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/

flickriver.com/photos/javier1949/popular-interesting/

Plaza Mayor de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

Edificio de Servicios “Plaza Mayor”. C/ Einstein s/n Campus de Cantoblanco. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

MTM Arquitectos “Madrid Territorio Mutante” Javier Fresneda & Javier Sanjuán.

Coordinador del Proyecto: Miguel García-Redondo Villar. Arquitectos MTM: Carmen Antón, Laura Casas, Ana Arriero, Jesús Barranco, Álvaro Maestro. Concurso, Proyectos Básico y de Ejecución 2007. Obras 2009-2012

MTM Arquitectos describe el proyecto desde la Memoria del mismo:

Objetivo de la obra: Plaza Mayor. La ciudad donde construimos esta Plaza Mayor tiene un apellido específico, es una Ciudad Universitaria. La Universidad Autónoma de Madrid ha crecido alrededor de un espacio central de encuentro y circulación, un bulevar verde convertido en su espina dorsal. En uno de sus extremos la estación de cercanías que comunica con la madrileña Puerta del Sol; en el otro, la “Plaza Mayor”.

La “Plaza Mayor” es el nuevo centro de servicios de la Universidad por lo que debe manifestar su carácter simbólico y representativo, sirviendo de referencia dentro de la estructura del Campus. La Plaza se soluciona en continuidad con el lugar, proponiendo un nuevo paisaje, soporte de las actividades existentes e incitador de nuevas situaciones. Apoyándonos en el desnivel existente en la parcela y la potencia del bulevar verde que conforma el acceso a las facultades históricas, se construye una plataforma plegada. El bulevar se prolonga así a través de una calle jardín equipada, girando alrededor de una plaza.

Sobre el nivel del terreno natural, por debajo de la rasante, se implanta el aparcamiento, reduciendo al máximo el volumen de excavación, facilitando su ventilación natural a través de los taludes vegetados perimetrales existentes. Respetando estos “amortiguadores naturales” y sobre el nivel inferior, se construyen dos plataformas intermedias donde se produce la agrupación de programas y la variedad de accesos peatonales a nivel de las calles. Las torres de comunicación se elevan funcionando como hitos urbanos dentro del conjunto, creando un punto de inflexión perimetral que anuncian los 7 puentes. Torres y puentes son entradas, conexiones y acontecimientos que incitan a descubrir el vacío interior: la “Plaza Mayor”. Dentro, a su alrededor, los grandes vuelos construyen calles cubiertas que incrementan la versatilidad del espacio protegiendo de sol y la lluvia.

Hay cinco elementos materiales que refuerzan la continuidad bulevar, calle y plaza: El pavimento público: hormigón desactivado in situ y prefabricado, plantación vegetal, césped artificial y pavimentos de caucho. El final del bulevar existente es el comienzo del proyecto y desde ahí una lengua continua de hormigón recorre todo el sistema, rampas, plataformas y escaleras. Sobre esta se recorta la huella de otras actividades y otros materiales.

El cerramiento al exterior de la plaza: policarbonato gris atérmico cargado de resinas metalizadas, piel homogénea y cambiante, desde sus tratamientos específicos y los matices introducidos por las condiciones atmosféricas. El cerramiento al interior: Vidrios en cámara incoloros que abren la actividad al interior como un mercado contemporáneo de servicios. Las compartimentaciones interiores: vidrios laminados, ligeros, y casi imperceptibles, que intentan desaparecer, reforzando la percepción unitaria de cada isla sobre las plataformas; compartimentaciones que no llegan físicamente a tocar la piel exterior de vidrio y policarbonato. Los puntos de color que forman los vidrios templados, en azules, verdes y oros, agrupados formando gemas, puntúan los volúmenes uniformes alrededor de la paleta de grises y tostados utilizados en toda la obra.

Las plataformas, son la infraestructura a la espera de incorporar un programa. La solución estructural facilita la coexistencia de una geometría irregular y quebrada, diferente en cada nivel, los distintos usos programáticos inicialmente requeridos y la continuidad de movimientos entre ellos. Ante un problema complejo la solución estructural es sencilla: un básico sistema de retícula de pilares portantes y losas postesadas de hormigón. La retícula de 5x5 m se mostró la más eficiente y la que mejor se adaptaba a las singularidades de las diferentes plataformas, desde el nivel inferior con la distribución funcional de los aparcamientos, hasta las superiores, más liberadas, permiten reducir la presencia de pilares y adoptar luces de hasta 12,00 m o voladizos de 5,00 m, al compensar los esfuerzos y variar sus diámetros.

La prolongación del paisaje natural que identifica al Campus Universitario se consigue a través de la última plataforma-cubierta. La cubierta ya no lo es, adopta un nuevo carácter más urbano, artificial y equipado. Las situaciones y relaciones que se dan en el bulevar del Campus se reinterpretan y transforman, proponiendo ahora nuevas áreas de oportunidad e intercambio para estudiantes, profesores y visitantes, dotándolo de nuevos soportes e instalaciones para que el espacio sea vivido, valorado y usado de forma continua. Los materiales sobre la nueva calle se adaptarán a las nuevas topografías configurando dunas, pliegues, playas o recortes; con texturas diversas, blandas, rugosas, peludas y colores acentuados, verdes, naranjas, negros, o arena, con líneas de iluminación, báculos elevados conectados al reloj solar, terrazas y kioscos. Y como con la soltura del primer croquis, se dibuja una línea naranja que con su geometría no lineal desmaterializa el borde convirtiéndolo en una línea de conexión con el paisaje del campus y con la lejana presencia de la sierra madrileña.

La ONCE y el Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid (COAM) han otorgado a esta Plaza Mayor el primer premio del “Concurso para la selección de actuaciones de Arquitectura e Ingeniería con una Accesibilidad ejemplar” por ser un ejemplo de máxima calidad en el campo de la arquitectura y la ingeniería a nivel nacional, dando prioridad al acceso de personas con discapacidad.

Además de su fácil accesibilidad, otro de los criterios fundamentales de la construcción del edificio es la máxima funcionalidad, eficiencia energética y singularidad de sus dependencias. 26 paneles térmicos y 92 paneles fotovoltaicos permiten el ahorro energético y la optimización de los recursos medioambientales del edificio y se destinan al abastecimiento parcial de las instalaciones.

Las características arquitectónicas del edificio contemplan un diseño que alberga 4.000 m2 distribuidos en cuatro plantas, de las cuales la mitad están cubiertas por soportales y en cuyo sótano se ubican cerca de 200 plazas de aparcamiento. Los servicios disponibles en las instalaciones son la Oficina de Orientación y Atención al Estudiante, la Sección de Acceso, Admisión y Traslados, la Sección de Becas y Ayudas al Estudio, la Oficina de Relaciones Internacionales y Movilidad, la Oficina de Acogidas Internacionales, la Oficina de Acción Solidaria y Cooperación, la Oficina de Prácticas Externas y Orientación para el Empleo, el Centro de Atención a Usuarios y la Oficina de Ecocampus. Además se encuentran operativos un auditorio y una sala de exposiciones, Cafeterías/Restaurantes, Farmacia/Óptica, Librería/Papelería, Agencia de Viajes, entidad bancaria y Centro de Servicios Documentales.

En palabras de Alberto Campo Baeza, miembro del jurado del concurso "Los arquitectos en un tour de force nada fácil, han planteado y han resuelto con rigor y con brillantez un problema crucial en la arquitectura contemporánea, en la siempre debatida relación entre arquitectura y naturaleza. Les pedían unos edificios para alojar diferentes servicios de la Universidad y ellos les han dado una Plaza Mayor. ...han inclinado y plegado y girado y torcido, siempre con criterio, y han construido, insisto, un trozo de Naturaleza en continuidad con lo existente. Han construido su propio paisaje..."

www.mtmarquitectos.com/

mtmarquitectos-blog-curriculum.blogspot.com.es/

www.metalocus.es/content/es/blog/edificio-de-servicios-pl...

212.145.146.10/ejercicio/concursos/concursos_ocam/120517_...

www.bienalarquitectura.es/index.php/portfolio/fre0182/

Melbourne, Vic, 1999.

Représentation exceptionnelle en présence des élèves de l'Ecole du Nord.

Mise en scène et adaptation David Bobée, texte Henrik Ibsen.

Déc.2021 - Théâtre du Nord/Lille

©Kalimba

"Hydrangea represents friendship, devotion, perseverance, and understanding."

~ Author Unknown

memories, memories, memories...

from near my car park...

Thanks for stopping by

and God Bless,

hugs, Chris

@Stockwell.

The Cloister at Grade I listed Worcester Cathedral which before the English Reformation was known as Worcester Priory. In Worcester, Worcestershire.

It is the seat of the Bishop of Worcester and its official name is The Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Mary the Virgin of Worcester. Built between 1084 and 1504, Worcester Cathedral represents every style of English architecture from Norman to Perpendicular Gothic. It is famous for its Norman crypt and unique chapter house, its unusual Transitional Gothic bays, its fine woodwork and its "exquisite" central tower, which is of particularly fine proportions.

What is now the Cathedral was founded in 680 as a Priory, with Bishop Bosel at its head. The first priory was built in this period, but nothing now remains of it. The crypt of the present-day cathedral dates from the 10th century and the time of St Oswald, Bishop of Worcester. The monastery became Benedictine in the second half of the tenth century. The Priory came to an end with King Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries, and the Benedictine monks were removed on 18 January 1540 and replaced by secular canons. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the former Priory was re-established as a cathedral of secular clergy. In the 1860s the cathedral was subject to major restoration work planned by Sir George Gilbert Scott and A. E. Perkins.

Worcester Cathedral embodies many features that are highly typical of an English medieval cathedral. Like the cathedrals of Salisbury and Lincoln, it has two transepts crossing the nave, rather than the single transept usual on the Continent. This feature of English Cathedrals was to facilitate the private saying of the Holy Office by many clergy or monks. Worcester is also typical of English cathedrals in having a chapter house and cloister. To the north side of the cathedral is an entrance porch, a feature designed to eliminate the draught which, prior to the installation of modern swing doors, would blow through cathedrals whenever the western doors were open. Worcester Cathedral's tower was constructed in the Perpendicular style is described by Alec Clifton-Taylor as "exquisite" and is seen best across the River Severn.

The earliest part of the building at Worcester is the multi-columned Norman crypt with cushion capitals remaining from the original monastic church begun by St Wulfstan in 1084. Also from the Norman period is the circular chapter house of 1120, made octagonal on the outside when the walls were reinforced in the 14th century. The nave was built and rebuilt piecemeal and in different styles by several different architects over a period of 200 years, from 1170 to 1374, some bays being a unique and decorative transition between Norman and Gothic. The oldest parts show alternate layers of green sandstone from Highley in Shropshire and yellow Cotswold limestone.

The east end was rebuilt over the Norman crypt by Alexander Mason between 1224 and 1269, coinciding with, and in a very similar Early English style to Salisbury Cathedral. From 1360 John Clyve finished off the nave, built its vault, the west front, the north porch and the eastern range of the cloister. He also strengthened the Norman chapter house, added buttresses and changed its vault. His masterpiece is the central tower of 1374, originally supporting a timber, lead-covered spire, now gone. Between 1404 and 1432 an unknown architect added the north and south ranges to the cloister, which was eventually closed by the western range by John Chapman, 1435–38. The last important addition is Prince Arthur’s Chantry Chapel to the right of the south choir aisle, 1502–04.

Greg Mitchell Photography and Tactile Photo are exclusively represented by Hammond Art Consuting Services: for consultation, design, delivery and installation on commercial, healthcare and hospitality projects, please contact Alan Hammond at (916) 205-3925 or visit their website at www.hammondartconsulting.com

#3750 and #1361 both represent the K4s class late in their careers. Both engines are virtually identical with the exception of their tenders. #3750 is equiped with a PRR 110P75a class tender while #1361 is equiped with a PRR 130P75 class.

These two LEGO models of Pennsylvania RR class K4s #3750 and #1361 are perhaps my most ambitious project to date. I've spent months researching and studying the K4s in order to make the most accurate and detailed engine I've built. The boiler design was inspired by my friend and fellow train builder in PennLUG, Nate Brill. What has turned out to be the most difficult part of building these models is the working Walschaerts Valve Gear. My goal was to try and build working valve gear with out modifying any parts, and to keep it as small and proportionate to the rest of the locomotive as possible. This required several weeks of trial and error but I'm reasonably happy with the final result.

Video of my K4s #1361 running at BrickMagic 2012 taken by Bob Hayes

The Pennsylvania RR's K4 class Pacifics were one of the cornerstones of their passenger service for 41 years from when the first engine entered service in 1916 through the final active K4's retirement 1957. The K4's performed their duties with a superb combination of speed, power and grace. K4's pulled the fastest and most prestigious trains of the Pennsylvania Railroad for many decades, with 425 being built between 1914 and 1928 by both Baldwin Locomotive Works and through Pennsy's own Juniata Shops in Altoona. In the mid 1930s, as the passenger consists grew longer and heavier, Pennsy would double and even triple head the K4s. The K4s class has become an icon of the Pennsylvania RR.

There are only two surviving K4s class locomotives, #1361 and #3750. Number 3750 is on display at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg. # 3750 was a typical workhorse, with only two unusual events in its long and productive life.The first came early in its lifewhen it pulled President Harding's funeral train.

The second was more unusual. After its retirement from active service in 1957, it remained in storage, first at West Philadelphia enginehouse, then at Northumberland, along with other historic equipment that was destined to become the core of the Museum's holdings. However, the Pennsylvania Railroad, apparently chagrined that the first K4 ever built, #1737, had been scrapped because it was worn out, and decided to "undo" history by placing #1737's number plates onto #3750. #3750 in its masquerade avoided being sent to the scrapper's torch along with hundreds of other K4 locomotives.

Upon the PRR's historic collection being acquired by the newly commissioned Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania it arrived at the Museum along with other historic equipment in 1968 as a "ringer" for No. 1737. This was rectified when the newly formed Friends of the Railroad Museum performed the first of several laborious restorations of this beloved locomotive in the 1980s. Subsequently, the true No. 3750 plates were obtained, and this wonderful locomotive is now secure for future generations to admire.

Number 1361's fame came after her retirement in 1957. For nearly 30 years, #1361 stood on display at the top of the world-famous Horseshoe Curve In Altoona PA. In 1985, the City of Altoona, Conrail, and the Railroaders Memorial Museum made arrangements to move the locomotive from the Horseshoe Curve to the Museum. The engine was moved to Altoona on September 5, 1985, and work to restore the locomotive began in April of 1986. With the help of teams of volunteers, #1361 was restored to working order in just one year's time. In April 1987, #1361 pulled its first passenger train in over thirty years. In May 1987, Altoona City and Conrail named the steam locomotive the "Spirit of Altoona". The engine later encountered extensive problems of age and wear, requiring major rebuilding. #1361 is under ownership of the Railroaders Memorial Museum at Altoona who is currently working to restore the engine to operation once more.

Governor Robert Casey signed a bill proclaiming the K-4 to be Pennsylvania's Official State Steam Locomotive in March of 1988.

#3750 at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg PA

#1361 at the Railroaders Memorial Museum in Altoona PA

Representant le char "Thunderbolt V" du Général Creighton Abrams.

Construit par Chrysler Corporation à Warren (Michigan).

My daughter playing for the Canadian National Handball Team vs the USA National Team in the first of a two game series. Katya played very well in her first Senior International competition.

Canada lost to the USA 22-20 in Auburn, Alabama.

The two teams will play again in Montreal in two days time, a must win for Canada.

© 2018 Paul Chan - Canada. Photos are copyrighted. All rights reserved. Pictures can not be used without explicit permission by the creator.

Le bâtiment représente un chapiteau hexagonal traversé par trois galeries de 80m de long, 7m de haut et 15m de largeur, et une flèche centrale qui culmine à 77m, en référence à l'année d'inauguration du Centre Pompidou à Paris en 1977. Les trois galeries sont orientés vers la cathédrale, vers la gare, ou encore vers le pars de la Seille. La charpente est un assemblage de plus de 16 kilomètres de poutres en épicés recouverte d'un alliage de fibre de verre et de téflon.

Pays : France 🇫🇷

Région : Grand Est (Lorraine)

Département : Moselle (57)

Ville : Metz (57000)

Quartier : Amphithéatre

Adresse : 1, parvis des Droits de l'Homme

Fonction : Musée

Construction : 2006 → 2010

Ouverture : 12 mai 2010

• Architecte : Shigeru Ban / Jean de Gastines

• Gros œuvre : Groupe Demathieu Bard

PC n° 57 463 05 X0133 délivré le 22 septembre 2005

PC modificatif n° 57 463 05 X0133 M1 délivré le 12 mars 2008

Niveaux : R+3

Hauteur toiture : 37.00 m

Hauteur flèche : 77.00 m

SHON : 11 167 m²

SHOB : 10 000 m²

Surface du terrain : 60 527 m²

Many modern caganers represent celebrities, like presently great footballers of the Barça (Barcelona Football Club) and authority figures. By representing them with their pants down, the caganer serves as a leveling device to bring the mighty down.

As to the charge of blasphemy, as Catalan anthropologist Miguel Delgado has pointed out, the grotesque, rather than a negation of the divine may actually signify an intensification of the sacred, for what could be more grotesque than the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, a bloody public torture and execution as the defining moment in the story of Christianity.]

In his essay The Civic Virtues of the Defecator, American anthropologist Brad Erickson argues that Catalans use the caganer to process and respond to contemporary social issues such as immigration and the imposition of public civility regulations.

A Caganer is a figurine depicted in the act of defecation appearing in nativity scenes in Catalonia and neighbouring areas with Catalan culture such as Andorra, Valencia and Northern Catalonia (in southern France). It is most popular and widespread in these areas, but can also be found in other areas of Spain (Murcia), Portugal and southern Italy (Naples).The name "El Caganer” literally means "the crapper" or "the shitter". Traditionally, the figurine is depicted as a peasant, wearing the traditional Catalan red cap (the "barretina") and with his trousers down, showing a bare backside, and defecating.

The caganer is a particular and highly popular feature of modern Catalan nativity scenes. It is believed to have entered the nativity scene by the late 17th or early 18th century, during the Baroque period. Eminent folklorist Joan Amades called it an essential piece and the most popular figure of the nativity scene. It can also be found in other parts of southwestern Europe, including Murcia, the region just south of the Valencia in Spain (where they are called cagones), Naples (cacone or pastore che caca) and Portugal (cagões). Accompanying Mary, Joseph, Jesus, the shepherds and company, the caganer is often tucked away in a corner of the model, typically nowhere near the manger scene. A tradition in the Catalan Countries is to have children find the hidden figure.

Vis. Comm. Project #009 - Postcard

Yet another photograph starring Sarah. And if I remember nothing else about her, I will always remember the Vans and the socks. The socks were mystery gifts from a Secret Santa. (Awesome, are they not?) And the Vans... Oh my gosh, the Vans. The Vans represent all things great and wonderful about our sophomore year.

I originally took this for a visual communications art class in high school, but have continued to fall in love with it. The assignment was to take an "evocative" photograph to use as a postcard for our hometown. (Note: I come from more or less the worst place on the face of the earth. Nothing about it is "evocative." Except the cows and the corn fields.) As a (then) aspiring photography major, you would think I'd be brilliant enough to come up with something a little more... Uhm. Well. Not this. But no.

I wasted the entire week we had to work on this playing with cigarette lighters on the sidewalk, outside the art classrooms. My teacher was well aware. Flame igniters are not permitted on school property. (Neither are dogs, weapons, or illegal drugs. Ha.) Then, with ten minutes left to go before the bell rang, I shot this on the same steps outside the door where we'd spent all the previous week playing with lighters. It's pretty awesome, I think.

"7 Days of Shooting" "Week #14” “Represent A Song or A Line From A Song " "Macro Monday"

Song - In my daughter's eyes by Martina McBride

In my daughter's eyes I am a hero

I am strong and wise and I know no fear

But the truth is plain to see

She was sent to rescue me

I see who I wanna be

In my daughter's eyes

In my daughter's eyes everyone is equal

Darkness turns to light and the

world is at peace

This miracle God gave to me gives me

strength when I am weak

I find reason to believe

In my daughter's eyes

And when she wraps her hand

around my finger

Oh it puts a smile in my heart

Everything becomes a little clearer

I realize what life is all about

It's hangin' on when your heart

has had enough

It's giving more when you feel like giving up

I've seen the light

It's in my daugter's eyes

In my daughter's eyes I can see the future

A reflection of who I am and what will be

Though she'll grow and someday leave

Maybe raise a family

When I'm gone I hope you see how happy

she made me

For I'll be there

In my daughter's eyes

représentation à Saint-Malo

El representante de Comercio de EEUU, Michael Froman, está en La Habana, y

se reunión con el ministro de Comercio Exterior y la Inversión Extranjera,

Rodrigo Malmierca. Foto: Ismael Francisco/ Cubadebate

I took this photo when I first went my love's home with my parents. That day I couldn't take a picture of her. So I took this beautiful's picture that represented HER. So the 'Scorpion Orchid Flower' will be the sign of our love..

leco-vita.blogspot.jp/2015/07/an-ordinary-day-15.html

Representa a u personaje que esta siendo para ataviado para participar en un juego de pelota,

France, Région Rhône-Alpes, Lyon, Place Bellecour

La ofrenda suele ser una gran tradición en México. Dependiendo de su tamaño se utiliza una repisa, consola, mesa o inclusive una habitación; utilizando como base cajas de madera, sillas, mesas, pacas, ladrillos, etc.

Los niveles

Representan los estratos de la existencia, variando en cada región y la idiosincrasia

•Altares de dos niveles: representan el cielo, y la tierra.

•Altares de tres niveles: representan el cielo, el purgatorio y la tierra. también puede representar el cielo, la tierra y el inframundo, según la tradición azteca; y las tres divinas personas según la tradicion católica. También representan el cielo, el purgatorio y el infierno

•Altares de siete niveles: representan los siete niveles para llegar al cielo, al purgatorio o al infierno según la tradición católica..

la ofrenda depende del estado en que se coloque y/o municipio ya que cada uno tiene sus costumbres y modos o formas en la que se puede colocar. los altares de 7 niveles representan los pasos que hay que dar para dar a los 7 cielos en el entonces en que se creia que existe

La imagen del difunto

Se coloca una imagen, pintura o fotografía del difunto al que se honra en la parte más alta y destacada del altar. Según la religión o idiosincrasia, también se colocan los retratos de espalda y frente a ellos un espejo, para que así el difunto sólo pueda ver el reflejo de su deudo y el deudo vea el reflejo de su difunto, simbolizando la pertenecía de ambos los dos.

La cruz

En todo el altar se colocan simbolismos referentes a la cruz, la cual es elemento agregado por los evangelizadores españoles con el fin de incorporar el catolicismo entre los naturales y en tradición tan arraigada como era la veneración de los muertos. Una cruz se coloca en la parte superior del altar a un lado de la imagen del difunto. Se coloca una cruz pequeña de sal en el altar que sirve como medio de purificación de los espíritus, y una cruz de ceniza que le ayudará al espíritu a salir del purgatorio. También se usan

Imagen de las ánimas del purgatorio

La Imagen de las ánimas del purgatorio se coloca para facilitar la salida del espíritu, en caso de que se encontrara en el purgatorio. Según la teología católica quienes han muerto habiendo cometido pecados veniales sin confesar, pero sin haber cometido pecado mortal, deberá expiar sus culpas en el purgatorio.

Copal e incienso

El copal es un elemento prehispánico que limpia y purifica las energías de un lugar y de las personas que lo utilizan, se coloca en un brasero y purifica el ambiente para los espíritus esperados. El incienso es un elemento colombino que al igual que el copal purifica y santifica el ambiente, quemándose en un incensario. se pone en el ultimo nivel del altar para guiar al difunto en su regreso a la tierra.

Arco

El arco o marco adornado que se ubica en la cúspide del altar simbolizando la entrada al mundo de los muertos. Adornados también con limonarias y flores de cempasuchil.

Papel picado

El papel picado es una representación de la alegría festiva del día de muertos y del viento.

Velas, veladoras y cirios del altar

Las velas, veladoras y cirios sirven como luz guía a este mundo. Por tradición se colocan velas, veladoras y cirios de color morado (símbolo de duelo) y blancas (símbolo de pureza). Cuatro cirios se colocan en alusión de los puntos cardinales. Las veladoras se extienden a modo de sendero para llegar al altar. Las velas y demás veladoras se colocan sobre candeleros morados repartidas en todo el altar siempre en un número par. Las velas, veladoras y cirios con luz son la clara representación del fuego.

El agua

El agua es de suma importancia y tiene múltiples significados. Refleja la pureza de las almas, es reflejo del ciclo continuo de la regeneración de la vida y la muerte y promesa de fertilidad en la vida y en la siembra. Se coloca un vaso de agua fresca para que el espíritu refresque sus labios y mitigue su sed después del viaje desde el mundo de los muertos. A la vez se coloca un aguamanil o jícara con agua, junto a un jabón, una toalla y un espejo para el aseo personal de los muertos.

Las flores

Las flores fungen como ornato en todo altar y sepulcro. La flor de cempasuchil es uno de los elementos más importantes de los altares, además de ornato la tradición indica que su aroma sirve de guía a los espíritus en este mundo.

Las calaveras

Las calaveras son alusiones a la muerte que siempre esta presente. Son coloridas calaveras de azúcar, barro, chocolate y yeso con adornos de colores, de fuerte influencia barroca, les gusta por su rico sabor y olor.

Comida

Se prepara puro chocolate oscuro en la mesa principal y se coloca comida al agrado de los fallecidos, se cocinan desde días antes los platillos tradicionales como: tamales, mole, arroz, calabaza en tacha, etc. para que los muertos puedan disfrutar de su esencia. La comida no es únicamente para el alma visitante, sino para los deudos, quienes festejaran con ella y algun visitante ireconosible.

El pan

El pan representa la generosidad del anfitrión, y el regalo de la tierra misma. Existen múltiples variantes en su elaboración, como lo son los panes en forma de “muertitos” de Pátzcuaro y de la selva potosina y en el centro de México se acostumbra el pan de anís en forma de domo redondo, adornado con forma de huesos en alusión a la cruz y espolvoreado de azúcar.

Bebidas alcohólicas

Algunos altares contienen bebidas alcohólicas como jarritos con tequila, vasos con trago o agua que le gustaban al difunto.

Objetos personales

Los objetos personales son artículos pertenecientes en vida a los difuntos y se colocan en el altar para que el espíritu pueda recordar momentos de su vida. En el caso de que el difunto sea el espíritu de un niño suelen colocarse juguetes en el altar.

Los adornos

Infinidad de adornos alusivos a la muerte han surgido del arte popular mexicano y se han agregado al altar de muertos. Figuras con cuadros de entierros, velorios o cementerios, o representando escenas de la vida cotidiana con esqueletos como personajes realizados en figuras de alfeñique, cartonería, madera, barro o yeso, son típicos de la fecha, así mismo como hermosos arreglos frutales o florales.

También en muchos altares se incluyen cadenas elaboradas con papel crepé, de color morado y amarillo, un eslabón de cada color, alternandos. El morado representa la muerte y el amarillo la vida, por lo que con este adorno queda representada la delgada línea existente entre la vida y la muerte.

Festejo

Comienza cuando una persona de la casa enciende las velas del altar susurrando los nombres de los difuntos, se reza pidiendo el favor de Dios para que lleguen con bien, los familiares se sientan a la mesa y comparten la comida preparada para el festín, escuchando música del agrado, se habla sobre las novedades de la familia, se recuerdan anécdotas del difunto y se pide por la intercesión del difunto a Dios.

El festejo es un reencuentro, aunque breve, feliz, con la promesa de alcanzarlos en el más allá, llegado el momento.

Al termino se apagan las veladoras y se despide al los espíritus, deseándoles buen viaje de regreso al más allá y pidiéndoles que retornen el próximo año

Representing the future for the RNLAF, F-35A, F-023 lands after a mission during Frisian Flag 22.

Representing a collaborative shoot with Marko Saari:

Model: Molla Mills

MUA: Jenni Halonen

Lighting details

Set Up Shots

They represent the green lung of Venice and overlook the basin of Piazza San Marco for 5000 square meters. Commissioned by Napoleon, who in 1807 decided to endow the Royal Palace with a green area, they were later sold to the State Property Office and in 1920 they became the property of the Municipality of Venice and were opened to the public. It is said that even the Empress Elisabeth of Austria loved them very much and that they preserve some of the spaces of that time, such as the neoclassical pavilion by Lorenzo Santi, the fence, the cast iron pergola and the drawbridge that is still lowered today on special occasions to connect the gardens to Piazza San Marco.

The gardens were given a new lease of life by gardener-architect Paolo Pejrone who reorganized them into their current layout.

The best time to visit is between March and October when most of the flowers are in bloom and visitors can take a stroll through the wisteria and begonias or in the Coffee Pavilion with the greenhouse providing a magnificent backdrop.

Salta

Transport Navigators and Flight Engineers Squadron exercise

Photo by: Celia Garion

טיסת אימון של צוערי מגמת נווטי תובלה ומכוננים

צילום: סליה גריון

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Amid the brightly coloured non-figurative windows on the northern side of Saint George's Presbyterian Church stands one figurative window. Dedicated to American John Kane Smyth, the window was made by Melbourne stained glass manufacturer Ferguson and Urie. Although there is no date on the window, I believe it was created in the 1890s. The window represents two scenes in the life of Jesus: The Settlement about the Tribute Money, and The Interview with the Rich Young Ruler. The left-hand pane is the Settlement about the Tribute Money window. It features Jesus and a Roman tax collector who demanded money from him and the twelve apostles when they had none to pay. Jesus performs a miracle and the tax is paid with a Drachma coin found in the mouth of a fish by Saint Peter. The window shows Jesus and the tax collector in beautiful and richly coloured clothing amid a green countryside. It contains a Biblical quote from the Book of Matthew XIX - 19 in the bottom dedication panel: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."

John Kane Smyth was the Vice-Consul for the United States of America in Melbourne, and he was just one of a number of wealthy Americans who attended services at Saint George's Presbyterian Church. In his honour the top round ventilator window has the American Stars and Stripes in it. Interestingly it features the Thirty-Six Stars and Stripes flag which was well outdated by the time this window as installed. The Thirty-Six Stars and Stripes flag became the official United States Flag on July 4th, 1865 after the admission of Nevada into the union. However it was only to last for two years when Nebraska joined the union. John Kane Smyth served on Saint George's Presbyterian Church's Board of Management for many years and is recognised as having given good service in the Saint George's Presbyterian Church's 1876 - 1926 Jubilee Souvenir Book.

The former Saint George's Presbyterian Church was constructed on a plot of land reserved in Chapel Street for the Presbyterian Church of Victoria in 1866. Initially services were held in a small hall whilst fundraising efforts advanced the erection of a church. The architect Albert Purchas was commissioned to design the church and the foundation stone for the western portion of the nave was finally laid in April 1877 by Sir James McCulloch. The first service was held in the church on the 1st of October 1877. The first clergyman of the former Saint George's Presbyterian Church was the Reverend John Laurence Rentoul (father to world renown and much loved Australian children's book illustrator Ida Rentoul Outhwaite). However, the swelling Presbyterian congregation of St Kilda and its surrounding districts quickly outgrew the initial Saint George's Presbyterian Church building, so Albert Purchas was obliged to re-design and enlarge the church to allow a doubling in capacity. Robert S. Ekins was the contractor and his tender was £3000.00. It is this imposing church building, reopened in 1880, that we see today. The "Australasian Sketcher with Pen and Pencil" noted that the total length of the building was 118 feet and 6 inches (36 metres), by 40 foot (12 metres) wide and that the striking octagonal tower to the north-west was 110ft 6 in high. It perhaps reflected better the wealth and aspirations of the congregation.

The former Saint George's Presbyterian Church is constructed on bluestone foundations and is built in an ornate polychromatic Gothic Revival style in the tradition of English designers like William Butterfield and John L. Pearson. Built of red brick building, it is decorated in contrasting cream bricks and Waurn Ponds freestone dressings. It features a slate roof with prominent roof vents, iron ridge cresting and fleche at the intersection of the nave and transepts. The front facade of the church is dominated by the slender, banded octagonal tower topped by a narrow spire. The entrance features a double arched portal portico. The facade also features a dominant triangular epitrochoidal (curved triangular form) rose window. The church, like its bluestone neighbour All Saints Church of England, is built to a T-shaped plan, with an aisleless nave, broad transepts and internal walls of cream brick, relieved with coloured brickwork. The former Saint George's Presbyterian Church was one of the first major church design in Melbourne in which polychrome brickwork was lavishly employed both externally and internally.

The inside of the former Saint George's Presbyterian Church is equally as grand as the exterior, with ornamental Gothic Revival polychromatic brickwork, a lofty vaulted ceiling, deal and kauri pine joinery and pulpit and reredos of Keene's cement. The building originally contained a complete set of Victorian stained glass windows by well known and successful Melbourne manufacturers Ferguson and Urie, all of which remain intact today except for one of the non-figurative windows which was replaced by a memorial window to Samuel Lyons McKenzie, the congregation’s beloved minister, who served from 1930 to 1948, in 1949. The earliest of the Ferguson and Urie windows are non-figurative windows which feature the distinctive diaper pattern and floral motifs of Fergus and Urie's work, and are often argued to be amongst the finest of their non-figurative designs. The large triple window in the chancel was presented by Lady McCulloch in memory of the ‘loved and dead’. Another, in memory of John Kane Smyth, the Vice-Consul for the United States of America in Melbourne, has the American Stars and Stripes on the top ventilator above it. An organ by Thomas C. Lewis of London, one of the leading 19th century English organ builders, was installed in the south transept in 1882. It was designed to blend with its architectural setting, with pipework styled to avoid the obstruction of windows. The action of this organ was altered in 1935, but the pipework, and the original sound, have been retained.

Over the years many spiritual and social activities were instituted at Saint George’s, Presbyterian Church some of short duration such as the Ladies’ Reading Club which operated between 1888 and 1893. There were segregated Bible classes for young men and women, the Presbyterian Women’s Missionary Union, formed in 1892, a cricket club and a floral guild. Guilds teaching physical culture for girls, boys and young men began in 1904. They were entirely financed by John Maclellan and the idea extended to other denominations throughout Victoria. John Maclellan died in 1936 and the guilds ceased at Saint George’s Presbyterian church through lack of funds although in 1977 the members of the girls’ guild were still holding bi-annual reunions and raising money for charity. Sadly, the Presbyterian congregations may have been large in the Nineteenth Century, but by St George's Presbyterian Church's 110th centenary, its doors had already closed during the week due to dwindling numbers and an ageing congregation as a result of the general decline in church attendances after the Second World War exacerbated by the changing nature of St Kilda and the decrease in numbers of residents living in the vicinity of the church. So it stood, forlorn and empty and seemingly nothing more than a relic of a glorious but bygone religious past. However in 1990, Saint Michael's Grammar School across the road leased the Victorian Heritage listed building during weekdays, and it was eventually sold to them in 2015. It now forms part of the school's performing-arts complex, and it has a wonderful new lease of life.

St George's Presbyterian Church is sometimes hired out for performances, and I had the pleasure of receiving an invitation to hear Handel's Messiah performed there in 2009. The ecclesiastical acoustics made the performance all the more magnificent. I remember as I sat on one of the original (hard) kauri pine pews, I looked around me and admired the stained glass and ornamental brickwork. I tried without success over several subsequent years to gain access to the church's interior, settling for photographs of the exterior instead, but it wasn't until 2018 that I was fortunate enough to gain entry to photograph the church's interior. The former St George's Presbyterian Church was opened up to the public for one Sunday morning only as part of Open House Melbourne in July 2018. It was a fantastic morning, and I am very grateful to the staff who manned the church for the day and watched bemused as I photographed the stained glass extensively and in such detail.

Albert Purchas, born in 1825 in Chepstow, Monmouthshire, Wales, was a prominent Nineteenth Century architect who achieved great success for himself in Melbourne. Born to parents Robert Whittlesey Purchas and Marianne Guyon, he migrated to Australia in 1851 to establish himself in the then quickly expanding city of Melbourne, where he set up a small architect's firm in Little Collins Street. He also offered surveying services. His first major building was constructing the mansion "Berkeley Hall" in St Kilda on Princes Street in 1854. The house still exists today. Two years after migrating, Albert designed the layout of the Melbourne General Cemetery in Carlton. It was the first "garden cemetery" in Victoria, and his curvilinear design is still in existence, unaltered, today. In 1854, Albert married Eliza Anne Sawyer (1825 - 1869) in St Kilda. The couple had ten children over their marriage, including a son, Robert, who followed in his father's footsteps as an architect. Albert's brother-in-law, Charles Sawyer joined him in the partnership of Purchas and Sawyer, which existed from 1856 until 1862 in Queens Street. The firm produced more than 140 houses, churches, offices and cemetery buildings including: the nave and transepts of Christ Church St Kilda between 1854 and 1857, "Glenara Homestead"in Bulla in 1857, the Melbourne Savings Bank on the corner of Flinders Lane and Market Street (now demolished) between 1857 and 1858, the Geelong branch of the Bank of Australasia in Malop Street between 1859 and 1860, and Beck's Imperial Hotel in Castlemaine in 1861. When the firm broke up, Albert returned to Little Collins Street, and the best known building he designed during this period was Saint. George's Presbyterian Church in St Kilda East between 1877 and 1880. The church's tall polychomatic brick bell tower is still a local landmark, even in the times of high rise architecture and development, and Saint, George's itself is said to be one of his most striking church designs. Socially, Albert was vice president of the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects for many years, before becoming president in 1887. He was also an inventor and philanthropist. Albert died in 1909 at his home in Kew, a wealthy widower and much loved father.

The stained glass firm of Ferguson and Urie was established by Scots James Ferguson (1818 – 1894), James Urie (1828 – 1890) and John Lamb Lyon (1836 – 1916). They were the first known makers of stained glass in Australia. Until the early 1860s, window glass in Melbourne had been clear or plain coloured, and nearly all was imported, but new churches and elaborate buildings created a demand for pictorial windows. The three Scotsmen set up Ferguson and Urie in 1862 and the business thrived until 1899, when it ceased operation, with only John Lamb Lyon left alive. Ferguson and Urie was the most successful Nineteenth Century Australian stained glass window making company. Among their earliest works were a Shakespeare window for the Haymarket Theatre in Bourke Street, a memorial window to Prince Albert in Holy Trinity, Kew, and a set of Apostles for the West Melbourne Presbyterian Church. Their palatial Gothic Revival office building stood at 283 Collins Street from 1875. Ironically, their last major commission, a window depicting “labour”, was installed in the old Melbourne Stock Exchange in Collins Street in 1893 on the eve of the bank crash. Their windows can be found throughout the older suburbs of Melbourne and across provincial Victoria.

Ritual Image (to'o) Representing the Deity Oro- created in Tahiti by the Maohi people in the eighteenth century is a spiritual and unique sculpture that was made of wood, coconut fiber, and feathers is apart of the The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection in the The Metropolitan Museum of Art but is not currently on display. The height is 22 ⅝ in. (57.5 cm) and the width is 3 ½ in (8.9 cm). Deity Oro sculpture was purchased by Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979; the accession number is 1979.206.1481. This image is public domain.

www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/313669

Artist Salwa Zeida, the artist-ambasador for Lebanon, joins the WPMP collaboration at the Call for Peace event in Istanbul.

Representing the sub continent at Gumball.

Images accepted by my representing agency Arcangel. www.arcangel.com Available for use through Rights Managed licenses. See more of my work with this Arcangel presentation: www.joomag.com/magazine/arcangel-photographer-presentatio...

Manufactura Musica @ Represent Festival Balingen 2018

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The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) Lancaster PA474 painted to represent Lancaster DV385 ‘Thumper Mk III’ pictured during RIAT 2014, Fairford UK (picture 1016-2).

PA474 is one of only two Lancaster aircraft remaining in airworthy condition out of the 7,377 that were built (the other is in Canada with the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum at Hamilton, Ontario). PA474 rolled off the production line at the Vickers Armstrong Broughton factory at Hawarden Airfield, Chester on 31 May 1945, just after the war in Europe came to an end, so she was prepared for use against the Japanese as part of the ‘Tiger Force’. However, the war in the Far East also ended before she was deployed and she did not take part in any hostilities. After a period in storage, PA474 was converted for photo reconnaissance work; modifications for these duties included being stripped back to a bare metal (silver) finish and the removal of all her gun turrets. She was then assigned to aerial survey duties with No 82 Squadron in East and South Africa from September 1948 until February 1952.

PA474 is currently painted to represent Lancaster DV385, “Thumper Mk III” of 617 (‘Dambuster’) Squadron, with the code letters ‘KC-A’. This aircraft was one of the brand-new standard Lancasters issued to 617 Squadron as replacements after the ‘Dams Raid’ in 1943. It was delivered to the Squadron in November 1943, whilst the unit was based at Coningsby, and it flew 4 ‘ops’ from Coningsby before 617 Squadron moved to Woodhall Spa in January 1944. The “Thumper” nose art features the cartoon rabbit – from the 1942 Walt Disney cartoon ‘Bambi’ – holding a foaming pint of beer. Although the real “Thumper Mk III” flew a total of 50 ‘ops’, the ‘bomb log’ under the cockpit on PA474 displays 35 ‘ops’ as shown in a wartime photograph. The bomb symbols include one with a ‘D’ for Operation ‘Taxable’ (the ‘spoof’ D-Day chaff mission on 5/6th June 1944) and one with a swastika denoting a kill against a German fighter. “Thumper Mk III” dropped a total of 15 of the huge ‘Tallboy’ ‘earthquake’ bombs; it was involved in many important missions, including the first ‘Tallboy’ raid against the Saumur railway tunnel on 8th June 1944 and many raids against ‘V’ weapon sites. Between February and August 1944, the aircraft was mostly flown by Flying Officer (later Flight Lieutenant) Bob Knights DSO DFC and his crew.

Source: www.raf.mod.uk/bbmf/theaircraft

Lafayette™ / Junjiro

Mandala (Sanskrit Maṇḍala, 'circle') is a spiritual and ritual symbol in Indian religions, representing the universe. The basic form of most mandalas is a square with four gates containing a circle with a center point. Each gate is in the general shape of a T. Mandalas often exhibit radial balance.

The term appears in the Rigveda as the name of the sections of the work, but is also used in other religions and philosophies, particularly Buddhism.

In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for establishing a sacred space, and as an aid to meditation and trance induction.

In common use, mandala has become a generic term for any diagram, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically; a microcosm of the universe.

HINDUISM

RELIGIOUS MEANING

A yantra is a two- or three-dimensional geometric composition used in sadhanas, puja or meditative rituals. It is considered to represent the abode of the deity. Each yantra is unique and calls the deity into the presence of the practitioner through the elaborate symbolic geometric designs. According to one scholar, "Yantras function as revelatory symbols of cosmic truths and as instructional charts of the spiritual aspect of human experience"

Many situate yantras as central focus points for Hindu tantric practice. Yantras are not representations, but are lived, experiential, nondual realities. As Khanna describes:

Despite its cosmic meanings a yantra is a reality lived. Because of the relationship that exists in the Tantras between the outer world (the macrocosm) and man’s inner world (the microcosm), every symbol in a yantra is ambivalently resonant in inner–outer synthesis, and is associated with the subtle body and aspects of human consciousness.

POLITICAL MEANING

The "Rajamandala" (or "Raja-mandala"; circle of states) was formulated by the Indian author Kautilya in his work on politics, the Arthashastra (written between 4th century BC and 2nd century AD). It describes circles of friendly and enemy states surrounding the king's state.

In historical, social and political sense, the term "mandala" is also employed to denote traditional Southeast Asian political formations (such as federation of kingdoms or vassalized states). It was adopted by 20th century Western historians from ancient Indian political discourse as a means of avoiding the term 'state' in the conventional sense. Not only did Southeast Asian polities not conform to Chinese and European views of a territorially defined state with fixed borders and a bureaucratic apparatus, but they diverged considerably in the opposite direction: the polity was defined by its centre rather than its boundaries, and it could be composed of numerous other tributary polities without undergoing administrative integration. Empires such as Bagan, Ayutthaya, Champa, Khmer, Srivijaya and Majapahit are known as "mandala" in this sense.

BUDDISM

EARLY AND THERAVADA BUDDHISM

The mandala can be found in the form of the Stupa and in the Atanatiya Sutta in the Digha Nikaya, part of the Pali Canon. This text is frequently chanted.

TIBETAN VAJRAYANA

In the Tibetan branch of Vajrayana Buddhism, mandalas have been developed into sandpainting. They are also a key part of Anuttarayoga Tantra meditation practices.

VISUALISATION OF VAJRAYANA TEACHINGS

The mandala can be shown to represent in visual form the core essence of the Vajrayana teachings. The mind is "a microcosm representing various divine powers at work in the universe." The mandala represents the nature of the Pure Land, Enlightened mind.

While on the one hand, the mandala is regarded as a place separated and protected from the ever-changing and impure outer world of samsara, and is thus seen as a "Buddhafield" or a place of Nirvana and peace, the view of Vajrayana Buddhism sees the greatest protection from samsara being the power to see samsaric confusion as the "shadow" of purity (which then points towards it).

MOUNT MERU

A mandala can also represent the entire universe, which is traditionally depicted with Mount Meru as the axis mundi in the center, surrounded by the continents.

WISDOM AND IMPERMANENCE

In the mandala, the outer circle of fire usually symbolises wisdom. The ring of eight charnel grounds represents the Buddhist exhortation to be always mindful of death, and the impermanence with which samsara is suffused: "such locations were utilized in order to confront and to realize the transient nature of life." Described elsewhere: "within a flaming rainbow nimbus and encircled by a black ring of dorjes, the major outer ring depicts the eight great charnel grounds, to emphasize the dangerous nature of human life." Inside these rings lie the walls of the mandala palace itself, specifically a place populated by deities and Buddhas.

FIVE BUDDHAS

One well-known type of mandala is the mandala of the "Five Buddhas", archetypal Buddha forms embodying various aspects of enlightenment. Such Buddhas are depicted depending on the school of Buddhism, and even the specific purpose of the mandala. A common mandala of this type is that of the Five Wisdom Buddhas (a.k.a. Five Jinas), the Buddhas Vairocana, Aksobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha and Amoghasiddhi. When paired with another mandala depicting the Five Wisdom Kings, this forms the Mandala of the Two Realms.

PRACTICE

Mandalas are commonly used by tantric Buddhists as an aid to meditation.

The mandala is "a support for the meditating person", something to be repeatedly contemplated to the point of saturation, such that the image of the mandala becomes fully internalised in even the minutest detail and can then be summoned and contemplated at will as a clear and vivid visualized image. With every mandala comes what Tucci calls "its associated liturgy [...] contained in texts known as tantras", instructing practitioners on how the mandala should be drawn, built and visualised, and indicating the mantras to be recited during its ritual use.

By visualizing "pure lands", one learns to understand experience itself as pure, and as the abode of enlightenment. The protection that we need, in this view, is from our own minds, as much as from external sources of confusion. In many tantric mandalas, this aspect of separation and protection from the outer samsaric world is depicted by "the four outer circles: the purifying fire of wisdom, the vajra circle, the circle with the eight tombs, the lotus circle." The ring of vajras forms a connected fence-like arrangement running around the perimeter of the outer mandala circle.

As a meditation on impermanence (a central teaching of Buddhism), after days or weeks of creating the intricate pattern of a sand mandala, the sand is brushed together into a pile and spilled into a body of running water to spread the blessings of the mandala.

Kværne in his extended discussion of sahaja, discusses the relationship of sadhana interiority and exteriority in relation to mandala thus:

...external ritual and internal sadhana form an indistinguishable whole, and this unity finds its most pregnant expression in the form of the mandala, the sacred enclosure consisting of concentric squares and circles drawn on the ground and representing that adamant plane of being on which the aspirant to Buddha hood wishes to establish himself. The unfolding of the tantric ritual depends on the mandala; and where a material mandala is not employed, the adept proceeds to construct one mentally in the course of his meditation."

OFFERINGS

A "mandala offering" in Tibetan Buddhism is a symbolic offering of the entire universe. Every intricate detail of these mandalas is fixed in the tradition and has specific symbolic meanings, often on more than one level.

Whereas the above mandala represents the pure surroundings of a Buddha, this mandala represents the universe. This type of mandala is used for the mandala-offerings, during which one symbolically offers the universe to the Buddhas or to one's teacher. Within Vajrayana practice, 100,000 of these mandala offerings (to create merit) can be part of the preliminary practices before a student even begins actual tantric practices. This mandala is generally structured according to the model of the universe as taught in a Buddhist classic text the Abhidharma-kośa, with Mount Meru at the centre, surrounded by the continents, oceans and mountains, etc.

SHINGON BUDDHISM

One Japanese branch of Mahayana Buddhism -- Shingon Buddhism - makes frequent use of mandalas in its rituals as well, though the actual mandalas differ. When Shingon's founder, Kukai, returned from his training in China, he brought back two mandalas that became central to Shingon ritual: the Mandala of the Womb Realm and the Mandala of the Diamond Realm.

These two mandalas are engaged in the abhiseka initiation rituals for new Shingon students, more commonly known as the Kechien Kanjō (結縁灌頂). A common feature of this ritual is to blindfold the new initiate and to have them throw a flower upon either mandala. Where the flower lands assists in the determination of which tutelary deity the initiate should follow.

Sand mandalas, as found in Tibetan Buddhism, are not practiced in Shingon Buddhism.

NICHIREN BUDDHISM

The Mandala in Nichiren Buddhism is called a moji-mandala (文字曼陀羅) and is a paper hanging scroll or wooden tablet whose inscription consists of Chinese characters and medieval-Sanskrit script representing elements of the Buddha's enlightenment, protective Buddhist deities, and certain Buddhist concepts. Called the Gohonzon, it was originally inscribed by Nichiren, the founder of this branch of Japanese Buddhism, during the late 13th Century. The Gohonzon is the primary object of veneration in some Nichiren schools and the only one in others, which consider it to be the supreme object of worship as the embodiment of the supreme Dharma and Nichiren's inner enlightenment. The seven characters Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, considered to be the name of the supreme Dharma, as well as the invocation that believers chant, are written down the center of all Nichiren-sect Gohonzons, whose appearance may otherwise vary depending on the particular school and other factors.

PURE LAND BUDDHISM

Mandalas have sometimes been used in Pure Land Buddhism to graphically represent Pure Lands, based on descriptions found in the Larger Sutra and the Contemplation Sutra. The most famous mandala in Japan is the Taima Mandala, dated to approximately 763 CE. The Taima Mandala is based upon the Contemplation Sutra, but other similar mandalas have been made subsequently. Unlike mandalas used in Vajrayana Buddhism, it is not used as an object of meditation or for esoteric ritual. Instead, it provides a visual representation of the Pure Land texts, and is used as a teaching aid.

Also in Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, Shinran and his descendant, Rennyo, sought a way to create easily accessible objects of reverence for the lower-classes of Japanese society. Shinran designed a mandala using a hanging scroll, and the words of the nembutsu (南無阿彌陀佛) written vertically. This style of mandala is still used by some Jodo Shinshu Buddhists in home altars, or butsudan.

CHRISTIANITY

Forms which are evocative of mandalas are prevalent in Christianity: the celtic cross; the rosary; the halo; the aureole; oculi; the Crown of Thorns; rose windows; the Rosy Cross; and the dromenon on the floor of Chartres Cathedral. The dromenon represents a journey from the outer world to the inner sacred centre where the Divine is found.

Similarly, many of the Illuminations of Hildegard von Bingen can be used as mandalas, as well as many of the images of esoteric Christianity, as in Christian Hermeticism, Christian Alchemy, and Rosicrucianism.

The Layer Monument at the Church of Saint John the Baptist, Maddermarket, Norwich, an early 17th century marble mural monument which includes four inter-related sculpted figurines, is a rare example of Christian iconography absorbing alchemical symbolism to form a Mandala in Western funerary art.

WESTERN PSCHYCHOLOGICAL INTERPRETATIONS

According to art therapist and mental health counselor Susanne F. Fincher, we owe the re-introduction of mandalas into modern Western thought to Carl Jung, the Swiss psychoanalyst. In his pioneering exploration of the unconscious through his own art making, Jung observed the motif of the circle spontaneously appearing. The circle drawings reflected his inner state at that moment. Familiarity with the philosophical writings of India prompted Jung to adopt the word "mandala" to describe these circle drawings he and his patients made. In his autobiography, Jung wrote:

"I sketched every morning in a notebook a small circular drawing,...which seemed to correspond to my inner situation at the time....Only gradually did I discover what the mandala really is:...the Self, the wholeness of the personality, which if all goes well is harmonious."

—Carl Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, pp. 195 – 196.

Jung recognized that the urge to make mandalas emerges during moments of intense personal growth. Their appearance indicates a profound re-balancing process is underway in the psyche. The result of the process is a more complex and better integrated personality.

"The mandala serves a conservative purpose - namely, to restore a previously existing order. But it also serves the creative purpose of giving expression and form to something that does not yet exist, something new and unique…. The process is that of the ascending spiral, which grows upward while simultaneously returning again and again to the same point."

- Jungian analyst Marie-Louise von Franz, C. G. Jung: "Man and His Symbols," p. 225

Creating mandalas helps stabilize, integrate, and re-order inner life.

According to the psychologist David Fontana, its symbolic nature can help one "to access progressively deeper levels of the unconscious, ultimately assisting the meditator to experience a mystical sense of oneness with the ultimate unity from which the cosmos in all its manifold forms arises."

WIKIPEDIA

…decided to take advantage of the glorious Bank Holiday weather and kill a few of those pesky dregs off down at The Bridge.

Bottom right the funeral stele of the Shedy. The lady appears here represented, walking left, holding a long scepter and the bud of a flower.

• Datación: segunda mitad de la X-XI dinastía.

• Procedencia: Herakleópolis Magna. Necrópolis de la X-XII dinastía. Estructura comunitaria C-H. Cámara C (Tumba 3).

2º campaña de excavación (1968) de la Misión Arqueológica Española. Director: Jesús López.

• Material: piedra calcárea.

• Dimensiones: atura 99 cm.; anchura 45 cm. (En Almagro Basch “Arte faraónico” 1975, p.73 nº 25 a y b. Aquí llamada Sedy).

Altura 99 cm.; anchura 49,50 cm. (En ceres.mcu.es/pages/ResultSearch?Museo=MAN&txtSimpleSe... Aquí llamada Shedy)

• Conservación: Madrid. Museo Arqueológico Nacional, nº 11.601. (Nº de inventario 1976/114/A/2072[68])

BIBLIOGRAFÍA:

- López, Jesús. (1975). “Rapport préliminaire sur les fouilles d´Hérakléopolis (1968)”. Oriens Antiquus, XIV., p. 57-78

ENLACES:

ceres.mcu.es/pages/ResultSearch?Museo=MAN&txtSimpleSe...

REFERENCIAS:

Texto: Juan Rodríguez Lázaro.

Foto: Juan Rodríguez Lázaro. Tomada el 11 de abril de 2014

Nos encontramos ante una escultura exenta, en concreto una figura completa en posición erguida. Representa a un joven desnudo que flexiona su brazo izquierdo mientras despliega el brazo opuesto. Se trata de una obra antigua, que presenta algunos deterioros, pero que se halla en buen estado de conservación.

El material con la que está realizada la obra es mármol. Probablemente, el artista modeló primero la escultura en barro o yeso y después la copió en piedra con la técnica de la talla, esto es trabajando la piedra con cincel y martillo. Hay que señalar que la obra traslada al mármol una escultura que originalmente fue realizada en bronce, como lo demuestra la presencia de un tronco que sirve de apoyo. El original o prototipo debió ser realizado según la técnica de la cera perdida. Al pasar del metal a la piedra el peso de la obra aumentó y su equilibrio se alteró, por lo que se hizo preciso añadir el tronco.

En la copia que analizamos una vez concluido el proceso de talla, el escultor se esmeró en el acabado. El artista quería transmitir con este tratamiento de la superficie es la impresión de suavidad, y así los músculos se encuentran más sugeridos que resaltados. También trabajó los cabellos, cortos y ensortijados, que contrastan con el resto de la cabeza.

Posteriormente debió policromar la pieza, aplicando primero una capa de yeso y después superpuso los pigmentos. En la Antigüedad y en la Edad Media se aplicaban colores a las estatuas y relieves en piedra. Todo esto se ha perdido en el ejemplar que ha llegado hasta nosotros.

Respecto a la composición, señalaremos que la pieza guarda la corrección anatómica, bien que idealizada, buscandoen esta idealización la regularidad y la armonía. Los tendones del cuello y el pliegue inguinal se hallan bien marcados, pero en el resto del cuerpo el artista ha preferido trazar una transición suave entre las partes de su anatomía. Así la musculatura se halla muy desarrollada, pero sólo se revela mediante la iluminación. Es lo que se conoce como la técnica del claroscuro. El canon empleado es el de ocho cabezas.

La escultura está concebida para verse desde todos los puntos de vista, de tal forma que su composición varía por completo a medida que giramos en torno a ella. El cuerpo está representado en una posición conocida como «quiasmo» o «contraposto»: la pierna derecha permanece recta, sosteniendo el peso del cuerpo, mientras que la pierna izquierda se alza y se flexiona. En consecuencia el torso y la cadera se giran levemente y el hombro izquierdo aparece más alto.

Respecto a la expresión, el artista ha querido representar la serenidad, con la mirada perdida típica de la estatuaria clásica. Al rehundir los ojos, el escultor ha conseguido otorgar una intensidad especial a la expresión de su rostro. En los rasgos el escultor plasma unas facciones ideales, no las del individuo que le sirvió de modelo o las de una persona concreta.

Con esta obra el artista ha tratado de buscar la expresión de la armonía y de la belleza. También ha querido demostrar su virtuosismo, o sea su capacidad de superar retos técnicos

La imagen representa a un joven atleta que se limpia el polvo, el sudor y el aceite con el que se ungía tras el ejercicio o prueba. En la mano izquierda debía portar una instrumento (hoy perdido) llamado estrígilo o rascadera, que era un objeto de metal con forma de hoz. Hay que señalar que los artistas de la Antigüedad solían representar a los deportistas en los momentos que anteceden a la competición o en los posteriores a la misma, prefiriendo los estados de concentración o de reposo a la acción propiamente dicha. Su desnudez nos recuerda que los griegos practicaban el deporte sin llevar ningún tipo de vestimenta, pero también que el atleta, por sus triunfos, ha ascendido al nivel de héroes y de dioses.

Sabemos que las ciudades de la Grecia Antigua erigían estatuas a sus atletas victoriosos y, de hecho, esta escultura se interpreta como la de un campeón que descansa después de realizar el ejercicio. Su temática sería, por tanto, conmemorativa. Algunos estudiosos creen, no obstante, que el propio artista decidió realizar la obra por razones estéticas, para plasmar su ideal de belleza o para demostrar su pericia como buen escultor.

Según la primera interpretación, la pieza original o prototipo sería una obra de encargo destinado a ser emplazada en un lugar público, como un foro o ágora, un templo (o sus pórticos), una palestra, un gimnasio o unas termas. Las copias, como la que analizamos, podían ubicarse en los mismos lugares, bien que normalmente se destinaban a adornar palacios, mansiones y quintas o villas campestres.

Respecto a la clasificación, señalaremos que por la corrección anatómica, el uso del contraposto y la temática del atleta, la obra se encuadra dentro del arte griego. Este estilo tuvo dos fases principales: la clásica y la helenística. La pieza que analizamos es una obra de transición entre ambas. Así la temática y el equilibrio entre realismo e idealización la sitúan dentro del arte clásico, mientras que el uso del claroscuro, el canon de ocho cabezas y la multiplicidad de puntos de vista anuncian ya el arte helenístico. Esta etapa de transición, conocida como post-clásica, se desarrolla a lo largo del siglo IV a. C.

En este periodo la civilización griega se desarrolla en la Hélade (ámbito que abarcaba el extremo sur de los Balcanes, las islas adyacentes y las costas de Asia Menor) y la Magna Grecia (Sicilia y Sur de Italia). Fue una etapa de crisis, marcada por continuas guerras civiles entre las distintas polis griegas, que concluirán con el predominio del reino de Macedonia, considerado bárbaro por los helenos. El progresivo distanciamiento del ideal de belleza y armonía marcado por Fidias se entiende como un reflejo de esta difícil situación política.

En esta etapa las polis con regímenes democráticos decayeron y se impusieron la oligarquía y otros sistemas autoritarios. Se comprende que en este momento no se inicien grandes empresas arquitectónicas en el mundo griego, aunque se continúan las emprendidas en el siglo anterior. Por otra parte aparece una nueva clientela formada por mercaderes y latifundistas que encarga sobre todo tumbas y esculturas.

En la Grecia post-clásica los artistas logran mejorar su consideración social y algunos maestros se convierten en verdaderas celebridades, logrando que sus nombres pasen a la posteridad como el autor de esta obra. Se trata de Lisipo, natural de la ciudad de Sición, en el Peloponeso. Sición, y la vecina ciudad Argos, destacaban por sus talleres de broncistas, y en ellos debió formarse Lisipo. Este escultor fue considerado el principal representante de estas escuelas, siendo reconocido como el sucesor de Policleto, de quién recibió una considerable influencia. Lisipo desarrolló su obra entre los año 360 y 305 a. C., llegando a ser el escultor personal de Alejandro Magno, honor que compartió con Leocares. Lisipo fue un artista muy longevo y extraordinariamente prolífico y así Plinio señala que realizó mil quinientas obras, bien que ninguna se ha conservado, y se conocen sólo por copias y algunas descripciones literarias.

La obra que comentamos se trata del Apoxiómeno, nombre que proviene del participio griego Αποξυόμενος, (Apoxyiomenos), «el que se restriega». Se data entre el 330 y el 320 a. C. Algunos autores lo identifican con un retrato ideal de Agias, príncipe de Tesalia famoso por sus victorias deportivas y que vivió a principios del siglo V. Pero se trata de una atribución errónea, pues la estatua de Agias es conocida por una copia romana descubierta en Delfos y la única relación que mantiene con la escultura que comentamos es que se trata de otra obra de Lisipo. Con más fundamento, se cree que esta pieza pudiera representar al campeón olímpico Quelón de Elis. Hay que señalar que el tema del atleta que se limpia con el estrígilo fue escogido igualmente por otros escultores de las escuelas de Argos y Sición. Incluso el propio Lisipo pudo realizar otras versiones de este tema. Así se considera que el Atleta de Croacia, que apareció en el fondo del mar Adriático en 1999, es una copia de otro Apoxiómeno realizado por Lisipo con anterioridad al que comentamos.

El Apoxiómeno que analizamos fue una obra de arte muy apreciada en la Antigüedad, como lo demuestra que se hayan conservado varias copias de esta pieza. Plinio la menciona y señala que en su época (siglo I) el original se exhibía en las termas de Agripa, en Roma.

Lamentablemente la obra original no se conserva, ignorándose cuándo y cómo desapareció. Pudo ser destruida en el saqueo de Roma por los visigodos (410), en el saqueo de los vándalos (455), en los sucesivos asedios y asaltos de la urbe por bizantinos y ostrogodos (entre el 536 y el 551) o, finalmente, en el expolio de algunas obras de arte realizado por el emperador bizantino Constante II en el 663. Tampoco se puede olvidar la destrucción intencionada de restos considerados paganos por los cristianos más exaltados. Hay que señalar que la estimación por estas esculturas se perdió, y las que eran de bronce se fundían para aprovechar el metal para otros usos.

La copia considerada más próxima al original, que es la que aparece en la ilustración, fue hallada en una excavación en el barrio romano del Trastévere en el año 1849, siendo trasladada a los Museos Vaticanos, donde se conserva, en concreto en el Museo Pío-Clementino. Se trata de una obra realizada en mármol pentélico y que se data en la era claudia (siglo I). La pieza mide 2,05 m. de altura.

Procedencia de la imagen:

www.flickr.com/photos/mpardy/3109647219/

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The Burgtheater at Dr.-Karl -Lueger-Ring (from now on, Universitätsring) in Vienna is an Austrian Federal Theatre. It is one of the most important stages in Europe and after the Comédie-Française, the second oldest European one, as well as the greatest German speaking theater. The original 'old' Burgtheater at Saint Michael's square was utilized from 1748 until the opening of the new building at the ring in October, 1888. The new house in 1945 burnt down completely as a result of bomb attacks, until the re-opening on 14 October 1955 was the Ronacher serving as temporary quarters. The Burgtheater is considered as Austrian National Theatre.

Throughout its history, the theater was bearing different names, first Imperial-Royal Theater next to the Castle, then to 1918 Imperial-Royal Court-Burgtheater and since then Burgtheater (Castle Theater). Especially in Vienna it is often referred to as "The Castle (Die Burg)", the ensemble members are known as Castle actors (Burgschauspieler).

History

St. Michael's Square with the old K.K. Theatre beside the castle (right) and the Winter Riding School of the Hofburg (left)

The interior of the Old Burgtheater, painted by Gustav Klimt. The people are represented in such detail that the identification is possible.

The 'old' Burgtheater at St. Michael's Square

The original castle theater was set up in a ball house that was built in the lower pleasure gardens of the Imperial Palace of the Roman-German King and later Emperor Ferdinand I in 1540, after the old house 1525 fell victim to a fire. Until the beginning of the 18th Century was played there the Jeu de Paume, a precursor of tennis. On 14 March 1741 finally gave the Empress Maria Theresa, ruling after the death of her father, which had ordered a general suspension of the theater, the "Entrepreneur of the Royal Court Opera" and lessees of 1708 built theater at Kärntnertor (Carinthian gate), Joseph Karl Selliers, permission to change the ballroom into a theater. Simultaneously, a new ball house was built in the immediate vicinity, which todays Ballhausplatz is bearing its name.

In 1748, the newly designed "theater next to the castle" was opened. 1756 major renovations were made, inter alia, a new rear wall was built. The Auditorium of the Old Burgtheater was still a solid timber construction and took about 1200 guests. The imperial family could reach her ​​royal box directly from the imperial quarters, the Burgtheater structurally being connected with them. At the old venue at Saint Michael's place were, inter alia, several works of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as well as Franz Grillparzer premiered .

On 17 February 1776, Emperor Joseph II declared the theater to the German National Theatre (Teutsches Nationaltheater). It was he who ordered by decree that the stage plays should not deal with sad events for not bring the Imperial audience in a bad mood. Many theater plays for this reason had to be changed and provided with a Vienna Final (Happy End), such as Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet. From 1794 on, the theater was bearing the name K.K. Court Theatre next to the castle.

1798 the poet August von Kotzebue was appointed as head of the Burgtheater, but after discussions with the actors he left Vienna in 1799. Under German director Joseph Schreyvogel was introduced German instead of French and Italian as a new stage language.

On 12 October 1888 took place the last performance in the old house. The Burgtheater ensemble moved to the new venue at the Ring. The Old Burgtheater had to give way to the completion of Saint Michael's tract of Hofburg. The plans to this end had been drawn almost 200 years before the demolition of the old Burgtheater by Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach.

The "new" K.K. Court Theatre (as the inscription reads today) at the Ring opposite the Town Hall, opened on 14 October 1888 with Grillparzer's Esther and Schiller's Wallenstein's Camp, was designed in neo-Baroque style by Gottfried Semper (plan) and Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer (facade), who had already designed the Imperial Forum in Vienna together. Construction began on 16 December 1874 and followed through 14 years, in which the architects quarreled. Already in 1876 Semper withdrew due to health problems to Rome and had Hasenauer realized his ideas alone, who in the dispute of the architects stood up for a mainly splendid designed grand lodges theater.

However, created the famous Viennese painter Gustav Klimt and his brother Ernst Klimt and Franz Matsch 1886-1888 the ceiling paintings in the two stairwells of the new theater. The three took over this task after similar commissioned work in the city theaters of Fiume and Karlovy Vary and in the Bucharest National Theatre. In the grand staircase on the side facing the café Landtmann of the Burgtheater (Archduke stairs) reproduced ​​Gustav Klimt the artists of the ancient theater in Taormina on Sicily, in the stairwell on the "People's Garden"-side (Kaiserstiege, because it was reserved for the emperor) the London Globe Theatre and the final scene from William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". Above the entrance to the auditorium is Molière's The Imaginary Invalid to discover. In the background the painter immortalized himself in the company of his two colleagues. Emperor Franz Joseph I liked the ceiling paintings so much that he gave the members of the company of artists of Klimt the Golden Cross of Merit.

The new building resembles externally the Dresden Semper Opera, but even more, due to the for the two theaters absolutely atypical cross wing with the ceremonial stairs, Semper's Munich project from the years 1865/1866 for a Richard Wagner Festspielhaus above the Isar. Above the middle section there is a loggia, which is framed by two side wings, and is divided from a stage house with a gable roof and auditorium with a tent roof. Above the center house there decorates a statue of Apollo the facade, throning between the Muses of drama and tragedy. Above the main entrances are located friezes with Bacchus and Ariadne. At the exterior facade round about, portrait busts of the poets Calderon, Shakespeare, Moliere, Schiller, Goethe, Lessing, Halm, Grillparzer, and Hebbel can be seen. The masks which also can be seen here are indicating the ancient theater, furthermore adorn allegorical representations the side wings: love, hate, humility, lust, selfishness, and heroism. Although the theater since 1919 is bearing the name of Burgtheater, the old inscription KK Hofburgtheater over the main entrance still exists. Some pictures of the old gallery of portraits have been hung up in the new building and can be seen still today - but these images were originally smaller, they had to be "extended" to make them work better in high space. The points of these "supplements" are visible as fine lines on the canvas.

The Burgtheater was initially well received by Viennese people due to its magnificent appearance and technical innovations such as electric lighting, but soon criticism because of the poor acoustics was increasing. Finally, in 1897 the auditorium was rebuilt to reduce the acoustic problems. The new theater was an important meeting place of social life and soon it was situated among the "sanctuaries" of Viennese people. In November 1918, the supervision over the theater was transferred from the High Steward of the emperor to the new state of German Austria.

1922/1923 the Academy Theatre was opened as a chamber play stage of the Burgtheater. On 8th May 1925, the Burgtheater went into Austria's criminal history, as here Mentscha Karnitschewa perpetrated a revolver assassination on Todor Panitza.

The Burgtheater in time of National Socialism

The National Socialist ideas also left traces in the history of the Burgtheater. In 1939 appeared in Adolf Luser Verlag the strongly anti-Semitic characterized book of theater scientist Heinz Kindermann "The Burgtheater. Heritage and mission of a national theater", in which he, among other things, analyzed the "Jewish influence "on the Burgtheater. On 14 October 1938 was on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Burgtheater a Don Carlos production of Karl-Heinz Stroux shown that served Hitler's ideology. The role of the Marquis of Posa played the same Ewald Balser, who in a different Don Carlos production a year earlier (by Heinz Hilpert) at the Deutsches Theater in the same role with the sentence in direction of Joseph Goebbels box vociferated: "just give freedom of thought". The actor and director Lothar Müthel, who was director of the Burgtheater between 1939 and 1945, staged 1943 the Merchant of Venice, in which Werner Kraus the Jew Shylock clearly anti-Semitic represented. The same director staged after the war Lessing's parable Nathan the Wise. Adolf Hitler himself visited during the Nazi regime the Burgtheater only once (1938), and later he refused in pure fear of an assassination.

For actors and theater staff who were classified according to the Reich Citizenship Law of 1935 as "Jews ", were quickly imposed stage bans, within a few days, they were on leave, fired or arrested. The Burgtheater ensemble ​​between 1938 and 1945 did not put up significant resistance against the Nazi ideology, the repertoire was heavily censored, only a few joined the Resistance, as Judith Holzmeister (then also at the People's Theatre engaged) or the actor Fritz Lehmann. Although Jewish members of the ensemble indeed have been helped to emigrate, was still an actor, Fritz Strassny, taken to a concentration camp and murdered there.

The Burgtheater at the end of the war and after the Second World War

In summer 1944, the Burgtheater had to be closed because of the decreed general theater suspension. From 1 April 1945, as the Red Army approached Vienna, camped a military unit in the house, a portion was used as an arsenal. In a bomb attack the house at the Ring was damaged and burned down on 12th April 1945 completely. Auditorium and stage were useless, only the steel structure remained. The ceiling paintings and part of the lobby were almost undamaged.

The Soviet occupying power expected from Viennese City Councillor Viktor Matejka to launch Vienna's cultural life as soon as possible again. The council summoned on 23 April (a state government did not yet exist) a meeting of all Viennese cultural workers into the Town Hall. Result of the discussions was that in late April 1945 eight cinemas and four theaters took up the operation again, including the Burgtheater. The house took over the Ronacher Theater, which was understood by many castle actors as "exile" as a temporary home (and remained there to 1955). This venue chose the newly appointed director Raoul Aslan, who championed particularly active.

The first performance after the Second World War was on 30 April 1945 Sappho by Franz Grillparzer directed by Adolf Rott from 1943 with Maria Eis in the title role. Also other productions from the Nazi era were resumed. With Paul Hoerbiger, a few days ago as Nazi prisoner still in mortal danger, was shown the play of Nestroy Mädl (Girlie) from the suburbs. The Academy Theatre could be played (the first performance was on 19 April 1945 Hedda Gabler, a production of Rott from the year 1941) and also in the ball room (Redoutensaal) at the Imperial Palace took place performances. Aslan the Ronacher in the summer had rebuilt because the stage was too small for classical performances. On 25 September 1945, Schiller's Maid of Orleans could be played on the enlarged stage.

The first new productions are associated with the name of Lothar Müthel: Everyone and Nathan the Wise, in both Raoul Aslan played the main role. The staging of The Merchant of Venice by Müthel in Nazi times seemed to have been fallen into oblivion.

Great pleasure gave the public the return of the in 1938 from the ensemble expelled Else Wohlgemuth on stage. She performaed after seven years in exile in December 1945 in Clare Biharys The other mother in the Academy Theater. 1951 opened the Burgtheater its doors for the first time, but only the left wing, where the celebrations on the 175th anniversary of the theater took place.

1948, a competition for the reconstruction was tendered: Josef Gielen, who was then director, first tended to support the design of ex aequo-ranked Otto Niedermoser, according to which the house was to be rebuilt into a modern gallery theater. Finally, he agreed but then for the project by Michael Engelhardt, whose plan was conservative but also cost effective. The character of the lodges theater was largely taken into account and maintained, the central royal box but has been replaced by two balconies, and with a new slanted ceiling construction in the audience was the acoustics, the shortcoming of the house, improved significantly.

On 14 October 1955 was happening under Adolf Rott the reopening of the restored house at the Ring. For this occasion Mozart's A Little Night Music was played. On 15 and on 16 October it was followed by the first performance (for reasons of space as a double premiere) in the restored theater: King Ottokar's Fortune and End of Franz Grillparzer, staged by Adolf Rott. A few months after the signing of the Austrian State Treaty was the choice of this play, which the beginning of Habsburg rule in Austria makes a subject of discussion and Ottokar of Horneck's eulogy on Austria (... it's a good country / Well worth that a prince bow to it! / where have you yet seen the same?... ) contains highly symbolic. Rott and under his successors Ernst Haeusserman and Gerhard Klingenberg the classic Burgtheater style and the Burgtheater German for German theaters were finally pointing the way .

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Burgtheater participated (with other well-known theaters in Vienna) on the so-called Brecht boycott.

Gerhard Klingenberg internationalized the Burgtheater, he invited renowned stage directors such as Dieter Dorn, Peter Hall, Luca Ronconi, Giorgio Strehler, Roberto Guicciardini and Otomar Krejča. Klingenberg also enabled the castle debuts of Claus Peymann and Thomas Bernhard (1974 world premiere of The Hunting Party). Bernhard was as a successor of Klingenberg mentioned, but eventually was appointed Achim Benning, whereupon the writer with the text "The theatrical shack on the ring (how I should become the director of the Burgtheater)" answered.

Benning, the first ensemble representative of the Burgtheater which was appointed director, continued Klingenberg's way of Europeanization by other means, brought directors such as Adolf Dresen, Manfred Wekwerth or Thomas Langhoff to Vienna, looked with performances of plays of Vaclav Havel to the then politically separated East and took the the public taste more into consideration.

Directorate Claus Peymann 1986-1999

Under the by short-term Minister of Education Helmut Zilk brought to Vienna Claus Peymann, director from 1986 to 1999, there was further modernization of the programme and staging styles. Moreover Peymann was never at a loss for critical contributions in the public, a hitherto unusual attitude for Burgtheater directors. Therefore, he and his program within sections of the audience met with rejection. The greatest theater scandal in Vienna since 1945 occurred in 1988 concerning the premiere of Thomas Bernhard's Heldenplatz (Place of the Heroes) drama which was fiercly fought by conservative politicians and zealots. The play deals with the Vergangenheitsbewältigung (process of coming to terms with the past) and illuminates the present management in Austria - with attacks on the then ruling Social Democratic Party - critically. Together with Claus Peymann Bernhard after the premiere dared to face on the stage applause and boos.

Bernard, to his home country bound in love-hate relationship, prohibited the performance of his plays in Austria before his death in 1989 by will. Peymann, to Bernhard bound in a difficult friendship (see Bernhard's play Claus Peymann buys a pair of pants and goes eating with me) feared harm for the author's work, should his plays precisely in his homeland not being shown. First, it was through permission of the executor Peter Fabjan - Bernhard's half-brother - after all, possible the already in the schedule of the Burgtheater included productions to continue. Finally, shortly before the tenth anniversary of the death of Bernard it came to the revival of the Bernhard play Before retirement by the first performance director Peymann. The plays by Bernhard are since then continued on the programme of the Burgtheater and they are regularly newly produced.

In 1993, the rehearsal stage of the Castle theater was opened in the arsenal (architect Gustav Peichl). Since 1999, the Burgtheater has the operation form of a limited corporation.

Directorate Klaus Bachler 1999-2009

Peymann was followed in 1999 by Klaus Bachler as director. He is a trained actor, but was mostly as a cultural manager (director of the Vienna Festival) active. Bachler moved the theater as a cultural event in the foreground and he engaged for this purpose directors such as Luc Bondy, Andrea Breth, Peter Zadek and Martin Kušej.

Were among the unusual "events" of the directorate Bachler

* The Theatre of Orgies and Mysteries by Hermann Nitsch with the performance of 122 Action (2005 )

* The recording of the MTV Unplugged concert with Die Toten Hosen for the music channel MTV (2005, under the title available)

* John Irving's reading from his book at the Burgtheater Until I find you (2006)

* The 431 animatographische (animatographical) Expedition by Christoph Schlingensief and a big event of him under the title of Area 7 - Matthew Sadochrist - An expedition by Christoph Schlingensief (2006).

* Daniel Hoevels cut in Schiller's Mary Stuart accidentally his throat (December 2008). Outpatient care is enough.

Jubilee Year 2005

In October 2005, the Burgtheater celebrated the 50th Anniversary of its reopening with a gala evening and the performance of Grillparzer's King Ottokar's Fortune and End, directed by Martin Kušej that had been performed in August 2005 at the Salzburg Festival as a great success. Michael Maertens (in the role of Rudolf of Habsburg) received the Nestroy Theatre Award for Best Actor for his role in this play. Actor Tobias Moretti was awarded in 2006 for this role with the Gertrude Eysoldt Ring.

Furthermore, there were on 16th October 2005 the open day on which the 82-minute film "burg/private. 82 miniatures" of Sepp Dreissinger was shown for the first time. The film contains one-minute film "Stand portraits" of Castle actors and guest actors who, without saying a word, try to present themselves with a as natural as possible facial expression. Klaus Dermutz wrote a work on the history of the Burgtheater. As a motto of this season served a quotation from Lessing's Minna von Barnhelm: "It's so sad to be happy alone."

The Burgtheater on the Mozart Year 2006

Also the Mozart Year 2006 was at the Burgtheater was remembered. As Mozart's Singspiel Die Entführung aus dem Serail in 1782 in the courtyard of Castle Theatre was premiered came in cooperation with the Vienna State Opera on the occasion of the Vienna Festival in May 2006 a new production (directed by Karin Beier) of this opera on stage.

Directorate Matthias Hartmann since 2009

From September 2009 to 2014, Matthias Hartmann was Artistic Director of the Burgtheater. A native of Osnabrück, he directed the stage houses of Bochum and Zurich. With his directors like Alvis Hermanis, Roland Schimmelpfennig, David Bösch, Stefan Bachmann, Stefan Pucher, Michael Thalheimer, came actresses like Dorte Lyssweski, Katharina Lorenz, Sarah Viktoria Frick, Mavie Hoerbiger, Lucas Gregorowicz and Martin Wuttke came permanently to the Burg. Matthias Hartmann himself staged around three premieres per season, about once a year, he staged at the major opera houses. For more internationality and "cross-over", he won the Belgian artist Jan Lauwers and his Need Company as "Artists in Residence" for the Castle, the New York group Nature Theater of Oklahoma show their great episode drama Live and Times of an annual continuation. For the new look - the Burgtheater presents itself without a solid logo with word games around the BURG - the Burgtheater in 2011 was awarded the Cultural Brand of the Year .

Since 2014, Karin Bergmann is the commander in chief.