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Here is another scan and retouch that relates some history... and needs help from Edna to stand up. It was snapped of Katherine at Alice's Wild Basin cabin at the Copeland Lake area, the south end of Rocky Mtn. National Park. Grandmother, Alice, spent every summer at her cabin right near the Wild Basin Lodge. The one-year-old and mother is at the porch steps on the south side of the cabin. The pine is the balsam by the steps in the background that Granny watered regularly. Down the hill, the North St.Vrain River scrambled down the canyon. It was filled with all those trout. Alice kept her fly rod on nails on the porch above. It was quick to grab on her way down to the river. The cabin was ever a mellow place to stay in 1943 and anytime later.
Talk about a mellow place to stay, the entire world would like to pack in here this summer as Global Warming ramps up. It snowed on me at Wild Basin one July. Now, at Longmont, the nights are seldom dropping to 60 and below so far. So much for T-Rump's Tirade against the Environment (his TTE - Trade the Environment for cash policy); it's starting to really pay off with rain in the Arctic and state sized bergs calving in the Antarctic.
The water supply for the uninsulated cabin was pumped directly from the river when there was no thought about the quality of the water supply. Do I remember something about tumbling streams oxygenating themselves in a 1/4 mile? Nobody ever gave a thought about drinking from the stream that fed Longmont's water supply.
As usual, dust on the negative and contact printing left untold flecks, white and black, and garbage across the image. In close, it looks like a shotgun blast. As always, it provides plenty of practice whether needed or not. I used the same two techniques, the Stamp and Brush to work on the image. Unfortunately, the scanner usually features all the defects on old snaps like this. I suppose that it will always be possible that this family will exchange the digital retouching and spread them far enough that my labor won't be entirely wasted.
I gang output these to high resolution PDFs that can be printed at home of taken to Fed-X Kinkos for their color printing. I have enough to output another sheet. Their output never seems to waver from the quality of the PDF. Trimming them with scissors, especially the deckle edges, will be a challenge.
The Jimmy Carter Library and Museum in Atlanta houses President Jimmy Carter's papers and other material relating to the Carter administration and the Carter family's life. The library also hosts special exhibits, such as Carter's Nobel Peace Prize and a full-scale replica of the Oval Office as it was during the Carter Administration, including a reproduction of the Resolute desk.
The Carter Library and Museum includes some parts that are owned and administered by the federal government, and some that are privately owned and operated. The library and museum are run by the National Archives and Records Administration and are part of the Presidential Library system of the federal government. Privately owned areas house Carter's offices and the offices of the Carter Center, a non-profit human rights agency.
The building housing the library and museum makes up 69,750 square feet, with 15,269 square feet of space for exhibits and 19,818 square feet of archive and storage space. The library stacks house 27 million pages of documents; 500,000 photos, and 40,000 objects, along with films, videos, and audiotapes. These collections cover all areas of the Carter administration, from foreign and domestic policy to the personal lives of President and Mrs. Carter.
The complex lies next to John Lewis Freedom Parkway, which was originally called "Presidential Parkway" (and at one point, "Jimmy Carter Parkway") in its planning stages. The land on which the museum sits was a part of General Sherman's headquarters during the Civil War's Battle of Atlanta.
Information from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter_Library_and_Museum
Damascus
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For other uses, see Damascus (disambiguation).
Damascus
دمشق Dimashq
View of Damascus from a bank of Barada river.
Nickname(s): (Al-Fayhaa) The Fragrant City
Damascus
Coordinates: 33°30′47″N 36°17′31″E / 33.51306°N 36.29194°E / 33.51306; 36.29194
Country Syria
Governorates Damascus Governorate, Capital City
Government
- Governor Bishr Al Sabban
Area
- City 573 km2 (221.2 sq mi)
- Metro 1,200 km2 (463.3 sq mi)
Elevation 600 m (1,969 ft)
Population (2007)[citation needed]
- City over 4 million
- Metro 6,500,000
Time zone EET (UTC+2)
- Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3)
Area code(s) Country code: 963, City code: 11
Demonym Damascene
Damascus (Arabic: دمشق, transliteration: Dimashq, also commonly known as الشام ash-Shām) is the capital and largest city of Syria. It is one of the the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and its current population is estimated at about 4,000,000[citation needed]. The city is a governorate by itself, and the capital of the governorate of Rif Dimashq ("Rural Damascus").
Etymology
In Arabic, the city is called دمشق الشام (Dimashq ash-Shām), although this is often shortened to either Dimashq or ash-Shām by the citizens of Damascus, of Syria and other Arab neighbors. Ash-Shām is an Arabic term for north and for Syria (Syria—particularly historical Greater Syria—is called Bilād ash-Shām—بلاد الشام, "land of the north"—in Arabic.) The etymology of the ancient name "Damascus" is uncertain, but it is suspected to be pre-Semitic. It is attested as Dimašqa in Akkadian, T-ms-ḳw in Egyptian, Dammaśq (דמשק) in Old Aramaic and Dammeśeq (דמשק) in Biblical Hebrew. The Akkadian spelling is the earliest attestation, found in the Amarna letters, from the 14th century BCE. Later Aramaic spellings of the name often include an intrusive resh (letter r), perhaps influenced by the root dr, meaning "dwelling". Thus, the Qumranic Darmeśeq (דרמשק), and Darmsûq (ܕܪܡܣܘܩ) in Syriac.[1][2]
History
Ancient City of Damascus*
UNESCO World Heritage Site
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State Party Syria
Type Cultural
Criteria i, ii, iii, iv, vi
Reference 20
Region** Arab States
Inscription history
Inscription 1979 (3rd Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List.
** Region as classified by UNESCO.
Ancient history
Excavations at Tell Ramad on the outskirts of the city have demonstrated that Damascus has been inhabited as early as 8,000 to 10,000 BC. It is due to this that Damascus is considered to be among the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. However, Damascus is not documented as an important city until the coming of the Aramaeans, Semitic nomads who arrived from Mesopotamia. It is known that it was the Aramaeans who first established the water distribution system of Damascus by constructing canals and tunnels which maximized the efficiency of the Barada river. The same network was later improved by the Romans and the Umayyads, and still forms the basis of the water system of the old part of Damascus today. It was mentioned in Genesis 14 as existing at the time of the War of the Kings.
According to the 1st century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus in his twenty-one volume Antiquities of the Jews, Damascus (along with Trachonitis), was founded by Uz, the son of Aram. Elsewhere, he stated:
Nicolaus of Damascus, in the fourth book of his History, says thus: "Abraham reigned at Damascus, being a foreigner, who came with an army out of the land above Babylon, called the land of the Chaldeans: but, after a long time, he got him up, and removed from that country also, with his people, and went into the land then called the land of Canaan, but now the land of Judea, and this when his posterity were become a multitude; as to which posterity of his, we relate their history in another work. Now the name of Abraham is even still famous in the country of Damascus; and there is shown a village named from him, The Habitation of Abraham.
Damascus is designated as having been part of the ancient province of Amurru in the Hyksos Kingdom, from 1720 to 1570 BC. (MacMillan, pp. 30–31). Some of the earliest Egyptian records are from the 1350 BC Amarna letters, when Damascus-(called Dimasqu) was ruled by king Biryawaza. In 1100 BC, the city became the center of a powerful Aramaean state called Aram Damascus. The Kings of Aram Damascus were involved in many wars in the area against the Assyrians and the Israelites. One of the Kings, Ben-Hadad II, fought Shalmaneser III at the Battle of Qarqar. The ruins of the Aramean town most probably lie under the eastern part of the old walled city. After Tiglath-Pileser III captured and destroyed the city in 732 BC, it lost its independence for hundreds of years, and it fell to the Neo-Babylonian Empire of Nebuchadnezzar starting in 572 BC. The Babylonian rule of the city came to an end in 538 BC when the Persians under Cyrus captured the city and made it the capital of the Persian province of Syria.
Greco-Roman
Damascus first came under western control with the giant campaign of Alexander the Great that swept through the near east. After the death of Alexander in 323 BC, Damascus became the site of a struggle between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires. The control of the city passed frequently from one empire to the other. Seleucus Nicator, one of Alexander's generals, had made Antioch the capital of his vast empire, a decision that led Damascus' importance to decline compared with the newly founded Seleucid cities such as Latakia in the north.
In 64 BC, the Roman general Pompey annexed the western part of Syria. The Romans occupied Damascus and subsequently incorporated it into the league of ten cities known as the Decapolis because it was considered such an important center of Greco-Roman culture. According to the New Testament, St. Paul was on the road to Damascus when he received a vision, was struck blind and as a result converted to Christianity. In the year 37, Roman Emperor Caligula transferred Damascus into Nabataean control by decree.[citation needed] The Nabataean king Aretas IV Philopatris ruled Damascus from his capital Petra. However, around the year 106, Nabataea was conquered by the Romans, and Damascus returned to Roman control.
Damascus became a metropolis by the beginning of the second century and in 222 it was upgraded to a colonia by the Emperor Septimius Severus. During the Pax Romana, Damascus and the Roman province of Syria in general began to prosper. Damascus's importance as a caravan city was evident with the trade routes from southern Arabia, Palmyra, Petra, and the silk routes from China all converging on it. The city satisfied the Roman demands for eastern luxuries.
Little remains of the architecture of the Romans, but the town planning of the old city did have a lasting effect. The Roman architects brought together the Greek and Aramaean foundations of the city and fused them into a new layout measuring approximately 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) by 750 metres (2,500 ft), surrounded by a city wall. The city wall contained seven gates, but only the eastern gate (Bab Sharqi) remains from the Roman period. Roman Damascus lies mostly at depths of up to five meters (16.4 ft) below the modern city.
The old borough of Bab Tuma was developed at the end of the Roman/Byzantine era by the local Eastern Orthodox community. According to the Acts of the Apostles, Saint Paul and Saint Thomas both lived in that neighborhood. Roman Catholic historians also consider Bab Tuma to be the birthplace of several Popes such as John V and Gregory III.
Islamic Arab period
The Umayyad Mosque
Alsayyida Zaynab shrine domeDamascus was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate during the reign of Umar by forces under Khaled ibn al-Walid in 634 CE. Immediately thereafter, the city's power and prestige reached its peak when it became the capital of the Umayyad Empire, which extended from Spain to India from 661 to 750. In 744, the last Umayyad caliph, Marwan II, moved the capital to Harran in the Jazira,[3] and Damascus was never to regain the political prominence it had held in that period.
After the fall of the Umayyads and the establishment of the Abbasid caliphate in 750, Damascus was ruled from Baghdad, although in 858 al-Mutawakkil briefly established his residence there with the intention of transferring his capital there from Samarra. However, he soon abandoned the idea. As the Abbasid caliphate declined, Damascus suffered from the prevailing instability, and came under the control of local dynasties.
In 970, the Fatimid Caliphs in Cairo gained control of Damascus. This was to usher in a turbulent period in the city's history, as the Berber troops who formed the backbone of the Fatimid forces became deeply unpopular among its citizens. The presence in Syria of the Qaramita and occasionally of Turkish military bands added to the constant pressure from the Bedouin. For a brief period from 978, Damascus was self-governing, under the leadership of a certain Qassam and protected by a citizen militia. However, the Ghouta was ravaged by the Bedouin and after a Turkish-led campaign the city once again surrendered to Fatimid rule. From 1029 to 1041 the Turkish military leader Anushtakin was governor of Damascus under the Fatimid caliph Al-Zahir, and did much to restore the city's prosperity.
It appears that during this period the slow transformation of Damascus from a Graeco-Roman city layout - characterised by blocks of insulae — to a more familiar Islamic pattern took place: the grid of straight streets changed to a pattern of narrow streets, with most residents living inside harat closed off at night by heavy wooden gates to protect against criminals and the exactions of the soldiery.
Seljuks and Crusader rule
The statue of Saladin in front of Damascus citadel.
Azem Palace.
Damascus WallsWith the arrival of the Seljuk Turks in the late 11th century, Damascus again became the capital of independent states. It was ruled by a Seljuk dynasty from 1079 to 1104, and then by another Turkish dynasty - the Burid Emirs, who withstood a siege of the city during the Second Crusade in 1148 . In 1154 Damascus was conquered from the Burids by the famous Zengid Atabeg Nur ad-Din of Aleppo, the great foe of the Crusaders. He made it his capital, and following his death, it was acquired by Saladin, the ruler of Egypt, who also made it his capital. Saladin rebuilt the citadel, and it is reported that under his rule the suburbs were as extensive as the city itself. It is reported by Ibn Jubayr that during the time of Saladin, Damascus welcomed seekers of knowledge and industrious youth from around the world, who arrived for the sake of "undistracted study and seclusion" in Damascus' many colleges.
In the years following Saladin's death in 1193, there were frequent conflicts between different Ayyubid sultans ruling in Damascus and Cairo. Damascus was the capital of independent Ayyubid rulers between 1193 and 1201, from 1218 to 1238, from 1239 to 1245, and from 1250 to 1260. At other times it was ruled by the Ayyubid rulers of Egypt. Damascus steel gained a legendary reputation among the Crusaders, and patterned steel is still "damascened". The patterned Byzantine and Chinese silks available through Damascus, one of the Western termini of the Silk Road, gave the English language "damask".
Mamluk rule
Ayyubid rule (and independence) came to an end with the Mongol invasion of Syria in 1260, and following the Mongol defeat at Ain Jalut in the same year, Damascus became a provincial capital of the Mamluk Empire, ruled from Egypt, following the Mongol withdrawal.
Timurlane
In 1400 Timur, the Turco-Mongol conqueror, besieged Damascus. The Mamluk sultan dispatched a deputation from Cairo, including Ibn Khaldun, who negotiated with him, but after their withdrawal he put the city to sack. The Umayyad Mosque was burnt and men and women taken into slavery. A huge number of the city's artisans were taken to Timur's capital at Samarkand. These were the luckier citizens: many were slaughtered and their heads piled up in a field outside the north-east corner of the walls, where a city square still bears the name burj al-ru'us, originally "the tower of heads".
Rebuilt, Damascus continued to serve as a Mamluk provincial capital until 1516.
The Ottoman conquest
Khan As'ad Pasha was built in 1752In early 1516, the Ottoman Turks, wary of the danger of an alliance between the Mamluks and the Persian Safavids, started a campaign of conquest against the Mamluk sultanate. On 21 September, the Mamluk governor of Damascus fled the city, and on 2 October the khutba in the Umayyad mosque was pronounced in the name of Selim I. The day after, the victorious sultan entered the city, staying for three months. On 15 December, he left Damascus by Bab al-Jabiya, intent on the conquest of Egypt. Little appeared to have changed in the city: one army had simply replaced another. However, on his return in October 1517, the sultan ordered the construction of a mosque, taqiyya and mausoleum at the shrine of Shaikh Muhi al-Din ibn Arabi in al-Salihiyah. This was to be the first of Damascus' great Ottoman monuments.
The Ottomans remained for the next 400 years, except for a brief occupation by Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt from 1832 to 1840 . Because of its importance as the point of departure for one of the two great Hajj caravans to Mecca, Damascus was treated with more attention by the Porte than its size might have warranted — for most of this period, Aleppo was more populous and commercially more important. In 1560 the Taqiyya al-Sulaimaniyya, a mosque and khan for pilgrims on the road to Mecca, was completed to a design by the famous Ottoman architect Sinan, and soon afterwards a madrasa was built adjoining it.
The destroyed Christian quarter of Damascus, 1860.Perhaps the most notorious incident of these centuries was the massacre of Christians in 1860, when fighting between Druze (most probably supported by foreign countries to weaken the economical power) and Maronites in Mount Lebanon spilled over into the city. Several thousand Christians were killed, with many more being saved through the intervention of the Algerian exile Abd al-Qadir and his soldiers (three days after the massacre started), who brought them to safety in Abd al-Qadir's residence and the citadel. The Christian quarter of the old city (mostly inhabited by Catholics), including a number of churches, was burnt down. The Christian inhabitants of the notoriously poor and refractory Midan district outside the walls (mostly Orthodox) were, however, protected by their Muslim neighbours.
American Missionary E.C. Miller records that in 1867 the population of the city was 'about' 140,000, of whom 30,000 where Christians, 10,000 Jews and 100,000 'Mohammedans' with less than 100 Protestant Christians.[4]
Rise of Arab nationalism
In the early years of the twentieth century, nationalist sentiment in Damascus, initially cultural in its interest, began to take a political colouring, largely in reaction to the turkicisation programme of the Committee of Union and Progress government established in Istanbul in 1908. The hanging of a number of patriotic intellectuals by Jamal Pasha, governor of Damascus, in Beirut and Damascus in 1915 and 1916 further stoked nationalist feeling, and in 1918, as the forces of the Arab Revolt and the British army approached, residents fired on the retreating Turkish troops.
Modern
The Turkish Hospital in Damascus on 1 October 1918, shortly after the entry of the 4th Australian Light Horse Regiment.
Damascus in flames as the result of the French air raid on October 18, 1925.On 1 October 1918, the forces of the Arab revolt led by Nuri as-Said entered Damascus. The same day, Australian soldiers from the 4th and 10th Light Horse Regiments reinforced with detachments from the British Yeomanry Mounted Division entered the city and accepted its surrender from the Turkish appointed Governor Emir Said (installed as Governor the previous afternoon by the retreating Turkish Commander)[1][2]. A military government under Shukri Pasha was named. Other British forces including T. E. Lawrence followed later that day, and Faisal ibn Hussein was proclaimed king of Syria. Political tension rose in November 1917, when the new Bolshevik government in Russia revealed the Sykes-Picot Agreement whereby Britain and France had arranged to partition the Arab east between them. A new Franco-British proclamation on 17 November promised the "complete and definitive freeing of the peoples so long oppressed by the Turks." The Syrian Congress in March adopted a democratic constitution. However, the Versailles Conference had granted France a mandate over Syria, and in 1920 a French army commanded by the General Mariano Goybet crossed the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, defeated a small Syrian defensive expedition at the Battle of Maysalun and entered Damascus. The French made Damascus capital of their League of Nations Mandate of Syria.
When in 1925 the Druze revolt in the Hauran spread to Damascus, the French suppressed it brutally, bombing and shelling the city. The area of the old city between Al-Hamidiyah Souq and Medhat Pasha Souq was burned to the ground, with many deaths, and has since then been known as al-Hariqa ("the fire"). The old city was surrounded with barbed wire to prevent rebels infiltrating from the Ghouta, and a new road was built outside the northern ramparts to facilitate the movement of armored cars.
On 21 June 1941, Damascus was captured from the Vichy French forces by the Allies during the Syria-Lebanon campaign.
In 1945 the French once more bombed Damascus, but on this occasion British forces intervened and the French agreed to withdraw, thus leading to the full independence of Syria in 1946 . Damascus remained the capital. With the influx of Iraqi refugees beginning in 2003, and funds from the Persian Gulf, Damascus has been going through an economic boom ever since.
Geography
Damascus in spring seen from Spot satelliteDamascus lies about 80 km (50 mi) inland from the Mediterranean Sea, sheltered by the Anti-Lebanon Mountains. It lies on a plateau 680 metres (2,200 ft) above sea-level.
The old city of Damascus, enclosed by the city walls, lies on the south bank of the river Barada which is almost dry(3 cm left). To the south-east, north and north-east it is surrounded by suburban areas whose history stretches back to the Middle Ages: Midan in the south-west, Sarouja and Imara in the north and north-west. These districts originally arose on roads leading out of the city, near the tombs of religious figures. In the nineteenth century outlying villages developed on the slopes of Jabal Qasioun, overlooking the city, already the site of the al-Salihiyah district centred around the important shrine of Sheikh Muhi al-Din ibn Arabi. These new districts were initially settled by Kurdish soldiery and Muslim refugees from the European regions of the Ottoman Empire which had fallen under Christian rule. Thus they were known as al-Akrad (the Kurds) and al-Muhajirin (the migrants). They lay two to three kilometres (2 mi) north of the old city.
From the late nineteenth century on, a modern administrative and commercial centre began to spring up to the west of the old city, around the Barada, centred on the area known as al-Marjeh or the meadow. Al-Marjeh soon became the name of what was initially the central square of modern Damascus, with the city hall on it. The courts of justice, post office and railway station stood on higher ground slightly to the south. A Europeanised residential quarter soon began to be built on the road leading between al-Marjeh and al-Salihiyah. The commercial and administrative centre of the new city gradually shifted northwards slightly towards this area.
In the twentieth century, newer suburbs developed north of the Barada, and to some extent to the south, invading the Ghouta oasis. From 1955 the new district of Yarmouk became a second home to thousands of Palestinian refugees. City planners preferred to preserve the Ghouta as far as possible, and in the later twentieth century some of the main areas of development were to the north, in the western Mezzeh district and most recently along the Barada valley in Dummar in the northwest and on the slopes of the mountains at Berze in the north-east. Poorer areas, often built without official approval, have mostly developed south of the main city.
Damascus used to be surrounded by an oasis, the Ghouta region (الغوطة al-ġūṭä), watered by the Barada river. The Fijeh spring, west along the Barada valley, used to provides the city with drinking water. The Ghouta oasis has been decreasing in size with the rapid expansion of housing and industry in the city and it is almost dry. It has also become polluted due to the city's traffic, industry, and sewage.
Climate
Damascus' climate is semi arid, due to rain shadow effect of Anti-Lebanon mountain. Summers are hot with less humidity. Winters are cool and rainy or snowy. January Maximum & Minimum Temperatures are 11 °C (52 °F) and 0 °C (32 °F), lowest ever recorded are −13.5 °C (8 °F), The summer August Maximum & Minimum Temperature are 35 °C (95 °F) and 17 °C (63 °F), Highest ever recorded are 45.5 °C (113.9 °F), Annual rainfall around 20 cm (8 in), occur from November to March.[5]
Weather averages for Damascus
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 11
(53) 13
(57) 17
(64) 23
(74) 28
(84) 33
(92) 36
(96) 36
(96) 33
(91) 27
(81) 19
(67) 13
(56) 24
(76)
Average low °C (°F) 0
(33) 2
(36) 4
(40) 7
(46) 11
(52) 14
(58) 16
(62) 17
(63) 13
(57) 9
(49) 4
(40) 1
(35) 8
(48)
Precipitation cm (inches) 3
(1.5) 3
(1.3) 2
(0.9) 1
(0.5) 0
(0.2) 0
(0) 0
(0) 0
(0) 0
(0) 1
(0.4) 2
(1) 4
(1.7) 19
(7.6)
Source: Weatherbase[5] 2008
Demographics
People
Three Damascene women; lady wearing qabqabs, a Druze, and a peasant, 1873.The majority of the population in Damascus came as a result of rural-urban migration. It is believed that the local people of Damascus, called Damascene, are about 1.5 million. Damascus is considered by most people to be a very safe city. Haggling is common, especially in the traditional souks. Corruption is widespread, but in the past few years there have been aims at combating it, by both the government and non-governmental organizations. Tea, Mate (popular caffeinated beverage made from Yerba mate), and Turkish Coffee are the most common beverages in Damascus.
Religion
The majority of the inhabitants of Damascus—about 75%—are Sunni Muslims. It is believed that there are more than 2,000 mosques in Damascus, the most well-known being the Umayyad Mosque. Christians represent the remaining 15% and there a number of Christian districts, such as Bab Tuma, Kassaa, and Ghassani, with many churches, most notably the ancient Chapel of Saint Paul.
Historical sites
House of Saint AnaniasDamascus has a wealth of historical sites dating back to many different periods of the city's history. Since the city has been built up with every passing occupation, it has become almost impossible to excavate all the ruins of Damascus that lie up to 8 feet (2.4 m) below the modern level. The Citadel of Damascus is located in the northwest corner of the Old City. The Street Called Straight (referred to in the conversion of St. Paul in Acts 9:11), also known as the Via Recta, was the decumanus (East-West main street) of Roman Damascus, and extended for over 1,500 metres (4,900 ft). Today, it consists of the street of Bab Sharqi and the Souk Medhat Pasha, a covered market. The Bab Sharqi street is filled with small shops and leads to the old Christian quarter of Bab Tuma (St. Thomas's Gate). Souk Medhat Pasha is also a main market in Damascus and was named after Medhat Pasha, the Ottoman governor of Syria who renovated the Souk. At the end of the Bab Sharqi street, one reaches the House of Ananias, an underground chapel that was the cellar of Ananias's house. The Umayyad Mosque, also known as the Grand Mosque of Damascus, is one of the largest mosques in the world, and one of the oldest sites of continuous prayer since the rise of Islam. A shrine in the mosque is said to contain the head of Husayn ibn Ali and the body of St. John the Baptist. The mausoleum where Saladin was buried is located in the gardens just outside the mosque. Sayyidah Ruqayya Mosque, the shrine of the yongest daughter of Husayn ibn Ali, can also be found near the Umayyad Mosque. Another heavily visited site is Sayyidah Zaynab Mosque, which is the tomb of Zaynab bint Ali.
The walls and gates of Damascus
v • d • eOld City of Damascus
Azm PalaceDamascus
CitadelUmayyad Mosque
Gates
al-Jabiya · al-Saghir · Kisan · Sharqi · Tuma · al-Salam · Faradis
The Old City of Damascus is surrounded by ramparts on the northern and eastern sides and part of the southern side. There are seven extant city gates, the oldest of which dates back to the Roman period. These are, clockwise from the north of the citadel:
Bab al-Saghir (The Small Gate)
Bab al-Faradis ("the gate of the orchards", or "of the paradise")
Bab al-Salam ("the gate of peace"), all on the north boundary of the Old City
Bab Tuma ("Touma" or "Thomas's Gate") in the north-east corner, leading into the Christian quarter of the same name,
Bab Sharqi ("eastern gate") in the east wall, the only one to retain its Roman plan
Bab Kisan in the south-east, from which tradition holds that Saint Paul made his escape from Damascus, lowered from the ramparts in a basket; this gate is now closed and a chapel marking the event has been built into the structure,
Bab al-Jabiya at the entrance to Souk Midhat Pasha, in the south-west.
Other areas outside the walled city also bear the name "gate": Bab al-Faraj, Bab Mousalla and Bab Sreija, both to the south-west of the walled city.
Churches in the old city
The Minaret of the Bride, Umayyad Mosque in old Damascus.
Sayyidah Zaynab Mosque
Sayyidah Ruqayya MosqueCathedral of Damascus.
Virgin Mary's Cathedral.
House of Saint Ananias.
Chapel of Saint Paul.
The Roman Catholic Cathedral in Zaitoon (Olive) Alley.
The Damascene Saint Johan church.
Saint Paul's Laura.
Saint Georgeus's sanctuary.
Islamic sites in the old city
Sayyidah Zaynab Mosque
Sayyidah Ruqayya Mosque
Bab Saghir cemetery
Umayyad Mosque
Saladin Shrine.
Madrasas
Al-Adiliyah Madrasa.
Az-Zahiriyah Library.
Nur al-Din Madrasa.
Old Damascene houses
Azm Palace
Bayt al-Aqqad (Danish Institute in Damascus)
Maktab Anbar
Beit al-Mamlouka (Boutique Hotel)
Khans
Khan Jaqmaq
Khan As'ad Pasha
Khan Sulayman Pasha
Threats to the future of the old City
Due to the rapid decline of the population of Old Damascus (between 1995-2005 more than 20,000 people moved out of the old city for more modern accommodation), a growing number of buildings are being abandoned or are falling into disrepair. In March 2007, the local government announced that it would be demolishing Old City buildings along a 1,400-metre (4,600 ft) stretch of rampart walls as part of a redevelopment scheme. These factors resulted in the Old City being placed by the World Monuments Fund on its 2008 Watch List of the 100 Most Endangered Sites in the world. It is hoped that its inclusion on the list will draw more public awareness to these significant threats to the future of the historic Old City of Damascus.
Current state of old Damascus
In spite of the recommendations of the UNESCO World Heritage Center:[3]
Souk El Atik, a protected buffer zone, was destroyed in three days in November 2006;
King Faysal Street, a traditional hand-craft region in a protected buffer zone near the walls of Old Damascus between the Citadel and Bab Touma, is threatened by a proposed motorway.
In 2007, the Old City of Damascus and notably the district of Bab Tuma have been recognized by The World Monument Fund as one of the most endangered sites in the world.[4]
Subdivisions
The ancient city of Damascus around the Omayyad Mosque
Azmeh Square in downtown DamascusDamascus is divided into many districts. Among them there are:
Abbasiyyin
Abou Rummaneh
Amara
Bahsa
Baramkah
Barzeh
Dummar
Jobar
Kafar Souseh
Malki
Mazraa
Mezzeh
Midan
Muhajreen
Qanawat
Rukn Eddeen
Al-Salihiyah
Sarouja
Sha'alan
Shaghoor
Tijara
ducation
Damascus is the main center of education in Syria. It is home to Damascus University, which is the oldest and by far the largest university in Syria. After the enactment of legislation allowing private secondary institutions, several new universities were established in the city and in the surrounding area.
Universities
Damascus National Museum.Damascus University
Syrian Virtual University
International University for Science and Technology
Higher Institute of Business Administration (HIBA)
Higher Institute for Applied Science and Technology (HIAST)
University of Kalamoon
Arab European University
National Institute of Administration
Transportation
Al-Hijaz StationThe main airport is Damascus International Airport, approximately 20 km (12 mi) away from the city center, with connections to many Asian, Europe, African, and recently, South American cities. Streets in Damascus are often narrow, mostly in the older parts of the city, and speed bumps are widely used to limit the speed.
Public transport in Damascus depends extensively on minibuses. There are about one hundred lines that operate inside the city and some of them extend from the city center to nearby suburbs. There is no schedule for the lines, and due to the limited number of official bus stops, buses will usually stop wherever a passenger needs to get on or off. The number of buses serving the same line is relatively high, which minimizes the waiting time. Lines are not numbered, rather they are given captions mostly indicating the two end points and possibly an important station along the line.
Al-Hijaz railway station, lies in the city center. Currently this station is closed, and railway connections with other cities take place in a suburb.
In 2008, the government announced a plan to construct an underground system in Damascus with opening time for the green line scheduled for 2015 Damascus Metro
Culture
Damascus was the 2008 Arab Capital of Culture.
Museums
National Museum of Damascus
Azem Palace
Military Museum
Museum of Arabic Calligraphy
Leisure activities
Damascus by night, pictured from Jabal Qasioun; the green spots are minarets
Parks and gardens
Tishreen Park is by far the largest park in Damascus. It is home to the yearly held Damascus Flower Show. Other parks include Aljahiz, Al sibbki, Altijara and Alwahda. Damascus' Ghouta (Oasis) is also a popular destination for recreation.
Cafe culture
Cafes are popular meeting spots for Damascene, where Arghilehs (water pipes) and popular beverages are served. Card games, Tables (backgammon variants), and chess are common in these cafes.
Sports
Popular sports include football, basketball, swimming and table tennis. Damascus is home to many sports clubs, such as:
Al Jaish
Al Wahda
Al Majd
Barada
Nearby attractions
Madaya
Bloudan
Zabadani
Maaloula
Saidnaya
Born in Damascus
Hadadezer King of Aram Damascus and leader of the coalition the 12 kings coalition that fought against Shalmaneser III
Nicolaus of Damascus (historian and philosopher)
John of Damascus (676-749) Christian saint
Ananias (Christian disciple involved in healing and preaching to Paul the Apostle)
Sophronius (Patriarch of Jerusalem)
Abd ar-Rahman I, Founder of Omayyad dynasty in Cordoba.
Izzat Husrieh, A renowned journalist and founder of the Syrian labor unions.
Khalid al-Azm, Former prime minister of Syria.
Shukri al-Quwatli, Former Syrian president and co-founder of the United Arab Republic.
Muna Wassef ( A Movie Star, and a United Nations Goodwill ambassador.)
Damascius (Byzantine philosopher)
Yasser Seirawan (chess player)
Ahmed Kuftaro (former grand mufti of Syria)
Ikram Antaki (Mexican writer)
Ghada al-Samman (novelist)
Nizar Qabbani (poet)
Michel Aflaq (political thinker and co-founder of the Baath Party)
Salah al-Din al-Bitar (political thinker and co-founder of the Baath Party)
Constantin Zureiq (academic and Arab nationalist intellectual)
Zakaria Tamer (writer)
Professor Aziz Al-Azmeh (academic, PhD in Oriental Studies)
Nazir Ismail (Artist)
Sheik Bashir Al Bani (Grand Sheik in Syria)
Mehdi Mourtada (Famous journalist and founder of WAS News Agency.
Cervine: of or relating to deer
The ending of an unfinished 52 week
You may have noticed I have not posted in a few weeks and you may also be thinking doesnt a 52 week mean you post once a week for a year? Well I regret to inform you that I am retiring my 52 week. I dont want to say quitting or giving up because, while I am stopping it, I dont feel like those are the right words. It ran its course and looking back I did improve and had some amazing times and did some crazy things that I may have not gotten to do if I had not been doing my 52 week. But at the same time it wasn't the 52 week I wanted to lead. I wanted to accomplish a successful 52 week where you could see steady and great growth in my photography skills, understanding of lighting, photoshop skills and creativity. I wanted a 52 week where very few, if any, weeks were skipped. I wanted a 52 week that I coud devote a good amount of time to. But I wasnt always growing, I definitely missed many weeks and I neglected my project tremendously. Often times I would wait until the last day to think of an idea, shoot it, and then edit it. But the main reason I am stopping this first attempt (there will definitely be future ones that will be more successful!) at a 52 week is because this is it. This is my final year of high school. Throughout this year I will experience my last year as an editor, my last year as a designer for the yearbook, my first and last year as a designer for the paper, my last year as a photog for NW, my last year with my journalism family in that room I began to call home. And the truth is Im running out of time. There isnt enough hours in the day or days in the week. So in order to hopefully have more quality concept photos Im going to put more focus in each one rather than worrying that I get one posted before I go to bed Sunday night. And in order to put my full effort into becoming the best editor I can be and taking the best journalistic photos I can take and creating the most beautiful spreads I can design, I need to put in the time. Because I am not satisfied enough with all my work that I have done here, because I want to end this precious time here by blowing everyone away with something amazing. for once I want to do something great. And I want to give my time to being a better editor, because I feel like I have been a pretty awful one so far. And it hurts, I hate thinking im a bad editor...but the truth is that I have been. So I had to create new priorities. I had to put journalism first. concept photography second. and money, well I have to cut that out for now. my 52 week isnt the only thing Im cutting out. Despite how I said I hated my job that first week I got it, I forgot to mention that I kind of ended up loving it. It was a stellar job and i got to work with some great people and it really was a lot of fun. Being a griller at Mongolian BBQ was most definitely the best job a high school student could ever even hope for. However I recently turned in my 2 weeks notice which made me a lot more upset than I thought it would. I will hopefully be back their in the summer but for now, I have to prioritize. I should have appreciated what a great job I had more, but I didnt. So I will these last couple of weeks and then I will continue on focusing on trying to become better. and will hopefully still be posting good things here relatively frequently.
in other news...Ill be 18 on the 18th, which is pretty soon! My golden birthday, so hopefully that means itll be a good year! Trying to think of what photo I want to do for my birthday....
Uses: Anything relating to finance and money.
Free Creative Commons Finance Images... I created these images in my studio and have made them all available for personal or commercial use. Hope you like them and find them useful.
To see more of our CC by 2.0 finance images click here... see profile for attribution.
Inspiration: Receiving money. Earning money. Investing. Cost of living. Saving money... etc.
Uses: Anything relating to finance and money.
Free Creative Commons Finance Images... I created these images in my studio and have made them all available for personal or commercial use. Hope you like them and find them useful.
To see more of our CC by 2.0 finance images click here... see profile for attribution.
Inspiration: looking deeply into money, currency, finance, savings, investing, stocks, bonds, etc.
From Wikipedia relating to the original structure:
For the Canadian Centennial in 1967, the City of Calgary elected to undertake, as a civic project, the construction of a new planetarium. This choice was reflective of the interest in space exploration that was prominent in the 1960s. A design competition was held in 1964 for the new building. Advised by the director of the architecture department at the University of British Columbia, Henry Elder, the three finalists were McMillan Long, Gordon Atkins, and Bill Boucock. The design by the firm of McMillan Long and Associates was eventually selected as the winner. This firm had been established in 1964 between Hugh McMillan and Jack Long, and lasted until 1969, at which time McMillan retired. The Centennial Planetarium was built between 1966 and 1967 by Sam Hashman.
Built on a site north of Mewata Armouries overlooking the Bow River, the Planetarium is constructed of raw concrete and features non-orthogonal design. Designed around a central bay, the building has two main wings. The west wing holds the "celestial theatre," a 255-seat theatre with a 65-foot domed screen. The east wing holds a 250-seat lecture hall. The Planetarium also contains a library, observation deck, and telescopes.
In 1967 the Planetarium won the Nation Design Council Concrete Award, and in 1970 the Massey Medal in Architecture.
From 1971 to 1985, the Planetarium also housed the collection of aircraft, aero engines, and associated reference library that became the basis of the Hangar Flight Museum. [1]
In 1984 the Calgary Science Centre moved into the Centennial Planetarium. It would occupy the space for the next 27 years.
The Science Centre moved into a new building in 2011, leaving the Planetarium empty or under-utilized until Contemporary Calgary acquired it. After extensive renovations, the building reopened as Calgary's premier modern art gallery.
The following is an excerpt of a blog written by Tim Dees who relates his experiences working for Silva's in the mid 1970's.
Link: timdees.com/blog/?p=375
The ambulances were pink, because that was the owner’s wife’s favorite color. Pink bed linen, and when I got there, they were just moving away from pink shirts, as they were too difficult to find. Bob Silva never bought a new ambulance. They were all used Cadillacs, as he believed a used Cadillac was much classier than a new van-type that actually ran. I was taking a woman in labor to a hospital in San Francisco when the tranny gave up the ghost in Hunter’s Point. I’d told Bob the day before that it was on its last legs, and he advised that I should shut up and drive what I was given to drive. We were dead in the water, and just barely within radio range to call for another rig to take our patient.
The county came out with some new regs for gear that had to be on the rig, and one requirement was an obstetrics kit. Pre-packaged OB kits from Dyna-Med were $7.50 each. Silva bought one. He put it on a rig, sent it to be inspected, then brought that one back and put the same kit on the next rig to be inspected. When it was finally left in the rig he usually drove, he wrapped it in strapping tape to discourage anyone from actually using it. It wasn’t like we didn’t need OB kits. I delivered three babies while I worked there.
The electronic sirens we’re so used to now were just coming into widespread use in the 1970s. Most of our ambulances were equipped with mechanical sirens that wound up slowly when activated. They had brakes on them, and if you forgot to brake the siren before you left the rig, it would take a minute or more to wind down, growling the whole time. The big daddy of these mechanical sirens was the Federal Q2. Some of these are still in use on fire engines. The Q2 is a massive thing, and drew so much power that the engine would knock when you leaned on the button too long—the spark plugs didn’t get enough voltage. Few man-made things are as loud as a Q2. One day, while en route back to the station with a new attendant, I stopped at a Safeway for some groceries. I left the attendant in the rig, telling him to tap the siren if we got a call. When the call came in, he didn’t tap on the horn ring that activated the siren—he held it down. The ambulance was parked facing the store and its large plate glass windows. I heard the siren, then heard the window start to reverberate in its frame as it resonated with the blast of sonic waves—“whap-whap-whap-whapwhapWhapWhapWHAPWHAPWHAP.” I made it back to the rig, screaming ineffectively, before the window shattered.
Between the mechanical siren, separate heater for the rear compartment, more blinking lights than a Vegas casino, etc., the ambulances needed a lot of electrical power. A single battery would be dead before you got to the hospital, so most ambulances had two car batteries, cross-connected via a big rotary Cole-Hersee switch. The switch, which looked a little like the access cover to your house’s sewer cleanout pipe, had four positions: Battery One, Battery Two, Both, and Off. “Both” was the usual setting, but when the rig was parked, it was common to switch it to “Off,” so the batteries wouldn’t be drained if you had forgotten to turn something off. This effectively disconnected the batteries from the rest of the rig. If you wanted to have some fun with another crew, you could turn everything in their rig on, but leave the Cole-Hersee switch off. When they turned it back on, hilarity would ensue.
The gear we had in these ambulances was very basic, and most of us purchased and brought our own equipment to work, rather than provide inferior care for our patients. I bought my own stethoscope and sphygmomanometer (blood pressure cuff), chemical cold packs, wire ladder splints, ammonia “wake up gizmo” ampules, etc. Consumable supplies, such as self-adhering Kerlix bandages and waterproof tape, were stolen from the hospitals. The bandages we had on board, furnished by the company, were made of crumbling linen material from the Korean War era. Oropharyngeal airways were supposed to be either used once and discarded, or autoclaved between patients, but we had neither replacement airways or an autoclave, so we wiped them clean with alcohol and hoped for the best.
Our suction apparatus was powered through the engine’s vacuum manifold. Suction power went to zero when the engine was accelerating. If you were trying to clear gunk from a patient’s airway while your driver was flooring it, you’d tell him to coast until you had made some progress.
We weren’t allowed to say someone was dead, even if the flesh was falling from their bones. Law enforcement officers could make that determination, but doing so meant they would have to remain at the scene until the coroner arrived, which could take hours. This being the case, many officers chose to see some glimmer of life in corpses long past resurrection. We responded to an “11-80” (traffic accident with serious injuries) attended by a member of the California Highway Patrol to find a pickup truck that had rolled over with an unfortunate passenger in the back. The passenger had not quite been decapitated, as his head was hanging by a few strips of flesh. This was one of the more obvious dead people I had encountered, but the Chippie ordered us to run him in. Getting the body onto the gurney had the same effect achieved in kosher slaughterhouses, where the neck veins are severed and the blood is allowed to drain from the carcass. By the time we got to the hospital, the floor of the rear compartment was literally awash in blood, with it sloshing over my boots. I called the office and told them we would be out of service for a while.
This pre-dated the AIDS scare, and even though hepatitis and other bloodborne pathogens were just as nasty then as now (and there was no vaccine), we had no latex gloves to wear. Back then, gloves were worn by medical people to protect the patient from infection. There wasn’t a lot of thought given to protecting the caregivers. I remember cleaning up after an especially gruesome call and thinking that I wasn’t just cleaning something, but rather someone, out from under my fingernails.
One case where we didn’t have to transport was at the home of an older gentleman. I never knew the circumstances that prompted the call, but we arrived a few minutes after the fire department and before the cops. As we walked up to the house, the firemen were walking out, chuckling to one another. “He’s dead!” they said with some amusement. We entered the bedroom to find an older man lying supine on top of his bed, naked. Rigor had set in, so he had been gone for some time. What the firefighters found so funny was that the man had expired while engaged in an act of self-pleasure, and still had the weapon in hand. My partner and I looked at each other and registered much the same expression the firemen had. As we walked out, the cops were just arriving. “He’s dead!” we told them. I suppose there are worse ways to go, but that’s not how I want to be found.
I ran a lot of calls at Silva’s. The shifts were 120 hours long–yes, five days straight. You got paid straight time ($2.00/hour in 1974) for the first eight hours, a guaranteed time-and-a-half for five more hours, and were unpaid for three hours of meals, whether you actually got to eat them or not. Between midnight and eight in the morning, you got overtime for the time you were actually in service on the call. If you rolled and were cancelled two minutes out–which was common–you got two minutes of overtime. I swear some of those rigs could find their own way home, because there were many nights I have no memory of having driven them there. When my days off finally arrived, I would usually sleep through at least one of them.
The full Silva’s uniform was a sartorial delight. Each time they would give me a new uniform article, it would fall to a mysteriously tragic end, so I wore a white shirt, navy blue knit slacks, and a nylon bomber jacket. If you wanted to show you were management material, the required outfit consisted of a white (formerly pink) shirt with royal blue trousers and Ike jacket. The trousers had white piping down each leg, as did the cuffs of the jacket. On each shoulder of the Ike jacket was a huge purple and gold patch, proclaiming the wearer to be employed by Silva’s Ambulance Service, the words spelled out in metallic script. One was also obliged to wear a royal blue CHP clip-on neck tie. Mandatory accessories to the ensemble included a gold metal nametag, white belt, and white leather shoes. Worn on the shirt or jacket was a shield-type gold badge, about the size of a soup plate. All the badges identified the wearers as “Technician,” except for Bob Silva’s. His said, “Owner.” There was a $20 deposit on the badge. Those who were really in with the in crowd had huge custom Western-style belt buckles with their first names spelled out diagonally, and the corners adorned with red crosses, stars of life, or tiny ambulances. However, the crowning glory accessory–and I only saw one of these–was a gold tie bar, wider than the tie itself, with a fine gold chain attached to either end of the bar. Dangling from the chain was a pink Cadillac ambulance. Its wearer was extremely proud of this, and wouldn’t tell anyone where he got it, lest someone steal his thunder.
Employee turnover was around 200% annually, and I was a prized employee because I always showed up on time and sober. I was able to work full time on school vacations and summer, and from Friday evening to early Monday morning, when I’d leave to make it to my first class at San Jose State. It wasn’t uncommon to have an employee go AWOL, and have the cops show up a day or so later, looking for them. You had to be fingerprinted to get an ambulance driver’s license, but all you needed to work as an attendant was a first aid card, which management would procure for you for a small fee.
Bob Curry, in almost the full Silva's uniform (no badge), posing with a "new" ambulance, formerly used by Allied Ambulance in Oakland.
Bob Curry, in almost the full Silva’s uniform (no badge), posing with a “new” ambulance, formerly used by Allied Ambulance in Oakland.
There was one very senior employee whose name was also Bob. Bob thought he was the manager, and would tell you he was if asked, despite advice to the contrary if one of the Silvas was listening. Bob was very possessive of “his” ambulance, which was always the newest one (given that they were all used, “new” was a relative term). One night, I had just come in to work, and a call came in. The dispatcher told me to take it, so I grabbed an attendant and got in the first rig I saw. It was Bob’s, of course. When I returned, Bob screamed my face, lest I forget that that particular rig was HIS ambulance, and I had better stay the hell out of it if I knew what was good for me. Bob had an apartment near the main station, so he didn’t have to sleep at the station when he was on duty. If you were Bob’s attendant (Bob never worked in the back unless there was some real hero stuff going on), you were allowed to drive Bob’s ambulance to his place, where you switched seats. That night, a co-conspirator and I did a little customizing to Bob’s rig. When he got in the next morning, he found the handle on the driver’s door adorned with some adhesive tape, reading “Bob’s Door Handle.” Inside, more tape indicated Bob’s Steering Wheel, Bob’s Cigarette Lighter, Bob’s Gearshift, Bob’s Turn Indicator, Bob’s Accelerator, Bob’s Radio, Bob’s Other Radio, and so on. Tucked under Bob’s Sun Visor was a card on a little string, trimmed to drop to eye level: “Hi, Bob.”
Silva’s didn’t have the market cornered on odd employees. A rival company employed a guy we called Captain Action. Captain Action worked for a company that had more traditional uniforms, but still included a badge. The issued badge wasn’t up to Captain Action’s high standards. He had his own badge made up. It was a thing of beauty. It was a gold seven-point star (the most common style of police badge in those parts), but much larger than most police badges. It put the Silva’s badge to shame on size alone. I remember it had a big California State Seal in the middle, and a lot of text on the banners and inner ring. There was so much lettering on the badge that I never got to finish reading it, although I saw it often. Captain Action also wore a police-style Sam Browne belt with various snaps and cases, including a cuff case, handcuffs, and a baton ring. I never saw a baton, but I’m sure he had it around somewhere.
Captain Action loved to talk on the radio. Each ambulance had two radios, one on the company channel, and one that broadcasted on a shared, county-wide channel, called County Control. There was no direct channel to the hospitals, so one was obliged to tell County Control what you had and where you were bringing it, so the dispatcher could give the appropriate ER the heads up. An appropriate message might be something like, “County Control, Ambulance 3335, en route Code 3 to Peninsula Medical with an unconscious head injury.” Captain Action preferred to be somewhat more detailed, and made liberal use of the phonetic alphabet. “County Control, Ambulance 3330, en route Peninsula Medical Center with a 33-year-old white male with a history of cardiac myopathy, I spell CHARLES-ADAM-ROBERT-DAVID-IDA-ADAM-CHARLES-BREAK-MARY-YELLOW-OCEAN-PAUL-ADAM-TOM-HENRY-YELLOW…”
After one of these lengthy naratives (keep in mind that there were ten or twelve other ambulances in the county that used the same channel), the dispatcher was oddly silent. Captain Action made another try to ensure his message made it through. “County Control, Ambulance 3330, did you copy?”
“Ambulance 3330, County Control, TOM-EDWARD-NORA-BREAK-FRANK-OCEAN-UNION-ROBERT.”
Ah, the good old days.
Written by Tim Dees on January 1st, 2015
Maths in neon at Autonomy in Cambridge. This is Bayes's Theorem, relating the probability of A given B to B given A.
This image is used on the Philosopher, Psychologist, Plasterer blog paul-david-robinson.com/post/5129596878/the-philosophy-of... in an article "The Philosophy of Physics". It was also used on the Wikipedia article for Bayes Theorem.
It was further used on a Spanish blog profeblog.es/blog/luismiglesias/2010/01/02/fotografia-mat...
It was later used in a father's blog post about having twin girls - www.bigdansramblings.com/2012/03/30/phases-finding-twin-g... - congratulations mate.
It is also used on a blog article about Stanford offering a statistics in medicine course - scopeblog.stanford.edu/2013/05/28/stanford-offers-free-st...
And an article "Signal, Noise and Clinical Trials" - lacertabio.com/2013/04/signal-noise-and-clinical-trial-re...
And a review of an elementary statistics course. moocnewsandreviews.com/course-review-elementary-statistic...
And the front page of a wiki about Probabilistic Programming for Advancing Machine Learning (whatever that is) - ppaml.galois.com/wiki/
And an LSE blog post about citations: "A Bayesian approach to the REF: finding the right data on journal articles and citations to inform decision-making." blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2013/12/02/journal...
And an Italian site "Rebel Fitness". Not sure why, I assume it just looked mathematical. www.fitnessribelle.it/alimentazione/calcolo-calorie/
And a blog about the emotional state of being an entrepreneur - www.ecosystemsandentrepreneurs.com/blog/2015/4/3/the-emot...
And a Strangeloop presentation about probability. www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiiWzJE0fEA
An article about Bayesian logic in Python. machinelearningmastery.com/naive-bayes-classifier-scratch...
"
Bayes’s Theorem & Naïve Bayes Classifiers " dem1995.github.io/machine-learning/extra_pages/naive_baye...
Uses: Anything relating to finance and money.
Free Creative Commons Finance Images... I created these images in my studio and have made them all available for personal or commercial use. Hope you like them and find them useful.
To see more of our CC by 2.0 finance images click here... see profile for attribution.
Kinetic: Relating to, caused by, or producing motion.
These are called “Kinetic” photographs because there is motion, energy, and movement involved, specifically my and the camera’s movements.
Most of these are shot outdoors where I have the room to literally spin and throw my little camera several feet up into the air, with some throws going as high as 15 feet or more!
None of these are Photoshopped, layered, or a composite photo...what you see occurs in one shot, one take.
Aren’t I afraid that I will drop and break my camera? For regular followers of my photostream and this series you will know that I have already done so. This little camera has been dropped many times, and broken once when dropped on concrete outside. It still functions...not so well for regular photographs, but superbly for more kinetic work.
Albeit supremely risky this is one of my favorite ways to produce abstract photographs.
If you'd like to see more please check out my set, "Vertigo:"
www.flickr.com/photos/motorpsiclist/sets/72157630591282642/
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To read more about Kinetic Photography click the Wikipedia link below:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_photography
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My photographs and videos and any derivative works are my private property and are copyright © by me, John Russell (aka “Zoom Lens”) and ALL my rights, including my exclusive rights, are reserved. ANY use without my permission in writing is forbidden by law.
Photographer: P H Jauncey. PAColl-1296-2-07. Lucy Taylor photographs relating to Wellington Girls’ College, Alexander Turnbull Library
An expanded version was published in FishHead magazine, January 2014.
Here we are at the Wellington Girls’ College in Thorndon. It is Parents’ Day, 1927, and the girls are giving a demonstration of Swedish drill. This particular move was called the halfway side falling position and was designed to strengthen the side muscles. An instruction booklet of the time stresses that it should be done without bending the knees or letting the hips sink. The girls seem very proficient.
By the 1920s Swedish drill was seen as the state-of-the-art in girls’ physical education. The flexing, lunging and balancing movements are not dissimilar to some exercise programmes today, and the loose tunics worn here were certainly an improvement on the restrictive clothing these girls’ mothers would have had to wear for any outdoor activity.
Less modern was the strict regimentation. In the years between the wars such military-like manoeuvrings were a popular part of organised activity for the young. In the same year as this photograph was taken, the outdoor highlight for many Wellington school children was a tightly choreographed welcome to the Duke of York at Newtown Park. Theyformed themselves into a living union jack. Other examples of uniformed mass choreography for young people included the uniquely New Zealand phenomenon of marching girls that emerged in the 1930s.
Mrs Taylor, the head of the College’s physical training programme, was an innovator, though. In particular she ignored some of her how-to-do-drill textbooks and enjoyed mixing her Swedish drill instruction with music and dance.
The girls in this photograph no doubt also took part in one of the highlights of the school year – Mrs Taylor’s annual “gymnastic display.” In 1927 it was at the Opera House. In addition to Swedish drill, the newspaper advertisements promised “Lantern marching, Cymbals, Wands, Poi Dances, Spanish Dances, Thunder, Rain and Frost,” all of which were ambitiously worked into a “Fairy Folk Tales of the Maori” theme, based on James Cowan’s recently published children’s book of the same name.
Read a review of the Opera House gymnastic display
Wellingtonians: From the Turnbull Collections contains a selection of the entries from this Flickr set, and some new ones too. This high-quality publication costs just $29.99. You can pick it up at good bookshops or from the publisher, Steele Roberts.
This image is part of an ongoing series relating to the silhouettes of barren trees against the winter skies.
After an extremely challenging year in the United States, it was reassuring to discover this amazing pre-sunrise revelation yesterday morning, the final day of the year. For better or worse, I'm treating this as a sign of hope for a better year, a year in which the forces of unity will prevail over the forces of alienation and division.
Les Invalides contains museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the building's original purpose. The buildings house the Musée de l'Armée (the military museum of the Army of France), the Musée des Plans-Reliefs and the Musée d'Histoire Contemporaine, as well as the Dôme des Invalides, a large church, the tallest in Paris at a height of 350 feet. It houses tombs of some of France's war heroes, most notably Napoleon. The architect of Les Invalides was Libéral Bruant. By the time the enlarged project was completed in 1676, the river front measured 643 feet, and the complex had 15 courtyards, the largest being the cour d'honneur ("court of honor") for military parades. Jules Hardouin-Mansart assisted the aged Bruant, and the chapel for veterans was finished in 1679. This chapel was known as Église Saint-Louis des Invalides, and daily attendance of the veterans in the church services was required. Shortly after the veterans' chapel was completed, Louis XIV commissioned Mansart to construct a separate private royal chapel referred to as the Église du Dôme. The domed chapel was finished in 1708. The building retained its primary function of a retirement home and hospital for military veterans until the early 20th century. In 1872 the musée d'artillerie (Artillery Museum) was located within the building to be joined by the musée historique des armées (Historical Museum of the Armies) in 1896. The two institutions were merged to form the present Musée de l'Armée in 1905. At the same time, the veterans in residence were dispersed to smaller centers outside Paris, as the building became too large for its original purpose. The modern complex includes facilities about a hundred elderly or incapacitated former soldiers, including one gentleman sitting outside in full World War II army dress.
Another excerpt from the story that I first started relating here.
The three siblings had traveled for several days, finding food and water through their own skills or the generosity of strangers along their route - which meandered but steadily took them west toward the great ocean that marked the edge of the known world. On the 19th day of their journey, they finally reached the rocky shores of the great ocean, and stopped - struck by the vast vista of water spread out before them. For the first time in any of their young lives they felt the weight of that great body of water and it penetrated them to their core, knowing their goal lay on its far side. But having traveled far, and in no particular hurry, they decided to camp that evening on the beach and plan their crossing upon morning.
It was while searching for firewood that the youngest brother saw a sparkle of white nestled amongst the stones of the beach. Scrambling over the slippery rocks to just near the edge of the surf, he bent down and plucked up three perfectly smooth, white stones that made him involuntarily catch his breath for the obvious magic they held within them, for surely these must be three of the fabled wishing stones of old. Smiling at his good fortune, he ran up the beach to share the news with his brother and sister. Arriving breathless at the camp though, their reactions were mixed. Rather than a similar excitement, the older brother met the stones with caution and the sister was more curious than anything else. All three had grown up with stories of the magic of old, but that was all the world was left with these days... stories and tattered memories of the great magic that had once been so common. After much debate, the youngest brother and his sister wanted to try to use the stones to cross the ocean safely. The eldest brother held out though, arguing that they had come so far on just their wits and abilities that it was foolish to trust something they knew next to nothing about. But the younger two were just as stubborn, arguing that they should not be diverted by fear of the unknown, as the crossing of the ocean itself was a great unknown voyage that would not be without great danger. In the end, they decided to put the stones aside and get some badly needed rest, as the trek across the continent had been arduous indeed. The stones and their use could wait until the next morning as well, just as the ocean would.
And indeed, wait they did, for the stones and the ocean were still there when the three awoke in a chilly, damp fog. But still agreement eluded them and even threatened to fray the bonds between them. So each decided to take a stone and decide how to best use it. The youngest brother walked down to the surf, wading up to his knees and wished to be a fish, so that he could swim across the ocean to the far side, agreeing to wait on the far shore for the other two. Amazingly enough, and quite suddenly, the youngest brother was gone, and a silver fish hung suspended momentarily in the air where he had stood, and then gravity claimed it and the fish splashed into the ocean. The other two watched it leap once above the waves and then it was seen no more, presumably swimming west.
The middle sister then took up her stone, and with a quick hug to her older brother, wished to be a bird, such that she could fly safely above the ocean to the far shore, and hopefully keep an eye out for her younger brother. In a blink, she too vanished and a splendid white gull flapped its wings a bit unsteadily, before rising into the sky, circling twice and flying away west until her silhouette vanished into the morning mist. The oldest stood there a long time gazing out across the ocean and into the fog, which gently receded as the day grew longer. He stood there, just looking, holding his stone in his hand. At one point he brought it up to his chest and mouthed words that only an empty beach could hear and dropped the stone into his pocket.
He spent the rest of that day collecting wood, with which he started to fashion a small boat. The beach was quite generous, for between what the ocean had washed up and what he carried himself, he soon had all he needed and small but sturdy vessel lay in front of him, pulled up just beyond the hungry reach of the incoming tide. Into the boat he stocked what food and water he had left and just as the shadows were beginning to grow long, he pushed the small craft into the height of the tide. He sailed all through the evening, and though he did not think it likely, the fatigue of the day soon caught up with him and he fell fast asleep, trusting to the wind and tides to carry him in the right direction. In the middle of the night, the eldest brother was woken from his sleep and sat up with a start. The sky above him was absolutely dark and at first he didn't notice the reason, but as the fog of sleep slowly crept from his brain, he realized that not a star shone in the sky above. He then became aware of a light from the ocean itself, and leaning over the side of his small boat, he gasped as he saw all the stars of the night sky floating in the ocean - not reflected, for he glanced quickly back up to the still blank canvas of the night sky above him. The ocean itself contained all the stars that should have been wheeling by over him. The eldest could make no sense of this spectacle, and he lingered at the edge of the boat for some time trying to comprehend what he saw. Slowly dawn approached on the horizon and the stars faded from the waters around the boat as the sky lightened above it.
He was shaken from his reverie by the cry of a gull overhead and looking up he saw his sister flying closer and closer until she plummeted into the ocean nearby. The eldest brother quickly brought his boat around and scooped the bird from the water and set her gently into the boat. In a moment the bird was gone, replaced by the familiar form of his younger sister. "The ocean is too big," she gasped. "I flew for hours and hours and still saw no land, there is no way I can fly across this whole expanse. I am glad you came when you did." He gave her some food and water and together they sailed through the day. Just as the sun was approaching the horizon and the breeze was turning cool, a gleaming silver fish jumped from the water and landed with a splash in the boat, only to disappear and be replaced by the form of the youngest. "Am I so glad to see you," the youngest exclaimed. "It is impossible to find one's way through the ocean, it is too vast and deep. I asked other fish, but they only know of things below the waves, coasts and quests such as ours do not concern them and they were of no help at all."
And with that the three were once again reunited. They pointed their boat toward the setting sun and ran with the wind across the surface of the ocean. And for another eighteen days they sailed such, collecting rain water when they needed it and catching fish from the bountiful waters to fill their stomachs. But other than that first night, the stars remained as they should, twinkling safely in the night sky overhead, and the eldest remained at a loss to explain the significance of what he had seen. The story of that night had such an impact that it distracted the younger two siblings from ever asking their older brother what had become of his wishing stone, and for his part, he did not bring the subject up, content as he was with having the three reunited. And on the nineteenth day of sailing, a dark strip of land finally broke the horizon, and smiles crested the horizons on three different faces in a like manner.
Strap lane near Upton Noble is the location as DB sisters 66011 and 66094 pass by working the mysterious 3J13 08.45 Westbury to St Blazey.
Why mysterious?, well every year for a few weeks in the autumn a couple of DB locos turn up in these parts with three blue tanks and some other kit, seemingly going back and forth and each day they are a little bit grubbier, apparently it's called RHTT(!?).
I don't get it, Trains coming and going up and down the Rail Head Treating us to a show, sometimes the tanks seem to be leaking something (which I really hope is only water). As always in 'Rail-Speak', everything's an acronym - no-one knows what they mean;
SPAD, SIMBIDS, TPWS, AWS, OTDR, ABBA, UXB, WTF, OMG, BOGOF - all gibberish designed to confuse.
For a time I wondered if RHTT should really be RHTT(B), that might explain the loco's dirty colouration - it could be "Red Hastily Turns To Brown".
Maybe RHTT is for some strange reason relating to well known figures?, could an answer be found there?;
Rita Hayworth Top Tottie
Rolf Harris Television Transgressor
Rob Halford Titanium Tonsils
Reinhard Heydrich Teutonic Terror
Rudolf Hess Truant Teuton
Rachel Hunter Tottie Too
Richard Hammond Tiny Tearaway
Ricky Hatton Thrice Thumped
No-one really knows but I'm not going to bother trying to figure it out anymore, it's getting Really Hard To Think and I may Require Hospital Treatment Too.
Wait, 'Treatment', could that be something?, no, can't get my Head around that, what's that got to do with Rail and Train?
Uses: Anything relating to finance and money.
Free Creative Commons Finance Images... I created these images in my studio and have made them all available for personal or commercial use. Hope you like them and find them useful.
To see more of our CC by 2.0 finance images click here... see profile for attribution.
1. The spiritual entity Qalb
Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Adam
In the Urdu language the fleshy meat, (the heart) is known as dil, and in Arabic it is called fawad. The spiritual entity that is next to the heart is the Qalb and according to a Prophetic statement the heart and the Qalb are two separate entities.
Our solar system is the physical human sphere. There are other realms and spheres, for example the realm of the angels, the realm of the throne of God, the realm of the soul, the realm of the secrets, the realm of unification and the realm of the essence of God. These spheres and life forms inhabiting these spheres have existed before the eruption of the ball of fire, our Sun, which created our solar system. Ordinary angels were created alongside the creation of the souls when God commanded "Be" but the Archangels and the spiritual entities (which are placed inside the human body at birth) have existed in these realms before the formation of our solar system.
Many planets in our solar system were inhabited but subsequently these life forms became extinct. The remaining planets and their inhabitants are awaiting their destruction. The Archangels and the spiritual entities (of the human body) were created seventy thousand years before the command "Be."
Of these spiritual entities God placed the Qalb in the realm of love. It is with this that a human being is able to become connected with God. The Qalb acts like a telephone operator between God and the human being. A human being receives guidance and inspiration through it. Whereas the worship and the meditation done by the spiritual entities themselves can reach the highest realm, the Throne of God, with the aid of the Qalb. The Qalb itself, however cannot travel beyond the realm of the angels, as its place of origin is the Khuld, the lowest heaven in the realm of the angels.
The Qalb’s meditation is from within and its vibrating rosary is within the human skeleton (the heartbeat). People that failed to achieve this meditation of the Qalb in this lifetime will be regretful, even though they may be in paradise. As God has stated regarding those who will go to paradise, that do they, the inhabitants of paradise think that they will be equal to those who are elevated (reached higher realms by practicing the spiritual disciplines and becoming illuminated). As those that have achieved the meditation of the Qalb, they will enjoy its pleasures even in paradise when their Qalb will be vibrating with the Name of God.
After death physical worship ceases to exist and the people whose Qalb and spiritual entities are not strengthened and illuminated with the light of God are afflicted and distressed in their graves and their spiritual entities waste away. Whereas the illuminated and strengthened spiritual entities will go to the realm where the righteous will wait before the final judgement.
After the day of judgement a second body will be given, the illuminated spiritual entities along with the human soul will enter that body. The people that taught their spiritual entities, meditation, whereby the entities chanted the Name of God Allah in this life time will find that the spiritual entities will continue with this meditation even in the hereafter. Such people will continue to be elevated and exalted in the hereafter.
Those that were “blind of heart” (not illuminated) in this life time will be in darkness in that realm also, as this world was the place of action and effort. Those in the latter category will become quiescent.
Besides the Christians and the Jews the Hindu faith also holds a belief in these spiritual entities. The Hindu faith refers to them as Shaktian and the Muslims know them as Lata’if.
The Qalb is two inches, to the left of the heart. This spiritual entity is yellow in colour. When it is illuminated in a person, that person sees the colour yellow in their eyes. Not only this but there are many practitioners of alternative medicine who use the colours of these spiritual entities to heal people.
Most people regard their heart’s word, “inner feeling” to be truthful. If the hearts of people were indeed truthful, then why are all the people of the heart not united?
The Qalb of an ordinary person is in the sleeping or unconscious state and it does not possess any appreciation or awareness. Due to the dominance of the spirit of the self, the ego, and the Khannas, or due to the individual’s own simple- mindedness the heart can make judgements in error. Placing trust in a sleeping Qalb is foolish.
Only when the Name of God Allah, does vibrate in the heart does an appreciation of right and wrong and wisdom follow. At this stage the Qalb is known as the awakened Qalb. Thereafter due to the increase in the meditation by the Qalb, of the Name of God Allah, it is then known as the God-seeking Qalb. At this stage the heart is capable of preventing the person from doing wrong but it is still incapable of making a right or just decision. Thereafter and only when the Light and the rays of the Grace of God (theophany) start to descend upon that heart, is it known as the purified and illuminated Qalb that stands in the presence of God (witnessing Qalb).
A Prophetic statement:
“The mercy of God descends upon a broken heart and an afflicted grave.”
Thereafter when the heart reaches this stage then one must accept whatever it dictates, quietly without question because due to the rays of the Light and the Grace of God the spirit of the self, (ego) becomes completely illuminated, purified and at peace. God is then closer to that individual than that person’s jugular vein.
God then says, “I become his tongue with which he speaks and I become his hands with which he holds.”
2. The Human Soul
Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Abraham
This is on the right side of the chest. This is awakened and illuminated by the meditation and one-pointed concentration on it. Once it becomes illuminated, a vibration similar to the heartbeat is felt on the right side of the chest. Then the Name of God, Ya Allah is matched with the vibrating pulse. The meditation of the soul is done in this way. At this point, there are now two spiritual entities meditating inside the human body, this is an advancement in rank and status and is better than the Qalb. The soul is a light red in colour and when it is awakened, it is able to travel to the realm of the souls (the station of the Archangel Gabriel). Anger and rage are attached to it that burn and turn into majesty.
3. The spiritual entity Sirri
Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Moses
This spiritual entity is to the left of the centre of the chest. This is also awakened and illuminated by the meditation and one-pointed concentration on it with the Name of God, Ya Hayy, Ya Qayyum. Its colour is white and in the dream state or by spiritual separation from the physical body “transcendental meditation” it can journey to the realm of the secrets. Now there are three spiritual entities meditating within a person and its status is higher than the other two.
4. The spiritual entity Khaffi
Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Jesus
This is to the right of the centre of the chest. It too is taught the Name of God Ya Wahid by meditation. It is green in colour and it can reach the realm of unification. Due to the meditation of four entities one's status is further increased.
5. The spiritual entity Akhfa
Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Mohammed
This is situated at the centre of the chest. It is awakened by meditating on the Name of God, Ya Ahad. It is purple in colour and it too, is connected to that veil in the realm of unification behind which is the throne of God.
The hidden spiritual knowledge relating to these five spiritual entities was granted to the Prophets, one by one and half of the knowledge of every spiritual entity was granted from the Prophets to the Saints of their time. In this way there became ten parts of this knowledge. The Saints in turn passed this knowledge on to the spiritually favoured (Godly) who then had the benefit of the sacred knowledge.
The apparent knowledge of the seen is connected to the physical body, the spoken word, the human realm and the spirit of the self, this is for the ordinary mortals. This knowledge is contained in a book that has thirty parts. Spiritual knowledge was also given to the Prophets by revelation brought by Gabriel and for this reason it is known as the spiritual Holy Scripture.
Many of the verses of the Qur’an would sometimes be abolished, since the Prophet Mohammed would sometimes mention matters relating to this “hidden spiritual knowledge” before ordinary people, which was only meant for the special and Godly. Later this knowledge passed on spiritually from the chest of one Saint to another, and now it has become widespread by its publication in books.
6. The spiritual entity Anna
This spiritual entity is inside the head and is colourless. It is by the meditation on the Name of God Ya Hu that this spiritual entity reaches its pinnacle. It is this spiritual entity that when it becomes illuminated and powerful it can stand in the Presence of God, face to face, and communicate with God unobstructed. Only the extreme lovers of God reach this realm and station. Besides this there are a few and extremely exalted people who are granted additional spiritual entities, for example the spiritual entity Tifl-e-Nuri or a spiritual entity of the Godhead, Jussa-e-Tofiq-e-Ilahi, the spiritual status of such people is beyond understanding.
With the spiritual entity, Anna, God is seen in the dream state.
With the spiritual entity of the Godhead, God is seen in the “physical meditating state” when the spiritual entity itself leaves the human body and transcends to the essence of God.
Those possessing the spiritual entity, the Tifl-e-Nuri, see God whilst they are fully conscious.
It is these people who are the majesty and power of God in the world. They can either occupy the people by prescribing worship and austerities or by their spiritual grace send a person straight to the realm of God’s love. In their sight, concerning dispensing spiritual grace the believers and the non-believers, the dead and the living are all the same. Just as a thief became a Saint, in an instant, by the passing glimpse of the Saint Sheikh Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani, similarly, Abu-Bakr Havari and Manga the thief, became instant Saints by the passing glimpses of such Saints.
The five major Messengers were given knowledge of the five spiritual entities separately and in order of their appearance, as a result of which spirituality continued to prosper. With whichever spiritual entity you practice meditation you will be connected to the corresponding Messenger and become worthy of receiving spiritual grace (from that Messenger).
Whichever spiritual entity receives the rays of the Grace of God (favour), the Sainthood granted to that spiritual entity will be connected to the corresponding Prophet’s spiritual grace.
Access to seven realms and gaining elevated spiritual status in the seven heavens is obtained through these spiritual entities.
The functions of the spiritual entities inside the human body
Akhfa: Due to the spiritual entity, Akhfa a person is able to speak. In its absence a person may have a normal tongue but will be dumb. The difference between human beings and animals lies in the presence or the absence of these spiritual entities. At birth, if the entity, Akhfa was unable to enter the body for whatever reason, then a Prophet appointed for the rectification of this ailment would be called to treat the condition as a result of which the dumb would start to speak.
Sirri: A person is able to see due to the spiritual entity, Sirri. If it does not enter the body the person is blind from birth. An appointed Prophet had the duty to find and place the spiritual entity into the body, as a result of which the blind would start to see again.
Qalb: Without the spiritual entity of the Qalb, in the body, a person is like the animals, unacquainted, far from God, miserable and without purpose. Returning this entity into the body was the task of the Prophets also.
The miracles of the Prophets were also granted to the saints, in the form marvels and mystical wonders as a result of which even the impious and liberal became close to God. When a spiritual entity is returned by any allocated Saint or Prophet, the deaf, dumb and the blind are healed.
Anna: When the spiritual entity, Anna, fails to enter the body, a person is regarded as insane even though the brain may be functioning normally.
Khaffi: In the absence of the spiritual entity, Khafi, a person is deaf, even if the ears are opened wide.
These conditions can be caused by other defects in the body, and can be treated. There is no cure in the case, where the defect is caused by the absence of the associated spiritual entity except where a Prophet or a Saint intervenes and cures the defect.
Nafs, self: As a result of the spiritual entity of the self (ego) a persons mind is occupied with the material world and it is because of the spiritual entity Qalb that a persons direction turns towards God. For more detail visit www.goharshahi.org or visit asipk.com and for videos visit HH rags
The Greatest
Mumbaikar of All..
Huge and Tall
Hears you Cry
Hears Your Call
Saves you each Time
before You Fall
whatever your religiosity
he removes obstacles
he sees there are no pitfalls
no terrorists can breach
our city's walls
Mutual Coexistence
Be Proud Indians
on our Souls he scrawls
our greatest enemy
our bigotry
our narrow mindedness
our hate for each other
that hits the nation
first of all
before being
a hindu muslim christian
be an Indian
says it all
miljul ke rehne
main hi bhaliee hai
our mantra
of peace
the greatest cure all
dont sell your country
for american dollars
or saudi riyal
from wikipedia
Ganesha (Sanskrit: गणेश; Gaṇeśa; listen (help·info), also spelled Ganesa or Ganesh) is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in Hinduism[8]. Although he is known by many other attributes, Ganesha's elephant head makes him easy to identify.[9] Several texts relate mythological anecdotes associated with his birth and exploits, and explain his distinct iconography. Ganesha is worshipped as the lord of beginnings and as the lord of obstacles (Vighnesha),[10] patron of arts and sciences, and the god of intellect and wisdom.[11] He is honoured with affection at the start of any ritual or ceremony and invoked as the "Patron of Letters" at the beginning of any writing.[12]
Ganesha appears as a distinct deity in clearly-recognizable form beginning in the fourth to fifth centuries, during the Gupta Period. His popularity rose quickly, and he was formally included as one of the five primary deities of Smartism (a Hindu denomination) in the ninth century. During this period, a sect of devotees (called Ganapatya; Sanskrit: गाणपत्य; gāṇapatya) who identify Ganesha as the supreme deity was formed.[13] The principal scriptures dedicated to his worship are the Ganesha Purana, the Mudgala Purana, and the Ganapati Atharvashirsa.
Ganesha is one of the most-worshipped divinities in India.[14][15] Worship of Ganesha is considered complementary with the worship of other forms of the divine, and various Hindu sects worship him regardless of other affiliations.[16][17][18] Devotion to Ganesha is widely diffused and extends to Jains, Buddhists, and beyond India.
Ganesha has many other titles and epithets, including Ganapati and Vighneśvara. The Hindu title of respect Shri (Sanskrit: श्री; śrī, also spelled Sri or Shree) is often added before his name. One popular form of Ganesha worship is by chanting one of the Ganesha Sahasranamas, which literally means "a thousand names of Ganesha". Each name in the sahasranama conveys a different meaning and symbolises a different aspect of Ganesha. There are at least two different versions of the Ganesha Sahasranama. One of these is drawn from the Ganesha Purana, a Hindu scripture that venerates Ganesha.[24]
The name Ganesha is a Sanskrit compound, joining the words gana (Sanskrit: गण; gaṇa), meaning a group, multitude, or categorical system and isha (Sanskrit: ईश; īśa), meaning lord or master.[25][26] The word gaņa in association with Ganesha is often taken to refer to the gaņas, a troop of semi-divine beings that form part of the retinue of Shiva (also spelled "Śiva").[27] The term more generally means a category, class, community, association, or corporation.[28] Some commentators interpret the name "Lord of the Gaņas" to mean "Lord of created categories," such as the elements, etc.[29] The translation "Lord of Hosts" may convey a familiar sense to Western readers. Ganapati (Sanskrit: गणपति; gaṇapati) is a synonym for Ganesha, being a compound composed of gaṇa, meaning "group", and pati, meaning "ruler" or "lord").[30]
Vināyaka is a common name for Ganesha both in the Purāṇas and in Buddhist Tantras.[31] This name is reflected in the naming of the eight famous Ganesha (aṣṭavināyaka) temples in Maharashtra.[32] The name Vignesha, meaning "Lord of Obstacles", refers to his primary function in Hindu mythology as being able to both create and remove obstacles (vighna).
One of the main names for Ganesha in the Tamil language is Pille or Pillaiyar, which means "Little Child".[33] A. K. Narain differentiates these terms by saying that pille means a "child" and pillaiyar a "noble child", and adds that the words pallu, pella, and pell in the Dravidian family of languages signify "tooth or tusk of an elephant" but more generally "elephant".[34] In discussing the name Pillaiyar, Anita Raina Thapan notes that since the Pali word pillaka has the significance of "a young elephant" it is possible that pille originally meant "the young of the elephant".[35]
Ganesha is a popular figure in Indian art.[36] Unlike some deities, representations of Ganesha show wide variation with distinct patterns changing over time.[37][38][39] He may be portrayed standing, dancing, taking heroic action against demons, playing with his family as a boy, sitting down, or engaging in a remarkable range of contemporary situations.
Ganesha images were prevalent in many parts of India by the sixth century.[40] The figure shown to the right is typical of Ganesha statuary from 900-1200, after Ganesha had been well-established as an independent deity with his own cult. This example features some of Ganesha's common iconographic elements. A virtually identical statue has been dated between 973-1200 by Martin-Dubost[41] and another similar statue is dated circa twelfth century by Pal.[42] He has the head of an elephant and a big belly. This statue has four arms, which is common in depictions of Ganesha . He holds his own broken tusk in his lower-right hand and holds some form of delicacy, which he samples with his trunk in his lower-left hand. The motif of Ganesha turning his trunk sharply to his left to taste a sweet which he holds in his lower-left hand is a particularly archaic feature.[43] A more primitive statue in one of the Ellora Caves with this general form has been dated to the 7th century.[44] Details of the other hands are difficult to make out on the statue shown; in this standard configuration, Ganesha typically holds either an axe or a goad in one upper arm and a noose in the other upper arm as symbols of his ability to cut through obstacles or to create them as needed.
The influence of this old constellation of iconographic elements can still be seen in contemporary representations of Ganesha. In one modern form, the only variation from these old elements is that the lower-right hand does not hold the broken tusk but rather is turned toward the viewer in the gesture of protection or "no fear" (abhaya mudra).[45][46] The same combination of four arms and attributes occurs in statues of Ganesha dancing,[47] which is a very popular theme.[48]
Ganesha has been represented with the head of an elephant since the early stages of his appearance in Indian art.[50] Puranic myths provide many explanations for how he got this form.[51] One of his popular forms (called Heramba-Ganapati) has five elephant heads, and other less-common variations in the number of heads are known.[52]
While some texts say that Ganesha was born with an elephant head, in most stories he acquires the head later, with several accounts given.[53] The most common motif in these stories is that Ganesha was born with a human head and body and that Shiva beheaded him when Ganesha came between Shiva and Parvati. Shiva then replaced Ganesha's original head with that of an elephant.[54] Details of the battle and where the replacement head came from vary according to different sources.[55] In another story, when Ganesha was born his mother Parvati showed off her new baby to the other gods. Unfortunately, the god Shani (Saturn) – who is said to have the "evil eye" – looked at him, causing the baby's head to be burned to ashes. The god Vishnu came to the rescue and replaced the missing head with that of an elephant.[56] Another story tells that Ganesha is created directly by Shiva's laughter. Shiva became concerned that Ganesha was too alluring, so he cursed Ganesha to have the head of an elephant and a protruding belly.[57]
The earliest name referring to Ganesha is Ekadanta ("One Tusk"), noting his single tusk; the other is broken off. [58] Some of the earliest images of Ganesha show him holding his broken tusk.[59] The importance of this distinctive feature is reflected in the Mudgala Purana, which states that the name of Ganesha's second incarnation is Ekadanta.[60]
Ganesha's protruding belly appears as a distinctive attribute in his earliest statuary, which dates to the Gupta period (4th to 6th centuries).[61] This feature is so important that according to the Mudgala Purana two different incarnations of Ganesha use names based on it, Lambodara ("Pot Belly", or literally "Hanging Belly") and Mahodara ("Great Belly").[62] Both names are Sanskrit compounds describing his belly (Sanskrit: udara).[63] The Brahmanda Purana says that he has the name Lambodara because all the universes (i.e., cosmic eggs; Sanskrit brahmāṇḍas) of the past, present, and future are present in Ganesha.[64][65]
The number of Ganesha's arms varies; his best-known forms have between two and sixteen arms.[66] Many depictions of Ganesha feature four arms, which is mentioned in Puranic sources and codified as a standard form in some iconographic texts.[67] His earliest images had two arms.[68][69] Forms with fourteen and twenty arms appeared in Central India during the 9th and 10th century.[70]
The serpent is a common element in Ganesha iconography, where it appears in many forms.[71][72] According to the Ganesha Purana, Ganesha wrapped the serpent Vāsuki around his neck.[73][74] Other common depictions of snakes include use as a sacred thread (Sanskrit: yajñyopavīta),[75][76] wrapped around the stomach as a belt, held in a hand, coiled at the ankles, and as a throne. Upon Ganesha's forehead there may be either a third eye or a sectarian mark (Sanskrit: tilaka) of Shiva showing three horizontal lines.[77][78] The Ganesha Purana prescribes both a tilaka mark as well as a crescent moon for the forehead.[79][80][81] A distinct form called Bhālacandra ("Moon on the Forehead") includes that iconographic element.[82][83]
The colors most often associated with Ganesha are red [84] and yellow, but specific other colors are prescribed in certain forms.[85] Many examples of color associations with specific meditation forms are prescribed in the Sritattvanidhi, a treatise on iconography that includes a section on variant forms of Ganesha. For example, white is associated with his representations as Heramba-Ganapati and Rina-Mochana-Ganapati.("Ganapati Who Releases From Bondage").[86] Ekadanta-Ganapati is visualized as blue during meditation on that form.[
The earliest Ganesha images are without a Vahana (mount).[88] Of the eight incarnations of Ganesha described in the Mudgala Purana, Ganesha has a mouse in five of them, but uses a lion in his incarnation as Vakratunda, a peacock in his incarnation of Vikata, and Shesha, the divine serpent, in his incarnation as Vighnaraja.[89] Of the four incarnations of Ganesha listed in the Ganesha Purana, Mohotkata has a lion, Mayūreśvara has a peacock, Dhumraketu has a horse, and Gajanana has a rat.[90][91] Jain depictions of Ganesha show his vahana variously as a mouse,[92] an elephant,[93] a tortoise, a ram, or a peacock.[94]
Mouse as vahana
Ganesha riding on his mouse. A sculpture at the Vaidyeshwara temple in Talakkadu, Karnataka, India. Note the red flowers offered by the devotees.Ganesha is often shown riding on, or attended by a mouse.[95][96] Martin-Dubost says that in central and western India the rat began to appear as the principal vehicle in sculptures of Gaṇeśa in the 7th century A.D., where the rat was always placed close to his feet.[97] The mouse as a mount first appears in written sources in the Matsya Purana, and later in the Brahmananda Purana and Ganesha Purana where Ganesha uses it as his vehicle only in his last incarnation.[98] The Ganapati Atharvashirsa includes a meditation verse on Ganesha that describes the mouse appearing on his flag.[99] The names Mūṣakavāhana ("Mouse-mount") and Ākhuketana ("Rat-banner") appear in the Ganesha Sahasranama.[100]
Devotee literature provides a variety of interpretations regarding what the mouse means. Michael Wilcockson says it symbolizes those who wish to overcome desires and be less selfish.[101] Martin-Dubost thinks it is a symbol of the fact that Ganesha, like the rat, penetrates even the most secret places.[102] Krishan gives a completely different interpretation, noting that the rat is a destructive creature and a menace to crops. The Sanskrit word mūṣaka (mouse) is derived from the root mūṣ which means "stealing, robbing". It was essential to subdue the rat as a destructive pest, a type of vighna (impediment) that needed to be overcome. In this theory, showing Ganesha as master of the rat proclaims his function as Vigneshvara and gives evidence of his possible role as a folk grāmata-devatā (village deity) who later rose to greater prominence.[103]
Buddhi
Ganesha is considered to be the Lord of Intelligence.[108] In Sanskrit, the word buddhi is a feminine noun that is variously translated as intelligence, wisdom, or intellect.[109] The concept of buddhi is closely associated with the personality of Ganesha, especially in the Puranic period, where many stories showcase his cleverness and love of intelligence. One of Ganesha's names in the Ganesha Purana and the Ganesha Sahasranama is Buddhipriya.[110] This name also appears in a special list of twenty-one names that Gaṇeśa says are of special importance at the end of the Ganesha Sahasranama.[111] The word priya can mean "fond of", but in a marital context, it can mean "lover" or "husband". Buddhipriya probably refers to Ganesha's well-known association with intelligence.
This association with wisdom also appears in the name Buddha, which appears as a name of Ganesha in the second verse of the Ganesha Purana version of the Ganesha Sahasranama.[112] The positioning of this name at the beginning of the Ganesha Sahasranama reveals the name's importance. Bhaskararaya's commentary on the Ganesha Sahasranama says that this name means that the Buddha was an avatar of Ganesha.[113] This interpretation is not widely known even among Ganapatya. Buddha is not mentioned in the lists of Ganesha's incarnations given in the main sections of the Ganesha Purana and Mudgala Purana. Bhaskararaya also provides a more general interpretation of this name as simply meaning that Ganesha's very form is "eternal elightenment" (nityabuddaḥ), so he is named Buddha.
[edit] Aum
Ganesha (Devanagari) Aum jewelGanesha is identified with the Hindu mantra Aum (ॐ, also called Om, Omkara, oṃkāra, or Aumkara). The term oṃkārasvarūpa ("Aum is his form") in connection with Ganesha refers to this belief that he is the personification of the primal sound.[114] This association is attested in the Ganapati Atharvashirsa. The relevant passage is translated by Paul Courtright as follows:
You are Brahmā, Vişņu, and Rudra [Śiva]. You are Agni, Vāyu, and Sūrya. You are Candrama. You are earth, space, and heaven. You are the manifestation of the mantra "Oṃ".[115]
A variant version of this passage is translated by Chinmayananda as follows:
(O Lord Ganapati!) You are (the Trinity) Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesa. You are Indra. You are fire and air. You are the sun and the moon. You are Brahman. You are (the three worlds) Bhuloka, Antariksha-loka, and Swargaloka. You are Om. (that is to say, You are all this).[116]
Some devotees see similarities between the shape of his body and the shape of Om in the Devanāgarī and Tamil scripts.[117]
[edit] First chakra
Ganesha is associated with the first or "root" chakra (mūlādhāra). This association is attested in the Ganapati Atharvashirsa. As translated by Courtright this passage reads:
You continually dwell in the sacral plexus at the base of the spine [mūlādhāra cakra].[118]
A variant version of this passage is translated by Chinmayananda:
You have a permanent abode (in every being) at the place called "Muladhara".[119]
[edit] Family and consorts
Shiva and Pārvatī giving a bath to Gaṇeśa. Kangra miniature, 18th century. Allahbad Museum, New Delhi.[120]For more details on this topic, see Consorts of Ganesha.
While Ganesha is popularly considered to be the son of Shiva and Parvati, the Puranic myths relate several different versions of his birth.[121][122] These include versions in which he is created by Shiva,[123] by Parvati,[124] by Shiva and Parvati,[125] or in a mysterious manner that is discovered by Shiva and Parvati.[126]
The family includes his brother Skanda, who is also called Karttikeya, Murugan, and other names.[127][128] Regional differences dictate the order of their births. In North India, Skanda is generally said to be the elder brother while in the South, Ganesha is considered the first born.[129] Prior to the emergence of Ganesha, Skanda had a long and glorious history as an important martial deity from about 500 BCE to about 600 CE, when his worship declined significantly in North India. The period of this decline is concurrent with the rise of Ganesha. Several stories relate episodes of sibling rivalry between Ganesha and Skanda[130] and may reflect historical tensions between the respective sects.[131]
Ganesha's marital status varies widely in mythological stories and the issue has been the subject of considerable scholarly review.[132] One pattern of myths identifies Ganesha as a brahmacharin (brahmacārin; celibate).[133] Another pattern associates him with the concepts of Buddhi (intellect), Siddhi (spiritual power), and Riddhi (prosperity); these qualities are sometimes personified by goddesses who are considered to be Ganesha's wives. A third pattern couples Ganesha with the goddess of culture and the arts, Sarasvati, and the goddess of luck and prosperity, Lakshmi, symbolically indicating that these qualities always accompany one other. A fourth pattern mainly prevalent in the Bengal region links Ganesha with the banana tree, Kala Bo.
[edit] Buddhi, Siddhi, and Riddhi
Shri Mayureshwar, MorgaonThe Ganesha Purana and the Mudgala Purana contain descriptions of Ganesha flanked by Buddhi and Siddhi.[134] In Chapter I.18.24-39 of the Ganesha Purana, Brahmā performs worship in honour of Ganesha. During the puja, Ganesha himself causes Buddhi and Siddhi to appear so that Brahmā can offer them back to Ganesha. Ganesha accepts them as offerings.[135] In a variant, the two are born from Brahmā's mind and are given by Brahmā to Ganesha.[135] Buddhi and Siddhi are best identified as his consorts in the Shiva Purana, where Ganesha cleverly wins the two desirable daugters of Prajāpati over Skanda.[136] The Shiva Purana version says that Ganesha had two sons: Kshema (Kşema, prosperity) and Labha (profit). The 1975 Hindi film Jai Santoshi Maa shows Ganesha married to Riddhi and Siddhi and having a daughter named Santoshi Ma, the goddess of satisfaction. However, this story has no Puranic basis. Anita Raina Thapan and Lawrence Cohen cite Santoshi Ma's cult as evidence of Ganesha's continuing evolution as a popular deity.[137][138]
Representations of Ganesha's consorts can be found aside from Puranic texts. In the Ganesha Temple at Morgaon (the central shrine for the regional aṣṭavināyaka complex), Buddhi and Siddhi stand to the right and left sides of the Ganesha image.[139] In northern India, the two female figures are said to be Siddhi and Riddhi; Riddhi substitutes for Buddhi with no Puranic basis.[140] The Ajitāgama describes a Tantric form of Ganesha called Haridra Ganapati as turmeric-colored and flanked by two unnamed wives distinct from shaktis.[141] The word "wives" (Sanskrit: दारा; dārā) is specifically used (Sanskrit: दारायुगलम्; dārāyugalam).[142]
[edit] Interpretations of relationships
Ganesha with the Ashta (meaning eight) Siddhi. The Ashtasiddhi are associated with Ganesha. Painted by Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906).In discussing the Shiva Purana version, Courtright comments that while Ganesha is sometimes depicted as sitting between these two feminine deities, "these women are more like feminine emanations of his androgynous nature, Shaktis rather than spouses having their own characters and spouses."[143] Ludo Rocher says that "descriptions of Gaṇeśa as siddhi-buddhi-samanvita 'accompanied by, followed by siddhi and buddhi.' often seem to mean no more than that, when Gaṇeśa is present, siddhi 'success' and buddhi 'wisdom' are not far behind. Such may well have been the original conception, of which the marriage was a later development."[144] In verse 49a of the Ganesha Purana version of the Ganesha Sahasranama, one of Ganesha's names is Ŗddhisiddhipravardhana ("Enhancer of material and spiritual success"). The Matsya Purana identifies Gaṇesha as the "owner" of Riddhi (prosperity) and Buddhi (wisdom).[145] In discussing the northern Indian sources, Cohen remarks:
They are depersonalized figures, interchangeable, and given their frequent depiction fanning Gaṇeśa are often referred to as dasīs — servants. Their names represent the benefits accrued by the worshipper of Gaṇeśa, and thus Gaṇeśa is said to be the owner of Ṛddhi and Siddhi; he similarly functions as the father of Śubha (auspiciousness) and Lābha (profit), a pair similar to the Śiva Purāṇa's Kṣema (prosperity) and Lābha. Though in Varanasi the paired figures were usually called Ṛddhi and Siddhi, Gaṇeśa's relationship to them was often vague. He was their mālik, their owner; they were more often dasīs than patnīs (wives).[146]
His relationship with the Ashtasiddhi — the eight spiritual attaintments obtained by the practice of yoga — is also of this depersonalized type. In later iconography, these eight marvellous powers are represented by a group of young women who surround Ganesha.[147] Raja Ravi Varma's painting (shown in this section) illustrates a recent example of this iconographic form. The painting includes fans, which establish the feminine figures as attendants.
[edit] Motif of shaktis
Ganesha in his form as Mahāganapati with a shakti. From the Sritattvanidhi (19th century).A distinct type of iconographic image of Ganesha shows him with a single human-looking shakti (śakti).[148] According to Ananda Coomaraswamy, the oldest known depiction of Ganesha with a shakti of this type dates from the sixth century.[149] The consort lacks a distinctive personality or iconographic repertoire. According to Cohen and Alice Getty, the appearance of this shakti motif parallels the emergence of tantric branches of the Ganapatya cult. Six distinct forms of "Shakti Ganapati" can be linked to the Ganapatyas.[150] Of the thirty-two standard meditation forms for Ganesha that appear in the Sritattvanidhi (Śrītattvanidhi), several include a shakti.[151][152] A common form of this motif shows Ganesha seated with the shakti upon his left hip, holding a bowl of flat cakes or round sweets, with him turning his trunk to his left to touch the tasty food. In some tantric forms of this image, the gesture is modified to take on erotic overtones.[153] Some tantric variants of this form are described in the Śāradātilaka Tantram.[154]
Prithvi Kumar Agrawala has traced at least six different lists of fifty or more aspects or forms of Ganesha each with their specific female consorts or shaktis.[155][156] In these lists, goddess names such as Hrī, Śrī, and Puṣṭī are found. However, Buddhi, Siddhi, and Riddhi do not appear on any of these lists, which also do not provide any details about the personalities or distinguishing iconographic forms for these shaktis. Agrawala concludes that all of the lists were derived from one original set of names. The earliest of the lists appears in the Nārada Purāṇa (I.66.124-38), and a similar list with minor variations appears in the Ucchiṣṭagaṇapati Upāsanā. These lists are of two types. In the first type the names of various forms of Ganesha are given with a clear-cut pairing of a named shakti for that form. The second type, as found in the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa (II.IV.44.63-76) and the commentary of Rāghavabhaṭṭa on the Śāradātilaka (I.115), gives fifty or more names of Ganesha collectively in one group, with the names of the shaktis provided collectively in a second group. The second type of list poses problems in separating and properly connecting the names into pairs due to ambiguities in the formation of Sanskrit compound words.
[edit] Worship and festivals
Celebrations of Ganesh by the Indian and Sri Lankan Tamil community in Paris, FranceWhether the reason has to do with a religious ceremony, a new vehicle, students taking exams, sessions of devotional chanting, or beginning a business, Ganesha is worshipped. Throughout India and the Hindu culture, Ganesha is the first icon placed into any new home or abode. Devotees widely believe that wherever there is Ganesha, there is success and prosperity. By calling on him people believe that he will come to their aid and grant them success in their endeavours.
The worship of Ganesha is considered complementary with the worship of other deities.[157] Hindus of all sects begin prayers, important undertakings, and religious ceremonies with an invocation to Ganesha. Ganesha is also adored by dancers and musicians, who begin their performances of arts such as Bharatnatyam dance with a prayer to him, particularly in South India.[158] Mantras such as Om Shri Gaṇeshāya Namah ("Om, salutation to the Illustrious Ganesha"), and others, are often used. One of the most famous mantras associated with Ganesha is Om Gaṃ Ganapataye Namah (literally, "Om, Gaṃ, Salutation to the Lord of Hosts").
Devotees offer Ganesha various sweets, such as modaka, small sweet balls (laddus) and others.[159]. He is often shown carrying a bowl of sweets, called a modakapātra, which is one of his iconographic elements.[160] Because of his identification with the color red, he is often worshipped with things such as red sandalwood paste (raktacandana),[161] or red flowers. Dūrvā grass (Cynodon dactylon) and various other materials are used in his worship.[162]
[edit] Ganesh Chaturthi
A large Ganesha statue at a Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, 2004There is an important festival honouring Ganesha that is celebrated for ten days starting from Ganesh Chaturthi.[163] This festival culminates on the day of Ananta Chaturdashi when images (murtis) of Ganesha are immersed into the most convenient body of water.
The Ganapati festival is celebrated by Hindus with great devotional fervour. While it is most popular in the state of Maharashtra,[164] it is performed all over India.[165] In Mumbai, the festival assumes huge proportions. On the last day of the festival, millions of people of all ages descend onto the streets leading up to the sea, dancing and singing, to the rhythmic accompaniment of drums and cymbals.
In 1893, Lokmanya Tilak reshaped the annual Ganesh festival from private family celebrations into a grand public event. [166] He did so "to bridge the gap between the Brahmins and the non-Brahmins and find an appropiate context in which to build a new grassroots unity between them" in his nationalistic strivings against the British in Maharashtra.[167][168] Thus, Tilak chose Ganesha as a rallying point for Indian protest against British rule because of his wide appeal as "the god for Everyman".[169][170] Tilak was the first to install large public images of Ganesha in pavillions, and he established the practice of submerging all the public images on the tenth day.[171]
[edit] Rise to prominence
[edit] First appearance
Ganesha appears in his classic form as a clearly-recognizable deity with well-defined iconographic attributes from the early fourth to fifth centuries.[172] Shanti Lal Nagar says that the earliest known cult image of Ganesha is in the niche of the Shiva temple at Bhumra, which has been dated to the Gupta period.[173]. By about the tenth century his independent cult had come into existence.[174] Narain sums up controversy between devotees and academics regarding the development of Ganesha as follows:
[W]hat is inscrutable is the somewhat dramatic appearance of Gaņeśa on the historical scene. His antecedents are not clear. His wide acceptance and popularity, which transcend sectarian and territorial limits, are indeed amazing. On the one hand there is the pious belief of the orthodox devotees in Gaņeśa's Vedic origins and in the Purāṇic explanations contained in the confusing, but nonetheless interesting, mythology. On the other hand there are doubts about the existence of the idea and the icon of this deity" before the fourth to fifth century A.D. ... [I]n my opinion, indeed there is no convincing evidence or the existence of this divinity prior to the fifth century.[175]
[edit] Possible influences
Courtright reviews various speculative theories about the early history of Ganesha, including supposed tribal traditions and animal cults, and dismisses all of them in this way:
In this search for a historical origin for Gaņeśa, some have suggested precise locations outside the Brāhmaṇic tradition.... These historical locations are intriguing to be sure, but the fact remains that they are all speculations, variations on the Dravidian hypothesis, which argues that anything not attested to in the Vedic and Indo-European sources must have come into Brāhmaṇic religion from the Dravidian or aboriginal populations of India as part of the process that produced Hinduism out of the interactions of the Aryan and non-Aryan populations. There is no independent evidence for an elephant cult or a totem; nor is there any archaeological data pointing to a tradition prior to what we can already see in place in the Purāṇic literature and the iconography of Gaņeśsa.[176]
Thapan's book on the development of Ganesha devotes a chapter to speculations about the role elephants had in early India, but concludes that:
Although by the second century AD the elephant-headed yakṣa form exists it cannot be presumed to represent Gaṇapati-Vināyaka. There is no evidence of a deity by this name having an elephant or elephant-headed form at this early stage. Gaṇapati-Vināyaka had yet to make his debut.[177]
One theory of the origin of Ganesha is that he gradually came to prominence in connection with the four Vināyakas.[178][179] In Hindu mythology the Vināyakas were a group of four troublesome demons who created obstacles and difficulties,[180] but who were easily propitiated.[181] The name Vināyaka is a common name for Ganesha both in the Purāṇas and in Buddhist Tantras.[182] Krishan is one of the academics who accepts this view, stating flatly of Ganesha that "He is a non-vedic god. His origin is to be traced to the four Vināyakas, evil spirits, of the Mānavagŗhyasūtra (7th-4th century B.C.) who cause various types of evil and suffering."[183]
[edit] Vedic and epic literature
5th C Ganesh by Shahi King Khingala, found at Gardez, Afghanistan now at Dargah Pir Rattan NathGanesha as we know him today does not appear in the Vedas. The title "Leader of the group" (Sanskrit: gaṇapati) occurs twice in the Rig Veda but in neither case does it refer to the modern Ganesha. The term appears in RV 2.23.1 as a title for Brahmanaspati, the teacher of the gods. H. H. Wilson translates the Sanskrit verse "gaṇānāṃ tvā gaṇapatiṃ havāmahe kaviṃ kavīnāmupamaśravastamam" (RV 2.23.1 [2222]) as "We invoke the Brahmaṇaspati, chief leader of the (heavenly) bands; a sage of sages".[184] While there is no doubt that this verse refers to Brahmanaspati, the verse was later adopted for worship of Ganesha even to this day.[185][186] In rejecting any claim that this passage is evidence of Ganesha in the Rig Veda, Ludo Rocher says that it "clearly refers to Bṛhaspati - who is the deity of the hymn - and Bṛhaspati only."[187] The second passage (RV 10.112.9) equally clearly refers to Indra.[188] Wilson translates the Sanskrit verse "ni ṣu sīda gaṇapate gaṇeṣu tvāmāhurvipratamaṃ kavīnām" as "Lord of the companies (of the Maruts), sit down among the companies (of the worshippers), they call you the most sage of sages".[189]
Ganesha does not appear in epic literature. There is a late interpolation to the epic poem Mahabharata, saying that the sage Vyāsa asked Ganesha to serve as his scribe to transcribe the poem as he dictated it to him. Ganesha agreed, but only on the condition that Vyasa recite the poem uninterrupted, without pausing. The sage agreed to this, but found that to get any rest he needed to recite very complex passages in order to get Ganesha to ask for clarifications. This is the single passage in which Ganesha appears in that epic. The story is not accepted as part of the original text by the editors of the critical edition of the Mahabharata,[190] where the twenty-line story is relegated to a footnote to an appendix.[191] Ganesha's association with mental agility and learning is one reason he is shown as scribe for Vyāsa's dictation of the Mahabharata in this interpolation to the text.[192] Richard L. Brown dates the story as 8th century, and Winternitz concludes that it was known as early as c. 900 but he maintains that it had not yet been added to the Mahabharata some 150 years later. Moriz Winternitz also notes that a distinctive feature of Southern manuscripts of the Mahabharata is their omission of this Ganesha legend.[193]
[edit] Puranic period
Stories about Ganesha often occur in the Puranic corpus. Brown notes while the Puranas "defy precise chronological ordering", the more detailed narratives of Ganesha's life are in the late texts, circa 600- 1300.[194] Yuvraj Krishan says that the Puranic myths about the birth of Ganesha and how he came to acquire an elephant's head are in the later Puranas composed from about 600 onwards, and that references to Ganesha in the earlier Puranas such as the Vayu and Brahmanda Puranas, are later interpolations made during the 7th to 10th centuries.[195]
In his survey of Ganesha's rise to prominence in Sanskrit literature Ludo Rocher notes that:
Above all, one cannot help being struck by the fact that the numerous stories surrounding Gaṇeśa concentrate on an unexpectedly limited number of incidents. These incidents are mainly three: his birth and parenthood, his elephant head, and his single tusk. Other incidents are touched on in the texts, but to a far lesser extent.[196]
Ganesha's rise to prominence was codified in the 9th century when he was formally included as one of the five primary deities of Smartism. The ninth-century philosopher Śaṅkarācārya popularized the "worship of the five forms" (pañcāyatana pūjā) system among orthodox Brahmins of the Smārta tradition.[197][198] This worship practice invokes the five deities Ganesha, Vishnu, Shiva, Devī, and Sūrya.[199][200] Śaṅkarācārya instituted the tradition primarily to unite the principal deities of these five major sects on an equal status. This formalized the role of Ganesha as a complementary deity. The monistic philosophy preached by Śaṅkarācārya made it possible to choose one of these as a preferred principal deity and at the same time worship the other four deities as different forms of the same all-pervading Brahman.
[edit] Ganesha Scriptures
Statue of Ganesha with a flowerFor more detail see: Ganesha Purana and Mudgala Purana
Once Ganesha was accepted as one of the five principal deities of Brahmanism, some brāhmaṇas chose to worship Ganesha as their principal deity. They developed the Ganapatya tradition as seen in the Ganesha Purana and the Mudgala Purana.[201]
The date of composition for the Ganesha Purana and the Mudgala Purana, and their dating relative to one another, has sparked academic debate. Both works developed over periods of time and contain age-layered strata. Anita Thapan reviews different views on dating and provides her own judgement. She states that it appears likely that the core of the Ganesha Purana came into existence around the 12th and 13th centuries but was subject to interpolations during the succeeding ages.[202] Lawrence W. Preston considers that the period 1100-1400 is the most reasonable date for the Ganesha Purana because that period agrees with the apparent age of the sacred sites mentioned by it.[203]
R. C. Hazra suggested that the Mudgala Purana is older than the Ganesha Purana which he dates between 1100 and 1400 A.D.[204] However Phillis Granoff finds problems with this relative dating and concludes that the Mudgala Purana was the last of the philosophical texts concerned with Ganesha because, among other internal evidence, the Mudgala Purana specifically mentions the Ganesha Purana as one of the four Puranas that deal at length with Ganesha (these are the Brahma, the Brahmanda, the Ganesha, and the Mudgala puranas).[205] The Mudgala Purana, like many other Puranas, contains multiple age strata. While the kernel of the text must be old it continued to receive interpolations until the 17th and 18th centuries as the worship of Ganapati became more important in certain regions.[206] Another highly regarded scripture, the Ganapati Atharvashirsa, was probably composed during the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries A.D.[207]
[edit] Beyond India and Hinduism
For more on this topic, see Ganesha outside Hinduism.
Tibetan depiction of Dancing Ganesha[208] This form is also known as Maharakta ("The Great Red One")[209]India had an impact on the regions of West and Southeast Asia as a result of commercial and cultural contacts. Ganesha is one of many Hindu deities who reached foreign lands as a result.[210] The worship of Ganesha by Hindus outside of India shows regional variation.
Ganesha was particularly worshipped by traders and merchants, who went out of India for commercial ventures.[211] The period from approximately the tenth century onwards was marked by the development of new networks of exchange, the formation of trade guilds, and a resurgence of money circulation. It was during this time that Ganesha became the principal deity associated with traders.[212] The earliest inscription where Ganesha is invoked before any other deity is by the merchant community.[213]
Hindus spread out to the Malay Archipelago and took their culture with them, including Ganesha.[214] Statues of Ganesa are found throughout the Malay Archipelago in great numbers, often beside Shiva sanctuaries. The forms of Ganesha found in Hindu art of Java, Bali, and Borneo show specific regional influences.[215] The gradual emigration of Hindus to Indochina established Ganesha in modified forms in Burma, Cambodia, and Thailand. In Indochina, Hinduism and Buddhism were practiced side-by-side and mutual influences can be seen in the iconography of Ganesha in the region.[216] In Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, Ganesha was mainly thought of as a remover of obstacles.[217] Even today, in Buddhist Thailand Ganesha is regarded as remover of obstacles and thus god of success.[218]
Before the arrival of Islam, Afganistan had close cultural ties with India, and the adoration of both Hindu and Buddhist deities was practiced. A few examples of sculptures from the period 5th-7th century have survived, suggesting that the worship of Ganesha was in vogue in the region at that time.[219][220]
Ganesha appears in Buddhism, not only in the form of the Buddhist god Vināyaka, but also portrayed as a Hindu demon form with the same name (Vināyaka).[221] His image appears in Buddhist sculptures during the late Gupta period.[222] As the Buddhist god Vināyaka, he is often shown dancing, a form called Nṛtta Ganapati that was popular in North India, later adopted in Nepal and then in Tibet.[223] In Nepal, the Hindu form of Ganesha known as Heramba is very popular, where he appears with five heads and rides on a lion.[224] Tibetan representations of Ganesha show ambivalent views of him.[225] In one Tibetan form, he is shown being trodden under foot by Mahākala, a popular Tibetan deity.[226][227] Other depictions show him as the Destroyer of Obstacles, sometimes dancing.[228] Ganesha appears in both China and Japan in forms that show distinct regional character. In North China, the earliest known stone statue of Ganesha carries an inscription dated 531 CE.[229] In Japan the Ganesha cult was first mentioned in 806 CE.[230]
The canonical literature of Jainism does not mention the cult of Ganesha.[231] However Ganesha is worshipped by most Jains, for whom he appears to have taken over certain functions of Kubera.[232] Jain connections with the trading community support the idea that Jainism took up the worship of Ganesha as a result of commercial connections.[233] The earliest known Jain Ganesha statue dates to about the 9th century.[234] A 15th century Jain text provides procedures for the installation of Ganapati images.[235] Images of Ganesha appear in the Jain temples of Rajasthan and Gujarat.[236]
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Sold for € 6.325
Not to be confused with the Ford Transit introduced in 1965, which had been developed jointly by Ford of Britain and Ford Werke AG of Germany, the German-designed and built FK 1000 of 1953 was the first Ford product to wear the 'Transit' badge. This German-built van started out with a 1.2-litre engine (FK 1000) before gaining a 1.5-litre unit (FK 1250) in 1955, while in 1961 the Ford Werke's existing 'Taunus' brand name was added. Production of the Taunus Transit ceased in 1965 on the introduction of its much better known and considerably more successful namesake.
First registered on 21st August 1962, this Ford Taunus Transit was first owned by the Freiwillige Feuerwehr: the voluntary fire brigade of the city of Donauwörth in Bavaria. In 1978 the vehicle changed hands, passing to the nearby municipality of Marxheim, again in Bavaria. The purpose of the vehicle is recorded as Schlauchwagen, literally translated as hose carrier. Presented in remarkably solid but un-restored condition, the Transit is still in its Marxheim Fire Brigade livery, complete with blue light. The odometer reading is 13,629 kilometres and might well be original. The family reports that the van was used on occasion for surfing trips, and surely was and will be a head turner wherever it goes. It is offered with its original German Kraftfahrzeugbrief, recording only the two aforementioned municipalities as owners; an original workshop manual; and a magazine article relating to the model. A much rarer alternative to the ubiquitous offerings from Volkswagen.
國立台灣文學館 - 台灣本土母語文學常設展 / 台灣原住民百步蛇圖騰陶壺 - 光影中訴說著過去的歷史
National Museum of Taiwanese Literature - Taiwan native place mother tongue literature standing exhibition / Taiwan indigenous people's Hundred-pace Snake totem Tao Hu - In the light and shadow was relating past history
Museo Nacional de la literatura taiwanesa - Taiwán madre indígena lugar la literatura la lengua de pie exposición y las personas indígenas de Taiwán de los Cien ritmo Snake tótem Hu Tao - A la luz y la sombra estaba contando la historia pasada
国立の台湾の文学館 - 台湾の本土の母語の文学の常設の展 / 台湾の原住民の百歩の蛇のトーテムの陶壷 - 光影の中で過去の歴史を訴えています
Nationalmuseum der taiwanesischen Literatur - Taiwan Heimat Muttersprache Literatur Ständigen Ausstellung / Taiwan indigenen Völker Hundred-Tempo Snake totem Hu Tao - Im Licht und Schatten war Vergangenheit beziehen
Musée national de la littérature taiwanaise - Taiwan littérature la langue maternelle lieu permanent d'exposition maternelle / habitants de Taïwan autochtones Cent rythme Snake totem Tao Hu - Dans l'ombre et la lumière fut relatives antécédents
Tainan Taiwan / Tainan Taiwán / 台灣台南
哈囉你好 Lionel Richie composition(Paul Mauriat orchestra)
{HELLO/こんにちは/HOLA/PHONO Version}
{My BLOG/管樂雅集台南孔廟精彩演出-2010楊老大生日快樂}
{管楽の風雅に集う台南孔子廟のすばらしい公演-2010楊は非常に誕生日おめでとうございます}
便宜的標準鏡一樣純淨
The cheap standard kit lens is equally pure
La lente estándar barata del kit es igualmente pura
安い標準的な鏡は同様に清浄です
Das preiswerte Standardinstallationssatzobjektiv ist gleichmäßig rein
可用放大鏡開1:1原圖
The available magnifying glass opens 1:1 original picture
La lupa disponible abre el cuadro de la original del 1:1
利用できる拡大鏡は1:1の原物映像を開ける
Die vorhandene Lupe öffnet 1:1vorlagenabbildung
書中風起雲動 劍下虎嘯龍吟
The book stroke has the clouds to move under the sword the tiger's roar and dragon to recite
誰知成敗早已天定
Who knows the success or failure already to decide for GOD
回首江山依舊 入眼夕陽正紅
Who looks back on the landscape as before pleasant setting sun is red now
但願人長久情長在
Hopes the persons long-time sentiment exist
熱蘭劍士無悔無憾
The Zeelandia's swordsman regretless not regrets
How many of us can relate? whether you're a mom OR a daughter!
when i showed this to my mom, the irony wasn't lost on her --
"ha! i'd be the first to know!" she said. lol! ;)
just keeping in line with this month's theme - "keep in touch". hope this inspires me to dial home more often.. haha!
by the way, this is my first circle card. i wasn't sure how to photograph it, so i hung it on a memo clip. not too shabby, i think!
HA stamps -
bubble messages
alphabet
big owl
happy mom's day
thanks for taking a look!
Blogged: Hannah's Happy Hours
When the painter Marc Chagall (1887-1985) agreed for the first time to create the stained glass windows of a cathedral, that of Metz in 1959, he was at the same time revealing a secret part of his art. Chagall also knew how to play admirably with the opposition of colors to bring out and oppose different worlds and stories. Each time, he knew how to use these strong oppositions by using different pigments to make us discover another reality. Thus, on the one hand, we discover the quasi-monochromy of yellow in the stained glass window of the Creation, this one corresponding more to solar representations.On the other hand, the midnight blue with the fiery red of the two bays of the interior ambulatory seem to be more associated with nocturnal, crepuscular, telluric but also lunar images. On the one hand, that of the stained glass window of the Creation which narrates the paradisiacal scenes where Eve and Adam evolve with the dominant yellow. And on the other hand, the other world, that of the aftermath of the fall, of the exit from Eden, according to the two bays of the interior ambulatory. These relate the history of the chosen people, with dark and violent colors such as night blue and fire red. All this to signify that we are no longer in the Edenic times but in those where humanity will know sin and death. At the same time, one will also notice that each stained glass window is crossed by an astonishing dynamism. This dynamism increases and always evolves in the same direction, from left to right. Thus we can follow the story of each representation always in the same direction.
The first stained glass window, that of the Creation, begins in the first lancet with the scene of the creation of the man Adam and finally ends in the last lancet with the expulsion of the couple Adam and Eve from paradise. At the same time, in the other two bays of the interior ambulatory, we see a long historical continuum that goes from the Sacrifice of Isaac to the deportation of the Jews to Babylon. It is worth noting that each time, the story told by the stained glass windows ends with a dramatic exit!
Finally, the deep source of this dynamism must be sought in Hasidism, a Jewish religious movement that strongly influenced Chagall. Most of the Israelites in Vitebsk were all Hasidim. For the Hasid, spontaneous emotion counts as much as the law or the rite. Hence the painter's insistence on often showing us festive scenes where everyone gives free rein to the expression of their spontaneous joy. Thus, often the Chagallian characters seem to be invaded by this enthusiasm inherited from Hasidism. This Russian painter succeeds in associating us with the vitality of the spectacle of human history to a more intense force that animates us. This mysterious divine energy, is it not ultimately what this artist wants to reveal to us with this other reality? To lead us in fact to fly always higher in the image of his Luftmensch?
This is not surprising, since the artist has always been a special case in modern painting. While abstraction appeared to many as the ultimate achievement of pictorial creation, he, on the contrary, always clung as fiercely to figuration. Not because of a concern for conformism or academicism, but rather because he considered it to be the most appropriate way to show another reality. Revealing notably by the magic of the representation and the color, the inaccessible, the unsuspected because this artist had always had the concern to reveal the most intimate and the most mysterious thing of the being. Father Couturier (1897-1954), who first encouraged him to work as a stained glass artist in the church of Assy in 1956-1957, had well grasped the soul of this painter by affirming that: "Chagall is not an explorer of the depths of the soul: he is a tree with deep roots whose fruits have the color of the Sun. But it is also thanks to his work on the Bible that the brush of this painter will allow other discoveries. The effect of the saving storm of the God of the Old Testament will indeed act powerfully on him. Hence the same impression that the visible reality of this painter becomes something else thanks to his palette. However, if his representations surprise by their sometimes irrational side, he is not for all that a surrealist painter, even if he makes us reach another world. Later, when he discovered at the age of 70 the possibilities offered by the technique of stained glass, it is also undeniable that this art of luminescence will stimulate his inspiration even more. The first cathedral of his career, the Cathedral of Saint-Etienne in Metz, will give him the opportunity to highlight certain facets of this other reality. First of all, to bring it out, he knew how to take advantage of a perfect use of the place. Indeed, his first stained glass windows often located in a relatively dark and secluded space will lead him to develop more than elsewhere his proximity to the painter Rembrandt, painter of the soul and chiaroscuro. Then, another complicity that we discover in this painter is that with Jacob, the patriarch of the Bible, with whom he will be able to emphasize his Luftmensch. Finally, he will play more than elsewhere with the partitions and polarities that underlie all his work. On this occasion also, he will be able to highlight with great mastery all the force that animates his stained glass work, which is totally subordinated to movement and dynamism. When he was offered to work for the cathedral of Metz, he was initially quite disappointed with the spaces he was given. Indeed, he was initially offered to practice his art in relatively secluded and dark areas of the cathedral, since they were located in the north apse, more precisely in the inner ambulatory. With the windows located at the beginning of the choir's perimeter and where the sun practically never appeared, his work might not benefit from maximum visibility and this had not escaped the painter. So he began with the window furthest back, the one with three lancets, and then the one further forward with four lancets. He called this three lancet window the "wounded stained glass window". Chagall called it that because the left side of the window was cut off when the turret was created, giving it a lame look. The median axis of the rose window is indeed off-center to the left of the current median axis of the lancets. As we will see later, Chagall knew perfectly how to illustrate his world by playing on partitions and polarities. Here, in these dark spaces, it will be the world of the night and the penumbra representing the lunar star opposed to the world of the day and the Sun. The solar world will be the one he will inaugurate some time later in the North transept with the stained glass window of the Creation. This is why, as a painter and to illuminate and "counterbalance" this world of night, he will use two dominant colors which are the dark blue associated with the aggressive red. He thus uses his proven technique of the preponderant color. This technique goes back to his very first years in painting, during his years spent in Saint Petersburg in 1906-1907. His master at the time, Leon Bakst, always advised him to limit the world of colors to better dominate them. During this same period, he also produced a number of paintings with scenes that took place mostly at night (The Birth, The Peasant Woman Eating, The Kermesse, The Procession, The Holy Family). His taste for tenebrism brings him closer to Caravaggio, but especially to Rembrandt. One can also explain his attraction for the half-light because, for lack of means, he worked at the time most often in a cramped room in St. Petersburg which was particularly dark. Thus, the affinities with the great Flemish painter will become more and more obvious. Firstly, in the use of chiaroscuro, which Chagall had to use in view of the places where he had to execute his work, in particular in the interior ambulatory of the cathedral in Metz. Then in the treatment itself of certain scenes. Indeed, we discover obvious similarities with a Rembrandt painting of 1635 when he tackles the first lancet of the four lancet stained glass window, in the scene of the Sacrifice of Isaac. We see the same strong chromatic opposition of contrasts between the dark blue in Chagall's work or the dark brown in Rembrandt's that invades the figure of Abraham and the whitish clarity of Isaac's body. We also detect an identical treatment in the softness and transparency of the half-tones. In these two painters, the same effects of light modulation are used to reveal the deep truth of the beings. Chagall, in this stained glass window, plays on the variation of blues, going from the most intense and darkest to the most luminous. In the same way, in these two artists, Isaac is violently illuminated while we never really see his eyes. We cannot see the victim's gaze because it is the gaze of God that we risk encountering. The work is here an unveiling. The artist then reveals another reality: the victim will be recognized by God and saved by him alone!.
www.blelorraine.fr/2021/05/des-vitraux-de-chagall-a-la-ca...
Photographed on 7 September 2016
The name ‘Treasurer’s House’ relates to the building that first stood on this site built for the medieval Treasurers of York Minster. The first Treasurer was appointed in 1091 AD. The Treasurer controlled the finances of the Minster but also entertained important guests, which is why he was provided with a grand residence. All that remains of the original Treasurer’s House is an external wall from the 12th century.
The Reformation of the English Church in the 1540s brought an end to the office of Treasurer and the house passed into the hands of the Archbishops of York. Thomas Young, Archbishop between 1562 and 1568, and his descendants are responsible for the structure of Treasurer’s House as it is today. The symmetrical front was part of changes made by the Young family in the early 17th century which involved almost entirely rebuilding the house. Treasurer’s House played host to Royalty when Sir George Young entertained King James I in 1617.
During the 18th century Treasurer’s House became the town residence of gentry families, lawyers and clergy. The greatest changes made during this period were the division of the building into several residences and the various extensions made. By the end of the 19th century, the house was very decayed and poorly cared for. However, at the turn of the century Frank Green came to the rescue.
Frank Green was a wealthy collector, and owned Treasurer’s House between 1897 and 1930. He demolished the additions made to the building in the 19th century and restored the house to what he thought was its original shape. He turned Treasurer’s House into a stage for his collection, designing rooms of different periods to display his antique furniture. It was at this time that Treasurer’s House received a second Royal visit, in June 1900. Edward VII and Queen Alexandra visited as Prince and Princess of Wales along with their daughter Victoria. It was in their honour that the King’s Room, Queen’s Room and Princess Victoria’s Room were so named.
Frank Green was a very precise man, in both his own appearance and the way he ran his home. He was a bit of a ‘dandy’, neatly dressed and often seen wearing a floppy silk bow tie. He had studs fixed to the floor in the rooms of Treasurer’s House so the house maids knew exactly where furniture should stand. Frank was also careful about the state of his house; signs can be seen at Treasurer’s House with careful instructions to the staff. A former kitchen maid told how Frank would inspect the kitchen, turning out any drawers he thought were untidy. Frank Green retired to Somerset in 1930 and gave Treasurer’s House to the National Trust, complete with his vast collection. It was the first historic house acquired by the Trust with its contents complete.
========In Arkham Asylum : Therapy Division========
Joker: Y’know Harley...I feel like I can relate to you. I know we don’t see each other often, but I feel like I know you so much. Get me?
Harley: Of course.
Joker: I feel like I could tell you some of my secrets.
Harley: Really?
Joker: That is if I can trust you.
Harley: Of course you can trust me!
Joker: That’s a hard argument to beat...alright...I’ll tell you *ahahahaha* about my childhood.
Harley: An area where trama usually stems from…
Joker: Anyway...my old man favored the bottle you see. Anytime I would take the wrong step *POW*! Anytime I say the wrong thing *THWOP*!
Harley: Oh my god...I’m so sorry.
Joker: Though, there was only one time when I ever saw him happy…
Harley: And what was that?
Joker: The time he took me to the circus...I had never seen him laugh...thought he’d bust a gut *hahahaha*. So, the next day I put on his best sunday pants and said look at me dad! I dropped the pants, tripped, and fell face first on the ground!
Joker and Harley: *hahahahaha*
Joker: He laughed so hard! But when he discovered I ripped the crotch out... he punched me in the nose. Woke up a day later in the hospital.
Harley: Oh dear…
Joker: In that moment I decided that if I could make a man like that laugh...I could bring joy to everyone’s life. So, here I am.
Harley: Thank you for sharing with me...Mr. J.
[Harley scribbles something down on a notepad smiling]
Aboriginal Occupation:
Prior to European settlement the Blue Mountains was the home of many autonomous Aboriginal groups who lived and moved around the region. There are six distinct tribal groups who have traditional rights and custodial responsibilities for the indigenous heritage of the region that are: the Darug, the Gandangurra, the Wanaruah, the Wiradjuri, the Darkinjung and the Tharawal.
Evidence of Aboriginal occupation and custodianship of the country within Blue Mountains National Park dates back to possibly 22,000 years B.P. The Blue Mountains contain a large number of significant sites which capture the relationship that Aboriginal people have had with country for thousands of generations.
The rich and varied evidence of traditional occupation of the reserves include archaeological deposits in open sites and rock shelters, stone implements, factory sites for tool production, axe grinding grooves and extensive art-work, including drawn, painted and stencilled images. Tracks and figurative motifs dominate the art sites. Motifs include anthropomorphic figures, animals, hand stencils and tracks of birds and kangaroos.
European Settlement:
Katoomba initially developed in a fashion quite distinct from the other Blue Mountains townships along the 1860s railway line. From 1874 onwards trains halted at The Crushers, in the vicinity of the later station, not for passengers but for stone quarried near the later court-house.
The first settlement in the area was two kilometres to the south-west of the railway, near Katoomba Falls, where John Britty North opened a coal-mine complex in the Jamison Valley in 1878.
There was a village near the top of Katoomba Falls and another village grew up deep down in the valley itself close to the base of the Falls, just below where the Scenic Railway ends today.
North built a private tramway from the top of the incline near Katoomba Falls to join the main western railway line at what is now known as Shell Corner, a kilometre west of the present station.
All this diverted attention away from the current core area of the urban development, the area on either side of Katoomba Street, that essential north-south connecting link between the railway and Echo Point.
This area around Katoomba Street was within the large land-holding of James Henry Neale, a master butcher and Sydney politician, who had been a member of the Legislative Assembly from 1864 until 1874. In 1877 Neale built a country retreat called Froma on what is now the new Cultural Centre site on the east side of Parke Street.
In 1881 Neale sold his interest in central Katoomba, including the house, to Frederick Clissold. Clissold, a wool-merchant resident in the Sydney suburb of Ashfield, immediately sub-divided the land, creating and naming the modern street system.
Parke, Katoomba and Lurline Streets were created, running north-south, while Waratah Street ran east-west and defined the southern edge of the initial commercial centre of the new town. The Great Western Highway and the railway defined the northern limit.
Katoomba changed rapidly; it started as only two industrial halts on the railway, with stone for railway works at one and at the other a private tramway leading down to a coal-mine and two mining villages.
Then it became a characteristic Mountains town relating to a proper railway station, as the 78 allotments created in 1881 were, over two decades, purchased and developed.
During this period from the 1880s up to the First World War, the whole area below the Carrington, quite close to the railway station, along Katoomba, Parke and Lurline Streets, became a busy commercial precinct, dominated by shops, services and a cluster of guesthouses, tempered by a remarkable number of churches (Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic and Congregationalist) along with their halls and manses.
The influx of seasonal tourists and the increasing number of permanent residents who serviced the tourists created a need for local services, so the area between the station and Waratah Street gradually filled up with shops, restaurants, cafes, two theatres and public utilities, such as the post office and the public school.
There was still a lot of free space in 1906, captured in a marvellous photograph showing south Katoomba from the most spectacular of the early consolidations, the Great Western Hotel of 1882, better known as the Carrington, on its spacious hill-top site. Froma was still there in 1906, just below the Carrington although it was demolished six years later.
Between Froma and Katoomba Street, the site of the later Paragon was a large, empty space, which remained undeveloped until 1909, when William Newlind built four shops on the vacant Katoomba Street block.
Newlind had built the four shops as a speculation and three of them were soon bought as an investment by the Anglican rector of St Hilda's, just across the street. These were all retail shops until 1916 when one was converted into refreshment rooms, called The Paragon.
This was just at the beginning of a new phenomenon in Australian country towns, the Greek cafe. From the early 1910s onwards a number of emigres from Greece, often with experience of the United States, created a new cafe experience in cities and towns throughout Australia.
The Greek cafe was 'essentially an evolutionary amalgam' of the Greek coffee-house and the American-oyster saloon and soda parlour with the familiar fare of the existing British-Australian steak-houses. The names of the cafes, Californian, Golden Gate, Niagara on the one hand and Acropolis, Parthenon, Paragon on the other, reflected the shared inheritance.
In Katoomba a drapery store built at 92 Bathurst Road near the station about 1905 was converted in 1917 to a Greek cafe called the Acropolis and soon rechristened the Niagara to emphasise its trendy American drinks.
This is the Australian environment which a fifteen-year-old Greek boy called Zacharias Theodore 'Jack' Simos found when he migrated from Greece in 1912. He found work in Greek cafes in Sydney, Windsor and in Tenterfield.
By 1916 he was in Katoomba, where in a brief partnership with Demetruos Sophios he became a fruiterer and a confectioner, opening his own premises in Katoomba called the Paragon Cafe and Oyster Palace.
The Paragon and adjoining shopfronts (63-69) Katoomba Street) is located on Lot 21 of land in Katoomba owned by James Neale and subdivided in the 1880s. The lot was purchased by William Newlind in 1886. Four shops, nos. 63 to 69, were built on Newlind's land in 1909. The three to the north, nos 63 to 67, including the future Paragon, were all owned in 1911 by the Rev. John Russell, who was the Anglican rector of St Hilda's across the street from 1902 until 1913. Since Russell did not own the fourth shop, it is likely that he was not responsible for building on the site but merely bought existing new shops as an investment. He retained ownership of the properties until 1924. From this date Russell maintained only one investment property in Katoomba: No.100-102 Katoomba Street. It is believed the income from the shops was an important part of Russell's income, particularly after Russell went to Sydney as senior curate to the rector of St James.
Russell leased the shops as three separate entities. By 1914 No. 63 was leased by a jeweller, L.P. Goldstein. He bought the freehold from Russell in 1924. The shop was later occupied by another jeweller, H. Lloyd. Jewellers have continued to occupy the shop for most of its history. No. 65 was leased by Russell to a series of shopkeepers - Sullivan in 1914-6 and Dagon from 1917 to 1919. By 1923 he had leased it to Zacharias Simos as refreshment rooms called The Paragon, and in 1924 Zacharias Simos purchased both nos. 65 and 67 from Russell.
Simos was a Greek migrant who had arrived in Sydney early in the century. He migrated to Sydney in 1912 and like many of his countrymen worked in Greek cafes and other food related businesses in NSW. His arrival in Sydney predated the post world war one arrival of many young men from countries such as Greece and Italy after the United States began limiting the numbers of southern Europeans it allowed into the country. Many of the young men paid their way to Australia and found work in the food industry.
Zacharias Simos worked in Sydney and Tenterfield for the first four years before setting up a business at Windsor where he sold ham and eggs next door to a skating rink and sold vegetables door to door. During this time he saved his money and learned English sufficiently well to establish himself as a confectioner in Katoomba. During this time he worked as a caterer. Zacharias Simos was naturalised in 1921 and bought a commercial property at 110-114 Katoomba Street owned by Miss Kelly and previously run by a Mrs Banning. Three years later he purchased the refreshment rooms at 65 and 67 Katoomba Street.
In 1925 Zacharias Simos employed H. & E. Sidgreaves, the shop-fitting firm responsible for the design of Washington H. Soul's Sydney pharmacies, to convert the interior of the cafe premises on classical (Art Deco) lines. A soda fountain, of the finest Moruya marble, and booths of Queensland maple were installed as were the timber-panelled walls decorated with alabaster friezes depicting classical Greek figures. The fine and intact leadlight shopfronts which characterise the building were probably included in this work and have become an important part of the architectural character of Katoomba Street. The street contains many other fine examples of glazed shopfronts from the 1920s and it has been suggested that together they may be the largest extant collection of 1920s leadlight shopfronts in NSW and comparable to Canowindra in the central west of NSW.
Upstairs in 1925 was the industrial side of the enterprise, not open to the public. There was a bakehouse, a large refrigeration plant for the ice-cream made on the premises and a new 'sweet factory', with a gas boiler and a forced-air draught for cooling the chocolate.
The technology of the chocolaterie is well documented, although the equipment was dismantled a decade ago. The chocolate-making equipment is still stored upstairs and on April 10, 2013 members of the Australian Society for the History of Engineering & Technology (ASHET) committee inspected and photographed the various items.
This industrial dimension to the Paragon is of exceptional importance. Chocolate-making at the Paragon had been of a high order ever since Zacharias Simos had been joined by his two brothers: George was a master confectioner and they were trading as Simos Brothers by 1926.
Originally, Zacharias Simos lived above the shop, in that part of the upstairs rabbit-warren overlooking Katoomba Street which was not used for making chocolates or for baking cakes.
The bakery and the chocolaterie which gave The Paragon so much of its distinction were located upstairs from the mid-1920s, so the products which gave the place such well-deserved fame were made on site.
The earlier chocolate-making machinery and some of the baking equipment was dismantled and stored in a short corridor upstairs about ten years ago, but a historic photograph at the Paragon today shows every item in use forty years ago.
The equipment has been assessed by members of Australian Society for the History of Engineering and Technology. It is striking how international it all is. The Simos brothers took some trouble to acquire the best available machinery. Small and Shattell Pty Ltd, Melbourne-based engineers who specialised in baking equipment, along with Star Machinery of Alexandria, are among the few Australian firms patronised.
A major French firm, Kstner frres of Lyon, had been making bakery equipment for the world for fifty years. There is also another piece of equipment from the firm when it was located not in Lyons but in Paris and Aubervilliers. America, with which the Simos had strong connections, was not overlooked. Metal piping was made by Walworth of Boston.
The confectionery equipment was made by the prestigious firm BCH. What became the major modern firm called BCH had originated in the mid-nineteenth century in the separate works of William Brierley, Luke Collier and Thomas Hartley. Luke Collier was a specialist confectioner from 1835; Brierley was a brass-founder, specialising in confectionery work from 1844 onwards; and Hartley was also an independent specialist in chocolate-making. The Brierley and Collier firms amalgamated in 1913 and this firm joined forces with the Hartley family in 1924. Operating out of Rochdale in England the Brierley-Collier-Hartley firm went from strength to strength and finally became BCH. Simos seems to have ordered this equipment from BCH in the decade after the final amalgamation of 1924.
In 1929 Zacharias returned to Kythera and spent a year in Europe observing trends in confectionery manufacture and cafe culture. He also arranged to import new ingredients and learned about presentation and packaging. On Kythera he met and courted Mary (Maria) Panaretos (1912-2001). She had been born on 20 June 1912 at Elkton, Maryland, United States of America, where her parents were cafe proprietors who regularly spent the summer months on Kythera. Mary and Zacharias married there on 30 January 1930 and reached Katoomba later that year.
Zacharias Simos and his wife set about turning the Paragon into a high class refreshment room. The popular Katoomba landmark Orphan Rock became his trademark, an image of the 'stand-alone' excellence to which he aspired. Mary became an identifiable figure at the Paragon. She was generous and cultured, and always on hand to welcome visitors and press chocolates into the hands of children.
Zacharias also began planning two large extensions at the rear of his cafe: the banquet hall (1934), influenced by pre-Columbian decoration, and the blue room (1936), in 'ocean liner' style, with mirrored walls and sprung dance floor. The design of the 1925 and 1930s interiors has generally been attributed to Henry Eli White who was also responsible for buildings such as the Vanderbilt Flats in Elizabeth Bay and a variety of theatres throughout Australia. However, there has been some suggestion that some of the work at The Paragon may be attributed to George Newton Kenworthy. Some archived drawings show them as being produced in Kenworthy's office. This is supported by the fact that Kenworthy worked in White's office in the second half of the 1920s and opened his own office in the early 1930s. Henry White closed his practice in the early years of the 1930s and did not continue to practice architecture.
In the late 1930s Zacharias and Mary bought vacant land on what is now Cliff Drive down at Echo Point and in 1940 they commissioned G.N. Kenworthy, the architect of the State Ballroom in Sydney, who had also worked on the State Theatre, to design a Functionalist house, which they called Olympus. Despite some additions to the upper frontage in the 1980s, the house and its important outbuildings, (garage, pergola, summer-house, fuel store), have retained a great deal of integrity. This is the necessary corollary to the Paragon, blending perfectly with the developed facade of the famous cafe.
In the early post war years a decorative relief sculpture by Otto Steen depicting various characters from Greek mythology was installed in the Dining Room. He was a student of Raynor Hoff who created the sculptures for the ANZAC War Memorial in the Sydney. Steen worked with Hoff at the memorial. Steen's other decorative works include those in two major Sydney buildings in the 1930s - the Trocadero in George Street and the AWA Building in York Street. He was also responsible for the relief sculptures at Everglades, Leura. Steen is now considered one of the twentieth century's accomplished sculptors who made a significant contribution to NSW's interwar and post war heritage.
The Paragon gained a wide reputation. Its ice creams were originally hand churned and frozen with American ammonia freezing machines and sundaes blended with syrups and fruit ingredients, often specially imported. The art deco ambience attracted devoted customers. With the help of his brothers Peter and George, bread, cakes and pastries were manufactured on the premises, as well as chocolates and other confectioneries sold in exquisitely designed and coloured boxes. In this period the Blue Mountains was among NSW's most important holiday and recreation centres and Katoomba was a focal point of this activity. The Paragon also catered to more adult tastes and would later be described as one of the smartest cocktail bars in the art deco style in Australia.
The shop at number 69 was bought in the 1930s by Mary Simos so that the three shops, nos. 65, 67, and 69, were all in the Simos family control (Rate Books). The shop at no.69 had a different owner when constructed in 1909, Reuben S. Hofman. Hofman appears to have used it as his own draper's shop. After his retirement, Hofman leased no.69 initially to E. Luce, also a draper, in the early 1920s, but it became a confectioner's in the mid-1920s, competing with the Paragon.
The Simos' primary residence was Olympus; they also maintained a home in Sydney at Centennial Park. Zacharias devoted many hours to his garden - meaning the Paragon always had fresh flowers - loved music, played the violin and was a keen fisherman and backgammon player. Enjoying travel, he visited Europe, the U.S.A. and Kythera several times. He was a foundation member of Katoomba Rotary Club, which for many years held its meetings in the Paragon.
Zacharias died on 15 November 1976 in Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, and was buried in Randwick cemetery following a funeral at St George's Greek Orthodox Church, Rose Bay. His wife, carried on as manager of The Paragon until 1987. The cafe was sold in 2000. Mary Simos died on 15 May 2001 at Rose Bay and was buried beside her husband.
The tea-room has remained as a remarkably intact example of Interwar Art Deco.
Robyn Parker has been the proprietor of the Paragon since May 2011 and is working to regain its original splendour. She played an important role in having the site listed on the NSW State Heritage Register.
H. & E. SIDGREAVES
Harry and Ernest Sidgreaves established a modest retail shopfitting workshop in Sydney's Surry Hills in 1917 and were later joined by their father John and youngest brother Harold. They moved their factory to Redfern in the early 1920's where the company carried on business until 1984 when it relocated to Silverwater. Sidgreaves undertook much shopfront construction during the interwar period in Sydney and surrounds. This included one of their most celebrated early works, a streamlined shopfront for G. A. Zink and Son in Oxford Street, East Sydney, 1938.
In 2005, the Company relocated to larger and more contemporary offices in Annandale where it remains today. Throughout the 90+ year history of the Company, Sidgreaves has specialised in all areas of interior refurbishment from major department stores, specialty retailers, financial institutions and commercial offices through to hotels, clubs and pharmacies. In the 21st century Sidgreaves ranks many national and international companies amongst its clients in Australia including Burberry, Versace, Jimmy Choo, Saba and Sheridan.
OTTO STEEN
Otto Seen studied at the Royal Academy, Copenhagen under Utzon Frank 1923-1925. He studied under Raynor Hoff at East Sydney Technical College from 1928-1930 and worked as Hoff's assistant on the ANZAC memorial. As Hoff's student, Steen was part of perhaps the only instance of coherent (European) group production of sculpture in Australia. The unity of style and subject matter of the sculptures created by Hoff and his students was so great that the works have been designated as part of 'the Hoff School". The theme of Greek mythology in Steen's work at The Paragon reflected the influence of his work as a member of the Hoff School with its classicist tendencies. It was a local decision made on behalf of the local community with input from appropriate experts. Steen completed reliefs at King George V Hospital in Sydney (1941) as well as those at the Trocadero, Sydney, 1936 (frieze), the AWA building, Sydney, 1939 (mosaic, relief), Everglades and The Paragon.
HENRY WHITE
Henry White was born in New Zealand. He established himself as a theatre architect in Christchurch from 1905. By 1915 he was building theatres in Australia, placing himself in an ideal position for the theatre boom of the 1920s. He adapted American architects John Eberson's 'atmospheric' style which was supposed to evoke an exotic garden or courtyard and used Spanish, Moorish, Venetian and Indian Motifs. His Sydney theatres included the Capital, the State Theatre, the St James (for the Fullers) and the Majestic (Elizabethan) at Newtown. He also designed the Bunnerong Power Station and the Civic Theatre and City Hall at Newcastle. The Depression marked the end of White's architectural career. He won a competition to design a college in Auckland but plans were shelved. He closed his office in favour of farming in New Zealand. The venture failed and he returned to Sydney in 1937. A number of commissions at this time failed to go ahead.
GEORGE NEWTON KENWORTHY
Like Henry White, Kenworthy was well known for his theatre architecture. Kenworthy's works include the Cremorne Orpheum and the Royal Hotel, Orange. He spent a period of time working in the offices of Henry White before branching out on his own.
Source: New South Wales Heritage Register.
Written by my sister:
As a very popular old song says, “If you can’t have the one you want, love the one you’re with.” We’ve all, as doll collectors, at one point in our life had those “grail dolls.” The fantasies. I’m sure many of you will relate when I say that, as kids, Shelly and I spent a lot of time thinking out loud about what we’d do when we got our hands on certain dolls. We figured that our doll games would be so much more exciting after Shelly got a Tarzan Jade doll. We spent months leading up to Christmas plotting what we’d do in our scenarios when Shelly got her hands on the Winning London dolls. For my sister in particular, “the next thing” was an all consuming obsession. I remember a lot of time we could have spent playing dolls but, instead, spent brooding about the one she wanted at the time.
As doll collectors, we’ve all experienced getting one doll when our first choice was unobtainable. You go to many stores and, when the doll you’ve wanted isn’t there, you take the next best thing. After a while, you “love the one you’re with” and forget who you were seeking in the first place. I can think of this scenario playing over many times in my life as a doll collector--having to get Fashion Party Nikki instead of Totally Yo Yo Nikki for Christmas 2002, Shelly wanting the original Deuce but, him being unavailable at the time, deciding to settle on Scaris then deciding to buy a Swim Class Lagoona after hours of searching for a Scaris Deuce, and Shelly getting both the Bratz Wild Wild West and Rock lines when our quest to find 10/10/10 Party Cloe didn’t succeed after hours of searching. Until around March 2016, when rewriting “fun facts” for line photos, I’d actually forgotten that my original choice for the perfect Nikki doll was the Totally Yo Yo doll but that she wasn’t in stores anymore so Dad bought me the Fashion Party doll. To me “Nikki” will always be Fashion Party Nikki. Many times, we’ll forget that the doll we are having so much fun with was just a placeholder...or a replacement. Other times, the novelty of a doll being a replacement makes her that much more special. For instance, Katie and Heidi: My favorite Kid Kore Katie doll lost an arm. I dragged Dad to a billion Walmarts to replace her. The second Katie wound up meaning WAY more to me--even though I got the first a few months before Mom passed away and I have a lot of good memories of Katie that involve Mom. The same is true of Heidi. The first Heidi was a Travel in Style Barbie that Shelly randomly bought, using mostly quarters, at a KB toy store one weekend with Dad. However, Shelly made the poor choice of giving her a haircut. When Dad had to resort to the internet to replace Heidi, Shelly became even more attached to the newer doll. In these instances, being a replacement/placeholder made the doll more dear.
Sometimes we end up eventually getting the doll we initially were pursuing sometime down the road--but the doll we took in their stead ends up becoming such an important part of our lives that the “grail doll” doesn’t hold a candle to her! I could probably give at least ten examples, but the most memorable example, to me at least, is the story of a sad little doll I named Margie Valentine. In what I recall to be spring 2002, Shelly and I were with our parents at the same flea market we still go to to this day. She bought a Pretty Surprise Barbie and we decided to buy a blue dining room table (that we still use all the time to this day). The seller had dolls sitting at the table. She moved them over to pack up the chairs. I noticed a sweet, blue-eyed blonde Skipper that intrigued me because the only doll we had on that body at the time was Daphne, our Teen Time Courtney we’d had since Shelly was two! I secretly wanted her but didn’t say anything. However, seeing her really sparked my interest in all things Skipper (a passion I still have to this day). I started playing with Daphne after that, I believe, and wanted to come across more Skippers. It was a regret I had every time I looked at our blue table.
Fast forward six months--my life had changed so much. Mom had passed away over the summer so it felt like a different world. In the fall, I started collecting Skipper officially--buying Robin (Pet Pals) boxed and several in stores. I was buying as many Skipper outfits as I could get my hands on. One chilly weekend in early 2003, we came to the GROSSEST indoor flea market I’d ever seen (at the time). The guy wanted way too much for his disgusting dolls--he had three “old” Skippers that he wanted five dollars a piece for. I wanted them so much that I bought them (now I’d walk away laughing at the ridiculous price) and hadn’t seen any like them. I found Cool Crimp Courtney, 1990 Babysitter Skipper, and Hawaiian Fun Skipper. Of course, I didn’t know who they were at the time--I’ll admit it added to their mystique. Hawaiian Fun Skipper, who I named Margie, reminded me a bit of the doll I’d seen and deeply regretted not buying, the doll that kick started my Skipper obsession. By then, Robin was the queen bee, my favorite. I chose Margie for her best friend and Beach Party Cloe’s sister. Ironically, Beach Party Cloe was also a placeholder, not the “perfect Cloe” and Cloe, just like Margie, wormed her way into our hearts and our story line.
Over the next six months, Margie ended up being a huge part of our doll games and our lives. She went pretty much everywhere we did--to the beach, to visit relatives, to go to the flea market and the toy stores to buy more friends...Sometime during summer 2003, a doll collector’s miracle occurred, one I NEVER honestly thought possible: my dream doll reappeared at the flea market! Of course, I didn’t pass her up a second time--she’s a lovely Wet ‘n Wild Skipper I call Sonya. Never for a moment have I looked at her and not felt super grateful that we were reunited. However, as precious as that once-in-a-lifetime experience as a doll collector is to me, she doesn’t come close to being as special as Margie! That is because, while Margie started as a placeholder in my heart--a doll standing in for the one I thought I’d never have a chance to buy again--she wound up becoming an irreplaceable friend and playmate.
In fact, when I look back at our doll “cast” from the two year span when dolls were the most important to us they’d ever been, 2002 and 2003, about half of our main “cast” consisted of dolls that started as replacements or placeholders--Margie, Cloe, Heidi, Nikki, Katie, and Jasmine. Shelly’s all-time favorite fashion doll, and “leading lady” of the day, Sparkling Jasmine was never in the original plan either. For years, Shelly wanted a new Jasmine doll. The Classics we’d grown up with were well out of stores. When the King of Thieves movie came out, Mom told her she could either get the wedding doll or the VHS. Like the day I didn’t buy Sonya at the flea market back in 2002, Shelly made the mistake of passing up Jasmine as a beautiful bride. She pined for her for a long time, then became enamored by the Holiday doll. When the Holiday Princess too disappeared from stores, she settled on the only Jasmine in stores at the time--Sparkling Jasmine.
I think dolls like Margie--the dolls you never planned to love--are one of the biggest reasons why I love being a collector. I also think that dolls like Margie are a big part of the reason why I collect the way I do. Most of the time, the dolls we buy are the ones we come across by chance, like Margie. We buy them in bulk and get a lot of duplicates--and each one has a different...personality. We find dolls like Lindsey and Maya (MAG #41) that we NEVER planned to get and end up falling very much in love with them because of the memories--like that day we bought Lindsey, the “Ken Suitcase Lot,” and stopped at Dunkin Donuts. We also buy a lot of our dolls opportunistically--on a sale. For example, I don’t think either of us “wanted” the Freak du Chic dolls--but we’ve really had a great time with them since they turned up so cheap at Walmart. I’m not saying we don’t buy special dolls for special occasions or that I wouldn’t be overjoyed if Totally Yo Yo Nikki found her way to my flea market. The dolls we make a point of tracking down are special in their own way too. What I mean is that those dolls like Margie that just find their way into your life also find a way into your heart that can be just as special as the doll you pined for for months or years! Dolls like Margie and Swim Class Lagoona have shaped our collection, our memories, and who we are as doll collectors. I wouldn’t take back the memories we made with Margie, Cloe, Heidi, Nikki, Katie, and Jasmine. The mishaps and adventures that led to them being in our lives are part of our most special doll memories. That’s why… “When you can’t have the one you want, love the one you’re with."
Moorook Hall is dated 1897 – 1933.
The date of 1897 relates to the one-roomed stone school building, complete with chimney as had many schools of that era. The school also served as a public hall and was used for many meetings, church services and social events. In 1901 the Moorook Hall was used for an inquest after a young man was found dead near the Moorook billabong.
After the Moorook Hall of 1933 was built the old hall was referred to as the ‘supper room’.
The following Village Settlements, all on the River Murray, were proclaimed under the Act of 1893 in Executive Council on Wednesday: Holder, Kingston, Lyrup, Moorook, Murtho, Pyap, Ramco and Waikerie. [Ref: Adelaide Observer 6-6-1896]
From Kingston, reached Moorook in about four miles. Here again very much has been done. For the most part the dwellings are comfortable, and their schoolhouse, which is used for all meeting purposes, would not disgrace any town in the colony: it is well built and well finished.
The pumping-plant here seems well kept and well suited for its work, and it is really surprising the growth everything makes with a judicious water supply. As elsewhere, the settlers seem sanguine that there will soon be an entire change of system, and that if so they can support themselves without further Government assistance, and also in time pay off their liabilities to the State. [Ref: South Australian Register 17-4-1897]
MOOROOK, July 23
The settlement is greatly improving. A new fence has been erected to enclose the settlement from the public road. A large place has been reserved for the schoolchildren.
The work of making channels was started today to carry water from the low lift to the respective blocks inhabited by the settlers.
All the settlers have received the permission of Mr R Fleming, the manager, to select pine trees growing about the place, and use them for the building of temporary houses on the blocks. [Ref Register (Adelaide) 1-8-1901]
Moorook May 6th
A farewell social was given to Sapper Harry Krollig of the engineers on Tuesday evening of last week. Sapper Krollig having obtained his final leave came up to say good bye to his people, who are much respected in this district. The notice was short but a goodly number of folks rolled up to do him honour.
It was a coincidence that Pte H Ledgard was also in the neighbourhood. He had resided here previously and came to say goodbye to his sister Mrs B L Drogemuller, and was also welcomed and farewelled as a fellow guest of Sapper Krollig.
The Captain of the Rifle Club, Mr W Munn, presented Sapper Krollig with a periscope on behalf of the club. Mr A H Roberts also spoke and cheers were given for the soldiers.
Thirty three men have enlisted from Moorook: thirteen of these were members of the Rifle Club.
The ladies provided supper, and dancing concluded a pleasant evening. [Ref: Murray Pioneer and Australian River Record (Renmark) 11-5-1916]
MOOROOK
Before breakfast time on Saturday morning the ‘Industry’ and the ‘Alexandra’ left the Cobdogla woolshed landing, and His Excellence the Governor and the viceregal party continued their journey downstream. It was a perfect spring morning, and the fast steam with the current was one of the most delightful of experiences.
The trip seemed all too short, but there was plenty of interest to be seen on landing, for the next stopping place was at Moorook, originally a village settlement, but abandoned as such in 1905. A number of the old irrigable blocks are being worked by settlers with satisfactory results, and now a considerable addition has been made to the population by the establishment of a number of returned soldiers there.
The new orchards have been in for three years now, and it is anticipated that this year some 200 tons of grapes will be got from them. There are 34 returned soldiers established on the area and about 19 civilian orchardists. At the outset an experiment was tried with dairying, and several of the irrigationists grew lucerne and kept dairy cows. It has been found, however, that this is not a success, the cows have been disposed of, and the lucerne patches are to be planted, with vines, which, of all fruit crops tried along the river, are proving to be the most regular and financially successful. A packing shed and winery are now being established, and prosperity appears to lie ahead of all the settlers.
A function took place in the new hall shortly after the arrival of the visitors, who were given a hearty welcome to the district. This hall is one of the best seen all along the river. It was previously the pay office at Mitcham [military camp] and is just the very thing for the district. [This prefabricated building was subsequently named the McIntosh Hall and was intended for use by the RSL and for church services. It later became the Moorook Cooperative and general store] [Ref: Observer (Adelaide) 23-10-1920]
Moorook May l
A handsome Honour Roll was unveiled in the local hall on Anzac Day in the presence of a large audience. The board was constructed by Pengelly & Co, and the lettering by Mr R H Herriott, who was himself one of the original Anzacs. Mr A H Roberts who presided, asked Mr R Fleming to perform the act of unveiling, which he did, delivering a thoughtful address.
Major M I Herbert, one of the original 10th Battalion, gave a graphic account of the historic landing at Gallipoli, and of the conditions prevailing until and at the evacuation.
The Rev Eric Wyllie conducted the service, when special prayers were said and hymns sung, including, Kipling's Recessional and the National Anthem.
Mr R F Mayfield, chairman of the Loxton District Council, motored from Loxton to attend the ceremony, and delivered a short address. The room was tastefully decorated with flags. Altogether the ceremony was of a most impressive nature. [Ref: Murray Pioneer and Australian River Record (Renmark) 6-5-1921]
In 1923 the government erected a new school, still standing today, resulting in the original school house being available solely for hall use.
The following newspaper report describes the manner in which residents secured the old hall for their use.
The annual meeting of Moorook Progress Association was held in the local hall on the 24th inst. The president, Mr A Carne JP, occupied the chair.
Since the establishment of the new school the old "Moorook Hall" had lost its principal source of revenue. The premises, and some half acre of land, were reserved for educational purposes at the time of the founding of the Village Settlement, and the deeds were handed to the Education Department.
Fearing that the premises might now be lost to the public benefit by some means, the committee had for some time been in communication with the department, with the result that it had been offered a lifelong lease of the building and adjoining reserve, at a nominal rental, providing suitable trustees were appointed. To enable negotiations to be finalized, trustees were appointed at this public meeting, the following gentlemen being elected: Messrs J Aird, A G Carne, C F Drogemuller, C R Krollig, A H Roberts, A. L. Shillabeer and T G A Wachtel.
A motion authorising them to take over a lease of the property, so that it might be conserved for the benefit of the residents was carried unanimously.
Several amendments to the rules of the Progress Association were adopted. [Ref: The Murray Pioneer and Australian River Record (Renmark) of 30 March 1923]
Moorook November 2
A community song hour, which is held on alternate Mondays in the local and McIntosh halls, still holds its own in enthusiasm, especially that in the McIntosh hall, where the attendance is particularly good.
Mr H Gray is conductor, Mrs Herriot pianiste. [Ref: Murray Pioneer and Australian River Record (Renmark) 7-11-1924]
IMPROVING MOOROOK HALL
Moorook August 23
The Moorook Hall has recently been painted and generally repaired, and to the great satisfaction of the ladies, the anteroom has been floored with cement, new benches and cupboards have been installed, and doors added leading from the hall. This has been a long felt want and will be greatly appreciated by everyone having occasion to use the building. [Ref: Murray Pioneer and Australian River Record (Renmark) 27-8-1926]
NEW MOOROOK HALL Foundation Stone
Moorook October 7
Before a large assembly, including visitors from Barmera, Renmark, Loxton and surrounding districts, the official ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the new Moorook Hall was performed by Moorook's oldest settler and one of the River's pioneers, Mr J Aird senr, on Saturday. Appropriate speeches were made by Messrs C R Krollig, chairman of hall trustees, S G A Wachtel and F J Petch, chairman Loxton district council. Mr Aird was presented with a suitably engraved silver trowel.
The sum of £8/12/ was laid on the stone.
Following the ceremony a bazaar, opened by Mr F J Petch, was held in the old hall. The ugly man competition was responsible for raising about £15. Various stalls, and a mock court were operating during the afternoon and evening.
In the evening a dance was held, Messrs Flaherty senr, and N Schenscher supplying the music. As a result of the day's effort the building fund of the new hall will benefit to the extent of about £52.
It is anticipated that the building will be competed and ready for opening towards the end of December of this year. [Ref: Murray Pioneer and Australian River Record (Renmark) 12-10-1933]
MOOROOK January 6
The official ceremony of opening the new hall was performed by Mr T C Stott MP, before a large attendance. After a presentation to Mr Stott, by Mr C R Krollig on behalf of the hall trustees, of a gold key suitably inscribed, a banquet followed, at which, an impressive toast list was given.
A social and dance held in the evening was attended by a large crowd. [Ref: Murray Pioneer and Australian River Record (Renmark) 11-1-1934]
HALL IMPROVEMENT COMMITTEE
The Moorook Hall Improvements Committee held a social and dance on Saturday August 12, in the Moorook Hall.
Almond blossom and greenery on the stage comprised the decorative schemen.
Items interspersed with dancing were given by boys of the Yinkanni school, recitation: Misses S Battams and R Loxton songs: Miss F Saxon and B Krollig humorous sketches.
The Moorook Harmony Boys supplied the music for dancing. Mr C Krollig was MC. Supper was served by the committee.
Following the social and dance it is proposed if satisfactory by the Hall Improvement committee to purchase a 500 candle power petrol light for the main hall. Mr Don Loxton offered to demonstrate this lamp.
A King competition for the forthcoming fete was also discussed.
A pet and doll show with decorated perams and cycles and a miniature arts and crafts exhibition are also being considered.
The first of a series of bridge and table tennis evenings, arranged by the stallholder of the fete to be held in November, was held.
Bridge was played in the supper room, a cosy fire adding to the comfort of the players. Table tennis was fought out in the main hall under the direction of Mr A B C Downs. [Ref: Murray Pioneer and Australian River Record (Renmark) 24-8-1939]
Held on Saturday afternoon, November 25 in the hall with a large attendance, the fete of the Moorook institute was opened by Mr T C Stott MP, who made a hurried trip from Melbourne to fulfil his promise to officiate.
Mr Stott in his customary jocular manner complimented those present on the appearance of the hall and urged strong support for the undertaking. The hall was transformed into a garden, complete with trees, flowers, rockeries and garden seats.
Much credit is due to Mrs S Sanders and her band of willing workers for the beautiful setting, a veritable ocean of flowers.
A dance followed at night in the Institute, with Ern Saxon's orchestra in attendance.
The total proceeds amounted to nearly £73 which has been earmarked for the bank overdraft. [Ref: Murray Pioneer and Australian River Record (Renmark) 14-12-1939]
In aid of the DBNS a carnival night held In the Moorook Hall was a great success. Takings amounted to £18.
The stage was decorated with multicoloured streamers and balloons. Palm leaves and blossoms were in evidence in the background.
The large throng of dancers enjoyed the melodies supplied by the Night Owls Orchestra of Cobdogla. Mr W Wetherall was MC.
Strawberry, ice cream and cool drinks stalls were arranged cabaret style in the supper room.
During the evening opportunity was taken to honour Steward C Loxton, by the Win the War Committee and Moorook residents. Mr J Grey introduced Mr G Scott (president of the Moorook RSL Sub-branch) who made the usual presentation. Steward Loxton responded.
Prior to the carnival Mrs A E Loxton was hostess at a small dinner party at which Colin was the guest of honour. [Ref: Murray Pioneer and Australian River Record (Renmark) 19-12-1940]
Three Soldiers Honoured
Three members of the AIF, Privates M Royal, B Bartsch and R Bartsch were honoured by residents of Moorook and district on August 9.
The Moorook Hall was filled with one of the largest gatherings to a function of this nature. Mr J Gray (chairman of the Win the War Fund) presided and welcomed the residents. Presentations were made by Mr W E Harrington, representing the Moorook RSL Sub-branch.
The Bartsch brothers had lived in the district all their lives, while Pte Royal had come to Moorook as a young man and had become well known. He wished them a safe return.
The three men responded, thanking the residents for the interest taken in their welfare.
Mr. Harrington called for a minute's silence in honour of the late Pte T Chisholm.
Mr C Krollig was MC for a programme of dances. Community songs were sung to music played by Mrs R Herriott. Supper was served by members of the local Red Cross Circle.
Among the gathering were Pte T McCullock (Garrison), Steward C Loxton (RAN), Ptes L Aird, F Seiboth and G Bartsch (Militia). [Ref: Murray Pioneer and Australian River Record (Renmark) 14-8-1941]
New Kitchen for Moorook Hall
Following a donation for £20 from the CWA for the erection of a new kitchen, the Moorook Hall Committee met a CWA subcommittee to draw plans for the kitchen. This is now well in hand, but the treasurer stated he would like a little more money in hand for the project. Anyone wishing to give a donation could send it to Mr O W Kloden, by whom it would be officially acknowledged. [Ref: Murray Pioneer (Renmark) 26-10-1950]
Moorook CWA Help for Hall
Christmas Party Moorook December 18
The Moorook Branch of the CWA, at its last meeting for the year, held in the Moorook Hall on December 13, decided to help the Hall committee on a 50/50 basis, to build a new kitchen and if possible to carry on with the proposed children's playground.
The Loxton District Council, it was stated, had offered its equipment to level the ground when it was in the district.
The first function in aid of the fund would be a cherry fete on December 15.
A huge Christmas tree decorated the stage for a Christmas party which the hostesses arranged to follow the meeting. A good programme comprising community singing, competitions and songs by Mesdames Bullock and M E Loxton was much enjoyed.
During the afternoon "Merry Christmas" arrived with a huge stocking on her back containing small parcel for each person present. The president, treasurer and secretary received a well filled Christmas stocking from the members, and much appreciated the thought.
Afternoon tea was served in the supper room, and a Christmas cake made by Mrs Loxton and decorated by Mrs R Smith was cut by the president. [Ref: Murray Pioneer (Renmark) 21-12-1950]
This is how my $20 toy camera does B&W, and I absolutely love it.
Straight from the camera! I guess the weird EXIF stuff ("Camera name: SunplusMM...") relates to its JPG processing...? Yet another wacky surprise from this toy.
Daifuku Daily Dose - a new photo (almost) every day | Portfolio | Bokehrama tutorial
Kinetic: Relating to, caused by, or producing motion.
These are called “Kinetic” photographs because there is motion, energy, and movement involved, specifically my and the camera’s movements.
I choose a light source and/or subject, set my camera for a long exposure (typically around 4 seconds), focus on my subject and push the shutter button. When the shutter opens I move the camera around with my hands...large, sweeping, dramatic movements. And then I will literally throw the camera several feet up into the air, most times imparting a spinning or whirling motion to it as I hurl it upward. I may throw the camera several times and also utilize hand-held motion several times in one photo. None of these are Photoshopped, layered, or a composite photo...what you see occurs in one shot, one take.
Aren’t I afraid that I will drop and break my camera? For regular followers of my photostream and this series you will know that I have already done so. This little camera has been dropped many times, and broken once when dropped on concrete outside. It still functions...not so well for regular photographs, but superbly for more kinetic work.
To read more about Kinetic Photography click the Wikipedia link below:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_photography
And to see more of my Kinetic Photographs please visit my set, “Flux Velocity:”
www.flickr.com/photos/motorpsiclist/sets/72157622224677487/
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Albeit supremely risky this is one of my favorite ways to produce abstract photographs.
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My photographs and videos and any derivative works are my private property and are copyright © by me, John Russell (aka “Zoom Lens”) and ALL my rights, including my exclusive rights, are reserved. ANY use without my permission in writing is forbidden by law.
Uses: Anything relating to finance and money.
Free Creative Commons Finance Images... I created these images in my studio and have made them all available for personal or commercial use. Hope you like them and find them useful.
To see more of our CC by 2.0 finance images click here... see profile for attribution.
Uses: Anything relating to finance.
Uses: Anything relating to health and money.
Free Creative Commons Finance Images... I created these images in my studio and have made them all available for personal or commercial use. Hope you like them and find them useful.
To see more of our CC by 2.0 finance images click here... see profile for attribution.
Uses: How much is your health worth? Costs of keeping healthy.
This relates to the time I spent at Arriva. My regular journey in the mornings was a peak hour service 23 from Erskine to Glasgow. My arch enemy was Neil Stafford (although I did not know him at the time) who had the same timed competitive journey for Gibson's. Normally he would have a Dart and I would have a Dart or sometimes a Scania. Every morning was a battle of wits! The only predictable thing was that we were both unpredictable! One or other of us would throw down the gauntlet.......Let the battle commence. One bus would suddenly shoot off, closely followed by the other. Passengers would be scooped up. All the old tricks would be played, leave your back end sticking out at an angle, indicate to get out when you were still taking fares, hang back if not enough bums were on seats. It was all great fun, sometimes I would get the upper hand, sometimes not, but there were enough passengers to go round, and I usually got into Glasgow with a full load. Neil probably did too. It was actually many years later that I discovered Neil was a bus spotter too.
relating to or denoting faculties or phenomena apparently inexplicable by natural laws, esp. involving telepathy or clairvoyance.
another sign? indeed.
still playing tag with deb, check out her entire collection, it's all eye candy.
This image relates to a later post where I tried to replicate the album cover as part of a challenge
-FOFT Music from 1969
The FFF+ Group has a monthly challenge called "Freestyle On The Fifth" a different theme posted on the 5th of the month. This month it was Phunny Photos turn to choose the theme, and she chose -Music from 1969.
I looked at the top 100 songs from 1969 and saw Dylan’s Lay Lady Lay. I had already paid tribute to this song for my Dylan Series and then I thought of the iconic album cover of Nashville Skyline, the album which Lay Lady Lay was from.
I wondered if I could replicate it using my No. 1 son as the model.
I tried.
I thought it would be easier than it was but it turned out to be really difficult to get that bloody angle right. We tried 3 different photo shoots. Dark cloudy skies in one shoot, so windy the hat kept blowing off in another and then the sun was in the wrong position. I had the added pressure of my son decided to bleach his hair last week so needed to get it done before then! (no blonde allowed peeking out from the hat for Bob Dylan).
Nashville Skyline was incredibly important for the country music industry. The album didn’t rate in the country charts but was No. 3 on the Billboard top 200 and introduced mainstream fans to a sound many had never heard before. This crossover of country and pop helped pave the way for the Eagles and other country-rock superstars of the early ’70s “The country scene was so conservative until he arrived. He brought in a whole new audience (said Kris Kristofferson). The album took 4 days to record.
My favourite song is Girl From North Country. Even those that don’t love Dylan’s voice might find this one surprisingly beautiful. This album marked a change in Dylan’s vocals: “He had developed a baritone country croon that he claimed was a result of his decision to quit smoking cigarettes. “
(Interview in Rolling Stone).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je4Eg77YSSA (Bobby and Johnny Cash-original)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJCmgKRszYM (recording of baby faced Dylan singing in a cabin)
Sorry-I just can’t help myself rattling about Dylan but I do know a few of my followers are fans too.
I nearly drove myself mad trying to get the image right so this is not identical but it is my Ode to my favourite musician with my favourite son once again putting up with my direction to model for me (Added to Flickr x 100 portraits of son).
Uses: Anything relating to finance and money.
Free Creative Commons Finance Images... I created these images in my studio and have made them all available for personal or commercial use. Hope you like them and find them useful.
To see more of our CC by 2.0 finance images click here... see profile for attribution.
Inspiration: dollar, exchange rate, currency, money, US economy
The east window of the Church of St.Giles, Calke, is in memory of Sir George Crewe (8th Baronet), the restorer of the church. The three scenes are believed to relate to Solomon's building of the Temple in Jerusalem. There are no records relating to this window so neither designer not maker are known.
Railroad Tracks near downtown on a warm summer day.
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Central Illinois (excluding Springfield)
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Things that are Abandoned, Neglected, Weathered, or Rusty
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The face of the artist is nothing but his mask, since his real "I" remains invisible. According to Steiner, the head having become a kind of hologram of the body, then all the effort of spiritualization of the human being by the artist, will have to relate to the shape of the human head. This is what will happen with the design of the Goetheanum. Once more, we are faced with an objectification of the supersensible domain. The model of Gnostic art for Rudolf Steiner is of course as a work of art the Goetheanum in which he will give substance to his thought. 1965 The model of artistic gnosis for Raymond Abellio is of course a cabalistic diagram: the Universal Senaire Sphere which achieves the synthesis and the program of all his thought. Same. Through these images, we can grasp the artistic project of the first Goetheanum whose architectural elements, such as the columns, the capitals and the windows, owed nothing to chance, neither taste nor even less to functionality, but had to obey requirements particular esoteric and spiritual. The entire Goetheanum was to illustrate the foundations and 16 teachings of Anthroposophy, just as the art of Gothic cathedrals illustrated the foundations and various passages of the sacred history of Christianity. The scene of the Goetheanum was of course the apogee of his artistic project, with the column-seats where the twelve "apostrophes" should sit, next to the carved wooden ensemble, "The Representative of Humanity". which returns as a colored figure under the cupola.
In the rented hall of the Munich State Theatre, the Mystery Plays of Rudolf Steiner were performed each year between 1910 and 1913. The wish arose within the circle around Rudolf Steiner to build an appropriately designed building for these and for performances of eurhythmy. As there were many obstacles from the side of the authorities in Munich, it was decided to redesign the building to be erected on donated land in Dornach near Basel/Switzerland.
Construction began in 1913, meeting with delays during the First World War. Still incomplete, the building burnt down on New Year’s Eve of 1922/23.
The central element, already present in the project in Munich was the ground plan: 2 domes of different sizes resting on 2 large rotundas and interlinked with one another. Because of their particular proportions, they gave the impression both of a single, sculpted space, or also one consisting of 2 separate portions. The pillars along the interior of the building connected with earlier epochs in the development of architecture. Yet each pillar was sculpted individually with a base and a capital whose motifs were carved in such a manner that each new one derived its forms from elements of the previous one. It was Steiner’s attempt to incorporate into the design the laws underlying all development from one form to another in the living world, as in Goethe’s theory of metamorphosis, and to give to these new forms of artistic expression.
Architecture thereby departs from the static, “dead” state and begins to take on elements of a path of animated development. The arts of architecture, sculpture, painting and stained glass windows were united to create a space for the other arts – music, drama and eurhythmy. The building represents an effort to assist what slumbers in each human being as a higher element into full fruition
The First Goetheanum: A Centenary for Organic Architecture
John Paull*
University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia *Corresponding Author: j.paull@utas.edu.au, john.paull@mail.com
ABSTRACT
A century has elapsed since the inauguration (on 26 September, 1920) of a remarkable piece of architecture, Rudolf Steiner‟s Goetheanum, headquarters of the Anthroposophy movement, on a verdant hilltop on the outskirts of the Swiss village of Dornach, near Basel. The Goetheanum was an all timber structure, sitting on concrete footings and roofed with Norwegian slate. The building was begun in 1913, and construction progressed through the First World War. Rudolf Steiner‟s intention was to take architecture in a new and organic direction. On New Year‟s Eve, 31 December 1922, the Goetheanum hosted a Eurythmy performance followed by a lecture by Rudolf Steiner for members of the Anthroposophy Society. In the hours that followed, despite the fire-fighting efforts of the Anthroposophists and the local fire brigades, the building burned to the ground. The popular narrative is that the fire was arson but that was never proved. A local watchmaker and anthroposophist, Jakob Ott, was the only person to perish in the fire. He was falsely accused (in death) as „the arsonist‟ but the evidence is rather that he perished in his brave efforts at saving the Goetheanum. Rudolf Steiner saw the “calamity” as an opportunity “to change the sorrowful event into a blessing”. He promptly embarked on plans for a new building, Goetheanum II. This time there was to be “no wood”. The short-lived Goetheanum I had served as a placeholder for Goetheanum II. This new Goetheanum, Rudolf Steiner‟s finest work of organic architecture, is of steel reinforced concrete and today stands on the Dornach hill right on the site of the old Goetheanum.
Keywords: Rudolf Steiner, Anthroposophy, Goethe, Edith Maryon, Jakob Ott, Marie Steiner, fire, arson, disability, Dornach, Switzerland.
INTRODUCTION
The present Goetheanum building, located at Dornach, Switzerland, is one of the great buildings of the twentieth century (). The world has this building, Goetheanum II, because of three strokes of good luck (karma if you prefer), although they did not appear in that guise at the time. First, was a frustrating bureaucratic denial [1], second, was a catastrophic fire that Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) described as a “calamity” [2], and third was the arrival of a talented English sculptor who became one of Rudolf Steiner‟s closest colleagues [3].
The original Goetheanum was opened on 26 September, 1920. It was designed by the New Age philosopher, Rudolf Steiner. The first plan was to build a centre for Rudolf Steiner‟s Anthroposophy movement in Munich, but the city authorities denied building approval [1, 4]. It was a source of frustration and disappointment at the time, although it was really a stroke of great good fortune. As the Nazi ideology took root in Germany, Rudolf Steiner was unwelcome and threatened in Germany. After two decades of
living in Berlin, Rudolf Steiner relinquished his Berlin apartment in 1923 and never revisited Germany [5].
Alfred Hummel, who served as a member of the Building Office for the Goetheanum, explains of the denial of building approval: “this could be seen as good providence because the building would have run into great difficulties after the outbreak of World War 1. Munich would have been a place of great danger after 1933” [4: 2]. If the Goetheanum had been raised in Munich, it would have stood a good chance of destruction during World War II since the city was carpet bombed, including with magnesium incendiary bombs, in Allied raids. Such an alternative reality was never tested because shortly after the Munich denial, Dr Emil Grossheintz offered a site for the Goetheanum in Switzerland and Rudolf Steiner took up the offer [1].
The first Goetheanum was a building of very short life. Opened in 1920, it was burned to the ground at the end of 1922. This was a blow to the aspirations of the Anthroposophists and the multinational contingent of dedicated workers
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The First Goetheanum: A Centenary for Organic Architecture
who had laboured through the war, many as volunteers, to create this unique building. Rudolf Steiner described it as a “calamity” [1]. But, the destruction proved to be a blessing in disguise because it allowed a rethink of the design. In place of the original rather quaint structure of Goetheanum I, there is now Goetheanum II, which is a truly remarkable and timeless masterpiece.
The English sculptor, Edith Maryon (1872- 1924), arrived in Dornach a few months before the outbreak of war in 1914, to devote her talents to the service of Rudolf Steiner and his Anthroposophy movement. Here she found her spiritual home and she devoted herself forthwith to „the cause‟. Goetheanum I was already designed and under construction by the time Edith Maryon arrived in Dornach, but she was the sculptor on hand, and by then established as one of Rudolf Steiner‟s close collaborators when Goetheanum II was conceived.
On the occasion of the centenary of the opening of Goetheanum I, the present paper, considers the dharma of the building, its reception, and its passing
Methods
Goetheanum I is, a century on from the opening, beyond living memory. The present account draws on contemporary documents of the time, to throw light on the building, its reception, and its calamitous demise. Documents drawn on include eye witness accounts, personal published and manuscript accounts, newspaper accounts, correspondence, and Rudolf Steiner‟s own comments, explanations and lectures. The original sources are quoted where appropriate.
Results
The Goetheanum with which this paper is concerned is the first Goetheanum, Rudolf Steiner referred to it as the “old Goetheanum”[6], the present paper will refer to it generally as „Goetheanum I‟. When building approval was denied in Munich [4], a devotee of Rudolf Steiner‟s Anthroposophy, the Zürich dentist Dr Emil Grosheintz, offered a site on the outskirts of the Swiss village of Dornach, the site of a famous Swiss battle of 1499 where Swabian invaders were repulsed [7]. Dornach is a brief commute (train or tram, about 15 km) to the city of Basel, which sits in the north west of Switzerland near the junction of three country borders (France, Germany and Switzerland).
The Goetheanum was a project of the New Age philosopher and mystic Rudolf Steiner. He had honed his skills as an orator and lecturer as
leader of the German section of the Theosophy Society [8]. Emerging differences between the Theosophists and Rudolf Steiner led to the establishment of a breakaway movement, the Anthroposophy Society. The Goetheanum was to be the home of the new Society, an administrative centre, and a performance space for Steiner‟s Mystery plays.
Rudolf Steiner went on to design various buildings in the growing enclave of Anthroposophists at Dornach [9], but the monumental Goetheanum I was the first venture into Anthroposophical architectural design on a grand scale, and the Goetheanum II was the apogee of Rudolf Steiner‟s architectural manifestations .
THE GREAT WAR
An Australian soldier, arriving in Europe in 1916, sent a postcard home: “Dear Dave, We have seen a lot of ruined towns & villages since we have been in France. This must have been a nice building once, now ruins, Keith” [10].
In the Europe of the time, destruction on an industrial scale was the order of the day. However, Switzerland remained neutral throughout, and her neutrality was honoured by all the belligerents for the duration.
Construction of the Goetheanum at Dornach began in 1913. Construction carried on through the years of World War I (1914-1918). The Russian artist, Assya Turgeniev, recalled: “Already at the beginning of hostilities Dr Steiner tried to speak to us about the background to the events of the war ... The stirred up chauvinistic moods of his listeners thrown together from all quarters of the globe (we were from about 17 different nations) that did not allow him to continue” [11: 99].
Marie Steiner wrote that, as the war stretched on, the work force was depleted by call-up notices: “one after another our artists were called away to the scene of the war. With very few exceptions, there remained only those men who belonged to neutral countries, and the women” [in 12: vii].
The Goetheanum was built during the Great War using volunteer and paid labour. They came and went. Amongst the privations and avalanche of news of death and destruction of the war: “the work went on as best it could and as far as our strength allowed” [11: 136]. “From all quarters of the globe people gathered in Dornach to help with the building. It was a motley, many-sided, multilingual company”[11: 57]. “Our carving group grew to about 70 in number, not counting those who put in a short appearance ... All financial affairs were
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The First Goetheanum: A Centenary for Organic Architecture
attended to by Miss Stinde. For those who needed it she arranged a modest remuneration” [11: 58].
The artist Assya Turgeniev remembered: “we were only a bunch of dilettantes ... Only the knowledge that we were working together on a great future task and Dr Steiner‟s helping guidance brought order into this chaos. It remains a wonder that the work progresses without any kind of organisation” [11: 59].
With the outbreak of war, “A heavy gloom settled over Dornach ... a European war, was now on our very doorstep [11: 68]. Goetheanum volunteers were called up to return to their respective countries: “Many friends had been recruited and had to depart” [11: 69]. “Our group of wood- carvers grew less and less as further friends were called up” [11: 79].
Figure 1. View of the Goetheanum with blossom trees [source: 13].
A NEW STYLE OF ARCHITECTURE
Rudolf Steiner spoke of the Goetheanum, “The Dornach Building”, in a lecture to Anthro- posophists at The Hague in February 1921: “I have said that the style of this Goetheanum has arisen out of the same sources that gave birth to spiritual science. The endeavour to create a new style of imperfections which must accompany such architecture is accompanied by inevitable risks, by all the a first attempt” [14: 150]. Steiner elaborated: “there is not a single symbol, not a single allegory, but rather we have attempted to give everything a truly artistic form [14: 151].
Organic Architecture
Rudolf Steiner explained his Goetheanum as a manifestation of a new organic architecture: “Concrete and wood are both employed to give rise to an architectural style that may perhaps be described as the transition from previous geometrical, symmetrical, mechanical, static- dynamic architectural styles into an organic style” [14: 153]. The plinth was concrete and the superstructure was timber.
The Goetheanum was organic but not imitative of nature: “Not that some sort of organic form has been imitated in the Dornach building. That is not the case” [14: 154]. Rudolf Steiner informed his audience that: “The least and the greatest in an organic whole has its place in the organism, its absolutely right form. All this has passed over into the architectural conception of the Dornach building” [14: 154]
Rudolf Steiner acknowledged the German writer and polymath, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 -1832): “it has been my aim, in accordance with Goethe‟s theory of metamorphosis, to steep myself in nature‟s creation of organic forms, and from these to obtain organic forms that, when metamorphosed, might make a single whole of the Dornach building. In other words, organic forms of such a kind that each single form must be in precisely the place it is” [14: 154].
Windows, as all the elements of the Goetheanum, were conceived of as part of an organic whole: “we are handing over this auxiliary building [the Glass House, Glashaus] ... in order that they
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may create something that in the fairest sense may be a living member in the whole organism of our building” [12: 15].
Rudolf Steiner was aware already that not all would be won over to his organic architecture: "I well know how much may be said against this organic principle of building from the point of view of older architectural styles. This organic style, however, has been attempted in the architectural conception of the building at Dornach ... You will therefore find in the Dornach building certain organic forms... carved out of wood, as embodied in the capitals of the columns at the entrance” [14: 154-6]
THE OPENING
The Italian artist Ernesto Genoni, who later spent a year with Rudolf Steiner at Dornach (in 1924) [15, 16] and was a member of Rudolf Steiner‟s First Class, wrote two (somewhat cryptic) accounts of his first visit to the Goetheanum on the occasion of the inauguration (26 September, 1920).
In one account Ernesto Genoni relates: “In Milan I came in touch with the Anthroposophical Society where I took part for a whole year in the study of Anthroposophy. Then my sister Mrs [Rosa] Podreider, for certain business reasons, sent me to Lausanne and said „While you are there you can go as far as the Goetheanum‟. Eventually I arrived in Dornach at the inauguration of the first Goetheanum. There Mrs [Charlotte] Ferreri introduced me to Dr Steiner and I was received by him with great warmth. Unfortunately he was speaking in German which I did not know, but by his long handshake
and smiling expression of the face I could feel his sincere welcome. Here I would like to add this - That was the only time among all the people I met at the Goetheanum that anyone gave me a feeling that I was truly welcome ... So much did I feel this isolation that I decided to return to Italy” [17: 7].
In another account of his Goetheanum inauguration visit, Ernesto Genoni writes: “In autumn 1920 Rosa sent me to Lausanne for selling some opossum skins and then I went to Dornach. What a strange impression I received from the first view of the Goetheanum building ... The short conversation with Fräulein Vreede ... chilly! Frau Ferreri ... the meeting with the Doctor ... the bewildering impression of the interior of the Goetheanum. I could not enter in such saturated life of the spirit and after a few days I left ... the reproach from Miss Maryon. In the following years it was a painful search to find my way in life” [18: 19] (author‟s note: ellipses are in the original handwritten manuscript).
ART OF THE TOUR
Rudolf Steiner wanted the art of the Goetheanum to speak directly to the viewer without intermediary explanations: “Sometimes I had occasion to show visitors the Goetheanum personally. Then I used to say that all „explanation‟ of the forms and colours was in fact distasteful to me. Art does not want to be brought home to us through thoughts, but should rather be received in the immediate sight and feeling of it” [1: 3]. The photographs in the present paper offer an insight into the experience of Steiner‟s visitors (Figs. 1, 2 & 3).
Figure 2. Rear view of the Goetheanum with Heizhaus to the right (postcard)
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NEWS IN THE ANTIPODES
The Register newspaper in Adelaide, Australia‟s city of churches, informed its readers in 1925 about Rudolf Steiner and the Goetheanum: “a man who built a building large enough to contain an audience of a thousand people, roofed by intersecting domes, the larger of them slightly greater span than St Peter‟s, earned a title of serious consideration from all who profess the art of architecture. The building owed nothing to traditional styles. No effect was made by its designer to present an intellectual conception of what the temples of ancient Greece could contribute to the art of modern Europe, nor were the forms of medieval Gothic borrowed and adjusted. In no sense was it a drawing board design.” [19].
The Register continued: “It was conceived and designed, as architecture should be and must be, in three dimensions, and it had to be seen in three dimensions to be understood ... as a first effort in a new presentation of architecture it has probably no rival in the history of art” [19].
Readers in South Australia were informed that the Goetheanum: “was built on the summit of one of the foothills of the Jura mountains, near the village of Dornach, standing out against a background of rugged hills and rocky cliffs ... He deliberately discards the limitations of squares, and one feels that his construction is organic rather than static” [19].
Figure 3. Interior of the Goetheanum [source: 13]. Journal of Fine Arts V3 ● I2 ● 2020
The Name
Even the name of the Goetheanum apparently drew offence. „Wokeness' is not such a twenty- first century phenomenon as some might suppose. Rudolf Steiner explained: “Many people were scandalised at the very name, „Goetheanum‟, because they failed to consider the fundamental reason for this name, and how it is connected with all that is cultivated there as Anthroposophy ... this Anthroposophy is the spontaneous result of my devotion for more than four decades to Goethe‟s world-conception” [2: 1].
Of the name, Rudolf Steiner explained: “this Goetheanum was first called „Johannesbau‟ by those friends of the anthroposophical world- conception who made it possible to erect such a building ... for me this building is a Goetheanum, for I derived my world-view in a living way from Goethe ... I have always regarded this as a sort of token of gratitude for what can be gained from Goethe, an act of homage to the towering personality of Goethe ... the anthroposophical world-view feels the deepest gratitude for what has come into the world through Goethe” [2: 2].
Second Thoughts
Less than a year after the opening of the Goetheanum, and even while the building remained incomplete (it was never entirely completed), Rudolf Steiner revealed that he was thinking of a Goetheanum Mark 2.
At a lecture in Berne on 29 June 1921 titled „The Architectural Conception of the Goetheanum‟ Rudolf Steiner told his audience that: “Naturally one can criticise in every possible way this architectural style which has been formed out of spiritual science. But nothing that makes its first appearance is perfect, and I can assure you that I know all its flaws and that I would be the first to say: If I had to put up this building a second time, it would be out of the same background and out of the same laws, but in most of its details, and perhaps even totally, it would be different” [20: 42]. As events played out just eighteen months later, it proved to be a remarkably prescient statement.
Bad Timing
For sheer bad timing (and perhaps prolixity), a fund raising letter dated 25 December 1922 by the British Anthroposophical Society in London would be hard to beat. The letter explained that: “the Goetheanum expresses in a language of line, form and colour those thoughts and ideas which a knowledge of higher spiritual worlds
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The First Goetheanum: A Centenary for Organic Architecture
produces in the artist. As a work of art the Goetheanum can only be compared, in its tendency to the supreme artistic achievements of humanity, for it produces in the onlooker the perception of that interpenetration of object and idea of which the true world of art is the outcome, while it raises him to that point within his inner being where an ideal spiritual world is felt to be born into physical reality”.
Then the fund raising letter gets to the point: “The Goetheanum still remains to be completed. The funds at Dr Steiner‟s disposal are drawing to an end. Money is urgently needed to carry on the work. The work MUST NOT STOP ... Let each give what he or she can. In the old days ladies sold their jewellery to enable the foundation stone to be laid” [21].
Just six days after the date of the London fund raiser letter, the Goetheanum burned to the ground (on the night of 31 December 1922). Rudolf Steiner described the occurrence as a “dreadful calamity”. He reminded his audience of “The terrible catastrophe of last New Year‟s Eve, the destruction by fire of the Goetheanum, which will remain a painful memory” [2: 1].
Rudolf Steiner explained that the Anthroposophical Society was misunderstood and that there was calumny afoot: “That dreadful calamity was just the occasion to bring to light what fantastic notions there are in the world linked with all that this Goetheanum in Dornach intended to do and all that was done in it. It was said that the most frightful superstitions were disseminated there, that all sorts of things inimical to religion were being practiced; and there is even talk of all kinds of spiritualistic seances, of nebulous mystic performances, and so on” [2: 1].
The Fire
A local newspaper, the Basler Nachricten reported the news of the New Year fire at the Goetheanum: “The Goetheanum in Dornach-Arlesheim is on fire, was the terrible alarm message that flew like wildfire ... just before the bells sounded in solemn ringing ... On New Year‟s Eve ... at 7 pm , the Goetheanum had a presentation of Eurythmy and a lecture by Rudolf Steiner ... The last audience had left the lecture hall by 9.45 pm ... immediately after the seriousness of the situation was clear, the calls for help were despatched to the surrounding villages and to Basel ... The Dornachers were the first to arrive at 11:45 pm, followed by the Arlesheimers a quarter of an hour later ... Because of repair work, there was scaffolding where the fire was first seen” [22].
Rudolf Steiner put the fire as starting between 5:15 pm and 6:20 pm [23].
Rudolf Steiner related that: “one hour after the last word had been spoken, I was summoned to the fire at the Goetheanum. At the fire of the Goetheanum we passed the whole of that New Year night”. He stated that it was “exactly at the moment in its evolution when the Goetheanum was ready to become the bearer of the renewal of spiritual life”[6].
A newspaper gave an account of the events: “When the double cupolas fell in, there shot up heavenwards a giant sheaf of fire, and a torrent of sparks threatened the whole neighbor-hood so that fire-men had to be sent in all directions to prevent the spread of disaster” [24]. Later, on New Year‟s Day “The sky was veiled in clouds as if to check the great outpouring of people which took place from Basel and its neighbor- hood. For nearly the whole population there was one urge: Off to Dornach! Hour after hour unbroken streams of people climbed the muddy roads and slippery fields, whilst other streams, equally unbroken, flowed down again” [24].
Rudolf Steiner later referred to “the pain for which there are no words” [1: 7]. However, on the day, as Albert Steffen relates, Rudolf Steiner kept his nerve and declared the continuance of the New Year‟s programme: “In the morning Dr Steiner ... was still there ... „We will go on with our lectures as notified‟, he said, and gave instructions that the pools of water in the „Schreinerei‟ (the temporary shed used for lectures) and the dirt carried in by muddied shoes should be removed” [25: 13].
Seat of the Fire
Albert Steffen (1884-1963), Anthroposophist, writer and editor, wrote of the seat of the fire: “Unfortunately a scaffolding, necessary for certain work, had been put up just in the place where the fire was first noticed” [25: 12]. A local Basel newspaper had reported likewise: “Because of repair work, there was scaffolding where the fire was first seen” [22].
Ninety nine years later, accounts of the Notre Dame Cathedral fire of 2019 are reminiscent of accounts of the Goetheanum fire. “The fire began at about 18:43 local time on Monday (15 April). Pictures show flames shooting up around the spire, shortly after the doors were shut to visitors for the day. The blaze spread rapidly along the wooden roof as onlookers gathered on the ground below” [26]. Another account states
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that: “Flames that began in the early evening burst through the roof of the centuries-old cathedral and engulfed the spire, which collapsed, quickly followed by the roof” [27]. Builder‟s scaffolding for repair work are also a part of the Notre Dame story: “Much of the roof was covered in scaffolding as part of a big renovation programme, which is being investigated as a possible cause of the blaze” [26]. Two leading candidates for the cause of the Notre Dame fire are identified: “The catastrophic fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral could have been caused by a burning cigarette or an electrical malfunction, French prosecutors said ... Prosecutors are now looking at the possibility of negligence” [28].
Of the Goetheanum fire, a Basel newspaper reported: “Dr Steiner ... According to him,, who will probably know his way around the construction of the building, the fire must have started between 5:00 and 7:00 in the evening .... The smoke was noticed a little after 10 pm in the so-called „white room‟ on the third floor” [23]. The room, the apparent seat of the fire, was used by one or some Eurythmists as a change room [23]. It was reported that “there were no electrical systems at the fire site”[22].A discarded cigarette butt, a neglected candle or a portable camp stove or heater (the outside temperature would have been hovering around 0o C), or a flimsy Eurythmy costume draped carelessly on a hot light bulb are candidates as potential ignition sources.
The Goetheanum was insured for CHF 3,800,000 and with a further CHF 500,000 for furniture and equipment [22]. A proof of contributory negligence would have voided or severely prejudiced an insurance claim. This, combined with the prevailing persecution complex of the Anthroposophists, was a great motivation for fuelling suspicions of arson. To this day, the cause of the Goetheanum blaze remains an open question [29]. The timely payout of the insurance facilitated the rebuild of the Goetheanum, and the local Building Insurance Act was revised “to protect the state institution against such disasters” [30].
Jakob Ott
One person lost their life in the fire. That was Jakob Ott, a watchmaker from nearby Arlesheim, and a member of the Anthroposophy Society.
Assya Tergeniev recorded that: “When the glowing ashes had cooled, some days later, a human skeleton with a deformed spine was found therein. This deformity was the same as
that of a watchmaker who had disappeared at the time of the fire. It was officially announced that he had come to grief while helping with the rescue work” [11: 129].
A Basel newspaper reported that “Human remains were found in the rubble of the burned- down Goetheanum on Wednesday [10 January]. It is not yet certain whether it is the missing watchmaker Ott ... These are the bones of a single person, who presumably fell from the floor of the dome into the depth of the basement. The skull was smashed ... no one apart from the watchmaker Ott has been missing since that fateful night ... the bone remains were almost completely covered with slate residue from the roof of the dome. The casualty must have plunged into the stage basement below the collapsing dome at 12 midnight. Although all fire-fighting teams had withdrawn at 11:30 pm in view of the building, which was at risk and could no longer be saved, it is easily possible that, due to the thick smoke, a person who might already have been stunned had not been noticed” [31].
Conspiracy theorists of the day, and later commentators, have attributed the fire to arson, but that is not proven, and even named the supposed arsonist as Jakob Ott, and that is proven false. Research of Günther Aschoff has established: “the 28-year-old watchmaker Jakob Ott from Neu-Arlesheim had died in the fire. But he could not have been the arsonist, because he was home all New Year's Eve, then in the evening at a choir rehearsal and at the year-end service in the Reformed Church. (He was a member of the Reformed Church and of the Anthroposophical Society, he procured many advertisements for the magazine "Das Goetheanum" and had also collected signatures for the naturalization of Rudolf Steiner). At about 22.30 he was on the tram on the way home. When he saw the clouds of smoke at the Goetheanum in the moonlit night, he ran up the mountain, to help, which he used to do whenever he was needed. He was present when the fire was extinguished in the small dome at the top of the building, but when the others had already retreated because of all the smoke”. Jakob Ott failed to evacuate likely because he was overcome by smoke or that he lost his footing [32].
Jakob Ott was reportedly just 1.5 metres tall, and a hunchback with “a backbone curvature due to an accident” [31]. Another account simply sated: “Ott had a hump” [30]. He was a man of modest means and lacking influential friends. As a disabled figure, Jakob Ott was a
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ready candidate for „othering‟ and he made a convenient scapegoat for the smug. A Basel newspaper reported: “Dr Steiner, whom we also interviewed regarding Ott ... He himself has no suspicion of Ott” [23]. Rudolf Steiner subsequently attended Jakob Ott‟s funeral [33].
It appears that Rudolf Steiner never referred to the fire as „arson‟. Albert Steffen wrote of „The destruction of the Goetheanum by fire”, he did not write of „by arson‟ [25]. Arson does not rate in the top ten causes of house fires [34]. Arson does not rate as one of the nominated “leading causes of warehouse structure fires” [35]. If the arson conspiracy theory fails, then the quest for „the arsonist‟ is extinguished.
The demonising of Jakob Ott has been an unworthy episode propagated by some who should have known better. One hysterical account about Jakob Ott appears to be mere flights of fancy, ungrounded in fact, and owes more to a fertile imagination than sound research [e.g. 36]. It appears that Marie Steiner has fuelled conspiracy theories: “One of the suspects was the watchmaker Jakob Ott from Allesheim , whose skeleton was found ten days after the fire in the ashes of the Goetheanum which had burned down. It was identified by a spinal defect. Later Marie Steiner wrote „From a skeleton that was discovered, it can be established that the arsonist was burned‟‟ [quoted in 33: 904].
Jakob Ott (1895-1923) died a miserable death by incineration, in a worthy cause of trying to save the Goetheanum. Whether he was overcome by smoke and/or lost his footing, the action of entering a burning building is the act of a brave man.
A Blessing
Exactly a year on from the fire, Rudolf Steiner reflected on the events of New Year‟s Eve, 1922, at the Goetheanum. The venue for the lectures was now the much less salubrious (and cold) Schreinerei, the carpentry workshop, adjacent to the site of the remnants of the fire [37].
Rudolf Steiner referred to the “painful memory” of the final lecture that he had delivered at the Goetheanum, what he now called “our old Goetheanum” [6]. Remembering the night, Rudolf Steiner reminded his listeners that; “the flames bust from our beloved Goetheanum ... but out of the very pain we pledge ourselves to remain loyal to the Spirit to which we erected the Goetheanum, building it up through ten years of work” [6].
Changing tack, Rudolf Steiner urged his audience to move on from the “tragedy” and offered them the recipe for doing just that: “if we are able to change the pain and grief into the impulses to action then we shall also change the sorrowful event into a blessing. The pain cannot thereby be made less, but it rests with us to find in the pain the urge to action ... Let us carry over the soul of the Goetheanum into the Cosmic New Year, lets try to erect in the new Goetheanum a worth memorial to the old!” [6: 4].
Beyond Wood
Goetheanum I was an all-timber construct. One of the building officers related that: “our first director had implored us not to use any iron nail, coach screw or sheet metal in the main wooden structure. These artificial building materials were not to be brought in connection with the noble organic timber” [4: 15]
A few months after the fire, Rudolf Steiner, writing in the April 1923 issue of the periodical „Anthroposophy‟, was quick to rule in a rebuild, that was never in doubt in his mind, while at the same time he ruled out rebuilding in timber: “In rebuilding the Goetheanum we shall probably need to think on different lines ... There can, of course, be no question of a second Building in wood” [38: 38].
In 1923 Rudolf Steiner wrote to the Central Administration of the local Swiss Canton Solothurn: “The new building will stand directly on the site of the old. With regard to the construction of the building as a whole, we bring to your attention that it is to be executed as a solid structure and that all its structural parts, all floors and bearing walls, as well as the roof trusses will be carried out in reinforced concrete. We plan to employ a purely steel construction for the support of the floor of the main stage alone. Timber will be used nowhere as a constructional element in the new building, but exclusively for doors, windows, flooring and floor construction over solid slab floors, for rafters and for fixtures and cladding. As roof material the same Norwegian slate as was used on the old Goetheanum is to be employed. ... We are convinced that the entire building, when completed in this type of construction, will be able to meet all requirements as to fire safety to an unusual degree” [39: 52].
Concrete
By the time of Goetheanum II, Rudolf Steiner already had some experience of reinforced
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concrete as a building medium. The rather fanciful Heizhaus (Boiler House) of 1914 [9], located nearby the Goetheanum, and still standing today, is a creative exercise in concrete. Rudolf Steiner described it as “a remarkable structure” and so it is [14] (Fig.2).
Rudolf Steiner was well aware of criticism of his first adventure in concrete, the Boiler House. He proffered this rejoinder: “This is what is subject to the most severe criticism from some quarters ... I undertook to create ... a shell of concrete - a material which is extremely difficult to mould artistically. Those who criticise this structure today do not pause to reflect what would stand there if no endeavour had been made to mould something out of concrete - a material so difficult to mould. There could be nothing but a brick chimney. I wonder if that would be more beautiful than this, which of course is only a first attempt to give a certain style to something made of concrete. It has many defects, for it is only a first attempt to mould something artistic out of materials such as concrete” [14: 157].
Edith Maryon, Sculptor
Edith Maryon (1872-1924) stepped into Rudolf Steiner‟s life in 1914. It was just before the outbreak of World War I and she quickly became one of his closest confidants. Edith Maryon was an English sculptor trained at the Royal College of Arts in London.
As a trained and skilled sculptor, Edith Maryon brought new skills into the inner sanctum of Rudolf Steiner‟s bevy of talented women, which included the mathematician Elizabeth Vreede and medical doctor Ita Wegman. Goetheanum I was already under construction when Edith Maryon arrived at Dornach. Edith Maryon however quickly proved her skills in collaborative architectural design not just of sculptural elements within Goetheanum I. Together they created the Eurythmy Houses I, II and III (Eurythmiehäuser), a little way down the Dornach hill from the Goetheanum [9].
Edith Maryon brought a feminine influence and a sculptor's panache. Under the collaborative influence of Edith Maryon, Rudolf Steiner was liberated from the overt Freudian features of his earlier creations with his phallic Boiler House and the double-breasted Glass House (Glashaus) and Goetheanum I.
The clay models for Goetheanum II were constructed during 1923, the year of closest
collaboration between Rudolf Steiner and Edith Maryon. At the end of the year, at the Christmas Conference of 1923 Rudolf Steiner appointed Edith Maryon as the head of the Sculpture Section (plastic arts) of the School of Spiritual Science of the Goetheanum [40]. Sadly, by then her health was deteriorating and she passed away four months later. Rudolf Steiner‟s own health took a blow at the close of the Christmas Conference on 31 December 1923. He struggled on through nine months of 1924, before retreating to his sick bed in September, and he passed away six months later.
It could be regarded as fortuitous that Goetheanum I was destroyed during Rudolf Steiner‟s own lifetime and that he and Edith Maryon had developed a close collaborative working embrace that could bring the clay sculptural models of Goetheanum II quickly to fruition. Goetheanum II is Rudolf Steiner‟s final contribution to his portfolio of Anthroposophic buildings and to organic architecture, and more than any of his prior works, it is a monumental and masterful work of sculpture.
CONCLUSION
The first Goetheanum was both success and failure. It was a bold experiment in organic design, a proof of concept that such a vision could be translated into reality, that despite the disruption of war, work could proceed, funds could be raised, a distinctive building could be manifested, and the enthusiasm and talent of a multitude of volunteers could be harnessed. However, an all timber building is a conflagration waiting to happen, it is just the timing of the conflagration that is the uncertainty. In the case of Goetheanum I, the conflagration came quickly, before even the building was completed, before a Mystery Play was ever performed in the space, remembering that a dedicated performance space for such plays had been a large part of the rationale for the building.
The dharma of Goetheanum I was to serve as a placeholder for Goetheanum II. The new Goetheanum took the money from the insurance of the demise of the old Goetheanum, and embraced the lesson that an all-timber construction is not a recipe for longevity. Goetheanum II harnessed the sculptural skills by then on hand, and brought them to the fore to create what is not only a magnificent sculpture in concrete, but is also a functioning building and a delight to work in. Flushed away is the quaintness of Goetheanum I. The new Goetheanum is a bold twentieth
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century building worthy of the twenty first century and beyond.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Thank you to to members of the Goetheanum Archive (Dokumentation am Goetheanum Bibliothek Kunstsammlung Archiv) for kind
assistance in navigating the collection and to DeepL.com/Translator and Google Translate for assistance with various translations.
REFERENCES
[1] Steiner, R., The Goetheanum in the ten years of its life, I. Anthroposophy, 1923. 2(1-2): p. 2-10.
[2] Steiner, R., What was the purpose of the Goetheanum and what is the task of Anthroposophy, A lecture at Basel, 9 April, 1923. 1923, Fremont, IL: Rudolf Steiner Archive, .
[3] Paull, J., A portrait of Edith Maryon: Artist and Anthroposophist. Journal of Fine Arts, 2018. 1(2): p. 8-15.
[4] Hummel, A., A Diary: Life and Work During the Building of the First Goetheanum. 2003, (Trans. Friedwart Bock from c.1955 German original), Aberdeen: Camphill Architects.
[5] Paull, J., Rudolf Steiner: At Home in Berlin. Journal of Biodynamics Tasmania, 2019. 132: p. 26-29.
[6] Steiner, R., World History in the Light of Anthroposophy, A lecture at Dornach, 31 December 1923. 1923, Fremont, IL: Rudolf Steiner Archive, .
[7] Fahrni, D., An Outline History of Switzerland From the Origins to the Present Day. 1997, Zürich: Pro Helvetia Arts, Council of Switzerland.
[8] Steiner, R., The Story of My Life. 1928, London: Anthroposophical Publishing Co.
[9] Kugler, J., ed. Architekturführer Goetheanumhügel die Dornacher Anthroposophen-Kolonie. 2011, Verlag Niggli: Zurich.
[10] Keith, Postcard (with handwritten message on rear): Ypres - La Salle Pauwels (Halles d'Ypres) avant et après le Bombardment. The Pauwels Gallery (Halles of Ypres) before the Bombard- ment and after. 1916, Paris: Visé Paris (private collection).
[11] Turgeniev, A., Reminiscences of Rudolf Steiner and Work on the First Goetheanum. 2003, Forest Row, UK: Temple Lodge.
[12] Steiner, R., Ways to A New Style in Architecture: Five lectures by Rudolf Steiner given during the building of the First Goetheanum, 1914. 1927, London: Anthroposophical Publishing Company.
[13] Uehli, E., Rudolf Steiner als Künstler. 1921, Stuttgart: Der Kommnede Tag.
[14]
[15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21]
[22] [23]
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[25] [26] [27]
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Steiner, R., The Dornach Building, Lecture at The Hague, 28 Feb 1921, in Rudolf Steiner Architecture, A. Beard, Editor. 2003, Sophia Books: Forest Row.
Paull, J., Ernesto Genoni: Australia's pioneer of biodynamic agriculture. Journal of Organics, 2014. 1(1): p. 57-81.
Paull, J., The Anthroposophic Art of Ernesto Genoni, Goetheanum, 1924. Journal of Organics, 2016. 3(2): p. 1-24.
Genoni, E., Personal memoir. c.1970, 9 pp., typewritten manuscript, last date mentioned is 1966, A4. Private collection.
Genoni, E., Personal memoir. c.1955, 26 pp., handwritten manuscript, last date mentioned is 1952, school exercise book. Private collection.
The Register, Modernity in Art - New Architectural Forms. The Register (Adelaide, Australia), 1925. 31 December: p. 5.
Biesantz, H. and A. Klingborg, The Goetheanum: Rudolf Steiner's Architectural Impulse. 1979, London: Rudolf Steiner Press.
Metaxa, G., Typed letter, Dear Friends and fellow members. 2 pages. 25 December. Anthroposophical Society. 1922, 46 Gloucester Place, London.
Basler Nachrichten, Das Goetheanum niedergebrannt. Basler Nachrichten, 1923. 2 January.
Basler Nachrichten, Zum Brand im Goetheanum - Ott in Verdacht als Brandstifter oder Mitwisser. Basler Nachrichten, 1923. 5 January.
National Zeitung, The account of the burning of the Goetheanum from the National Zeitung. Anthroposophy, 1923. 2(1-2, January- February): p. 18-19.
Steffen, A., The destruction of the Goetheanum by fire. Anthroposophy, 1923. 2(1-2): p. 10-13.
BBC News, Notre-Dame: The story of the fire in graphics and images. BBC News, 2019. 16 April.
ABC News, Notre Dame fire: Paris cathedral spire collapses as blaze tears through landmark. ABC News, 2019. 16 April.
Vandoorne, S., A. Crouin, and B. Britton, Notre Dame fire could have been started by a cigarette or an electrical fault, prosecutors say. CNN, 2019. 26 June.
Balzer, M., The unsolved Goetheanum case: A play is devoted to the fire of New Year'ds Eve 1922. Aargauer Zeitung, 2019. 2 May.
Basler Nachrichten, Zur Untersuchung über den Goetheanum-Brand. Basler Nachrichten, 1923. 11 January.
Neue Zürcher Nachrichten, Ein wichtiger Fund bei den Aufräumungsarbeiten am Goetheanum. Neue Zürcher Nachrichten, 1923. 13 January.
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[32] Aschoff, G., Neues vom Goetheanum-Brand. Das Goetheanum, 2007. 1-2.
[33] Prokofieff, S.O., May Human Beings Hear It!: The Mystery of the Christmas Conference. 2014, Forest Row, UK: Temple Lodge.
[34] Real Insurance, The most common causes of house fires. 2013, Sydney: Real Insurance.
[35] Campbell, R., Structure Fires in Warehouse Properties. 2016, Quincy, MA: National Fire Protection Association.
[36] Ravenscroft, T., The Spear of Destiny: The Occult Power Behind the Spear Which Pierced the Side of Christ and how Hitler inverted the Force in a bid to conquer the World. 1982, York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser Inc.
[37] Paull, J., Dr Rudolf Steiner's Shed: The Schreinerei at Dornach. Journal of Bio-Dynamics Tasmania, 2018. 127(September): p. 14-19.
[38] Steiner, R., The Goetheanum in the ten years of its life, VI. Anthroposophy, 1923. 2(4): p. 37-41.
[39] Raab, R., A. Klingborg, and A. Fant, Eloquent Concrete: How Rudolf Steiner Employed Reinforced Concrete. 1979, London: Rudolf Steiner Press.
[40] Steiner, M., Proceedings of the Founding Conference of the General Anthroposophical Society. 1944, Roneoed publication. "As edited and published by Marie Steiner in 1944. Translated by Frances E Dawson": "For Members of the General Anthroposophical Society".
Bob Curry, in almost the full Silva’s uniform (no badge), posing with a “new” ambulance, formerly used by Allied Ambulance in Oakland.
The following is an excerpt of a blog written by Tim Dees who relates his experiences working for Silva's in the mid 1970's.
Link: timdees.com/blog/?p=375
The ambulances were pink, because that was the owner’s wife’s favorite color. Pink bed linen, and when I got there, they were just moving away from pink shirts, as they were too difficult to find. Bob Silva never bought a new ambulance. They were all used Cadillacs, as he believed a used Cadillac was much classier than a new van-type that actually ran. I was taking a woman in labor to a hospital in San Francisco when the tranny gave up the ghost in Hunter’s Point. I’d told Bob the day before that it was on its last legs, and he advised that I should shut up and drive what I was given to drive. We were dead in the water, and just barely within radio range to call for another rig to take our patient.
The county came out with some new regs for gear that had to be on the rig, and one requirement was an obstetrics kit. Pre-packaged OB kits from Dyna-Med were $7.50 each. Silva bought one. He put it on a rig, sent it to be inspected, then brought that one back and put the same kit on the next rig to be inspected. When it was finally left in the rig he usually drove, he wrapped it in strapping tape to discourage anyone from actually using it. It wasn’t like we didn’t need OB kits. I delivered three babies while I worked there.
The electronic sirens we’re so used to now were just coming into widespread use in the 1970s. Most of our ambulances were equipped with mechanical sirens that wound up slowly when activated. They had brakes on them, and if you forgot to brake the siren before you left the rig, it would take a minute or more to wind down, growling the whole time. The big daddy of these mechanical sirens was the Federal Q2. Some of these are still in use on fire engines. The Q2 is a massive thing, and drew so much power that the engine would knock when you leaned on the button too long—the spark plugs didn’t get enough voltage. Few man-made things are as loud as a Q2. One day, while en route back to the station with a new attendant, I stopped at a Safeway for some groceries. I left the attendant in the rig, telling him to tap the siren if we got a call. When the call came in, he didn’t tap on the horn ring that activated the siren—he held it down. The ambulance was parked facing the store and its large plate glass windows. I heard the siren, then heard the window start to reverberate in its frame as it resonated with the blast of sonic waves—“whap-whap-whap-whapwhapWhapWhapWHAPWHAPWHAP.” I made it back to the rig, screaming ineffectively, before the window shattered.
Between the mechanical siren, separate heater for the rear compartment, more blinking lights than a Vegas casino, etc., the ambulances needed a lot of electrical power. A single battery would be dead before you got to the hospital, so most ambulances had two car batteries, cross-connected via a big rotary Cole-Hersee switch. The switch, which looked a little like the access cover to your house’s sewer cleanout pipe, had four positions: Battery One, Battery Two, Both, and Off. “Both” was the usual setting, but when the rig was parked, it was common to switch it to “Off,” so the batteries wouldn’t be drained if you had forgotten to turn something off. This effectively disconnected the batteries from the rest of the rig. If you wanted to have some fun with another crew, you could turn everything in their rig on, but leave the Cole-Hersee switch off. When they turned it back on, hilarity would ensue.
The gear we had in these ambulances was very basic, and most of us purchased and brought our own equipment to work, rather than provide inferior care for our patients. I bought my own stethoscope and sphygmomanometer (blood pressure cuff), chemical cold packs, wire ladder splints, ammonia “wake up gizmo” ampules, etc. Consumable supplies, such as self-adhering Kerlix bandages and waterproof tape, were stolen from the hospitals. The bandages we had on board, furnished by the company, were made of crumbling linen material from the Korean War era. Oropharyngeal airways were supposed to be either used once and discarded, or autoclaved between patients, but we had neither replacement airways or an autoclave, so we wiped them clean with alcohol and hoped for the best.
Our suction apparatus was powered through the engine’s vacuum manifold. Suction power went to zero when the engine was accelerating. If you were trying to clear gunk from a patient’s airway while your driver was flooring it, you’d tell him to coast until you had made some progress.
We weren’t allowed to say someone was dead, even if the flesh was falling from their bones. Law enforcement officers could make that determination, but doing so meant they would have to remain at the scene until the coroner arrived, which could take hours. This being the case, many officers chose to see some glimmer of life in corpses long past resurrection. We responded to an “11-80” (traffic accident with serious injuries) attended by a member of the California Highway Patrol to find a pickup truck that had rolled over with an unfortunate passenger in the back. The passenger had not quite been decapitated, as his head was hanging by a few strips of flesh. This was one of the more obvious dead people I had encountered, but the Chippie ordered us to run him in. Getting the body onto the gurney had the same effect achieved in kosher slaughterhouses, where the neck veins are severed and the blood is allowed to drain from the carcass. By the time we got to the hospital, the floor of the rear compartment was literally awash in blood, with it sloshing over my boots. I called the office and told them we would be out of service for a while.
This pre-dated the AIDS scare, and even though hepatitis and other bloodborne pathogens were just as nasty then as now (and there was no vaccine), we had no latex gloves to wear. Back then, gloves were worn by medical people to protect the patient from infection. There wasn’t a lot of thought given to protecting the caregivers. I remember cleaning up after an especially gruesome call and thinking that I wasn’t just cleaning something, but rather someone, out from under my fingernails.
One case where we didn’t have to transport was at the home of an older gentleman. I never knew the circumstances that prompted the call, but we arrived a few minutes after the fire department and before the cops. As we walked up to the house, the firemen were walking out, chuckling to one another. “He’s dead!” they said with some amusement. We entered the bedroom to find an older man lying supine on top of his bed, naked. Rigor had set in, so he had been gone for some time. What the firefighters found so funny was that the man had expired while engaged in an act of self-pleasure, and still had the weapon in hand. My partner and I looked at each other and registered much the same expression the firemen had. As we walked out, the cops were just arriving. “He’s dead!” we told them. I suppose there are worse ways to go, but that’s not how I want to be found.
I ran a lot of calls at Silva’s. The shifts were 120 hours long–yes, five days straight. You got paid straight time ($2.00/hour in 1974) for the first eight hours, a guaranteed time-and-a-half for five more hours, and were unpaid for three hours of meals, whether you actually got to eat them or not. Between midnight and eight in the morning, you got overtime for the time you were actually in service on the call. If you rolled and were cancelled two minutes out–which was common–you got two minutes of overtime. I swear some of those rigs could find their own way home, because there were many nights I have no memory of having driven them there. When my days off finally arrived, I would usually sleep through at least one of them.
The full Silva’s uniform was a sartorial delight. Each time they would give me a new uniform article, it would fall to a mysteriously tragic end, so I wore a white shirt, navy blue knit slacks, and a nylon bomber jacket. If you wanted to show you were management material, the required outfit consisted of a white (formerly pink) shirt with royal blue trousers and Ike jacket. The trousers had white piping down each leg, as did the cuffs of the jacket. On each shoulder of the Ike jacket was a huge purple and gold patch, proclaiming the wearer to be employed by Silva’s Ambulance Service, the words spelled out in metallic script. One was also obliged to wear a royal blue CHP clip-on neck tie. Mandatory accessories to the ensemble included a gold metal nametag, white belt, and white leather shoes. Worn on the shirt or jacket was a shield-type gold badge, about the size of a soup plate. All the badges identified the wearers as “Technician,” except for Bob Silva’s. His said, “Owner.” There was a $20 deposit on the badge. Those who were really in with the in crowd had huge custom Western-style belt buckles with their first names spelled out diagonally, and the corners adorned with red crosses, stars of life, or tiny ambulances. However, the crowning glory accessory–and I only saw one of these–was a gold tie bar, wider than the tie itself, with a fine gold chain attached to either end of the bar. Dangling from the chain was a pink Cadillac ambulance. Its wearer was extremely proud of this, and wouldn’t tell anyone where he got it, lest someone steal his thunder.
Employee turnover was around 200% annually, and I was a prized employee because I always showed up on time and sober. I was able to work full time on school vacations and summer, and from Friday evening to early Monday morning, when I’d leave to make it to my first class at San Jose State. It wasn’t uncommon to have an employee go AWOL, and have the cops show up a day or so later, looking for them. You had to be fingerprinted to get an ambulance driver’s license, but all you needed to work as an attendant was a first aid card, which management would procure for you for a small fee.
Bob Curry, in almost the full Silva's uniform (no badge), posing with a "new" ambulance, formerly used by Allied Ambulance in Oakland.
Bob Curry, in almost the full Silva’s uniform (no badge), posing with a “new” ambulance, formerly used by Allied Ambulance in Oakland.
There was one very senior employee whose name was also Bob. Bob thought he was the manager, and would tell you he was if asked, despite advice to the contrary if one of the Silvas was listening. Bob was very possessive of “his” ambulance, which was always the newest one (given that they were all used, “new” was a relative term). One night, I had just come in to work, and a call came in. The dispatcher told me to take it, so I grabbed an attendant and got in the first rig I saw. It was Bob’s, of course. When I returned, Bob screamed my face, lest I forget that that particular rig was HIS ambulance, and I had better stay the hell out of it if I knew what was good for me. Bob had an apartment near the main station, so he didn’t have to sleep at the station when he was on duty. If you were Bob’s attendant (Bob never worked in the back unless there was some real hero stuff going on), you were allowed to drive Bob’s ambulance to his place, where you switched seats. That night, a co-conspirator and I did a little customizing to Bob’s rig. When he got in the next morning, he found the handle on the driver’s door adorned with some adhesive tape, reading “Bob’s Door Handle.” Inside, more tape indicated Bob’s Steering Wheel, Bob’s Cigarette Lighter, Bob’s Gearshift, Bob’s Turn Indicator, Bob’s Accelerator, Bob’s Radio, Bob’s Other Radio, and so on. Tucked under Bob’s Sun Visor was a card on a little string, trimmed to drop to eye level: “Hi, Bob.”
Silva’s didn’t have the market cornered on odd employees. A rival company employed a guy we called Captain Action. Captain Action worked for a company that had more traditional uniforms, but still included a badge. The issued badge wasn’t up to Captain Action’s high standards. He had his own badge made up. It was a thing of beauty. It was a gold seven-point star (the most common style of police badge in those parts), but much larger than most police badges. It put the Silva’s badge to shame on size alone. I remember it had a big California State Seal in the middle, and a lot of text on the banners and inner ring. There was so much lettering on the badge that I never got to finish reading it, although I saw it often. Captain Action also wore a police-style Sam Browne belt with various snaps and cases, including a cuff case, handcuffs, and a baton ring. I never saw a baton, but I’m sure he had it around somewhere.
Captain Action loved to talk on the radio. Each ambulance had two radios, one on the company channel, and one that broadcasted on a shared, county-wide channel, called County Control. There was no direct channel to the hospitals, so one was obliged to tell County Control what you had and where you were bringing it, so the dispatcher could give the appropriate ER the heads up. An appropriate message might be something like, “County Control, Ambulance 3335, en route Code 3 to Peninsula Medical with an unconscious head injury.” Captain Action preferred to be somewhat more detailed, and made liberal use of the phonetic alphabet. “County Control, Ambulance 3330, en route Peninsula Medical Center with a 33-year-old white male with a history of cardiac myopathy, I spell CHARLES-ADAM-ROBERT-DAVID-IDA-ADAM-CHARLES-BREAK-MARY-YELLOW-OCEAN-PAUL-ADAM-TOM-HENRY-YELLOW…”
After one of these lengthy naratives (keep in mind that there were ten or twelve other ambulances in the county that used the same channel), the dispatcher was oddly silent. Captain Action made another try to ensure his message made it through. “County Control, Ambulance 3330, did you copy?”
“Ambulance 3330, County Control, TOM-EDWARD-NORA-BREAK-FRANK-OCEAN-UNION-ROBERT.”
Ah, the good old days.
Written by Tim Dees on January 1st, 2015
Hermes holding the infant Dionysos in his left arm. The mythological subjects relating to the custody of the child Dionysus to the nymphs is very popular in Greek and Roman art. Evidence of this myth are attested in vase painting, sculpture, bas-reliefs etc.
The finishing and polishing of the back and the buttocks of Hermes is much coarser than that of the front part. This suggests that this copy was meant to be housed in a niche or exposed against a wall.
Marble sculpture
Height 2,15 m
Late classical Stile
Original sculpture attributed to Praxiteles [?]
Copy ca. 100 BC - ca. 100 AD
From Elis, Greece
Olympia, Archaeological Museum