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83-0082 KC-10A 305th AMW [McGuire AFB] AMC USAF, taxiing on to Rwy 11 to depart Mildenhall as Reach 157.
I've just come back from another fabulous trip to Nepal, some trekking, some chilling, some peace. She surely is my spiritual home and I was so very glad to visit her warmth once again. Whilst trekking in the Annapurna Himalaya I made some things next to the trail. Here's an excerpt from my journal on the day I made this little sculpture:-
Nepal isn't like anywhere else I've ever been. It seems to change me on the inside, it's not just the outside environs that are different.
Other places in the world have left my soul untouched. It's as though I've simply taken the me from home and travelled with it to a foreign land. I'm still the home 'me', stood somewhere else.
But Nepal is different, it seeps through my pores and changes me to what I should be. I feel at peace, confident and full of joy. My sensitivity becomes a blessing and never a chore. It's as though my sensitivity was designed to live in and appreciate the multi-faceted beauty of this place.
It is much more than the mountains, the landscape, the trails, the walking. It's the people, the magical encounters, the just about bloody everything. But most of all it's the way I can open my heart and soul and let all the world pour in. Without cynicism, without fear, without shyness, without worrying about difficult emotions and how I will handle them. Without the need to manufacture situations so I can sheild myself from things I can't cope with, all and everything that holds me back, makes my sensitivity difficult and taxing and sometimes the bane of my life. Here I am free, unleashed, filled with joy and happiness.
I can let my sensitivity fly free and grab onto every wonderful flower, tree or bird and to experience the rhythmic magic of simply placing one foot in front of the other. This is where I am meant to be , unshackled and home at last.
Now don't get me wrong. I have a rich and fulfilled time at home. But the mundanaties of life push spikily against my psyche and make some everyday tasks and relationships difficult. To feel every nuance can render you often vulnerable, confused and overwhelmed. Aching to hide from the world and to launch my vessel into the river of my own inner thoughts. That's why I love to cycle, to run, to walk, to climb and to create. The sublime lives within these things and I go looking for them to release my soul on a long leash and to let it stretch its legs for a while.
But being in Nepal is not simply a holiday, a break from those taxing minutiae of everyday life. I am not free of those things through simply being away, when I've travelled to somewhere in the States, Europe or South America I've brought a lot of those things with me.
But here I've stepped through the secret door in the back of the wardrobe into another me and another realm.
It's only when I'm here that I remember. It's only here when I am totally me once again. All those times when my innards soared skywards when climbing a snow covered mountain at home, when I've cycled to a long toiled for hill summit or lived the moment when a sculpture resonates, becomes vibrant and electric, when it is more than the sum of its parts. All those times join together with all the months I've spent in Nepal, connecting together all the sublime times in my life.
Another existence running in parallel, rich and diverse and perfect. Perhaps that's what Buddhist enlightenment feels like. Where you can ride the waves and ripples of life. It does not matter what happens, it only matters how it affects you. If the rough feels as important and as interesting as the smooth then maybe you've found the secret to how you should live your life.
I cannot manage to live in this enlightened way much of the time but I am so very grateful to have as much of it as I do. I hope to extend the length of these moments and tie the ends together with little knots in the strands of experience. And maybe one day I'll have a very long length of tightly woven cord, stretching from one side of my existence to the other and nothing, and everything will matter all at the same time.
Aside from how this place makes me feel it is brimful of brilliant in such a wonderful myriad of ways. Today was an experience of a thousand different treats.
We waited for the sun to warm us before shouldering packs and trudging into dense bamboo forest. We entered a deep gorge that is the gateway into the Annapurna Sanctuary and the trail cuts a path along the steep gorge walls like a wound.
Laim, Bamboo and Rhododendron forest dapple the light onto our faces and beneath our feet is a carpet of fallen coloured leaves while massive, savage peaks cut holes in the fabric of the sky.
Julia was a little way behind so I stopped awhile and sat on a warmed, sunlit stone. I collected up some red, orange and yellow leaves and cut circles around a five rupee coin. I stripped some sedge grass and pinned them on with Berberis thorns.
Unusually I could step off the trail here and pin my sculpture up in a tree. Normally the drop offs, either side of the trail, are so steep that you can touch the top of the trees. Nepal is so very corrugated and dramatic but not so good for setting up a little sculpture amongst the foliage. But here was perfect with plenty of room to pick a good spot with bright sunshine and plenty of contrast. Within a few minutes it was positioned and set against the dark trunk of a Rhododendron tree. The breeze swung the branch it was fixed to so I snapped away hoping for something good and sharp and clear.
My land art comes in thirds. Every third attempt just seems to click. All the elements combine just as I imagine they may do if I had had a plan in the first place.
A quick stop on a rock in the sunshine, surrounded by beautiful hued leaves. A quick circular route with scissors and a construction was soon created. Everything combined as I would want it. The place, the materials, the sunshine: click, it was all there.
So this was the third of the three and how I would want it to be. All the pieces fell into place without me really trying very hard.
If you live your life without expecting anything and then are happy with whatever life dishes up, then surely that's a better way to be. If you can conjure up that carefree existence, go with the flow and live from moment to moment it just seems to come together how you may have wanted it to if you'd spent any time wondering how you will want it to be. But the key seems to be not wasting any time pondering on what you would wish for and grasping gently and just letting everything be. Maybe not everything will be just how you would like it, but surely you'll settle for one in three!
This pigeon was quite a distance from me but the Kenko 1.4 extender helped me get close. The extender is very useful when the light is good especially when coupled with a prime lens. When the subject is in bright sunshine there will be a barely discernable fall in sharpness and just a marginal loss of contrast. Things that can easily be corrected with the right software. The biggest fault with extenders though is that focusing becomes less accurate. The EF 300mm f/4L lens is great for pin point focusing but coupled with the extender it becomes less accurate. A great buy nevertheless for those looking to extend their reach with just a minimal additional expence.
Dedicated to my flickr friends with all the awesome birds in their gardens...Barb, Carol, Arlene ..Tank .....and all, this is what I have in my garden, they visit every day, and no, we do not feed them, they live from what ever they find in our gardens..
The Quay and Chapel Street are the oldest parts of Penzance, as the town originates from a fishing community which sheltered their boats within the small sandy headland at Battery Rocks. The earliest references to Penzance being used for landing of fish is 1327, however the first quay was not constructed until 200 years later. On March 16th, 1512, Penzance received a charter from King Henry VIII, granting profits from all ships visiting the Harbour. The Old Pier was built in 1766. It was then extended in 1785, in 1812 and again in 1853. On the 20th January, 1817, a great storm hit Penzance with an extraordinary high tide. Much damage, to the sum of around £5,000, was caused to the Quay, ships, boats and houses. In 1825, the first steamer came into Penzance Harbour, followed twenty years later by the foundation stone for Albert Pier being laid. With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Penzance Harbour resumed the role it had played in the Napoleonic period and a naval base was established. In 1915, merchant ships were torpedoed by German Submarines. Large numbers of crew were landed at Penzance, including 95 on one day and 135 on another. And in 1919, after the end of the war, a surrendered German Submarine was taken to Penzance and opened for public inspection. The Second World War brought some destruction to Penzance in a way it had not experienced since the Spanish raid 350 years before. A total of 867 bombs were dropped in the area, killing 16 people and injuring 116 more, 48 houses were completely destroyed, 157 seriously damaged and 3,752 damaged. During the 1950s, an area at the Northern end of the Harbour was filled in to help create the large Wharfside car park. One of the most important uses of the harbour today is maintaining a sea link to the Isles of Scilly. Penzance Harbour also offers commercial ship repairs from the adjacent Penzance Dry Dock.
The Anastasia Formation extends for 2 miles north along the shoreline with cliffs up to 15 feet high at the House of Refuge. Looking south from the end of the boardwalk, Bathtub Reef is visible.
Immediately ahead is an outcrop with small burrows, aminated crusts, solution pipes, a notch and an abrasion platform, and a mass of collapsed rock. Moving north along the beach moving toward the House of Refuge, there are several outcrops with conspicuous notches.
At the House of Refuge are prominent planar bedding, many fossils (including Busycon), small and large burrows, thick laminated calcium carbonate crusts, lithified infillings, solution pipes, notched cliffs, promontories and small coves, and many large masses of collapsed bedrock.
Credit for the data above is given to the following website:
segs.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/SEGS-Guidebook-73.pdf
© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.
A handbill extolling the virtues of the Singer Vibrator, which was advertised as a "new" sewing machine in newspapers and magazines beginning around 1888.
David Bachman Landis of Pluck Art Printery (later known as Landis Art Press) printed this piece.
Typefaces:
Latin Antique - "Before Buying A"
Peerless - "Sewing Machine"
French Antique/Clarendon Extended (caps) - "The New"
No. 500 (William H. Page & Co.) - "Singer Vibrator!"
Egyptian Extra Condensed - "Lightest Running and Simplest Constructed"
Pynson - "Needles, Oils and Parts"
Colgate - "Singer Manufacturing Co.”
Hansard - "Stevens House Block"
Old Style Bold - "No. 4 South Prince St."
Plus Clarendon/Ionic and other unidentified typefaces.
Thanks to Florian Hardwig for the information on the typefaces. See his comments on Fonts in Use: "The New Singer Vibrator!" Handbill.
--------
Before buying a sewing machine, it will pay you to call and examine
The New Singer Vibrator!
You will find it the lightest running and simplest constructed machine in the market.
A full supply of needles, oils, and parts for all sewing machines.
Repairing promptly attended to.
Singer Manufacturing Co.,
Stevens House Block,
No. 4 South Prince St.,
Lancaster, Pa.
Chris. Myers, agent.
Pluck Print
Nyala
Kruger National Park is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers an area of 19,485 km2 (7,523 sq mi) in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern South Africa, and extends 360 km (220 mi) from north to south and 65 km (40 mi) from east to west. The administrative headquarters are in Skukuza. Areas of the park were first protected by the government of the South African Republic in 1898, and it became South Africa's first national park in 1926.
To the west and south of the Kruger National Park are the two South African provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga. In the north is Zimbabwe, and to the east is Mozambique. It is now part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, a peace park that links Kruger National Park with the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe, and with the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique.
The park is part of the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere an area designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as an International Man and Biosphere Reserve (the "Biosphere").
The park has nine main gates allowing entrance to the different camps.
(Wikipedia)
The lowland nyala or simply nyala (Tragelaphus angasii), is a spiral-horned antelope native to southern Africa. It is a species of the family Bovidae and genus Tragelaphus, previously placed in genus Nyala. It was first described in 1849 by George French Angas. The body length is 135–195 cm (53–77 in), and it weighs 55–140 kg (121–309 lb). The coat is maroon or rufous brown in females and juveniles, but grows a dark brown or slate grey, often tinged with blue, in adult males. Females and young males have ten or more white stripes on their sides. Only males have horns, 60–83 cm (24–33 in) long and yellow-tipped. It exhibits the highest sexual dimorphism among the spiral-horned antelopes. It is not to be confused with the endangered mountain nyala living in the Bale region of Ethiopia).
The nyala is mainly active in the early morning and the late afternoon. It generally browses during the day if temperatures are 20–30 °C (68–86 °F) and during the night in the rainy season. As a herbivore, the nyala feeds upon foliage, fruits and grasses, and requires sufficient fresh water. A shy animal, it prefers water holes rather than open spaces. The nyala does not show signs of territoriality, and individuals' areas can overlap. They are very cautious creatures. They live in single-sex or mixed family groups of up to 10 individuals, but old males live alone. They inhabit thickets within dense and dry savanna woodlands. The main predators of the nyala are lion, leopard and African wild dog, while baboons and raptorial birds prey on juveniles. Mating peaks during spring and autumn. Males and females are sexually mature at 18 and 11–12 months of age respectively, though they are socially immature until five years old. After a gestational period of seven months, a single calf is born.
The nyala's range includes Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Eswatini, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It has been introduced to Botswana and Namibia, and reintroduced to Eswatini, where it had been extinct since the 1950s. Its population is stable, and it has been listed as of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The principal threats to the species are poaching and habitat loss resulting from human settlement. The males are highly prized as game animals in Africa.
Taxonomy and naming
The nyala was first described by George French Angas, an English naturalist, in 1849. The scientific name of nyala is Tragelaphus angasii. The name angasii is attributed to Angas, who said that John Edward Gray had named this species after Angas' father, George Fife Angas of South Australia. According to Article 50.1.1 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature and International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, though, this is insufficient to state Gray as the author. The name "nyala" is the Tsonga name for this antelope, which is likely the source of the English, along with Zulu inyala. Its first known use was in 1899. The word has a Bantu origin, similar to the Venda word dzì-nyálà (nyala buck).
The nyala is the second taxon to branch off from the tragelaphine family tree just after the lesser kudu. As the nyala line has remained separate for a considerable time (over 5 million years), some authorities have placed it in its own monotypic genus Nyala. Nyala was proposed in 1912 by American zoologist Edmund Heller, who also proposed Ammelaphus for the lesser kudu, but it was not widely recognized. It was re-erected as a valid genus in 2011 under the classification of Peter Grubb and Colin Groves, but has not been embraced by taxonomic authorities such as the Mammal Diversity Database.
In 2005, Sandi Willows-Munro (of the University of KwaZulu-Natal) and colleagues carried out a mitochondrial DNA analysis of the nine Tragelaphus species. Mitochondrial DNA and nuclear DNA data were compared. The results showed the tribe Tragelaphini to be monophyletic, with the lesser kudu (T. imberbis) basal in the phylogeny, followed by the nyala. On the basis of mitochondrial data, studies have estimated that the lesser kudu separated from its sister clade around 13.7 million years ago. However, nuclear DNA data shows lesser kudu and nyala forming a clade, which collectively separated from the sister clade 13.8 million years ago.
Genetics and evolution
The nyala has 55 male chromosomes and 56 female chromosomes. The Y chromosome has been translocated onto the 14th chromosome, as in other tragelaphids, but no inversion of the Y chromosome occurs. Cranial studies have shown that the mountain nyala and nyala, though sharing a common name, are actually distant relatives.
Fossil evidence suggests that the nyala has been a separate species since the end of the Miocene (5.8 million years ago). Genetic evidence suggests that the proto-nyala had some early hybridization with the proto-lesser kudu, but the two have remained separate long after this crossing.
Physical description
The nyala is a spiral-horned and middle-sized antelope, between a bushbuck and a kudu. It is considered the most sexually dimorphic antelope.[The nyala is typically between 135–195 cm (53–77 in) in head-and-body length. The male stands up to 110 cm (43 in), the female is up to 90 cm (3.0 ft) tall. Males weigh 98–125 kg (216–276 lb), while females weigh 55–68 kg (121–150 lb). Life expectancy of the nyala is about 19 years.
The coat is rusty or rufous brown in females and juveniles. It grows a dark brown or slate grey in adult males, often with a bluish tinge. Females and young males have ten or more white vertical stripes on their sides. Other markings are visible on the face, throat, flanks and thighs. Stripes are very reduced or absent in older males. Both males and females have a white chevron between their eyes, and a 40–55 cm (16–22 in) long bushy tail white underside. Both sexes have a dorsal crest of hair running right from the back of the head to the end of the tail. Males have another line of hair along the midline of their chest and belly.
Only the males have horns. Horns are 60–83 cm (24–33 in) long and yellow-tipped. There are one or two twists.The spoor is similar to that of the bushbuck, but larger. It is 5–6 cm (2.0–2.4 in) long. The feces resemble round to spherical pellets. The nyala has hairy glands on its feet, which leave their scent wherever it walks.
The condition of the nyala often varies between the sexes. According to a study, this can be attributed to the differences in their body sizes. It was noted that during nutritional stress, old adults died in more numbers, of which most were males. During an attempt of blood sampling in the nyala, it was found that Vitamin E levels varied during stress.
Parasites
A study of the helminths from 77 nyalas from four game reserves in Natal revealed the presence of ten nematode species and four nematode genera, a trematode species and paramphistomes (members of superfamily Paramphistomoidea), and two cestode genera. The research discovered new parasites that the nyala was host of - namely a Cooperia rotundispiculum race, Gaigeria pachyscelis, a Gongylonema species, Haemonchus vegliai, Impalaia tuberculata, an Oesophagostomum species, a Setaria species, Trichostrongylus deflexus, Trichostrongylus falculatus, the larval stage of a Taenia species, a Thysaniezia species and Schistosoma mattheei. Ostertagia harrisi and C. rotundispiculum were the most dominant nematodes in the antelope.
Another study of 97 blood samples of South African nyalas revealed the presence of tick-borne hemoparasites (blood parasites). The methods used were polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and reverse line blot (RLB) hybridization. The dominant parasites were Theileria species, T. buffeli, T. bicornis, Ehrlichia species, Anaplasma marginale and A. bovis. Ten tick species, two louse species and a louse fly species were recovered in a study of 73 nyalas at Umfolozi, Mkuzi and Ndumu Game Reserves in northeastern KwaZulu-Natal in 1983 and 1984 and an additional six individuals in 1994. It was found that nyalas were hosts to all stages of development in Boophilus decoloratus, Rhipicephalus appendiculatus and R. muehlensi and the immature stages of Amblyomma hebraeum and Rhipicephalus maculatus. Adult males served hosts to more number of ticks and lice than adult females did. Also, a trypanosome was isolated from a nyala, wild-caught in Mozambique, which was diagnosed and found as akin to Trypanosoma vivax, based on biological, morphological and molecular data.
Diseases
The nyala can also suffer from myopathy. In between January 1973 and June 1981, 21 nyalas succumbed to the disease. The main symptoms were stiffness, inability to rise, and failure to suckle in newborns. Necrosis (that is, the premature death of cells in a living tissue) and mineralization were found in the skeletal muscle after a histological analysis. In the juveniles there was acute necrosis of the cardiac muscle. In adults, there was interstitial fibrosis of the cardiac muscle, along with arteriosclerosis.
In a report published in 1994 entitled "Epidemiological observations on spongiform encephalopathies in captive wild animals in the British Isles", it was noted that spongiform encephalopathy had been diagnosed in one nyala captive in a zoo. The nyala was formerly affected by the disease rinderpest, although the viral disease is considered eradicated now.
Ecology and behavior
he nyala is active mainly in the early morning and late afternoon. It browses during the day if temperatures are 20–30 °C (68–86 °F) and during the night in rainy season. These antelopes rest in thick bushes during the hot hours of the day. The nyala is very shy and cautious in nature, and often remains hidden rather than coming out in the open. Most sightings of the nyala in the wild are at water holes. But in protected areas they become less shy and often come out in view of tourists.
Nyala groups are according to sex or mixed. Herds usually browse and drink water together. Each group consists of two to ten individuals. A study in Zinave National Park at Mozambique showed that 67% of the observations were of groups of one to three nyalas, and the rest of the herds consisted of up to 30 nyalas. Herds often broke up and re-formed. Generally adult males remain alone. Females often remain near their mothers when they have their offspring, so the relationships in female herds may be closer than those of males.
Alert and wary in nature, the nyala use a sharp, high, dog-like bark to warn others in a group of danger. This feature is mainly used by females. They also react to the alarm calls of impala, baboon and kudu. The impala has been found to react to the calls of the nyala as well. The main predators of nyala are lion, leopard, cheetah, spotted hyena, African wild dog and nile crocodile while baboons and raptorial birds are predators of juveniles.
Diet
As a herbivore, the nyala's diet consists of foliage, fruits, flowers and twigs. During the rainy season they feed upon the fresh grass. They need a regular intake of water, and thus choose places with a water source nearby. However, they are adapted to live in areas with only a seasonal availability of water. A study in Zululand showed that the nyala fed mainly in the early morning and the late afternoon. They feed at night during the rainy season.
A study in Mkhuze Game Reserve and Ndumu Game Reserve in Natal focused on the dietary habits of the impala and the nyala showed that the amount of dicotyledons in their diets varied seasonally. In the dry season, the nyala's dicotyledon diet content was 83.2% and the impala's 52%. In this season, the diet grew richer in fiber and dietary proteins were less. The reverse occurred in the rainy season. As the rainy season arrived, both species took to a diet of mainly monocotyledons, and the impala consumed more of them. The diet contained more proteins than fiber.
Another study was done to find whether the sexual dimorphism in the nyala influenced its foraging habits. Vegetation surveys were conducted with the end of each feeding bout. It was found that females spent equal periods of time foraging in all the three habitats, but males preferred sand forest more. More differences were noted, as males ate woody species at a greater average height whereas females fed from the low herbaceous layer. It was concluded that the differences resulted from varying nutritional and energetic demands according to their diverse body sizes and differing reproductive strategies.
Reproduction
The nyala breeds throughout the year, but mating peaks in spring and autumn. The reason for this is still unknown, but attributed to the photoperiod and the feeding habits of the animal. Females reach sexual maturity at 11 to 12 months of age and males at 18 months (though they are socially immature until five years old), though they begin to show active spermatogenesis at 14 months.
Before ovulation, the Graafian follicles reach a length of at least 6.7 cm (2.6 in). A female's estrous cycle is about 19 days long. Males will attempt to mate with the female for two days of the cycle, but she allows it for only six hours per cycle. When the male enters a females' herd during mating, he makes a display by raising his white dorsal crest, lowering his horns and moving stiffly. As in many other animals, the males fight over dominance during mating.
The kidney fat indices (KFIs) of impalas and nyalas have been studied to understand the influence of social class and reproduction on them. To determine the KFI, the kidney is removed and weighed with the fat and once again excluding the fat. The resultant difference is the amount of fat on the kidney. The more the fat, the healthier the animal. In rut, male nyalas had lower KFIs, which did not vary much with the season. Pregnant females of both nyala and impala had higher KFIs than non-pregnant ones.
There is a significant increase in corpus luteum in the last third of gestation. Gestation is of seven months. A single calf is born, weighing 5 kg (11 lb). Birth takes place generally away from the sight of predators, in places such as a thicket. The calf remains hidden for up to 18 days, and the mother nurses it at regular intervals. The calf remains with its mother until the birth of the next calf, during which males in rut drive it away from the mother.
Habitat and distribution
The nyala inhabits dense lowland woodlands and thickets, mainly in southern Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and eastern South Africa. It chooses places with good quality grasslands as well as provision of fresh water. It also inhabits lush green river country. The nyala's natural range stretches across southeast Africa from the Lower Shire Valley in Malawi through Mozambique and Zimbabwe to eastern South Africa and Eswatini.
The geographic distribution of the nyala may be based on the genetic variation. According to a study of nyala in South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, there was a marked difference in the gene frequencies at three microsatellite loci. Mitochondrial DNA analysis revealed the presence of a unique haplotype in individuals from each location. Thus, the geographic variation in the nyala may be due to a distribution pattern based on habitat specificity.
Today nyala are found in South African protected areas in the Ndumo Game Reserve, uMkuze Game Reserve and Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve, all in KwaZulu-Natal, as well as in Kruger National Park. As of 1999, 10–15% of nyala occurred on private land. Efforts are being made to retain the populations of nyala in Gorongosa National Park and Banhine National Park in Mozambique. Nyala also thrive in Lengwe National Park in Malawi.
Nyala have never been observed showing territoriality. Territories of either sex overlap extensively. The home ranges of males are approximately equal to that of females, about 10 square kilometres (3.9 sq mi) in area.
Threats and conservation
The major threats to the population of the nyala are poaching, habitat loss, agriculture and cattle grazing. Rinderpest outbreaks have also contributed in population loss. This species is currently of Least Concern, and the population is considered stable by both the IUCN and CITES. As of 1999, the total population of the nyala was around 32,000 individuals. More recent estimates show that South Africa has at least 30,000 nyalas, with 25,000 in KwaZulu-Natal. There are now more than 1,000 on protected areas and ranches in Eswatini. In Mozambique there are not more than 3,000, in Zimbabwe over 1,000, and numbers in Malawi have fallen from 3,000 to about 1,500. Namibia has the smallest population, at about 250.
Today over 80% of the total population is protected in national parks and sanctuaries, mostly in South African protected areas. In South Africa there is a high demand for adult males as game trophies.
(Wikipedia)
Der Kruger-Nationalpark (deutsch häufig falsch Krüger-Nationalpark) ist das größte Wildschutzgebiet Südafrikas. Er liegt im Nordosten des Landes in der Landschaft des Lowveld auf dem Gebiet der Provinz Limpopo sowie des östlichen Abschnitts von Mpumalanga. Seine Fläche erstreckt sich vom Crocodile-River im Süden bis zum Limpopo, dem Grenzfluss zu Simbabwe, im Norden. Die Nord-Süd-Ausdehnung beträgt etwa 350 km, in Ost-West-Richtung ist der Park durchschnittlich 54 km breit und umfasst eine Fläche von rund 20.000 Quadratkilometern. Damit gehört er zu den größten Nationalparks in Afrika.
Das Schutzgebiet wurde am 26. März 1898 unter dem Präsidenten Paul Kruger als Sabie Game Reserve zum Schutz der Wildnis gegründet. 1926 erhielt das Gebiet den Status Nationalpark und wurde in seinen heutigen Namen umbenannt. Im Park leben 147 Säugetierarten inklusive der „Big Five“, außerdem etwa 507 Vogelarten und 114 Reptilienarten, 49 Fischarten und 34 Amphibienarten.
(Wikipedia)
Der Nyala (Nyala angasii, Syn.: Tragelaphus angasii) ist eine südostafrikanische Antilope aus der Gruppe der Waldböcke. Zur Unterscheidung vom Bergnyala wird er manchmal auch als Flachland-Nyala oder Tiefland-Nyala bezeichnet. Die Bezeichnung Nyala stammt aus dem Swahili.
Der Nyala galt lange als eine der seltensten Antilopenarten. Strenge Schutzmaßnahmen haben dazu beigetragen, dass sich die Bestände wieder erholt haben. Trotzdem zählt der Nyala zu den immer noch sehr wenig erforschten Hornträgern.
Aussehen
Diese Antilopenart erreicht eine Kopfrumpflänge von 140 cm und eine Schulterhöhe von 110 cm. Das Gewicht beträgt 55 bis 125 kg, wobei Männchen deutlich größer und schwerer als Weibchen sind.
Weibchen und Männchen lassen sich vor allem anhand ihrer Körperfärbung unterscheiden: Während die viel größeren männlichen Tiere schiefergrau gefärbt sind und schraubenartig gedrehte Hörner tragen, die mit einer weißen Spitze versehen sind, sind die weiblichen Tiere ebenso wie Jungtiere hornlos und überwiegend rötlichbraun gefärbt. Alle Tiere haben bis zu 18 schmale, weiße Querstreifen. Die Männchen tragen sowohl eine lange, erektile Mähne, die das Rückgrat bedeckt, als auch von der Kehle bis zu den Hinterläufen hängende Bauchmähne. Dieses Merkmal unterscheidet sie von den meisten anderen Antilopenarten. Der buschige Schwanz ist bei beiden Geschlechtern an der Unterseite weiß.
Verbreitung
Nyalas sind in Mosambik, Simbabwe und im äußersten Nordosten Südafrikas verbreitet. Eingeführt wurden sie außerdem in Nationalparks Botswanas und Südafrikas, in denen sie ursprünglich nicht heimisch gewesen waren. Sie leben bevorzugt in dichtem Buschwerk in der Nähe von Wasser. Das Vorkommen ist in den Naturschutzgebieten Hluhluwe/Umfolozi, Mkuzi, Ndumo und Krügerpark bekannt. In den letzten Jahren wurde ebenfalls eine Population im Isimangaliso Park wieder angesiedelt.
Lebensweise
Während Weibchen und Jungtiere kleine Herden bilden, sind die männlichen Tiere Einzelgänger. Die Nyalas ernähren sich vorwiegend von Laub, doch werden gelegentlich auch Gräser gefressen. Zu den Fressfeinden des Nyalas zählt unter anderem der Leopard, dieser hat jedoch keine signifikante Auswirkung auf den Bestand dieser Art.
Fortpflanzung
Nach einer Tragzeit von gut sieben Monaten bringt das Weibchen ein Junges zur Welt. Das Höchstalter der Tiefland-Nyalas liegt bei etwa 16 Jahren.
(Wikipedia)
Schweiz / Tessin - Höhenweg Monte Tamaro - Monte Lema
Lake Lugano
Luganer See
A spectacular hike suspended between civilization and uncivilized valleys
The Monte Tamaro – Monte Lema mountain trail is one of the most beautiful hikes of Switzerland. The spectacular view during the whole hike extends itself over Ticino, Valais and Italy.
Alpe Foppa is the starting point of this trail which sees its first conquest when reaching the summit of Monte Tamaro at 1,962 m a.s.l after about an hour of hiking. It is absolutely worth the effort as you are rewarded with a magnificent view and it is the beginning of a not too demanding up and down hike along the crest of the mountain. The hike passes through peaks, slopes, and alpine pastures to reach Monte Lema, in Malcantone (1,620 m a.s.l). During the entire route, the view widens to the north over Lake Maggiore, Centovalli, Verzasca, Vallemaggia, Locarno and Bellinzona, while you can see Lugano, with its valleys and lake to the south. The most majestic peaks of the Alps, such as Monte Rosa and the Matterhorn, also stand out.
Departing from Alpe Foppa, we recommend you continue until the summit of Monte Tamaro. There is also a path which undergoes the summit and accordingly shortens the route by about half an hour, hereby losing the unique view offered by walking over the summit. It is also possible to avoid the passage to the summit of Monte Gradiccioli, opting for a flat but less scenic variant.
(montetamaro.ch)
Monte Tamaro is a mountain of the Lugano Prealps, overlooking Lake Maggiore in the Swiss canton of Ticino. Reaching a height of 1,962 metres above sea level, it is the highest summit of the chain located between Lake Maggiore and Lake Lugano, which also includes Monte Lema. It is also the most prominent summit of the canton.
(Wikipedia)
Lake Lugano (Italian: Lago di Lugano or Ceresio, from Latin: Ceresius lacus; Lombard: Lagh de Lugan) is a glacial lake which is situated on the border between southern Switzerland and northern Italy. The lake, named after the city of Lugano, is situated between Lake Como and Lago Maggiore. It was cited for the first time by Gregory of Tours in 590 with the name Ceresio, a name which is said to have derived from the Latin word cerasus, meaning cherry, and refers to the abundance of cherry trees which at one time adorned the shores of the lake. The lake appears in documents in 804 under the name Laco Luanasco.
There are various mountains and tourist destinations on the shores of the lake including Monte Brè to the east, Monte San Salvatore west of Lugano, and Monte Generoso on the south-eastern shore. The World Heritage Site Monte San Giorgio is situated south of the lake. Also located to the south is the Cinque Vette Park.
The lake is drained by the Tresa, which empties into Lake Maggiore, the latter being drained by the Ticino and the Po.
History
The first certain testimony of a political body governing the shores of the lake is from 818. Occupying an area of strategic importance, the lake was then part of the feudal dominion of the County of Sperio. Circa 1000, it came under the control of the Bishop of Como. The region was the site of the war between Como and Milan over control of Alpine traffic from 1218 to 1227. As the lake and its shores became progressively incorporated into the Duchy of Milan they became the subject of political and territorial contention during the 15th century, and Lugano became the lake's main town.
The lake definitively ceased to belong to a single sovereign political entity following the establishment of the transalpine bailiwicks of the Swiss cantons at the beginning of the 16th century. The Italian-Swiss border was fixed in 1752 by the Treaty of Varese, and has since remained virtually unchanged.
In 1848, the Melide causeway was built on a moraine between Melide and Bissone, in order to carry a road across the lake and provide a direct connection between Lugano and Chiasso. Today the causeway also carries the Gotthard railway and the A2 motorway.
Geography
The lake is 48.7 km2 (18.8 sq mi) in size, 63% of which is in Switzerland and 37% in Italy. It has an average width of roughly 1 km (0.62 mi) and a maximum width of about 3 km (1.9 mi) at the bay of Lugano. A maximum depth of 288 m (945 ft) is found in the northern basin. The culminating point of the lake's drainage basin is the Pizzo di Gino summit in the Lugano Prealps (2,245 m; 7,365 ft).[3] Bathing in the lake is allowed at any of the 50 or so bathing establishments located along the Swiss shores.
The Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia and parts of the waters of the lake are considered by European Customs Law as non-territorial for fiscal purposes and as such enjoy a special tax status as a duty-free area, exemption from EU VAT and offer residents other advantageous tax privileges.
The Melide causeway separates the northern (27.5 km2; 10.6 sq mi) and southern (21.4 km2; 8.3 sq mi) basins, although a bridge in the causeway permits water flow and navigation. The lake retention time is an average of 8.2 years; that of the northern basin (11.9 years) is considerably higher than the southern one (2.3 years).
Navigation
The lake is navigable, and used by a considerable number of private vessels. Passenger boats of the Società Navigazione del Lago di Lugano (SNL) provide services on the lake, principally for tourist purposes, but also connecting Lugano with other lakeside communities, some of which have no road access.
Fishery in the lake (and Lake Maggiore) is regulated by a 1986 agreement between Switzerland and Italy. The current agreement on navigation dates from 1992.
Pollution
Pollution has long been a problem in Lake Lugano. In the 1960s and 1970s it was officially forbidden to bathe in the lake.[6] Despite the continued introduction of sewage treatment plants, such as in Gandria, factors, such as lake retention time and lack of oxygen and increasing phosphorus concentrations, means it is unclear if the lake will recover.
The Federal Office for the Environment's last published report on Lake Lugano dates from 1995. To summarise that report:
at that time measurements indicated some improvement, but this was unlikely to continue at the same pace
there were almost permanent polluted layers at the bottom of the very deep lake
oxygen was scarce and could not be found below 100 m (330 ft) depth
as a result phosphorus levels were increasing at this depth
phosphorus levels in the northern basin were six times too high and in the southern basin twice too high
will take many decades to clean
the lake could be said to be "chronically sick"
in the Italian part of the lake only 20% of the population were connected to sewage treatment plants with phosphorus filters (not that all Swiss areas were connected either).
The Swiss-Italian organisation CIPAIS in its most recent published report says:
Considering the results obtained in 2009 it can be affirmed that, notwithstanding the observed improvement, Lake Lugano is still in a state of high eutrophication, the highest among Swiss lakes.
The Italian environmental group Legambiente, in its 2007 study of all northern Italian lakes, found Lake Lugano to be the most polluted of all.
All water samples were well beyond the legal limits. The polluted sites should not be bathed in for health reasons. Bacteria can cause in the worst case, skin infections, diarrhoea and vomiting.
According to Legambiente, the only reason swimming was not banned on the Italian Lakes was because the state of Lombardy changed the law. They state that pollution levels in the lakes do not conform to European rulings and the lack of sewage treatment is illegal.
Their 2010 measurements found samples taken at Ponte Tresa, Osteno and Porto Ceresio to be "heavily polluted" (more than 1,000 UFC/100 ml intestinal enterococci and/or greater than 2000 UFC/100 ml E. coli).
Fauna
The lake is full of fish. Apart from a few protected areas, such as the mouth of the River Cuccio in Porlezza, fishing is allowed anywhere, although according to various regulations. Protected species are the bleak and the white clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes). The bleak is almost extinct here, unlike in Lago Maggiore, and planning is under way for the controlled repopulation of the lake, particularly around Ponte Tresa.
In 1895 the brook trout was introduced from Lake Zug, while between 1894 and 1897 the common whitefish was introduced. Since 1950 attempts have been made to introduce the whitefish Coregonus macrophthalmus from Lake Neuchâtel, but it has not established itself effectively.
The Common Roach is present in large numbers and took around ten years to colonise the entire lake, thereby replacing the bleak. Still present are the European chub, tench, carp and a few examples of European perch, largemouth bass, zander and burbot. Recently the wels catfish and pigo have been spotted.
Fossils
The whole area behind the southern shores of Lake Lugano is rich in fossils. The focal point of these fossil deposits is Monte San Giorgio, where since the 19th century many fossils have been found dating from the mid-Triassic (around 220 million years ago). The deposits on Monte San Giorgio stretch towards the west into Italian territory and the deposits of Besano. Fossils dating from the early Jurassic (around 180 million years ago) have also been found along the southern shores but more towards the east and Osteno.
(Wikipedia)
Eine spektakuläre Wanderung zwischen Zivilisation und wilden Tälern
Der Höhenweg Monte Tamaro – Monte Lema ist eine der schönsten Wanderungen der Schweiz. Das spektakuläre Panorama reicht vom Tessin über das Wallis bis nach Italien.
Die Wanderung beginnt bei der Alpe Foppa mit dem ca. eineinhalb-stündigen Aufstieg zum Gipfel des Monte Tamaros auf 1 962 m ü. M., wo man mit einer herrlichen Aussicht auf den Lago Maggiore und Umgebung belohnt wird. Der Weg führt anschliessend entlang des Grats in einem lieblichen Auf und Ab durch Gipfel, Hänge und Almen, um schliesslich den Monte Lema im Malcantone (1 620 m ü.M.) zu erreichen. Während der gesamten Route weitet sich im Norden der Blick über den Lago Maggiore, das Centovalli, das Verzascatal, das Vallemaggia, Locarno und Bellinzona, während im Süden Lugano, seine Täler und der See zu sehen sind. Auch die majestätischsten Gipfel der Alpen, wie der Monte Rosa und das Matterhorn, stechen hervor.
Ausgehend von der Alpe Foppa empfehlen wir die Wanderung bis zum Gipfel des Monte Tamaro. Eine Variante unterhalb des Gipfels kürzt den Weg um etwa eine halbe Stunde, allerdings verpasst man so auch die 360° Aussicht, die der Gipfel bietet. Während der Wanderung ist es möglich, die Variante zum Gipfel des Monte Gradiccioli zu vermeiden und eine flachere, jedoch landschaftlich weniger reizvolle Variante unterhalb des Gipfels zu wählen.
(montetamaro.ch)
Der Luganersee (Schreibweise in Deutschland und Österreich Luganer See), italienisch Lago di Lugano oder Ceresio (eine Italianisierung des lateinischen Namens Ceresius), deutsch veraltet Lauisersee (nach der früheren deutschen Bezeichnung Lauis für Lugano), ist einer der oberitalienischen Seen.
Lage
Der See befindet sich zu 63 % im Schweizer Kanton Tessin. Zu 37 % liegt die Seefläche in italienischem Gebiet. Er ist nach der Schweizer Stadt Lugano benannt. Seine Oberfläche liegt 271 m über dem Meeresspiegel und misst 48,8 km², von denen 30,7 km² zur Schweiz und 18,1 km² zu Italien gehören. Seine tiefste Stelle liegt bei 288 m, und sein Volumen beträgt 5,9 km³. Der wichtigste Zufluss ist der Vedeggio mit 4 m³/s.
Seine Form erklärt sich durch seine Entstehung nach der Eiszeit in einem Gebiet, in dem zwei Gletscher zusammentrafen. Durch den künstlichen Seedamm von Melide wird der See in ein Nord- und ein Südbecken geteilt. Das Nordbecken hat eine Fläche von 27,5 km², das Südbecken 20,3 km², dazu kommt das kleine Becken, genannt Laghetto (deutsch ‹kleiner See›), von Ponte Tresa mit 1,0 km².
Einige Ausläufer des Sees reichen nach Italien, dazu befindet sich die durch ihr Spielkasino bekannte italienische Exklave Campione d’Italia an seinem Ufer, was zu einem komplizierten Grenzverlauf führt. Südlich von Lugano überqueren die Autobahn A2 und die Gotthardbahn den See auf dem Seedamm von Melide.
Tourismus
Bekannte Aussichtsberge am Ufer sind der Monte Brè (925 m ü. M.) im Osten, der Monte San Salvatore (912 m ü. M.) im Süden von Lugano und der Monte Generoso (1701 m ü. M.) am südöstlichen Ufer. Zwischen den beiden südlichen Armen liegt das UNESCO-Weltnaturerbe Monte San Giorgio (1097 m ü. M.).
Da der See durch seine Lage an der Südspitze der Schweiz in einem mediterranen Klima liegt, ist er ein beliebtes Touristenziel.
Rund um den See haben sich verschiedene deutsche Komponisten zurückgezogen, wie Michael Jary, Martin Böttcher oder auch Peter Thomas. Der Schriftsteller Hermann Hesse lebte ab seinem 42. Lebensjahr bis zu seinem Tod in Montagnola bei Lugano. Zu seinen Ehren gibt es dort seit 1997 ein ihm gewidmetes Museum im alten Torre Camuzzi.
Limnologie
Der See ist aufgrund seiner Schichtung ein meromiktisches Gewässer.
(Wikipedia)
Here you can clearly see the bumblebee's extended proboscis through which it extracts nectar from the flowers. I was fortunate to have this bee on a higher flower, enabling me to view the underside of the bee. Angle and perspective are critical to effective macros...
Believe me, if you enlarge this it looks even better!
Small pier extending into the Black Sea near Balchik, Bulgaria.
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500PX / Instagram: @nielsphotos
Copyright Niels Photography
This photo may not be used without my explicit permission
Sisón común (Tetrax tetrax)
Antaño más extendido por amplias regiones de la geografía peninsular, el sisón ha sufrido un gran declive como consecuencia de las profundas transformaciones experimentadas por los paisajes agrícolas. Las principales poblaciones de nuestro territorio —donde se encuentra el mayor contingente europeo— se localizan en la Meseta sur y en Extremadura, aunque la especie está presente en muchas otras regiones, que reciben también durante el invierno ejemplares procedentes de la reducida población francesa.
Clasificación
Orden Gruiformes; familia Otididae
Longitud 40-45 cm. Envergadura 105-115 cm.
Identificación
Especie gregaria y muy terrestre, el sisón comparte con su pariente, la avutarda, muchas características adaptativas, como el plumaje críptico, las patas fuertes y rematadas en tres dedos preparados para la marcha y una dieta mixta. Aunque no existen diferencias acusadas entre sexos por lo que respecta al tamaño, el plumaje del macho durante el periodo nupcial resulta claramente distinto al de la hembra, pues adquiere una intensa coloración negra en el cuello, separado de la cabeza —que se torna grisácea— por un collar blanco. Bajo la gran mancha oscura del pecho aparecen dos bandas concéntricas, la primera blanca y la segunda negra. Fuera de la época de reproducción es más difícil diferenciar a los sexos, pues ambos presentan un plumaje parduzco finamente barrado en el dorso y partes ventrales blancas. El joven es bastante similar a los adultos. El vuelo de esta especie es relativamente rápido y muy particular, tanto por los característicos movimientos de las alas como por el llamativo siseo que produce —de donde procede el nombre del ave— y que está causado por la menor longitud de la cuarta rémige primaria. Cuando se contempla a un sisón en vuelo, resulta muy visible el diseño dorsal de sus alas, en el que resalta vivamente una extensa banda blanca.
Canto
Se trata de un ave particularmente silenciosa, aunque el macho emite durante la época nupcial un característico prreet, corto y seco, que repite constantemente mientras ejecuta un pequeño salto.
United States Air Force KC-10A 86-0027 departs Sydney Airport on a hot December evening. These magnificent machines are to be retired from service by the end of 2024.
Walk im Rombergspark
- tolle Herbstfauna
- great autumn fauna
Der heute 68 ha große Park fand 1822 seinen Ursprung im englischen Landschaftspark, in den 1927 der Botanische Garten integriert und später erweitert wurde.
Neben viel Grün zeigt der Park im Süden Dortmunds viele botanische Besonderheiten und Pflanzen.
The park, now 68 hectares in size, originated in 1822 in the English landscape park, into which the Botanical Garden was integrated in 1927 and later extended.
Apart from a lot of greenery, the park in the south of Dortmund shows many botanical features and plants
Shinjuku (新宿区) es una región especial de la Metrópolis de Tokio, en Japón.
Es el más importante centro comercial y administrativo de la Metrópolis de Tokio. En el mismo, se encuentra su famosa estación de trenes, que es la más utilizada del mundo, (un promedio de 3 millones de personas emplean la estación diariamente), además del Tochō (都庁) o edificio del Gobierno Metropolitano de Tokio, el cual es el centro de la administración de Tokio y símbolo urbano más importante de la parte oriental de Tokio. En el área cercana de la estación de Shinjuku se encuentra una gran concentración de tiendas de electrónica, centros comerciales como Odakyu, cines, resturantes y bares. Muchos hoteles internacionales poseen una sucursal en esta región especial, especialmente hacia el oeste de la región especial.
En el año 2008, la población estimada de esta región especial fue de 312.418, con una densidad poblacional de 17.140 personas por km², con un área total de 18,23 km².
Shinjuku posee la más alta tasa de inmigrantes registrados que cualquier otra región especial en la Metrópolis de Tokio. El día 1 de octubre del año 2005, 29.353 personas con 107 nacionalidades estuvieron registradas en Shinjuku, siendo los habitantes de Corea (del Norte y del Sur), China y Francia los más recurrentes.
Su nombre significa "nueva posada" (新-Nuevo, 宿-Posada, alojamiento)
Las regiones especiales en torno a Shinjuku son: Chiyoda al este; Bunkyo y Toshima al norte; Nakano al oeste; y Shibuya y Minato al sur. Además, Nerima está a pocos metros de distancia. El punto más alto de Shinjuku es el cerro Hakone, a 44,6 m, en el parque Toyama que se encuentra al este de las estaciones de Takadanobaba y Shin-Okubo. El punto más bajo está a 4,2 m en el área de Iidabashi.
Las regiones especiales en torno a Shinjuku son: Chiyoda al este; Bunkyo y Toshima al norte; Nakano al oeste; y Shibuya y Minato al sur. Además, Nerima está a pocos metros de distancia. El punto más alto de Shinjuku es el cerro Hakone, a 44,6 m, en el parque Toyama que se encuentra al este de las estaciones de Takadanobaba y Shin-Okubo. El punto más bajo está a 4,2 m en el área de Iidabashi.
Dentro de Shinjuku se encuentran áreas más específicas como:
Ichigaya, un área comercial, al este de Shinjuku. Se encuentra la Agencia de Defensa Japonesa.
Kabukichō, un distrito conocido por sus bares, restaurantes y como un zona roja, debido a las prostitutas y otros tipos de comercio sexual. Se encuentra al noreste de la estación de Shinjuku.
Nishi-shinjuku: en este distrito se encuentran la mayoría los rascacielos del barrio. Se encuentra al oeste de la estación de Shinjuku.
Okubo: es conocido por ser un distrito con abundancia de inmigrantes coreanos.
Shinanomachi: En la parte sureste se encuentra el Estadio Nacional, también conocido como el Estadio Olímpico.
Jardín Nacional Shinjuku Gyoen: es un gran parque con 58,3 hectáreas, con 3,5 km de radio, donde se mezclan el estilo japonés, inglés y francés en las decoraciones de los jardines.
Shinjuku ni-chome: es uno de los barrios gays de la Metrópolis de Tokio.
Waseda: se encuentra cercana a la Universidad de Waseda, que es una de las universidades privadas más prestigiosas de Japón.
es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinjuku_(Tokio)
Shinjuku (Japanese: 新宿区, Hepburn: Shinjuku-ku) is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world (Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration centre for the government of Tokyo. As of 2015, the ward has an estimated population of 337,556, and a population density of 18,517 people per km². The total area is 18.23 km². Since the end of the Second World War, Shinjuku has been a major secondary center of Tokyo (fukutoshin), rivaling to the original city center in Marunouchi and Ginza. It literally means "New Inn Ward".
Shinjuku is also commonly used to refer to the entire area surrounding Shinjuku Station. The southern half of this area and of the station in fact belong to Yoyogi and Sendagaya districts of the neighboring Shibuya ward.
Shinjuku is surrounded by Chiyoda to the east; Bunkyo and Toshima to the north; Nakano to the west, and Shibuya and Minato to the south.
The current city of Shinjuku grew out of several separate towns and villages, which have retained some distinctions despite growing together as part of the Tokyo metropolis.
East Shinjuku (or administratively called Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku): The area east of Shinjuku Station and surrounding Shinjuku-sanchome Station, historically known as Naito-Shinjuku, houses the city hall and the flagship Isetan department store, as well as several smaller areas of interest:
Kabukichō: Tokyo's best-known red-light district, renowned for its variety of bars, restaurants, and sex-related establishments.
Golden Gai: An area of tiny shanty-style bars and clubs. Musicians, artists, journalists, actors and directors gather here, and the ramshackle walls of the bars are literally plastered with film posters.
Shinjuku Gyo-en: A large park, 58.3 hectares, 3.5 km in circumference, blending Japanese traditional, English Landscape and French Formal style gardens.
Shinjuku Ni-chōme: Tokyo's best-known gay district.
Nishi-Shinjuku: The area west of Shinjuku Station, historically known as Yodobashi, is home to Tokyo's largest concentration of skyscrapers. Several of the tallest buildings in Tokyo are located in this area, including the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, KDDI Building and Park Tower.
Ochiai: The northwestern corner of Shinjuku, extending to the area around Ochiai-minami-nagasaki Station and the south side of Mejiro Station, is largely residential with a small business district around Nakai Station.
Ōkubo: The area surrounding Okubo Station, Shin-Okubo Station and Higashi-Shinjuku Station is best known as Tokyo's historic ethnic Korean neighborhood after World War Ⅱ.
Totsuka: The northern portion of Shinjuku surrounding Takadanobaba Station and Waseda University, today commonly referred to as Nishi-Waseda. The Takadanobaba area is a major residential and nightlife area for students, as well as a commuter hub.
Toyama: A largely residential and school area, in the east of Ōkubo and south of Waseda University, extending to the area around Nishi-Waseda Station, Gakushuin Women's College and Toyama Park.
Ushigome: A largely residential area in the eastern portion of the city.
Ichigaya: A commercial area in eastern Shinjuku, site of the Ministry of Defense.
Kagurazaka: A hill descending to the Iidabashi Station area, once one of Tokyo's last remaining hanamachi or geisha districts, and currently known for hosting a sizable French community.[5]
Yotsuya: An upscale residential and commercial district in the southeast corner of Shinjuku. The Arakichō area is well known for its many small restaurants, bars, and izakaya.
"Shinjuku" is often popularly understood to mean the entire area surrounding Shinjuku Station, but the Shinjuku Southern Terrace complex and the areas to the west of the station and south of Kōshū Kaidō are part of the Yoyogi and Sendagaya districts of the special ward of Shibuya.
Naturally, most of Shinjuku is occupied by the Yodobashi Plateau, the most elevated portion of which extends through most of the Shinjuku Station area. The Kanda River runs through the Ochiai and Totsuka areas near sea level, but the Toshima Plateau also builds elevation in the northern extremities of Totsuka and Ochiai. The highest point in Shinjuku is Hakone-san in Toyama Park, 44.6 m above sea level.
But... maybe don't extend the legs going uphill! In fact, the general strategy for going uphill is to do the exact opposite and shorten the stride to maintain cadence. Extending the legs on the downhill, for the same reason, makes sense, not to mention reducing knee strain.
That said, she made for a good photograph.
USAF KC-10A Extender 85-0030 landing at Shannon, this was the second of two KC-10s that arrived on that day.
(14) Pyramides 30/01/2022 09h08
On a Sunday morning at the station Pyramides ready to explore the the second northern extension to Mairie de Saint-Ouen, opened on 14/12/2020. So it was about time to do this ride. Line 14 will be extended again in 2024, to Saint-Denis Pleyel (with connection to the future métro lines 15, 16 and 17) in the north and to Orly airport in the south, as part of the Grand Paris Express project.
Another surprise was that already some new métro trains of the series MP 14 were on service on line 14.
Here at Pyramides, a MP89-CC or MP05 is meeting a new MP14 train at the other side. Hard to take pictures of due to the platform doors and glass facades.
MÉTRO LINE 14
Mairie de Saint-Ouen - Olympiades
Total length : 14.5 km
Number of stations: 13 (all underground)
Date of opening: Octobre 15, 1998
Number of trains during rush hours: 10 (interval of 2m00)
Stock in use: MP89-CA (16), MP05 (7), MP14-CA (14)
Travel time: 23 minutes
[ 01-2022 ]
Italien / Südtirol - Seiser Alm und Schlern
Seiser Alm (Italian: Alpe di Siusi, Ladin: Mont Sëuc) is a Dolomite plateau and the largest high-altitude Alpine meadow (German: Alm) in Europe. Located in Italy's South Tyrol province in the Dolomites mountain range, it is a major tourist attraction, notably for skiing and hiking.
Geography
It is located in the western part of the Dolomites and has an altitude between 1,680 m a.s.l. and 2,350 m a.s.l.; it extends for 52 km² between Val Gardena to the north, the Sassolungo Group to the north-east and the Sciliar massif to the south-east, which with its unmistakable profile is one of the most famous symbols of all the Dolomites. Given the vastness of the area, from here it is possible to admire a large number of mountain groups: among others, the Sella Group, the Rosengarten group and the Marmolada.
It is an alp, it is an area where pasture is practiced, the largest in Europe, divided into numerous plots reserved to grazing or from which the farmers get hay for their farms located downstream.
The eastern part has been included since 1975 in the Sciliar natural park.
Surrounding peaks
The alp offers a panoramic view which includes (from north, in a clockwise direction): Peitlerkofel (Sass de Putia, 2,873 m), the Odle and the Puez groups (3,025 m), the Gran Cir, the Sella group (3,152 m), Langkofel (Sassolungo, 3,181 m) and Plattkofel (Sassopiatto, 2,995 m), the Marmolada (3.343 m), the Pala group (Pale di San Martino, 3,192 m), the Vajolet Towers (2,821 m) the Rosengarten group (Catinaccio, 2,981 m) with the peak of the Kesselkogel (Catinaccio d'Antermoia, 3,002 m) and the Schlern (Sciliar, 2,450 m).
(Wikipedia)
The Schlern (German pronunciation: [ʃlɛrn]; Italian: Sciliar [ʃiˈljar]; Ladin: Sciliër; 2,563 m) is a mountain of the Dolomites in South Tyrol, Italy. The peak at the north west end of the mountain (left, in the image at right) was first ascended in July 1880 by Johann Santner. It is named the Santner Spitze in his honour.
The Schlern dominates the villages of Seis am Schlern and Völs am Schlern, and the summit can be reached following the circular route marked with the number 1 from both villages.
At 1,700 metres (5,577 ft), there is the Schlernboden inn and on the summit plateau is the Schlernhaus inn 2,457 metres (8,061 ft), both open from 1 June to 15 October. The highest summit is the Petz with 2,564 metres (8,412 ft).
The Schlern is sung of in the Bozner Bergsteigerlied as one of South Tyrol's landmarks. Its characteristic profile appears on the Der Schlern - Zeitschrift für Südtiroler Landeskunde (Magazine for South Tyrolean Regional Studies) and the logo pressed into Loacker's wafer biscuits.
(Wikipedia)
Die Seiser Alm (italienisch Alpe di Siusi, ladinisch Mont Sëuc) ist die größte Hochalm Europas. Sie liegt in den Südtiroler Dolomiten in Italien, rund 20 km nordöstlich von Bozen und oberhalb der bekannten Tourismus-Orte Seis am Schlern, Kastelruth und St. Ulrich in Gröden.
Geographie
Die Seiser Alm hat eine Größe von 56 km², befindet sich auf einer Höhe von 1680 m s.l.m. bis 2350 m s.l.m., und ist eines der größten geschlossenen Hochplateaus in den Alpen. Der Schlern, die Roterdspitze und die Rosszähne grenzen die Seiser Alm nach Südwesten hin ab. Nach Südosten schließt sich das markante Bergmassiv der Langkofelgruppe an. Nach Norden hin fällt die Seiser Alm hinter den Randerhebungen Puflatsch und Pizberg nach Gröden hin ab. Im Westen sinkt das Gelände über das vorgelagerte Schlerngebiet Richtung Eisacktal.
Die Besiedlung der Seiser Alm gliedert sich in zwei Ortszonen: das touristisch stark erschlossene Compatsch (auch Kompatsch, 1850 m s.l.m.) am äußersten Westrand der Hochfläche sowie Saltria (1680 m s.l.m.), das 5 km östlich unterhalb des Plattkofels liegt.
Im Süden gelegene Teile der Alm sind zusammen mit großen Flächen in der Schlerngruppe und im Rosengarten als Naturpark Schlern-Rosengarten ausgewiesen. Des Weiteren bestehen die zwei geschützten Biotope Col da Fil und Gran Paluch.
Von Seis am Schlern ist der Zugang nach Compatsch mit regelmäßig verkehrenden Bussen und einer modernen Umlauf-Gondelbahn möglich, die ihrerseits durch einen Busdienst an das Gebiet um Kastelruth und Völs angebunden ist. Eine weitere Gondelbahn verkehrt von St. Ulrich in Gröden. Saisonweise werden auch Linienbusse von Monte Pana nach Saltria eingesetzt. Mit privaten Fahrzeugen ist eine Zufahrt zur Seiser Alm nur in den Abend- und Nachtstunden gestattet. Das Gebiet ist touristisch intensiv erschlossen.
Geschichte
Die Nutzung der Hochalm reicht weit zurück. Um 1600 beschreibt Marx Sittich von Wolkenstein in seiner Tiroler Landesbeschreibung die Seiser Alm wie folgt:
„Es ligt auch ab den dorf Castelreudt die allerschonische und grosse alm, so man nit jr gleichen in landt findt, und man eine teische meil [deutsche Meile] wegs von dorf hinauf ist, genant die Seysser Almb, darauf man jarlichen in sumber in die 1.500 kie [Kühe] und bey 600 ogsen [Ochsen] erhalten und nichgest [nicht weniger als] in die 1.800 futer hey [Fuder Heu] herab gefiert werten und auch etliche heuter zendten [hundert Zentner] schmalz und käs gemacht werten. So solten auch bey 400 heythillen [Heustädel] darauf stein und 100 kaserthillen [Schwaigen] und umb Jacobi [25. Juli] bey 4 oder 5 wochen bey 4.000 man und weib daroben ligen und arbeyten tain in hey und das kroffigist [kräftigste] und peste hey, so man in landt findt, ist.“
Sommer
Im Sommer lädt das Gebiet zu Wanderungen und Bergtouren ein. Im Frühjahr 2006 wurde der Hans-und-Paula-Steger-Weg fertiggestellt. Dieser Weg führt in Ost-West-Richtung von Compatsch nach Saltria und ist mit Informationstafeln gestaltet, die Einblicke in Landschaft und Kultur der Seiser Alm und Südtirols geben.
Winter
Das Wintersportgebiet verfügt über 60 km Abfahrtspisten überwiegend im leichten und mittleren Schwierigkeitsgrad, zahlreiche Liftanlagen und einen Funpark. Darüber hinaus wird ein Loipennetz von fast 60 km angeboten. Weitere auf der Seiser Alm praktizierbare Wintersportarten sind das Rodeln und das Schlittschuhlaufen. Zudem verfügt die Seiser Alm über zwei Skischulen mit mehr als 50 Skilehrern für Ski-, Snowboard- und Langlaufkurse.
(Wikipedia)
Der 2563 m hohe Schlern (italienisch Sciliar, ladinisch Sciliër) ist ein Berg in den Südtiroler Dolomiten in Italien. Trotz seiner verhältnismäßig geringen Höhe gilt der stockartige Westpfeiler der Dolomiten aufgrund seiner charakteristischen Form als Wahrzeichen Südtirols.
Der Berg ist der Namensgeber der umliegenden Gebirgsgruppe, der Schlerngruppe. Der Schlern trägt selbst eine Hochfläche, deren frühe weidewirtschaftliche Nutzung durch urgeschichtliche Funde bezeugt ist, und überragt die Seiser Alm, die größte Hochweide Europas, sowie die Mittelgebirgsterrassen des Schlerngebiets um Kastelruth und Völs. 1974 wurde der Schlern mit einigen angrenzenden Flächen in einem Naturpark unter Schutz gestellt, der seit 2003 zum Naturpark Schlern-Rosengarten erweitert ist.
In der Südtiroler Sagenwelt gilt er als Heimat der Schlernhexen. Die seit 1920 publizierte landeskundliche Zeitschrift Der Schlern ist nach dem Berg benannt.
Topographie
Der Burgstall (2515 m) bildet den Nordrand des Berges, seine höchste Erhebung ist der Petz (2563 m), der den Gabels Mull (2390 m) und den Jungschlern (2280 m) überragt. Hinter dem Petz erhebt sich mit dem Mahlknechtstein (2550 m) eine markante Kleinformation. Vorgelagert befinden sich die beiden Türme der Santnerspitze (2413 m) und der Euringerspitze (2394 m). Diese auch einfach Santner und Euringer genannten Gipfel waren früher als Schlernzacken, Paarlspitzen oder Badlspitzen bekannt. Der Santner führte zudem noch den Namen Tuiflspitz, ladinisch Piza dl Malang.
Schutzhütten
Auf dem Schlern eröffnete die Sektion Bozen des Deutschen und Österreichischen Alpenvereins am 22. August 1885 ein Schutzhaus, das 1903 mit dem daneben stehenden Gasthaus zu den Schlernhäusern vereinigt wurde (heute im Besitz des Club Alpino Italiano). 1969 errichtete die Sektion Bozen des Alpenvereins Südtirol die Schlernbödelehütte.
Etymologie
Der im 16. Jahrhundert als Schlernkhofl bzw. auf dem Schalern bezeugte Bergname ist sicher vordeutschen und vorrömischen Ursprungs.
Eine Deutung führt ihn auf das Etym *sala mit der Bedeutung „Bach, Graben, Kanal“ zurück. Bei der mittelalterlichen Eindeutschung des Namens wurde die Grundform mit dem Suffix -en verbunden, dessen e im Bairischen schon früh ausfiel, so dass die Lautung Salérn entstand (Oswald von Wolkenstein schreibt noch Saleren). Wegen Bewahrung der vordeutschen Betonung schrumpfte die erste Silbe schließlich zu Sl-, was durch Palatalisierung zur Lautung Schl- führte. Ursprünglich galt der Name wohl für den Schlerngraben und den Schlernbach; nach ihnen dürfte der Gebirgsstock zunächst Schlernkofel (siehe die Schreibung aus dem 16. Jahrhundert.), dann Schlern genannt worden sein.
Eine andere Theorie postuliert einen Zusammenhang mit der indogermanischen Wurzel *skel mit der Bedeutung „schneiden“. Der Name Schlern nimmt demnach auf die charakteristischen, senkrecht abgeschnitten erscheinenden Felswände des Bergmassivs Bezug.
Geologie
Das Schlern-Massiv besteht vorwiegend aus Sedimentgesteinen der Mittleren Trias. Die gebankten Dolomite der Rosengarten-Formation und Rosszähne-Formation entstanden zu einem großen Teil an etwa 30 Grad steilen Abhängen einer Karbonatplattform, im zentralen Plattformbereich auch als flachliegende Sedimente. Zwischen der Rosengarten-Formation und der Rosszähne-Formation finden sich Vulkanite, die im Ladinium entstanden sind. Überlagert werden diese Formationen von der Schlernplateau-Formation, die unter anderen von Dolomit- und Kalkbänken gebildet wird. Die höchsten Teile des Schlernplateaus werden von Gesteinen des Hauptdolomits der Oberen Trias aufgebaut.
Erstbesteigungen
1880 Santnerspitze (Ostseite, Schwierigkeitsgrad III.) – Johann Santner allein
1884 Euringerspitze (Südwand, III.) – Gustav Euringer und G. Battista Bernhard
1908 Jungschlern (Nordkante, III.) – Paul Mayr und Ernst Hofer
1912 Burgstall (Ostwanddurchquerung, III.) – Max Reinstaller, Heindl Tomasi
1912 Mull (Nordostflanke, II.) – Paul Mayr, Hermann Kofler, Hans Kiene und Pius Wachtler
1929 Schlernkind (IV.) – Fidel Bernard, Hans Leitgeb, Georg Harm, Edi Hermann und Luis Gasser
(Wikipedia)
Approximate Focus Distance : 15.1m
Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS USM + Canon Extender EF 1.4x III
ISO Speed 800
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When the KC Class GAC(Ireland) Citybuses were withdrawn from regular service some had their lives extended by going to or staying with Bus Éireann and becoming school buses, Ex Cork City KC143 and 166 are seen in the Summer of 2000 at Louth Commercials just after conversion
Extended but within easy reach. Those who know know. Strang Recovery ready for a live lane recovery on the M74 nb.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. According to traditions dating back to the 4th century, it contains the two holiest sites in Christianity: the site where Jesus was crucified, at a place known as Calvary or Golgotha, and Jesus's empty tomb, where he is believed by Christians to have been buried and resurrected. Each time the church was rebuilt, some of the antiquities from the preceding structure were used in the newer renovation. The tomb itself is enclosed by a 19th-century shrine called the Aedicule. The Status Quo, an understanding between religious communities dating to 1757, applies to the site.
Within the church proper are the last four stations of the Cross of the Via Dolorosa, representing the final episodes of the Passion of Jesus. The church has been a major Christian pilgrimage destination since its creation in the 4th century, as the traditional site of the resurrection of Christ, thus its original Greek name, Church of the Anastasis ('Resurrection').
Control of the church itself is shared, a simultaneum, among several Christian denominations and secular entities in complicated arrangements essentially unchanged for over 160 years, and some for much longer. The main denominations sharing property over parts of the church are the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic, and to a lesser degree the Coptic, Syriac, and Ethiopian Orthodox churches.
Following the siege of Jerusalem in AD 70 during the First Jewish–Roman War, Jerusalem had been reduced to ruins. In AD 130, the Roman emperor Hadrian began the building of a Roman colony, the new city of Aelia Capitolina, on the site. Circa AD 135, he ordered that a cave containing a rock-cut tomb be filled in to create a flat foundation for a temple dedicated to Jupiter or Venus. The temple remained until the early 4th century.
After allegedly seeing a vision of a cross in the sky in 312, Constantine the Great began to favor Christianity, signed the Edict of Milan legalising the religion, and sent his mother, Helena, to Jerusalem to look for Christ's tomb. With the help of Bishop of Caesarea Eusebius and Bishop of Jerusalem Macarius, three crosses were found near a tomb; one which allegedly cured people of death was presumed to be the True Cross Jesus was crucified on, leading the Romans to believe that they had found Calvary. Constantine ordered in about 326 that the temple to Jupiter/Venus be replaced by a church. After the temple was torn down and its ruins removed, the soil was removed from the cave, revealing a rock-cut tomb that Helena and Macarius identified as the burial site of Jesus. A shrine was built, enclosing the rock tomb walls within its own.
In 327, Constantine and Helena separately commissioned the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem to commemorate the birth of Jesus.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, planned by the architect Zenobius, was built as separate constructs over the two holy sites: a rotunda called the Anastasis ("Resurrection"), where Helena and Macarius believed Jesus to have been buried, and across a courtyard to the east, the great basilica, an enclosed colonnaded atrium (the Triportico, sometimes called the Martyrium) with the traditional site of Calvary in one corner. The church was consecrated on 13 September 335. The Church Of The Holy Sepulchre site has been recognized since early in the 4th century as the place where Jesus was crucified, buried, and rose from the dead.
This building was destroyed by a fire in May of AD 614, when the Sassanid Empire, under Khosrau II, invaded Jerusalem and captured the True Cross. In 630, the Emperor Heraclius rebuilt the church after recapturing the city. After Jerusalem came under Islamic rule, it remained a Christian church, with the early Muslim rulers protecting the city's Christian sites, prohibiting their destruction or use as living quarters. A story reports that the caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab visited the church and stopped to pray on the balcony, but at the time of prayer, turned away from the church and prayed outside. He feared that future generations would misinterpret this gesture, taking it as a pretext to turn the church into a mosque. Eutychius of Alexandria adds that Umar wrote a decree saying that Muslims would not inhabit this location. The building suffered severe damage from an earthquake in 746.
Early in the 9th century, another earthquake damaged the dome of the Anastasis. The damage was repaired in 810 by Patriarch Thomas I. In 841, the church suffered a fire. In 935, the Christians prevented the construction of a Muslim mosque adjacent to the Church. In 938, a new fire damaged the inside of the basilica and came close to the rotunda. In 966, due to a defeat of Muslim armies in the region of Syria, a riot broke out, which was followed by reprisals. The basilica was burned again. The doors and roof were burnt, and Patriarch John VII was murdered.
On 18 October 1009, Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah ordered the complete destruction of the church as part of a more general campaign against Christian places of worship in Palestine and Egypt. The damage was extensive, with few parts of the early church remaining, and the roof of the rock-cut tomb damaged; the original shrine was destroyed. Some partial repairs followed. Christian Europe reacted with shock and expulsions of Jews, serving as an impetus to later Crusades.
In wide-ranging negotiations between the Fatimids and the Byzantine Empire in 1027–28, an agreement was reached whereby the new Caliph Ali az-Zahir (al-Hakim's son) agreed to allow the rebuilding and redecoration of the church. The rebuilding was finally completed during the tenures of Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos and Patriarch Nicephorus of Constantinople in 1048. As a concession, the mosque in Constantinople was reopened and the khutba sermons were to be pronounced in az-Zahir's name. Muslim sources say a by-product of the agreement was the renunciation of Islam by many Christians who had been forced to convert under al-Hakim's persecutions. In addition, the Byzantines, while releasing 5,000 Muslim prisoners, made demands for the restoration of other churches destroyed by al-Hakim and the reestablishment of a patriarch in Jerusalem. Contemporary sources credit the emperor with spending vast sums in an effort to restore the Church of the Holy Sepulchre after this agreement was made. Still, "a total replacement was far beyond available resources. The new construction was concentrated on the rotunda and its surrounding buildings: the great basilica remained in ruins."
The rebuilt church site consisted of "a court open to the sky, with five small chapels attached to it." The chapels were east of the court of resurrection (when reconstructed, the location of the tomb was under open sky), where the western wall of the great basilica had been. They commemorated scenes from the passion, such as the location of the prison of Christ and his flagellation, and presumably were so placed because of the difficulties of free movement among shrines in the city streets. The dedication of these chapels indicates the importance of the pilgrims' devotion to the suffering of Christ. They have been described as 'a sort of Via Dolorosa in miniature'... since little or no rebuilding took place on the site of the great basilica. Western pilgrims to Jerusalem during the 11th century found much of the sacred site in ruins." Control of Jerusalem, and thereby the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, continued to change hands several times between the Fatimids and the Seljuk Turks (loyal to the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad) until the Crusaders' arrival in 1099.
Many historians maintain that the main concern of Pope Urban II, when calling for the First Crusade, was the threat to Constantinople from the Turkish invasion of Asia Minor in response to the appeal of Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. Historians agree that the fate of Jerusalem and thereby the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was also of concern, if not the immediate goal of papal policy in 1095. The idea of taking Jerusalem gained more focus as the Crusade was underway. The rebuilt church site was taken from the Fatimids (who had recently taken it from the Abassids) by the knights of the First Crusade on 15 July 1099.
The First Crusade was envisioned as an armed pilgrimage, and no crusader could consider his journey complete unless he had prayed as a pilgrim at the Holy Sepulchre. The classical theory is that Crusader leader Godfrey of Bouillon, who became the first Latin ruler of Jerusalem, decided not to use the title "king" during his lifetime, and declared himself Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri ("Protector [or Defender] of the Holy Sepulchre"). By the Crusader period, a cistern under the former basilica was rumoured to have been where Helena had found the True Cross, and began to be venerated as such; the cistern later became the Chapel of the Invention of the Cross, but there is no evidence of the site's identification before the 11th century, and modern archaeological investigation has now dated the cistern to 11th-century repairs by Monomachos.
According to the German priest and pilgrim Ludolf von Sudheim, the keys of the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre were in hands of the "ancient Georgians", and the food, alms, candles and oil for lamps were given to them by the pilgrims at the south door of the church.
Eight 11th- and 12th-century Crusader leaders (Godfrey, Baldwin I, Baldwin II, Fulk, Baldwin III, Amalric, Baldwin IV and Baldwin V — the first eight rulers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem) were buried in the south transept and inside the Chapel of Adam. The royal tombs were destroyed by the Greeks in 1809–1810. It is unclear if the remains of those men were exhumed; some researchers hypothesize that some of them may still be in unmarked pits under the church.
William of Tyre, chronicler of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, reports on the renovation of the Church in the mid-12th century. The Crusaders investigated the eastern ruins on the site, occasionally excavating through the rubble, and while attempting to reach the cistern, they discovered part of the original ground level of Hadrian's temple enclosure; they transformed this space into a chapel dedicated to Helena, widening their original excavation tunnel into a proper staircase. The Crusaders began to refurnish the church in Romanesque style and added a bell tower. These renovations unified the small chapels on the site and were completed during the reign of Queen Melisende in 1149, placing all the holy places under one roof for the first time. The church became the seat of the first Latin patriarchs and the site of the kingdom's scriptorium. It was lost to Saladin, along with the rest of the city, in 1187, although the treaty established after the Third Crusade allowed Christian pilgrims to visit the site. Emperor Frederick II (r. 1220–50) regained the city and the church by treaty in the 13th century while under a ban of excommunication, with the curious consequence that the holiest church in Christianity was laid under interdict. The church seems to have been largely in the hands of Greek Orthodox patriarch Athanasius II of Jerusalem (c. 1231–47) during the Latin control of Jerusalem. Both city and church were captured by the Khwarezmians in 1244.
There was certainly a recognisable Nestorian (Church of the East) presence at the Holy Sepulchre from the years 1348 through 1575, as contemporary Franciscan accounts indicate. The Franciscan friars renovated the church in 1555, as it had been neglected despite increased numbers of pilgrims. The Franciscans rebuilt the Aedicule, extending the structure to create an antechamber. A marble shrine commissioned by Friar Boniface of Ragusa was placed to envelop the remains of Christ's tomb, probably to prevent pilgrims from touching the original rock or taking small pieces as souvenirs. A marble slab was placed over the limestone burial bed where Jesus's body is believed to have lain.
After the renovation of 1555, control of the church oscillated between the Franciscans and the Orthodox, depending on which community could obtain a favorable firman from the "Sublime Porte" at a particular time, often through outright bribery. Violent clashes were not uncommon. There was no agreement about this question, although it was discussed at the negotiations to the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699. During the Holy Week of 1757, Orthodox Christians reportedly took over some of the Franciscan-controlled church. This may have been the cause of the sultan's firman (decree) later developed into the Status Quo.
A fire severely damaged the structure again in 1808, causing the dome of the Rotunda to collapse and smashing the Aedicule's exterior decoration. The Rotunda and the Aedicule's exterior were rebuilt in 1809–10 by architect Nikolaos Ch. Komnenos of Mytilene in the contemporary Ottoman Baroque style.[citation needed] The interior of the antechamber, now known as the Chapel of the Angel, was partly rebuilt to a square ground plan in place of the previously semicircular western end.
Another decree in 1853 from the sultan solidified the existing territorial division among the communities and solidified the Status Quo for arrangements to "remain in their present state", requiring consensus to make even minor changes.
The dome was restored by Catholics, Greeks and Turks in 1868, being made of iron ever since.
By the time of the British Mandate for Palestine following the end of World War I, the cladding of red marble applied to the Aedicule by Komnenos had deteriorated badly and was detaching from the underlying structure; from 1947 until restoration work in 2016–17, it was held in place with an exterior scaffolding of iron girders installed by the British authorities.
In 1948, Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan and the Old City with the church were made part of Jordan. In 1967, Israeli forces captured East Jerusalem in the Six Day War, and that area has remained under Israeli control ever since. Under Israeli rule, legal arrangements relating to the churches of East Jerusalem were maintained in coordination with the Jordanian government. The dome at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was restored again in 1994–97 as part of extensive modern renovations that have been ongoing since 1959. During the 1970–78 restoration works and excavations inside the building, and under the nearby Muristan bazaar, it was found that the area was originally a quarry, from which white meleke limestone was struck.
East of the Chapel of Saint Helena, the excavators discovered a void containing a second-century[dubious – discuss] drawing of a Roman pilgrim ship, two low walls supporting the platform of Hadrian's second-century temple, and a higher fourth-century wall built to support Constantine's basilica. After the excavations of the early 1970s, the Armenian authorities converted this archaeological space into the Chapel of Saint Vartan, and created an artificial walkway over the quarry on the north of the chapel, so that the new chapel could be accessed (by permission) from the Chapel of Saint Helena.
After seven decades of being held together by steel girders, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) declared the visibly deteriorating Aedicule structure unsafe. A restoration of the Aedicule was agreed upon and executed from May 2016 to March 2017. Much of the $4 million project was funded by the World Monuments Fund, as well as $1.3 million from Mica Ertegun and a significant sum from King Abdullah II of Jordan. The existence of the original limestone cave walls within the Aedicule was confirmed, and a window was created to view this from the inside. The presence of moisture led to the discovery of an underground shaft resembling an escape tunnel carved into the bedrock, seeming to lead from the tomb. For the first time since at least 1555, on 26 October 2016, marble cladding that protects the supposed burial bed of Jesus was removed. Members of the National Technical University of Athens were present. Initially, only a layer of debris was visible. This was cleared in the next day, and a partially broken marble slab with a Crusader-style cross carved was revealed. By the night of 28 October, the original limestone burial bed was shown to be intact. The tomb was resealed shortly thereafter. Mortar from just above the burial bed was later dated to the mid-fourth century.
On 25 March 2020, Israeli health officials ordered the site closed to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the keeper of the keys, it was the first such closure since 1349, during the Black Death. Clerics continued regular prayers inside the building, and it reopened to visitors two months later, on 24 May.
During church renovations in 2022, a stone slab covered in modern graffiti was moved from a wall, revealing Cosmatesque-style decoration on one face. According to an IAA archaeologist, the decoration was once inlaid with pieces of glass and fine marble; it indicates that the relic was the front of the church's high altar from the Crusader era (c. 1149), which was later used by the Greek Orthodox until being damaged in the 1808 fire.
The courtyard facing the entrance to the church is known as the parvis. Two streets open into the parvis: St Helena Road (west) and Suq ed-Dabbagha (east). Around the parvis are a few smaller structures.
South of the parvis, opposite the church:
Broken columns—once forming part of an arcade—stand opposite the church, at the top of a short descending staircase stretching over the entire breadth of the parvis. In the 13th century, the tops of the columns were removed and sent to Mecca by the Khwarezmids.
The Gethsemane Metochion, a small Greek Orthodox monastery (metochion).
On the eastern side of the parvis, south to north:
The Monastery of St Abraham (Greek Orthodox), next to the Suq ed-Dabbagha entrance to the parvis.
The Chapel of St John the Evangelist (Armenian Orthodox)
The Chapel of St Michael and the Chapel of the Four Living Creatures (both are disputed between the Copts and Ethiopians), giving access to Deir es-Sultan (also disputed), a rooftop monastery surrounding the dome of the Chapel of St Helena.
North of the parvis, in front of the church façade or against it:
Chapel of the Franks (Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows): a blue-domed Roman Catholic Crusader chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows, which once provided exclusive access to Calvary. The chapel marks the 10th Station of the Cross (the stripping of Jesus's garments).
Oratory of St. Mary of Egypt: a Greek Orthodox oratory and chapel, directly beneath the Chapel of the Franks, dedicated to St. Mary of Egypt.
The tomb (including a ledgerstone) of Philip d'Aubigny aka Philip Daubeney (died 1236), a knight, tutor, and royal councilor to Henry III of England and signer of the Magna Carta—is placed in front of, and between, the church's two original entrance doors, of which the eastern one is walled up. It is one of the few tombs of crusaders and other Europeans not removed from the Church after the Khwarizmian capture of Jerusalem in 1244. In the 1900s, during a fight between the Greeks and Latins, some monks damaged the tomb by throwing stones from the roof. A stone marker[clarification needed] was placed on his tomb in 1925, sheltered by a wooden trapdoor that hides it from view.[citation needed]
A group of three chapels borders the parvis on its west side. They originally formed the baptistery complex of the Constantinian church. The southernmost chapel was the vestibule, the middle chapel the baptistery, and the north chapel the chamber in which the patriarch chrismated the newly baptized before leading them into the rotunda north of this complex. Now they are dedicated as (from south to north)
The Chapel of St. James the Just (Greek Orthodox),
The Chapel of St. John the Baptist (Greek Orthodox),
The Chapel of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste (Greek Orthodox; at the base of the bell tower).
The 12th-century Crusader bell tower is just south of the Rotunda, to the left of the entrance. Its upper level was lost in a 1545 collapse. In 1719, another two storeys were lost.
The wooden doors that compose the main entrance are the original, highly carved arched doors. Today, only the left-hand entrance is currently accessible, as the right doorway has long since been bricked up. The entrance to the church leads to the south transept, through the crusader façade in the parvis of a larger courtyard. This is found past a group of streets winding through the outer Via Dolorosa by way of a souq in the Muristan. This narrow way of access to such a large structure has proven to be hazardous at times. For example, when a fire broke out in 1840, dozens of pilgrims were trampled to death.
According to their own family lore, the Muslim Nuseibeh family has been responsible for opening the door as an impartial party to the church's denominations already since the seventh century. However, they themselves admit that the documents held by various Christian denominations only mention their role since the 12th century, in the time of Saladin, which is the date more generally accepted. After retaking Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187, Saladin entrusted the Joudeh family with the key to the church, which is made of iron and 30 centimetres (12 in) long; the Nuseibehs either became or remained its doorkeepers.
The 'immovable ladder' stands beneath a window on the façade.
Just inside the church entrance is a stairway leading up to Calvary (Golgotha), traditionally regarded as the site of Jesus's crucifixion and the most lavishly decorated part of the church. The exit is via another stairway opposite the first, leading down to the ambulatory. Golgotha and its chapels are just south of the main altar of the catholicon.
Calvary is split into two chapels: one Greek Orthodox and one Catholic, each with its own altar. On the left (north) side, the Greek Orthodox chapel's altar is placed over the supposed rock of Calvary (the 12th Station of the Cross), which can be touched through a hole in the floor beneath the altar. The rock can be seen under protective glass on both sides of the altar. The softer surrounding stone was removed when the church was built. The Roman Catholic (Franciscan) Chapel of the Nailing of the Cross (the 11th Station of the Cross) stretches to the south. Between the Catholic Altar of the Nailing to the Cross and the Orthodox altar is the Catholic Altar of the Stabat Mater, which has a statue of Mary with an 18th-century bust; this middle altar marks the 13th Station of the Cross.
On the ground floor, just underneath the Golgotha chapel, is the Chapel of Adam. According to tradition, Jesus was crucified over the place where Adam's skull was buried. According to some, the blood of Christ ran down the cross and through the rocks to fill Adam's skull. Through a window at the back of the 11th-century apse, the rock of Calvary can be seen with a crack traditionally held to be caused by the earthquake that followed Jesus's death;[78] some scholars claim it is the result of quarrying against a natural flaw in the rock.
Behind the Chapel of Adam is the Greek Treasury (Treasury of the Greek Patriarch). Some of its relics, such as a 12th-century crystal mitre, were transferred to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate Museum (the Patriarchal Museum) on Greek Orthodox Patriarchate Street.
Just inside the entrance to the church is the Stone of Anointing (also Stone of the Anointing or Stone of Unction), which tradition holds to be where Jesus's body was prepared for burial by Joseph of Arimathea, though this tradition is only attested since the crusader era (notably by the Italian Dominican pilgrim Riccoldo da Monte di Croce in 1288), and the present stone was only added in the 1810 reconstruction.
The wall behind the stone is defined by its striking blue balconies and taphos symbol-bearing red banners (depicting the insignia of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre), and is decorated with lamps. The modern mosaic along the wall depicts the anointing of Jesus's body, preceded on the right by the Descent from the Cross, and succeeded on the left by the Burial of Jesus.
The wall was a temporary addition to support the arch above it, which had been weakened after the damage in the 1808 fire; it blocks the view of the rotunda, separates the entrance from the catholicon, sits on top of four of the now empty and desecrated Crusader graves and is no longer structurally necessary. Opinions differ as to whether it is to be seen as the 13th Station of the Cross, which others identify as the lowering of Jesus from the cross and located between the 11th and 12th stations on Calvary.
The lamps that hang over the Stone of Unction, adorned with cross-bearing chain links, are contributed by Armenians, Copts, Greeks and Latins.
Immediately inside and to the left of the entrance is a bench (formerly a divan) that has traditionally been used by the church's Muslim doorkeepers, along with some Christian clergy, as well as electrical wiring. To the right of the entrance is a wall along the ambulatory containing the staircase leading to Golgotha. Further along the same wall is the entrance to the Chapel of Adam.
The rotunda is the building of the larger dome located on the far west side. In the centre of the rotunda is a small chapel called the Aedicule in English, from the Latin aedicula, in reference to a small shrine. The Aedicule has two rooms: the first holds a relic called the Angel's Stone, which is believed to be a fragment of the large stone that sealed the tomb; the second, smaller room contains the tomb of Jesus. Possibly to prevent pilgrims from removing bits of the original rock as souvenirs, by 1555, a surface of marble cladding was placed on the tomb to prevent further damage to the tomb. In October 2016, the top slab was pulled back to reveal an older, partially broken marble slab with a Crusader-style cross carved in it. Beneath it, the limestone burial bed was revealed to be intact.
Under the Status Quo, the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Armenian Apostolic Churches all have rights to the interior of the tomb, and all three communities celebrate the Divine Liturgy or Holy Mass there daily. It is also used for other ceremonies on special occasions, such as the Holy Saturday ceremony of the Holy Fire led by the Greek Orthodox patriarch (with the participation of the Coptic and Armenian patriarchs). To its rear, in the Coptic Chapel, constructed of iron latticework, lies the altar used by the Coptic Orthodox. Historically, the Georgians also retained the key to the Aedicule.
To the right of the sepulchre on the northwestern edge of the Rotunda is the Chapel of the Apparition, which is reserved for Roman Catholic use.
In the central nave of the Crusader-era church, just east of the larger rotunda, is the Crusader structure housing the main altar of the Church, today the Greek Orthodox catholicon. Its dome is 19.8 metres (65 ft) in diameter, and is set directly over the centre of the transept crossing of the choir where the compas is situated, an omphalos ("navel") stone once thought to be the center of the world and still venerated as such by Orthodox Christians (associated with the site of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection).
Since 1996 this dome is topped by the monumental Golgotha Crucifix, which the Greek Patriarch Diodoros I of Jerusalem consecrated. It was at the initiative of Israeli professor Gustav Kühnel to erect a new crucifix at the church that would not only be worthy of the singularity of the site, but that would also become a symbol of the efforts of unity in the community of Christian faith.
The catholicon's iconostasis demarcates the Orthodox sanctuary behind it, to its east. The iconostasis is flanked to the front by two episcopal thrones: the southern seat (cathedra) is the patriarchal throne of the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem, and the northern seat is for an archbishop or bishop. (There is also a popular claim that both are patriarchal thrones, with the northern one being for the patriarch of Antioch — which has been described as a misstatement, however.)
South of the Aedicule is the "Place of the Three Marys", marked by a stone canopy (the Station of the Holy Women) and a large modern wall mosaic. From here one can enter the Armenian monastery, which stretches over the ground and first upper floor of the church's southeastern part.
West of the Aedicule, to the rear of the Rotunda, is the Syriac Chapel with the Tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, located in a Constantinian apse and containing an opening to an ancient Jewish rock-cut tomb. This chapel is where the Syriac Orthodox celebrate their Liturgy on Sundays.
The Syriac Orthodox Chapel of Saint Joseph of Arimathea and Saint Nicodemus. On Sundays and feast days it is furnished for the celebration of Mass. It is accessed from the Rotunda, by a door west of the Aedicule.
On the far side of the chapel is the low entrance to an almost complete first-century Jewish tomb, initially holding six kokh-type funeral shafts radiating from a central chamber, two of which are still exposed. Although this space was discovered relatively recently and contains no identifying marks, some believe that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were buried here. Since Jews always buried their dead outside the city, the presence of this tomb seems to prove that the Holy Sepulchre site was outside the city walls at the time of the crucifixion.
The Franciscan Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene – The chapel, an open area, indicates the place where Mary Magdalene met Jesus after his resurrection.
The Franciscan Chapel of the Apparition (Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament), directly north of the above – in memory of Jesus's meeting with his mother after the Resurrection, a non-scriptural tradition. Here stands a piece of an ancient column, allegedly part of the one Jesus was tied to during his scourging.
The Arches of the Virgin are seven arches (an arcade) at the northern end of the north transept, which is to the catholicon's north. Disputed by the Orthodox and the Latin, the area is used to store ladders.
In the northeast side of the complex, there is the Prison of Christ, alleged to be where Jesus was held. The Greek Orthodox are showing pilgrims yet another place where Jesus was allegedly held, the similarly named Prison of Christ in their Monastery of the Praetorium, located near the Church of Ecce Homo, between the Second and Third Stations of the Via Dolorosa. The Armenians regard a recess in the Monastery of the Flagellation at the Second Station of the Via Dolorosa as the Prison of Christ. A cistern among the ruins beneath the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu on Mount Zion is also alleged to have been the Prison of Christ. To reconcile the traditions, some allege that Jesus was held in the Mount Zion cell in connection with his trial by the Jewish high priest, at the Praetorium in connection with his trial by the Roman governor Pilate, and near the Golgotha before crucifixion.
The chapels in the ambulatory are, from north to south: the Greek Chapel of Saint Longinus (named after Longinus), the Armenian Chapel of the Division of Robes, the entrance to the Chapel of Saint Helena, and the Greek Chapel of the Derision.
Chapel of Saint Helena – between the Chapel of the Division of Robes and the Greek Chapel of the Derision are stairs descending to the Chapel of Saint Helena. The Armenians, who own it, call it the Chapel of St. Gregory the Illuminator, after the saint who brought Christianity to the Armenians.
Chapel of St Vartan (or Vardan) Mamikonian – on the north side of the Chapel of Saint Helena is an ornate wrought iron door, beyond which a raised artificial platform affords views of the quarry, and which leads to the Chapel of Saint Vartan. The latter chapel contains archaeological remains from Hadrian's temple and Constantine's basilica. These areas are open only on request.
Chapel of the Invention of the Cross (named for the Invention (Finding) of the Holy Cross) – another set of 22 stairs from the Chapel of Saint Helena leads down to the Roman Catholic Chapel of the Invention of the Holy Cross, believed to be the place where the True Cross was found.
An Ottoman decree of 1757 helped establish a status quo upholding the state of affairs for various Holy Land sites. The status quo was upheld in Sultan Abdülmecid I's firman (decree) of 1852/3, which pinned down the now-permanent statutes of property and the regulations concerning the roles of the different denominations and other custodians.
The primary custodians are the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic churches. The Greek Orthodox act through the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate as well as through the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre. Roman Catholics act through the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land. In the 19th century, the Coptic Orthodox, the Ethiopian Orthodox and the Syriac Orthodox also acquired lesser responsibilities, which include shrines and other structures in and around the building.
None of these controls the main entrance. In 1192, Saladin assigned door-keeping responsibilities to the Muslim Nusaybah family. The wooden doors that compose the main entrance are the original, highly carved doors. The Joudeh al-Goudia (al-Ghodayya) family were entrusted as custodian to the keys of the Holy Sepulchre by Saladin in 1187. Despite occasional disagreements, religious services take place in the Church with regularity and coexistence is generally peaceful. An example of concord between the Church custodians is the full restoration of the Aedicule from 2016 to 2017.
The establishment of the modern Status Quo in 1853 did not halt controversy and occasional violence. In 1902, 18 friars were hospitalized and some monks were jailed after the Franciscans and Greeks disagreed over who could clean the lowest step of the Chapel of the Franks. In the aftermath, the Greek patriarch, Franciscan custos, Ottoman governor and French consul general signed a convention that both denominations could sweep it. On a hot summer day in 2002, a Coptic monk moved his chair from its agreed spot into the shade. This was interpreted as a hostile move by the Ethiopians and eleven were hospitalized after the resulting fight. In another incident in 2004, during Orthodox celebrations of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, a door to the Franciscan chapel was left open. This was taken as a sign of disrespect by the Orthodox and a fistfight broke out. Some people were arrested, but no one was seriously injured.
On Palm Sunday, in April 2008, a brawl broke out when a Greek monk was ejected from the building by a rival faction. Police were called to the scene but were also attacked by the enraged brawlers. On Sunday, 9 November 2008, a clash erupted between Armenian and Greek monks during celebrations for the Feast of the Cross.
In February 2018, the church was closed following a tax dispute over 152 million euros of uncollected taxes on church properties. The city hall stressed that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and all other churches are exempt from the taxes, with the changes only affecting establishments like "hotels, halls and businesses" owned by the churches. NPR had reported that the Greek Orthodox Church calls itself the second-largest landowner in Israel, after the Israeli government.
There was a lock-in protest against an Israeli legislative proposal which would expropriate church lands that had been sold to private companies since 2010, a measure which church leaders assert constitutes a serious violation of their property rights and the Status Quo. In a joint official statement the church authorities protested what they considered to be the peak of a systematic campaign in:
a discriminatory and racist bill that targets solely the properties of the Christian community in the Holy Land ... This reminds us all of laws of a similar nature which were enacted against the Jews during dark periods in Europe.
The 2018 taxation affair does not cover any church buildings or religious related facilities (because they are exempt by law), but commercial facilities such as the Notre Dame Hotel which was not paying the municipal property tax, and any land which is owned and used as a commercial land. The church holds the rights to land where private homes have been constructed, and some of the disagreement had been raised after the Knesset had proposed a bill that will make it harder for a private company not to extend a lease for land used by homeowners. The church leaders have said that such a bill will make it harder for them to sell church-owned lands. According to The Jerusalem Post:
The stated aim of the bill is to protect homeowners against the possibility that private companies will not extend their leases of land on which their houses or apartments stand.
In June 2019, a number of Christian denominations in Jerusalem raised their voice against the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the sale of three properties by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate to Ateret Cohanim – an organization that seeks to increase the number of Jews living in the Old City and East Jerusalem. The church leaders warned that if the organization gets to control the sites, Christians could lose access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In June 2022, the Supreme Court upheld the sale and ended the legal battle.
The site of the church had been a temple to Jupiter or Venus built by Hadrian before Constantine's edifice was built. Hadrian's temple had been located there because it was the junction of the main north–south road with one of the two main east–west roads and directly adjacent to the forum (now the location of the Muristan, which is smaller than the former forum). The forum itself had been placed, as is traditional in Roman towns, at the junction of the main north–south road with the other main east–west road (which is now El-Bazar/David Street). The temple and forum together took up the entire space between the two main east–west roads (a few above-ground remains of the east end of the temple precinct still survive in the Alexander Nevsky Church complex of the Russian Mission in Exile).
From the archaeological excavations in the 1970s, it is clear that construction took over most of the site of the earlier temple enclosure and that the Triportico and Rotunda roughly overlapped with the temple building itself; the excavations indicate that the temple extended at least as far back as the Aedicule, and the temple enclosure would have reached back slightly further. Virgilio Canio Corbo, a Franciscan priest and archaeologist, who was present at the excavations, estimated from the archaeological evidence that the western retaining wall of the temple itself would have passed extremely close to the east side of the supposed tomb; if the wall had been any further west any tomb would have been crushed under the weight of the wall (which would be immediately above it) if it had not already been destroyed when foundations for the wall were made.
Other archaeologists have criticized Corbo's reconstructions. Dan Bahat, the former city archaeologist of Jerusalem, regards them as unsatisfactory, as there is no known temple of Aphrodite (Venus) matching Corbo's design, and no archaeological evidence for Corbo's suggestion that the temple building was on a platform raised high enough to avoid including anything sited where the Aedicule is now; indeed Bahat notes that many temples to Aphrodite have a rotunda-like design, and argues that there is no archaeological reason to assume that the present rotunda was not based on a rotunda in the temple previously on the site.
The New Testament describes Jesus's tomb as being outside the city wall,[l] as was normal for burials across the ancient world, which were regarded as unclean. Today, the site of the Church is within the current walls of the old city of Jerusalem. It has been well documented by archaeologists that in the time of Jesus, the walled city was smaller and the wall then was to the east of the current site of the Church. In other words, the city had been much narrower in Jesus's time, with the site then having been outside the walls; since Herod Agrippa (41–44) is recorded by history as extending the city to the north (beyond the present northern walls), the required repositioning of the western wall is traditionally attributed to him as well.
The area immediately to the south and east of the sepulchre was a quarry and outside the city during the early first century as excavations under the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer across the street demonstrated.[citation needed]
The church is a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Old City of Jerusalem.
The Christian Quarter and the (also Christian) Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem are both located in the northwestern and western part of the Old City, due to the fact that the Holy Sepulchre is located close to the northwestern corner of the walled city. The adjacent neighbourhood within the Christian Quarter is called the Muristan, a term derived from the Persian word for hospital – Christian pilgrim hospices have been maintained in this area near the Holy Sepulchre since at least the time of Charlemagne.
From the ninth century onward, the construction of churches inspired by the Anastasis was extended across Europe. One example is Santo Stefano in Bologna, Italy, an agglomeration of seven churches recreating shrines of Jerusalem.
Several churches and monasteries in Europe, for instance, in Germany and Russia, and at least one church in the United States have been wholly or partially modeled on the Church of the Resurrection, some even reproducing other holy places for the benefit of pilgrims who could not travel to the Holy Land. They include the Heiliges Grab ("Holy Tomb") of Görlitz, constructed between 1481 and 1504, the New Jerusalem Monastery in Moscow Oblast, constructed by Patriarch Nikon between 1656 and 1666, and Mount St. Sepulchre Franciscan Monastery built by the Franciscans in Washington, DC in 1898.
Author Andrew Holt writes that the church is the most important in all Christendom.
Jerusalem is an ancient city in West Asia, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the oldest cities in the world, and is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Both Israel and Palestine claim Jerusalem as their capital; Israel maintains its primary governmental institutions there, and the State of Palestine ultimately foresees it as its seat of power. Neither claim, however, is widely recognized internationally.
Throughout its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, captured and recaptured 44 times, and attacked 52 times. The part of Jerusalem called the City of David shows first signs of settlement in the 4th millennium BCE, in the shape of encampments of nomadic shepherds. During the Canaanite period (14th century BCE), Jerusalem was named as Urusalim on ancient Egyptian tablets, probably meaning "City of Shalem" after a Canaanite deity. During the Israelite period, significant construction activity in Jerusalem began in the 10th century BCE (Iron Age II), and by the 9th century BCE, the city had developed into the religious and administrative centre of the Kingdom of Judah. In 1538, the city walls were rebuilt for a last time around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire. Today those walls define the Old City, which since the 19th century has been divided into four quarters – the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim quarters. The Old City became a World Heritage Site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger. Since 1860, Jerusalem has grown far beyond the Old City's boundaries. In 2022, Jerusalem had a population of some 971,800 residents, of which almost 60% were Jews and almost 40% Palestinians. In 2020, the population was 951,100, of which Jews comprised 570,100 (59.9%), Muslims 353,800 (37.2%), Christians 16,300 (1.7%), and 10,800 unclassified (1.1%).
According to the Hebrew Bible, King David conquered the city from the Jebusites and established it as the capital of the United Kingdom of Israel, and his son, King Solomon, commissioned the building of the First Temple. Modern scholars argue that Jews branched out of the Canaanite peoples and culture through the development of a distinct monolatrous—and later monotheistic—religion centred on El/Yahweh. These foundational events, straddling the dawn of the 1st millennium BCE, assumed central symbolic importance for the Jewish people. The sobriquet of holy city (Hebrew: עיר הקודש, romanized: 'Ir ha-Qodesh) was probably attached to Jerusalem in post-exilic times. The holiness of Jerusalem in Christianity, conserved in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, which Christians adopted as their own "Old Testament", was reinforced by the New Testament account of Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection there. In Sunni Islam, Jerusalem is the third-holiest city, after Mecca and Medina. The city was the first qibla, the standard direction for Muslim prayers (salah), and in Islamic tradition, Muhammad made his Night Journey there in 621, ascending to heaven where he speaks to God, according to the Quran. As a result, despite having an area of only 0.9 km2 (3⁄8 sq mi), the Old City is home to many sites of seminal religious importance, among them the Temple Mount with its Western Wall, Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Today, the status of Jerusalem remains one of the core issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, West Jerusalem was among the areas captured and later annexed by Israel while East Jerusalem, including the Old City, was captured and later annexed by Jordan. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War and subsequently effectively annexed it into Jerusalem, together with additional surrounding territory.[note 6] One of Israel's Basic Laws, the 1980 Jerusalem Law, refers to Jerusalem as the country's undivided capital. All branches of the Israeli government are located in Jerusalem, including the Knesset (Israel's parliament), the residences of the Prime Minister (Beit Aghion) and President (Beit HaNassi), and the Supreme Court. The international community rejects the annexation as illegal and regards East Jerusalem as Palestinian territory occupied by Israel.
Etymology
The name "Jerusalem" is variously etymologized to mean "foundation (Semitic yry' 'to found, to lay a cornerstone') of the pagan god Shalem"; the god Shalem was thus the original tutelary deity of the Bronze Age city.
Shalim or Shalem was the name of the god of dusk in the Canaanite religion, whose name is based on the same root S-L-M from which the Hebrew word for "peace" is derived (Shalom in Hebrew, cognate with Arabic Salam). The name thus offered itself to etymologizations such as "The City of Peace", "Abode of Peace", "Dwelling of Peace" ("founded in safety"), or "Vision of Peace" in some Christian authors.
The ending -ayim indicates the dual, thus leading to the suggestion that the name Yerushalayim refers to the fact that the city initially sat on two hills.
Ancient Egyptian sources
The Execration Texts of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt (c. 19th century BCE), which refer to a city called rwšꜣlmm or ꜣwšꜣmm, variously transcribed as Rušalimum, or Urušalimum, may indicate Jerusalem. Alternatively, the Amarna letters of Abdi-Heba (1330s BCE), which reference an Úrušalim, may be the earliest mention of the city.
Hebrew Bible and Jewish sources
The form Yerushalem or Yerushalayim first appears in the Bible, in the Book of Joshua. According to a Midrash, the name is a combination of two names united by God, Yireh ("the abiding place", the name given by Abraham to the place where he planned to sacrifice his son) and Shalem ("Place of Peace", the name given by high priest Shem).
Oldest written mention of Jerusalem
One of the earliest extra-biblical Hebrew writing of the word Jerusalem is dated to the sixth or seventh century BCE and was discovered in Khirbet Beit Lei near Beit Guvrin in 1961. The inscription states: "I am Yahweh thy God, I will accept the cities of Judah and I will redeem Jerusalem", or as other scholars suggest: "Yahweh is the God of the whole earth. The mountains of Judah belong to him, to the God of Jerusalem". An older example on papyrus is known from the previous century.
In extra-biblical inscriptions, the earliest known example of the -ayim ending was discovered on a column about 3 km west of ancient Jerusalem, dated to the first century BCE.
Jebus, Zion, City of David
An ancient settlement of Jerusalem, founded as early as the Bronze Age on the hill above the Gihon Spring, was, according to the Bible, named Jebus. Called the "Fortress of Zion" (metsudat Zion), it was renamed as the "City of David", and was known by this name in antiquity. Another name, "Zion", initially referred to a distinct part of the city, but later came to signify the city as a whole, and afterwards to represent the whole biblical Land of Israel.
Greek, Roman and Byzantine names
In Greek and Latin, the city's name was transliterated Hierosolyma (Greek: Ἱεροσόλυμα; in Greek hieròs, ἱερός, means holy), although the city was renamed Aelia Capitolina for part of the Roman period of its history.
Salem
The Aramaic Apocryphon of Genesis of the Dead Sea Scrolls (1QapGen 22:13) equates Jerusalem with the earlier "Salem" (שלם), said to be the kingdom of Melchizedek in Genesis 14. Other early Hebrew sources, early Christian renderings of the verse and targumim, however, put Salem in Northern Israel near Shechem (Sichem), now Nablus, a city of some importance in early sacred Hebrew writing. Possibly the redactor of the Apocryphon of Genesis wanted to dissociate Melchizedek from the area of Shechem, which at the time was in possession of the Samaritans. However that may be, later Rabbinic sources also equate Salem with Jerusalem, mainly to link Melchizedek to later Temple traditions.
Arabic names
In Arabic, Jerusalem is most commonly known as القُدس, transliterated as al-Quds and meaning "the holy" or "the holy sanctuary", cognate with Hebrew: הקדש, romanized: ha-qodesh. The name is possibly a shortened form of مدينة القُدس Madīnat al-Quds "city of the holy sanctuary" after the Hebrew nickname with the same meaning, Ir ha-Qodesh (עיר הקדש). The ق (Q) is pronounced either with a voiceless uvular plosive (/q/), as in Classical Arabic, or with a glottal stop (ʔ) as in Levantine Arabic. Official Israeli government policy mandates that أُورُشَلِيمَ, transliterated as Ūrušalīm, which is the name frequently used in Christian translations of the Bible into Arabic, be used as the Arabic language name for the city in conjunction with القُدس, giving أُورُشَلِيمَ-القُدس, Ūrušalīm-al-Quds. Palestinian Arab families who hail from this city are often called "Qudsi" (قُدسي) or "Maqdasi" (مقدسي), while Palestinian Muslim Jerusalemites may use these terms as a demonym.
Given the city's central position in both Jewish nationalism (Zionism) and Palestinian nationalism, the selectivity required to summarize some 5,000 years of inhabited history is often influenced by ideological bias or background. Israeli or Jewish nationalists claim a right to the city based on Jewish indigeneity to the land, particularly their origins in and descent from the Israelites, for whom Jerusalem is their capital, and their yearning for return. In contrast, Palestinian nationalists claim the right to the city based on modern Palestinians' longstanding presence and descent from many different peoples who have settled or lived in the region over the centuries. Both sides claim the history of the city has been politicized by the other in order to strengthen their relative claims to the city, and that this is borne out by the different focuses the different writers place on the various events and eras in the city's history.
Prehistory
The first archaeological evidence of human presence in the area comes in the form of flints dated to between 6000 and 7000 years ago, with ceramic remains appearing during the Chalcolithic period, and the first signs of permanent settlement appearing in the Early Bronze Age in 3000–2800 BCE.
Bronze and Iron Ages
The earliest evidence of city fortifications appear in the Mid to Late Bronze Age and could date to around the 18th century BCE. By around 1550–1200 BCE, Jerusalem was the capital of an Egyptian vassal city-state, a modest settlement governing a few outlying villages and pastoral areas, with a small Egyptian garrison and ruled by appointees such as king Abdi-Heba. At the time of Seti I (r. 1290–1279 BCE) and Ramesses II (r. 1279–1213 BCE), major construction took place as prosperity increased. The city's inhabitants at this time were Canaanites, who are believed by scholars to have evolved into the Israelites via the development of a distinct Yahweh-centric monotheistic belief system.
Archaeological remains from the ancient Israelite period include the Siloam Tunnel, an aqueduct built by Judahite king Hezekiah and once containing an ancient Hebrew inscription, known as the Siloam Inscription; the so-called Broad Wall, a defensive fortification built in the 8th century BCE, also by Hezekiah; the Silwan necropolis (9th–7th c. BCE) with the Monolith of Silwan and the Tomb of the Royal Steward, which were decorated with monumental Hebrew inscriptions; and the so-called Israelite Tower, remnants of ancient fortifications, built from large, sturdy rocks with carved cornerstones. A huge water reservoir dating from this period was discovered in 2012 near Robinson's Arch, indicating the existence of a densely built-up quarter across the area west of the Temple Mount during the Kingdom of Judah.
When the Assyrians conquered the Kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE, Jerusalem was strengthened by a great influx of refugees from the northern kingdom. When Hezekiah ruled, Jerusalem had no fewer than 25,000 inhabitants and covered 25 acres (10 hectares).
In 587–586 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar II of the Neo-Babylonian Empire conquered Jerusalem after a prolonged siege, and then systematically destroyed the city, including Solomon's Temple. The Kingdom of Judah was abolished and many were exiled to Babylon. These events mark the end of the First Temple period.
Biblical account
This period, when Canaan formed part of the Egyptian empire, corresponds in biblical accounts to Joshua's invasion, but almost all scholars agree that the Book of Joshua holds little historical value for early Israel.
In the Bible, Jerusalem is defined as lying within territory allocated to the tribe of Benjamin though still inhabited by Jebusites. David is said to have conquered these in the siege of Jebus, and transferred his capital from Hebron to Jerusalem which then became the capital of a United Kingdom of Israel, and one of its several religious centres. The choice was perhaps dictated by the fact that Jerusalem did not form part of Israel's tribal system, and was thus suited to serve as the centre of its confederation. Opinion is divided over whether the so-called Large Stone Structure and the nearby Stepped Stone Structure may be identified with King David's palace, or dates to a later period.
According to the Bible, King David reigned for 40 years and was succeeded by his son Solomon, who built the Holy Temple on Mount Moriah. Solomon's Temple (later known as the First Temple), went on to play a pivotal role in Jewish religion as the repository of the Ark of the Covenant. On Solomon's death, ten of the northern tribes of Israel broke with the United Monarchy to form their own nation, with its kings, prophets, priests, traditions relating to religion, capitals and temples in northern Israel. The southern tribes, together with the Aaronid priesthood, remained in Jerusalem, with the city becoming the capital of the Kingdom of Judah.
Classical antiquity
In 538 BCE, the Achaemenid King Cyrus the Great invited the Jews of Babylon to return to Judah to rebuild the Temple. Construction of the Second Temple was completed in 516 BCE, during the reign of Darius the Great, 70 years after the destruction of the First Temple.
Sometime soon after 485 BCE Jerusalem was besieged, conquered and largely destroyed by a coalition of neighbouring states. In about 445 BCE, King Artaxerxes I of Persia issued a decree allowing the city (including its walls) to be rebuilt. Jerusalem resumed its role as capital of Judah and centre of Jewish worship.
Many Jewish tombs from the Second Temple period have been unearthed in Jerusalem. One example, discovered north of the Old City, contains human remains in a 1st-century CE ossuary decorated with the Aramaic inscription "Simon the Temple Builder". The Tomb of Abba, also located north of the Old City, bears an Aramaic inscription with Paleo-Hebrew letters reading: "I, Abba, son of the priest Eleaz(ar), son of Aaron the high (priest), Abba, the oppressed and the persecuted, who was born in Jerusalem, and went into exile into Babylonia and brought (back to Jerusalem) Mattathi(ah), son of Jud(ah), and buried him in a cave which I bought by deed." The Tomb of Benei Hezir located in Kidron Valley is decorated by monumental Doric columns and Hebrew inscription, identifying it as the burial site of Second Temple priests. The Tombs of the Sanhedrin, an underground complex of 63 rock-cut tombs, is located in a public park in the northern Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sanhedria. These tombs, probably reserved for members of the Sanhedrin and inscribed by ancient Hebrew and Aramaic writings, are dated to between 100 BCE and 100 CE.
When Alexander the Great conquered the Achaemenid Empire, Jerusalem and Judea came under Macedonian control, eventually falling to the Ptolemaic dynasty under Ptolemy I. In 198 BCE, Ptolemy V Epiphanes lost Jerusalem and Judea to the Seleucids under Antiochus III. The Seleucid attempt to recast Jerusalem as a Hellenized city-state came to a head in 168 BCE with the successful Maccabean revolt of Mattathias and his five sons against Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and their establishment of the Hasmonean Kingdom in 152 BCE with Jerusalem as its capital.
In 63 BCE, Pompey the Great intervened in a struggle for the Hasmonean throne and captured Jerusalem, extending the influence of the Roman Republic over Judea. Following a short invasion by Parthians, backing the rival Hasmonean rulers, Judea became a scene of struggle between pro-Roman and pro-Parthian forces, eventually leading to the emergence of an Edomite named Herod. As Rome became stronger, it installed Herod as a client king of the Jews. Herod the Great, as he was known, devoted himself to developing and beautifying the city. He built walls, towers and palaces, and expanded the Temple Mount, buttressing the courtyard with blocks of stone weighing up to 100 tons. Under Herod, the area of the Temple Mount doubled in size. Shortly after Herod's death, in 6 CE Judea came under direct Roman rule as the Iudaea Province, although the Herodian dynasty through Agrippa II remained client kings of neighbouring territories until 96 CE.
Roman rule over Jerusalem and Judea was challenged in the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), which ended with a Roman victory. Early on, the city was devastated by a brutal civil war between several Jewish factions fighting for control of the city. In 70 CE, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Second Temple. The contemporary Jewish historian Josephus wrote that the city "was so thoroughly razed to the ground by those that demolished it to its foundations, that nothing was left that could ever persuade visitors that it had once been a place of habitation." Of the 600,000 (Tacitus) or 1,000,000 (Josephus) Jews of Jerusalem, all of them either died of starvation, were killed or were sold into slavery. Roman rule was again challenged during the Bar Kokhba revolt, beginning in 132 CE and suppressed by the Romans in 135 CE. More recent research indicates that the Romans had founded Aelia Capitolina before the outbreak of the revolt, and found no evidence for Bar Kokhba ever managing to hold the city.
Jerusalem reached a peak in size and population at the end of the Second Temple Period, when the city covered two km2 (3⁄4 sq mi) and had a population of 200,000.
Late Antiquity
Following the Bar Kokhba revolt, Emperor Hadrian combined Iudaea Province with neighbouring provinces under the new name of Syria Palaestina, replacing the name of Judea. The city was renamed Aelia Capitolina, and rebuilt it in the style of a typical Roman town. Jews were prohibited from entering the city on pain of death, except for one day each year, during the holiday of Tisha B'Av. Taken together, these measures (which also affected Jewish Christians) essentially "secularized" the city. Historical sources and archaeological evidence indicate that the rebuilt city was now inhabited by veterans of the Roman military and immigrants from the western parts of the empire.
The ban against Jews was maintained until the 7th century, though Christians would soon be granted an exemption: during the 4th century, the Roman emperor Constantine I ordered the construction of Christian holy sites in the city, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Burial remains from the Byzantine period are exclusively Christian, suggesting that the population of Jerusalem in Byzantine times probably consisted only of Christians.
Jerusalem.
In the 5th century, the eastern continuation of the Roman Empire, ruled from the recently renamed Constantinople, maintained control of the city. Within the span of a few decades, Jerusalem shifted from Byzantine to Persian rule, then back to Roman-Byzantine dominion. Following Sassanid Khosrau II's early 7th century push through Syria, his generals Shahrbaraz and Shahin attacked Jerusalem (Persian: Dej Houdkh) aided by the Jews of Palaestina Prima, who had risen up against the Byzantines.
In the Siege of Jerusalem of 614, after 21 days of relentless siege warfare, Jerusalem was captured. Byzantine chronicles relate that the Sassanids and Jews slaughtered tens of thousands of Christians in the city, many at the Mamilla Pool, and destroyed their monuments and churches, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This episode has been the subject of much debate between historians. The conquered city would remain in Sassanid hands for some fifteen years until the Byzantine emperor Heraclius reconquered it in 629.
Middle Ages
After the Muslim conquest of the Levant, Byzantine Jerusalem was taken by Umar ibn al-Khattab in 638 CE. Among the first Muslims, it was referred to as Madinat bayt al-Maqdis ("City of the Temple"), a name restricted to the Temple Mount. The rest of the city "was called Iliya, reflecting the Roman name given the city following the destruction of 70 CE: Aelia Capitolina". Later the Temple Mount became known as al-Haram al-Sharif, "The Noble Sanctuary", while the city around it became known as Bayt al-Maqdis, and later still, al-Quds al-Sharif "The Holy, Noble". The Islamization of Jerusalem began in the first year A.H. (623 CE), when Muslims were instructed to face the city while performing their daily prostrations and, according to Muslim religious tradition, Muhammad's night journey and ascension to heaven took place. After 13 years, the direction of prayer was changed to Mecca. In 638 CE the Islamic Caliphate extended its dominion to Jerusalem. With the Muslim conquest, Jews were allowed back into the city. The Rashidun caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab signed a treaty with Christian Patriarch of Jerusalem Sophronius, assuring him that Jerusalem's Christian holy places and population would be protected under Muslim rule. Christian-Arab tradition records that, when led to pray at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of the holiest sites for Christians, the caliph Umar refused to pray in the church so that Muslims would not request conversion of the church to a mosque. He prayed outside the church, where the Mosque of Umar (Omar) stands to this day, opposite the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. According to the Gaullic bishop Arculf, who lived in Jerusalem from 679 to 688, the Mosque of Umar was a rectangular wooden structure built over ruins which could accommodate 3,000 worshipers.
When the Arab armies under Umar went to Bayt Al-Maq
Warrington Borough Transport Leyland PD2 AED31B- now to be seen at Terezin Auto Museum near Litomerice in the Czech Republic.
It has been a while since uploading American Airlines flagship Boeing 777-300ER's, initially the only airline in the United States to operate the type until United Airlines joined the fray right up to the end of 2016.
Unlike United, American send in their Boeing 777-300ER's into London Heathrow on a regular basis, operating alongside the now refurbished Boeing 777-200ER's. With their Boeing 777-300ER's being the only long-haul wide-body aircraft to feature First Class interiors, they are also usually found operating from pre-merger American hubs on flights to Europe (mainly Europe), South America and in the Pacific.
Following on from the refurbishment of Boeing 777-200ER's, as well as deliveries of brand new Boeing 787's, their usage into London Heathrow has only marginally reduced as a means of right sizing capacity.
During the winter season, American Airlines currently operate the Boeing 777-300ER on the following routes from London Heathrow:
-Dallas-Fort Worth: Operates one of 2 daily flights on AA50/51
-Los Angeles: Operates one of 2 daily flights on AA108/109
-Miami: Operates twice daily on AA38/39 and AA56/57
-New York-John F. Kennedy: Operates one of 3 daily flights on AA100/107
Currently, American Airlines operates 67 Boeing 777's, which includes 47 Boeing 777-200ER's and 20 Boeing 777-300ER's.
November Seven Two Five Alpha November is one of 20 Boeing 777-300ER's in service with American, delivered new to the carrier in July 2013 and she is powered by 2 General Electric GE90-115B engines.
Boeing 777-323/ER N725AN on final approach into Runway 27L at London Heathrow (LHR) on AA38 from Miami (MIA), Florida.
Easyjet
A321-251NX
G-UZMF
Newcastle Airport (NCL/EGNT)
17/12/2022
Due to the increased numbers of passengers during the christmas period, Easyjet sent one of their A321s on the run from Bristol replacing the usual A319/320. Thanks to a 3 hour delay on the sector before from Grenoble the aircraft arrived shortly before sunset.