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All art is but imitation of nature.-- Seneca (Letters from a Stoic - Letter LXV: On the First Cause)
The universe itself is God and the universal outpouring of its soul. --Chrysippus (Quoted by Cicero in De Natura Deorum)
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Saviour, He can move the mountains,
My God is Mighty to save,
He is Mighty to save.
Forever, Author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave.
So take me as You find me,
All my fears and failures,
Fill my life again.
I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in,
Now I surrender.
I have had a very good day. I went to Church today and we sang this song above, and something just took over me. I closed my eyes and listened to the words and repeated them in my head, and i can feel something breaking apart, some sort of metaphoric wall between me and God that i've put up. There are things i need to change about myself. For the better. I am starting this week, i am minimizing flickr. I'll be on Wednesday night and i'll upload monday, tuesday and wednesday. Then Thursday and Friday on Friday adn then the weekend will be normal. I am NOT stopping my 365. I say that a lot, but i'm not. I've signed the contract, i'm running the race. I'm ready to learn. I'm ready to live for God.
This is a photograph from finish of the fourth annual running of the AON Mullingar Half Marathon which was held on Saturday 17th March 2019 (St. Patrick's Day Lá Fhéile Pádraig 2018) in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, Ireland at 10:30. This photograph was taken at at the 13 mile mark in the home straight within Mullingar Town Park. Following on from the incredible success of the first three years of the race this year the total numbers participating rose from just under 600 in 2015, 900 in 2016, over 1200 in 2017 and yet again over 1200 this year. Proceeds raised by the AON Mullingar Half Marathon will go directly to T.E.A.M (Temporary Emergency Accommodation Midlands) finding safe & secure accommodation for homeless women and children. The roots of the successs of the event last year was the excellent organisation and a very flat and fast route. All of these characteristics were repeated this year except for the weather. This was a bitterly cold day with air temperatures struggling to get above 4C and a severe wind chill from an easterly breeze making it for very difficult running conditions. Indeed the race could be described as a race of two halves in terms of weather. The first half participants had the strong, cold easterly wind at their faces. However, turning for home along the Royal Canal this became a very strong tailwind for 4 - 5 miles from around Flynn's Machinery/Junction 14 M4. Participants travelled from all over Ireland with a very large participation from runners around Mullingar and the midlands. The race has an AAI permit. The course reverted to its original route this year. Last year saw a small change to the course configuration when the race crossed the M4 Motorway at The Downs via a winding pedestrian footbridge. This was not included this year.
The race began on Pearse Street/Austin Friar's Street in the town and proceeds North East out of the town to the N52 Delvin/Dundalk road towards Lough Sheever. The course then follows beautiful rural country roads out to The Downs at the M4. The only significant hill or rise on the course occurs here at about 7 miles when runners cross a pedestrian footbridge over the M4 near Junction 14 Thomas Flynn and Sons The Downs. The race then joins the now local access route of the old N4 road and then joins the Royal Canal at Great Down. The remainder of the race follows the Royal Canal back westward to Mullingar town. The towpath on the Canal is perfectly flat and in excellent condition. Runners will notice how the level of the canal changes dramatically along the route - at points the canal is level with the towpath. In other places the canal is at least 3 meters lower than the canal path. However the path is perfectly flat and firm the whole way. The course then leaves the Royal Canal at the Ardmore Road/Millmount area of the town and finishes in the Mullingar Town Park on Austin Friar's Street beside the Annebrook Hotel. The park provides a very nice setting for the finish of the race and runners and their families can mix and congregate around the finish area and the hotel.
Timing and event management was provided by www.myrunresults.com/. Their website is here [www.myrunresults.com/] and will contain the results to today's race.
Our full set of photographs are available at: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/albums/72157664768562807
The Royal Crescent is a residential road of 30 houses, laid out in a crescent, in the city of Bath, England. Designed by the architect John Wood the Younger and built between 1767 and 1774, it is among the greatest examples of Georgian architecture to be found in the United Kingdom and is a grade I listed building. The houses have been home to various notable people for over 200 years. Changes have been made to the interiors, however the facade remains much as it was when it was built.
The Royal Crescent now include a hotel and museum with some of the houses being converted into flats and offices. The buildings have been used as a location for several films and television programs.
It was originally called just The Crescent and the adjective Royal was added at the end of the 18th century after Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany had lived at numbers 1 and 16. Wood designed the great curved façade of what appears to be about 30 three storey houses with Ionic columns on a rusticated ground floor. The columns are 30 inches (76 cm) in diameter reaching 47 feet (14.3 m) and there are 114 in total, each with an entablature 5 feet (1.5 m) deep. The central house has two sets of coupled columns.
Each purchaser bought a certain length of the façade, and then employed their own architect to build a house to their own specifications behind it; hence what appears to be two houses is sometimes one. This system of town planning is betrayed at the rear of the crescent: while the front is completely uniform and symmetrical, the rear is a mixture of differing roof heights, juxtapositions and fenestration. This "Queen Anne fronts and Mary-Anne backs" architecture occurs repeatedly in Bath.
Together with his father John Wood, the Elder, John Wood the Younger was interested in occult and masonic symbolism; perhaps their creation of largest scale was their joint design of the Royal Crescent and the nearby Circus (originally called "the King's Circus"), which from the air can be observed to be a giant circle and crescent, symbolising the soleil-lune, the sun and moon. The Circus, along with Gay Street and Queen Square, forms a key shape which is also a masonic symbol.
In front of the Royal Crescent is a Ha-ha, a trench on which the inner side of which is vertical and faced with stone, with the outer face sloped and turfed, making the trench, in effect, a sunken fence or retaining wall. The ha-ha is designed not to interrupt the view from Royal Victoria Park, and to be invisible until seen from close by. It is not known whether it was contemporary with the building of the Royal Crescent, however it is known that when it was first built it was deeper than it is at present. (Excerpted from Wikipedia)
Elsa has been deboxed. She is inserted in the base, but is without her cape.
I got the Beast Kingdom MC-005 Elsa 1/4 Scale Figure from Big Bad Toy Store today (Wednesday October 3, 2018). She is made from resin, has an excellent paint job, and stands 15 inches tall to the top of her head, or 16.5 inches to the top of her raised hand, or 18 inches tall on her stand. The base is 9.5 inches in diameter and 1 1/4 inches thick, with a non skid bottom. There is a silver plaque on the base which has the Edition number, 291, which is also on a separate Certificate of Authenticity. But there is no indication of the Edition size.
She is in her iconic Let It Go pose, same as the Maquette and many other figures. She comes in three parts, her body and dress, her cape, and the base. She has to be inserted into the base to stand, and the cape is inserted into her back. She is very stable on the base. There is silver glitter on her bodice and the snowflake and icicle patterns in her cape, and it does shed a little. She is a very accurate and very beautiful depiction of Snow Queen Elsa.
I show her being deboxed, then on the base without her cape, and finally fully assembled with her cape on.
Frozen Master Craft MC-005 Queen Elsa of Arendelle PX Previews Exclusive Statue
BY BEAST KINGDOM
BRANDS FROZEN, DISNEY
IN STOCK
$214.99
Sold by Big Bad Toy Store
Premiered in 2014, the animated motion picture Frozen has propelled Disney's motion pictures to new heights! In addition to instant fame to all characters in the movie, Frozen has also elevated Elsa to the number three spot on Disney's ranking for the most popular princess.
Beast Kingdom's MC-005 Frozen Elsa is based on the appearance of Elsa when she became the Snow Queen in the movie with her confident and resolute demeanor. The sculptor has painstakingly stayed true to the source materials from Disney so as to portray the perfect recreation of Elsa's elegance. With precise and detailed sculpting, this statue faithfully captures the look of confidence and elegant posture of Elsa.
Coupled with professional paint work and special paint materials, all details on the statue are accurate reproduction of the color scheme as seen in the animation. As she stands atop of her pearl luster base, Elsa is ready to unleash her powerful cryokinetic magic. Want to witness that breathtaking world of ice?
Come to Beast Kingdom and join Elsa in a return to the stunning scenery in the world of Frozen!
Product Features
1/4 scale
Previews Exclusive statue!
Features details from the film
Stands on her ice base!
Box Contents
Elsa of Arendelle 1/4 scale statue
More images at the manufacturer's Facebook page announcement of the figure:
Gwalior is a historical and major city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is located to 319 kilometres south of Delhi the capital city of India, Gwalior occupies a strategic location in the Gird region of India, and the city and its fortress has been ruled under several historic northern Indian kingdoms. From the Tomars in the 13th century, it passed to the Mughals, then the Marathas under the Scindias (1754).
Besides being the administrative headquarters of Gwalior district and Gwalior division, Gwalior situates many administrative offices of Chambal Division of northern Madhya Pradesh. Several administrative and judicial organizations, commissions and boards have their state as well as national headquarters situated in the city. Gwalior was the winter capital of the estwhile state Madhya Bharat which later became a part of the larger state Madhya Pradesh. Before Independence Gwalior remained a princely state of British Raj with Scindias as the local ruler. The high rocky hills surrounds the city from all sides, on the north it just forms the border of the Ganga- Yamuna Drainage Basin.the city however is situated on the valley between the hills of Plateau. Gwalior's metropolitan area includes Lashkar, Morar, Thatipur and the City center.
Gwalior is especially known for it rich contribution to the history of India. Strategic events and times; from vedic ages to the Indian Rebellion of 1857 to the British Raj, Gwalior has emerged as a prominent place making it an important archaeological as well as historical site. The rich heritage of art and culture and especially contribution of Gwalior to the classical music is worth mentioning.
Post independence, Gwalior has emerged as an important tourist attraction in central India as well as many industries and administrative offices came up within the city. Before the end of the 20th century it became a million plus agglomeration and now it is a metropolitan city in the central India.Gwalior is surrounded by industrial and commercial zones of neighbouring districts (Malanpur – Bhind, Banmor – Morena) on all three main directions. Gwalior is one of the largest cities of Central India and is often referred to as the tourist capital of Madhya Pradesh; the state being called as The Heart of Incredible India.
A recent report of World Health Organization found Gwalior to be the third-most polluted city in the world.
ORIGIN OF NAME
According to local tradition, Gwalior owes its name to a sage of former times. Suraj Sen, a prince of the Sikarwar Rajput clan of the eighth century, is said to have lost his way in the forest. On a secluded hill, he met an old man, the sage Gwalipa, whose influence almost took him by surprise. Upon asking the sage for some drinking water, he was led to a pond, where the waters not only quenched his thirst but cured him of leprosy. Out of gratitude, the prince wished to offer the sage something in return, and the sage asked him to build a wall on the hill to protect the other sages from wild animals which often disturbed their yajnas (or pujas). Suraj Sen later built a palace inside the fort, which was named "Gwalior" after the sage, and eventually the city that grew around the fort took the same name.
HISTORY
After being founded by Maharaj Suraj Sen, Gwalior Fort saw many many different rulers capturing it and ruling the city around it.Gwalior became a prominent place for religious practices, cultures and other disciplines coming up during that time in the country. .During 6th century BC Gwalior was ruled by the Naad dynasty of Pataliputra. During the first century AD Gwalior came under Naag Dynasty. From the carving found at Pavaya it has been discovered that the kushanas ruled the city till the 3rd century AD. After that it came under the Guptas till 467 AD. During the 5th century, The Kannauj of Pratihara Dynasty ruled Gwalior and played a prominent role in shaping its history. From 700–740 AD Gwalior (fondly called then as Gopal Giri) became the capital of Kannauj. A Magnificent Sun Temple was created at the fort hill during that period which later was destroyed.
Later Kachwaha became the rulers of Gwalior. The Padavali Group of Monuments near Morena, Sahastrabahu Temple at the Fort, Kankadmad, were built under their rule.
During 1195–96 Mahhamed Gauri invaded Gwalior and created a mass destruction with attempts to capture Gwalior. But he failed as the fort of Gwalior was unconquerable under the brave efforts of Parihars. In 1231 Itutmish captured Gwalior after an 11-month-long effort and from then till the 13th century it remained under Muslim Rule. In 1375, Raja Veer Singh was made the ruler of Gwalior and he founded the rule of the tomars in Gwalior. During those years, Gwalior saw its golden period.
The Jain Sculptures at Gwalior Fort were built during Tomar's rule Raja Man Singh made his dream palace the Maan Mandir Palace which is now the centre of attraction of Gwalior Fort. Babur described this Palace as a pearl in the necklace of forts in India and said that not even the winds could touch its masts.The daily Light and Sound Show tells about the beautiful history of the Gwalior Fort and Man Mandir Palace. Later during the 1730s the Scindia Captured Gwalior and it remain a princely state during the British Rule.
Ganesh temple at Gwalior Fort has the very first occurrence of zero as a written number in the world. By the 15th century, the city had a noted singing school which was attended by Tansen. Gwalior was ruled by the Mughals and then the Marathas.
REVOLT OF 1857
Gwalior is also known for its participation in the 1857 revolt, mainly due to Rani Lakshmibai's involvement. After Kalpi (Jhansi) fell into the hands of the British on 24 May 1858, Lakshmibai sought shelter at Gwalior Fort. The Maharaja of Gwalior was not willing to give up his fort without a fight as he was a nominal ally of the British, but after negotiations, his troops capitulated and the rebels took possession of the fort. The British wasted no time in attacking Gercest, the bloodiest battle ever fought on Indian soil. Indian forces numbered around 20,000, and British forces around 1600. Lakshmibai's example is remembered to this day by Indian nationalists. She died fighting, and Gwalior was captured. Tatya Tope and Rao Sahib escaped. Tatya Tope was later captured and hanged in April 1859.
SCINDIA STATE OF GWALIOR
Scindia is a Maratha clan in India. This clan included rulers of the Gwalior State in the 18th and 19th centuries, collaborators of the colonial British government during the 19th and the 20th centuries until India became independent, and politicians in independent India.
The Scindia state of Gwalior became a major regional power in the second half of the 18th century and figured prominently in the three Anglo-Maratha Wars. (Gwalior first fell to the British in 1780.) The Scindias held significant power over many of the Rajput states, and conquered the state of Ajmer. During the Indian Rebellion of 1857 the city was briefly held by rebel forces in 1858 until they were defeated by the British. The Scindia family ruled Gwalior until India's independence from the United Kingdom in 1947, when the Maharaja Jivajirao Scindia acceded to the Government of India. Gwalior was merged with a number of other princely states to become the new Indian state of Madhya Bharat. Jivajirao Scindia served as the state's rajpramukh, or appointed governor, from 28 May 1948 to 31 October 1956, when Madhya Bharat was merged into Madhya Pradesh.
In 1962, Rajmata Vijayraje Scindia, the widow of Maharaja Jivajirao Scindia, was elected to the Lok Sabha, beginning the family's career in electoral politics. She was first a member of the Congress Party, and later became an influential member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Her son, Maharaja Madhavrao Scindia was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1971 representing the Congress Party, and served until his death in 2001. His son, Jyotiraditya Scindia, also in the Congress Party, was elected to the seat formerly held by his father in 2004.
OLD TOWN
The old town of Gwalior, commonly called is kila gate and then about 1 km away is hazira largest area in old town, which is of considerable size but irregularly built, lies at the eastern base of the rock. It contains the tomb of the Sufi saints, Khwaja Khanoon and Muhammad Ghaus, erected during the early part of Mughal emperor Akbar’s reign, and the tomb of Mian Tansen, a great singer and one of the 'Nine Jewels' of Akbar's court. A town called by his name Ghauspura situated near the tomb of Mohaommed Ghaus.reold town consisted of some streets and mohallas which are presumed to be 700 to 800 yrs old areas in gwalior which are still backward areas in gwalior due to improper management of new town. these old areas are as follows.
1)koteshwar temple- this temple is 700 yrs old temple of lord shiva whose shivling was on gwalior fort but when mughals conquered the fort they ordered to threw out the shivaling fort when his troophs done that,shivaling was automatically established in a field below fort without any harm then Muslim qazi told emperor not to do harm to shivaling then in late 18th century scindians build a temple for that shivaling now popularly known as koteshwar mahadev.
2) Ghas mandi- this area is presumed to be 700 years old it was established around the 15th century this place was used by local population for business by selling grass for feeding animals for king and other rich persons.
3) Baba Kapoor- this place is 500 meters away from ghas mandi actually this place was given name baba kapoor because of a famous saint shah abdul gafoor his mazar is there in this area that's why this place is called as baba kapoor and this area consist of 90% Muslims in whole gwalior.
4) kashi naresh ki gali- this a 600 yrs old residential street in gwalior it was given name as kashi naresh ki gali because in the 14th century when the emperor of kashi was defeated in war he was sent to exile by oppositions at that time gwalior emperor and kashi's emperor were good friends when kashi's emperor told gwalior's emperor whole story, emperor gave him an entire street for living at that time which is now known as kashi naresh ki gali. their family is even now resides there in kashi naresh ki gali in RAJAJI KA BADA. meanings- naresh =king = rajaji. gali =street in Hindi language. bada= big area.
5) Loha Mandi- this place is also 600yrs old in gwalior. this place was used for buying iron materials.
6) Hazira- it was the main market place of gwalior that time nowadays this place is too much congested because of its irregular and unplanned structure which was made by old merchants in the 15th century.
All these areas are very considered to be very important areas in historical point of view even now many times many historical coins, jwellery, arms etc. founded in houses when a person try to reniewate the house and these areas also many unpredictable secrets. The town has a museum situated in the Gujari Mahal.
WIKIPEDIA
"Hitomi ugly is love." Author. Comedy female trio of Japan. Of "Morisancyu" "Miyuki Oshima".
Dating the first marriage! Popular broadcast writer, living together for the first time, home cooking for the first time, I can continue to be bullied and Buss fat from an early age, had never to talk for 10 minutes or more men and, for the first time without courtship jealousy. And that love I knew the first time really, the people, to be loved. About his marriage to the current bullying from childhood, laughter, excitement essay of tears.
Greenish Warbler
The greenish warbler (Phylloscopus trochiloides) is a widespread leaf warbler with a breeding range in northeastern Europe and temperate to subtropical continental Asia. This warbler is strongly migratory and winters in India. It is not uncommon as a spring or early autumn vagrant in Western Europe and is annually seen in Great Britain. In Central Europe large numbers of vagrant birds are encountered in some years; some of these may stay to breed, as a handful of pairs does each year in Germany.
Like all leaf warblers, it was formerly placed in the "Old World warbler" assemblage, but now belongs to the new leaf-warbler family Phylloscopidae. The genus name Phylloscopus is from Ancient Greek phullon, "leaf", and skopos, "seeker" (from skopeo, "to watch"). The specific trochiloides is from Ancient Greek trokhalos, "bowed", and -oides "resembling", from the similarity to the willow warbler, P. trochilus.
This is a typical leaf warbler in appearance, grayish-green above and off-white below. The single wing bar found in the southern and western populations distinguishes them from most similar species (except Arctic warbler P. borealis). It is slightly smaller than that species and has a thinner bill, without a dark tip to the lower mandible. A latitude-based analysis of wintering birds indicated that more northerly P. trochiloides are smaller, i.e. this species does not seem to follow Bergmann's rule.
Its song is a high jerky trill, in some populations containing a sequence of down- and more rarely up slurred notes.
It breeds in lowland deciduous or mixed forest; non-breeding birds in the warmer parts of its range may move to montane habitat in summer. Individuals from southeast of the Himalayas are for example quite often seen in Bhutan during the hot months, typically in humid Bhutan Fir (Abies densa) forest up to about 3,800 meters ASL or more, but they do not breed there and return again to the adjacent subtropical lowlands in winter.
The nest is on the ground in low shrub. Like its relatives, this small passerine is insectivorous.
It has a number of subspecies, of which P. t . viridianus is the most familiar in Europe. As it seems, it is a ring species, with populations diverging east- and westwards of the Tibetan Plateau, later meeting on the northern side. Their relationships are therefore fairly confusing:
Eastern group: greenish warblers
Phylloscopus trochiloides trochiloides: greenish warbler
Southern rim of the Himalaya eastwards from Nepal into W China.
Dusky greyish green above, often traces of second wing bar.
Phylloscopus trochiloides obscuratus: dull-green warbler
Intermediate between trochiloides and two-barred warbler.
Gansu and surroundings, China.
Western group: green warblers
Phylloscopus trochiloides viridanus: western greenish warbler
Breeds Western Siberia to north-east Europe; at east of range south to NW India.
Dull green above, with yellowish supercilium, throat, breast and faint wing bar.
The groups' origin lies probably in the Himalayan region, where trochiloides is found. This taxon is close to the parapatric obscuratus, and to plumbeitarsus which is geographically separated from obscuratus; they all can (and in the case of the former two do naturally) hybridize. P. t. plumbeitarsus is often split as distinct species, as it does not hybridize with viridianus in the narrow zone in the western Sayan Mountains where their ranges overlap.
But phylogenetically, the western taxa are even more distinct. However, there is some gene flow between trochiloides and viridianus also, with their hybrids being especially common in Baltistan; they were once considered another subspecies ludlowi. The green warbler P. nitidus, now by many considered a distinct species, is a mountain isolate that diverged from ancestral viridianus.
Song structure differs mainly between greenish warbler and two-barred warbler, which was formerly considered conspecific. The former has a fairly uniform, long, and warbling song. Around the Himalayas, song structure is similar, but songs are generally shorter. Two-barred warbler, on the other hand, has a long song that can be clearly divided into a warbling part, followed by series of up- and down slurred notes. The songs of obscuratus, and, interestingly, "ludlowi", are short, but contain the downslur elements too; in the latter, they uniquely appear at the start of the song.
This is outside the Indian Embassy High Commission in Aldwych. Every week day morning there are long queues of people waiting to get their visas.
"Off-duty detective constable Jim Morrison, 26, a Scot, was stabbed in Aldwych, central London, after approaching a suspected thief in December 1991." - Scotsman, 15 Jan 2003
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The Beagle is a breed of small to medium-sized dog. A member of the Hound Group, it is similar in appearance to the Foxhound but smaller, with shorter legs and longer, softer ears. Beagles are scent hounds, developed primarily for tracking hare, rabbit, and other game. They have a keen sense of smell and tracking instinct that sees them employed as detection dogs for prohibited agricultural imports and foodstuffs in quarantine around the world. Beagles are intelligent, and are popular as pets because of their size, even temper, and lack of inherited health problems.
The Soviet War Memorial is a vast war memorial and military cemetery in Berlin's Treptower Park. It was built to the design of the Soviet architect Yakov Belopolsky to commemorate 7,000 of the 80,000 Soviet soldiers who fell in the Battle of Berlin in April–May 1945. It opened four years after World War II on May 8, 1949. The Memorial served as the central war memorial of East Germany.
At the conclusion of World War II, three Soviet war memorials were built in the city of Berlin to commemorate Soviet deaths in World War II, especially the 80,000 that died during the Battle of Berlin. The memorials are not only commemorative, but also serve as cemeteries for those killed.
A competition was announced shortly after the end of the war for the design of the park. The competition attracted 33 entries, with the eventual design a hybrid of the submissions of the architect Jakow S. Belopolski, sculptor Yevgeny Vuchetich, painter Alexander A. Gorpenko and engineer Sarra S. Walerius. The sculptures, reliefs, and 2.5 meter diameter "Flammenschalen" (flame bowls) were cast at the Kunstgießerei Lauchhammer in 1948. The memorial itself was built in Treptower Park on land previously occupied by a sports field. The memorial was completed in 1949. The stones and granite that were used in the construction came from the demolished New Reich Chancellery.
Around the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall, unknown persons vandalized parts of the memorial with anti-Soviet graffiti. The Spartacist party claimed that the vandals were right-wing extremists and arranged a demonstration on January 3, 1990, which the PDS supported; 250,000 GDR citizens participated. Through the demonstrations, the newly formed party stayed true to the communist roots of its founding party, and attempted to gain political influence. PDS chairman Gregor Gysi took this opportunity to call for a Verfassungsschutz ("Constitution Protection") for the GDR, and questioned whether the Amt für Nationale Sicherheit (Department of National Security, the successor of the Stasi) should be reorganized or phased out. Historian Stefan Wolle believes that Stasi officers may have been behind the vandalism, since they feared for their jobs.
As part of the Two Plus Four Agreement, Germany agreed to assume maintenance and repair responsibility for all war memorials in the country, including the Soviet memorial in Treptower Park. However, Germany must consult the Russian Federation before undertaking any changes to the memorial.
Since 1995, an annual vigil has taken place at the memorial on May 9, organized by (among others) the Bund der Antifaschisten Treptow e.V. ("Anti-fascist Coalition of Treptow"). The motto of the event is the "Day of Freedom", corresponding to Victory Day, a Russian holiday and the final surrender of German soldiers at the end of World War II.
The focus of the ensemble is a monument by Soviet sculptor Yevgeny Vuchetich: a 12-m tall statue of a Soviet soldier with a sword holding a German child, standing over a broken swastika. According to Marshal of the Soviet Union Vasily Chuikov, the Vuchetich statue commemorates the deeds of Sergeant of Guards Nikolai Masalov, who during the final storm on the center of Berlin risked his life under heavy German machine-gun fire to rescue a three-year-old German girl whose mother had apparently disappeared.
Before the monument is a central area lined on both sides by 16 stone sarcophagi, one for each of the 16 Soviet Republics (in 1940–56 then up to the reorganization of the Karelo-Finnish SSR into the Karelian ASSR there were 16 "union republics") with relief carvings of military scenes and quotations from Joseph Stalin, on one side in Russian, on the other side the same text in German: "Now all recognize that the Soviet people with their selfless fight saved the civilization of Europe from fascist thugs. This was a great achievement of the Soviet people to the history of mankind". The area is the final resting place for some 5000 soldiers of the Red Army.
At the opposite end of the central area from the statue is a portal consisting of a pair of stylized Soviet flags built of red granite. These are flanked by two statues of kneeling soldiers.
Beyond the flag monuments is a further sculpture, along the axis formed by the soldier monument, the main area, and the flags, is another figure, of the Motherland weeping at the loss of her sons.
In recent years, the ensemble has undergone a thorough renovation. In 2003 the main statue was removed and sent to a workshop on the island of Rügen for refurbishment. It was replaced on May 4, 2004.
Source Wikipedia
One of my favourite places in Berlin.
Second time we've visited in four years.
French postcard by Erpé, no. 30. Photo: Paramount.
Blue-eyed American actor Henry Fonda (1905-1982) exemplified not only integrity and strength, but an ideal of the common man fighting against social injustice and oppression. He is most remembered for his roles as Abe Lincoln in Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath (1940), for which he received an Academy Award Nomination, and more recently, Norman Thayer in On Golden Pond (1981), for which he received an Oscar for Best Actor in 1982. Notably he also played against character as the villain 'Frank' in Sergio Leone's classic Spaghetti Western Once upon a time in the West (1968). Fonda is considered one of Hollywood's old-time legends and his lifelong career spanned almost 50 years.
Henry Jaynes Fonda was born in Grand Island, Nebraska in 1905. His parents were Elma Herberta (Jaynes) and William Brace Fonda, who worked in advertising and printing and was the owner of the W. B. Fonda Printing Company in Omaha, Nebraska. His distant ancestors were Italians who had fled their country around 1400 and moved to Holland, presumably because of political or religious persecution. In the early1600's, they crossed the Atlantic and were among the early Dutch settlers in America. They established a still-thriving small town in upstate New York named Fonda, named after patriarch Douw Fonda, who was later killed by Indians. In 1919, young Henry was a first-hand witness to the Omaha race riots and the brutal lynching of Will Brown. This enraged the 14 years old Fonda and he kept a keen awareness of prejudice for the rest of his life. Following graduation from high school in 1923, Henry got a part-time job in Minneapolis with the Northwestern Bell Telephone Company which allowed him at first to pursue journalistic studies at the University of Minnesota. In 1925, having returned to Omaha, Henry reevaluated his options and came to the conclusion that journalism was not his forte, after all. For a while, he tried his hand at several temporary jobs, including as a mechanic and a window dresser. At age 20, Fonda started his acting career at the Omaha Community Playhouse, when his mother's friend Dodie Brando (mother of Marlon Brando) recommended that he try out for a juvenile part in You and I, in which he was cast as Ricky. Then he received the lead in Merton of the Movies and realized the beauty of acting as a profession. It allowed him to deflect attention from his own tongue-tied personality and create stage characters relying on someone else's scripted words. The play and its star received fairly good notices in the local press. It ran for a week, and for the rest of the repertory season, Henry advanced to assistant director which enabled him to design and paint sets as well as act. A casual trip to New York, however, had already made him set his sights on Broadway. In 1926, he moved to the Cape Cod University Players, where he met his future wife Margaret Sullavan. His first professional role was in The Jest, by Sem Benelli. James Stewart joined the Players a few months after Fonda left, but he would become his closest lifelong friend. In 1928, Fonda went east to New York to be with Margaret Sullavan, and to expand his theatrical career on Broadway. His first Broadway role was a small one in A Game of Love and Death with Alice Brady and Claude Rains. Henry played leads opposite Margaret Sullavan, who became the first of his five wives in 1931. They broke up in 1933. In 1934, he got a break of sorts, when he was given the chance to present a comedy sketch with Imogene Coca in the Broadway revue New Faces. That year, he also hired Leland Hayward as his personal management agent and this was to pay off handsomely. Major Broadway roles followed, including New Faces of America and The Farmer Takes a Wife. The following year he married Frances Seymour Brokaw with whom he had two children: Jane Fonda and Peter Fonda, also to become screen stars.
The 29-year old Henry Fonda was persuaded by Leland Hayward to become a Hollywood actor, despite initial misgivings and reluctance on Henry's part. Independent producer Walter Wanger, whose growing stock company was birthed at United Artists, needed a star for The Farmer Takes a Wife (Victor Fleming, 1935) opposite Janet Gaynor. I.S. Mowis at IMDb: “With both first choice actors Gary Cooper and Joel McCrea otherwise engaged, Henry was the next available option. After all, he had just completed a successful run on Broadway in the stage version. The cheesy publicity tag line for the picture was "you'll be fonder of Fonda", but the film was an undeniable hit.” Wanger, realizing he had a good thing going, next cast Henry in a succession of A-grade pictures which capitalized on his image as the sincere, unaffected country boy. Pick of the bunch were the Technicolor outdoor Western The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (Henry Hathaway, 1936) with Sylvia Sidney, and the gritty Depression-era drama You Only Live Once (Fritz Lang, 1937) with Henry as a back-to-the-wall good guy forced into becoming a fugitive from the law by circumstance). Then followed the screwball comedy The Moon's Our Home (William A. Seiter, 1936) with ex-wife Margaret Sullavan, the excellent pre-civil war-era romantic drama Jezebel (William Wyler, 1938) featuring Bette Davis, and the Western Jesse James ( Henry King, 1939) starring Tyrone Power. Fonda rarely featured in comedy, except for a couple of good turns opposite Barbara Stanwyck and Gene Tierney - with both he shared an excellent on-screen chemistry - in The Mad Miss Manton (Leigh Jason, 1938), The Lady Eve (Preston Sturges, 1941) and the successful Rings on Her Fingers (Rouben Mamoulian, 1942). Henry gave his best screen performance to date in Young Mr. Lincoln (John Ford, 1939), a fictionalized account of the early life of the American president as a young lawyer facing his greatest court case. Henry made two more films with director John Ford: the pioneering drama Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) with Claudette Colbert, and The Grapes of Wrath (1940), an adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel about an Oklahoma family who moved west during the Dust Bowl. In his career-defining role as Tom Joad, Fonda played the archetypal grassroots American trying to stand up against oppression. His relationship with Ford would end on the set of Mister Roberts (John Ford, Mervyn LeRoy, 1955) when he objected to Ford's direction of the film. Ford punched Fonda and had to be replaced.
The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford, 1940) set the tone for Henry Fonda’s subsequent career. In this vein, he gave a totally convincing, though historically inaccurate, portrayal in the titular role of The Return of Frank James (Fritz Lang, 1940), a rare example of a sequel improving upon the original. He projected integrity and quiet authority whether he played lawman Wyatt Earp in My Darling Clementine (John Ford, 1946) or a reluctant posse member in The Ox-Bow Incident (William A. Wellman, 1943). In between these two films, Fonda enlisted in the Navy to fight in World War II, saying, and served in the Navy for three years. He then starred in The Fugitive (John Ford, 1947), and Fort Apache (John Ford, 1948), as a rigid Army colonel, along with John Wayne and Shirley Temple in her first adult role. The following years, he did not appear in many films. Fonda was one of the most active, and most vocal, liberal Democrats in Hollywood. During the 1930s, he had been a founding member of the Hollywood Democratic Committee, formed in support of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal agenda. In 1947, in the middle of the McCarthy witch hunt, he moved to New York, not returning to Hollywood until 1955. His son Peter Fonda writes in his autobiography Don't Tell Dad: A Memoir (1999) that he believes that Henry's liberalism caused him to be gray-listed during the early 1950s. Fonda returned to Broadway to play the title role in Mister Roberts for which he won the Tony Award as best dramatic actor. In 1979, he won a second special Tony, and was nominated for a Tony Award Clarence Darrow (1975). Later he played a juror committed to the ideal of total justice in 12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet, 1957) which he also produced, and a nightclub musician wrongly accused of murder in The Wrong Man (Alfred Hitchcock, 1956). During the next decade, he played in The Longest Day (Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton a.o., 1962), How the West Was Won (John Ford, Henry Hathaway, George Marshall, 1962) and as a poker-playing grifter in the Western comedy A Big Hand for the Little Lady (Fielder Cook, 1966) with Joanne Woodward. A big hit was the family comedy Yours, Mine and Ours (Melvillle Shavelson, 1968), in which he co-starred with Lucille Ball. The same year, just to confound those who would typecast him, he gave a chilling performance as one of the coldest, meanest stone killers ever to roam the West, in Sergio Leone's Western epic C'era una volta il West/Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) opposite Charles Bronson and Claudia Cardinale. With James Stewart, he teamed up in Firecreek (Vincent McEveety, 1968), where Fonda again played the heavy, and the Western omedy The Cheyenne Social Club (Gene Kelly, 1970). Despite his old feud with John Ford, Fonda spoke glowingly of the director in Peter Bogdanovich's documentary Directed by John Ford (1971). Fonda had refused to participate until he learned that Ford had insisted on casting Fonda as the lead in the film version of Mr. Roberts (1955), reviving Fonda's film career after concentrating on the stage for years. Illness curtailed Fonda’s work in the 1970s. In 1976, Fonda returned in the World War II blockbuster Midway (Jack Smight, 1976) with Charlton Heston. Fonda finished the 1970s in a number of disaster films wilth all-star casts: the Italian killer octopus thriller Tentacoli/Tentacles (Ovidio G. Assonitis, 1977), Rollercoaster (James Goldstone, 1977) with Richard Widmark, the killer bee action film The Swarm (Irwin Allen, 1978), the global disaster film Meteor (Ronald Neame, 1979), with Sean Connery, and the Canadian production City on Fire (Alvin Rakoff, 1979), which also featured Shelley Winters and Ava Gardner. His final screen role was as an octogenarian in On Golden Pond (Mark Rydell, 1981), in which he was joined by Katharine Hepburn and his daughter Jane. It finally won him an Oscar on the heels of an earlier Honorary Academy Award. Too ill to attend the ceremony, Henry Fonda died soon after at the age of 77, having left a lasting legacy matched by few of his peers. His later wives were Susan Blanchard (1950-1956), Leonarda Franchetti (1957-1961) and Shirlee Fonda (1965- till his death in 1982). With Blanchard he had a daughter, Amy Fishman (1953). His grandchildren are the actors Bridget Fonda, Justin Fonda, Vanessa Vadim and Troy Garity.
Sources: Laurence Dang (IMDb), I.S. Mowis (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.
Today is the day where Australians don't get boxed in mini cubicles, the get boxed in on the rails.
Today is the day where every Australian feels they are experts of the whole racing phenomena.
Today is the day where everyone downs tools to get behind the little man beating the shit out of their selected phillies.
Today is the day where Australia dares to dream that their lazy $100 bucks will earn them a few grand that will go towards a night of no good.
I am one of these people.
Today is Melbourne Cup day!
Bosses hate it.
Clients hate it.
Society needs it.
A day when women don on extra large hats.
A day when people take their alcoholism to acceptable heights.
A day that unites the nation.
Today I did butt-fuck-all at work… left at 1 and hit the local uncrowded bar to basically put my hard earned cash on a four-legged beast of burden.
A last minute bet saw my $100 turn into $500.
The thing was… as with everyone else, you never walk away with a winning pot. No, you keep on striving for an even bigger winning.
I ended up losing the $500 and then $100 more.
I lost $200 on a 4 horse race.
How that happens… only I seem to know.
Either way, it is a hell of a lot of fun.
I dedicate this shot to the memory of the horse.
I'll see you next year, my long faced friend.
Bibo is a God Monster with intelligence. He has two big eyes, and he knows very well what people want to do. He cannot speak, but only "Bi-Bo." When there is any danger happened, he will speak. The top of his head will light up and his hip will makes many colorful smoke to help him survive because this smoke is very stinking and it can hinder the sight of his enemies. We love Bibo very much because he always survive by using some funny ways.
The Palácio Nacional da Ajuda is a neoclassical monument in the city of Lisbon, in Portugal. The Palace was built during the 19th century to be a residence for the Kings of Portugal.
The site where the Palace stands, in the neighbourhood of Ajuda, was previously occupied by the Royal Tent (Real Barraca), a wooden structure that housed King José I after the Ribeira Palace was destroyed in the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake. After this wooden structure was destroyed by fire in 1794, during the reign of Queen Mary I and Prince John VI, a new Palace begun to be built by architect Manuel Caetano de Sousa, who planned a late baroque-rococo building. The lower storeys of the towers of the Palace, with typical rococo windows, date from this time.
In 1802, the project was entrusted to the Portuguese José da Costa e Silva and the Italian Francisco Xavier Fabri, who planned a magnificent building in the modern neoclassical style. In 1807 the Royal Family had to flee to Brazil, following the invasion of Portugal by French troops, and the works proceeded very slowly with Fabri taking charge of the project, later followed by António Francisco Rosa. Lack of financial resources would cause the project to be greatly reduced in scale.
The Palace became a permanent residence of the royal family during the reign of King Luis I (after 1861) and his wife, the Italian princess Maria Pia of Savoy. Their architect, Possidónio da Silva, introduced many aesthetic changes and turned one of the lateral façades into the main façade. After the death of her husband, Queen Maria Pia continued to live in the palace until a military coup overthrew the monarchy in 1910. It is now a museum.
The Ajuda National Palace is one of the earliest neoclassical buildings in Lisbon. The Palace is square-shaped with a central courtyard. The West wing of the palace is unfinished, while the East wing is now the main façade with two towers at the corners. The central part of the façade has a tympanum with the coat-of-arms of Portugal and an entrance hall with statues of the virtues by Joaquim Machado de Castro and his disciples dating from the early 19th century. The interiors were decorated by many important 19th century Portuguese artists.
This is a photograph is from a set of photographs from the Castlepollard 5KM Road Race and Fun Run 2017, also known as the Tullynally Challenge, which was held in Castlepollard, Co. Westmeath, Ireland on Wednesday 16th August 2017 at 20:00. The race is hosted by North Westmeath Athletic Club. The weather was reasonably good for road racing. The participants had a very stiff breeze in their faces on the outward stretch and all the way to the 2KM mark within Tullynally. This then became a helpful tailwail for the final KM of the race.
Starting off many years ago the race was very much a local affair drawing runners from the sounding areas of Mullingar, North East Meath, Cavan, and Longford. However, the race has grown in stature and popularity over the years and is now one of the most well attended road races in the midlands and sees participants from all over Ireland. The race offers prizes in all categories. The Castlepollard 5KM Road Race attempts to support young runners and walkers by organising a range of underage races around the town square before the adult race at 20:00. Profits from the race go towards grassroots athletics in the region - North Westmeath Athletics, Schools Cross Country, and local community games. As summer moves into autumn the Castlepollard 5KM can be considered as the unofficial ending of summer evening road racing in the midlands as with the fading light of the late summer evenings comes less opportunities to hold races in the evening time. Castlepollard is a small town located in North County Westmeath amongst the lakes of Lough Lene and Lough Derravagh. One of the show pieces of the race landscape is Tullynally Castle which provides almost 2.5KM of the race route. The name Tullynally is an adaption of 'Tulaigh an Eallaigh' – the Hill of the Swan. The hill overlooks the mythical Lough Derravaragh. Irish folklore legend names the lake as where the Children of Lir, who were turned into swans, were destined to live for 300 years. Tullynally Castle is still a family home to this day.
One of the enduring symbols of the Castlepollard 5KM is the tireless work of Andy MacEoin of North Westmeath AC who has been a visitor to almost every road race in the Midlands and beyond over the past number of months to publicize the event. Many of the participants tonight will have seen Andy's strategically placed advertising signs around other road race routes. Certainly this work, and that of many other members of North Westmeath AC, has paid off well.
The race begins near the center of the town square and proceeds directly out the R395 towards Coole and Edgeworthstown. The first KM is flat and quick allowing the field to spread out. The race then enters the Tullynally Castle estate and proceeds up the tree-lined avenue. The gardens, like the castle are on a grand scale, taking in nearly 12 acres. This allows the race to make a big loop of the gardens with a quick downhill stretch followed by a sharp climb before the race rejoins it's outgoing path for the final 1.5KM of the race. The final 1100M from the gate of the Castle grounds to the finish is as the first - fast and flat and allows for a great finish passing the GAA grounds with finish line just outside the local Fire Station.
This year almost 400 took part in the race. It goes without saying that the Castlepollard 5KM has become one of the "must do" road race events in the midlands. Everything that is good about club road racing in Ireland can be found here.
Electronic Timing and Event Management are provided by MyRunResults and their website is www.myrunresults.com.
We have a full set of photographs from tonight's race which is available on our Flickr photostream: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/albums/72157684179507162
We have photographs from six of the previous Castlepollard 5KM road races - 2012 was missed. They are available here on Flickr:
Our Flickr Photographs from Castlepollard 5KM 2016: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/albums/72157672157788196
Our Flickr Photographs from Castlepollard 5KM 2015: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157656750245820
Our Flickr Photographs from Castlepollard 5KM 2014: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157646408272725
Our Flickr Photographs from Castlepollard 5KM 2013: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157635070120285
Our Flickr Photographs from Castlepollard 5KM 2011: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157627404031092
Our Flickr Photographs from Castlepollard 5KM 2010: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157624655001130
Our Flickr Photographs from Castlepollard 5KM 2009: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157622023529006
Can I use these photographs directly from Flickr on my social media account(s)?
Yes - of course you can! Flickr provides several ways to share this and other photographs in this Flickr set. You can share directly to: email, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Tumblr, LiveJournal, and Wordpress and Blogger blog sites. Your mobile, tablet, or desktop device will also offer you several different options for sharing this photo page on your social media outlets.
BUT..... Wait there a minute....
We take these photographs as a hobby and as a contribution to the running community in Ireland. We do not charge for our photographs. Our only "cost" is that we request that if you are using these images: (1) on social media sites such as Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter,LinkedIn, Google+, VK.com, Vine, Meetup, Tagged, Ask.fm,etc or (2) other websites, blogs, web multimedia, commercial/promotional material that you must provide a link back to our Flickr page to attribute us or acknowledge us as the original photographers.
This also extends to the use of these images for Facebook profile pictures. In these cases please make a separate wall or blog post with a link to our Flickr page. If you do not know how this should be done for Facebook or other social media please email us and we will be happy to help suggest how to link to us.
I want to download these pictures to my computer or device?
You can download this photographic image here directly to your computer or device. This version is the low resolution web-quality image. How to download will vary slight from device to device and from browser to browser. Have a look for a down-arrow symbol or the link to 'View/Download' all sizes. When you click on either of these you will be presented with the option to download the image. Remember just doing a right-click and "save target as" will not work on Flickr.
I want get full resolution, print-quality, copies of these photographs?
If you just need these photographs for online usage then they can be used directly once you respect their Creative Commons license and provide a link back to our Flickr set if you use them. For offline usage and printing all of the photographs posted here on this Flickr set are available free, at no cost, at full image resolution.
Please email petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com with the links to the photographs you would like to obtain a full resolution copy of. We also ask race organisers, media, etc to ask for permission before use of our images for flyers, posters, etc. We reserve the right to refuse a request.
In summary please remember when requesting photographs from us - If you are using the photographs online all we ask is for you to provide a link back to our Flickr set or Flickr pages. You will find the link above clearly outlined in the description text which accompanies this photograph. Taking these photographs and preparing them for online posting takes a significant effort and time. We are not posting photographs to Flickr for commercial reasons. If you really like what we do please spread the link around your social media, send us an email, leave a comment beside the photographs, send us a Flickr email, etc. If you are using the photographs in newspapers or magazines we ask that you mention where the original photograph came from.
I would like to contribute something for your photograph(s)?
Many people offer payment for our photographs. As stated above we do not charge for these photographs. We take these photographs as our contribution to the running community in Ireland. If you feel that the photograph(s) you request are good enough that you would consider paying for their purchase from other photographic providers or in other circumstances we would suggest that you can provide a donation to any of the great charities in Ireland who do work for Cancer Care or Cancer Research in Ireland.
Let's get a bit technical: We use Creative Commons Licensing for these photographs
We use the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License for all our photographs here in this photograph set. What does this mean in reality?
The explaination is very simple.
Attribution- anyone using our photographs gives us an appropriate credit for it. This ensures that people aren't taking our photographs and passing them off as their own. This usually just mean putting a link to our photographs somewhere on your website, blog, or Facebook where other people can see it.
ShareAlike – anyone can use these photographs, and make changes if they like, or incorporate them into a bigger project, but they must make those changes available back to the community under the same terms.
Above all what Creative Commons aims to do is to encourage creative sharing. See some examples of Creative Commons photographs on Flickr: www.flickr.com/creativecommons/
I ran in the race - but my photograph doesn't appear here in your Flickr set! What gives?
As mentioned above we take these photographs as a hobby and as a voluntary contribution to the running community in Ireland. Very often we have actually ran in the same race and then switched to photographer mode after we finished the race. Consequently, we feel that we have no obligations to capture a photograph of every participant in the race. However, we do try our very best to capture as many participants as possible. But this is sometimes not possible for a variety of reasons:
►You were hidden behind another participant as you passed our camera
►Weather or lighting conditions meant that we had some photographs with blurry content which we did not upload to our Flickr set
►There were too many people - some races attract thousands of participants and as amateur photographs we cannot hope to capture photographs of everyone
►We simply missed you - sorry about that - we did our best!
You can email us petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com to enquire if we have a photograph of you which didn't make the final Flickr selection for the race. But we cannot promise that there will be photograph there. As alternatives we advise you to contact the race organisers to enquire if there were (1) other photographs taking photographs at the race event or if (2) there were professional commercial sports photographers taking photographs which might have some photographs of you available for purchase. You might find some links for further information above.
Don't like your photograph here?
That's OK! We understand!
If, for any reason, you are not happy or comfortable with your picture appearing here in this photoset on Flickr then please email us at petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com and we will remove it as soon as possible. We give careful consideration to each photograph before uploading.
I want to tell people about these great photographs!
Great! Thank you! The best link to spread the word around is probably http://www.flickr.com/peterm7/sets
This is my new girl here (not so new as she has been appear in some meetings already "orz)
She is just beautiful! i really love those colors on her eyeshadow and cheeks.
I named her Praline as her hair and brows always reminded me of chocolates and praline is the ingredient that puts in the chocolate to get the sweeter smell (of ...nuts kkk.)
This is a very nice albeit simple folder camera for 6 x 6 cm negatives on 120 rolfilm. Because it has no rangefinder you have to gestimate the distance, however in practise I discovered that this camera was therefore hard to focus right since it sports a 80mm lens. Like almost all German camera's it is very well build and it fits nicely into a tiny pocket once the front door is shut.
My very dear friend, the fabulously talented Monique Germon, is launching an online store of beautiful handmade treasures in January 2011.
Her new business is called STORY and showcases a more mature, pared back and elegant aesthetic which is going to be really exciting for me to work with, and this piece is part of the exclusive collection of tea cosies and cushions I have designed and made for STORY.
(Google for link to 'STORY-thestore')
Hemp denim, silk, cotton, hand embroidery, vintage buttons and Australian-made feather cushion insert.
Dimensions: 30 x 60cm
Collection: Monique Germon/ STORY
Photo: The Artist
Ryde is a British seaside town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. The town grew in size as a seaside resort after the villages of Upper Ryde and Lower Ryde were merged in the 19th century. The influence of this era is still strongly visible in the town's central and seafront architecture.
As a resort, the town is noted for its expansive sands, which are revealed at low tide, making its pier necessary on the wide beach for a regular passenger service. Ryde Pier is a listed structure, and the fourth longest pier in the United Kingdom, as well as the oldest.
Peru is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the west by the Pacific Ocean.
Peru is a magical destination, abundant with ancient ruins dating back to the Incas.
Peru is the third largest country in South America, after Brazil and Argentina.
Black and white photography has the potential to make any photographer a better photographer.
The most colorful thing in the world is black and white, it contains all colors and at the same time excludes all.
BV is 5, AWB Gains: 386, 573, MonoColor: 0, AWB Mode: 0, FP:-71, ZPI:249, Curve:6, ZP:1, 01F:200, 05F:-15, 15F:-50, InfF:-66, AFFalling:0, AEAve:435253, FlaDur:248, SceneMode:0x2
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Terra is a striking circular knit and a great easy lace project. Here Jennifer wears Terra as a layering piece for day, adding a splash of color and extra warmth to a stylish and casual winter outfit.
Terra is one of the patterns available in our Wraps Organica collection.
LATEST NEWS: Also visit our website to subscribe to our newsletter, follow us on twitter or become a fan on Facebook.
More of Jennifer's Outfits: www.flickr.com/photos/stitchdiva/sets/72157606903485107/
Kathmandu Durbar Square (Nepali: वसन्तपुर दरवार क्षेत्र, Basantapur Darbar Kshetra) in front of the old royal palace of the former Kathmandu Kingdom is one of three Durbar (royal palace) Squares in the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal, all of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Several buildings in the Square collapsed due to a major earthquake on 25 April 2015. Durbar Square was surrounded with spectacular architecture and vividly showcases the skills of the Newar artists and craftsmen over several centuries. The Royal Palace was originally at Dattaraya square and was later moved to the Durbar square.
The Kathmandu Durbar Square held the palaces of the Malla and Shah kings who ruled over the city. Along with these palaces, the square surrounds quadrangles, revealing courtyards and temples. It is known as Hanuman Dhoka Durbar Square, a name derived from a statue of Hanuman, the monkey devotee of Lord Ram, at the entrance of the palace.
CONTENTS
HISTORY AND CONSTRUCTION
The preference for the construction of royal palaces at this site dates back to as early as the Licchavi period in the third century. Even though the present palaces and temples have undergone repeated and extensive renovations and nothing physical remains from that period. Names like Gunapo and Gupo, which are the names referred to the palaces in the square in early scriptures, imply that the palaces were built by Gunakamadev, a King ruling late in the tenth-century. When Kathmandu City became independent under the rule of King Ratna Malla (1484–1520), the palaces in the square became the Royal Palaces for its Malla Kings. When Prithvi Narayan Shah invaded the Kathmandu Valley in 1769, he favored the Kathmandu Durbar Square for his palace. Other subsequent Shah kings continued to rule from the square until 1896 when they moved to the Narayan Hiti Palace.
The square is still the center of important royal events like the coronation of King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah in 1975 and King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah in 2001.
Though there are no written archives stating the history of Kathmandu Durbar Square, construction of the palace in the square is credited to Sankharadev (1069–1083). As the first king of the independent Kathmandu City, Ratna Malla is said to have built the Taleju temple in the Northern side of the palace in 1501. For this to be true then the temple would have had to have been built in the vihara style as part of the palace premise surrounding the Mul Chok courtyard for no evidence of a separate structure that would match this temple can be found within the square.
Construction of the Karnel Chok is not clearly stated in any historical inscriptions; although, it is probably the oldest among all the courtyards in the square. The Bhagavati Temple, originally known as a Narayan Temple, rises above the mansions surrounding it and was added during the time of Jagajaya Malla in the early eighteenth century. The Narayan idol within the temple was stolen so Prithvi Narayan Shah replaced it with an image of Bhagavati, completely transforming the name of the temple.
The oldest temples in the square are those built by Mahendra Malla (1560–1574). They are the temples of Jagannath, Kotilingeswara Mahadev, Mahendreswara, and the Taleju Temple. This three-roofed Taleju Temple was established in 1564, in a typical Newari architectural style and is elevated on platforms that form a pyramid-like structure. It is said that Mahendra Malla, when he was residing in Bhaktapur, was highly devoted to the Taleju Temple there; the Goddess being pleased with his devotion gave him a vision asking him to build a temple for her in the Kathmandu Durbar Square. With a help of a hermit, he designed the temple to give it its present form and the Goddess entered the temple in the form of a bee.
His successors Sadasiva (1575–1581), his son, Shiva Simha (1578–1619), and his grandson, Laksmi Narsingha (1619–1641), do not seem to have made any major additions to the square. During this period of three generations the only constructions to have occurred were the establishment of Degutale Temple dedicated to Goddess Mother Taleju by Shiva Simha and some enhancement in the royal palace by Laksminar Simha.
UNDER PRATAP MALLA
In the time of Pratap Malla, son of Laksminar Simha, the square was extensively developed. He was an intellectual, a pious devotee, and especially interested in arts. He called himself a Kavindra, king of poets, and boasted that he was learned in fifteen different languages. A passionate builder, following his coronation as a king, he immediately began enlargements to his royal palace, and rebuilt some old temples and constructed new temples, shrines and stupas around his kingdom.During the construction of his palace, he added a small entrance in the traditional, low and narrow Newari style. The door was elaborately decorated with carvings and paintings of deities and auspicious sings and was later transferred to the entrance of Mohan Chok. In front of the entrance he placed the statue of Hanuman thinking that Hanuman would strengthen his army and protect his home. The entrance leads to Nasal Chok, the courtyard where most royal events such as coronation, performances, and yagyas, holy fire rituals, take place. It was named after Nasadya, the God of Dance, and during the time of Pratap Malla the sacred mask dance dramas performed in Nasal Chok were widely famed. In one of these dramas, it is said that Pratap Malla himself played the role of Lord Vishnu and that the spirit of the Lord remained in the king's body even after the play. After consulting his Tantric leaders, he ordered a stone image of Lord Vishnu in his incarnation as Nara Simha, the half-lion and half-human form, and then transferred the spirit into the stone. This fine image of Nara Simha made in 1673 still stands in the Nasal Chok. In 1650, he commissioned for the construction of Mohan Chok in the palace. This chok remained the royal residential courtyard for many years and is believed to store a great amount of treasure under its surface. Pratap Malla also built Sundari Chok about this time. He placed a slab engraved with lines in fifteen languages and proclaimed that he who can understand the inscription would produce the flow of milk instead of water from Tutedhara, a fountain set in the outer walls of Mohan Chok. However elaborate his constructions may have been, they were not simply intended to emphasize his luxuries but also his and the importance of others' devotion towards deities. He made extensive donations to temples and had the older ones renovated. Next to the palace, he built a Krishna temple, the Vamsagopala, in an octagonal shape in 1649. He dedicated this temple to his two Indian wives, Rupamati and Rajamati, as both had died during the year it was built. In Mohan Chok, he erected a three roofed Agamachem temple and a unique temple with five superimposing roofs. After completely restoring the Mul Chok, he donated to the adjoining Taleju Temple. To the main temple of Taleju, he donated metal doors in 1670. He rebuilt the Degutale Temple built by his grandfather, Siva Simha, and the Taleju Temple in the palace square. As a substitute to the Indreswara Mahadeva Temple in the distant village of Panauti he built a Shiva temple, Indrapura, near his palace in the square. He carved hymns on the walls of the Jagannath Temple as prayers to Taleju in the form of Kali.
At the southern end of the square, near Kasthamandap at Maru, which was the main city crossroads for early traders, he built another pavilion named Kavindrapura, the mansion of the king of poets. In this mansion he set an idol of dancing Shiva, Nasadyo, which today is highly worshipped by dancers in the Valley.
In the process of beautifying his palace, he added fountains, ponds, and baths. In Sundari Chok, he established a low bath with a golden fountain. He built a small pond, the Naga Pokhari, in the palace adorned with Nagakastha, a wooden serpent, which is said he had ordered stolen from the royal pond in the Bhaktapur Durbar Square. He restored the Licchavi stone sculptures such as the Jalasayana Narayana, the Kaliyadamana, and the Kala Bhairav. An idol of Jalasayana Narayana was placed in a newly created pond in the Bhandarkhal garden in the eastern wing of the palace. As a substitute to the idol of Jalasayana Narayana in Buddhanilkantha, he channeled water from Buddhanilkantha to the pond in Bhandarkhal due bestow authenticity. The Kalyadana, a manifestation of Lord Krishna destroying Kaliya, a water serpent, is placed in Kalindi Chok, which is adjacent to the Mohan Chok. The approximately ten-feet-high image of terrifyingly portrayed Kal Bhairav is placed near the Jagannath Temple. This image is the focus of worship in the chok especially during Durga Puja.
With the death of Pratap Malla in 1674, the overall emphasis on the importance of the square came to a halt. His successors retained relatively insignificant power and the prevailing ministers took control of most of the royal rule. The ministers encountered little influence under these kings and, increasingly, interest of the arts and additions to the square was lost on them. They focused less on culture than Pratap Malla during the three decades that followed his death, steering the city and country more towards the arenas of politics and power, with only a few minor constructions made in the square. These projects included Parthivendra Malla building a temple referred to as Trailokya Mohan or Dasavatara, dedicated to Lord Vishnu in 1679. A large statue of Garuda, the mount of Lord Vishnu, was added in front of it a decade later. Parthivendra Malla added a pillar with image of his family in front of the Taleju Temple.
Around 1692, Radhilasmi, the widowed queen of Pratap Malla, erected the tall temples of Shiva known as Maju Deval near the Garuda image in the square. This temple stands on nine stepped platforms and is one of the tallest buildings in the square. Then her son, Bhupalendra Malla, took the throne and banished the widowed queen to the hills. His death came early at the age of twenty one and his widowed queen, Bhuvanalaksmi, built a temple in the square known as Kageswara Mahadev. The temple was built in the Newari style and acted as a substitute for worship of a distant temple in the hills. After the earthquake in 1934, the temple was restored with a dome roof, which was alien to the Newari architecture.
Jayaprakash Malla, the last Malla king to rule Kathmandu, built a temple for Kumari and Durga in her virginal state. The temple was named Kumari Bahal and was structured like a typical Newari vihara. In his house resides the Kumari, a girl who is revered as the living goddess. He also made a chariot for Kumari and in the courtyard had detailed terra cotta tiles of that time laid down.
UNDER THE SHAH DYNASTY
During the Shah dynasty that followed, the Kathmandu Durbar Square saw a number of changes. Two of the most unique temples in the square were built during this time. One is the Nautale, a nine-storied building known as Basantapur Durbar. It has four roofs and stands at the end of Nasal Chok at the East side of the palace. It is said that this building was set as a pleasure house. The lower three stories were made in the Newari farmhouse style. The upper floors have Newari style windows, sanjhya and tikijhya, and some of them are slightly projected from the wall. The other temple is annexed to the Vasantapur Durbar and has four-stories. This building was initially known as Vilasamandira, or Lohom Chok, but is now commonly known as Basantapur or Tejarat Chok. The lower floors of the Basantapur Chok display extensive woodcarvings and the roofs are made in popular the Mughal style. Archives state that Prthivi Narayan Shah built these two buildings in 1770.
Rana Bahadur Shah was enthroned at the age of two. Bahadur Shah, the second son of Prithvi Narayan Shah, ruled as a regent for his young nephew Rana Bahadur Shah for a close to a decade from 1785 to 1794 and built a temple of Shiva Parvati in the square. This one roofed temple is designed in the Newari style and is remarkably similar to previous temples built by the Mallas. It is rectangular in shape, and enshrines the Navadurga, a group of goddesses, on the ground floor. It has a wooden image of Shiva and Parvati at the window of the upper floor, looking out at the passersby in the square. Another significant donation made during the time of Rana Bahadur Shah is the metal-plated head of Swet Bhairav near the Degutale Temple. It was donated during the festival of Indra Jatra in 1795, and continues to play a major role during the festival every year. This approximately twelve feet high face of Bhairav is concealed behind a latticed wooden screen for the rest of the year. The following this donation Rana Bahadur donated a huge bronze bell as an offering to the Goddess Taleju. Together with the beating of the huge drums donated by his son Girvan Yudha, the bell was rung every day during the daily ritual worship to the goddess. Later these instruments were also used as an alarm system. However, after the death of his beloved third wife Kanimati Devi due to smallpox, Rana Bahadur Shah turned mad with grief and had many images of gods and goddesses smashed including the Taleju statue and bell, and Sitala, the goddess of smallpox.
In 1908, a palace, Gaddi Durbar, was built using European architectural designs. The Rana Prime Ministers who had taken over the power but not the throne of the country from the Shahs Kings from 1846 to 1951 were highly influenced by European styles. The Gaddi Durbar is covered in white plaster, has Greek columns and adjoins a large audience hall, all foreign features to Nepali architecture. The balconies of this durbar were reserved for the royal family during festivals to view the square below.
Some of the parts of the square like the Hatti Chok near the Kumari Bahal in the southern section of the square were removed during restoration after the devastating earthquake in 1934. While building the New Road, the southeastern part of the palace was cleared away, leaving only fragments in places as reminders of their past. Though decreased from its original size and attractiveness from its earlier seventeenth-century architecture, the Kathmandu Durbar Square still displays an ancient surrounding that spans abound five acres of land. It has palaces, temples, quadrangles, courtyards, ponds, and images that were brought together over three centuries of the Malla, the Shah, and the Rana dynasties. It was destroyed in the April 2015 Nepal earthquake.
VISITING
Kathmandu's Durbar Square is the site of the Hanuman Dhoka Palace Complex, which was the royal Nepalese residence until the 19th century and where important ceremonies, such as the coronation of the Nepalese monarch, took place. The palace is decorated with elaborately-carved wooden windows and panels and houses the King Tribhuwan Memorial Museum and the Mahendra Museum. It is possible to visit the state rooms inside the palace.
Time and again the temples and the palaces in the square have gone through reconstruction after being damaged by natural causes or neglect. Presently there are less than ten quadrangles in the square. The temples are being preserved as national heritage sites and the palace is being used as a museum. Only a few parts of the palace are open for visitors and the Taleju temples are only open for people of Hindu and Buddhist faiths.
At the southern end of Durbar Square is one of the most curious attractions in Nepal, the Kumari Chok. This gilded cage contains the Raj Kumari, a girl chosen through an ancient and mystical selection process to become the human incarnation of the Hindu mother goddess, Durga. She is worshiped during religious festivals and makes public appearances at other times for a fee paid to her guards.
WIKIPEDIA
Stourhead (/ˈstɑːˌhɛd/[1]) is a 1,072-hectare (2,650-acre) estate[2] at the source of the River Stour near Mere, Wiltshire, England. The estate includes a Palladian mansion, the village of Stourton, gardens, farmland, and woodland. Stourhead is part owned with the National Trust since 1946.
Contents [hide]
1History
2Gardens
2.1Architects
2.2"The Genius of the Place"
3Prints
4Trivia
5Gallery
6References
7External links
History[edit]
The Stourton family, the Barons of Stourton, had lived in the Stourhead estate for 500 years[3] until they sold it to Sir Thomas Meres in 1714.[4] His son, John Meres, sold it to Henry Hoare I, son of wealthy banker Sir Richard Hoare in 1717.[5] The original manor house was demolished and a new house, one of the first of its kind, was designed by Colen Campbell and built by Nathaniel Ireson between 1721 and 1725.[6] Over the next 200 years the Hoare family collected many heirlooms, including a large library and art collection. In 1902 the house was gutted by fire but many of the heirlooms were saved, and the house was rebuilt in a near identical style.[7]
The last Hoare family member to own the property, Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare, gave the house and gardens to the National Trust in 1946, one year before his death; his sole heir and son, Captain "Harry" Henry Colt Arthur Hoare, of the Queen's Own Dorset Yeomanry, had died of wounds received at the Battle of Mughar Ridge on 13 November 1917 in World War I.[7] The last Hoare family member to be born at the house was Edward Hoare on 11 October 1949.
Gardens[edit]
Architects[edit]
Although the main design for the estate at Stourhead was created by Colen Campbell, there were various other architects involved in its evolution through the years. William Benson, Henry Hoare's brother-in-law, was in part responsible for the building of the estate in 1719.[8] Francis Cartwright, a master builder and architect, was established as a "competent provincial designer in the Palladian manner."[9] He worked on Stourhead between the years of 1749–1755. Cartwright was a known carver, presumably of materials such as wood and stone. It is assumed that his contribution to Stourhead was in this capacity. Nathaniel Ireson is the master builder credited for much of the work on the Estate. It is this work that established his career, in 1720.[10]
The original estate remained intact, though changes and additions were made over time. Henry Flitcroft built three temples and a tower on the property. The Temple of Ceres was added in 1744, followed by the Temple of Hercules in 1754 and the Temple of Apollo in 1765. That same year he designed Alfred's Tower, but it wasn't built until 1772.[11] In 1806, the mason and surveyor John Carter added an ornamental cottage to the grounds; at the request of Sir Richard Colt Hoare.[12] The architect William Wilkins created a Grecian style lodge in 1816; for Sir R. Colt Hoare.[12]
In 1840, over a century after the initial buildings were constructed, Charles Parker was hired by Sir Hugh Hoare to make changes to the estate. A portico was added to the main house, along with other alterations. The design of the additions was in keeping with original plans.[13]
"The Genius of the Place"[edit]
The lake at Stourhead is artificially created. Following a path around the lake is meant to evoke a journey similar to that of Aeneas's descent in to the underworld.[14] In addition to Greek mythology, the layout is evocative of the "genius of the place", a concept made famous by Alexander Pope. Buildings and monuments are erected in remembrance of family and local history. Henry Hoare was a collector of art– one of his pieces was Claude Lorrain's Aeneas at Delos, which is thought to have inspired the pictorial design of the gardens.[14] Passages telling of Aeneas's journey are quoted in the temples surrounding the lake.
Monuments are used to frame one another; for example the Pantheon designed by Flitcroft entices the visitor over, but once reached, views from the opposite shore of the lake beckon.[15] The use of the sunken path allows the landscape to continue on into neighbouring landscapes, allowing the viewer to contemplate all the surrounding panorama. The Pantheon was thought to be the most important visual feature of the gardens. It appears in many pieces of artwork owned by Hoare, depicting Aeneas's travels.[16] The plantings in the garden were arranged in a manner that would evoke different moods, drawing visitors through realms of thought.[15] According to Henry Hoare, 'The greens should be ranged together in large masses as the shades are in painting: to contrast the dark masses with the light ones, and to relieve each dark mass itself with little sprinklings of lighter greens here and there.'[17]
View taken from the Grotto, of the lake in autumn colours
Stourhead's lake and foliage as seen from a high hill vantage point
The gardens were designed by Henry Hoare II and laid out between 1741 and 1780 in a classical 18th-century design set around a large lake, achieved by damming a small stream. The inspiration behind their creation were the painters Claude Lorrain, Poussin, and, in particular, Gaspard Dughet, who painted Utopian-type views of Italian landscapes. It is similar in style to the landscape gardens at Stowe.
Included in the garden are a number of temples inspired by scenes of the Grand Tour of Europe. On one hill overlooking the gardens there stands an obelisk and King Alfred's Tower, a 50-metre-tall, brick folly designed by Henry Flitcroft in 1772; on another hill the temple of Apollo provides a vantage point to survey the magnificent rhododendrons, water, cascades and temples. The large medieval Bristol High Cross was moved from Bristol to the gardens. Amongst the hills surrounding the site there are also two Iron Age hill forts: Whitesheet Hill and Park Hill Camp. The gardens are home to a large collection of trees and shrubs from around the world.
Richard Colt Hoare, the grandson of Henry Hoare II, inherited Stourhead in 1783.[7] He added the library wing to the mansion,[7] and in the garden was responsible for the building of the boathouse and the removal of several features that were not in keeping with the classical and gothic styles (including a Turkish Tent). He also considerably enhanced the planting – the Temple of Apollo rises from a wooded slope that was planted in Colt Hoare's time. With the antiquarian passion of the times, he had 400 ancient burial mounds dug up to inform his pioneering History of Ancient Wiltshire.
Rodeo Drive is a two-mile long street, primarily in Beverly Hills, California. Its northern terminus is its intersection with Sunset Boulevard and its southern is its intersection with Beverwil Drive in the city of Los Angeles. The name is most commonly used metonymically to refer to a three block stretch of the street north of Wilshire Boulevard and south of Little Santa Monica Boulevard, which is known for its luxury-goods stores. The larger business district surrounding Rodeo, known as the "Golden Triangle," which extends from Wilshire Boulevard to Santa Monica Boulevard, is both a shopping district and a major tourist attraction.
In 1967 Fred Hayman, "the father of Rodeo Drive," opened Giorgio Beverly Hills, the street's first high-end boutique. In 1968 Aldo Gucci opened a store on Rodeo, which catalyzed the process by which the street took on its present form. Van Cleef & Arpels opened in 1969, followed by a Vidal Sassoon salon in 1970.
In 1976, Bijan Pakzad opened a showroom on Rodeo, which helped to solidify "Rodeo Drive's reputation as a luxury shopping destination." Pakzad touted his Rodeo Drive location as "the most expensive in the world," but, as Women's Wear Daily notes in relation to the claim, "he was known for hyperbole." By 1978 the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce was boasting that Rodeo Drive was "the essence of the best of all the shopping centers of the world" and by 1980 the city of Beverly Hills estimated that the Rodeo Drive shopping district accounted for as much as 25% of its sales tax revenues. The building at 332 N. Rodeo was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodeo_Drive
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_...
The European green woodpecker is a member of the woodpecker family Picidae. There are four subspecies and it occurs in most parts of Europe and in western Asia. Wikipedia
Kochi is a city in the Indian state of Kerala. Kochi is located in the district of Ernakulam. Old Kochi loosely refers to a group of islands including Willingdon Island, Fort Kochi and Mattancherry. Today Kochi includes Ernakulam, old parts of Kochi, Kumbalangi, and outlying islands.
For many centuries up to and during the British Raj, the city of Kochi was the seat of the eponymous princely state. Kochi traces its history back many centuries, when it was the centre of Indian spice trade for hundreds of years, and was known to the Yavanas (Greeks and Romans), Jews, Arabs and Chinese since ancient times. Kochi earned a significant position on the world trading map after the port at Kodungallur (Cranganore) was destroyed by massive flooding of the river Periyar in 1341.
The earliest documented references to Kochi occur in the books written by Chinese voyager Ma Huan, during his visit to Kochi in the 15th century as part of the treasure fleet of Admiral Zheng He. There are also references to Kochi in accounts written by Italian traveller Niccolò Da Conti, who visited Cochin in 1440 . Today, Kochi is the commercial hub of Kerala, and one of the fastest growing second-tier metros in India.
PREHISTORY
Not much is known about the prehistory of Kochi. There has been no clear evidence of Stone Age inhabitation. Quite ironically, Kochi forms the central part of the Megalithic belt of Kerala. The only trace of prehistoric life in the region is the menhir found in Tripunithura.
Princely rule
PRINCELY RULE
The history of Kochi prior to the Portuguese is not well documented. Though places north and south of Kochi are mentioned in quite detail in many accounts by ancient travellers, even a mention of Kochi is absent prior to the arrival of the Portuguese. Kochi's prominence as a trading port grew after the collapse of the port at Kodungallur in 1341 AD.
The Cochin State came into existence in 1102 AD after the breaking up of the Kulasekhara empire.
FOREIGN RULE
Kochi was under the rule of many foreign empires, during which the Raja of Kochi still remained the titular head.
PORTUGUESE PERIOD (1503-1663)
Kochi was the scene of the first European settlement in India. In the year 1500, Portuguese Admiral Pedro Álvares Cabral, landed at Cochin after being repelled from Calicut. The King of rival Kochi welcomed his guests and a treaty of friendship was signed. Promising his support in the conquest of Calicut, the admiral coaxed the king into allowing them to build a factory at Cochin. Assured by the support, the king called war with the Zamorins of Calicut. However, the admiral retreated in panic on seeing the powers of the Zamorin. The Zamorins, on the other hand, eager to win the favor of the Portuguese, left without a war. Another captain, João da Nova was sent in place of Cabral. However, he too faltered at the sight of the Zamorin. The consecutive retreats made the King of Portugal indignant. The king sent Vasco Da Gama, who bombed Calicut and destroyed the Arab trading posts. This invited the anger of the Zamorin, who declared a war against the Kochi Raja.
The war between Calicut and Cochin began on 1 March 1503. However, the oncoming monsoons and the arrival of a small Portuguese fleet under Francisco and Afonso de Albuquerque alarmed the Zamorin, and he called back his army. The Zamorin resorted to a retreat also because the revered festival of Onam was near, and the Zamorin intended to keep the auspicious day holy. This led to a triumph for the king of Kochi, who was later re-established in the possession of his kingdom. However, much of the kingdom was burnt and destroyed by the Zamorins.
After securing the king in his throne, the Portuguese got permission to build a fort – Fort Kochi (Fort Emmanuel) (after the reigning king of Portugal) - surrounding the Portuguese factory, in order to protect it from any further attacks. The entire work was commissioned by the Cochin Raja, who supplied workers and material. The Raja continued to rule with the help of the Portuguese. Meanwhile, the Portuguese secretly tried to enter into an alliance with the Zamorins. A few later attempts by the Zamorin at conquering the Kochi port was thwarted by the Cochin Raja with the help of the Portuguese. Slowly, the Portuguese armory at Kochi was increased, with the presumed notion of helping the raja protect Kochi. However, the measured led to decrease in the power of the Cochin Raja, and an increase in the Portuguese influence. From 1503 to 1663, Kochi was ruled by Portugal through the namesake Cochin Raja. Kochi remained the capital of Portuguese India till 1510. In 1530, Saint Francis Xavier arrived and founded a Christian mission. This Portuguese period was difficult for the Jews installed in the region, since the Inquisition was active in Portuguese India. Kochi hosted the grave of Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese viceroy, who was buried at St. Francis Church until his remains were returned to Portugal in 1539. Soon after the time of Albuquerque, the Portuguese rule in Kerala declined. The failure is attributed to several factors like intermarriages, forcible conversions, religious persecution etc.
DUTCH PERIOD (1663-1773)
The Portuguese rule was followed by that of the Dutch, who had by then conquered Quilon, after various encounters with the Portuguese and their allies. Discontented members of the Cochin Royal family called on the assistance of the Dutch for help in overthrowing the Cochin Raja. The Dutch successfully landed at Njarakal and headed on to capture the fort at Pallippuram, which they handed over to the Zamorin.
MYSORE INVASION
The 1773 conquest of the Mysore King Hyder Ali in the Malabar region descended to Kochi. The Kochi Raja had to pay a subsidy of one hundred thousand of Ikkeri Pagodas (equalling 400,000 modern rupees). Later on, in 1776, Haider captured Trichur, which was under the Kingdom of Kochi. Thus, the Raja was forced to become a tributary of Mysore and to pay a nuzzar of 100,000 of pagodas and 4 elephants and annual tribute of 30,000 pagodas. The hereditary Prime Ministership of Cochin came to an end during this period.
BRITISH PERIOD (1814–1947)
In 1814 according to the Anglo-Dutch Treaty, the islands of Kochi, including Fort Kochi and its territory were ceded to the United Kingdom in exchange for the island of Banca. Even prior to the signing of the treaty, there are evidence of English residents in Kochi. Towards the early 20th century, trade at the port had increased substantially, and the need to develop the port was greatly felt. Harbour Engineer Robert Bristow, was thus brought to Cochin in 1920 under the direction of Lord Willingdon, then the Governor of Madras. In a span of 21 years, he had transformed Cochin as the safest harbour in the peninsula, where ships berthed alongside the newly reclaimed inner harbour equipped with a long array of steam cranes. Meanwhile, in 1866, Fort Cochin was made a municipality, and its first Municipal Council election to a board of 18 members was conducted in 1883. The Maharajah of Cochin, in 1896 initiated local administration, by forming town councils in Mattancherry and Ernakulam. In 1925, Kochi legislative assembly was constituted due to public pressure on the state. The assembly consisted of 45 members, 10 of who were officially nominated. Thottakkattu Madhaviamma became the first woman to be a member of any legislature in India.
POST INDEPENDENCE ERA
In 1947, India gained independence from the British colonial rule. Cochin was the first princely state to join the Indian Union willingly. Post independence, E. Ikkanda Warrier became the first Prime Minister of Kochi. K. P. Madhavan Nair, P.T Jacob, C. Achutha Menon, Panampilly Govinda Menon were few of the other stalwarts who were in the forefront of the democratic movements. Then in 1949, Travancore-Cochin state came into being by the merger of Cochin and Travancore, with Parur T. K. Narayana Pillai as the first chief minister. Travancore-Cochin, was in turn merged with the Malabar district of the Madras State. Finally, the Government of India's 1 November 1956 States Reorganisation Act inaugurated a new state – Kerala – incorporating Travancore-Cochin, Malabar District, and the taluk of Kasargod, South Kanara. On 9 July 1960, the Mattancherry council passed a resolution that was forwarded to the government, requesting the formation of a Municipal Corporation by combining the existing municipalities of Fort Kochi, Mattancherry and Ernakulam. The proposal was condemned by the Fort Kochi municipality. However, the Ernakulam municipality welcomed the proposal, suggesting the inclusion of more suburban areas in the amalgamated Corporation. Major Balagangadhara Menon, the then Director of Local Bodies was appointed by the government to study the feasibility of the suggested merger. And based on the report submitted by him, the Kerala Legislative Assembly approved the formation of the Corporation. Thus, on 1 November 1967, exactly 11 years since the conception of the state of Kerala, the corporation of Cochin came into existence, by the merger of the municipalities of Ernakulam, Mattancherry and Fort Kochi, along with that of the Willingdon Island and four panchayats viz. Palluruthy, Vennala, Vyttila and Edappally and the small islands of Gundu and Ramanthuruth.
WIKIPEDIA
This is the view from Rossend Castle, out across the Firth of Forth. The knobly hill in the centre of the picture is Arthur's Seat, the shapely volcanic hill that forms the backdrop to Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh. Immediately in front of it can be seen some of the buildings in and around the Port of Leith, where Queen Mary landed to that rapturous welcome all those years ago. The wedge shaped hill immediately to the right, through the crane booms, is Salisbury Crags. Directly above the cab of the red and white crane, is a wee lump that is Edinburgh castle! And on the far right are the Pentland Hills.
The port of Burntisland has experienced almost as many ups and downs since Agricola stormed ashore here 1926 years ago as has its castle. Being opposite Edinburgh it was an obvious place for a ferry to run from, which was a reasonably successful operation, although in 1633 the ferry sank in a storm, taking with it the valuable baggage train of King Charles I - which divers have looked for ever since - to date without success!
In the 19th century it became the terminus for a roll-on roll-off ferry service, that carried coal trains across to Granton. The Forth Rail Bridge eventually made this service obsolete. During the 2WW, there was a brief upsurge in ship building, 69 ships having been built here by the time the last ship building yard closed in 1969. Currently the port facilities are being used for the fabrication of North Sea oil facilities, although this too is now in decline. I am sure something else will come along - it always has!
This is a photograph from the Tullamore Harriers AC "Quinlan Cup" Half Marathon which was held on Saturday 29th August 2015 in Tullamore, Co. Offaly, Ireland at 12:00. This is the third year of the event. The race is organised and promoted by Tullamore Harriers AC. The race starts on the Charleville Road just outside the entrance to Tullamore Harriers. The race proceeds south along the R421 and onto the N52 before taking a route onto local back roads. The race then completes a large rural road route before it joins to the R421 again and the final 1.5 miles are the same as the first mile of the race. The runners enter Tullamore stadium and complete one lap of the tartan track before the finish line. The course is challenging in places with some undulations along the route. But overall it is fair course. 2013 seen the first year of the event as the club commemorated the 60th Anniversary of the formation of Tullamore Harriers AC which today is one of Ireland's best known athletics clubs.
The race was perfectly organised. The weather was good for racing but there was a very strong headwind for the first 6 miles of the race which made the conditions difficult. The weather was dry and warm except for the torrential downpour at around 1:45pm which cleared the whole finish area of spectators and runners. There were stewarts all along the route, 3 drink stations with bottled water, superb facilities, and great after-race refreshments. The stewards along the route provided great encouragement to all of the runners. Tullamore Harriers and the local community really worked together to make this is a wonderful event. There was also a relay option where teams of two can run approximately 10.5km each. In total almost 700 participants took part. This was higher than the 568 participants who completed the race which is almost 150 more than the 2013 event.
We have a large set of photographs from today's race at the start and the finish until the 2-00 finish time. They are available on Flickr at www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/albums/72157655560294853
Timing and event management was provided by Precision Timing. Results are available on their website at www.precisiontiming.net/result.aspx?v=2855
Our photographs from the 2014 Half Marathon on Flickr. www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157646587496250/
Our photographs from the 2013 Half Marathon on Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157635307620452/
Half Marathon Route on MapMyRun: www.mapmyrun.com/ie/tullamore-l/half-marathon-tullamore-r...
2014 Race Results are available from PRECISION TIMING: www.precisiontiming.net/result.aspx?v=2136
2013 Race Results are available from PRECISION TIMING: www.precisiontiming.net/result.aspx?v=1448
Tullamore Harriers on Facebook: www.facebook.com/tullamore.harriers?fref=ts
As mentioned above this race half marathon started in 2013 and celebrated the 60th Anniversary (a Diamond Anniversary) of the foundation of Tullamore Harriers AC. The club was formed in the town in November 1953. However, it was almost 1979 before facilities close to what we see today open in the present day site. Over 50 provincial and national athletics meetings are held at Tullamore Harriers every year. The facilities available combined with it's central geographical location joining routes from North, South, East, and West make it a very attractive venue. The half marathon today firmly brings competitive national road racing back to "The Harriers". The Quinlan Cup which will be awarded to the winning club team. For more than 40 years the Harriers Quinlan Cup was the most prestigious event on the road racing calendar. Having started as a cross-country race back in 1957, it became a road race in 1967 and remained so until 2000 when the race was last held. During its reign as a blue-ribband event the Quinlan Cup was won by the likes of John Treacy and Eamonn Coughlan.
Today, the facilities at Tullamore Harriers are the envy of many athletics clubs in Ireland. The facilities provided by Tullamore make it one of the premier venues for local and national level athletics in Ireland. There is an Olympic standard tartan track, a fully equipped gym, changing facilities, press and media facilities, meeting room spaces, etc. The club also provides a social center and niteclub which makes "The Harriers" a very well known on the local social scene. Esssentially, the town of Tullamore would be a different place if it weren't for the presence of Tullamore Harriers AC.
USING OUR PHOTOGRAPHS - A QUICK GUIDE AND ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS
Can I use these photographs directly from Flickr on my social media account(s)?
Yes - of course you can! Flickr provides several ways to share this and other photographs in this Flickr set. You can share directly to: email, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Tumblr, LiveJournal, and Wordpress and Blogger blog sites. Your mobile, tablet, or desktop device will also offer you several different options for sharing this photo page on your social media outlets.
BUT..... Wait there a minute....
We take these photographs as a hobby and as a contribution to the running community in Ireland. We do not charge for our photographs. Our only "cost" is that we request that if you are using these images: (1) on social media sites such as Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter,LinkedIn, Google+, VK.com, Vine, Meetup, Tagged, Ask.fm,etc or (2) other websites, blogs, web multimedia, commercial/promotional material that you must provide a link back to our Flickr page to attribute us or acknowledge us as the original photographers.
This also extends to the use of these images for Facebook profile pictures. In these cases please make a separate wall or blog post with a link to our Flickr page. If you do not know how this should be done for Facebook or other social media please email us and we will be happy to help suggest how to link to us.
I want to download these pictures to my computer or device?
You can download this photographic image here directly to your computer or device. This version is the low resolution web-quality image. How to download will vary slight from device to device and from browser to browser. Have a look for a down-arrow symbol or the link to 'View/Download' all sizes. When you click on either of these you will be presented with the option to download the image. Remember just doing a right-click and "save target as" will not work on Flickr.
I want get full resolution, print-quality, copies of these photographs?
If you just need these photographs for online usage then they can be used directly once you respect their Creative Commons license and provide a link back to our Flickr set if you use them. For offline usage and printing all of the photographs posted here on this Flickr set are available free, at no cost, at full image resolution.
Please email petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com with the links to the photographs you would like to obtain a full resolution copy of. We also ask race organisers, media, etc to ask for permission before use of our images for flyers, posters, etc. We reserve the right to refuse a request.
In summary please remember when requesting photographs from us - If you are using the photographs online all we ask is for you to provide a link back to our Flickr set or Flickr pages. You will find the link above clearly outlined in the description text which accompanies this photograph. Taking these photographs and preparing them for online posting takes a significant effort and time. We are not posting photographs to Flickr for commercial reasons. If you really like what we do please spread the link around your social media, send us an email, leave a comment beside the photographs, send us a Flickr email, etc. If you are using the photographs in newspapers or magazines we ask that you mention where the original photograph came from.
I would like to contribute something for your photograph(s)?
Many people offer payment for our photographs. As stated above we do not charge for these photographs. We take these photographs as our contribution to the running community in Ireland. If you feel that the photograph(s) you request are good enough that you would consider paying for their purchase from other photographic providers or in other circumstances we would suggest that you can provide a donation to any of the great charities in Ireland who do work for Cancer Care or Cancer Research in Ireland.
Let's get a bit technical: We use Creative Commons Licensing for these photographs
We use the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License for all our photographs here in this photograph set. What does this mean in reality?
The explaination is very simple.
Attribution- anyone using our photographs gives us an appropriate credit for it. This ensures that people aren't taking our photographs and passing them off as their own. This usually just mean putting a link to our photographs somewhere on your website, blog, or Facebook where other people can see it.
ShareAlike – anyone can use these photographs, and make changes if they like, or incorporate them into a bigger project, but they must make those changes available back to the community under the same terms.
Above all what Creative Commons aims to do is to encourage creative sharing. See some examples of Creative Commons photographs on Flickr: www.flickr.com/creativecommons/
I ran in the race - but my photograph doesn't appear here in your Flickr set! What gives?
As mentioned above we take these photographs as a hobby and as a voluntary contribution to the running community in Ireland. Very often we have actually ran in the same race and then switched to photographer mode after we finished the race. Consequently, we feel that we have no obligations to capture a photograph of every participant in the race. However, we do try our very best to capture as many participants as possible. But this is sometimes not possible for a variety of reasons:
►You were hidden behind another participant as you passed our camera
►Weather or lighting conditions meant that we had some photographs with blurry content which we did not upload to our Flickr set
►There were too many people - some races attract thousands of participants and as amateur photographs we cannot hope to capture photographs of everyone
►We simply missed you - sorry about that - we did our best!
You can email us petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com to enquire if we have a photograph of you which didn't make the final Flickr selection for the race. But we cannot promise that there will be photograph there. As alternatives we advise you to contact the race organisers to enquire if there were (1) other photographs taking photographs at the race event or if (2) there were professional commercial sports photographers taking photographs which might have some photographs of you available for purchase. You might find some links for further information above.
Don't like your photograph here?
That's OK! We understand!
If, for any reason, you are not happy or comfortable with your picture appearing here in this photoset on Flickr then please email us at petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com and we will remove it as soon as possible. We give careful consideration to each photograph before uploading.
I want to tell people about these great photographs!
Great! Thank you! The best link to spread the word around is probably http://www.flickr.com/peterm7/sets
I have lotsa vegan fiber to spin. This is just the stuff that's ready to go!
Each of my skeins is 4oz, so I have a good 3lbs of dyed stuff to burn through...(I usually just dye as I go, so this is unusual for me!)
Pontefract Castle
Pontefract (or Pomfret) Castle is a castle ruin in the town of Pontefract, in West Yorkshire, England. King Richard II is thought to have died there. It was the site of a series of famous sieges during the 17th-century English Civil War.
History
Model reconstructing Pontefract Castle
The castle, on a rock to the east of the town above All Saints' Church, was constructed in approximately 1070 by Ilbert de Lacy. on land which had been granted to him by William the Conqueror as a reward for his support during the Norman Conquest. There is, however, evidence of earlier occupation of the site. Initially the castle was a wooden structure which was replaced with stone over time. The Domesday Survey of 1086 recorded "Ilbert's Castle" which probably referred to Pontefract Castle.
Robert de Lacy failed to support King Henry I during his power struggle with his brother, and the King confiscated the castle from the family during the 12th century. Roger de Lacy paid King Richard I 3,000 marks for the Honour of Pontefract, but the King retained possession of the castle. His successor, King John gave Lacy the castle in 1199, the year he ascended the throne. Roger died in 1213 and was succeeded by his eldest son, John. However, the King took possession of Castle Donington and Pontefract Castle. The de Lacys lived in the castle until the early 14th century. It was under the tenure of the de Lacys that the magnificent multilobate donjon was built.
In 1311 the castle passed by marriage to the estates of the House of Lancaster. Thomas, Earl of Lancaster (circa 1278–1322) was beheaded outside the castle walls six days after his defeat at the Battle of Boroughbridge, a sentence placed on him by King Edward II himself in the great hall. This resulted in the earl becoming a martyr with his tomb at Pontefract Priory becoming a shrine.It next went to Henry, Duke of Lancaster and subsequently to John of Gaunt, third son of King Edward III. He made the castle his personal residence, spending vast amounts of money improving it.
Richard II
The ruins of Pontefract Castle's keep
In the closing years of the 14th century, Richard II banished John of Gaunt’s son Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford, from England. Following the death of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, in 1399, Richard II seized much of the property due to Bolingbroke. Richard then shared some of the seized property around among his favourites. The castle at Pontefract was among such properties which was under threat. These events aroused Bolingbroke to return to England to claim his rights to the Duchy of Lancaster and the properties of his father. Shakespeare's play Richard II (Act 2, scene 1, 277) relates Bolingbroke’s homecoming in the words of Northumberland in the speech of the eight tall ships:-
Richard III
Richard III had two relatives of Elizabeth Woodville beheaded at Pontefract Castle on 25 June, 1483 - her son, Sir Richard Grey, and her brother, Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers.
Tudor Era
In 1536, the castle's guardian, Thomas Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy de Darcy handed over the castle to the leaders of the Pilgrimage of Grace, a Catholic rebellion from northern England against the rule of King Henry VIII. Lord Darcy was executed for this alleged "surrender," which the king viewed as an act of treason.
In 1541, during a royal tour of the provinces, it was alleged that King Henry's fifth wife, Queen Catherine Howard, committed her first act of adultery with Sir Thomas Culpeper at Pontefract Castle, a crime for which she was apprehended and executed without trial. Mary, Queen of Scots was lodged at the castle on 28 January 1569, travelling between Wetherby and Rotherham.
Royalist stronghold
The garrison handed over the castle to John Lambert on 24 March 1649. On his way south to London, King James rode from Grimston Park to view Pontefract Castle on 19 April 1603 and stayed the night at the Bear Inn at Doncaster.
Royalists controlled Pontefract Castle at the start of the English Civil War. The first of three sieges began in December 1644 and continued until the following March when Marmaduke Langdale, 1st Baron Langdale of Holme arrived with Royalist reinforcements and the Parliamentarian army retreated. During the siege, mining and artillery caused damage and the Piper Tower collapsed as a result. The second siege began on 21 March 1645, shortly after the end of the first siege, and the garrison surrendered in July after hearing the news of Charles I's defeat at the Battle of Naseby. Parliament garrisoned the castle until June 1648 when Royalists sneaked into the castle and took control. Pontefract Castle was an important base for the Royalists, and raiding parties harried Parliamentarians in the area.
Oliver Cromwell led the final siege of Pontefract Castle in November 1648. Charles I was executed in January, and Pontefract's garrison came to an agreement and Colonel Morrice handed over the castle to Major General John Lambert on 24 March 1649. Following requests from the townspeople, the grand jury at York, and Major General Lambert, on 27 March Parliament gave orders that Pontefract Castle should be "totally demolished & levelled to the ground" and materials from the castle would be sold off. Piecemeal dismantling after the main organised activity of slighting may have further contributed to the castle's ruined state.
It is still possible to visit the castle's 11th-century cellars, which were used to store military equipment during the civil war.
Preservation
The ruins of St Clement's Chapel within the castle
Little survives of what "must have been one of the most impressive castles in Yorkshire" other than parts of the curtain wall and excavated and tidied inner walls. It had inner and outer baileys. Parts of a 12th-century wall and the Piper Tower's postern gate and the foundations of a chapel are the oldest remains. The ruins of the Round Tower or keep are on the 11th-century mound. The Great Gate flanked by 14th-century semi-circular towers had inner and outer barbicans. Chambers excavated into the rock in the inner bailey possibly indicate the site of the old hall and the North Bailey gate is marked by the remains of a rectangular tower.
The castle has several unusual features. The donjon has a rare Quatrefoil design. Other examples of this type of Keep are Clifford's Tower, York and at the Château d'Étampes in France. Pontefract also has an torre albarrana, a fortification almost unknown outside the Iberian Peninsula. Known as the Swillington Tower, the detached tower was attached to the north wall by a bridge. Its purpose was to increase the defender's range of flanking fire.
Wakefield Council, who own the site, commissioned William Anelay Ltd to begin repairs on the castle in September 2015, but work stopped in November 2016 when Anelay went into administration. The Council then engaged Heritage Building & Conservation (North) Ltd, who began work on the site in March 2017. A new visitor centre and cafe were opened in July 2017; but in April 2018 the council announced that they had terminated the contract with HB&C (North) Ltd, as no work had been done since mid-March, and they had not had any reassurances that the work would restart. On Yorkshire Day 2019, the restoration was completed, and the castle was removed from Historic England's "Heritage At Risk" list.
Garçon is a yacht who belongs to the category of the support vessel.
A support vessel is a yacht for people who have outgrown their mega-yachts and need more space for their helicopters, speedboats, launches and submarines. The support yacht acts as a floating garage, trailing alongside the main yacht with all of the owner's oversized « toys »
Name: Garçon
Length: 67m
World's largest yacht number: 200
Shipyard: Damen
Name of the Vessel Supported: Ace
There is something incredible about stumbling into a time capsule of the 20th century. If I had to name a location that fits that description, it would be Kitts out on the old Cloverfork Branch of the Cumberland Valley Subdivision. Opened in 1914, the Cloverfork Coal Company founded their coal camp in the Kitts area, constructing the tipple that still stands today. The CFCC operated into 1958 before idling the facility, additional companies of which loaded out of the structure sporadically in the early 70's for spot market orders before closing the chutes for good. Remarkably, the structure remains nearly untouched, mining equipment and all, a definite oddity when considering the increase in copper-farming of the "locals" in this day and age. The property is now the heart of the Kitts Creek Forestry Products lumber operation, utilizing many of the older structures of the camp as offices and storage facilities today. The tipple is still well put together, almost as if they stopped mining there yesterday.
This is a photograph from the start third annual running of the Renault Mullingar Half Marathon which was held on Friday 17th March 2017 St. Patrick's Day Lá Fhéile Pádraig 2017 in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, Ireland at 10:30. Following on from the incredible success of the first two years of the race this year the total numbers participating rose from just under 600 in 2015, 900 in 2016 to over 1200 in this year 2017. As was the case last year the nominated charity was Childline. The roots of the successs of the event last year was the perfect running weather, excellent organisation and a very flat and fast route. All of these characteristics were repeated this year.
Last year's weather was not repeated. Indeed the race could be described as a race of two halves in terms of weather. The first half participants had the strong, fresh westerly wind on their backs. However, turning for home along the Royal Canal this became a very strong headwind for 3 - 4 miles. Participants travelled from all over Ireland with a very large participation from runners around Mullingar and the midlands. The race has an AAI permit. The race's early start time was to facilitate the annual St. Patrick's Day parade which brings a large number of local visitors to the town on an annual basis. Parking is free in Mullingar town for the entire day. A small change to the course configuration seen the race cross the M4 Motorway at The Downs via a winding pedestrian footbridge.
The race began on Pearse Street/Austin Friar's Street in the town and proceeds North East out of the town to the N52 Delvin/Dundalk road towards Lough Sheever. The course then follows beautiful rural country roads out to The Downs at the M4. The only significant hill or rise on the course occurs here at about 7 miles when runners cross a pedestrian footbridge over the M4 near Junction 14 Thomas Flynn and Sons The Downs. The race then joins the now local access route of the old N4 road and then joins the Royal Canal at Great Down. The remainder of the race follows the Royal Canal back westward to Mullingar town. The towpath on the Canal is perfectly flat and in excellent condition. Runners will notice how the level of the canal changes dramatically along the route - at points the canal is level with the towpath. In other places the canal is at least 3 meters lower than the canal path. However the path is perfectly flat and firm the whole way. The course then leaves the Royal Canal at the Ardmore Road/Millmount area of the town and finishes in the Mullingar Town Park on Austin Friar's Street beside the Annebrook Hotel which is the Race Headquarters. The park provides a very nice setting for the finish of the race and runners and their families can mix and congregate around the finish area and the hotel.
Timing and event management was provided by http://www.myrunresults.com/. Their website is here [www.myrunresults.com/] and will contain the results to today's race.
Our Full Set of photographs from today's race is at www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/albums/72157679566202191
Useful Links:
Our Flickr Photo Album from the 2016 Mullingar Half Marathon www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/albums/72157665831236062
Our Flickr Photo Album from the 2015 Mullingar Half Marathon www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157651394365962
The Annebrook House Hotel (Race HQ) www.annebrook.ie
Offical Race Facebook Page www.facebook.com/mullingarhalfmarathon/
Google Maps Location of the Start/Finish www.google.ie/maps/@53.5253133,-7.3369538,18z
USING OUR PHOTOGRAPHS - A QUICK GUIDE AND ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS
Can I use these photographs directly from Flickr on my social media account(s)?
Yes - of course you can! Flickr provides several ways to share this and other photographs in this Flickr set. You can share directly to: email, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Tumblr, LiveJournal, and Wordpress and Blogger blog sites. Your mobile, tablet, or desktop device will also offer you several different options for sharing this photo page on your social media outlets.
BUT..... Wait there a minute....
We take these photographs as a hobby and as a contribution to the running community in Ireland. We do not charge for our photographs. Our only "cost" is that we request that if you are using these images: (1) on social media sites such as Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter,LinkedIn, Google+, VK.com, Vine, Meetup, Tagged, Ask.fm,etc or (2) other websites, blogs, web multimedia, commercial/promotional material that you must provide a link back to our Flickr page to attribute us or acknowledge us as the original photographers.
This also extends to the use of these images for Facebook profile pictures. In these cases please make a separate wall or blog post with a link to our Flickr page. If you do not know how this should be done for Facebook or other social media please email us and we will be happy to help suggest how to link to us.
I want to download these pictures to my computer or device?
You can download this photographic image here directly to your computer or device. This version is the low resolution web-quality image. How to download will vary slight from device to device and from browser to browser. Have a look for a down-arrow symbol or the link to 'View/Download' all sizes. When you click on either of these you will be presented with the option to download the image. Remember just doing a right-click and "save target as" will not work on Flickr.
I want get full resolution, print-quality, copies of these photographs?
If you just need these photographs for online usage then they can be used directly once you respect their Creative Commons license and provide a link back to our Flickr set if you use them. For offline usage and printing all of the photographs posted here on this Flickr set are available free, at no cost, at full image resolution.
Please email petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com with the links to the photographs you would like to obtain a full resolution copy of. We also ask race organisers, media, etc to ask for permission before use of our images for flyers, posters, etc. We reserve the right to refuse a request.
In summary please remember when requesting photographs from us - If you are using the photographs online all we ask is for you to provide a link back to our Flickr set or Flickr pages. You will find the link above clearly outlined in the description text which accompanies this photograph. Taking these photographs and preparing them for online posting takes a significant effort and time. We are not posting photographs to Flickr for commercial reasons. If you really like what we do please spread the link around your social media, send us an email, leave a comment beside the photographs, send us a Flickr email, etc. If you are using the photographs in newspapers or magazines we ask that you mention where the original photograph came from.
I would like to contribute something for your photograph(s)?
Many people offer payment for our photographs. As stated above we do not charge for these photographs. We take these photographs as our contribution to the running community in Ireland. If you feel that the photograph(s) you request are good enough that you would consider paying for their purchase from other photographic providers or in other circumstances we would suggest that you can provide a donation to any of the great charities in Ireland who do work for Cancer Care or Cancer Research in Ireland.
Let's get a bit technical: We use Creative Commons Licensing for these photographs
We use the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License for all our photographs here in this photograph set. What does this mean in reality?
The explaination is very simple.
Attribution- anyone using our photographs gives us an appropriate credit for it. This ensures that people aren't taking our photographs and passing them off as their own. This usually just mean putting a link to our photographs somewhere on your website, blog, or Facebook where other people can see it.
ShareAlike – anyone can use these photographs, and make changes if they like, or incorporate them into a bigger project, but they must make those changes available back to the community under the same terms.
Above all what Creative Commons aims to do is to encourage creative sharing. See some examples of Creative Commons photographs on Flickr: www.flickr.com/creativecommons/
I ran in the race - but my photograph doesn't appear here in your Flickr set! What gives?
As mentioned above we take these photographs as a hobby and as a voluntary contribution to the running community in Ireland. Very often we have actually ran in the same race and then switched to photographer mode after we finished the race. Consequently, we feel that we have no obligations to capture a photograph of every participant in the race. However, we do try our very best to capture as many participants as possible. But this is sometimes not possible for a variety of reasons:
►You were hidden behind another participant as you passed our camera
►Weather or lighting conditions meant that we had some photographs with blurry content which we did not upload to our Flickr set
►There were too many people - some races attract thousands of participants and as amateur photographs we cannot hope to capture photographs of everyone
►We simply missed you - sorry about that - we did our best!
You can email us petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com to enquire if we have a photograph of you which didn't make the final Flickr selection for the race. But we cannot promise that there will be photograph there. As alternatives we advise you to contact the race organisers to enquire if there were (1) other photographs taking photographs at the race event or if (2) there were professional commercial sports photographers taking photographs which might have some photographs of you available for purchase. You might find some links for further information above.
Don't like your photograph here?
That's OK! We understand!
If, for any reason, you are not happy or comfortable with your picture appearing here in this photoset on Flickr then please email us at petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com and we will remove it as soon as possible. We give careful consideration to each photograph before uploading.
I want to tell people about these great photographs!
Great! Thank you! The best link to spread the word around is probably http://www.flickr.com/peterm7/sets
This is one of the many reasons I love living on the prairie. Out in the middle of North America you come across the remains of an ancient sea bed. The ledge over the bank is composed of thousands of sea shells, while below it, in the sandstone, are swallow nests. Thanks to a parishioner for inviting me to go out for a hike on her land to see this extraordinary beauty. God is indeed good!!!!!
If you view this at the original size, you can see the sea shells in the bank:
Latin Inspiration is considered to be one of Chicago's finest in Modern Latin Jazz, Salsa,Afro Cuban and Puerto Rican Bomba/Plena. The Band has an extensive career performing for the City Of Chicago and abroad. Considered to be one of the most solicited bands in the city, they recently performed for the Jazz Institute Jazz in The Park, Chicago Summer Dance, Logan Square Art Festival, Evanston Art Festival, Palmer Square Art Festival, Northern Trust Bank, National Puerto Rican Coalition Inc. and many other Corporate and Jazz club venues. This Band also performs original Latin Jazz and Salsa music with a Chicago Sound. And the Emphasis is Chicago Sound! Their Recent C.D. release is getting Lots of air play through out Chicago and abroad. Victor Garcia - Trumpet
Francisco Merced - Piano
Bret Bentler - Bass
Osvaldo Merced - Congas
Jean-Claud Leroy - Drums/ Timbal
David Velez - Bongo
Franklin Paz ( Optional ) - Singer
John Rodriguez - Trombone
Eddie Ramos - Tenor Sax
“What is art but life upon the larger scale, the higher.
When, graduating up in a spiral line of still expanding and ascending gyres, it pushes toward the intense significance of all things, hungry for the infinite?”
~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning
The Market Hall is an impressive red sandstone building in the centre of Ross, dating to 1660-74. The ground floor - still used for markets - is open, while the rooms above contain the Ross Visitor Centre, which has a small museum, displays explaining the history of the town, and visitor information. The Visitor Centre is accessed by the 17th century wooden staircase or, for less mobile visitors, by the modern lift tucked discreetly alongside.
The Market Hall is said to have been built by Frances, the wife of William, second Duke of Somerset. At the east end of the building is a medallion of Charles II (1660-1685). In the 17th century, the upper floor was used for Manor Courts, which were held three times a year. Other uses of the Market Hall have included a boys school, a ballroom, the town library, a Magistrates' Court, and the Council Chamber.
The hall is in the middle of the medieval market area of the town. Early evidence suggests that the market area originally stretched westwards along High Street as far as St Mary's Street and northwards along Broad Street as far as New Street. By the 14th century the temporary market stalls had become permanent shops.
This is the best advertising/marketing campaign I've seen in years. Brunel's glorious 1854 railway terminus is reward enough for any traveller, but then to see this ad campaign - it stopped me in my tracks.
The campaign celebrates the 13 July 2006 World Heritage Site award designation to the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape. Paddington station was chosen as it is the London terminus for trains to/ from Cornwall. The campaign is stretched along platform 8 on twelve massive piers. The print and production quality is superb; photographs stunning; graphics and composition excellent; and brevity of text perfect (I mean "Tin Did, Because Tin Can" - how brilliant is that?!).
Each time I go through Paddington (every 10 days or so) I make sure I see these. I'm not Cornish but the text and images create a surge of pride for the legacy of the miners and their industry. For an ad campaign to create that type of response within the viewer is rather remarkable I think. It's been 8 years since my last visit to Cornwall which is a shame because it is a remarkable landscape.
The Paddington campaign launched 2 November 2006. The Credits pier lists the following: Absolute Design; August One; Barry Gamble; Consumer Connection: Excessive Energy Communication; Fifteen Cornwall; First Great Western; Hard Working Words; N3 Display Graphics; Nector Events & Publicity; Nework Rail.
It is unlikely that any of you have visited this historic cemetery because it has been closed to the opening of new graves for close to 150 years and over that period there was a very limited number of new burials. My understanding was that the cemetery had been closed to visitors [except by appointment] since the 1900s.
I had a chat with a very helpful member of staff and he explained that the cemetery was very badly neglected and that a large number of graves had been vandalised but that the restoration staff had been able to restore the majority of them as the gravestones had not been shattered.
However, the anti-social activity has been serious and ongoing. For example I came across the following report dated March 16 2016: “Up to 13 gravestones were vandalised at a cemetery in Dublin in the last week, including that of W.T. Cosgrave. The Trust said. Cosgrave’s gravestone was previously destroyed in October 2014.” [ NOTE: W.T. Cosgrave served as president of the Executive Council of Irish Free State (the first Prime Minister of Ireland].
Another report dated August 14 2015: “Up to 27 monuments at the Goldenbridge cemetery in Dublin have been destroyed in recent days by vandals who knocked over headstones smashing some into pieces.”
Goldenbridge is a 19th century ‘garden’ cemetery. After the passing of the 'Act of Easement of Burial Bills' in 1824 a committee was established to administer the proposed cemetery. The cemetery was purchased in 1828 and the first burial took place on the 15th October of that year.
Last weekend it was reopened and family graves are now available if you wish to be buried there.
There are 4,250 graves in the cemetery of which 498 have been identified as available for purchase at this time. Goldenbridge cemetery has been designated by Glasnevin Trust as a conservation cemetery. In order to preserve the character and ambience of the cemetery, there are rules apply to the type of monument that can be placed on family graves.
Whitinsville Christian 85, Hopedale 63: Undermanned..By Jared Keene/Daily News staff..At 6-foot-6, senior Paul Manning is the main rebounder and inside threat on Hopedale’s boys basketball team...Just 2:25 into last night’s contest with Dual Valley Conference rival Whitinsville Christian, however, Manning picked up his second foul, earning him a spot on the bench for the rest of the half...The Crusaders took full advantage, out-rebounding the hosts by 18 in the first half while lighting it up from the field in a 85-63 victory...“If I didn’t get those silly fouls at the beginning of the game, I felt like I would have played the whole first quarter, so that alone would have kept the rebounding up to par with the other team,” Manning said. “We wouldn’t have been down so much.”..Hopedale coach Tony Cordani saw a variety of factors key the visiting Crusaders...“They came ready to play and I don’t know what their percentage was in the first half, but they shot the ball extremely well,” said Cordani after his team fell to 6-3 (2-1 DVC). “And Paul got into a little foul trouble, so we couldn’t rebound with them. The combination of their exceptional shooting in the first half and our lack of rebounding was the difference, I thought.”..Whitinsville Christian seemed to set the tone early by forcing a turnover and an airball on the Blue Raiders’ first two offensive possessions...The Crusaders held a 19-9 lead after the first quarter, thanks in large part to their eight offensive rebounds — allowing for second-chance opportunities — and tough man-to-man defense that seemed to fluster the Hopedale offense...“One of our keys to the game was to win the rebounding battle tonight and keep them off the offensive glass and for the most part we did a pretty good job of that,” Whitinsville coach Jeff Bajema said. “We’ve also been working hard on our defense. We don’t have the height this year, but we’ve got some quick guards and kids that like to defend. That’s our game right now.”..In the second quarter, the Crusaders also started taking advantage of the various zone defenses the Blue Raiders played. Whitinsville Christian spread the floor and used quick, crisp ball movement to end up with numerous open 3-pointers...Of the seven triples the Crusaders hit for the game, five came in the second quarter, a period in which the visitors built their lead to 25 by halftime (50-25). Two of those five treys came from the hand of Colin Richey, who finished with a game-high 20 points...“I’ve seen these guys play on a number of occasions and the teams that have gone man-to-man (against them), Richey has been able to penetrate and then he becomes a problem,” Cordani said of the decision to play zone. “I was just hoping that we could weather the storm a little bit and have some in the tank at the end. It was a gamble we took. I guess we’ll see what happens next time we play them.”..Hopedale came out a different team in the third quarter, out-rebounding Whitinsville by six while outscoring the Crusaders 22-12 to pull within 62-47...Just 15 seconds into the fourth quarter, the Blue Raiders cut the lead to 13, but that was the closest they got the rest of the way, as Whitinsville used a 14-4 run to take its lead back up to 23 at 76-53 and ice the game...--------------..Colin Richey led all scorers with 22 points, including two 3-pointers for the visiting No. 9 Crusaders (4-1, 3-0 Dual Valley). Tyler VandenAkker added 15 points, and Antonio Estrella scored 12 for Whitinsville Christian. Jeremy Bacon's 15 points paced the Blue Raiders (6-3, 2-1). ..WHITINSVILLE CHRISTIAN.Name.FGM.3PM.FTM.Pts..Tim Dufficy.4.2.0.10.Eric Monroe.1.1.0.3.Connor Dolan.2.0.0.4.Scott Ebbeling.1.0.1.3.Jesse Dykstra.4.0.0.8.Antonio Estrella.6.0.0.12.Colin Richey.8.2.4.22.Grant Brown.3.2.0.8.Tyler VandenAkker.7.0.1.15.Totals.36.7.6.85..HOPEDALE.Name.FGM.3PM.FTM.Pts..Colby Caso.1.0.0.2.Cole Dedonato.0.0.0.0.Shane Finnegan.2.2.0.6.Kevin Lynch.4.1.0.9.Evan Lerner.2.0.2.6.Ian Strom.4.1.0.9.Dan Manoli.1.0.0.2.Paul Manning.4.0.1.9.Jeremy Bacon.3.0.9.15.Nick Walker.2.1.0.5.Totals.23.12.12.63.
Shot at ISO 3200, Aperture of 2.8, Shutter speed of 1/400 and Focal Length of 140.0 mm
Taken with a Minolta/Sony AF 70-200mm F2.8 G lens and processed by Aperture 3.2.2 on Monday January-09-2012 20:46 EST PM
Fatehpur Sikri (Hindi: फ़तेहपुर सीकरी, Urdu: فتحپور سیکری) is a city and a municipal board in Agra district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. The city was founded in 1569 by the Mughal emperor Akbar, and served as the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1571 to 1585. After his military victories over Chittor and Ranthambore, Akbar decided to shift his capital from Agra to a new location 37 km WSW on the Sikri ridge, to honor the Sufi saint Salim Chishti. Here he commenced the construction of a planned walled city which took the next fifteen years in planning and construction of a series of royal palaces, harem, courts, a mosque, private quarters and other utility buildings. He named the city, Fatehabad, with Fateh, a word of Arabic origin in Persian, meaning "victorious." it was later called Fatehpur Sikri. It is at Fatehpur Sikri that the legends of Akbar and his famed courtiers, the nine jewels or Navaratnas, were born. Fatehpur Sikri is one of the best preserved collections of Indian Mughal architecture in India.
According to contemporary historians, Akbar took a great interest in the building of Fatehpur Sikri and probably also dictated its architectural style. Seeking to revive the splendours of Persian court ceremonial made famous by his ancestor Timur, Akbar planned the complex on Persian principles. But the influences of his adopted land came through in the typically Indian embellishments. The easy availability of sandstone in the neighbouring areas of Fatehpur Sikri, also meant that all the buildings here were made of the red stone. The imperial Palace complex consists of a number of independent pavilions arranged in formal geometry on a piece of level ground, a pattern derived from Arab and central Asian tent encampments. In its entirety, the monuments at Fatehpur Sikri thus reflect the genius of Akbar in assimilating diverse regional architectural influences within a holistic style that was uniquely his own.
The Imperial complex was abandoned in 1585, shortly after its completion, due to paucity of water and its proximity with the Rajputana areas in the North-West, which were increasingly in turmoil. Thus the capital was shifted to Lahore so that Akbar could have a base in the less stable part of the empire, before moving back to Agra in 1598, where he had begun his reign as he shifted his focus to Deccan. In fact, he never returned to the city except for a brief period in 1601. In later Mughal history it was occupied for a short while by Mughal emperor, Muhammad Shah (r. 1719 -1748), and his regent, Sayyid Hussain Ali Khan Barha, one of the Syed Brothers, was murdered here in 1720. Today much of the imperial complex which spread over nearly two mile long and one mile wide area is largely intact and resembles a ghost town. It is still surrounded by a five mile long wall built during its original construction, on three sides. However apart from the imperial buildings complex few other buildings stand in the area, which is mostly barren, except of ruins of the bazaars of the old city near the Naubat Khana, the 'drum-house' entrance at Agra Road. The modern town lies at the western end of the complex, which was a municipality from 1865 to 1904, and later made a "notified area", and in 1901 had a population of 7,147. For a long time it was still known for its masons and stone carvers, though in Akbar time it was known and 'fabrics of hair' and 'silk-spinning'. The village of Sikri still exists nearby.
ARCHITECTURE OF FATEHPUR SIKRI
Fatehpur Sikri sits on rocky ridge, 3 kilometres in length and 1 km wide, and palace city is surrounded by a 6 km wall on three side with the fourth being a lake at the time. Its architect was Tuhir Das and Dhruv Chawla and was constructed using Indian principles. The buildings of Fatehpur Sikri show a synthesis of various regional schools of architectural craftsmanship such as Gujarat and Bengal. This was because indigenous craftsmen were used for the construction of the buildings. Influences from Hindu and Jain architecture are seen hand in hand with Islamic elements. The building material used in all the buildings at Fatehpur Sikri, palace-city complex, is the locally quarried red sandstone, known as 'Sikri sandstone'. It is accessed through gates along the five-mile long fort wall, namely, Delhi Gate, the Lal Gate, the Agra Gate, Birbal's Gate, Chandanpal Gate, The Gwalior Gate, the Tehra Gate, the Chor Gate and the Ajmere Gate.
Some of the important buildings in this city, both religious and secular are:
Buland Darwaza: Set into the south wall of congregational mosque, the Jama Masjid at Fatehpur Sikri, this stupendous piece of architecture is 55 metre high, from the outside, gradually making a transition to a human scale in the inside. The gate was added some five years later after the completion of the mosque ca. 1576-1577 as an 'victory arch', to commemorate the Akbar's successful Gujarat campaign. It carries two inscriptions in the archway, one of which reads: "Isa, Son of Mariam said: The world is a bridge, pass over it, but build no houses on it. He who hopes for an hour may hope for eternity. The world endures but an hour. Spend it in prayer, for the rest is unseen".
The central portico comprises three arched entrances, with the largest one, in the centre, is known locally as the Horseshoe Gate, after the custom of nailing horseshoes to its large wooden doors for luck. Outside the giant steps of the Buland Darwaza to left is deep well.
Jama Masjid: It is a Jama Mosque meaning the congregational mosque, and was perhaps one of the first buildings to come up in the complex, as its epigraph gives AH 979 (AD 1571-72) as the date of its completion, with a massive entrance to the courtyard, the Buland-Darwaza added some five years later. It was built in the manner of Indian mosques, with iwans around a central courtyard. A distinguishing feature is the row of chhatri over the sanctuary. There are three mihrabs in each of the seven bays, while the large central mihrab is covered by a dome, it is decorated with white marble inlay, in geometric patterns.
Tomb of Salim Chishti: A white marble encased tomb of the Sufi saint, Salim Chisti (1478–1572), within the Jama Masjid's sahn, courtyard. The single-storey structure is built around a central square chamber, within which is the grave of the saint, under an ornate wooden canopy encrusted with mother-of-pearl mosaic. Surrounding it is a covered passageway for circumambulation, with carved Jalis, stone pierced screens all around with intricate geometric design, and an entrance to the south. The tomb is influenced by earlier mausolea of the early 15th century Gujarat Sultanate period. Other striking features of the tomb are white marble serpentine brackets, which support sloping eaves around the parapet.
On the left of the tomb, to the east, stands a red sandstone tomb of Islam Khan I, son of Shaikh Badruddin Chisti and grandson of Shaikh Salim Chishti, who became a general in the Mughal army in the reign of Jahangir. The tomb is topped by a dome and thirty-six small domed chattris, and contains a number of graves, some unnamed, all male descendants of Shaikh Salim Chisti.
Diwan-i-Aam : Diwan-i-Am or Hall of Public Audience, is a building typology found in many cities where the ruler meets the general public. In this case, it is a pavilion-like multi-bayed rectangular structure fronting a large open space. South west of the Diwan-i-Am and next to the Turkic Sultana's House stand Turkic Baths.
Diwan-i-Khas: the Diwan-i-Khas, or Hall of Private Audience, is a plain square building with four chhatris on the roof. However it is famous for its central pillar, which has a square base and an octagonal shaft, both carved with bands of geometric and floral designs, further its thirty-six serpentine brackets support a circular platform for Akbar, which is connected to each corner of the building on the first floor, by four stone walkways. It is here that Akbar had representatives of different religions discuss their faiths and gave private audience.
Ibadat Khana: (House of Worship) was a meeting house built in 1575 CE by the Mughal Emperor Akbar, where the foundations of a new Syncretistic faith, Din-e-Ilahi were laid by Akbar.
Anup Talao: A ornamental pool with a central platform and four bridges leading up to it. Some of the important buildings of the royal enclave are surround by it including, Khwabgah (House of Dreams) Akbar's residence, Panch Mahal, a five-storey palace, Diwan-i-Khas (Hall of Private Audience), Ankh Michauli and the Astrologer's Seat, in the south-west corner of the Pachisi Court.
Hujra-i-Anup Talao: Said to be the residence of Akbar's Muslim wife, although this is disputed due to its small size.
Mariam-uz-Zamani's Palace: The building of Akbar's Rajput wives, including Mariam-uz-Zamani, shows Gujarati influence and is built around a courtyard, with special care being taken to ensure privacy.
Naubat Khana: Also known as Naqqar Khana meaning a drum house, where musician used drums to announce the arrival of the Emperor. It is situated ahead of the Hathi Pol Gate or the Elephant Gate, the south entrance to the complex, suggesting that it was the imperial entrance.
Pachisi Court: A square marked out as a large board game, the precursor to modern day Ludo game where people served as the playing pieces.
Panch Mahal: A five-storied palatial structure, with the tiers gradually diminishing in size, till the final one, which is a single large-domed chhatri. Originally pierced stone screens faced the façade, and probably sub-divided the interior as well, suggesting it was built for the ladies of the court. The floors are supported by intricately carved columns on each level, totalling to 176 columns in all.
Birbal's House: The house of Akbar's favorite minister, who was a Hindu. Notable features of the building are the horizontal sloping sunshades or chajjas and the brackets which support them.
Recent excavation done by ASI in 2000 led to unearthing of an ancient jain city very near to the fort complex.
Other buildings included Taksal (mint), 'Daftar Khana (Records Office), Karkhanas (royal workshop), Khazana (treasury), Turkic styled Baths, Darogha's Quarters, stables, Caravan sarai, Hakim's quarters etc.
DEMOGRAPHICS
Fatehpur Sikri has a population of 28,757. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Fatehpur Sikri has an average literacy rate of 46%, lower than the national average of 74%: male literacy is 57%, and female literacy is 34%. In Fatehpur Sikri, 59% of the population is under 6 years of age.
ADMINISTRATIVE ESTABLISHMENT
Fatehpur Sikri is one of the fifteen Block headquarters in the Agra district it has 52 Gram panchayats (Village Panchayat) under it.
The Fatehpur Sikri, is a constituency of the Lok Sabha, Lower house of the Indian Parliament, and further comprises five Vidhan Sabha (legislative assembly) segments:
Agra Rural
Fatehpur Sikri
Kheragarh
Fatehabad
Bah
In all there are 12 villages of Sisodia Rajputs near Fatehpur Sikri fort in Agra district. These are Daultabad, Nayavas, Satha, korai, Behrawati, Byara, Undera, Kachora, Singarpur, Vidyapur, Onera, Arrua.
TRANSPORT
Fatehpur Sikri is about 39 km. from Agra. The nearest Airport is the Agra Airport (also known as Kheria Airport), 40 km from Fatehpur Sikri. The nearest railway station is the Fatehpur Sikri Railway Station, about one km. from the city centre . It is suitably connected to Agra and neighbouring centres by road, where regular bus services of UPSRTC ply, apart from Tourist buses and taxies.
WIKIPEDIA