Well it's mid September 2020. The Age of Wonders has yet to arrive, with a new, later theatrical debut every time I look at the website. But, the merchandise seems to be on schedule, namely the S.H. Figuarts WW84 Wonder Woman figure.

 

WW84 takes place in 1984, and takes place before Justice League. While I know continuity has been an issue with the DCEU movies, there's a few things I hope this movie will explain... of course it could just be me that cares about these things. Gal Gadot returns as the lead character, with an interesting supporting cast including Chris Pine, who needs to regale audiences with the story as to why he's not dead.

 

Contents of the WW84 package are... kind of slim for the price point of 6,600 Yen. You get the figure, two face plates (eyes forwards, eyes to the right), an empty Lasso of Truth holster, six additional posing hands, and an uncoiled mid motion Lasso of Truth. This time around, she apparently has no sword or shield (which I believe were smashed to bits in the previous movie). On a related note, she also has no leather bandolier this time around either. The coiled Lasso of Truth is now a single piece along with actual holster. which helps displaying the figure with no Lasso in hand.

 

Lets get the obvious out of the way. In the event it wasn't obvious, Tamashii Nations effectively recycled the previous body and slapped on a new head. The colours were tweaked (most likely due to movie costume changes) and the side by side photos should give good indication of that. Skin tone was darkened because, well, Gal Gadot has a complexion.. or the guy in charge of that sort thing wasn't blind this time around.

 

With regards to the head, it should be readily apparent that Tamashii Nations tried much, much, much harder to this time to actually get that Gal Gadot accuracy. It's not perfect, most notable being the eyes front sculpt seems to have issues with regards to paint location for the pupils, but its definitely recognizable as Gadot, and a hell of an improvement over the first one.

 

How anyone could possibly mistake that one for Gal Gadot is something that probably needs an entire Netflix series to explain.

 

The aforementioned issues with eyes front sculpt seem to be a widespread QC issue, so overall the eyes right sculpt is definitely the better of the two, and works better with her hair anyway.

 

In addition to getting the right image for the digital painting, Tamashii Nations updated the actual shape of the face, and her hair/wig, replicating her half front/half back look from many of the promotional photos, and also allows Gadot/Wonder Woman to showcase her strong jawline. Detailing on the hair itself is finer as well.

 

So now that her face and hair are more accurate, there's one more improvement to discuss before leaving this section. One of my pet peeves about the first release was that there was no thought given as to how the head would turn, as that section of hair that goes over the right should had no give. It also got in the way of the shoulder movement.

 

Tamashii Nations fixed this by adding in the hair, which allows the hair to move out of the way for turning, and will yield in the event the shoulder is moved. It's a bit clunky, but it does work. Maybe they'll do something to fix the back hair the next time.

 

Moving on to our usual overview criteria, articulation points are plentiful. You get goes, ankles with tilt and pivot, double jointed knees, hips with thigh swivel and displaced joints to allow for greater range of motion, waist, mid-torso, shoulders with chest collapse, single jointed elbows, wrists, neck and head.

 

Due to lack of bulk in the arms, the single jointed elbows appear to sufficient for posing purposes. The back of her head unfortunately does get in the way of tilting her head back, so no flying poses or tilting the head up. You can do a nice variety of action poses, including her trademark Bracers pose, but's she's no Revoltech. Furthermore, you really just have the Lasso as a weapon (and it's not even the spinning one like the Hot Toys has) so generally speaking rope tricks is about as exotic as you're going to get on the figure.

 

Paint work is excellent, with no observable bleeds between colours or overspray. Details on the face itself are great, and honestly just keep me excited for improvements we'll see next time around (in a good way). The only messy paint apps are basically invisible - they're on the edges of armour that expose flesh bits. I also mentioned the issues with the location of pupils on the eyes front sculpt.

 

All in all, pupil location aside, only the most anal retentive will find something to complain about paint wise on this figure.

 

Finally, with regards to build quality, everything is in order for a figure of this price point. Limbs are the same length and joints operate as designed. Finishes on the parts themselves are very good, with the usual Figuarts level of seam polishing. The only beef I have is that the front hair section likes to come off on mine a bit to easily. Other than that, everything holds together as expected.

 

It's amazing what a "simple" head change can do for a figure - it's almost like a brand new thing when in reality, it's effectively the same. This new head. even with its somewhat wonky articulation, this is undoubtedly the best Gal Gadot Wonder Woman figure at this size.

 

She looks the part, and now, can actually utilize the full posing capabilities of the body. I just wish she had more gear to pose with.

 

There has been no news about a Golden Armour version of her being released... on the other hand, this wouldn't be the first time a winged figure was released, so there's hope it can and will happen.

 

I guess we'll have to wait till December to (hopefully) find out.

The Cirneco dell'Etna is a small breed of dog originally from Sicily. This hound was historically used to hunt rabbits and can work for hours without food or water.The breed also has a keen sense of smell and is primarily built for endurance over harsh terrain such as that of Mount Etna. It is the smallest of the Mediterranean island hunting hounds, the others being the Pharaoh Hounds and Ibizan Hounds.Today they are increasingly kept for the sport of conformation showing and as pets, due to their low coat maintenance and friendly nature, although as an active hound they do need regular exercise. A Cirneco should measure from 43-51 cm (17-20in) and weigh between 10–12 kg (22-26lb). As with other breeds, those from hunting stock can lie outside these ranges.

 

The Cirneco dell'Etna is a small hound-type dog used in Sicily for rabbit hunting. It is found all over the Italian island and particularly in the area surrounding the active volcano, Mount Etna,where the dogs hunt on terrain formed by volcanic lava. Its presence in Sicily is noteworthy as one of the few ancient breeds that have undergone very little manipulation by man. Instead, the breed has been rigorously selected by nature for its ability to work for hours. The dog we have today is an extremely hardy breed. Affectionate and friendly, it is considered easier to train than some of its sighthound cousins. The Cirneco has been in Sicily for thousands of years. Most authors agree that the origins of the hound-type dog lie among ancient Egyptian prick-eared dogs. Bas-reliefs discovered along the Nile and dated around 4000 B.C. depict what could be the Cirneco today. Most probably, the Phoenicians spread these prick-eared, hound-type dogs as they sailed along their trade routes between Northern Africa and the Mediterranean coasts. Ancient records of hounds with upright ears and a pointed muzzle are found in many countries in that part of the world. The most vivid proof of the presence of the Cirneco dell’Etna in Sicily for at least the past 2500 years is the many coins minted between the 5th and 3rd centuries B.C. depicting exemplars of the breed. In particular, the Cirneco dell’Etna is used on coins minted at Segesta, with about 150 variations. In 400 B.C., Dionysus was said to have built a temple dedicated to the God Adranos on the south-western slope of the volcano, just outside the city of Adrano. Many dogs were bred there and legend claims that a thousand Cirnechi guarded the temple.The Cirneco was rarely seen and little known outside Sicily until 1932. Now Cirnechi have also been exported to many European countries where their elegant conformation has helped make them a success in the show ring and many have become FCI International Show Champions. The dog's affectionate temperament and adaptability make it an excellent family companion.

 

Сицилийская борзая или Чирнеко дель Этна — порода собак. Происходит с Сицилии. Изначально выращивалась для охоты на зайца. Классические исследования собачьих пород, распространенных в Средиземноморском регионе, пришли к заключению, что Чирнеко Дель Этна происходят от античных охотничьих собак, выведенных в долине Нила в эпоху фараонов, собак, получивших достигших Сицилии благодаря Финикийцам. Но согласно последним исследованиям получила одобрения теория, согласно которой эта порода имеет непосредственно сицилийское происхождение, зародившись в окрестностях Этны. Монеты и гравюры доказывают, что Чирнеки существовали в этом регионе за много веков до нашей эр Собака примитивного типа, элегантного и утонченного сложения, среднего размера, не громоздкая, сильная и крепкая. По морфологическому сложению — собака удлиненных линий, легкого сложения; квадратного формата; шерсть тонкая.

Охотничья собака, выведенная для охоты на кролика по сложной местности; обладает большим темпераментом, но в то же время мягкая и привязчивая.

 

Cirneco dell’etna on italialainen koirarotu. Se on vinttikoiran tyyppinen pystykorvainen, alkukantainen ja harvinainen rotu. Cirneco dell’etnan tarkka alkuperä jää hämärän peittoon, mutta se on hyvin vanha rotu ja muuttunut vuosisatojen saatossa vain vähän. Rotu on saanut olla melko rauhassa, ja vasta viime vuosina sen jalostukseen on puututtu.Rotu on nykyisin lähinnä seura- ja harrastekoira. Italiassa sitä käytetään yhä villikaniinien metsästykseen. Cirneco on nopea koira, ja ketteränä se pystyy vaihtamaan suuntaa nopeasti esimerkiksi metsästyksen aikana. Cirneco käyttää metsästäessään kuuloaan, näköään ja hajuaistiaan.Cirneco dell’etna on luonteeltaan temperamenttinen, eloisa, ystävällinen, iloinen ja leikkisä koira. Cirnecon leikkisyys säilyy yleensä vanhoihin päiviin asti. Cirneco on myös hyvin läheisyyttä rakastava koira, ja sen lempipaikka onkin yleensä kainalossa sohvalla tai peiton alla omistajansa vieressä. Cirneco kiintyy voimakkaasti perheeseensä ja tulee yleensä hyvin toimeen ystävällisenä ja lempeänä koirana kaikenikäisten ihmisten kanssa. Miellyttämisenhalua cirnecolla ei ole kovin paljon, joten ilman hyvää motivointikeinoa se ei välttämättä aina tottele ainakaan ensimmäisellä käskyllä. Cirnecolla on kuitenkin miellyttämisenhalua enemmän kuin yleensä vinttikoirilla. Cirneco tarvitsee johdonmukaisen ja määrätietoisen peruskasvatuksen.

Cirneco dell’etna on ikivanha rotu, jonka juuret johtavat 1000-luvulle ennen ajanlaskun alkua. Joidenkin mielestä se polveutuu Egyptin viimeisten dynastioiden faaraoiden koirista ja niistä koirista, joita foinikialaiset kauppiaat toivat Italiaan. Tutkimukset antavat aiheen olettaa, että se olisi Sisilian alkuperäisrotu. Cirneconnäköisiä korkokuvia on löydetty faaraoiden haudoista, mm. Luxorista ja Ben-Hassanista. Sisiliasta on myös löydetty 45 cm korkea luuranko, joka muistuttaa cirnecoa suuresti. Luuranko on paikallistettu vuoteen 1400 eaa. Nykyisin kyseinen luuranko on nähtävissä Pigorini-museossa Roomassa. Myös vanhoista Sisiliasta löytyneistä kolikoista on löydetty cirnecoa esittäviä koiran kuvia.

 

Il cirneco dell'Etna è un cane appartenente ad una razza molto antica, che ha subito poche manipolazioni nel corso dei secoli.Le origini del cirneco risalgono al 1000 a.C. Si dice che questa razza derivi dai cani dei Faraoni egiziani delle ultime dinastie e da cani importati in Sicilia dai commercianti fenici. Successivi studi hanno indicato che molto probabilmente il Cirneco è una razza autoctona siciliana.Il cirneco dell'Etna appartiene alla classe dei cani da caccia di tipo primitivo; è un animale molto veloce e per questo viene utilizzato soprattutto nella caccia al coniglio selvatico e alla lepre.Si presenta con una figura molto snella, con gambe lunghe, orecchie dritte e con un corpo muscoloso ma nello stesso tempo molto elegante. Ha un fiuto eccezionale ed è agilissimo nel cambiare direzione durante l'inseguimento della preda. Da notare che, sebbene l'aspetto del cirneco ricordi quello dei levrieri, non caccia a vista ma usa l'olfatto, come un cane da cerca; secondo la classificazione della Federazione Cinologica Internazionale (F.C.I.), tutti i cani appartenenti alla razza dei "levrieri" appartengono al 10º gruppo, mentre il cirneco è inserito nel 5º Gruppo, quello delle razze di tipo primitivo.Generalmente raggiunge l'altezza di 46-50 cm al garrese negli esemplari maschi, mentre le femmine misurano dai 42 ai 46. Il peso del maschio si aggira intorno ai 10-12 kg, mentre le femmine raggiungono gli 8-10. La lunghezza del tronco è in media uguale all'altezza al garrese: il cirneco ha dunque una costruzione quadrata. È strutturato da una massa muscolare che comprende l'80% del corpo. Si presenta snello e, se nutrito in modo adeguato, mantiene una linea elegante e slanciata.Cane velocissimo e molto agile, è capace di raggiungere persino i 40/45 km/h nella corsa.I colori del mantello del cirneco dell'Etna vanno dal sabbia dorato al cervo scuro; non necessariamente devono essere presenti macchie bianche, ma possono essercene su tutto il corpo; sebbene molto rari, ne esistono colorati di bianco arancio (come nel setter inglese) e di bianco puro (pur non essendo propriamente albino). Il colore riconosciuto dagli standard di razza è il fulvo più o meno intenso, isabella e sabbia, con lista bianca in fronte, al petto, piedi bianchi, punta della coda bianca e ventre bianco.Dotato di grande intelligenza, è generalmente indipendente e solitario. Generalmente diffidente con gli estranei, si affeziona ad un solo padrone. Si può dire che abbia le sue simpatie e antipatie a pelle: con alcuni individui non socializza e alla loro vista abbaia; con altri inizialmente si mostra aggressivo ma poi socializza e con altri ancora prova un feeling immediato e socializza subito. È un cane che per il padrone darebbe tutto se stesso.Se correttamente socializzato da cucciolo, evidenzia un carattere molto disponibile e gioioso e privo di diffidenze anche verso le persone appena conosciute.Se cresce in un ambiente familiare, dove ha ricevuto tutti gli stimoli nei confronti dell'ambiente esterno, ama essere portato a spasso e incontrare altri cani e persone, anche se sconosciuti. Se lasciato libero, soprattutto in luoghi di campagna, cambia visibilmente espressione; tutti i muscoli si tendono, ama ispezionare l'ambiente circostante e, anche se all'inizio sembra indipendente, in realtà sa sempre dove si trova il suo padrone e puntualmente ritorna sotto la sua attenzione. Prima di liberare un cirneco in un luogo aperto occorre aver rafforzato un rapporto sereno e di fiducia. Il cirneco è un cane primitivo e rispetto ad altri animali domestici, molto spesso è un soggetto che porta rancore se trattato male, non dimentica facilmente uno sgarbo subito, non sopporta di essere rimproverato con eccessiva durezza.La vita media di questo cane è molto elevata, quindici anni circa, ma esistono esemplari che vivono anche venti anni.

 

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Schweiz / Schwyz- Vierwaldstättersee

 

seen from Morschach

 

gesehen von Morschach

 

Lake Lucerne (German: Vierwaldstättersee, literally "Lake of the four forested settlements" (in English usually translated as forest cantons), French: lac des Quatre-Cantons, Italian: lago dei Quattro Cantoni) is a lake in central Switzerland and the fourth largest in the country.

 

Geography

 

The lake has a complicated shape, with several sharp bends and four arms. It starts in the south–north bound Reuss Valley between steep cliffs above the Urnersee from Flüelen towards Brunnen to the north before it makes a sharp bend to the west where it continues into the Gersauer Becken. Here is also the deepest point of the lake with 214 m (702 ft). Even further west of it is the Buochser Bucht, but the lake sharply turns north again through the narrow opening between the Unter Nas (lower nose) of the Bürgenstock to the west and the Ober Nas (upper nose) of the Rigi to the east to reach the Vitznauer Bucht. In front of Vitznau below the Rigi the lake turns sharply west again to reach the center of a four-arm cross, called the Chrütztrichter (Cross Funnel). Here converge the Vitznauer Bucht with the Küssnachtersee from the north, the Luzernersee from the west, and the Horwer Bucht and the Stanser Trichter to the south, which is to be found right below the northeast side of the Pilatus and the west side of the Bürgenstock. At the very narrow pass between the east dropper of the Pilatus (called Lopper) and Stansstad the lake reaches its southwestern arm at Alpnachstad on the steep southern foothills of the Pilatus, the Alpnachersee. The lake drains its water into the Reuss in Lucerne from its arm called Luzernersee (which literally translates as Lake of Lucerne).

 

The entire lake has a total area of 114 km² (44 sq mi) at an elevation of 434 m (1,424 ft) a.s.l., and a maximum depth of 214 m (702 ft). Its volume is 11.8 km³. Much of the shoreline rises steeply into mountains up to 1,500 m above the lake, resulting in many picturesque views including those of the mountains Rigi and Pilatus.

 

The Reuss enters the lake at Flüelen, in the part called Urnersee (Lake of Uri, in the canton of Uri) and exits at Lucerne. The lake also receives the Muota at Brunnen, the Engelberger Aa at Buochs, and the Sarner Aa at Alpnachstad.

 

It is possible to circumnavigate the lake by train and road, though the railway route circumvents the lake even on the north side of the Rigi via Arth-Goldau. Since 1980, the A2 motorway leads through the Seelisberg Tunnel in order to reach the route to the Gotthard Pass in just half an hour in Altdorf, Uri right south of the beginning of the lake in Flüelen.

 

Steamers and other passenger boats ply between the different villages and towns on the lake. It is a popular tourist destination, both for native Swiss and foreigners, and there are many hotels and resorts along the shores. In addition, the meadow of the Rütli, traditional site of the founding of the Swiss Confederation, is on the Urnersee shore. A 35 km commemorative walkway, the Swiss Path, was built around the Lake of Uri to celebrate the country's 700th anniversary in 1991.

 

Archaeologists surveying the lake-bed (during the construction of a pipeline) from 2019 to 2021 found the remains of a Bronze Age village with artifacts dating to around 1000 BC. Later, the new findings indicated that the area was settled 2,000 years earlier than historians previously thought.

 

Lake Lucerne borders on the three original Swiss cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden (which today is divided into the cantons of Obwalden and Nidwalden), as well as the canton of Lucerne, thus the name Vierwaldstättersee (lit.: Lake of the Four Forested Settlements). Many of the oldest communities of Switzerland are along the shore, including Küssnacht, Weggis, Vitznau, Gersau, Brunnen, Altdorf, Buochs, and Treib.

 

Lake Lucerne is singularly irregular and appears to lie in four different valleys, all related to the conformation of the adjoining mountains. The central portion of the lake lies in two parallel valleys whose direction is from west to east, the one lying north, the other south of the ridge of the Bürgenstock. These are connected through a narrow strait, scarcely one kilometre wide, between the two rocky promontories called respectively Unter Nas and Ober Nas (Lower and Upper Nose). It is not unlikely that the southern of these two divisions of the lake—called Buochser Bucht—formerly extended to the west over the isthmus whereon stands the town of Stans, thus forming an island of the Bürgenstock. The west end of the main branch of the lake, whence a comparatively shallow bay extends to the town of Lucerne, is intersected obliquely by a deep trench whose south-west end is occupied by the branch called Alpnachersee, while the north-east branch forms the long arm of Küssnacht, Küssnachtersee. These both lie in the direct line of a valley that stretches with scarcely a break in between the Uri Alps and the Emmental Alps. At the eastern end of the Gersauer Becken, where the containing walls of the lake-valley are directed from east to west, it is joined at an acute angle by the arm of Uri, or the Urnersee, lying in the northern prolongation of the deep cleft that gives a passage to the Reuss, between the Uri Alps and the Glarus Alps.

 

The Urnersee occupies the northernmost and deep portion of the great cleft of the Reuss Valley, which has cut through the Alpine ranges from the St Gotthard Pass to the neighbourhood of Schwyz. From its eastern shore the mountains rise in almost bare walls of rock to a height of from 3,000 to 4,000 ft (910 to 1,220 m) above the water. The two highest summits are the Fronalpstock and the Rophaien (2078 m). Between them the steep glen or ravine of the Riemenstaldener Tal descends to Sisikon, the only village with Flüelen right on the shore on that side of the Urnersee. On the opposite or western shore, the mountains attain still greater dimensions. The Niederbauen Chulm is succeeded by the Oberbauenstock, and farther south, above the ridge of the Scharti, appear the snowy peaks of the Gitschen and the Uri Rotstock (2,928 m). In the centre opens the Reuss Valley, backed by the rugged summits of the Urner and Glarner Alps.

 

The breadth of these various sections of the lake is very variable, but is usually between one and two miles (3 km). The lake's surface, whose mean height above the sea is 434 metres, is the lowest point of the cantons of Uri, Obwalden and Nidwalden. Originally the lake was susceptible to variations in level and flooding along its shoreline. Between 1859 and 1860, the introduction of a needle dam in the Reuss in the city of Lucerne, just upstream from the Spreuerbrücke, allowed the lake level to be stabilised.

 

The culminating point of the lake's drainage basin, as well as Central Switzerland, is the Dammastock at 3,630 metres above sea level.

 

Name

 

The name of Vierwaldstättersee is first used in the 16th century. Before the 16th century, the entire lake was known as Luzerner See "Lake Lucerne", as remains the English (and partly Italian, as Lago di Lucerna) usage. The (three) "Waldstätte(n)" (lit.: "forested sites/settlements", in English usually translated as forest cantons[6]) since the 14th century were the confederate allies of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden. The notion of "Four Waldstätten" (Vier Waldstätten), with the addition of the canton of Lucerne, is first recorded in the 1450s, in an addition to the "Silver Book" of Egloff Etterlin of Lucerne.

 

The nine different parts of the lake have individual designations:

 

Urnersee ("Lake of Uri"): The first part of the lake, at the mouth of the Reuss between Flüelen and Brunnen.

Gersauer Becken ("Basin of Gersau") next to Gersau below the Rigi massif is the deepest part of the lake.

Buochser Bucht ("Bay of Buochs"): The bay of Bouchs, where the Engelberger Aa enters the lake.

Vitznauer Bucht ("Bay of Vitznau"): The part between the Bürgenstock and Rigi.

Alpnachersee ("Lake of Alpnach"): the almost separate, southern arm below the southern mountainside of Pilatus near Alpnach.

Stanser Trichter ("Funnel of Stans"): The part north of the Pilatus, west of Bürgenstock, and in front of Hergiswil and Stansstad.

Küssnachtersee ("Lake of Küssnacht"): The most northern arm, west of the Rigi with Küssnacht SZ at its northern end.

Chrütztrichter ("Cross Funnel"): The meeting point of Stanser Trichter, Luzernersee, Küssnachtersee, and Vitznauer Bucht.

Luzernersee ("Lake of Lucerne"): in German usage now limited to the bay at Lucerne as far as Meggenhorn, with its effluence of the Reuss.

 

Navigation

 

The lake is navigable, and has formed an important part of Switzerland's transport system for many centuries, and at least since the opening of the first track across the Gotthard Pass in 1230. This trade grew with the opening of a new mail coach road across the pass in 1830. This road had its northern terminus at Flüelen at the extreme eastern end of the lake, and the lake provided the only practical onward link to Lucerne, and hence the cities of northern Switzerland and beyond.

 

Whilst the development of Switzerland's road and rail networks has relieved the lake of much of its through traffic, it continues to be used by a considerable number of vessels, both private and public. Much of this usage is tourist or leisure oriented, but the lake continues to provide practical public and cargo transport links between the smaller lakeside communities.

 

Passenger boats of the Schifffahrtsgesellschaft des Vierwaldstättersees (SGV) provide services on the lake, including many run by historic paddle steamers. The SGV serves 32 places along the shore of the lake, with interchange to both main line and mountain railways at various points. Under separate management, the Autofähre Beckenried-Gersau provides a car ferry service between Beckenried, on the south bank of the lake, and Gersau on the north.

 

Cargo barges, to a local design known as Nauen, are still used on the lake. Some have been converted for use as party boats. Other barges are used by the gravel dredging industry that operates on the lake, using large dredgers to obtain sand and gravel for use in the construction industry.

 

Cultural references

 

Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata derives its name from an 1832 description of the first movement by poet and music critic Ludwig Rellstab, who compared it to moonlight shining upon Lake Lucerne.

 

Gioacchino Rossini uses this in his William Tell Overture Section A: Sunrise over the Alps.

 

Rowing

 

Lake Lucerne has twice been used as a venue for the European Rowing Championships: in 1908 and then in 1926. The nearby Rotsee has since 1933 been used for rowing regattas instead.

 

Tourism

 

On the way south, the English discovered the mountains of central Switzerland. Several spa and bathing resorts such as Weggis or Gersau were created. In 1871, the very first rack railway in Europe, the Vitznau-Rigi Railway, was opened. In 1889 the steepest cog railway in the world was built from Alpnachstad to Mount Pilatus. Mark Twain described an ascent to the Rigi, which led to the blossoming of Swiss tourism in the United States in the 19th century. One of the largest steamship fleets in Europe operates with five steamships on Lake Lucerne.

 

In the area surrounding the lake and on terraces at medium height (for example Morschach and Seelisberg) there are numerous places for tourists. The Rigi, Pilatus, the Bürgenstock, the Stanserhorn, the Buochserhorn, and the two legends, the Urirotstock and the Fronalpstock are attractive panoramic mountains near Lake Lucerne. Most of them can be reached by mountain railways, some of which have their valley station near boat stations on the lake.

 

There are numerous locations on the lake that are important in Swiss cultural and tourism history: Rütli, Tellsplatte, Tell Chapel, Carving Tower of Stansstad, Neu-Habsburg, Schillerstein, Treib, Astrid Chapel (Küssnacht) and Meggenhorn Castle.

 

Watersports

 

Different sports are possible in some separate areas due to the water and wind conditions. The lake is accessible from boat and yacht harbors, to lake resorts and pools (e.g. the Lido pool in Lucerne, built in 1929 by Arnold Berger). Therefore, the lake can be easily accessible from both shores. The See-Club Luzern was founded in 1881, which is now Switzerland's largest rowing club, as well as the Reuss Luzern rowing club (Ruderclub Reuss Luzern) in 1904. The Lucerne Yacht Club (Yachtclub Luzern) has existed since 1941 and has been running since 1966 a boathouse and buoy field on Churchill-Quai in Lucerne.

 

The Brunnen water sports club (Wassersportclub Brunnen), founded in 1958, held on Lake Lucerne in the first years of its existence international motorboat races and water ski championships. In 1965 the association chose a new name for the club: Lake Lucerne Water Sports Club (Wassersport-Club Vierwaldstättersee). The Central Switzerland Motorboat Club (Motorbootclub Zentralschweiz) was established in 1980 and the Hergiswil Water Sports Club (Wassersportclub Hergiswil) in 1986. SchweizMobil has created a canoe tour across Lake Lucerne between Brunnen and Gersau. Due to the wind in the Reuss Valley, the southern part of Lake Uri between the campground at Gruonbachstrand in Flüelen and Isleten is a center of windsurfing.

 

Diving

 

There are about ten places where you can dive without a boat in Lake Lucerne. The water is rather chilly all year round and therefore mostly very clear. In Lake Uri, at Sisikon, one can dive to a fragmented steep vertical wall, at the northern portal of the Schieferneggtunnel. The Lediwrack Bruno lies in front of Brunnen at a depth of 15 meters. Other well-known diving spots are in front of Vitznau, Weggis, Gersau and Hergiswil.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Der Vierwaldstättersee (französisch Lac des Quatre-Cantons; italienisch Lago dei Quattro Cantoni, Lago di Lucerna; rätoromanisch Lai dals Quatter Chantuns) ist ein von Bergen der Voralpen umgebener Alpenrandsee in der Zentralschweiz. Er liegt auf dem Gebiet der Kantone Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden (d. h. Nid- und Obwalden) und Luzern. Die grössten Orte am Ufer sind Luzern, Küssnacht, Horw und Brunnen. Der See ist 114 km² gross, liegt auf einer Höhe von 433 m ü. M. und ist 214 m tief. Da es sich um einen charakteristischen Zungenbeckensee mit mehreren Zweigbecken handelt, ist die Uferlänge im Bezug zur Seefläche mit etwa 150 km relativ gross.

 

Name

 

Seinen Namen hat der Vierwaldstättersee von den vier an ihn angrenzenden Waldstätten (heutige Kantone). Bis ins 16. Jahrhundert wurde die Bezeichnung Luzerner See verwendet.

 

Entstehung

 

Der Vierwaldstättersee entstand in den Eiszeiten, u. a. der letzten Eiszeit, durch Erosion des Reussgletschers. Der See bildete sich als Gletscherrandsee am Ende der Eiszeit vor rund 12'000 Jahren. Im Gletschergarten Luzern zeigt eine Dokumentation die Geschichte der Alpen, der Eiszeiten und der Gletscher in den Zentralalpen.

 

Geographie

 

Zufluss

 

Die Hauptzuflüsse des Vierwaldstättersees sind die Reuss mit der Einmündung bei Flüelen und Seedorf, die Engelberger Aa bei Buochs, die Sarner Aa bei Alpnachstad und die Muota bei Brunnen. Die Reuss fliesst mit einem starken Gefälle aus dem Gotthardmassiv und führt grosse Mengen Geschiebe mit sich, so dass sich das Reussdelta im Laufe der Zeit um 10 km nach Norden in den Urnersee hinein erweitert hat.

 

Im Urnersee im Bereich des Reussdeltas zwischen Flüelen und Seedorf wurde von 2001 bis 2005 mit dem Ausbruchmaterial des Umfahrungstunnels Flüelen und des Gotthard-Basistunnels der Seegrund teilweise wieder aufgeschüttet. Es entstanden Flachwasserzonen, die durch den Kiesabbau verschwunden waren, und einige neue Inseln: die Neptuninseln und die Inselgruppe Lorelei. Einige der Inseln sind Vogelschutzgebiet. Im Naturschutzgebiet erlaubt der Reussdeltaturm die Beobachtung der Fauna.

 

Kleinere in den Vierwaldstättersee einmündende Gewässer sind der Gruonbach, der Isitaler Bach, der Riemenstaldnerbach, der Cholbach von Emmetten, der Lielibach bei Beckenried, der Teuffibach, der Melbach, die Kleine Schliere bei Alpnachstad, zehn Bäche am Ostabhang des Pilatus (darunter Mülibach, Steinibach bei Horw, Widenbach, Fridbach, Feldbach und Steinibach bei Hergiswil) und der Würzenbach in Luzern.

 

Gliederung

 

Der Vierwaldstättersee besteht aus mehreren Seebecken und Buchten:

 

Der Urnersee erstreckt sich von der Einmündung der Reuss bei Seedorf 11 km in nördlicher Richtung bis nach Brunnen

Der Gersauer See (auch Gersauer Becken oder Gersauerbecken) führt 14 km von Ost nach West von Brunnen nach Ennetbürgen, wo die Engelberger Aa in den See mündet. In der Mitte zwischen Beckenried und Gersau erreicht der See mit 214 m Tiefe seine tiefste Stelle.

Der Chrüztrichter (Kreuztrichter) bildet im Westen des Weggiser Beckens das eigentliche Zentrum des nördlichen Seeteils. Von ihm zweigen vier Hauptarme (Trichter) ab:

Das Weggiserbecken (östlicher Arm des Kreuztrichters) liegt südlich von Weggis und verläuft von Ost nach West. Es führt zwischen Hertenstein im Norden und dem Bürgenstock im Süden hin zur Seemitte. Es wird auch Vitznauerbecken genannt.

Der Stanser Trichter (südwestlicher Arm des Kreuztrichters). Im Südwesten davon liegen

die Horwerbucht und

der Alpnachersee, der zwischen Acheregg und Stansstad durch eine nur 100 Meter breite Engstelle, über die eine Brücke führt, vom restlichen See abgetrennt wird und am Südfuss des Pilatus liegt.

der Küssnachtersee (nordöstlicher Arm aus dem Kreuztrichter) zweigt zwischen Hertenstein und Meggenhorn in nordöstlicher Richtung nach Küssnacht, am Nordrand des Rigimassivs gelegen, ab.

der relativ kurze Luzernersee (auch Luzerner Bucht) ist zugleich nordwestlicher Arm des Kreuztrichters und Schlussteil des Sees. Er verläuft nach Nordwesten nach Luzern.

Abfluss

In Luzern verlässt die Reuss den See, kontrolliert mit einem Regulierwehr, und fliesst durch das Mittelland zur Aare.

 

Strömungen

 

Durch das verhältnismässig warme Wasser der Reuss und den Föhn, der das Wasser ständig umschichtet, ist der Urnersee am Grund wärmer und leichter als das Wasser im Gersauer Becken. Durch diesen Temperaturunterschied strömen jeden Frühling gewaltige Wassermassen vom Gersauer Becken in die Tiefen des Urnersees. Ähnliche Tiefenwasserströmungen bestehen auch vom Alpnachersee in das Gersauer Becken.

 

Wasserqualität und Temperaturen

 

Das Wasser bleibt durchschnittlich dreieinhalb Jahre im Seebecken und hat Trinkwasserqualität. Die Eidgenössische Forschungsanstalt für Limnologie der Eawag überwacht die Wasserqualität. Im Sommer erreicht der See eine Temperatur von 22 °C. 1929 und 1963 froren der Alpnachersee und die Luzerner Bucht zu. Aus dem 17. und 19. Jahrhundert sind Vereisungen des ganzen Vierwaldstättersees dokumentiert. 1684 und 1685 konnte das Gersauer Becken auf dem Eis überquert werden.

 

Klima und Vegetation

 

Das Klima rund um den föhnbegünstigten und von Bergen geschützten Vierwaldstättersee ist im Vergleich zu anderen Regionen der deutschsprachigen Schweiz relativ mild; die Vegetation gleicht zum Teil derjenigen des Kantons Tessin. Die mittlere Tageshöchst-/-tiefsttemperatur beträgt in Luzern 2,6 °C (Januar) und 23,5 °C (Juli). In Altdorf südlich des Sees liegen die Werte bei 3,9 °C (Januar) und 23,0 °C im Juli (Klimamittel der Jahre 1961–1990). An den Seeufern wachsen Hanfpalmen, Feigen, Yuccas, Zypressen, Opuntien, Edelkastanien und andere südländische Pflanzenarten.

 

Die Edelkastanien wurden bis ins 19. Jahrhundert wirtschaftlich als Nahrungsmittel genutzt. Mit der Verbreitung der Kartoffel nahm die Bedeutung der Kastanie jedoch ab. Noch heute findet in Greppen regelmässig ein Kastanienmarkt, die sogenannte Chestene-Chilbi statt. An den Marktständen werden Kastanienprodukte und regionale Spezialitäten angeboten.

 

Naturgefahren

 

Hochwasser in Luzern August 2005

 

Nach dem Erdbeben vom 18. September 1601 entstanden Tsunamis im Vierwaldstättersee mit vermutlich bis zu 4 Meter hohen Flutwellen. Ein weiteres solches Ereignis soll im Jahr 1687 stattgefunden haben. Auch vom Genfersee ist ein Binnentsunami-Ereignis aus dem Jahr 563 bekannt, und vom Lauerzersee aus dem Jahr 1806.

 

Die Folgen der allgemeinen Erderwärmung in den Alpen werden auch für den Vierwaldstättersee und seine Umgebung diskutiert. Das Hochwasser 2005 mit diversen Muren und Erdrutschen könnte als Warnsymptom verstanden werden.

 

Seit 1861 wird der Wasserspiegel des Vierwaldstättersees durch die Reusswehranlage in Luzern etwa zwei bis drei Meter über dem natürlichen mittleren Wasserstand gehalten.

 

Verkehr

 

Schifffahrt

 

Auf dem See verkehren die Schiffe der Schifffahrtsgesellschaft des Vierwaldstättersees (SGV) zu den zahlreichen Schiffstationen. Bis zum Bau der Axenstrasse in den Jahren 1863 bis 1865 war der Wasserweg die einzige aus dem Norden mögliche Verbindung zum Kanton Uri, zum Gotthardpass und damit auch der einzige Weg von den Städten im Nordwesten Europas nach Mailand und zu den italienischen Häfen am Mittelmeer. Das gilt auch für die Pilgerwege des Mittelalters nach Rom. Noch heute verkehren auf dieser Strecke die grossen Raddampfer der SGV Stadt Luzern (das Flaggschiff der SGV) Uri, Unterwalden, Gallia und Schiller.

 

Autofähre Beckenried–Gersau

 

Zwischen Beckenried und Gersau verkehrt die Autofähre Beckenried–Gersau. Auf dem See fahren ausserdem Lastschiffe privater Transportunternehmen.

 

Beim Zusammenstoss des Nauens Schwalmis mit dem Motorschiff Schwalbe vor Horw starben am 12. Oktober 1944 zwanzig Gäste einer 33-köpfigen Hochzeitsgesellschaft aus der Region Entlebuch. Die Unfallursache konnte nicht restlos geklärt werden. Es war das bislang grösste Unglück der Schweiz mit einem motorisierten Schiff.

 

Strasse und Schiene

 

Seit dem Bau der Gotthardstrasse, der Gotthardbahn (Eröffnung 1882), der Gotthardautobahn (1982) und der Eisenbahnschnellfahrstrecken von AlpTransit (NEAT) zum Gotthard-Basistunnel (2016) tangieren grosse internationale Verkehrswege die Gegend um den Vierwaldstättersee. In Flüelen wechselten vor dem Bau der Eisenbahn die Reisenden von den Bergpässen vom Maultier oder der Postkutsche auf das Schiff. Am östlichen Ufer führt die Axenstrasse mit vielen Tunnels und Galerien von Flüelen über Sisikon nach Brunnen. Sie ist Bestandteil der A4. Die Bahnlinie führt mehrheitlich unterirdisch von Flüelen nach Brunnen. Auf dem Weg nach Küssnacht erinnern alte, restaurierte Hotelbauten an die Zeit des frühen Tourismus im 19. Jahrhundert.

 

Zwischen Hergiswil und Stansstad führen Strassenbrücken (Kantonsstrasse und Autobahn A2) und eine Eisenbahnbrücke der Luzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn bei der Lopper-Halbinsel über eine Landenge im See.

 

Der 1991 auf alten Verkehrswegen angelegte Wanderweg mit der Bezeichnung Weg der Schweiz führt rund um den südlichsten Teil des Sees, den Urnersee.

 

Luftverkehr

 

Zwischen Buochs und Ennetbürgen bei Stans liegt der Flugplatz Buochs, der früher fast nur von der Schweizer Armee und den Pilatus-Flugzeugwerken benutzt wurde. Heute steht der Flugplatz dem zivilen Flugverkehr offen. Der Militärflugplatz Alpnach wird von der Schweizer Armee als Helikopterbasis genutzt.

 

Hängegleiter und Gleitschirme nutzen bei geeignetem Wetter die Thermik der Felswände über den steilen Ufern des Sees. Die beliebtesten Fluggebiete für Gleitschirme um den Vierwaldstättersee sind der Pilatus, die Rigi, das Gebiet von Emmetten, das Stanserhorn und das ganze Engelbergertal. Beim Fliegen sind die Kontrollzonen der Flugplätze Alpnach, Buochs und Emmen zu beachten.

 

Geschichte

 

Zu den frühesten menschlichen Spuren am See gehörten die neolithischen Seeufersiedlungen aus dem 5. bis 4. Jahrtausend v. Chr. bei Stansstad-Kehrsiten. Zahlreiche Ortsnamen weisen auf eine keltische, später gallorömische Besiedlung hin. In Alpnach fand sich eine römische Villa. Spätestens im 7. Jahrhundert liessen sich Alemannen nieder.

 

Am Ausfluss der Reuss entstand im 12. und 13. Jahrhundert die Stadt Luzern, rund um den See die Länderorte Uri, Schwyz und Unterwalden. Diese erlangten die Hoheit über das sie verbindende Gewässer bis hin zur Seemitte, sieht man von der Fläche in der Verlängerung des Bürgenbergs bis vor Hertenstein ab. Diese gelangte 1378 zusammen mit dessen Nordflanke an Luzern. Dennoch kam es bis 1967 – zwischen Nidwalden und Luzern – zu Auseinandersetzungen um Fischereirechte und Grenzstreitigkeiten. Da es extrem schwierig war, Strassen um den See zu bauen, war das Gewässer zugleich eine Hauptverkehrsader.

 

Kirchlich bildete der Raum vom Hochmittelalter bis 1821 das Dekanat Luzern bzw. das Vierwaldstätterkapitel im Bistum Konstanz. Danach wurde der Raum auf die Bistümer Chur und Basel aufgeteilt. Über den See oder an ihm entlang führten früher Pilgerwege nach Rom. Auch der westwärts nach Santiago de Compostela führende Jakobsweg führt von Einsiedeln nach Brunnen. Von hier führt er weiter westlich mit dem Schiff nach Luzern oder über den Alpnachersee nach Süden zum Brünigpass.

 

Im Gegensatz zum offenen See, auf dem frei gefischt werden durfte, gehörten die Uferstreifen zur Gemeinmarch der Siedlungsgenossen. Nur ihre Fischer durften dort ausfahren. Daneben bestanden herrschaftliche Rechte wie die Fischämter von St. Leodegar in Luzern. Aus derlei Organisationsformen gingen etwa 1465 die Luzerner Rohrgesellen oder 1607 die St.-Niklausen-Bruderschaft von Stansstad hervor. Auch hier konnten Fischereirechte zu heftigen Auseinandersetzungen führen, wie 1655 zwischen Luzern und Nidwalden. Statuten für den Fischmarkt finden sich in Luzern schon im ältesten Ratsbüchlein (um 1318).

 

Nach der Helvetik wurde die Fischerei in allen Orten zu einem Hoheitsrecht der Kantone. 1890 schlossen sich die Kantone zum Fischereikonkordat Vierwaldstättersee zusammen. Noch Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts beschäftigten 27 Betriebe rund 40 Vollzeitarbeitskräfte.

 

Der regionale Markt mit Luzern als Mittelpunkt und der Verkehr über den Gotthard führten zum Aufbau eines Transportwesens. In Flüelen wurde 1313 ein Reichszoll erwähnt, Anfang des 14. Jahrhunderts sind in Luzern Lagerhäuser bezeugt, ähnlich wie in anderen Orten.

 

Im 17. Jahrhundert bestanden in Alpnach fünf Fahrrechte, in Brunnen arbeiteten 60 Schiffsleute. 1687 kam es zum Abschluss eines Schifffahrtsvertrags, der bis ins 19. Jahrhundert Bestand hatte. 1837 begann die Dampfschifffahrt, 1870 entstand die Schifffahrtsgesellschaft des Vierwaldstättersees. Sie verdrängte die lokalen Schifffahrtsgenossenschaften. Ab 1859 entstand im Einzugsgebiet des Sees ein Eisenbahn-, Bergbahn- und Strassennetz, was den Tourismus stark anwachsen liess und eine entsprechende Infrastruktur hervorbrachte. Ab Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts wurde die Sand- und Kiesgewinnung zu einem expandierenden Industriezweig.

 

1859–1860 wurde mit dem Bau des Luzerner Nadelwehrs die Basis für eine Regulierung des Wasserpegels gelegt. Zugleich belasteten Kiesabbau, das Wachstum der Orte und der unkontrollierte Häuserbau, dazu Gewässerverschmutzung und Wassersport den See. Daher entstand 1916 das Hydrobiologische Laboratorium (1960 in die ETH Zürich integriert), das im Bereich des Gewässerschutzes tätig wurde und bis heute die Kantone berät. 1953 wurde der Gewässerschutz in der Bundesverfassung verankert, aber erst das revidierte Gewässerschutzgesetz von 1971 ermöglichte es schliesslich die Sanierung des Sees bis 1987 voranzutreiben. Bereits ab 1980 versorgten sich Luzern, Bürgenstock sowie Küssnacht, Horw und Weggis mit Trinkwasser aus dem See. 1973 setzten die Uferkantone einen Landschaftsschutzplan in Kraft, dessen Umsetzung der 1984 gegründete Landschaftsschutzverband Vierwaldstättersee vorantreibt.

 

Kulturelle und historische Eigenheiten des Seegebietes sind der Kommunalismus, die eigenständige Rezeption der italienischen Renaissance und des Barock oder der Einfluss der Gegenreformation, aber auch die Kleinräumigkeit des lokalen Brauchtums und der Mundarten.

 

Tourismus

 

Fremdenverkehr

 

Auf dem Weg in den Süden entdeckten Engländer die Bergwelt der Innerschweiz. Es entstanden mehrere Kur- und Badeorte wie Weggis oder Gersau. 1871 eröffnete man die allererste Zahnradbahn Europas, die Vitznau-Rigi-Bahn. 1889 baute man von Alpnachstad auf den Pilatus die heute immer noch steilste Zahnradbahn der Welt. Einen Aufstieg auf die Rigi beschrieb Mark Twain, was in den USA des 19. Jahrhunderts zum Aufblühen des Schweizer Tourismus führte. Auf dem Vierwaldstättersee verkehrt mit fünf Dampfschiffen eine der grössten Dampfschiffflotten Europas.

 

In der Umgebung des Sees und auf Terrassen in mittlerer Höhe (wie z. B. Morschach und Seelisberg) liegen zahlreiche Tourismusorte. Attraktive Aussichtsberge nahe am Vierwaldstättersee sind die Rigi, der Pilatus, der Bürgenstock, das Stanserhorn, das Buochserhorn, die beiden Mythen, der Uri Rotstock und der Fronalpstock. Die meisten davon sind mit Bergbahnen erreichbar, die teilweise ihre Talstation in der Nähe von Schiffstationen am See haben.

 

Am See befinden sich zahlreiche Örtlichkeiten mit Bedeutung in der Schweizer Kultur- und Tourismusgeschichte: Rütli, Tellsplatte, Tellskapelle, Schnitzturm von Stansstad, Neu-Habsburg, Schillerstein, Treib, Astrid-Kapelle (Küssnacht) und Schloss Meggenhorn.

 

Wassersport

 

In den einzelnen Seebereichen sind wegen den Wasser- und den Windverhältnissen verschiedene Sportarten möglich.Von Boots- und Yachthäfen, See- und Strandbädern (z. B. das 1929 von Arnold Berger gebaute Strandbad Lido in Luzern) und von andern Uferabschnitten aus ist der See zugänglich. 1881 wurde der See-Club Luzern gegründet, der heute der grösste Ruderclub der Schweiz ist, 1904 der Ruderclub Reuss Luzern. Seit 1941 besteht der Yachtclub Luzern, der am Churchill-Quai in Luzern seit 1966 ein Bootshaus und ein Bojenfeld betreibt. Der im Jahr 1958 gebildete Wassersportclub Brunnen führte in den ersten Jahren seines Bestehens auf dem Vierwaldstättersee internationale Motorbootrennen und Wasserskimeisterschaften durch. 1965 wählte der Verein den neuen Namen Wassersport-Club Vierwaldstättersee. 1980 entstand der Motorbootclub Zentralschweiz, 1986 der Wassersportclub Hergiswil. SchweizMobil hat eine Kanutour über den Vierwaldstättersee zwischen Brunnen und Gersau beschrieben. Der südliche Teil des Urnersees zwischen dem Campingplatz am Gruonbachstrand in Flüelen und Isleten ist wegen des Windes im Reusstal ein Zentrum des Windsurfens.

 

Tauchsport

 

Es gibt etwa zehn Plätze, an denen man ohne Boot im Vierwaldstättersee tauchen kann. Das Wasser ist ganzjährig eher kühl und deshalb meist sehr klar. Die zerklüftete Steilwand bei Sisikon, am nördlichen Portal des Schieferneggtunnels, kann man seit einem Erdrutsch und dem Verschütten eines Parkplatzes, der auch als Einstieg genutzt wurde, nicht mehr von Land aus betauchen. Vor Brunnen liegt das Lediwrack Bruno auf 15 Meter Tiefe. Weiter bekannte Tauchplätze liegen vor Vitznau, Weggis, Gersau und Hergiswil.

 

Wirtschaft

 

In mehreren Gemeinden am Vierwaldstättersee befinden sich an den leicht zugänglichen Bergflanken im Uferbereich seit Jahrhunderten Steinbrüche, die teilweise noch heute genutzt werden. Das Gestein gelangt auf dem Seeweg kostengünstig zu Verbrauchern oder Bahnhöfen. Die auffälligen Eingriffe in die Naturlandschaft stiessen schon früh auf Kritik seitens der Landschaftschutzorganisationen. 1930 wies ein Bericht auf die Zunahme der Grossanlagen hin: «Zwei Steinbrüche [liegen] im Urner See zwischen Seedorf und Isleten, vier zwischen Beckenried und Treib, einer in der Matt unter dem Bürgenstock, einer zwischen Kehrsiten und Stansstad, fünf im Alpnachersee, einer am Lopperberg zwischen Stansstad und Hergiswil, einer bei Greppen, einer zwischen Vitznau und Gersau, zwei zwischen Gersau und Brunnen». Bei Kehrsiten am Bürgenstock baut die Holcim in einem Schotterwerk harten Kieselkalk ab, der auch in den Brüchen Schwibogen und Rotzloch gewonnen wird, während vier andere Nidwaldner Steinbrüche im Uferbereich aufgelassen sind. Der Landschaftschutzverband Vierwaldstättersee begleitet die Entwicklung einzelner Steinbruchprojekte.

 

Seit 1891 baut das Unternehmen Arnold & Co. Sand- und Kieswerk AG bei Flüelen mit Schwimmbaggern Kies aus dem Schwemmfächer vor dem Delta der Reuss ab, wofür sie dem Kanton Uri Konzessionsgebühren entrichtet. Heute sind nur noch der vierte und fünfte Schwimmbagger aus den 1950er und 1960er Jahren in umgebautem Zustand im Einsatz. Die Flotte der Arnold + Co. AG umfasst etwa fünfzehn Nauen. Zwischen 2001 und 2005 legte das Unternehmen im Urnersee mit Schutt aus dem NEAT-Stollen Amsteg und der Umfahrung Flüelen sechs Inseln an.

 

Auch bei Beckenried und anderen Stellen wird vor den Flussmündungen Kies abgebaut.

 

Mitte April 1957 wurde ein Telefonkabel von Spissenegg nach Stansstad im See verlegt. Die Teilverkabelung des Vierwaldstättersees hatte zwei Gründe: Die damalige Bezirkskabelanlage war durch den Bau des neuen Autobahnabschnittes Horw-Stans erheblich gefährdet. Der Schutz der Kabel hätte aber zu kostspieligen Sicherungsmassnahmen geführt. Da die Seekabellegung in diesem Fall preiswerter und der Bedarf an zusätzlichen Leitungen gross war, bewilligte die Telefondirektion in Bern das Projekt.

 

100 Jahre zuvor, 1854, wurde exakt auf dieser Strecke das erste, in den Telegrafenwerkstätten in Bern eigens hergestellte Seetelefonkabel verlegt. Es diente zur Verbindung der anschliessenden oberirdischen Telegrafenlinien Luzern-Brünig-Interlaken.

 

Belastung mit Munition

 

Zwischen 1918 und 1967 entsorgten Schweizer Munitionsfabriken ihre Produktionsabfälle im Vierwaldstätter-, Brienzer- sowie Thunersee. Die Gesamtmenge, welche in bis zu 200 Metern Tiefe im Vierwaldstättersee versenkt wurde, wird auf 3'300 Tonnen geschätzt, 2'800 Tonnen im Urnersee sowie 500 Tonnen im Gersauer Becken.

 

Namensverwandtschaften

 

Der Jacobiweiher im Stadtwald von Frankfurt am Main wird im Volksmund seiner Form wegen Vierwaldstättersee genannt.

Auch ein künstlicher See im Zoo Berlin wird aus dem gleichen Grund Vierwaldstättersee genannt.

 

(Wikipedia)

Happy March 1st dear Flickr and Happy "Mărţişor" to my Romanians friends !

 

Mărţişor is a romanian traditional celebration of the beginning of Spring, on 1st March.

Mărţişor (means "little" or "dear March") is a red and white cotton string, from which usually a small decoration is tied, and which is offered by people on the 1st day of March. Giving this talisman to other people is an old custom, and it is believed that the one who wears the red and white string will be powerful and healthy for the year to come.

Almost every Okie has wise-cracked about 'Gotebo', even though few have been there and even fewer are from there. Currently, the only occupied building on Main Street is the municipal building.

 

Gotebo is located at the intersection of State Highways 54 and 9, fifty-one miles northwest of Lawton. The town was originally called Harrison and was named in honor of Pres. Benjamin Harrison. Harrison was settled during the opening of the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache Reservation in August 1901. The townsite adjoined a Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway depot built a few months earlier. Railroad officials had named the station Gotebo after a local Kiowa chief. The Harrison post office name was changed to Gotebo in 1904, and the town incorporated soon thereafter. Chief Gotebo (ca. 1847-1927; Kau-Tau-Bone) was well respected, not only by his own people, but also by whites. He was one of the first Kiowa to be baptized at the Rainy Mountain Church. He is buried at the Rainy Mountain Indian Cemetery, situated between Gotebo and Mountain View.

 

The building on the left was a drug store and the second building was Wedel's Big Department Store, opened in 1909.

 

RAW, PS Elements

Or Dover Marine.

 

Or even Dover Admiralty Pier station.

 

It has been all of them. But is now Dover Cruise Terminal.

 

We got news from a friend, Paul, that the station was open on Good Friday, so we went down just after it opened. There were massive queues leading to the Western Docks, and all along Townwall Street leading to the port, was blacked with stationary traffic. A little bit of heading through Market Square, and hoping that the police had kept the roundabout open at the end of York Street, they had, so we were clear to head to the old station.

 

Although the tracks have been filled in with concrete, the rest of the station is pretty complete and in good order, especially after a major refurbishment last year.

 

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

  

This was a large, spacious, and impressive station, located within a maze of lines upon a tight triangular junction between the routes from Folkestone and Dover Priory. The origins of the terminus and general railway expansion in the Dover area derive from a need to cope with ever-increasing traffic, both local and boat services. Indeed, many capacity issues upon both SER and LC&DR networks were properly addressed after the formation of the SE&CR. The SER had initially commenced through running to Dover on 7th February 1844, after an eastward extension from Folkestone, which involved taking the railway along the dramatic coastline of Folkestone Warren. This had witnessed the blowing up of sections of chalk cliff with gunpowder, and boring three tunnels:

 

Martello Tunnel: 532-yards

Abbotscliff Tunnel: 1,942-yards

Shakespeare Tunnel: 1,387-yards

 

The SER ran into what later became known as ‘’Dover Town’’ station, and between here and Shakespeare Tunnel, the double-track line was elevated upon a wooden framework. The SER’s Town station was a large affair, comprising five tracks entering the terminus from the west, all of which were protected by a large twin-span overall roof. Substantial three-storey-high railway offices backed onto the rear of the platform lines, these being constituted of the customary yellow brick, lined at the edges with stone. Extension beyond the terminus took place in 1860, by means of a single track exiting the rear (east) of the layout, veering southwards onto a stone-built pier head. The latter, known as the ‘’Admiralty Pier’’, carried a double-track and allowed trains to come directly alongside steamer boat services to France. In July of the following year, the LC&DR commenced through running between Victoria and Dover Priory. Also in 1861, after the boring of a 684-yard-long tunnel southwards through the Kentish chalk, from Priory station, the ‘’Chatham’’ line was brought closer to the earlier SER station. The LC&DR opened ‘’Dover Harbour’’ on 1st November 1861, which was a terminus affair comprising two platform faces, separated by three tracks, all of which were protected by a single-span triangular-shaped trainshed. Just like the SER’s Town station, Dover Harbour ceased to be a terminus proper when a single-track was taken beyond the original buffer stops, down to the Admiralty Pier. LC&DR services commenced to the pier on 30th August 1864, where separate platforms were provide for both ‘’Chatham’’ and SER companies. The platforms were arranged in an end-to-end fashion along the same section of track, rather than serving their own separate lines upon the pier. The LC&DR’s southward extension from Dover Harbour formed the second side of what would later become a triangular junction – the SER had created the first southern side of the arrangement, as a result of its initial 1860 opening of the short section of line between Dover Town and Admiralty Pier.

 

On 15th June 1881, the SER and LC&DR opened the ''Dover & Deal Joint Line'' – a rare example of the frenetic rivals cooperating. To allow the SER direct access to this line from its trunk route via Folkestone, a double-track spur (the ‘’Hawkesbury Street Curve’’) between Dover Harbour station and the Dover Town approaches came into use on the same day – the triangular junction was now complete. The SER was granted running powers over LC&DR metals through Priory station, and a number of local services now bypassed Dover Town. However, to compensate for this, additional platform surfaces were brought into use upon the connecting spur. The area in-between the two sites was already heavily built up, but early maps suggest that demolition in the locale, to accommodate the spur, was surprisingly modest. At the ‘’Chatham’’ end of the spur, signalling was installed by contractors Stevens & Sons.

 

The formation of the SE&CR Joint Managing Committee on New Years Day 1899 marked the beginning of a new era of railway expansion and improvements on the erstwhile independent networks of the SER and LC&DR. Of prominence during this company’s tenure was the St Johns to Orpington quadrupling works, between 1900 and 1905, which involved physically connecting both Tonbridge Cut-Off and ‘’Chatham’’ main lines in the vicinity of Chislehurst. In the Dover area, alterations began with the closure of the platforms upon the connecting spur between SER and LC&DR lines, in 1903. Subsequently, in 1912, major works began alongside the Admiralty Pier, to create an artificial platform within the water, on which a whole new terminus station was to be built. The latter was to be a spacious affair, dedicated to boat traffic only, and would permit the closure of existing station sites. Creating the platform involved dumping large quantities of chalk into the water immediately east of the Admiralty Pier. As it later transpired, the Admiralty Pier was not demolished, but rather, was absorbed into the new works to become the western side of the sea platform. Construction of the terminus commenced in 1913, and by the outbreak of the Great War in August 1914, the majority of the building work had been completed. A splendid vaulted train shed roof, comprising seven spans of varying widths, had been erected. The station measured 170-feet in width, and at its longest point stretched to 800-feet. The well-covered terminus comprised four 693-foot-long platform faces, arranged in the form of two spacious islands of concrete construction.

 

Wartime economies saw the closure of the ex-SER Dover Town station in 1914, which was never to reopen, but the retention of the ex-LC&DR Harbour and Priory stations, to which all services were now diverted to. The demise of the Town station was coupled with the closure of the three-road engine shed adjacent to the Hawkesbury Street Curve, and the concentration of the area’s locomotive allocation on the depot at Priory. The withdrawal of boat services on the outbreak of war saw that the semi-complete SE&CR terminus had no passenger traffic to serve. Despite its unfinished state, the station was quickly brought into use on 2nd January 1915 for military traffic, initially in the form of ambulance trains. Although the trainshed was virtually complete by this time, a significant feature still lacking was the marvellous stone façade which now graces the structure’s landward elevation. Completion of building works came after the cessation of war in November 1918, and the first passenger boat trains commenced to the terminus on 18th January 1919, the station being christened ‘’Dover Marine’’.

 

Attractive single-storey red brick offices, complete with war memorial, were built upon the platform surfaces, and both platform islands and the exit were linked by a lattice footbridge at the northern end of the terminus, located within the trainshed. The incorporation of the SE&CR’s main war memorial here was unusual, for the other large railway companies erected these at their main termini in London. The layout upon the sea platform had grown to an extensive arrangement of tracks, numerous sidings having been brought into use to handle substantial levels of freight traffic during the war period. Dover Marine was controlled by an SE&CR-designed 120-lever signal box positioned to the west of the station, immediately adjacent to the tracks from Priory. The signal box comprised a substantial brick base and was in fact a much larger version of the signal cabin which still exists at Folkestone Harbour, demonstrating traits of those early Saxby & Farmer products. A 455-foot long enclosed glazed footbridge was suspended above the double-track of the former Admiralty Pier, and this took passengers over the complex approaches from the Folkestone direction. A physical connection was also made between this footbridge and the Lord Warden Hotel. The latter was a four-storey colossus, the main section of which was built upon a floor plan of 130-foot by 120-foot. Originally opened in 1851, the hotel was built on a site immediately behind the SER’s Dover Town station.

 

Locomotive facilities at the site initially comprised just a turntable and cylindrical water tank, located behind the signal box. As previously mentioned, on the closure of Dover Town, the locomotive allocation was concentrated on the existing depot at Priory. However, the inadequacy of the Priory site was emphasised after completion of the SE&CR’s Dover area enlargement works, and a new improvement scheme was soon set in motion after the formation of the Southern Railway. The SR devised a modernisation programme for the Dover area, which included a comprehensive rebuilding of Priory station, the closure of Harbour station, and the building of a new motive power depot. The proposals got underway in 1924, with the confirmation of a 280-foot-long five-road locomotive shed, to be built to the west of Dover Marine, alongside the running lines from Folkestone. As per the construction of the twelve-acre platform for the Marine station, large quantities of chalk were dumped into the sea, beside the former site of the ex-SER’s Dover Town, to reclaim enough land for a spacious complex. The depot came into use during 1928, comprising four eastward-facing dead-end tracks, a single through track, and a sixth line which terminated within an adjacent repair shed. The provision of a 65-foot turntable at the site resulted in the removal of that which resided behind the signal box at Dover Marine, and the water tank there also disappeared. The commissioning of the engine shed, which at 2007 prices cost approximately £7,767,500 to build, allowed the closure of the shed at Priory station, allowing the site there to become part of an enlarged goods yard. Dover Harbour station was subject to closure on 10th July 1927, all local traffic being concentrated at Priory and boat services being served exclusively at Marine station. Other improvements in the Dover area during the SR’s tenure included the rebuilding of the elevated track bed east of Shakespeare Tunnel from wood to concrete, and the laying of coal sidings at the Eastern Docks. Eight freight sidings also came into use alongside the Hawkesbury Street Curve, at Bulwark Street, partially upon the former site of the SER’s Dover Town engine shed. A dock basin for the train ferry, fed by a double-track emanating from the Dover Priory route, came into use during 1936, to the north of the Marine terminus.

 

Before continuing, it is worth examining one of the out-of-the-ordinary boat trains that served Dover Marine. Initially, the French inaugurated the ‘’Flèche d’Or’’ on 11th September 1926, a prestigious boat train running between Calais and Paris. The ‘’Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits’’ (International Sleeping Car Company) ordered twenty British Pullman vehicles to operate the service: fifteen kitchen cars (Nos. 4001 to 4015) were built by the Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company, and fifteen parlour cars (Nos. 4016 to 4030) were constructed by the Metropolitan Carriage, Wagon & Finance Company. The luxury vehicles were delivered new in the now renowned Umber and Crème ‘’New Standard’’ Pullman colours of the British fleet, and were operated as pairs, rather than individual carriages. With reference to the latter, this meant that a kitchen car and a parlour car would be semi-permanently coupled into a pair known as a ‘’Couplage’’, or, if you like, ‘’Linkage’’. Initially, the Flèche d’Or service was operated by two trains, each ten vehicles in length. From 1932 onwards, Pullman vehicles were repainted into the standard colours worn by the rest of the Wagon-Lits fleet: a lighter shade of crème appeared in place of the British colour, and the umber lower half became dark blue.

 

The French’s efforts were matched on the other side of the Channel by an all-Pullman service run by the Southern Railway from Victoria. Colloquially, this was referred to as the ‘’White Pullman’’, because the other Pullman cars on the Eastern Section at that time still wore the crimson lake livery of the SE&CR. Officially, however, the service was called the ‘’Continental Express’’, but it was nevertheless referred to by passengers as the ‘’Golden Arrow’’, the English translation of the French title. This was a sign of things to come, for on 15th May 1929, the SR’s all-Pullman boat train service was re-launched as the ‘’Golden Arrow’’. Significant engineering works occurred on the ex-SER trunk line between Petts Wood Junction and Dover, which involved strengthening bridges to accommodate the heavier engines planned to haul this prestigious service. Maunsell ‘’Lord Nelson’’ 4-6-0 locomotives were selected as the prime motive power, with Urie 4-6-0 ‘’King Arthur’’ engines (later modified by Maunsell) supplementing the fleet.

 

Much of the time, the outward ‘’Golden Arrow’’ from Victoria was booked to arrive at Folkestone Harbour, but the return portion instead started at Dover Marine, which gave rise to some interesting shunting movements. As mentioned elsewhere on the website, the Folkestone Harbour branch has never had a direct connection with the main line, and access to it can only be made by means of a headshunt manoeuvre. This arrangement was implemented as a safety measure from the outset, since the branch descends at a steep gradient of 1 in 30 to the harbour. Thus, the Pullman service would arrive at Folkestone Junction, and initially terminate in the reception sidings positioned to the east of the station there, where the connection with the Harbour Branch was made. An ex-SE&CR R1 Class 0-6-0 Tank would then attach itself to the rear of the train, whilst the ‘’main line’’ engine was detached, and take the Golden Arrow stock down to Folkestone Harbour. This released the ‘’main line’’ locomotive from the headshunt, and consequently, it ran light along Folkestone Warren, to Dover Marine. At the latter, the engine would be rotated, more often than not by means of the triangular junction between the converging lines from Folkestone, Priory, and Marine stations, rather than on the turntable at Dover shed. After rotation, the locomotive would then head back to Folkestone Junction to collect the empty Pullman stock for the return working, which had previously been banked up the steep Harbour Branch incline by as many as four R1 Tanks. The tank engines would usually bring the train out onto the running lines at the Junction station, allowing the express locomotive to immediately couple to the stock. The Pullman vehicles would then be hauled empty to Dover Marine to form the return working to Victoria. This involved some indignity for the engine because for this empty stock movement, it had to run tender-first.

 

The declaration of war on Germany on 3rd September 1939 signalled the beginning of harsh times for the Port of Dover, as it became a prime target for bombing raids. Boat trains and steamer services were suspended immediately, and passenger services to the Marine station ceased. The Marine site was again dedicated to military traffic, just as it had been during World War I, and as a consequence, services along the ex-SER route went no further than Folkestone. Indeed, consistent shelling over the Channel, from France, had made the site unsafe to handle any form of passenger traffic, and even the 1928-opened engine shed had to close during the conflict, all engines being stationed at Ashford for the duration. The attractive Marine station suffered damage to the trainshed roof, but thankfully, this was modest enough to deem it practical and worthwhile to repair, normal service at the station resuming after the conflict. Since the advent of World War II, the prominent Lord Warden Hotel had been used as offices; the Marine Department occupied the building from 1952 onwards, by which time it was known as ‘’Southern House’’.

 

Initially, the British Railways era did not necessarily mean rationalisation for this extensive site, as it did at so many other stations nationwide. Rather, the emphasis was on modernising facilities, to cater for new rail freight boat traffic which, in these pre-Chunnel days, was still important and by no means in decline. Modernisation of the site began in 1953, with the renewal of the five quayside cranes which ran alongside the northern wall of the terminus. This was followed in February 1956 by the approval of the Kent Coast Electrification Scheme. Published within an ‘’Extension of Electrification’’ report of 1957 were the alterations proposed for the Marine station. In early 1959, the station was closed to passengers temporarily to allow modifications to be carried out. These involved the extension of both island platforms westward by 114-feet, beyond the extent of the trainshed, and the installation of canopies above the exposed surfaces. The platform extensions were constituted of prefabricated concrete components, manufactured at Exmouth Junction concrete works; the platform canopies were W-shaped and lacked any form of valance. The latter were virtually enlarged versions of the equally clinical canopies which emerged at the rebuilt Folkestone Central and St Mary Cray stations, and these additions somewhat marred the attractive stone façade of the SE&CR station. Third rail was installed on all platform lines during 1959, as part of the ‘’Chatham’’ line electrification of the scheme’s ‘’Phase 1’’, and these were subsequently energised for the commencement of the full electric timetable via this route on 15th June of that year. An enclosed riveted steel footbridge was also erected across the approach tracks from Dover Priory, linking the main entrance beside the Lord Warden Hotel with the Customs Hall, on the northern perimeter of the Western Docks. Naturally, steam continued to visit the station by means of the ex-SER trunk line from the Folkestone direction until the implementation of a full electric timetable on this route on 18th June 1962. The Golden Arrow had been hauled by E5000 series electric locomotives since 12th June 1961. Colour lights installed at the Marine station during the electrification scheme were of the three-aspect type. Before electrification, the empty stock of arrived services would be shunted out the seaward end of the trainshed, and up along the extent of the old Admiralty Pier, to clear the platform lines. Locomotives would also be required to run-a-round using the Admiralty Pier tracks.

 

The commencement of electric haulage on the Golden Arrow in the June of 1961 coincided with the demise of Dover engine shed. Hitherto, the depot had the responsibility of servicing the Stewarts Lane-allocated steam locomotives which brought the luxurious train down from Victoria. Closure of the sub-shed at nearby Folkestone Junction also occurred, but the site of Dover MPD was put to new railway use, becoming host to a plethora of goods sidings. Closure of goods sidings at Bulwark Street occurred on 15th August 1966, but Archcliffe Junction – at the Folkestone end of the Hawkesbury Street Curve – remained in existence. In the following decade, major works were planned around the Marine station’s peripheral: in 1973, proposals were put forward for the construction of a roll-on-roll-off vehicle shed, and in 1974, planning of a new hoverport at the Western Docks began. After a consultation period spanning 1975 to 1976 inclusive, the hoverport was formally commissioned for operation on 5th July 1978, and replaced a smaller affair situated in the Eastern Docks. Track rationalisation had also occurred beyond the rear of the trainshed, and the ‘’Golden Arrow’’ had ceased between Victoria and the Channel Ports after a final run on 30th September 1972. Since 1969, the number of Pullman cars in the train had been whittled down to five, and the rest of the formation consisted of Second Class BR Mk 1 vehicles.

 

On 14th May 1979, Dover Marine station was renamed ‘’Dover Western Docks’’, and on 31st October of the following year, the ‘’Night Ferry’’ London to Paris train made its final run. This had first operated on the evening of 14th October 1936, between London Victoria and Paris Gare du Nord, via Dover Marine and Dunkirk. The service was unique among the boat trains, because the carriage stock travelled across the Channel with the passengers and ran on both British and French railway networks. Indeed, the vehicles were smaller than standard Continental carriage stock, having been specially built to meet the restrictive loading gauge of the British system. The service had been suspended during the war years, the last train running through to Paris over the night of 3rd/4th September 1939. After the cessation of the conflict, the ‘’Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits’’ (CIWL: International Sleeping Car Co.) found itself engaged in a search and rescue mission over the whole of Europe, to find several missing carriages. Stock of both the ‘’Night Ferry’’ and ‘’Orient Express’’ services had been taken over by the Germans, camouflaged and armoured, and subsequently used as army vehicles. The ‘’Night Ferry’’ service was resumed on 14th December 1947, and this was followed ten years later by the addition of a through sleeping car to Brussels. A sleeping car for Basle, Switzerland, was added to the service in 1967, but this lasted just two years.

 

Over the five years which followed the renaming of the station to ‘’Dover Western Docks’’, truncations of the lines within the trainshed, at their seaward ends, saw a ground level walkway come into use for passengers, behind the new buffer stops (a headshunt did, however, still remain for locomotive-hauled services). The SNCF train ferry continued to handle an abundance of ferry vans, shunted by Class 33/2 locomotives – the latter had been under the auspices of Railfreight Distribution (RfD) since that Business Sector’s formation on 10th October 1988. The ferry itself accommodated a double-track, and to maintain balance on the vessel, wagons on both lines would be loaded and unloaded simultaneously. During 1993, the train ferry shunting duty passed to Class 09 diesels.

 

Channel Tunnel boring began on 1st December 1987, and in light of this, the British Rail Board produced the dreaded report in 1989: the ‘’Proposed closure of Dover Western Docks Station and Folkestone Harbour branch’’. Passenger boat traffic was now seen as a thing of the past, as the advent of the proposed ‘’Eurostar’’ services through the Chunnel would now cater for this, providing a much faster and efficient service. Some of the freight carried upon the ferries could be transferred for haulage through the Chunnel; certain traffic, however, such as chemicals and inflammables, were not permitted through the tunnel, as they were safety hazards. Handling of these goods would therefore transfer to the Eastern Docks, involving the use of road transport, due to the lack of a rail connection there. During 1992, the headshunt facility at Western Docks station was taken out of use, meaning that locomotive-hauled services had to be shunt released – the latter duty was generally undertaken by a RfD Class 33/2. The fateful day was on Saturday 24th September 1994, when 4 CEP No. 1604 departed with the last advertised public departure to Victoria, scheduled for 21:44. The following day, the closure of the station was marked by the visit of ex-BR Pacific No. 70000 ‘’Britannia’’, with ‘’The Continental Farewell’’ rail tour from London Victoria. This had travelled via Balham, Beckenham Junction, and Tonbridge. The locomotive was masquerading as No. 70014 ‘’Iron Duke’’, which was one of two ‘’Britannias’’ formerly associated with the haulage of the famous ‘’Golden Arrow’’ on the South Eastern Division, between the years of 1952 and 1958 inclusive. At Western Docks, the tour met another ex-Golden Arrow locomotive, but of a more modern era: Type ‘’HA’’ E5000 series No. E5001. This locomotive fronted two tours on the same day, taking the excursion stock from Western Docks to Ashford and back, via Folkestone and Canterbury West.

 

It was not the total end of Dover Western Docks – yet. Until 19th November 1994, empty stock movements to and from the station continued to be available to passengers, albeit not advertised in the official timetable. Thereafter, the trainshed became a useful facility for stabling electric units for cleaning, until complete closure came with the decommissioning of the SE&CR signal box on 5th July of the following year. The bulldozers finally moved in at the beginning of 1996, but thankfully, since the main building was protected by Listed Status, demolitions only encompassed those additions made in 1959, as part of the Kent Coast Electrification Scheme. Naturally, the tightly curving track, with its famous crossovers, was also lifted, and as part of the works to convert the trainshed into a cruise liner terminal, the gap in-between the island platforms was in-filled, to provide a continuous floor at the same level. All red brick offices upon the platforms were retained, as was the elongated footbridge towards the Lord Warden Hotel. Even the substantial SE&CR signal box remained on site as office accommodation, but unlike the main station structure, this was not a Listed building. Tragically, the signal box met its end in 2000. The train ferry dock basin of 1936 was in-filled, and today its site is host to a sand operation.

 

The British Rail Board’s original report of 1989 outlined the closure of the Folkestone Harbour branch, but in the midst of the redevelopment at the Western Docks, the renowned steeply graded line continued to enjoy services. Unlike at Dover, where the passenger ferries at Eastern Docks were detached from the railway, Sea Cat sailings continued to operate from the railway pier at Folkestone, even after the opening of the Chunnel. These justified the retention of rail services to the Harbour station, which continued until the transference of the Sea Cat to Ramsgate in 2001.

 

kentrail.org.uk/dover_marine.htm

Priyanka chopra #Bollywood #Actress # Priyanka #Chopra

 

Priyanka Chopra popularly called as Pee Cee has been born on July 18th 1982 and she has been entertaining the audience from the past 14 years in Bollywood. She shot fame with Krish starring Hrithik Roshan though she has done number of films. Her performance along with her sizzling presense on screen made her widely popular across the country. This dusky beauty too slowly entered the big league of Bollywood actresses currently. Priyanka Chopra is now 34 years of age and she got International recognition with her American tv series Quantico. She even impressed the International circles with her performance and grabbed the Best Actress award for Popular People’s Choice awards which is a prestigious one.

She struggled during the initial days of her career and all her movies ended as debacles at the ticket window. It was Hrithik Roshan’s Krrish which gave her the much needed relief as an actress. Though she suffered failures throughout her career, movies like Don, Fashion, Dostana, Agneepath, Barfi, and Krrish 3 made her one of the leading actress in the B Town. She surprised everyone with her performance in Mary Kom as a boxer. She played Kashibhai in Bajirao Mastani directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and the movie has been declared as the biggest blockbuster in the recent times. Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone played the other lead roles in the film.

Priyanka is one of the hottest actresses in the B Town and she has done many glamorous roles in her Bollywood career of 14 years. Priyanka’s bikini acts in her films are widely popular and her images have been making rounds among the internet. Priyanka Chopra’s hot photos are trending all over and her movies got good recognition. Priyanka Chopra’s upcoming movies include Jai Gangaajal in the direction of Prakash Jha which will hit the screens soon. She will be seen as a powerful cop in the movie which will release soon.

Priyanka Chopra won number of awards including National award, 5 Filmfares and she has been honoured with Padma Shri by the Indian government for her contribution to Indian cinema. Priyanka is a fashion freak and she has been endorsing various International brands and she has been active in fashion shows and prefers to sizzle on the top magazine cover pages. She is one of the highest paid Indian actresses and she has done films with all the leading actors. Her American tv series Quantico kept her busy and she has not signed in Bollywood film as of now. Along with these she has done her own music videos which got her wide recognition.

Priyanka Chopra signed her first Hollywood film beside Dwyane Johnson and the movie has been titled as Baywatch. The film is based on the American tv series and will be directed by Seth Gordon. Priyanka Chopra is all set to play the negative lead in the movie and she has recently revealed the news through her twitter account. She also turned producer and is producing movies. Priyanka Chopra won National award for her outstanding performance in Fashion. goo.gl/PHNhxC

On a visit to Mona Vale gardens November 23, 2014 Christchurch New Zealand.

 

Meet 'Kea Parrot Stay' Giraffe No.34 by Artist Alejandra Diaz.

  

Giant fibreglass Giraffe sculptures, reaching 2.5 metres high, are now standing tall on the streets, parks and public spaces of Christchurch and surrounding areas until 24 January 2015. At the end of the public art exhibition, in February, the Giraffes will be auctioned so we can all be part of raising money for local charities and turn the city’s Summer of fun into a helping hand for those who are in need.

 

christchurch-stands-tall.co.nz/about/

has amazing eyes.

Has a mystical quality at the San Pedro National Conservation Area, Sierra Vista, Arizona

The DL60 doll has been fully deboxed. She is lying down after I have put the accessory jacket on her. There are no fasteners to close the jacket in the front. To get her sleeves past her hands, I had to turn the sleeves inside out. Then put her hands through the bottom of the reversed sleeves, pull them up, and then reverse the sleeves again. The bag that I thought was a tote bag is actually a backpack. But I couldn't figure out a way to make the straps tight around her shoulders. So the bag is rather loose on her back.

 

Released as part of the Disneyland Resort's 60th Anniversary Diamond Celebration, is the DL60 12'' Park Doll. She represents a Park Guest, with accessories that are based on real 60th Anniversary merchandise.

 

She is a Barbie type Fashion doll with a posable body (but stiff arms), same as the other Disney Parks 12'' dolls. Her head mold is the same as the one for current 12'' Snow White dolls by Disney Parks and Disney Store. But with her blue eyes and long blonde hear, she has a strong resemblance to the Alice in Wonderland animated character. I also think she looks like the singer Taylor Swift.

 

She costs $26.95, which is $7 more than the regular Disney Parks 12'' Princess doll. That is because she comes with a couple of nice accessories. One is a 60th Anniversary jacket, colored dark blue and silver, with the word Celebrate in the back and a D with a diamond inside in the front. The front of the jacket doesn't close. The other is a tote bag with various Disney characters in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle. The same artwork is featured on various other DL60 merchandise, for instance the t-shirt that the doll is wearing. She is also wearing full length tight fitting blue jeans, pale blue translucent slippers, and a Minnie Mouse ear hat with a sparkly white and silver bow. She is a very beautiful doll, with wonderful accessories, and well worth the cost.

 

I bought mine on her release day, May 20, 2015, at World of Disney in Downtown Disney, Disneyland Resort, in Anaheim, California. I am posting detailed photos of the doll, boxed, during deboxing and fully deboxed.

One has to admire the expertise of Canon when it comes to compacts. The APS system was a failure, yet, Canon APS camera were best -sellers, the designs were very interesting. While others regarded making APS cameras as unwanted chore, Canon presented APS cameras that were inovative and sophisticated.

 

The Ixus line, was a star, and stardom continue during the digital age, right to the present day. I thought this camera was a digital model, the design is so fresh, so little changed.

 

The Canon Ixus Z 70 is a little class act, heavy, brushed stainless steel body, sophisticated lens with 2 aspheric elements.

 

Shame that APS film is so hard to find, I would like to try this second generation Ixus.

It's a Christmas tradition. Every year, Mrs. Claus has a girls night out while Mr. Claus galavants around the world on his sleigh. It makes sense. You can only keep yourself cooped up at the North Pole for so long. Everyone needs a release, and for Mrs. Claus, Christmas Eve is the night to party. Oh yeah!

 

Some years are wilder than others. In 1818 she was in a quiet mood and hung out with Franz Joseph Gruber. The next day, he played a song he had written - "Silent Night". Who wrote the song, Franz? That's right. You know it wasn't you. Mrs. Claus let that one pass.

 

1851 was a little wilder. She and the tooth fairy drank a little too much schnapps and burned down the Library of Congress.

 

In 1902, she stumbled over M. Wolf's telescope at an elegant soirée. Later that evening he discovered an asteroid. He wanted to name it after her, but she is a modest woman and protested. "Please, no." He relented and named it Venusia.

 

She spent 1960 in the Netherlands with some priests. Normally she's not controversial, but after a heavy late night conversation, those Dutch priests started questioning the values of the Papacy. Naughty girl!

 

In 1991 she went to the Soviet Union - just to see how things were. She found Mikhail Gorbachev in tears and convinced him to resign - for his own happiness.

 

Of course everyone remembers the mess she made in Texas partying with the Bush boys back in the seventies. Even she couldn't have predicted that dubya would even remember her saying "you should TOTALLY be the president of everything." He must have forgotten when she added "NOT".

 

This year, her party was in Berkeley, California. She must have had a great time at the fraternities...or sororities.

Well it's mid September 2020. The Age of Wonders has yet to arrive, with a new, later theatrical debut every time I look at the website. But, the merchandise seems to be on schedule, namely the S.H. Figuarts WW84 Wonder Woman figure.

 

WW84 takes place in 1984, and takes place before Justice League. While I know continuity has been an issue with the DCEU movies, there's a few things I hope this movie will explain... of course it could just be me that cares about these things. Gal Gadot returns as the lead character, with an interesting supporting cast including Chris Pine, who needs to regale audiences with the story as to why he's not dead.

 

Contents of the WW84 package are... kind of slim for the price point of 6,600 Yen. You get the figure, two face plates (eyes forwards, eyes to the right), an empty Lasso of Truth holster, six additional posing hands, and an uncoiled mid motion Lasso of Truth. This time around, she apparently has no sword or shield (which I believe were smashed to bits in the previous movie). On a related note, she also has no leather bandolier this time around either. The coiled Lasso of Truth is now a single piece along with actual holster. which helps displaying the figure with no Lasso in hand.

 

Lets get the obvious out of the way. In the event it wasn't obvious, Tamashii Nations effectively recycled the previous body and slapped on a new head. The colours were tweaked (most likely due to movie costume changes) and the side by side photos should give good indication of that. Skin tone was darkened because, well, Gal Gadot has a complexion.. or the guy in charge of that sort thing wasn't blind this time around.

 

With regards to the head, it should be readily apparent that Tamashii Nations tried much, much, much harder to this time to actually get that Gal Gadot accuracy. It's not perfect, most notable being the eyes front sculpt seems to have issues with regards to paint location for the pupils, but its definitely recognizable as Gadot, and a hell of an improvement over the first one.

 

How anyone could possibly mistake that one for Gal Gadot is something that probably needs an entire Netflix series to explain.

 

The aforementioned issues with eyes front sculpt seem to be a widespread QC issue, so overall the eyes right sculpt is definitely the better of the two, and works better with her hair anyway.

 

In addition to getting the right image for the digital painting, Tamashii Nations updated the actual shape of the face, and her hair/wig, replicating her half front/half back look from many of the promotional photos, and also allows Gadot/Wonder Woman to showcase her strong jawline. Detailing on the hair itself is finer as well.

 

So now that her face and hair are more accurate, there's one more improvement to discuss before leaving this section. One of my pet peeves about the first release was that there was no thought given as to how the head would turn, as that section of hair that goes over the right should had no give. It also got in the way of the shoulder movement.

 

Tamashii Nations fixed this by adding in the hair, which allows the hair to move out of the way for turning, and will yield in the event the shoulder is moved. It's a bit clunky, but it does work. Maybe they'll do something to fix the back hair the next time.

 

Moving on to our usual overview criteria, articulation points are plentiful. You get goes, ankles with tilt and pivot, double jointed knees, hips with thigh swivel and displaced joints to allow for greater range of motion, waist, mid-torso, shoulders with chest collapse, single jointed elbows, wrists, neck and head.

 

Due to lack of bulk in the arms, the single jointed elbows appear to sufficient for posing purposes. The back of her head unfortunately does get in the way of tilting her head back, so no flying poses or tilting the head up. You can do a nice variety of action poses, including her trademark Bracers pose, but's she's no Revoltech. Furthermore, you really just have the Lasso as a weapon (and it's not even the spinning one like the Hot Toys has) so generally speaking rope tricks is about as exotic as you're going to get on the figure.

 

Paint work is excellent, with no observable bleeds between colours or overspray. Details on the face itself are great, and honestly just keep me excited for improvements we'll see next time around (in a good way). The only messy paint apps are basically invisible - they're on the edges of armour that expose flesh bits. I also mentioned the issues with the location of pupils on the eyes front sculpt.

 

All in all, pupil location aside, only the most anal retentive will find something to complain about paint wise on this figure.

 

Finally, with regards to build quality, everything is in order for a figure of this price point. Limbs are the same length and joints operate as designed. Finishes on the parts themselves are very good, with the usual Figuarts level of seam polishing. The only beef I have is that the front hair section likes to come off on mine a bit to easily. Other than that, everything holds together as expected.

 

It's amazing what a "simple" head change can do for a figure - it's almost like a brand new thing when in reality, it's effectively the same. This new head. even with its somewhat wonky articulation, this is undoubtedly the best Gal Gadot Wonder Woman figure at this size.

 

She looks the part, and now, can actually utilize the full posing capabilities of the body. I just wish she had more gear to pose with.

 

There has been no news about a Golden Armour version of her being released... on the other hand, this wouldn't be the first time a winged figure was released, so there's hope it can and will happen.

 

I guess we'll have to wait till December to (hopefully) find out.

Conor has announced the tracklisting for the new Bright Eyes album, The People's Key, along with two tour dates thus far:

 

Full track list for The People’s Key:

1) Firewall

2) Shell Games

3) Jejune Stars

4) Approximated Sunlight

5) Haile Selassie

6) A Machine Spiritual (In The People’s Key)

7) Triple Spiral

8) Beginner’s Mind

9) Ladder Song

10) One For You, One For Me

 

Tour dates:

Radio City Music Hall in New York City on March 9th (Wild Flag (Ex Sleater Kinney) & Superchunk are opening)

 

London’s famed Royal Albert Hall on June 23rd

 

The People's Key was recorded in Omaha, Nebraska, at ARC Studios and produced by Mike Mogis & Andy LeMaster. The album will be released on Conor's birthday, February 15th.

 

www.thisisbrighteyes.com

www.ConorOberst.com

 

www.LindseyBest.com

 

All Images Copyright © Lindsey Best. Please do not steal or repost my images without prior consent & proper credit. If you're interested in licensing an image or purchasing a print, please email me.

LE Elena has been fully deboxed. She is standing, supported by the included display stand.

 

Some observations about the doll that weren't apparent before deboxing. She has a swivel waist, as did the original Designer Princess dolls, instead of the chest joint that most female LE 17 inch dolls have. I guess that is why the doll has the word Designer as part of her official name. The joint isn't so useful for this doll because of the stiffness of her upper dress. She also has hinge jointed knees and ball jointed ankles.

 

She has light gold colored shoes with low heels. They are also have embossed decorations with a blue jewel in each shoe. She has a bow in the back with the two ends of the ribbon forming a tail that is a couple of inches longer than the dress. There is a full length red satin skirt under the decorated overskirt. Under that is a double layered tulle petticoat that is an inch shorter than the skirt.

 

She can hold the scepter in her hand only with the help of a rubber band, which I left from the original packaging. Finally her pony tail is fairly stiff with hair product, and is heavy so it tends to pull her head backwards and to her right (our left when she is facing us). This is similar to the problem with the heavy ponytail of the LE Jasmine dolls.

 

I got the Elena of Avalor LE 17 inch Doll from my local Disney Store on the release day, Tuesday November 21, 2017. I went to my store at 11:30 am, instead of my usual line up before the store opens for LE doll releases. There were three of the doll behind the counter, but placed sideways and with no promo placard. So it wasn't obvious that there was a Limited Edition doll release today. The CM I bought the doll from didn't seem to know anything about the release, so I don't know how many dolls the store got in, how many they sold, or how many were remaining. I took the first doll that was handed to me, since the doll looked perfect to me. She is #1375 of 6000.

 

Elena of Avalor Designer Doll - Limited Edition

US Disney Store

Released online and in-store 2017-11-21

Purchased in-store 2017-11-21

#1375 of 6000

 

$119.95

Item No. 6003040900403P

 

Collectors and fans of Elena of Avalor alike will adore this highly detailed designer doll featuring the teenager in charge. Looking regal in her embroidered, rhinestone-studded dress, this limited edition doll will become a treasured favorite.

 

Safety

 

WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD - Small Parts. Not for children under 3 years.

 

Magic in the details

 

Please note: Purchase of this item is limited to 1 per Guest.

 

• Limited Edition of 6000

• Certificate of Authenticity

• Fully poseable

• Multi-layered dress features embroidered and rhinestone details

• Removable tiara, bracelet, and shoes (earrings are attached)

• Scepter features rhinestone accents

• Includes display stand

• Scenic display presentation box

• Inspired by Elena of Avalor on Disney Channel

 

The bare necessities

 

• Plastic

• 16'' H

• Imported

The Palace of Versailles is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about 19 kilometers (12 mi) west of Paris, France.

 

The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, under the direction of the French Ministry of Culture, by the Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles. About 15,000,000 people visit the palace, park, or gardens of Versailles every year, making it one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world.

 

Louis XIII built a simple hunting lodge on the site of the Palace of Versailles in 1623. With his death came Louis XIV who expanded the château into the beginnings of a palace that went through several changes and phases from 1661 to 1715. It was a favorite residence for both kings, and in 1682, Louis XIV moved the seat of his court and government to Versailles, making the palace the de facto capital of France. This state of affairs was continued by Kings Louis XV and Louis XVI, who primarily made interior alterations to the palace, but in 1789 the royal family and capital of France returned to Paris. For the rest of the French Revolution, the Palace of Versailles was largely abandoned and emptied of its contents, and the population of the surrounding city plummeted.

 

Napoleon, following his coronation as Emperor, used Versailles as a summer residence from 1810 to 1814, but did not restore it. Following the Bourbon Restoration, when the king was returned to the throne, he resided in Paris and it was not until the 1830s that meaningful repairs were made to the palace. A museum of French history was installed within it, replacing the apartments of the southern wing.

 

The palace and park were designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979 for its importance as the center of power, art, and science in France during the 17th and 18th centuries. The French Ministry of Culture has placed the palace, its gardens, and some of its subsidiary structures on its list of culturally significant monuments.

 

History

Main article: History of the Palace of Versailles

An engraving of Louis XIII's château as it appeared in 1652

Versailles around 1652, engraving by Jacques Gomboust [fr]

In 1623, Louis XIII, King of France, built a hunting lodge on a hill in a favorite hunting ground, 19 kilometers (12 mi) west of Paris and 16 kilometers (10 mi) from his primary residence, the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye The site, near a village named Versailles, was a wooded wetland that Louis XIII's court scorned as being generally unworthy of a king; one of his courtiers, François de Bassompierre, wrote that the lodge "would not inspire vanity in even the simplest gentleman". From 1631 to 1634, architect Philibert Le Roy replaced the lodge with a château for Louis XIII, who forbade his queen, Anne of Austria, from staying there overnight, even when an outbreak of smallpox at Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1641 forced Louis XIII to relocate to Versailles with his three-year-old heir, the future Louis XIV.

 

When Louis XIII died in 1643, Anne became Louis XIV's regent, and Louis XIII's château was abandoned for the next decade. She moved the court back to Paris, where Anne and her chief minister, Cardinal Mazarin, continued Louis XIII's unpopular monetary practices. This led to the Fronde, a series of revolts against royal authority from 1648 to 1653 that masked a struggle between Mazarin and the princes of the blood, Louis XIV's extended family, for influence over him. In the aftermath of the Fronde, Louis XIV became determined to rule alone. Following Mazarin's death in 1661, Louis XIV reformed his government to exclude his mother and the princes of the blood, moved the court back to Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and ordered the expansion of his father's château at Versailles into a palace.

 

Louis XIV had hunted at Versailles in the 1650s, but did not take any special interest in Versailles until 1661. On 17 August 1661, Louis XIV was a guest at a sumptuous festival hosted by Nicolas Fouquet, the Superintendent of Finances, at his palatial residence, the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte. Louis XIV was impressed by the château and its gardens, which were the work of Louis Le Vau, the court architect since 1654, André Le Nôtre, the royal gardener since 1657, and Charles Le Brun, a painter in royal service since 1647. Vaux-le-Vicomte's scale and opulence inspired Louis XIV's aesthetic sense, but also led him to imprison Fouquet that September, as he had also built an island fortress and a private army. Louis XIV was also inspired by Vaux-le-Vicomte, and he recruited its authors for his own projects. Louis XIV replaced Fouquet with Jean-Baptiste Colbert, a protégé of Mazarin and enemy of Fouquet, and charged him with managing the corps of artisans in royal employment. Colbert acted as the intermediary between them and Louis XIV, who personally directed and inspected the planning and construction of Versailles.

 

Construction

Work at Versailles was at first concentrated on gardens, and through the 1660s, Le Vau only added two detached service wings and a forecourt to the château. But in 1668–69, as a response to the growth of the gardens, and victory over Spain in the War of Devolution, Louis XIV decided to turn Versailles into a full-scale royal residence. He vacillated between replacing or incorporating his father's château, but settled on the latter by the end of the decade, and from 1668 to 1671, Louis XIII's château was encased on three sides in a feature dubbed the enveloppe. This gave the château a new, Italianate façade overlooking the gardens, but preserved the courtyard façade, resulting in a mix of styles and materials that dismayed Louis XIV and that Colbert described as a "patchwork". Attempts to homogenize the two façades failed, and in 1670 Le Vau died, leaving the post of First Architect to the King vacant for the next seven years.

 

Le Vau was succeeded at Versailles by his assistant, architect François d'Orbay. Work at the palace during the 1670s focused on its interiors, as the palace was then nearing completion, though d'Orbay expanded Le Vau's service wings and connected them to the château, and built a pair of pavilions for government employees in the forecourt. In 1670, d'Orbay was tasked by Louis XIV with designing a city, also called Versailles, to house and service Louis XIV's growing government and court. The granting of land to courtiers for the construction of townhouses that resembled the palace began in 1671. The next year, the Franco-Dutch War began and funding for Versailles was cut until 1674, when Louis XIV had work begun on the Ambassadors' Staircase , a grand staircase for the reception of guests, and demolished the last of the village of Versailles.

 

Following the end of the Franco-Dutch War with French victory in 1678, Louis XIV appointed as First Architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart, an experienced architect in Louis XIV's confidence, who would benefit from a restored budget and large workforce of former soldiers. Mansart began his tenure with the addition from 1678 to 1681 of the Hall of Mirrors, a renovation of the courtyard façade of Louis XIII's château, and the expansion of d'Orbay's pavilions to create the Ministers' Wings in 1678–79. Adjacent to the palace, Mansart built a pair of stables called the Grande and Petite Écuries from 1679 to 1682 and the Grand Commun, which housed the palace's servants and general kitchens, from 1682 to 1684. Mansart also added two entirely new wings in Le Vau's Italianate style to house the court, first at the south end of the palace from 1679 to 1681 and then at its north end from 1685 to 1689.

 

War and the resulting diminished funding slowed construction at Versailles for the rest of the 17th century. The Nine Years' War, which began in 1688, stopped work altogether until 1698. Three years later, however, the even more expensive War of the Spanish Succession began and, combined with poor harvests in 1693–94 and 1709–10, plunged France into crisis. Louis XIV thus slashed funding and canceled some of the work Mansart had planned in the 1680s, such as the remodeling of the courtyard façade in the Italianate style. Louis XIV and Mansart focused on a permanent palace chapel, the construction of which lasted from 1699 to 1710.

 

Louis XIV's successors, Louis XV and Louis XVI, largely left Versailles as they inherited it and focused on the palace's interiors. Louis XV's modifications began in the 1730s, with the completion of the Salon d'Hercule, a ballroom in the north wing, and the expansion of the king's private apartment, which required the demolition of the Ambassadors' Staircase In 1748, Louis XV began construction of a palace theater, the Royal Opera of Versailles at the northernmost end of the palace, but completion was delayed until 1770; construction was interrupted in the 1740s by the War of the Austrian Succession and then again in 1756 with the start of the Seven Years' War. These wars emptied the royal treasury and thereafter construction was mostly funded by Madame du Barry, Louis XV's favorite mistress. In 1771, Louis XV had the northern Ministers' Wing rebuilt in Neoclassical style by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, his court architect, as it was in the process of falling down. That work was also stopped by financial constraints, and it remained incomplete when Louis XV died in 1774. In 1784, Louis XVI briefly moved the royal family to the Château de Saint-Cloud ahead of more renovations to the Palace of Versailles, but construction could not begin because of financial difficulty and political crisis. In 1789, the French Revolution swept the royal family and government out of Versailles forever.

 

Role in politics and culture

The Palace of Versailles was key to Louis XIV's politics, as an expression and concentration of French art and culture, and for the centralization of royal power. Louis XIV first used Versailles to promote himself with a series of nighttime festivals in its gardens in 1664, 1668, and 1674, the events of which were disseminated throughout Europe by print and engravings. As early as 1669, but especially from 1678, Louis XIV sought to make Versailles his seat of government, and he expanded the palace so as to fit the court within it. The moving of the court to Versailles did not come until 1682, however, and not officially, as opinion on Versailles was mixed among the nobility of France.

 

By 1687, however, it was evident to all that Versailles was the de facto capital of France, and Louis XIV succeeded in attracting the nobility to Versailles to pursue prestige and royal patronage within a strict court etiquette, thus eroding their traditional provincial power bases. It was at the Palace of Versailles that Louis XIV received the Doge of Genoa, Francesco Maria Imperiale Lercari in 1685, an embassy from the Ayutthaya Kingdom in 1686, and an embassy from Safavid Iran in 1715.[

 

Louis XIV died at Versailles on 1 September 1715 and was succeeded by his five-year-old great-grandson, Louis XV, then the duke of Anjou, who was moved to Vincennes and then to Paris by Louis XV's regent, Philippe II, Duke of Orléans. Versailles was neglected until 1722, when Philippe II removed the court to Versailles to escape the unpopularity of his regency, and when Louis XV began his majority. The 1722 move, however, broke the cultural power of Versailles, and during the reign of Louis XVI, courtiers spent their leisure in Paris, not Versailles.

 

During Christmas 1763, Mozart and his family visited Versailles and dined with the kings. The 7-year-old Mozart played several works during his stay and later dedicated his first two harpsichord sonatas, published in 1764 in Paris, to Madame Victoria, daughter of Louis XV.

 

In 1783, the palace was the site of the signing of the last two of the three treaties of the Peace of Paris (1783), which ended the American Revolutionary War. On September 3, British and American delegates, led by Benjamin Franklin, signed the Treaty of Paris at the Hôtel d'York (now 56 Rue Jacob) in Paris, granting the United States independence. On September 4, Spain and France signed separate treaties with England at the Palace of Versailles, formally ending the war.

 

The King and Queen learned of the Storming of the Bastille in Paris on 14 July 1789, while they were at the palace, and remained isolated there as the Revolution in Paris spread. The growing anger in Paris led to the Women's March on Versailles on 5 October 1789. A crowd of several thousand men and women, protesting the high price and scarcity of bread, marched from the markets of Paris to Versailles. They took weapons from the city armory, besieged the palace, and compelled the King and royal family and the members of the National Assembly to return with them to Paris the following day.

 

As soon as the royal family departed, the palace was closed. In 1792, the National Convention, the new revolutionary government, ordered the transfer of all the paintings and sculptures from the palace to the Louvre. In 1793, the Convention declared the abolition of the monarchy and ordered all of the royal property in the palace to be sold at auction. The auction took place between 25 August 1793 and 11 August 1794. The furnishings and art of the palace, including the furniture, mirrors, baths, and kitchen equipment, were sold in seventeen thousand lots. All fleurs-de-lys and royal emblems on the buildings were chambered or chiseled off. The empty buildings were turned into a storehouse for furnishings, art and libraries confiscated from the nobility. The empty grand apartments were opened for tours beginning in 1793, and a small museum of French paintings and art school was opened in some of the empty rooms.

 

By virtue of an order issued by the Versailles district directorate in August 1794, the Royal Gate was destroyed, the Cour Royale was cleared and the Cour de Marbre lost its precious floor.

 

19th century – history museum and government venue

When Napoleon became Emperor of the French in 1804, he considered making Versailles his residence but abandoned the idea because of the cost of the renovation. Prior to his marriage with Marie-Louise in 1810, he had the Grand Trianon restored and refurnished as a springtime residence for himself and his family, in the style of furnishing that it is seen today.

 

In 1815, with the final downfall of Napoleon, Louis XVIII, the younger brother of Louis XVI, became King, and considered returning the royal residence to Versailles, where he had been born. He ordered the restoration of the royal apartments, but the task and cost was too great. Louis XVIII had the far end of the south wing of the Cour Royale demolished and rebuilt (1814–1824) to match the Gabriel wing of 1780 opposite, which gave greater uniformity of appearance to the front entrance. Neither he nor his successor Charles X lived at Versailles.

 

The French Revolution of 1830 brought a new monarch, Louis-Philippe to power, and a new ambition for Versailles. He did not reside at Versailles but began the creation of the Museum of the History of France, dedicated to "all the glories of France", which had been used to house some members of the royal family. The museum was begun in 1833 and inaugurated on 30 June 1837. Its most famous room is the Galerie des Batailles (Hall of Battles), which lies on most of the length of the second floor of the south wing. The museum project largely came to a halt when Louis Philippe was overthrown in 1848, though the paintings of French heroes and great battles still remain in the south wing.

 

Emperor Napoleon III used the palace on occasion as a stage for grand ceremonies. One of the most lavish was the banquet that he hosted for Queen Victoria in the Royal Opera of Versailles on 25 August 1855.

 

During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, the palace was occupied by the general staff of the victorious German Army. Parts of the château, including the Gallery of Mirrors, were turned into a military hospital. The creation of the German Empire, combining Prussia and the surrounding German states under William I, was formally proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors on 18 January 1871. The Germans remained in the palace until the signing of the armistice in March 1871. In that month, the government of the new Third French Republic, which had departed Paris during the War for Tours and then Bordeaux, moved into the palace. The National Assembly held its meetings in the Opera House.

 

The uprising of the Paris Commune in March 1871, prevented the French government, under Adolphe Thiers, from returning immediately to Paris. The military operation which suppressed the Commune at the end of May was directed from Versailles, and the prisoners of the Commune were marched there and put on trial in military courts. In 1875 a second parliamentary body, the French Senate, was created and held its meetings for the election of a President of the Republic in a new hall created in 1876 in the south wing of the palace. The French Senate continues to meet in the palace on special occasions, such as the amendment of the French Constitution.

 

20th century

The end of the 19th and the early 20th century saw the beginning of restoration efforts at the palace, first led by Pierre de Nolhac, poet and scholar and the first conservator, who began his work in 1892. The conservation and restoration were interrupted by two world wars but have continued until the present day.

 

The palace returned to the world stage in June 1919, when, after six months of negotiations, the Treaty of Versailles, formally ending the First World War, was signed in the Hall of Mirrors. Between 1925 and 1928, the American philanthropist and multi-millionaire John D. Rockefeller, Jr. gave $2,166,000, the equivalent of about thirty million dollars today, to restore and refurbish the palace.

 

More work took place after World War II, with the restoration of the Royal Opera of Versailles. The theater was reopened in 1957, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.

 

In 1978, parts of the palace were heavily damaged in a bombing committed by Breton terrorists.

 

Starting in the 1950s, when the museum of Versailles was under the directorship of Gérald van der Kemp, the objective was to restore the palace to its state – or as close to it as possible – in 1789 when the royal family left the palace. Among the early projects was the repair of the roof over the Hall of Mirrors; the publicity campaign brought international attention to the plight of post-war Versailles and garnered much foreign money including a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.

 

One of the more costly endeavors for the museum and France's Fifth Republic has been to repurchase as much of the original furnishings as possible. Consequently, because furniture with a royal provenance – and especially furniture that was made for Versailles – is a highly sought-after commodity on the international market, the museum has spent considerable funds on retrieving much of the palace's original furnishings.

 

21st century

In 2003, a new restoration initiative – the "Grand Versailles" project – was started, which began with the replanting of the gardens, which had lost over 10,000 trees during Cyclone Lothar on 26 December 1999. One part of the initiative, the restoration of the Hall of Mirrors, was completed in 2006. Another major project was the further restoration of the backstage areas of the Royal Opera of Versailles in 2007 to 2009.

 

The Palace of Versailles is currently owned by the French state. Its formal title is the Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles. Since 1995, it has been run as a Public Establishment, with an independent administration and management supervised by the French Ministry of Culture.

 

The grounds of the palace will host the equestrian competition during the 2024 Summer Olympics.

 

Architecture and plan

The Palace of Versailles is a visual history of French architecture from the 1630s to the 1780s. Its earliest portion, the corps de logis, was built for Louis XIII in the style of his reign with brick, marble, and slate, which Le Vau surrounded in the 1660s with Enveloppe, an edifice that was inspired by Renaissance-era Italian villas. When Mansart made further expansions to the palace in the 1680s, he used the Enveloppe as the model for his work. Neoclassical additions were made to the palace with the remodeling of the Ministers' Wings in the 1770s, by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, and after the Bourbon Restoration.

 

The palace was largely completed by the death of Louis XIV in 1715. The eastern facing palace has a U-shaped layout, with the corps de logis and symmetrical advancing secondary wings terminating with the Dufour Pavilion on the south and the Gabriel Pavilion to the north, creating an expansive cour d'honneur known as the Royal Court (Cour Royale). Flanking the Royal Court are two enormous asymmetrical wings that result in a façade of 402 metres (1,319 ft) in length. Covered by around a million square feet (10 hectares) of roof, the palace has 2,143 windows, 1,252 chimneys, and 67 staircases.[

 

The palace and its grounds have had a great influence on architecture and horticulture from the mid-17th century to the end of the 18th century. Examples of works influenced by Versailles include Christopher Wren's work at Hampton Court Palace, Berlin Palace, the Palace of La Granja, Stockholm Palace, Ludwigsburg Palace, Karlsruhe Palace, Rastatt Palace, Nymphenburg Palace, Schleissheim Palace, and Esterházy Palace.

 

Royal Apartments

The construction in 1668–1671 of Le Vau's enveloppe around the outside of Louis XIII's red brick and white stone château added state apartments for the king and the queen. The addition was known at the time as the château neuf (new château). The grands appartements (Grand Apartments, also referred to as the State Apartments[141][142]) include the grand appartement du roi and the grand appartement de la reine. They occupied the main or principal floor of the château neuf, with three rooms in each apartment facing the garden to the west and four facing the garden parterres to the north and south, respectively. The private apartments of the king (the appartement du roi and the petit appartement du roi) and those of the queen (the petit appartement de la reine) remained in the château vieux (old château). Le Vau's design for the state apartments closely followed Italian models of the day, including the placement of the apartments on the main floor (the piano nobile, the next floor up from the ground level), a convention the architect borrowed from Italian palace design.

 

The king's State Apartment consisted of an enfilade of seven rooms, each dedicated to one of the known planets and their associated titular Roman deity. The queen's apartment formed a parallel enfilade with that of the grand appartement du roi. After the addition of the Hall of Mirrors (1678–1684) the king's apartment was reduced to five rooms (until the reign of Louis XV, when two more rooms were added) and the queen's to four.

 

The queen's apartments served as the residence of three queens of France – Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche, wife of Louis XIV, Marie Leczinska, wife of Louis XV, and Marie-Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI. Additionally, Louis XIV's granddaughter-in-law, Princess Marie-Adélaïde of Savoy, duchesse de Bourgogne, wife of the Petit Dauphin, occupied these rooms from 1697 (the year of her marriage) to her death in 1712.

 

Ambassador's Staircase

The Ambassadors' Staircase (Escalier des Ambassadeurs) was an imperial staircase built from 1674 to 1680 by d'Orbay. Until Louis XV had it demolished in 1752 to create a courtyard for his private apartments, the staircase was the primary entrance into the Palace of Versailles and the royal apartments especially. It was entered from the courtyard via a vestibule that, cramped and dark, contrasted greatly with the tall, open space of the staircase – famously lit naturally with a skylight – so as to overawe visitors.

 

The staircase and walls of the room that contained it were clad in polychrome marble and gilded bronze, with decor in the Ionic order. Le Brun and painted the walls and ceiling of the room according to a festive theme to celebrate Louis XIV's victory in the Franco-Dutch War. On the wall immediately above the staircase were trompe-l'œil paintings of people from the Four Parts of the World looking into the staircase over a balustrade, a motif repeated on the ceiling fresco. There they were joined by allegorical figures for the twelve months of the year and various Classical Greek figures such as the Muses. A marble bust of Louis XIV, sculpted by Jean Warin in 1665–66, was placed in a niche above the first landing of the staircase.

 

The State Apartments of the King

The construction of the Hall of Mirrors between 1678 and 1686 coincided with a major alteration to the State Apartments. They were originally intended as his residence, but the King transformed them into galleries for his finest paintings, and venues for his many receptions for courtiers. During the season from All-Saints Day in November until Easter, these were usually held three times a week, from six to ten in the evening, with various entertainments.

 

The Salon of Hercules

This was originally a chapel. It was rebuilt beginning in 1712 under the supervision of the First Architect of the King, Robert de Cotte, to showcase two paintings by Paolo Veronese, Eleazar and Rebecca and Meal at the House of Simon the Pharisee, which was a gift to Louis XIV from the Republic of Venice in 1664. The painting on the ceiling, The Apotheosis of Hercules, by François Lemoyne, was completed in 1736, and gave the room its name.

 

The Salon of Abundance

The Salon of Abundance was the antechamber to the Cabinet of Curios (now the Games Room), which displayed Louis XIV's collection of precious jewels and rare objects. Some of the objects in the collection are depicted in René-Antoine Houasse's painting Abundance and Liberality (1683), located on the ceiling over the door opposite the windows.

 

The Salon of Venus

This salon was used for serving light meals during evening receptions. The principal feature in this room is Jean Warin's life-size statue of Louis XIV in the costume of a Roman emperor. On the ceiling in a gilded oval frame is another painting by Houasse, Venus subjugating the Gods and Powers (1672–1681). Trompe-l'œil paintings and sculpture around the ceiling illustrate mythological themes.

 

The Salon of Mercury

The Salon of Mercury was the original State Bedchamber when Louis XIV officially moved the court and government to the palace in 1682. The bed is a replica of the original commissioned by King Louis-Philippe in the 19th century when he turned the palace into a museum. The ceiling paintings by the Flemish artist Jean Baptiste de Champaigne depict the god Mercury in his chariot, drawn by a rooster, and Alexander the Great and Ptolemy surrounded by scholars and philosophers. The Automaton Clock was made for the King by the royal clockmaker Antoine Morand in 1706. When it chimes the hour, figures of Louis XIV and Fame descend from a cloud.

 

The Salon of Mars

The Salon of Mars was used by the royal guards until 1782, and was decorated on a military theme with helmets and trophies. It was turned into a concert room between 1684 and 1750, with galleries for musicians on either side. Portraits of Louis XV and his Queen, Marie Leszczinska, by the Flemish artist Carle Van Loo decorate the room today.

 

The Salon of Apollo

The Salon of Apollo was the royal throne room under Louis XIV, and was the setting for formal audiences. The eight-foot-high silver throne was melted down in 1689 to help pay the costs of an expensive war, and was replaced by a more modest throne of gilded wood. The central painting on the ceiling, by Charles de la Fosse, depicts the Sun Chariot of Apollo, the King's favorite emblem, pulled by four horses and surrounded by the four seasons.

 

The Salon of Diana

The Salon of Diana was used by Louis XIV as a billiards room, and had galleries from which courtiers could watch him play. The decoration of the walls and ceiling depicts scenes from the life of the goddess Diana. The celebrated bust of Louis XIV by Bernini made during the famous sculptor's visit to France in 1665 is on display here.

 

Private apartments of the King and Queen

The apartments of the King were the heart of the château; they were in the same location as the rooms of Louis XIII, the creator of the château, on the first floor (second floor US style). They were set aside for the personal use of Louis XIV in 1683. He and his successors Louis XV and Louis XVI used these rooms for official functions, such as the ceremonial lever ("waking up") and the coucher ("going to bed") of the monarch, which was attended by a crowd of courtiers.

 

The King's apartment was accessed from the Hall of Mirrors from the Oeil de Boeuf antechamber or from the Guardroom and the Grand Couvert, the ceremonial room where Louis XIV often took his evening meals, seated alone at a table in front of the fireplace. His spoon, fork, and knife were brought to him in a golden box. The courtiers could watch as he dined.

 

The King's bedchamber had originally been a Drawing Room before Louis XIV transformed it into his own bedroom in 1701. He died there on 1 September 1715. Both Louis XV and Louis XVI continued to use the bedroom for their official awakening and going to bed. On 6 October 1789, from the balcony of this room Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, joined by the Marquis de Lafayette, looked down on the hostile crowd in the courtyard, shortly before the King was forced to return to Paris.

 

The bed of the King is placed beneath a carved relief by Nicolas Coustou entitled France watching over the sleeping King. The decoration includes several paintings set into the paneling, including a self-portrait of Antony van Dyck.

 

Private apartments of The Queen

The petit appartement de la reine is a suite of rooms that were reserved for the personal use of the queen. Originally arranged for the use of the Marie-Thérèse, consort of Louis XIV, the rooms were later modified for use by Marie Leszczyńska and finally for Marie-Antoinette. The Queen's apartments and the King's Apartments were laid out on the same design, each suite having seven rooms. Both suites had ceilings painted with scenes from mythology; the King's ceilings featured male figures, the Queen's featured females.

 

Hall of Mirrors

The Hall of Mirrors is a long gallery at the westernmost part of the palace that looks out onto the gardens. The hall was built from 1678 to 1681 on the site of a terrace Le Vau built between the king and queen's suites. The hall is clad in marble and decorated in a modified version of the Corinthian order, with 578 mirrors facing 17 windows and reflecting the light provided by them. The ceiling fresco, painted by Le Brun over the next four years, embellishes the first 18 years of Louis XIV's reign in 30 scenes, 17 of which are military victories over the Dutch. The fresco depicts Louis XIV himself alongside Classical figures in the scenes celebrating moments in his reign such as the beginning of personal rule in 1661, breaking from earlier frescoes at Versailles that used allegories derived from Classical and mythological scenes.

 

The Salon of War and the Salon of Peace bookend the Hall of Mirrors on its northern and southern ends respectively. The Salon of War, constructed and decorated from 1678 to 1686, celebrates French victories in the Franco-Dutch War with marble panels, gilded bronze trophies of arms, and a stucco bas-relief of Louis XIV on horsebask riding over his enemies. The Salon of Peace is decorated in the same fashion but according to its eponymous theme.

 

Royal Chapel

The Royal Chapel of Versailles is located at the southern end of the north wing. The building stands 40-meter (130 ft) high, and measures 42 meters (138 ft) long and 24 meters (79 ft) wide. The chapel is rectangular with a semicircular apse, combining traditional, Gothic royal French church architecture with the French Baroque style of Versailles. The ceiling of the chapel is constituted by an unbroken vault, divided into three frescos by Antoine Coypel, Charles de La Fosse, and Jean Jouvenet. The palette of motifs beneath the frescoes glorify the deeds of Louis IX, and include images of David, Constantine, Charlemagne, and Louis IX, fleur de lis, and Louis XIV's monogram. The organ of the chapel was built by Robert Clicquot and Julien Tribuot in 1709–1710.

 

Louis XIV commissioned the chapel, its sixth, from Mansart and Le Brun in 1683–84. It was the last building constructed at Versailles during Louis XIV's reign. Construction was delayed until 1699, however, and it was not completed until 1710. The only major modification to the chapel since its completion was the removal of a lantern from its roof in 1765. A full restoration of the chapel began in late 2017 and lasted into early 2021.

 

Royal Opera

The Royal Opera of Versailles was originally commissioned by Louis XIV in 1682 and was to be built at the end of the North Wing with a design by Mansart and Vigarani. However, due to the expense of the King's continental wars, the project was put aside. The idea was revived by Louis XV with a new design by Ange-Jacques Gabriel in 1748, but this was also temporarily put aside. The project was revived and rushed ahead for the planned celebration of the marriage of the Dauphin, the future Louis XVI, and Marie-Antoinette. For economy and speed, the new opera was built almost entirely of wood, which also gave it very high quality acoustics. The wood was painted to resemble marble, and the ceiling was decorated with a painting of the Apollo, the god of the arts, preparing crowns for illustrious artists, by Louis Jean-Jacques Durameau. The sculptor Augustin Pajou added statuary and reliefs to complete the decoration. The new Opera was inaugurated on 16 May 1770, as part of the celebration of the royal wedding.

 

In October 1789, early in the French Revolution, the last banquet for the royal guardsmen was hosted by the King in the opera, before he departed for Paris. Following the Franco-German War in 1871 and then the Paris Commune until 1875, the French National Assembly met in the opera, until the proclamation of the Third French Republic and the return of the government to Paris.

 

Museum of the History of France

Shortly after becoming King in 1830, Louis Philippe I decided to transform the palace into a museum devoted to "All the Glories of France," with paintings and sculpture depicting famous French victories and heroes. Most of the apartments of the palace were entirely demolished (in the main building, practically all of the apartments were annihilated, with only the apartments of the king and queen remaining almost intact), and turned into a series of several large rooms and galleries: the Coronation Room (whose original volume was left untouched by Louis-Philippe), which displays the celebrated painting of the coronation of Napoleon I by Jacques-Louis David; the Hall of Battles; commemorating French victories with large-scale paintings; and the 1830 room, which celebrated Louis-Philippe's own coming to power in the French Revolution of 1830. Some paintings were brought from the Louvre, including works depicting events in French history by Philippe de Champaigne, Pierre Mignard, Laurent de La Hyre, Charles Le Brun, Adam Frans van der Meulen, Nicolas de Largillière, Hyacinthe Rigaud, Jean-Antoine Houdon, Jean-Marc Nattier, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, Hubert Robert, Thomas Lawrence, Jacques-Louis David, and Antoine-Jean Gros. Others were commissioned especially for the museum by prominent artists of the early 19th century, including Eugène Delacroix, who painted Saint Louis at the French victory over the British in the Battle of Taillebourg in 1242. Other painters featured include Horace Vernet and François Gérard. A monumental painting by Vernet features Louis Philippe himself, with his sons, posing in front of the gates of the palace.

 

The overthrow of Louis Philippe in 1848 put an end to his grand plans for the museum, but the Gallery of Battles is still as it was, and is passed through by many visitors to the royal apartments and grand salons. Another set of rooms on the first floor has been made into galleries on Louis XIV and his court, displaying furniture, paintings, and sculptures. In recent years, eleven rooms on the ground floor between the Chapel and the Opera have been turned into a history of the palace, with audiovisual displays and models.

 

Estate of Versailles

The estate of Versailles consists of the palace, the subsidiary buildings around it, and its park and gardens. As of June 2021, the estate altogether covers an area of 800 hectares (8.0 km2; 2,000 acres), with the park and gardens laid out to the south, west, and north of the palace. The palace is approached from the east by the Avenue de Paris, measuring 17 miles (27 km) from Paris to a gate between the Grande and Petite Écuries. Beyond these stables is the Place d'Armes, where the Avenue de Paris meets the Avenue de Sceaux and Avenue de Saint-Cloud (see map), the three roads that formed the main arteries of the city of Versailles. Exactly where the three roads meet is a gate leading into the cour d'honneur. hemmed in by the Ministers' Wings. Beyond is the Royal Gate and the main palace, which wraps around the Royal and finally Marble Courts

 

The estate was established by Louis XIII as a hunting retreat, with a park just to the west of his château. From 1661, Louis XIV expanded the estate until, at its greatest extent, the estate was made up by the Grand Parc , a hunting ground of 15,000 hectares (150 km2; 37,000 acres), and the gardens, called the Petit Parc, which covered 1,700 hectares (17 km2; 4,200 acres). A 25-mile (40 km) long, 10-foot (3.0 m) high wall with 24 gateways enclosed the estate.

 

The landscape of the estate had to be created from the bog that surrounded Louis XIII's château using landscape architecture usually employed in fortress building. The approach to the palace and the gardens were carefully laid out via the moving of earth and construction of terraces. The water from the marsh was marshalled into a series of lakes and ponds around Versailles, but these reservoirs were not sufficient for the palace, city, or gardens. Great lengths were taken to supply Versailles with water, such as the damming of the river Bièvre to create an inflow in the 1660s, the construction of an enormous pumping station at the river Seine near Marly-le-Roi in 1681, and an attempt to divert water from the river Eure with a canal in the later 1680s.

 

Gardens

The gardens of Versailles, as they have existed since the reign of Louis XIV, are the work of André Le Nôtre. Le Nôtre's gardens were preceded by a simple garden laid out in the 1630s by landscape architects Jacques Boyceau and Jacques de Nemours, which he rearranged along an east–west axis that, because of Louis XIV's land purchases and the clearing of woodland, were expanded literally as far as could be seen. The resulting gardens were a collaboration between Le Nôtre, Le Brun, Colbert, and Louis XIV, marked by rigid order, discipline, and open space, with axial paths, flowerbeds, hedges, and ponds and lakes as motifs. They became the epitome of the French formal garden style, and have been very influential and widely imitated or reproduced.

 

Subsidiary structures

The first of the subsidiary structures of the Palace of Versailles was the Versailles Menagerie [fr],[199][200] built by Le Vau between the years 1662 and 1664, at the southern end of the Grand Canal. The apartments, overlooking the pens, were renovated by Mansart from 1698 to 1700, but the Menagerie fell into disuse in 1712. After a long period of decay, it was demolished in 1801. The Versailles Orangery, just to the south of the palace, was first built by Le Vau in 1663, originally as part of the general moving of earth to create the Estate.[191] It was also modified by Mansart, who, from 1681 to 1685, totally rebuilt it and doubled its size.

 

In late 1679, Louis XIV commissioned Mansart to build the Château de Marly, a retreat at the edge of Versailles's estate, about 5 miles (8.0 km) from the palace. The château consisted of a primary residential building and twelve pavilions, in Palladian style placed in two rows on either side of the main building. Construction was completed in 1686, when Louis XIV spent his first night there. The château was nationalized and sold in 1799, and subsequently demolished and replaced with industrial buildings. These were themselves demolished in 1805, and then in 1811 the estate was purchased by Napoleon. On 1 June 2009, the grounds of the Château de Marly were ceded to the Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles.

 

La Lanterne, is a hunting lodge named after the lantern that topped the nearby Menagerie that was built in 1787 by Philippe Louis de Noailles, then the palace governor. It has since 1960 been a state residence.

 

Petit Trianon

The Petit Trianon, whose construction from 1762 to 1768 led to the advent of the names "Grand" and "Petit Trianon", was constructed for Louis XV and the Madame du Barry in the Neoclassical style by Gabriel. The building has a piano nobile, basement, and attic, with five windows on each floor. On becoming king, Louis XVI gave the Petit Trianon to Marie Antoinette, who remodeled it, relaid its gardens in the then-current English and Oriental styles, and formed her own court there.

 

In 1668, Louis XIV purchased and demolished the hamlet of Trianon, near the northern tip of the Grand Canal, and in its place, he commissioned Le Vau to construct a retreat from court, remembered as the Porcelain Trianon. Designed and built by Le Vau in 1670, it was the first example of Chinoiserie (faux Chinese) architecture in Europe, though it was largely designed in French style. The roof was clad not with porcelain but with delftware, and was thus prone to leaks, so in 1687 Louis XIV ordered it demolished. Nevertheless, the Porcelain Trianon was itself influential and copycats were built across Europe.

 

The Grand Trianon

The Grand Trianon with courtyard and gardens. The wing at left is a residence of the President of France.

The Grand Trianon with courtyard and gardens. The wing at left is a residence of the President of France.

 

To replace the Porcelain Trianon, Louis XIV tasked Mansart with the construction in 1687 of the Grand Trianon, built from marble in three months. The Grand Trianon has a single story, except for its attached service wing, which was modified by Mansart in 1705–06. The east façade has a courtyard while the west faces the gardens of the Grand Trianon, and between them a peristyle. The interiors are mostly original,[214] and housed Louis XIV, the Madame de Maintenon, Marie Leszczynska, and Napoleon, who ordered restorations to the building. Under de Gaulle, the north wing of the Grand Trianon became a residence of the President of France.

 

The Queen's hamlet and Theater

Near the Trianons are the French pavilion, built by Gabriel in 1750 between the two residences, and the Queen's Theater and Queen's Hamlet, built by architect Richard Mique in 1780 and from 1783 to 1785 respectively. These were both built at the behest of Marie Antoinette; the theater, hidden in the gardens, indulged her appreciation of opera and is absolutely original, and the hamlet to extend her gardens with rustic amenities. The building scheme of the Queen's Hamlet includes a farmhouse (the farm was to produce milk and eggs for the queen), a dairy, a dovecote, a boudoir, a barn that burned down during the French Revolution, a mill and a tower in the form of a lighthouse.

 

Modern political and ceremonial functions

The palace still serves political functions. Heads of state are regaled in the Hall of Mirrors; the bicameral French Parliament—consisting of the Senate (Sénat) and the National Assembly (Assemblée nationale)—meet in joint session (a congress of the French Parliament) in Versailles to revise or otherwise amend the French Constitution, a tradition that came into effect with the promulgation of the 1875 Constitution. For example, the Parliament met in joint session at Versailles to pass constitutional amendments in June 1999 (for domestic applicability of International Criminal Court decisions and for gender equality in candidate lists), in January 2000 (ratifying the Treaty of Amsterdam), and in March 2003 (specifying the "decentralized organization" of the French Republic).

 

In 2009, President Nicolas Sarkozy addressed the global financial crisis before a congress in Versailles, the first time that this had been done since 1848, when Charles-Louis Napoleon Bonaparte gave an address before the French Second Republic. Following the November 2015 Paris attacks, President François Hollande gave a speech before a rare joint session of parliament at the Palace of Versailles. This was the third time since 1848 that a French president addressed a joint session of the French Parliament at Versailles. The president of the National Assembly has an official apartment at the Palace of Versailles. In 2023 a state visit by Charles III to France included a state banquet at the Palace.

This little fella has taunted me & my camera for months now.

(Not that I've actually actively pursued photographing him all that much.)

He visits the red sage in our backyard at least twice a day, but most days when I run to fetch my camera, get it turned on & step out the door, ZOOM! off up into the sky he darts.

 

Last evening I saw some wonderful light on the trunk of our oleander in the backyard, so I grabbed the tripod, camera, etc. Those pics turned out most lackluster as the sun decided to hide behind cloud cover as soon as I was all set up. Figures!

 

So I moved over to the flower bed with the red sage, because my volunteer red zinnia is a family of five blossoms now. Well, guess who showed up! Yup, the elusive hummie. :) Naturally I couldn't get the tripod adjusted to catch him that way... In my excitement, I clumsily clanked the remote up against the tripod, startling hummie & the little pooh-head flew instantly off!

 

I had to go indoors for something else. So took the camera off of the tripod, went indoors to do my thing, then back outdoors & there s/he was again. So, I tip-toed as quietly as mouse to the center of the patio, focused, snapped, ...those were really too far away, but I thought -possibly- crop-able. Tip-toed closer, snap snap, closer, snap snap & then he finally flew off again. Then I sat myself down on the cottage stone wall around that flower bed & waited... the dude never returned, alas. But at least my stalking him/her yielded this one. :)

 

This isn't a wonderful noteworthy shot like Digital Gurl's or kwilliam's, but it's the best one I've managed so far, better than my first and second attempts, so I think anyway, even though there was really no decent sunlight to illuminate him like in my second.

 

These little birds are so doggone flighty & fast.

Larger, if you wish.

She has so many wonderful seascapes and landscape photographs, as well as fabulous macros. It was a pleasure to go through your photo stream! However it was the beautiful bokah of the screw set of shots that really got me thinking, I love the beauty of something so industrial as a screw. A 2nd for the day

I must confess that clock strikes this time maybe too often!!

 

Flickr Lounge - Weekly Theme (Week 1) ~ Clock or Time ....

 

Thanks to everyone who views this photo, adds a note, leaves a comment and of course BIG thanks to anyone who chooses to favourite my photo .... Thanks to you all!

Has a new operator in there as Boden have moved 100yds down the road. Midland Coaches DY57HYF and DN57OCL are both Ford Transit M16 . Photo taken 27/10/20

Whenever we have tried to see inside St Dunstan's in the past, always on a Saturday, there has been a christening taking place, or some other service, which means I have only glimpsed inside before we had to leave as the stares were quite hard from people attending the service.

 

I left St Spelchure, intending to walk straight to St Magnus, as that was the one church I wanted to visit. I turned of Holborn, thinking I knew the directions, ending up on Fleet Street in the end after all, with the clock of St Dunstan's just a few hundred yards away.

 

With the rain falling ever harder, I walk past ambling tourists and find my way into the church.

 

Sadly, I underestimated the darkness inside, and not may shots came out, but we can always go back.

 

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

 

"St Dunstan in the West, the church of, is situated on the north side of the west end of Fleet Street, where it has been long known as a grievous incumbrance to Hackney and stage coachmen, drivers of omnibuses, and country females. But as it is about to be taken down, to the infinite regret of the city pickpockets, any description of it is unnecessary. It, however, unfortunately for the public, narrowly escaped destruction by the great fire of 1666, the flames having been stopped within three houses of its walls. It has been several times repaired, but it will, ere long,...be removed. It is a church of very ancient foundation, in the gift of the abott and convent of Westminster, who in 1237 gave it to Henry III towards the maintenance of the foundation of the house called the Rolls, for the reception of converted Jews. It was afterwards conveyed to the abbot and convent of Alnwick, in Northumberland, in whom it continued till the dissolution of the religious houses by Henry VIII. Edward VI granted the advowson of this church under the name of a vicarage to Lord Dudley. Soon after this, the rectory and vicarage were granted to Sir Richard Sackville, and the impropriation has ever since remained in private hands.

 

familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/St_Dunstan_in_the_West

 

The Guild Church of St Dunstan-in-the-West is in Fleet Street in the City of London, England. It is dedicated to a former Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury. The church is of medieval origin, although the present building, with an octagonal nave, was constructed in the 1830s to the designs of John Shaw.

 

First founded between AD 988 and 1070, there is a possibility that a church on this site was one of the Lundenwic strand settlement churches, like St Martin in the Fields, the first St Mary le Strand, St Clement Danes and St Brides. These churches may pre-date any within the walls of the city . It is not known exactly when the original church was built, but it was possibly erected by Saint Dunstan himself, or priests who knew him well. It was first mentioned in written records in 1185.[2] King Henry III gained possession of it and its endowments from Westminster Abbey by 1237 and then granted these and the advowson to the "House of Converts" i.e. of the converted Jews, which led to its neglect of its parochial responsibilities. This institution was eventually transformed into the Court of the Master of the Rolls.

 

The medieval church underwent many alterations before its demolition in the early 19th century. Small shops were built against its walls, St Dunstan's Churchyard becoming a centre for bookselling and publishing.[3] Later repairs were carried out in an Italianate style: rusticated stonework was used, and some of the Gothic windows were replaced with round headed ones, resulting in what George Godwin called "a most heterogeneous appearance".[3] In 1701 the church's old vaulted roof was replaced with a flat ceiling, ornamented with recessed panels.[3]

 

The Worshipful Company of Cordwainers has been associated with the church since the 15th century. The company holds an annual service of commemoration to honour two of its benefactors, John Fisher and Richard Minge, after which children were traditionally given a penny for each time they ran around the church.

 

William Tyndale, the celebrated translator of the Bible, was a lecturer at the church and sermons were given by the poet John Donne. Samuel Pepys mentions the church in his diary.[4] The church narrowly escaped the Great Fire of London in 1666. The Dean of Westminster roused 40 scholars from Westminster School in the middle of the night, who formed a fire brigade which extinguished the flames with buckets of water to only three doors away.

 

In the early 19th century the medieval church of St Dunstan was removed to allow the widening of Fleet Street and a new church was built on its burial ground. An Act of Parliament was obtained authorising the demolition of the church in July 1829 and trustees were appointed to carry it into effect. In December 1829 and September 1830 there were auctions of some of the materials of the old church. The first stone of the new building, to the design of John Shaw, Sr. (1776–1832), was laid in July 1831 and construction proceeded rapidly. In August 1832 the last part of the old church, which had been left as a screen between Fleet Street and the new work, was removed.[3]

 

Shaw dealt with the restricted site by designing a church with an octagonal central space. Seven of the eight sides open into arched recesses, the northern one containing the altar. The eighth side opens into a short corridor, leading beneath the organ to the lowest stage of the tower, which serves as an entrance porch. Above the recesses Shaw designed a clerestory, and above that a groined ceiling. The tower is square in plan, with an octagonal lantern, resembling those of St Botolph, Boston, and St Helen's York. George Godwin Jr suggested that the form of the lantern might have been immediately inspired by that of St George's church in Ramsgate ( where Shaw was architect to the docks), built in 1825 to the designs of H.E. Kendall.[3] John Shaw Sr. died in 1833, before the church was completed, leaving it in the hands of his son John Shaw Jr (1803–1870).

 

The communion rail is a survivor of the old church, having been carved by Grinling Gibbons during the period when John Donne served as vicar (1624–1631). Some of the monuments from the medieval building were reinstituted in the new church and a fragment of the old churchyard remains between Clifford's Inn and Bream's Buildings.

 

Apart from losing its stained glass, the church survived the London Blitz largely intact, though bombs did damage the open-work lantern tower.[6] The building was largely restored in 1950. An appeal to raise money to install a new ring of bells in the tower, replacing those removed in 1969, was successfully completed in 2012 with the dedication and hanging of 10 new bells.[7]

 

The church was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.

 

On the façade is a chiming clock, with figures of giants, perhaps representing Gog and Magog, who strike the bells with their clubs. It was installed on the previous church in 1671, perhaps commissioned to celebrate its escape from destruction by the Great Fire of 1666. It was the first public clock in London to have a minute hand. The figures of the two giants strike the hours and quarters, and turn their heads. There are numerous literary references to the clock, including in Thomas Hughes' Tom Brown's Schooldays, Oliver Goldsmith’s The Vicar of Wakefield, David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, David Lyddal's The Prompter (1810)[9] and a poem by William Cowper. In 1828, when the medieval church was demolished, the clock was removed by art collector Francis Seymour-Conway, 3rd Marquess of Hertford to his mansion in Regent's Park; during World War I, a new charity for blinded soldiers was lent the house, and took the name St Dunstan's from the clock.[10] It was returned by Lord Rothermere in 1935 to mark the Silver Jubilee of King George V.

 

Above the entrance to the old parochial school is a statue of Queen Elizabeth I, taken from the old Ludgate, which was demolished in 1760. This statue, dating from 1586, is contemporaneous with its subject and thought to be the oldest outdoor statue in London. In the porch below are three statues of ancient Britons also from the gate, probably meant to represent King Lud and his two sons.

 

Adjacent to Queen Elizabeth is a bust of Lord Northcliffe, the newspaper proprietor, co-founder of the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror. Next to Lord Northcliffe is a memorial tablet to James Louis Garvin, another pioneering British journalist.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Dunstan-in-the-West

 

St.Dunstan-in-the-West has a long and illustrious history. Visitors are often struck by how St. Dunstan’s differs in appearance and style to other Anglican churches. The church looks traditionally Neo-Gothic on the outside, yet is octagonal inside.

 

Saint Dunstan

Dunstan was one of the foremost saints of Anglo-Saxon England: he was also one of the most venerated before the cult of St Thomas Becket took hold of the popular imagination. He was born in 909 A.D. and was taught by Irish monks at Glastonbury Abbey, Somerset, where he developed a reputation as a formidable scholar. He also learnt metalworking, and was later adopted as the patron saint of Goldsmiths. Dunstan became a companion to King Aethelstan’s stepbrothers, Edmund and Eadred, although he was banished after the king died in 939. He then lived at Glastonbury as a hermit, before being appointed Abbot there in 945. He was appointed as the Bishop of Worcester and then the Bishop of London, before being elected Archbishop of Canterbury in 960. Dunstan sought peace with the Danes and promoted monastic living, as well as establishing the library at Canterbury Cathedral, where he was buried in 988. St Dunstan’s feast day is the 19th May and is still celebrated at this church: in 2013 our Patronal Festival will be held on Saturday 18 May.

 

The Original Church

The original St Dunstan-in-the-West stood on the same site as today, spilling in the past onto what is now the tarmac of Fleet Street. It is not known exactly when the original church was built, but it was between 988 and 1070 AD. It is not impossible that St Dunstan himself, or priests who knew him well, decreed that a church was needed here. The church narrowly escaped the Great Fire of London in 1666. The quick thinking of the Dean of Westminster saved the church: he roused forty scholars from Westminster School in the middle of the night, who extinguished the flames with buckets of water.

 

The Church is Rebuilt

The wear and tear of time took its toll, however, and St Dunstan’s was rebuilt in 1831. The architect, John Shaw, died in 1832, leaving his son, who bore the same name, to complete the task. The tower was badly damaged by German bombers in 1944, and was rebuilt in 1950 through the generosity of newspaper magnate Viscount Camrose. In 1952, St Dunstan-in-the-West became a Guild Church, dedicating its ministry to the daytime working population around Fleet Street.

 

The Clock and Giants

St Dunstan-in-the-West was a well-known landmark in previous centuries because of its magnificent clock. This dates from 1671, and was the first public clock in London to have a minute hand. The figures of the two giants strike the hours and quarters, and turn their heads. There are numerous literary references to the clock, including in Tom Brown’s Schooldays, the Vicar of Wakefield and a poem by William Cowper (1782):

 

When labour and when dullness, club in hand,

Like the two figures at St. Dunstan’s stand,

Beating alternately in measured time

The clockwork tintinnabulum of rhyme,

Exact and regular the sounds will be,

But such mere quarter-strokes are not for me.

 

The courtyard also contains statues of King Lud, the mythical sovereign, and his sons and Queen Elizabeth I, all of which originally stood in Ludgate. The statue of Queen Elizabeth I dates from 1586 and is the only one known to have been carved during her reign. (Please note: we regret that, due to building works, the statue of Queen Elizabeth I is not on view until the autumn of 2013.)

 

Inside the Church

Much of the internal fabric pre-dates the rebuilding of the church in the 1830s. The high altar and reredos are Flemish woodwork dating from the seventeenth century. There are also a large number of monuments from the original

church. Some of the earliest are two bronze figures thought to date from 1530.

 

The Organ

The original church has an organ dating from 1674-75 made by Renatus Harris. However, none of the original parts are likely to have remained as over the years it has had to be entirely rebuilt. Much of the present organ dates from 1834, when a Joseph Robson organ was bought at the same time as the Church was being rebuilt. Many distinguished organists have played here, including John Reading, the composer of Adeste Fideles, who died in 1764. Handel was even invited to play here, although whether the great composer ever accepted the invitation remains unknown.

 

The Romanian Orthodox Church

As well as being an Anglican church, the building of St Dunstan’s is home to the Romanian Orthodox Church in London. The beautiful iconostasis (altar screen) was brought here from a monastery in Bucharest in 1966.

 

St Dunstan-in-the-West is home to the Anglican and Eastern Churches Association, and is a centre of prayer for Christian Unity. It is therefore appropriate that the side chapels contain altars dedicated to various traditions, including the Lutheran Church in Berlin (EKD). There is also an altar of the Oriental Churches (Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Syrian, Syro-Indian) and a shrine of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches. St Dunstan’s continues in its special role of promoting good relations with Churches outside the Anglican Communion, including through its role as the Diocese of London’s Church for Europe.

 

Other Famous Connections

 

The poet John Donne held the benefice here from 1624-31, while he was Dean of St Paul’s. William Tyndale, who pioneered the translation of the Bible into English, was a lecturer here. The famous diarist Samuel Pepys worshipped here a number of times. Lord Baltimore, who founded the State of Maryland in the USA, was buried here in 1632, as was his son. The church has been associated with the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers (old English for shoemakers) since the fifteenth century. Once a year the company holds a service here to commemorate the benefactors John Fisher and Richard Minge, after which children used to be given a penny for each time they ran around the church!

 

The Hoare Bank

The church has long had an association with C. Hoare and Co., whose bank has been situated opposite the church since 1690. The Hoare family donated the four stained glass windows behind the high altar and the carved canopies of the altar-piece. The windows show Archbishop Lanfrance; St Dunstan beside a roaring furnace into which he has thrust his pincers ready to pull a devil’s nose; St. Anselm and Archbishop Langton with King John at the signing of the Magna Carta. Members of the Hoare family, as well as being generous benefactors, have maintained a tradition of service as churchwardens over the centuries. Two have been Lord Mayors of London and a family vault still lies in the church crypt.

 

The staple of Victorian penny shockers, the story of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, stalks the no-man’s land between urban myth and historical fact. According to some sources, Todd, a barber, tooth-puller and surgeon, did actually exist, and in 1785 set up shop at 186 Fleet Street. It is claimed that he murdered over 100 of his clients, before selling their flesh on to Margery Lovett, who owned a pie shop in nearby Bell Yard!

 

www.stdunstaninthewest.org/history

This has been an endless process! I am trying to complete Season 3 of Young Dolls In Love so that I can start a new doll drama - Legacy! These are, hopefully, FINAL visual concepts for some of the characters. This has a smaller cast and the first season is already plotted at least for the most part! The sets and cast has been the bigger challenge!

 

BTW I'm getting a lot of flack from everyone I know about the working title of this one! I've been told it very 1980's and cheesy and I need to change it! Personally, I'm okay with 1980's cheese! Opinions and suggestions are welcome!

 

This has been a Gulf site for about a decade, before that it was an independent site. When Richard posted his photo there was interest in the unusual pump decals so I made a point of taking a close up of those when I was here! Looking at the pole sign from the 2008 Streetview this looks like it had previously been a Burmah site, the style looks very like the Chinthe era. Again you can see Richard's photo from last September below.

www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.7768882,-2.340957,3a,75y,53.19h...

2447 has a few battle scars - the famous peeling paint. Looks like she got a little warm around the exhaust once as well. This locomotive made a trip to Calgary later that day or the next day. At one point in time the cowls were sidelined and feared to be slated for the auction block/scrapper, however CN seems to have reacvtivated a bunch with the uptick in traffic.

The only place in Kent that begins with the letter Q that has a church.

 

Just so you know.

 

I have John Vigar to blame for me crossing over onto the island, I never usually crib on a church before I go, but I did wonder if Holy Trinity was worth a visit.

 

Turns out it very much was, and as I was just the other side of The Swale, a short drive to get here.

 

Queenborough is an industrial, busy, tightly packed place, like a borough of London uprooted into the Kent marshes.

 

It seems so unlikely to have a fine church, but then the town is ancient, and the links with the sea, long.

 

I followed the sat nav past the old castle mound, and to the church, on a main road in residential housing.

 

First look was unpromising, with what looked like a garden shed bolted on the north side: turns out this is the vestry, and in a poor state. But the churchyard was packed full of interesting and grand monuments.

 

Don't know why I'm trying to get in, I told myself as I walked to the porch, bound to be locked.

 

But the porch door is unlocked, and although the church is empty, I can hear people in the vestry to the north, I try to make as much noise as possible so not to surprise them.

 

My eye goes straight to the font of 1610, and then the painted ceiling, the details of which are partially hidden under nearly a century-old covering of soot, but still stunning.

 

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

 

The town of Queenborough grew to serve the long-vanished castle which had been founded in the fourteenth century by Edward III. The church - which should not be missed - dates from 1366 and consists of nave, chancel, west tower and south porch. Its churchyard is entirely crowded with headstones to those associated with the Royal Dockyard at Sheerness. Inside the church are two main items of interest. The most striking is the nave roof which is ceiled and painted with looming clouds. This work dates from the seventeenth century, as does the other item of note: the font. This is dated 1610 and includes a finely carved picture of Queenborough Castle, with four corner turrets and two cannon halfway up the walls. The fine Royal Arms are of Queen Anne's reign - the lion has the head of Charles I - and show the loyalty of the people of Queenborough to the monarch who had granted them their town charter.

 

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

 

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QUEENBOROUGH,

THE parish of which lies the next adjoining southwestward from that of Minster, on the western shore of this island, was so called in honor of Philippa, queen to Edward III.

 

THERE was an antient castle here, called the Castle of Shepey, situated at the western mouth of the Swale formerly, as has been already mentioned, accounted likewise the mouth of the river Thames, which was built for the defence both of the island and the passage on the water, the usual one then being between the main land of the county and this island.

 

This castle was begun to be new built by king Edward III. about the year 1361, being the 36th of his reign, (fn. 1) and was finished about six years afterwards, being raised, as he himself says in his letters patent, in his 42d year, for the strength of the realm, and for the refuge of the inhabitants of this island.

 

This was undertaken under the inspection of William of Wickham, the king's chief architect, afterwards bishop of Winchester, who considering the difficulties arising from the nature of the ground, and the lowness of the situation, acquitted himself in this task with his usual skill and abilities, and erected here a large, strong, and magnificent building, fit equally for the defence of the island, and the reception of his royal master. When it was finished, the king paid a visit to it, and remained here for some days, during which time he made this place a free borough, in honor of Philippa his queen, naming it from thence Queenborough, and by charter in 1366, he created it a corporation, making the townsmen burgesses, and giving them power to choose yearly a mayor and two bailiffs, who should make their oath of allegiance before the constable of the castle, and be justices within the liberties of the corporation, exclusive of all others; and endowing them with cognizance of pleas, with the liberty of two markets weekly on Mondays and Thursdays, and two fairs yearly, one on the eve of our Lady, and the other on the feast of St. James, and benefiting them with freedom of tholle, and several other privileges, which might induce men to inhabit this place. Three years after which, as a further favor to it, he appoined a staple for wool at it.

 

King Henry VIII. repaired this castle in the year 1536, at the time he rebuilt several others in these parts, for the defence of the sea-coast; but even then it was become little more than a mansion for the residence of the constable of it. And Mr. Johnston, in his book intitled Iter Plantarum Investigationis ergo susceptum, anno 1629, tells us, that he saw in this castle at that time, a noble large dining-room or hall, round the top of which were placed the arms of the nobility and gentry of Kent, and in the middle those of queen Elizabeth, with the following verses underneath:

Lilia virgineum pectus regale leonis

Significant; vivas virgo, regasque leo:

Umbra placet vultus, vultus quia mentis imago;

Mentis imago placet, mens quia plena Deo:

Virgo Deum vita, Regina imitata regendo,

Viva mihi vivi fiat imago Dei.

Qui leo de Juda est, et flos de jesse, leones

Protegat et flores, Elizabetha, tuos.

 

Lillies the lion's virgin breast explain,

Then live a virgin, and a lion reign.

Pictures are pleasing, for the mind they shew;

And in the mind the Deity we view:

May she who God in life and empire shews,

To me th' eternal Deity disclose!

May Jesse's flower, and Judah's lion deign

Thy flowers and lions to protect, great Queen.

 

¶In this situation it continued till the death of king Charles I. in 1648; soon after which the state seized on this castle, among the rest of the possessions of the crown, and then vested them in trustees, to be surveyed and sold, to supply the necessities of government, accordingly this castle was surveyed in 1650, when it appears to have consisted of a capital messuage, called Queenborough-castle, lying within the common belonging to the town, called Queenborough Marsh, in the parish of Minster, and containing about twelve rooms of one range of buildings below stairs, and of about forty rooms from the first story upwards, being circular and built of stone, with six towers, and certain out-offices belonging to it, the roof being covered with lead; that within the circumference of the castle was one little round court, paved with stone, and in the middle of that one great well, and without the castle was one great court surrounding it; both court and castle being surrounded with a great stone wall, and the outside of that moated round, the whole containing upwards of three acres of land. That the whole was much out of repair, and no ways defensive by the commonwealth, or the island on which it stood, being built in the time of bows and arrows. That as no platform for the planting of cannon could be erected on it, and it having no command of the sea, although near unto it, they adjudged it not fit to be kept, but demolished, and that the materials were worth, besides the charge of taking down, 1792l. 12½d.

 

The above survey sufficiently points out the size and grandeur of this building, which was soon afterwards sold to Mr. John Wilkinson, who pulled the whole of it down and removed the materials.

 

The scite of the castle remained in his possession afterwards till the restoration of king Charles II. when the inheritance of it returned again to the crown, where it has continued ever since. There are no remains of the castle or walls to be seen at this time, only the moat continues still as such, and the antient well in the middle of the scite within it, a further account of which will be given hereafter.

 

THE CONSTABLES of this castle were men of considerable rank, as appears by the following lift of them:

 

In the reign of queen Elizabeth, the annual fee of the keeper of this castle was 29l. 2s. 6d. (fn. 7)

 

ALTHOUGH Queenborough was formerly, whilst the castle waas standing, a place of much more consequence than it is at present, yet as to its size and number of inhabitants, it was much less so; for in the reign of queen Elizabeth, as may be seen by the return made of it in the 8th year of that reign, it ap pears, that there were here houses inhabited only 23; persons lacking proper habitation one; boats and ships twelve, from four tons to sixteen; and a key and landing-place to the town; proper persons occupied in carrying things from port to port, and in fishing, forty-five. At present this town consists of one principal wide street, the houses of which are neat, and mostly well-built, in number about one hundred and twenty, or more. The market house is a small antient brick building, in the middle of the street, with a room over over it. The court-hall is the upper part of a mean plaistered dwelling-house, close to the church-yard.

 

Notwithstanding the above-mentioned increase both of houses and inhabitants, it is, even now, but a poor fishing town, consisting chiefly of alehousekeepers, fishermen, and dredgers for oysters; the principal source of wealth to it being the election for members of parliment, which secures to some of the chief inhabitants many lucrative places in the ordnance, and other branches of government.

 

The corporation still subsists, consisting of a mayor, chosen on Sept. 29th, four jurats, two bailiffs, a recorder, town-clerk, chamberlain, and other officers, chosen annually by the free burgesses of the town and parish. (fn. 8)

 

The liberties of the corporation extend by water from the point of land joining to the river Medway to King's Ferry.

 

The arms of the town are, On a mount vert, a tower, with five spires on it, argent.

 

There is a copper as-work carried on in this place, which is the property of several different persons.

 

¶Though the water throughout the whole island of Shepey has been mentioned before to be in general exceeding unwholesome and brackish, yet the well be fore-mentioned on the scite of the castle here, is one of the exceptions to it. This well has been useless for many years, having little or no water in it, though several attempts had been made to restore it, when in the year 1723 it was more effectually opened by order of the commissioners of the navy, a full account of which was communicated to the Royal Society by Mr. Peter Collinson, F. R. S. (fn. 9) The depth of it was then found to be two hundred feet, and artificially steamed, the whole of it with circular Portland stone, the mean diameter four feet eight inches, there was little or no water then in it; on boring down they brought up a very close blueish clay, and after three days endeavours the augur slipping down, the water flowed up very fast, and kept increasing for some days, till there was one hundred and seventy six feet and upwards depth of water; what was extraordinary, they bored eighty-one feet below the trunk they had fixed four feet below the curb at the bottom of the well, before they met with this body of water, which by comparison is one hundred and sixty-six feet below the deepest place in the adjacent seas. This water proved excellently good, soft, sweet, and fine, and in such plenty as in great measure, excepting in time of war, when there is a more than ordinary call for it, to supply the inhabitants, as well as the shipping and several departments of government, which, jointly with the new well at Sheerness before-described, it now fully does.

 

The corporation have taken upon themselves to repair this well for several years past, at their own expence; notwithstanding which, it still continues the property of the crown, there having never yet been any grant made of it.

 

Anno 7 George III. an act passed for the better and more effectual maintenance and relief of the poor of the borough and parish of Queen borough.

 

Though Queenborough was made a borough by king Edward III. as before-mentioned, yet it had not the privilege of returning burgesses to parliament till the 13th year of queen Elizabeth's reign, in which year it made its first return of them.

 

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

 

¶The church, which is dedicated to the Holy Trinity, is a handsome building, consisting of one isle and one chancel; it is decorated with a painted roof, and other ornaments, and very neatly kept. There is a high-raised seat in it, for the mayor and two bailiffs. The whole of it was raised, paved, and ceiled, and the gallery at the west end, erected by Thomas King, esq. the first time he was elected member of parliament in 1695. It has a square tower steeple at the west end, which seems much older than the church itself, and at the top of it there is a small wooden turret, in which hang five bells. It was once accounted as a chapel to the mother church of Minster, and belonged with it to the monastery of St. Sexburg in that parish, but it has long since been independent of it.

 

It is now esteemed as a donative, in the gift of the corporation of this place, and is of the yearly certified value of 20l. 2s. 6d.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol6/pp233-245

Has this ever happened to you? You see something while you are driving. You see it for years and you want to take some pictures, but the yard fronts right on Highway 99 in Oregon, USA, There is no place to park, nor actually to safely walk, for quite a distance.

 

One day, you say to yourself, "Self, I am going to slow down and try to scout out a place to park so I can take a picture of these colorful and unusual mosaic type homemade bases for lamp posts?" I did that yesterday. I'm glad I did. They are unique and kind of cool. It looks as if they are made with a few store-bought tiles on the top and then big shards of pottery. What I don't know is if they were really clumsy people and broke a lot of pottery bowls and dishes, or if they purposely broke some in order to do this project.

   

(DSCN6360) SOOC except for copyright/initials

Maybach has historic roots through the involvement of Wilhelm Maybach, who was the technical director of the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) until he left in 1907. On 23 March 1909 he founded the new company, Luftfahrzeug-Motorenbau GmbH (literally "Aircraft Engine Building Company"), with his son Karl Maybach as director. In 1912 they renamed it to Maybach-Motorenbau GmbH ("Maybach Engine Construction Company"). The company originally developed and manufactured diesel and petrol engines for Zeppelins, and then rail cars. The Maybach Mb.IVa was used in aircraft and airships of World War I.

Captured Maybach T3 Assault Gun (Sturmgeschütz III), made on the basis of medium tank Maybach T3 (Panzer III). National Museum of Military History (Bulgaria)

 

The company first built an experimental car in 1919, with the first production model introduced two years later at the Berlin Motor Show. Between 1921 and 1940, the company produced various classic opulent vehicles. The company also continued to build heavy duty diesel engines for marine and rail purposes. During the second world war, Maybach produced the engines for Nazi Germany's medium and heavy tanks.

 

After WW II the factory performed some repair work, but automotive production was never restarted, and some 20 years later, the company was renamed MTU Friedrichshafen. Daimler-Benz purchased the company in 1960.

 

Pre-war Models

 

1919 Maybach W1: Test car based on a BMW chassis

1921 Maybach W3: First Maybach, shown at Berlin Motor Show. Featured a 70 hp (52 kW) 5.7L inline six.

1926 Maybach W5: 7L inline six, 120 hp (89 kW)

1929 Maybach 12: V12 precursor to DS7/8

1930 Maybach DSH: Doppel-Sechs-Halbe ("half a twelve cylinder") 1930-37

1930 Maybach DS7 Zeppelin: 7L V12, 150 hp (112 kW)

1931 Maybach W6: Same engine as W5, longer wheelbase. 1931-33

1931 Maybach DS8 Zeppelin: 8L V12, 200 hp (150 kW)

1934 Maybach W6 DSG: Featuring a twin overdrive transmission system.

1935 Maybach SW35: 3.5L 140 hp (104 kW) I6

1936 Maybach SW38: 3.8L 140 hp (104 kW) I6

1939 Maybach SW42: 4.2L 140 hp (104 kW) I6

1945 Maybach JW61: 3.8L 145 hp (108 kW) I6

 

(Wikipedia)

 

- - -

 

Der erste Maybach von 1919 war ein Prototyp, der „Wagen“ W 1, aufgebaut auf ein angekauftes Daimler-Chassis. Er trug schon die charakteristische Kühlermaske. W 2 war ein Motor. Der W 3 war 1921 der erste Serienwagen, mit Sechszylinder-Reihenmotor und angeblocktem Planetengetriebe, im Angebot als Typ 22/70 PS. Die erste Zahl bezeichnet die früheren „Steuer-PS“, eine vom Fiskus seit 1909 aus Leistung und Hubraum errechnete Kennzahl; die zweite die Motorenleistung.

 

1926 folgte W 5 als Typ 27/120 PS, der 1928 ein Schnellgang-Getriebe erhielt und daher W 5 SG hieß. 1930 kam, parallel zum „Zeppelin“, der W 6, den es ab 1934 auch mit Doppel-Schnellgang-Getriebe gab und so als W 6 DSG in den Annalen steht. Die Weiterentwicklung von 1934 war ein DSH, ein „Doppel-Sechs-Halbe“, was auf den 130 PS starken 5,2-Liter-Reihensechszylinder hinwies, eine vom „DS“-Zwölfzylinder abgeleitete, einfachere Konstruktion.

 

Die Zeppelin-DS-Modelle, von Karl Maybach 1930 erstmals offeriert und ab 1931 geliefert, gab es als Typen DS 7 und DS 8. Es waren die ersten Modelle von Maybach mit einem V-12-Motor. DS 7 bedeutet Doppel-Sechs-7-Liter. DS 8 bedeutet Doppel-Sechs-8-Liter. Der DS 7 leistete 150 PS. Der DS 8 leistete 200 PS. Er war mit einem 7922 Kubikzentimeter großen Motor ausgerüstet. Die Aufbauten lieferten Spohn und Erdmann & Rossi. Im Vergleich zum 1931 gebauten Bugatti Royale Typ 41 mit einem Preis von 100.300 Reichsmark war die Karosserie vom Zeppelin DS 8 geradezu günstig: 33.200 Reichsmark.

 

Maybach W 1, Versuchswagen, um 1919

Maybach W 3, 5,7 l Hubraum, 70 PS, ab 1921

Maybach W 5, 7 l Hubraum, 120 PS, 1926–1929

Maybach W 6, ab 1929

Maybach SW 35 (SW = Schwingachsenwagen), 3,5 l Hubraum, ab 1935 nur 50 Exemplare gebaut

Maybach SW 38, 3,8 l Hubraum, um 1936–1939

Maybach SW 42, 4,2 l Hubraum, um 1939–1941

Maybach „Zeppelin“ Sport, um 1938

Maybach „Zeppelin“ DS 8 Cabriolet, 1930–1937, sechs- bis siebensitzig

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Most definitely in Southern Bavaria

Jasper has trained his humans quite well. He knows that on the weekend he can usually coerce us into giving him a "special treat". Most evenings after dinner and walk Jasper invites us to play and play some more. But on Friday or Saturday evenings play ceases early and he gives us that tilty headed look. "What are you thinking, Jasper?", we ask. More tilted head looks at both of us. Jean (my wife) asks, "What do you think, Todd?, Do you suppose we have a special treat for him?" At which point he knows that he's won the plea and he runs to the treat cupboard. Receiving the treat usually catalyzes the zoomies for about 5 minutes before settling in to enjoy. Pig's ear this weekend. Yum

Sea King HAS.5.

849 Sq.

RNAS Culdrose.

Aug. 1987.

Angkor Wat or "Capital Temple" is a temple complex in Cambodia and the largest religious monument in the world. It was first a Hindu and later a Buddhist temple. It was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century in Yaśodharapura, present-day Angkor, the capital of the Khmer Empire, as his state temple and eventual mausoleum.

 

Breaking from the Shiva tradition of previous kings, Angkor Wat was instead dedicated to Vishnu. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious center since its foundation. The temple is at the top of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime attraction for visitors. Angkor Wat combines two basic plans of Khmer temple architecture: the temple-mountain and the later galleried temple, based on early Dravidian architecture, with key features such as the Jagati. It is designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the devas in Hindu mythology: within a moat and an outer wall 3.6 kilometres long are three rectangular galleries, each raised above the next. At the centre of the temple stands a quincunx of towers. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west; scholars are divided as to the significance of this. The temple is admired for the grandeur and harmony of the architecture, its extensive bas-reliefs, and for the numerous devatas adorning its walls.

 

The modern name, Angkor Wat, means "Temple City" or "City of Temples" in Khmer; Angkor, meaning "city" or "capital city", is a vernacular form of the word nokor (នគរ), which comes from the Sanskrit word nagara (नगर). Wat is the Khmer word for "temple grounds" (Sanskrit: वाट vāṭa ""enclosure").

 

HISTORY

Angkor Wat lies 5.5 kilometres north of the modern town of Siem Reap, and a short distance south and slightly east of the previous capital, which was centred at Baphuon. It is in an area of Cambodia where there is an important group of ancient structures. It is the southernmost of Angkor's main sites.

 

According to one legend, the construction of Angkor Wat was ordered by Indra to act as a palace for his son Precha Ket Mealea.

 

According to the 13th century Chinese traveler Daguan Zhou, it was believed by some that the temple was constructed in a single night by a divine architect. The initial design and construction of the temple took place in the first half of the 12th century, during the reign of Suryavarman II (ruled 1113-C. 1150). Dedicated to Vishnu, it was built as the king's state temple and capital city. As neither the foundation stela nor any contemporary inscriptions referring to the temple have been found, its original name is unknown, but it may have been known as "Varah Vishnu-lok" after the presiding deity. Work seems to have ended shortly after the king's death, leaving some of the bas-relief decoration unfinished.

 

In 1177, approximately 27 years after the death of Suryavarman II, Angkor was sacked by the Chams, the traditional enemies of the Khmer. Thereafter the empire was restored by a new king, Jayavarman VII, who established a new capital and state temple (Angkor Thom and the Bayon respectively) a few kilometers to the north.

 

In the late 13th century, Angkor Wat gradually moved from Hindu to Theravada Buddhist use, which continues to the present day. Angkor Wat is unusual among the Angkor temples in that although it was somewhat neglected after the 16th century it was never completely abandoned, its preservation being due in part to the fact that its moat also provided some protection from encroachment by the jungle.

One of the first Western visitors to the temple was António da Madalena, a Portuguese monk who visited in 1586 and said that it "is of such extraordinary construction that it is not possible to describe it with a pen, particularly since it is like no other building in the world. It has towers and decoration and all the refinements which the human genius can conceive of."

 

In the mid-19th century, the temple was visited by the French naturalist and explorer, Henri Mouhot, who popularised the site in the West through the publication of travel notes, in which he wrote:

 

"One of these temples - a rival to that of Solomon, and erected by some ancient Michelangelo - might take an honorable place beside our most beautiful buildings. It is grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome, and presents a sad contrast to the state of barbarism in which the nation is now plunged."

 

Mouhot, like other early Western visitors, found it difficult to believe that the Khmers could have built the temple, and mistakenly dated it to around the same era as Rome. The true history of Angkor Wat was pieced together only from stylistic and epigraphic evidence accumulated during the subsequent clearing and restoration work carried out across the whole Angkor site. There were no ordinary dwellings or houses or other signs of settlement including cooking utensils, weapons, or items of clothing usually found at ancient sites. Instead there is the evidence of the monuments themselves.

 

Angkor Wat required considerable restoration in the 20th century, mainly the removal of accumulated earth and vegetation. Work was interrupted by the civil war and Khmer Rouge control of the country during the 1970s and 1980s, but relatively little damage was done during this period other than the theft and destruction of mostly post-Angkorian statues.The temple is a powerful symbol of Cambodia, and is a source of great national pride that has factored into Cambodia's diplomatic relations with France, the United States and its neighbor Thailand. A depiction of Angkor Wat has been a part of Cambodian national flags since the introduction of the first version circa 1863. From a larger historical and even transcultural perspective, however, the temple of Angkor Wat did not become a symbol of national pride sui generis but had been inscribed into a larger politico-cultural process of French-colonial heritage production in which the original temple site was presented in French colonial and universal exhibitions in Paris and Marseille between 1889 and 1937. Angkor Wat's aesthetics were also on display in the plaster cast museum of Louis Delaporte called musée Indo-chinois which existed in the Parisian Trocadero Palace from C. 1880 to the mid-1920s. The splendid artistic legacy of Angkor Wat and other Khmer monuments in the Angkor region led directly to France adopting Cambodia as a protectorate on 11 August 1863 and invading Siam to take control of the ruins. This quickly led to Cambodia reclaiming lands in the northwestern corner of the country that had been under Siamese (Thai) control since 1351 AD (Manich Jumsai 2001), or by some accounts, 1431 AD. Cambodia gained independence from France on 9 November 1953 and has controlled Angkor Wat since that time.

 

ARCHITECTURE

SITE AND PLAN

Angkor Wat, located at 13°24′45″N 103°52′0″E, is a unique combination of the temple mountain, the standard design for the empire's state temples and the later plan of concentric galleries. The temple is a representation of Mount Meru, the home of the gods: the central quincunx of towers symbolises the five peaks of the mountain, and the walls and moat the surrounding mountain ranges and ocean. Access to the upper areas of the temple was progressively more exclusive, with the laity being admitted only to the lowest level. Unlike most Khmer temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west rather than the east. This has led many (including Maurice Glaize and George Coedès) to conclude that Suryavarman intended it to serve as his funerary temple.Further evidence for this view is provided by the bas-reliefs, which proceed in a counter-clockwise direction - prasavya in Hindu terminology - as this is the reverse of the normal order. Rituals take place in reverse order during Brahminic funeral services. The archaeologist Charles Higham also describes a container which may have been a funerary jar which was recovered from the central tower. It has been nominated by some as the greatest expenditure of energy on the disposal of a corpse. Freeman and Jacques, however, note that several other temples of Angkor depart from the typical eastern orientation, and suggest that Angkor Wat's alignment was due to its dedication to Vishnu, who was associated with the west.

 

A further interpretation of Angkor Wat has been proposed by Eleanor Mannikka. Drawing on the temple's alignment and dimensions, and on the content and arrangement of the bas-reliefs, she argues that the structure represents a claimed new era of peace under King Suryavarman II: "as the measurements of solar and lunar time cycles were built into the sacred space of Angkor Wat, this divine mandate to rule was anchored to consecrated chambers and corridors meant to perpetuate the king's power and to honor and placate the deities manifest in the heavens above." Mannikka's suggestions have been received with a mixture of interest and scepticism in academic circles. She distances herself from the speculations of others, such as Graham Hancock, that Angkor Wat is part of a representation of the constellation Draco.

 

STYLE

Angkor Wat is the prime example of the classical style of Khmer architecture - the Angkor Wat style - to which it has given its name. By the 12th century Khmer architects had become skilled and confident in the use of sandstone (rather than brick or laterite) as the main building material. Most of the visible areas are of sandstone blocks, while laterite was used for the outer wall and for hidden structural parts. The binding agent used to join the blocks is yet to be identified, although natural resins or slaked lime has been suggested. The temple has drawn praise above all for the harmony of its design. According to Maurice Glaize, a mid-20th-century conservator of Angkor, the temple "attains a classic perfection by the restrained monumentality of its finely balanced elements and the precise arrangement of its proportions. It is a work of power, unity and style." Architecturally, the elements characteristic of the style include: the ogival, redented towers shaped like lotus buds; half-galleries to broaden passageways; axial galleries connecting enclosures; and the cruciform terraces which appear along the main axis of the temple. Typical decorative elements are devatas (or apsaras), bas-reliefs, and on pediments extensive garlands and narrative scenes. The statuary of Angkor Wat is considered conservative, being more static and less graceful than earlier work. Other elements of the design have been destroyed by looting and the passage of time, including gilded stucco on the towers, gilding on some figures on the bas-reliefs, and wooden ceiling panels and doors.

 

FEATURES

OUTER ENCLOSURE

The outer wall, 1024 by 802 m and 4.5 m high, is surrounded by a 30 m apron of open ground and a moat 190 m wide. Access to the temple is by an earth bank to the east and a sandstone causeway to the west; the latter, the main entrance, is a later addition, possibly replacing a wooden bridge. There are gopuras at each of the cardinal points; the western is by far the largest and has three ruined towers. Glaize notes that this gopura both hides and echoes the form of the temple proper. Under the southern tower is a statue of Vishnu, known as Ta Reach, which may originally have occupied the temple's central shrine.Galleries run between the towers and as far as two further entrances on either side of the gopura often referred to as "elephant gates", as they are large enough to admit those animals. These galleries have square pillars on the outer (west) side and a closed wall on the inner (east) side. The ceiling between the pillars is decorated with lotus rosettes; the west face of the wall with dancing figures; and the east face of the wall with balustered windows, dancing male figures on prancing animals, and devatas, including (south of the entrance) the only one in the temple to be showing her teeth. The outer wall encloses a space of 820,000 square metres, which besides the temple proper was originally occupied by the city and, to the north of the temple, the royal palace. Like all secular buildings of Angkor, these were built of perishable materials rather than of stone, so nothing remains of them except the outlines of some of the streets. Most of the area is now covered by forest. A 350 m causeway connects the western gopura to the temple proper, with naga balustrades and six sets of steps leading down to the city on either side. Each side also features a library with entrances at each cardinal point, in front of the third set of stairs from the entrance, and a pond between the library and the temple itself. The ponds are later additions to the design, as is the cruciform terrace guarded by lions connecting the causeway to the central structure.

 

CENTRAL STRUCTURE

The temple stands on a terrace raised higher than the city. It is made of three rectangular galleries rising to a central tower, each level higher than the last. Mannikka interprets these galleries as being dedicated to the king, Brahma, the moon, and Vishnu.

 

Each gallery has a gopura at each of the points, and the two inner galleries each have towers at their corners, forming a quincunx with the central tower. Because the temple faces west, the features are all set back towards the east, leaving more space to be filled in each enclosure and gallery on the west side; for the same reason the west-facing steps are shallower than those on the other sides.

 

The outer gallery measures 187 by 215 m, with pavilions rather than towers at the corners. The gallery is open to the outside of the temple, with columned half-galleries extending and buttressing the structure. Connecting the outer gallery to the second enclosure on the west side is a cruciform cloister called Preah Poan (the "Hall of a Thousand Gods"). Buddha images were left in the cloister by pilgrims over the centuries, although most have now been removed. This area has many inscriptions relating the good deeds of pilgrims, most written in Khmer but others in Burmese and Japanese. The four small courtyards marked out by the cloister may originally have been filled with water.

 

North and south of the cloister are libraries.

 

Beyond, the second and inner galleries are connected to each other and to two flanking libraries by another cruciform terrace, again a later addition. From the second level upwards, devatas abound on the walls, singly or in groups of up to four. The second-level enclosure is 100 by 115 m, and may originally have been flooded to represent the ocean around Mount Meru.

 

Three sets of steps on each side lead up to the corner towers and gopuras of the inner gallery. The very steep stairways represent the difficulty of ascending to the kingdom of the gods. This inner gallery, called the Bakan, is a 60 m square with axial galleries connecting each gopura with the central shrine, and subsidiary shrines located below the corner towers. The roofings of the galleries are decorated with the motif of the body of a snake ending in the heads of lions or garudas. Carved lintels and pediments decorate the entrances to the galleries and to the shrines. The tower above the central shrine rises 43 m to a height of 65 m above the ground; unlike those of previous temple mountains, the central tower is raised above the surrounding four. The shrine itself, originally occupied by a statue of Vishnu and open on each side, was walled in when the temple was converted to Theravada Buddhism, the new walls featuring standing Buddhas. In 1934, the conservator George Trouvé excavated the pit beneath the central shrine: filled with sand and water it had already been robbed of its treasure, but he did find a sacred foundation deposit of gold leaf two metres above ground level.

 

DECORATION

Integrated with the architecture of the building, and one of the causes for its fame is Angkor Wat's extensive decoration, which predominantly takes the form of bas-relief friezes. The inner walls of the outer gallery bear a series of large-scale scenes mainly depicting episodes from the Hindu epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Higham has called these, "the greatest known linear arrangement of stone carving".

 

From the north-west corner anti-clockwise, the western gallery shows the Battle of Lanka (from the Ramayana, in which Rama defeats Ravana) and the Battle of Kurukshetra (from the Mahabharata, showing the mutual annihilation of the Kaurava and Pandava clans). On the southern gallery follow the only historical scene, a procession of Suryavarman II, then the 32 hells and 37 heavens of Hindu mythology.

 

On the eastern gallery is one of the most celebrated scenes, the Churning of the Sea of Milk, showing 92 asuras and 88 devas using the serpent Vasuki to churn the sea under Vishnu's direction (Mannikka counts only 91 asuras, and explains the asymmetrical numbers as representing the number of days from the winter solstice to the spring equinox, and from the equinox to the summer solstice). It is followed by Vishnu defeating asuras (a 16th-century addition). The northern gallery shows Krishna's victory over Bana (where according to Glaize, "The workmanship is at its worst"). and a battle between the Hindu gods and asuras. The north-west and south-west corner pavilions both feature much smaller-scale scenes, some unidentified but most from the Ramayana or the life of Krishna. Angkor Wat is decorated with depictions of apsaras and devata; there are more than 1,796 depictions of devata in the present research inventory. Angkor Wat architects employed small apsara images (30–40 cm) as decorative motifs on pillars and walls. They incorporated larger devata images (all full-body portraits measuring approximately 95–110 cm) more prominently at every level of the temple from the entry pavilion to the tops of the high towers. In 1927, Sappho Marchal published a study cataloging the remarkable diversity of their hair, headdresses, garments, stance, jewelry and decorative flowers, which Marchal concluded were based on actual practices of the Angkor period.

 

CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES

The stones, as smooth as polished marble, were laid without mortar with very tight joints that are sometimes hard to find. The blocks were held together by mortise and tenon joints in some cases, while in others they used dovetails and gravity. The blocks were presumably put in place by a combination of elephants, coir ropes, pulleys and bamboo scaffolding. Henri Mouhot noted that most of the blocks had holes 2.5 cm in diameter and 3 cm deep, with more holes on the larger blocks. Some scholars have suggested that these were used to join them together with iron rods, but others claim they were used to hold temporary pegs to help manoeuvre them into place. The monument was made out of millions of tonnes of sandstone and it has a greater volume as well as mass than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. The Angkor Wat Temple consumes about 6 million to 10 million blocks of sandstone with an average weight of 1.5 tons each. In fact, the entire city of Angkor used up far greater amounts of stone than all the Egyptian pyramids combined, and occupied an area significantly greater than modern-day Paris. Moreover, unlike the Egyptian pyramids which use limestone quarried barely half a km away all the time, the entire city of Angkor was built with sandstone quarried 40 km (or more) away. This sandstone had to be transported from Mount Kulen, a quarry approximately 40 km to the northeast. The route has been suggested to span 35 kilometres along a canal towards Tonlé Sap lake, another 35 kilometres crossing the lake, and finally 15 kilometres upstream and against the current along Siem Reap River, making a total journey of 90 kilometres. However, Etsuo Uchida and Ichita Shimoda of Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan have discovered in 2012 a shorter 35-kilometre canal connecting Mount Kulen and Angkor Wat using satellite imagery. The two believe that the Khmer used this route instead.

 

Virtually all of its surfaces, columns, lintels even roofs are carved. There are miles of reliefs illustrating scenes from Indian literature including unicorns, griffins, winged dragons pulling chariots as well as warriors following an elephant-mounted leader and celestial dancing girls with elaborate hair styles. The gallery wall alone is decorated with almost 1000 square metres of bas reliefs. Holes on some of the Angkor walls indicate that they may have been decorated with bronze sheets. These were highly prized in ancient times and were a prime target for robbers. While excavating Khajuraho, Alex Evans, a stonemason and sculptor, recreated a stone sculpture under 1.2 m, this took about 60 days to carve. Roger Hopkins and Mark Lehner also conducted experiments to quarry limestone which took 12 quarrymen 22 days to quarry about 400 tons of stone. The labor force to quarry, transport, carve and install so much sandstone must have run into the thousands including many highly skilled artisans. The skills required to carve these sculptures were developed hundreds of years earlier, as demonstrated by some artifacts that have been dated to the seventh century, before the Khmer came to power.

 

ANGKOR WAT TODAY

The Archaeological Survey of India carried out restoration work on the temple between 1986 and 1992. Since the 1990s, Angkor Wat has seen continued conservation efforts and a massive increase in tourism. The temple is part of the Angkor World Heritage Site, established in 1992, which has provided some funding and has encouraged the Cambodian government to protect the site. The German Apsara Conservation Project (GACP) is working to protect the devatas and other bas-reliefs which decorate the temple from damage. The organisation's survey found that around 20% of the devatas were in very poor condition, mainly because of natural erosion and deterioration of the stone but in part also due to earlier restoration efforts. Other work involves the repair of collapsed sections of the structure, and prevention of further collapse: the west facade of the upper level, for example, has been buttressed by scaffolding since 2002, while a Japanese team completed restoration of the north library of the outer enclosure in 2005. World Monuments Fund began conservation work on the Churning of the Sea of Milk Gallery in 2008 after several years of conditions studies. The project restored the traditional Khmer roofing system and removed cement used in earlier restoration attempts that had resulted in salts entering the structure behind the bas-relief, discoloring and damaging the sculpted surfaces. The main phase of work ended in 2012, and the final component will be the installation of finials on the roof of the gallery in 2013. Microbial biofilms have been found degrading sandstone at Angkor Wat, Preah Khan, and the Bayon and West Prasat in Angkor. The dehydration and radiation resistant filamentous cyanobacteria can produce organic acids that degrade the stone. A dark filamentous fungus was found in internal and external Preah Khan samples, while the alga Trentepohlia was found only in samples taken from external, pink-stained stone at Preah Khan. Angkor Wat has become a major tourist destination. In 2004 and 2005, government figures suggest that, respectively, 561.000 and 677.000 foreign visitors arrived in Siem Reap province, approximately 50% of all foreign tourists in Cambodia for both years. The site has been managed by the private SOKIMEX group since 1990, which rented it from the Cambodian government. The influx of tourists has so far caused relatively little damage, other than some graffiti; ropes and wooden steps have been introduced to protect the bas-reliefs and floors, respectively. Tourism has also provided some additional funds for maintenance - as of 2000 approximately 28% of ticket revenues across the whole Angkor site was spent on the temples - although most work is carried out by foreign government-sponsored teams rather than by the Cambodian authorities. Since Angkor Wat has seen significant growth in tourism throughout the years UNESCO and its International Co-ordinating Committee for the Safeguarding and Development of the Historic Site of Angkor (ICC), in association with representatives from the Royal Government and APSARA, organized seminars to discuss the concept of "cultural tourism". Wanting to avoid commercial and mass tourism, the seminars emphasized the importance of providing high quality accommodation and services in order for the Cambodian government to benefit economically, while also incorporating the richness of Cambodian culture. In 2001, this incentive resulted in the concept of the "Angkor Tourist City" which would be developed with regard to traditional Khmer architecture, contain leisure and tourist facilities, and provide luxurious hotels capable of accommodating large amounts of tourists. The prospect of developing such large tourist accommodations has encountered concerns from both APSARA and the ICC, claiming that previous tourism developments in the area have neglected construction regulations and more of these projects have the potential to damage landscape features. Also, the large scale of these projects have begun to threaten the quality of the nearby town's water, sewage, and electricity systems. It has been noted that such high frequency of tourism and growing demand for quality accommodations in the area, such as the development of a large highway, has had a direct effect on the underground water table, subsequently straining the structural stability of the temples at Angkor Wat. Locals of Siem Reap have also voiced concern over the charming nature and atmosphere of their town being compromised in order to entertain tourism. Since this charming local atmosphere is the key component to projects like Angkor Tourist City, local officials continue to discuss how to successfully incorporate future tourism without sacrificing local values and culture. At the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2012, both parties have agreed Borobudur and Angkor Wat to become sister sites and the provinces will become sister provinces. Two Indonesian airlines are considering the opportunity to open a direct flight from Yogyakarta, Indonesia to Siem Reap.

 

WIKIPEDIA

spring in the garden

Housesteads Roman Fort is the remains of an auxiliary fort on Hadrian's Wall, at Housesteads, Northumberland, England, south of Broomlee Lough. The fort was built in stone around AD 124, soon after the construction of the wall began in AD 122 when the area was part of the Roman province of Britannia. Its name has been variously given as Vercovicium, Borcovicus, Borcovicium, and Velurtion. The 18th-century farmhouse Housesteads gives the modern name. The site is owned by the National Trust and is in the care of English Heritage. Finds can be seen at the site, in the museum at Chesters, and in the Great North Museum: Hancock in Newcastle upon Tyne.

 

Hadrian's Wall was begun in AD 122. A fort was built in stone at the Housesteads Roman Fort site around AD 124 overlying the original Broad Wall foundation and Turret 36B, about two miles north east of an existing fort at Vindolanda. The fort was repaired and rebuilt several times, its northern defences being particularly prone to collapse. A substantial civil settlement (vicus) existed to the south, outside the fort, and some of the stone foundations can still be seen, including the so-called "Murder House", where two skeletons were found beneath an apparently newly-laid floor when excavated.

 

In the 2nd century AD, the garrison consisted of an unknown double-sized auxiliary infantry cohort and a detachment of legionaries from Legio II Augusta. In the 3rd century, it comprised Cohors I Tungrorum, augmented by the numerus Hnaudifridi and the Cuneus Frisiorum, a Frisian cavalry unit, cuneus referring to a wedge formation. The Tungrians were still there in the 4th century, according to the Notitia Dignitatum. By 409 AD the Romans had withdrawn.

  

The northern granary at Vercovicium, looking east. The pillars supported a raised floor to keep food dry and free from vermin. They are not part of a hypocaust.

 

The latrines at Housesteads on Hadrian's Wall, hygienically placed at the lowest corner of the fort. The water tank at left still has original lead sealing between its slabs.

Most other early forts straddle the Wall and therefore protrude into barbarian territory. It is also unusual for Britain in that it has no running water supply and is dependent upon rainwater collection (for which purpose there is a series of large stone-lined tanks around the periphery of the defences). It also has one of the best-preserved stone latrines in Roman Britain.

 

The name of the fort has been given as Borcovicus, Borcovicium, and Velurtion. An inscription found at Housesteads with the letters VER, is believed to be short for Ver(covicianorum) – the letters ver being interchangeable with bor in later Latin. The name of the 18th-century farmhouse of Housesteads provides the modern name.

 

The site is now owned by the National Trust and is currently in the care of English Heritage. Finds from Vercovicium can be seen in the site museum, in the museum at Chesters, and in the Great North Museum: Hancock in Newcastle upon Tyne.

 

Housesteads is a former farm whose lands include the ruins of the fort. In 1604 Hugh Nixon, "Stealer of cattle and receiver of stolen goods", became the tenant of Housesteads farm. From 1663, Housesteads was the home of the Armstrongs, a notorious family of Border Reivers. Nicholas Armstrong bought the farm in 1692, only to have to sell it again in 1694 to Thomas Gibson of Hexham for the sum of £485. They remained as tenants. They were a well-known band of horse thieves and cattle rustlers who used the old fort as a place to hold the stolen horses and cattle. They traded as far afield as Aberdeen and the south of England. At one time every male member of the family was said to have been a 'broken man', formally outlawed by English or Scottish authorities. Nicholas was hanged in 1704, and his brothers fled to America. The Armstrongs lived in a typical 16th-century defensive bastle house of two storeys: the ground floor for livestock and the upper level for living quarters. Its ruins remain built up against the south gate of the Roman fort, with external stone steps and narrow loop windows. A corn-drying kiln was inserted into the gate's guard chamber in the 17th century.

 

In 1698, the farm had been sold to Thomas Gibson who turned the land around the fort to agriculture and thus ploughed up numerous Roman artefacts. The 17th-century bastle house was replaced by a farmhouse located over the Roman hospital, which was sketched by William Stukeley in 1725. Throughout the 18th century Housesteads was farmed by a single tenant farming family. Since Hodgson recorded the presence of William Magnay as the tenant during that period this fixes the tenure. In particular, the well (thought to be Roman) was documented as having actually been built by William, and used by the family as a bath. Interest in the fort increased in the 19th century, particularly after the farm was purchased by the amateur historian John Clayton in 1838, to add to his collection of Roman Wall farms. The Roman site was cleared of later buildings by Clayton, and the present farmhouse built about 1860. John Maurice Clayton attempted to auction the fort in 1929. It did not reach its reserve and was donated to the National Trust in 1930. The farm was later owned by the Trevelyans who gave the land for the site museum.

 

Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman province of Britannia after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410.

 

Julius Caesar invaded Britain in 55 and 54 BC as part of his Gallic Wars. According to Caesar, the Britons had been overrun or culturally assimilated by the Belgae during the British Iron Age and had been aiding Caesar's enemies. The Belgae were the only Celtic tribe to cross the sea into Britain, for to all other Celtic tribes this land was unknown. He received tribute, installed the friendly king Mandubracius over the Trinovantes, and returned to Gaul. Planned invasions under Augustus were called off in 34, 27, and 25 BC. In 40 AD, Caligula assembled 200,000 men at the Channel on the continent, only to have them gather seashells (musculi) according to Suetonius, perhaps as a symbolic gesture to proclaim Caligula's victory over the sea. Three years later, Claudius directed four legions to invade Britain and restore the exiled king Verica over the Atrebates. The Romans defeated the Catuvellauni, and then organized their conquests as the province of Britain. By 47 AD, the Romans held the lands southeast of the Fosse Way. Control over Wales was delayed by reverses and the effects of Boudica's uprising, but the Romans expanded steadily northward.

 

The conquest of Britain continued under command of Gnaeus Julius Agricola (77–84), who expanded the Roman Empire as far as Caledonia. In mid-84 AD, Agricola faced the armies of the Caledonians, led by Calgacus, at the Battle of Mons Graupius. Battle casualties were estimated by Tacitus to be upwards of 10,000 on the Caledonian side and about 360 on the Roman side. The bloodbath at Mons Graupius concluded the forty-year conquest of Britain, a period that possibly saw between 100,000 and 250,000 Britons killed. In the context of pre-industrial warfare and of a total population of Britain of c. 2 million, these are very high figures.

 

Under the 2nd-century emperors Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, two walls were built to defend the Roman province from the Caledonians, whose realms in the Scottish Highlands were never controlled. Around 197 AD, the Severan Reforms divided Britain into two provinces: Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior. During the Diocletian Reforms, at the end of the 3rd century, Britannia was divided into four provinces under the direction of a vicarius, who administered the Diocese of the Britains. A fifth province, Valentia, is attested in the later 4th century. For much of the later period of the Roman occupation, Britannia was subject to barbarian invasions and often came under the control of imperial usurpers and imperial pretenders. The final Roman withdrawal from Britain occurred around 410; the native kingdoms are considered to have formed Sub-Roman Britain after that.

 

Following the conquest of the Britons, a distinctive Romano-British culture emerged as the Romans introduced improved agriculture, urban planning, industrial production, and architecture. The Roman goddess Britannia became the female personification of Britain. After the initial invasions, Roman historians generally only mention Britain in passing. Thus, most present knowledge derives from archaeological investigations and occasional epigraphic evidence lauding the Britannic achievements of an emperor. Roman citizens settled in Britain from many parts of the Empire.

 

History

Britain was known to the Classical world. The Greeks, the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians traded for Cornish tin in the 4th century BC. The Greeks referred to the Cassiterides, or "tin islands", and placed them near the west coast of Europe. The Carthaginian sailor Himilco is said to have visited the island in the 6th or 5th century BC and the Greek explorer Pytheas in the 4th. It was regarded as a place of mystery, with some writers refusing to believe it existed.

 

The first direct Roman contact was when Julius Caesar undertook two expeditions in 55 and 54 BC, as part of his conquest of Gaul, believing the Britons were helping the Gallic resistance. The first expedition was more a reconnaissance than a full invasion and gained a foothold on the coast of Kent but was unable to advance further because of storm damage to the ships and a lack of cavalry. Despite the military failure, it was a political success, with the Roman Senate declaring a 20-day public holiday in Rome to honour the unprecedented achievement of obtaining hostages from Britain and defeating Belgic tribes on returning to the continent.

 

The second invasion involved a substantially larger force and Caesar coerced or invited many of the native Celtic tribes to pay tribute and give hostages in return for peace. A friendly local king, Mandubracius, was installed, and his rival, Cassivellaunus, was brought to terms. Hostages were taken, but historians disagree over whether any tribute was paid after Caesar returned to Gaul.

 

Caesar conquered no territory and left no troops behind, but he established clients and brought Britain into Rome's sphere of influence. Augustus planned invasions in 34, 27 and 25 BC, but circumstances were never favourable, and the relationship between Britain and Rome settled into one of diplomacy and trade. Strabo, writing late in Augustus's reign, claimed that taxes on trade brought in more annual revenue than any conquest could. Archaeology shows that there was an increase in imported luxury goods in southeastern Britain. Strabo also mentions British kings who sent embassies to Augustus, and Augustus's own Res Gestae refers to two British kings he received as refugees. When some of Tiberius's ships were carried to Britain in a storm during his campaigns in Germany in 16 AD, they came back with tales of monsters.

 

Rome appears to have encouraged a balance of power in southern Britain, supporting two powerful kingdoms: the Catuvellauni, ruled by the descendants of Tasciovanus, and the Atrebates, ruled by the descendants of Commius. This policy was followed until 39 or 40 AD, when Caligula received an exiled member of the Catuvellaunian dynasty and planned an invasion of Britain that collapsed in farcical circumstances before it left Gaul. When Claudius successfully invaded in 43 AD, it was in aid of another fugitive British ruler, Verica of the Atrebates.

 

Roman invasion

The invasion force in 43 AD was led by Aulus Plautius,[26] but it is unclear how many legions were sent. The Legio II Augusta, commanded by future emperor Vespasian, was the only one directly attested to have taken part. The Legio IX Hispana, the XIV Gemina (later styled Martia Victrix) and the XX (later styled Valeria Victrix) are known to have served during the Boudican Revolt of 60/61, and were probably there since the initial invasion. This is not certain because the Roman army was flexible, with units being moved around whenever necessary. The IX Hispana may have been permanently stationed, with records showing it at Eboracum (York) in 71 and on a building inscription there dated 108, before being destroyed in the east of the Empire, possibly during the Bar Kokhba revolt.

 

The invasion was delayed by a troop mutiny until an imperial freedman persuaded them to overcome their fear of crossing the Ocean and campaigning beyond the limits of the known world. They sailed in three divisions, and probably landed at Richborough in Kent; at least part of the force may have landed near Fishbourne, West Sussex.

 

The Catuvellauni and their allies were defeated in two battles: the first, assuming a Richborough landing, on the river Medway, the second on the river Thames. One of their leaders, Togodumnus, was killed, but his brother Caratacus survived to continue resistance elsewhere. Plautius halted at the Thames and sent for Claudius, who arrived with reinforcements, including artillery and elephants, for the final march to the Catuvellaunian capital, Camulodunum (Colchester). Vespasian subdued the southwest, Cogidubnus was set up as a friendly king of several territories, and treaties were made with tribes outside direct Roman control.

 

Establishment of Roman rule

After capturing the south of the island, the Romans turned their attention to what is now Wales. The Silures, Ordovices and Deceangli remained implacably opposed to the invaders and for the first few decades were the focus of Roman military attention, despite occasional minor revolts among Roman allies like the Brigantes and the Iceni. The Silures were led by Caratacus, and he carried out an effective guerrilla campaign against Governor Publius Ostorius Scapula. Finally, in 51, Ostorius lured Caratacus into a set-piece battle and defeated him. The British leader sought refuge among the Brigantes, but their queen, Cartimandua, proved her loyalty by surrendering him to the Romans. He was brought as a captive to Rome, where a dignified speech he made during Claudius's triumph persuaded the emperor to spare his life. The Silures were still not pacified, and Cartimandua's ex-husband Venutius replaced Caratacus as the most prominent leader of British resistance.

 

On Nero's accession, Roman Britain extended as far north as Lindum. Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, the conqueror of Mauretania (modern day Algeria and Morocco), then became governor of Britain, and in 60 and 61 he moved against Mona (Anglesey) to settle accounts with Druidism once and for all. Paulinus led his army across the Menai Strait and massacred the Druids and burnt their sacred groves.

 

While Paulinus was campaigning in Mona, the southeast of Britain rose in revolt under the leadership of Boudica. She was the widow of the recently deceased king of the Iceni, Prasutagus. The Roman historian Tacitus reports that Prasutagus had left a will leaving half his kingdom to Nero in the hope that the remainder would be left untouched. He was wrong. When his will was enforced, Rome[clarification needed] responded by violently seizing the tribe's lands in full. Boudica protested. In consequence, Rome[clarification needed] punished her and her daughters by flogging and rape. In response, the Iceni, joined by the Trinovantes, destroyed the Roman colony at Camulodunum (Colchester) and routed the part of the IXth Legion that was sent to relieve it. Paulinus rode to London (then called Londinium), the rebels' next target, but concluded it could not be defended. Abandoned, it was destroyed, as was Verulamium (St. Albans). Between seventy and eighty thousand people are said to have been killed in the three cities. But Paulinus regrouped with two of the three legions still available to him, chose a battlefield, and, despite being outnumbered by more than twenty to one, defeated the rebels in the Battle of Watling Street. Boudica died not long afterwards, by self-administered poison or by illness. During this time, the Emperor Nero considered withdrawing Roman forces from Britain altogether.

 

There was further turmoil in 69, the "Year of the Four Emperors". As civil war raged in Rome, weak governors were unable to control the legions in Britain, and Venutius of the Brigantes seized his chance. The Romans had previously defended Cartimandua against him, but this time were unable to do so. Cartimandua was evacuated, and Venutius was left in control of the north of the country. After Vespasian secured the empire, his first two appointments as governor, Quintus Petillius Cerialis and Sextus Julius Frontinus, took on the task of subduing the Brigantes and Silures respectively.[38] Frontinus extended Roman rule to all of South Wales, and initiated exploitation of the mineral resources, such as the gold mines at Dolaucothi.

 

In the following years, the Romans conquered more of the island, increasing the size of Roman Britain. Governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola, father-in-law to the historian Tacitus, conquered the Ordovices in 78. With the XX Valeria Victrix legion, Agricola defeated the Caledonians in 84 at the Battle of Mons Graupius, in north-east Scotland. This was the high-water mark of Roman territory in Britain: shortly after his victory, Agricola was recalled from Britain back to Rome, and the Romans initially retired to a more defensible line along the Forth–Clyde isthmus, freeing soldiers badly needed along other frontiers.

 

For much of the history of Roman Britain, a large number of soldiers were garrisoned on the island. This required that the emperor station a trusted senior man as governor of the province. As a result, many future emperors served as governors or legates in this province, including Vespasian, Pertinax, and Gordian I.

 

Roman military organisation in the north

In 84 AD

In 84 AD

 

In 155 AD

In 155 AD

 

Hadrian's Wall, and Antonine Wall

There is no historical source describing the decades that followed Agricola's recall. Even the name of his replacement is unknown. Archaeology has shown that some Roman forts south of the Forth–Clyde isthmus were rebuilt and enlarged; others appear to have been abandoned. By 87 the frontier had been consolidated on the Stanegate. Roman coins and pottery have been found circulating at native settlement sites in the Scottish Lowlands in the years before 100, indicating growing Romanisation. Some of the most important sources for this era are the writing tablets from the fort at Vindolanda in Northumberland, mostly dating to 90–110. These tablets provide evidence for the operation of a Roman fort at the edge of the Roman Empire, where officers' wives maintained polite society while merchants, hauliers and military personnel kept the fort operational and supplied.

 

Around 105 there appears to have been a serious setback at the hands of the tribes of the Picts: several Roman forts were destroyed by fire, with human remains and damaged armour at Trimontium (at modern Newstead, in SE Scotland) indicating hostilities at least at that site.[citation needed] There is also circumstantial evidence that auxiliary reinforcements were sent from Germany, and an unnamed British war of the period is mentioned on the gravestone of a tribune of Cyrene. Trajan's Dacian Wars may have led to troop reductions in the area or even total withdrawal followed by slighting of the forts by the Picts rather than an unrecorded military defeat. The Romans were also in the habit of destroying their own forts during an orderly withdrawal, in order to deny resources to an enemy. In either case, the frontier probably moved south to the line of the Stanegate at the Solway–Tyne isthmus around this time.

 

A new crisis occurred at the beginning of Hadrian's reign): a rising in the north which was suppressed by Quintus Pompeius Falco. When Hadrian reached Britannia on his famous tour of the Roman provinces around 120, he directed an extensive defensive wall, known to posterity as Hadrian's Wall, to be built close to the line of the Stanegate frontier. Hadrian appointed Aulus Platorius Nepos as governor to undertake this work who brought the Legio VI Victrix legion with him from Germania Inferior. This replaced the famous Legio IX Hispana, whose disappearance has been much discussed. Archaeology indicates considerable political instability in Scotland during the first half of the 2nd century, and the shifting frontier at this time should be seen in this context.

 

In the reign of Antoninus Pius (138–161) the Hadrianic border was briefly extended north to the Forth–Clyde isthmus, where the Antonine Wall was built around 142 following the military reoccupation of the Scottish lowlands by a new governor, Quintus Lollius Urbicus.

 

The first Antonine occupation of Scotland ended as a result of a further crisis in 155–157, when the Brigantes revolted. With limited options to despatch reinforcements, the Romans moved their troops south, and this rising was suppressed by Governor Gnaeus Julius Verus. Within a year the Antonine Wall was recaptured, but by 163 or 164 it was abandoned. The second occupation was probably connected with Antoninus's undertakings to protect the Votadini or his pride in enlarging the empire, since the retreat to the Hadrianic frontier occurred not long after his death when a more objective strategic assessment of the benefits of the Antonine Wall could be made. The Romans did not entirely withdraw from Scotland at this time: the large fort at Newstead was maintained along with seven smaller outposts until at least 180.

 

During the twenty-year period following the reversion of the frontier to Hadrian's Wall in 163/4, Rome was concerned with continental issues, primarily problems in the Danubian provinces. Increasing numbers of hoards of buried coins in Britain at this time indicate that peace was not entirely achieved. Sufficient Roman silver has been found in Scotland to suggest more than ordinary trade, and it is likely that the Romans were reinforcing treaty agreements by paying tribute to their implacable enemies, the Picts.

 

In 175, a large force of Sarmatian cavalry, consisting of 5,500 men, arrived in Britannia, probably to reinforce troops fighting unrecorded uprisings. In 180, Hadrian's Wall was breached by the Picts and the commanding officer or governor was killed there in what Cassius Dio described as the most serious war of the reign of Commodus. Ulpius Marcellus was sent as replacement governor and by 184 he had won a new peace, only to be faced with a mutiny from his own troops. Unhappy with Marcellus's strictness, they tried to elect a legate named Priscus as usurper governor; he refused, but Marcellus was lucky to leave the province alive. The Roman army in Britannia continued its insubordination: they sent a delegation of 1,500 to Rome to demand the execution of Tigidius Perennis, a Praetorian prefect who they felt had earlier wronged them by posting lowly equites to legate ranks in Britannia. Commodus met the party outside Rome and agreed to have Perennis killed, but this only made them feel more secure in their mutiny.

 

The future emperor Pertinax (lived 126–193) was sent to Britannia to quell the mutiny and was initially successful in regaining control, but a riot broke out among the troops. Pertinax was attacked and left for dead, and asked to be recalled to Rome, where he briefly succeeded Commodus as emperor in 192.

 

3rd century

The death of Commodus put into motion a series of events which eventually led to civil war. Following the short reign of Pertinax, several rivals for the emperorship emerged, including Septimius Severus and Clodius Albinus. The latter was the new governor of Britannia, and had seemingly won the natives over after their earlier rebellions; he also controlled three legions, making him a potentially significant claimant. His sometime rival Severus promised him the title of Caesar in return for Albinus's support against Pescennius Niger in the east. Once Niger was neutralised, Severus turned on his ally in Britannia; it is likely that Albinus saw he would be the next target and was already preparing for war.

 

Albinus crossed to Gaul in 195, where the provinces were also sympathetic to him, and set up at Lugdunum. Severus arrived in February 196, and the ensuing battle was decisive. Albinus came close to victory, but Severus's reinforcements won the day, and the British governor committed suicide. Severus soon purged Albinus's sympathisers and perhaps confiscated large tracts of land in Britain as punishment. Albinus had demonstrated the major problem posed by Roman Britain. In order to maintain security, the province required the presence of three legions, but command of these forces provided an ideal power base for ambitious rivals. Deploying those legions elsewhere would strip the island of its garrison, leaving the province defenceless against uprisings by the native Celtic tribes and against invasion by the Picts and Scots.

 

The traditional view is that northern Britain descended into anarchy during Albinus's absence. Cassius Dio records that the new Governor, Virius Lupus, was obliged to buy peace from a fractious northern tribe known as the Maeatae. The succession of militarily distinguished governors who were subsequently appointed suggests that enemies of Rome were posing a difficult challenge, and Lucius Alfenus Senecio's report to Rome in 207 describes barbarians "rebelling, over-running the land, taking loot and creating destruction". In order to rebel, of course, one must be a subject – the Maeatae clearly did not consider themselves such. Senecio requested either reinforcements or an Imperial expedition, and Severus chose the latter, despite being 62 years old. Archaeological evidence shows that Senecio had been rebuilding the defences of Hadrian's Wall and the forts beyond it, and Severus's arrival in Britain prompted the enemy tribes to sue for peace immediately. The emperor had not come all that way to leave without a victory, and it is likely that he wished to provide his teenage sons Caracalla and Geta with first-hand experience of controlling a hostile barbarian land.

 

Northern campaigns, 208–211

An invasion of Caledonia led by Severus and probably numbering around 20,000 troops moved north in 208 or 209, crossing the Wall and passing through eastern Scotland on a route similar to that used by Agricola. Harried by punishing guerrilla raids by the northern tribes and slowed by an unforgiving terrain, Severus was unable to meet the Caledonians on a battlefield. The emperor's forces pushed north as far as the River Tay, but little appears to have been achieved by the invasion, as peace treaties were signed with the Caledonians. By 210 Severus had returned to York, and the frontier had once again become Hadrian's Wall. He assumed the title Britannicus but the title meant little with regard to the unconquered north, which clearly remained outside the authority of the Empire. Almost immediately, another northern tribe, the Maeatae, went to war. Caracalla left with a punitive expedition, but by the following year his ailing father had died and he and his brother left the province to press their claim to the throne.

 

As one of his last acts, Severus tried to solve the problem of powerful and rebellious governors in Britain by dividing the province into Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior. This kept the potential for rebellion in check for almost a century. Historical sources provide little information on the following decades, a period known as the Long Peace. Even so, the number of buried hoards found from this period rises, suggesting continuing unrest. A string of forts were built along the coast of southern Britain to control piracy; and over the following hundred years they increased in number, becoming the Saxon Shore Forts.

 

During the middle of the 3rd century, the Roman Empire was convulsed by barbarian invasions, rebellions and new imperial pretenders. Britannia apparently avoided these troubles, but increasing inflation had its economic effect. In 259 a so-called Gallic Empire was established when Postumus rebelled against Gallienus. Britannia was part of this until 274 when Aurelian reunited the empire.

 

Around the year 280, a half-British officer named Bonosus was in command of the Roman's Rhenish fleet when the Germans managed to burn it at anchor. To avoid punishment, he proclaimed himself emperor at Colonia Agrippina (Cologne) but was crushed by Marcus Aurelius Probus. Soon afterwards, an unnamed governor of one of the British provinces also attempted an uprising. Probus put it down by sending irregular troops of Vandals and Burgundians across the Channel.

 

The Carausian Revolt led to a short-lived Britannic Empire from 286 to 296. Carausius was a Menapian naval commander of the Britannic fleet; he revolted upon learning of a death sentence ordered by the emperor Maximian on charges of having abetted Frankish and Saxon pirates and having embezzled recovered treasure. He consolidated control over all the provinces of Britain and some of northern Gaul while Maximian dealt with other uprisings. An invasion in 288 failed to unseat him and an uneasy peace ensued, with Carausius issuing coins and inviting official recognition. In 293, the junior emperor Constantius Chlorus launched a second offensive, besieging the rebel port of Gesoriacum (Boulogne-sur-Mer) by land and sea. After it fell, Constantius attacked Carausius's other Gallic holdings and Frankish allies and Carausius was usurped by his treasurer, Allectus. Julius Asclepiodotus landed an invasion fleet near Southampton and defeated Allectus in a land battle.

 

Diocletian's reforms

As part of Diocletian's reforms, the provinces of Roman Britain were organized as a diocese governed by a vicarius under a praetorian prefect who, from 318 to 331, was Junius Bassus who was based at Augusta Treverorum (Trier).

 

The vicarius was based at Londinium as the principal city of the diocese. Londinium and Eboracum continued as provincial capitals and the territory was divided up into smaller provinces for administrative efficiency.

 

Civilian and military authority of a province was no longer exercised by one official and the governor was stripped of military command which was handed over to the Dux Britanniarum by 314. The governor of a province assumed more financial duties (the procurators of the Treasury ministry were slowly phased out in the first three decades of the 4th century). The Dux was commander of the troops of the Northern Region, primarily along Hadrian's Wall and his responsibilities included protection of the frontier. He had significant autonomy due in part to the distance from his superiors.

 

The tasks of the vicarius were to control and coordinate the activities of governors; monitor but not interfere with the daily functioning of the Treasury and Crown Estates, which had their own administrative infrastructure; and act as the regional quartermaster-general of the armed forces. In short, as the sole civilian official with superior authority, he had general oversight of the administration, as well as direct control, while not absolute, over governors who were part of the prefecture; the other two fiscal departments were not.

 

The early-4th-century Verona List, the late-4th-century work of Sextus Rufus, and the early-5th-century List of Offices and work of Polemius Silvius all list four provinces by some variation of the names Britannia I, Britannia II, Maxima Caesariensis, and Flavia Caesariensis; all of these seem to have initially been directed by a governor (praeses) of equestrian rank. The 5th-century sources list a fifth province named Valentia and give its governor and Maxima's a consular rank. Ammianus mentions Valentia as well, describing its creation by Count Theodosius in 369 after the quelling of the Great Conspiracy. Ammianus considered it a re-creation of a formerly lost province, leading some to think there had been an earlier fifth province under another name (may be the enigmatic "Vespasiana"), and leading others to place Valentia beyond Hadrian's Wall, in the territory abandoned south of the Antonine Wall.

 

Reconstructions of the provinces and provincial capitals during this period partially rely on ecclesiastical records. On the assumption that the early bishoprics mimicked the imperial hierarchy, scholars use the list of bishops for the 314 Council of Arles. The list is patently corrupt: the British delegation is given as including a Bishop "Eborius" of Eboracum and two bishops "from Londinium" (one de civitate Londinensi and the other de civitate colonia Londinensium). The error is variously emended: Bishop Ussher proposed Colonia, Selden Col. or Colon. Camalodun., and Spelman Colonia Cameloduni (all various names of Colchester); Gale and Bingham offered colonia Lindi and Henry Colonia Lindum (both Lincoln); and Bishop Stillingfleet and Francis Thackeray read it as a scribal error of Civ. Col. Londin. for an original Civ. Col. Leg. II (Caerleon). On the basis of the Verona List, the priest and deacon who accompanied the bishops in some manuscripts are ascribed to the fourth province.

 

In the 12th century, Gerald of Wales described the supposedly metropolitan sees of the early British church established by the legendary SS Fagan and "Duvian". He placed Britannia Prima in Wales and western England with its capital at "Urbs Legionum" (Caerleon); Britannia Secunda in Kent and southern England with its capital at "Dorobernia" (Canterbury); Flavia in Mercia and central England with its capital at "Lundonia" (London); "Maximia" in northern England with its capital at Eboracum (York); and Valentia in "Albania which is now Scotland" with its capital at St Andrews. Modern scholars generally dispute the last: some place Valentia at or beyond Hadrian's Wall but St Andrews is beyond even the Antonine Wall and Gerald seems to have simply been supporting the antiquity of its church for political reasons.

 

A common modern reconstruction places the consular province of Maxima at Londinium, on the basis of its status as the seat of the diocesan vicarius; places Prima in the west according to Gerald's traditional account but moves its capital to Corinium of the Dobunni (Cirencester) on the basis of an artifact recovered there referring to Lucius Septimius, a provincial rector; places Flavia north of Maxima, with its capital placed at Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) to match one emendation of the bishops list from Arles;[d] and places Secunda in the north with its capital at Eboracum (York). Valentia is placed variously in northern Wales around Deva (Chester); beside Hadrian's Wall around Luguvalium (Carlisle); and between the walls along Dere Street.

 

4th century

Emperor Constantius returned to Britain in 306, despite his poor health, with an army aiming to invade northern Britain, the provincial defences having been rebuilt in the preceding years. Little is known of his campaigns with scant archaeological evidence, but fragmentary historical sources suggest he reached the far north of Britain and won a major battle in early summer before returning south. His son Constantine (later Constantine the Great) spent a year in northern Britain at his father's side, campaigning against the Picts beyond Hadrian's Wall in the summer and autumn. Constantius died in York in July 306 with his son at his side. Constantine then successfully used Britain as the starting point of his march to the imperial throne, unlike the earlier usurper, Albinus.

 

In the middle of the century, the province was loyal for a few years to the usurper Magnentius, who succeeded Constans following the latter's death. After the defeat and death of Magnentius in the Battle of Mons Seleucus in 353, Constantius II dispatched his chief imperial notary Paulus Catena to Britain to hunt down Magnentius's supporters. The investigation deteriorated into a witch-hunt, which forced the vicarius Flavius Martinus to intervene. When Paulus retaliated by accusing Martinus of treason, the vicarius attacked Paulus with a sword, with the aim of assassinating him, but in the end he committed suicide.

 

As the 4th century progressed, there were increasing attacks from the Saxons in the east and the Scoti (Irish) in the west. A series of forts had been built, starting around 280, to defend the coasts, but these preparations were not enough when, in 367, a general assault of Saxons, Picts, Scoti and Attacotti, combined with apparent dissension in the garrison on Hadrian's Wall, left Roman Britain prostrate. The invaders overwhelmed the entire western and northern regions of Britannia and the cities were sacked. This crisis, sometimes called the Barbarian Conspiracy or the Great Conspiracy, was settled by Count Theodosius from 368 with a string of military and civil reforms. Theodosius crossed from Bononia (Boulogne-sur-Mer) and marched on Londinium where he began to deal with the invaders and made his base.[ An amnesty was promised to deserters which enabled Theodosius to regarrison abandoned forts. By the end of the year Hadrian's Wall was retaken and order returned. Considerable reorganization was undertaken in Britain, including the creation of a new province named Valentia, probably to better address the state of the far north. A new Dux Britanniarum was appointed, Dulcitius, with Civilis to head a new civilian administration.

 

Another imperial usurper, Magnus Maximus, raised the standard of revolt at Segontium (Caernarfon) in north Wales in 383, and crossed the English Channel. Maximus held much of the western empire, and fought a successful campaign against the Picts and Scots around 384. His continental exploits required troops from Britain, and it appears that forts at Chester and elsewhere were abandoned in this period, triggering raids and settlement in north Wales by the Irish. His rule was ended in 388, but not all the British troops may have returned: the Empire's military resources were stretched to the limit along the Rhine and Danube. Around 396 there were more barbarian incursions into Britain. Stilicho led a punitive expedition. It seems peace was restored by 399, and it is likely that no further garrisoning was ordered; by 401 more troops were withdrawn, to assist in the war against Alaric I.

 

End of Roman rule

The traditional view of historians, informed by the work of Michael Rostovtzeff, was of a widespread economic decline at the beginning of the 5th century. Consistent archaeological evidence has told another story, and the accepted view is undergoing re-evaluation. Some features are agreed: more opulent but fewer urban houses, an end to new public building and some abandonment of existing ones, with the exception of defensive structures, and the widespread formation of "dark earth" deposits indicating increased horticulture within urban precincts. Turning over the basilica at Silchester to industrial uses in the late 3rd century, doubtless officially condoned, marks an early stage in the de-urbanisation of Roman Britain.

 

The abandonment of some sites is now believed to be later than had been thought. Many buildings changed use but were not destroyed. There was a growing number of barbarian attacks, but these targeted vulnerable rural settlements rather than towns. Some villas such as Chedworth, Great Casterton in Rutland and Hucclecote in Gloucestershire had new mosaic floors laid around this time, suggesting that economic problems may have been limited and patchy. Many suffered some decay before being abandoned in the 5th century; the story of Saint Patrick indicates that villas were still occupied until at least 430. Exceptionally, new buildings were still going up in this period in Verulamium and Cirencester. Some urban centres, for example Canterbury, Cirencester, Wroxeter, Winchester and Gloucester, remained active during the 5th and 6th centuries, surrounded by large farming estates.

 

Urban life had generally grown less intense by the fourth quarter of the 4th century, and coins minted between 378 and 388 are very rare, indicating a likely combination of economic decline, diminishing numbers of troops, problems with the payment of soldiers and officials or with unstable conditions during the usurpation of Magnus Maximus 383–87. Coinage circulation increased during the 390s, but never attained the levels of earlier decades. Copper coins are very rare after 402, though minted silver and gold coins from hoards indicate they were still present in the province even if they were not being spent. By 407 there were very few new Roman coins going into circulation, and by 430 it is likely that coinage as a medium of exchange had been abandoned. Mass-produced wheel thrown pottery ended at approximately the same time; the rich continued to use metal and glass vessels, while the poor made do with humble "grey ware" or resorted to leather or wooden containers.

 

Sub-Roman Britain

Towards the end of the 4th century Roman rule in Britain came under increasing pressure from barbarian attacks. Apparently, there were not enough troops to mount an effective defence. After elevating two disappointing usurpers, the army chose a soldier, Constantine III, to become emperor in 407. He crossed to Gaul but was defeated by Honorius; it is unclear how many troops remained or ever returned, or whether a commander-in-chief in Britain was ever reappointed. A Saxon incursion in 408 was apparently repelled by the Britons, and in 409 Zosimus records that the natives expelled the Roman civilian administration. Zosimus may be referring to the Bacaudic rebellion of the Breton inhabitants of Armorica since he describes how, in the aftermath of the revolt, all of Armorica and the rest of Gaul followed the example of the Brettaniai. A letter from Emperor Honorius in 410 has traditionally been seen as rejecting a British appeal for help, but it may have been addressed to Bruttium or Bologna. With the imperial layers of the military and civil government gone, administration and justice fell to municipal authorities, and local warlords gradually emerged all over Britain, still utilizing Romano-British ideals and conventions. Historian Stuart Laycock has investigated this process and emphasised elements of continuity from the British tribes in the pre-Roman and Roman periods, through to the native post-Roman kingdoms.

 

In British tradition, pagan Saxons were invited by Vortigern to assist in fighting the Picts, Scoti, and Déisi. (Germanic migration into Roman Britannia may have begun much earlier. There is recorded evidence, for example, of Germanic auxiliaries supporting the legions in Britain in the 1st and 2nd centuries.) The new arrivals rebelled, plunging the country into a series of wars that eventually led to the Saxon occupation of Lowland Britain by 600. Around this time, many Britons fled to Brittany (hence its name), Galicia and probably Ireland. A significant date in sub-Roman Britain is the Groans of the Britons, an unanswered appeal to Aetius, leading general of the western Empire, for assistance against Saxon invasion in 446. Another is the Battle of Deorham in 577, after which the significant cities of Bath, Cirencester and Gloucester fell and the Saxons reached the western sea.

 

Historians generally reject the historicity of King Arthur, who is supposed to have resisted the Anglo-Saxon conquest according to later medieval legends.

 

Trade

During the Roman period Britain's continental trade was principally directed across the Southern North Sea and Eastern Channel, focusing on the narrow Strait of Dover, with more limited links via the Atlantic seaways. The most important British ports were London and Richborough, whilst the continental ports most heavily engaged in trade with Britain were Boulogne and the sites of Domburg and Colijnsplaat at the mouth of the river Scheldt. During the Late Roman period it is likely that the shore forts played some role in continental trade alongside their defensive functions.

 

Exports to Britain included: coin; pottery, particularly red-gloss terra sigillata (samian ware) from southern, central and eastern Gaul, as well as various other wares from Gaul and the Rhine provinces; olive oil from southern Spain in amphorae; wine from Gaul in amphorae and barrels; salted fish products from the western Mediterranean and Brittany in barrels and amphorae; preserved olives from southern Spain in amphorae; lava quern-stones from Mayen on the middle Rhine; glass; and some agricultural products. Britain's exports are harder to detect archaeologically, but will have included metals, such as silver and gold and some lead, iron and copper. Other exports probably included agricultural products, oysters and salt, whilst large quantities of coin would have been re-exported back to the continent as well.

 

These products moved as a result of private trade and also through payments and contracts established by the Roman state to support its military forces and officials on the island, as well as through state taxation and extraction of resources. Up until the mid-3rd century, the Roman state's payments appear to have been unbalanced, with far more products sent to Britain, to support its large military force (which had reached c. 53,000 by the mid-2nd century), than were extracted from the island.

 

It has been argued that Roman Britain's continental trade peaked in the late 1st century AD and thereafter declined as a result of an increasing reliance on local products by the population of Britain, caused by economic development on the island and by the Roman state's desire to save money by shifting away from expensive long-distance imports. Evidence has been outlined that suggests that the principal decline in Roman Britain's continental trade may have occurred in the late 2nd century AD, from c. 165 AD onwards. This has been linked to the economic impact of contemporary Empire-wide crises: the Antonine Plague and the Marcomannic Wars.

 

From the mid-3rd century onwards, Britain no longer received such a wide range and extensive quantity of foreign imports as it did during the earlier part of the Roman period; vast quantities of coin from continental mints reached the island, whilst there is historical evidence for the export of large amounts of British grain to the continent during the mid-4th century. During the latter part of the Roman period British agricultural products, paid for by both the Roman state and by private consumers, clearly played an important role in supporting the military garrisons and urban centres of the northwestern continental Empire. This came about as a result of the rapid decline in the size of the British garrison from the mid-3rd century onwards (thus freeing up more goods for export), and because of 'Germanic' incursions across the Rhine, which appear to have reduced rural settlement and agricultural output in northern Gaul.

 

Economy

Mineral extraction sites such as the Dolaucothi gold mine were probably first worked by the Roman army from c. 75, and at some later stage passed to civilian operators. The mine developed as a series of opencast workings, mainly by the use of hydraulic mining methods. They are described by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History in great detail. Essentially, water supplied by aqueducts was used to prospect for ore veins by stripping away soil to reveal the bedrock. If veins were present, they were attacked using fire-setting and the ore removed for comminution. The dust was washed in a small stream of water and the heavy gold dust and gold nuggets collected in riffles. The diagram at right shows how Dolaucothi developed from c. 75 through to the 1st century. When opencast work was no longer feasible, tunnels were driven to follow the veins. The evidence from the site shows advanced technology probably under the control of army engineers.

 

The Wealden ironworking zone, the lead and silver mines of the Mendip Hills and the tin mines of Cornwall seem to have been private enterprises leased from the government for a fee. Mining had long been practised in Britain (see Grimes Graves), but the Romans introduced new technical knowledge and large-scale industrial production to revolutionise the industry. It included hydraulic mining to prospect for ore by removing overburden as well as work alluvial deposits. The water needed for such large-scale operations was supplied by one or more aqueducts, those surviving at Dolaucothi being especially impressive. Many prospecting areas were in dangerous, upland country, and, although mineral exploitation was presumably one of the main reasons for the Roman invasion, it had to wait until these areas were subdued.

 

By the 3rd and 4th centuries, small towns could often be found near villas. In these towns, villa owners and small-scale farmers could obtain specialist tools. Lowland Britain in the 4th century was agriculturally prosperous enough to export grain to the continent. This prosperity lay behind the blossoming of villa building and decoration that occurred between AD 300 and 350.

 

Britain's cities also consumed Roman-style pottery and other goods, and were centres through which goods could be distributed elsewhere. At Wroxeter in Shropshire, stock smashed into a gutter during a 2nd-century fire reveals that Gaulish samian ware was being sold alongside mixing bowls from the Mancetter-Hartshill industry of the West Midlands. Roman designs were most popular, but rural craftsmen still produced items derived from the Iron Age La Tène artistic traditions. Britain was home to much gold, which attracted Roman invaders. By the 3rd century, Britain's economy was diverse and well established, with commerce extending into the non-Romanised north.

 

Government

Further information: Governors of Roman Britain, Roman client kingdoms in Britain, and Roman auxiliaries in Britain

Under the Roman Empire, administration of peaceful provinces was ultimately the remit of the Senate, but those, like Britain, that required permanent garrisons, were placed under the Emperor's control. In practice imperial provinces were run by resident governors who were members of the Senate and had held the consulship. These men were carefully selected, often having strong records of military success and administrative ability. In Britain, a governor's role was primarily military, but numerous other tasks were also his responsibility, such as maintaining diplomatic relations with local client kings, building roads, ensuring the public courier system functioned, supervising the civitates and acting as a judge in important legal cases. When not campaigning, he would travel the province hearing complaints and recruiting new troops.

 

To assist him in legal matters he had an adviser, the legatus juridicus, and those in Britain appear to have been distinguished lawyers perhaps because of the challenge of incorporating tribes into the imperial system and devising a workable method of taxing them. Financial administration was dealt with by a procurator with junior posts for each tax-raising power. Each legion in Britain had a commander who answered to the governor and, in time of war, probably directly ruled troublesome districts. Each of these commands carried a tour of duty of two to three years in different provinces. Below these posts was a network of administrative managers covering intelligence gathering, sending reports to Rome, organising military supplies and dealing with prisoners. A staff of seconded soldiers provided clerical services.

 

Colchester was probably the earliest capital of Roman Britain, but it was soon eclipsed by London with its strong mercantile connections. The different forms of municipal organisation in Britannia were known as civitas (which were subdivided, amongst other forms, into colonies such as York, Colchester, Gloucester and Lincoln and municipalities such as Verulamium), and were each governed by a senate of local landowners, whether Brythonic or Roman, who elected magistrates concerning judicial and civic affairs. The various civitates sent representatives to a yearly provincial council in order to profess loyalty to the Roman state, to send direct petitions to the Emperor in times of extraordinary need, and to worship the imperial cult.

 

Demographics

Roman Britain had an estimated population between 2.8 million and 3 million people at the end of the second century. At the end of the fourth century, it had an estimated population of 3.6 million people, of whom 125,000 consisted of the Roman army and their families and dependents.[80] The urban population of Roman Britain was about 240,000 people at the end of the fourth century. The capital city of Londinium is estimated to have had a population of about 60,000 people. Londinium was an ethnically diverse city with inhabitants from the Roman Empire, including natives of Britannia, continental Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. There was also cultural diversity in other Roman-British towns, which were sustained by considerable migration, from Britannia and other Roman territories, including continental Europe, Roman Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa. In a study conducted in 2012, around 45 percent of sites investigated dating from the Roman period had at least one individual of North African origin.

 

Town and country

During their occupation of Britain the Romans founded a number of important settlements, many of which survive. The towns suffered attrition in the later 4th century, when public building ceased and some were abandoned to private uses. Place names survived the deurbanised Sub-Roman and early Anglo-Saxon periods, and historiography has been at pains to signal the expected survivals, but archaeology shows that a bare handful of Roman towns were continuously occupied. According to S.T. Loseby, the very idea of a town as a centre of power and administration was reintroduced to England by the Roman Christianising mission to Canterbury, and its urban revival was delayed to the 10th century.

 

Roman towns can be broadly grouped in two categories. Civitates, "public towns" were formally laid out on a grid plan, and their role in imperial administration occasioned the construction of public buildings. The much more numerous category of vici, "small towns" grew on informal plans, often round a camp or at a ford or crossroads; some were not small, others were scarcely urban, some not even defended by a wall, the characteristic feature of a place of any importance.

 

Cities and towns which have Roman origins, or were extensively developed by them are listed with their Latin names in brackets; civitates are marked C

 

Alcester (Alauna)

Alchester

Aldborough, North Yorkshire (Isurium Brigantum) C

Bath (Aquae Sulis) C

Brough (Petuaria) C

Buxton (Aquae Arnemetiae)

Caerleon (Isca Augusta) C

Caernarfon (Segontium) C

Caerwent (Venta Silurum) C

Caister-on-Sea C

Canterbury (Durovernum Cantiacorum) C

Carlisle (Luguvalium) C

Carmarthen (Moridunum) C

Chelmsford (Caesaromagus)

Chester (Deva Victrix) C

Chester-le-Street (Concangis)

Chichester (Noviomagus Reginorum) C

Cirencester (Corinium) C

Colchester (Camulodunum) C

Corbridge (Coria) C

Dorchester (Durnovaria) C

Dover (Portus Dubris)

Exeter (Isca Dumnoniorum) C

Gloucester (Glevum) C

Great Chesterford (the name of this vicus is unknown)

Ilchester (Lindinis) C

Leicester (Ratae Corieltauvorum) C

Lincoln (Lindum Colonia) C

London (Londinium) C

Manchester (Mamucium) C

Newcastle upon Tyne (Pons Aelius)

Northwich (Condate)

St Albans (Verulamium) C

Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum) C

Towcester (Lactodurum)

Whitchurch (Mediolanum) C

Winchester (Venta Belgarum) C

Wroxeter (Viroconium Cornoviorum) C

York (Eboracum) C

 

Religion

The druids, the Celtic priestly caste who were believed to originate in Britain, were outlawed by Claudius, and in 61 they vainly defended their sacred groves from destruction by the Romans on the island of Mona (Anglesey). Under Roman rule the Britons continued to worship native Celtic deities, such as Ancasta, but often conflated with their Roman equivalents, like Mars Rigonemetos at Nettleham.

 

The degree to which earlier native beliefs survived is difficult to gauge precisely. Certain European ritual traits such as the significance of the number 3, the importance of the head and of water sources such as springs remain in the archaeological record, but the differences in the votive offerings made at the baths at Bath, Somerset, before and after the Roman conquest suggest that continuity was only partial. Worship of the Roman emperor is widely recorded, especially at military sites. The founding of a Roman temple to Claudius at Camulodunum was one of the impositions that led to the revolt of Boudica. By the 3rd century, Pagans Hill Roman Temple in Somerset was able to exist peaceably and it did so into the 5th century.

 

Pagan religious practices were supported by priests, represented in Britain by votive deposits of priestly regalia such as chain crowns from West Stow and Willingham Fen.

 

Eastern cults such as Mithraism also grew in popularity towards the end of the occupation. The London Mithraeum is one example of the popularity of mystery religions among the soldiery. Temples to Mithras also exist in military contexts at Vindobala on Hadrian's Wall (the Rudchester Mithraeum) and at Segontium in Roman Wales (the Caernarfon Mithraeum).

 

Christianity

It is not clear when or how Christianity came to Britain. A 2nd-century "word square" has been discovered in Mamucium, the Roman settlement of Manchester. It consists of an anagram of PATER NOSTER carved on a piece of amphora. There has been discussion by academics whether the "word square" is a Christian artefact, but if it is, it is one of the earliest examples of early Christianity in Britain. The earliest confirmed written evidence for Christianity in Britain is a statement by Tertullian, c. 200 AD, in which he described "all the limits of the Spains, and the diverse nations of the Gauls, and the haunts of the Britons, inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ". Archaeological evidence for Christian communities begins to appear in the 3rd and 4th centuries. Small timber churches are suggested at Lincoln and Silchester and baptismal fonts have been found at Icklingham and the Saxon Shore Fort at Richborough. The Icklingham font is made of lead, and visible in the British Museum. A Roman Christian graveyard exists at the same site in Icklingham. A possible Roman 4th-century church and associated burial ground was also discovered at Butt Road on the south-west outskirts of Colchester during the construction of the new police station there, overlying an earlier pagan cemetery. The Water Newton Treasure is a hoard of Christian silver church plate from the early 4th century and the Roman villas at Lullingstone and Hinton St Mary contained Christian wall paintings and mosaics respectively. A large 4th-century cemetery at Poundbury with its east–west oriented burials and lack of grave goods has been interpreted as an early Christian burial ground, although such burial rites were also becoming increasingly common in pagan contexts during the period.

 

The Church in Britain seems to have developed the customary diocesan system, as evidenced from the records of the Council of Arles in Gaul in 314: represented at the council were bishops from thirty-five sees from Europe and North Africa, including three bishops from Britain, Eborius of York, Restitutus of London, and Adelphius, possibly a bishop of Lincoln. No other early sees are documented, and the material remains of early church structures are far to seek. The existence of a church in the forum courtyard of Lincoln and the martyrium of Saint Alban on the outskirts of Roman Verulamium are exceptional. Alban, the first British Christian martyr and by far the most prominent, is believed to have died in the early 4th century (some date him in the middle 3rd century), followed by Saints Julius and Aaron of Isca Augusta. Christianity was legalised in the Roman Empire by Constantine I in 313. Theodosius I made Christianity the state religion of the empire in 391, and by the 5th century it was well established. One belief labelled a heresy by the church authorities — Pelagianism — was originated by a British monk teaching in Rome: Pelagius lived c. 354 to c. 420/440.

 

A letter found on a lead tablet in Bath, Somerset, datable to c. 363, had been widely publicised as documentary evidence regarding the state of Christianity in Britain during Roman times. According to its first translator, it was written in Wroxeter by a Christian man called Vinisius to a Christian woman called Nigra, and was claimed as the first epigraphic record of Christianity in Britain. This translation of the letter was apparently based on grave paleographical errors, and the text has nothing to do with Christianity, and in fact relates to pagan rituals.

 

Environmental changes

The Romans introduced a number of species to Britain, including possibly the now-rare Roman nettle (Urtica pilulifera), said to have been used by soldiers to warm their arms and legs, and the edible snail Helix pomatia. There is also some evidence they may have introduced rabbits, but of the smaller southern mediterranean type. The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) prevalent in modern Britain is assumed to have been introduced from the continent after the Norman invasion of 1066. Box (Buxus sempervirens) is rarely recorded before the Roman period, but becomes a common find in towns and villas

 

Legacy

During their occupation of Britain the Romans built an extensive network of roads which continued to be used in later centuries and many are still followed today. The Romans also built water supply, sanitation and wastewater systems. Many of Britain's major cities, such as London (Londinium), Manchester (Mamucium) and York (Eboracum), were founded by the Romans, but the original Roman settlements were abandoned not long after the Romans left.

 

Unlike many other areas of the Western Roman Empire, the current majority language is not a Romance language, or a language descended from the pre-Roman inhabitants. The British language at the time of the invasion was Common Brittonic, and remained so after the Romans withdrew. It later split into regional languages, notably Cumbric, Cornish, Breton and Welsh. Examination of these languages suggests some 800 Latin words were incorporated into Common Brittonic (see Brittonic languages). The current majority language, English, is based on the languages of the Germanic tribes who migrated to the island from continental Europe

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They say that in business you have to take risks... something these Thai stall holders do every day.

 

This market in Mae Klong has a working railway line running straight through it.

 

Seven days a week, 4-8 times a day, when they hear a warning bell, the traders calmly pack up their stalls and let the train pass through.

 

Before getting back on with business.

 

This section of the railway line runs from Ban Laem to Mae Klong - a distance of around 40 miles.

 

The market and the railway line have co-existed for over 100 years...

 

And despite the seemingly hazardous nature of this unusual setup, it’s reported that there are relatively few injuries or fatalities.

 

It’s known locally for its excellent choice of fresh fish, but to visitors as one of the most unusual markets in the world.

Bang Sue, Bangkok, Thailand Country in Asia

Thailand

 

Country in Asia

DescriptionThailand is a Southeast Asian country. It's known for tropical beaches, opulent royal palaces, ancient ruins, and ornate temples displaying figures of Buddha. In Bangkok, the capital, an ultramodern cityscape rises next to quiet canalside communities and the iconic temples of Wat Arun, Wat Pho, and the Emerald Buddha Temple (Wat Phra Kaew). Nearby beach resorts include bustling Pattaya and fashionable Hua Hin

Pride and Prejudice: on Raphael Perez's Artwork

 

Raphael Perez, born in 1965, studied art at the College of Visual Arts in Beer Sheva, and from 1995 has been living and working in his studio in Tel Aviv. Today Perez plays an important role in actively promoting the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual) art and culture in Tel Aviv, and the internet portal he set up helps artists from the community reach large audiences in Israel and abroad. Hundreds of his artworks are part of private collections in Israel and abroad, and his artworks were shown in several group exhibitions: in Tel Aviv Museum of Art, "Zman Le'Omanut" art gallery, Camera Obscura, The Open House in Jerusalem, Ophir Gallery, The Haifa Forum and other private businesses and galleries.

In 2003-4 his paintings and studio appeared in a full-length movie, three student films and two graduation films.

 

Raphael Perez is the first Israeli artist to express his lifestyle as a Gay. His life and the life of the LGBT community are connected and unfold over hundreds of artwork pieces. His art creation is rare and extraordinary by every Israeli and international artistic standard. His sources of inspiration are first and foremost life events intertwined in Jewish and Israeli locality as well as influences and quotes from art history (David Hockney, Matisse). This uniqueness has crossed international borders and has succeeded in moving the LGBT and art communities around the world.

 

This is the first time we meet an Israeli artist who expresses all of his emotions in a previously unknown strength. The subjects of the paintings are the everyday life of couples in everyday places and situations, along with the aspiration to a homosexual relationship and family, equality and public recognition. Perez's works bring forward to the cultural space and to the public discourse the truth about living as LGBT and about relationships, with all of their aspects – casual relationships and sex, the yearning for love, the everyday life and the mundane activities that exist in every romantic relationship – whether by describing two men in an intimate scene in the bathroom, the bedroom or the toilet, a male couple raising a baby or the homosexual version of the Garden of Eden, family dinners, relationship ups and downs, the complexity in sharing a life as well as mundane, everyday life competing with the aspiration to self realization – through Perez's life.

  

Perez's first artworks are personal diaries, which he creates at 14 years of age. He makes sure to hide these diaries, as in them he keeps a personal journal describing his life events in the most genuine way. In these journals he draws thousands of drawings and sketches, next to which he alternately writes and erases his so-called "problematic texts", texts describing his struggle with his sexual orientation. His diaries are filled with obsessive cataloging of details, daily actions, friends and work, as well as repeating themes, such as thoughts, exhibits he has seen, movies, television, books and review of his work.

 

When he is done writing, Perez draws on his diaries. Each layer is done from beginning to end all along the journal. In fact, the work on the diaries never ends.

This struggle never ends, and when the emotion is passed on to paper, and it ends its role and becomes meaningless in a way, the visual-graphic side becomes dominant, due to the need to hide the written text, according to Perez. In books and diaries this stands out even more – when he chooses to draw in a style influenced by children's drawings, the characters are cheerful, happy, naïve and do not portray any sexuality, and when he tries drawing as an adult the sketches became more depressed and somber. During these years Perez works with preschool children, teaching them drawing and movement games. Perez says that during this period he completely abandoned the search for a relationship, either with a woman or a man, and working with children has given him existential meaning. This creation continues over 10 years, and Perez creates about 60 books-personal journals in various sizes (notepads, old notebooks, atlases and even old art books).

 

In his early paintings (1998-1999) the transition from relationships with women to relationships with men can be seen, from restraint to emotional outburst in color, lines and composition. Some characters display strong emotional expression. The women are usually drawn in restraint and passiveness, while a happy and loving emotional outburst is expressed in the colors and style of the male paintings.

 

"I fantasized that in a relationship with a woman I could fly in the sky, love, fly. However, I felt I was hiding something; I was choked up, hidden behind a mask, as if there was an internal scream wanting to come out. I was frustrated, I felt threatened…"

 

His first romance with a man in 1999 has drawn out a series of naïve paintings dealing with love and the excitement of performing everyday actions together in the intimate domestic environment.

 

"The excitement from each everyday experience of doing things together and the togetherness was great, so I painted every possible thing I liked doing with him."

 

From the moment the self-oppression and repression stopped, Perez started the process of healing, which was expressed in a burst of artworks, enormous in their size, amount, content and vivid colors – red, pink and white.

 

In 2000 Perez starts painting the huge artworks describing the hangouts of the LGBT community (The Lake, The Pool) and the Tel Avivian balcony paintings describing the masculine world, which, according to him, becomes existent thanks to the painting. Perez has dedicated this year to many series of drawings and paintings of the experience of love, in which he describes his first love for his new partner, and during these months he paints from morning to night. These paintings are the fruit of a long dialogue with David Hockney, and the similarity can be seen both in subjects and in different gestures.

 

In 2001 Perez creates a series of artworks, "Portraits from The Community". Perez describes in large, photorealistic paintings over 20 portraits of active and well-known members of the LGBT community. The emphasis is on the achievements that reflect the community's strong standing in Tel Aviv.

As a Tel-Avivian painter, in the past two years Perez has been painting urban landscapes of central locations in his city. Perez wanders around the city and chooses familiar architectural and geographical landmarks, commerce and recreation, and historical sites, and paints them from a homosexual point of view, decorated with the rainbow flag, which provide a sense of belonging to the place. His artworks are characterized by a cheerful joie de vivre and colors, and they also describe encounters and meetings. The touristic nature of his paintings makes them a declaration of Tel Aviv's image as a place where cultural freedom prevails.

Perez's Tel Aviv is a city where young families and couples live and fill the streets, the parks, the beach, the houses and the balconies – all the city's spaces. The characters in his paintings are similar, which helps reinforcing the belonging to the LGBT community in Tel Aviv. The collective theme in Perez's artwork interacts with the work of the Israeli artist Yohanan Simon, who dealt with the social aspects of the Kibbutz. Simon, who lived and worked in a Kibbutz, expressed the human model of the Kibbutznik (member of a Kibbutz) and the uniqueness of the Kibbutz members as part of a group where all are equal. Simon's works, and now Perez's, have contributed to the Israeli society what is has been looking for endlessly, which is a sense of identity and belonging.

Perez maps his territory and marks his boundaries, and does not forget the historical sites. Unlike other Tel Avivian artists, Perez wishes to present the lives of the residents of the city and the great love in their hearts. By choosing the historical sites in Tel Aviv, he also pays tribute to the artist Nachum Gutman, who loved the city and lived in it his whole life. In his childhood Gutman experienced historical moments (lighting the first oil lamp, first concert, first pavement), and as an adult he recreated the uniqueness of those events while keeping the city's magic.

Like Gutman, Perez has also turned the city into an object of love, and it has started adorning itself in rich colors and supplying the energy of a city that wishes to be "the city that never sleeps", combining old and new. Perez meticulously describes the uniqueness and style of the Bauhaus houses and balconies along the modern glass and steel buildings, all from unusual angles in a rectangular format that wishes to imitate the panorama of a diverse city in its centennial celebrations.

 

Daniel Cahana-Levensohn, curator.

   

Interview with the painter Raphael Perez about his family artist book

An interview with the painter Raphael Perez about an artist's book he created about his family, the Peretz family from 6 Nissan St. Kiryat Yuval Jerusalem

  

Question: Raphael Perez, tell me about the family artist book you created

Answer: I created close to 40 artist books, notebooks, diaries, sketch books and huge books. I dedicated one of the books to my dear family, a book in which I took a childhood photograph of my family, my parents and brothers and sisters.. I pasted the photographs inside a book (the photograph is 10 percent of the total painting) and I drew with acrylic paints, markers and ink on the book and the photograph, so that the image of the photograph was an inspiration to me Build the story that includes page by page..

  

Question: Tell me when you were born, where, and a little about your family

Answer: I was born on March 4, 1965 in the Kiryat Yuval neighborhood in Jerusalem

I have a twin brother named Miki Peretz and we are seven brothers and sisters, five boys and two girls

 

Question: Tell us a little about your parents

Answer: My parents were new immigrants from Morocco, both immigrated young.

My mother's name before the wedding was Alice - Aliza ben Yair and my father's name was Shimon Peretz,

My mother was born in the Atlas Mountains and was orphaned at a young age and was later adopted by my father's family at the age of 10, so that my mother and father spent childhood and adolescence together....

They had a beautiful and happy relationship but sometimes when they argued my mother would say "even when she was a child she was like that..." This means that their acquaintance and relationship dates back to childhood..

  

Question: What did your parents Shimon and Aliza Peretz work for?

Answer: My father, Shimon Perez, born in 1928 - worked in a building in his youth and then for thirty years worked as a receptionist at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem... My father's great love was actually art, he loved to draw as a hobby, write, read, solve crossword puzzles and research Regarding the issue of medicinal plants, as a breadwinner he could not fulfill his dream of becoming an artist, in order to support and feed seven children. But we are the next generation, his children are engaged in the world of creativity and education, a field in which both of my parents were engaged during their lives. My father died at the age of 69

 

My mother, Alice Aliza Perez, born in 1934, worked as an assistant to a kindergarten teacher, and later took care of a baby at home. She is a woman of wholehearted giving and caring for children and people, a warm, generous and humble woman.. and took care of us in our childhood for every emotional and physical deficiency.. My mother is right For the year 2023, the 89-year-old is partly happy and happy despite the difficulties of age.. May you have a long life..

 

My mother really loved gardening and nature and both of them together created a magnificent garden, my parents have a relatively large garden so they could grow many types of special and rare medicinal plants and my father even wrote a catalog (unpublished) of medicinal plants and we even had botany students come to us who were interested in the field... today they They also grow ornamental plants, and fruit trees...

 

Question: A book about the brothers and sisters

Answer: My elder brother David Perez repented in his mid-twenties.. He was a very sharp, opinionated, curious and very charismatic guy who brought many people back to repentance, and also helped people with problems through the yeshiva and the synagogue to return to the normal path of life, he died young at the age of 56

 

Hana Peretz: My lovely sister, raised eight children, worked in the field of education, a kindergarten teacher, and child care.

She has a very large extended family of grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren...

 

My brother Avi (Abraham) Peretz studied in Israel at the University of Philosophy and Judaism, he married a wonderful woman named Mira Drumi, a nurse by profession, and together they had three wonderful children, when they moved to the United States in their mid-twenties, where my brother Avi Peretz completed his master's degree in education, worked in the field Education and for the last twenty years is A conservative rabbi

 

The fourth brother is Asher Peretz - a great man of the world, very fond of traveling and has been to magical places all over the world, engaged in the creation of jewelry with two children.

 

I am Rafi Peretz english raphael perez the fifth and after fifteen minutes my twin brother was born

My mother still gets confused and can't remember who was born first :-)

 

My twin brother Miki micky - Michael Peretz, a beloved brother (everyone is beloved), a talented industrial designer, he has three children, his wife Revital Peretz Ben, who is a well-known art curator, active and responsible for the art field in Tel Aviv, they are a dynamic and talented couple, full of talents and action

 

The lovely little sister Shlomit Peretz - has been involved in the Bezeq telephone company for almost three decades, and is there in management positions, raising her lovely and beloved child.

  

The art book I dedicated to my family is colorful, rich in details, shows a very intense childhood, happy, cheerful, colorful, ... We were taught to be diligent and to be happy in our part and to see the glass half full in life, to have emotional intelligence and to put the relationship and love at the center with self-fulfillment in work that will interest you us and you will give us satisfaction.

 

Each of us is different in our life decisions and my family is actually a mosaic of the State of Israel that includes both religious and secular people from the entire political spectrum who understand that the secret to unity is mutual respect for each other... when my mother these days is also the family glue in everyone's gatherings on Shabbat and holidays..

 

The personification of the flower couple paintings by the Israeli painter Raphael Perez

Raphael Perez, also known as Rafi Peretz, is an Israeli painter who

explores his personal and sexual identity through his flower paintings. He created a series of flower paintings from 1995 to 1998, when he was in his early thirties and still in relationships with women, despite feeling gay. His flower paintings reflect his emotional turmoil and his struggle with his sexual orientation. He painted two flowers, one blooming and one wilting, to represent the contrast and conflict between his heterosexual relationships and his true self. He also painted single flowers or two flowers in their prime, to express his longing for a harmonious relationship that matches his nature. He chose sunflowers, white lilies, and red lilies as symbols of expression, purity, and joy, respectively. He painted from real flowers, using different styles and light to create drama and mood. Perez’s paintings of the flower couples are minimalist and focused on the theme of the complex relationship. He omitted any background or context, leaving only the canvas and the drawing of the flower couples. In some of the paintings, he added a very airy abstract surface with thin oil paints that give an atmosphere of watercolors. He also made drawings of flowers in ink, markers and gouache on paper. Later on, he created large acrylic paintings of flowers and still life. Perez’s flower paintings are not mere illustrations or decorations. They are autobiographical and psychological expressions of his inner state and his struggle with his sexuality. He wanted to reveal his loneliness, distress and concealment through these paintings, and to connect with people who are in a similar situation. He deliberately chose only two flowers and no more to intensify the engagement in the charged and complex relationship. Perez also painted and drew couples of men and women with charged psychological states, as well as states of desire for connection and realization of a heterosexual relationship that did not succeed. He used hyperrealism and expressive styles to convey his frozen and calculated state, as well as his mental stress. He used harsh lighting to create contrast and drama, with one side very bright and the other side darker. Perez was influenced by some of the famous artists who painted flowers, such as Van Gogh, who also used sunflowers as a symbol of expression. He also used white lilies and red lilies to convey freshness, cleanliness, purity, color, joy, movement, eruption, and splendor. Perez also painted some single flowers or two flowers in their prime, to show his aspiration for a future where he will have a harmonious relationship. Today, he is 58 years old and in a happy relationship for 10 years with his partner Assaf Henigsberg. He is surrounded by female friends and soulmates and not conflicted with heterosexual relationships as he used to be. He occasionally paints flowers in pots to symbolize home, stability, and peace. Sometimes I paint flowers in pots, which represent home, stability, and solid ground for me. I don’t paint just a couple of flowers, but pots full of flowers that overflow with life. This means that we also have a supportive network of family, friends, and peers around us. We live in a rich, supportive, and protective world. These paintings are a personification of my psychological state, when I had no words to express my feelings to myself. The painting began In 35 years of my creation (starting in 1998), you can read more about how my art and style evolved over time. Perez’s flower paintings are a unique and extraordinary artistic creation that reveals his personal journey and his sexual identity. His work is honest, expressive, and emotional, as well as beautiful and vibrant.

 

The characteristics of the naive painting of the painter Raphael Perez

A full interview with the Israeli painter Raphael Perez (Hebrew name: Rafi Peretz) about the ideas behind the naive painting, resume, personal biography and curriculum vitae Question: Raphael Perez Tell us about your work process as a naive painter? Answer: I choose the most iconic and famous buildings in every city and town that are architecturally interesting and have a special shape and place the iconic buildings on boulevards full of trees, bushes, vegetation, flowers. Question: How do you give depth in your naive paintings? Answer: To give depth to the painting, I build the painting with layers of vegetation, after those low famous buildings, followed by a tall avenue of trees, and behind them towers and skyscrapers, in the sky I sometimes put innocent signs of balloons, kites. A recurring motif in some of my paintings is the figure of the painter who is in the center of the boulevard and paints the entire scene unfolding in front of him, also there are two kindergarten teachers who are walking with the kindergarten children with the state flags that I paint, and loving couples hugging and kissing and family paintings of mother, father and child walking in harmony on the boulevard. Question: Raphael Perez, what characterizes your naive painting? Answer: Most naive paintings have the same characteristics (Definition as it appears in Wikipedia) • Tells a simple story to absorb from everyday life, usually with humans. • The representation of the painter's idealization to reality - the mapping of reality. • Failure to maintain perspective - especially details even in distant details. • Extensive use of repeating patterns - many details. • Warm and bright colors. • Sometimes the emphasis is on outlines. • Most of the characters are flat, lack volume • No interest in texture, expression, correct proportions • No interest in anatomy. • There is not much use of light and shade, the colors create a three-dimensional effect. I find these definitions to be valid for all my naive paintings Question: Raphael Perez, why do you choose the city of Tel Aviv? Answer: I was born in Jerusalem, the capital city which I love very much and also paint, I love the special Bauhaus buildings in Tel Aviv, the ornamental buildings that were built a century ago in the 1920s and 1930s, the beautiful boulevards, towers and modern skyscrapers give you the feeling of the hustle and bustle of a large metropolis and there are quite a few low and tall buildings that are architecturally fascinating in their form the special one Also, the move to Tel Aviv, which is the capital of culture, freedom, and secularism, allowed me to live my life as I chose, to live in a relationship with a man, Jerusalem, which is a traditional city, it is more complicated to live a homosexual life, also, the art world takes place mainly in the city of Tel Aviv, and it is possible that from a professional point of view, this allows I can support myself better in Tel Aviv than in any other city in Israel. Question: Raphael Perez, are the paintings of the city of Tel Aviv different from the paintings of the city of Jerusalem? Answer: Most of the paintings of Jerusalem have an emphasis on the color yellow, gold, the color of the old city walls, the subjects I painted in Jerusalem are mainly a type of idealization of a peaceful life between Jews and Arabs and paintings that deal with the Jewish religious world, a number of paintings depict all shades of the currents of Judaism today In contrast, the Tel Aviv paintings are more colorful, with skyscrapers, the sea, balloons and more secular motifs Question: Raphael Perez, tell me about which buildings and their architects you usually choose in your drawings of cities Answer: My favorite buildings are those that have a special shape that anyone can recognize and are the symbols of the city and you will give several examples: In the city of Tel Aviv, my favorite buildings are: the opera building with its unusual geometric shape, the Yisrotel tower with its special head, the Hail Bo Shalom tower that for years was the symbol of the tallest building in Tel Aviv, the Levin house that looks like a Japanese pagoda, the burgundy-colored Nordeau hotel with the special dome at the end of the building, A pair of Alon towers with the special structure of the sea, Bauhaus buildings typical of Tel Aviv with the special balconies and the special staircase, the Yaakov Agam fountain in Dizengoff square appears in a large part of the paintings, many towers that are in the stock exchange complex, the Aviv towers and other tall buildings on Ayalon, in some of the paintings I took plans An outline of future buildings that need to be built in the city and I drew them even before they were built in reality, In the paintings of Jerusalem, I mainly chose the area of the Old City and East Jerusalem, a painting of the walls of the Old City, the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the El Akchea Mosque, the Tower of David, most of the famous churches in the city, the right hand of Moses, in most of the paintings the Jew is wearing a blue shirt with a red male cord I was in the youth movement and the Arab with a galabia, and in the paintings of the religious public then, Jews with black suits and white shirts, tallitas, kippahs, special hats, synagogues and more I also created three paintings of the city of Haifa and one painting of Safed In the Haifa paintings I drew the university, the Technion, the famous Egged Tower, the Sail Tower, well-known hotels, of course the Baha'i Gardens and the Baha'i Temple, Haifa Port and the boats and other famous buildings in the city Question: Raphael Perez, have you created series of other cities from around the world? Answer: I created series of New York City with all the iconic and famous buildings such as: the Guggenheim Museum, the famous skyscrapers - the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, Lincoln Center, the famous synagogue in the city, the Statue of Liberty, the flags of the United States and other famous buildings Two paintings of London and all its famous sites, Big Ben, famous monuments, the Ferris wheel, Queen Elizabeth and her family, the double bus, the famous public telephone, palaces, famous churches, well-known monuments I created 4 naive paintings of cities in China, a painting of Shanghai, two paintings of the city of Suzhou and a painting of the World Park in the city of Beijing... I chose the famous skyline of Shanghai with all the famous towers, the famous promenade, temples and old buildings, two Paintings of the city of Suzhou with the famous canals, bridges, special gardens, towers and skyscrapers of the city Question: Raphael Perez What is the general idea that accompanies your paintings Answer: To create a good, beautiful, naive, innocent world in which we will see the innovation of the modern city through the skyscrapers in front of small and low buildings that bring the history and past of each country, all with an abundance of vegetation, boulevards, trees Resume, biography, CV of the painter Rafi Peretz and his family Question: When was Raphael Perez born in hebrew his name rafi peretz? Answer: Raphael Perez in Hebrew his name Rafi Peretz was born on March 4, 1965 Question: Where was Raphael Perez born? Answer: Raphael Perez was born in Jerusalem, Israel Question: What is the full name of Raphael Perez? Answer: His full name is Raphael Perez Question: Which art institution did Raphael Perez graduate from? Answer: Raphael Perez graduated from the Visual Arts Center in Be'er Sheva Question: When did Raphael Perez start painting? Answer: Raphael Perez started painting in 1989 Question: When did you start making a living selling art? Answer: Raphael Perez started making a living selling art in 1999 Question: Where does Raphael Perez live and work? Answer: Since 1995, Raphael Perez has been living and working from his studio in Tel Aviv Question: In which military framework did Raphael Perez serve in the IDF? Answer: Raphael Perez served in the artillery corps Question: Raphael Perez, what jobs did he work after his military service? Answer: Raphael Perez worked for 15 years in education in therapeutic settings for children and taught arts and movement Question: How many brothers and sisters does Raphael Perez, the Israeli painter, have? Answer: There are seven children in total, with the painter 5 sons and two daughters, that means the painter Raphael Perez has 4 more brothers and two sisters Question: What do the brothers and sisters of the painter Raphael Perez do? Answer: The elder brother David Peretz Perez was involved in the field of religious studies, the sister Hana Peretz Perez is involved in the field of education, a kindergarten teacher and child care, the brother Avi Peretz Perez who is in the United States today is a conservative rabbi but in the past was involved in education and therapy, the brother Asher Peretz Perez is involved in the fields of creativity and jewelry The twin brother Mickey Peretz Perez is a well-known industrial designer and seller. The younger sister Shlomit Peretz Perez works in a managerial position at Bezeq. Question: Tell me about the parents of the painter Raphael PerezAnswer: The painter Raphael Perez's parents are Shimon Perez Peretz and Eliza Alice Ben Yair, they were married in 1950 in Jerusalem, both were born in Morocco and immigrated to Israel in 1949, Shimon Peretz worked in a building in his youth and later as a receptionist at the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, Eliza Alice Peretz dealt in child care Kindergarten, working in kindergartens and of course taking care of and raising her seven children

Day: 109/365

 

Based on one of my favorite Superman stories "For the Man Who Has Everything" from the '85 Annual written and drawn by Watchmen team Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

The premise is Bats, Robin, and Wonder Woman go to the Fortress of Solitude on Superman's birthday to wish him well and find the Man of Steel to be under the control of Mongul's parasitic Black Mercy plant. The plant puts you in a catatonic-like state and induces hallucinations of your heart's desire. Superman fantasizes that Krypton never blew up and he's there with his parents, a wife, and a son.

 

Long story short eventually the other heroes get the plant off him and Superman comes to realize the life he lived out on Krypton was a merely a facade and Mongul has essentially ripped everything he "had" away from him.

 

It was turned into a pretty faithful Justice League Unlimited episode too.

 

Morning has broken, like the first morning

Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird

Praise for the singing, praise for the morning

Praise for the springing fresh from the word

 

Sweet the rain's new fall, sunlit from heaven

Like the first dewfall, on the first grass

Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden

Sprung in completeness where his feet pass

 

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning

Born of the one light, Eden saw play

Praise with elation, praise every morning

God's recreation of the new day

 

As Sung by Cat Stevens

 

lyrics by Eleanor Farjeon

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TWd3skb-Rw

Peter Churchman has taken a good look at this diagram, and has added suggested lever numbers to the blanks, most, he believes with reasonable likelihood – hence the bracketed figures. Unfortunately without locking figures he can’t be sure.

 

There were a few apparent anomalies:

 

1. He's pulled back Up Slow home (3), as this must have protected the Up Siding connection (5) – as later.

 

2. Levers 2 & 8 were logically spare (as per 2 at Mansfield Station North), allowing for (intended / not provided) slots/call-ons on Station North Up homes.

 

3. He's added a Down set-back slot (15), as he's pretty certain this must have been an original feature, locking Dock points (14) both ways. (Would be interesting to see what the equivalent dated Mansfield Station North sketch shows??)

 

4. He had wondered whether the Level Crossing gates shown ought to be bolt-locked, but the road under-bridge was already in place by 1870s, so it beggars the question as to how there was even room to fit in a LC as well as the bridge, also as to its purpose. So maybe it was just a foot crossing – but if so, to where? He would like to see what was written in the MT6 file to see if any further useful info is there.

 

5. It seems odd that although there is a main signal Down to Up (16), there is no disc shown towards the Down Siding, as per later diagrams. (21 would fit)

Since the previous shot , 158863 has completed its Station stop at Ely , Cambridgeshire .

 

The “feather” means the road is set for it to cross to the Down Line . Then it will take the line across the Fens towards Peterborough , as it heads in a North and West direction to Liverpool .

 

Ely Station , Cambridgeshire .

 

Saturday 21st-April-2018 .

PictionID:41903834 - Title:Atlas 10B Liftoff--'Atlas Launches binder; film has 10B written on it (sleeve has F-117 written on it but this is not true) - Catalog:14_001604 - Filename:14_001604.tif - - - - Image from the Convair/General Dynamics Astronautics Atlas Negative Collection---Please Tag these images so that the information can be permanently stored with the digital file.---Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum

In the words of the folk song

" The rocks of the ocean shall make me a bed And the shrimps of the sea shall swim over my head"

To illustrate this song and because my ancestors were mariners.

DNP CENTURIA 400 x Nikomat x NIKKOR 50mm f1.4

It has been not even a week since two heartless vultures demonstrated that they could do their job better at stealing my Nikon than I could to protect it. I never thought anyone was clever enough to do that! It took less than 15 seconds and it was gone. Once again I want to impress on you who sacrifice and skimp, or not, to buy and own that beautiful camera, NEVER take your eye off your camera as someone out there want's it more than you want to keep it! While on my photo haunts since that unforgettable incident, I have observed people at sidewalk cafes with their expensive DSLRs setting on the table or hanging from a chair.. The two dirtbags I encountered in Mexico City would create some kind of distraction at your table, and when the dust was cleared you would be sick to your stomach and your camera would be long gone forever. I, now put my camera in my bag, and keep the bag between my legs while I dine. Or if I like taking pictures as people go by, I'll gladly slobber food all over it while it is safely hanging from my neck. Happy shooting friends!!

This week has been a bit of a bust. I had 2 separate astrophotography projects planned and the weather would just not cooperate.

 

My backup plan was using the roses that I had planned on buying for my wife as a subject with the marco lens.

 

This image is at 15 image focus stack. The last time I did focus stacking I used the method of changing the focus ring on the lens to move the focus. This time I used my macro focusing rail to physically move the camera.

 

I think the image quality is the same as well as the sharpness. What this method does help with is focus breathing.

 

Not a portfolio image by any stretch...but...I am learning more about focus stacking with macro and hope to do more of this in the Spring as we get flowers and bugs in the yard.

Spring in Shinjuku Gyeon Garden

Hasland - 6E20 WFO-Q 12:27 Toton-Doncaster Decoy