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This type of metamorphic rock, a probable tectonic breccia, should be of interest to structural geologists and those who are curious about earth science. (Scale: the horizontal white lines (intrusive veins) are about 1 to 3 cm wide.)
The sigmoidal form (flattened-S shape) of some of the veins suggests left-lateral (sinistral) displacement. Note how veinlets inside the larger black clasts at left are following an X-pattern of brittle fractures and were likely in the process of disaggregating (fragmenting) these larger clasts. This suggests that some (or all?) of the smaller dark clasts were created by the fragmentation of larger dark clasts. Careful examination of the fabric/texture of this breccia shows that in some small areas, closely spaced clasts/fragments fit together in jigsaw fashion.
See other images of this breccia in my "Geology in building stone" album.
C. J.R. Devaney
...es probable que nunca haya respuesta
pero igual seguiremos preguntando
¿qué es por ventura el mar?
¿por qué fascina el mar? ¿qué significa
ese enigma que queda
más acá y más allá del horizonte?
Del poema El Mar de Mario Benedetti.
A probable triple interacting / merging group of galaxies putting on a spectacular show of star formation, tidal features, and thick, backlit dust. Imaged recently for the Galaxy Zoo snapshot program designed to capture noteworthy and unusual gems, IC 2431 was voted as the popular favorite among all other mergers in the Zoo Gems project.
Note that red light is placed in the green channel for this image so areas of H-alpha emission appear green instead of pink in this image... not to be confused with [O III] emission, which itself is usually presented as green or blue.
Data from the following proposal were used to create this image: Gems of the Galaxy Zoos
Additionally, PanSTARRS data were used to colorize the image and smooth out the dark areas a little.
All channels: HST ACS/WFC F606W
Red: PanSTARRS z
Green: PanSTARRS r
Blue: PanSTARRS g
North is 15.34° clockwise from up.
The probable authors of this artwork were the Young Communist League (YCL), who were the youth organisation of the Communist Party of Great Britain.
In Wycombe they were also responsible for a huge painted 'Join the YCL' in Birdcage Walk, visible from the town's railway platforms, which survived for ten years or more; for 'US out of Viet** [work presumably interrupted]' on another railway bridge; and for my all-time favourite, 'LBJ Murderer', of which I cannot now recall the exact location.
Probable 1st Winter Daurian Shrike (Lanius isabellinus isabellinus) South Huish Marsh Devon
more Images on My website stevecareybirdphotography.blogspot.co.uk/
Probable adult female. This is the same bird as the following in my photo stream. When I first looked at the following photo I assumed the bird was a first year male. However, the olive back patch with black mottling, gray auricular area, and narrowness of the supercilium at the front of the eye, all point toward adult female I think. Also, the broken and lighter black chest and flank striping suggest the same.
Opinion of others is invited!
The two most probable empid species to be found up here are Cordilleran and Hammond's. The former is shown to be more olive than gray. Both have relative larger eye rings but this guy's is distinctively tear-drop shaped. This bird parked on one of the photo props I have installed around our pond, and at about the minimum distance allowed by this lens (100/400 mm).
IMG_1964; Cordilleran Flycatcher
Extraordinary people visualize not what is possible or probable, but rather what is impossible. And by visualizing the impossible, they begin to see it as possible.
Cherie Carter-Scott
Woot! Yet another bike shot, a patch, an outtake even. Ha ha.
And I know my hair is too messy (but I love the wind blowin' that day). Tehee!
To Kons, this isn't yet that assignment you gave me though. Hahaha
Okay, I know I'm getting you all bored with my bike shots by now. I think I still got one last more after this. Promise, I'll rest with bike shots in the next days. LOL!
Located this probable second year female sitting atop this roof top along County Hwy J this morning. No way to get close to it, so pulled off the side of the road and shot a few pics then left. In my travels today, I happened to come by this same owl twice more with more people now trying to take its picture. The last time I saw this owl there were two people, a woman with an extremely short telephoto lens and a man dressed in orange with a larger lens on a monopod, trespassing on the people's property in order to get closer to the owl. My last time driving through the owl was gone and so were the people.
Snowy Owl, juvenile female, located sitting on a roof top outside Freedom, Wisconsin.
Vous avez probablement remarqué qu'il y a plus de photos de Rambo ces derniers temps, même si elles ne sont pas très belles (prendre Rambo en photo a toujours été un défi). J'essaye de garder un maximum de photos souvenir car je me doute bien qu'il n'est plus là pour très longtemps. Il n'est pas malade à proprement parler et avec l'aide du CBD il mange mieux, mais il est sourd, presque aveugle et son arrière-train le lâche. Je n'envisage pas le pire, pas encore, mais il ne faut pas se faire des illusions non plus, d'autant que son âge est estimé, il est peut-être encore plus âgé.
You have probably noticed that there are more pictures of Rambo lately, even if they are not very beautiful (taking nice photos of Rambo has always been a challenge). I try to keep a maximum of souvenir photos because I doubt that he will still be here for a very long time. He is not sick and with the help of the CBD oil he eats better, but he is deaf, almost blind and his hind legs are becoming very weak. I don't fear the worst yet, but well he is old, especially since his age is estimated,he is perhaps even older.
Probablement les darreres Sava 5701 en servei a la Península, van ser les del servei urbà de Utrera.
IN ENGLISH BELOW THE LINE
Càmera de plaques britanica comercialitzada per City, Sale & Exchange a Londres. Dic comercialitzada perquè el més probable és que el fabricant en sí fos un altre proveidor, i que C.E. & Ex. només les venia. Aquesta és de format 4x5 i compta amb un obturador Bausch & Lomb Automat. Crec que és probable que es tracti d'una Houghton Holborn Ilex No.2 (1905-1906).
Les "falling plate cameras" foren un tipus concret de càmeres tipus caixa que es fabricaren en diversos formats grans entre finals del s. XIX i els anys 20. Son càmeres de placa de vidre (de gelatinobromur), amb un mecanisme que permet carregar-ne moltes, fins a 12 en alguns models. Es diu de falling plate perque un cop s'ha exposat una placa, aquesta "cau" endavant, deixant espai per a la seguent, situada al darrera. Aquest mecanisme fa que sigui facil fer moltes fotos sense la complexistat dels xasis portaplaques, però dona càmeres molt voluminoses.
www.earlyphotography.co.uk/site/companies.html#C
==============================================
The falling plate 4x5 camera was sold in London by City, Sale & Exchange, but the manufacturer was probably somebody else. Maybe it was even an US built camera, as it has the American 4x5 format, not it's British equivalent of half-plate. Probably it's a Houghton Holborn Ilex No.2 (c.1905-06).
The "falling plate cameras" were a specific type of box cameras that were manufactured in various large formats between the end of the s. XIX and the 1920s. They are dry plate cameras, with a mechanism that allows many of them to be loaded, up to 12 in some models. It is called a falling plate because once a plate has been exposed, it "falls" forward, leaving room for the next one, located behind and pushed by a spring. This mechanism makes it easy to take many photos without the complexity of plate holders, but it gives very bulky cameras. They need internal space that allows the plates to swing to the bottom.
My (probable) final entry to the CCCXIII, hosted at Classic Castle.com: www.classic-castle.com/index.html
The build is based off of Minas Tirith, a city in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth, inspired by both the film version and my own imagination. :)
Amanite phalloïde probablement
Nikon FE, Tamron 90 mm f/2,8 Di Macro
Film Kodak Portra 800,
Développement en kit Tetenal C41
There's a sort of Forest Gumpian function to our lives. A lot of stuff that happens is not probable. If you rewind, stuff that happened seems unbelievable. This is about the past.
Finding a place to live has been a life-long problem in California made worse today by rental housing being converted to short term rentals. In an upscale part of Silicon Valley, I was renting an industrial, former ambulance quarters: set back from the street and within walking distance of everything. A local government official who knew me had introduced me to the landlord. Window air conditioner? TV antenna? The owner could care less if I customized the place. Best of all, the rent was about half of the market rate.
Meanwhile, I stumbled on information about another local deal: a cottage on an abandoned estate (above). I told a friend who taught undergraduate classes. He reported the property had been foreclosed and was owned by a financial institution. The friend quickly moved in.
About a month later he had an opportunity which included relocation. He called me. "This place is tied up in a lawsuit. It's going to be vacant for years. You should move here," he counseled. "I already called the property manager and told them you're moving in." Well, then. I guess it's a done deal.
It was two and a half acre oak woodland in an area of 1-acre minimum lots. There were several buildings. The main house was over 8,000 square feet. You couldn't see the main house from the street. There was a functional, but cold, swimming pool maintained by a pool service. The place was somewhat overgrown and run down but also unreal. The original owner had been a retail chain tycoon. The garage had been built for carriages so my big Dodge would not fit inside the narrow doorways. I joked about it being a 'safe house.' In reality, it wasn't.
My neighbor had a Rolls Royce Silver something-or-other. Another neighbor had an elevator in their house and a diesel generator set that would light up whenever the power failed. There was a Ferrari in the neighborhood. The trappings of wealth were all over. Almost everyone was friendly.
I lived in one of several out buildings (not shown). The main house is shown. The only furniture in the main house was a table and recliner in the dining room used by me for reading. The dining room is the right portion of the building between the two chimneys. The restaurant-sized kitchen is out of frame to the right. The master bedroom is beyond the two-story portion of the home out of frame at left. There had been a lawn and irrigation at one time. These were weeds during the rainy season. I lived there for several years. At the end of my stay, the place was fully renovated. There was structural work. A note, "The leprechauns have been here and everything of value has been removed," was found behind fire brick during repair of one fireplace. Missing gargoyle heads were replaced. You get the picture.
There were many deer. A large, arthritic buck and I developed an understanding. There was a Great Horned Owl. Stellars Jays and Scrub Jays owned the place. Ravens? Yes. I found a fawn's head and vertebrae in the yard which I much later realized was a mountain lion kill.
The chief of a police department inquired about having a bachelor party. Invite a dozen people with guns over for some heavy drinking and running around the swimming pool? No, thank you.
Whoever has the goods to allocate never forgets himself.
- Leon Trotsky
Journalism grade images.
Source: newly scanned grainy 35mm film negative scanned on 4,000 DPI scanner.
Please do not copy this image for any purpose.
Les tours de Castillon sont un site archéologique situé à Paradou (Bouches-du-Rhône) sur la chaîne de la Pène (massif des Alpilles). Le site a été habité entre le IIe siècle av. J.-C. et le XVe siècle, avec un maximum de population entre les XIIIe et XIVe siècles. Il a ensuite été abandonné par ses habitants qui sont allés peupler le nouveau village à quelques centaines de mètres plus au nord, dénommé aujourd'hui Paradou.
Des fouilles archéologiques récentes ont permis de reconstituer l'histoire de cet oppidum. Le site peut être visité aujourd'hui. On y observe la présence de trois tours encore debout datant du Moyen Âge et qui marquaient les limites de la ville ancienne. Le rempart a disparu dans sa quasi-totalité. Des fouilles archéologiques y ont été menées entre 1986 et 1990 et ont révélé l'existence de cet oppidum très détérioré par le temps et les fouilles clandestines1.
Histoire
Antiquité
Le site des tours de Castillon a dominé durant des siècles une vaste étendue marécageuse, dénommée les marais des Baux et dont il constituait la frontière nord. Son emplacement par rapport à ce marais n'est pas anodin. Il se situe au-dessus d'un point de franchissement des marais, le pont Saint-Jean2, sur le chaînon de collines de La Pène, à 41 mètres d'altitude.
Propriété des seigneurs des Baux au Moyen Âge, le site est habité depuis bien plus longtemps2. Les premières traces d'occupation semblent remonter au IIe siècle av. J.-C.1, même si des tessons retrouvés pourraient être plus anciens de deux à trois siècles. L'oppidum n'est fortifié qu'à partir du IIe siècle av. J.-C., période à laquelle il s'entoure d'un mur en brique crue sur un socle de pierres sèches large de 1,50 mètre3. Le parement en grand appareil est postérieur à ce premier rempart mais date approximativement de la même période ou au plus tard de la période augustéenne1. Contre le rempart, des cases à brique crues sur solin de pierres sont appuyées. Le rempart a beaucoup souffert. Ses blocs ont été prélevés au Moyen Âge pour permettre la construction de divers ouvrages. On considère qu'il devait se trouver deux portes au castrum, au nord et au sud, même s'il n'a pas été possible d'en apporter la preuve à ce jour4. Les pierres utilisées viennent probablement des Alpilles. Il s'agit d'un calcaire burdigalien typique des Baux ou du Montpaon4. Le premier rempart devait être en briques crues, comme le mur des maisons du castrum, tandis que le second rempart, de moindre qualité, était fait d'adobes.
Il existe des traces d'un incendie qui a probablement détruit le village entre la fin du IIe et le début du Ier siècle. Toujours est-il que, s'il a sans doute été inhabité à ce moment, le site compte à nouveau une certaine population au début de l'époque romaine1.
Une chaussée antique a été repérée par des vues aériennes mais n'a pas encore été datée, même si on peut sans doute l'estimer d'époque romaine4.
Moyen Âge
Quartier d'habitation médiéval.
À l'origine propriété de l'abbaye de Montmajour, le site des Tours de Castillon devient possession du seigneur des Baux entre le XIe siècle et le XIIe siècle5. Le site permet de par sa position d'être en communication permanente avec le château des Baux et de contrôler la voie de communication traversant le marais des Baux et menant à la plaine de la Crau. Les sources écrites mentionnent le château au XIIe siècle. Aux XIIIe et XIVe siècles, un rempart enserre la colline. Les angles sont dans un premier état occupés par des tours carrées renforcées par la suite par des tours curvilignes et des lices en avant6. Un petit quartier d'habitation a été fouillé entre 1986 et 1990. Dans cette zone, l'habitat prend de l'ampleur au XIVe siècle et subit de nombreuses modifications durant son occupation. Des silos, des caves et des citernes ont été identifiées. L'abandon est opéré progressivement dans les dernières années du XIVe siècle7.
Nécropole
La nécropole découverte sur le versant sud-est du site des tours de Castillon, regardant vers les marais des Baux, a révélé la présence de cinq corps sans doute datés du Moyen Âge. Seuls les sexes de trois de ces corps ont pu être identifiés : il s'agit de deux hommes et d'une femme. Les corps étaient à l'intérieur de sépultures en decubitus dorsal, les bras en adduction et les jambes en extension. Ce sont tous des adultes, entre 21 et 45 ans et ils mesurent entre 1,61 cm et 1,73 cm, ce qui constituent des tailles élevées8.
Provence (/prəˈvɒ̃s/, US: /proʊ-/; French: [pʁɔvɑ̃s]; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm, pronounced [pʀuˈvɛnsɔ]) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east, and is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the south.[1] It largely corresponds with the modern administrative region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and includes the departments of Var, Bouches-du-Rhône, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, as well as parts of Alpes-Maritimes and Vaucluse.[2] The largest city of the region is Marseille.
The Romans made the region the first Roman province beyond the Alps and called it Provincia Romana, which evolved into the present name. Until 1481 it was ruled by the Counts of Provence from their capital in Aix-en-Provence, then became a province of the Kings of France.[2] While it has been part of France for more than five hundred years, it still retains a distinct cultural and linguistic identity, particularly in the interior of the region.[3]
History
Main article: History of Provence
See also: Lower Burgundy
Prehistoric Provence
The entrance to the Cosquer Cave, decorated with paintings of auks, bison, seals and outlines of hands dating to 27,000 to 19,000 BC, is located 37 meters under the surface of the Calanque de Morgiou near Cassis.
A bronze-age dolmen (2500 to 900 BC) near Draguignan
The coast of Provence has some of the earliest known sites of human habitation in Europe. Primitive stone tools dating back 1 to 1.05 million years BC have been found in the Grotte du Vallonnet near Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, between Monaco and Menton.[4] More sophisticated tools, worked on both sides of the stone and dating to 600,000 BC, were found in the Cave of Escale at Saint Estėve-Janson, and tools from 400,000 BC and some of the first fireplaces in Europe were found at Terra Amata in Nice.[5] Tools dating to the Middle Paleolithic (300,000 BC) and Upper Paleolithic (30,000–10,000 BC) were discovered in the Observatory Cave, in the Jardin Exotique of Monaco.[6]
The Paleolithic period in Provence saw great changes in the climate. Two ice ages came and went, the sea level changed dramatically. At the beginning of the Paleolithic, the sea level in western Provence was 150 meters higher than today. By the end of the Paleolithic, it had dropped to 100 to 150 metres below the sea level today. The cave dwellings of the early inhabitants of Provence were regularly flooded by the rising sea or left far from the sea and swept away by erosion.[7]
The changes in the sea level led to one of the most remarkable discoveries of signs of early man in Provence. In 1985, a diver named Henri Cosquer discovered the mouth of a submarine cave 37 metres below the surface of the Calanque de Morgiou near Marseille. The entrance led to a cave above sea level. Inside, the walls of the Cosquer Cave are decorated with drawings of bison, seals, auks, horses and outlines of human hands, dating to between 27,000 and 19,000 BC.[8]
The end of the Paleolithic and beginning of the Neolithic period saw the sea settle at its present level, a warming of the climate and the retreat of the forests. The disappearance of the forests and the deer and other easily hunted game meant that the inhabitants of Provence had to survive on rabbits, snails and wild sheep. In about 6000 BC, the Castelnovian people, living around Châteauneuf-les-Martigues, were among the first people in Europe to domesticate wild sheep, and to cease moving constantly from place to place. Once they settled in one place they were able to develop new industries. Inspired by pottery from the eastern Mediterranean, in about 6000 BC they created the first pottery made in France.[7]
Around 6000 BC, a wave of new settlers from the east, the Chasséens, arrived in Provence. They were farmers and warriors, and gradually displaced the earlier pastoral people from their lands. They were followed about 2500 BC by another wave of people, also farmers, known as the Courronniens, who arrived by sea and settled along the coast of what is now the Bouches-du-Rhône.[7] Traces of these early civilisations can be found in many parts of Provence. A Neolithic site dating to about 6,000 BC was discovered in Marseille near the Saint-Charles railway station. and a dolmen from the Bronze Age (2500–900 BC) can be found near Draguignan.
Ligures and Celts in Provence
Between the 10th and 4th century BC, the Ligures were found in Provence from Massilia as far as modern Liguria. They were of uncertain origin; they may have been the descendants of the indigenous Neolithic peoples.[9] Strabo distinctly states they were not of Celtic origin and a different race from the Gauls.[10] They did not have their own alphabet, but their language remains in place names in Provence ending in the suffixes -asc, -osc. -inc, -ates, and -auni.[9] The ancient geographer Posidonios wrote of them: "Their country is savage and dry. The soil is so rocky that you cannot plant anything without striking stones. The men compensate for the lack of wheat by hunting... They climb the mountains like goats."[11] They were also warlike; they invaded Italy and went as far as Rome in the 4th century BC, and they later aided the passage of Hannibal, on his way to attack Rome (218 BC). Traces of the Ligures remain today in the dolmens and other megaliths found in eastern Provence, in the primitive stone shelters called 'Bories' found in the Luberon and Comtat, and in the rock carvings in the Valley of Marvels near Mont Bégo in the Alpes-Maritimes, at an altitude of 2,000 meters.[12]
Between the 8th and 5th centuries BC, tribes of Celtic peoples, probably coming from Central Europe, also began moving into Provence. They had weapons made of iron, which allowed them to easily defeat the local tribes, who were still armed with bronze weapons. One tribe, called the Segobriga, settled near modern-day Marseille. The Caturiges, Tricastins, and Cavares settled to the west of the Durance river.[13]
Celts and Ligurians spread throughout the area and the Celto-Ligures eventually shared the territory of Provence, each tribe in its own alpine valley or settlement along a river, each with its own king and dynasty. They built hilltop forts and settlements, later given the Latin name oppida. Today the traces 165 oppida are found in the Var, and as many as 285 in the Alpes-Maritimes.[12] They worshipped various aspects of nature, establishing sacred woods at Sainte-Baume and Gemenos, and healing springs at Glanum and Vernègues. Later, in the 5th and 4th centuries BC, the different tribes formed confederations; the Voconces in the area from the Isère to the Vaucluse; the Cavares in the Comtat; and the Salyens, from the Rhône river to the Var. The tribes began to trade their local products, iron, silver, alabaster, marble, gold, resin, wax, honey and cheese; with their neighbours, first by trading routes along the Rhône river, and later Etruscan traders visited the coast. Etruscan amphorae from the 7th and 6th centuries BC have been found in Marseille, Cassis, and in hilltop oppida in the region.[12]
Greeks in Provence
Main article: Greeks in pre-Roman Gaul
Remains of the ancient harbour of Massalia, near the Old Port of Marseille
Traders from the island of Rhodes were visiting the coast of Provence in the 7th century BC. Rhodes pottery from that century has been found in Marseille, near Martigues and Istres, and at Mont Garou and Evenos near Toulon. The traders from Rhodes gave their names to the ancient town of Rhodanousia (Ancient Greek: 'Ροδανουσίαν) (now Trinquetaille, across the Rhône river from Arles), and to the main river of Provence, the Rhodanos, today known as the Rhône.[14]
The first permanent Greek settlement was Massalia, established at modern-day Marseille in about 600 BC by colonists coming from Phocaea (now Foça, on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor). A second wave of colonists arrived in about 540 BC, when Phocaea was destroyed by the Persians.[15]
Massalia became one of the major trading ports of the ancient world. At its height, in the 4th century BC, it had a population of about 6,000 inhabitants, living on about fifty hectares surrounded by a wall. It was governed as an aristocratic republic, by an assembly of the 600 wealthiest citizens. It had a large temple of the cult of Apollo of Delphi on a hilltop overlooking the port, and a temple of the cult of Artemis of Ephesus at the other end of the city. The Drachma coins minted in Massalia were found in all parts of Ligurian-Celtic Gaul. Traders from Massalia ventured inland deep into France on the Rivers Durance and Rhône, and established overland trade routes deep into Gaul, and to Switzerland and Burgundy, and as far north as the Baltic Sea. They exported their own products; local wine, salted pork and fish, aromatic and medicinal plants, coral and cork.[15]
The Massalians also established a series of small colonies and trading posts along the coast; which later became towns; they founded Citharista (La Ciotat); Tauroeis (Le Brusc); Olbia (near Hyères); Pergantion (Breganson); Caccabaria (Cavalaire); Athenopolis (Saint-Tropez); Antipolis (Antibes); Nikaia (Nice), and Monoicos (Monaco). They established inland towns at Glanum (Saint-Remy) and Mastrabala (Saint-Blaise.)
The most famous citizen of Massalia was the mathematician, astronomer and navigator Pytheas. Pytheas made mathematical instruments which allowed him to establish almost exactly the latitude of Marseille, and he was the first scientist to observe that the tides were connected with the phases of the moon. Between 330 and 320 BC he organised an expedition by ship into the Atlantic and as far north as England, and to visit Iceland, Shetland, and Norway. He was the first scientist to describe drift ice and the midnight sun. Though he hoped to establish a sea trading route for tin from Cornwall, his trip was not a commercial success, and it was not repeated. The Massalians found it cheaper and simpler to trade with Northern Europe over land routes.[16]
Roman Provence (2nd century BC to 5th century AD)
Triumphal Arch of Orange, first century AD
The Roman arena at Arles (2nd century AD)
The baptistery of Fréjus Cathedral (5th century) is still in use
In the 2nd century BC the people of Massalia appealed to Rome for help against the Ligures. Roman legions entered Provence three times; first in 181 BC the Romans suppressed Ligurian uprisings near Genoa; in 154 BC the Roman Consul Optimus defeated the Oxybii and the Deciates, who were attacking Antibes; and in 125 BC, the Romans put down an uprising of a confederation of Celtic tribes.[17] After this battle, the Romans decided to establish permanent settlements in Provence. In 122 BC, next to the Celtic town of Entremont, the Romans built a new town, Aquae Sextiae, later called Aix-en-Provence. In 118 BC they founded Narbo (Narbonne).
The Roman general Gaius Marius crushed the last serious resistance in 102 BC by defeating the Cimbri and the Teutons. He then began building roads to facilitate troop movements and commerce between Rome, Spain and Northern Europe; one from the coast inland to Apt and Tarascon, and the other along the coast from Italy to Spain, passing through Fréjus and Aix-en-Provence.
In 49 BC, Massalia had the misfortune to choose the wrong side in the power struggle between Pompey and Julius Caesar. Pompey was defeated, and Massalia lost its territories and political influence. Roman veterans, in the meantime, populated two new towns, Arles and Fréjus, at the sites of older Greek settlements.
In 8 BC the Emperor Augustus built a triumphal monument at La Turbie to commemorate the pacification of the region, and he began to Romanize Provence politically and culturally. Roman engineers and architects built monuments, theatres, baths, villas, fora, arenas and aqueducts, many of which still exist. (See Architecture of Provence.) Roman towns were built at Cavaillon; Orange; Arles; Fréjus; Glanum (outside Saint-Rémy-de-Provence); Carpentras; Vaison-la-Romaine; Nîmes; Vernègues; Saint-Chamas and Cimiez (above Nice). The Roman province, which was called Gallia Narbonensis, for its capital, Narbo (modern Narbonne), extended from Italy to Spain, from the Alps to the Pyrenees.
The Pax Romana in Provence lasted until the middle of the 3rd century. Germanic tribes invaded Provence in 257 and 275. At the beginning the 4th century, the court of Roman Emperor Constantine (280–337) was forced to take refuge in Arles. By the end of the 5th century, Roman power in Provence had vanished, and an age of invasions, wars, and chaos began.
Arrival of Christianity (3rd–6th centuries)
There are many legends about the earliest Christians in Provence, but they are difficult to verify. It is documented that there were organised churches and bishops in the Roman towns of Provence as early as the 3rd and 4th centuries; in Arles in 254; Marseille in 314; Orange, Vaison and Apt in 314; Cavaillon, Digne, Embrun, Gap, and Fréjus at the end of the 4th century; Aix-en-Provence in 408; Carpentras, Avignon, Riez, Cimiez (today part of Nice) and Vence in 439; Antibes in 442; Toulon in 451; Senez in 406, Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux in 517; and Glandèves in 541.[18] The oldest Christian structure still surviving in Provence is the baptistery of the cathedral in Fréjus, dating from the 5th century. At about the same time, in the 5th century, the first two monasteries in Provence were founded; Lérins, on an island near Cannes; and Saint-Victor in Marseille.
Germanic invasions, Merovingians and Carolingians (5th–9th centuries)
King Boson and San Stephen (fragment of fresco at Charlieu Abbey)
Beginning in the second half of the 5th century, as Roman power waned, successive waves of Germanic tribes entered Provence; first the Visigoths (480); then the Ostrogoths; then the Burgundians; finally, the Franks in the 6th century. Arab invaders and Berber pirates came from North Africa to the Coast of Provence in the beginning of the 7th century.
During the late 7th and early 8th century, Provence was formally subject to the Frankish kings of the Merovingian dynasty, but it was in fact ruled by its own regional nobility of Gallo-Roman stock, who ruled themselves according to Roman, not Frankish law. Actually, the region enjoyed a prestige that the northern Franks hadn't, but the local aristocracy feared Charles Martel's expansionist ambitions.[19] In 737 Charles Martel headed down the Rhône Valley after subduing Burgundy. Charles attacked Avignon and Arles, garrisoned by the Umayyads. He came back in 739 to capture for a second time Avignon and chase the duke Maurontus to his stronghold of Marseille.[19] The city was brought to heel and the duke had to flee to an island. The region was thereafter under the rule of Carolingian Kings, descended from Charles Martel; and then was part of the empire of Charlemagne (742–814).
In 879, after the death of the Carolingian ruler Charles the Bald, Boso of Provence, (also known as Boson), his brother-in-law, broke away from the Carolingian kingdom of Louis III and was elected the first ruler of an independent state of Provence.
The Counts of Provence (9th–13th centuries)
The Catalan Ramon Berenguer I, Count of Provence, in the Castle in Fos, painted by Marià Fortuny (Reial Acadèmia Catalana de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi, on deposit at the Palace of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Barcelona).
The Coat of Arms of Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona and his descendants, who as Counts of Provence ruled Provence from 1112 until 1246
Coat of Arms of the Counts of Provence of the House of Valois-Anjou, who ruled Provence from 1246 until it became part of France in 1486
Three different dynasties of Counts ruled Provence during the Middle Ages, and Provence became a prize in the complex rivalries between the Catalan rulers of Barcelona, the Kings of Burgundy, the German rulers of the Holy Roman Empire, and the Angevin Kings of France.[clarification needed]
The Bosonids (879–1112) were the descendants of the first King of Provence, Boson. His son, Louis the Blind (890–928) lost his sight trying to win the throne of Italy, after which his cousin, Hugh of Italy (died 947) became the Duke of Provence and the Count of Vienne. Hugh moved the capital of Provence from Vienne to Arles and made Provence a fief of Rudolph II of Burgundy.
In the 9th century, Arab pirates (called Saracens by the French) and then the Normans invaded Provence. The Normans pillaged the region and then left, but the Saracens built castles and began raiding towns and holding local residents for ransom. Early in 973, the Saracens captured Maieul, the Abbot of the Monastery at Cluny, and held him for ransom. The ransom was paid and the abbot was released, but the people of Provence, led by Count William I rose up and defeated the Saracens near their most powerful fortress Fraxinet (La Garde-Freinet) at the Battle of Tourtour. The Saracens who were not killed at the battle were baptised and enslaved, and the remaining Saracens in Provence fled the region. Meanwhile, the dynastic quarrels continued. A war between Rudolph III of Burgundy and his rival, the German Emperor Conrad the Salic in 1032 led to Provence becoming a fiefdom of the Holy Roman Empire, which it remained until 1246.
In 1112, the last descendant of Boson, Douce I, Countess of Provence, married the Catalan Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, who as a result became Raymond Berenguer I, Count of Provence. He ruled Provence from 1112 until 1131, and his descendants, the Catalan counts ruled in Provence until 1246. In 1125, Provence was divided; the part of Provence north and west of the Durance river went to the Count of Toulouse, while the lands between the Durance and the Mediterranean, and from the Rhône river to the Alps, belonged to the Counts of Provence. The capital of Provence was moved from Arles to Aix-en-Provence, and later to Brignoles.[20]
The Church of Saint Trophime in Arles (12th century)
Under the Catalan counts, the 12th century saw the construction of important cathedrals and abbeys in Provence, in a harmonious new style, the romanesque, which united the Gallo-Roman style of the Rhône Valley with the Lombard style of the Alps. Aix Cathedral was built on the site of the old Roman forum, and then rebuilt in the gothic style in the 13th and 14th centuries. The Church of St. Trophime in Arles was a landmark of Romanesque architecture, built between the 12th and the 15th centuries. A vast fortress-like monastery, Montmajour Abbey, was built on an island just north of Arles, and became a major destination for medieval pilgrims.
In the 12th century three Cistercian monasteries were built in remote parts of Provence, far from the political intrigues of the cities. Sénanque Abbey was the first, established in the Luberon 1148 and 1178. Le Thoronet Abbey was founded in a remote valley near Draguignan in 1160. Silvacane Abbey, on the Durance river at La Roque-d'Anthéron, was founded in 1175.
In the 13th century, the French kings started to use marriage to extend their influence into the south of France. One son of King Louis VIII of France "the Lion", Alphonse, Count of Poitou, married the heiress of the Count of Toulouse, Joan. Another, Louis IX "the Saint" of France or Saint Louis (1214–1270), married Marguerite of Provence. Then, in 1246, Charles, Count of Anjou, the youngest son of Louis VIII, married the heiress of Provence, Beatrice. Provence's fortunes became tied to the Angevin Dynasty and the Kingdom of Naples.[21]
The Popes in Avignon (14th century)
Main article: Avignon papacy
The façade of the Palais des Papes.
In 1309, Pope Clement V, who was originally from Bordeaux, moved the Roman Catholic Papacy to Avignon.[22] From 1309 until 1377, seven Popes reigned in Avignon before the Schism between the Roman and Avignon churches, which led to the creation of rival popes in both places. After that three Antipopes reigned in Avignon until 1423, when the Papacy finally returned to Rome. Between 1334 and 1363 the old and new Papal Palaces of Avignon were built by Popes Benedict XII and Clement VI respectively; together the Palais des Papes was the largest gothic palace in Europe.[23]
The 14th century was a terrible time in Provence, and all of Europe: the population of Provence had been about 400,000 people; the Black Plague (1348–1350) killed fifteen thousand people in Arles, half the population of the city, and greatly reduced the population of the whole region. The defeat of the French Army during the Hundred Years' War forced the cities of Provence to build walls and towers to defend themselves against armies of former soldiers who ravaged the countryside.
The Angevin rulers of Provence also had a difficult time. An assembly of nobles, religious leaders, and town leaders of Provence was organised to resist the authority of Queen Joan I of Naples (1343–1382). She was murdered in 1382 by her cousin and heir, Charles of Durazzo, who started a new war, leading to the separation of Nice, Puget-Théniers and Barcelonnette from Provence in 1388, and their attachment to the County of Savoy. From 1388 up to 1526, the area acquired by the Savoy was known as Terres Neuves de Provence; after 1526 it officially took on the name County of Nice.
Good King René, the last ruler of Provence
Detail of the Burning Bush triptych by Nicolas Froment, showing René and his wife Jeanne de Laval
The Chateau of René in Tarascon (15th century)
The 15th century saw a series of wars between the Kings of Aragon and the Counts of Provence. In 1423 the army of Alphonse of Aragon captured Marseille, and in 1443 they captured Naples, and forced its ruler, King René I of Naples, to flee. He eventually settled in one of his remaining territories, Provence.
History and legend has given René the title "Good King René of Provence", though he only lived in Provence in the last ten years of his life, from 1470 to 1480, and his political policies of territorial expansion were costly and unsuccessful. Provence benefitted from population growth and economic expansion, and René was a generous patron of the arts, sponsoring painters Nicolas Froment, Louis Bréa, and other masters. He also completed one of the finest castles in Provence at Tarascon, on the Rhône river.
When René died in 1480, his title passed to his nephew Charles du Maine. One year later, in 1481, when Charles died, the title passed to Louis XI of France. Provence was legally incorporated into the French royal domain in 1486.
1486 to 1789
Soon after Provence became part of France, it became involved in the Wars of Religion that swept the country in the 16th century. Between 1493 and 1501, many Jews were expelled from their homes and sought sanctuary in the region of Avignon, which was still under the direct rule of the Pope. In 1545, the Parliament of Aix-en-Provence ordered the destruction of the villages of Lourmarin, Mérindol, Cabriéres in the Luberon, because their inhabitants were Vaudois, of Italian Piedmontese origin, and were not considered sufficiently orthodox Catholics. Most of Provence remained strongly Catholic, with only one enclave of Protestants, the principality of Orange, Vaucluse, an enclave ruled by Prince William of the House of Orange-Nassau of the Netherlands, which was created in 1544 and was not incorporated into France until 1673. An army of the Catholic League laid siege to the Protestant city of Mėnerbes in the Vaucluse between 1573 and 1578. The wars did not stop until the end of the 16th century, with the consolidation of power in Provence by the House of Bourbon kings.
View of Toulon Harbour around 1750, by Joseph Vernet.
The semi-independent Parliament of Provence in Aix and some of the cities of Provence, particularly Marseille, continued to rebel against the authority of the Bourbon king. After uprisings in 1630–31 and 1648–1652, the young King Louis XIV had two large forts, fort St. Jean and Fort St. Nicholas, built at the harbour entrance to control the city's unruly population.
At the beginning of the 17th century, Cardinal Richelieu began to build a naval arsenal and dockyard at Toulon to serve as a base for a new French Mediterranean fleet. The base was greatly enlarged by Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the minister of Louis XIV, who also commissioned his chief military engineer Vauban to strengthen the fortifications around the city.
At the beginning of the 17th century, Provence had a population of about 450,000 people.[24] It was predominantly rural, devoted to raising wheat, wine, and olives, with small industries for tanning, pottery, perfume-making, and ship and boat building. Provençal quilts, made from the mid-17th century onwards, were successfully exported to England, Spain, Italy, Germany and Holland.[25] There was considerable commerce along the coast, and up and down the Rhône river. The cities: Marseille, Toulon, Avignon and Aix-en-Provence, saw the construction of boulevards and richly decorated private houses.
Marseille in 1754, by Vernet
At the beginning of the 18th century, Provence suffered from the economic malaise of the end of the reign of Louis XIV. The plague struck the region between 1720 and 1722, beginning in Marseille, killing some 40,000 people. Still, by the end of the century, many artisanal industries began to flourish; making perfumes in Grasse; olive oil in Aix and the Alpilles; textiles in Orange, Avignon and Tarascon; and faience pottery in Marseille, Apt, Aubagne, and Moustiers-Sainte-Marie. Many immigrants arrived from Liguria and the Piedmont in Italy. By the end of the 18th century, Marseille had a population of 120,000 people, making it the third largest city in France.[24]
During the French Revolution
Main article: French Revolution
Though most of Provence, with the exception of Marseille, Aix and Avignon, was rural, conservative and largely royalist, it did produce some memorable figures in the French Revolution; Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau from Aix, who tried to moderate the Revolution, and turn France into a constitutional monarchy like England; the Marquis de Sade from Lacoste in the Luberon, who was a Deputy from the far left in the National Assembly; Charles Barbaroux from Marseille, who sent a battalion of volunteers to Paris to fight in the French Revolutionary Army; and Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès (1748–1836), an abbé, essayist and political leader, who was one of the chief theorists of the French Revolution, French Consulate, and First French Empire, and who, in 1799, was the instigator of the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire, which brought Napoleon to power.
La Marseillaise 1792
Provence also produced the most memorable song of the period, the La Marseillaise. Though the song was originally written by a citizen of Strasbourg, Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in 1792, and it was originally a war song for the revolutionary Army of the Rhine, it became famous when it sung on the streets of Paris by the volunteers from Marseille, who had heard it when it was sung in Marseille by a young volunteer from Montpellier named François Mireur. It became the most popular song of the Revolution, and in 1879 became the national anthem of France.
The Revolution was as violent and bloody in Provence as it was in other parts of France. On 30 April 1790, Fort Saint-Nicolas in Marseille was besieged, and many of the soldiers inside were massacred. On 17 October 1791 a massacre of royalists and religious figures took place in the ice storage rooms (glaciere) of the prison of the Palace of the Popes in Avignon.
When the radical Montagnards seized power from the Girondins in May 1793, a real counter-revolution broke out in Avignon, Marseille and Toulon. A revolutionary army under General Carteaux recaptured Marseille in August 1793 and renamed it "City without a Name" (Ville sans Nom.) In Toulon, the opponents of the Revolution handed the city to a British and Spanish fleet on 28 August 1793. A Revolutionary Army laid siege to the British positions for four months (see the Siege of Toulon), and finally, thanks to the enterprise of the young commander of artillery, Napoleon Bonaparte, defeated the British and drove them out in December 1793. About 15,000 royalists escaped with the British fleet, but five to eight hundred of the 7,000 who remained were shot on the Champ de Mars, and Toulon was renamed "Port la Montagne".
The fall of the Montagnards in July 1794 was followed by a new White Terror aimed at the revolutionaries. Calm was only restored by the rise of Napoleon to power in 1795.
Under Napoleon
Napoleon restored the belongings and power of the families of the old regime in Provence. The British fleet of Admiral Horatio Nelson blockaded Toulon, and almost all maritime commerce was stopped, causing hardship and poverty. When Napoleon was defeated, his fall was celebrated in Provence. When he escaped from Elba on 1 March 1815, and landed at Golfe-Juan, he detoured to avoid the cities of Provence, which were hostile to him, and therefore directed his small force directly to the northeast of it.[26]
19th century
Marseille in 1825
Provence enjoyed prosperity in the 19th century; the ports of Marseille and Toulon connected Provence with the expanding French Empire in North Africa and the Orient, especially after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869.
In April–July 1859, Napoleon III made a secret agreement with Cavour, Prime Minister of Piedmont, for France to assist in expelling Austria from the Italian Peninsula and bringing about a united Italy, in exchange for Piedmont ceding Savoy and the Nice region to France. He went to war with Austria in 1859 and won a victory at Solferino, which resulted in Austria ceding Lombardy to France. France immediately ceded Lombardy to Piedmont, and, in return, Napoleon received Savoy and Nice in 1860, and Roquebrune-Cap-Martin and Menton in 1861.
The railroad connected Paris with Marseille (1848) and then with Toulon and Nice (1864). Nice, Antibes and Hyères became popular winter resorts for European royalty, including Queen Victoria. Under Napoleon III, Marseille grew to a population of 250,000, including a very large Italian community. Toulon had a population of 80,000. The large cities like Marseille and Toulon saw the building of churches, opera houses, grand boulevards, and parks.
After the fall of Louis Napoleon following the defeat in the Franco-Prussian War barricades went up in the streets of Marseille (23 March 1871) and the Communards, led by Gaston Cremieux and following the lead of the Paris Commune, took control of the city. The Commune was crushed by the army and Cremieux was executed on 30 November 1871. Though Provence was generally conservative, it often elected reformist leaders; Prime Minister Léon Gambetta was the son of a Marseille grocer, and future prime minister Georges Clemenceau was elected deputy from the Var in 1885.
The second half of the 19th century saw a revival of the Provençal language and culture, particularly traditional rural values. driven by a movement of writers and poets called the Felibrige, led by poet Frédéric Mistral. Mistral achieved literary success with his novel Miréio (Mireille in French); he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1904.
20th century
Between World War I and World War II, Provence was bitterly divided between the more conservative rural areas and the more radical big cities. There were widespread strikes in Marseille in 1919, and riots in Toulon in 1935.
After the defeat of France by Germany in June 1940, France was divided into an occupied zone and unoccupied zone, with Provence in the unoccupied zone. Parts of eastern Provence were occupied by Italian soldiers. Collaboration and passive resistance gradually gave way to more active resistance, particularly after Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941 and the Communist Party became active in the resistance. Jean Moulin, the deputy of Charles de Gaulle, the leader of the Free France resistance movement, was parachuted into Eygalières, in the Bouches-du-Rhône on 2 January 1942 to unite the diverse resistance movements in all of France against the Germans.
In November 1942, following Allied landings in North Africa (Operation Torch), the Germans occupied all of Provence (Operation Attila) and then headed for Toulon (Case Anton). The French fleet at Toulon sabotaged its own ships to keep them from falling into German hands.
The Germans began a systematic rounding-up of French Jews and refugees from Nice and Marseille. Many thousands were taken to concentration camps, and few survived. A large quarter around the port of Marseille was emptied of inhabitants and dynamited, so it would not serve as a base for the resistance. Nonetheless, the resistance grew stronger; the leader of the pro-German militia, the Milice, in Marseille was assassinated in April 1943.
On 15 August 1944, two months after the Allied landings in Normandy (Operation Overlord), the Seventh United States Army under General Alexander Patch, with a Free French corps under General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, landed on the coast of the Var between St. Raphael and Cavalaire (Operation Dragoon). The American forces moved north toward Manosque, Sisteron and Gap, while the French First Armored Division under General Vigier liberated Brignoles, Salon, Arles, and Avignon. The Germans in Toulon resisted until 27 August, and Marseille was not liberated until 25 August.
After the end of the War, Provence faced an enormous task of repair and reconstruction, particularly of the ports and railroads destroyed during the war. As part of this effort, the first modern concrete apartment block, the Unité d'Habitation of Corbusier, was built in Marseille in 1947–52. In 1962, Provence absorbed a large number of French citizens who left Algeria after its independence. Since that time, large North African communities settled in and around the big cities, particularly Marseille and Toulon.
In the 1940s, Provence underwent a cultural renewal, with the founding of the Avignon Festival of theatre (1947), the reopening of the Cannes Film Festival (begun in 1939), and many other major events. With the building of new highways, particularly the Paris Marseille autoroute which opened in 1970, Provence became destination for mass tourism from all over Europe. Many Europeans, particularly from Britain, bought summer houses in Provence. The arrival of the TGV high-speed trains shortened the trip from Paris to Marseille to less than four hours.
At the end of the 20th century, and the beginning of the 21st century, the residents of Provence were struggling to reconcile economic development and population growth with their desire to preserve the landscape and culture that make Provence unique.
Extent and geography
The Roman Province of Gallia Narbonensis around 58 BC
The original Roman province was called Gallia Transalpina, then Gallia Narbonensis, or simply Provincia Nostra ('Our Province') or Provincia. It extended from the Alps to the Pyrenees and north to the Vaucluse, with its capital in Narbo Martius (present-day Narbonne).
Borders
In the 15th century the Conté of Provence was bounded by the Var river on the east, the Rhône river to the west, with the Mediterranean to the south, and a northern border that roughly followed the Durance river.
The Comtat Venaissin, a territory which included Avignon, and the principality of Orange were both papal states, ruled by the Pope from the 13th century until the French Revolution. At the end of the 14th century, another piece of Provence along the Italian border, including Nice and the lower Alps, was detached from Provence and attached to the lands of the Duke of Savoy. The lower Alps were re-attached to France after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, but Nice did not return to France until 1860, during the reign of Napoleon III.[27]
The administrative region of Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur was created in 1982. It included Provence, plus the territory of the Comtat Venaissin around Avignon, the eastern portion of the Dauphiné, and the former county of Nice.
Rivers
The Rhône at Avignon
The Rhône river, on the western border of Provence, is one of the major rivers of France, and has been a highway of commerce and communications between inland France and the Mediterranean for centuries. It rises as the effluent of the Rhône Glacier in Valais, Switzerland, in the Saint-Gotthard massif, at an altitude of 1753 m. It is joined by the river Saône at Lyon. Along the Rhône Valley, it is joined on the right bank by Cévennes rivers Eyrieux, Ardèche, Cèze and Gardon or Gard, on the left Alps bank by rivers Isère, Drôme, Ouvèze and Durance. At Arles, the Rhône divides itself in two arms, forming the Camargue delta, with all branches flowing into the Mediterranean Sea. One arm is called the "Grand Rhône"; the other one is the "Petit Rhône".
The Gorge du Verdon.
The Durance river, a tributary of the Rhône, has its source in the Alps near Briançon. It flows south-west through Embrun, Sisteron, Manosque, Cavaillon, and Avignon, where it meets the Rhône.
The Verdon River is a tributary of the Durance, rising at an altitude of 2,400 metres in the southwestern Alps near Barcelonette, and flowing southwest for 175 kilometres through the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Var (départements) before it reaches the Durance at near Vinon-sur-Verdon, south of Manosque. The Verdon is best known for its canyon, the Verdon Gorge. This limestone canyon, also called the 'Grand Canyon of Verdon', 20 kilometres in length and more than 300 metres deep, is a popular climbing and sight-seeing area.
The Var River rises near the Col de la Cayolle (2,326 m/7,631 ft) in the Maritime Alps and flows generally southeast for 120 kilometres (75 mi) into the Mediterranean between Nice and Saint-Laurent-du-Var. Before Nice was returned to France in 1860, the Var marked the eastern border of France along the Mediterranean. The Var is the unique case in France of a river giving a name to a department, but not flowing through that department (due to subsequent adjustments to the department's boundaries).
The Camargue
With an area of over 930 km2 (360 mi2), the Camargue is Western Europe's largest river delta (technically an island, as it is wholly surrounded by water). It is a vast plain comprising large brine lagoons or étangs, cut off from the sea by sandbars and encircled by reed-covered marshes which are in turn surrounded by a large cultivated area.
The Camargue is home to more than 400 species of birds, the brine ponds providing one of the few European habitats for the greater flamingo. The marshes are also a prime habitat for many species of insects, notably (and notoriously) some of the most ferocious mosquitoes to be found anywhere in France. It is also famous for bulls and the Camargue horse.
Mountains
Vallon de Mollières, Mercantour National Park.
Alpilles landscape near Le Destet.
By considering the Maritime Alps, along the border with Italy, as a part of the cultural Provence, they constitute the highest elevations of the region (the Punta dell'Argentera has an elevation of 3,297 m). They form the border between the French département Alpes-Maritimes and the Italian province of Cuneo. Mercantour National Park is located in the Maritime Alps. On the other hand, if the département Hautes Alpes is also considered as part of the modern Provence, then the alpin Écrins mountains represent the highest elevations of the region with the Barre des Écrins culminating at 4102m.
View of Mont Ventoux from Mirabel-aux-Baronnies.
Outside of the Maritime Alps, Mont Ventoux (Occitan: Ventor in classical norm or Ventour in Mistralian norm), at 1,909 metres (6,263 ft), is the highest peak in Provence. It is located some 20 km north-east of Carpentras, Vaucluse. On the north side, the mountain borders the Drôme département. It is nicknamed the "Giant of Provence", or "The Bald Mountain". Although geologically part of the Alps, is often considered to be separate from them, due to the lack of mountains of a similar height nearby. It stands alone to the west of the Luberon range, and just to the east of the Dentelles de Montmirail, its foothills. The top of the mountain is bare limestone without vegetation or trees. The white limestone on the mountain's barren peak means it appears from a distance to be snow-capped all year round (its snow cover actually lasts from December to April).
The Alpilles are a chain of small mountains located about 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of Avignon. Although they are not particularly high – only some 387 metres (1,270 ft) at their highest point – the Alpilles stand out since they rise abruptly from the plain of the Rhône valley. The range is about 25 km long by about 8 to 10 km wide, running in an east–west direction between the Rhône and Durance rivers. The landscape of the Alpilles is one of arid limestone peaks separated by dry valleys.
Mont Sainte-Victoire, painted by Paul Cézanne
Montagne Sainte-Victoire is probably the best-known mountain in Provence, thanks to the painter Paul Cézanne, who could see it from his home, and painted it frequently. It is a limestone mountain ridge which extends over 18 kilometres between the départements of Bouches-du-Rhône and Var. Its highest point is the Pic des mouches at 1,011 m.
The massif des Maures
The Massif des Maures (Mountains of the Moors) is a small chain of mountains that lies along the coast of the Mediterranean in the Var Department between Hyères et Fréjus. Its highest point is the signal de la Sauvette, 780 metres high. The name is a souvenir of the Moors (Maures in Old French), Arabs and Berbers from North Africa, who settled on the coast of Provence in the 9th and 10th centuries.
The massif des Maures extends about sixty kilometres along the coast, and reaches inland about thirty kilometres. On the north it is bordered by a depression which is followed by the routes nationales 97 and 7 and the railroad line between Toulon and Nice. On the south it ends abruptly at the Mediterranean, forming a broken and abrupt coastline.
The peninsula of Saint-Tropez is part of the Massif des Maures, along with the peninsula of Giens and the islands offshore of Hyères; Porquerolles, Port-Cros, and île du Levant. Cape Sicié, west of Toulon, as well as the massif of Tanneron, belong geologically to the massif des Maures.
The Calanques
Calanque de Sugiton
The Calanques, also known as the Massif des Calanques, are a dramatic feature of the Provence coast, a 20-km long series of narrow inlets in the cliffs of the coastline between Marseille on the west and Cassis on the east. The highest peak in the massif is Mont Puget, 565 metres high.
The best known calanques of the Massif des Calanques include the Calanque de Sormiou, the Calanque de Morgiou, the Calanque d'En-Vau, the Calanque de Port-Pin and the Calanque de Sugiton.
Calanques are remains of ancient river mouths formed mostly during Tertiary. Later, during quaternary glaciations, as glaciers swept by, they further deepened those valleys which would eventually (at the end of the last glaciation) be invaded with sea and become calanques.
The Garrigue, typical landscape of Provence
The Cosquer cave is an underwater grotto in the Calanque de Morgiou, 37 metres (121 ft) underwater, that was inhabited during Paleolithic era, when the sea level was much lower than today. Its walls are covered with paintings and engravings dating back to between 27,000 and 19,000 BC, depicting animals such as bison, ibex, and horses, as well as sea mammals such as seals, and at least one bird, the auk.
Landscapes
The Garrigue is the typical landscape of Provence; it is a type of low, soft-leaved scrubland or chaparral found on limestone soils around the Mediterranean Basin, generally near the seacoast, where the climate is moderate, but where there are annual summer drought conditions.[28] Juniper and stunted holm oaks are the typical trees; aromatic lime-tolerant shrubs such as lavender, sage, rosemary, wild thyme and Artemisia are common garrigue plants. The open landscape of the garrigue is punctuated by dense thickets of Kermes oak.
Climate
Mistral wind blowing near Marseille. In the center is the Château d'If
Sisteron – la Baume rock
Forcalquier Cathedral
Most of Provence has a Mediterranean climate, characterised by hot, dry summers, mild winters, little snow, and abundant sunshine. Within Provence there are micro-climates and local variations, ranging from the Alpine climate inland from Nice to the continental climate in the northern Vaucluse. The winds of Provence are an important feature of the climate, particularly the mistral, a cold, dry wind which, especially in the winter, blows down the Rhône Valley to the Bouches-du-Rhône and the Var Departments, and often reaches over one hundred kilometres an hour.
Bouches-du-Rhône
Marseille, in the Bouches-du-Rhône, has an average of 59 days of rain a year, though when it does rain the rain is often torrential; the average annual rainfall is 544.4 mm. It snows an average of 2.3 days a year, and the snow rarely remains long. Marseille has an average of 2835.5 hours of sunshine a year. The average minimum temperature in January is 2.3 °C., and the average maximum temperature in July is 29.3 °C. The mistral blows an average of one hundred days a year.[29]
The Var
Toulon and the Department of the Var (which includes St. Tropez and Hyères) have a climate slightly warmer, dryer and sunnier than Nice and the Alpes-Maritime, but also less sheltered from the wind. Toulon has an average of 2899.3 hours of sunshine a year, making it the sunniest city in metropolitan France,[30] The average maximum daily temperature in August is 29.1 °C., and the average daily minimum temperature in January is 5.8 °C. The average annual rainfall is 665 mm, with the most rain from October to November. Strong winds blow an average of 118 days a year in Toulon, compared with 76 days at Fréjus further east. The strongest Mistral wind recorded in Toulon was 130 kilometres an hour.[31]
Alpes-Maritimes
Nice and the Alpes-Maritimes Department are sheltered by the Alps, and are the most protected part of the Mediterranean coast. The winds in this department are usually gentle, blowing from the sea to the land, though sometimes the Mistral blows strongly from the northwest, or, turned by the mountains, from the east. In 1956 a mistral wind from the northwest reached the speed of 180 kilometres an hour at Nice airport. Sometimes in summer the scirocco brings high temperatures and reddish desert sand from Africa. (See Winds of Provence.)
Rainfall is infrequent – 63 days a year, but can be torrential, particularly in September, when storms and rain are caused by the difference between the colder air inland and the warm Mediterranean water temperature (20–24 degrees C.). The average annual rainfall in Nice is 767 mm, more than in Paris, but concentrated in fewer days.
Snow is extremely rare, usually falling once every ten years. 1956 was a very exceptional year, when 20 centimetres of snow blanketed the coast. In January 1985 the coast between Cannes and Menton received 30 to 40 centimetres of snow. In the mountains, the snow is present from November to May
Nice has an annual average of 2694 hours of sunshine. The average maximum daily temperature in Nice in August is 28 °C., and the average minimum daily temperature in January is 6 °C.[32]
Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
The Department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence has a Mediterranean climate in the lower valleys under one thousand metres in altitude and an alpine climate in the high valleys, such as the valleys of the Blanche, the Haut Verdon and the Ubaye, which are over 2500 metres high. The alpine climate in the higher mountains is moderated by the warmer air from the Mediterranean.
Haute-Provence has unusually high summer temperatures for its altitude and latitude (44 degrees north). The average summer temperature is 22 to 23 °C. at an altitude of 400 metres, and 18 to 19 °C. at the altitude of 1000 metres; and the winter average temperature is 4 to 5 °C. at 400 metres and 0 C. at 1000 metres. The lower valleys have 50 days of freezing temperatures a year, more in the higher valleys. Sometimes the temperatures in the high valleys can reach −30 °C. Because of this combination of high mountains and Mediterranean air, it is not unusual that the region frequently has some of the lowest winter temperatures and some of the hottest summer temperatures in France.
Rainfall in Haute-Provence is infrequent – 60 to 80 days a year – but can be torrential; 650 to 900 mm. a year in the foothills and plateaus of the southwest, and in the valley of the Ubaye; and 900 to 1500 mm. in the mountains. Most rainfall comes in the autumn, in brief and intense storms; from mid-June to mid-August, rain falls during brief but violent thunderstorms. Thunder can be heard 30 to 40 days a year.
Snow falls in the mountains from November to May, and in midwinter can be found down to altitude of 1000–1200 metres on the shady side of the mountains and 1300 to 1600 metres on the sunny side. Snowfalls are usually fairly light, and melt rapidly.
The Mistral (wind) is a feature of the climate in the western part of the Department, blowing from the north and the northwest, bringing clear and dry weather. The eastern part of the department is more protected from the Mistral. The Marin (wind) comes from the south, bringing warm air, clouds and rain.
Haute-Provence is one of the sunniest regions of France, with an average of between 2550 and 2650 hours of sunshine annually in the north of the department, and 2700 to 2800 hours in the southwest. The clear nights and sunny days cause a sharp difference between nighttime and daytime temperatures. Because of the clear nights, the region is home of important observatories, such as the Observatory of Haute-Provence in Saint-Michel-Observatoire near of Forcalquier.[33]
The Vaucluse
The Vaucluse is the meeting point of three of the four different climatic zones of France; it has a Mediterranean climate in the south, an alpine climate in the northeast, around the mountains of Vaucluse and the massif of the Baronnies; and a continental climate in the northwest. The close proximity of these three different climates tends to moderate all of them, and the Mediterranean climate usually prevails.
Orange in the Vaucluse has 2595 hours of sunshine a year. It rains an average of 80 days a year, for a total of 693.4 mm a year. The maximum average temperature in July is 29.6 °C., and the average minimum temperature in January is 1.3 °C. There are an average of 110 days of strong winds a year.[34]
Language and literature
Scientists, scholars and prophets
Pytheas (4th century BCE) was a geographer and mathematician who lived in the Greek colony of Massalia, which became Marseille. He conducted an expedition by sea north around England to Iceland, and was the first to describe the midnight sun and polar regions.
Petrarch (1304–1374) was an Italian poet and scholar, considered the father of humanism and one of the first great figures of Italian literature. He spent much of his early life in Avignon and Carpentras as an official at the Papal court in Avignon, and wrote a famous account of his ascent of Mount Ventoux near Aix-en-Provence.
Nostradamus (1503–1566), a Renaissance apothecary and reputed clairvoyant best known for his alleged prophecies of great world events, was born in Saint-Remy-de-Provence and lived and died in Salon-de-Provence.
Occitan literature
Main articles: Occitan language and Occitan literature
Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, from a collection of troubadour songs, BNF Richelieu Manuscrits Français 854, Bibliothèque Nationale Française, Paris.
Historically the language spoken in Provence was Provençal, a dialect of the Occitan language, also known as langue d'oc, and closely related to Catalan. There are several regional variations: vivaro-alpin, spoken in the Alps; and the provençal variations of south, including the maritime, the rhoadanien (in the Rhône Valley) and the niçois (in Nice). Niçois is the archaic form of provençal closest to the original language of the troubadours, and is sometimes to said to be literary language of its own.[35]
Provençal was widely spoken in Provence until the beginning of the 20th century, when the French government launched an intensive and largely successful effort to replace regional languages with French. Today Provençal is taught in schools and universities in the region, but is spoken regularly by a small number of people, probably less than five hundred thousand, mostly elderly.
Writers and poets in the Occitan language
"Folquet de Marselha" in a 13th-century chansonnier. Depicted in his episcopal robes
The golden age of Provençal literature, more correctly called Occitan literature, was the 11th century and the 12th century, when the troubadours broke away from classical Latin literature and composed romances and love songs in their own vernacular language. Among the most famous troubadours was Folquet de Marselha, whose love songs became famous all over Europe, and who was praised by Dante in his Divine Comedy. In his later years, Folquet gave up poetry to become the Abbot of Le Thoronet Abbey, and then Bishop of Toulouse, where he fiercely persecuted the Cathars.
In the middle of the 19th century, there was a literary movement to revive the language, called the Félibrige, led by the poet Frédéric Mistral (1830–1914), who shared the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1904.
Provençal writers and poets who wrote in Occitan include:
Raimbaut de Vaqueiras (1180–1207)
Louis Bellaud (1543–1588)
Théodore Aubanel (1829–1886)
Joseph d'Arbaud (1874–1950)
Robert Lafont (1923–2009)
French authors
Alphonse Daudet
Colette
Alphonse Daudet (1840–1897) was the best-known French writer from Provence in the 19th century, though he lived mostly in Paris and Champrosay. He was best known for his Lettres de mon moulin (eng: Letters from my Mill) (1869) and the Tartarin de Tarascon trilogy (1872, 1885, 1890). His story L'Arlésienne (1872) was made into a three-act play with music by Bizet.[36]
Marcel Pagnol (1895–1970), born in Aubagne, is known both as a filmmaker and for his stories of his childhood, Le Château de la Mere, La Gloire de mon Pere, and Le Temps des secrets. He was the first filmmaker to become a member of the Académie française in 1946.
Colette (Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette) (1873–1954), although she was not from Provence, became particularly attached to Saint-Tropez. After World War II, she headed a committee which saw that the village, badly damaged by the war, was restored to its original beauty and character
Jean Giono (1895–1970), born in Manosque, wrote about peasant life in Provence, inspired by his imagination and by his vision of Ancient Greece.
Paul Arène (1843–1896), born in Sisteron, wrote about life and the countryside around his home town.
Emigrés, exiles, and expatriates
In the 19th and 20th centuries, the climate and lifestyle of Provence attracted writers almost as much as it attracted painters. It was particularly popular among British, American and Russian writers in the 1920s and 1930s.
Edith Wharton (1862–1937), bought Castel Sainte-Claire in 1927, on the site of a former convent in the hills above Hyères, where she lived during the winters and springs until her death in 1937.
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) and his wife Zelda first visited the Riviera in 1924, stopping at Hyères, Cannes and Monte Carlo, eventually staying at St. Raphaël, where he wrote much of The Great Gatsby and began Tender is the Night.
Ivan Bunin (1870–1953), the first Russian writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, went to France after the Russian Revolution, set several of his short stories on the Côte d'Azur, and had a house in Grasse.
Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) bought a house, the Villa Mauresque, in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat in 1928, and, except for the years of World War II, spent much of his time there until his death.
Other English-speaking writers who live in or have written about Provence include:
Peter Mayle
Carol Drinkwater
John Lanchester
Willa Cather
Charles Spurgeon (who spent long periods in Menton)
Katherine Mansfield
Lawrence Durrell
Music
Music written about Provence includes:
The saxophone concerto Tableaux de Provence (Pictures of Provence) composed by Paule Maurice.
The opera Mireille by Charles Gounod after Frédéric Mistral's poem Mireio.
Georges Bizet, 'L'Arlésienne' incidental music to play by Alphonse Daudet.
Darius Milhaud, 'Suite Provençale'
Two song settings of Vladimir Nabokov's poem "Provence" in Russian and English versions by composers Ivan Barbotin and James DeMars on the 2011 contemporary classical album Troika.[37]
The piece "Suite Provencale", written for symphonic band by Jan Van der Roost.
Painters
The 14th-century ceiling of the cloister of Fréjus Cathedral is decorated with paintings of animals, people and mythical creatures
Triptych of the Burning Bush, by Nicolas Froment, in Aix Cathedral (15th century)
Artists have been painting in Provence since prehistoric times; paintings of bisons, seals, auks and horses dating to between 27,000 and 19,000 BC were found in the Cosquer Cave near Marseille.[38]
The 14th-century wooden ceiling of the cloister of Fréjus Cathedral has a remarkable series of paintings of biblical scenes, fantastic animals, and scenes from daily life, painted between 1350 and 1360. They include paintings of a fallen angel with the wings of a bat, a demon with the tail of a serpent, angels playing instruments, a tiger, an elephant, an ostrich, domestic and wild animals, a mermaid, a dragon, a centaur, a butcher, a knight, and a juggler.[39]
Nicolas Froment (1435–1486) was the most important painter of Provence during the Renaissance, best known for his triptych of the Burning Bush (c. 1476), commissioned by King René I of Naples. The painting shows a combination of Moses, the Burning Bush, and the Virgin Mary "who gave birth but remained a virgin", just as the bush of Moses "-burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed". This is the explication according to a plaque in the cathedral. A more likely reason for the juxtaposition is that in 1400 a shepherd, or shepherds, discovered a miraculous statue of the Virgin and Child inside another burning bush (thorn bush specifically), in the village of L'Epine in the present day department of La Marne. The site and statue were later visited by the "Bon Roi René". The wings of the triptych show King René with Mary Magdalene, St. Anthony and St. Maurice on one side, and Queen Jeanne de Laval, with Saint Catherine, John the Evangelist, and Saint Nicholas on the other.[40]
Louis Bréa (1450–1523) was a 15th-century painter, born in Nice, whose work is found in churches from Genoa to Antibes. His Retable of Saint-Nicholas (1500) is found in Monaco, and his Retable de Notre-Dame-de-Rosaire (1515) is found in Antibes.
Pierre Paul Puget (1620–1694), born in Marseille, was a painter of portraits and religious scenes, but was better known for his sculptures, found in Toulon Cathedral, outside the city hall of Toulon, and in the Louvre. There is a mountain named for him near Marseille, and a square in Toulon.
Paul Cézanne, L'Estaque, 1883–1885
Vincent van Gogh, Cafe Terrace at Night, September 1888
Paul Signac, The Port of Saint-Tropez, oil on canvas, 1901
In the 19th and 20th centuries, many of the most famous painters in the world converged on Provence, drawn by the climate and the clarity of the light. The special quality of the light is partly a result of the Mistral wind, which removes dust from the atmosphere, greatly increasing visibility.
Adolphe Monticelli (1824–1886) was born in Marseille, moved to Paris in 1846 and returned to Marseille in 1870. His work influenced Vincent van Gogh who greatly admired him.[41]
Paul Cézanne (1839–1906) was born in Aix-en-Provence, and lived and worked there most of his life. The local landscapes, particularly Montagne Sainte-Victoire, featured often in his work. He also painted frequently at L'Estaque.
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) liv
A stock trolley full of used packaging materials was parked here, looks like previous stuff has been torched.
LR2287
The two most probable Empid species to be found up here are Cordilleran and Hammond's. The former is shown to be more olive than gray. Both have relative larger eye rings like this but this guy's is distinctively tear-drop shaped. This bird visiting our created bird oasis, could well be one of the parents of a nest of chicks under the eaves of our cabin. They provided many photo ops in their comings and goings. Although I have never seen them drink or bathe, they often join the avian throng at our pond.
IMG_1970; Cordilleran Flycatcher
IN ENGLISH BELOW THE LINE
El Pont de la Salut atravessant el riu Ripoll, a Sabadell. Prop d'aquí probablement la antiga Via Augusta atravessava el mateix riu comunicant la Betica amb la Galia i Roma.
Foto presa amb una Kodak No.3A Folding Pocket b-2, fabricada el 1906. Placa de gelatinobromur J.Lane Speed Dry Plate, @25; revelada amb HC110 i escanejada amb Epson V800.
Aquest pont només té uns 40 anys més (1863) que la càmera amb la que vaig fer la foto!
ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pont_de_la_Salut
Fa decades, segurament més de 50 anys, que la fotografía en plaques de vidre havia passat quasi completament a la historia. Només sembla que en quedava alguna producció puntual (Agfa?) per a fotografia científica especialitzada. L'altra opció, encara vigent però molt complicada és fer-se un mateix les plaques, però ja he vist que millor ni ficar-s'hi. Però fa un parell d'anys, un enginyer nord-americà, J. Lane, decidí vendre les plaques que es feia ell, amb tant d'exit, que s'ha establert l'unic (crec) proveidor de plaques de gelatinobromur del món. Les produeix en moltes mides, des de minuscules de format 35mm, fins a ultra-gran format, com "full plate" o més i tot. Aquestes plaques son "rapides", ja que tenen una ISO de 25 (les altres que té son de ISO 2), i vaig poder fer aquesta foto sense trípode.
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The La Salut brige is one of the most important in my hometown Sabadell. Somewhere, arround its position there was two thousand years ago a ford in the Ripoll river, part of the Roman Via Augusta, linking Baetica with Gaul and Rome.
Picture taken with a Kodak No.3A Folding Pocket b-2 camera, made in 1906; J. Lane Speed Plate dry plate, @25; developed with HC110 and scanned with an Epson V800.
For decades, probably more than 50 years ago, dry plate photography had gone almost completely into "old" history. It only seems that there was some limited and expensive production (Agfa?) for specialized scientific photography. The other option, very complex is to make the plates yourself, but better not to try. A couple of years ago, an American optical engineer, J. Lane, decided to sell the dry plates he had already made, with such success, that he has established the only (I believe) supplier of dry plates in the World. He produces them in many sizes, from minuscule 35mm format, to ultra-large formats, such as "full plate" or more. But these are his "speed" plates, rated at 25 ASA, so you can take your pictures handeheld.
It was either this or a probable block by traffic on the main road...
Recently a reshuffle has taken place between the Arriva depots of Harlow, Guildford and Maidstone, facilitated by the need for the 2006 vintage of Citaros operating Harlow - Heathrow route 724 to be replaced, due to non-compliance for new emission regulations within the Greater London area and on the Heathrow Airport site.
The Harlow end of this shuffle saw all of the Citaros (389x numbers and 3909) removed to Guildford, replaced of current by E200MMCs 4093/95/96/97/98/99 from Maidstone and Sapphire examples 4101/02 from Gillingham.
With the resumption of school education to all pupils over the current course of time, the Arriva corridor between Harlow, Bishops Stortford and Stansted Airport operates a boosted timetable at these 'peak' times to ensure adequate capacity for both school and regular passengers.
In undertake of one of this extra trips, ADL Enviro200MMC YX17NYG (4093) passes along Forest Hall Road into Stansted Mountfitchet working a Route 510 service towards Stansted Airport 16/03/21
IN ENGLISH BELOW THE LINE
El meu pare va fer aquesta mateixa foto els anys 60, probablement amb una càmera Rolleiflex. La podeu veure a sota, als comentaris, la que va fer ell.
Briançon és una ciutat dels Alps francesos amb molta historia militar, ja des d'època antiga però sobretot d'època moderna.
Es troba en una posició estratègica clau als peus del coll de Montgenevre, un dels més importants dels Alps. De fet, sembla probable que fos per aquí que Anibal Barca creués els Alps des de la Galia en la seva ruta per a sorpendre els Romans per la esquena (P. Connolly: Greece and Rome at War, 1981). També hi passaren amb els seus legionaris tant Pompeu el Gran com Juli Cesar. Després fou la romana Brigantium, d'on li ve el nom.
Ja en època moderna fou fortificada una i una altra vegada pels francesos (com Vauban), tant la propia vila com tots els cims del seu entorn, doncs no n'hi ha cap sense la seva fortficació d'artilleria. Les darreres modernitzacions estaven vinculades a la Linea Maginot dels Alps.
fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian%C3%A7on
www.ville-briancon.fr/les-fortifications-de-vauban
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My father took this same photo in the 1960s, probably with a Rolleiflex camera. You can see it below, in the comments, the one he made.
Briançon is a city in the French Alps with a lot of military history, already from ancient times but especially from modern times.
It is in a key strategic position at the foot of the Col de Montgenevre, one of the most important in the Alps. In fact, it seems likely that it was here that Hannibal Barca crossed the Alps from Gaul on his route to surprise the Romans in the back (P. Connolly: Greece and Rome at War, 1981). Both Pompey the Great and Julius Caesar passed there with their legionaries. Then there was the Roman Brigantium, from where it gets its name.
Already in modern times it was fortified again and again by the French (like Vauban), both the town itself and all the peaks around it, because there is none without its artillery fortification. The latest modernizations were linked to the Linea Maginot dels Alps.
A little too much of the pigment melanin is the likely cause of the dark feathers in this Great Grey Owl
I know ya'll are probable tired of hearing this but, this is another "LIFER" But I'm not tired of saying it! This has been a very good year for new and exciting waterfowl for this Pilgrim that is relatively new to bird photography. So, it's probably fair to say a great number of common birds are new to me...
Not withstanding and adding validity to my "LIFER" list this is the very first Egyptian Goose I have seen posted on Flickr. This is NOT a Zoo Goose, it no doubt is an escapee as are Mandarin ducks we see all over now.
Found at the San Joaquin wildlife reserve/water reclamation site in Orange County CA.
This species breeds widely in Africa except in deserts and dense forests, and is locally abundant. They are found mostly in the Nile Valley and south of the Sahara. While not breeding, it disperses somewhat, sometimes making longer migrations northwards into arid regions of the Sahel. It has also been introduced elsewhere: Great Britain, the Netherlands, France, and Germany have self-sustaining populations which are mostly derived from escaped ornamental birds.[Escapes have also bred on occasion in other places, such as Florida and New Zealand. The British population dates back to the 18th century, though only formally added to the British list in 1971. In Britain, it is found mainly in East Anglia, in parkland with lakes..
~Wikipedia~
IN ENGLISH BELOW THE LINE
Ningú havia vist aquestes fotos fins ara, sobretot els que les varen fer. Fins que jo les he revelat ara.
La única imatge del rodet mostra aquests edificis en un paisatge nevat, probablement a Benelux o Alemania.
S'anomena "found film" a aquelles fotografies en pel•licula o placa que es troben sense revelar dins càmeres velles o per altres racons. La gracia és que ningú ha vist mai aquestes fotografies.
Aquest rodet prové un conjunt comprat a algú de Leeuwarden, Països Baixos.
Aquest rodet, format 127, de marca Kodak Verichrome Pan, el vaig revelar amb HC110.
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Nobody, even less the author, had seen these pictures until now. Until I've developed them in the dark room.
The only image in this roll shows this scene of snowy landscape with some buildings, probably in the Benelux or Western Germany. It was shoot probably in the 60's or 70's. Any guess about the location?
They call "found film" at those images in film or plates that are find undeveloped inside old cameras or in other places, like boxes or old houses.
This film is part of a large pack I bought in the internet from somebody in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands.
This one was a 127 format Kodak Verichrome Pan film, developed with HC110.
Laocoön's head
Laocoön and His Sons - a probable marble copy executed between the 1st century BC and I century AD of an original bronze of 150 BC - Pio-Clementine Museum of Vatican Museums
Il gruppo statuario raffigura la fine di Laocoonte e dei suoi due figli Antifante e Timbreo mentre vengono stritolati da due serpenti marini
The statuary group depicts the end of Laocoonte and its two sons Antifante and Timbreo while being crushed by two sea serpents
With tongues flickering in their mouths red,
They like the twin killing stings in their head.
We fled away all bloodless for fear.
But with a braid to Laocoon to tear
They start attacking, and his two sons sing
First the other serpent latched on like a ring,
And with their cruel bite, and sting they fell,
Of tender limbs took many a sorry morsel;
Next they the priest invaded both to entwine,
Whence with his weapons did his body pine
His children for to help and rescue.
Both they about him looped in knots through,
And twice circled his middle round about,
And twice folded their scaly skin but doubt,
About his crown, both neck and head they scrag
Family: Pompilidae
Spider-hunting wasps have a fascinating life history. The insects typically paralyse a single spider, which is buried and provides food for a larva. This identification is considered probable due to the use of M.C. Day's RES key, published in 1988, which I believe to be incomplete.
Ludovisi Throne (460-450 BC) - Roman National Museum of Palazzo Altemps, Rome
Il Trono Ludovisi fu rinvenuto nel 1887 durante i lavori di urbanizzazione della Villa Ludovisi, nell'area corrispondente agli antichi Horti Sallustiani. Per la forma inconsueta e per la decorazione a rilievo evocativa di miti arcaici il trittico marmoreo divenne subito dopo la sua scoperta la scultura forse più famosa e discussa della collezione Boncompagni Ludovisi. La frattura della parte superiore della fronte non permette di definire con certezza l’originaria sagoma, probabilmente triangolare.
Molteplici sono state le ipotesi circa la destinazione del monumento, che fu interpretato inizialmente come balaustra di scala, successivamente come trono di una colossale statua di divinità, forse Afrodite Erycina, ed infine come coronamento di un altare o di un'edicola. La maggior parte degli studiosi ritiene che il soggetto rappresenti la nascita di Venere (Afrodite) dalla spuma del mare, forse a Cipro.
La decorazione a bassorilievo raffigura sulla fronte Afrodite vestita di chitone, che nasce dalla spuma del mare, sorretta da due Horai; il leggero velo che esse sorreggono nasconde in parte la scena. Sui lati sono rappresentate due figure sedute su un cuscino: a sinistra una giovane nuda suona il doppio flauto, a destra una donna con chitone e mantello rialzato sul capo prende da una pisside dei grani di incenso per porli in un bruciaprofumi.
Tali figure potrebbero rappresentare due sacerdotesse che con il suono del flauto e i profumi di incenso celebrano il culto di Afrodite, interpretabili anche come simboli dell'amor sacro e dell'amor profano.
L'esecuzione dell'opera è attribuita all'ambiente magno greco, per la sua probabile provenienza dal santuario di Afrodite a Locri Epizefiri; la datazione proposta dalla critica colloca il trittico tra gli anni 460 - 450 a.C
The Ludovisi Throne was found in 1887 during the urbanization works of Villa Ludovisi, in the area corresponding to the ancient Sallustian Horti. For its unusual shape and for its decoration in relief evoking archaic myths, the marble triptych immediately after its discovery became the most famous and discussed sculpture in the Boncompagni Ludovisi collection. The fracture of the upper part of the forehead does not allow to define with certainty the original shape, probably triangular.
There were many hypotheses about the destination of the monument, which was initially interpreted as a balustrade scale, then as a throne of a colossal statue of a god, perhaps Aphrodite Erycina, and finally as the crowning of an altar or aedicule. Most experts believe that the subject represents the birth of Venus (Aphrodite) from the foam of the sea, perhaps in Cyprus.
The bas-relief decoration shows on the forehead Aphrodite dressed in chiton, which comes from the foam of the sea, supported by two Horai; the light veil that they support partly hides the scene. On the sides there are two figures sitting on a pillow: on the left a naked young woman plays the double flute, on the right a woman with a chiton and a raised cloak on her head takes from a pyx some grains of incense to place them in a perfume burner.
These figures could represent two priestesses who, with the sound of the flute and the scent of incense, celebrate the cult of Aphrodite, which can also be interpreted as symbols of sacred and profane love.
The execution of the work is attributed to the Great Greek environment, for its probable origin from the sanctuary of Aphrodite at Locri Epizephyrii; the date proposed by the critics places the triptych between the years 460 - 450 B.C.
The two most probable Empid species to be found up here are Cordilleran and Hammond's. The former is shown to be more olive than gray. Both have relative larger eye rings but this guy's is distinctively tear-drop shaped. This bird parked in a low tree near our garage. I judge it to be a first-year bird.
IMG_2693; Cordilleran Flycatcher
Dues són les probables primeres referències històriques referents al santuari:
De l’any 1142: Es tracta de la donació d’una vinya que el prevere de Sant Pere de Torelló va fer a favor d’Armengol i els seus fills. Les condicions de la donació eren haver de pagar a “l’altar de Santa Maria” la meitat del fruit que es recollís d’aquella terra. En aquest cas, el dubte és si cal identificar aquest altar amb el de Bellmunt o amb l’altar que sota aquesta mateixa advocació es trobava a l’església parroquial de Sant Pere.
la de l’any 1240, del dia 19 de març, quan Pere de Serra, un vigatà que segurament procedia de Sant Pere de Torelló va fer testament deixant 12 diners als clergues i al sagristà de Sant Pere de Torelló, 12 diners a l’altar de Sant Pere i 12 a l’altar de Santa Maria de l’església de Sant Pere de Torelló, i 12 més a “Sancte Marie de Bello monte”.
Existeix força informació i documentació relacionada amb l’evolució del santuari al llarg dels anys: les primeres referències concretes sobre l’edifici es troben en l’inventari de l’any 1438, el primer dels coneguts. També hi ha informació de les obres d’engrandiment de la capella i l’hostatgeria fetes entre l’any 1587 i el 1607, d’un altre inventari del 1639 i de dos robatoris i un incendi del 1666.
Destaca la destrucció que va patir el novembre de l’any 1822, aleshores explicada així pel mossèn Pere Vinyeta: “En lo die… de 1.822, un destacament de las tropas revolucionarias manadas per Milans, puja desde S. Pere a la Hermita de Bellmunt a fi de incendiarla, lo que verificaren cerca les nou horas del matí del referit die. Quedà destruida la Capella, quedant solament sens cremar lo presbiteri y capella del Roser, y de la Hermita sols se salvà del incendi lo lloch anomenat escalfapanxas, tot lo demés quedà arruynat. Se salvà la imatge de la Verge y se collocà en la parroquial“.
També es documenta la posterior restauració iniciada el 1831.
Durant la segona meitat del segle XIX, podem destacar que l’any 1878 fou necessari refer en bona part el santuari a causa d’un llamp que el mig destrossà. Precisament aquest fet va provocar la instal.lació d’un parallamps, que va costar 3.000 rals.
Una de les millores més desitjades pels ermitans que vivien al santuari era fer-hi arribar l’electricitat. El corrent arribava al santuari el 24 d’agost de 1953, tot i que la inauguració oficial es va fer en un aplec extraordinari del dia 12 d’octubre. El cost de les despeses d’electrificació pujà a 65.048 pessetes, finançades amb diverses campanyes fetes entre la població: donatius, rifes, una tómbola…
De nou, la nit del divendres 16 al dissabte 17 d’octubre de 1959, enmig d’una forta tempesta, un altre llamp va tornar a ocasionar serioses destrosses. Així s’explica: “Una descarga tremenda caigé damunt el Santuari sembrant la desolació i l’espant als pacífics ermitans que guarden la Verge i el Santuari. Un familiar de l’actual ermità del Santuari, quedà llampat i gràcies a la Verge i a la serenitat dels pares i esposa, tornà a bé, després de molts treballs i sense conseqüències notables.
Els estralls materials foren molts i de molta importància. Dóna la sensació d’una terrible explosió dins la casa, amb aixecament de sostres, rebentament de portes, vidres i finestres. Tots els embans són somoguts i alguns enderrocats, amb perill evident de les vides. En la teulada s’hi feu un gros forat i una correguda perillosa de teules. Una esquinsada en una paret amb sortida a fora i un escantonament d’una aresta, senyal manifesta que el llamp seguia la corda del parallamps.
La instal.lació elèctrica fou tota malmesa. Malmesa la instal.lació de parallamps, de l’aigua i dipòsits… Totes les instal.lacions fetes, amb tants d’esforços durant anys, han quedat en un moment destruides.”
La gran obra de restauració contemporània, tal i com coneixem l’edificació en l’actualitat, es va portar a terme entre l’octubre de 1982 i l’abril de 1990, mitjançant un conveni signat entre la Diputació de Barcelona i el bisbat de Vic.
Font: www.vallgesbisaura.com/territori/esglesies-i-ermites/esgl...
IN ENGLISH BELOW THE LINE
Fotografia feta amb una Rolleicord 1a "Polizei" (K3-541), fabricada per a la policia alemana el 1939; Carl Zeiss Triotar f3.5/75mm; Ilford FP4+ revelat amb HC110, dissolució b, durant 6 minuts.
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La casa del pitjor assassí en massa de Catalunya, Josep Marimon, vista des del sud, amb el Castell de Ferran al fons, Probablement aquesta fou el punt de vista de les seves dues darreres víctimes, mentres ell els disparà des de la finestra. Diuen que va cridar en aquell moment "Us he de matar a tots!". Tot i que les ferí i foren enviades al hospital, no està clar si en darrera instancia moriren d'aquestes ferides al cap d'uns mesos.
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La Pobla de Ferran a la primavera pot semblar un raconet rural idilic. Però durant una tarda de 1928, fou un autentic infern de matança i tragedia.
La Pobla de Ferran es un petit i quasi despoblat poblet d’un sol carrer, proper a Passanant, el cap del municipi. Només una casa sembla habitada sempre, però la resta es troben en bon estat ja que son segones residencies, i el poble es veu força arreglat. No té església però si les restes d’una ermita romànica. Es troba al extrem nord de la Conca de Barberà però dins de la Baixa Segarra, pel que té molts més lligams amb Tàrrega i Cervera. El paisatge és clàrament segarrenc, molt sec bona part de l’any peró preciosament verd al abril i maig, per exemple en aquest 2025 joiosament plujós.
També sembla que era excepcionalment verd el maig de 1928, en que havia plogut molt i s’esperava una molt bona collita. Aleshores el conreu del cereal era el nucli vital de la vida de tothom a La Pobla de Ferran. Tothom eren menys de 50 persones. D’aquestes, 9 eren nens i nenes. Un dels adults era Josep Marimon Carles, de 26 anys. Feia uns 5 anys que, durant el servei militar, va contraure tuberculosi vertebral o Mal de Pott, una malaltia que provocava malformacions, molt dolor, i impedia treballar. Per això es pasava moltes hores estirat a l’entrada de casa prenent el sol, que li mitigava el dolor. Però potser alguns veins ho confonien amb peresa, i així li feien saber. Probablement tot això va fer anant alienant soterradament a Marimon, que va dir més d’una vegada que “quan jo m’aixequí d’aqui, no s’hi posarà mai més ningú”.
La tarda del dissabte 19 de maig de 1928 quasi tot el poble era treballant als camps, netejant-los de males herbes. Només quedaven unes poques dones grans, els nens petits (els grans eren encara a escola), i el Marimon. Aleshores començà. Cap a les 4, va convencer a dues nenes i un nen de 3 i 4 anys (Carme Rabadà, Teresa Roca i Miquel Torres) que l’acompanyessin a una pallissa de la casa més al nord del poble, per veure com caçava colomins. Un cop allà sols, Marimon mata amb una destral a les tres víctimes i les tapà amb palla. Hi ha testimonis que en aquest punt arribà un esquilador al poble i el Marimon dissimulà durant uns 40 minuts, però no està clar. En tot cas, un cop va tenir camp lliure, armat amb una destral i una escopeta, va anar resseguint el carrer únic tot matant. A Can Corona va trobar Rosa Aloi de 45 anys, cosint. Amb ella hi havia una nena de 4 anys, Ramona Rabadà. Atacà la dona amb la destral, ferint-la greument al cap i, veient que la nena fugia cap al cobert del davant del carrer, la perseguí i matà allà. Rosa Aloi va morir pocs dies després. Marimon segui carrer amunt i matà d’un tret a Francesca Canela, de 70 anys, que donava menjar a les gallines de casa seva. No estic segur de quina casa era.
En aquest punt, Antonia Marimon (no eren familia) i Marina Roca, tornaren al poble i començaren a preocupar-se en no veure les criatures, i les començaren a buscar. Mentrestant, l’assassí havia vist que els nens més grans tornaven d’escola a Passanant (a uns 2 km), i les va enganyar amb la mateixa excusa dels colomins, portant-los a un paller que hi ha sota el castell i una mica apartat de les cases. Allà en matà tres més (Ramon Canela, Josep Rabadà i Salvador Torres, de 5, 6 i 11 anys). En aquell moment, en Josep Torres, de 8 anys, ho va veure i començà a fugir, però en Marimon li disparà per la esquena i el va matar.
En Marimon tornà a casa seva, on ja havia preparat la fugida. Agafà roba, menjar, beguda i recarregà la escopeta. En aquells moments Antonia Marimon i Marina Roca ja havien descobert els cadavers dels infants i pujaven pel carrer en estat de panic buscant ajuda. L’assassí els hi disparà diversos trets des de la finestra de casa seva, deixant-les greument ferides al mig del carrer, i després fugí en direcció sud. Encara va tenir temps de veure una avia amb la darrera criatura viva de tot el poble, que fugien, i els hi va disparar. Però estaven més lluny i afortunadament va fallar el tret.
Tots els habitants que treballaven dispersos pels camps havien sentit alguns trets, però era usual que Marimon cacés colomins, pel que inicialment no en deurien fer cas. Però en començar a sentir els crits desesperats de les dones, així com més trets, tornaren alarmats cap al poble, però no era rapid, sobretot perque La Pobla de Ferran està al cim d’una serra. Arribaren a una escena de horror absolut, amb tots els menors del poble morts excepte un, una dona gran morta i tres més de greument ferides. I amb l’assassí desaparegut.
Aviat les campanes de Passanant i de tots els pobles del entorn tocaren a sometent, i s’organitzà una batuda per caçar el criminal, al que tothom qualificava de boig. El primer dia ja eren 300 homes, i ràpidament foren quasi 2000, incloent decenes de guardies civils espanyols. En els propers dies es feu l’enterrament de les 9 victimes directes d’aquell 21 de maig, i pocs dies després, el de Rosa Aloi, que mori de les greus ferides al cap. Dos matrimonis perderen tres fills cadascun d’ells. I l’assassí encara estava sense localitzar. Diversos rumors el situaren a Montblanc, Tàrrega o Cervera, i part de la cerca es desvià cap allà. Molts pensaven que havia fugit cap a Barcelona o fins i tot França. Però altres pensaven que un noi sol, coix no havia pogut anar pas tant lluny, i intensificaren la busqueda per l’entorn més inmediat. I així fou com vuit dies després, de bon matí, el somatent el va trobar prop d’una cabana situada a menys de dos quilometres de La Pobla de Ferran, en direcció sud. El jutge i la guardia civil el volien agafar viu, però el somatent, lligat al territori i els seus habitants, volia venjança. Per tant, tal i com el van veure, li varen fotre un tret al cap. Així acabà aquesta tragedia. O casi, perquè pel que sembla, tot i que he vist versions contradictories, tant la Antonia Marimon com la Marina Roca, les altres dues ferides, acabaren morint per culpa dels trets que els hi disparà en Josep Marimon, pel que possiblement el balanç final fou de 12 assassinats.
Avui en dia La Pobla de Ferran és un llogaret que, tot i que poc habitat entre setmana, en gran part continua intacte en segona residencia. Aixó sí, encara hi manca un memorial per a les victimes de Josep Marimon aquell 21 de maig de 1928.
www.3cat.cat/3cat/la-pobla-de-ferran-cap-1-la-mort-dels-c...
www.guimera.info/noticies/dues-croniques-sobre-el-crim-de...
ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Pobla_de_Ferran
www.poblesdecatalunya.cat/element.php?e=5551
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Picture taken with a Rolleicord 1a "Polizei" (K3-541), made for the German police in 1939; Carl Zeiss Triotar f3.5/75mm; Ilford FP4+ home developed with HC110, dilution b, for 6 minutes.
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The home of the most evil mass murderer in Catalan history, Josep Marimon. In the background, the tower of Castell de Ferran. He fired from the upper windows to his last two victims, wounding both women. They said that the killer said "I have to kill you all!!". Although they survived enough to be sent to the hospital, it's not clear if, in the end, they died from the wounds, maybe some moths later.
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La Pobla de Ferran in the spring may seem like an idyllic rural corner in Western Catalonia. But during an afternoon in 1928, it was a real hell of slaughter and tragedy.
La Pobla de Ferran is a small and almost deserted village with only one street, near Passanant, the head of the municipality. Only one house seems to be always inhabited these days, but the rest are in good condition since they are second residences, and the village looks quite tidy. It has no church but the remains of a Romanesque chapel. The landscape is very dry for much of the year but beautifully green in April and May, for example in this joyfully rainy 2025.
It also seems that it was exceptionally green in May 1928, when it had rained a lot and a very good harvest was expected. At that time, cereal cultivation was the vital nucleus of everyone's life in La Pobla de Ferran. There were less than 50 people in all. Of these, 9 were boys and girls. One of the adults was Josep Marimon Carles, aged 26. About 5 years ago, during his military service, he contracted spinal tuberculosis or Pott’s Disease, that caused malformations, a lot of pain, and prevented him from working. That is why he spent many hours lying in the entrance to his house taking sunbaths, which alleviated his pain. But perhaps some neighbors confused this with laziness, and that is how they let him know. Probably all this rejecting and pain slowly alienated Marimon, who said more than once that "when I get up from here, no one will ever lay here again".
On the afternoon of Saturday, May 19th, 1928, almost the entire village was working in the fields, clearing them of weeds. Only a few old women remained, the small children (the older ones were still at school in the village of Passanant, 2 km away), and Josep Marimon. Then it began. At around 4 o'clock, he convinced two girls and a boy aged 3 and 4 (Carme Rabadà, Teresa Roca and Miquel Torres) to accompany him to a hay room at the house further north of the village, to see how he hunted pigeons, something he usually did. Once there alone, Marimon killed the three little innocent victims with an axe and covered them with straw. There are witnesses that at this point a shearer arrived in the village and Marimon coldly helped him for about 40 minutes, but it is not clear. In any case, once he had a free field, armed with an axe and a shotgun, he went around the only street killing everyone he found. In Can Corona house he found Rosa Aloi, aged 45, sewing. With her was a 4-year-old girl, Ramona Rabadà. He attacked the woman with the axe, seriously wounding her in the head, and, seeing the girl flee towards the shed across the street, he chased and killed her there. Rosa Aloi died a few days later. Marimon continued up the street and shot and killed Francesca Canela, 70, who was feeding the chickens in her house. I am not sure which house it was, maybe the one further south with a large barn door.
At this point, Antonia Marimon (they were not family) and Marina Roca, returned to the village and began to worry when they did not see the children, and began to look for them. Meanwhile, the murderer had seen the older children returning from school in Passanant (about 2 km away), and deceived them with the same excuse of the pigeons, taking them to a haystack under the castle and a little away from the houses. There he killed three more (Ramon Canela, Josep Rabadà and Salvador Torres, aged 5, 6 and 11). At that moment, Josep Torres, aged 8, saw him and started to run away, but Marimon shot him in the back and killed him.
Marimon returned to his house, where he had already prepared his escape. He took clothes, food, drink and reloaded his shotgun. At that moment, Antonia Marimon and Marina Roca had already discovered the bodies of the children and were running up the street in a state of panic looking for help. The murderer fired several shots at them from the window of his house, leaving them seriously injured in the middle of the street, and then fled south. He still had time to see an grandmother with the last living child in the whole village, who were fleeing, and he shot them. But they were further away and fortunately the shot missed. All the inhabitants who were working scattered in the fields had heard some shots, but it was usual for Marimon to hunt pigeons, so initially they should not have paid attention. But when they began to hear the desperate cries of the women, as well as more shots, they returned in alarm to the village, but it was not fast, especially because La Pobla de Ferran is on the top of a hill. They arrived at a scene of absolute horror, with all the children in the village dead except one, an elderly woman dead and three more seriously injured. And with the murderer missing.
Soon the bells of Passanant and all the surrounding towns rang out calling for the “somatent” (militia), and a raid was organized to hunt down the criminal, whom everyone described as crazy. On the first day there were already 300 men, and quickly they were almost 2000, including dozens of Spanish police. In the following days the burial of the 9 direct victims of that May 21st took place, and a few days later, that of Rosa Aloi, who died of serious head injuries. Two couples lost three children each. And the murderer was still unaccounted for. Various rumors placed him in Montblanc, Tàrrega or Cervera, and part of the search was diverted there. Many thought he had fled to Barcelona or even France. But others thought that a lonely, lame boy could not have gone that far, and they intensified the search in the immediate area. And so it was that eight days later, early in the morning, a group of “somatent” found him near a cabin located less than two kilometers from La Pobla de Ferran, heading south.
The judge and the police wanted to take him alive, but the “somatent”, tied to the territory and its inhabitants, wanted revenge. Therefore, as they saw him, they shot him in the head. That's how this tragedy ended. Or almost, because apparently, although I have seen contradictory versions, both Antonia Marimon and Marina Roca, the other two wounded, ended up dying because of the shots that Josep Marimon fired at them, so possibly the final tally was 12 murdered.
Today La Pobla de Ferran is a village that, although sparsely inhabited during the week, remains largely intact as a second residence. However, there is still a lack of a memorial for the victims of Josep Marimon on that May 21, 1928.
A probable male Andrena bucephala at approx 10mm in length and awaiting conformation of this identification. Unfortunately this identification has bee reduced to a male Andrena sp.
It is the male of this species which have the over-sized heads in comparison to their body.
A new species to me and my garden in Empingham, Rutland.