A window view of the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China that includes both a close-up of the barrier wall and a panorama of the wall.

 

Mutianyu is possibly the second-most known section of the Great Wall after Badaling. Many heads of state have visited the Great Wall and they usually choose one of these two sections, probably for their easy access; both have cable cars ascending to the wall. For Americans reading this, President Clinton chose to see Mutianyu while Presidents Nixon and Reagan went to Badaling.

 

Mutianyu isn’t a long section – only a 3 kilometer hike, atop a ridge, so it’s not terribly steep (especially compared to a section like Juyonguan) – but it is quite pictureseque. It’s famous for its views of the surrounding mountains and also for its Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) watchtowers.

 

Getting to Mutianyu is a little cumbersome. From the heart of Beijing, you need to go to Dongzhimen Station and transfer to a bus in the long distance bus hall. It’s about an hour to an hour and a half trip northeast to Huairou County, then a private car for another 30 minutes or so to the wall. The drivers will usually wait for you as long as you don’t spend more than a few hours there. (I hiked about ¾ of the way out and back in about 3 hours, counting stops for shooting.)

 

Mutianyu is also a good choice because there are other sections of the wall nearby. The wild Jiankou section has basically been left untouched, and makes for extraordinary photography. As it’s also among the most dangerous sections because of its lack of upkeep, I’ll save that shoot for the spring. (Look here for a return to Badaling or Huangyaguan in winter should there be enough snow.) Other areas of the wall slightly farther out from Beijing, but also northeast of town include Simatai and Jinshanling in Miyun County and Hebei province, respectively, where I will also try to visit in the spring. Last but not least is the Huanghua section, also near Jiankou and Mutianyu.

 

This history of the wall – especially of the architecture – is impressive, as is its modern use as a tourist attraction/trap. The wall was built by poor Chinese or prisoners (such as the Juyongguan section, which literally translates as: “to live…criminal…(mountain) pass,” which reflects that it was built by prisoners. Many people worked to death on the construction of this massive wall.

 

In many sections of the wall, there is a famous quote by Chairman Mao in which he says, “You are not a man until you have visited the Great Wall of China.” (I take this tongue in cheek as this same man also encouraged Chinese to be resourceful and use the bricks of the wall as construction materials.)

 

The world at large seems to be rather taken with the romance and history of the wall. It seems to me that the world feels this way more than most Chinese. I’ll make that assumption based on the fact that a lot of sections of the wall are in disrepair or, in the case of the Datong section, dismantled. Also, in conversations with Chinese, most seem to have a rather nonchalant attitude towards seeing the wall and don’t think much about its historical context – including people who live close enough to travel there easily.

 

All in all, the wall offers many different panoramas, each section slightly different from the other, and each having a reasonably-priced admission of ~50 RMB during peak season and a little less between November and March. Outside of the Beijing area, there are also some rather notable sections of the wall (such as the eastern and western termini which end in the ocean and desert, or in Shanxi province near Datong where the bricks have all been torn down and all that remains are earthen mounds where the watchtowers once were).

 

As long as I live in China, I will continue to try to visit different sections of the wall to highlight some of the differences (albeit many are subtle) and to highlight that the wall has an enigmatic meaning and symbolism, contributing to the complexities of China.

 

The 26 route includes some very narrow lanes, providing some good opportunities for photographers but, I imagine, some challenges for drivers. One such is Dean Lane in Fovant, where Wilts & Dorset Optare Solo 3666 (V966VFX) is seen squeezing through on 23 August 2012, approaching the junction with the A30 while working the 1040 from Salisbury to Tisbury.

Our mural includes a depiction of 4 distinct female mermaid characters. They appear in progressive stages from resting, to sitting, to rising, to the more adventurous action of swimming off to explore the deep. the composition of the figures wraps around the wall from narrow to full wall height as a representation of shallow to deep water. The mural will contain elements of sea and underwater life, such as fish, kelp and skulls. Our mural strongly depicts female collaboration through our combined approach of working background elements, as well as the interaction between our mermaid characters. Through the progression of colour scheme, shallow to deep water, and the actions of the mermaids, we intend to work within a theme of transformation, as well as an awareness for the ocean and our Pacific West Coast.

 

This monument includes an animal pound at the south west corner of All Saint's churchyard, on the village green. It is now used as a public rest area and garden.

The animal pound is a square walled enclosure, adjoining the churchyard to its east. It is entered by a gateway on the north side with one free-standing gatepost of rough schist. The pound walls of mortared schist rubble are 0.5m thick and stand up to 1.05m high.

A number of small holes on the west side have been opened out from recesses opening into the pound, measuring from 0.4m to 0.5m wide and set 0.6m from the ground. It is understood that these are rifle loops from the World War II, when the pound was adapted for use as a Home Guard post.

---

The term animal pound is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word `pund' meaning enclosure, and is used to describe stock-proof areas for confining stray or illegally pastured stock and legally-kept animals rounded up at certain times of the year from areas of common grazing.

The earliest documentary references to pounds date from the 12th century, and they continued to be constructed and used throughout the medieval and post-medieval periods. Most surviving examples are likely to be less than three centuries old, and most will have fallen into disuse in the late 19th or early 20th century.

Animal pounds are usually located in villages or towns though some lie in more open locations, particularly on the edge of old woodlands and commons.

 

---------

Originally taken and posted for the GWUK group.

Now replaced with the un-edited version

 

Guessed by Janet G48

Schweiz / Berner Oberland - Allmendhubel

 

Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau

 

Eiger, Mönch und Jungfrau

 

The Allmendhubel (1,932 m) is a hill above Mürren, overlooking the valley of Lauterbrunnen in the canton of Bern. Its summit is easily accessible from Mürren by a funicular, the Allmendhubelbahn, which reaches a height of 1,907 metres. A restaurant is also located near the top.

 

In winter, the Allmendhubel is part of a ski area and includes several ski lifts.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

The Eiger (German pronunciation: [ˈaɪ̯ɡɐ]) is a 3,967-metre (13,015 ft) mountain of the Bernese Alps, overlooking Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland, just north of the main watershed and border with Valais. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that extends across the Mönch to the Jungfrau at 4,158 m (13,642 ft), constituting one of the most emblematic sights of the Swiss Alps. While the northern side of the mountain rises more than 3,000 m (10,000 ft) above the two valleys of Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen, the southern side faces the large glaciers of the Jungfrau-Aletsch area, the most glaciated region in the Alps. The most notable feature of the Eiger is its nearly 1,800-metre-high (5,900 ft) north face of rock and ice, named Eiger-Nordwand, Eigerwand or just Nordwand, which is the biggest north face in the Alps.] This huge face towers over the resort of Kleine Scheidegg at its base, on the eponymous pass connecting the two valleys.

 

The first ascent of the Eiger was made by Swiss guides Christian Almer and Peter Bohren and Irishman Charles Barrington, who climbed the west flank on August 11, 1858. The north face, the "last problem" of the Alps, considered amongst the most challenging and dangerous ascents, was first climbed in 1938 by an Austrian-German expedition.The Eiger has been highly publicized for the many tragedies involving climbing expeditions. Since 1935, at least 64 climbers have died attempting the north face, earning it the German nickname Mordwand, literally "murder(ous) wall"—a pun on its correct title of Nordwand (North Wall).

 

Although the summit of the Eiger can be reached by experienced climbers only, a railway tunnel runs inside the mountain, and two internal stations provide easy access to viewing-windows carved into the rock face. They are both part of the Jungfrau Railway line, running from Kleine Scheidegg to the Jungfraujoch, between the Mönch and the Jungfrau, at the highest railway station in Europe. The two stations within the Eiger are Eigerwand (behind the north face) and Eismeer (behind the south face), at around 3,000 metres. The Eigerwand station has not been regularly served since 2016.

 

Etymology

 

The first mention of Eiger, appearing as "mons Egere", was found in a property sale document of 1252, but there is no clear indication of how exactly the peak gained its name. The three mountains of the ridge are commonly referred to as the Virgin (German: Jungfrau – translates to "virgin" or "maiden"), the Monk (Mönch), and the Ogre (Eiger; the standard German word for ogre is Oger). The name has been linked to the Latin term acer, meaning "sharp" or "pointed".

 

Geographic setting and description

 

The Eiger is located above the Lauterbrunnen Valley to the west and Grindelwald to the north in the Bernese Oberland region of the canton of Bern. It forms a renowned mountain range of the Bernese Alps together with its two companions: the Jungfrau (4,158 m (13,642 ft)) about 5.6 kilometres (3.5 mi) southwest of it and the Mönch (4,107 m (13,474 ft)) about in the middle of them. The nearest settlements are Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen (795 m (2,608 ft)) and Wengen (1,274 m (4,180 ft)). The Eiger has three faces: north (or more precisely NNW), east (or more precisely ESE), and west (or more precisely WSW). The northeastern ridge from the summit to the Ostegg (lit.: eastern corner, 2,709 m (8,888 ft)), called Mittellegi, is the longest on the Eiger. The north face overlooks the gently rising Alpine meadow between Grindelwald (943 m (3,094 ft)) and Kleine Scheidegg (2,061 m (6,762 ft)), a mountain railways junction and a pass, which can be reached from both sides, Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen/Wengen – by foot or train.

 

Politically, the Eiger (and its summit) belongs to the Bernese municipalities of Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen. The Kleine Scheidegg (literally, the small parting corner) connects the Männlichen-Tschuggen range with the western ridge of the Eiger. The Eiger does not properly form part of the main chain of the Bernese Alps, which borders the canton of Valais and forms the watershed between the Rhine and the Rhône, but constitutes a huge limestone buttress, projecting from the crystalline basement of the Mönch across the Eigerjoch. Consequently, all sides of the Eiger feed finally the same river, namely the Lütschine.

 

Eiger's water is connected through the Weisse Lütschine (the white one) in the Lauterbrunnen Valley on the west side (southwestern face of the Eiger), and through the Schwarze Lütschine (the black one) running through Grindelwald (northwestern face), which meet each other in Zweilütschinen (lit.: the two Lütschinen) where they form the proper Lütschine. The east face is covered by the glacier called Ischmeer, (Bernese German for Ice Sea), which forms one upper part of the fast-retreating Lower Grindelwald Glacier. These glaciers' water forms a short creek, which is also confusingly called the Weisse Lütschine, but enters the black one already in Grindelwald together with the water from the Upper Grindelwald Glacier. Therefore, all the water running down the Eiger converges at the northern foot of the Männlichen (2,342 m (7,684 ft)) in Zweilütschinen (654 m (2,146 ft)), about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) northwest of the summit, where the Lütschine begins its northern course to Lake Brienz and the Aare (564 m (1,850 ft)).

 

Although the north face of the Eiger is almost free of ice, significant glaciers lie at the other sides of the mountain. The Eiger Glacier flows on the southwestern side of the Eiger, from the crest connecting it to the Mönch down to 2,400 m (7,900 ft), south of Eigergletscher railway station, and feeds the Weisse Lütschine through the Trümmelbach. On the east side, the Ischmeer–well visible from the windows of Eismeer railway station–flows eastwards from the same crest then turns to the north below the impressive wide Fiescherwand, the north face of the Fiescherhörner triple summit (4,049 m (13,284 ft)) down to about 1,600 m (5,200 ft) of the Lower Grindelwald Glacier system.

 

The massive composition of the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau constitutes an emblematic sight of the Swiss Alps and is visible from many places on the Swiss Plateau and the Jura Mountains in the northwest. The higher Finsteraarhorn (4,270 m (14,010 ft)) and Aletschhorn (4,190 m (13,750 ft)), which are located about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) to the south, are generally less visible and situated in the middle of glaciers in less accessible areas. As opposed to the north side, the south and east sides of the range consist of large valley glaciers extending for up to 22 kilometres (14 mi), the largest (beyond the Eiger drainage basin) being those of Grand Aletsch, Fiesch, and Aar Glaciers, and is thus uninhabited. The whole area, the Jungfrau-Aletsch protected area, comprising the highest summits and largest glaciers of the Bernese Alps, was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001.

 

In July 2006, a piece of the Eiger, amounting to approximately 700,000 cubic metres of rock, fell from the east face. As it had been noticeably cleaving for several weeks and fell into an uninhabited area, there were no injuries and no buildings were hit.

 

Climbing history

 

While the summit was reached without much difficulty in 1858 by a complex route on the west flank, the battle to climb the north face has captivated the interest of climbers and non-climbers alike. Before it was successfully climbed, most of the attempts on the face ended tragically and the Bernese authorities even banned climbing it and threatened to fine any party that should attempt it again. But the enthusiasm which animated the young talented climbers from Austria and Germany finally vanquished its reputation of unclimbability when a party of four climbers successfully reached the summit in 1938 by what is known as the "1938" or "Heckmair" route.

 

The climbers that attempted the north face could be easily watched through the telescopes from the Kleine Scheidegg, a pass between Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen, connected by rail. The contrast between the comfort and civilization of the railway station and the agonies of the young men slowly dying a short yet uncrossable distance away led to intensive coverage by the international media.

 

After World War II, the north face was climbed twice in 1947, first by a party of two French guides, Louis Lachenal and Lionel Terray, then by a Swiss party consisting of H. Germann, with Hans and Karl Schlunegger.

 

First ascent

 

In 1857, a first recorded attempt was made by Christian Almer, Christian Kaufmann, Ulrich Kaufmann guiding the Austrian alpinist Sigismund Porges. They did manage the first ascent of neighboring Mönch instead. Porges, however, successfully made the second ascent of the Eiger in July 1861 with the guides Christian Michel, Hans and Peter Baumann.

 

The first ascent was made by the western flank on August 11, 1858 by Charles Barrington with guides Christian Almer and Peter Bohren. On the previous afternoon, the party walked up to the Wengernalp hotel. From there they started the ascent of the Eiger at 3:30 a.m. Barrington describes the route much as it is followed today, staying close to the edge of the north face much of the way. They reached the summit at about noon, planted a flag, stayed for some 10 minutes and descended in about four hours. Barrington describes the reaching of the top, saying, "the two guides kindly gave me the place of first man up." After the descent, the party was escorted to the Kleine Scheidegg hotel, where their ascent was confirmed by observation of the flag left on the summit. The owner of the hotel then fired a cannon to celebrate the first ascent. According to Harrer's The White Spider, Barrington was originally planning to make the first ascent of the Matterhorn, but his finances did not allow him to travel there as he was already staying in the Eiger region.

 

Mittellegi ridge

 

Although the Mittellegi ridge had already been descended by climbers (since 1885) with the use of ropes in the difficult sections, it remained unclimbed until 1921. On the 10th of September of that year, Japanese climber Yuko Maki, along with Swiss guides Fritz Amatter, Samuel Brawand and Fritz Steuri made the first successful ascent of the ridge. The previous day, the party approached the ridge from the Eismeer railway station of the Jungfrau Railway and bivouacked for the night. They started the climb at about 6:00 a.m. and reached the summit of the Eiger at about 7:15 p.m., after an over 13 hours gruelling ascent. Shortly after, they descended the west flank. They finally reached Eigergletscher railway station at about 3:00 a.m. the next day.

 

Attempts on the north face

 

1935

 

In 1935, two young German climbers from Bavaria, Karl Mehringer and Max Sedlmeyer, arrived at Grindelwald to attempt the ascent of the north face. After waiting some time for the weather to improve, they set off, reaching the height of the Eigerwand station before stopping for their first bivouac. The following day, facing greater difficulties, they gained little height. On the third day, they made hardly any vertical gain. That night, the weather deteriorated, bringing snow and low cloud that shrouded the mountain from the observers below. Avalanches began to sweep the face. Two days later, the weather briefly cleared, and the two men were glimpsed a little higher and about to bivouac for the fifth night, before clouds descended again. A few days later, the weather finally cleared, revealing a completely white north face.: 225  Weeks later, the German World War I ace Ernst Udet went searching for the missing men with his aircraft, eventually spotting one of them frozen to death in what became known as the "Death Bivouac". Sedlmeyer's body was found at the foot of the face the following year by his brothers Heinrich and Martin Meier, who were part of a group looking for the victims of the 1936 climbing disaster. Mehringer's remains were found in 1962 by Swiss climbers below the "Flat Iron" (Bügeleisen) at the lefthand end of the second ice field. 

 

1936

 

The next year ten young climbers from Austria and Germany came to Grindelwald and camped at the foot of the mountain. Before their attempts started one of them was killed during a training climb, and the weather was so bad during that summer that, after waiting for a change and seeing none on the way, several members of the party gave up. Of the four that remained, two were Bavarians, Andreas Hinterstoisser and Toni Kurz, and two were Austrians, Willy Angerer and Edi Rainer. When the weather improved they made a preliminary exploration of the lowest part of the face. Hinterstoisser fell 37 metres (121 ft) but was not injured. A few days later the four men finally began the ascent of the face. They climbed quickly, but on the next day, after their first bivouac, the weather changed; clouds came down and hid the group to the observers. They did not resume the climb until the following day, when, during a break, the party was seen descending, but the climbers could be seen only intermittently from the ground. The group had no choice but to retreat, since Angerer had suffered serious injuries from falling rock. The party became stuck on the face when they could not recross the difficult Hinterstoisser Traverse, from which they had taken the rope they had first used to climb it. The weather then deteriorated for two days. They were ultimately swept away by an avalanche, which only Kurz survived, hanging on a rope. Three guides started on an extremely perilous rescue attempt. They failed to reach him but came within shouting distance and learned what had happened. Kurz explained the fate of his companions: one had fallen down the face, another was frozen above him, and the third had fractured his skull in falling and was hanging dead on the rope.

 

In the morning the three guides came back, traversing the face from a hole near the Eigerwand station and risking their lives under incessant avalanches. Toni Kurz was still alive but almost helpless, with one hand and one arm completely frozen. Kurz hauled himself off the cliff after cutting loose the rope that bound him to his dead teammate below and climbed back onto the face. The guides were not able to pass an unclimbable overhang that separated them from Kurz. They managed to give him a rope long enough to reach them by tying two ropes together. While descending, Kurz could not get the knot to pass through his carabiner. He tried for hours to reach his rescuers who were only a few metres below him. Then he began to lose consciousness. One of the guides, climbing on another's shoulders, was able to touch the tip of Kurz's crampons with his ice-axe but could not reach higher. Kurz was unable to descend further and, completely exhausted, died slowly.

 

1937

 

An attempt was made in 1937 by Mathias Rebitsch and Ludwig Vörg. Although the attempt was unsuccessful, they were nonetheless the first climbers who returned alive from a serious attempt on the face. They started the climb on 11 August and reached a high point of a few rope lengths above Death Bivouac. A storm then broke and after three days on the wall they had to retreat. This was the first successful withdrawal from a significant height on the wall.

 

First ascent of the north face

 

The north face was first climbed on July 24, 1938 by Anderl Heckmair, Ludwig Vörg, Heinrich Harrer and Fritz Kasparek in a German–Austrian party. The party had originally consisted of two independent teams: Harrer (who did not have a pair of crampons on the climb) and Kasparek were joined on the face by Heckmair and Vörg, who had started their ascent a day later and had been helped by the fixed rope that the lead team had left across the Hinterstoisser Traverse. The two groups, led by the experienced Heckmair, decided to join their forces and roped together as a single group of four. Heckmair later wrote: "We, the sons of the older Reich, united with our companions from the Eastern Border to march together to victory."

 

The expedition was constantly threatened by snow avalanches and climbed as quickly as possible between the falls. On the third day a storm broke and the cold was intense. The four men were caught in an avalanche as they climbed "the Spider," the snow-filled cracks radiating from an ice-field on the upper face, but all possessed sufficient strength to resist being swept off the face. The members successfully reached the summit at four o'clock in the afternoon. They were so exhausted that they only just had the strength to descend by the normal route through a raging blizzard.

 

Other notable events

 

1864 (Jul 27): Fourth ascent, and first ascent by a woman, Lucy Walker, who was part of a group of six guides (including Christian Almer and Melchior Anderegg) and five clients, including her brother Horace Walker[

1871: First ascent by the southwest ridge, 14 July (Christian Almer, Christian Bohren, and Ulrich Almer guiding W. A. B. Coolidge and Meta Brevoort).

1890: First ascent in winter, Ulrich Kaufmann and Christian Jossi guiding C. W. Mead and G. F. Woodroffe.

1924: First ski ascent and descent via the Eiger glacier by Englishman Arnold Lunn and the Swiss Fritz Amacher, Walter Amstutz and Willy Richardet.

1932: First ascent of the northeast face ("Lauper route") by Hans Lauper, Alfred Zürcher, Alexander Graven and Josef Knubel

1970: First ski descent over the west flank, by Sylvain Saudan.

1986: Welshman Eric Jones becomes the first person to BASE jump from the Eiger.

1988: Original Route (ED2), north face, Eiger (3970m), Alps, Switzerland, first American solo (nine and a half hours) by Mark Wilford.

1991: First ascent, Metanoia Route, North Face, solo, winter, without bolts, Jeff Lowe.

1992 (18 July): Three BMG/UIAGM/IFMGA clients died in a fall down the West Flank: Willie Dunnachie; Douglas Gaines; and Phillip Davies. They had ascended the mountain via the Mittellegi Ridge.

2006 (14 June): François Bon and Antoine Montant make the first speedflying descent of the Eiger.

2006 (15 July): Approximately 700,000 cubic metres (20 million cubic feet) of rock from the east side collapses. No injuries or damage were reported.

2015 (23 July): A team of British Para-Climbers reached the summit via the West Flank Route. The team included John Churcher, the world's first blind climber to summit the Eiger, sight guided by the team leader Mark McGowan. Colin Gourlay enabled the ascent of other team members, including Al Taylor who has multiple sclerosis, and the young autistic climber Jamie Owen from North Wales. The ascent was filmed by the adventure filmmakers Euan Ryan & Willis Morris of Finalcrux Films.

 

Books and films

 

The 1959 book The White Spider by Heinrich Harrer describes the first successful ascent of the Eiger north face.

The Climb Up To Hell, 1962, by Jack Olson, an account of the ill-fated 1957 attempted climb of the north face by an Italian four-man team and the dramatic rescue of the sole survivor mounted by an international all-volunteer group of rescuers.

Eiger Direct, 1966, by Dougal Haston and Peter Gillman, London: Collins, also known as Direttissima; the Eiger Assault

The 1971 novel The Ice Mirror by Charles MacHardy describes the second attempted ascent of the Eiger north face by the main character.

The 1972 novel The Eiger Sanction is an action/thriller novel by Rodney William Whitaker (writing under the pseudonym Trevanian), based around the climbing of the Eiger. This was then made into the 1975 film The Eiger Sanction starring Clint Eastwood and George Kennedy. The Eiger Sanction film crew included very experienced mountaineers (e.g., Mike Hoover, Dougal Haston, and Hamish MacInnes, see Summit, 52, Spring 2010) as consultants, to ensure accuracy in the climbing footage, equipment and techniques.

The Eiger, 1974, by Dougal Haston, London: Cassell

The 1982 book Eiger, Wall of Death by Arthur Roth is an historical account of first ascents of the north face.

The 1982 book Traverse of The Gods by Bob Langley is a World War II spy thriller where a group escaping from Nazi Germany is trapped and the only possible exit route is via the Nordwand.

Eiger, 1983, a documentary film by Leo Dickinson of Eric Jones' 1981 solo ascent of the north face.

Eiger Dreams, 1990, a collection of essays by Jon Krakauer, begins with an account of Krakauer's own attempt to climb the north face.

Eiger: The Vertical Arena (German edition, 1998; English edition, 2000), edited by Daniel Anker, a comprehensive climbing history of the north face authored by 17 climbers, with numerous photographs and illustrations.

The IMAX film The Alps features John Harlin III's climb up the north face in September 2005. Harlin's father, John Harlin II, set out 40 years earlier to attempt a direct route (the direttissima) up the 6,000-foot (1,800 m) face, the so-called "John Harlin route". At 1300 m, his rope broke, and he fell to his death. Composer James Swearingen created a piece named Eiger: Journey to the Summit in his memory.

The 2007 docu/drama film The Beckoning Silence featuring mountaineer Joe Simpson, recounting—with filmed reconstructions—the ill-fated 1936 expedition up the north face of the Eiger and how Heinrich Harrer's book The White Spider inspired him to take up climbing. The film followed Simpson's eponymous 2003 book. Those playing the parts of the original climbing team were Swiss mountain guides Roger Schäli (Toni Kurz), Simon Anthamatten (Andreas Hinterstoisser), Dres Abegglen (Willy Angerer) and Cyrille Berthod (Edi Rainer). The documentary won an Emmy Award the subsequent year.

The 2008 German historical fiction film Nordwand is based on the 1936 attempt to climb the Eiger north face. The film is about the two German climbers, Toni Kurz and Andreas Hinterstoisser, involved in a competition with an Austrian duo to be the first to scale the north face of Eiger.

The 2010 documentary Eiger: Wall of Death by Steve Robinson.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

The Mönch (German pronunciation: [ˈmœnç] German: "monk") at 4,110 metres (13,480 ft) is a mountain in the Bernese Alps, in Switzerland. Together with the Eiger and the Jungfrau, it forms a highly recognisable group of mountains, visible from far away.

 

The Mönch lies on the border between the cantons of Valais and Bern, and forms part of a mountain ridge between the Jungfrau and Jungfraujoch to the west, and the Eiger to the east. It is west of Mönchsjoch, a pass at 3,650 metres (11,980 ft), Mönchsjoch Hut, and north of the Jungfraufirn and Ewigschneefäld, two affluents of the Great Aletsch Glacier. The north side of the Mönch forms a step wall above the Lauterbrunnen valley.

 

The Jungfrau railway tunnel runs right under the summit, at an elevation of approximately 3,300 metres (10,830 ft).

 

The summit was first climbed on record on 15 August 1857 by Christian Almer, Christian Kaufmann (1831-1861), Ulrich Kaufmann and Sigismund Porges.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

The Jungfrau (YOONG-frow, German pronunciation: [ˈjʊŋˌfʁaʊ̯], transl. "maiden, virgin"), at 4,158 meters (13,642 ft) is one of the main summits of the Bernese Alps, located between the northern canton of Bern and the southern canton of Valais, halfway between Interlaken and Fiesch. Together with the Eiger and Mönch, the Jungfrau forms a massive wall of mountains overlooking the Bernese Oberland and the Swiss Plateau, one of the most distinctive sights of the Swiss Alps.

 

The summit was first reached on August 3, 1811, by the Meyer brothers of Aarau and two chamois hunters from Valais. The ascent followed a long expedition over the glaciers and high passes of the Bernese Alps. It was not until 1865 that a more direct route on the northern side was opened.

 

The construction of the Jungfrau Railway in the early 20th century, which connects Kleine Scheidegg to the Jungfraujoch, the saddle between the Mönch and the Jungfrau, made the area one of the most-visited places in the Alps. Along with the Aletsch Glacier to the south, the Jungfrau is part of the Jungfrau-Aletsch area, which was declared a World Heritage Site in 2001.

 

Etymology

 

The name Jungfrau ("maiden, virgin"), which refers to the highest of the three prominent mountains overlooking the Interlaken region, along with the Mönch ("monk") and the Eiger ("ogre"), is most likely derived from the name Jungfrauenberg given to Wengernalp, the alpine meadow directly facing the huge northern side of the Jungfrau, across the Trummelbach gorge. Wengernalp was so named for the nuns of Interlaken Monastery, its historical owner. Contrary to popular belief, the name did not originate from the appearance of the snow-covered mountain, the latter looking like a veiled woman.

 

The "virgin" peak was heavily romanticized as "goddess" or "priestess" in late 18th to 19th century Romanticism. Its summit, considered inaccessible, remained untouched until the 19th century. After the first ascent in 1811 by Swiss alpinist Johann Rudolf Meyer, the peak was jokingly referred to as "Mme Meyer" (Mrs. Meyer).

 

Geographic setting

 

Politically, the Jungfrau (and its massif) is split between the municipalities of Lauterbrunnen (Bern) and Fieschertal (Valais). It is the third-highest mountain of the Bernese Alps after the nearby Finsteraarhorn and Aletschhorn, respectively 12 and 8 km (7.5 and 5 mi) away. But from Lake Thun, and the greater part of the canton of Bern, it is the most conspicuous and the nearest of the Bernese Oberland peaks; with a height difference of 3,600 m (11,800 ft) between the summit and the town of Interlaken. This, and the extreme steepness of the north face, secured for it an early reputation for inaccessibility.

 

The Jungfrau is the westernmost and highest point of a gigantic 10 km (6.2 mi) wall dominating the valleys of Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald. The wall is formed by the alignment of some of the biggest north faces in the Alps, with the Mönch (4,107 m or 13,474 ft) and Eiger (3,967 m or 13,015 ft) to the east of the Jungfrau, and overlooks the valleys to its north by a height of up to 3 km (1.9 mi). The Jungfrau is approximately 6 km (3.7 mi) from the Eiger; with the summit of the Mönch between the two mountains, 3.5 km (2.2 mi) from the Jungfrau. The Jungfraujoch is the saddle between the Jungfrau and the Mönch and the Eigerjoch is the saddle between the Mönch and the Eiger. The wall is extended to the east by the Fiescherwand and to the west by the Lauterbrunnen Wall, although it follows different directions from the Jungfrau and the Eiger.

 

The difference of altitude between the deep valley of Lauterbrunnen (800 m or 2,600 ft) and the summit is particularly visible from the area of Mürren. From the valley floor, west of the massif, the altitude gain is more than 3 km (1.9 mi) for a horizontal distance of 4 km (2.5 mi).

 

The landscapes around the Jungfrau are extremely contrasted. In contrast to the vertiginous precipices of its northwest, the mountain's southeastern side emerges from the upper snows of the Jungfraufirn, one of the main feeders of the Aletsch Glacier, at around 3,500 meters (11,500 ft). The 20-kilometer-long (12 mi) valley of Aletsch on the southeast is completely uninhabited, and is surrounded by neighboring valleys with similar landscapes. The area as a whole constitutes the largest glaciated area not just in the Alps, but in Europe as well.

 

Climbing history

 

In 1811, the brothers Johann Rudolf (1768–1825) and Hieronymus Meyer, sons of Johann Rudolf Meyer (1739–1813), the head of a rich merchant family of Aarau, along with several servants and a porter picked up at Guttannen, first reached the Valais by way of the Grimsel, and crossed the Beich Pass, a glacier pass over the Oberaletsch Glacier, to the head of the Lötschen valley. There, they added two local chamois hunters, Alois Volken and Joseph Bortis, to their party and traversed the Lötschenlücke before reaching the Aletschfirn (the west branch of the Aletsch Glacier), where they established the base camp, north of the Aletschhorn. After the Guttannen porter was sent back alone over the Lötschenlücke, the party finally reached the summit of the Jungfrau by the Rottalsattel on August 3. They then recrossed the two passes named to their point of departure in Valais, and went home again over the Grimsel.

 

The journey was a most extraordinary one for the time, and some persons threw doubts at its complete success. To settle these, another expedition was undertaken in 1812. In this the two sons, Rudolf (1791–1833) and Gottlieb (1793–1829), of Johann Rudolf Meyer, played the chief parts. After an unsuccessful attempt, defeated by bad weather, in the course of which the Oberaarjoch was crossed twice (this route being much more direct than the long detour through the Lötschental), Rudolf, with the two Valais hunters (Alois Volker and Joseph Bortis), a Guttannen porter named Arnold Abbühl, and a Hasle man, bivouacked on a depression on the southeast ridge of the Finsteraarhorn. Next day (August 16) the whole party attempted the ascent of the Finsteraarhorn from the Studer névé on the east by way of the southeast ridge, but Meyer, exhausted, remained behind. The following day the party crossed the Grünhornlücke to the Aletsch Glacier, but bad weather then put an end to further projects. At a bivouac, probably just opposite the present Konkordia Hut, the rest of the party, having come over the Oberaarjoch and the Grünhornlücke, joined the Finsteraarhorn party. Gottlieb, Rudolf's younger brother, had more patience than the rest and remained longer at the huts near the Märjelensee, where the adventurers had taken refuge. He could make the second ascent (September 3) of the Jungfrau, the Rottalsattel being reached from the east side as is now usual, and his companions being the two Valais hunters.

 

The third ascent dates from 1828, when several men from Grindelwald, headed by Peter Baumann, planted their flag upon the summit. Next came the ascent by Louis Agassiz, James David Forbes, Heath, Desor, and Duchatelier in 1841, recounted by Desor in his Excursions et Séjours dans les Glaciers. Gottlieb Samuel Studer published an account of the next ascent made by himself and Bürki in 1842.

 

In 1863, a party consisting of three young Oxford University graduates and three Swiss guides successfully reached the summit and returned to the base camp of the Faulberg (located near the present position of the Konkordia Hut) in less than 11 hours (see the section below, The 1863 Ascent). In the same year Mrs Stephen Winkworth became the first woman to climb the Jungfrau. She also slept overnight in the Faulberg cave prior to the ascent as there was no hut at that time.

 

Before the construction of the Jungfraujoch railway tunnel, the approach from the glaciers on the south side was very long. The first direct route from the valley of Lauterbrunnen was opened in 1865 by Geoffrey Winthrop Young, H. Brooke George with the guide Christian Almer. They had to carry ladders with them in order to cross the many crevasses on the north flank. Having spent the night on the rocks of the Schneehorn (3,402 m or 11,161 ft) they gained next morning the Silberlücke, the depression between the Jungfrau and Silberhorn, and thence in little more than three hours reached the summit. Descending to the Aletsch Glacier they crossed the Mönchsjoch, and passed a second night on the rocks, reaching Grindelwald next day. This route became a usual until the opening of the Jungfraujoch.

 

The first winter ascent was made on 23 January 1874, by Meta Brevoort and W. A. B. Coolidge with guides Christian and Ulrich Almer. They used a sled to reach the upper Aletsch Glacier, and were accompanied by Miss Brevoort's favorite dog, Tschingel.

 

The Jungfrau was climbed via the west side for the first time in 1885 by Fritz and Heinrich von Allmen, Ulrich Brunner, Fritz Graf, Karl Schlunegger and Johann Stäger—all from Wengen. They ascended the Rottal ridge (Innere Rottalgrat) and reached the summit on 21 September. The more difficult and dangerous northeast ridge that connects the summit from the Jungfraujoch was first climbed on 30 July 1911 by Albert Weber and Hans Schlunegger.

 

In July 2007, six Swiss Army recruits, part of the Mountain Specialists Division 1, died in an accident on the normal route. Although the causes of the deaths was not immediately clear, a report by the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research concluded that the avalanche risk was unusually high due to recent snowfall, and that there was "no other reasonable explanation" other than an avalanche for the incident.

 

The 1863 Ascent

 

The Führerbuch of the Alpine guide Peter Baumann records an ascent of the Jungfrau made by himself with three men from England in July 1863. The foreign climbers were long thought to have been John Tyndall, J.J. Hornby and T.H. Philpott, until in 1958 the records were checked by the Alpine Club and the following conclusion was reached:

 

On July 23, 1963, Phillpotts, with James Robertson and H.J. Chaytor, climbed the Jungfrau (the entry shown in A.J. 32. 227 was wrongly transcribed by Montagnier, who says ‘T.H. Philpott’ for J.S. Phillpotts). The entry in Peter Baumann’s Führerbuch (facsimile in A.C. archives) says that the trio crossed the Strahlegg Pass and the Oberaarjoch, and then climbed the Jungfrau from the Eggishorn.

 

Tyndall, Hornby and Philpott were well-known Alpinists, but there is no record of their having attempted the Jungfrau in 1863. Robertson, Chaytor and Phillpotts were novices; they had recently graduated from Oxford University where they had all been keen members of the Oxford University Boat Club.

 

William Robertson (1839–1892), the leader of the expedition (wrongly called ‘James’ in the Note quoted above), was an Australian by birth, and the first non-British national to take part in the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. He later became a barrister and member of parliament in Australia. He and H.J. Chaytor (possibly the father of the medievalist Henry John Chaytor) were both members of the victorious Oxford team in the 1861 Boat Race. James Surtees Phillpotts (1839–1930) was the third member of the team; he would later become headmaster of Bedford School. The trio had three Swiss guides, Peter Baumann, Peter Kaufmann ("Grabipeter", father of Peter Kaufmann the younger) and Rubi.

 

A description of the ascent of the Jungfrau is contained in a letter dated Sunday 26 July which Phillpotts wrote to his friend Alexander Potts (later to become the first headmaster of Fettes College). The letter is now in the possession of the Alpine Club. The following extracts are from that letter.

 

The Virgin certainly did not smile on the poor "fools who rushed in" on her sacred heights, i.e. in plain British, we had the treadmill slog, the biting wind, the half frost-bitten feet and the flayed faces that generally attend an Alpine ascent.

 

We got to the Faulberg hole about dark, and enjoyed the coffee the longman (Kauffmann) made, as one would in a hole in a rock in a cold evening. The "Faulberg Nachtlager" consists of two holes and a vestibule to the upper hole. The Upper Hole in which we lodged just contained Chay[tor], the Guv [Robertson] and myself, stretched at full length on a little hay over a hard rock mattress, convex instead of concave at the point where one likes to rest one's weight. Chaytor was in the middle, and as we were very close was warm and slept. The Guv and I courted Nature's soft nurse in vain. At two we got up and methodically put our feet into the stocks, i.e. our boots, breakfasted and shivered, then started (unwashed of course, as the cold gave us malignant hydrophobia) a little after 3:30.

 

The hole was about 150 feet [46 m] up one of the loose stone cliffs one now knows so well. So we groped our way down it and over the moraine – the stars still lingering, as day was just dawning. We could not start at 1:30, the proper time, as there was no moon and we wanted light as we had to tramp the glacier at once. Rubi led, and off we went, roped and in Indian file, in the old treadmill way over the slippery plowed-field-like snow that lay on the upper glacier, for a pull without a check of one or two hours.

 

At last we came to the region of bergschrunds and crevasses. They seemed to form at first an impassable labyrinth, but gradually the guides wound in and out between the large rifts, which were exquisitely lovely with their overhanging banks of snow and glittering icicles, and then trod as on pins and needles over a snowbridge here and there, or had to take a jump over the more feasible ones – and we found ourselves at the foot of the mountain; trudged up on the snow which ought to have been crisp but was even then more or less fresh fallen and sloppy; had to creep over about three crevasses, and after a tiresome pull, dragging one leg after another out of ankle or knee deep snow, we got on a crest of snow at right angles to the slope we had just come up. That slope with its crevasses on one side, and on the other a shorter and much steeper one which led in a few steps to a precipice.

 

All along this crest went a snakelike long crevasse, for which we had continually to sound, and go first one side and then the other; then we got to the foot of the saddle. Some twenty or thirty steps, some cut, some uncut, soon took us up a kind of hollow, and we got on a little sloping plateau of some six feet [1.8 m] large, where we left the grub and the knapsack, keeping my small flask of cognac only. Then up a steep ice slope, very steep I should say, down which the bits of ice cut out of the steps hopped and jumped at full gallop and then bounded over to some bottomless place which we could not see down. Their pace gave one an unpleasant idea of the possible consequence of a slip.

 

Here we encountered a biting bitter wind. Peter Baumann cut magnificent steps, at least he and Rubi did between them, the one improving on the other's first rough blows. After Rubi came Chaytor with Kauffmann behind him, then the Guv, and then myself, the tail of the string. Each step was a long lift from the last one, and as the snow was shallow they had to be cut in the ice which was like rock on this last slope.

 

Suddenly there burst upon us, on lifting our heads over the ridge, the green and cheerful valleys of Lauterbrunnen and Interlaken, of Grindelwald and a distant view of others equally beautiful stretching on for ever in one vast panorama. On the other side in grim contrast there was a wild and even awful scene. One gazed about one and tried in vain to see to the bottom of dark yawning abysses and sheer cliffs of ice or rock.

 

Tourism

 

Named after the Jungfrau, the Jungfrau Region of the Bernese Oberland is a major tourist destination in the Alps and includes a large number of railways and other facilities. While the mountain peak was once difficult to access, the Jungfrau Railway, a rack railway, now goes to the Jungfraujoch railway station at 3,454 m (11,332 ft), therefore providing an easy access to the upper Aletsch Glacier and a relatively short access to the Jungfrau itself, the height difference between the station and the summit being only 704 metres and the horizontal distance being slightly less than 2 kilometres. As a result, in the popular mind, the Jungfrau has become a mountain associated with the Bernese Oberland and Interlaken, rather than with Upper Valais and Fiesch.

 

In 1893, Adolf Guyer-Zeller conceived of the idea of a railway tunnel to the Jungfraujoch to make the glaciated areas on its south side more accessible. The building of the tunnel took 16 years and the summit station was not opened before 1912. The goal was in fact to reach the summit of the Jungfrau with an elevator from the highest railway station, located inside the mountain. The complete project was not realized because of the outbreak of the World War I. Nevertheless, it was at the time one of the highest railways in the world and remains today the highest in Europe and the only (non-cable) railway on Earth going well past the perennial snow-line.

 

The Jungfrau Railway leaves from Kleine Scheidegg, which can be reached from both sides by trains from Grindelwald, and Lauterbrunnen via Wengen. The train enters the Jungfrau Tunnel running eastward through the Eiger just above Eigergletscher, which is, since 2020, also accessible by aerial tramway from Grindelwald. Before arriving at the Jungfraujoch, it stops for a few minutes at two other stations, Eigerwand (on the north face of the Eiger) and Eismeer (on the south side), where passengers can see through the holes excavated from the mountain. The journey from Kleine Scheidegg to Jungfraujoch takes approximately 50 minutes including the stops; the downhill return journey taking only 35 minutes.

 

A large complex of tunnels and buildings has been constructed at the Jungfraujoch, referred to as the "Top of Europe". There are several restaurants and bars, shops, multimedia exhibitions, a post office, and a research station with dedicated accommodation facilities. An elevator enables access to the top of the Sphinx and its observatory, at 3,571 m (11,716 ft), the highest viewing platform of the area. Outside, at the level of the Jungfraujoch, there is a ski school, and the "Ice Palace", a collection of elaborate ice sculptures displayed inside the Aletsch Glacier. Another tunnel leads to the east side of the Sphinx, where one can walk on the glacier up to the Mönchsjoch Hut, the only hotel infrastructure in the area.

 

Apart from the Jungfraujoch, many facilities have been built in the Jungfrau Region, including numerous mountain railways. In 1908, the first public cable car in the world, the Wetterhorn Elevator, opened at the foot of the Wetterhorn, but was closed seven years later. The Schilthorn above Mürren, the Männlichen above Wengen, and the Schynige Platte above Wilderswil, offer good views of the Jungfrau and the Lauterbrunnen valley. On the south side, the Eggishorn above Fiesch also offers views of the Jungfrau, across the Aletsch Glacier.

 

Climbing routes

 

The normal route follows the traces of the first climbers, but the long approach on the Aletsch Glacier is no longer necessary. From the area of the Jungfraujoch the route to the summit takes only a few hours. Most climbers start from the Mönchsjoch Hut. After a traverse of the Jungfraufirn the route heads to the Rottalsattel (3,885 m or 12,746 ft), from where the southern ridge leads to the Jungfrau. It is not considered a very difficult climb but it can be dangerous on the upper section above the Rottalsattel, where most accidents happen. The use of the Jungfrau Railway instead of the much more gradual approach from Fiesch (or Fieschertal), via the Konkordia Hut, can cause some acclimatization troubles as the difference of altitude between the railway stations of Interlaken and Jungfraujoch is almost 3 km (1.9 mi).

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Der Eiger ist ein Berg in den Berner Alpen mit einer Höhe von 3967 m ü. M. Er ist dem Hauptkamm der Berner Alpen etwas nördlich vorgelagert und steht vollständig auf dem Territorium des Schweizer Kantons Bern. Zusammen mit Mönch und Jungfrau, deren Gipfel auf der Grenze zum Kanton Wallis liegen, dominiert der Eiger die Landschaft des zentralen Berner Oberlandes. Die etwa 3000 Meter über dem Tal aufragenden Nordflanken dieser Berge stellen die Schauseite einer der bekanntesten je als ein «Dreigestirn» bezeichneten Gipfel-Dreiergruppen in den Alpen dar.

 

Insbesondere die Nordwand des Eigers fasziniert sowohl Bergsteiger als auch Alpin-Laien. Durch dramatische Begehungsversuche und gelungene Begehungen dieser Wand wurde der Eiger weltweit bekannt und immer wieder ins Blickfeld der Öffentlichkeit gerückt – nicht zuletzt, da die gesamte Wand von Grindelwald und der Bahnstation Kleine Scheidegg aus einsehbar ist. Die Jungfraubahn mit ihrem Tunnel durch den Eigerfels ist seit ihrer Eröffnung im Jahr 1912 ein Touristenmagnet.

 

Namensherkunft

 

Die erste urkundliche Erwähnung des Eigers stammt aus dem Jahre 1252 – dies ist die zweitfrüheste urkundliche Erwähnung eines Schweizer Bergs nach dem Bietschhorn (1233). Am 24. Juli 1252 wurde in einer Verkaufsurkunde zwischen Ita von Wädiswyl und der Propstei Interlaken ein Grundstück mit den Worten «ad montem qui nominatur Egere» (dt.: Bis zum Berg, der Eiger genannt wird) abgegrenzt. Ein halbes Jahrhundert später wird der Eiger in einem Belehnungsbrief erstmals in deutscher Sprache erwähnt: «under Eigere».

 

Für die Herkunft des Namens gibt es drei gängige Erklärungen. Eine erste ist der althochdeutsche Name Agiger oder Aiger, wie der erste Siedler unterhalb des Eigers geheissen haben soll. Der Berg über dessen Weiden wurde deshalb Aigers Geissberg oder auch nur Geissberg genannt. Hieraus entwickelten sich dann im Laufe der Zeit die direkten Vorgänger der heutigen Bezeichnung. Die Herkunft des Namens könnte auch von dem lateinischen Wort acer kommen, woraus sich im Französischen aigu entwickelte. Beide Worte haben die Bedeutung scharf beziehungsweise spitz – in Anlehnung an die Form des Eigers. Die dritte Erklärung stammt von der früher gebräuchlichen Schreibweise Heiger, was sich aus dem Dialektausdruck «dr hej Ger» entwickelt haben könnte (hej bedeutet hoch, Ger war ein germanischer Wurfspiess). Wiederum wäre hier die Form des Eigers ausschlaggebend für seine Bezeichnung.

 

Im Zusammenhang mit dem Eiger wird auch des Öfteren die Namensähnlichkeit mit dem Oger, einem menschenähnlichen Unhold, genannt. In Anlehnung an das Dreigestirn «Eiger–Mönch–Jungfrau» gibt es die Erzählung, der Unhold Eiger wolle seine lüsternen Pranken auf die Jungfrau legen, woran er aber vom fröhlichen Mönch gehindert werde. Zu dieser Geschichte sind in Grindelwald alte Karikaturen und neuere Postkarten zu kaufen.

 

Lage und Umgebung

 

Der Eiger erhebt sich direkt südwestlich von Grindelwald (Amtsbezirk Interlaken). Die bekannte Nordwand ist genaugenommen eine Nordwestwand. Neben dieser existiert in der berühmten «Eiger-Nordansicht» auch noch die Nordostwand. Sie bildet die Basis für den scharfen Mittellegigrat, der vom Unteren Grindelwaldgletscher zum Gipfel zieht. Auf der gegenüberliegenden Seite begrenzt der Westgrat die Nordwand. Ihm folgt die Westflanke, in welcher sich der Eigergletscher und der Klein Eiger befinden. An diesen schliessen sich der Südwestgrat und noch ein Stück östlicher der Südgrat an, der wiederum die Südostwand begrenzt, welche bis zum Mittellegigrat reicht. Südöstlich des Eigers liegt der Grindelwald-Fieschergletscher.

 

In der Umgebung des Eigers befinden sich einige Viertausender des Aarmassivs. Im Osten ist er umgeben von Schreckhorn (4078 m ü. M.) und Lauteraarhorn (4042 m ü. M.), im Südosten vom Grossen Fiescherhorn (4049 m ü. M.), und im Südwesten ist der Mönch (4107 m ü. M.) durch das Nördliche und Südliche Eigerjoch vom Eiger getrennt. Zusammen mit dem Mönch und der Jungfrau (4158 m ü. M.) bildet der Eiger das «Dreigestirn», bei dem der Eiger den nordöstlichen und die Jungfrau den südwestlichen Endpunkt bildet. Entgegen der steil abfallenden Nordseite des Berges befindet sich im Süden des Eigers die Hochfläche und Gletscherwelt der Berner Alpen. Seit Ende 2001 gehört der Eiger zum Gebiet des UNESCO-Weltnaturerbes Schweizer Alpen Jungfrau-Aletsch.

 

Geologie

 

Der Eiger ist ein Teil des helvetischen Systems, das im Grossraum um den Thunersee die Decken des Alpennordrandes bildet. In einer späten Phase der alpidischen Gebirgsfaltung wurden die helvetischen Kalk-Sedimente von ihrer kristallinen Basis abgeschürft und in Form einer Abscherungsdecke nach Nordwesten verschoben. Während des Faltungsprozesses in der Alpenentstehung brachen die Kalkbänke auf und Kluft- sowie Faltensysteme entstanden, die später mit ausgefälltem Calcit geschlossen wurden. Wichtigste Bestandteile der Sedimente sind der Schrattenkalk der Kreidezeit und der Malmkalk. Als Füll- und Schmiermaterial dienten Mergel und Tonschiefer.

 

Die klar erkennbare Faltung des Helvetikums mit seinen gebänderten, plattigen Kalkschichten zeigt sich auch am Eiger. Das Massiv des Eigers besteht komplett aus Kalk der helvetischen Zone und schliesst die Flyschschichten und die Molasse des Grindelwaldbeckens steil nach Süden hin ab. Weil der Talkessel von Grindelwald so reich gegliedert ist, finden hier die verschiedensten Tiere einen Lebensraum.[6] Südlich des Eigers schliesst sich das Aarmassiv mit seinem Innertkirchner-Lauterbrunner-Kristallin an. Teilweise hat sich dieses über die Sedimente des Eiger geschoben. Im Bereich des Mönchs treffen die Sedimente auf Altkristallin. Die typischen Gesteine des helvetischen Systems im Bereich des Eigers entstanden während des Jura, dem mittleren Zeitabschnitts des Mesozoikums. Der vorherrschende Kalk ist dabei mit verschiedenen Gesteinen durchmischt. Es zeigen sich Mergel-Kalke und -Schiefer, Ton-Schiefer, Eisenoolith sowie kalkige Sandsteine.

  

Blick auf Eigergletscher und Klein Eiger

 

Die Kalkschichten des Eigers lagern auf Gneis und sind um 60–70° nach Norden geneigt. Geprägt wurde die heutige Form des Eigers durch die Eiszeiten. Während der Riss-Kaltzeit reichte die Vergletscherung bis an den Fuss der Nordwand. In der Würm-Kaltzeit war die Mächtigkeit des Eises um 200 Meter geringer. Durch die Bewegung der Gletscher wurde die Erdoberfläche umgestaltet. Vom Eis überlagerte Landschaften wurden abgeschliffen, wohingegen unbedeckte Bereiche durch Verwitterung und andere Formen der Erosion verändert wurden. Mit dem Rückzug des Eises änderten sich auch die Druckverhältnisse im Gestein, was sich durch Entlastungsbewegungen formgebend auswirkte. Prägend für den Eiger und seine Form war die allseitige Umlagerung von Eismassen, welche für einen recht gleichmässigen und markanten Abrieb aller Wände sorgte. Darüber hinaus war die Nordwand durch ihre Exposition den Abtragungsprozessen wie Frostverwitterung mehr ausgesetzt.

 

Felssturz

 

2006 ereignete sich am Eiger ein grosser Bergsturz, der öffentliches Interesse auf sich zog. An der Ostseite des Berges, unterhalb des Mittellegigrates, war durch Felsbewegungen ein rund 250 Meter langer Spalt entstanden, der eine Breite von etwa 7 Metern erreichte.Danach senkten sich die äusseren Teile mehrere Zentimeter pro Tag ab. Eine Ursache dieser Felsabspaltung könnte sowohl das massive Eindringen von Schmelzwasser in den Felsen gewesen sein, als auch eine Instabilität des Gesteins durch den Rückgang des Gletschers unterhalb des Felsabbruchs infolge der globalen Erwärmung. Am 13. Juli 2006 um 19:24 Uhr stürzten rund 500'000 Kubikmeter Felsbrocken auf den Unteren Grindelwaldgletscher. Über der Gemeinde Grindelwald schwebte stundenlang eine Staubwolke. Bereits am Nachmittag desselben Tages war die sogenannte «Madonna vom Eiger» zu Tal gestürzt. Hierbei handelte es sich um einen ungefähr 30 Meter hohen schlanken Felsturm mit rund 600 Kubikmeter Volumen.

 

Seit diesen Ereignissen wird die Felsnase (Gesamtvolumen: ungefähr eine Million Kubikmeter Gestein), aus der die Gesteinsmasse abbrach, von der Universität Lausanne beobachtet. Die Beobachtungen ergaben, dass sich die Nase von Juli 2007 bis August 2008 auf einer nach Osten geneigten Gleitfläche um 15 Meter talwärts bewegte. Zusätzlich kippte die Gesteinsmasse um zwei Grad nach Nordosten. Die Kluft zwischen Berg und Felsbrocken betrug im August 2008 50 Meter. Immer wieder brechen Gesteinsteile ab und stürzen zu Tal. Gebremst und stabilisiert wird die Masse vom Gletschereis, in das die Felsnase gleitet. Dies verhindert, dass die Nase als kompakte Masse zu Tal stürzt. So gilt es als wahrscheinlicher, dass der Gesteinsblock in sich selbst zusammenfallen wird.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Der Mönch ist ein 4107 m ü. M. hoher Berg der Berner Alpen in der Schweiz. Zusammen mit dem Eiger und der Jungfrau bildet er eine markante, von weit her sichtbare Dreiergruppe, ein sogenanntes „Dreigestirn“.

 

Seine Erstbesteigung fand am 15. August 1857 durch Christian Almer, Christian Kaufmann, Ulrich Kaufmann und Sigismund Porges statt.

 

Südöstlich des Mönch liegt die Mönchsjochhütte, eine 3657 m ü. M. hoch gelegene Berghütte wenig oberhalb des oberen Mönchsjochs, das den Mönch vom Trugberg trennt.

 

Höhenbestimmung

 

1935 wurde die Höhe des Mönchs mit 4099 m ü. M. bestimmt. Diese Zahl ist noch heute häufig in der Literatur zu finden. 1993 ergaben jedoch Messungen per Luftfotogrammetrie eine Höhe von 4107 m ü. M.. Daraufhin wurde der Wert auf der Landeskarte der Schweiz korrigiert. Mit einer Messung per GPS ermittelte man 1997 eine Höhe von 4109,4 m ü. M.; und bei einer erneuten luftfotogrammetrischen Messung von 1999 resultierte sogar eine Höhe von 4110 m ü. M.. Diese neuen Messwerte wurden jedoch nicht auf den amtlichen Karten berücksichtigt. Für diese abweichenden Werte sind nicht nur Messfehler verantwortlich, sondern auch die Tatsache, dass der Mönch eine Kuppe aus Firn besitzt, welche in den letzten Jahren gewachsen ist.

 

Name

 

Am Fusse des Mönchs befinden sich Alpweiden, auf welchen früher Wallache, sogenannte „Münche“, gesömmert wurden. So hat man den über den Münchenalpen gelegenen Berg Münchenberg genannt und schliesslich nur noch Münch oder Mönch.

 

Routen

 

Südarm des Ostgrates (Normalroute)

 

Schwierigkeit: ZS-, mit II. UIAA-Grad Felskletterei

Zeitaufwand: 2½–3½ Std. von der Mönchsjochhütte, 3–4 Std. vom Jungfraujoch

Ausgangspunkt: Mönchsjochhütte (3657 m ü. M.)

Talort: Grindelwald (1034 m ü. M.)

 

Südwestgrat

 

Schwierigkeit: ZS-, mit III-. UIAA-Grad Felskletterei

Zeitaufwand: 3–4 Stunden

Ausgangspunkt: Jungfraujoch (3454 m ü. M.)

Talort: Grindelwald (1034 m ü. M.)

 

Nordostarm des Ostgrates

 

Schwierigkeit: ZS, mit III+. UIAA-Grad Felskletterei

Zeitaufwand: 4–5 Stunden

Ausgangspunkt: Mönchsjochhütte (3657 m ü. M.)

Talort: Grindelwald (1034 m ü. M.)

 

Nordostgrat

 

Schwierigkeit: ZS

Zeitaufwand: 4–5 Stunden

Ausgangspunkt: Mönchsjochhütte (3657 m ü. M.)

Talort: Grindelwald (1034 m ü. M.)

 

Nordwestbollwerk (Nollen)

 

Schwierigkeit: S

Zeitaufwand: 6–10 Stunden

Ausgangspunkt: Guggihütte (2791 m ü. M.)

Talort: Kleine Scheidegg (2061 m ü. M.)

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Die Jungfrau ist ein Berg in der Schweiz. Sie ist mit 4158 m ü. M. der dritthöchste Berg der Berner Alpen und bildet zusammen mit Eiger und Mönch eine markante Dreiergruppe, ein sogenanntes «Dreigestirn».

 

Am 13. Dezember 2001 wurde die Jungfrau zusammen mit südlich angrenzenden Gebieten als Schweizer Alpen Jungfrau-Aletsch in die Liste als UNESCO-Weltnaturerbe aufgenommen.

 

Lage und Umgebung

 

Über den Jungfrau-Gipfel verläuft die Grenze zwischen den Kantonen Bern und Wallis. Der Berg ist ausserordentlich vielgestaltig. Im Norden und Nordwesten, auf ihrer „weiblichen“ Schauseite (vgl. Foto) sind ihr Wengen-Jungfrau, Schneehorn, das Silberhorn, das Chly Silberhoren und der „Schwarzmönch“ vorgelagert sowie die zerrissenen Kühlauenen- und Giessengletscher. Im Westen erhebt sie sich fast eisfrei volle 3250 Meter über dem hinteren Lauterbrunnental. Es ist dies (nach dem Mont Blanc) der zweithöchste direkte Abhang in den Alpen. Ihre Südwand erhebt sich über dem versteckten Rottalgletscher und ihre Ostwand über den Firnen am Jungfraujoch.

 

Die Pläne, auf die Jungfrau eine Bergbahn zu bauen, wurden aufgrund finanzieller Schwierigkeiten nicht realisiert. Die ursprünglich bis unter den Gipfel geplante Jungfraubahn wurde bis 1912 mit Endstation Jungfraujoch fertiggestellt.

 

Auf dem untersten Absatz des Nordostgrats haben die PTT einen Funk-Umsetzer auf 3777 m ü. M. installiert.

 

Geologie

 

Die Jungfrau liegt im nördlichen Randbereich des Aarmassivs, eines der sogenannten Zentralmassive der Schweizer Alpen. Ihre höheren Lagen (Silberhorn, Wengen-Jungfrau und Hauptgipfel) sowie ihre Westflanke bis hinunter zum oberen Ende des Lauterbrunnentals sind weit überwiegend aus kristallinem Grundgebirge (prä-triassische Gneise, Glimmerschiefer u. ä.) der Helvetischen Zone aufgebaut. Die Nordwestflanke hingegen, der ganze «Vorbau» (Schwarzmönch, Rotbrett und Schneehorn) besteht aus sedimentärem, überwiegend jurassischem und kretazischem Deckgebirge des Helvetikums. Eine Besonderheit der Jungfrau ist, dass dort zwischen dem prinzipiell autochthonen Gipfel-Kristallin und dessen Deckschichten ein Überschiebungs-kontakt besteht; somit ist das Grundgebirge geringfügig auf sein Deckgebirge überschoben worden.

 

Name

 

Der Name Jungfrau dürfte sich von der Wengernalp am Fusse des Berges ableiten, die – nach den Besitzerinnen, den Nonnen vom Kloster Interlaken – früher Jungfrauenberg genannt wurde. Einer anderen Quelle zufolge leitet sich der Name vom Aussehen des Nordhanges des Berges ab, der aus der Ferne dem Schleier eines Mädchens ähneln soll.

 

Nach dem Berg ist die Jungfrau-Region benannt, die Tourismusorganisation der Orte Grindelwald, Wengen, Mürren und Lauterbrunnen, ausserdem die Jungfraubahn Holding AG, die neben der Jungfraubahn selbst auch die anderen Bergbahnen in der Region betreibt.

 

Besteigungsgeschichte

 

Bergsteiger auf dem Gipfel im Jahr 1878

Erstbesteiger waren Johann Rudolf Meyer und sein Bruder Hieronymus mit den Führern Joseph Bortis und Alois Volken, die am 3. August 1811 vom Lötschental her den Berg von Süden erklommen hatten. Sie folgten ungefähr der heutigen Normalroute. Der Volksmund taufte daraufhin die bis dahin unberührte Jungfrau «Madame Meyer».

 

1874 erfolgte die Winter-Erstbesteigung durch die Alpinistin Margaret Claudia Brevoort.

 

Die Jungfrau gilt, obwohl leicht erreichbar, als unfallträchtiger Berg. Bei einem der schwersten Unglücke stürzten am 12. Juli 2007 sechs Rekruten der Gebirgsspezialisten-Rekrutenschule Andermatt vom Rottalsattel 1000 Meter auf den darunterliegenden Rottalgletscher in den Tod, nachdem sie eine Lawine ausgelöst hatten. Das urteilende Militärgericht ging von einem falsch eingeschätzten, heimtückischen Lawinenrisiko aus und sprach in der Folge die verantwortlichen Bergführer frei.

 

Routen

 

Rottalsattel und Südostgrat (Normalroute)

 

Schwierigkeit: ZS-

Zeitaufwand: 4–5 Std. von der Mönchsjochhütte, 3½–4½ Std. vom Jungfraujoch

Ausgangspunkt: Mönchsjochhütte (3657 m)

Talort: Grindelwald (1034 m)

 

Innere Rottalgrat

 

Schwierigkeit: ZS

Zeitaufwand: 6–7 Stunden

Ausgangspunkt: Rottalhütte (2755 m)

Talort: Stechelberg (919 m)

 

Nordwestgrat oder „Rotbrettgrat“

 

Schwierigkeit: S

Zeitaufwand: 8–12 Stunden

Ausgangspunkt: Silberhornhütte (2663 m)

Talort: Stechelberg (919 m)

 

Nordostgrat

 

Schwierigkeit: S+, mit IV. UIAA-Grad Felskletterei

Zeitaufwand: 8–10 Stunden

Ausgangspunkt: Jungfraujoch (3454 m)

Talort: Grindelwald (1034 m)

 

Kunst

 

Erwähnt ist die Jungfrau unter anderem bei Friedrich Schiller, Wilhelm Tell, Vers 628 (1804). Lord Byrons Drama Manfred (1817) spielt am Fuss und auf dem Gipfel des Massivs. Ferdinand Hodler hat die Jungfrau mehrfach gemalt, darunter die perspektivisch verfremdete «Jungfrau über dem Nebelmeer». Alex Diggelmann gab 1958 eine Lithographienmappe unter dem Titel Die Jungfrau, mein Berg heraus. Stephan Bundi gestaltete 2005 eine Schweizer Gedenkmünze mit dem Bergmotiv.

 

Im Januar 2012 wurde zum 100-jährigen bestehen der Jungfraubahn eine übergrosse Schweizer Flagge vom Lichtkünstler Gerry Hofstetter an den Gipfel projiziert. Zeitweise waren neben dem Schweizer Kreuz auch ein Porträt des Zürcher Unternehmers Adolf Guyer-Zeller sowie ein Bild von einem der Züge zu sehen.

 

(Wikipedia)

Classic Car Sunday - The theme for the August Breakfast Club

From Friday's action at the Goodwood Festival of Speed

Includes Catherine's Plus Sizes, Shinders, Casual Male, Great Clips

More from the Historic Masters Festival, Brands Hatch. Inside the Druids Hairpin is a great place to practice your panning

Vestibule (space inside Nostrils, has vibrissa)

Nasal Septum (not Shown) Bony and Cartilaginous septa

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the proposed budget for 2018 would include an unprecedented commitment to Vision Zero improvements in the City. Improvements will include additional NYPD Crossing Guards, lighting, street safety redesign, and increased Vision Zero law enforcement. Brooklyn, NY. Wednesday, January 25th, 2017.

Edwin J. Torres/ Mayoral Photography Office.

Includes Lotso, Chunk, Stretch, and a Dump Truck Driver.

ROCKTROPOLIS is a progressive rock band that is like a volcano ready to explode upon your ears. Members include guitarist ROCKTROPOLIS, Bassist and Keyboardist Sam Metropoulos and Drummer Marc Stemmler. Influences are Dream Theater, Rush, Yngwie, Yes, Deep Purple and Iron Maiden to name a few. Guitarist ROCKTROPOLIS has worked with The Process, Gabe Gonzalez (George Clinton) and former drummer John Macaluso (Yngwie Malmsteen, ARK and VOX). Multi instrumentalist Sam Metropoulos has collaborated on several albums with The Process, played with John Macaluso and has opened for Yngwie Malmsteen. Akin to the pillars of the great Parthenon, drummer Marc Stemmler provides the foundation for which ROCKTROPOLIS bridges the hemispheres between classical and progressive rock music. ROCKTROPOLIS is a Nominee of the 2013 Detroit Music Awards.

 

ROCKTROPOLIS is represented by Howard Hertz/Joseph Bellanca (Hertz Schram, p.c.) Mr. Hertz’s impressive roster includes George Clinton, Sippie Wallace, The Romantics, The Bass Brothers, Eminem, Marilyn Manson, Russell Simmons, O-Town, Pantera, Marcus Belgrave, The GO, Mike Posner, Elmore Leonard, Warner Tamerlane and Atlantic Records.

 

ROCKTROPOLIS is currently recording/producing their debut album, with Chris Lewis as their recording engineer (Fire Hyena Studio). Projected release date is summer 2013. Be prepared to own a collection of brilliant compositions that are melodic, epic and infectious to the soul.

 

www.RocktropolisMusic.com (c) 2012

Hong Kong Government Department

 

The Hong Kong Police Force | HKP

 

Police Vehicles, Police Officers, Marine Police, Traffic Police, Police Stations. All Districts, Hong Kong

 

Special Units & Divisions include Counter Terrorism, Police Tactical Unit (PTU), National Security Bureau, Diplomatic Protection & Security, Commercial Crime, CID, Dog Unit, Wanted & Missing Persons, Cyber Security & Technology Crime Bureau, Organised Crime and Triad Bureau, Narcotics Bureau, Criminal Intelligence, The Bomb Squad (EOD), Public Relations, Criminal Records, Police Training College and the Auxiliary Police etc.

 

All relevant and extensive information about the Hong Kong Police Force is available on their website

 

www.police.gov.hk/ppp_en/

 

It is very comprehensive, the Hong Kong Police Force has a highly organised structure.

 

All Hong Kong Police Vehicles use the AM licence plate ie 2 digits and up to 4 numbers | Police vehicles have different colours, normal Police vehicles are white with red and blue stripes, the Police Traffic Division vehicles are white with yellow and blue checkerboard design.

 

Amazingly the Police Force have their own superstitions as well, the majority of the licence plates on Police Vehicles have lucky number combinations involving the numbers 6,8, and 9 ! Basically 6 means easy life, 8 means wealth and 9 means long life - this is very much Hong Kong Culture. The Police also use unmarked vehicles extensively which are NOT identified by the AM mark.

 

The Police Museum at 27 Coombe Road at the Peak is also worth a visit, see details on the website listed above.

 

☛.... and if you want to read about my views on Hong Kong, then go to my blog, link below

 

✚ www.j3consultantshongkong.com/j3c-blog

 

☛ Photography is simply a hobby for me, I do NOT sell my images and all of my images can be FREELY downloaded from this site in the original upload image size or 5 other sizes, please note that you DO NOT have to ask for permission to download and use any of my images!

 

The facade include, like the other churches of Malta, two clocks : one which shows the real time, and another one which exhibits a wrong time : it is to cheat the devil who, wanting to divert the faithful during the offices, doesn't know exactly what time is it.

Maltese people are catholic and practice at 98% : the religious presence is seen everywhere : on the front of the houses, in the form of statuettes of the Virgin, in the names given to the houses, on the posters and religious texts placed in the buses.

 

The marquetry chest from Syria made of walnut inlayed with contrastive precious wood include

a complete set of wooden chess pieces (dark and light)

kings hight: 50 mm or 2.2 inches,

2 x 15 inlayed Backgammon pieces (dark and light)

and 5 wooden dices (edge length: 16mm or 0,62 inches)

 

external dimensions of the marquetry box: 400 x 200 x 80 mm or 15.75 x 7.87 x 3.15 inches

the outer face serve as chess field

dimensions of the chess field: 400 x 400 mm or 15.75 x 15.75 inches

Inside is the backgammon field

dimensions of each playing field: 170 x 365 mm or 6.68 x 14.37 inches

 

you can order one of these game boxes with or without the gaming pieces at www.henna-und-mehr.de for 79 Euro without the gaming pieces or for 129 euro chess figures, gaming pieces for Backgammon included.

includes the bonito intro mixtape

The fast and loud Typhoon displaying at Airbourne

Includes Francesca's reflection

 

Photodomino #267

New releases on the US Disney Store website as of Wednesday July 25, 2012. They include new Disney Parks Ear Hat Ornaments for various Disney characters, including Princesses and Villains.

 

Description and images from the Disney Store website.

 

www.disneystore.com/ear-hat-ariel-ornament/mp/1310987/100...

 

Ear Hat Ariel Ornament

Item No. 7509002529584P

Our Price: $19.95

 

The aquatic Disney Princess brings her signature style to this Ear Hat Ariel Ornament. Created by Disney artist Cody Reynolds and inspired by The Little Mermaid, this detailed ornament features glitter and rhinestone accents.

 

Product Details

 

Created especially for Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort

 

•Sculpted flowers, pearls, scales, starfish and shell

•Acrylic jewels accent dress and base

•Includes ribbon for hanging

•Created by Disney artist Cody Reynolds

•Printed character and artist signatures

•Resin

•2'' H x 2 3/4'' D x 3 1/2'' W

•Imported

 

Hagerstown, Indiana (September 10, 2012) The new Model T Ford Museum is slated to hold its grand opening during Richmond’s Octoberfest on September 28 at 6 p.m. The museum which was previously located in Centerville, Indiana near the Warm Glow Candle Factory for 5 years moved just a few miles east to Richmond, Indiana’s Historical Depot District this past spring.

 

Since the move to Richmond volunteers have been steadily preparing the museum’s new home, displays and vehicles for the event.

Today, a photo shoot for the Model T Museum’s newly acquired 1930 Pietenpol Sky Scout was held at the Hagerstown Airport.

 

The plan arrived at the airport around 10:00 a.m. this morning and was assembled by Model T enthusiasts and many of them brought their own Model Ts to use during the photo shoot.

 

One of the people there today was Mr. Jay Klehfoth who is the CEO and publisher of the Vintage Ford Magazine.

 

Jay is a walking encyclopedia when it comes to all things Model T. I was to learn he’s pretty knowledgeable in a lot of areas too. During our walk around of the plane Jay pointed out one of the parts for the engine had been made by a former factory in Richmond of all places. And there are many other special things about this airplane I’m sure he’ll be writing about in the next issue of the the Vintage Ford Magazine. He not only knew a lot about the Pietenpol Sky Scout plane that was being photographed for the magazine cover. He’s pretty sharp when it comes to airports too. He said that the Hagerstown airport were today’s photo shoot was done has the longest grass landing strip in the United States which to me made it the perfect place for today’s event.

 

This Pietenpol that will be on display at the museum is powered by a 20 HP Model T engine which was modified to include dual-ignition which is used in aviation. According to an article in the AntiqueAirfield.com website from September 10, 2012 there was only one original Pietenpol Sky Scout built by Bernard Pietenpol himself, and just two replicas. The article also said that all 3 were still flying.

 

The new Model T Ford Museum is going to be an exciting addition to what is one of Indiana’s grandest historical areas and a must in this part of the Midwest.

 

Richmond is a perfect place for any day trip. But, if you want to see all that Richmond has to offer you’ll need to plan on staying several days.

 

The Model T Ford Museum is located in Richmond’s Historic Depot District at 309 N 8th St, Richmond, IN 47374 - 765-488-0026.

Model T Ford Museum website: www.mtfca.com/clubpages/museum.htm

 

Additional Information:

The Model T Ford Club of America has nearly 8,000 families worldwide. Members are from all 50 states and 41 other countries.

The Vintage Ford Magazine is published bimonthly by the Model T Ford Club of America, 119 W. Main Street, Centerville, Indiana and is mailed to all members. Subscription rates are $35.00 per year (six issues) in the United States ($42.00 Canada and $44.00 elsewhere) and include member ship in the club.

All correspondence should be ad dressed to:

THE MODEL T FORD CLUB

OF AMERICA

P.O. Box 126

Centerville, IN 47330-0126

765-855-5248 fax 765-855-3428

e-mail: admin@mtfca.com

 

Raw Video: Prepping Pietenpol Sky Scout For Photo Shoot youtu.be/7_JnszAF8GA

 

Video: Pietenpol Sky Scout Photo Shoot youtu.be/h3m6ZWgNJMg

 

Video: Model T Ford Museum Grand Opening Set youtu.be/OwIiE5O1UQk

Singapore Zoo

Coordinates: [show location on an interactive map] 1°24?15.9?N 103°47?28.1?E? / ?1.404417°N 103.791139°E? / 1.404417; 103.791139

Date opened 23 June 1973

Location Singapore

Land area 28 hectares

Number of animals 2530

Number of species 315

The Singapore Zoo (Chinese: ?????? ; Malay: 'Taman Haiwan Singapura'; Tamil: ??????????? ????????? ????????????), formerly known as the Singapore Zoological Gardens and commonly known locally as the Mandai Zoo, occupies 28 hectares (0.28 km?) of land on the margins of Upper Seletar Reservoir within Singapore's heavily forested central catchment area. The zoo was built at a cost of S$9m granted by the government of Singapore and opened on 23 June 1973. It is operated by Wildlife Reserves Singapore, who also manage the neighbouring Night Safari and the Jurong BirdPark. There are about 315 species of animal in the zoo, of which some 16% are considered threatened species. The zoo attracts about 1.4 million visitors a year.

 

From the beginning, Singapore Zoo followed the modern trend of displaying animals in naturalistic, 'open' exhibits, i.e. with hidden barriers, behind moats and shrubbery etc. It also houses the largest captive colony of orangutans in the world. In 1977, primatologist Dr Francine Neago lived inside a cage with eighteen orangutans for six months to study their behavior and communication.

1 History

2 Present

o 2.1 Education and conservation

o 2.2 Rides

o 2.3 Friends of the Zoo

o 2.4 Organizing events

* 3 Incidents

* 4 Trivia

* 5 Awards

* 6 Gallery

* 7 See also

* 8 References

* 9 Notes

* 10 External links

* 11 Public Bus Services

 

History

Hamadryas baboons by a waterfall

The conception of the Singapore Zoo dates from 1969. At the time, the Public Utilities Board (PUB) decided to use some of its land holdings around reservoirs for parks and open recreational facilities. The then Executive Chairman of PUB, Dr Ong Swee Law, set aside 88 hectares of land for the construction of a zoological garden.

 

In 1970, consultants and staff were hired, and in 1971, the construction of the basic 50 enclosures started. Animals were collected from dealers and donated by sponsors. The Director of the Colombo Zoo in Sri Lanka, Lyn de Alwis, was hired as a special consultant to work out problems inherent in tropical zoos.

 

On 23 June 1973, the Singapore Zoo opened its gates for the first time with a collection of 270 animals from over 72 species, and a staff of 130. By 1990, 1,600 animals from more than 160 species lived in social groups, housed in 65 landscaped exhibits with boundaries conceived to look as natural as possible.

Present

A pair of white tigers

Today, the zoo is a model of the 'open zoo' concept. The animals are kept in spacious, landscaped enclosures, separated from the visitors by either dry or wet moats. The moats are concealed with vegetation or dropped below the line of vision. In the case of dangerous animals which can climb very well, moat barriers are not used. Instead, these animals are housed in landscaped glass-fronted enclosures.

The zoo has not expanded beyond the original 28 hectares. However, 40 hectares of secondary forest were later developed into the Night Safari. The remaining undeveloped land has been kept as wooded land. This and the waters of Upper Seletar Reservoir contribute to the Zoo, giving it a sense of natural, unrestricted space.

Among various attractions that the zoo offers,one highlight is the "Breakfast with an Orangutan" programme that allows visitors to meet and interact closely with the orangutans in the zoo, amongst which includes the famous primate matriarch Ah Meng, (died on February 8, 2008) who was an icon of the Singapore tourism industry. Animal shows, as well as token feedings coupled with live commentaries by keepers, are also the daily staple in the Singapore zoo.

 

Education and conservation

The Wildlife Healthcare & Research Centre was opened in March 2006 as part of the zoo's efforts in wildlife conservation. The centre further underscores Singapore Zoo and Night Safari’s commitment to conservation research, providing the infrastructure for the parks and overseas zoological partners to better execute their research programmes.

The zoo also embarked on various rescue and conservation efforts to protect wildlife.

Rides

White rhinos

The zoo also offers various modes of rides available within the premises: trams, animals, boat, pony and horse carriage rides. Additional modes of transportation which can only be rented include: strollers, wagon and wheelchairs.

Friends of the Zoo

The zoo also has a "friends of the zoo" programme, where people can sign up for a yearly pass which grants them special privileges such as:

* Free and unlimited entry to Singapore Zoo for whole year

* Free Zoo tram rides and parking

* A free quarterly "Wildlife wonders" magazine

* 10% discount at some participating retail outlets

Organizing events

Elephant show and the trainers

There are three event venues available in the zoo, Forest Lodge, Pavilion-By-the-Lake and Garden Pavilion. There are also three cocktail venues, Elephants of Asia, Tiger Trek and Treetops Trail. The Singapore Zoo also facilitates birthday parties and weddings.

 

Incidents

On 13 November 2008, two of three white Bengal tigers mauled a zoo cleaner to death after the man jumped into a moat surrounding their enclosure.[2]

Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (September 2008)

* In 2002, teams of The Amazing Race 3 also came to the Singapore Zoological Gardens as part of a detour.

* Steve Irwin, the animal activist and conservationalist known as "The Crocodile Hunter", admired the Singapore Zoo greatly, adopting it as the 'sister zoo' to the Australia Zoo. He was at the Singapore Zoo in 2006 to officiate the opening of the Australian outback exhibit.

* The Singapore Zoo is the first zoo in the world to breed a polar bear in the tropics. Inuka was conceived on 26 December 1990.

Ice cold lemonade - shot the other day for this week's challenge on the subject of "Ice"

From the August 2016 return trip to Siem Reap and the Angkor complex:

 

I love the Angkor complex, Siem Reap, and the Cambodian people so much that I returned again for about a week to photograph as much of the “non-major” sites as I could. Some of them are slightly far from Angkor Wat (by that, I mean to say more than 10 kilometers away), and usually require a little more money to get to. Also, some of the sites (Beng Mealea, Phnom Kulen) are not included in the Angkor ticket price and have an additional admission fee.

 

I don’t know if there’s a set number of how many sites belong in the Angkor complex, though I’m sure it would vary. (Do you only count the major sites like Angkor Wat, Bayon, Ta Prohm? Do you add the sites that aren’t included in the standard “Angkor Pass,” but are clearly of the same era? Do you include sites that aren’t even named (as are one of the sites in this series)? All in all, I’ll put a very rough number at…50 sites in the Siem Reap area, and that includes the sites that are about 100 km away. Of those, I would say I’ve been to all but 5-10 now. All are included here with the exception, obviously, of the sites that I didn’t visit. (Off the top of my head, I can say they include Koh Ker & that respective group, which is about 120 km ENE of Siem Reap; Phnom Krom, one of the three “mountains” with temples; Ta Prohm Kel; and Mangalartha.)

 

In practical terms, I’m afraid that with the volume of shooting (about 1,500 frames in the past 7 days), photos will start to look redundant to those who don’t have the same interest in ancient/historical architecture or Angkor as I do. That being said, there are a few things besides temples here. The Old Market area (now Night Market/Pub Street) is represented – a little – and Phnom Kulen has a pretty nice waterfall which is also in this series. Also, I tried to catch a few people in here, though didn’t get as many as I would’ve liked.

 

I had my friend Mao (tuktuk driver) take me around for 5 of these 7 days this time around. As I mentioned last time, he may cost a little more than what you can arrange through a hotel/guesthouse, but he’s well worth the money (and, in the grand scheme of things, not too expensive; I paid less than $200 for the five days, two of which were “long” trips). He loves his country and heritage, he knows what he’s showing you, he’s flexible, he gives you enough ice water to keep you hydrated, and he’s just a good guy. (He even bought me a birthday cake for cryin’ out loud…) Anyway, I highly recommend Mao. You can find him here: www.facebook.com/mao.khvan (or on Trip Advisor: www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g297390-d10726821-R... )

 

Now that shameless plugs and other assorted rhetoric are out of the way, it’s time to get on to the temples, ruins, and other miscellany.

 

Today is really the excuse that I used to come back to Siem Reap for a week. Mao was nice enough not to schedule any other customers for today since it’s my 43rd birthday, and also for Saturday. (Another reason, I think, is that I wanted to see all of the non-major sites and most everyone else is only interested in the major ones. So…thanks to Mao for giving up a few bucks from others just to make sure I got to see all that I wanted these two days.)

 

Mao came to pick me up around 10:00 in the morning with his wife and adorable daughter. Today, we pretty much followed the small loop tour that we did yesterday (and that most tourists do). However, we skipped every spot from yesterday (Banteay Kdei, Ta Prohm’s main temple, Ta Keo, Thommanon, Chao Say Tevoda, Bayon) and opted for the others along the same route.

 

The first stop of the morning was Prasat Kravan. This is a particularly interesting – and small – temple that consists mainly of one building with a central tower, but five chambers lined up in a row. Prasat Kravan was built in the early 10th century (consecrated in 921) and is built of brick. It was built during the short reign of Harshavarman I. The name is the modern name (though I don’t know the original name) and means “cardamom sanctuary,” for a tree that once stood here. From an architectural standpoint, what is most interesting – and what caught my attention – is the brick bas-reliefs here. They are the only known representation of these in Khmer art and are reason alone to visit here. The central tower has a statue of Vishnu and the northernmost has a statue of his consort, Lakshmi.

 

After 15-20 minutes at Prasat Kravan, Mao took me to Bat Chum, which was quite near. (It wasn’t on my list, so kudos to Mao for adding a few stops that I otherwise wouldn’t have seen; as I said, the man knows the territory, and I highly recommend him to anyone who comes here.) Bat Chum is a very, very small site (under restoration, though it looks like even the restoration has been forgotten) a few hundred meters due south of Sra Srang, and a few hundred meters east of the road from Angkor Wat to Banteay Kdei. When Bat Chum was built in 960, there were houses and a Buddhist monastery nearby, which have long since vanished. This temple was built by the lone Khmer architect whose name we know: Kavindrarimathana. He also built the palace of the East Mebon and Sra Srang. This is a temple with three brick towers. There are stone lions and interesting inscriptions here as well.

 

From Bat Chum, we returned to the main road, skirted along the eastern and northern sides of Banteay Kdei’s outer wall, then along the southern and western sides of Ta Prohm’s outer wall. Most people enter Ta Prohm from the western gate (as evidenced by the massive throng of tuktuks here) or the eastern gate (where you will find a slew of souvenir vendors). As far as I can tell, there is no southern gate – as I imagine you’d see it flying by on the road. (Banteay Kdei does have a northern gate, though people don’t seem to stop here.) Ta Prohm does have a rather charming and rarely visited northern gate that I was unaware of. Again…thanks, Mao. Just stop on the road at the northwest corner of Ta Prohm’s outer wall and walk east along the north wall for about five minutes to find the northern gate, surrounded by jungle.

 

Next up on today’s tour is a very small site that, from what I know, doesn’t even have a name. (Mao didn’t even know the name of the place, so it’s just titled ‘Unnamed Site’ here.) It’s very small, almost an afterthought, but still worth a look. It’s on the road heading due north from Ta Prohm’s west gate about 100-200 meters south of where it heads to the west to Ta Keo. It’s barely 50 meters off the road, so is very easy to visit in 10 minutes or so.

 

Right at the point where the road takes a 90 degree turn to head west to Ta Keo, you have the option of going straight (down a fairly bumpy dirt road) to Ta Nei. This is actually a larger temple, but unlike the others nearby, it hasn’t gone under extensive restoration yet, so it isn’t visited very often. It’s 800 meters north of Ta Keo, set back in the woods, and is 200 meters west of the Eastern Baray’s western border. It was built by Jayavarman VII in the late 12th century. The highlights of coming here are simply the setting, the pediments, and the overall lack of visitors.

 

After half an hour or so at Ta Nei, Mao and I hopped back in the tuktuk and returned to the main road, heading west past Ta Keo before veering north and making a very quick stop at the Hospital Chapel that is 150 meters due west of Ta Keo (slightly north). This is a very quick – 5 minute – stop that interested me simply because it was/is part of a hospital that’s close to a thousand years old now. It was built by Jayavarman VII (like so many of the Angkor sites) in the late 12th century. This sandstone monument is one of four that were on site here (and, from what I’m reading, one of 102 that were found throughout the empire). Honestly, seeing this just makes me wonder about 12th century medicine. What would a Khmer hospital at the turn of the 13th century have been like?

 

Moving north from the Hospital Chapel, the road takes another 90 degree turn to the west. Before entering the Victory Gate of Angkor Thom, you pass Thommanon and Chao Say Tevoda (bypassed, as already mentioned), and then Spean Thma, near a bridge that crosses the Siem Reap River. (The Siem Reap River, today, is more like a gentle stream, though it was used to transport the quarried rock from Phnom Kulen to Angkor to build these massive temples a thousand years ago.) That aside, I decided to bypass Spean Thma for now.

 

Once inside the Victory Gate, which I mistakenly called the East Gate in May (it is on the eastern wall), we turned south on a dirt path about 100-200 meters inside Angkor Thom and traveled south, parallel to the wall. After less than 5 minutes, you arrive at the road that runs directly east from Bayon to the East Gate, otherwise known as the Slaves’ Gate or Gate of the Dead. (From the names, obviously, if anyone who didn’t belong to the royal family saw this gate…bad news for them.) According to Mao, the slaves were marched out this gate on the way to their execution. Grim history aside, it’s a rather nice gate, well-restored, with some good angles for shooting. It’s certainly worth a visit, especially since it’s so easily accessible – and there are rarely many people around.

 

After this quick stop, we took the road due west to the heart of Angkor Thom – Bayon – then headed up the road towards the North Gate, where the majority of Angkor Thom sites are located (just north of Bayon). Passing by Baphuon, Phimeanakas, the Elephant Terrace, Terrace of the Leper Kings (all on the west side of the main road), and the Kleangs and Suor Prat Towers (east side of the main road, with the towers being bisected by the road heading east through the Victory Gate), we turned off just north of the Terrace of the Leper Kings to the west to see Tep Pranam – very briefly – and Preah Pilalay.

 

Tep Pranam is simply a statue of a giant seated sandstone Buddha, still in use for worship today, that was built around the 16th century. If this were in an out-of-the-way place, it may not be worth the time. However, it’s in the heart of Angkor Thom and it’s impossible to go to Preah Pilalay without seeing it if you come by tuktuk. (This isn’t a complaint by any means; it’s rather nice.) Preah Pilalay is in the northwest section of Angkor Thom and is fairly remote (given the amount of tourists that the other nearby sites see). Its main features are a tall chimney-like structure, a few nagas, and its setting in the forest. It was built in either the 13th or 14th century, possibly by Jayavarman VIII or, perhaps, by Jayavarman VII. It’s about 200 meters north of the royal enclosure (Phimeanakas). Some of the larger trees that used to tower over the temple have been hewn resulting in a very different feel. However, it was a pleasant side trip.

 

Hopping back in the tuktuk and going directly across the road, the last stop for the day inside Angkor Thom was the Preah Pithu group. This is a collection of five temples/ruins in the northeastern section of Angkor Thom that is in a delightful wooded setting. If you can see them in early morning or late afternoon, you should get some wonderful lighting. You can spend as little as 15 minutes here or as much as an hour or two. They probably weren’t designed to be one cohesive group, though it’s not possible to say with certainty. They were built in the 13th century. (Though I mention this as the last stop, I’ve also included the North Kleang and Northern Suor Prat Towers here. Though I didn’t explore those in depth, I am giving them their own set here – Kleangs and Suor Prat Towers.)

 

On the way out of Angkor Thom, via the South Gate, we stopped outside the moat for a few pictures. Directly south of Angkor Thom are a few temples that I wanted to see: Thma Bay Kaek, Prasat Bei, and Baksei Chamkrong.

 

We visited them in that order. Thma Bay Kaek is nearest the road about 50 meters southwest of the bridge over the southern moat. All that remains here are the ruins of a square brick tower. It’s probably the remains of one of many temples that were here in the Bakheng area. It was built in the 10th century by Yasovarman I.

 

About a five minute walk - -if that – due west of Thma Bay Kaek is Prasat Bei (“Three Towers”). Unlike Thma Bay Kaek, these towers are still standing, so obviously, slightly more photogenic. They would probably be best photographed in early morning. The trees block it from the west in late afternoon. It, too, was built by Yasovarman I in the 10th century.

 

The last of the three temples in this area, Baksei Chamkrong, is the most impressive of the three. It’s from the early and middle 10th century (rededicated in 948) and was built by Harshavarman. This is a pyramid temple at the foot of Phnom Bakheng. The name means “the bird with sheltering wings,” though – like most temples here – this is a modern appellation that the builders wouldn’t have recognized. This tower is a single brick tower on a pyramidal base.

 

Finally, to finish up the day, Mao dropped me at Phnom Bakheng. It’s about a 20 minute walk up the hill around a winding path. This is considered to be one of the best places to watch sunset over Angkor Wat because of its panoramic view from the peak of the hill. However, everyone knows this, and this is the only place all day that was too crowded for my liking. In addition to its being under restoration to the point of making it a bit of an eyesore (for the time being), it was easily my least favorite place of the entire day. After waiting in line for 20 minutes and barely moving an inch, I decided to call it a day, taking 1-2 pictures (that you see here), and heading back down the hill.

 

Mao had disappeared into the throngs of people eating at restaurants. Fortunately for me, he spotted me. On the way back to the guesthouse, he stopped and picked up a birthday cake which we shared with the folks who happened to be at the guesthouse. All in all, it was a wonderful birthday. Tomorrow, too, would be just me and would include the lesser-visited sites on the Grand Tour Loop, in addition to 1-2 others.

 

As always, I hope you enjoy this set. I appreciate you taking time to look. If you have any questions, please feel free to send me a message or leave it via comment.

A blog post that includes these photos lives here: likeafishinwater.com/2016/04/29/pilgrimage-to-uji-for-hib...

 

My company: www.thirdplacemedia.com - Research, content development and communications strategy focused on transit, walkability, placemaking and environment issues

 

My blog: likeafishinwater.com

Side (formerly Selimiye) is a city on the southern Mediterranean coast of Turkey. It includes the modern resort town and the ruins of the ancient city of Side, one of the best-known classical sites in the country. Modern Side is a neighbourhood of the municipality and district of Manavgat, Antalya Province, Turkey.[1] Its population is 14,527 (2022).[2] Before the 2013 reorganisation, it was a town (belde).[3][4] It lies near Manavgat, 78 km from Antalya.[5]

 

It is located on the eastern part of the Pamphylian coast, which lies about 20 km east of the mouth of the Eurymedon River. Today, as in antiquity, the ancient city is situated on a small north-south peninsula about 1 km long and 400 m across.

 

History

Pseudo-Scylax,[6] Strabo and Arrian[7] record that Side was founded by Greek settlers from Cyme in Aeolis, a region of western Anatolia. This most likely occurred in the 7th century BC. A basalt column base from the 7th century BC found in the excavations and attributable to the Neo-Hittites is evidence of the site's early history.

 

Possessing a good harbour for small craft, Side's natural geography made it one of the most important trade centres in the region.

 

Its tutelary deity was Athena, whose head adorned its coinage.

 

Excavations have revealed several inscriptions written in the language of Side. The inscriptions, dating from the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, remain undeciphered, but testify that the local language was still in use several centuries after colonisation.

 

The ancient theatre

Alexander the Great occupied Side without a struggle in 333 BC. Alexander left only a single garrison behind to occupy the city. This occupation, in turn, introduced the people of Side to Hellenistic culture, which flourished from the 4th to the 1st century BC. After Alexander's death, Side fell under the control of one of Alexander's generals, Ptolemy I Soter, who declared himself king of Egypt in 305 BC. The Ptolemaic dynasty controlled Side until it was captured by the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century BC. Yet, despite these occupations, Side managed to preserve some autonomy, grew prosperous, and became an important cultural centre.

  

In 190 BC a fleet from the Greek island city-state of Rhodes, supported by Rome and Pergamum, defeated the Seleucid King Antiochus the Great's fleet, which was under the command of the fugitive Carthaginian general Hannibal. The defeat of Hannibal and Antiochus the Great meant that Side freed itself from the overlord-ship of the Seleucid Empire.

 

Post-Seleucid Rule

 

Tetradrachm from Side, 201-190 BC, depicting winged Victory. Now in Palais de Rumine, Lausanne, Switzerland

The Treaty of Apamea (188 BC) forced Antiochus to abandon all European territories and to cede all of Asia Minor north of the Taurus Mountains to Pergamum. However, the dominion of Pergamum only reached de facto as far as Perga, leaving Eastern Pamphylia in a state of uncertain freedom. This led Attalus II Philadelphus to construct a new harbour in the city of Attalia (the present Antalya), although Side already possessed an important harbour of its own. Between 188 and 36 BC Side minted its own money, tetradrachms showing Nike and a laurel wreath (the sign of victory).

 

In the 1st century BC, Side reached a peak when the Cilician pirates established their chief naval base and a centre for their slave-trade.

 

Romans

 

The main street is lined with the ruins of homes or shops, many of which feature their original mosaic flooring

 

Hospital dating to the 6th century.

The consul Servilius Vatia defeated these brigands in 78 BC and later the Roman general Pompey in 67 BC, bringing Side under the control of Rome and beginning its second period of ascendancy, when it established and maintained a good working relationship with the Roman Empire.[8]

 

Emperor Augustus reformed the state administration and placed Pamphylia and Side in the Roman province of Galatia in 25 BC, after the short reign of Amyntas of Galatia between 36 and 25 BC. Side began another prosperous period as a commercial centre in Asia Minor through its trade in olive oil. Its population grew to 60,000 inhabitants. This period would last well into the 3rd century AD. Side also established itself as a slave-trading centre in the Mediterranean. Its large commercial fleet engaged in acts of piracy, while wealthy merchants paid for such tributes as public works, monuments, and competitions as well as the games and gladiator fights. Most of the extant ruins at Side date from this period of prosperity.

 

Side was the home of Eustathius of Antioch, of the philosopher Troilus, of the fifth-century ecclesiastical writer Philip; of the famous lawyer Tribonian.[9]

 

Decline

Side began a steady decline from the 4th century on. Even defensive walls could not stop successive invasions of highlanders from the Taurus Mountains. During the 5th and 6th centuries, Side experienced a revival, and became the seat of the Bishopric of Eastern Pamphylia. Arab fleets, nevertheless, raided and burned Side during the 7th century, contributing to its decline. The combination of earthquakes, Christian zealots and Arab raids, left the site abandoned by the 10th century, its citizens having emigrated to nearby Attalia.[8]

 

In the 12th century, Side temporarily established itself once more as a large city. An inscription found on the site of the former ancient city shows a considerable Jewish population in early Byzantine times. However, Side was abandoned again after being sacked. Its population moved to Attalia, and Side became known as Eski Adalia 'Old Antalya' and was buried.

 

Ecclesiastical history

As capital of the Roman province of Pamphylia Prima, Side was ecclesiastically the metropolitan see. The earliest known bishop was Epidaurus, presiding at the Synod of Ancyra, 314. Others are John, fourth century; Eustathius, 381; Amphilochius, 426-458, who played an important part in the history of the time; Conon, 536; Peter, 553; John, 680-692; Mark, 879; Theodore, 1027-1028; Anthimus, present at the synod held at Constantinople in 1054; John, then counsellor to the Emperor Michael VII Ducas, presided at a council on the worship of images, 1082; Theodosius and his successor Nicetas, twelfth century. John, present at a synod at Constantinople in 1156. The Notitiae Episcopatuum continued to mention Side as a metropolis of Pamphylia until the thirteenth century. It does not appear in the "Notitia" of Andronicus III. In 1397 the diocese was united with that of Attalia; in 1400 the Metropolitan of Perge and Attalia was at the same time the administrator of Side.[10][citation needed]

 

No longer a residential see, Side is today included in the Catholic Church's list of titular sees.[11]

 

Monuments and Site

The great ruins are among the most notable in Asia Minor. They cover a large promontory which a wall and a moat separate from the mainland. Archaeologists have been excavating Side since 1947 and intermittently continue to do so.[12]

 

The colossal theatre complex of the 2nd century is less well-preserved that of Aspendos, but it is almost as large, seating 15,000–20,000 people. It was converted into an open-air sanctuary with two chapels during Byzantine times (5th or 6th century).

 

The well-preserved city walls provide an entrance to the site through the Hellenistic main gate (Megale Pyle) from the 2nd century BC.

 

The colonnaded street had marble columns whose remains can be seen near the Roman baths, restored as a museum displaying statues and sarcophagi from the Roman period. The agora includes the remains of the round Tyche and Fortuna temple (2nd century BC), peripteral with twelve columns, in the centre. In later times it was used as a trading centre where pirates sold slaves.

 

The early Roman Temple of Dionysus is near the theatre. The fountain gracing the entrance is restored. At the left side is a Byzantine Basilica.[8]

 

Other buildings include three temples and a nymphaeum, a grotto or fountain building of elaborate design, and a synagogue which was discovered under a modern place of residence.[13]

 

Excavation teams also found an ancient Greek brothel. Wikipedia

The monument includes a late 16th century artillery fort, superseded by and partially incorporated into a mid 17th century bastioned artillery defence, called the Citadel, with associated outworks. The monument also includes a series of alterations and additions made to the Citadel during subsequent centuries, and a statue of George II erected in 1728. The monument is situated on the eastern part of Plymouth Hoe, a limestone cliff overlooking the strategically important entrance to the Cattewater in Plymouth Sound on the south west coast of Devon.

 

Historical sources provide the context for the construction of the late 16th century artillery fort between 1592-1598 in response to a perceived threat of attack by sea from the Spanish. Although the Armada had been defeated in 1588, fears that Spain would attempt to invade England again led to a strengthening of English defences. The construction of the fort at Plymouth was part of these works. Situated at the east end of the Hoe, it protected the entrance to the important sheltered anchorage of the Cattewater and the harbour in Sutton Pool. Contemporary plans show this fort consisted of two parts: a roughly triangular fort with two bastions pointing to the north and west to defend against landward attack from the Hoe, and the lower fort containing the main armament in ramparts of earth and stone, called bulwarks, along the shore. The stone walls of this fort were about 4m high, and 1.4m thick at the base, accompanied by an outer ditch 6m wide. Guns were mounted on timber staging on earth platforms. The main fort contained the captain's lodgings, barracks, a storehouse, stables, guardhouse, powderhouse and the medieval Chapel of St Katherine on the Hoe, an important landmark for shipping. Parts of this fort have been revealed by partial excavation.

 

The late 16th century artillery fort was partially incorporated into the mid 17th century Citadel. Although much of the walling around the main area of the earlier fort was demolished as the Citadel was constructed, the lower fort, at the south eastern end of the main 16th century fort was retained. Within the Citadel, the south curtain wall from and including the Cumberland Battery to Prince Henry's Demi-Bastion follows the line of the dividing wall between the 16th century main fort and its lower fort. The Citadel's curtain wall between Prince Edward's Bastion and Prince Henry's Demi-Bastion may also preserve the line of the earlier main fort's east wall. The base of the point of Prince Henry's Demi-Bastion and the sides of Piper's Platform contain some original 16th century stonework and the wall running south east from Piper's Platform towards Fisher's Nose continues the line of the 16th century lower fort wall. Beyond this monument, further walling of the 16th century lower fort is likely to survive along the coastal margin by the blockhouse at Fisher's Nose.

 

The mid 17th century Citadel was constructed between 1665-1675 in response to another perceived threat of war, this time with the Dutch, rivals for overseas trade with the colonies. Charles II wished to secure Plymouth as a naval base, whose town and hinterland was large enough to victual a large number of ships, and which had a large sheltered anchorage. The Citadel was situated at the east of the Hoe on the site of the late 16th century fortress, retaining the earlier lower fort at its south east end. Designed by Sir Bernard de Gomme, the King's Engineer General, the original plan had been for a regular five bastioned fort to the west of the Elizabethan fort, but was adapted to incorporate as much as possible of the earlier fort and to maintain defence of the Cattewater while it was being built. The resulting Citadel was constructed as a six bastioned walled fortification. The wall was backed by an earth rampart. Beyond the wall was a broad flat-bottomed ditch except on the south east side where it was adjoined by the lower fort. The surface against the outer side of the ditch was levelled to create a covered way, protected by a raised outer lip from which a long outer slope, called a glacis, descended to the surrounding ground surface. Within the ditch, a triangular outwork, called a ravelin, protected the main entrance to the north; the covered way outside the ditch was enlarged on the east and west to create two assembly points for troops, called place d'armes. Beyond this monument, a small rock cut harbour was constructed to the south of the lower fort to supply ships under cover of the Citadel.

 

By the end of 1667 most of the defensive works had been completed, as had the impressive main gateway, though the interior still required the completion of the ramparts and construction of the buildings needed to house the garrison. Work finished on the Citadel in 1675.

 

The walls of the Citadel enclose an area approximately 280m east-west by 270m north-south, and survive as an almost complete circuit meeting either side of the northern main entrance. The walls are constructed of limestone quarried from the ditch supplemented by limestone from the two nearby quarries of Lambhay and Tinside. Dartmoor granite was used for the quoins on the corners of the bastions, for the sides of the gun ports, called embrasures, and for the cordon, a rounded horizontal moulding running around the exterior face of the Citadel just below the embrasures. There were also granite corbels or moulded supports for sentry boxes close to the top of the bastions, one of which survives on the north east point of Prince of Wales' Bastion. Originally there were stone sentry boxes on the top of the walls at various points around the Citadel. The only portion of wall which has not survived to its original height is along Prince of Wales' Curtain where it was lowered in the 1890s. The walls are capped with turf, except between Bath's Bastion and Prince Henry's Demi-Bastion where it is capped with asphalt above the later casemates.

 

The walls form six bastions and one demi-bastion linked by sections of curtain wall; of these only Prince George's Bastion to the north west and King Charles' Bastion to the south west are of regular design. Prince of Wales' Bastion to the north east is truncated because of the steep slope of the ground to the east. Bath's Bastion is extended to link with the line of the earlier fort. The curtain wall from Prince Edward's Bastion towards Prince Henry's Demi-Bastion also links with or possibly follows the line of the earlier fort. The other bastion and the demi-bastion follow the line of the earlier fort. There are several large water tanks, now disused, within Prince George's and King Charles' Curtain walls. Originally there were probably five entrance ways, called sallyports, through the walls. The sallyports have granite doorways or lintels, decorated in each corner above their arched entrance. One sallyport is in the west wall facing the Hoe with a plain arched entrance; another to the south west has a later doorway; one faces south into the lower fort, now facing the Queen's Battery, and another faces south east to Piper's Platform. There was probably a sallyport facing north east before the Prince of Wales' Curtain was taken down. The Queens Battery is a tenaille, a low wall enclosing the area between Cumberland Battery and Prince Henry's Demi-Bastion in front of the curtain wall, it was constructed to provide extra cover for the curtain wall above the lower fort and also gave access to the lower fort.

 

The ramparts were constructed of earth and stone immediately behind the inner face of the walls and provided platforms for the guns for the defence of the Citadel. The ramparts survive as steep turfed banks and are approximately 8m to 12m thick and 4m to 5m high. Gently sloping inclines or paths up the ramparts' inner faces provided access for the guns and gun carriages; these are now tarmacked but were originally cobbled, as survives in a small area on one incline. Four inclines survive in all: to the west of the main entrance, to King Charles' Bastion, to Bath's Bastion and to Prince Edward's Bastion. Originally there was an incline east of the main entrance and two more between King Charles' Bastion and Prince George's Bastion. The north side of the incline to Prince Edward's Bastion forms three wide shallow steps.

 

On the ramparts, the gun ports, called embrasures, are backed by granite paved gun platforms, a rectangular area paved with large granite blocks, on which a gun on its carriage would stand. There were embrasures around King Charles' Bastion to the south west, Prince George's Bastion to the north west, Prince Edward's Bastion to the south east and Prince of Wales' Bastion to the north east, and along the west curtain. On the wall facing the ramparts between Cumberland Battery and Prince Henry's Demi-Bastion is a rectangular stone plaque which was probably a name plate for the battery or curtain wall. On King Charles' Bastion four traversing guns were positioned, their metal racers surviving. Similar racers for another traversing gun survive on Prince Henry's Demi-Bastion. Both Bath's Bastion and Queen's Battery have grooves in the granite where the racers for a traversing gun have been. The full length of Cumberland Battery is paved with granite forming interlocking wedge shapes, reflecting its use also as a saluting battery. The positions of former merlons (the solid part of a parapet, between two embrasures) can be seen where the parapet has been made good upon their removal. The brick sills of the former embrasures remain, well weathered, each opposite the earlier phase of wedge shaped granite platforms. Remains of paved gun platforms also survive on the Queen's Battery.

 

There are four surviving magazine stores on the inner edge of the ramparts, a short length of high wall against which ammunition may have been stored. However the lengths of these walls and the fixing positions for lean to roofs and racking suggest that these may have been side-arms sheds, or stores for ramrods, sponges, traversing staves and ropes. The one along Prince Edward's Bastion is wider than the other three, which are between Prince George's Bastion and King Charles' Bastion. The only section of the ramparts which has been removed, during the 1890s, is along Prince of Wales' Bastion and Curtain wall. The ramparts between Bath's Bastion and Prince Henry's Demi-Bastion were not completed in 1665-1670, when only some masonry arches and piers were built.

 

The main entrance to the Citadel is in the north wall. It was designed by Sir Thomas Fitch or Fitz, an associate of Sir Christopher Wren. Flanking the arch are paired Ionic pilasters with carved motifs between them. The keystone is adorned with the coat of arms of John Grenville, Earl of Bath. Above the arch is a large niche which probably displayed a statue of Charles II until the early 19th century, when it appears to have fallen and never been replaced; the niche now contains a small pile of four cast-iron spherical mortar bombs. Above the niche is the date 1670 and to either side, a Corinthian column and carved motifs of trophies of arms. The pediment bears the royal coat of arms in relief. Between the large niche and the royal arms is a rectangular stone tablet inscribed `Carolus secundus dei gratia magnae brittaniae franciae et hiberniae'. Originally a guardroom occupied the floor over the arch, later taken down, leaving the decoration above the arch fronting a facade. The interior face of the entrance displays the royal coat of arms above the archway.

 

EH Listing

 

At Pevensey Castle

 

Pevensey Castle: a Saxon Shore fort, Norman defences, a medieval enclosure castle, and later associated remains

The monument includes Anderita Saxon Shore fort, traces of later, Norman defences, an enclosure castle, a 16th century gun emplacement and World War II defences situated on a low spur of sand and clay which now lies around 2km north west of the present East Sussex coastline at Pevensey. During the Roman and medieval periods the spur formed a peninsula projecting into a tidal lagoon and marshland, but coastal deposition and land reclamation have gradually built up the ground around it so that it is now completely land-locked. The roughly oval, north east-south west aligned Roman fort is the earliest of the structures which make up the monument and has been dated to the first half of the fourth century AD. Covering almost 4ha, the fort survives in the form of substantial ruins and buried remains. It is enclosed by a massive defensive wall with a flint and sandstone rubble core faced by coursed greensand and ironstone blocks, interspersed with red tile bonding courses. The whole is up to 3.7m thick and survives to a height of up to 8.1m. The wall was originally topped by a wall walk and parapet. Part excavation in 1906-8 showed that the wall was constructed on footings of rammed chalk and flints underpinned by oak piles and held together by a framework of wooden beams. Investigation of the internal face indicated that this was stepped upwards from a wide base so as to provide extra strength and support. Despite these precautions, a landslip on the south eastern side of the fort has resulted in the destruction of a c.180m length of the perimeter walls and, although fragments of the fallen masonry do survive, most have been removed over the years. Smaller sections of wall have also collapsed along the north western and eastern stretches. The defensive strength provided by the perimeter wall was enhanced by irregularly-spaced, externally projecting semicircular bastions with diameters of around 5m. There were originally at least 15 of these, of which 10 survive today. The fort was entered from its south western, landward approach by way of the main gateway. In front of this a protective ditch 5.5m wide was dug, and, although this became infilled over the years, a 40m stretch located towards its south eastern end has been recut and exposed. The ditch would have been spanned originally by a wooden bridge, although this no longer survives. The main gateway takes the form of a rectangular gatehouse set back between two solid semicircular bastions 8m apart. The 2.7m wide, originally arched entrance is flanked by two oblong guardrooms and the whole gateway structure projects beyond the inner face of the perimeter wall into the fort and is thought to have been originally two or even three storeys high. On the eastern side of the fort is a more simply designed subsidiary gateway, originally a 3m wide archway entrance, giving access to part of the adjacent Roman harbour, now overlain by Pevensey village. The extant archway is a modern reconstruction of the Norman rebuilding of the original entrance. Traces of a wooden causeway which led from it into the fort have been found during partial excavation. Midway along the north western stretch of perimeter wall is a now ruined postern c.2m wide, approached by a curved passage set within the wall. Part excavation between 1906-1908 indicated that the internal buildings which housed the garrison of up to 1,000 men, along with their livestock and supplies, were constructed of timber infilled with wattle and daub. A c.1m sq timber-lined Roman well was found in the south western sector of the fort, at the bottom of which were the remains of the wooden bucket with rope still attached. The well was found to have been filled with rubbish in Roman times and the presence of the bones of cattle, sheep, red deer, wild boar, wild birds, domestic dogs and cats, along with sea shells, gives some indication of the diet and lifestyle of the fort's original inhabitants. Anderita is thought to have been abandoned by its garrison by the latter half of the 4th century AD, and although little is known of its subsequent history until the 11th century, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records a massacre of Britons by the invading Saxons at the fort in AD 491. The Bayeux Tapestry states that William the Conquerer landed at Pevensey in 1066, and the Norman army are believed to have made use of the Roman fort as one of their first armed camps. The defences at Pevensey and the surrounding land were granted to King William's half-brother Robert, Count of Mortain. The medieval defences then went through at least 300 years of development, culminating in the construction of a stone built enclosure castle within the largely intact walls of the earlier Roman fort. It is thought that the first Norman defences took the form of a wooden palisade surrounded by a bank and ditch, and a c.40m length of partially infilled ditch up to 9m wide which survives across the north eastern sector of the earlier fort may indicate their original extent. Limited excavations in 1993-94 showed that the ground surface in the south eastern sector of the fort, in the vicinity of the later stone-built keep, was artificially raised some time before 1200, suggesting that a motte may also have been constructed. The original Roman gateways were rebuilt and a new ditch dug in front of the south western gate. Most of the Norman defences and interior wooden buildings will now survive in buried form beneath the later medieval castle, although herringbone-pattern repairs to the Roman masonry, by then serving as the outer bailey of the medieval defences, also date from this time. Around 1100 the defences were strengthened and the accommodation improved by the addition of a masonry keep in the south eastern sector of the earlier fort. The subject of a complex history of alteration, collapse and repair, the keep utilises part of the earlier, Roman perimeter wall and bastions. It takes the form of a rectangular block measuring c.16.8m by c.9m internally, reinforced by apsidal projections on all sides. Now surviving in ruined form up to first floor level, the keep originally took the form of a tall tower with an entrance on the first floor. A rectangular building measuring 7.6m by 6m was later constructed in the south eastern angle between the keep and the Roman wall. At around 1200 work began on the construction of a smaller, stone-built inner bailey in the south eastern sector of the earlier fort. An L-shaped ditch around 20m wide was dug to define the new enclosure, and this retains water in its northern arm. The material excavated from the ditch and from the destruction of the earlier bank was spread over much of the outer bailey to a depth of up to 1.5m. The ditch was recut during extensive renovations carried out during the early 20th century. The first structure to be built in this phase was the gatehouse to the south west which has an arched entrance between twin, semicircular external towers, now ruined. The basement chambers beneath each tower have ashlar-faced walls and barrel-vaulted ceilings, the southern chamber being entered by way of a newel staircase, the northern by a trapdoor. Both were used to house prisoners. Many subsequent alterations included the replacement, during the 15th century, of the wooden bridge over the outer ditch by a stone causeway. The originally embattled curtain wall enclosing the inner bailey was built within the ditch and inner berm around 1250. This survives almost to its full original height and is faced with coursed Greensand ashlar. Three semicircular external towers provided flanking cover from the narrow embrasures which pierce their walls. Each has a narrow staircase to a basement, a branch staircase off it into the ditch and a room and garderobe, or latrine, at ground floor level. Upper rooms were entered by way of the wall walk and were heated by fireplaces. The basement of the northernmost tower has two rib-vaulted bays, the keeled ribs resting on stiff-leaf corbels. The interior castle buildings continued to be built mainly of wood and these will survive in buried form, although the stone foundations of a chapel were exposed during partial excavation of the northern sector of the inner bailey. Around 20m south east of the chapel is a large stone-lined well at least 15.5m deep, and near this is a pile of medieval stone missile-balls, a selection of those recovered from the ditch. These were thrown from trebuchets during the four sieges of the castle. William, Count of Mortain forfeited Pevensey after an unsuccessful rebellion against Henry I in 1101 and the castle, which remained in the royal gift until the later Middle Ages, passed into the hands of the de Aquila family. The most famous siege took place in 1264-65 when the supporters of Henry III, fleeing from their defeat by the Barons at Lewes, took refuge in the castle. In 1372 the castle was given to John of Gaunt, and during his period of office was used to imprison James I, King of Scotland, who had been seized in 1406, and Joan, Queen of Navarre, accused of witchcraft by her stepson, Henry V. By 1300, the sea had gradually begun to recede from around the castle and its military importance declined as a result. Contemporary records show that the castle walls were constantly in need of expensive repair and by the end of the 14th century were not being properly maintained, although the roof leads were kept intact until the middle of the 15th century. By 1500 the castle had ceased to be inhabited and fell rapidly into decay. The threat of the Spanish Armada led to some renewed interest in the defensive value of the site, and a survey of 1587 records that the castle housed two demi-culverins, or heavy guns. These were sited on the contemporary, south east orientated, M-shaped earthen gun emplacement situated in the outer bailey around 90m north east of the main Roman gateway. This takes the form of a raised level platform c.20m long bounded on the seaward side by a slight bank c.0.4m high and around 3m wide. One of the cast iron guns, manufactured in the East Sussex Weald, is now housed within the inner bailey on a modern replica carriage. From the 17th century the castle passed through the hands of various private owners. Valued as a picturesque ruin during the 18th and 19th centuries, it features in many contemporary engravings and illustrations. In 1925 the Duke of Devonshire presented the monument to the state, and extensive repairs began with a view to opening the monument to the public. These were interrupted by the outbreak of World War II, when the castle resumed its original military purpose of protecting the south coast. The castle was refortified in May 1940 as an observation and command post. It was continuously occupied by regular troops, including Canadian forces and the United States Army Air Corps, who used it as a radio direction centre, and by the Home Guard until 1944. The World War II defences include two pillboxes and three machine gun posts of concrete faced with rubble and flints, carefully concealed and camouflaged within the earlier Roman and medieval fabric. An internal tower was built just to the south of the Roman east gateway and a blockhouse housing anti-tank weapons was built in front of the main Roman gateway. The blockhouse no longer survives. Modifications carried out to the medieval mural towers included lining the interiors with brick and inserting wooden floors. In 1945 the monument was returned to peaceful use and is now in the guardianship of the Secretary of State and open to the public.

[Historic England]

Friday at the Goodwood Revival

Known rulers of Tikal include:

 

* Yax Ehb' Xook c. 60 - dynastic founder

* Siyaj Chan K'awil Chak Ich'aak "Stormy Sky I" (2nd century)

* Yax Ch’aktel Xok c. 200

* Balam Ajaw "Decorated Jaguar" 292

* K'inich Ehb' c. 300

* Ix Une' B'alam "Queen Jaguar" 317

* "Leyden Plate Ruler" 320

* K'inich Muwaan Jol - died 359

* Chak Toh Ich’ak I "Jaguar Paw I" c.360 - 378

* Nun Yax Ayin (a noble from Teotihuacan), installed on Tikal's throne in 379

* Siyah K'ak', ruled to 411

* Siyah Chan K'awil II "Stormy Sky II" 411-456

* K'an-Ak "Kan Boar" 458-486

* Ma'Kin-na Chan (late 5th century)

* Chak Tok Ich'aak "Bahlum Paw Skull" 486-508

* Ix Yo K'in "Lady Tikal" 511-527

* Kalomte' Balam "Curl-Head", "19th Lord" c. 511-527

* Wak Chan K'awil "Double-Bird" - 537-562

* "Lizard Head II" 562

* K'inich Waaw 593-628

* K'inich Wayaan - (early / mid 7th century)

* K'inich Muwaan Jol II - (early / mid 7th century)

* Hasaw Chan K’awil "Double Moon", "Lord Chocolate" 682-734

* Yik’in Chan Kawil 734-766

* "Temple VI Ruler" 766-768

* Yax Nuun Ayiin II "Chitam" 768-790

* "Dark Sun" c. 810

* "Jewel K'awil" 849

* Jasaw Chan K'awiil II 869-88

 

More?:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikal

Scotts Bluff National Monument in western Nebraska includes an important 19th-century landmark on the Oregon Trail and Mormon Trail. The National Monument contains multiple bluffs (steep hills) located on the south side of the North Platte River; it is named for one prominent bluff called Scotts Bluff, which rises over 800 feet (240 m) above the plains at its highest point. The monument is composed of five rock formations named Crown Rock, Dome Rock, Eagle Rock, Saddle Rock, and Sentinel Rock.

 

Scotts Bluff County and the city of Scottsbluff, Nebraska, were named after the landmark.

 

The collection of bluffs was first charted by non-native people in 1812 by the Astorian Expedition of fur traders traveling along the river. The expedition party noted the bluffs as the first large rock formations along the river where the Great Plains started giving way to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Their findings were not widely communicated because of the War of 1812. In 1823 explorers rediscovered the route to the Rocky Mountains, and fur traders in the region relied on the bluffs as a landmark. European Americans named the most prominent bluff after Hiram Scott, a fur trader who died in 1828 near the bluff.

 

Fur traders, missionaries, and military expeditions began regular trips past Scotts Bluff during the 1830s. Beginning in 1841, multitudes of settlers passed by Scotts Bluff on their way west on the Emigrant Trail to Oregon, and later California and Utah. Wagon trains used the bluff as a major landmark for navigation. The trail passed through Mitchell Pass, a gap in the bluffs flanked by two large cliffs. Although the route through Mitchell Pass was tortuous and hazardous, many emigrants preferred this route to following the North Platte river bottom on the north side of the bluff. Passage through Mitchell Pass became a significant milestone for many wagon trains on their way westward.

 

The town of Gering, Nebraska, was founded near the base of the bluff in 1887, and the city of Scottsbluff was founded across the North Platte River from the bluff in 1900. Separated (or joined) by the river, the two cities have since grown together and now form the 6th-largest urban area in Nebraska.

 

Once permanent settlements had been established nearby, residents and travelers went to the bluff as a destination because of its breathtaking views of the flat land stretching to the east, the hills and mountains to the west, and the river valley in between.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotts_Bluff_National_Monument

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_...

Vincent Willem van Gogh (30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of them in the last two years of his life. His oeuvre includes landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and self-portraits, most of which are characterised by bold colours and dramatic brushwork that contributed to the rise of expressionism in modern art. Van Gogh's work was only beginning to gain critical attention before he died from a self-inflicted gunshot at age 37. During his lifetime, only one of Van Gogh's paintings, The Red Vineyard, was sold.

 

Born into an upper-middle-class family, Van Gogh drew as a child and was serious, quiet and thoughtful, but showed signs of mental instability. As a young man, he worked as an art dealer, often travelling, but became depressed after he was transferred to London. He turned to religion and spent time as a missionary in southern Belgium. Later he drifted into ill-health and solitude. He was keenly aware of modernist trends in art and, while back with his parents, took up painting in 1881. His younger brother, Theo, supported him financially, and the two of them maintained a long correspondence.

 

Van Gogh's early works consist of mostly still lifes and depictions of peasant labourers. In 1886, he moved to Paris, where he met members of the artistic avant-garde, including Émile Bernard and Paul Gauguin, who were seeking new paths beyond Impressionism. Frustrated in Paris and inspired by a growing spirit of artistic change and collaboration, in February 1888 Van Gogh moved to Arles in southern France to establish an artistic retreat and commune. Once there, his paintings grew brighter and he turned his attention to the natural world, depicting local olive groves, wheat fields and sunflowers. Van Gogh invited Gauguin to join him in Arles and eagerly anticipated Gauguin's arrival in late 1888.

 

Van Gogh suffered from psychotic episodes and delusions. He worried about his mental stability, and often neglected his physical health, did not eat properly and drank heavily. His friendship with Gauguin ended after a confrontation with a razor when, in a rage, he mutilated his left ear. Van Gogh spent time in psychiatric hospitals, including a period at Saint-Rémy. After he discharged himself and moved to the Auberge Ravoux in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris, he came under the care of the homeopathic doctor Paul Gachet. His depression persisted, and on 29 July 1890 Van Gogh died from his injuries after shooting himself in the chest with a revolver.

 

Van Gogh's work began to attract critical artistic attention in the last year of his life. After his death, his art and life story captured public imagination as an emblem of misunderstood genius, due in large part to the efforts of his widowed sister-in-law Johanna van Gogh-Bonger. His bold use of colour, expressive line and thick application of paint inspired avant-garde artistic groups like the Fauves and German Expressionists in the early 20th century. Van Gogh's work gained widespread critical and commercial success in the following decades, and he has become a lasting icon of the romantic ideal of the tortured artist. Today, Van Gogh's works are among the world's most expensive paintings ever sold. His legacy is celebrated by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which holds the world's largest collection of his paintings and drawings.

Pickering Castle is situated on the southern edge of the North York Moors on a limestone bluff which formerly overlooked the meeting point of two of the main highways through the north of England: the east-west route along the Vale of Pickering and the north-south route through Newton Dale to Malton. The monument consists of a single area which includes the site of the 11th century motte and bailey castle and the 13th century shell keep castle. The former was built by William the Conqueror either during or shortly after the 'harrying of the north' in 1069-70. It consisted of an earth motte crowned by a timber palisade, flanked on the north-west side by a crescent-shaped inner bailey and, on the south-east side, by a contemporary or slightly later outer bailey. The inner bailey measured c.120m by c.35m and was bounded to the north by a steep natural slope surmounted by a palisade and to the south by deep 15m wide ditches linked to the ditch encircling the motte. The outer bailey, which measured c.185m by c.25m, was protected on the north side by these same ditches and, on the south side, by a 5-8m high palisaded bank with an outer ditch. To the immediate east of the outer bailey ditch a further earthwork bank may have provided additional defence on this side; alternatively it may be part of a medieval defence system associated with the adjacent settlement. The motte is c.20m high and has a base diameter of c.60m. It is not yet clear whether this is the original 11th century motte or a later medieval reconstruction. In the latter case, the earlier motte will have been preserved inside the later while, in addition, the buried remains of a wide range of domestic and service buildings will survive within the open areas of the baileys.

 

The reconstruction of the castle in stone largely took place between 1180 and 1236. There were three main phases to the work at this time, the earliest involving the late 12th century replacement of the palisade round the inner bailey with a curtain wall and also the probable construction of the first shell keep on the motte. In its present form the shell keep dates to the early 13th century but the foundations of the earlier wall will survive underneath. The remains of the early curtain wall still stand round the inner bailey, surviving best where the curtain was incorporated into later buildings. The earliest buildings so far identified are the early or mid- 12th century Old Hall, a free-standing residence whose surviving foundations show it to have been half-timbered, and the Coleman Tower, constructed at the same time as the inner curtain and an integral part of it. The Coleman Tower guarded the entry across the inner bailey ditch and was also a prison; hence its earlier name, the King's Prison. It was square in plan and had its entrance on the first floor, the level underneath being where the prisoners were kept. On the east side are the remains of a small building and also a stairway leading onto an adjacent wall. This wall, built across the motte ditch in the late 12th century, replaced an earlier palisade and provided access to the summit of the motte. A similar and contemporary length survives on the opposite side of the motte, crossing the ditch and joining the curtain alongside the later Rosamund's Tower. The keep consisted of a rubble wall enclosing a roughly circular area 20m wide. A wall walk would have lined the inside of the wall above a series of garrison buildings. The foundations of some of these buildings survive but it is not certain whether they date to the 13th or the 14th century. In some cases they will have replaced earlier timber structures whose buried remains will also survive. Also of uncertain date are the foundations of a number of buildings in the inner bailey, including a service range to the south-west and a group of buildings referred to as the Constable's Place in the accounts of the years 1441-43. The latter were half-timbered and some sections predate the inner curtain though others were clearly added later. A survey of 1537 lists a number of distinct structures, including the Constable's hall, a kitchen, buttery and pantry, and quarters for staff and servants. At the southern end of the group were a number of storage buildings, one of which is believed to have been the wool house. Two additional service buildings lay adjacent to the Old Hall and are thought, originally, to have been contemporary with it. To the south of these is the chantry-chapel which dates from c.1227 and is still complete though in a much altered state.

 

To the west of this is the early 14th century New Hall, initially built as a residence for Countess Alice, wife of Earl Thomas of Lancaster. This was later used as a courthouse which gave rise to it being named King's Hall or Motte (moot) Hall in later surveys. It was a penticed or lean-to building of two storeys which utilised the inner curtain for its outer wall. The inner walls were timber-framed and, as much of the surviving stonework is late 12th or early 13th century, it clearly replaced an earlier building. The upper chamber or solar of the 14th century hall was an elaborate plastered room with a decorated fireplace. The last major programme of building dates to 1324-26 when Edward II ordered extensive works to be carried out which included replacing the whole of the timber palisade round the outer bailey with a stone wall. This outer curtain included three projecting towers, a gatehouse with a drawbridge over the outer ditch and a postern gate which led from the north-east arm of the inner bailey ditch, underneath Rosamund's Tower and out onto the rampart. A second gate and drawbridge, built at this time alongside the Coleman Tower, had fallen out of use by the 16th century and can now no longer be seen. The three projecting towers, named from north-east to south-west, Rosamund's Tower, Diate Hill Tower and Mill Tower, are all square in plan and all would have led out onto the wall-walk along the inside of the curtain though, in the case of the Mill Tower, the curtain to either side has not survived sufficiently well to demonstrate this. The ground-floor entrance to the Mill Tower consisted of two doors linked by a short passage, in which the first door opened inwards and the second outwards indicating that the tower was built as a prison, a role it took over from the Coleman Tower. North of the Mill Tower, the outer curtain crossed the inner bailey ditch which can also be seen outside the castle walls on the west and north sides. This section of the ditch was part of the original 11th century defences and was quarried out of the rock on which the castle was built.

 

A levelled area alongside the inner edge indicates that quarrying of the rock-face continued after the ditch was cut. The quarried stone would have gone towards the construction of at least some of the castle buildings. Aside from its strategic and administrative roles, Pickering Castle had two other functions: to guard and manage the large forest which lay adjacent and to provide a court and place of detention for those found guilty of offences against it, such as poaching, unauthorised clearance and the theft of timber. The forest was an extremely important economic resource during the Middle Ages and its particular importance at Pickering can be seen in the great use made of wood in the castle buildings and also, most significantly, its continuous use in the defences down to the 14th century. Also important to the castle economy during the 14th century was the sale of wool, and it also had responsibility for managing the royal stud created by Edward II in c.1322. Possibly the stables known to have been located against the outer curtain at this time, between the gatehouse and Diate Hill tower, were connected with this. According to the Domesday Book, in 1086 the manor of Pickering was held by the king, that is, William the Conqueror. The castle established at this time as part of the subjugation of the rebellious North remained in royal hands until 1267 when it was conferred with the title Earl of Lancaster on Edmund Crouchback, younger son of Henry III. Edmund's son Thomas succeeded to both title and estates in 1296 but was executed for treason by Edward II in 1322, whereupon his estates reverted to the king. Following the unsuccessful Scottish campaign of the same year, and the ensuing retaliatory attacks on the north of England by Robert the Bruce, Edward ordered the building works noted above, clearly intending to keep Pickering a royal castle. However, in 1326 his son Edward III confirmed Henry, the younger brother of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, in his brother's titles and estates, and, in 1351, the castle became part of the Duchy of Lancaster when that title was created. Upon the elevation of the House of Lancaster to the throne in 1399, and in 1413, the succession of Henry V, the Duchy reverted to the Crown and Pickering became a royal castle once again. It has been in State care since 1926. A number of features within the protected area are excluded from the scheduling. These include the ticket office/sales point and its paved base and steps, all English Heritage fixtures and fittings such as bins, bridges, safety grilles, signs, railings and interpretation boards, the surfaces of all modern steps and paths inside and outside the castle walls, lighting and the modern walls and fences round the outside edge of the protected area but the ground beneath all these features is included.

Includes CAP binding site, lac promoter, lac operator, and start of lacZ gene (codes for beta-galactosidase)

Includes a powder compact and lipstick holder.

Includes lilies, Californian and opium poppies, anenomies - using Tamron SP 500mm mirror

Friday at the Goodwood Revival. I got stuck behind this bunch at one point :-)

Death Valley National Park is an American national park that straddles the California–Nevada border, east of the Sierra Nevada. The park boundaries include Death Valley, the northern section of Panamint Valley, the southern section of Eureka Valley, and most of Saline Valley. The park occupies an interface zone between the arid Great Basin and Mojave deserts, protecting the northwest corner of the Mojave Desert and its diverse environment of salt-flats, sand dunes, badlands, valleys, canyons, and mountains. Death Valley is the largest national park in the contiguous United States, and the hottest, driest and lowest of all the national parks in the United States. The second-lowest point in the Western Hemisphere is in Badwater Basin, which is 282 feet (86 m) below sea level. Approximately 91% of the park is a designated wilderness area. The park is home to many species of plants and animals that have adapted to this harsh desert environment. Some examples include creosote bush, bighorn sheep, coyote, and the Death Valley pupfish, a survivor from much wetter times. UNESCO included Death Valley as the principal feature of its Mojave and Colorado Deserts Biosphere Reserve in 1984.

 

A series of Native American groups inhabited the area from as early as 7000 BC, most recently the Timbisha around 1000 AD who migrated between winter camps in the valleys and summer grounds in the mountains. A group of European Americans, trapped in the valley in 1849 while looking for a shortcut to the gold fields of California, gave the valley its name, even though only one of their group died there. Several short-lived boom towns sprang up during the late 19th and early 20th centuries to mine gold and silver. The only long-term profitable ore to be mined was borax, which was transported out of the valley with twenty-mule teams. The valley later became the subject of books, radio programs, television series, and movies. Tourism expanded in the 1920s when resorts were built around Stovepipe Wells and Furnace Creek. Death Valley National Monument was declared in 1933 and the park was substantially expanded and became a national park in 1994.

 

The natural environment of the area has been shaped largely by its geology. The valley is actually a graben with the oldest rocks being extensively metamorphosed and at least 1.7 billion years old. Ancient, warm, shallow seas deposited marine sediments until rifting opened the Pacific Ocean. Additional sedimentation occurred until a subduction zone formed off the coast. The subduction uplifted the region out of the sea and created a line of volcanoes. Later the crust started to pull apart, creating the current Basin and Range landform. Valleys filled with sediment and, during the wet times of glacial periods, with lakes, such as Lake Manly.

 

Source: Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Valley_National_Park

Information Technology Specialists Stephen Washicosky and Patrick Noel configure and test a software support pilot system with the latest IAVA updates. (Photo by Steve Grzezdzinski)

includes space ship pop-up tent

The Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP) currently includes almost 100 Issuing Banks in the EBRD region and more than 800 Confirming Banks worldwide. The event gave EBRD confirming and issuing banks the opportunity to review and discuss industry challenges and opportunities with leading specialists, including International Chamber of Commerce and Chief Economist Office. It also featured 25th anniversary award ceremony which will recognize most active banks in EBRD Countries of Operations.

 

14:30 – 14:45 Opening and Welcome Speeches

• Alexander Saveliev, Director, Financial Institutions, EBRD

• Rudolf Putz, Head of Trade Facilitation Programme, EBRD

  

14:50 – 15:30 Panel Discussion: Development of Trade & Trade Finance - SEMED

Moderator: Kamola Makhmudova, Senior Banker, EBRD

• Alexander Plekhanov, Office of the Chief Economist, EBRD

• Hanane El Boury, Banque Centrale Populaire (BCP), the Kingdom of Morocco

• Ahmed Benyahya, BMCE Bank, the Kingdom of Morocco

• Hossam Mustafa Rageh, Commercial International Bank (CIB), the Arab Republic of Egypt

• Anas AlMasri, Bank Al Etihad, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan 15:30 –

  

15:50 – 16:30 Panel Discussion: EBRD’s new Partner Banks

Moderator: Marco Nindl, Principal Banker, EBRD

• Sally Hamdalla, QNB Alahli, the Arab Republic of Egypt

• Malliotis Achilleas, Eurobank Cyprus, Republic of Cyprus

• Vladislav Berezhny, Credit Agricole Bank, Ukraine

• Ahu Heper Dolu, Fibabanka, Republic of Turkey

• Andrew Wood, Norton Rose Fulbright LLP, the United Kingdom

  

16:35 – 17:15 Panel Discussion: Trade Finance Solutions for Imports of Energy Efficient Machinery & Equipment – Gaps and Constraints

Moderator: Terry McCallion, Director, Energy Efficiency and Climate Change, EBRD

• Sergiy Kostogryz, Raiffeisen Bank Aval, Ukraine

• Gagik Sahakyan, Ameriabank, Armenia

• Maria Mogilnaya, Associate Banker, EBRD

• Holger Kautzky, Commerzbank

• Eugenia Zhiglova, KBC Bank

   

17:35 – 18:10 TFP Annual Awards Ceremony

Hosted by Nick Tesseyman, Managing Director, Financial Institutions, EBRD

Congratulations from Ambassador Chih-Kung Liu, Head of the Taipei Representative Office in the UK

 

ROCKTROPOLIS is a progressive rock band that is like a volcano ready to explode upon your ears. Members include guitarist ROCKTROPOLIS, Bassist and Keyboardist Sam Metropoulos and Drummer Marc Stemmler. Influences are Dream Theater, Rush, Yngwie, Yes, Deep Purple and Iron Maiden to name a few. Guitarist ROCKTROPOLIS has worked with The Process, Gabe Gonzalez (George Clinton) and former drummer John Macaluso (Yngwie Malmsteen, ARK and VOX). Multi instrumentalist Sam Metropoulos has collaborated on several albums with The Process, played with John Macaluso and has opened for Yngwie Malmsteen. Akin to the pillars of the great Parthenon, drummer Marc Stemmler provides the foundation for which ROCKTROPOLIS bridges the hemispheres between classical and progressive rock music. ROCKTROPOLIS is a Nominee of the 2013 Detroit Music Awards.

 

ROCKTROPOLIS is represented by Howard Hertz/Joseph Bellanca (Hertz Schram, p.c.) Mr. Hertz’s impressive roster includes George Clinton, Sippie Wallace, The Romantics, The Bass Brothers, Eminem, Marilyn Manson, Russell Simmons, O-Town, Pantera, Marcus Belgrave, The GO, Mike Posner, Elmore Leonard, Warner Tamerlane and Atlantic Records.

 

ROCKTROPOLIS is currently recording/producing their debut album, with Chris Lewis as their recording engineer (Fire Hyena Studio). Projected release date is summer 2013. Be prepared to own a collection of brilliant compositions that are melodic, epic and infectious to the soul.

 

www.RocktropolisMusic.com (c) 2012

Interior includes:

 

- Altro floor

- Real wood veneer furniture with Corian work surfaces with swing out table

- LED dimmable downlights

- Webasto diesel heater with timer

- Motorised pop up 19” TV

- Combi hob and sink unit with hot and cold water

- 39 litre drawer fridge with Corian facia

- Built in window curtains

- USB charging ports

- Bebb certified bed system

- Passenger swivel turntable

- Plus more

The Peacemaker is the perfect DSLR Tripod Kit. It includes the DSLR baseplate, Z-Focus with Zipgear Prime Lens Kit, monitor mounting arm and our double mount system for mounting pro batteries. The Peacemaker works on any DSLR camera with or without battery grips as it is highly adjustable in height. The baseplate attaches to your tripod plate using the standard tripod plate screws, (2) ¼ 20” and (1) 3/8 16”. Your camera can also be quickly released from the rig by turning the red knob then pulling up on your camera. The camera quick release plate stays mounted to your camera so you can quickly switch between using the camera as part of a rig or on its own. You can easily add the optional Z-Finder Pro by attaching the Z-Finder Mounting Frame (included with the Z-Finder Pro) to the camera quick release plate using two thumb screws.

 

The ZipGear Prime Lens Kit includes (4) .8 pitch Zipgear Universals that attach to your lenses by cutting the strand to fit your lens and connecting the strand together by using the included housing and allen key. The follow focus slides on the rods and the follow focus gear makes contact with the Zipgear allowing you to pull focus. This kit gives you Zipgears for 4 lenses.

 

The Peacemaker can easily be upgraded to a shoulder mounted rig and is compatible with any 15mm accessories.

 

The Peacemaker comes with (2) 3.5" rods on the front of the DSLR baseplate so you can easily attach a matte box. Rod extensions may be necessary depending on the length of your lenses.

 

Kit Includes:

DSLR baseplate

Pair of 3.5” M/F Rods

Z-Focus

ZipGear Prime Lens Kit

Doublemount with 7" rods

Red Plate

Zamerican V3 Large Arm

Zicromount III

Zround Mount with 3/8 16" screw

 

store.zacuto.com/Peacemaker.html

Sarajevo is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo Canton, Istočno Sarajevo and nearby municipalities is home to 555,210 inhabitants. Located within the greater Sarajevo valley of Bosnia, it is surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of the Balkans, a region of Southeastern Europe.

 

Sarajevo is the political, financial, social, and cultural center of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a prominent center of culture in the Balkans. It exerts region-wide influence in entertainment, media, fashion, and the arts. Due to its long history of religious and cultural diversity, Sarajevo is sometimes called the "Jerusalem of Europe" or "Jerusalem of the Balkans". It is one of a few major European cities to have a mosque, Catholic church, Eastern Orthodox church, and synagogue within the same neighborhood. It is also home to the former Yugoslavia's first institution of tertiary education in the form of an Islamic polytechnic, today part of the University of Sarajevo.

 

Although there is evidence of human settlement in the area since prehistoric times, the modern city arose in the 15th century as an Ottoman stronghold when the Ottoman empire extended into Europe. Sarajevo has gained international renown several times throughout its history. In 1885, it was the first city in Europe and the second city in the world to have a full-time electric tram network running through the city, following San Francisco.

 

In 1914, Sarajevo was the site of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a local Young Bosnia activist Gavrilo Princip, a murder that sparked World War I. This resulted in the end of Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and the creation of the multicultural Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the Balkan region. Later, after World War II, the area was designated the capital of the communist Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, leading to rapid expansion of its population and businesses with investment in infrastructure and economic development.

 

In 1984, Sarajevo hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics, which marked a prosperous era for the city. However, after the start of the Yugoslav Wars, the city suffered the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare, for a total of 1,425 days, from April 1992 to February 1996, during the Bosnian War.

 

With continued post-war reconstruction in the aftermath, Sarajevo is the fastest growing city in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The travel guide series Lonely Planet ranked Sarajevo as the 43rd best city in the world. In December 2009, it recommended Sarajevo as one of the top ten cities to visit in 2010.

 

In 2011, Sarajevo was nominated as the 2014 European Capital of Culture. It was selected to host the European Youth Olympic Festival. In addition, in October 2019, Sarajevo was designated as a UNESCO Creative City for having placed culture at the center of its development strategies. It is also ranked as one of the world's eighteen Cities of Film.

A dosing Otter - one of the characters on show at the Ranua Wildlife Park, Finland. Love the texture on it's nose

Pattern includes easy to follow instructions.

 

Materials Needed:

 

Straight knitting needles, size US 7 (4.5mm)

100% Cotton Medium/Worsted Weight yarn [60 yards]

In any color you choose.

Stitches: knit & purl.

Skill: Beginner

Finished Size: 7W X 7 1/4 H (18cn X 18.5 cm)

Darning needle needed for finishing.

 

This pattern will be delivered via email as an attached PDF file to anywhere in the world.

 

Pattern can be found @ www.artfire.com/users/Ezcareknits or @ www.etsy.com/shop/ezcareknits

Semua Photo daLam Album Ini merupakan MILIK para narasumber beserta hak ciptanya. Terima Kasih

The United States Navy's Blue Angels (or Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron), formed in 1946, is the world's first officially-sanctioned military aerial demonstration team.

 

This aerobatic team is split into "the Diamond" (Blue Angels 1 through 4) and the Opposing Solos (Blue Angels 5 and 6). Most of their displays alternate between maneuvers performed by the Diamond and those performed by the Solos.

 

The Diamond, in tight formation and usually at lower speeds, performs maneuvers such as formation loops, barrel rolls, or transitions from one formation to another.

 

The Opposing Solos usually perform maneuvers just under the speed of sound which showcase the capabilities of their individual F/A-18s through the execution of high-speed passes, slow passes, fast rolls, slow rolls, and very tight turns. Some of the maneuvers include both solo F/A-18s performing at once, such as opposing passes (toward each other in what appears to be a collision course, narrowly missing one another) and mirror formations (back-to-back. belly-to-belly, or wingtip-to-wingtip, with one jet flying inverted).

 

At the end of the routine, all six aircraft join in the Delta formation. After a series of flat passes, turns, loops, and rolls performed in this formation, they execute the team's signature "fleur-de-lis" closing maneuver.

 

The parameters of each show must be tailored to local visibility: in clear weather the "high" show is performed, in overcast conditions it is the "low" show that the spectators see, and in limited visibility (weather permitting) the "flat" show is presented. The "high" show requires an 8,000 foot ceiling and visibility of three nautical miles from the show's centerpoint. "Low" and "flat" ceilings are 3,500 and 1,500 feet respectively.

Fish, surf, or sail in this sit-on-top Manta™ tandem kayak from Lifetime Products. Built-in features include contoured seats for up to 3 people, a paddle cradle, a mast receiver receptacle, a fishing pole holder, and a forward cargo area with shock cord straps. Tunnel hull design provides ultimate stability so it's practically impossible to tip over. This model also includes two padded backrests and two paddles. So convenient to use and lots of fun for the whole family. The lightweight durable plastic construction makes it easy to transport in a truck, SUV, or minivan. Excellent stability makes this the perfect sit-on-top kayak for beginners, but beginners and experienced kayakers alike will appreciate the innovative design and functionality of this multi-purpose kayak.

Specification Information

Model Number 90118

Quantity 1

Style Adult, sit-on-top

Seating Three

Color Yellow

Material of Construction High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) Plastic

Dimensions 10 ft (3 m) x 36 in. (91.4 cm) x 18 in. H (45.72 cm)

Product Weight 66 lbs. (29.9 kg)

Weight Capacity 500 lbs. (226.8 kg)

Includes Two padded backrests and two paddles

Paddles For beginner to intermediate kayakers. These 2 pc. symmetrical paddles assemble to 7 ft (220 cm.) Aluminum shaft has vinyl covered hand grips positions and convenient drip cups to minimize the water trickling down the paddle and up your arm. Interior foam flotation material will keep the paddle afloat if it is dropped in the water. Standard push button allows for 90 degree angle of the ABS plastic blades as well as two position feather adjustments.

Warranty 1 yr. Limited Factory Warranty

 

Built-in Features

 

Paddle cradle to secure paddle when not in use

A mast receiver receptacle

Multiple foot wells for leverage when paddling

3 contoured seats

Generous forward cargo hold with shock cord straps

Ditty trays for holding odds and ends

Bottle holder

Side carry handle with molded front and rear handles as well

Scupper holes to drain cockpit area