Bitcoin (₿) is a cryptocurrency invented in 2008 by an unknown person or group of people using the name Satoshi Nakamoto and started in 2009, when its implementation was released as open-source software.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aswan_Dam

 

The Aswan Dam, or more specifically since the 1960s, the Aswan High Dam, is the world's largest embankment dam, which was built across the Nile in Aswan, Egypt, between 1960 and 1970. Its significance largely eclipsed the previous Aswan Low Dam initially completed in 1902 downstream. Based on the success of the Low Dam, then at its maximum utilization, construction of the High Dam became a key objective of the government following the Egyptian Revolution of 1952; with its ability to better control flooding, provide increased water storage for irrigation and generate hydroelectricity, the dam was seen as pivotal to Egypt's planned industrialization. Like the earlier implementation, the High Dam has had a significant effect on the economy and culture of Egypt.

 

Before the High Dam was built, even with the old dam in place, the annual flooding of the Nile during late summer had continued to pass largely unimpeded down the valley from its East African drainage basin. These floods brought high water with natural nutrients and minerals that annually enriched the fertile soil along its floodplain and delta; this predictability had made the Nile valley ideal for farming since ancient times. However, this natural flooding varied, since high-water years could destroy the whole crop, while low-water years could create widespread drought and consequently famine. Both these events had continued to occur periodically. As Egypt's population grew and technology increased, both a desire and the ability developed to completely control the flooding, and thus both protect and support farmland and its economically important cotton crop. With the greatly increased reservoir storage provided by the High Aswan Dam, the floods could be controlled and the water could be stored for later release over multiple years.

 

The Aswan Dam was designed by the Moscow-based Hydroproject Institute.

 

The earliest recorded attempt to build a dam near Aswan was in the 11th century, when the Arab polymath and engineer Ibn al-Haytham (known as Alhazen in the West) was summoned to Egypt by the Fatimid Caliph, Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, to regulate the flooding of the Nile, a task requiring an early attempt at an Aswan Dam. His field work convinced him of the impracticality of this scheme.

 

The British began construction of the first dam across the Nile in 1898. Construction lasted until 1902 and the dam was opened on 10 December 1902. The project was designed by Sir William Willcocks and involved several eminent engineers, including Sir Benjamin Baker and Sir John Aird, whose firm, John Aird & Co., was the main contractor.

 

In 1952, the Greek-Egyptian engineer Adrian Daninos began to develop the plan of the new Aswan Dam. Although the Low Dam was almost overtopped in 1946, the government of King Farouk showed no interest in Daninos's plans. Instead the Nile Valley Plan by the British hydrologist Harold Edwin Hurst was favored, which proposed to store water in Sudan and Ethiopia, where evaporation is much lower. The Egyptian position changed completely after the overthrow of the monarchy, led by the Free Officers Movement including Gamal Abdel Nasser. The Free Officers were convinced that the Nile Waters had to be stored in Egypt for political reasons, and within two months, the plan of Daninos was accepted. Initially, both the United States and the USSR were interested in helping development of the dam. Complications ensued due to their rivalry during the Cold War, as well as growing intra-Arab tensions.

 

In 1955, Nasser was claiming to be the leader of Arab nationalism, in opposition to the traditional monarchies, especially the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq following its signing of the 1955 Baghdad Pact. At that time the U.S. feared that communism would spread to the Middle East, and it saw Nasser as a natural leader of an anticommunist procapitalist Arab League. America and the United Kingdom offered to help finance construction of the High Dam, with a loan of $270 million, in return for Nasser's leadership in resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict. While opposed to communism, capitalism, and imperialism, Nasser identified as a tactical neutralist, and sought to work with both the U.S. and the USSR for Egyptian and Arab benefit.[8] After the UN criticized a raid by Israel against Egyptian forces in Gaza in 1955, Nasser realized that he could not portray himself as the leader of pan-Arab nationalism if he could not defend his country militarily against Israel. In addition to his development plans, he looked to quickly modernize his military, and he turned first to the U.S. for aid.

 

American Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and President Dwight Eisenhower told Nasser that the U.S. would supply him with weapons only if they were used for defensive purposes and if he accepted American military personnel for supervision and training. Nasser did not accept these conditions, and consulted the USSR for support.

 

Although Dulles believed that Nasser was only bluffing and that the USSR would not aid Nasser, he was wrong: the USSR promised Nasser a quantity of arms in exchange for a deferred payment of Egyptian grain and cotton. On 27 September 1955, Nasser announced an arms deal, with Czechoslovakia acting as a middleman for the Soviet support. Instead of attacking Nasser for turning to the Soviets, Dulles sought to improve relations with him. In December 1955, the US and the UK pledged $56 and $14 million, respectively, toward construction of the High Aswan Dam.

 

Though the Czech arms deal created an incentive for the US to invest at Aswan, the UK cited the deal as a reason for repealing its promise of dam funds. Dulles was angered more by Nasser's diplomatic recognition of China, which was in direct conflict with Dulles's policy of containment of communism.

 

Several other factors contributed to the US deciding to withdraw its offer of funding for the dam. Dulles believed that the USSR would not fulfil its commitment of military aid. He was also irritated by Nasser's neutrality and attempts to play both sides of the Cold War. At the time, other Western allies in the Middle East, including Turkey and Iraq, were resentful that Egypt, a persistently neutral country, was being offered so much aid.

 

In June 1956, the Soviets offered Nasser $1.12 billion at 2% interest for the construction of the dam. On 19 July the U.S. State Department announced that American financial assistance for the High Dam was "not feasible in present circumstances."

 

On 26 July 1956, with wide Egyptian acclaim, Nasser announced the nationalization of the Suez Canal that included fair compensation for the former owners. Nasser planned on the revenues generated by the canal to help fund construction of the High Dam. When the Suez War broke out, the United Kingdom, France, and Israel seized the canal and the Sinai. But pressure from the U.S. and the USSR at the United Nations and elsewhere forced them to withdraw.

 

In 1958, the USSR proceeded to provide support for the High Dam project.

 

In the 1950s, archaeologists began raising concerns that several major historical sites, including the famous temple of Abu Simbel were about to be submerged by waters collected behind the dam. A rescue operation began in 1960 under UNESCO

 

Despite its size, the Aswan project has not materially hurt the Egyptian balance of payments. The three Soviet credits covered virtually all of the project's foreign exchange requirements, including the cost of technical services, imported power generating and transmission equipment and some imported equipment for land reclamation. Egypt was not seriously burdened by payments on the credits, most of which were extended for 12 years with interest at the very low rate of 2-1/2%. Repayments to the USSR constituted only a small net drain during the first half of the 1960s, and increased export earnings derived from crops grown on newly reclaimed land have largely offset the modest debt service payments in recent years. During 1965–70, these export earnings amounted to an estimated $126 million, compared with debt service payments of $113 million.

 

A central pylon of the monument to Arab-Soviet Friendship. The memorial commemorates the completion of the Aswan High Dam. The coat of arms of the Soviet Union is on the left and the coat of arms of Egypt is on the right.

The Soviets also provided technicians and heavy machinery. The enormous rock and clay dam was designed by the Soviet Hydroproject Institute along with some Egyptian engineers. 25,000 Egyptian engineers and workers contributed to the construction of the dams.

 

Originally designed by West German and French engineers in the early 1950s and slated for financing with Western credits, the Aswan High Dam became the USSR's largest and most famous foreign aid project after the United States, the United Kingdom, and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) withdrew their support in 1956. The first Soviet loan of $100 million to cover construction of coffer dams for diversion of the Nile was extended in 1958. An additional $225 million was extended in 1960 to complete the dam and construct power-generating facilities, and subsequently about $100 million was made available for land reclamation. These credits of some $425 million covered only the foreign exchange costs of the project, including salaries of Soviet engineers who supervised the project and were responsible for the installation and testing of Soviet equipment. Actual construction, which began in 1960, was done by Egyptian companies on contract to the High Dam Authority, and all domestic costs were borne by the Egyptians. Egyptian participation in the venture has raised the construction industry's capacity and reputation significantly.

 

On the Egyptian side, the project was led by Osman Ahmed Osman's Arab Contractors. The relatively young Osman underbid his only competitor by one-half.

 

1960: Start of construction on 9 January

1964: First dam construction stage completed, reservoir started filling

1970: The High Dam, as-Sad al-'Aali, completed on 21 July[18]

1976: Reservoir reached capacity.

 

Specifications

The Aswan High Dam is 3,830 metres (12,570 ft) long, 980 m (3,220 ft) wide at the base, 40 m (130 ft) wide at the crest and 111 m (364 ft)[ tall. It contains 43,000,000 cubic metres (56,000,000 cu yd) of material. At maximum, 11,000 cubic metres per second (390,000 cu ft/s) of water can pass through the dam. There are further emergency spillways for an extra 5,000 cubic metres per second (180,000 cu ft/s), and the Toshka Canal links the reservoir to the Toshka Depression. The reservoir, named Lake Nasser, is 500 km (310 mi) long[20] and 35 km (22 mi) at its widest, with a surface area of 5,250 square kilometres (2,030 sq mi). It holds 132 cubic kilometres (1.73×1011 cu yd) of water.

 

Due to the absence of appreciable rainfall, Egypt's agriculture depends entirely on irrigation. With irrigation, two crops per year can be produced, except for sugar cane which has a growing period of almost one year.

 

The high dam at Aswan releases, on average, 55 cubic kilometres (45,000,000 acre⋅ft) water per year, of which some 46 cubic kilometres (37,000,000 acre⋅ft) are diverted into the irrigation canals.

 

In the Nile valley and delta, almost 336,000 square kilometres (130,000 sq mi) benefit from these waters producing on average 1.8 crops per year. The annual crop consumptive use of water is about 38 cubic kilometres (31,000,000 acre⋅ft). Hence, the overall irrigation efficiency is 38/46 = 0.826 or 83%. This is a relatively high irrigation efficiency. The field irrigation efficiencies are much less, but the losses are reused downstream. This continuous reuse accounts for the high overall efficiency.

 

The following table shows the distribution of irrigation water over the branch canals taking off from the one main irrigation canal, the Mansuriya Canal near Giza.

 

Branch canalWater delivery in m3/feddan *

Kafret Nasser4,700

Beni Magdul3,500

El Mansuria3,300

El Hammami upstream2,800

El Hammami downstream1,800

El Shimi1,200

* Period 1 March to 31 July. 1 feddan is 0.42 ha or about 1 acre.

* Data from the Egyptian Water Use Management Project (EWUP)

The salt concentration of the water in the Aswan reservoir is about 0.25 kilograms per cubic metre (0.42 lb/cu yd), a very low salinity level. At an annual inflow of 55 cubic kilometres (45,000,000 acre⋅ft), the annual salt influx reaches 14 million tons. The average salt concentration of the drainage water evacuated into the sea and the coastal lakes is 2.7 kilograms per cubic metre (4.6 lb/cu yd). At an annual discharge of 10 cubic kilometres (2.4 cu mi) (not counting the 2 kilograms per cubic metre [3.4 lb/cu yd] of salt intrusion from the sea and the lakes, see figure "Water balances"), the annual salt export reaches 27 million ton. In 1995, the output of salt was higher than the influx, and Egypt's agricultural lands were desalinizing. Part of this could be due to the large number of subsurface drainage projects executed in the last decades to control the water table and soil salinity.

 

Drainage through subsurface drains and drainage channels is essential to prevent a deterioration of crop yields from waterlogging and soil salinization caused by irrigation. By 2003, more than 20,000 square kilometres (7,700 sq mi) have been equipped with a subsurface drainage system and approximately 7.2 square kilometres (2.8 sq mi) of water is drained annually from areas with these systems. The total investment cost in agricultural drainage over 27 years from 1973 to 2002 was about $3.1 billion covering the cost of design, construction, maintenance, research and training. During this period 11 large-scale projects were implemented with financial support from World Bank and other donors.

 

Effects

The High Dam has resulted in protection from floods and droughts, an increase in agricultural production and employment, electricity production, and improved navigation that also benefits tourism. Conversely, the dam flooded a large area, causing the relocation of over 100,000 people. Many archaeological sites were submerged while others were relocated. The dam is blamed for coastline erosion, soil salinity, and health problems.

 

The assessment of the costs and benefits of the dam remains controversial decades after its completion. According to one estimate, the annual economic benefit of the High Dam immediately after its completion was LE 255 million, $587 million using the exchange rate in 1970 of $2.30 per LE 1): LE 140 million from agricultural production, LE 100 million from hydroelectric generation, LE 10 million from flood protection, and LE 5 million from improved navigation. At the time of its construction, total cost, including unspecified "subsidiary projects" and the extension of electric power lines, amounted to LE 450 million. Not taking into account the negative environmental and social effects of the dam, its costs are thus estimated to have been recovered within only two years. One observer notes: "The impacts of the Aswan High Dam have been overwhelmingly positive. Although the Dam has contributed to some environmental problems, these have proved to be significantly less severe than was generally expected, or currently believed by many people." Another observer disagreed and he recommended that the dam should be torn down. Tearing it down would cost only a fraction of the funds required for "continually combating the dam's consequential damage" and 500,000 hectares (1,900 sq mi) of fertile land could be reclaimed from the layers of mud on the bed of the drained reservoir. Samuel C. Florman wrote about the dam: "As a structure it is a success. But in its effect on the ecology of the Nile Basin – most of which could have been predicted – it is a failure".

 

Periodic floods and droughts have affected Egypt since ancient times. The dam mitigated the effects of floods, such as those in 1964, 1973, and 1988. Navigation along the river has been improved, both upstream and downstream of the dam. Sailing along the Nile is a favorite tourism activity, which is mainly done during the winter when the natural flow of the Nile would have been too low to allow navigation of cruise ships.[clarification needed] A new fishing industry has been created around Lake Nasser, though it is struggling due to its distance from any significant markets. The annual production was about 35 000 tons in the mid-1990s. Factories for the fishing industry and packaging have been set up near the Lake.

 

According to a 1971 CIA declassified report, Although the High Dam has not created ecological problems as serious as some observers have charged, its construction has brought economic losses as well as gains. These losses derive largely from the settling in dam's lake of the rich silt traditionally borne by the Nile. To date (1971), the main impact has been on the fishing industry. Egypt's Mediterranean catch, which once averaged 35,000-40,000 tons annually, has shrunk to 20,000 tons or less, largely because the loss of plankton nourished by the silt has eliminated the sardine population in Egyptian waters. Fishing in high dam's lake may in time at least partly offset the loss of saltwater fish, but only the most optimistic estimates place the eventual catch as high as 15,000-20,000 tons. Lack of continuing silt deposits at the mouth of the river also has contributed to a serious erosion problem. Commercial fertilizer requirements and salination and drainage difficulties, already large in perennially irrigated areas of Lower and Middle Egypt, will be somewhat increased in Upper Egypt by the change to perennial irrigation.

 

The dams also protected Egypt from the droughts in 1972–73 and 1983–87 that devastated East and West Africa. The High Dam allowed Egypt to reclaim about 2.0 million feddan (840,000 hectares) in the Nile Delta and along the Nile Valley, increasing the country's irrigated area by a third. The increase was brought about both by irrigating what used to be desert and by bringing under cultivation of 385,000 hectares (950,000 acres) that were previously used as flood retention basins. About half a million families were settled on these new lands. In particular the area under rice and sugar cane cultivation increased. In addition, about 1 million feddan (420,000 hectares), mostly in Upper Egypt, were converted from flood irrigation with only one crop per year to perennial irrigation allowing two or more crops per year. On other previously irrigated land, yields increased because water could be made available at critical low-flow periods. For example, wheat yields in Egypt tripled between 1952 and 1991 and better availability of water contributed to this increase. Most of the 32 km3 of freshwater, or almost 40 percent of the average flow of the Nile that were previously lost to the sea every year could be put to beneficial use. While about 10 km3 of the water saved is lost due to evaporation in Lake Nasser, the amount of water available for irrigation still increased by 22 km3. Other estimates put evaporation from Lake Nasser at between 10 and 16 cubic km per year.

 

Electricity production

The dam powers twelve generators each rated at 175 megawatts (235,000 hp), with a total of 2.1 gigawatts (2,800,000 hp). Power generation began in 1967. When the High Dam first reached peak output it produced around half of Egypt's production of electric power (about 15 percent by 1998), and it gave most Egyptian villages the use of electricity for the first time. The High Dam has also improved the efficiency and the extension of the Old Aswan Hydropower stations by regulating upstream flows.

 

All High Dam power facilities were completed ahead of schedule. 12 turbines were installed and tested, giving the plant an installed capacity of 2,100 megawatts (MW), or more than twice the national total in 1960. With this capacity, the Aswan plant can produce 10 billion kWh of energy yearly. Two 500-kilovolt trunk lines to Cairo have been completed, and initial transmission problems, stemming mainly from poor insulators, were solved. Also, the damage inflicted on a main transformer station in 1968 by Israeli commandos has been repaired, and the Aswan plant is fully integrated with the power network in Lower Egypt. By 1971 estimation, Power output at Aswan, won't reach much more than half of the plant's theoretical capacity, because of limited water supplies and the differing seasonal water-use patterns for irrigation and power production. Agricultural demand for water in the summer far exceeds the amount needed to meet the comparatively low summer demand for electric power. Heavy summer irrigation use, however, will leave insufficient water under Egyptian control to permit hydroelectric power production at full capacity in the winter. Technical studies indicate that a maximum annual output of 5 billion kWh appears to be all that can be sustained due to fluctuations in Nile flows.

 

Resettlement and compensations

In Sudan, 50,000 to 70,000 Sudanese Nubians were moved from the old town of Wadi Halfa and its surrounding villages. Some were moved to a newly created settlement on the shore of Lake Nasser called New Wadi Halfa, and some were resettled approximately 700 kilometres (430 mi) south to the semi-arid Butana plain near the town of Khashm el-Girba up the Atbara River. The climate there had a regular rainy season as opposed to their previous desert habitat in which virtually no rain fell. The government developed an irrigation project, called the New Halfa Agricultural Development Scheme to grow cotton, grains, sugar cane and other crops. The Nubians were resettled in twenty five planned villages that included schools, medical facilities, and other services, including piped water and some electrification.

 

In Egypt, the majority of the 50,000 Nubians were moved three to ten kilometers from the Nile near Edna and Kom Ombo, 45 kilometers (28 mi) downstream from Aswan in what was called "New Nubia". Housing and facilities were built for 47 village units whose relationship to each other approximated that in Old Nubia. Irrigated land was provided to grow mainly sugar cane.

 

In 2019–20, Egypt started to compensate the Nubians who lost their homes following the dam impoundment.

 

Archaeological sites

Twenty-two monuments and architectural complexes that were threatened by flooding from Lake Nasser, including the Abu Simbel temples, were preserved by moving them to the shores of the lake under the UNESCO Nubia Campaign. Also moved were Philae, Kalabsha and Amada.

 

These monuments were granted to countries that helped with the works:

 

The Debod temple to Madrid

The Temple of Dendur to the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York

The Temple of Taffeh to the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden of Leiden

The Temple of Ellesyia to the Museo Egizio of Turin

These items were removed to the garden area of the Sudan National Museum of Khartoum:

 

The temple of Ramses II at Aksha

The temple of Hatshepsut at Buhen

The temple of Khnum at Kumma

The tomb of the Nubian prince Djehuti-hotep at Debeira

The temples of Dedwen and Sesostris III at Semna

The granite columns from the Faras Cathedral

A part of the paintings of the Faras Cathedral; the other part is in the National Museum of Warsaw.

The Temple of Ptah at Gerf Hussein had its free-standing section reconstructed at New Kalabsha, alongside the Temple of Kalabsha, Beit el-Wali, and the Kiosk of Qertassi.

 

The remaining archaeological sites, including the Buhen fort and the cemetery of Fadrus have been flooded by Lake Nasser.

 

Loss of sediments

Before the construction of the High Dam, the Nile deposited sediments of various particle size – consisting of fine sand, silt and clay – on fields in Upper Egypt through its annual flood, contributing to soil fertility. However, the nutrient value of the sediment has often been overestimated. 88 percent of the sediment was carried to the sea before the construction of the High Dam. The nutrient value added to the land by the sediment was only 6,000 tons of potash, 7,000 tons of phosphorus pentoxide and 17,000 tons of nitrogen. These amounts are insignificant compared to what is needed to reach the yields achieved today in Egypt's irrigation. Also, the annual spread of sediment due to the Nile floods occurred along the banks of the Nile. Areas far from the river which never received the Nile floods before are now being irrigated.

 

A more serious issue of trapping of sediment by the dam is that it has increased coastline erosion surrounding the Nile Delta. The coastline erodes an estimated 125–175 m (410–574 ft) per year.

 

Waterlogging and increase in soil salinity

Before the construction of the High Dam, groundwater levels in the Nile Valley fluctuated 8–9 m (26–30 ft) per year with the water level of the Nile. During summer when evaporation was highest, the groundwater level was too deep to allow salts dissolved in the water to be pulled to the surface through capillary action. With the disappearance of the annual flood and heavy year-round irrigation, groundwater levels remained high with little fluctuation leading to waterlogging. Soil salinity also increased because the distance between the surface and the groundwater table was small enough (1–2 m depending on soil conditions and temperature) to allow water to be pulled up by evaporation so that the relatively small concentrations of salt in the groundwater accumulated on the soil surface over the years. Since most of the farmland did not have proper subsurface drainage to lower the groundwater table, salinization gradually affected crop yields.[31] Drainage through sub-surface drains and drainage channels is essential to prevent a deterioration of crop yields from soil salinization and waterlogging. By 2003, more than 2 million hectares have been equipped with a subsurface drainage system at a cost from 1973 to 2002 of about $3.1 billion.

 

Health

Contrary to many predictions made prior to the Aswan High Dam construction and publications that followed, that the prevalence of schistosomiasis (bilharzia) would increase, it did not. This assumption did not take into account the extent of perennial irrigation that was already present throughout Egypt decades before the high dam closure. By the 1950s only a small proportion of Upper Egypt had not been converted from basin (low transmission) to perennial (high transmission) irrigation. Expansion of perennial irrigation systems in Egypt did not depend on the high dam. In fact, within 15 years of the high dam closure there was solid evidence that bilharzia was declining in Upper Egypt. S. haematobium has since disappeared altogether. Suggested reasons for this include improvements in irrigation practice. In the Nile Delta, schistosomiasis had been highly endemic, with prevalence in the villages 50% or higher for almost a century before. This was a consequence of the conversion of the Delta to perennial irrigation to grow long staple cotton by the British. This has changed. Large-scale treatment programmes in the 1990s using single-dose oral medication contributed greatly to reducing the prevalence and severity of S. mansoni in the Delta.

 

Other effects

Sediment deposited in the reservoir is lowering the water storage capacity of Lake Nasser. The reservoir storage capacity is 162 km3, including 31 km3 dead storage at the bottom of the lake below 147 m (482 ft) above sea level, 90 km3 live storage, and 41 km3 of storage for high flood waters above 175 m (574 ft) above sea level. The annual sediment load of the Nile is about 134 million tons. This means that the dead storage volume would be filled up after 300–500 years if the sediment accumulated at the same rate throughout the area of the lake. Obviously sediment accumulates much faster at the upper reaches of the lake, where sedimentation has already affected the live storage zone.

 

Before the construction of the High Dam, the 50,000 km (31,000 mi) of irrigation and drainage canals in Egypt had to be dredged regularly to remove sediments. After construction of the dam, aquatic weeds grew much faster in the clearer water, helped by fertilizer residues. The total length of the infested waterways was about 27,000 km (17,000 mi) in the mid-1990s. Weeds have been gradually brought under control by manual, mechanical and biological methods.

 

Mediterranean fishing and brackish water lake fishery declined after the dam was finished because nutrients that flowed down the Nile to the Mediterranean were trapped behind the dam. For example, the sardine catch off the Egyptian coast declined from 18,000 tons in 1962 to a mere 460 tons in 1968, but then gradually recovered to 8,590 tons in 1992. A scientific article in the mid-1990s noted that "the mismatch between low primary productivity and relatively high levels of fish production in the region still presents a puzzle to scientists."

 

A concern before the construction of the High Dam had been the potential drop in river-bed level downstream of the Dam as the result of erosion caused by the flow of sediment-free water. Estimates by various national and international experts put this drop at between and 2 and 10 meters (6.6 and 32.8 ft). However, the actual drop has been measured at 0.3–0.7 meters (0.98–2.30 ft), much less than expected.[30]

 

The red-brick construction industry, which consisted of hundreds of factories that used Nile sediment deposits along the river, has also been negatively affected. Deprived of sediment, they started using the older alluvium of otherwise arable land taking out of production up to 120 square kilometers (46 sq mi) annually, with an estimated 1,000 square kilometers (390 sq mi) destroyed by 1984 when the government prohibited, "with only modest success," further excavation. According to one source, bricks are now being made from new techniques which use a sand-clay mixture and it has been argued that the mud-based brick industry would have suffered even if the dam had not been built.

 

Because of the lower turbidity of the water sunlight penetrates deeper in the Nile water. Because of this and the increased presence of nutrients from fertilizers in the water, more algae grow in the Nile. This in turn increases the costs of drinking water treatment. Apparently few experts had expected that water quality in the Nile would actually decrease because of the High Dam.

 

Appraisal of the Project

Although it is moot whether the project constitutes the best use of the funds spent, the Aswan Dam project unquestionably is and will continue to be economically beneficial to Egypt. The project has been expensive and it took considerable time to complete, as is usually the case with large hydroelectric developments, But Egypt now has a valuable asset with a long life and low operating costs. Even so, the wisdom of concentrating one-third of domestic saving and most of available foreign aid on a slow growth project is questionable. Since 1960, GNP has grown 50%, but mainly as a result of other investment.

 

Egyptian authorities were well aware that equivalent gains in output could have been achieved more quickly and more cheaply by other means. A series of low dams, similar to the barrages now contemplated, was suggested by Egyptian engineers as a more economical means of achieving up to 2,000 mW of additional generating capacity, US and WorldBank agricultural experts had long recommended improved drainage, introduction of hybrid seeds, and other such low-cost alternatives to land reclamation as a means of increasing agricultural output, In other areas, most notably the once efficient cotton textile industry, investment was needed to forestall an output decline, Implementation of these and other alternatives has been postponed rather than precluded by the High Dam project.

 

However, the decision to concentrate Egyptian savings and energies on the Aswan project for a decade was heavily based on non-economic factors. Nasser undoubtedly believed that a project of considerable symbolic appeal was needed to mobilize the population behind the government's economic goals, He also apparently felt that the East and West would be more easily persuaded to bid against each other for a project of this scope.

 

The Aswan High Dam made an appreciable contribution to Egyptian GNP, however the returns were well below what the planners had anticipated. The principal limiting factors on the High Dam's contribution to Egyptian output are a shortage of land suitable for reclamation, the high cost and long time required to bring reclaimed land to full productivity, and an inadequate water supply to meet power and irrigation goals simultaneously. The last limitation arises in part from the allocation in a 1959 agreement of more water to Sudan than was originally foreseen and in part from differences in the seasonal demand pattern of agriculture and the hydroelectric plant for the water. Irrigation requires very heavy use of water during summer months, while power generation needs peak during the winter. Ecological problems created by the dam, most of which were anticipated, have not seriously harmed the economy, although a few minor industries have been damaged.

 

The dam is, nonetheless, a viable project. Eventually the contribution to GNP equals as much as 20% of total investment. Moreover, the dam and associated projects provided returns that at least offset the cost of operation, repayment of foreign loans and amortisation of domestic loans.

Don't harness the nags to this wagon if you owe money all around town; they will see you coming! It looks like it was last used in a circus. Not much light and a terrific range of light with not much fill but it looks like this place harbors pigeons. I worked to get this monopod shot at this speed. The second wagon looks like it might have hauled seed or grain. They also stashed some hay for the animals in the shed.

 

Not knowing that there was to be an "Event" out at the McIntosh/Lohr Agricultural Museum, I headed out Sunday to grab a couple of fill-in photos for a set. Among the events was a sheep herding demonstration using an Australian sheep dog, another was hayseed rides for the folks. A couple of dandy Belgians hauled the hitch up. Over at the corrals were several animals for studying. The museum is probably under-utilized though. It would be great if the kids could see some of the horse drawn farming implements in use. This is also a great place for a weekend stroll and a sandwich with the kids. We took advantage of this day near McIntosh Lake Park at the ag museum from where we later accessed the lake loop. The entire path loops around the lake and is 3.5 miles. It looks like the day might be cut short. Lake Shore Drive is in town while the far west side is just out of town. The north lake pavilion area on Mariner Drive was packed with picnic goers and partiers on the week end. There was still plenty of space for the town folk to settle in for a spell. Boy, Longmonters sure use their parks!

 

I'm all about skies but this is an undefined sky. Lately, we have been sending more powerful storms to Nebraska and Kansas in the hopes that they might someday be able to wrap their minds around global warming. We just experienced the warmest May on record. Even orange man Boner is claiming that he is not a scientist. I beleive what he says; he doesn't even understand the effects of loads of alcohol on the human body! Recently we have been graced with typical June skies, so I am trying to take advantage of them as I can. Today, the lighting is already getting soft. Today, served up more clouding and a promise of more 80s. We might be creeping up on 90s but they should be in August. More runoff could be a disaster and everyone has an eye on the streams. See if you can detect the climate changes around your locale. I am choosing to edit and I am spending extra time on the best of the captures considering today's skies. I was just in time to shoot on that day. The windmill might have some work to do later on. I scored some tripod shots out here some time ago but I am here for a walk with my camera with the monopod.

 

The farm/museum is part way between Largemont and Hygiene, Colorado on state highway #66. I created a Photo Set for the McIntosh/Lohr Agricultural Museum.

  

 

Kitchen implements on display at the Allis-Bushnell House. The heavy mugs in foreground are actually measures; largest one is 2 quart.

See more tools, utensils and farm equipment at flic.kr/s/aHskTSBiQB.

(Photo credit Bob Gundersen www.flickr.com/photos/bobphoto51/albums).

Taken with a Praktina IIA camera in week 346 of my 52 film cameras in 52 weeks project:

52cameras.blogspot.com/

www.flickr.com/photos/tony_kemplen/collections/72157623113584240

Agfa Vista 200 film from Poundland, developed in the Rollei C41 kit.

Office building. Built just over a decade ago.

Historical background

The earliest known implementation of road space rationing took place in Rome, as carriages and carts pulled by horses created serious congestion problems in several Roman cities. In 45 B.C. Julius Caesar declared the center of Rome off-limits between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. to all vehicles except for carriages transporting priests, officials, visitors, and high ranking citizens.

 

Road space rationing (Spanish: Restricción vehicular; Portuguese: Rodízio veicular) is a travel demand management strategy aimed to reduce the negative externalities generated by peak urban travel demand in excess of available supply or road capacity, through artificially restricting demand (vehicle travel) by rationing the scarce common good road capacity, especially during the peak periods. This objective is achieved by restricting traffic access into an urban cordon area, city center (CBD), or district based upon the last digits of the license number on pre-established days and during certain periods, usually, the peak hours.

The practical implementation of this traffic restraint policy is common in Latin America, and in many cases, the road rationing has as a main goal the reduction of air pollution, such as the cases of México City, and Santiago, Chile. São Paulo, with a fleet of 6 million vehicles in 2007, is the largest metropolis in the world with such a travel restriction, implemented first in 1996 as measured to mitigate air pollution, and thereafter made permanent in 1997 to relieve traffic congestion. More recent implementations in Costa Rica and Honduras have had the objective of reducing oil consumption, due to the high impact this import has on the economy of small countries, and considering the steep increases in oil prices that began in 2003. Bogotá, Quito, and La Paz, Bolivia also have similar restriction schemes in place. After a temporary implementation of road space rationing to reduce air pollution in the city during the 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing has implemented several rationing schemes to improve the city's air quality.

 

~~Wikipedia

In Nepal, the Rural Women's Economic Empowerment Joint Programme, implemented by UN Women, Food and Agriculture Organization, International Fund for Agricultural Development and World Food Programme, and funded by a consortium of donors seeks to improve women farmers’ agricultural production and income, but also changed gender-discriminatory attitudes of their male counterparts.

 

Rural women form a large proportion of the agricultural labour force in Nepal and play a vital yet unrecognized role in agriculture that sustains nearly 80 percent of the population. Perceived mainly as care givers, their work in farming is largely undervalued. Women farmers are often paid less than men for the same work, and lack access to resources and markets due to discriminatory attitudes. However, since the launch of the Joint Programme, a new narrative is unfolding across the villages of Rauthat and Sindhuli districts.

 

As more Nepalese men migrate abroad to find work, an increasing number of rural women are taking up farming. By improving women’s agricultural production, access to markets and leadership skills, the programme has increased their income, food security and independence.

 

Pictured: Chandra Kala Thapa, one of many smallholder women farmers from Ranichuri village in Sindhuli district, was barely able to produce enough grains to feed her family. With support from the Joint Programme, she converted her field from grain production to high-value vegetables. “Now the prices are good and the money comes on time. This was not the case when I used to cultivate grains instead of high-value vegetables,” she says.

 

Photo: UN Women/Narendra Shrestha

 

Read More: www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2017/2/feature-women-farm...

Shot with my D600 and 14-24 Nikor Wide Angle Lens at my friends farm. Post processed in Lightroom and HDR'd in Photomatix Pro. I have a few more that I will upload later, but this is by far my favorite shot.

Stewart Farm pole barn

Anne Finucane, Vice-Chairman, Bank of America, USA, Lutfey Siddiqi, Visiting Professor-in-Practice, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom; Young Global Leader, Anne Ackerley, Head, Retirement Group, BlackRock, USA and Sonja Haut, Head, Strategic Measurement and Materiality, Novartis, Switzerlandspeaking during the Session "Implementing Stakeholder Capitalism 2" at the World Economic Forum, Annual Meeting of the Global Future Councils 2019. Copyright by World Economic Forum / Benedikt von Loebell

Holga 120s.

A farm on the Missouri River bottoms near Huntsdale in Boone County Missouri Notley Hawkins Photography.

 

www.notleyhawkins.com

 

©Notley Hawkins

Signature Ceremony of PLATO Spacecraft Implementation Contract.

 

L to R: Kurt Melching, Chief Financial Officer OHB System AG, Marco Fuchs, Chief Executive Officer OHB System AG, Jan Wörner, ESA Director General.

 

Credits: ESA - Philippe Sebirot

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) continues to implement precautions in response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). New York City Transit, MTA Bus, Access-A-Ride, Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North are significantly increasing the frequency and intensity of sanitizing procedures at each of its stations and on its full fleet of rolling stock. Trains, cars and buses will experience daily cleanings with the MTA’s full fleet undergoing sanitation every 72 hours. Frequently used surfaces in stations, such as turnstiles, MetroCard and ticket vending machines, and handrails, will be disinfected daily.

 

Photo: Patrick Cashin / MTA New York City Transit

 

A rural farm under a cloudy moonlit sky near McBaine in Boone County Missouri by Notley Hawkins Photography. Taken on a cool August summer's evening with a Canon EOS 5D Mark III camera with a EF16-35mm f/2.8L USM lens. Colored gels were used with an exposure of 120 seconds.

 

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www.notleyhawkins.com/

 

©Notley Hawkins

Abstract colorful implement

Rothenburg, Germany, 2014

What is it used for?

Parmigianino (1503-1540), active in Parma, Rome and Bologna

Conversion of Paul the Apostle, about 1527/28

According to the story of the Apostles, Saul was suddenly illuminated by heavenly light on his way to Damascus, where he was to persecute Christians. Dazzled, he fell to the ground. Saul returned, had himself baptized, and became as Paul the passionate advocate of the new faith.

Parmigianino interprets the miracle of divine enlightenment as a highly dramatic event which, as ecstatic excitement, equally captures man and beast.

 

Parmigianino (1503-1540), tätig in Parma, Rom und Bologna

Paulussturz, um 1527/28

Wie die Apostelgeschichte berichtet, wurde Saulus auf dem Weg nach Damaskus, wo er Christen verfolgen sollte, plötzlich von himmlischem Licht umstrahlt. Geblendet stürzte er zu Boden. Saulus kehrte um, ließ sich taufen und wurde als Paulus zum glühenden Verfechter des neuen Glaubens.

Parmigianino deutet das Wunder göttlicher Erleuchtung als hochdramatisches Geschehen, das als ekstatische Erregung gleichermaßen Mensch und Tier erfasst.

 

Austria Kunsthistorisches Museum

Federal Museum

Logo KHM

Regulatory authority (ies)/organs to the Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Culture

Founded 17 October 1891

Headquartered Castle Ring (Burgring), Vienna 1, Austria

Management Sabine Haag

www.khm.at website

Main building of the Kunsthistorisches Museum at Maria-Theresa-Square

The Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM abbreviated) is an art museum in Vienna. It is one of the largest and most important museums in the world. It was opened in 1891 and 2012 visited of 1.351.940 million people.

The museum

The Kunsthistorisches Museum is with its opposite sister building, the Natural History Museum (Naturhistorisches Museum), the most important historicist large buildings of the Ringstrasse time. Together they stand around the Maria Theresa square, on which also the Maria Theresa monument stands. This course spans the former glacis between today's ring road and 2-line, and is forming a historical landmark that also belongs to World Heritage Site Historic Centre of Vienna.

History

Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in his Gallery

The Museum came from the collections of the Habsburgs, especially from the portrait and armor collections of Ferdinand of Tyrol, the collection of Emperor Rudolf II (most of which, however scattered) and the art collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm into existence. Already In 1833 asked Joseph Arneth, curator (and later director) of the Imperial Coins and Antiquities Cabinet, bringing together all the imperial collections in a single building .

Architectural History

The contract to build the museum in the city had been given in 1858 by Emperor Franz Joseph. Subsequently, many designs were submitted for the ring road zone. Plans by August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Null planned to build two museum buildings in the immediate aftermath of the Imperial Palace on the left and right of the Heroes' Square (Heldenplatz). The architect Ludwig Förster planned museum buildings between the Schwarzenberg Square and the City Park, Martin Ritter von Kink favored buildings at the corner Währingerstraße/ Scots ring (Schottenring), Peter Joseph, the area Bellariastraße, Moritz von Loehr the south side of the opera ring, and Ludwig Zettl the southeast side of the grain market (Getreidemarkt).

From 1867, a competition was announced for the museums, and thereby set their current position - at the request of the Emperor, the museum should not be too close to the Imperial Palace, but arise beyond the ring road. The architect Carl von Hasenauer participated in this competition and was able the at that time in Zürich operating Gottfried Semper to encourage to work together. The two museum buildings should be built here in the sense of the style of the Italian Renaissance. The plans got the benevolence of the imperial family. In April 1869, there was an audience with of Joseph Semper at the Emperor Franz Joseph and an oral contract was concluded, in July 1870 was issued the written order to Semper and Hasenauer.

Crucial for the success of Semper and Hasenauer against the projects of other architects were among others Semper's vision of a large building complex called "Imperial Forum", in which the museums would have been a part of. Not least by the death of Semper in 1879 came the Imperial Forum not as planned for execution, the two museums were built, however.

Construction of the two museums began without ceremony on 27 November 1871 instead. Semper moved to Vienna in the sequence. From the beginning, there were considerable personal differences between him and Hasenauer, who finally in 1877 took over sole construction management. 1874, the scaffolds were placed up to the attic and the first floor completed, built in 1878, the first windows installed in 1879, the Attica and the balustrade from 1880 to 1881 and built the dome and the Tabernacle. The dome is topped with a bronze statue of Pallas Athena by Johannes Benk.

The lighting and air conditioning concept with double glazing of the ceilings made ​​the renunciation of artificial light (especially at that time, as gas light) possible, but this resulted due to seasonal variations depending on daylight to different opening times .

Kuppelhalle

Entrance (by clicking the link at the end of the side you can see all the pictures here indicated!)

Grand staircase

Hall

Empire

The Kunsthistorisches Museum was on 17 October 1891 officially opened by Emperor Franz Joseph I. Since 22 October 1891 , the museum is accessible to the public. Two years earlier, on 3 November 1889, the collection of arms, Arms and Armour today, had their doors open. On 1 January 1890 the library service resumed its operations. The merger and listing of other collections of the Highest Imperial Family from the Upper and Lower Belvedere, the Hofburg Palace and Ambras in Tyrol will need another two years.

189, the farm museum was organized in seven collections with three directorates:

Directorate of coins, medals and antiquities collection

The Egyptian Collection

The Antique Collection

The coins and medals collection

Management of the collection of weapons, art and industrial objects

Weapons collection

Collection of industrial art objects

Directorate of Art Gallery and Restaurieranstalt (Restoration Office)

Collection of watercolors, drawings, sketches, etc.

Restoration Office

Library

Very soon the room the Court Museum (Hofmuseum) for the imperial collections was offering became too narrow. To provide temporary help, an exhibition of ancient artifacts from Ephesus in the Theseus Temple was designed. However, additional space had to be rented in the Lower Belvedere.

1914, after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne, his " Estonian Forensic Collection " passed to the administration of the Court Museum. This collection, which emerged from the art collection of the house of d' Este and world travel collection of Franz Ferdinand, was placed in the New Imperial Palace since 1908. For these stocks, the present collection of old musical instruments and the Museum of Ethnology emerged.

The First World War went by, apart from the oppressive economic situation without loss. The farm museum remained during the five years of war regularly open to the public.

Until 1919 the K.K. Art Historical Court Museum was under the authority of the Oberstkämmereramt (head chamberlain office) and belonged to the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. The officials and employees were part of the royal household.

First Republic

The transition from monarchy to republic, in the museum took place in complete tranquility. On 19 November 1918 the two imperial museums on Maria Theresa Square were placed under the state protection of the young Republic of German Austria. Threatening to the stocks of the museum were the claims raised in the following weeks and months of the "successor states" of the monarchy as well as Italy and Belgium on Austrian art collection. In fact, it came on 12th February 1919 to the violent removal of 62 paintings by armed Italian units. This "art theft" left a long time trauma among curators and art historians.

It was not until the Treaty of Saint-Germain of 10 September 1919, providing in Article 195 and 196 the settlement of rights in the cultural field by negotiations. The claims of Belgium, Czechoslovakia, and Italy again could mostly being averted in this way. Only Hungary, which presented the greatest demands by far, was met by more than ten years of negotiation in 147 cases.

On 3 April 1919 was the expropriation of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine by law and the acquisition of its property, including the "Collections of the Imperial House" , by the Republic. Of 18 June 1920 the then provisional administration of the former imperial museums and collections of Este and the secular and clergy treasury passed to the State Office of Internal Affairs and Education, since 10 November 1920, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Education. A few days later it was renamed the Art History Court Museum in the "Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna State", 1921 "Kunsthistorisches Museum" . Of 1st January 1921 the employees of the museum staff passed to the state of the Republic.

Through the acquisition of the former imperial collections owned by the state, the museum found itself in a complete new situation. In order to meet the changed circumstances in the museum area, designed Hans Tietze in 1919 the "Vienna Museum program". It provided a close cooperation between the individual museums to focus at different houses on main collections. So dominated exchange, sales and equalizing the acquisition policy in the interwar period. Thus resulting until today still valid collection trends. Also pointing the way was the relocation of the weapons collection from 1934 in its present premises in the New Castle, where since 1916 the collection of ancient musical instruments was placed.

With the change of the imperial collections in the ownership of the Republic the reorganization of the internal organization went hand in hand, too. Thus the museum was divided in 1919 into the

Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection (with the Oriental coins)

Collection of Classical Antiquities

Collection of ancient coins

Collection of modern coins and medals

Weapons collection

Collection of sculptures and crafts with the Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments

Picture Gallery

The Museum 1938-1945

Count Philipp Ludwig Wenzel Sinzendorf according to Rigaud. Clarisse 1948 by Baroness de Rothschildt "dedicated" to the memory of Baron Alphonse de Rothschildt; restituted to the Rothschilds in 1999, and in 1999 donated by Bettina Looram Rothschild, the last Austrian heiress.

With the "Anschluss" of Austria to the German Reich all Jewish art collections such as the Rothschilds were forcibly "Aryanised". Collections were either "paid" or simply distributed by the Gestapo at the museums. This resulted in a significant increase in stocks. But the KHM was not the only museum that benefited from the linearization. Systematically looted Jewish property was sold to museums, collections or in pawnshops throughout the empire.

After the war, the museum struggled to reimburse the "Aryanised" art to the owners or their heirs. They forced the Rothschild family to leave the most important part of their own collection to the museum and called this "dedications", or "donations". As a reason, was the export law stated, which does not allow owners to perform certain works of art out of the country. Similar methods were used with other former owners. Only on the basis of international diplomatic and media pressure, to a large extent from the United States, the Austrian government decided to make a change in the law (Art Restitution Act of 1998, the so-called Lex Rothschild). The art objects were the Rothschild family refunded only in the 1990s.

The Kunsthistorisches Museum operates on the basis of the federal law on the restitution of art objects from the 4th December 1998 (Federal Law Gazette I, 181 /1998) extensive provenance research. Even before this decree was carried out in-house provenance research at the initiative of the then archive director Herbert Haupt. This was submitted in 1998 by him in collaboration with Lydia Grobl a comprehensive presentation of the facts about the changes in the inventory levels of the Kunsthistorisches Museum during the Nazi era and in the years leading up to the State Treaty of 1955, an important basis for further research provenance.

The two historians Susanne Hehenberger and Monika Löscher are since 1st April 2009 as provenance researchers at the Kunsthistorisches Museum on behalf of the Commission for Provenance Research operating and they deal with the investigation period from 1933 to the recent past.

The museum today

Today the museum is as a federal museum, with 1st January 1999 released to the full legal capacity - it was thus the first of the state museums of Austria, implementing the far-reaching self-financing. It is by far the most visited museum in Austria with 1.3 million visitors (2007).

The Kunsthistorisches Museum is under the name Kunsthistorisches Museum and Museum of Ethnology and the Austrian Theatre Museum with company number 182081t since 11 June 1999 as a research institution under public law of the Federal virtue of the Federal Museums Act, Federal Law Gazette I/115/1998 and the Museum of Procedure of the Kunsthistorisches Museum and Museum of Ethnology and the Austrian Theatre Museum, 3 January 2001, BGBl II 2/ 2001, in force since 1 January 2001, registered.

In fiscal 2008, the turnover was 37.185 million EUR and total assets amounted to EUR 22.204 million. In 2008 an average of 410 workers were employed.

Management

1919-1923: Gustav Glück as the first chairman of the College of science officials

1924-1933: Hermann Julius Hermann 1924-1925 as the first chairman of the College of the scientific officers in 1925 as first director

1933: Arpad Weixlgärtner first director

1934-1938: Alfred Stix first director

1938-1945: Fritz Dworschak 1938 as acting head, from 1938 as a chief in 1941 as first director

1945-1949: August von Loehr 1945-1948 as executive director of the State Art Collections in 1949 as general director of the historical collections of the Federation

1945-1949: Alfred Stix 1945-1948 as executive director of the State Art Collections in 1949 as general director of art historical collections of the Federation

1949-1950: Hans Demel as administrative director

1950: Karl Wisoko-Meytsky as general director of art and historical collections of the Federation

1951-1952: Fritz Eichler as administrative director

1953-1954: Ernst H. Buschbeck as administrative director

1955-1966: Vincent Oberhammer 1955-1959 as administrative director, from 1959 as first director

1967: Edward Holzmair as managing director

1968-1972: Erwin Auer first director

1973-1981: Friderike Klauner first director

1982-1990: Hermann Fillitz first director

1990: George Kugler as interim first director

1990-2008: Wilfried Seipel as general director

Since 2009: Sabine Haag as general director

Collections

To the Kunsthistorisches Museum are also belonging the collections of the New Castle, the Austrian Theatre Museum in Palais Lobkowitz, the Museum of Ethnology and the Wagenburg (wagon fortress) in an outbuilding of Schönbrunn Palace. A branch office is also Ambras in Innsbruck.

Kunsthistorisches Museum (main building)

Picture Gallery

Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection

Collection of Classical Antiquities

Vienna Chamber of Art

Numismatic Collection

Library

New Castle

Ephesus Museum

Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments

Arms and Armour

Archive

Hofburg

The imperial crown in the Treasury

Imperial Treasury of Vienna

Insignia of the Austrian Hereditary Homage

Insignia of imperial Austria

Insignia of the Holy Roman Empire

Burgundian Inheritance and the Order of the Golden Fleece

Habsburg-Lorraine Household Treasure

Ecclesiastical Treasury

Schönbrunn Palace

Imperial Carriage Museum Vienna

Armory in Ambras Castle

Ambras Castle

Collections of Ambras Castle

Major exhibits

Among the most important exhibits of the Art Gallery rank inter alia:

Jan van Eyck: Cardinal Niccolò Albergati, 1438

Martin Schongauer: Holy Family, 1475-80

Albrecht Dürer : Trinity Altar, 1509-16

Portrait Johann Kleeberger, 1526

Parmigianino: Self Portrait in Convex Mirror, 1523/24

Giuseppe Arcimboldo: Summer 1563

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio: Madonna of the Rosary 1606/ 07

Caravaggio: Madonna of the Rosary (1606-1607)

Titian: Nymph and Shepherd to 1570-75

Portrait of Jacopo de Strada, 1567/68

Raffaello Santi: Madonna of the Meadow, 1505 /06

Lorenzo Lotto: Portrait of a young man against white curtain, 1508

Peter Paul Rubens: The altar of St. Ildefonso, 1630-32

The Little Fur, about 1638

Jan Vermeer: The Art of Painting, 1665/66

Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Fight between Carnival and Lent, 1559

Kids, 1560

Tower of Babel, 1563

Christ Carrying the Cross, 1564

Gloomy Day (Early Spring), 1565

Return of the Herd (Autumn), 1565

Hunters in the Snow (Winter) 1565

Bauer and bird thief, 1568

Peasant Wedding, 1568/69

Peasant Dance, 1568/69

Paul's conversion (Conversion of St Paul), 1567

Cabinet of Curiosities:

Saliera from Benvenuto Cellini 1539-1543

Egyptian-Oriental Collection:

Mastaba of Ka Ni Nisut

Collection of Classical Antiquities:

Gemma Augustea

Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós

Gallery: Major exhibits

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunsthistorisches_Museum

Inside the old store at Bannack, there are an amazing assortment of implements used back in the day.

Each one had a purpose and tells a story.

Very poignant in my opinion.

Hello World!

On 11th October , 2014, around 2.30 pm we reached our hotel at Leh. After a hurried lunch we proceeded to famous Hemis Monastery. In the late afternoon we reached at Hemis. It was behind a small hill, difficult to figure out such a huge structure from a distant point. We climbed few staircases, crossed a door and finally reached the main courtyard. What a wonderful ambiance it had been, so peaceful and serene. It was getting dark soon, and couldn’t see much of it. The next day we came again and had a vivid look. I was amazed by its richness and traditions of tantric practice of Tibetan Buddhism in such a remote place of the world.

  

Hemis Monastery is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery (gompa) of the Drukpa Lineage, located in Hemis, Ladakh, India. Situated 45 km from Leh, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Hemis Monastery existed before the 11th century and was re-established in 1672 by the Ladakhi king Sengge Namgyal. The annual Hemis festival honoring Padmasambhava is held here in early June.

  

Terma and tertöns : The essence of Tebetan Buddhism.

Padmasambhava (lit. "Lotus-Born"), also known as Guru Rinpoche, is a literary character of terma (Terma or "hidden treasure"- are key Tibetan Buddhist teaching, which the tradition holds were originally esoterically hidden by various adepts such as Padmasambhava and his consorts, in the 8th century for future discovery at auspicious times by other adepts, known as tertöns. As such, they represent a tradition of continuous revelation in Tibetan Buddhism. Termas are a part of Tantric Literature. Tradition holds that terma may be a physical object such as a text or ritual implement that is buried in the ground (or earth), hidden in a rock or crystal, secreted in a herb, or a tree, hidden in a lake (or water), or hidden in the sky (space). Though a literal understanding of terma is "hidden treasure", and sometimes objects are hidden away, the teachings associated should be understood as being “concealed within the mind of the guru”, that is, the true place of concealment is in the tertön's mindstream. If the concealed or encoded teaching or object is a text, it is often written in dakini script: a non-human type of code or writing).

  

Terma is an emanation of Amitabha (Amitābha or Amideva, is a celestial buddha described in the scriptures of the Mahāyāna school of Buddhism. Amitābha is the principal buddha in the Pure Land sect, a branch of Buddhism practiced mainly in East Asia, while in Vajrayana Amitābha is known for his longevity attribute, magnetising red fire element, the aggregate of discernment, pure perception and the deep awareness of emptiness of phenomena. According to these scriptures, Amitābha possesses infinite merits resulting from good deeds over countless past lives as a bodhisattva named Dharmakāra. "Amitābha" is translatable as "Infinite Light," hence Amitābha is also called "The Buddha of Immeasurable Life and Light" ).

Terma that is said to appear to tertons (A tertön is a discoverer of ancient texts or terma in Tibetan Buddhism) in visionary encounters and a focus of Tibetan Buddhist practice (Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet, Mongolia, Tuva, Bhutan, Kalmykia and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, and India (particularly in Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Dharamsala, Lahaul and Spiti district in Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim. It is also practiced in Northeast China. Religious texts and commentaries are contained in the Tibetan Buddhist canon such that Tibetan is a spiritual language of these areas. The Tibetan diaspora has spread Tibetan Buddhism to many Western countries, where the tradition has gained popularity. Among its prominent exponents is the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet. The number of its adherents is estimated to be between ten and twenty million).

Interested Viewers can see the following documentary on Padmasambhava:

Padmasambhava

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQBbfLtxj8A&spfreload=10

  

History

Hemis Monastery existed before the 11th century. Naropa, the pupil of the yogi Tilopa, and teacher of the translator Marpa is connected with this monastery. A translation was made by A. Grünwedel (Nӑro und Tilo,: Festschrift Ernst Kuhn, München 1916) of Naropa's biography that was found in Hemis monastery.

In this manuscript Naropa (or Naro) meets the "dark blue" (Skr.: nila: dark blue or black) Tilopa (or Tillo), a tantric master, who gives Naropa 12 "great" and 12 "small" tasks to do in order to enlighten him to the inherent emptiness/illusoriness of all things. Naropa is depicted as the "abbott of Nalanda" (F. Wilhelm, Prüfung und Initiation im Buche Pausya und in der Biographie des Naropa, Wiesbaden 1965, p. 70), the university-monastery in today's Bihar, India, that flourished until the sacking by Turkish and Afghan Muslim forces. This sacking must have been the driving force behind Naropa's peregrination in the direction of Hemis. After Naropa and Tilopa met in Hemis they travelled back in the direction of a certain monastery in the now no longer existing kingdom of Maghada, called Otantra which has been identified as today's Otantapuri. Naropa is consered the founding father of the Kagyu-lineage of the Himalayan esoteric Buddhism. Hence Hemis is the main seat of the Kagyu lineage of Buddhism.

In 1894 Russian journalist Nicolas Notovitch claimed Hemis as the origin of an otherwise unknown gospel, the Life of Saint Issa, Best of the Sons of Men, in which Jesus is said to have traveled to India during his "lost years." According to Notovitch, the work had been preserved in the Hemis library, and was shown to him by the monks there while he was recuperating from a broken leg. But once his story had been re-examined by historians, Notovitch confessed to having fabricated the evidence. Bart D. Ehrman states that "Today there is not a single recognized scholar on the planet who has any doubts about the matter. The entire story was invented by Notovitch, who earned a good deal of money and a substantial amount of notoriety for his hoax". However, the Indian Pandit Swami Abhedananda also claims to have read the same manuscript, and published his account of viewing it after his visit to Hemis in 1921. Abhedananda claims on the book jacket that it was translated for him with the help of a "local Lama interpreter." In the same vein, Notovich did not initially translate the manuscript, but reported his Sherpa guide did so as Notovitch could not read the original text. Notovich's version of the manuscript was translated from Tibetan to Russian to French to English. According to Swami Abhedananda's account, his Lama's translation was equivalent to the one published by Notovich. The Gutenberg Project has published the entire manuscript as a free ebook.

  

Hemis Festival

The Hemis Festival is dedicated to Lord Padmasambhava (Guru Rimpoche) venerated as the Dance Performance at Hemis Monastery representative reincarnate of Buddha. He is believed to have been born on the 10th day of the fifth month of the Monkey year as predicted by the Buddha Shakyamuni. It is also believed that his life mission was, and remains, to improve the spiritual condition of all living beings. And so on this day, which comes once in a cycle of 12 years, Hemis observes a major extravaganza in his memory. The observance of these sacred rituals is believed to give spiritual strength and good health. The Hemis festival takes place in the rectangular courtyard in front of the main door of the monastery. The space is wide and open save two raised square platforms, three feet high with a sacred pole in the center. A raised dias with a richly cushioned seat with a finely painted small Tibetan table is placed with the ceremonial items - cups full of holy water, uncooked rice, tormas made of dough and butter and incense sticks. A number of musicians play the traditional music with four pairs of cymbals, large-pan drums, small trumpets and large size wind instruments. Next to them, a small space is assigned for the lamas to sit.

The ceremonies begin with an early morning ritual atop the Gompa where, to the beat of drums and the resounding clash of cymbals and the spiritual wail of pipes, the portrait of "Dadmokarpo" or "Rygyalsras Rimpoche" is then ceremoniously put on display for all to admire and worship.

The most esoteric of festivities are the mystic mask dances. The Mask Dances of Ladakh are referred collectively as chams Performance. Chams performance is essentially a part of Tantric tradition, performed only in those gompas which follow the Tantric Vajrayana teachings and the monks perform tantric worship.

Source: Wikipedia and others.

 

ODC-Writing Implements

 

We always keep lots of pens handy.

Anne Ackerley, Head, Retirement Group, BlackRock, USA speaking during the Session "Implementing Stakeholder Capitalism 2" at the World Economic Forum, Annual Meeting of the Global Future Councils 2019. Copyright by World Economic Forum / Benedikt von Loebell

A rural farm under a cloudy moonlit sky near McBaine in Boone County Missouri by Notley Hawkins Photography. Taken on a cool August summer's evening with a Canon EOS 5D Mark III camera with a EF16-35mm f/2.8L USM lens. Colored gels were used with an exposure of 128 seconds.

  

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www.notleyhawkins.com/

 

©Notley Hawkins

Howard Johnson Motor Lodge and Restaurant located at 3951 NW Blitchton Rd. in Ocala,FL. The motel which underwent a significant renovation in 2016 was the first HJ location to incorporate the "Renew" brand standards implemented by Wyndham Worldwide. The owners went above and beyond by adding not only an orange roof but a Simple Simon weathervane atop the lobby which is shared with an onsite Howard Johnson Restaurant open to the public. The restaurant does not use the original HJ recipes but it is the closest one will get to eating an order of clams and having an ice cream sundae under an orange roof. The rooms were completely renovated and provide a slight nod to the past with the orange walls and a mix of mid-century themed furnishings. The property which was built in the mid 1960s didnt operate as a HoJo's until the late 1990s but instead (likely) an Econo Lodge. Since the property was converted into a Howard Johnson before the restaurant division went under in 2004 its possible that the space where the limited service HJ Restaurant is operating was and is in fact "technically" an authentic Howard Johnson's Restaurant. While staying at the property on February 1st and 2nd of 2018 I had a wonderful conversation with the property owner, his wife, and the manager on duty who gave me the scoop about the remodel and the "words" and "phrases" that can and cannot be used according to Wyndham guidelines. According to the manager the restaurant got the "okay" to use the phrase "HoJo's Famous Flounder and Clams" but not use the word "tendersweet" for reasons unknown. Additionally the restaurant which is part of the hotel and is open to the public cannot formally be branded a "Howard Johnson's Restaurant" (Note the 's). They claim to be the only Howard Johnson location to have an onsite restaurant but the wife of the owner emphasized saying the only location "for now" with a big smile on her face.

Here's my LEGO rendition of the 2022 Ferrari F1-75, which was raced by Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. The 2022 Formula One World Championship saw a major change of the technical regulations, with the reintroduction of ground effect aerodynamics and restriction of radical designs. These changes were implemented with the intention to reduce an F1 car's wake of turbulent air (aka "dirty air") that disturbs the aerodynamic flow of following cars, thus allowing for closer racing and more overtaking.

 

The F1-75 proved to be competitive at the beginning of the 2022 season, taking 2 wins, 2 poles, 3 fastest laps, and 5 podiums in the first 3 races. However, unreliability and a downturn in performance (especially after the FIA's Technical Directive 39 which was targeted at reducing porpoising) in the latter half of the season resulted in Red Bull winning both the drivers and constructors championships with relative ease.

 

This approximately 1:15 scale LEGO creation was probably the most difficult F1 car I've built to date. The design of this car is quite a departure from the previous F1 cars I've built, so I had to approach this build with a blank slate. The sidepods and engine cover shaping of the F1-75, which some have likened to a bathtub, is very organic and unique. Recreating this was by far the most challenging aspect of this creation. I hope I have done this car justice as it is one of the coolest F1 cars in terms of design in my opinion. A big thanks goes to Steve Hall (Instagram: @stevehallego) for making the stickers that help recreate the livery.

 

Instructions are available on Rebrickable: rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-143121/noahl/ferrari-f1-75

 

Links to my other Ferrari F1 cars:

1991 Ferrari 643

1997 Ferrari F310B

2007 Ferrari F2007

2014 Ferrari F14 T

2015 Ferrari SF15-T

2016 Ferrari SF16-H

2017 Ferrari SF70H

2018 Ferrari SF71H

2019 Ferrari SF90

2020 Ferrari SF1000

2021 Ferrari SF21

 

Instagram: @noahl.lego

20 May 2019 - TALK TOGETHER

Session : The Male Disadvantage in Education

 

Speakers : Camilla Stoltenberg, Director-General, Norwegian Institute of Public Health; Head, Norwegian National Commission on Gender Equality in Education

With ** Francesca Borgonovi, Senior Analyst, Policy Advice and Implementation, Directorate for Education and Skills, OECD

 

OECD Headquarters, Paris.

 

www.oecd.org/forum

 

Photo : © Hervé Cortinat / OECD

Hemis Monastery is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery (gompa) of the Drukpa Lineage, located in Hemis, Ladakh, India. Situated 45 km from Leh, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Hemis Monastery existed before the 11th century and was re-established in 1672 by the Ladakhi king Sengge Namgyal. The annual Hemis festival honoring Padmasambhava is held here in early June.

 

Terma and tertöns : The essence of Tebetan Buddhism.

Padmasambhava (lit. "Lotus-Born"), also known as Guru Rinpoche, is a literary character of terma (Terma or "hidden treasure"- are key Tibetan Buddhist teaching, which the tradition holds were originally esoterically hidden by various adepts such as Padmasambhava and his consorts, in the 8th century for future discovery at auspicious times by other adepts, known as tertöns. As such, they represent a tradition of continuous revelation in Tibetan Buddhism. Termas are a part of Tantric Literature. Tradition holds that terma may be a physical object such as a text or ritual implement that is buried in the ground (or earth), hidden in a rock or crystal, secreted in a herb, or a tree, hidden in a lake (or water), or hidden in the sky (space). Though a literal understanding of terma is "hidden treasure", and sometimes objects are hidden away, the teachings associated should be understood as being “concealed within the mind of the guru”, that is, the true place of concealment is in the tertön's mindstream. If the concealed or encoded teaching or object is a text, it is often written in dakini script: a non-human type of code or writing).

  

Terma is an emanation of Amitabha (Amitābha or Amideva, is a celestial buddha described in the scriptures of the Mahāyāna school of Buddhism. Amitābha is the principal buddha in the Pure Land sect, a branch of Buddhism practiced mainly in East Asia, while in Vajrayana Amitābha is known for his longevity attribute, magnetising red fire element, the aggregate of discernment, pure perception and the deep awareness of emptiness of phenomena. According to these scriptures, Amitābha possesses infinite merits resulting from good deeds over countless past lives as a bodhisattva named Dharmakāra. "Amitābha" is translatable as "Infinite Light," hence Amitābha is also called "The Buddha of Immeasurable Life and Light" ).

Terma that is said to appear to tertons (A tertön is a discoverer of ancient texts or terma in Tibetan Buddhism) in visionary encounters and a focus of Tibetan Buddhist practice (Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet, Mongolia, Tuva, Bhutan, Kalmykia and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, and India (particularly in Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Dharamsala, Lahaul and Spiti district in Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim. It is also practiced in Northeast China. Religious texts and commentaries are contained in the Tibetan Buddhist canon such that Tibetan is a spiritual language of these areas. The Tibetan diaspora has spread Tibetan Buddhism to many Western countries, where the tradition has gained popularity. Among its prominent exponents is the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet. The number of its adherents is estimated to be between ten and twenty million).

 

History

Hemis Monastery existed before the 11th century. Naropa, the pupil of the yogi Tilopa, and teacher of the translator Marpa is connected with this monastery. A translation was made by A. Grünwedel (Nӑro und Tilo,: Festschrift Ernst Kuhn, München 1916) of Naropa's biography that was found in Hemis monastery.

In this manuscript Naropa (or Naro) meets the "dark blue" (Skr.: nila: dark blue or black) Tilopa (or Tillo), a tantric master, who gives Naropa 12 "great" and 12 "small" tasks to do in order to enlighten him to the inherent emptiness/illusoriness of all things. Naropa is depicted as the "abbott of Nalanda" (F. Wilhelm, Prüfung und Initiation im Buche Pausya und in der Biographie des Naropa, Wiesbaden 1965, p. 70), the university-monastery in today's Bihar, India, that flourished until the sacking by Turkish and Afghan Muslim forces. This sacking must have been the driving force behind Naropa's peregrination in the direction of Hemis. After Naropa and Tilopa met in Hemis they travelled back in the direction of a certain monastery in the now no longer existing kingdom of Maghada, called Otantra which has been identified as today's Otantapuri. Naropa is consered the founding father of the Kagyu-lineage of the Himalayan esoteric Buddhism. Hence Hemis is the main seat of the Kagyu lineage of Buddhism.

In 1894 Russian journalist Nicolas Notovitch claimed Hemis as the origin of an otherwise unknown gospel, the Life of Saint Issa, Best of the Sons of Men, in which Jesus is said to have traveled to India during his "lost years." According to Notovitch, the work had been preserved in the Hemis library, and was shown to him by the monks there while he was recuperating from a broken leg. But once his story had been re-examined by historians, Notovitch confessed to having fabricated the evidence. Bart D. Ehrman states that "Today there is not a single recognized scholar on the planet who has any doubts about the matter. The entire story was invented by Notovitch, who earned a good deal of money and a substantial amount of notoriety for his hoax". However, the Indian Pandit Swami Abhedananda also claims to have read the same manuscript, and published his account of viewing it after his visit to Hemis in 1921. Abhedananda claims on the book jacket that it was translated for him with the help of a "local Lama interpreter." In the same vein, Notovich did not initially translate the manuscript, but reported his Sherpa guide did so as Notovitch could not read the original text. Notovich's version of the manuscript was translated from Tibetan to Russian to French to English. According to Swami Abhedananda's account, his Lama's translation was equivalent to the one published by Notovich. The Gutenberg Project has published the entire manuscript as a free ebook.

 

Hemis Festival

The Hemis Festival is dedicated to Lord Padmasambhava (Guru Rimpoche) venerated as the Dance Performance at Hemis Monastery representative reincarnate of Buddha. He is believed to have been born on the 10th day of the fifth month of the Monkey year as predicted by the Buddha Shakyamuni. It is also believed that his life mission was, and remains, to improve the spiritual condition of all living beings. And so on this day, which comes once in a cycle of 12 years, Hemis observes a major extravaganza in his memory. The observance of these sacred rituals is believed to give spiritual strength and good health. The Hemis festival takes place in the rectangular courtyard in front of the main door of the monastery. The space is wide and open save two raised square platforms, three feet high with a sacred pole in the center. A raised dias with a richly cushioned seat with a finely painted small Tibetan table is placed with the ceremonial items - cups full of holy water, uncooked rice, tormas made of dough and butter and incense sticks. A number of musicians play the traditional music with four pairs of cymbals, large-pan drums, small trumpets and large size wind instruments. Next to them, a small space is assigned for the lamas to sit.

The ceremonies begin with an early morning ritual atop the Gompa where, to the beat of drums and the resounding clash of cymbals and the spiritual wail of pipes, the portrait of "Dadmokarpo" or "Rygyalsras Rimpoche" is then ceremoniously put on display for all to admire and worship.

 

The most esoteric of festivities are the mystic mask dances. The Mask Dances of Ladakh are referred collectively as chams Performance. Chams performance is essentially a part of Tantric tradition, performed only in those gompas which follow the Tantric Vajrayana teachings and the monks perform tantric worship.

Source: Wikipedia and others.

 

Avalon peninsula, Newfoundland. Bronica GS-1, XP2, Epson v800 scan.

History

The oldest predecessor building was a cathedral complex from the Ottonian period with a three-aisled double-choir church (symbol of the Pope and the Empire), which was probably equipped with a flat wooden ceiling. The complex was completed before the relocation of the episcopal see from Säben (Säben Abbey (German: Kloster Säben; Italian: Monastero di Sabiona) is a Benedictine nunnery located near Klausen in South Tyrol, northern Italy. It was established in 1687, when it was first settled by the nuns of Nonnberg Abbey in Salzburg) to Brixen, which took place around 990. The church's eastern choir was consecrated to Saints Peter and Ingenuin (bishop of Säben around 600) and had a St. Martin's crypt, the west choir with a St. Nicholas crypt was dedicated to St. Stephen. After the end of the investiture controversy, the double-choir church no longer met the spirit of religious reform. Bishop Hartmann (1140-1164) had the west choir therefore broken off and built in its place two facade towers.

Ceiling painting by Paul Troger: Adoration of the Lamb

In 1174, the cathedral complex fell victim to a major fire. As a result, under the bishops Richer of Hohenburg and Heinrich von Berchtesgaden during the reconstruction structural adaptations in the style of the High Romanesque were made. The nave was vaulted and a single-aisled transept put in. The cathedral was consecrated in 1237 by Bishop Eberhard of Salzburg and re-consecrated in 1274 after further fire damage. During the Gothic period several chapels were added to the cathedral. There were more significant conversions under Bishop Nicholas of Kues, who had removed the eastern apses and had them replaced with a Gothic high choir with pointed arched windows and reticulated vaults. Under the direction of court architect Hans Reichle, the Romanesque north tower 1610-1613 received its present early Baroque form. The south tower was adapted in 1748 to the north tower.

Prince-Bishop Kaspar Ignaz Count Künigl (1702-1747) advocated a fundamental renovation of the old building complex already at the beginning of his long term of office, while he was forced by the cathedral chapter to a Baroque new building. He then preferred to first stabilize his diocese in pastoral terms (popular missions) before lending a hand to the cathedral. It was not until 1745 that the time had come. For the implementation of the comprehensive reconstruction, which lasted until 1754, the cream de la creme of the Tyrolean Baroque in Brixen was, so to speak, concentrated: Josef Delai from Bolzano as an architect, Theodor Benedetti from Mori as plasterer and altar builder, Stephan Föger from Innsbruck, who (the three of them) also participated in the planning; furthermore Paul Troger from Welsberg as a fresco artist, Joseph Schöpf from Telfs as a painter of the altarpieces, Dominikus Moling from Wengen as a designer of the altar statues, the Troger pupil Michelangelo Unterberger from Cavalese as painter of the high altarpiece. The construction management was held by Josef Delai and the priests Franz Penz and Georg Tangl. On September 10, 1758, the almost completely remodeled cathedral was completed with the consecration of Prince Bishop Leopold Count Spaur. The Classicistic vestibule was completed 30 years later by Jakob Pirchstaller from Trens.

In 1895, the fresco ensemble Paul Trogers was sustainably altered by the restoration work of Albrecht Steiner von Felsburg, not only by replacing his pseudo-dome in the crossing by his "triumph of religions", but also his painted illusory architecture around the large ceiling picture in green-gray tint by gilded and colored neo-Baroque stucco; this was contrary to the contemporary tastes, but from today's point of view it was not a fortunate intervention, even though a design by Paul Troger for the Geras Abbey in Lower Austria served as a model for the new dome painting.

Extensive restoration work undertook in 1985/86 the workshop Peskoller from Bruneck, outdoors the original color tones and the Baroque ornaments being restored and inside cleaned the ceiling frescoes and the stucco and wall panels painted again. In 2001, the cathedral roof was re-covered and the tower helmets were restored.

 

Geschichte

Der älteste Vorgängerbau war eine Münsteranlage aus ottonischer Zeit mit einer dreischiffigen Doppelchorkirche (Symbol von Papst- und Kaisertum), die vermutlich mit einer flachen Holzdecke ausgestattet war. Die Anlage war noch vor der Verlegung des Bischofssitzes von Säben nach Brixen, die um 990 stattfand, vollendet worden. Der Ostchor der Kirche war den Heiligen Petrus und Ingenuin (Bischof von Säben um 600) geweiht und verfügte über eine St.-Martins-Krypta, der Westchor mit einer St.-Nikolaus-Krypta war dem Heiligen Stefan geweiht. Nach dem Ende des Investiturstreites entsprach die Doppelchorkirche dem Sinne der religiösen Reformen nicht mehr. Bischof Hartmann (1140–1164) ließ den Westchor deshalb abbrechen und an seiner Stelle zwei Fassadentürme errichten.

Deckengemälde von Paul Troger: Anbetung des Lammes

Im Jahre 1174 fiel die Münsteranlage einem Großbrand zum Opfer. In der Folge wurden unter den Bischöfen Richer von Hohenburg und Heinrich von Berchtesgaden beim Wiederaufbau bauliche Adaptierungen im Stile der Hochromanik vorgenommen. Das Langhaus wurde eingewölbt und ein einschiffiges Querhaus eingezogen. Der Dom wurde 1237 von Bischof Eberhard von Salzburg geweiht und nach weiteren Brandschäden 1274 nochmals geweiht. In der Zeit der Gotik wurden an den Dom mehrere Kapellen angebaut. Bedeutendere Umbauten gab es dann unter Bischof Nikolaus von Kues, der die Ostapsiden entfernen und diese mit einem gotischen Hochchor mit Spitzbogenfenstern und Netzgewölben ersetzen ließ. Unter der Leitung des Hofbaumeisters Hans Reichle erhielt der romanische Nordturm 1610–1613 seine heutige frühbarocke Form. Der Südturm wurde 1748 an den Nordturm angeglichen.

Fürstbischof Kaspar Ignaz Graf Künigl (1702–1747) befürwortete bereits am Beginn seiner langen Amtszeit eine grundlegende Renovierung des alten Gebäudekomplexes, während er vom Domkapitel zu einem barocken Neubau gedrängt wurde. Er zog es dann aber vor, zuerst seine Diözese in seelsorglicher Hinsicht zu stabilisieren (Volksmissionen), bevor er Hand an den Dom legen ließ. Erst 1745 war es soweit. Für die Durchführung des umfassenden Umbaus, der bis 1754 andauerte, wurde gewissermaßen die Creme des Tiroler Barocks in Brixen zusammengezogen: Josef Delai aus Bozen als Architekt, Theodor Benedetti aus Mori als Stuckateur und Altarbauer, Stephan Föger aus Innsbruck, die auch an der Planung beteiligt waren; weiters Paul Troger aus Welsberg als Freskant, Joseph Schöpf aus Telfs als Maler der Altarblätter, Dominikus Moling aus Wengen als Gestalter der Altarstatuen, der Troger-Schüler Michelangelo Unterberger aus Cavalese als Maler des Hochaltarbildes. Die Bauleitung hatten unter anderem Josef Delai und die Priester Franz Penz und Georg Tangl inne. Am 10. September 1758 wurde das nahezu komplett umgestaltete Münster mit der Weihe durch Fürstbischof Leopold Graf Spaur vollendet. Die klassizistische Vorhalle hat 30 Jahre später Jakob Pirchstaller aus Trens fertiggestellt.

Im Jahr 1895 wurde das Freskenensemble Paul Trogers durch die Restaurierungsarbeiten von Albrecht Steiner von Felsburg nachhaltig verändert, indem er nicht nur dessen Scheinkuppel in der Vierung durch seinen „Triumph der Religionen“, sondern auch dessen gemalte Scheinarchitektur um das große Deckenbild in grün-grauer Tönung durch vergoldete und eingefärbte neubarocke Stuckaturen ersetzte; dem damaligen Zeitgeschmack kam das zwar entgegen, aus heutiger Sicht war es kein glücklicher Eingriff, auch wenn für das neue Kuppelgemälde ein Entwurf Paul Trogers für das Stift Geras in Niederösterreich als Vorlage diente.

Umfangreiche Restaurierungsarbeiten nahm 1985/86 die Werkstätte Peskoller aus Bruneck vor, wobei im Außenbereich die originalen Farbtönungen und die Barockornamentik wiederhergestellt und im Innenbereich die Deckenfresken gereinigt und die Stuck- und Wandfelder nachgefärbt wurden. 2001 wurde das Domdach neu eingedeckt und die Turmhelme wurden restauriert.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brixner_Dom

Antique Implement Society

 

The Great Oregon Steam-Up 2024

 

Powerland Heritage Park

In southern England in the nineteenth century flocks of sheep would be regularly moved from pasture to pasture so that their manure fertilised the soil. The shepherd moved with them, living in a hut like this one, which retains the wood burning pot-bellied stove, bed, and a selection of shepherd’s implements but with a modern cooker and refrigerator.

 

There is a beautiful description of a shepherd’s life in such a hut in chapter 2 of Thomas Hardy's novel 'Far from the madding crowd':

 

“The ring of the sheep-bell, which had been silent during his absence, recommenced, in tones that had more mellowness than clearness, owing to an increasing growth of surrounding wool. This continued till Oak withdrew again from the flock. He returned to the hut, bringing in his arms a new- born lamb, consisting of four legs large enough for a full- grown sheep, united by a seemingly inconsiderable membrane about half the substance of the legs collectively, which constituted the animal's entire body just at present.

 

The little speck of life he placed on a wisp of hay before the small stove, where a can of milk was simmering. Oak extinguished the lantern by blowing into it and then pinching the snuff, the cot being lighted by a candle suspended by a twisted wire. A rather hard couch, formed of a few corn sacks thrown carelessly down, covered half the floor of this little habitation, and here the young man stretched himself along, loosened his woollen cravat, and closed his eyes. In about the time a person unaccustomed to bodily labour would have decided upon which side to lie, Farmer Oak was asleep.

 

The inside of the hut, as it now presented itself, was cosy and alluring, and the scarlet handful of fire in addition to the candle, reflecting its own genial colour upon whatever it could reach, flung associations of enjoyment even over utensils and tools. In the corner stood the sheep-crook, and along a shelf at one side were ranged bottles and canisters of the simple preparations pertaining to ovine surgery and physic; spirits of wine, turpentine, tar, magnesia, ginger, and castor-oil being the chief. On a triangular shelf across the corner stood bread, bacon, cheese, and a cup for ale or cider, which was supplied from a flagon beneath. Beside the provisions lay the flute, whose notes had lately been called forth by the lonely watcher to beguile a tedious hour. The house was ventilated by two round holes, like the lights of a ship's cabin, with wood slides.

 

The lamb, revived by the warmth began to bleat, and the sound entered Gabriel's ears and brain with an instant meaning, as expected sounds will. Passing from the profoundest sleep to the most alert wakefulness with the same ease that had accompanied the reverse operation, he looked at his watch, found that the hour-hand had shifted again, put on his hat, took the lamb in his arms, and carried it into the darkness. After placing the little creature with its mother, he stood and carefully examined the sky, to ascertain the time of night from the altitudes of the stars.”

  

And as I promised, the last plate I created on that day was appropriately one of my hands at the end of the process. When you coat the plates you hold them like a waiter holds a drink tray and you pour the collodion onto the plate and tilt the plate toward all four corners to spread the mixture. Invariably (regularly if you are a beginner) some of it dribbles off and onto your hand. Then when you pull the plate from the silver nitrate bath, some of that silver nitrate gets onto your hands and mixes with the collodion that is on there, creating a light sensitive emulsion on your skin which immediately gets exposed to light. Finally when you take your exposed plate into the darkroom and pour developer over it, that developer spills off onto your hands and develops the emulsion on them, which at this point are incredibly over-exposed and turn black. It wears off in a day or two, but til then you have some nicely stained hands.

 

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make a wet plate image of my wet plate stained hands. The results of the process documented by the process. There is a nice logic to that.

nrhp # 93000054- Stratton's Independence Mine and Mill is a historic gold mining site near Victor, Colorado on the south slope of Battle Mountain. Between late 1893 and April 1899, approximately 200,000 ounces (6200 kg) of gold was removed from the Independence Mine.

In the spring of 1891 W. S. Stratton persuaded Leslie Popejoy to grubstake him in the Cripple Creek District in return for half the profits. Stratton staked two claims on the south slope of Battle Mountain on July 4, 1891. He called the two claims the Independence and the Washington in honor of the holiday. Stratton quickly sold his house and two lots, one in Denver and one in Colorado Springs, so that he could buy out Popejoy's share. His reason: some assays from the Independence lode showed a value of $380 per ton gold.

One boulder from the Independence mine brought $60,000, which Stratton used to sink a chute. In doing so he tapped directly into a rich vein.

The next year, in 1892, Stratton also hit gold in the Washington mine.

Stratton became the Cripple Creek District's first millionaire.[1]

When Cripple Creek miners went on strike in 1894, Stratton's Independence mine and the Portland mine came to an agreement with them, against the wishes of other mine owners.[2]

Stratton had incorporated the Portland company and was its first president and largest stockholder.[3]

Stratton developed a theory that the gold veins in the Cripple Creek District converged at a great depth, roughly in the shape of a goblet. This theory did not pan out, however.[4]

The mining companies became concerned about ore theft, and in 1897 they began hiring the services of Pinkerton agents.[5]

In 1900 Stratton sold the Independence mine to the Venture Corporation of London for $10 million. The Venture Corporation incorporated the property as Stratton's Independence Ltd and sold shares on the London stock exchange. The ore reserves were discovered to be less than previously thought in late 1900, and the share price crashed. Venture Corporation sued Stratton, claiming that the mine had been salted. Stratton died in 1902, but his estate defeated the lawsuit.

In May 1900, two Western Federation of Miners (WFM) union representatives checked for union membership cards at the Independence mine. Approximately a hundred miners belonged to the union, and six or eight did not. One of the union representatives talked to the miners, who echoed the union rep's view that they would prefer not to work alongside non-union workers. Mine Superintendent Summers talked the non-union men into joining the union in order to promote harmony in the workforce.[6]

In September 1900, the Independence mine was the first mine in the district to introduce a new stripping order requiring all underground workers to undress in one room of a change house and walk into another room in the nude while a guard observed. This was to take place at start and end of each shift. The new rule was implemented to prevent high grading (theft of gold ore) by the mine workers.

Five hundred miners met at Victor's Armory Hall, and they decided that while they would help stop ore thieves, they refused to work under the stripping rule. A compromise was reached which allowed the miners to strip to their undergarments. But the miners were unhappy. After the new practice was in place for about a month, a Pinkerton searched the miners at the end of a shift. No ore was found, and the miners walked out.

Three days later, Independence mine manager A.H. Shipman met with the WFM Executive Board. He ultimately agreed to abolish the Pinkerton guard system, to appoint a guard for the change rooms from candidates the union proposed, and to accept a closed shop. Under the agreement, any miner suspected of high-grading could be searched by a fellow union member in the presence of a watchman. Shipman also announced that he would support membership in the WFM by miners in return for the union's help in stopping the practice of high grading.[7]

In 1902 the miners at the Independence mine bought diamond rings for Shipman, who had negotiated the closed shop, for Superintendent Sam Lobb, and for Assistant Manager R.J. Grant. The miners and the managers enjoyed a "little smoking session" at Shipman's home after the presentation.

 

from Wikipedia

Sifton, Manitoba.

Warchief, everything is set as you ordered! The enemy ships just docked and they are unloading the troops. They will be here in an hour.- reported commander of the scouts.

Burlogh O'Rohal let out a sigh. For some reason I hoped they change their mind. - So it is decreeded. Stay calm and follow my orders.

    

Scouts of Lenfald army road into the valley. Suddenly a band of cheering beastman jumped out from the woods and ran towards them. Commander of the cavalry ordered a charge. The beastman group seemed confused and started to flee. Everything went as the warchief planned. The knights followed the Ironclad Company but after the turn of the road they faced a troll phalanx. Their charge broke in a minute. The beastmen turned back and flanked the cavalry.

    

Meanwhile main force of the invaders faced some problem too. Magical song rang over the valley as combined power of shamans created huge flamesnakes. As the fire stroke down to the knights, a sniper rose up from his hiding spot. His first shot hit the Lenfald commander who fall down to the ground. His army became disorganised in a moment. The ground shaked as Dragon Maiden lead their charge. The Lenfald army was surrounded in a few minutes. Their only chance was the road, but it was blocked by the warchief himself.

 

Let the massacre begin! For freedom, for the Bleeding Claws! - roared Burlogh and started to run and the horde followed him...

   

My entry to Lands of Classic Castle Global Challenge 3 - Purging the Magic Islands

Sifton, Manitoba.

In the current article, we will review how to implement the second phase of our project in which we detect an event of “SPF = Fail” and forward such E-mail message to approval by an authorizes a person.

 

The SPF Fail policy article series, including the following three...

 

o365info.com/implementing-spf-fail-policy-using-exchange-...