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Graffiti (plural; singular graffiti or graffito, the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire (see also mural).
Graffiti is a controversial subject. In most countries, marking or painting property without permission is considered by property owners and civic authorities as defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime, citing the use of graffiti by street gangs to mark territory or to serve as an indicator of gang-related activities. Graffiti has become visualized as a growing urban "problem" for many cities in industrialized nations, spreading from the New York City subway system and Philadelphia in the early 1970s to the rest of the United States and Europe and other world regions
"Graffiti" (usually both singular and plural) and the rare singular form "graffito" are from the Italian word graffiato ("scratched"). The term "graffiti" is used in art history for works of art produced by scratching a design into a surface. A related term is "sgraffito", which involves scratching through one layer of pigment to reveal another beneath it. This technique was primarily used by potters who would glaze their wares and then scratch a design into them. In ancient times graffiti were carved on walls with a sharp object, although sometimes chalk or coal were used. The word originates from Greek γράφειν—graphein—meaning "to write".
The term graffiti originally referred to the inscriptions, figure drawings, and such, found on the walls of ancient sepulchres or ruins, as in the Catacombs of Rome or at Pompeii. Historically, these writings were not considered vanadlism, which today is considered part of the definition of graffiti.
The only known source of the Safaitic language, an ancient form of Arabic, is from graffiti: inscriptions scratched on to the surface of rocks and boulders in the predominantly basalt desert of southern Syria, eastern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia. Safaitic dates from the first century BC to the fourth century AD.
Some of the oldest cave paintings in the world are 40,000 year old ones found in Australia. The oldest written graffiti was found in ancient Rome around 2500 years ago. Most graffiti from the time was boasts about sexual experiences Graffiti in Ancient Rome was a form of communication, and was not considered vandalism.
Ancient tourists visiting the 5th-century citadel at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka write their names and commentary over the "mirror wall", adding up to over 1800 individual graffiti produced there between the 6th and 18th centuries. Most of the graffiti refer to the frescoes of semi-nude females found there. One reads:
Wet with cool dew drops
fragrant with perfume from the flowers
came the gentle breeze
jasmine and water lily
dance in the spring sunshine
side-long glances
of the golden-hued ladies
stab into my thoughts
heaven itself cannot take my mind
as it has been captivated by one lass
among the five hundred I have seen here.
Among the ancient political graffiti examples were Arab satirist poems. Yazid al-Himyari, an Umayyad Arab and Persian poet, was most known for writing his political poetry on the walls between Sajistan and Basra, manifesting a strong hatred towards the Umayyad regime and its walis, and people used to read and circulate them very widely.
Graffiti, known as Tacherons, were frequently scratched on Romanesque Scandinavian church walls. When Renaissance artists such as Pinturicchio, Raphael, Michelangelo, Ghirlandaio, or Filippino Lippi descended into the ruins of Nero's Domus Aurea, they carved or painted their names and returned to initiate the grottesche style of decoration.
There are also examples of graffiti occurring in American history, such as Independence Rock, a national landmark along the Oregon Trail.
Later, French soldiers carved their names on monuments during the Napoleonic campaign of Egypt in the 1790s. Lord Byron's survives on one of the columns of the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion in Attica, Greece.
The oldest known example of graffiti "monikers" found on traincars created by hobos and railworkers since the late 1800s. The Bozo Texino monikers were documented by filmmaker Bill Daniel in his 2005 film, Who is Bozo Texino?.
In World War II, an inscription on a wall at the fortress of Verdun was seen as an illustration of the US response twice in a generation to the wrongs of the Old World:
During World War II and for decades after, the phrase "Kilroy was here" with an accompanying illustration was widespread throughout the world, due to its use by American troops and ultimately filtering into American popular culture. Shortly after the death of Charlie Parker (nicknamed "Yardbird" or "Bird"), graffiti began appearing around New York with the words "Bird Lives".
Modern graffiti art has its origins with young people in 1960s and 70s in New York City and Philadelphia. Tags were the first form of stylised contemporary graffiti. Eventually, throw-ups and pieces evolved with the desire to create larger art. Writers used spray paint and other kind of materials to leave tags or to create images on the sides subway trains. and eventually moved into the city after the NYC metro began to buy new trains and paint over graffiti.
While the art had many advocates and appreciators—including the cultural critic Norman Mailer—others, including New York City mayor Ed Koch, considered it to be defacement of public property, and saw it as a form of public blight. The ‘taggers’ called what they did ‘writing’—though an important 1974 essay by Mailer referred to it using the term ‘graffiti.’
Contemporary graffiti style has been heavily influenced by hip hop culture and the myriad international styles derived from Philadelphia and New York City Subway graffiti; however, there are many other traditions of notable graffiti in the twentieth century. Graffiti have long appeared on building walls, in latrines, railroad boxcars, subways, and bridges.
An early graffito outside of New York or Philadelphia was the inscription in London reading "Clapton is God" in reference to the guitarist Eric Clapton. Creating the cult of the guitar hero, the phrase was spray-painted by an admirer on a wall in an Islington, north London in the autumn of 1967. The graffito was captured in a photograph, in which a dog is urinating on the wall.
Films like Style Wars in the 80s depicting famous writers such as Skeme, Dondi, MinOne, and ZEPHYR reinforced graffiti's role within New York's emerging hip-hop culture. Although many officers of the New York City Police Department found this film to be controversial, Style Wars is still recognized as the most prolific film representation of what was going on within the young hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Fab 5 Freddy and Futura 2000 took hip hop graffiti to Paris and London as part of the New York City Rap Tour in 1983
Commercialization and entrance into mainstream pop culture
Main article: Commercial graffiti
With the popularity and legitimization of graffiti has come a level of commercialization. In 2001, computer giant IBM launched an advertising campaign in Chicago and San Francisco which involved people spray painting on sidewalks a peace symbol, a heart, and a penguin (Linux mascot), to represent "Peace, Love, and Linux." IBM paid Chicago and San Francisco collectively US$120,000 for punitive damages and clean-up costs.
In 2005, a similar ad campaign was launched by Sony and executed by its advertising agency in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Miami, to market its handheld PSP gaming system. In this campaign, taking notice of the legal problems of the IBM campaign, Sony paid building owners for the rights to paint on their buildings "a collection of dizzy-eyed urban kids playing with the PSP as if it were a skateboard, a paddle, or a rocking horse".
Tristan Manco wrote that Brazil "boasts a unique and particularly rich, graffiti scene ... [earning] it an international reputation as the place to go for artistic inspiration". Graffiti "flourishes in every conceivable space in Brazil's cities". Artistic parallels "are often drawn between the energy of São Paulo today and 1970s New York". The "sprawling metropolis", of São Paulo has "become the new shrine to graffiti"; Manco alludes to "poverty and unemployment ... [and] the epic struggles and conditions of the country's marginalised peoples", and to "Brazil's chronic poverty", as the main engines that "have fuelled a vibrant graffiti culture". In world terms, Brazil has "one of the most uneven distributions of income. Laws and taxes change frequently". Such factors, Manco argues, contribute to a very fluid society, riven with those economic divisions and social tensions that underpin and feed the "folkloric vandalism and an urban sport for the disenfranchised", that is South American graffiti art.
Prominent Brazilian writers include Os Gêmeos, Boleta, Nunca, Nina, Speto, Tikka, and T.Freak. Their artistic success and involvement in commercial design ventures has highlighted divisions within the Brazilian graffiti community between adherents of the cruder transgressive form of pichação and the more conventionally artistic values of the practitioners of grafite.
Graffiti in the Middle East has emerged slowly, with taggers operating in Egypt, Lebanon, the Gulf countries like Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and in Iran. The major Iranian newspaper Hamshahri has published two articles on illegal writers in the city with photographic coverage of Iranian artist A1one's works on Tehran walls. Tokyo-based design magazine, PingMag, has interviewed A1one and featured photographs of his work. The Israeli West Bank barrier has become a site for graffiti, reminiscent in this sense of the Berlin Wall. Many writers in Israel come from other places around the globe, such as JUIF from Los Angeles and DEVIONE from London. The religious reference "נ נח נחמ נחמן מאומן" ("Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman") is commonly seen in graffiti around Israel.
Graffiti has played an important role within the street art scene in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), especially following the events of the Arab Spring of 2011 or the Sudanese Revolution of 2018/19. Graffiti is a tool of expression in the context of conflict in the region, allowing people to raise their voices politically and socially. Famous street artist Banksy has had an important effect in the street art scene in the MENA area, especially in Palestine where some of his works are located in the West Bank barrier and Bethlehem.
There are also a large number of graffiti influences in Southeast Asian countries that mostly come from modern Western culture, such as Malaysia, where graffiti have long been a common sight in Malaysia's capital city, Kuala Lumpur. Since 2010, the country has begun hosting a street festival to encourage all generations and people from all walks of life to enjoy and encourage Malaysian street culture.
The modern-day graffitists can be found with an arsenal of various materials that allow for a successful production of a piece. This includes such techniques as scribing. However, spray paint in aerosol cans is the number one medium for graffiti. From this commodity comes different styles, technique, and abilities to form master works of graffiti. Spray paint can be found at hardware and art stores and comes in virtually every color.
Stencil graffiti is created by cutting out shapes and designs in a stiff material (such as cardboard or subject folders) to form an overall design or image. The stencil is then placed on the "canvas" gently and with quick, easy strokes of the aerosol can, the image begins to appear on the intended surface.
Some of the first examples were created in 1981 by artists Blek le Rat in Paris, in 1982 by Jef Aerosol in Tours (France); by 1985 stencils had appeared in other cities including New York City, Sydney, and Melbourne, where they were documented by American photographer Charles Gatewood and Australian photographer Rennie Ellis
Tagging is the practice of someone spray-painting "their name, initial or logo onto a public surface" in a handstyle unique to the writer. Tags were the first form of modern graffiti.
Modern graffiti art often incorporates additional arts and technologies. For example, Graffiti Research Lab has encouraged the use of projected images and magnetic light-emitting diodes (throwies) as new media for graffitists. yarnbombing is another recent form of graffiti. Yarnbombers occasionally target previous graffiti for modification, which had been avoided among the majority of graffitists.
Theories on the use of graffiti by avant-garde artists have a history dating back at least to the Asger Jorn, who in 1962 painting declared in a graffiti-like gesture "the avant-garde won't give up"
Many contemporary analysts and even art critics have begun to see artistic value in some graffiti and to recognize it as a form of public art. According to many art researchers, particularly in the Netherlands and in Los Angeles, that type of public art is, in fact an effective tool of social emancipation or, in the achievement of a political goal
In times of conflict, such murals have offered a means of communication and self-expression for members of these socially, ethnically, or racially divided communities, and have proven themselves as effective tools in establishing dialog and thus, of addressing cleavages in the long run. The Berlin Wall was also extensively covered by graffiti reflecting social pressures relating to the oppressive Soviet rule over the GDR.
Many artists involved with graffiti are also concerned with the similar activity of stenciling. Essentially, this entails stenciling a print of one or more colors using spray-paint. Recognized while exhibiting and publishing several of her coloured stencils and paintings portraying the Sri Lankan Civil War and urban Britain in the early 2000s, graffitists Mathangi Arulpragasam, aka M.I.A., has also become known for integrating her imagery of political violence into her music videos for singles "Galang" and "Bucky Done Gun", and her cover art. Stickers of her artwork also often appear around places such as London in Brick Lane, stuck to lamp posts and street signs, she having become a muse for other graffitists and painters worldwide in cities including Seville.
Graffitist believes that art should be on display for everyone in the public eye or in plain sight, not hidden away in a museum or a gallery. Art should color the streets, not the inside of some building. Graffiti is a form of art that cannot be owned or bought. It does not last forever, it is temporary, yet one of a kind. It is a form of self promotion for the artist that can be displayed anywhere form sidewalks, roofs, subways, building wall, etc. Art to them is for everyone and should be showed to everyone for free.
Graffiti is a way of communicating and a way of expressing what one feels in the moment. It is both art and a functional thing that can warn people of something or inform people of something. However, graffiti is to some people a form of art, but to some a form of vandalism. And many graffitists choose to protect their identities and remain anonymous or to hinder prosecution.
With the commercialization of graffiti (and hip hop in general), in most cases, even with legally painted "graffiti" art, graffitists tend to choose anonymity. This may be attributed to various reasons or a combination of reasons. Graffiti still remains the one of four hip hop elements that is not considered "performance art" despite the image of the "singing and dancing star" that sells hip hop culture to the mainstream. Being a graphic form of art, it might also be said that many graffitists still fall in the category of the introverted archetypal artist.
Banksy is one of the world's most notorious and popular street artists who continues to remain faceless in today's society. He is known for his political, anti-war stencil art mainly in Bristol, England, but his work may be seen anywhere from Los Angeles to Palestine. In the UK, Banksy is the most recognizable icon for this cultural artistic movement and keeps his identity a secret to avoid arrest. Much of Banksy's artwork may be seen around the streets of London and surrounding suburbs, although he has painted pictures throughout the world, including the Middle East, where he has painted on Israel's controversial West Bank barrier with satirical images of life on the other side. One depicted a hole in the wall with an idyllic beach, while another shows a mountain landscape on the other side. A number of exhibitions also have taken place since 2000, and recent works of art have fetched vast sums of money. Banksy's art is a prime example of the classic controversy: vandalism vs. art. Art supporters endorse his work distributed in urban areas as pieces of art and some councils, such as Bristol and Islington, have officially protected them, while officials of other areas have deemed his work to be vandalism and have removed it.
Pixnit is another artist who chooses to keep her identity from the general public. Her work focuses on beauty and design aspects of graffiti as opposed to Banksy's anti-government shock value. Her paintings are often of flower designs above shops and stores in her local urban area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Some store owners endorse her work and encourage others to do similar work as well. "One of the pieces was left up above Steve's Kitchen, because it looks pretty awesome"- Erin Scott, the manager of New England Comics in Allston, Massachusetts.
Graffiti artists may become offended if photographs of their art are published in a commercial context without their permission. In March 2020, the Finnish graffiti artist Psyke expressed his displeasure at the newspaper Ilta-Sanomat publishing a photograph of a Peugeot 208 in an article about new cars, with his graffiti prominently shown on the background. The artist claims he does not want his art being used in commercial context, not even if he were to receive compensation.
Territorial graffiti marks urban neighborhoods with tags and logos to differentiate certain groups from others. These images are meant to show outsiders a stern look at whose turf is whose. The subject matter of gang-related graffiti consists of cryptic symbols and initials strictly fashioned with unique calligraphies. Gang members use graffiti to designate membership throughout the gang, to differentiate rivals and associates and, most commonly, to mark borders which are both territorial and ideological.
Graffiti has been used as a means of advertising both legally and illegally. Bronx-based TATS CRU has made a name for themselves doing legal advertising campaigns for companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Toyota, and MTV. In the UK, Covent Garden's Boxfresh used stencil images of a Zapatista revolutionary in the hopes that cross referencing would promote their store.
Smirnoff hired artists to use reverse graffiti (the use of high pressure hoses to clean dirty surfaces to leave a clean image in the surrounding dirt) to increase awareness of their product.
Graffiti often has a reputation as part of a subculture that rebels against authority, although the considerations of the practitioners often diverge and can relate to a wide range of attitudes. It can express a political practice and can form just one tool in an array of resistance techniques. One early example includes the anarcho-punk band Crass, who conducted a campaign of stenciling anti-war, anarchist, feminist, and anti-consumerist messages throughout the London Underground system during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In Amsterdam graffiti was a major part of the punk scene. The city was covered with names such as "De Zoot", "Vendex", and "Dr Rat". To document the graffiti a punk magazine was started that was called Gallery Anus. So when hip hop came to Europe in the early 1980s there was already a vibrant graffiti culture.
The student protests and general strike of May 1968 saw Paris bedecked in revolutionary, anarchistic, and situationist slogans such as L'ennui est contre-révolutionnaire ("Boredom is counterrevolutionary") and Lisez moins, vivez plus ("Read less, live more"). While not exhaustive, the graffiti gave a sense of the 'millenarian' and rebellious spirit, tempered with a good deal of verbal wit, of the strikers.
I think graffiti writing is a way of defining what our generation is like. Excuse the French, we're not a bunch of p---- artists. Traditionally artists have been considered soft and mellow people, a little bit kooky. Maybe we're a little bit more like pirates that way. We defend our territory, whatever space we steal to paint on, we defend it fiercely.
The developments of graffiti art which took place in art galleries and colleges as well as "on the street" or "underground", contributed to the resurfacing in the 1990s of a far more overtly politicized art form in the subvertising, culture jamming, or tactical media movements. These movements or styles tend to classify the artists by their relationship to their social and economic contexts, since, in most countries, graffiti art remains illegal in many forms except when using non-permanent paint. Since the 1990s with the rise of Street Art, a growing number of artists are switching to non-permanent paints and non-traditional forms of painting.
Contemporary practitioners, accordingly, have varied and often conflicting practices. Some individuals, such as Alexander Brener, have used the medium to politicize other art forms, and have used the prison sentences enforced on them as a means of further protest. The practices of anonymous groups and individuals also vary widely, and practitioners by no means always agree with each other's practices. For example, the anti-capitalist art group the Space Hijackers did a piece in 2004 about the contradiction between the capitalistic elements of Banksy and his use of political imagery.
Berlin human rights activist Irmela Mensah-Schramm has received global media attention and numerous awards for her 35-year campaign of effacing neo-Nazi and other right-wing extremist graffiti throughout Germany, often by altering hate speech in humorous ways.
In Serbian capital, Belgrade, the graffiti depicting a uniformed former general of Serb army and war criminal, convicted at ICTY for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bosnian War, Ratko Mladić, appeared in a military salute alongside the words "General, thank to your mother". Aleks Eror, Berlin-based journalist, explains how "veneration of historical and wartime figures" through street art is not a new phenomenon in the region of former Yugoslavia, and that "in most cases is firmly focused on the future, rather than retelling the past". Eror is not only analyst pointing to danger of such an expressions for the region's future. In a long expose on the subject of Bosnian genocide denial, at Balkan Diskurs magazine and multimedia platform website, Kristina Gadže and Taylor Whitsell referred to these experiences as a young generations' "cultural heritage", in which young are being exposed to celebration and affirmation of war-criminals as part of their "formal education" and "inheritance".
There are numerous examples of genocide denial through celebration and affirmation of war criminals throughout the region of Western Balkans inhabited by Serbs using this form of artistic expression. Several more of these graffiti are found in Serbian capital, and many more across Serbia and Bosnian and Herzegovinian administrative entity, Republika Srpska, which is the ethnic Serbian majority enclave. Critics point that Serbia as a state, is willing to defend the mural of convicted war criminal, and have no intention to react on cases of genocide denial, noting that Interior Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin decision to ban any gathering with an intent to remove the mural, with the deployment of riot police, sends the message of "tacit endorsement". Consequently, on 9 November 2021, Serbian heavy police in riot gear, with graffiti creators and their supporters, blocked the access to the mural to prevent human rights groups and other activists to paint over it and mark the International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism in that way, and even arrested two civic activist for throwing eggs at the graffiti.
Graffiti may also be used as an offensive expression. This form of graffiti may be difficult to identify, as it is mostly removed by the local authority (as councils which have adopted strategies of criminalization also strive to remove graffiti quickly). Therefore, existing racist graffiti is mostly more subtle and at first sight, not easily recognized as "racist". It can then be understood only if one knows the relevant "local code" (social, historical, political, temporal, and spatial), which is seen as heteroglot and thus a 'unique set of conditions' in a cultural context.
A spatial code for example, could be that there is a certain youth group in an area that is engaging heavily in racist activities. So, for residents (knowing the local code), a graffiti containing only the name or abbreviation of this gang already is a racist expression, reminding the offended people of their gang activities. Also a graffiti is in most cases, the herald of more serious criminal activity to come. A person who does not know these gang activities would not be able to recognize the meaning of this graffiti. Also if a tag of this youth group or gang is placed on a building occupied by asylum seekers, for example, its racist character is even stronger.
By making the graffiti less explicit (as adapted to social and legal constraints), these drawings are less likely to be removed, but do not lose their threatening and offensive character.
Elsewhere, activists in Russia have used painted caricatures of local officials with their mouths as potholes, to show their anger about the poor state of the roads. In Manchester, England, a graffitists painted obscene images around potholes, which often resulted in them being repaired within 48 hours.
In the early 1980s, the first art galleries to show graffitists to the public were Fashion Moda in the Bronx, Now Gallery and Fun Gallery, both in the East Village, Manhattan.
A 2006 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum displayed graffiti as an art form that began in New York's outer boroughs and reached great heights in the early 1980s with the work of Crash, Lee, Daze, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. It displayed 22 works by New York graffitists, including Crash, Daze, and Lady Pink. In an article about the exhibition in the magazine Time Out, curator Charlotta Kotik said that she hoped the exhibition would cause viewers to rethink their assumptions about graffiti.
From the 1970s onwards, Burhan Doğançay photographed urban walls all over the world; these he then archived for use as sources of inspiration for his painterly works. The project today known as "Walls of the World" grew beyond even his own expectations and comprises about 30,000 individual images. It spans a period of 40 years across five continents and 114 countries. In 1982, photographs from this project comprised a one-man exhibition titled "Les murs murmurent, ils crient, ils chantent ..." (The walls whisper, shout and sing ...) at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
In Australia, art historians have judged some local graffiti of sufficient creative merit to rank them firmly within the arts. Oxford University Press's art history text Australian Painting 1788–2000 concludes with a long discussion of graffiti's key place within contemporary visual culture, including the work of several Australian practitioners.
Between March and April 2009, 150 artists exhibited 300 pieces of graffiti at the Grand Palais in Paris.
Spray paint has many negative environmental effects. The paint contains toxic chemicals, and the can uses volatile hydrocarbon gases to spray the paint onto a surface.
Volatile organic compound (VOC) leads to ground level ozone formation and most of graffiti related emissions are VOCs. A 2010 paper estimates 4,862 tons of VOCs were released in the United States in activities related to graffiti.
In China, Mao Zedong in the 1920s used revolutionary slogans and paintings in public places to galvanize the country's communist movement.
Based on different national conditions, many people believe that China's attitude towards Graffiti is fierce, but in fact, according to Lance Crayon in his film Spray Paint Beijing: Graffiti in the Capital of China, Graffiti is generally accepted in Beijing, with artists not seeing much police interference. Political and religiously sensitive graffiti, however, is not allowed.
In Hong Kong, Tsang Tsou Choi was known as the King of Kowloon for his calligraphy graffiti over many years, in which he claimed ownership of the area. Now some of his work is preserved officially.
In Taiwan, the government has made some concessions to graffitists. Since 2005 they have been allowed to freely display their work along some sections of riverside retaining walls in designated "Graffiti Zones". From 2007, Taipei's department of cultural affairs also began permitting graffiti on fences around major public construction sites. Department head Yong-ping Lee (李永萍) stated, "We will promote graffiti starting with the public sector, and then later in the private sector too. It's our goal to beautify the city with graffiti". The government later helped organize a graffiti contest in Ximending, a popular shopping district. graffitists caught working outside of these designated areas still face fines up to NT$6,000 under a department of environmental protection regulation. However, Taiwanese authorities can be relatively lenient, one veteran police officer stating anonymously, "Unless someone complains about vandalism, we won't get involved. We don't go after it proactively."
In 1993, after several expensive cars in Singapore were spray-painted, the police arrested a student from the Singapore American School, Michael P. Fay, questioned him, and subsequently charged him with vandalism. Fay pleaded guilty to vandalizing a car in addition to stealing road signs. Under the 1966 Vandalism Act of Singapore, originally passed to curb the spread of communist graffiti in Singapore, the court sentenced him to four months in jail, a fine of S$3,500 (US$2,233), and a caning. The New York Times ran several editorials and op-eds that condemned the punishment and called on the American public to flood the Singaporean embassy with protests. Although the Singapore government received many calls for clemency, Fay's caning took place in Singapore on 5 May 1994. Fay had originally received a sentence of six strokes of the cane, but the presiding president of Singapore, Ong Teng Cheong, agreed to reduce his caning sentence to four lashes.
In South Korea, Park Jung-soo was fined two million South Korean won by the Seoul Central District Court for spray-painting a rat on posters of the G-20 Summit a few days before the event in November 2011. Park alleged that the initial in "G-20" sounds like the Korean word for "rat", but Korean government prosecutors alleged that Park was making a derogatory statement about the president of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, the host of the summit. This case led to public outcry and debate on the lack of government tolerance and in support of freedom of expression. The court ruled that the painting, "an ominous creature like a rat" amounts to "an organized criminal activity" and upheld the fine while denying the prosecution's request for imprisonment for Park.
In Europe, community cleaning squads have responded to graffiti, in some cases with reckless abandon, as when in 1992 in France a local Scout group, attempting to remove modern graffiti, damaged two prehistoric paintings of bison in the Cave of Mayrière supérieure near the French village of Bruniquel in Tarn-et-Garonne, earning them the 1992 Ig Nobel Prize in archeology.
In September 2006, the European Parliament directed the European Commission to create urban environment policies to prevent and eliminate dirt, litter, graffiti, animal excrement, and excessive noise from domestic and vehicular music systems in European cities, along with other concerns over urban life.
In Budapest, Hungary, both a city-backed movement called I Love Budapest and a special police division tackle the problem, including the provision of approved areas.
The Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 became Britain's latest anti-graffiti legislation. In August 2004, the Keep Britain Tidy campaign issued a press release calling for zero tolerance of graffiti and supporting proposals such as issuing "on the spot" fines to graffiti offenders and banning the sale of aerosol paint to anyone under the age of 16. The press release also condemned the use of graffiti images in advertising and in music videos, arguing that real-world experience of graffiti stood far removed from its often-portrayed "cool" or "edgy'" image.
To back the campaign, 123 Members of Parliament (MPs) (including then Prime Minister Tony Blair), signed a charter which stated: "Graffiti is not art, it's crime. On behalf of my constituents, I will do all I can to rid our community of this problem."
In the UK, city councils have the power to take action against the owner of any property that has been defaced under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 (as amended by the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005) or, in certain cases, the Highways Act. This is often used against owners of property that are complacent in allowing protective boards to be defaced so long as the property is not damaged.
In July 2008, a conspiracy charge was used to convict graffitists for the first time. After a three-month police surveillance operation, nine members of the DPM crew were convicted of conspiracy to commit criminal damage costing at least £1 million. Five of them received prison sentences, ranging from eighteen months to two years. The unprecedented scale of the investigation and the severity of the sentences rekindled public debate over whether graffiti should be considered art or crime.
Some councils, like those of Stroud and Loerrach, provide approved areas in the town where graffitists can showcase their talents, including underpasses, car parks, and walls that might otherwise prove a target for the "spray and run".
Graffiti Tunnel, University of Sydney at Camperdown (2009)
In an effort to reduce vandalism, many cities in Australia have designated walls or areas exclusively for use by graffitists. One early example is the "Graffiti Tunnel" located at the Camperdown Campus of the University of Sydney, which is available for use by any student at the university to tag, advertise, poster, and paint. Advocates of this idea suggest that this discourages petty vandalism yet encourages artists to take their time and produce great art, without worry of being caught or arrested for vandalism or trespassing.[108][109] Others disagree with this approach, arguing that the presence of legal graffiti walls does not demonstrably reduce illegal graffiti elsewhere. Some local government areas throughout Australia have introduced "anti-graffiti squads", who clean graffiti in the area, and such crews as BCW (Buffers Can't Win) have taken steps to keep one step ahead of local graffiti cleaners.
Many state governments have banned the sale or possession of spray paint to those under the age of 18 (age of majority). However, a number of local governments in Victoria have taken steps to recognize the cultural heritage value of some examples of graffiti, such as prominent political graffiti. Tough new graffiti laws have been introduced in Australia with fines of up to A$26,000 and two years in prison.
Melbourne is a prominent graffiti city of Australia with many of its lanes being tourist attractions, such as Hosier Lane in particular, a popular destination for photographers, wedding photography, and backdrops for corporate print advertising. The Lonely Planet travel guide cites Melbourne's street as a major attraction. All forms of graffiti, including sticker art, poster, stencil art, and wheatpasting, can be found in many places throughout the city. Prominent street art precincts include; Fitzroy, Collingwood, Northcote, Brunswick, St. Kilda, and the CBD, where stencil and sticker art is prominent. As one moves farther away from the city, mostly along suburban train lines, graffiti tags become more prominent. Many international artists such as Banksy have left their work in Melbourne and in early 2008 a perspex screen was installed to prevent a Banksy stencil art piece from being destroyed, it has survived since 2003 through the respect of local street artists avoiding posting over it, although it has recently had paint tipped over it.
In February 2008 Helen Clark, the New Zealand prime minister at that time, announced a government crackdown on tagging and other forms of graffiti vandalism, describing it as a destructive crime representing an invasion of public and private property. New legislation subsequently adopted included a ban on the sale of paint spray cans to persons under 18 and increases in maximum fines for the offence from NZ$200 to NZ$2,000 or extended community service. The issue of tagging become a widely debated one following an incident in Auckland during January 2008 in which a middle-aged property owner stabbed one of two teenage taggers to death and was subsequently convicted of manslaughter.
Graffiti databases have increased in the past decade because they allow vandalism incidents to be fully documented against an offender and help the police and prosecution charge and prosecute offenders for multiple counts of vandalism. They also provide law enforcement the ability to rapidly search for an offender's moniker or tag in a simple, effective, and comprehensive way. These systems can also help track costs of damage to a city to help allocate an anti-graffiti budget. The theory is that when an offender is caught putting up graffiti, they are not just charged with one count of vandalism; they can be held accountable for all the other damage for which they are responsible. This has two main benefits for law enforcement. One, it sends a signal to the offenders that their vandalism is being tracked. Two, a city can seek restitution from offenders for all the damage that they have committed, not merely a single incident. These systems give law enforcement personnel real-time, street-level intelligence that allows them not only to focus on the worst graffiti offenders and their damage, but also to monitor potential gang violence that is associated with the graffiti.
Many restrictions of civil gang injunctions are designed to help address and protect the physical environment and limit graffiti. Provisions of gang injunctions include things such as restricting the possession of marker pens, spray paint cans, or other sharp objects capable of defacing private or public property; spray painting, or marking with marker pens, scratching, applying stickers, or otherwise applying graffiti on any public or private property, including, but not limited to the street, alley, residences, block walls, and fences, vehicles or any other real or personal property. Some injunctions contain wording that restricts damaging or vandalizing both public and private property, including but not limited to any vehicle, light fixture, door, fence, wall, gate, window, building, street sign, utility box, telephone box, tree, or power pole.
To help address many of these issues, many local jurisdictions have set up graffiti abatement hotlines, where citizens can call in and report vandalism and have it removed. San Diego's hotline receives more than 5,000 calls per year, in addition to reporting the graffiti, callers can learn more about prevention. One of the complaints about these hotlines is the response time; there is often a lag time between a property owner calling about the graffiti and its removal. The length of delay should be a consideration for any jurisdiction planning on operating a hotline. Local jurisdictions must convince the callers that their complaint of vandalism will be a priority and cleaned off right away. If the jurisdiction does not have the resources to respond to complaints in a timely manner, the value of the hotline diminishes. Crews must be able to respond to individual service calls made to the graffiti hotline as well as focus on cleanup near schools, parks, and major intersections and transit routes to have the biggest impact. Some cities offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of suspects for tagging or graffiti related vandalism. The amount of the reward is based on the information provided, and the action taken.
When police obtain search warrants in connection with a vandalism investigation, they are often seeking judicial approval to look for items such as cans of spray paint and nozzles from other kinds of aerosol sprays; etching tools, or other sharp or pointed objects, which could be used to etch or scratch glass and other hard surfaces; permanent marking pens, markers, or paint sticks; evidence of membership or affiliation with any gang or tagging crew; paraphernalia including any reference to "(tagger's name)"; any drawings, writing, objects, or graffiti depicting taggers' names, initials, logos, monikers, slogans, or any mention of tagging crew membership; and any newspaper clippings relating to graffiti crime.
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Rose Apple, not an Apple at all, in other languages;
Thailand = chom phu nam dok mai
Cambodia = champuu
Bengali (India) = golaap jaam
Laos = kieng
Malaysia = jambu
Vietnam = bo dao
In Thailand, Rose Apple would mean Syzygium samarangense (Wax Jambu) or Syzygium malaccense (Malay Apple) but not Syzygium jambos.
To resolve this and other confusions in many countries involving nomenclature, please check the following links;
Wax Jambu (Syzygium samarangense)
www.tradewindsfruit.com/wax_jambu
Malay Apple (Syzygium malaccense)
www.tradewindsfruit.com/malay_apple.htm
Rose Apple (Syzygium jambos)
www.tradewindsfruit.com/rose_apple.htm
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The blossoms of Rose Apple, summer first tropical fruit in Florida.
Syzygium jambos
Family Myrtaceae
The Ghosh Grove, Rockledge, Florida, USA.
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Shiva, meaning "The Auspicious One"), also known as Mahadeva ("Great God"), is a popular Hindu deity. Shiva is regarded as one of the primary forms of God. He is the Supreme God within Shaivism, one of the three most influential denominations in contemporary Hinduism. He is one of the five primary forms of God in the Smarta tradition, and "the Destroyer" or "the Transformer" among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine.
Shiva has many benevolent and fearsome forms. At the highest level Shiva is limitless, transcendent, unchanging and formless. In benevolent aspects, he is depicted as an omniscient Yogi who lives an ascetic life on Mount Kailash, as well as a householder with wife Parvati and his two children, Ganesha and Kartikeya and in fierce aspects, he is often depicted slaying demons. Shiva is also regarded as the patron god of yoga and arts.
The main iconographical attributes of Shiva are the third eye on his forehead, the snake Vasuki around his neck, the crescent moon adorning, the holy river Ganga flowing from his matted hair, the trishula as his weapon and the damaru as his instrument.
Shiva is usually worshiped in the aniconic form of Lingam. Temples of Lord Shiva are called shivalayam.
ETYMOLOGY & OTHER NAMES
The Sanskrit word Shiva (Devanagari: शिव, śiva) comes from Shri Rudram Chamakam of Taittiriya Samhita (TS 4.5, 4.7) of Krishna Yajurveda. The root word śi means auspicious. In simple English transliteration it is written either as Shiva or Siva. The adjective śiva, is used as an attributive epithet not particularly of Rudra, but of several other Vedic deities.
The other popular names associated with Shiva are Mahadev, Mahesh, Maheshwar, Shankar, Shambhu, Rudra, Har, Trilochan, Devendra (meaning Chief of the gods) and Trilokinath (meaning Lord of the three realms).
The Sanskrit word śaiva means "relating to the God Shiva", and this term is the Sanskrit name both for one of the principal sects of Hinduism and for a member of that sect. It is used as an adjective to characterize certain beliefs and practices, such as Shaivism. He is the oldest worshipped Lord of India.
The Tamil word Sivan, Tamil: சிவன் ("Fair Skinned") could have been derived from the word sivappu. The word 'sivappu' means "red" in Tamil language but while addressing a person's skin texture in Tamil the word 'Sivappu' is used for being Fair Skinned.
Adi Sankara, in his interpretation of the name Shiva, the 27th and 600th name of Vishnu sahasranama, the thousand names of Vishnu interprets Shiva to have multiple meanings: "The Pure One", or "the One who is not affected by three Gunas of Prakrti (Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas)" or "the One who purifies everyone by the very utterance of His name."Swami Chinmayananda, in his translation of Vishnu sahasranama, further elaborates on that verse: Shiva means "the One who is eternally pure" or "the One who can never have any contamination of the imperfection of Rajas and Tamas".
Shiva's role as the primary deity of Shaivism is reflected in his epithets Mahādeva ("Great God"; mahā "Great" and deva "god"), Maheśvara ("Great Lord"; mahā "great" and īśvara "lord"), and Parameśvara ("Supreme Lord").
There are at least eight different versions of the Shiva Sahasranama, devotional hymns (stotras) listing many names of Shiva. The version appearing in Book 13 (Anuśāsanaparvan) of the Mahabharata is considered the kernel of this tradition. Shiva also has Dasha-Sahasranamas (10,000 names) that are found in the Mahanyasa. The Shri Rudram Chamakam, also known as the Śatarudriya, is a devotional hymn to Shiva hailing him by many names.
The worship of Shiva is a pan-Hindu tradition, practiced widely across all of India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
ASSIMILATION OF TRADITIONS
The figure of Shiva as we know him today was built up over time, with the ideas of many regional sects being amalgamated into a single figure. How the persona of Shiva converged as a composite deity is not well documented. According to Vijay Nath:
Visnu and Siva [...] began to absorb countless local cults and deities within their folds. The latter were either taken to represent the multiple facets of the same god or else were supposed to denote different forms and appellations by which the god came to be known and worshipped. [...] Siva became identified with countless local cults by the sheer suffixing of Isa or Isvara to the name of the local deity, e.g., Bhutesvara, Hatakesvara, Chandesvara."
Axel Michaels the Indologist suggests that Shaivism, like Vaishnavism, implies a unity which cannot be clearly found either in religious practice or in philosophical and esoteric doctrine. Furthermore, practice and doctrine must be kept separate.
An example of assimilation took place in Maharashtra, where a regional deity named Khandoba is a patron deity of farming and herding castes. The foremost center of worship of Khandoba in Maharashtra is in Jejuri. Khandoba has been assimilated as a form of Shiva himself, in which case he is worshipped in the form of a lingam. Khandoba's varied associations also include an identification with Surya and Karttikeya.
INDUS VALLEY ORIGINS
Many Indus valley seals show animals but one seal that has attracted attention shows a figure, either horned or wearing a horned headdress and possibly ithyphallic figure seated in a posture reminiscent of the Lotus position and surrounded by animals was named by early excavators of Mohenjo-daro Pashupati (lord of cattle), an epithet of the later Hindu gods Shiva and Rudra. Sir John Marshall and others have claimed that this figure is a prototype of Shiva and have described the figure as having three faces seated in a "yoga posture" with the knees out and feet joined.
This claim has been criticised, with some academics like Gavin Flood and John Keay characterizing them as unfounded. Writing in 1997 Doris Srinivasan said that "Not too many recent studies continue to call the seal's figure a 'Proto-Siva'", rejecting thereby Marshall's package of proto-Siva features, including that of three heads. She interprets what John Marshall interpreted as facial as not human but more bovine, possibly a divine buffalo-man. According to Iravatham Mahadevan symbols 47 and 48 of his Indus script glossary The Indus Script: Texts, Concordance and Tables (1977), representing seated human-like figures, could describe Hindu deity Murugan, popularly known as Shiva and Parvati's son.
INDO-EUROPEAN ORIGINS
Shiva's rise to a major position in the pantheon was facilitated by his identification with a host of Vedic deities, including Purusha, Rudra, Agni, Indra, Prajāpati, Vāyu, and others.
RUDRA
Shiva as we know him today shares many features with the Vedic god Rudra, and both Shiva and Rudra are viewed as the same personality in Hindu scriptures. The two names are used synonymously. Rudra, the god of the roaring storm, is usually portrayed in accordance with the element he represents as a fierce, destructive deity.
The oldest surviving text of Hinduism is the Rig Veda, which is dated to between 1700 and 1100 BCE based on linguistic and philological evidence. A god named Rudra is mentioned in the Rig Veda. The name Rudra is still used as a name for Shiva. In RV 2.33, he is described as the "Father of the Rudras", a group of storm gods. Furthermore, the Rudram, one of the most sacred hymns of Hinduism found both in the Rig and the Yajur Vedas and addressed to Rudra, invokes him as Shiva in several instances, but the term Shiva is used as an epithet for the gods Indra, Mitra and Agni many times. Since Shiva means pure, the epithet is possibly used to describe a quality of these gods rather than to identify any of them with the God Shiva.
The identification of Shiva with the older god Rudhra is not universally accepted, as Axel Michaels explains:
Rudra is called "The Archer" (Sanskrit: Śarva), and the arrow is an essential attribute of Rudra. This name appears in the Shiva Sahasranama, and R. K. Sharma notes that it is used as a name of Shiva often in later languages.
The word is derived from the Sanskrit root śarv-, which means "to injure" or "to kill", and Sharma uses that general sense in his interpretive translation of the name Śarva as "One who can kill the forces of darkness". The names Dhanvin ("Bowman") and Bāṇahasta ("Archer", literally "Armed with arrows in his hands") also refer to archery.
AGNI
Rudra and Agni have a close relationship. The identification between Agni and Rudra in the Vedic literature was an important factor in the process of Rudra's gradual development into the later character as Rudra-Shiva. The identification of Agni with Rudra is explicitly noted in the Nirukta, an important early text on etymology, which says, "Agni is also called Rudra." The interconnections between the two deities are complex, and according to Stella Kramrisch:
The fire myth of Rudra-Śiva plays on the whole gamut of fire, valuing all its potentialities and phases, from conflagration to illumination.
In the Śatarudrīya, some epithets of Rudra, such as Sasipañjara ("Of golden red hue as of flame") and Tivaṣīmati ("Flaming bright"), suggest a fusing of the two deities. Agni is said to be a bull, and Lord Shiva possesses a bull as his vehicle, Nandi. The horns of Agni, who is sometimes characterized as a bull, are mentioned. In medieval sculpture, both Agni and the form of Shiva known as Bhairava have flaming hair as a special feature.
INDRA
According to Wendy Doniger, the Puranic Shiva is a continuation of the Vedic Indra. Doniger gives several reasons for his hypothesis. Both are associated with mountains, rivers, male fertility, fierceness, fearlessness, warfare, transgression of established mores, the Aum sound, the Supreme Self. In the Rig Veda the term śiva is used to refer to Indra. (2.20.3, 6.45.17, and 8.93.3.) Indra, like Shiva, is likened to a bull. In the Rig Veda, Rudra is the father of the Maruts, but he is never associated with their warlike exploits as is Indra.
The Vedic beliefs and practices of the pre-classical era were closely related to the hypothesised Proto-Indo-European religion, and the Indo-Iranian religion. According to Anthony, the Old Indic religion probably emerged among Indo-European immigrants in the contact zone between the Zeravshan River (present-day Uzbekistan) and (present-day) Iran. It was "a syncretic mixture of old Central Asian and new Indo-European elements", which borrowed "distinctive religious beliefs and practices" from the Bactria–Margiana Culture. At least 383 non-Indo-European words were borrowed from this culture, including the god Indra and the ritual drink Soma. According to Anthony,
Many of the qualities of Indo-Iranian god of might/victory, Verethraghna, were transferred to the adopted god Indra, who became the central deity of the developing Old Indic culture. Indra was the subject of 250 hymns, a quarter of the Rig Veda. He was associated more than any other deity with Soma, a stimulant drug (perhaps derived from Ephedra) probably borrowed from the BMAC religion. His rise to prominence was a peculiar trait of the Old Indic speakers.
LATER VEDIC LITERATURE
Rudra's transformation from an ambiguously characterized deity to a supreme being began in the Shvetashvatara Upanishad (400-200 BCE), which founded the tradition of Rudra-Shiva worship. Here they are identified as the creators of the cosmos and liberators of souls from the birth-rebirth cycle. The period of 200 BCE to 100 CE also marks the beginning of the Shaiva tradition focused on the worship of Shiva, with references to Shaiva ascetics in Patanjali's Mahabhasya and in the Mahabharata.
Early historical paintings at the Bhimbetka rock shelters, depict Shiva dancing, Shiva's trident, and his mount Nandi but no other Vedic gods.
PURANIC LITERATURE
The Shiva Puranas, particularly the Shiva Purana and the Linga Purana, discuss the various forms of Shiva and the cosmology associated with him.
TANTRIC LITERATURE
The Tantras, composed between the 8th and 11th centuries, regard themselves as Sruti. Among these the Shaiva Agamas, are said to have been revealed by Shiva himself and are foundational texts for Shaiva Siddhanta.
POSITION WITHIN HINDUISM
SHAIVISM
Shaivism (Sanskrit: शैव पंथ, śaiva paṁtha) (Kannada: ಶೈವ ಪಂಥ) (Tamil: சைவ சமயம்) is the oldest of the four major sects of Hinduism, the others being Vaishnavism, Shaktism and Smartism. Followers of Shaivism, called "Shaivas", and also "Saivas" or "Saivites", revere Shiva as the Supreme Being. Shaivas believe that Shiva is All and in all, the creator, preserver, destroyer, revealer and concealer of all that is. The tantric Shaiva tradition consists of the Kapalikas, Kashmir Shaivism and Shaiva Siddhanta. The Shiva MahaPurana is one of the purāṇas, a genre of Hindu religious texts, dedicated to Shiva. Shaivism is widespread throughout India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, mostly. Areas notable for the practice of Shaivism include parts of Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia.
PANCHAYATANA PUJA
Panchayatana puja is the system of worship ('puja') in the Smarta sampradaya of Hinduism. It is said to have been introduced by Adi Shankara, the 8th century CE Hindu philosopher. It consists of the worship of five deities: Shiva, Vishnu, Devi, Surya and Ganesha. Depending on the tradition followed by Smarta households, one of these deities is kept in the center and the other four surround it. Worship is offered to all the deities. The five are represented by small murtis, or by five kinds of stones, or by five marks drawn on the floor.
TRIMURTI
The Trimurti is a concept in Hinduism in which the cosmic functions of creation, maintenance, and destruction are personified by the forms of Brahmā the creator, Vishnu the maintainer or preserver and Śhiva the destroyer or transformer. These three deities have been called "the Hindu triad" or the "Great Trinity", often addressed as "Brahma-Vishnu-Maheshwara."
ICONOGRAPHY AND PROPERTIES
ATTRIBUTES
Shiva's form: Shiva has a trident in the right lower arm, and a crescent moon on his head. He is said to be fair like camphor or like an ice clad mountain. He wears five serpents and a garland of skulls as ornaments. Shiva is usually depicted facing the south. His trident, like almost all other forms in Hinduism, can be understood as the symbolism of the unity of three worlds that a human faces - his inside world, his immediate world, and the broader overall world. At the base of the trident, all three forks unite.
Third eye: (Trilochana) Shiva is often depicted with a third eye, with which he burned Desire (Kāma) to ashes, called "Tryambakam" (Sanskrit: त्र्यम्बकम् ), which occurs in many scriptural sources. In classical Sanskrit, the word ambaka denotes "an eye", and in the Mahabharata, Shiva is depicted as three-eyed, so this name is sometimes translated as "having three eyes". However, in Vedic Sanskrit, the word ambā or ambikā means "mother", and this early meaning of the word is the basis for the translation "three mothers". These three mother-goddesses who are collectively called the Ambikās. Other related translations have been based on the idea that the name actually refers to the oblations given to Rudra, which according to some traditions were shared with the goddess Ambikā. It has been mentioned that when Shiva loses his temper, his third eye opens which can destroy most things to ashes.
Crescent moon: (The epithets "Chandrasekhara/Chandramouli")- Shiva bears on his head the crescent moon. The epithet Candraśekhara (Sanskrit: चन्द्रशेखर "Having the moon as his crest" - candra = "moon"; śekhara = "crest, crown") refers to this feature. The placement of the moon on his head as a standard iconographic feature dates to the period when Rudra rose to prominence and became the major deity Rudra-Shiva. The origin of this linkage may be due to the identification of the moon with Soma, and there is a hymn in the Rig Veda where Soma and Rudra are jointly implored, and in later literature, Soma and Rudra came to be identified with one another, as were Soma and the moon. The crescent moon is shown on the side of the Lord's head as an ornament. The waxing and waning phenomenon of the moon symbolizes the time cycle through which creation evolves from the beginning to the end.
Ashes: (The epithet "Bhasmaanga Raaga") - Shiva smears his body with ashes (bhasma). The ashes are said to represent the end of all material existence. Some forms of Shiva, such as Bhairava, are associated with a very old Indian tradition of cremation-ground asceticism that was practiced by some groups who were outside the fold of brahmanic orthodoxy. These practices associated with cremation grounds are also mentioned in the Pali canon of Theravada Buddhism. One epithet for Shiva is "inhabitant of the cremation ground" (Sanskrit: śmaśānavāsin, also spelled Shmashanavasin), referring to this connection.
Matted hair: (The epithet "Jataajoota Dhari/Kapardina") - Shiva's distinctive hair style is noted in the epithets Jaṭin, "the one with matted hair", and Kapardin, "endowed with matted hair" or "wearing his hair wound in a braid in a shell-like (kaparda) fashion". A kaparda is a cowrie shell, or a braid of hair in the form of a shell, or, more generally, hair that is shaggy or curly. His hair is said to be like molten gold in color or being yellowish-white.
Blue throat: The epithet Nīlakaṇtha (Sanskrit नीलकण्ठ; nīla = "blue", kaṇtha = "throat"). Since Shiva drank the Halahala poison churned up from the Samudra Manthan to eliminate its destructive capacity. Shocked by his act, Goddess Parvati strangled his neck and hence managed to stop it in his neck itself and prevent it from spreading all over the universe, supposed to be in Shiva's stomach. However the poison was so potent that it changed the color of his neck to blue. (See Maha Shivaratri.)
Sacred Ganges: (The epithet "Gangadhara") Bearer of Ganga. Ganges river flows from the matted hair of Shiva. The Gaṅgā (Ganges), one of the major rivers of the country, is said to have made her abode in Shiva's hair. The flow of the Ganges also represents the nectar of immortality.
Tiger skin: (The epithet "Krittivasana").He is often shown seated upon a tiger skin, an honour reserved for the most accomplished of Hindu ascetics, the Brahmarishis.
Serpents: (The epithet "Nagendra Haara" or 'Vasoki"). Shiva is often shown garlanded with a snake.
Deer: His holding deer on one hand indicates that He has removed the Chanchalata of the mind (i.e., attained maturity and firmness in thought process). A deer jumps from one place to another swiftly, similar to the mind moving from one thought to another.
Trident: (Trishula): Shiva's particular weapon is the trident. His Trisul that is held in His right hand represents the three Gunas— Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. That is the emblem of sovereignty. He rules the world through these three Gunas. The Damaru in His left hand represents the Sabda Brahman. It represents OM from which all languages are formed. It is He who formed the Sanskrit language out of the Damaru sound.
Drum: A small drum shaped like an hourglass is known as a damaru (ḍamaru). This is one of the attributes of Shiva in his famous dancing representation known as Nataraja. A specific hand gesture (mudra) called ḍamaru-hasta (Sanskrit for "ḍamaru-hand") is used to hold the drum. This drum is particularly used as an emblem by members of the Kāpālika sect.
Axe: (Parashu):The parashu is the weapon of Lord Shiva who gave it to Parashurama, sixth Avatar of Vishnu, whose name means "Rama with the axe" and also taught him its mastery.
Nandī: (The epithet "Nandi Vaahana").Nandī, also known as Nandin, is the name of the bull that serves as Shiva's mount (Sanskrit: vāhana). Shiva's association with cattle is reflected in his name Paśupati, or Pashupati (Sanskrit: पशुपति), translated by Sharma as "lord of cattle" and by Kramrisch as "lord of animals", who notes that it is particularly used as an epithet of Rudra. Rishabha or the bull represents Dharma Devata. Lord Siva rides on the bull. Bull is his vehicle. This denotes that Lord Siva is the protector of Dharma, is an embodiment of Dharma or righteousness.
Gaṇa: The Gaṇas (Devanagari: गण) are attendants of Shiva and live in Kailash. They are often referred to as the bhutaganas, or ghostly hosts, on account of their nature. Generally benign, except when their lord is transgressed against, they are often invoked to intercede with the lord on behalf of the devotee. Ganesha was chosen as their leader by Shiva, hence Ganesha's title gaṇa-īśa or gaṇa-pati, "lord of the gaṇas".
Mount Kailāsa: Mount Kailash in the Himalayas is his traditional abode. In Hindu mythology, Mount Kailāsa is conceived as resembling a Linga, representing the center of the universe.
Varanasi: Varanasi (Benares) is considered to be the city specially loved by Shiva, and is one of the holiest places of pilgrimage in India. It is referred to, in religious contexts, as Kashi.
LINGAM
Apart from anthropomorphic images of Shiva, the worship of Shiva in the form of a lingam, or linga, is also important. These are depicted in various forms. One common form is the shape of a vertical rounded column. Shiva means auspiciousness, and linga means a sign or a symbol. Hence, the Shivalinga is regarded as a "symbol of the great God of the universe who is all-auspiciousness". Shiva also means "one in whom the whole creation sleeps after dissolution". Linga also means the same thing—a place where created objects get dissolved during the disintegration of the created universe. Since, according to Hinduism, it is the same god that creates, sustains and withdraws the universe, the Shivalinga represents symbolically God Himself. Some scholars, such as Monier Monier-Williams and Wendy Doniger, also view linga as a phallic symbol, although this interpretation is disputed by others, including Christopher Isherwood, Vivekananda, Swami Sivananda, and S.N. Balagangadhara.
JYOTIRLINGA
The worship of the Shiva-Linga originated from the famous hymn in the Atharva-Veda Samhitâ sung in praise of the Yupa-Stambha, the sacrificial post. In that hymn, a description is found of the beginningless and endless Stambha or Skambha, and it is shown that the said Skambha is put in place of the eternal Brahman. Just as the Yajna (sacrificial) fire, its smoke, ashes, and flames, the Soma plant, and the ox that used to carry on its back the wood for the Vedic sacrifice gave place to the conceptions of the brightness of Shiva's body, his tawny matted hair, his blue throat, and the riding on the bull of the Shiva, the Yupa-Skambha gave place in time to the Shiva-Linga. In the text Linga Purana, the same hymn is expanded in the shape of stories, meant to establish the glory of the great Stambha and the superiority of Shiva as Mahadeva.
The sacred of all Shiva linga is worshipped as Jyotir linga. Jyoti means Radiance, apart from relating Shiva linga as a phallus symbol, there are also arguments that Shiva linga means 'mark' or a 'sign'. Jyotirlinga means "The Radiant sign of The Almighty". The Jyotirlingas are mentioned in Shiva Purana.
SHAKTI
Shiva forms a Tantric couple with Shakti [Tamil : சக்தி ], the embodiment of energy, dynamism, and the motivating force behind all action and existence in the material universe. Shiva is her transcendent masculine aspect, providing the divine ground of all being. Shakti manifests in several female deities. Sati and Parvati are the main consorts of Shiva. She is also referred to as Uma, Durga (Parvata), Kali and Chandika. Kali is the manifestation of Shakti in her dreadful aspect. The name Kali comes from kāla, which means black, time, death, lord of death, Shiva. Since Shiva is called Kāla, the eternal time, Kālī, his consort, also means "Time" or "Death" (as in "time has come"). Various Shakta Hindu cosmologies, as well as Shākta Tantric beliefs, worship her as the ultimate reality or Brahman. She is also revered as Bhavatārini (literally "redeemer of the universe"). Kālī is represented as the consort of Lord Shiva, on whose body she is often seen standing or dancing. Shiva is the masculine force, the power of peace, while Shakti translates to power, and is considered as the feminine force. In the Vaishnava tradition, these realities are portrayed as Vishnu and Laxmi, or Radha and Krishna. These are differences in formulation rather than a fundamental difference in the principles. Both Shiva and Shakti have various forms. Shiva has forms like Yogi Raj (the common image of Himself meditating in the Himalayas), Rudra (a wrathful form) and Natarajar (Shiva's dance are the Lasya - the gentle form of dance, associated with the creation of the world, and the Tandava - the violent and dangerous dance, associated with the destruction of weary worldviews – weary perspectives and lifestyles).
THE FIVE MANTRAS
Five is a sacred number for Shiva. One of his most important mantras has five syllables (namaḥ śivāya).
Shiva's body is said to consist of five mantras, called the pañcabrahmans. As forms of God, each of these have their own names and distinct iconography:
Sadyojāta
Vāmadeva
Aghora
Tatpuruṣha
Īsāna
These are represented as the five faces of Shiva and are associated in various texts with the five elements, the five senses, the five organs of perception, and the five organs of action. Doctrinal differences and, possibly, errors in transmission, have resulted in some differences between texts in details of how these five forms are linked with various attributes. The overall meaning of these associations is summarized by Stella Kramrisch:
Through these transcendent categories, Śiva, the ultimate reality, becomes the efficient and material cause of all that exists.
According to the Pañcabrahma Upanishad:
One should know all things of the phenomenal world as of a fivefold character, for the reason that the eternal verity of Śiva is of the character of the fivefold Brahman. (Pañcabrahma Upanishad 31)
FORMES AND ROLES
According to Gavin Flood, "Shiva is a god of ambiguity and paradox," whose attributes include opposing themes.[168] The ambivalent nature of this deity is apparent in some of his names and the stories told about him.
DESTROYER AND BENEFACTOR
In the Yajurveda, two contrary sets of attributes for both malignant or terrific (Sanskrit: rudra) and benign or auspicious (Sanskrit: śiva) forms can be found, leading Chakravarti to conclude that "all the basic elements which created the complex Rudra-Śiva sect of later ages are to be found here". In the Mahabharata, Shiva is depicted as "the standard of invincibility, might, and terror", as well as a figure of honor, delight, and brilliance. The duality of Shiva's fearful and auspicious attributes appears in contrasted names.
The name Rudra (Sanskrit: रुद्र) reflects his fearsome aspects. According to traditional etymologies, the Sanskrit name Rudra is derived from the root rud-, which means "to cry, howl". Stella Kramrisch notes a different etymology connected with the adjectival form raudra, which means "wild, of rudra nature", and translates the name Rudra as "the wild one" or "the fierce god". R. K. Sharma follows this alternate etymology and translates the name as "terrible". Hara (Sanskrit: हर) is an important name that occurs three times in the Anushasanaparvan version of the Shiva sahasranama, where it is translated in different ways each time it occurs, following a commentorial tradition of not repeating an interpretation. Sharma translates the three as "one who captivates", "one who consolidates", and "one who destroys". Kramrisch translates it as "the ravisher". Another of Shiva's fearsome forms is as Kāla (Sanskrit: काल), "time", and as Mahākāla (Sanskrit: महाकाल), "great time", which ultimately destroys all things. Bhairava (Sanskrit: भैरव), "terrible" or "frightful", is a fierce form associated with annihilation.
In contrast, the name Śaṇkara (Sanskrit: शङ्कर), "beneficent" or "conferring happiness" reflects his benign form. This name was adopted by the great Vedanta philosopher Śaṇkara (c. 788 - 820 CE), who is also known as Shankaracharya. The name Śambhu (Sanskrit: शम्भु), "causing happiness", also reflects this benign aspect.
ASCETIC AND HOUSEHOLDER
He is depicted as both an ascetic yogi and as a householder, roles which have been traditionally mutually exclusive in Hindu society.[185] When depicted as a yogi, he may be shown sitting and meditating. His epithet Mahāyogi ("the great Yogi: Mahā = "great", Yogi = "one who practices Yoga") refers to his association with yoga. While Vedic religion was conceived mainly in terms of sacrifice, it was during the Epic period that the concepts of tapas, yoga, and asceticism became more important, and the depiction of Shiva as an ascetic sitting in philosophical isolation reflects these later concepts. Shiva is also depicted as a corpse below Goddess Kali, it represents that Shiva is a corpse without Shakti. He remains inert. While Shiva is the static form, Mahakali or Shakti is the dynamic aspect without whom Shiva is powerless.
As a family man and householder, he has a wife, Parvati and two sons, Ganesha and Kartikeya. His epithet Umāpati ("The husband of Umā") refers to this idea, and Sharma notes that two other variants of this name that mean the same thing, Umākānta and Umādhava, also appear in the sahasranama. Umā in epic literature is known by many names, including the benign Pārvatī. She is identified with Devi, the Divine Mother; Shakti (divine energy) as well as goddesses like Tripura Sundari, Durga, Kamakshi and Meenakshi. The consorts of Shiva are the source of his creative energy. They represent the dynamic extension of Shiva onto this universe. His son Ganesha is worshipped throughout India and Nepal as the Remover of Obstacles, Lord of Beginnings and Lord of Obstacles. Kartikeya is worshipped in Southern India (especially in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka) by the names Subrahmanya, Subrahmanyan, Shanmughan, Swaminathan and Murugan, and in Northern India by the names Skanda, Kumara, or Karttikeya.
Some regional deities are also identified as Shiva's children. As one story goes, Shiva is enticed by the beauty and charm of Mohini, Vishnu's female avatar, and procreates with her. As a result of this union, Shasta - identified with regional deities Ayyappa and Ayyanar - is born. Shiva is also mentioned in some scriptures or folktales to have had daughters like the serpent-goddess Manasa and Ashokasundari. Even the demon Andhaka is sometimes considered a child of Shiva.
NATARAJA
he depiction of Shiva as Nataraja (Tamil: நடராஜா,Kannada: ನಟರಾಜ, Telugu: నటరాజు, Sanskrit: naṭarāja, "Lord of Dance") is popular. The names Nartaka ("dancer") and Nityanarta ("eternal dancer") appear in the Shiva Sahasranama. His association with dance and also with music is prominent in the Puranic period. In addition to the specific iconographic form known as Nataraja, various other types of dancing forms (Sanskrit: nṛtyamūrti) are found in all parts of India, with many well-defined varieties in Tamil Nadu in particular. The two most common forms of the dance are the Tandava, which later came to denote the powerful and masculine dance as Kala-Mahakala associated with the destruction of the world. When it requires the world or universe to be destroyed, Lord Śiva does it by the tāṇḍavanṛtya. and Lasya, which is graceful and delicate and expresses emotions on a gentle level and is considered the feminine dance attributed to the goddess Parvati. Lasya is regarded as the female counterpart of Tandava. The Tandava-Lasya dances are associated with the destruction-creation of the world.
DAKSHINAMURTHY
Dakshinamurthy, or Dakṣiṇāmūrti (Tamil:தட்சிணாமூர்த்தி, Telugu: దక్షిణామూర్తి, Sanskrit: दक्षिणामूर्ति), literally describes a form (mūrti) of Shiva facing south (dakṣiṇa). This form represents Shiva in his aspect as a teacher of yoga, music, and wisdom and giving exposition on the shastras. This iconographic form for depicting Shiva in Indian art is mostly from Tamil Nadu. Elements of this motif can include Shiva seated upon a deer-throne and surrounded by sages who are receiving his instruction.
ARDANARISHVARA
An iconographic representation of Shiva called (Ardhanārīśvara) shows him with one half of the body as male and the other half as female. According to Ellen Goldberg, the traditional Sanskrit name for this form (Ardhanārīśvara) is best translated as "the lord who is half woman", not as "half-man, half-woman". According to legend, Lord Shiva is pleased by the difficult austerites performed by the goddess Parvati, grants her the left half of his body. This form of Shiva is quite similar to the Yin-Yang philosophy of Eastern Asia, though Ardhanārīśvara appears to be more ancient.
TRIRUPANTAKA
Shiva is often depicted as an archer in the act of destroying the triple fortresses, Tripura, of the Asuras. Shiva's name Tripurantaka (Sanskrit: त्रिपुरान्तक, Tripurāntaka), "ender of Tripura", refers to this important story.[216] In this aspect, Shiva is depicted with four arms wielding a bow and arrow, but different from the Pinakapani murti. He holds an axe and a deer on the upper pair of his arms. In the lower pair of the arms, he holds a bow and an arrow respectively. After destroying Tripura, Tripurantaka Shiva smeared his forehead with three strokes of Ashes. This has become a prominent symbol of Shiva and is practiced even today by Shaivites.
OTHER FORMS, AVATARS IDENTIFICATIONS
Shiva, like some other Hindu deities, is said to have several incarnations, known as Avatars. Although Puranic scriptures contain occasional references to "ansh" avatars of Shiva, the idea is not universally accepted in Saivism. The Linga Purana speaks of twenty-eight forms of Shiva which are sometimes seen as avatars. According to the Svetasvatara Upanishad, he has four avatars.
In the Hanuman Chalisa, Hanuman is identified as the eleventh avatar of Shiva and this belief is universal. Hanuman is popularly known as “Rudraavtaar” “Rudra” being a name of “Shiva”. Rama– the Vishnu avatar is considered by some to be the eleventh avatar of Rudra (Shiva).
Other traditions regard the sage Durvasa, the sage Agastya, the philosopher Adi Shankara, as avatars of Shiva. Other forms of Shiva include Virabhadra and Sharabha.
FESTIVALS
Maha Shivratri is a festival celebrated every year on the 13th night or the 14th day of the new moon in the Shukla Paksha of the month of Maagha or Phalguna in the Hindu calendar. This festival is of utmost importance to the devotees of Lord Shiva. Mahashivaratri marks the night when Lord Shiva performed the 'Tandava' and it is the day that Lord Shiva was married to Parvati. The holiday is often celebrated with special prayers and rituals offered up to Shiva, notably the Abhishek. This ritual, practiced throughout the night, is often performed every three hours with water, milk, yogurt, and honey. Bel (aegle marmelos) leaves are often offered up to the Hindu god, as it is considered necessary for a successful life. The offering of the leaves are considered so important that it is believed that someone who offers them without any intentions will be rewarded greatly.
BEYOND HINDUISM
BUDDHISM
Shiva is mentioned in Buddhist Tantra. Shiva as Upaya and Shakti as Prajna. In cosmologies of buddhist tantra, Shiva is depicted as active, skillful, and more passive.
SIKHISM
The Japuji Sahib of the Guru Granth Sahib says, "The Guru is Shiva, the Guru is Vishnu and Brahma; the Guru is Paarvati and Lakhshmi." In the same chapter, it also says, "Shiva speaks, the Siddhas speak."
In Dasam Granth, Guru Gobind Singh have mentioned two avtars of Rudra: Dattatreya Avtar and Parasnath Avtar.
OTHERS
The worship of Lord Shiva became popular in Central Asia through the Hephthalite (White Hun) Dynasty, and Kushan Empire. Shaivism was also popular in Sogdiana and Eastern Turkestan as found from the wall painting from Penjikent on the river Zervashan. In this depiction, Shiva is portrayed with a sacred halo and a sacred thread ("Yajnopavita"). He is clad in tiger skin while his attendants are wearing Sodgian dress. In Eastern Turkestan in the Taklamakan Desert. There is a depiction of his four-legged seated cross-legged n a cushioned seat supported by two bulls. Another panel form Dandan-Uilip shows Shiva in His Trimurti form with His Shakti kneeling on her right thigh. It is also noted that Zoroastrian wind god Vayu-Vata took on the iconographic appearance of Shiva.
Kirant people, a Mongol tribe from Nepal, worship a form of Shiva as one of their major deity, identifying him as the lord of animals. It is also said that the physical form of Shiva as a yogi is derived from Kirants as it is mentioned in Mundhum that Shiva took human form as a child of Kirant. He is also said to give Kirants visions in form of a male deer.
In Indonesia, Shiva is also worshiped as Batara Guru. His other name is "Sang Hyang Jagadnata" (king of the universe) and "Sang Hyang Girinata" (king of mountains). In the ancient times, all kingdoms were located on top of mountains. When he was young, before receiving his authority of power, his name was Sang Hyang Manikmaya. He is first of the children who hatched from the eggs laid by Manuk Patiaraja, wife of god Mulajadi na Bolon. This avatar is also worshiped in Malaysia. Shiva's other form in Indonesian Hindu worship is "Maharaja Dewa" (Mahadeva). Both the forms are closely identified with the Sun in local forms of Hinduism or Kebatinan, and even in the genie lore of Muslims. Mostly Shiva is worshipped in the form of a lingam or the phallus.
WIKIPEDIA
Translated from the Japanese language, "nyotaimori" means the presentation or demonstration of the female body. This is a very ancient way of feeding sushi and sashimi on the body bare girl, and in rare instances, men.
www.meterdown.com/2011/04/japanese-food-presenting-art-by...
PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, Calif. -- Official U.S. Army Special Operations Command Parachute Demonstration Team, the Black Daggers, dropped in to Presidio's Soldier Field on Nov. 4 during the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center's 75th Anniversary Week celebrations. The team carried a special gift on their 6,000 foot jump, delivering a scroll announcing the award of the Joint Meritorious Unit Award to DLIFLC Commandant Col. Phillip J. Deppert. Students from the Presidio's military service units were on hand to witness the spectacle after spending the day participating in a Sports Day competition.
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The Barbary sheep (Ammotragus lervia), also known as aoudad (pronounced [ˈɑʊdæd]), is a species of caprine native to rocky mountains in North Africa. While this is the only species in genus Ammotragus, six subspecies have been described. Although it is rare in its native North Africa, it has been introduced to North America, southern Europe, and elsewhere. It is also known in the Berber language as waddan or arwi, and in former French territories as the mouflon.
Barbary sheep stand 75 to 110 cm (2 ft 6 in to 3 ft 7 in) tall at the shoulder, with a length around 1.5 m (5 ft), and weigh 30 to 145 kg (66 to 320 lb). They are sandy-brown, darkening with age, with a slightly lighter underbelly and a darker line along the back. Upper parts and the outer parts of the legs are a uniform reddish- or grayish-brown. Some shaggy hair is on the throat (extending down to the chest in males) with a sparse mane. Their horns have a triangular cross-section. The horns curve outward, backward, then inward, and can exceed 76 cm (30 in) in length. The horns are fairly smooth, with slight wrinkles evident at the base as the animal matures.
Barbary sheep are endemic to regions of Northern Africa primarily surrounding the barren center of the Sahara Desert. Countries and territories where aoudad may be found include Algeria, Chad (north), Egypt, Libya, Mali (north), Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Tunisia and Western Sahara. West of the Nile, they can be found in Sudan; east of the Nile, in the Red Sea Hills.
Populations within its native range have been decreasing due to hunting, legal and otherwise, and destruction of habitat.
They have become common in a limited region of southeastern Spain, since its introduction in 1970 to Sierra Espuña Regional Park as a game species. Its adaptability enabled it to colonize nearby areas quickly, and private game estates provided other centers of dispersion. The species is currently expanding, according to recent field surveys, now being found in the provinces of Alicante, Almería, Granada, and Murcia. The species is a potential competitor to native ungulates inhabiting the Iberian Peninsula, and has also been introduced to La Palma (in the Canary Islands), and has spread throughout the northern and central parts of the island, where it is a serious threat to endemic vegetation. The aoudad has also been introduced in Croatia several times, where there is a population in Mosor.
Although the species has not yet been recorded in Australia, it is considered a pest species in Queensland with the potential to establish in the wild.
A. lervia is the only species in the genus Ammotragus. However, some authors include this genus in the goat genus Capra, together with the sheep genus Ovis.
The subspecies are found allopatrically in various parts of North Africa:
A. l. lervia Pallas, 1777 (vulnerable)
A. l. ornata I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1827 (Egyptian Barbary sheep, thought to be extinct in the wild but still found in the eastern desert of Egypt)
A. l. sahariensis Rothschild, 1913 (vulnerable)
A. l. blainei Rothschild, 1913 (vulnerable)
A. l. angusi Rothschild, 1921 (vulnerable)
A. l. fassini Lepri, 1930 (vulnerable)
Barbary sheep are found in arid mountainous areas where they graze and browse grasses, bushes, and lichens. They are able to obtain all their metabolic water from food, but if liquid water is available, they drink and wallow in it. Barbary sheep are crepuscular - active in the early morning and late afternoon and rest in the heat of the day. They are very agile and can achieve a standing jump over 2 metres (7 ft). They are well adapted to their habitat, which consist of steep, rocky mountains and canyons. They often flee at the first sign of danger, typically running uphill. They are extremely nomadic and travel constantly via mountain ranges. Their main predators in North Africa were the Barbary leopard, Barbary lion, and caracal, but now humans, feral dogs, competition due to overgrazing by domestic animals and drought threaten their populations.
The binomial name Ammotragus lervia derives from the Greek ἄμμος ámmos ("sand", referring to the sand-coloured coat) and τράγος trágos ("goat").
Lervia derives from the wild sheep of northern Africa described as "lerwee" by Rev. T. Shaw in his "Travels and Observations" about parts of Barbary and Levant.
The Spanish named this sheep the arruis, from Berber arrwis, and the Spanish Legion even used it as a mascot for a time.
Aoudad ([ˈɑː.uːdæd]) is the name for this sheep used by the Berbers, a North African people, and it is also called arui and waddan (in Libya).
We've recently adopted this English Language programme for school children, and are running demo lessons for local kids. This was the first. After the presentation activities, we took the kids off to a class for further teaching while the parents recieved more info.
Pattern Language Tiles, Acrylic, ink, carved drawing mounted on wood block. (c) 2014 Barbara Gilhooly
Italien / Lombardei - Lago di Como
Tremezzo
Lake Como (Italian: Lago di Como [ˈlaːɡo di ˈkɔːmo], locally [ˈkoːmo]; Western Lombard: Lagh de Còmm [ˈlɑː‿dːe ˈkɔm],[a] Cómm [ˈkom] or Cùmm [ˈkum]), also known as Lario (Italian: [ˈlaːrjo]; after the Latin: Larius Lacus), is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy.
It has an area of 146 square kilometres (56 sq mi), making it the third-largest lake in Italy, after Lake Garda and Lake Maggiore. At over 400 metres (1,300 ft) deep, it is the fifth deepest lake in Europe and the deepest outside Norway; the bottom of the lake is 227 metres (745 ft) below sea level. One notable characteristic is its distinctive "Y" shape.
Lake Como has been a popular retreat for aristocrats and wealthy people since Roman times, and a very popular tourist attraction with many artistic and cultural gems. It has many villas and palaces such as Villa Olmo, Villa Serbelloni, and Villa Carlotta. Many famous people have owned homes on the shores of Lake Como, including George Clooney, Madonna, and Donatella Versace.
In 2014, The Huffington Post described it as the most beautiful lake in the world for its microclimate and environment with prestigious villas and villages.
Etymology
The lake's official name is Lario (derived from the Latin Larius), but it is rarely used informally, while it is still used in formal language; it is also found in the toponym of some villages along the lake such as Pognana Lario and Mandello del Lario; Italians usually call it Lago di Como.
Geography
The lake is shaped much like an inverted letter "Y". The northern branch begins at the town of Colico, while the towns of Como and Lecco sit at the ends of the southwestern and southeastern branches respectively. The small towns of Bellagio, Menaggio and Varenna are situated at the intersection of the three branches of the lake: a boat service operates a triangular route between them.
Lake Como is fed primarily by the Adda, which enters the lake near Colico and flows out at Lecco. This geological conformation makes the southwestern branch a dead end, and so Como, unlike Lecco, is sometimes flooded.
The mountainous pre-alpine territory between the two southern arms of the lake (between Como, Bellagio, and Lecco) is known as the Larian Triangle, or Triangolo lariano. The source of the river Lambro is here. At the centre of the triangle, the town of Canzo is the seat of the Comunità Montana del Triangolo lariano, an association of the 31 municipalities that represent the 71,000 inhabitants of the area.
History
At the beginning of the first millennium B.C. during the Iron Age, the Comum oppidum was born and the civilization of Como developed, inserted in the broader Golasecca culture. In 196 B.C. the army of the consul Claudius Marcellus defeats the Celts tribe of the Comenses and conquered the city. Comum was then strengthened and rebuilt after a raid by Rhaetian and repopulated with 3,000 settlers in 77 BC. Finally, after having reclaimed the marshy area, in 59 B.C. it was re-founded with the name of Novum Comun in its current location on the lake shore at the behest of Gaius Julius Caesar. Pliny the Younger, in one of his Epistulae, describes the lake and its surrounding area as providing plentiful opportunities for fishing and hunting. According to the Notitia Dignitatum, at least since the 4th century, a Praefectus commanding a Roman military fleet was present on the lake.
During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the waters of the lake were the scene of military clashes, such as in the 12th century during the war of Milan against Como, which saw the Como fleet in action against the ships of the Milanese and their allies or between 1525 and 1532 due to the Musso war unleashed by Gian Giacomo Medici.
On 28 April 1945, deposed Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was executed in the lakeside village of Giulino, about 180 metres (590 ft) from the waterfront.
Tourism
As a tourist destination, Lake Como is popular for its landscapes, wildlife, and spas. It is a venue for sailing, windsurfing, and kitesurfing.
Although generally considered safe, bathers aiming to find relief from the heat and swimming enthusiasts alike should exercise caution, as a prevailing regulation prohibits diving and swimming both in the city of Como and in the various small villages along the lake. Exceptions are found only in privately managed lidos or designated public beaches where explicit signage permits swimming activities. This prohibition stems from the danger posed by the lake's waters that swiftly transition from shallow to deep near the shoreline and from unpredictable aquatic conditions, which have led to numerous incidents, including drowning cases attributed to sudden thermal shock.
Transportation
Lake Como is served by a public transport system connecting the various villages on the lake. A motorized service began in 1826 when a steamship with sails, the Lario, was launched by the newly established Società privilegiata per l'impresa dei battelli a vapore nel Regno Lombardo Veneto. Since 1952 the fleet has been managed by a government organisation named Gestione Commissariale Governativa and later Gestione Governativa Navigazione Laghi, which is also responsible for transport services on Lake Maggiore and Lake Garda.
There exist three primary services:
Motorship services along the western branch and north towards Colico and back to Como, with additional shuttles to the mid-lake area;
Fast services that broadly follow the same route but with fewer stops; the service, which is more expensive, is operated by hydrofoils;
Ferries able to carry passengers and cars across the popular tourist destinations Menaggio, Bellagio,Varenna and Cadenabbia.
Economy
Lake Como attracts visitors from around the world and as a consequence the economy of the towns surrounding Lake Como is predominantly dependent on tourism and related activities. The tourism sector stimulates local businesses, including hospitality, restaurants and retail, while also fostering the growth of ancillary services such as transportation, cultural tours and recreational activities. This reliance on tourism has led to significant investments in infrastructure and amenities to accommodate and enhance the visitor experience, making it a vital component of the regional economy.
In literature and the arts
Letitia Elizabeth Landon's poem The Lake of Como was published in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, in 1837. It illustrates a painting by Samuel Prout, engraved by William Miller.
In 1818 Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote to Thomas Love Peacock: "This lake exceeds anything I ever beheld in beauty, except the arbutus islands of Killarney. It is long and narrow, and has the appearance of a mighty river winding among the mountains and the forests."
(Wikipedia)
Tremezzo is a comune (or municipality) of some 1,300 people in the Province of Como, in the Italian region Lombardy. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy").
It is located on the western shore of Lake Como between Mezzegra to the southwest and Griante to the northeast, and about 20 kilometres (12 mi) from Como. Tremezzo, which has an area of 8.4 square kilometres (3.2 sq mi), also borders the territory of the following communes: Lenno (south and west of Mezzegra), Menaggio (north of Griante), Grandola ed Uniti (inland from Menaggio) and, on the facing shore of the lake, Bellagio and Lezzeno.
As well as the capoluogo of Tremezzo, the area of the commune includes the frazione Rogaro, birthplace of the architect Pietro Lingeri.
Tremezzo is best known as a tourist resort—it was a favourite of Konrad Adenauer—and for its villas, of which the most famous is the Villa Carlotta with its much-admired gardens, and Villa Sola-Busca. The Brentano family hails from the Tremezzo, in the 17th century the family relocated to the Free City of Frankfurt. Members of the family include 19th century German Romanticist novelist Clemens Brentano and his sister Bettina von Arnim.
The comune of Tremezzo was united with Mezzegra, Ossuccio, and Lenno to form a single municipality named Tremezzina following the election of the Major on 25 May 2014.
(Wikipedia)
Der Comer See (Schweizer Schreibweise Comersee, italienisch Lago di Como oder Lario, lombardisch Lagh de Comm; lateinisch Lacus Larius) ist einer der oberitalienischen Seen. Er liegt vollständig in der Region Lombardei.
Charakteristisch sind die zahlreichen am Ufer liegenden kleinen Dörfer, von denen viele ihren eigenen Charakter bis heute erhalten haben. Viele der Villen (u. a. Villa Carlotta, Villa d’Este) stammen aus dem 15. Jahrhundert, als die Bewohner der Region durch die Seidenraupenzucht und die dadurch entstandene Seidenindustrie zu Reichtum gelangten. Während der Zeit Napoleons erbaute der Vizepräsident der italienischen Republik (1802–1805) Francesco Melzi d’Eril die Villa Melzi.
Durch das mediterrane Klima gedeihen viele subtropische Pflanzen wie z. B. Palmen, Zitrusfrüchte, Zypressen und Olivenbäume.
Geografie
Der Comer See, von den Einheimischen auch Lario genannt, ist 146 km² groß, 51 km lang und maximal 4,2 km breit. Damit ist er nach dem Gardasee und dem Lago Maggiore, gemessen an der Wasserfläche, der drittgrößte See Italiens. Mit einer durch seine charakteristische Form bedingten Uferlinie von 170 km übertrifft er die beiden vorgenannten Seen in diesem Punkt. Seine maximale Tiefe – vor Nesso – beträgt 425 m; damit ist er der tiefste See Europas außerhalb Norwegens.
Der Comer See wird von der Adda durchflossen. Er liegt in einem Zungenbecken des ehemaligen Addagletschers, das sich vor der Alta Brianza in die Arme von Como und Lecco teilt, und hat so die Form eines (umgekehrten) Y. Die Adda mündet bei Colico in den nördlichen Teil des Sees und verlässt ihn bei Lecco; der südwestliche Arm, an dem Como liegt, hat keinen anderen Abfluss.
Die einzige Insel im Comer See ist die etwa 7,5 ha große Isola Comacina. Sie war bereits in der Antike besiedelt, nach Zerstörung der Siedlungen im 12. Jahrhundert durch Truppen Comos aber lange unbewohnt.
Tourismus
Der Comer See ist ein Touristenziel mit zahlreichen Kurorten, Parks und Golfplätzen. Auf seiner Westseite liegt der Sacro Monte di Ossuccio, der 2003 in die Liste der Weltkulturerbe der UNESCO aufgenommen wurde. Die umliegenden Berge bieten Wander- und Klettermöglichkeiten. Durch das milde Klima gibt es eine reiche Vegetation. Jährlich im Frühjahr findet das Oldtimerevent Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este statt.
Prominente wie George Clooney besitzen ein Feriendomizil am Comer See. Dieser dient immer wieder als Filmkulisse, beispielsweise wurde hier für Star Wars: Episode II, Casino Royale oder Ocean’s 12 gedreht.
Der deutsche Bundeskanzler Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967) verbrachte dort auf seinem Anwesen in Cadenabbia viel Zeit. Nach der Niederlegung seines Amtes, kurz vor seinem Tod, schrieb er dort einen großen Teil seiner Memoiren. Die 1899 erbaute Villa La Collina mit ihrem Park wird seit 1977 als internationale Tagungsstätte von der Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung genutzt.
Schifffahrt
Täglich fahren mehrere Boote zwischen Como und Colico, des Weiteren gibt es verschiedene Routen zwischen Como und Lecco oder Menaggio und Como bzw. Lecco. Es existiert eine Fährverbindung zwischen Lierna, Varenna, Menaggio und Bellagio.
Wassersport
Zwischen Bellagio und Colico herrscht ein reges Treiben von Wassersportlern, da dort zuverlässige Windverhältnisse herrschen.
Laut Berichten aus dem Jahr 2010 lässt die Wasserqualität an gewissen Stellen (durch fehlende Kläranlagen) zu wünschen übrig.
Windverhältnisse
Außer im Winter weht im oberen Teil des Comer Sees praktisch täglich ein thermischer Wind, die Breva. Am Morgen beginnt der Wind etwa ab 10 Uhr mit 1 bis 3 Bft und frischt am Nachmittag auf 3 bis 6 Bft auf. Juni bis September sind die besten Monate zum Wind- und Kitesurfen. Im Oktober lässt die Breva nach, um dann bis Anfang Februar ganz einzuschlafen.
Der Südwind Breva hat seinen Gegenpart im nördlichen Fallwind Tivano, der bei großem Luftdruckunterschied zwischen der nördlichen und der südlichen Seite der Alpen entsteht. Der Tivano weht bereits am frühen Morgen und ist oft stärker als die Breva, am stärksten in der Region von Lecco. Im Süden des Sees, im Larian-Dreieck, dem Gebiet zwischen den beiden Seearmen, bietet auch er gute Voraussetzungen zum Wind- und Kitesurfen.
(Wikipedia)
Tremezzina ist eine italienische Gemeinde mit 5027 Einwohnern (Stand 31. Dezember 2022) in der Provinz Como in der Region Lombardei und Mitglied der Gesellschaft I borghi più belli d’Italia (dt. „Die schönsten Orte Italiens“).
Geographie
Die Gemeinde liegt am Fuße des Monte di Tremezzo (1700 m s.l.m.). Zur Gemeinde gehören die am See gelegenen und vom internationalen Tourismus geprägten Ortsteile Tremezzo, Mezzegra, Lenno und Ossuccio.
Die Nachbargemeinden sind: Griante, Grandola ed Uniti, Menaggio, Perledo (LC), Plesio, San Siro, Varenna (LC) und Bellagio und Ponna.
Gemeindefusion
Tremezzina war eine Gemeinde in der italienischen Provinz Como. Sie entstand im Jahre 1928 aus dem Zusammenschluss der drei Gemeinden Lenno, Mezzegra und Tremezzo. Benannt wurde sie nach der Landschaft Tremezzina, einer Region im Westen des Comer Sees.
In der Gemeinde lebten zu jener Zeit 4242 Einwohner (Stand: 1936). Nach dem Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs wurde sie 1947 aufgelöst und die drei Gründungsgemeinden wurden wieder selbständig.
Am 4. Februar 2014 wurde die Gemeinde Tremezzina durch einen Zusammenschluss der Gemeinden Lenno, Mezzegra, Tremezzo sowie Ossuccio neuerlich gegründet. In diesen vier Gemeinden fand am 1. Dezember 2013 ein nicht bindendes Referendum statt, bei dem sich 63 % der Wähler für einen Zusammenschluss der Gemeinden aussprachen. Zuvor waren vorgenannte Gemeinden gemeinsam mit der Nachbargemeinde Griante in dem Gebietszusammenschluss Unione die Comuni della Tremezzina organisiert. Letztgenannte wurde indes nicht Teil der neugegründeten Gemeinde.
Die Gemeinde gehört zur Comunità Montana del Lario Intelvese und wurde im Jahre 2014 neu gebildet, nachdem sie bereits in den Jahren 1928 bis 1947 unter diesem Namen bestanden hatte.
Sehenswürdigkeiten
Kirche San Bartolomeo im Ortsteil Tremezzo
Villa Carlotta im Ortsteil Tremezzo
Grand Hotel Tremezzo
Abtei Acquafredda im Ortsteil Lenno
Kirche Santo Stefano und romanisches Baptisterium im Ortsteil Lenno
Isola Comacina im Ortsteil Ossuccio
Romanische Kirche Sant’Andrea
Hospitalis Santa Maria Maddalena di Stabio im Ortsteil Ossuccio
Kirche San Benedetto im Val Perlana
Sacro Monte di Ossuccio
Villa del Balbianello im Ortsteil Lenno
Villa Casinella im Ortsteil Lenno
Villa Sola Cabiati im Ortsteil Tremezzo
Villa Balbiano im Ortsteil Ossuccio
Observatorium am Monte Galbiga
(Wikipedia)
Hair: Neva: Sensitive Black; By Fri.day
Eyes: Sunburst by Shapes by Zada
Skin: Grace: First Romance-Tan: by Chaisuki
Vest, Stole, and Shirt, by Argrace.
Eyelashes: by Chandra Meehan
>> Name: Adagio
>> Age: 20 Physical
>> Species: Human
>> Blood type: B+
>> Height: 6'7"
>> Weight: 250 lbs
>> Gender: Female
>>Eyes: Blue
>>Enhancements: Shorter synapses and enhanced neurotransmitters, Triple dense Muscular system, Datajack. Combined Oragic/Cybernetic Brain, Metabolizes Platinum
>>Memory Implants: Language ( English ), Intermediate Medical Skills, Job Skills ( Classified ), Dance ( Multiple Styles )
................................................................................................................................................
>>Dossier: Adagio is a genetic construct using the base DNA of Taellinu Aichi. While Taellinu is the main genetic base, others strains of genes have been used to alter her overall appearance to look different from the genetic samples. While Adagio is technically unrelated to Taellinu, enough genetic match would be present that one could find a close enough link to perhaps claim Taellinu as either a sister or mother. Philosophically this is the case, however if known by Adagio this would, in all likelihood be adamantly denied. Adagio would view herself as a unique person, but in several ways she is only as unique as any other purpose built human being, and this would indeed be true for her.
>>Adagio was created to be security personnel for Ashagi Corporation, under the watchful eyes of Doctors Aylin Daviau, and Temp Parkin. The project was also overseen and approved along the way by Sauscony Selei, whom Adagio is a replacement for due to Adagio’s ‘inherently unstable’ nature. It is due to the input of Miss. Selei that Adagio bears no or little physical resemblance to her genetic forebears. Due to the insights and visions of her creators the problems inherent in Sauscony have been corrected, such as an overly brittle bone structure, weak muscles, and inability to fight.
>>Adagio herself is a cold un-emotive woman that on the surface takes pleasure from nothing. She has the same drawn look on her face on duty and off, part of the image she keeps up as an ‘iron fist in a velvet glove’ as she sees herself anyway. This mindset leads her to try to be as efficient, quick, and as lethally effective as possible. She views her work for Ashagi as the reason for her entire existence, which in fact, it is. Adagio, unlike most beings like her, does not possess any memories of their previous forms, the reasoning for this is that Sauscony viewed Adagio as a sort of child, a sort of culmination of her being. A chance to undo what had been done to her, too doom her to a life imposed upon her by someone else, for the explicit purpose of prolonging her own life, it was deemed that adagio should be ‘given’ a life part of the reason as to why she contains none of her memories, personality, or beign.
>>As for the ‘improvements’ to Adagio over a regular human a triple dense musculature, increased response times, reflexes etc, this works by an increase in efficiency of synapse transmitters. However Adagio is no faster than the average human because of the added weight do to the dense muscles. The added muscle density of course means a high strength per pound ratio than a normal human, and due to quicker synapses Adagio ‘could’ become faster than normal if the right parts are given the proper degree of exercise. That is to say any further improvement over her ‘normal’ body must be done ‘the old fashioned way’ through hard work and exercise.
>>The fact that Adagio has more efficient neurotransmitters and quicker synapses than normal may seem a blessing, leading to faster reflexes and perhaps to faster memory recall. However a side effect of this is Adagio’s always rigid way of carrying herself. She is affected to such a degree that ‘wound up’ and ‘tense’ would fail to do her justice. Instead of the normal reactions to such things her brain would seem to have compensated for this by negating the usage of nearly all receptors involved with emotional response.
>>The knowledge that Adagio was implanted with was a fairly customized data set chosen by her creators, including normal language skills Adagio has knowledge required for her job including, hand to hand combat skills, skills with hand guns and blades to a limited degree, and as a personal touch by Sauscony Adagio should have some skill with dance. While this knowledge set is not expected to get adagio through her entire life, it is merely meant as the ground work for more improvement.
The First Measure
On The First Day
Well My first day was, Unique. I awoke to one of my creators Doctor Daviau. While I cannot say for sure everything about her, she seems efficient.
I later encountered a young girl, nellie. She seems to be a friend of one of the researchers here. She displayed what seems to be a keen intelligence, She could benefit the company eventually, I presented this to Doctor Daviau and she Agrees.
I Later met Doctor Parkin, My Other creator, She is an interesting one, i'll have to find out more. Later in the day i helped he rin a rescue operation of one of our employeees. we were successful in our attempts.
Barline
The Second Measure
The Second Flight
Well i have succeeded in furnishing my apartment to my specifications. It is more efficient now. I think that my coworkers are starting to like me more, despite my icy manner. If I had a logical explanation i'd give one.
Barline
The Third measure
Aurora in 4 voices
Well today started out just lovely. Someone set off a bomb downtown. When I went out side I could see the smoke and dust from it. I have no idea who set it or what purpose it could have been. I'm fairly certain it wasn't a warning from the mayor though. But even if it wasn't, I know this I won't be bothering his staff anymore. Even though that little stunt worked to some degree it didn't work when the cops came in.
Last night with Nellie seems to have been productive, she may be even more intelligent than I had assumed. She may be of great benefit eventually.
Along the lines of work I filled out my contract this morning. Apparently I'm being paid quite well, I'm quite pleased to be earning 250K a year, and I wonder what the paychecks of others are like.
The haulers fell through on my shipments. Thankfully I was able to get the business card for a Hideo Inaka, hopefully he'll be able to provide me with the items I need. I could probably get what I need through Ashagi, but I don't think that Ashagi deals in weaponry, at least of the type I'm needing.
The Yakuza fell through Also. Fortunately Black Star came through on the Beretta, and Aylin is covering the armor. I'll speak with doctor Parkin about the blades.
On another note I've been placed in charge of Shoya, it should be interesting to see what happens with her. Her morale is in the shitter and she badly needs someone to support her. I just hope that I can provide that need.
Barline
The Fourth measure
The wings of hope
Today has been interesting, I was able to obtain some blades from Doctor Parkin, who tried me out in a sparring match, and I will admit I have along way to go, but at least I have some minor skills. My strength is my greatest weapon and my greatest weakness it seems, I need to learn to be more Fluid in combat.
Fortunately my Skill or lack there of didn't matter in an encounter I had shortly after Obtaining the blades.
On the bright side the Haulers came through on the body armor at least. The bodysuit is an Impact resistant style, it would seem to be made of a form of cloth with pockets of High density gel perhaps silicone inside. It should provide adequate protection against blades and impact damage, if I'm right it should have some minor ballistics protection capabilities as well. They did however also obtain a thin armored vest for me, while it is quite thin and flexible, mobility matters to me more than weight.
BlackStar would seem to be coming through on the firearms side of things, I'll be happy to see if they deliver as promised.
Barline
_________________
I Feel that I should record my lessons with doctor Parkin so that i should learn from them in the Future, this is the first one.
Adagio: would nod slowly. “I apologize for my misunderstanding. I hope to earn these blades then, she’d remove the tanto from her self and draw the Katana. “You gave me the knowledge doctor I should be skillful enough to not kill you, and I shall make every effort to not, and yes I trust you Doctor.” With that she’d fall silent and coldly enter a ready position and make a fairly standard downward strike towards the doctor using all her strength and speed behind the blow, obviously a novice but the Doctor said she wanted to test her strength so she’d start by putting it on display, as he’d bring her arms down with the strike the doctor could perhaps notice adagio’s shoulders tensing hard showing a good deal of the enhanced striations and structure beneath her soft skin.
tempestual Parkin eyes the strike carefully, her sword licking out to parry it aside....she wouldn’t even try blocking a strike with that kind of power behind it. Even so, her arm would be jarred, a heavy tremor running up to her shoulder. Stepping to the left, she would suddenly dive into a roll, her blade seemingly a mere extension of her arm as it flicks forward. Unless blocked, it would slice a cut in Adagio's jeans, the very tip of it cutting the material. An amused smirk would be directed at Adagio "don’t use the standard forms......you are going to fight, not duel......." she will have ended up, by the beige chair, on her back, seemingly relaxed, and completely at ease....for some reason choosing this position.
Adagio: would coldly cast her eyes in the direction of temps as she hears the lades clang together for the first time. Barely noticing temps motions she would try to bring her blade down to protect her legs but she’d respond too slow, a limitation of both her skills and her slower reflexes. She’d look coldly down and see her pants hanging a little more limply in one area and she’d remain silent at the Doctors wisdom she’d just flick her blade downward as she’d rush quickly forward her powerful legs driving her forward on the balls of her feet, once she was within range of the Doctor she’d try an upward sweeping move with the tip of the blade facing down towards the ground possibly gouging her hardwood flooring.
tempestual Parkin eyes widen slightly, but the smile on her face indicates her contentment at the move chosen. Smooth leg muscles ripple, combining with defined abdominals to contort her body, her feet flying backwards over her head to raise herself to a crouch. A wide smile is directed at adagio “good good......you dint go for the down-swing as i expected". Without a pause, she would suddenly attack, her form in no way rigid, but free-flowing....she seemed to follow no set discipline, mixing styles and attacks. Her left leg rises, foot stamping harshly into the seat of the chair to drive her light form off the ground, hopefully avoiding any swipe made at her by adagio in the process. She would contort her body, spinning in the air, her sword lancing out three times before she lands, each time, it the blade would be turned. The first would be directed at Adagio's elbow, the next at her wrist, the last at her hand, hoping to dislodge the blade from her grip. Regardless, she would land in a feral crouch on the chaise, waiting
Adagio: would raise an eyebrow at the motion thinking it nearly impossible for a moment and she’d attribute it to years of training and the Doctor being a neko. She’d try o make a could slices at the Doctor as she would launch into the air she’d make the smallest of winces feeling the blade bite successfully into her three time in all the targeted spaces, and her grip loses significantly, only holding the katana in a two handed death grip had kept it in her hands. She’d frown little bit keeping her heavy handed double grip on the blade and she’d spin h r body towards the Doctors right side apparently aiming for a leg when she’d suddenly reverse the course taken as quickly as her muscles would allow and try an upward jab from the left. For Adagio it would probably be a more risky maneuver than it was worth, in all likelihood better left up to the Doctor to try and execute.
tempestual Parkin scoffs slightly, to her own eyes, the move seeming slow, clumsy almost. Dropping to the floor, her back arching, the blade would still catch her, slicing through her top, drawing a clean line of blood across the smooth skin of her stomach. It was ironic, she was about to beat Adagio with the same move she used on Soz. Falling to the floor, her left hand presents a balance point, her right leg straight, strong, as it swings round. In likelihood, it would knock Adagio from her feet, and if this happened as expected, temp would turn her spin into a smooth leap forward. Her sword, seemingly just a blur in its movement would stop, resting upon Adagio's throat, assuming of course it all went as planned. She would then whisper softly "you may keep the swords....but you have a long way to go.....if this was a true fight, i could have killed you any number of times. You cannot just rely on your impressive strength."
_________________
I had a bit of an encounter today I feel deserves a specil entry in my journal, the file is as follows...
Adagio: would raise an eyebrow at the man and secure her pants after finishing with her wound. She'd raise a well shaped eyebrow to the man and speak in her normal icy tone towards the man. "Can I help you?"
Bull Hendrassen would approach he slowy crossing through the curtain seperating them and silently he would get a closer look at her eyes and tilt his head to one side in a manner of confusion and then he would rub the side of his head hard, obviously distraught.
Adagio: would keep her eyebrows raised and her hands would cross in front of her below the oversized belt buckle just a few inches from the hilt of her Tanto. "Is there something I can do for you sir? Do you have a question about me or something?"
Bull Hendrassen lifts a shaky hand up and extends his finger pointing to her face. "you.....cant have those...not right....not right....I dont know....you....must be marked....yes must be....somethings unusual, special maybe? wonder, if it taste good?" he ocassionaly smacks himself in the head with his other hand as if trying to convince himself of something in a rather forceful manner and its obvious this guy is crazy.
] Adagio: would frown a little bit and keep her posture and gaze icy, her blue and orange eyes giving the man an icy look." If you're referring to my eyes you'd be right, I'm created, you could view me as a living sculpture of sorts." Even though her features would remain emotionless the man could perhaps pick up a hint of pride.
Bull Hendrassen would walk slowly around the medical table, his body language not particularly frightening at the moment as he is not being agressive...but he is closing the distance between them...he is after something. he extends buth hands up towards her face like he is trying to grab her head.
Adagio: would back up quickly and her hands would drop to her pants, her right would clasp onto her Tanto, and the left would hit her pocket sending an emergency message from the phone. She'd speak icily at the man her eyes giving the man a look of
Bull Hendrassen continues towards her slowly, he is driven, his psyhcosis not letting him back off, he has to know...."have to see....have to....must know...." his movements are still unagressive, but imposing.
Adagio: would draw her Tanto quickly from its sheath and she’d hold the blade steadily between herself and the man the edge parallel with the ground. She’d gaze coldly at the man with her emotionless eyes hoping that the body language of the drawn blade would be more than enough. If need be she could easily lunge forward to attack the man.
Bull Hendrassen would continue even as she drew the blade he is so absorbed in his driveness to see her eyes that he igrores the blade and walks right on top of it the blade sinking into his abdomen, and he keeps driving himself onto it, it stabbing into him further and further as he walks, the psychosis in his mind telling him that the pain is non-existant, he is above that, ascended from the mortal condition.
Adagio: would just coldly raise an eyebrow as she coldly keeps the blade steady putting all of her enhanced strength behind her one handed grip to keep the man where he is even as his blood would begin to cover her hand and run down her arm and mingle with the black silk of her shirt. She'd keep her emotionless icy gaze locked on the man unflinchingly staring at his mask while she tried keeping the man where he was.
Bull Hendrassen would have a pleading look in his eyes as he reached ever forward to her face. "please...i MUST SEE!" and he goes to grab her face....
Adagio: would raise an eyebrow and she’d flinch a little bit as the man grabs her face, she’d frown a little bit her gaze unflinching leaving her fist tightly gripping the blade still inside of the man. She’d speak coldly to the man as she would stare into those deep dark slits in his mask, her voice as cold as the frozen north, each syllable an icicle hanging in midair. “ Let me go or I spill your guts on the floor”
Bull Hendrassen ignores her request for a moment more and uses his thumb and index finger to spread open her eyelid so he can fully examine one of her eyes. he brings the mask in very closely to her face for few moments and tilts his head this way and that while he looks into her eye, his breathing slow and rythmic inside the mask. finally he slowly lets his head go back and he begins to back off the blade.
Adagio: would just remain crouched frozen by what just happened, and she would raise an eyebrow seeing the man back off of her blade silently. Once he’s clear of the blade she just watches the blood drip off the tip of her gleaming blade unsure of what exactly just happened before she reverts her icy gaze back to the man.
Bull Hendrassen seems not to even notice the stab wound in his midsection. "thank you." he says slowly and pauses for a moment. "i do hope that I have not offended you. you seem a bit tense..." that should be a bit of an obvious statement but he seems completly genuine with his words.
Adagio: would rise slowly at the man's now polite actions and she'd just look at her blood covered arm and blade before she'd hit her phone in he rpocket again and just nod silently at the man still chilingly cold and icy, but more confused than anything.
Bull Hendrassen nods back slowly. "you must be chosen, you said created, yes you are among us most special people indeed. you have something that sets you apart, yes indeed, apart from others..."
Adagio: would raise an eyebrow and she'd frown little bit still holding her blade in her hand she'd wipe the blood from her arm and blade with a medical towel she'd grab with her left hand. "I suppose that's a good thing then?"
Bull Hendrassen "yes, very good....you are the only person i have seen in the city that has you eyes, it must be a mark of greatness."
Adagio would raise an eyebrow hearing the bit about mark of greatness, she’d frown a little bit and it’d click that it was probably time to get away from this man while he was still polite. “Very well if that’s your opinion anyway.” She’d move to head for the curtain and head to the back door, she would speak icily to the man once more as she walked out. “I’ll see you later then I guess.”
_________________
Movement II
The Mysterious Sonata
The last few days have been quite unique; hell the word unique doesn’t describe them, special momentous, amazing, those are the words that describe them better, along with tormented, anguished, and painful.
I had to deal with the death of a good a good friend, Shoya. I feel awful at her death, I barely controlled myself when Lithia killed, her, but It my duty to solve problems, not to start them. I think that’s the whole reason why I held myself back. I actually cried when I carried her dead, headless body into the church, I don’t know if Sister D can forgive me for what I’ve done to her emotionally, I hope that she can forgive me. And I’ve gotten it cleared with the doctors at the MC, I had to lie and say that Serp was the cause of her death; I had to explain the same thing to a catwalker. Doctor Parkin and I are planning her funeral.
Speaking of Doctor Parkin, she has begun instructing me in the fields of genetics, she had me study a basic text on the matter and recite what I’d learned. Now she’s having me write a paper on how I’d improve the synapses in a nervous system, I must say the topic is fairly interesting. Overall I’m quite honored to be under the Doctors tutelage.
I had to deal with one of my boss’s mind games the other day; I won’t make more mention of it other than it caused me to discharge my weapon in anger. I just hope my emotions don’t all flood me at once, I am unsure if that is something that I can handle, while I like being able to feel, I’d rather not become like Aylin, her emotions are severely stunted it seems.
A man named Markko has become an acquaintance with me it seems. I don’t know what to say about him, he’s Intelligent, polite, and is quite complimentary of me. While I enjoy receiving compliments, Doctor Parkin did excellent work on me; I have to wonder if he gives all attractive women compliments such as the ones he gave me. He said that my beauty could make the Blue Lady, the ocean, jealous. I must say while quite the compliment, it seems a little too over the top to be simple politeness.
And finally Doctor Daviau has placed me in charge of Soz’s AI daughter, I am unsure of what to say about that. I guess I’ll learn what it’s like to be a parent or caretaker of some sort.
Barline
_________________
Movement IV
Adagio in Reprise
D.S al Coda
I have died, I have risen, and I have been reborn anew.
Perhaps that sounds a bit to full of myself but that is the case, apparently I have suffered a death, and when I awkoe from the tank i found that my employent with Ashagi has been terminated. though I owe them a thank you for what they have givn me. Per my instructions for memory implantation into a new body should teh need have ever arisen, Half of my brain ha sbeen replaced witha CPU operating in sync with my organic brain. Sadly something seems to be wrong with it. The Cio-cybernetic neurons that were suppose dto ahve been added in to allow this were not installed it semms. So I effectivly function with two largely independent brains. This will be a problem that I need to solve.
I came back and thought that Amara, my lover, would be pleased to see me again. Sadly I wa smistaken the woman was in hysterics and almost killed me in the TZ. I don't know what she went through emotionally, but I feel sorry for what she had to endure from me.
I kept sending he rmessages at least two short texts a day to let he rknow that i stillloved her, nthing mor ethen that. Finally the otehrnight she agreed to meet me again at the sushi bar. At first she was quite quiet with me, and thinsg starte dto get worse when chi showed up. With what he has done to Amara I can only understand why she ran off. I followed her of course to the Quinntukhat bridge, trying to comfort her. if there is one thing I never want to see again its my darling in tears the way she was teh othernight. We wound up in each others arms though, and i think the groundwork is there for us now.
With my termination at Ashagi I am now free to choose my own career path and I have, as the representative of the Bio-Mechs. I think the position shows my talents well. debate, political speech, understanding of business, all of my personal skills will ocme into play here. I Have also begun crossing over my genetics knowledge into the realm of the cybernetic. That can only be invaluable. So far i've drafted a contract with DuPlotte industries for various raw materials an dparts, and anotehr contract with the League of Engineers, for a 96GB connection for the HQ.
In other news I've begun Modeling for Artika at the gallery, and well it's more fun than I thought it would be, and well with teh fact im not skin and bones I never thought I could be a model, not after those mainland agencies said I had too much muscle tone.
Barline
_________________
Movement V
Pachelbels Canon in A
She said yes!
A few days ago at the Freetown days ball, my darling,my beautiful Amara finally said yes! I forget the exact words we used, I think it was something sappy along the lines of "Let me be yours forever darling." "I can't do that Adagio, but I can say yes." Sappy I know but it works. Anyway our next hurdle is showing the Father that we desrve to be wed in holy Matrimony. Nothing could have made me happier, I almost feel sorry for the workouts I've been putting Amara through.
After that we went to teh church to pray, it was quite the personal journey I think. WIth what Amara wants us to do, join teh Parish watch, I do not know if I should. I know that politically it might look good. But How will that conflict with my duties with the Bio-Mechs. I mean hell, with Serp and Mirage in the organization, I don't think I'm compatible. But if Amara wants it I'll try to join. I guess I should see exactly where this all ends up then hmm?
Whole Rest
_________________
Movement VI
The Light Aria
things have begun to change since the onset of my project. I began this work with the intent in increasing my intellect to something worthy of my creator. But things have taken some interesting turns. I've altered my metabolism for starters, I now metabolize platinum. I thought that I could alter my metabolism in such a way that only my braincells would be affected by this, to allow for faster synapses and quicker times for the electrical impulses thatrace through my brain, that race through everybody's brain. I also kickstarted the growth of my brin to produce more braincells and to develop the areas o fmy brain with little use, trying to make my thought process more efficient.
This technology if applied right could save people from Alzheimers or parkinsons. Hell virtually any degnerative neural condition.
But I was wrong.
The platinum has bonded with my skin as well a smy entire nervous stem. While it may look pretty, developing that was the single most painful experience of my life. I have no idea how I survived. I know i would be dead now had it not been for Amiya's Internevtion. Though even though my metabolism has stabilized, my brain still continues to grow.
i did this with the hopes of boosting my overall intelligence by 100 points, and combining my organic and cybernetic brains. the most recent scans from last friday show that I was right about that much at least. With the accelerated growth my intelligence quotient rests somewhere around the 400 mark plus or minus 75 either way. But it has come at a cost.
My brains have grown to become one, but I now posess at least three times the normal amount of bran cells, and the amount of gyri and sulci are at a level of concentration ten times higher than the average human. This is my saving grace that my brain is still growing denser and not physocally larger. It's amiya's help that has saved my life thusfar, but with my need for that treatment reaching astronomically expensive proportions, I need help from my creators.....Ashagi.
barline
Name
In the twelfth century, Olomuc and Olmuc were the first handed down name forms. In the fifteenth century an alleged first form Juliomontium (Julius hill) was assumed, according to Julius Caesar as the alleged founder. The original meaning is unclear. In the Czech, Olomouc means 'bare mountain' (Old Czech holy, 'bald' and mauc 'mountain'). The name of the city is in the Moravian-Haná dialect, a subgroup of the Middle-Moravian dialects of the Czech, Olomóc or Holomóc, in German language Ölmütz, in Polish Ołomuniec and in Latin Eburum or Olomucium.
History
Beginnings
At the end of the second century there was a Roman army camp, the northernmost known in Central Europe. Up to the fifth century there was a Germanic settlement.
In the late 7th century a first Slavic settlement arose in today's Povel district. Around 830 this was destroyed. A new castle was built on the Peter's hill (Předhrad), which was probably one of the important castles of the Moravian empire. In the ninth century three churches were built.
Přemyslidenstaat (Přemyslid dynasty)
Olomouc was first mentioned in writing in 1017 when Moravia became part of the Bohemian state of Přemysliden. In 1055 it was the seat of a separate part of the Principality. In 1063 the bishopric of Olomouc was founded by Vratislav II. Around 1070 a new castle was built. In 1077 the monastery Hradisko was founded. In 1126 Heinrich Zdik became a bishop.
At the beginning of the 13th century, the last prince of Olomouz died, Moravia was united and placed under the jurisdiction of a Margrave of the Přemyslids. In 1248, Olomouc was first mentioned as a royal town. In 1306, King Wenceslas III resided during a campaign to Poland in Olomouc, and was murdered here, which resulted in the extinction of the Přemyslids dynasty in the male family tree. The city developed economically very quickly and became the capital of Moravia.
In the Hussite wars, Olomouc was an integral part of the Catholic side. In the succession of the Charterhouse Dolein, which had been lost in the Hussite wars, the Charterhouse Olomouc was founded in 1443, which existed until the abolition in 1782. In the 16th century numerous palaces were built in the Renaissance style. In 1566 the Jesuits came to Olomouc. They founded a school which was raised to a university in 1573. In 1588, the bishop became an imperial prince.
17th and 18th centuries
In the Thirty Years' War the town was taken by the Swedes in 1642 and occupied for eight years. After the Thirty Years' War, the largely destroyed and depopulated city lost the status of the Moravian capital and abandoned it to Brno. Since a great deal of damage had been caused by fires, a detailed "fire extinguishing order" was issued in 1711, in which a number of preventive measures were also discussed.
On 26 December 1741, the city was occupied by the Prussians during the First Silesian War. After this event the fortifications were extensively expanded. A second siege by the Prussians in 1758 withstood the new fortification. In 1777, the diocese became an archbishopric.
In 1794-1797 the prominent French-American soldier and politician Marquis Lafayette was interned in Olomouc as a political prisoner of the Donaumonarchy, after being captured in Flanders by the French coalition in 1792, and then, for the time being, imprisoned by Prussia.
19th century
In 1841, the city received a railway connection. In the middle of 1845, the railway from Olomouc to Prague ("Northern State Railway") was put into operation (Olomouc-Moravská Třebová, Moravská Třebová-Prague). In 1848, the Archbishop's Palace housed the Imperial Court, which had fled here because of the revolution in Vienna. Emperor Ferdinand I handed over the government to the eighteen-year-old Francis Joseph I on December 2, 1848. On 29 November 1850, the German Confederation under Austrian leadership was restored in Olomouc by the Agreement of Olomouc (also known as the Olomouc Treaty) between Prussia, Austria and Russia. In the years 1850 to 1866 the fortification systems were extended again. In 1886, the fortress status was abolished. 1899 drove in the city the first tram.
20th century
After the collapse of the Austrian Empire in 1918 and the founding of Czechoslovakia, the Czech citizens became majority, which included, among other things, the integration of the two towns of Hodolina and Nová ulice, as well as eleven other municipalities (Bělidla, Černovír, Hejčín, Chválkovice, Lazce, Nové Sady, Nový Svět, Neředín, Pavlovičky, Povel and Řepčín) in 1919. In 1921 lived in Olomouc 57,206 inhabitants.
On March 15, 1939, the city, as well as the other areas of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, erected on the same day by the German Reich, was occupied by the Wehrmacht. As early as 1939, the Olomouc University was closed by the German occupying forces. It was not until 1946 that it was restored under the name Palacký University of Olomouc.
The German-speaking population was expelled from Olomouc in 1945/1946. Their assets were confiscated by the Beneš decree 108, the assets of the Protestant church were liquidated by the Beneš decree 131, and the Catholic churches were expropriated.
In the 1970s and 1980s, a number of prefabricated housing estates were built in the peripheral areas.
Since 1971, the entire old town has been protected as a historic preservation reserve. Floods in 1997 made the city very vulnerable, about a third of the city area was flooded. In the year 2000, the Trinity Column was included in the UNESCO World Heritage list. According to the administrative reform of 2000 the former district town with the establishment of the Olomouc region became its administrative seat.
Jews in Olomouc
The synagogue in Olomouc
The first Jews settled in Olomouc as early as 906. From the year 1060 they had to live in a ghetto and bear a yellow identification mark. In 1454 all Jews from Olomouc were expelled. This law was valid until 1848.
The Olomouc Synagogue was built between 1895 and 1897. On the night of March 15, 1939, after the occupation by the Wehrmacht, the synagogue was lit and burnt down. At the same time about 800 Jews were arrested and later deported to the Dachau concentration camp. Some of the synagogue 's benches were removed, serving as church benches in a village church near Prostějov and were finally put up in the renovated synagogue in Krnov in 2004. Some of them are now in the Synagogue of Loštice and are reminiscent of the Jewish citizens murdered in concentration camps. The seat of honor is dedicated to Berthold Oppenheim, the Rabbi of Olomouc and Loštice.
During the period of National Socialism, 3,489 people were deported to the Theresienstadt Ghetto in five transports, on 26 and 30 June 1942, on July 4, 1942, and on March 7. Only 285 Jews of the city population survived. This was the end of the Jewish life in Olomouc for a long time. Since 2011, by artist Gunter Demnig Stolpersteine (stumbling blocks) have been and still are being laid to the memory of murdered Jews in Olomouc. Olomouc is one of the cities with the most stumbling blocks in the Czech Republic (as of 2016) with Prague and Brno.
Only since 1989 there has been a revival of the Jewish cultic life in the city. In 1991, an independent Jewish community was established with a field of activity for the districts of Olomouc, Šumperk, Jeseník, Bruntál and Přerov.
Name
Im 12. Jahrhundert waren Olomuc und Olmuc die ersten überlieferten Namensformen. Im 15. Jahrhundert wurde eine angebliche erste Form Juliomontium (Juliusberg) vermutet, nach Julius Caesar als angeblichem Gründer. Die ursprüngliche Bedeutung ist unklar. Im Tschechischen bedeutet Olomouc ‚kahler Berg‘ (alttschech. holy ‚kahl‘ und mauc ‚Berg‘). Der Name der Stadt lautet im mährisch-hannakischen Dialekt, einer Untergruppe der mittelmährischen Dialekte des Tschechischen, Olomóc oder Holomóc, auf Deutsch Olmütz, auf Polnisch Ołomuniec und auf Lateinisch Eburum oder Olomucium.
Geschichte
Anfänge
Ende des 2. Jahrhunderts befand sich hier ein römisches Heerlager, das nördlichste bekannte in Mitteleuropa. Bis ins 5. Jahrhundert gab es eine germanische Besiedelung.
Im späten 7. Jahrhundert entstand eine erste slawische Siedlung im heutigen Ortsteil Povel. Um 830 wurde diese zerstört. Es entstand eine neue Burg auf dem Petersberg (Předhrad), die nach ihrer Größe vermutlich zu den wichtigen Burgen des Mährerreiches zählte. Im 9. Jahrhundert wurden drei Kirchen gebaut.
Přemyslidenstaat
Olomouc wurde im Jahr 1017 erstmals schriftlich erwähnt, als Mähren Teil des böhmischen Staates der Přemysliden wurde. 1055 war es Sitz eines eigenen Teilfürstentums. 1063 wurde das Bistum Olmütz durch Vratislav II. gegründet. Um 1070 entstand eine neue Burg. 1077 wurde das Kloster Hradisko gegründet. 1126 wurde Heinrich Zdik zum Bischof.
Anfang des 13. Jahrhunderts starb der letzte Olmützer Fürst, Mähren wurde vereint und einem Markgrafen aus dem Geschlecht der Přemysliden unterstellt. Zum Jahr 1248 wird Olomouc erstmals als Königsstadt erwähnt. 1306 hielt sich König Wenzel III. während eines Feldzuges nach Polen in Olmütz auf und wurde hier ermordet, wodurch die Dynastie der Přemysliden im Mannesstamm erlosch. Die Stadt entwickelte sich wirtschaftlich sehr schnell und wurde zur Hauptstadt Mährens.
In den Hussitenkriegen war Olmütz fester Bestandteil der katholischen Seite. In der Nachfolge der Kartause Dolein, die in den Hussitenkriegen untergegangen war, wurde 1443 die Kartause Olmütz gegründet, die bis zur Aufhebung 1782 bestand. Im 16. Jahrhundert entstanden zahlreiche Paläste im Renaissancestil. 1566 kamen die Jesuiten nach Olmütz. Diese gründeten eine Schule, welche 1573 zur Universität erhoben wurde. 1588 wurde der Bischof zum Reichsfürsten erhoben.
17. und 18. Jahrhundert
Im Dreißigjährigen Krieg wurde die Stadt 1642 von den Schweden eingenommen und acht Jahre okkupiert. Nach dem Dreißigjährigen Krieg verlor die großteils zerstörte und entvölkerte Stadt den Status der mährischen Hauptstadt und trat diesen an Brünn ab. Da durch Brände viel Schaden entstanden war, wurde 1711 eine detaillierte „Feuerlösch-Ordnung“ erlassen, in der auch eine Reihe vorbeugender Maßnahmen zur Sprache kam.
Am 26. Dezember 1741 wurde die Stadt von den Preußen im Ersten Schlesischen Krieg eingenommen. Nach diesem Ereignis wurden die Festungsanlagen umfangreich ausgebaut. Einer zweiten Belagerung durch die Preußen im Jahre 1758 hielt die neue Festungsanlage stand. 1777 wurde das Bistum zum Erzbistum erhoben.
1794–1797 wurde der prominente französisch-amerikanische Soldat und Politiker Marquis Lafayette in Olmütz als politischer Häftling der Donaumonarchie interniert, nachdem er von der antifranzösischen Koalition 1792 in Flandern gefangengenommen und dann vorerst von Preußen eingekerkert worden war.
19. Jahrhundert
1841 erhielt die Stadt einen Eisenbahnanschluss. Mitte 1845 wurde die Eisenbahn von Olmütz nach Prag („k.k. Nördliche Staatsbahn“) in Betrieb genommen (Olmütz–Trübau, Trübau–Prag). Im Jahr 1848 beherbergte das Schloss des Erzbischofs den wegen der Revolution in Wien hierher geflohenen kaiserlichen Hof. Kaiser Ferdinand I. übertrug hier am 2. Dezember 1848 dem achtzehnjährigen Franz Joseph I. die Regierung. Am 29. November 1850 wurde in Olmütz durch die Olmützer Punktation (auch „Olmützer Vertrag“ genannt) zwischen Preußen, Österreich und Russland der Deutsche Bund unter österreichischer Führung wieder hergestellt. In den Jahren 1850 bis 1866 wurden erneut die Befestigungsanlagen erweitert. 1886 wurde dann der Festungsstatus aufgehoben. 1899 fuhr in der Stadt die erste Straßenbahn.
20. Jahrhundert
Nach dem Zerfall des Kaiserreichs Österreich 1918 und der Gründung der Tschechoslowakei kamen die tschechischen Stadtbürger in die Mehrzahl, was unter anderem auf die Eingemeindung der zwei Städte Hodolein (Hodolany) und Neugasse (Nová ulice) sowie elf weiterer Gemeinden (Bělidla, Černovír, Hejčín, Chválkovice, Lazce, Nové Sady, Nový Svět, Neředín, Pavlovičky, Povel und Řepčín) im Jahr 1919 zurückzuführen ist. Im Jahr 1921 lebten in Olomouc 57.206 Einwohner.
Am 15. März 1939 wurde die Stadt, wie auch die übrigen Gebiete des am selben Tag vom Deutschen Reich errichteten Protektorats Böhmen und Mähren, von der Wehrmacht besetzt. Noch im Jahr 1939 wurde die Olmützer Universität von der deutschen Besatzungsmacht geschlossen. Erst im Jahr 1946 konnte sie unter dem Namen Palacký-Universität Olmütz wiederhergestellt werden.
Die deutschsprachige Bevölkerung wurde 1945/1946 aus Olmütz vertrieben. Ihr Vermögen wurde durch das Beneš-Dekret 108 konfisziert, das Vermögen der evangelischen Kirche durch das Beneš-Dekret 131 liquidiert und die katholischen Kirchen enteignet.
In den 1970er und 1980er Jahren entstanden in den Randgebieten mehrere Plattenbausiedlungen.
Seit 1971 ist die ganze Altstadt als Denkmalschutzreservat geschützt. Das Hochwasser im Jahr 1997 zog die Stadt schwer in Mitleidenschaft, etwa ein Drittel des Stadtgebiets wurde überschwemmt. Im Jahr 2000 wurde die Dreifaltigkeitssäule in die Liste des UNESCO-Welterbes aufgenommen. Nach der Verwaltungsreform von 2000 wurde die bisherige Kreisstadt mit der Errichtung der Olmützer Region dessen Verwaltungssitz.
Juden in Olmütz
Die Synagoge in Olmütz
Die ersten Juden siedelten in Olmütz bereits 906. Ab dem Jahre 1060 hatten sie in einem Ghetto zu wohnen und ein gelbes Erkennungszeichen zu tragen. Im Jahr 1454 wurden sämtliche Juden aus Olmütz ausgewiesen. Dieses Gesetz war bis 1848 gültig.
Die Olmützer Synagoge wurde von 1895 bis 1897 erbaut. In der Nacht vom 15. auf den 16. März 1939, nach der Besetzung durch die Wehrmacht, wurde die Synagoge angezündet und brannte ab. Gleichzeitig wurden etwa 800 Juden festgenommen und später in das Konzentrationslager Dachau deportiert. Einige Sitzbänke der Synagoge wurden ausgebaut, dienten lange als Kirchenbänke in einer Dorfkirche bei Prostějov und wurden schließlich 2004 in der renovierten Synagoge in Krnov aufgestellt. Einige davon stehen heute in der Synagoge von Loštice und erinnern an die in den Konzentrationslagern ermordeten jüdischen Bürger. Der Ehrensitz ist Berthold Oppenheim gewidmet, dem Rabbi von Olmütz und Loštice.
Während der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus wurden 3.489 Menschen in fünf Transporten, am 26. und 30. Juni 1942, am 4. Juli 1942 und am 7. März 1945 in das Ghetto Theresienstadt deportiert. Nur 285 Juden der Stadtbevölkerung überlebten. Damit erlosch das jüdische Leben in Olmütz für lange Zeit. Seit 2011 wurden und werden in Olmütz von Gunter Demnig Stolpersteine zur Erinnerung an ermordete Juden verlegt. Olmütz gehört mit Prag und Brünn zu den Städten mit den meisten Stolpersteinen in Tschechien (Stand 2016).
Erst seit 1989 gibt es eine Belebung des jüdischen Kultuslebens in der Stadt. 1991 wurde eine selbständige jüdische Gemeinde mit einem Wirkungskreis für die Bezirke Olmütz, Šumperk, Jeseník, Bruntál und Přerov wiederbegründet.
We Aussies certainly have some slang which baffles others around the world so here's a test for those of you interested in trying to understand our lingo (Aussie word for language).
British people will probably understand the most as I'm sure much of our slang is based on theirs.
Ladli — which in Indian languages (Hindi and Urdu) means ‘beloved daughter.’
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LADLI - The loved one! campaign by SOCIAL GEOGRAPHIC
Photo: Firoz Ahmad Firoz
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"Worst of all, violence against women and girls continues unabated in every continent, country and culture. It takes a devastating toll on women’s lives, on their families and on society as a whole. Most societies prohibit such violence -- yet the reality is that, too often, it is covered up or tacitly condoned." (UN SECRETARY-GENERAL in International Women’s Day 2007 Message.)
“Almost every country in the world still has laws that discriminate against women, and promises to remedy this have not been kept.” (UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the eve of International Women's Day 2008)
According to one United Nations estimate, 113 to 200 million women are “demographically missing” from the world today. That is to say, there should be 113 to 200 million more women walking the earth, who aren’t. By that same estimate, 1.5 to 3 million women and girls lose their lives every year because of gender-based neglect or gender-based violence and Sexual Violence in Conflict.
In addition to torture, sexual violence and rape by occupation forces, a great number of women and girls are kept locked up in their homes by a very real fear of abduction and criminal abuse. In war and conflicts, girls and women have been denied their human right, including the right to health, education and employment. “Sexual violence in conflict zones is indeed a security concern. We affirm that sexual violence profoundly affects not only the health and safety of women, but the economic and social stability of their nations” –US Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, 19 June 2008 (Read more about UN Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict www.stoprapenow.org/ ).
Millions of young women disappear in their native land every year. Many of them are found later being held against their will in other places and forced into prostitution. According to the UNICEF ( www.unicef.org/gender/index_factsandfigures.html ),Girls between 13 and 18 years of age constitute the largest group in the sex industry. It is estimated that around 500,000 girls below 18 are victims of trafficking each year. The victims of trafficking and female migrants are sometimes unfairly blamed for spreading HIV when the reality is that they are often the victims.
According to the UNAIDS around 17.3 million, women (almost half of the total number of HIV-positive) living with HIV ( www.unaids.org ). While HIV is often driven by poverty, it is also associated with inequality, gender-based abuses and economic transition. The relationship between abuses of women's rights and their vulnerability to AIDS is alarming. Violence and discrimination prevents women from freely accessing HIV/AIDS information, from negotiating condom use, and from resisting unprotected sex with an HIV-positive partner, yet most of the governments have failed to take any meaningful steps to prevent and punish such abuse.
United Nations agencies estimated that every year 3 million girls are at risk of undergoing the procedure – which involves the partial or total removal of external female genital organs – that some 140 million women, mostly in Asia, the Middle East and in Africa, have already endured.
We can point a finger at poverty. But poverty alone does not result in these girls and women’s deaths and suffering; the blame also falls on the social system and attitudes of the societies.
India alone accounts for more than 50 million of the women who are “missing” due to female foeticide - the sex-selective abortion of girls, dowry death, gender-based neglect and all forms of violence against women.
Since the late 1970s when the technology for sex determination first came into being, sex selective abortion has unleashed a saga of horror in India. Experts are calling it "sanitized barbarism”. The 2001 Census conducted by Government of India, showed a sharp decline in the child sex ratio in 80% districts of India. In some parts of the country, the sex ratio of girls to boys has dropped to less than 800:1,000.
It's alarming that even liberal states like those in the northeast have taken to disposing of girls. Worryingly, the trend is far stronger in urban rather than rural areas, and among literate rather than illiterate women, exploding the myth that growing affluence and spread of basic education alone will result in the erosion of gender bias. The United Nations has expressed serious concern about the situation.
Over the years, laws have been made stricter and the punishment too is more stringent now. But since many people manage to evade punishment, others too feel inclined to take the risk. Just look at the way sex-determination tests go on despite a stiff ban on them. Only if the message goes out loud and clear that nobody who dares to snuff out the life of a female foetus would escape effective legal system would the practice end. It is only by a combination of monitoring, education, socio-cultural campaigns, and effective legal implementation that the deep-seated attitudes and practices against women and girls can be eroded.
The decline in the sex ratio and the millions of Missing Women are indicators of the feudal patriarchal resurgence. Violence against women has gone public – whether it is dowry murders, the practice of female genital mutilation, honour killings, sex selective abortions or death sentences awarded to young lovers from different communities by caste councils, rapes and killings in communal and caste violence, it is only women’s and human rights groups who are protesting – the public and institutional response to these trends is very minimal.
Millions of women suffer from discrimination in the world of work. This not only violates a most basic human right, but has wider social and economic consequences. Most of the governments turn a blind eye to illegal practices and enact and enforce discriminatory laws. Corporations and private individuals engage in abusive and sexist practices without fear of legal system.
More women are working now than ever before, but they are also more likely than men to get low-productivity, low-paid and vulnerable jobs, with no social protection, basic rights nor voice at work according to a new report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) issued for International Women’s Day 2008. Are we even half way to meeting the eight Millennium Development Goals?
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Unite To End Violence Against Women!
Say No To Sex Selection and Female Foeticide!!
Say No To Female Genital Mutilation!!!
Say No To Dowry and Discrimination Against Women!!!!
Say Yes To Women’s Resistance !!!!!
Educate & Empowered Women for a Happy Future !!!!!!
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Thesis for MC Black&White,
"the language of hands" photos + haikus (sorry only in dutch)
Put the music on and relax
This magnificent copper funeral mask represents the god Ai Apeac. The Moche culture called also Mochica is a pre-Colombian culture situated between the year 100 and the year 700 ap. The Larco museum of Lima presents in a way incredibly precise and in several languages(tongues), a wonderful collection of objects of the pre-columbian periods of Peru.
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Ce magnifique masque funéraire en cuivre représente le dieu Ai Apeac.La culture moche appelée aussi Mochica est une culture précolombienne situé entre l'an 100 et l'an 700 ap. Le musée Larco de Lima présente de manière incroyablement précise et dans plusieurs langues, une merveilleuse collection d'objets des époques précolombiennes du Pérou.
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The Feo cultura called also Mochica is tiene pre-Colombian cultura situated between the year 100 and the year 700 ap. The Larco museum of Lima presents in tiene como way incredibly precise and in several languages (tongues), tiene wonderful colección of objects of the pre-columbian periods of Peru.
The word Allah
The Semitic language which is spoken in the celestial spheres, is the language in which the angels and God address each other. Adam Safi-Allah spoke the same language in paradise. Adam and eve then came into the world and settled in Arabia. Their children also spoke the same language. Then as a result of the descendants of Adam spreading in the world, this language passed from Arabic, Persian, Latin and into English and God was then known by different names in the different languages. As Adam lived in Arabia, there are many words of the Semitic language which are still found in the Arabic language. God addressed the Prophets, Adam as Adam Safi-Allah, Noah as Nuh Nabi-Allah, Abraham as Ibraheem Khalil-Allah, Moses as Musa Kalim-Allah, Jesus as I’sa Ruh-Allah and Mohammed Rasul-Allah. All these titles, in the Semitic language were written on the Tablet before the arrival of the Prophets. This is why the Prophet Mohammed said: “I was a Prophet even before I came in to this world.”
Many people believe that the word Allah is a name given by Muslims, this is not so.
The Prophet Mohammed’s fathers name was Abd-Allah, at a time when Islam did not exist. Prior to the advent of Islam the Name Allah was announced with the title of every Prophet. When the souls were created, the first Name on their tongue was Allah and when the soul entered the body of Adam, it said, Ya-Allah, and only then it entered the body. Many religions understand this enigma and chant the Name Allah and many others because of doubt are deprived of the Name.
Any name which is used to point towards God is worthy of respect.
In other words, which points towards God. The mystical effect of the Name of God has been diversified due to the different names. Every letter of the alphabet has a separate numeric value. This is also a celestial knowledge. All the numeric values are connected with all of the human race. Occasionally the numeric values do not agree with the astronomical calculations as a result of which people become afflicted. Many people go to astrologers and experts of this knowledge and have charts prepared based on the stars. They name their children on this basis.
Just as the letters (a, b, j, d,) (1, 2, 3, 4) when added have the numerical value of ten. Similarly every name has a separate numeric value. As God has been given so many different names, this has caused a conflict between the numeric value of the different names. If all the people called upon God by the same name, then despite the fact that they would all have separate religions, they would all be united inwardly. They too, like Nanak Sahib and Baba Farid would then say:
“All the souls have been created by the light of God, even though their environment and communities are separate.”
The angels that are assigned tasks in the world are also taught the languages of the people of the world.
It is important for the people of every Prophet that they recite, chant and affirm the Title of their Prophet which was granted by God to the Prophet at his time, for the recognition, spiritual grace and purification of his people. The recital and affirmation should be in the same method and in the language of their Prophet.
The entry of any individual into any religion is subject to the condition that the individual accepts and affirms the Title of the Prophet of that religion. Just as the affirmation and the verbal vows are a condition of any marriage.
Entry into the heavens has been made subject to the acceptance and affirmation of the Titles of the Prophets. In the western world many Muslims and Christians have no knowledge of their Prophet’s Title furthermore many do not even know their Prophets original name (in the original language of the Prophet.)
People who only verbalize the affirmation of their Prophet’s Title rely upon their good deeds. Those that reject and do not affirm their Prophet’s Title are refused entry to paradise. Those individuals in whose hearts the affirmation of their Prophet’s Title has descended (entered) they will enter paradise without any accountability.
The revealed celestial Scriptures, whichever language they are in so long as they are in the original form, are a means to finding God. Where the texts and the translations that have been adulterated, just as adulterated flour is harmful for the stomach, the adulterated books have become harmful and people of the same religion and the same of Prophet have divided into so many sects.
To be sure of the straight and guided path it is better that you are guided by the Light (of God) also.
The method of producing light.
In prehistoric times stones would be rubbed together to make fire. Whereas a spark can also be produced by rubbing two metals together. In a similar way electricity is made from water. Similarly by the friction of the blood inside the human body, in other words electric energy is produced by the vibrating heartbeat. In every human being there is present, approximately one and a half volts of electricity due to which the body is energetic. As the heartbeat slows in old age, this reduces the electricity in the body and this in turn also causes a reduction of the energy level in the body.
Firstly, the heartbeat has to be made vibrant and pronounced. Some do this by dancing, some by sports and exercise and some people try to do this by meditating and chanting the Name of God Allah.
When the heartbeat becomes vibrant and pronounced then by chanting the Name Allah try to synchronize it with every heartbeat. Alternatively try to synchronize Allah with one heartbeat and Hu with the other. Some time by placing your hand on the heart and when you feel your heartbeat, again try to synchronize the Name Allah by chanting it with the rythm of the heartbeat and imagine that the Name Allah is entering the heart.
The chanting of Allah Hu is better and more effective but if anyone has an objection, or a fear of chanting Hu, then instead of being deprived one should solely use the Name Allah, repetitively in the chanting. It is beneficial for people who chant and practice this discipline and who read mantras to physically remain as clean as possible as the:
“disrespectful are unfulfilled and the respectful are fulfilled.”
The first method for producing light.
Write Allah on a paper in black ink, and do this exercise for as long as you wish on a daily basis. Soon thereafter, the Word Allah will be transported from the paper and hover over the eyes. Then with one-pointed concentration, attempt to transport the word from the eyes to the heart.
The second method for producing light.
Write Allah on a zero watt bulb, in yellow. Whilst you are awake or just before sleep, concentrate and try to absorb it into the eyes. When it appears on the eyes then try to transport it to the heart.
The third method for producing light.
This method is for those people who have perfect spiritual guides and teachers and who due to their spiritual connection are spiritually assisted by them.
Sit alone and imagine that your index finger is a pen. Using your finger and with your concentration, attempt to write Allah on your heart. Call upon your spiritual teacher (spiritually), so that he too may, hold your finger, and write Allah on your heart. Continue to do this exercise everyday, until you see Allah written on your heart.
By the first and second method, the Name Allah becomes inscribed on the heart, just as it was written and seen by you but when it becomes synchronized with the heartbeat, then it slowly starts to shine. In the synchronized method, the assistance of the spiritual teacher is provided and for this reason it is seen shining and well written on the heart right from the beginning.
Many Prophets and Saints have come into the world, and just for the sake of testing this, if you feel it appropriate, concentrate or call upon all of them when you are practicing your meditation.
Whilst concentrating on any Prophet or Saint, during your meditating practice, if the rhythm of your heartbeat increases, in its vibration or you feel an improvement then this means that your destiny (spiritual fruits) lies with that Prophet or Saint.
Thereafter it is beneficial to concentrate on that same person whenever you practice your meditation as spiritual grace is transferred in this way, because every Saint is spiritually connected to a Prophet, even if that Prophet is not physically living.
The spiritual fruit (grace) of every illuminated person is in the hands of one Saint or another. It is essential that the Saint is living. Sometimes a very fortunate person is gifted with celestial spiritual grace by a perfect Saint who is not living, but this is very rare. However Saints not living in our human realm can provide worldly spiritual grace and assistance to people from their tombs. This is known as Owaisi spiritual grace.
The recipients of such spiritual grace often get entangled in their spiritual insights, visions and dreams because the spiritual guide providing the assistance is in the spiritual realm and so too is Satan and the recognition of the two becomes difficult.
Along with the spiritual grace it is important to have knowledge, for which a living Saint is more appropriate. If a person (Saint) possesses spiritual grace but is without knowledge, that person is known as a Majzoob (Godly but abstracted due to the complete absorption into the Essence of God and who is not in full control of his faculties).
A person (Saint) having spiritual grace and knowledge is known as a Mehboob (literally, loved one). Such people (Saints) as a result of their knowledge provide worldly spiritual assistance as well as spiritual grace and benefit. Whereas the Majzoobs are known to provide worldly spiritual assistance to people by their unusual but accepted practices of shouting obscenities and poking people with their wooden sticks.
If any (Prophet or Saint) appears but does not help or assist you then put Gohar Shahi to the test.
You may belong to any religion, there is no condition in this respect as long as the individual is not eternally ill-fated.
Many people have received the spiritual grace of Qalb meditation from the Moon. This is obtained when there is a full Moon from the East. Look at it with concentration and when you see the image of Gohar Shahi on it say Allah, Allah, Allah three times and you will be blessed with this spiritual grace. Thereafter without any fear or reservation practice the meditation as described.
Believe (the fact) that the image on the Moon has spoken to many people in many different languages. You can try looking and speaking to it also.
About Muraqba
(transcendental meditation)
(Literally. journey. Meditation in which the soul leaves the human body)
Many people without having acquired the illumination of the spiritual entities (‘Lata’if/Shaktian’) and without attaining spiritual strength and prowess try to engage in this meditation. They either fail to reach the meditative state or become the subject of Satanic interference. This type of meditation is for illuminated people, whose spiritual entity of the self has been purified and the Qalb has been cleansed. The practice or attempt at this type of meditation is foolish no matter what type of physical worship is used to achieve this. To collect and gather the strength of the soul and the spiritual entities and then to travel to a place is what is known as meditation.
Sainthood is the one fourtieth part of Prophecy.
Every dream, meditative journey, inspiration or revelation of a Prophet is accurate and authentic and does not need verification. Only fourty out of a hundred dreams, meditative journeys, inspirations and revelations of Saints are accurate the remaining sixty percent are inaccurate.
God cannot be understood without knowledge
The lowest type of meditative journey is started only after the illumination and awakening of the spiritual entity of the Qalb. This is impossible without first achieving the meditation of the Qalb (meditation with the vibrating heartbeat synchronized with the Name Allah). It takes one jerk or shake to bring the person out of this meditative state and back to consciousness. The faculty of the augury (foretelling the future by reading verses or looking into designated books) is also connected to the Qalb.
The next stage is the meditative journey of the soul. It takes three jerks or shakes to return a person back to normality from this meditative state.
The third stage of the meditative journey is done by the spiritual entity, Anna and the soul together. The soul travels along with the spiritual entity Anna, to the realm of souls just as the Archangel Gabriel accompanied the Prophet Mohammed to the realm of souls.
People who are in this meditative state are sometimes even taken to be buried in their graves and they are unaware of this happening to them. Such a meditative state and journey was taken by the “Companions of the Cave” as a result of which they remained asleep in the cave for more than three hundred years.
When this meditative state and journey was undertaken by the Sheikh, Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani, in the jungle, the occupants of the jungle would regard the Sheikh as dead and would take him to a grave for burial but the meditative journey would break just before the burial (the Sheikh would return to consciousness).
How to recognize a special inspiration and revelation from God.
When a person has awakened and illuminated the spiritual entities in the chest and is worthy of receiving the rays of the Grace of God, then at that point God communicates with that person. God is All-Powerful and can do as he pleases and thus communicate with the human being in any way fit, but he has made a special method for his recognition so that his friends can be saved from the deception of Satan.
Firstly, text in the Semitic language appears on the seekers heart and its translation is seen in the language of the seekers mother-tongue. The text is white and shiny and the eyes close automatically and look at the text (internally). The text then passes the Qalb and moves towards the spiritual entity Sirri as a result of which it shines even more. Then the text moves towards the spiritual entity, Akhfa and from here it shines more and then moves onto the tongue. The voice then spontaneously starts to repeat that text.
If this inspiration is from Satan then an illuminated heart will dull the text and if the text is strong and prominent then the spiritual entities Sirri or Akhfa destroy that text. Further if due to the weakness of the spiritual entities the text does arrive at the tongue, then the voice will prevent it from being spoken into words.
This type of inspiration is for special types of Saints, whereas in respect of ordinary Saints, God sends messages to them through the angels or other spiritual entities. When the Archangel Gabriel accompanies the special and inspired text, this is known as revelation which is confined to the Prophets.
For more detail visit www.goharshahi.org or visit asipk.com and for videos visit HH rags
Programming language share of sell through, per Neilsen Bookscan, from January 2003 through mid-June 2005.
The Italian language is fascinating. Even mundane things sound better in Italian, such as this car's name, simply called 'four door'. You couldn't do that in English. Or German (Vier Türen). Maybe in Spanish (Cuatro Puertas).
Regardless, pictured here is the fourth generation of the Fourdoor, introduced in 1994 but actually based on the Biturbo that first saw light in the early 1980s. About 2.400 copies were built until 2001, with six- or eight-cylinder engines producing between 284 and 326 PS depending on the version.
This generation was attractively styled if a bit restrained for Italian standards. This particular car appears to be in good condition, finished in an attractive blue (or is that grey?).
Work from the 'Language of the Future' project I did back in Uni. For my project I looked at three types of communication - between people (ie languages), between circuits and electronics, and biological between cells etc. I think this was my favourite project I did in my whole time there.
Stitched drawing on wool blanket fabric using heat transfer print, fabric scraps, free-machine stitching, hand stitching and beads. It really is fluorescent!!
Year 2 "Language of the Future" project, 2006
Located on the campus of the prestigious Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York.
The Hall of Languages was designed by Horatio Nelson White and built in 1871-73. It is made of Onondaga limestone and features three large towers or cupolas. It was the first building constructed on the Syracuse University campus and the building originally housed the entire university.
Where The Vale of Onondaga Meets The Eastern Sky, Proudly Stands Our Alma Mater, On Her Hilltop High, Flag We Love! Orange! Float for Aye, Old Syracuse. O'er Thee, Loyal Be Thy Sons & Daughters, To Thy Memory
Mehrangarh Fort (Hindi: मेहरानगढ़ का किला) (Sindhi: مهراڻ ڳڙهه), located in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, is one of the largest forts in India. Built around 1460 by Rao Jodha, the fort is situated 125 m above the city and is enclosed by imposing thick walls. Inside its boundaries there are several palaces known for their intricate carvings and expansive courtyards. A winding road leads to and from the city below. The imprints of cannonball hits by attacking armies of Jaipur can still be seen on the second gate. To the left of the fort is the chhatri of Kirat Singh Soda, a soldier who fell on the spot defending the Mehrangarh fort.
There are seven gates, which include Jayapol (meaning 'victory'), built by Maharaja Man Singh to commemorate his victories over Jaipur and Bikaner armies. Fattehpol (also meaning 'victory') gate was built by Maharaja Ajit Singh to mark the defeat of the Mughals. The palm imprints upon these still attract much attention it is very proudes for rao rajputs.
Rao is brahmbhatt jagirdar clan of rao jodha. Rao is rajputs and in gujarat they calls "barot" and rao saheb.
The museum in the Mehrangarh fort is one of the most well-stocked museums in Rajasthan. In one section of the fort museum there is a selection of old royal palanquins, including the elaborate domed gilt Mahadol palanquin which was won in a battle from the Governor of Gujarat in 1730. The museum exhibits the heritage of the Rathores in arms, costumes, paintings and decorated period rooms.
HISTORY OF MEHRANGARH
Rao Jodha, the chief of the Rathore clan, is credited with the origin of Jodhpur in India. He founded Jodhpur in 1459 (Jodhpur was previously known as Marwar). He was one of Ranmal's 24 sons became the fifteenth Rathore ruler. One year after his accession to the throne, Jodha decided to move his capital to the safer location of Jodhpur, as the one thousand years old Mandore fort was no longer considered to provide sufficient security.
With the trusted aid of Rao Nara (son of Rao Samra), the Mewar forces were subdued at Mandore. With that, Rao Jodha gave Rao Nara the title of Diwan. With the help of Rao Nara, the foundation of the fort was laid on 1/ May 1459 by Jodha on a rocky hill 9 kilometres to the south of Mandore. This hill was known as Bhaurcheeria, the mountain of birds. According to legend to build the fort he had to displace the hill's sole human occupant, a hermit called Cheeria Nathji, the lord of birds. Upset at being forced to move Cheeria Nathji cursed Rao Jodha with "Jodha! May your citadel ever suffer a scarcity of water!". Rao Jodha managed to appease the hermit by building a house and a temple in the fort very near the cave the hermit had used for meditation, though only to the extent that even today the area is plagued by a drought every 3 to 4 years. Jodha then took an extreme measure to ensure that the new site proved propitious; he buried a man called "Raja Ram Meghwal" alive in the foundations. "Raja Ram Meghwal" was promised that in return his family would be looked after by the Rathores. To this day his descendants still live in Raj Bagh, "Raja Ram Meghwal's" Garden, an estate bequeathed them by Jodha.
Mehrangarh (etymology: 'Mihir' (Sanskrit) -sun or Sun-deity; 'garh' (Sanskrit)-fort; i.e.'Sun-fort'); according to Rajasthani language pronunciation conventions,'Mihirgarh' has changed to 'Mehrangarh'; the Sun-deity has been the chief deity of the Rathore dynasty. Though the fortress was originally started in 1459 by Rao Jodha, founder of Jodhpur, most of the fort which stands today dates from the period of Jaswant Singh of Marwar (1638–78). The fort is located at the centre of the city spreading over 5 kilometres on top of a high hill. Its walls, which are up to 36 metres high and 21 metres wide, protect some of the most beautiful and historic palaces in Rajasthan.
Entry to the fort is gained though a series of seven gates. The most famous of the gates are:
- Jai Pol ("Gate of Victory"), built by Maharaja Man Singh in 1806 to celebrate his victory in a war with Jaipur and Bikaner.
- Fateh Pol, built to celebrate a victory over the Mughals in 1707;
- Dedh Kamgra Pol, which still bears the scars of bombardment by cannonballs;
- Loha Pol, which is the final gate into the main part of the fort complex. Immediately to the left are the handprints (sati marks) of the ranis who in 1843 immolated themselves on the funeral pyre of their husband, Maharaja Man Singh.
Within the fort are several brilliantly crafted and decorated palaces. These include, Moti Mahal (Pearl Palace), Phool Mahal (Flower Palace), Sheesha Mahal (Mirror Palace), Sileh Khana and Daulat Khana. The museum houses a collection of palanquins, howdahs, royal cradles, miniatures, musical instruments, costumes and furniture. The ramparts of the fort house preserved old cannon (including the famous Kilkila), and provided a breath-taking view of the city.
GALLERIES IN MEHRANGARH MUSEUM
ELEPHANT´S HOWDAHS
The howdahs were a kind of two-compartment wooden seat (mostly covered with gold and silver embossed sheets), which were fastened onto the elephant's back. The front compartment, with more leg space and a raised protective metal sheet, was meant for kings or royalty, and the rear smaller one for a reliable bodyguard disguised as a fly-whisk attendant.
PALANQUINS
Palanquins were a popular means of travel and circumambulation for the ladies of the nobility up to the second quarter of the 20th century. They were also used by male nobility and royals on special occasions.
DAULAT KHANA - TREASURES OF MEHRANGARH MUSEUM
This gallery displays one of the most important and best preserved collections of fine and applied arts of the Mughal period of Indian history, during which the Rathore rulers of Jodhpur maintained close links with the Mughal emperors. It also has the remains of Emperor Akbar.
ARMOURY
This gallery displays a rare collection of armour from every period in Jodhpur. On display are sword hilts in jade, silver, rhino horn, ivory, shields studded with rubies, emeralds and pearls and guns with gold and silver work on the barrels. The gallery also has on display the personal swords of many emperors, among them outstanding historical piece like the Khaanda of Rao Jodha, weighing over 3 kg, the sword of Akbar the Great and the sword of Timur.
PAINTINGS
This Gallery displays colours of Marwar-Jodhpur, the finest example of Marwar paintings.
THE TURBAN GALLERY
The Turban Gallery in the Mehrangarh Museum seeks to preserve, document and display the many different types of turbans once prevalent in Rajasthan; every community, region and festival having had its own head-gear.
TOURIST ATTRACTIONS IN MEHRANGARH
NATIONAL GEOLOGICAL MONUMENT
The Jodhpur Group - Malani Igneous Suite Contact on which the Mehrangarh Fort has been built has been declared a National Geological Monument by the Geological Survey of India to encourage Geotourism in the country. This unique geological feature is part of the Malani Igenus Suite seen in the Thar desert region, spread over an area of 43,500 km2. This unique geological feature represents the last phase of igneous activity of Precambrian age in the Indian Subcontinent.
THE CHAMUNDA MATAJI TEMPLE
The Chamunda Mataji was Rao Jodha's favorite goddess, he brought her idol from the old capital of Mandore in 1460 and installed her in Mehrangarh (Maa Chamunda was the kul devi of Parihar rulers of Mandore). She remains the Maharaja's and the Royal Family's Isht Devi or adopted goddess and is worshipped by most of Jodhpur's citizens as well. Crowds throng Mehrangarh during the Dussehra celebrations.
2008 STAMPEDE
A human stampede occurred on 30 September 2008, at the Chamunda Devi temple inside of the Mehrangarh Fort, in which 249 people were killed and more than 400 injured.
CULTURE
The fort has musicians performing folk music at the entrance and houses museum, restaurants, exhibitions, and craft bazaars. The fort was one of the filming locations for the 2012 movie The Dark Knight Rises. Principal photography commenced on 6 May 2011.
In 2015, the fort was used to record a collaborative album by musicians including Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur, English composer and Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. The recording was the subject of a documentary, Junun, by the American directory Paul Thomas Anderson.
WIKIPEDIA
The map of modern dialects of Basque language
Western (Biscayan)
Central (Gipuzkoan)
Upper Navarrese
Lower Navarrese–Lapurdian
Souletin (Zuberoan)
other Basque areas ca 1850 (Bonaparte)
www.eyeqido.com/2015/10/14/the-modern-dialects-of-basque-...
There’s more to language learning than picking up dates in a foreign country. We investigated some of the craziest methods of adult language education out there.
greatist.com/happiness/adult-learn-foreign-languages/
Photo by Jess Ivy