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Mercredi 6 août 2014. Compiègne. Visite du palais impérial. Chambre à coucher de l'Empereur : c'est la chambre à coucher des empereurs Napoléon Ier et Napoléon III ; aujourd'hui, elle est restituée dans son état Premier Empire. La couleur dominante est le rouge dit cramoisi ; un lit central dit lit bateau de style Empire avec à son devant deux colonnettes représentant le buste d'Athéna déesse de la Guerre. Les symboles et attributs de L'Empire sont ici omniprésents : aigle impérial au-dessus du lit ; abeilles autour des étoiles sur les tissus rouges du mobilier ; feuilles de chêne et d'olivier sur les portes. Le mobilier est composé entre autres d'une méridienne ; un somno ; une cuvette ; une chaise d'aisance (pot de chambre). La salle a également subi des dommages lors de l'incendie de 1919 ; la peinture du plafond exécutée par Girodet et achevée en 1822 a disparu. Napoléon Ier n'ayant jamais connu cette œuvre, il a été décidé de ne jamais la restaurer

La ville de Compiègne est située en aval du confluent des rivières Oise et Aisne, dans le département de l'Oise.

Au sud-est s'étend la forêt domaniale de Compiègne.

Les premières traces d'habitat humain sur la commune de Compiègne remontent au début du Ve millénaire avant notre ère et se continuent jusqu'à la conquête romaine. À l'époque gallo-romaine, Compiègne fut un point de passage sur l'Oise (Isara) relié au réseau de voies secondaires à la frontière des territoires des Bellovaques (Beauvais) et des Suessions (Soissons). Un gué se trouvait au lieu-dit le Clos des Roses entre Compiègne et Venette. Dans le quartier du Clos des Roses ont été retrouvés les vestiges d'un bâtiment romain, peut-être un poste de garde militaire du gué. Au centre-ville actuel, les fouilles menées n'ont pas découvert de vestiges gallo-romains. Dans les environs, quelques vestiges de villae furent mises au jour.

Le faubourg de Saint-Germain paraît être le premier établissement de Compiègne. La ville, sur son emplacement actuel, est de formation relativement récente ; elle s'est créée autour du château des rois de France. Compiègne fut associée à la couronne de France dès l'avènement des Mérovingiens. L'acte le plus ancien qui en faisait mention est un diplôme de Childebert Ier en 547. Clotaire Ier y mourut en 561 et les rois des deux premières races y séjournèrent souvent et y tinrent de nombreux plaids et conciles. Ragenfred, maire du Palais sous Dagobert III, bat en 715 les Austrasiens dans la forêt de Cuise, près de Compiègne14. Pépin le Bref en 757, reçoit à Compiègne l'empereur Constantin V Copronyme, qui lui fait présent pour son oratoire des premières orgues connues en France. Il y reçoit aussi le serment de vassalité du duc Tassilon III de Bavière.

Charles II le Chauve (823-877) roi de Francie et empereur d'Occident en fit son séjour habituel. Par le traité de Compiègne, le 1er août16 ou le 25 août 867, il concède le Cotentin, l'Avranchin ainsi que les îles Anglo-Normandes à Salomon, roi de Bretagne.

Le 2 janvier 876, Charles le Chauve ordonne l'édification de la collégiale Sainte-Marie, future abbaye Saint-Corneille, sur le modèle de celle d'Aix-la-Chapelle. Le 5 mai 877 il fait la consacrer par le pape Jean VIII. L'importante abbaye Saint-Corneille riche de reliques insignes (Saint-Suaire, reliques de la Passion, Voile de la Vierge) devient alors le noyau autour duquel commence à se développer la ville et le roi y bâtit un nouveau palais.

Son fils Louis le Bègue fut sacré à Compiègne le 8 décembre 877 dans l'abbaye Saint-Corneille par l'archevêque Hincmar de Reims et il y mourut en 879. En 884 à Compiègne, les grands du royaume au nom de son frère Carloman signent une trêve avec les Vikings. Enfin, Louis V le dernier Carolingien, qui fut sacré à Compiègne le 8 juin 979 et qui mourut le 21 mai 987 fut inhumé dans l'abbaye Saint-Corneille.

Hugues Capet ayant été élu roi des Francs en 987, Compiègne restera un des séjours préférés des premiers Capétiens : c'est à Saint-Corneille que la reine Constance d'Arles, épouse de Robert le Pieux, fit associer au trône son fils aîné Hugues qui sera inhumé dans cette basilique en 1025, avant d'avoir pu régner seul.

C'est Louis VI, avant 1125, qui octroya à la ville sa première charte communale. L'abbaye, par suite des scandales causés par les chanoines, devient une abbaye bénédictine à partir de 1150. Les bourgeois de Compiègne qui ont aidé à l'installation des moines et à l'expulsion des chanoines, obtiennent que leur ville soit instituée en commune par le roi Louis VII en 1153. Une charte communale sera aussi donnée aux habitants de Royallieu par la reine Adélaïde. Philippe Auguste confirme les droits communaux de Compiègne en 1207 et durant tout le XIIIe siècle la ville va accroître ses biens et son autorité avec le soutien du roi, qui sert d'arbitre entre les religieux de l'abbaye et les bourgeois de la commune.

Au milieu du XIIIe siècle, Saint Louis construit le Grand Pont, réparé sous Charles VIII et qui durera jusqu'en 1735. Saint Louis enlève aux moines la juridiction du prieuré et de l'hôpital Saint-Nicolas-au-Pont et va en faire un Hôtel-Dieu. Le roi, aidé par son gendre, roi de Navarre, y porta le premier malade sur un drap de soie en 1259.

Durant le XIVe siècle, la commune de Compiègne en proie à des difficultés financières insurmontables, va devoir renoncer à sa charte communale et le roi va nommer un prévôt pour administrer la ville et rendre la justice, avec le concours d'un maire aussi nommé par le roi et des représentants des bourgeois. La communauté élit tous les quatre ans, plusieurs "gouverneurs-attournés" chargés de la gestion communale. En cas de guerre le roi nomme un capitaine, proposé par la communauté qui se charge de la défense.

Jusqu'à la fin du XIVe siècle les rois réunirent souvent les États-généraux à Compiègne. En 1358, le régent Charles y réunit les États de Langue d'oïl pour rétablir l'autorité royale face aux menées d'Étienne Marcel. En 1374, il commence la construction d'un nouveau château sur l'emplacement actuel du Palais. Compiègne est désormais séjour royal et séjour de la cour, et reçoit la visite de nombreux princes.

Compiègne a vu naître Pierre d'Ailly, cardinal-évêque de Cambrai, chancelier de l'Université de Paris, diplomate qui contribua à mettre fin au Grand Schisme d'Occident, auteur de plusieurs ouvrages d'érudition. L'un de ses ouvrages permit à Christophe Colomb de préparer la découverte de l'Amérique.

Pendant la guerre de Cent Ans, Compiègne fut assiégée et prise plusieurs fois par les Bourguignons. Elle embrassa quelque temps le parti du roi d'Angleterre. Mais à partir du sacre de Charles VII, elle redevient fidèle au roi de France. Le plus mémorable de ces sièges est celui de 1430 où Jeanne d'Arc, accourue dans la ville pour la défendre, tomba le 23 mai aux mains des Bourguignons, lors d'une sortie sur la rive droite de l'Oise et fut vendue aux Anglais. Ce siège s'est traduit par d'importantes destructions par suite des bombardements, une baisse de la population et un appauvrissement des habitants. Les guerres menées par Louis XI se traduisent encore par des charges supplémentaires (fortifications, logement des gens de guerre), des impôts plus lourds et des emprunts forcés, et il faudra attendre le règne de Charles VIII pour entreprendre la reconstruction, relancer l'activité et retrouver la population d'avant la guerre.

Depuis lors, les rois de France continuèrent à résider souvent à Compiègne et prirent l'habitude de s'y arrêter en revenant de se faire sacrer à Reims, ainsi qu'avait fait Charles VII, accompagné de Jeanne d'Arc, en 1429.

La restauration de Compiègne est marquée par la reconstruction de l'hôtel-de-ville durant le premier tiers du XVIe siècle, symbole de la Ville. Le beffroi est orné des trois Picantins représentant des prisonniers anglais, flamands et bourguignons qui frappent les heures sur les cloches.

Les rois faisaient encore de courts séjours de François Ier à Henri IV. Compiègne était ville royale, ses gouverneurs-attournés étaient nommés avec l'avis du roi, les impôts, taxes et emprunts étaient dus au roi et les régiments de passage étaient logés chez les habitants. Pendant les guerres de religion, Compiègne resta catholique, fidèle à la royauté et bénéficia en retour de quelques avantages de la part des souverains. L'édit de Compiègne de 1547 réservant aux tribunaux laïcs le jugement des protestants dès qu'il y a scandale public, est une des premières étapes de la répression contre les huguenots.

1756 et 1764 : premier et deuxième traités conclus avec la République de Gênes pour le rattachement de la Corse à la France.

1770 : Louis XV et le dauphin y accueillirent au château Marie-Antoinette lors de son arrivée en France.

1790 : création de département de l'Oise et démantèlement de la province d'Île-de-France (voir l'histoire de l'Île-de-France).

1794 : la Révolution française juge et guillotine les seize sœurs carmélites de Compiègne, dont Georges Bernanos s'inspire pour écrire sa pièce Dialogues des Carmélites.

1804 : le château de Compiègne intègre le domaine impérial.

18 juin au 18 septembre 1808 : le roi Charles IV d'Espagne venant d'abdiquer est logé par Napoléon au château de Compiègne.

27 mars 1810 : Napoléon rencontre Marie-Louise d'Autriche au château pour la première fois.

15 mars 1814 : les Prussiens attaquent la ville par la route de Noyon.

9 août 1832 : mariage au château de Louise-Marie d'Orléans (fille du roi Louis-Philippe Ier) au Roi des Belges, Léopold Ier.

1856 à 1869 : Napoléon III séjourne fréquemment au château lors de ses visites en forêt.

Compiègne organise les épreuves de golf des Jeux olympiques d'été de 1900 sur le terrain de la Société des sports de Compiègne.

5 avril 1917 au 25 mars 1918 : le général Pétain installe au château son quartier général où se tiennent plusieurs conférences interalliées.

25 mars 1918 : durant l'offensive du printemps une réunion de crise réunit Georges Clemenceau, Raymond Poincaré, Louis Loucheur, Henri Mordacq, Ferdinand Foch et Philippe Pétain dans la commune, afin d'organiser la défense de la ligne de front avec les britanniques.

11 novembre 1918 : en forêt domaniale de Compiègne, dans un wagon au milieu d'une futaie, à proximité de Rethondes, signature entre la France et l'Allemagne de l'Armistice de 1918 en présence du maréchal Foch et du général Weygand

Château de Compiègne:

Quatre palais se sont succédé à Compiègne. Le plus ancien remonte au début de la dynastie mérovingienne et datait vraisemblablement du règne de Clovis. Il était probablement construit en bois et son emplacement est malaisé à déterminer.

De nombreux actes officiels sont datés de Compiègne, ce qui semble indiquer que les Mérovingiens y passaient du temps. C'est dans ce « palais royal » de Compiègne que meurt Clotaire Ier en 561, au retour d'une chasse à Saint-Jean-aux-Bois.

C'est à Compiègne que Clotaire II fait la paix avec son neveu Thibert II (ou Théodebert) en 604. Dagobert Ier y réunit en 633 le parlement qui décide de la fondation de la basilique de Saint-Denis et c'est au palais qu'était conservé son trésor, partagé en 639 entre ses successeurs.

Sous les Carolingiens, Compiègne est fréquemment le lieu de réunion des « assemblées générales » d'évêques et de seigneurs et, à partir du règne de Pépin le Bref, devient un lieu important sur le plan diplomatique : c'est là qu'en 757, Pépin accueille, au milieu d'une grande assemblée, une ambassade de l'empereur de Constantinople Constantin V Copronyme et qu'il reçoit l'hommage du duc de Bavière, Tassilon III. C'est là aussi que Louis le Pieux réunit plusieurs assemblées dont deux, en 830 et 833, tentent de le pousser à l'abdication.

Charles le Chauve établit progressivement à Compiègne le siège de son autorité royale puis impériale. En 875, il y reçoit une ambassade de l'émir de Cordoue, Muhammad Ier, qui apporte de riches présents convoyés à dos de chameau. Sacré empereur à Rome à la Noël 875, Charles fonde en 877 l'abbaye Notre-Dame de Compiègne4 qu'il établit à l'emplacement de l'ancien palais mérovingien, tandis que lui-même se fait construire un nouveau palais situé vers l'Oise, auquel l'abbaye sert de chapelle impériale, sur le modèle du palais que son grand-père Charlemagne avait créé à Aix-la-Chapelle.

Le fils de Charles le Chauve, Louis II le Bègue, est intronisé et sacré à Compiègne en 877, dans la chapelle palatine, où il est enterré deux ans plus tard, en 879. C'est là qu'est sacré Eudes, duc de France, fils de Robert le Fort, proclamé roi en 888 par l'assemblée des grands de préférence à Charles le Simple, trop jeune. Devenu roi à son tour, ce dernier séjourne fréquemment à Compiègne qui reste la principale résidence des souverains de la deuxième dynastie. C'est là que meurt le dernier des Carolingiens, Louis V, en 987.

Les Capétiens continuent à fréquenter Compiègne, mais le palais perd progressivement son rôle politique. Le développement de la ville de Compiègne les conduit à aliéner peu à peu l'ancien domaine royal au profit de la population. Philippe Auguste renforce les murailles de la ville et fortifie le vieux palais carolingien en érigeant un donjon pour mieux contrôler l'Oise.

Le processus d'aliénation du domaine royal s'achève sous Saint Louis; seules la grande salle et la tour de l'ancien palais sont conservées comme siège et symbole de l'administration militaire et féodale, mais les grandes assemblées doivent désormais se tenir à l'abbaye Saint-Corneille. Le roi ne conserve à Compiègne qu'une modeste résidence en lisière de la forêt, au lieu-dit Royallieu.

Charles V édifie vers 1374 un château à l'origine du palais actuel. En 1358, alors qu'il n'est encore que régent du royaume, il a réuni à Compiègne, dans l'ancien palais carolingien, les états généraux et éprouvé le manque de sécurité du logis de Royallieu, en lisière de forêt.

Il décide alors de bâtir un nouveau château sur un terrain qu'il rachète en 1374 aux religieux de Saint-Corneille, à qui Charles le Chauve l'avait vendu. Il faut faire abattre les maisons qui s'y trouvent et les travaux ne sont pas terminés lorsque Charles V meurt en 1380.

C'est ce château qui, agrandi au fil des siècles, va donner naissance au palais actuel; n'en subsistent que quelques vestiges noyés dans la maçonnerie du bâtiment.

C'est dans ce château que Charles VI réunit les états généraux de 1382. Les rois séjournent fréquemment à Compiègne avec une interruption au XVe siècle, la ville tombant aux mains des Bourguignons entre 1414 et 1429. Charles VII, qui vient de se faire sacrer à Reims, y fait son entrée solennelle le 18 août 1429 et y séjourne pendant douze jours, inaugurant la tradition du séjour du roi à Compiègne au retour du sacre, qui sera observée par presque tous les monarques jusqu'à Charles X inclus.

Il ne revient à Compiègne, accompagné du dauphin, le futur Louis XI, qu'en 1441, pour trouver un château très endommagé au cours de différents sièges, qu'il fait remettre en état et agrandir en 1451, à l'occasion d'un séjour prolongé.

Charles VIII et Louis XII font plusieurs séjours à Compiègne. François Ier, qui y vient fréquemment, fait améliorer les bâtiments et se préoccupe de l'aménagement de la forêt.

Son fils, Henri II, qui y séjourne pour des durées généralement plus longues, fait décorer la Porte-Chapelle, percée dans le rempart de la ville pour donner accès à la cour de la chapelle du château.

Charles IX est à l'origine de la création d'un « jardin du Roi » d'environ six hectares, qui constitue l'amorce du futur parc. Les troubles des guerres de Religion sont peu propices à de longs séjours royaux à Compiègne. Henri III doit renoncer à tenir à Compiègne les états généraux de 1576, mais c'est en l'église de l'abbaye Saint-Corneille que son corps est transporté pour y être inhumé après son assassinat en 1589, Compiègne étant alors la seule ville royale à être encore « au roi ».

Le château de Compiègne, inoccupé et mal entretenu durant les guerres de Religion, est devenu inhabitable. Lorsque Henri IV vient à Compiègne, il préfère loger en ville, tandis que l'atelier des monnaies est installé dans le château en 1594. Toutefois, à partir de 1598, les travaux de réparation commencent.

Quand Louis XIII vient pour la première fois à Compiègne, en 1619, il trouve le séjour si agréable qu'il y revient trois fois dans l'année. En 1624, il s'y installe d'avril à juillet et reçoit au château une ambassade du roi d'Angleterre Jacques Ier ainsi que les délégués des Provinces-Unies. Lors de son dernier séjour, en 1635, Louis XIII ordonne la réfection totale des appartements du Roi et de la Reine, réalisée sous la régence d'Anne d'Autriche.

Sous Louis XIV l'exiguïté du château amène à construire en ville des bâtiments pour les grandes et petite chancelleries, les écuries du Roi et de Monsieur, des hôtels pour les ministres et leurs bureaux, car Compiègne est, avec Versailles et Fontainebleau la seule demeure royale où le Roi réunisse le Conseil. Pour autant, le roi considère avant tout Compiègne comme un séjour de repos et de détente; il aime à y chasser et fait tracer le Grand Octogone, 54 routes nouvelles et construire des ponts de pierre sur les ruisseaux.

En 1666 a lieu le premier "camp de Compiègne", premier d'une série de seize grandes manœuvres militaires, dont le dernier se tiendra en 1847, destinées à la formation des troupes et de leurs chefs, à l'éducation des princes et au divertissement de la Cour et du peuple. Le plus important de ces camps est celui de 1698 où, selon Saint-Simon, « l'orgueil du Roi voulut étonner l'Europe par la montre de sa puissance [...] et l'étonna en effet ».

Après 1698 Louis XIV ne revient plus à Compiègne et le château reste inoccupé pendant dix ans.

D'octobre 1708 à mars 1715, il accueille l'Électeur de Bavière Maximilien II Emmanuel, mis au ban de l'Empire et à qui son allié Louis XIV offre asile et protection à Compiègne.

Louis XV arrive pour la première fois à Compiègne le 4 juin 1728. Le jeune roi a choisi de s'établir au château pendant qu'est réuni à Soissons le congrès qui discute de la paix avec l'Espagne. Prenant un grand plaisir à chasser dans la forêt, il va chaque été y passer un à deux mois.

L'incommodité du château, ensemble de bâtiments sans unité, sans plan d'ensemble, mal reliés entre eux et trop petits devient manifeste. Après une campagne d'aménagements intérieurs (1733), des travaux d'agrandissement sont réalisés sous la direction de Jacques V Gabriel de 1736 à 1740.

Le château devint rapidement la résidence préférée de Louis XV, qui envisagea un temps d'y déplacer sa résidence permanente.

Entre 1740 et 1751, plusieurs projets de reconstruction totale sont présentés. Tous sont éclipsés par celui qu'Ange-Jacques Gabriel présente en 1751 : immédiatement agréé, il est aussitôt mis à exécution. Malgré les travaux, Louis XV continue de venir souvent à Compiègne, où il aime à chasser. C'est là qu'il choisit d'organiser, le 14 mai 1770, une réception en l'honneur de l'archiduchesse Marie-Antoinette d'Autriche, venue épouser le dauphin, futur Louis XVI, et accueillie en forêt de Compiègne quelques heures auparavant.

Sa mort n'interrompt pas les travaux, qui sont poursuivis à partir de 1776 sous la direction de Louis Le Dreux de La Châtre, élève d'Ange-Jacques Gabriel avant de devenir son collaborateur; il achève la reconstruction du château en respectant scrupuleusement les plans de son maître. L'ensemble – gros œuvre et décors – est achevé en 1788.

Louis XVI vient très peu à Compiègne; il y séjourne une première fois en 1774, peu après son accession au trône, et, conformément à la tradition, s'y arrête en 1775 trois jours en allant à Reims et trois jours en en revenant. Par la suite, il n'y fait que quelques brefs séjours de chasse. L'accélération des travaux, à la suite de décisions prises par le Roi et la Reine en 1782, rendait au demeurant le château difficilement habitable. le couple royal ne vit pas ses appartements terminés.

L'assemblée des notables de 1787 juge les dépenses effectuées à Compiègne excessives. Sous la Révolution, le mobilier est vendu, comme celui des autres résidences royales (mai-septembre 1795).

En 1799, une première section du Prytanée militaire est installée au château, avec d'autres éléments, elle forme l'École des Arts et Métiers, qui occupe le bâtiment jusqu'en 1806.

Le 12 avril 1807, par un décret daté de Finckenstein, Napoléon Ier ordonne la remise en état du château. L'architecte Louis-Martin Berthault est chargé de la direction des travaux. Ceux-ci consistent en la mise hors d'eau du bâtiment et en de considérables travaux de réaménagement intérieur et de décoration. Une grande galerie (galerie de Bal) est notamment créée dans une aile de la cour des Cuisines à partir de 1809.

Le jardin est entièrement replanté et une continuité est créée avec la forêt, le mur d'enceinte étant remplacé par une grille.

Dans l'ancienne aile de la Reine, Berthault commence par aménager sommairement un appartement destiné au logement d'un roi étranger, qui ne tarde pas à recevoir Charles IV d'Espagne, qui arrive à Compiègne le 18 juin 1808, après avoir été contraint d'abdiquer. Il y reste jusqu'en septembre avant d'être transféré à Marseille.

Napoléon accueille à Compiègne l'archiduchesse Marie-Louise d'Autriche, future impératrice, le 27 mars 1810 pour leur première rencontre. La Cour revient à Compiègne après le mariage, célébré à Paris. Elle y retourne l'été suivant, le couple impérial étant accompagné, cette fois-ci, du roi de Rome. En 1813, le château abrite provisoirement le roi de Westphalie Jérôme Bonaparte et la reine Catherine.

Le 1er avril 1814, le château est vaillamment défendu par le major Otenin.

Peu après, Louis XVIII, sur le chemin de Paris, choisit de s'y arrêter quelques jours pour analyser la situation avant de faire son entrée dans la capitale (29 avril - 2 mai 1814).

Dans les années suivantes les princes et les princesses de la famille royale viennent fréquemment à Compiègne, mais toujours pour de brefs séjours d'un à deux jours, parfois même une nuit ou quelques heures, à l'occasion d'une chasse, avec une très petite suite.

Charles X fait son premier séjour à Compiègne comme roi de France du 8 au 10 novembre 1824, accompagné d'une suite nombreuse. Du 24 au 27 mai 1825, il s'y arrête sur le chemin de Reims et, au retour, séjourne au château, selon l'usage, du 1er au 13 juin. Il y vient ensuite fréquemment pour de brefs séjours de chasse, en dernier lieu du 24 au 29 mai 1830. Le château est sous le majorat de Mathieu de Montmorency et Arnouph Deshayes de Cambronne.

Louis-Philippe vient pour la première fois à Compiègne en 1832 pour préparer le mariage de sa fille aînée Louise avec le roi des Belges Léopold Ier, qui est célébré au château le 9 août 1832.

Après la Révolution de 1848, Compiègne devient domaine national. Le Prince-Président, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, s'y rend en février 1849 à l'occasion de l'inauguration de la ligne de chemin de fer Compiègne-Noyon.

Devenu empereur, il revient y passer une dizaine de jours du 18 au 28 décembre 1852, avec une suite d'une centaine de personnes. Au cours de l'automne 1852, il y fait une cour assidue à Eugénie de Montijo. S'étant émerveillée lors d'une promenade dans le parc de l'effet produit par les gouttes de rosée sur un trèfle, elle se voit offrir dès le lendemain par l'Empereur une broche d'émeraudes et de diamants en forme de « trèfle de Compiègne ». La Cour revient à Compiègne en 1853 et 1855, mais ce n'est qu'en 1856 que commence la série des « Compiègne », c'est-à-dire un séjour d'un mois à un mois et demi chaque automne, pour les chasses en forêt, avec organisation des invités en « séries » d'une centaine d'invités chacune. Il y avait généralement quatre séries. L'étiquette est réduite à son minimum, les invités jouissant d'une large indépendance.

En 1870 et 1871, le château est occupé par les Prussiens.

Il accueille en 1901 le tsar Nicolas II de Russie, dernier souverain à résider à Compiègne. Pendant la Première Guerre mondiale, les Anglais s'y installent, puis l'état-major allemand en 1914. Le château est transformé en hôpital en 1915 avant d'abriter le Grand Quartier général de mars 1917 à avril 1918.

Après la Guerre, le service des Régions libérés s'installe au château et occasionne des dégâts importants : en 1919, un incendie dévaste la Chambre de l'Empereur et le Cabinet du Conseil. En 1939, avec la Seconde Guerre mondiale, le château est vidé de son mobilier, qui retrouvera sa place en 1945.

HUD Secretaries Visit Puerto Rico to Execute Disaster Grant Agreement

HUD Secretaries Visit Puerto Rico to Execute Disaster Grant Agreement

HUD Secretaries Visit Puerto Rico to Execute Disaster Grant Agreement

A finely executed urn; this symbolised the repository of the soul and is frequently shown with another symbol, the drape.

St Helen's Church (Helen was the mother of Constantine The Great) gives its name to the tiny hamlet of Llanellen. The church is 12th Century with the addition of a rather incongruous Victorian Gothic bell tower containing two bells. The earliest recorded incumbent of the church was John ap Adam. During the Civil War, there was a Roundhead encampment on the slopes of the dominating Blorenge Mountain and for whatever reason, ten of them are buried in the churchyard. The vicar of this time Richard Watkins, was evicted by the Puritans for using the Prayer Book, but later re-instated.

This morning (Friday 23 August) police in Rochdale executed two warrants in the Freehold neighbourhood as they continue their relentless pursuit of those intent on causing harm to the local community.

Three men aged 14 – 54, have been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to supply class A and B drugs. They remain in police custody for questioning.

Following a thorough search of the addresses, significant quantities of class A and B drugs were found, with an estimated street sale value of £51,000. We also seized several weapons, including two samurai swords, and several items consistent with a significant drugs operation.

This is the latest activity which comes under the district’s Operation Affect, the force’s latest Clear, Hold, Build initiative. Police are systematically dismantling and disrupting organised crime in the area, by pursuing gang members and criminals to clear the area, holding the location to prevent criminals exploiting the vacuum created by the original disruption, and working with partners and Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) to build a prosperous and resilient community.

So far, the team have made 36 arrests, secured three full closure orders on nuisance properties linked to criminality, and seized large quantities of cash, drugs, and weapons.

Building on a successful community event held earlier this year, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) are working with local residents and partners to design out crime in Freehold and rebuild a stronger community.

The overall investment is anticipated to be around £5M and will keep residents safer and improve the overall look of the local area, including providing higher quality common areas and improving the condition of the buildings.

Inspector Meena Yasin, who is leading Operation Affect, said: “Since launching this operation we’ve seen a real concerted effort to disrupt illegal drug supply in the Freehold area of Rochdale.

"From speaking with residents, we know that drug dealing, and anti-social behaviour has been a particular area of concern for them.

“The seizures this morning means we have been able to take tens of thousands of pounds worth of illicit and harmful products off our streets and dismantle a significant drugs operation which has been blighting our residents.

“Our officers remain in the area to provide a visible reassurance for residents. If you have any concerns or want to share information about suspicious behaviour in the area, please speak to them, they are there to help you.

“You know your community best, and your intelligence often forms a large and crucial park of our criminal investigations, helping us to remove criminals from the streets.”

Hayley Stockham, RBH Director of Neighbourhoods, said: "We have zero tolerance for anti-social behaviour and criminal activity in our neighbourhoods. We're very grateful to the local community for supporting our joint efforts to stamp out this behaviour.

“We will continue to work closely with our partners in the Police and at the Council, and we know that this is making a significant difference to the lives of local people. We encourage members of the community to continue to report crime and anti-social behaviour to RBH and to the Police.”

If you have any concerns about drugs in your area, let us know via our Live Chat function on our website, or by calling 101, so that we can take action.

Always dial 999 in an emergency.

Alternatively, you can report it to Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

- "The 'royal quarter' was a little > 200 m.s NE of the outer enclosure wall [of Chogha Zanbil's temple complex], accessible through a massive gate structure in the eastern city wall. It consisted of 3 large bldg.s or 'palaces' (and likely a 4th no longer extant) with multiple courtyards. Palaces II and III were poorly preserved, although they were planned and executed on a monumental scale and date from the time of Untaš Napiriša. Palace I, the hypogeum palace, with its 5 vaulted subterranean burial chambers, remained in use until @ 1000 B.C., possibly as a place of pilgrimage. Unlike Susa or Kabnak (Haft Tepe), where tombs were used for multiple burials, the subterranean vaults at Āl Untaš Napiriša contained only one skeleton each; the rest of the bodies had been cremated. Why cremation has been attested only in the tombs of Āl Untaš Napiriša is unknown." (Iranica online)

- Scroll down in this technical article to the 6th to 8th pages (pp.s 371-373) to see cross-sections of the 5 royal Elamite tombs here. www.scielo.cl/pdf/rconst/v19n3/0718-915X-rconst-19-03-366...

- I toured at least a few Elamite royal tombs here, all with a similar layout. The others were less hospitable than this, with floors covered in black bat guano. In one the stench of ammonia was close to overwhelming and I heard very much high-pitched screeching. A narrow passageway vertical to the main chamber led from an entrance in one wall to what appeared to be a parallel chamber, but which I've just learned (from viewing the diagrams in the analysis in the link above) was an equally long or longer chamber positioned vertically which widened from the entrance passageway, itself just @ a few m.s long. That long, vertical, unlit chamber was a bat cave, almost entirely dark but a space alive with motion and a mass of small shapes zipping back and forth from the floor to the ceiling in a frenzy or panic as I walked slowly closer to the threshold of their lair. As large as I've just learned the chamber is, it was full of them. (I now think that that chamber was the tomb proper, and that I was standing in an antechamber.) I'll never forget the piercing screeching, the power of the stench, and the space alive with zipping shapes. I was curious but didn't dare go further in.

- The 2012 LP edition for Iran (the most recent at archive.org) and 2008 and 2004 write that "steep ancient steps lead down into Tomb no. 5. Descending is unwise as the pit stinks of toiletry misdemeanours, especially bad when the temperature hits 45 degrees celsius." Either none of their contributors went down to take a look and no-one's written to disabuse them of their 'misdemeanours' theory, or its editors have discouraged exploration of these tombs to protect and give some peace to the local bats, the right thing to do, of course. It's trite to say that the bats are very important. youtu.be/HDL04dPtcyE?si=-CsAdbdQzu1bAtjS I wish I'd returned in the evening to watch them emerge from the tomb in a great cloud. (Btw, the greatest variety of bats anywhere on earth, and by far and away, is in South America.)

- This comes up in a search online for Bats in Iran en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mammals_of_Iran , but nothing re species in Khuzestan/Khuzistan.

The DEZFUL BRIDGE and the ruins of WATER MILLS on the Dez

- I made my way SE from Andimeshk one evening to the city of Dezful (Dehz-fool) on the river Dez (by bus or minibus or taxi? The cities are @ 5 or 6 km.s apart.) I don't remember what I'd been told about Dezful, but likely that it's a much older city than Andimeshk. So I was impressed when I arrived at the bank of a river at a spot beside and before another visibly ancient bridge stretching across it with huge piers and arches made of fired mud brick (and with a few new ones near the NW end). Again, I find that reading up re the sites and sights I toured so long ago is really worth doing. This bridge is a case in point as I've learned that it was Sassanian (with foundations dating to the Elamite era), that it's quite famous, constructed or reconstructed in 260 AD by Roman slaves, and that it's one of the oldest bridges in active use anywhere, still featuring 14 original arches. In fact, it's the world's longest ancient bridge in current use, 5 or 6 or so times longer than the competition, spanning 385.5 m.s, 9.5 m.s wide and 15 m.s in height. Only the Pont du Gard aqueduct (40-60 AD) near Nîmes compares at 275 m.s in length, 6.4 m.s wide, and a much taller 48.8 m.s in height.

- Shapur I was famously responsible for its construction or reconstruction and that of the weir over the Dez. Construction was supervised by Roman engineers, whose "employment ... was due not to the lack of skilled Persian engineers, but to the fact that these Romans happened to be available there at that particular time" (according to L. Lockhart, 'Persian Cities'). A Roman field army of 50-60,000 was destroyed and Roman troops and Emperor Valerian (he of the infamous 'Decius Decree' of 257) were taken captive by Shapur I and his Sassanian force of @ 40,000 at 'The Battle of Edessa' (a site /b/ Carrhae and Edessa [latter day Urfa]). Valerian was the first Roman Emperor in history to be captured as a POW "causing shock and instability throughout the Roman empire". According to Lactantius (a Christian writer who was likely biased against Valerian) Shapur liked to use Valerian as a human foot-stool when mounting his horse. youtu.be/yx1NzpLF1N8?si=LtTIF9TLDFvR9XXE youtu.be/gAKrPSlmjm0?si=TrInQefUq1A6uCcc Roman soldiers were skilled craftsmen, and so Shapur put them to work as POWs. "A characteristically Roman feature of the bridge is the inclusion of supplementary openings over each pier which serve to ease pressure on the structure when the river is greatly in flood." (L. Lockhart) It was repaired several times by Safavids, Qajars and early Pahlavis.

youtube.com/shorts/97I7gNzEp3g?si=7FaLcYHJ6iSB9z1R

youtu.be/yewJY30o1-w?si=6gnE33lJImvu0Pgx

- I sat by the river below the bridge and had a picnic with food I bought somewhere. To one side the ruins of ancient water-mills stretch out into the river, built on rocks which produce rapids. In 1840 Baron de Bode wrote that "[t]hese little islets are united by narrow bridges, and at the approach of night, when the millers trim their lamps, there is a perfect illumination on the river." The islets and little bridges are seen at the 1:36 min. pt. in the last video above, and at the 5:25 min. pt. in this vlog.: youtu.be/xJankVjF3xI?si=e5RiWVixCj6JuQpN (I didn't explore them like the vlogger does, but I saw them from the bridge, the view at the 9:05 min. pt., as well as from the shore. I didn't know what they were.)

- I don't recall how much more of Dezful I saw than the bridge and the ruined mills in the river, but I must've strolled around some. Baron de Bode described the bldg.s of Dezful as "lofty and spacious, most [with] sardabs or chambers hewn out of the rock beneath them into which the inmates retire during the heat of the day in summer." See sardabs or 'shavadans' in the great vlog in the last link from the 15:10 min. pt. to 16:00 and a popular, deep qanat (popular for its A/C) from 26:00 to 27:35. The vlogger explores the old part of town with its bldg.s made of characteristic long, flat, yellow bricks from the 12:25 min. pt. to 20:50. 113 brick monuments in the city have been registered on Iran’s National Heritage List, incl. mosques, hamams, houses and 'archways'. (He tours a couple of sprawling house museums, at least one of which wasn't open to the public in 2000.)

- Another miss in his video is the narrow Emamzadeh of Seyyed Ali Safavi aka Pire Rudband (Timurid, restored under the Safavids), a Shi'ite missionary and the grandson of Sheykh Safi addin Ardabili, with its typical sugarloaf dome, and wonderfully situated high atop a cliff above the Dez (21:50 to 22:25).

History of Dezful

- Founded in Sassanian times (although, again, the base of the famous bridge was Elamite), the city was known as Andimishk in its earlier history; the name Dezful, a variant of Dez-pul, 'fortress-bridge', didn't come into use until the 14th cent. An infamous fortress was erected to protect the bridge from which the current name of the city derives. It "was used not only for purposes of defense, but as a veritable 'castle of oblivion' in which persons of high degree were imprisoned, as at the castle of Alamut in Safavid times. No one was permitted under pain of death to speak of this fortress, nor of anyone who had the misfortune to be incarcerated in it. Curiously enough, the exact position of this sinister castle remained a mystery for centuries until it was discovered, from an Armenian source, that it was at Andimishn, which was of course Andimishk. The Armenian king, Arshak III, was immured in this castle having been taken prisoner in battle. Despairing of ever regaining his liberty, he stabbed himself to death in 367 AD. Another illustrious prisoner, the Sassanian monarch Kavadh (aka Qubad) I, who ascended the throne in 488, was deposed some years later for his espousal of the heretical doctrines of Mazdak and his distaste for Zoroastrianism. Having languished for some time in the dungeon, he was rescued by his faithful adherent Siyavush. But according to Procopius and other writers, it was Kavadh's exceedingly beautiful wife who effected his deliverance. She promised to bestow her favours on the governor of the fortress if he would first allow her to spend an hour with her husband. Upon gaining admittance to his dungeon, she immediately changed clothes with him, and when the allotted time for the meeting had elapsed, he succeeded in making his way past the guards and out of the fortress [what about her deal with the governor?], while his wife remained behind. ... Kavadh subsequently regained his throne and reigned until his death in 531." (L. Lockhart) I haven't found any reference to this baleful donjon online (apart from a brief reference in the vlog. in the link above from the 10:23 min. pt. to 10:40.) I guess it's entirely gone?

- "It must be admitted that the history of Dezful for the greater part of the Islamic period has been relatively uneventful. ... When Timur appeared before the town in March, 1393, having subdued the Lors, it promptly submitted to him and thereby escaped his wrath. It was probably soon after his visit that Khwaja 'Ali, the grandson of Shaikh Safi of Ardabil (the occupant of the Emamzadeh mentioned above), came to Dezful and converted the inhabitants to Shi'ism by miraculously holding up the waters of the Ab-i-Dez" according to legend.

- Sometime @ 1830 "an Armenian introduced a new method of preparing indigo which was practiced with great success in Dezful. Many of the inhabitants were employed in this industry, and the dye was in great demand in all parts of Persia. Late in the 19th cent. however, imported dyes made the local industry uneconomic."

- Mandaeans: Baron de Bode visited Dezful in 1840 and met with members of the local Sabaean or Sabian aka Mandaean community. "[F]rom one he obtained part of a copy of the Ta'rikh-i-Yahya or 'History of St. John'." Many Mandaeans/Sabaeans, pre-Christian baptists in an ancient sect who venerate John the Baptist and claim him as the founder of their faith, have moved to Ontario in the last 20 years. I heard or read somewhere that they have a temple or an administrative base in Maple. I bet they brought some ancient texts here with them.

- Located in SW Iran, the city is known as the “City of Rockets”, as it fell under rocket attacks > 200 X throughout the Iran-Iraq War.

Other misses in town:

- The early Qajar Kornasiyon hamam is now an anthropology museum.

- The 15th cent. emamzadeh of Shah Rukn ad-Din (a contemporary of Tamerlane) under a blue, 14-sided, conical dome. A Timurid hamam is on-site.

There was plenty that I missed in the area.:

- The famous Emamzadeh of Yaqub Layth Saffari aka Saffarid Yaʿqub b. Layṯ (840-879) beneath its brick, sugar-loaf double-dome (similar to that at the tomb of Daniel in Shush but not white) is at Eslamabad, @ 2 clicks SW of the 39 (the road to Shushtar), @ 12 SE of Dezful and less than 2 north of the ruins of the fabled Sassanian city of Gondeshapur (see below). The occupant is revered in Iran. A coppersmith born in 840 in Karnin, east of Zaranj in what is today Afghanistan, Yaqub fought as a child soldier against the Tahirids, was later promoted to commander, declared himself emir, conquered non-Muslim lands to the east in what is today Afghanistan and Pakistan, and then liberated most Iranian states from the Arabs, incl. much of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran by 873, reuniting them following 200 yr.s of Arab rule. He then sought to take Baghdad and the Caliphate but was defeated by the larger forces of Caliph al-Mu'tamid. He had defeated the Khawarij, Alawites and Tahirians, founded the Saffarid dynasty, and ordained the resumption of the use of Persian as the official language of his empire, cementing his folk-hero status. The story goes that when a bard composed and sang an ode to him in Arabic per the custom of the time, he criticized him for reciting it in a language he didn't understand. Henceforth, court poetry was written in Persian. (I'm reminded that the English endured a francophone administration, nobility and civil service for @ 200 yr.s, from the arrival of the Normans in 1066, until they finally said "Enough".)

www.google.com/maps/place//@32.3009043,48.5184038,2767m/d... The emamzadeh is said to be surrounded by garlic farms. It was a miss. Here's a tour of the tomb from the 1:45 to the 5 min. pt.: youtu.be/xJankVjF3xI?si=OkVzsBdHAFheHo0q

- The site of the legendary Sassanian city of GONDISHAPUR or Gondēšāpur (identified with extensive ruins south of Shahabad, a village 14 km.s SE of Dezful):

Gondēšāpūr or Gundēšāpūr derives from 'Wandēw Šāpūr', "Acquired by Shapur", or 'Gund-dēz-i Shāpūr', "Military fortress of Shapur", or the Mid. Pers. 'Weh-Andiyōk-Shāpūr', 'Better-than-Antioch of Shapur' or 'Better Is Šhapur's Antioch' (Wikipedia). In his vast travels, Shapur I (r 242-272), the 2nd ruler of the Sassanian Persian empire, famously defeated the Roman Emperor Valerian III (r 253-260) and sacked city after city incl., infamously, Antioch-on-the-Orontes twice, in @ 256 and again in 260, where he said "This place sure is purty", rounded up its craftsmen, architects and artisans and marched them back to Khuzestan to build and beautify a new city to be defined by Shapur's plans to surpass Antioch, the third largest and third most glorious city in the Roman empire. Shapur's official record of the satrapy of Weh-Andiyōk-Shāpūr is in his famous trilingual inscription at Kaʿba-ye Zardošt (which I toured) at Nagsh-e Rostam near Persepolis, and archaeologists have found "no trace of habitation prior to the early Sassanian period." The city became a Sassanian royal winter residence and the capital of Khuzestan prov. "Architectural remains [of] an orthogonal street grid within an oblong, rectangular walled enclosure [have been excavated], thus approximating Ḥamza Eṣfahāni’s idealized description of the site’s layout as a chessboard of eight by eight streets." (Iranica encyclopedia) The city was also home to the East-Syrian metropolitan see of Bet Huzaye and a centre of Christianity, at least until the accession of Shapur II who persecuted Christians. The Catholicos Šāhdōst and others were tried there in his presence and executed in the 340s. But Gondēšāpūr was again predominantly Christian in the 5th and 6th cent.s and up until the Arab-Muslim conquest of 638. (Iranica online)

- A great and flourishing city, Gondēšāpur was "the intellectual centre of the Sassanid Empire and home to the Academy of Gundeshapur, [a 'centre of higher learning' if not a university] founded by Shapur I, and to a teaching hospital and famous library. ... [T]here are reports of systematic activities [science?] initiated by the Sassanian court as early as the first decades of Sassanian rule. [Research results] were collected and added to the Avesta during Shapur's reign. The foundation of the Academy led to a combination of Greek and Indian sciences with Iranian and Syriac traditions and introduced the study of philosophy, medicine, physics, poetry, rhetoric, and astronomy to the Sassanian court. According to some historical accounts, the Academy was founded as a home for Greek refugees to study and share their knowledge." But the references to Greek refugees that I've found date from the reign of Justinian in the early 6th cent. (See below.) It's claimed that the cosmopolitan nature of the institution became a catalyst for the development of modern systems of higher education. George Sarton, the famous historian of science, described Gondēšāpur as "the greatest intellectual centre of its time". ! (The latter 1/2 of the city's history was coincident with the 'Dark ages' in Europe.)

- The site of the ruined city is filmed from the 11 to the 12 min. pt.; 28:30 to 28:45; 45:30 to 46:15; and I think from at least 53:40 to 54:08 in this.: youtu.be/fFMwR9phzC8?si=JlduyBfHmVK7u7x8 (English subtitles please?)

- "In 489, the East Syriac theological and scientific 'School of Edessa' [latter-day Urfa] was ordered closed by the Byzantine emperor Zeno, and many of its teachers and scholars moved east to and were absorbed into the 'School of Nisibis' [Nusaybin in SE Turkey today, on the Syrian border], then under Persian rule. Nestorian scholars, together with Hellenistic philosophers banished from Athens by Justinian in 529, carried out important research in medicine, astronomy, and mathematics. Khosrow or Khosrau I (531-579) gave refuge to Greek philosophers and Nestorian Christians fleeing religious persecution in the Byzantine empire. The Sassanians had long battled Romans and Byzantines for control of latter-day Iraq and Syria and so were predisposed to welcome the refugees, who Khosrau then commissioned to translate Greek and Syriac texts into Pahlavi, incl. works on medicine, astronomy, philosophy, and useful crafts. Gondēšāpur soon became renowned for medicine and learning."

- From Iranica online: "Gondēšāpur’s real fame rests on its alleged role in the transmission of ... Galenic medicine and the institution of the teaching hospital (bimārestān) to urban Abbasid society and beyond to Islamic civilization at large. The earliest testimony to Gondēšāpur in the context of the field of medicine is to a medical-philosophical disputation convened in @ 610 on the orders of Ḵhosrau II in which the drustbed (q.v.) Gabriel of Šiggār participated. The hospital itself first finds specific mention in the year 765 when caliph al-Manṣur is said to have summoned the then head of the hospital, Jewarjis b. Jebrāʾil b. Boḵtišu', to Baghdad. ... Syro-Persian Nestorians were weaned at Gondēšāpur on what later biobibliographical authors celebrated as superior medical learning, [derived] in the Sassanian period from outstanding individual Greek and Indian as well as local Aramaic and Iranian sources." Physicians from such Nestorian families as the Boḵtišus (the directors of the hospital) and others had brilliant careers "in the orbit of the Abbasid court" in Baghdad. They also "rediscover[ed] Galen and other classics of Hellenistic medicine and pass[ed] them on to the Muslims." (Iranica online)

- Mani (216-277), the founder of the Manichaean religion, experienced his "doomed confrontation with King Warahrān I and his counsellors" in Gondēšāpur per Manichaean tradition, and was imprisoned and died there in 276 or 277 per nearly unanimous Sassanian and Arabic sources. It's said that his body was hanged from the gates of the city. I find Mani and Manichaeism fascinating. Mani was born into a Christian Elcesaite community near Seleucia-Ctesiphon in the Parthian period. He claimed to be an apostle of Christ but espoused a syncretic religion drawing from Zoroastrianism and Buddhism as well, best known for its focus on dualism and the conflict /b/ good and evil. 'Manichaean' is used as an adjective today to describe a position or perspective as simplistic, 'black and white' or 'good v. bad'. The religion became very widespread with adherents from Britain in the West to the East China Sea. In fact some scholars consider it to be the first 'world religion'. But Manichaeans were generally persecuted as heretics and the religion dissolved in the 15th cent. (I toured the Chester Beatty Library and museum in Dublin in 2010 [which has the best book-store I've ever seen at a museum] with its choice collection of ancient religious manuscripts, where I perused the famous 'Mani Codex', a unique, important 4th or 5th cent. Manichaean papyrus manuscript found in Egypt.: youtu.be/BYJtscOudUg?si=6unHgdTVrt2BcJTn )

- The town fell into decline following its surrender to the Arab-Islamic conquest of Persia in 638, although it remained an important centre in the Islamic period. Ya'qub ibn al-Layth al-Saffar, the legendary founder of the Saffarid dynasty (see above) who "aspir[ed] to imitate the Sassanians", made Gondēšāpur his residence and his capital in 875 or 876 @ 3 yr.s before his sudden death in 879, and his tomb became the most prominent feature of the city. But by the 10th cent., "the city had suffered so severely from the inroads of the Kurds that it fell into decay."

- So, as cerebral as it is, a tour of the site was a big miss.

- The entertaining, charismatic Dr. Roy Casagranda, who now has shorts from his lectures all over youtube, makes shit up in this video re 'the Gondishapur academy'. youtube.com/shorts/DbxU3b4IA3w?si=0Dl0sX4hVbL85c2t He claims that Shapur built his academy as "the Persian equivalent to the Great library" of Alexandria, and collected Chinese and Indian texts incl. Lao Tzu's Tao te Ching, which was "amazing ... because when Qin the Great [Qin Shi Huangti] unifies India [China], he bans [the books of] Lao Tzu [but in the late 3rd cent. BC, > 400 yr.s earlier; Taoism and Confucianism had been revived in China by the early 1st cent. BC] and starts wiping out Lao Tzu's works, but now there's a place for them to survive." Nope.

- The scenic Mohammad Ali Khan (aka Ali Mardan Khan) fortress @ 40-50 km.s NE of Dezful is a natural citadel on a high mesa, 1,550 m.s in height, surrounded by sheer cliffs and by the Haft-Tanan mtns., the site of a refuge and an eyrie in ancient times.

- I can't account for my thought process (if I can call it that) when I left Khuzestan by bus for Esfahan via Khorramabad and the 5 and the 62, but of course I should've sought out the wealth of ancient Elamite sites further east @ Izeh en route to Esfahan via the twisty, more adventurous 72. There was a dearth of anglophones in Andimeshk, the map in my thin LP guide was hand-drawn, and I didn't come across a library or tourism office where I could get a clue (again, I found Dezful's huge, ancient bridge by chance), not that that's any excuse. It's a shame I missed the following along that route.:

- At least 3 ancient brick piers, the remains of an ancient bridge, stand @ 10 clicks NE of the 39 above where the road turns north to Sar Bisheh.

- SHUSHTAR, an ancient Elamite, Achaemenid, Parthian and Sassanian city (possibly the 'Sostra' mentioned by Pliny the Elder) @ 60 km.s down the 39 SE of Dezful, is home to an ancient Sassanian hydraulic system designated Unesco world heritage in 2009, comprised of 13 sites incl. the famous bridge/dam or weir (see below), and an array of waterfalls which once powered water mills and which pour into the Gargar canal from above both of its banks, the most famous and photogenic tourist attraction on that long route. youtu.be/Cc6gG48wvdE?si=SrfRKN7l2U3Md3eW The irrigation system which centered on the Band-e Kaisar aka the Shâdorvân Grand Weir, the first dam bridge in Iran, was "considered 'a Wonder of the World' not only by the Persians but also by the Arab-Muslims at the peak of their civilization" (Unesco). (Again, Iranians don't take water for granted.) A ruin today, the said bridge and overflow dam spanned > 540 m.s as a link on the road from Pasargadae to Ctesiphon, and is believed by some to have been built by Roman POWs captured by Shapur I. "Local tradition attributes certain customs to the ancient Roman [prisoners] ... [incl.] the introduction of techniques of brocade manufacture." ?

- The development of this hydraulic system began during the 5th cent. BC reign of Darius the Great with the excavation of two main diversion canals on the Karun, one of which continues to provide water to the city via a series of tunnels that powers the mills and irrigates an expanse of orchards and fields @ 40,000 ha.s in area known as 'Mianâb' ('Paradise'). It supports the cultivation of sugar cane, the main crop, and has done since 226. What remains to be seen of the ancient system today dates from @ the 3rd cent. The Unesco site includes the Salâsel Castle, the operations centre, the tower where the water level was measured, similar to an Egyptian 'Nilometer', and from which dams, bridges, basins and mills were managed and maintained. (Unesco)

- The city was selected to become the summer capital of the Sassanian empire when it was an island city and the river was channeled to form a moat @ it. It was known for its output of textiles throughout the Middle Ages, producing brocade, tiraz, carpets, cotton fabrics and silk. In fact, the city was "chosen to produce the Kiswah (the embroidered covering for the Kaaba) in 933 - a great honour with political importance."

- The Subbi Kush neighbourhood in Shushtar was a centre for Mandaeans aka Sabians or Sabaeans (pre-Christian baptists who venerate John the Baptist) as at Dezful. They would've been attracted to Shustar by all the hydrology and would descend to their shrines by the Karun and the canals to conduct their baptisms and ritual ablutions, etc. See one in the video in the last link from the 22:35 min. pt. to 23:50.

- 'The Israelite Origins of the Mandaean People', 2007, R. Thomas in Studia Antiqua: scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1068&... ! "In their own language, which derives from Aramaic, the word mandayye, from which they take their name, means 'gnostic.' Their religious practices, which dominate most aspects of their lives, are the last remaining traces of ancient gnosticism in the world today."

- The route continues SE through Pir Gari, with a left to take at the first fork to head off-route for @ 40 twisty clicks east to Masjed-e Solaymān aka ancient Assak (Elamite) or Parsomash (Achaemenid), an ancient city indeed. "[A]rchaeological ruins in and @ this city [include] the remains of an ancient fire-temple [in town], known locally as Sar-masjid, [similar in construction to the complex discussed below,] and attributed to the legendary prehistoric king Houshang; and the ruins of an Achaemenid palace [or temple complex, 700 x 250 m.s] known locally as Bard-e Neshandeh" and as the birthplace of Teispes, grandfather of Cyrus the Great (!), 18 km.s NE of the city up another twisty road. Encyclopaedia Iranica describes a castle, the ruler's residence, @ 30 x 19 m.s, 250 m.s to the west of the terrace of the said palace/temple complex seen in the vlog in the next link. Roman Ghirshman dug there in the '60s and found that the first phase of construction, contemporary with the initial construction of the terrace complex, was pre-Achaemenid, and that the third and last phase extended into the early Islamic period, which implies > 1,000 yr.s of occupation and use. The complex includes an older 'upper terrace' with a podium and annex which was later extended, "probably [under] Camniscires I, king of Elymais in the mid-2nd cent. BC. The whole structure was again greatly enlarged, increasing its length to 157.2 m.s. The most important bldg. in this part of the terrace is a 4-pillared room, the 'tetrastyle temple'. 2 reliefs on pillars of its portico are thought to represent Anāhitā and Mithra. Ghirshman placed the date of construction in the 1st-2nd century [the Parthian period]. The whole complex remained in use, in his opinion, until the mid-4th cent. These ruins, together with those at Masjed-e Solaymān, provide clues for the identification of temples in Elymais mentioned by ancient Greek and Roman writers. The 'temple of Ahura Mazdā' at Bard-e Neshandeh [that on the upper terrace] may well be the temple of Bēl (the Semitic equivalent of Ahura Mazdā) at which Antiochus III met his death in 187 BC while attempting to plunder its treasure (Strabo 16.1.18). ... Also mentioned in the sources (Justin, 41.6.8; Strabo, 16.1.18) is a temple dedicated to Artemis named Ta Azara by Strabo, which lay somewhere in Elymais and which was plundered by Mithridates I following his conquest of Susa in 139-38 BC." (Encyclopaedia Iranica)

- See the well-preserved base of the dry-stone temple on the terrace, a rare, primarily Parthian structure, from the 25 sec. pt. to 3:50 in this vlog.: youtu.be/X3ZeB2S1iBU?si=ogOryj0yKntZstCg

- Masjed-e Solaymān was home to the first oil well and the first rig erected in the Middle East in 1908, which alone merits a visit.: irantourism.travel/en/masjed-soleyman-oil-field-over-time....

- The city's home to a large Bakhtiari population of the Haft-lang tribe, recently semi-nomadic pastoralists. "The 4 main tribal divisions of Haft Lang are Duraki, Babadi, Bakhtiarwand, and Dinaruni, who are then divided into lesser clans." (Wikipedia)

- The Karun winds /b/ almost sheer cliffs and lofty mesas in an arid, scenic canyon @ 15 km.s east of Masjed-e Solaymān as the crow flies.

- Naft Sefid is a strange village @ 60-70 km.s SE of the last fork and the next (turning left at both), with wasteland aspects, some ruins, uniform, low-rise homes, rusty gas pipelines, and many gas flares burning at chest or waist-level atop vertical pipes (? - per photos on Google maps).

- Continuing SE to a T-Junction, then left and @ 40 twisty km.s east to the T-junction with the 72, and north @ 10 clicks is Qalehtol or 'Kala Tul', home to the remains of 'Khamisi castle', an impressive, rectangular, relatively intact brick and fieldstone fortress on a hill in the centre of town, next to a ruined, well-excavated adobe complex. It would be famous anywhere o/s the Middle East. Constructed by Mohammad Taqi Khan Bakhtiari, it was visited by Layard and mentioned in his travelogue. www.google.com/maps/place/%D9%82%D9%84%D8%B9%D9%87+%D8%AA... Here's a print of this "mountain castle where Layard ... stayed when he visited, and fought with, the Bakhtiari".: carolinemawer.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/early-advent...

- www.rogersandall.com/young-layard-of-nineveh/

- This is a very scenic area, popular with local hikers with arid river-bottom canyons, Alpine scenery, clear streams, wildflowers and colourfully dressed, native, nomadic or semi-nomadic Bakhtiari women. The river widens into lakes and reservoirs upriver of the Karun dam (205 m.s tall) and resembles the Tortum lake in NE Turkey at points.

- Less than 1 km. SW of Oshtor Gard, a village @ 10 clicks NW of the 72 where it turns sharply east, is a rustic, white-washed shrine with a wider, squatter answer to the sugar-loaf dome at Daniel's shrine in Susa.

- Finally, the 72 climbs north to Izeh, a city of just > 100,000 populated by Bakhtiaris and renowned for its fascinating Elamite and Parthian-era monuments. It's worth a day or 2 or 3.

1. Kul-e Farah: an open-air sanctuary in a gorge with 6 Elamite rock reliefs, likely Neo-Elamite, depicting processions, animal sacrifice, musical performances, and banqueting (one communal banquet is depicted with 141 participants, min.), with cuneiform inscriptions. The depiction of groups of participants "offer[s] a spectacle of social hierarchy determined by scale, placement within registers, physical relationship to rulers, garment, gesture, and activities". See photos from the 2:40 min. pt. to 4:45.: youtu.be/N2xEG4I5lJ8?si=g7-pBCs5jAYQQJmU

2. Eshkaft-e Salman: 'Salomon's cave', the 'romantic grotto' in a valley just west of town, with 4 reliefs of 9 members of the Elamite royalty dating from @ the 12th and 11th-7th cent.s BC. wearing interesting outfits, 'visor' hair-dos, braided side-locks, back-braids, etc.;

3. Tagh-e Tavileh: ruins of bldg.s in stone and plaster with tilework from a settlement built by Kurdish Hazaraspids in the Ilkhanate-Timurid period, at the NW edge of town;

4. Dasht-e Sūsan or Shir-e Sangi (the 'Stone Lion cemetery'): a cemetery with a collection of 18th-20th cent. stone, stylized sculptures of lions carved in the round as tomb monuments for Bakhtiari tribal leaders, war heroes, et al., @ 10 km.s due east of Izeh, south of the 72;

5. The Shah Savar relief: a 17th cent. BC (!) relief on a cliff-face @ 10 km.s from town, with a seated figure facing a line of 5 supplicants in a single register;

6. Khong-e Kamalvand: a Parthian-era relief with a standing figure next to an equestrian, with an Elymaean inscription, “Phrates the priest, son of Kabnuskir”, 10-15 km.s north of town;

7. Khong-e Ajdar: an ancient Elamite relief on one side of a large boulder and the largest relief from the Parthian era on the other depicting the Baara'aam, a ceremony in which the local independent Elymais ruler and 3 standing local dignitaries meet with or confer power on a seated, visiting Mithridates of Parthia with the release of 2 doves, @ 15 km.s north of town; and

8. Khong-e Yaralivand: a relief with 2 standing men in tunics and trousers in an investiture scene, @ 12 km.s north of Izeh.

- The photogenic imamzadeh of Sultan Ibrahim in Karta village (Maveh on google maps) @ 40 clicks north of Izeh. (Unfortunately it appears to have been almost completely renovated recently.) tishineh.com/touritem/211/Tomb-of-Sultan-Ibrahim

- The Zardeh Limeh waterfall, @ 30 clicks as the crow flies NE of the 72 from a point @ 15 clicks east of Izeh, is one of the most impressive in Iran per Google maps.

- From ancient Izeh, the road turns and proceeds SE and passes within 2 clicks of the 205 m. tall Karun-3 dam, descends through a tunnel and crosses the Shalu Arcus bridge. Wow. youtube.com/shorts/HVTR7TKzo9w?si=bRUgkNplxnvTkBdj (Huge dams can be deadly in an earthquake zone, but at least this isn't upstream from a neighbouring country like Egypt is from Ethiopia, Iraq and Syria from Turkey, etc.) The 72 then leaves Khuzestan and crosses the provincial border into 'Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari' province as it passes below and then up next to the Karun-4 dam, the tallest in Iran, @ 15-20 km.s further east youtube.com/shorts/36b185d9jak?si=pcqQXkRrn6M0ZM1w before it navigates a series of tunnels and crosses another impressive single-span bridge, and twists north through two sharp hair-pins, all in a wonderfully scenic area. An incredible drive! (How much of that route would've been in place in 2000? Did the road follow alongside the much more narrow river then before the dams arrived or would I take the 55?)

- The 72 continues up along one of the twistiest roads I've ever seen on google maps soon passing villages of Lurs. Turning left onto the 51 where it meets the 72 and turning left again at a fork at Teshneez, the 200 yr. old fortress of Sardar Gholam Hossein Khan Salar Mohtsham, an adobe ruin, sits in the centre of Dastena, a town @ 2km.s south of Amirabad on that road, and which brings one to Junaqan, 35-40 km.s from the 72, home to the 'Palace museum of Sardar Asad Bakhtiari', "one of Iran's constitutionalist generals", in a lovely Qajar-era bldg. with a veranda on the 2nd floor, which focuses on the Constitutional movement and the Bakhtiari uprising in that city which (it's claimed) began in this palace and led to the Bakhtiari capture of Esfahan and Tehran.

- The bus might have driven up the 51 in 2000 en route to Esfahan or (more likely I think) it continued on the 72 to Borujen and up via Majlesi to Esfahan. North of Sirak Hafshejan on the Taqanak rd. SW of Taqanak on the 51 is an Armenian cemetery with interesting 19th cent. tombstones. The city of Hafshejan 3 km.s east of Taqanak is said to have existed as a community for @ 9,000 yr.s.

- The 'Sacred Defense museum' in the north of the city of Sharekord (on the 51 @ 5 clicks east of that [less likely] route to Esfahan) focuses on the Iran-Iraq war, etc. and has some avant-garde architectural aspects.

- The 'Chaleshtor castle' along the Blvd. Rahbar @ 5 km.s NW of that city is a lovely late-Qajar-era mansion and museum with a large courtyard, the former home of the Bakhtiari chieftain Khoda Rahm Khan.

- The historic Zaman Khan bridge persists with its 2 arches @ 20 clicks NE of Shahrekord, a few north of Saman.

- Bagh-e Bahadoran en route East to Zarrinshahr and towards Esfahan on the 51 is home to another adobe and brick castle with corner towers.

- Etc. ... Zarrinshahr is within day-trip distance of Esfahan, 30-40 km.s further, so that list will do.

BUT, again, I was clueless and bussed it back to Khorramabad, missing Izeh and this more direct, much more interesting route to Esfahan entirely. From Khorramabad, my bus headed due east on the 37 for @ 40 - 50 clicks, and then turned round and headed SE down the 62, the Dorud Chalanchulan Expy. (good and fast) and passed Dare Tang just past the turn. (Stop in Dare Tang and have an adventure or misadventure and later say "So I was in Dare Tang and ..." "What? Where?" "Dare Tang! So I was walking along and ...")

- Awesome hiking's to be had to snow-clad peaks and ice-caves @ Oshtoran Kuh, 10-15 clicks south of the 62 as the crow flies from 'Tian Village' and @ 40 km.s east of Dare Tang.

- The grand, visibly ancient Imamzadeh Qassim and Zeid dates from the early 13th cent. with renovations in the 14th and 15th cent.s, @ 30 clicks north of the 62 and Azna (@ 20 km.s east of Tian) up the Azna-Arak rd, and 2 east of it.

- The 62 passes through the city of Aligudarz @ 20 km.s further east, home to Sayleh castle and the Masisilan ancient hill (per Wikipedia), and surrounded by more awesome scenery.

- Just west of the 62 a few km.s SE of Bueen Miyandasht is the village of Dashkasan which has a population of ethnic Georgians (!) who speak a Georgian dialect together with Persian. Khoyegan Oleija, a Christian community (evidently) a few km.s further south has 4 old churches (!) incl. one that's Armenian and an impressive 'Old [Armenian or Georgian] cemetery.' 60% of the population of the town of Sadeqie further SE, @ 8 km.s south of the 62 and Ozun Bolagh, speak Georgian ([Wikipedia] Not Armenian? How and when did Georgians move to Central Iran?) and @ 30% speak Azeri. The village of Seftjan, @ 3 km.s south of the 62 and @ 7 SE of Nahrkhalaj has 2 churches incl. one that's Armenian and another ancient Armenian (or Georgian?) cemetery. A small, visibly ancient (Armenian?) church just east of Khuygan-e Sofla, a town of Luri-speakers with an Azeri minority, is @ 10-15 km.s further south.

- Vaneshan village looks to be fascinating and fun @ 30 clicks NE of Noqan and the 62 and < 10 clicks south of the 47, much of which is visibly ancient, with some intact and restored ancient adobe walls and a gate all in brick and adobe, and with some adobe ruins, all beneath mtn. peaks. (Somehow nothing's written about its charms in its Wikipedia entry.)

- Khansar is another visibly ancient brick and adobe village, much of it double-storied, further south and equidistant /b/ the 47 and the 62. It's home to the ancient brick Abhari mansion with its many stucco reliefs. The impressive ancient adobe-brick Chahar borj pigeon tower stands further north just south of Qudejan and an ancient brick mosque.

- Less than 10 km.s NW of Vaneshan, on the 47 @ 30-35 clicks NE of Noqan and the 62, is the city of Golpayegan, home to an impressive, visibly ancient Seljuk Jāme' mosque (1114) youtu.be/q-Kc8MDD2uk?si=DhsC_5NOYt5dgu-K , a tall, ancient Seljuk brick minaret, the 15th-16th cent. Sarāvar mosque, and the 17th cent. Hevdah Tan shrine. "Golpayegan Kebab is unique and made from endemic cows, and is registered as Iranian 'intangible heritage'." (Wikipedia) Locals speak Persian and the Golpayegani dialect. 5 km.s further north, the early 17th cent. Gouged fortess/caravanserai, one of the largest adobe structures in the country, is now a hotel.

- The 47 runs along what must have been a medieval trade route in light of the ruins of several caravanserais along it, incl. brick ruins on the outskirts of Tikan on the 47, 30-40 km.s NE of Daran on the 62; impressive ruins in the village of Dor @ 8-10 km.s further SE down the 47; and the relatively intact Jelowgir caravanserai by the 47 @ 25 clicks NE of Damaneh and the 62.

- An extensive, ruined adobe village complex can be explored at Rahmat Abad @ 15 clicks NE of Do Shakhkharat and the 62, @ 10 SW of the 47.

- The town of Damaneh is home to some subterranean hand-carved tunnels.

- Domab, @ 10 clicks SW of the 47 and @ 35 NE of the 62 (from a pt. on that rd. @ 15 km.s SE of Damaneh) is home to an impressive adobe fortress, a small museum, and the town has a website: web.archive.org/web/20060325100147/http://domab.ir/Englis... and an unusually fulsome Wikipedia entry. (Very many villages in Iran have Wikipedia pages, the vast majority of which only offer population stats.) The entry ends with this.: "There is a historical story about Domabian people that tells there were all with tails after the fight with Mongoliasm [sic]; However it is not true." This should help to discourage the many local tourists who visit Domab to see the locals and their tails (I assume).

- 2 clusters of ancient petroglyphs on schist rocks near Domab depict hunting scenes and plenty of ibexes.

- A network of tunnels or sculpted caves winds beneath Kurd-e-Olyã or near that town less than a km. south of the 62, @ 30 clicks SE of Damaneh.

- A rare historic suspension bridge made with logs tied together, 'Gappaz Garmdareh' on google maps, seen here on Instagram www.instagram.com/chadegan_javanan/reel/CsUBxa1gBxF/, and here on Youtube: youtu.be/g1RG3T6dv-c?si=gKofwADTRe9zgIhW , remains photogenically suspended above the Zayandeh rud @ 25 clicks S-SW of the T-junction of the Chadegan rd. with the 62 and @ 10 km.s East of Yancheshmeh.

- The time capsule that is the town of Yaseh Chah, @ 25 km.s SW of the 62 as the crow flies, a couple south of Markadeh, is explored in this vlog.: youtu.be/uZAj3vEO46Q?si=1xdjoQeM5w5vta-W It's popular for its "old corridors and special architecture".

- The restored high stone and adobe walls of an ancient castle dominate the town of Jaja alongside the 62 @ 60 clicks SE of Daran. commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Historic_castle_of_Jaja_v... My bus passed only @ 250 m.s from it and I'm sure it impressed me if I wasn't reading something just then.

- On the southern outskirts of Tiran 2-3 km.s south of the 62 and 5 km.s SE of Jaja is a path beside an ancient plastered brick wall with at least 2 swinging stone doors similar to this one in Jordan.: www.flickr.com/photos/97924400@N00/7137438437/in/photolis...

- In the desert at Ghameshlu, @ 30 km.s NE of the 62 and Tiran, is an impressive ruin of a vast, Qajar-era hunting palace built for Zal al-Sultan near the "aqueduct of paradise" (according to a comment on google maps) with old black and white reproductions of photos and prints from magazines or newspapers and European maps covering the walls and ceiling in at least one room. youtu.be/Al_jSI4XDT4?si=vyFGNP-xT9_I5QRP

- Najafabad, a city developed by the Safavid Shah Abbas, is home to the well-maintained Sheikhbahaei Fort with a tall tower similar to a pigeon tower. The lovely, large 'Noorian historic house' is now home to a bookstore or library, a photo gallery, and a cafe.

- Jowzdan, 5 km.s south of Najafabad, was founded @ 800 yr.s ago in the Timurid period by the denizens of Gorg Abad, "a small town near Kooh Panji in the Zagros, [who] faced a huge threat from wolves in that area [!] and started refuging to start a new town." (Wikipedia)

- Jahadabad, @ 20 km.s north of Najafabad, is home to the impressive, relatively well-preserved Sheikh Ali Khan chaleh siah caravanserai.

- Anything closer to Esfahan on or close to that route down the 62 could be in 'greater Esfahan'.

- So although I might've seen a fortress or castle through the bus window, there was much I missed en route to Esfahan.

- On my arrival in Esfahan I headed to a popular youth hostel to rent a bed and then spent much of the next 9 days touring some of the loveliest buildings on earth. "Esfahan is half the world!" is the old adage.

- Continued in the write-up for the next photo of the ceiling of the dome in the Masjed-e Emam.

Arbour Hill Prison is a prison and military cemetery located in the Arbour Hill area near Heuston Station.

The military cemetery is the burial place of 14 of the executed leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising. Among those buried there are Patrick Pearse, James Connolly and Major John MacBride. The leaders were executed in Kilmainham Gaol and their bodies were transported to Arbour Hill for burial.

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

The prison was designed by Sir Joshua Jebb and Frederick Clarendon and opened on its present site in 1848, to house military prisoners.

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.

The church has an unusual entrance porch with stairs leading to twin galleries for visitors in the nave and transept.

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

Detail of the Baptistry Window, a masterpiece of abstract stained glass designed by John Piper and executed by Patrick Reyntiens.

Coventry's Cathedral is a unique synthesis of old a new, born of wartime suffering and forged in the spirit of postwar optimism, famous for it's history and for being the most radically modern of Anglican cathedrals. Two cathedral's stand side by side, the ruins of the medieval building, destroyed by incendiary bombs in 1940 and the bold new building designed by Basil Spence and opened in 1962.

It is a common misconception that Coventry lost it's first cathedral in the wartime blitz, but the bombs actually destroyed it's second; the original medieval cathedral was the monastic St Mary's, a large cruciform building believed to have been similar in appearance to Lichfield Cathedral (whose diocese it shared). Tragically it became the only English cathedral to be destroyed during the Reformation, after which it was quickly quarried away, leaving only scant fragments, but enough evidence survives to indicate it's rich decoration (some pieces were displayed nearby in the Priory Visitors Centre, sadly since closed). Foundations of it's apse were found during the building of the new cathedral in the 1950s, thus technically three cathedrals share the same site.

The mainly 15th century St Michael's parish church became the seat of the new diocese of Coventry in 1918, and being one of the largest parish churches in the country it was upgraded to cathedral status without structural changes (unlike most 'parish church' cathedrals created in the early 20th century). It lasted in this role a mere 22 years before being burned to the ground in the 1940 Coventry Blitz, leaving only the outer walls and the magnificent tapering tower and spire (the extensive arcades and clerestoreys collapsed completely in the fire, precipitated by the roof reinforcement girders, installed in the Victorian restoration, that buckled in the intense heat).

The determination to rebuild the cathedral in some form was born on the day of the bombing, however it wasn't until the mid 1950s that a competition was held and Sir Basil Spence's design was chosen. Spence had been so moved by experiencing the ruined church he resolved to retain it entirely to serve as a forecourt to the new church. He envisaged the two being linked by a glass screen wall so that the old church would be visible from within the new.

Built between 1957-62 at a right-angle to the ruins, the new cathedral attracted controversy for it's modern form, and yet some modernists argued that it didn't go far enough, after all there are echoes of the Gothic style in the great stone-mullioned windows of the nave and the net vaulting (actually a free-standing canopy) within. What is exceptional is the way art has been used as such an integral part of the building, a watershed moment, revolutionising the concept of religious art in Britain.

Spence employed some of the biggest names in contemporary art to contribute their vision to his; the exterior is adorned with Jacob Epstein's triumphant bronze figures of Archangel Michael (patron of the cathedral) vanquishing the Devil. At the entrance is the remarkable glass wall, engraved by John Hutton with strikingly stylised figures of saints and angels, and allowing the interior of the new to communicate with the ruin. Inside, the great tapestry of Christ in majesty surrounded by the evangelistic creatures, draws the eye beyond the high altar; it was designed by Graham Sutherland and was the largest tapestry ever made.

However one of the greatest features of Coventry is it's wealth of modern stained glass, something Spence resolved to include having witnessed the bleakness of Chartres Cathedral in wartime, all it's stained glass having been removed. The first window encountered on entering is the enormous 'chess-board' baptistry window filled with stunning abstract glass by John Piper & Patrick Reyntiens, a symphony of glowing colour. The staggered nave walls are illuminated by ten narrow floor to ceiling windows filled with semi-abstract symbolic designs arranged in pairs of dominant colours (green, red, multi-coloured, purple/blue and gold) representing the souls journey to maturity, and revealed gradually as one approaches the altar. This amazing project was the work of three designers lead by master glass artist Lawrence Lee of the Royal College of Art along with Keith New and Geoffrey Clarke (each artist designed three of the windows individually and all collaborated on the last).

The cathedral still dazzles the visitor with the boldness of it's vision, but alas, half a century on, it was not a vision to be repeated and few of the churches and cathedrals built since can claim to have embraced the synthesis of art and architecture in the way Basil Spence did at Coventry.

The cathedral is generally open to visitors most days. For more see below:-

www.coventrycathedral.org.uk/

Carlin 'El Asesino" in the process of ruthlessly executing two underbosses of a local gang who tried to interfere with her business. They are bound and on their knees before her.

"You should have heeded my warning but now you have to pay the price of yours and your boss's stupidity. Do you know what I am called by the cartels? - "El Asesino" and now you learn why. I will make it quick unlike your boss but you go knowing the last thing you see will be me. .She shots both in the head. "Dispose of these bodies guys"

BALTIC SEA (June 09, 2020) USS Donald Cook (DDG75) observers NATO allies and partner nation ships execute multinational surface warfare division tactics during BALTOPS 2020. BALTOPS is the premier annual maritime-focused exercise in the Baltic region, enhancing flexibility and interoperability. (U.S. Navy Photo by Lt.j.g. Sarah Claudy/Released)

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.

The executed were buried in mass graves. In order to save ammunition, the executions were often carried out using poison, spades or sharpened bamboo sticks. In some cases the children and infants of adult victims were killed by having their heads bashed against the trunks of Chankiri trees. The rationale was "to stop them growing up and taking revenge for their parents' deaths."

Servicemembers execute sling load rigging exercises on a CH-47D Chinook during Day 5 of Air Assault School on Camp Smith, N.Y., July 25, 2010.(U. S. Army photo by Pfc. Jose L. Torres-Cooban/Not Released)

HUD Secretaries Visit Puerto Rico to Execute Disaster Grant Agreement

Sketchnotes from Design By A Belief, Execute On Data at Wearable World's Glazed Conference, San Francisco 2014 (Day 2)

Photo: Tani Simberg

HUD Secretaries Visit Puerto Rico to Execute Disaster Grant Agreement

Detail of the Baptistry Window, a masterpiece of abstract stained glass designed by John Piper and executed by Patrick Reyntiens.

Coventry's Cathedral is a unique synthesis of old a new, born of wartime suffering and forged in the spirit of postwar optimism, famous for it's history and for being the most radically modern of Anglican cathedrals. Two cathedral's stand side by side, the ruins of the medieval building, destroyed by incendiary bombs in 1940 and the bold new building designed by Basil Spence and opened in 1962.

It is a common misconception that Coventry lost it's first cathedral in the wartime blitz, but the bombs actually destroyed it's second; the original medieval cathedral was the monastic St Mary's, a large cruciform building believed to have been similar in appearance to Lichfield Cathedral (whose diocese it shared). Tragically it became the only English cathedral to be destroyed during the Reformation, after which it was quickly quarried away, leaving only scant fragments, but enough evidence survives to indicate it's rich decoration (some pieces were displayed nearby in the Priory Visitors Centre, sadly since closed). Foundations of it's apse were found during the building of the new cathedral in the 1950s, thus technically three cathedrals share the same site.

The mainly 15th century St Michael's parish church became the seat of the new diocese of Coventry in 1918, and being one of the largest parish churches in the country it was upgraded to cathedral status without structural changes (unlike most 'parish church' cathedrals created in the early 20th century). It lasted in this role a mere 22 years before being burned to the ground in the 1940 Coventry Blitz, leaving only the outer walls and the magnificent tapering tower and spire (the extensive arcades and clerestoreys collapsed completely in the fire, precipitated by the roof reinforcement girders, installed in the Victorian restoration, that buckled in the intense heat).

The determination to rebuild the cathedral in some form was born on the day of the bombing, however it wasn't until the mid 1950s that a competition was held and Sir Basil Spence's design was chosen. Spence had been so moved by experiencing the ruined church he resolved to retain it entirely to serve as a forecourt to the new church. He envisaged the two being linked by a glass screen wall so that the old church would be visible from within the new.

Built between 1957-62 at a right-angle to the ruins, the new cathedral attracted controversy for it's modern form, and yet some modernists argued that it didn't go far enough, after all there are echoes of the Gothic style in the great stone-mullioned windows of the nave and the net vaulting (actually a free-standing canopy) within. What is exceptional is the way art has been used as such an integral part of the building, a watershed moment, revolutionising the concept of religious art in Britain.

Spence employed some of the biggest names in contemporary art to contribute their vision to his; the exterior is adorned with Jacob Epstein's triumphant bronze figures of Archangel Michael (patron of the cathedral) vanquishing the Devil. At the entrance is the remarkable glass wall, engraved by John Hutton with strikingly stylised figures of saints and angels, and allowing the interior of the new to communicate with the ruin. Inside, the great tapestry of Christ in majesty surrounded by the evangelistic creatures, draws the eye beyond the high altar; it was designed by Graham Sutherland and was the largest tapestry ever made.

However one of the greatest features of Coventry is it's wealth of modern stained glass, something Spence resolved to include having witnessed the bleakness of Chartres Cathedral in wartime, all it's stained glass having been removed. The first window encountered on entering is the enormous 'chess-board' baptistry window filled with stunning abstract glass by John Piper & Patrick Reyntiens, a symphony of glowing colour. The staggered nave walls are illuminated by ten narrow floor to ceiling windows filled with semi-abstract symbolic designs arranged in pairs of dominant colours (green, red, multi-coloured, purple/blue and gold) representing the souls journey to maturity, and revealed gradually as one approaches the altar. This amazing project was the work of three designers lead by master glass artist Lawrence Lee of the Royal College of Art along with Keith New and Geoffrey Clarke (each artist designed three of the windows individually and all collaborated on the last).

The cathedral still dazzles the visitor with the boldness of it's vision, but alas, half a century on, it was not a vision to be repeated and few of the churches and cathedrals built since can claim to have embraced the synthesis of art and architecture in the way Basil Spence did at Coventry.

The cathedral is generally open to visitors most days. For more see below:-

www.coventrycathedral.org.uk/

More than 250 people (the exact number is unknown) were executed by firing squad on the Waalsdorpervlakte at the dunes of Meijendel, situated near The Hague during the Second World War. This site has become one of the main memorial sites of the Dutch remembrance day.

On the 4th of May a silent remembrance procession is held. For this occasion the Dutch flag is formed with painted pine cones (in earlier years this was done with flowers). On both sides of the monument torches are placed and there is an honor guard of six persons. The big Bourdon Bell rings just a couple of moments before 20.00 hours. After the trumpet signal Taptoe, there's a two minutes silence. This is followed by the Dutch national anthem. Participants of the procession then walk past the monument to lay flowers and wreaths. The Bourdon Bell will sound again until the last interested party has passed the monument. The commemoration of 2010 attracted 3,325 visitors. The last one past the monument at 22.47. The numbers for this year's commemoration aren't in yet.

Compared to the remembrance ceremony at the Dam Square in Amsterdam, this ceremony is rather low profile with regard to protocol and small media attention. There are no rules for participants to follow or to disobey. Old and wise, young and (very) impressed, they all participate this ceremony under the watchful and peaceful eyes of the honor guards.

The organization of this commemoration is held by the members of the Association Erepeloton Waalsdorp.

This series is the result of a failure to execute the original idea. I was rushed, what with the BBQ waiting on the dry rubbed pork, and the beers still in the 'fridge.

I layered up a few things in the Gimp, fiddled a WHOLE LOT with textures, applied four different BW tints to seven different layers, added a border to match the old traditional "show black" cut-out negative carriers, and... well... here's what came out... in spite of my intentions... I'm thinking this is the start of a whole 'nother body of images for me...

The intended setup was this - two off camera Vivitar 283 strobes, one with a peanut (which triggers nicely in full daylight) mounted on a light stand, the other mounted on a bracket near the camera plugged into the 40D. I wanted to blur the background so I set the 100 f/2 wide open. I let the AV figure out the shutter speed after applying a -2ev exposure reduction.

What I failed to remember was that the shutter only syncs at 1/200th or less. All the images were shuttered around 1/1000th sec. YIKES! I blew it!! Still, this image appears to have sync'd close enough that I got a bit of rim light on my subject. Pure luck, I say.

On Tuesday 15 October 2024, police executed five warrants at addresses in Rochdale and Manchester to tackle the cruel and unlawful sale of puppies,

following an extensive investigation by the RSPCA, supported by Greater Manchester Police, into the illegitimate and organised sale of puppies.

This investigation has uncovered an illicit underground trade that promotes animal cruelty and neglect, with sellers and criminal gangs making vast sums of money at the expense of innocent puppies and members of the public.

Some puppies were sick and died shortly after being sold to unsuspecting members of the public who believed they were buying much-loved family pets but may have been imported from overseas.

Today’s positive action comes as a result of several reports from members of the public who have been subject to extreme distress as a result of this illicit operation. Work remains ongoing and we are following several lines of enquiry to disrupt and prevent this type of criminality.

Sergeant Brendan Walsh, from our Rochdale district, said: “This is organised crime, and those involved have been making eye watering profits from this harmful and illicit trade.

“This has been a tremendous joint effort between Greater Manchester Police and the RSPCA's Special Operations Unit.

"The properties were searched, and police have rescued 14 puppies and seized an XL bully. Police also seized several mobile phones, important documents and bank statements, all consistent with an organised criminal operation involving the fraudulent and unlawful sale and breeding of puppies.

“We’ve had members of the public who have paid substantial amounts for these puppies, paid large veterinary fees, and have been left traumatised by their experiences. I hope today’s activity will highlight our commitment to tackling this type of crime, and I would urge anyone who feels they have been affected by this, please contact us so that we can act."

An RSPCA spokesperson said: "We'd urge anyone who wants to get a dog to consider adopting from a rescue charity, like the RSPCA. There are thousands of dogs across the country waiting to find their forever families.

"Anyone who is looking to buy a puppy should be cautious when choosing a breeder and use The Puppy Contract to help them find a happy, healthy dog. Anyone who is concerned about a seller should walk away and report their concerns to the police, Trading Standards or RSPCA."

Anyone with concerns over illegal puppy sales should contact Greater Manchester Police using the online reporting method or calling 101. Concerns can also be reported to the RSPCA.

Detail of the Baptistry Window, a masterpiece of abstract stained glass designed by John Piper and executed by Patrick Reyntiens.

Coventry's Cathedral is a unique synthesis of old a new, born of wartime suffering and forged in the spirit of postwar optimism, famous for it's history and for being the most radically modern of Anglican cathedrals. Two cathedral's stand side by side, the ruins of the medieval building, destroyed by incendiary bombs in 1940 and the bold new building designed by Basil Spence and opened in 1962.

It is a common misconception that Coventry lost it's first cathedral in the wartime blitz, but the bombs actually destroyed it's second; the original medieval cathedral was the monastic St Mary's, a large cruciform building believed to have been similar in appearance to Lichfield Cathedral (whose diocese it shared). Tragically it became the only English cathedral to be destroyed during the Reformation, after which it was quickly quarried away, leaving only scant fragments, but enough evidence survives to indicate it's rich decoration (some pieces were displayed nearby in the Priory Visitors Centre, sadly since closed). Foundations of it's apse were found during the building of the new cathedral in the 1950s, thus technically three cathedrals share the same site.

The mainly 15th century St Michael's parish church became the seat of the new diocese of Coventry in 1918, and being one of the largest parish churches in the country it was upgraded to cathedral status without structural changes (unlike most 'parish church' cathedrals created in the early 20th century). It lasted in this role a mere 22 years before being burned to the ground in the 1940 Coventry Blitz, leaving only the outer walls and the magnificent tapering tower and spire (the extensive arcades and clerestoreys collapsed completely in the fire, precipitated by the roof reinforcement girders, installed in the Victorian restoration, that buckled in the intense heat).

The determination to rebuild the cathedral in some form was born on the day of the bombing, however it wasn't until the mid 1950s that a competition was held and Sir Basil Spence's design was chosen. Spence had been so moved by experiencing the ruined church he resolved to retain it entirely to serve as a forecourt to the new church. He envisaged the two being linked by a glass screen wall so that the old church would be visible from within the new.

Built between 1957-62 at a right-angle to the ruins, the new cathedral attracted controversy for it's modern form, and yet some modernists argued that it didn't go far enough, after all there are echoes of the Gothic style in the great stone-mullioned windows of the nave and the net vaulting (actually a free-standing canopy) within. What is exceptional is the way art has been used as such an integral part of the building, a watershed moment, revolutionising the concept of religious art in Britain.

Spence employed some of the biggest names in contemporary art to contribute their vision to his; the exterior is adorned with Jacob Epstein's triumphant bronze figures of Archangel Michael (patron of the cathedral) vanquishing the Devil. At the entrance is the remarkable glass wall, engraved by John Hutton with strikingly stylised figures of saints and angels, and allowing the interior of the new to communicate with the ruin. Inside, the great tapestry of Christ in majesty surrounded by the evangelistic creatures, draws the eye beyond the high altar; it was designed by Graham Sutherland and was the largest tapestry ever made.

However one of the greatest features of Coventry is it's wealth of modern stained glass, something Spence resolved to include having witnessed the bleakness of Chartres Cathedral in wartime, all it's stained glass having been removed. The first window encountered on entering is the enormous 'chess-board' baptistry window filled with stunning abstract glass by John Piper & Patrick Reyntiens, a symphony of glowing colour. The staggered nave walls are illuminated by ten narrow floor to ceiling windows filled with semi-abstract symbolic designs arranged in pairs of dominant colours (green, red, multi-coloured, purple/blue and gold) representing the souls journey to maturity, and revealed gradually as one approaches the altar. This amazing project was the work of three designers lead by master glass artist Lawrence Lee of the Royal College of Art along with Keith New and Geoffrey Clarke (each artist designed three of the windows individually and all collaborated on the last).

The cathedral still dazzles the visitor with the boldness of it's vision, but alas, half a century on, it was not a vision to be repeated and few of the churches and cathedrals built since can claim to have embraced the synthesis of art and architecture in the way Basil Spence did at Coventry.

The cathedral is generally open to visitors most days. For more see below:-

www.coventrycathedral.org.uk/

THRASH METAL - RANCAGUA

Bradford City Hall is a 19th-century town hall in Centenary Square, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It is a Grade I listed building which has a distinctive clock tower.

History

Before its relocation, between 1847 and 1873, the town hall had been the Fire Station House in Swain Street. In 1869, a new triangular site was purchased, and a competition held for a design to rival the town halls of Leeds and Halifax. The local firm of Lockwood and Mawson was chosen over the other 31 entries. It was built by John Ives & Son of Shipley and took three years to build at a cost of £100,000. It was opened by Matthew Thompson, the mayor, on 9 September 1873.

It was first extended in 1909 to a design by Norman Shaw and executed by architect F.E.P. Edwards, with another council chamber, more committee rooms and a banqueting hall.

On 14 March 1912 Winston Churchill gave a speech outside the hall in which he called for the people to "go forward together and put these grave matters to the proof" (referring to Irish Home Rule). It was extended again with a new entrance and staircase in baroque marble by William Williamson in 1914.

In 1965 the name was changed to City Hall to reflect Bradford's prominence, and the building was improved at a cost of £12,000.

The City Hall was the venue for crown court trials until the new Law Courts in Exchange Square opened in 1993. After the bells stopped in 1992 due to decay of the bell frame, they were repaired with National Lottery funds in 1997.

In 2000 Barbara Jane Harrison, a flight attendant who died saving her passengers, was commemorated in a memorial display in the City Hall and in October 2006, the building was illuminated for Bradford Festival by artist Patrice Warrener. In 2007 the City Hall filled in for Manchester Crown Court for the duration of the trial of the character Tracy Barlow in Coronation Street.

In December 2007 the City Hall turned the city's nine Christmas trees into woodchips as fuel for its new heating boilers. An access tunnel was dug from the roadway to install the boilers in early 2008.

Description

The building was designed in the Venetian style. There are a series of statues of past monarchs on the façade; the London firm Farmer & Brindley carved them from Cliffe Wood stone, from the local quarry on Bolton Road, at a cost of £63 each. On the side facing Centenary Square, the line of monarchs includes Oliver Cromwell. There is a flush bracket on the building with a code number once used to log the height above sea level.

The bell tower was inspired by Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. The top of the tower is 200 feet (61 m) high. It contains 13 bells, installed in 1872, which weighed 13 tons 3 quarters and 6 lbs and cost £1,765. They first rang at the opening in 1873. Due to lack of space in the tower they were not hung for ringing, but were chimed using an automatic carillon machine which could play 28 different tunes. The quarter-chiming clock, installed in 1872 at a cost of £2,248 5s was in operation until 1947; in that year it was replaced by a more modern mechanism. The original clock and carillon machine were manufactured by Gillett & Bland of Croydon; the bells were by Taylor of Loughborough.

The two flagpoles carry the flag of Wales on Saint David's Day and the flag of Australia on Australia Day. Flag use in response to major world disasters is made according to Government guidelines. The flags also reflect royal events, such as coronations and weddings.

The building is set in Centenary Square, which was developed and pedestrianised in 1997, the city's centenary. Staff give tours of the building on request. Annually in September the City Hall holds a heritage weekend, when visitors can see more of the building.

Interior

In the banqueting hall is a 19th-century overmantel and frieze carved by C. R. Millar. The frieze carries the Bradford city motto: Labor omnia vincit (Hard work conquers all), reflecting the ethos of an industrial city, and the work ethic of the Evangelical movement represented by many local chapels. The figures on the frieze represent the wool trade between Bradford and the world, besides architecture and the arts.

Bells

Currently (2016) the bells ring every 15 minutes and play tunes at midday and late afternoon plus carols in December.When an eminent Bradfordian dies, the City Hall flags fly at half mast until the funeral is over, while the minute bell rings for an hour after receipt of notice, and for an hour at the time of the funeral. The bells have played "The Star-Spangled Banner" to mark the three minutes' silence for those who died due to terrorism. At the memorial in 2005 of the 1985 Bradford City stadium fire, "Dozens of people broke down in tears as the City Hall bells played You'll Never Walk Alone and Abide with Me in tribute to the victims."

However the bells normally play happier tunes, and in 2001 there was talk of replacing the old computer application which controlled the bells, so that they could play pop music. The bells can now be programmed to play any tune, subject to musical arrangement and technical limitations. The bells have played No Matter What several times in 2001, when Whistle Down the Wind was playing at the Alhambra; the operator of the bells was able to see the theatre steps from the bell tower, and timed the peals with the audience's exit. This meant that the superintendent had to undertake the long climb up the tower at 10.30 pm every day for a week, as the bell system was still under repair. In 2010, the bells played the theme tune from Coronation Street when the cast was filming in the area.

Bradford is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the 1974 reform, the city status has belonged to the larger City of Bradford metropolitan borough. It had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 census; the second-largest subdivision of the West Yorkshire Built-up Area after Leeds, which is approximately 9 miles (14 km) to the east. The borough had a population of 546,976, making it the 9th most populous district in England.

Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city grew in the 19th century as an international centre of textile manufacture, particularly wool. It was a boomtown of the Industrial Revolution, and amongst the earliest industrialised settlements, rapidly becoming the "wool capital of the world"; this in turn gave rise to the nicknames "Woolopolis" and "Wool City". Lying in the eastern foothills of the Pennines, the area's access to supplies of coal, iron ore and soft water facilitated the growth of a manufacturing base, which, as textile manufacture grew, led to an explosion in population and was a stimulus to civic investment. There is a large amount of listed Victorian architecture in the city including the grand Italianate city hall.

From the mid-20th century, deindustrialisation caused the city's textile sector and industrial base to decline and, since then, it has faced similar economic and social challenges to the rest of post-industrial Northern England, including poverty, unemployment and social unrest. It is the third-largest economy within the Yorkshire and the Humber region at around £10 billion, which is mostly provided by financial and manufacturing industries. It is also a tourist destination, the first UNESCO City of Film and it has the National Science and Media Museum, a city park, the Alhambra theatre and Cartwright Hall. The city is the UK City of Culture for 2025 having won the designation on 31 May 2022.

History

The name Bradford is derived from the Old English brad and ford the broad ford which referred to a crossing of the Bradford Beck at Church Bank below the site of Bradford Cathedral, around which a settlement grew in Anglo-Saxon times. It was recorded as "Bradeford" in 1086.

Early history

After an uprising in 1070, during William the Conqueror's Harrying of the North, the manor of Bradford was laid waste, and is described as such in the Domesday Book of 1086. It then became part of the Honour of Pontefract given to Ilbert de Lacy for service to the Conqueror, in whose family the manor remained until 1311. There is evidence of a castle in the time of the Lacys. The manor then passed to the Earl of Lincoln, John of Gaunt, The Crown and, ultimately, private ownership in 1620.

By the middle ages Bradford, had become a small town centred on Kirkgate, Westgate and Ivegate. In 1316 there is mention of a fulling mill, a soke mill where all the manor corn was milled and a market. During the Wars of the Roses the inhabitants sided with House of Lancaster. Edward IV granted the right to hold two annual fairs and from this time the town began to prosper. In the reign of Henry VIII Bradford exceeded Leeds as a manufacturing centre. Bradford grew slowly over the next two-hundred years as the woollen trade gained in prominence.

During the Civil War the town was garrisoned for the Parliamentarians and in 1642 was unsuccessfully attacked by Royalist forces from Leeds. Sir Thomas Fairfax took the command of the garrison and marched to meet the Duke of Newcastle but was defeated. The Parliamentarians retreated to Bradford and the Royalists set up headquarters at Bolling Hall from where the town was besieged leading to its surrender. The Civil War caused a decline in industry but after the accession of William III and Mary II in 1689 prosperity began to return. The launch of manufacturing in the early 18th century marked the start of the town's development while new canal and turnpike road links encouraged trade.

Industrial Revolution

In 1801, Bradford was a rural market town of 6,393 people, where wool spinning and cloth weaving were carried out in local cottages and farms. Bradford was thus not much bigger than nearby Keighley (5,745) and was significantly smaller than Halifax (8,866) and Huddersfield (7,268). This small town acted as a hub for three nearby townships – Manningham, Bowling and Great and Little Horton, which were separated from the town by countryside.

Blast furnaces were established in about 1788 by Hird, Dawson Hardy at Low Moor and iron was worked by the Bowling Iron Company until about 1900. Yorkshire iron was used for shackles, hooks and piston rods for locomotives, colliery cages and other mining appliances where toughness was required. The Low Moor Company also made pig iron and the company employed 1,500 men in 1929. when the municipal borough of Bradford was created in 1847 there were 46 coal mines within its boundaries. Coal output continued to expand, reaching a peak in 1868 when Bradford contributed a quarter of all the coal and iron produced in Yorkshire.

The population of the township in 1841 was 34,560.

In 1825 the wool-combers union called a strike that lasted five-months but workers were forced to return to work through hardship leading to the introduction of machine-combing. This Industrial Revolution led to rapid growth, with wool imported in vast quantities for the manufacture of worsted cloth in which Bradford specialised, and the town soon became known as the wool capital of the world.

A permanent military presence was established in the city with the completion of Bradford Moor Barracks in 1844.

Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and a county borough in 1888, making it administratively independent of the West Riding County Council. It was honoured with city status on the occasion of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897, with Kingston upon Hull and Nottingham. The three had been the largest county boroughs outside the London area without city status. The borough's boundaries were extended to absorb Clayton in 1930, and parts of Rawdon, Shipley, Wharfedale and Yeadon urban districts in 1937.

Bradford had ample supplies of locally mined coal to provide the power that the industry needed. Local sandstone was an excellent resource for building the mills, and with a population of 182,000 by 1850, the town grew rapidly as workers were attracted by jobs in the textile mills. A desperate shortage of water in Bradford Dale was a serious limitation on industrial expansion and improvement in urban sanitary conditions. In 1854 Bradford Corporation bought the Bradford Water Company and embarked on a huge engineering programme to bring supplies of soft water from Airedale, Wharfedale and Nidderdale. By 1882 water supply had radically improved. Meanwhile, urban expansion took place along the routes out of the city towards the Hortons and Bowling and the townships had become part of a continuous urban area by the late 19th century.

A major employer was Titus Salt who in 1833 took over the running of his father's woollen business specialising in fabrics combining alpaca, mohair, cotton and silk. By 1850 he had five mills. However, because of the polluted environment and squalid conditions for his workers Salt left Bradford and transferred his business to Salts Mill in Saltaire in 1850, where in 1853 he began to build the workers' village which has become a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Henry Ripley was a younger contemporary of Titus Salt. He was managing partner of Edward Ripley & Son Ltd, which owned the Bowling Dye Works. In 1880 the dye works employed over 1000 people and was said to be the biggest dye works in Europe. Like Salt he was a councillor, JP and Bradford MP who was deeply concerned to improve working class housing conditions. He built the industrial Model village of Ripley Ville on a site in Broomfields, East Bowling close to the dye works.

Other major employers were Samuel Lister and his brother who were worsted spinners and manufacturers at Lister's Mill (Manningham Mills). Lister epitomised Victorian enterprise but it has been suggested that his capitalist attitude made trade unions necessary. Unprecedented growth created problems with over 200 factory chimneys continually churning out black, sulphurous smoke, Bradford gained the reputation of being the most polluted town in England. There were frequent outbreaks of cholera and typhoid, and only 30% of children born to textile workers reached the age of fifteen. This extreme level of infant and youth mortality contributed to a life expectancy for Bradford residents of just over eighteen years, which was one of the lowest in the country.

Like many major cities Bradford has been a destination for immigrants. In the 1840s Bradford's population was significantly increased by migrants from Ireland, particularly rural County Mayo and County Sligo, and by 1851 about 10% of the population were born in Ireland, the largest proportion in Yorkshire. Around the middle decades of the 19th century the Irish were concentrated in eight densely settled areas situated near the town centre. One of these was the Bedford Street area of Broomfields, which in 1861 contained 1,162 persons of Irish birth—19% of all Irish born persons in the Borough.

During the 1820s and 1830s, there was immigration from Germany. Many were Jewish merchants and they became active in the life of the town. The Jewish community mostly living in the Manningham area of the town, numbered about 100 families but was influential in the development of Bradford as a major exporter of woollen goods from their textile export houses predominately based in Little Germany and the civic life of Bradford. Charles Semon (1814–1877) was a textile merchant and philanthropist who developed a productive textile export house in the town, he became the first foreign and Jewish mayor of Bradford in 1864. Jacob Behrens (1806–1889) was the first foreign textile merchant to export woollen goods from the town, his company developed into an international multimillion-pound business. Behrens was a philanthropist, he also helped to establish the Bradford chamber of commerce in 1851. Jacob Moser (1839–1922) was a textile merchant who was a partner in the firm Edelstein, Moser and Co, which developed into a successful Bradford textile export house. Moser was a philanthropist, he founded the Bradford Charity Organisation Society and the City Guild of Help. In 1910 Moser became the first Jewish Lord Mayor of Bradford.

Jowett Cars Eight badge

To support the textile mills, a large manufacturing base grew up in the town providing textile machinery, and this led to diversification with different industries thriving side by side. The Jowett Motor Company founded in the early 20th century by Benjamin and William Jowett and Arthur V Lamb, manufactured cars and vans in Bradford for 50 years. The Scott Motorcycle Company was a well known producer of motorcycles and light engines for industry. Founded by Alfred Angas Scott in 1908 as the Scott Engineering Company in Bradford, Scott motorcycles were produced until 1978.

Independent Labour Party

The city played an important part in the early history of the Labour Party. A mural on the back of the Bradford Playhouse in Little Germany commemorates the centenary of the founding of the Independent Labour Party in Bradford in 1893.

Regimental colours

The Bradford Pals were three First World War Pals battalions of Kitchener's Army raised in the city. When the three battalions were taken over by the British Army they were officially named the 16th (1st Bradford), 18th (2nd Bradford), and 20th (Reserve) Battalions, The Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment).

On the morning of 1 July 1916, the 16th and 18th Battalions left their trenches in Northern France to advance across no man's land. It was the first hour of the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Of the estimated 1,394 men from Bradford and District in the two battalions, 1,060 were either killed or injured during the ill-fated attack on the village of Serre-lès-Puisieux.

Other Bradford Battalions of The Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment) involved in the Battle of the Somme were the 1st/6th Battalion (the former Bradford Rifle Volunteers), part of the Territorial Force, based at Belle Vue Barracks in Manningham, and the 10th Battalion (another Kitchener battalion). The 1/6th Battalion first saw action in 1915 at the Battle of Aubers Ridge before moving north to the Yser Canal near Ypres. On the first day of the Somme they took heavy casualties while trying to support the 36th (Ulster) Division. The 10th Battalion was involved in the attack on Fricourt, where it suffered the highest casualty rate of any battalion on the Somme on 1 July and perhaps the highest battalion casualty list for a single day during the entire war. Nearly 60% of the battalion's casualties were deaths.

The 1/2nd and 2/2nd West Riding Brigades, Royal Field Artillery (TF), had their headquarters at Valley Parade in Manningham, with batteries at Bradford, Halifax and Heckmondwike. The 1/2nd Brigade crossed to France with the 1/6th Battalion West Yorks in April 1915. These Territorial Force units were to remain close to each other throughout the war, serving in the 49th (West Riding) Division. They were joined in 1917 by the 2/6th Battalion, West Yorks, and 2/2nd West Riding Brigade, RFA, serving in the 62nd (2nd West Riding) Division.

Recent history

Bradford's Telegraph and Argus newspaper was involved in spearheading the news of the 1936 Abdication Crisis, after the Bishop of Bradford publicly expressed doubts about Edward VIII's religious beliefs (see: Telegraph & Argus#1936 Abdication Crisis).

After the Second World War migrants came from Poland and Ukraine and since the 1950s from Bangladesh, India and particularly Pakistan.

The textile industry has been in decline throughout the latter part of the 20th century. A culture of innovation had been fundamental to Bradford's dominance, with new textile technologies being invented in the city; a prime example being the work of Samuel Lister. This innovation culture continues today throughout Bradford's economy, from automotive (Kahn Design) to electronics (Pace Micro Technology). Wm Morrison Supermarkets was founded by William Morrison in 1899, initially as an egg and butter merchant in Rawson Market, operating under the name of Wm Morrison (Provisions) Limited.

The grandest of the mills no longer used for textile production is Lister Mills, the chimney of which can be seen from most places in Bradford. It has become a beacon of regeneration after a £100 million conversion to apartment blocks by property developer Urban Splash.

In 1989, copies of Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses were burnt in the city, and a section of the Muslim community led a campaign against the book. In July 2001, ethnic tensions led to rioting, and a report described Bradford as fragmented and a city of segregated ethnic communities.

The Yorkshire Building Society opened its new headquarters in the city in 1992.

In 2006 Wm Morrison Supermarkets opened its new headquarters in the city, the firm employs more than 5,000 people in Bradford.

In June 2009 Bradford became the world's first UNESCO City of Film and became part of the Creative Cities Network since then. The city has a long history of producing both films and the technology that produces moving film which includes the invention of the Cieroscope, which took place in Manningham in 1896.

In 2010 Provident Financial opened its new headquarters in the city. The company has been based in the city since 1880.

In 2012 the British Wool Marketing Board opened its new headquarters in the city. Also in 2012 Bradford City Park opened, the park which cost £24.5 million to construct is a public space in the city centre which features numerous fountains and a mirror pool surrounded by benches and a walk way.

In 2015 The Broadway opened, the shopping and leisure complex in the centre of Bradford cost £260 million to build and is owned by Meyer Bergman.

In 2022, Bradford was named the UK City of Culture 2025, beating Southampton, Wrexham and Durham. The UK City of Culture bid, as of 2023, was expected to majorly stimulate the local economy and culture as well as attracting tourism to the city. By 2025, the UK City of Culture bid is expected to support potential economic growth of £389 million to the city of Bradford as well as to the surrounding local areas, creating over 7,000 jobs, attracting a significant amount of tourists to the city and providing thousands of performance opportunities for local artists.

Huile sur toile, 192 x 201 cm, 1956, Lane Kemper Art museum (université saint Louis), Washington.

Exécutée en 1956, Samedi soir de Willem de Kooning est une toile pleine d’activité picturale frénétique. Conformément aux associations du titre avec une soirée en ville, les coups de pinceau et les plans de couleurs du tableau articulent une cacophonie à la fois sensuelle et dissonante. Thomas Hess, le critique le plus perspicace de de Kooning, a repris cette ambiance urbaine, qualifiant cette peinture et des peintures similaires de 1956 de "paysages urbains abstraits". Il a perçu les rues crasseuses et chaotiques de New York dans ces peintures. D’autres titres de De Kooning de l’époque font explicitement référence au monde urbain des romans policiers bon marché et du film noir : Nouvelles de Gotha (Gotham News), Incident au coin d'une rue (Street Corner Incident), Journal de la police (Police Gazette).

Cette lueur du monde populaire du kitsch urbain est importante pour Samedi soir, car elle remet en question le sérieux habituel des discussions des années 1950 sur l'expressionnisme abstrait, le mouvement auquel de Kooning est habituellement associé. Tandis que cette oeuvre revendique son statut de peinture mettant l'accent sur les pigments mutilés et étirés, c'est aussi une toile qui semble nier les notions élevées de la peinture, ou du moins les attentes d'authenticité liées au médium dans les années 1950. À cette époque, les critiques considéraient la peinture abstraite en grande partie comme un véhicule d’expression immédiate de l’artiste existentiel, en dehors des influences sociétales et culturelles de masse.

L'importance de Samedi soir réside dans la manière dont de Kooning a retourné cette vision contre elle-même, dans la manière dont il a utilisé la syntaxe de l'expressionnisme abstrait pour en démontrer les limites. En minimisant le caractère artisanal de ses marques, il suggère qu'une telle peinture gestuelle, considérée comme emblématique de l'expérience directe et subjective, est au mieux un mode d'expression fragmentaire, toujours médiatisée, toujours ancrée dans un champ social plus vaste. L'artiste transmet cet encastrement, une idée antithétique à la haute tradition moderniste, en trouvant un moyen de se rapprocher visuellement des plaisirs avilis et différés de la ville. Dans un sens, de Kooning "s’en prend" au langage du grand modernisme. En tant que tel, ce tableau est un hybride des années 1950, coincé entre la rhétorique existentielle sans humour de la notion d' "action painting" d'Harold Rosenberg et les propos désinvoltes et acculturés de Robert Rauschenberg et d'Andy Warhol, qui ont tous deux incorporé dans leur travail des images trouvées dans les médias dans leur travail.

Malgré la réputation de de Kooning en tant que peintre expressionniste qui fait des marques, la soustraction est un geste tout aussi important dans son répertoire. Par exemple, il faisait souvent glisser un grattoir ou un autre bord sur ses surfaces peintes, privant ainsi ses coups de pinceau de leur immédiateté et de leur friction. Le quadrant supérieur droit de Samedi soir dramatise une telle négation de la main de l’artiste. De Kooning a gratté le passage rouge proéminent jusqu'à ce qu'il paraisse plat et semi-transparent. L’artiste a également mélangé la zone située à droite de ce passage rouge, avec ses taches vertes, bleues et blanches, sous une brume unificatrice. En tant que telles, ces zones semblent médiatisées, presque comme s'il s'agissait de reproductions photographiques de coups de pinceau. De ​​tels passages grattés et aplatis se produisent tout au long de l'oeuvre.

Un petit passage constitue cependant l’exception qui confirme la règle : un ovale de pigment noir et blanc fortement empâté, situé juste au-dessus et à droite du centre du tableau. Si un memento mori est un objet dans un tableau qui suscite des pensées de mort (un crâne dans une nature morte, par exemple), alors ce passage particulier sert de memento mori à l'envers. En rappelant aux spectateurs la vitalité, la tactilité et la viscosité de l’expressionnisme abstrait, cette boule de peinture souligne la médiation et la planéité du reste du tableau.

Tout au long de sa carrière, de Kooning a également eu recours à des stratégies de collage pour se moquer de l’authenticité singulière de la peinture, Samedi soir apparaissant comme un ensemble de parties distinctes. Ce processus de collage pictural n’est pas étranger à ses gestes de retrait. Il isole par exemple l'ovale empâté, le détachant de son environnement en grattant la peinture. Ceci est comparable à la suppression de données provenant d'une source, les deux actions créant l’apparence d’une surface fracturée. De plus, la pratique d’atelier de de Kooning était basée sur une esthétique du collage. À tout moment, l'artiste disposait d'un certain nombre de petits dessins et de croquis à l'huile qui traînaient dans son espace de travail. Il attachait souvent temporairement l’un de ces exemples à un tableau plus grand, utilisait ce nouvel élément pour repenser et modifier la composition globale de la toile, puis supprimait le dessin. Bien entendu, un tel processus créait des effets picturaux disjonctifs. La ligne bleue qui commence à définir une forme organique dans le coin inférieur gauche de l’image pourrait bien être l’un de ces passages. De plus, de Kooning masquait et recouvrait des éléments de ses peintures, créant ainsi des bords durs et des transitions gênantes. La bande rose flottant juste sous la mer bleue de pigment au bas du tableau, ainsi que la façon dont les coups de pinceau s'arrêtent le long de lignes droites, dramatisent les processus complexes par lesquels l'artiste a manipulé sa surface peinte. Pour de Kooning, la peinture était comme le collage, disjonctive et additive.

Malgré le retrait littéral et figuratif associé à l’esthétique de la soustraction et du collage de de Kooning, l’énergie et la frénésie de la peinture véhiculent toujours une sexualité charnelle. Dans les années qui ont précédé ses abstractions urbaines au milieu des années 1950, l'artiste peignait principalement des images de femmes, la plus célèbre étant Femme de 1950-1952. Il a travaillé sur cette toile particulière pendant plus de deux ans, peignant, grattant et repeignant à plusieurs reprises. Le résultat final montre son âge et offre aux téléspectateurs quelque chose entre un ancien dieu de la fertilité et une pin-up effrontée, avec un rendu de coups de pinceau frénétiques visibles dans Samedi soir. Cette dernière œuvre, malgré l'absence de femme identifiable, est également une peinture sensuelle avec sa frénésie orgiaque, ses courbes organiques et ses teintes roses charnues. Ainsi, bien que de Kooning ait violemment fracturé et dispersé l’une de ses femmes canoniques à sa surface, ses parties radicalement abstraites conservent néanmoins un sentiment charnel.

La planéité et les éléments de collage du tableau dialoguent clairement avec le cubisme, mouvement que de Kooning admirait. En outre, bon nombre des œuvres cubistes les plus importantes sont en fait des portraits de femmes, par exemple Ma Jolie de 1912 (Picasso). Certains critiques ont interprété ce tableau comme une représentation aplatie et angulaire de l’amant de Picasso, vidée de toute charnalité tridimensionnelle et sinueuse, mais est plus un diagramme qu'un portrait. À l'image de la pratique cubiste, Samedi soir est également organisé autour d'une grille lâche, deux lignes verticales noires ancrant ses parties supérieure et inférieure et fournissant ainsi une feuille aux nombreux coups de pinceau horizontaux. Pourtant, avec la sexualité charnue et frénétique de l'oeuvre, de Kooning a pu récupérer un sentiment paradoxal de luxure cubiste, celui d'une grille lâche et schématique du cubisme et d'un érotisme avili.

En fin de compte, Samedi soir dramatise une visualité urbaine sexiste avec un site plat et disjonctif de désir dispersé et différé. La peinture peut se rapprocher d'un aperçu momentané d'une partie du corps fétichisée, qu'elle soit repérée dans un bus urbain bondé ou dans la rue, réelle ou dans une publicité. Pour l’artiste, la ville est un lieu de désirs artificiels et collés, ses bleus froids et les roses charnus collés ensemble dans un champ plat et chaotique suggérant cette expérience. Même la grille cubiste de de Kooning semble pressée. En réorientant la toile pour faire bouger ses gouttes picturales de droite à gauche (défiant ainsi la gravité), l'artiste a suggéré la mobilité du spectateur ou du tableau lui-même. Malgré sa présence sur le mur, le tableau menace toujours de glisser hors de vue.

En 1960, de Kooning déclarait : "le contenu est un aperçu", reconnaissant ainsi les qualités éphémères de l’imagerie dans ses peintures. Samedi soirt est obsédé par de tels aperçus, mais dramatise finalement une vision urbaine frustrée et frénétique. Tout en dialoguant avec l’action painting de Jackson Pollock, la toile traverse également le monde de la vie quotidienne, comparable à l’utilisation par Rauschenberg d’images trouvées dans ses peintures combinées des années 1950 ou aux sérigraphies photographiques floues de Warhol du début des années 1960. Si ces deux derniers artistes ont utilisé la photographie comme une sorte de coup de pinceau, le travail de de Kooning permet à ces derniers de prendre des qualités de photographie, légèrement en retrait de la réalité et de son immédiateté. Avec Samedi soir, l’artiste parle à la fois le langage de l’expressionnisme abstrait et le nie. En tant que telle, la peinture regarde à la fois vers l’intérieur et vers l’extérieur, vers les notions modernistes d’authenticité et d’autonomie et les idées postmodernes de fragmentation et de médiation (cf. John J.Curley, professeur agrégé d'histoire de l'Art moderne et contemporain à l'Université de Wake Forest en Caroline du Nord et invité de l'Université de Washington à Saint-Louis, 2007).

HUD Secretaries Visit Puerto Rico to Execute Disaster Grant Agreement

Marble statue by Noel Jouvenet executed between 1684-1685, depicting the Emperor Commodus in the guise of Hercules carrying his young son Telephos.

A man in his 20s received an early morning wakeup call today (Monday 24 February), as officers from our County Lines Team executed a warrant at an address in Bolton.

He was arrested on suspicion of being concerned with the supply of a Class A substance and cuckooing.

Officers carried out a search of the address and seized a mobile phone believed to be used as a drugs line.

Cuckooing is the term used when criminals take over the home of a vulnerable person is taken in order to use it to deal, store or take drugs, and other criminal activity. The practice is associated with county lines drug trafficking.

Often criminals and organised crime gangs (OCGs) target people who are lonely, isolated, or have addiction issues. It's common for OCGs to use a property for a short amount of time, moving address frequently to reduce the chance of being caught.

There are several signs to look out for that may indicate someone is a victim of cuckooing:

frequent visitors at unsociable hours

changes in your neighbour’s daily routine

unusual smells coming from a property

suspicious or unfamiliar vehicles outside an address

your neighbour may look dishevelled or seem anxious

This illegal exploitative practice will be discussed in Parliament this week as one of two new offences from the government’s flagship Crime and Policing Bill, making cuckooing illegal under the introduction of a new law.

Our County Lines Team investigate suspected drugs lines operating across Greater Manchester using overt and covert methods, including surveillance and other investigative work. If you suspect there is a drugs line operating in your area or that someone is being cuckooed, our officers take this seriously and will act on intelligence.

Since September 2022, our County Lines Team have made approximately 366 arrests with 304 charges, seized around 108kg of class A and class B drugs, and closed around 397 Type 1 county drugs lines.

Police Constable Andrew Shaw, from GMP’s County Lines Team, said: “We've closed down a suspected drugs line in Bolton this morning, which we believe may have been exploiting vulnerable people and taking over their own home.

“Our dedicated county lines team has closed down 160 drugs lines in the last year and continues to pursue suspects and protect victims.

“Drugs blight communities; from addiction to the exploitation of vulnerable people, illicit substances cause damage across Greater Manchester.

“We are unrelenting in our pursuit of organised criminals, and we will continue to act swiftly on intelligence we receive and proactively pursue offenders.

“If you have any concerns about drug supply or county lines operating in your area or feel like you have witnessed something suspicious, please do get in touch with us. You can report information to the police on 101, via gmp.police.uk, or by calling the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.”

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Two destroyed assault weapons "Ferdinand" of headquarters company of the 654 battalion

Executing Gcode

John Allen Muhammad executed in the state of Virginia.

One of a pair of plaster reliefs, executed as models to be copied in stone on the great high altar reredos of Liverpool Cathedral by the sculptors Walter Gilbert & Louis Weingartner.Gilbert was a member of the Bromsgrove Guild, thus it is fitting that two of the team's beautiful full scale maquettes should find their home in Hanbury church, near Bromsgrove. Gilbert's family had lived here and his memorial is nearby.

St Mary's at Hanbury is something of a landmark, sitting in an elevated hilltop position commanding fine views over the Worcestershire countryside to the south. The church itself is a real patchwork of different periods in three distinct phases, with a medieval nave (with 17th century alterations), a Georgian Gothick west tower and a Victorian chancel and chapels.

The interior furnishings date mostly from the Victorian restoration as does the stained glass at the east end. The real treasure of the church however is the collection of monuments to the Vernon family of nearby Hanbury Hall, mainly concentrated in the Vernon chapel at the south east corner. The best piece is the huge Baroque tomb of Sir Thomas Vernon, shown reclining between two seated female figures with pediment and swags above.

In the north aisle are fine pieces of sculpture from a more recent period, two beautiful early 20th century relief sculptures in plaster depicting the Nativity and Resurrection that were the original sculptor's maquettes for parts of the huge Gilbert & Weingartner reredos in Liverpool Cathedral.

St Mary's is normally open and welcoming to visitors.

1612 Mark Brewster who gave 4s 10d to the poor and £40 to the church for a great bell . He was a freeman of the Ironmongers Company and made money being one of the first traders to Russia, as deputy agent of the Russian Company under John Merrick overseeing the factory in Moscow, trading free of duty perhaps involving piracy. After unrest in Moscow, suspension of the company's charter and the burning of the english house where he lived in the Varvarka, he

retired here in 1612. The Tsar however asked for his return and he was tried and executed in Moscow

HUD Secretaries Visit Puerto Rico to Execute Disaster Grant Agreement

THRASH METAL - RANCAGUA

HUD Secretaries Visit Puerto Rico to Execute Disaster Grant Agreement

Photo: Tani Simberg

The Sanctury of the St Kilda Presbyterian Church features three beautiful 1880s Ferguson and Urie stained glass windows; Faith on the left, Charity in the middle and Hope on the right. All are executed in iridescent reds, yellows, greens and blues, to reflect the colour palate used in other Ferguson and Urie windows elsewhere around the church.

Built on the crest of a hill in a prominent position overlooking St Kilda and the bay is the grand St Kilda Presbyterian Church.

The St Kilda Presbyterian Church's interior is cool, spacious and lofty, with high ceilings of tongue and groove boards laid diagonally, and a large apse whose ceiling was once painted with golden star stenciling. The bluestone walls are so thick that the sounds of the busy intersection of Barkley Street and Alma Road barely permeate the church's interior, and it is easy to forget that you are in such a noisy inner Melbourne suburb. The cedar pews of the church are divided by two grand aisles which feature tall cast iron columns with Corinthian capitals. At the rear of the building towards Alma Road there are twin porches and a narthex with a staircase that leads to the rear gallery where the choir sang from. It apparently once housed an organ by William Anderson, but the space today is used as an office and Bible study area. The current impressive Fincham and Hobday organ from 1892 sits in the north-east corner of the church. It cost £1030.00 to acquire and install. The church is flooded with light, even on an overcast day with a powerful thunder storm brewing (as the weather was on my visit). The reason for such light is because of the very large Gothic windows, many of which are filled with quarry glass by Ferguson and Urie featuring geometric tracery with coloured borders. The church also features stained glass windows designed by Ferguson and Urie, including the impressive rose window, British stained glass artist Ernest Richard Suffling, Brooks, Robinson and Company Glass Merchants, Mathieson and Gibson of Melbourne and one by Australian stained glass artist Napier Waller.

Opened in 1886, the St Kilda Presbyterian church was designed by the architects firm of Wilson and Beswicke, a business founded in 1881 by Ralph Wilson and John Beswicke (1847 - 1925) when they became partners for a short period. The church is constructed of bluestone with freestone dressings and designed in typical Victorian Gothic style. The foundation stone, which may be found on the Alma Road facade, was laid by the Governor of Victoria Sir Henry Barkly on 27 January. When it was built, the St Kilda Presbyterian Church was surrounded by large properties with grand mansions built upon them, so the congregation were largely very affluent and wished for a place of worship that reflected its stature not only in location atop a hill, but in size and grandeur.

The exterior facades of the church on Barkley Street and Alma Road are dominated by a magnificent tower topped by an imposing tower. The location of the church and the height of the tower made the spire a landmark for mariners sailing into Melbourne's port. The tower features corner pinnacles and round spaces for the insertion of a clock, which never took place. Common Victorian Gothic architectural features of the St Kilda Presbyterian Church include complex bar tracery over the windows, wall buttresses which identify structural bays, gabled roof vents, parapeted gables and excellent stone masonry across the entire structure.

I am very grateful to the Reverend Paul Lee for allowing me the opportunity to photograph the interior of the St Kilda Presbyterian Church so extensively.

The architects Wilson and Beswicke were also responsible for the Brighton, Dandenong, Essendon, Hawthorn and Malvern Town Halls and the Brisbane Wesleyan Church on the corner of Albert and Ann Streets. They also designed shops in the inner Melbourne suburbs of Auburn and Fitzroy. They also designed several individual houses, including "Tudor House" in Williamstown, "Tudor Lodge" in Hawthorn and "Rotha" in Hawthorn, the latter of which is where John Beswicke lived.

The stained glass firm of Ferguson and Urie was established by Scots James Ferguson (1818 – 1894), James Urie (1828 – 1890) and John Lamb Lyon (1836 – 1916). They were the first known makers of stained glass in Australia. Until the early 1860s, window glass in Melbourne had been clear or plain coloured, and nearly all was imported, but new churches and elaborate buildings created a demand for pictorial windows. The three Scotsmen set up Ferguson and Urie in 1862 and the business thrived until 1899, when it ceased operation, with only John Lamb Lyon left alive. Ferguson and Urie was the most successful Nineteenth Century Australian stained glass window making company. Among their earliest works were a Shakespeare window for the Haymarket Theatre in Bourke Street, a memorial window to Prince Albert in Holy Trinity, Kew, and a set of Apostles for the West Melbourne Presbyterian Church. Their palatial Gothic Revival office building stood at 283 Collins Street from 1875. Ironically, their last major commission, a window depicting “labour”, was installed in the old Melbourne Stock Exchange in Collins Street in 1893 on the eve of the bank crash. Their windows can be found throughout the older suburbs of Melbourne and across provincial Victoria.

Fold-up ladder for breaking and entering into properties belonging to cat burglar, Charles Peace, executed for killing a police officer in a burglary gone wrong in 1878. Peace was a musician serenading households by day; returning robber by night. © Museum of London / object courtesy the Metropolitan Police’s Crime Museum

Portugal's National Pantheon

Santa Engracia Church, or the National Pantheon, stands on the site of an earlier church that was torn down after being desecrated by a robbery in 1630. A Jew was blamed for this and executed, but was later exonerated. Legend has it that before dying he cursed the rebuilding of the church because of the conviction of an innocent man. The plan to reconstruct (by master stonemason João Antunes, bearing many similarities to Peruzzi's plans for St. Peter's in Rome) did take several centuries to be completed, only finished in 1966.

Today it has been designated the National Pantheon and contains the tombs of several Portuguese presidents, writer Almeida Garrett (one of the country's leading 19th century literary figures), and in recognition of her iconic status, Amalia Rodrigues, the most famous Fado diva.

The building is on the plan of a Greek cross, and the interior is covered in beautiful, multicolored slabs of polished marble. It is crowned with a dome that provides a 360-degree view of the river and the city.

Taken from 'golisbon'.

South chancel window c1980 unusually executed using fused layers of glass to create the designs. Possibly the work of Birmingham stained glass artist Claude Price who often used this medium.

The church of All Saints in Thorpe Acre (a north western suburb of Loughborough) was built in 1845 to replace a ruined medieval building at nearby DIshley. This small church was designed by WIlliam Railton and consisted of a single space nave and chancel in one crowned by a bellcote at the west end. The situation changed dramatically in 1968 when the building was greatly enlarged by extensions at the west end and on the south side were a large transept was created, transforming the building into the T-shaped worship space we see today, with the focal point at the crossing point rather than the old chancel. Outside the bellcote remains but the new additions dominate the view from the west and south, leaving the former chancel as the only part of the building still substantially in its Victorian form.

The interior is a light and pleasant space thanks to the white-washed walls and the light flooding in from the modern sections. The former chancel is relatively unaltered and retains some fine glass by Kempe along with a good Arts & Crafts window and a more recent piece alongside it.

This church is something a bit different, a fusion of old and new, and I rather liked it. I imagine it is normally only open for services but the people we met here were friendly and welcoming.

www.lboro-history-heritage.org.uk/all-saints-church-thorp...

This morning (Thursday 29 May 2025), our Challenger Team in Bolton executed four simultaneous warrants as the crackdown on drugs and anti-social behaviour continues.

Officers from our Specialist Operation department such as the Tactical Aid Unit, Drone Unit and the Stolen Vehicle Examination Unit joined district Neighbourhood officers as they descended on addresses in the New Bury area.

Strikes were conducted at properties on Fairfield Road, Moorside Avenue, Parkfield Avenue and St Gregory’s, with three people – two men in their 50s and 30s, and a female in her 40s - being arrested on suspicion of drugs offences.

While searching these locations, we recovered a quantity of Class A, B and C drugs, a number of stolen vehicles and multiple electronic bikes.

Challenger is Greater Manchester’s partnership response to serious and organised crime. It is made up of a variety of agencies that work together to disrupt and dismantle individuals and networks from committing serious crime.

This includes those who run drug lines, exploit people for financial gain, those who buy and use firearms, and launder money they make from their criminality.

PC Gregory from the Bolton Challenger Team said: “This morning our officers executed four warrants at separate addresses across Bolton as part of our ongoing commitment to tackling drugs and anti-social behaviour in our communities. These coordinated operations demonstrate our continued determination to disrupt criminal activity and send a clear message to those involved in the drug trade.

“We take drug dealing extremely seriously because we see firsthand the devastating effects these substances have - not only on individual users and their families, but on the wider Bolton community and Greater Manchester as a whole.

“We will pursue every line of enquiry vigorously and relentlessly, our message to drug dealers and those involved in related criminal activity is clear: we will not stop until we get these offenders off our streets and into our custody cells where they belong."

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