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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:-
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"
Soldiers execute a swim survival event at the National Best Warrior Competition held at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn., July 25, 2022. Fourteen competitors from around the nation came together to compete July 22-29. The National Best Warrior Competition has the best of the best Soldiers in the Army National Guard. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. Kristina Kranz)
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.
Today (Friday 10 November), Operation Vulcan executed warrants at premises on Bury New Road, shutting down and seizing half a million of pounds worth of counterfeit items.
Police warnings seem to have fallen on deaf ears for some counterfeit operations in the area. Attempts to re-open and profit from the Christmas sales however continue to be detected and swiftly shut down.
Thanks to intelligence from the Cheetham Hill Neighbourhood Team (who remain in the area with the Vulcan team and conduct daily patrols in the community), Operation Vulcan were able to execute these warrants just days after witnessing customers walking down Bury New Road with bags of fake goods.
Detective Sergeant Matt Donnelly, one of Operation Vulcan’s specialist officers, said: “These results today demonstrate just how important it is that Operation Vulcan remain in the area. The criminals operating here are so brazen, the minute they think they spot an opening, they’re back up and running as though it’s business as usual. We’re here to show them that this isn’t the case, and we will not stop until these illegitimate shops are eradicated and those responsible are locked up.
“I hope this is a warning that no matter how many times you try to reopen, we will continue to seize your belongings and profits, making sure none of this money can make its way back into the criminal market.
Councillor Luthfur Rahman, Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council said: "Over the past 12 months we have achieved a great deal through Operation Vulcan. Through our partnership with GMP gangs have been run out of Cheetham Hill and people have been allowed to feel safe in their own neighbourhoods.
"But the work will go on. We know these gangs are tenacious and that criminals will always find ways to circumvent the law. The Council's Trading Standards will remain vigilant throughout the Christmas period to make sure that dangerous or harmful goods do not make their way in the hands of the public."
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:-
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:-
Visit my website – paulophoto.co – to buy a print of this photo.
Wapping Old Stairs, leading down to the Thames. Used as a location in part 1 of the 1977 Doctor Who story 'The Talons of Weng-Chiang' in establishing shots at the start and then later when Buller's body is retrieved from the river in a state that would "make an 'orse sick."
Also, the likeliest site of Execution Dock where, for 400 years until 1830, the Admiralty executed pirates on the foreshore of the Thames. Unusually, the rope used was too short to break the necks of the condemned, meaning they would 'dance' as they choked. Three tides were allowed to wash over them before their bodies were taken down. The more notorious pirates were then tarred and hung in cages along the Thames as a deterrent to other pirates.
Click here to view my Doctor Who collection
Click here to view my Doctor Who locations collection
PRIMORDIAL LANDSCAPES
Even our parks are manicured. Everything is designed and executed by humans. They resemble exhibitions, rather than Nature. More concrete than greenery.
Talking of concrete; what do we see when we walk down a road? Buildings, roads, bridges, passages, pavements, billboards, shop windows, vehicles of every size and type. When we look up, airplanes passing over. Concrete, metal, glass, etc.
When was the last time we wetted our feet and hands on a natural beach? I do not mean the fake beaches of holiday villages, nor the concrete docks alongside the piers, but beaches in the real sense. Where beaches are shaped by waves, where moss dance slowly, where the sound of the sea tingle our ears?
When was the last time we climbed on a real rock? When was the last time we sat on real earth?
The stars are obscured by the city lights, we cannot see them. We erased them all.
But there were mountains, seas, rivers, deserts, even before we existed on this planet. Who knows how it looked? Now we have to search for primordial landscapes in other planets.
Perhaps we can see their traces if we look carefully at trees. Perhaps barks of the remaining trees contain records of the past. We may see them if we look carefully and close enough.
Now let us look a little more carefully, a little closer; can we spot ourselves in those primordial landscapes?
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:-
"김정은, 1만 명 이상의 원산 시민이 보는 앞에서 80명을 끔찍하게 처형했다고? 경범죄 저지른 '조무라기들'까지 포함해서? 이것, 엽기네... ":http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-north-korea-executes-80-20131111,0,2954869.story#axzz2kQPH9bpw posted by 싱싱한활자
Exécutée par le sculpteur François Girardon sur un dessin de Le Brun, la Pyramide, au centre de son bassin, demanda trois ans de travail. Elle est composée de quatre vasques de plomb superposées, supportées par des tritons, des dauphins et des écrevisses en plomb.
www.chateauversailles.fr/decouvrir-domaine/jardins/la-nat...
Back in 2005, Stanley "Tookie" Williams was executed by the State of California. In 1971 he co-founded the Crips street gang and by 1979, he was found guilty of multiple murders. While in prison, Tookie changed his ways. He became an anti-gang activist and apologized for founding the Crips. He also met a journalist named Barbara Becnel and asked her to help him write children's books. Tookie's work gained attention and praise from around the world. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize four times. In 2004 a movie was made about him called 'Redemption.' A year later, efforts to stop his execution grew. Celebrities like Jamie Foxx, Danny Glover, and Sean Penn appealed to governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to spare Tookie's life. The governor refused. Williams' execution went ahead in December 2005. Barbara Becnel was there and she's made a documentary about his life. Barbara is on a mission to vindicate Tookie, end the death penalty and reform the criminal justice system.
Check out her interview with George here - www.cbc.ca/thehour/videos.html?id=1009520413
This morning, officers executed four arrest warrants at addresses on Derbyshire Avenue in Stretford, resulting in five arrests.
At the first address, a 16‑year‑old boy was arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply Class B drugs, as well as an unrelated robbery offence.
At the second address, a 39‑year‑old man was arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply Class B drugs.
At the third address, two men, aged 28 and 61and a 59‑year‑old woman were arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply Class A and Class B drugs.
No drugs were located at the fourth address; however, a mobile phone was seized as part of the ongoing investigation.
These warrants were executed following a proactive investigation led by Trafford North’s Neighbourhood Team into drug supply linked to Derbyshire Avenue.
The team remains committed to tackling drug dealing and associated criminality across the Trafford area.
Intelligence from the local community played a vital role. Based on this information, officers believed the four addresses were connected to the supply of controlled substances.
Collaboration was key to the success of this operation. The Neighbourhood Team worked alongside the Tactical Dog Unit, the Drone Unit, our Challenger Team, and the Regional Organised Crime Unit, ensuring a coordinated and robust approach.
upon entry, officers recovered cannabis at three properties, secured multiple arrests, and seized a quantity of white powder - believed to be cocaine - which has been sent for forensic testing.
All five suspects remain in custody for further questioning.
Inspector Jamie Jeffries, from the Trafford North Neighbourhood Team said: “Executing four warrants at the same time on the same street is a significant undertaking and reflects the seriousness of the intelligence we received.
“This level of coordinated action demands careful planning and considerable resources, and it shows our determination to disrupt drug networks operating in Trafford.
“Thanks to crucial information from the public, our Trafford North Neighbourhood Team was able to act decisively against addresses suspected of working together in drug supply.
“Conducting multiple warrants in one operation sends a clear message: if you choose to deal drugs, we will gather the evidence and take robust, swift action.
“We remain firmly committed to keeping Trafford safe, and I encourage anyone with concerns to keep coming forward — community intelligence directly drives operations like today’s.
Anyone with information about criminal activity is urged to contact police on 101, Live Chat or report anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
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
MSC Sinfonia executing a right-angled manouevre to depart Ibiza town port. For timetables for cruise ships visiting Ibiza see www.cruisetimetables.com/cruisesvisitingibizaspain.html. MSC Sinfonia and larger ships utilize this outer pier, whereas as small ships such as the Louis Coral dock in the inner harbor, for more convenient access to the popular quayside bars, restaurants, boutique shops, and stallls area under the old town.
St Albans claims to be the earliest site of Christian pilgrimage in England, being named after our first martyr, who was executed at some point in the 3rd century AD (when the city was still known by its Roman name, Verulanium) having sheltered a persecuted Christian priest, St Amphibalus, and been impressed by his faith, offering himself for arrest in his place. Both men were buried here and Alban's tomb was venerated and marked in some form long before the present cathedral was built.
The cathedral is nonetheless one of the most ancient of our major churches, though its cathedral status dates only to 1877 when the new diocese of St Albans was formed. The church was originally founded as St Alban's Abbey, and built close to the presumed site of Alban's martyrdom. Founded in 793 by King Offa, the abbey was rebuilt several times with the earliest parts of the present cathedral dating back to the late 11th century. Much use was made of recycled material from the abandoned Roman city of Verulanium, and the handsome Romanesque tower appears to be entirely constructed of reused Roman bricks. The Abbey was built on an impressive scale, and must have once been a very wealthy institution owing to pilgrimages to the shrine of St Alban behind the high altar. However its fortunes had begun to decline even before the Reformation swept medieval monastic life away.
The abbey church miraculously survived the Dissolution in its entirety and was sold to the town for use as their parish church. The monastic buildings however were completely erased aside from the splendid Abbey Gatehouse near the west end, and only the weathered remains of arcading on the south side of the nave remains of the former cloisters. Upkeep thereafter seems to have been a serious challenge and the huge church spent much of the following centuries in poor repair, thus much work was done by a succession of architects in the Victorian period prior to the abbey church being raised to the status of cathedral. The most obvious interventions are those made by Edmund Beckett / Lord Grimthorpe, an amateur architect who paid for much of the work in the 1870s in return for a free hand in redesigning parts of the building. His are the strange turrets on ends of the transepts, along with their facade windows below and the west front, which is clearly a Victorian confection, though the medieval facade it replaced had been left in a rather bare, unfinished state.
The cathedral we see today is thus a rather surprising mixture of styles and materials, everything from Roman brick, flint and rubble to fine white limestone., which gives it a rather patchy appearance. Its great length however is remarkable, being the second longest medieval church in the country (only Winchester is longer, but St Albans has a longer nave). The oldest parts are the towers and transepts from the end of the 11th century, along with much of the north side of the nave, all fine examples of early Romanesque architecture. Most of the rest was rebuilt in the Gothic style in various phases throughout the 14th century, including the greater part of the nave and all of the choir and Lady Chapel (though the east end was heavily renewed externally in the Victorian restoration).
Entering the cathedral one cannot fail to be impressed by the enormous length of the nave,, mostly of late 13th and early 14th century date aside from the strikingly austere north arcade in the more easterly section, where the raw unadorned early Norman architecture contrasts dramatically with the more ornate Gothic arcade opposite. The Norman columns have the added appeal of retaining substantial remains of medieval mural decoration, with a succession of Crucifixion scenes that may have originally served as reredos to long vanished side altars. The medieval pulpitum screen remains and separates the eastern bays for use as the choir beyond it. This area also retains its flat late medieval wooden ceiling complete with painted panels of angels holding shields.
The transepts and crossing beneath the tower form an especially memorable interior space, again the architecture is of the more raw, auster Norman variety, but the tower arches are enlivened with painted decoration simulating brickwork and much Roman and Saxon material is incorporated in to the transepts. Beyond is the fully Gothic eastern limb with the presbytery covered by a handsome medieval wooden vault, again replete it medieval painted decoration, and the striking altar reredos, a towering late medieval screen populated with elaborate niches and statuary (the latter being Victorian replacements for originals long lost). Behind this is the re-assembled shrine of St Alban (along with that of St Amphibalus in the south choir aisle nearby). The Lady Chapel beyond is a handsome example of 14th century Decorated Gothic, though much restored following centuries of use as a schoolroom separated from the rest of the church.
There is much of interest to see in the cathedral, though most of the furnishings are Victorian (the originals having long vanished) and there are few monuments of note aside from the two late medieval chantry chapels of Abbot Ramryge and Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, the latter overlooking the shrine of St Alban and balanced by a 15th century wooden watching loft on the opposite side (a rare survival). There is a mixture of glass, the most notable pieces being the most recent additions in the south aisle and north transept rose window. The best features are the unusually extensive remnants of medieval mural painting in various parts of the church, a quite remarkable survival, making a thorough exploration of this cathedral all the more rewarding.
This was my third visit, and longest one, though my attempt at a fuller photographic record was severely compromised by accidents with my camera, which at one point fell from my tripod onto the stone floor in one of the chantry chapels. I was lucky it survived at all given the dreadful crash it made, but it was seriously affected and my photos were very hit and miss from that point onwards. My day however ended on a happier note, returning in the evening to attend a lovely performance of Mozart's Requiem, and the acoustics in there are indeed impressive.
For more about the cathedral see below.
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:-
FORT IRWIN, Calif. - U.S. Army Soldiers from 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, execute drills with an M777 howitzer during Decisive Action Rotation 15-10 at the National Training Center here, Sept. 16th, 2015. Decisive action rotations create a realistic training environment that tests the capabilities of brigade combat teams preparing them to face similarly equipped opposing forces. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Tammy Nooner, Operations Group, National Training Center)
Left: Pietro Cataneo, c. 1567. Executed in 1606 by Frederick IV for the city of Mannheim (Germany).
Right: Plan of Palma Nuova.
ZUCKER, Paul (1959). Town and Square. From the Agora to the Village Green. Columbia University Press, New York. LCCCN 59-11183
---
On October 7, 1593, the superintendent of the Republic of Venice founded a revolutionary new kind of settlement: Palmanova. The city’s founding date commemorated the victory of European forces (supplied primarily by the Venetian republic) over Ottoman Turks in the Battle of Lepanto. October 7 also celebrated Saint Justina, chosen as the city’s patron saint. Using all the latest military innovations of the 16th century, this tiny town was a fortress in the shape of a nine-pointed star, designed by Vincenzo Scamozzi. In between the points of the star, ramparts protruded so that the points could defend each other. A moat surrounded the town, and three large, guarded gates allowed entry. Marcantonio Barbaro headed a group of Venetian noblemen in charge of building the town, Marcantonio Martinego was in charge of construction, and Giulio Savorgnan acted as an adviser.[1] The outer line of fortifications was completed under the Napoleonic domination. From 1815 to 1866 the city was under Austria, and was annexed 50 years later to Italy together with Veneto and the western Friuli. In 1960 Palmanova was declared a national monument.
American professor Edward Wallace Muir Jr. said on Palmanova: "The humanist theorists of the ideal city designed numerous planned cities that look intriguing on paper but were not especially successful as livable spaces. Along the northeastern frontier of their mainland empire, the Venetians began to build in 1593 the best example of a Renaissance planned town: Palmanova, a fortress city designed to defend against attacks from the Ottomans in Bosnia. Built ex nihilo according to humanist and military specifications, Palmanova was supposed to be inhabited by self-sustaining merchants, craftsmen, and farmers. However, despite the pristine conditions and elegant layout of the new city, no one chose to move there, and by 1622 Venice was forced to pardon criminals and offer them free building lots and materials if they would agree to settle the town. Thus began the forced settlement of this magnificent planned space, which remains lifeless to this day and is visited only by curious scholars of Renaissance cities and bored soldiers who are still posted there to guard the Italian frontier." (Wikipdia)
The Katyń massacre ("zbrodnia katyńska" in Polish) was the mass murder of approximately 22000 Polish nationals carried out by the Soviet secret police (NKVD) in April and May 1940. The massacre was prompted by a proposal (dated 5th March 1940) from Lavrentiy Beria, Minister of Internal Affairs of the Soviet Union, to execute all members of the Polish Officer Corps who had been captured and imprisoned by the USSR during the Nazi-Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939. This official document was approved and signed by the Soviet Politburo, including its leader Joseph Stalin.
As well as approximately 8000 officers of the Polish army, the victims of the Katyń massacre included 6000 police officers and thousands of university lecturers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, civic leaders, politicians, government officials, priests and other members of the "bourgeoisie" who had been targeted for arrest following the Soviet occupation of eastern Poland.
By physically eliminating Poland’s military and civilian elites, Stalin wanted to decapitate the Polish nation and ensure it was less able to resist the enforced Sovietisation of the occupied Polish territories.
The victims were all citizens of Poland, but not all were ethnically Polish - for example, the murdered army officers included Ukrainians, Belarusians and several hundred Jews, among them Baruch Steinberg, the Chief Rabbi of the Polish army. The majority were interned at three Soviet camps (Kozielsk, Starobielsk and Ostaszków) before being taken to NKVD mass murder sites, where they were executed and buried in mass graves.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baruch_Steinberg
Although the killings took place at several different locations in Soviet Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, the massacre is named after the Katyń forest in the Smolensk Oblast of western Russia where the graves of the Kozielsk prisoners were discovered in 1943. The exact fate of the other victims and the location of their graves was not confirmed until five decades later. After the discovery of the Katyń burial site the USSR denied responsibility for the massacre and tried to blame it on the Germans, and continued to lie about the killings for 50 years until finally admitting Soviet guilt in 1990 and revealing where the remaining victims were buried.
It eventually became possible to exhume and identify the bodies from the mass murder sites at Charków (Kharkiv), where the NKVD murdered the prisoners who were interned at Starobielsk, and Miednoje (Mednoye), where the NKVD murdered the prisoners who were interned at Ostaszków - as well as other locations such as Bykownia (Bykivnia).
Most of the Ostaszków prisoners were killed by Beria's chief executioner Vasily Blokhin, who was awarded the Order of the Red Banner by Stalin at the end of April 1940 for demonstrating "skill and organisation in the effective carrying out of special tasks".
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Blokhin
Although several other ex-members of the NKVD eventually confessed to participating in the Katyń massacre, none of the perpetrators were ever brought to justice, and neither the Soviet government nor successive governments of Russia have ever permitted a full investigation of this war crime.
There's also no shortage of vatniks, tankies and other useful idiots out there who are still in denial about it, even though claims that the murders were carried out by the Germans have zero credibility and have been comprehensively debunked (it's actually impossible for the Polish prisoners interned at Ostaszków - who disappeared without trace in 1940 and whose bodies were found in Miednoje in 1991 - to have been captured, killed and buried by the Germans, who never reached either of these locations in Russia at any time during World War 2)....
holocaustcontroversies.blogspot.com/2023/02/debunking-gro...
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:-
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.
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.
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:-
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:-
Date of unveiling: September 30, 2001 Material: Bronze Sculptor: Valeriy Medvedev Architects: Roman Kukharenko, Yuriy Melnychuk
The "Executed Children" memorial stands opposite the exit of the Dorohozhychi metro station. The bronze composition depicts a young girl and broken children's toys, symbolizing the tragedy of the children who perished in Babyn Yar during the Nazi occupation of Kyiv.
As of today, the memorial remains an integral part of the Babyn Yar National Historical and Memorial Reserve, which is dedicated to preserving the memory of Holocaust victims and other tragic events associated with this site.
Sentenced to death after a string of brutal robberies and murders in the 1950s. Six people were killed during a series of armed robberies and murders that became known as the "Mad Dog Killings". A number of others were shot, beaten, or pistol-whipped but survived. Taborsky earned his nickname due to the savagery of the killings. He was executed by electric chair at the age of 36 in 1960. His execution was the last in Connecticut until Michael Ross in 2005.
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:-
Tommy executing either a scuff or a toe reverse at a Saturday session at Busse Woods on 10-18-08.
The Postcard
A postally unused carte postale published by Decroek of Lille.
Lille in the Great War
Lille's occupation by the Germans began on the 13th. October 1914 after a ten-day siege and heavy shelling which destroyed 882 apartment and office blocks and 1,500 houses, mostly around the railway station and in the town centre.
By the end of October the town was being run by German authorities. Because Lille was only 20 km from the front line, German troops passed through the city regularly on their way to and from the front.
As a result, occupied Lille became a place both for the hospitalisation and treatment of wounded soldiers as well as a place for soldiers' relaxation and entertainment. Many buildings, homes, and businesses were requisitioned to those ends.
Lille was also the hunting ground of the Great War German flying Ace Max Immelmann who was nicknamed 'The Eagle of Lille'.
Lille was liberated by the Allies on the 17th. October 1918, when General Sir William Birdwood and his troops were welcomed by joyous crowds. The general was made an honorary citizen of the city of Lille on the 28th. October of that year.
The only audio recording known to have been made during the First World War was recorded near Lille in October 1918. The two minute recording captured the Royal Garrison Artillery conducting a gas shell bombardment.
Monument to the Executed of Lille
The Great War monument in the Square Daubenton in Lille shows four leaders of the city’s Resistance standing against a wall just moments before their execution by the German Army in the dungeons of the citadel.
Along with Léon Trulin, who can be seen lying at their feet, Eugène Jacquet, Georges Maertens, Ernest Deceuninck and Sylvère Verhulst set up a network for communicating information to the Allies about the German occupiers of Lille.
They were eventually betrayed and executed on the 22nd. September 1915.
In total, twenty-five individuals were executed in Lille by firing squad under the occupation. Notices were posted informing the public about executions of political prisoners, saboteurs, and hostages in response to attacks or acts of sabotage against the German occupiers.
An estimated 500,000 French men and women worked for the Resistance during Germany's occupation of France. Resistance workers carried out thousands of acts of sabotage against the German occupiers, even though the risks were great. More than 90,000 members of the Resisters were killed, tortured or deported by the Germans.
L'exercice du 3eme Bataillon du Royal 22e Régiment (3 R22R) dans les secteurs d'entraînement de Valcartier, QC, le 1 décembre 2011. Pendant l'exercice NMC3, les membres du 3 R22R ont sautés en parachute, exécuté une marche de 13 km ainsi qu'une attaque de peloton avec munitions réelles et une évacutation de blessés..
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Photo par: Cpl Roxanne Shewchuk.
Section Imagerie Valcartier.
Copyright © 2011 DND-MDN.
__________________________________________.
.
English\Anglais.
VL2011-0312-454.
1 December 2011.
Garnison Valcartier, QC.
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The 3rd Bataillon of the Royal 22e Régiment (3 R22R) participate in an exercise in the training areas Valcartier, QC, on the December 1st 2011. During the exercise NMC3, the members of 3 R22R parachuted from a griffon helicopter, executed at 13 km march, as well as an platoon attack with live ammunition and completed a casualty evacuation (CASEVAC)..
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Photo by: Cpl Roxanne Shewchuk.
Section Imagerie Valcartier.
Copyright © 2011 DND-MDN
A glass pillow by Brian Catling marks the approximate spot where people were executed inside the walls of the Tower of London.
Executed one year after the couple married, these are the only standing, life-size, full-length wedding pendants Rembrandt ever painted.
The two portraits were purchased jointly by the Netherlands and France for €160 million at the end of January 2016. Thanks to this joint purchase the masterpieces are now in the public domain and can be seen by everyone in the Louvre and the Rijksmuseum in turn. The two museums have agreed that the paintings will always be shown together.
Following the restoration by the Rijksmuseum’s conservation workshop, the portraits will be shown in the Rijksmuseum for three months (as part of the High Society exhibition), followed by three months in the Louvre.
After that they will be on display in the Rijksmuseum for five years and then five years in the Louvre. Thereafter they will be exhibited in the Rijksmuseum and the Louvre alternately for eight years at a time.
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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.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/67.250
Ugolino and His Sons, modeled ca. 1860–61, executed in marble 1865–67
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (French, 1827–1875)
Saint-Béat marble
H. 77 in. (195.6 cm)
Signed (incised in script at right front facet of base): Jbte Carpeaux./Rome 1860; (incised at right end facet of base) JBTE CARPEAUX ROMA 1860
Purchase, Josephine Bay Paul and C. Michael Paul Foundation Inc. Gift and Charles Ulrick and Josephine Bay Foundation Inc. Gift, and Fletcher Fund, 1967 (67.250)
Dante's Divine Comedy has always enjoyed favor in the plastic arts. Ugolino, the character that galvanized peoples' fantasies and fears during the second half of the nineteenth century, appears in Canto 33 of the Inferno. This intensely Romantic sculpture derives from the passage in which Dante describes the imprisonment in 1288 and subsequent death by starvation of the Pisan count Ugolino della Gherardesca and his offspring. Carpeaux depicts the moment when Ugolino, condemned to die of starvation, yields to the temptation to devour his children and grandchildren, who cry out to him:
But when to our somber cell was thrown
A slender ray, and each face was lit
I saw in each the aspect of my own,
For very grief both of my hands I bit,
And suddenly from the floor arising they,
Thinking my hunger was the cause of it,
Exclaimed: Father eat thou of us, and stay
Our suffering: thou didst our being dress
In this sad flesh; now strip it all away.
Carpeaux's visionary composition reflects his reverence for Michelangelo, as well as his own painstaking concern with anatomical realism. Ugolino and His Sons was completed in plaster in 1861, the last year of his residence at the French Academy in Rome. A sensation in Rome, it brought Carpeaux many commissions. Upon his return to France, Ugolino was cast in bronze at the order of the French Ministry of Fine Arts and exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1863. Later it was moved to the gardens of the Tuilieries, where it was displayed as a pendant to a bronze of the Laocoön. This marble version was executed by the practitioner Bernard under Carpeaux's supervision and completed in time for the Universal Exposition at Paris in 1867. The date inscribed on the marble refers to the original plaster model's completion
Source: Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux: Ugolino and His Sons (67.250) | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The photo is executed in technique «LightGraphic » or «The painting of light», that assumes illumination of model by small light sources in darkness on long endurance.
Thus, all lightcloth (composition) - is one Photo Exposition, is embodied on a matrix of the camera in one click of a shutter.
The sketches very often executed in such a way further are drawn in the graphic editor as it would be on a canvas a brush. Plug-ins and filters are not used.
Short story (in russian):
Exécutée au tout début du 18ème siècle, cette œuvre s'inspire pour beaucoup du style du sculpteur dijonnais Jean Dubois (1625-1694). La niche de style classique comprend une vasque et une coquille pour la partie supérieure. L'ensemble est surmonté par un minuscu-le pot à feu. Vêtue d'une robe aux plis épais retombant à ses pieds, la Vierge est coiffée d'une couronne, tenat dans sa main droite une croix. L'enfant qu'elle porte sur son bras gauche est à moitié nu. De sa main gauche, il porte un globe figurant la terre.
Cachée à la Révolution, cette statue fut replacée sur son socle sous le Consulat. Cassée à deux reprises, la tête de l'Enfant Jésus fut re-faite en 1973 par le sculpteur dijonnais Jacques Yencesse.
The Katyń massacre ("zbrodnia katyńska" in Polish) was the mass murder of approximately 22000 Polish nationals carried out by the Soviet secret police (NKVD) in April and May 1940. The massacre was prompted by a proposal (dated 5th March 1940) from Lavrentiy Beria, Minister of Internal Affairs of the Soviet Union, to execute all members of the Polish Officer Corps who had been captured and imprisoned by the USSR during the Nazi-Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939. This official document was approved and signed by the Soviet Politburo, including its leader Joseph Stalin.
As well as approximately 8000 officers of the Polish army, the victims of the Katyń massacre included 6000 police officers and thousands of university lecturers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, civic leaders, politicians, government officials, priests and other members of the "bourgeoisie" who had been targeted for arrest following the Soviet occupation of eastern Poland.
By physically eliminating Poland’s military and civilian elites, Stalin wanted to decapitate the Polish nation and ensure it was less able to resist the enforced Sovietisation of the occupied Polish territories.
The victims were all citizens of Poland, but not all were ethnically Polish - for example, the murdered army officers included Ukrainians, Belarusians and several hundred Jews, among them Baruch Steinberg, the Chief Rabbi of the Polish army. The majority were interned at three Soviet camps (Kozielsk, Starobielsk and Ostaszków) before being taken to NKVD mass murder sites, where they were executed and buried in mass graves.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baruch_Steinberg
Although the killings took place at several different locations in Soviet Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, the massacre is named after the Katyń forest in the Smolensk Oblast of western Russia where the graves of the Kozielsk prisoners were discovered in 1943. The exact fate of the other victims and the location of their graves was not confirmed until five decades later. After the discovery of the Katyń burial site the USSR denied responsibility for the massacre and tried to blame it on the Germans, and continued to lie about the killings for 50 years until finally admitting Soviet guilt in 1990 and revealing where the remaining victims were buried.
It eventually became possible to exhume and identify the bodies from the mass murder sites at Charków (Kharkiv), where the NKVD murdered the prisoners who were interned at Starobielsk, and Miednoje (Mednoye), where the NKVD murdered the prisoners who were interned at Ostaszków - as well as other locations such as Bykownia (Bykivnia).
Most of the Ostaszków prisoners were killed by Beria's chief executioner Vasily Blokhin, who was awarded the Order of the Red Banner by Stalin at the end of April 1940 for demonstrating "skill and organisation in the effective carrying out of special tasks".
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Blokhin
Although several other ex-members of the NKVD eventually confessed to participating in the Katyń massacre, none of the perpetrators were ever brought to justice, and neither the Soviet government nor successive governments of Russia have ever permitted a full investigation of this war crime.
There's also no shortage of vatniks, tankies and other useful idiots out there who are still in denial about it, even though claims that the murders were carried out by the Germans have zero credibility and have been comprehensively debunked (it's actually impossible for the Polish prisoners interned at Ostaszków - who disappeared without trace in 1940 and whose bodies were found in Miednoje in 1991 - to have been captured, killed and buried by the Germans, who never reached either of these locations in Russia at any time during World War 2)....
holocaustcontroversies.blogspot.com/2023/02/debunking-gro...
The monument in Gunnersbury Cemetery was unveiled on 18th September 1976 after much delay. The Polish community in London had tried in vain to get permission to create a memorial to the victims of the Katyń massacre for many years, which was prevented by successive British governments, bowing to Soviet pressure. No government representative was present at the opening ceremony.
20th #CBRNE #Soldiers from the 184th Explosive Ordnance Disposal Battalion (EOD) prepare and execute training to improve #EOD core competencies and enhance #CBRN readiness skills for future combat operations Monday at Fort Campbell, Ky.
700 Uighurs executed, 16.000 imprisoned... who stands up for language, culture and religion of the Uighures gets marked as "Terrorist". Alone since March 23, at least 760 Uighures were arrested.
Berlin 04/23/2008 - An association of Uyghurs in exile accused China of "cultural genocide" and called for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics at the start of a Uyghur congress in Berlin on Monday. Uyghurs from the north-western Chinese region of Xinjiang were being detained, tortured and deported in an attempt to crush their language and culture, Rebiya Kadeer, president of the World Congress of Uyghurs (WUC), said.
The repression of the largely Sunni Muslim Uyghurs had increased during the run-up to the Games, Kadeer said.
She called for the Olympics to be boycotted, and more particularly for political leaders to boycott the opening ceremony on August 8, saying the Beijing Games had brought her people nothing but suffering.
Kadeer said Chinese authorities had effectively deported hundreds of thousands of Uyghur women between the ages of 15 and 25 to other parts of China under the pretext of providing jobs for them. (But it's actually supposed to recuce the Uighur community to a minimum...)
Many Chinese had been brought to the region to take their places with the aim of eradicating Uyghur culture, she said.
Kadeer, a mother of 11 and a successful businesswoman, was once a member of the Chinese National People's Congress.
After spending time in prison in China, she now lives in exile in the United States. According to the WUC, two of her sons are in detention in China.
The human rights commissioner of the German parliament, Guenter Nooke, called on Beijing to enter into constructive and open dialogue with the minority Uyghurs.
He also demanded that journalists should be allowed to report on conditions in China ahead of the Games.
Nooke urged European Union countries to accept 17 Uyghurs being held at the US Guantanamo Bay military base, noting that the US authorities are prepared to release them.
www.uyghurnews.com/ReadNews.asp?UyghurNews=exiled-uyghurs...
PRIMORDIAL LANDSCAPES
Even our parks are manicured. Everything is designed and executed by humans. They resemble exhibitions, rather than Nature. More concrete than greenery.
Talking of concrete; what do we see when we walk down a road? Buildings, roads, bridges, passages, pavements, billboards, shop windows, vehicles of every size and type. When we look up, airplanes passing over. Concrete, metal, glass, etc.
When was the last time we wetted our feet and hands on a natural beach? I do not mean the fake beaches of holiday villages, nor the concrete docks alongside the piers, but beaches in the real sense. Where beaches are shaped by waves, where moss dance slowly, where the sound of the sea tingle our ears?
When was the last time we climbed on a real rock? When was the last time we sat on real earth?
The stars are obscured by the city lights, we cannot see them. We erased them all.
But there were mountains, seas, rivers, deserts, even before we existed on this planet. Who knows how it looked? Now we have to search for primordial landscapes in other planets.
Perhaps we can see their traces if we look carefully at trees. Perhaps barks of the remaining trees contain records of the past. We may see them if we look carefully and close enough.
Now let us look a little more carefully, a little closer; can we spot ourselves in those primordial landscapes?