Designated a National Landmark in 2011, Lightship Overfalls, located in Lewes, Delaware, is one of 17 remaining lightships built between 1820 and 1952.

The Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal, originally Cincinnati Union Terminal, is a mixed-use complex in the Queensgate neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. Once a major passenger train station, it went into sharp decline during the postwar decline of railroad travel. Most of the building was converted to other uses, and now houses museums, theaters, and a library, as well as special travelling exhibitions. Since 1991, it has been used as a train station once again.

 

Built in 1933, it is a monumental example of Art Deco architecture, for which it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1977.

 

Cincinnati was a major center of railroad traffic in the late 19th and early 20th century, especially as an interchange point between railroads serving the Northeastern and Midwestern states with railroads serving the South. However, intercity passenger traffic was split among no fewer than five stations in Downtown Cincinnati, requiring the many travelers who changed between railroads to navigate local transit themselves. The Louisville and Nashville Railroad, which operated through sleepers with other railroads, was forced to split its operations between two stations. Proposals to construct a union station began as early as the 1890s, and a committee of railroad executives formed in 1912 to begin formal studies on the subject, but a final agreement between all seven railroads that served Cincinnati and the city itself would not come until 1928, after intense lobbying and negotiations, led by Philip Carey Company president George Crabbs. The seven railroads: the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad; the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad; the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway; the Louisville and Nashville Railroad; the Norfolk and Western Railway; the Pennsylvania Railroad; and the Southern Railway selected a site for their new station in the West End, near the Mill Creek.

 

The principal architects of the massive building were Alfred T. Fellheimer and Steward Wagner, with architects Paul Philippe Cret and Roland Wank brought in as design consultants; Cret is often credited as the building's architect, as he was responsible for the building's signature Art Deco style. The Rotunda features the largest semi-dome in the western hemisphere, measuring 180 feet (55 m) wide and 106 feet (32 m) high.

 

The Union Terminal Company was created to build the terminal, railroad lines in and out, and other related transportation improvements. Construction in 1928 with the regrading of the east flood plain of the Mill Creek to a point nearly level with the surrounding city, a massive effort that required 5.5 million cubic yards of landfill. Other improvements included the construction of grade separated viaducts over the Mill Creek and the railroad approaches to Union Terminal. The new viaducts the Union Terminal Company created to cross the Mill Creek valley ranged from the well built, like the Western Hills Viaduct, to the more hastily constructed and shabby, like the Waldvogel Viaduct. Construction on the terminal building itself began in 1931, with Cincinnati mayor Russell Wilson laying the mortar for the cornerstone. Construction was finished ahead of schedule, although the terminal welcomed its first trains even earlier on March 19, 1933 when it was forced into emergency operation due to flooding of the Ohio River. The official opening of the station was on March 31, 1933. The total cost of the project was $41.5 million.

 

During its heyday as a passenger rail facility, Cincinnati Union Terminal had a capacity of 216 trains per day, 108 in and 108 out. Three concentric lanes of traffic were included in the design of the building, underneath the main rotunda of the building: one for taxis, one for buses, and one (although never used) for streetcars. However, the time period in which the terminal was built was one of decline for train travel. By 1939, local newspapers were already describing the station as a white elephant. While it had a brief revival in the 1940s, because of World War II, it declined in use through the 1950s into the 1960s.

 

After the creation of Amtrak in 1971, train service at Cincinnati Union Terminal was reduced to just two trains a day, the George Washington and the James Whitcomb Riley. Amtrak abandoned Cincinnati Union Terminal the next year, opening a smaller station elsewhere in the city on October 29, 1972.

 

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_Museum_Center_at_Union_T...

Nelson is a census-designated place in Clark County, Nevada, United States. The community is in the Pacific Standard Time zone. The location of Nelson is in El Dorado Canyon, Eldorado Mountains. The town is in the southeast region of the Eldorado Valley. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 37. Nelson is located along Nevada State Route 165, about 8 miles (13 km) southeast of its junction with U.S. Route 95. Route 165 continues east 5 miles (8 km) to a dead end at Nelsons Landing on the Colorado River, 18 miles (29 km) by water north of Cottonwood Cove on Lake Mojave. Nelson is about 25 miles (40 km) from Boulder City by road. The area known as Nelson was originally called Eldorado in 1775, by the Spaniards who made the original discoveries of gold in the area that is now Eldorado Canyon. The town was the site of one of the first major gold strikes in Nevada and one of the biggest mining booms in state history. Gold and silver were discovered here around 1859. The rush to the canyon began in 1861, several mining camps were established in the canyon, and a steamboat landing at the mouth of the canyon on the Colorado River, called Colorado City. In its heyday, the area established a reputation for being rough and lawless. During the American Civil War, deserters from both the Union and Confederate armies would wander there, hoping that such an isolated location would be the last place military authorities would look for them. Among the early mines established was the notorious Techatticup Mine in the middle of the canyon. Disagreements over ownership, management and labor disputes resulted in wanton killings so frequent as to be routine and ordinary. Despite the sinister reputation of the mine, it along with others in the town produced several million dollars in gold, silver, copper and lead. The mines in the canyon were active from about 1858 until 1945. The community called Nelson was named for Charles Nelson, a camp leader who was slain in his home, along with four other people, in 1897 by the renegade Indian, Avote. Between, 1901 and 1905 the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad was built across southern Nevada, through Las Vegas, to Daggett, California where it connected to the AT&SF, and the complete Salt Lake–Los Angeles line was opened on May 1, 1905. This nearby railhead ended the need for steamboats at Eldorado Canyon, the landing and the mill there were abandoned. The town of Nelson was born near the head of the canyon nearest the road to the railroad, the post office of Eldorado was closed on August 31, 1907 and moved to Nelson. The mines and the landing are accessible through the town of Nelson off US 95 about 25 miles southwest of Las Vegas. Much of Nelson, which was not impacted by the 1974 flood, remains today and is located near the top of the wash, away from the flood channels. The sparsely populated community consists mainly of privately owned ranch houses, and a river and mining tour business housed in a former Texaco gas station, north of the road from the Techatticup Mine, that has been used as a filming location for several feature films, including 3000 Miles to Graceland. The fate of Nelson's Landing is a warning to visitors to this region who should watch for conditions leading to flash flooding. They should also be cautious of open mines and ventilation shafts.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson,_Nevada

 

El Dorado Canyon is a canyon in southern Clark County, Nevada famed for its rich silver and gold mines. The canyon was named in 1857 by steamboat entrepreneur Captain George Alonzo Johnson when gold and silver was discovered here. It drains into the Colorado River at the former site of Nelson's Landing. The town of Nelson lies in the upper reach of the canyon. Eldorado Canyon Mine Tours operates mid way in the canyon at the Techatticup Mine one of the oldest and most productive mines in the canyon. Prospecting and mining in the El Dorado Canyon had been going on from at least 1857 if not earlier. But in April 1861, as the American Civil War began, word got out that silver and some gold and copper lodes had been discovered by John Moss and others in what became known as El Dorado Canyon, in New Mexico Territory, now Nevada. The canyon was on the west side of the river sixty five miles above Fort Mohave at what was then considered the limit of navigation of the river. George A. Johnson came up river and made a deal to supply the mines with his steamboats at a lower price than that provided overland across the Mohave Desert from Los Angeles. That fall news of the strikes in the Colorado Mining District, (by 1864 also called the Eldorado Canyon District), brought a flood of miners to the canyon. Several mining camps were founded in the canyon over the years. At the beginning San Juan, or Upper Camp were at the top of the canyon miles from the river near the modern town of Nelson. Midway down the canyon near the Techatticup Mine were Alturas and Louisville. At the mouth of the canyon was the boat landing of Colorado City. During the time of the American Civil War, three new mining camps developed in the middle canyon. In 1862, Lucky Jim Camp was formed along Eldorado Canyon above January Wash, south of the Techatticup Mine. Lucky Jim Camp was the home of miners sympathetic to the Confederate cause. A mile up the canyon was a camp with Union sympathies called Buster Falls. In late 1863, Col. John R. Vineyard, at the time a California State Senator for Los Angeles, completed a ten stamp mill the first in the canyon, on its north side just below Lucky Jim Camp, at what soon became El Dorado City. Vineyard's mill, assembled from mill parts salvaged from abandoned works in the Mother Lode country of California, processed the ore of its mines and cut out the cost of shipping the ore out to San Francisco for such processing, cutting costs in half. George Alonzo Johnson's steamboat company losing this downstream ore trade and making fewer trips up to the Canyon responded by raising its freight rates. From 1865 to 1867 as part of Mohave County, Arizona Territory, El Dorado Canyon had its own post office. In 1867, to secure the riverboat traffic and protect miners in the canyon from Paiute attacks the U.S. Army established Camp El Dorado, an outpost at the mouth of El Dorado Canyon that remained until it was abandoned in 1869. From 1870 the mines again were active to the point where from 1879 to 1907 El Dorado Canyon again had a post office, now in Clark County, Nevada. The mines continued to produce ore until World War II.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Dorado_Canyon_(Nevada)

My daughter told me about this series on Netflix. If you enjoyed House Of Cards I suspect you'll like this one too.

アメリカヒトツバタゴ

モクセイ科 / ヒトツバタゴ属

Chionanthus virginicus Linn., 1753

This name is accepted. 04/28, 2022.

-----------------------------------

Family: Oleaceae (APG IV)

-----------------------------------

Authors:

Carl von Linnaeus (1707-1778)

-----------------------------------

Published In:

Species Plantarum 1: 8. 1753. (1 May 1753) (Sp. Pl.)

Name publication detailView in BotanicusView in Biodiversity Heritage Library

-----------------------------------

Annotation:

as "virginica"

Type Specimens:

LT: ; ; (LINN-21.1) LT designated by Reveal, Regnum Veg. 127: 33 (1993)

-----------------------------------

Synonyms:

Chionanthus angustifolius Raf., New flora and botany of North America, or, A supplemental flora, additional to all the botanical works on North America and the United States. Containing 1000 new or revised species. 3: 88. 1838. (New Fl.)

Chionanthus cotinifolius Willd., Sp. Pl., ed. 4 [Willdenow] 1(1): 47 (1797).

Chionanthus fragrans Edwards ex Steud., Nomencl. Bot. [Steudel], ed. 2. 1: 351 (1840).

Chionanthus heterophyla Raf., New flora and botany of North America, or, A supplemental flora, additional to all the botanical works on North America and the United States. Containing 1000 new or revised species. 3: 87. 1838. (New Fl.)

Chionanthus latifolius Aiton ex Steud., Nomencl. Bot. [Steudel], ed. 2. 1: 350 (1840).

Chionanthus longifolius Raf., New flora and botany of North America, or, A supplemental flora, additional to all the botanical works on North America and the United States. Containing 1000 new or revised species. 3: 88. 1838. (New Fl.)

Chionanthus luteus hort. ex Lavallée, Énum. Arbres 173 (1877).

Chionanthus maritimus (Pursh) Sweet, Hort. Brit. [Sweet], ed. 2. 351 (1830).

Chionanthus montanus (Pursh) Raf., New flora and botany of North America, or, A supplemental flora, additional to all the botanical works on North America and the United States. Containing 1000 new or revised species. 3: 87. 1838. (New Fl.)

Chionanthus obovatus Raf., New flora and botany of North America, or, A supplemental flora, additional to all the botanical works on North America and the United States. Containing 1000 new or revised species. 3: 87. 1838. (New Fl.)

Chionanthus roseus Barton, Fl. Virgin. (Barton) 2 (1812); cf. Pennell in Bartonia, 1925-6, No. 9, 28 (1926). (1812).

Chionanthus trifidus Moench, Methodus (Moench) 478 (1794).

Chionanthus triflorus Stokes, Bot. Mat. Med. i. 19 (1812).

Chionanthus vernalis Salisb., Prodr. Stirp. Chap. Allerton 14 (1796).

Chionanthus vernus Baill., Hist. Pl. (Baillon) 1: 295 (1869).

Chionanthus virginicus subsp. maritimus (Pursh) A.E.Murray, Kalmia 12: 19 (1982).

Chionanthus virginicus var. angustifolius Aiton, Hort. Kew. [W. Aiton] 1: 14 (1789).

Chionanthus virginicus var. latifolius Aiton, Hort. Kew. [W. Aiton] 1: 14 (1789).

Chionanthus virginicus var. maritimus Pursh, Fl. Amer. Sept. (Pursh) 1: 8 (1813).

Chionanthus virginicus var. montanus Pursh, Fl. Amer. Sept. (Pursh) 1: 8 (1813).

Chionanthus zeylanicus Lam., Tabl. Encycl. i. 30 (1791).

Ligustrum cotinifolium (Willd.) Jacques, Manuel Général des Plantes 3: 3. 1857. (Man. Gén. Pl.)

Linociera cotinifolia (Willd.) Vahl, Enum. Pl. Obs. 1: 46. 1804. (Enum. Pl. Obs.)

-----------------------------------

Accepted By:

Anonymous. 1986. List-Based Rec., Soil Conserv. Serv., U.S.D.A. Database of the U.S.D.A., Beltsville.

Correll, D. S. & M. C. Johnston. 1970. Man. Vasc. Pl. Texas i–xv, 1–1881. The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson.

Fernald, M. 1950. Manual (ed. 8) i–lxiv, 1–1632. American Book Co., New York.

Gleason, H. A. 1968. The Sympetalous Dicotyledoneae. vol. 3. 596 pp. In H. A. Gleason Ill. Fl. N.E. U.S.. New York Botanical Garden, New York.

Gleason, H. A. & A. J. Cronquist. 1991. Man. Vasc. Pl. N.E. U.S. (ed. 2) i–910. New York Botanical Garden, Bronx.

Godfrey, R. K. & J. W. Wooten. 1981. Aquatic Wetland Pl. S.E. U.S. Dicot. 1–944. Univ. Georgia Press, Athens.

Radford, A. E., H. E. Ahles & C. R. Bell. 1968. Man. Vasc. Fl. Carolinas i–lxi, 1–1183. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill.

Small, J. K. 1933. Man. S.E. Fl. i–xxii, 1–1554. Published by the Author, New York. View in BotanicusView in Biodiversity Heritage Library

Ulloa Ulloa, C., P. Acevedo-Rodríguez, S. G. Beck, M. J. Belgrano, R. Bernal González, P. E. Berry, L. Brako, M. Celis, G. Davidse, S. R. Gradstein, O. Hokche, B. León, S. León-Yánez, R. E. Magill, D. A. Neill, M. H. Nee, P. H. Raven, H. Stimmel, M. T. Strong, J. L. Villaseñor Ríos, J. L. Zarucchi, F. O. Zuloaga & P. M. Jørgensen. 2017. An integrated assessment of vascular plants species of the Americas. Science 358: 1614–1617 [Online Suppl. Materials: 1–23 + 1–2497], f. 1–4 [f. S1–5].

Ulloa Ulloa, C., P. Acevedo-Rodríguez, S. G. Beck, M. J. Belgrano, R. Bernal González, P. E. Berry, L. Brako, M. Celis, G. Davidse, S. R. Gradstein, O. Hokche, B. León, S. León-Yánez, R. E. Magill, D. A. Neill, M. H. Nee, P. H. Raven, H. Stimmel, M. T. Strong, J. L. Villaseñor Ríos, J. L. Zarucchi, F. O. Zuloaga & P. M. Jørgensen. 2018 [Onwards]. An integrated Assessment of Vascular Plants Species of the Americas (Online Updates).

Wunderlin, R. P. 1998. Guide Vasc. Pl. Florida i–x, 1–806. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.

-----------------------------------

  

SONY NEX-5R

OLYMPUS OM Zuiko MC Auto Macro 50mm F3.5

The M1 Garand, officially designated “United States M1 Rifle, .30 caliber”, was adopted in 1936 and served as the first standard-issue, self-loading (semi-automatic) rifle of the USA, and indeed, of any major army in history. General Patton called the M1 “the greatest battle implement ever devised” and it gave Americans a great advantage over slower bolt-action rifles.

 

I wanted to revisit my original LEGO M1 (2011), my oldest surviving MOC to date, and see how much farther I could push the realism with all the newer parts and building techniques that are available.

 

Instructions available at brickreplicas.com/m1-garand/, along with more photos and details.

The M1 Garand, officially designated “United States M1 Rifle, .30 caliber”, was adopted in 1936 and served as the first standard-issue, self-loading (semi-automatic) rifle of the USA, and indeed, of any major army in history. General Patton called the M1 “the greatest battle implement ever devised” and it gave Americans a great advantage over slower bolt-action rifles.

 

I wanted to revisit my original LEGO M1 (2011), my oldest surviving MOC to date, and see how much farther I could push the realism with all the newer parts and building techniques that are available.

 

Instructions available at brickreplicas.com/m1-garand/, along with more photos and details.

91111 heads north through the Durham countryside at High Burnigill with the 1N08 0830 Kings Cross to Newcastle service.

 

The reign of the 91's on the ECML is drawing to a close with July seeing the first withdrawals with 91108 going off lease.

 

91111 seems to have a more certain future having been designated by the Railway Heritage Designation Advisory Board for preservation as part of the national collection.

 

23rd July 2019.

© Luís Campillo 2015

Model Ane Sehnsucht. www.anesehnsucht.com

www.luiscampillo.es

www.facebook.com/loft44studio

luiscampillo.tumblr.com/

instagram.com/luiscampillo/

Nelson is a census-designated place in Clark County, Nevada, United States. The community is in the Pacific Standard Time zone. The location of Nelson is in El Dorado Canyon, Eldorado Mountains. The town is in the southeast region of the Eldorado Valley. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 37. Nelson is located along Nevada State Route 165, about 8 miles (13 km) southeast of its junction with U.S. Route 95. Route 165 continues east 5 miles (8 km) to a dead end at Nelsons Landing on the Colorado River, 18 miles (29 km) by water north of Cottonwood Cove on Lake Mojave. Nelson is about 25 miles (40 km) from Boulder City by road. The area known as Nelson was originally called Eldorado in 1775, by the Spaniards who made the original discoveries of gold in the area that is now Eldorado Canyon. The town was the site of one of the first major gold strikes in Nevada and one of the biggest mining booms in state history. Gold and silver were discovered here around 1859. The rush to the canyon began in 1861, several mining camps were established in the canyon, and a steamboat landing at the mouth of the canyon on the Colorado River, called Colorado City. In its heyday, the area established a reputation for being rough and lawless. During the American Civil War, deserters from both the Union and Confederate armies would wander there, hoping that such an isolated location would be the last place military authorities would look for them. Among the early mines established was the notorious Techatticup Mine in the middle of the canyon. Disagreements over ownership, management and labor disputes resulted in wanton killings so frequent as to be routine and ordinary. Despite the sinister reputation of the mine, it along with others in the town produced several million dollars in gold, silver, copper and lead. The mines in the canyon were active from about 1858 until 1945. The community called Nelson was named for Charles Nelson, a camp leader who was slain in his home, along with four other people, in 1897 by the renegade Indian, Avote. Between, 1901 and 1905 the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad was built across southern Nevada, through Las Vegas, to Daggett, California where it connected to the AT&SF, and the complete Salt Lake–Los Angeles line was opened on May 1, 1905. This nearby railhead ended the need for steamboats at Eldorado Canyon, the landing and the mill there were abandoned. The town of Nelson was born near the head of the canyon nearest the road to the railroad, the post office of Eldorado was closed on August 31, 1907 and moved to Nelson. The mines and the landing are accessible through the town of Nelson off US 95 about 25 miles southwest of Las Vegas. Much of Nelson, which was not impacted by the 1974 flood, remains today and is located near the top of the wash, away from the flood channels. The sparsely populated community consists mainly of privately owned ranch houses, and a river and mining tour business housed in a former Texaco gas station, north of the road from the Techatticup Mine, that has been used as a filming location for several feature films, including 3000 Miles to Graceland. The fate of Nelson's Landing is a warning to visitors to this region who should watch for conditions leading to flash flooding. They should also be cautious of open mines and ventilation shafts.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson,_Nevada

 

El Dorado Canyon is a canyon in southern Clark County, Nevada famed for its rich silver and gold mines. The canyon was named in 1857 by steamboat entrepreneur Captain George Alonzo Johnson when gold and silver was discovered here. It drains into the Colorado River at the former site of Nelson's Landing. The town of Nelson lies in the upper reach of the canyon. Eldorado Canyon Mine Tours operates mid way in the canyon at the Techatticup Mine one of the oldest and most productive mines in the canyon. Prospecting and mining in the El Dorado Canyon had been going on from at least 1857 if not earlier. But in April 1861, as the American Civil War began, word got out that silver and some gold and copper lodes had been discovered by John Moss and others in what became known as El Dorado Canyon, in New Mexico Territory, now Nevada. The canyon was on the west side of the river sixty five miles above Fort Mohave at what was then considered the limit of navigation of the river. George A. Johnson came up river and made a deal to supply the mines with his steamboats at a lower price than that provided overland across the Mohave Desert from Los Angeles. That fall news of the strikes in the Colorado Mining District, (by 1864 also called the Eldorado Canyon District), brought a flood of miners to the canyon. Several mining camps were founded in the canyon over the years. At the beginning San Juan, or Upper Camp were at the top of the canyon miles from the river near the modern town of Nelson. Midway down the canyon near the Techatticup Mine were Alturas and Louisville. At the mouth of the canyon was the boat landing of Colorado City. During the time of the American Civil War, three new mining camps developed in the middle canyon. In 1862, Lucky Jim Camp was formed along Eldorado Canyon above January Wash, south of the Techatticup Mine. Lucky Jim Camp was the home of miners sympathetic to the Confederate cause. A mile up the canyon was a camp with Union sympathies called Buster Falls. In late 1863, Col. John R. Vineyard, at the time a California State Senator for Los Angeles, completed a ten stamp mill the first in the canyon, on its north side just below Lucky Jim Camp, at what soon became El Dorado City. Vineyard's mill, assembled from mill parts salvaged from abandoned works in the Mother Lode country of California, processed the ore of its mines and cut out the cost of shipping the ore out to San Francisco for such processing, cutting costs in half. George Alonzo Johnson's steamboat company losing this downstream ore trade and making fewer trips up to the Canyon responded by raising its freight rates. From 1865 to 1867 as part of Mohave County, Arizona Territory, El Dorado Canyon had its own post office. In 1867, to secure the riverboat traffic and protect miners in the canyon from Paiute attacks the U.S. Army established Camp El Dorado, an outpost at the mouth of El Dorado Canyon that remained until it was abandoned in 1869. From 1870 the mines again were active to the point where from 1879 to 1907 El Dorado Canyon again had a post office, now in Clark County, Nevada. The mines continued to produce ore until World War II.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Dorado_Canyon_(Nevada)

Designated Marksman Rifle

NOW AVAILABLE ON MY SHOP!

www.shapeways.com/model/199587/scoped_marksmanship_rifle....

The Porta Nigra (Latin for black gate) is a large Roman city gate in Trier, Germany. It is today the largest Roman city gate north of the Alps. It is designated as part of the Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St. Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 

The name Porta Nigra originated in the Middle Ages due to the darkened colour of its stone; the original Roman name has not been preserved. Locals commonly refer to the Porta Nigra simply as Porta.

The Porta Nigra was built in grey sandstone after 170 AD[1]. The original gate consisted of two four-storied towers, projecting as near semicircles on the outer side. A narrow courtyard separated the two gate openings on either side. For unknown reasons, however, the construction of the gate remained unfinished. For example, the stones at the northern (outer) side of the gate were never abraded, and the protruding stones would have made it impossible to install movable gates. Nonetheless, the gate was used for several centuries until the end of the Roman era in Trier. It serves as an entrance to town.

 

In Roman times, the Porta Nigra was part of a system of four city gates, one of which stood at each side of the roughly rectangular Roman city. The Porta Nigra guarded the northern entry to the Roman city, while the Porta Alba (White Gate) was built in the east, the Porta Media (Middle Gate) in the south, and the Porta Inclyta (Famous Gate) in the west, next to the Roman bridge across the Moselle. The gates stood at the ends of the two main streets of the Roman Trier, one of which led north-south and the other east-west. Of these gates, only the Porta Nigra still exists today.

 

In the early Middle Ages the Roman city gates were no longer used for their original function and their stones were taken and reused for other buildings. Also, iron and lead braces were broken out of the walls of the Porta Nigra for reuse. Traces of this destruction are still clearly visible on the north side of the gate.

 

After 1028, the Greek monk Simeon lived as a hermit in the ruins of the Porta Nigra. After his death (1035) and sanctification, the Simeonstift monastery was built next to the Porta Nigra to honor him. To save it from further destruction, the Porta Nigra was transformed into a church: the inner court of the gate was roofed and intermediate ceilings were inserted. The two middle stories of the former gate were converted into the church naves: the upper story being of the monks and the lower story for the general public. The ground floor with the large gates was sealed, and a large outside staircase was constructed alongside the south side (the town side) of the gate, up to the lower story of the church. A small staircase led further up to the upper story. The church rooms were accessible through former windows of the western tower of the Porta Nigra that were enlarged to become entrance doors (still visible today). The top floor of the western tower was used as church tower, the eastern tower was leveled, and an apse added at its east side. An additional gate (the much smaller Simeon Gate) was built adjacent to the East side of the Porta Nigra and served as a city gate in medieval times.

  

Porta Nigra (aka Porta Martis) in 1670

In 1802 Napoleon Bonaparte dissolved the church in the Porta Nigra and the monastery beside it, along with the vast majority of Trier's numerous churches and monasteries. On his visit to Trier in 1804, Napoleon ordered that the Porta Nigra be converted back to its Roman form. Only the apse was kept, but the eastern tower was not rebuilt to its original height. Local legend has it that Napoleon originally wanted to completely tear down the church, but locals convinced him that the church had actually been a Gaulish festival hall before being turned into a church. Another version of the story is that they told him about its Roman origins, persuading him to convert the gate back to its original form.

 

In 1986 the Porta Nigra was designated a World Heritage Site, along with other Roman monuments in Trier and its surroundings.

  

Trier or Treves is a southwestern German city in the Moselle wine region, near the Luxembourg border. Founded by the Romans, it contains several well-preserved Roman structures like the Porta Nigra gate, the ruins of Roman baths, an amphitheater just outside the center and a stone bridge over the Moselle River. The Archaeological Museum displays Roman artifacts. Among Trier’s many Catholic churches is Trier Cathedral.

wikipedia

The Rootes car showroom and workshops, Mill Street, Maidstone, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * The building is of architectural interest as an example of a Modernist motorcar showroom and workshops which retains a significant proportion of its original fabric. * The building is of architectural interest due to its grand scale, town-centre location and picturesque setting adjacent to the Len mill pond, which distinguishes it from other buildings associated with the motorcar industry during this phase of early motoring. * The building is a prominent manifestation of a hugely successful British car manufacturer, built in a period when the expansion of car ownership was having a the revolutionary impact on the physical and social fabric of the nation.

 

Details

883/0/10032

 

MAIDSTONE MILL STREET Rootes Maidstone

 

01-OCT-09

 

II Car showroom and workshops, 1938-39, by Howard and Souster.

 

MATERIALS: steel-framed and reinforced concrete structure, walls of brick faced with reconstituted-stone blocks, now painted white. Roof of reinforced concrete and steel frame with metal sheeting. Floors of reinforced concrete with Terrazzo, rubber and grano finishing. Steel casement windows.

 

PLAN: irregular L-shape plan with showroom, offices (now snooker club) and car storage to the west facing onto Mill Street (this block is known as Len House), and workshops and administration block to the east, facing on to Len Pond. The east block is set back from Mill Road creating a courtyard space where an island filling station was originally located.

 

EXTERIOR: Moderne style west block (Len House) is built over two stories with a flat roof and parapet (now capped in folded metal sheet) to the front and a saw-tooth roof with corrugated covering to the rear. Ground floor double height showroom frontage with polished black stone stall-riser and integral fascia band, now covered by modern signage. A horizontal band of windows at first floor is interrupted by a central triangular tower, which rises from a canopy over the main showroom entrance. A string course connects the heads and sills of the windows. To the north, a single bay provides access from the street to the first floor through a pair of panelled timber doors. Over the door on a simple square-edged door surround applied lettering spells the name 'LEN HOUSE' above which is a band of horizontal reeding. At first floor a single window is surrounded by a square-edged architrave with an expressed keystone and reeded sill. The Mill Street elevation curves round into the south elevation of the block which provides a secondary canopied entrance to the showroom and a vehicular access to the car store to the rear of the block. The east block is over two floors but a mezzanine level at the west end results in two rows of upper windows on the west elevation. As with the west block, these horizontal bands of windows have a string course connecting their heads and sills. The west elevation provides access to the administration block with a canopy over the door, and a vehicular access into the workshops behind. The west elevation curves round into the south elevation. At either end the south elevation is punctuated by a projecting bay with raised parapet and pierced balconette in front of the ground floor window. Between the projecting bays are five bays with a continuous string course at the window heads and sills, either side of a central bay with a pronounced architrave and pierced balconette. To the far west of this elevation is an original entrance door into the administration block. The east elevation has been rendered and the fenestration largely blocked or altered and a new central entrance and canopy installed. The north elevation is of untreated brick with concrete banding at first floor and roof level. Most of the original openings remain although there has been some alteration. This elevation is of lesser interest. The roof of the east block is flat to the south, with ridge and furrow covered in corrugated sheeting to the north. The ridges are mounted by extractor units.

 

INTERIOR: the showroom has a modern interior, generally of little architectural interest, although a curved mezzanine viewing gallery (now enclosed) remains in the south-east corner of the showroom. The former offices on the first floor, now snooker hall, have been fitted with a Victorian-style interior, not of special interest. The car storage area to the rear of the showroom is largely open in plan, and fully open to the roof. At ground floor and mezzanine level the administration block is partially open-plan and partially subdivided into small offices with non-structural partitioning. The workshops are largely open plan with the vehicular ramp between ground and first floor being a principal feature. The concrete and steel structure of the building is undisguised; at ground floor concrete cross beams rest on large columns, supporting the first floor above, at first floor the workshops are open to the roof. The far east of the block is separated-off with a modern office interior, not of special interest. A number of original staircases remain throughout the building, mainly characterised by curved steel-strip balusters with wood or metal hand rails.

 

HISTORY: the Rootes motorcar showroom and workshop was built in 1937-38 for Rootes Ltd by Howard and Souster, an architectural firm who specialised in industrial and commercial buildings and who undertook a number of commissions for Rootes. The site, adjacent to a mill pond on the River Len, had formerly been occupied by a tannery. The tannery buildings were acquired by Rootes in 1917 and were later demolished to make way for the new complex of showroom, filling station, workshops and offices. At the time of its opening in April 1938, the showroom was considered the largest and most up to date in Kent; at night 700ft of neon tubing outlined the frontage and spelled out the name 'ROOTES' on the tower above the main entrance.

 

Rootes was started in 1895 by William Rootes Snr who opened a cycle and repair shop in Goudhurst, Kent. The business soon moved into motor cars and its growing success took him to new larger premises in Hawkhurst and then Maidstone, where his son William was placed in charge. In 1917 William was demobilised from the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve to start the first aero engine repair organisation in the country. It was at this point that the old tannery, adjacent to the Len mill pond in Mill Street was obtained by the Rootes firm. Previously operating as a private firm, Rootes became Rootes Ltd, The Len Engineering Works, Maidstone; formed for the purpose of overhauling and repairing aero engines for the government.

 

By the mid 1920s, Rootes had become Britain's largest motor retailer and had moved into coach-building, acquiring in 1925 the firm of Thrupp and Maberly, coach builders for Humber, Daimler and Rolls-Royce. In the late 1920s, Rootes Ltd moved into car manufacture, forming Rootes Securities and making a successful bid for Humber-Hillman-Commer. The Hillman Minx, launched in 1931 became an outstanding success and by the late 1930s was the most popular light car in the world. In the mid 1930s the famous names of Sunbeam, Clement Talbot and Karrier all became part of the Rootes family. By 1937, Rootes controlled eight manufacturing companies, seven distributing companies, and was also controlling one of the largest export businesses in the British motor industry.

 

By the late 1930s manufacturing had moved away from the Maidstone site so the Len Engineering Works was rebuilt as a model super service station. In the preceding years, the motor car had become more accessible to the middle classes; the new showroom on Mill Street prided itself on offering 'models for the masses and millionaires'. The motor industry had embraced modernism in its architecture during the 1930s; the opportunities to exploit new materials and technologies allowed for an architectural expression linked to both the ideals of the motor industry, and the aspirations of their customers. The size of the Rootes showroom floor, uninterrupted by supporting columns, combined with an elegant, streamlined exterior glowing with neon light, would have made an impressive sight. The Rootes complex was referred to as a 'palace of modern motoring'.

 

The post war years saw continued national and international success for Rootes but the 1960s brought change. In financial difficulty, aid came from Chrysler who eventually acquired a majority share and the company became Chrysler United Kingdom. When Chrysler pulled out of Britain, ownership of the Rootes showroom and workshops passed to the Peugeot-Talbot Motor Company. The site is now owned by Robins and Day Ltd and continues to operate as a car showroom and repair garage.

 

SOURCES Tony Calladine and Kathryn Morrison, Road Transport Buildings, A Report by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England for the English Heritage Post-1939 Listing Programme (1998), 8-35 (held in the National Monuments Record Centre) Julian Holder and Steven Parissien, The Architecture of British Transport in the Twentieth Century (2004), 161-188 'Kent's Link with Britain's Motor Industry', Kent Tells The World, 1951 'Rootes Strengthen Ties with County of Their Birth' Kent Messenger, April 9 1938 'Rootes' New Maidstone Showrooms', The Motor, 12 April 1938, 489 'Rootes of Maidstone, Part One: From Goudhurst to the World', Irene Hales, Bygone Kent, vol. 7, no. 10, 1986 'Rootes of Maidstone, Part Two: An Industrial Giant', Irene Hales, Bygone Kent, vol. 7, no. 11, 1986 'Rootes Reconstruct at Maidstone', The Motor, 22 March 1938, 342 'Stores, Shops and Showrooms Reference Section', Architectural Design and Construction, May 1939

 

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION The Rootes car showroom and workshops, Mill Street, Maidstone, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * the building is of special architectural interest as an example of a Modernist motorcar showroom, office and workshops complex which retains a significant proportion of its original fabric. * the building is of special architectural interest due to its grand scale, town-centre location and picturesque setting adjacent to the Len mill pond, which distinguishes it from other buildings associated with the motorcar industry during this phase of early motoring. * the building is a prominent manifestation of a hugely successful British car manufacturer, built in a period when the expansion of car ownership was having a the revolutionary impact on the physical and social fabric of the nation.

Sh2-155 (also designated Sharpless 155 or S155) is a diffuse nebula in the constellation Cepheus, within a larger nebula complex containing emission, reflection, and dark nebulosity. It is widely known as the Cave Nebula, though that name was applied earlier to Ced 201, a different nebula in Cepheus. Sh2-155 is an ionized H II region with ongoing star formation activity, at an estimated distance of 725 parsecs (2400 light-years) from Earth.

 

Sh2-155 was first noted as a galactic emission nebula in 1959 in the extended second edition of the Sharpless catalogue, being a part of the much larger Cep OB3 Association. Although Sh2-155 is relatively faint for amateur observation, some of its structure may be seen visually through a moderately sized telescope under dark skies.

 

Sh2-155 lies at the edge of the Cepheus B cloud (part of the Cepheus molecular cloud), and is ionized by young stars from the Cep OB3 association. It has been suggested that radiation from the hot O-type star HD 217086 is compressing the region, triggering the formation of a new generation of stars. A study of the region's young stellar objects by the Chandra X-ray Observatory and Spitzer Space Telescope shows a progression of stellar ages in front of the cloud, supporting the hypothesis of triggered star-formation.

 

Other name designations[edit]

The name "Cave Nebula" was coined for this object by Patrick Moore, presumably derived from photographic images showing a curved arc of emission nebulosity corresponding to a cave mouth. The name was also used earlier to refer to another brighter but unrelated reflection nebula in Cepheus known as Ced 201 or VdB 152, positioned at R.A.: 22h 13m 27s Dec.: +70° 15′ 18″ (2000). The name's application to Sh2-155 has come into vogue through the nebula's inclusion in Moore's Caldwell catalogue as object Caldwell 9. (SIMBAD lists the name for Ced 201, but not for Sh2-155.) [Text from wikipedia]

 

Takahashi FSQ-106 f 5

CCD Moravian G2-8300

Filters: Astronomik LRGB, Halpha 6 nm

Date: 17/10/2013 - 28/11/2013 - 01/12/2013

Italy, Long 7°41'40"E, Lat 45°28'18"N. Sky 20,9-21,4

Halpha: 160 min; L: 220 min; RGB: 40 min X 3

Maxim DL 5

Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop, Pixinsight

 

Headquarters*Wasilla Alaska

It is a National Historic Trail, so designated by the Congress of the United States. From Seward on the South Central Coast to Nome on the Bering Sea. It is a highway, a mail route, & a gold avenue from the interior, part of it became a lifeline for Diptheria Serum to be carried to Nome during the epidemic of 1925.

 

It is now a trappers trail, a recreation trail, still a lifeline for some villages, & the avenue for the most challenging & demanding long distance sled dog race in the world.

 

"The Iditarod," 1049 miles Anchorage to Nome through Alaska wilderness, over mountain passes, down frozen rivers & along the wind swept sea coast, truly the majesty & mystery that is "The Last Greta Race On Earth."

   

The aircraft is designated the S102B Korpen in Flygvapnet service the aircraft is used in the SIGINT role. SIGINT is intelligence-gathering by interception of signals, whether between people (COMINT) or involving electronic signals not directly used in communication (ELINT) and can be a combinations of the two. Based at Malmen in the east of the country with 73 SIGINT Squadron, the aircraft were procured in 1995 to replace the outdated TP85 Sud Aviation Caravelle which had been in service since 1971. The Aircraft was finally retiered in 1998 after the S102B gained it Full mission capability. Both aircraft fitted out for the role come under the command of Transport & Special Flights Unit who are responsible for the care and maintenance of the SIS Division aircraft. Flown with a crew of 6 (pilot, co-pilot and four system operators), the aircraft is externally characterised by sensor fairings on either side of its nose and forward fuselage, a canoe fairing below its forward fuselage and an array of hook and blade antennas installed on the lower surfaces of its wings, fuselage centre section and rear fuselage. The S 102B provides intelligence data for the Swedish government's security agency (the FRA), the SF and the Swedish Navy. When operating with the armed services, the Korpen down links data directly to combined air operations centres and navy surface combatants. The two aircraft got the individual names “Hugin” and “Munin” after the Scandiavian ancient God Oden’s two ravens, who saw everything that happened in the world.

The Nelson's Monument is a commemorative column or tower built in memorial to Admiral Horatio Nelson, situated on the Denes, Great Yarmouth in the county of Norfolk, England. It was designated as a Grade I listed structure in 1953

Designed by architect William Wilkins, it was raised in the period 1817–19 from money raised by a committee of local magnates. The first custodian of the monument was former Able Seaman James Sharman, a member of the crew of HMS Victory from Norfolk and one of those who carried Nelson below decks after he was shot.

 

The monument, correctly called the Norfolk Naval Pillar, is in the style of a Doric column topped by six caryatid figures that support a statue of Britannia proudly standing atop a globe inscribed with the motto from Nelson's coat of arms Palmam Qui Meruit Ferat (translates to 'Let him who has merited it take the palm'), she holds an olive branch in her outstretched right hand, a trident in her left and looks inland – said to be towards Nelson's birthplace in Burnham Thorpe in Norfolk. The whole monument is 144 ft (44 m) high, compared to 169 ft (52 m) for the monument in Trafalgar Square and the top is reached by some two hundred and seventeen steps. The structure was completely restored in time for the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar in 2005. In 2006 it was removed from English Heritage's Buildings At Risk register. In August 2006 it was rededicated. It currently stands, albeit separated in its own small railed plot, in an industrial estate (Nelson road). The monument is open to the public on a limited basis.

 

In the late nineteenth century, the original synthetic Coade Stone caryatids were replaced with concrete replicas. The figure of Britannia and the six caryatids were replaced by a fibreglass copy in 1982.

Tone Mapped with NIK Collection Color EFEX pro 4 in Photoshop and corrected with Lightroom

This is the lovely Plaza Santo Domingo adjacent to the church of Santo Domingo in Centro Catagena's UNESCO designated old town.

 

The church of Santo Domingo, built in 1539, is the oldest in Cartagena. Legend has it that the Devil, unhappy with the building of this holy place, appeared one day to take matters into his own hand. He leaped up to the tower and made every effort to wrench it from its base. It remained firm, although cocked somewhat from its orientation flush with the façade. The Devil is then said to have descended in wrath upon the well in the plaza, located where now there is an ornate lamppost. His passage left the water tasting of sulfur, making it necessary to seal up the well. That's what the legend says. Today the Plaza of Santo Domingo is one of the most attractive points in the city, both by day and night. Fernando Botero, a well-known Colombian artist, contributed one of his "heavy" sculptures to adorn the Plaza. His statute La Gordita (The Fat Lady) "Gertrudis" (Gertrude) is on a pedestal just past the second garbage container.

 

Surrounded by some of the city’s finest architecture, and filled with umbrella-shaded café tables, the plaza is also a magnet for souvenir vendors. Be sure to bargain.

Here is another galaxy from the Arp Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies designated as ARP 212 (alos as NGC 7625). You can just start to make out some of the strange dust lanes in the galaxy in my 59-minute exposure. Tech Specs: Meade 12” LX90, Celestron CGEM-DX mount, Canon 6D stock camera, ISO 3200, 59 x 60 seconds using Backyard EOS with darks and bias frames, guided using a Canon 100mm lens with an attached ZWO ASI290MC camera. Image Date: October 18, 2017. Location: The Dark Side Observatory in Weatherly, PA..

 

 

Toronto's Subway.

  

The M1 Garand, officially designated “United States M1 Rifle, .30 caliber”, was adopted in 1936 and served as the first standard-issue, self-loading (semi-automatic) rifle of the USA, and indeed, of any major army in history. General Patton called the M1 “the greatest battle implement ever devised” and it gave Americans a great advantage over slower bolt-action rifles.

 

I wanted to revisit my original LEGO M1 (2011), my oldest surviving MOC to date, and see how much farther I could push the realism with all the newer parts and building techniques that are available.

 

Instructions available at brickreplicas.com/m1-garand/, along with more photos and details.

The lone designated, bare-metal "American Heritage" livery. Looks like they even added some fancy, faux-bare-metal, raised outline to the registration number.

 

Best viewed at original size.

Smoking is banned in BC parks. This is an exception...

Bluebonnets

 

Bluebonnets have been loved since man first trod the vast prairies of Texas. Indians wove fascinating folk tales around them. The early-day Spanish priests gathered the seeds and grew them around their missions. This practice gave rise to the myth that the padres had brought the plant from Spain, but this cannot be true since the two predominant species of bluebonnets are found growing naturally only in Texas and at no other location in the world.

 

As historian Jack Maguire so aptly wrote, "It's not only the state flower but also a kind of floral trademark almost as well known to outsiders as cowboy boots and the Stetson hat." He goes on to affirm that "The bluebonnet is to Texas what the shamrock is to Ireland, the cherry blossom to Japan, the lily to France, the rose to England and the tulip to Holland."

 

The ballad of our singing governor, the late W. Lee O'Daniel, goes, "you may be on the plains or the mountains or down where the sea breezes blow, but bluebonnets are one of the prime factors that make the state the most beautiful land that we know.

 

Source: Aggie Horticulture

  

Texas lupine has larger, more sharply pointed leaves and more numerous flower heads than similar lupines. Light-green, velvety, palmately compound leaves (usually five leaflets) are born from branching, 6-18 in. stems. These stems are topped by clusters of up to 50 fragrant, blue, pea-like flowers. The tip of the cluster is conspicuously white.

 

This is the species often planted by highway departments and garden clubs and is one of the six Lupinus species which are the state flower of Texas.

 

Source: Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

  

Enchanted Rock

State Natural Area

 

Enchanted Rock was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1970 and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. The Rock is a huge, pink granite exfoliation dome, that rises 425 feet above ground, 1825 feet above sea level, and covers 640 acres. It is one of the largest batholiths (underground rock formation uncovered by erosion) in the United States. Visitors can enjoy primitive backpacking, camping, hiking, rock climbing, picnicking, geological study, bird watching, and star gazing. The park is 18 miles north of Fredericksburg on Ranch Road 965, or from Llano, take State Highway 16 for 14 miles south and then go west on Ranch Road 965.

Designated Seating.

Outpatients, Royal Hallamshire Hospital. Sheffield.

Nelson is a census-designated place in Clark County, Nevada, United States. The community is in the Pacific Standard Time zone. The location of Nelson is in El Dorado Canyon, Eldorado Mountains. The town is in the southeast region of the Eldorado Valley. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 37. Nelson is located along Nevada State Route 165, about 8 miles (13 km) southeast of its junction with U.S. Route 95. Route 165 continues east 5 miles (8 km) to a dead end at Nelsons Landing on the Colorado River, 18 miles (29 km) by water north of Cottonwood Cove on Lake Mojave. Nelson is about 25 miles (40 km) from Boulder City by road. The area known as Nelson was originally called Eldorado in 1775, by the Spaniards who made the original discoveries of gold in the area that is now Eldorado Canyon. The town was the site of one of the first major gold strikes in Nevada and one of the biggest mining booms in state history. Gold and silver were discovered here around 1859. The rush to the canyon began in 1861, several mining camps were established in the canyon, and a steamboat landing at the mouth of the canyon on the Colorado River, called Colorado City. In its heyday, the area established a reputation for being rough and lawless. During the American Civil War, deserters from both the Union and Confederate armies would wander there, hoping that such an isolated location would be the last place military authorities would look for them. Among the early mines established was the notorious Techatticup Mine in the middle of the canyon. Disagreements over ownership, management and labor disputes resulted in wanton killings so frequent as to be routine and ordinary. Despite the sinister reputation of the mine, it along with others in the town produced several million dollars in gold, silver, copper and lead. The mines in the canyon were active from about 1858 until 1945. The community called Nelson was named for Charles Nelson, a camp leader who was slain in his home, along with four other people, in 1897 by the renegade Indian, Avote. Between, 1901 and 1905 the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad was built across southern Nevada, through Las Vegas, to Daggett, California where it connected to the AT&SF, and the complete Salt Lake–Los Angeles line was opened on May 1, 1905. This nearby railhead ended the need for steamboats at Eldorado Canyon, the landing and the mill there were abandoned. The town of Nelson was born near the head of the canyon nearest the road to the railroad, the post office of Eldorado was closed on August 31, 1907 and moved to Nelson. The mines and the landing are accessible through the town of Nelson off US 95 about 25 miles southwest of Las Vegas. Much of Nelson, which was not impacted by the 1974 flood, remains today and is located near the top of the wash, away from the flood channels. The sparsely populated community consists mainly of privately owned ranch houses, and a river and mining tour business housed in a former Texaco gas station, north of the road from the Techatticup Mine, that has been used as a filming location for several feature films, including 3000 Miles to Graceland. The fate of Nelson's Landing is a warning to visitors to this region who should watch for conditions leading to flash flooding. They should also be cautious of open mines and ventilation shafts.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson,_Nevada

 

El Dorado Canyon is a canyon in southern Clark County, Nevada famed for its rich silver and gold mines. The canyon was named in 1857 by steamboat entrepreneur Captain George Alonzo Johnson when gold and silver was discovered here. It drains into the Colorado River at the former site of Nelson's Landing. The town of Nelson lies in the upper reach of the canyon. Eldorado Canyon Mine Tours operates mid way in the canyon at the Techatticup Mine one of the oldest and most productive mines in the canyon. Prospecting and mining in the El Dorado Canyon had been going on from at least 1857 if not earlier. But in April 1861, as the American Civil War began, word got out that silver and some gold and copper lodes had been discovered by John Moss and others in what became known as El Dorado Canyon, in New Mexico Territory, now Nevada. The canyon was on the west side of the river sixty five miles above Fort Mohave at what was then considered the limit of navigation of the river. George A. Johnson came up river and made a deal to supply the mines with his steamboats at a lower price than that provided overland across the Mohave Desert from Los Angeles. That fall news of the strikes in the Colorado Mining District, (by 1864 also called the Eldorado Canyon District), brought a flood of miners to the canyon. Several mining camps were founded in the canyon over the years. At the beginning San Juan, or Upper Camp were at the top of the canyon miles from the river near the modern town of Nelson. Midway down the canyon near the Techatticup Mine were Alturas and Louisville. At the mouth of the canyon was the boat landing of Colorado City. During the time of the American Civil War, three new mining camps developed in the middle canyon. In 1862, Lucky Jim Camp was formed along Eldorado Canyon above January Wash, south of the Techatticup Mine. Lucky Jim Camp was the home of miners sympathetic to the Confederate cause. A mile up the canyon was a camp with Union sympathies called Buster Falls. In late 1863, Col. John R. Vineyard, at the time a California State Senator for Los Angeles, completed a ten stamp mill the first in the canyon, on its north side just below Lucky Jim Camp, at what soon became El Dorado City. Vineyard's mill, assembled from mill parts salvaged from abandoned works in the Mother Lode country of California, processed the ore of its mines and cut out the cost of shipping the ore out to San Francisco for such processing, cutting costs in half. George Alonzo Johnson's steamboat company losing this downstream ore trade and making fewer trips up to the Canyon responded by raising its freight rates. From 1865 to 1867 as part of Mohave County, Arizona Territory, El Dorado Canyon had its own post office. In 1867, to secure the riverboat traffic and protect miners in the canyon from Paiute attacks the U.S. Army established Camp El Dorado, an outpost at the mouth of El Dorado Canyon that remained until it was abandoned in 1869. From 1870 the mines again were active to the point where from 1879 to 1907 El Dorado Canyon again had a post office, now in Clark County, Nevada. The mines continued to produce ore until World War II.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Dorado_Canyon_(Nevada)

Nelson is a census-designated place in Clark County, Nevada, United States. The community is in the Pacific Standard Time zone. The location of Nelson is in El Dorado Canyon, Eldorado Mountains. The town is in the southeast region of the Eldorado Valley. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 37. Nelson is located along Nevada State Route 165, about 8 miles (13 km) southeast of its junction with U.S. Route 95. Route 165 continues east 5 miles (8 km) to a dead end at Nelsons Landing on the Colorado River, 18 miles (29 km) by water north of Cottonwood Cove on Lake Mojave. Nelson is about 25 miles (40 km) from Boulder City by road. The area known as Nelson was originally called Eldorado in 1775, by the Spaniards who made the original discoveries of gold in the area that is now Eldorado Canyon. The town was the site of one of the first major gold strikes in Nevada and one of the biggest mining booms in state history. Gold and silver were discovered here around 1859. The rush to the canyon began in 1861, several mining camps were established in the canyon, and a steamboat landing at the mouth of the canyon on the Colorado River, called Colorado City. In its heyday, the area established a reputation for being rough and lawless. During the American Civil War, deserters from both the Union and Confederate armies would wander there, hoping that such an isolated location would be the last place military authorities would look for them. Among the early mines established was the notorious Techatticup Mine in the middle of the canyon. Disagreements over ownership, management and labor disputes resulted in wanton killings so frequent as to be routine and ordinary. Despite the sinister reputation of the mine, it along with others in the town produced several million dollars in gold, silver, copper and lead. The mines in the canyon were active from about 1858 until 1945. The community called Nelson was named for Charles Nelson, a camp leader who was slain in his home, along with four other people, in 1897 by the renegade Indian, Avote. Between, 1901 and 1905 the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad was built across southern Nevada, through Las Vegas, to Daggett, California where it connected to the AT&SF, and the complete Salt Lake–Los Angeles line was opened on May 1, 1905. This nearby railhead ended the need for steamboats at Eldorado Canyon, the landing and the mill there were abandoned. The town of Nelson was born near the head of the canyon nearest the road to the railroad, the post office of Eldorado was closed on August 31, 1907 and moved to Nelson. The mines and the landing are accessible through the town of Nelson off US 95 about 25 miles southwest of Las Vegas. Much of Nelson, which was not impacted by the 1974 flood, remains today and is located near the top of the wash, away from the flood channels. The sparsely populated community consists mainly of privately owned ranch houses, and a river and mining tour business housed in a former Texaco gas station, north of the road from the Techatticup Mine, that has been used as a filming location for several feature films, including 3000 Miles to Graceland. The fate of Nelson's Landing is a warning to visitors to this region who should watch for conditions leading to flash flooding. They should also be cautious of open mines and ventilation shafts.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson,_Nevada

 

El Dorado Canyon is a canyon in southern Clark County, Nevada famed for its rich silver and gold mines. The canyon was named in 1857 by steamboat entrepreneur Captain George Alonzo Johnson when gold and silver was discovered here. It drains into the Colorado River at the former site of Nelson's Landing. The town of Nelson lies in the upper reach of the canyon. Eldorado Canyon Mine Tours operates mid way in the canyon at the Techatticup Mine one of the oldest and most productive mines in the canyon. Prospecting and mining in the El Dorado Canyon had been going on from at least 1857 if not earlier. But in April 1861, as the American Civil War began, word got out that silver and some gold and copper lodes had been discovered by John Moss and others in what became known as El Dorado Canyon, in New Mexico Territory, now Nevada. The canyon was on the west side of the river sixty five miles above Fort Mohave at what was then considered the limit of navigation of the river. George A. Johnson came up river and made a deal to supply the mines with his steamboats at a lower price than that provided overland across the Mohave Desert from Los Angeles. That fall news of the strikes in the Colorado Mining District, (by 1864 also called the Eldorado Canyon District), brought a flood of miners to the canyon. Several mining camps were founded in the canyon over the years. At the beginning San Juan, or Upper Camp were at the top of the canyon miles from the river near the modern town of Nelson. Midway down the canyon near the Techatticup Mine were Alturas and Louisville. At the mouth of the canyon was the boat landing of Colorado City. During the time of the American Civil War, three new mining camps developed in the middle canyon. In 1862, Lucky Jim Camp was formed along Eldorado Canyon above January Wash, south of the Techatticup Mine. Lucky Jim Camp was the home of miners sympathetic to the Confederate cause. A mile up the canyon was a camp with Union sympathies called Buster Falls. In late 1863, Col. John R. Vineyard, at the time a California State Senator for Los Angeles, completed a ten stamp mill the first in the canyon, on its north side just below Lucky Jim Camp, at what soon became El Dorado City. Vineyard's mill, assembled from mill parts salvaged from abandoned works in the Mother Lode country of California, processed the ore of its mines and cut out the cost of shipping the ore out to San Francisco for such processing, cutting costs in half. George Alonzo Johnson's steamboat company losing this downstream ore trade and making fewer trips up to the Canyon responded by raising its freight rates. From 1865 to 1867 as part of Mohave County, Arizona Territory, El Dorado Canyon had its own post office. In 1867, to secure the riverboat traffic and protect miners in the canyon from Paiute attacks the U.S. Army established Camp El Dorado, an outpost at the mouth of El Dorado Canyon that remained until it was abandoned in 1869. From 1870 the mines again were active to the point where from 1879 to 1907 El Dorado Canyon again had a post office, now in Clark County, Nevada. The mines continued to produce ore until World War II.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Dorado_Canyon_(Nevada)

The Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity (often referred to as the Bermuda Cathedral) is an Anglican (the state church, the Church of England, which in Bermuda was renamed the Anglican Church of Bermuda in 1978, an extra-provincial diocese under the Archbishop of Canterbury) cathedral located on Church Street in the City of Hamilton, in Pembroke Parish, in the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda.

 

The original Trinity Church was designed in the Early English style by James Cranston of Oxford in 1844 and was completed in 1869. Named Trinity Church, it was designated a chapel of ease for the then-Bishop of Newfoundland and Bermuda, whose Cathedral (the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist), was at St. John's, Newfoundland). In Bermuda, St. John's Church was already the parish church for Pembroke Parish and remained so after Trinity Church was constructed. Trinity Church was destroyed by arson in 1884. Scottish architect William Hay, who had been consulted on the construction of the first building in 1848–1849 and again in 1862, was hired by Canon Mark James to design the current structure in 1885 in the Gothic Revival style. While Hay designed most of the structure, his partner George Henderson designed the eastern portion of the cathedral.

 

The building committee was chaired by Llewellyn Jones, the Bishop of Newfoundland and Bermuda; the vice-chairman was Canon Mark James, although he died in office and was succeeded by the Hon. William H. Gosling. The bishop was generally elsewhere engaged, so the majority of the work fell upon the vice-chairman.

 

The cathedral was constructed between 1886 and 1905, originally to serve, like its predecessor, as a chapel of ease for the Bishop of Newfoundland and Bermuda. It became a cathedral when the Bishop of Bermuda was established as separate from the Bishop of Newfoundland in 1919. The structure is primarily Bermuda limestone, with the exception of several decorative features made from carved Caen stone that were brought in from France.

 

In an unhappy co-incidence, in 1892 the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Newfoundland was destroyed, with much of the city of St. John's, in the Great Fire of 1892. It was reconstructed and also completed in 1905.

 

It is one of two cathedrals in Bermuda, the other being the Roman Catholic St. Theresa's, also in Hamilton. Composer S. Drummond Wolff was organist at the cathedral from 1959 to 1962. For a small fee, visitors to the cathedral can climb the tower for a view of Hamilton and its harbor.

 

Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:

anglican.bm/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_the_Most_Holy_Trinity,...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Tarbolton

 

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

 

Lawrence Harrower Smart

To view more of my images, of Fountains Abbey, please click "here" !

 

Fountains Abbey is one of the largest and best preserved ruined Cistercian monasteries in England. It is located approximately three miles south-west of Ripon in North Yorkshire, near to the village of Aldfield. Founded in 1132, the abbey operated for over 400 years, until 1539, when Henry VIII ordered the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The abbey is a Grade I listed building owned by the National Trust and part of the designated Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of Fountains Abbey UNESCO World Heritage Site. After a dispute and riot in 1132 at the Benedictine house of St Mary's Abbey, in York, 13 monks were expelled (among them Saint Robert of Newminster) and, after unsuccessfully attempting to return to the early 6th-century Rule of St Benedict, were taken into the protection of Thurstan, Archbishop of York. He provided them with land in the valley of the River Skell, a tributary of the Ure. The enclosed valley had all the natural features needed for the creation of a monastery, providing shelter from the weather, stone and timber for building, and a supply of running water. After enduring a harsh winter in 1133, the monks applied to join the Cistercian order and in 1135 became the second house of that order in northern England, after Rievaulx. The monks subjected themselves to Clairvaux Abbey, in Burgundy which was under the rule of St Bernard. Under the guidance of Geoffrey of Ainai, a monk sent from Clairvaux, the group learned how to celebrate the seven Canonical Hours and were shown how to construct wooden buildings in accordance with Cistercian practice. After Henry Murdac was elected to the abbacy in 1143, the small stone church and timber claustral buildings were replaced. Within three years, an aisled nave had been added to the stone church, and the first permanent claustral buildings built in stone and roofed in tile had been completed. In 1146 an angry mob, displeased with Murdac's role in opposing the election of William FitzHerbert to the archbishopric of York, attacked the abbey and burnt down all but the church and some surrounding buildings. The community recovered swiftly from the attack and founded four daughter houses. Henry Murdac resigned the abbacy in 1147 to become the Archbishop of York and was replaced first by Maurice, Abbot of Rievaulx then, on the resignation of Maurice, by Thorald. Thorald was forced by Henry Murdac to resign after two years in office. The next abbot, Richard, held the post until his death in 1170 and restored the abbey's stability and prosperity. In 20 years as abbot, he supervised a huge building programme which involved completing repairs to the damaged church and building more accommodation for the increasing number of recruits. Only the chapter house was completed before he died and the work was ably continued by his successor, Robert of Pipewell, under whose rule the abbey gained a reputation for caring for the needy. The next abbot was William who presided over the abbey from 1180 to 1190 and he was succeeded by Ralph Haget, who had entered Fountains at the age of 30 as a novice, after pursuing a military career. During the European famine of 1194 Haget ordered the construction of shelters in the vicinity of the abbey and provided daily food rations to the poor enhancing the abbey's reputation for caring for the poor and attracting more grants from wealthy benefactors. In the first half of the 13th century Fountains increased in reputation and prosperity under the next three abbots, John of York (1203–1211), John of Hessle (1211–1220) and John of Kent (1220–1247). They were burdened with an inordinate amount of administrative duties and increasing demands for money in taxation and levies but managed to complete another massive expansion of the abbey's buildings. This included enlarging the church and building an infirmary. In the second half of the 13th century the abbey was in more straitened circumstances. It was presided over by eleven abbots, and became financially unstable largely due to forward selling its wool crop, and the abbey was criticised for its dire material and physical state when it was visited by Archbishop John Romeyn in 1294. The run of disasters that befell the community continued into the early 14th century when northern England was invaded by the Scots and there were further demands for taxes. The culmination of these misfortunes was the Black Death of 1349–1349. The loss of manpower and income due to the ravages of the plague was almost ruinous. A further complication arose as a result of the Papal Schism of 1378–1409. Fountains Abbey along with other English Cistercian houses was told to break off any contact with the mother house of Citeaux, which supported a rival pope. This resulted in the abbots forming their own chapter to rule the order in England and consequently they became increasingly involved in internecine politics. In 1410, following the death of Abbott Burley of Fountains, the community was riven by several years of turmoil over the election of his successor. Contending candidates John Ripon, Abbot of Meaux, and Roger Frank, a monk of Fountains were locked in discord until 1415 when Ripon was finally appointed and presided until his death in 1434. Under abbots John Greenwell (1442–1471), Thomas Swinton (1471–8), John Darnton (1478–95), who undertook some much needed restoration of the fabric of the abbey including notable work on the church, and Marmaduke Huby (1495–1526) Fountains regained stability and prosperity.

When Marmaduke Huby died he was succeeded by William Thirsk who was accused by the royal commissioners of immorality and inadequacy and dismissed from the abbacy and replaced by Marmaduke Bradley, a monk of the abbey who had reported Thirsk's supposed offences, testified against him and offered the authorities six hundred marks for the abbacy. In 1539 Bradley surrendered the abbey when Henry VIII ordered the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Now I am into the church, the raised tiled area is where the high altar would have been, but this was added in the early 19thC to draw the eye for visitors. The large buttress on the left is where the central tower would have stood, none of the other buttresses survive and the tower was removed at the end of the 15thC as many others in England had collapsed around this time. Beyond is the where the Choir stood and further down in the centre is the Nave.

 

The following information was provided by fellow flickr user Scumbag*College:-

 

www.flickr.com/photos/51368278@N08/

    

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountains_Abbey

 

Fountains Abbey is approximately three miles south west of Ripon in North Yorkshire, England near to the village of Aldfield. Founded in 1132, the abbey operated for over 400 years, until 1539, when Henry VIII ordered the Dissolution of the Monasteries. It is one of the largest and best preserved ruined Cistercian monasteries in England.

The abbey is a Grade I listed building owned by the National Trust and part of the designated Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of Fountains Abbey UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 

History

 

After a dispute and riot in 1132 at the Benedictine house, St Mary's Abbey, in York, 13 monks were expelled and, after unsuccessfully attempting to return to the early 6th-century Rule of St Benedict, were taken into the protection of Thurstan, Archbishop of York.[2] He provided them with land in the valley of the River Skell, a tributary of the Ure. The enclosed valley had all the natural features needed for the creation of a monastery, providing shelter from the weather, stone and timber for building, and a supply of running water.[3] After enduring a harsh winter in 1133, the monks applied to join the Cistercian order and in 1135 became the second house of that order in northern England, after Rievaulx. The monks subjected themselves to Clairvaux Abbey, in Burgundy which was under the rule of St Bernard. Under the guidance of Geoffrey of Ainai, a monk sent from Clairvaux, the group learned how to celebrate the seven Canonical Hours and were shown how to construct wooden buildings in accordance with Cistercian practice.[4][5]

After Henry Murdac was elected to the abbacy in 1143, the small stone church and timber claustral buildings were replaced. Within three years, an aisled nave had been added to the stone church, and the first permanent claustral buildings built in stone and roofed in tile had been completed.

In 1146 an angry mob, displeased with Murdac's role in opposing the election of William FitzHerbert to the archbishopric of York, attacked the abbey and burnt down all but the church and some surrounding buildings.[6] The community recovered swiftly from the attack and founded four daughter houses. Henry Murdac resigned the abbacy in 1147 to become the Archbishop of York and was replaced first by Maurice, Abbot of Rievaulx then, on the resignation of Maurice, by Thorald. Thorald was forced by Henry Murdac to resign after two years in office. The next abbot, Richard, held the post until his death in 1170 and restored the abbey's stability and prosperity. In 20 years as abbot, he supervised a huge building programme which involved completing repairs to the damaged church and building more accommodation for the increasing number of recruits. Only the chapter house was completed before he died and the work was ably continued by his successor, Robert of Pipewell, under whose rule the abbey gained a reputation for caring for the needy.

The next abbot was William who presided over the abbey from 1180 to 1190 and he was succeeded by Ralph Haget, who had entered Fountains at the age of 30 as a novice, after pursuing a military career. During the European famine of 1194 Haget ordered the construction of shelters in the vicinity of the abbey and provided daily food rations to the poor enhancing the abbey's reputation for caring for the poor and attracting more grants from wealthy benefactors.

In the first half of the 13th century Fountains increased in reputation and prosperity under the next three abbots, John of York (1203–1211), John of Hessle (1211–1220) and John of Kent (1220–1247). They were burdened with an inordinate amount of administrative duties and increasing demands for money in taxation and levies but managed to complete another massive expansion of the abbey's buildings. This included enlarging the church and building an infirmary. In the second half of the 13th century the abbey was in more straitened circumstances. It was presided over by eleven abbots, and became financially unstable largely due to forward selling its wool crop, and the abbey was criticised for its dire material and physical state when it was visited by Archbishop John Romeyn in 1294. The run of disasters that befell the community continued into the early 14th century when northern England was invaded by the Scots and there were further demands for taxes. The culmination of these misfortunes was the Black Death of 1349–1349. The loss of manpower and income due to the ravages of the plague was almost ruinous.

A further complication arose as a result of the Papal Schism of 1378–1409. Fountains Abbey along with other English Cistertion houses was told to break off any contact with the mother house of Citeaux, which supported a rival pope. This resulted in the abbots forming their own chapter to rule the order in England and consequently they became increasingly involved in internecine politics. In 1410, following the death of Abbott Burley of Fountains, the community was riven by several years of turmoil over the election of his successor. Contending candidates John Ripon, Abbot of Meaux, and Roger Frank, a monk of Fountains were locked in discord until 1415 when Ripon was finally appointed and presided until his death in 1434. Under abbots John Greenwell (1442–1471), Thomas Swinton (1471–8), John Darnton (1478–95), who undertook some much needed restoration of the fabric of the abbey including notable work on the church, and Marmaduke Huby (1495–1526) Fountains regained stability and prosperity.

When Marmaduke Huby died he was succeeded by William Thirsk who was accused by the royal commissioners of immorality and inadequacy and dismissed from the abbacy and replaced by Marmaduke Bradley, a monk of the abbey who had reported Thirsk's supposed offences, testified against him and offered the authorities six hundred marks for the abbacy. In 1539 Bradley surrendered the abbey when Henry VIII ordered the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

  

Abbots of Fountains

NameDatesNameDatesNameDatesNameDates

Richard

1132–39John of Hessle1211–20Henry Otley[7]

1289?–90John Ripon1416–34

Richard (II)1139–43John of Kent1220–47Robert Thorntonc.1289–90Thomas Paslew1434–43

Henry Murdac1144–47Stephen of Easton1247–52Robert Bishoptonc.1290/1-1311John Martin1442

Maurice1147–48William of Allerton1252–58William Rigton1311–16John Greenwell1442–71

Thorold1148–50Adam1258–59Walter Coxwold1316–36Thomas Swinton1471–78

Richard (III)1150–70Alexander1259–65Robert Copgrove1336–46John Darnton1479–95

Robert of Pipewell1170–80Reginald1267Robert Monkton1346–69Marmaduke Huby1495–1526

William of Newminster1180–90Peter Ayling1275–79William Gower1369–84William Thirsk1526–36

Ralph Haget1190–1203Nicholas1279Robert Burley1383–1410Marmaduke Bradley1536–39

John of York1203–11Adam Ravensworth1280–84Roger Frank1410

 

Architecture

 

The abbey precinct covered 70 acres (28 ha) surrounded by an 11-foot (3.4 m) wall built in the 13th century, some parts of which are visible to the south and west of the abbey. The area consists of three concentric zones cut by the River Skell flowing from west to east across the site. The church and claustral buildings stand at the centre of the precinct north of the Skell, the inner court containing the domestic buildings stretches down to the river and the outer court housing the industrial and agricultural buildings lies on the river's south bank. The early abbey buildings were added to and altered over time, causing deviations from the strict Cistercian type. Outside the walls were the abbey's granges.

Construction began in 1132 when a two-storey wooden church was built under the oversight of Geoffrey of Clairvaux.[9] A church built with locally quarried sandstone later replaced it. The original cruciform, unaisled stone church was badly damaged by fire in 1146 and rebuilt in enlarged form on the same site. This structure, completed around 1170, was 300-foot (91 m) long and had 11 bays in the side aisles. A lantern tower was added at the crossing of the church in the late 12th century. The presbytery at the eastern end of the church was much altered in the 13th century.[10] The church's greatly lengthened choir, commenced by Abbot John of York, 1203–11, and carried on by his successor terminates, like that of Durham Cathedral, in an eastern transept, the work of Abbot John of Kent, 1220–47. The 160-foot (49 m) tall tower, which was added not long before the dissolution, by Abbot Huby, 1494–1526, is in an unusual position at the northern end of the north transept and bears Huby's motto 'Soli Deo Honor et Gloria'. The sacristry adjoined the south transept.

The cloister, which had arcading of black marble from Nidderdale and white sandstone, is in the centre of the precinct and to the south of the church. The three-aisled chapter-house and parlour open from the eastern walk of the cloister and the refectory, with the kitchen and buttery attached, are at right angles to its southern walk. Parallel with the western walk is an immense vaulted substructure serving as cellars and store-rooms, which supported the dormitory of the conversi (lay brothers) above. This building extended across the river and at its southwest corner were the latrines, built above the swiftly flowing stream. The monks' dormitory was in its usual position above the chapter-house, to the south of the transept. Peculiarities of this arrangement include the position of the kitchen, between the refectory and calefactory, and of the infirmary above the river to the west, adjoining the guest-houses.

The abbot's house is located to the east of the latrine block, close to the River Skell. It was built in the mid-twelfth-century as a modest single-storey structure, then, from the fourteenth-century, underwent extensive expansion and remodelling to end up in the 16th century as a grand dwelling with fine bay windows and grand fireplaces.

Among other apartments, for the designation of which see the ground-plan, was a domestic oratory or chapel, 461⁄2-by-23-foot (14 by 7 m), and a kitchen, 50-by-38-foot (15 by 12 m).

 

Endowments and economy

 

Medieval monasteries were sustained by landed estates that were given to them as endowments and from which they derived an income from rents. They were the gifts of the founder and subsequent patrons, but some were purchased from cash revenues. At the outset, the Cistercian order rejected gifts of mills and rents, churches with tithes and feudal manors as they did not accord with their belief in monastic purity, because they involved contact with laymen. When Archbishop Thurstan founded the abbey he gave the community 260 acres (110 ha) of land at Sutton north of the abbey and 200 acres (81 ha) at Herleshowe to provide support while the abbey became established. In the early years the abbey struggled to maintain itself because further gifts were not forthcoming and Thurstan could not help further because the lands he administered were not his own, but part of the diocesan estate. After a few years of impoverished struggle to establish the abbey, the monks were joined by Hugh, a former dean of York Minster, a rich man who brought a considerable fortune as well as furniture and books to start the library.[5]

By 1135 the monks had acquired only another 260 acres (110 ha) at Cayton, given by Eustace fitzJohn of Knaresborough "for the building of the abbey". Shortly after the fire of 1146, the monks had established granges at Sutton, Cayton, Cowton Moor, Warsill, Dacre and Aldburgh[11] all within six miles of Fountains. In the 1140s the water mill was built on the abbey site making it possible for the grain from the granges to be brought to the abbey for milling.[12] Tannery waste from this time has been excavated on the site.

Further estates were assembled in two phases, between 1140 and 1160 then 1174 and 1175, from piecemeal acquisitions of land. Some of the lands were grants from benefactors but others were purchased from gifts of money to the abbey. Roger de Mowbray granted vast areas of Nidderdale and William de Percy and his tenants granted substantial estates in Craven which included Malham Moor and the fishery in Malham Tarn.[13] After 1203 the abbots consolidated the abbey's lands by renting out more distant areas that the monks could not easily farm themselves, and exchanging and purchasing lands that complemented their existing estates. Fountains' holdings both in Yorkshire and beyond had reached their maximum extent by 1265, when they were an efficient and very profitable estate. Their estates were linked in a network of individual granges which provided staging posts to the most distant ones. They had urban properties in York, Yarm, Grimbsby, Scarborough and Boston from which to conduct export and market trading and their other commercial interests included mining, quarrying, iron-smelting, fishing and milling.[14]

The Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 was a factor that led to a downturn in the prosperity of the abbey in the early fourteenth century. Areas of the north of England as far south as York were looted by the Scots. Then the number of lay-brothers being recruited to the order reduced considerably. The abbey chose to take advantage of the relaxation of the edict on leasing property that had been enacted by the General Chapter of the order in 1208 and leased some of their properties. Others were staffed by hired labour and remained in hand under the supervision of bailiffs. In 1535 Fountains had an interest in 138 vills and the total taxable income of the Fountains estate was £1,115, making it the richest Cistercian monastery in England.

 

Post-monastic development

 

The Abbey buildings and over 500 acres (200 ha) of land were sold by the Crown, on 1 October 1540, to Sir Richard Gresham, the London merchant, father of the founder of the Royal Exchange, Sir Thomas Gresham.[3] Gresham sold some of the fabric of the site, stone, timber, lead, as building materials to help to defray the cost of purchase. The site was acquired in 1597 by Sir Stephen Proctor, who used stone from the monastic complex to build Fountains Hall. Between 1627 and 1767 the estate was owned by the Messenger family who sold it to William Aislaby who was responsible for combining it with the Studley Royal Estate.[16] The archaeological excavation of the site was begun under the supervision of John Richard Walbran, a Ripon antiquary who, in 1846, had published a paper On the Necessity of clearing out the Conventual Church of Fountains.[17] In 1966 the Abbey was placed in the guardianship of the Department of the Environment and the estate was purchased by the West Riding County Council who transferred ownership to the North Yorkshire County Council in 1974. The National Trust bought the 674-acre (273 ha) Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal estate from North Yorkshire County Council in 1983.

 

World Heritage Site

 

In 1986 the parkland in which the abbey is situated and the abbey was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It was recognised for fulfilling the criteria of being a masterpiece of human creative genius, and an outstanding example of a type of building or architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates significant stages in human history. Fountains Abbey is owned by the National Trust and maintained by English Heritage. The trust owns Studley Royal Park, Fountains Hall, to which there is partial public access, and St Mary's Church, designed by William Burges and built around 1873, all of which are significant features of the World Heritage Site.[18]

The Porter's Lodge, which was once the gatehouse to the abbey, houses a modern exhibition area with displays about the history of Fountains Abbey and how the monks lived.

In January 2010, Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal became two of the first National Trust properties to be included in Google Street View, using the Google Trike.

 

Film location

 

Fountains Abbey was used as a filming location by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark for their single Maid of Orleans (The Waltz Joan of Arc) during the cold winter of December 1981. In 1980, Hollywood also came to the site to film the final scenes to the film Omen III: The Final Conflict.[20] Other productions filmed on location at the abbey are the films The Secret Garden, The History Boys, TV series Flambards, A History of Britain, Terry Jones' Medieval Lives, Cathedral and the game show Treasure Hunt.

 

View On Black - for those who care!

The Horsehead Nebula also designated as IC 434 is a small dark nebula in the constellation Orion. Its located just to the south of Alnitak, the easternmost star of Orion's Belt, and is part of the much larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. Also shown is the Flame Nebula, designated as NGC 2024, is an emission nebula.

 

Imaged with a Sky-Watcher 100mm ED Triplet and ASI2600MC Pro within the Phoenix, AZ city limits - Bortle 8+. The mount was a Losmandy GM811G. Waning Gibbous moon 61%. One hundred and thirty, 60 second Light subs including Darks, BIAS and Flats. No light pollution filters were used. Processed with PixInsight 1.8.8.11. Compressed JPEG.

 

Here's the DMR version of this awesome series: she's the fourth of seven guns in total.

 

She is a 5.56x45, full fixed stock, semi auto (or full auto :3) sniper rifle, equipped with a 4x32 enhanced zoom scope

 

Again, 3 more to come :D

Wylee, thank you yet again for your grip =D

 

Feel free to note and comment.

Amy

Quarry Bank Mill, is one of the best preserved textile mills of the Industrial Revolution and is now a museum of the cotton industry. It is designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building

The QSI "Coyote" Mk. II is a designated marksman rifle chambered in .300 Horny (7.62 caseless) derivated from the "Coyote" Mk. I assault rifle. Enhanced mobility and reduced weight, the usual characteristics of a QSI bullpup, make the "Coyote" a very versatile marskman platform.

 

Quicksilver Ind. produces top of the notch firearms made for easy and cheap mass production, while maintaining very high quality. Our firearms will always be fully ambidextrous, two toned, operator-friendly and accessory-friendly.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HD: i.imgur.com/oK7531x.png

 

The biggest challenge with this rifle was scope and scope mount, since there aren't many changes from the MK. I. They were both built from scratch and I'll be releasing them in a bit.

 

Credit Shockwave for the trigger, CH, BUIS and tips; Credit Benjoo for the mag and trigger guard; Credit Snipes for the bipod.

Endless wasteland

 

Death Valley National Park is an American national park that straddles the California-Nevada border, east of the Sierra Nevada. The park occupies an interface zone between the arid Great Basin and Mojave deserts, protecting the northwest corner of the Mojave Desert and its diverse environment of salt-flats, sand dunes, badlands, valleys, canyons, and mountains. Death Valley is the largest national park in the lower 48 states, and the hottest, driest and lowest of all the national parks in the United States. The second-lowest point in the Western Hemisphere is in Badwater Basin, which is 282 feet (86 m) below sea level. Approximately 91% of the park is a designated wilderness area. The park is home to many species of plants and animals that have adapted to this harsh desert environment. Some examples include creosote bush, bighorn sheep, coyote, and the Death Valley pupfish, a survivor from much wetter times. UNESCO included Death Valley as the principal feature of its Mojave and Colorado Deserts Biosphere Reserve in 1984.

 

A series of Native American groups inhabited the area from as early as 7000 BC, most recently the Timbisha around 1000 AD who migrated between winter camps in the valleys and summer grounds in the mountains. A group of European-Americans, trapped in the valley in 1849 while looking for a shortcut to the gold fields of California, gave the valley its name, even though only one of their group died there. Several short-lived boom towns sprang up during the late 19th and early 20th centuries to mine gold and silver. The only long-term profitable ore to be mined was borax, which was transported out of the valley with twenty-mule teams. The valley later became the subject of books, radio programs, television series, and movies. Tourism expanded in the 1920s when resorts were built around Stovepipe Wells and Furnace Creek. Death Valley National Monument was declared in 1933 and the park was substantially expanded and became a national park in 1994.

 

The natural environment of the area has been shaped largely by its geology. The valley is actually a graben with the oldest rocks being extensively metamorphosed and at least 1.7 billion years old. Ancient, warm, shallow seas deposited marine sediments until rifting opened the Pacific Ocean. Additional sedimentation occurred until a subduction zone formed off the coast. The subduction uplifted the region out of the sea and created a line of volcanoes. Later the crust started to pull apart, creating the current Basin and Range landform. Valleys filled with sediment and, during the wet times of glacial periods, with lakes, such as Lake Manly.

 

In 2013, Death Valley National Park was designated as a dark sky park by the International Dark-Sky Association.

 

There are two major valleys in the park, Death Valley and Panamint Valley. Both of these valleys were formed within the last few million years and both are bounded by north–south-trending mountain ranges. These and adjacent valleys follow the general trend of Basin and Range topography with one modification: there are parallel strike-slip faults that perpendicularly bound the central extent of Death Valley. The result of this shearing action is additional extension in the central part of Death Valley which causes a slight widening and more subsidence there.

 

Uplift of surrounding mountain ranges and subsidence of the valley floor are both occurring. The uplift on the Black Mountains is so fast that the alluvial fans (fan-shaped deposits at the mouth of canyons) there are small and steep compared to the huge alluvial fans coming off the Panamint Range. Fast uplift of a mountain range in an arid environment often does not allow its canyons enough time to cut a classic V-shape all the way down to the stream bed. Instead, a V-shape ends at a slot canyon halfway down, forming a 'wine glass canyon.' Sediment is deposited on a small and steep alluvial fan.

 

At 282 feet (86 m) below sea level at its lowest point, Badwater Basin on Death Valley's floor is the second-lowest depression in the Western Hemisphere (behind Laguna del Carbón in Argentina), while Mount Whitney, only 85 miles (137 km) to the west, rises to 14,505 feet (4,421 m). This topographic relief is the greatest elevation gradient in the contiguous United States and is the terminus point of the Great Basin's southwestern drainage. Although the extreme lack of water in the Great Basin makes this distinction of little current practical use, it does mean that in wetter times the lake that once filled Death Valley (Lake Manly) was the last stop for water flowing in the region, meaning the water there was saturated in dissolved materials. Thus the salt pans in Death Valley are among the largest in the world and are rich in minerals, such as borax and various salts and hydrates. The largest salt pan in the park extends 40 miles (64 km) from the Ashford Mill Site to the Salt Creek Hills, covering some 200 square miles (520 km2) of the valley floor. The best known playa in the park is the Racetrack, known for its moving rocks.

 

Death Valley is the hottest and driest place in North America due to its lack of surface water and low relief. It is so frequently the hottest spot in the United States that many tabulations of the highest daily temperatures in the country omit Death Valley as a matter of course.

 

On the afternoon of July 10, 1913, the United States Weather Bureau recorded a high temperature of 134 °F (56.7 °C) at Greenland Ranch (now Furnace Creek) in Death Valley. This temperature stands as the highest ambient air temperature ever recorded at the surface of the Earth. (A report of a temperature of 58 °C (136.4 °F) recorded in Libya in 1922 was later determined to be inaccurate.) Daily summer temperatures of 120 °F (49 °C) or greater are common, as well as below freezing nightly temperatures in the winter. July is the hottest month, with an average high of 115 °F (46 °C) and an average low of 88 °F (31 °C). December is the coldest month, with an average high of 65 °F (18 °C) and an average low of 39 °F (4 °C). The record low is 15 °F (−9.4 °C).

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Der Death-Valley-Nationalpark (Tal des Todes) liegt in der Mojave-Wüste und ist der trockenste Nationalpark in den USA. Er liegt südöstlich der Sierra Nevada, zum größten Teil auf dem Gebiet Kaliforniens und zu einem kleineren Teil in Nevada. Die Region ist ein Hitzepol.

 

Der tiefste Punkt des Tales liegt 85,95 Meter unter dem Meeresspiegel. Es gibt zwei Haupttäler innerhalb des Parks, das Death Valley und das Panamint Valley. Beide Täler sind wenige Millionen Jahre alt. Das Death Valley ist von mehreren Gebirgen umschlossen, die höchste Gebirgskette bildet die Panamint Range mit dem 3366 m hohen Telescope Peak. 1933 wurde das Death Valley zum National Monument ernannt. 1994 wurde es, stark erweitert, zum Nationalpark aufgewertet. Eine kleine Enklave, Devils Hole weiter östlich in Nevada in der Nähe des Ash Meadows National Wildlife Preserve gelegen, gehört ebenfalls zum Park.

 

Am 20. Februar 2011 wurde der Nationalpark als Lichtschutzgebiet von der International Dark Sky Association auch als International Dark Sky Park (IDSP, in Gold) anerkannt, und nennt sich seither auch Death Valley International Dark Sky Park. Es ist das weitaus größte solche Schutzgebiet der USA und das zweitgrößte weltweit (nach dem IDSR Wood Buffalo in Kanada).

 

Das Tal erhielt seinen Namen, nachdem 1849 zwei Gruppen von Reisenden mit insgesamt etwa 100 Wagen eine Abkürzung des Old Spanish Trail suchten und dabei in das Tal gerieten. Nachdem sie wochenlang keinen Ausweg aus dem Tal gefunden hatten und bereits gezwungen waren, mehrere ihrer Ochsen zu verspeisen (wobei sie das Holz ihrer Wagen als Brennholz verwendeten), ließen sie ihre restlichen Wagen zurück und verließen das Tal über den Wingate Pass. Dabei drehte sich eine der Frauen aus der Gruppe um und rief dem Tal ein „Goodbye, Death Valley“ hinterher.

 

Trotz einer weitverbreiteten Legende soll niemand aus der Gruppe bei der Taldurchquerung umgekommen sein, bis auf einen Greis namens Culverwell, der schon beim Betreten des Tales sterbensmatt gewesen war. Als Teilnehmer der Reisegruppe beschrieb William Lewis Manly in seinem autobiographischen Werk Death Valley in ’49 die Begebenheiten.

 

Obwohl das Tal des Todes nur wenige hundert Kilometer vom Pazifischen Ozean entfernt liegt, ist es eine der trockensten Gegenden der Erde. Dies liegt daran, dass sich die feuchten Winde auf ihrem Weg vom Pazifik an fünf Bergrücken abregnen, bevor sie über das Gebiet des Parks ziehen können. Das Death Valley ist außerdem eine der heißesten Gegenden Amerikas. Am 10. Juli 1913 wurde bei Greenland Ranch (heute bekannt als Furnace Creek Ranch) vom National Weather Service eine Temperatur von 56,7 °C (134 °F) gemessen. Am 12. Juli 2012 wurde im Death Valley mit 41,7 °C (107 °F) die wärmste nächtliche Tiefsttemperatur gemessen; der gleiche Wert wurde vorher nur einmal erreicht, nämlich am 27. Juni 2012 am Khasab-Flughafen in Oman.

 

(Wikipedia)

EXPLORE: August 28, 2013

This youngster was probably the designated lookout for this den of Red Foxes which had setup housekeeping near the Union Pacific Railroad main line close to Bushnell, Nebraska. When a train would roar by, they would quickly disappear. I visited this area several times and on one of the trips managed to spot four of the pups out playing.

 

Red foxes live around the world in many diverse habitats including forests, grasslands, mountains, and deserts. They also adapt well to human environments such as farms, suburban areas, and even large communities. The red fox's resourcefulness has earned it a legendary reputation for intelligence and cunning.

 

I'm building something in classic space colours and had these parts lying on my desk. I think it's fitting, since there really seems to be some kind of worshipping going on with this theme.

Wallaby in Blue Mountains Australia.

A wallaby is a small- or mid-sized macropod found in Australia and New Guinea. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and sometimes the same genus, but kangaroos are specifically categorised into the six largest species of the family. The term wallaby is an informal designation generally used for any macropod that is smaller than a kangaroo or wallaroo that has not been designated otherwise.[1]

  

There are 11 species of brush wallabies (g. Macropus, s.g. Protemnodon). Their head and body length is 45 to 105 cm and the tail is 33 to 75 cm long. The six named species of rock-wallabies (g. Petrogale) live among rocks, usually near water; two species are endangered. The two species of hare-wallabies (g. Lagorchestes) are small animals that have the movements and some of the habits of hares. Often called "pademelons", the three species of scrub wallabies (g. Thylogale) of New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, and Tasmania are small and stocky, with short hind limbs and pointed noses. They are hunted for meat and fur. A similar species is the short-tailed scrub wallaby, or quokka (Setonix brachyurus); this species is now restricted to two offshore islands of Western Australia. The three named species of forest wallabies (g. Dorcopsulus) are native to the island of New Guinea. The dwarf wallaby is the smallest member of the genus and the smallest known member of the kangaroo family. Its length is about 46 cm from nose to tail, and it weighs about 1.6 kg.

  

No post-processing done to photo. Nikon NEF (RAW) files available. NPP Straight Photography at noPhotoShopping.com

The Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal, originally Cincinnati Union Terminal, is a mixed-use complex in the Queensgate neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. Once a major passenger train station, it went into sharp decline during the postwar decline of railroad travel. Most of the building was converted to other uses, and now houses museums, theaters, and a library, as well as special travelling exhibitions. Since 1991, it has been used as a train station once again.

 

Built in 1933, it is a monumental example of Art Deco architecture, for which it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1977.

 

Cincinnati was a major center of railroad traffic in the late 19th and early 20th century, especially as an interchange point between railroads serving the Northeastern and Midwestern states with railroads serving the South. However, intercity passenger traffic was split among no fewer than five stations in Downtown Cincinnati, requiring the many travelers who changed between railroads to navigate local transit themselves. The Louisville and Nashville Railroad, which operated through sleepers with other railroads, was forced to split its operations between two stations. Proposals to construct a union station began as early as the 1890s, and a committee of railroad executives formed in 1912 to begin formal studies on the subject, but a final agreement between all seven railroads that served Cincinnati and the city itself would not come until 1928, after intense lobbying and negotiations, led by Philip Carey Company president George Crabbs. The seven railroads: the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad; the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad; the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway; the Louisville and Nashville Railroad; the Norfolk and Western Railway; the Pennsylvania Railroad; and the Southern Railway selected a site for their new station in the West End, near the Mill Creek.

 

The principal architects of the massive building were Alfred T. Fellheimer and Steward Wagner, with architects Paul Philippe Cret and Roland Wank brought in as design consultants; Cret is often credited as the building's architect, as he was responsible for the building's signature Art Deco style. The Rotunda features the largest semi-dome in the western hemisphere, measuring 180 feet (55 m) wide and 106 feet (32 m) high.

 

The Union Terminal Company was created to build the terminal, railroad lines in and out, and other related transportation improvements. Construction in 1928 with the regrading of the east flood plain of the Mill Creek to a point nearly level with the surrounding city, a massive effort that required 5.5 million cubic yards of landfill. Other improvements included the construction of grade separated viaducts over the Mill Creek and the railroad approaches to Union Terminal. The new viaducts the Union Terminal Company created to cross the Mill Creek valley ranged from the well built, like the Western Hills Viaduct, to the more hastily constructed and shabby, like the Waldvogel Viaduct. Construction on the terminal building itself began in 1931, with Cincinnati mayor Russell Wilson laying the mortar for the cornerstone. Construction was finished ahead of schedule, although the terminal welcomed its first trains even earlier on March 19, 1933 when it was forced into emergency operation due to flooding of the Ohio River. The official opening of the station was on March 31, 1933. The total cost of the project was $41.5 million.

 

During its heyday as a passenger rail facility, Cincinnati Union Terminal had a capacity of 216 trains per day, 108 in and 108 out. Three concentric lanes of traffic were included in the design of the building, underneath the main rotunda of the building: one for taxis, one for buses, and one (although never used) for streetcars. However, the time period in which the terminal was built was one of decline for train travel. By 1939, local newspapers were already describing the station as a white elephant. While it had a brief revival in the 1940s, because of World War II, it declined in use through the 1950s into the 1960s.

 

After the creation of Amtrak in 1971, train service at Cincinnati Union Terminal was reduced to just two trains a day, the George Washington and the James Whitcomb Riley. Amtrak abandoned Cincinnati Union Terminal the next year, opening a smaller station elsewhere in the city on October 29, 1972.

 

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_Museum_Center_at_Union_T...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin

  

Berlin (/bərˈlɪn/, German: [bɛɐ̯ˈliːn] ( listen)) is the capital of Germany, and one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.5 million people,[4] Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union.[5] Located in northeastern Germany on the banks of Rivers Spree and Havel, it is the centre of the Berlin-Brandenburg Metropolitan Region, which has about six million residents from over 180 nations.[6][7][8][9] Due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one-third of the city's area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers and lakes.[10]

 

First documented in the 13th century, Berlin became the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg (1417-1701), the Kingdom of Prussia (1701–1918), the German Empire (1871–1918), the Weimar Republic (1919–1933) and the Third Reich (1933–1945).[11] Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world.[12] After World War II, the city was divided; East Berlin became the capital of East Germany while West Berlin became a de facto West German exclave, surrounded by the Berlin Wall (1961–1989).[13] Following German reunification in 1990, the city was once more designated as the capital of all Germany, hosting 158 foreign embassies.[14]

 

Berlin is a world city of culture, politics, media, and science.[15][16][17][18] Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the service sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations, and convention venues.[19][20] Berlin serves as a continental hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination.[21] Significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction, and electronics.

 

Modern Berlin is home to renowned universities, orchestras, museums, entertainment venues, and is host to many sporting events.[22] Its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions.[23] The city is well known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts, and a high quality of living.[24] Over the last decade Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene.[

  

History

  

Etymology

  

The origin of the name Berlin is uncertain. It may have its roots in the language of West Slavic inhabitants of the area of today's Berlin, and may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl- ("swamp").[26] Folk etymology connects the name to the German word for bear, Bär. A bear also appears in the coat of arms of the city.[

  

12th to 16th centuries

  

The earliest evidence of settlements in the area of today's Berlin are a wooden rod dated from approximately 1192[28] and leftovers of wooden houseparts dated to 1174 found in a 2012 digging in Berlin Mitte.[29] The first written records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209, although these areas did not join Berlin until 1920.[30] The central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in a 1237 document, and Berlin, across the Spree in what is now called the Nikolaiviertel, is referenced in a document from 1244.[28] The former (1237) is considered to be the founding date of the city.[31] The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties. In 1307 they formed an alliance with a common external policy, their internal administrations still being separated.[32][33]

 

In 1415, Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440.[34] During the 15th century his successors would establish Berlin-Cölln as capital of the margraviate, and subsequent members of the Hohenzollern family ruled until 1918 in Berlin, first as electors of Brandenburg, then as kings of Prussia, and eventually as German emperors. In 1443, Frederick II Irontooth started the construction of a new royal palace in the twin city Berlin-Cölln. The protests of the town citizens against the building culminated in 1448, in the "Berlin Indignation" ("Berliner Unwille").[35][36] This protest was not successful, however, and the citizenry lost many of its political and economic privileges. After the royal palace was finished in 1451, it gradually came into use. From 1470, with the new elector Albrecht III Achilles, Berlin-Cölln became the new royal residence.[33] Officially, the Berlin-Cölln palace became permanent residence of the Brandenburg electors of the Hohenzollerns from 1486, when John Cicero came to power.[37] Berlin-Cölln, however, had to give up its status as a free Hanseatic city. In 1539, the electors and the city officially became Lutheran.[

  

17th to 19th centuries

  

The Thirty Years' War between 1618 and 1648 devastated Berlin. One third of its houses were damaged or destroyed, and the city lost half of its population.[39] Frederick William, known as the "Great Elector", who had succeeded his father George William as ruler in 1640, initiated a policy of promoting immigration and religious tolerance.[40] With the Edict of Potsdam in 1685, Frederick William offered asylum to the French Huguenots.[41] By 1700, approximately 30 percent of Berlin's residents were French, because of the Huguenot immigration.[42] Many other immigrants came from Bohemia, Poland, and Salzburg.[43]

  

Since 1618, the Margraviate of Brandenburg had been in personal union with the Duchy of Prussia. In 1701, however, the dual state formed the Kingdom of Prussia, as Frederick III, Elector of Brandenburg now crowned himself as king Frederick I in Prussia. Berlin became the capital of the new Kingdom. This was a successful attempt to centralise the capital in the very outspread state, and it was the first time the city began to grow. In 1709 Berlin merged with the four cities of Cölln, Friedrichswerder, Friedrichstadt and Dorotheenstadt under the name Berlin, "Haupt- und Residenzstadt Berlin".[32]

 

In 1740, Frederick II, known as Frederick the Great (1740–1786), came to power.[44] Under the rule of Frederick II, Berlin became a center of the Enlightenment.[45] Following France's victory in the War of the Fourth Coalition, Napoleon Bonaparte marched into Berlin in 1806, but granted self-government to the city.[46] In 1815, the city became part of the new Province of Brandenburg.[47]

 

The Industrial Revolution transformed Berlin during the 19th century; the city's economy and population expanded dramatically, and it became the main railway hub and economic centre of Germany. Additional suburbs soon developed and increased the area and population of Berlin. In 1861, neighboring suburbs including Wedding, Moabit and several others were incorporated into Berlin.[48] In 1871, Berlin became capital of the newly founded German Empire.[49] In 1881, it became a city district separate from Brandenburg.[50]

  

20th to 21st centuries

  

In the early 20th century, Berlin had become a fertile ground for the German Expressionist movement.[51] In fields such as architecture, painting and cinema new forms of artistic styles were invented. At the end of World War I in 1918, a republic was proclaimed by Philipp Scheidemann at the Reichstag building. In 1920, the Greater Berlin Act incorporated dozens of suburban cities, villages, and estates around Berlin into an expanded city. The act increased the area of Berlin from 66 to 883 km2 (25 to 341 sq mi). The population almost doubled and Berlin had a population of around four million. During the Weimar era, Berlin underwent political unrest due to economic uncertainties, but also became a renowned center of the Roaring Twenties. The metropolis experienced its heyday as a major world capital and was known for its leadership roles in science, technology, the humanities, city planning, film, higher education, government, and industries. Albert Einstein rose to public prominence during his years in Berlin, being awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921.

 

In 1933, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power. NSDAP rule effectively destroyed Berlin's Jewish community, which had numbered 160,000, representing one-third of all Jews in the country. Berlin's Jewish population fell to about 80,000 as a result of emigration between 1933 and 1939. After Kristallnacht in 1938, thousands of the city's persecuted groups were imprisoned in the nearby Sachsenhausen concentration camp or, starting in early 1943, were shipped to death camps, such as Auschwitz.[52] During World War II, large parts of Berlin were destroyed in the 1943–45 air raids and during the Battle of Berlin. Around 125,000 civilians were killed.[53] After the end of the war in Europe in 1945, Berlin received large numbers of refugees from the Eastern provinces. The victorious powers divided the city into four sectors, analogous to the occupation zones into which Germany was divided. The sectors of the Western Allies (the United States, the United Kingdom and France) formed West Berlin, while the Soviet sector formed East Berlin.[54]

 

All four Allies shared administrative responsibilities for Berlin. However, in 1948, when the Western Allies extended the currency reform in the Western zones of Germany to the three western sectors of Berlin, the Soviet Union imposed a blockade on the access routes to and from West Berlin, which lay entirely inside Soviet-controlled territory. The Berlin airlift, conducted by the three western Allies, overcame this blockade by supplying food and other supplies to the city from June 1948 to May 1949.[55] In 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany was founded in West Germany and eventually included all of the American, British, and French zones, excluding those three countries' zones in Berlin, while the Marxist-Leninist German Democratic Republic was proclaimed in East Germany. West Berlin officially remained an occupied city, but it politically was aligned with the Federal Republic of Germany despite West Berlin's geographic isolation. Airline service to West Berlin was granted only to American, British, and French airlines.

 

The founding of the two German states increased Cold War tensions. West Berlin was surrounded by East German territory, and East Germany proclaimed the Eastern part as its capital, a move that was not recognized by the western powers. East Berlin included most of the historic center of the city. The West German government established itself in Bonn.[56] In 1961, East Germany began the building of the Berlin Wall between East and West Berlin, and events escalated to a tank standoff at Checkpoint Charlie. West Berlin was now de facto a part of West Germany with a unique legal status, while East Berlin was de facto a part of East Germany. John F. Kennedy gave his "Ich bin ein Berliner" – speech in 1963 underlining the US support for the Western part of the city. Berlin was completely divided. Although it was possible for Westerners to pass from one to the other side through strictly controlled checkpoints, for most Easterners travel to West Berlin or West Germany was prohibited. In 1971, a Four-Power agreement guaranteed access to and from West Berlin by car or train through East Germany.[57]

 

In 1989, with the end of the Cold War and pressure from the East German population, the Berlin Wall fell on 9 November and was subsequently mostly demolished. Today, the East Side Gallery preserves a large portion of the Wall. On 3 October 1990, the two parts of Germany were reunified as the Federal Republic of Germany, and Berlin again became the official German capital. In 1991, the German Parliament, the Bundestag, voted to move the seat of the (West) German capital from Bonn to Berlin, which was completed in 1999. Berlin's 2001 administrative reform merged several districts. The number of boroughs was reduced from 23 to 12. In 2006, the FIFA World Cup Final was held in Berlin.

  

Geography

  

Topography

  

Berlin is situated in northeastern Germany, in an area of low-lying marshy woodlands with a mainly flat topography, part of the vast Northern European Plain which stretches all the way from northern France to western Russia. The Berliner Urstromtal (an ice age glacial valley), between the low Barnim Plateau to the north and the Teltow Plateau to the south, was formed by meltwater flowing from ice sheets at the end of the last Weichselian glaciation. The Spree follows this valley now. In Spandau, Berlin's westernmost borough, the Spree empties into the river Havel, which flows from north to south through western Berlin. The course of the Havel is more like a chain of lakes, the largest being the Tegeler See and Großer Wannsee. A series of lakes also feeds into the upper Spree, which flows through the Großer Müggelsee in eastern Berlin.[58]

 

Substantial parts of present-day Berlin extend onto the low plateaus on both sides of the Spree Valley. Large parts of the boroughs Reinickendorf and Pankow lie on the Barnim Plateau, while most of the boroughs of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Tempelhof-Schöneberg, and Neukölln lie on the Teltow Plateau.

 

The borough of Spandau lies partly within the Berlin Glacial Valley and partly on the Nauen Plain, which stretches to the west of Berlin. The highest elevations in Berlin are the Teufelsberg and the Müggelberge in the city's outskirts, and in the center the Kreuzberg. While the latter measures 66 m (217 ft) above sea level, the former both have an elevation of about 115 m (377 ft). The Teufelsberg is in fact an artificial hill composed of a pile of rubble from the ruins of World War II.

  

Climate

  

Berlin has an Maritime temperate climate (Cfb) according to the Köppen climate classification system.[59] There are significant influences of mild continental climate due to its inland position, with frosts being common in winter and there being larger temperature differences between seasons than typical for many oceanic climates.

 

Summers are warm and sometimes humid with average high temperatures of 22–25 °C (72–77 °F) and lows of 12–14 °C (54–57 °F). Winters are cool with average high temperatures of 3 °C (37 °F) and lows of −2 to 0 °C (28 to 32 °F). Spring and autumn are generally chilly to mild. Berlin's built-up area creates a microclimate, with heat stored by the city's buildings. Temperatures can be 4 °C (7 °F) higher in the city than in the surrounding areas.[60]

 

Annual precipitation is 570 millimeters (22 in) with moderate rainfall throughout the year. Snowfall mainly occurs from December through March.

  

Cityscape

  

Berlin's history has left the city with a highly eclectic array of architecture and buildings. The city's appearance today is predominantly shaped by the key role it played in Germany's history in the 20th century. Each of the national governments based in Berlin — the Kingdom of Prussia, the 1871 German Empire, the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany, East Germany, and now the reunified Germany — initiated ambitious (re-)construction programs, with each adding its own distinctive style to the city's architecture.

 

Berlin was devastated by bombing raids, fires and street battles during World War II, and many of the buildings that had remained after the war were demolished in the post-war period in both West and East Berlin. Much of this demolition was initiated by municipal architecture programs to build new residential or business quarters and main roads. Many ornaments of pre-war buildings were destroyed following modernist dogmas. While in both systems and in reunified Berlin, various important heritage monuments were also (partly) reconstructed, including the Forum Fridericianum with e.g., the State Opera (1955), Charlottenburg Palace (1957), the main monuments of the Gendarmenmarkt (1980s), Kommandantur (2003) and the project to reconstruct the baroque facades of the City Palace. A number of new buildings is inspired by historical predecessors or the general classical style of Berlin, such as Hotel Adlon.

 

Clusters of high-rise buildings emerge at e.g., Potsdamer Platz, City West and Alexanderplatz. Berlin has three of the top 40 tallest buildings in Germany.

  

Architecture

  

The Brandenburg Gate is an iconic landmark of Berlin and Germany. The Reichstag building is the traditional seat of the German Parliament, was remodeled by British architect Norman Foster in the 1990s and features a glass dome over the session area, which allows free public access to the parliamentary proceedings and magnificent views of the city.

 

The East Side Gallery is an open-air exhibition of art painted directly on the last existing portions of the Berlin Wall. It is the largest remaining evidence of the city's historical division.

 

The Gendarmenmarkt, a neoclassical square in Berlin the name of which derives from the headquarters of the famous Gens d'armes regiment located here in the 18th century, is bordered by two similarly designed cathedrals, the Französischer Dom with its observation platform and the Deutscher Dom. The Konzerthaus (Concert Hall), home of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, stands between the two cathedrals.

  

The Museum Island in the River Spree houses five museums built from 1830 to 1930 and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Restoration and the construction of a main entrance to all museums, as well as the reconstruction of the Stadtschloss is continuing.[65][66] Also located on the island and adjacent to the Lustgarten and palace is Berlin Cathedral, emperor William II's ambitious attempt to create a Protestant counterpart to St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. A large crypt houses the remains of some of the earlier Prussian royal family. St. Hedwig's Cathedral is Berlin's Roman Catholic cathedral.

 

Unter den Linden is a tree-lined east–west avenue from the Brandenburg Gate to the site of the former Berliner Stadtschloss, and was once Berlin's premier promenade. Many Classical buildings line the street and part of Humboldt University is located there. Friedrichstraße was Berlin's legendary street during the Golden Twenties. It combines 20th-century traditions with the modern architecture of today's Berlin.

 

Potsdamer Platz is an entire quarter built from scratch after 1995 after the Wall came down.[67] To the west of Potsdamer Platz is the Kulturforum, which houses the Gemäldegalerie, and is flanked by the Neue Nationalgalerie and the Berliner Philharmonie. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a Holocaust memorial, is situated to the north.[68]

 

The area around Hackescher Markt is home to the fashionable culture, with countless clothing outlets, clubs, bars, and galleries. This includes the Hackesche Höfe, a conglomeration of buildings around several courtyards, reconstructed around 1996. The nearby New Synagogue is the center of Jewish culture.

  

The Straße des 17. Juni, connecting the Brandenburg Gate and Ernst-Reuter-Platz, serves as the central East-West-Axis. Its name commemorates the uprisings in East Berlin of 17 June 1953. Approximately half-way from the Brandenburg Gate is the Großer Stern, a circular traffic island on which the Siegessäule (Victory Column) is situated. This monument, built to commemorate Prussia's victories, was relocated 1938–39 from its previous position in front of the Reichstag.

 

The Kurfürstendamm is home to some of Berlin's luxurious stores with the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at its eastern end on Breitscheidplatz. The church was destroyed in the Second World War and left in ruins. Nearby on Tauentzienstraße is KaDeWe, claimed to be continental Europe's largest department store. The Rathaus Schöneberg, where John F. Kennedy made his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner!" speech, is situated in Tempelhof-Schöneberg.

 

West of the center, Schloss Bellevue is the residence of the German President. Schloss Charlottenburg, which was burnt out in the Second World War is the largest historical palace in Berlin.

 

The Funkturm Berlin is a 150 m (490 ft) tall lattice radio tower at the fair area, built between 1924 and 1926. It is the only observation tower which stands on insulators and has a restaurant 55 m (180 ft) and an observation deck 126 m (413 ft) above ground, which is reachable by a windowed elevator.

  

Demographics

  

On 31 December 2014, the city-state of Berlin had a population of 3,562,166 registered inhabitants[4] in an area of 891.85 km2 (344.35 sq mi).[69] The city's population density was 3,994 inhabitants per km2. Berlin is the second most populous city proper in the EU. The urban area of Berlin comprised about 4 million people making it the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union.[5] The metropolitan area of the Berlin-Brandenburg region was home to about 4.5 million in an area of 5,370 km2 (2,070 sq mi). In 2004, the Larger Urban Zone was home to about 5 million people in an area of 17,385 km2 (6,712 sq mi).[9] The entire Berlin-Brandenburg capital region has a population of 6 million.[70]

 

National and international migration into the city has a long history. In 1685, following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in France, the city responded with the Edict of Potsdam, which guaranteed religious freedom and tax-free status to French Huguenot refugees for ten years. The Greater Berlin Act in 1920 incorporated many suburbs and surrounding cities of Berlin. It formed most of the territory that comprises modern Berlin and increased the population from 1.9 million to 4 million.

 

Active immigration and asylum politics in West Berlin triggered waves of immigration in the 1960s and 1970s. Currently, Berlin is home to about 200,000 Turks,[71] making it the largest Turkish community outside of Turkey. In the 1990s the Aussiedlergesetze enabled immigration to Germany of some residents from the former Soviet Union. Today ethnic Germans from countries of the former Soviet Union make up the largest portion of the Russian-speaking community.[72] The last decade experienced an influx from various Western countries and some African regions.[73] Young Germans, EU-Europeans and Israelis have settled in the city.[

  

International communities

  

In December 2013, 538,729 residents (15.3% of the population) were of foreign nationality, originating from over 180 different countries.[76] Another estimated 460,000 citizens in 2013 are descendants of international migrants and have either become naturalized German citizens or obtained citizenship by virtue of birth in Germany.[77] In 2008, about 25%–30% of the population was of foreign origin.[78] 45 percent of the residents under the age of 18 have foreign roots.[79] Berlin is estimated to have from 100,000 to 250,000 non-registered inhabitants.[80]

 

There are more than 25 non-indigenous communities with a population of at least 10,000 people, including Turkish, Polish, Russian, Lebanese, Palestinian, Serbian, Italian, Bosnian, Vietnamese, American, Romanian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Austrian, Ghanaian, Ukrainian, French, British, Spanish, Israeli, Thai, Iranian, Egyptian and Syrian communities.

 

The most-commonly-spoken foreign languages in Berlin are Turkish, English, Russian, Arabic, Polish, Kurdish, Vietnamese, Serbian, Croatian and French. Turkish, Arabic, Kurdish, Serbian and Croatian are heard more often in the western part, due to the large Middle Eastern and former-Yugoslavian communities. English, Vietnamese, Russian, and Polish have more native speakers in eastern Berlin.

  

Religion

  

More than 60% of Berlin residents have no registered religious affiliation.[82] The largest denominations in 2010 were the Protestant regional church body of the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia (EKBO) (a church of united administration comprising mostly Lutheran, and few Reformed and United Protestant congregations; EKBO is a member of the umbrellas Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and Union Evangelischer Kirchen (UEK)) with 18.7% of the population,[83] and the Roman Catholic Church with 9.1% of registered members.[83] About 2.7% of the population identify with other Christian denominations (mostly Eastern Orthodox)[84] and 8.1% are Muslims.[85] 0.9% of Berliners belong to other religions.[86] Approximately 80% of the 12,000 (0.3%) registered Jews now residing in Berlin[84] have come from the former Soviet Union.

 

Berlin is the seat of the Roman Catholic archbishop of Berlin and EKBO's elected chairperson is titled bishop of EKBO. Furthermore, Berlin is the seat of many Orthodox cathedrals, such as the Cathedral of St. Boris the Baptist, one of the two seats of the Bulgarian Orthodox Diocese of Western and Central Europe, and the Resurrection of Christ Cathedral of the Diocese of Berlin (Patriarchate of Moscow).

 

The faithful of the different religions and denominations maintain many places of worship in Berlin. The Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church has eight parishes of different sizes in Berlin.[87] There are 36 Baptist congregations (within Union of Evangelical Free Church Congregations in Germany), 29 New Apostolic Churches, 15 United Methodist churches, eight Free Evangelical Congregations, six congregations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, an Old Catholic church, and an Anglican church in Berlin.

 

Berlin has 76 mosques (including three Ahmadiyya mosques), 11 synagogues, and two Buddhist temples, in addition to a number of humanist and atheist groups.

  

Government

  

City state

  

Since the reunification on 3 October 1990, Berlin has been one of the three city states in Germany among the present 16 states of Germany. The city and state parliament is the House of Representatives (Abgeordnetenhaus), which currently has 141 seats. Berlin's executive body is the Senate of Berlin (Senat von Berlin). The Senate of Berlin consists of the Governing Mayor (Regierender Bürgermeister) and up to eight senators holding ministerial positions, one of them holding the official title "Mayor" (Bürgermeister) as deputy to the Governing Mayor.

 

The Social Democratic Party (SPD) and The Left (Die Linke) took control of the city government after the 2001 state election and won another term in the 2006 state election.[88] Since the 2011 state election, there has been a coalition of the Social Democratic Party with the Christian Democratic Union, and for the first time ever, the Pirate Party won seats in a state parliament in Germany.

 

The Governing Mayor is simultaneously Lord Mayor of the city (Oberbürgermeister der Stadt) and Prime Minister of the Federal State (Ministerpräsident des Bundeslandes). The office of Berlin's Governing Mayor is in the Rotes Rathaus (Red City Hall). Since 2014 this office has been held by Michael Müller of the SPD.[89] On 26 August 2014, Wowereit announced his resignation as of 11 December 2014.[90]

 

The total annual state budget of Berlin in 2007 exceeded €20.5 ($28.7) billion including a budget surplus of €80 ($112) million.[91] The total budget included an estimated amount of €5.5 ($7.7) bn, which is directly financed by either the German government or the German Bundesländer.[

  

Boroughs

  

Berlin is subdivided into twelve boroughs (Bezirke). Each borough contains a number of localities (Ortsteile), which often have historic roots in older municipalities that predate the formation of Greater Berlin on 1 October 1920 and became urbanized and incorporated into the city. Many residents strongly identify with their localities or boroughs. At present Berlin consists of 96 localities, which are commonly made up of several city neighborhoods—called Kiez in the Berlin dialect—representing small residential areas.

 

Each borough is governed by a borough council (Bezirksamt) consisting of five councilors (Bezirksstadträte) including the borough mayor (Bezirksbürgermeister). The borough council is elected by the borough assembly (Bezirksverordnetenversammlung). The boroughs of Berlin are not independent municipalities. The power of borough administration is limited and subordinate to the Senate of Berlin. The borough mayors form the council of mayors (Rat der Bürgermeister), led by the city's governing mayor, which advises the senate. The localities have no local government bodies.

  

Sister cities

  

Berlin maintains official partnerships with 17 cities.[93] Town twinning between Berlin and other cities began with sister city Los Angeles in 1967. East Berlin's partnerships were canceled at the time of German reunification and later partially reestablished. West Berlin's partnerships had previously been restricted to the borough level. During the Cold War era, the partnerships had reflected the different power blocs, with West Berlin partnering with capitals in the West, and East Berlin mostly partnering with cities from the Warsaw Pact and its allies.

 

There are several joint projects with many other cities, such as Beirut, Belgrade, São Paulo, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Johannesburg, Mumbai, Oslo, Shanghai, Seoul, Sofia, Sydney, New York City and Vienna. Berlin participates in international city associations such as the Union of the Capitals of the European Union, Eurocities, Network of European Cities of Culture, Metropolis, Summit Conference of the World's Major Cities, and Conference of the World's Capital Cities. Berlin's official sister cities are:

  

Capital city

  

Berlin is the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany. The President of Germany, whose functions are mainly ceremonial under the German constitution, has his official residence in Schloss Bellevue.[97] Berlin is the seat of the German executive, housed in the Chancellery, the Bundeskanzleramt. Facing the Chancellery is the Bundestag, the German Parliament, housed in the renovated Reichstag building since the government moved back to Berlin in 1998. The Bundesrat ("federal council", performing the function of an upper house) is the representation of the Federal States (Bundesländer) of Germany and has its seat at the former Prussian House of Lords.

  

Though most of the ministries are seated in Berlin, some of them, as well as some minor departments, are seated in Bonn, the former capital of West Germany. Discussions to move the remaining branches continue.[98] The ministries and departments of Defence, Justice and Consumer Protection, Finance, Interior, Foreign, Economic Affairs and Energy, Labour and Social Affairs , Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, Food and Agriculture, Economic Cooperation and Development, Health, Transport and Digital Infrastructure and Education and Research are based in the capital.

 

Berlin hosts 158 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of many think tanks, trade unions, non-profit organizations, lobbying groups, and professional associations. Due to the influence and international partnerships of the Federal Republic of Germany as a state, the capital city has become a venue for German and European affairs. Frequent official visits, and diplomatic consultations among governmental representatives and national leaders are common in contemporary Berlin.

  

Economy

  

In 2013, the nominal GDP of the citystate Berlin experienced a growth rate of 1.2% (0.6% in Germany) and totaled €109.2 (~$142) billion.[99] Berlin's economy is dominated by the service sector, with around 80% of all companies doing business in services. The unemployment rate reached a 20-year low in June 2014 and stood at 11.0% .[100]

 

Important economic sectors in Berlin include life sciences, transportation, information and communication technologies, media and music, advertising and design, biotechnology, environmental services, construction, e-commerce, retail, hotel business, and medical engineering.[101]

 

Research and development have economic significance for the city. The metropolitan region ranks among the top-3 innovative locations in the EU.[102] The Science and Business Park in Adlershof is the largest technology park in Germany measured by revenue.[103] Within the Eurozone, Berlin has become a center for business relocation and international investments.[

  

Companies

  

Many German and international companies have business or service centers in the city. For some years Berlin has been recognized as a center of business founders in Europe.[105] Among the 10 largest employers in Berlin are the City-State of Berlin, Deutsche Bahn, the hospital provider Charité and Vivantes, the local public transport provider BVG, and Deutsche Telekom.

 

Daimler manufactures cars, and BMW builds motorcycles in Berlin. Bayer Health Care and Berlin Chemie are major pharmaceutical companies headquartered in the city. The second largest German airline Air Berlin is based there as well.[106]

 

Siemens, a Global 500 and DAX-listed company is partly headquartered in Berlin. The national railway operator Deutsche Bahn and the MDAX-listed firms Axel Springer SE and Zalando have their headquarters in the central districts.[107] Berlin has a cluster of rail technology companies and is the German headquarter or site to Bombardier Transportation,[108] Siemens Mobility,[109] Stadler Rail and Thales Transportation.[

  

Tourism and conventions

  

Berlin had 788 hotels with 134,399 beds in 2014.[111] The city recorded 28.7 million overnight hotel stays and 11.9 million hotel guests in 2014.[111] Tourism figures have more than doubled within the last ten years and Berlin has become the third most-visited city destination in Europe.

 

Berlin is among the top three congress cities in the world and home to Europe's biggest convention center, the Internationales Congress Centrum (ICC) at the Messe Berlin.[19] Several large-scale trade fairs like the consumer electronics trade fair IFA, the ILA Berlin Air Show, the Berlin Fashion Week (including the Bread and Butter tradeshow), the Green Week, the transport fair InnoTrans, the tourism fair ITB and the adult entertainment and erotic fair Venus are held annually in the city, attracting a significant number of business visitors.

  

Creative industries

  

Industries that do business in the creative arts and entertainment are an important and sizable sector of the economy of Berlin. The creative arts sector comprises music, film, advertising, architecture, art, design, fashion, performing arts, publishing, R&D, software,[112] TV, radio, and video games. Around 22,600 creative enterprises, predominantly SMEs, generated over 18,6 billion euro in revenue. Berlin's creative industries have contributed an estimated 20 percent of Berlin's gross domestic product in 2005.[

  

Media

  

Berlin is home to many international and regional television and radio stations.[114] The public broadcaster RBB has its headquarters in Berlin as well as the commercial broadcasters MTV Europe, VIVA, and N24. German international public broadcaster Deutsche Welle has its TV production unit in Berlin, and most national German broadcasters have a studio in the city including ZDF and RTL.

 

Berlin has Germany's largest number of daily newspapers, with numerous local broadsheets (Berliner Morgenpost, Berliner Zeitung, Der Tagesspiegel), and three major tabloids, as well as national dailies of varying sizes, each with a different political affiliation, such as Die Welt, Neues Deutschland, and Die Tageszeitung. The Exberliner, a monthly magazine, is Berlin's English-language periodical focusing on arts and entertainment. Berlin is also the headquarters of the two major German-language publishing houses Walter de Gruyter and Springer, each of which publish books, periodicals, and multimedia products.

 

Berlin is an important centre in the European and German film industry.[115] It is home to more than 1000 film and television production companies, 270 movie theaters, and around 300 national and international co-productions are filmed in the region every year.[102] The historic Babelsberg Studios and the production company UFA are located outside Berlin in Potsdam. The city is also home of the European Film Academy and the German Film Academy, and hosts the annual Berlin Film Festival. With around 500,000 admissions it is the largest publicly attended film festival in the world.

  

Infrastructure

  

Transport

  

Berlin's transport infrastructure is highly complex, providing a diverse range of urban mobility.[118] A total of 979 bridges cross 197 km (122 mi) of inner-city waterways. 5,422 km (3,369 mi) of roads run through Berlin, of which 77 km (48 mi) are motorways ("Autobahn").[119] In 2013, 1.344 million motor vehicles were registered in the city.[119] With 377 cars per 1000 residents in 2013 (570/1000 in Germany), Berlin as a Western global city has one of the lowest numbers of cars per capita.

 

Long-distance rail lines connect Berlin with all of the major cities of Germany and with many cities in neighboring European countries. Regional rail lines provide access to the surrounding regions of Brandenburg and to the Baltic Sea. The Berlin Hauptbahnhof is the largest grade-separated railway station in Europe.[120] Deutsche Bahn runs trains to domestic destinations like Hamburg, Munich, Cologne and others. It also runs an airport express rail service, as well as trains to several international destinations, e.g., Vienna, Prague, Zürich, Warsaw and Amsterdam.

  

Public transport

  

Airports

  

Flights departing from Berlin serve 163 destinations around the globe

  

Berlin has two commercial airports. Berlin Tegel Airport (TXL), which lies within the city limits, and Schönefeld Airport (SXF), which is situated just outside Berlin's south-eastern border in the state of Brandenburg. Both airports together handled 26.3 million passengers in 2013. In 2014, 67 airlines served 163 destinations in 50 countries from Berlin.[122] Tegel Airport is an important transfer hub for Air Berlin as well as a focus city for Lufthansa and Germanwings, whereas Schönefeld serves as an important destination for airlines like easyJet.

 

Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) will replace Tegel as single commercial airport of Berlin.[123] The new airport will integrate old Schönefeld (SXF) facilities and is scheduled to open not before 2017. Because of the rapid passenger growth at Berlin airports the capacities at the BER are already considered too small for the projected demand.

  

Cycling

  

Berlin is well known for its highly developed bicycle lane system.[124] It is estimated that Berlin has 710 bicycles per 1000 residents. Around 500,000 daily bike riders accounted for 13% of total traffic in 2009.[125] Cyclists have access to 620 km (385 mi) of bicycle paths including approximately 150 km (93 mi) of mandatory bicycle paths, 190 km (118 mi) (120 miles) of off-road bicycle routes, 60 km (37 mi) of bicycle lanes on roads, 70 km (43 mi) of shared bus lanes which are also open to cyclists, 100 km (62 mi) of combined pedestrian/bike paths and 50 km (31 mi) of marked bicycle lanes on roadside pavements (or sidewalks).[

   

Chichén Itzá is one of the most important ruins on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. It is located about 120 kilometers east of Mérida in the state of Yucatán. Its ruins date back to the late Maya period. With an area of ​​1,547 hectares[1], Chichén Itzá is one of the most extensive archaeological sites in the Yucatán. The center is occupied by numerous monumental representative buildings with a religious and political background, from which a large, largely preserved step pyramid protrudes. There are ruins of upper class houses in the immediate vicinity.

 

Between the 8th and 11th centuries, this city must have played a nationally important role. However, what this exactly looked like has not yet been clarified. What is unique is how different architectural styles appear side by side in Chichén Itzá. In addition to buildings in a modified Puuc style, there are buildings that have Toltec features. In the past, this was often attributed to a direct influence of emigrants from central Mexico or conquerors from Tula. Today we tend to use diffusionist models and assume that different stylistic forms in monumental buildings are largely simultaneous.

 

The construction of Kukulcán ("El Castillo"), like other Mesoamerican temples, likely reflected the common practice by the Maya of executing several phases of construction for their temples. The last construction probably took place between 900–1000 AD, while the substructure may have been constructed earlier, between 600–800 AD. Based on archaeological research, construction of Kukulcán was based on the concept of axis mundi.[5] Anthropologists think that the site remained sacred regardless of how the structure was positioned on the location. When a temple structure was renewed, the former construction was destroyed using a ritual that involved resolving the space of spiritual forces to preserve its sacredness.[5] It is estimated that this last construction dates to the eleventh century AD. The older, inner temple is referred to as the "substructure".

 

El Castillo (Spanish pronunciation: [el kas'tiʎo], Spanish for "the castle"), also known as the Temple of Kukulcan is a Mesoamerican step-pyramid that dominates the center of the Chichen Itzaarchaeological site in the Mexican state of Yucatán. The temple building is more formally designated by archaeologists as Chichen Itza Structure 5B18.

Built by the pre-Columbian Maya civilization sometime between the 8th and 12th centuries AD, the building served as a temple to the deity Kukulcán, the Yucatec Maya Feathered Serpent deityclosely related to Quetzalcoatl, a deity known to the Aztecs and other central Mexican cultures of the Postclassic period. It has a substructure that likely was constructed several centuries earlier for the same purpose.

The temple consists of a series of square terraces with stairways up each of the four sides to the temple on top. Sculptures of plumed serpents run down the sides of the northern balustrade. Around the spring and autumn equinoxes, the late afternoon sun strikes off the northwest corner of the temple and casts a series of triangular shadows against the northwest balustrade, creating the illusion of the feathered serpent "crawling" down the temple. To contemporary visitors, the event has been very popular and is witnessed by thousands at the spring equinox, but it is not known whether the phenomenon is a result of a purposeful design since the light-and-shadow effect can be observed without major changes during several weeks near the equinoxes.[1]

Scientific research led since 1998 suggests that the temple mimics the chirping sound of the quetzal bird when humans clap their hands around it. The researchers argue that this phenomenon is not accidental, that the builders of this temple felt divinely rewarded by the echoing effect of this structure. Technically, the clapping noise rings out and scatters against the temple's high and narrow limestone steps, producing a chirp-like tone that declines in frequency.[2][3]

All four sides of the temple have approximately 91 steps which, when added together and including the temple platform on top as the final "step", may produce a total of 365 steps (the steps on the south side of the temple are eroded). That number is equal to the number of days of the Haab' year and likely is significantly related to rituals.[4]

The structure is 24 m (79 ft) high, plus an additional 6 m (20 ft) for the temple at the top. The square base measures 55.3 m (181 ft) across.

Lunenburg, is a Canadian port town in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia.

 

Situated on the province's South Shore, Lunenburg is located on a peninsula at the western side of Mahone Bay. The town is approximately 90 kilometres southwest of the county boundary with the Halifax Regional Municipality.

 

The historic town was designated a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site in 1995.

 

This designation ensures protection for much of Lunenburg's unique architecture and civic design, being the best example of planned British colonial settlement in North America.

Château Frontenac

 

The Château Frontenac is a grand hotel in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, which is operated as Fairmont Le Château Frontenac. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1980. The hotel is generally recognized as the most photographed hotel in the world, largely due to its prominence in the skyline of Quebec City. The Château Frontenac was designed by American architect Bruce Price, as one of a series of "château" style hotels built for the Canadian Pacific Railway company (aka CPR) during the late 19th and early 20th centuries; the newer portions of the hotel—including the central tower (1924)—were designed by William Sutherland Maxwell. The Château Frontenac was named after Louis de Buade, Count of Frontenac, who was governor of the colony of New France from 1672 to 1682 and 1689 to 1698.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_Frontenac

Tyti's tomb is designated QV52 in the Valley of the Queens and her titles were: King's Daughter; King's Sister; King's Wife; King's Mother; God's Wife, Lady of the Two Lands. The tomb had been described by Champollion (tomb 3), Lepsius (number 9), Wilkinson (number 12) and Hay (number 2). The tomb consists of a corridor, side chambers, a hall and an inner (burial) chamber.

 

The corridor has a doorway which opens up to a further stretch of corridor which has been described as an antechamber. The walls are decorated with deities that form pairs with one on the north wall and the other on the south wall. After a seated winged goddess Ma’at, we find the gods Ptah (South) and Thoth (North) who represent the underworld, then Ra-Harakhti and Atum who are solar deities, followed by Imset and Hapy and by Duamutef and Qebehsenuef, the Four Sons of Horus. The parade of deities is concluded by Isis and Nephthys.

 

The decorations in the hall consist of protective deities. Included are for instance the gods Herymaat and Nebneru ("Lord of Terror"). Herymaat represents the rebirth of Queen Tyti. The doorways to the side chambers (or annexes) are decorated with guardians that are reminiscent of the Book of the Dead. The entrance to the final chamber is decorated with the Four Sons of Horus. Imset and Duamutef on the south side of the entrance and Hapy and Qebehsenuef on the north side.

 

The decorations or the side chambers include netherworld gods, images of Canopic chests and the Souls of Pe and Nekhen. One of the side chambers also includes a scene showing the Queen as a (male) Iunmutef priest. In the inner chamber the Queen again appears before several deities. The rear wall contains a scene depicting Osiris. He is seated on a throne and assisted by Thoth, Nephthys, Neith and Serket.

The tomb was reused during the Third Intermediate Period. A pit was dug in the Inner Chambers and excavations have yielded a variety of funerary items, including sarcophagi and personal items.[

Nyala

 

Kruger National Park is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers an area of 19,485 km2 (7,523 sq mi) in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern South Africa, and extends 360 km (220 mi) from north to south and 65 km (40 mi) from east to west. The administrative headquarters are in Skukuza. Areas of the park were first protected by the government of the South African Republic in 1898, and it became South Africa's first national park in 1926.

 

To the west and south of the Kruger National Park are the two South African provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga. In the north is Zimbabwe, and to the east is Mozambique. It is now part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, a peace park that links Kruger National Park with the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe, and with the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique.

 

The park is part of the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere an area designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as an International Man and Biosphere Reserve (the "Biosphere").

 

The park has nine main gates allowing entrance to the different camps.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

The lowland nyala or simply nyala (Tragelaphus angasii), is a spiral-horned antelope native to southern Africa. It is a species of the family Bovidae and genus Tragelaphus, previously placed in genus Nyala. It was first described in 1849 by George French Angas. The body length is 135–195 cm (53–77 in), and it weighs 55–140 kg (121–309 lb). The coat is maroon or rufous brown in females and juveniles, but grows a dark brown or slate grey, often tinged with blue, in adult males. Females and young males have ten or more white stripes on their sides. Only males have horns, 60–83 cm (24–33 in) long and yellow-tipped. It exhibits the highest sexual dimorphism among the spiral-horned antelopes. It is not to be confused with the endangered mountain nyala living in the Bale region of Ethiopia).

 

The nyala is mainly active in the early morning and the late afternoon. It generally browses during the day if temperatures are 20–30 °C (68–86 °F) and during the night in the rainy season. As a herbivore, the nyala feeds upon foliage, fruits and grasses, and requires sufficient fresh water. A shy animal, it prefers water holes rather than open spaces. The nyala does not show signs of territoriality, and individuals' areas can overlap. They are very cautious creatures. They live in single-sex or mixed family groups of up to 10 individuals, but old males live alone. They inhabit thickets within dense and dry savanna woodlands. The main predators of the nyala are lion, leopard and African wild dog, while baboons and raptorial birds prey on juveniles. Mating peaks during spring and autumn. Males and females are sexually mature at 18 and 11–12 months of age respectively, though they are socially immature until five years old. After a gestational period of seven months, a single calf is born.

 

The nyala's range includes Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Eswatini, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It has been introduced to Botswana and Namibia, and reintroduced to Eswatini, where it had been extinct since the 1950s. Its population is stable, and it has been listed as of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The principal threats to the species are poaching and habitat loss resulting from human settlement. The males are highly prized as game animals in Africa.

 

Taxonomy and naming

 

The nyala was first described by George French Angas, an English naturalist, in 1849. The scientific name of nyala is Tragelaphus angasii. The name angasii is attributed to Angas, who said that John Edward Gray had named this species after Angas' father, George Fife Angas of South Australia. According to Article 50.1.1 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature and International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, though, this is insufficient to state Gray as the author. The name "nyala" is the Tsonga name for this antelope, which is likely the source of the English, along with Zulu inyala. Its first known use was in 1899. The word has a Bantu origin, similar to the Venda word dzì-nyálà (nyala buck).

 

The nyala is the second taxon to branch off from the tragelaphine family tree just after the lesser kudu. As the nyala line has remained separate for a considerable time (over 5 million years), some authorities have placed it in its own monotypic genus Nyala. Nyala was proposed in 1912 by American zoologist Edmund Heller, who also proposed Ammelaphus for the lesser kudu, but it was not widely recognized. It was re-erected as a valid genus in 2011 under the classification of Peter Grubb and Colin Groves, but has not been embraced by taxonomic authorities such as the Mammal Diversity Database.

  

In 2005, Sandi Willows-Munro (of the University of KwaZulu-Natal) and colleagues carried out a mitochondrial DNA analysis of the nine Tragelaphus species. Mitochondrial DNA and nuclear DNA data were compared. The results showed the tribe Tragelaphini to be monophyletic, with the lesser kudu (T. imberbis) basal in the phylogeny, followed by the nyala. On the basis of mitochondrial data, studies have estimated that the lesser kudu separated from its sister clade around 13.7 million years ago. However, nuclear DNA data shows lesser kudu and nyala forming a clade, which collectively separated from the sister clade 13.8 million years ago.

 

Genetics and evolution

 

The nyala has 55 male chromosomes and 56 female chromosomes. The Y chromosome has been translocated onto the 14th chromosome, as in other tragelaphids, but no inversion of the Y chromosome occurs. Cranial studies have shown that the mountain nyala and nyala, though sharing a common name, are actually distant relatives.

 

Fossil evidence suggests that the nyala has been a separate species since the end of the Miocene (5.8 million years ago). Genetic evidence suggests that the proto-nyala had some early hybridization with the proto-lesser kudu, but the two have remained separate long after this crossing.

 

Physical description

 

The nyala is a spiral-horned and middle-sized antelope, between a bushbuck and a kudu. It is considered the most sexually dimorphic antelope.[The nyala is typically between 135–195 cm (53–77 in) in head-and-body length. The male stands up to 110 cm (43 in), the female is up to 90 cm (3.0 ft) tall. Males weigh 98–125 kg (216–276 lb), while females weigh 55–68 kg (121–150 lb). Life expectancy of the nyala is about 19 years.

 

The coat is rusty or rufous brown in females and juveniles. It grows a dark brown or slate grey in adult males, often with a bluish tinge. Females and young males have ten or more white vertical stripes on their sides. Other markings are visible on the face, throat, flanks and thighs. Stripes are very reduced or absent in older males. Both males and females have a white chevron between their eyes, and a 40–55 cm (16–22 in) long bushy tail white underside. Both sexes have a dorsal crest of hair running right from the back of the head to the end of the tail. Males have another line of hair along the midline of their chest and belly.

 

Only the males have horns. Horns are 60–83 cm (24–33 in) long and yellow-tipped. There are one or two twists.The spoor is similar to that of the bushbuck, but larger. It is 5–6 cm (2.0–2.4 in) long. The feces resemble round to spherical pellets. The nyala has hairy glands on its feet, which leave their scent wherever it walks.

 

The condition of the nyala often varies between the sexes. According to a study, this can be attributed to the differences in their body sizes. It was noted that during nutritional stress, old adults died in more numbers, of which most were males. During an attempt of blood sampling in the nyala, it was found that Vitamin E levels varied during stress.

 

Parasites

 

A study of the helminths from 77 nyalas from four game reserves in Natal revealed the presence of ten nematode species and four nematode genera, a trematode species and paramphistomes (members of superfamily Paramphistomoidea), and two cestode genera. The research discovered new parasites that the nyala was host of - namely a Cooperia rotundispiculum race, Gaigeria pachyscelis, a Gongylonema species, Haemonchus vegliai, Impalaia tuberculata, an Oesophagostomum species, a Setaria species, Trichostrongylus deflexus, Trichostrongylus falculatus, the larval stage of a Taenia species, a Thysaniezia species and Schistosoma mattheei. Ostertagia harrisi and C. rotundispiculum were the most dominant nematodes in the antelope.

 

Another study of 97 blood samples of South African nyalas revealed the presence of tick-borne hemoparasites (blood parasites). The methods used were polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and reverse line blot (RLB) hybridization. The dominant parasites were Theileria species, T. buffeli, T. bicornis, Ehrlichia species, Anaplasma marginale and A. bovis. Ten tick species, two louse species and a louse fly species were recovered in a study of 73 nyalas at Umfolozi, Mkuzi and Ndumu Game Reserves in northeastern KwaZulu-Natal in 1983 and 1984 and an additional six individuals in 1994. It was found that nyalas were hosts to all stages of development in Boophilus decoloratus, Rhipicephalus appendiculatus and R. muehlensi and the immature stages of Amblyomma hebraeum and Rhipicephalus maculatus. Adult males served hosts to more number of ticks and lice than adult females did. Also, a trypanosome was isolated from a nyala, wild-caught in Mozambique, which was diagnosed and found as akin to Trypanosoma vivax, based on biological, morphological and molecular data.

 

Diseases

 

The nyala can also suffer from myopathy. In between January 1973 and June 1981, 21 nyalas succumbed to the disease. The main symptoms were stiffness, inability to rise, and failure to suckle in newborns. Necrosis (that is, the premature death of cells in a living tissue) and mineralization were found in the skeletal muscle after a histological analysis. In the juveniles there was acute necrosis of the cardiac muscle. In adults, there was interstitial fibrosis of the cardiac muscle, along with arteriosclerosis.

 

In a report published in 1994 entitled "Epidemiological observations on spongiform encephalopathies in captive wild animals in the British Isles", it was noted that spongiform encephalopathy had been diagnosed in one nyala captive in a zoo. The nyala was formerly affected by the disease rinderpest, although the viral disease is considered eradicated now.

 

Ecology and behavior

 

he nyala is active mainly in the early morning and late afternoon. It browses during the day if temperatures are 20–30 °C (68–86 °F) and during the night in rainy season. These antelopes rest in thick bushes during the hot hours of the day. The nyala is very shy and cautious in nature, and often remains hidden rather than coming out in the open. Most sightings of the nyala in the wild are at water holes. But in protected areas they become less shy and often come out in view of tourists.

 

Nyala groups are according to sex or mixed. Herds usually browse and drink water together. Each group consists of two to ten individuals. A study in Zinave National Park at Mozambique showed that 67% of the observations were of groups of one to three nyalas, and the rest of the herds consisted of up to 30 nyalas. Herds often broke up and re-formed. Generally adult males remain alone. Females often remain near their mothers when they have their offspring, so the relationships in female herds may be closer than those of males.

 

Alert and wary in nature, the nyala use a sharp, high, dog-like bark to warn others in a group of danger. This feature is mainly used by females. They also react to the alarm calls of impala, baboon and kudu. The impala has been found to react to the calls of the nyala as well. The main predators of nyala are lion, leopard, cheetah, spotted hyena, African wild dog and nile crocodile while baboons and raptorial birds are predators of juveniles.

 

Diet

 

As a herbivore, the nyala's diet consists of foliage, fruits, flowers and twigs. During the rainy season they feed upon the fresh grass. They need a regular intake of water, and thus choose places with a water source nearby. However, they are adapted to live in areas with only a seasonal availability of water. A study in Zululand showed that the nyala fed mainly in the early morning and the late afternoon. They feed at night during the rainy season.

 

A study in Mkhuze Game Reserve and Ndumu Game Reserve in Natal focused on the dietary habits of the impala and the nyala showed that the amount of dicotyledons in their diets varied seasonally. In the dry season, the nyala's dicotyledon diet content was 83.2% and the impala's 52%. In this season, the diet grew richer in fiber and dietary proteins were less. The reverse occurred in the rainy season. As the rainy season arrived, both species took to a diet of mainly monocotyledons, and the impala consumed more of them. The diet contained more proteins than fiber.

 

Another study was done to find whether the sexual dimorphism in the nyala influenced its foraging habits. Vegetation surveys were conducted with the end of each feeding bout. It was found that females spent equal periods of time foraging in all the three habitats, but males preferred sand forest more. More differences were noted, as males ate woody species at a greater average height whereas females fed from the low herbaceous layer. It was concluded that the differences resulted from varying nutritional and energetic demands according to their diverse body sizes and differing reproductive strategies.

 

Reproduction

 

The nyala breeds throughout the year, but mating peaks in spring and autumn. The reason for this is still unknown, but attributed to the photoperiod and the feeding habits of the animal. Females reach sexual maturity at 11 to 12 months of age and males at 18 months (though they are socially immature until five years old), though they begin to show active spermatogenesis at 14 months.

 

Before ovulation, the Graafian follicles reach a length of at least 6.7 cm (2.6 in). A female's estrous cycle is about 19 days long. Males will attempt to mate with the female for two days of the cycle, but she allows it for only six hours per cycle. When the male enters a females' herd during mating, he makes a display by raising his white dorsal crest, lowering his horns and moving stiffly. As in many other animals, the males fight over dominance during mating.

 

The kidney fat indices (KFIs) of impalas and nyalas have been studied to understand the influence of social class and reproduction on them. To determine the KFI, the kidney is removed and weighed with the fat and once again excluding the fat. The resultant difference is the amount of fat on the kidney. The more the fat, the healthier the animal. In rut, male nyalas had lower KFIs, which did not vary much with the season. Pregnant females of both nyala and impala had higher KFIs than non-pregnant ones.

 

There is a significant increase in corpus luteum in the last third of gestation. Gestation is of seven months. A single calf is born, weighing 5 kg (11 lb). Birth takes place generally away from the sight of predators, in places such as a thicket. The calf remains hidden for up to 18 days, and the mother nurses it at regular intervals. The calf remains with its mother until the birth of the next calf, during which males in rut drive it away from the mother.

 

Habitat and distribution

 

The nyala inhabits dense lowland woodlands and thickets, mainly in southern Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and eastern South Africa. It chooses places with good quality grasslands as well as provision of fresh water. It also inhabits lush green river country. The nyala's natural range stretches across southeast Africa from the Lower Shire Valley in Malawi through Mozambique and Zimbabwe to eastern South Africa and Eswatini.

 

The geographic distribution of the nyala may be based on the genetic variation. According to a study of nyala in South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, there was a marked difference in the gene frequencies at three microsatellite loci. Mitochondrial DNA analysis revealed the presence of a unique haplotype in individuals from each location. Thus, the geographic variation in the nyala may be due to a distribution pattern based on habitat specificity.

 

Today nyala are found in South African protected areas in the Ndumo Game Reserve, uMkuze Game Reserve and Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve, all in KwaZulu-Natal, as well as in Kruger National Park. As of 1999, 10–15% of nyala occurred on private land. Efforts are being made to retain the populations of nyala in Gorongosa National Park and Banhine National Park in Mozambique. Nyala also thrive in Lengwe National Park in Malawi.

 

Nyala have never been observed showing territoriality. Territories of either sex overlap extensively. The home ranges of males are approximately equal to that of females, about 10 square kilometres (3.9 sq mi) in area.

 

Threats and conservation

 

The major threats to the population of the nyala are poaching, habitat loss, agriculture and cattle grazing. Rinderpest outbreaks have also contributed in population loss. This species is currently of Least Concern, and the population is considered stable by both the IUCN and CITES. As of 1999, the total population of the nyala was around 32,000 individuals. More recent estimates show that South Africa has at least 30,000 nyalas, with 25,000 in KwaZulu-Natal. There are now more than 1,000 on protected areas and ranches in Eswatini. In Mozambique there are not more than 3,000, in Zimbabwe over 1,000, and numbers in Malawi have fallen from 3,000 to about 1,500. Namibia has the smallest population, at about 250.

 

Today over 80% of the total population is protected in national parks and sanctuaries, mostly in South African protected areas. In South Africa there is a high demand for adult males as game trophies.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Der Kruger-Nationalpark (deutsch häufig falsch Krüger-Nationalpark) ist das größte Wildschutzgebiet Südafrikas. Er liegt im Nordosten des Landes in der Landschaft des Lowveld auf dem Gebiet der Provinz Limpopo sowie des östlichen Abschnitts von Mpumalanga. Seine Fläche erstreckt sich vom Crocodile-River im Süden bis zum Limpopo, dem Grenzfluss zu Simbabwe, im Norden. Die Nord-Süd-Ausdehnung beträgt etwa 350 km, in Ost-West-Richtung ist der Park durchschnittlich 54 km breit und umfasst eine Fläche von rund 20.000 Quadratkilometern. Damit gehört er zu den größten Nationalparks in Afrika.

 

Das Schutzgebiet wurde am 26. März 1898 unter dem Präsidenten Paul Kruger als Sabie Game Reserve zum Schutz der Wildnis gegründet. 1926 erhielt das Gebiet den Status Nationalpark und wurde in seinen heutigen Namen umbenannt. Im Park leben 147 Säugetierarten inklusive der „Big Five“, außerdem etwa 507 Vogelarten und 114 Reptilienarten, 49 Fischarten und 34 Amphibienarten.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Der Nyala (Nyala angasii, Syn.: Tragelaphus angasii) ist eine südostafrikanische Antilope aus der Gruppe der Waldböcke. Zur Unterscheidung vom Bergnyala wird er manchmal auch als Flachland-Nyala oder Tiefland-Nyala bezeichnet. Die Bezeichnung Nyala stammt aus dem Swahili.

 

Der Nyala galt lange als eine der seltensten Antilopenarten. Strenge Schutzmaßnahmen haben dazu beigetragen, dass sich die Bestände wieder erholt haben. Trotzdem zählt der Nyala zu den immer noch sehr wenig erforschten Hornträgern.

 

Aussehen

 

Diese Antilopenart erreicht eine Kopfrumpflänge von 140 cm und eine Schulterhöhe von 110 cm. Das Gewicht beträgt 55 bis 125 kg, wobei Männchen deutlich größer und schwerer als Weibchen sind.

 

Weibchen und Männchen lassen sich vor allem anhand ihrer Körperfärbung unterscheiden: Während die viel größeren männlichen Tiere schiefergrau gefärbt sind und schraubenartig gedrehte Hörner tragen, die mit einer weißen Spitze versehen sind, sind die weiblichen Tiere ebenso wie Jungtiere hornlos und überwiegend rötlichbraun gefärbt. Alle Tiere haben bis zu 18 schmale, weiße Querstreifen. Die Männchen tragen sowohl eine lange, erektile Mähne, die das Rückgrat bedeckt, als auch von der Kehle bis zu den Hinterläufen hängende Bauchmähne. Dieses Merkmal unterscheidet sie von den meisten anderen Antilopenarten. Der buschige Schwanz ist bei beiden Geschlechtern an der Unterseite weiß.

 

Verbreitung

 

Nyalas sind in Mosambik, Simbabwe und im äußersten Nordosten Südafrikas verbreitet. Eingeführt wurden sie außerdem in Nationalparks Botswanas und Südafrikas, in denen sie ursprünglich nicht heimisch gewesen waren. Sie leben bevorzugt in dichtem Buschwerk in der Nähe von Wasser. Das Vorkommen ist in den Naturschutzgebieten Hluhluwe/Umfolozi, Mkuzi, Ndumo und Krügerpark bekannt. In den letzten Jahren wurde ebenfalls eine Population im Isimangaliso Park wieder angesiedelt.

 

Lebensweise

 

Während Weibchen und Jungtiere kleine Herden bilden, sind die männlichen Tiere Einzelgänger. Die Nyalas ernähren sich vorwiegend von Laub, doch werden gelegentlich auch Gräser gefressen. Zu den Fressfeinden des Nyalas zählt unter anderem der Leopard, dieser hat jedoch keine signifikante Auswirkung auf den Bestand dieser Art.

 

Fortpflanzung

 

Nach einer Tragzeit von gut sieben Monaten bringt das Weibchen ein Junges zur Welt. Das Höchstalter der Tiefland-Nyalas liegt bei etwa 16 Jahren.

 

(Wikipedia)

Isetta Revisited - 02

 

Originally designated as “Motocoupé” the famous vintage two-seater BMW Isetta 250/300 became one of the most successful microcars of all time, despite being one of the most unconventional.

 

The 4-wide model is based on the redesigned Sliding Window version - Export - introduced in late 1956.

Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the island of Yakushima is famous for its ancient forest composed of Japanese cedar known as 屋久杉 (yakusugi). Most notable among them is 縄文杉 (Jōmon Sugi): the oldest and largest of the old-growth cryptomeria trees on the island. Estimated to be up to 7,000 years old, the tree's name is a reference to the Jōmon period of Japanese prehistory. Yakushima was also the inspiration for Hayao Miyazaki's 1997 epic Princess Mononoke, and - after setting foot in the forest - it wasn't hard to see why.

 

(Yakushima, 2015)

 

Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | Website