Just hours after the (terrorist?) hammer attack on a policeman at Notre Dame. High police and military presence on the streets of Paris.

The Bad Guard With A Rifle.

Thee fugitives batter'd suffering in thy bouts of thee guards,

caling forth ramparts of divinity to rain'th down to thy mercy hopes,

ancient wars destroy thy foes,with weapons drawn,

thy decreeds are ravish'd out,by thee guards, O' so brazen in thy yard,

everlasting infuriating all pondering freedom,hard to find a way to cope,

amid thy enormous madness of thy cage,thee guards adds to thy madness herein,with all thy braun,

thy commands drift to thy clouds of cries, fleck'd with thy chills e'er so charr'd,

enormous helmets and lifeblood of rifles cock'd,some end it all with a mere rope,

hurl'd from thou bars thy hammers attack with mountainous blows on,

thy guards thy demons are one in thee same,no one gets a passing card,

smash's all with massive wav's unleash'd, unwarrant'd power abus'd,seeking out perhaps thee pope,

to thy galleys with thy insolent below,thoughts are now what happen'd to saint John,

those without a voice,welcome to thy world of thee discard,

penalties pour quick in thy trident of ledges beneath thy eyes of shadows,wishing for a final tope,

longing for a simple prospect of peace,understanding now what tis like to be a lonely pawn,

thy guards create resounding calamities to quivering flesh in thous belly scarr'd,

O'for e'er banish'd to thee lower of airs,widespread terrifying scope,

unspeakable storms carri'd to a new level of fearful spawn,

no limits to thee harasses in thy empires troubl'd savagery fore'er marr'd,

thy guards take aim,comrades fall,wick'd is thou slope,

evil beasts bristling reports to fits thy means,no one to call on,

more arrive, not knowing yet! shall find out soon about this here canard,

Thy guards will soon show thee new,smiling,jokes a mass, while passing out thee soap,

thee dishevel'd place where thous now resides upon,

O' human voices with screams aloud,e'en thee old timers are some what jarr'd,

bring down thee ignorant vast with power at hand,let'st em know 'tis like to walk down thy stope,

by sword or word this evil shall be brought to light,back to thy high celestial salon,

a light that shall shine away all thy evils within these horrors of herein guards.

Steve.D.Hammond.

 

Holy sh...

Notre-Dame de Paris (French: [nɔtʁ(ə) dam də paʁi] ⓘ; meaning "Our Lady of Paris"), referred to simply as Notre-Dame,[a] is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the Seine River), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, France. The cathedral, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture. Several attributes set it apart from the earlier Romanesque style, particularly its pioneering use of the rib vault and flying buttress, its enormous and colourful rose windows, and the naturalism and abundance of its sculptural decoration.[5] Notre-Dame also stands out for its three pipe organs (one historic) and its immense church bells.[6]

 

Built during medieval France, construction of the cathedral began in 1163 under Bishop Maurice de Sully and was largely completed by 1260, though it was modified in succeeding centuries. In the 1790s, during the French Revolution, Notre-Dame suffered extensive desecration; much of its religious imagery was damaged or destroyed. In the 19th century, the coronation of Napoleon and the funerals of many of the French Republic's presidents took place at the cathedral. The 1831 publication of Victor Hugo's novel Notre-Dame de Paris (in English: The Hunchback of Notre-Dame) inspired interest which led to restoration between 1844 and 1864, supervised by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. On 26 August 1944, the Liberation of Paris from German occupation was celebrated in Notre-Dame with the singing of the Magnificat. Beginning in 1963, the cathedral's façade was cleaned of soot and grime. Another cleaning and restoration project was carried out between 1991 and 2000.[7]

 

The cathedral is a widely recognized symbol of the city of Paris and the French nation. In 1805, it was awarded honorary status as a minor basilica. As the cathedral of the archdiocese of Paris, Notre-Dame contains the cathedra of the archbishop of Paris (currently Laurent Ulrich). In the early 21st century, approximately 12 million people visited Notre-Dame annually, making it the most visited monument in Paris.[8] The cathedral is renowned for its Lent sermons, a tradition founded in the 1830s by the Dominican Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire. These sermons have increasingly been given by leading public figures or government-employed academics.

 

Over time, the cathedral has gradually been stripped of many decorations and artworks. However, the cathedral still contains Gothic, Baroque, and 19th-century sculptures, 17th- and early 18th-century altarpieces, and some of the most important relics in Christendom – including the Crown of Thorns, and a sliver and nail from the True Cross.

 

On 15 April 2019, while Notre-Dame was undergoing renovation and restoration, its roof caught fire and burned for 15 hours. The cathedral sustained serious damage. The flèche (the timber spirelet over the crossing) was destroyed, as was most of the lead-covered wooden roof above the stone vaulted ceiling.[9] This contaminated the site and nearby environment with lead.[10] Restoration proposals suggested modernizing the cathedral, but the French National Assembly rejected them, enacting a law in July 2019 that required the restoration preserve the cathedral's "historic, artistic and architectural interest".[11] The task of stabilizing the building against potential collapse was completed in November 2020.[12] The cathedral is expected to reopen on 8 December 2024; the date was confirmed by President Macron.

 

Key dates

4th century – Cathedral of Saint Étienne, dedicated to Saint Stephen, built just west of present cathedral.[14]

1163 – Bishop Maurice de Sully begins construction of new cathedral.[14]

1182 or 1185 – Choir completed, clerestory with two levels: upper level of upright windows with pointed arches, still without tracery, lower level of small rose windows.

c. 1200 – Construction of nave, with flying buttresses, completed.

c. 1210–1220 – Construction of towers begins.

c. 1210–1220 – Two new traverses join towers with nave. West rose window complete in 1220.

After 1220 – New flying buttresses added to choir walls, remodeling of the clerestories: pointed arched windows are enlarged downward, replacing the triforia, and get tracery.

1235–1245 – Chapels constructed between buttresses of nave and choir.

1250–1260 – North transept lengthened by Jean de Chelles to provide more light. North rose window constructed.[15]

1270 – South transept and rose window completed by Pierre de Montreuil.[16]

1699 – Beginning of major redecoration of interior in Louis XIV style by Hardouin Mansart and Robert de Cotte.[17]

1725–1727 – South rose window, poorly built, is reconstructed. Later entirely rebuilt in 1854.

1790 – In the French Revolution the Revolutionary Paris Commune removes all bronze, lead, and precious metals from the cathedral to be melted down.[16]

1793 – The cathedral is converted into a Temple of Reason and then Temple of the Supreme Being.

1801–1802 – With the Concordat of 1801, Napoleon restores the use of the cathedral (though not ownership) to the Catholic Church.

1804 – On 2 December, Napoleon crowns himself Emperor at Notre-Dame.

1805 – The cathedral is conceded the honor of minor basilica by Pope Pius VII, making it the first minor basilica outside of Italy.[18]

1844–1864 – Major restoration by Jean-Baptiste Lassus and Eugène Viollet-le-Duc with additions in the spirit of the original Gothic style.[19]

1871 – In final days of the Paris Commune, Communards attempt unsuccessfully to burn the cathedral.

1944 – On 26 August, General Charles de Gaulle celebrates the Liberation of Paris with a special Mass at Notre-Dame.

1949 – On 26 April, the Archbishop of Paris, Emmanuel Célestin Suhard, crowns the venerated image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the name of Pope Pius XII.

1963 – Culture Minister André Malraux orders the cleaning of the cathedral façade of centuries of grime and soot.

2019 – On 15 April, a fire destroys a large part of the roof and the flèche.

2021 – Reconstruction begins two years after the fire that destroyed a large part of the roof and the flèche.

2024 - Expected reopening of the Cathedral to occur on 8 December.

 

It is believed that before the arrival of Christianity in France, a Gallo-Roman temple dedicated to Jupiter stood on the site of Notre-Dame. Evidence for this includes the Pillar of the Boatmen, discovered beneath the cathedral in 1710. In the 4th or 5th century, a large early Christian church, the Cathedral of Saint Étienne, was built on the site, close to the royal palace.[14] The entrance was situated about 40 metres (130 ft) west of the present west front of Notre-Dame, and the apse was located about where the west façade is today. It was roughly half the size of the later Notre-Dame, 70 metres (230 ft) long—and separated into nave and four aisles by marble columns, then decorated with mosaics.[7][20]

 

The last church before the cathedral of Notre-Dame was a Romanesque remodeling of Saint-Étienne that, although enlarged and remodeled, was found to be unfit for the growing population of Paris.[21][b] A baptistery, the Church of Saint-John-le-Rond, built about 452, was located on the north side of the west front of Notre-Dame until the work of Jacques-Germain Soufflot in the 18th century.[23]

 

In 1160, the Bishop of Paris, Maurice de Sully,[23] decided to build a new and much larger church. He summarily demolished the earlier cathedral and recycled its materials.[21] Sully decided that the new church should be built in the Gothic style, which had been inaugurated at the royal abbey of Saint Denis in the late 1130s.

 

The chronicler Jean de Saint-Victor [fr] recorded in the Memorial Historiarum that the construction of Notre-Dame began between 24 March and 25 April 1163 with the laying of the cornerstone in the presence of King Louis VII and Pope Alexander III.[24][25] Four phases of construction took place under bishops Maurice de Sully and Eudes de Sully (not related to Maurice), according to masters whose names have been lost. Analysis of vault stones that fell in the 2019 fire shows that they were quarried in Vexin, a county northwest of Paris, and presumably brought up the Seine by ferry.

 

The first phase began with the construction of the choir and its two ambulatories. According to Robert of Torigni, the choir was completed in 1177 and the high altar consecrated on 19 May 1182 by Cardinal Henri de Château-Marçay, the Papal legate in Paris, and Maurice de Sully.[28][failed verification] The second phase, from 1182 to 1190, concerned the construction of the four sections of the nave behind the choir and its aisles to the height of the clerestories. It began after the completion of the choir but ended before the final allotted section of the nave was finished. Beginning in 1190, the bases of the façade were put in place, and the first traverses were completed.[7] Heraclius of Caesarea called for the Third Crusade in 1185 from the still-incomplete cathedral.

 

Louis IX deposited the relics of the passion of Christ, which included the Crown of thorns, a nail from the Cross and a sliver of the Cross, which he had purchased at great expense from the Latin Emperor Baldwin II, in the cathedral during the construction of the Sainte-Chapelle. An under-shirt, believed to have belonged to Louis, was added to the collection of relics at some time after his death.

 

Transepts were added at the choir, where the altar was located, in order to bring more light into the centre of the church. The use of simpler four-part rather than six-part rib vaults meant that the roofs were stronger and could be higher. After Bishop Maurice de Sully's death in 1196, his successor, Eudes de Sully oversaw the completion of the transepts, and continued work on the nave, which was nearing completion at the time of his death in 1208. By this time, the western façade was already largely built, though it was not completed until around the mid-1240s. Between 1225 and 1250 the upper gallery of the nave was constructed, along with the two towers on the west façade.

 

Another significant change came in the mid-13th century, when the transepts were remodelled in the latest Rayonnant style; in the late 1240s Jean de Chelles added a gabled portal to the north transept topped by a spectacular rose window. Shortly afterward (from 1258) Pierre de Montreuil executed a similar scheme on the southern transept. Both these transept portals were richly embellished with sculpture; the south portal depicts scenes from the lives of Saint Stephen and of various local saints, while the north portal featured the infancy of Christ and the story of Theophilus in the tympanum, with a highly influential statue of the Virgin and Child in the trumeau.[30][29] Master builders Pierre de Chelles, Jean Ravy [fr], Jean le Bouteiller, and Raymond du Temple [fr] succeeded de Chelles and de Montreuil and then each other in the construction of the cathedral. Ravy completed de Chelles's rood screen and chevet chapels, then began the 15-metre (49 ft) flying buttresses of the choir. Jean le Bouteiller, Ravy's nephew, succeeded him in 1344 and was himself replaced on his death in 1363 by his deputy, Raymond du Temple.

 

Philip the Fair opened the first Estates General in the cathedral in 1302.

 

An important innovation in the 13th century was the introduction of the flying buttress. Before the buttresses, all of the weight of the roof pressed outward and down to the walls, and the abutments supporting them. With the flying buttress, the weight was carried by the ribs of the vault entirely outside the structure to a series of counter-supports, which were topped with stone pinnacles which gave them greater weight. The buttresses meant that the walls could be higher and thinner, and could have larger windows. The date of the first buttresses is not known with precision beyond an installation date in the 13th century. Art historian Andrew Tallon, however, has argued, based on detailed laser scans of the entire structure, that the buttresses were part of the original design. According to Tallon, the scans indicate that "the upper part of the building has not moved one smidgen in 800 years,"[31] whereas if they were added later some movement from prior to their addition would be expected. Tallon thus concluded that flying buttresses were present from the outset.[31] The first buttresses were replaced by larger and stronger ones in the 14th century; these had a reach of fifteen metres (50') between the walls and counter-supports.[7]

 

John of Jandun recognized the cathedral as one of Paris's three most important buildings [prominent structures] in his 1323 Treatise on the Praises of Paris:

 

That most glorious church of the most glorious Virgin Mary, mother of God, deservedly shines out, like the sun among stars. And although some speakers, by their own free judgment, because [they are] able to see only a few things easily, may say that some other is more beautiful, I believe, however, respectfully, that, if they attend more diligently to the whole and the parts, they will quickly retract this opinion. Where indeed, I ask, would they find two towers of such magnificence and perfection, so high, so large, so strong, clothed round about with such multiple varieties of ornaments? Where, I ask, would they find such a multipartite arrangement of so many lateral vaults, above and below? Where, I ask, would they find such light-filled amenities as the many surrounding chapels? Furthermore, let them tell me in what church I may see such a large cross, of which one arm separates the choir from the nave. Finally, I would willingly learn where [there are] two such circles, situated opposite each other in a straight line, which on account of their appearance are given the name of the fourth vowel [O]; among which smaller orbs and circles, with wondrous artifice, so that some arranged circularly, others angularly, surround windows ruddy with precious colours and beautiful with the most subtle figures of the pictures. In fact, I believe that this church offers the carefully discerning such cause for admiration that its inspection can scarcely sate the soul.

 

— Jean de Jandun, Tractatus de laudibus Parisius

 

On 16 December 1431, the boy-king Henry VI of England was crowned king of France in Notre-Dame, aged ten, the traditional coronation church of Reims Cathedral being under French control.[33]

 

During the Renaissance, the Gothic style fell out of style, and the internal pillars and walls of Notre-Dame were covered with tapestries.[34]

 

In 1548, rioting Huguenots damaged some of the statues of Notre-Dame, considering them idolatrous.[35]

 

The fountain [fr] in Notre-Dame's parvis was added in 1625 to provide nearby Parisians with running water.[36]

 

Since 1449, the Parisian goldsmith guild had made regular donations to the cathedral chapter. In 1630, the guild began donating a large altarpiece every year on the first of May. These works came to be known as the grands mays.[37] The subject matter was restricted to episodes from the Acts of the Apostles. The prestigious commission was awarded to the most prominent painters and, after 1648, members of the Académie Royale.

 

Seventy-six paintings had been donated by 1708, when the custom was discontinued for financial reasons. Those works were confiscated in 1793 and the majority were subsequently dispersed among regional museums in France. Those that remained in the cathedral were removed or relocated within the building by the 19th-century restorers.

 

Today, thirteen of the grands mays hang in Notre-Dame although these paintings suffered water damage during the fire of 2019 and were removed for conservation.

 

An altarpiece depicting the Visitation, painted by Jean Jouvenet in 1707, was also located in the cathedral.

 

The canon Antoine de La Porte commissioned for Louis XIV six paintings depicting the life of the Virgin Mary for the choir. At this same time, Charles de La Fosse painted his Adoration of the Magi, now in the Louvre.[38] Louis Antoine de Noailles, archbishop of Paris, extensively modified the roof of Notre-Dame in 1726, renovating its framing and removing the gargoyles with lead gutters. Noailles also strengthened the buttresses, galleries, terraces, and vaults.[39] In 1756, the cathedral's canons decided that its interior was too dark. The medieval stained glass windows, except the rosettes, were removed and replaced with plain, white glass panes.[34] Lastly, Jacques-Germain Soufflot was tasked with the modification of the portals at the front of the cathedral to allow processions to enter more easily.

 

After the French Revolution in 1789, Notre-Dame and the rest of the church's property in France was seized and made public property.[40] The cathedral was rededicated in 1793 to the Cult of Reason, and then to the Cult of the Supreme Being in 1794.[41] During this time, many of the treasures of the cathedral were either destroyed or plundered. The twenty-eight statues of biblical kings located at the west façade, mistaken for statues of French kings, were beheaded.[7][42] Many of the heads were found during a 1977 excavation nearby, and are on display at the Musée de Cluny. For a time the Goddess of Liberty replaced the Virgin Mary on several altars.[43] The cathedral's great bells escaped being melted down. All of the other large statues on the façade, with the exception of the statue of the Virgin Mary on the portal of the cloister, were destroyed.[7] The cathedral came to be used as a warehouse for the storage of food and other non-religious purposes.[35]

 

With the Concordat of 1801, Napoleon Bonaparte restored Notre-Dame to the Catholic Church, though this was only finalized on 18 April 1802. Napoleon also named Paris's new bishop, Jean-Baptiste de Belloy, who restored the cathedral's interior. Charles Percier and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine made quasi-Gothic modifications to Notre-Dame for the coronation of Napoleon as Emperor of the French within the cathedral. The building's exterior was whitewashed and the interior decorated in Neoclassical style, then in vogue.

 

In the decades after the Napoleonic Wars, Notre-Dame fell into such a state of disrepair that Paris officials considered its demolition. Victor Hugo, who admired the cathedral, wrote the novel Notre-Dame de Paris (published in English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame) in 1831 to save Notre-Dame. The book was an enormous success, raising awareness of the cathedral's decaying state.[7] The same year as Hugo's novel was published, however, anti-Legitimists plundered Notre-Dame's sacristy.[45] In 1844 King Louis Philippe ordered that the church be restored.[7]

 

The architect who had hitherto been in charge of Notre-Dame's maintenance, Étienne-Hippolyte Godde, was dismissed. In his stead, Jean-Baptiste Lassus and Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, who had distinguished themselves with the restoration of the nearby Sainte-Chapelle, were appointed in 1844. The next year, Viollet-le-Duc submitted a budget of 3,888,500 francs, which was reduced to 2,650,000 francs, for the restoration of Notre-Dame and the construction of a new sacristy building. This budget was exhausted in 1850, and work stopped as Viollet-le-Duc made proposals for more money. In totality, the restoration cost over 12 million francs. Supervising a large team of sculptors, glass makers and other craftsmen, and working from drawings or engravings, Viollet-le-Duc remade or added decorations if he felt they were in the spirit of the original style. One of the latter items was a taller and more ornate flèche, to replace the original 13th-century flèche, which had been removed in 1786.[46] The decoration of the restoration included a bronze roof statue of Saint Thomas that resembles Viollet-le-Duc, as well as the sculpture of mythical creatures on the Galerie des Chimères.[35]

 

The construction of the sacristy was especially financially costly. To secure a firm foundation, it was necessary for Viollet-le-Duc's labourers to dig 9 metres (30 ft). Master glassworkers meticulously copied styles of the 13th century, as written about by art historians Antoine Lusson and Adolphe Napoléon Didron.[47]

 

During the Paris Commune of March through May 1871, the cathedral and other churches were closed, and some two hundred priests and the Archbishop of Paris were taken as hostages. In May, during the Semaine sanglante of "Bloody Week", as the army recaptured the city, the Communards targeted the cathedral, along with the Tuileries Palace and other landmarks, for destruction; the Communards piled the furniture together in order to burn the cathedral. The arson was halted when the Communard government realised that the fire would also destroy the neighbouring Hôtel-Dieu hospital, filled with hundreds of patients

 

During the liberation of Paris in August 1944, the cathedral suffered some minor damage from stray bullets. Some of the medieval glass was damaged, and was replaced by glass with modern abstract designs. On 26 August, a special Mass was held in the cathedral to celebrate the liberation of Paris from the Germans; it was attended by General Charles De Gaulle and General Philippe Leclerc.

 

In 1963, on the initiative of culture minister André Malraux and to mark the 800th anniversary of the cathedral, the façade was cleaned of the centuries of soot and grime, restoring it to its original off-white colour.[49]

 

On 19 January 1969, vandals placed a North Vietnamese flag at the top the flèche, and sabotaged the stairway leading to it. The flag was cut from the flèche by Paris Fire Brigade Sergeant Raymond Belle in a daring helicopter mission, the first of its kind in France.[50][51][52]

 

The Requiem Mass of Charles de Gaulle was held in Notre-Dame on 12 November 1970.[53] The next year, on 26 June 1971, Philippe Petit walked across a tight-rope strung between Notre-Dame's two bell towers entertaining spectators.[54]

 

After the Magnificat of 30 May 1980, Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass on the parvis of the cathedral.[55]

 

The Requiem Mass of François Mitterrand was held at the cathedral, as with past French heads of state, on 11 January 1996.[56]

 

The stone masonry of the cathedral's exterior had deteriorated in the 19th and 20th century due to increased air pollution in Paris, which accelerated erosion of decorations and discoloured the stone. By the late 1980s, several gargoyles and turrets had also fallen or become too loose to safely remain in place.[57] A decade-long renovation programme began in 1991 and replaced much of the exterior, with care given to retain the authentic architectural elements of the cathedral, including rigorous inspection of new limestone blocks.[57][58] A discreet system of electrical wires, not visible from below, was also installed on the roof to deter pigeons.[59] The cathedral's pipe organ was upgraded with a computerized system to control the mechanical connections to the pipes.[60] The west face was cleaned and restored in time for millennium celebrations in December 1999.

 

The Requiem Mass of Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, former archbishop of Paris and Jewish convert to Catholicism, was held in Notre-Dame on 10 August 2007.[62]

 

The set of four 19th-century bells at the top of the northern towers at Notre-Dame were melted down and recast into new bronze bells in 2013, to celebrate the building's 850th anniversary. They were designed to recreate the sound of the cathedral's original bells from the 17th century.[63][64] Despite the 1990s renovation, the cathedral had continued to show signs of deterioration that prompted the national government to propose a new renovation program in the late 2010s.[65][66] The entire renovation was estimated to cost €100 million, which the archbishop of Paris planned to raise through funds from the national government and private donations.[67] A €6 million renovation of the cathedral's flèche began in late 2018 and continued into the following year, requiring the temporary removal of copper statues on the roof and other decorative elements days before the April 2019 fire.[68][69]

 

Notre-Dame began a year-long celebration of the 850th anniversary of the laying of the first building block for the cathedral on 12 December 2012.[70] During that anniversary year, on 21 May 2013, Dominique Venner, a historian and white nationalist, placed a letter on the church altar and shot himself, dying instantly. Around 1,500 visitors were evacuated from the cathedral.[71]

 

French police arrested two people on 8 September 2016 after a car containing seven gasoline canisters was found near Notre-Dame.[72]

 

On 10 February 2017, French police arrested four persons in Montpellier already known by authorities to have ties to radical Islamist organizations on charges of plotting to travel to Paris and attack the cathedral.[73] Later that year, on 6 June, visitors were shut inside Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris after a man with a hammer attacked a police officer outside.

 

Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. With an official estimated population of 2,102,650 residents as of 1 January 2023[2] in an area of more than 105 km2 (41 sq mi) Paris is the fourth-most populated city in the European Union and the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2022. Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of the world's major centres of finance, diplomacy, commerce, culture, fashion, and gastronomy. For its leading role in the arts and sciences, as well as its early and extensive system of street lighting, in the 19th century, it became known as the City of Light.

 

The City of Paris is the centre of the Île-de-France region, or Paris Region, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 inhabitants on 1 January 2023, or about 19% of the population of France, The Paris Region had a GDP of €765 billion (US$1.064 trillion, PPP) in 2021, the highest in the European Union. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit Worldwide Cost of Living Survey, in 2022, Paris was the city with the ninth-highest cost of living in the world.

 

Paris is a major railway, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports: Charles de Gaulle Airport (the third-busiest airport in Europe) and Orly Airport. Opened in 1900, the city's subway system, the Paris Métro, serves 5.23 million passengers daily; it is the second-busiest metro system in Europe after the Moscow Metro. Gare du Nord is the 24th-busiest railway station in the world and the busiest outside Japan, with 262 million passengers in 2015. Paris has one of the most sustainable transportation systems and is one of the only two cities in the world that received the Sustainable Transport Award twice.

 

Paris is especially known for its museums and architectural landmarks: the Louvre received 8.9. million visitors in 2023, on track for keeping its position as the most-visited art museum in the world. The Musée d'Orsay, Musée Marmottan Monet and Musée de l'Orangerie are noted for their collections of French Impressionist art. The Pompidou Centre Musée National d'Art Moderne, Musée Rodin and Musée Picasso are noted for their collections of modern and contemporary art. The historical district along the Seine in the city centre has been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1991.

 

Paris hosts several United Nations organizations including UNESCO, and other international organizations such as the OECD, the OECD Development Centre, the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, the International Energy Agency, the International Federation for Human Rights, along with European bodies such as the European Space Agency, the European Banking Authority and the European Securities and Markets Authority. The football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris. The 80,000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros. The city hosted the Olympic Games in 1900 and 1924, and will host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The 1938 and 1998 FIFA World Cups, the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, the 2007 Rugby World Cup, as well as the 1960, 1984 and 2016 UEFA European Championships were also held in the city. Every July, the Tour de France bicycle race finishes on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris.

 

The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the area's major north–south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, which gradually became an important trading centre. The Parisii traded with many river towns (some as far away as the Iberian Peninsula) and minted their own coins.

 

The Romans conquered the Paris Basin in 52 BC and began their settlement on Paris's Left Bank. The Roman town was originally called Lutetia (more fully, Lutetia Parisiorum, "Lutetia of the Parisii", modern French Lutèce). It became a prosperous city with a forum, baths, temples, theatres, and an amphitheatre.

 

By the end of the Western Roman Empire, the town was known as Parisius, a Latin name that would later become Paris in French. Christianity was introduced in the middle of the 3rd century AD by Saint Denis, the first Bishop of Paris: according to legend, when he refused to renounce his faith before the Roman occupiers, he was beheaded on the hill which became known as Mons Martyrum (Latin "Hill of Martyrs"), later "Montmartre", from where he walked headless to the north of the city; the place where he fell and was buried became an important religious shrine, the Basilica of Saint-Denis, and many French kings are buried there.

 

Clovis the Frank, the first king of the Merovingian dynasty, made the city his capital from 508. As the Frankish domination of Gaul began, there was a gradual immigration by the Franks to Paris and the Parisian Francien dialects were born. Fortification of the Île de la Cité failed to avert sacking by Vikings in 845, but Paris's strategic importance—with its bridges preventing ships from passing—was established by successful defence in the Siege of Paris (885–886), for which the then Count of Paris (comte de Paris), Odo of France, was elected king of West Francia. From the Capetian dynasty that began with the 987 election of Hugh Capet, Count of Paris and Duke of the Franks (duc des Francs), as king of a unified West Francia, Paris gradually became the largest and most prosperous city in France.

 

By the end of the 12th century, Paris had become the political, economic, religious, and cultural capital of France.[36] The Palais de la Cité, the royal residence, was located at the western end of the Île de la Cité. In 1163, during the reign of Louis VII, Maurice de Sully, bishop of Paris, undertook the construction of the Notre Dame Cathedral at its eastern extremity.

 

After the marshland between the river Seine and its slower 'dead arm' to its north was filled in from around the 10th century, Paris's cultural centre began to move to the Right Bank. In 1137, a new city marketplace (today's Les Halles) replaced the two smaller ones on the Île de la Cité and Place de Grève (Place de l'Hôtel de Ville). The latter location housed the headquarters of Paris's river trade corporation, an organisation that later became, unofficially (although formally in later years), Paris's first municipal government.

 

In the late 12th century, Philip Augustus extended the Louvre fortress to defend the city against river invasions from the west, gave the city its first walls between 1190 and 1215, rebuilt its bridges to either side of its central island, and paved its main thoroughfares. In 1190, he transformed Paris's former cathedral school into a student-teacher corporation that would become the University of Paris and would draw students from all of Europe.

 

With 200,000 inhabitants in 1328, Paris, then already the capital of France, was the most populous city of Europe. By comparison, London in 1300 had 80,000 inhabitants. By the early fourteenth century, so much filth had collected inside urban Europe that French and Italian cities were naming streets after human waste. In medieval Paris, several street names were inspired by merde, the French word for "shit".

 

During the Hundred Years' War, Paris was occupied by England-friendly Burgundian forces from 1418, before being occupied outright by the English when Henry V of England entered the French capital in 1420; in spite of a 1429 effort by Joan of Arc to liberate the city, it would remain under English occupation until 1436.

 

In the late 16th-century French Wars of Religion, Paris was a stronghold of the Catholic League, the organisers of 24 August 1572 St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in which thousands of French Protestants were killed. The conflicts ended when pretender to the throne Henry IV, after converting to Catholicism to gain entry to the capital, entered the city in 1594 to claim the crown of France. This king made several improvements to the capital during his reign: he completed the construction of Paris's first uncovered, sidewalk-lined bridge, the Pont Neuf, built a Louvre extension connecting it to the Tuileries Palace, and created the first Paris residential square, the Place Royale, now Place des Vosges. In spite of Henry IV's efforts to improve city circulation, the narrowness of Paris's streets was a contributing factor in his assassination near Les Halles marketplace in 1610.

 

During the 17th century, Cardinal Richelieu, chief minister of Louis XIII, was determined to make Paris the most beautiful city in Europe. He built five new bridges, a new chapel for the College of Sorbonne, and a palace for himself, the Palais-Cardinal. After Richelieu's death in 1642, it was renamed the Palais-Royal.

 

Due to the Parisian uprisings during the Fronde civil war, Louis XIV moved his court to a new palace, Versailles, in 1682. Although no longer the capital of France, arts and sciences in the city flourished with the Comédie-Française, the Academy of Painting, and the French Academy of Sciences. To demonstrate that the city was safe from attack, the king had the city walls demolished and replaced with tree-lined boulevards that would become the Grands Boulevards. Other marks of his reign were the Collège des Quatre-Nations, the Place Vendôme, the Place des Victoires, and Les Invalides.

 

18th and 19th centuries

Empire, and Haussmann's renovation of Paris

Paris grew in population from about 400,000 in 1640, to 650,000 in 1780. A new boulevard named the Champs-Élysées extended the city west to Étoile, while the working-class neighbourhood of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine on the eastern side of the city grew increasingly crowded with poor migrant workers from other regions of France.

 

Paris was the centre of an explosion of philosophic and scientific activity, known as the Age of Enlightenment. Diderot and d'Alembert published their Encyclopédie in 1751, and the Montgolfier Brothers launched the first manned flight in a hot air balloon on 21 November 1783. Paris was the financial capital of continental Europe, and the primary European centre of book publishing, fashion and the manufacture of fine furniture and luxury goods.

 

In the summer of 1789, Paris became the centre stage of the French Revolution. On 14 July, a mob seized the arsenal at the Invalides, acquiring thousands of guns, and stormed the Bastille, which was a principal symbol of royal authority. The first independent Paris Commune, or city council, met in the Hôtel de Ville and elected a Mayor, the astronomer Jean Sylvain Bailly, on 15 July.

 

Louis XVI and the royal family were brought to Paris and incarcerated in the Tuileries Palace. In 1793, as the revolution turned increasingly radical, the king, queen and mayor were beheaded by guillotine in the Reign of Terror, along with more than 16,000 others throughout France. The property of the aristocracy and the church was nationalised, and the city's churches were closed, sold or demolished. A succession of revolutionary factions ruled Paris until 9 November 1799 (coup d'état du 18 brumaire), when Napoleon Bonaparte seized power as First Consul.

 

The population of Paris had dropped by 100,000 during the Revolution, but after 1799 it surged with 160,000 new residents, reaching 660,000 by 1815. Napoleon replaced the elected government of Paris with a prefect that reported directly to him. He began erecting monuments to military glory, including the Arc de Triomphe, and improved the neglected infrastructure of the city with new fountains, the Canal de l'Ourcq, Père Lachaise Cemetery and the city's first metal bridge, the Pont des Arts.

  

The Eiffel Tower, under construction in November 1888, startled Parisians—and the world—with its modernity.

During the Restoration, the bridges and squares of Paris were returned to their pre-Revolution names; the July Revolution in 1830 (commemorated by the July Column on the Place de la Bastille) brought to power a constitutional monarch, Louis Philippe I. The first railway line to Paris opened in 1837, beginning a new period of massive migration from the provinces to the city. In 1848, Louis-Philippe was overthrown by a popular uprising in the streets of Paris. His successor, Napoleon III, alongside the newly appointed prefect of the Seine, Georges-Eugène Haussmann, launched a huge public works project to build wide new boulevards, a new opera house, a central market, new aqueducts, sewers and parks, including the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes. In 1860, Napoleon III annexed the surrounding towns and created eight new arrondissements, expanding Paris to its current limits.

 

During the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), Paris was besieged by the Prussian Army. Following several months of blockade, hunger, and then bombardment by the Prussians, the city was forced to surrender on 28 January 1871. After seizing power in Paris on 28 March, a revolutionary government known as the Paris Commune held power for two months, before being harshly suppressed by the French army during the "Bloody Week" at the end of May 1871.

 

In the late 19th century, Paris hosted two major international expositions: the 1889 Universal Exposition, which featured the new Eiffel Tower, was held to mark the centennial of the French Revolution; and the 1900 Universal Exposition gave Paris the Pont Alexandre III, the Grand Palais, the Petit Palais and the first Paris Métro line. Paris became the laboratory of Naturalism (Émile Zola) and Symbolism (Charles Baudelaire and Paul Verlaine), and of Impressionism in art (Courbet, Manet, Monet, Renoir).

 

20th and 21st centuries

World War, Paris between the Wars (1919–1939), Paris in World War II, and History of Paris (1946–2000)

By 1901, the population of Paris had grown to about 2,715,000. At the beginning of the century, artists from around the world including Pablo Picasso, Modigliani, and Henri Matisse made Paris their home. It was the birthplace of Fauvism, Cubism and abstract art, and authors such as Marcel Proust were exploring new approaches to literature.

 

During the First World War, Paris sometimes found itself on the front line; 600 to 1,000 Paris taxis played a small but highly important symbolic role in transporting 6,000 soldiers to the front line at the First Battle of the Marne. The city was also bombed by Zeppelins and shelled by German long-range guns. In the years after the war, known as Les Années Folles, Paris continued to be a mecca for writers, musicians and artists from around the world, including Ernest Hemingway, Igor Stravinsky, James Joyce, Josephine Baker, Eva Kotchever, Henry Miller, Anaïs Nin, Sidney Bechet and Salvador Dalí.

 

In the years after the peace conference, the city was also home to growing numbers of students and activists from French colonies and other Asian and African countries, who later became leaders of their countries, such as Ho Chi Minh, Zhou Enlai and Léopold Sédar Senghor.

  

General Charles de Gaulle on the Champs-Élysées celebrating the liberation of Paris, 26 August 1944

On 14 June 1940, the German army marched into Paris, which had been declared an "open city". On 16–17 July 1942, following German orders, the French police and gendarmes arrested 12,884 Jews, including 4,115 children, and confined them during five days at the Vel d'Hiv (Vélodrome d'Hiver), from which they were transported by train to the extermination camp at Auschwitz. None of the children came back. On 25 August 1944, the city was liberated by the French 2nd Armoured Division and the 4th Infantry Division of the United States Army. General Charles de Gaulle led a huge and emotional crowd down the Champs Élysées towards Notre Dame de Paris, and made a rousing speech from the Hôtel de Ville.

 

In the 1950s and the 1960s, Paris became one front of the Algerian War for independence; in August 1961, the pro-independence FLN targeted and killed 11 Paris policemen, leading to the imposition of a curfew on Muslims of Algeria (who, at that time, were French citizens). On 17 October 1961, an unauthorised but peaceful protest demonstration of Algerians against the curfew led to violent confrontations between the police and demonstrators, in which at least 40 people were killed. The anti-independence Organisation armée secrète (OAS) carried out a series of bombings in Paris throughout 1961 and 1962.

 

In May 1968, protesting students occupied the Sorbonne and put up barricades in the Latin Quarter. Thousands of Parisian blue-collar workers joined the students, and the movement grew into a two-week general strike. Supporters of the government won the June elections by a large majority. The May 1968 events in France resulted in the break-up of the University of Paris into 13 independent campuses. In 1975, the National Assembly changed the status of Paris to that of other French cities and, on 25 March 1977, Jacques Chirac became the first elected mayor of Paris since 1793. The Tour Maine-Montparnasse, the tallest building in the city at 57 storeys and 210 m (689 ft) high, was built between 1969 and 1973. It was highly controversial, and it remains the only building in the centre of the city over 32 storeys high. The population of Paris dropped from 2,850,000 in 1954 to 2,152,000 in 1990, as middle-class families moved to the suburbs. A suburban railway network, the RER (Réseau Express Régional), was built to complement the Métro; the Périphérique expressway encircling the city, was completed in 1973.

 

Most of the postwar presidents of the Fifth Republic wanted to leave their own monuments in Paris; President Georges Pompidou started the Centre Georges Pompidou (1977), Valéry Giscard d'Estaing began the Musée d'Orsay (1986); President François Mitterrand had the Opéra Bastille built (1985–1989), the new site of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (1996), the Arche de la Défense (1985–1989) in La Défense, as well as the Louvre Pyramid with its underground courtyard (1983–1989); Jacques Chirac (2006), the Musée du quai Branly.

 

In the early 21st century, the population of Paris began to increase slowly again, as more young people moved into the city. It reached 2.25 million in 2011. In March 2001, Bertrand Delanoë became the first socialist mayor. He was re-elected in March 2008. In 2007, in an effort to reduce car traffic, he introduced the Vélib', a system which rents bicycles. Bertrand Delanoë also transformed a section of the highway along the Left Bank of the Seine into an urban promenade and park, the Promenade des Berges de la Seine, which he inaugurated in June 2013.

 

In 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy launched the Grand Paris project, to integrate Paris more closely with the towns in the region around it. After many modifications, the new area, named the Metropolis of Grand Paris, with a population of 6.7 million, was created on 1 January 2016. In 2011, the City of Paris and the national government approved the plans for the Grand Paris Express, totalling 205 km (127 mi) of automated metro lines to connect Paris, the innermost three departments around Paris, airports and high-speed rail (TGV) stations, at an estimated cost of €35 billion.The system is scheduled to be completed by 2030.

 

In January 2015, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed attacks across the Paris region. 1.5 million people marched in Paris in a show of solidarity against terrorism and in support of freedom of speech. In November of the same year, terrorist attacks, claimed by ISIL, killed 130 people and injured more than 350.

 

On 22 April 2016, the Paris Agreement was signed by 196 nations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in an aim to limit the effects of climate change below 2 °C.

 

Well, it's not actually in focus but it shows how badgers fight, going for the thickly muscled neck and rump where they're unlikely to do serious harm. The vast majority of badgers have scars on the neck and bum from fighting. Badgers have incredibly powerful jaws with large muscles in the neck and head as well as having a fused jaw which can't be dislocated, not a good idea to get bitten by a badger overall : ) Add to that their massively powerful front paws and deadly looking claws they're pretty formidable creatures for their size. Male badgers have a saggital crest along the top of the skull, the same thing that gives mountain gorilla silverbacks their oddly shaped heads. Yes I've swallowed a badger book : ) If you ever find an injured badger don't handle it without full chainmail armour on ! Having said that they are very shy and nervous with non-badgers, my little cat once chased two full grown adults up the garden............

 

Earlier in the summer I had all three cubs fighting almost at my feet, pretty noisy and exciting and unforgettable !

Notre-Dame de Paris (French: [nɔtʁ(ə) dam də paʁi] ⓘ; meaning "Our Lady of Paris"), referred to simply as Notre-Dame,[a] is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the Seine River), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, France. The cathedral, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture. Several attributes set it apart from the earlier Romanesque style, particularly its pioneering use of the rib vault and flying buttress, its enormous and colourful rose windows, and the naturalism and abundance of its sculptural decoration.[5] Notre-Dame also stands out for its three pipe organs (one historic) and its immense church bells.[6]

 

Built during medieval France, construction of the cathedral began in 1163 under Bishop Maurice de Sully and was largely completed by 1260, though it was modified in succeeding centuries. In the 1790s, during the French Revolution, Notre-Dame suffered extensive desecration; much of its religious imagery was damaged or destroyed. In the 19th century, the coronation of Napoleon and the funerals of many of the French Republic's presidents took place at the cathedral. The 1831 publication of Victor Hugo's novel Notre-Dame de Paris (in English: The Hunchback of Notre-Dame) inspired interest which led to restoration between 1844 and 1864, supervised by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. On 26 August 1944, the Liberation of Paris from German occupation was celebrated in Notre-Dame with the singing of the Magnificat. Beginning in 1963, the cathedral's façade was cleaned of soot and grime. Another cleaning and restoration project was carried out between 1991 and 2000.[7]

 

The cathedral is a widely recognized symbol of the city of Paris and the French nation. In 1805, it was awarded honorary status as a minor basilica. As the cathedral of the archdiocese of Paris, Notre-Dame contains the cathedra of the archbishop of Paris (currently Laurent Ulrich). In the early 21st century, approximately 12 million people visited Notre-Dame annually, making it the most visited monument in Paris.[8] The cathedral is renowned for its Lent sermons, a tradition founded in the 1830s by the Dominican Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire. These sermons have increasingly been given by leading public figures or government-employed academics.

 

Over time, the cathedral has gradually been stripped of many decorations and artworks. However, the cathedral still contains Gothic, Baroque, and 19th-century sculptures, 17th- and early 18th-century altarpieces, and some of the most important relics in Christendom – including the Crown of Thorns, and a sliver and nail from the True Cross.

 

On 15 April 2019, while Notre-Dame was undergoing renovation and restoration, its roof caught fire and burned for 15 hours. The cathedral sustained serious damage. The flèche (the timber spirelet over the crossing) was destroyed, as was most of the lead-covered wooden roof above the stone vaulted ceiling.[9] This contaminated the site and nearby environment with lead.[10] Restoration proposals suggested modernizing the cathedral, but the French National Assembly rejected them, enacting a law in July 2019 that required the restoration preserve the cathedral's "historic, artistic and architectural interest".[11] The task of stabilizing the building against potential collapse was completed in November 2020.[12] The cathedral is expected to reopen on 8 December 2024; the date was confirmed by President Macron.

 

Key dates

4th century – Cathedral of Saint Étienne, dedicated to Saint Stephen, built just west of present cathedral.[14]

1163 – Bishop Maurice de Sully begins construction of new cathedral.[14]

1182 or 1185 – Choir completed, clerestory with two levels: upper level of upright windows with pointed arches, still without tracery, lower level of small rose windows.

c. 1200 – Construction of nave, with flying buttresses, completed.

c. 1210–1220 – Construction of towers begins.

c. 1210–1220 – Two new traverses join towers with nave. West rose window complete in 1220.

After 1220 – New flying buttresses added to choir walls, remodeling of the clerestories: pointed arched windows are enlarged downward, replacing the triforia, and get tracery.

1235–1245 – Chapels constructed between buttresses of nave and choir.

1250–1260 – North transept lengthened by Jean de Chelles to provide more light. North rose window constructed.[15]

1270 – South transept and rose window completed by Pierre de Montreuil.[16]

1699 – Beginning of major redecoration of interior in Louis XIV style by Hardouin Mansart and Robert de Cotte.[17]

1725–1727 – South rose window, poorly built, is reconstructed. Later entirely rebuilt in 1854.

1790 – In the French Revolution the Revolutionary Paris Commune removes all bronze, lead, and precious metals from the cathedral to be melted down.[16]

1793 – The cathedral is converted into a Temple of Reason and then Temple of the Supreme Being.

1801–1802 – With the Concordat of 1801, Napoleon restores the use of the cathedral (though not ownership) to the Catholic Church.

1804 – On 2 December, Napoleon crowns himself Emperor at Notre-Dame.

1805 – The cathedral is conceded the honor of minor basilica by Pope Pius VII, making it the first minor basilica outside of Italy.[18]

1844–1864 – Major restoration by Jean-Baptiste Lassus and Eugène Viollet-le-Duc with additions in the spirit of the original Gothic style.[19]

1871 – In final days of the Paris Commune, Communards attempt unsuccessfully to burn the cathedral.

1944 – On 26 August, General Charles de Gaulle celebrates the Liberation of Paris with a special Mass at Notre-Dame.

1949 – On 26 April, the Archbishop of Paris, Emmanuel Célestin Suhard, crowns the venerated image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the name of Pope Pius XII.

1963 – Culture Minister André Malraux orders the cleaning of the cathedral façade of centuries of grime and soot.

2019 – On 15 April, a fire destroys a large part of the roof and the flèche.

2021 – Reconstruction begins two years after the fire that destroyed a large part of the roof and the flèche.

2024 - Expected reopening of the Cathedral to occur on 8 December.

 

It is believed that before the arrival of Christianity in France, a Gallo-Roman temple dedicated to Jupiter stood on the site of Notre-Dame. Evidence for this includes the Pillar of the Boatmen, discovered beneath the cathedral in 1710. In the 4th or 5th century, a large early Christian church, the Cathedral of Saint Étienne, was built on the site, close to the royal palace.[14] The entrance was situated about 40 metres (130 ft) west of the present west front of Notre-Dame, and the apse was located about where the west façade is today. It was roughly half the size of the later Notre-Dame, 70 metres (230 ft) long—and separated into nave and four aisles by marble columns, then decorated with mosaics.[7][20]

 

The last church before the cathedral of Notre-Dame was a Romanesque remodeling of Saint-Étienne that, although enlarged and remodeled, was found to be unfit for the growing population of Paris.[21][b] A baptistery, the Church of Saint-John-le-Rond, built about 452, was located on the north side of the west front of Notre-Dame until the work of Jacques-Germain Soufflot in the 18th century.[23]

 

In 1160, the Bishop of Paris, Maurice de Sully,[23] decided to build a new and much larger church. He summarily demolished the earlier cathedral and recycled its materials.[21] Sully decided that the new church should be built in the Gothic style, which had been inaugurated at the royal abbey of Saint Denis in the late 1130s.

 

The chronicler Jean de Saint-Victor [fr] recorded in the Memorial Historiarum that the construction of Notre-Dame began between 24 March and 25 April 1163 with the laying of the cornerstone in the presence of King Louis VII and Pope Alexander III.[24][25] Four phases of construction took place under bishops Maurice de Sully and Eudes de Sully (not related to Maurice), according to masters whose names have been lost. Analysis of vault stones that fell in the 2019 fire shows that they were quarried in Vexin, a county northwest of Paris, and presumably brought up the Seine by ferry.

 

The first phase began with the construction of the choir and its two ambulatories. According to Robert of Torigni, the choir was completed in 1177 and the high altar consecrated on 19 May 1182 by Cardinal Henri de Château-Marçay, the Papal legate in Paris, and Maurice de Sully.[28][failed verification] The second phase, from 1182 to 1190, concerned the construction of the four sections of the nave behind the choir and its aisles to the height of the clerestories. It began after the completion of the choir but ended before the final allotted section of the nave was finished. Beginning in 1190, the bases of the façade were put in place, and the first traverses were completed.[7] Heraclius of Caesarea called for the Third Crusade in 1185 from the still-incomplete cathedral.

 

Louis IX deposited the relics of the passion of Christ, which included the Crown of thorns, a nail from the Cross and a sliver of the Cross, which he had purchased at great expense from the Latin Emperor Baldwin II, in the cathedral during the construction of the Sainte-Chapelle. An under-shirt, believed to have belonged to Louis, was added to the collection of relics at some time after his death.

 

Transepts were added at the choir, where the altar was located, in order to bring more light into the centre of the church. The use of simpler four-part rather than six-part rib vaults meant that the roofs were stronger and could be higher. After Bishop Maurice de Sully's death in 1196, his successor, Eudes de Sully oversaw the completion of the transepts, and continued work on the nave, which was nearing completion at the time of his death in 1208. By this time, the western façade was already largely built, though it was not completed until around the mid-1240s. Between 1225 and 1250 the upper gallery of the nave was constructed, along with the two towers on the west façade.

 

Another significant change came in the mid-13th century, when the transepts were remodelled in the latest Rayonnant style; in the late 1240s Jean de Chelles added a gabled portal to the north transept topped by a spectacular rose window. Shortly afterward (from 1258) Pierre de Montreuil executed a similar scheme on the southern transept. Both these transept portals were richly embellished with sculpture; the south portal depicts scenes from the lives of Saint Stephen and of various local saints, while the north portal featured the infancy of Christ and the story of Theophilus in the tympanum, with a highly influential statue of the Virgin and Child in the trumeau.[30][29] Master builders Pierre de Chelles, Jean Ravy [fr], Jean le Bouteiller, and Raymond du Temple [fr] succeeded de Chelles and de Montreuil and then each other in the construction of the cathedral. Ravy completed de Chelles's rood screen and chevet chapels, then began the 15-metre (49 ft) flying buttresses of the choir. Jean le Bouteiller, Ravy's nephew, succeeded him in 1344 and was himself replaced on his death in 1363 by his deputy, Raymond du Temple.

 

Philip the Fair opened the first Estates General in the cathedral in 1302.

 

An important innovation in the 13th century was the introduction of the flying buttress. Before the buttresses, all of the weight of the roof pressed outward and down to the walls, and the abutments supporting them. With the flying buttress, the weight was carried by the ribs of the vault entirely outside the structure to a series of counter-supports, which were topped with stone pinnacles which gave them greater weight. The buttresses meant that the walls could be higher and thinner, and could have larger windows. The date of the first buttresses is not known with precision beyond an installation date in the 13th century. Art historian Andrew Tallon, however, has argued, based on detailed laser scans of the entire structure, that the buttresses were part of the original design. According to Tallon, the scans indicate that "the upper part of the building has not moved one smidgen in 800 years,"[31] whereas if they were added later some movement from prior to their addition would be expected. Tallon thus concluded that flying buttresses were present from the outset.[31] The first buttresses were replaced by larger and stronger ones in the 14th century; these had a reach of fifteen metres (50') between the walls and counter-supports.[7]

 

John of Jandun recognized the cathedral as one of Paris's three most important buildings [prominent structures] in his 1323 Treatise on the Praises of Paris:

 

That most glorious church of the most glorious Virgin Mary, mother of God, deservedly shines out, like the sun among stars. And although some speakers, by their own free judgment, because [they are] able to see only a few things easily, may say that some other is more beautiful, I believe, however, respectfully, that, if they attend more diligently to the whole and the parts, they will quickly retract this opinion. Where indeed, I ask, would they find two towers of such magnificence and perfection, so high, so large, so strong, clothed round about with such multiple varieties of ornaments? Where, I ask, would they find such a multipartite arrangement of so many lateral vaults, above and below? Where, I ask, would they find such light-filled amenities as the many surrounding chapels? Furthermore, let them tell me in what church I may see such a large cross, of which one arm separates the choir from the nave. Finally, I would willingly learn where [there are] two such circles, situated opposite each other in a straight line, which on account of their appearance are given the name of the fourth vowel [O]; among which smaller orbs and circles, with wondrous artifice, so that some arranged circularly, others angularly, surround windows ruddy with precious colours and beautiful with the most subtle figures of the pictures. In fact, I believe that this church offers the carefully discerning such cause for admiration that its inspection can scarcely sate the soul.

 

— Jean de Jandun, Tractatus de laudibus Parisius

 

On 16 December 1431, the boy-king Henry VI of England was crowned king of France in Notre-Dame, aged ten, the traditional coronation church of Reims Cathedral being under French control.[33]

 

During the Renaissance, the Gothic style fell out of style, and the internal pillars and walls of Notre-Dame were covered with tapestries.[34]

 

In 1548, rioting Huguenots damaged some of the statues of Notre-Dame, considering them idolatrous.[35]

 

The fountain [fr] in Notre-Dame's parvis was added in 1625 to provide nearby Parisians with running water.[36]

 

Since 1449, the Parisian goldsmith guild had made regular donations to the cathedral chapter. In 1630, the guild began donating a large altarpiece every year on the first of May. These works came to be known as the grands mays.[37] The subject matter was restricted to episodes from the Acts of the Apostles. The prestigious commission was awarded to the most prominent painters and, after 1648, members of the Académie Royale.

 

Seventy-six paintings had been donated by 1708, when the custom was discontinued for financial reasons. Those works were confiscated in 1793 and the majority were subsequently dispersed among regional museums in France. Those that remained in the cathedral were removed or relocated within the building by the 19th-century restorers.

 

Today, thirteen of the grands mays hang in Notre-Dame although these paintings suffered water damage during the fire of 2019 and were removed for conservation.

 

An altarpiece depicting the Visitation, painted by Jean Jouvenet in 1707, was also located in the cathedral.

 

The canon Antoine de La Porte commissioned for Louis XIV six paintings depicting the life of the Virgin Mary for the choir. At this same time, Charles de La Fosse painted his Adoration of the Magi, now in the Louvre.[38] Louis Antoine de Noailles, archbishop of Paris, extensively modified the roof of Notre-Dame in 1726, renovating its framing and removing the gargoyles with lead gutters. Noailles also strengthened the buttresses, galleries, terraces, and vaults.[39] In 1756, the cathedral's canons decided that its interior was too dark. The medieval stained glass windows, except the rosettes, were removed and replaced with plain, white glass panes.[34] Lastly, Jacques-Germain Soufflot was tasked with the modification of the portals at the front of the cathedral to allow processions to enter more easily.

 

After the French Revolution in 1789, Notre-Dame and the rest of the church's property in France was seized and made public property.[40] The cathedral was rededicated in 1793 to the Cult of Reason, and then to the Cult of the Supreme Being in 1794.[41] During this time, many of the treasures of the cathedral were either destroyed or plundered. The twenty-eight statues of biblical kings located at the west façade, mistaken for statues of French kings, were beheaded.[7][42] Many of the heads were found during a 1977 excavation nearby, and are on display at the Musée de Cluny. For a time the Goddess of Liberty replaced the Virgin Mary on several altars.[43] The cathedral's great bells escaped being melted down. All of the other large statues on the façade, with the exception of the statue of the Virgin Mary on the portal of the cloister, were destroyed.[7] The cathedral came to be used as a warehouse for the storage of food and other non-religious purposes.[35]

 

With the Concordat of 1801, Napoleon Bonaparte restored Notre-Dame to the Catholic Church, though this was only finalized on 18 April 1802. Napoleon also named Paris's new bishop, Jean-Baptiste de Belloy, who restored the cathedral's interior. Charles Percier and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine made quasi-Gothic modifications to Notre-Dame for the coronation of Napoleon as Emperor of the French within the cathedral. The building's exterior was whitewashed and the interior decorated in Neoclassical style, then in vogue.

 

In the decades after the Napoleonic Wars, Notre-Dame fell into such a state of disrepair that Paris officials considered its demolition. Victor Hugo, who admired the cathedral, wrote the novel Notre-Dame de Paris (published in English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame) in 1831 to save Notre-Dame. The book was an enormous success, raising awareness of the cathedral's decaying state.[7] The same year as Hugo's novel was published, however, anti-Legitimists plundered Notre-Dame's sacristy.[45] In 1844 King Louis Philippe ordered that the church be restored.[7]

 

The architect who had hitherto been in charge of Notre-Dame's maintenance, Étienne-Hippolyte Godde, was dismissed. In his stead, Jean-Baptiste Lassus and Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, who had distinguished themselves with the restoration of the nearby Sainte-Chapelle, were appointed in 1844. The next year, Viollet-le-Duc submitted a budget of 3,888,500 francs, which was reduced to 2,650,000 francs, for the restoration of Notre-Dame and the construction of a new sacristy building. This budget was exhausted in 1850, and work stopped as Viollet-le-Duc made proposals for more money. In totality, the restoration cost over 12 million francs. Supervising a large team of sculptors, glass makers and other craftsmen, and working from drawings or engravings, Viollet-le-Duc remade or added decorations if he felt they were in the spirit of the original style. One of the latter items was a taller and more ornate flèche, to replace the original 13th-century flèche, which had been removed in 1786.[46] The decoration of the restoration included a bronze roof statue of Saint Thomas that resembles Viollet-le-Duc, as well as the sculpture of mythical creatures on the Galerie des Chimères.[35]

 

The construction of the sacristy was especially financially costly. To secure a firm foundation, it was necessary for Viollet-le-Duc's labourers to dig 9 metres (30 ft). Master glassworkers meticulously copied styles of the 13th century, as written about by art historians Antoine Lusson and Adolphe Napoléon Didron.[47]

 

During the Paris Commune of March through May 1871, the cathedral and other churches were closed, and some two hundred priests and the Archbishop of Paris were taken as hostages. In May, during the Semaine sanglante of "Bloody Week", as the army recaptured the city, the Communards targeted the cathedral, along with the Tuileries Palace and other landmarks, for destruction; the Communards piled the furniture together in order to burn the cathedral. The arson was halted when the Communard government realised that the fire would also destroy the neighbouring Hôtel-Dieu hospital, filled with hundreds of patients

 

During the liberation of Paris in August 1944, the cathedral suffered some minor damage from stray bullets. Some of the medieval glass was damaged, and was replaced by glass with modern abstract designs. On 26 August, a special Mass was held in the cathedral to celebrate the liberation of Paris from the Germans; it was attended by General Charles De Gaulle and General Philippe Leclerc.

 

In 1963, on the initiative of culture minister André Malraux and to mark the 800th anniversary of the cathedral, the façade was cleaned of the centuries of soot and grime, restoring it to its original off-white colour.[49]

 

On 19 January 1969, vandals placed a North Vietnamese flag at the top the flèche, and sabotaged the stairway leading to it. The flag was cut from the flèche by Paris Fire Brigade Sergeant Raymond Belle in a daring helicopter mission, the first of its kind in France.[50][51][52]

 

The Requiem Mass of Charles de Gaulle was held in Notre-Dame on 12 November 1970.[53] The next year, on 26 June 1971, Philippe Petit walked across a tight-rope strung between Notre-Dame's two bell towers entertaining spectators.[54]

 

After the Magnificat of 30 May 1980, Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass on the parvis of the cathedral.[55]

 

The Requiem Mass of François Mitterrand was held at the cathedral, as with past French heads of state, on 11 January 1996.[56]

 

The stone masonry of the cathedral's exterior had deteriorated in the 19th and 20th century due to increased air pollution in Paris, which accelerated erosion of decorations and discoloured the stone. By the late 1980s, several gargoyles and turrets had also fallen or become too loose to safely remain in place.[57] A decade-long renovation programme began in 1991 and replaced much of the exterior, with care given to retain the authentic architectural elements of the cathedral, including rigorous inspection of new limestone blocks.[57][58] A discreet system of electrical wires, not visible from below, was also installed on the roof to deter pigeons.[59] The cathedral's pipe organ was upgraded with a computerized system to control the mechanical connections to the pipes.[60] The west face was cleaned and restored in time for millennium celebrations in December 1999.

 

The Requiem Mass of Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, former archbishop of Paris and Jewish convert to Catholicism, was held in Notre-Dame on 10 August 2007.[62]

 

The set of four 19th-century bells at the top of the northern towers at Notre-Dame were melted down and recast into new bronze bells in 2013, to celebrate the building's 850th anniversary. They were designed to recreate the sound of the cathedral's original bells from the 17th century.[63][64] Despite the 1990s renovation, the cathedral had continued to show signs of deterioration that prompted the national government to propose a new renovation program in the late 2010s.[65][66] The entire renovation was estimated to cost €100 million, which the archbishop of Paris planned to raise through funds from the national government and private donations.[67] A €6 million renovation of the cathedral's flèche began in late 2018 and continued into the following year, requiring the temporary removal of copper statues on the roof and other decorative elements days before the April 2019 fire.[68][69]

 

Notre-Dame began a year-long celebration of the 850th anniversary of the laying of the first building block for the cathedral on 12 December 2012.[70] During that anniversary year, on 21 May 2013, Dominique Venner, a historian and white nationalist, placed a letter on the church altar and shot himself, dying instantly. Around 1,500 visitors were evacuated from the cathedral.[71]

 

French police arrested two people on 8 September 2016 after a car containing seven gasoline canisters was found near Notre-Dame.[72]

 

On 10 February 2017, French police arrested four persons in Montpellier already known by authorities to have ties to radical Islamist organizations on charges of plotting to travel to Paris and attack the cathedral.[73] Later that year, on 6 June, visitors were shut inside Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris after a man with a hammer attacked a police officer outside.

 

Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. With an official estimated population of 2,102,650 residents as of 1 January 2023[2] in an area of more than 105 km2 (41 sq mi) Paris is the fourth-most populated city in the European Union and the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2022. Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of the world's major centres of finance, diplomacy, commerce, culture, fashion, and gastronomy. For its leading role in the arts and sciences, as well as its early and extensive system of street lighting, in the 19th century, it became known as the City of Light.

 

The City of Paris is the centre of the Île-de-France region, or Paris Region, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 inhabitants on 1 January 2023, or about 19% of the population of France, The Paris Region had a GDP of €765 billion (US$1.064 trillion, PPP) in 2021, the highest in the European Union. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit Worldwide Cost of Living Survey, in 2022, Paris was the city with the ninth-highest cost of living in the world.

 

Paris is a major railway, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports: Charles de Gaulle Airport (the third-busiest airport in Europe) and Orly Airport. Opened in 1900, the city's subway system, the Paris Métro, serves 5.23 million passengers daily; it is the second-busiest metro system in Europe after the Moscow Metro. Gare du Nord is the 24th-busiest railway station in the world and the busiest outside Japan, with 262 million passengers in 2015. Paris has one of the most sustainable transportation systems and is one of the only two cities in the world that received the Sustainable Transport Award twice.

 

Paris is especially known for its museums and architectural landmarks: the Louvre received 8.9. million visitors in 2023, on track for keeping its position as the most-visited art museum in the world. The Musée d'Orsay, Musée Marmottan Monet and Musée de l'Orangerie are noted for their collections of French Impressionist art. The Pompidou Centre Musée National d'Art Moderne, Musée Rodin and Musée Picasso are noted for their collections of modern and contemporary art. The historical district along the Seine in the city centre has been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1991.

 

Paris hosts several United Nations organizations including UNESCO, and other international organizations such as the OECD, the OECD Development Centre, the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, the International Energy Agency, the International Federation for Human Rights, along with European bodies such as the European Space Agency, the European Banking Authority and the European Securities and Markets Authority. The football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris. The 80,000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros. The city hosted the Olympic Games in 1900 and 1924, and will host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The 1938 and 1998 FIFA World Cups, the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, the 2007 Rugby World Cup, as well as the 1960, 1984 and 2016 UEFA European Championships were also held in the city. Every July, the Tour de France bicycle race finishes on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris.

 

The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the area's major north–south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, which gradually became an important trading centre. The Parisii traded with many river towns (some as far away as the Iberian Peninsula) and minted their own coins.

 

The Romans conquered the Paris Basin in 52 BC and began their settlement on Paris's Left Bank. The Roman town was originally called Lutetia (more fully, Lutetia Parisiorum, "Lutetia of the Parisii", modern French Lutèce). It became a prosperous city with a forum, baths, temples, theatres, and an amphitheatre.

 

By the end of the Western Roman Empire, the town was known as Parisius, a Latin name that would later become Paris in French. Christianity was introduced in the middle of the 3rd century AD by Saint Denis, the first Bishop of Paris: according to legend, when he refused to renounce his faith before the Roman occupiers, he was beheaded on the hill which became known as Mons Martyrum (Latin "Hill of Martyrs"), later "Montmartre", from where he walked headless to the north of the city; the place where he fell and was buried became an important religious shrine, the Basilica of Saint-Denis, and many French kings are buried there.

 

Clovis the Frank, the first king of the Merovingian dynasty, made the city his capital from 508. As the Frankish domination of Gaul began, there was a gradual immigration by the Franks to Paris and the Parisian Francien dialects were born. Fortification of the Île de la Cité failed to avert sacking by Vikings in 845, but Paris's strategic importance—with its bridges preventing ships from passing—was established by successful defence in the Siege of Paris (885–886), for which the then Count of Paris (comte de Paris), Odo of France, was elected king of West Francia. From the Capetian dynasty that began with the 987 election of Hugh Capet, Count of Paris and Duke of the Franks (duc des Francs), as king of a unified West Francia, Paris gradually became the largest and most prosperous city in France.

 

By the end of the 12th century, Paris had become the political, economic, religious, and cultural capital of France.[36] The Palais de la Cité, the royal residence, was located at the western end of the Île de la Cité. In 1163, during the reign of Louis VII, Maurice de Sully, bishop of Paris, undertook the construction of the Notre Dame Cathedral at its eastern extremity.

 

After the marshland between the river Seine and its slower 'dead arm' to its north was filled in from around the 10th century, Paris's cultural centre began to move to the Right Bank. In 1137, a new city marketplace (today's Les Halles) replaced the two smaller ones on the Île de la Cité and Place de Grève (Place de l'Hôtel de Ville). The latter location housed the headquarters of Paris's river trade corporation, an organisation that later became, unofficially (although formally in later years), Paris's first municipal government.

 

In the late 12th century, Philip Augustus extended the Louvre fortress to defend the city against river invasions from the west, gave the city its first walls between 1190 and 1215, rebuilt its bridges to either side of its central island, and paved its main thoroughfares. In 1190, he transformed Paris's former cathedral school into a student-teacher corporation that would become the University of Paris and would draw students from all of Europe.

 

With 200,000 inhabitants in 1328, Paris, then already the capital of France, was the most populous city of Europe. By comparison, London in 1300 had 80,000 inhabitants. By the early fourteenth century, so much filth had collected inside urban Europe that French and Italian cities were naming streets after human waste. In medieval Paris, several street names were inspired by merde, the French word for "shit".

 

During the Hundred Years' War, Paris was occupied by England-friendly Burgundian forces from 1418, before being occupied outright by the English when Henry V of England entered the French capital in 1420; in spite of a 1429 effort by Joan of Arc to liberate the city, it would remain under English occupation until 1436.

 

In the late 16th-century French Wars of Religion, Paris was a stronghold of the Catholic League, the organisers of 24 August 1572 St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in which thousands of French Protestants were killed. The conflicts ended when pretender to the throne Henry IV, after converting to Catholicism to gain entry to the capital, entered the city in 1594 to claim the crown of France. This king made several improvements to the capital during his reign: he completed the construction of Paris's first uncovered, sidewalk-lined bridge, the Pont Neuf, built a Louvre extension connecting it to the Tuileries Palace, and created the first Paris residential square, the Place Royale, now Place des Vosges. In spite of Henry IV's efforts to improve city circulation, the narrowness of Paris's streets was a contributing factor in his assassination near Les Halles marketplace in 1610.

 

During the 17th century, Cardinal Richelieu, chief minister of Louis XIII, was determined to make Paris the most beautiful city in Europe. He built five new bridges, a new chapel for the College of Sorbonne, and a palace for himself, the Palais-Cardinal. After Richelieu's death in 1642, it was renamed the Palais-Royal.

 

Due to the Parisian uprisings during the Fronde civil war, Louis XIV moved his court to a new palace, Versailles, in 1682. Although no longer the capital of France, arts and sciences in the city flourished with the Comédie-Française, the Academy of Painting, and the French Academy of Sciences. To demonstrate that the city was safe from attack, the king had the city walls demolished and replaced with tree-lined boulevards that would become the Grands Boulevards. Other marks of his reign were the Collège des Quatre-Nations, the Place Vendôme, the Place des Victoires, and Les Invalides.

 

18th and 19th centuries

Empire, and Haussmann's renovation of Paris

Paris grew in population from about 400,000 in 1640, to 650,000 in 1780. A new boulevard named the Champs-Élysées extended the city west to Étoile, while the working-class neighbourhood of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine on the eastern side of the city grew increasingly crowded with poor migrant workers from other regions of France.

 

Paris was the centre of an explosion of philosophic and scientific activity, known as the Age of Enlightenment. Diderot and d'Alembert published their Encyclopédie in 1751, and the Montgolfier Brothers launched the first manned flight in a hot air balloon on 21 November 1783. Paris was the financial capital of continental Europe, and the primary European centre of book publishing, fashion and the manufacture of fine furniture and luxury goods.

 

In the summer of 1789, Paris became the centre stage of the French Revolution. On 14 July, a mob seized the arsenal at the Invalides, acquiring thousands of guns, and stormed the Bastille, which was a principal symbol of royal authority. The first independent Paris Commune, or city council, met in the Hôtel de Ville and elected a Mayor, the astronomer Jean Sylvain Bailly, on 15 July.

 

Louis XVI and the royal family were brought to Paris and incarcerated in the Tuileries Palace. In 1793, as the revolution turned increasingly radical, the king, queen and mayor were beheaded by guillotine in the Reign of Terror, along with more than 16,000 others throughout France. The property of the aristocracy and the church was nationalised, and the city's churches were closed, sold or demolished. A succession of revolutionary factions ruled Paris until 9 November 1799 (coup d'état du 18 brumaire), when Napoleon Bonaparte seized power as First Consul.

 

The population of Paris had dropped by 100,000 during the Revolution, but after 1799 it surged with 160,000 new residents, reaching 660,000 by 1815. Napoleon replaced the elected government of Paris with a prefect that reported directly to him. He began erecting monuments to military glory, including the Arc de Triomphe, and improved the neglected infrastructure of the city with new fountains, the Canal de l'Ourcq, Père Lachaise Cemetery and the city's first metal bridge, the Pont des Arts.

  

The Eiffel Tower, under construction in November 1888, startled Parisians—and the world—with its modernity.

During the Restoration, the bridges and squares of Paris were returned to their pre-Revolution names; the July Revolution in 1830 (commemorated by the July Column on the Place de la Bastille) brought to power a constitutional monarch, Louis Philippe I. The first railway line to Paris opened in 1837, beginning a new period of massive migration from the provinces to the city. In 1848, Louis-Philippe was overthrown by a popular uprising in the streets of Paris. His successor, Napoleon III, alongside the newly appointed prefect of the Seine, Georges-Eugène Haussmann, launched a huge public works project to build wide new boulevards, a new opera house, a central market, new aqueducts, sewers and parks, including the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes. In 1860, Napoleon III annexed the surrounding towns and created eight new arrondissements, expanding Paris to its current limits.

 

During the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), Paris was besieged by the Prussian Army. Following several months of blockade, hunger, and then bombardment by the Prussians, the city was forced to surrender on 28 January 1871. After seizing power in Paris on 28 March, a revolutionary government known as the Paris Commune held power for two months, before being harshly suppressed by the French army during the "Bloody Week" at the end of May 1871.

 

In the late 19th century, Paris hosted two major international expositions: the 1889 Universal Exposition, which featured the new Eiffel Tower, was held to mark the centennial of the French Revolution; and the 1900 Universal Exposition gave Paris the Pont Alexandre III, the Grand Palais, the Petit Palais and the first Paris Métro line. Paris became the laboratory of Naturalism (Émile Zola) and Symbolism (Charles Baudelaire and Paul Verlaine), and of Impressionism in art (Courbet, Manet, Monet, Renoir).

 

20th and 21st centuries

World War, Paris between the Wars (1919–1939), Paris in World War II, and History of Paris (1946–2000)

By 1901, the population of Paris had grown to about 2,715,000. At the beginning of the century, artists from around the world including Pablo Picasso, Modigliani, and Henri Matisse made Paris their home. It was the birthplace of Fauvism, Cubism and abstract art, and authors such as Marcel Proust were exploring new approaches to literature.

 

During the First World War, Paris sometimes found itself on the front line; 600 to 1,000 Paris taxis played a small but highly important symbolic role in transporting 6,000 soldiers to the front line at the First Battle of the Marne. The city was also bombed by Zeppelins and shelled by German long-range guns. In the years after the war, known as Les Années Folles, Paris continued to be a mecca for writers, musicians and artists from around the world, including Ernest Hemingway, Igor Stravinsky, James Joyce, Josephine Baker, Eva Kotchever, Henry Miller, Anaïs Nin, Sidney Bechet and Salvador Dalí.

 

In the years after the peace conference, the city was also home to growing numbers of students and activists from French colonies and other Asian and African countries, who later became leaders of their countries, such as Ho Chi Minh, Zhou Enlai and Léopold Sédar Senghor.

  

General Charles de Gaulle on the Champs-Élysées celebrating the liberation of Paris, 26 August 1944

On 14 June 1940, the German army marched into Paris, which had been declared an "open city". On 16–17 July 1942, following German orders, the French police and gendarmes arrested 12,884 Jews, including 4,115 children, and confined them during five days at the Vel d'Hiv (Vélodrome d'Hiver), from which they were transported by train to the extermination camp at Auschwitz. None of the children came back. On 25 August 1944, the city was liberated by the French 2nd Armoured Division and the 4th Infantry Division of the United States Army. General Charles de Gaulle led a huge and emotional crowd down the Champs Élysées towards Notre Dame de Paris, and made a rousing speech from the Hôtel de Ville.

 

In the 1950s and the 1960s, Paris became one front of the Algerian War for independence; in August 1961, the pro-independence FLN targeted and killed 11 Paris policemen, leading to the imposition of a curfew on Muslims of Algeria (who, at that time, were French citizens). On 17 October 1961, an unauthorised but peaceful protest demonstration of Algerians against the curfew led to violent confrontations between the police and demonstrators, in which at least 40 people were killed. The anti-independence Organisation armée secrète (OAS) carried out a series of bombings in Paris throughout 1961 and 1962.

 

In May 1968, protesting students occupied the Sorbonne and put up barricades in the Latin Quarter. Thousands of Parisian blue-collar workers joined the students, and the movement grew into a two-week general strike. Supporters of the government won the June elections by a large majority. The May 1968 events in France resulted in the break-up of the University of Paris into 13 independent campuses. In 1975, the National Assembly changed the status of Paris to that of other French cities and, on 25 March 1977, Jacques Chirac became the first elected mayor of Paris since 1793. The Tour Maine-Montparnasse, the tallest building in the city at 57 storeys and 210 m (689 ft) high, was built between 1969 and 1973. It was highly controversial, and it remains the only building in the centre of the city over 32 storeys high. The population of Paris dropped from 2,850,000 in 1954 to 2,152,000 in 1990, as middle-class families moved to the suburbs. A suburban railway network, the RER (Réseau Express Régional), was built to complement the Métro; the Périphérique expressway encircling the city, was completed in 1973.

 

Most of the postwar presidents of the Fifth Republic wanted to leave their own monuments in Paris; President Georges Pompidou started the Centre Georges Pompidou (1977), Valéry Giscard d'Estaing began the Musée d'Orsay (1986); President François Mitterrand had the Opéra Bastille built (1985–1989), the new site of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (1996), the Arche de la Défense (1985–1989) in La Défense, as well as the Louvre Pyramid with its underground courtyard (1983–1989); Jacques Chirac (2006), the Musée du quai Branly.

 

In the early 21st century, the population of Paris began to increase slowly again, as more young people moved into the city. It reached 2.25 million in 2011. In March 2001, Bertrand Delanoë became the first socialist mayor. He was re-elected in March 2008. In 2007, in an effort to reduce car traffic, he introduced the Vélib', a system which rents bicycles. Bertrand Delanoë also transformed a section of the highway along the Left Bank of the Seine into an urban promenade and park, the Promenade des Berges de la Seine, which he inaugurated in June 2013.

 

In 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy launched the Grand Paris project, to integrate Paris more closely with the towns in the region around it. After many modifications, the new area, named the Metropolis of Grand Paris, with a population of 6.7 million, was created on 1 January 2016. In 2011, the City of Paris and the national government approved the plans for the Grand Paris Express, totalling 205 km (127 mi) of automated metro lines to connect Paris, the innermost three departments around Paris, airports and high-speed rail (TGV) stations, at an estimated cost of €35 billion.The system is scheduled to be completed by 2030.

 

In January 2015, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed attacks across the Paris region. 1.5 million people marched in Paris in a show of solidarity against terrorism and in support of freedom of speech. In November of the same year, terrorist attacks, claimed by ISIL, killed 130 people and injured more than 350.

 

On 22 April 2016, the Paris Agreement was signed by 196 nations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in an aim to limit the effects of climate change below 2 °C.

 

The Postcard

 

A postcard bearing no publisher's name. On the divided back is printed:

 

'The Marble Arch - One of London's

landmarks, and is situated at the

extreme west end of Oxford Street.

It was originally erected at the

entrance to Buckingham Palace,

but in 1850 was removed to its

present site'.

 

The card was posted in South Kensington on Tuesday the 19th. July 1927.

 

Marble Arch

 

Marble Arch is a 19th-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London. The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the Cour d'Honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is today the three-bayed, central projection of the palace containing the well known balcony.

 

In 1851 it was relocated, and following the widening of Park Lane in the early 1960's is now sited, incongruently isolated, on a large traffic island at the junction of Oxford Street, Park Lane and Edgware Road.

 

The traffic going round the traffic island these days is very heavy and fast-moving; don't try and cross the road to get to it - you won't make it.

 

The Cumberland Hotel

 

All the Georgian houses in the background are no longer there; they have been replaced by the enormous Cumberland Hotel.

 

The www.kzwp.com/ website created by Kattie Zion has a detailed history of the Cumberland Hotel building. She writes that:

 

"In 1901 the island site bounded by Oxford Street, Old Quebec Street, Bryanston Street and Great Cumberland Place, was progressively acquired by Joseph Lyons for the erection of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

The Cumberland project was formidable. The excavations alone entailed the removal of over 100,000 cubic yards of material, during which historical relics from all periods were unearthed. All building work was carried out by Lyons' own staff.

 

The Cumberland Hotel featured all the latest developments of comfort. It was sound-proofed, double glazed, air conditioned, and all 900 bed-rooms had their own en-suite. All air entering the hotel was filtered, including the supply to the kitchen areas. Here the exhaust was treated in order to eradicate cooking smells.

 

The structure consisted of thirteen floors, ten of them above ground and three below. Part of the hotel backbone was an enormous 100-ton girder which required the world's largest lorry to convey it. Fifteen thousand tons of steel-work was used in the hotel's construction. Four hundred thousand square feet of 'Empire grown timber' was used in the making of bedroom furniture.

 

The Cumberland Hotel officially opened its doors on the 12th. December 1933.

 

Two thousand staff were employed at the hotel, and a specially built annex provided accommodation for 300 girls who slept in single or double rooms. There was one bath to every four girls, and they ate in their own restaurant on the ground floor of the annex."

 

The Cumberland has seen many famous guests over the years; in the music world these include Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Holly.

 

In the Spring of 2019 the hotel changed its name to the Hard Rock Hotel, but reverted back to the Cumberland name four years later in May 2023.

 

The 2014 Cumberland Hotel Hammer Attack

 

In April 2014 the Cumberland Hotel was the scene of a devastating hammer attack.

 

Three sisters, Ohoud, Khaloud and Fatima Al-Najjar were staying in adjoining rooms at the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch, when Philip Spence hit all three of them violently with a claw hammer.

 

Spence was able to enter their seventh floor room, which was not locked, after he walked in off the street.

 

Philip Spence

 

Thirty-three year old Philip Spence from Harlesden in north-west London carried out his attack in front of Khaloud’s three children, aged seven, ten and twelve.

 

He hit one of his victims, Ohoud al-Najjar, 34, with such force that her skull split open as her nine-year-old nephew cowered under the sheets next to her.

 

Spence was permanently excluded from school at the age of eight, smoked cannabis from the age of 11, and was addicted to crack cocaine and heroin by 18.

 

Spence’s history of violence includes chasing his landlord with a hammer and punching a woman at council offices in 2007, as well as biting a passer-by in 2011.

 

Spence has 37 convictions for 62 offences dating back to 1993.

 

The three women left their hotel rooms unlocked on the night of the attack in order to allow a fourth sister to return later in the evening.

 

The fourth sister, Sheika al-Mheiri, on returning discovered her sisters lying injured on the floor, with blood spattered on the walls.

 

Spence had fled the scene with a suitcase stuffed with iPads, gold jewellery and mobile phones, having dumped the hammer just outside the hotel.

 

CCTV footage captured Spence on a bus examining items that he had stolen from the women after his attack.

 

The Criminal Trial

 

A year later at his criminal trial, Spence’s barrister, William Nash, said in mitigation that his client had consumed a large amount of drugs at the time of the attack:

 

“He didn’t know of any other crackhead

as big as him. He can’t forgive himself.

He describes himself as being a totally

different person. He is not unempathetic.”

 

Nevertheless Spence was convicted of three counts of attempted murder.

 

The "hotel creeper" was initially ordered to serve life with a minimum of 18 years, but this was increased to 27 years on appeal.

 

The High Court Case

 

The BBC provided the following information on the 7th. May 2019 relating to the attack and its legal consequences:

 

"Three sisters who suffered devastating injuries in a hammer attack by a thief are suing the owners of the London hotel where it happened.

 

At the start of the case at the High Court, lawyers described the injuries to the women, who were from Abu Dhabi in the UAE:

 

-- Ohoud was left with five per cent brain capacity, and will require care for the rest of her life.

 

-- Khaloud has had 20 operations to rebuild her head and face.

 

-- Fatima cannot taste or smell, and has problems with her memory.

 

Spence admitted the attack,, but denied attempted murder.

 

The family's barrister, Susan Rodway, said that Spence - who had a history of sneaking into hotel rooms to steal - had "great knowledge and familiarity" of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

She said that he told his criminal trial he was a regular intruder at the hotel, and had even been able to sleep in maids' cupboards.

 

She added that security "failures" led Spence to directly target the hotel, where he knew he could make an easy buck from the rich pickings there.

 

The court heard that it was "well-known" to the hotel that it was common for Middle Eastern guests to leave doors on the latch in order to enable family members to go between rooms.

 

The hotel's owners deny liability, arguing that by leaving their door open, the women voluntarily assumed the obvious risk of allowing anyone to enter the room while they were asleep inside.

 

Neil Block QC, for the hotel, said in a written submission:

 

"Each guest room was fitted with a heavy duty

fire door with efficient self-closers and automatic

locks, deadlocks, security chains and spy-glasses.

The rooms were designed so that guests could

not leave them open accidentally."

 

He said that after the incident, police tested a closed bedroom door, and found it impossible to gain access with a hammer similar to that used by Mr Spence.

 

Ms Rodway said that the hotel's CCTV system was "purely reactive" and that:

 

"it was clearly only there to enable review

should an incident occur, but not to enable

any anticipation or prevention of an incident".

 

But Mr Block said the fact that there was no system for live monitoring of all 130 CCTV cameras at the hotel "was, and indeed remains, the norm for similar hotels".

 

He concluded:

 

"But for the deliberate interference with

the door's locking mechanism, the attack

would not have occurred."

 

The case is expected to last for two weeks."

 

The High Court Judgement

 

On Friday the 21st. June 2019, the High Court judge Mr. Justice Dingemans ruled that:

 

"There was no liability on the part of the

Cumberland Hotel to Ohoud, Khaloud

and Fatima for the attack carried out by

Mr Spence".

 

He said that the case raised issues about whether a hotel proprietor owes a duty to guests to take reasonable care to protect against injury caused by the criminal actions of third parties, and if so whether the duty was breached in this case.

 

Dingemans concluded that there was such a duty of care, but based on the facts of the case, there was no breach of that duty.

 

The judge said that:

 

"The hotel acted with reasonable care to

protect guests at the hotel against injury

caused by the criminal acts of third parties".

 

However Khaloud and Fatima said in a statement after the ruling:

 

"Re-living the horrors of that terrifying night

where we almost lost our lives has been

extremely traumatic for us to endure, and

we are devastated that it has all been for

nothing.

We lost our sister, and our lives were

changed forever when we were attacked

by Spence in the privacy of our own room."

 

Khaloud and Fatima said that they felt the decision was "a travesty" and that "justice has not been done".

 

A spokeswoman for the owner of the Cumberland, GLH Hotels, said after the ruling:

 

"We believe today's judgement is the

correct outcome.

Regardless, the al Najjar family's

experience was deeply shocking and

wholly unprecedented and we reiterate

our heartfelt concern for their well-being

as they continue to receive all necessary

support."

 

Emmanuel de Crussol d'Uzès

 

So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?

 

Well, the 19th. July 1927 marked the birth of Emmanuel de Crussol d'Uzès.

 

Born Emmanuel Jacques Géraud Marie de Crussol d'Uzès in Paris, France, he was known as the Duc d'Uzès.

 

Emmanuel de Crussol d'Uzès, 15th Duke of Uzès was a French aristocrat who worked in Morocco as a chemical engineer.

 

Emmanuel d'Uzès - The Early Years

 

Emmanuel was born in Paris as heir to the dukedom of Uzès, the oldest and premier dukedom in France which had been created by King Charles IX in 1565. His father died in 1929, just two years after his birth and before he succeeded to the dukedom of Uzès, and his mother died in 1947.

 

His maternal grandparents were Scotch-American millionaire John Gordon and Rosalie Georgina (née Murray) Gordon of New York and London.

 

As his father predeceased him, Emmanuel inherited the dukedom upon his grandfather's death in 1943.

 

Emmanuel d'Uzès' Education and Career

 

The Duke attended boarding school at École des Roches in Normandy and St. Paul's in New Hampshire before graduating from the Portsmouth Priory School in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. He served with the First Hussars of the Second Regiment, French Army, and with the Military Attaché's office at the French Embassy in Washington.

 

He spoke English, French and Spanish fluently, and had lived in the United States, France, Morocco, Egypt and the Dominican Republic. He liked to vacation in Austria and Switzerland and to visit England where he stayed at Claridge's.

 

When in England, he would go shooting at the Duke of Rutland's estate and visit the Maharaja of Jaipur at Ascot. The Duke owned a four-bedroom apartment in Paris (off the Avenue Foch in the 16th arrondissement), a home in Rabat, and his family's ancestral castle, the Château du Duché, in the town of Uzès.

 

A chemical engineer, he lived primarily in Rabat, where he managed several companies in Morocco. Although he held no formal role within the French government, he took on assignments during the Algerian War and represented France unofficially to his friends in North African governments.

 

The Duke, who considered himself a liberal, supported President Charles de Gaulle's decision to get out of Algeria for both practical and idealistic reasons, stating "After all, it was a colonial occupation, and, of course, oppressive".

 

Emmanuel d'Uzès' Personal Life

 

On the 18th. July 1946, the Duke was married to Carolyn Baily Brown (b. 1925) in Raleigh, North Carolina. A sister of producer David Brown, Carolyn had been educated at the Brearley School in New York and studied art at Columbia and Stanford University. Before the marriage was annulled in Paris in 1947, they were the parents of Nathalie de Crussol d'Uzès (b. 1947).

 

On the 5th. July 1968, he was married Margaret "Peggy" (née Bedford) Bancroft d'Arenberg at the Villa Taylor in Morocco by Si Jilali Chajai, the Pasha of Marrakech, with Man Singh II (the Maharaja of Jaipur and Indian Ambassador in Madrid) as the Duke's best man and Madeline, the Countess de Breteuil as Peggy's attendant. The only other attendant at the wedding was Jean Guillon, the French counsel at Marrakech.

 

While the Duke was in Morocco, Peggy died in a car crash while en route back to their home in Paris after attending a ball at the home of property developer Robert de Balkany near Rambouillet in 1977.

 

The Death of the Duke d'Uzès

 

The Duke died at the age of 72 on the 8th. September 1999 at Montpellier in Hérault, France. Upon his death, his cousin Louis de Crussol d'Uzès (the son of his uncle, Emmanuel, Marquis of Crussol), became the 16th Duke of Uzès.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the French cathedral. For other uses, see Notre-Dame de Paris (disambiguation).

Notre-Dame de Paris

 

South façade and the nave of Notre-Dame in 2017, two years before the fire

Map

Wikimedia | © OpenStreetMap

48°51′11″N 2°21′00″E

LocationParvis Notre-Dame – Place Jean-Paul-II, Paris

CountryFrance

DenominationCatholic Church

Sui iuris churchLatin Church

WebsiteOfficial website Edit this at Wikidata

History

StatusCathedral, minor basilica

Founded24 March 1163 to 25 April 1163 (laying of the cornerstone)

FounderMaurice de Sully

Consecrated19 May 1182 (high altar)

Relics heldCrown of thorns, a nail from the True Cross, and a sliver of the True Cross

Architecture

Functional statusReopened 7 December 2024

Architectural typeGothic

StyleFrench Gothic

Years built1163–1345

Groundbreaking1163; 862 years ago

Completed1345; 680 years ago

Specifications

Length128 m (420 ft)

Width48 m (157 ft)

Nave height35 metres (115 ft)[1]

Number of towers2

Tower height69 m (226 ft)

Number of spires1 (the third, completed 16 December 2023)[2]

Spire height96 m (315 ft)

MaterialsLimestone and marble

Bells10 (bronze)

Administration

ArchdioceseParis

Clergy

ArchbishopLaurent Ulrich

RectorOlivier Ribadeau Dumas

Laity

Director of musicSylvain Dieudonné[3]

Organist(s)Olivier Latry (since 1985);

Vincent Dubois [fr] (since 2016);

Thierry Escaich (since 2024);

Thibault Fajoles (assistant organist, since 2024)

UNESCO World Heritage Site

CriteriaI, II, IV[4]

Designated1991

Part ofParis, Banks of the Seine

Reference no.600

Monument historique

Official nameCathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris

TypeCathédrale

Designated1862[5]

Reference no.PA00086250

Notre-Dame de Paris (French: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris French: [nɔtʁ(ə) dam də paʁi] ⓘ; meaning "Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris"), often referred to simply as Notre-Dame,[a][b] is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the River Seine), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Paris.

 

The cathedral, dedicated to the Virgin Mary ("Our Lady"),[9] is considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture. Several attributes set it apart from the earlier Romanesque style, including its pioneering use of the rib vault and flying buttress, its enormous and colourful rose windows, and the naturalism and abundance of its sculptural decoration.[10] Notre-Dame is also exceptional for its three pipe organs (one historic) and its immense church bells.[11]

 

The construction of the cathedral began in 1163 under Bishop Maurice de Sully and was largely completed by 1260, though it was modified in succeeding centuries.[12] In the 1790s, during the French Revolution, Notre-Dame suffered extensive desecration; much of its religious imagery was damaged or destroyed. In the 19th century, the cathedral hosted the coronation of Napoleon and the funerals of many of the French Republic's presidents. The 1831 publication of Victor Hugo's novel Notre-Dame de Paris (English title: The Hunchback of Notre-Dame) inspired interest which led to restoration between 1844 and 1864, supervised by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. On 26 August 1944, the Liberation of Paris from German occupation was celebrated in Notre-Dame with the singing of the Magnificat. Beginning in 1963, the cathedral's façade was cleaned of soot and grime. Another cleaning and restoration project was carried out between 1991 and 2000.[13] A fire in April 2019 caused serious damage, closing the cathedral for extensive and costly repairs; it reopened in December 2024.[14]

 

It is a widely recognised symbol of both the city of Paris and the French nation. In 1805, it was awarded honorary status as a minor basilica. As the cathedral of the archdiocese of Paris, Notre-Dame contains the cathedra or seat of the archbishop of Paris (currently Laurent Ulrich). In the early 21st century, about 12 million people visited Notre-Dame annually, making it the most visited monument in Paris.[15]

 

Since 1905, Notre-Dame, like the other cathedrals in France, has been owned by the French government, with the exclusive rights of use granted to the French Roman Catholic Church. The French government is responsible for its maintenance.

 

Over time, the cathedral has gradually been stripped of many decorations and artworks. It still contains Gothic, Baroque, and 19th-century sculptures, 17th- and early 18th-century altarpieces, and some of the most important relics in Christendom, including the crown of thorns, and a sliver and nail from the True Cross.

 

Key dates

 

The Cathedral in 1699

 

The church restored by Viollet-le-Duc (1860s)

 

Cathedral fire (April 15, 2019)

4th century – Cathedral of Saint Étienne, dedicated to Saint Stephen, built just west of present cathedral[16]

 

1163 – Bishop Maurice de Sully begins construction of new cathedral.[16]

1182 or 1185 – Choir completed, clerestory with two levels: upper level of upright windows with pointed arches, still without tracery, lower level of small rose windows.

c. 1200 – Construction of nave, with flying buttresses, completed.

c. 1210–1220 – Construction of towers begins.

c. 1210–1220 – Two new traverses join towers with nave. West rose window complete in 1220.

After 1220 – New flying buttresses added to choir walls, remodeling of the clerestories: pointed arched windows are enlarged downward, replacing the triforia, and get tracery.

1235–1245 – Chapels constructed between buttresses of nave and choir.

1250–1260 – North transept lengthened by Jean de Chelles to provide more light. North rose window constructed.[17]

1270 – South transept and rose window completed by Pierre de Montreuil.[18]

1699 – Beginning of major redecoration of interior in Louis XIV style by Hardouin Mansart and Robert de Cotte.[19]

1725–1727 – South rose window, poorly built, is reconstructed. Later entirely rebuilt in 1854.

1790 – In the French Revolution the Revolutionary Paris Commune removes all bronze, lead, and precious metals from the cathedral to be melted down.[18]

1793 – The cathedral is converted into a Temple of Reason and then Temple of the Supreme Being.

1801–1802 – With the Concordat of 1801, Napoleon restores the use of the cathedral (though not ownership) to the Catholic Church.

1804 – On 2 December, Napoleon crowns himself Emperor at Notre-Dame.

1844–1864 – Major restoration by Jean-Baptiste Lassus and Eugène Viollet-le-Duc with additions in the spirit of the original Gothic style.[20]

1871 – In final days of the Paris Commune, the Communards prepared to burn the cathedral, but abandoned their plan since it would necessarily also burn the crowded neighboring hospital for the elderly.

1944 – On 26 August, General Charles de Gaulle celebrates the Liberation of Paris with a special Mass at Notre-Dame.

1963 – Culture Minister André Malraux begins the cleaning of centuries of grime and soot from the cathedral façade.

2019 – On 15 April, a fire destroys a large part of the roof and the flèche.

2021 – Reconstruction begins, which lasted 3 years.

2024 – Reopening ceremonies 7–8 December.[21] On 13 December 2024 the revered Crown of Thorns relic was returned to the cathedral.[22]

History

 

Outline of the primitive Cathedral of Notre-Dame in 1150, on the spot of the nave, the transept and the choir of the current building. The Cathedral of Saint Étienne was located to the west, at the level of today's parvis.

 

Construction sequence from 12th century to present-day, created by Stephen Murray and Myles Zhang

It is believed that before the arrival of Christianity in France, a Gallo-Roman temple dedicated to Jupiter stood on the site of Notre-Dame. Evidence for this includes the Pillar of the Boatmen, discovered beneath the cathedral in 1710. In the 4th or 5th century, a large early Christian church, the Cathedral of Saint Étienne, was built on the site, close to the royal palace.[16] The entrance was situated about 40 metres (130 ft) west of the present west front of Notre-Dame, and the apse was located about where the west façade is today. It was roughly half the size of the later Notre-Dame, 70 metres (230 ft) long—and separated into nave and four aisles by marble columns, then decorated with mosaics.[13][23]

 

The last church before the cathedral of Notre-Dame was a Romanesque remodelling of Saint-Étienne that, although enlarged and remodelled, was found to be unfit for the growing population of Paris.[24][c] A baptistery, the Church of Saint-John-le-Rond, built about 452, was located on the north side of the west front of Notre-Dame until the work of Jacques-Germain Soufflot in the 18th century.[26]

 

In 1160, the bishop of Paris, Maurice de Sully,[26] decided to build a new and much larger church. He summarily demolished the earlier cathedral and recycled its materials.[24] Sully decided that the new church should be built in the Gothic style, which had been inaugurated at the royal abbey of Saint Denis in the late 1130s.[23]

 

Construction

The chronicler Jean de Saint-Victor [fr] recorded in the Memorial Historiarum that the construction of Notre-Dame began between 24 March and 25 April 1163 with the laying of the cornerstone in the presence of King Louis VII and Pope Alexander III.[27][28] Four phases of construction took place under bishops Maurice de Sully and Eudes de Sully (not related to Maurice), according to masters whose names have been lost. Analysis of vault stones that fell in the 2019 fire shows that they were quarried in Vexin, a county northwest of Paris, and presumably brought up the Seine by boat.[29]

  

Cross-section of the double supporting arches and buttresses of the nave, drawn by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc as they would have appeared from 1220 to 1230[30]

The first phase began with the construction of the choir and its two ambulatories. According to Robert of Torigni, the choir was completed in 1177 and the high altar consecrated on 19 May 1182 by Cardinal Henri de Château-Marçay, the Papal legate in Paris, and Maurice de Sully.[31][failed verification] The second phase, from 1182 to 1190, concerned the construction of the four sections of the nave behind the choir and its aisles to the height of the clerestories. It began after the completion of the choir but ended before the final allotted section of the nave was finished. Beginning in 1190, the bases of the façade were put in place, and the first traverses were completed.[13] Patriarch Heraclius of Jerusalem called for the Third Crusade in 1185 from the still-incomplete cathedral.

 

Louis IX deposited the relics of the passion of Christ, which included the crown of thorns, a nail from the True Cross and a sliver of the True Cross, which he had purchased at great expense from the Latin Emperor Baldwin II, in the cathedral during the construction of the Sainte-Chapelle. An under-shirt, believed to have belonged to Louis, was added to the collection of relics at some time after his death.

 

Transepts were added at the choir, where the altar was located, in order to bring more light into the centre of the church. The use of simpler four-part rather than six-part rib vaults meant that the roofs were stronger and could be higher. After Bishop Maurice de Sully's death in 1196, his successor, Eudes de Sully oversaw the completion of the transepts, and continued work on the nave, which was nearing completion at the time of his death in 1208. By this time, the western façade was already largely built; it was completed around the mid-1240s. Between 1225 and 1250 the upper gallery of the nave was constructed, along with the two towers on the west façade.[32]

  

Arrows show forces in vault and current flying buttresses (detailed description)

Another significant change came in the mid-13th century, when the transepts were remodelled in the latest Rayonnant style; in the late 1240s Jean de Chelles added a gabled portal to the north transept topped by a spectacular rose window. Shortly afterward (from 1258) Pierre de Montreuil executed a similar scheme on the southern transept. Both these transept portals were richly embellished with sculpture; the south portal depicts scenes from the lives of Saint Stephen and of various local saints, and the north portal featured the infancy of Christ and the story of Theophilus in the tympanum, with a highly influential statue of the Virgin and Child in the trumeau.[33][32] Master builders Pierre de Chelles, Jean Ravy [fr], Jean le Bouteiller, and Raymond du Temple [fr] succeeded de Chelles and de Montreuil and then each other in the construction of the cathedral. Ravy completed de Chelles's rood screen and chevet chapels, then began the 15-metre (49 ft) flying buttresses of the choir. Jean le Bouteiller, Ravy's nephew, succeeded him in 1344 and was himself replaced on his death in 1363 by his deputy, Raymond du Temple.

 

Philip the Fair opened the first Estates General in the cathedral in 1302.

 

An important innovation in the 12th century was the introduction of the flying buttress.[34] Before the buttresses, all of the weight of the roof pressed outward and down to the walls, and the abutments supporting them. With the flying buttress, the weight was carried by the ribs of the vault entirely outside the structure to a series of counter-supports, which were topped with stone pinnacles which gave them greater weight. The buttresses meant that the walls could be higher and thinner, and could have larger windows. The date of the first buttresses is not known with precision beyond an installation date in the 12th century. Art historian Andrew Tallon has argued, based on detailed laser scans of the entire structure, that the buttresses were part of the original design. According to Tallon, the scans indicate that "the upper part of the building has not moved one smidgen in 800 years,"[35] whereas if they were added later some movement from prior to their addition would be expected. Tallon thus concluded that flying buttresses were present from the outset.[35][36] The first buttresses were replaced by larger and stronger ones in the 14th century; these had a reach of fifteen metres (50 ft) between the walls and counter-supports.[13]

 

John of Jandun recognized the cathedral as one of Paris's three most important buildings [prominent structures] in his 1323 Treatise on the Praises of Paris:

 

That most glorious church of the most glorious Virgin Mary, mother of God, deservedly shines out, like the sun among stars. And although some speakers, by their own free judgment, because [they are] able to see only a few things easily, may say that some other is more beautiful, I believe, however, respectfully, that, if they attend more diligently to the whole and the parts, they will quickly retract this opinion. Where indeed, I ask, would they find two towers of such magnificence and perfection, so high, so large, so strong, clothed round about with such multiple varieties of ornaments? Where, I ask, would they find such a multipartite arrangement of so many lateral vaults, above and below? Where, I ask, would they find such light-filled amenities as the many surrounding chapels? Furthermore, let them tell me in what church I may see such a large cross, of which one arm separates the choir from the nave. Finally, I would willingly learn where [there are] two such circles, situated opposite each other in a straight line, which on account of their appearance are given the name of the fourth vowel [O]; among which smaller orbs and circles, with wondrous artifice, so that some arranged circularly, others angularly, surround windows ruddy with precious colours and beautiful with the most subtle figures of the pictures. In fact, I believe that this church offers the carefully discerning such cause for admiration that its inspection can scarcely sate the soul.

— Jean de Jandun, Tractatus de laudibus Parisius[37]

Plan of the cathedral made by Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century. Portals and nave to the left, a choir in the center, and apse and ambulatory to the right. The annex to the south is the sacristy.

Plan of the cathedral made by Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century. Portals and nave to the left, a choir in the center, and apse and ambulatory to the right. The annex to the south is the sacristy.

 

Early six-part rib vaults of the nave. The ribs transferred the thrust of the weight of the roof downward and outwards to the pillars and the supporting buttresses.

Early six-part rib vaults of the nave. The ribs transferred the thrust of the weight of the roof downward and outwards to the pillars and the supporting buttresses.

 

The massive buttresses which counter the outward thrust from the rib vaults of the nave. The weight of the building-shaped pinnacles helps keep the line of thrust safely within the buttresses.

The massive buttresses which counter the outward thrust from the rib vaults of the nave. The weight of the building-shaped pinnacles helps keep the line of thrust safely within the buttresses.

Later flying buttresses of the apse of Notre-Dame (14th century) reached 15 metres (49 ft) from the wall to the counter-supports.

Later flying buttresses of the apse of Notre-Dame (14th century) reached 15 metres (49 ft) from the wall to the counter-supports.

15th–18th century

On 16 December 1431, the boy-king Henry VI of England was crowned king of France in Notre-Dame, aged ten, the traditional coronation church of Reims Cathedral being under French control.[38]

 

During the Renaissance, the Gothic style fell out of style, and the internal pillars and walls of Notre-Dame were covered with tapestries.[39]

 

In 1548, rioting Huguenots damaged some of the statues of Notre-Dame, considering them idolatrous.[40]

 

The fountain [fr] in Notre-Dame's parvis was added in 1625 to provide nearby Parisians with running water.[41]

 

Since 1449, the Parisian goldsmith guild had made regular donations to the cathedral chapter. In 1630, the guild began donating a large altarpiece every year on 1 May. These works came to be known as the grands mays.[42] The subject matter was restricted to episodes from the Acts of the Apostles. The prestigious commission was awarded to the most prominent painters and, after 1648, members of the Académie Royale.

 

Seventy-six paintings had been donated by 1708, when the custom was discontinued for financial reasons. Those works were confiscated in 1793 and the majority were subsequently dispersed among regional museums in France. Those that remained in the cathedral were removed or relocated within the building by the 19th-century restorers.

 

Thirteen of the grands mays hang in Notre-Dame; these paintings suffered water damage during the fire of 2019 and were removed for conservation.

 

An altarpiece depicting The Visitation, painted by Jean Jouvenet in 1707, was also in the cathedral.

 

The canon Antoine de La Porte commissioned for Louis XIV six paintings depicting the life of the Virgin Mary for the choir. At this same time, Charles de La Fosse painted his Adoration of the Magi, now in the Louvre.[43] Louis Antoine de Noailles, archbishop of Paris, extensively modified the roof of Notre-Dame in 1726, renovating its framing and removing the gargoyles with lead gutters. Noailles also strengthened the buttresses, galleries, terraces, and vaults.[44] In 1756, the cathedral's canons decided that its interior was too dark. The medieval stained glass windows, except the rosettes, were removed and replaced with plain, white glass panes.[39] Lastly, Jacques-Germain Soufflot was tasked with the modification of the portals at the front of the cathedral to allow processions to enter more easily.

 

Henry VI of England's coronation in Notre-Dame as King of France, aged ten, during the Hundred Years' War. His accession to the throne was in accordance with the Treaty of Troyes of 1420.

Henry VI of England's coronation in Notre-Dame as King of France, aged ten, during the Hundred Years' War. His accession to the throne was in accordance with the Treaty of Troyes of 1420.

 

La Descente du Saint-Esprit; illustration depicting Notre-Dame from the Hours of Étienne Chevalier by Jean Fouquet, c. 1450

La Descente du Saint-Esprit; illustration depicting Notre-Dame from the Hours of Étienne Chevalier by Jean Fouquet, c. 1450

 

A Te Deum in the choir of Notre-Dame in 1669, during the reign of Louis XIV. The choir was redesigned to make room for more lavish ceremonies.

A Te Deum in the choir of Notre-Dame in 1669, during the reign of Louis XIV. The choir was redesigned to make room for more lavish ceremonies.

French Revolution and Napoleon

After the French Revolution in 1789, Notre-Dame and the rest of the church's property in France was seized and made public property.[45] The cathedral was rededicated in 1793 to the Cult of Reason, and then to the Cult of the Supreme Being in 1794.[46] During this time, many of the treasures of the cathedral were either destroyed or plundered. The twenty-eight statues of biblical kings located at the west façade, mistaken for statues of French kings, were beheaded.[13][47] Many of the heads were found during a 1977 excavation nearby, and are on display at the Musée de Cluny. For a time the Goddess of Liberty replaced the Virgin Mary on several altars.[48] The cathedral's great bells escaped being melted down. All of the other large statues on the façade, with the exception of the statue of the Virgin Mary on the portal of the cloister, were destroyed.[13] The cathedral came to be used as a warehouse for the storage of food and other non-religious purposes.[40]

 

With the Concordat of 1801, Napoleon Bonaparte restored Notre-Dame to the Catholic Church; this was finalised on 18 April 1802. Napoleon also named Paris's new bishop, Jean-Baptiste de Belloy, who restored the cathedral's interior. Charles Percier and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine made quasi-Gothic modifications to Notre-Dame for the coronation of Napoleon as Emperor of the French within the cathedral. The building's exterior was whitewashed and the interior decorated in Neoclassical style, then in vogue.[49]

 

The Cult of Reason is celebrated at Notre-Dame during the French Revolution (1793)

The Cult of Reason is celebrated at Notre-Dame during the French Revolution (1793)

 

Arrival of Napoleon at the east end of Notre-Dame for his coronation as Emperor of the French on 2 December 1804

Arrival of Napoleon at the east end of Notre-Dame for his coronation as Emperor of the French on 2 December 1804

The coronation of Napoleon, on 2 December 1804 at Notre-Dame, as portrayed in the 1807 painting The Coronation of Napoleon by Jacques-Louis David

The coronation of Napoleon, on 2 December 1804 at Notre-Dame, as portrayed in the 1807 painting The Coronation of Napoleon by Jacques-Louis David

19th-century restoration

In the decades after the Napoleonic Wars, Notre-Dame fell into such a state of disrepair that Paris officials considered its demolition. Victor Hugo, who admired the cathedral, wrote the novel Notre-Dame de Paris (published in English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame) in 1831 to save Notre-Dame. The book was an enormous success, raising awareness of the cathedral's decaying state.[13] The same year as Hugo's novel was published, anti-Legitimists plundered Notre-Dame's sacristy.[50] In 1844 King Louis Philippe ordered that the church be restored.[13]

 

The architect who had been in charge of Notre-Dame's maintenance, Étienne-Hippolyte Godde, was dismissed. Jean-Baptiste Lassus and Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, who had distinguished themselves with the restoration of the nearby Sainte-Chapelle, were appointed in 1844. The next year, Viollet-le-Duc submitted a budget of 3,888,500 francs, which was reduced to 2,650,000 francs, for the restoration of Notre-Dame and the construction of a new sacristy building. This budget was exhausted in 1850, and work stopped as Viollet-le-Duc made proposals for more money. In totality, the restoration cost over 12 million francs. Supervising a large team of sculptors, glass makers and other craftsmen, and working from drawings or engravings, Viollet-le-Duc remade or added decorations if he felt they were in the spirit of the original style. One of the latter items was a taller and more ornate flèche, to replace the original 13th-century flèche, which had been removed in 1786.[51] The decoration of the restoration included a bronze roof statue of Saint Thomas that resembles Viollet-le-Duc, as well as the sculpture of mythical creatures on the Galerie des Chimères.[40]

 

The construction of the sacristy was especially financially costly. To secure a firm foundation, it was necessary for Viollet-le-Duc's labourers to dig nine metres (thirty feet). Master glassworkers meticulously copied styles of the 13th century, as written about by art historians Antoine Lusson and Adolphe Napoléon Didron.[52]

 

During the Paris Commune of March through May 1871, the cathedral and other churches were closed, and some two hundred priests and the Archbishop of Paris were taken as hostages. In May, during the Semaine sanglante of "Bloody Week", as the army recaptured the city, the Communards targeted the cathedral, along with the Tuileries Palace and other landmarks, for destruction; the Communards piled the furniture together in order to burn the cathedral. The arson was halted when the Communard government realised that the fire would also destroy the neighbouring Hôtel-Dieu hospital, filled with hundreds of patients.[53]

 

The western façade of Notre-Dame in 1841, showing the building in an advanced state of disrepair before the major restoration by Viollet-le-Duc

The western façade of Notre-Dame in 1841, showing the building in an advanced state of disrepair before the major restoration by Viollet-le-Duc

 

Proposed doorway decoration by Lassus and Viollet-le-Duc; plate engraved by Léon Gaucherel

Proposed doorway decoration by Lassus and Viollet-le-Duc; plate engraved by Léon Gaucherel

 

The southern façade of Notre-Dame at the beginning of the restoration work; photo from 1847 by Hippolyte Bayard

The southern façade of Notre-Dame at the beginning of the restoration work; photo from 1847 by Hippolyte Bayard

Model of the flèche and "forest" of wooden roof beams made for Viollet-le-Duc (1859) (Museum of Historic Monuments, Paris)

Model of the flèche and "forest" of wooden roof beams made for Viollet-le-Duc (1859) (Museum of Historic Monuments, Paris)

20th century

 

Façade of Notre-Dame in the 1930s

During the liberation of Paris in August 1944, the cathedral suffered some minor damage from stray bullets. Some of the medieval glass was damaged, and was replaced by glass with modern abstract designs. On 26 August, a special Mass was held in the cathedral to celebrate the liberation of Paris from the Germans; it was attended by General Charles De Gaulle and General Philippe Leclerc.

 

In 1963, on the initiative of culture minister André Malraux and to mark the 800th anniversary of the cathedral, the façade was cleaned of the centuries of soot and grime, restoring it to its original off-white colour.[54]

 

On 19 January 1969, vandals placed a North Vietnamese flag at the top of the flèche, and sabotaged the stairway leading to it. The flag was cut from the flèche by Paris Fire Brigade Sergeant Raymond Belle in a helicopter mission, the first of its kind in France.[55][56][57]

 

The Requiem Mass of Charles de Gaulle was held in Notre-Dame on 12 November 1970.[58] On 26 June 1971, Philippe Petit walked across a tight-rope strung between Notre-Dame's two bell towers entertaining spectators.[59]

 

After the Magnificat of 30 May 1980, Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass on the parvis of the cathedral.[60]

 

The Requiem Mass of François Mitterrand was held at the cathedral, as with past French heads of state, on 11 January 1996.[61]

 

The stone masonry of the cathedral's exterior had deteriorated in the 19th and 20th centuries due to increased air pollution in Paris, which accelerated erosion of decorations and discoloured the stone. By the late 1980s, several gargoyles and turrets had fallen or become too loose to remain safely in place.[62] A decade-long renovation programme began in 1991 and replaced much of the exterior, with care given to retain the authentic architectural elements of the cathedral, including rigorous inspection of new limestone blocks.[62][63] A discreet system of electrical wires, not visible from below, was also installed on the roof to deter pigeons.[64] The cathedral's pipe organ was upgraded with a computerised system to control the mechanical connections to the pipes.[65] The west face was cleaned and restored in time for millennium celebrations in December 1999.[66]

 

21st century

 

Notre-Dame in May 2012. From top to bottom, nave walls are pierced by clerestory windows, arches to triforium, and arches to side aisles.

The Requiem Mass of Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, former archbishop of Paris and Jewish convert to Catholicism, was held in Notre-Dame on 10 August 2007.[67]

 

The set of four 19th-century bells at the top of the northern towers at Notre-Dame were melted down and recast into new bronze bells in 2013, to celebrate the building's 850th anniversary. They were designed to recreate the sound of the cathedral's original bells from the 17th century.[68][69] Despite the 1990s renovation, the cathedral had continued to show signs of deterioration that prompted the national government to propose a new renovation program in the late 2010s.[70][71] The entire renovation was estimated to cost €100 million, which the archbishop of Paris planned to raise through funds from the national government and private donations.[72] A €6 million renovation of the cathedral's flèche began in late 2018 and continued into the following year, requiring the temporary removal of copper statues on the roof and other decorative elements.[73][74]

 

Notre-Dame began a year-long celebration of the 850th anniversary of the laying of the first building block for the cathedral on 12 December 2012.[75] On 21 May 2013, Dominique Venner, a historian and white nationalist, placed a letter on the church altar and shot himself, dying instantly. Around 1,500 visitors were evacuated from the cathedral.[76]

 

French police arrested two people on 8 September 2016 after a car containing seven gas canisters filled with diesel fuel was found near Notre-Dame.[77][78]

 

On 10 February 2017, French police arrested four people in Montpellier known to have ties to radical Islamist organisations on charges of plotting to travel to Paris and attack the cathedral.[79] On 6 June, visitors were shut inside Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris after a man with a hammer attacked a police officer outside.[80][81]

 

2019 fire

Main article: Notre-Dame fire

On 15 April 2019 the cathedral caught fire, destroying the flèche and the "forest" of oak roof beams supporting the lead roof.[82][83][84] It was speculated that the fire was linked to ongoing renovation work.

 

The fire broke out in the attic of the cathedral at 18:18, investigators concluded. The smoke detectors immediately signalled the fire to a cathedral employee, who did not summon the fire brigade but instead sent a cathedral guard to investigate. The guard was sent to the wrong location, to the attic of the adjoining sacristy, and reported there was no fire. About 15 minutes later the error was discovered and the guard's supervisor told him to go to the correct location. The fire brigade was still not notified. By the time the guard had climbed the 300 steps to the cathedral attic, the fire was well advanced.[85] The alarm system was not designed to automatically notify the fire brigade, which was summoned at 18:51 after the guard had returned from the attic and reported a now-raging fire, and more than half an hour after the fire alarm had begun sounding.[86] Firefighters arrived in less than ten minutes.[87]

 

The cathedral's flèche collapsed at 19:50, bringing down 750 tonnes of stone and lead. The firefighters inside were ordered down. By this time the fire had spread to the north tower, where the eight bells were. The firefighters concentrated their efforts in the tower. They feared that, if the bells fell, they could wreck the tower, and endanger the structure of the other tower and the whole cathedral. They had to ascend a stairway threatened by fire, and to contend with low water pressure for their hoses. As others watered the stairway and the roof, a team of 20 firefighters climbed the narrow stairway of the south tower, crossed to the north tower, lowered hoses to be connected to fire engines outside the cathedral, and sprayed water on the fire beneath the bells. By 21:45, they brought the fire under control.[85]

 

The main structure was intact; firefighters saved the façade, towers, walls, buttresses, and stained-glass windows. The stone vaulting that forms the ceiling of the cathedral had several holes but was otherwise intact.[88] The Great Organ, which has over 8,000 pipes and was built by François Thierry in the 18th century, was also saved but damaged by water.[89] Because of the renovation, the copper statues on the flèche had been removed before the fire.[90] About 500 firefighters helped to battle the fire, President Emmanuel Macron said. One firefighter was seriously injured and two police officers were hurt during the blaze.[91]

 

No Christmas Mass was held in 2019 for the first time in more than 200 years.[92] The first cathedral choir performance since the fire took place in December 2020; only eight members sang because of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. A video of the event aired just before midnight on 24 December.[93]

 

The 2019 fire destroyed Notre-Dame's wooden roof and flèche but left the outer structure largely intact.

The 2019 fire destroyed Notre-Dame's wooden roof and flèche but left the outer structure largely intact.

 

The flèche aflame during the 2019 fire, before its collapse

The flèche aflame during the 2019 fire, before its collapse

 

Animation showing the south façade before and after the fire; scaffolding had been erected as part of renovations underway when the fire started

Animation showing the south façade before and after the fire; scaffolding had been erected as part of renovations underway when the fire started

The area directly under the crossing and two other cells of vaulting collapsed

The area directly under the crossing and two other cells of vaulting collapsed

 

In red, the destroyed parts

In red, the destroyed parts

Stabilisation of the building

 

The roof reduced to piles of char at the top of the mostly intact vaults

Immediately after the fire, Macron promised that Notre-Dame would be restored, and called for the work to be completed within five years.[94][95][96][97] An international architectural competition was announced to redesign the flèche and roof.[98] The announcement drew criticism in the international press from heritage academics and professionals who faulted the French government for being too focused on quickly building a new flèche, and neglecting to frame its response holistically as an inclusive social process encompassing the whole building and its long-term users.[99][100] A new law was drafted to make Notre-Dame exempt from existing heritage laws and procedures, which prompted an open letter to Macron signed by over 1,170 heritage experts urging respect for existing regulations.[101] The law, which passed on 11 May 2019, was hotly debated in the French National Assembly, with opponents accusing Macron's administration of using Notre-Dame for political grandstanding, and defenders arguing the need for expediency and tax breaks to encourage philanthropic giving.[102]

 

Macron suggested he was open to a "contemporary architectural gesture". Even before the competition rules were announced, architects around the world offered suggestions: the proposals included a 100-metre (330 ft) flèche made of carbon fibre, covered with gold leaf; a roof built of stained glass; a greenhouse; a garden with trees, open to the sky; and a column of light pointed upwards. A poll published in the French newspaper Le Figaro on 8 May 2019 showed that 55% of French respondents wanted a flèche identical to the original. French culture minister Franck Riester promised that the restoration would not be hasty.[103] On 29 July 2019, the French National Assembly enacted a law requiring that the restoration must "preserve the historic, artistic and architectural interest of the monument."[104]

 

In October 2019, the French government announced that the first stage of reconstruction, the stabilising of the structure against collapse, would last until the end of 2020. In December 2019, Monseigneur Patrick Chauvet, the rector of the cathedral, said there was still a 50% chance that Notre-Dame could not be saved due to the risk of the remaining scaffolding falling onto the three damaged vaults.[105][106] Reconstruction could not begin before early 2021. Macron announced that he hoped the reconstructed Cathedral could be finished in time for the opening of the 2024 Summer Olympics.[107]

 

The first task of the restoration was the removal of 250–300 tonnes of melted metal tubes, the remains of the scaffolding, which could have fallen onto the vaults and caused further structural damage. This began in February 2020.[108] A crane 84 metres (276 ft) high was put in place next to the cathedral to help remove the scaffolding.[109] The work was completed in November 2020.[110] Wooden support beams were added to stabilise the flying buttresses and other structures.[111]

 

On 10 April 2020, the archbishop of Paris, Michel Aupetit, and a handful of participants, all in protective clothing to prevent exposure to lead dust, performed a Good Friday service inside the cathedral.[112] Music was provided by the violinist Renaud Capuçon; the lectors were the actors Philippe Torreton and Judith Chemla.[113] Chemla gave an a cappella rendition of Ave Maria.[114]

 

Heading reconstruction

In February 2021, the selection of oak trees to replace the flèche and roof timbers destroyed by the fire began. A thousand mature trees were chosen from the forests of France, each of a diameter of 50 to 90 centimetres (20 to 35 in) and a height of 8 to 14 metres (26 to 46 ft), and an age of several hundred years. Once cut, the trees had to dry for 12 to 18 months. The trees were to be replaced by new plantings.[115] Two years after the fire, a news report stated that: "there is still a hole on top of the church. They're also building a replica of the church's spire". More oak trees needed to be shipped to Paris, where they would need to be dried before use.[116] The oaks used to make the framework were tested and selected by Sylvatest.[117]

 

On 18 September 2021, the public agency overseeing the Cathedral stated that the safety work was completed, the cathedral was fully secured, and that reconstruction would begin within a few months.[118]

 

Research

In 2022, a preventive dig carried out between February and April before the construction of a scaffold for reconstructing the cathedral's flèche unearthed several statues and tombs under the cathedral.[119] One of the discoveries was a 14th-century lead sarcophagus found 20 m (65 ft) below where the transept crosses the church's 12th-century nave.[120] On 14 April 2022, France's National Preventive Archaeological Research Institute (Inrap) announced that the sarcophagus was extracted from the cathedral and that scientists had examined the casket using an endoscopic camera, revealing the upper part of a skeleton.[121] An opening was discovered below the cathedral floor, likely made around 1230 when the Gothic cathedral was first under construction; inside were fragments of a choir screen dating from the 13th century that had been destroyed in the early 18th century.[122] In March 2023, archaeologists uncovered thousands of metal staples in various parts of the cathedral, some dating back to the early 1160s. The archaeologists concluded that "Notre Dame is now unquestionably the first known Gothic cathedral where iron was massively used to bind stones as a proper construction material."[123][124][125]

 

Ongoing stabilization of Notre-Dame in February 2020

Ongoing stabilization of Notre-Dame in February 2020

 

Stabilization of Notre-Dame and removal of roof debris and scaffolding in February 2020

Stabilization of Notre-Dame and removal of roof debris and scaffolding in February 2020

 

Front view of Notre-Dame in January 2023

Front view of Notre-Dame in January 2023

Southwest corner of Notre-Dame in September 2023

Southwest corner of Notre-Dame in September 2023

Reopening

Main article: Reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris

 

Reconstruction as of 2024

The cathedral reopened on 7 December 2024 in a ceremony presided over by Laurent Ulrich, the Archbishop of Paris, and attended by 1,500 world leaders and dignitaries such as US President-elect Donald Trump, US first lady Jill Biden, Britain's Prince William, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Pope Francis declined an invitation from Macron to attend the reopening, holding a consistory in Rome to create 21 new cardinals on that day and planning a visit to the French island of Corsica the following week.[126][127]

  

Interior view of Notre-Dame after restoration work

Colour and controversy

The colour of the restored interior would be "a shock" to some returning visitors, according to General Jean-Louis Georgelin, the French army officer heading the restoration. "The whiteness under the dirt was quite spectacular".[128] The stone was sprayed with a latex solution to remove accumulated grime and soot. The cleaning of the church interior with latex solutions was criticised by Michael Daley of Artwatch UK, referring to the earlier cleaning of St Paul's Cathedral in London. He asked, "Is there any good basis for wishing to present an artificially brightened and ahistorical white interior?"[129] Jean-Michel Guilemont of the French Ministry of culture responded, "The interior elevations will regain their original colour, since the chapels and side aisles were very dirty. Of course it is not a white colour. The stone has a blonde colour, and the architects are very attentive to obtaining a patina which respects the centuries".[130]

 

New window controversy

 

St. Eloi Chapel window proposed for replacement by a modernist window

A new controversy arose in late 2024 over a proposal by French President Macron and the Archbishop Laurent Ulrich to replace six stained glass windows installed in chapels in the 19th century by Viollet-le-Duc and undamaged by the fire, with six modernist windows designed by contemporary artist Claire Tabouret. Tabouret won a competition sponsored by the French government for a new window design. Her proposed windows would realistically depict people from different cultures praying. The proposed windows are strongly opposed by preservationists, who want the cathedral to be restored exactly as it was before the fire.[131]

 

Furthermore, Emmanuel Macron announced the creation of a museum dedicated to Notre-Dame within the Hôtel-Dieu.[132]

 

Towers and the flèche

Main article: Spire of Notre-Dame de Paris

The two towers are 69 metres (226 ft) high. The towers were the last major element of the cathedral to be constructed. The south tower was built first, between 1220 and 1240, and the north tower between 1235 and 1250. The newer north tower is slightly larger, as can be seen when they are viewed from directly in front of the church. The contrefort or buttress of the north tower is also larger.[133] The cathedral's main peal of bells is within these towers.

 

The south tower was accessible to visitors by a stairway, whose entrance was on the south side of the tower. The stairway has 387 steps, and has a stop at the Gothic hall at the level of the rose window, where visitors could look over the parvis and see a collection of paintings and sculpture from earlier periods of the cathedral's history.

 

The cathedral's flèche (or spirelet) was located over the transept. The original flèche was constructed in the 13th century, probably between 1220 and 1230. It was battered, weakened and bent by the wind over five centuries, and was removed in 1786. During the 19th-century restoration, Viollet-le-Duc recreated it, making a new version of oak covered with lead. The entire flèche weighed 750 tonnes.

 

The rooster weathervane on top of the flèche has both a religious and political symbolism. The rooster is the symbol of the French state, which since 1905 has owned Notre-Dame and the other 86 cathedrals in France. It is found over all French cathedrals, as well as over the entrance of the Elysée Palace, the residence of the French president, on other government buildings, and on French postage stamps.

 

Following Viollet-le-Duc's plans, the flèche was surrounded by copper statues of the twelve Apostles—a group of three at each point of the compass. In front of each group is a symbol representing one of the four evangelists: a winged ox for Saint Luke,[134] a lion for Saint Mark, an eagle for Saint John and an angel for Saint Matthew. Just days prior to the fire, the statues were removed for restoration.[135] While in place, they had faced outwards towards Paris, except one: the statue of Saint Thomas, the patron saint of architects, faced the flèche, and had the features of Viollet-le-Duc.

 

The rooster weathervane at the top of the flèche contained three relics: a tiny piece from the Crown of Thorns in the cathedral treasury, and relics of Saint Denis and Saint Genevieve, patron saints of Paris. They were placed there in 1935 by Archbishop Jean Verdier, to protect the congregation from lightning or other harm. The rooster was recovered in the rubble shortly after the fire,[136] and has since been on display inside the reopened cathedral.

 

The new flèche was put in place on 16 December 2023, and a new gilded rooster sculpture, designed by architect Philippe Villeneuve, was also installed, containing the same relics as old flèche, as well as the names of two thousand people who had participated in the reconstruction. Getting to work, Villeneuve's team scrutinised the journal in which Viollet-le-Duc had entered all the details of Notre-Dame's 19th century restoration work.[137]

 

Towers on west façade (1220–1250)

Towers on west façade (1220–1250)

 

The gallery of chimeras pictured in 1910 by Georges Redon

The gallery of chimeras pictured in 1910 by Georges Redon

 

The 19th-century flèche

The 19th-century flèche

 

The rooster reliquary at the top of the flèche. It was found lightly damaged in the rubble after the 2019 fire.

The rooster reliquary at the top of the flèche. It was found lightly damaged in the rubble after the 2019 fire.

The flèche from above, in 2013

The flèche from above, in 2013

 

Statue of Thomas the Apostle, with the features of restorer Viollet-le-Duc, at the base of the flèche

Statue of Thomas the Apostle, with the features of restorer Viollet-le-Duc, at the base of the flèche

Iconography

See also: List of sculptures in Notre-Dame de Paris

The Gothic cathedral was a liber pauperum, a "poor people's book", covered with sculptures vividly illustrating biblical stories, for the vast majority of parishioners who were, at the time, illiterate. To add to the effect, all of the sculpture on the façades was originally painted and gilded.[138]

 

The tympanum over the central portal on the west façade, facing the square, vividly illustrates the Last Judgment, with figures of sinners being led off to hell, and good Christians taken to heaven. The sculpture of the right portal shows the coronation of the Virgin Mary, and the left portal shows the lives of saints who were important to Parisians, particularly Saint Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary.[139]

 

The exteriors of cathedrals and other Gothic churches were also decorated with sculptures of grotesques or monsters. These included the gargoyle, the chimera, a mythical hybrid creature which usually had the body of a lion and the head of a goat, and the strix or stryge, a creature resembling an owl or bat, which was said to eat human flesh. The strix appeared in classical Roman literature; it was described by the Roman poet Ovid, who was widely read in the Middle Ages, as a large-headed bird with transfixed eyes, rapacious beak, and greyish white wings.[140] They were part of the visual message for the illiterate worshipers, symbols of the evil and danger that threatened those who did not follow the teachings of the church.[141]

 

The gargoyles, which were added about 1240, had a more practical purpose. They were the rain spouts of the cathedral, designed to divide the torrent of water which poured from the roof after rain, and to project it outwards as far as possible from the buttresses and the walls and windows where it might erode the mortar binding the stone. To produce many thin streams rather than a torrent of water, a large number of gargoyles were used, so they were also designed to be a decorative element of the architecture. The rainwater ran from the roof into lead gutters, then down channels on the flying buttresses, then along a channel cut in the back of the gargoyle and out of the mouth away from the cathedral.[138]

 

Amid all the religious figures, some of the sculptural decoration was devoted to illustrating medieval science and philosophy. The central portal of the west façade is decorated with carved figures holding circular plaques with symbols of transformation taken from alchemy. The central pillar of the central door of Notre-Dame features a statue of a woman on a throne holding a sceptre in her left hand, and in her right hand, two books, one open (symbol of public knowledge), and the other closed (esoteric knowledge), along with a ladder with seven steps, symbolising the seven steps alchemists followed in trying to transform ordinary metals into gold.[141] On each side of the west façade, there are statues of Ecclesia and Synagoga. The statues represent supersessionism, the Christian belief that Christianity has replaced Judaism.[142]

 

Many of the statues, particularly the grotesques, were removed from the façade in the 17th and 18th centuries, or were destroyed during the French Revolution. They were replaced with figures in the Gothic style, designed by Viollet-le-Duc, during the 19th-century restoration.

 

Illustration of the Last Judgment, central portal of west façade

Illustration of the Last Judgment,

central portal of west façade

 

The martyr Saint Denis, holding his head, over the Portal of the Virgin

The martyr Saint Denis, holding his head, over the Portal of the Virgin

 

The serpent tempts Adam and Eve; on the Portal of the Virgin

The serpent tempts Adam and Eve; on the Portal of the Virgin

Archangel Michael and Satan weighing souls during the Last Judgment (central portal, west façade)

Archangel Michael and Satan weighing souls during the Last Judgment (central portal, west façade)

 

A strix on the west façade

A strix on the west façade

 

Gargoyles were the rainspouts of the cathedral

Gargoyles were the rainspouts of the cathedral

 

Chimera on the façade

Chimera on the façade

Allegory of alchemy, central portal

Allegory of alchemy, central portal

 

Ecclesia and Synagoga, statues on each side of the west façade

Ecclesia and Synagoga, statues on each side of the west façade

Stained glass

The stained glass windows of Notre-Dame, particularly the three rose windows, are among the most famous features of the cathedral. The west rose window, over the portals, was the first and smallest of the roses in Notre-Dame. It is 9.6 metres (31 ft) in diameter, and was made in about 1225, with the pieces of glass set in a thick circular stone frame. None of the original glass remains in this window; it was recreated in the 19th century.[143]

 

The two transept windows are larger and contain a greater proportion of glass than the rose on the west façade, because the new system of buttresses made the nave walls thinner and stronger. The north rose was created in about 1250, and the south rose in about 1260. The south rose in the transept is 12.9 metres (42 ft) in diameter; with the claire-voie surrounding it, a total of 19 metres (62 ft). It was given to the cathedral by King Louis IX of France, known as Saint Louis.[144]

 

The south rose has 94 medallions, arranged in four circles, depicting scenes from the life of Christ and those who witnessed his time on earth. The inner circle has twelve medallions showing the twelve apostles. During later restorations, some of these original medallions were moved to circles farther out. The next two circles depict celebrated martyrs and virgins. The fourth circle shows twenty angels, and saints important to Paris, such as Saint Denis, Margaret the Virgin with a dragon, and Saint Eustace. The third and fourth circles also have some depictions of Old Testament subjects. The third circle has some medallions with scenes from the New Testament Gospel of Matthew which date from the last quarter of the 12th century. These are the oldest glass in the window.[144]

 

Additional scenes in the corners around the rose window include Jesus's Descent into Hell, Adam and Eve, the Resurrection of Christ. Saint Peter and Saint Paul are at the bottom of the window, and Mary Magdalene and John the Apostle at the top.

 

Above the rose was a window depicting Christ triumphant seated in the sky, surrounded by his Apostles. Below are sixteen windows with painted images of Prophets. These were painted during the restoration in the 19th century by Alfred Gérenthe, under the direction of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, based upon a similar window at Chartres Cathedral.[144]

 

The south rose had a difficult history. In 1543 it was damaged by the settling of the masonry walls, and not restored until 1725–1727. It was seriously damaged in the French Revolution of 1830. Rioters burned the residence of the archbishop, next to the cathedral, and many of the panes were destroyed. The window was rebuilt by Viollet-le-Duc in 1861 who rotated it by fifteen degrees to give it a clear vertical and horizontal axis, and replaced the destroyed pieces of glass with new glass in the same style. The window now contains both medieval and 19th-century glass. [144]

 

In the 1960s, after three decades of debate, it was decided to replace many of the 19th-century grisaille windows in the nave designed by Viollet-le-Duc with new windows. The new windows, made by Jacques Le Chevallier, are without human figures and use abstract designs and colour to try to recreate the luminosity of the cathedral's interior in the 13th century.

 

The fire left the three great medieval rose windows mostly intact, but with some damage.[145] The rector of the cathedral noted that one rose window would have to be dismantled, as it was unstable and at risk.[146] Most of the other damaged windows were of much less historical value.[146]

 

In early 2024 Macron proposed removing six of the seven undamaged 19th-century stained glass windows created by Eugene Viollet-le-Duc in the chapels along the south aisle of the nave, and replacing them with new windows with more contemporary designs. He invited contemporary artists to submit designs for the new windows. This proposal inspired a backlash in the press, and 140,000 people signed a petition to keep the old windows. The plan for contemporary windows was rejected by the French Commission on Architectural Monuments and Patrimony in July 2024.[147]

 

The earliest rose window, on the west façade (about 1225)

The earliest rose window, on the west façade (about 1225)

 

The west rose window (about 1225)

The west rose window (about 1225)

 

North rose window (about 1250)

North rose window (about 1250)

North rose window including lower 18 vertical windows

North rose window including lower 18 vertical windows

Burials and crypts

For the Archeological Crypt located outside of Notre-Dame, see Parvis Notre-Dame – Place Jean-Paul II.

See also: Category:Burials at Notre-Dame de Paris

Unlike some other French cathedrals, Notre-Dame was originally constructed without a crypt. In the medieval period, burials were made directly into the floor of the church, or in above-ground sarcophagi, some with tomb effigies (French: gisant). High-ranking clergy and some royals were buried in the choir and apse, and many others, including lower-ranking clergy and lay people, were buried in the nave or chapels. There is no surviving complete record of the burials.

 

In 1699, many of the choir tombs were disturbed or covered over during a major renovation project. Remains which were exhumed were reburied in a common tomb beside the high altar. In 1711, a small crypt measuring about six by six metres (20 by 20 ft) was dug out in the middle of the choir which was used as a burial vault for the archbishops, if they had not requested to be buried elsewhere. It was during this excavation that the 1st-century Pillar of the Boatmen was discovered.[148] In 1758, three more crypts were dug in the Chapel of Saint-Georges to be used for burials of canons of Notre-Dame. In 1765, a larger crypt was built under the nave to be used for burials of canons, beneficiaries, chaplains, cantors, and choirboys. Between 1771 and 1773, the cathedral floor was repaved with black and white marble tiles, which covered over most of the remaining tombs. This prevented many of these tombs from being disturbed during the French Revolution.

 

In 1858, the choir crypt was expanded to stretch most of the length of the choir. During this project, many medieval tombs were rediscovered. Likewise the nave crypt was also rediscovered in 1863 when a larger vault was dug out to install a vault heater. Many other tombs are also located in the chapels.[149][150]

 

Eudes de Sully was the first bishop to be buried in Notre-Dame. His copper-covered sarcophagus was placed in the middle of the choir where it remained for almost five centuries.

Eudes de Sully was the first bishop to be buried in Notre-Dame. His copper-covered sarcophagus was placed in the middle of the choir where it remained for almost five centuries.

 

The tomb of bishop Matifort (died 1304) located behind the high altar is the only surviving medieval funerary sculpture at Notre-Dame.

The tomb of bishop Matifort (died 1304) located behind the high altar is the only surviving medieval funerary sculpture at Notre-Dame.

 

Burial vault under the choir of Notre-Dame, c. 1746. Pictured left to right are the tombs of Archbishops Vintimille and Bellefonds, the funerary urn of Archbishop Noailles, and two unidentified tombs.

Burial vault under the choir of Notre-Dame, c. 1746. Pictured left to right are the tombs of Archbishops Vintimille and Bellefonds, the funerary urn of Archbishop Noailles, and two unidentified tombs.

The tomb of Archbishop Affre (1793–1848) in the Chapel of Saint-Denis. The sculpture depicts the archbishop's mortal wounding during the June Days uprising while holding an olive branch as a sign of peace. The inscription reads Puisse mon sang être le dernier versé! ("May my blood be the last shed!").

The tomb of Archbishop Affre (1793–1848) in the Chapel of Saint-Denis. The sculpture depicts the archbishop's mortal wounding during the June Days uprising while holding an olive branch as a sign of peace. The inscription reads Puisse mon sang être le dernier versé! ("May my blood be the last shed!").

Great organ

 

The great organ

One of the earliest organs at Notre-Dame was built in 1403 by Frédéric Schambantz. It was rebuilt many times over the course of 300 years; however, twelve pipes and some wood survive from Schambantz. It was replaced between 1730 and 1738 by François Thierry, then once again rebuilt by François-Henri Clicquot. During the mid-19th-century restoration of the cathedral by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, Aristide Cavaillé-Coll used pipework from earlier instruments to build a new organ, which was dedicated in 1868.

 

In 1904, Charles Mutin modified and added several stops upon the suggestions of titular organist Louis Vierne. In 1924, the installation of an electric blower was financed by Rolls-Royce CEO Claude Johnson. An extensive restoration and cleaning was carried out by Joseph Beuchet in 1932 which mostly included changes to the Récit. Between 1959 and 1963, the mechanical action with Barker levers was replaced with an electric action by Jean Hermann, and a new organ console was installed.

 

The stoplist was gradually modified by Robert Boisseau, who in 1968 added three chamade stops (8′, 4′, and 2′/16′) and by Jean-Loup Boisseau after 1975, all upon the orders of Pierre Cochereau. In autumn 1983, the electric combination system was disconnected due to short-circuit risk.

 

Between 1990 and 1992, Jean-Loup Boisseau, Bertrand Cattiaux, Philippe Émeriau, Michel Giroud, and the Société Synaptel revised and augmented the instrument. A new frame for the Jean Hermann console was created. Between 2012 and 2014, Bertrand Cattiaux and Pascal Quoirin restored, cleaned, and modified the organ. The stop and key action was upgraded, a new frame for selected components of the Hermann-Boisseau-Cattiaux console was created, a new enclosed division ("Résonnance expressive", using pipework from the former "Petite Pédale" by Boisseau, which can now be used as a floating division), the organ case and the façade pipes were restored, and a general tuning was carried out. The current organ has 115 stops (156 ranks) on five manuals and pedal, and more than 8,000 pipes.

 

In addition to the great organ in the west end, the quire of the cathedral carries a medium-sized choir organ of 2 manuals, 30 stops and 37 ranks in a nineteenth-century case from the 1960s. During the fire of 2019, it was heavily damaged by waterlogging, but is at least partially reusable. It also had a 5-stop single-manual continuo organ, which was completely destroyed by water from firefighters.

 

The great organ itself suffered minimal damage (mostly to a single pipe of the Principal 32' and substantial dust) in the fire of April 2019 and underwent maintenance for cleaning and tuning. It was formally reblessed in 2024.

 

I. Grand-Orgue

C–g3II. Positif

C–g3III. Récit

C–g3IV. Solo

C–g3V. Grand-Chœur

C–g3Résonnance expressive

C–g3Pédale

C–f1(keys go to g1, but f#1 and g1 silent)

Violon-Basse 16

Bourdon 16

Montre 8

Viole de Gambe 8

Flûte harmonique 8

Bourdon 8

Prestant 4

Octave 4

Doublette 2

Fourniture harmonique II-V 4

Cymbale harmonique II-V 2 2/3

Bombarde 16

Trompette 8

Clairon 4

 

Chamades:

Chamade 8

Chamade 4

 

Chamade Recit 8

Cornet Recit V (from c)

Montre 16

Bourdon 16

Salicional 8

Flûte harmonique 8

Bourdon 8

Unda maris 8 (from c)

Prestant 4

Flûte douce 4

Nazard 2+2⁄3

Doublette 2

Tierce 1+3⁄5

Fourniture V

Cymbale V

Clarinette basse 16

Clarinette 8

Clarinette aiguë 4

Récit expressif:

Quintaton 16

Diapason 8

Flûte traversière 8

Viole de Gambe 8

Bourdon céleste 8 (from c)

Voix céleste 8 (from c)

Octave 4

Flûte Octaviante 4

Quinte 2+2⁄3

Octavin 2

Bombarde 16

Trompette 8

Basson-Hautbois 8

Clarinette 8

Voix humaine 8

Clairon 4

 

Récit classique: (from f)

Cornet V 8

Hautbois 8

 

Chamades:

Basse Chamade 8

Dessus Chamade 8

Chamade 4

Chamade Régale 8

 

Basse Chamade GO 8

Dessus Chamade GO 8

Chamade GO 4

 

Trémolo

Bourdon 32 (lowest octave acoustic)

Principal 16

Montre 8

Flûte harmonique 8

Quinte 5+1⁄3

Prestant 4

Tierce 3+1⁄5

Nazard 2+2⁄3

Septième 2+2⁄7

Doublette 2

Cornet II-V 2 2/3

Grande Fourniture II 2 2/3

Fourniture V

Cymbale V

Cromorne 8

 

Chamade GO 8

Chamade GO 4

 

Cornet Récit V

Hautbois Récit 8 (above stops: f-g3, outside swell box)

Principal 8

Bourdon 8 *

Prestant 4 *

Quinte 2+2⁄3 *

Doublette 2 *

Tierce 1+3⁄5 *

Larigot 1+1⁄3

Septième 1+1⁄7

Piccolo 1

Plein jeu III-V 2/3

Tuba magna 16

Trompette 8

Clairon 4

Cornet V 8

(pulls out stops with asterisks)

 

Bourdon 16

Principal 8

Bourdon 8

Prestant 4

Flûte 4

Neuvième 3+5⁄9

Tierce 3+1⁄5

Onzième 2+10⁄11

Nazard 2+2⁄3

Flûte 2

Tierce 1+3⁄5

Larigot 1+1⁄3

Flageolet 1

Fourniture III

Cymbale III

Basson 16

Basson 8

Voix humaine 8

 

Chimes

Tremblant

Principal 32

Contrebasse 16

Soubasse 16

Quinte 10+2⁄3

Flûte 8

Violoncelle 8

Tierce 6+2⁄5

Quinte 5+1⁄3

Septième 4+4⁄7

Octave 4

Contre-Bombarde 32

Bombarde 16

Basson 16

Trompette 8

Basson 8

Clairon 4

 

Chamade GO 8

Chamade GO 4

Chamade Récit 8

Chamade Récit 4

Régale 2/16

Couplers: II/I, III/I, IV/I, V/I; III/II, IV/II, V/II; IV/III, V/III; V/IV, Octave grave général, inversion Positif/Grand-orgue, Tirasses (Grand-orgue, Positif, Récit, Solo, Grand-Chœur en 8; Grand-Orgue en 4, Positif en 4, Récit en 4, Solo en 4, Grand-Chœur en 4), Sub and Super octave couplers and Unison Off for all manuals (Octaves graves, octaves aiguës, annulation 8′); octaves aiguës Pédalier

 

Additional features: Coupure Pédalier; Coupure Chamade; Appel Résonnance; sostenuto for all manuals and the pedal; cancel buttons for each division; 50,000 combinations (5,000 groups each); replay system

 

Organists

The p

The Flamingo had his head in his hand as he said,

 

“Jason…I can’t believe you…” Jason’s eyes darted from Flamingo, to Scarlet, to Mason and Deb. Mason had a large rifle pointed at Jason’s forehead, making the latter stutter as he said,

 

“I didn’t do it. I swear.” This felt strange for Jason to say, but when he searched himself for a reason why he simply had to look to the woman holding the sniper in the windowsill. Swearing, Flamingo said,

 

“I’m sorry it’s come to this Jason but until we find out what’s going on you’re going to need to go back to the tower.” Jason was sweating as he thought of what to do next. Before he could make a decision however, a rock was thrown through the window. The rock broke the already decrepit window before hitting the ground. Jason looked at it for a note of some kind but quickly realized the rock being thrown through the window was a message in itself. Looking out the window, Jason, as well as Flamingo, Scarlet, Deb, and Mason, saw Roy Harper standing alone in the snow with his middle finger facing the group. He yelled up to them,

 

“You guys took my bow. I would like it back. Also, turn Jason Todd over to me NOW.” The Flamingo laughed as he turned in his bed to see the lone figure of Roy threatening the group. As he did, two henchmen (Jack and another that Jason did not recognize) advanced on Roy’s position. For a moment, Jason waited for the three to begin fighting, then realized that the one he did not recognize was walking towards another target. Looking around, the group saw that Roy was not alone, and had hidden the prisoners Nikki and Kyle nearby. Nikki screamed as the unknown henchman raised a hammer and a pistol. All this time, there seemed to be a winding noise building in Jason’s ears. A ringing that was driving him to do something insane. So then he did something insane: shoving Deb and Mason aside, Jason dove through the broken window. Turning his body in midair to collide with the ground on his back, he found that the snow was packed lightly and surprisingly soft. Feeling only minor scratches from catching on stray glass from the window, Jason quickly sprang into action and managed to knock the unknown goon down with a leg sweeping maneuver. Nikki and Kyle retreated from the hiding spot to a space behind where Roy had engaged Jack. Dodging the unknown goon’s hammer attacks, Jason managed to knock the weapon out of the man’s hand as all heard the Flamingo yell,

 

“SHOOT THEM! KILL THEM!” For a moment, Jason thought this referred to the unknown goon with the pistol or Jack (who was currently using Roy’s bow and arrow), however he looked up to see Scarlet aiming down at them. She trembled as she did, and Jason could see Flamingo grabbing her arm from his bed and shaking her around as he called up,

 

“Scarlet! Hold on!” In this moment of distraction, the unknown henchman managed to fire off several rounds that nearly connected with Jason’s ear. The sound made the ringing in his head even worse as Jason grabbed the man by the forehead and slammed his head into the snow below. The force of slamming the man into the snow knocked him clean out as Jason turned his attention to Roy. Jack was slicing at Roy with a small knife until the latter managed to kick the former in the hand with such force that the sound of the bones breaking were audible. Screaming for a moment, Jack stumbled, allowing Roy to grab his bow with his good hand. Placing the bow around Jack’s neck, Roy began to pull hard, using one foot to hold Jack in place while planting the other firmly in the snow. After a short period of Jack struggling, Roy moved the bow quickly, snapping the man’s neck. Jason winced at the sound, but walked over to Nikki and Kyle in order to check on them as Roy put on the quiver Jack had been wearing. Turning to Jason and the couple, Roy said,

 

“Nobody touches my bow.” The couple nodded furiously as there was the sound of struggling from above. They all looked up to see Mason knock the sniper rifle out of Scarlet’s hands before grabbing her around the neck and forcing his gun into her face. As he did this, more and more Flamingo henchmen began to walk out from various places around Park City. Roy turned to Jason and quickly said, “Jason we have to go now!” Jason looked from him to Scarlet and said,

 

“No…no no no no no we need to save Scarlet that’s the whole reason I’m here!” Roy sighed and looked around as more Flamingo henchmen began to close in on them. Thinking quickly he picked up the gun that the unknown henchman had dropped and tossed it to Kyle. Then he grabbed Jason around the stomach and began dragging him away. The group broke into a sprint all except for Jason who yelled, “NO! SCARLET! NO!” as his feet dragged through the nearly unbroken snow. Mason pulled Scarlet away from the window as the group made it a block away, but Jason continued to scream and squirm. Attempting to push Roy away and yelling insults such as ‘cripple’ at him did not help anything except to exhaust Jason who eventually passed out due to lack of oxygen. The last thing he heard was several gunshots fired off by Kyle, then Jason succumbed to his exhaustion and wounds from leaping out the window, fading into unconsciousness.

   

Cape Comic Con 2022, Cape Giradeau, MO. More photos: ultragorsuperjay.piwigo.com

The Postcard

 

A postally unused postcard that was published by the Photochrom Co. Ltd. They state on the divided back of the card that it is an all-British production.

 

The Photochrom Co. Ltd.

 

The Photochrom Co. Ltd. of London and Royal Tunbridge Wells originally produced Christmas cards before becoming a major publisher and printer of tourist albums, guide books, and postcards.

 

These mainly captured worldwide views as real photos, or were printed in black & white, monochrome, and color.

 

They also published many advertising, comic, silhouette, novelty, panoramic, and notable artist-signed cards in named series as well. The huge number of titles that Photochrom produced may well exceed 40,000.

 

In 1896 they took over Fussli’s London office established three years earlier, and began publishing similar photo-chromolithographic postcards after securing the exclusive English licence for the Swiss photochrom process.

 

This technique was used to produce a great number of view-cards of both England and Europe. While they captured the same fine details as the Swiss prints, their colours were much softer and reduced.

 

Apart from their better known photochroms, they produced their Celesque series of view-cards printed in tricolor.

 

One of the largest unnamed series that Photochrom produced was of view-cards printed in brown rotogravure. Many of these cards were simply hand coloured with a dominant red and blue, which gives these cards a distinct appearance. They are similar to cards produced in their Photogravure and Velvet Finish Series.

 

Photochrom postcard series include:

 

-- Night Series - Line block halftone over a blue tint depicting London.

-- Carbofoto Series - Black & white real photo cards.

-- Sepiatone Series - Sepia real photo cards.

-- Grano Series - View-cards printed in black & white.

-- Exclusive Photo-Color Series - View-cards printed in colour.

-- Duotype Process Series - View-cards printed in two tones.

 

The Cumberland Hotel

 

The building on the left is the enormous Cumberland Hotel.

 

The www.kzwp.com/ website created by Kattie Zion has a detailed history of the Cumberland Hotel building. She writes that:

 

"In 1901 the island site bounded by Oxford Street, Old Quebec Street, Bryanston Street and Great Cumberland Place, was progressively acquired by Joseph Lyons for the erection of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

The Cumberland project was formidable. The excavations alone entailed the removal of over 100,000 cubic yards of material, during which historical relics from all periods were unearthed. All building work was carried out by Lyons' own staff.

 

The Cumberland Hotel featured all the latest developments of comfort. It was sound-proofed, double glazed, air conditioned, and all 900 bed-rooms had their own en-suite. All air entering the hotel was filtered, including the supply to the kitchen areas. Here the exhaust was treated in order to eradicate cooking smells.

 

The structure consisted of thirteen floors, ten of them above ground and three below. Part of the hotel backbone was an enormous 100-ton girder which required the world's largest lorry to convey it. Fifteen thousand tons of steel-work was used in the hotel's construction. Four hundred thousand square feet of 'Empire grown timber' was used in the making of bedroom furniture.

 

The Cumberland Hotel officially opened its doors on the 12th. December 1933.

 

Two thousand staff were employed at the hotel, and a specially built annex provided accommodation for 300 girls who slept in single or double rooms. There was one bath to every four girls, and they ate in their own restaurant on the ground floor of the annex."

 

The Cumberland has seen many famous guests over the years; in the music world these include Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Holly.

 

In the Spring of 2019 the hotel changed its name to the Hard Rock Hotel, but reverted back to the Cumberland name four years later in May 2023.

 

The 2014 Cumberland Hotel Hammer Attack

 

In April 2014 the Cumberland Hotel was the scene of a devastating hammer attack.

 

Three sisters, Ohoud, Khaloud and Fatima Al-Najjar were staying in adjoining rooms at the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch, when Philip Spence hit all three of them violently with a claw hammer.

 

Spence was able to enter their seventh floor room, which was not locked, after he walked in off the street.

 

Philip Spence

 

Thirty-three year old Philip Spence from Harlesden in north-west London carried out his attack in front of Khaloud’s three children, aged seven, ten and twelve.

 

He hit one of his victims, Ohoud al-Najjar, 34, with such force that her skull split open as her nine-year-old nephew cowered under the sheets next to her.

 

Spence was permanently excluded from school at the age of eight, smoked cannabis from the age of 11, and was addicted to crack cocaine and heroin by 18.

 

Spence’s history of violence includes chasing his landlord with a hammer and punching a woman at council offices in 2007, as well as biting a passer-by in 2011.

 

Spence has 37 convictions for 62 offences dating back to 1993.

 

The three women left their hotel rooms unlocked on the night of the attack in order to allow a fourth sister to return later in the evening.

 

The fourth sister, Sheika al-Mheiri, on returning discovered her sisters lying injured on the floor, with blood spattered on the walls.

 

Spence had fled the scene with a suitcase stuffed with iPads, gold jewellery and mobile phones, having dumped the hammer just outside the hotel.

 

CCTV footage captured Spence on a bus examining items that he had stolen from the women after his attack.

 

The Criminal Trial

 

A year later at his criminal trial, Spence’s barrister, William Nash, said in mitigation that his client had consumed a large amount of drugs at the time of the attack:

 

“He didn’t know of any other crackhead

as big as him. He can’t forgive himself.

He describes himself as being a totally

different person. He is not unempathetic.”

 

Nevertheless Spence was convicted of three counts of attempted murder.

 

The "hotel creeper" was initially ordered to serve life with a minimum of 18 years, but this was increased to 27 years on appeal.

 

The High Court Case

 

The BBC provided the following information on the 7th. May 2019 relating to the attack and its legal consequences:

 

"Three sisters who suffered devastating injuries in a hammer attack by a thief are suing the owners of the London hotel where it happened.

 

At the start of the case at the High Court, lawyers described the injuries to the women, who were from Abu Dhabi in the UAE:

 

-- Ohoud was left with five per cent brain capacity, and will require care for the rest of her life.

 

-- Khaloud has had 20 operations to rebuild her head and face.

 

-- Fatima cannot taste or smell, and has problems with her memory.

 

Spence admitted the attack,, but denied attempted murder.

 

The family's barrister, Susan Rodway, said that Spence - who had a history of sneaking into hotel rooms to steal - had "great knowledge and familiarity" of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

She said that he told his criminal trial he was a regular intruder at the hotel, and had even been able to sleep in maids' cupboards.

 

She added that security "failures" led Spence to directly target the hotel, where he knew he could make an easy buck from the rich pickings there.

 

The court heard that it was "well-known" to the hotel that it was common for Middle Eastern guests to leave doors on the latch in order to enable family members to go between rooms.

 

The hotel's owners deny liability, arguing that by leaving their door open, the women voluntarily assumed the obvious risk of allowing anyone to enter the room while they were asleep inside.

 

Neil Block QC, for the hotel, said in a written submission:

 

"Each guest room was fitted with a heavy duty

fire door with efficient self-closers and automatic

locks, deadlocks, security chains and spy-glasses.

The rooms were designed so that guests could

not leave them open accidentally."

 

He said that after the incident, police tested a closed bedroom door, and found it impossible to gain access with a hammer similar to that used by Mr Spence.

 

Ms Rodway said that the hotel's CCTV system was "purely reactive" and that:

 

"it was clearly only there to enable review

should an incident occur, but not to enable

any anticipation or prevention of an incident".

 

But Mr Block said the fact that there was no system for live monitoring of all 130 CCTV cameras at the hotel "was, and indeed remains, the norm for similar hotels".

 

He concluded:

 

"But for the deliberate interference with

the door's locking mechanism, the attack

would not have occurred."

 

The case is expected to last for two weeks."

 

The High Court Judgement

 

On Friday the 21st. June 2019, the High Court judge Mr. Justice Dingemans ruled that:

 

"There was no liability on the part of the

Cumberland Hotel to Ohoud, Khaloud

and Fatima for the attack carried out by

Mr Spence".

 

He said that the case raised issues about whether a hotel proprietor owes a duty to guests to take reasonable care to protect against injury caused by the criminal actions of third parties, and if so whether the duty was breached in this case.

 

Dingemans concluded that there was such a duty of care, but based on the facts of the case, there was no breach of that duty.

 

The judge said that:

 

"The hotel acted with reasonable care to

protect guests at the hotel against injury

caused by the criminal acts of third parties".

 

However Khaloud and Fatima said in a statement after the ruling:

 

"Re-living the horrors of that terrifying night

where we almost lost our lives has been

extremely traumatic for us to endure, and

we are devastated that it has all been for

nothing.

We lost our sister, and our lives were

changed forever when we were attacked

by Spence in the privacy of our own room."

 

Khaloud and Fatima said that they felt the decision was "a travesty" and that "justice has not been done".

 

A spokeswoman for the owner of the Cumberland, GLH Hotels, said after the ruling:

 

"We believe today's judgement is the

correct outcome.

Regardless, the al Najjar family's

experience was deeply shocking and

wholly unprecedented and we reiterate

our heartfelt concern for their well-being

as they continue to receive all necessary

support."

 

Atacando a un soldado Hammer. Attacking a Hammer soldier. Lego Super Heroes - Marvel - DC

some lillies in a local garden.

 

our ignorant, bigoted mayor has once again shown that he has nothing but contempt for diversity and yet is too much of a chickenshit coward to just come out and say so. fuck him and everyone who voted for him. conservatives are all filth.

 

maybe he's still bitter and pouting because he isn't getting his way, yet again

  

The Postcard

 

A Silverette postcard by Raphael Tuck and Sons bearing an image of Marble Arch taken from Hyde Park.

 

The card was posted in Paddington on the 15th. August 1906 to an address in St. Georges Road Leyton.

 

What the recipient read over a century ago was as follows:

 

"Southwick Place.

Am coming tomorrow morning

first thing for sure.

Might come tonight.

Linen arrived.

Hope you will enjoy yourself

tomorrow.

I suppose A.L. is still there.

Thank Lenny for his letter.

Love to all,

Florrie".

 

The card is postmarked 11.45 am, and was posted during the era when a postcard posted early in the day stood a good chance of arriving later the same day. And all for the cost of a halfpenny stamp!

 

Posting the same card today from Paddington to Leyton will cost you over 280 times as much, and the service would almost certainly be much slower.

 

Marble Arch

 

Marble Arch is a 19th-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London.

 

The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the Cour d'Honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is today the three-bayed, central projection of the palace containing the well known balcony.

 

In 1851 it was relocated, and following the widening of Park Lane in the early 1960's is now sited, incongruently isolated, on a large traffic island at the junction of Oxford Street, Park Lane and Edgware Road.

 

The traffic going round the traffic island these days is very heavy and fast-moving; don't try and cross the road to get to it - you won't make it.

 

The Cumberland Hotel

 

All the Georgian houses in the background are no longer there; the ones on the right have been replaced by the enormous Cumberland Hotel.

 

The www.kzwp.com/ website created by Kattie Zion has a detailed history of the Cumberland Hotel building. She writes that:

 

"In 1901 the island site bounded by Oxford Street, Old Quebec Street, Bryanston Street and Great Cumberland Place, was progressively acquired by Joseph Lyons for the erection of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

The Cumberland project was formidable. The excavations alone entailed the removal of over 100,000 cubic yards of material, during which historical relics from all periods were unearthed. All building work was carried out by Lyons' own staff.

 

The Cumberland Hotel featured all the latest developments of comfort. It was sound-proofed, double glazed, air conditioned, and all 900 bed-rooms had their own en-suite. All air entering the hotel was filtered, including the supply to the kitchen areas. Here the exhaust was treated in order to eradicate cooking smells.

 

The structure consisted of thirteen floors, ten of them above ground and three below. Part of the hotel backbone was an enormous 100-ton girder which required the world's largest lorry to convey it. Fifteen thousand tons of steel-work was used in the hotel's construction. Four hundred thousand square feet of 'Empire grown timber' was used in the making of bedroom furniture.

 

The Cumberland Hotel officially opened its doors on the 12th. December 1933.

 

Two thousand staff were employed at the hotel, and a specially built annex provided accommodation for 300 girls who slept in single or double rooms. There was one bath to every four girls, and they ate in their own restaurant on the ground floor of the annex."

 

The Cumberland has seen many famous guests over the years; in the music world these include Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Holly.

 

In the Spring of 2019 the hotel changed its name to the Hard Rock Hotel, but reverted back to the Cumberland name four years later in May 2023.

 

The 2014 Cumberland Hotel Hammer Attack

 

In April 2014 the Cumberland Hotel was the scene of a devastating hammer attack.

 

Three sisters, Ohoud, Khaloud and Fatima Al-Najjar were staying in adjoining rooms at the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch, when Philip Spence hit all three of them violently with a claw hammer.

 

Spence was able to enter their seventh floor room, which was not locked, after he walked in off the street.

 

Philip Spence

 

Thirty-three year old Philip Spence from Harlesden in north-west London carried out his attack in front of Khaloud’s three children, aged seven, ten and twelve.

 

He hit one of his victims, Ohoud al-Najjar, 34, with such force that her skull split open as her nine-year-old nephew cowered under the sheets next to her.

 

Spence was permanently excluded from school at the age of eight, smoked cannabis from the age of 11, and was addicted to crack cocaine and heroin by 18.

 

Spence’s history of violence includes chasing his landlord with a hammer and punching a woman at council offices in 2007, as well as biting a passer-by in 2011.

 

Spence has 37 convictions for 62 offences dating back to 1993.

 

The three women left their hotel rooms unlocked on the night of the attack in order to allow a fourth sister to return later in the evening.

 

The fourth sister, Sheika al-Mheiri, on returning discovered her sisters lying injured on the floor, with blood spattered on the walls.

 

Spence had fled the scene with a suitcase stuffed with iPads, gold jewellery and mobile phones, having dumped the hammer just outside the hotel.

 

CCTV footage captured Spence on a bus examining items that he had stolen from the women after his attack.

 

The Criminal Trial

 

A year later at his criminal trial, Spence’s barrister, William Nash, said in mitigation that his client had consumed a large amount of drugs at the time of the attack:

 

“He didn’t know of any other crackhead

as big as him. He can’t forgive himself.

He describes himself as being a totally

different person. He is not unempathetic.”

 

Nevertheless Spence was convicted of three counts of attempted murder.

 

The "hotel creeper" was initially ordered to serve life with a minimum of 18 years, but this was increased to 27 years on appeal.

 

The High Court Case

 

The BBC provided the following information on the 7th. May 2019 relating to the attack and its legal consequences:

 

"Three sisters who suffered devastating injuries in a hammer attack by a thief are suing the owners of the London hotel where it happened.

 

At the start of the case at the High Court, lawyers described the injuries to the women, who were from Abu Dhabi in the UAE:

 

-- Ohoud was left with five per cent brain capacity, and will require care for the rest of her life.

 

-- Khaloud has had 20 operations to rebuild her head and face.

 

-- Fatima cannot taste or smell, and has problems with her memory.

 

Spence admitted the attack,, but denied attempted murder.

 

The family's barrister, Susan Rodway, said that Spence - who had a history of sneaking into hotel rooms to steal - had "great knowledge and familiarity" of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

She said that he told his criminal trial he was a regular intruder at the hotel, and had even been able to sleep in maids' cupboards.

 

She added that security "failures" led Spence to directly target the hotel, where he knew he could make an easy buck from the rich pickings there.

 

The court heard that it was "well-known" to the hotel that it was common for Middle Eastern guests to leave doors on the latch in order to enable family members to go between rooms.

 

The hotel's owners deny liability, arguing that by leaving their door open, the women voluntarily assumed the obvious risk of allowing anyone to enter the room while they were asleep inside.

 

Neil Block QC, for the hotel, said in a written submission:

 

"Each guest room was fitted with a heavy duty

fire door with efficient self-closers and automatic

locks, deadlocks, security chains and spy-glasses.

The rooms were designed so that guests could

not leave them open accidentally."

 

He said that after the incident, police tested a closed bedroom door, and found it impossible to gain access with a hammer similar to that used by Mr Spence.

 

Ms Rodway said that the hotel's CCTV system was "purely reactive" and that:

 

"it was clearly only there to enable review

should an incident occur, but not to enable

any anticipation or prevention of an incident".

 

But Mr Block said the fact that there was no system for live monitoring of all 130 CCTV cameras at the hotel "was, and indeed remains, the norm for similar hotels".

 

He concluded:

 

"But for the deliberate interference with

the door's locking mechanism, the attack

would not have occurred."

 

The case is expected to last for two weeks."

 

The High Court Judgement

 

On Friday the 21st. June 2019, the High Court judge Mr. Justice Dingemans ruled that:

 

"There was no liability on the part of the

Cumberland Hotel to Ohoud, Khaloud

and Fatima for the attack carried out by

Mr Spence".

 

He said that the case raised issues about whether a hotel proprietor owes a duty to guests to take reasonable care to protect against injury caused by the criminal actions of third parties, and if so whether the duty was breached in this case.

 

Dingemans concluded that there was such a duty of care, but based on the facts of the case, there was no breach of that duty.

 

The judge said that:

 

"The hotel acted with reasonable care to

protect guests at the hotel against injury

caused by the criminal acts of third parties".

 

However Khaloud and Fatima said in a statement after the ruling:

 

"Re-living the horrors of that terrifying night

where we almost lost our lives has been

extremely traumatic for us to endure, and

we are devastated that it has all been for

nothing.

We lost our sister, and our lives were

changed forever when we were attacked

by Spence in the privacy of our own room."

 

Khaloud and Fatima said that they felt the decision was "a travesty" and that "justice has not been done".

 

A spokeswoman for the owner of the Cumberland, GLH Hotels, said after the ruling:

 

"We believe today's judgement is the

correct outcome.

Regardless, the al Najjar family's

experience was deeply shocking and

wholly unprecedented and we reiterate

our heartfelt concern for their well-being

as they continue to receive all necessary

support."

 

Max Factor

 

So what else happened on the day that Florrie posted the card?

 

Well, on the 15th. August 1906, Max Factor married Huma "Helen" Sradkowska because he wanted a mother for his four children by a previous wife who had recently died.

 

Despite the birth of Louis on the 29th. August 1907, the marriage was short-lived, and ended in a prolonged court battle which resulted in Factor obtaining custody of all of his children.

 

Maksymilian Faktorowicz, who was born on the 15th. September 1877, became known as Max Factor Sr. He was a Polish-American businessman, beautician, entrepreneur and inventor.

 

As a founder of the cosmetics giant Max Factor & Company, he largely developed the modern cosmetics industry in the United States, and popularised the term "make-up" in noun form based on the verb.

 

He is also known for doing makeovers for starlets and giving them their signature looks; his most iconic works include Jean Harlow's platinum hair, Clara Bow's bob, Lucille Ball's false lashes and red curls, and Joan Crawford's "Hunter's Bow", or overdrawn lips.

 

Max Factor - The Early Years

 

Factor, of Polish-Jewish descent, was born in Zduńska Wola to Abraham Faktorowicz and Cecylia Wrocławska. His father, a hard-working grocer, rabbi, or textile mill worker (depending upon the source), could not afford a formal education for his four children.

 

By the age of eight years, Factor was working as an assistant to a dentist and pharmacist. At the age of nine, he was apprenticed to a wig maker and cosmetician in Łódź, in central Poland.

 

That experience enabled him to gain a position at Anton's of Berlin, a leading hairstylist and cosmetics creator. By the age of fourteen, he was working at Korpo, a Moscow wig maker and cosmetician to the Imperial Russian Grand Opera.

 

He spent the years from age eighteen to twenty-two undertaking his compulsory military service in the Imperial Russian Army, where he served in the Hospital Corps.

 

Upon his discharge, he opened his own shop in the town of Ryazan, selling hand-made rouges, creams, fragrances, and wigs. He became well known when a traveling theatrical troupe wore Factor's cosmetics to perform for Russian nobility.

 

The Russian nobility appointed Factor the official cosmetics expert for the royal family and the Imperial Russian Grand Opera, an honor which led to him being closely monitored.

 

He married Esther Rosa (whom he called Lizzie), and by early 1904 they had produced three children, Freda, Cecilia and Davis.

 

By 1904, concerned about the increasing anti-Jewish persecution developing in the Russian Empire, he and his wife decided to follow his brother Nathan and uncle Fischel to America.

 

Worried that he would not be released from his royal service, he arranged to take a rest cure at Karlovy Vary - according to one version of his escape from the royal service. After meeting up with his family, they traveled in the steerage class on board the S.S. Moltke III, and were processed at Ellis Island on the 25th. February 1904; he had $400 in his possession. They settled in St. Louis, Missouri.

 

Max Factor - Early Years in the United States

 

Max sold his rouges and creams at the 1904 World's Fair, operating under the newly re-spelled name Max Factor. His partner in the venture stole all of his stock and the profits.

 

With assistance from his brother and uncle, Factor recovered and opened a barber's shop. In August 1904, Max and his wife had their fourth child, Francis "Frank" Factor. However, on March 17, 1906, his wife collapsed and died from a brain hemorrhage.

 

Anxious to provide a mother for his four children, he married Huma "Helen" Sradkowska on the 15th. August 1906. Despite the birth of Louis on the 29th. August 1907, the marriage was short-lived and ended in a prolonged court battle. The outcome was that Max obtained custody of all of his children.

 

The Creation of an Empire

 

On the 21st. January 1908, Factor married Jennie Cook, a neighbor.

 

Later that year, Factor moved his family to Los Angeles, when he saw an opportunity to provide made-to-order wigs and theatrical make-up to the growing film industry.

 

Initially, he established a shop on South Central Avenue, and advertised the business as "Max Factor's Antiseptic Hair Store."

 

After the foundation of "Max Factor & Company" in 1909, he soon became the West Coast distributor of Leichner and Minor, two leading theatrical make-up manufacturers.

 

Greasepaint in stick form - although the accepted make-up for use on the stage - could not be applied thinly enough, nor were the colors appropriate, to work satisfactorily on the screen during the early years of movie-making.

 

Max Factor began experimenting with various compounds in an effort to develop a suitable make-up for the new film medium. By 1914, he had perfected the first cosmetic that was specifically created for motion picture use - a thinner greasepaint in cream form, packaged in a jar, and created in 12 precisely-graduated shades. Unlike theatrical cosmetics, it would not crack or cake.

 

With this major achievement to his credit, Max Factor became the authority on cosmetics for film making. Soon, movie stars were eager to sample the "flexible greasepaint," while movie producers sought Factor's human hair wigs. He allowed the wigs to be rented to the producers of Westerns, on the condition that his sons were given parts. The boys would watch the expensive wigs.

 

Factor marketed a range of cosmetics to the public during the 1920's, and insisted that every girl could look like a movie star by using Max Factor cosmetics.

 

In the early years of the business, Factor personally applied his products to actors and actresses. He developed a reputation for being able to customize make-up to present actors and actresses in the best possible light on screen.

 

Among his most notable clients were: Ben Turpin, Gloria Swanson, Mary Pickford, Pola Negri, Jean Harlow, Claudette Colbert, Bette Davis, Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, and Judy Garland.

 

As a result, virtually all of the major movie actresses were regular customers of the Max Factor beauty salon, located near Hollywood Boulevard. Max Factor's name appeared on many movie credits, and Factor appeared in some cameos.

 

Max Factor became a United States citizen in 1916.

 

In 1920, Max Factor gave in to Frank Factor's suggestion, and officially began referring to his products as "make-up." Until then, the term "cosmetics" had been used, because "make-up" was considered to be used only by people in the theatre or of dubious reputation - not something to be used in polite society.

 

The Death of Max Factor

 

In 1938, Max Factor was traveling in Europe on business with his son, Davis, when during a stopover in Paris, he received a note demanding money in exchange for his life.

 

An attempt was made by the police using a decoy to capture the extortionist, but no one turned up at the agreed drop-off point to collect the money. Factor was so shaken by the threat that he returned at the behest of a local doctor to America, where upon arrival, he took to his bed.

 

Max died on the 30th. August 1938, at the age of 60, in Beverly Hills, California. He was originally laid to rest in the Beth Olem mausoleum at the Hollywood Cemetery in Los Angeles. His remains were moved many years later to Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.

 

Max Factor Honors and Tributes

 

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented Max Factor with an honorary Academy Award in 1929 for his contributions to the film industry.

 

Additionally, Max Factor is honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (at 6922 Hollywood Boulevard).

 

Max Factor is mentioned in the classic song, "Hooray For Hollywood." In a reference to his creation of Clara Bow's heart-shaped lips, the song states:

 

"To be an actor, see Mr. Factor -

He'll make your pucker look good!"

 

Max Factor's Family

 

Max Factor had six children:

 

-- Freda Shore (January 22, 1898 – June 18, 1988)

-- Cecilia Firestein (October 17, 1899 – May 28, 1984)

-- Davis Factor (February 2, 1902 – August 31, 1991)

-- Francis "Frank" Factor (later known as Max Factor Jr. (August 18, 1904 – June 7, 1996)

-- Louis Factor (August 29, 1907 – December 1975)

-- Sidney B. Factor (February 14, 1916 – December 15, 2005)

 

In 2003, Andrew Luster (born December 15, 1963), one of Max Factor's great-grandsons, was convicted of multiple sexual assaults involving the use of GHB to render his victims unconscious.

 

Max Factor's half-brother John (October 8, 1892 – January 22, 1984) was a Prohibition-era gangster and con-artist affiliated with the Chicago Outfit.

 

The Liberty Bell Center

In 1975 and 2001, before the Bell moved to its new homes, technicians x-rayed it for hidden flaws.

Left: Photograph, "X-ray of the Liberty Bell," By Eastman Kodak Company, 30 October 1975

Right: Photograph, "X-ray of the Liberty Bell," by Conam Inspection, 27 April 2001

 

Last modified at 12:19 a.m. on Saturday, April 28, 2001

 

Liberty Bell gets X-ray checkup before move

 

By MARYCLAIRE DALE

The Associated Press

 

PHILADELPHIA -- The Liberty Bell is undergoing a checkup less than a month after it was damaged by a man with a hammer.

 

A suburban Chicago company took about a half-dozen X-rays of the bronze bell on Friday night.

 

"We don't know what's going on inside the bell. All we know is it's been through a lot in its 250-year history," said Karie Diethorn, the chief curator of Independence National Historical Park. Conam Inspection, which is conducting the test, is the same company that took X-rays of the bell 25 years ago. That inspection was done before the bell was moved from Independence Hall to its current home in a glass pavilion.

 

Friday's inspection was planned in advance of a move early next year to a new, larger pavilion nearby.

 

"We're very interested to see the difference between the X-rays taken 25 years ago and the ones taken today," Diethorn said.

 

She said the inspection would have been done anyway, but was moved up by about six months because of public concern following the hammer attack. Ultrasound tests are also planned as part of the monitoring of the bell's condition.

 

Mitchell Guilliatt, 27, from Nebraska, was arrested after the April 6 attack and was charged with damaging U.S. property. Witnesses said he chanted "God lives!" as he banged on the bell several times following a tour, causing small dents and chips.

 

Guilliatt, who later said he was trying to ring the bell, not damage it, was found incompetent to stand trial and is undergoing a 30-day psychiatric exam.

 

Despite the attack, National Park Service officials have vowed to keep the historic bell accessible to the public.

 

The commonwealth of Pennsylvania ordered the bell from England to hang in its statehouse, now known as Independence Hall, but officials were displeased with its sound when it arrived in 1752.

 

The bell was melted down and recast in Philadelphia in 1753, Diethorn said. It hung in the tower of Independence Hall until the 1840s, though it wasn't particularly famous until it was given the name "Liberty Bell" when it was adopted as a symbol of freedom by the anti-slavery movement in the 1830s.

 

Results of Friday's inspection should take about a month to analyze.

www.cjonline.com/stories/042801/new_libertybell.shtml

 

The Postcard

 

A postcard that was published by O. F. Stengel & Co. Ltd., Post Card Publishers, of London E.C.

 

The card was posted in London using a ½d. stamp on Monday the 21st. September 1908 to:

 

Mr. E. B. Hersey,

143, Newbury Street,

Boston,

Massachusetts,

USA.

 

The message side of the divided back of the card has been left blank.

 

Marble Arch

 

The Marble Arch is a 19th.-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London. The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the Cour d'Honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is today the three-bayed, central projection of the palace containing the well known balcony.

 

In 1851 the arch was relocated, and following the widening of Park Lane in the early 1960's is now sited, incongruously isolated, on a large traffic island at the junction of Oxford Street, Park Lane and Edgware Road.

 

The traffic going round the traffic island these days is very heavy and fast-moving; don't try and cross the road to get to the arch - you won't make it.

 

The Cumberland Hotel

 

All the Georgian houses in the background are no longer there; the ones on the right have been replaced by the enormous Cumberland Hotel.

 

The www.kzwp.com/ website created by Kattie Zion has a detailed history of the Cumberland Hotel building. She writes that:

 

"In 1901 the island site bounded by Oxford Street, Old Quebec Street, Bryanston Street and Great Cumberland Place, was progressively acquired by Joseph Lyons for the erection of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

The Cumberland project was formidable. The excavations alone entailed the removal of over 100,000 cubic yards of material, during which historical relics from all periods were unearthed. All building work was carried out by Lyons' own staff.

 

The Cumberland Hotel featured all the latest developments of comfort. It was sound-proofed, double glazed, air conditioned, and all 900 bed-rooms had their own en-suite. All air entering the hotel was filtered, including the supply to the kitchen areas. Here the exhaust was treated in order to eradicate cooking smells.

 

The structure consisted of thirteen floors, ten of them above ground and three below. Part of the hotel backbone was an enormous 100-ton girder which required the world's largest lorry to convey it. Fifteen thousand tons of steel-work was used in the hotel's construction. Four hundred thousand square feet of 'Empire grown timber' was used in the making of bedroom furniture.

 

The Cumberland Hotel officially opened its doors on the 12th. December 1933.

 

Two thousand staff were employed at the hotel, and a specially built annex provided accommodation for 300 girls who slept in single or double rooms. There was one bath to every four girls, and they ate in their own restaurant on the ground floor of the annex."

 

The Cumberland has seen many famous guests over the years; in the music world these include Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Holly.

 

In the Spring of 2019 the hotel changed its name to the Hard Rock Hotel, but reverted back to the Cumberland name four years later in May 2023.

 

The 2014 Cumberland Hotel Hammer Attack

 

In April 2014 the Cumberland Hotel was the scene of a devastating hammer attack.

 

Three sisters, Ohoud, Khaloud and Fatima Al-Najjar were staying in adjoining rooms at the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch, when Philip Spence hit all three of them violently with a claw hammer.

 

Spence was able to enter their seventh floor room, which was not locked, after he walked in off the street.

 

Philip Spence

 

Thirty-three year old Philip Spence from Harlesden in north-west London carried out his attack in front of Khaloud’s three children, aged seven, ten and twelve.

 

He hit one of his victims, Ohoud al-Najjar, 34, with such force that her skull split open as her nine-year-old nephew cowered under the sheets next to her.

 

Spence was permanently excluded from school at the age of eight, smoked cannabis from the age of 11, and was addicted to crack cocaine and heroin by 18.

 

Spence’s history of violence includes chasing his landlord with a hammer and punching a woman at council offices in 2007, as well as biting a passer-by in 2011.

 

Spence has 37 convictions for 62 offences dating back to 1993.

 

The three women left their hotel rooms unlocked on the night of the attack in order to allow a fourth sister to return later in the evening.

 

The fourth sister, Sheika al-Mheiri, on returning discovered her sisters lying injured on the floor, with blood spattered on the walls.

 

Spence had fled the scene with a suitcase stuffed with iPads, gold jewellery and mobile phones, having dumped the hammer just outside the hotel.

 

CCTV footage captured Spence on a bus examining items that he had stolen from the women after his attack.

 

The Criminal Trial

 

A year later at his criminal trial, Spence’s barrister, William Nash, said in mitigation that his client had consumed a large amount of drugs at the time of the attack:

 

“He didn’t know of any other crackhead

as big as him. He can’t forgive himself.

He describes himself as being a totally

different person. He is not unempathetic.”

 

Nevertheless Spence was convicted of three counts of attempted murder.

 

The "hotel creeper" was initially ordered to serve life with a minimum of 18 years, but this was increased to 27 years on appeal.

 

The High Court Case

 

The BBC provided the following information on the 7th. May 2019 relating to the attack and its legal consequences:

 

"Three sisters who suffered devastating injuries in a hammer attack by a thief are suing the owners of the London hotel where it happened.

 

At the start of the case at the High Court, lawyers described the injuries to the women, who were from Abu Dhabi in the UAE:

 

-- Ohoud was left with five per cent brain capacity, and will require care for the rest of her life.

 

-- Khaloud has had 20 operations to rebuild her head and face.

 

-- Fatima cannot taste or smell, and has problems with her memory.

 

Spence admitted the attack,, but denied attempted murder.

 

The family's barrister, Susan Rodway, said that Spence - who had a history of sneaking into hotel rooms to steal - had "great knowledge and familiarity" of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

She said that he told his criminal trial he was a regular intruder at the hotel, and had even been able to sleep in maids' cupboards.

 

She added that security "failures" led Spence to directly target the hotel, where he knew he could make an easy buck from the rich pickings there.

 

The court heard that it was "well-known" to the hotel that it was common for Middle Eastern guests to leave doors on the latch in order to enable family members to go between rooms.

 

The hotel's owners deny liability, arguing that by leaving their door open, the women voluntarily assumed the obvious risk of allowing anyone to enter the room while they were asleep inside.

 

Neil Block QC, for the hotel, said in a written submission:

 

"Each guest room was fitted with a heavy duty

fire door with efficient self-closers and automatic

locks, deadlocks, security chains and spy-glasses.

The rooms were designed so that guests could

not leave them open accidentally."

 

He said that after the incident, police tested a closed bedroom door, and found it impossible to gain access with a hammer similar to that used by Mr Spence.

 

Ms Rodway said that the hotel's CCTV system was "purely reactive" and that:

 

"it was clearly only there to enable review

should an incident occur, but not to enable

any anticipation or prevention of an incident".

 

But Mr Block said the fact that there was no system for live monitoring of all 130 CCTV cameras at the hotel "was, and indeed remains, the norm for similar hotels".

 

He concluded:

 

"But for the deliberate interference with

the door's locking mechanism, the attack

would not have occurred."

 

The case is expected to last for two weeks."

 

The High Court Judgement

 

On Friday the 21st. June 2019, the High Court judge Mr. Justice Dingemans ruled that:

 

"There was no liability on the part of the

Cumberland Hotel to Ohoud, Khaloud

and Fatima for the attack carried out by

Mr Spence".

 

He said that the case raised issues about whether a hotel proprietor owes a duty to guests to take reasonable care to protect against injury caused by the criminal actions of third parties, and if so whether the duty was breached in this case.

 

Dingemans concluded that there was such a duty of care, but based on the facts of the case, there was no breach of that duty.

 

The judge said that:

 

"The hotel acted with reasonable care to

protect guests at the hotel against injury

caused by the criminal acts of third parties".

 

However Khaloud and Fatima said in a statement after the ruling:

 

"Re-living the horrors of that terrifying night

where we almost lost our lives has been

extremely traumatic for us to endure, and

we are devastated that it has all been for

nothing.

We lost our sister, and our lives were

changed forever when we were attacked

by Spence in the privacy of our own room."

 

Khaloud and Fatima said that they felt the decision was "a travesty" and that "justice has not been done".

 

A spokeswoman for the owner of the Cumberland, GLH Hotels, said after the ruling:

 

"We believe today's judgement is the

correct outcome.

Regardless, the al Najjar family's

experience was deeply shocking and

wholly unprecedented and we reiterate

our heartfelt concern for their well-being

as they continue to receive all necessary

support."

 

Hermann Minkowski

 

So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?

 

Well, on the the 21st. September 1908, Hermann Minkowski gave a famous address to the 80th. Assembly of German Natural Scientists and Physicians.

 

Hermann Minkowski, who was born on the 22nd. June 1864 in

Aleksotas, Kingdom of Poland (now in Kaunas, Lithuania), was a German mathematician and professor at Königsberg, Zürich and Göttingen.

 

He created and developed the geometry of numbers, and used geometrical methods to solve problems in number theory, mathematical physics, and the theory of relativity.

 

Minkowski is best known for his work in relativity, in which he showed in 1907 that his former student Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity (1905) could be understood geometrically as a theory of four-dimensional space–time, since known as the "Minkowski Spacetime".

 

The main-belt asteroid 12493 Minkowski and M-matrices are named in Minkowski's honor.

 

Hermann Minkowski - Personal Life and Career

 

Hermann Minkowski was born to Lewin Boruch Minkowski, a merchant who subsidized the building of the choral synagogue in Kovno, and Rachel Taubmann, both of Jewish descent. Hermann was a younger brother to the medical researcher Oskar (born 1858).

 

To escape persecution in the Russian Empire the family moved to Königsberg in 1872, where Hermann's father became involved in rag export and later in manufacture of mechanical clockwork tin toys (he operated his firm Lewin Minkowski & Son with his eldest son Max).

 

Hermann Minkowski studied in Königsberg and taught in Bonn (1887–1894), Königsberg (1894–1896) and Zurich (1896–1902), and finally in Göttingen from 1902 until his death in 1909.

 

He married Auguste Adler in 1897 with whom he had two daughters; the electrical engineer and inventor Reinhold Rudenberg was his son-in-law.

 

Hermann Minkowski's Mathematics

 

Minkowski was educated in East Prussia at the Albertina University of Königsberg, where he earned his doctorate in 1885 under the direction of Ferdinand von Lindemann.

 

In 1883, while still a student at Königsberg, he was awarded the Mathematics Prize of the French Academy of Sciences for his manuscript on the theory of quadratic forms.

 

Due to Hermann's very young age of 18, which was unheard of in the mathematics community, and his obscurity as a mathematician at the time, his sharing of the award with eminent English mathematician Henry Smith (who was certainly a great deal more famous than Hermann and to whom the prize was awarded posthumously) caused severe unrest among English mathematicians.

 

However the prize committee, despite the numerous complaints, never changed their decision.

 

Hermann's brother, Oskar Minkowski (1858–1931), was a well-known physician and researcher.

 

At the Eidgenössische Polytechnikum, today the ETH Zurich, Hermann was one of Einstein's teachers.

 

Minkowski explored the arithmetic of quadratic forms, especially concerning n variables, and his research into that topic led him to consider certain geometric properties in a space of n dimensions.

 

In 1896, he presented his geometry of numbers, a geometrical method that solved problems in number theory. He is also the creator of the Minkowski Sausage and the Minkowski Cover of a Curve.

 

In 1902, he joined the Mathematics Department of Göttingen and became a close colleague of David Hilbert, whom he first met at university in Königsberg.

 

Hermann Minkowski's Work on Relativity

 

By 1908 Minkowski realized that the special theory of relativity, introduced by his former student Albert Einstein in 1905 and based on the previous work of Lorentz and Poincaré, could best be understood in a four-dimensional space, since known as the "Minkowski Spacetime".

 

According to this paradigm, time and space are not separated entities but intermingled in a four-dimensional space–time, and in which the Lorentz geometry of special relativity can be effectively represented using an invariant interval.

 

The mathematical basis of Minkowski space can also be found in the hyperboloid model of hyperbolic space already known in the 19th. century, because isometries (or motions) in hyperbolic space can be related to Lorentz transformations, which included contributions of Wilhelm Killing (1880, 1885), Henri Poincaré (1881), Homersham Cox (1881), Alexander Macfarlane (1894) and others.

 

The beginning part of Hermann's address called "Space and Time" delivered at the 80th. Assembly of German Natural Scientists and Physicians on the 21st. September 1908 is now famous:

 

"The views of space and time which I wish to lay

before you have sprung from the soil of experimental

physics, and therein lies their strength.

They are radical. Henceforth space by itself, and time

by itself, are doomed to fade away into mere shadows,

and only a kind of union of the two will preserve an

independent reality."

 

The Death of Hermann Minkowski

 

Minkowski died suddenly of appendicitis in Göttingen, German Empire on the 12th. January 1909. He was only 44 years of age when he died.

 

David Hilbert's obituary of Minkowski illustrates the deep friendship between the two mathematicians:

 

"Since my student years Minkowski was my best,

most dependable friend who supported me with

all the depth and loyalty that was so characteristic

of him.

Our science, which we loved above all else, brought

us together; it seemed to us a garden full of flowers.

In it, we enjoyed looking for hidden pathways, and

discovered many a new perspective that appealed

to our sense of beauty, and when one of us showed

it to the other and we marveled over it together, our

joy was complete.

He was for me a rare gift from heaven, and I must

be grateful to have possessed that gift for so long.

Now death has suddenly torn him from our midst.

However, what death cannot take away is his noble

image in our hearts and the knowledge that his spirit

continues to be active in us."

 

Max Born delivered the obituary on behalf of the mathematics students at Göttingen.

A man with a hammer attacks a giant slug in my garden. The shell is cracked, but does the man care?

 

Just a bit of fun to test the close focusing abilities of a new lens, Nikon 18-55mm zoom. The man is part of a set from the makers of Hornby model trains.

The Postcard

 

A postally unused postcard bearing no publisher's name.

 

It is however stated on the back of the card that it was printed in Bavaria.

 

The woman with the pram was probably asked to stand there by the photographer.

 

Marble Arch

 

Marble Arch is a 19th-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London.

 

The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the Cour d'Honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is today the three-bayed, central projection of the palace containing the well known balcony.

 

In 1851 it was relocated, and following the widening of Park Lane in the early 1960's is now sited, incongruently isolated, on a large traffic island at the junction of Oxford Street, Park Lane and Edgware Road.

 

The traffic going round the traffic island these days is very heavy and fast-moving; don't try and cross the road to get to it - you won't make it.

 

The Cumberland Hotel

 

The Georgian houses in the background are no longer there; they have been replaced by the enormous Cumberland Hotel.

 

The www.kzwp.com/ website created by Kattie Zion has a detailed history of the Cumberland Hotel building. She writes that:

 

"In 1901 the island site bounded by Oxford Street, Old Quebec Street, Bryanston Street and Great Cumberland Place, was progressively acquired by Joseph Lyons for the erection of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

The Cumberland project was formidable. The excavations alone entailed the removal of over 100,000 cubic yards of material, during which historical relics from all periods were unearthed. All building work was carried out by Lyons' own staff.

 

The Cumberland Hotel featured all the latest developments of comfort. It was sound-proofed, double glazed, air conditioned, and all 900 bed-rooms had their own en-suite. All air entering the hotel was filtered, including the supply to the kitchen areas. Here the exhaust was treated in order to eradicate cooking smells.

 

The structure consisted of thirteen floors, ten of them above ground and three below. Part of the hotel backbone was an enormous 100-ton girder which required the world's largest lorry to convey it. Fifteen thousand tons of steel-work was used in the hotel's construction. Four hundred thousand square feet of 'Empire grown timber' was used in the making of bedroom furniture.

 

The Cumberland Hotel officially opened its doors on the 12th. December 1933.

 

Two thousand staff were employed at the hotel, and a specially built annex provided accommodation for 300 girls who slept in single or double rooms. There was one bath to every four girls, and they ate in their own restaurant on the ground floor of the annex."

 

The Cumberland has seen many famous guests over the years; in the music world these include Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Holly.

 

In the Spring of 2019 the hotel changed its name to the Hard Rock Hotel, but reverted back to the Cumberland name four years later in May 2023.

 

The 2014 Cumberland Hotel Hammer Attack

 

In April 2014 the Cumberland Hotel was the scene of a devastating hammer attack.

 

Three sisters, Ohoud, Khaloud and Fatima Al-Najjar were staying in adjoining rooms at the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch, when Philip Spence hit all three of them violently with a claw hammer.

 

Spence was able to enter their seventh floor room, which was not locked, after he walked in off the street.

 

Philip Spence

 

Thirty-three year old Philip Spence from Harlesden in north-west London carried out his attack in front of Khaloud’s three children, aged seven, ten and twelve.

 

He hit one of his victims, Ohoud al-Najjar, 34, with such force that her skull split open as her nine-year-old nephew cowered under the sheets next to her.

 

Spence was permanently excluded from school at the age of eight, smoked cannabis from the age of 11, and was addicted to crack cocaine and heroin by 18.

 

Spence’s history of violence includes chasing his landlord with a hammer and punching a woman at council offices in 2007, as well as biting a passer-by in 2011.

 

Spence has 37 convictions for 62 offences dating back to 1993.

 

The three women left their hotel rooms unlocked on the night of the attack in order to allow a fourth sister to return later in the evening.

 

The fourth sister, Sheika al-Mheiri, on returning discovered her sisters lying injured on the floor, with blood spattered on the walls.

 

Spence had fled the scene with a suitcase stuffed with iPads, gold jewellery and mobile phones, having dumped the hammer just outside the hotel.

 

CCTV footage captured Spence on a bus examining items that he had stolen from the women after his attack.

 

The Criminal Trial

 

A year later at his criminal trial, Spence’s barrister, William Nash, said in mitigation that his client had consumed a large amount of drugs at the time of the attack:

 

“He didn’t know of any other crackhead

as big as him. He can’t forgive himself.

He describes himself as being a totally

different person. He is not unempathetic.”

 

Nevertheless Spence was convicted of three counts of attempted murder.

 

The "hotel creeper" was initially ordered to serve life with a minimum of 18 years, but this was increased to 27 years on appeal.

 

The High Court Case

 

The BBC provided the following information on the 7th. May 2019 relating to the attack and its legal consequences:

 

"Three sisters who suffered devastating injuries in a hammer attack by a thief are suing the owners of the London hotel where it happened.

 

At the start of the case at the High Court, lawyers described the injuries to the women, who were from Abu Dhabi in the UAE:

 

-- Ohoud was left with five per cent brain capacity, and will require care for the rest of her life.

 

-- Khaloud has had 20 operations to rebuild her head and face.

 

-- Fatima cannot taste or smell, and has problems with her memory.

 

Spence admitted the attack,, but denied attempted murder.

 

The family's barrister, Susan Rodway, said that Spence - who had a history of sneaking into hotel rooms to steal - had "great knowledge and familiarity" of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

She said that he told his criminal trial he was a regular intruder at the hotel, and had even been able to sleep in maids' cupboards.

 

She added that security "failures" led Spence to directly target the hotel, where he knew he could make an easy buck from the rich pickings there.

 

The court heard that it was "well-known" to the hotel that it was common for Middle Eastern guests to leave doors on the latch in order to enable family members to go between rooms.

 

The hotel's owners deny liability, arguing that by leaving their door open, the women voluntarily assumed the obvious risk of allowing anyone to enter the room while they were asleep inside.

 

Neil Block QC, for the hotel, said in a written submission:

 

"Each guest room was fitted with a heavy duty

fire door with efficient self-closers and automatic

locks, deadlocks, security chains and spy-glasses.

The rooms were designed so that guests could

not leave them open accidentally."

 

He said that after the incident, police tested a closed bedroom door, and found it impossible to gain access with a hammer similar to that used by Mr Spence.

 

Ms Rodway said that the hotel's CCTV system was "purely reactive" and that:

 

"it was clearly only there to enable review

should an incident occur, but not to enable

any anticipation or prevention of an incident".

 

But Mr Block said the fact that there was no system for live monitoring of all 130 CCTV cameras at the hotel "was, and indeed remains, the norm for similar hotels".

 

He concluded:

 

"But for the deliberate interference with

the door's locking mechanism, the attack

would not have occurred."

 

The case is expected to last for two weeks."

 

The High Court Judgement

 

On Friday the 21st. June 2019, the High Court judge Mr. Justice Dingemans ruled that:

 

"There was no liability on the part of the

Cumberland Hotel to Ohoud, Khaloud

and Fatima for the attack carried out by

Mr Spence".

 

He said that the case raised issues about whether a hotel proprietor owes a duty to guests to take reasonable care to protect against injury caused by the criminal actions of third parties, and if so whether the duty was breached in this case.

 

Dingemans concluded that there was such a duty of care, but based on the facts of the case, there was no breach of that duty.

 

The judge said that:

 

"The hotel acted with reasonable care to

protect guests at the hotel against injury

caused by the criminal acts of third parties".

 

However Khaloud and Fatima said in a statement after the ruling:

 

"Re-living the horrors of that terrifying night

where we almost lost our lives has been

extremely traumatic for us to endure, and

we are devastated that it has all been for

nothing.

We lost our sister, and our lives were

changed forever when we were attacked

by Spence in the privacy of our own room."

 

Khaloud and Fatima said that they felt the decision was "a travesty" and that "justice has not been done".

 

A spokeswoman for the owner of the Cumberland, GLH Hotels, said after the ruling:

 

"We believe today's judgement is the

correct outcome.

Regardless, the al Najjar family's

experience was deeply shocking and

wholly unprecedented and we reiterate

our heartfelt concern for their well-being

as they continue to receive all necessary

support."

 

The Postcard

 

A postcard bearing an early image of Marble Arch. The card was posted from Leytonstone to an address in St. George's Road Leyton on Saturday the 6th. July 1907.

 

Marble Arch

 

Marble Arch is a 19th-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London, England. The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the Cour d'Honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is today the three-bayed, central projection of the palace containing the well known balcony.

 

In 1851 it was relocated, and following the widening of Park Lane in the early 1960's is now sited, incongruently isolated, on a large traffic island at the junction of Oxford Street, Park Lane and Edgware Road.

 

The traffic going round the traffic island these days is very heavy and fast-moving; don't try and cross the road to get to it - you won't make it.

 

The Cumberland Hotel

 

All the Georgian houses in the background are no longer there; they have been replaced by the enormous Cumberland Hotel.

 

The www.kzwp.com/ website created by Kattie Zion has a detailed history of the Cumberland Hotel building. She writes that:

 

"In 1901 the island site bounded by Oxford Street, Old Quebec Street, Bryanston Street and Great Cumberland Place, was progressively acquired by Joseph Lyons for the erection of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

The Cumberland project was formidable. The excavations alone entailed the removal of over 100,000 cubic yards of material, during which historical relics from all periods were unearthed. All building work was carried out by Lyons' own staff.

 

The Cumberland Hotel featured all the latest developments of comfort. It was sound-proofed, double glazed, air conditioned, and all 900 bed-rooms had their own en-suite. All air entering the hotel was filtered, including the supply to the kitchen areas. Here the exhaust was treated in order to eradicate cooking smells.

 

The structure consisted of thirteen floors, ten of them above ground and three below. Part of the hotel backbone was an enormous 100-ton girder which required the world's largest lorry to convey it. Fifteen thousand tons of steel-work was used in the hotel's construction. Four hundred thousand square feet of 'Empire grown timber' was used in the making of bedroom furniture.

 

The Cumberland Hotel officially opened its doors on the 12th. December 1933.

 

Two thousand staff were employed at the hotel, and a specially built annex provided accommodation for 300 girls who slept in single or double rooms. There was one bath to every four girls, and they ate in their own restaurant on the ground floor of the annex."

 

The Cumberland has seen many famous guests over the years; in the music world these include Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Holly.

 

In the Spring of 2019 the hotel changed its name to the Hard Rock Hotel, but reverted back to the Cumberland name four years later in May 2023.

 

The 2014 Cumberland Hotel Hammer Attack

 

In April 2014 the Cumberland Hotel was the scene of a devastating hammer attack.

 

Three sisters, Ohoud, Khaloud and Fatima Al-Najjar were staying in adjoining rooms at the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch, when Philip Spence hit all three of them violently with a claw hammer.

 

Spence was able to enter their seventh floor room, which was not locked, after he walked in off the street.

 

Philip Spence

 

Thirty-three year old Philip Spence from Harlesden in north-west London carried out his attack in front of Khaloud’s three children, aged seven, ten and twelve.

 

He hit one of his victims, Ohoud al-Najjar, 34, with such force that her skull split open as her nine-year-old nephew cowered under the sheets next to her.

 

Spence was permanently excluded from school at the age of eight, smoked cannabis from the age of 11, and was addicted to crack cocaine and heroin by 18.

 

Spence’s history of violence includes chasing his landlord with a hammer and punching a woman at council offices in 2007, as well as biting a passer-by in 2011.

 

Spence has 37 convictions for 62 offences dating back to 1993.

 

The three women left their hotel rooms unlocked on the night of the attack in order to allow a fourth sister to return later in the evening.

 

The fourth sister, Sheika al-Mheiri, on returning discovered her sisters lying injured on the floor, with blood spattered on the walls.

 

Spence had fled the scene with a suitcase stuffed with iPads, gold jewellery and mobile phones, having dumped the hammer just outside the hotel.

 

CCTV footage captured Spence on a bus examining items that he had stolen from the women after his attack.

 

The Criminal Trial

 

A year later at his criminal trial, Spence’s barrister, William Nash, said in mitigation that his client had consumed a large amount of drugs at the time of the attack:

 

“He didn’t know of any other crackhead

as big as him. He can’t forgive himself.

He describes himself as being a totally

different person. He is not unempathetic.”

 

Nevertheless Spence was convicted of three counts of attempted murder.

 

The "hotel creeper" was initially ordered to serve life with a minimum of 18 years, but this was increased to 27 years on appeal.

 

The High Court Case

 

The BBC provided the following information on the 7th. May 2019 relating to the attack and its legal consequences:

 

"Three sisters who suffered devastating injuries in a hammer attack by a thief are suing the owners of the London hotel where it happened.

 

At the start of the case at the High Court, lawyers described the injuries to the women, who were from Abu Dhabi in the UAE:

 

-- Ohoud was left with five per cent brain capacity, and will require care for the rest of her life.

 

-- Khaloud has had 20 operations to rebuild her head and face.

 

-- Fatima cannot taste or smell, and has problems with her memory.

 

Spence admitted the attack,, but denied attempted murder.

 

The family's barrister, Susan Rodway, said that Spence - who had a history of sneaking into hotel rooms to steal - had "great knowledge and familiarity" of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

She said that he told his criminal trial he was a regular intruder at the hotel, and had even been able to sleep in maids' cupboards.

 

She added that security "failures" led Spence to directly target the hotel, where he knew he could make an easy buck from the rich pickings there.

 

The court heard that it was "well-known" to the hotel that it was common for Middle Eastern guests to leave doors on the latch in order to enable family members to go between rooms.

 

The hotel's owners deny liability, arguing that by leaving their door open, the women voluntarily assumed the obvious risk of allowing anyone to enter the room while they were asleep inside.

 

Neil Block QC, for the hotel, said in a written submission:

 

"Each guest room was fitted with a heavy duty

fire door with efficient self-closers and automatic

locks, deadlocks, security chains and spy-glasses.

The rooms were designed so that guests could

not leave them open accidentally."

 

He said that after the incident, police tested a closed bedroom door, and found it impossible to gain access with a hammer similar to that used by Mr Spence.

 

Ms Rodway said that the hotel's CCTV system was "purely reactive" and that:

 

"it was clearly only there to enable review

should an incident occur, but not to enable

any anticipation or prevention of an incident".

 

But Mr Block said the fact that there was no system for live monitoring of all 130 CCTV cameras at the hotel "was, and indeed remains, the norm for similar hotels".

 

He concluded:

 

"But for the deliberate interference with

the door's locking mechanism, the attack

would not have occurred."

 

The case is expected to last for two weeks."

 

The High Court Judgement

 

On Friday the 21st. June 2019, the High Court judge Mr. Justice Dingemans ruled that:

 

"There was no liability on the part of the

Cumberland Hotel to Ohoud, Khaloud

and Fatima for the attack carried out by

Mr Spence".

 

He said that the case raised issues about whether a hotel proprietor owes a duty to guests to take reasonable care to protect against injury caused by the criminal actions of third parties, and if so whether the duty was breached in this case.

 

Dingemans concluded that there was such a duty of care, but based on the facts of the case, there was no breach of that duty.

 

The judge said that:

 

"The hotel acted with reasonable care to

protect guests at the hotel against injury

caused by the criminal acts of third parties".

 

However Khaloud and Fatima said in a statement after the ruling:

 

"Re-living the horrors of that terrifying night

where we almost lost our lives has been

extremely traumatic for us to endure, and

we are devastated that it has all been for

nothing.

We lost our sister, and our lives were

changed forever when we were attacked

by Spence in the privacy of our own room."

 

Khaloud and Fatima said that they felt the decision was "a travesty" and that "justice has not been done".

 

A spokeswoman for the owner of the Cumberland, GLH Hotels, said after the ruling:

 

"We believe today's judgement is the

correct outcome.

Regardless, the al Najjar family's

experience was deeply shocking and

wholly unprecedented and we reiterate

our heartfelt concern for their well-being

as they continue to receive all necessary

support."

 

Brooklands

 

So what else happened on the day the card was posted?

 

Well, on the 6th. July 1907, Brooklands held its first race meeting.

 

In the early 20th century, motoring in Britain was exciting and exotic. It was also considered reckless and dangerous. So laws were passed to keep the country’s motorists in check by limiting their speeds. For 31 years from 1865, speeds were restricted to a sub-pedestrian 2mph in town, and 4mph out of it. It was raised in 1896 to 14mph.

 

One effect was that Britain’s car industry began to lose ground to competitors in Germany, and, more irritatingly, France. And in France in particular, they liked to go fast – in June 1906, they staged the first Grand Prix.

 

That annoyed some people. And it really annoyed Hugh Fortescue Locke King. So he spent £150,000 (some £15m in today’s money) building a motor racing circuit in the grounds of his estate in Weybridge, Surrey.

 

The result was Brooklands – a 2.7 mile-long concrete circuit, 100 feet wide, with steeply banked curves. It opened to the public in June 1907, and on 6 July, it held its first race meeting.

 

Some 13,000 spectators turned up to watch the six races held that day. The first, the Marcel Renault Memorial Plate, with a first prize of 100 sovereigns, was won, rather fortuitously, by a Mr S F Edge in his British Napier, beating Mr Huntly-Walker’s French Darracq, and Mr Kerr Smiley in his Renault.

 

It’s fair to say that first meeting wasn’t a resounding success. Complaints ranged from the fact you couldn’t watch the action from your car, to the speed of the contestants (“With racing at speeds above forty miles an hour, it is almost impossible to recognise the drivers or the cars”, complained one correspondent).

 

Nevertheless, Brooklands became the home of British motorsport until WWII. But the arrival of war forced the circuit to close, with the site being used to manufacture aircraft. It never recovered.

The Postcard

 

A postcard bearing no publisher's name. On the back of the card is printed:

 

'The Marble Arch was erected at a cost

of £80,000 by George IV to provide a

magnificent approach to Buckingham

Palace'.

 

The card was posted in London on the 23rd. July 1927 to:

 

Mrs. Beacham,

12, Chapel Street,

Haslingden,

Lancashire.

 

The message on the back of the card was as follows:

 

"Dear Wife,

Just a line to let you know

that we arrived quite safely

and everything was alright

with our Gladys.

Johnny and George met me.

Lovely weather.

From George".

 

Marble Arch

 

Marble Arch is a 19th-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London.

 

The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the Cour d'Honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is today the three-bayed, central projection of the palace containing the well known balcony.

 

In 1851 it was relocated, and following the widening of Park Lane in the early 1960's is now sited, incongruently isolated, on a large traffic island at the junction of Oxford Street, Park Lane and Edgware Road.

 

The traffic going round the traffic island these days is very heavy and fast-moving; don't try and cross the road to get to it - you won't make it.

 

The Cumberland Hotel

 

All the Georgian houses in the background are no longer there; they have been replaced by the enormous Cumberland Hotel.

 

The www.kzwp.com/ website created by Kattie Zion has a detailed history of the Cumberland Hotel building. She writes that:

 

"In 1901 the island site bounded by Oxford Street, Old Quebec Street, Bryanston Street and Great Cumberland Place, was progressively acquired by Joseph Lyons for the erection of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

The Cumberland project was formidable. The excavations alone entailed the removal of over 100,000 cubic yards of material, during which historical relics from all periods were unearthed. All building work was carried out by Lyons' own staff.

 

The Cumberland Hotel featured all the latest developments of comfort. It was sound-proofed, double glazed, air conditioned, and all 900 bed-rooms had their own en-suite. All air entering the hotel was filtered, including the supply to the kitchen areas. Here the exhaust was treated in order to eradicate cooking smells.

 

The structure consisted of thirteen floors, ten of them above ground and three below. Part of the hotel backbone was an enormous 100-ton girder which required the world's largest lorry to convey it. Fifteen thousand tons of steel-work was used in the hotel's construction. Four hundred thousand square feet of 'Empire grown timber' was used in the making of bedroom furniture.

 

The Cumberland Hotel officially opened its doors on the 12th. December 1933.

 

Two thousand staff were employed at the hotel, and a specially built annex provided accommodation for 300 girls who slept in single or double rooms. There was one bath to every four girls, and they ate in their own restaurant on the ground floor of the annex."

 

The Cumberland has seen many famous guests over the years; in the music world these include Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Holly.

 

In the Spring of 2019 the hotel changed its name to the Hard Rock Hotel, but reverted back to the Cumberland name four years later in May 2023.

 

The 2014 Cumberland Hotel Hammer Attack

 

In April 2014 the Cumberland Hotel was the scene of a devastating hammer attack.

 

Three sisters, Ohoud, Khaloud and Fatima Al-Najjar were staying in adjoining rooms at the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch, when Philip Spence hit all three of them violently with a claw hammer.

 

Spence was able to enter their seventh floor room, which was not locked, after he walked in off the street.

 

Philip Spence

 

Thirty-three year old Philip Spence from Harlesden in north-west London carried out his attack in front of Khaloud’s three children, aged seven, ten and twelve.

 

He hit one of his victims, Ohoud al-Najjar, 34, with such force that her skull split open as her nine-year-old nephew cowered under the sheets next to her.

 

Spence was permanently excluded from school at the age of eight, smoked cannabis from the age of 11, and was addicted to crack cocaine and heroin by 18.

 

Spence’s history of violence includes chasing his landlord with a hammer and punching a woman at council offices in 2007, as well as biting a passer-by in 2011.

 

Spence has 37 convictions for 62 offences dating back to 1993.

 

The three women left their hotel rooms unlocked on the night of the attack in order to allow a fourth sister to return later in the evening.

 

The fourth sister, Sheika al-Mheiri, on returning discovered her sisters lying injured on the floor, with blood spattered on the walls.

 

Spence had fled the scene with a suitcase stuffed with iPads, gold jewellery and mobile phones, having dumped the hammer just outside the hotel.

 

CCTV footage captured Spence on a bus examining items that he had stolen from the women after his attack.

 

The Criminal Trial

 

A year later at his criminal trial, Spence’s barrister, William Nash, said in mitigation that his client had consumed a large amount of drugs at the time of the attack:

 

“He didn’t know of any other crackhead

as big as him. He can’t forgive himself.

He describes himself as being a totally

different person. He is not unempathetic.”

 

Nevertheless Spence was convicted of three counts of attempted murder.

 

The "hotel creeper" was initially ordered to serve life with a minimum of 18 years, but this was increased to 27 years on appeal.

 

The High Court Case

 

The BBC provided the following information on the 7th. May 2019 relating to the attack and its legal consequences:

 

"Three sisters who suffered devastating injuries in a hammer attack by a thief are suing the owners of the London hotel where it happened.

 

At the start of the case at the High Court, lawyers described the injuries to the women, who were from Abu Dhabi in the UAE:

 

-- Ohoud was left with five per cent brain capacity, and will require care for the rest of her life.

 

-- Khaloud has had 20 operations to rebuild her head and face.

 

-- Fatima cannot taste or smell, and has problems with her memory.

 

Spence admitted the attack,, but denied attempted murder.

 

The family's barrister, Susan Rodway, said that Spence - who had a history of sneaking into hotel rooms to steal - had "great knowledge and familiarity" of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

She said that he told his criminal trial he was a regular intruder at the hotel, and had even been able to sleep in maids' cupboards.

 

She added that security "failures" led Spence to directly target the hotel, where he knew he could make an easy buck from the rich pickings there.

 

The court heard that it was "well-known" to the hotel that it was common for Middle Eastern guests to leave doors on the latch in order to enable family members to go between rooms.

 

The hotel's owners deny liability, arguing that by leaving their door open, the women voluntarily assumed the obvious risk of allowing anyone to enter the room while they were asleep inside.

 

Neil Block QC, for the hotel, said in a written submission:

 

"Each guest room was fitted with a heavy duty

fire door with efficient self-closers and automatic

locks, deadlocks, security chains and spy-glasses.

The rooms were designed so that guests could

not leave them open accidentally."

 

He said that after the incident, police tested a closed bedroom door, and found it impossible to gain access with a hammer similar to that used by Mr Spence.

 

Ms Rodway said that the hotel's CCTV system was "purely reactive" and that:

 

"it was clearly only there to enable review

should an incident occur, but not to enable

any anticipation or prevention of an incident".

 

But Mr Block said the fact that there was no system for live monitoring of all 130 CCTV cameras at the hotel "was, and indeed remains, the norm for similar hotels".

 

He concluded:

 

"But for the deliberate interference with

the door's locking mechanism, the attack

would not have occurred."

 

The case is expected to last for two weeks."

 

The High Court Judgement

 

On Friday the 21st. June 2019, the High Court judge Mr. Justice Dingemans ruled that:

 

"There was no liability on the part of the

Cumberland Hotel to Ohoud, Khaloud

and Fatima for the attack carried out by

Mr Spence".

 

He said that the case raised issues about whether a hotel proprietor owes a duty to guests to take reasonable care to protect against injury caused by the criminal actions of third parties, and if so whether the duty was breached in this case.

 

Dingemans concluded that there was such a duty of care, but based on the facts of the case, there was no breach of that duty.

 

The judge said that:

 

"The hotel acted with reasonable care to

protect guests at the hotel against injury

caused by the criminal acts of third parties".

 

However Khaloud and Fatima said in a statement after the ruling:

 

"Re-living the horrors of that terrifying night

where we almost lost our lives has been

extremely traumatic for us to endure, and

we are devastated that it has all been for

nothing.

We lost our sister, and our lives were

changed forever when we were attacked

by Spence in the privacy of our own room."

 

Khaloud and Fatima said that they felt the decision was "a travesty" and that "justice has not been done".

 

A spokeswoman for the owner of the Cumberland, GLH Hotels, said after the ruling:

 

"We believe today's judgement is the

correct outcome.

Regardless, the al Najjar family's

experience was deeply shocking and

wholly unprecedented and we reiterate

our heartfelt concern for their well-being

as they continue to receive all necessary

support."

 

Reginald Dyer

 

So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?

 

Well, Saturday the 23rd. July 1927 was not a good day for Brigadier General Reginald Dyer, because he died in that day aged 62.

 

He was a British officer whose orders to army troops to fire into a crowd of civilians resulted in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919.

lily in a garden in cabbagetown. in keeping with the tradition of naming flowers based on their appearance, i call this one scene of the hammer attack.

The Karl Marx Monument has been vandalised for second time in two weeks

 

The words "Doctrine of Hate" and "Architect of Genocide" are scrawled in red on the Grade I-listed grave in Highgate Cemetery.

 

This latest incident follows a "deliberate and sustained" hammer attack on 4 February that left the memorial badly damaged.

 

Karl Marx was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist and socialist revolutionary. Born in Trier, Germany, Marx studied law and philosophy at university. He married Jenny von Westphalen in 1843. Wikipedia

 

© Tony Worrall

The Postcard

 

A postcard which was published by the Rotary Photo Co. of London E.C.

 

The photograph of Marble Arch was taken from approximately where the drinking horse statue is today.

 

The card was posted in London S.E. on the 28th. April 1919 to:

 

Mr. & Miss W. Pratt Junior,

2, Percy Villas,

Hilden Park Estate,

Tonbridge,

Kent

 

The message on the back of the card was as follows:

 

"Waterloo.

My Dear Sis & Brother,

Missed the train by 5 minutes.

Leaving at 8.5 tonight for

Salisbury, shall get home

about 10am in the morning.

Hope you both had a pleasant

journey.

Much love,

Yours,

Carrie & Syd".

 

Marble Arch

 

Marble Arch is a 19th-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London.

 

The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the Cour d'Honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is today the three-bayed, central projection of the palace containing the well known balcony.

 

In 1851 it was relocated, and following the widening of Park Lane in the early 1960's is now sited, incongruently isolated, on a large traffic island at the junction of Oxford Street, Park Lane and Edgware Road.

 

The traffic going round the traffic island these days is very heavy and fast-moving; don't try and cross the road to get to it - you won't make it.

 

The Cumberland Hotel

 

The Georgian houses on the left are no longer there; they have been replaced by the enormous Cumberland Hotel.

 

The www.kzwp.com/ website created by Kattie Zion has a detailed history of the Cumberland Hotel building. She writes that:

 

"In 1901 the island site bounded by Oxford Street, Old Quebec Street, Bryanston Street and Great Cumberland Place, was progressively acquired by Joseph Lyons for the erection of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

The Cumberland project was formidable. The excavations alone entailed the removal of over 100,000 cubic yards of material, during which historical relics from all periods were unearthed. All building work was carried out by Lyons' own staff.

 

The Cumberland Hotel featured all the latest developments of comfort. It was sound-proofed, double glazed, air conditioned, and all 900 bed-rooms had their own en-suite. All air entering the hotel was filtered, including the supply to the kitchen areas. Here the exhaust was treated in order to eradicate cooking smells.

 

The structure consisted of thirteen floors, ten of them above ground and three below. Part of the hotel backbone was an enormous 100-ton girder which required the world's largest lorry to convey it. Fifteen thousand tons of steel-work was used in the hotel's construction. Four hundred thousand square feet of 'Empire grown timber' was used in the making of bedroom furniture.

 

The Cumberland Hotel officially opened its doors on the 12th. December 1933.

 

Two thousand staff were employed at the hotel, and a specially built annex provided accommodation for 300 girls who slept in single or double rooms. There was one bath to every four girls, and they ate in their own restaurant on the ground floor of the annex."

 

The Cumberland has seen many famous guests over the years; in the music world these include Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Holly.

 

In the Spring of 2019 the hotel changed its name to the Hard Rock Hotel, but reverted back to the Cumberland name four years later in May 2023.

 

The 2014 Cumberland Hotel Hammer Attack

 

In April 2014 the Cumberland Hotel was the scene of a devastating hammer attack.

 

Three sisters, Ohoud, Khaloud and Fatima Al-Najjar were staying in adjoining rooms at the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch, when Philip Spence hit all three of them violently with a claw hammer.

 

Spence was able to enter their seventh floor room, which was not locked, after he walked in off the street.

 

Philip Spence

 

Thirty-three year old Philip Spence from Harlesden in north-west London carried out his attack in front of Khaloud’s three children, aged seven, ten and twelve.

 

He hit one of his victims, Ohoud al-Najjar, 34, with such force that her skull split open as her nine-year-old nephew cowered under the sheets next to her.

 

Spence was permanently excluded from school at the age of eight, smoked cannabis from the age of 11, and was addicted to crack cocaine and heroin by 18.

 

Spence’s history of violence includes chasing his landlord with a hammer and punching a woman at council offices in 2007, as well as biting a passer-by in 2011.

 

Spence has 37 convictions for 62 offences dating back to 1993.

 

The three women left their hotel rooms unlocked on the night of the attack in order to allow a fourth sister to return later in the evening.

 

The fourth sister, Sheika al-Mheiri, on returning discovered her sisters lying injured on the floor, with blood spattered on the walls.

 

Spence had fled the scene with a suitcase stuffed with iPads, gold jewellery and mobile phones, having dumped the hammer just outside the hotel.

 

CCTV footage captured Spence on a bus examining items that he had stolen from the women after his attack.

 

The Criminal Trial

 

A year later at his criminal trial, Spence’s barrister, William Nash, said in mitigation that his client had consumed a large amount of drugs at the time of the attack:

 

“He didn’t know of any other crackhead

as big as him. He can’t forgive himself.

He describes himself as being a totally

different person. He is not unempathetic.”

 

Nevertheless Spence was convicted of three counts of attempted murder.

 

The "hotel creeper" was initially ordered to serve life with a minimum of 18 years, but this was increased to 27 years on appeal.

 

The High Court Case

 

The BBC provided the following information on the 7th. May 2019 relating to the attack and its legal consequences:

 

"Three sisters who suffered devastating injuries in a hammer attack by a thief are suing the owners of the London hotel where it happened.

 

At the start of the case at the High Court, lawyers described the injuries to the women, who were from Abu Dhabi in the UAE:

 

-- Ohoud was left with five per cent brain capacity, and will require care for the rest of her life.

 

-- Khaloud has had 20 operations to rebuild her head and face.

 

-- Fatima cannot taste or smell, and has problems with her memory.

 

Spence admitted the attack,, but denied attempted murder.

 

The family's barrister, Susan Rodway, said that Spence - who had a history of sneaking into hotel rooms to steal - had "great knowledge and familiarity" of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

She said that he told his criminal trial he was a regular intruder at the hotel, and had even been able to sleep in maids' cupboards.

 

She added that security "failures" led Spence to directly target the hotel, where he knew he could make an easy buck from the rich pickings there.

 

The court heard that it was "well-known" to the hotel that it was common for Middle Eastern guests to leave doors on the latch in order to enable family members to go between rooms.

 

The hotel's owners deny liability, arguing that by leaving their door open, the women voluntarily assumed the obvious risk of allowing anyone to enter the room while they were asleep inside.

 

Neil Block QC, for the hotel, said in a written submission:

 

"Each guest room was fitted with a heavy duty

fire door with efficient self-closers and automatic

locks, deadlocks, security chains and spy-glasses.

The rooms were designed so that guests could

not leave them open accidentally."

 

He said that after the incident, police tested a closed bedroom door, and found it impossible to gain access with a hammer similar to that used by Mr Spence.

 

Ms Rodway said that the hotel's CCTV system was "purely reactive" and that:

 

"it was clearly only there to enable review

should an incident occur, but not to enable

any anticipation or prevention of an incident".

 

But Mr Block said the fact that there was no system for live monitoring of all 130 CCTV cameras at the hotel "was, and indeed remains, the norm for similar hotels".

 

He concluded:

 

"But for the deliberate interference with

the door's locking mechanism, the attack

would not have occurred."

 

The case is expected to last for two weeks."

 

The High Court Judgement

 

On Friday the 21st. June 2019, the High Court judge Mr. Justice Dingemans ruled that:

 

"There was no liability on the part of the

Cumberland Hotel to Ohoud, Khaloud

and Fatima for the attack carried out by

Mr Spence".

 

He said that the case raised issues about whether a hotel proprietor owes a duty to guests to take reasonable care to protect against injury caused by the criminal actions of third parties, and if so whether the duty was breached in this case.

 

Dingemans concluded that there was such a duty of care, but based on the facts of the case, there was no breach of that duty.

 

The judge said that:

 

"The hotel acted with reasonable care to

protect guests at the hotel against injury

caused by the criminal acts of third parties".

 

However Khaloud and Fatima said in a statement after the ruling:

 

"Re-living the horrors of that terrifying night

where we almost lost our lives has been

extremely traumatic for us to endure, and

we are devastated that it has all been for

nothing.

We lost our sister, and our lives were

changed forever when we were attacked

by Spence in the privacy of our own room."

 

Khaloud and Fatima said that they felt the decision was "a travesty" and that "justice has not been done".

 

A spokeswoman for the owner of the Cumberland, GLH Hotels, said after the ruling:

 

"We believe today's judgement is the

correct outcome.

Regardless, the al Najjar family's

experience was deeply shocking and

wholly unprecedented and we reiterate

our heartfelt concern for their well-being

as they continue to receive all necessary

support."

The Postcard

 

A Bridge House Real Photo Series postcard which was posted in Acton on Sunday the 29th. August 1937 to:

 

Mr. & Mrs. Kennedy,

3, Bartholomew Terrace,

Bartholomew Street,

Exeter

 

The message on the back of the card was as follows:

 

"Having a good time up here.

Hope you have the same.

All the best,

Emily".

 

The publishers have noted on the back of the card:

 

'The Marble Arch, London.

This stately pile originally intended by

George IV as the portal of Buckingham

Palace was placed in its present

position in 1851, is situated as recent

census shows in a very busy corner

of London'.

 

Marble Arch

 

Marble Arch is a 19th-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London.

 

The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the Cour d'Honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is today the three-bayed, central projection of the palace containing the well known balcony.

 

In 1851 it was relocated, and following the widening of Park Lane in the early 1960's is now sited, incongruently isolated, on a large traffic island at the junction of Oxford Street, Park Lane and Edgware Road.

 

The traffic going round the traffic island these days is very heavy and fast-moving; don't try and cross the road to get to it - you won't make it.

 

The Cumberland Hotel

 

All the Georgian houses in the background are no longer there; they have been replaced by the enormous Cumberland Hotel.

 

The www.kzwp.com/ website created by Kattie Zion has a detailed history of the Cumberland Hotel building. She writes that:

 

"In 1901 the island site bounded by Oxford Street, Old Quebec Street, Bryanston Street and Great Cumberland Place, was progressively acquired by Joseph Lyons for the erection of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

The Cumberland project was formidable. The excavations alone entailed the removal of over 100,000 cubic yards of material, during which historical relics from all periods were unearthed. All building work was carried out by Lyons' own staff.

 

The Cumberland Hotel featured all the latest developments of comfort. It was sound-proofed, double glazed, air conditioned, and all 900 bed-rooms had their own en-suite. All air entering the hotel was filtered, including the supply to the kitchen areas. Here the exhaust was treated in order to eradicate cooking smells.

 

The structure consisted of thirteen floors, ten of them above ground and three below. Part of the hotel backbone was an enormous 100-ton girder which required the world's largest lorry to convey it. Fifteen thousand tons of steel-work was used in the hotel's construction. Four hundred thousand square feet of 'Empire grown timber' was used in the making of bedroom furniture.

 

The Cumberland Hotel officially opened its doors on the 12th. December 1933.

 

Two thousand staff were employed at the hotel, and a specially built annex provided accommodation for 300 girls who slept in single or double rooms. There was one bath to every four girls, and they ate in their own restaurant on the ground floor of the annex."

 

The Cumberland has seen many famous guests over the years; in the music world these include Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Holly.

 

In the Spring of 2019 the hotel changed its name to the Hard Rock Hotel, but reverted back to the Cumberland name four years later in May 2023.

 

The 2014 Cumberland Hotel Hammer Attack

 

In April 2014 the Cumberland Hotel was the scene of a devastating hammer attack.

 

Three sisters, Ohoud, Khaloud and Fatima Al-Najjar were staying in adjoining rooms at the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch, when Philip Spence hit all three of them violently with a claw hammer.

 

Spence was able to enter their seventh floor room, which was not locked, after he walked in off the street.

 

Philip Spence

 

Thirty-three year old Philip Spence from Harlesden in north-west London carried out his attack in front of Khaloud’s three children, aged seven, ten and twelve.

 

He hit one of his victims, Ohoud al-Najjar, 34, with such force that her skull split open as her nine-year-old nephew cowered under the sheets next to her.

 

Spence was permanently excluded from school at the age of eight, smoked cannabis from the age of 11, and was addicted to crack cocaine and heroin by 18.

 

Spence’s history of violence includes chasing his landlord with a hammer and punching a woman at council offices in 2007, as well as biting a passer-by in 2011.

 

Spence has 37 convictions for 62 offences dating back to 1993.

 

The three women left their hotel rooms unlocked on the night of the attack in order to allow a fourth sister to return later in the evening.

 

The fourth sister, Sheika al-Mheiri, on returning discovered her sisters lying injured on the floor, with blood spattered on the walls.

 

Spence had fled the scene with a suitcase stuffed with iPads, gold jewellery and mobile phones, having dumped the hammer just outside the hotel.

 

CCTV footage captured Spence on a bus examining items that he had stolen from the women after his attack.

 

The Criminal Trial

 

A year later at his criminal trial, Spence’s barrister, William Nash, said in mitigation that his client had consumed a large amount of drugs at the time of the attack:

 

“He didn’t know of any other crackhead

as big as him. He can’t forgive himself.

He describes himself as being a totally

different person. He is not unempathetic.”

 

Nevertheless Spence was convicted of three counts of attempted murder.

 

The "hotel creeper" was initially ordered to serve life with a minimum of 18 years, but this was increased to 27 years on appeal.

 

The High Court Case

 

The BBC provided the following information on the 7th. May 2019 relating to the attack and its legal consequences:

 

"Three sisters who suffered devastating injuries in a hammer attack by a thief are suing the owners of the London hotel where it happened.

 

At the start of the case at the High Court, lawyers described the injuries to the women, who were from Abu Dhabi in the UAE:

 

-- Ohoud was left with five per cent brain capacity, and will require care for the rest of her life.

 

-- Khaloud has had 20 operations to rebuild her head and face.

 

-- Fatima cannot taste or smell, and has problems with her memory.

 

Spence admitted the attack,, but denied attempted murder.

 

The family's barrister, Susan Rodway, said that Spence - who had a history of sneaking into hotel rooms to steal - had "great knowledge and familiarity" of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

She said that he told his criminal trial he was a regular intruder at the hotel, and had even been able to sleep in maids' cupboards.

 

She added that security "failures" led Spence to directly target the hotel, where he knew he could make an easy buck from the rich pickings there.

 

The court heard that it was "well-known" to the hotel that it was common for Middle Eastern guests to leave doors on the latch in order to enable family members to go between rooms.

 

The hotel's owners deny liability, arguing that by leaving their door open, the women voluntarily assumed the obvious risk of allowing anyone to enter the room while they were asleep inside.

 

Neil Block QC, for the hotel, said in a written submission:

 

"Each guest room was fitted with a heavy duty

fire door with efficient self-closers and automatic

locks, deadlocks, security chains and spy-glasses.

The rooms were designed so that guests could

not leave them open accidentally."

 

He said that after the incident, police tested a closed bedroom door, and found it impossible to gain access with a hammer similar to that used by Mr Spence.

 

Ms Rodway said that the hotel's CCTV system was "purely reactive" and that:

 

"it was clearly only there to enable review

should an incident occur, but not to enable

any anticipation or prevention of an incident".

 

But Mr Block said the fact that there was no system for live monitoring of all 130 CCTV cameras at the hotel "was, and indeed remains, the norm for similar hotels".

 

He concluded:

 

"But for the deliberate interference with

the door's locking mechanism, the attack

would not have occurred."

 

The case is expected to last for two weeks."

 

The High Court Judgement

 

On Friday the 21st. June 2019, the High Court judge Mr. Justice Dingemans ruled that:

 

"There was no liability on the part of the

Cumberland Hotel to Ohoud, Khaloud

and Fatima for the attack carried out by

Mr Spence".

 

He said that the case raised issues about whether a hotel proprietor owes a duty to guests to take reasonable care to protect against injury caused by the criminal actions of third parties, and if so whether the duty was breached in this case.

 

Dingemans concluded that there was such a duty of care, but based on the facts of the case, there was no breach of that duty.

 

The judge said that:

 

"The hotel acted with reasonable care to

protect guests at the hotel against injury

caused by the criminal acts of third parties".

 

However Khaloud and Fatima said in a statement after the ruling:

 

"Re-living the horrors of that terrifying night

where we almost lost our lives has been

extremely traumatic for us to endure, and

we are devastated that it has all been for

nothing.

We lost our sister, and our lives were

changed forever when we were attacked

by Spence in the privacy of our own room."

 

Khaloud and Fatima said that they felt the decision was "a travesty" and that "justice has not been done".

 

A spokeswoman for the owner of the Cumberland, GLH Hotels, said after the ruling:

 

"We believe today's judgement is the

correct outcome.

Regardless, the al Najjar family's

experience was deeply shocking and

wholly unprecedented and we reiterate

our heartfelt concern for their well-being

as they continue to receive all necessary

support."

 

A Note of Protest

 

So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?

 

Well, on the 29th. August 1937, Great Britain sent a sharp note of protest to the Japanese government demanding a formal apology for the wounding of their ambassador.

The Postcard

 

A postally unused postcard published by Charles Skilton Ltd. of London S.W.19 (Incorporating C. Degan, Est. 1895). The card has a divided back.

 

Not everyone appears to be listening to the man addressing the crowd.

 

The photograph was taken back in the day when men wore trousers and leather shoes rather than jeans and trainers.

 

Marble Arch

 

Marble Arch is a 19th.-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London. The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the Cour d'Honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is today the three-bayed, central projection of the palace containing the well known balcony.

 

In 1851 it was relocated, and following the widening of Park Lane in the early 1960's is now sited, incongruently isolated, on a large traffic island at the junction of Oxford Street, Park Lane and Edgware Road.

 

The traffic going round the traffic island these days is very heavy and fast-moving; don't try and cross the road to get to it - you won't make it.

 

The Cumberland Hotel

 

The building in the background on the right is the enormous Cumberland Hotel.

 

The www.kzwp.com/ website created by Kattie Zion has a detailed history of the Cumberland Hotel building. She writes that:

 

"In 1901 the island site bounded by Oxford Street, Old Quebec Street, Bryanston Street and Great Cumberland Place, was progressively acquired by Joseph Lyons for the erection of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

The Cumberland project was formidable. The excavations alone entailed the removal of over 100,000 cubic yards of material, during which historical relics from all periods were unearthed. All building work was carried out by Lyons' own staff.

 

The Cumberland Hotel featured all the latest developments of comfort. It was sound-proofed, double glazed, air conditioned, and all 900 bed-rooms had their own en-suite. All air entering the hotel was filtered, including the supply to the kitchen areas. Here the exhaust was treated in order to eradicate cooking smells.

 

The structure consisted of thirteen floors, ten of them above ground and three below. Part of the hotel backbone was an enormous 100-ton girder which required the world's largest lorry to convey it. Fifteen thousand tons of steel-work was used in the hotel's construction. Four hundred thousand square feet of 'Empire grown timber' was used in the making of bedroom furniture.

 

The Cumberland Hotel officially opened its doors on the 12th. December 1933.

 

Two thousand staff were employed at the hotel, and a specially built annex provided accommodation for 300 girls who slept in single or double rooms. There was one bath to every four girls, and they ate in their own restaurant on the ground floor of the annex."

 

The Cumberland has seen many famous guests over the years; in the music world these include Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Holly.

 

In the Spring of 2019 the hotel changed its name to the Hard Rock Hotel, but reverted back to the Cumberland name four years later in May 2023.

 

The 2014 Cumberland Hotel Hammer Attack

 

In April 2014 the Cumberland Hotel was the scene of a devastating hammer attack.

 

Three sisters, Ohoud, Khaloud and Fatima Al-Najjar were staying in adjoining rooms at the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch, when Philip Spence hit all three of them violently with a claw hammer.

 

Spence was able to enter their seventh floor room, which was not locked, after he walked in off the street.

 

Philip Spence

 

Thirty-three year old Philip Spence from Harlesden in north-west London carried out his attack in front of Khaloud’s three children, aged seven, ten and twelve.

 

He hit one of his victims, Ohoud al-Najjar, 34, with such force that her skull split open as her nine-year-old nephew cowered under the sheets next to her.

 

Spence was permanently excluded from school at the age of eight, smoked cannabis from the age of 11, and was addicted to crack cocaine and heroin by 18.

 

Spence’s history of violence includes chasing his landlord with a hammer and punching a woman at council offices in 2007, as well as biting a passer-by in 2011.

 

Spence has 37 convictions for 62 offences dating back to 1993.

 

The three women left their hotel rooms unlocked on the night of the attack in order to allow a fourth sister to return later in the evening.

 

The fourth sister, Sheika al-Mheiri, on returning discovered her sisters lying injured on the floor, with blood spattered on the walls.

 

Spence had fled the scene with a suitcase stuffed with iPads, gold jewellery and mobile phones, having dumped the hammer just outside the hotel.

 

CCTV footage captured Spence on a bus examining items that he had stolen from the women after his attack.

 

The Criminal Trial

 

A year later at his criminal trial, Spence’s barrister, William Nash, said in mitigation that his client had consumed a large amount of drugs at the time of the attack:

 

“He didn’t know of any other crackhead

as big as him. He can’t forgive himself.

He describes himself as being a totally

different person. He is not unempathetic.”

 

Nevertheless Spence was convicted of three counts of attempted murder.

 

The "hotel creeper" was initially ordered to serve life with a minimum of 18 years, but this was increased to 27 years on appeal.

 

The High Court Case

 

The BBC provided the following information on the 7th. May 2019 relating to the attack and its legal consequences:

 

"Three sisters who suffered devastating injuries in a hammer attack by a thief are suing the owners of the London hotel where it happened.

 

At the start of the case at the High Court, lawyers described the injuries to the women, who were from Abu Dhabi in the UAE:

 

-- Ohoud was left with five per cent brain capacity, and will require care for the rest of her life.

 

-- Khaloud has had 20 operations to rebuild her head and face.

 

-- Fatima cannot taste or smell, and has problems with her memory.

 

Spence admitted the attack,, but denied attempted murder.

 

The family's barrister, Susan Rodway, said that Spence - who had a history of sneaking into hotel rooms to steal - had "great knowledge and familiarity" of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

She said that he told his criminal trial he was a regular intruder at the hotel, and had even been able to sleep in maids' cupboards.

 

She added that security "failures" led Spence to directly target the hotel, where he knew he could make an easy buck from the rich pickings there.

 

The court heard that it was "well-known" to the hotel that it was common for Middle Eastern guests to leave doors on the latch in order to enable family members to go between rooms.

 

The hotel's owners deny liability, arguing that by leaving their door open, the women voluntarily assumed the obvious risk of allowing anyone to enter the room while they were asleep inside.

 

Neil Block QC, for the hotel, said in a written submission:

 

"Each guest room was fitted with a heavy duty

fire door with efficient self-closers and automatic

locks, deadlocks, security chains and spy-glasses.

The rooms were designed so that guests could

not leave them open accidentally."

 

He said that after the incident, police tested a closed bedroom door, and found it impossible to gain access with a hammer similar to that used by Mr Spence.

 

Ms Rodway said that the hotel's CCTV system was "purely reactive" and that:

 

"it was clearly only there to enable review

should an incident occur, but not to enable

any anticipation or prevention of an incident".

 

But Mr Block said the fact that there was no system for live monitoring of all 130 CCTV cameras at the hotel "was, and indeed remains, the norm for similar hotels".

 

He concluded:

 

"But for the deliberate interference with

the door's locking mechanism, the attack

would not have occurred."

 

The case is expected to last for two weeks."

 

The High Court Judgement

 

On Friday the 21st. June 2019, the High Court judge Mr. Justice Dingemans ruled that:

 

"There was no liability on the part of the

Cumberland Hotel to Ohoud, Khaloud

and Fatima for the attack carried out by

Mr Spence".

 

He said that the case raised issues about whether a hotel proprietor owes a duty to guests to take reasonable care to protect against injury caused by the criminal actions of third parties, and if so whether the duty was breached in this case.

 

Dingemans concluded that there was such a duty of care, but based on the facts of the case, there was no breach of that duty.

 

The judge said that:

 

"The hotel acted with reasonable care to

protect guests at the hotel against injury

caused by the criminal acts of third parties".

 

However Khaloud and Fatima said in a statement after the ruling:

 

"Re-living the horrors of that terrifying night

where we almost lost our lives has been

extremely traumatic for us to endure, and

we are devastated that it has all been for

nothing.

We lost our sister, and our lives were

changed forever when we were attacked

by Spence in the privacy of our own room."

 

Khaloud and Fatima said that they felt the decision was "a travesty" and that "justice has not been done".

 

A spokeswoman for the owner of the Cumberland, GLH Hotels, said after the ruling:

 

"We believe today's judgement is the

correct outcome.

Regardless, the al Najjar family's

experience was deeply shocking and

wholly unprecedented and we reiterate

our heartfelt concern for their well-being

as they continue to receive all necessary

support."

 

The Postcard

 

A postally unused Excel Series postcard. They state on the back of the card that it is a real photograph, and that it was printed in England.

 

The back of the card is divided, therefore it was published after 1902.

 

The Marble Arch

 

The Marble Arch is a 19th-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London.

 

The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the Cour d'Honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is today the three-bayed, central projection of the palace containing the well known balcony.

 

In 1851 it was relocated, and following the widening of Park Lane in the early 1960's is now sited, incongruently isolated, on a large traffic island at the junction of Oxford Street, Park Lane and Edgware Road.

 

The traffic going round the traffic island these days is very heavy and fast-moving; don't try and cross the road to get to it - you won't make it.

 

The Cumberland Hotel

 

The building in the background is the enormous Cumberland Hotel.

 

The www.kzwp.com/ website created by Kattie Zion has a detailed history of the Cumberland Hotel building. She writes that:

 

"In 1901 the island site bounded by Oxford Street, Old Quebec Street, Bryanston Street and Great Cumberland Place, was progressively acquired by Joseph Lyons for the erection of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

The Cumberland project was formidable. The excavations alone entailed the removal of over 100,000 cubic yards of material, during which historical relics from all periods were unearthed. All building work was carried out by Lyons' own staff.

 

The Cumberland Hotel featured all the latest developments of comfort. It was sound-proofed, double glazed, air conditioned, and all 900 bed-rooms had their own en-suite. All air entering the hotel was filtered, including the supply to the kitchen areas. Here the exhaust was treated in order to eradicate cooking smells.

 

The structure consisted of thirteen floors, ten of them above ground and three below. Part of the hotel backbone was an enormous 100-ton girder which required the world's largest lorry to convey it. Fifteen thousand tons of steel-work was used in the hotel's construction. Four hundred thousand square feet of 'Empire grown timber' was used in the making of bedroom furniture.

 

The Cumberland Hotel officially opened its doors on the 12th. December 1933.

 

Two thousand staff were employed at the hotel, and a specially built annex provided accommodation for 300 girls who slept in single or double rooms. There was one bath to every four girls, and they ate in their own restaurant on the ground floor of the annex."

 

The Cumberland has seen many famous guests over the years; in the music world these include Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Holly.

 

In the Spring of 2019 the hotel changed its name to the Hard Rock Hotel, but reverted back to the Cumberland name four years later in May 2023.

 

The 2014 Cumberland Hotel Hammer Attack

 

In April 2014 the Cumberland Hotel was the scene of a devastating hammer attack.

 

Three sisters, Ohoud, Khaloud and Fatima Al-Najjar were staying in adjoining rooms at the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch, when Philip Spence hit all three of them violently with a claw hammer.

 

Spence was able to enter their seventh floor room, which was not locked, after he walked in off the street.

 

Philip Spence

 

Thirty-three year old Philip Spence from Harlesden in north-west London carried out his attack in front of Khaloud’s three children, aged seven, ten and twelve.

 

He hit one of his victims, Ohoud al-Najjar, 34, with such force that her skull split open as her nine-year-old nephew cowered under the sheets next to her.

 

Spence was permanently excluded from school at the age of eight, smoked cannabis from the age of 11, and was addicted to crack cocaine and heroin by 18.

 

Spence’s history of violence includes chasing his landlord with a hammer and punching a woman at council offices in 2007, as well as biting a passer-by in 2011.

 

Spence has 37 convictions for 62 offences dating back to 1993.

 

The three women left their hotel rooms unlocked on the night of the attack in order to allow a fourth sister to return later in the evening.

 

The fourth sister, Sheika al-Mheiri, on returning discovered her sisters lying injured on the floor, with blood spattered on the walls.

 

Spence had fled the scene with a suitcase stuffed with iPads, gold jewellery and mobile phones, having dumped the hammer just outside the hotel.

 

CCTV footage captured Spence on a bus examining items that he had stolen from the women after his attack.

 

The Criminal Trial

 

A year later at his criminal trial, Spence’s barrister, William Nash, said in mitigation that his client had consumed a large amount of drugs at the time of the attack:

 

“He didn’t know of any other crackhead

as big as him. He can’t forgive himself.

He describes himself as being a totally

different person. He is not unempathetic.”

 

Nevertheless Spence was convicted of three counts of attempted murder.

 

The "hotel creeper" was initially ordered to serve life with a minimum of 18 years, but this was increased to 27 years on appeal.

 

The High Court Case

 

The BBC provided the following information on the 7th. May 2019 relating to the attack and its legal consequences:

 

"Three sisters who suffered devastating injuries in a hammer attack by a thief are suing the owners of the London hotel where it happened.

 

At the start of the case at the High Court, lawyers described the injuries to the women, who were from Abu Dhabi in the UAE:

 

-- Ohoud was left with five per cent brain capacity, and will require care for the rest of her life.

 

-- Khaloud has had 20 operations to rebuild her head and face.

 

-- Fatima cannot taste or smell, and has problems with her memory.

 

Spence admitted the attack,, but denied attempted murder.

 

The family's barrister, Susan Rodway, said that Spence - who had a history of sneaking into hotel rooms to steal - had "great knowledge and familiarity" of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

She said that he told his criminal trial he was a regular intruder at the hotel, and had even been able to sleep in maids' cupboards.

 

She added that security "failures" led Spence to directly target the hotel, where he knew he could make an easy buck from the rich pickings there.

 

The court heard that it was "well-known" to the hotel that it was common for Middle Eastern guests to leave doors on the latch in order to enable family members to go between rooms.

 

The hotel's owners deny liability, arguing that by leaving their door open, the women voluntarily assumed the obvious risk of allowing anyone to enter the room while they were asleep inside.

 

Neil Block QC, for the hotel, said in a written submission:

 

"Each guest room was fitted with a heavy duty

fire door with efficient self-closers and automatic

locks, deadlocks, security chains and spy-glasses.

The rooms were designed so that guests could

not leave them open accidentally."

 

He said that after the incident, police tested a closed bedroom door, and found it impossible to gain access with a hammer similar to that used by Mr Spence.

 

Ms Rodway said that the hotel's CCTV system was "purely reactive" and that:

 

"it was clearly only there to enable review

should an incident occur, but not to enable

any anticipation or prevention of an incident".

 

But Mr Block said the fact that there was no system for live monitoring of all 130 CCTV cameras at the hotel "was, and indeed remains, the norm for similar hotels".

 

He concluded:

 

"But for the deliberate interference with

the door's locking mechanism, the attack

would not have occurred."

 

The case is expected to last for two weeks."

 

The High Court Judgement

 

On Friday the 21st. June 2019, the High Court judge Mr. Justice Dingemans ruled that:

 

"There was no liability on the part of the

Cumberland Hotel to Ohoud, Khaloud

and Fatima for the attack carried out by

Mr Spence".

 

He said that the case raised issues about whether a hotel proprietor owes a duty to guests to take reasonable care to protect against injury caused by the criminal actions of third parties, and if so whether the duty was breached in this case.

 

Dingemans concluded that there was such a duty of care, but based on the facts of the case, there was no breach of that duty.

 

The judge said that:

 

"The hotel acted with reasonable care to

protect guests at the hotel against injury

caused by the criminal acts of third parties".

 

However Khaloud and Fatima said in a statement after the ruling:

 

"Re-living the horrors of that terrifying night

where we almost lost our lives has been

extremely traumatic for us to endure, and

we are devastated that it has all been for

nothing.

We lost our sister, and our lives were

changed forever when we were attacked

by Spence in the privacy of our own room."

 

Khaloud and Fatima said that they felt the decision was "a travesty" and that "justice has not been done".

 

A spokeswoman for the owner of the Cumberland, GLH Hotels, said after the ruling:

 

"We believe today's judgement is the

correct outcome.

Regardless, the al Najjar family's

experience was deeply shocking and

wholly unprecedented and we reiterate

our heartfelt concern for their well-being

as they continue to receive all necessary

support."

 

"The Islamic Clergy's Adaptation to Circumstances" features a symbol of modernity (super fast awesome bomber plane) swirling high over a wretched backwards mullah clutching his superstitious prayer beads. If that's not too big of a metaphorical hammer attack, the inside illustration is the Soviet Sputnik satellite leaving the Holy Koran behind.

The Postcard

 

A postally unused postcard bearing no publisher's name. The card, which has a divided back, is a glossy real photograph. The card was printed in England.

 

Marble Arch

 

The Marble Arch is a 19th.-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London. The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the Cour d'Honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is today the three-bayed, central projection of the palace containing the well known balcony.

 

In 1851 the arch was relocated, and following the widening of Park Lane in the early 1960's is now sited, incongruently isolated, on a large traffic island at the junction of Oxford Street, Park Lane and Edgware Road.

 

The traffic going round the traffic island these days is very heavy and fast-moving; don't try and cross the road to get to the arch - you won't make it.

 

The Cumberland Hotel

 

The building in the background is the enormous Cumberland Hotel.

 

The www.kzwp.com/ website created by Kattie Zion has a detailed history of the Cumberland Hotel building. She writes that:

 

"In 1901 the island site bounded by Oxford Street, Old Quebec Street, Bryanston Street and Great Cumberland Place, was progressively acquired by Joseph Lyons for the erection of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

The Cumberland project was formidable. The excavations alone entailed the removal of over 100,000 cubic yards of material, during which historical relics from all periods were unearthed. All building work was carried out by Lyons' own staff.

 

The Cumberland Hotel featured all the latest developments of comfort. It was sound-proofed, double glazed, air conditioned, and all 900 bed-rooms had their own en-suite. All air entering the hotel was filtered, including the supply to the kitchen areas. Here the exhaust was treated in order to eradicate cooking smells.

 

The structure consisted of thirteen floors, ten of them above ground and three below. Part of the hotel backbone was an enormous 100-ton girder which required the world's largest lorry to convey it. Fifteen thousand tons of steel-work was used in the hotel's construction. Four hundred thousand square feet of 'Empire grown timber' was used in the making of bedroom furniture.

 

The Cumberland Hotel officially opened its doors on the 12th. December 1933.

 

Two thousand staff were employed at the hotel, and a specially built annex provided accommodation for 300 girls who slept in single or double rooms. There was one bath to every four girls, and they ate in their own restaurant on the ground floor of the annex."

 

The Cumberland has seen many famous guests over the years; in the music world these include Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Holly.

 

In the Spring of 2019 the hotel changed its name to the Hard Rock Hotel, but reverted back to the Cumberland name four years later in May 2023.

 

The 2014 Cumberland Hotel Hammer Attack

 

In April 2014 the Cumberland Hotel was the scene of a devastating hammer attack.

 

Three sisters, Ohoud, Khaloud and Fatima Al-Najjar were staying in adjoining rooms at the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch, when Philip Spence hit all three of them violently with a claw hammer.

 

Spence was able to enter their seventh floor room, which was not locked, after he walked in off the street.

 

Philip Spence

 

Thirty-three year old Philip Spence from Harlesden in north-west London carried out his attack in front of Khaloud’s three children, aged seven, ten and twelve.

 

He hit one of his victims, Ohoud al-Najjar, 34, with such force that her skull split open as her nine-year-old nephew cowered under the sheets next to her.

 

Spence was permanently excluded from school at the age of eight, smoked cannabis from the age of 11, and was addicted to crack cocaine and heroin by 18.

 

Spence’s history of violence includes chasing his landlord with a hammer and punching a woman at council offices in 2007, as well as biting a passer-by in 2011.

 

Spence has 37 convictions for 62 offences dating back to 1993.

 

The three women left their hotel rooms unlocked on the night of the attack in order to allow a fourth sister to return later in the evening.

 

The fourth sister, Sheika al-Mheiri, on returning discovered her sisters lying injured on the floor, with blood spattered on the walls.

 

Spence had fled the scene with a suitcase stuffed with iPads, gold jewellery and mobile phones, having dumped the hammer just outside the hotel.

 

CCTV footage captured Spence on a bus examining items that he had stolen from the women after his attack.

 

The Criminal Trial

 

A year later at his criminal trial, Spence’s barrister, William Nash, said in mitigation that his client had consumed a large amount of drugs at the time of the attack:

 

“He didn’t know of any other crackhead

as big as him. He can’t forgive himself.

He describes himself as being a totally

different person. He is not unempathetic.”

 

Nevertheless Spence was convicted of three counts of attempted murder.

 

The "hotel creeper" was initially ordered to serve life with a minimum of 18 years, but this was increased to 27 years on appeal.

 

The High Court Case

 

The BBC provided the following information on the 7th. May 2019 relating to the attack and its legal consequences:

 

"Three sisters who suffered devastating injuries in a hammer attack by a thief are suing the owners of the London hotel where it happened.

 

At the start of the case at the High Court, lawyers described the injuries to the women, who were from Abu Dhabi in the UAE:

 

-- Ohoud was left with five per cent brain capacity, and will require care for the rest of her life.

 

-- Khaloud has had 20 operations to rebuild her head and face.

 

-- Fatima cannot taste or smell, and has problems with her memory.

 

Spence admitted the attack,, but denied attempted murder.

 

The family's barrister, Susan Rodway, said that Spence - who had a history of sneaking into hotel rooms to steal - had "great knowledge and familiarity" of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

She said that he told his criminal trial he was a regular intruder at the hotel, and had even been able to sleep in maids' cupboards.

 

She added that security "failures" led Spence to directly target the hotel, where he knew he could make an easy buck from the rich pickings there.

 

The court heard that it was "well-known" to the hotel that it was common for Middle Eastern guests to leave doors on the latch in order to enable family members to go between rooms.

 

The hotel's owners deny liability, arguing that by leaving their door open, the women voluntarily assumed the obvious risk of allowing anyone to enter the room while they were asleep inside.

 

Neil Block QC, for the hotel, said in a written submission:

 

"Each guest room was fitted with a heavy duty

fire door with efficient self-closers and automatic

locks, deadlocks, security chains and spy-glasses.

The rooms were designed so that guests could

not leave them open accidentally."

 

He said that after the incident, police tested a closed bedroom door, and found it impossible to gain access with a hammer similar to that used by Mr Spence.

 

Ms Rodway said that the hotel's CCTV system was "purely reactive" and that:

 

"it was clearly only there to enable review

should an incident occur, but not to enable

any anticipation or prevention of an incident".

 

But Mr Block said the fact that there was no system for live monitoring of all 130 CCTV cameras at the hotel "was, and indeed remains, the norm for similar hotels".

 

He concluded:

 

"But for the deliberate interference with

the door's locking mechanism, the attack

would not have occurred."

 

The case is expected to last for two weeks."

 

The High Court Judgement

 

On Friday the 21st. June 2019, the High Court judge Mr. Justice Dingemans ruled that:

 

"There was no liability on the part of the

Cumberland Hotel to Ohoud, Khaloud

and Fatima for the attack carried out by

Mr Spence".

 

He said that the case raised issues about whether a hotel proprietor owes a duty to guests to take reasonable care to protect against injury caused by the criminal actions of third parties, and if so whether the duty was breached in this case.

 

Dingemans concluded that there was such a duty of care, but based on the facts of the case, there was no breach of that duty.

 

The judge said that:

 

"The hotel acted with reasonable care to

protect guests at the hotel against injury

caused by the criminal acts of third parties".

 

However Khaloud and Fatima said in a statement after the ruling:

 

"Re-living the horrors of that terrifying night

where we almost lost our lives has been

extremely traumatic for us to endure, and

we are devastated that it has all been for

nothing.

We lost our sister, and our lives were

changed forever when we were attacked

by Spence in the privacy of our own room."

 

Khaloud and Fatima said that they felt the decision was "a travesty" and that "justice has not been done".

 

A spokeswoman for the owner of the Cumberland, GLH Hotels, said after the ruling:

 

"We believe today's judgement is the

correct outcome.

Regardless, the al Najjar family's

experience was deeply shocking and

wholly unprecedented and we reiterate

our heartfelt concern for their well-being

as they continue to receive all necessary

support."

 

The Postcard

 

A postally unused Auto-Photo Series postcard that has a divided back.

 

Marble Arch

 

The Marble Arch is a 19th.-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London. The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the Cour d'Honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is today the three-bayed, central projection of the palace containing the well known balcony.

 

In 1851 the arch was relocated, and following the widening of Park Lane in the early 1960's is now sited, incongruously isolated, on a large traffic island at the junction of Oxford Street, Park Lane and Edgware Road.

 

The traffic going round the traffic island these days is very heavy and fast-moving; don't try and cross the road to get to the arch - you won't make it.

 

The Cumberland Hotel

 

All the Georgian houses in the background are no longer there; they have been replaced by the enormous Cumberland Hotel.

 

The www.kzwp.com/ website created by Kattie Zion has a detailed history of the Cumberland Hotel building. She writes that:

 

"In 1901 the island site bounded by Oxford Street, Old Quebec Street, Bryanston Street and Great Cumberland Place, was progressively acquired by Joseph Lyons for the erection of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

The Cumberland project was formidable. The excavations alone entailed the removal of over 100,000 cubic yards of material, during which historical relics from all periods were unearthed. All building work was carried out by Lyons' own staff.

 

The Cumberland Hotel featured all the latest developments of comfort. It was sound-proofed, double glazed, air conditioned, and all 900 bed-rooms had their own en-suite. All air entering the hotel was filtered, including the supply to the kitchen areas. Here the exhaust was treated in order to eradicate cooking smells.

 

The structure consisted of thirteen floors, ten of them above ground and three below. Part of the hotel backbone was an enormous 100-ton girder which required the world's largest lorry to convey it. Fifteen thousand tons of steel-work was used in the hotel's construction. Four hundred thousand square feet of 'Empire grown timber' was used in the making of bedroom furniture.

 

The Cumberland Hotel officially opened its doors on the 12th. December 1933.

 

Two thousand staff were employed at the hotel, and a specially built annex provided accommodation for 300 girls who slept in single or double rooms. There was one bath to every four girls, and they ate in their own restaurant on the ground floor of the annex."

 

The Cumberland has seen many famous guests over the years; in the music world these include Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Holly.

 

In the Spring of 2019 the hotel changed its name to the Hard Rock Hotel, but reverted back to the Cumberland name four years later in May 2023.

 

The 2014 Cumberland Hotel Hammer Attack

 

In April 2014 the Cumberland Hotel was the scene of a devastating hammer attack.

 

Three sisters, Ohoud, Khaloud and Fatima Al-Najjar were staying in adjoining rooms at the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch, when Philip Spence hit all three of them violently with a claw hammer.

 

Spence was able to enter their seventh floor room, which was not locked, after he walked in off the street.

 

Philip Spence

 

Thirty-three year old Philip Spence from Harlesden in north-west London carried out his attack in front of Khaloud’s three children, aged seven, ten and twelve.

 

He hit one of his victims, Ohoud al-Najjar, 34, with such force that her skull split open as her nine-year-old nephew cowered under the sheets next to her.

 

Spence was permanently excluded from school at the age of eight, smoked cannabis from the age of 11, and was addicted to crack cocaine and heroin by 18.

 

Spence’s history of violence includes chasing his landlord with a hammer and punching a woman at council offices in 2007, as well as biting a passer-by in 2011.

 

Spence has 37 convictions for 62 offences dating back to 1993.

 

The three women left their hotel rooms unlocked on the night of the attack in order to allow a fourth sister to return later in the evening.

 

The fourth sister, Sheika al-Mheiri, on returning discovered her sisters lying injured on the floor, with blood spattered on the walls.

 

Spence had fled the scene with a suitcase stuffed with iPads, gold jewellery and mobile phones, having dumped the hammer just outside the hotel.

 

CCTV footage captured Spence on a bus examining items that he had stolen from the women after his attack.

 

The Criminal Trial

 

A year later at his criminal trial, Spence’s barrister, William Nash, said in mitigation that his client had consumed a large amount of drugs at the time of the attack:

 

“He didn’t know of any other crackhead

as big as him. He can’t forgive himself.

He describes himself as being a totally

different person. He is not unempathetic.”

 

Nevertheless Spence was convicted of three counts of attempted murder.

 

The "hotel creeper" was initially ordered to serve life with a minimum of 18 years, but this was increased to 27 years on appeal.

 

The High Court Case

 

The BBC provided the following information on the 7th. May 2019 relating to the attack and its legal consequences:

 

"Three sisters who suffered devastating injuries in a hammer attack by a thief are suing the owners of the London hotel where it happened.

 

At the start of the case at the High Court, lawyers described the injuries to the women, who were from Abu Dhabi in the UAE:

 

-- Ohoud was left with five per cent brain capacity, and will require care for the rest of her life.

 

-- Khaloud has had 20 operations to rebuild her head and face.

 

-- Fatima cannot taste or smell, and has problems with her memory.

 

Spence admitted the attack,, but denied attempted murder.

 

The family's barrister, Susan Rodway, said that Spence - who had a history of sneaking into hotel rooms to steal - had "great knowledge and familiarity" of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

She said that he told his criminal trial he was a regular intruder at the hotel, and had even been able to sleep in maids' cupboards.

 

She added that security "failures" led Spence to directly target the hotel, where he knew he could make an easy buck from the rich pickings there.

 

The court heard that it was "well-known" to the hotel that it was common for Middle Eastern guests to leave doors on the latch in order to enable family members to go between rooms.

 

The hotel's owners deny liability, arguing that by leaving their door open, the women voluntarily assumed the obvious risk of allowing anyone to enter the room while they were asleep inside.

 

Neil Block QC, for the hotel, said in a written submission:

 

"Each guest room was fitted with a heavy duty

fire door with efficient self-closers and automatic

locks, deadlocks, security chains and spy-glasses.

The rooms were designed so that guests could

not leave them open accidentally."

 

He said that after the incident, police tested a closed bedroom door, and found it impossible to gain access with a hammer similar to that used by Mr Spence.

 

Ms Rodway said that the hotel's CCTV system was "purely reactive" and that:

 

"it was clearly only there to enable review

should an incident occur, but not to enable

any anticipation or prevention of an incident".

 

But Mr Block said the fact that there was no system for live monitoring of all 130 CCTV cameras at the hotel "was, and indeed remains, the norm for similar hotels".

 

He concluded:

 

"But for the deliberate interference with

the door's locking mechanism, the attack

would not have occurred."

 

The case is expected to last for two weeks."

 

The High Court Judgement

 

On Friday the 21st. June 2019, the High Court judge Mr. Justice Dingemans ruled that:

 

"There was no liability on the part of the

Cumberland Hotel to Ohoud, Khaloud

and Fatima for the attack carried out by

Mr Spence".

 

He said that the case raised issues about whether a hotel proprietor owes a duty to guests to take reasonable care to protect against injury caused by the criminal actions of third parties, and if so whether the duty was breached in this case.

 

Dingemans concluded that there was such a duty of care, but based on the facts of the case, there was no breach of that duty.

 

The judge said that:

 

"The hotel acted with reasonable care to

protect guests at the hotel against injury

caused by the criminal acts of third parties".

 

However Khaloud and Fatima said in a statement after the ruling:

 

"Re-living the horrors of that terrifying night

where we almost lost our lives has been

extremely traumatic for us to endure, and

we are devastated that it has all been for

nothing.

We lost our sister, and our lives were

changed forever when we were attacked

by Spence in the privacy of our own room."

 

Khaloud and Fatima said that they felt the decision was "a travesty" and that "justice has not been done".

 

A spokeswoman for the owner of the Cumberland, GLH Hotels, said after the ruling:

 

"We believe today's judgement is the

correct outcome.

Regardless, the al Najjar family's

experience was deeply shocking and

wholly unprecedented and we reiterate

our heartfelt concern for their well-being

as they continue to receive all necessary

support."

The Postcard

 

A postally unused postcard that was published by the Photochrom Co. Ltd. The card has a divided back.

 

The Photochrom Co. Ltd.

 

The Photochrom Co. Ltd. of London and Royal Tunbridge Wells originally produced Christmas cards before becoming a major publisher and printer of tourist albums, guide books, and postcards.

 

These mainly captured worldwide views as real photos, or were printed in black & white, monochrome, and color.

 

They also published many advertising, comic, silhouette, novelty, panoramic, and notable artist-signed cards in named series as well. The huge number of titles that Photochrom produced may well exceed 40,000.

 

In 1896 they took over Fussli’s London office established three years earlier, and began publishing similar photo-chromolithographic postcards after securing the exclusive English licence for the Swiss photochrom process.

 

This technique was used to produce a great number of view-cards of both England and Europe. While they captured the same fine details as the Swiss prints, their colours were much softer and reduced.

 

Apart from their better known photochroms, they produced their Celesque series of view-cards printed in tricolor.

 

One of the largest unnamed series that Photochrom produced was of view-cards printed in brown rotogravure. Many of these cards were simply hand coloured with a dominant red and blue, which gives these cards a distinct appearance. They are similar to cards produced in their Photogravure and Velvet Finish Series.

 

Photochrom postcard series include:

 

-- Night Series - Line block halftone over a blue tint depicting London.

-- Carbofoto Series - Black & white real photo cards.

-- Sepiatone Series - Sepia real photo cards.

-- Grano Series - View-cards printed in black & white.

-- Exclusive Photo-Color Series - View-cards printed in colour.

-- Duotype Process Series - View-cards printed in two tones.

 

Marble Arch

 

Marble Arch is a 19th-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London. The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the Cour d'Honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is today the three-bayed, central projection of the palace containing the well known balcony.

 

In 1851 it was relocated, and following the widening of Park Lane in the early 1960's is now sited, incongruently isolated, on a large traffic island at the junction of Oxford Street, Park Lane and Edgware Road.

 

The traffic going round the traffic island these days is very heavy and fast-moving; don't try and cross the road to get to it - you won't make it.

 

The Cumberland Hotel

 

The Georgian houses in the background are no longer there; they have been replaced by the enormous Cumberland Hotel.

 

The www.kzwp.com/ website created by Kattie Zion has a detailed history of the Cumberland Hotel building. She writes that:

 

"In 1901 the island site bounded by Oxford Street, Old Quebec Street, Bryanston Street and Great Cumberland Place, was progressively acquired by Joseph Lyons for the erection of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

The Cumberland project was formidable. The excavations alone entailed the removal of over 100,000 cubic yards of material, during which historical relics from all periods were unearthed. All building work was carried out by Lyons' own staff.

 

The Cumberland Hotel featured all the latest developments of comfort. It was sound-proofed, double glazed, air conditioned, and all 900 bed-rooms had their own en-suite. All air entering the hotel was filtered, including the supply to the kitchen areas. Here the exhaust was treated in order to eradicate cooking smells.

 

The structure consisted of thirteen floors, ten of them above ground and three below. Part of the hotel backbone was an enormous 100-ton girder which required the world's largest lorry to convey it. Fifteen thousand tons of steel-work was used in the hotel's construction. Four hundred thousand square feet of 'Empire grown timber' was used in the making of bedroom furniture.

 

The Cumberland Hotel officially opened its doors on the 12th. December 1933.

 

Two thousand staff were employed at the hotel, and a specially built annex provided accommodation for 300 girls who slept in single or double rooms. There was one bath to every four girls, and they ate in their own restaurant on the ground floor of the annex."

 

The Cumberland has seen many famous guests over the years; in the music world these include Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Holly.

 

In the Spring of 2019 the hotel changed its name to the Hard Rock Hotel, but reverted back to the Cumberland name four years later in May 2023.

 

The 2014 Cumberland Hotel Hammer Attack

 

In April 2014 the Cumberland Hotel was the scene of a devastating hammer attack.

 

Three sisters, Ohoud, Khaloud and Fatima Al-Najjar were staying in adjoining rooms at the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch, when Philip Spence hit all three of them violently with a claw hammer.

 

Spence was able to enter their seventh floor room, which was not locked, after he walked in off the street.

 

Philip Spence

 

Thirty-three year old Philip Spence from Harlesden in north-west London carried out his attack in front of Khaloud’s three children, aged seven, ten and twelve.

 

He hit one of his victims, Ohoud al-Najjar, 34, with such force that her skull split open as her nine-year-old nephew cowered under the sheets next to her.

 

Spence was permanently excluded from school at the age of eight, smoked cannabis from the age of 11, and was addicted to crack cocaine and heroin by 18.

 

Spence’s history of violence includes chasing his landlord with a hammer and punching a woman at council offices in 2007, as well as biting a passer-by in 2011.

 

Spence has 37 convictions for 62 offences dating back to 1993.

 

The three women left their hotel rooms unlocked on the night of the attack in order to allow a fourth sister to return later in the evening.

 

The fourth sister, Sheika al-Mheiri, on returning discovered her sisters lying injured on the floor, with blood spattered on the walls.

 

Spence had fled the scene with a suitcase stuffed with iPads, gold jewellery and mobile phones, having dumped the hammer just outside the hotel.

 

CCTV footage captured Spence on a bus examining items that he had stolen from the women after his attack.

 

The Criminal Trial

 

A year later at his criminal trial, Spence’s barrister, William Nash, said in mitigation that his client had consumed a large amount of drugs at the time of the attack:

 

“He didn’t know of any other crackhead

as big as him. He can’t forgive himself.

He describes himself as being a totally

different person. He is not unempathetic.”

 

Nevertheless Spence was convicted of three counts of attempted murder.

 

The "hotel creeper" was initially ordered to serve life with a minimum of 18 years, but this was increased to 27 years on appeal.

 

The High Court Case

 

The BBC provided the following information on the 7th. May 2019 relating to the attack and its legal consequences:

 

"Three sisters who suffered devastating injuries in a hammer attack by a thief are suing the owners of the London hotel where it happened.

 

At the start of the case at the High Court, lawyers described the injuries to the women, who were from Abu Dhabi in the UAE:

 

-- Ohoud was left with five per cent brain capacity, and will require care for the rest of her life.

 

-- Khaloud has had 20 operations to rebuild her head and face.

 

-- Fatima cannot taste or smell, and has problems with her memory.

 

Spence admitted the attack,, but denied attempted murder.

 

The family's barrister, Susan Rodway, said that Spence - who had a history of sneaking into hotel rooms to steal - had "great knowledge and familiarity" of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

She said that he told his criminal trial he was a regular intruder at the hotel, and had even been able to sleep in maids' cupboards.

 

She added that security "failures" led Spence to directly target the hotel, where he knew he could make an easy buck from the rich pickings there.

 

The court heard that it was "well-known" to the hotel that it was common for Middle Eastern guests to leave doors on the latch in order to enable family members to go between rooms.

 

The hotel's owners deny liability, arguing that by leaving their door open, the women voluntarily assumed the obvious risk of allowing anyone to enter the room while they were asleep inside.

 

Neil Block QC, for the hotel, said in a written submission:

 

"Each guest room was fitted with a heavy duty

fire door with efficient self-closers and automatic

locks, deadlocks, security chains and spy-glasses.

The rooms were designed so that guests could

not leave them open accidentally."

 

He said that after the incident, police tested a closed bedroom door, and found it impossible to gain access with a hammer similar to that used by Mr Spence.

 

Ms Rodway said that the hotel's CCTV system was "purely reactive" and that:

 

"it was clearly only there to enable review

should an incident occur, but not to enable

any anticipation or prevention of an incident".

 

But Mr Block said the fact that there was no system for live monitoring of all 130 CCTV cameras at the hotel "was, and indeed remains, the norm for similar hotels".

 

He concluded:

 

"But for the deliberate interference with

the door's locking mechanism, the attack

would not have occurred."

 

The case is expected to last for two weeks."

 

The High Court Judgement

 

On Friday the 21st. June 2019, the High Court judge Mr. Justice Dingemans ruled that:

 

"There was no liability on the part of the

Cumberland Hotel to Ohoud, Khaloud

and Fatima for the attack carried out by

Mr Spence".

 

He said that the case raised issues about whether a hotel proprietor owes a duty to guests to take reasonable care to protect against injury caused by the criminal actions of third parties, and if so whether the duty was breached in this case.

 

Dingemans concluded that there was such a duty of care, but based on the facts of the case, there was no breach of that duty.

 

The judge said that:

 

"The hotel acted with reasonable care to

protect guests at the hotel against injury

caused by the criminal acts of third parties".

 

However Khaloud and Fatima said in a statement after the ruling:

 

"Re-living the horrors of that terrifying night

where we almost lost our lives has been

extremely traumatic for us to endure, and

we are devastated that it has all been for

nothing.

We lost our sister, and our lives were

changed forever when we were attacked

by Spence in the privacy of our own room."

 

Khaloud and Fatima said that they felt the decision was "a travesty" and that "justice has not been done".

 

A spokeswoman for the owner of the Cumberland, GLH Hotels, said after the ruling:

 

"We believe today's judgement is the

correct outcome.

Regardless, the al Najjar family's

experience was deeply shocking and

wholly unprecedented and we reiterate

our heartfelt concern for their well-being

as they continue to receive all necessary

support."

 

These are a few things from my sketchbook done in my early 20s. The top two are ideas for larger drawings that never came about. (The one on the right would have been part of a triptych with a hammer attacked by nails, but I went a different direction with that.) I may still get to them at some point, if I ever break myself away from the digital world for long enough to do so.

 

The rest are a collection of illustrations commissioned by my sister for a book of her writing she printed while in college. (And by "commissioned," of course I mean "asked nicely as a favor to her, without any expectation for recompense.")

The PolySix that I bought as a spares donor arrived yesterday. It appears to have been the victim of a hammer attack.

It contains the most ill-considered battery leakage repair that I've seen.

There's also a repair on the effects board where an op-amp has been replaced with a socketed TL072. I think this Korg may have been a bit of a lemon for its unfortunate previous owner so perhaps it's understandable that they violently attacked it one day...

A hydraulic hammer attacks the cement surface another worker sprays down the area.

Vigil Bosnian man murdered by 4 teens one 7 yoa to be tried as an adult, with hammers Ferguson MO area evident offshoot of brown riots kplr11.com/2014/12/01/bosnian-community-holds-vigil-for-m...

henry showing us how he ended up with a cut and bruised eye, he was hit in the face with a hammer by his friend!

The Postcard

 

A postally unused postcard that was published by Edmund Düsédau of Plaistow, London. The card was printed in Germany.

 

The card was posted on the 27th. July 1908 to:

 

Monsieur Péron,

Impasse Gravel,

Levallois-Perret,

Seine,

France.

 

There was also a very brief message on the divided back:

 

"26 Juillet 1908.

S. C."

 

Levallois-Perret

 

Levallois-Perret is a commune in the Hauts-de-Seine department and Île-de-France region of north-central France.

 

It lies on the right bank of the Seine, some 6 km from the centre of Paris in the north-western suburbs of the French capital.

 

Marble Arch

 

The Marble Arch is a 19th.-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London. The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the Cour d'Honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is today the three-bayed, central projection of the palace containing the well known balcony.

 

In 1851 the arch was relocated, and following the widening of Park Lane in the early 1960's is now sited, incongruously isolated, on a large traffic island at the junction of Oxford Street, Park Lane and Edgware Road.

 

The traffic going round the traffic island these days is very heavy and fast-moving; don't try and cross the road to get to the arch - you won't make it.

 

The Cumberland Hotel

 

All the Georgian houses in the background are no longer there; they have been replaced by the enormous Cumberland Hotel.

 

The www.kzwp.com/ website created by Kattie Zion has a detailed history of the Cumberland Hotel building. She writes that:

 

"In 1901 the island site bounded by Oxford Street, Old Quebec Street, Bryanston Street and Great Cumberland Place, was progressively acquired by Joseph Lyons for the erection of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

The Cumberland project was formidable. The excavations alone entailed the removal of over 100,000 cubic yards of material, during which historical relics from all periods were unearthed. All building work was carried out by Lyons' own staff.

 

The Cumberland Hotel featured all the latest developments of comfort. It was sound-proofed, double glazed, air conditioned, and all 900 bed-rooms had their own en-suite. All air entering the hotel was filtered, including the supply to the kitchen areas. Here the exhaust was treated in order to eradicate cooking smells.

 

The structure consisted of thirteen floors, ten of them above ground and three below. Part of the hotel backbone was an enormous 100-ton girder which required the world's largest lorry to convey it. Fifteen thousand tons of steel-work was used in the hotel's construction. Four hundred thousand square feet of 'Empire grown timber' was used in the making of bedroom furniture.

 

The Cumberland Hotel officially opened its doors on the 12th. December 1933.

 

Two thousand staff were employed at the hotel, and a specially built annex provided accommodation for 300 girls who slept in single or double rooms. There was one bath to every four girls, and they ate in their own restaurant on the ground floor of the annex."

 

The Cumberland has seen many famous guests over the years; in the music world these include Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Holly.

 

In the Spring of 2019 the hotel changed its name to the Hard Rock Hotel, but reverted back to the Cumberland name four years later in May 2023.

 

The 2014 Cumberland Hotel Hammer Attack

 

In April 2014 the Cumberland Hotel was the scene of a devastating hammer attack.

 

Three sisters, Ohoud, Khaloud and Fatima Al-Najjar were staying in adjoining rooms at the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch, when Philip Spence hit all three of them violently with a claw hammer.

 

Spence was able to enter their seventh floor room, which was not locked, after he walked in off the street.

 

Philip Spence

 

Thirty-three year old Philip Spence from Harlesden in north-west London carried out his attack in front of Khaloud’s three children, aged seven, ten and twelve.

 

He hit one of his victims, Ohoud al-Najjar, 34, with such force that her skull split open as her nine-year-old nephew cowered under the sheets next to her.

 

Spence was permanently excluded from school at the age of eight, smoked cannabis from the age of 11, and was addicted to crack cocaine and heroin by 18.

 

Spence’s history of violence includes chasing his landlord with a hammer and punching a woman at council offices in 2007, as well as biting a passer-by in 2011.

 

Spence has 37 convictions for 62 offences dating back to 1993.

 

The three women left their hotel rooms unlocked on the night of the attack in order to allow a fourth sister to return later in the evening.

 

The fourth sister, Sheika al-Mheiri, on returning discovered her sisters lying injured on the floor, with blood spattered on the walls.

 

Spence had fled the scene with a suitcase stuffed with iPads, gold jewellery and mobile phones, having dumped the hammer just outside the hotel.

 

CCTV footage captured Spence on a bus examining items that he had stolen from the women after his attack.

 

The Criminal Trial

 

A year later at his criminal trial, Spence’s barrister, William Nash, said in mitigation that his client had consumed a large amount of drugs at the time of the attack:

 

“He didn’t know of any other crackhead

as big as him. He can’t forgive himself.

He describes himself as being a totally

different person. He is not unempathetic.”

 

Nevertheless Spence was convicted of three counts of attempted murder.

 

The "hotel creeper" was initially ordered to serve life with a minimum of 18 years, but this was increased to 27 years on appeal.

 

The High Court Case

 

The BBC provided the following information on the 7th. May 2019 relating to the attack and its legal consequences:

 

"Three sisters who suffered devastating injuries in a hammer attack by a thief are suing the owners of the London hotel where it happened.

 

At the start of the case at the High Court, lawyers described the injuries to the women, who were from Abu Dhabi in the UAE:

 

-- Ohoud was left with five per cent brain capacity, and will require care for the rest of her life.

 

-- Khaloud has had 20 operations to rebuild her head and face.

 

-- Fatima cannot taste or smell, and has problems with her memory.

 

Spence admitted the attack,, but denied attempted murder.

 

The family's barrister, Susan Rodway, said that Spence - who had a history of sneaking into hotel rooms to steal - had "great knowledge and familiarity" of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

She said that he told his criminal trial he was a regular intruder at the hotel, and had even been able to sleep in maids' cupboards.

 

She added that security "failures" led Spence to directly target the hotel, where he knew he could make an easy buck from the rich pickings there.

 

The court heard that it was "well-known" to the hotel that it was common for Middle Eastern guests to leave doors on the latch in order to enable family members to go between rooms.

 

The hotel's owners deny liability, arguing that by leaving their door open, the women voluntarily assumed the obvious risk of allowing anyone to enter the room while they were asleep inside.

 

Neil Block QC, for the hotel, said in a written submission:

 

"Each guest room was fitted with a heavy duty

fire door with efficient self-closers and automatic

locks, deadlocks, security chains and spy-glasses.

The rooms were designed so that guests could

not leave them open accidentally."

 

He said that after the incident, police tested a closed bedroom door, and found it impossible to gain access with a hammer similar to that used by Mr Spence.

 

Ms Rodway said that the hotel's CCTV system was "purely reactive" and that:

 

"it was clearly only there to enable review

should an incident occur, but not to enable

any anticipation or prevention of an incident".

 

But Mr Block said the fact that there was no system for live monitoring of all 130 CCTV cameras at the hotel "was, and indeed remains, the norm for similar hotels".

 

He concluded:

 

"But for the deliberate interference with

the door's locking mechanism, the attack

would not have occurred."

 

The case is expected to last for two weeks."

 

The High Court Judgement

 

On Friday the 21st. June 2019, the High Court judge Mr. Justice Dingemans ruled that:

 

"There was no liability on the part of the

Cumberland Hotel to Ohoud, Khaloud

and Fatima for the attack carried out by

Mr Spence".

 

He said that the case raised issues about whether a hotel proprietor owes a duty to guests to take reasonable care to protect against injury caused by the criminal actions of third parties, and if so whether the duty was breached in this case.

 

Dingemans concluded that there was such a duty of care, but based on the facts of the case, there was no breach of that duty.

 

The judge said that:

 

"The hotel acted with reasonable care to

protect guests at the hotel against injury

caused by the criminal acts of third parties".

 

However Khaloud and Fatima said in a statement after the ruling:

 

"Re-living the horrors of that terrifying night

where we almost lost our lives has been

extremely traumatic for us to endure, and

we are devastated that it has all been for

nothing.

We lost our sister, and our lives were

changed forever when we were attacked

by Spence in the privacy of our own room."

 

Khaloud and Fatima said that they felt the decision was "a travesty" and that "justice has not been done".

 

A spokeswoman for the owner of the Cumberland, GLH Hotels, said after the ruling:

 

"We believe today's judgement is the

correct outcome.

Regardless, the al Najjar family's

experience was deeply shocking and

wholly unprecedented and we reiterate

our heartfelt concern for their well-being

as they continue to receive all necessary

support."

 

The Sinking of the Ying King

 

So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?

 

Well, on Monday the 27th. July 1908, the 1908 Hong Kong typhoon sank the passenger steamer Ying King, causing 421 crew and passengers to drown.

 

As a result of the catastrophe, additional safety measures were undertaken, including the construction of a second typhoon shelter in Hong Kong harbour.

 

Thomas Stevenson (Toxicologist)

 

The day also marked the death in Streatham, London of Thomas Stevenson.

 

Thomas, who was born in Rainton, Yorkshire on the 14th. April 1838, was an English toxicologist and forensic chemist. He served as an analyst to the Home Office and as an expert witness in many famous poisoning cases. These included the Pimlico Mystery, The Maybrick Case, the Lambeth Poisoner, and the George Chapman case.

 

-- Thomas Stevenson - The Early Years

 

In 1857 Stevenson became a medical pupil to Mr Steel of Bradford. He entered Guy's Hospital Medical School in 1859 and graduated MB in 1863 and M.D. in 1864. He won several gold medals whilst still a student.

 

-- Thomas Stevenson - The Later Years

 

Thomas became MRCP in 1864 and FRCP in 1871. Stevenson became demonstrator in practical chemistry at Guy's in 1864, and was lecturer in chemistry, 1870–98, and in forensic medicine, 1878–1908.

 

He also served as the President of the Institute of Chemistry and of the Society of Public Analysts.

 

Thomas is notable for being the scientific mentor of the Nobel Prize winner Frederick Hopkins.

 

Stevenson died at the age of 70 of diabetes on the 27th. July 1908 at his home in Streatham High Road, London and was laid to rest in West Norwood Cemetery.

 

Thomas was a man of deep Christian faith, as was his wife, Agnes. All their seven children followed in their parents footsteps. Mabel trained as doctor and became a medical missionary in India before returning home and becoming a nun at the House of the Epiphany in Truro.

 

Another daughter, Alice later joined this order too as a nun.

 

The British Medical Journal obituary, besides detailing his notable career, noted his Christian faith and service:

 

‘He was a diligent student of the Bible;

indeed, his character and life were the

direct result of his constant and abiding

faith in God, every act being simply and

solely done for His glory.’

www.tradingmanchester.co.uk

Tacoma Police officers at the scene of a murder in East Tacoma. A man died and a woman suffered life-threatening injuries in what 911 caller reported to be a hammer attack on East 58th and East I streets in Tacoma Tuesday Sept. 8, 2015.

My neighbors have been hammering all morning. I work from home and find this very annoying. It's like they are systematically checking every inch of the walls and ceilings for susceptibility to hammer attacks.

The Postcard

 

A postally unused Empire Series postcard that was printed in Germany. The card has a divided back.

 

Marble Arch

 

The Marble Arch is a 19th.-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London. The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the Cour d'Honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is today the three-bayed, central projection of the palace containing the well known balcony.

 

In 1851 the arch was relocated, and following the widening of Park Lane in the early 1960's is now sited, incongruously isolated, on a large traffic island at the junction of Oxford Street, Park Lane and Edgware Road.

 

The traffic going round the traffic island these days is very heavy and fast-moving; don't try and cross the road to get to the arch - you won't make it.

 

The Cumberland Hotel

 

All the Georgian houses in the background are no longer there; they were replaced by the enormous Cumberland Hotel.

 

The www.kzwp.com/ website created by Kattie Zion has a detailed history of the Cumberland Hotel building. She writes that:

 

"In 1901 the island site bounded by Oxford Street, Old Quebec Street, Bryanston Street and Great Cumberland Place, was progressively acquired by Joseph Lyons for the erection of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

The Cumberland project was formidable. The excavations alone entailed the removal of over 100,000 cubic yards of material, during which historical relics from all periods were unearthed. All building work was carried out by Lyons' own staff.

 

The Cumberland Hotel featured all the latest developments of comfort. It was sound-proofed, double glazed, air conditioned, and all 900 bed-rooms had their own en-suite. All air entering the hotel was filtered, including the supply to the kitchen areas. Here the exhaust was treated in order to eradicate cooking smells.

 

The structure consisted of thirteen floors, ten of them above ground and three below. Part of the hotel backbone was an enormous 100-ton girder which required the world's largest lorry to convey it. Fifteen thousand tons of steel-work was used in the hotel's construction. Four hundred thousand square feet of 'Empire grown timber' was used in the making of bedroom furniture.

 

The Cumberland Hotel officially opened its doors on the 12th. December 1933.

 

Two thousand staff were employed at the hotel, and a specially built annex provided accommodation for 300 girls who slept in single or double rooms. There was one bath to every four girls, and they ate in their own restaurant on the ground floor of the annex."

 

The Cumberland has seen many famous guests over the years; in the music world these include Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Holly.

 

In the Spring of 2019 the hotel changed its name to the Hard Rock Hotel, but reverted back to the Cumberland name four years later in May 2023.

 

The 2014 Cumberland Hotel Hammer Attack

 

In April 2014 the Cumberland Hotel was the scene of a devastating hammer attack.

 

Three sisters, Ohoud, Khaloud and Fatima Al-Najjar were staying in adjoining rooms at the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch, when Philip Spence hit all three of them violently with a claw hammer.

 

Spence was able to enter their seventh floor room, which was not locked, after he walked in off the street.

 

Philip Spence

 

Thirty-three year old Philip Spence from Harlesden in north-west London carried out his attack in front of Khaloud’s three children, aged seven, ten and twelve.

 

He hit one of his victims, Ohoud al-Najjar, 34, with such force that her skull split open as her nine-year-old nephew cowered under the sheets next to her.

 

Spence was permanently excluded from school at the age of eight, smoked cannabis from the age of 11, and was addicted to crack cocaine and heroin by 18.

 

Spence’s history of violence includes chasing his landlord with a hammer and punching a woman at council offices in 2007, as well as biting a passer-by in 2011.

 

Spence has 37 convictions for 62 offences dating back to 1993.

 

The three women left their hotel rooms unlocked on the night of the attack in order to allow a fourth sister to return later in the evening.

 

The fourth sister, Sheika al-Mheiri, on returning discovered her sisters lying injured on the floor, with blood spattered on the walls.

 

Spence had fled the scene with a suitcase stuffed with iPads, gold jewellery and mobile phones, having dumped the hammer just outside the hotel.

 

CCTV footage captured Spence on a bus examining items that he had stolen from the women after his attack.

 

The Criminal Trial

 

A year later at his criminal trial, Spence’s barrister, William Nash, said in mitigation that his client had consumed a large amount of drugs at the time of the attack:

 

“He didn’t know of any other crackhead

as big as him. He can’t forgive himself.

He describes himself as being a totally

different person. He is not unempathetic.”

 

Nevertheless Spence was convicted of three counts of attempted murder.

 

The "hotel creeper" was initially ordered to serve life with a minimum of 18 years, but this was increased to 27 years on appeal.

 

The High Court Case

 

The BBC provided the following information on the 7th. May 2019 relating to the attack and its legal consequences:

 

"Three sisters who suffered devastating injuries in a hammer attack by a thief are suing the owners of the London hotel where it happened.

 

At the start of the case at the High Court, lawyers described the injuries to the women, who were from Abu Dhabi in the UAE:

 

-- Ohoud was left with five per cent brain capacity, and will require care for the rest of her life.

 

-- Khaloud has had 20 operations to rebuild her head and face.

 

-- Fatima cannot taste or smell, and has problems with her memory.

 

Spence admitted the attack,, but denied attempted murder.

 

The family's barrister, Susan Rodway, said that Spence - who had a history of sneaking into hotel rooms to steal - had "great knowledge and familiarity" of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

She said that he told his criminal trial he was a regular intruder at the hotel, and had even been able to sleep in maids' cupboards.

 

She added that security "failures" led Spence to directly target the hotel, where he knew he could make an easy buck from the rich pickings there.

 

The court heard that it was "well-known" to the hotel that it was common for Middle Eastern guests to leave doors on the latch in order to enable family members to go between rooms.

 

The hotel's owners deny liability, arguing that by leaving their door open, the women voluntarily assumed the obvious risk of allowing anyone to enter the room while they were asleep inside.

 

Neil Block QC, for the hotel, said in a written submission:

 

"Each guest room was fitted with a heavy duty

fire door with efficient self-closers and automatic

locks, deadlocks, security chains and spy-glasses.

The rooms were designed so that guests could

not leave them open accidentally."

 

He said that after the incident, police tested a closed bedroom door, and found it impossible to gain access with a hammer similar to that used by Mr Spence.

 

Ms Rodway said that the hotel's CCTV system was "purely reactive" and that:

 

"it was clearly only there to enable review

should an incident occur, but not to enable

any anticipation or prevention of an incident".

 

But Mr Block said the fact that there was no system for live monitoring of all 130 CCTV cameras at the hotel "was, and indeed remains, the norm for similar hotels".

 

He concluded:

 

"But for the deliberate interference with

the door's locking mechanism, the attack

would not have occurred."

 

The case is expected to last for two weeks."

 

The High Court Judgement

 

On Friday the 21st. June 2019, the High Court judge Mr. Justice Dingemans ruled that:

 

"There was no liability on the part of the

Cumberland Hotel to Ohoud, Khaloud

and Fatima for the attack carried out by

Mr Spence".

 

He said that the case raised issues about whether a hotel proprietor owes a duty to guests to take reasonable care to protect against injury caused by the criminal actions of third parties, and if so whether the duty was breached in this case.

 

Dingemans concluded that there was such a duty of care, but based on the facts of the case, there was no breach of that duty.

 

The judge said that:

 

"The hotel acted with reasonable care to

protect guests at the hotel against injury

caused by the criminal acts of third parties".

 

However Khaloud and Fatima said in a statement after the ruling:

 

"Re-living the horrors of that terrifying night

where we almost lost our lives has been

extremely traumatic for us to endure, and

we are devastated that it has all been for

nothing.

We lost our sister, and our lives were

changed forever when we were attacked

by Spence in the privacy of our own room."

 

Khaloud and Fatima said that they felt the decision was "a travesty" and that "justice has not been done".

 

A spokeswoman for the owner of the Cumberland, GLH Hotels, said after the ruling:

 

"We believe today's judgement is the

correct outcome.

Regardless, the al Najjar family's

experience was deeply shocking and

wholly unprecedented and we reiterate

our heartfelt concern for their well-being

as they continue to receive all necessary

support."

  

Christian Jeffers Wiki, Subway Hammer Attack Suspect Arrested by the NBC police on Wednesday. He is 48-Years old and was charged with assault and hate crimes and also weapon possession charges. He was the suspect, who attacked a subway rider with a hammer.

Christian Jeffers was also arrested earlier as per NBC news sources' claims. Read Christian Jeffers Wiki, Biography, AGe.

 

Subway Hammer Attacker Christian Jeffers Arrested

Christian Jeffers, an Asian man arrested by the police on the charge of attack with a hammer. He was attacked on Tuesday having a wig and pink lipstick at Subway platform.

The New York police department arrested 48-year old Jeffer on Wednesday.

Jeffers has been arrested more than 47 times and recently he was released from prison in the case of robbery.

As per information, Jeffers attacked a man at Subway station with a hammer who was in the hospital and have head injuries. You are reading all the information from LatestinBollywood.com.

 

UPDATE: 48-year-old Christian Jeffers has been arrested and charged with Assault as a Hate Crime, Aggravated Harassment as a Hate Crime, Menacing as a Hate Crime, Criminal Possession of a Weapon. The hammer used in the attack was found on him. #StopAsianHateCrimes #StopAsianHate pic.twitter.com/esnGUOTfPI

— CeFaan Kim (@CeFaanKim) March 10, 2022

 

Christian Jeffers Wiki, Biography

Christian Jeffers is 48 years old suspect of Subway Hammer Attack. He was arrested by New York Police and is now in Jail.

 

latestinbollywood.com/christian-jeffers-wiki-age-subway-h...

The house with a brick trim on East I Street was the scene of a murder in East Tacoma. A man died and a woman suffered life-threatening injuries in what 911 caller reported to be a hammer attack on East 58th and East I streets in Tacoma Tuesday Sept. 8, 2015.

The Hammers attack the North Bank, sorry Centenary Stand end

...meta-verse jump the easy way!

The Postcard

 

A postcard bearing no publisher's name that was posted in Highbury, London using a 1d. stamp on Monday the 18th. July 1904. It was posted by:

 

Dr. Ch. Weizmann,

22, Grosvenor Road,

Canonbury,

London N.

 

The card was posted to:

 

Mr. Zevi Aberson,

Villa Almeras,

Genève (Conches),

Switzerland.

 

The recipient's name and address stretched across the undivided back of the card.

 

Marble Arch

 

The Marble Arch is a 19th.-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London. The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the Cour d'Honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is today the three-bayed, central projection of the palace containing the well known balcony.

 

In 1851 the arch was relocated, and following the widening of Park Lane in the early 1960's is now sited, incongruously isolated, on a large traffic island at the junction of Oxford Street, Park Lane and Edgware Road.

 

The traffic going round the traffic island these days is very heavy and fast-moving; don't try and cross the road to get to the arch - you won't make it.

 

The Cumberland Hotel

 

All the Georgian houses in the background are no longer there; the ones on the right have been replaced by the enormous Cumberland Hotel.

 

The www.kzwp.com/ website created by Kattie Zion has a detailed history of the Cumberland Hotel building. She writes that:

 

"In 1901 the island site bounded by Oxford Street, Old Quebec Street, Bryanston Street and Great Cumberland Place, was progressively acquired by Joseph Lyons for the erection of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

The Cumberland project was formidable. The excavations alone entailed the removal of over 100,000 cubic yards of material, during which historical relics from all periods were unearthed. All building work was carried out by Lyons' own staff.

 

The Cumberland Hotel featured all the latest developments of comfort. It was sound-proofed, double glazed, air conditioned, and all 900 bed-rooms had their own en-suite. All air entering the hotel was filtered, including the supply to the kitchen areas. Here the exhaust was treated in order to eradicate cooking smells.

 

The structure consisted of thirteen floors, ten of them above ground and three below. Part of the hotel backbone was an enormous 100-ton girder which required the world's largest lorry to convey it. Fifteen thousand tons of steel-work was used in the hotel's construction. Four hundred thousand square feet of 'Empire grown timber' was used in the making of bedroom furniture.

 

The Cumberland Hotel officially opened its doors on the 12th. December 1933.

 

Two thousand staff were employed at the hotel, and a specially built annex provided accommodation for 300 girls who slept in single or double rooms. There was one bath to every four girls, and they ate in their own restaurant on the ground floor of the annex."

 

The Cumberland has seen many famous guests over the years; in the music world these include Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Holly.

 

In the Spring of 2019 the hotel changed its name to the Hard Rock Hotel, but reverted back to the Cumberland name four years later in May 2023.

 

The 2014 Cumberland Hotel Hammer Attack

 

In April 2014 the Cumberland Hotel was the scene of a devastating hammer attack.

 

Three sisters, Ohoud, Khaloud and Fatima Al-Najjar were staying in adjoining rooms at the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch, when Philip Spence hit all three of them violently with a claw hammer.

 

Spence was able to enter their seventh floor room, which was not locked, after he walked in off the street.

 

Philip Spence

 

Thirty-three year old Philip Spence from Harlesden in north-west London carried out his attack in front of Khaloud’s three children, aged seven, ten and twelve.

 

He hit one of his victims, Ohoud al-Najjar, 34, with such force that her skull split open as her nine-year-old nephew cowered under the sheets next to her.

 

Spence was permanently excluded from school at the age of eight, smoked cannabis from the age of 11, and was addicted to crack cocaine and heroin by 18.

 

Spence’s history of violence includes chasing his landlord with a hammer and punching a woman at council offices in 2007, as well as biting a passer-by in 2011.

 

Spence has 37 convictions for 62 offences dating back to 1993.

 

The three women left their hotel rooms unlocked on the night of the attack in order to allow a fourth sister to return later in the evening.

 

The fourth sister, Sheika al-Mheiri, on returning discovered her sisters lying injured on the floor, with blood spattered on the walls.

 

Spence had fled the scene with a suitcase stuffed with iPads, gold jewellery and mobile phones, having dumped the hammer just outside the hotel.

 

CCTV footage captured Spence on a bus examining items that he had stolen from the women after his attack.

 

The Criminal Trial

 

A year later at his criminal trial, Spence’s barrister, William Nash, said in mitigation that his client had consumed a large amount of drugs at the time of the attack:

 

“He didn’t know of any other crackhead

as big as him. He can’t forgive himself.

He describes himself as being a totally

different person. He is not unempathetic.”

 

Nevertheless Spence was convicted of three counts of attempted murder.

 

The "hotel creeper" was initially ordered to serve life with a minimum of 18 years, but this was increased to 27 years on appeal.

 

The High Court Case

 

The BBC provided the following information on the 7th. May 2019 relating to the attack and its legal consequences:

 

"Three sisters who suffered devastating injuries in a hammer attack by a thief are suing the owners of the London hotel where it happened.

 

At the start of the case at the High Court, lawyers described the injuries to the women, who were from Abu Dhabi in the UAE:

 

-- Ohoud was left with five per cent brain capacity, and will require care for the rest of her life.

 

-- Khaloud has had 20 operations to rebuild her head and face.

 

-- Fatima cannot taste or smell, and has problems with her memory.

 

Spence admitted the attack,, but denied attempted murder.

 

The family's barrister, Susan Rodway, said that Spence - who had a history of sneaking into hotel rooms to steal - had "great knowledge and familiarity" of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

She said that he told his criminal trial he was a regular intruder at the hotel, and had even been able to sleep in maids' cupboards.

 

She added that security "failures" led Spence to directly target the hotel, where he knew he could make an easy buck from the rich pickings there.

 

The court heard that it was "well-known" to the hotel that it was common for Middle Eastern guests to leave doors on the latch in order to enable family members to go between rooms.

 

The hotel's owners deny liability, arguing that by leaving their door open, the women voluntarily assumed the obvious risk of allowing anyone to enter the room while they were asleep inside.

 

Neil Block QC, for the hotel, said in a written submission:

 

"Each guest room was fitted with a heavy duty

fire door with efficient self-closers and automatic

locks, deadlocks, security chains and spy-glasses.

The rooms were designed so that guests could

not leave them open accidentally."

 

He said that after the incident, police tested a closed bedroom door, and found it impossible to gain access with a hammer similar to that used by Mr Spence.

 

Ms Rodway said that the hotel's CCTV system was "purely reactive" and that:

 

"it was clearly only there to enable review

should an incident occur, but not to enable

any anticipation or prevention of an incident".

 

But Mr Block said the fact that there was no system for live monitoring of all 130 CCTV cameras at the hotel "was, and indeed remains, the norm for similar hotels".

 

He concluded:

 

"But for the deliberate interference with

the door's locking mechanism, the attack

would not have occurred."

 

The case is expected to last for two weeks."

 

The High Court Judgement

 

On Friday the 21st. June 2019, the High Court judge Mr. Justice Dingemans ruled that:

 

"There was no liability on the part of the

Cumberland Hotel to Ohoud, Khaloud

and Fatima for the attack carried out by

Mr Spence".

 

He said that the case raised issues about whether a hotel proprietor owes a duty to guests to take reasonable care to protect against injury caused by the criminal actions of third parties, and if so whether the duty was breached in this case.

 

Dingemans concluded that there was such a duty of care, but based on the facts of the case, there was no breach of that duty.

 

The judge said that:

 

"The hotel acted with reasonable care to

protect guests at the hotel against injury

caused by the criminal acts of third parties".

 

However Khaloud and Fatima said in a statement after the ruling:

 

"Re-living the horrors of that terrifying night

where we almost lost our lives has been

extremely traumatic for us to endure, and

we are devastated that it has all been for

nothing.

We lost our sister, and our lives were

changed forever when we were attacked

by Spence in the privacy of our own room."

 

Khaloud and Fatima said that they felt the decision was "a travesty" and that "justice has not been done".

 

A spokeswoman for the owner of the Cumberland, GLH Hotels, said after the ruling:

 

"We believe today's judgement is the

correct outcome.

Regardless, the al Najjar family's

experience was deeply shocking and

wholly unprecedented and we reiterate

our heartfelt concern for their well-being

as they continue to receive all necessary

support."

 

A Coroner's Verdict

 

So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?

 

Well, on the 18th. July 1904, the inquest into the death of Frederick Kent Loomis was held in the village of Thurleston, Devonshire. He had been found dead on the beach.

 

Doctors concluded that Loomis had received an ante-mortem blow to the head sufficient to cause death before entering the water. The verdict of the coroner's jury read:

 

"Found dead, washed up by the

sea in Bigbury Bay, Devonshire."

 

In advising the verdict, Coroner Dr. Sidney Hacker stated that there was no evidence that the blow to Loomis' head was the result of foul play.

 

A Deadly Hotel Fire

 

Also on that day, in Longville, California, a fire destroyed the Miller Hotel, killing two children on an upper floor, who were believed to have set the fire.

 

The Conquering of a Mountain

 

Also on the 18th. July 1904, E. C. Hutchinson and J. S. Hutchinson made the first ascent of Mount Humphreys, located in the Sierra Nevada in California.

The Postcard

 

A postcard bearing no publisher's name that was posted in South Kensington, London using a 1d. stamp on Saturday the 3rd. July 1926. The postmark states: 'British Goods are Best'.

 

The card was sent to:

 

Mrs. Chandos Pole,

Creamery,

Rottingdean,

Sussex.

 

The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:

 

"Saturday.

Dearest Aunt!

Thank you so much for

the dear cards!

I am not a bit dull, on the

contrary I am enjoying

myself very much!

I had a lovely night by

Ramsden's, Stratton was

also there - they give you

all their love.

This morning I saw the

inside of the Houses of

Parliament, marvellous!

Tomorrow night I am

asked for by Mr.

Robertson! You see I am

really not too dull!

To everybody I give my

love.

I hope you are enjoying

yourself the next days!

With love,

Manfred."

 

Manfred was obviously very fond of exclamation marks.

 

Marble Arch

 

The Marble Arch is a 19th.-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London. The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the Cour d'Honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is today the three-bayed, central projection of the palace containing the well known balcony.

 

In 1851 the arch was relocated, and following the widening of Park Lane in the early 1960's is now sited, incongruously isolated, on a large traffic island at the junction of Oxford Street, Park Lane and Edgware Road.

 

The traffic going round the traffic island these days is very heavy and fast-moving; don't try and cross the road to get to the arch - you won't make it.

 

The Cumberland Hotel

 

All the Georgian houses in the background are no longer there; they have been replaced by the enormous Cumberland Hotel.

 

The www.kzwp.com/ website created by Kattie Zion has a detailed history of the Cumberland Hotel building. She writes that:

 

"In 1901 the island site bounded by Oxford Street, Old Quebec Street, Bryanston Street and Great Cumberland Place, was progressively acquired by Joseph Lyons for the erection of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

The Cumberland project was formidable. The excavations alone entailed the removal of over 100,000 cubic yards of material, during which historical relics from all periods were unearthed. All building work was carried out by Lyons' own staff.

 

The Cumberland Hotel featured all the latest developments of comfort. It was sound-proofed, double glazed, air conditioned, and all 900 bed-rooms had their own en-suite. All air entering the hotel was filtered, including the supply to the kitchen areas. Here the exhaust was treated in order to eradicate cooking smells.

 

The structure consisted of thirteen floors, ten of them above ground and three below. Part of the hotel backbone was an enormous 100-ton girder which required the world's largest lorry to convey it. Fifteen thousand tons of steel-work was used in the hotel's construction. Four hundred thousand square feet of 'Empire grown timber' was used in the making of bedroom furniture.

 

The Cumberland Hotel officially opened its doors on the 12th. December 1933.

 

Two thousand staff were employed at the hotel, and a specially built annex provided accommodation for 300 girls who slept in single or double rooms. There was one bath to every four girls, and they ate in their own restaurant on the ground floor of the annex."

 

The Cumberland has seen many famous guests over the years; in the music world these include Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Holly.

 

In the Spring of 2019 the hotel changed its name to the Hard Rock Hotel, but reverted back to the Cumberland name four years later in May 2023.

 

The 2014 Cumberland Hotel Hammer Attack

 

In April 2014 the Cumberland Hotel was the scene of a devastating hammer attack.

 

Three sisters, Ohoud, Khaloud and Fatima Al-Najjar were staying in adjoining rooms at the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch, when Philip Spence hit all three of them violently with a claw hammer.

 

Spence was able to enter their seventh floor room, which was not locked, after he walked in off the street.

 

Philip Spence

 

Thirty-three year old Philip Spence from Harlesden in north-west London carried out his attack in front of Khaloud’s three children, aged seven, ten and twelve.

 

He hit one of his victims, Ohoud al-Najjar, 34, with such force that her skull split open as her nine-year-old nephew cowered under the sheets next to her.

 

Spence was permanently excluded from school at the age of eight, smoked cannabis from the age of 11, and was addicted to crack cocaine and heroin by 18.

 

Spence’s history of violence includes chasing his landlord with a hammer and punching a woman at council offices in 2007, as well as biting a passer-by in 2011.

 

Spence has 37 convictions for 62 offences dating back to 1993.

 

The three women left their hotel rooms unlocked on the night of the attack in order to allow a fourth sister to return later in the evening.

 

The fourth sister, Sheika al-Mheiri, on returning discovered her sisters lying injured on the floor, with blood spattered on the walls.

 

Spence had fled the scene with a suitcase stuffed with iPads, gold jewellery and mobile phones, having dumped the hammer just outside the hotel.

 

CCTV footage captured Spence on a bus examining items that he had stolen from the women after his attack.

 

The Criminal Trial

 

A year later at his criminal trial, Spence’s barrister, William Nash, said in mitigation that his client had consumed a large amount of drugs at the time of the attack:

 

“He didn’t know of any other crackhead

as big as him. He can’t forgive himself.

He describes himself as being a totally

different person. He is not unempathetic.”

 

Nevertheless Spence was convicted of three counts of attempted murder.

 

The "hotel creeper" was initially ordered to serve life with a minimum of 18 years, but this was increased to 27 years on appeal.

 

The High Court Case

 

The BBC provided the following information on the 7th. May 2019 relating to the attack and its legal consequences:

 

"Three sisters who suffered devastating injuries in a hammer attack by a thief are suing the owners of the London hotel where it happened.

 

At the start of the case at the High Court, lawyers described the injuries to the women, who were from Abu Dhabi in the UAE:

 

-- Ohoud was left with five per cent brain capacity, and will require care for the rest of her life.

 

-- Khaloud has had 20 operations to rebuild her head and face.

 

-- Fatima cannot taste or smell, and has problems with her memory.

 

Spence admitted the attack,, but denied attempted murder.

 

The family's barrister, Susan Rodway, said that Spence - who had a history of sneaking into hotel rooms to steal - had "great knowledge and familiarity" of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

She said that he told his criminal trial he was a regular intruder at the hotel, and had even been able to sleep in maids' cupboards.

 

She added that security "failures" led Spence to directly target the hotel, where he knew he could make an easy buck from the rich pickings there.

 

The court heard that it was "well-known" to the hotel that it was common for Middle Eastern guests to leave doors on the latch in order to enable family members to go between rooms.

 

The hotel's owners deny liability, arguing that by leaving their door open, the women voluntarily assumed the obvious risk of allowing anyone to enter the room while they were asleep inside.

 

Neil Block QC, for the hotel, said in a written submission:

 

"Each guest room was fitted with a heavy duty

fire door with efficient self-closers and automatic

locks, deadlocks, security chains and spy-glasses.

The rooms were designed so that guests could

not leave them open accidentally."

 

He said that after the incident, police tested a closed bedroom door, and found it impossible to gain access with a hammer similar to that used by Mr Spence.

 

Ms Rodway said that the hotel's CCTV system was "purely reactive" and that:

 

"it was clearly only there to enable review

should an incident occur, but not to enable

any anticipation or prevention of an incident".

 

But Mr Block said the fact that there was no system for live monitoring of all 130 CCTV cameras at the hotel "was, and indeed remains, the norm for similar hotels".

 

He concluded:

 

"But for the deliberate interference with

the door's locking mechanism, the attack

would not have occurred."

 

The case is expected to last for two weeks."

 

The High Court Judgement

 

On Friday the 21st. June 2019, the High Court judge Mr. Justice Dingemans ruled that:

 

"There was no liability on the part of the

Cumberland Hotel to Ohoud, Khaloud

and Fatima for the attack carried out by

Mr Spence".

 

He said that the case raised issues about whether a hotel proprietor owes a duty to guests to take reasonable care to protect against injury caused by the criminal actions of third parties, and if so whether the duty was breached in this case.

 

Dingemans concluded that there was such a duty of care, but based on the facts of the case, there was no breach of that duty.

 

The judge said that:

 

"The hotel acted with reasonable care to

protect guests at the hotel against injury

caused by the criminal acts of third parties".

 

However Khaloud and Fatima said in a statement after the ruling:

 

"Re-living the horrors of that terrifying night

where we almost lost our lives has been

extremely traumatic for us to endure, and

we are devastated that it has all been for

nothing.

We lost our sister, and our lives were

changed forever when we were attacked

by Spence in the privacy of our own room."

 

Khaloud and Fatima said that they felt the decision was "a travesty" and that "justice has not been done".

 

A spokeswoman for the owner of the Cumberland, GLH Hotels, said after the ruling:

 

"We believe today's judgement is the

correct outcome.

Regardless, the al Najjar family's

experience was deeply shocking and

wholly unprecedented and we reiterate

our heartfelt concern for their well-being

as they continue to receive all necessary

support."

 

A Wimbledon Victory

 

So what else happened on the day that Manfred posted the card?

 

Well, on the 3rd. July 1926, at the Wimbledon Women's Singles Tennis Final, Kitty McKane Godfree of Great Britain defeated Lili de Alvarez of Spain.

 

Kathleen McKane Godfree

 

Kathleen "Kitty" McKane Godfree (née McKane) was born on the 7th. May 1896 in Bayswater, London. Kitty was a British tennis and badminton player, and the second most decorated female British Olympian, joint with Katherine Grainger.

 

According to A. Wallis Myers of The Daily Telegraph, Godfree was ranked in the world top 10 from 1921 (when the rankings began) through 1927, reaching a career high of world No. 2 in these rankings in 1923, 1924, and 1926.

 

Godfree won five Olympic medals in tennis at the 1920 Antwerp and 1924 Paris games, the most Olympic medals won by a tennis player until Venus Williams matched this record at the 2016 Olympic Games.

 

In 1923, Kitty captured the title at the World Covered Court Championships.

 

Godfree won the Wimbledon singles title twice. In the 1924 final, Godfree recovered from a set and 4–1 (40–15) down against Helen Wills to win the title. This was the only defeat at Wimbledon for Wills who later won eight titles.

 

In the 1926 final, Godfree recovered from a 3–1 and game-point-against deficit in the third set to defeat Lili de Alvarez.

 

The 1924 Wimbledon final was not Godfree's only victory over Wills. Godfree also defeated Wills during the 1924 Wightman Cup 6–2, 6–2.

 

On at least two other occasions, Godfree pushed Wills to the limit. Wills won their quarterfinal in the 1923 U.S. Championships 2–6, 6–2, 7–5 after Godfree recovered to 5–5 in the third set after trailing 5–2.

 

In the final of the 1925 U.S. Championships, Wills won in three sets.

 

In 1925, Godfree became the first person to have reached the singles finals of the French Championships, Wimbledon, and U.S. Championships during her career.

 

In 1922, Kitty and her sister Margaret McKane Stocks were the only sisters to contest a Wimbledon doubles final (until Serena and Venus Williams reached the final in 2000), losing to Suzanne Lenglen and Elizabeth Ryan 6–0, 6–4.

 

Godfree's lifetime record at Wimbledon was 38–11 in singles, 33–12 in women's doubles, and 40–12 in mixed doubles.

 

Godfree received a Centenary medallion on Wimbledon's Centre Court in 1977. She presented the winner's trophy to Martina Navratilova in 1986, in honour of the centenary year of play at Wimbledon.

 

Godfree was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1978.

 

In badminton, Godfree won eight All England Open Badminton Championships from 1920 through 1925, considered the unofficial World Badminton Championships until 1977.

 

Kitty was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1987 when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews while shopping in a supermarket in East Sheen.

 

Kitty Godfree died in London on the 19th. June 1992 at the age of 96.

The Postcard

 

A postally unused Auto-Photo Series postcard that has a divided back.

 

Marble Arch

 

The Marble Arch is a 19th.-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London. The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the Cour d'Honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is today the three-bayed, central projection of the palace containing the well known balcony.

 

In 1851 the arch was relocated, and following the widening of Park Lane in the early 1960's is now sited, incongruously isolated, on a large traffic island at the junction of Oxford Street, Park Lane and Edgware Road.

 

The traffic going round the traffic island these days is very heavy and fast-moving; don't try and cross the road to get to the arch - you won't make it.

 

The Cumberland Hotel

 

All the Georgian houses in the background are no longer there; the ones on the right have been replaced by the enormous Cumberland Hotel.

 

The www.kzwp.com/ website created by Kattie Zion has a detailed history of the Cumberland Hotel building. She writes that:

 

"In 1901 the island site bounded by Oxford Street, Old Quebec Street, Bryanston Street and Great Cumberland Place, was progressively acquired by Joseph Lyons for the erection of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

The Cumberland project was formidable. The excavations alone entailed the removal of over 100,000 cubic yards of material, during which historical relics from all periods were unearthed. All building work was carried out by Lyons' own staff.

 

The Cumberland Hotel featured all the latest developments of comfort. It was sound-proofed, double glazed, air conditioned, and all 900 bed-rooms had their own en-suite. All air entering the hotel was filtered, including the supply to the kitchen areas. Here the exhaust was treated in order to eradicate cooking smells.

 

The structure consisted of thirteen floors, ten of them above ground and three below. Part of the hotel backbone was an enormous 100-ton girder which required the world's largest lorry to convey it. Fifteen thousand tons of steel-work was used in the hotel's construction. Four hundred thousand square feet of 'Empire grown timber' was used in the making of bedroom furniture.

 

The Cumberland Hotel officially opened its doors on the 12th. December 1933.

 

Two thousand staff were employed at the hotel, and a specially built annex provided accommodation for 300 girls who slept in single or double rooms. There was one bath to every four girls, and they ate in their own restaurant on the ground floor of the annex."

 

The Cumberland has seen many famous guests over the years; in the music world these include Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Holly.

 

In the Spring of 2019 the hotel changed its name to the Hard Rock Hotel, but reverted back to the Cumberland name four years later in May 2023.

 

The 2014 Cumberland Hotel Hammer Attack

 

In April 2014 the Cumberland Hotel was the scene of a devastating hammer attack.

 

Three sisters, Ohoud, Khaloud and Fatima Al-Najjar were staying in adjoining rooms at the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch, when Philip Spence hit all three of them violently with a claw hammer.

 

Spence was able to enter their seventh floor room, which was not locked, after he walked in off the street.

 

Philip Spence

 

Thirty-three year old Philip Spence from Harlesden in north-west London carried out his attack in front of Khaloud’s three children, aged seven, ten and twelve.

 

He hit one of his victims, Ohoud al-Najjar, 34, with such force that her skull split open as her nine-year-old nephew cowered under the sheets next to her.

 

Spence was permanently excluded from school at the age of eight, smoked cannabis from the age of 11, and was addicted to crack cocaine and heroin by 18.

 

Spence’s history of violence includes chasing his landlord with a hammer and punching a woman at council offices in 2007, as well as biting a passer-by in 2011.

 

Spence has 37 convictions for 62 offences dating back to 1993.

 

The three women left their hotel rooms unlocked on the night of the attack in order to allow a fourth sister to return later in the evening.

 

The fourth sister, Sheika al-Mheiri, on returning discovered her sisters lying injured on the floor, with blood spattered on the walls.

 

Spence had fled the scene with a suitcase stuffed with iPads, gold jewellery and mobile phones, having dumped the hammer just outside the hotel.

 

CCTV footage captured Spence on a bus examining items that he had stolen from the women after his attack.

 

The Criminal Trial

 

A year later at his criminal trial, Spence’s barrister, William Nash, said in mitigation that his client had consumed a large amount of drugs at the time of the attack:

 

“He didn’t know of any other crackhead

as big as him. He can’t forgive himself.

He describes himself as being a totally

different person. He is not unempathetic.”

 

Nevertheless Spence was convicted of three counts of attempted murder.

 

The "hotel creeper" was initially ordered to serve life with a minimum of 18 years, but this was increased to 27 years on appeal.

 

The High Court Case

 

The BBC provided the following information on the 7th. May 2019 relating to the attack and its legal consequences:

 

"Three sisters who suffered devastating injuries in a hammer attack by a thief are suing the owners of the London hotel where it happened.

 

At the start of the case at the High Court, lawyers described the injuries to the women, who were from Abu Dhabi in the UAE:

 

-- Ohoud was left with five per cent brain capacity, and will require care for the rest of her life.

 

-- Khaloud has had 20 operations to rebuild her head and face.

 

-- Fatima cannot taste or smell, and has problems with her memory.

 

Spence admitted the attack,, but denied attempted murder.

 

The family's barrister, Susan Rodway, said that Spence - who had a history of sneaking into hotel rooms to steal - had "great knowledge and familiarity" of the Cumberland Hotel.

 

She said that he told his criminal trial he was a regular intruder at the hotel, and had even been able to sleep in maids' cupboards.

 

She added that security "failures" led Spence to directly target the hotel, where he knew he could make an easy buck from the rich pickings there.

 

The court heard that it was "well-known" to the hotel that it was common for Middle Eastern guests to leave doors on the latch in order to enable family members to go between rooms.

 

The hotel's owners deny liability, arguing that by leaving their door open, the women voluntarily assumed the obvious risk of allowing anyone to enter the room while they were asleep inside.

 

Neil Block QC, for the hotel, said in a written submission:

 

"Each guest room was fitted with a heavy duty

fire door with efficient self-closers and automatic

locks, deadlocks, security chains and spy-glasses.

The rooms were designed so that guests could

not leave them open accidentally."

 

He said that after the incident, police tested a closed bedroom door, and found it impossible to gain access with a hammer similar to that used by Mr Spence.

 

Ms Rodway said that the hotel's CCTV system was "purely reactive" and that:

 

"it was clearly only there to enable review

should an incident occur, but not to enable

any anticipation or prevention of an incident".

 

But Mr Block said the fact that there was no system for live monitoring of all 130 CCTV cameras at the hotel "was, and indeed remains, the norm for similar hotels".

 

He concluded:

 

"But for the deliberate interference with

the door's locking mechanism, the attack

would not have occurred."

 

The case is expected to last for two weeks."

 

The High Court Judgement

 

On Friday the 21st. June 2019, the High Court judge Mr. Justice Dingemans ruled that:

 

"There was no liability on the part of the

Cumberland Hotel to Ohoud, Khaloud

and Fatima for the attack carried out by

Mr Spence".

 

He said that the case raised issues about whether a hotel proprietor owes a duty to guests to take reasonable care to protect against injury caused by the criminal actions of third parties, and if so whether the duty was breached in this case.

 

Dingemans concluded that there was such a duty of care, but based on the facts of the case, there was no breach of that duty.

 

The judge said that:

 

"The hotel acted with reasonable care to

protect guests at the hotel against injury

caused by the criminal acts of third parties".

 

However Khaloud and Fatima said in a statement after the ruling:

 

"Re-living the horrors of that terrifying night

where we almost lost our lives has been

extremely traumatic for us to endure, and

we are devastated that it has all been for

nothing.

We lost our sister, and our lives were

changed forever when we were attacked

by Spence in the privacy of our own room."

 

Khaloud and Fatima said that they felt the decision was "a travesty" and that "justice has not been done".

 

A spokeswoman for the owner of the Cumberland, GLH Hotels, said after the ruling:

 

"We believe today's judgement is the

correct outcome.

Regardless, the al Najjar family's

experience was deeply shocking and

wholly unprecedented and we reiterate

our heartfelt concern for their well-being

as they continue to receive all necessary

support."