collection at Prague of the Emperor Rudolph II, the great art patron of his age, who probably commissioned them.

 

The appearance of all four paintings has been badly affected by the irreversible discoloration of the smalt - a comparatively cheap blue pigment made from pulverized glass colored with cobalt oxide - used to paint the sky, which now gives it a pale grey tinge instead of its original warm blue. With age, some of the green copper resonates of the foliage have oxidized to brown. In most respects this is the best preserved of the four pictures, and the one where Veronese's own hand, as opposed to his workshop assistants', is most visible.

 

As befits an allegory, the meaning of the picture must be teased out. A nearly naked man is lying writhing on a ruinous ledge - perhaps an altar - in front of a statue in a niche holding a set of Pan pipes against its hairy thigh. The marble torso to the left of the statue has the goatish features of a satyr. This is a crumbling temple to the pagan divinities of unbridled sexuality. Cupid uses his bow mercilessly to beat the man, watched by two women: a shimmering bare-breasted beauty in a silver-striped dress with rose and yellow kirtle, accompanied by a duenna. Enfolded within her green mantle the chaperon holds a small white beast - an ermine, symbol of chastity, thought to prefer death to impurity. The general significance, then, is clear. The man has been felled by lust for a sensuous yet chaste woman, and is being punished. But the trite verbal translation does not begin to do justice to Veronese's robustly and wittily imagined scene: the ferocious plump Cupid astride his hapless victim, the scornful femme fatale drawing aside her skirts.

The Surfers Paradise Festival culminates each year with a fireworks shootout between 3 companies. I got some decent ones from company one, completely screwed up company 2 and totally missed company 3 as I read somewhere that there were only two companies this year, so packed off and had to watch from the Hanlan St foreshore.

This was really the culminating shot that I finally got after a rather hilarious part of this wedding. Unbeknown to the bride, the groom and his mom had planned for the bride's daughter to present her mom this box of butterflies, the though being that when her mom opened the box, the they would all take flight making a gorgeous scene! I was tipped off in advance and ready to go. The people who they'd bought the butterflies from advised them to keep them refrigerated until just before the wedding, which would keep them calm. they'd said that when the box was opened, the warmth in the air would inspire them to fly right away. Not so. When the bride opened the box, nothing happened. The daughter shook the box, still nothing (meanwhile I'm snapping away wanting to make sure I don't miss the moment. After shaking the box sever times, the little girl turns it over and dumps all the butterflies on the ground. The crowd was hysterical, as was the bride. I'm still snapping away. Finally one butterfly still in the box wiggles his wings, and the bride picks it up, and puts it in the daughters hand. and...... SNAP! I got the shot!

 

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Deep in the outskirts of East Berlin, a tired, haunted Castle hosts debauched revelries that began with pounding music, cheap German beer and thrilling dance sequences. The rituals culminated in intoxicated enlightenment, twisted spines and arizona dreams. The morning after was diabolical for some and a renaissance for others. It all depended on social status. Who was in, who was out.

During a culminating event, Soldiers of the Minnesota National Guard and the Norwegian Home Guard conduct squad movements under supervision of local Minnesota law enforcement officers after two days of domestic operations training conducted at Camp Ripley June 24-26. Several law enforcement agencies participated in the event including police officers who are a part of SWAT teams from St. Cloud, East Metro and Morrison, Sherburne and Washington Counties. (Minnesota National Guard Photo by Master Sgt. Ashlee J. L. Sherrill)

HOLLYWOOD - Culminating its final cross-country journey with a series of low-level flyovers across California, the space shuttle Endeavour atop its special transporter aircraft, passes by Los Angeles Fire Department radio towers on Mount Lee near the world-famous Hollywood sign on September 21, 2012. © Photo by Rick McClure

Sally Fitzgibbons Claims Rip Curl Women’s Pro Bells Beach, Maiden Elite Event Win

 

BELLS BEACH, Victoria/Australia (Saturday, April 23, 2011) – Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), 20, claimed her maiden ASP Women’s World Title event win today after a hard-fought Final with current ASP Women’s World No. 1 Carissa Moore (HAW), 18, taking out the Rip Curl Women’s Pro Bells Beach presented by Ford Fiesta and firmly announcing herself as a threat to the 2011 ASP World Title race.

 

The second stop of the 2011 ASP Women’s World Title season, the Rip Curl Women’s Pro Bells Beach enjoyed some of the best conditions ever offered to the ASP Top 17, culminating in this afternoon’s epic clash in glassy three-to-four foot (1.5 metre) waves at Rincon.

 

Fitzgibbons, who finished Runner-Up in three events in 2010 as well as finishing the season in the Runner-Up spot, consistently outshined her fellow ASP Top 17 members at Bells Beach, launching into incredible high scores from the opening round of competition.

 

“This is so overwhelming,” Fitzgibbons said. “It’s been a long journey for me to finally win and this is incredible. I can’t feel my arms or legs and I’m just trying to keep from crying right now. It’s been a really long time coming and I want to thank all the girls for pushing me as well as all my family and friends who have supported me over the years.”

 

Today’s maiden victory was made all the more emotional for the young Australian, clinching the title in the event’s 50th year of operation, surrounded by her heroes and sporting icons.

 

“It’s extra special to win it this year for the 50 years event,” Fitzgibbons said. “Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always watched my heroes surf and win here and I’ve always dreamed of ringing the Bell and now that it’s happened, I don’t know what to say. The other night at the 50-year ball, I saw all my icons on stage and I was so inspired. So to win right now is a dream come true.”

 

Fitzgibbons now sits at ASP Women’s World No. 2 with today’s win.

 

Moore continued her rampage amongst the world’s best here at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, only falling short to Fitzgibbons in the Final. The gracious Hawaiian remains firmly in the driver’s seat in this year’s hunt for the ASP Women’s World Title, and will look to further cement her position at next week’s event in New Zealand.

 

“I’m stoked to have made the Final with Sally (Fitzgibbons),” Moore said. “For her to come out on top was awesome. We’ve have a lot of good clashes last year and this year, and her win’s been a long time coming so congrats to her. Of course I would have liked to have rung the Bell, but that may have to happen next year.”

 

Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), 23, reigning four-time ASP Women’s World Champion, enjoyed more of a return to form at Bells Beach, but the former three-time event winner was unable to overcome a rampaging Fitzgibbons in their Semifinal clash. Today’s Equal 3rd place finish has Gilmore sitting in ASP Women’s World No. 4 heading into the New Zealand event.

 

"I felt really good this event, my surfing felt more confident,” Gilmore said. “I'm happy with my performance, but hopefully I'm just building towards No. 1. Sally (Fitzgibbons) was so in form, she was throwing away scores that I was keeping as my top two, she's well deserving of the win."

 

Silvana Lima (BRA), 26, past event winner, put on a valiant effort in today’s conditions but ultimately fell to eventual winner Moore in her Semifinal heat.

 

“Very happy with my performance at Bells and that we had good waves for the girls,” Lima said. “I’m sad that I couldn’t make the Final, but Carissa (Moore) was surfing really well and she deserves it. I’m looking forward to New Zealand.”

 

The next stop on the 2011 ASP Women’s World Title season will be the Subaru Pro TSB Bank Women’s Surf Festival in Taranaki, New Zealand from April 27 – May 1, 2011.

 

Highlights from the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach presented by FORD will be available via www.live.ripcurl.com and broadcast live on Fuel TV in Australia and ESPN in Brazil.

 

The Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach presented by Ford Ranger completed Round 4 of competition this morning with Joel Parkinson (AUS), 30, Kelly Slater (USA), 39, Jordy Smith (ZAF), 23, and Mick Fanning (AUS), 29, all taking out wins and advancing straight through to the Quarterfinals.

 

Event organizers will reconvene tomorrow morning at 7am to assess conditions for a possible 7:30am start.

 

When the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach presented by Ford Rangers resumes, up first will be Owen Wright (AUS), 21, against Bede Durbidge (AUS), 28, in the opening heat of Round 5.

 

For more information, log onto www.aspworldtour.com

  

RIP CURL WOMEN’S PRO BELLS BEACH FINAL RESULTS:

1 – Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 16.77

2 – Carissa Moore (HAW) 15.40

 

RIP CURL WOMEN’S PRO BELLS BEACH SEMIFINAL RESULTS:

SF 1: Carissa Moore (HAW) 15.10 def. Silvana Lima (BRA) 12.60

SF 2: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 18.37 def Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 12.60

 

RIP CURL WOMEN’S PRO BELLS BEACH QUARTERFINAL RESULTS:

QF 1: Silvana Lima (BRA) 15.57 def. Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 9.60

QF 2: Carissa Moore (HAW) 13.34 def. Courtney Conlogue (USA) 5.90

QF 3: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 15.00 def. Tyler Wright (AUS) 11.44

QF 4: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 18.56 def. Coco Ho (HAW) 14.53

 

RIP CURL WOMEN’S PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 4 RESULTS:

Heat 1: Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 14.50 def. Chelsea Hedges (AUS) 8.50

Heat 2: Courtney Conlogue (USA) 12.50 def. Melanie Bartels (HAW) 12.04

Heat 3: Tyler Wright (AUS) 13.60 def. Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS) 12.47

Heat 4: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 18.83 def. Pauline Ado (FRA) 11.50

 

ASP WOMEN’S WORLD TITLE TOP 5 (After Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach):

1. Carissa Moore (HAW) 18,000 pts

2. Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 16,400 pts

3. Tyler Wright (AUS) 13,200 pts

4. Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 11,700 pts

5. Silvana Lima (BRA) 11,700 pts

 

RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 4 RESULTS:

Heat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 15.26, Owen Wright (AUS) 13.84, Adriano de Souza (BRA) 9.14

Heat 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 13.67, C.J. Hobgood (USA) 12.17, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 11.04

Heat 3: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 14.27, Chris Davidson (AUS) 13.37, Tiago Pires (PRT) 11.63

Heat 4: Mick Fanning (AUS) 19.10, Jadson Andre (BRA) 13.17, Michel Bourez (PYF) 11.40

 

RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 5 MATCH-UPS:

Heat 1: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. Bede Durbidge (AUS)

Heat 2: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Adriano de Souza (BRA)

Heat 3: Chris Davidson (AUS) vs. Michel Bourez (PYF)

Heat 4: Jadson Andre (BRA) vs. Tiago Pires (PRT)

 

Photo ASP / Kirstin

 

Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle

 

The Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle, designed for NASA’s Project Mercury, was the first American manned space booster. It was used for six sub-orbital Mercury flights from 1960–61; culminating with the launch of the first, and 11 weeks later, the second American (and the second and third humans) in space.

 

A member of the Redstone rocket family, it was derived from the U.S. Army’s Redstone ballistic missile and the first stage of the related Jupiter-C launch vehicle; but to human-rate it, the structure and systems were modified to improve safety and reliability.

 

The four subsequent Mercury human spaceflights used the more powerful Atlas booster to enter low Earth orbit.

 

•General Specifications:

oFunction: Human-Rated Sub-Orbital Launch Vehicle

oManufacturer: Chrysler Corporation

oCountry of Origin: United States

•Size:

oHeight: 25.41 m (83.38 ft)

oDiameter: 1.78 m (5.83 ft)

oMass: 30,000 kg (66,000 lb)

oStages: 1

•Capacity:

oPayload to Sub-Orbital Trajectory: 1,800 kg (4,000 lb)

•Launch History:

oStatus: Retired

oLaunch Sites: Launch Complex 5, Cape Canaveral, Florida

oTotal Launches: 6

oSuccesses: 5

oFailures: 1

oFirst Flight: November 21, 1960

oLast Flight: July 21, 1961

oNotable Payloads: Mercury Spacecraft

•Single Stage:

oEngines: 1 Rocketdyne A-7

oThrust: 350 kN (78,000 lbf)

oSpecific Impulse: 215 sec

oBurn Time: 143.5 seconds

oFuel: LOX/ethyl alcohol

 

Modifications from the Redstone Missile

 

NASA chose the U.S. Army’s Redstone liquid-fueled ballistic missile for its suborbital flights as it was the oldest one in the US fleet, having been active since 1953 and had many successful test flights.

 

The standard military Redstone lacked sufficient thrust to lift a Mercury capsule into the ballistic suborbital trajectory needed for the project; however, the first stage of the Jupiter-C, which was a modified Redstone with lengthened tanks, could carry enough propellant to reach the desired trajectory. Therefore, this Jupiter-C first stage was used as the starting point for the Mercury-Redstone design. The Jupiter-C’s engine, however, was being phased out by the Army, so to avoid potential complications such as parts shortages or design revisions, the Mercury-Redstone designers chose the Rocketdyne A-7 engine used on the latest military Redstones. Hans Paul and William Davidson, propulsion engineers at the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA), were assigned the task of modifying the A-7 to be safe and reliable for manned flights.

 

During 1959, most of ABMA were preoccupied with the Saturn project, but those engineers who could find enough free time in their schedule were invited to work on man-rating the Jupiter-C. As a starting point, the most obvious step was getting rid of its staging capability as the Mercury-Redstone would not utilize upper stages. Many of the more advanced Jupiter-C components were also removed for reliability reasons or because they were not necessary for Project Mercury.

 

The standard Redstone was fueled with a 75 percent ethyl alcohol 25 percent water solution, essentially the same propellants as the V-2, but the Jupiter-C first stage had used hydyne fuel, a blend of 60 percent unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) and 40 percent diethylenetriamine (DETA). This was a more powerful fuel than ethyl alcohol, but it was also more toxic, which could be hazardous for an astronaut in a launch pad emergency. Furthermore, hydyne had never been used with the new A-7 engine. The Mercury-Redstone designers rejected hydyne and returned to the standard ethyl alcohol fuel. The lengthened propellant tanks were thus also necessary in lieu of using less powerful fuel.

 

Use of alcohol created a problem with the Mercury-Redstone in that the graphite thrust vector vanes could be eroded due to the significantly longer burn time, hence NASA put out a requirement that the launch vehicles needed high quality vanes.

 

Because Mercury-Redstone had larger propellant tanks than the Redstone missile, an additional nitrogen bottle was added for tank pressurization, and an extra hydrogen peroxide tank for powering the turbopump due to the longer burn time.

 

The most important change in making the Mercury-Redstone a suitable vehicle for an astronaut was the addition of an automatic in-flight abort sensing system. In an emergency where the rocket was about to suffer a catastrophic failure, an abort would activate the launch escape system attached to the Mercury capsule, which would rapidly eject it from the booster. Either the astronaut or the ground controllers could initiate an abort manually, but some potential failures during flight might lead to disaster before an abort could be manually triggered.

 

The Mercury-Redstone’s automatic in-flight abort sensing system solved this problem by monitoring the rocket’s performance during flight. If it detected an anomaly which might threaten the astronaut, such as loss of flight control, engine thrust, or electrical power, it would automatically abort, shutting down the engine and activating the capsule’s escape system. The abort system could not shut off the engine until at least 30 seconds after liftoff in order to prevent a malfunctioning launch vehicle from coming down on or near the pad; during the initial 30 seconds, only the Range Safety Officer could terminate the flight. Review of flight data from the more than 60 Redstone and Jupiter C launches since 1953 was used to analyze the most likely failure modes of this launch vehicle family. In the interest of simplicity, the abort sensing system had to be kept as simple as possible and only monitor parameters that were vital to booster operation. An automatic abort could be triggered by any of the following conditions, all of which could be indicative of a catastrophic launch vehicle malfunction:

 

•Pitch, yaw, or roll angle deviating too far from the programmed flight profile,

•Pitch or yaw angle changing too rapidly,

•Pressure in the engine’s combustion chamber falling below a critical level,

•Loss of electrical power for the flight control system, or

•Loss of general electrical power (including power for the abort sensing system itself), which could indicate a catastrophic failure.

 

Instant abort capability was important because certain failure modes such as loss of thrust upon liftoff (for example the third Redstone test flight in May 1954) could result in an immediate catastrophic situation. Other failure modes such as deviation from the proper flight path or a drop in engine chamber pressure during ascent did not necessarily present an immediate risk to the astronaut’s safety and he could either initial a manual abort by pulling a lever in the capsule to activate the Launch Escape System or ground control could send a command to activate it.

 

The range safety system was modified slightly in that a three-second delay would take place between engine cutoff and missile destruct so as to give the escape tower enough time to pull the capsule away.

  

Schematic View

 

The most visible difference between the Jupiter-C first stage and the Mercury-Redstone was in the section just below the Mercury capsule and above the propellant tanks. This section was known as the aft section, a term which was inherited from the military Redstone. (The actual rear end of the rocket was called the tail section.) The aft section held most of the Mercury-Redstone’s electronics and instrumentation, including the guidance system, as well as the adapter for the Mercury capsule. In the military Redstone and the Jupiter-C first stage, when the rocket had burned out, its lower portion, containing the rocket engine and propellant tanks, would separate from the aft section and be discarded, and the aft section, with its guidance system, would direct the top half of the rocket during its unpowered ballistic flight. However, in the Mercury-Redstone, the aft section was permanently attached to the lower portion of the rocket. When the rocket had shut down, the Mercury capsule would separate from the aft section and would rely on its own guidance.

 

Other changes were made to improve the Mercury-Redstone’s reliability. The standard Redstone’s ST-80 inertial guidance system was replaced in the Mercury-Redstone with the simpler LEV-3 autopilot. The LEV-3, whose design dated back to the German V-2 missile, was not as sophisticated or as precise as the ST-80, but it was accurate enough for the Mercury mission and its simplicity made it more reliable. A special instrument compartment was built in the “aft section” to hold the most important instrumentation and electronics, including the guidance system, the abort and destruct systems, the telemetry instrumentation, and the electrical power supplies. To reduce the chance of failure in this equipment, this compartment was cooled before launch and kept pressurized during flight.

 

The fuel prevalves were deleted from the Mercury-Redstone in the interest of improved reliability, since if they closed during a launch, an abort condition could be triggered. On the three unmanned flights, it was discovered that the Mercury-Redstone exhibited a roll transient of 8° per second versus 4° for the Redstone missile. Although this was below the 12° per second roll transient required to trigger an abort, the roll rate sensor was removed from the two manned flights to reduce the chances of an accidental abort (the booster still retained the roll attitude angle sensor which would be triggered at 10°).

 

Mercury-Redstone 1A and Mercury-Redstone 2 both experienced overacceleration in flight, the former due to a problem with an accelerometer, the latter due to a problem with the LOX regulator which oversupplied the engine with oxidizer and caused thrust termination to occur 1.2 seconds early. The ASIS system activated and the escape tower yanked the capsule away, subjecting its chimpanzee passenger to high G loads. The third flight, Mercury-Redstone BD, was designed as an engineering test to correct these problems before the booster could be considered man-rated.

 

The space between the pressurized instrument compartment and the capsule was originally intended to hold a parachute recovery system for the rocket, but it had been left empty after this system was abandoned. The three unmanned Mercury-Redstone flights exhibited high vibration levels and structural bending in the adapter area, so Alan Shepard’s flight included 340 pounds of lead-infused plastic in the adapter section along with additional bracing and stiffeners. After Shepard still reported noticeable vibration during launch, Gus Grissom’s booster included even more ballast. The Atlas booster used for orbital Mercury flights had also experienced this issue, but with more catastrophic results as Mercury-Atlas 1 was destroyed in-flight due to structural failure caused by excessive flexing at the point where the booster mated with the capsule adapter.

 

In total, some 800 modifications were made to the Redstone design in the process of adapting it for the Mercury program. The process of man-rating Redstone was so extensive that NASA quickly found themselves not using an off-the-shelf rocket, but what was in effect a completely new one and thus negating all of the hardware and flight test data from previous Redstone and Jupiter-C launches. This created a series of disputes between Von Braun’s team at ABMA and NASA, as the former preferred simply making the abort system as foolproof as possible so as to guarantee that the astronaut would be bailed out of a malfunctioning launch vehicle, while the latter favored maximum booster reliability to minimize the chance of aborts happening at all.

 

Proposed Parachute Recovery System

 

The Mercury-Redstone designers originally planned for the rocket to be recovered by parachute after its separation from the Mercury capsule. This was the first significant effort to develop a recoverable launch vehicle and the first to reach the testing phase.

 

The recovery system, at the top of the rocket, would have used two stages of parachutes. In the first stage, a single parachute, 17 feet (5.2 m) in diameter, would stabilize the rocket’s fall and slow its descent. This parachute would then draw out a set of three main parachutes, each 67 feet (20 m) across. The rocket would come down in the Atlantic Ocean, to be recovered by ship.

 

To determine the feasibility of this system, several tests were performed on full-sized Redstones, including water impact and flotation tests, and an exercise at sea in which a floating Redstone was picked up by a Navy recovery ship. All these tests showed recovery of the rocket to be workable. Further development was halted, however, due to lack of funding, so the parachute system was not tested.

 

Flights

 

Mercury-Redstone flights were designated with the prefix “MR-”. Confusingly, the Mercury-Redstone boosters used for these flights were designated in the same way, usually with different numbers. (In photographs, this designation can sometimes be seen on the rocket’s tail end.) Two rockets, MR-4 and MR-6, were never flown. Although there had been rumors that NASA in the very beginning of Project Mercury had intended to launch each astronaut on a suborbital mission before beginning orbital Atlas flights, they only purchased eight Mercury-Redstone boosters, one of which was damaged in the unsuccessful MR-1 launch and not reused, and another used for the MR-BD flight (the original schedule was for one unmanned Mercury-Redstone flight, one chimpanzee flight, and six manned flights). Since Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom’s flights were successful and since the Soviet Union had flown two orbital manned space flights by the late summer of 1961, there was no need to continue with Redstone missions.

 

•MR-1

oRocket Designation: MR-1

oLaunch Date: November 21, 1960

oComments: Empty capsule; launch abort; rocket shut down at liftoff due to electrical fault.

•MR-1A

oRocket Designation: MR-3

oLaunch Date: December 19, 1960

oComments: Empty capsule.

•MR-2

oRocket Designation: MR-2

oLaunch Date: January 31, 1961

oComments: Carried chimpanzee Ham.

•MR-BD

oRocket Designation: MR-5

oLaunch Date: March 24, 1961

oComments: Empty nonfunctional “boilerplate” capsule.

•MR-3

oRocket Designation: MR-7

oLaunch Date: May 5, 1961

oComments: Carried astronaut Alan Shepard.

•MR-4

oRocket Designation: MR-8

oLaunch Date: July 21, 1961

oComments: Carried astronaut Gus Grissom.

Our end of 2019 Summer Arts & Learning Academy performances and art exhibit at Dorothy I Height Elementary School

Our end of 2019 Summer Arts & Learning Academy performances and art exhibit at Dorothy I Height Elementary School

Our end of 2019 Summer Arts & Learning Academy performances and art exhibit at Dorothy I Height Elementary School

Schweiz / Wallis - Matterhorn

 

North Face seen from Höhbalmen

 

Nordwand von den Höhbalmen gesehen

 

The Matterhorn (/ˈmætərhɔːrn/, German: [ˈmatɐˌhɔʁn]; Italian: Cervino, [tʃerˈviːno]; French: Cervin, [sɛʁvɛ̃]; Romansh: Mont(e) Cervin(u)) is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the main watershed and border between Switzerland and Italy. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the Pennine Alps, whose summit is 4,478 metres (14,692 ft) high, making it one of the highest summits in the Alps and Europe. The four steep faces, rising above the surrounding glaciers, face the four compass points and are split by the Hörnli, Furggen, Leone/Lion, and Zmutt ridges. The mountain overlooks the Swiss town of Zermatt, in the canton of Valais, to the northeast; and the Italian town of Breuil-Cervinia in the Aosta Valley to the south. Just east of the Matterhorn is Theodul Pass, the main passage between the two valleys on its north and south sides, which has been a trade route since the Roman Era.

 

The Matterhorn was studied by Horace-Bénédict de Saussure in the late eighteenth century, and was followed by other renowned naturalists and artists, such as John Ruskin, in the 19th century. It remained unclimbed after most of the other great Alpine peaks had been attained and became the subject of an international competition for the summit. The first ascent of the Matterhorn was in 1865 from Zermatt by a party led by Edward Whymper, but during the descent, a sudden fall claimed the lives of four of the seven climbers. This disaster, later portrayed in several films, marked the end of the golden age of alpinism. The north face was not climbed until 1931 and is among the three biggest north faces of the Alps, known as "The Trilogy". The west face, the highest of the Matterhorn's four faces, was completely climbed only in 1962. It is estimated that over 500 alpinists have died on the Matterhorn, making it one of the deadliest peaks in the world.

 

The Matterhorn is mainly composed of gneisses (originally fragments of the African Plate before the Alpine orogeny) from the Dent Blanche nappe, lying over ophiolites and sedimentary rocks of the Penninic nappes. The mountain's current shape is the result of cirque erosion due to multiple glaciers diverging from the peak, such as the Matterhorn Glacier at the base of the north face. Sometimes referred to as the Mountain of Mountains (German: Berg der Berge), it has become an indelible emblem of the Alps in general. Since the end of the 19th century, when railways were built in the area, the mountain has attracted increasing numbers of visitors and climbers. Each year, numerous mountaineers try to climb the Matterhorn from the Hörnli Hut via the northeast Hörnli ridge, the most popular route to the summit. Many trekkers also undertake the 10-day-long circuit around the mountain. The Matterhorn has been part of the Swiss Federal Inventory of Natural Monuments since 1983.

 

Names

 

The name Matterhorn derives from the German words Matte ("meadow") and Horn ("horn"), and is often translated as "the peak of the meadows".

 

In the Schalbetter map, printed by Sebastian Münster in 1545, the valley is labelled Mattertal, but the mountain has the Latin name Mons Silvius as well as the German name Augstalberg, in concord with the Aosta Valley (German Augstal). The 1548 map by Johannes Stumpf gives only Mons Silvius.

 

The French name Cervin, from which the Italian term Cervino derives, stems from the Latin Mons Silvanus (or Mons Sylvanus), where silva means "forest"; this was corrupted to Selvin and then Servin. The change of the first letter "s" to "c" is attributed to Horace Bénédict de Saussure, who thought the word was related to "deer" (French: cerf and Italian: cervo).

 

Josias Simler hypothesized in De Alpibus Commentarius (1574) that the name Mons Silvius was readopted by T. G. Farinetti: "Silvius was probably a Roman leader who sojourned with his legions in the land of the Salassi and the Seduni, and perhaps crossed the Theodul Pass between these two places. This Silvius may have been that same Servius Galba whom Caesar charged with the opening up of the Alpine passes, which from that time onward traders have been wanting to cross with great danger and grave difficulty. Servius Galba, in order to carry out Caesar's orders, came with his legions from Allobroges (Savoy) to Octodurum (Martigny) in the Valais, and pitched his camp there. The passes which he had orders to open from there could be no other than the St. Bernard, the Simplon, the Theodul, and the Moro; it therefore seems likely that the name of Servius, whence Silvius and later Servin, or Cervin, was given in his honour to the famous pyramid." It is unknown when the new name of Servin, or Cervin, replaced the old, from which it seems to be derived.

 

The Matterhorn is also named Gran Bècca ("big mountain") by the Valdôtains and Horu by the local Walliser German speaking people.

 

Because of its recognizable shape, many other similar mountains around the world were named or nicknamed the 'Matterhorn' of their respective countries or mountain ranges.

 

Height

 

The Matterhorn has two distinct summits, situated at either end of a 100-metre-long (330 ft) exposed rocky crest which forms the Italian/Swiss border. In August 1792, the Genevan geologist and explorer Horace Bénédict de Saussure made the first measurement of the Matterhorn's height, using a sextant and a 50-foot-long (15 m) chain spread out on the Theodul glacier. He calculated its height as 4,501.7 m (14,769 ft). In 1868 the Italian engineer Felice Giordano measured a height of 4,505 m (14,780 ft) by means of a mercury barometer, which he had taken to the summit. The Dufour map, which was afterwards followed by the Italian surveyors, gave 4,482 m (14,705 ft) as the height of the Swiss summit. 

 

In 1999, the summit height was precisely determined to be at 4,477.54 m (14,690 ft) above sea level by using Global Positioning System technology as part of the TOWER Project (Top of the World Elevations Remeasurement) and to an accuracy of less than one centimetre, which allows future changes to be tracked.

 

The topographic prominence of the Matterhorn is 1,042 metres (3,419 ft) as the ridge connecting it with a higher summit (in this case the Weisshorn, which is the culminating point of the range west of the Mattertal valley) sinks to a height of 3,436 m (11,273 ft) at the Col Durand, a saddle between the Pointe de Zinal and the Mont Durand. The topographic isolation is 13.9 km (8.6 mi), as the nearest point of higher elevation is the one-metre (3 ft 3 in) higher Western Liskamm

 

Considering mountains with a topographic prominence of at least 300 m (980 ft), the Matterhorn is the sixth-highest summit in the Alps and Europe outside the Caucasus Mountains. It is the fifth-highest summit of Valais and Switzerland and the third highest summit of the Aosta Valley and Italy. Locally, it is the third-highest summit in the municipality of Zermatt and the highest summit in the municipality of Valtournenche. On the official International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation list of Alpine four-thousanders, which also includes subsidiary summits of higher mountains such as the nearby Monte Rosa, the Matterhorn is the 12th highest summit in the Alps.

 

Geography

 

The Matterhorn has a pyramidal shape with four faces nearly facing the four compass points. Three of them (north, east and west) are on the Swiss side of the border and watershed (Mattertal valley) and one of them (south) is on the Italian side of the border (Valtournenche valley). The north face overlooks the Ober Gabelhorn (7 km away) across the Zmutt Glacier and valley (above Zermatt), the east face overlooks the Gorner Glacier system between the Gornergrat and Monte Rosa (respectively 10 and 17 km away) across the Theodul Pass, the west face overlooks the upper basin of the Zmutt Glacier between the Dent Blanche and the Dent d'Hérens (respectively 7 and 4 km away) and the south face fronts the resort town of Breuil-Cervinia and overlooks a good portion of the Valtournenche. The Matterhorn does not form a perfect square pyramid, as the north and south faces are wider than the west and east faces. Moreover, the latter faces do not actually meet on the summit but are connected by a 100-metre-long horizontal west–east ridge between the north and south faces.

 

The Matterhorn's faces are steep, and only small patches of snow and ice cling to them; regular avalanches send the snow down to accumulate on the glaciers at the base of each face, the largest of which are the Tiefmattengletscher to the west, part of the Zmutt Glacier, and the Matterhorn Glacier to the north. Smaller glaciers lie at the base of the south face (the Lower Matterhorn Glacier) and the east face (unnamed). In this area, the border between Switzerland and Italy coincides with the main Alpine watershed, separating the drainage basin of the Rhone on the north (Mediterranean Sea) and that of the Po on the south (Adriatic Sea). The north side is drained by the Zmuttbach (west and north faces) and the Gornera through the Furggbach (east face), tributaries of the Rhone through the (Matter) Vispa. The south side and face is drained by the Marmore torrent, a tributary of the Po through the Dora Baltea (or Doire baltée). The Theodul Pass, located on the watershed between the Matterhorn and the Breithorn, at 3,295 metres, is the easiest passage between the two valleys and countries (the slightly lower Furggjoch not being used as a pass). The pass was used as a crossover and trade route for the Romans and the Romanised Celtic population Salassi between 100 BCE and 400 CE. The area is now heavily glaciated and covered on the north side by the Theodul Glacier.

 

Well-known faces are the east and north, visible from the area of Zermatt, although mostly hidden from the Mattertal by the chain of the Weisshorn. The east face is 1,000 metres high and, because it is "a long, monotonous slope of rotten rocks", presents a high risk of rockfall, making its ascent dangerous. The north face is 1,200 metres high and is one of the most dangerous north faces in the Alps, in particular for its risk of rockfall and storms. The south face, well visible from the Valtournenche, is 1,350 metres high and offers many different routes. The west face, the highest at 1,400 metres, has the fewest ascent routes and lies in a more remote area than the other faces.

 

The four main ridges separating the four faces are the main climbing routes. The least difficult technical climb and the usual climbing route, the Hörnli ridge (Hörnligrat), lies between the east and north faces and is aligned towards the Oberrothorn above Zermatt. To its west lies the Zmutt ridge (Zmuttgrat), between the north and west faces and aligned towards the Wandfluehorn; this is, according to Collomb, "the classic route up the mountain, its longest ridge, also the most disjointed." The Lion ridge (Cresta del Leone / Arête du lion), lying between the south and west faces and aligned towards the Dent d'Hérens is the Italian normal route and goes across Pic Tyndall; Collomb comments, "A superb rock ridge, the shortest on the mountain, now draped with many fixed ropes, but a far superior climb compared with the Hörnli." Finally the south side is separated from the east side by the Furggen ridge (Furggengrat), which is aligned towards the Klein Matterhorn. It is, according to Collomb, "the hardest of the ridges [...] the ridge still has an awesome reputation but is not too difficult in good conditions by the indirect finish".

 

While the Matterhorn is the culminating point of the Valtournenche on the south, it is only one of the many 4000 metres summits of the Mattertal valley on the north. Its height is exceeded by four major summits: the Weisshorn (4,505 m), the Dom (4,545 m), the Liskamm (4,527 m) and the second-highest in the Alps, Monte Rosa (4,634 m). This section of the Pennine Alps, including the Matterhorn, the Zinalrothorn, the Dent Blanche, the Dent d'Hérens, the Breithorn, the Strahlhorn, the Rimpfischhorn and the Alphubel, concentrates most of western Europe's highest mountains and forms a crown of peaks around Zermatt. The deeply glaciated region between the Matterhorn and Monte Rosa (named Dent Blanche-Matterhorn-Monte Rosa) is listed in the Federal Inventory of Landscapes and Natural Monuments since 1983.

 

Weather

 

The Matterhorn is an isolated mountain. Because of its position on the main Alpine watershed and its great height, the Matterhorn is exposed to rapid weather changes. In addition, the steep faces of the mountain and its isolated location make it prone to banner clouds formation, with the air flowing around the mountain producing condensation of the air on the lee side and also creating vortices.

 

Geology

 

The Matterhorn's pyramid is composed of Paleozoic rocks, which were thrusted over the Matterhorn's Mesozoic base during the Cenozoic. Quaternary glaciation and weathering give the mountain its current shape.

 

Apart from the base of the mountain, the Matterhorn is composed of gneiss belonging to the Dent Blanche klippe, an isolated part of the Austroalpine nappes, lying over the Penninic nappes. The Austroalpine nappes are part of the Apulian plate, a small continent that broke up from Africa before the Alpine orogeny. For this reason, the Matterhorn has been popularized as an African mountain. The Austroalpine nappes are mostly common in the Eastern Alps.

 

The Swiss explorer and geologist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, inspired by the view of the Matterhorn, anticipated modern theories of geology:

 

What power must have been required to shatter and to sweep away the missing parts of this pyramid; for we do not see it surrounded by heaps of fragments; one only sees other peaks - themselves rooted to the ground - whose sides, equally rent, indicate an immense mass of débris, of which we do not see any trace in the neighbourhood. Doubtless, this is that débris which, in the form of pebbles, boulders, and sand, fills our valleys and our plains.

 

Formation

 

The formation of the Matterhorn (and the whole Alpine range) started with the break-up of the Pangaea continent 200 million years ago into Laurasia (containing Europe) and Gondwana (containing Africa). While the rocks constituting the nearby Monte Rosa remained in Laurasia, the rocks constituting the Matterhorn found themselves in Gondwana, separated by the newly formed Tethys Ocean.

 

100 million years ago the extension of the Tethys Ocean stopped and the Apulian plate broke from Gondwana and moved toward the European continent. This resulted in the closure of the western Tethys by subduction under the Apulian plate (with the Piemont-Liguria Ocean first and Valais Ocean later). The subduction of the oceanic crust left traces still visible today at the base of the Matterhorn (accretionary prism). The orogeny itself began after the end of the oceanic subduction when the European continental crust collided with the Apulian continent, resulting in the formation of nappes.

 

The Matterhorn acquired its characteristic pyramidal shape in much more recent times as it was caused by natural erosion over the past million years. At the beginning of alpine orogeny, the Matterhorn was only a rounded mountain like a hill. Because its height is above the snowline, its flanks are covered by ice, resulting from the accumulation and compaction of snow. During the warmer period of summer, part of the ice melts and seeps into the bedrock. When it freezes again, it fractures pieces of rock because of its dilatation (freeze-thaw), forming a cirque. Four cirques led to the shape of the mountain.

 

Rocks

 

Most of the base of the mountain lies in the Tsaté nappe, a remnant of the Piedmont-Liguria oceanic crust (ophiolites) and its sedimentary rocks. Up to 3,400 metres the mountain is composed of successive layers of ophiolites and sedimentary rocks. From 3,400 metres to the top, the rocks are gneisses from the Dent Blanche nappe (Austroalpine nappes). They are divided into the Arolla series (below 4,200 m) and the Valpelline zone (the summit). Other mountains in the region (Weisshorn, Zinalrothorn, Dent Blanche, Mont Collon) also belong to the Dent Blanche nappe.

 

Tourism and trekking

 

Since the eighteenth century, the Alps have attracted more and more people and fascinated generations of explorers and climbers. The Matterhorn remained relatively little known until 1865, but the successful ascent followed by the tragic accident of the expedition led by Edward Whymper caused a rush on the mountains surrounding Zermatt.

 

The construction of the railway linking the village of Zermatt from the town of Visp started in 1888. The first train reached Zermatt on 18 July 1891 and the entire line was electrified in 1930. Since 1930 the village is directly connected to St. Moritz by the Glacier Express panoramic train. However, there is no connection with the village of Breuil-Cervinia on the Italian side. Travellers have to hire mountain guides to cross the 3,300-metre-high glaciated Theodul Pass, separating the two resorts. The town of Zermatt remains almost completely free of internal combustion vehicles and can be reached by train only. (Apart from the local police service which uses a Volkswagen car, and the refuse collection lorry, only electric vehicles are used locally).

 

Rail and cable-car facilities have been built to make some of the summits in the area more accessible. The Gornergrat railway, reaching a record altitude of 3,100 metres, was inaugurated in 1898. Areas served by cable car are the Unterrothorn and the Klein Matterhorn (Little Matterhorn) (3,883 m, highest transportation system in Europe). The Hörnli Hut (3,260 m), which is the start of the normal route via the Hörnli ridge, is easily accessible from Schwarzsee (2,600 m) and is also frequented by hikers. The Zermatt and Breuil-Cervinia resorts function as separate ski resort all year round and are connected by skilifts over the Theodul Pass. In 2015 it was expected that there would be constructed a cable car link between Testa Grigia (or Tête grise) and Klein Matterhorn. It will finally provide a link between the Swiss and Italian side of the Matterhorn.

 

The Matterhorn Museum (Zermatt) relates the general history of the region from alpinism to tourism. In the museum, which is in the form of a reconstituted mountain village, the visitors can relive the first and tragic ascent of the Matterhorn and see the objects that belonged to the protagonists.

 

The Tour of the Matterhorn can be effected by trekkers in about 10 days. Considered by some as one of the most beautiful treks in the Alps, it follows many ancient trails that have linked the Swiss and Italian valleys for centuries. The circuit includes alpine meadows, balcony trails, larch forests and glacial crossings. It connects six valleys embracing three different cultures: the German-speaking high Valais, the French-speaking central Valais and the bilingual French/Italian-speaking Aosta Valley. Good conditions are necessary to circumnavigate the peak. After reaching Zinal from Zermatt by the Augstbord and Meiden passes, the trekker crosses the Col de Sorebois and the Col de Torrent before arriving at Arolla. Then the Arolla Glacier and the Col Collon must be crossed on the way to Prarayer, followed by the Col de Valcournera to Breuil-Cervinia. In the last and highest section, the Theodul Pass must be crossed before returning to Zermatt. In total, seven passes between 2,800 and 3,300 metres must be crossed on relatively difficult terrain.

 

As of 2015, almost two million visitors arrive at Zermatt annually. An average of around twelve people per year have died on Matterhorn in the ten years from 2005 to 2015.

 

Climbing history

 

The Matterhorn was one of the last of the main Alpine mountains to be ascended, not because of its technical difficulty, but because of the fear it inspired in early mountaineers. The first serious attempts were all from the Italian side, although, despite appearances, the southern routes are technically harder. The main figures were Jean-Antoine Carrel and his uncle Jean-Jacques Carrel, from the Valtournenche area, who made the first attempts in 1857 and 1858, reaching 3,800 m (12,500 ft) on the latter occasion. In July 1860, three brothers from Liverpool attempted the mountain, Alfred, Charles and Sandbach Parker, but they turned back at about 3,500 m (11,500 ft). In August of the same year, Jean-Jacques Carrel returned to guide, with Johann Joseph Bennen , Vaughan Hawkins and John Tyndall to about 3,960 m (12,990 ft) before turning back. In 1861 the Carrels managed to reach the Crête du Coq at 4,032 m (13,228 ft). In July 1862, Jean-Antoine, together with César Carrel, accompanied as porters (sic) John Tyndall, Anton Walters and J.J. Bennen to Matterhorn's Shoulder at 4,248 m (13,937 ft), which was subsequently named Pic Tyndall in honor of the client.

 

Edward Whymper joined the efforts in August 1861, but in his first 7 attempts with a variety of companions could only reach a maximum height of 4,100 m (13,500 ft). However, on 14 July 1865, in what is considered the last ascent of the golden age of alpinism, he was able to reach the summit by an ascent of the Hörnli ridge in Switzerland, guided by the famed French mountaineer Michel Croz and the Swiss father and son Peter Taugwalder Sr. and Jr., and accompanied by the British gentlemen Charles Hudson, Lord Francis Douglas, Douglas Robert Hadow. Upon descent, Hadow, Croz, Hudson and Douglas fell to their deaths on the Matterhorn Glacier, and all but Douglas (whose body was never found) are buried in the Zermatt churchyard.

 

Just three days later, on 17 July 1865, Jean-Antoine Carrel and Jean-Baptiste Bich reached the summit from the Italian side.

 

Before the first ascent

 

In the summer of 1860, Edward Whymper came across the Matterhorn for the first time. He was an English artist and engraver who had been hired by a London publisher to make sketches of the mountains in the region of Zermatt. Although the unclimbed Matterhorn had a mixed reputation among British mountaineers, it fascinated Whymper. Whymper's first attempt was in August 1861, from the village of Breuil on the south side. In Châtillon he hired a Swiss guide, who remained anonymous in his accounts, and in Valtournanche he almost hired Jean-Antoine Carrel as well, but, disliking the looks of Carrel's uncle, he changed his mind. The Carrels decided to give Matterhorn a try by themselves again, and caught up with Whymper at nightfall. Whymper now had "a strong inclination to engage the pair; but, finally, decided against it" and the Carrels went alone to reach a new high on Matterhorn of 4,032 m (13,228 ft) the next day. Whymper and his guide camped one more night on the Col du lion (= Col Tournanche) 3,479 m (11,414 ft) and were forced to turn around only an hour above this pass the day after.

 

In 1862 Whymper made further attempts, still from the south side, on the Lion ridge (or Italian ridge), where the route seemed easier than the Hörnli ridge (the normal route today). On his own, he reached above 4,000 metres, but was injured on his way down to Breuil. In July John Tyndall with Johann Joseph Bennen and another guide overcame most of the difficulties of the ridge that seemed so formidable from below and successfully reached the main shoulder; but at a point not very far below the summit they were stopped by a deep cleft that defied their utmost efforts. The Matterhorn remained unclimbed.

 

Whymper returned to Breuil in 1863, persuading Carrel to join forces with him and try the mountain once more via the Italian ridge. On this attempt, however, a storm soon developed and they were stuck halfway to the summit. They remained there for 26 hours in their tent before giving up. Whymper did not make another attempt for two years.

 

In the decisive year 1865, Whymper returned with new plans, deciding to attack the Matterhorn via its south face instead of the Italian ridge. On 21 June, Whymper began his ascent with Swiss guides, but halfway up they experienced severe rockfall; although nobody was injured, they decided to give up the ascent. This was Whymper's seventh attempt.

 

During the following weeks, Whymper spent his time climbing other mountains in the area with his guides, before going back to Breuil on 7 July. Meanwhile, the Italian Alpine Club was founded and its leaders, Felice Giordano and Quintino Sella, established plans to conquer the Matterhorn before any non-Italian could succeed. Felice Giordano hired Carrel as a guide. He feared the arrival of Whymper, now a rival, and wrote to Quintino Sella

 

I have tried to keep everything secret, but that fellow whose life seems to depend on the Matterhorn is here, suspiciously prying into everything. I have taken all the best men away from him; and yet he is so enamored of the mountain that he may go with others...He is here in the hotel and I try to avoid speaking to him.

 

Just as he did two years before, Whymper asked Carrel to be his guide, but Carrel declined; Whymper was also unsuccessful in hiring other local guides from Breuil. When Whymper discovered Giordano and Carrel's plan, he left Breuil and crossed the Theodul Pass to Zermatt to hire local guides. He encountered Lord Francis Douglas, a Scottish mountaineer, who also wanted to climb the Matterhorn. They arrived later in Zermatt in the Monte Rosa Hotel, where they met two other British climbers — the Reverend Charles Hudson and his young and inexperienced companion, Douglas Robert Hadow — who had hired the French guide Michel Croz to try to make the first ascent. These two groups decided to join forces and try the ascent of the Hörnli ridge. They hired another two local guides, a father and son, both named Peter Taugwalder.

 

First ascent

 

Whymper and party left Zermatt early in the morning of 13 July 1865, heading to the foot of the Hörnli ridge, which they reached 6 hours later (approximately where the Hörnli Hut is situated today). Meanwhile, Carrel and six other Italian guides also began their ascent of the Italian ridge.

 

Despite its appearance, Whymper wrote that the Hörnli ridge was much easier to climb than the Italian ridge:

 

We were now fairly upon the mountain, and were astonished to find that places which from the Riffel, or even from the Furggen Glacier, looked entirely impracticable, were so easy that we could run about.

 

After camping for the night, Whymper and party started on the ridge. According to Whymper:

 

The whole of this great slope was now revealed, rising for 3,000 feet like a huge natural staircase. Some parts were more, and others were less, easy; but we were not once brought to a halt by any serious impediment, for when an obstruction was met in front it could always be turned to the right or left. For the greater part of the way there was, indeed, no occasion for the rope, and sometimes Hudson led, sometimes myself. At 6.20 we had attained a height of 12,800 feet and halted for half an hour; we then continued the ascent without a break until 9.55, when we stopped for fifty minutes, at a height of 14,000 feet.

 

When the party came close to the summit, they had to leave the ridge for the north face because "[the ridge] was usually more rotten and steep, and always more difficult than the face". At this point of the ascent Whymper wrote that the less experienced Hadow "required continual assistance". Having overcome these difficulties the group finally arrived in the summit area, with Croz and Whymper reaching the top first.

 

The slope eased off, and Croz and I, dashing away, ran a neck-and-neck race, which ended in a dead heat. At 1.40 p.m. the world was at our feet, and the Matterhorn was conquered. Hurrah! Not a footstep could be seen.

 

Precisely at this moment, Carrel and party were approximatively 400 metres below, still dealing with the most difficult parts of the Italian ridge. When seeing his rival on the summit, Carrel and party gave up on their attempt and went back to Breuil.

 

After building a cairn, Whymper and party stayed an hour on the summit. Then they began their descent of the Hörnli ridge. Croz descended first, then Hadow, Hudson and Douglas, the elder Taugwalder, Whymper, with the younger Taugwalder coming last. They climbed down with great care, only one man moving at a time. Whymper wrote:

 

As far as I know, at the moment of the accident no one was actually moving. I cannot speak with certainty, neither can the Taugwalders, because the two leading men were partially hidden from our sight by an intervening mass of rock. Poor Croz had laid aside his axe, and in order to give Mr. Hadow greater security was absolutely taking hold of his legs and putting his feet, one by one, into their proper positions. From the movements of their shoulders it is my belief that Croz, having done as I have said, was in the act of turning round to go down a step or two himself; at this moment Mr. Hadow slipped, fell on him, and knocked him over.

 

The weight of the falling men pulled Hudson and Douglas from their holds and dragged them down the north face. The Taugwalders and Whymper were left alive when the rope linking Douglas to the elder Taugwalder broke. They were stunned by the accident and for a time could not move until the younger Taugwalder descended to enable them to advance. When they were together Whymper asked to see the broken rope and saw that it had been employed by mistake as it was the weakest and oldest of the three ropes they had brought. They frantically looked, but in vain, for traces of their fallen companions. They continued their descent, including an hour in the dark, until 9.30 p.m. when a resting place was found. The descent was resumed at daybreak and the group finally reached Zermatt, where a search of the victims was quickly organized. The bodies of Croz, Hadow and Hudson were found on the Matterhorn Glacier, but the body of Douglas was never found. Although the elder Taugwalder was accused of cutting the rope to save himself and his son, the official inquest found no proof of this.

 

Second ascent

 

On 16 July, two days after the first ascent and the catastrophe, Jean-Antoine Carrel set out to crown Whymper's victory by proving that the Italian side was not unconquerable. He was accompanied by Amé Gorret, a priest who had shared with him the first attempt on the mountain back in 1857. Jean-Baptiste Bich and Jean-Augustin Meynet completed the party. Giordano would have joined them, but Carrel refused absolutely to take him with them; he said he would not have the strength to guide a traveller, and could neither answer for the result nor for any one's life. After hearing Sunday mass at the chapel of Breuil, the party started. Amé Gorret has described this ascent with enthusiasm: "At last we crossed the Col du Lion and set foot upon the pyramid of the Matterhorn!" On the following day, the 17th, they continued the ascent and reached Tyndall's flagstaff. "We were about to enter unknown country," wrote Gorret, "for no man had gone beyond this point." Here opinions were divided; Gorret suggested ascending by the ridge and scaling the last tower straight up. Carrel was inclined to traverse to the west of the peak, and thence go up on the Zmutt side. Naturally the wish of Carrel prevailed, for he was the leader and had not lost the habit of command, notwithstanding his recent defeat.

 

They made the passage of the enjambée, and traversed the west face to reach the Zmutt ridge. A false step made by one of the party and a fall of icicles from above warned them to return to the direct line of ascent, and the traverse back to the Lion ridge was one of the greatest difficulty. A falling stone injured Gorret in the arm.

 

At last they reached the base of the final tower. "We stood," wrote Gorret, "in a place that was almost comfortable. Although it was not more than two yards wide, and the slope was one of 75 percent, we gave it all kinds of pleasant names : the corridor, the gallery, the railroad, &c., &c." They imagined all difficulties were at an end; but a rock couloir, which they had hitherto not observed, lay between them and the final bit of ridge, where progress would be perfectly easy. It would have been unwise for all four to descend into the couloir, because they did not know where to fix the rope that would be needed on their return. Time pressed: it was necessary to reduce the numbers of the party; Gorret sacrificed himself, and Meynet stopped with him. Very soon afterwards Carrel and Bich were finally on the top. Meanwhile, Giordano at Breuil was writing in his diary as follows: "Splendid weather; at 9.30 saw Carrel and his men on the Shoulder, after that saw nothing more of them. Then much mist about the summit. Lifted a bit about 3.30, and we saw our flag on the western summit of the Matterhorn."

 

Other ascents

 

Ridges

 

The first direct ascent of the Italian (south-west) ridge as it is climbed today was by J. J. and J. P. Maquignaz on 13 September 1867.Julius Elliott made the second ascent via the Hörnli (north-east) ridge in 1868, and later that year the party of John Tyndall, J. J. and J. P. Maquignaz was the first to traverse the summit by way of the Hörnli and Italian ridges. On 22 August 1871, while wearing a white print dress, Lucy Walker became the first woman to reach the summit of the Matterhorn, followed a few weeks later by her rival Meta Brevoort. The first winter ascent of the Hörnli ridge was by Vittorio Sella with guides J. A. Carrel, J. B. Carrel and L. Carrel on 17 March 1882, and its first solo ascent was made by W. Paulcke in 1898. The first winter solo ascent of the Hörnli ridge was by G. Gervasutti in 1936.

 

The Zmutt (north-west) ridge was first climbed by Albert F. Mummery, Alexander Burgener, J. Petrus and A. Gentinetta on 3 September 1879. Its first solo ascent was made by Hans Pfann in 1906, and the first winter ascent was made by H. Masson and E. Petrig on 25 March 1948.

 

The last of the Matterhorn's four ridges to be ascended was the Furggen (south-east) ridge. M. Piacenza with guides J. J. Carrel and J. Gaspard on 9 September 1911, climbed most of the ridge but bypassed the overhangs near the top to the south. Not until 23 September 1942, during the Second World War, did Alfredo Perino, along with guides Louis Carrel (nicknamed "The Little Carrel") and Giacomo Chiara, climb the complete ridge and the overhangs directly.

 

In 1966, René Arnold and Joseph Graven made the first solo enchainement of the four Matterhorn ridges in 19.5 hours. Beginning at the 3,300m Bossi Bivouac hut, the pair followed the normal route up the Furggen Ridge and then descended the Hornli Ridge. After crossing the Matterhorn Glacier at the base of the north face, they ascended the Zmutt Ridge and then descended the Italian (Lion) Ridge to the village of Breuil. In 1985, Marco Barmasse repeated their achievement, but this time his route included the first solo ascent of the Furggen overhangs. He completed the enchainement, reaching the Abruzzi Hut after 15 hours.

 

On 20 August 1992, Italian alpinist Hans Kammerlander and Swiss alpine guide Diego Wellig climbed the Matterhorn four times in just 23 hours and 26 minutes. The route they followed was: Zmutt ridge–summit–Hörnli ridge (descent)–Furggen ridge–summit–Lion ridge (descent)–Lion ridge–summit–Hörnli ridge (descent)–Hörnli ridge–summit–Hörnli Hut (descent). However the Italian route (Lion Ridge), was not climbed from Duca degli Abruzzi Refuge at 2802 m, but from Carrel Hut, at 3830 m, both uphill and downhill.

 

In 1995, Bruno Brunod climbed Matterhorn from the village Breuil-Cervinia in 2 h 10 min. and from Breuil-Cervinia to Matterhorn and back, in 3:14:44

 

On 21 August 2013, the Spanish mountain runner Kilian Jornet broke Brunod's record as it took him 1 hour, 56 min to the top from Breuil-Cervinia - a round-trip time of 2 hours 52 minutes to return to his starting point.

 

Faces

 

William Penhall and guides made the first (partial) ascent of the west face, the Matterhorn's most hidden and unknown, one hour after Mummery and party's first ascent of the Zmutt ridge on 3 September 1879. It was not until 1962 that the west face was completely climbed. The ascent was made on 13 August by Renato Daguin and Giovanni Ottin. In January 1978 seven Italian alpine guides made a successful winter climb of Daguin and Ottin's highly direct, and previously unrepeated, 1962 route. But a storm came during their ascent, bringing two metres of snow to Breuil-Cervinia and Zermatt, and their accomplishment turned bitter when one of the climbers died during the descent.

 

The north face, before it was climbed in 1931, was one of the last great big wall problems in the Alps. To succeed on the north face, good climbing and ice-climbing technique and route-finding ability were required. Unexpectedly it was first climbed by the brothers Franz and Toni Schmid on 31 July – 1 August 1931. They reached the summit at the end of the second day, after a night of bivouac. Because they had kept their plans secret, their ascent was a complete surprise. In addition, the two brothers had travelled by bicycle from Munich and after their successful ascent they cycled back home again. The first winter ascent of the north face was made by Hilti von Allmen and Paul Etter on 3-4 February 1962. Its first solo ascent was made in five hours by Dieter Marchart on 22 July 1959. Walter Bonatti climbed the "North Face Direct" solo on 18-22 February 1965. The same year, Yvette Vaucher became the first woman to climb the north face. Bonatti's direct route was not repeated solo until 29 years later, in winter 1994 by Catherine Destivelle.

 

Ueli Steck set the record time in climbing the north face (Schmid route) of Matterhorn in 2009 with a time of 1 hour 56 minutes.

 

After Bonatti's climb, the best alpinists were still preoccupied with one last great problem: the "Zmutt Nose", an overhang lying on the right-hand side of the north face. In July 1969 two Italians, Alessandro Gogna and Leo Cerruti, attempted to solve the problem. It took them four days to figure out the unusual overhangs, avoiding however its steepest part. In July 1981 the Swiss Michel Piola and Pierre-Alain Steiner surmounted the Zmutt Nose by following a direct route, the Piola-Steiner.

 

The first ascent of the south face was made by Enzo Benedetti with guides Louis Carrel and Maurice Bich on 15 October 1931, and the first complete ascent of the east face was made by Enzo Benedetti and G. Mazzotti with guides Louis and Lucien Carrel, Maurice Bich and Antoine Gaspard on 18-19 September 1932.

 

Casualties on the Matterhorn

 

The four men lost in 1865 have not been the only fatalities on the Matterhorn. In fact, several climbers die each year due to a number of factors including the scale of the climb and its inherent dangers, inexperience, falling rocks, and overcrowded routes. The Matterhorn is thus amongst the deadliest mountains in the world. By the late 1980s, it was estimated that over 500 people have died whilst attempting its summit since the 1865 ascent, with an average of about 12 deaths each year.

 

In the 2000s, there was a trend of fewer people dying each year on the mountain. This has been attributed partly to a greater awareness of the risks, and also due to the fact that a majority of climbers now use local guides. However, in the summer of 2018, at least ten people died on the mountain.

 

Here is a list of people who died on the mountain whose bodies were not recovered until later:

 

1954 French skier Henri le Masne went missing on the Matterhorn. In 2005 remains were found, identified as le Masne in 2018

1970 Two Japanese climbers missing; remains found after 45 years in 2015

1979 British climber missing; remains found after 34 years in 2014

2014 Japanese hiker missing; remains found 2018

2016 Two British climbers missing; remains found 2016

 

Legacy: beginning of mountain culture

 

The first ascent of the Matterhorn changed mountain culture. Whymper’s book about his first ascent, Scrambles Amongst the Alps, published in 1871, was a worldwide bestseller. Tourists began to visit Switzerland in the summer to see the Alps and often hired locals as guides. With the beginning of alpine skiing in the early 20th century, tourists began traveling to Switzerland in winter also. Mountaineering, in part, helped transform Switzerland’s mountain regions from poor rural areas to tourist destinations. This combination of mountain climbing, skiing and tourism, was used in the western United States, creating Sun Valley, Vail, Jackson Hole, and other mountain towns around the world.

 

Climbing routes

 

Today, all ridges and faces of the Matterhorn have been ascended in all seasons, and mountain guides take a large number of people up the northeast Hörnli route each summer. In total, up to 150 climbers attempt the Matterhorn each day during summer. By modern standards, the climb is fairly difficult (AD Difficulty rating), but not hard for skilled mountaineers according to French climbing grades. There are fixed ropes on parts of the route to help. Still, it should be remembered that several climbers may die on the mountain each year.

 

The usual pattern of ascent is to take the Schwarzsee cable car up from Zermatt, hike up to the Hörnli Hut elev. 3,260 m (10,700 ft), a large stone building at the base of the main ridge, and spend the night. The next day, climbers rise at 3:30 am so as to reach the summit and descend before the regular afternoon clouds and storms come in. The Solvay Hut located on the ridge at 4,003 m (13,133 ft) can be used only in a case of emergency.

 

Other popular routes on the mountain include the Italian (Lion) ridge (AD+ Difficulty rating) and the Zmutt ridge (D Difficulty rating). The four faces, as well as the Furggen ridge, constitute the most challenging routes to the summit. The north face is amongst the six most difficult faces of the Alps, as well as ‘The Trilogy’, the three hardest of the six, along with the north faces of the Eiger and the Grandes Jorasses (TD+ Difficulty rating).

 

Overcrowding on the several routes have become an issue and guides and local authorities have struggled with how to regulate the numbers. In 2015 the Hörnli hut became the first mountain shelter in Europe to limit beds.

 

History

 

Aegidius Tschudi, one of the earliest Alpine topographers and historians, was the first to mention the region around the Matterhorn in his work, De Prisca ac Vera Alpina Raethi, published in Basel in 1538. He approached the Matterhorn as a student when in his Alpine travels he reached the summit of the Theodul Pass but he does not seem to have paid any particular attention to the mountain itself.

 

The Matterhorn remained unstudied for more than two centuries, until a geologist from Geneva, Horace Benedict de Saussure, travelled to the mountain, which filled him with admiration. However, de Saussure was not moved to climb the mountain, and had no hope of measuring its altitude by taking a barometer to its summit. "Its precipitous sides," he wrote, "which give no hold to the very snows, are such as to afford no means of access." Yet his scientific interest was kindled by "the proud peak which rises to so vast an altitude, like a triangular obelisk, that seems to be carved by a chisel." His mind intuitively grasped the causes which gave the peak its present precipitous form: the Matterhorn was not like a perfected crystal; the centuries had laboured to destroy a great part of an ancient and much larger mountain. On his first journey de Saussure had come from Ayas to the Col des Cimes Blanches, from where the Matterhorn first comes into view; descending to Breuil, he ascended to the Theodul Pass. On his second journey, in 1792, he came to the Valtournanche, studying and describing it; he ascended to the Theodul Pass, where he spent three days, analysing the structure of the Matterhorn, whose height he was the first to measure, and collecting stones, plants and insects. He made careful observations, from the sparse lichen that clung to the rocks to the tiny but vigorous glacier fly that fluttered over the snows and whose existence at such heights was mysterious. At night he took refuge under the tent erected near the ruins of an old fort at the top of the pass. During these days he climbed the Klein Matterhorn (3,883 metres), which he named the Cime Brune du Breithorn.

 

The first inquirers began to come to the Matterhorn. There is a record of a party of Englishmen who in the summer of 1800 crossed the Great St. Bernard Pass, a few months after the passage of Bonaparte; they came to Aosta and thence to Valtournenche, slept at the chalets of Breuil, and traversed the Theodul Pass, which they called Monte Rosa. The Matterhorn was to them an object of the most intense and continuous admiration.

 

The Matterhorn is mentioned in a guide-book to Switzerland by Johann Gottfried Ebel, which was published in Zürich towards the end of the eighteenth century, and translated into English in 1818. The mountain appeared in it under the three names of Silvius, Matterhorn, and Mont Cervin, and was briefly described as one of the most splendid and wonderful obelisks in the Alps. On Zermatt there was a note: "A place which may, perhaps, interest the tourist is the valley of Praborgne (Zermatt); it is bounded by huge glaciers which come right down into the valley; the village of Praborgne is fairly high, and stands at a great height above the glaciers; its climate is almost as warm as that of Italy, and plants belonging to hot countries are to be found there at considerable altitudes, above the ice."

 

William Brockedon, who came to the region in 1825, considered the crossing of the Theodul Pass from Breuil to Zermatt a difficult undertaking. He gave, however, expression to his enthusiasm on the summit. When he arrived exhausted on the top of the pass, he gazed "on the beautiful pyramid of the Cervin, more wonderful than aught else in sight, rising from its bed of ice to a height of 5,000 feet, a spectacle of indescribable grandeur." In this "immense natural amphitheatre, enclosed from time immemorial by snow-clad mountains and glaciers ever white, in the presence of these grand walls the mind is overwhelmed, not indeed that it is unable to contemplate the scene, but it staggers under the immensity of those objects which it contemplates."

 

Those who made their way up through the Valtournanche to the foot of the mountain were few in number. W. A. B. Coolidge, a diligent collector of old and new stories of the Alps, mentions that during those years, besides Brockedon, only Hirzel-Escher of Zürich, who crossed the Theodul Pass in 1822, starting from Breuil, accompanied by a local guide. The greater number came from the Valais up the Visp valley to Zermatt. In 1813, a Frenchman, Henri Maynard, climbed to the Theodul Pass and made the first ascent of the Breithorn; he was accompanied by numerous guides, among them J. M. Couttet of Chamonix, the same man who had gone with de Saussure to the top of the Klein Matterhorn in 1792. The writings of these pioneers make much mention of the Matterhorn; the bare and inert rock is gradually quickened into life by men's enthusiasm. "Stronger minds," remarked Edward Whymper, "felt the influence of the wonderful form, and men who ordinarily spoke or wrote like rational beings, when they came under its power seemed to quit their senses, and ranted and rhapsodised, losing for a time all common forms of speech."

 

Among the poets of the Matterhorn during these years (1834 to 1840) were Elie de Beaumont, a famous French geologist; Pierre Jean Édouard Desor, a naturalist of Neuchâtel, who went up there with a party of friends, two of whom were Louis Agassiz and Bernhard Studer. Christian Moritz Engelhardt, who was so filled with admiration for Zermatt and its neighbourhood that he returned there at least ten times (from 1835 to 1855), described these places in two valuable volumes, drew panoramas and maps, and collected the most minute notes on the mineralogy and botany of the region. Zermatt was at that time a quiet little village, and travellers found hospitality at the parish priest's, or at the village doctor's.

 

In 1841 James David Forbes, professor of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, came to see the Matterhorn. A philosopher and geologist, and an observant traveller, he continued the work of De Saussure in his journeys and his writings. He was full of admiration for the Matterhorn, calling it the most wonderful peak in the Alps, unsealed and unscalable. These words, pronounced by a man noted among all his contemporaries for his thorough knowledge of mountains, show what men's feelings then were towards the Matterhorn, and how at a time when the idea of Alpine exploration was gaining ground in their minds, the Matterhorn stood by itself as a mountain apart, of whose conquest it was vain even to dream. And such it remained till long after this; as such it was described by John Ball twenty years later in his celebrated guide-book. Forbes ascended the Theodul Pass in 1842, climbed the Breithorn, and came down to Breuil; as he descended from the savage scenery of the Matterhorn, the Italian landscapes of the Valtournanche seemed to him like paradise. Meanwhile, Gottlieb Samuel Studer, the geographer, together with Melchior Ulrich, was describing and mapping the topographical features of the Zermatt peaks.

 

Rodolphe Töpffer, who first accompanied and guided youth to the Alps for purposes of education and amusement, began his journeys in 1832, but it is only in 1840 that he mentions the Matterhorn. Two years later Töpffer and his pupils came to Zermatt. He has described this journey of his in a chapter entitled Voyage autour du Mont Blanc jusqu'à Zermatt, here he sings a hymn of praise to the Matterhorn, comparing its form with a "huge crystal of a hundred facets, flashing varied hues, that softly reflects the light, unshaded, from the uttermost depths of the heavens". Töpffer's book was illustrated by Alexandre Calame, his master and friend, with drawings of the Matterhorn, executed in the romantic style of the period. It is an artificial mountain, a picture corresponding rather with the exaggerated effect it produces on the astonished mind of the artist, than with the real form of the mountain.

 

About this time there came a man who studied the Matterhorn in its structure and form, and who sketched it and described it in all its parts with the curiosity of the artist and the insight of the scientist. This was John Ruskin, a new and original type of philosopher and geologist, painter and poet, whom England was enabled to create during that period of radical intellectual reforms, which led the way for the highest development of her civilisation. Ruskin was the Matterhorn's poet par excellence. He went to Zermatt in 1844, and it is to be noticed as a curious fact, that the first time he saw the Matterhorn it did not please him. The mountain on its lofty pedestal in the very heart of the Alps was, perhaps, too far removed from the ideal he had formed of the mountains; but he returned, studied and dreamt for long at its feet, and at length he pronounced it "the most noble cliff in Europe." Ruskin was no mountaineer, nor a great friend to mountaineering; he drew sketches of the mountains merely as an illustration of his teaching of the beauty of natural forms, which was the object of his whole life. In his work on Modern Painters he makes continual use of the mountains as an example of beauty and an incentive to morality. The publication of Ruskin's work certainly produced a great impression at the time on educated people in England, and a widespread desire to see the mountains.

 

It is a fragment of some size; a group of broken walls, one of them overhanging; crowned with a cornice, nodding some hundred and fifty feet over its massive flank, three thousand above its glacier base, and fourteen thousand above the sea, — a wall truly of some majesty, at once the most precipitous and the strongest mass in the whole chain of the Alps, the Mont Cervin.

 

Other men of high attainments followed, but in the years 1850 scientists and artists were about to be succeeded by real climbers and the passes and peaks around Zermatt were explored little by little. In the preface to the first volume of the Alpine Journal, which appeared in 1863, the editor Hereford Brooke George wrote that: "While even if all other objects of interest in Switzerland should be exhausted, the Matterhorn remains (who shall say for how long?) unconquered and apparently invincible." Whymper successfully reached the summit in 1865, but four men perished on the descent. The English papers discussed it with bitter words of blame; a German newspaper published an article in which Whymper was accused of cutting the rope between Douglas and Taugwalder, at the critical moment, to save his own life.

 

In 1890 the Federal Government was asked simultaneously by the same contractor for a concession for the Zermatt-Gornergrat railway, and for a Zermatt-Matterhorn one. The Gornergrat railway was constructed in 1896-1898 and has been working since August 1898, but there has been no more talk of the other. The project essentially consisted of a line which went up to the Hörnli, and continued thence in a rectilinear tunnel about two kilometres long, built under the ridge, and issuing near the summit on the Zmutt side. Sixty years later in 1950, Italian engineer Count Dino Lora Totino planned a cable car on the Italian side from Breuil-Cervinia to the summit. But the Alpine Museum of Zermatt sent a protest letter with 90,000 signatures to the Italian government. The latter declared the Matterhorn a natural wonder worthy of protection and refused the concession to the engineer.

 

2015 marked the 150th anniversary of the first ascent. Events and festivities were held throughout the year. A completely renewed Hörnli Hut opened the same year in the month of July.

 

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, light artist Gerry Hofstetter started projecting country flags and messages of endurance onto the mountain peak as part of a nightly series designed to show support and spread hope for everyone suffering and those fighting the pandemic.

 

Other mountains

 

Hundreds of other mountains have been compared with the Matterhorn, either for their resemblance to it or because of their apparent inaccessibility.

 

Mountains named after the Matterhorn

Little Matterhorn (1,480 m), Australia

Matterhorn (1,600 m), in Antarctica

Matterhorn (3,305 m), in Nevada

Matterhorn Peak (3,744 m), in California

Matterhorn Peak (4,144 m), in Colorado

Matterhorn Peak (2,636 m), in British Columbia

Neny Matterhorn (1,125 m), Antarctica

 

In culture

 

During the 20th century, the Matterhorn and the story of the first ascent in particular, inspired various artists and film producers such as Luis Trenker and Walt Disney. Large-scale replicas can be found at Disneyland and Window of the World. In 2021, a Matterhorn-related attraction opened in the Swiss Museum of Transport, enabling visitors to climb it virtually from the Solvay Hut to the summit.

 

Designed in 1908 by Emil Cardinaux, a leading poster artist of the time, the Matterhorn poster for the Zermatt tourist office is often considered the first modern poster. It has been described as a striking example of a marriage of tourism, patriotism and popular art. It served as decoration in many Swiss military hospices during the war in addition to be found in countless middle-class living rooms. Another affiche depicting the Matterhorn was created by Cardinaux for the chocolate brand Toblerone in the 1920s. The image of the Matterhorn first appeared on Toblerone chocolate bars in 1960. Since then, the Matterhorn has become a reference that still inspires graphic artists today and has been used extensively for all sort of publicity and advertising.

 

Paintings

 

The Matterhorn (1849), John Ruskin

The Matterhorn (1867), Albert Bierstadt

Matterhorn (1879), Edward Theodore Compton

Le Cervin (1892), Félix Vallotton

 

Filmography

 

Struggle for the Matterhorn (1928)

The Mountain Calls (1938)

The Challenge (1938)

Climbing the Matterhorn (1947)

Third Man on the Mountain (1959)

Im Banne des Berges (2015)[90]

Soarin' Around the World/Soaring Over the Horizon (2016)

The Horn (2016) - Documentary series following the mountain rescue teams in the Swiss Alps.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Das Matterhorn (italienisch Monte Cervino oder Cervino, französisch Mont Cervin oder Le Cervin, walliserdeutsch Hore oder Horu) ist mit 4478 m ü. M. einer der höchsten Berge der Alpen. Wegen seiner markanten Gestalt und seiner Besteigungsgeschichte ist das Matterhorn einer der bekanntesten Berge der Welt. Für die Schweiz ist es ein Wahrzeichen und eine der meistfotografierten Touristenattraktionen.

 

Der Berg steht in den Walliser Alpen zwischen Zermatt und Breuil-Cervinia. Ost-, Nord- und Westwand liegen auf schweizerischem, die Südwand auf italienischem Staatsgebiet.

 

Wissenswertes über das Matterhorn vermittelt das Matterhorn Museum in Zermatt.

 

Geschichte des Namens

 

Im Allgemeinen kamen im Gebirge die Bergspitzen erst spät zu ihren Namen, die daruntergelegenen Passübergänge und Alpen jedoch meist früher. So nannte Johannes Schalbetter 1545 den heutigen Theodulpass als «Mons Siluius» (deutsch übersetzt Salasser-berg) oder deutsch Augsttalberg. Mit Augsttal ist dabei das Tal von Aosta (lateinisch Augusta Praetoria Salassorum) gemeint, das Aostatal.

 

«Siluius» wurde dann sehr wahrscheinlich volksetymologisch falsch interpretiert über vermeintlich lateinisch «silvius» und «silvanus» zu französisch und italienisch «Cervin/Cervin(i)». 1581 wurde das Matterhorn erstmals als Mont Cervin erwähnt, wie später Mons Silvanus und Mons Silvius. Im Jahr 1682 nannte Anton Lambien das heutige Matterhorn Matter Dioldin h[orn] (Matterhornspitze) zur Abgrenzung vom gleichnamigen Pass, der bis Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts (beispielsweise auf der Dufourkarte) noch «Matterjoch» genannt wurde.

 

In der Lokalbevölkerung wird der Berg auch einfach ds Hore («das Horn», Zermatter Dialekt) oder ds Horu («das Horn», Oberwalliser Dialekt) genannt.

 

Geologie

 

Das Matterhorn ist ein Karling, und seine charakteristische Form entstand durch Erosion und Gletscherschliff in den Eiszeiten. Das Matterhorn ist Teil der Dent-Blanche-Decke des Unter-Ostalpins, also eines weit nach Westen auf die penninischen Decken der Westalpen aufgeschobenen Trümmerstücks eines ostalpinen Deckgesteins. Die untere Gesteinsschicht des Matterhorns, die bis zur Höhe der Hörnlihütte reicht, ist penninisch, also westalpin. Das im Vergleich dazu kleine Horn selbst sitzt auf dieser Basis auf und gehört zur Dent-Blanche-Decke, und zwar der untere Teil bis zur «Schulter» zur Arolla-Serie aus Orthogneisen und Metagabbros und der oberste Teil zur Valpelline-Serie aus hochmetamorphen Paragneisen der Dent-Blanche-Decke. Einfach ausgedrückt, besteht das Matterhorn aus zwei verschiedenen, schräg aufeinanderliegenden Gesteinspaketen. Der heutige Matterhorngletscher entstand erst wieder im Pessimum der Völkerwanderungszeit nach dem Optimum der Römerzeit.

 

Eine Besonderheit ist die charakteristische «Matterhorn-Wolke». Sie ist ein herausragendes Beispiel für einen Wolkentyp, den Meteorologen als Bannerwolke bezeichnen: Wie eine mächtige Fahne bildet sich die Wolke auf der windabgewandten Seite (Lee-Seite) des Gipfels als fast ständiger Begleiter des Berges. Die plausibelste Erklärung für ihr Entstehen ist die folgende: Das Matterhorn überragt das umgebende Gebirge wie ein Turm, so dass sich an ihm Leewirbel bilden, die feuchte Luft aus dem Tal nach oben führen, wo es zur Kondensation und Wolkenbildung kommt. Ist das Gipfelniveau erreicht, so wird die Wolke von einem waagerechten Ast des Leewirbels erfasst, der zu der typischen Fahnen-Form führt (Leewirbel-Hypothese).

 

Erstbesteigungen

 

Seit 1857 wurden mehrere erfolglose Versuche unternommen, das Matterhorn zu besteigen, zumeist von der italienischen Seite her. 1862 erstieg John Tyndall mit den Führern Johann Josef Benet, Anton Walter, Jean-Jacques und Jean-Antoine Carrel erstmals die Südwestschulter, den heutigen Pic Tyndall. Die Fortsetzung des Aufstiegs entlang des Liongrates erschien ihnen unmöglich.

 

Dem Erstbesteiger des Matterhorns, Edward Whymper, erschien der Liongrat weiterhin als nicht machbar. Insgesamt war er bereits sieben Mal gescheitert und überlebte u. a. einen Sturz über 60 Meter. Whymper versuchte daher, seinen Freund Jean-Antoine Carrel zu einer Besteigung von der Zermatter Seite zu überreden. Carrel beharrte darauf, von Italien her aufzusteigen.

 

Im Juli 1865 erfuhr Whymper zufällig von einem Gastwirt in Breuil-Cervinia, dass Carrel sich – ohne Whymper zu benachrichtigen – wieder zum Liongrat aufgemacht hatte. Whymper fühlte sich getäuscht und eilte nach Zermatt, um dort eine Gruppe für einen sofortigen Versuch über den Hörnligrat zusammenzustellen. Am 14. Juli 1865 gelang der 7er-Seilschaft Whympers die Erstbesteigung. Die Gruppe stieg über den Hörnligrat auf die Schulter; weiter oben, im Bereich der heutigen Fixseile, wich sie in die Nordwand aus. Edward Whymper erreichte als erster den Gipfel, weil er sich vor dem Gipfel vom Seil losschnitt und vorauslief. Ihm folgten der Bergführer Michel Croz (aus Chamonix), Reverend Charles Hudson, Lord Francis Douglas, D. Robert Hadow (alle aus England) sowie die Zermatter Bergführer Peter Taugwalder Vater und Peter Taugwalder Sohn. Sie sahen Carrel und seine Gruppe weit unterhalb am Pic Tyndall.

Beim Abstieg der Erstbesteiger stürzten die vorderen vier der Seilschaft (Croz, Hadow, Hudson und Douglas) noch oberhalb der «Schulter» über die Nordwand tödlich ab. Josef Marie Lochmatter brach ab dem 15. Juli 1865 mehrmals mit Rettungsmannschaften auf, um den vier Abgestürzten Erste Hilfe zu leisten. Am 19. Juli barg ein Bergungstrupp die Leichen von Croz, Hadow und Hudson auf dem Matterhorngletscher. Douglas' Leiche wurde nie gefunden.

 

Am 17. Juli gelang auch Carrel zusammen mit Jean-Baptiste Bich und Amé Gorret der Aufstieg über den Liongrat bis zum Gipfel. Die drei traversierten vom Nordende der italienischen Schulter durch die oberste Westwand auf den Zmuttgrat (sog. Galleria Carrel) und schlossen die Besteigung über diesen ab.

 

Runde Jahrestage der Erstbesteigung des Matterhorns sind feierlich begangen worden. So zeigte das Schweizer Fernsehen zum 100. Jahrestag am 14. Juli 1965 eine internationale Live-Sendung einer Matterhornbesteigung mit Beteiligung von Berg-Reportern der BBC und der RAI. Am 30. Juni 1965 zeigte das Schweizer Fernsehen den eigens produzierten Dokumentarfilm Bitterer Sieg: Die Matterhorn Story (Regie: Gaudenz Meili). Anlässlich des 150. Jahrestages wurde am 14. Juli 2015 auf dem Bahnhofplatz in Zermatt eine Countdown-Uhr aufgebaut, im Dezember 2014 wurde im Zentrum der Stadt («Matterhorn Plaza») ein Treffpunkt für das Jubiläumsjahr ins Leben gerufen.

 

Am 22. Juli 1871, sechs Jahre nach Whymper, bestieg die britische Alpinistin Lucy Walker als erste Frau das Matterhorn. 1869 hatten Isabella Straton und Emmeline Lewis Lloyd als reine Frauenseilschaft die Besteigung versucht; sie scheiterten kurz vor dem Gipfel. 1871 bestieg auch Anna Voigt aus Frankfurt das Matterhorn; sie war damals eine der ersten Frauen in der Sektion Frankfurt am Main des Deutschen Alpenvereins. Yvette Vaucher (* 1929) ist die erste Frau, die die Nordwand des Matterhorns bestiegen hat.

 

Routen

 

Der am weitaus häufigsten begangene Aufstiegsweg ist der Hörnligrat von Zermatt aus über die Hörnlihütte (Nordostgrat, ZS+). Er stellt den sogenannten Normalweg, also den leichtesten Aufstieg, dar. Auf 4003 Metern Höhe, nordöstlich unterhalb des Gipfels, gibt es als Biwak für Notfälle, wie Wettersturz und Zeitverzug, die von der Hörnlihütte aus betreute Solvayhütte mit zehn Notlagern. Weitere Aufstiegsrouten gibt es am Südwestgrat über den kirchendachartigen Pic Tyndall (auch Liongrat oder Italienerweg genannt, ZS+), am Nordwestgrat (Zmuttgrat, S) und am Südostgrat (Furggengrat, SS, wenig begangen). Auch durch die abweisende Nordwand verläuft eine Aufstiegsroute, die hin und wieder von Spezialisten, z. B. Walter Bonatti, gewählt wird.

 

(Wikipedia)

The Road to Hope ride is Law Enforcement United's flagship event and culminates in Washington, D.C., to kick off Police Week. Each rider carries a flag with the name and information about the fallen hero they are representing on this grueling ride.

 

More than 450 riders work hard to raise funds and train for the three-day bicycle ride from Chesapeake, VA and Reading, PA to Washington, D.C. each May.

 

The "Road To Hope" is about helping survivors know that they are not alone and enable resources like Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.) and the Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP) to help these families rebuild and to preserve the memories and honor their fallen hero.

 

This year the guest speaker at the end of the ride was Deputy Director of the U.S. Marshals Service David Harlow.

 

Photo by: Shane T. McCoy / US Marshals

It wouldn’t be Cadet Field Training without the culminating Field Training Exercise to cap off the four-week summer training program for the Class of 2015. For 72 hours, cadets engaged in continuous activities—everything from reconnaissance in force, repel an ambush, conduct a raid and rescue operation and occupy multiple patrol bases as they move from location to location.

It all contributes to experiencing a unique military training environment, reinforcing soldiering skills, and learning the tactics and technologies as future Army officers. In the meantime, the rising yearlings are shedding the vestige of being West Point plebes as they will advance to the rank of cadet corporals responsible for providing leadership during the academic year to cadets just joining the ranks of the Corps of Cadets.

The rising yearlings were led by upperclass cadets who trained for their duties as platoon leaders, company commanders and such during the Leader Training Program which began two weeks prior to CFT. For many of the participants, the CFT preceded or will follow additional training like an AIAD, Air Assault or Airborne School. Photo by Mike Strasser/USMA PAO

10th Mountain Division (LI) and Fort Drum host a culminating event supporting Sexual Assault, Awareness, and Prevention Month on April 28, 2021, at Fort Drum, N.Y. Sfc. Natashay Wallace catered the event. (U.S. Army Photos by Sgt. Phillip Tross)

On Sept. 17, 2017, tankers of the Royal Wessex Yeomanry, a British Reserve armor unit, provided Challenger 2 tank familiarization training to their partners from the Michigan Army National Guard’s C Co., 1st Battalion, 125th Infantry Regiment. The two units are training at Sennelager Training Area (STA), Germany and the familiarization with the Challenger 2 was completed in advance of the units’ combined arms exercise, the culminating joint training event during their time at STA. Here, 1st Lt. Kyle Dolson (left), C Co. 2nd platoon leader, is able to sit inside a tank and receive instruction about the tank’s guidance and target acquisition systems. (Michigan Army National Guard photo by Maj. Charles Calio)

 

By Keval Shah

 

Jainism is one of the oldest religions that originated in India. Jains believe that every soul is divine and has the potential to achieve God-consciousness. Any soul which has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state of supreme being is called jina (Conqueror or Victor). Jainism is the path to achieve this state. Jainism is often referred to as Jain Dharma (जैन धर्म) or Shraman Dharma or the religion of Nirgantha or religion of "Vratyas" by ancient texts.

 

Jainism was revived by a lineage of 24 enlightened ascetics called tirthankaras[1] culminating with Parsva (9th century BCE) and Mahavira (6th century BCE).[2][3][4][5][6] In the modern world, it is a small but influential religious minority with as many as 10 million followers in India,[7] and successful growing immigrant communities in North America, Western Europe, the Far East, Australia and elsewhere.[8]

 

Jains have sustained the ancient Shraman (श्रमण) or ascetic religion and have significantly influenced other religious, ethical, political and economic spheres in India.

 

Jains have an ancient tradition of scholarship and have the highest degree of literacy in India.[9] Jain libraries are India's oldest.[10]

     

Principles and beliefs:-

 

Jainism differs from other religions in its concept of God. Accordingly, there is no overarching supreme being, divine creator, owner, preserver or destroyer. Every living soul is potentially divine and the Siddhas, those who have completely eliminated their karmic bonds to end their cycle of birth and death, have attained God-consciousness.

 

A Jain is a follower of Jinas ("conquerors"),[11][12] identifies specially gifted human beings who rediscover the dharma, become fully liberated and teach the spiritual path to benefit all living beings. Practicing Jains follow the teachings of 24 special Jinas who are known as Tirthankaras "('ford-makers", or "those who have discovered and shown the way to salvation"). Tradition states that the 24th, and most recent, Tirthankar is Shri Mahavir, lived from 599 to 527 BCE. The 23rd Tirthankar, Shri Parsva, is a historical person, who lived from 872 to 772 BC.[13][14]

 

Jainism encourages spiritual development through reliance on and cultivation of one's own personal wisdom and self-control (व्रत, vrata).[15] The goal of jainism is to realize the soul's true nature. "Samyak darshan gyan charitrani moksha margah", the (triple gems of Jainism), meaning "true/right perception, knowledge and conduct" provides the path for attaining liberation (moksha) from samsara (the universal cycle of birth and death). Moksha is attained by liberation from all karma. Those who have attained moksha are called siddha, "liberated souls", and those who are attached to the world through their karma are called samsarin "mundane souls". Every soul has to follow the path, as described by the Jinas (Tirthankaras), to attain moksha.

 

Jaina tradition identifies Rishabha (also known as Adhinath) as the First Tirthankar of this declining (avasarpini) kalachakra (time cycle).[16] The first Tirthankar, Rishabhdev/ Adhinath, appeared prior to the Indus Valley Civilization. The swastika symbol and naked statues resembling Jain monks, which archaeologists have found among the remains of the Indus Valley Civilization, tend to support this claim.

 

Jains hold that the Universe and Dharma are eternal, without beginning or end. However, the universe undergoes processes of cyclical change. The universe consists of living beings ("Jīva") and non-living beings ("Ajīva"). The samsarin (worldly) soul incarnates in various life forms. Human, animal, plant, deity, and hell-being are the four forms of the samsari souls. All worldly relations of one's Jiva with other Jiva and Ajiva are based on Karma.

 

The main Jain prayer (Namokar Mantra) therefore salutes the five special categories of souls that have attained God-consciousness or are on their way to achieving it, to emulate and follow these paths to salvation.

 

Another major characteristic of Jain belief is the emphasis on the consequences of not only physical but also mental behaviours.

 

Jain practices are derived from the above fundamentals. For example, the principle of non-violence seeks to minimize karmas which may limit the capabilities of the soul. Jainism views every soul as worthy of respect because it has the potential to become Siddha (Param-atma - "pure soul"). Because all living beings possess a soul, great care and awareness is essential in one's actions in the incarnate world. Jainism emphasizes the equality of all life, advocating harmlessness towards all, whether these be creatures great or small. This policy extends even to microscopic organisms. Jainism acknowledges that every person has different capabilities and capacities and therefore assigns different duties for ascetics and householders. The "great vows" (mahavrata) are prescribed for monks and "limited vows" (anuvrata) are prescribed for householders.

 

There are five basic ethical principles (vows) prescribed. The degree to which these principles must be practiced is different for renunciant and householder. Thus:

 

Non-violence (Ahimsa) - to cause no harm to living beings.

Truth (Satya) - to always speak the truth in a harmless manner.

Non-stealing (Asteya) - to not take anything that is not willingly given.

Celibacy (Brahmacarya) - to not indulge in sensual pleasures.

Non-possession (Aparigraha) - to detach from people, places, and material things.

 

Ahimsa, "Non-violence", is sometimes interpreted as not killing, but the concept goes far beyond that. To achieve the goal of non-violence mind and body must harmonize thoughts, speech and actions to "the heart which knows nothing but love".[citation needed] There can be no thought to injure others and no speech inciting injury by others.[18].

 

Satya, "truthfulness", is also to be practiced by all people. Given that non-violence has priority, all other principles yield to it, whenever there is a conflict. For example, if speaking truth will lead to violence, it is perfectly ethical to be silent. Thiruvalluvar in his Tamil classic devotes an entire chapter clarifying the definition of 'truthfulness'.

 

Asteya, "non-stealing", is the strict adherence to one's own possessions, without desire to take another's. One should remain satisfied by whatever is earned through honest labour. Any attempt to squeeze others and/or exploit the weak is considered theft. Some of the guidelines for this principle are:

 

Always give people fair value for labor or product.

Never take things which are not offered.

Never take things that are placed, dropped or forgotten by others

Never purchase cheaper things if the price is the result of improper method (e.g. pyramid scheme, illegal business, stolen goods, etc.)

 

Brahmacarya, "monastic celibacy", is the complete abstinence from sex, which is only incumbent upon monastics. Householders, practice monogamy as a way to uphold brahmacarya in spirit.[19].

 

Aparigraha, "non-possession", is the renounciation of property and wealth, before initiation into monkhood, without entertaining thoughts of the things renounced. This is done so one understands how to detach oneself from things and possessions including home and family so one may reach moksa[20]. For householders, non possession is owning without attachment, because the notion of possession is illusory. The reality of life is that change is constant, thus objects owned by someone today will be property of someone else in future days. The householder is encouraged to discharge his or her duties to related people and objects as a trustee, without excessive attachment.

 

article courtesy

jains.synthasite.com/what-is-jainism.php

Monumental achievement: Palm Beach on Saturday dedicates a statue with historical roots to honor Henry M. Flagler

John Nelander | Palm Beach Daily News

Ninety-seven years after his death, Henry Flagler is finally returning to Palm Beach in the form of a bronze statue that will greet people arriving on the island over the North End bridge that bears his name.

 

When the statue is unveiled at 11 a.m. Saturday in a median on Royal Poinciana Way, it will culminate a decades-long effort to honor in bronze the man whose singular vision turned Palm Beach into a winter playground for the wealthy of America’s Gilded Age.

 

“It’s long past time for Henry Flagler to be recognized in the town as a whole, not just for his home,” said John Blades, executive director of the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum at Whitehall, the winter mansion built by Flagler in 1902. Blades has been involved with the statue project for more than 10 years.

 

The statue is a replica of a monument unveiled at St. Augustine on Jan. 2, 1916, which would have been Flagler’s 86th birthday. The co-founder of Standard Oil had died three years earlier in Palm Beach after suffering injuries from falling down a set of stairs at Whitehall. He is buried in St. Augustine, the first of a string of towns along Florida’s east coast that Flagler transformed into first-class resorts by extending his railway to carry guests to the hotels he built.

 

It took another 90 years for similar statues to work their way down Florida’s Atlantic coast, which developed in the intervening years from the wasteland of scrub and swamp that nonetheless had captured Flagler’s imagination as a developer of towns, infrastructure and even agriculture.

 

In 2006, a replica of the St. Augustine statue was erected on the steps to the Miami-Dade County Courthouse and in Key West at the southern terminus of what had been Flagler’s crowning achievement, the extension of the Florida East Coast Railway through the keys.

 

The Palm Beach statue is scaled up a bit. Flagler himself was about 5 feet, 8 inches tall, according to Blades, and the original statue is 5-foot-10. Blades traveled to St. Augustine with an artisan, who made a fiberglass mold of the piece. It was then turned over to Bronzart Foundry in Sarasota to be cast.

 

The original sculpture was reportedly commissioned in 1902 by the woman for whom Flagler built Whitehall as a wedding present — his third wife, Mary Lily Kenan. It was cast in Italy but the artist is unknown. Only the initials “CJR” appear on the work.

 

“There were a lot of 19th century artists who could have done it,” said Blades.

 

The Palm Beach version of the statue was donated by G.F. Robert Hanke, a retired Marine Corps colonel who also donated Miami’s version of the statue. He is a great-grandson of Henry Flagler and vice president of the Flagler Museum’s trustees.

 

Hanke is expected to speak at the unveiling ceremony, along with Centennial Commission Chairman Bill Bone and Mayor Jack McDonald, said Jay Boodheshwar, town recreation director and a member of the Centennial Commission who helped organize the event. Bone and McDonald will make some remarks in adjacent Bradley Park prior to the unveiling.

 

“It’s the official kickoff of the Centennial season,” said Boodheshwar. “We chose the date because we wanted it to be early enough to start the Centennial celebration, but late enough so that people were here for the season.”

 

The monument will be positioned in the westernmost median strip on Royal Poinciana Way, near a statue of a gold-leafed bald eagle erected in 1976. Like the statue of the town’s first mayor, E.N. “Cap” Dimick on Royal Palm Way, the Flagler statue will greet drivers heading east from West Palm Beach. It will directly face the Flagler Memorial Bridge, which the Florida Department of Transportation will replace beginning next spring. Once the bridge construction begins, the statue will likely be moved to a different location farther east on Royal Poinciana Way, according to officials.

 

The sculpture weighs 930 pounds, and the granite pedestal weighs 112,500 pounds. The final cost, including installation, is expected to be about $80,000, according to the Flagler Museum.

 

The statue was scheduled to arrive in town Monday, with installation scheduled for Tuesday, according to officials involved with the project.

 

The St. Augustine statue has an interesting history. It was originally dedicated at the railway station before being moved to City Hall. It was then moved to Flagler College in 1972, because the college encompasses part of Flagler’s former Ponce De Leon Hotel.

 

Over the years, weather and college pranks took their toll on the statue, according to Susan Parker, executive director of the St. Augustine Historical Society. “Every once in a while, somebody will stick a cigarette between his fingers,” she said. “Or sometimes they put flowers in his hand.”

 

In 1999, the St. Augustine monument underwent some maintenance. Theodore Monnich, a sculpture-restoration specialist from Salisbury, N.C., said the head and coat of the St. Augustine statue showed severe signs of deterioration.

 

“It was common in sculptures cast 50 years ago or more,” Monnich said. “What happened is that the poured bronze cooled too rapidly, and that caused bubbles to form and then tiny pinholes in the sculpture. That led to oxidation, especially with the humid climate in St. Augustine.”

 

It turned parts of the sculpture green. Monnich cleaned it up, applied a new coat of lacquer and a coat of wax. Similar pieces poured today with better technology usually don’t have those problems, he said.

 

Blades said the new Palm Beach statue won’t require much maintenance beyond the need for wax. “It should be easy to maintain,” he said.

 

What surprises both Blades and Parker is the scant understanding among the public of what Henry Flagler actually means to Florida. The Palm Beach statue, they say, could help bring a greater understanding of the pivotal role he played in setting the stage for modern Florida.

 

“I don’t think most people are aware of what he did for the state,” said Parker. “They think of him as an almost invisible partner in Standard Oil.”

 

He was actually a full partner in the company but left for St. Augustine in 1876 for the sake of the health of his first wife, Mary Harkness Flagler, who was ill.

 

She died two years later and Flagler remarried. But it was actually his third wife, Mary Lily Kenan, who is credited with having the bronze statue cast of her husband. Later that same year, Flagler and Mary Lily moved into their Palm Beach home at Whitehall.

 

Flagler’s extension of his Florida East Coast Railway to Miami having been accomplished several years earlier, he eventually set his sights on Key West, and in 1912 saw construction completed of his Over-Sea Railroad linking the keys. It would operate until 1935, when it was damaged by a hurricane.

 

“People definitely need to be educated about Henry Flagler,” said Blades. “People think he’s just a railroad guy, which really cracks me up. That railroad was the only way to get around in the state. The railroad was just a means to an end. What he was really doing is laying the groundwork for making Florida what it is today.”

 

Henry Morrison Flagler was born in Hopewell, New York in 1830 to a family of modest means.The son of a Presbyterian minister, He left home at the age of 14 to work with relatives in Ohio, beginning as a clerk in a small store. Through many years of hard work and an extraordinary talent for business, he eventually became a founding partner in Standard Oil, The largest and most profitable cooperation in history. One of the most brilliant and gifted visionary businessmen Of America’s Gilded Age, Flagler‘s greatest impact on American society What is when he turned his attention in the 1880s to the development of the entire East Coast of Florida. It was here that he established the tourism, government and agriculture to sustain Florida is economy even today. Over nearly 30 years, Over nearly 30 years, He built Florida’s first world class hotels and resorts, connecting them all with his Florida is East Coast Railway And putting palm beach and Miami on the map along the way.

 

During the final decade of his long life, Flagler undertook the most ambitious engineering feat by a private citizen, the building of the “railroad across Paid Advertisement

 

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the sea.” Through this and towering achievement, at the dawn of the 20th century, he connected Miami to Key West By extending his railroad over 156 miles of open ocean and small islands. Harold as the Eighth Wonder of the World, the over-sea railroad was completed in 1912, just one year before henry Flagler died at the age of 83. America had lost a great industrialist and benefactor America had lost a great industrialist and benefactor whose building a public works, schools, churches, and hospitals was legendary. During the 28th he is Flagler worked in Florida, During the 28th he is Flagler worked in Florida, over 400,000 workers were at one time or another on his payroll - the U.S. Army at that time number and 100,000. A pioneering creator of the modern economic world, no other individual has had a more lasting or positive influence on the development of entire state then henry Flagler had in Florida.

 

Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach by the Intracoastal Waterway to its west and a small section of the Intracoastal Waterway and South Palm Beach to its south. It is part of the South Florida metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, Palm Beach had a year-round population of 9,245.

 

The Jaega arrived on the modern-day island of Palm Beach approximately 3,000 years ago. Between 1816 and 1858, the Seminoles were expelled from the area. Americans settlers began to inhabit the area as early as 1872, and opened a post office about five years later. Elisha Newton "Cap" Dimick, later the town's first mayor, established Palm Beach's first hotel, the Cocoanut Grove House, in 1880, but Standard Oil tycoon Henry Flagler became instrumental in transforming the island of jungles and swamps into a winter resort for the wealthy. Flagler and his workers constructed the Royal Poinciana Hotel in 1894, The Breakers in 1896, and Whitehall in 1902; extended the Florida East Coast Railway southward to the area by 1894; and developed a separate city to house the hotel workers and other laborers, which later became West Palm Beach. The town of Palm Beach incorporated on April 17, 1911. Addison Mizner also contributed significantly to the town's history, designing 67 structures between 1919 and 1924, including El Mirasol, the Everglades Club, La Querida, the William Gray Warden House, and Via Mizner, which is a section of Worth Avenue.

 

Forbes reported in 2017 that Palm Beach had at least 30 billionaires, with the town ranking as the 27th-wealthiest place in the United States in 2016 according to Bloomberg News. Many famous and wealthy individuals have resided in the town, including United States presidents John F. Kennedy and Donald Trump. Palm Beach is known for upscale shopping districts, such as Worth Avenue, Royal Poinciana Plaza, and the Royal Poinciana Way Historic District.

 

Native Americans previously inhabited the island of Palm Beach, with the Jaegas arriving at least 3,000 years ago. Evidence for their inhabitation of the island are three pre-Columbian archaeological complexes. These complexes include a burial mound, six unmarked Native American cemeteries, and a more recent burial site which suggested interaction between indigenous people and Europeans.

 

Settlers began arriving in modern-day Palm Beach by 1872. Hiram F. Hammon made the first homestead claim in 1873 along Lake Worth. At the time, the lake area had fewer than 12 people. By 1877, the Tustenegee Post Office was established in modern-day Palm Beach, becoming the lake area's first post office. Along the coast of Palm Beach, the Providencia wrecked in 1878 with a cargo of 20,000 coconuts, which were quickly planted. In 1880, Elisha Newton "Cap" Dimick converted his private residence to a hotel known as the Cocoanut Grove House. At the time of its opening, the Cocoanut Grove House was the only hotel along Florida's east coast between Titusville and Key West. A fire destroyed the hotel in October 1893. The Star Route, also known as the Barefoot Mailman route, began serving the area in 1885. Carriers delivered mail by foot or boat from Palm Beach and other nearby communities to as far south as Miami, a round trip of 136 miles (219 km). The first schoolhouse in southeast Florida (also known as the Little Red Schoolhouse) opened in Palm Beach in 1886.

 

Henry Flagler, a Standard Oil tycoon, made his first visit to Palm Beach in 1893, and described the area as a "veritable paradise". That same year, Flagler hired George W. Potter to plot 48 blocks for West Palm Beach, a city to house workers at his hotels, and construction began on the Royal Poinciana Hotel. The Royal Poinciana Hotel opened for business on February 11, 1894. Flagler, also the owner of the Florida East Coast Railway, extended the railroad southward to West Palm Beach by the following month. In 1896, Flagler opened a second hotel originally known as Wayside Inn, before being renamed Palm Beach Inn, and later becoming The Breakers. Fires later burned down the hotel in 1903 and 1925, but it was rebuilt twice. The Palm Beach Daily News began publication in 1897 originally under the name Daily Lake Worth News.

 

The first pedestrian bridge across the Intracoastal Waterway opened near the modern-day Flagler Bridge in 1901, replacing the original railroad spur. Flagler's house lots were bought by the beneficiaries of the Gilded Age, and in 1902, Flagler himself built a Beaux-Arts mansion, Whitehall, designed by the New York-based firm Carrère and Hastings and helped establish the Palm Beach "winter season". Telephone service was established in Palm Beach in 1908, with 18 customers initially. Prior to the 1910s, many African Americans in the area lived in a segregated section of Palm Beach called the "Styx", with an estimated population of 2,000 at its peak. Between 1910 and 1912, though, African Americans were evicted from the Styx. Most of the displaced residents relocated to the northern West Palm Beach neighborhoods of Freshwater, Northwest, and Pleasant City.

 

In January 1911, it became known West Palm Beach intended to annex the island of Palm Beach in the upcoming Florida legislative session. Residents objected and hired an attorney from Miami to officially become incorporated. Dimick, Louis Semple Clarke, and 31 other male property owners met at Clarke's house and signed a charter to officially incorporate the town of Palm Beach on April 17, 1911. Dimick became the first mayor, John McKenna became town clerk, and Joseph Borman became town marshal, while J. B. Donnelly, William Fremd, John Doe, Enoch Root, and J.J. Ryman served as the first council members. Also in 1911, Dimick built the Royal Park Bridge, with its first incarnation being a wooden structure. Passage from West Palm Beach to Palm Beach on the bridge originally required a toll – 25 cents per vehicle and 5 cents per pedestrian.

 

Addison Mizner designed 67 structures in Palm Beach. Some of Mizner's clients included Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Jr., Paul Moore Sr., Gurnee Munn, John Shaffer Phipps, Edward Shearson, Eva Stotesbury, Rodman Wanamaker, and Barclay Harding Warburton II. His designed works included the Costa Bella, El Mirasol, Everglades Club (in collaboration with Paris Singer), El Solano, La Bellucia, La Querida, Via Mizner, Villa Flora,  and William Gray Warden House.  Via Mizner was the first shopping complex along Worth Avenue, which was then a mostly residential street.

 

In February 1924, the town council allotted $100,000 to construct a new municipal building. Harvey and Clarke architectural firm designed the building, while Newlon and Stephens built the structure after bidding $160,200 for the contract. The Palm Beach Town Hall opened on December 18, 1925, and is still used for town council meetings. Before its completion, the council meetings took place in a one-story wooden building on Royal Poinciana Way. Also in 1925, citywide construction revenue reached $14 million, attributed to the Florida land boom.

 

The 1928 Okeechobee hurricane made landfall in the town of Palm Beach, with sustained winds of 145 mph (235 km/h). High winds and storm surge damaged 610 businesses, 60 homes, and 10 hotels, as well as to the Public Service Corporation and Ocean Boulevard. Damage in 1928 dollars totaled $10 million in Palm Beach.

 

Palm Beach's population grew from 1,707 in 1930 to 3,747 in 1940, a 119.5% increase. The Royal Poinciana Hotel, damaged heavily in the 1928 hurricane, also suffered greatly during the Great Depression, and was demolished in 1935. Around 4,000 people purchased the salvageable remains of the hotel. The Palm Beach-Post Times estimated some 500 homes could be built from the scraps of the hotel. Residents of Palm Beach established the Society of the Four Arts on January 14, 1936, with Hugh Dillman as the first president. The 1930s decade also saw the construction of the Flagler Memorial Bridge, the northernmost bridge linking Palm Beach and West Palm Beach, completed on July 1, 1938. Palm Beach mayor James M. Owens acted as master of ceremonies for the bridge's opening, while then–U.S. senator Charles O. Andrews and former U.S. senator Scott Loftin gave speeches during the event.

 

Early in World War II, the United States Army established a Ranger camp at the northern tip of the island, which could accommodate 200 men. The Palm Beach Civilian Defense Council ordered blackouts in Palm Beach beginning on April 11, 1942. Throughout the war, German U-boats sank 24 ships off Florida, with eight capsized off Palm Beach County between February and May 1942. The Army converted The Breakers into the Ream General Army Hospital, while the Navy converted the Palm Beach Biltmore Hotel into a U.S. Naval Special Hospital. The Biltmore Hotel would also become a training school for SPARS, the United States Coast Guard Women's Reserve.

 

On September 15, 1950, the Southern Boulevard Bridge opened, the third and southernmost bridge linking Palm Beach and West Palm Beach. Palm Beach residents elected Claude Dimick Reese (son of former mayor T.T. Reese and grandson of Dimick) as mayor in 1953. He became the only native-born mayor of Palm Beach in its history. In the 1950s, the town's population grew around 56%, from 3,866 in 1950 to 6,055 in 1960.

 

John F. Kennedy was elected President of the United States in 1960, and selected as his Winter White House La Querida, which his father bought in 1933. In December 1960, police in Palm Beach averted a retired postal worker's attempt to assassinate then president-elect Kennedy. The president also spent the last weekend of his life in Palm Beach, several days before his assassination in November 1963. Yvelyne "Deedy" Marix became the first woman elected to the town council in February 1970, and later became the first woman elected mayor of Palm Beach in 1983. Between 1971 and 1977, Earl E.T. Smith served as mayor of Palm Beach. He was previously an Ambassador of the United States to Cuba.

 

Preservationist Barbara Hoffstot published a book titled Landmark Architecture in Palm Beach in 1974. She personally photographed and summarized many older buildings in the town. The book also called for more awareness of and improvements to a system for protecting historic landmarks. The town council responded in 1979 by approving an ordinance establishing the Landmarks Preservation Commission, which identifies and works to protect historic structures.

 

General Foods and Post Cereals heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post bequeathed Mar-a-Lago to the United States upon her death in 1973, hoping it would be used as a Winter White House. The residence was returned to the Post family in 1981, before being purchased by Donald Trump in 1985 for roughly $10 million. He converted the estate into a club by 1995 and would later use Mar-a-Lago as a Winter White House during his presidency from 2017 to 2021. A nor'easter in November 1984 caused the Mercedes I to crash into the seawall of Mollie Wilmot's estate. Wilmot's staff served the 10 sailors sandwiches and freshly brewed coffee in her gazebo and offered martinis to journalists reporting on the incident.

 

On October 31, 1991, the Perfect Storm produced waves 20 feet (6.1 m) in height in Palm Beach. About 1,200 feet (370 m) of seawall at Worth Avenue were destroyed, while some parts of the town experienced coastal flooding, especially along Ocean Boulevard. By that afternoon, police allowed only residents to enter the town. The trial of William Kennedy Smith, a member of the Kennedy family, drew international media attention in 1991. Smith had been accused of committing rape at La Querida, but a trial at the Palm Beach County Court resulted in his acquittal on December 11, 1991. Another notable mayor, Paul Ilyinsky, son of Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia and heiress Audrey Emery, was elected to the office in February 1993. The town's population peaked at 10,468 people in the 2000 census. In March 2005, the Palm Beach Police Department – under the guidance of Police Chief Michael Reiter – began the first inquiry into the crimes committed by sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, leading to his arrest and indictment in July 2006. Despite an FBI investigation discovering at least 40 victims, the state attorney of Palm Beach County only charged Epstein with soliciting a prostitute and soliciting a minor for prostitution in June 2008. He pleaded guilty on both counts and received a controversial plea deal.

 

The town had a population of 8,348 people in 2010, a decrease of 20.3% from the previous census. Palm Beach celebrated its centennial on April 17, 2011. About 1,200 people attended a parade that began at the Flagler Museum (Whitehall). Between February and December 2015, the Town Square, which includes the Addison Mizner Memorial Fountain and the town hall, underwent a $5.7 million restoration. The fountain's restoration was named "project of the year" by the American Public Works Association's Florida chapter.

 

The FBI conducted a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago on August 8, 2022, approved by Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart after a criminal referral by the National Archives and Records Administration relating to classified documents. Although former President Trump surrendered 235 classified documents by June 2022, the search at Mar-a-Lago yielded another 102 such documents. This discovery, along with allegations that Trump transported documents to his golf club in New Jersey and showed them to some guests there, led a grand jury at the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida to indict him on 37 felony counts relating to the mishandling of classified documents on June 8, 2023.

 

Palm Beach is one of the easternmost towns in Florida, though the state's easternmost point is in Palm Beach Shores, just north of Lake Worth Inlet. The town is on an 18-mile (29 km) long barrier island between the Intracoastal Waterway (locally known as the Lake Worth Lagoon) on the west and the Atlantic Ocean on the east. At no point is the island wider than three-quarters of a mile (1.2 km), and in places it is only 500 feet (150 m) wide. The northern boundary of Palm Beach is the Lake Worth Inlet, though it adjoined with Singer Island until the permanent dredging of the inlet in 1918. To the south, a section of Lake Worth Beach occupies the island in the vicinity of State Road 802, though an exclave of Palm Beach extends farther southward until the northern limits of South Palm Beach. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the town has an area of 8.12 sq mi (21.0 km2), with land accounting for 4.20 sq mi (10.9 km2) and water covering the remaining 3.92 sq mi (10.2 km2). The average elevation of the town is 7 ft (2.1 m); the highest point is 30 ft (9.1 m) above sea level on the golf course at the Palm Beach Country Club. 

 

Geologically, the island is a sand-covered ridge of coquina rock.  Before settlement, the island was a pronounced coastal ridge bordering the Atlantic Ocean. The Intracoastal Waterway coast was primarily low-lying and swampy; marshy sloughs generally lay between the two features,  though an oolitic limestone ridge stood along some parts of the island's westward side. Since 1883, the environment has been significantly altered by developing land, the filling of the sloughs, and a receding coastline due to erosion, but the Atlantic ridge is still the dominating topographical feature of the island and acts as a seaward barrier. The former slough areas are flood-prone.

 

The town and entire barrier island are within Evacuation Zone B, and evacuations are often ordered if a hurricane is forecast to impact the area, most recently in anticipation of Hurricane Dorian in 2019. Palm Beach town officials may deploy law enforcement officers to strategically place roadblocks to limit access to the island during unsafe conditions.

 

As of 2016, land use of the town is 60% residential, 13% rights-of-way, 10% private group uses, 3% recreational, 3% commercial, 2% public uses, 1% hotels (not including The Breakers), and less than 1% conservation, while The Breakers is a planned unit development accounting for 6% of land use. The remaining 2% of land was vacant. Palm Beach does not have any land dedicated to agricultural or industrial purposes. The town is essentially built out and cannot extend its boundaries.

 

Conservation is mainly confined to Bingham Island, Fishermen's Island, and Hunter's Island. Functioning as bird sanctuaries and rookeries, the islands are leased by the National Audubon Society, though state trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund and the Blossom Estate hold the titles to the islands. A part of Blossom Estate Subdivision just south of Southern Boulevard is also designated a conservation area.

 

Whitehall reopened as the Flagler Museum on February 6, 1960, after Henry Flagler's granddaughter, Jean Flagler Matthews, purchased the property in 1959 to prevent its demolition. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and the National Historic Landmark list in 2000, the museum replicates the original appearance of the house and has exhibits about Flagler himself, Flagler's personal railcar (built in 1886), the Florida East Coast Railway, life in the Gilded Age, and the early history of Palm Beach. Almost 100,000 people visit the museum annually. Adjacent to the Flagler Museum and behind the Royal Poinciana Chapel is a giant, almost 200-year old kapok tree, which also attracts visitors.

 

The Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach established Pan's Garden in 1994 along Hibiscus Avenue between Chilean Avenue and Peruvian Avenue. The garden has a statue of Pan (originally designed in 1890 by Frederick William MacMonnies), the ancient Greek god who protects and guards flocks. Another significant feature is the Casa Apava wall, a 1920s tile wall from the remnants of the Casa Apava estate. Encompassing approximately 0.5 acres (0.20 ha), the garden also features many endangered species of native vegetation.

 

Bethesda-by-the-Sea, originally a mostly wooden structure built from lumber from the beach in April 1889, is the oldest church in Palm Beach. The church opened at its current location by Christmas 1926. Bethesda-by-the-Sea has hosted the weddings of a few notable individuals, including Donald and Melania Trump in 2005 and Michael Jordan and Yvette Prieto in 2013.

 

The Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce identifies several other points of interest in the town, including:

Major Alley - Located on Peruvian Avenue just one block north of the western terminus of Worth Avenue, Major Alley (named after architect Howard Major) has six Georgian revival-style cottages built in the 1920s.

Royal Poinciana Chapel - Built in 1897 by Henry Flagler, he intended for the interdenominational chapel to be used by guests at his hotels. The chapel expanded to 400 seats about a year later. It is adjacent to the Whitehall property.

Seagull Cottage - Situated between the Royal Poinciana Chapel and Whitehall, Seagull Cottage is the oldest surviving home in the Palm Beach, constructed in 1886 by R.R. McCormick, a railroad and land developer from Denver. Flagler purchased Seagull Cottage from McCormick in 1893 for $75,000, and it remained his winter residence until 1902, when Whitehall was completed.

Phipps Plaza Historic District - Described by the Palm Beach Daily News as a "picturesque ensemble" of buildings, the Phipps Plaza Historic District is a tight ring of structures built between the 1920s and the 1940s. Located just north of the intersection of Royal Palm Way and South County Road, the buildings at Phipps Plaza were mostly constructed by the Palm Beach Company, with the assistance of Addison Mizner and Marion Sims Wyeth.

The Colony Hotel Palm Beach - A British Colonial-style hotel at South County Road and Hammond Avenue, just one block south of Worth Avenue. Opened in 1947, the six floor hotel has eighty-nine rooms and three penthouses.

Addison Mizner Memorial Fountain - Erected by Mizner himself in 1929, the fountain is in the middle of South County Road directly north of the town hall and to the west of the police department headquarters. The fountain is constructed of double-bowl cast stone. In 2017, the restoration of the fountain was named the project of the year by the American Public Works Association's Florida chapter.

 

The Recreation Department of Palm Beach oversees several public recreation facilities, including the Morton and Barbara Mandel Recreation Center, Palm Beach Docks, Par 3 Golf Course, and many tennis centers. The only public marina in the town, the Palm Beach Docks opened in the 1940s and is along the Intracoastal Waterway between the Royal Palm Bridge and Worth Avenue. Palm Beach Docks has three main docks and eighty-eight boat slips, along with many accommodations for boaters.

 

There are three public beaches in the town, the Palm Beach Municipal Beach, Phipps Ocean Park, and R. G. Kreusler Park. The former, also known as Midtown Beach, has metered parking spots along South Ocean Boulevard from Royal Palm Way southward to Hammon Avenue. Phipps Ocean Park includes the Little Red Schoolhouse, the first school building in southeast Florida (built in 1886), restored and moved from its original location near where the Flagler Memorial Bridge stands today. The town also has many private beaches, while R. G. Kreusler Park (owned and operated by Palm Beach County) lies directly north of the Lake Worth Municipal Beach.[144] In addition to Pan's Garden, the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach also owns the Ambassador Earl T. Smith Memorial Park and Fountain, a small, 0.24 acre (0.097 ha) park near the town hall. 

 

The town has three bicycling and pedestrian paths. The Lake Trail is a 4.7 mile (7.6 km) path along the Intracoastal Waterway from Worth Avenue to near the Lake Worth Inlet. Another trail, the County Road Pedestrian Path/Bicycle Lane is around 1.1 miles (1.8 km) in length from Kawama Lane to Bahama Lane along North County Road. The third path is the Southern Pedestrian/Bicycle Path, running from Sloan's Curve to the town's southern boundaries along State Road A1A, a distance of roughly 3.5 miles (5.6 km). 

 

Palm Beach has several social and golf clubs, most notably the Everglades Club and Mar-a-Lago. The former, built by Addison Mizner and Paris Singer in 1918, had the original purpose of being a hospital for soldiers injured in World War I. However, the war soon ended and the facilities were restructured into a private club which opened in January 1919. Some of the amenities include a golf course, tennis courts, and reception halls. Everglades Club has nearly 1,000 members. The club, which is very exclusive, does not have a website and prohibits cellphones. Mar-a-Lago is 126-room, 62,500-square-foot (5,810 m2) mansion that features many hotel-style amenities. Built between 1924 and 1927, General Foods and Post Cereals heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post originally owned the estate, but willed it to the United States government prior to her death in 1973 in hopes the residence would be used as a Winter White House. Mar-a-Lago was returned to the Post family in 1981, before being sold to future United States president Donald Trump in 1985 for approximately $10 million.

 

The town of Palm Beach is also known for its many famous part-time and full-time residents. Prior to the arrival of Henry Flagler in the 1890s, a few wealthy or otherwise notable people already resided in Palm Beach, including businessman and Autocar Company founder Louis Semple Clarke and scientist Thomas Adams, a pioneer of the chewing gum industry. Earl E. T. Smith and Paul Ilyinsky, both of whom formerly held the office of Mayor of Palm Beach, were notable for other reasons. Smith previously served as an Ambassador of the United States to Cuba, while Ilyinsky was the son of Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia and heiress Audrey Emery.

 

Two United States Presidents have been part-time residents, John F. Kennedy and Donald Trump, with both designating their respective Palm Beach properties as a Winter White House. Kennedy's Winter White House, La Querida, was built by Addison Mizner in 1923 and previously owned by department store magnate Rodman Wanamaker of Philadelphia before Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. purchased the property in 1933. Trump has owned Mar-a-Lago since 1985, purchasing the property from the family of the late Marjorie Merriweather Post, heiress of Post cereal. In October 2019, Trump and first lady Melania Trump filed to switch their primary domicile from New York City to Mar-a-Lago, officially establishing residency in Palm Beach. Since the conclusion of his presidency in January 2021, Donald and Melania Trump are residing at Mar-a-Lago amidst a dispute from some neighbors about the legality of them taking up permanent residence at the club. Additionally, former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney was a resident of Palm Beach from 2003 until his death in 2024.

As the culminating event for their measuring unit, more than 200 sixth graders designed and raced go-karts outside on the parking lot at Merrill Middle School on September 26th. The go-karts had to have two axels, at least three wheels, and had to mainly consist of a vegetable or fruit. The annual race started five years ago and was designed by the Merrill's science teachers, Christine Ryerson and Blake Hammond, as a way to promote science and curiousity.

The culminating event for R-Day is the Oath Ceremony on the Plain. Despite on and off rain showers throughout the day, the skies broke for the final event. The Commandant of Cadets, Brig. General Richard Clarke gave the oath to the Class of 2017.

Our end of 2022 Summer Arts for Learning Academy performances and art exhibit at Pimlico Elementary Middle School included dance, visual arts, a fashion show, music, theatre, and FUN!

2015 proved to be an incredible year for TR Motorsport and CEA Racing culminating in the capture of Thai Motorsports Holy Grail! The “Fantastic Four” is one of the hardest and most elusive achievements in Motorsport throughout the Kingdom, however before going on let’s take the time to reflect on how it all began…

 

Back in 2010 with TR Motorsport struggling to find a Team Sponsor, CEA Project Logistics duly stepped in to take on the challenge of making the team number 1 again. As the team worked and grew together the ethics and ethos of both team owner Thomas Raldorf and Kevin Fisher MD of CEA began to turn that hard work into results on the track. Over the next four years, several trophies and championships were won. After narrowly missing out on the drivers’ championship in 2014 the team was even more determined to go one step further in 2015.

 

The 2015 season began in perfect fashion with Thomas smashing lap records on every circuit he graced with the ‘Blue Blur’ Honda City, the team looked invincible, however, as with all motorsports very rarely do you have a perfect season! The inevitable mechanical failures popped up causing the team to drop points, however, such was their lead that the championship was won at a canter in the penultimate race at Bira International Circuit, Pattaya. At the ensuing BBQ party back at pit lane it was announced that TR Motorsport & CEA Racing had officially completed the ‘The Fantastic Four’, winning the following:

 

The Drivers’ Championship

The Team Championship

The Manufacturers Championship

The Tire Trophy Championship

Scenes of jubilation filled the pit lane with mechanics, sponsors and guests celebrating this very special achievement well into the night. For Team Owner Thomas Raldorf it was the Crown Jewel he had been waiting so many years for and gave him closure after the previous year’s disappointment. The achievement had been 16 years in the making, after winning 9 other championships the Royal Trophy had always eluded him, until now!

 

Thomas addressed the guests saying, “Winning the Royal Thailand National Championship Trophy is an amazing feeling, but doing it as a guest in this amazing country is even more fantastic, to all of you who have supported us over the last few years I really can’t thank you enough, this is a very humbling moment in my life and one I shall treasure”

 

The Bangkok Motor show provided the backdrop for the 2015 Royal Awards dinner with Thomas Raldorf and his team from TR Motorsport / CEA Racing honored on stage as the 2015 multiple champions. The Thai Royal Guard began the proceedings arriving to the sound of the Royal Anthem replete with the Thai National and Royal flags, esteemed members of the guard carried the Royal Trophies to the stage. Such was the importance and significance of the event, that rehearsals had been undertaken by all the winners earlier that day.

 

It was a visibly proud Thomas that walked the red carpet through a Royal Guard towards the stage. After collection of the Royal Trophy Thomas took the time to pose for the national media in attendance. An equally proud Earl Brown representing both TR Motorsport and CEA Project Logistics made his way to the stage to collect the 2015 Team Championship award. As the event began to wind down and the excitement dissipated both Thomas and Earl took a moment to reflect on their great partnership that had resulted in this incredible achievement for the team, sponsors, and fans. Not one to rest on their laurels the conversation quickly turned to the upcoming 2016 season and what new challenges lay ahead!

 

The 2016 challenge:

 

TR Motorsport are now focusing on the new season as they attempt to defend their 2015 titles. The new season will also mark the start of a new era for the team as CEA will step down as the main sponsor and hand over the reins to BIZpaye International who, as the new incoming main sponsor have some big shoes to fill! But with the hard working attitude of all the team members 2016 promises to be another successful season.

 

As with every new season rule changes are obligatory and are used to try and make the racing more equal for all teams and drivers, the challenge lies in trying to prepare the car for the new regulations and to make it as competitive as possible from the start. TR Motorsport, have been working on their cars for several months now and are getting ready for the first race of the season which takes place on 14th and 15th of May in Buriram. The season kicks off with a 6 Hour Endurance Race at the FIA Chang International Circuit.

 

The team is looking the strongest it has ever been which reflects with the increased number of significant sponsors getting involved for the 2016 season, sponsors already confirmed so far:

 

BIZpaye International

Singha (Boon Rawd Company)

LUXX Lubricants

CEA Project Logistics

Inspire Pattaya

We’re Humans I.T.

Heaven Consultants

Global Insurance Brokers

Lenso Wheels

PFC Brakes

The Pattaya Channel

Thai Visa

MOGIT

The teams’ revised website is being updated and prepared and will be live before the start of the season.

 

The TR Motorsport Facebook page will be updated regularly throughout the season with all the team news and pictures including the increasingly popular Umbrella Girl’s. Thomas also has his own fan page on Facebook called Thomas Raldorf Fan Club

 

Anyone wishing to know more about TR Motorsport can contact them direct through their Facebook page.

M142 HIMARS firing during a culminating training exercise at Fort Sill, Oklahoma

During the 1930s, during the Italian administration, the Raška-Labin coal mining basin experienced its greatest infrastructural expansion. This culminated in 1936 and 1937, with the construction of the new settlement of Raša (Arsia) according to the design of the architect Gustav Pulitzer Finali. Already in 1937, the discovery of a new coal mine was announced below the old Labin, along with the turnoff to Pula. This was an introduction to the last architectural achievement that fascism realized in Istria – the settlement of Podlabin.

 

colnect.com/en/postcards/postcard/481954-Labin_-_Podlabin...

 

The name of the coal mine, and later the settlement, was chosen according to the fascist pattern: Pozzo Littorio (d'Arsia). It means "lictor's shaft" (or well, pit), and the adjective refers to the Lictor's bundle or bundle of twigs with an axe – a symbol of fascism taken from ancient Rome. The later Italian name was Piedalbona. Italian fascism built new, industrial, often mining settlements throughout Italy. The names were in line with the ideology of the time. Among the first was Mussolini in Sardinia (today Arborea) from 1928, and Raša and Podlabin in Istria were two of a series of dozens of new settlements that the fascist regime founded during the height of its policy of autarkic, self-sufficient economy. The establishment of new settlements also meant that various architects experimented with new futuristic, rationalist and modernist architectural patterns.

 

The contractor for the regulatory plan of Podlabin and the architect of its residential and public buildings was Eng. Eugenio Montuori (1907–1982), who had worked on two previous Italian newly built cities before the Istrian project – Carbonia in Sardinia and Sabaudia in Lazio. The settlement was planned around a mining and industrial complex with a 32-meter-high export tower and the Lamparna – a room in which miners borrowed or discharged equipment (lamps, helmets and other things). The residential part was planned for about 3,000 inhabitants and rows of houses intended for both workers and managers (villas). The settlement had a main town square, a church dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi (today Our Lady of Fatima), the city administration or the headquarters of a branch of the fascist party with a characteristic lictor tower (Torre Littoria). Leisure facilities such as a cinema and a sports hall were also planned there.

 

Work on the construction of Podlabin began in November 1939, and despite the fact that World War II was already underway, the authorities of the then still neutral Italy optimistically planned to connect the new mining-urban center and Raša with Pula by railway. The eastern part of Istria was called the "Italian Ruhr". However, the mining history of Istria experienced a severe shock in February 1940, with a major mining tragedy in the Raša coal mines with several hundred deaths. The construction of Podlabin – Pozzo Littorio was further slowed down by Italy's unsuccessful involvement in World War II.

 

Podlabin – Pozzo Littorio was completed and inaugurated on October 28, 1942. Although the ceremony was attended by the Vice-Minister of Corporations Tullio Cianetti, the entire event was less pompous than other similar events in previous years. Namely, the entire nation was then deeply involved in general distrust of the fascist regime and dissatisfaction with Italy's participation in the war. Fascism would indeed fall only six months later.

 

Almost every October 28, the authorities boasted about the so-called "deeds of the regime" and the money spent on the construction of new buildings and, in general, on public works. This date was symbolically important for fascism – it was a celebration of the anniversary of the March on Rome, when Mussolini took power in Italy. The beginning of a new, fascist era was marked, so Podlabin was inaugurated on the 20th year of the "fascist era".

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Tekst from:

  

Tijekom 1930-ih, u doba talijanske uprave, raško-labinski ugljenokopni bazen doživio je svoje najveće infrastrukturno širenje. To je kulminiralo tijekom 1936. i 1937., izgradnjom novog naselja Raša (Arsia) prema projektu arhitekta Gustava Pulitzera Finalija. Već tijekom 1937. godine objavljen je pronalazak novog ugljenokopa podno starog Labina, uz skretanje ceste za Pulu. Bio je to uvod u posljednje graditeljsko postignuće koje je fašizam realizirao u Istri – naselje Podlabin.

 

Naziv ugljenokopa, i kasnije naselja, odabrano je po fašističkom obrascu: Pozzo Littorio (d'Arsia). To znači "liktorsko okno" (ili bunar, jama), a pridjev se odnosi na Liktorski svežanj ili snop pruća sa sjekirom – simbol fašizma preuzet iz antičkog Rima. Kasniji talijanski naziv bio je Piedalbona. Talijanski je fašizam gradio nova, industrijska, često baš rudarska naselja diljem Italije. Imena su bila u skladu s tadašnjom ideologijom. Među prvima bila je Mussolinia na Sardiniji (danas Arborea) iz 1928., a Raša i Podlabin u Istri bila su dva u nizu desetaka novih naselja koje je fašistički režim osnivao tijekom vrhunca svoje politike autarkičnog, samodostatnog gospodarstva. Osnivanje novih naselja značilo je i eksperimentiranje raznih arhitekata s novim futurističkim, racionalističkim i modernističkim arhitekturalnim obrascima.

 

Za izvođača regulacijskog plana Podlabina i arhitekta njegovih stambenih i javnih zgrada odabran je ing. Eugenio Montuori (1907. – 1982.), koji je prije istarskog projekta radio na dva prethodna talijanska novosagrađena grada – Carboniu na Sardiniji i Sabaudiju u Laciju. Naselje je planirano oko rudarsko-industrijskog sklopa s izvoznim tornjem visokim 32 metra i Lamparnom – prostorijom u kojemu su rudari zaduživali ili razduživali opremu (svjetiljke, kacige i drugo). Stambeni dio planiran je za oko 3,000 stanovnika i nizovima kuća namijenjenih što radnicima, što rukovoditeljima (vilete). Naselje je imalo glavni gradski trg, crkvu posvećenu sv. Franji Asiškom (danas Gospi Fatimskoj), gradsku upravu ili sjedište ogranka fašističke stranke s karakterističnim liktorskim tornjem (Torre Littoria). Tu je planiran i razonodni sadržaj kao što su kino i sportska dvorana.

 

Radovi za izgradnju Podlabina krenuli su u studenome 1939., a unatoč činjenici što je Drugi svjetski rat već bio u tijeku, vlasti tada još neutralne Italije optimistično su planirale novi rudarsko-urbani centar i Rašu prugom povezati s Pulom. Istočnome dijelu Istre tepalo se kao "talijanskom Ruhru". Međutim, rudarska povijest Istre doživjela je težak šok u veljači 1940., velikom rudarskom tragedijom u raškim ugljenokopima s nekoliko stotina poginulih. Izgradnju Podlabina – Pozzo Littorio dodatno je usporio neuspješni angažman Italije u Drugome svjetskom ratu.

 

Podlabin – Pozzo Littorio dovršen je i inauguriran 28. listopada 1942. godine. Iako je ceremoniji prisustvovao vice-ministar korporacija Tullio Cianetti, cijeli događaj bio je manje pompozan u odnosu na druge slične događaje prethodnih godina. Naime, čitava je nacija tada duboko zakoračila u opće nepovjerenje prema fašističkom režimu i nezadovoljstvo sudjelovanjem Italije u ratu. Fašizam će, doista, pasti samo šest mjeseci kasnije.

 

Gotovo svakog 28. listopada, vlasti su se hvalile tzv. "djelima režima" i novcem koji je utrošen na izgradnju novih zgrada i, općenito, u javnim radovima. Taj je datum simbolički bio važan za fašizam – radilo se o proslavi godišnjice Marša na Rim, kada je Mussolini preuzeo vlast u Italiji. Obilježavao se početak nove, fašističke ere, tako da je Podlabin inauguriran na XX. godinu "fašističke ere".

The culminating event for R-Day is the Oath Ceremony on the Plain. Despite on and off rain showers throughout the day, the skies broke for the final event. The Commandant of Cadets, Brig. General Richard Clarke gave the oath to the Class of 2017.

A global art phenomenon culminates in a fiery finale at Melbourne Festival, as the subversive and political Santiago Sierra carries out one last act of obliteration to conclude his globetrotting work, DESTROYED WORD.

    

Since 2010, Sierra’s project has traversed the world, commissioning the construction of giant letters from materials of local importance, and then publicly – and dramatically – destroying them. Having built and torn down structures in Iceland, Germany, Austria, New Zealand, France, Holland, Sweden, India and Papua New Guinea, the project now comes to Melbourne for the destruction of the tenth and final letter.?

    

In the forecourt of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, the last letter of DESTROYED WORD will be constructed and then set aflame. With the burning of this pyre the semantic secret of Sierra’s work will be delivered: together the ten letters spell a word, to be revealed with this final destruction – a unifying theme to tie together this orgy of construction and demolition.

    

Each dramatic obliteration has been captured on film, and with the burning of the tenth letter, the archival record of the construction and deletion of each DESTROYED WORD will be on exhibit in the National Gallery of Victoria, the individual acts joining to form an immense work that revels in our collective fascination with creation and destruction.

M142 HIMARS firing during a culminating training exercise at Fort Sill, Oklahoma

Fetishiah's transformation into a "Succubus of lust" and her subsequent actions are detailed through a series of significant events, beginning with her origin as an "angel of the shining light" and culminating in her quest for ultimate power through the "cave of greed.

 

Book 1

 

Chapter 1 - Origin and Corruption

Chapter 2 - Confrontation and Defeat

Chapter 3 - The Cave of Greed and the Quest for Power

Chapter 4 - Search for Queens of Lust

  

Chapter 1 - Origin and Corruption

 

Fetishiah initially existed as one of the "angels of the shining light," beings composed of shiny latex residing in a celestial realm described as "heaven for good latex girls." These angels were intended to embody light and purity. However, the spread of darkness, characterized by "greed, lust, and wickedness," corrupted some of these angels, including Fetishiah. She transformed into a "latex fallen angel of the black-gloss," adopting whips as her weapons, symbolizing her shift from purity to darkness. This corruption led her to infiltrate Latexetal, the high temple and source of shiny latex clothing. In an act of defiance, she sat upon the throne of Latexetal, which was meant to remain unoccupied. This act caused the throne and the temple to turn into black shiny latex, signifying her dominance and the pervasive corruption.

  

Chapter 2 - Confrontation and Defeat

 

Fetishiah's actions resulted in the "falling of Universes" under her dark influence. Rubberrocken, then known as Shiny-Stacey and the "Goddess of protection," confronted Fetishiah. Shiny-Stacey used her "Sword of destruction" to cut the corrupted throne of Latexetal in two, thereby stripping Fetishiah and the temple of their power. This decisive act ended Fetishiah's reign of corruption over Latexetal. Following her defeat, Fetishiah was taken into the timeless void along with Rubberrocken and the other angels. In this new state, Fetishiah transformed into a "Succubus of lust," further evolving her dark nature to be specifically associated with temptation and desire.

  

Chapter 3 - The Cave of Greed and the Quest for Power

 

In a subsequent timeline, Fetishiah discovered the "cave of greed" and the trapped goddess of greed, Goldglossin. Goldglossin was compelled to grant wishes because she had taken so much, and specifically needed to find ten "queens of lust" to fulfill her obligations. Fetishiah, being a "latex lady of lust" herself, recognized an opportunity. To avoid being trapped in the cave like Goldglossin, Fetishiah made a deal: if she found ten females with a very high level of lust for Goldglossin, she would receive 100 wishes. Fetishiah, understanding the implications of such power from her past in Latexetal, knew that 100 wishes would grant her control over "all existence and non-existence and all power." Her ultimate goal was to sit on the "very highest throne," be the "most beautiful most stunning of all time," and even "rewrite every timeline" to her will, effectively undoing Rubberrocken's intervention. She planned not to return to the cave until all ten individuals were sent there. Beings aware of the cave actively tried to keep others away from it.

  

Chapter 4 - Search for Queens of Lust

 

Over the years, Fetishiah sought out lustful individuals by entering their dreams. She traversed many worlds but spent most of her time in the world of Dommalex, specifically on an island called Anddies. Anddies was located southwest of the temple of time, which was dedicated to Aeon, the god of time. This temple was part of Latxrubbero, also known as the land of rubber, and was one of the "12 kingdoms and queendoms." The "cave of wishes" was situated to the south of Anddies.

 

6,000 years ago she found a sexy witch known as Ravan of the Moon lit tower which was in Hexonu. Ravan was both seen as very powerful and wise how help many. But Fetishiah knew of her over darker side of pure hedonism as she trade a wish to all, She give them sometime they wanted for her you take away some of there youth and stay pretty and young. Ravan loved latex and was known as rubber-Ravan and was a dominatrix of both women and men, Fetishiah came to her as a shy sexy sweet latex girl. Fetishiah told her she could live for ever and have all the sexaul pleasure she wishes within the cave of greed. So Ravan went to the cave.

 

4,000 years later, Fetishiah discovered Silverleaf, a "very selfish very hedonistic latex queen." Silverleaf was characterized by her constant attire of shiny latex and her strong fetish for latex, sex, and sexual pleasure, always in latex and always desiring more. Fetishiah visited Silverleaf in her dreams. Silverleaf experienced a "very kinky dream where she was having all the sex she could ever want in the most sluttyest ways" When awoke to find Fetishiah, the shiny latex succubus, sitting on her. Fetishiah then informed Silverleaf that if she desired "more," it could be found within the "cave of greed"

  

Fetishiah's ultimate goal is to gain control over "all existence and non-existence and all power" by acquiring 100 wishes from Goldglossin in the "cave of greed," which she intends to achieve by finding ten "queens of lust" to fulfill Goldglossin's obligations. This power would allow her to sit on the "very highest throne," become the "most beautiful most stunning of all time," and "rewrite every timeline" to her will, effectively undoing Rubberrocken's past intervention.

  

More about: Fetishiah

 

Race: fallen angel - succubus

 

Height : 5,7

 

Hair colour: Blonde

 

Eye colour: red

 

Favourite colours: red and black but will sometime wear gold, hot-pink and dark-purple.

 

Sexually: bisexual

 

Personality: intelligent, power-hungry, idolizing herself, narcissistic, selfish, greedy, mean, dominant, slutty, kinky, sly. flirtatious, and sometime coy

 

Favourite fashion: Sexy shiny latex clothing,

 

Favourite clothing, short-skirts, skin-tight catsuits, corsets, and high-heel boots. all kinds of very sexy hot latex outfits, from very dominant to cute and sassy.

 

Obsessions: power, Latex, and sex and pure sexual pleasure

 

Her Wish: To control over "all existence and non-existence and all power

 

How she would talk:

 

a low, husky purr, incredibly seductive and smooth. Every word would be enunciated with deliberate precision, carrying an undertone of promise and forbidden pleasure. She would speak with an air of absolute confidence and self-possession, never hurried, always in control. Her language would be rich with innuendo and double entendre, subtly hinting at desires you didn't even know you possessed. She might use terms of endearment that feel both intimate and possessive, like "my dear," "sweetheart," or "little one," delivered with a tone that suggests she sees right through you. Her speech would be laced with flattery, expertly tailored to your ego, making you feel uniquely seen and desired. She would ask questions that seem innocent but are designed to probe your deepest desires and vulnerabilities, always with that alluring, knowing smile.

  

Her power list

 

1) Oneirokinesis also known as dreamwalking = the power to walk into the dreams of others and contoll them.

 

2) illusion manipulation = To show things which are not there. or duplication of her self.

 

3) psychic

 

4) powerful magic spells.

 

5) the power of beauty and lust = she is a very sexy lady who knows the lust and dreams of otheres, she will always where the most shinyest latex outfits but she will where the hottest oufits to what you lust over most, this is to get you to bow to her and do what she wants, bending their will to the user's desires.

 

6) Energy Absorption= when she have sex with another or kissing them, she will take there powers adding to her power.

 

7) Teleportation = can telport to awaywhere she can thing of anywhere in space and even between dimensions.

 

8) Portal creation = can open a door way to let otheres in and out.

 

9) space and even between dimensions.

 

10) Power to increase her beauty = The more sex she has and the more lust she feeds on the more beauty stunning she will become. this stops her from ageing forever looking youthful which will there for trigger off more lust in others to worshippship her. She cab have sex in or out of a dream.

  

The culminating event for R-Day is the Oath Ceremony on the Plain. Despite on and off rain showers throughout the day, the skies broke for the final event. The Commandant of Cadets, Brig. General Richard Clarke gave the oath to the Class of 2017.

LOS ANGELES - Culminating its final cross-country journey with a series of low-level flyovers across California, the space shuttle Endeavour arrived safely atop its special transporter aircraft at Los Angeles International Airport on September 21, 2012. Licensed Image - Mandatory Credit: LAFD Photo by Harry Garvin

It wouldn’t be Cadet Field Training without the culminating Field Training Exercise to cap off the four-week summer training program for the Class of 2015. For 72 hours, cadets engaged in continuous activities—everything from reconnaissance in force, repel an ambush, conduct a raid and rescue operation and occupy multiple patrol bases as they move from location to location.

It all contributes to experiencing a unique military training environment, reinforcing soldiering skills, and learning the tactics and technologies as future Army officers. In the meantime, the rising yearlings are shedding the vestige of being West Point plebes as they will advance to the rank of cadet corporals responsible for providing leadership during the academic year to cadets just joining the ranks of the Corps of Cadets.

The rising yearlings were led by upperclass cadets who trained for their duties as platoon leaders, company commanders and such during the Leader Training Program which began two weeks prior to CFT. For many of the participants, the CFT preceded or will follow additional training like an AIAD, Air Assault or Airborne School.

 

Nostalgic dreams culminated into a memorable fall day at the fascinating Gilmore Car Museum where I experienced multiple generations of mobility beginning with the first-ever production automobile from the mind of Karl Benz, dubbed the Benz Motorwagen. Located in the rural lands of Hickory Corners, MI (two hours from Detroit), the timeless museum features specific installations from Lincoln, Cadillac, Franklin, and a Corvette Motorama to name a few.

 

Full story = AutomotiveRhythms.com