CBP officers from the Office of Field Operations and agents from the U.S. Border Patrol and Air and Marine Operations execute a planned readiness exercise at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. The exercise is designed to evaluate readiness and assess the capabilities of CBP facilities to make necessary preparations. November 22, 2018. CBP photo by Shawn Moore.

This is the memorial on Cannock Chase to the 22,000 Polish nationals executed in the Katyn forest during the Second World War by the infamous NKVD (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs), which was a Soviet secret police organisation.

 

The Katyn massacre was in fact a series of mass executions carried out by the NKVD throughout April and May 1940.

 

The Soviet Union blamed Nazi Germany for this appalling atrocity, and incredibly continued to deny responsibilty for the massacre until 1990. Finally In November 2010, the Russian State Duma made an official statement attributing the massacre to Stalin and other Soviet officials, who apparently personally issued the orders for it to be carried out.

 

Buried in the soil beneath the memorial on Cannock Chase are phials of soil transported from Warsaw and the Katyn forest itself. The memorial was designed by Ronald Sims, and each year the UK's Polish community organises a service of remembrance at the site.

 

Early morning raids saw four arrested as officers executed several drug warrants across Tameside.

 

Today (Wednesday 19 June 2019) warrants were executed across seven addresses as part of a crackdown on the supply of Class A and B drugs – codenamed Operation Leporine.

 

Following today’s action, two men – aged 21 and 27 – and two women – aged 21 and 52 - have been arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply Class A and B drugs.

 

Sergeant Stephanie O’Brien, of GMP’s Tameside district, said: “At present we have four people in custody and as part of this morning’s operation we have been able to seize a significant quantity of drugs.

 

“I would like to thank the team here in Tameside who, as part of Operation Leporine, have worked tirelessly in order to bring a sophisticated and audacious group of offenders to justice.

 

“The supply of illegal drugs blights communities and destroys people’s livelihoods; and I hope that today’s very direct and visible action demonstrates to the local community that we are doing all that we to make the streets of Tameside a safer place.

 

“It will remain a top priority for us to continue to tackle the influx of drugs in the area, however we cannot do this alone and I would appeal directly to the community and those most affected to please come forward with any information that could assist us in what continues to be an ongoing operation.”

 

Anyone with information should contact police on 101, or alternatively reports can be made to the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously on 0800 555 111.

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit our website. www.gmp.police.uk

 

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

 

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

 

This marble bust of Louis XIV, situated in Salon de Diane, was executed in 1665 by Gianlorenzo Bernini when the Roman was calld to rebuild the Louvre--a project that was never undertaken. It is one of the few portraits for which Louis XIV agreed to pose and it shows the 27-year-old man as young, handsome, and majestic. The monarch is depicted at the start of his climb to glory, just a few years after having decided to govern alone, fully exercising what he called "a king's craft".

 

The Salon de Diane (Diane Drawing Room) was used by Louis XIV as a billiard room. Louis XIV was a master at pool, and the table stood in the center of the room covered with crimson velvet carpet fringed in gold. The bleachers, where women sat to watch, were covered with Persian carpets embroidered in gold and silver.

 

Louis XIV (baptised as Louis-Dieudonné) (September 5, 1638 – September 1, 1715) ruled as King of France and of Navarre.

 

He acceded to the throne on May 14, 1643, a few months before his fifth birthday, but did not assume actual personal control of the government until the death of his First Minister ("premier ministre"), Jules Cardinal Mazarin, in 1661. Louis would remain on the throne till his death just prior to his seventy-seventh birthday in 1715.

 

The reign of Louis XIV, known as The Sun King (in French Le Roi Soleil) or as Louis the Great (in French Louis le Grand, or simply Le Grand Monarque, "the Great Monarch"), spanned seventy-two years—the longest reign of any major European monarch. During that period of time he increased the power and influence of France in Europe, fighting three major wars—the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg, and the War of the Spanish Succession—and two minor conflicts—the War of Devolution, and the War of the Reunions.

 

The political and military scene in France during his reign was filled with such illustrious names as Mazarin, Fouquet, Colbert, Michel le Tellier, Le Tellier's son Louvois, the Great Condé, Turenne, Vauban, Villars and Tourville. Under his reign, France achieved not only political and military pre-eminence, but also cultural dominance with various cultural figures such as Molière, Racine, Boileau, La Fontaine, Lully, Le Brun, Rigaud, Louis Le Vau, Jules Hardouin Mansart, Claude Perrault and Le Nôtre. The cultural achievements accomplished by these figures contributed to the prestige of France, its people, its language and its king.

 

Louis XIV worked successfully to create a centralized state governed from the capital in order to sweep away the fragmented feudalism which had hitherto persisted in France, thus giving rise to the modern state. As a result of his efforts, which seemed absolutist, Louis XIV became the archetype of such a monarch. The phrase "L'État, c'est moi" ("I am the State") is frequently attributed to him, though this is considered by historians to be a historical inaccuracy and is more likely to have been conceived by political opponents as a way of confirming the stereotypical view of the absolutism he represented. Quite contrary to that apocryphal quote, Louis XIV is actually reported to have said on his death bed: "Je m'en vais, mais l'État demeurera toujours." ("I am going away, but the State will always remain").

 

List of the 94 Irish Dominicans executed during the Penal Years

fr. Peter O’Ferge & 20 companions, O.P. - in Derry hanged c.1601

fr. Ambrose Aeneas O'Cahill, O.P. - priest in Cork, beheaded in 1651

fr. Bernard O'Ferral, O.P. - priest in Longford, hanged in 1651

fr. Bernard O'Kelly, O.P. - laybrother in Roscommon, hanged in 1653

fr. Clement O'Callaghan, O.P. - Prior of Derry, died in prison in 1704

fr. Cormac MacEgan, O.P. - laybrother, hanged in 1642

fr. Daniel MacDonald, O.P. - priest of Urlar, died in jail in 1707

fr. David Fox, O.P. - laybrother in Killmallock, hanged in 1648

fr. David Roche, O.P. - Prior of Glentworth, deported to Barbados and died in 1653

fr. Dominick Dillon, O.P. - Prior of Urlar, beheaded in 1649

fr. Dominick MacEgan., O.P. - priest in Tralee, died in prison in 1713

fr. Donald O'Neaghten, O.P. - laybrother in Roscommon, hanged in 1648

fr. Donagh O’Luin, O.P. - Prior of Derry, hanged in 1608

fr. Donatus ‘Niger’ Duff, O.P. - laybrother executed in 1651

fr. Edmund O'Beirne, O.P. - priest of Roscommon, beheaded in 1651

fr. Felix MacDonald, O.P. - priest in Tulsk, died in prison in 1707

fr. Felix O'Connor, O.P. - Prior of Sligo, died in prison in 1679

fr. Gerald Fitzgerald, O.P. - priest in Killmallock, hanged in 1648

fr. Hugh MacGoill, O.P. - priest in Rathbran, executed in 1653

fr. James Moran, O.P. - laybrother executed in 1651

fr. James O'Reilly, O.P. - priest in Waterford, hanged in 1648

fr. James Woulf, O.P. - priest in Limerick, hanged in 1651

fr. John Keating, O.P. - priest in Louvain (Leuven) died in prison in 1703

fr. John O'Cullen, O.P. - priest in Athenry, executed in 1652

fr. John O'Flaverty, O.P. - Prior of Coleraine, executed in 1647

fr. John O'Luin, O.P. - hanged in 1607

fr. Laurence O'Ferral, O.P. - Prior of Longford, hanged in 1651

fr. Myles McGrath, O.P. - hanged in Clonmel in 1650

fr. Peter Costello, O.P. - Prior of Strade, executed in 1649

fr. Peter O'Higgins, O.P. - Prior of Naas, hanged in 1641

fr. Raymond Keogh, O.P. - Prior of Roscommon, hanged in 1642

fr. Raymond O'Moore, O.P. - priest in Dublin, died in prison in 1665

fr. Richard Barry, O.P. - Prior of Cashel, executed in 1647

fr. Richard Overton, O.P. - sub-Prior of Athy, beheaded in 1649

fr. Stephen Petit, O.P. - Prior of Mullingar, executed in 1649

fr. Terence Albert O’Brien, O.P. - Bishop of Emly, hanged in 1651

fr. Thaddeus Moriarty, O.P. - Prior of Tralee, hanged in 1653

fr. Thomas O'Higgins, O.P. - priest in Clonmel, hanged in 1651

fr. Vincent Gerard Dillon, O.P. - priest in Athenry, died in prison in 1651

fr. William Lynch, O.P. - priest in Strade, executed in 1649

fr. William MacGollen & 32 companions, O.P. - in Colraine hanged c.1601

fr. William O'Connor, O.P. - priest in Clonmel, hanged in 1651

 

The 42 brothers that are actually named on this list had their cause opened on 17th of March, 1918 by William the Archbishop of Dublin. Beatification was granted to Terence Albert O’Brien and Peter O’Higgins by Pope John Paul II on the 27th of September, 1992.

 

To the south of the high altar stands the most artistically significant of Framlingham's tombs, that of 3rd Duke of Norfolk Thomas Howard (d.1554), uncle to both of Henry VIII's executed queens (Anne Boleyn & Catherine Howard) and also his first wife Princess Anne Plantagenet (d.1511), the fifth daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Howard,_3rd_Duke_of_Norfolk

 

The tomb itself is remarkable as perhaps the last example of traditional Catholic iconography appearing on a church monument in this country and an extremely rare example of what the English Renaissance might have been had the Reformation not suffocated it. The figures of Apostles adorn the tomb chest in a rich display and fusion of late medieval and Renaissance styles, the niches that frame them being wholly in the latter spirit.

 

Framlingham was perhaps my most anticipated target of the day, one of the 'big three' of my itinerary that I knew I'd require more time for, and getting later in the afternoon I was increasingly anxious about not arriving here too late. St Michael's is justly renowned for its fine tombs, really special and quite unique, and is an impressive building in its own right. I was fortunately here a while until closing time, and the ladies on duty I met kindly checked I'd got all I wanted before locking up and even gave me access to the organ gallery for some great final views of the interior.

 

The church announces its presence with its handsome 15th century west tower, poking proudly above the rooftops in the oldest part of the town. The churchyard is set back from the streets and reveals a grand, fairly sprawling building, all apparently late medieval but some of it later still. What strikes the observer most is the way the chancel with its aisles has spread outwards, being of far greater width than the nave, which though of good proportions itself appears rather slim by comparison. The reason for this discrepancy becomes clear within.

 

Entry is by the south porch and it is immediately clear what an impressive space this is, very much the large town church. The nave is light and crowned by a fine medieval roof and opposite the entrance the eye is drawn to a 15th century mural of the Trinity. At the west end in the gallery is the handsome Baroque organ case of the precious 17th century Thamar organ, its pipes painted with swirling foliate designs. In the north aisle is the medieval font following the classic East Anglian design but less well preserved than some.

 

Stepping beyond the nave the chancel seems like a separate building, with its aisle split into three vessels of equal height like some great pillared hall. It is light and spacious and at first sight appears a little austere until one notices the cluster of tombs at the east end on either side, which are the reason for this part of the building's existence which was finished only in 1554 in order to house them. The Tudor tombs belong to the family of the Dukes of Norfolk who at the time owned nearby Framlingham Castle and made this church a family mausoleum as a direct consequence of losing their previous chosen resting place, Thetford Priory, to the Dissolution and thus the earlier tombs were transferred from there shortly after they were originally erected.

 

The tombs are a remarkable expression of English Renaissance design on the cusp of the Reformation and thus still informed as much by medieval precedents as the more standard forms of the following decades. The oldest is that of Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and illegitimate son of Henry VIII who married in to the Norfolk family. His tomb has no effigy but is adorned with some fetching small-scale reliefs. Much grander is the tomb of the wives of the 4th Duke nearby with recumbent effigies, but for me the most significant tomb here artistically is that of 3rd Duke Thomas Howard to the south of the altar. This remarkable monument is the best example we have of how English Renaissance church art might have blossomed without the Reformation, for the tomb chest is adorned with with a series of carved apostles in the medieval format but in detail wholly Renaissance, the figures in a still familiar on the continent but extremely rare over here. Award for the most colourful tomb however goes to that of Henry Howard on the north side (erected several decades after his execution under Henry VIII) and adorned with richly painted effigies, heraldic beasts and kneeling progeny.

 

Framlingham church would be worth a visit even without its fine tombs but these monuments make it unmissable, especially as they capture such a snapshot of one of the most turbulent periods of English history. I was duly relieved to have got here before they closed, but the church is generally kept open and welcoming in normal times so those getting less distracted than me en route here shouldn't have to worry so much about getting in.

 

For more on this fine church see its entry on the Suffolk Churches site below:-

www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/framcofe.html

Zum Gedenken an die hier während der NS-Zeit aus politischen Gründen hingerichteten Frauen und Männer (in memoriam to the here during the Nazi era for political reasons executed women and men)

Vienna Regional Court for Criminal Matters

The Vienna Regional Court for Criminal Matters (colloquially referred to as "landl" (Landesgericht)) is one of 20 regional courts in Austria and the largest court in Austria. It is located in the 8th District of Vienna, Josefstadt, at the Landesgerichtsstraße 11. It is a court of first respectively second instance. A prisoners house, the prison Josefstadt, popularly often known as the "Grey House" is connected.

Court Organization

In this complex there are:

the Regional Court for Criminal Matters Vienna,

the Vienna District Attorney (current senior prosecutor Maria-Luise Nittel)

the Jurists association-trainee lawer union (Konzipientenverband) and

the largest in Austria existing court house jail, the Vienna Josefstadt prison.

The Regional Criminal Court has jurisdiction in the first instance for crimes and offenses that are not pertain before the district court. Depending on the severity of the crime, there is a different procedure. Either decides

a single judge,

a senate of lay assessors

or the jury court.

In the second instance, the District Court proceeds appeals and complaints against judgments of district courts. A three-judge Court decides here whether the judgment is canceled or not and, if necessary, it establishes a new sentence.

The current President Friedrich Forsthuber is supported by two Vice Presidents - Henriette Braitenberg-Zennenberg and Eve Brachtel.

In September 2012, the following data have been published

Austria's largest court

270 office days per year

daily 1500 people

70 judges, 130 employees in the offices

5300 proceedings (2011) for the custodial judges and legal protection magistrates, representing about 40 % of the total Austrian juridical load of work

over 7400 procedures at the trial judges (30 % of the total Austrian juridical load of work)

Prosecution with 93 prosecutors and 250 employees

19,000 cases against 37,000 offenders (2011 )

Josefstadt prison with 1,200 inmates (overcrowded)

History

1839-1918

The original building of the Vienna Court House, the so-called civil Schranne (corn market), was from 1440 to 1839 located at the Hoher Markt 5. In 1773 the Schrannenplatz was enlarged under Emperor Joseph II and the City Court and the Regional Court of the Viennese Magistrate in this house united. From this time it bore the designation "criminal court".

Due to shortcomings of the prison rooms in the Old Court on Hoher Markt was already at the beginning of the 19th Century talk of building a new crime courthouse, but this had to be postponed because of bankruptcy in 1811.

In 1816 the construction of the criminal court building was approved. Although in the first place there were voices against a construction outside the city, as building ground was chosen the area of the civil Schießstätte (shooting place) and the former St. Stephanus-Freithofes in then Alservorstadt (suburb); today, in this part Josefstadt. The plans of architect Johann Fischer were approved in 1831, and in 1832 was began with the construction, which was completed in 1839. On 14 May 1839 was held the first meeting of the Council.

Provincial Court at the Landesgerichtsstraße between November 1901 and 1906

Johann Fischer fell back in his plans to Tuscan early Renaissance palaces as the Pitti Palace or Palazzo Pandolfini in Florence. The building was erected on a 21,872 m² plot with a length of 223 meters. It had two respectively three floors (upper floors), the courtyard was divided into three wings, in which the prisoner's house stood. In addition, a special department for the prison hospital (Inquisitenspital ) and a chapel were built.

The Criminal Court of Vienna was from 1839 to 1850 a city court which is why the Vice Mayor of Vienna was president of the criminal courts in civil and criminal matters at the same time. In 1850 followed the abolition of municipal courts. The state administration took over the Criminal Court on 1 Juli 1850. From now on, it had the title "K.K. Country's criminal court in Vienna".

1851, juries were introduced. Those met in the large meeting hall, then as now, was on the second floor of the office wing. The room presented a double height space (two floors). 1890/1891 followed a horizontal subdivision. Initially, the building stood all alone there. Only with the 1858 in the wake of the demolition of the city walls started urban expansion it was surrounded by other buildings.

From 1870 to 1878, the Court experienced numerous conversions. Particular attention was paid to the tract that connects directly to the Alserstraße. On previously building ground a three-storey arrest tract and the Jury Court tract were built. New supervened the "Neutrakt", which presented a real extension and was built three respectively four storied. From 1873 on, executions were not executed publicly anymore but only in the prison house. The first execution took place on 16 December 1876 in the "Galgenhof" (gallow courtyard), the accused were hanged there on the Würgegalgen (choke gallow).

By 1900 the prisoners house was extended. In courtyard II of the prison house kitchen, laundry and workshop buildings and a bathing facility for the prisoners were created. 1906/1907 the office building was enlarged. The two-storied wing tract got a third and three-storied central section a fourth floor fitted.

1918-1938

In the early years of the First Republic took place changes of the court organization. Due to the poor economy and the rapid inflation, the number of cases and the number of inmates rose sharply. Therefore, it was in Vienna on 1 October 1920 established a second Provincial Court, the Regional Court of Criminal Matters II Vienna, as well as an Expositur of the prisoner house at Garnisongasse.

One of the most important trials of the interwar period was the shadow village-process (Schattendorfprozess - nomen est omen!), in which on 14th July 1927, the three defendants were acquitted. In January 1927 front fighters had shot into a meeting of the Social Democratic Party of Austria, killing two people. The outrage over the acquittal was great. At a mass demonstration in front of the Palace of Justice on 15th July 1927, which mainly took place in peaceful manner, invaded radical elements in the Palace of Justice and set fire ( Fire of the Palace Justice), after which the overstrained police preyed upon peaceful protesters fleeing from the scene and caused many deaths.

The 1933/1934 started corporate state dictatorship had led sensational processes against their opponents: examples are the National Socialists processes 1934 and the Socialists process in 1936 against 28 "illegal" socialists and two Communists, in which among others the later leaders Bruno Kreisky and Franz Jonas sat on the dock.

Also in 1934 in the wake of the February Fights and the July Coup a series of processes were carried out by summary courts and military courts. Several ended with death sentences that were carried out by hanging in "Galgenhof" of the district court .

1938-1945

The first measures the Nazis at the Regional Criminal Court after the "Anschluss" of Austria to the German Reich in 1938 had carried out, consisted of the erection of a monument to ten Nazis, during the processes of the events in July 1934 executed, and of the creation of an execution space (then space 47 C, today consecration space where 650 names of resistance fighters are shown) with a guillotine supplied from Berlin (then called device F, F (stands for Fallbeil) like guillotine).

During the period of National Socialism were in Vienna Regional Court of 6 December 1938 to 4th April 1945 1.184 persons executed. Of those, 537 were political death sentences against civilians, 67 beheadings of soldiers, 49 war-related offenses, 31 criminal cases. Among those executed were 93 women in all age groups, including a 16-year-old girl and a 72-year-old woman who had both been executed for political reasons.

On 30 June 1942 were beheaded ten railwaymen from Styria and Carinthia, who were active in the resistance. On 31 July 1943, 31 people were beheaded in an hour, a day later, 30. The bodies were later handed over to the Institute of Anatomy at the University of Vienna and remaining body parts buried later without a stir at Vienna's Central Cemetery in shaft graves. To thein the Nazi era executed, which were called "Justifizierte" , belonged the nun Maria Restituta Kafka and the theology student Hannsgeorg Heintschel-Heinegg.

The court at that time was directly subordinated to the Ministry of Justice in Berlin.

1945-present

The A-tract (Inquisitentrakt), which was destroyed during a bombing raid in 1944 was built in the Second Republic again. This was also necessary because of the prohibition law of 8 May 1945 and the Criminal Law of 26 June 1945 courts and prisons had to fight with an overcrowding of unprecedented proportions.

On 24 March 1950, the last execution took place in the Grey House. Women murderer Johann Trnka had two women attacked in his home and brutally murdered, he had to bow before this punishment. On 1 July 1950 the death penalty was abolished in the ordinary procedure by Parliament. Overall, occured in the Regionl Court of Criminal Matters 1248 executions. In 1967, the execution site was converted into a memorial.

In the early 1980s, the building complex was revitalized and expanded. The building in the Florianigasse 8, which previously had been renovated, served during this time as an emergency shelter for some of the departments. In 1994, the last reconstruction, actually the annex of the courtroom tract, was completed. In 2003, the Vienna Juvenile Court was dissolved as an independent court, iIts agendas were integrated in the country's criminal court.

Prominent processes since 1945, for example, the Krauland process in which a ÖVP (Österreichische Volkspartei - Austrian People's Party) minister was accused of offenses against properties, the affair of the former SPÖ (Sozialistische Partei Österreichs - Austrian Socialist Party) Minister and Trade Unions president Franz Olah, whose unauthorized financial assistance resulted in a newspaper establishment led to conviction, the murder affairs Sassak and the of the Lainzer nurses (as a matter of fact, auxiliary nurses), the consumption (Konsum - consumer cooporatives) process, concerning the responsibility of the consumer Manager for the bankruptcy of the company, the Lucona proceedings against Udo Proksch, a politically and socially very well- networked man, who was involved in an attempted insurance fraud, several people losing their lives, the trial of the Nazi Holocaust denier David Irving for Wiederbetätigung (re-engagement in National Socialist activities) and the BAWAG affair in which it comes to breaches of duty by bank managers and vanished money.

Presidents of the Regional Court for Criminal Matters in Vienna since 1839 [edit ]

 

Josef Hollan (1839-1844)

Florian Philipp (1844-1849)

Eduard Ritter von Wittek (1850-1859)

Franz Ritter von Scharschmied (1859-1864)

Franz Ritter von Boschan (1864-1872)

Franz Josef Babitsch (1873-1874)

Joseph Ritter von Weitenhiller (1874-1881)

Franz Schwaiger (1881-1889)

Eduard Graf Lamezan -Salins (1889-1895)

Julius von Soos (1895-1903)

Paul von Vittorelli (1903-1909)

Johann Feigl (1909-1918)

Karl Heidt (1918-1919)

Ludwig Altmann (1920-1929)

Emil Tursky (1929-1936)

Philipp Charwath (1936-1938)

Otto Nahrhaft (1945-1950)

Rudolf Naumann (1951-1954)

Wilhelm Malaniu (1955-1963)

Johann Schuster (1963-1971)

Konrad Wymetal (1972-1976)

August Matouschek (1977-1989)

Günter Woratsch (1990-2004)

Ulrike Psenner (2004-2009)

Friedrich Forsthuber (since 2010)

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landesgericht_f%C3%BCr_Strafsachen_...

Inventée et exécutée en 1785 par Robert Robin, horloger ordinaire du roi.

 

Isolée dans son refuge du Trianon, la reine Marie Antoinette dépendait du Château de Versailles pour connaître l'heure. Un jour, les horloges du château s'étant arrêtées toutes en même temps, la reine demanda au roi la construction d'une horloge destinée au clocheton de la chapelle du Petit Trianon pour lui permettre d'avoir sous les yeux "l'heure de Versailles".

 

Installée en 1785, l'horloge y reste jusqu'en Brumaire an II de la République "octobre 1794". A cette date la Convention l'offre au Muséum.

Today, Thursday 16 November 2017, police executed warrants at eight addresses across the Moss Side and Hulme areas of Manchester.

 

The warrants were executed as the latest phase of Operation Malham, targeting the supply of drugs in South Manchester.

 

This follows previous raids last week, which means more than 14 properties have been searched and eight people arrested in total as part of the operation.

 

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Walker, of GMP’s City of Manchester team, said: “We are dedicated to rooting out those who seek to make profits from putting drugs on our streets.

 

“Today’s raids have resulted in the arrests of five people which have only been made possible through the support of partner agencies and community intelligence.

 

“We are grateful for all your support and help and I would urge you to continue to report anything suspicious to help us stop people who are benefitting from crime and remove drugs from our city.”

 

Anyone with information should contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

 

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit

www.gmp.police.uk

 

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

 

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

Early morning raids saw four arrested as officers executed several drug warrants across Tameside.

 

Today (Wednesday 19 June 2019) warrants were executed across seven addresses as part of a crackdown on the supply of Class A and B drugs – codenamed Operation Leporine.

 

Following today’s action, two men – aged 21 and 27 – and two women – aged 21 and 52 - have been arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply Class A and B drugs.

 

Sergeant Stephanie O’Brien, of GMP’s Tameside district, said: “At present we have four people in custody and as part of this morning’s operation we have been able to seize a significant quantity of drugs.

 

“I would like to thank the team here in Tameside who, as part of Operation Leporine, have worked tirelessly in order to bring a sophisticated and audacious group of offenders to justice.

 

“The supply of illegal drugs blights communities and destroys people’s livelihoods; and I hope that today’s very direct and visible action demonstrates to the local community that we are doing all that we to make the streets of Tameside a safer place.

 

“It will remain a top priority for us to continue to tackle the influx of drugs in the area, however we cannot do this alone and I would appeal directly to the community and those most affected to please come forward with any information that could assist us in what continues to be an ongoing operation.”

 

Anyone with information should contact police on 101, or alternatively reports can be made to the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously on 0800 555 111.

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit our website. www.gmp.police.uk

 

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

 

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

 

Webster Replying to Senator Hayne, the centerpiece painting in the Great Hall at Faneuil Hall, was executed by artist George Peter Alexander Healy from 1843-1850. The largest painting in the Hall's collection, it depicts Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster debating with South Carolina Senator Robert Y. Hayne on preserving the Union when the country was on the brink of the Civil War.

 

Faneuil Hall, part of the Boston National Historical Park and a well-known stop along the Freedom Trail, has served as a marketplace and meeting hall since 1742. Known as the "Cradle of Liberty", it was the site of several important events of the American Revolution including James Otis' re-dedication address in 1763, Samuel Adams' impassioned plea following the Boston Massacre in 1970 that eventually led to the establishment of the Committee of Correspondence here in 1772, and the first meeting in protest of the imposed tea tax in 1773 that ultimately led to the Boston Tea Party.

 

The original Hall was built by artist John Smibert in 1740–1742 in the style of an English country market, with an open ground floor and an assembly room above. The 38-pound, 52-inch gilded grasshopper weathervane on top of the building was created by silversmith Shem Drowne in 1742 and was modeled on the grasshopper weathervane on the London Royal Exchange. Funded by a wealthy Boston merchant, Peter Faneuil, who died shortly after the building was completed. Almost destroyed by a fire in 1761, it was rebuilt with funds raised by the state lottery and re-opened in 1763.

 

By 1806, the city had outgrown the hall and Charles Bulfinch was commissioned to expand the building--doubling the height and width, while managing to keep intact the walls from the original structure. Four new bays were added, to make seven in all; a third floor was added; the open arcades were enclosed; and the cupola was centered and moved to the east end of the building. Bulfinch applied Doric brick pilasters to the lower two floors, with Ionic pilasters on the third floor. This renovation added galleries around the assembly hall and increased its height. The building was entirely rebuilt in 1898–1899, of noncombustible materials. The building underwent a major internal renovation during the 1970's.

 

Faneuil Hall is now part of the larger Faneuil Hall Marketplace, which includes three long granite buildings called North Market, Quincy Market, and South Market. Its success in the late 1970s led to the emergence of similar marketplaces in other U.S. cities. Inside the Hall are dozens of paintings of famous Americans, including the mural of Webster's Reply to Hayne and Gilbert Stuart's portrait of Washington at Dorchester Heights. The first floor operates as a market, while the second floor is taken up by the Great Hall, where Boston's town meetings were once held. The third floor houses the museum and armory of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts. Founded in 1638, this is the oldest military company in the US, and considered the third oldest in the world.

 

In recent history, Faneuil Hall was the home to President John F. Kennedy's last campaign speech and Senator John Kerry's concession speech in the 2004 presidential election.

 

The Marketplace fronted by Miss Anne Whitney's Samuel Adams statue on Congress Street.

 

In 2007, Faneuil Hall Marketplace was ranked #64 on the AIA 150 America's Favorite Architecture list.

 

In 2008, Faneuil Hall was ranked #4 in America's 25 Most Visited Tourist Sites by Forbes Traveler.

 

National Historic Register #66000368

 

Mercredi 11 juin 2014. Carcassonne (Aude). La tour du Trésau (ou du Trésor). L'administration fiscale siégeait dans ses murs au 14eS. Construction, exécutée sous Philippe le Hardi (1270-1285).

 

Carcassonne est située dans le sud de la France à 80 kilomètres à l'est de Toulouse. Son emplacement stratégique sur la route entre la mer Méditerranée et l'océan Atlantique est connue depuis le Néolithique. La ville se trouve dans un couloir entre la montagne Noire au nord et les Corbières à l'est, la plaine du Lauragais à l'ouest et la vallée de l'Aude au sud. Cette région naturelle est appelée le Carcassès ou le Carcassonnais.

 

La superficie de la commune est de 65 km2, ce qui est une grande commune comparée aux nombreuses petites communes de l'Aude. La ville est traversée par l'Aude, le Fresquel et le canal du Midi.

Carcassonne est située sur les bords du fleuve de l'Aude. La commune est traditionnellement divisée en deux, la ville basse qui occupe les berges du fleuve à l'ouest et la ville haute (ou cité) qui occupe la colline surplombant l'Aude. La cité est construite sur un petit plateau constitué par le creusement de l'Aude à environ 150 mètres d'altitude au-dessus de la ville basse. La ville basse se situe au niveau de l'Aude dont l'altitude est de 100 mètres.

 

L'Aude arrive à Carcassonne après son périple montagneux dans les gorges de la haute-vallée de l'Aude et devient alors un fleuve plus tranquille. Elle passe au Païcherou, longe le cimetière Saint-Michel puis se sépare en deux bras formant une île appelée « l'île du Roy ». Quatre ponts permettent de la franchir : le pont Garigliano, le pont-Vieux accessible uniquement aux piétons, le pont Neuf et le pont de l'Avenir. Le canal du Midi passe également au nord de la ville entre la gare et le jardin André-Chénier jouxtant la bastide Saint-Louis.

 

La ville se situe dans un couloir entre la montagne Noire au nord et la chaîne des Pyrénées au sud. La plaine est constituée de dépôts récents amenés par l'Aude et provenant des Pyrénées. Il s'agit de la molasse de Carcassonne, qui se caractérise par une alternance de grès, de conglomérats et de marnes gréseuses fluviatiles datant de l'Éocène.

La Cité de Carcassonne est située sur la rive droite de l'Aude en surplomb de la ville de Carcassonne située à l'ouest. Elle se trouve entre la Montagne noire et les Pyrénées sur l'axe de communication allant de la mer Méditerranée à l'océan Atlantique. La présence des deux montagnes forme le couloir carcassonnais souvent cité lorsque les climatologues parlent du vent qui souffle dans ce couloir. Cet emplacement est donc un lieu stratégique du sud de la France permettant de surveiller cet axe de communication majeur : au Nord vers la Montagne Noire, au Sud vers les Corbières, à l'Ouest vers la plaine du Lauragais et à l'Est la plaine viticole vers la Méditerranée.

 

La Cité est construite au bout d'un petit plateau constitué par le creusement de l'Aude à environ 150 mètres d'altitude au-dessus de la ville basse. La première enceinte construite par les Wisigoths suit les dépressions du terrain. Ce plateau se détache du massif des Corbières sur la commune de Palaja à 260 m d'altitude, passe dans la Cité à 148 m et finit sa course dans l'Aude à 100 m. Du côté Ouest, la pente est assez raide offrant un accès difficile à d'éventuels assaillants. À l'Est, la pente est plus douce et permet un accès aisé des marchandises, mais aussi des attaquants. Aussi, les plus importants mécanismes de défense se trouvent de ce côté de la Cité.

La Cité a été successivement un site protohistorique, une cité gallo-romaine, une place forte wisigothe, un comté, puis une vicomté, puis finalement une sénéchaussée royale. Chacune de ces étapes, entre la période romaine et la fin du Moyen Âge, a laissé des témoignages dans les bâtiments qui la composent.

Des restes d'un oppidum fortifié, oppidum Carcaso proche de l'emplacement actuel de la Cité, ont été mis au jour par des fouilles archéologiques. Ce lieu est déjà un important carrefour commercial comme le prouvent les restes de céramiques campaniennes et d'amphores. Vers 300 av. J.-C., les Volques Tectosages prennent possession de la région et fortifient l'oppidum de Carcasso. Pline l'Ancien mentionne l'oppidum dans ses écrits sous le nom de Carcaso Volcarum Tectosage. Ils extrayaient déjà l'or de la mine de Salsigne pour constituer des offrandes à leurs dieux.

 

En 122 av. J.-C., les Romains annexent la région qui sera intégrée dans la colonie Narbonnaise créée en 118 av. J.-C. Les Romains sont déjà bien connus, car depuis deux cents ans leurs marchands parcourent la région. Sous la Pax Romana la petite cité gallo-romaine de Carcaso, devenue chef-lieu de la colonie Julia Carcaso, prospère sans doute grâce au commerce du vin et à son implantation sur les voies de communication : elle jouxte la voie romaine qui va de Narbonne à Toulouse tandis que les bateaux à fond plat circulent sur l'Atax au pied de l'oppidum. Ce dernier est agrandi par remblayage et les rues et ruelles forment un plan orthogonal, mais aucun lieu public ni monument de culte n'est actuellement connu. Au pied de l'oppidum, une agglomération s'étend le long de la voie romaine.

À partir du IIIe siècle, la ville se retranche derrière une première série de remparts. En 333 ap. J.-C., des textes d'un pèlerin mentionnent le castellum de Carcassonne. Ces remparts sont encore visibles dans certaines parties de l'enceinte et servent de soubassements aux actuelles murailles. Les tours de la Marquière, de Samson et du Moulin d'Avar sont les témoins en partie intacts de cette enceinte primitive. Cette muraille protège la Cité des attaques extérieures tout en permettant de contrôler les passages sur la voie romaine située en contrebas.

 

Au milieu du Ve siècle, les Wisigoths prennent possession du Languedoc, grâce probablement à la victoire d'Athaulf pendant sa marche sur Toulouse. La Cité jouit peu à peu d'une relative paix politique jusqu'au règne d'Alaric II, comme l'atteste le nombre important de pièces de monnaie des monarques wisigoths de cette époque. En 507, les Francs chassent les Wisigoths d'Aquitaine, mais ces derniers conservent la Septimanie dont fait partie la Cité de Carcassonne. En 508, Clovis lance en vain une attaque contre la Cité. En 585, une nouvelle attaque de Gontran, roi franc de Burgondie est couronnée de succès. Mais, les Wisigoths reprennent la cité peu après et en restent maîtres jusqu'en 713. Au cours du VIe siècle, Carcassonne devint, avec Agde et Maguelonne, le siège d'un évêché. Une cathédrale wisigothique, dont l'emplacement n'est pas connu, est alors construite.

 

En 725, le Wali Ambisa prend Carcassonne à la suite de la conquête du royaume wisigoth d'Espagne par les musulmans. La Cité reste entre les mains des musulmans jusqu'en 752, date à laquelle elle est prise par les Francs conduits par Pépin le Bref.

Le début de la féodalité s'accompagne de l'expansion de la ville et de ses fortifications. Elle est aussi marquée par la construction de la cathédrale à partir de 1096 puis par celle du château comtal au XIIe siècle. Ce château est constitué à l'origine de deux corps de logis auxquels est ajoutée en 1150 une chapelle qui donne un plan en U autour de la cour centrale. Vers 1240 le château est rehaussé d'un second étage.

 

C'est aussi la période des comtes de Carcassonne. Le premier comte désigné par les Carolingiens est Bellon auquel succède Oliba II. La charge des comtes est d'administrer la région pour le compte du royaume carolingien. Au IXe siècle, la locution latine Cité de Carcassonne revient régulièrement dans les textes et chartes officiels. En 1082, la famille Trencavel prend possession de la ville, en profitant des embarras de la Maison de Barcelone propriétaire légitime, et l'annexe à un vaste ensemble allant de Carcassonne à Nîmes.

 

Bernard Aton IV Trencavel, vicomte d'Albi, de Nîmes et de Béziers, fait prospérer la ville et lance de nombreuses constructions. C'est également durant cette période qu'une nouvelle religion, le catharisme, s'implante avec succès dans le Languedoc. Le vicomte de Trencavel autorise en 1096 la construction de la basilique Saint-Nazaire dont les matériaux sont bénis par le pape Urbain II. En 1107, les Carcassonnais rejettent la suzeraineté de Bernard Aton, qui avait promis de rendre la Cité à son possesseur d'origine Raimond-Bérenger III de Barcelone et font appel au comte de Barcelone pour le chasser. Mais, avec l'aide de Bertrand de Tripoli, comte de Toulouse, Bernard Aton reprend le contrôle de la Cité. En 1120, les Carcassonnais se révoltent de nouveau, mais Bernard Aton rétablit l'ordre quelques années plus tard. En 1130, il ordonne le début de la construction du château comtal désigné sous le terme de palatium et la réparation des remparts gallo-romains. Dès lors, la Cité de Carcassonne est entourée de sa première fortification complète.

À cette époque la Cité est riche et sa population est comprise entre 3 000 à 4 000 personnes en incluant les habitants des deux bourgs qui se sont édifiés sous ses murailles : le bourg Saint-Vincent situé au Nord et le bourg Saint-Michel situé au sud de la porte Narbonnaise. La ville se dote en 1192 d'un consulat, composé de notables et de bourgeois, chargés d'administrer la ville, puis en 1229 d'une charte coutumière.

 

En 1208, le pape Innocent III, confronté à la montée du catharisme, appelle les barons du nord à se lancer dans la croisade des Albigeois. Le comte de Toulouse, accusé d'hérésie, et son principal vassal le vicomte de Trencavel sont la cible de l'attaque. Le 1er août 1209, la Cité est assiégée par les croisés. Raimond-Roger Trencavel se rend très rapidement, le 15 août, en échange de la vie sauve de ses habitants. Les bourgs autour de la Cité sont détruits. Le vicomte meurt de dysenterie dans la prison même de son château le 10 novembre 1209. D'autres sources parlent d'un assassinat orchestré par Simon de Montfort, mais rien n'est sûr. Dès lors, la Cité sert de quartier général aux troupes de la croisade.

Les terres sont données à Simon de Montfort, chef de l'armée des croisés. Ce dernier meurt en 1218 au cours du siège de Toulouse et son fils, Amaury VI de Montfort, prend possession de la Cité, mais se révèle incapable de la gérer. Il cède ses droits à Louis VIII de France, mais Raymond VII de Toulouse et les comtes de Foix se liguent contre lui. En 1224, Raimond II Trencavel reprend possession de la Cité après la fuite d'Amaury. Une deuxième croisade est lancée par Louis VIII en 1226 et Raimond Trencavel doit fuir. La Cité de Carcassonne fait désormais partie du domaine du roi de France et devient le siège d'une sénéchaussée. Une période de terreur s'installe à l'intérieur de la ville. La chasse aux cathares entraîne la multiplication des bûchers et des dénonciations sauvages, avec l'installation de l'Inquisition dont on peut toujours voir la maison dans l'enceinte de la Cité.

Louis IX ordonne la construction de la deuxième enceinte pour que la place puisse soutenir de longs sièges. En effet, à cette époque, les menaces sont nombreuses dans la région : Raimond Trencavel, réfugié en Aragon, cherche toujours à reprendre ses terres qu'il revendique et le roi d'Aragon, Jacques Ier le Conquérant, fait peser une lourde menace sur cette région toute proche des frontières de son royaume. De plus, ces constructions permettent de marquer les esprits de la population de la Cité et de gagner leur confiance. La Cité fait partie du système de défense de la frontière entre la France et l'Aragon. Les premières constructions concernent le château comtal adossé à la muraille ouest. Celui-ci est entouré de murailles et de tours à l'intérieur même de la Cité pour assurer la protection des représentants du roi. Ensuite, une deuxième ligne de fortifications est commencée sur environ un kilomètre et demi avec quatorze tours. Cette enceinte est flanquée d'une barbacane qui contrôle les abords de l'Aude.

 

En 1240, Raimond Trencavel tente de récupérer la Cité, avec l'aide de quelques seigneurs. Le siège est mené par Olivier de Termes, spécialiste de la guerre de siège. Ils occupent les bourgs situés sur les rives de l'Aude et obtiennent l'aide de ses habitants qui creusent des tunnels depuis leurs maisons pour saper la base des enceintes. La double enceinte joue son rôle défensif, car Raimond Trencavel est ralenti. La garnison menée par le sénéchal Guillaume des Ormes résiste efficacement. Raimond Trencavel est bientôt obligé de lever le siège et de prendre la fuite face à l'arrivée des renforts du roi Louis IX. En 1247, il renonce devant le roi Louis IX à ses droits sur la Cité. La Cité de Carcassonne est définitivement rattachée au royaume de France et est désormais gouvernée par des sénéchaux.

À compter de cette date, la place forte n'est plus attaquée y compris durant la guerre de Cent Ans. Les aménagements et agrandissements qui vont suivre peuvent être regroupés en trois phases. Les premiers travaux sont commencés immédiatement après la dernière attaque de la Cité. Ils permettent de réparer les enceintes, aplanir les lices, ajouter des étages au château et construire la tour de la Justice. La deuxième phase de construction a lieu sous le règne de Philippe III, dit le Hardi : elle comprend la construction de la porte Narbonnaise, de la tour du Trésau, de la porte Saint-Nazaire et de toute la partie de l'enceinte environnante, ainsi que la réparation de certaines tours gallo-romaines et de la barbacane du château comtal. Les bourgs de Saint-Vincent et de Saint-Michel jouxtant l'enceinte sont rasés pour éviter les conséquences d'une collusion entre leurs habitants et les assaillants comme cela s'était produit durant le dernier siège. Enfin, une troisième et dernière phase de travaux se déroule sous le règne de Philippe le Bel et consiste à moderniser la place forte. De nombreuses parties de l'enceinte sont alors reconstruites en utilisant les techniques de défense les plus récentes. Les antiques murailles situées à l'ouest sont également rénovées.

En 1258, le traité de Corbeil fixe la frontière entre la France et l'Aragon près de Carcassonne, dans les Corbières. Louis IX renonce à sa suzeraineté sur la Catalogne et le Roussillon et en contrepartie le roi d'Aragon abandonne ses visées sur les terres du Languedoc. Désormais la Cité joue un rôle majeur dans le dispositif de défense de la frontière. Elle constitue une deuxième ligne de défense persuasive en arrière des postes avancés que sont les châteaux de Peyrepertuse, Aguilar, de Quéribus, de Puilaurens et de Termes désignés comme les « cinq fils de Carcassonne ». Au XIIIe siècle, la Cité de Carcassonne est l'une des places fortes les mieux pourvues de France et sert de réserve d'armes pour les alliés. La Cité n'est jamais attaquée ni inquiétée aussi les troupes qui y sont stationnées sont peu à peu réduites. À la fin du XIVe siècle, la Cité n'est plus capable de résister aux nouvelles armes à poudre. Néanmoins, sa situation frontalière reste un atout stratégique et une garnison est maintenue. En 1418, les hommes en garnison dans la Cité ont en général un second métier. À cette époque, de l'autre côté de l'Aude, une nouvelle ville dite ville basse se construit sous forme de bastide.

Peu de faits de guerre ou de conflits majeurs marquent la période royale. En 1272, le comte de Foix, rebelle, est enfermé par Philippe III de France dans la Cité de Carcassonne. En 1283, un traité d'alliance est signé entre le roi de France et le roi de Majorque Jacques II contre Pierre III d'Aragon. Le pape Clément V passe par Carcassonne en 1305 et 1309. En 1355, le Prince Noir n'ose pas s'attaquer à la Cité trop puissamment défendue et se contente de détruire et piller la ville basse. La Cité devient prison d'État au XVe siècle dans laquelle sont enfermés les ennemis du roi comme Jean IV d'Armagnac. La peste décime les habitants de Carcassonne et de la Cité en 1557. En 1585, la Cité est attaquée par les huguenots mais ils sont repoussés par les « mortes-payes».

 

Entre 1560 et 1630, durant les Guerres de religion, la Cité reste un dispositif militaire important pour les catholiques. Elle subit des attaques de la part des protestants. En 1575, le fils du sire de Villa tente d'attaquer la forteresse. En 1585, les hommes de Montmorency font de même, mais là aussi c'est l'échec.

 

La mort de Henry III déclenche des affrontements entre les habitants de la ville basse fidèle à Henry IV, son successeur légitime, et au duc de Montmorency, et la Cité qui refuse de reconnaître le nouveau roi et prend le parti de la Ligue. Au cours des violents combats qui s'étalent sur près de 2 ans, les faubourgs de la Cité situés aux abords de la porte de l'Aude sont détruits. Cette dernière est murée et le quartier de la Trivalle est incendié. En 1592, les habitants de la Cité se rallient au roi.

 

Le XVIIe siècle marque le début de l'abandon de la Cité. En 1657, le présidial, la juridiction en place à Carcassonne, est transféré de la Cité à la ville basse44. En 1659, la Cité de Carcassonne perd sa position stratégique à la suite de la signature du Traité des Pyrénées qui rattache le Roussillon à la France et fixe la frontière entre la France et l'Espagne à son emplacement actuel. La Cité est progressivement abandonnée par ses habitants les plus aisés et devient un quartier pauvre occupé par les tisserands. Les lices sont progressivement occupées par des maisons. Des caves et des greniers sont installés dans les tours. La Cité se dégrade rapidement.

 

La ville basse prospère grâce à l'industrie drapière. Le principal centre religieux de la ville, la cathédrale Saint-Nazaire, demeure néanmoins dans la Cité jusqu'à la Révolution. En 1790, le chapitre est aboli et le palais épiscopal et le cloître sont vendus puis détruits en 1795. Le siège épiscopal est même transféré en 1801 de la cathédrale Saint-Nazaire à l'église Saint-Michel dans la ville basse. En 1794, les archives de la tour du Trésau sont détruites par un incendie.

 

Sous l'Ancien Régime puis sous la Révolution, la Cité est réduite sur le plan militaire au rôle d'arsenal, entrepôt d'armes et de vivres puis, entre 1804 et 1820, est rayée de la liste des places de guerre et abandonnée ; elle est reclassée en seconde catégorie. La ville haute perd son autonomie municipale et devient un quartier de Carcassonne. Le château comtal est transformé en prison. L'armée est alors prête à céder la Cité aux démolisseurs et récupérateurs de pierres.

 

La Cité connaît un déclin social avec l'augmentation de la pauvreté, mais aussi un déclin démographique. Entre 1819 et 1846, le nombre d'habitants de la ville haute décline tandis que dans la ville basse, la démographie augmente.

 

Pour les habitants de Carcassonne, la Cité médiévale, située sur une butte difficile d’accès avec ses ruelles étroites et ses lices et remparts vétustes constitue désormais un quartier peu attrayant auquel s'oppose la ville nouvelle formée par la bastide Saint-Louis ou ville basse. La désaffection des habitants pour la Cité entraîne sa détérioration. Les tours se délabrent et la plupart sont converties en garages, hangars et autres bâtiments de stockage. Les lices sont progressivement envahies par des constructions (au XIXe siècle, les autorités y recensent 112 maisons). La destruction de la Cité médiévale est alors programmée.

 

La Cité est sauvée de la destruction totale par Jean-Pierre Cros-Mayrevieille, notable et historien, habitant au pied de la Cité. Dès 1835, il s'émeut de la destruction de la barbacane dont les pierres étaient pillées par les entrepreneurs locaux. C'est à lui que l'on doit les premières véritables fouilles dans la cathédrale de la Cité et la découverte de la chapelle de l'évêque Radulphe. L'écrivain Prosper Mérimée, inspecteur général des monuments historiques, a le coup de foudre pour ce monument en perdition. L'architecte Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, qui avait commencé la restauration de l'église Saint-Nazaire, est chargé d'étudier la restauration de la Cité. En 1840, la basilique Saint-Nazaire à l'intérieur de la Cité passe sous la protection des monuments historiques. Cette protection est étendue à l'ensemble des remparts en 1862.

 

En 1853, Napoléon III approuve le projet de restauration. Le financement est soutenu par l'État à 90 % et à 10 % par la ville et le conseil général de l'Aude. En 1855, les travaux commencent par la partie ouest-sud-ouest de l'enceinte intérieure, mais restent modestes. En 1857, ils se poursuivent sur les tours de la porte Narbonnaise et l'entrée principale de la Cité. Les fortifications sont çà et là consolidées, mais le gros du travail se concentre alors sur la restauration des toitures des tours des créneaux et des hourds du château comtal. L'expropriation et la destruction des bâtiments construits le long des remparts sont ordonnées. En 1864, Viollet-le-Duc obtient encore des crédits pour restaurer la porte de Saint-Nazaire et l'enceinte extérieure du front sud. En 1874, la tour du Trésau est restaurée.

Eugène Viollet-le-Duc laissera de nombreux croquis et dessins de la Cité et de ses modifications56. À sa mort en 1879, son élève Paul Boeswillwald reprend le flambeau puis l'architecte Henri Nodet. En 1889, la restauration de l'enceinte intérieure est terminée. Les travaux de restauration du château comtal débutent la même année et, en 1902, les travaux d'envergure sont achevés et les alentours de la Cité sont aménagés et dégagés. En 1911, les dernières maisons présentes dans les lices sont détruites et les travaux de restauration sont considérés comme terminés en 1913.

 

Seul 30 % de la Cité est restauré. Durant les travaux de restauration, le chanoine Léopold Verguet réalise de nombreux clichés, ainsi que des travaux de réhabilitation. Ces photos fournissent des témoignages sur le chantier et la vie autour la Cité à cette époque. Un autre photographe, Michel Jordy, historien et archéologue, apporte également sa contribution à la sauvegarde la Cité par ses recherches et ses photographies. Il est également le fondateur de l'hôtel de la Cité.

Dès 1850, les restaurations d'Eugène Viollet-le-Duc sont fortement critiquées. Ses détracteurs, comme Hippolyte Taine, dénoncent la différence entre les parties neuves et les parties en ruine considérant que ces dernières ont plus de charme. D'autres, comme Achille Rouquet ou François de Neufchâteau, regrettent le caractère trop gothique et le style « Viollet-le-Duc » des modifications. Aujourd'hui, les historiens soulignent surtout les erreurs du restaurateur. Joseph Poux regrette la mauvaise reconstitution des portes et des fenêtres des tours wisigothes et la bretèche de la porte de l'Aude.

 

Mais ce sont surtout les choix effectués pour la restauration des toitures qui furent fortement critiqués. Viollet-le-Duc, fort de ses expériences de restauration sur les châteaux du nord de la France, choisit de coiffer les tours d'une toiture conique couverte d'ardoises, contrastant avec les toitures plates couvertes de tuiles romanes des châteaux de la région. Ce choix avait pour lui une logique historique, car Simon de Monfort et les autres chevaliers qui participèrent à la croisade des Albigeois venaient tous du Nord. Il n'est pas impossible que ces « nordistes » aient ramené avec eux leurs propres architectes et techniques. De plus, Viollet-le-Duc retrouva de nombreux fragments d'ardoise lors de ses restaurations de la Cité. C'est pour cela qu'aujourd'hui, on peut observer différents types de toiture dans la Cité de Carcassonne.

 

Le pont-levis, rajouté à l'entrée de la porte Narbonnaise, est également cité comme un exemple de reconstitution erronée. Par ailleurs, certaines restaurations sont parfois considérées comme trop parfaites et réduisant l'impression d'authenticité. Cependant, malgré ses erreurs, on considère aujourd'hui qu'Eugène Viollet-le-Duc a effectué un travail d'architecture remarquable qui a permis de restituer aux visiteurs une image cohérente sinon fidèle de la Cité de Carcassonne. Ainsi les campagnes de restauration menées aujourd'hui conservent les modifications apportées au modèle originel par l'architecte, car elles font désormais partie de l'histoire du monument.

 

La diminution de la population se poursuit pendant la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle. Entre 1846 et 1911, la Cité perd 45 % de sa population, passant de 1 351 à 761 habitants.

En 1903, la Cité passe de la tutelle du ministère de la guerre au ministère des beaux-arts66 et en 1918, l'armée quitte définitivement la Cité de Carcassonne. En 1920, l'hôtel de la Cité est construit à l'intérieur même de la Cité entre le château comtal et la cathédrale de Saint-Nazaire. Cette construction néo-gothique provoque à l'époque de nombreuses protestations. En 1926, les monuments historiques étendent leur protection en classant les terrains situés près des restes de la barbacane de l'Aude, les accès et la porte de l'Aude, ainsi qu'en inscrivant le Grand Puits au titre des monuments historiques. En 1942, le classement s'étend encore avec l'ajout, en trois fois, de terrains autour de la Cité. Cette extension permet de protéger les abords directs de l'enceinte en empêchant d'éventuelles constructions.

 

En 1944, la Cité de Carcassonne est occupée par les troupes allemandes qui utilisent le château comtal comme réserve de munitions et d'explosifs. Les habitants sont expulsés de la Cité. Joë Bousquet, commandeur de la Légion d'honneur, s'indigne de cette occupation et demande par lettre au préfet la libération de la Cité considérée par tous les pays comme une œuvre d'art qu'il faut respecter et laisser libre.

 

En 1961, un musée est installé dans le château comtal. Puis en 1997, la Cité est classée au patrimoine mondial par l'UNESCO. Aujourd'hui, la Cité est devenue un site touristique important qui reçoit plus de 2 millions de visiteurs chaque année. Ces classements permettent à l'État de recevoir des subventions pour l'entretien du site. En contrepartie, il doit respecter l'architecture des lieux lors de constructions ou de rénovations et doit ouvrir la Cité aux visiteurs. Les monuments historiques gèrent les visites et la gestion du château comtal. Ils ont récemment rénové le parcours de visites en 2006 et 2007 en ajoutant une salle de projection et une nouvelle signalétique. En 2014 débute des travaux de mise en sécurité des remparts du circuit Ouest suivi par un architecte en chef des monuments afin d'offrir ce parcours au visiteur. Les travaux seront réalisés par des compagnons tailleur de pierre spécialisés dans la restauration du patrimoine architectural.

Les parties remarquables de la Cité comprennent les deux enceintes et plusieurs bâtiments. Le plan ci-contre permet de localiser ces bâtiments décrits dans les sections suivantes. L'enceinte intérieure et les portes figurent en rouge tandis que l'enceinte extérieure et les barbacanes sont représentées en jaune :

1 - Porte Narbonnaise et barbacane Saint-Louis,

2 - Porte et barbacane Saint-Nazaire,

3 - Porte d'Aude,

4 - Porte du Bourg et barbacane Notre-Dame,

5 - Château comtal entouré d'un fossé et construit le long de l'enceinte intérieure,

6 - Barbacane de l'est protégeant l'entrée du château,

7 - Barbacane de l'Aude, aujourd'hui détruite,

8 - Église Saint-Nazaire.

Le matériau utilisé pour la construction des enceintes et des tours est la pierre dont est constitué le plateau sur lequel est édifiée la Cité. Il s'agit de grès ou molasse de Carcassonne qui a été extraite du plateau même ou des collines environnantes. Deux enceintes, entourant la Cité, sont séparées par un espace plat : les lices. Ce système comportait, à l'époque de sa mise en œuvre (avant la généralisation de l'artillerie), de nombreux avantages défensifs. Il permettait d'attaquer les assaillants selon deux lignes de tir ; l'enceinte extérieure, si elle était franchie, ralentissait les assaillants et les divisait ; les assaillants une fois parvenus dans les lices étaient particulièrement vulnérables dans cet espace dépourvu d'abri. De plus, la lice permettait aux cavaliers de combattre facilement. On distingue les lices basses, situées au nord et allant de la porte Narbonnaise à la porte de l'Aude où se trouvent les enceintes les plus anciennes datant des Wisigoths et les lices hautes, situées au sud, où se trouvent les murailles les plus récentes construites sous Philippe III le Hardi.

La première enceinte, construite sur un éperon rocheux, date de l'époque gallo-romaine ; elle permettait de dominer la vallée et le cours de l'Aude. Les soubassements de cette enceinte originelle sont encore visibles depuis la lice. Elle est construite à l'aide de grosses pierres et d'un mortier très dur. Le mur de cette enceinte était épais de deux à trois mètres. Cette enceinte avait un périmètre de 1 070 m et protégeait une ville de sept hectares. Elle est constituée de moellons réguliers et de rangées de briques. Ces briques assuraient la stabilité de la construction grâce à leur flexibilité et rattrapaient les éventuels affaissements.

 

Il existe encore dix-sept tours d'origine gallo-romaine plus ou moins remaniées sur les trente tours que comportait initialement cette enceinte. Une seule tour était de plan rectangulaire, la tour Pinte. Les autres tours reconnaissables dans les remparts ouest de la Cité grâce à leur forme en fer à cheval à l'extérieur et plate à l'intérieur. La partie inférieure des tours, dont le diamètre est compris entre 4,50 et 7 mètres, est constituée de maçonnerie pleine qui donnait une assise particulièrement solide. Les niveaux supérieurs comportent de larges ouvertures cintrées qui donnaient une grande efficacité aux armes de jet des défenseurs. Un système de fenêtre basculante assurait la défense et la protection de ces larges ouvertures. Les tours étaient recouvertes de tuiles plates à double rebord. La hauteur des tours était comprise entre 11,65 m et 13,70 m.

Durant le XIIIe siècle, les rois de France ordonnèrent la construction d'une seconde enceinte extérieure autour de la Cité. Les tours sont rondes, souvent basses et dépourvues de toiture pour n'offrir aucun abri à des assaillants qui les auraient conquises contre les tirs venus de l'enceinte intérieure. L'enceinte est entourée d'un fossé sec sauf aux endroits ou le dénivelé ne rend pas cette défense nécessaire. L'espace entre les deux enceintes est aménagé en lices qui sont utilisées en temps de paix pour les manifestations en tous genres. Les murailles atteignent une hauteur de 10 à 12 mètres.

 

L'enceinte intérieure est modernisée sous Philippe III Le Hardi et Philippe IV Le Bel. L'entrée Narbonnaise, la Porte de Saint-Nazaire et la tour du Trésau sont construites. Ces édifices sont caractérisés par la hauteur impressionnante de leurs murs et l'emploi de pierres à bossage. La construction de l'enceinte est plus complexe et repose sur des fondations plus profondes que l'enceinte gallo-romaine, car elle atteint la roche du plateau. La réalisation de l'enceinte extérieure et des lices a nécessité de décaisser le terrain naturellement pentu. Une partie des soubassements extérieurs de l'enceinte gallo-romaine ont été mis à nu par ce terrassement et a dû faire l'objet d'une consolidation.

 

Le chemin de ronde permettait de faire tout le tour de la Cité en traversant les tours. Au Moyen Âge, la courtine est élargie grâce à un système de charpente en bois suspendu créant un abri au-dessus du vide. Ce système placé à cheval sur le rempart du nom de hourd permettait aux arbalétriers de tirer avec précision au milieu des lices. Des échauguettes sont construites sur la saillie de certaines murailles comme l'échauguette de la Vade.

 

Les tours médiévales diffèrent des tours romaines tout en gardant leur forme extérieure caractéristique avec une façade extérieure bombée et une façade intérieure plate. Les échelles de bois sont remplacées par des escaliers intérieurs en pierre. La base des tours est fruitée, c'est-à-dire renflée afin que les projectiles ricochent sur la tour et se retournent contre les assaillants situés au pied de la muraille.

L'enceinte est percée de quatre portes principales donnant accès à l'intérieur de la Cité. Les portes sont réparties aux quatre points cardinaux.

La porte Narbonnaise, située à l'est, est construite vers 1280 durant le règne de Philippe III le Hardi. Elle doit son nom à son orientation vers Narbonne et succède au château narbonnais, un château aujourd'hui disparu qui contrôlait la principale entrée de la ville. Le château Narbonnais était tenu aux XIe et XIIe siècles des Trencavel par la famille de Termes. Au XIXe siècle Viollet-le-Duc reconstitue le crénelage et le toit en ardoise de 1859 à 1860 et la dote d'un pseudo pont-levis qui n'existait pas à l'origine. Elle est constituée de deux tours imposantes renforcées par des becs destinés à détourner les tirs des assaillants. La porte est protégée par une double herse renforcée par un assommoir et des meurtrières. Ces tours possèdent trois étages sur rez-de-chaussée. Le rez-de-chaussée et le premier étage sont voûtés alors que les étages supérieurs comportent un simple plancher. La tour nord possède un caveau pour les provisions tandis que la tour sud contient une citerne d'eau, permettant de faire face aux besoins des défenseurs de la tour pendant un siège de longue durée.

 

Au-dessus de cet ensemble se trouve une niche à couronnement tréflé dans laquelle est placée une statue de la Vierge. Cette porte est protégée par la barbacane Saint-Louis qui se trouve face à elle. Une échauguette située à droite de la porte permettait un tir direct sur les assaillants si ceux-ci parvenaient à prendre la barbacane.

Au sud, la porte Saint-Nazaire est aménagée dans la tour du même nom, l'une des deux tours carrés de la Cité. C'est un dispositif de défense complexe ; l'ouvrage était très abîmé et Viollet-le-Duc le reconstitua entre 1864 et 1866.

 

La tour protège la cathédrale Saint-Nazaire située juste derrière à 25 mètres dans la Cité. Elle est équipée de quatre échauguettes ; le passage donnant accès à la lice et à la Cité comporte un coude de 90 degrés. Chaque entrée de ce passage est protégée par des systèmes de défense : mâchicoulis, herses et vantaux.

 

La tour possède deux étages bien aménagés pour le stationnement de la garnison avec une cheminée et des corps de placard. La plate-forme couronnant la tour permettait de recevoir un engin de guerre à longue portée.

À l'ouest, la porte d'Aude fait face au fleuve du même nom. Elle est située près du château comtal. Cette porte se prolonge par la barbacane de l'Aude détruite en partie en 1816 pour construire l'église Saint-Gimer. Seule la rampe entourée de murs crénelés subsiste. Le système défensif de cette porte était complexe. De hautes arcades cachent de fausses portes ne menant nulle part : ce dispositif était destiné à tromper l'ennemi. De plus, de nombreux couloirs en lacet possèdent différents paliers créant une souricière dans laquelle les assaillants se trouvaient bloqués et pouvaient être attaqués de toutes parts. La porte de l'Aude combine des systèmes de défense passive et active d’une grande sophistication.

 

La rampe, qui partait de la barbacane disparue, donne accès à cette porte. Elle monte la pente raide de l'ouest en faisant des lacets et traverse une première porte puis une seconde porte. L'avant-porte défend cet accès, situé entre l'enceinte intérieure et extérieure. L'enceinte intérieure est à cet endroit surélevée et épaulée d'un triple contrefort construit au XIIIe siècle. La porte proprement dite est d'origine wisigothe avec son plein cintre alterné de briques. Au-dessus de l'entrée, se trouvent une baie et une bretèche massives qui ne sont pas d'origine féodale, mais ont été ajoutées par Viollet-le-Duc lors de sa restauration. Cette porte, à l'aspect typiquement médiéval, a servi de décor pour de nombreux tournages de films comme Les Visiteurs, Robin des Bois : Prince des voleurs ou Le Corniaud.

Au nord, la porte du Bourg ou de Rodez donnait sur l'ancien bourg Saint-Vincent. Elle est directement creusée dans l'enceinte et était défendue par la barbacane Notre-Dame et la tour Mourétis.

 

La porte, assez modeste, est percée dans les remparts entre deux tours. Elle possède très peu de défenses. À l'époque des Wisigoths, la porte était protégée par une sorte d'avant-corps dont une muraille se prolongeait vers le bourg Saint-Vincent. Cet édifice a été remplacé par la suite par une barbacane sur l'enceinte extérieure, la barbacane Notre-Dame.

Le château comtal est adossé à l'enceinte intérieure ouest à l'endroit où la pente est la plus raide. Il possède un plan en forme de parallélogramme allongé du nord au sud et est percé de deux issues à l'ouest du côté de la porte de l'Aude et à l'est du côté intérieur de la Cité. Il a été construit en deux temps.

 

Sa construction est lancée par Bernard Aton IV Trencavel durant l'époque romane aux alentours de 1130 pour remplacer un château primitif probablement situé à l'emplacement de la porte Narbonnaise96. Le château est constitué de deux corps de bâtiment en L dominés par une tour de guet, la tour Pinte. Au nord se trouve une chapelle castrale dédiée à Marie dont il reste aujourd'hui que l'abside. Seule une palissade séparait le château du reste de la Cité.

 

Durant l'époque royale, entre 1228 et 1239, le château est complètement remanié devenant une forteresse à l'intérieur de la Cité. Une barbacane comportant un chemin de ronde et un parapet crénelé barre l'entrée du château juste avant le fossé qui l'entoure complètement jusqu'à l'enceinte intérieure. La porte d'entrée du château encadrée par deux tours est constituée d'un mâchicoulis, d'une herse et de vantaux. Le pont d'entrée est composé d'une partie en pont dormant, suivi d'une partie comportant un pont basculant et un pont-levis actionné par des contrepoids près de la herse de la porte d'entrée. Les murailles remplacent la palissade originelle et entourent complètement les bâtiments. Un système de hourds reposait sur l'enceinte telle que l'a reconstitué Viollet-le-Duc.

 

Le château et son enceinte comportent 9 tours dont deux sont d'époque wisigothe : la tour de la chapelle et la tour Pinte. La tour Pinte est une tour de guet carrée, la plus haute de la Cité. Toutes les autres tours ont des dispositions intérieures et extérieures identiques, car construites en même temps aux XIIe siècle. Ces tours sont constituées de trois étages et d'un rez-de-chaussée. Le rez-de-chaussée et le premier étage comportent un plafond voûté tandis que les étages supérieurs sont dotés de simples planchers. La communication entre les étages se fait par le biais des trous servant de porte-voix dans les voûtes et les planchers. Des hourds reconstitués par Viollet-le-Duc ornaient vraisemblablement l'enceinte et les tours comme le montre la reconstitution actuelle.

 

L'accès du château mène à une cour rectangulaire entourée de bâtiments remaniés de nombreuses fois entre le XIIe et le XVIIIe siècle. Les murs nord et est de la cour sont flanqués de simples portiques tandis qu'au sud et à l'est se trouvent deux bâtiments. Celui du sud contient les cuisines et permet d'accéder à une seconde cour. Elle contenait un bâtiment aujourd'hui détruit, mais où sont encore visibles les emplacements des poutres du plancher du premier étage ainsi que plusieurs fenêtres. C'est aussi dans cette cour que se trouve la tour Pinte.

La basilique Saint-Nazaire, construite en grès (parement extérieur), est une église d'origine romane dont les parties les plus anciennes remontent au XIe siècle. Sur son emplacement s'élevait à l'origine une cathédrale carolingienne dont il ne subsiste, aujourd'hui, aucune trace.

 

À l'aube de l'apogée de l'art roman, c'est donc d'abord une simple église bénie et consacrée cathédrale par le pape Urbain II en 1096 sous l'impulsion des Trencavel, qui lancent le chantier d'un nouvel édifice plus vaste. De cet édifice ne subsistent que les deux premiers piliers de la nef et la crypte, dont l'état dégradé donne à penser qu'il s'agissait d'un ouvrage antérieur. Elle épouse le plan de l'ancienne abside. Au XIIe siècle on édifie la nef actuelle, de six travées, qui fut laissée intacte lors des agrandissements de l'époque gothique, qui par contre se traduisirent par la destruction du chevet roman du XIe siècle. Le portail roman a quant à lui été entièrement refait au XIXe siècle lors des restaurations de Viollet-le-Duc.

 

La basilique est agrandie entre 1269 et 1330 dans le style gothique importé par les nouveaux maîtres de la région, avec un transept et un chœur très élancés, un décor de sculptures et un ensemble de vitraux qui comptent parmi les plus beaux du sud de la France. Un prélat bâtisseur, Pierre de Rochefort, finança la construction d'une grande partie des décors et l'achèvement des voûtes. Ses armoiries sont visibles dans le chœur, l'abside et le bras sud du transept, tandis que la chapelle du collatéral nord contient le monument commémoratif de la mort du contributeur. Un autre personnage, Pierre Rodier, évêque de Carcassonne, possède son blason dans la chapelle du collatéral sud.

 

Les rénovations d'Eugène Viollet-le-Duc ont largement transformé l'extérieur de la basilique, mais l'intérieur est le plus remarquable. Les deux styles, gothique et roman, se superposent sur les vitraux, les sculptures et tous les décors de l'église. Les façades comportent de nombreux vitraux des XIIIe et XIVe siècles : ceux-ci représentent des scènes de la vie du Christ et de ses apôtres.

 

Jusqu'au XVIIIe siècle, la cathédrale Saint-Nazaire demeure pourtant le principal centre religieux de Carcassonne. À la fin de l'Ancien Régime, le chapitre cathédral entretient même un petit corps de musique comptant un organiste, un maître de musique et au moins cinq enfants de chœur. En 1790, cependant, la chapitre est supprimé. Ce n'est qu'en 1801 que l'église est déchue de son rang de cathédrale de Carcassonne au profit de l'église Saint-Michel, située dans la bastide à l'extérieur de la Cité. Ce transfert se déroule alors que la Cité est désertée par ses habitants au profit de la ville basse. Le titre de basilique lui est octroyé en 1898 par le pape Léon XIII.

 

Une communauté de chanoines vivait à proximité de la cathédrale avec une salle capitulaire et le dortoir à l'est, le réfectoire et les cuisines au sud et les caves et écuries à l'ouest. Mais l'ensemble des bâtiments sont démolis en 1792. Un cloître s'élevait également au sud de l'édifice. Son emplacement est aujourd'hui occupé par un théâtre de plein air établi en 1908.

La vie dans la Cité a été étudiée par de nombreux historiens. À l'époque féodale, la famille Trencavel est riche grâce à ses terres et divers droits et la vie des seigneurs et de l'entourage de la cour est assez faste. Le château comtal est élégamment décoré et le lieu attire de nombreux troubadours. La vie de la Cité est rythmée par les foires et les marchés. C'est en 1158 que Roger de Béziers autorise deux foires annuelles durant lesquelles la protection des marchands et des clients est assurée par le vicomte. Une monnaie locale prouve la vitalité et la richesse de la Cité. Le commerce y est important et fait vivre de nombreuses personnes. La nourriture est abondante et variée : porc salé, pain de froment, brochet, choux, navet, fèves, etc...

 

À l'époque royale, la Cité n'est plus aussi active. Les garnisons ont désormais un rôle prépondérant. Le roi met en place l'institution des sergents d'armes. Il s'agit de soldats qui ont pour mission de garder la Cité. Ils sont commandés par un connétable qui fixe les tours de garde et les surveillances diverses des sergents. Le nombre d'hommes initialement de 220 décline à 110 au XIVe siècle. Ces « sergenteries » deviennent héréditaires en 1336. Un texte de 1748 décrit avec précision le cérémonial de la mise en place des patrouilles et des gardes. Il décrit aussi les avantages et inconvénients de cette fonction. Les soldats étaient rémunérés par une solde perpétuelle qui conférait à la garnison le nom de "mortes-payes". La Cité était aussi bien pourvue en armes de défense et de guerre. Un inventaire de 1298 décrit des machines de jet comme des espringales, des balistes et des mangonneaux, du matériel de siège comme des poutres, des hourds démontés et tout ce qu'il faut pour faire du travail de sape, du matériel de transport comme des chars, du matériel de bâtiment avec de nombreuses pièces de rechange et du matériel d'alimentation notamment pour stocker de l'eau, important en période de siège. Elle servit ainsi de réserve pour alimenter les diverses batailles qui eurent lieu dans la région.

 

Lorsque la ville basse s'est développée au détriment de la ville haute, les conditions de vie dans la Cité changèrent énormément. Au XIXe siècle après l'abandon de la Cité par les militaires, la Cité enfermée dans sa double enceinte, devient un quartier abandonné où se concentre la misère. Seuls les tisserands pauvres vivent dans les lices dans des masures adossées aux murailles dans des conditions d'hygiène dignes du Moyen Âge. À la fin du XIXe siècle les occupants des maisons qui occupaient les lices sont progressivement expropriés et les lices restaurées dans leur état original. Viollet-le-Duc voit cette action comme une opération de nettoyage. La population chassée déménage alors en partie dans la ville basse et en partie à l'intérieur des murs de la Cité.

 

De nos jours, à l'intérieur de la Cité, la vie quotidienne n'est pas toujours facile. Les ruelles sont étroites, difficiles d'accès et les habitations sont vétustes, mais l'authenticité des lieux attire de nombreux visiteurs. La Cité possède plusieurs hôtels dont un hôtel de luxe, l'« hôtel de la Cité », une auberge de jeunesse, et de nombreux restaurants et boutiques de souvenirs.

La légende de Dame Carcas tente d'expliquer l'origine du nom de la Cité de Carcassonne. L'histoire dit que l'armée de Charlemagne était aux portes de la Cité aux prises des Sarrasins. Une princesse était à la tête des quelques chevaliers défendant la Cité après la mort de son mari. Il s'agit de la Princesse Carcas qui utilisa d'abord comme ruse de faux soldats qu'elle fit fabriquer et placer dans chaque tour de la Cité. Le siège dura 5 ans.

 

Mais au début de la sixième année, la nourriture et l'eau se faisaient de plus en plus rares. Dame Carcas voulut faire l'inventaire de toutes les réserves qu'il restait. Les villageois lui amenèrent un porc et un sac de blé. Elle eut alors l'idée de nourrir le porc avec le sac de blé, puis de le précipiter depuis la plus haute tour de la Cité au pied des remparts extérieurs.

 

Charlemagne et ses hommes, croyant que la Cité débordait encore de soldats et de vivres au point de gaspiller un porc nourri au blé, leva le siège. Voyant l'armée de Charlemagne quitter la plaine devant la Cité, Dame Carcas remplie de joie par la victoire de son stratagème décida de faire sonner toutes les cloches de la ville. Un des hommes de Charlemagne s'écria alors : « Carcas sonne ! », créant ainsi le nom de la ville.

Arbour Hill is an inner city area of Dublin, on the Northside of the River Liffey, in the Dublin 7 postal district. Arbour Hill, the road of the same name, runs west from Blackhall Place in Stoneybatter, and separates Collins Barracks, now part of the National Museum of Ireland, to the south from Arbour Hill Prison to the north, whose graveyard includes the burial plot of the signatories of the Easter Proclamation that began the 1916 Rising.

  

The military cemetery at Arbour Hill is the last resting place of 14 of the executed leaders of the insurrection of 1916. Among those buried there are Patrick Pearse, James Connolly and Major John Mc Bride. The leaders were executed in Kilmainham and then their bodies were transported to Arbour Hill, where they were buried.

 

The graves are located under a low mound on a terrace of Wicklow granite in what was once the old prison yard. The gravesite is surrounded by a limestone wall on which their names are inscribed in Irish and English. On the prison wall opposite the gravesite is a plaque with the names of other people who gave their lives in 1916.

 

The adjoining Church of the Sacred Heart, which is the prison chapel for Arbour Hill prison, is maintained by the Department of Defence. At the rear of the church lies the old cemetery, where lie the remains of British military personnel who died in the Dublin area in the 19th and early 20th century.

 

A doorway beside the 1916 memorial gives access to the Irish United Nations Veterans Association house and memorial garden.

CBP officers from the Office of Field Operations and agents from the U.S. Border Patrol and Air and Marine Operations execute a planned readiness exercise at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. The exercise is designed to evaluate readiness and assess the capabilities of CBP facilities to make necessary preparations. November 22, 2018.

 

Photos by Mani Albrecht

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Office of Public Affairs

Visual Communications Division

Library, located out the outer south wall of Coit Tower's rotunda, was executed by Bernard Zakheim in 1934. The artist painted himself in the center, reading a Hebrew book. Fellow artist John Langley Howard reaches for a Marx book, Ralph Stackpole learns about the destruction of the Rivera mural at Rockefeller Center in New york, and Beniamino Bufano reads about his proposed St. Francis statue.

 

The interior walls of the tower are decorated with murals, mostly done in fresco, carried out by 26 artists under the auspices of the Public Works Project. The muralists, who were mainly faculty and students were supervised by Ralph Stackpole and Bernard Zakheim. Artists included Maxine Albro, Victor Arnautoff, Ray Bertrand, Rinaldo Cuneo, Mallette Harold Dean, Clifford Wight, Edith Hamlin, George Harris, Robert B. Howard, Otis Oldfield, Suzanne Scheuer, Hebe Daum and Frede Vidar.

 

Coit Tower, sitting in Pioneer Park atop Telegraph Hill, was built in 1933 by architects Arthur Brown, Jr. and Henry Howard, at the bequest of Lillian Hitchcock Coit for the purposes of beautification of the City of San Francisco. The 210-foot tall, unpainted, reinforced concrete, Art Deco tower resembles a fire hose nozzle. However, even though Lillie Coit was a big supporter of the city's fireman, contrary to urban legend the tower does not serve as a memorial in wake of the 1906 earthquake. Over 250,000 visitors come to Coit Tower annually to take the elevator ride up to the 360-degree observation deck, which sits 179-feet high and 542-feet above sea level. There is a small studio apartment on the first level of the tower, which was originally used as lodging for the structure's caretaker.

 

Pioneer Park, one of the first dedicated parks in San Francisco, was established atop Telegraph Hill in 1876. Telegraph Hill earned its name from the marine semaphore telegraph which was posted there in the 1850's, providing notification of arriving ships.

 

National Register #07001468 (2007)

Yesterday (Wednesday 11 March 2020), officers from Greater Manchester Police and the City of London Police’s Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) executed a number of warrants at Great Ducie Street, Manchester.

 

Officers from GMP and the City of London Police - the national policing lead for fraud – worked alongside UK immigration, meaning a total of 100 officers and staff members were involved in the operation.

 

The search warrant, which developed from a previous operation that involved the sale and distribution of counterfeit items, saw thousands of labels, computer equipment and cash seized.

 

Detectives are currently exploring links between the counterfeit operation and Serious Organised Crime, helping to fund criminal activity beyond Greater Manchester.

 

15 people were arrested, after officers uncovered an estimated £7.5 million worth of branded clothing, shoes and perfume suspected to be counterfeit.

 

Chief Inspector Kirsten Buggy, of GMP’s North Manchester division, said: “Yesterday’s operation is one of the largest of its kind ever carried out in the area and has taken a meticulous amount of planning and preparation.

 

“I am thankful to colleagues from the City of London Police, who as the national policing lead for fraud, have worked in partnership with officers from GMP and helped bring about yesterday’s direct action. I am also grateful to those from UK Immigration for their help.

 

“Such partnerships are absolutely vital when tackling counterfeit operations, as they bring specialisms from across the country together in a bid to make an impactive and real difference. Steps such as yesterday are often only the start when it comes to investigating the scale of these operations and we will continue to work in conjunction with the City of London’s Intellectual Property Crime Unit to tackle this type of offending to its’ very core.

 

“It is important to recognise the far-reaching and serious impact of sophisticated and large scale counterfeit operations such as this one; and I would like to take this opportunity to remind members of the public of the repercussions of this kind of offending and the link to organised criminal activity. Please be under no illusion- this type of crime is not victimless.”

 

Police staff investigator Charlotte Beattie, of the City of London Police’s Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU), said:

 

“The counterfeit goods business is a deceiving one and the key message to be take away from this operation, is that counterfeiting is not a victimless crime.

 

“An individual may think that when buying counterfeit goods they are only affecting a multi-million pound brand, and won’t matter, when in fact they are helping to fund organised criminal activity. Counterfeit goods also pose a health risk to individuals as they usually are not fit for purpose or have not gone through the legal health and safety checks.

 

“Working in partnership has ensured that today’s operation has been a success. We will continue to work with Greater Manchester Police and UK Immigration to tackle the scourge of the counterfeit goods problem.”

 

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit our website. www.gmp.police.uk

 

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

 

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

 

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give a statement.

 

You can access many of our services online at www.gmp.police.uk.

 

I like a village called Bobbing; I mean who wouldn't?

 

Last week I made a list of churches I needed to visit, and so at the weekend singles out a local group and went, with Bobbing being one of them.

 

Bobbing is the next to last village before the A249 lepas over the Swale to Sheppy, and we had been near here last year when we called at Iwade.

 

But here I was again, looking for the church, down the old high road, with it climbing what counts for a hill in these parts, and the church standing on the crest of the rise. I pull in and see a large friendly "church open" sign.

 

A good sign.

 

Though heavily restored, plenty of interest inside. Including two fine wall monuments and some nice brasses.

 

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Recently restored this church displays far more of interest than the rather severe exterior promises. The church dates from the fourteenth century and consists of nave, chancel, north aisle and west tower. The south chancel wall contains and outstanding square headed low side window which contains its original medieval ironwork, Next to it is a sedilia which has a small piece of carving from Canterbury cathedral Executed in Caen stone it depicts a Bishop and a priest. The Bishop is St Martial, first Bishop of Limoges. There are also some good brasses to Sir Arnold and Lady Savage. A late seventeenth century vicar of Bobbing was Titus Oates who plotted against the catholic supporters of the Stuart royal family, thus ensuring a place in English national history.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Bobbing

 

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BOBBING.

LIES the next parish south-west ward from Milton last-described, at a very small distance northward from the high London road at Key-street.

 

THE PARISH of Bobbing lies almost the whole of it on the northern side of the high London road, nearly at the 39th mile stone. It is not an unpleasant situation, though at the same time it has not the character of being very healthy. It contains about seven hundred and eighty acres of land, of which forty are wood, the soil is in general poor, much of it on the high ground is either a gravel sand, or a mixture of clay, but in the lower parts, especially in the northern towards Milton, there is some good fertile level land. The high road runs along the southern boundaries of it, excepting at Key-street, where it extends some way up the Detling road; hence the hill rises to high ground, on which, about half a mile from the road, is the church, and close to the church-yard the ruins of Bobbing-court, with the few houses that compose the village on the other side of it. At a small distance from these ruins southward, on the brow of the hill, at the end of the toll of elms leading from the high road, Arthur Gore, esq. of the kingdom of Ireland, built on colonel Tyndale's land a few years ago, a small shooting seat, which has since been further improved by his cousin Sir Booth Gore, bart. of Sligo, in Ireland, being so created on August 30, 1760, and they both pretty constantly reside in it; the house commands the view of the London road, and a fine one southward beyond it; below the descent of the hill, northward from the church, is Bobbing-place, a low situation near the boundaries of this parish next to Milton.

 

At the south-west corner of the parish, on the London road, is a small hamlet of houses called Key-street, corruptly probably for caii stratum, or Caius's-street, though the ale-house in it, the sign of which seems to have arisen from the name of the street, has raised a notion of the street's taking its name from thence. Here is a large house lately erected by Mr. William Boykett, who resides in it.

 

In this street there was antiently a spital-house for the use of the poor and diseased.

 

About a mile southward from hence on the high road to Detling, there is a gravel pit of an unusual depth and length, the hollowing of which must have been the work of great labour and length of time, insomuch that if I may be allowed the conjecture, I should suppose it was made by the Romans, who took their materials from thence to make their road, which still remains visible from Key-street to Sittingborne, the quantity of gravel with which that way is raised, being only to be supplied from so large a place as this is.

 

There was formerly a quintin in this parish, the field in which it stood being still called from thence the Quintin-field.

 

There is an antient allowed fair here, held formerly on St. Bartholomew's day, now by alteration of the stile on Sept. 4, yearly, the profits of which belong to the lord of Milton manor.

 

THE PARAMOUNT MANOR of Milton claims over this parish, subordinate to which is the MANOR OF BOBBING, the mansion of which, called Bobbingcourt, was the antient residence of the family of Savage, or Le Sauvage, as they were called in French, who were of eminent account, and possessed good estates in this part of Kent; and Leland, in his Itinerary says, this manor had before belonged to the family of Molynes.

 

Ralph de Savage, the first owner of this manor, of the name whom I have met with, was present with king Richard I. at the siege of Acon, in Palestine. His descendants Sir John de Savage, Sir Thomas de Savage, of Bobing, and Sir Roger de Savage, were with king Edward I. with many other gentlemen of this county, at the siege of Carlaverock, in Scotland, in the 28th year of his reign, and were all honored there with the degree of knighthood.

 

Roger le Sauvage possessed this manor in the next reign of king Edward II. and in the 5th year of it obtained free-warren, and other liberties for his lands in Bobbynges, Middelton, Borden, Newenton, and Stokebury.

 

In the descendants of this family, who bore for their arms, Argent, six lions rampant, sable, three, two and one, which coat is still remaining on the roof of the cloysters of Canterbury cathedral, and in the chapter-house there, men of eminent degree in the times in which they flourished, whose burial place was within the north chancel of this church, this manor continued down to Arnold Savage, esq. who died s. P. in 1420, so that Eleanor his sister, who had been first married to Sir Reginald Cobham, by whom she left no issue, and was then the wife of William Clifford, esq. became his heir, as well in this manor as the rest of his possessions. The family of Clifford was descended from ancestors seated at Clifford-castle, in Herefordshire, as early as the beginning of Henry II.'s reign, several of whom were summoned to parliament, among the barons of this realm. At length Roger de Clifford, who married Matilda, daughter of Thomas de Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, and died anno 13 Richard II. leaving three sons, of whom Thomas was the eldest, from whom descended the Cliffords, earls of Cumberland; the Boyles, lords Clifford, of Lonsborough; Thomas, earl of Thanet, lord Clifford, and his daughter the lady Margaret Tuston, lady Clifford, married to Coke, earl of Leicester.

 

Sir William Clifford, the second son, died s.p. and Lewis Clifford, the third son, was a man of note in the military line, as well as in state affairs, and in the 6th year of Richard II. was made a knight of the garter. He died anno 4 Henry IV. leaving one son William, who as before-mentioned, married the sister of Arnold Savage, esq. and in her right became possessed of Bobbing manor, (fn. 1) a younger branch of which family had been settled at Bobbing-place, in this parish, some time before. The Cliffords, of Bobbing, bore for their arms, Chequy, or, and sable, a fess and bordure, gules, on the fess, a crescent argent, for difference, which coat they quartered with that of Savage. These arms of Clifford are on the roof of the cloysters of Canterbury cathedral, and in St. Margaret's church, in Canterbury, impaled with Savage. The first lord Clifford of this family, bore Chequy, or, and azure, a bendlet, gules, which the elder brethren kept as long as they continued; a second son turned the bendlet into a bend, and placed on it three lioneux, passant, or, from whom the Cliffords of Frampton are descended. Roger Clifford, second son of Walter the first lord, for the bendlet took a fess gules, which was borne by the earls of Cumberland, and others of that branch. Those of Kent added the bordure to the fess, and a crescent on it, for difference; and Sir Conyers bore the chequy, or, and sable, as appears by his coat of arms on an original picture of him, painted in 1595.

 

William Clifford, before-mentioned, was sheriff both in the 4th and 13th years of king Henry VI. and died in the 16th year of that reign, leaving two sons, Lewis, who succeeded him in his estates in this county, and John, who was ancestor to the lords Clifford, of Chudleigh.

 

Lewis Clifford, the eldest son, resided at Bobbing, court, whose son Alexander Clifford, esq. kept his shrievalty there in the 5th year of king Edward IV. and dying in the 10th year of Henry VII. left six sons, of whom Lewis Clifford, the eldest, succeeded him in this manor, and was sheriff in the 13th year of king Henry VII. He left by his first wife Mildred, daughter of Bartholomew Bourne, esq. of Sharsted, two sons, Nicholas, who was of Sutton Valence, and left a sole daughter and heir, married first to Harpur, and secondly to Moore, (fn. 1) and Richard.

 

Nicholas Clifford, esq. the eldest son, possessed this manor of Bobbing on his father's death, but removing to Sutton Valence, or Town Sutton, as it is now called. He sold it presently afterwards to Sir Thomas Neville, but Richard Clifford, esq. the younger son, repurchased it of him, and died possessed of it, being succeeded in it by his son George Clifford, esq. who resided at Bobbing-court in the middle of the reign of queen Elizabeth, and left seven sons and three daughter, of whom Henry Clifford, esq. the eldest son, succeeded him in this manor, which he afterwards alienated to his younger brother, Sir Conyers Clifford, and dame Mary his wife, the daughter of Francis Southwell, esq. of Windham-hall, in Norfolk, and had been married first to Thomas Sydney, esq. of this county, and afterwards to Nicholas Gorge, esq. Her third husband was Sir Conyers Clifford, of Bobbingcourt, above mentioned, who was governor of Connaught, in Ireland, and a privy counsellor of that kingdom, by whom she had two sons, Henry and Conyers. She survived him, and afterwards possessed solely this manor, to whom the entitled her fourth husband Sir Anthony St. Leger, master of the rolls in Ireland, and a privy counsellor there, who was third son of Sir Anthony St. Leger, of Ulcomb, lord deputy of Ireland. She had by him, who survived her, one son Anthony, and dying in 1603, æt 37, was buried in St. Patrick's church, Dublin. By her will she devised this manor, in equal shares, to her two sons Henry and Conyers Clifford, and her son Anthony St. Leger, afterwards knighted, and of Wiertonhouse, in Boughton Monchelsea. They quickly afterwards joined in the sale of it to Sir Edward Duke, of Cosington, in Aylesford, who not long afterwards passed it away by sale to Sir Richard Gurney, alderman of London, who was afterwards in 1641 created a baronet, being then lord-mayor, who bore for his arms, Paly of six, per fess, counter changed, or, and azure, (fn. 1) which coat was in allusion to that borne by Hugh Gorney, a Norman, created earl of Gorney by William Rusus, who bore Paly, six, or, and azure. He alienated it to his brother-in-law Henry Sandford, esq. who died possessed of it in 1660, bearing for his arms, Ermine, on a fess, gules, two boars heads couped, or. He left by her four daughters his coheirs, Christian; Angelica, married to Henry Thornhill, esq. Mary; and Frances, the latter of whom carried this manor in marriage to Sir George Moore, bart. who had been so created in 1665, being stiled of Maids Morton, in Buckinghamshire, bearing for his arms, On a fess, three fleurs de lis, between three mullets. He died possessed of it in 1678, and was buried in the north chancel of this church. He died s. p. leaving his widow surviving, and possessed of this manor, which she the next year carried in marriage to colonel Edw. Diggs, the fifth son of Thomas Diggs, esq. of Chilham-castle, who dying s. p she again married colonel Robert Crayford, governor of the fort of Sheerness, who survived her, and became possessed of this manor, which he afterwards, in the reign of king William, sold to Thomas Tyndale, gent. of North Nibley, in Gloucestershire, who was descended of a family originally settled in Northumberland, whence a descendant of it removed to North Nibley, which estate Thomas Tyndale sold on his purchasing this manor. His son William Tyndale, esq. who pulled down this mansion, and dying in 1748, was buried in the fouth chancel of Bobbing church; leaving no issue, he by will devised this manor in tail male to his collateral kinsman, the Rev. William Tyndale, rector of Coats, in Gloucestershire, whose son Thomas Tyndale, esq. of North Cerney, in that county, died in 1783, having married Elizabeth, third daughter of Charles Coxe, esq. of Gloucestershire, whom he left surviving, and by her one son, lieutenant-colonel William Tyndale, the present possessor of this manor, and a daughter Anne-Catherine. He bears for his arms, Argent, a fess, gules, between three garbs, sable.

 

The mansion of Bobbing-court, which was situated exceedingly pleasant, having a fine prospect on every side of it, stood almost adjoining to the fouth side of the church-yard. It has been many years since pulled down, but by the foundations remaining, the walls of the garden, and the out-offices belonging to it, which are yet standing, it appears to have been a building of a very considerable size.

 

There is a court baron regularly held for this manor.

 

BOBBING-PLACE was an antient seat in this parish, situated at the northern extremity of it, adjoining to Milton, which seems to have been the antient residence of the family of Clifford, before they became possessed of the manor and court of Bobbing, as heir to the Savages.

 

A younger collateral branch of them, in the person of Robert Clifford, esq. of Bobbing, a younger brother of Richard, bishop of Worcester and London, successively, kept his shrievalty in this parish, both in the 1st year of Henry IV. and in the 2d and 3d years of Henry V. in the 8th year of which he was knight of the shire with Arnold Savage. He died in 1422, and was buried in the cathedral of Canterbury.

 

It afterwards passed into the name of Gorham, and thence into that of Tuston, and in the reign of king Charles I. this seat was the property and residence of Sir Humphry Tuston, the second surviving son of Sir John Tuston, knight and baronet, of Hothfield, and next brother to Nicholas, first earl of Thanet. He resided at times both here and at the Mote, in Maidstone, and in 1641 was created a baronet. He died at Bobbing-place in 1659, and was buried in this church.

 

Sir John Tuston, knight and baronet, his eldest surviving son, resided entirely at the Mote, and dying in 1685, s. p. was buried in Maidstone church. By his will he devised this seat to trustees, to be sold for the payment of his debts, and they accordingly, in 1687, conveyed it by sale to major Thomas Cooke, of Faversham, who alienated it in 1692 to Mr. Thomas Sole, of Milton, shipbuilder. He married in 1688, Mary Cockin, of that parish, by whom he left Cockin Sole, esq. barrister-at-law and recorder of Queenborough, who resided here, where he died in 1750, leaving one son, and a daughter Catherine, who married first Mr. Nowell, and secondly John Constantine Jennings, esq. He was succeeded in this seat by his only son John Cockin Sole, esq. who kept his shrievalty at it in 1756, bearing for his arms, Argent, a chevron, gules, between three soles hauriant, proper, all within a bordure, engrailed of the second. He continued to reside here till he removed to Norton-court, near Faversham, and afterwards, in 1766, pulled down almost the whole of this seat, leaving of it only sufficient for a mean farm-house. After which he alienated it to Mr. Thomas Colley, who is rebuilding this seat, in which he intends to reside.

 

THERE is a small manor in this parish called UpPER TOES, which formerly belonged to the family of Bartholomew, of Oxenhoath, from which it has, in like manner as that estate, become the property of Sir William Geary, now of Oxenhoath, the present proprietor of it, and there is another small manor here called NETHER TOES, which formerly was the estate of the Barrows, and was given by the will of Mr. William Barrow, in 1707, among his other estates, for the benefit of the poor of Borden, in the trustees of which charity it is now vested.

 

Charities.

THOMAS WOLLETT, by will in 1688, gave to such poor as take no relief, lands and houses vested in the churchwardens and overseers, now of the annual produce of 1l.

 

MARY GIBBON gave by will in 1678, the sum of 50 l. for the purpose of putting to school poor children in this parish, now of the annual produce of 4 l. 5S.

 

The poor constantly relieved are about seven; casually ten.

 

BOBBING is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Sittingborne.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Bartholomew, consists of two small isles and two chancels, having a tall spire steeple at the west end of it, in which are five bells.

 

In the north chancel are several antient gravestones of the Savages and Cliffords, many of them entirely robbed of their brasses, and others only with remnants remaining, on one are the figures in brass of a man and woman, the former having the surcoat of Clifford, Chequy, a fess, with a bordure; a memorial for Sir George Moore, in 1678; a monument for Henry Sandford, esq. 1660, and Elizabeth his wife, with their two busts in white marble. In the south chancel, memorials for William Tyndale, esq. obt. 1748, and for Darell, son of Nathaniel Darell, governor of Sheerness in Charles the IId.'s reign In the south isle is a monument, having two busts of white marble on it, for Charles and Humphry Tuston, sons of Sir Humphry Tuston, of Maidstone, the former died 1652, the latter 1657, both unmarried; and memorials for Cobbes, Poole, and others.

 

The church of Bobbing was given by Henry III. in his 18th year, to the monastery of St. Mary and St. Sexburgh, in the Isle, of Shepey; which gift was confirmed by king Henry IV. in his 1st year, by his letters of inspeximus, (fn. 1) and it continued part of the possessions of it till the general dissolution of religious houses in the reign of king Henry VIII. in the 27th year of which, this nunnery was suppressed, as not being of the clear yearly value of two hundred pounds.

 

This church becoming thus vested in the crown, the king, in his 35th year, granted the rectory of it, with its appurtenances, to Thomas Green, to hold in capite by knight's service, who had been tenant of it at the dissolution, at the yearly rent of twelve pounds.

 

He was usually stiled Thomas Norton, alias Green, being the natural son of Sir John Norton, of Northwood, in Milton, and bore for his arms, Gules, a cross potent, ermine, within a bordure, argent, and sable. He died in the 6th year of king Edward VI. leaving two sons, Norton Green, who left an only daughter and heir, married to Sir Mark Ive, of Boxsted, in Essex, and Robert Green, gent. who was of Bobbing.

 

¶Norton Green, esq. the eldest son, on his father's death, became possessed of the rectory of Bobbing impropriate, with the advowson of the vicarage; on whose death it became the property of Sir Mark Ive, in right of his wife, and he presented to it in 1607. His son John Ive, esq. died in king Charles the 1st.'s reign, leaving an only daughter Anne, then an insant. In the next reign of king Charles II. Sir George Moore, of Bobbing-court, owner of the manor of Bobbing, was possessed of this rectory, with the advowson of the vicarage. Since which it has remained in the like succession of owners as that manor, down to lieutenantcolonel William Tyndale, of Gloucestershire, the present possessor and patron of it.

 

In the year 1578, here were communicants one hundred and eighteen. In 1640 the vicarage of it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants eighty-eight. There is no valuation of this vicarage in the king's books.

 

In the year 1186, the abbot of St. Augustine's monastery demised to the prioress of St. Sexburgh, in Shepey, the tithes of this parish, which belonged to them in right of their church of Middleton, at ten shillings per annum for ever, as has been more fully mentioned before under that parish.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol6/pp192-203

CBP officers from the Office of Field Operations and agents from the U.S. Border Patrol and Air and Marine Operations execute a planned readiness exercise at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. The exercise is designed to evaluate readiness and assess the capabilities of CBP facilities to make necessary preparations. November 22, 2018.

 

Photos by Mani Albrecht

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Office of Public Affairs

Visual Communications Division

via Tennis Court Surfaces bit.ly/1jvWkEf

"Serena Williams Ties Chris Evert in Weeks at No. 1 and Executes New Circus Trick All in One Day"

This has been a WIP for months now, as I figured out what to use and how to execute.

First I had a Hordak buck leftover from my Filmation Hordak, since I used an extra MAA

buck for that. I thought, who could I possibly do, that my limited re-sculpting knowledge

could do, most customs I have done were mainly repaints and minor modding, hardly

any re-sculpting (The success with my Filmation Hordak gave me the confidence to

attempt Dragstor). I looked for like a week and finally decided to make Dragstor, he is

one from my childhood collection that is still missing in MOTUC, and one of my favorites.

 

So, I started by taking the Hordak buck apart and sculpting vents into the thighs, then I

started taking Kobra Khan shins and reworking them, and the furry boot feet as well.

Then was the task how to do the armor / body design, and removing the ab crunch and

waist articulation. That wasn't hard since I have done many mods and worked with plastic

strips. The wheel is from a model car....yes, they do have BF Goodrich tires on Eternia...

The import them from Earth.

 

I shaved the lettering from the tire, and glued it in. Then once the body was done, I got a

Kronis head and started on the hardest part....no wonder they say heads cost the most to

sculpt....

 

The Pack is an extra heavily modified TP He-Man pack, screwed into place so it can be taken

off, and simulating the chest hoses are from a 6" Peter Venkman, thanks to my sons GB

breaking from first movement out of the package, so I cut it off, thought, hey....and there it is.

It attaches to his chest, and his pack for added effect.

 

The headers are made from plastic model tree, and the thruster / exhaust tips are wire nuts,

drilled out for added detail. The thrusters are made from MP Skywarp Null Rays.

 

I wanted a predominately Vintage feel, with a few modern type touches, as the pack of the

Vintage figure wasn't very detailed, and I had little to go on for design. But I am really happy

how it all turned out. It could have been better, but all in all, I really like it.

The Corvette C3 was patterned after the Mako Shark II designed by Larry Shinoda. Executed under Bill Mitchell's direction, the Mako II had been initiated in early 1964. Once the mid-engined format was abandoned, the Shinoda/Mitchell car was sent to Chevrolet Styling under David Holls, where Harry Haga's studio adapted it for production on the existing Stingray chassis. The resulting lower half of the car was much like the Mako II, except for the softer contours. The concept car's name was later changed to Manta Ray. The C3 also adopted the "sugar scoop" roof treatment with vertical back window from the mid-engined concept models designed by the Duntov group. It was intended from the beginning that the rear window and that portion of the roof above the seats to be removable.

 

For 1968, both the Corvette body and interior were completely redesigned. As before, the car was available in either coupe or convertible models, but coupe was now a notchback fitted with a near-vertical removable rear window and removable roof panels (T-tops). A soft folding top was included with convertibles, while an auxiliary hardtop with a glass rear window was offered at additional cost. Included with coupes were hold down straps and a pair of vinyl bags to store the roof panels, and above the luggage area was a rear window stowage tray.

 

The chassis was carried over from the second generation models, retaining the fully independent suspension (with minor revisions) and the four-wheel disc brake system. The engine line-up and horsepower ratings were also carried over from the previous year.

 

The engine line-up included the L79, a 350 hp (261 kW) high performance version of the 327 cu in (5.4 L) small-block. Also available were several variants of the big-block 427 cu in (7.0 L) V8 engine, that taken together made up nearly half the cars. There was the L36, a 390 hp (291 kW) version with a Rochester 4-barrel carburetor; The L68, a 400 hp (298 kW) motor with a Holley triple 2-barrel carb set up (3 X 2 tri-power); The L71, generating 435 bhp (441 PS; 324 kW) at 5,800 rpm and 460 lb⋅ft (624 N⋅m) at 4,000 rpm of torque also with a tri-power; The L89 option was the L71 engine but with much lighter aluminum cylinder heads rather than the standard cast iron. Then there was the L88 engine that Chevrolet designed strictly for off-road use (racing), with a published rating of 430 hp (321 kW), but featured a high-capacity 4-barrel carb, aluminum heads, a unique air induction system, and an ultra-high compression ratio (12.5:1). All small block cars had low-profile hoods. All big block cars had domed hoods for additional engine clearance with twin simulated vents and “427” emblems on either side of the dome.

Delhi, commemoration of the Martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur

 

Guru Tegh Bahadur (1 April 1621 – 24 November 1675), revered as the ninth Nanak, was the ninth of ten Gurus (Prophets) of the Sikh religion. Guru Tegh Bahadur carried forward the light of sanctity and divinity of the first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak; his spiritual revelations dealing with varied themes such as the nature of God, human attachments, body, mind, sorrow, dignity, service, death and deliverance, are registered in the form of 115 poetic hymns in the sacred text Guru Granth Sahib.

 

Although a Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Tegh Bahadur was approached by Hindu Pandits from Kashmir in 1675, to seek his intercession against the forced conversions of Hindus to Islam by the Mughal rulers of India. For resisting these forced conversions and for himself refusing to convert to Islam, Guru Teg Bahadur was publicly executed via beheading at the imperial capital Delhi on the orders of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. Along with Guru Teg Bahadur, three other Sikhs, Bhai Mati Das, Bhai Sati Das and Bhai Dayala, were also executed. Owing to this sacrifice, Guru Tegh Bahadur is revered as Hind-di-Chaadar (shield of Hind(India)). Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib and Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib in Delhi mark the places of execution and cremation of the Guru's body.

 

(source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guru_Tegh_Bahadur)

This weekend was Heritage and Ride & Stride weekend, when many churches are open.

 

So, a grand tour round Kent's most difficult was planned and executed, with this being the first church of the day open, after four strike outs.

 

St Alphege is just the chancel of a larger church, so there isn't much to see, or room inside, but I got my shots and declined my first cuppa of the day.

 

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Hidden from the road and accessible only by footpath, this 13th century gem is a remarkable survivor. It is the chancel of the medieval church of Seasalter, the rest of which was demolished when the new church of St Alphege was built in what is now Whitstable. The west wall of flint is in contrast to the rubble construction of the medieval work and its lancet windows. Inside, all is squashed together but they even managed to get a proper organ in! High in the west wall is a lovely window by Lawrence Lee depicting St Alphege whose body rested in the previous church which stood out where the River Swale washes the shore today. This old church is still used and well loved by its congregation who now also have a brand new (2007) church a few hundred yards away for there regular services.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Seasalter

 

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THE LIBERTY AND PARISH OF SEASALTER.

THIS liberty lies adjoining to the parish of Hernehill and hundred of Boughton Blean, north eastward, being so named from its near vicinity to the sea. (fn. 1)

 

The LIBERTY AND PARISH of Seasalter lies in an obscure out of the way situation, bounded by the sea northward, but the large tract of marshes which adjoin it westward, as well as the badness of the water, make it very unhealthy. The east and southern parts are mostly coppice wood, and the soil a deep clay. The church stands on the knoll of a hill, nearly in the middle of the parish, below which, westward, it is all marsh land to the sea shore, not far from which the few houses stand which make the village of Seasalter. There are forty-six houses in this parish, most of which are in Whitstaple-street, great part of which is within the bounds of it, and over part of which the borough of Harwich claims. There is an oyster fishery on the shore here, the grounds of which, called the Pollard, are an appendage to the manor of Seasalter, and as such belong to the dean and chapter of Canterbury, who demise them to seven fishermen or free dredgermen of Seasalter, at a certain yearly rent. In December, 1763, a live whale was driven on shore on Seasalter flats, which was about fifty-six feet long. The manor of Seasalter has the privilege of four fairs yearly, on the four principal feasts in the year; but there have not been any held for some years.

 

The MANOR OF SEASALTER was given, before the Norman conquest, to the priory of Christ-church, in Canterbury, but by whom, I have no where found; and it continued part of the possessions of it at the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in which record it is thus entered:

 

In Borowart lath, there lies a small borough named Sesaltre, which properly belongs to the kitchen of the archbishop. One named Blize held it of the monks. In demesne there is one carucate, and forty-eight borderers with one carucate. There is a church and eight fisheries, with a rent of twenty-five shillings. Wood for the pannage of ten hogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth twenty-five shillings, and now one hundred shillings.

 

After which, this manor appears to have been let to ferme by the prior and convent, to Roger de Wadenhale, in king Henry the IId.'s reign, at the yearly rent of six pounds, with a reservation of all royal fish, wrec, &c. and afterwards to Clemencia, daughter of Henry de Hanifeld, at that of ten marcs, which rent was afterwards raised to twenty pounds per annum. In 1494, prior Thomas Goldstone caused a new mansion, or court-lodge to be built here, and at the rectory he rebuilt all the edifices, except the barn. In which situa tion this manor continued with the priory till its dissolution, in the 31st year of king Henry VIII. when it was surrendered into the king's hands, and was by his dotation-charter, in his 33d year, settled on his newfounded dean and chapter of Canterbury, with whom the inheritance still continues. (fn. 2)

 

A court leet and court baron is regularly held by the dean and chapter for this manor; but the demesne lands, as well as the rectory or parsonage of the church, were lately demised on a beneficial lease to Isaac Rutton, M. D. of Ashford, who died in 1792, whose descendants assigned them to Mr. William Baldock, brewer, of Canterbury, and they were again assigned by him in 1798, to Mr. King, of Whitstaple. (fn. 3)

 

ELYNDENNE, or Ellenden, as it is now written, is a small manor, situated at the southern boundary of this parish, among the woods adjoining to the ville of Dunkirk, within the bounds of which, one half of the house, as well as part of the lands are situated, though in the deeds belonging to this manor, it is constantly described as within this parish and Whitstaple. It was once the property of a family of its own name, one of whom, John Elyndenne, gave it to the abbot and convent of Faversham, as appeared by the lerger book of that abbey, (fn. 4) with which it staid till its dissolution, anno 30 Henry VIII. when this manor came, with the rest of its estates, into the king's hands, who in his 35th year granted it to Thomas Ardern, gent. of Faversham, to hold in capite, (fn. 5) and he that year passed it away to John Needham, whose son, of the same name, alienated it, in the 32d year of queen Elizabeth, to Michael Beresford, esq. of Westerham, and he soon after conveyed it to Sir George Newman, LL.D. in whose descendants, who bore for their arms, Or, a fess dancette, gules, between three eagles, sable, (fn. 6) it continued till it was alienated to St. Leger, and Sir John St. Leger, in the reign of William and Mary, passed it away to Sir Henry Furnese, bart. of Waldershare, who died possessed of it in 1712, but his grandson Sir Henry Furnese, bart. dying in 1735, under age and unmarried, this, among the rest of his estates, became vested in his three sisters, coheirs of their father, in equal shares in coparcenary, in tail general, and on a partition anno 9 George II. this manor was allotted, among others, to Anne the eldest daughter, wife of John, viscount St. John, whose grandson the right hon. George St. John, lord viscount Bolingbrooke, sold it in 1791 to Mr. John Daniels, of Whitstaple, and he in 1793 sold it to Mr. Hayward, of the Black Friars, Canterbury, who dying in the year 1794, his widow is the present possessor of it.

 

Charities.

THERE have been given to the use of the poor of this parish, five acres of land, late occupied by Fenner, of the annual produce of 3l. a field of three acres, called the Peters field, of the annual produce of 2l. 6s. four acres of land, in two pieces, of the annual produce of 4l. and two acres of woodland, sold in 1785 at eighteen years growth for 6l. sundry yearly annuities, of 2s. 6d. of 40s paid by the parish of Whitstaple, and of 12s. paid by Mrs Gillow.

 

The poor constantly maintained are about twenty, casually one hundred.

 

THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Westbere.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Alphage, is small, consisting of only one isle and a chancel, having a low pointed turret of wood at the west end, in which hangs one bell. There is no memorial or inscription in it. In the north window of the isle are some small remains of painted glass. There are two hatchments in the isle, one, Argent, two bends wavy, on a chief, gules, three estoiles, or; the other the same, impaling, Paly bendy, or, and sable, a bend, counterchanged, which were for the family of Taylor, who once owned lands in this parish, and lie buried in this church. There is a gallery at the west end.

 

By the great storm, which happened on Jan. 1, 1779, there was discovered among the beach on the sea shore, at Codhams corner, about half a mile westward of the present church, the stone foundations of a large long buildings, lying due east and west, supposed to have been the remains of the antient church of Seasalter. Many human bones were likewise uncovered, by the shifting of the beach, both within and about it, all of which that could be found, were collected together and buried in the church-yard of Seasalter; but those which have been since uncovered remain at this time sticking up an end among the beach.

 

¶This church was always appendant to the manor of Seasalter, belonging to the priory of Christ church, to which it was appropriated in 1236, for the maintenance of the monks there, and was by the archbishop afterwards allotted to the almonry. In which state it continued till the dissolution of the priory in the 31st year of Henry VIII. when it came into the king's hands, who settled it, with the advowson of the vicarage and the manor, by his dotation-charter, in his 33d year, on his new-founded dean and chapter of Canterbury, part of whose possessions they still continue.

 

In the 8th year of Richard II. anno 1384, the vicarage of this church was not, on account of the smallness of its income, taxed to the tenth. It is valued in the king's books at 11l. but it is now a discharged living, of the clear yearly certified value of 25l. 19s. 8d. In 1588 here were communicants seventy-six. In 1640 the same, and it was then valued at 60l.

 

Among the archives of the dean and chapter is an examination relating to the bounds of the parishes of Seasalter and Hernehill, anno 1481, and another taken the same year by the archbishop's commissary. (fn. 7)

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol8/pp499-504

 

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A liberty was an English unit originating in the Middle Ages, traditionally defined as an area in which regalian right was revoked and where the land was held by a mesne lord (i.e. an area in which rights reserved to the king had been devolved into private hands). It later became a unit of local government administration.[1]

 

Liberties were areas of widely variable extent which were independent of the usual system of hundreds and boroughs for a number of different reasons, usually to do with peculiarities of tenure. Because of their tenurial rather than geographical origin, the areas covered by liberties could either be widely scattered across a county or limited to an area smaller than a single parish: an example of the former is Fordington Liberty, and of the latter, the Liberty of Waybayouse, both in Dorset.

 

In northern England, the liberty of Bowland was one of the larger tenurial configurations covering some ten manors, eight townships and four parishes under the sway of a single feudal lord, the Lord of Bowland, whose customary title is Lord of the Fells.[2][3] Up until 1660, such lords would have been lords paramount.

 

Legislation passed in 1836 ended the temporal jurisdiction of the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Ely in several liberties, and the Liberties Act 1850 permitted the merging of liberties in their counties. By 1867, only a handful remained: Ely, Havering-atte-Bower, St Albans, Peterborough, Ripon and Haverfordwest. St Albans was subsequently joined to the county of Hertfordshire in 1875.

 

The Local Government Act 1888 led to the ending of the special jurisdictions in April 1889: the Isle of Ely and Soke of Peterborough became administrative counties, while the three remaining liberties were united to their surrounding counties.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_(division)

The Postcard

 

A postally unused carte postale that was published by La Pensée and printed by Baudinière of Paris.

 

Abba Eban

 

"History teaches us that men and

nations behave wisely when they

have exhausted all other alternatives".

 

This was said during a speech in London UK on 16th. December 1970 by Abba Eban (1915-2002), an Israeli diplomat and writer.

 

Lille in the Great War

 

Lille's occupation by the Germans began on the 13th. October 1914 after a ten-day siege and heavy shelling. The artillery attack destroyed 882 apartment and office blocks and 1,500 houses, mostly around the railway station and in the centre.

 

By the end of October 1914, the city was being run by German authorities. Because Lille was only 20 km from the battlefield, German troops passed through the city regularly on their way to and from the front.

 

As a result, occupied Lille became a place for the hospitalisation and the treatment of wounded soldiers as well as a place for soldiers' relaxation and entertainment. Many buildings, homes and businesses were requisitioned for those purposes.

 

Lille was the hunting ground of the German Great War flying ace Max Immelmann, who was nicknamed "the Eagle of Lille".

 

Lille was liberated by the Allies on the 17th. October 1918, when General Sir William Birdwood and his troops were welcomed by joyous crowds. The general was made an honorary citizen of the city of Lille on the 28th. October 1918.

 

The only audio recording known to have been made during the Great War was recorded near Lille in October 1918. The two-minute recording captured the Royal Garrison Artillery conducting a gas shell bombardment.

 

Monument to the Executed of Lille

 

The Great War monument in the Square Daubenton in Lille shows four leaders of the city’s Resistance standing against a wall just moments before their execution by the German Army in the dungeons of the citadel.

 

Along with Léon Trulin, who can be seen lying at their feet, Eugène Jacquet, Georges Maertens, Ernest Deceuninck and Sylvère Verhulst set up a network for communicating information to the Allies about the German occupiers of Lille.

 

They were eventually betrayed and executed on the 22nd. September 1915.

 

In total, twenty-five individuals were executed in Lille by firing squad under the occupation. Notices were posted informing the public about executions of political prisoners, saboteurs, and hostages in response to attacks or acts of sabotage against the German occupiers.

 

An estimated 500,000 French men and women worked for the Resistance during Germany's occupation of France. Resistance workers carried out thousands of acts of sabotage against the German occupiers, even though the risks were great. More than 90,000 members of the Resisters were killed, tortured or deported by the Germans.

 

The Use of Artillery in the Great War

 

Artillery was very heavily used by both sides during the Great War. The British fired over 170 million artillery rounds of all types, weighing more than 5 million tons - that's an average of around 70 pounds (32 kilos) per shell.

 

If the 170m rounds were on average two feet long, and if they were laid end to end, they would stretch for 64,394 miles (103,632 kilometres); the line would go round the equator over two and a half times. If the artillery of the Central Powers of Germany and its allies is factored in, the figure can be doubled to 5 encirclements of the planet.

 

During the first two weeks of the Third Battle of Ypres, over 4 million rounds were fired at a cost of over £22,000,000 - a huge sum of money, especially over a century ago.

 

Artillery was the killer and maimer of the war of attrition.

 

According to Dennis Winter's book 'Death's Men' three quarters of battle casualties were caused by artillery rounds. According to John Keegan ('The Face of Battle') casualties were:

 

- Bayonets - less than 1%

 

- Bullets - 30%

 

- Artillery and Bombs - 70%

 

Keegan suggests however that the ratio changed during advances, when massed men walking line-abreast with little protection across no-man's land were no match for for rifles and fortified machine gun emplacements.

 

Many artillery shells fired during the Great War failed to explode. Drake Goodman provides the following information on Flickr:

 

"During World War I, an estimated one tonne

of explosives was fired for every square metre

of territory on the Western front.

As many as one in every three shells fired did

not detonate.

In the Ypres Salient alone, an estimated 300

million projectiles that the British and the

German forces fired at each other were "duds",

and most of them have not been recovered."

 

To this day, large quantities of Great War matériel are discovered on a regular basis. Many shells from the Great War were left buried in the mud, and often come to the surface during ploughing and land development.

 

For example, on the Somme battlefields in 2009 there were 1,025 interventions, unearthing over 6,000 pieces of ammunition weighing 44 tons.

 

Artillery shells may or may not still be live with explosive or gas, so the bomb disposal squad, of the Civilian Security of the Somme, dispose of them.

 

A huge mine under the German lines did not explode during the battle of Messines in 1917. The mine, containing several tons of ammonal and gun cotton, was triggered by lightning in 1955, creating an enormous crater.

 

The precise location of a second mine which also did not explode is unknown. Searches for it are not planned, as they would be too expensive and dangerous. For more on this, please search for "Cotehele Chapel"

 

The Somme Times

 

From 'The Somme Times', Monday, 31 July, 1916:

 

'There was a young girl of the Somme,

Who sat on a number five bomb,

She thought 'twas a dud 'un,

But it went off sudden -

Her exit she made with aplomb!'

Executing a go-around because of a Cessna.

 

This manuscript was executed in 1475 by a scribe identified as Aristakes, for a priest named Hakob. It contains a series of 16 images on the life of Christ preceding the text of the gospels, as well as the traditional evangelist portraits, and there are marginal illustrations throughout. The style of the miniatures, which employ brilliant colors and emphasize decorative patterns, is characteristic of manuscript production in the region around Lake Van during the 15th century. The style of Lake Van has often been described in relation to schools of Islamic arts of the book. Numerous inscriptions (on fols. 258-60) spanning a few centuries attest to the manuscript's long history of use and revered preservation. The codex's later history included a re-binding with silver covers from Kayseri that date to approximately 1700. This jeweled and enameled silver binding bears a composition of the Adoration of the Magi on the front and the Ascension on the back.

 

To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.

 

The Tomb of Pope Alexander VII is a sculptural monument designed and partially executed by the Italian artist Gianlorenzo Bernini. It is located in the south transept of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City. The piece was commissioned by Pope Alexander VII himself. However, construction of the monument didn't start until 1671 and was completed in 1678, eleven years after the Pope's death. At the age of 80, this would be Bernini's last major sculptural commission before his death in 1680.

 

Figures

 

There are six significant figures in the monument. At the apex is Alexander kneeling in prayer. Below him are four female statues representing virtues practiced by the Pontiff. On the foreground is Charity with a child in her arms. To the right of that is Truth, whose foot rests on a globe. More precisely, Truth's foot is placed directly over England, where Pope Alexander had strived to subdue the growth of Anglicanism. On the second level are Prudence and Justice. These statues were carved in white marble. Most dramatically, below Alexander, the figure of Death is represented in gilded bronze, shrouded in a billowing drapery of Sicilian jasper. He raises an hourglass to symbolize that time has passed. The hourglass is also an artistic symbol of "memento mori" which translates from Latin to "remember you will die". The plinth is in black, as a sign of mourning for the Pope. The expansive billowing drapery of dark Sicilian jasper contrasts dramatically with the still white marble figures. In situations where Bernini needed a great mass of material, he could not depend just on marble recovered from ancient buildings and chose to work with a more modern marble. Thus he chose the Sicilian red jasper, the coloring rich in red tones with green streamed in. Even though the decision was based upon need, you can see Bernini's artistry throughout the tomb. The white marble contains a more pure feeling surrounding the figures of the Pope and the four virtues. This greatly contrasts to the dramatic drapery and the bronze figure of Death, both rich in color, adding emphasis to their meaning.

 

The monument was a collaboration between Bernini and his assistants, the latter doing most of the work under the close supervision of Bernini. These collaborators included G. Mazzuoli, L. Morelli, G. Cartari, M. Maglia, and L. Balestri. Bernini himself most likely worked on the statue of the Pope. Known for his portrait sculptures, he probably put the finishing touches to Alexander's face.

Execution

 

Early in his pontificate, Alexander knew he would need a monumental tomb to immortalize him; like his predecessors he commissioned the celebrated artist Bernini. The papal diary first mentions the monument as early as August 9, 1656. After his death, the project was directed and paid for by Alexander's nephew, Cardinal Flavio Chigi. Under Pope Clement IX, the tomb was originally to be placed in the choir of Santa Maria Maggiore. After Clement's death, the idea was abandoned and the location changed to St. Peter's Basilica. The tomb was to be placed in a niche containing a door of the south transept. Bernini cleverly incorporated Death and the marble shroud hanging slightly over the door since it could not be moved.

 

Bernini began working on a design and model of the whole tomb and on October 7, 1672, he was paid one thousand scudi for the start of his work. There are many surviving early designs of the tomb that still exist today. An early design of the tomb that was made in Bernini's studio survives in the Royal Library at Windsor. Two small clay bozzetti have survived which include Charity, in the Istituto delle Belle Arti in Siena, and the kneeling pope of Alexander in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. In December of 1671, the actual construction of the tomb has begun with wooden and clay framework or the full scale model of the tomb. The last payment to Bernini is recorded on April 9, 1672. After receiving his payment, Bernini had drawings sent out to the quarry specifying the size of the marble blocks on July 23 of that same year. The tomb was almost finished but there was another pope who had something to say about it. Pope Innocent XI, once the tomb was unveiled, had objected to not only the nudity of Truth but also the bare breasts of Charity. Thus Bernini was forced to dress the figures. The last commissioned piece of Gianlorenzo Bernini was finally finished and unveiled in 1678.

  

Vatican City, officially Vatican City State, a walled enclave within the city of Rome, with an area of approximately 44 hectares (110 acres), and a population of 842, is the smallest internationally recognized independent state in the world by both area and population.

 

It is an ecclesiastical or sacerdotal-monarchical state ruled by the Bishop of Rome—the Pope. The highest state functionaries are all Catholic clergy of various national origins. Since the return of the Popes from Avignon in 1377, they have generally resided at the Apostolic Palace within what is now Vatican City, although at times residing instead in the Quirinal Palace in Rome or elsewhere.

 

Vatican City is distinct from the Holy See (Latin: Sancta Sedes),which dates back to early Christianity and is the main episcopal see of 1.2 billion Latin and Eastern Catholic adherents around the globe. The independent city-state, on the other hand, came into existence in 1929 by the Lateran Treaty between the Holy See and Italy, which spoke of it as a new creation, not as a vestige of the much larger Papal States (756–1870), which had previously encompassed much of central Italy. According to the terms of the treaty, the Holy See has "full ownership, exclusive dominion, and sovereign authority and jurisdiction" over the city-state.

 

Within Vatican City are cultural sites such as St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums. They feature some of the world's most famous paintings and sculptures. The unique economy of Vatican City is supported financially by the sale of postage stamps and tourist mementos, fees for admission to museums, and the sale of publications.

 

The name "Vatican" predates Christianity and comes from the Latin Mons Vaticanus, meaning Vatican Mount. The territory of Vatican City is part of the Mons Vaticanus, and of the adjacent former Vatican Fields. It is in this territory that St. Peter's Basilica, the Apostolic Palace, the Sistine Chapel, and museums were built, along with various other buildings. The area was part of the Roman rione of Borgo until 1929. Being separated from the city, on the west bank of the Tiber river, the area was an outcrop of the city that was protected by being included within the walls of Leo IV (847–55), and later expanded by the current fortification walls, built under Paul III (1534–49), Pius IV (1559–65) and Urban VIII (1623–44).

Map of Vatican City, highlighting notable buildings and the Vatican gardens

 

When the Lateran Treaty of 1929 that gave the state its form was being prepared, the boundaries of the proposed territory were influenced by the fact that much of it was all but enclosed by this loop. For some tracts of the frontier, there was no wall, but the line of certain buildings supplied part of the boundary, and for a small part of the frontier a modern wall was constructed.

 

The territory includes St. Peter's Square, distinguished from the territory of Italy only by a white line along the limit of the square, where it touches Piazza Pio XII. St. Peter's Square is reached through the Via della Conciliazione which runs from close to the Tiber River to St. Peter's. This grand approach was constructed by Benito Mussolini after the conclusion of the Lateran Treaty.

 

According to the Lateran Treaty, certain properties of the Holy See that are located in Italian territory, most notably the Papal Palace of Castel Gandolfo and the major basilicas, enjoy extraterritorial status similar to that of foreign embassies. These properties, scattered all over Rome and Italy, house essential offices and institutions necessary to the character and mission of the Holy See.

 

Castel Gandolfo and the named basilicas are patrolled internally by police agents of Vatican City State and not by Italian police. According to the Lateran Treaty (Art. 3) St. Peter's Square, up to but not including the steps leading to the basilica, is normally patrolled by the Italian police.

 

There are no passport controls for visitors entering Vatican City from the surrounding Italian territory. There is free public access to Saint Peter's Square and Basilica and, on the occasion of papal general audiences, to the hall in which they are held. For these audiences and for major ceremonies in Saint Peter's Basilica and Square, tickets free of charge must be obtained beforehand. The Vatican Museums, incorporating the Sistine Chapel, usually charge an entrance fee. There is no general public access to the gardens, but guided tours for small groups can be arranged to the gardens and excavations under the basilica. Other places are open only to individuals who have business to transact there.

 

From Wikipedia

Today, Thursday 9 November 2017, saw Greater Manchester Police execute warrants at addresses across the Moss Side and Hulme areas of Manchester.

 

The warrants, which were supported by the Immigration Service, were executed as part of Operation Malham targeting the supply of drugs in South Manchester.

  

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Walker, of GMP’s City of Manchester team, said: "Over the past 6 months we have had a dedicated team of detectives trawling through community concerns and information about drug supply in the Moss Side and Hulme areas.

 

“Today, we have made arrests after executing warrants across these areas and I would like to thank the community for working with us, as well as partners, and making this possible.

 

“Please continue to report anything suspicious to help us stop the criminals benefiting from drug supply and organised crime.

 

“Drugs never be tolerated by us and we are determined to bring those responsible to justice.”

 

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit our website.

www.gmp.police.uk

 

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

 

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

 

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

 

Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information.

 

Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give a statement.

 

This 12-foot bronze sculpture of Queen Isabella, executed by Jose Luis Sanchez, was dedicated in front of the entrance of the Organization of America on April 14, 1966. The queen stands with her hands resting at her waist. She wears a crown of Castile and long robes adorned with the crests of Aragon and Leon. In her hands she holds a pomegranate wtih a dove perched on top.

 

Isabella I (Spanish: Isabel I) (1451 – 1504) was Queen of Castile and León. She and her husband, Ferdinand II of Aragon, laid the foundation for the political unification of Spain under their grandson, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. As a key character in completing the Reconquista, establishing the Spanish Inquisition, sponsoring Christopher Columbus' voyages that led to the discovery of America, laying the foundations of modern Spain and the Spanish Empire, she is considered one of the most important sovereigns in world history.

 

The Organization of American States (OAS), or, as it is known in the three other official languages, (OEA), is an international organization comprised of the thirty-five independent states of the Americas. Its headquarters, the Pan American Union Building, at 17th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, occupies the former site of the Van Ness mansion. The building was designed in 1910 by Albert Kelsey and Paul C. Cret in classical style with allusions to Spanish Colonial styles.

 

The Art Museum of the Americas (AMA), formally established in 1976 by the OAS, is primarily devoted to exhibiting works of modern and contemporary art from Latin America and the Caribbean. The Museum is housed in an annex, which is separated by the Blue Aztec Garden, featuring a small reflecting pool presided over by Xochipilli, the Aztec god of flowers.

 

Operation Vulcan executed their latest warrant yesterday (3 May 2023) at a property on Great Ducie Street in Cheetham Hill.

 

The warrant was carried out after intelligence came to light suggesting the property - a large distribution warehouse - was being used to supply a network of counterfeit stores throughout Cheetham Hill.

 

The number of items seized have an estimated worth of £1.2million pounds.

 

The enterprise was so vast officers made use of a conveyor belt to speed up the transfer of seized items into waiting vehicles.

 

Over the last 6 months through relentless policing and support from dedicated partners, Operation Vulcan has turned the tide against the criminals. The support of partners has been integral to Operation Vulcan and that was on full display yesterday (3 May 2023) with over 15 departments, teams, organisations and partner representatives in attendance - including from Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, Intellectual Property Office, Trading Standards, Brand Experts and Border Force.

 

GMFRS also raised concerns about the safety of the building, which led to it being issued it with a prohibition order.

 

Inspector Andy Torkington said: "The network of counterfeit stores in Cheetham Hill might seem chaotic and disorganised but this is far from the truth. The latest warrant demonstrates that these stores are well funded and well supplied and it's big business for organised crime groups who have been operating out of the area.

 

"This warrant is an opportunity to make a huge dent in the supply chain by cutting off the head of the supply snake. I hope it sends a message to any remaining counterfeit stores in the area who persist in trading to pack up now or face the consequences.

 

"Operation Vulcan is here to stay and we will continue making it unsustainable for criminal businesses to exist here and will work shoulder-to-shoulder with our partners to re-build the area into a thriving community where people feel safe.”

 

Neil Fairlamb, Strategic Director of Neighbourhoods for Manchester City Council said: "The work that has taken place throughout Operation Vulcan has shown the scope and scale of the counterfeit industry. It is huge enterprise, one which has had an incredibly negative impact on our communities. By striking a blow against this criminal supply chain we will succeed in forcing these traders out for good."

 

The Intellectual Property Office’s Deputy Director of Intelligence and Law Enforcement, Marcus Evans said: The Intellectual Property Office’s Deputy Director of Intelligence and Law Enforcement, Marcus Evans said: “Criminal networks are seeking to exploit consumers and communities for their own financial gain through the trade in illegal counterfeits – with absolutely no regard for the quality or safety of the items being sold, which are often dangerous and defective. Such items can cause genuine harm to the people who buy and use them, as well as those workers often exploited during their production.

 

“As well as helping to sustain serious and organised crime, the sale of counterfeit goods has been estimated to contribute to over 80,000 job loses each year in the UK by diverting funds away from legitimate traders and into the hands of criminals. We are pleased to support the ongoing activity by Greater Manchester Police to clamp down on this illegal activity and help protect the public, as we continue to work with partners across in industry, local government, and law enforcement to help empower consumers and raise awareness of the damage these goods cause.”

The Panorama of the City of New York:

Scale model commissioned by Robert Moses for the 1964 World's Fair.

Designed and executed by Raymond Lester Associates.

Sporadically updated since.

 

"9,335 square foot architectural model includes every single building constructed before 1992 in all five boroughs; that is a total of 895,000 individual structures."

 

"The Panorama was built by a team of 100 people working for the great architectural model makers Raymond Lester Associates in the three years before the opening of the 1964 World’s Fair. In planning the model, Lester Associates referred to aerial photographs, insurance maps, and a range of other City material; the Panorama had to be accurate, indeed the initial contract demanded less than one percent margin of error between reality and the model. The Panorama was one of the most successful attractions at the ‘64 Fair with a daily average of 1,400 people taking advantage of its 9 minute simulated helicopter ride around the City."

 

"Until 1970 all of the changes in the City were accurately recreated in the model by Lester’s team. After 1970 very few changes were made until 1992, when again Lester Associates changed over 60,000 structures to bring it up-to-date. In the Spring of 2009 the Museum launched its Adopt-A-Building program with the installation of the Panorama’s newest addition, Citi Field, to continue for the ongoing care and maintenance of this beloved treasure."

 

www.queensmuseum.org/exhibitions/visitpanorama

www.queensmuseum.org/visi/donate/adopt-a-building

www.nytimes.com/2007/02/02/arts/design/02pano.html

www.flickr.com/groups/1025012@N21/

 

Red Lines Housing Crisis Learning Center:

2009 exhibition by Damon Rich of the Center for Urban Pedagogy, hosted by the Queens Museum of Art

Larissa Harris, Commissioning curator; Project Coordinator for Queens Museum Installation: Rana Amirtahmasebi

Museum Director: Tom Finkelpearl

 

"The Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project collected the foreclosure information. . . . The Regional Plan Association, an independent planning group, then crunched the numbers using the Geographic Information System — a mapping program — to create maps of every inch of the city indicating where there had been foreclosures of single- to four-family homes in 2008."

 

"Red Lines Housing Crisis Learning Center is funded by grants from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and Artists & Communities, a program of Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, which is made possible by major funding from Johnson & Johnson, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and the JPMorgan Chase Foundation. A publication funded by The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts will be available during the exhibition. Additional support provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts."

 

www.queensmuseum.org/2632/red-lines-housing-crisis-learni...

community.queensmuseum.org/lang/en/blog/corona-plaza/redl...

www.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/arts/design/08panorama.html?_r=0

www.cjr.org/the_audit/go_to_queens_museum_get_mad.php

www.flickr.com/photos/panoramaqueensmuseum/sets/721576210...

artforum.com/words/id=23001

www.pbs.org/newshour/video/module.html?mod=0&pkg=1510...

www.citylimits.org/news/articles/3789/on-exhibit-housing

video.foxbusiness.com/v/3894109/ny-panorama-highlights-fo...

video.corriere.it/?vxSiteId=404a0ad6-6216-4e10-abfe-f4f69... (in Italian)

www.clairebarliant.com/artwriting/adaptive-reuse/

www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08935691003625372

www.businessinsider.com/irvington-new-jersey-sub-prime-pr...

www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/nyregion/new-jersey/17newarknj...

  

Queens Museum of Art:

Architect: Aymar Embury II

Opened: 1939

Renovated 1964 by Daniel Chait.

Renovated in 1994 by Rafael Viñoly.

Expansion scheduled in 2013, under the helm of Grimshaw Architects with Ammann & Whitney as engineers.

 

"Built to house the New York City Pavilion at the 1939 World’s Fair, where it housed displays about municipal agencies. . . . It is now the only surviving building from the 1939/40 Fair. After the World’s Fair, the building became a recreation center for the newly created Flushing Meadows Corona Park. The north side of the building, now the Queens Museum, housed a roller rink and the south side offered an ice rink. . . . From 1946 to 1950 . . . it housed the General Assembly of the newly formed United Nations. . . . In 1972 the north side of the New York City Building was handed to the Queens Museum of Art (or as it was then known, the Queens Center for Art and Culture)."

 

The other half of the building was an ice-skating rink from 1939–2009.

 

www.queensmuseum.org

www.queensmuseum.org/about/aboutbuilding-history

twitter.com/QueensMuseum

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queens_Museum_of_Art

www.facebook.com/QueensMuseum

vimeo.com/queensmuseum

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aymar_Embury_II

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammann_%26_Whitney

grimshaw-architects.com

artsengaged.com/bcnasamples/chapter-fifteen-being-good-ne...

the wise woman (beautifully envisioned and executed by mamacita beads) becomes the focal of this talisman meant for protection and growth... made of steel, pewter, sterling, bronze and copper - to support with strength... an acorn as reminder of the hidden potential within us... leaves encased in resin, peace, healing stones and an incredibly grounding enamel bead by barbara lewis...

this is the movie:

www.imdb.com/title/tt0985699/

Cineaste365 (February 17, 2014 - DAY 128) - As a Filipino-American, I was raised watching Filipino cinema. But “On the Job” is the first Blu-ray release of a Filipino film that I have reviewed and is the first Filipino film that I have seen released commercially in the United States (as most of the Filipino films I have watched are from DVD’s you have to purchase from a Filipino grocery store or via The Filipino Channel).

 

And while many Filipino films are typically are comedy, romantic comedies, dramas or political/war films, “On the Job” is indeed a rarity to see coming from the Philippines.

 

American action films (especially superhero or “Transformers” films) are huge as in the Philippines but as for Philippine action films, it hasn’t really been explored in a big budget capacity until the 20th anniversary of Star Films and with this 2013 film “On the Job”.

 

While the film was not a commercial success in the Philippines, it was a film that received international attention because this type of film rarely makes it out of the country.

 

The film explores the corruption in the Philippines and unlike Filipino films that explore love, hope and at least has laughter, this is a gritty, dark and violent film that may be a true reflection of what happens in the Philippines.

 

I’m not an erudite on Filipino politics or corruption but I do know that watching news shows (ala TFC) each time I visit family, you read about politicians being murdered, high ranking people being murdered and since I was a child, I was first aware of the corruption since Benigno Aquino, Jr. was assassinated. And the level of corruption became internationally known right after the recent typhoon and earthquake disaster in the Philippines.

 

But I have always questioned to many Filipinos, why is there corruption? Why can’t it be stopped? Why is it when a President is voted in and vows to stop corruption, they become among the names of the highest level of corruption. And with “On the Job”, even though fictional, it does give an idea of what does transpire in the country.

 

Prisoners with the help of corrupt politicians, hired to assassinate people for money and right after the job, they are returned back to prison, so the crime can’t be traced.

 

Police who are aware of the corruption, work with the warden and various political people in power to execute certain assassinations and if anything, the storyline made me feel bitter because it does give us a look of how ingrained the corruption is. From politicians, business leaders, lawmakers, law enforcement, when these certain corrupt individuals, they are colluding together to be in power and it makes them an impenetrable force that those who follow the law, have a tough time fighting against.

 

There is no doubt that “On the Job” is an engrossing thriller unlike I have ever seen from the Philippines before and while I wish more films like this were created and distributed worldwide, I also know that the country thrives on romantic comedies and dramas. It’s part of the Filipino culture, they tend to have a happy (or very sad) ending but they are box office champions, where as “On the Job”, didn’t do well commercially in the Philippines and it’s a shame.

 

Actor Piolo Pascual did a fantastic job in this film and its a side of him that I rarely see. Often on television, whether he is singing on the Filipino music show ASAP as part of “The Hunks” or on some romantic drama series, this is a film in which the actor was able to show a different side of his acting career and while it may not be his most successful, it’s probably a film that will make him more internationally known.

 

The other fantastic performance was from Joel Torre as Mario “Tatang” Maghari, an aging prisoner who is a professional assassin. The actor gives a wonderful performance as he not only has to do a few action scenes but also quite a few emotional scenes and he has the most pivotal role in the entire film.

 

Overall, I really do hope that “On the Job” opens the gates for more Filipino cinema to be released internationally. I also hope that more big budget action films, let alone, quality films such as “On the Job” would be made in the Philippines, in hopes for better distribution of Filipino cinema. I have been wanting to see more exposure to Filipino cinema and I really do hope this is a start.

 

Gritty, dark, violent but engrossing, Erik Matti’s “On the Job” is wonderful Filipino cinema and is highly recommended!

Conflict Between India And The West Pakistan: The Birth Of Bangladesh. Bangladesh- 12-28 December 1971: Conflict and Independence for the New State of Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan, which proclaimed its independence on 25 March 1971) between India-backed Bengalis in West Pakistan: In Khulna, a provincial town Bangladesh: a group of armed collaborators (mostly Bihari) of Pakistan Army executed by the Bengalis.

Pakistan Army & their collaborators committed genocide against Bengalis. More than three million Bengalis killed & half a million Bengali women were raped by Pakistan Army & their collaborators.

(Photo by Jack Garofalo / Paris Match via Getty Images)

Hand of Justice

Bienniais, 1804

Ivory, copper, gold, cameo

 

The hand of justice, was executed for the coronation of Napoleon I, his knot was then enriched with the "ring of Saint Denis", of cameos and an intaglio from the Treasure of Saint Denis

Two pilasters executed in very low relief at the sides of the stele support a pediment with two corner akroteria and a shield at the center bearing the inscription ἀγαθῆι τύχηι (for good fortune).

At the bottom is a relief depiction of a ship with three seated oarsmen and two standing, one at the prow and one at the stern. Almost the entire surface of the stele is covered by an inscription. The names of the eponymous archont, Philisteides of Piraeus, and the kosmetes, Claudius son of Herakleides of Melite are inscribed on pediment:, at the left, ἐπὶ ἄρχοντος Φιλιστείδος Πειραιές , at the right, κοσμητεύοντος · Κ(λ) · Ἡρακλείδου Μελιτέως.

 

The rest of the inscription refers to the names of the gymnsiarchs and ephebes and also to festivals, encomia and victories.

 

Source: IG II² 2087; Kaltsas N., “Sculpture in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens”

 

Pentelic marble stele

Height 78 cm; width 49 cm

AD 163/164

From Athens, near Agios Dimitrios Katiphoris church, site of the Gymnasium of Diogenes,

Athens, National Archaeological Museum - Inv. No. 1466

 

DHAKA, BANGLADESH 22nd November: Two ambulances carrying the bodies executed war criminals Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mojaheed came out of the Dhaka Central Jail in Dhaka on November 22, 2015.

Two war criminals, BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, have been executed at the same time for their crimes committed against humanity in 1971, says jail official.

They were executed by hanging at 12:55am Sunday at Dhaka Central Jail, said Inspector General of Prison Syed Iftekhar Uddin.

Both of them were handed down death penalty for their crimes committed during the Independence war in 1971.

Zum Gedenken an die hier während der NS-Zeit aus politischen Gründen hingerichteten Frauen und Männer (in memoriam to the here during the Nazi era for political reasons executed women and men)

Vienna Regional Court for Criminal Matters

The Vienna Regional Court for Criminal Matters (colloquially referred to as "landl" (Landesgericht)) is one of 20 regional courts in Austria and the largest court in Austria. It is located in the 8th District of Vienna, Josefstadt, at the Landesgerichtsstraße 11. It is a court of first respectively second instance. A prisoners house, the prison Josefstadt, popularly often known as the "Grey House" is connected.

Court Organization

In this complex there are:

the Regional Court for Criminal Matters Vienna,

the Vienna District Attorney (current senior prosecutor Maria-Luise Nittel)

the Jurists association-trainee lawer union (Konzipientenverband) and

the largest in Austria existing court house jail, the Vienna Josefstadt prison.

The Regional Criminal Court has jurisdiction in the first instance for crimes and offenses that are not pertain before the district court. Depending on the severity of the crime, there is a different procedure. Either decides

a single judge,

a senate of lay assessors

or the jury court.

In the second instance, the District Court proceeds appeals and complaints against judgments of district courts. A three-judge Court decides here whether the judgment is canceled or not and, if necessary, it establishes a new sentence.

The current President Friedrich Forsthuber is supported by two Vice Presidents - Henriette Braitenberg-Zennenberg and Eve Brachtel.

In September 2012, the following data have been published

Austria's largest court

270 office days per year

daily 1500 people

70 judges, 130 employees in the offices

5300 proceedings (2011) for the custodial judges and legal protection magistrates, representing about 40 % of the total Austrian juridical load of work

over 7400 procedures at the trial judges (30 % of the total Austrian juridical load of work)

Prosecution with 93 prosecutors and 250 employees

19,000 cases against 37,000 offenders (2011 )

Josefstadt prison with 1,200 inmates (overcrowded)

History

1839-1918

The original building of the Vienna Court House, the so-called civil Schranne (corn market), was from 1440 to 1839 located at the Hoher Markt 5. In 1773 the Schrannenplatz was enlarged under Emperor Joseph II and the City Court and the Regional Court of the Viennese Magistrate in this house united. From this time it bore the designation "criminal court".

Due to shortcomings of the prison rooms in the Old Court on Hoher Markt was already at the beginning of the 19th Century talk of building a new crime courthouse, but this had to be postponed because of bankruptcy in 1811.

In 1816 the construction of the criminal court building was approved. Although in the first place there were voices against a construction outside the city, as building ground was chosen the area of the civil Schießstätte (shooting place) and the former St. Stephanus-Freithofes in then Alservorstadt (suburb); today, in this part Josefstadt. The plans of architect Johann Fischer were approved in 1831, and in 1832 was began with the construction, which was completed in 1839. On 14 May 1839 was held the first meeting of the Council.

Provincial Court at the Landesgerichtsstraße between November 1901 and 1906

Johann Fischer fell back in his plans to Tuscan early Renaissance palaces as the Pitti Palace or Palazzo Pandolfini in Florence. The building was erected on a 21,872 m² plot with a length of 223 meters. It had two respectively three floors (upper floors), the courtyard was divided into three wings, in which the prisoner's house stood. In addition, a special department for the prison hospital (Inquisitenspital ) and a chapel were built.

The Criminal Court of Vienna was from 1839 to 1850 a city court which is why the Vice Mayor of Vienna was president of the criminal courts in civil and criminal matters at the same time. In 1850 followed the abolition of municipal courts. The state administration took over the Criminal Court on 1 Juli 1850. From now on, it had the title "K.K. Country's criminal court in Vienna".

1851, juries were introduced. Those met in the large meeting hall, then as now, was on the second floor of the office wing. The room presented a double height space (two floors). 1890/1891 followed a horizontal subdivision. Initially, the building stood all alone there. Only with the 1858 in the wake of the demolition of the city walls started urban expansion it was surrounded by other buildings.

From 1870 to 1878, the Court experienced numerous conversions. Particular attention was paid to the tract that connects directly to the Alserstraße. On previously building ground a three-storey arrest tract and the Jury Court tract were built. New supervened the "Neutrakt", which presented a real extension and was built three respectively four storied. From 1873 on, executions were not executed publicly anymore but only in the prison house. The first execution took place on 16 December 1876 in the "Galgenhof" (gallow courtyard), the accused were hanged there on the Würgegalgen (choke gallow).

By 1900 the prisoners house was extended. In courtyard II of the prison house kitchen, laundry and workshop buildings and a bathing facility for the prisoners were created. 1906/1907 the office building was enlarged. The two-storied wing tract got a third and three-storied central section a fourth floor fitted.

1918-1938

In the early years of the First Republic took place changes of the court organization. Due to the poor economy and the rapid inflation, the number of cases and the number of inmates rose sharply. Therefore, it was in Vienna on 1 October 1920 established a second Provincial Court, the Regional Court of Criminal Matters II Vienna, as well as an Expositur of the prisoner house at Garnisongasse.

One of the most important trials of the interwar period was the shadow village-process (Schattendorfprozess - nomen est omen!), in which on 14th July 1927, the three defendants were acquitted. In January 1927 front fighters had shot into a meeting of the Social Democratic Party of Austria, killing two people. The outrage over the acquittal was great. At a mass demonstration in front of the Palace of Justice on 15th July 1927, which mainly took place in peaceful manner, invaded radical elements in the Palace of Justice and set fire ( Fire of the Palace Justice), after which the overstrained police preyed upon peaceful protesters fleeing from the scene and caused many deaths.

The 1933/1934 started corporate state dictatorship had led sensational processes against their opponents: examples are the National Socialists processes 1934 and the Socialists process in 1936 against 28 "illegal" socialists and two Communists, in which among others the later leaders Bruno Kreisky and Franz Jonas sat on the dock.

Also in 1934 in the wake of the February Fights and the July Coup a series of processes were carried out by summary courts and military courts. Several ended with death sentences that were carried out by hanging in "Galgenhof" of the district court .

1938-1945

The first measures the Nazis at the Regional Criminal Court after the "Anschluss" of Austria to the German Reich in 1938 had carried out, consisted of the erection of a monument to ten Nazis, during the processes of the events in July 1934 executed, and of the creation of an execution space (then space 47 C, today consecration space where 650 names of resistance fighters are shown) with a guillotine supplied from Berlin (then called device F, F (stands for Fallbeil) like guillotine).

During the period of National Socialism were in Vienna Regional Court of 6 December 1938 to 4th April 1945 1.184 persons executed. Of those, 537 were political death sentences against civilians, 67 beheadings of soldiers, 49 war-related offenses, 31 criminal cases. Among those executed were 93 women in all age groups, including a 16-year-old girl and a 72-year-old woman who had both been executed for political reasons.

On 30 June 1942 were beheaded ten railwaymen from Styria and Carinthia, who were active in the resistance. On 31 July 1943, 31 people were beheaded in an hour, a day later, 30. The bodies were later handed over to the Institute of Anatomy at the University of Vienna and remaining body parts buried later without a stir at Vienna's Central Cemetery in shaft graves. To thein the Nazi era executed, which were called "Justifizierte" , belonged the nun Maria Restituta Kafka and the theology student Hannsgeorg Heintschel-Heinegg.

The court at that time was directly subordinated to the Ministry of Justice in Berlin.

1945-present

The A-tract (Inquisitentrakt), which was destroyed during a bombing raid in 1944 was built in the Second Republic again. This was also necessary because of the prohibition law of 8 May 1945 and the Criminal Law of 26 June 1945 courts and prisons had to fight with an overcrowding of unprecedented proportions.

On 24 March 1950, the last execution took place in the Grey House. Women murderer Johann Trnka had two women attacked in his home and brutally murdered, he had to bow before this punishment. On 1 July 1950 the death penalty was abolished in the ordinary procedure by Parliament. Overall, occured in the Regionl Court of Criminal Matters 1248 executions. In 1967, the execution site was converted into a memorial.

In the early 1980s, the building complex was revitalized and expanded. The building in the Florianigasse 8, which previously had been renovated, served during this time as an emergency shelter for some of the departments. In 1994, the last reconstruction, actually the annex of the courtroom tract, was completed. In 2003, the Vienna Juvenile Court was dissolved as an independent court, iIts agendas were integrated in the country's criminal court.

Prominent processes since 1945, for example, the Krauland process in which a ÖVP (Österreichische Volkspartei - Austrian People's Party) minister was accused of offenses against properties, the affair of the former SPÖ (Sozialistische Partei Österreichs - Austrian Socialist Party) Minister and Trade Unions president Franz Olah, whose unauthorized financial assistance resulted in a newspaper establishment led to conviction, the murder affairs Sassak and the of the Lainzer nurses (as a matter of fact, auxiliary nurses), the consumption (Konsum - consumer cooporatives) process, concerning the responsibility of the consumer Manager for the bankruptcy of the company, the Lucona proceedings against Udo Proksch, a politically and socially very well- networked man, who was involved in an attempted insurance fraud, several people losing their lives, the trial of the Nazi Holocaust denier David Irving for Wiederbetätigung (re-engagement in National Socialist activities) and the BAWAG affair in which it comes to breaches of duty by bank managers and vanished money.

Presidents of the Regional Court for Criminal Matters in Vienna since 1839 [edit ]

 

Josef Hollan (1839-1844)

Florian Philipp (1844-1849)

Eduard Ritter von Wittek (1850-1859)

Franz Ritter von Scharschmied (1859-1864)

Franz Ritter von Boschan (1864-1872)

Franz Josef Babitsch (1873-1874)

Joseph Ritter von Weitenhiller (1874-1881)

Franz Schwaiger (1881-1889)

Eduard Graf Lamezan -Salins (1889-1895)

Julius von Soos (1895-1903)

Paul von Vittorelli (1903-1909)

Johann Feigl (1909-1918)

Karl Heidt (1918-1919)

Ludwig Altmann (1920-1929)

Emil Tursky (1929-1936)

Philipp Charwath (1936-1938)

Otto Nahrhaft (1945-1950)

Rudolf Naumann (1951-1954)

Wilhelm Malaniu (1955-1963)

Johann Schuster (1963-1971)

Konrad Wymetal (1972-1976)

August Matouschek (1977-1989)

Günter Woratsch (1990-2004)

Ulrike Psenner (2004-2009)

Friedrich Forsthuber (since 2010)

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landesgericht_f%C3%BCr_Strafsachen_...

Today, Thursday 16 November 2017, police executed warrants at eight addresses across the Moss Side and Hulme areas of Manchester.

 

The warrants were executed as the latest phase of Operation Malham, targeting the supply of drugs in South Manchester.

 

This follows previous raids last week, which means more than 14 properties have been searched and eight people arrested in total as part of the operation.

 

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Walker, of GMP’s City of Manchester team, said: “We are dedicated to rooting out those who seek to make profits from putting drugs on our streets.

 

“Today’s raids have resulted in the arrests of five people which have only been made possible through the support of partner agencies and community intelligence.

 

“We are grateful for all your support and help and I would urge you to continue to report anything suspicious to help us stop people who are benefitting from crime and remove drugs from our city.”

 

Anyone with information should contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

 

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit

www.gmp.police.uk

 

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

 

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

Today, Thursday 9 November 2017, saw Greater Manchester Police execute warrants at addresses across the Moss Side and Hulme areas of Manchester.

 

The warrants, which were supported by the Immigration Service, were executed as part of Operation Malham targeting the supply of drugs in South Manchester.

  

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Walker, of GMP’s City of Manchester team, said: "Over the past 6 months we have had a dedicated team of detectives trawling through community concerns and information about drug supply in the Moss Side and Hulme areas.

 

“Today, we have made arrests after executing warrants across these areas and I would like to thank the community for working with us, as well as partners, and making this possible.

 

“Please continue to report anything suspicious to help us stop the criminals benefiting from drug supply and organised crime.

 

“Drugs never be tolerated by us and we are determined to bring those responsible to justice.”

 

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit our website.

www.gmp.police.uk

 

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

 

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

 

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

 

Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information.

 

Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give a statement.

 

Police have today executed a number of warrants as part of an investigation into a disturbance in Oldham.

 

This morning (Wednesday 27 November 2019) officers visited 14 properties across Oldham and Crumpsall as well as a property in West Yorkshire.

 

Warrants were executed at Oldham and Crumpsall

 

13 men aged between 15 and 40 years of age were arrested on suspicion of violent disorder.

 

The action comes as part of Operation Woodville – a long-running investigation into serious public disorder occurring on Saturday 18 May 2019 in the Limeside area of Oldham.

 

As part of ongoing enquiries, police have released the images of (26) people that they want to speak to.

 

Chief Superintendent Neil Evans of GMP’s Territorial Commander with responsibility for Oldham said: “As the scale of this morning’s operation demonstrates, we continue to treat May’s disturbance with the upmost seriousness.

“We have been in liaison with the Crown Prosecution Service since the early stages of the investigation and a team of detectives has been working to identify those whose criminal behaviour resulted in the ugly scenes witnessed.

“Investigators have been working alongside key local partners as part of our extensive enquiries. Specialist detectives from our Major Investigations Team as well as local officers have been involved in hours of work assessing evidence and information received from the public.

 

“While we have made a number of arrests, our enquiries remain very much ongoing.

 

“In conjunction with this morning’s positive action, we have released a number of images of people who we want to speak to concerning their actions on 18 May 2019.

 

“As we have previously said, we understand and respect the right to peaceful protest and counter-protest. However we will not tolerate it when this crosses into criminal behaviour.

 

“Accordingly, we can and will respond when that line is crossed.

 

“It remains a line of enquiry that a number of those who were involved with the disorder had travelled to Oldham from outside Greater Manchester.

 

“As such, we are continuing to liaise with our partners in neighbouring forces.

 

“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank those who have already been in touch with officers.

 

“We must continue to work together as a community and support the justice process so that criminal behaviour is appropriately and proportionately challenged.”

 

Information can be left with police on 0161 856 6551 or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

 

Achyuta Rayas Temple

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Consecrated in AD 1534, this temple is an example of Vijayanagara style temple architecture in its most advanced form than any other temples in Hampi. This was one of the last grandiose temple projects executed in the capital, before the fall of the empire.

 

The temple dedicated to Lord Tiruvengalanatha, a form of Vishnu , was constructed by a high officer in Achyuta Raya's court and hence the name. The temple complex and the ruined market street in front of it sit in a semi secluded valley created by two hills – the Gandhamadana & Matanga hills.

 

The main shrine is located at the centre of two rectangular concentric courtyards. The inner sides of both the courtyard walls are lined with a cloisters or pillared verandah. The outer cloisters are mostly in ruins with the pillars scattered randomly along the wall base. Two huge ruined towers, one behind the other, give access to the temple courtyards.

 

On heading straight to the inner court you can spot a chamber facing the porch to the central hall. This tiny shrine chamber once enshrined an idol of Garuda, the eagle god and mount of the principal deity. The open hall just ahead spots some of the finest carved pillars in Hampi. On either side of the porch the pillars spot lion faced rampant Yalis standing on elephants. The armed solders riding the Yalis hold the chains hanging from the beast's mouth. The whole theme is carved on monolithic block of rocks. Two club-holding giant doorway guard deities stand on either side of the door to the inner sanctorum.

 

To the west of the main shrine is the twin chambered shrine of the goddess. A close look at the carvings on the pillars in the halls can reveal many themes like lord Krishna playing flute and the calves watching it with interest, lord Vishnu blesses an elephant, the infant Krishna dances holding the snake by its tail. At the northwest corner of the outer compound, a Kalayana Mandapa (marriage hall for the annual wedding ceremony of the God and the Goddess). A water channel is seen running along the second compound. In front of the temple is the wide Courtesan's street . A tiny exit at the northwest of the outer compound wall can take you to a boulder where a 10 handed fierce goddesses' image is carved on the rock surface. The narrow path further winds southward and joins the path to Matanga Hill top.

 

Hampi

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The city of Hampi bears exceptional testimony to the vanished civilization of the kingdom of Vijayanagar, which reached its apogee under the reign of Krishna Deva Raya (1509-30). It offers an outstanding example of a type of structure that illustrates a significant historical situation: that of the kingdoms of South India which, menaced by the Muslims, were occasionally allied with the Portuguese of Goa.

 

The austere, grandiose site of Hampi was the last capital of the last great Hindu Kingdom of Vijayanagar. Its fabulously rich princes built Dravidian temples and palaces which won the admiration of travellers between the 14th and 16th centuries. Conquered by the Deccan Muslim confederacy in 1565, the city was pillaged over a period of six months before being abandoned.

As the final capital of the last of the great kingdom of South India, that of the Vijayanagar, Hampi, enriched by the cotton and the spice trade was one of the most beautiful cities of the medieval world. Its palaces and Dravidian temples were much admired by travellers, be they Arab (Abdul Razaak), Portuguese (Domingo Paes) or Italian (Nicolò dei Conti).

 

Conquered by the Muslims after the battle of Talikota in 1565, it was plundered over six months and then abandoned. Imposing monumental vestiges, partially disengaged and reclaimed, make of Hampi today one of the most striking ruins of the world.

The temples of Ramachandra (1513) and Hazara Rama (1520), with their sophisticated structure, where each supporting element is scanned by bundles of pilasters or colonnettes which project from the richly sculpted walls, may be counted among the most extraordinary constructions of India. In one of the interior courtyards of the temple of Vitthala, a small monument of a chariot which two elephants, sculpted in the round, struggle to drag along is one of the unusual creations, the favourite of tourists today as well as travellers of the past.

 

Besides the temples, the impressive complex of civil, princely or public buildings (elephant stables, Queen's Bath, Lotus Mahal, bazaars, markets) are enclosed in the massive fortifications which, however, were unable to repulse the assault of the five sultans of Deccan in 1565.

"The tree was used as a tool to hang a loudspeaker which [made] sound louder to avoid the moan of victims while they were being executed."

 

From the May 2016 trip to Thailand and Cambodia:

 

After five days in Thailand (3 in Bangkok, which included the day trip to Ayuthaya, and 2 nights on Koh Chang), it was time to make our way to Cambodia. There were two places in Cambodia I was looking forward to seeing: Angkor Wat (which pretty much everyone who comes to southeast Asia wants to see) and Phnom Penh’s Killing Field memorials.

 

First, though, was the matter of getting from a semi-remote tropical island in Thailand to the national capital of Cambodia, about 400 kilometers to the east. There isn’t a direct, easy way to do this, so being able to get it done in the time I hoped for was the biggest concern of the whole trip to me. Part of the reason time was such a factor is because I had only planned to spend Friday evening and all day Saturday (until early afternoon) in Phnom Penh before flying out to Siem Reap. With so little time there, I wanted to have as much as possible. With that in mind on waking up, I wasn’t sure how the day would turn out. I’m glad to say, it went very well.

 

The first thing we needed to do was get from the Arunee Resort to the pier on the opposite side of a small mountain at 6:00 in the morning…on an island with no taxis. (It is a tropical place to relax, after all.) The hotel drove us over in a truck for 300 baht. After another 40 baht/person ferry ride across the gulf, we got back to the mainland sometime around 7:40. From there, another 50 baht/person via tuktuk/van to the main bus terminal in Trat, about 45 minutes away found us in good time to grab a bus. (This is the terminal to come to for buses returning to Bangkok or going on to the Cambodian border.)

 

The minibus to the Cambodian border was roughly an hour and a half ride, and I was another 120 baht/person lighter. The time flew by, though, as we only passed through one very small town between Trat and Hat Lek (the border town).

 

The border crossing at Hat Lek is a bit interesting. Lonely Planet advised me ahead of time that this is the most expensive (and only truly expensive) border crossing between Thailand and Cambodia. (Unfortunately for me, it was also the only practical/logical one to use, so I didn’t have an option.) Via airports and at all other border crossings, the Cambodian visa costs about $25-30. Here at Hat Lek, though – and I don’t know why – it’s over $50. The fact that there isn’t uniform regulations at border crossings seemed suspect to me to begin with, but it doesn’t change the fact that you still have to do what they say. (You just get the feeling that you’re being fleeced unnecessarily…and by government officials, at that.)

 

On arriving at the border, the first thing you do is pass through the Thai exit post, which is quick and painless (and free). Walking a few meters farther, you come to the Cambodian entry office, which has a lot of folding tables set up outside. The first thing you do (as US citizen, anyway) is hand over your passport to someone who does NOT look official – yet, he is. You pay him 1600 baht for the visa, plus another 200 baht if you don’t have a passport picture on hand (which I didn’t). So…that was $60 more out of pocket.

 

Also, while sitting at these tables having your passport/visa processed, people will come up and ask where you’re going and offer private cars to get there. There are supposedly three buses from Hat Lek to Phnom Penh, the last leaving at 11:30 in the morning (and taking 5 hours to get to the capital), and you would have to take a car to the town/bus stop which is about 10 km away. (Not knowing, precisely, how to do that, I went for the easiest way there and just agreed to pay a guy 1000 baht/person to drive us in his Camry all the way – 300 km – to Phnom Penh. It ended up costing 2000 baht (close to $65) plus another $25US in total. Now, $90 may seem a bit expensive, but this was a personal car, what amounted to be a 4 hour ride, and he dropped us off right at our hotel. (I put this in perspective simply by thinking of the cost of a taxi ride from Newark International Airport to JFK in New York City…and this deal was much, much better.) The only thing that was slightly disconcerting is that we didn’t actually know this guy and could have possibly been taken advantage of. However, my charmed life seems to continue…

 

We got to our hotel and checked in by 4:00 in the afternoon on Friday, so things – though slightly pricy by local standards – went very, very well. The Number 9 Hotel (on St. 258) is less than a five minute walk from the Royal Palace in downtown Phnom Penh. There are quite a few monuments around the area as well (Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship Monument, Independence Monument, etc.) The hotel itself was also a bit no-frills, and advertised a Jacuzzi/spa on the roof…which they said was under repair after we checked in. No worries, though; the restaurant at the hotel was quite good and I think it’s the only place we ate for the ~24 hours that we were there. The staff and service were top notch.

 

As I was still getting over the previous day’s bug/virus/whatever, I didn’t go out on Friday night. Saturday, though, was a different story. Just outside the hotel (and there are quite a few boutique guesthouses on the rather short St 258) are a group of tuktuk drivers all happy to get your business.

 

Now, Phnom Penh isn’t actually much of a tourist destination. In total, there’s the Royal Palace & Silver Pagoda (within walking distance) and the National Museum (just north of the palace). Additionally, there’s the Russian Market (which we didn’t get to). The main reason I really wanted to come to Phnom Penh, though, was to go to the Tuol Sleng Museum and the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. (I won’t give a long history lesson here, though highly encourage anyone reading this to do a quick Wikipedia search for “Choeung Ek Killing Fields” or, for something slightly more in depth, try to find information from the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975-1979.)

 

The only things I’ll mention about that era is that, in 1975, the population of Cambodia was about 8 million people. In the five years of the Khmer Rouge regime, they saw fit to assassinate close to 3 million of their countrymen. (Think about that for a minute…imagine your country’s population, whatever the number, then imagine the country is taken over by a military regime that commences to slaughter 35% of the populace. The most conservative numbers I’ve seen are 2 million killed, which is still 25%.)

 

With that as background info, we arranged one of the tuktuks to take us to the Tuol Sleng Museum, then to the Killing Fields, 15 km southwest of downtown Phnom Penh. Our driver, Ron (perhaps Ran, but pronounced like the former) agreed to be our driver for the day. He took us to the museum, then the killing field, then in the early afternoon to the National Museum and picked us up at the Royal Palace around 3:00. At 4:00, he ushered us about 15 km north of town to the airport. We met his wife as we went to the airport. Total cost for the day: $33.

 

Our first stop was the Tuol Sleng Museum. This is a former high school (a place of optimism, aspiration) that the Khmer Rouge converted into a torture chamber. (Additional psychological trauma, I guess?) I’ll give no details, save to say that I likened it to a Nazi concentration camp minus the gas chamber. To visit here, though, you are spared no detail in the presentation. I’ll commend (perhaps not the best word) the Cambodians for owning up to their atrocities. Other countries in the region could learn a lot from this. (They say it’s important to bare all so that people can see the horror and it will be less likely to happen again.) Anyway, after paying the admission ($6, I think?), you wander through the buildings with your audio guide and the many well-presented exhibits. At the end, about an hour later, there’s a man selling a book for $10. He’s a survivor of this place. I really had no words; just hugged the guy. He and his daughter said he was spared simply because he knew how to fix and use a typewriter.

 

After leaving Tuol Sleng, in quite a somber mood, Ran took us across town to the Choeung Ek Killing Fields (this is probably the most famous one in the nation, though there are literally hundreds here…and also still many active landmines from the war in the 1970s, so…I wouldn’t wander around too freely).

 

If the Tuol Sleng Museum was somber, this place is equally, if not more, harrowing. The admission here was also around $6 or so, and comes with another audio guide. There’s also a small room/museum with a 15 minute informative video. After that, you wander from point to point where you learn that this place was the former mass grave for Chinese. You also see mass graves for women, for babies…a tree (still standing) where babies were murdered, and so on. The final stop is a memorial stupa which contains the skulls and other bones of countless victims, classified by gender and method of murder (though all victims are still unidentified). However, the presentation is more than powerful enough to make its point.

 

The morning touring done, we returned to Number 9, had a leisurely lunch, then had Ran take us up to the National Museum. It’s a rather small museum, though quite good – especially if you like stone Buddhas. The museum admission is around $5, and the building has four small wings, that visitors tend to visit beginning on the left and going in a clockwise manner. No picures are allowed to be taken inside the museum (which I thought rather unfortunate, as it really was quite interesting and tasteful, as far as museums go), but you could take pictures of the museum itself and the internal courtyard. Leisurely seeing the entire museum takes less than an hour.

 

From there, it was about a 5-10 minute walk along the palace wall (north side, around the east wall that runs parallel to the river). After paying to enter the Royal Palace at the southeast gate, you’re allowed entry to the grounds and have access to view buildings such as the Coronation Hall, the Crown Room, and the Silver Pagoda. This is essentially quite similar to Thailand’s Royal Palace in terms of how much (and what) you can see, though it wasn’t quite as nice as Thailand’s to me. (I don’t mean to imply that it’s not nice, though; it was an enjoyable afternoon, though with temps around 40 degrees, my energy waned rather quickly.)

 

After an hour or so here at the Royal Palace, we made our way back to Number 9 (at this point, barely a 2 minute ride by tuktuk), where we rested until 4:00 and had Ran take us to the airport for our 7:30 flight to Siem Reap, 45 minutes away.

 

En route, though – and also from observations riding around on the way back from Choeung Ek – I got the impression that while Phnom Penh may not be the most touristy place in the world, it sure seemed like a great place to live (as much for expats as anyone). There’s still a lot of French influence, so my first abstract impression is that it reminded me of a combination of the French Quarter in New Orleans, Fuxing in Shanghai, and just some trendy/hippie areas in general. There were lots of cool little boutique hotels, restaurants, stores…and the Cambodians are exceptionally friendly and pleasant (as are Thais). I don’t know that I’ll ever come back here, but I certainly wouldn’t feel bad if I did…

 

At any rate, those were just my impressions on the way out of town. Getting to the airport, I was ready for the final stop: Siem Reap & Angkor Wat. The only thing standing between me and my ultimate destination…a prop jet.

Mercredi 11 juin 2014. Carcassonne (Aude). La tour du Trésau (ou du Trésor). L'administration fiscale siégeait dans ses murs au 14eS. Construction, exécutée sous Philippe le Hardi (1270-1285).

 

Carcassonne est située dans le sud de la France à 80 kilomètres à l'est de Toulouse. Son emplacement stratégique sur la route entre la mer Méditerranée et l'océan Atlantique est connue depuis le Néolithique. La ville se trouve dans un couloir entre la montagne Noire au nord et les Corbières à l'est, la plaine du Lauragais à l'ouest et la vallée de l'Aude au sud. Cette région naturelle est appelée le Carcassès ou le Carcassonnais.

 

La superficie de la commune est de 65 km2, ce qui est une grande commune comparée aux nombreuses petites communes de l'Aude. La ville est traversée par l'Aude, le Fresquel et le canal du Midi.

Carcassonne est située sur les bords du fleuve de l'Aude. La commune est traditionnellement divisée en deux, la ville basse qui occupe les berges du fleuve à l'ouest et la ville haute (ou cité) qui occupe la colline surplombant l'Aude. La cité est construite sur un petit plateau constitué par le creusement de l'Aude à environ 150 mètres d'altitude au-dessus de la ville basse. La ville basse se situe au niveau de l'Aude dont l'altitude est de 100 mètres.

 

L'Aude arrive à Carcassonne après son périple montagneux dans les gorges de la haute-vallée de l'Aude et devient alors un fleuve plus tranquille. Elle passe au Païcherou, longe le cimetière Saint-Michel puis se sépare en deux bras formant une île appelée « l'île du Roy ». Quatre ponts permettent de la franchir : le pont Garigliano, le pont-Vieux accessible uniquement aux piétons, le pont Neuf et le pont de l'Avenir. Le canal du Midi passe également au nord de la ville entre la gare et le jardin André-Chénier jouxtant la bastide Saint-Louis.

 

La ville se situe dans un couloir entre la montagne Noire au nord et la chaîne des Pyrénées au sud. La plaine est constituée de dépôts récents amenés par l'Aude et provenant des Pyrénées. Il s'agit de la molasse de Carcassonne, qui se caractérise par une alternance de grès, de conglomérats et de marnes gréseuses fluviatiles datant de l'Éocène.

La Cité de Carcassonne est située sur la rive droite de l'Aude en surplomb de la ville de Carcassonne située à l'ouest. Elle se trouve entre la Montagne noire et les Pyrénées sur l'axe de communication allant de la mer Méditerranée à l'océan Atlantique. La présence des deux montagnes forme le couloir carcassonnais souvent cité lorsque les climatologues parlent du vent qui souffle dans ce couloir. Cet emplacement est donc un lieu stratégique du sud de la France permettant de surveiller cet axe de communication majeur : au Nord vers la Montagne Noire, au Sud vers les Corbières, à l'Ouest vers la plaine du Lauragais et à l'Est la plaine viticole vers la Méditerranée.

 

La Cité est construite au bout d'un petit plateau constitué par le creusement de l'Aude à environ 150 mètres d'altitude au-dessus de la ville basse. La première enceinte construite par les Wisigoths suit les dépressions du terrain. Ce plateau se détache du massif des Corbières sur la commune de Palaja à 260 m d'altitude, passe dans la Cité à 148 m et finit sa course dans l'Aude à 100 m. Du côté Ouest, la pente est assez raide offrant un accès difficile à d'éventuels assaillants. À l'Est, la pente est plus douce et permet un accès aisé des marchandises, mais aussi des attaquants. Aussi, les plus importants mécanismes de défense se trouvent de ce côté de la Cité.

La Cité a été successivement un site protohistorique, une cité gallo-romaine, une place forte wisigothe, un comté, puis une vicomté, puis finalement une sénéchaussée royale. Chacune de ces étapes, entre la période romaine et la fin du Moyen Âge, a laissé des témoignages dans les bâtiments qui la composent.

Des restes d'un oppidum fortifié, oppidum Carcaso proche de l'emplacement actuel de la Cité, ont été mis au jour par des fouilles archéologiques. Ce lieu est déjà un important carrefour commercial comme le prouvent les restes de céramiques campaniennes et d'amphores. Vers 300 av. J.-C., les Volques Tectosages prennent possession de la région et fortifient l'oppidum de Carcasso. Pline l'Ancien mentionne l'oppidum dans ses écrits sous le nom de Carcaso Volcarum Tectosage. Ils extrayaient déjà l'or de la mine de Salsigne pour constituer des offrandes à leurs dieux.

 

En 122 av. J.-C., les Romains annexent la région qui sera intégrée dans la colonie Narbonnaise créée en 118 av. J.-C. Les Romains sont déjà bien connus, car depuis deux cents ans leurs marchands parcourent la région. Sous la Pax Romana la petite cité gallo-romaine de Carcaso, devenue chef-lieu de la colonie Julia Carcaso, prospère sans doute grâce au commerce du vin et à son implantation sur les voies de communication : elle jouxte la voie romaine qui va de Narbonne à Toulouse tandis que les bateaux à fond plat circulent sur l'Atax au pied de l'oppidum. Ce dernier est agrandi par remblayage et les rues et ruelles forment un plan orthogonal, mais aucun lieu public ni monument de culte n'est actuellement connu. Au pied de l'oppidum, une agglomération s'étend le long de la voie romaine.

À partir du IIIe siècle, la ville se retranche derrière une première série de remparts. En 333 ap. J.-C., des textes d'un pèlerin mentionnent le castellum de Carcassonne. Ces remparts sont encore visibles dans certaines parties de l'enceinte et servent de soubassements aux actuelles murailles. Les tours de la Marquière, de Samson et du Moulin d'Avar sont les témoins en partie intacts de cette enceinte primitive. Cette muraille protège la Cité des attaques extérieures tout en permettant de contrôler les passages sur la voie romaine située en contrebas.

 

Au milieu du Ve siècle, les Wisigoths prennent possession du Languedoc, grâce probablement à la victoire d'Athaulf pendant sa marche sur Toulouse. La Cité jouit peu à peu d'une relative paix politique jusqu'au règne d'Alaric II, comme l'atteste le nombre important de pièces de monnaie des monarques wisigoths de cette époque. En 507, les Francs chassent les Wisigoths d'Aquitaine, mais ces derniers conservent la Septimanie dont fait partie la Cité de Carcassonne. En 508, Clovis lance en vain une attaque contre la Cité. En 585, une nouvelle attaque de Gontran, roi franc de Burgondie est couronnée de succès. Mais, les Wisigoths reprennent la cité peu après et en restent maîtres jusqu'en 713. Au cours du VIe siècle, Carcassonne devint, avec Agde et Maguelonne, le siège d'un évêché. Une cathédrale wisigothique, dont l'emplacement n'est pas connu, est alors construite.

 

En 725, le Wali Ambisa prend Carcassonne à la suite de la conquête du royaume wisigoth d'Espagne par les musulmans. La Cité reste entre les mains des musulmans jusqu'en 752, date à laquelle elle est prise par les Francs conduits par Pépin le Bref.

Le début de la féodalité s'accompagne de l'expansion de la ville et de ses fortifications. Elle est aussi marquée par la construction de la cathédrale à partir de 1096 puis par celle du château comtal au XIIe siècle. Ce château est constitué à l'origine de deux corps de logis auxquels est ajoutée en 1150 une chapelle qui donne un plan en U autour de la cour centrale. Vers 1240 le château est rehaussé d'un second étage.

 

C'est aussi la période des comtes de Carcassonne. Le premier comte désigné par les Carolingiens est Bellon auquel succède Oliba II. La charge des comtes est d'administrer la région pour le compte du royaume carolingien. Au IXe siècle, la locution latine Cité de Carcassonne revient régulièrement dans les textes et chartes officiels. En 1082, la famille Trencavel prend possession de la ville, en profitant des embarras de la Maison de Barcelone propriétaire légitime, et l'annexe à un vaste ensemble allant de Carcassonne à Nîmes.

 

Bernard Aton IV Trencavel, vicomte d'Albi, de Nîmes et de Béziers, fait prospérer la ville et lance de nombreuses constructions. C'est également durant cette période qu'une nouvelle religion, le catharisme, s'implante avec succès dans le Languedoc. Le vicomte de Trencavel autorise en 1096 la construction de la basilique Saint-Nazaire dont les matériaux sont bénis par le pape Urbain II. En 1107, les Carcassonnais rejettent la suzeraineté de Bernard Aton, qui avait promis de rendre la Cité à son possesseur d'origine Raimond-Bérenger III de Barcelone et font appel au comte de Barcelone pour le chasser. Mais, avec l'aide de Bertrand de Tripoli, comte de Toulouse, Bernard Aton reprend le contrôle de la Cité. En 1120, les Carcassonnais se révoltent de nouveau, mais Bernard Aton rétablit l'ordre quelques années plus tard. En 1130, il ordonne le début de la construction du château comtal désigné sous le terme de palatium et la réparation des remparts gallo-romains. Dès lors, la Cité de Carcassonne est entourée de sa première fortification complète.

À cette époque la Cité est riche et sa population est comprise entre 3 000 à 4 000 personnes en incluant les habitants des deux bourgs qui se sont édifiés sous ses murailles : le bourg Saint-Vincent situé au Nord et le bourg Saint-Michel situé au sud de la porte Narbonnaise. La ville se dote en 1192 d'un consulat, composé de notables et de bourgeois, chargés d'administrer la ville, puis en 1229 d'une charte coutumière.

 

En 1208, le pape Innocent III, confronté à la montée du catharisme, appelle les barons du nord à se lancer dans la croisade des Albigeois. Le comte de Toulouse, accusé d'hérésie, et son principal vassal le vicomte de Trencavel sont la cible de l'attaque. Le 1er août 1209, la Cité est assiégée par les croisés. Raimond-Roger Trencavel se rend très rapidement, le 15 août, en échange de la vie sauve de ses habitants. Les bourgs autour de la Cité sont détruits. Le vicomte meurt de dysenterie dans la prison même de son château le 10 novembre 1209. D'autres sources parlent d'un assassinat orchestré par Simon de Montfort, mais rien n'est sûr. Dès lors, la Cité sert de quartier général aux troupes de la croisade.

Les terres sont données à Simon de Montfort, chef de l'armée des croisés. Ce dernier meurt en 1218 au cours du siège de Toulouse et son fils, Amaury VI de Montfort, prend possession de la Cité, mais se révèle incapable de la gérer. Il cède ses droits à Louis VIII de France, mais Raymond VII de Toulouse et les comtes de Foix se liguent contre lui. En 1224, Raimond II Trencavel reprend possession de la Cité après la fuite d'Amaury. Une deuxième croisade est lancée par Louis VIII en 1226 et Raimond Trencavel doit fuir. La Cité de Carcassonne fait désormais partie du domaine du roi de France et devient le siège d'une sénéchaussée. Une période de terreur s'installe à l'intérieur de la ville. La chasse aux cathares entraîne la multiplication des bûchers et des dénonciations sauvages, avec l'installation de l'Inquisition dont on peut toujours voir la maison dans l'enceinte de la Cité.

Louis IX ordonne la construction de la deuxième enceinte pour que la place puisse soutenir de longs sièges. En effet, à cette époque, les menaces sont nombreuses dans la région : Raimond Trencavel, réfugié en Aragon, cherche toujours à reprendre ses terres qu'il revendique et le roi d'Aragon, Jacques Ier le Conquérant, fait peser une lourde menace sur cette région toute proche des frontières de son royaume. De plus, ces constructions permettent de marquer les esprits de la population de la Cité et de gagner leur confiance. La Cité fait partie du système de défense de la frontière entre la France et l'Aragon. Les premières constructions concernent le château comtal adossé à la muraille ouest. Celui-ci est entouré de murailles et de tours à l'intérieur même de la Cité pour assurer la protection des représentants du roi. Ensuite, une deuxième ligne de fortifications est commencée sur environ un kilomètre et demi avec quatorze tours. Cette enceinte est flanquée d'une barbacane qui contrôle les abords de l'Aude.

 

En 1240, Raimond Trencavel tente de récupérer la Cité, avec l'aide de quelques seigneurs. Le siège est mené par Olivier de Termes, spécialiste de la guerre de siège. Ils occupent les bourgs situés sur les rives de l'Aude et obtiennent l'aide de ses habitants qui creusent des tunnels depuis leurs maisons pour saper la base des enceintes. La double enceinte joue son rôle défensif, car Raimond Trencavel est ralenti. La garnison menée par le sénéchal Guillaume des Ormes résiste efficacement. Raimond Trencavel est bientôt obligé de lever le siège et de prendre la fuite face à l'arrivée des renforts du roi Louis IX. En 1247, il renonce devant le roi Louis IX à ses droits sur la Cité. La Cité de Carcassonne est définitivement rattachée au royaume de France et est désormais gouvernée par des sénéchaux.

À compter de cette date, la place forte n'est plus attaquée y compris durant la guerre de Cent Ans. Les aménagements et agrandissements qui vont suivre peuvent être regroupés en trois phases. Les premiers travaux sont commencés immédiatement après la dernière attaque de la Cité. Ils permettent de réparer les enceintes, aplanir les lices, ajouter des étages au château et construire la tour de la Justice. La deuxième phase de construction a lieu sous le règne de Philippe III, dit le Hardi : elle comprend la construction de la porte Narbonnaise, de la tour du Trésau, de la porte Saint-Nazaire et de toute la partie de l'enceinte environnante, ainsi que la réparation de certaines tours gallo-romaines et de la barbacane du château comtal. Les bourgs de Saint-Vincent et de Saint-Michel jouxtant l'enceinte sont rasés pour éviter les conséquences d'une collusion entre leurs habitants et les assaillants comme cela s'était produit durant le dernier siège. Enfin, une troisième et dernière phase de travaux se déroule sous le règne de Philippe le Bel et consiste à moderniser la place forte. De nombreuses parties de l'enceinte sont alors reconstruites en utilisant les techniques de défense les plus récentes. Les antiques murailles situées à l'ouest sont également rénovées.

En 1258, le traité de Corbeil fixe la frontière entre la France et l'Aragon près de Carcassonne, dans les Corbières. Louis IX renonce à sa suzeraineté sur la Catalogne et le Roussillon et en contrepartie le roi d'Aragon abandonne ses visées sur les terres du Languedoc. Désormais la Cité joue un rôle majeur dans le dispositif de défense de la frontière. Elle constitue une deuxième ligne de défense persuasive en arrière des postes avancés que sont les châteaux de Peyrepertuse, Aguilar, de Quéribus, de Puilaurens et de Termes désignés comme les « cinq fils de Carcassonne ». Au XIIIe siècle, la Cité de Carcassonne est l'une des places fortes les mieux pourvues de France et sert de réserve d'armes pour les alliés. La Cité n'est jamais attaquée ni inquiétée aussi les troupes qui y sont stationnées sont peu à peu réduites. À la fin du XIVe siècle, la Cité n'est plus capable de résister aux nouvelles armes à poudre. Néanmoins, sa situation frontalière reste un atout stratégique et une garnison est maintenue. En 1418, les hommes en garnison dans la Cité ont en général un second métier. À cette époque, de l'autre côté de l'Aude, une nouvelle ville dite ville basse se construit sous forme de bastide.

Peu de faits de guerre ou de conflits majeurs marquent la période royale. En 1272, le comte de Foix, rebelle, est enfermé par Philippe III de France dans la Cité de Carcassonne. En 1283, un traité d'alliance est signé entre le roi de France et le roi de Majorque Jacques II contre Pierre III d'Aragon. Le pape Clément V passe par Carcassonne en 1305 et 1309. En 1355, le Prince Noir n'ose pas s'attaquer à la Cité trop puissamment défendue et se contente de détruire et piller la ville basse. La Cité devient prison d'État au XVe siècle dans laquelle sont enfermés les ennemis du roi comme Jean IV d'Armagnac. La peste décime les habitants de Carcassonne et de la Cité en 1557. En 1585, la Cité est attaquée par les huguenots mais ils sont repoussés par les « mortes-payes».

 

Entre 1560 et 1630, durant les Guerres de religion, la Cité reste un dispositif militaire important pour les catholiques. Elle subit des attaques de la part des protestants. En 1575, le fils du sire de Villa tente d'attaquer la forteresse. En 1585, les hommes de Montmorency font de même, mais là aussi c'est l'échec.

 

La mort de Henry III déclenche des affrontements entre les habitants de la ville basse fidèle à Henry IV, son successeur légitime, et au duc de Montmorency, et la Cité qui refuse de reconnaître le nouveau roi et prend le parti de la Ligue. Au cours des violents combats qui s'étalent sur près de 2 ans, les faubourgs de la Cité situés aux abords de la porte de l'Aude sont détruits. Cette dernière est murée et le quartier de la Trivalle est incendié. En 1592, les habitants de la Cité se rallient au roi.

 

Le XVIIe siècle marque le début de l'abandon de la Cité. En 1657, le présidial, la juridiction en place à Carcassonne, est transféré de la Cité à la ville basse44. En 1659, la Cité de Carcassonne perd sa position stratégique à la suite de la signature du Traité des Pyrénées qui rattache le Roussillon à la France et fixe la frontière entre la France et l'Espagne à son emplacement actuel. La Cité est progressivement abandonnée par ses habitants les plus aisés et devient un quartier pauvre occupé par les tisserands. Les lices sont progressivement occupées par des maisons. Des caves et des greniers sont installés dans les tours. La Cité se dégrade rapidement.

 

La ville basse prospère grâce à l'industrie drapière. Le principal centre religieux de la ville, la cathédrale Saint-Nazaire, demeure néanmoins dans la Cité jusqu'à la Révolution. En 1790, le chapitre est aboli et le palais épiscopal et le cloître sont vendus puis détruits en 1795. Le siège épiscopal est même transféré en 1801 de la cathédrale Saint-Nazaire à l'église Saint-Michel dans la ville basse. En 1794, les archives de la tour du Trésau sont détruites par un incendie.

 

Sous l'Ancien Régime puis sous la Révolution, la Cité est réduite sur le plan militaire au rôle d'arsenal, entrepôt d'armes et de vivres puis, entre 1804 et 1820, est rayée de la liste des places de guerre et abandonnée ; elle est reclassée en seconde catégorie. La ville haute perd son autonomie municipale et devient un quartier de Carcassonne. Le château comtal est transformé en prison. L'armée est alors prête à céder la Cité aux démolisseurs et récupérateurs de pierres.

 

La Cité connaît un déclin social avec l'augmentation de la pauvreté, mais aussi un déclin démographique. Entre 1819 et 1846, le nombre d'habitants de la ville haute décline tandis que dans la ville basse, la démographie augmente.

 

Pour les habitants de Carcassonne, la Cité médiévale, située sur une butte difficile d’accès avec ses ruelles étroites et ses lices et remparts vétustes constitue désormais un quartier peu attrayant auquel s'oppose la ville nouvelle formée par la bastide Saint-Louis ou ville basse. La désaffection des habitants pour la Cité entraîne sa détérioration. Les tours se délabrent et la plupart sont converties en garages, hangars et autres bâtiments de stockage. Les lices sont progressivement envahies par des constructions (au XIXe siècle, les autorités y recensent 112 maisons). La destruction de la Cité médiévale est alors programmée.

 

La Cité est sauvée de la destruction totale par Jean-Pierre Cros-Mayrevieille, notable et historien, habitant au pied de la Cité. Dès 1835, il s'émeut de la destruction de la barbacane dont les pierres étaient pillées par les entrepreneurs locaux. C'est à lui que l'on doit les premières véritables fouilles dans la cathédrale de la Cité et la découverte de la chapelle de l'évêque Radulphe. L'écrivain Prosper Mérimée, inspecteur général des monuments historiques, a le coup de foudre pour ce monument en perdition. L'architecte Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, qui avait commencé la restauration de l'église Saint-Nazaire, est chargé d'étudier la restauration de la Cité. En 1840, la basilique Saint-Nazaire à l'intérieur de la Cité passe sous la protection des monuments historiques. Cette protection est étendue à l'ensemble des remparts en 1862.

 

En 1853, Napoléon III approuve le projet de restauration. Le financement est soutenu par l'État à 90 % et à 10 % par la ville et le conseil général de l'Aude. En 1855, les travaux commencent par la partie ouest-sud-ouest de l'enceinte intérieure, mais restent modestes. En 1857, ils se poursuivent sur les tours de la porte Narbonnaise et l'entrée principale de la Cité. Les fortifications sont çà et là consolidées, mais le gros du travail se concentre alors sur la restauration des toitures des tours des créneaux et des hourds du château comtal. L'expropriation et la destruction des bâtiments construits le long des remparts sont ordonnées. En 1864, Viollet-le-Duc obtient encore des crédits pour restaurer la porte de Saint-Nazaire et l'enceinte extérieure du front sud. En 1874, la tour du Trésau est restaurée.

Eugène Viollet-le-Duc laissera de nombreux croquis et dessins de la Cité et de ses modifications56. À sa mort en 1879, son élève Paul Boeswillwald reprend le flambeau puis l'architecte Henri Nodet. En 1889, la restauration de l'enceinte intérieure est terminée. Les travaux de restauration du château comtal débutent la même année et, en 1902, les travaux d'envergure sont achevés et les alentours de la Cité sont aménagés et dégagés. En 1911, les dernières maisons présentes dans les lices sont détruites et les travaux de restauration sont considérés comme terminés en 1913.

 

Seul 30 % de la Cité est restauré. Durant les travaux de restauration, le chanoine Léopold Verguet réalise de nombreux clichés, ainsi que des travaux de réhabilitation. Ces photos fournissent des témoignages sur le chantier et la vie autour la Cité à cette époque. Un autre photographe, Michel Jordy, historien et archéologue, apporte également sa contribution à la sauvegarde la Cité par ses recherches et ses photographies. Il est également le fondateur de l'hôtel de la Cité.

Dès 1850, les restaurations d'Eugène Viollet-le-Duc sont fortement critiquées. Ses détracteurs, comme Hippolyte Taine, dénoncent la différence entre les parties neuves et les parties en ruine considérant que ces dernières ont plus de charme. D'autres, comme Achille Rouquet ou François de Neufchâteau, regrettent le caractère trop gothique et le style « Viollet-le-Duc » des modifications. Aujourd'hui, les historiens soulignent surtout les erreurs du restaurateur. Joseph Poux regrette la mauvaise reconstitution des portes et des fenêtres des tours wisigothes et la bretèche de la porte de l'Aude.

 

Mais ce sont surtout les choix effectués pour la restauration des toitures qui furent fortement critiqués. Viollet-le-Duc, fort de ses expériences de restauration sur les châteaux du nord de la France, choisit de coiffer les tours d'une toiture conique couverte d'ardoises, contrastant avec les toitures plates couvertes de tuiles romanes des châteaux de la région. Ce choix avait pour lui une logique historique, car Simon de Monfort et les autres chevaliers qui participèrent à la croisade des Albigeois venaient tous du Nord. Il n'est pas impossible que ces « nordistes » aient ramené avec eux leurs propres architectes et techniques. De plus, Viollet-le-Duc retrouva de nombreux fragments d'ardoise lors de ses restaurations de la Cité. C'est pour cela qu'aujourd'hui, on peut observer différents types de toiture dans la Cité de Carcassonne.

 

Le pont-levis, rajouté à l'entrée de la porte Narbonnaise, est également cité comme un exemple de reconstitution erronée. Par ailleurs, certaines restaurations sont parfois considérées comme trop parfaites et réduisant l'impression d'authenticité. Cependant, malgré ses erreurs, on considère aujourd'hui qu'Eugène Viollet-le-Duc a effectué un travail d'architecture remarquable qui a permis de restituer aux visiteurs une image cohérente sinon fidèle de la Cité de Carcassonne. Ainsi les campagnes de restauration menées aujourd'hui conservent les modifications apportées au modèle originel par l'architecte, car elles font désormais partie de l'histoire du monument.

 

La diminution de la population se poursuit pendant la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle. Entre 1846 et 1911, la Cité perd 45 % de sa population, passant de 1 351 à 761 habitants.

En 1903, la Cité passe de la tutelle du ministère de la guerre au ministère des beaux-arts66 et en 1918, l'armée quitte définitivement la Cité de Carcassonne. En 1920, l'hôtel de la Cité est construit à l'intérieur même de la Cité entre le château comtal et la cathédrale de Saint-Nazaire. Cette construction néo-gothique provoque à l'époque de nombreuses protestations. En 1926, les monuments historiques étendent leur protection en classant les terrains situés près des restes de la barbacane de l'Aude, les accès et la porte de l'Aude, ainsi qu'en inscrivant le Grand Puits au titre des monuments historiques. En 1942, le classement s'étend encore avec l'ajout, en trois fois, de terrains autour de la Cité. Cette extension permet de protéger les abords directs de l'enceinte en empêchant d'éventuelles constructions.

 

En 1944, la Cité de Carcassonne est occupée par les troupes allemandes qui utilisent le château comtal comme réserve de munitions et d'explosifs. Les habitants sont expulsés de la Cité. Joë Bousquet, commandeur de la Légion d'honneur, s'indigne de cette occupation et demande par lettre au préfet la libération de la Cité considérée par tous les pays comme une œuvre d'art qu'il faut respecter et laisser libre.

 

En 1961, un musée est installé dans le château comtal. Puis en 1997, la Cité est classée au patrimoine mondial par l'UNESCO. Aujourd'hui, la Cité est devenue un site touristique important qui reçoit plus de 2 millions de visiteurs chaque année. Ces classements permettent à l'État de recevoir des subventions pour l'entretien du site. En contrepartie, il doit respecter l'architecture des lieux lors de constructions ou de rénovations et doit ouvrir la Cité aux visiteurs. Les monuments historiques gèrent les visites et la gestion du château comtal. Ils ont récemment rénové le parcours de visites en 2006 et 2007 en ajoutant une salle de projection et une nouvelle signalétique. En 2014 débute des travaux de mise en sécurité des remparts du circuit Ouest suivi par un architecte en chef des monuments afin d'offrir ce parcours au visiteur. Les travaux seront réalisés par des compagnons tailleur de pierre spécialisés dans la restauration du patrimoine architectural.

Les parties remarquables de la Cité comprennent les deux enceintes et plusieurs bâtiments. Le plan ci-contre permet de localiser ces bâtiments décrits dans les sections suivantes. L'enceinte intérieure et les portes figurent en rouge tandis que l'enceinte extérieure et les barbacanes sont représentées en jaune :

1 - Porte Narbonnaise et barbacane Saint-Louis,

2 - Porte et barbacane Saint-Nazaire,

3 - Porte d'Aude,

4 - Porte du Bourg et barbacane Notre-Dame,

5 - Château comtal entouré d'un fossé et construit le long de l'enceinte intérieure,

6 - Barbacane de l'est protégeant l'entrée du château,

7 - Barbacane de l'Aude, aujourd'hui détruite,

8 - Église Saint-Nazaire.

Le matériau utilisé pour la construction des enceintes et des tours est la pierre dont est constitué le plateau sur lequel est édifiée la Cité. Il s'agit de grès ou molasse de Carcassonne qui a été extraite du plateau même ou des collines environnantes. Deux enceintes, entourant la Cité, sont séparées par un espace plat : les lices. Ce système comportait, à l'époque de sa mise en œuvre (avant la généralisation de l'artillerie), de nombreux avantages défensifs. Il permettait d'attaquer les assaillants selon deux lignes de tir ; l'enceinte extérieure, si elle était franchie, ralentissait les assaillants et les divisait ; les assaillants une fois parvenus dans les lices étaient particulièrement vulnérables dans cet espace dépourvu d'abri. De plus, la lice permettait aux cavaliers de combattre facilement. On distingue les lices basses, situées au nord et allant de la porte Narbonnaise à la porte de l'Aude où se trouvent les enceintes les plus anciennes datant des Wisigoths et les lices hautes, situées au sud, où se trouvent les murailles les plus récentes construites sous Philippe III le Hardi.

La première enceinte, construite sur un éperon rocheux, date de l'époque gallo-romaine ; elle permettait de dominer la vallée et le cours de l'Aude. Les soubassements de cette enceinte originelle sont encore visibles depuis la lice. Elle est construite à l'aide de grosses pierres et d'un mortier très dur. Le mur de cette enceinte était épais de deux à trois mètres. Cette enceinte avait un périmètre de 1 070 m et protégeait une ville de sept hectares. Elle est constituée de moellons réguliers et de rangées de briques. Ces briques assuraient la stabilité de la construction grâce à leur flexibilité et rattrapaient les éventuels affaissements.

 

Il existe encore dix-sept tours d'origine gallo-romaine plus ou moins remaniées sur les trente tours que comportait initialement cette enceinte. Une seule tour était de plan rectangulaire, la tour Pinte. Les autres tours reconnaissables dans les remparts ouest de la Cité grâce à leur forme en fer à cheval à l'extérieur et plate à l'intérieur. La partie inférieure des tours, dont le diamètre est compris entre 4,50 et 7 mètres, est constituée de maçonnerie pleine qui donnait une assise particulièrement solide. Les niveaux supérieurs comportent de larges ouvertures cintrées qui donnaient une grande efficacité aux armes de jet des défenseurs. Un système de fenêtre basculante assurait la défense et la protection de ces larges ouvertures. Les tours étaient recouvertes de tuiles plates à double rebord. La hauteur des tours était comprise entre 11,65 m et 13,70 m.

Durant le XIIIe siècle, les rois de France ordonnèrent la construction d'une seconde enceinte extérieure autour de la Cité. Les tours sont rondes, souvent basses et dépourvues de toiture pour n'offrir aucun abri à des assaillants qui les auraient conquises contre les tirs venus de l'enceinte intérieure. L'enceinte est entourée d'un fossé sec sauf aux endroits ou le dénivelé ne rend pas cette défense nécessaire. L'espace entre les deux enceintes est aménagé en lices qui sont utilisées en temps de paix pour les manifestations en tous genres. Les murailles atteignent une hauteur de 10 à 12 mètres.

 

L'enceinte intérieure est modernisée sous Philippe III Le Hardi et Philippe IV Le Bel. L'entrée Narbonnaise, la Porte de Saint-Nazaire et la tour du Trésau sont construites. Ces édifices sont caractérisés par la hauteur impressionnante de leurs murs et l'emploi de pierres à bossage. La construction de l'enceinte est plus complexe et repose sur des fondations plus profondes que l'enceinte gallo-romaine, car elle atteint la roche du plateau. La réalisation de l'enceinte extérieure et des lices a nécessité de décaisser le terrain naturellement pentu. Une partie des soubassements extérieurs de l'enceinte gallo-romaine ont été mis à nu par ce terrassement et a dû faire l'objet d'une consolidation.

 

Le chemin de ronde permettait de faire tout le tour de la Cité en traversant les tours. Au Moyen Âge, la courtine est élargie grâce à un système de charpente en bois suspendu créant un abri au-dessus du vide. Ce système placé à cheval sur le rempart du nom de hourd permettait aux arbalétriers de tirer avec précision au milieu des lices. Des échauguettes sont construites sur la saillie de certaines murailles comme l'échauguette de la Vade.

 

Les tours médiévales diffèrent des tours romaines tout en gardant leur forme extérieure caractéristique avec une façade extérieure bombée et une façade intérieure plate. Les échelles de bois sont remplacées par des escaliers intérieurs en pierre. La base des tours est fruitée, c'est-à-dire renflée afin que les projectiles ricochent sur la tour et se retournent contre les assaillants situés au pied de la muraille.

L'enceinte est percée de quatre portes principales donnant accès à l'intérieur de la Cité. Les portes sont réparties aux quatre points cardinaux.

La porte Narbonnaise, située à l'est, est construite vers 1280 durant le règne de Philippe III le Hardi. Elle doit son nom à son orientation vers Narbonne et succède au château narbonnais, un château aujourd'hui disparu qui contrôlait la principale entrée de la ville. Le château Narbonnais était tenu aux XIe et XIIe siècles des Trencavel par la famille de Termes. Au XIXe siècle Viollet-le-Duc reconstitue le crénelage et le toit en ardoise de 1859 à 1860 et la dote d'un pseudo pont-levis qui n'existait pas à l'origine. Elle est constituée de deux tours imposantes renforcées par des becs destinés à détourner les tirs des assaillants. La porte est protégée par une double herse renforcée par un assommoir et des meurtrières. Ces tours possèdent trois étages sur rez-de-chaussée. Le rez-de-chaussée et le premier étage sont voûtés alors que les étages supérieurs comportent un simple plancher. La tour nord possède un caveau pour les provisions tandis que la tour sud contient une citerne d'eau, permettant de faire face aux besoins des défenseurs de la tour pendant un siège de longue durée.

 

Au-dessus de cet ensemble se trouve une niche à couronnement tréflé dans laquelle est placée une statue de la Vierge. Cette porte est protégée par la barbacane Saint-Louis qui se trouve face à elle. Une échauguette située à droite de la porte permettait un tir direct sur les assaillants si ceux-ci parvenaient à prendre la barbacane.

Au sud, la porte Saint-Nazaire est aménagée dans la tour du même nom, l'une des deux tours carrés de la Cité. C'est un dispositif de défense complexe ; l'ouvrage était très abîmé et Viollet-le-Duc le reconstitua entre 1864 et 1866.

 

La tour protège la cathédrale Saint-Nazaire située juste derrière à 25 mètres dans la Cité. Elle est équipée de quatre échauguettes ; le passage donnant accès à la lice et à la Cité comporte un coude de 90 degrés. Chaque entrée de ce passage est protégée par des systèmes de défense : mâchicoulis, herses et vantaux.

 

La tour possède deux étages bien aménagés pour le stationnement de la garnison avec une cheminée et des corps de placard. La plate-forme couronnant la tour permettait de recevoir un engin de guerre à longue portée.

À l'ouest, la porte d'Aude fait face au fleuve du même nom. Elle est située près du château comtal. Cette porte se prolonge par la barbacane de l'Aude détruite en partie en 1816 pour construire l'église Saint-Gimer. Seule la rampe entourée de murs crénelés subsiste. Le système défensif de cette porte était complexe. De hautes arcades cachent de fausses portes ne menant nulle part : ce dispositif était destiné à tromper l'ennemi. De plus, de nombreux couloirs en lacet possèdent différents paliers créant une souricière dans laquelle les assaillants se trouvaient bloqués et pouvaient être attaqués de toutes parts. La porte de l'Aude combine des systèmes de défense passive et active d’une grande sophistication.

 

La rampe, qui partait de la barbacane disparue, donne accès à cette porte. Elle monte la pente raide de l'ouest en faisant des lacets et traverse une première porte puis une seconde porte. L'avant-porte défend cet accès, situé entre l'enceinte intérieure et extérieure. L'enceinte intérieure est à cet endroit surélevée et épaulée d'un triple contrefort construit au XIIIe siècle. La porte proprement dite est d'origine wisigothe avec son plein cintre alterné de briques. Au-dessus de l'entrée, se trouvent une baie et une bretèche massives qui ne sont pas d'origine féodale, mais ont été ajoutées par Viollet-le-Duc lors de sa restauration. Cette porte, à l'aspect typiquement médiéval, a servi de décor pour de nombreux tournages de films comme Les Visiteurs, Robin des Bois : Prince des voleurs ou Le Corniaud.

Au nord, la porte du Bourg ou de Rodez donnait sur l'ancien bourg Saint-Vincent. Elle est directement creusée dans l'enceinte et était défendue par la barbacane Notre-Dame et la tour Mourétis.

 

La porte, assez modeste, est percée dans les remparts entre deux tours. Elle possède très peu de défenses. À l'époque des Wisigoths, la porte était protégée par une sorte d'avant-corps dont une muraille se prolongeait vers le bourg Saint-Vincent. Cet édifice a été remplacé par la suite par une barbacane sur l'enceinte extérieure, la barbacane Notre-Dame.

Le château comtal est adossé à l'enceinte intérieure ouest à l'endroit où la pente est la plus raide. Il possède un plan en forme de parallélogramme allongé du nord au sud et est percé de deux issues à l'ouest du côté de la porte de l'Aude et à l'est du côté intérieur de la Cité. Il a été construit en deux temps.

 

Sa construction est lancée par Bernard Aton IV Trencavel durant l'époque romane aux alentours de 1130 pour remplacer un château primitif probablement situé à l'emplacement de la porte Narbonnaise96. Le château est constitué de deux corps de bâtiment en L dominés par une tour de guet, la tour Pinte. Au nord se trouve une chapelle castrale dédiée à Marie dont il reste aujourd'hui que l'abside. Seule une palissade séparait le château du reste de la Cité.

 

Durant l'époque royale, entre 1228 et 1239, le château est complètement remanié devenant une forteresse à l'intérieur de la Cité. Une barbacane comportant un chemin de ronde et un parapet crénelé barre l'entrée du château juste avant le fossé qui l'entoure complètement jusqu'à l'enceinte intérieure. La porte d'entrée du château encadrée par deux tours est constituée d'un mâchicoulis, d'une herse et de vantaux. Le pont d'entrée est composé d'une partie en pont dormant, suivi d'une partie comportant un pont basculant et un pont-levis actionné par des contrepoids près de la herse de la porte d'entrée. Les murailles remplacent la palissade originelle et entourent complètement les bâtiments. Un système de hourds reposait sur l'enceinte telle que l'a reconstitué Viollet-le-Duc.

 

Le château et son enceinte comportent 9 tours dont deux sont d'époque wisigothe : la tour de la chapelle et la tour Pinte. La tour Pinte est une tour de guet carrée, la plus haute de la Cité. Toutes les autres tours ont des dispositions intérieures et extérieures identiques, car construites en même temps aux XIIe siècle. Ces tours sont constituées de trois étages et d'un rez-de-chaussée. Le rez-de-chaussée et le premier étage comportent un plafond voûté tandis que les étages supérieurs sont dotés de simples planchers. La communication entre les étages se fait par le biais des trous servant de porte-voix dans les voûtes et les planchers. Des hourds reconstitués par Viollet-le-Duc ornaient vraisemblablement l'enceinte et les tours comme le montre la reconstitution actuelle.

 

L'accès du château mène à une cour rectangulaire entourée de bâtiments remaniés de nombreuses fois entre le XIIe et le XVIIIe siècle. Les murs nord et est de la cour sont flanqués de simples portiques tandis qu'au sud et à l'est se trouvent deux bâtiments. Celui du sud contient les cuisines et permet d'accéder à une seconde cour. Elle contenait un bâtiment aujourd'hui détruit, mais où sont encore visibles les emplacements des poutres du plancher du premier étage ainsi que plusieurs fenêtres. C'est aussi dans cette cour que se trouve la tour Pinte.

La basilique Saint-Nazaire, construite en grès (parement extérieur), est une église d'origine romane dont les parties les plus anciennes remontent au XIe siècle. Sur son emplacement s'élevait à l'origine une cathédrale carolingienne dont il ne subsiste, aujourd'hui, aucune trace.

 

À l'aube de l'apogée de l'art roman, c'est donc d'abord une simple église bénie et consacrée cathédrale par le pape Urbain II en 1096 sous l'impulsion des Trencavel, qui lancent le chantier d'un nouvel édifice plus vaste. De cet édifice ne subsistent que les deux premiers piliers de la nef et la crypte, dont l'état dégradé donne à penser qu'il s'agissait d'un ouvrage antérieur. Elle épouse le plan de l'ancienne abside. Au XIIe siècle on édifie la nef actuelle, de six travées, qui fut laissée intacte lors des agrandissements de l'époque gothique, qui par contre se traduisirent par la destruction du chevet roman du XIe siècle. Le portail roman a quant à lui été entièrement refait au XIXe siècle lors des restaurations de Viollet-le-Duc.

 

La basilique est agrandie entre 1269 et 1330 dans le style gothique importé par les nouveaux maîtres de la région, avec un transept et un chœur très élancés, un décor de sculptures et un ensemble de vitraux qui comptent parmi les plus beaux du sud de la France. Un prélat bâtisseur, Pierre de Rochefort, finança la construction d'une grande partie des décors et l'achèvement des voûtes. Ses armoiries sont visibles dans le chœur, l'abside et le bras sud du transept, tandis que la chapelle du collatéral nord contient le monument commémoratif de la mort du contributeur. Un autre personnage, Pierre Rodier, évêque de Carcassonne, possède son blason dans la chapelle du collatéral sud.

 

Les rénovations d'Eugène Viollet-le-Duc ont largement transformé l'extérieur de la basilique, mais l'intérieur est le plus remarquable. Les deux styles, gothique et roman, se superposent sur les vitraux, les sculptures et tous les décors de l'église. Les façades comportent de nombreux vitraux des XIIIe et XIVe siècles : ceux-ci représentent des scènes de la vie du Christ et de ses apôtres.

 

Jusqu'au XVIIIe siècle, la cathédrale Saint-Nazaire demeure pourtant le principal centre religieux de Carcassonne. À la fin de l'Ancien Régime, le chapitre cathédral entretient même un petit corps de musique comptant un organiste, un maître de musique et au moins cinq enfants de chœur. En 1790, cependant, la chapitre est supprimé. Ce n'est qu'en 1801 que l'église est déchue de son rang de cathédrale de Carcassonne au profit de l'église Saint-Michel, située dans la bastide à l'extérieur de la Cité. Ce transfert se déroule alors que la Cité est désertée par ses habitants au profit de la ville basse. Le titre de basilique lui est octroyé en 1898 par le pape Léon XIII.

 

Une communauté de chanoines vivait à proximité de la cathédrale avec une salle capitulaire et le dortoir à l'est, le réfectoire et les cuisines au sud et les caves et écuries à l'ouest. Mais l'ensemble des bâtiments sont démolis en 1792. Un cloître s'élevait également au sud de l'édifice. Son emplacement est aujourd'hui occupé par un théâtre de plein air établi en 1908.

La vie dans la Cité a été étudiée par de nombreux historiens. À l'époque féodale, la famille Trencavel est riche grâce à ses terres et divers droits et la vie des seigneurs et de l'entourage de la cour est assez faste. Le château comtal est élégamment décoré et le lieu attire de nombreux troubadours. La vie de la Cité est rythmée par les foires et les marchés. C'est en 1158 que Roger de Béziers autorise deux foires annuelles durant lesquelles la protection des marchands et des clients est assurée par le vicomte. Une monnaie locale prouve la vitalité et la richesse de la Cité. Le commerce y est important et fait vivre de nombreuses personnes. La nourriture est abondante et variée : porc salé, pain de froment, brochet, choux, navet, fèves, etc...

 

À l'époque royale, la Cité n'est plus aussi active. Les garnisons ont désormais un rôle prépondérant. Le roi met en place l'institution des sergents d'armes. Il s'agit de soldats qui ont pour mission de garder la Cité. Ils sont commandés par un connétable qui fixe les tours de garde et les surveillances diverses des sergents. Le nombre d'hommes initialement de 220 décline à 110 au XIVe siècle. Ces « sergenteries » deviennent héréditaires en 1336. Un texte de 1748 décrit avec précision le cérémonial de la mise en place des patrouilles et des gardes. Il décrit aussi les avantages et inconvénients de cette fonction. Les soldats étaient rémunérés par une solde perpétuelle qui conférait à la garnison le nom de "mortes-payes". La Cité était aussi bien pourvue en armes de défense et de guerre. Un inventaire de 1298 décrit des machines de jet comme des espringales, des balistes et des mangonneaux, du matériel de siège comme des poutres, des hourds démontés et tout ce qu'il faut pour faire du travail de sape, du matériel de transport comme des chars, du matériel de bâtiment avec de nombreuses pièces de rechange et du matériel d'alimentation notamment pour stocker de l'eau, important en période de siège. Elle servit ainsi de réserve pour alimenter les diverses batailles qui eurent lieu dans la région.

 

Lorsque la ville basse s'est développée au détriment de la ville haute, les conditions de vie dans la Cité changèrent énormément. Au XIXe siècle après l'abandon de la Cité par les militaires, la Cité enfermée dans sa double enceinte, devient un quartier abandonné où se concentre la misère. Seuls les tisserands pauvres vivent dans les lices dans des masures adossées aux murailles dans des conditions d'hygiène dignes du Moyen Âge. À la fin du XIXe siècle les occupants des maisons qui occupaient les lices sont progressivement expropriés et les lices restaurées dans leur état original. Viollet-le-Duc voit cette action comme une opération de nettoyage. La population chassée déménage alors en partie dans la ville basse et en partie à l'intérieur des murs de la Cité.

 

De nos jours, à l'intérieur de la Cité, la vie quotidienne n'est pas toujours facile. Les ruelles sont étroites, difficiles d'accès et les habitations sont vétustes, mais l'authenticité des lieux attire de nombreux visiteurs. La Cité possède plusieurs hôtels dont un hôtel de luxe, l'« hôtel de la Cité », une auberge de jeunesse, et de nombreux restaurants et boutiques de souvenirs.

La légende de Dame Carcas tente d'expliquer l'origine du nom de la Cité de Carcassonne. L'histoire dit que l'armée de Charlemagne était aux portes de la Cité aux prises des Sarrasins. Une princesse était à la tête des quelques chevaliers défendant la Cité après la mort de son mari. Il s'agit de la Princesse Carcas qui utilisa d'abord comme ruse de faux soldats qu'elle fit fabriquer et placer dans chaque tour de la Cité. Le siège dura 5 ans.

 

Mais au début de la sixième année, la nourriture et l'eau se faisaient de plus en plus rares. Dame Carcas voulut faire l'inventaire de toutes les réserves qu'il restait. Les villageois lui amenèrent un porc et un sac de blé. Elle eut alors l'idée de nourrir le porc avec le sac de blé, puis de le précipiter depuis la plus haute tour de la Cité au pied des remparts extérieurs.

 

Charlemagne et ses hommes, croyant que la Cité débordait encore de soldats et de vivres au point de gaspiller un porc nourri au blé, leva le siège. Voyant l'armée de Charlemagne quitter la plaine devant la Cité, Dame Carcas remplie de joie par la victoire de son stratagème décida de faire sonner toutes les cloches de la ville. Un des hommes de Charlemagne s'écria alors : « Carcas sonne ! », créant ainsi le nom de la ville.

This 11-foot, 4-inch marble statue of George Washington was executed by Horatio Greenough in 1840. The piece was commissioned by Congress on July 14, 1832, to commemorate the centennial of Washington's birth. It arrived from Italy on July 31, 1841 and was installed in the Capitol Rotunda in December 1841. Due to its weight and lighting concerns of the dimly lit interior, the statue was moved outdoors to the east lawn shortly after its installation, and on May 22, 1908, a joint resolution from Congress authorized its transfer to the Smithsonian Institution. It remained at the Castle until 1964, when it was moved to the new Museum of History and Technology (now the National Museum of American History).

 

Greenough's sculpture depicts a seated figure of George Washington dressed in a classical robe and sandals with his right arm held up in the air and holding a sheathed sword in his left hand. He is nude from waist up. As soon as it arrived in the Capitol City, it attracted controversy and criticism. Greenough modeled his on a classical Greek statue of Zeus, but many Americans found the sight of a half-naked Washington offensive, even comical. After the statue was relocated to the east lawn, some joked that Washington was desperately reaching for his clothes, on exhibit at the Patent Office several blocks to the north.

 

The National Museum of American History (NMAH), administered by the Smithsonian Institute, collects, preserves and displays American heritage in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific and military history. The museum, which first opened in 1964 as the Museum of History and Technology, is located on the National Mall in one of the last structures designed by McKim, Mead & White. It was renamed in 1980, and closed for a 2-year, $85 million renovation by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP from 2006 to 2008.

 

The Smithsonian Institution, an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its shops and its magazines, was established in 1846. Although concentrated in Washington DC, its collection of over 136 million items is spread through 19 museums, a zoo, and nine research centers from New York to Panama.

Mustafa İsmet İnönü (Turkish pronunciation: [isˈmet ˈinœny]; 23 September 1886 – 25 December 1973) was a Turkish army officer and statesman who served as the second president of Turkey from November 11, 1938, to May 22 1950, and as its prime minister three times: from 1923 to 1924, 1925 to 1937, and 1961 to 1965.

 

İnönü is acknowledged by many as Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's right-hand man, with their friendship going back to the Caucasus campaign. In the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, he served as the first chief of the General Staff from 1922 to 1924 for the regular Turkish army, during which he commanded forces during the First and Second Battles of İnönü. Atatürk bestowed İsmet with the surname İnönü, the site of the battles, when the 1934 Surname Law was adopted. He was also chief negotiator in the Mudanya and Lausanne conferences for the Ankara government, successfully negotiating away the Sevre treaty for the Treaty of Lausanne. As his prime minister for most of his presidency, İnönü executed many of Atatürk's modernizing and nationalist reforms. İnönü gave the orders to carry out the Zilan Massacre.

 

İnönü succeeded Atatürk as president of Turkey after his death in 1938 and was granted the official title of Millî Şef ("National Chief" by the parliament. As president and chairman of the Republican People's Party (CHP), İnönü initially continued Turkey's one party state. Kemalist style programs continued to make great strides in education by supporting projects such as Village Institutes. His governments implemented notably heavy statist economic policies. The Hatay State was annexed in 1939, and Turkey was able to maintain an armed neutrality during World War II, joining the Allied powers only three months before the end of the European Theater. The Turkish Straits crisis prompted İnönü to build closer ties with the Western powers, with the country eventually joining NATO in 1952, though by then he was no longer president.

 

Factionalism between statists and liberals in the CHP led to the creation of the Democrat Party in 1946. İnönü held the first multiparty elections in the Republic's history that year, beginning Turkey's multiparty period. 1950 saw a peaceful transfer of power to the Democrats when the CHP suffered defeat in the elections. For ten years, İnönü served as the leader of the opposition before returning to power as prime minister following the 1961 election, held after the 1960 coup-d'état. The 1960s saw İnönü reinvent the CHP as a political party, which was "Left of Center" as a new party cadre led by Bülent Ecevit became more influential. İnönü remained leader of the CHP until 1972, when he was defeated by Ecevit in a leadership contest. He died on December 25, 1973, of a heart attack, at the age of 89. He is interred opposite to Atatürk's mausoleum at Anıtkabir in Ankara.

 

İsmet İnönü (born Mustafa İsmet) was born in 1886 in Smyrna (İzmir) in the Aidin Vilayet to Hacı Reşit and Cevriye (later Cevriye Temelli). Hacı Reşit was retired after serving as director of the First Examinant Department of the Legal Affairs Bureau of the War Ministry (Harbiye Nezareti Muhakemat Dairesi Birinci Mümeyyizliği). A member of the Kürümoğlu family of Bitlis, İnönü's father was born in Malatya. According to its members studying the ancestral background of the family, Kürümoğlus were of Turkish origin, while secondary sources refer to the family as of Kurdish descent. His mother was the daughter of Müderris Hasan Efendi, who belonged to the ulem and was a member of the Turkish family of Razgrad (present-day Bulgaria). In 1933 he visited Razgrad since the city's Turkish cemetery was attacked. İsmet was the family's second child; he had three brothers, including the family's first child, Ahmet Midhat, two younger brothers, Hasan Rıza and Hayri (Temelli), as well as a sister Seniha (Otakan). Due to his father's assignments, the family moved from one city to another.

 

İnönü completed his primary education in Sivas and graduated from Sivas Military Junior High School (Sivas Askerî Rüştiyesi) in 1894. He then studied at the Sivas School for Civil Servants (Sivas Mülkiye İdadisi) for a year. He graduated from the Imperial School of Military Engineering in 1904 as a lieutenant gunnery officer and entered the Military Academy to graduate as a first-rank staff captain on September 26, 1906. İnönü started his duty in the Second Army based in Adrianople (Edirne) on October 2, 1906, in the 3rd Battery Command of the 8th Field Artillery Regiment. As part of his platoon officer staff internship, he gave lessons in military strategy and artillery. Captain İsmet was also part of the Ottoman–Bulgarian commissions.

 

Through Ali Fethi (Okyar), he briefly joined the Committee of Union and Progress in 1907, which wished to overthrow Sultan Abdul Hamid II. During the 31 March Incident, he was on the staff of the Second Cavalry Division, which was mobilized to join the Action Army and marched on Constantinople (İstanbul) to depose Abdul Hamid II. Returning to Adrianople following the suppression of the mutiny, İnönü left the committee in the summer of 1909.

 

He won his first military victory by suppressing Imam Yahya Muhammad Hamiddin's revolt in Yemen. İsmet eventually became chief of staff of the force sent to suppress the rebellion and personally negotiated with Imam Yahya in Kaffet-ül-Uzer to bring Yemen back into the empire. For this, he was promoted to the rank of major. He returned to Constantinople in March 1913 to defend the capital from Bulgarian attack during the First Balkan War. İnönü was part of the Turkish delegation that negotiated the Treaty of Constantinople with the Bulgarians as a military adviser. He held a close relationship with Enver Pasha and played an active role in the reformation of the army.

 

İnönü began climbing the ranks during World War I, becoming lieutenant colonel on November 29, 1914, and then being appointed as the First Branch Manager of the General Headquarters on December 2. He was appointed chief of staff of the Second Army on October 9, 1915, and was promoted to the rank of colonel on December 14 December 1915.

 

Inönü married Emine Mevhibe Hanim on April 13, 1917, when he was 31 and she was only 20 (for she was more than ten years his junior whilst he was more than ten years her senior), three weeks before he left for the front to return home only after the conclusion of the Armistice of Mudros on October 30, 1918.[13] Of which she later bore his three sons and one daughter. He began working with Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) Pasha as a corps commander on the Caucasian Front. İnönü was appointed to the IV Corps Command on January 12, 1917, upon the recommendation of Atatürk. He was recalled to Constantinople after a while and returned to take part as a corps commander of the Seventh Army. On May 1, he was appointed to command XX Corps on the Palestine Front, and then III Corps on June 20. He once again came into contact with Atatürk when he assumed command of the Seventh Army. İnönü's forces received the brunt of Edmond Allenby's attack on Beersheba that ended the stalemate on the Sinai front. He was wounded in the Battle of Megiddo and was sent back to Constantinople, where he held various administrative positions in the War Ministry during the armistice period.

 

After the military occupation of Constantinople on March 16, 1920, İnönü decided to escape to Anatolia to join the Ankara government. He and his chief of staff, Major Saffet (Arıkan) escaped Maltepe in the evening of March 19 and arrived in Ankara on April 9. He joined the Grand National Assembly (GNA), which was opened on April 23, 1920, as a deputy of Edirne. Like many others in the Turkish National Movement, he was sentenced to death in absentia by the Ottoman government on June 6, 1920. In May 1920, he was appointed chief of the general staff. The next year, he was appointed commander of the Western Front of the Army of the GNA, a position in which he remained during the Turkish War of Independence. He was promoted to the rank of Mirliva (to that extent, Pasha) after winning the First and Second Battle of İnönü. When the 1934 Surname Law was adopted Atatürk bestowed İsmet Pasha with the surname İnönü, where the battles took place.

 

İnönü was replaced by Mustafa Fevzi Pasha (Çakmak), who was also the prime minister and minister of defense at the time, as the chief of staff after the Turkish forces lost major battles against the advancing Greek Army in July 1921, as a result of which the cities of Afyonkarahisar, Kütahya and Eskişehir were temporarily lost. During the war, İnönü's infant son İzzet died before his victory in Sakarya and this news was only delivered to him in the spring of 1922. His wife, Emine Mevhibe hid the news and the severity of his son's sickness due to the intensity of the war. He participated as a staff officer (with the rank Brigadier General) in the later battles, including Dumlupınar.

 

Chief negotiator in Mudanya and Lausanne

See also: Armistice of Mudanya and Treaty of Lausanne

After the War of Independence was won, İnönü was appointed as the chief negotiator of the Turkish delegation, both for the Armistice of Mudanya and for the Treaty of Lausanne.

 

The Lausanne conference convened in late 1922 to settle the terms of a new treaty that would take the place of the Treaty of Sèvres. İnönü became famous for his stubborn resolve in determining the position of Ankara as the legitimate, sovereign government of Turkey. After delivering his position, İsmet turned off his hearing aid during the speeches of British foreign secretary Lord Curzon. When Curzon had finished, İnönü reiterated his position as if Curzon had never said a word.

 

İsmet İnönü served as the prime minister of Turkey throughout Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's presidency, stepping down as prime minister for three months during Fethi Okyar's premiership and in the last year of Atatürk's presidency when he was replaced by Celal Bayar. İnönü therefore helped to execute most of Atatürk's reformist programs. It was his suggestion to make Ankara the capital of Turkey, which was approved by the parliament. İnönü was also an important factor in the proclamation of the Republic and the abolition of the Caliphate and Evkaf Ministry. He resigned from the premiership for health reasons on November 22, 1924 for Fethi Okyar, but since Okyar lost a vote of confidence from parliament due to the Sheikh Said rebellion, İnönü returned to the prime ministry.

 

İnönü immediately banned all opposition parties (including the Progressive Republican Party) and the press. Independence Tribunals were reestablished to prosecute the Kurdish rebels. In 1926, it allegedly came out that former members of the CUP attempted to assassinate Atatürk in the İzmir plot, which resulted in the remaining CUP leaders being executed. İnönü retired his military command in 1927.

 

While dealing with the Sheikh Said revolt, İnönü proclaimed a Turkish nationalist policy and encouraged the Turkification of the non-Turkish population. Following the suppression of the Sheikh Said rebellion, he presided over the Reform Council for the East, which prepared the Report for Reform in the East, which recommended impede the establishment of a Kurdish elite, forbid non-Turkish languages, and create regional administrative units called Inspectorates-General, which were to be governed by martial law. He stated the following in regards to the Kurds; "We're frankly nationalists, and nationalism is our only factor of cohesion. Before the Turkish majority, other elements had no kind of influence. At any price, we must turkify the inhabitants of our land, and we will annihilate those who oppose." Following this report, three Inspectorates-General were established in the Kurdish areas, which comprise several provinces. On the direct order of İnönü, the Zilan massacre of thousands of Kurdish civilians was perpetrated by the Turkish Land Forces in the Zilan Valley of Van Province on July 12 and 13, 1930, during the Ararat rebellion. Nation building was codified into law when a new settlement regime was enacted in 1934, resettling Albanians, Abkhazians, Circassians, and Kurds in new areas in order to create a homogeneous Turkish state.

 

İnönü was responsible for most of the reformist legislation promulgated during Turkey's one party period. The Hat Law and the closure of Dervish lodges were enacted in 1925; in 1928, the Turkish alphabet switched to being written with Latin characters, and in 1934, titles such as Efendi, Bey, and Pasha were abolished; and certain articles of religious clothing were banned, though İnönü was and still is popularly known as İsmet Pasha. 1934 was also the year that the Surname Law was adopted, with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk bestowing İsmet with the surname İnönü, the location where İsmet won the battles against the Greek army in 1921. He was also a proponent of replacing foreign loan words with "Pure Turkish" words.

 

İnönü managed the economy with heavy-handed government intervention, especially during the Great Depression, by implementing an economic plan inspired by the Five Year Plan of the Soviet Union. In doing so, he took much private property under government control. Due to his efforts, to this day, more than 70% of land in Turkey is still owned by the state.

 

Desiring a more liberal economic system, Atatürk dissolved the government of İnönü in 1937 and appointed Celâl Bayar, the founder of the first Turkish commercial bank, Türkiye İş Bankası, as prime minister, thus beginning a decades long rivalry between Bayar and İnönü.

 

After the death of Atatürk on November 10, 1938, İnönü was viewed as the most appropriate candidate to succeed him and was unanimously elected the second president of the Republic of Turkey and leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP). He attempted to build himself a cult of personality by receiving the official title of Millî Şef, i.e., "National Chief".

 

One of his first actions was to annex in 1939 the Hatay State, which declared independence from French Syria. İnönü also wished to move on from one-party rule by taking incremental steps to multiparty politics. He hoped to accomplish this by establishing the Independent Group as a force of opposition in the parliament, but they fell short of expectations under wartime conditions. İnönü dismissed Bayar's government because of differences between the two on economic policy in 1939. İnönü was an avowed statist, while Bayar wished for a more liberal economy. Turkey's early industrialization accelerated under İnönü but the onset of World War II disrupted economic growth.

 

Much reform in education was accomplished during İnönü's presidency through the efforts of Hasan Âli Yücel, who was minister of education throughout İnönü's governments. 1940 saw the establishment of the Village Institutes, in which well-performing students from the country were selected to train as teachers and return to their hometown to run community development programs.

 

World War II broke out in the first year of his presidency, and both the Allies and the Axis pressured İnönü to bring Turkey into the war on their side. The Germans sent Franz von Papen to Ankara in April 1939, while the British sent Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen and the French René Massigli. On April 23, 1939, Turkish Foreign Minister Şükrü Saracoğlu told Knatchbull-Hugessen of his nation's fears of Italian claims to the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum and German control of the Balkans and suggested an Anglo-Soviet-Turkish alliance as the best way of countering the Axis. In May 1939, during the visit of Maxime Weygand to Turkey, İnönü told the French Ambassador René Massigli that he believed that the best way of stopping Germany was an alliance of Turkey, the Soviet Union, France and Britain; that if such an alliance came into being, the Turks would allow Soviet ground and air forces onto their soil; and that he wanted a major programme of French military aid to modernize the Turkish armed forces.

 

The signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact on August 23, 1939, drew Turkey away from the Allies; the Turks always believed that it was essential to have the Soviet Union as an ally to counter Germany, and thus the signing of the German-Soviet pact undercut completely the assumptions behind Turkish security policy. With the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, İnönü chose to be neutral in World War II as taking on Germany and the Soviet Union at the same time would be too much for Turkey, though he signed a tripartite treaty of alliance with Britain and France on October 19, 1939, obligating Turkey's entry into the war if fighting spread to the Mediterranean. However, with France's defeat in June 1940 İnönü abandoned the pro-Allied neutrality that he had followed since the beginning of the war. A major embarrassment for the Turks occurred in July 1940 when the Germans captured and published documents from the Quai d'Orsay in Paris showing the Turks were aware of Operation Pike—as the Anglo-French plan in the winter of 1939–40 to bomb the oil fields in the Soviet Union from Turkey was codenamed—which was intended by Berlin to worsen relations between Ankara and Moscow. In turn, worsening relations between the Soviet Union and Turkey were intended to drive Turkey into the arms of the Reich. After the publication of the French documents relating to Operation Pike, İnönü pulled out of the tripartide pact signed with Britain and France and signed the German–Turkish Treaty of Friendship and the Clodius Agreement, which placed Turkey within the German economic sphere of influence, but İnönü went no further towards the Axis.

 

In the first half of 1941, Germany, which was intent on invading the Soviet Union, went out of its way to improve relations with Turkey as the Reich hoped for benevolent Turkish neutrality when the German-Soviet war began. At the same time, the British had great hopes in the spring of 1941 when they dispatched an expeditionary force to Greece that İnönü could be persuaded to enter the war on the Allied side as the British leadership had high hopes of creating a Balkan front that would tie down German forces, which thus led to a major British diplomatic offensive with Foreign Secretary Sir Anthony Eden visiting Ankara several times to meet with İnönü. İnönü always told Eden that the Turks would not join the British forces in Greece, and the Turks would only enter the war if Germany attacked Turkey. For his part, Papen offered İnönü parts of Greece if Turkey were to enter the war on the Axis side, an offer İnönü declined. In May 1941 when the Germans dispatched an expeditionary force to Iraq to fight against the British, İnönü refused Papen's request that the German forces be allowed transit rights to Iraq. Another attempt by Hitler to woo Turkey came in February 1943, when Talaat Pasha's remains were returned to Turkey for a state burial.

 

Internal opposition to Turkish neutrality came from ultra-nationalist circles and factions of the military that wished to incorporate the Turkic-populated areas of the Soviet Union by allying with Germany. This almost erupted into a coup d'état against the government. Leading pan-Turkists including Alparslan Türkeş, Nihal Atsız, and Şaik Gökyay were arrested and sentenced time in prison in the Racism-Turanism trials.

 

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill traveled to Ankara in January 1943 for a conference with President İnönu to urge Turkey's entry into the war on the allied side. Churchill met secretly with İnönü inside a railroad car at the Yenice Station near Adana. By 4–6 December 1943, İnönü felt confident enough about the outcome of the war that he met openly with Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill at the Second Cairo Conference. Until 1941, both Roosevelt and Churchill thought that Turkey's continued neutrality would serve the interests of the Allies by blocking the Axis from reaching the strategic oil reserves of the Middle East. But the early victories of the Axis up to the end of 1942 caused Roosevelt and Churchill to re-evaluate possible Turkish participation in the war on the side of the Allies. Turkey had maintained a decently-sized army and air force throughout the war, and Churchill wanted the Turks to open a new front in the Balkans. Roosevelt, on the other hand, still believed that a Turkish attack would be too risky and an eventual Turkish failure would have disastrous effects for the Allies.

 

İnönü knew very well the hardships that his country had suffered during decades of incessant war between 1908 and 1922 and was determined to keep Turkey out of another war as long as he could. The young Turkish Republic was still re-building, recovering from the losses due to earlier wars, and lacked any modern weapons and the infrastructure to enter a war to be fought along and possibly within its borders. İnönü based his neutrality policy during the Second World War on the premise that Western Allies and the Soviet Union would sooner or later have a falling out after the war. Thus, İnönu wanted assurances on financial and military aid for Turkey, as well as a guarantee that the United States and the United Kingdom would stand beside Turkey in the event of a Soviet invasion of the Turkish Straits after the war. In August 1944, İnönü broke off diplomatic relations with Germany, and on January 5, 1945, İnönü severed diplomatic relations with Japan. Shortly afterwards, İnönü allowed Allied shipping to use the Turkish Straits to send supplies to the Soviet Union, and on February 25, 1945, he declared war on Germany and Japan. For this Turkey became a founding member of the United Nations.

 

The post-war tensions and arguments surrounding the Turkish Straits would come to be known as the Turkish Straits crisis. The fear of Soviet invasion and Joseph Stalin's unconcealed desire for Soviet military bases in the Turkish Straits eventually caused Turkey to give up its principle of neutrality in foreign relations and join NATO in February 1952.

 

Domestic policy

Maintaining an armed neutrality proved to be disruptive for the young republic. The country existed in a practical state of war throughout the Second World War: military production was prioritized at the expense of peacetime goods, rationing and curfews were implemented, and high taxes were put in place, causing severe economic hardship for many. One such tax was the Wealth Tax (Varlık Vergisi), a discriminatory tax that demanded very high one-time payments from Turkey's non-Muslim minorities. This tax is seen by many to be a continuation of the Jizya tax paid by dhimmis during Ottoman times, or Millî İktisat (National Economy) economic policy implemented by the Committee of Union and Progress regime three decades ago. It was only repealed in 1944 under American and British pressure.

 

A famous story of İnönü happened in a meeting in Bursa for the 1969 general elections. A young man yelled at him, "You let us go without food!" İnönü replied to him by saying, "Yes, I let you go without food, but I did not let you become fatherless," implying the death of millions of people from both sides of World War II.

 

For the Kemalists there was always a desire for Turkey to develop into a democracy. Before the Independent Group, Atatürk experimented with opposition through the Liberal Republican Party, which lasted three months before it had to be shut down when reactionaries threatened to hijack the party. In an opening speech to the Grand National Assembly on November 1, 1945, İnönü openly expressed the country's need for an opposition party. He welcomed Celal Bayar establishing the Democrat Party (DP), which separated from the CHP. However, due to the anti-Communist hysteria brought on by the new Soviet threat, new leftist parties were swiftly banned, and rural development initiatives such as the Village Institutes and People's Rooms were closed. Even with such pressure on the left, İnönü established the Ministry of Labour in 1945 and signed into law important protections for workers. Universities were given autonomy, and İnönü's title of "unchangeable chairman" of CHP was abolished.

 

İnönü allowed for Turkey's first multiparty elections to be held in 1946; however, the elections were infamously not free and fair; voting was carried out under the gaze of onlookers who could determine which voters had voted for which parties, and secrecy prevailed as to the subsequent counting of votes. Instead of inviting Şükrü Saraçoğlu to form another government, he assigned CHP hardliner Recep Peker to the task, who contributed to a polarizing atmosphere in the parliament. İnönü had to act as a mediator several times between Peker and Bayar, who threatened to have the DP walk from parliament if they didn't have some of their demands met, such as ensuring judicial review, secret ballots, and public counting for elections. On 12 July 1947 İsmet İnönü gave a speech broadcast on radio and in newspapers that he would stand equal distance from the government and opposition, prompting Peker's resignation.

 

Free and fair national elections had to wait until 1950, and on that occasion, İnönü's government was defeated. In the 1950 election campaign, the leading figures of the Democrat Party used the slogan "Geldi İsmet, kesildi kısmet" ("İsmet arrived, [our] fortune left"). CHP lost the election with 41% of the vote against DP's 55%, but due to the winner-takes-all electoral system, DP received 85% of the seats in parliament. İnönü presided over the peaceful transfer of power to the DP leaders, Bayar and Adnan Menderes. Bayar would serve as Turkey's third president, and Menderes would be its first prime minister not from the CHP.

 

For ten years, İnönü served as the leader of the opposition. In opposition, the CHP established its youth and women's branches. On June 22 June 1953, the establishment of trade unions and vocational chambers was proposed, and the right to strike for workers was added to the party program. The CHP formed an electoral alliance with the Republican Nation Party and Liberty party for the 1957 election, which was blocked by the DP government.

 

In the lead-up to the elections prepared for 1960, İnönü and CHP members faced regular harassment from the authorities and DP supporters, to the point where he was almost lynched several times. In 1958, the DP mayor of Zile declared martial law and mobilized the gendarmerie to prevent İnönü from conducting a rally in the city; a similar event happened in the city of Çankırı. In 1959, İnönü began a campaign tour that followed the same path he took thirty years ago as a Pasha from Uşak to İzmir and ended in victory for the Turkish nationalists. The DP minister of interior refused to promise protection to him. In Uşak, a crowd blocked İnönü from going to his podium, and he was hit in the head with a stone. Following his "Great Offensive," he flew to Istanbul, where he was almost lynched by a DP-organized mob on the way to Topkapı Palace. He was also banned from speaking in rallies in Kayseri and Yeşilhisar.

 

İnönü was banned from 12 sessions of parliament. This coincided an authoritarian turn of the Democrat Party, which culminated in a military coup.

 

The Turkish Armed Forces overthrew the government as a result of the military coup on 27 May 1960. After one year of junta rule in which the Democrat Party was banned and its top leaders executed in the Yassıada Trials, elections were held once the military returned to their barracks. İnönü returned to power as Prime Minister after the 1961 election, in which the CHP won the election. Right-wing parties have since continuously attacked İnönü and the CHP for their perceived involvement in the hanging of Prime minister Menderes, even though İnönü advocated for Menderes' pardoning.

 

İnönü's governments were defined by an effort to deescalate tensions between radical forces in the Turkish army wishing for extended junta rule and former Democrats that wished for amnesty. İnönü's CHP did not gain enough seats in the legislature to win a majority in the elections, so in an effort to create reconciliation, he formed coalition governments with the neo-Democrat Justice Party the New Turkey Party and the Republican Villagers Nation Party until 1965. Forming coalitions with DP successor parties, however, provoked radical officers into action. Colonel Talat Aydemir twice attempted to overthrow the government in 1962 and 1963 Turkish coup d'etat attempt. Aydemir was later executed for conducting both coups. Aydemir's 1962 coup had the most potential to succeed when İnönü, President Cemal Gürsel and Chief of Staff Cevdet Sunay were held up in Çankaya Mansion by the putschists. Aydemir decided to let the group go, which foiled the coup.

 

While in coalition with the far-right Republican Villagers Nation Party, İnönü renounced the Greco-Turkish Treaty of Friendship of 1930 and took actions against the Greek minority. The Turkish government also strictly enforced a long-overlooked law barring Greek nationals from 30 professions and occupations; for example, Greeks could not be doctors, nurses, architects, shoemakers, tailors, plumbers, cabaret singers, ironsmiths, cooks, tourist guides, etc., and 50,000 more Greeks were deported. These actions were taken because of the growing anti-Greek sentiment in Turkey after the ethnic conflict in Cyprus flared up again. With an invasion of the island imminent, American President Lyndon Johnson sent a memorandum to İnönü, effectively vetoing Turkish intervention. A subsequent meeting at the White House between İnönü and Johnson on June 22, 1964, meant Cyprus' status quo continued for another ten years. An event a couple years earlier also strained the otherwise amicable relationship İnönü held with Washington, namely the withdrawal of the nuclear-armed PGM-19 Jupiter MRBMs briefly stationed in Turkey, which was undertaken in the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis. While Washington withdrew the MRBMs, some B61 nuclear bombs are still stored in İncirlik Air Base.

 

İnönü's governments established the National Security Council, Turkish Statistical Institute, and Turkey's leading research institute, TÜBİTAK. Turkey signed the Ankara agreement, the first treaty of cooperation with the European Economic Community, and also increased ties with Iran and Pakistan. The army was modernized, and the National Intelligence Organization was founded. İnönü was instrumental in establishing CHP as "Left of Center" on the political spectrum as a new left-wing party cadre led by his protégé Bülent Ecevit became more influential. İnönü survived an assassination attempt from a Menderes supporter in 1964.

 

İnönü returned to the opposition after losing both the 1965 and 1969 general elections to a much younger man, Justice Party leader Süleyman Demirel. He remained leader of the CHP until 1972, when an interparty crisis over his endorsement of the 1971 military memorandum led to his defeat by Ecevit in the 5th extraordinary CHP convention. This was the first overthrow of a party leader in a leadership contest in the Republic's history. İnönü left his party and resigned his parliamentarianship afterward. Being a former president he was a member of the Senate in the last year of his life.

 

On December 25, 1973, İsmet İnönü died of a heart attack at the age of 87. The parliament declared national mourning until his burial. He was interred at Anıtkabir opposite Atatürk's mausoleum, on December 28. Following the 1980 coup, Kenan Evren transferred twelve graves from Anıtkabir, but kept İnönü's in place. İnönü's tomb took its present shape in January 1997.

 

Sinta (Greek: Σίντα; Turkish: İnönü or Sinde) is a village in the Famagusta District of Cyprus. It is under the de facto control of Northern Cyprus. The village was recorded as early as the early 13th century in papal documents.

 

Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a de facto state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus. It is recognised only by Turkey, and its territory is considered by all other states to be part of the Republic of Cyprus.

 

Northern Cyprus extends from the tip of the Karpass Peninsula in the northeast to Morphou Bay, Cape Kormakitis and its westernmost point, the Kokkina exclave in the west. Its southernmost point is the village of Louroujina. A buffer zone under the control of the United Nations stretches between Northern Cyprus and the rest of the island and divides Nicosia, the island's largest city and capital of both sides.

 

A coup d'état in 1974, performed as part of an attempt to annex the island to Greece, prompted the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. This resulted in the eviction of much of the north's Greek Cypriot population, the flight of Turkish Cypriots from the south, and the partitioning of the island, leading to a unilateral declaration of independence by the north in 1983. Due to its lack of recognition, Northern Cyprus is heavily dependent on Turkey for economic, political and military support.

 

Attempts to reach a solution to the Cyprus dispute have been unsuccessful. The Turkish Army maintains a large force in Northern Cyprus with the support and approval of the TRNC government, while the Republic of Cyprus, the European Union as a whole, and the international community regard it as an occupation force. This military presence has been denounced in several United Nations Security Council resolutions.

 

Northern Cyprus is a semi-presidential, democratic republic with a cultural heritage incorporating various influences and an economy that is dominated by the services sector. The economy has seen growth through the 2000s and 2010s, with the GNP per capita more than tripling in the 2000s, but is held back by an international embargo due to the official closure of the ports in Northern Cyprus by the Republic of Cyprus. The official language is Turkish, with a distinct local dialect being spoken. The vast majority of the population consists of Sunni Muslims, while religious attitudes are mostly moderate and secular. Northern Cyprus is an observer state of ECO and OIC under the name "Turkish Cypriot State", PACE under the name "Turkish Cypriot Community", and Organization of Turkic States with its own name.

 

Several distinct periods of Cypriot intercommunal violence involving the two main ethnic communities, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, marked mid-20th century Cyprus. These included the Cyprus Emergency of 1955–59 during British rule, the post-independence Cyprus crisis of 1963–64, and the Cyprus crisis of 1967. Hostilities culminated in the 1974 de facto division of the island along the Green Line following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The region has been relatively peaceful since then, but the Cyprus dispute has continued, with various attempts to solve it diplomatically having been generally unsuccessful.

 

Cyprus, an island lying in the eastern Mediterranean, hosted a population of Greeks and Turks (four-fifths and one-fifth, respectively), who lived under British rule in the late nineteenth-century and the first half of the twentieth-century. Christian Orthodox Church of Cyprus played a prominent political role among the Greek Cypriot community, a privilege that it acquired during the Ottoman Empire with the employment of the millet system, which gave the archbishop an unofficial ethnarch status.

 

The repeated rejections by the British of Greek Cypriot demands for enosis, union with Greece, led to armed resistance, organised by the National Organization of Cypriot Struggle, or EOKA. EOKA, led by the Greek-Cypriot commander George Grivas, systematically targeted British colonial authorities. One of the effects of EOKA's campaign was to alter the Turkish position from demanding full reincorporation into Turkey to a demand for taksim (partition). EOKA's mission and activities caused a "Cretan syndrome" (see Turkish Resistance Organisation) within the Turkish Cypriot community, as its members feared that they would be forced to leave the island in such a case as had been the case with Cretan Turks. As such, they preferred the continuation of British colonial rule and then taksim, the division of the island. Due to the Turkish Cypriots' support for the British, EOKA's leader, Georgios Grivas, declared them to be enemies. The fact that the Turks were a minority was, according to Nihat Erim, to be addressed by the transfer of thousands of Turks from mainland Turkey so that Greek Cypriots would cease to be the majority. When Erim visited Cyprus as the Turkish representative, he was advised by Field Marshal Sir John Harding, the then Governor of Cyprus, that Turkey should send educated Turks to settle in Cyprus.

 

Turkey actively promoted the idea that on the island of Cyprus two distinctive communities existed, and sidestepped its former claim that "the people of Cyprus were all Turkish subjects". In doing so, Turkey's aim to have self-determination of two to-be equal communities in effect led to de jure partition of the island.[citation needed] This could be justified to the international community against the will of the majority Greek population of the island. Dr. Fazil Küçük in 1954 had already proposed Cyprus be divided in two at the 35° parallel.

 

Lindley Dan, from Notre Dame University, spotted the roots of intercommunal violence to different visions among the two communities of Cyprus (enosis for Greek Cypriots, taksim for Turkish Cypriots). Also, Lindlay wrote that "the merging of church, schools/education, and politics in divisive and nationalistic ways" had played a crucial role in creation of havoc in Cyprus' history. Attalides Michael also pointed to the opposing nationalisms as the cause of the Cyprus problem.

 

By the mid-1950's, the "Cyprus is Turkish" party, movement, and slogan gained force in both Cyprus and Turkey. In a 1954 editorial, Turkish Cypriot leader Dr. Fazil Kuchuk expressed the sentiment that the Turkish youth had grown up with the idea that "as soon as Great Britain leaves the island, it will be taken over by the Turks", and that "Turkey cannot tolerate otherwise". This perspective contributed to the willingness of Turkish Cypriots to align themselves with the British, who started recruiting Turkish Cypriots into the police force that patrolled Cyprus to fight EOKA, a Greek Cypriot nationalist organisation that sought to rid the island of British rule.

 

EOKA targeted colonial authorities, including police, but Georgios Grivas, the leader of EOKA, did not initially wish to open up a new front by fighting Turkish Cypriots and reassured them that EOKA would not harm their people. In 1956, some Turkish Cypriot policemen were killed by EOKA members and this provoked some intercommunal violence in the spring and summer, but these attacks on policemen were not motivated by the fact that they were Turkish Cypriots.

 

However, in January 1957, Grivas changed his policy as his forces in the mountains became increasingly pressured by the British Crown forces. In order to divert the attention of the Crown forces, EOKA members started to target Turkish Cypriot policemen intentionally in the towns, so that Turkish Cypriots would riot against the Greek Cypriots and the security forces would have to be diverted to the towns to restore order. The killing of a Turkish Cypriot policeman on 19 January, when a power station was bombed, and the injury of three others, provoked three days of intercommunal violence in Nicosia. The two communities targeted each other in reprisals, at least one Greek Cypriot was killed and the British Army was deployed in the streets. Greek Cypriot stores were burned and their neighbourhoods attacked. Following the events, the Greek Cypriot leadership spread the propaganda that the riots had merely been an act of Turkish Cypriot aggression. Such events created chaos and drove the communities apart both in Cyprus and in Turkey.

 

On 22 October 1957 Sir Hugh Mackintosh Foot replaced Sir John Harding as the British Governor of Cyprus. Foot suggested five to seven years of self-government before any final decision. His plan rejected both enosis and taksim. The Turkish Cypriot response to this plan was a series of anti-British demonstrations in Nicosia on 27 and 28 January 1958 rejecting the proposed plan because the plan did not include partition. The British then withdrew the plan.

 

In 1957, Black Gang, a Turkish Cypriot pro-taksim paramilitary organisation, was formed to patrol a Turkish Cypriot enclave, the Tahtakale district of Nicosia, against activities of EOKA. The organisation later attempted to grow into a national scale, but failed to gain public support.

 

By 1958, signs of dissatisfaction with the British increased on both sides, with a group of Turkish Cypriots forming Volkan (later renamed to the Turkish Resistance Organisation) paramilitary group to promote partition and the annexation of Cyprus to Turkey as dictated by the Menderes plan. Volkan initially consisted of roughly 100 members, with the stated aim of raising awareness in Turkey of the Cyprus issue and courting military training and support for Turkish Cypriot fighters from the Turkish government.

 

In June 1958, the British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, was expected to propose a plan to resolve the Cyprus issue. In light of the new development, the Turks rioted in Nicosia to promote the idea that Greek and Turkish Cypriots could not live together and therefore any plan that did not include partition would not be viable. This violence was soon followed by bombing, Greek Cypriot deaths and looting of Greek Cypriot-owned shops and houses. Greek and Turkish Cypriots started to flee mixed population villages where they were a minority in search of safety. This was effectively the beginning of the segregation of the two communities. On 7 June 1958, a bomb exploded at the entrance of the Turkish Embassy in Cyprus. Following the bombing, Turkish Cypriots looted Greek Cypriot properties. On 26 June 1984, the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktaş, admitted on British channel ITV that the bomb was placed by the Turks themselves in order to create tension. On 9 January 1995, Rauf Denktaş repeated his claim to the famous Turkish newspaper Milliyet in Turkey.

 

The crisis reached a climax on 12 June 1958, when eight Greeks, out of an armed group of thirty five arrested by soldiers of the Royal Horse Guards on suspicion of preparing an attack on the Turkish quarter of Skylloura, were killed in a suspected attack by Turkish Cypriot locals, near the village of Geunyeli, having been ordered to walk back to their village of Kondemenos.

 

After the EOKA campaign had begun, the British government successfully began to turn the Cyprus issue from a British colonial problem into a Greek-Turkish issue. British diplomacy exerted backstage influence on the Adnan Menderes government, with the aim of making Turkey active in Cyprus. For the British, the attempt had a twofold objective. The EOKA campaign would be silenced as quickly as possible, and Turkish Cypriots would not side with Greek Cypriots against the British colonial claims over the island, which would thus remain under the British. The Turkish Cypriot leadership visited Menderes to discuss the Cyprus issue. When asked how the Turkish Cypriots should respond to the Greek Cypriot claim of enosis, Menderes replied: "You should go to the British foreign minister and request the status quo be prolonged, Cyprus to remain as a British colony". When the Turkish Cypriots visited the British Foreign Secretary and requested for Cyprus to remain a colony, he replied: "You should not be asking for colonialism at this day and age, you should be asking for Cyprus be returned to Turkey, its former owner".

 

As Turkish Cypriots began to look to Turkey for protection, Greek Cypriots soon understood that enosis was extremely unlikely. The Greek Cypriot leader, Archbishop Makarios III, now set independence for the island as his objective.

 

Britain resolved to solve the dispute by creating an independent Cyprus. In 1959, all involved parties signed the Zurich Agreements: Britain, Turkey, Greece, and the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, Makarios and Dr. Fazil Kucuk, respectively. The new constitution drew heavily on the ethnic composition of the island. The President would be a Greek Cypriot, and the Vice-President a Turkish Cypriot with an equal veto. The contribution to the public service would be set at a ratio of 70:30, and the Supreme Court would consist of an equal number of judges from both communities as well as an independent judge who was not Greek, Turkish or British. The Zurich Agreements were supplemented by a number of treaties. The Treaty of Guarantee stated that secession or union with any state was forbidden, and that Greece, Turkey and Britain would be given guarantor status to intervene if that was violated. The Treaty of Alliance allowed for two small Greek and Turkish military contingents to be stationed on the island, and the Treaty of Establishment gave Britain sovereignty over two bases in Akrotiri and Dhekelia.

 

On 15 August 1960, the Colony of Cyprus became fully independent as the Republic of Cyprus. The new republic remained within the Commonwealth of Nations.

 

The new constitution brought dissatisfaction to Greek Cypriots, who felt it to be highly unjust for them for historical, demographic and contributional reasons. Although 80% of the island's population were Greek Cypriots and these indigenous people had lived on the island for thousands of years and paid 94% of taxes, the new constitution was giving the 17% of the population that was Turkish Cypriots, who paid 6% of taxes, around 30% of government jobs and 40% of national security jobs.

 

Within three years tensions between the two communities in administrative affairs began to show. In particular disputes over separate municipalities and taxation created a deadlock in government. A constitutional court ruled in 1963 Makarios had failed to uphold article 173 of the constitution which called for the establishment of separate municipalities for Turkish Cypriots. Makarios subsequently declared his intention to ignore the judgement, resulting in the West German judge resigning from his position. Makarios proposed thirteen amendments to the constitution, which would have had the effect of resolving most of the issues in the Greek Cypriot favour. Under the proposals, the President and Vice-President would lose their veto, the separate municipalities as sought after by the Turkish Cypriots would be abandoned, the need for separate majorities by both communities in passing legislation would be discarded and the civil service contribution would be set at actual population ratios (82:18) instead of the slightly higher figure for Turkish Cypriots.

 

The intention behind the amendments has long been called into question. The Akritas plan, written in the height of the constitutional dispute by the Greek Cypriot interior minister Polycarpos Georkadjis, called for the removal of undesirable elements of the constitution so as to allow power-sharing to work. The plan envisaged a swift retaliatory attack on Turkish Cypriot strongholds should Turkish Cypriots resort to violence to resist the measures, stating "In the event of a planned or staged Turkish attack, it is imperative to overcome it by force in the shortest possible time, because if we succeed in gaining command of the situation (in one or two days), no outside, intervention would be either justified or possible." Whether Makarios's proposals were part of the Akritas plan is unclear, however it remains that sentiment towards enosis had not completely disappeared with independence. Makarios described independence as "a step on the road to enosis". Preparations for conflict were not entirely absent from Turkish Cypriots either, with right wing elements still believing taksim (partition) the best safeguard against enosis.

 

Greek Cypriots however believe the amendments were a necessity stemming from a perceived attempt by Turkish Cypriots to frustrate the working of government. Turkish Cypriots saw it as a means to reduce their status within the state from one of co-founder to that of minority, seeing it as a first step towards enosis. The security situation deteriorated rapidly.

 

Main articles: Bloody Christmas (1963) and Battle of Tillyria

An armed conflict was triggered after December 21, 1963, a period remembered by Turkish Cypriots as Bloody Christmas, when a Greek Cypriot policemen that had been called to help deal with a taxi driver refusing officers already on the scene access to check the identification documents of his customers, took out his gun upon arrival and shot and killed the taxi driver and his partner. Eric Solsten summarised the events as follows: "a Greek Cypriot police patrol, ostensibly checking identification documents, stopped a Turkish Cypriot couple on the edge of the Turkish quarter. A hostile crowd gathered, shots were fired, and two Turkish Cypriots were killed."

 

In the morning after the shooting, crowds gathered in protest in Northern Nicosia, likely encouraged by the TMT, without incident. On the evening of the 22nd, gunfire broke out, communication lines to the Turkish neighbourhoods were cut, and the Greek Cypriot police occupied the nearby airport. On the 23rd, a ceasefire was negotiated, but did not hold. Fighting, including automatic weapons fire, between Greek and Turkish Cypriots and militias increased in Nicosia and Larnaca. A force of Greek Cypriot irregulars led by Nikos Sampson entered the Nicosia suburb of Omorphita and engaged in heavy firing on armed, as well as by some accounts unarmed, Turkish Cypriots. The Omorphita clash has been described by Turkish Cypriots as a massacre, while this view has generally not been acknowledged by Greek Cypriots.

 

Further ceasefires were arranged between the two sides, but also failed. By Christmas Eve, the 24th, Britain, Greece, and Turkey had joined talks, with all sides calling for a truce. On Christmas day, Turkish fighter jets overflew Nicosia in a show of support. Finally it was agreed to allow a force of 2,700 British soldiers to help enforce a ceasefire. In the next days, a "buffer zone" was created in Nicosia, and a British officer marked a line on a map with green ink, separating the two sides of the city, which was the beginning of the "Green Line". Fighting continued across the island for the next several weeks.

 

In total 364 Turkish Cypriots and 174 Greek Cypriots were killed during the violence. 25,000 Turkish Cypriots from 103-109 villages fled and were displaced into enclaves and thousands of Turkish Cypriot houses were ransacked or completely destroyed.

 

Contemporary newspapers also reported on the forceful exodus of the Turkish Cypriots from their homes. According to The Times in 1964, threats, shootings and attempts of arson were committed against the Turkish Cypriots to force them out of their homes. The Daily Express wrote that "25,000 Turks have already been forced to leave their homes". The Guardian reported a massacre of Turks at Limassol on 16 February 1964.

 

Turkey had by now readied its fleet and its fighter jets appeared over Nicosia. Turkey was dissuaded from direct involvement by the creation of a United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) in 1964. Despite the negotiated ceasefire in Nicosia, attacks on the Turkish Cypriot persisted, particularly in Limassol. Concerned about the possibility of a Turkish invasion, Makarios undertook the creation of a Greek Cypriot conscript-based army called the "National Guard". A general from Greece took charge of the army, whilst a further 20,000 well-equipped officers and men were smuggled from Greece into Cyprus. Turkey threatened to intervene once more, but was prevented by a strongly worded letter from the American President Lyndon B. Johnson, anxious to avoid a conflict between NATO allies Greece and Turkey at the height of the Cold War.

 

Turkish Cypriots had by now established an important bridgehead at Kokkina, provided with arms, volunteers and materials from Turkey and abroad. Seeing this incursion of foreign weapons and troops as a major threat, the Cypriot government invited George Grivas to return from Greece as commander of the Greek troops on the island and launch a major attack on the bridgehead. Turkey retaliated by dispatching its fighter jets to bomb Greek positions, causing Makarios to threaten an attack on every Turkish Cypriot village on the island if the bombings did not cease. The conflict had now drawn in Greece and Turkey, with both countries amassing troops on their Thracian borders. Efforts at mediation by Dean Acheson, a former U.S. Secretary of State, and UN-appointed mediator Galo Plaza had failed, all the while the division of the two communities becoming more apparent. Greek Cypriot forces were estimated at some 30,000, including the National Guard and the large contingent from Greece. Defending the Turkish Cypriot enclaves was a force of approximately 5,000 irregulars, led by a Turkish colonel, but lacking the equipment and organisation of the Greek forces.

 

The Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1964, U Thant, reported the damage during the conflicts:

 

UNFICYP carried out a detailed survey of all damage to properties throughout the island during the disturbances; it shows that in 109 villages, most of them Turkish-Cypriot or mixed villages, 527 houses have been destroyed while 2,000 others have suffered damage from looting.

 

The situation worsened in 1967, when a military junta overthrew the democratically elected government of Greece, and began applying pressure on Makarios to achieve enosis. Makarios, not wishing to become part of a military dictatorship or trigger a Turkish invasion, began to distance himself from the goal of enosis. This caused tensions with the junta in Greece as well as George Grivas in Cyprus. Grivas's control over the National Guard and Greek contingent was seen as a threat to Makarios's position, who now feared a possible coup.[citation needed] The National Guard and Cyprus Police began patrolling the Turkish Cypriot enclaves of Ayios Theodoros and Kophinou, and on November 15 engaged in heavy fighting with the Turkish Cypriots.

 

By the time of his withdrawal 26 Turkish Cypriots had been killed. Turkey replied with an ultimatum demanding that Grivas be removed from the island, that the troops smuggled from Greece in excess of the limits of the Treaty of Alliance be removed, and that the economic blockades on the Turkish Cypriot enclaves be lifted. Grivas was recalled by the Athens Junta and the 12,000 Greek troops were withdrawn. Makarios now attempted to consolidate his position by reducing the number of National Guard troops, and by creating a paramilitary force loyal to Cypriot independence. In 1968, acknowledging that enosis was now all but impossible, Makarios stated, "A solution by necessity must be sought within the limits of what is feasible which does not always coincide with the limits of what is desirable."

 

After 1967 tensions between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots subsided. Instead, the main source of tension on the island came from factions within the Greek Cypriot community. Although Makarios had effectively abandoned enosis in favour of an 'attainable solution', many others continued to believe that the only legitimate political aspiration for Greek Cypriots was union with Greece.

 

On his arrival, Grivas began by establishing a nationalist paramilitary group known as the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston B or EOKA-B), drawing comparisons with the EOKA struggle for enosis under the British colonial administration of the 1950s.

 

The military junta in Athens saw Makarios as an obstacle. Makarios's failure to disband the National Guard, whose officer class was dominated by mainland Greeks, had meant the junta had practical control over the Cypriot military establishment, leaving Makarios isolated and a vulnerable target.

 

During the first Turkish invasion, Turkish troops invaded Cyprus territory on 20 July 1974, invoking its rights under the Treaty of Guarantee. This expansion of Turkish-occupied zone violated International Law as well as the Charter of the United Nations. Turkish troops managed to capture 3% of the island which was accompanied by the burning of the Turkish Cypriot quarter, as well as the raping and killing of women and children. A temporary cease-fire followed which was mitigated by the UN Security Council. Subsequently, the Greek military Junta collapsed on July 23, 1974, and peace talks commenced in which a democratic government was installed. The Resolution 353 was broken after Turkey attacked a second time and managed to get a hold of 37% of Cyprus territory. The Island of Cyprus was appointed a Buffer Zone by the United Nations, which divided the island into two zones through the 'Green Line' and put an end to the Turkish invasion. Although Turkey announced that the occupied areas of Cyprus to be called the Federated Turkish State in 1975, it is not legitimised on a worldwide political scale. The United Nations called for the international recognition of independence for the Republic of Cyprus in the Security Council Resolution 367.

 

In the years after the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus one can observe a history of failed talks between the two parties. The 1983 declaration of the independent Turkish Republic of Cyprus resulted in a rise of inter-communal tensions and made it increasingly hard to find mutual understanding. With Cyprus' interest of a possible EU membership and a new UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1997 new hopes arose for a fresh start. International involvement from sides of the US and UK, wanting a solution to the Cyprus dispute prior to the EU accession led to political pressures for new talks. The believe that an accession without a solution would threaten Greek-Turkish relations and acknowledge the partition of the island would direct the coming negotiations.

 

Over the course of two years a concrete plan, the Annan plan was formulated. In 2004 the fifth version agreed upon from both sides and with the endorsement of Turkey, US, UK and EU then was presented to the public and was given a referendum in both Cypriot communities to assure the legitimisation of the resolution. The Turkish Cypriots voted with 65% for the plan, however the Greek Cypriots voted with a 76% majority against. The Annan plan contained multiple important topics. Firstly it established a confederation of two separate states called the United Cyprus Republic. Both communities would have autonomous states combined under one unified government. The members of parliament would be chosen according to the percentage in population numbers to ensure a just involvement from both communities. The paper proposed a demilitarisation of the island over the next years. Furthermore it agreed upon a number of 45000 Turkish settlers that could remain on the island. These settlers became a very important issue concerning peace talks. Originally the Turkish government encouraged Turks to settle in Cyprus providing transfer and property, to establish a counterpart to the Greek Cypriot population due to their 1 to 5 minority. With the economic situation many Turkish-Cypriot decided to leave the island, however their departure is made up by incoming Turkish settlers leaving the population ratio between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots stable. However all these points where criticised and as seen in the vote rejected mainly by the Greek Cypriots. These name the dissolution of the „Republic of Cyprus", economic consequences of a reunion and the remaining Turkish settlers as reason. Many claim that the plan was indeed drawing more from Turkish-Cypriot demands then Greek-Cypriot interests. Taking in consideration that the US wanted to keep Turkey as a strategic partner in future Middle Eastern conflicts.

 

A week after the failed referendum the Republic of Cyprus joined the EU. In multiple instances the EU tried to promote trade with Northern Cyprus but without internationally recognised ports this spiked a grand debate. Both side endure their intention of negotiations, however without the prospect of any new compromises or agreements the UN is unwilling to start the process again. Since 2004 negotiations took place in numbers but without any results, both sides are strongly holding on to their position without an agreeable solution in sight that would suit both parties.

two ESPR´s ribs ready to execute FA

Today, Thursday 16 November 2017, police executed warrants at eight addresses across the Moss Side and Hulme areas of Manchester.

 

The warrants were executed as the latest phase of Operation Malham, targeting the supply of drugs in South Manchester.

 

This follows previous raids last week, which means more than 14 properties have been searched and eight people arrested in total as part of the operation.

 

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Walker, of GMP’s City of Manchester team, said: “We are dedicated to rooting out those who seek to make profits from putting drugs on our streets.

 

“Today’s raids have resulted in the arrests of five people which have only been made possible through the support of partner agencies and community intelligence.

 

“We are grateful for all your support and help and I would urge you to continue to report anything suspicious to help us stop people who are benefitting from crime and remove drugs from our city.”

 

Anyone with information should contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

 

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit

www.gmp.police.uk

 

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

 

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.