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From L-R: The Joker (Batman: The Animated Series), Steve Trevor (The New 52), The Question (Renee Montoya), Isis, Arsenal (Arrow), Firefly (The Batman 2004: Updated), & The Creeper (Updated)
Top: The Guardian (Jim Harper: The New 52)
Design Inspirations below:
The Joker (Batman: The Animated Series) - (fastly.syfy.com/sites/syfy/files/styles/1200x680/public/h...)
Steve Trevor (The New 52) - (i.pinimg.com/originals/bf/aa/ac/bfaaacdd601916888b35122c1...)
The Question (Renee Montoya) - (i1.wp.com/media.criticalhit.net//2020/02/BirdsofPrey_TheQ...)
Isis - (comicvine1.cbsistatic.com/uploads/scale_small/13/132823/4...)
Arsenal (Arrow) - (heroichollywood.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Arrow-Step...)
Firefly (The Batman 2004) - (i.pinimg.com/originals/21/65/d4/2165d46e5275655ee31b1b730...)
The Creeper - (i.pinimg.com/originals/a2/ce/cb/a2cecbe431a164b77474a7651...)
Guardian (Jim Harper: The New 52) - (static.wikia.nocookie.net/marvel_dc/images/a/af/James_Har...)
Comment & fave to let me know what you think.
The Question:
Why do we let ourselves exist like this? Why should we let ourselves exist with the pain, worry and stress life provides?
The Answer:
Because we must in order to live.
Saturday evening. Bottle of Prosecco, strawberries & cream and chocolates, with a chick-flick or two.
Question is, should I stay relaxed or put a dress on?
Today's photo is a test to see if you are a high heel expert.
I have about 85 pairs of heels, most are 4" or higher stiletto heels. I really like the look of the heels in this photo, but they are by far the hardest to walk in. The question is, why?
Hints: It is not because of the heel height (these are 5") and it's not because they don't fit my feet (they fit perfectly).
Can a string quartet rock? Joe 2.0 tries to answer that question. Bay View Bash in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
So I don't have a good reference on the dragonflies of the Eastern Seaboard, not one that addresses color variations and developmental levels.
This one was seen on James Island, South Carolina (August 2018), and it's part blue and part green, and in E. Pondhawks males are blue and females are green. So is this a normal color variation, an immature or intersexed, insect, or a different species?
Thanks in advance to anyone with a clue!
i actually dont like this picture, but I had to use a recent picture of me.
hmmm.. 10 things about me...
I don't find these interesting but maybe you will.
1) today's my 17th birthday!
2) i'm pretty lucky to have the family and friends that I have... they're pretty great. I have one older brother and he's a lot of fun and artisitc and I love him!
3) i can be pretty shy and sometimes avoid eye contact, but i'm working on it. sometimes i think people think i'm mean or don't care about them if they don't know me very well.
4) I want to travel sooo bad. I know a lot of people say that, but I just really would like to see the world. I'd go almost anywhere if i could. but don't get me wrong, i also enjoy where i live.
5) I've got a real relationship with a real God, not just a religion.
6) I think my biggest enemy is myself, but I need to get through that and get my focus back on others.
7) sometimes i doubt whether im good at what I do so every comment and favorite and message really means a lot to me even if i forget to respond or something. Im really counting on the fact that I'll improve too.
8) I'm a junior and have no idea what I'll be doing the rest of my life and would really like to know or at least have some sort of idea.
9) I really enjoy the outdoors, and I love the change in seasons.
10) At random times some thoughts will just hit me. I'll be walking somewhere and just think, what am I doing in life? or why do people do this? and just question things that are thought of as normal. haha maybe i'm just weird.
I guess that's it. hope you enjoyed it. haha.
I have to get back to homework...
P.S. I'm really sorry if I didn't list you and we're buddies. I have really awesome friends on here, maybe someone that I forgot to include. if that's true or if you just wanna be tagged just tell me!
So when I created my Flickr account, I made my name EvolvedTurtle. But recently people are seeing it as my real name, which I've chosen to keep private. I've tried changing my screen name but the problem is still there. Does anyone else have the same problem/ know how to fix it?
I have questions. I mean, if it’s supposed to be hidden, why do you label it with a big yellow sign? Why not erect the one that says “Frap Off. You’re Not Invited”?
Or is Batman going to be pissed at the NTSB?
Many of America's highway signs are made by inmates. Is this a practical joke facilitated by a petty larcenist? Whatever the answer, thanks for nuttin'..
© Copyright - brendan ó - 2011 | All rights reserved.
Please do not use, copy or edit any of my materials without my written permission. If you want to use this or any other image, please contact me first.
A sport of response to a question amber asked about my voice reflecting the woman I portray.
I feel my voice while not really feminine it does fit with the Helen image, sure it could be better and if I was Helen full time my voice would be better. Problem is no letting slip as the day goes on.
The dress is nice though
Cloudy (Paul Simon)
"...Cloudy
My thoughts are scattered and they're cloudy
They have no borders, no boundaries
They echo and they swell
From Tolstoy to Tinker Bell
Down from Berkeley to Carmel
Got some pictures in my pocket and a lot of time to kill
Hey sunshine
I haven't seen you in a long time
Why don't you show your face and bend my mind?
These clouds stick to the sky
Like a floating question, why?
And they linger there to die
They don't know where they are going
And, my friend, neither do I
Cloudy..."
Provocative clouds over the newly reopened Memorial Union Terrace, UW-Madison
My first sighting of a Colas Rail Class 70 and this wasn't really what I had in mind. Working 6M50 Westbury - Bescot engineers train through Compton Beauchamp, you have to question the need to move two YKA 'Salmon' flats such a distance. Wouldn't have including these in tomorrows consist been a more cost effective way to move them? I guess now they invested in the new traction, they need to be seen to be using it.
Historical research reveals that diverse political rationalities have framed the political means and objectives of state frontiers and borders, just as the difficult work of making borders actual has drawn upon a great variety of technologies
The single word ”border” conceals a multiplicity and implies a constancy where genealogical investigation uncovers mutation and descent. Historical research reveals that diverse political rationalities have framed the political means and objectives of state frontiers and borders, just as the difficult work of making borders actual has drawn upon a great variety of technologies and heterogeneous administrative practices, ranging from maps of the territory, the creation of specialized border officials, and architectures of fortification to today’s experimentation with bio- digitalized forms of surveillance. This chapter argues that we are witnessing a novel development within this history of borders and border-making, what I want to call the emergence of the humanitarian border. While a great deal has been written about the militarization, securitization and fortification of borders today, there is far less consideration of the humanitarianization of borders. But if the investment of border regimes by biometric technologies rightly warrants being treated as an event within the history of the making and remaking of borders (Amoore 2006), then arguably so too does the reinvention of the border as a space of humanitarian government.
Under what conditions are we seeing the rise of humanitarian borders? The emergence of the humanitarian border goes hand in hand with the move which has made state frontiers into privileged symbolic and regulatory instruments within strategies of migration control. It is part of a much wider trend that has been dubbed the ”rebordering” of political and territorial space (Andreas and Biersteker 2003). The humanitarian border emerges once it becomes established that border crossing has become, for thousands of migrants seeking, for a variety of reasons, to access the territories of the global North, a matter of life and death. It crystallizes as a way of governing this novel and disturbing situation,and compensating for the social violence embodied in the regime of migration control.The idea of a humanitarian border might sound at first counterintuitive or even oxymoronic. After all, we often think of contemporary humanitarianism as a force that, operating in the name of the universal but endangered subject of humanity, transcends the walled space of the inter-national system. This is, of course, quite valid. Yet it would be a mistake to draw any simple equation between humanitarian projects and what Deleuze and Guattari would call logics of deterritoralization. While humanitarian programmes might unsettle certain norms of statehood, it is important to recognize the ways in which the exercise of humanitarian power is connected to the actualization of new spaces. Whether by its redefinition of certain locales as humanitarian ”zones” and crises as ”emergencies” (Calhoun 2004), the authority it confers on certain experts to move rapidly across networks of aid and intervention, or its will to designate those populating these zones as ”victims,” it seems justified to follow Debrix’s (1998) observation that humanitarianism implies reterritorialization on top of deterritorialization. Humanitarian zones can materialize in various situations – in conflict zones, amidst the relief of famine, and against the backdrop of state failure. But the case that interests me in what follows is a specific one: a situation where the actual borders of states and gateways to the territory become themselves zones of humanitarian government. Understanding the consequences of this is paramount, since it has an important bearing on what is often termed the securitization of borders and citizenship.
Foucault and Frontiers
It is probably fair to say that the theme of frontiers is largely absent from the two courses that are today read together as Foucault’s lectures on ”governmentality” (Foucault 1991; 2007; 2008). This is not to suggest that frontiers receive no mention at all. Within these lectures we certainly encounter passing remarks on the theme. For instance, Foucault speaks at one point of ”the administrative state, born in the territoriality of national boundaries in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and corresponding to a society of regulation and discipline” (Foucault 1991: 104).1 Elsewhere, he notes how the calculation and demarcation of new frontiers served as one of the practical elements of military-diplomatic technology, a machine he associates with the government of Europe in the image of a balance of power and according to the governmental logic of raison d’état. ”When the diplomats, the ambassadors who negotiated the treaty of Westphalia, received instructions from their government, they were explicitly advised to ensure that the new frontiers, the distribution of states, the new relationships to be established between the German states and the Empire, and the zones of influence of France, Sweden, and Austria be established in terms of a principle: to maintain a balance between the different European states” (Foucault 2007: 297).
But these are only hints of what significance the question of frontiers might have within the different technologies of power which Foucault sought to analyze. They are only fragmentary reflections on the place borders and frontiers might occupy within the genealogy of the modern state which Foucault outlines with his research into governmentality.2
Why was Foucault apparently not particularly interested in borders when he composed these lectures? One possible answer is suggested by Elden’s careful and important work on power-knowledge and territory. Elden takes issue with Foucault for the way in which he discusses territorial rule largely as a foil which allows him to provide a more fully-worked out account of governmentality and its administration of population. Despite the fact that the term appears prominently in the title of Foucault’s lectures, ”the issue of territory continually emerges only to be repeatedly marginalized, eclipsed, and underplayed” (Elden 2007: 1). Because Foucault fails to reckon more fully with the many ways in which the production of territory – and most crucially its demarcation by practices of frontier marking and control – serves as a precondition for the government of population, it is not surprising that the question of frontiers occupies little space in his narrative.But there is another explanation for the relative absence of questions of frontiers in Foucault’s writing on governmentality. And here we have to acknowledge that, framed as it is previously, this is a problematic question. For it risks the kind of retrospective fallacy which projects a set of very contemporary issues and concerns onto Foucault’s time. It is probably fair to speculate that frontiers and border security was not a political issue during the 1970s in the way that it is today in many western states. ”Borders” had yet to be constituted as a sort of meta-issue, capable of condensing a whole complex of political fears and concerns, including globalization, the loss of sovereignty, terrorism, trafficking and unchecked immigration. The question of the welfare state certainly was an issue, perhaps even a meta-issue, when Foucault was lecturing, and it is perhaps not coincidental that he should devote so much space to the examination of pastoralism. But not the border. The point is not to suggest that Foucault’s work evolved in close,
Humanitarian Government
Before I address the question of the humanitarian border, it is necessary to explain what I understand by the humanitarian. Here my thinking has been shaped by recent work that engages the humanitarian not as a set of ideas and ideologies, nor simply as the activity of certain nongovernmental actors and organizations, but as a complex domain possessing specific forms of governmental reason. Fassin’s work on this theme is particularly important. Fassin demonstrates that humanitarianism can be fruitfully connected to the broader field of government which Foucault outlined, where government is not a necessary attribute of states but a rationalized activity than can be carried out by all sorts of agents, in various contexts, and towards multiple ends. At its core, ”Humanitarian government can be defined as the administration of human collectivities in the name of a higher moral principle which sees the preservation of life and the alleviation of suffering as the highest value of action” (Fassin 2007: 151). As he goes on to stress, the value of such a definition is that we do not see a particular state, or a non-state form such as a nongovernmental organization, as the necessary agent of humanitarian action. Instead, it becomes possible to think in terms of a complex assemblage, comprising particular forms of humanitarian.reason, specific forms of authority (medical, legal, spiritual) but also certain technologies of government – such as mechanisms for raising funds and training volunteers, administering aid and shelter, documenting injustice, and publicizing abuse. Seen from this angle humanitarianism appears as a much more supple, protean thing. Crucially, it opens up our ability to perceive ”a broader political and moral logic at work both within and outside state forms” (ibid.).
If the humanitarian can be situated in relation to the analytics of government, it can also be contextualized in relation to the biopolitical. ”Not only did the last century see the emergence of regimes committed to the physical destruction of populations,” observes Redfield, ”but also of entities devoted to monitoring and assisting populations in maintaining their physical existence, even while protesting the necessity of such an action and the failure of anyone to do much more than this bare minimum” (2005: 329). It is this ”minimalist biopolitics,” as Redfield puts it, that will be so characteristic of the humanitarian. And here the accent should be placed on the adjective “minimalist” if we are not to commit the kind of move which I criticized above, namely collapsing everything new into existing Foucauldian categories. It is important to regard contemporary humanitarianism as a novel formation and a site of ambivalence and undecideability, and not just as one more instance of what Hardt and Negri (2000) might call global “biopolitical production.”The Birth of the Humanitarian Border
In a press release issued on June 29, 2007, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) publicized a visit which its then Director General, Brunson McKinley, was about to make to a ”reception centre for migrants” on the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa (IOM 2007). The Director General is quoted as saying: ”Many more boats will probably arrive on Lampedusa over the summer with their desperate human cargo and we have to ensure we can adequately respond to their immediate needs.... This is why IOM will continue to work closely with the Italian government, the Italian Red Cross, UNHCR and other partners to provide appropriate humanitarian responses to irregular migrants and asylum seekers reaching the island.”
The same press release observes that IOM’s work with its ”partners” was part of a wider effort to improve the administration of the ”reception” (the word ”detention” is conspicuously absent) and ”repatriation” of ”irregular migrants” in Italy. Reception centers were being expanded, and problems of overcrowding alleviated. The statement goes on to observe that IOM had opened its office on Lampedusa in April 2006. Since that time ”Forced returns from Lampedusa [had] stopped.”
Lampedusa is a small Italian island located some 200 km south of Sicily and 300 km to the north of Libya. Its geographical location provides a clue as to how it is that in 2004 this Italian outpost first entered the spotlight of European and even world public attention, becoming a potent signifier for anxieties about an international migration crisis (Andrijasevic 2006). For it was then that this Italian holiday destination became the main point of arrival for boats carrying migrants from Libya to Italy. That year more than 10,000 migrants are reported to have passed through the ”temporary stay and assistance centre” (CPTA) the Italian state maintains on the island. The vast majority had arrived in overcrowded, makeshift boats after a perilous sea journey lasting up to several weeks. Usually these boats
are intercepted in Italian waters by the Italian border guards and the migrants transferred to the holding center on the island. Following detention, which can last for more than a month, they are either transferred to other CPTAs in Sicily and southern Italy, or expelled to Libya.Finally, there is a point to be made about humanitarianism, power and order. Those looking to locate contemporary humanitarianism within a bigger picture would perhaps follow the lead of Hardt and Negri. As these theorists of ”Empire” see things, NGOs like Amnesty International and Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) are, contrary to their own best intentions, implicated in global order. As agents of ”moral intervention” who, because they participate in the construction of emergency, ”prefigure the state of exception from below,” these actors serve as the preeminent ”frontline force of imperial intervention.” As such, Hardt and Negri see humanitarianism as ”completely immersed in the biopolitical context of the constitution of Empire” (Hardt and Negri 2000: 36).Humanitarianism, Borders, Politics
Foucauldian writing about borders has mirrored the wider field of governmentality studies in at least one respect. While it has produced some fascinating and insightful accounts of contemporary strategies and technologies of border-making and border policing, it has tended to confine its attention to official and often state-sanctioned projects. Political dynamics and political acts have certainly not been ignored. But little attention has been paid to the possibility that politics and resistance operate not just in an extrinsic relationship to contemporary regimes, but within them.12 To date this literature has largely failed to view politics as something constitutive and productive of border regimes and technologies. That is to say, there is little appreciation of the ways in which movements of opposition, and those particular kinds of resistance which Foucault calls ”counter conduct,” can operate not externally to modes of bordering but by means of ”a series of exchanges” and ”reciprocal supports” (Foucault 2007: 355).
There is a certain paradox involved when we speak of Foucault and frontiers. In certain key respects it could be said that Foucault is one of our most eminent and original theorists of bordering. For at the heart of one of his most widely read works – namely Discipline and Punish – what does one
find if not the question of power and how its modalities should be studied by focusing on practices of partitionment, segmentation, division, enclosure; practices that will underpin the ordering and policing of ever more aspects of the life of populations from the nineteenth century onwards. But while Foucault is interested in a range of practices which clearly pertain to the question of bordering understood in a somewhat general sense, one thing the reading of his lectures on security, governmentality and biopolitics reveals is that he had little to say explicitly about the specific forms of bordering associated with the government of the state. To put it differently, Foucault dealt at length with what we might call the microphysics of bordering, but much less with the place of borders considered at the level of tactics and strategies of governmentality.Recent literature has begun to address this imbalance, demonstrating that many of Foucault’s concepts are useful and important for understanding what kinds of power relations and governmental regimes are at stake in contemporary projects which are re-making state borders amidst renewed political concerns over things like terrorism and illegal immigration. However, the overarching theme of this chapter has been the need for caution when linking Foucault’s concepts to the study of borders and frontiers today. While analytics like biopolitics, discipline and neoliberalism offer all manner of insights, we need to avoid the trap which sees Foucault’s toolbox as something ready-made for any given situation. The challenge of understanding the emergent requires the development of new theoretical tools, not to mention the sharpening of older, well-used implements. With this end in mind the chapter has proposed the idea of the humanitarian border as a way of registering an event within the genealogy of the frontier, but also, although I have not developed it here, within the genealogy of citizenship.
What I have presented previously is only a very cursory overview of certain features of the humanitarianization of borders, most notably its inscription within regimes of knowledge, and its constitutive relationship to politics. In future research it would be interesting to undertake a fuller mapping of the humanitarian border in relation to certain trajectories of government. While we saw how themes of biopolitical and neoliberal government are pertinent in understanding the contemporary management of spaces like the detention center, it would seem especially relevant to consider the salience of pastoralism. Pastoral power has received far less attention within studies of governmentality than, say, discipline or liberal government (but see Dean 1999; Golder 2007; Hindess 1996; Lippert 2004). But here again, I suspect, it will be important to revise our concepts in the light of emergent practices and rationalities. For the ways in which NGOs and humanitarians engage in the governance of migrants and refugees today have changed quite significantly from the kinds of networks of care, self-examination and salvation which Foucault identified with pastoralism. For instance, and to take but one example, the pastoral care of migrants, whether in situations of sanctuary or detention, is not organized as a life-encompassing, permanent activity as it was for the church, or later, in a secular version, the welfare state. Instead, it is a temporary and ad hoc intervention. Just as Foucault’s notion of neo-liberalism was intended to register important transformations within the genealogy of liberal government, it may prove useful to think in terms of the neo-pastoral when we try to make better sense of the phenomenon of humanitarian government at/of borders, and of many other situations as well.
williamwalters.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/2011-Foucau...
“Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart.
Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language.
Do not now look for the answers. They cannot be given to you because you could not live them.
At present you need to live the questions.
Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answers, some distant day."
Rainer Maria Rilke
PS
Inspired by a very talented artist here
thanks,Alex.
:)
It’s actual question if you are in Hotel Spaander in Volendam... I’m reading WHY? in your eyes... So...I’ll try to explain... When you’re in some very nice place in any country, you love that place ant want to return there some times, you remember one international custom - to trow coin in a lake, river, or fountain...
In Hotel Spaander you don’t need to do it. Just put a coin near antique National Cash Register which you can find here in a restaurant of Hotel Spaander. You will return back to Volendam, for sure...
If to say seriously, such quantity of antiques, collected here in Spaander can surprize any regular person, not just collector, who I am... For collectors that love the old west genre with cowboys and saloons, a brass register is probably on the top of their list of items to collect. Brass cash registers were the trademark for shop owners during the time period of the old west and probably everywhere in the world. Because there were so few made, the brass registers that are still around are coveted by collectors everywhere. Collectors seek after them because they are truly some of the first cash registers ever made here in the USA and help people to take a look back in time to a much simpler era.If you do find one of these types of registers, you should jump on the opportunity to obtain it! That’s why I paid attention on this antique wonder and took it with me (don’t worry, just as a shot).
Much better viewed large View On Black
This is the complex of nebulosity that has become known recently as the Cosmic Question Mark, a good name as its official designations are confusing.
The top arc is usually labelled as NGC 7822, and the middle region as Cederblad (Ced) 214. However, some charts and references label Ced214 as NGC 7822, as it is brighter and might have been the object William Herschel saw when amassing observations in the 18th century for his General Catalogue, in which he describes NGC 7822 as "eeF! and eeL!," meaning really really faint and large! The little "dot" of the question mark is the faint and photographic-only nebula Sharpless 2-170, surrounding a little cluster Stock 18 .
The field is embedded in dust, indicated by the brownish-yellow tint of the background sky at centre, contrasting with the dust-free bluish starfields at top and bottom. Even the star clusters are yellowed, notably King 11 at top right and NGC 7762 embedded in the nebula at right above the bright star. The loose and sparse cluster Berkeley 59 lies embedded in Ced 214..
Most of the field lies in Cepheus but the lower bits of Ced214 and Sharpless 2-170 lie across the border in Cassiopeia.
This is a blend of filtered and unfiltered stacks: 10 x 8-minutes at ISO 3200 through the IDAS NB1 dual narrowband filter, and 10 x 4-minutes at ISO 1600 with no filter, all through the SharpStar 61 EDPHII apo refractor at f/4.6 with its reducer/flattener, and with the red-sensitive Canon Ra, all on the Star Adventurer GTi mount/tracker, autoguided with the Lacerta MGENIII autoguider, taken as part of testing the mount. No darks or LENR applied here, but the autoguider applied some dithering offset between each frame, to largely cancel out thermal noise hot pixels when the sub-frames were aligned and stacked. Taken Sept. 21/22, 2022 from home in Alberta on a very clear cool night.
Shooting and then blending filtered with unfiltered shots provides the best of both worlds: lots of reddish nebulosity set in a sky with natural coloured stars and background tints. I applied a slight level of star reduction with a "starless" layer created with RCAstro Star XTerminator, but with only 25% opacity to just reduce but not eliminate stars. In fact, StarX did a poor job eliminating all the stars in this image. But Noise XTerminator did a great on reducing fine-scale noise. Nebulosity was brought out with DM1, DM2 and colour-range luminosity masks created with Lumenzia plug-in panel for Photoshop. Finishing touches with a High Pass Sharpen layer and a Paint Contrast layer (the latter added with TK Actions panel) boosted fine-scale contrast to the nebulosity.
All stacking, aligning and blending done in Adobe Photoshop/
Where are your favorite places to get UNIQUE mesh hair? I'm tired of the same long flowy hair all the time and I want something unique and edgy, but still something for every-day wear (i.e. nothing avant garde).
I like short hairstyles, medium hairstyles, ones with a fringe/bangs, ponytails, side-cuts, undercuts, etc. I'm looking for something high quality in terms of both mesh and textures.
If you know of somewhere I might like, please drop a LM in the comments! :D
Brincadeiras de Liz com uma lente Sigma 2.8 e uma XTI na mão...
Eles são péssimos jogadores porque são bons fotógrafos... ou são bons fotógrafos porque são péssimos jogadores?!
Brincadeira de fotógrafos.
Play Liz with a lens of 2.8 and a Sigma XTI in hand ...
They are bad players because they are good photographers ... or photographers are good because they are bad players?
Play of photographers.
After two days of tough hike on a steep ascent; at last we reached to Sirkhata Lake. In this hike, we also have crossed an unnamed mountain pass which was above 4300 meter in height. This pass located in north-east direction of Sirkhata Lake.
The next question for us was to decide which route we should opt for returning back. We got three options; first, was to be choosing the same trek from which, we had descended down the earlier day to this valley; i.e. the north east mountain pass but that doesn’t end up at Supat Pass and we wanted to see that as well. Also that trek was quite tough and the last portion of this pass was too steep, it was difficult to climb this portion in snow without having proper gear.
Second option was to trek up to Shames village and then hike on jeep road up to Supat top. According to locals it is a lengthier route and would take a full day to reach Supat top. Even reaching Shames village would take three to four hours from Sirkhata Lake. Before going to this trek I have checked Shames village altitude on Google Earth, it was around 3400 meter and from there going to Supat top was something a hike of 9 km in which we again have to gain an altitude of 1000 meter. So we left the idea of going on this route as well.
Locals insist us to choose a third option a shorter route for our return, that was a mountain pass run in North West direction of upstream of Sirkhata Lake. We were little afraid for choosing this ‘mountain route pass’ at first, because earlier day the mountain pass which we have crossed in north-west direction was full covered in snow and there were portions where snow was very hard and unfortunately because of not having proper snow gear, I slipped there four times.
We came to know that a day before our arrival a villager have crossed this pass to enter in valley. He was the first one to do so in this season, he told us though the pass is totally covered in snow but the condition of snow was not hard. So his words gave us confidence to choose this route.
Next day we got up early in the morning, we started our trek around 6:30 a.m., The weather was clear in the morning. Kohastani’s have interesting and hospitable customs. Before leaving everybody again came to meet with us. Earlier night Salman distribute candies among children’s. Every Children eye was glittering with expression of thanks. Also some Villagers hold our luggage and came with us for some distance and then say goodbye to us this is there tradition. We don’t have words of thanks for love and care shown to us by Sirkhata villagers.
We started hiking upstream of Sirkhata Lake along the small glacial streams. After hiking for one hour, a never ending glacier has started, initially for next 30 minutes the slope on glacier was gradual, than again the tough steep ascent started that was also all covered in snow. We reached at first ridge the height there was around 4300 meter. Still there was no sign of pass, we again started hiking and reached another mountain top but was also not pass. We were standing in different world it was vast mountain pasture all covered in snow. There was feeling in the mind at that time that we were standing in Antarctica, because the white was the only color we could see in all four directions.
Now we could see a mountain series running in west direction, but still our porters were not sure about the actual direction of pass. It was almost five hours that we have left Sirkhata Lake. We did not meet any other human in our way, a panic start creeping, both Salman and me watching each other faces and asked the porters in nervousness where is the pass? The answer was of more desperation, “Sir, I will not tell a lie with you, I am not from this area, I am not sure about the Pass.”
We could see a mountain range running on our west side, but it is almost impossible to cross this in this season without proper maintaining gear. Among this series there was a ridge which was of lower height. Salman GPS knowledge helped at that time, he confirmed that only this could be the respective mountain pass. It looks almost a straight wall of more than 30 meter height covered in snow. We sent one of our porters first at top; he asked us to wait, He still was not confirmed at last he saw a human some 200 meters down on other side and he started shouting, “Come up”. It was moment of relief. It was a straight climb, thanks to our porters that we able to reach at top without having any proper maintaining gear.
The scene from top were amazing, we could see a snow covered Supat & Maheen top from there.
Our journey still not end, we have to descend down from this pass and have to trek on snow againto reach Supat top. I will share that detail in next chapter.
el.easternlightning.org/videos/age-of-kingdom-age-of-exce...
Ο Παντοδύναμος Θεός λέει: «Στην Εποχή της Βασιλείας, ο Θεός χρησιμοποιεί τον λόγο για να αναγγείλει μια νέα εποχή, να αλλάξει τα μέσα του έργου Του και να επιτελέσει το έργο όλης της εποχής. Αυτή είναι η θεμελιώδης αρχή, σύμφωνα με την οποία ο Θεός εργάζεται στην Εποχή του Λόγου. Ενσαρκώθηκε για να μιλήσει από διαφορετικές οπτικές γωνίες, επιτρέποντας στον άνθρωπο να δει αληθινά τον Θεό, ο οποίος είναι ο Λόγος που εμφανίζεται στη σάρκα, και η σοφία και το θαύμα Του. Αυτό το έργο επιτελείται ώστε να επιτύχει πιο καλύτερα τους στόχους της κατάκτησης του ανθρώπου, της τελείωσης του ανθρώπου και τηςεξόντωσης του ανθρώπου. Αυτό είναι το πραγματικό νόημα της χρήσης του λόγου για την επιτέλεση του έργου στην Εποχή του Λόγου. Μέσω του λόγου, ο άνθρωπος καταφέρνει να γνωρίσει το έργο του Θεού, τη διάθεση του Θεού, την ουσία του ανθρώπου και σε τι οφείλει να εισέλθει ο άνθρωπος. Μέσω του λόγου, ολοκληρώνεται το σύνολο του έργου που ο Θεός επιθυμεί να επιτελέσει στην Εποχή του Λόγου. Μέσω του λόγου, ο άνθρωπος αποκαλύπτεται, αποκλείεται και δοκιμάζεται. Ο άνθρωπος έχει δει τον λόγο, έχει ακούσει τον λόγο και έχει επίγνωση της ύπαρξης του λόγου. Ως αποτέλεσμα, ο άνθρωπος πιστεύει στην ύπαρξη του Θεού. Ο άνθρωπος πιστεύει στην παντοδυναμία και τη σοφία του Θεού, καθώς και στην καρδιά του Θεού που είναι γεμάτη αγάπη για τον άνθρωπο, και στην επιθυμία Του να σώσει τον άνθρωπο. Μολονότι η λέξη ""λόγος"" είναι απλή και συνηθισμένη, ο λόγος που προέρχεται από το στόμα του ενσαρκωμένου Θεού συγκλονίζει ολόκληρο το σύμπαν. Ο λόγος Του μεταμορφώνει την καρδιά του ανθρώπου, τις αντιλήψεις και την παλαιά διάθεση του ανθρώπου, καθώς και την παλαιά εμφάνιση ολόκληρου του κόσμου. Μέσα από τις διάφορες εποχές, μόνο ο Θεός της σημερινής εποχής εργάζεται κατ’ αυτόν τον τρόπο, και μόνο Αυτός μιλά και σώζει τον άνθρωπο κατ’ αυτόν τον τρόπο. Εφεξής, ο άνθρωπος ζει υπό την καθοδήγηση του λόγου, ποιμαίνεται και εφοδιάζεται από τον λόγο. Ζει στον κόσμο του λόγου, ζει μέσα στο ανάθεμα και τις ευλογίες του λόγου του Θεού και υπάρχουν ακόμα περισσότεροι άνθρωποι που ζουν υπό την κρίση και την παίδευση του λόγου. Αυτός ο λόγος και αυτό το έργο είναι όλα χάριν της σωτηρίας του ανθρώπου, την επίτευξη του θελήματος του Θεού και την αλλαγή της αρχικής εμφάνισης του κόσμου της παλαιάς δημιουργίας. Ο Θεός δημιούργησε τον κόσμο με τον λόγο, οδηγεί τους ανθρώπους σε όλο το σύμπαν με τον λόγο, κατακτά και τους σώζει με τον λόγο. Εν τέλει, θα χρησιμοποιήσει τον λόγο για να θέσει τέλος σε ολόκληρο τον παλαιό κόσμο. Μόνο τότε θα ολοκληρωθεί πλήρως το σχέδιο διαχείρισης. Καθ’ όλη τη διάρκεια της Εποχής της Βασιλείας, ο Θεός χρησιμοποιεί τον λόγο για να επιτελέσει το έργο Του και να επιτύχει τα αποτελέσματα του έργου Του. Δεν κάνει τερατουργίες ούτε κάνει θαύματα. Απλώς επιτελεί το έργο Του μέσω του λόγου. Εξαιτίας του λόγου, ο άνθρωπος τρέφεται και εφοδιάζεται. Εξαιτίας του λόγου, ο άνθρωπος κερδίζει τη γνώση και την αληθινή εμπειρία. Ο άνθρωπος στην Εποχή του Λόγου έχει πράγματι λάβει εξαιρετικές ευλογίες. Ο άνθρωπος δεν υποφέρει από πόνους της σάρκας και απλώς απολαμβάνει την πλούσια προσφορά του λόγου του Θεού. Δεν χρειάζεται να αναζητήσει ή να ταξιδέψει, και βλέπει με άνεση την εμφάνιση του Θεού, Τον ακούει να μιλάει προσωπικά, λαμβάνει την προσφορά Του και να Τον βλέπει προσωπικά να επιτελεί το έργο Του. Ο άνθρωπος στο παρελθόν δεν ήταν σε θέση να τα απολαύσει αυτά, και δεν θα μπορούσε ποτέ να λάβει αυτές τις ευλογίες».
Ο λόγος του Θεού
Πηγή εικόνας: Αστραπή της Ανατολής
Όροι Χρήσης： el.easternlightning.org/disclaimer.html
I missed Batman while I was on vacation, but he is making up for lost time.
(p.s. Sally just painted the kitchen pale pink and pale buttercream.)
“Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart.
Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language.
Do not now look for the answers. They cannot be given to you because you could not live them.
At present you need to live the questions.
Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answers, some distant day."
Rainer Maria Rilke
PS
Inspired by a very talented artist here
thanks,Alex.
:)
“InStyleSL Trends” Monthly Contest Project
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instylesltrends.weebly.com/ _____________________________________________
Sponsored by
Versus Magazine
Kultivate Magazine
alme. by ChloeElectra
Deadline for apply : October 30th, 2016
THEME FOR APPLY :
• October Trend 2016 : Macabre Night
es.pinterest.com/INSTYLESLTRENDS/instylesl-trend-macabre-...
This invitation is for Bloggers, Models and Stylists.
The Contest "InStyleSL Trends" this search for most fashionable talent: Inspirational, Trendy, Original, and Creative peoples. Through this get the latest fashion tips and outfit ideas!!
InStyleSL Trends invites you to be part each month fun and exploration with Trending Fashion Contest! Follows the guidelines below:
About Contest
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Every month we expose a Theme trend and you make a Styling to participate in InStyleSL SL Trends.
We will choose the best photos and Styling and a jury will choose the best representation of InStyleSL Trends of SL.
On November 2016, 6 winners will be invited to show your trends in a private Runway for see their creations and a juried select a one winner InStyleSL Trends of SL. (no Runway Show) dont need have any experience in modeling.
Avatar must be 6 months or more in sl for participate.
For Ladies and Gentleman's
All are permitted Avatar: Fashionistas, Models, Stylists and Bloggers.
How to join
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• Submit it to our Flickr group: www.flickr.com/groups/instylesltrends/
include it your style card about your outfit, size Picture : at least 2500 for good quality.
• Results Winners each month every 30th, 2016
Prizes each Month
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• Winner of each month will be prize 2.000L
Gran Finale Prizes
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• Final Prize
• The prize will get the winner of the contest "InStyleSL Trends" will consist of:
- Prize Final 8.000L
- Title for the winner : InStyle SL 2016
- Invitation to ICONIQ Agency into the Role ICONIQ Stylist
- Kultivate Magazine Interview
- Invitation to join the Edge Stylists Group
- Invitation to make a special Trend Section in the prestigious Versus Magazine
-Special Gifts from our Sponsors Designers :
alme. By ChloeElectra
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Contact or Question only by Notecard Inworld
InStyleSL Trends CEO Yashi Audion
InStyleSL Trends CEO Yeriak Couturier
Questions, questions, questions - as long as you feel you are the luckiest girl on Earth... For you, My Love
I don’t put a smile upon your face no more
I can’t make your heart shine like it did before
You don’t listen to my stories anymore
You can’t comfort me the way you did before
Was I too loud, was I too bad
Was I too open
Was I too high, was I too fast
Was I too close
I don’t feel your lips like the first kiss
I’d rather run away than sit to face the truth
Was I too proud, was I too hopeful
Was I too needing
Was I too crazy, was I too long
Was I too giving
No matter how far, no matter how long
I will be there
Avez-vous deviné ce que fait "ce nuage" posé, là, sur la prairie à l'aspect si singulier et autre, poétique ?
Pas si facile de l'identifier….
Dino m'a posé la question à la photo précédente.
Je lui répond :
Non ce n'est pas un rocher.
Par le fait c'est bien un "NUAGE" qui a pris le nom de l'oeuvre.
Il s'agit d'une des oeuvres HORIZONS SANCY, festival Art Nature qui se déroule tous les ans en Auvergne-Sancy.
Dix oeuvres gigantesques sont exposées au public, librement, dans des environnements de haute teneur et très signifiants du point de vue de cette région magnifique, pour rappel.
Ici, un pré d'altitude, perché, au bout de nulle part, chemin de terre rouge, vaste panorama, à la fois campagnard et montagneux et somptueux.
Je vous ai montré dans cette série l'arbre au panorama, chaîne du Sancy de l'autre côté, une splendeur qui coupe le souffle à chaque fois…..
L'oeuvre: NUAGE,
présente un étrange nuage effectivement, presque inquiétant sous ses aspects : bourru, brut, cotonneux, peluché, si étrange dans ce paysage verdoyant et propre de pâtures.
L'artiste, audacieuse, a utilisé tout bonnement la laine des moutons du coin -on voit d'ailleurs une ferme cadrée exprès- après la coupe et mise au rébus…par le paysan.
Cette laine, naturelle, n'en n'est pas moins vivante. comme l'est la plume d'oie pour les duvets si chauds et naturels. Même principe.
Elle a ici, un prolongement inattendu.
Transformée en NUAGE, elle prend alors une forme dynamique : elle se fait comme un nuage prêt à voler, se déplacer, se mouvoir par ses fibres prédisposées.
Tout frémit, ondule, et l'imagination s'envole avec un possible mouvement ascensionnel, comme il a pu inversement tomber du ciel…
Voici la vie, vivante, réchauffante, insolite, et authentique, dans un paysage ouvert et totalement propice.
On pourra observer de plus près -je le publierai demain- la spécificité de cette laine brute, non traitée, écologie of course, tondue de frais….
Rêvez donc les amis à l'évocation de cette délicieuse histoire.
Le "petit prince" aurait pu dire, version Auvergne -je travaille sur un tel personnage partant de l'autre mais dans une idée différente, livre en chantier- bref, mon futur personnage pas encore identifié mais raconté dirait ici :
"S'il vous plait ….dessine-moi un nuage".
Merci pour toutes vos visites fidèles, favoris nombreux, lecture, et suivi.
Cela me rend très heureuse.
J'ai un immense plaisir à faire ce travail.
Bien amicalement à tous.
La Cattedrale di Santa Maria Fiore - Duomo, Firenze (Florença)
www.google.com/maps?q=florença%20italia&layer=c&...
Following, a text, in english, from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia:
The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (English: Basilica of Saint Mary of the Flower) is the cathedral church of Florence, Italy. The Duomo, as it is ordinarily called, was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to the design of Arnolfo di Cambio and completed structurally in 1436 with the dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi. The exterior of the basilica is faced with polychrome marble panels in various shades of green and pink bordered by white and has an elaborate 19th century Gothic Revival façade by Emilio De Fabris.
The cathedral complex, located in Piazza del Duomo, includes the Baptistery and Giotto's Campanile. The three buildings are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site covering the historic centre of Florence and are a major attraction to tourists visiting the region of Tuscany. The basilica is one of Italy's largest churches, and until development of new structural materials in the modern era, the dome was the largest in the world. It remains the largest brick dome ever constructed.
The cathedral is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Florence, whose archbishop is currently Giuseppe Betori.
he Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore was built on the site of an earlier cathedral dedicated to Saint Reparata.[1] The ancient building, founded in the early 5th century and having undergone many repairs, was crumbling with age, as attested in the 14th century Nuova Cronica of Giovanni Villani,[2] and was no longer large enough to serve the growing population of the city.[2] Other major Tuscan cities had undertaken ambitious reconstructions of their cathedrals during the Late Medieval period, as seen at Pisa and particularly Siena where the enormous proposed extensions were never completed.
The new church was designed by Arnolfo di Cambio and approved by city council in 1294. Arnolfo di Cambio was also architect of the church of Santa Croce and the Palazzo Vecchio. He designed three wide naves ending under the octagonal dome, with the middle nave covering the area of Santa Reparata. The first stone was laid on September 9, 1296 by Cardinal Valeriana, the first papal legate ever sent to Florence. The building of this vast project was to last 170 years, the collective efforts of several generations; Arnolfo's plan for the eastern end, although maintained in concept, was greatly expanded in size.
After Arnolfo died in 1302, work on the cathedral slowed for the following thirty years. The project obtained new impetus, when the relics of Saint Zenobius were discovered in 1330 in Santa Reparata. In 1331, the Arte della Lana, the [=[Guilds of Florence|guild of wool merchants]], took over exclusive patronage for the construction of the cathedral and in 1334 appointed Giotto to oversee the work. Assisted by Andrea Pisano, Giotto continued di Cambio's design. His major accomplishment was the building of the campanile. When Giotto died in 1337, Andrea Pisano continued the building until work was again halted due to the Black PDeath in 1348.
In 1349 work resumed on the cathedral under a series of architects, commencing with Francesco Talenti, who finished the campanile and enlarged the overall project to include the apse and the side chapels. In 1359 Talenti was succeeded by Giovanni di Lapo Ghini (1360–1369) who divided the center nave in four square bays. Other architects were Alberto Arnoldi, Giovanni d'Ambrogio, Neri di Fioravante and Andrea Orcagna. By 1375 the old church Santa Reparata was pulled down. The nave was finished by 1380, and by 1418 only the dome remained incomplete.
On 19 August 1418, the Arte della Lana announced a structural design competition for erecting Neri's dome. The two main competitors were two master goldsmiths, Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi, who was supported by Cosimo de Medici. Ghiberti had been winner of a competition for a pair of bronze doors for the Baptistery in 1401 and lifelong competition between the two remained acute. Brunelleschi won and received the commission.[3]
Ghiberti, appointed coadjutator, was drawing a salary equal to Brunelleschi's and, though neither was awarded the announced prize of 200 florins, would potentially earn equal credit, while spending most of his time on other projects. When Brunelleschi became ill, or feigned illness, the project was briefly in the hands of Ghiberti. But Ghiberti soon had to admit that the whole project was beyond him. In 1423 Brunelleschi was back in charge and took over sole responsibility.[4]
Work started on the dome in 1420 and was completed in 1436. The cathedral was consecrated by Pope Eugene IV on March 25, 1436 (the first day of the year according to the Florentine calendar). It was the first 'octagonal' dome in history to be built without a temporary wooden supporting frame: the Roman Pantheon, a circular dome, was built in 117–128 AD with support structures. It was one of the most impressive projects of the Renaissance. During the consecration service in 1436, Guillaume Dufay's similarly unique motet Nuper rosarum flores was performed. The structure of this motet was strongly influenced by the structure of the dome.
The decoration of the exterior of the cathedral, begun in the 14th century, was not completed until 1887, when the polychrome marble façade was completed to the design of Emilio De Fabris. The floor of the church was relaid in marble tiles in the 16th century.
The exterior walls are faced in alternate vertical and horizontal bands of polychrome marble from Carrara (white), Prato (green), Siena (red), Lavenza and a few other places. These marble bands had to repeat the already existing bands on the walls of the earlier adjacent baptistery the Battistero di San Giovanni and Giotto's Bell Tower. There are two lateral doors, the Doors of the Canonici (south side) and the Door of the Mandorla (north side) with sculptures by Nanni di Banco, Donatello, and Jacopo della Quercia. The six lateral windows, notable for their delicate tracery and ornaments, are separated by pilasters. Only the four windows closest to the transept admit light; the other two are merely ornamental. The clerestory windows are round, a common feature in Italian Gothic.
During its long history, this cathedral has been the seat of the Council of Florence (1439), heard the preachings of Girolamo Savonarola and witnessed the murder of Giuliano di Piero de' Medici on Sunday, 26 April 1478 (with Lorenzo Il Magnifico barely escaping death) in the Pazzi conspiracy.
Exterior
Plan and structure
The cathedral of Florence is built as a basilica, having a wide central nave of four square bays, with an aisle on either side. The chancel and transepts are of identical polygonal plan, separated by two smaller polygonal chapels. The whole plan forms a Latin cross. The nave and aisles are separated by wide pointed Gothic arches resting on composite piers.
The dimensions of the building are enormous: length 153 metres (502 ft), width 38 metres (124 ft), width at the crossing 90 metres (295 ft). The height of the arches in the aisles is 23 metres (75 ft). The height from pavement to the opening of the lantern in the dome is also 90 metres (295 ft).
Dome
By the beginning of the fifteenth century, after a hundred years of construction, the structure was still missing its dome. The basic features of the dome had been designed by Arnolfo di Cambio in 1296. His brick model, 4.6 metres (15 ft) high 9.2 metres (30 ft) long, was standing in a side isle of the unfinished building, and had long ago become sacrosanct.[5] It called for an octagonal dome higher and wider than any that had ever been built, with no external buttresses to keep it from spreading and falling under its own weight.
The Duomo viewed from the heights of Piazzale Michelangelo
The commitment to reject traditional Gothic buttresses had been made when Neri di Fioravante's model was chosen over a competing one by Giovanni di Lapo Ghini.[6] That architectural choice, in 1367, was one of the first events of the Italian Renaissance, marking a break with the Medieval Gothic style and a return to the classic Mediterranean dome. Italian architects regarded Gothic flying buttresses as ugly makeshifts, in addition to being a style favored by central Italy's traditional enemies to the north.[7] Neri's model depicted a massive inner dome, open at the top to admit light, like Rome's Pantheon, but enclosed in a thinner outer shell, partly supported by the inner dome, to keep out the weather. It was to stand on an unbuttressed octagonal drum. Neri's dome would need an internal defense against spreading (hoop stress), but none had yet been designed.
The building of such a masonry dome posed many technical problems. Brunelleschi looked to the great dome of the Pantheon in Rome for solutions. The dome of the Pantheon is a single shell of concrete, the formula for which had long since been forgotten. A wooden form had held the Pantheon dome aloft while its concrete set, but for the height and breadth of the dome designed by Neri, starting 52 metres (171 ft) above the floor and spanning 44 metres (144 ft), there was not enough timber in Tuscany to build the scaffolding and forms.[8] Brunelleschi chose to follow such design and employed a double shell, made of sandstone and marble. Brunelleschi would have to build the dome out of bricks, due to its light weight compared to stone and easier to form, and with nothing under it during construction. To illustrate his proposed structural plan, he constructed a wooden and brick model with the help of Donatello and Nanni di Banco and still displayed in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo. The model served as a guide for the craftsmen, but was intentionally incomplete, so as to ensure Brunelleschi's control over the construction.
Brunelleschi's solutions were ingenious. The spreading problem was solved by a set of four internal horizontal stone and iron chains, serving as barrel hoops, embedded within the inner dome: one each at the top and bottom, with the remaining two evenly spaced between them. A fifth chain, made of wood, was placed between the first and second of the stone chains. Since the dome was octagonal rather than round, a simple chain, squeezing the dome like a barrel hoop, would have put all its pressure on the eight corners of the dome. The chains needed to be rigid octagons, stiff enough to hold their shape, so as not to deform the dome as they held it together.
Each of Brunelleschi's stone chains was built like an octagonal railroad track with parallel rails and cross ties, all made of sandstone beams 43 centimetres (17 in) in diameter and no more than 2.3 metres (7.5 ft) long. The rails were connected end-to-end with lead-glazed iron splices. The cross ties and rails were notched together and then covered with the bricks and mortar of the inner dome. The cross ties of the bottom chain can be seen protruding from the drum at the base of the dome. The others are hidden. Each stone chain was supposed to be reinforced with a standard iron chain made of interlocking links, but a magnetic survey conducted in the 1970s failed to detect any evidence of iron chains, which if they exist are deeply embedded in the thick masonry walls. He was also able to accomplish this by setting vertical "ribs" on the corners of the octagon curving towards the center point. The ribs had slits, where platforms could be erected out of and work could progressively continue as they worked up,a system for scaffolding.[9]
A circular masonry dome, such as that of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul can be built without supports, called centering, because each course of bricks is a horizontal arch that resists compression. In Florence, the octagonal inner dome was thick enough for an imaginary circle to be embedded in it at each level, a feature that would hold the dome up eventually, but could not hold the bricks in place while the mortar was still wet. Brunelleschi used a herringbone brick pattern to transfer the weight of the freshly laid bricks to the nearest vertical ribs of the non-circular dome.[10]
The outer dome was not thick enough to contain embedded horizontal circles, being only 60 centimetres (2 ft) thick at the base and 30 centimetres (1 ft) thick at the top. To create such circles, Brunelleschi thickened the outer dome at the inside of its corners at nine different elevations, creating nine masonry rings, which can be observed today from the space between the two domes. To counteract hoop stress, the outer dome relies entirely on its attachment to the inner dome at its base; it has no embedded chains.[11]
A modern understanding of physical laws and the mathematical tools for calculating stresses was centuries into the future. Brunelleschi, like all cathedral builders, had to rely on intuition and whatever he could learn from the large scale models he built. To lift 37,000 tons of material, including over 4 million bricks, he invented hoisting machines and lewissons for hoisting large stones. These specially designed machines and his structural innovations were Brunelleschi's chief contribution to architecture. Although he was executing an aesthetic plan made half a century earlier, it is his name, rather than Neri's, that is commonly associated with the dome.
Brunelleschi's ability to crown the dome with a lantern was questioned and he had to undergo another competition. He was declared the winner over his competitors Lorenzo Ghiberti and Antonio Ciaccheri. His design was for an octagonal lantern with eight radiating buttresses and eight high arched windows (now on display in the Museum Opera del Duomo). Construction of the lantern was begun a few months before his death in 1446. Then, for 15 years, little progress was possible, due to alterations by several architects. The lantern was finally completed by Brunelleschi's friend Michelozzo in 1461. The conical roof was crowned with a gilt copper ball and cross, containing holy relics, by Verrocchio in 1469. This brings the total height of the dome and lantern to 114.5 metres (375 ft). This copper ball was struck by lightning on 17 July 1600 and fell down. It was replaced by an even larger one two years later.
The commission for this bronze ball [atop the lantern] went to the sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio, in whose workshop there was at this time a young apprentice named Leonardo da Vinci. Fascinated by Filippo's [Brunelleschi's] machines, which Verrocchio used to hoist the ball, Leonardo made a series of sketches of them and, as a result, is often given credit for their invention.[12]
Leonardo might have also participated in the design of the bronze ball, as stated in the G manuscript of Paris "Remember the way we soldered the ball of Santa Maria del Fiore".[13]
The decorations of the drum gallery by Baccio d'Agnolo were never finished after being disapproved by no one less than Michelangelo.
A huge statue of Brunelleschi now sits outside the Palazzo dei Canonici in the Piazza del Duomo, looking thoughtfully up towards his greatest achievement, the dome that would forever dominate the panorama of Florence. It is still the largest masonry dome in the world.[14]
The building of the cathedral had started in 1296 with the design of Arnolfo di Cambio and was completed in 1469 with the placing of Verrochio's copper ball atop the lantern. But the façade was still unfinished and would remain so until the nineteenth century.
Façade
Façade of the cathedral
The original façade, designed by Arnolfo di Cambio and usually attributed to Giotto, was actually begun twenty years after Giotto's death.[citation needed] A mid-15th century pen-and-ink drawing of this so-called Giotto's façade is visible in the Codex Rustici, and in the drawing of Bernardino Poccetti in 1587, both on display in the Museum of the Opera del Duomo. This façade was the collective work of several artists, among them Andrea Orcagna and Taddeo Gaddi. This original façade was only completed in its lower portion and then left unfinished. It was dismantled in 1587-1588 by the Medici court architect Bernardo Buontalenti, ordered by Grand Duke Francesco I de' Medici, as it appeared totally outmoded in Renaissance times. Some of the original sculptures are on display in the Museum Opera del Duomo, behind the cathedral. Others are now in the Berlin Museum and in the Louvre. The competition for a new façade turned into a huge corruption scandal. The wooden model for the façade of Buontalenti is on display in the Museum Opera del Duomo. A few new designs had been proposed in later years but the models (of Giovanni Antonio Dosio, Giovanni de' Medici with Alessandro Pieroni and Giambologna) were not accepted. The façade was then left bare until the 19th century.
Main portal of the cathedral
In 1864, a competition was held to design a new façade and was won by Emilio De Fabris (1808–1883) in 1871. Work began in 1876 and completed in 1887. This neo-gothic façade in white, green and red marble forms a harmonious entity with the cathedral, Giotto's bell tower and the Baptistery, but some think it is excessively decorated.
The whole façade is dedicated to the Mother of Christ.
Main portal
The three huge bronze doors date from 1899 to 1903. They are adorned with scenes from the life of the Madonna. The mosaics in the lunettes above the doors were designed by Niccolò Barabino. They represent (from left to right): Charity among the founders of Florentine philanthropic institutions, Christ enthroned with Mary and John the Baptist, and Florentine artisans, merchants and humanists. The pediment above the central portal contains a half-relief by Tito Sarrocchi of Mary enthroned holding a flowered scepter. Giuseppe Cassioli sculpted the right hand door.
On top of the façade is a series of niches with the twelve Apostles with, in the middle, the Madonna with Child. Between the rose window and the tympanum, there is a gallery with busts of great Florentine artists.
Interior
The Gothic interior is vast and gives an empty impression. The relative bareness of the church corresponds with the austerity of religious life, as preached by Girolamo Savonarola.
Many decorations in the church have been lost in the course of time, or have been transferred to the Museum Opera del Duomo, such as the magnificent cantorial pulpits (the singing galleries for the choristers) of Luca della Robbia and Donatello.
As this cathedral was built with funds from the public, some important works of art in this church honour illustrious men and military leaders of Florence:
Dante Before the City of Florence by Domenico di Michelino (1465). This painting is especially interesting because it shows us, apart from scenes of the Divine Comedy, a view on Florence in 1465, a Florence such as Dante himself could not have seen in his time.
Funerary Monument to Sir John Hawkwood by Paolo Uccello (1436). This almost monochrome fresco, transferred on canvas in the 19th c., is painted in terra verde, a color closest to the patina of bronze.
Equestrian statue of Niccolò da Tolentino by Andrea del Castagno (1456). This fresco, transferred on canvas in the 19th c., in the same style as the previous one, is painted in a color resembling marble. However, it is more richly decorated and gives more the impression of movement. Both frescoes portray the condottieri as heroic figures riding triumphantly. Both painters had problems when applying in painting the new rules of perspective to foreshortening: they used two unifying points, one for the horse and one for the pedestal, instead a single unifying point.
Busts of Giotto (by Benedetto da Maiano), Brunelleschi (by Buggiano - 1447), Marsilio Ficino, and Antonio Squarcialupi (a most famous organist). These busts all date from the 15th and the 16th century.
Above the main door is the colossal clock face with fresco portraits of four Prophets or Evangelists by Paolo Uccello (1443). This one-handed liturgical clock shows the 24 hours of the hora italica (Italian time), a period of time ending with sunset at 24 hours. This timetable was used till the 18th century. This is one of the few clocks from that time that still exist and are in working order.
The church is particularly notable for its 44 stained glass windows, the largest undertaking of this kind in Italy in the 14th and 15th century. The windows in the aisles and in the transept depict saints from the Old and the New Testament, while the circular windows in the drum of the dome or above the entrance depict Christ and Mary. They are the work of the greatest Florentine artists of their times, such as Donatello, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Paolo Uccello and Andrea del Castagno.
Christ crowning Mary as Queen, the stained-glass circular window above the clock, with a rich range of coloring, was designed by Gaddo Gaddi in the early 14th century.
Donatello designed the stained-glass window (Coronation of the Virgin) in the drum of the dome (the only one that can be seen from the nave).
The beautiful funeral monument of Antonio d'Orso (1323), bishop of Florence, was made by Tino da Camaino, the most important funeral sculptor of his time.
The monumental crucifix, behind the Bishop's Chair at the high altar, is by Benedetto da Maiano (1495–1497). The choir enclosure is the work of the famous Bartolommeo Bandinelli. The ten-paneled bronze doors of the sacristy were made by Luca della Robbia, who has also two glazed terracotta works inside the sacristy: Angel with Candlestick and Resurrection of Christ.
In the back of the middle of the three apses is the altar of Saint Zanobius, first bishop of Florence. Its silver shrine, a masterpiece of Ghiberti, contains the urn with his relics. The central compartment shows us one his miracles, the reviving of a dead child. Above this shrine is the painting Last Supper by the lesser-known Giovanni Balducci. There was also a glass-paste mosaic panel The Bust of Saint Zanobius by the 16th century miniaturist Monte di Giovanni, but it is now on display in the Museum Opera del Duomo.
Many decorations date from the 16th-century patronage of the Grand Dukes, such as the pavement in colored marble, attributed to Baccio d'Agnolo and Francesco da Sangallo (1520–26). Some pieces of marble from the façade were used, topside down, in the flooring (as was shown by the restoration of the floor after the 1966 flooding).
It was suggested that the interior of the 45 metre (147 ft) wide dome should be covered with a mosaic decoration to make the most of the available light coming through the circular windows of the drum and through the lantern. Brunelleschi had proposed the vault to glimmer with resplendent gold, but his death in 1446 put an end to this project, and the walls of the dome were whitewashed. Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici decided to have the dome painted with a representation of The Last Judgment. This enormous work, 3,600 metres² (38 750 ft²) of painted surface, was started in 1568 by Giorgio Vasari and Federico Zuccari and would last till 1579. The upper portion, near the lantern, representing The 24 Elders of Apoc. 4 was finished by Vasari before his death in 1574. Federico Zuccari and a number of collaborators, such as Domenico Cresti, finished the other portions: (from top to bottom) Choirs of Angels; Christ, Mary and Saints; Virtues, Gifts of the Holy Spirit and Beatitudes; and at the bottom of the cuppola: Capital Sins and Hell. These frescoes are considered Zuccari's greatest work. But the quality of the work is uneven because of the input of different artists and the different techniques. Vasari had used true fresco, while Zuccari had painted in secco. During the restoration work ended in 1995, the entire pictorial cycle of the The Last Judgment was photographed with specially designed equipment and all the information collected in a catalogue. All the restoration information along with reconstructed images of the frescos were stored and managed in the Thesaurus Florentinus computer system.
Crypt
The cathedral underwent difficult excavations between 1965 and 1974. The subterranean vaults were used for the burial of Florentine bishops throughout the centuries.
Recently[when?] the archaeological history of this huge area was reconstructed through the work of Dr Franklin Toker: remains of Roman houses, an early Christian pavement, ruins of the former cathedral of Santa Reparata and successive enlargements of this church. Close to the entrance, in the part of the crypt open to the public, is the tomb of Brunelleschi. While its location is prominent, the actual tomb is simple and humble. That the architect was permitted such a prestigious burial place is proof of the high esteem he was given by the Florentines.
Also buried in the former cathedral of Santa Reparata was Conrad II of Italy.
A seguir, um texto, em português, da Wikipédia a Enciclopédia Livre:
A Basílica di Santa Maria del Fiore é a catedral, ou Duomo[1], da Arquidiocese da Igreja Católica Romana de Florença. Notabilizada por sua monumental cúpula - obra do celebrado arquiteto renascentista Brunelleschi - e pelo campanário, de Giotto, é uma das obras da arte gótica e da primeira renascença italiana, considerada de fundamenal importância para a História da Arquitetura, registro da riqueza e do poder da capital da Toscana nos séculos XIII e XIV. Seu nome (cuja tradução é Santa Maria da Flor) parece referir-se ao lilium, símbolo de Florença, mas, documento [2] do Século XV, por outro lado, informa que “flor”, no caso, refere a Cristo.
História
O Duomo de Florença, como o vemos hoje, é o resultado de um trabalho que se estendeu por seis séculos. Seu projeto básico foi elaborado por Arnolfo di Cambio no final do século XIII, sua cúpula é obra de Filippo Brunelleschi, e sua fachada teve de esperar até o século XIX para ser concluída. Ao longo deste tempo uma série de intervenções estruturais e decorativas no exterior e interior enriqueceriam o monumento, dentre elas a construção de duas sacristias e a execução de esculturas e afrescos por Paolo Uccello, Andrea del Castagno, Giorgio Vasari e Federico Zuccari, autor do Juízo Final no interior da cúpula. Foi construída no lugar da antiga catedral dedicada a Santa Reparata, que funcionou durante nove séculos até ser demolida completamente em 1375.
Em 1293, durante a República Florentina, o notário Ser Mino de Cantoribus sugeriu a substituição de Santa Reparata por uma catedral ainda maior e mais magnificente, de tal forma que "a indústria e o poder do homem não pudessem inventar ou mesmo tentar nada maior ou mais belo", e estava preparado para finaciar a construção. Entretanto, esperava-se que a população contribuísse, e todos os testamentos passaram a incluir uma cláusula de doação para as obras. O projeto foi confiado a Arnolfo em 1294, e ele cerimoniosamente lançou a pedra fundamental em 8 de setembro de 1296.
Arnolfo trabalhou na construção até 1302, ano de sua morte, e embora o estilo dominante da época fosse o gótico, seu projeto foi concebido com uma grandiosiddade clássica. Arnolfo só pôde trabalhar em duas capelas e na fachada, que ele teve tempo de completar e decorar só em parte. Com a morte do arquiteto o trabalho de construção sofreu uma parada. Um novo impulso foi dado quando em 1330 foi descoberto o corpo de São Zenóbio em Santa Reparata, que ainda estava parcialmente de pé. Giotto di Bondone então foi indicado supervisor em 1334, e mesmo que não tivesse muito tempo de vida (morreu em 1337) ele decidiu concentrar suas energias na construção do campanário. Giotto foi sucedido por Andrea Pisano até 1348, quando a peste reduziu a população da cidade de 90 mil para 45 mil habitantes.
Sob Francesco Talenti, supervisor entre 1349 e 1359, o campanário foi concluído e preparou-se um novo projeto para o Duomo, com a colaboração de Giovanni di Lapo Ghini: a nave central foi dividida em quatro espaços quadrangulares com duas alas retangulares, reduzindo o número de janelas planejadas por Arnolfo. Em 1370 a construção já estava bem adiantada, o mesmo se dando com o novo projeto para a abside, que foi circundada por tribunas que amplificaram o trifólio de Arnolfo. Por fim Santa Reparata terminou de ser demolida em 1375. Ao mesmo tempo continuou-se o trabalho de revestimento externo com mármores e decoração em torno das entradas laterais, a Porta dei Canonici (sul) e a Porta della Mandorla (norte), esta coroada com um relevo da Assunção, última obra de Nanni di Banco.
Contudo, o problema da cúpula ainda não fora resolvido. Brunelleschi fez seu primeiro projeto em 1402, mas o manteve em segredo. Em 1418, a Opera del Duomo, a centenária empresa administradora dos trabalhos na Catedral, anunciou um concurso que Brunelleschi haveria de vencer, mas o trabalho não iniciaria senão dois anos mais tarde, continuando até 1434. A Catedral foi consagrada pelo Papa Eugênio IV em 25 de março (o Ano Novo florentino) de 1436, 140 anos depois do início da construção. Os arremates que ainda esperavam conclusão eram a lanterna da cúpula (colocada em 1461) e o revestimento externo com mármores brancos de Carrara, verdes de Prato, e vermelhos de Siena, de acordo com o projeto original de Arnolfo.
A fachada
A fachada original, desenhada por Arnolfo di Cambio, só foi começada em meados do século XV, realizada de fato por vários artistas em uma obra coletiva, mas de toda forma só foi terminada até o terço inferior. Esta parte foi desmantelada por ordem de Francesco I de Medici entre 1587 e 1588, pois era considerada totalmente fora de moda naquela altura. O concurso que foi aberto para a criação de uma nova fachada acabou em um escândalo, e os desenhos subseqüentes que foram apresentados não foram aceitos. A fachada ficou, então, despida até o século XIX, mas estatuária e ornamentos originais sobrevivem no Museu Opera del Duomo e em museus de Paris e Berlim.
Em 1864, Emilio de Fabris venceu um concurso para uma nova fachada, que é a que vemos hoje, um enorme e magistral trabalho de mosaico em mármores coloridos em estilo neogótico, com uma volumetria dinâmica e harmoniosa. Pronta em 1887, foi dedicada à Virgem Maria, e é ricamente adornada com estatuária de elegante e austero desenho. Em 1903 terminaram-se as monumentais portas de bronze, com várias cenas em relevo e outras decorações.
Interior
Sua planta é basilical, com três naves, divididas por grandes arcos suportados por colunas monumentais. Tem 153 metros de comprido por 38 metros de largo, e 90 metros no transepto. Seus arcos se elevam até 23 metros de altura, e o cume da cúpula, a 90 metros.
Suas decorações internas são austeras, e muitas se perderam no curso dos séculos. Alguns elementos acharam abrigo no Museu Opera del Duomo, como os coros de Luca della Robbia e Donatello. Subsistem também os monumentos a Dante, a John Hawkwood, a Niccolò da Tolentino, a Antonio d'Orso, e os bustos de Giotto (de Benedetto da Maiano), Brunelleschi (de Buggiano - 1447), Marsilio Ficino, e Antonio Squarcialupi.
Sobre a porta de entrada há um relógio colossal com decoração em pintura de Paolo Uccello, e acertado de acordo com a hora italica, uma divisão do tempo comumente empregada na Itália até o século XVIII, que dava o por-do-sol como o início do dia.
Os vitrais são os maiores em seu gênero na Itália entre os séculos XIV e XV, com imagens de santos do Velho e Novo Testamento. O crucifixo é obra de Benedetto da Maiano, a talha do coro de Bartolommeo Bandinelli, e as portas da sacristia são de Luca della Robbia.