Dedicated in 1940, the Lithuanian Room's decorations represent the community's love for their homeland and farming. The wallpaper is made of hand-spun linen in a geometric pattern called the "path of the birds". The wood blackboard frame, door and wall decorations were carved with motifs of greenery native to Lithuania.

 

The friezes near the ceiling were inscribed with names of famous and important Lithuanians. You may notice the black wood professor's chair at a corner of the room. This chair was made from precious bog oak, which is oak wood that had been submerged into bogs for years to obtain the dark hue. Wood submerged into bogs is not ready to be retrieved for use until several generations later.

 

The lead window frames were also hand-made to create the sunburst patterns, a reminder of the importance of nature's blessings in an agricultural society.

 

Near the window is a wood carving of a mother at a spinning wheel with her child. This is known as the School of Sorrows and is a traditional symbol of Lithuanian language and culture preservation during times of oppression. The story tells a mother teaching her child the Lithuanian language and history at home when the Russian invaders forbade that at school.

 

Finally, the back wall of the classroom is a fresco showing Two Kings who protect the most precious things: community, village life and land. Beyond the dark forest, the bright stars represent hope and light even in dark difficult times.

 

youtu.be/MfJNeJjctmI

 

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The Nationality Rooms are located in the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning building. The rooms are gifts to the university from Pittsburgh's ethnic communities. Each room has been designed to represent the culture of the nation represented. The rooms function as university classrooms and are not open all the time for the public to explore particularly during school terms. Visitors are advised to contact the University for opening times and guided tours.

 

www.nationalityrooms.pitt.edu/

 

The very first Nationality Room opened in 1938, and new rooms are still being planned now. There are currently 30 Nationality Rooms at the Cathedral of Learning.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3914/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Kiesel, Berlin.

 

Yugoslav film actress and beauty queen Ita Rina (1907-1979) was one of the major film stars in Germany and Czechoslovakia in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

 

Ita Rina was born as Italina Lida ‘Ida’ Kravanja in the small town of Divača (then Austro-Hungarian Empire, later Yugoslavia, now Slovenia) in 1907. She was the first daughter of Jožef and Marija Kravanja. Rina had a younger sister Danica. Shortly after the outbreak of World War I, the family moved to Ljubljana, where Rina matriculated in 1923. Her dream was to become an actress. In October 1926, Slavic People magazine organized a beauty pageant for a Miss to represent Yugoslavia at the Miss Europe contest. The attractive nineteen-year-old secretly entered the beauty contest, not telling anyone at home. She was crowned Miss Slovenia and should travel to the final event for Miss Yugoslavia in Zagreb. However, her mother did not want to let her go to Zagreb. After a group visit of the Slovenian delegation, Marija Kravanja slacked. Unfortunately, when Rina arrived in Zagreb, the jury was already choosing the most beautiful of three finalists. However, she was noticed by Adolf Müller, the owner of Balkan Palace cinema in Zagreb. He sent her photographs to German film producer Peter Ostermayer, who invited her to come to Germany. As her mother did not want to let her go to Berlin, Rina ran away from home and arrived in Berlin in 1927. After her first audition, she had classes in acting, diction, dancing, driving, and riding. She made her film debut in the leading role in Was die Kinder ihren Eltern verschweigen/What Do Children Hide from Their Parents (Franz Osten, 1927) with Mary Johnson. Ita Rina was actually a model of fulfilled dreams of glory and success in film. After some small film roles in 1927 and 1928, the critics noticed her in Das letzte Souper/The Last Supper (Mario Bonnard, 1928) starring Marcella Albani. That same year, Rina met her future husband Miodrag Đorđević, a student. Her big breakthrough came the following year, opposite Olaf Fjord in Erotikon/Seduction (1929), directed by Gustav Machatý. She was starring in the leading female role, Andrea. The film was a great success but also upset some moral and Christian organizations. Robert J. Maxwell at IMDb loved Rina’s performance: “She's a beauty by any metric. Her eyes are slanted and large. When she's excited, the irises are surrounded entirely by the whites. I can't do that. I just tried it in the mirror. And her nose is exquisite. It begins between her eyebrows, disregarding the usual need for a glabella, and cleaves her features in two. That nose is magnetic, exactly the right size for nibbling.”

 

In 1930, Ita Rina acted in three films, the most notable being the first talking Czech film Tonka Šibenice/Gallows Toni (Karl Anton, 1930). The title part in this film is often named her best role. In 1931, she married Miodrag Đorđević, and changed her religion from Roman Catholic to Serbian Orthodox. Rina was baptised in the Russian Orthodox Church, and also got her new Orthodox name, Tamara Đorđević. Now at the height of her career, she earned 15,000 marks per month and was an idol to teenagers as well as modern emancipated women.

The same year, Rina was given an offer from Hollywood, but her husband forced her to choose between her career and their marriage; Rina chose to stay with him. Although she had announced her retirement from the cinema, she acted until the outbreak of World War II. Her last film appearance was in the crime drama Zentrale Rio/Central Rio (Erich Engels, 1939) co-starring Leny Marenbach and Camilla Horn. Rina and her husband settled in Belgrade. In 1940, she gave birth to their son Milan. After the bombing of Belgrade in 1941, the family moved to Vrnjačka Banja, where Rina gave birth to a daughter, Tijana. They moved back to Belgrade after the end of World War II in 1945. Although she was promised several roles in Yugoslav films, all projects were cancelled. After she had written to President Tito, Rina began working as a co-production advisor in Avala Film. She returned to the silver screen once, in the Science-Fiction drama Rat/Atomic War Bride (Veljko Bulajić, 1960). The film, which deals with the horrors of the atomic weapon era, won three Golden Arena awards at the 1960 Pula Film Festival, including for Best Director (Veljko Bulajić), Best Actor (Antun Vrdoljak) and Best Scenography (Duško Jeričević), and was nominated for the Golden Lion award at the 1960 Venice Film Festival. It was her last role. As she was ill of asthma, Rina and her husband moved to Budva (then Yugoslavia, now Montenegro) in 1967. There, she was taking care of her husband, who was ill of sclerosis. Ita Rina died in 1979 in Budva of an asthmatic attack. She was buried a few days later in Belgrade, in the presence of numerous film artists, admirers, friends, and family. A few years ago, the Slovenian Cinematheque mounted a permanent exhibition of the actress’s photos and posters at the Škrjateljnova domačija, the house where she was born. The Slovenian Cinematheque also marked the recent centennial of her birth by reprinting a monograph on her life and work, now in an extended edition complete with English translations.

 

Sources: Slovenia.si, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

The Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World; French: La Liberté éclairant le monde) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States. The statue, designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, a French sculptor and dedicated on October 28, 1886, was a gift to the United States from the people of France. The statue is of a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess, who bears a torch and a tabula ansata (a tablet evoking the law) upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. A broken chain lies at her feet. The statue is an icon of freedom and of the United States: a welcoming signal to immigrants arriving from abroad.

 

Bartholdi was inspired by French law professor and politician Édouard René de Laboulaye, who is said to have commented in 1865 that any monument raised to American independence would properly be a joint project of the French and American peoples. He may have been minded to honor the Union victory in the American Civil War and the end of slavery. Due to the troubled political situation in France, work on the statue did not commence until the early 1870s. In 1875, Laboulaye proposed that the French finance the statue and the Americans provide the site and build the pedestal. Bartholdi completed the head and the torch-bearing arm before the statue was fully designed, and these pieces were exhibited for publicity at international expositions.

 

The torch-bearing arm was displayed at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, and in Madison Square Park in Manhattan from 1876 to 1882. Fundraising proved difficult, especially for the Americans, and by 1885 work on the pedestal was threatened due to lack of funds. Publisher Joseph Pulitzer of the New York World started a drive for donations to complete the project that attracted more than 120,000 contributors, most of whom gave less than a dollar. The statue was constructed in France, shipped overseas in crates, and assembled on the completed pedestal on what was then called Bedloe's Island. The statue's completion was marked by New York's first ticker-tape parade and a dedication ceremony presided over by President Grover Cleveland.

 

The statue was administered by the United States Lighthouse Board until 1901 and then by the Department of War; since 1933 it has been maintained by the National Park Service. The statue was closed for renovation for much of 1938. In the early 1980s, it was found to have deteriorated to such an extent that a major restoration was required. While the statue was closed from 1984 to 1986, the torch and a large part of the internal structure were replaced. After the September 11 attacks in 2001, it was closed for reasons of safety and security; the pedestal reopened in 2004 and the statue in 2009, with limits on the number of visitors allowed to ascend to the crown. The statue, including the pedestal and base, was closed for a year until October 28, 2012, so that a secondary staircase and other safety features could be installed; Liberty Island remained open. However, one day after the reopening, Liberty Island closed due to the effects of Hurricane Sandy in New York; the statue and island opened again on July 4, 2013. Public access to the balcony surrounding the torch has been barred for safety reasons since 1916.

 

The origin of the Statue of Liberty project is sometimes traced to a comment made by French law professor and politician Édouard René de Laboulaye in mid-1865. In after-dinner conversation at his home near Versailles, Laboulaye, an ardent supporter of the Union in the American Civil War, is supposed to have said: "If a monument should rise in the United States, as a memorial to their independence, I should think it only natural if it were built by united effort—a common work of both our nations."[7] The National Park Service, in a 2000 report, however, deemed this a legend traced to an 1885 fundraising pamphlet, and that the statue was most likely conceived in 1870.[8] In another essay on their website, the Park Service suggested that Laboulaye was minded to honor the Union victory and its consequences, "With the abolition of slavery and the Union's victory in the Civil War in 1865, Laboulaye's wishes of freedom and democracy were turning into a reality in the United States. In order to honor these achievements, Laboulaye proposed that a gift be built for the United States on behalf of France. Laboulaye hoped that by calling attention to the recent achievements of the United States, the French people would be inspired to call for their own democracy in the face of a repressive monarchy.

 

Bartholdi and Laboulaye considered how best to express the idea of American liberty.[18] In early American history, two female figures were frequently used as cultural symbols of the nation.[19] One of these symbols, the personified Columbia, was seen as an embodiment of the United States in the manner that Britannia was identified with the United Kingdom and Marianne came to represent France. Columbia had supplanted the earlier figure of an Indian princess, which had come to be regarded as uncivilized and derogatory toward Americans.[19] The other significant female icon in American culture was a representation of Liberty, derived from Libertas, the goddess of freedom widely worshipped in ancient Rome, especially among emancipated slaves. A Liberty figure adorned most American coins of the time,[18] and representations of Liberty appeared in popular and civic art, including Thomas Crawford's Statue of Freedom (1863) atop the dome of the United States Capitol Building.

 

Construction

 

On June 17, 1885, the French steamer Isère, laden with the Statue of Liberty, reached the New York port safely. New Yorkers displayed their new-found enthusiasm for the statue, as the French vessel arrived with the crates holding the disassembled statue on board. Two hundred thousand people lined the docks and hundreds of boats put to sea to welcome the Isère.[90] [91] After five months of daily calls to donate to the statue fund, on August 11, 1885, the World announced that $102,000 had been raised from 120,000 donors, and that 80 percent of the total had been received in sums of less than one dollar.[92]

 

Even with the success of the fund drive, the pedestal was not completed until April 1886. Immediately thereafter, reassembly of the statue began. Eiffel's iron framework was anchored to steel I-beams within the concrete pedestal and assembled.[93] Once this was done, the sections of skin were carefully attached.[94] Due to the width of the pedestal, it was not possible to erect scaffolding, and workers dangled from ropes while installing the skin sections. Nevertheless, no one died during the construction.[95] Bartholdi had planned to put floodlights on the torch's balcony to illuminate it; a week before the dedication, the Army Corps of Engineers vetoed the proposal, fearing that ships' pilots passing the statue would be blinded. Instead, Bartholdi cut portholes in the torch – which was covered with gold leaf – and placed the lights inside them.[96] A power plant was installed on the island to light the torch and for other electrical needs.[97] After the skin was completed, renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, co-designer of New York's Central Park and Brooklyn's Prospect Park, supervised a cleanup of Bedloe's Island in anticipation of the dedication.

 

The statue is situated in Upper New York Bay on Liberty Island south of Ellis Island, which together comprise the Statue of Liberty National Monument. Both islands were ceded by New York to the federal government in 1800.[155] As agreed in an 1834 compact between New York and New Jersey that set the state border at the bay's midpoint, the original islands remain New York territory despite their location on the New Jersey side of the state line. Liberty Island is one of the islands that are part of the borough of Manhattan in New York. Land created by reclamation added to the 2.3 acres (0.93 ha) original island at Ellis Island is New Jersey territory.[156]

 

No charge is made for entrance to the national monument, but there is a cost for the ferry service that all visitors must use, as private boats may not dock at the island. A concession was granted in 2007 to Statue Cruises to operate the transportation and ticketing facilities, replacing Circle Line, which had operated the service since 1953.[157] The ferries, which depart from Liberty State Park in Jersey City and Battery Park in Lower Manhattan, also stop at Ellis Island when it is open to the public, making a combined trip possible.[158] All ferry riders are subject to security screening, similar to airport procedures, prior to boarding.[159] Visitors intending to enter the statue's base and pedestal must obtain a complimentary museum/pedestal ticket along with their ferry ticket.[160] Those wishing to climb the staircase within the statue to the crown purchase a special ticket, which may be reserved up to a year in advance. A total of 240 people per day are permitted to ascend: ten per group, three groups per hour. Climbers may bring only medication and cameras—lockers are provided for other items—and must undergo a second security screening.

It represents the abduction of the queen of Amazons Antiope by Theseus

Marble pedimental sculpture - H. 1.10 m

Attributed to Antenor

Late Archaic Period - [510-500 BCE]

From the Temple of Apollo Daphnephoros, Eretria, Euboea

Eretria, Archaeological Museum

 

Original photo by courtesy of Egisto Sani, Grazie !

 

Represent Mala Pruga !

Sorce 2014

Polychrome wooden reliquary statue representing Saint George, made in Goa (India) by an anonymous author on loan from the Rijksmuseum Twenthe (Pays-Bs) during the exhibition "Man the Dragon and Death" at Mac's in Hornu (Belgium)

This statue represents a figure in traditional pharaonic pose: seated on a cubic throne, his hands flat on his thighs, wearing a false beard and a headdress with a cobra (broken).

 

The names and titles of Ramesses II are inscribed on the belt buckle, and on the back and sides of the throne.

Pavel Srníček (10 March 1968 – 29 December 2015) was a Czech football coach and former professional player who played as a goalkeeper.

 

In a career that lasted from 1990 to 2007, he notably played in the Premier League mainly for Newcastle United. In addition, he represented Sheffield Wednesday, Portsmouth and West Ham United in England's top flight, and also played in Serie A for Brescia, Serie B with Cosenza, in Portugal for Beira-Mar, and in his native country for Baník Ostrava. After retiring, he worked as a goalkeeping coach for his own private school and for AC Sparta Prague.

 

Srníček played internationally for the Czech Republic from 1994 to 2001, earning a total of 49 caps. He was part of their squad that came runners-up at UEFA Euro 96, and was their first-choice goalkeeper when they came third at the 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup and contested UEFA Euro 2000.

 

Srníček made 30 appearances in the Czechoslovak First League for Baník Ostrava spanning the 1989–90 and 1990–91 seasons. He was signed for English side Newcastle United in January 1991 by manager Jim Smith for a fee of £350,000, being one of 23 players signed by Smith in a 2+1⁄2-year period as manager. Smith left just two months after Srníček's arrival. Under manager Ossie Ardiles, Srníček established himself as Newcastle's first-choice goalkeeper ahead of John Burridge and Tommy Wright. Srníček experienced difficulty in the first 15 games of the 1991–92 season, conceding 32 goals in that period including six in a single match against Tranmere Rovers. Ardiles replaced Srníček as goalkeeper with Wright and by February 1992, the club was merely one place from last in the Second Division. This led to Kevin Keegan replacing Ardiles as manager, with the club winning seven of their remaining 16 games, only managing to confirm their future status in the division with an away win against Leicester City on the last day of the season. The club started the 1992–93 season in the new Football League First Division, winning all of their first 11 matches. Wright lost his place as goalkeeper to Srníček after 14 games of the season. At the end of the season, Keegan's first full one as manager, the club was promoted to the Premier League with 96 points. 1993 saw the arrival of Mike Hooper from Liverpool, who competed with Srníček for the position of goalkeeper.

 

Srníček marked the opening of the 1994–95 season, a 3–1 away victory against Leicester City, by being sent off. A "terrible error" by Srníček in a September 1994 match against Liverpool resulted in a goal for Liverpool striker Ian Rush, ending Newcastle's perfect start to the season and leading Glenn Moore of The Independent to question how much longer the goalkeeper would remain in the first team.

 

During Srníček's league suspension in 1995, former Reading man Shaka Hislop assumed position as the team's goalkeeper. Later an injury to Hislop enabled Srníček to return to the first team, upon which he entered into an impressive run of form. He was named man of the match in a December 1995 match against Everton, his team winning 1–0. During the 1990s, Srníček became the longest-serving foreign Newcastle player, passing the time spent at the club by Chilean brothers George and Ted Robledo.

 

Srníček played in the UEFA Cup, making a "vital save" from Amara Traoré and keeping a clean sheet as Newcastle beat Metz 2–0 in a December 1996 match in Newcastle, to qualify for the quarter finals of the competition.

 

Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the first level of the English football league system, as of the 2023–24 season. Since the formation of the club in 1892, when Newcastle East End absorbed the assets of Newcastle West End to become Newcastle United, the club has played its home matches at St James' Park. Located in the centre of Newcastle, it currently has a capacity of 52,305.

 

The club has been a member of the Premier League for all but three years of the competition's history, spending 91 seasons in the top flight as of May 2023, and has never dropped below English football's second tier since joining the Football League in 1893. Newcastle have won four League titles, six FA Cups and an FA Charity Shield, as well as the 1968–69 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, the ninth-highest total of trophies won by an English club. The club's most successful period was between 1904 and 1910, when they won an FA Cup and three of their League titles. Their last major domestic trophy was in 1955. More recently the club have been League or FA Cup runners-up on four occasions in the 1990s. Newcastle were relegated in 2009, and again in 2016. The club won promotion at the first time of asking each time, returning to the Premier League, as Championship winners, in 2010 and 2017. In October 2021, a consortium led by the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, became majority owners of Newcastle United.

 

The team's traditional kit colours are black-and-white striped shirts, black shorts and black or white socks. Their crest has elements of the city coat of arms, which features two grey hippocamps. Before each home game, the team enters the field to "Going Home", with "Blaydon Races" also being sung during games. The 2005 film Goal! featured Newcastle United, and many signings mentioned the influence the film had on them.

 

The history of Newcastle United Football Club, an English professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England, covers the club's entire history from its formation to the present day. Formed by a merger between Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End to become 'United' in 1892, the club was elected to the Football League, which they entered in 1893.

 

Newcastle are England's 9th most successful club of all time. They have been English champions four times (in 1905, 1907, 1909, 1927) and FA Cup winners six times (in 1910, 1924, 1932, 1951, 1952, 1955). The club have also won the 1909 Charity Shield, the 1968–69 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, and the 2006 Intertoto Cup. Newcastle have reached the League Cup final twice, finishing runners-up in both years ( 1976 and 2023). They have played in England's top league from 1898–1934, 1948–61, 1965–78, 1984–89, 1993–2009, 2010–2016, and 2017–present, playing in the second tier at all other times.

 

The first record of football being played on Tyneside dates from 3 March 1877 at Elswick Rugby Club. Later that year, Newcastle's first association football club, Tyne Association, was formed. The origins of Newcastle United Football Club itself can be traced back to the formation of a football club by the Stanley Cricket Club of Byker in November 1881. They won their first match 5–0 against Elswick Leather Works 2nd XI. The team was renamed Newcastle East End F.C. in October 1882, to avoid confusion with the cricket club in Stanley, County Durham.

 

Shortly after this, another Byker side, Rosewood FC, merged with East End to form an even stronger side. Meanwhile, across the city, West End Cricket Club began to take an interest in football and in August 1882, they formed Newcastle West End F.C. West End played their early football on their cricket pitch, but in May 1886, the club moved into St James' Park. The two clubs became rivals in the Northern League. In 1889, Newcastle East End became a professional team, before becoming a limited company the following March.

 

West End soon became the city's premier club. East End were anxious not to be left behind and lured Tom Watson into becoming the club secretary/manager in the close season of 1888 and from that point, never looked back; Watson made several good signings, especially from Scotland, and the Heaton club went from strength to strength, while West End's fortunes slipped dramatically.

 

The region's first league competition was formed in 1889 and the FA Cup began to cause interest. Ambitious East End turned professional in 1889, a huge step for a local club, and in March 1890, they made an even more adventurous move by becoming a limited company with capital of 1,000 pounds in ten shilling notes. During the spring of 1892, in a season during which their results were at an all-time low, and in which they had lost to their bitter rivals, East End, five times, West End found themselves in serious trouble. They approached East End with a view to a take over, the directors having decided that the club could no longer continue.

 

What actually happened was that West End wound up, while some of its players and most of its backroom staff joined East End. East End also took over the lease on St. James' Park in May 1892.

 

With only one senior club in the city for fans to support, development of the club was much more rapid. Despite being refused entry to the Football League's First Division at the start of the 1892–93 season, they were invited to play in their new Second Division. However, with no big names playing in the Second Division, they turned down the offer and remained in the Northern League, stating "gates would not meet the heavy expenses incurred for travelling". In a bid to start drawing larger crowds, Newcastle East End decided to adopt a new name in recognition of the merger. Suggested names included Newcastle F.C., Newcastle Rangers, Newcastle City and City of Newcastle, but Newcastle United was decided upon on 9 December 1892, to signify the unification of the two teams. The name change was accepted by the Football Association on 22 December, but the club was not legally constituted as Newcastle United Football Club Co. Ltd. until 6 September 1895. At the start of the 1893–94 season, Newcastle United were once again refused entry to the First Division and so joined the Second Division, along with Liverpool and Woolwich Arsenal. They played their first competitive match in the division that September against Woolwich Arsenal, with a score of 2–2.

 

Turnstile numbers were still low, and the incensed club published a statement claiming "The Newcastle public do not deserve to be catered for as far as professional football is concerned". However, eventually figures picked up by 1895–96, when 14,000 fans watched the team play Bury. That season Frank Watt became secretary of the club, and he was instrumental in promotion to the First Division for the 1898–99 season. However, they lost their first game 4–2 at home to Wolves and finished their first season in thirteenth place.

 

In 1903–04, the club built up a promising squad of players, and went on to dominate English football for almost a decade, the team known for their "artistic play, combining team-work and quick, short passing". Newcastle started to purchase talented players, especially from Scotland, and soon had a squad to rival all of England. With players like Colin Veitch, Jackie Rutherford, Jimmy Lawrence and Albert Shepherd, Newcastle had a team of international talent. Bill McCracken, Jimmy Howie, Peter McWilliam and Andy Aitken were also household names in their day. Long after his retirement, defender Peter McWilliam said "The Newcastle team of the 1900s would give any modern side a two goal start and beat them, and further more, beat them at a trot".

 

Newcastle United went on to win the League on three occasions during the 1900s: in 1904–05, 1906–07 and 1908–09. Newcastle reached five FA Cup finals in the years leading up to World War I. In 1904–05, they nearly did the double, losing to Aston Villa in the 1905 FA Cup Final. They were beaten again the following year by Everton in the 1906 FA Cup Final. They reached the final again in 1908 where they lost to Wolves. In 1908 the team suffered a record 9–1 home defeat to local rivals Sunderland in the league but still won that season's league title. They finally won the FA Cup in 1910 when they beat Barnsley in the final. They lost again the following year in the final against Bradford City.

 

The team returned to the FA Cup final in 1924, in the second final held at the then new Wembley Stadium. They defeated Aston Villa, winning the club's second FA Cup.Three years later they won the First Division championship a fourth time in 1926–27. Record signing & Scottish international centre-forward Hughie Gallacher, one of the most prolific goal scorers in the club's history, captained the championship-winning team. Other key players in this period were Neil Harris, Stan Seymour and Frank Hudspeth. Seymour was to become an influential figure for the next 40 years as player, manager and director.

 

In 1930, Newcastle United came close to relegation, and at the end of the season Gallacher left the club for Chelsea, and at the same time Andy Cunningham became the club's first team manager. In 1931–32, the club won the FA Cup a third time in the infamous 'Over the Line' final. United won the game 2–1 after scoring a goal following a cross from Jimmy Richardson which appeared to be hit from out of play - over the line. There were no action replays then and the referee allowed the goal, a controversial talking point in FA Cup history.

 

Newcastle boasted master players like Sam Weaver and Jack Allen, as well as the first player-manager in the top division in Scottish international Andy Cunningham. But at the end of the 1933–34 season, the team were relegated to the Second Division after 32 seasons in the First. Cunningham left as manager and Tom Mather took over. Amazingly in the same season as they fell into the Second Division, United defeated Liverpool 9–2 and Everton 7–3 within the space of a week.

 

The club found it difficult to adjust to the Second Division and were nearly further relegated in the 1937–38 season, when they were spared on goal averages.

 

When World War II broke in 1939, Newcastle had a chance to regroup, and in the War period, they brought in Jackie Milburn, Tommy Walker and Bobby Cowell.

 

Newcastle United won no Wartime League trophies, but Jackie Milburn made his debut in 1943 in a "Stripes vs Blues" match. Milburn's side was losing at half-time 3–0, but following a switch from midfielder to centre forward, he scored 6 goals to help them win the match 9–3. Jackie went on to score 38 goals in the next 3 years of the league's life.

 

By the time peace was restored in 1945, Seymour was at the forefront of Newcastle's affairs, manager in all but name. He ensured that the Magpies possessed an entertaining eleven full of stars, a mix of home-grown talent like Jackie Milburn, Bobby Cowell and Ernie Taylor, as well as big signings in the shape of George Robledo, Bobby Mitchell, Joe Harvey, Len Shackleton and Frank Brennan.

 

Newcastle spent the first couple of years post-war in the Second Division. Crowds were extremely high after the return to football, and in 1946 Newcastle recorded the joint-highest victory in English League Football history, defeating Newport County 13–0. Len Shackleton, playing his debut in that match, scored 6 goals in the match, another record for Newcastle United.

 

Newcastle returned to the First Division in double of the time. Promotion was achieved in 1948 in front of vast crowds. An average of almost 57,000 at every home game saw United's fixtures that year, a national record for years to come. That was just the start of another period of success.

 

During the Fifties decade United lifted the FA Cup trophy on three occasions within a five-year period. In 1951 they defeated Blackpool 2–0, a year later Arsenal were beaten 1–0 and in 1955 United crushed Manchester City 3–1. The Magpies were known in every corner of the country, and so were their players; 'Wor Jackie' Milburn and Bobby 'Dazzler' Mitchell the pick of a side that was renowned the nation over. Other players of this time were Frank Brennan (like Mitchell a Scot), Ivor Broadis, Len White and Welshman Ivor Allchurch.

 

Despite having quality players throughout the era, stars like Allchurch, White and George Eastham during the latter years of the decade, United slipped from the First Division in 1961 under the controversial management of ex-Manchester United star, Charlie Mitten. It was a huge blow to the club.

 

An old war-horse returned to revitalise the Magpies in the shape of Joe Harvey, who had skippered the club to much of their post-war success. He teamed up with Stan Seymour to rebuild United and the Black'n'Whites returned to the elite as Second Division Champions in 1965. United then became very much an unpredictable side, always capable of defeating the best, but never quite realising their huge potential until very recently.

 

Joe Harvey's side qualified for Europe for the first time in 1968 and stunned everyone the following year by lifting the Inter Cities Fairs Cup; the forerunner of the UEFA Cup. United possessed a solid eleven and Newcastle's tradition of fielding a famous Number 9 at centre-forward since earliest years continued as big Welshman Wyn Davies was prominent along with the likes of Pop Robson, Bobby Moncur and Frank Clark.

 

In the years that followed European success, manager Harvey brought in a string of talented entertainers who thrilled the Gallowgate crowd. Pleasers like Jimmy Smith, Tony Green and Terry Hibbitt. And especially a new centre-forward by the name of Malcolm Macdonald.

 

Nicknamed 'Supermac', Macdonald was one of United's greatest hero figures. Brash, arrogant and devastating in front of goal, he led United's attack to Wembley in 1974, against Liverpool in the FA Cup. But the Magpies failed to bring the trophy back to Tyneside, and a complete lack of success in any of the competitions the next season resulted in Joe Harvey being sacked in mid-1975.

 

Blackburn manager Gordon Lee was appointed to replace Harvey, and despite a mediocre league campaign in 1975–76, led the club to its first League Cup final, which ended in defeat by Manchester City. Despite Macdonald controversially being sold to Arsenal for a cut price deal, the following season saw United's best League campaign for years, and by Christmas the club looked to have an outside chance of winning the title. However, Lee walked out on the club to take over at Everton at the start of 1977, and inexperienced coach Richard Dinnis was put in charge of the team after the players demanded that he be given the job. United's form initially remained quite consistent under Dinnis, and they secured 5th place and a UEFA Cup spot at the end of the season. However, the team totally fell apart the following season, and Dinnis was sacked after a run of ten straight League defeats and a thumping UEFA Cup exit at the hands of French team SC Bastia. Bill McGarry took over as manager, but was powerless to prevent United from being relegated in statistically their worst season ever. The only mercy they had was Leicester City's terrible goal difference preventing United from finishing bottom of the table.

 

McGarry remained in charge of the club, but only managed two midtable finishes before being sacked in the wake of an uninspiring start to the 1980–81 season, and it was his successor Arthur Cox who steered United back again to the First Division with ex England captain Kevin Keegan leading the attack, having joined the Magpies in a sensational deal in 1982.

 

The football inspired by Keegan captivated Tyneside and United stormed into the top division in a style only bettered by Kevin's own brand of football when he returned to the club as manager a decade later. Cox had also signed young winger Chris Waddle out of non-league football, as well as young striker Peter Beardsley, Liverpool midfielder Terry McDermott and former Manchester United midfielder David McCreery. The club was rocked however when Cox resigned after the board refused to offer him an improved contract in the aftermath of promotion, and, surprisingly, accepted an offer to take charge of Derby County - who had been relegated from the Second Division.

 

One of English footballs greatest talents, Paul Gascoigne or 'Gazza', emerged as an exciting 18-year-old midfielder in 1985-86, under Newcastle's next manager Jack Charlton, who left after only one season despite Newcastle achieving a secure mid-table finish on their return to the First Division. His successor was former player Willie McFaul. Newcastle consolidated their place in Division One but then a period of selling their best players (Beardsley to Liverpool, and Waddle and eventually Gascoigne both to Tottenham), rocked the club and led to supporter unrest, as did a share-war for control of the boardroom. The effect of this on the pitch soon proved evident, as McFaul was sacked after a dismal start to the 1988–89 season, and new boss Jim Smith was unable to turn Newcastle around, resulting in them finishing at the foot of the First Division in 1989 and dropping back into the Second Division.

 

Smith then signed Portsmouth striker Mick Quinn and Newcastle began the 1989–90 season on a high note, beating promotion favourites Leeds United 5–2 on the opening day with Quinn scoring four goals, and Newcastle appeared to be on the path to a revival. However, they missed out on automatic promotion by one place, before enduring a humiliating play-off exit at the hands of local rivals Sunderland. The intensifying boardroom battle soon took its toll on the club, and Smith resigned early in the following season with the side stuck in mid-table. Ossie Ardiles became the club's new manager, and despite being initially being the club's most popular manager since Joe Harvey, Newcastle dropped to the bottom of the Second Division in October 1991. Results failed to improve, despite the acquisition of a new striker in David Kelly and the efforts of promising young players including Steve Howey, Steve Watson and Gavin Peacock, and in February 1992 Ardiles was sacked. Despite being the best-supported side in the division and frequently still managing to pull in crowds of more than 20,000, Newcastle were also millions of pounds in debt and faced with the real prospect of third-tier football for the first time ever. A saviour was needed, and in came new chairman John Hall, who offered the manager's job to Kevin Keegan. Despite having vowed never to enter management following his retirement as a player, Keegan accepted the offer to manage Newcastle. His first task was to deliver Second Division survival.

 

Kevin Keegan returned as manager in the 1991–92 season, and survived relegation from the Second Division. The club's finances were transformed, with Hall aiming to put Newcastle among Europe's biggest clubs, and signings like Rob Lee and Andy Cole helped Newcastle to promotion the following season, 1992–93, as champions of the new First Division. The finish also secured qualification for the 1993–94 UEFA Cup upon return to the top flight in the 1993–94 Premier League season.

 

St James' Park was redeveloped during this time into an all-seated stadium with a capacity of 36,000. This increased to 52,000 in the late 1990s, after the rejection of Hall's proposal to build a larger stadium at Castle Leazes.

 

Keegan stunned fans and critics alike in 1995 when prolific striker Andy Cole was sold to Manchester United in exchange for £6 million and midfielder Keith Gillespie, leaving many to blame the sale to have affected Newcastle's title chances for the 1994–95 season, in which they finished sixth. The club, however, continued to build up a reputation for playing attacking football under Keegan. In the 1995–96 season, high-profile foreign stars David Ginola and Faustino Asprilla, in addition to British players Peter Beardsley and striker Les Ferdinand, guided the team to a second-place finish. During the 1996–97 season, Keegan made one signing, securing the services of England striker Alan Shearer for a then-world record transfer fee of £15 million to produce a shrewd partnership with Les Ferdinand, and claim a 5–0 victory over title rivals Manchester United. whilst remaining in contention to win the league.

 

With the team having failed to win any trophies under his reign, Keegan resigned as manager on 8 January 1997, saying, "I feel that I have taken the club as far as I can."

 

Kenny Dalglish replaced Keegan as manager, and maintained the club's good form through to the end of the season, finishing second. In the 1997–98 season, Les Ferdinand and David Ginola both left the club, whilst Alan Shearer broke his ankle in a pre-season friendly, keeping him out for the first half of the season. Dalglish signed Ian Rush, John Barnes, Duncan Ferguson and Stuart Pearce to bolster the squad, and achieved a 3–2 victory over Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League through a Faustino Asprilla hat-trick, but Dalglish's cautious brand of football, as opposed to the attacking style played under Keegan, did not prove successful—the club failed to progress beyond the Champions League group stage, finished 13th in the Premier League, and lost the FA Cup final to Arsenal. Dalglish began the 1998–99 season signing Nolberto Solano and Dietmar Hamann, but was soon dismissed following the club's declining form.

 

Ruud Gullit replaced him, however the club again finished the league in 13th place and again lost in the FA Cup final, this time to Manchester United F.C. Gullit resigned early in the 1999–2000 season, having fallen out with several senior players, including Alan Shearer and captain Rob Lee. Keith Gillespie later blamed Gullit's arrogance for his failure as manager of the club.

 

Ex-England manager Bobby Robson was brought in to replace Gullit in September 1999. He ensured Newcastle's survival in the Premiership, but the club remained in the bottom half of the table, finishing 11th in 1999–2000 and 2000–01. Robson, however, built up an exciting young squad, and an unlikely top four challenge emerged in 2001–02 season—Newcastle finished in fourth place.

 

Playing in the Champions League in 2002–03, Newcastle progressed to the second group stage in unlikely circumstances, beating Italian squad Juventus 1–0 along the way. United finished the 2002–03 season third in the Premier League, but lost their Champions League qualifier and played in the 2003–04 UEFA Cup instead, reaching the semi-final. In 2003–04, Newcastle finished fifth in the Premiership, lower than in previous seasons, and outside of Champions League contention.

 

Robson was then sacked following a poor start to the 2004–05 season and alleged discontent in the dressing room. In his autobiography, Robson was critical of Shepherd, claiming that while manager he was denied information regarding the players' contracts and transfer negotiations. He had previously publicly criticised the club's highly financed offer for Wayne Rooney, which the club later claimed they could not afford, stating young players were making excessive demands without first proving themselves on the pitch. He also criticised Shepherd and the club's deputy chairman Douglas Hall for their focus on the first team and St James' Park, causing them to neglect less glamorous issues, such as the training ground, youth development and talent scouts.

 

Graeme Souness replaced Robson and finished the season 14th in the league. Souness' arrival, however, was met with mixed reactions, with many expecting Robson being a hard task to improve upon, despite insisting he was aware of Sir Bobby's admiration and was ready for the role. In the January transfer window, Souness caused controversy in securing an £8 million bid for France international Jean-Alain Boumsong, who had joined Rangers for free just months before, prior to which Sir Bobby had travelled to France to review Boumsong but declined to sign him. The Stevens inquiry in 2007 documented that in this purchase Souness was accused of lack of consistency and was reviewed over the large media speculation the transfer received, but was eventually exonerated from any illegal participations. Going into 2005–06 season, despite signing several new players, including the return of Nolberto Solano from Aston Villa as well as Albert Luque from Deportivo de La Coruña for £10 million, Souness struggled with the opening games. He later blamed the state of the club's training ground for injuries suffered to players. The signing of Michael Owen (for a club record £17 million from Real Madrid) and his strike partnership with Alan Shearer produced goals at the end of 2005, but an injury caused Owen to miss the rest of the season and following a poor start to the new year, Souness was sacked in February 2006. Robbie Elliiot and Shay Given announced regret over his exit in the club's Season Review DVD but acknowledged his seeming favouritism of players and the amounting pressure on him damaged morale, whilst Alan Shearer blamed the injury crisis to first-team players.

 

Caretaker manager Glenn Roeder was issued the role of temporary first-team manager, seeing his first game against Portsmouth secure Alan Shearer's 201st goal for Newcastle United, becoming the club's all-time highest-scoring player. Roeder guided Newcastle from 15th to seventh place securing 32 league points from a possible 45 by the end of 2005–06, as well as securing a place in the UEFA Intertoto Cup and was given a two-year contract by chairman Freddy Shepherd. His appointment caused controversy, as at the time he did not hold the necessary UEFA Pro Licence to manage in the UEFA leagues and cup tournaments His role, however, was approved by UEFA who acknowledged that Roeder's diagnosis with a brain tumour in 2003 prevented him from developing his career, whilst Chairman Freddy Shepherd also fulfilled UEFA's request that he gain backing from all 19 other Premier League clubs to appoint him as manager. Alan Shearer retired at the end of the 2005–06 season scoring a record 206 goals.

 

Roeder encountered a difficult 2006–07 season, losing many players to injury, in particular Michael Owen, who had severely damaged his ligaments during the 2006 FIFA World Cup seeing him only play the final two games of the season. Newcastle won the 2006 Intertoto Cup, but a 5–1 exit to Birmingham City in the FA Cup, a round of 16 exit in the UEFA Cup and poor league results seeing a 13th-place finish led Roeder to resign in May 2007.

 

As the 2007 season drew to a close, St James Holdings Limited, the bid vehicle of billionaire businessman Mike Ashley, was reported to be in the process of buying the club. Ashley successfully acquired Sir John Hall's majority stake in the club in May 2007, leaving many to believe chairman Freddie Shepherd was set to depart after stepping down as chairman, should Ashley acquire more than 50 percent, which would see Shepherd no longer in control of the club and Ashley able to replace the board. Shepherd dismissed all speculation and proceeded to appoint ex-Bolton Wanderers boss Sam Allardyce as Newcastle manager, but eventually met with Mike Ashley and the board on 29 May. On 7 June 2007, Shepherd ended his 11 years with the club after Mike Ashley accepted his bid to buy his shares and in his role as chairman of the board, also having Shepherd advise the remaining shareholders to sell to Ashley. Ashley then announced he would be delisting the club from the London Stock Exchange upon completion of the takeover. The club officially ceased trading on the Stock Exchange as of 8 am on 18 July 2007 at 5p a share. Ashley brought in lawyer Chris Mort as the new club "deputy chairman".

 

Despite signing and building a seemingly strong squad, Sam Allardyce soon became widely unpopular with fans and players alike, and was surprisingly sacked by Ashley halfway through his first season after underwhelming results and pressure from the fans. Ashley, however, defended his decision to sack Allardyce, stating he made a mistake in not appointing his own choice of manager before the season started.

 

Kevin Keegan then made a sensational surprise return as manager. His return had an instant impact on club ticket sales as he sat with the fans, Mike Ashley and Chris Mort for the FA Cup replay 4–1 win against Stoke City. Following his return, Keegan had a disappointing first ten games back, with the club not winning a single game until his decision to include strikers Obafemi Martins, Michael Owen and Mark Viduka into a 4–3–3 formation, which saw the club back on goal-scoring and winning form and eventually finishing 12th in 2007–08. In May Keegan met with Mike Ashley and Director of Football Dennis Wise after he had suggested Champions League qualification was out of Newcastle United's reach and expressed dissatisfaction with the board's financial backing. Ashley was battling reports that he had lost hundreds of millions of pounds in a disastrous attempt to rescue bank HBOS. The morning following, after the club's 3–0 defeat to Arsenal, rumours were circulating that Keegan had either been sacked or resigned as Newcastle boss, citing board interference and his lack of control over transfers. Keegan confirmed the reports the same week, and reportedly held unsuccessful resolution talks with Mike Ashley the following week, leading to fan fury and protests around St James' Park, and marring the club's home defeat to Hull City, with fans accusing Ashley and club executives Dennis Wise, Tony Jimenez and Derek Llambias of forcing Keegan out.

 

Following mass media coverage of Keegan's departure, the club struggled to find a replacement, with the majority of managers showing no interest in the role. Ashley released a statement to the club's fans that in fear of his and his families reputation and safety, he was placing the club for sale. It was then announced that former Nottingham Forest manager Joe Kinnear was appointed temporary manager His appointment, however, saw a backlash from fans, prompting a verbal tirade from Kinnear at the media, who questioned his decision to take the job at such a time. By the end of the year, Ashley took the club off the market claiming he was unable to find a suitable buyer.

 

In the remainder of 2008–09, Kinnear won four out of 18 matches before stepping down due to reported heart problems. Chris Hughton then took temporary charge before Alan Shearer returned to Newcastle United as manager in April with Iain Dowie as his assistant. After winning only one out of eight games, the club was relegated to the Championship for the first time since 1992. Mike Ashley then re-issued his desire to sell the club once again and issued a £100 million sale price tag.

 

Prior to the start of the 2009–10 season, Keegan's dispute with the club was resolved after a Premier League Arbitration Panel ruled that he had been misled to believe he had the final word on the club's transfer policy when in fact Director of Football Dennis Wise had been handed such control. The signings of Xisco and Nacho González were ruled to have been made without the manager's approval; with González, Dennis Wise signed him only after viewing him off of YouTube. Wise and Derek Llambias were ruled to have deliberately misled the media to believe Keegan had the final say, which amounted to constructive dismissal. Keegan was awarded £2 million in compensation and re-offered his job as Newcastle United manager under fresh new terms, though in response to the offer, he stated the fans had "had enough" for the time being and declined. He stated in 2013 he would consider a return should Mike Ashley leave the club.

 

Chris Hughton was appointed full-time manager early in the 2009–10 season. The club dominated the Championship, winning 30 games, drawing 12 and losing only four, scoring a total of 90 goals and finishing top of the league with 102 points, thus re-gaining Premier League status at the first attempt.

 

Beginning 2010–11, Hughton remained on course to secure survival from relegation with the club's first win at the Emirates over Arsenal, and a memorable 5–1 defeat over Sunderland. However, fury once again was caused by the board, as the club controversially sacked Chris Hughton after a 3–1 defeat to West Bromwich Albion on 6 December 2010. Critics players and fans alike were shocked by Hughton's dismissal, leading to protests prior to the club's game against Liverpool in a bid to thank him for his work and support. Alan Pardew was then announced as being appointed manager on a five-and-a-half-year contract, with the club announcing they wanted a manager with more experience. Pardew stated he had nothing but respect for Chris Hughton and acknowledged the fact that other managers questioned his appointment. He secured his first win on his debut as manager with a 3–1 win over Liverpool On 31 January 2011, Newcastle sold striker Andy Carroll to Liverpool for a club record of £35 million. The sale of a young player at a high value proved controversial for Liverpool, with Alan Shearer ridiculing the price Liverpool paid as well as expressing sorrow at Newcastle for losing Carroll. Carroll himself stated that he did not want to leave the club but was forced out by the club's directors after Liverpool's final offer of £35 million; the board responded that Carroll had previously handed in a transfer request. Pardew said he was disappointed to lose Carroll, but pledged to invest in the club's summer transfer window. The remainder of the season saw Leon Best score a hat-trick on his debut in a 5–0 defeat of West Ham United, a memorable 4–4 comeback against Arsenal, and a 4–1 defeat of Wolverhampton Wanderers, eventually finishing 12th in the league.

 

Entering 2011–12, Pardew was reportedly denied the £35 million from the sale of Andy Carroll for transfers and told to sell players to raise funds, having claimed he had been assured the finances upon Carroll's departure. Kevin Keegan had previously stated Alan Pardew should not have expected the money following his issues with the board in 2008. The club signed many French-speaking players in the transfer window, including Yohan Cabaye, Mathieu Debuchy, Sylvain Marveaux and Demba Ba. and with impressive results throughout the season, Newcastle finished fifth.

 

In the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League, Newcastle reached the quarter-finals, and in the January transfer window, the French revolution continued into the new year, with Moussa Sissoko and Yoan Gouffran joining the squad. The team, however, had a poor 2012–13 Premier League and finished 16th in the Premier League.

 

Beginning the 2013–14 season, in a surprise move Joe Kinnear returned to the club as Director of Football, instantly causing fan fury following his outburst that he was "more intelligent" than the fans and critics, as well as mispronouncing various players names during a radio interview. However, he resigned after just eight months on the job following further critique for managing to sign only two players on loan—Loïc Rémy and Luuk de Jong—throughout the season's summer and January transfer windows, as well selling Yohan Cabaye to Paris Saint-Germain for £20 million, considered to be one of the most influential players at the time. Following the lack of transfer activity, Mike Ashley once again faced a fan revolt, with protests being launched at him to sell the club, and entered a dispute with several media titles whom the club banned from Newcastle United media facilities, press conferences and player interviews, declaring stories reported were intensely exaggerated and aimed only to damage Ashley's image further. Throughout the season, the club remained on course to ensure a top half finish, notably defeating Manchester United at Old Trafford for the first time since 1972. Nonetheless, the team struggled for goals following the sale of Cabaye. Further dismay upon the season was caused when Pardew was banned for seven matches and fined £100,000 for an assault on Hull City midfielder David Meyler. The club then encountered a poor run of form, losing eight out of ten games and finishing the season tenth in the league, though the club confirmed Alan Pardew would stay on.

 

The opening eight games of the 2014–15 season proved disappointing, with the club failing to secure a win. After the dip in form, however, the club had an emphatic resurgence, seeing a five-game unbeaten run whilst also surprising League Cup holders Manchester City with a 2–0 win and progressing to the quarter-finals of the tournament. Pardew, however, resigned from the club on 30 December 2014 following immense pressure from fans calling for his departure, with many posters at games designed with the Sports Direct logo advertising a website demanding his resignation. Pardew admitted in the months leading up to his departure that protests from the fans were affecting his family and was subsequently feeling unhappy at the club. He was replaced by his assistant manager John Carver, though the team subsequently earned just 13 points out of a possible 50, surviving relegation on the final day of the season with a victory over West Ham, Carver was dismissed before the club's pre-season for 2016 began. The club paid tribute to player Jonás Gutiérrez following his successful recovery from testicular cancer to resume his playing career.

 

Beginning the 2015–16 season, former England F.C. Manager Steve McClaren was appointed manager, signing Georginio Wijnaldum, Aleksandar Mitrovic, Chancel Mbemba, Florian Thauvin, Henri Saivet, Jonjo Shelvey, Andros Townsend and Ivan Toney. McClaren however struggled to produce results winning 6 and drawing 6 out of 28 games, whilst exiting both the FA Cup and League Cup in the Third Round. McClaren was subsequently sacked on 11 March 2016 with critics and former players voicing their favour of the decision. Rafael Benítez was announced as McClaren's successor the same day, signing a three-year deal. Benítez recorded his first victory in 3–0 defeat of Swansea City in the Premier League on 17 April 2016 after 5 games in charge, and maintained an emphatic 5-game unbeaten streak to the end of the season. Newcastle were however relegated from the Premier League along with Aston Villa and Norwich finishing 18th place, 2 points below safety. Betting websites confirmed after the final game that the club's 5–1 defeat of Tottenham Hotspur matched the initial odds of Leicester City's 5000/1 win of the 2015–16 Premier League season.

 

Starting the 2016-17 season, Rafa Benítez signed 12 new players full-time and also acquired 5 players on loan, whilst 8 players left the club and another 12 on loan. New signings Dwight Gayle and Matt Ritchie proved popular scoring a combined total of 39 goals, finishing among the top goalscorers that season. Despite failing to improve on their dominant success in the 2009/10 championship season, the club remained in contention for the trophy throughout; threatened only by Brighton & Hove Albion Newcastle enjoyed a 3-game winning streak to the final day of the season and lifted the Football League Championship trophy on 8 May 2017 following a 3–0 win over Barnsley. Rafa Benítez denied speculation that he would leave the club following promotion to the Premier League and confirmed his commitment to the club for the foreseeable future. Shortly prior to the season's finish, the club was subject to raids by HMRC following suspicions of tax evasion. Managing Director Lee Charnley was arrested during the raid, but was later released without charge.

 

Ending the 2017-18 season, the club finished 10th in the Premier League defeating the current champions Chelsea on the final day of the season, the highest finish achieved within 4 years. Beginning the 2018–19 season, Mike Ashley again came under scrutiny following lack of major signings in the summer transfer window, with many fans accusing him of lacking interest in the club following his purchase of troubled retail chain House of Fraser for £90m. Despite the January signing of Miguel Almirón from Atlanta United FC for £21 million surpassing the club's transfer record fee of £16.8 million for Michael Owen in 2005, the club struggled throughout the season with 12 wins, 9 draws and 17 losses seeing a 13th place league table finish, whilst exiting the League Cup at the 2nd round in a 3–1 defeat of Nottingham Forest F.C and a 4th round exit of the FA Cup in a 2–0 defeat to Watford F.C. The season also saw heavy speculation regarding Rafa Benítez remaining at the club following reports he was still in negotiations following the end of the season.

 

Following fresh reports of Ashley's intention to sell the club, Sheikh Khaled Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Founder and Chairman of The Bin Zayed Group of Companies, a member of the Al Nahyan royal family of Abu Dhabi, confirmed he had agreed terms to purchase the club for £350 million. On 5 June 2019 a company named Monochrome Acquisitions Limited was registered in Nahyan's name, whilst managing director Lee Charnley applied to have four companies linked to Ashley's company St James Holdings Ltd struck off, leaving many to believe the club was on course to be sold. Talks of a takeover however stalled throughout the summer transfer window, whilst Ashley confirmed he had not received an official bid from any prospective buyer.

 

Benítez rejected a new contract offer and departed the club on 30 June 2019, accepting a move to Chinese Super League side Dalian Yifang in a £12 million deal. Ashley criticised Benítez stating unfair demands were made making it impossible for him to remain as manager. Notable player departures saw Salomón Rondón join Benitez at Dalian Yifang after returning to West Bromwich Albion F.C. from loan, whilst Ayoze Perez joined Leicester City for £30 million and Mohamed Diamé was released by Newcastle upon the expiry of his contract at the end of the 2018–19 season.

 

BBC Sport reported in July 2019 that Steve Bruce had resigned from his managerial position at Sheffield Wednesday after he earlier admitted that he had held talks with Newcastle United over their managerial vacancy. His appointment was confirmed on 17 July. Sheffield Wednesday however stated there were still outstanding legal issues with Bruce having resigned just 48 hours before, leading a report being filed to the Premier League alleging misconduct in his appointment. Newcastle United denied any wrongdoing and stated they were confident no case could be escalated. Reaction from the fans was mixed, with some feeling Bruce would not achieve the standard set by Benítez, whilst his recent lack of Premier League football and management of rival club Sunderland proved controversial. Bruce later acknowledged Benítez's popularity and stated he hoped the fans would not rush to judgement and give him time to prove himself and manager of Newcastle. Due to visa problems in China, Bruce watched his first match as manager from the stands which saw Newcastle achieve a third-place finish in the pre-season 2019 Premier League Asia Trophy following a 1–0 victory over West Ham United F.C. Bruce quickly made his first transfer, signing Joelinton from TSG 1899 Hoffenheim for £40 million, breaking the club's transfer fee record previously held by Miguel Almirón at £21 million just 6 months before, before signing French international winger Allan Saint-Maximin from OGC Nice on a permanent deal for £16.5 million, Sweden international defender Emil Krafth for £5 million, central midfielder Kyle Scott on a free signing following his departure from Chelsea, and Netherlands international defender Jetro Willems on loan from Frankfurt F.C until the end of the 2019–20 season. Bruce made his final transfer of the pre-season on deadline day by re-signing striker Andy Carroll, who had left the club over 7 years earlier. On 4 February 2020, Steve Bruce's side ended a 14-year drought by reaching the 5th round of the FA Cup they beat League One side Oxford United 2–3 in a replay thanks to a late winner from Allan Saint-Maximin in extra time.

 

From March 2020, the season was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. On 13 March, following an emergency meeting between the Premier League, The Football Association (FA), the English Football League and the FA Women's Super League, it was unanimously decided to suspend professional football in England. On 19 March, the suspension was extended indefinitely, with a restart date of 17 June announced in late May with all remaining games to be played without crowd attendance.

 

Newcastle finished the season in 13th place. Defender Danny Rose was an outspoken critic of the decision to continue the season, citing the virus was still in major circulation and accused the FA of having no concern for footballers' health. Karl Darlow has since urged players at the club to get vaccinated following his hospitalisation from complications of Covid, whilst manager Steve Bruce admitted some players had voluntarily declined the vaccination.

 

The 2020-21 season saw all matches played without crowd attendance until May 2021, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Newcastle failed to improve on the previous season, finishing 12th in the premier league and were knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round added time to Arsenal and exited the EFL Cup in the quarter-finals losing 1–0 to Brentford.

 

In April 2020, it was widely reported that a consortium consisting of Public Investment Fund, PCP Capital Partners and the Reuben Brothers, was finalising an offer to acquire Newcastle United. The proposed sale prompted concerns and criticism, such as arguments considering it sportwashing of the country's human rights record, as well as ongoing large-scale piracy of sports broadcasts in the region. However the consortium announced its withdrawal from the Newcastle deal on July 30, 2020, after multiple media reports highlighted realm as the staunch violator of human rights, and the WTO ruled that it was behind the piracy campaign using pirate-pay-service beoutQ. "With a deep appreciation for the Newcastle community and the significance of its football club, we have come to the decision to withdraw our interest in acquiring Newcastle United Football Club," the group said in its statement upon withdrawal. The group also stated that the "prolonged process" was a major factor in them pulling out. The collapse of the takeover was met with widespread criticism from Newcastle fans, with Newcastle MP Chi Onwurah accusing the Premier League of treating fans of the club with "contempt" and subsequently wrote to Masters for an explanation. Despite the consortium's withdrawal, disputes over the takeover continued. On 9 September 2020, Newcastle United released a statement claiming that the Premier League had officially rejected the takeover by the consortium and accused Masters and the Premier League board of " acting appropriately in relation to [the takeover]", while stating that the club would be considering any relevant legal action. The Premier League strongly denied this in a statement released the next day, expressing "surprise" and "disappointment" at Newcastle's statement.

 

On October 7, 2021, the Public Investment Fund, PCP Capital Partners and RB Sports & Media confirmed that they had officially completed the acquisition of Newcastle United. Governor of the investment fund Yasir bin Othman Al-Rumayyan was appointed non-executive chairman, whilst Amanda Staveley and Jamie Reuben were both appointed as directors and each held a 10% shareholding in the club.

 

The takeover led to widespread speculation that manager Steve Bruce was expected to leave the club. Although not denying the speculation that the club was keen to appoint a new manager, Staveley stated Bruce was to remain for the new owners first game against Tottenham Hotspur; his 1000th match as a football manager. However following Newcastle losing the game 3-2 and alleged discontent among the players, Bruce left the club by mutual consent. Bruce stated his sadness at leaving the club and felt Newcastle fans launched unnecessary verbal abuse at him during his time there. Interim manager Graeme Jones as well as Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta supported Bruce's claims stating the abuse he received was off putting for other managers to take the role.

 

Eddie Howe was appointed as manager on 8 November 2021. The announcement was made following reports that the club had discussed the role with him the previous week and confirmed following his attendance at the away draw to Brighton & Hove Albion. On 19 November 2021, Newcastle announced that Howe had tested positive for COVID-19 and would miss his first game in charge, which instead forced him to watch his first game as manager from a hotel room as Newcastle drew 3–3 with Brentford on 20 November.

 

Lee Charnley, who acted as Managing Director under Ashley's ownership, left the club on 19 November 2021 following a six-week handover period. His departure was the final of Mike Ashley's hierarchy, with Staveley stating the club was undergoing a "formal process" to appoint a new figure to replace the role.

 

Eddie Howe had to wait until 4 December 2021 for his first win as Newcastle manager in a 1–0 win against Burnley, which was also the first win since the takeover happened. Howe then made five signings in the first January transfer window under the new ownership which included a marquee singing in Brazilian midfielder Bruno Guimarães from Olympique Lyonnais. The transfer window and the players that were already there that Howe improved helped Newcastle to go on a 9-game unbeaten run in the Premier League to get them 10 points clear from the relegation zone and increasing the chance of guaranteeing survival. After Newcastle's 1–0 win against Crystal Palace, this was the first time the club had managed to win 6 home games in a row since 2004 when Sir Bobby Robson was in charge. Newcastle finished in 11th place after a run of 12 wins in their final 18 games, and became the first team in Premier League history to avoid relegation after not winning any of the first 14 games they played.

 

On 30 May 2022, the club announced they had reached an agreement of a compensation fee with Brighton & Hove Albion to appoint Dan Ashworth as the new Sporting Director, the appointment was confirmed on 6 June 2022. On 15 July 2022, the club brought in Darren Eales, from MLS side Atlanta United, as the club's new Chief Executive Officer - acting as a "key member of the club's leadership structure".

 

Newcastle United was set up as a private company limited by shares on 6 September 1895. However, by the 1930s, ownership of the company was dominated by a small number of individuals: Alderman William McKeag, George and Robert Rutherford, and William Westwood, 1st Baron Westwood. George Stanley Seymour was allocated some shares when he joined the board in 1938.

 

By the second half of the 20th century, these shareholdings had passed to the next generation: Gordon McKeag, Robert James Rutherford, Stan Seymour Jr. and William Westwood, 2nd Baron Westwood. The Magpie Group led by Sir John Hall built up a large shareholding in the club and then took control in 1992. In 2007, St James Holdings Limited, the bid vehicle of billionaire businessman Mike Ashley, secured control of the club and in 2021, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, PCP Capital Partners and RB Sports & Media confirmed that they had acquired ownership of the club.

  

Dover AFB’s first strategic airlifter is represented by the single remaining C-54M which was specially modified during the Berlin Airlift for hauling coal. The Skymaster’s restoration was also quite extensive and took several years. The inside shows examples of its World War II cargo and passenger configurations—and if parts become available will display how medical litters were carried in its Korean War role as a medevac aircraft. During the restoration process, we were fortunate to find a photograph of this aircraft showing its military serial #44-9030 and the markings it carried in the Pacific Theater in World War II. They were still in place during her service in the Berlin Airlift, and we have restored the aircraft in these markings.

 

This C-54 the last surviving “M” model in existence. There were only 38 of this model converted.

In one particular garden at the cemetery, rows of stone statues of children represent unborn children, including miscarried, aborted, and stillborn children. Parents can choose a statue in the garden and decorate it with small clothing and toys. Usually the statues are accompanied by a small gift for Jizō, the guardian of unborn children, to ensure that they are brought to the afterlife. Occasionally stones are piled by the statue; this is meant to ease the journey to the afterlife.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z%C5%8Dj%C5%8D-ji

 

En un jardín en particular en el cementerio, filas de estatuas de piedra de niños representan a los niños por nacer, incluidos los niños abortados, abortados y nacidos muertos. Los padres pueden elegir una estatua en el jardín y decorarla con ropa y juguetes pequeños. Por lo general, las estatuas van acompañadas de un pequeño obsequio para Jizō, el guardián de los niños por nacer, para asegurarse de que sean llevados al más allá. Ocasionalmente, la estatua amontona piedras; esto está destinado a facilitar el viaje a la otra vida.

 

Mizuko kuyo (水子供養 Mizuko kuyō, "servicio memorial para un feto abortado") es una ceremonia japonesa para las mujeres que han sufrido un aborto espontáneo, aborto inducido o mortinato. Esta práctica es más evidente desde la creación de santuarios en la década de 1970 para tal ritual, con el fin de la tranquilidad de la gestante, descanso del alma del feto y evitar la venganza del espíritu del bebé. Originalmente el mizuko kuyo fue usado para ofrendar a Jizo (Ksitigarbha), un Bodhisattva supuesto protector de los niños. Durante el Período Edo, cuando una embarazada era empujada a cometer aborto o infanticidio por su pobreza, la práctica era adaptada para satisfacer la situación. Hoy día, la práctica del mizuko kuyo continúa en Japón, aunque no es claro su autenticidad histórica en las prácticas del budismo en Japón. La ceremonia varía entre templos, escuelas e individuos. Es común que en los templos budistas se ofrezcan estatuillas de Jizo vestidas a lo largo de los pasillos para este propósito. Algunos de estos servicios han sido criticados por aprovecharse y abusar de las creencias que los japoneses tienen acerca de la posible venganza de los espíritus de los bebés abortados.

 

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizuko_kuy%C5%8D

www.kirainet.com/jizo/

 

Mizuko kuyō (水子供養) meaning "water child memorial service", is a Japanese ceremony for those who have had a miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion. This practice has become particularly visible since the 1970s with the creation of shrines devoted solely to this ritual. Reasons for the performance of these rites can include parental grief, desire to comfort the soul of the fetus, guilt for an abortion, or even fear of retribution from a vengeful ghost.

Mizuko (水子), literally "water child", is a Japanese term for an aborted, stillborn or miscarried baby, and archaically for a dead baby or infant. Kuyō (供養) refers to a memorial service. Previously read suiji, the Sino-Japanese on'yomi reading of the same characters, the term was originally a kaimyō or dharma name given after death.The mizuko kuyō, typically performed by Buddhist priests, was used to make offerings to Jizō, a bodhisattva who is believed to protect children. In the Edo period, when famine sometimes led the poverty-stricken to infanticide and abortion, the practice was adapted to cover these situations as well.

Today, the practice of mizuko kuyō continues in Japan, although it is unclear whether it is a historically authentic Buddhist practice. Specific elements of the ceremony vary from temple to temple, school to school, and individual to individual. It is common for temples to offer Jizō statues for a fee, which are then dressed in red bibs and caps, and displayed in the temple yard. Though the practice has been performed since the 1970s, there are still doubts surrounding the ritual. Some view the memorial service as the temples' way of benefiting from the misfortune of women who have miscarried or had to abort a pregnancy. American religious scholars have criticized the temples for allegedly abusing the Japanese belief that the spirits of the dead retaliate for their mistreatment, but other scholars believe the temples are only answering the needs of the people.

The ceremony is attended by both parents or by one, not necessarily the mother. The service can vary from a single event to one that repeats monthly or annually. Though the service varies, common aspects resemble the ceremony for the recent dead, the senzo kuyō (先祖供養). The priest faces the altar and evokes the names of various Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Mantras, often the Heart Sutra and the 25th chapter of the Lotus Sutra, known as the "Avalokiteśvara Sutra", are performed, as are calls of praise to Jizō. Gifts are offered to the Buddha on behalf of the mourned, typically food, drink, incense or flowers. A kaimyō is given to the deceased, and a statue of Jizō is often placed on temple grounds upon completion of the ceremony.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizuko_kuy%C5%8D

 

Los seis Jizō es una antigua leyenda japonesa perteneciente al budismo, cuyo protagonista es el bodhisattva Jizō (地蔵) o Ksitigarbha (地蔵菩薩), tal como se le conoce en Japón. Jizō es el encargado de proteger las almas de los bebés que no han nacido y de los niños que han muerto siendo muy pequeños, a los que se les llama mizuko (水子) o niños del agua. Jizō es el protector de las mujeres embarazadas y de los niños, así como también de los bomberos y viajeros.

De acuerdo con la leyenda, una pareja de ancianos vivía en un hogar humilde y pasaban por muchas necesidades. Se ganaban la vida vendiendo sombreros de paja que fabricaban con sus propias manos. Sin embargo, eran tan pobres que al llegar el día de Fin de Año no tenían dinero para comprar algo especial para cenar y celebrar dicha fecha. El anciano entonces le prometió a su esposa que iría al pueblo, vendería los sombreros y le compraría algo para cenar. El anciano había llevado consigo cinco sombreros de paja, pero al no conseguir venderlos se propuso a regresar a su hogar. Una gran nevada le sorprendió durante el camino de vuelta y divisó a lo lejos seis estatuas de Jizō, de las cuales sintió pena al estar cubiertas de nieve. El anciano quitó la nieve de las estatuas y les ofreció los sombreros que venía cargando con él. A ver que faltaba un sombrero para una de las estatuas, el anciano se quitó su propio sombrero y se lo colocó al sexto Jizō. Más tarde esa noche, la pareja oyó ruidos fuera de su casa y al salir se encontraron con arroz, mochi, pescado y monedas de oro en su puerta. Posteriormente vieron a las estatuas de Jizō con los sombreros en sus cabezas, quienes agradecieron a la pareja por su bondad.

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_seis_Jiz%C5%8D

 

Kasa Jizō (笠地蔵) is a Japanese folk tale about an old couple whose generosity is rewarded by the bodhisattva Kṣitigarbha, whose name is Jizō in Japanese. The story is commonly handed down by parents to their children in order to instill moral values, as it is grounded in Buddhist thought. An alternative title, Kasako Jizō can be found in Iwate and Fukushima Prefectures. Its origins belong in the Tōhoku and Niigata regions, with the oldest dispensations coming from Hokuriku, as well as areas of Western Japan such as Hiroshima and Kumamoto Prefectures. Its precise origin, however, remains unknown.

One day in the snowy country there lived an incredibly impoverished elderly couple. On New Year's Day, the couple realized that they were unable to afford mochi (a staple form of rice eaten during the New Year). The old man decided to go into town to sell his home-made kasa, but his endeavors proved unsuccessful. Due to the horrible weather conditions, the old man gave up the task and made his trek back home. In the blizzard, the old man came across a line of Jizō statues, to whom he decided to give his kasa as an offering, as well to keep their heads clear of snow. However, he only had enough kasa on hand to give to all but one statue. He gave the remaining statue his tenugui and went on his way. Upon returning home, he relayed the scenario to his wife, who praised him for his virtuous deed, without criticizing his inability to purchase any New Year mochi. That evening, while the couple was asleep, there came a heavy thumping sound from outside the house. They opened the door to find a great pile of treasures, consisting of such goods as rice, vegetables, gold coins, and mochi. The old couple watched on as the Jizō statues marched off into the snowy distance. Having repaid the old man for his selflessness, the couple was able to celebrate the New Year.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasa_Jiz%C5%8D

 

he's gonna be the champion of the world

Anders Bundgaard (1864-1937) created the Gefion Fountain sculpture between 1897 and 1904. It represents a group of strong oxen (traction bovine) pulling the plow of the legendary Norse goddess Gefion. According to an ancient legend, Gefion is the goddess who transformed her four sons into powerful oxen to plow deeply in the ground raising the land to create the island of Zealand which was carved out of the land of Sweden. The Gefion Fountain was donated by the Carlsberg Foundation as a gift to the city of Copenhagen on the occasion of the Carlsberg brewery’s 50-year anniversary in 1897. The entire fountain with the basins were completed and revealed in 1908 to the public.

 

Anders Bundgaard (1864-1937) a créé la sculpture de la Fontaine Gefion entre 1897 et 1904. Elle représente un groupe de bœufs de trait tirant la charrue de la légendaire déesse nordique Gefion. Selon une ancienne légende, Gefion est la déesse qui avait transformé ses quatre fils en bœufs puissants pour labourer profondément le sol donnant naissance à l'île de Zélande qui a été découpée à même la terre de la Suède. La Fondation Carlsberg a donné la fontaine Gefion comme cadeau à la ville de Copenhague à l'occasion des 50 ans de la brasserie Carlsberg en 1897. L'ensemble de la fontaine avec les bassins a été terminé et révélé en 1908 au public.

Here is a massive vacant cathedral in pristine condition. There is some water damage on the upper level in which this photo was taken from as well, parts of the exterior are crumbling. I really hope that this is only temporarily closed for repairs but at the same time, there are so many others that were closed for the same reason & have gone into disrepair.

 

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Yosemite Valley represents only one percent of the park area, but this is where most visitors arrive and stay. More than half a dozen creeks tumble from hanging valleys at the top of granite cliffs that can rise 3000–4000 feet above the valley floor, which itself is 4000 feet above sea level.

Visit this location at REPRESENT x VALE KOER in Second Life

Icône représentant Saint Marc (?) tenant le Livre des Évangiles

Égypte, VIè siècle

Bois de sycomore, peinture à l'encaustique

Paris, BNF, département des monnaies, médailles et antiques

 

L'inscription indique : "Notre père, Marc l'Évangéliste".

Marc a été évêque d'Alexandrie et a entrepris l'évangélisation de l'Égypte mais il n'est pas certain qu'il soit représenté sur l'icône.

 

Oeuvre présentée dans l'exposition "Chrétiens d'Orient" à l'IMA, Paris

 

Le site de l'exposition "Chrétiens d'Orient. Deux mille ans d'histoire" à l'Institut du monde arabe (IMA) à Paris

www.imarabe.org/fr/expositions/chretiens-d-orient-deux-mi...

This young women represents the traditional Zapotec barrio of San Pablo La Raya of the town of Zaachila at the carnival preview in Oaxaca city the Sunday before Ash Wednesday.

Representing a uniform

A free strugglers extreme advertisement

Lifestyle and culture

Old-school visions

Streamlining my personal rat like ways

I am the way of the rat

A mad creature

Refusing to be smart

Providing equal vision

Representing project mind luck

A working agenda

My apex

My master in fine arts

Hello my name is alias

I feel beautiful in my decay

Prolific guerilla postering

Amongst my illegal art

My mind canvas digitized

Original or not

My text is my illustrator

Art for museums, galleries and traffic lights

Give the fucking frogs fucking space

Because robots do kill

Collecting my collectables

Heaping free waves

Listen now

Experience now

Rapid transit in lyrical art

Do you understand my message?

My life is my art.

Before I become a Christian I used to hate the phrase “blind faith” as it represented ignorance to me. And I believed that’s what Christians want me to have in order to become a Christian like them. As a new believer I still hated that phrase because I believed that I became a Christian based on logical thinking because of the overwhelming evidence supporting Christianity’s claims. Ten years later I am starting to think that blind faith is true faith. Let me tell you how I came to start thinking that blind faith is important.

 

About three weeks ago around 5 in the morning I heard very sad news to me; this news was so tragic to me that it was by far the saddest and most painful experience I have ever been through. I was so sad and shocked I couldn’t even cry. For the next several hours I was almost speechless and I felt dizzy and sick. Sadly I had my first exam that day and I simply couldn’t focus. When I heard the news I went to pray but I didn’t know what to say...I didn’t even know who I was praying to. I knelt there not saying anything, then I uttered the only few words that I could think of, “Lord, I feel like I don’t know You anymore. I am not sure if You are even listening. But I want to believe in You, I want You to exist, I want You to be real, I want you to be the God I had known, and I want You to be in my life.”

 

Later that day I realized that my faith before that experience was largely based on logical thinking: God makes sense and His Word works that’s why I believed in Him. But now my faith is largely based on not much other than my desire to believe in Him—blind faith. Don’t get me wrong, blind faith is not bad as people, even us Christians, make it sound. I am not saying that God doesn’t make sense anymore, or that there aren’t overwhelming proofs of His existence or His attributes, or that the Bible doesn’t have proofs of its accuracy. But faith should not be based on science, history, or logical thinking; faith should be based on our personal knowledge of who He is because of what He has done in our lives, and our desire to believe in Him.

 

The Bible says:

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.” (Hebrews 11:1-2)

 

Evidence, and logical thinking might strengthen our faith, but faith is planted within us by the work of the Holy Spirit—faith originates from within us. Two thieves were crucified with our Lord, one at His left and the other at His right, one believed but the other didn’t. Twelve spies went to explore the land of Canaan, two believed but the others didn’t. Nathanael believed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God because he saw Jesus sitting under a fig tree! While others didn’t believe, and tried to kill Jesus, when He did miraculous signs like raising Lazarus from the dead! Why did some believe but the others didn’t? Didn’t they all see the same things? Didn’t they all experience the same things?

 

The best example of blind faith in the Bible is of Job. By “blind faith” I mean complete and unconditional (regardless of circumstances) trust in Jehovah God. Why did Job trust the Lord, blessings and God’s goodness? All good things were taken away from him. And he didn’t know that God was going to give him back all the things he had loved and lost. Why did Job trust the Lord, evidence of God’s justice? He was a righteous man who experienced the punishment of an evil man. And all evidence, logically speaking, pointed towards an unfair, cold, and cruel God. Why did Job trust the Lord, encouragement? The only ones who talked to him, his wife and his friends, either encouraged him to curse God and die, or confused him even more. We may never know why Job trusted the Lord except that he wanted to—he didn’t know how else to live.

 

Blind faith is difficult, so don’t look down on someone who has blind faith—who knows, may be God is more pleased with someone who trusts Him no matter what than someone who is always looking for explanations (even if those explanations serve to strengthen one’s faith). Blind faith is difficult because as humans we learn largely by experience: God is good because the air He has given us is good and the water is refreshing, and the food is fulfilling and tasty, and our loved ones are surrounding us. But what happens when breathing become hard, or water runs out, or food is scarce and our loved ones are no more? Yet we are required to still believe that God is good. Blind faith says, “I believe that God is good simply because I want to believe the Bible which says that God is good.” Blind faith doesn’t mean a person is stupid, can’t think logically, doesn’t feel pain, or doesn’t understand what is going on around him, it simply means: the person understand and experiences all those things but he chooses to live by faith.

 

I am not ashamed by admitting, “Yes, at times I am running spiritually on blind faith.” Interestingly those times are usually the most important times: the times that carry us from one stage in our relationship with Him to the next one. Faith based on logical thinking and evidence says, “These are my circumstance therefore God makes sense”, or “These are my circumstances therefore God doesn’t make sense.” But true faith says, “This is my God regardless of my circumstances.” Faith based on logical thinking and evidence will eventually hit a road block that can’t carry the person through his or her spiritual journey anymore, and that’s when blind faith kicks in.

 

If you have been a believer a considerable amount of time you probably have experienced something similar in life (probably more than once) that forced you to keep going spiritually on blind faith, even if for a while (a long while may be). I am writing this for you young believers who think that your relationship with God will always work like a mathematical formula: you put this unknown variable in and you get that known value out. Sometime in the future you will probably experience something that will shell shock you spiritually and emotionally. Your circumstances won’t make sense and based on logical thinking God won’t make sense. Everything you have been taught about how God operates and read in the Bible won’t match your reality. That’s when you will have to make the decision to either turn away from the God you have known, worshiped, served, followed, and loved for so long or carry on by blind faith. My advice (or rather warning) is whatever way you choose to carry on don’t ever turn away from Him--choose to believe.

 

The other day I wrote this little poem and I hope you like it:

 

Blind Faith by Fadi J.

 

Are you really good oh Lord?

Do you really care?

Then why is there so much pain,

And life is so unfair?

 

Do you really exist?

Were you always there?

Do you know about my burdens,

And in carrying them you want to share?

 

For me you lived and died and now,

A place in heaven for me you prepare?

A man so sinful, worthless, and vile,

A white glorious robe I will wear?

 

Real or not, good or not,

My faith in your I declare,

In pain or not, saved or not,

Life without you I cannot bear.

 

How do you see faith? What do you think about “blind faith”? What is your faith based on? Why do you believe? Share with me your thoughts as I would love to hear them.

 

PS: This photo has nothing to do with the sad news I received. I just wanted to portray sickness, pain, and loss in this capture.

 

(Toronto, ON; winter 2010.)

The Arctic represents the northernmost area of the World, the Arctic Ocean and the land areas that surrounds it. The region is characterized but cold temperatures, and ice and snow. The summers are short, but with long periods of daylight (midnight sun). The winters are long and cold and with periods with no sun (polar night). The Arctic Ocean is one basin that is mostly covered by sea ice, and is connected to the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The countries in this region are Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Greenland (Denmark), Canada and Alaska (USA).

 

For any form of publication, please include the link to this page:

www.grida.no/resources/5346

 

This photo has been graciously provided to be used in the GRID-Arendal resources library by: Hugo Ahlenius, UNEP/GRID-Arendal

Brasília, 15/06/23 - CNI recebe diretor-geral da COP28 e discute preparativos para a conferência do clima.

 

Painel II - Facilitação de investimentos

Encontro Econômico Brasil-Emirados Árabes Unidos, Fernanda Cândido Baltazar, diretora de Relações Institucionais, Câmara de Comércio Árabe Brasileira; Frederico Lamego, Superintendente de Negócios Internacionais, SENAI SESI IEL; BRF, Christopher Moreland, Senior Principle; João Paulo Paixão, Representante, Dubai Chamber; Marcos Vale, Analista de Investimentos, Apex Brasil.

 

Foto: Gilberto Sousa/CNI

Trocadéro.

West window by Hugh Easton 1955, representing Christ in Glory seated upon the globe and surrounded by significant figures from ecclesiastical history. Perhap's Easton's finest work, the overall effect is very much a mid 20th century version of a Last Judgement, which aptly is reflected by the recently uncovered medieval interpretation of the subject in the mural painted at the opposite end of the nave.

 

Holy Trinity would have been the star attraction in any other town or city, it is a majestic cruciform 15th century Perpendicular church with a tapering central tower and spire, the second of Coventry's famous 'Three Spires'. However it has always been overshadowed by larger neighbours, having been encircled by no less than three separate cathedrals through it's history, a unique distinction! Holy Trinity was founded by the monks of the adjoining priory to act as a parish church for it's lay tenants, thus it is ironic that it has long outlived the parent building.

 

The earliest part is the north porch, which dates from the 13th century, but the majority of the building dates from a more ambitious phase in 15th century Perpendicular style. The 15th century rebuilding has given us the present cruciform arrangement with small transepts and extra chapels on the north side giving an overall roughly rectangular footprint. These chapels were some of many in the church that served the city's separate guilds in medieval times.

 

The church has gone through much restoration, most notably the rebuilding of it's spire after it was blown down in a storm in 1665. The east end of the chancel was extended in 1786 (in sympathetic style) and much of the exterior was refaced in the early 19th century in then fashionable Bath stone (which clashes with the original red sandstone).

 

The church luckily escaped major damage during the Coventry Blitz in 1940, largely thanks to the vigilance of Canon Clitheroe and his team of firewatchers who spent a perilous night on the roof tackling incendaries. The main loss was the Victorian stained glass in the east and west windows, which were replaced with much more fetching glass in the postwar restoration.

 

The most recent restoration involved the uncovering of the 15th century Doom painting over the chancel arch in 2004. Hidden under blackened varnish since it's rediscovery in the early Victorian period, it has now been revealed to be one of the most complete and important medieval Last Judgement murals in the country. There is further painting contemporary with this on the exquisite nave ceiling, painted a beautiful dusty blue with large kneeling angels flanking passion shields on every rafter.

 

There are only a handful of monuments and most of the furnishings date from G.G.Scott's 1850s restoration (as does the magnificent vaulted ceiling high above the crossing) but there are some notable medieval survivals in the rare stone pulpit and the brass eagle lectern, both 15th century, along with a fine set of misericords originating from the former Whitefriars monastery church. Just a few fragments of medieval glass survive in the north west chapel.

 

The church is happily normally open and welcoming to visitors every day.

 

For more detail on this church see it's entry on the Warwickshire Churches website below:-

warwickshirechurches.weebly.com/coventry---holy-trinity.html

☠ ☠

 

-->> Representing another interesting turning point in the 2003 series as the actually, somewhat short-lived, "futuristic" and lighter TMNT: FAST FORWARD line marked the start of a shift in the Toys and animated worlds of the Turtles. All of this was both praised and shunned by many fans of the show. Cut off by the TMNT 2007 film toy line, a whole wave of unreleased characters and fun Turtle variants never made it past TOY FAIR.

 

Another "alright" reproduction - this one was kind of hard to remove from the base. But it may have just been mine. Small paint apps are missing such as below the knee. Leo's futuristic katanas were partly made of a translucent blue plastic with a painted metallic handle ( representing the lazer-like, lightsabre-ish weapons of the show ). Here they are cast in solid silver. The scabbard on his back is completely blue, the original's scabbard is silver-metallic. While it may just be MY particular figure, it does appear that the head on my repro FF Leo is just a tad off-mold. ~ t

The SGM-6 represents the state of the art in Hadratian tactical air defense. The SGM-6 uses a continuous wave missile engagement radar to guide its SARH missiles to their targets. Utilizing the chassis from AMT-15 Vikros, the SGM-6 has impressive mobility when compared to contemporary systems but suffers a complex radar that requires extended periods to configure before it can be used.

 

The A(T)-75 is a radar guided 75mm autocannon designed to provide high value assets with point defense against enemy air attack, The cannon is fed by twin revolving magazines.

 

Both the SGM-6 and A(T)-75 can both be tied into the large MR-18 mobile search radar for early warning of incoming targets.

Representing the two main generic Platinum liveries, 6827 and 6891 contrast at Frankley Holly Hill terminus, working 63 Bristol Road Services into Birmingham. Although not an official Platinum route, it sees frequent use of them, with numerous spares available due to Birmingham Centrals extra 6 recently received (6945-50)

Sanjiv represents the third generation of his family to run a dairy business and provide agribusiness services (forage seed, cattle feed) for 230 farmers in Nagla Roran village, on the outskirts of Karnal, in India's northern Haryana State. Dairy enterprises are 'value-added' opportunities for small-scale farmers here and are helping to close the gap between urban and rural livelihoods. Dairy businesses have raised living standards in the village, which has paved roads. All the adults now have cell phones and most households have more than one television set. Three years ago, at the birth of his daughter Mishti, Sanjiv considered starting a non-dairy business but his mother refused to stop keeping her herd of milk cows and buffaloes, and so he undertook training at the Business Planning & Development Unit of the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), India's premier dairy institution, in nearby Karnal, and began building up businesses that add value to the milk his mother's cows produce (photo credit: ILRI/Jules Mateo).

Detail of the Golden Window, one of the final pair of nave windows representing the soul's final journey into Heaven. This window was designed by Lawrence Lee and represents the Heavenly City, studded with gemstones and with a large figure of Archangel Michael at the centre. At the base a shadowy Christ-like figure appears to welcome us.

 

Coventry's Cathedral is a unique synthesis of old a new, born of wartime suffering and forged in the spirit of postwar optimism, famous for it's history and for being the most radically modern of Anglican cathedrals. Two cathedral's stand side by side, the ruins of the medieval building, destroyed by incendiary bombs in 1940 and the bold new building designed by Basil Spence and opened in 1962.

 

It is a common misconception that Coventry lost it's first cathedral in the wartime blitz, but the bombs actually destroyed it's second; the original medieval cathedral was the monastic St Mary's, a large cruciform building believed to have been similar in appearance to Lichfield Cathedral (whose diocese it shared). Tragically it became the only English cathedral to be destroyed during the Reformation, after which it was quickly quarried away, leaving only scant fragments, but enough evidence survives to indicate it's rich decoration (some pieces were displayed nearby in the Priory Visitors Centre, sadly since closed). Foundations of it's apse were found during the building of the new cathedral in the 1950s, thus technically three cathedrals share the same site.

 

The mainly 15th century St Michael's parish church became the seat of the new diocese of Coventry in 1918, and being one of the largest parish churches in the country it was upgraded to cathedral status without structural changes (unlike most 'parish church' cathedrals created in the early 20th century). It lasted in this role a mere 22 years before being burned to the ground in the 1940 Coventry Blitz, leaving only the outer walls and the magnificent tapering tower and spire (the extensive arcades and clerestoreys collapsed completely in the fire, precipitated by the roof reinforcement girders, installed in the Victorian restoration, that buckled in the intense heat).

 

The determination to rebuild the cathedral in some form was born on the day of the bombing, however it wasn't until the mid 1950s that a competition was held and Sir Basil Spence's design was chosen. Spence had been so moved by experiencing the ruined church he resolved to retain it entirely to serve as a forecourt to the new church. He envisaged the two being linked by a glass screen wall so that the old church would be visible from within the new.

 

Built between 1957-62 at a right-angle to the ruins, the new cathedral attracted controversy for it's modern form, and yet some modernists argued that it didn't go far enough, after all there are echoes of the Gothic style in the great stone-mullioned windows of the nave and the net vaulting (actually a free-standing canopy) within. What is exceptional is the way art has been used as such an integral part of the building, a watershed moment, revolutionising the concept of religious art in Britain.

 

Spence employed some of the biggest names in contemporary art to contribute their vision to his; the exterior is adorned with Jacob Epstein's triumphant bronze figures of Archangel Michael (patron of the cathedral) vanquishing the Devil. At the entrance is the remarkable glass wall, engraved by John Hutton with strikingly stylised figures of saints and angels, and allowing the interior of the new to communicate with the ruin. Inside, the great tapestry of Christ in majesty surrounded by the evangelistic creatures, draws the eye beyond the high altar; it was designed by Graham Sutherland and was the largest tapestry ever made.

 

However one of the greatest features of Coventry is it's wealth of modern stained glass, something Spence resolved to include having witnessed the bleakness of Chartres Cathedral in wartime, all it's stained glass having been removed. The first window encountered on entering is the enormous 'chess-board' baptistry window filled with stunning abstract glass by John Piper & Patrick Reyntiens, a symphony of glowing colour. The staggered nave walls are illuminated by ten narrow floor to ceiling windows filled with semi-abstract symbolic designs arranged in pairs of dominant colours (green, red, multi-coloured, purple/blue and gold) representing the souls journey to maturity, and revealed gradually as one approaches the altar. This amazing project was the work of three designers lead by master glass artist Lawrence Lee of the Royal College of Art along with Keith New and Geoffrey Clarke (each artist designed three of the windows individually and all collaborated on the last).

 

The cathedral still dazzles the visitor with the boldness of it's vision, but alas, half a century on, it was not a vision to be repeated and few of the churches and cathedrals built since can claim to have embraced the synthesis of art and architecture in the way Basil Spence did at Coventry.

 

The cathedral is generally open to visitors most days. For more see below:-

www.coventrycathedral.org.uk/

Nos encontramos ante una pintura de caballete de formato rectangular que muestra a varias figuras de cuerpo entero representadas al aire libre, en concreto en un bosque o huerto de árboles frutales, en concreto naranjos. Parece que se trata de una alegoría protagonizada por personajes mitológicos.

 

De izquierda a derecha se distinguen:

 

- Un joven vestido con una túnica roja que parece remover unas nubes con un bastón. Aparece calzado, en concreto con una especie de borceguíes.

- Tres doncellas descalzas y ataviadas con ropajes transparentes en actitud de baile.

- Otra mujer que lleva sandalias y que va vestida con túnica y manto rojo con forro azul. Esta figura parece presidir la escena.

- Un niño alado con los ojos cubiertos por una venda y que dispara una flecha en dirección a las doncellas. El pintor lo ubicó por encima de la mujer que se acaba de describir.

- Otra dama que avanza hacia el espectador y que destaca por su sonrisa, por su corona de flores y por su vestido estampado con motivos vegetales. Atrae nuestra atención por que es la única figura que mira hacia el espectador. Pisa el prado con sus pies desnudos.

- Por último un grupo que rompe la quietud de la escena. Está formado por otra joven descalza y vestida con túnica transparente que sufre el asalto de un personaje singular: un joven pintado enteramente de azul y que parece flotar o volar. Entre el ramaje de los árboles apenas se distinguen sus alas con alguna dificultad.

 

Pasando a la organización de la escena, el pintor integra la mayor parte de las figuras en un esquema triangular que tiene un vértice en el amorcillo, otro en las doncellas que bailan y el tercero en la figura acosada. Los dos varones quedan a un lado y a otro de este esquema, equilibrando la composición

 

En cuanto a la organización del espacio, todas las figuras se hallan en un mismo plano, menos la mujer que preside la escena, que se halla en un segundo plano, más retirada. Lógicamente, el niño alado se sitúa en otro nivel completamente distinto. De hecho se halla sobrevolando la escena.

 

La línea del horizonte, que apenas si se distingue, se halla algo más elevada de lo normal, en concreto al nivel de la cintura de los personajes situados en primer plano. La perspectiva que emplea el artista resulta puramente intuitiva: los personajes parecen flotar sobre un prado que a lo que más se parece es a un tapiz y el bosque del fondo se dispone como un telón. Esta relativa torpeza se revela muy útil para datar la obra, pues resulta habitual encontrar en los pintores del siglo XV, esta construcción del espacio realizada de forma más o menos espontánea y, sobre todo, la elección de ese punto de vista algo elevado, que permite representar el suelo con más altura de la conveniente, recurso que recuerda a la perspectiva caballera. Estos rasgos se encuentran tanto en los pintores renacentistas, como en los seguidores del gótico flamenco.

 

Las figuras y la vegetación se encuentran perfectamente delimitadas con un trazo fino, de tal forma que la línea predomina sobre la policromía. Los colores son nítidos, existiendo un claro contraste entre el de los personajes, más vivos y los de la vegetación, más apagados. Existe un cuidado equilibrio entre los tonos cálidos y los fríos. Parece que el artista pintó la escena con minuciosidad, usando una pincelada muy fina. Es de destacar lo bien conseguidas que están las veladuras en las vestiduras transparentes.

 

El uso de veladuras es típico de la pintura al óleo, pero este cuadro debe tratarse más bien de una pintura al temple, porque los colores parecen planos y relativamente apagados, predominando ese acabado de brillo mate típico de esta técnica.

 

El temple o témpera es un tipo de pintura de origen muy antiguo que emplea como disolvente el agua y como aglutinante una emulsión de yema de huevo, cola u otras materias orgánicas. Con frecuencia, la aplicación de esta técnica se combina con fondos de oro, en el que el metal era dispuesto en láminas extremadamente finas. En el caso de una pintura de caballete, como la que nos ocupa, el soporte habitual del temple es la tabla.

 

Volviendo al análisis del cuadro, señalemos que la luz está aplicada de forma uniforme, como conviene a una escena desarrollada al aire libre.

 

El volumen de las figuras se expresa mediante el plegado de los ropajes y la gradación tonal, esto es indicando la musculatura y las distintas texturas con ligeras variaciones de color, reflejando con un ligero claroscuro la musculatura o el plegado de las vestiduras. Estos recursos no se emplean en el prado y los árboles que, como queda dicho, parecen planos como si se tratase de un decorado.

 

Respecto a la plasmación de la figura humana, el artista representa a los personajes con corrección anatómica, bien que buscando la armonía y la idealización. El canon empleado alarga a los protagonistas de la escena haciéndoles parecer altos y esbeltos.

 

Menos la dama que centra la composición, todas las figuras se hallan en movimiento, bien que con actitudes reposadas y lánguidas. Un dinamismo particular expresan las tres doncellas y la dama de las flores, personajes que parecen encontrarse en la ejecución de los pasos de una danza. Hay que señalar que estas actitudes calmosas no se pueden aplicar al grupo de la izquierda que sorprende por lo brusco de las actitudes y la violencia que respira esta especie de asalto o rapto.

 

Parecido contraste se observa en los gestos: serenos y ensimismados en las figuras de la izquierda y del centro, y muy expresivos los de la derecha: la dama de las flores sonríe abiertamente, la doncella del vestido transparente mira con sorpresa y temor, mientras que su agresor la contempla con furia.

 

Respecto a las facciones, algunos autores han supuesto que en el cuadro figuran retratos de algunas personalidades, e incluso se han avanzado las identificaciones. Con todo, parecen rostros impersonales, dotados de una belleza ideal en consonancia con la armónica perfección de los cuerpos y la refinada elegancia de sus vestiduras.

 

Armonía, belleza ideal, reposo y una atmósfera de refinamiento son los valores que parece transmitir esta obra. Debe añadirse la erudición y la estimación por la cultura clásica, pues la imagen, aunque muy hermosa, permanece indescifrable para los ojos del espectador poco avezado.

 

Respecto a la clasificación de esta obra, el empleo de una perspectiva intuitiva y el uso del temple nos sitúan en el siglo XV, en el tránsito entre la Edad Media y el Renacimiento. Por otra parte el tema mitológico o alegórico y la atmósfera de lujo y elegancia aconsejan emplazar esta obra en el Quattrocento, la primera fase del arte renacentista.

 

Dentro de los artistas de este período la obra debe adscribirse a Sandro Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi) por esas figuras elegantes y cargadas de distinción, por esa ambiente de belleza ideal que presenta cierta melancolía y, también, por el pobre conocimiento de la perspectiva.

 

Este pintor vivió en Florencia en la segunda mitad del siglo XV y el primer decenio del siglo XVI. Se formó en el taller de Fra Filippo Lippi, en Prato, y en su obra, desarrollada casi por entero en Florencia, se distingue un largo período de plenitud con figuras elegantes, vaporosas y monumentales y un último período de gran intensidad religiosa con obras de ejecución nerviosa y composición excéntrica y descuidada.

 

Botticelli destacó como pintor de temática religiosa (tanto pinturas monumentales al fresco como pequeños cuadros de devoción), como retratista y, especialmente, como autor de temas profanos de contenido alegóricos y mitológicos, como «La calumnia de Apeles», «El Nacimiento de Venus» y la obra que nos ocupa que es «La Alegoría de la Primavera», conservada en la Galería Uffizi de Florencia.

 

Se trata de un cuadro monumental (Mide 203 cm de alto por 314 cm de ancho) y la técnica empleada es, como queda dicho el temple. El soporte empleado es la tabla. Se fecha por 1477 o 1476

 

El primer poseedor de la obra fue Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de Medici, conocido como «Il Popolano» («El Populista»), fue miembro de la familia Médici, primo de Lorenzo el Magnífico. Dado que este personaje tenía 15 años cuando la obra se pintó, y para entonces se había quedado huérfano, se especula con que fue encargada por sus tutores, como estímulo para su formación en la filosofía neoplatónica o exhortación moral según los principios de esta doctrina. Tal vez fuera un regalo de su primo Lorenzo «el Magnífico», bajo cuya tutela se encontraba.

 

Posteriormente pasó a la colección de la rama principal de los Médici, que fueron primeros duques de Florencia y posteriormente grandes duques de Toscana). Vasari la contempló y la admiró en 1550, cuando pertenecía al duque Cosme I.

 

La interpretación de esta pintura requiere un amplio conocimiento de la mitología clásica, bien que algunas figuras como Cupido o las Tres Gracias se identifican con facilidad. De izquierda a derecha se reconoce a:

 

- El dios Mercurio (con un sombrero o casco denominado petaso y con la vara llamada caduceo). Con este objeto parece jugar con unas nubecillas, escena enigmática que sólo se comprende por un pasaje de la Eneida en el que describe al veloz mensajero de los dioses, dominando las nubes y los vientos con sólo alzar el mágico caduceo. Con todo, algunos especialistas creen que realmente representa al dios Marte.

- Las tres Gracias, divinidades menores que presiden el encanto, la belleza y la fertilidad.

- La diosa Venus, seguramente en su advocación de Venus Genetrix, esto es como madre, lo que explicaría que se hubieran destacado sus pechos y el que vientre aparezca abultado. Por detrás de esta figura el pintor dispuso un arbusto que se ha identificado como el mirto (o arrayán), planta consagrada a esta deidad, al igual que los naranjos.

- Cupido, hijo de Venus, otra divinidad menor considerado dios del amor.

- Flora, divinidad secundaria del panteón latino encargada de las flores y los jardines. Ese patronazgo explica su corona de flores y su vestido ornamentado con plantas y ramos. Su representación derramando flores se encuentra ya en las pinturas de Pompeya.

- Cloris, ninfa que en la mitología griega desempeña el mismo papel que Flora en el panteón latino, de ahí que a veces se consideren que son el mismo personaje. Su vínculo con la vegetación queda resaltado por las flores que salen de su boca.

- Céfiro o bien Bóreas, personificaciones del viento del oeste y del norte, respectivamente. Ambas deidades raptaron a Cloris, de ahí que su identificación permanezca dudosa. Aunque tradicionalmente se ha visto en él a Céfiro, la brusquedad con la que aparece y su color azul oscuro, propio de las tormentas, parece convenir mejor al tempestuoso Bóreas que al tranquilo y fecundante viento del oeste.

 

Si en la identificación existe cierto consenso, la crítica no se ha puesto de acuerdo sobre su verdadero significado y ninguna de las interpretaciones ha conseguido imponerse, bien que suele vincularse a la filosofía neoplatónica.

 

Una explicación bastante verosímil (y alternativa) es la que considera la obra una alegoría de los tres meses de la primavera: A la derecha marzo, mes caracterizado por los repentinos y negativos efectos del viento y del frío sobre la primera floración; en el centro abril mes consagrado a Venus; y a la izquierda mayo, mes vinculado a Mercurio, pues se creía que estaba dedicado a la madre del dios, la pléyade Maya.

 

La obra estaría inspirada en los tapices flamencos dedicados a las estaciones y meses del año, lo que explicaría la deficiente construcción del espacio y ese prado poblado por diminutas flores y plantas, muy similar a los fondos de tapiz de estilo «mille fleur» confeccionado en aquella época en Francia y en Flandes

 

Para situar el monumento en su contexto histórico, social, político y cultural señalemos que el arte renacentista surge en Italia en el siglo XV, difundiéndose por el resto de Europa en el siglo siguiente. La expansión colonial de españoles y portugueses extenderán este estilo por Iberoamérica y otros territorios que estas potencias incorporan a sus imperios.

 

La cronología de este estilo abarca, pues, desde el siglo XV hasta inicios del siglo XVII. Se distinguen varias fases: Quattrocento (siglo XV), Cinquecento (primer cuarto del siglo XVI) y Manierismo (resto del siglo XVI). Existe una suave etapa de transición hacia el Barroco conocida como protobarroco o arte tridentino (por hallarse marcado por la influencia del Concilio de Trento).

 

El mundo del Quattrocento se caracteriza en lo político por el predominio del sistema de la ciudad-estado en Italia. Se trata de una forma de gobierno oligárquica, pues unas pocas familias controlaban el poder de estas urbes. Estos linajes solían pertenecer a una burguesía mercantil que desarrolla un capitalismo inicial, basado en el comercio de tejidos y en las operaciones bancarias. Esta centuria se caracteriza por un período de expansión económica, caracterizada por el incremento de la circulación monetaria.

 

Respecto a la cultura, la Iglesia sigue desempeñando un papel preponderante, bien que se asiste a una recuperación de la herencia clásica, desarrollándose la filosofía neoplatónica, que fomenta el antropocentrismo y la estima por los números, la proporción y la armonía.

 

Socialmente, la valoración de los artistas comenzará a ser tenida en cuenta, y como se observa en esta obra, arquitectos, escultores y pintores colaboraran en el retorno de la Antigüedad clásica bien estudiando los restos arqueológicos, leyendo y comentando a los autores de la literatura grecorromana o frecuentando las academias filosóficas. Con todo, la producción artística siguió siendo considerada como un mero trabajo mecánico y manual, en el que sólo importaba la destreza, a diferencia de las artes liberales (la Gramática, la Retórica, la Dialéctica, la Aritmética, la Geometría, la Música y la Astronomía) en las que se hacía precisa la aplicación del intelecto.

 

El mecenazgo cobrará un gran impulso en este período como forma de distinción y prestigio. A los promotores de obras tradicionales en la Italia del momento (el Papado, las órdenes religiosas mendicantes y las corporaciones cívicas), se unirán la burguesía mercantil y los condottieros o capitanes de las tropas mercenarias.

 

Para terminar, señalemos que «la Primavera» y otras obras alegóricas y/o mitológicas de Botticelli han sido consideradas un retorno del arte profano, olvidado en la Edad Media o reducido en este período a la mínima expresión ante la preponderancia del arte sacro. Lo cierto es que aunque no puedan competir con el arte religioso, los temas y la decoración seculares tuvieron un amplio desarrollo en la Europa medieval cristiana, bien que los testimonios conservados son muy escasos. Destacaron los tapices (cuya pervivencia resulta muy difícil) o bien mosaicos, vidrieras, pinturas murales y otros ornamentos cuya suerte va ligada a los palacios para los que se realizaron.

 

Dado que estas construcciones sufrieron continuas renovaciones, o al contrario fueron abandonados o pasaron por los rigores de la guerra, los testimonios que nos han llegado de arte profano se han preservado en algunos casos por pasar a las colecciones de iglesias o monasterios, como el tapiz de Bayeux. Algunos otros, como las pinturas de las techumbres de la catedral de Teruel, albergan un contenido profano pese a que se realizaron para un templo.

 

Por tanto hay que recurrir muchas veces a las crónicas o a las representaciones contenidas en los libros miniados para reconstruir el esplendor decorativo de las residencias medievales y de algunos edificios como juzgados o casas consistoriales.

 

El repertorio era amplísimo: escenas de batallas más o menos históricas, o bien basadas en ciclos de romances y leyendas; series de personajes de la Antigüedad, en especial Alejandro Magno; complicadas alegorías mitológicas inspiradas en la obra de Marciano Capela y en Ovidio (bien que se trata del Ovidio «moralizado»); alegorías sobre el gobierno de la ciudad; fábulas protagonizadas por animales; episodios cinegéticos, bailes y otros esparcimientos de los nobles, entre ellos las escenas de baños, llamada de «estufa» (termas); representaciones cartográficas y de las constelaciones celestes, cargadas de los simbolismos propios de la época… En cambio el retrato tuvo un escaso desarrollo y, con alguna excepción, estuvo ligado más bien al arte religioso, apareciendo los personajes como donantes.

 

Estas obras suelen mostrar una originalidad sorprendente y un naturalismo desconocidos en el envarado arte sacro. Las pinturas (o tapices) sobre campañas militares están realizados con una óptica casi «periodística», en el que la narración histórica se presenta como un verdadero reportaje (bien que realizado en muchos casos con decenios de retraso). Por lo demás, los testimonios conservados asombran por su altísima calidad.

 

Se comprende que de la alta Edad Media se conserven muy pocos ejemplos. Destacan los mosaicos del pavimento del Palacio Sagrado de Constantinopla y la decoración anicónica de la iglesia de San Julián de los Prados de Oviedo.

 

De la etapa gótica, destacan en primer lugar los murales que relatan hazañas militares, como los frescos del monasterio de Santa María de Valbuena en Valladolid, las pinturas de la conquista de Mallorca del Palacio Aguilar en Barcelona, y otros frescos de la misma temática conservados en el Palacio Real de Barcelona, en Cardona, Alcañiz y Melfi, en el sur de Italia.

 

Con una temática más mundana, nos encontramos con la vidriera denominada «La cacería» de la catedral de León, las pinturas mudéjares de la catedral de Teruel, los frescos de la llamada Sala del Ciervo, en el Palacio de los Papas en Aviñón, las pinturas del Palacio Comunal de Siena, el ciclo pictórico de Castello della Manta, en el Piamonte y las imágenes de constelaciones realizadas por Fernando Gallego para la Universidad de Salamanca.

 

Mención aparte merecen las tapicerías conservadas: el mencionado tapiz de Bayeux, el ciclo de tapices de la Dama y el Unicornio del Museo de Cluny de París; el llamado tapiz «de las Naves» de la seo zaragozana y los cuatro tapices de Pastrana que describen las conquistas portuguesas en el Norte de África.

 

Las muestras de escultura profana son aún más escasas. Mencionaremos el misterioso Regisole de Pavía, destruido en el siglo XVIII y de cronología muy discutida. Otra obra no menos enigmática es la escultura ecuestre de Rávena (¿de Teodorico?) que Carlomagno mando trasladar a Aquisgrán. Se han conservado la estatuilla de Carlomagno ecuestre del Louvre, el León de Brunswick (Alemania) y el busto de Federico II Hohenstaufen de Barletta (Italia). En relieve, y ya en el arte gótico, hay que mencionar los marfiles franceses dedicados al Roman de la Rose y otros temas galantes y el coro bajo de la catedral de Toledo que talló Rodrigón Alemán y que está dedicado a la conquista del Reino de Granada.

 

Por lo demás los mosaicos de la mezquita omeya de Damasco, las pinturas del castillo sirio de Qusair Amra, Damasco o las conservadas en la Alhambra nos señalan que tampoco el mundo árabe fue ajeno a esta práctica de decorar con escenas libres de todo contenido religioso o doctrinal.

 

En conclusión las alegorías de Botticelli o los esposos Arnolfini de Jan van Eyck hay que verlos más bien como cambios de rumbo o renovaciones de la temática del arte civil y profano, más que la supuesta resurrección de esta vertiente del arte perdida en los mal llamados «siglos oscuros»

 

Procedencia de la imagen:

 

www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/b/botticel/index.html

 

The Cathedral of Pisa , officially the Primate Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta , in the center of the Piazza del Duomo, also known as Piazza dei Miracoli , is the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Pisa as well as the Primate church .

 

A masterpiece of the Romanesque , in particular of the Pisan Romanesque , it represents the tangible testimony of the prestige and wealth achieved by the maritime republic of Pisa at the moment of its apogee.

 

Its construction began in 1063 ( 1064 according to the Pisan calendar in force at the time) by the architect Buscheto , with the tenth part of the spoils of the Palermo campaign in Sicily against the Muslims ( 1063 ) led by Giovanni Orlandi belonging to the Orlandi family [ 1] . Different stylistic elements blend together: classical, Lombard-Emilian , Byzantine and in particular Islamic, proving the international presence of Pisan merchants in those times. In that same year the reconstruction of the Basilica of San Marco in Venice also began , so it may also be that there was a rivalry between the two maritime republics at the time to create the most beautiful and sumptuous place of worship.

 

The church was built in an area outside the early medieval city walls , to symbolize the power of Pisa which did not require protection. The chosen area was already used in the Lombard era as a necropolis and, already in the early 11th century , an unfinished church was built which was to be dedicated to Santa Maria. The new large church of Buscheto, in fact, was initially called Santa Maria Maggiore until it was finally named after Santa Maria Assunta.

 

In 1092 the church changed from a simple cathedral to being primatial, the title of primate having been conferred on Archbishop Daiberto by Pope Urban II , an honor which today is only formal. The cathedral was consecrated in 1118 by Pope Gelasius II , as recorded by the inscription placed internally on the counter-façade at the top left.

 

In the first half of the 12th century the cathedral was enlarged under the direction of the architect Rainaldo , who lengthened the naves by adding three bays in front of the old facade [2] according to the Buscheto style, widened the transept and designed a new facade, completed by the workers led by the sculptors Guglielmo and Biduino . The date of the start of the works is uncertain: immediately after Buscheto's death around the year 1120 , according to some, around the year 1140 according to others. The end of the works dates back to 1180 , as documented by the date affixed to the bronze doors by Bonanno Pisano on the main door.

 

The current appearance of the complex building is the result of repeated restoration campaigns that took place in different eras. The first radical interventions followed the disastrous fire on the night between 24 and 25 October 1595 [3] , which destroyed many decorative interventions and following which the roof was rebuilt and the three bronze doors of the facade were made, the work of sculptors from the workshop of Giambologna , including Gasparo Mola and Pietro Tacca . Starting from the eighteenth century, the progressive covering of the internal walls began with large paintings on canvas, the "quadroni" with Stories of Pisan blesseds and saints , executed by the main artists of the time thanks to the initiative of some citizens who financed themselves by creating a special business.

 

The Napoleonic spoliations of the Cathedral of Pisa and the Opera del Duomo were significant, many works converged on the Louvre where they are exhibited today, including The Triumph of Saint Thomas Aquinas among the Doctors of the Church by Benozzo Gozzoli , now in the Louvre, Death of San Bernardo dell'Orcagna and San Benedetto , the work of Andrea del Castagno .

 

Among the various noteworthy interventions, it is worth mentioning the dismantling of Giovanni Pisano's pulpit which was reassembled only in 1926 in a different position and with several parts missing, including the staircase, and the dismantling of the monument to Henry VII created by Lupo di Francesco which was located in front of the door of San Ranieri and subsequently replaced by a simplified and symbolic version.

 

The subsequent interventions took place during the nineteenth century and affected both the internal and external decorations, which in many cases, especially the sculptures on the facade, were replaced by copies (the originals are in the Museo dell'Opera del duomo ).

 

The building has a Latin cross shape with a large dome at the intersection of the arms. The longitudinal body, divided into five naves , extends over ten bays . This plan continues in the choir with two more bays and a final apse crowning the central nave alone. The transept has 4 bays on each side (or six if we include the two in common with the longitudinal body) and has three naves with apses ending on both sides. In the center four large pillars delimit the rectangular cross ending at the top with a large elliptical dome.

 

The building, like the bell tower, has sunk perceptibly into the ground, and some defects in the construction are clearly visible, such as the differences in level between Buscheto's nave and the extension by Rainaldo (the bays towards the west and the facade) .

 

The exterior of the cathedral is mainly in white and gray marble although the older stones placed at the lower levels of the longitudinal body are of other poorer material. There is no shortage of valuable materials, especially on the facade, where there are multicolored marble inlays, mosaics and also bronze objects from war booty, including the Griffin used on the top of the roof at the back (east side), perhaps taken from Palermo in 1061 ( today there is a copy on the roof, the original is in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo ).

 

The longitudinal body, transept and choir have a rich facing punctuated by three orders or floors. On the lower floor, long rows of pilasters supporting blind arches , in turn enclosing lozenges or windows, punctuate the space on all sides of the building with very few interruptions (only the apse of the right transept). The second floor still has pilasters but this time these do not support blind arches and are rather architraved , a motif interrupted only in the apse of the right transept (where blind arches appear again) and in the main apse where two orders of loggias are visible . In addition to the windows and lozenges, inlaid oculi also appear between the pilasters . The third floor has columns or semi-columns which again support blind arches (longitudinal body and choir) or an architrave (transept) with the usual alternation of windows, lozenges and inlaid oculi.

 

The raised round arches on the facade and in the main apse recall elements of Muslim art from Sicily . The blind arches with lozenges recall the similar structures of the churches of Armenia . Even the ellipsoidal dome rebuilt after the fire of 1595, surmounted by a lantern, recalls Islamic architecture.

 

The gray and white marble façade , decorated with colored marble inserts, was built by master Rainaldo in the 12th century and finished by 1180. On the lower floor, the seven blind arches which enclose lozenges, one every two, echo the same motif which spreads over the remaining three sides of the Cathedral. On the façade, however, the ornamentation becomes richer: semi-columns placed against semi-rectangular pillars replace the slender pilaster strips on the sides and are surmounted by Corinthian or figurative capitals. The arches are embellished with a rich texture of vegetal motifs and the lozenges are also larger and inlaid with multicolored marble. The empty spaces between the three portals have marble slabs forming square or rectangular motifs and are embellished with horizontal ornamental bands with plant motifs. The empty spaces between the arches are also filled with marble tablets inlaid with geometric or animal motifs. Noteworthy is the one at the top right of the main portal which depicts a Christian brandishing the cross between two beasts and the writing of Psalm 21 : Salva me ex ore leonis et a cornibus unicornium humilitatem meam (Save me from the mouth of the lion Lord and my humility from the unicorn's horns), the original of which is preserved in the nearby Museo dell'Opera del Duomo .

 

Of the three portals , the central one has larger dimensions and is enclosed by two columns decorated with vegetal motifs which support, above the capitals, two lions to symbolize the two "faces" of Christ the Judge , the one who condemns on the left and the one who rewards and is merciful on the right (note the saved and protected lamb between the legs). All three portals have eighteenth-century mosaics by Giuseppe Modena da Lucca in their lunettes depicting the Assumption of the Virgin (centre), Santa Reparata (left) and Saint John the Baptist (right). The bronze doors were made by various artists of the caliber of Giambologna , after the fire of 1595, replacing the two wooden side doors and the bronze-covered wooden royal door by Bonanno Pisano which bore the date of 1180 (seen and described before the fire) to testify to the completion of the façade in that year. To the left of the north left portal, there is Buscheto's tomb.

 

The four upper floors are characterized by four orders of superimposed loggias, divided by finely sculpted frames, behind which there are single , double and triple lancet windows . Many of the friezes on the arches and frames were redone in the 17th century after the fire of 1595, while the polychrome marble inlays between the arches are original. Even higher up, to crown it, the Madonna and Child by Andrea Pisano and, in the corners, the four evangelists by Giovanni Pisano (early 14th century).

 

Contrary to what one might think, since ancient times the faithful have entered the Cathedral through the door of San Ranieri , located at the back in the transept of the same name, in front of the bell tower. This is because the nobles of the city went to the cathedral coming from via Santa Maria which leads to that transept. This door was cast around 1180 by Bonanno Pisano , and is the only door to escape the fire of 1595 which heavily damaged the church. The door is decorated with twenty-four panels depicting stories from the New Testament. This door is one of the first produced in Italy in the Middle Ages, after the importation of numerous examples from Constantinople , (in Amalfi , in Salerno , in Rome , in Montecassino , in Venice ...) and one admires an entirely Western sensitivity, which breaks away from the Byzantine tradition.

 

The original gràdule of the Duomo, designed by Giovanni Pisano and dating back to the end of the 13th century, were removed in 1865 and replaced by the current churchyard . These gràdule consisted of small walls, decorated with squares carved with figures of animals and heads, close to the external perimeter of the cathedral and served as a base for the numerous sarcophagi of the Roman era which, during the medieval era, were reused for the burials of nobles (among whom Beatrice of Canossa stands out ) and heroes. Currently some fragments are visible in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, while the sarcophagi were all moved within the enclosure of the monumental cemetery .

 

The lower register of the facade is not very rich in figurative sculptural decorations unlike other contemporary Romanesque cathedrals, but it still gives a rich meaning both to its unitary components and a complex allegory in its overall vision. To read the latter you need to start from the left where the outermost capital of the left side portal shows two ferocious lions devouring weak prey and two human figures further behind. The former represent the struggle between good and evil where evil dominates [6] , but behind them the figure of the old man stacking wood and the young man towering over a ram perhaps represent Abraham and Isaac and the sacrificial ram (or two peasants virtuous at work) which show preparation for God's plan of salvation. The arch that starts from the same capital shows a row of dragons that two virtuous human figures in the center are forced to face in the continuous struggle between good and evil. [6]

 

At the level of the central portal we enter the New Testament which concretizes the plan of salvation brought about by God starting from Abraham . It is the portal dedicated to the Virgin of the Assumption and her Son , whose divine judgment is represented by the two lions of justice, the one that condemns on the left and the one that protects and saves on the right with the little lamb protected between its legs, for Divine Mercy or Justice whatever it is. [6] The 42 stylized human figurines present on the decorated arch show the 42 generations that separate, according to the Gospel of Matthew , Abraham from Jesus Christ (the figurines are actually 43 but perhaps due to renovation needs or other reasons for filling the frieze ). This transition from the old to the new is strengthened by the two marble inlays in the intrados of the main arch where a ferocious dragon and a lion facing each other depicting the perennial struggle between the evil forces (left inlay) [6] become two equally ferocious unicorns but in the middle to whom a Christian appears brandishing a cross to defend himself from them (inlay on the right) and where we read in Latin:

 

de ore leonis libera me domine et a cornibus unicorni humilitatem mea ("Save me from the lion's mouth, Lord, and my humility from the unicorn's horns", psalm 21 ).

The last element of this complex narrative is the outermost capital of the right portal, which acts as a pendant to that of the left portal from which we started. We are well beyond the coming of Jesus where the evil lions, previously in the foreground, are relegated to a backward and out of the way position, always ready to strike as shown by the heads turned back and the tongue out, but in a contorted position due to the continuous escapes to which the Savior and the Church forces them to do. [6] In a prominent position there are now two naked human figurines, the souls of those saved by the Savior through the intercession of the Church , which are composed and serene figures with large eyes, well anchored with their arms to the garland of the capital and the feet resting well on the acanthus leaves, symbol of men of faith, victorious over sin and blessed by faith rather than merit.

 

The five- nave interior is covered in black and white marble, with monolithic columns of gray marble and capitals of the Corinthian order . The arches of the ten bays are round arches (those of the central nave) or raised arches in the Moorish style of the time (those of the side naves).

 

The central nave has a seventeenth-century gilded coffered ceiling, in gilded and painted wood, by the Florentines Domenico and Bartolomeo Atticciati ; it bears the Medici coat of arms in gold . Presumably the ancient ceiling had a structure with exposed wooden trusses. The four side naves have a cross-shaped plastered roof. The coffered roof is also present in the choir and in the central nave of the transept, while a plastered barrel roof is present in the side naves of the transept. The coverage of the lateral naves of the transept at the level of the two bays shared with the lateral naves of the longitudinal body is curious: these are cross-shaped (as in the lateral naves of the longitudinal body), but are higher (as in the lateral naves of the transept) . There is also a women's gallery of Byzantine origin that runs along the entire church, including the choir and transept and which has a coffered roof (central body) or wooden beams (transept). Even higher up, thin and deep windows allow the church to be lit.

 

The interior suggests a spatial effect that has some analogy with that of mosques , for the use of raised arches, for the alternation of white and green marble bands, for the unusual elliptical dome , of oriental inspiration, and for the presence of women's galleries with solid monolithic granite columns in the mullioned windows , a clear sign of Byzantine influence. The architect Buscheto had welcomed stimuli from the Islamic Levant and Armenia . [7]

 

Only part of the medieval decorative interventions survived the fire of 1595. Among these is the fresco with the Madonna and Child by the Pisan Master of San Torpè in the triumphal arch (late 13th-early 14th century), and below it the Cosmatesque flooring , of a certain rarity outside the borders of Lazio . It was made of marble inlays with geometric "opus alexandrinum" motifs (mid- 12th century ). Other late medieval fresco fragments have survived, among them Saint Jerome on one of the four central pillars and Saint John the Baptist , a Crucifix and Saint Cosimo and Damian on the pillar near the entrance door, partially hidden by the compass .

 

At the meeting point between the transept and the central body the dome rises, the decoration of which represented one of the last interventions carried out after the fire mentioned. Painted with the rare encaustic painting technique [8] (or wax on wall) [9] , the dome represents the Virgin in glory and saints ( 1627 - 1631 ), a masterpiece by the Pisan Orazio Riminaldi , completed after his death. which occurred in 1630 due to the plague, by his brother Girolamo . The decoration underwent a careful restoration which returned it to its original splendor in 2018.

 

The presbytery, ending in a curved apse, presents a great variety of ornaments. Above, in the basin, the large mosaic of Christ enthroned between the Virgin and Saint John is made famous by the face of Saint John, a work by Cimabue from 1302 which miraculously survived the fire of 1595. Precisely that Saint John the Evangelist was the The last work created by Cimabue before his death and the only one for which certified documentation exists. It evokes the mosaics of Byzantine churches and also Norman ones, such as Cefalù and Monreale , in Sicily . The mosaic, largely created by Francesco da Pisa, was finished by Vincino da Pistoia with the depiction of the Madonna on the left side ( 1320 ).

 

The main altar, from the beginning of the twentieth century, features six Angels contemporary with Ludovico Poliaghi , and in the center the bronze Crucifix by Giambologna , of which there are also the two candle-holder Angels at the end of the rich marble transenna, while the third Angel on the column to the left of the altar is by Stoldo Lorenzi .

 

Below, behind the main altar, there is the large decorative complex of the Tribune, composed of 27 paintings depicting episodes from the Old Testament and Christological stories. Begun before the fire with the works of Andrea del Sarto (three canvases, Saint Agnes , Saints Catherine and Margaret and Saints Peter and John the Baptist ) del Sodoma and Domenico Beccafumi ( Stories of Moses and the Evangelists ), it was completed after this calamity with the works of several Tuscan painters, including Orazio Riminaldi .

 

The pulpit , a masterpiece by Giovanni Pisano (1302-1310), survived the fire, but was dismantled during the restoration work and was not reassembled until 1926 . With its articulated architectural structure and complex sculptural decoration, the work is one of the largest narratives in fourteenth-century images that reflects the renewal and religious fervor of the era. The episodes from the Life of Christ are carved in an expressive language on the slightly curved panels . The structure is polygonal, as in the similar previous examples, in the baptistery of Pisa , in the cathedral of Siena and in the church of Sant'Andrea in Pistoia , but for the first time the panels are slightly curved, giving a new idea of ​​circularity in its type. Equally original are: the presence of caryatids , sculpted figures in place of simple columns, which symbolize the Virtues ; the adoption of spiral brackets instead of arches to support the mezzanine floor; the sense of movement, given by the numerous figures that fill every empty space.

 

For these qualities combined with the skilful narrative art of the nine scenes it is generally considered Giovanni's masterpiece and more generally of Italian Gothic sculpture. The pulpit commissioned from Giovanni replaced a previous one , created by Guglielmo ( 1157 - 1162 ), which was sent to the cathedral of Cagliari . Since there is no documentation of what the pulpit looked like before its dismantling, it was rebuilt in a different position from the original one and, certainly, with the parts not in the same order and orientation as had been thought. It is not known whether or not he had a marble staircase.

 

The right transept is occupied by the Chapel of San Ranieri , patron saint of the city, whose relics are preserved in the magnificent shrine on the altar. Also in the chapel, on the left, is preserved part of the fragmentary tomb of Henry VII of Luxembourg , Holy Roman Emperor , who died in 1313 in Buonconvento while besieging Florence in vain . The tomb, also dismantled and reassembled, (it was sculpted by Tino di Camaino in 1313 - 1315 ) and was originally placed in the center of the apse, as a sign of the Ghibelline faith of the city. It was also a much more complex sculptural monument, featuring various statues. Moved several times for political reasons, it was also separated into several parts (some inside the church, some on the facade, some in the Campo Santo). Today we find the sarcophagus in the church with the deceased depicted lying on it, according to the fashion in vogue at that time, and the twelve apostles sculpted in bas-relief. The lunette painted with curtain-holding angels is instead a later addition from the workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio (end of the 15th century ). The other remains of the monument have been reassembled in the nearby Museo dell'Opera del Duomo . The left transept is occupied by the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, in the center of which is the large silver tabernacle designed by Giovan Battista Foggini (1678-86).

 

On the numerous side altars there are sixteenth-seventeenth century paintings. Among the paintings housed on the minor altars, we remember the Madonna delle Grazie with saints, by the Florentine mannerist Andrea del Sarto, and the Madonna enthroned with saints in the right transept, by Perin del Vaga , a pupil of Raphael , both finished by Giovanni Antonio Sogliani . The canvas with the Dispute of the Sacrament is in Baroque style, by the Sienese Francesco Vanni , and the Cross with saints by the Genoese Giovanni Battista Paggi . Particularly venerated is the image of the thirteenth-century Madonna and Child , known as the Madonna di sotto gli organi , attributed to the Volterra native Berlinghiero Berlinghieri .

 

Pisa is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the city contains more than twenty other historic churches, several medieval palaces, and bridges across the Arno. Much of the city's architecture was financed from its history as one of the Italian maritime republics.

 

The city is also home to the University of Pisa, which has a history going back to the 12th century, the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, founded by Napoleon in 1810, and its offshoot, the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies.

 

History

For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Pisa.

Ancient times

The most believed hypothesis is that the origin of the name Pisa comes from Etruscan and means 'mouth', as Pisa is at the mouth of the Arno river.

 

Although throughout history there have been several uncertainties about the origin of the city of Pisa, excavations made in the 1980s and 1990s found numerous archaeological remains, including the fifth century BC tomb of an Etruscan prince, proving the Etruscan origin of the city, and its role as a maritime city, showing that it also maintained trade relations with other Mediterranean civilizations.

 

Ancient Roman authors referred to Pisa as an old city. Virgil, in his Aeneid, states that Pisa was already a great center by the times described; and gives the epithet of Alphēae to the city because it was said to have been founded by colonists from Pisa in Elis, near which the Alpheius river flowed. The Virgilian commentator Servius wrote that the Teuti founded the town 13 centuries before the start of the common era.

 

The maritime role of Pisa should have been already prominent if the ancient authorities ascribed to it the invention of the naval ram. Pisa took advantage of being the only port along the western coast between Genoa (then a small village) and Ostia. Pisa served as a base for Roman naval expeditions against Ligurians and Gauls. In 180 BC, it became a Roman colony under Roman law, as Portus Pisanus. In 89 BC, Portus Pisanus became a municipium. Emperor Augustus fortified the colony into an important port and changed the name to Colonia Iulia obsequens.

 

Pisa supposedly was founded on the shore, but due to the alluvial sediments from the Arno and the Serchio, whose mouth lies about 11 km (7 mi) north of the Arno's, the shore moved west. Strabo states that the city was 4.0 km (2.5 mi) away from the coast. Currently, it is located 9.7 km (6 mi) from the coast. However, it was a maritime city, with ships sailing up the Arno. In the 90s AD, a baths complex was built in the city.

 

Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages

During the last years of the Western Roman Empire, Pisa did not decline as much as the other cities of Italy, probably due to the complexity of its river system and its consequent ease of defence. In the seventh century, Pisa helped Pope Gregory I by supplying numerous ships in his military expedition against the Byzantines of Ravenna: Pisa was the sole Byzantine centre of Tuscia to fall peacefully in Lombard hands, through assimilation with the neighbouring region where their trading interests were prevalent. Pisa began in this way its rise to the role of main port of the Upper Tyrrhenian Sea and became the main trading centre between Tuscany and Corsica, Sardinia, and the southern coasts of France and Spain.

 

After Charlemagne had defeated the Lombards under the command of Desiderius in 774, Pisa went through a crisis, but soon recovered. Politically, it became part of the duchy of Lucca. In 860, Pisa was captured by vikings led by Björn Ironside. In 930, Pisa became the county centre (status it maintained until the arrival of Otto I) within the mark of Tuscia. Lucca was the capital but Pisa was the most important city, as in the middle of tenth century Liutprand of Cremona, bishop of Cremona, called Pisa Tusciae provinciae caput ("capital of the province of Tuscia"), and a century later, the marquis of Tuscia was commonly referred to as "marquis of Pisa". In 1003, Pisa was the protagonist of the first communal war in Italy, against Lucca. From the naval point of view, since the ninth century, the emergence of the Saracen pirates urged the city to expand its fleet; in the following years, this fleet gave the town an opportunity for more expansion. In 828, Pisan ships assaulted the coast of North Africa. In 871, they took part in the defence of Salerno from the Saracens. In 970, they gave also strong support to Otto I's expedition, defeating a Byzantine fleet in front of Calabrese coasts.

 

11th century

The power of Pisa as a maritime nation began to grow and reached its apex in the 11th century, when it acquired traditional fame as one of the four main historical maritime republics of Italy (Repubbliche Marinare).

 

At that time, the city was a very important commercial centre and controlled a significant Mediterranean merchant fleet and navy. It expanded its powers in 1005 through the sack of Reggio Calabria in the south of Italy. Pisa was in continuous conflict with some 'Saracens' - a medieval term to refer to Arab Muslims - who had their bases in Corsica, for control of the Mediterranean. In 1017, Sardinian Giudicati were militarily supported by Pisa, in alliance with Genoa, to defeat the Saracen King Mugahid, who had settled a logistic base in the north of Sardinia the year before. This victory gave Pisa supremacy in the Tyrrhenian Sea. When the Pisans subsequently ousted the Genoese from Sardinia, a new conflict and rivalry was born between these major marine republics. Between 1030 and 1035, Pisa went on to defeat several rival towns in Sicily and conquer Carthage in North Africa. In 1051–1052, the admiral Jacopo Ciurini conquered Corsica, provoking more resentment from the Genoese. In 1063, Admiral Giovanni Orlandi, coming to the aid of the Norman Roger I, took Palermo from the Saracen pirates. The gold treasure taken from the Saracens in Palermo allowed the Pisans to start the building of their cathedral and the other monuments which constitute the famous Piazza del Duomo.

 

In 1060, Pisa had to engage in their first battle with Genoa. The Pisan victory helped to consolidate its position in the Mediterranean. Pope Gregory VII recognised in 1077 the new "Laws and customs of the sea" instituted by the Pisans, and emperor Henry IV granted them the right to name their own consuls, advised by a council of elders. This was simply a confirmation of the present situation, because in those years, the marquis had already been excluded from power. In 1092, Pope Urban II awarded Pisa the supremacy over Corsica and Sardinia, and at the same time raising the town to the rank of archbishopric.

 

Pisa sacked the Tunisian city of Mahdia in 1088. Four years later, Pisan and Genoese ships helped Alfonso VI of Castilla to push El Cid out of Valencia. A Pisan fleet of 120 ships also took part in the First Crusade, and the Pisans were instrumental in the taking of Jerusalem in 1099. On their way to the Holy Land, the ships did not miss the occasion to sack some Byzantine islands; the Pisan crusaders were led by their archbishop Daibert, the future patriarch of Jerusalem. Pisa and the other Repubbliche Marinare took advantage of the crusade to establish trading posts and colonies in the Eastern coastal cities of the Levant. In particular, the Pisans founded colonies in Antiochia, Acre, Jaffa, Tripoli, Tyre, Latakia, and Accone. They also had other possessions in Jerusalem and Caesarea, plus smaller colonies (with lesser autonomy) in Cairo, Alexandria, and of course Constantinople, where the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus granted them special mooring and trading rights. In all these cities, the Pisans were granted privileges and immunity from taxation, but had to contribute to the defence in case of attack. In the 12th century, the Pisan quarter in the eastern part of Constantinople had grown to 1,000 people. For some years of that century, Pisa was the most prominent commercial and military ally of the Byzantine Empire, overcoming Venice itself.

 

12th century

In 1113, Pisa and Pope Paschal II set up, together with the count of Barcelona and other contingents from Provence and Italy (Genoese excluded), a war to free the Balearic Islands from the Moors; the queen and the king of Majorca were brought in chains to Tuscany. Though the Almoravides soon reconquered the island, the booty taken helped the Pisans in their magnificent programme of buildings, especially the cathedral, and Pisa gained a role of pre-eminence in the Western Mediterranean.

 

In the following years, the powerful Pisan fleet, led by archbishop Pietro Moriconi, drove away the Saracens after ferocious battles. Though short-lived, this Pisan success in Spain increased the rivalry with Genoa. Pisa's trade with Languedoc, Provence (Noli, Savona, Fréjus, and Montpellier) were an obstacle to Genoese interests in cities such as Hyères, Fos, Antibes, and Marseille.

 

The war began in 1119 when the Genoese attacked several galleys on their way home to the motherland, and lasted until 1133. The two cities fought each other on land and at sea, but hostilities were limited to raids and pirate-like assaults.

 

In June 1135, Bernard of Clairvaux took a leading part in the Council of Pisa, asserting the claims of Pope Innocent II against those of Pope Anacletus II, who had been elected pope in 1130 with Norman support, but was not recognised outside Rome. Innocent II resolved the conflict with Genoa, establishing Pisan and Genoese spheres of influence. Pisa could then, unhindered by Genoa, participate in the conflict of Innocent II against king Roger II of Sicily. Amalfi, one of the maritime republics (though already declining under Norman rule), was conquered on August 6, 1136; the Pisans destroyed the ships in the port, assaulted the castles in the surrounding areas, and drove back an army sent by Roger from Aversa. This victory brought Pisa to the peak of its power and to a standing equal to Venice. Two years later, its soldiers sacked Salerno.

 

New city walls, erected in 1156 by Consul Cocco Griffi

In the following years, Pisa was one of the staunchest supporters of the Ghibelline party. This was much appreciated by Frederick I. He issued in 1162 and 1165 two important documents, with these grants: Apart from the jurisdiction over the Pisan countryside, the Pisans were granted freedom of trade in the whole empire, the coast from Civitavecchia to Portovenere, a half of Palermo, Messina, Salerno and Naples, the whole of Gaeta, Mazara, and Trapani, and a street with houses for its merchants in every city of the Kingdom of Sicily. Some of these grants were later confirmed by Henry VI, Otto IV, and Frederick II. They marked the apex of Pisa's power, but also spurred the resentment of other cities such as Lucca, Massa, Volterra, and Florence, thwarting their aim to expand towards the sea. The clash with Lucca also concerned the possession of the castle of Montignoso and mainly the control of the Via Francigena, the main trade route between Rome and France. Last, but not least, such a sudden and large increase of power by Pisa could only lead to another war with Genoa.

 

Genoa had acquired a dominant position in the markets of southern France. The war began in 1165 on the Rhône, when an attack on a convoy, directed to some Pisan trade centres on the river, by the Genoese and their ally, the count of Toulouse, failed. Pisa, though, was allied to Provence. The war continued until 1175 without significant victories. Another point of attrition was Sicily, where both the cities had privileges granted by Henry VI. In 1192, Pisa managed to conquer Messina. This episode was followed by a series of battles culminating in the Genoese conquest of Syracuse in 1204. Later, the trading posts in Sicily were lost when the new Pope Innocent III, though removing the excommunication cast over Pisa by his predecessor Celestine III, allied himself with the Guelph League of Tuscany, led by Florence. Soon, he stipulated[clarification needed] a pact with Genoa, too, further weakening the Pisan presence in southern Italy.

 

To counter the Genoese predominance in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Pisa strengthened its relationship with its traditional Spanish and French bases (Marseille, Narbonne, Barcelona, etc.) and tried to defy the Venetian rule of the Adriatic Sea. In 1180, the two cities agreed to a nonaggression treaty in the Tyrrhenian and the Adriatic, but the death of Emperor Manuel Comnenus in Constantinople changed the situation. Soon, attacks on Venetian convoys were made. Pisa signed trade and political pacts with Ancona, Pula, Zara, Split, and Brindisi; in 1195, a Pisan fleet reached Pola to defend its independence from Venice, but the Serenissima soon reconquered the rebel sea town.

 

One year later, the two cities signed a peace treaty, which resulted in favourable conditions for Pisa, but in 1199, the Pisans violated it by blockading the port of Brindisi in Apulia. In the following naval battle, they were defeated by the Venetians. The war that followed ended in 1206 with a treaty in which Pisa gave up all its hopes to expand in the Adriatic, though it maintained the trading posts it had established in the area. From that point on, the two cities were united against the rising power of Genoa and sometimes collaborated to increase the trading benefits in Constantinople.

 

13th century

In 1209 in Lerici, two councils for a final resolution of the rivalry with Genoa were held. A 20-year peace treaty was signed, but when in 1220, the emperor Frederick II confirmed his supremacy over the Tyrrhenian coast from Civitavecchia to Portovenere, the Genoese and Tuscan resentment against Pisa grew again. In the following years, Pisa clashed with Lucca in Garfagnana and was defeated by the Florentines at Castel del Bosco. The strong Ghibelline position of Pisa brought this town diametrically against the Pope, who was in a dispute with the Holy Roman Empire, and indeed the pope tried to deprive Pisa of its dominions in northern Sardinia.

 

In 1238, Pope Gregory IX formed an alliance between Genoa and Venice against the empire, and consequently against Pisa, too. One year later, he excommunicated Frederick II and called for an anti-Empire council to be held in Rome in 1241. On May 3, 1241, a combined fleet of Pisan and Sicilian ships, led by the emperor's son Enzo, attacked a Genoese convoy carrying prelates from northern Italy and France, next to the isle of Giglio (Battle of Giglio), in front of Tuscany; the Genoese lost 25 ships, while about a thousand sailors, two cardinals, and one bishop were taken prisoner. After this major victory, the council in Rome failed, but Pisa was excommunicated. This extreme measure was only removed in 1257. Anyway, the Tuscan city tried to take advantage of the favourable situation to conquer the Corsican city of Aleria and even lay siege to Genoa itself in 1243.

 

The Ligurian republic of Genoa, however, recovered fast from this blow and won back Lerici, conquered by the Pisans some years earlier, in 1256.

 

The great expansion in the Mediterranean and the prominence of the merchant class urged a modification in the city's institutes. The system with consuls was abandoned, and in 1230, the new city rulers named a capitano del popolo ("people's chieftain") as civil and military leader. Despite these reforms, the conquered lands and the city itself were harassed by the rivalry between the two families of Della Gherardesca and Visconti. In 1237 the archbishop and the Emperor Frederick II intervened to reconcile the two rivals, but the strains continued. In 1254, the people rebelled and imposed 12 Anziani del Popolo ("People's Elders") as their political representatives in the commune. They also supplemented the legislative councils, formed of noblemen, with new People's Councils, composed by the main guilds and by the chiefs of the People's Companies. These had the power to ratify the laws of the Major General Council and the Senate.

 

Decline

The decline is said to have begun on August 6, 1284, when the numerically superior fleet of Pisa, under the command of Albertino Morosini, was defeated by the brilliant tactics of the Genoese fleet, under the command of Benedetto Zaccaria and Oberto Doria, in the dramatic naval Battle of Meloria. This defeat ended the maritime power of Pisa and the town never fully recovered; in 1290, the Genoese destroyed forever the Porto Pisano (Pisa's port), and covered the land with salt. The region around Pisa did not permit the city to recover from the loss of thousands of sailors from the Meloria, while Liguria guaranteed enough sailors to Genoa. Goods, however, continued to be traded, albeit in reduced quantity, but the end came when the Arno started to change course, preventing the galleys from reaching the city's port up the river. The nearby area also likely became infested with malaria. The true end came in 1324, when Sardinia was entirely lost to the Aragonese.

 

Always Ghibelline, Pisa tried to build up its power in the course of the 14th century, and even managed to defeat Florence in the Battle of Montecatini (1315), under the command of Uguccione della Faggiuola. Eventually, however, after a long siege, Pisa was occupied by Florentines in 1405.[9] Florentines corrupted the capitano del popolo ("people's chieftain"), Giovanni Gambacorta, who at night opened the city gate of San Marco. Pisa was never conquered by an army. In 1409, Pisa was the seat of a council trying to set the question of the Great Schism. In the 15th century, access to the sea became more difficult, as the port was silting up and was cut off from the sea. When in 1494, Charles VIII of France invaded the Italian states to claim the Kingdom of Naples, Pisa reclaimed its independence as the Second Pisan Republic.

 

The new freedom did not last long; 15 years of battles and sieges by the Florentine troops led by Antonio da Filicaja, Averardo Salviati and Niccolò Capponi were made, but they failed to conquer the city. Vitellozzo Vitelli with his brother Paolo were the only ones who actually managed to break the strong defences of Pisa and make a breach in the Stampace bastion in the southern west part of the walls, but he did not enter the city. For that, they were suspected of treachery and Paolo was put to death. However, the resources of Pisa were getting low, and at the end, the city was sold to the Visconti family from Milan and eventually to Florence again. Livorno took over the role of the main port of Tuscany. Pisa acquired a mainly cultural role spurred by the presence of the University of Pisa, created in 1343, and later reinforced by the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa (1810) and Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies (1987).

 

Pisa was the birthplace of the important early physicist Galileo Galilei. It is still the seat of an archbishopric. Besides its educational institutions, it has become a light industrial centre and a railway hub. It suffered repeated destruction during World War II.

 

Since the early 1950s, the US Army has maintained Camp Darby just outside Pisa, which is used by many US military personnel as a base for vacations in the area.

 

Geography

Climate

Pisa has a borderline humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfa) and Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa). The city is characterized by cool to mild winters and hot summers. This transitional climate allows Pisa to have summers with moderate rainfall. Rainfall peaks in autumn. Snow is rare. The highest officially recorded temperature was 39.5 °C (103.1 °F) on 22 August 2011 and the lowest was −13.8 °C (7.2 °F) on 12 January 1985.

 

Culture

Gioco del Ponte

In Pisa there was a festival and game fr:Gioco del Ponte (Game of the Bridge) which was celebrated (in some form) in Pisa from perhaps the 1200s down to 1807. From the end of the 1400s the game took the form of a mock battle fought upon Pisa's central bridge (Ponte di Mezzo). The participants wore quilted armor and the only offensive weapon allowed was the targone, a shield-shaped, stout board with precisely specified dimensions. Hitting below the belt was not allowed. Two opposing teams started at opposite ends of the bridge. The object of the two opposing teams was to penetrate, drive back, and disperse the opponents' ranks and to thereby drive them backwards off the bridge. The struggle was limited to forty-five minutes. Victory or defeat was immensely important to the team players and their partisans, but sometimes the game was fought to a draw and both sides celebrated.

 

In 1677 the battle was witnessed by Dutch travelling artist Cornelis de Bruijn. He wrote:

 

"While I stayed in Livorno, I went to Pisa to witness the bridge fight there. The fighters arrived fully armored, wearing helmets, each carrying their banner, which was planted at both ends of the bridge, which is quite wide and long. The battle is fought with certain wooden implements made for this purpose, which they wear over their arms and are attached to them, with which they pummel each other so intensely that I saw several of them carried away with bloody and crushed heads. Victory consists of capturing the bridge, in the same way as the fistfights in Venice between the it:Castellani and the Nicolotti."

 

In 1927 the tradition was revived by college students as an elaborate costume parade. In 1935 Vittorio Emanuele III with the royal family witnessed the first revival of a modern version of the game, which has been pursued in the 20th and 21st centuries with some interruptions and varying degrees of enthusiasm by Pisans and their civic institutions.

 

Festivals and cultural events

Capodanno pisano (folklore, March 25)

Gioco del Ponte (folklore)

Luminara di San Ranieri (folklore, June 16)

Maritime republics regata (folklore)

Premio Nazionale Letterario Pisa

Pisa Book Festival

Metarock (rock music festival)

Internet Festival San Ranieri regata (folklore)

Turn Off Festival (house music festival)

Nessiáh (Jewish cultural Festival, November)

Main sights

 

The Leaning Tower of Pisa.

While the bell tower of the cathedral, known as "the leaning Tower of Pisa", is the most famous image of the city, it is one of many works of art and architecture in the city's Piazza del Duomo, also known, since the 20th century, as Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles), to the north of the old town center. The Piazza del Duomo also houses the Duomo (the Cathedral), the Baptistry and the Campo Santo (the monumental cemetery). The medieval complex includes the above-mentioned four sacred buildings, the hospital and few palaces. All the complex is kept by the Opera (fabrica ecclesiae) della Primaziale Pisana, an old non profit foundation that has operated since the building of the Cathedral in 1063 to maintain the sacred buildings. The area is framed by medieval walls kept by the municipal administration.

 

Other sights include:

Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri, church sited on Piazza dei Cavalieri, and also designed by Vasari. It had originally a single nave; two more were added in the 17th century. It houses a bust by Donatello, and paintings by Vasari, Jacopo Ligozzi, Alessandro Fei, and Pontormo. It also contains spoils from the many naval battles between the Cavalieri (Knights of St. Stephan) and the Turks between the 16th and 18th centuries, including the Turkish battle pennant hoisted from Ali Pacha's flagship at the 1571 Battle of Lepanto.

St. Sixtus. This small church, consecrated in 1133, is also close to the Piazza dei Cavalieri. It was used as a seat of the most important notarial deeds of the town, also hosting the Council of Elders. It is today one of the best preserved early Romanesque buildings in town.

St. Francis. The church of San Francesco may have been designed by Giovanni di Simone, built after 1276. In 1343 new chapels were added and the church was elevated. It has a single nave and a notable belfry, as well as a 15th-century cloister. It houses works by Jacopo da Empoli, Taddeo Gaddi and Santi di Tito. In the Gherardesca Chapel are buried Ugolino della Gherardesca and his sons.

San Frediano. This church, built by 1061, has a basilica interior with three aisles, with a crucifix from the 12th century. Paintings from the 16th century were added during a restoration, including works by Ventura Salimbeni, Domenico Passignano, Aurelio Lomi, and Rutilio Manetti.

San Nicola. This medieval church built by 1097, was enlarged between 1297 and 1313 by the Augustinians, perhaps by the design of Giovanni Pisano. The octagonal belfry is from the second half of the 13th century. The paintings include the Madonna with Child by Francesco Traini (14th century) and St. Nicholas Saving Pisa from the Plague (15th century). Noteworthy are also the wood sculptures by Giovanni and Nino Pisano, and the Annunciation by Francesco di Valdambrino.

Santa Maria della Spina. A small white marble church alongside the Arno, is attributed to Lupo di Francesco (1230), is another excellent Gothic building.

San Paolo a Ripa d'Arno. The church was founded around 952 and enlarged in the mid-12th century along lines similar to those of the cathedral. It is annexed to the Romanesque Chapel of St. Agatha, with an unusual pyramidal cusp or peak.

San Pietro in Vinculis. Known as San Pierino, it is an 11th-century church with a crypt and a cosmatesque mosaic on the floor of the main nave.

 

Borgo Stretto. This medieval borgo or neighborhood contains strolling arcades and the Lungarno, the avenues along the river Arno. It includes the Gothic-Romanesque church of San Michele in Borgo (990). There are at least two other leaning towers in the city, one at the southern end of central Via Santa Maria, the other halfway through the Piagge riverside promenade.

Medici Palace. The palace was once a possession of the Appiano family, who ruled Pisa in 1392–1398. In 1400 the Medici acquired it, and Lorenzo de' Medici sojourned here.

Orto botanico di Pisa. The botanical garden of the University of Pisa is Europe's oldest university botanical garden.

Palazzo Reale. The ("Royal Palace"), once belonged to the Caetani patrician family. Here Galileo Galilei showed to Grand Duke of Tuscany the planets he had discovered with his telescope. The edifice was erected in 1559 by Baccio Bandinelli for Cosimo I de Medici, and was later enlarged including other palaces. The palace is now a museum.

Palazzo Gambacorti. This palace is a 14th-century Gothic building, and now houses the offices of the municipality. The interior shows frescoes boasting Pisa's sea victories.

Palazzo Agostini. The palace is a Gothic building also known as Palazzo dell'Ussero, with its 15th-century façade and remains of the ancient city walls dating back to before 1155. The name of the building comes from the coffee rooms of Caffè dell'Ussero, historic meeting place founded on September 1, 1775.

Mural Tuttomondo. A modern mural, the last public work by Keith Haring, on the rear wall of the convent of the Church of Sant'Antonio, painted in June 1989.

Museums

Museo dell'Opera del Duomo: exhibiting among others the original sculptures of Nicola Pisano and Giovanni Pisano, the Islamic Pisa Griffin, and the treasures of the cathedral.

Museo delle Sinopie: showing the sinopias from the camposanto, the monumental cemetery. These are red ocher underdrawings for frescoes, made with reddish, greenish or brownish earth colour with water.

Museo Nazionale di San Matteo: exhibiting sculptures and paintings from the 12th to 15th centuries, among them the masterworks of Giovanni and Andrea Pisano, the Master of San Martino, Simone Martini, Nino Pisano and Masaccio.

Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Reale: exhibiting the belongings of the families that lived in the palace: paintings, statues, armors, etc.

Museo Nazionale degli Strumenti per il Calcolo: exhibiting a collection of instruments used in science, between a pneumatic machine of Van Musschenbroek and a compass which probably belonged to Galileo Galilei.

Museo di storia naturale dell'Università di Pisa (Natural History Museum of the University of Pisa), located in the Certosa di Calci, outside the city. It houses one of the largest cetacean skeletons collection in Europe.

Palazzo Blu: temporary exhibitions and cultural activities center, located in the Lungarno, in the heart of the old town, the palace is easy recognizable because it is the only blue building.

Cantiere delle Navi di Pisa - The Pisa's Ancient Ships Archaeological Area: A museum of 10,650 square meters – 3,500 archaeological excavation, 1,700 laboratories and one restoration center – that visitors can visit with a guided tour.[19] The Museum opened in June 2019 and has been located inside to the 16th-century Medicean Arsenals in Lungarno Ranieri Simonelli, restored under the supervision of the Tuscany Soprintendenza. It hosts a remarkable collection of ceramics and amphoras dated back from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century BC, and also 32 ships dated back from the second century BCE and the seventh century BC. Four of them are integrally preserved and the best one is the so-called Barca C, also named Alkedo (written in the ancient Greek characters). The first boat was accidentally discovered in 1998 near the Pisa San Rossore railway station and the archeological excavations were completed 20 years later.

 

Churches

St. Francis' Church

San Francesco

San Frediano

San Giorgio ai Tedeschi

San Michele in Borgo

San Nicola

San Paolo a Ripa d'Arno

San Paolo all'Orto

San Piero a Grado

San Pietro in Vinculis

San Sisto

San Tommaso delle Convertite

San Zeno

Santa Caterina

Santa Cristina

Santa Maria della Spina

Santo Sepolcro

 

Palaces, towers and villas

Palazzo della Carovana or dei Cavalieri.

Pisa by Oldypak lp photo

Pisa

Palazzo del Collegio Puteano

Palazzo della Carovana

Palazzo delle Vedove

Torre dei Gualandi

Villa di Corliano

Leaning Tower of Pisa

 

Sports

Football is the main sport in Pisa; the local team, A.C. Pisa, currently plays in the Serie B (the second highest football division in Italy), and has had a top flight history throughout the 1980s and the 1990s, featuring several world-class players such as Diego Simeone, Christian Vieri and Dunga during this time. The club play at the Arena Garibaldi – Stadio Romeo Anconetani, opened in 1919 and with a capacity of 25,000.

 

Notable people

For people born in Pisa, see People from the Province of Pisa; among notable non-natives long resident in the city:

 

Giuliano Amato (born 1938), politician, former Premier and Minister of Interior Affairs

Alessandro d'Ancona (1835–1914), critic and writer.

Silvano Arieti (1914–1981), psychiatrist

Gaetano Bardini (1926–2017), tenor

Andrea Bocelli (born 1958), tenor and multi-instrumentalist.

Giosuè Carducci (1835–1907), poet and 1906 Nobel Prize in Literature winner.

Massimo Carmassi (born 1943), architect

Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (1920–2016), politician, former President of the Republic of Italy

Maria Luisa Cicci (1760–1794), poet

Giovanni Carlo Maria Clari (1677–1754), a musical composer and maestro di cappella at Pistoia.

Alessio Corti (born 1965), mathematician

Rustichello da Pisa (born 13th century), writer

Giovanni Battista Donati (1826–1873), an Italian astronomer.

Leonardo Fibonacci (1170–1250), mathematician.

Galileo Galilei (1564–1642), physicist.

Giovanni Gentile (1875–1944), philosopher and politician

Orazio Gentileschi (1563–1639), painter.

Count Ugolino della Gherardesca (1214–1289), noble (see also Dante Alighieri).

Giovanni Gronchi (1887–1978), politician, former President of the Republic of Italy

Giacomo Leopardi [1798–1837), poet and philosopher.

Enrico Letta (born 1966), politician, former Prime Minister of Italy

Marco Malvaldi (born 1974), mystery novelist

Leonardo Ortolani (born 1967), comic writer

Antonio Pacinotti (1841–1912), physicist, inventor of the dynamo

Andrea Pisano (1290–1348), a sculptor and architect.

Afro Poli (1902–1988), an operatic baritone

Bruno Pontecorvo (1913–1993), nuclear physicist

Gillo Pontecorvo (1919–2006), filmmaker

Ippolito Rosellini (1800–1843), an Egyptologist.

Paolo Savi (1798–1871), geologist and ornithologist.

Antonio Tabucchi (1943–2012), writer and academic

Sport

Jason Acuña (born 1973), Stunt performer

Sergio Bertoni (1915–1995), footballer

Giorgio Chiellini (born 1984), footballer

Camila Giorgi (born 1991), tennis player

REPRESENTING pt. 2 - Most likely cute

Le registre supérieur représente le monde divin sous forme humaine. Des symboles astraux représentent la Lune et le Soleil, qui est parfois figuré avec un visage. Le signe de Tanit, parfois sous forme humaine, est parfois figuré avec un cortège de divinités romaines dont Mercure, Cupidon ou Vénus représentés sur les deux côtés du fronton de la chapelle figurant le dédicant. Le personnage central tient une corne d'abondance d'où sortent gerbes de blé, raisins et grenades.

 

Le registre médian est occupé par un élément d'inspiration gréco-romaine, avec colonnes et fronton d'édifice.

Le dédicant est situé au milieu : il est debout dans ce qui semble être un temple ou une chapelle, avec colonnes et fronton.

 

Le dernier registre figure parfois des Atlantes portant l'étage supérieur comportant la chapelle, accompagnés parfois d'une scène de sacrifice, auquel est destiné un bœuf. Le sacrificateur est parfois figuré, comme sur l'une des stèles du musée du Bardo.

Si Lalibela representa la religión cristiana ortodoxa de Etiopía, este mausoleo del siglo XIII es el lugar de peregrinación islámica más importante de Etiopía, a pesar de estar ubicado en un pequeño y remoto pueblo, en medio de un paraje seco y caluroso.

Llegamos al pueblo por la tarde, con el tiempo justo de visitar el mausoleo antes del anochecer y tuvimos la suerte de asistir a una ceremonia para pedir que lloviera. Eso hizo que estuviera allí concentrado todo el pueblo.

Para entrar en el recinto, que está a la intemperie, hay que descalzarse, a pesar de que no se trata del habitual suelo alfombrado de las mezquitas de las ciudades, sino de tierra, piedras y matorral. La tumba se encuentra debajo de la cúpula. Se puede entrar por una pequeña puerta y recorrer, casi a oscuras, el pasillo que la rodea.

Un detalle que nos llamó poderosamente la atención es que la gente se embadurnaba la cara con tierra e, incluso, la comía, como parte de sus ritos.

Nikon D4 @ 200 iso with 35mm f/1.4G.

 

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Representing a sizeable component of the China Motor Bus fleet before the gradual dismembering of its franchised operations from 1993 onwards, were the class of Leyland Victory 2, most of which carried Alexander kit-built bodywork assembled locally. LV142 was one of the last examples of this combination and was leaving the Stanley Village terminus of the 73 in this view from October 1992 and just under a year before the route was handed over to Citybus as part of its 'Network 26' franchise.

 

This image is copyright and must not be reproduced or downloaded without the permission of the photographer.

Royal Air Force Avro 696 Shackleton AEW.2 WL795 95 representing 8 Squadron at the public viewing of the Royal Review of the Royal Air Force at Royal Air Force Finningley. Saturday 30th July 1977

 

Note, WL795 was built by A.V. Roe & Company Limited at Woodford for the Royal Air Force as WL795. It first flew on 17th August 1953, was awaiting collection on 31st August 1953 and was delivered to Number 23 Maintenance Unit at Royal Air Force Aldergrove on 8th September 1953. It was moved to the CAPMF at Royal Air Force St Mawgan on 30th October 1953 for modifications and was issued to 204 Squadron on 6th January 1954. It was issued to 269 Squadron on 11th November 1958, 269 Squadron being renumbered 210 Squadron on 1st December 1958 and was issued to 204 Squadron on 23rd November 1959. It was allocated to A.V. Roe & Company Limited on 15th December 1959 for Phase I and Phase II updates which were completed on 6th December 1960, being issued to 38 Squadron coded T on 20th December 1960. It was allocated to Hawker Siddeley Aviation Limited at Langar for Phase III modernisation on 21st June 1966 which was completed on 13th July 1967, being issued to 205 Squadron coded G on 1967. It was moved to Number 5 Maintenance Unit at Royal Air Force Kemble on 2nd February 1971 for storage and was moved to Hawker Siddeley Aviation Limited at Bitteswell on 4th February 1972 for conversion from a MR.2 variant to an AEW.2 variant. It was test flown from Woodford in August 1972, was moved to Number 5 Maintenance Unit at Royal Air Force Kemble on 5th September 1972 for painting and was allocated to 8 Squadron on 12th October 1972

 

Ref no 00447

Esta mujer Tauro está representada por las astas del toro.Su pecho y el cuerpo lo forman las astas y se corona con otra.Tauro simboliza el empuje,arranque y decisión,por eso no se me ocurrría mejor modo de señalarlo que de esta manera.

Características de Tauro

Fechas Tauro 21/4 - 21/5

Cómo es un Tauro

Un tauro es paciente, persistente, decidido y fiable. A un tauro le encanta sentirse seguro, tiene buen corazón y es muy cariñoso. Les gusta la estabilidad, las cosas naturales, el placer y la comodidad. Los tauro disfrutan con tiempo para reflexionar y les encanta sentirse atraído hacía alguien.

 

Características Tauro

 

Tauro puede ser celoso y posesivo y tiene tendencia a ser inflexible y resentido. A veces los Tauro pecan de ser codiciosos y de permitírselo todo. No les gustan las interrupciones ni las prisas. Tampoco les gustan las cosas sintéticas o falsas. No les gusta sentirse presionados y no soportan estar demasiado tiempo en casa.

Descripción de Tauro

Un Tauro suele ser práctico, decidido y tener una gran fuerza de voluntad. Los tauro son personas estables y conservadores, y seguirán de forma leal un líder en el que tienen confianza. Les encanta la paz y tranquilidad y son muy respetuosos con las leyes y las reglas. Respetan los valores materiales y evitan las deudas. Son un poco reacios al cambio.

    

Son más prácticos que intelectuales, y como les gusta la continuidad y la rutina, suelen ser de ideas fijas. Los Tauro son prudentes, estables y tienen un gran sentido de la justicia. No suelen hundirse ante las dificultades sino que siguen adelante hasta salir.

 

A veces los Tauro pueden ser demasiado rígidos, argumentativos, egocentrísticos y tercos.

 

A los tauros les gustan las cosas bellas y suelen ser aficionados al arte y la música. Algunos tauros tienen una fe religiosa poco convencional y muy fuerte. Les encantan los placeres de la vida, el lujo y la buena comida y bebida. De hecho los tauro deben esforzarse para no dejarse llevar por la tentación de satisfacer en exceso estos gustos.

 

Tauro en el amor y las relaciones personales

Los tauro son amigos fieles y generosos. Tienen una gran capacidad para ser cariñosos aunque rara vez hagan amigos con personas fuera de su entorno social. Evitan los conflictos y los disgustos y prefieren el buen humor y la estabilidad. No obstante, si pierden los nervios son capaces de tener un genio tan furioso que sorprende a todos.

 

Los tauro son sensuales pero prácticos, y en este sentido son parejas fieles y considerados. Son buenos padres y no existen demasiado de su pareja ni tampoco de sus hijos. Tienen bastante amor propio y tienden a ser posesivos pero si su pareja intenta hacer las paces y comprenderles, hacen un esfuerzo para olvidar su enfado.

  

En el trabajo los tauros son trabajadores y no se les caen los anillos con ningún tipo de trabajo manual. Son fiables, prácticos, metódicos y ambiciosos. Asumen autoridad sobre los demás, y rinden más en puestos rutinarios de confianza y responsabilidad.

 

Son creativos y emprendedores. Pueden triunfar en profesiones como la banca, la arquitectura, la construcción, la administración, la agricultura, la medicina, la química y la industria.

 

También triunfan en la educación, las artes y la cocina. Pueden ser excelentes músicos y artistas.

Cette saynète représente le Yak 1 D « le Père Magloire » de Marcel Lefevre à Sloboda (à la frontière entre la Russie et la Biélorussie) en octobre 1943.

Cet avion était affecté au GC3 « Normandie »

Marcel Lefevre aura, à son actif à la fin du conflit, 14 victoires dont 11 homologuées.

  

Pour ma saynète j’ai utilisé :

- le YAK 1 D au 1/48 de MODELSVIT

- le pickup GAZ-M-415 au 1/48 d’ACE

- des personnages d’ICM Kit 48084

- Un pilote du Normandie-Niémen de REEDOAK (RRS480024)

- Quelques cotons tiges ….

 

Represent the title of a book in your image.

 

Shug points out to Celie that life must be enjoyed. When they are in a field of purple flowers,

Shug tells Celie to look at the flowers and embrace their beauty. "You must look at all the good

and acknowledge them because God placed them all on earth." The Color Purple by Alice Walker.

Taken at The Regency, Laguna Woods, California. © 2013 All Rights Reserved.

My images are not to be used, copied, edited, or blogged without my explicit permission.

Please!! NO Glittery Awards or Large Graphics...Buddy Icons are OK. Thank You!

 

Thank you for playing along yesterday! You are the best, my Flickr friends! Enjoy your weekend!

L’Aigle royal est un rapace de l’Hémisphère Nord. Ce grand aigle est souvent représenté sur les armoiries nationales de plusieurs pays car il est réputé pour sa puissance et sa bravoure.

Cette espèce est également très appréciée en fauconnerie où l’on peut admirer ses évolutions majestueuses.

 

L’Aigle royal adulte a les parties supérieures d’un brun foncé assez uniforme, excepté la calotte, la nuque et les couvertures médianes qui sont plus pâles et présentent des plumes aux extrémités fauve clair.

Les rémiges sont grises avec des vexilles internes plus sombres. La queue a la base grise barrée de brun, et une bande terminale brun foncé.

 

Les parties inférieures sont plus foncées. Le dessous des ailes présente des petites couvertures brun-roux. Les médianes sont plus sombres. Les grandes couvertures sont grises comme les rémiges.

 

Les ailes sont larges et rectangulaires, et la queue relativement longue et large avec l’extrémité arrondie.

 

Sur la tête, la face, le front et le devant de la calotte sont brun foncé alors que l’arrière de la calotte, la nuque et l’arrière du cou sont brun-doré, s’étendant sur les côtés du cou.

  

Les aigles du Léman Parc animalier à Sciez. Haute Savoie

One second the bird was there and the next he was gone.

Representing England - Snarf demonstrates the perfect side on tackle..

This monument represents a white marble temple house, cut in two in the middle. Inside the thin gap, two red granite walls, arranged face to face, bear the names of the peoples who were victims of genocide in the 20th century. The space between the two parts is lit, symbolizing the energy of healing. The broken house rests on five sleepers representing the five continents: an allegory of our responsibility towards a humanity repeatedly struck by all sorts of misfortunes.

 

A strong commemorative gesture, Reparation constrains memory and chases the genocides of the 20th century and their victims from oblivion. The monument makes this public space a place in the heart of the city which, beyond pain, loss and resentment, offers forgiveness and peace, as its title says: the beginning of reparation. Furthermore, Larivée decided to develop the site as a set of small places for reflection. Paths, analogies of human existence in its movements and deportations, go up temporal spaces in a slow ascent, which leads us to the summit, where the white temple stands.

 

Parc Marcelin-Wilson, Montréal (Ahuntsic-Cartierville), Québec.

about 300 tealights in wax paper bags

#36 - Represent the title of a song in your image (I Wonder by Bobby Bazini) - in 112 pictures in 2012 Group

 

Oh sometimes

I wonder

Will you be my shoulder?

If I cry, would you comfort me … yeah

 

Will you love me forever?

And will you take me like no other?

Cause no I can’t say

What’s in your heart, Yeah!

 

And I wonder Baby

Will you stay with me?

Yes I wonder now

What we used to be

Cause I wonder

Will you always love me, Yeah

 

Chanson/ Song : I Wonder by Bobby Bazini

Ma version préférée est la suivante diffusée aux Perles du Net :

My favourite version is this one live at Les Perles du Net :

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX0se-iWYA8

 

Je suis émue chaque fois que je l'entends.

I get choked up every time I hear it.

 

Je vous remercie chaleureusement de vos commentaires.

I thank you for your kind comments.

These images represent some of the thousands of wildflowers we saw on this visit to the Angus Gholson Nature Park in Chattahoochee, Florida. I was joined by my good friends Eleanor Dietrich and Virginia Craig, both of Tallahassee, Florida.

 

For more information about the Park and about the trip, please go to Jim's Blog.

The Statue of Liberty's torch lights the way to freedom showing us the path to Liberty. Even the Statue's official name represents her most important symbol "Liberty Enlightening the World". The Statue's current replacement torch, added in 1986, is a copper flame covered in 24K gold. It is reflective of the sun's rays in daytime and lighted by 16 floodlights at night. The original torch was removed in 1984 and is currently inside the lobby of the monument.Is the torch open.the torch the Statue of Liberty is holding represents the torch of Prometheus, who occutly signifies Lucifer. The Greek mythological story of Prometheus is the same allegory of stealing fire (i.e. knowledge) from God or the Gods, and giving it to humans, thus angering God.

 

Helena Blavatsky explains in her classic occult work, The Secret Doctrine volume 2 (page 244) that, “The allegory of Prometheus, who steals the divine fire as to allow men to proceed consciously on the path of spiritual evolution, thus transforming the most perfect of animals on Earth into a potential god, and making him free to take the kingdom of heaven by violence. Hence also, the curse pronounced by Zeus against Prometheus, and by Jehovah against his ‘rebellious son,’ Satan.”

 

So it’s not just me making the connection between Prometheus and Lucifer. It’s the occultists themselves. Here is Manly P. Hall, one of Freemasonry’s greatest philosophers, saying the same thing in his book Lectures on Ancient Philosophy (page 163):

 

“Man wandered hopelessly in the gloom of mortality, living and dying without light or understanding in his servitude to the Demiurgus and his host of spirits. At last the spirit of rebellion entered the creation in the form of Lucifer, who in the guise of a serpent tempted man to revolt against the mandates of Jehovah (the Demiurugs). In Greece this character was known as Prometheus, who brought from the gods the impregnating flame that would release the life latent in this multitude of germlike potentialities.”

 

The torch has been closed since the "Black Tom" explosion of July 30, 1916, which was one of the largest acts of sabotage.The promo for the show asked “Does the Statue of Liberty hold a secret message?” Are there secret symbols built into it? Is she herself one giant secret symbol? Does it actually represent Lucifer? The answer to these questions is yes…The Book of Apocalypse explained. Like the captain of the Host of the Lord, I invite you to stand up in honor of your Powerful Presence I AM, because I release upon you the power of the sword of the Spirit and I will increasing its power, according to the measure which you are able to receive it! Holding this sword, that my mentor give me long time ago, I direct its power to consume the cause and nucleus of all the negative conditions that can be upon you or in your interior! wields the flaming sword and direct its omniconsuming fire to the insane areas of your subconscious and unconscious minds.

 

The original name of the statue was “Liberty Enlightening the World,” not the Statue of Liberty. Again, the word Enlightening fits in with the Illuminati theme. Enlightening, enlightenment, light, the sun, intelligence, bright, brilliance, Lucifer. Are you getting this? My Friends, adverse conditions like those that you have allowed to poison the organs of your physical body, affects also the astral body, the mental and also the etheric body, dimming the mind and preventing that you assume the divine control on your conscious mind! Therefore, I hold my sword of the Spirit and I let that it traverse you! I traverse you! I traverse you with the power of First Ray of the Sacred Will of God! With my sword I extirpate any precancerous conditions in your four lower bodies, from the etheric body to the mental, from the body of desires where its tentacles reaches the physical body and strangle the body as well your soul. Therefore, if you want to save yourself and save others, Call me, and with my sword of blue flame I will extirpate those conditions inside you and your beloveds, close or far to you. Of course, it always will remain subject to which determinate the Great Law and in accord to the merits of each individual. The matrix of your perfection I invoke your Powerful I AM Presence so it seals the original etheric plan of your soul in chakra of the seat of the soul. Normally this original plan is printed in your etheric body at the levels of perfection higher than you are able to maintain. I also will record this original plan upon your soul; but because the soul is mutable, you must let permanent this original plan attracting the lost fragments of your soul up , it recovers its original design. This original plan contains the Adam Kadmon design, The Fundamental Man. From this original archetype model the Elohim created you in Principle. Therefore, like an effort of the service that today I anm offering you, that original matrix of perfection start to materialize again in your temple, but to hold it you must take care of it every day. God, Elohim, created your etheric body to be the chalice of the highest vibratory energies than your four inferior bodies were able to maintain. In the next step, I will touch your third eye (in your etheric body), so that I will record in your etheric body the original plan that God gave you when it created you with your twin flame in its white fire body. You share an original divine plan with your twin flames and nobody more than your twin flame can share it with you.

 

the Illuminati and occultists, Lucifer, or Satan (they are the same thing)—is good. Philosophically, religiously, whatever—it doesn’t matter. Lucifer is good to them. Lucifer is symbolically the savior because of the forbidden knowledge, self-awareness, and intellectual reasoning he (figuratively, metaphorically, or literally) gives humans the ability to think rationally and elevates them to a God among all other animals on earth.

 

While the Illuminati view knowledge and information as extremely valuable (because it is), they want to keep it for themselves, and keep others “in the dark.” Here are some classic occult authors who explain the occult view of Lucifer, or Satan.

 

“Thus “SATAN,” once he ceases to be viewed in the superstitious, dogmatic, unphilosophical spirit of the Churches, grows into the grandiose image of one who made of terrestrial a divine MAN; who gave him, throughout the long cycle of Maha-kalpa the law of the Spirit of Life, and made him free from the Sin of Ignorance, hence of death.” (Blavatsky, Helena – The Secret Doctrine V I p. 198)

 

“Thus Lucifer – the spirit of Intellectual Enlightenment and Freedom of Thought – is metaphorically the guiding beacon, which helps man to find his way through the rocks and sand banks of Life, for Lucifer is the Logos in his highest.” [1] Blavatsky, H.P. – The Secret Doctrine v. II p. 162

 

“Lucifer, the Light-bearer! Strange and mysterious name to give to the Spirit of Darkness! Lucifer, the Son of the Morning! Is it he who bears the Light, and with its splendors intolerable, blinds feeble, sensual, or selfish souls? Doubt it not!” (Pike, Albert – Morals and Dogma p. 321)

 

“Both the sinking of Atlantis and the Biblical story of the “fall of man” signify spiritual involution–a prerequisite to conscious evolution.” (Hall, Manly P. – The Secret Teachings of All Ages p. 83)

 

The evil scumbag Aleister Crowley had this to say: “This serpent, Satan, is not the enemy of Man, be He who made Gods of our race, knowing Good and Evil; He bade “Know Thyself!: and taught Initiation. He is “the Devil” of the book of Troth, and His emblem is Baphomet, and Androgyne who is the hieroglyph of arcane perfection.” (Magick: In Theory and Practice p. 193)

 

Regardless of one’s religion, there is a story in the Bible which helps to explain the philosophy of Satanism. In Matthew 4:8-9, it explains how Satan took Jesus to the top of a mountain and told him he would give him control over all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus would worship Satan. Jesus, of course, didn’t accept this offer, but this story conveys a deeper meaning than what appears on the surface.

 

By “worshiping” Satan and turning one’s back on God’s rules, it is possible to gain control over vast empires and gather enormous riches. But these gains come with a price which is not always seen at the time. Later, when repercussions come from breaking the rules, the empire and riches one had gained will become their very undoing.

 

So when Satan told Jesus, “All this I will give to you if you will bow down and worship me,” he was partially telling the truth. He just wasn’t disclosing the consequences that would occur from such actions.

 

There is no need to argue that there is no such thing as God or Satan. A literal or figurative interpretation of this philosophy or what “worshiping” entails doesn’t change anything because the effects are the same either way. The above Bible passage conveys the secret philosophy of Satanism whether you’re a Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, or an even an atheist.

 

Its interesting how high level Alchemists s deny that they have anything to do with Lucifer or anything Luciferian, but when it becomes clear that they do incorporate Lucifer into their beliefs, symbols, and philosophy, then they say we just have a misunderstanding.

 

So, first they deny any knowledge of anything about Lucifer, and then when exposed as liars, they admit it but say everything is OK because Lucifer isn’t the Devil, he’s good. You just don’t understand. Hey look over there! The game is on!