La iglesia de San Sebastián de los Caballeros se encuentra en torno al primer recinto amurallado de Toro. Es una zona céntrica próxima a la Plaza Mayor, a la cual se puede llegar a través del Arco del Postigo.

Fue parroquia al menos desde principios del S. XII hasta 1896. Su primera fábrica seria de ladrillo, de estilo románico-mudéjar, aunque a principios del S.XVI fue reconstruida por el trasmerano Juan Martínez de Revilla a expensas del famoso teólogo toresano Fray Diego de Deza, profesor de Salamanca, preceptor del príncipe don Juan, hijo de los RR.CC., Inquisidor General, Arzobispo de Sevilla y protector de Colón. Esta construcción gótica tardía destaca por la solidez, continencia ornamental y el predominio del macizo sobre el vano. La tribuna data de 1570 y su hermoso alfarje es obra de carpinteros locales. La torre fue acabada en 1573 por el cantero Antonio de Villafaña. Ya en época barroca sufrió un proceso de barroquización bastante mediocre que, sumado al abandono posterior en el S.XX, casi significa la ruina del conjunto.

En la década de 1970 el Estado decide restaurarla para albergar las pinturas murales procedentes del monasterio de Sta. Clara. Aparte de estas pinturas, su patrimonio quedó reducido al arte mueble. Se conserva el retablo mayor in situ.

El museo está formado por una única sala, que coincide con la nave de la iglesia. Ésta consta de capilla mayor, precedida de arco de triunfo agudo y sobre pilares y coro alto. También tiene una sencilla torre adosada al muro norte y la sacristía pospuesta a la cabecera. A los pies se levanta una hermosa tribuna con antepecho de balaustres torneados en arenisca sobre arco escarzado que arranca de pilares. El templo tiene tres puertas a norte sur y oeste pero la entrada al museo se realiza a través de la sacristía en la cara este.

La iglesia-museo de San Sebastián de los Caballeros expone las pinturas murales procedentes del monasterio de Santa Clara.

 

Las pinturas corresponden a la primera fase del gótico lineal o franco-gótico, que todavía no conoce la perspectiva. Aproximadamente, se realizaron en la tercera década del S.XIV. La composición es sólo de dos dimensiones y las trazas lineales, así como la caligrafía grácil y espontánea funcionan como esqueleto sustentante de los colores, formados con muchos matices y abundantes sombreados. Los frecuentes arrepentimientos hablan de la rapidez con la que se debió efectuar la obra. Se trata de una manifestación de la fe sencilla del pueblo cristiano medieval que aceptaba sin crítica la historia de los santos. Se inspiran en la leyenda áurea. De su autoría se habló del nombre de Teresa Diez, ya que este nombre aparece escrito en las pinturas, pero ésta debía ser la donante como indican los escudos heráldicos de la familia que también aparecen. Descartada entonces Teresa Diez, es posible que sean obra de Domingo Pérez, el pintor que se representa como criado de Sancho IV en la firma de la policromía de la Portada de la Majestad de la Colegiata de Toro. Nos consta de este autor que también efectuó unos murales en la catedral de Zamora.

 

torosacro.com/historia/san-sebastian-de-los-caballeros/

 

The church of San Sebastián de los Caballeros is located around the first walled enclosure of Toro. It is a central area near the Plaza Mayor, which can be reached through the Arch of the Postigo.

It was parished at least from the early 12th century until 1896. Its first factory would be brick, Romanesque-Mudejar style, although at the beginning of the H.XVI century it was rebuilt by the transmerano Juan Martínez de Revilla at the expense of the famous Toresian theologian Fray Diego de Deza, professor of Salamanca, preceptor of Prince Don Juan, son of the RR. CC., Inquisidor General, Archbishop of Seville and protector of Columbus. This late Gothic construction stands out for its solidity, ornamental continence and the predominance of the massif over the vain. The grandstand dates back to 1570 and its beautiful pottery is the work of local carpenters. The tower was finished in 1573 by the goalkeeper Antonio de Villafaña. Already in baroque times it suffered a rather mediocre baroque process that, together with the subsequent abandonment in the twentieth century, almost means the ruin of the whole.

In the 1970s the State decided to restore it to house the mural paintings from the monastery of St. Clare. Apart from these paintings, his heritage was reduced to the art of furniture. The main altarpiece is preserved in situ.

 

The museum consists of a single room, which coincides with the nave of the church. This consists of main chapel, preceded by a sharp triumphal arch and on pillars and a high choir. It also has a simple tower attached to the north wall and the sacristy postponed to the headboard. At the feet stands a beautiful grandstand with a balustle of balusters turned in sandstone on a frosted arch that starts from pillars. The temple has three gates to the north south and west but the entrance to the museum is made through the sacristy on the east side.

The church-museum of San Sebastian de los Caballeros exhibits the mural paintings from the monastery of Santa Clara.

 

The paintings correspond to the first phase of linear gothic or Franco-Gothic, which does not yet know the perspective. Approximately, they were held in the third decade of the S.XIV. The composition is only two dimensions and the linear traces, as well as the graceful and spontaneous calligraphy function as a skeleton supporting the colors, formed with many nuances and abundant shades. Frequent repentances tell of how quickly the work should be done. It is a manifestation of the simple faith of the medieval Christian people who accepted the history of the saints without criticism. They are inspired by the golden legend. From her authorship was mentioned the name of Teresa Diez, since this name is written in the paintings, but this was to be the donor as indicated by the heraldic shields of the family that also appear. Discarded then Teresa Diez, it is possible that they are the work of Domingo Pérez, the painter who is depicted as a servant of Sancho IV in the signature of the polychromia of the Cover of the Majesty of the Collegiate of Toro. We are aware of this author who also made some murals in the cathedral of Zamora

 

La iglesia de San Sebastián de los Caballeros se encuentra en torno al primer recinto amurallado de Toro. Es una zona céntrica próxima a la Plaza Mayor, a la cual se puede llegar a través del Arco del Postigo.

Fue parroquia al menos desde principios del S. XII hasta 1896. Su primera fábrica seria de ladrillo, de estilo románico-mudéjar, aunque a principios del S.XVI fue reconstruida por el trasmerano Juan Martínez de Revilla a expensas del famoso teólogo toresano Fray Diego de Deza, profesor de Salamanca, preceptor del príncipe don Juan, hijo de los RR.CC., Inquisidor General, Arzobispo de Sevilla y protector de Colón. Esta construcción gótica tardía destaca por la solidez, continencia ornamental y el predominio del macizo sobre el vano. La tribuna data de 1570 y su hermoso alfarje es obra de carpinteros locales. La torre fue acabada en 1573 por el cantero Antonio de Villafaña. Ya en época barroca sufrió un proceso de barroquización bastante mediocre que, sumado al abandono posterior en el S.XX, casi significa la ruina del conjunto.

En la década de 1970 el Estado decide restaurarla para albergar las pinturas murales procedentes del monasterio de Sta. Clara. Aparte de estas pinturas, su patrimonio quedó reducido al arte mueble. Se conserva el retablo mayor in situ.

El museo está formado por una única sala, que coincide con la nave de la iglesia. Ésta consta de capilla mayor, precedida de arco de triunfo agudo y sobre pilares y coro alto. También tiene una sencilla torre adosada al muro norte y la sacristía pospuesta a la cabecera. A los pies se levanta una hermosa tribuna con antepecho de balaustres torneados en arenisca sobre arco escarzado que arranca de pilares. El templo tiene tres puertas a norte sur y oeste pero la entrada al museo se realiza a través de la sacristía en la cara este.

La iglesia-museo de San Sebastián de los Caballeros expone las pinturas murales procedentes del monasterio de Santa Clara.

 

Las pinturas corresponden a la primera fase del gótico lineal o franco-gótico, que todavía no conoce la perspectiva. Aproximadamente, se realizaron en la tercera década del S.XIV. La composición es sólo de dos dimensiones y las trazas lineales, así como la caligrafía grácil y espontánea funcionan como esqueleto sustentante de los colores, formados con muchos matices y abundantes sombreados. Los frecuentes arrepentimientos hablan de la rapidez con la que se debió efectuar la obra. Se trata de una manifestación de la fe sencilla del pueblo cristiano medieval que aceptaba sin crítica la historia de los santos. Se inspiran en la leyenda áurea. De su autoría se habló del nombre de Teresa Diez, ya que este nombre aparece escrito en las pinturas, pero ésta debía ser la donante como indican los escudos heráldicos de la familia que también aparecen. Descartada entonces Teresa Diez, es posible que sean obra de Domingo Pérez, el pintor que se representa como criado de Sancho IV en la firma de la policromía de la Portada de la Majestad de la Colegiata de Toro. Nos consta de este autor que también efectuó unos murales en la catedral de Zamora.

 

torosacro.com/historia/san-sebastian-de-los-caballeros/

 

The church of San Sebastián de los Caballeros is located around the first walled enclosure of Toro. It is a central area near the Plaza Mayor, which can be reached through the Arch of the Postigo.

It was parished at least from the early 12th century until 1896. Its first factory would be brick, Romanesque-Mudejar style, although at the beginning of the H.XVI century it was rebuilt by the transmerano Juan Martínez de Revilla at the expense of the famous Toresian theologian Fray Diego de Deza, professor of Salamanca, preceptor of Prince Don Juan, son of the RR. CC., Inquisidor General, Archbishop of Seville and protector of Columbus. This late Gothic construction stands out for its solidity, ornamental continence and the predominance of the massif over the vain. The grandstand dates back to 1570 and its beautiful pottery is the work of local carpenters. The tower was finished in 1573 by the goalkeeper Antonio de Villafaña. Already in baroque times it suffered a rather mediocre baroque process that, together with the subsequent abandonment in the twentieth century, almost means the ruin of the whole.

In the 1970s the State decided to restore it to house the mural paintings from the monastery of St. Clare. Apart from these paintings, his heritage was reduced to the art of furniture. The main altarpiece is preserved in situ.

 

The museum consists of a single room, which coincides with the nave of the church. This consists of main chapel, preceded by a sharp triumphal arch and on pillars and a high choir. It also has a simple tower attached to the north wall and the sacristy postponed to the headboard. At the feet stands a beautiful grandstand with a balustle of balusters turned in sandstone on a frosted arch that starts from pillars. The temple has three gates to the north south and west but the entrance to the museum is made through the sacristy on the east side.

The church-museum of San Sebastian de los Caballeros exhibits the mural paintings from the monastery of Santa Clara.

 

The paintings correspond to the first phase of linear gothic or Franco-Gothic, which does not yet know the perspective. Approximately, they were held in the third decade of the S.XIV. The composition is only two dimensions and the linear traces, as well as the graceful and spontaneous calligraphy function as a skeleton supporting the colors, formed with many nuances and abundant shades. Frequent repentances tell of how quickly the work should be done. It is a manifestation of the simple faith of the medieval Christian people who accepted the history of the saints without criticism. They are inspired by the golden legend. From her authorship was mentioned the name of Teresa Diez, since this name is written in the paintings, but this was to be the donor as indicated by the heraldic shields of the family that also appear. Discarded then Teresa Diez, it is possible that they are the work of Domingo Pérez, the painter who is depicted as a servant of Sancho IV in the signature of the polychromia of the Cover of the Majesty of the Collegiate of Toro. We are aware of this author who also made some murals in the cathedral of Zamora

 

David

1600

Oil on canvas, 110 x 91 cm

Museo del Prado, Madrid

 

This painting addresses the subject of David and Goliath, which the artist repeatedly dealt with later in his career, with a perfect linearity of means and intelligence of iconographic invention. As in the early Renaissance, David is shown as the adolescent who triumphs not by his strength, but by his power of character and his faith. The oblique pose of the figure (David stands partly parallel to the picture plane) is constructed with admirable skill.

 

Caravaggio has a particular importance for Spain, for he originated the realist and 'tenebrist' style of painting that enjoyed such development and popularity there in the work of such artists as Ribera and Zurbar??n. This mature work demonstrates the fundamentals of his art: an emphatic solidity created by a harsh contrast of light and shade; the immediacy created by staging the action right in the foreground, and eliminating all superfluous space around it (conventionally, David would have been given room to stand up, so to speak); the elimination of decoration, such as colour or elegant posture, in order to concentrate on the drama alone.

      

--- Keywords: --------------

 

Author: CARAVAGGIO

Title: David

Time-line: 1551-1600

School: Italian

Form: painting

Type: religious

River Dargle Flood Defence Scheme.

These images were taken in the first week of November 2016.

 

These are the critical stabilisation works at the Silverbridge site, adjacent to the N11 dual-carriageway:

 

Back in November 2014, we observed bank stabilisation works here involving excavation, repair and building of a support wall structure -- carried out by JONS Construction on behalf of the National Roads Authority.

 

We would occasionally catch sight of this work in the distance. Quite an impressive little piece of structural engineering.

Having built a retaining concave wall, backfilled for solidity, they were also drilling, fixing and sealing ground anchors to pin the entire structure together.

 

flic.kr/p/paSU8U

 

Now we see that further works are being undertaken.

Word has it that extra ‘stabilisation work’ has to be done to protect the integrity of the riverbank. At the section here we can see that there’s not much space between the edge of the rock face and the Armco at the side of the dual-carriageway.

Have yet to determine what precisely that will entail. Serious work to reinforce the side access ramp down to the river.

 

The N11 carriageway runs adjacent to this sunken side of the riverbank -- barely 2 (large) paces divide the two. Even with twin strips of Armco along the roadside, it's perilously close. Traffic speeds along this stretch (maximum speed 100 kmp). Only needs a touch from a heavy vehicle to cause secondary impact, which (worst possible scenario) could result in something going airborne.

 

Working in these confined spaces puts a premium of safety and communication.

 

The guys have hard-filled a working shelf on the riverbed, to allow machinery access to the rockface. Obviously some serious drilling is called for before a form of extra 'pinning' is put in place.

They have sunk a series of hollowed tubes/casings -- obviously to form the foundations of a more extensive structure.

And some investigative work around the transverse buttress of the access bridge, parallel to the heavy-duty pipeline carrying water down from the Vartry reservoir.

 

At a (rough) guess -- I'd say the foundations were sunk to a depth of approx 4+m.

With such secure foundations in place, they would then look to construct a substantial bank of material, and/or retaining wall (similar to that in place further along the roadside bank).

 

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Previously the guys drilled and sunk 4+metre deep reinforced tubing and rods along a newly laid concrete base. Those stubs are now being used to attach steel rod cradles -- which, in turn, I believe will be filled with poured concrete. Variation on the method they've used elsewhere along this stretch of the river.

 

At this time of year, it's not a particularly nice place to be working in. The low, late sun never swings around sufficiently to light+warm this stretch. The day we were there, the air was barely above freezing point -- so, gotta be bloody cold down in that recess. No type of construction gear, or footwear, is going to keep the cold from seeping into your bones.

And, on a related point, it is a particularly tough spot for the inhabitants of the 3 traveller community dwellings adjacent to this work. Blood cold, and eternally damp.

The pair of windows in St Catherine & St John the Baptist's chapel off the south ambulatory were reglazed in 2002 with stunning new glass by Tom Denny. They were created by to celebrate the 900th anniversary of the monks’ arrival at the Abbey, the theme being the Benedictine motto ‘to work is to pray’.

www.thomasdenny.co.uk/tewkesbury-abbey-two-windows

 

The attractive town of Tewkesbury has been dominated by its superb abbey church since the beginning of the 12th century, and we can be forever grateful to its townspeople for purchasing the monastic church in 1540 for £453 for use as their parish church, saving it from the fate that befell countless similar great churches across the land during the turmoil of the Dissolution. It reminds us both how lucky we are to still marvel at it today, yet also how great a loss to our heritage the period wrought when many more such buildings were so utterly plundered as to have gone without trace (the fate of the monastic buildings here and even the lady chapel of the church whose footings are laid out in the grass at the east end).

 

Tewkesbury Abbey is thus rightly celebrated as one of our greatest non-cathedral churches, and remarkably much of the original Norman church remains substantially intact, most apparently in the great central tower, a fine example of Romanesque architecture adorned with rows of blind-arcading. The west front is dominated by a massive Norman-arched recess (enclosing the somewhat later west window) and the nave and transepts remain largely as originally built, though this is less clear externally owing to the changes made to the windows, nearly all of which were enlarged in the 14th century in the Decorated Gothic style. This century also saw the complete rebuilding of the eastern limb of the church, of a form less common in England with radiating chapels surrounding the eastern apse of the choir (the central lady chapel sadly missing since 1540).

 

The interior reveals far more of the Romanesque structure with mighty columns supporting the round Norman arches of the nave arcades giving the building a great sense of solidity. The space is further enlivened by the changes made during the 14th century by the stunning vault over the nave (adorned with a rewarding series of figurative bosses) which sits surprisingly well with the Norman work below. Beyond the apsidal choir beckons, and both this and the space below the tower are enriched with stunningly complex vaulted ceilings (replete with further bosses and gilded metal stars), all ablaze with colour and gilding.

 

There is much to enjoy in glass here, most remarkably a complete set of 14th century glazing in the clerestorey of the choir, seven windows filled with saints and prophets (and most memorably two groups of knights in the westernmost windows on each side). A few of the figures have fared less well over the centuries but on the whole this is a wonderfully rare and well preserved scheme. There is much glass from the 19th century too, with an extensive scheme in the nave of good quality work by Hardman's, and more recently a pair of rich windows by Tom Denny were added in one of the polygonal chapels around the east end.

 

Some of the most memorable features are the monuments with many medieval tombs of note, primarily the effigies and chantry chapels of members of the Despenser family around the choir (two of the chantries being miniature architectural gems in their own right with exquisite fan-vaulting). In one of the apsidal chapels is the unusual cenotaph to Abbot Wakeman with his grisly cadaver effigy, a late medieval reminder of earthly mortality.

 

Tewkesbury Abbey is not to be missed and is every bit as rewarding as many of our cathedrals (superior in fact to all but the best). It is normally kept open and welcoming to visitors on a daily basis. I have also had the privilege of working on this great building several times over the years (as part of the team at the studio I once worked for), and have left my mark in glass in a few discreet places.

www.tewkesburyabbey.org.uk/

Collection Peggy Guggenheim

 

[Bibliography]

Peggy Guggenheim's career belongs in the history of 20th century art. Peggy used to say that it was her duty to protect the art of her own time, and she dedicated half of her life to this mission, as well as to the creation of the museum that still carries her name.

 

Peggy Guggenheim was born in New York on 26 August 1898, the daughter of Benjamin Guggenheim and Florette Seligman. Benjamin Guggenheim was one of seven brothers who, with their father, Meyer (of Swiss origin), created a family fortune in the late 19th century from the mining and smelting of metals, especially silver, copper and lead. The Seligmans were a leading banking family. Peggy grew up in New York. In April 1912 her father died heroically on the SS Titanic.

 

In her early 20s, Peggy volunteered for work at a bookshop, the Sunwise Turn, in New York and thanks to this began making friends in intellectual and artistic circles, including the man who was to become her first husband in Paris in 1922, Laurence Vail. Vail was a writer and Dada collagist of great talent. He chronicled his tempestuous life with Peggy in a novel, Murder! Murder! of which Peggy wrote: "It was a sort of satire of our life together and, although it was extremely funny, I took offense at several things he said about me."

 

In 1921 Peggy Guggenheim traveled to Europe. Thanks to Laurence Vail (the father of her two children Sindbad and Pegeen, the painter), Peggy soon found herself at the heart of Parisian bohème and American ex-patriate society. Many of her acquaintances of the time, such as Constantin Brancusi, Djuna Barnes and Marcel Duchamp, were to become lifelong friends. Though she remained on good terms with Vail for the rest of his life, she left him in 1928 for an English intellectual, John Holms, who was the greatest love of her life. There is a lengthy description of John Holms, a war hero with writer's block, in chapter five of Edwin Muir's An Autobiography. Muir wrote: "Holms was the most remarkable man I ever met." Unfortunately, Holms died tragically young in 1934.

 

In 1937, encouraged by her friend Peggy Waldman, Peggy decided to open an art gallery in London. When she opened her Guggenheim Jeune gallery in January 1938, she was beginning, at 39 years old, a career which would significantly affect the course of post-war art. Her friend Samuel Beckett urged her to dedicate herself to contemporary art as it was âa living thing,â and Marcel Duchamp introduced her to the artists and taught her, as she put it, âthe difference between abstract and Surrealist art.â The first show presented works by Jean Cocteau, while the second was the first one-man show of Vasily Kandinsky in England.

 

In 1939, tired of her gallery, Peggy conceived âthe idea of opening a modern museum in London,â with her friend Herbert Read as its director (2). From the start the museum was to be formed on historical principles, and a list of all the artists that should be represented, drawn up by Read and later revised by Marcel Duchamp and Nellie van Doesburg, was to become the basis of her collection.

 

In 1939-40, apparently oblivious of the war, Peggy busily acquired works for the future museum, keeping to her resolve to âbuy a picture a day.â Some of the masterpieces of her collection, such as works by Francis Picabia, Georges Braque, Salvador DalÃ- and Piet Mondrian, were bought at that time. She astonished Fernand Léger by buying his Men in the City on the day that Hitler invaded Norway. She acquired Brancusiâs Bird in Space as the Germans approached Paris, and only then decided to flee the city.

 

In July 1941, Peggy fled Nazi-occupied France and returned to her native New York, together with Max Ernst, who was to become her second husband a few months later (they separated in 1943).

 

Peggy immediately began looking for a location for her modern art museum, while she continued to acquire works for her collection. In October 1942 she opened her museum/gallery Art of This Century. Designed by the Rumanian-Austrian architect Frederick Kiesler, the gallery was composed of extraordinarily innovative exhibition rooms and soon became the most stimulating venue for contemporary art in New York City.

 

Of the opening night, she wrote: âI wore one of my Tanguy earrings and one made by Calder in order to show my impartiality between Surrealist and Abstract Art" . There Peggy exhibited her collection of Cubist, abstract and Surrealist art, which was already substantially that which we see today in Venice. Peggy produced a remarkable catalogue, edited by André Breton, with a cover design by Max Ernst. She held temporary exhibitions of leading European artists, and of several then unknown young Americans such as Robert Motherwell, William Baziotes, Mark Rothko, David Hare, Janet Sobel, Robert de Niro Sr, Clyfford Still, and Jackson Pollock, the âstarâ of the gallery, who was given his first show by Peggy late in 1943. From July 1943 Peggy supported Pollock with a monthly stipend and actively promoted and sold his paintings. She commissioned his largest painting, a Mural, which she later gave to the University of Iowa.

 

Pollock and the others pioneered American Abstract Expressionism. One of the principal sources of this was Surrealism, which the artists encountered at Art of This Century. More important, however, was the encouragement and support that Peggy, together with her friend and assistant Howard Putzel, gave to the members of this nascent New York avant-garde. Peggy and her collection thus played a vital intermediary role in the development of Americaâs first art movement of international importance.

 

In 1947 Peggy decided to return in Europe, where her collection was shown for the first time at the 1948 Venice Biennale, in the Greek pavilion. In this way the works of artists such as Arshile Gorky, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko were exhibited for the first time in Europe. The presence of Cubist, abstract, and Surrealist art made the pavilion the most coherent survey of Modernism yet to have been presented in Italy.

 

Soon after Peggy bought Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, on the Grand Canal in Venice, where she came to live. In 1949 she held an exhibition of sculptures in the garden curated by Giuseppe Marchiori, and from 1951 she opened her collection to the public.

 

In 1950 Peggy organized the first exhibition of Jackson Pollock in Italy, in the Ala Napoleonica of the Museo Correr in Venice. Her collection was in the meantime exhibited in Florence and Milan, and later in Amsterdam, Brussels, and Zurich. From 1951 Peggy opened her house and her collection to the public annually in the summer months. During her 30-year Venetian life, Peggy Guggenheim continued to collect works of art and to support artists, such as Edmondo Bacci and Tancredi Parmeggiani, whom she met in 1951. In 1962 Peggy Guggenheim was nominated Honorary Citizen of Venice.

 

In 1969 the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York invited Peggy Guggenheim to show her collection there. In 1976 she donated her palace and works of art to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. The Foundation had been created in 1937 by Peggy Guggenheimâs uncle Solomon, in order to operate his collection and museum which, since 1959, has been housed in Frank Lloyd Wrightâs famous spiral structure on 5th Avenue.

 

Peggy died aged 81 on 23 December 1979. Her ashes are placed in a corner of the garden of Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, next to the place where she customarily buried her beloved dogs. Since this time, the Guggenheim Foundation has converted and expanded Peggy Guggenheim's private house into one of the finest small museums of modern art in the world.

  

[Info]

 

Address

Peggy Guggenheim Collection

Palazzo Venier dei Leoni

Dorsoduro 701

I-30123 Venezia

 

Opening hours

Daily 10 am - 6 pm

Closed Tuesdays and December 25

 

General information

tel: +39.041.2405.411

fax: +39.041.520.6885

e-mail: info@guggenheim-venice.it

 

Visitor services

tel: +39.041.2405.440/419

fax: +39.041.520.9083

e-mail: visitorinfo@guggenheim-venice.it

 

Photography

Photography is permitted without flash. You may not use tripods or monopods.

 

Animals

Animals of all sizes are not allowed in the galleries and in the gardens.

For information and assistance please contact "Sporting Dog Club".

Call Tel. +39 347 6242550 (Marie) or +39 347 4161321 (Roberto)

or write to sportingdoginvenice@gmail.com

 

Venice Art for All

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection joins the Venice Art for All project and becomes accessible to all, including people with limited mobility.

Palazzo Venier dei Leoni was probably begun in the 1750s by architect Lorenzo Boschetti, whose only other known building in Venice is the church of San Barnaba.

 

It is an unfinished palace. A model exists in the Museo Correr, Venice. Its magnificent classical façade would have matched that of Palazzo Corner, opposite, with the triple arch of the ground floor (which is the explanation of the ivy-covered pillars visible today) extended through both the piani nobili above. We do not know precisely why this Venier palace was left unfinished. Money may have run out, or some say that the powerful Corner family living opposite blocked the completion of a building that would have been grander than their own. Another explanation may rest with the unhappy fate of the next door Gothic palace which was demolished in the early 19th century: structural damage to this was blamed in part on the deep foundations of Palazzo Venier dei Leoni.

 

Nor is it known how the palace came to be associated with "leoni," lions. Although it is said that a lion was once kept in the garden, the name is more likely to have arisen from the yawning lion's heads of Istrian stone which decorate the façade at water level. The Venier family, who claimed descent from the gens Aurelia of ancient Rome (the Emperor Valerian and Gallienus were from this family), were among the oldest Venetian noble families. Over the centuries they provided eighteen Procurators of St Markâs and three Doges. Antonio Venier (Doge, 1382-1400) had such a strong sense of justice that he allowed his own son to languish and die in prison for his crimes. Francesco Venier (Doge, 1553-56) was the subject of a superb portrait by Titian (Madrid, Fundaciòn Thyssen-Bornemisza). Sebastiano Venier was a commander of the Venetian fleet at the Battle of Lepanto (1571) and later became Doge (1577-78). A lively strutting statue of him, by Antonio dal Zotto (1907), can be seen today in the church of Ss. Giovanni e Paolo, Venice.

 

From 1910 to c. 1924 the house was owned by the flamboyant Marchesa Luisa Casati, hostess to the Ballets Russes, and the subject of numerous portraits by artists as various as Boldini, Troubetzkoy, Man Ray and Augustus John. In 1949, Peggy Guggenheim purchased Palazzo Venier from the heirs of Viscountes Castlerosse and made it her home for the following thirty years. Early in 1951, Peggy Guggenheim opened her home and collection to the public and continued to do so every year until her death in 1979.

 

In 1980, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection opened for the first time under the management of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, to which Peggy Guggenheim had given her palazzo and collection during her lifetime.

Palazzo Venier dei Leoni's long low façade, made of Istrian stone and set off against the trees in the garden behind that soften its lines, forms a welcome "caesura" in the stately march of Grand Canal palaces from the Accademia to the Salute.

  

[Permanent collection]

The core mission of the museum is to present the personal collection of Peggy Guggenheim. The collection holds major works of Cubism, Futurism, Metaphysical painting, European abstraction, avant-garde sculpture, Surrealism, and American Abstract Expressionism, by some of the greatest artists of the 20th century. These include Picasso (The Poet, On the Beach), Braque (The Clarinet), Duchamp (Sad Young Man on a Train), Léger, Brancusi (Maiastra, Bird in Space), Severini (Sea=Dancer), Picabia (Very Rare Picture on Earth), de Chirico (The Red Tower, The Nostalgia of the Poet), Mondrian (Composition No. 1 with Grey and Red 1938 / Composition with Red 1939), Kandinsky (Landscape with Red Spots, No. 2, White Cross), Miro (Seated Woman II), Giacometti Woman with Her Throat Cut, Woman Walking), Klee (Magic Garden), Ernst (The Kiss, Attirement of the Bride), Magritte (Empire of Light), DalÃ- (Birth of Liquid Desires), Pollock (The Moon Woman, Alchemy), Gorky (Untitled), Calder (Arc of Petals) and Marini (Angel of the City).

 

The museum also exhibits works of art given to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for its Venetian museum since Peggy Guggenheim's death, as well as long-term loans from private collections.

 

Hannelore B. and Rudolph B. Schulhof Collection

In October 2012 eighty works of Italian, European and American art of the decades after 1945 were added to the collections of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in Venice. They were the bequest of Hannelore B. Schulhof, who collected the works with her late husband Rudolph B. Schulhof. They include paintings by Burri, Dubuffet, Fontana, Hofmann, Kelly, Kiefer, Noland, Rothko, and Twombly, as well as sculptures by Calder, Caro, Holzer, Judd and Hepworth. The Hannelore B. and Rudolph B. Schulhof Garden exhibits works from this collection.

 

Gianni Mattioli Collection

The museum exhibits twenty six masterpieces on long-term loan from the renowned Gianni Mattioli Collection, including famous images of Italian Futurism, such as Materia and Dynamism of a Cyclist by Boccioni, Interventionist Demonstration by Carrà , The Solidity of Fog by Russolo, works by Balla, Severini (Blue Dancer), Sironi, Soffici, Rosai, Depero. The collection includes important early paintings by Morandi and a rare portrait by Modigliani.

 

Patsy R. and Raymond D. Nasher Sculpture Garden

The Patsy R. and Raymond D. Nasher Sculpture Garden and other outdoor spaces at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection presents works from the permanent collections (by Arp, Duchamp-Villon, Ernst, Flanagan, Giacometti, Gilardi, Goldsworthy, Holzer, Marini, Minguzzi, Mirko, Merz, Moore, Ono, Paladino, Richier, Takis), as well as sculptures on temporary loan from foundations and private collections (by Calder, König , Marini, Nannucci, Smith).

Recorded as an architect as well as a painter, Prospero Mallerini remains an elusive figure. No biographical details about him are known; however a document relating to his earliest known work, the Portrait of a Capuchin monk, said to be Fra' Viatore of 1794 in the Museo Francescano, Rome, states that it was commissioned from 'un pittore di Martinengo,' a town in the province of Bergamo in Lombardy, suggesting that Mallerini was indeed from there. Despite this, Mallerini seems to have been active for most of his life in Rome and although an attempt has been made to trace his artistic development, his painted oeuvre remains rather small. Thankfully many of his paintings are signed and dated; the earliest 1794 and the latest 1829, just two years after the present work was painted. This picture is apparently unique for no other 'pure' still lifes by Mallerini are known, even though he was clearly interested in painting still life elements in a naturalistic way and often inserted them into his religious altarpieces.

 

Mallerini was patronized by the influential Barberini family in Rome, for in 1802 he signed and dated a Family portrait with don Carlo Barberini and in 1837 a sferisterio was built upon his designs in the Palazzo Barberini at the Quattro Fontane (a smaller version of the arena built at Macerata, intended for outdoor sports and musical events). The Family portrait mentioned above incorporates still life elements that are described with astonishing naturalism, and this seems to be characteristic of Mallerini's work. His altarpiece of San Giovanni Battista della Concezione painted for the Church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane in Rome, itself signed and dated 1829, includes numerous objects that find parallels in the present work: the vanitas still life elements of a skull and an open book in the foreground, and the trompe l'oeil engraving of the Madonna in the background, on which Mallerini signed and dated his altarpiece.

 

The objects in this trompe l'oeil painting are represented life-size and are shown in what appears to be a makeshift cupboard of a private chapel; the white drapery that acts as a curtain is drawn back casually to reveal what lies within. The wood-grain of the planks that act as a backdrop are remarkably realistic and Mallerini delights in painting the objects' contrasting textures: the polished surface and weight of the bronze crucifix contrast the softness of the white drapery, with its gentle folds and delicate green tassels. The lightness of the pages in the open book lower left contrast the solidity of the skull that weighs them down: this is also true of the vanitas still life elements in the foreground of the altarpiece in San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane and in the Portrait of a Capuchin monk. The real subject of the latter is not the monk who is portrayed, but the woolen cloth he wears, the knotted cord around his waist, the inkwell and quill in the foreground, and the ivory crucifix behind him. Here there are no distractions: our attention is focused entirely on the objects Mallerini presents to us and the vanitas message is underlined not only by the presence of the skull but by the extinguished candle the bronze putto holds. The precision with which he describes each object suggests that they were painted from life: they may have been props in the artist's studio or, more likely, these objects belonged to a Roman family - such as the Barberini - and the painting is the result of a specific private commission. The bronze statuette of a putto is loosely based on a type by Roccatagliata whilst the bronze crucifix appears to be modelled on a Giambologna type, an example of which is in the convent of Santa Maria degli Angiolini, Florence.

Taken on the afternoon of this year's Thanksgiving Day. The contrast between the solidity of the bank and what it represents on the one hand and the near invisibility of the bloke on the street make a powerful social statement it seems to me. Shot on Ilford FP4 plus using Olympus OM1

The attractive town of Tewkesbury has been dominated by its superb abbey church since the beginning of the 12th century, and we can be forever grateful to its townspeople for purchasing the monastic church in 1540 for £453 for use as their parish church, saving it from the fate that befell countless similar great churches across the land during the turmoil of the Dissolution. It reminds us both how lucky we are to still marvel at it today, yet also how great a loss to our heritage the period wrought when many more such buildings were so utterly plundered as to have gone without trace (the fate of the monastic buildings here and even the lady chapel of the church whose footings are laid out in the grass at the east end).

 

Tewkesbury Abbey is thus rightly celebrated as one of our greatest non-cathedral churches, and remarkably much of the original Norman church remains substantially intact, most apparently in the great central tower, a fine example of Romanesque architecture adorned with rows of blind-arcading. The west front is dominated by a massive Norman-arched recess (enclosing the somewhat later west window) and the nave and transepts remain largely as originally built, though this is less clear externally owing to the changes made to the windows, nearly all of which were enlarged in the 14th century in the Decorated Gothic style. This century also saw the complete rebuilding of the eastern limb of the church, of a form less common in England with radiating chapels surrounding the eastern apse of the choir (the central lady chapel sadly missing since 1540).

 

The interior reveals far more of the Romanesque structure with mighty columns supporting the round Norman arches of the nave arcades giving the building a great sense of solidity. The space is further enlivened by the changes made during the 14th century by the stunning vault over the nave (adorned with a rewarding series of figurative bosses) which sits surprisingly well with the Norman work below. Beyond the apsidal choir beckons, and both this and the space below the tower are enriched with stunningly complex vaulted ceilings (replete with further bosses and gilded metal stars), all ablaze with colour and gilding.

 

There is much to enjoy in glass here, most remarkably a complete set of 14th century glazing in the clerestorey of the choir, seven windows filled with saints and prophets (and most memorably two groups of knights in the westernmost windows on each side). A few of the figures have fared less well over the centuries but on the whole this is a wonderfully rare and well preserved scheme. There is much glass from the 19th century too, with an extensive scheme in the nave of good quality work by Hardman's, and more recently a pair of rich windows by Tom Denny were added in one of the polygonal chapels around the east end.

 

Some of the most memorable features are the monuments with many medieval tombs of note, primarily the effigies and chantry chapels of members of the Despenser family around the choir (two of the chantries being miniature architectural gems in their own right with exquisite fan-vaulting). In one of the apsidal chapels is the unusual cenotaph to Abbot Wakeman with his grisly cadaver effigy, a late medieval reminder of earthly mortality.

 

Tewkesbury Abbey is not to be missed and is every bit as rewarding as many of our cathedrals (superior in fact to all but the best). It is normally kept open and welcoming to visitors on a daily basis. I have also had the privilege of working on this great building several times over the years (as part of the team at the studio I once worked for), and have left my mark in glass in a few discreet places.

www.tewkesburyabbey.org.uk/

Oil on paper, mounted on wood; 52.1 x 33.7 cm.

 

Modigliani was born into a Jewish family of merchants. As a child he suffered from pleurisy and typhus, which prevented him from receiving a conventional education. In 1898 he began to study painting. After a brief stay in Florence in 1902, he continued his artistic studies in Venice, remaining there until the winter of 1906, when he left for Paris. His early admiration for Italian Renaissance painting—especially that of Siena—was to last throughout his life. In Paris Modigliani became interested in the Post-Impressionist paintings of Paul Cézanne. His initial important contacts were with the poets André Salmon and Max Jacob, with the artist Pablo Picasso, and—in 1907—with Paul Alexandre, a friend of many avant-garde artists and the first to become interested in Modigliani and to buy his works. In 1908 the artist exhibited five or six paintings at the Salon des Indépendants. In 1909 Modigliani met the Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi, on whose advice he seriously studied African sculpture. To prepare himself for creating his own sculpture, he intensified his graphic experiments. In his drawings Modigliani tried to give the function of limiting or enclosing volumes to his contours. In 1912 he exhibited at the Salon d’Automne eight stone heads whose elongated and simplified forms reflect the influence of African sculpture. Modigliani returned entirely to painting about 1915, but his experience as a sculptor had fundamental consequences for his painting style. The characteristics of Modigliani’s sculptured heads—long necks and noses, simplified features, and long oval faces—became typical of his paintings. He reduced and almost eliminated chiaroscuro (the use of gradations of light and shadow to achieve the illusion of three-dimensionality), and he achieved a sense of solidity with strong contours and the richness of juxtaposed colors.

 

The outbreak of World War I in 1914 increased the difficulties of Modigliani’s life. Alexandre and some of his other friends were at the front, his paintings did not sell, and his already delicate health was deteriorating because of his poverty, feverish work ethic, and abuse of alcohol and drugs. He was in the midst of a troubled affair with the South African poet Beatrice Hastings, with whom he lived for two years, from 1914 to 1916. He was assisted, however, by the art dealer Paul Guillaume and especially by the Polish poet Leopold Zborowski, who bought or helped him to sell a few paintings and drawings.

 

Modigliani was not a professional portraitist; for him the portrait was only an occasion to isolate a figure as a kind of sculptural relief through firm and expressive contour drawing. He painted his friends, usually personalities of the Parisian artistic and literary world (such as the artists Juan Gris and Jacques Lipchitz, the writer and artist Jean Cocteau, and the poet Max Jacob), but he also portrayed unknown people, including models, servants, and girls from the neighborhood. In 1917 he began painting a series of about 30 large female nudes that, with their warm, glowing colors and sensuous, rounded forms, are among his best works. In December of that year Berthe Weill organized a solo show for him in her gallery, but the police judged the nudes indecent and had them removed.

 

In 1917 Modigliani began a love affair with the young painter Jeanne Hébuterne, with whom he went to live on the Côte d’Azur. Their daughter, Jeanne, was born in November 1918. His painting became increasingly refined in line and delicate in colour. A more tranquil life and the climate of the Mediterranean, however, did not restore the artist’s undermined health. After returning to Paris in May 1919, he became ill in January 1920; 10 days later he died of tubercular meningitis. Little-known outside avant-garde Parisian circles, Modigliani had seldom participated in official exhibitions. Fame came after his death, with a solo exhibition at the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery in 1922 and later with a biography by André Salmon. For decades critical evaluations of Modigliani’s work were overshadowed by the dramatic story of his tragic life, but he is now acknowledged as one of the most significant and original artists of his time.

 

St Edmund, Southwold, Suffolk

 

It is hard now to remember a time when Southwold was not fashionable. It must be coming on for thirty years ago now that the comedian Michael Palin made a film for television called East of Ipswich. It was a memoir of his childhood in the 1950s, and the basic comic premise was that in those days people used to go on holiday to seaside resorts on the East Anglian coast. In Palin's case, this was Southwold.

 

The amusement came from the idea that people in those days would sit in deckchairs beside the grey north sea, or shelter from the drizzle in genteel teashops or the amusement arcade on the pier. In the Costa Brava package tour days of the 1980s, the quaintness of this image made it seem like something from a different world.

 

And I remember Southwold in the 1980s. It was one of those agreeable little towns distant enough from anywhere bigger to maintain a life of its own. It still had its genteel tea shops, its dusty grocers, its quaint hotels and pubs all owned by Adnams, the old-fashioned and unfashionable local brewery. In the white heat of the Thatcherite cultural revolution, it seemed a place that would soon die on its feet quietly and peaceably.

 

And then, in the 1990s, the colour supplements discovered the East Anglian coast, and fell in love with it. The new fashions for antique-collecting, cooking with local produce and general country living, coupled with a snobbishness about how common foreign travel had become, conspired to make places like Southwold very sought after. Before Nigel Lawson's boom became a bust, the inflated house prices of London and the home counties gave people money to burn. And in their hoards, they came out of the big city to buy holiday homes in East Anglia.

 

Although they are often lumped together, the coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk are actually very different from each other (Cambridgeshire and North Essex are also culturally part of East Anglia, but the North Essex coast is too close to London to have ever stopped being cheap and cheerful, and Cambridgeshire has no coastline). Norfolk's beaches are wide and sandy, with dunes and cliffs and rock pools to explore; towns like Cromer and Hunstanton seem to have stepped out of the pages of the Ladybird Book of the Seaside. Tiny villages along the Norfolk coast have secret little beaches of their own.

 

Suffolk's coast is wilder. Beaches are mainly pebbles rather than sand, and the marshes stretch inland, cutting the coast off from the rest of the county. Unlike Norfolk, Suffolk has no coast road, and so the settlements on the coast are isolated from each other, stuck at the end of narrow lanes that snake away from the A12 and peter out in the heathland above the sea. There are fewer of them too. It is still quicker to get from Walberswick to Southwold by water than by land. Because they are isolated from each other, they take on individual personalities and characteristic. Because they are isolated from the land, they become bastions of polite civilisation.

 

Between Felixstowe in the south, which no outsiders like (and consequently is the favourite of many Suffolk people) and Lowestoft in the north, which is basically an industrial town-on-sea (but which still has the county's best beaches - shhh, don't tell a soul) are half a dozen small towns that vie with each other for trendiness. Southwold is the biggest, and today it is also the most expensive place to live in all East Anglia. Genteel tea shops survive, but are increasingly shouldered by shops that specialise in ski-wear and Barbour jackets, Jack Wills and White Stuff, delicatessens that stock radicchio and seventeen different kinds of olive, jewellery shops and kitchen gadget shops and antique furniture shops where prices are exquisitely painful. Worst of all, the homely, shabby, smoke-filled Sole Bay Inn under the lighthouse has been converted by the now-trendy Adnams Brewery into a chrome and glass filled wine bar.

 

If you see someone in Norfolk driving a truck, they are probably wearing a baseball cap and carrying a shotgun; in Suffolk, they've more likely just bought a Victorian pine dresser from an antique shop, and they're taking it back to Islington. Does this matter? The fishing industry was dying anyway. The tourist industry was also dying. If places like Southwold, Aldeburgh and Orford become outposts of north London, at least they will still provide jobs for local people. But the local people won't be able to afford to live there, of course; they'll be bused in from Reydon, Leiston and Melton to provide services for people in holiday cottages which are the former homes they grew up in, but can no longer afford to buy. Does this seriously annoy me? Not as much as it does them, I'll bet.

 

So, lets go to Southwold, turning off the A12 at the great ship of Blythburgh church, the wide marshes of the River Blyth spreading aimlessly beyond the road. We climb and fall over ancient dunes, and then the road opens out into the flat marshes, the town spreads out beyond. We enter through Reydon (now actually bigger than Southwold, with houses at half the price) and over the bridge into the town of Southwold itself.

 

Having been so critical, I need to say here that Southwold is beautiful. It is quite the loveliest small town in all East Anglia. None of the half-timbered houses here that you find in places like Long Melford and Lavenham; here, the town was completely destroyed by fire in the 17th century, and so we have fine 18th and 19th century municipal buildings. One of the legacies of the fire was the creation of wide open spaces just off of the high street, called greens. The best one of all is Gun Hill Green, overlooking the bay where the last major naval battle in British waters was fought; the cannons still point out to sea. The houses here are stunning, gobsmacking, jawdroppingly wonderful. If I could afford to buy one of them as a weekend retreat, then you bet your life I would, and to hell with the people who moaned about it.

 

At the western end of the High Street is St Bartholomew's Green, and beyond it sits what is, for my money, Suffolk's single most impressive building. This is the great church of St Edmund, a vast edifice built all in one go in the second half of the 15th century. Only Lavenham can compete with it for scale and presence. Unlike the massing at St Peter and St Paul at Lavenham, St Edmund is defined by a long unbroken clerestory and aisles beneath - where St Peter and St Paul looks full of tension, ready to spring, St Edmund is languid and floating, a ship at ease.

 

Southwold church was just one of several vast late medieval rebuildings in this area. Across the river at Walberswick and a few miles upriver at Blythburgh the same thing happened. Blythburgh still survives, but Walberswick was derelicted to make a smaller church, as were Covehithe and Kessingland. Dunwich All Saints was lost to the sea. But Southwold was the biggest. Everything about it breathes massive permanence, from the solidity of the tower to the turreted porch, from the wide windows to the jaunty sanctus bell fleche.

 

Along the top of the aisles, grimacing faces look down. All of them are different. The pedestals atop the clerestory were intended for statues as at Blythburgh, but were probably never filled before the Reformation intervened. At the west end, above the great west window, you can see the vast inscription SAncT EDMUND ORA P: NOBIS ('Saint Edmund, pray for us') as bold a record of the mindset of late medieval East Anglian patriotism and Catholicism as you'll find.

 

As at Lavenham and Long Melford, the interior has been extensively restored, but not in as heavy or blunt a manner as at those two churches. St Edmund has, it must be said, benefited from the attentions of German bombers who put out all the dull Victorian glass during World War II. Here, the interior is vast, light and airy, and much of the restoration is 20th century work, not 19th century. Perhaps because of this, more medieval interior features have survived. Unlike Long Melford, Southwold does not have surviving medieval glass (Mr Dowsing saw to that in 1644), but it does have what is the finest screen in the county.

 

It stretches right the way across the church, and is effectively three separate screens; a rood screen across the chancel arch, and parclose screens across the north and south chancel aisles. All retain their original dado figures; there are 36 of them, more than anywhere else in Suffolk. They have been restored, particularly in the central range, but are fascinating because they retain a lot of original gessowork - this is where plaster of paris is applied to wood and allowed to dry; it is then carved to produce intricate details. The central screen shows 11 disciples and St Paul; they are, from left to right, Philip, Matthew, James the Less, Thomas, Andrew, Peter, Paul, John, James, Batholomew, Jude and Simon.

 

The south chancel chapel is light and open; the bosses above are said to represent Mary Tudor and her second husband Charles, Duke of Brandon. The screen here is painted with twelve Old Testament prophets, and Mortlock suggests that they are by a different hand to the images on the other two screens. Further, he observes that the subject is a usual one for the English Midlands, but rare for East Anglia, and that perhaps this part of the screen came from elsewhere. The same may be true of the other two parts - it is hard to think that the central screen was deliberately made too wide for the two arcades. Here on the south screen, some of the figures have surviving naming inscriptions, and Mortlock surmises that the complete sequence, from left to right, is Baruch, Hosea, Nahum, Jeremiah, Elias, Moses, David, Isaiah, Amos, Jonah and Ezekiel. Hover and click on them below.

 

The north aisle chapel is reserved as the blessed sacrament chapel, and also contains a quite extensive modern library. The screen is harder to explore, because the northern side is curtailed by a large chest, but it features Angels. Unlike the screens at Hitcham and Blundeston, which show angels holding instruments of the passion, these are the nine orders of angels, with Gabriel at their head, and flanked by angels holding symbols of the Trinity and the Eucharist. Mortlock says that they are so similar to the ones at Barton Turf in Norfolk that they may be by the same hand, in which case the central screen is also by that person. They are, from left to right, the Holy Trinity, Gabriel, Archangels, Powers, Dominions, Cherubim, Seraphim, Thrones, Principalities, Virtues, Messengers, and finally the Eucharist. The Holy Trinity angel still has part of the original dedicatory inscription beneath his feet.

 

If part or all of this screen came from elsewhere, where did it come from? Possibly either Walberswick, Covehithe or Kessingland, the three downsized churches mentioned earlier. More excitingly, it might have come from one of the churches along this coast that was lost to the sea; perhaps neighbouring St Nicholas at Easton Bavents, or, just to the south, St Peter and St John the Baptist, the two Dunwich churches lost in the 16th and 17th centuries. We'll never know.

 

If you turn back at the screen and face westwards, your eyes are automatically drawn to the towering font cover, part of the extensive 1930s redecoration of the building. The clerestory is almost like a glass atrium to house it. Also the work of the period is the repainting and regilding of the 15th century pulpit (a lot of people blanch at this, but I think it is gorgeous) and the lectern. Beneath the font cover, the font is clearly one of the rare seven sacraments series, and part of the same group as Westhall, Blythburgh and Wenhaston. As at Blythburgh and Wenhaston, the panels are completely erased, probably in the 19th century, an act of barbarous vandalism. Given that Westhall is probably the best of all in the county, we must assume that three major medieval art treasures were wiped out. Astonishingly, vague shadows survive of the former reliefs. You can easily make out the Mass panel, facing east as at Westhall, the Penance panel and even what may be the Baptism of Christ.

 

Stepping through the screen, the reredos ahead is by Benedict Williamson and the glass above by Ninian Comper, familiar names in the Anglo-catholic pantheon, and evidence of an enthusiasm here that still survives in High Church form. There is a good engraved glass image of St Edmund to the north of the sanctuary, very much in the 1960s fashion, but curiously placed. On the wall of the chancel to the west of it, the high organ case is also painted and gilded enthusiastically.

 

As well as the screen, Southwold's other great medieval survival is the set of return stalls either side of the eastern face of the chancel screen. They have misericord seats, but the best feature are the handrests between the seats. On the south side, carvings include a man with a horn-shaped hat and sinners being drawn into the mouth of hell. On the north side are a man playing two pipes, a monkey preaching and a beaver biting its own genitals; a tale from the medieval bestiary, apparently.

 

What else is there to see? Well, the church is full of delights, and rewards further visits which always seem to turn up something previously unnoticed. St George rides full tilt at a dragon on an old chest at the west end of the north aisle. There is good 19th century glass in the porch and at the west end of the nave. A clock jack stands, axe and bell in hand, at the west end, a twin to the one upriver at Blythburgh. This one has a name - he's called Southwold Jack, and he is one of the symbols of the Adnams brewery.

 

As Mortlock notes, there are very few surviving memorials. This is partly because St Edmund was not in the patronage of a great landed family, but it may also suggest that they were largely removed at the time of the 19th century restoration, as at Brandon. One moving one is for the child of a Vicar, and there are some interesting pre-Oxford Movement 19th century brasses in the south aisle.

 

High, high above all this, the roofs are models of Anglo-catholic melodrama, the canopy of honour to the rood and the chancel ceilure in particular. But there is a warmth about it all that is missing from, say, Eye, which underwent a similar makeover. This church feels full of life, and not a museum piece at all. I remember attending evensong here late one winter Saturday afternoon, and it was magical. On another visit, I came on one of the first days of Spring that was truly warm and bright, with not a cloud in the sky. As I cycled into town, a cold fret off of the sea was condensing the steam of the brewery, sending it in swirls and skeins around the tower of St Edmund like low cloud. It was so atmospheric that I almost forgave them for what they have done to the Sole Bay Inn.

The budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus), also known as the common parakeet, shell parakeet or budgie (/ˈbʌdʒi/ BUJ-ee), is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot. Budgies are the only species in the genus Melopsittacus. Naturally, the species is green and yellow with black, scalloped markings on the nape, back, and wings.[5] Budgies are bred in captivity with colouring of blues, whites, yellows, greys, and even with small crests. Juveniles and chicks are monomorphic, while adults are told apart by their cere colouring, and their behaviour.

 

The species is the only member of the genus Melopsittacus, which is the only genus in the Melopsittacini tribe.

 

The origin of the budgerigar's name is unclear. First recorded in 1805, budgerigars are popular pets around the world due to their small size, low cost, and ability to mimic human speech. They are likely the third most popular pet in the world, after the domesticated dog and cat. Budgies are nomadic flock parakeets that have been bred in captivity since the 19th century. In both captivity and the wild, budgerigars breed opportunistically and in pairs.

 

They are found wild throughout the drier parts of Australia, where they have survived harsh inland conditions for over five million years. Their success can be attributed to a nomadic lifestyle and their ability to breed while on the move. The budgerigar is closely related to lories and the fig parrots.

 

Etymology

 

Pair of budgerigars

Several possible origins for the name budgerigar have been proposed. One origin could be that budgerigar may be a mispronunciation or alteration of the Gamilaraay word gidjirrigaa (Aboriginal pronunciation: [ɡ̊iɟiriɡaː]) or gijirragaa from the Yuwaalaraay. Another possible origin is that budgerigar might be a modified form of budgery or boojery (Australian English slang for "good") and gar ("cockatoo"). While many references mention "good" as part of the meaning, and a few specify "good bird", it is quite possible that reports by those local to the region are more accurate in specifying the direct translation as "good food".

 

Alternative spellings include budgerygah and betcherrygah, the latter used by Indigenous people of the Liverpool Plains in New South Wales.

 

Alternative names for the budgerigar include the shell parrot or shell parakeet, the warbling grass parakeet, the canary parrot, the zebra parrot, the flight bird, and the scallop parrot. Although more often used as a common name for small parrots in the genus Agapornis, the name "lovebird" has been used for budgerigars, because of their habit of close perching and mutual preening, and their long term pair-bonds.

 

Taxonomy

Evolutionary history

parrots

  

Lories and lorikeets

  

Budgerigar

 

Fig parrots

genera Cyclopsitta & Psittaculirostris

 

... other parrots

 

Phylogenetic chart

The budgerigar was first described by George Shaw in 1805, and given its current binomial name by John Gould in 1840. The genus name Melopsittacus, from Ancient Greek, means "melodious parrot". The species name undulatus is Latin for "undulated" or "wave-patterned".

 

The budgerigar was once proposed to be a link between the genera Neophema and Pezoporus, based on the barred plumage. However, recent phylogenetic studies using DNA sequences place the budgerigar very close to the lories (tribe Loriini) and the fig parrots (tribe Cyclopsittini).

 

Description

 

Wild budgerigars average 18 cm (7 in) long,[6] weigh 30–40 grams (1.1–1.4 oz), 30 cm (12 in) in wingspan, and display a light green body colour (abdomen and rumps), while their mantles (back and wing coverts) display pitch-black mantle markings (blackish in fledglings and immatures) edged in clear yellow undulations. The forehead and face is yellow in adults. Prior to their adult plumage, young individuals have blackish stripes down to the cere (nose) in young individuals until around 3–4 months of age. They display small, iridescent blue-violet cheek patches and a series of three black spots across each side of their throats (called throat patches). The two outermost throat spots are situated at the base of each cheek patch. The tail is cobalt (dark-blue); and outside tail feathers display central yellow flashes. Their wings have greenish-black flight feathers and black coverts with yellow fringes along with central yellow flashes, which only become visible in flight or when the wings are outstretched. Bills are olive grey and legs blueish-grey, with zygodactyl toes.

 

In their natural Australian habitat, budgerigars are noticeably smaller than those in captivity. This particular parrot species has been bred in many other colours and shades in captivity (e.g. blue, grey, grey-green, pieds, violet, white, yellow-blue). Pet store individuals will commonly be blue, green, or yellow. Like most parrot species, budgerigar plumage fluoresces under ultraviolet light – a phenomenon possibly related to courtship and mate selection.

 

The upper half of their beaks is taller than the bottom half, covering the bottom when closed. The beak does not protrude much, due to the thick, fluffy feathers surrounding it, giving the appearance of a downward-pointing beak that lies flat against the face. The upper half acts as a long, smooth cover, while the bottom half is just about a half-sized cup-piece. These beaks allow the birds to eat plants, fruits, and vegetables.

 

The colour of the cere (the area containing the nostrils) differs between the sexes, being a lavender/baby blue in males, pale brownish/white (non breeding) to brown (breeding) in females, and pink in immature birds of both sexes (usually of a more even purplish-pink colour in young males). Some female budgerigars develop brown cere only during breeding time, which later returns to the normal colour. Young females can often be identified by a subtle, chalky whiteness that starts around the nostrils. Males that are either albino, lutino, dark-eyed clear or recessive pied (Danish pied or harlequin) retain the immature purplish-pink cere colour for their entire lives.

 

Behaviours and head shape also help indicate sex. Veterinarians can determine the sex of a bird by invasive examination or samples of blood, feather, or eggshell.

 

Mature males usually have a cere of light to dark blue, but in some particular colour mutations it can be periwinkle, lavender, purplish or pink – including dark-eyed clears, Danish pieds (recessive pieds) and inos, which usually display much rounder heads. The behaviour of males can distinguish them from females. Males are typically cheerful, extroverted, highly flirtatious, peacefully social, and very vocal.

 

Female ceres are pinkish while immature. As they age, they move from being beigeish or whitish outside breeding condition into brown (often with a 'crusty' texture) in breeding condition and usually display flattened backs of heads (right above the nape). Females are more dominant and less socially tolerant. This behavior is more pronounced around other females than with males.

 

Budgerigars have tetrachromatic colour vision, although all four classes of cone cells will not operate simultaneously unless under sunlight or a UV lamp. The ultraviolet spectrum brightens their feathers to attract mates. The throat spots in budgerigars reflect UV and can be used to distinguish individual birds. While ultraviolet light is essential to the good health of caged and pet birds, inadequate darkness or rest results in overstimulation.

 

Ecology

 

Budgerigars are nomadic and flocks move on from sites as environmental conditions change. Budgerigars are found in open habitats, primarily in scrublands, open woodlands, and grasslands of Australia. The birds are normally found in small flocks, but can form very large flocks under favourable conditions. The nomadic movement of the flocks is tied to the availability of food and water. Budgerigars have two distinct flight speeds which they are capable of switching between depending on the circumstance. Drought can drive flocks into more wooded habitat or coastal areas. They feed on the seeds of spinifex and grass, and sometimes ripening wheat.

 

Outside of Australia, the only long-term establishment of naturalised feral budgerigars is a large population near St. Petersburg, Florida. Increased competition for nesting sites from European starlings and house sparrows is thought to be a primary cause of the Florida population declining from the 1980s. The more consistent, year-round conditions in Florida significantly reduced their nomadic behaviour.

 

The species has been introduced to various locations in Puerto Rico and the United States.

 

Budgerigars feed primarily on grass seeds. The species also opportunistically depredates growing cereal crops and lawn grass seeds.[35] Due to the low water content of the seeds they rely on the availability of freshwater.

 

Behaviour

 

Breeding in the wild generally takes place between June and September in northern Australia and between August and January in the south, although budgerigars are opportunistic breeders and respond to rains when grass seeds become most abundant. Budgerigars are monogamous and breed in large colonies throughout their range. They show signs of affection to their flockmates by preening or feeding one another. Budgerigars feed one another by eating the seeds themselves, and then regurgitating it into their flockmate's mouth. Populations in some areas have increased as a result of increased water availability at farms. Nests are made in holes in trees, fence posts or logs lying on the ground; the four to six eggs are incubated for 18–21 days, with the young fledging about 30 days after hatching.

 

In the wild, virtually all parrot species require a hollow tree or a hollow log as a nest site. Because of this natural behaviour, budgerigars most easily breed in captivity when provided with a reasonable-sized nest box.

 

The eggs are typically one to two centimetres long and are pearl white without any colouration if fertile. Female budgerigars can lay eggs without a male partner, but these unfertilised eggs will not hatch. Females normally have a whitish tan cere; however, when the female is laying eggs, her cere turns a crusty brown colour. Certain female budgies may always keep a whitish tan cere or always keep a crusty brown cere regardless of breeding condition. A female budgerigar will lay her eggs on alternating days. After the first one, there is usually a two-day gap until the next. She will usually lay between four and eight eggs, which she will incubate (usually starting after laying her second or third) for about 21 days each. Females only leave their nests for very quick defecations, stretches and quick meals once they have begun incubating and are by then almost exclusively fed by their mate (usually at the nest's entrance). Females will not allow a male to enter the nest, unless he forces his way inside. Clutch size ranges from 6 to 8 chicks. Depending on the clutch size and the beginning of incubation, the age difference between the first and last hatchling can be anywhere from 9 to 16 days. At times, the parents may begin eating their own eggs due to feeling insecure in the nest box.

 

There is evidence of same-sex sexual behaviour amongst male budgerigars. It is originally hypothesised that they did this as a form of "courtship practice" so they were better breeding partners for females, however an inverse relationship exists between participation in same-sex behaviour and pairing success.

 

Chick health

 

Breeding difficulties arise for various reasons. Some chicks may die from diseases and attacks from adults. Other budgerigars (virtually always females) may fight over the nest box, attacking each other or a brood. Another problem may be the birds' beaks being under-lapped, where the lower mandible is above the upper mandible.

 

Most health issues and physical abnormalities in budgerigars are genetic. Care should be taken that birds used for breeding are active, healthy and unrelated. Budgerigars that are related or have fatty tumours or other potential genetic health problems should not be allowed to breed. Parasites (lice, mites, worms) and pathogens (bacteria, fungi and viruses), are contagious and thus transmitted between individuals through either direct or indirect contact. Nest boxes should be cleaned between uses.

 

Splay leg is a relatively common problem in baby budgerigars and other birds; one of the budgerigar's legs is bent outward, which prevents it from being able to stand properly and compete with the other chicks for food, and can also lead to difficulties in reproducing in adulthood. The condition is caused by young budgerigars slipping repeatedly on the floor of a nest box. It is easily avoided by placing a small quantity of a safe bedding or wood shavings in the bottom of the nest box. Alternatively, several pieces of paper may be placed in the box for the female to chew into bedding.

 

Development

 

Eggs take about 18–20 days before they start hatching. The hatchlings are altricial – blind, naked, unable to lift their head and totally helpless, and their mother feeds them and keeps them warm constantly. Around 10 days of age, the chicks' eyes will open, and they will start to develop feather down. The appearance of down occurs at the age for closed banding of the chicks.

 

They develop feathers around three weeks of age. (One can often easily note the colour mutation of the individual birds at this point.) At this stage of the chicks' development, the male usually has begun to enter the nest to help his female in caring and feeding the chicks. Some budgerigar females, however, totally forbid the male from entering the nest and thus take the full responsibility of rearing the chicks until they fledge.

 

Depending on the size of the clutch and most particularly in the case of single mothers, it may then be wise to transfer a portion of the hatchlings (or best of the fertile eggs) to another pair. The foster pair must already be in breeding mode and thus either at the laying or incubating stages, or already rearing hatchlings.

 

As the chicks develop and grow feathers, they are able to be left on their own for longer periods of time. By the fifth week, the chicks are strong enough that both parents will be comfortable in staying out of the nest more. The youngsters will stretch their wings to gain strength before they attempt to fly. They will also help defend the box from enemies, mostly with their loud screeching. Young budgerigars typically fledge (leave the nest) around their fifth week of age and are usually completely weaned between six and eight weeks old. However, the age for fledging, as well as weaning, can vary slightly depending on the age and the number of surviving chicks. Generally speaking, the oldest chick is the first to be weaned. Although it is logically the last one to be weaned, the youngest chick is often weaned at a younger age than its older sibling(s). This can be a result of mimicking the actions of older siblings. Lone surviving chicks are often weaned at the youngest possible age as a result of having their parents' full attention and care.

 

Hand-reared budgies may take slightly longer to wean than parent-raised chicks. Hand feeding is not routinely done with budgerigars, due to their small size and because young parent raised birds can be readily tamed.

 

Relationship with humans

Aviculture

The budgerigar has been bred in captivity since the 1850s. Breeders have worked to produce a variety of colour, pattern and feather mutations, including albino, blue, cinnamon-ino (lacewing), clearwing, crested, dark, greywing, opaline, pieds, spangled, dilute (suffused) and violet.

 

"English budgerigars", more correctly called "show" or "exhibition budgerigars", are about twice as large as their wild counterparts and have puffier head feathers, giving them a boldly exaggerated look. The eyes and beak can be almost totally obscured by these fluffy head feathers. English budgerigars are typically more expensive than wild-type birds, and have a shorter life span of about seven to nine years. Breeders of English budgerigars show their birds at animal shows. Most captive budgerigars in the pet trade are more similar in size and body conformation to wild budgerigars.

 

Budgerigars are social animals and require stimulation in the shape of toys and interaction with humans or with other budgerigars. Budgerigars, and especially females, will chew material such as wood. When a budgerigar feels threatened, it will try to perch as high as possible and to bring its feathers close against its body in order to appear thinner.

 

Tame budgerigars can be taught to speak, whistle and play with humans. Both males and females sing and can learn to mimic sounds and words and do simple tricks, but singing and mimicry are more pronounced and better perfected in males. Females rarely learn to mimic more than a dozen words. Males can easily acquire vocabularies ranging from a few dozen to a hundred words. Pet males, especially those kept alone, are generally the best speakers.

 

Budgerigars will chew on anything they can find to keep their beaks trimmed. Mineral blocks (ideally enriched with iodine), cuttlebone and soft wooden pieces are suitable for this activity. Cuttlebones also supply calcium, essential for the proper forming of eggs and bone solidity. In captivity, budgerigars live an average of five to eight years, but life spans of 15–20 years have been reported. The life span depends on breed, lineage, and health, being highly influenced by exercise and diet. Budgerigars have been known to cause "bird fancier's lung" in sensitive people, a type of hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Apart from a handful of illnesses, diseases of the species are not transmittable to humans.

 

Colour mutations

Main article: Budgerigar colour genetics

 

All captive budgerigars are divided into two basic series of colours; namely, white-based (blue, grey and white) and yellow-based (green, grey-green and yellow). Presently, at least 32 primary mutations (including violet) occur, enabling hundreds of possible secondary mutations (stable combined primary mutations) and colour varieties (unstable combined mutations).

 

Mimicry

Main article: Talking bird

Male specimens of budgerigars can be skilled at mimicking human speech.

 

Puck, a male budgerigar owned by American Camille Jordan, holds the world record for the largest vocabulary of any bird, at 1,728 words. Puck died in 1994, with the record first appearing in the 1995 edition of Guinness World Records.

 

In 2001, recordings of a budgerigar called Victor got some attention from the media. Victor's owner, Ryan B. Reynolds of Canada, stated Victor was able to engage in contextual conversation and predict the future. Although some believe the animal was able to predict his own death as was claimed, further study on the subject is difficult without the bird. As of 2001, the recordings still remain to be verified by scientific analysis. Critics argue Victor's speech in the recordings is not coherent enough to be determined as spoken in context.

 

The budgerigar "Disco" became Internet famous in 2013. As of 2023, Disco had been viewed over 24,198,346 times on his YouTube channel. Some of Disco's most repeated phrases included, "I am not a crook" and "Nobody puts baby bird in a corner!". Disco died in 2017.

 

In popular culture

Small bathing suits for men, commonly referred to as togs or "Speedos", are informally called "budgie smugglers" in Australia. The phrase is humorously based on the appearance of the tight-fitting cloth around the male's genitals looking like a small budgie. The phrase was officially added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2016

The Hagia Sophia, whose name means “holy wisdom,” is a domed monument originally built as a cathedral in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) in the sixth century A.D.

 

It contains two floors centered on a giant nave that has a great dome ceiling, along with smaller domes, towering above.

 

“Hagia Sophia’s dimensions are formidable for any structure not built of steel,” writes Helen Gardner and Fred Kleiner in their book "Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: A Global History." “In plan it is about 270 feet [82 meters] long and 240 feet [73 meters] wide. The dome is 108 feet [33 meters] in diameter and its crown rises some 180 feet [55 meters] above the pavement.”

 

Building the Hagia Sophia

 

To build his cathedral, Justinian turned to two men named Anthemius and Isidore the Elder.

 

“Contemporary writers do not refer to Anthemius and Isidore as architects, though the term was common in the sixth century, but as mechanikoi or mechanopoioi,” writes Indiana University professor W. Eugene Kleinbauer in a section of the book "Hagia Sophia" (Scala Publishers, 2004). “These terms denote a very small number of practitioners of the arts of design, whether of buildings or of machines or other works ...”

 

They built the Hagia Sophia in great haste, finishing it in less than six years. To put this in comparison it took nearly a century for medieval builders to construct the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.

 

This short construction period appears to have led to problems. Ancient sources, such as the writer Procopios, write that the builders had problems with the dome roof, the structure almost collapsing during construction. The dome used a system of piers to channel its weight.

 

“The piers on top of which the structure was being built, unable to bear the mass that was pressing down on them, somehow or other suddenly started to break away and seemed to be on the point of collapsing...” writes Procopios (translation republished on Columbia University’s website).

 

Eventually Anthemius and Isidore did get the domed roof to stand and it was a magnificent sight indeed. “It seems not to be founded on solid masonry, but to be suspended from heaven by that golden chain and so cover the space,” wrote Procopios.

 

Unfortunately this roof did not stand. It collapsed about two decades later and it fell to a man named Isidore the Younger to build a new domed roof. It has lasted, with some repairs, nearly 1,400 years, down to the present day.

 

“The dome rests not on a drum but on pendentives, spherical triangles that arise from four huge piers that carry the weight of the cupola. The pendentives made it possible to place the dome over a square compartment,” writes researcher Victoria Hammond, who describes the structure of the surviving Hagia Sophia dome, in a chapter of the book "Visions of Heaven: The Dome in European Architecture" (Springer, 2005).

 

Hagia SophiaSunlight coming in through the windows of the Hagia Sophia "seemed to dissolve the solidity of the walls and created an ambience of ineffable mystery," wrote one author.

Credit: Yulia Gursoy | ShutterstockView full size image

Beneath the dome are 40 windows with sunlight coming through. “The sunlight emanating from the windows surrounding its lofty cupola, suffusing the interior and irradiating its gold mosaics, seemed to dissolve the solidity of the walls and created an ambience of ineffable mystery,” she writes. “On the completion of Hagia Sophia, Justinian is said to have remarked, ‘Solomon, I have outdone thee’.”

 

Imperial seating

 

Modern-day visitors will note that the Hagia Sophia has two levels, the ground floor and a gallery above. The presence of the two levels may mean that people were organized according to gender and class when services were held at the cathedral.

 

In Byzantine churches “galleries seem to have been used as a means of segregation of genders and of social classes,” writes Vasileios Marinis in a chapter of the book "The Byzantine World" (Routledge, 2010). “In Hagia Sophia a part of the gallery was used as an imperial lodge, from which the empress and occasionally the emperor attended the services.”

 

This lodge wasn’t the only benefit the emperor got. Antony White writes in another chapter of the 2004 "Hagia Sophia" book that to enter the cathedral’s nave from the narthex there are nine doorways. “The central or Imperial Door was reserved for the use of the emperor and his attendants, and provides the most perfect approach to the interior of the church.”

 

Decorations and iconoclasm

 

The decorations within the Hagia Sophia at the time of construction were probably very simple, images of crosses for instances. Over time this changed to include a variety of ornate mosaics.

 

“There are a number of mosaics that have been added over the centuries, imperial portraits, images of the imperial family, images of Christ and different emperors, those have been added since Justinian’s day,” said Goodson in the documentary.

 

During the eighth and ninth centuries A.D., there was a period of iconoclasm in the Byzantine Empire that resulted in some of the mosaics being destroyed.

 

“The controversy spanned roughly a century, during the years 726–87 and 815–43. In these decades, imperial legislation barred the production and use of figural images; simultaneously, the cross was promoted as the most acceptable decorative form for Byzantine churches,” writes Sarah Brooks, of James Madison University, in a Metropolitan Museum of Art article.

 

Hagia Sophia mosaicPin It The Apse Mosaic in the Hagia Sophia shows the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus. It is 13 feet tall.

Credit: Artur Bogacki | ShutterstockView full size image

“Fear that the viewer misdirected his/her veneration toward the image rather than to the holy person represented in the image lay at the heart of this controversy.”

 

At the end of this period decoration of the interior of Hagia Sophia resumed, each emperor adding their own images. One of the most well-known mosaics is located on the apse of the church showing a 13-foot-tall (4 meters) Virgin Mary with Jesus as a child. Dedicated on March 29, 867, it is located 30 meters (almost 100 feet) above the church floor, notes University of Sussex professor Liz James in a 2004 article published in the journal Art History.

 

Conversion to mosque

 

Another chapter in the Hagia Sophia’s life began in 1453. In that year the Byzantine Empire ended, with Constantinople falling to the armies of Mehmed II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire.

 

The Byzantine Empire had been in decline for centuries and by 1453 the Hagia Sophia had fallen into disrepair, notes researcher Elisabeth Piltz in a 2005 British Archaeological Reports series book. Nevertheless, the Christian cathedral made a strong impression on the new Ottoman rulers and they decided to convert it into a mosque.

 

“What a dome, that vies in rank with the nine spheres of heaven! In this work a perfect master has displayed the whole of the architectural science,” wrote Ottoman historian Tursun Beg during the 15th century (translation from Piltz’s book).

 

Outside the church, four minarets would eventually be added, Kleiner writes (in a 2010 edition of his book) that these “four slender pencil-shaped minarets” are more than 200 feet (60 meters) tall and are “among the tallest ever constructed.”

 

Changes occurred on the inside as well. Piltz writes that “after the Ottoman conquest the mosaics were hidden under yellow paint with the exception of the Theotokos [Virgin Mary with child] in the apse.” In addition “Monograms of the four caliphs were put on the pillars flanking the apse and the entrance of the nave.”

 

The style of the Hagia Sophia, in particular its dome, would go on to influence Ottoman architecture, most notably in the development of the Blue Mosque, built in Istanbul during the 17th century. [Related Video: Enormous Roman Mosaic Unearthed in Turkey]

 

Present-day museum

 

In 1934, the government of Turkey secularized the Hagia Sophia and turned it into a museum. The Turkish Council of Ministers stated that due “to its historical significance, the conversion of the (Hagia Sophia) mosque, a unique architectural monument of art located in Istanbul, into a museum will please the entire Eastern world and its conversion to a museum will cause humanity to gain a new institution of knowledge.” [From Robert Nelson, "Hagia Sophia: 1850-1950: Holy Wisdom Modern Monument," University of Chicago Press, 2004)

 

Research, repair and restoration work continues to this day and the Hagia Sophia is now an important site for tourism in Istanbul. It is a place that has been part of the cultural fabric of the city in both ancient and modern times. dulides

(2/3) #Turkey’s escalating, flagrant violation of its international obligations is manifested in its decision to alter the designation of #HagiaSophia, a world heritage site that is a universal symbol of the Orthodox faith.

Of the many commentaries on the painting, I will give this brief one, which is quoted from The Web Gallery of Art: "Canvas No. 8 of the series of nine large paintings "Stories from the Life of St Ursula".

 

The speed at which Carpaccio's ideas develop is noticeable in the Martyrdom of the Pilgrims and the Funeral of St Ursula, signed and dated 1493 on the scroll at the foot of the column bearing two coats-of-arms, the emblem of the Loredan family and another one, probably belonging to the Caotorta family.

 

The composition of the scene is quite complex, for Carpaccio wanted to include two separate episodes from the legend of St Ursula in the same painting, one being the violent scene of the slaughter of the pilgrims and the other the sad and mournful description of the saint's funeral: he succeeds thanks to his masterly spatial division of the composition. The focus of the painting is the knight about to draw his sword out of its scabbard; notice how similar he is to certain figures by Perugino. Behind him, the moorish bugler on horseback rallies the troops and the white and red standard gives depth to the background landscape, mellowed by the green meadow and the pinkish buildings depicted in the peaceful light of the Venetian pre-Alps.

 

Right in the foreground, on the edge of the field in which the knights look almost as though they were taking part in a mediaeval tournament, a fair-haired archer draws the bow he holds in his gloved hand - he is like a sophisticated arabesque in his elegant pose and splendid costume. Motionless, Ursula awaits the mortal arrow, standing against a background of trees, arranged like the wings of a stage, that seem to prolong the scene of the slaughter all the way to infinity. But, just like the fresco of this same episode painted by Tommaso da Modena more than a century earlier, every gesture, even the most violent, is part of a deliberate rhythm and a strict geometric pattern composed of the interplay of weapons of all sorts: swords, daggers, misericords, bludgeons, pikes, spears and halberds, each carefully described down to the tiniest details.

 

The calculated violence of the scene of the slaughter is separated from the solemnly dignified scene of Ursula's funeral by a column on a pedestal of a very complex shape and colour scheme. This second event is indissolubly linked to the first since they are both set in the unmistakable atmosphere of the Venetian mainland landscape. The funeral procession solemnly parades out of the town at the foot of the wooded hill, and marches towards the mausoleum; all that we can see of the mausoleum is one marble corner, in the shadow, with a carved inscription reading URSULA. Against the vibrant luminosity of the blue sky, the landscape, the human beings and the architectural constructions appear almost like a colourful inlay. All the characters, portraits of contemporaries, take part in this splendid interplay of forms, with their statuary solidity and their sense of physical movement; notice particularly the woman kneeling to the right, presumably a deceased member of the Caotorta family since she is portrayed set apart from the rest of the procession."

(In English Below)

 

Enfin complet !

 

Le Tie Crawler Version 2. Je préfère cette version.

 

Un de Tie mes préférés, encore une fois par son côté ridicule et peu pratique.

 

Le Tie Crawler (aussi connu comme Tie Century ou Tie Tank) est un véhicule blindé léger. Armé de deux blasters Tie classique, et d’un blaster anti-personnel (donc plus léger). Un seul pilote qui fait aussi office de tireur.

 

Idées dans le Lore

Il était simple à produire, et c’est à peu près tout. J’ai aussi le souvenir d’avoir lu quelque part que les recrues de l’Empire échouant au test pour devenir pilote de chasseur Tie, pouvaient se reconvertir plus facilement en pilote de Tie Crawler. Mais je n’ai pas pu retrouver la source. Et de toute façon l’idée que ce soit plus facile de devenir pilote de char plutôt que pilote de cargo quand on échoue à devenir pilote de chasse est stupide.

 

Limites

Tel que décrit, l’engin est limité. Les armes sont trop basses. Les deux blasters de Tie classique ne peuvent pas pivoter et du fait de son emplacement, le blaster antipersonnel ne peut pas pivoter verticalement avec un angle très grand. Les trois sont donc quasi inutiles sur n’importe quel terrain accidenté. De plus, la forme des chenilles me fait dire qu’un bloc de béton, d’environ un mètre de haut, suffirait à bloquer le Tie. Et puis c’est un Tie, donc pas de bouclier énergétique, donc peu blindé. L’unique pilote est à la merci de n’importe quel armement anti-char ou chasseur spatial. Il a aussi un gros point faible évident : les quatre réservoirs visibles de fuel. Bon déjà, c’est un point faible évident que n’importe quel rebelle mal armé essaiera de viser. Mais aussi, pourquoi les avoir mis là ? Vous avez vu la taille des chenilles ? Et la tailles des réservoirs ? Il suffisait de les mettre quelque part dans les chenilles où ils auraient été mieux protégés, mais aussi plus proche des moteurs. Sans compter qu’en cas d’explosion, les éloigner un peu du pilote augmenterait ses chances de survie. Et l’Empire a à cœur la sécurité de ses employés…

 

Amélioration de Lego 7664

Lego a amélioré le concept en rendant les ailes pivotantes et indépendantes. Le Tie crawler devenant tout à coup vraiment tout terrain. De plus, ils ont ajouté des lance-missiles planqués dans les ailes. Ce que j’avais maladroitement fait dans ma première version. Cette version n’en a pas. Les idées que j’ai testées en la matière manquaient tous de solidité. Et pour être franc, une fois sur l’étagère, les missiles cachés le resteraient.

 

Utilisation possible.

L’engin a quand même son utilité, surtout avec les améliorations lego. Ok, il n’a pas de boucliers, mais même la partie la plus faible (le cockpit) résiste au vide spatial, ce n’est pas non plus une voiture en plastique. En cas de guérilla, il peut être pratique. Il est relativement rapide (90km/h), et contrairement au AT-Walkers (toute la série des AT-AT, AT-ST, AT-DP, AT-RT…), il ne risque pas de tomber. D’ailleurs, même si on le retournait, ce ne serait pas un problème, ce serait même un avantage d’avoir les canons en haut. Il est aussi plus simple à stocker que des AT-AT et AT-ST, probablement aussi plus simple d’entretien.

Je vois aussi un avantage en tant qu’escorte de fantassin lors de patrouille à pied en zone de guérilla. En cas d’escarmouche, une demi-douzaine de soldats pourraient s’abriter derrière un mur de chenille. Concernant le point faible à l’arrière, c’est aussi un défaut de certains char IRL, donc on ne peut pas vraiment lui en tenir rigueur.

Il se trouve que j'ai trouvé un autre usage au Tie Crawler, en effet le mode « tourelle », avec les deux chenilles en position verticale.

Imaginez l'Empire arrive sur une nouvelle planète, ils explorent le terrain, et trouvent un endroit pour monter une base temporaire. Le temps de monter la base, le Tie Crawler pourrait monter la garde en mode tourelle. J’ai pas mal joué à Star Wars Battleground à l’époque (pour ceux qui ne connaissent pas, imaginez Age of Empire, mais version Star Wars). Imaginer un peu l’utilité d’une unité qui ferait à la fois tourelle et Tank.

 

Concernant le modèle en lui-même.

Le cockpit est bien solide, j’en suis très content, d’autant que j’ai réussi à y ajouter une ouverture de toit fonctionnelle, avec un passage. Alors soyons clair, vous n’y feriez pas passer une minifig, le trou ne fait que 1x2, mais c’est suffisant pour y positionner le conducteur en mode vigie (un pilote AT-AT piqué dans un set micro-fighter).

Les stickers viennent de lego, le TIE classique UCS que j’ai démonté depuis longtemps, mais dont j’avais gardé les pièces « stickers » pour cet usage.

Les chenilles aussi sont solides, je regrette de n’avoir pu y intégrer un lance-missiles dissimulé comme le set lego, mais mes tentatives tenaient sur lego studio, mais pas sur IRL. Et si j’aimais l’idée de lego, je n’aimais l’exécution lego. J’ai donc laissé tomber.

Le seul point faible étant qu’avec le poids des chenilles, leur fixation au cockpit peut lâcher sous une contrainte trop grande. Contrairement au set lego, je déconseille de tenir le tout par les réservoirs. Il vaut mieux tenir le modèle par les deux chenilles en même temps.

    

Finally complete!

 

The Tie Crawler Version 2. I prefer this version.

 

One of my favorite Tie, again for its ridiculousness and impracticality.

 

The Tie Crawler (also known as Tie Century or Tie Tank) is a light armored vehicle. Armed with two classic Tie blasters, and one anti-personnel blaster (so, lighter). A single pilot who also acts as a gunner.

 

Ideas in the Lore

It was simple to produce, and that's about it. I also remember reading somewhere that Empire recruits who fail the test to become Tie fighter pilots could more easily be converted to Tie Crawler pilots. But I couldn't find the source. And anyway the idea that it's easier to become a tank pilot than a freighter pilot when you fail to become a fighter pilot is stupid.

 

Limitations

As described, the machine is limited. The weapons are too low. The two classic Tie blasters cannot rotate and because of its location, the anti-personnel blaster cannot rotate vertically at a very large angle. All three are therefore almost useless on any rough terrain. Also, the shape of the tracks tells me that a concrete block, about a meter high, would be enough to block the Tie. And it's a Tie, so it has no energy shield, so it's not very armored. The single pilot is at the mercy of any anti-tank weapon or space fighter. It also has an obvious weak point: the four visible fuel tanks. Now, this is an obvious weak point that any poorly armed rebel will try to target. But also, why put them there? Have you seen the size of the tracks? And the size of the tanks? They could have been put somewhere in the tracks where they would have been better protected, but also closer to the engines. Not to mention that in the event of an explosion, moving them a little further away from the pilot would increase his chances of survival. And the Empire cares about the safety of its employees...

 

Improvement of Lego 7664

Lego has improved the concept by making the wings swivel and independent. The Tie crawler suddenly becoming truly all terrain. Moreover, they added missile launchers hidden in the wings. Which I had clumsily done in my first version. This version does not have them. The ideas I tested in this area all lacked solidity. And to be honest, once on the shelf, the hidden missiles would stay there.

 

Possible use.

The thing still has its uses, especially with the lego upgrades. Ok, it doesn't have shields, but even the weakest part (the cockpit) resists the vacuum of space, it's not a plastic car either. In case of guerrilla warfare, it can be handy. It is relatively fast (90km/h), and unlike the AT-Walkers (the whole series of AT-AT, AT-ST, AT-DP, AT-RT...), it does not risk falling. Moreover, even if it was turned over, it would not be a problem, it would even be an advantage to have the guns on top. It is also easier to store than AT-ATs and AT-STs, probably also easier to maintain.

I also see an advantage as an infantryman escort when on foot patrol in a guerrilla zone. In case of a skirmish, half a dozen soldiers could take shelter behind a track wall. Regarding the weak point at the rear, this is also a flaw of some IRL tanks, so you can't really hold it against it.

I happened to find another use for the Tie Crawler, the " tower " mode, with the two tracks in vertical position.

Imagine the Empire arrives on a new planet, they explore the terrain, and find a place to set up a temporary base. By the time the base is set up, the Tie Crawler could stand guard in a tower mode. I played a lot of Star Wars Battleground at the time (for those who don't know, imagine Age of Empire, but Star Wars version). Imagine the usefulness of a unit that would be both tower and tank.

 

About the model itself.

This cockpit is very solid, I'm very happy with it, especially since I managed to add a functional roof opening, with a passage. So let's be clear, you wouldn't fit a minifig through it, the hole is only 1x2, but it's enough to position the driver in lookout mode (an AT-AT pilot nicked from a micro-fighter set).

The stickers come from lego, the classic UCS TIE that I disassembled a long time ago, but I kept the "sticker" parts for this purpose.

The tracks are also solid, I regret not having been able to integrate a concealed missile launcher like the lego set, my attempts were successful on lego studio, but not on IRL. And if I liked the lego idea, I didn't like the lego execution. So I gave up.

The only weak point is that with the weight of the tracks, their fixation to the cockpit can break under too much stress. Contrary to the lego set, I don't recommend to hold the whole thing by the tanks. It is better to hold the model by both tracks at the same time.

   

River Dargle Flood Defence Scheme.

These images were taken during the third week of November 2016.

 

These are the critical stabilisation works at the Silverbridge site, adjacent to the N11 dual-carriageway:

 

Back in November 2014, we observed bank stabilisation works here involving excavation, repair and building of a support wall structure -- carried out by JONS Construction on behalf of the National Roads Authority.

 

We would occasionally catch sight of this work in the distance. Quite an impressive little piece of structural engineering.

Having built a retaining concave wall, backfilled for solidity, they were also drilling, fixing and sealing ground anchors to pin the entire structure together.

 

flic.kr/p/paSU8U

 

Now we see that further works are being undertaken.

Word has it that extra ‘stabilisation work’ has to be done to protect the integrity of the riverbank. At the section here we can see that there’s not much space between the edge of the rock face and the Armco at the side of the dual-carriageway.

Have yet to determine what precisely that will entail. Serious work to reinforce the side access ramp down to the river.

 

The N11 carriageway runs adjacent to this sunken side of the riverbank -- barely 2 (large) paces divide the two. Even with twin strips of Armco along the roadside, it's perilously close. Traffic speeds along this stretch (maximum speed 100 kmp). Only needs a touch from a heavy vehicle to cause secondary impact, which (worst possible scenario) could result in something going airborne.

 

Working in these confined spaces puts a premium of safety and communication.

 

The guys have hard-filled a working shelf on the riverbed, to allow machinery access to the rockface. Obviously some serious drilling is called for before a form of extra 'pinning' is put in place.

They have sunk a series of hollowed tubes/casings -- obviously to form the foundations of a more extensive structure.

And some investigative work around the transverse buttress of the access bridge, parallel to the heavy-duty pipeline carrying water down from the Vartry reservoir.

 

This was the day when they started to fill those sunken tubes/casings with liquid cement. At a (rough) guess -- I'd say the foundations are sunk to a depth of approx 4+m.

With such secure foundations in place, they would then look to construct a substantial bank of material, and/or retaining wall (similar to that in place further along the roadside bank).

 

As ever, the first attempt at a process brings it's own unique set of issues.

The tight confines of the riverbed obliges the use of a concrete pumping rig with long-boom capacity.

Would you call this a '4 section' unit'? Built on a 4-axle chassis, I'd suggest that it's reach is approx 40+m.

 

The remotely-controlled unit siphons and pumps liquid concrete into the sunken wells. Immediately the guys agitate the mixture to remove any air pockets. Final step is to lower in a pre-formed steel skeleton brace, intended to reinforce the foundation.

 

While we were there, the guys struggled to sink the steel frame into the sunken sleeve. I can't believe it was a problem with alignment -- other similar frames dropped neatly into their appointed sleeve.

Perhaps simply a case that the compressed liquid solution was just inflexible enough to receive the steel skeleton. We left.

 

Will find out later what the outcome was.

 

It's much bigger than I thought it would be (notice how much bigger it is than the iPod Touch on the coffee table).

 

I made it from Hisashi Imai's plans (built around a layered core of cardboard to give it a greater solidity).

Una sorta di tipologia di questa merda di razza umana: 16. La fragilità della solidità.

 

Rolleiflex 3.5C ⎟ Adox CHS 100 ⎟ Epson V700

(In English Below)

 

Enfin complet !

 

Le Tie Crawler Version 2. Je préfère cette version.

 

Un de Tie mes préférés, encore une fois par son côté ridicule et peu pratique.

 

Le Tie Crawler (aussi connu comme Tie Century ou Tie Tank) est un véhicule blindé léger. Armé de deux blasters Tie classique, et d’un blaster anti-personnel (donc plus léger). Un seul pilote qui fait aussi office de tireur.

 

Idées dans le Lore

Il était simple à produire, et c’est à peu près tout. J’ai aussi le souvenir d’avoir lu quelque part que les recrues de l’Empire échouant au test pour devenir pilote de chasseur Tie, pouvaient se reconvertir plus facilement en pilote de Tie Crawler. Mais je n’ai pas pu retrouver la source. Et de toute façon l’idée que ce soit plus facile de devenir pilote de char plutôt que pilote de cargo quand on échoue à devenir pilote de chasse est stupide.

 

Limites

Tel que décrit, l’engin est limité. Les armes sont trop basses. Les deux blasters de Tie classique ne peuvent pas pivoter et du fait de son emplacement, le blaster antipersonnel ne peut pas pivoter verticalement avec un angle très grand. Les trois sont donc quasi inutiles sur n’importe quel terrain accidenté. De plus, la forme des chenilles me fait dire qu’un bloc de béton, d’environ un mètre de haut, suffirait à bloquer le Tie. Et puis c’est un Tie, donc pas de bouclier énergétique, donc peu blindé. L’unique pilote est à la merci de n’importe quel armement anti-char ou chasseur spatial. Il a aussi un gros point faible évident : les quatre réservoirs visibles de fuel. Bon déjà, c’est un point faible évident que n’importe quel rebelle mal armé essaiera de viser. Mais aussi, pourquoi les avoir mis là ? Vous avez vu la taille des chenilles ? Et la tailles des réservoirs ? Il suffisait de les mettre quelque part dans les chenilles où ils auraient été mieux protégés, mais aussi plus proche des moteurs. Sans compter qu’en cas d’explosion, les éloigner un peu du pilote augmenterait ses chances de survie. Et l’Empire a à cœur la sécurité de ses employés…

 

Amélioration de Lego 7664

Lego a amélioré le concept en rendant les ailes pivotantes et indépendantes. Le Tie crawler devenant tout à coup vraiment tout terrain. De plus, ils ont ajouté des lance-missiles planqués dans les ailes. Ce que j’avais maladroitement fait dans ma première version. Cette version n’en a pas. Les idées que j’ai testées en la matière manquaient tous de solidité. Et pour être franc, une fois sur l’étagère, les missiles cachés le resteraient.

 

Utilisation possible.

L’engin a quand même son utilité, surtout avec les améliorations lego. Ok, il n’a pas de boucliers, mais même la partie la plus faible (le cockpit) résiste au vide spatial, ce n’est pas non plus une voiture en plastique. En cas de guérilla, il peut être pratique. Il est relativement rapide (90km/h), et contrairement au AT-Walkers (toute la série des AT-AT, AT-ST, AT-DP, AT-RT…), il ne risque pas de tomber. D’ailleurs, même si on le retournait, ce ne serait pas un problème, ce serait même un avantage d’avoir les canons en haut. Il est aussi plus simple à stocker que des AT-AT et AT-ST, probablement aussi plus simple d’entretien.

Je vois aussi un avantage en tant qu’escorte de fantassin lors de patrouille à pied en zone de guérilla. En cas d’escarmouche, une demi-douzaine de soldats pourraient s’abriter derrière un mur de chenille. Concernant le point faible à l’arrière, c’est aussi un défaut de certains char IRL, donc on ne peut pas vraiment lui en tenir rigueur.

Il se trouve que j'ai trouvé un autre usage au Tie Crawler, en effet le mode « tourelle », avec les deux chenilles en position verticale.

Imaginez l'Empire arrive sur une nouvelle planète, ils explorent le terrain, et trouvent un endroit pour monter une base temporaire. Le temps de monter la base, le Tie Crawler pourrait monter la garde en mode tourelle. J’ai pas mal joué à Star Wars Battleground à l’époque (pour ceux qui ne connaissent pas, imaginez Age of Empire, mais version Star Wars). Imaginer un peu l’utilité d’une unité qui ferait à la fois tourelle et Tank.

 

Concernant le modèle en lui-même.

Le cockpit est bien solide, j’en suis très content, d’autant que j’ai réussi à y ajouter une ouverture de toit fonctionnelle, avec un passage. Alors soyons clair, vous n’y feriez pas passer une minifig, le trou ne fait que 1x2, mais c’est suffisant pour y positionner le conducteur en mode vigie (un pilote AT-AT piqué dans un set micro-fighter).

Les stickers viennent de lego, le TIE classique UCS que j’ai démonté depuis longtemps, mais dont j’avais gardé les pièces « stickers » pour cet usage.

Les chenilles aussi sont solides, je regrette de n’avoir pu y intégrer un lance-missiles dissimulé comme le set lego, mais mes tentatives tenaient sur lego studio, mais pas sur IRL. Et si j’aimais l’idée de lego, je n’aimais l’exécution lego. J’ai donc laissé tomber.

Le seul point faible étant qu’avec le poids des chenilles, leur fixation au cockpit peut lâcher sous une contrainte trop grande. Contrairement au set lego, je déconseille de tenir le tout par les réservoirs. Il vaut mieux tenir le modèle par les deux chenilles en même temps.

    

Finally complete!

 

The Tie Crawler Version 2. I prefer this version.

 

One of my favorite Tie, again for its ridiculousness and impracticality.

 

The Tie Crawler (also known as Tie Century or Tie Tank) is a light armored vehicle. Armed with two classic Tie blasters, and one anti-personnel blaster (so, lighter). A single pilot who also acts as a gunner.

 

Ideas in the Lore

It was simple to produce, and that's about it. I also remember reading somewhere that Empire recruits who fail the test to become Tie fighter pilots could more easily be converted to Tie Crawler pilots. But I couldn't find the source. And anyway the idea that it's easier to become a tank pilot than a freighter pilot when you fail to become a fighter pilot is stupid.

 

Limitations

As described, the machine is limited. The weapons are too low. The two classic Tie blasters cannot rotate and because of its location, the anti-personnel blaster cannot rotate vertically at a very large angle. All three are therefore almost useless on any rough terrain. Also, the shape of the tracks tells me that a concrete block, about a meter high, would be enough to block the Tie. And it's a Tie, so it has no energy shield, so it's not very armored. The single pilot is at the mercy of any anti-tank weapon or space fighter. It also has an obvious weak point: the four visible fuel tanks. Now, this is an obvious weak point that any poorly armed rebel will try to target. But also, why put them there? Have you seen the size of the tracks? And the size of the tanks? They could have been put somewhere in the tracks where they would have been better protected, but also closer to the engines. Not to mention that in the event of an explosion, moving them a little further away from the pilot would increase his chances of survival. And the Empire cares about the safety of its employees...

 

Improvement of Lego 7664

Lego has improved the concept by making the wings swivel and independent. The Tie crawler suddenly becoming truly all terrain. Moreover, they added missile launchers hidden in the wings. Which I had clumsily done in my first version. This version does not have them. The ideas I tested in this area all lacked solidity. And to be honest, once on the shelf, the hidden missiles would stay there.

 

Possible use.

The thing still has its uses, especially with the lego upgrades. Ok, it doesn't have shields, but even the weakest part (the cockpit) resists the vacuum of space, it's not a plastic car either. In case of guerrilla warfare, it can be handy. It is relatively fast (90km/h), and unlike the AT-Walkers (the whole series of AT-AT, AT-ST, AT-DP, AT-RT...), it does not risk falling. Moreover, even if it was turned over, it would not be a problem, it would even be an advantage to have the guns on top. It is also easier to store than AT-ATs and AT-STs, probably also easier to maintain.

I also see an advantage as an infantryman escort when on foot patrol in a guerrilla zone. In case of a skirmish, half a dozen soldiers could take shelter behind a track wall. Regarding the weak point at the rear, this is also a flaw of some IRL tanks, so you can't really hold it against it.

I happened to find another use for the Tie Crawler, the " tower " mode, with the two tracks in vertical position.

Imagine the Empire arrives on a new planet, they explore the terrain, and find a place to set up a temporary base. By the time the base is set up, the Tie Crawler could stand guard in a tower mode. I played a lot of Star Wars Battleground at the time (for those who don't know, imagine Age of Empire, but Star Wars version). Imagine the usefulness of a unit that would be both tower and tank.

 

About the model itself.

This cockpit is very solid, I'm very happy with it, especially since I managed to add a functional roof opening, with a passage. So let's be clear, you wouldn't fit a minifig through it, the hole is only 1x2, but it's enough to position the driver in lookout mode (an AT-AT pilot nicked from a micro-fighter set).

The stickers come from lego, the classic UCS TIE that I disassembled a long time ago, but I kept the "sticker" parts for this purpose.

The tracks are also solid, I regret not having been able to integrate a concealed missile launcher like the lego set, my attempts were successful on lego studio, but not on IRL. And if I liked the lego idea, I didn't like the lego execution. So I gave up.

The only weak point is that with the weight of the tracks, their fixation to the cockpit can break under too much stress. Contrary to the lego set, I don't recommend to hold the whole thing by the tanks. It is better to hold the model by both tracks at the same time.

   

Water Stone, 1986

Isamu Noguchi (American)

Basalt

 

Japanese-American artist Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988) sculpted in stone throughout his life. Noguchi first learned to carve stone in Paris in 1927, as a studio assistant to the French-Romanian abstract sculptor Constantin Brancusi (18761957). His culminating work in sculpture was produced at his studio on Shikoku Island, Japan, where he focused on transforming the local basalt stone into abstract sculptures.

 

Water Stone, commissioned in 1986 for the Japan Galleries of the Metropolitan Museum, was one of Noguchi's final works in basalt. While steeped in modernism, this sculpture also draws upon Japan's long stone-working tradition. Like stone basins set within Japanese gardens, Water Stone instills a meditative mood within the Museum galleries.

 

Noguchi's stone basin is both familiar and surprising: rather than pouring down into the well, water flows up from the ground into the basin. Water Stone rests upon a bed of white rocks taken from the flats of the Isuzu River, which flows along the sacred site of Ise Shrine. As if it were flowing from the Isuzu River that once sculpted the stones, water flows up into the basin (via a pump), then over the rim, polishing the stone naturally as it cycles. Noguchi recognized water as a natural maker of sculpture, here gradually eroding and rusting the iron-rich basalt.

 

By bringing together two fundamental natural elements, Water Stone becomes an expression of this and other natural processes. The materials embrace contrasts found in nature: the movement and sound of water against the solidity and stillness of stone; the hues and textures of rock in contrast to the transparency and smoothness of water; and the permanence of stone versus the transience of water.

 

The sculpture also underscores tensions between natural and human-defined elements. Noguchi alternated naturally worn, curvilinear outer rock surfaces with smoothly polished planes created through deliberate, angular cuts into the stone. The irregular circumference of the rounded form contrasts with the perfect circle of the central well. The cut circle introduces layers of symbolic meaning, representing the life cycle, seasonal cycle, sun, full moon, or enso symbol of Zen enlightenment, perfection, and unity. It may also simply evoke a ring created by a pebble dropped into water.

 

The water reaching the surface appears to come to a standstill, until it cascades over the edge, clinging to the stone sides as it falls. Water Stone, with its unending flow of water up and over the stone, expresses the unity of opposites that underlies the working of nature.

 

Purchase, Anonymous Gift, 1987 (1987.222)

 

**

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's permanent collection contains more than two million works of art from around the world. It opened its doors on February 20, 1872, housed in a building located at 681 Fifth Avenue in New York City. Under their guidance of John Taylor Johnston and George Palmer Putnam, the Met's holdings, initially consisting of a Roman stone sarcophagus and 174 mostly European paintings, quickly outgrew the available space. In 1873, occasioned by the Met's purchase of the Cesnola Collection of Cypriot antiquities, the museum decamped from Fifth Avenue and took up residence at the Douglas Mansion on West 14th Street. However, these new accommodations were temporary; after negotiations with the city of New York, the Met acquired land on the east side of Central Park, where it built its permanent home, a red-brick Gothic Revival stone "mausoleum" designed by American architects Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mold. As of 2006, the Met measures almost a quarter mile long and occupies more than two million square feet, more than 20 times the size of the original 1880 building.

 

In 2007, the Metropolitan Museum of Art was ranked #17 on the AIA 150 America's Favorite Architecture list.

 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was designated a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1967. The interior was designated in 1977.

 

National Historic Register #86003556

Othon Friesz was a French artist of the Fauvist movement. It was while he was at the Lycée that he met his lifelong friend Raoul Dufy. He and Dufy studied at the Le Havre School of Fine Arts in 1895-96 and then went to Paris together. In Paris, Friesz met Henri Matisse, Albert Marquet, and Georges Rouault. Like them he rebelled against the academic teaching of Bonnat and became a member of the Fauves, exhibiting with them in 1907. The following year Friesz left Paris to return to Normandy and to a much more traditional style of painting, since he had discovered that his personal goals in painting were firmly rooted in the past. He returned to Paris in 1919 and remained there until his death in 1949, painting in a style completely removed from that of his earlier colleagues and his contemporaries. Having abandoned the lively arabesques and brilliant colors of his Fauve years, Friesz returned to the more sober palette he had learned in Le Havre from his professor Charles Lhuillier and to an early admiration for Poussin, Chardin, and Corot. He painted in a manner that respected Cézanne's ideas of logical composition, simple tonality, solidity of volume, and distinct separation of planes.

Khafre Enthroned is a funerary statue of the Pharaoh Khafre, who reigned during the Fourth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (c. 2570 BCE). It is now located in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The construction is made of anorthosite gneiss (related to diorite), a valuable, extremely hard, and dark stone brought 400 miles down the Nile River from royal quarries. This highlights Khafre's importance and power as a ruler. The statue was carved for the Pharaoh's valley temple near the Great Sphinx, a part of the necropolis (funerary city) used in funeral rituals. This Old Kingdom statue has an important function in Egyptian tombs as substitute abodes for the Pharaoh's ka—the life force that accompanied a person with a kind of other self. After death, the ka leaves the body into the afterlife, but still needs a place to rest: the statue.[citation needed]

 

This sculpture, depicted in-the-round (versus relief sculpture), shows Khafre seated, one of the basic formulaic types used during the Old Kingdom to show the human figure. Mummification played a huge role in the Egyptian culture, a 70-day process to ensure immortality for the pharaoh. Starting in the 3rd millennium BCE, if the pharaoh's mummy was damaged, a ka statue was created to "ensure immortality and permanence of the deceased's identity by providing a substitute dwelling place for the ka".

 

Khafre rigidly sits in his royal throne, gazing off into the distance. The pharaoh wears a linen nemes headdress, which cover most of his forehead and folds over his broad shoulders. This royal headdress depicts the uraeus, or cobra emblem, on the front along with the royal false beard attached at the end of his chiseled chin.[3] Khafre wears a kilt covering his waist, revealing his idealized upper body and muscle definition.[citation needed] The Egyptian idealized portraiture is not meant to record individualized features, but instead proclaim the divine nature of Egyptian kingship. Two stylized lions' bodies form the throne Khafre sits on, creating a sturdy base. Lotus plants (symbolic of Upper Egypt) and papyrus plants (symbolic of Lower Egypt) grow between the legs of the throne, referring to the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt which ended the Egyptian Pre-Dynastic period. The god Horus, depicted as a falcon, protects the backside of Khafre's head with his wings, another reference to the united Egypt. Besides the striking view of the falcon (unseen from the front) resting behind Khafre's head, Khafre's feet are emplaced upon a flat platform, engraved with nine archery bows, representing the king's and kingdom's dominance over foreign/domestic enemy tribes, the nine bows.

 

The symmetrical pharaoh shows no movement or change, suppressing all motion and time to create an eternal stillness; his strong build and permanent stance demonstrate no notion of time—Khafre is timeless, and his power will exist even in the afterlife. The statue is based upon compactness and solidity with few projecting parts; Khafre's block-like body is attached to the throne to last for eternity, creating one single structure. His arms rest on his thighs, directly facing the viewer in a rigid, frontal pose. The bilaterally symmetric statue, symbolizing order and control in the pharaoh, is the same on either side of the vertical axis of the statue, only differing in Khafre's clenched right fist.[citation needed] The tight profile and block-like aspect represent Khafre as a permanent being and part of the stone to keep his ka safe. Khafre will always exist, on earth and in the afterlife. The pharaoh's sculpture can be described as absolutely frontal, utterly immobile, and perfectly calm: the characteristics of Egyptian block statue.

 

Creating Khafre Enthroned

In order to create this sculpture in-the-round, the sculptor used the subtractive method. He began with a cube-shaped stone block of diorite. First, the sculptor drew the front, back, and two profile views of Khafre on the four vertical faces of the stone. After the sketched plans were made, the sculptor chiseled away the excess stone on all four sides until the plans came together, meeting at right angles. The last step was sculpting specific details of Khafre's body and face, carving the falcon god Horus, and other designs on the throne. The subtractive method allows the sculptor to create a block-like look for Khafre's ka statue, a standard for Egyptian sculpture during this time period. In addition to the subtractive method, abrasion, rubbing or grinding the surface was used to finish the product off. The diorite statue stands at a final height of five foot six.

 

Khafre's ka statue, which would have been located in the Valley temple of Khafre, was only one part of an extremely intricate system used in Egyptian funerary rituals. Located at the Pyramids of Gizeh, the necropolis included the Valley Temple of Khafre, a mortuary temple, the Great Sphinx, and a causeway leading to the pyramid of Khafre.

 

The Great Pyramids of Gizeh (Pyramids of Giza), located on the outskirts of present-day Cairo, are three enormous pyramids for three Egyptian pharaohs with multiple smaller ones, housing the mummies of the royal family and nobles. From largest to smallest, the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure are the most famous and dedicated to each god, respectively. Khafre's pyramid and tomb were designed as an eternal home for his mummy, where the serdab (chamber room) in the Valley Temple was meant to keep his ka statue. Unlike previous pyramids, such as the Stepped Pyramid of Djoser designed by the first known architect Imhotep, the Great Pyramids of Gizeh were not based upon the mastaba structure, a rectangular structure. The new, smoothly inclined surface of the tomb derives from a rectangular base, which is aligned by the four cardinal directions of the compass. The four sides finish at a pointed tip, referring to the emblem of the sun Re (Ra), called the ben-ben. These symbolic pyramids allowed the pharaoh's spirit to ascend to the heavens using the rays of the sun.

 

The funeral procession carrying the pharaoh's mummy began east of the Nile River, where the sun is reborn every morning and where the Egyptian citizens live. Khafre's mummy would have crossed the Nile River, which was the ribbon of life separating the east from the west.[citation needed] The Nile was extremely important in Egyptian culture, for it provided fertility of the land and represented life for the people who used it. Because of its importance and symbol of life, it was used as part of the procession to bury the pharaoh. Khafre's body would then meet at the west side of the Nile, or the land of the dead. Every night, the sun sets and dies, which is why the western section of the city was dedicated to burying the dead.[citation needed] The horizontal axis of east to west was symbolic to the Egyptians, representing the cycle of life and eternalness of their leaders; every day the sun is born in the east and dies at night in the west, yet is again reborn in the east the next morning. The rhythm of the horizontal axis used in the funeral procession parallels with eternalness of the pharaoh.[citation needed]

 

Once on the west bank of the Nile, Khafre's mummy would travel along the causeway, or pathway, passing by the Valley Temple of Khafre where the Khafre Enthroned statue would be located. Next along the causeway is the Great Sphinx, a creature with a Pharaoh head and cat body carved out of the living/natural rock of the area. Many believe that the face of the sphinx is actually Khafre, further honoring the Pharaoh in the funeral procession. Continuing along the causeway, the mummy and procession enter the Mortuary Temple of Khafre adjoining the pharaoh's pyramid. This is where offerings were made to the deceased pharaoh and further ceremonies performed. Sealing the mummy in the tomb of Khafre's pyramid, where his body and ka would peacefully rest for eternity, completed the funeral ritual.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Museum

 

The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, commonly known as the Egyptian Museum (Arabic: المتحف المصري, romanized: al-Matḥaf al-Miṣrī, Egyptian Arabic: el-Matḥaf el-Maṣri [elˈmætħæf elˈmɑsˤɾi]) (also called the Cairo Museum), located in Cairo, Egypt, houses the largest collection of Egyptian antiquities in the world. It houses over 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display. Located in Tahrir Square in a building built in 1901, it is the largest museum in Africa. Among its masterpieces are Pharaoh Tutankhamun's treasure, including its iconic gold burial mask, widely considered one of the best-known works of art in the world and a prominent symbol of ancient Egypt.

 

History

The Egyptian Museum of Antiquities contains many important pieces of ancient Egyptian history. It houses the world's largest collection of Pharaonic antiquities. The Egyptian government established the museum built in 1835 near the Ezbekieh Garden and later moved to the Cairo Citadel. In 1855, Archduke Maximilian of Austria was given all of the artifacts by the Egyptian government; these are now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

 

A new museum was established at Boulaq in 1858 in a former warehouse, following the foundation of the new Antiquities Department under the direction of Auguste Mariette. The building lay on the bank of the Nile River, and in 1878 it suffered significant damage owing to the flooding of the Nile River. In 1891, the collections were moved to a former royal palace, in the Giza district of Cairo. They remained there until 1902 when they were moved again to the current museum in Tahrir Square, built by the Italian company of Giuseppe Garozzo and Francesco Zaffrani to a design by the French architect Marcel Dourgnon.

 

In 2004, the museum appointed Wafaa El Saddik as the first female director general.

 

During the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, the museum was broken into, and two mummies were destroyed. Several artifacts were also shown to have been damaged and around 50 objects were stolen. Since then, 25 objects have been found. Those that were restored were put on display in September 2013 in an exhibition entitled "Damaged and Restored". Among the displayed artifacts were two statues of King Tutankhamun made of cedar wood and covered with gold, a statue of King Akhenaten, ushabti statues that belonged to the Nubian kings, a mummy of a child, and a small polychrome glass vase.

 

The museum was reportedly used as a torture site during the 2011 Revolution, with protestors forcibly and unlawfully detained and allegedly abused, according to reports, videos and eyewitness accounts. Activists state that "men were being tortured with electric shocks, whips and wires," and "women were tied to fences and trees." Prominent singer and activist Ramy Essam was among those detained and tortured at the museum.

 

Sale room for antiquities

The Department of Antiquities (Service d'Antiquités Egyptien) operated a sale room (Salle de ventes) in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo from 1902 in room 56 on the ground floor, where original ancient Egyptian artworks and other original artefacts were sold. In addition, until the 1970s, dealers or collectors could bring antiquities to the Cairo Museum for inspection on Thursdays, and if museum officials had no objections, they could pack them in ready-made boxes, have them sealed and cleared for export. Many objects now held in private collections or public museums originated here. After years of debate about the strategy for selling the antiquities, the sale room was closed in November 1979.

 

Interior design and collections

There are two main floors in the museum, the ground floor and the first floor. On the ground floor is an extensive collection of large-scale works in stone including statues, reliefs and architectural elements. These are arranged chronologically in clockwise fashion, from the pre-dynastic to the Greco-Roman period. The first floor is dedicated to smaller works, including papyri, coins, textiles, and an enormous collection of wooden sarcophagi.

 

The numerous pieces of papyrus are generally small fragments, owing to their decay over the past two millennia. Several languages are found on these pieces, including Greek, Latin, Arabic, and ancient Egyptian. The coins found on this floor are made of many different metals, including gold, silver, and bronze. The coins are not only Egyptian, but also Greek, Roman, and Islamic. This has helped historians research the history of Ancient Egyptian trade.

 

Also on the ground floor are artifacts from the New Kingdom, the time period between 1550 and 1069 BC. These artifacts are generally larger than items created in earlier centuries. Those items include statues, tables, and coffins (sarcophagi). It contains 42 rooms; with many items on view from sarcophagi and boats to enormous statues.

 

On the first floor are artifacts from the final two dynasties of Egypt, including items from the tombs of the Pharaohs Thutmosis III, Thutmosis IV, Amenophis II, Hatshepsut, and the courtier Maiherpri, as well as many artifacts from the Valley of the Kings, in particular the material from the intact tombs of Tutankhamun and Psusennes I.

 

Until 2021, two rooms contained a number of mummies of kings and other royal family members of the New Kingdom. On April 3, 2021, twenty-two of these mummies were transferred to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat in a grand parade dubbed The Pharaohs' Golden Parade.

 

Collections are also being transferred to the not-yet-open Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, including all the artifacts found inside Tutankhamun's tomb. "Among the reasons that the GEM itself was conceived, the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir has been criticized for being overcrowded, displaying pieces in a way that is said to make the experience cumbersome for visitors."

 

Memorial to famous Egyptologists

In the garden adjacent to the building of the museum, is a memorial to famous egyptologists of the world. It features a monument to Auguste Mariette, surrounded by 24 busts of the following egyptologists: François Chabas, Johannes Dümichen, Conradus Leemans, Charles Wycliffe Goodwin, Emmanuel de Rougé, Samuel Birch, Edward Hincks, Luigi Vassalli, Émile Brugsch, Karl Richard Lepsius, Théodule Devéria, Vladimir Golenishchev, Ippolito Rosellini, Labib Habachi, Sami Gabra, Selim Hassan, Ahmed Kamal, Zakaria Goneim, Jean-François Champollion, Amedeo Peyron, Willem Pleyte, Gaston Maspero, Peter le Page Renouf and Kazimierz Michałowski.

The Earth Series # 2*

 

***

The earth can represent solidity, stability, practicality, fertility and a sense of being "grounded" or "having both feet on the ground." It symbolizes the physical body and the physical world, as opposed to the world of ideas or the world of the spirit. The area beneath the surface of the earth represents the unconscious. The entire earth seen as a globe can indicate wholeness, the mother principle ("mother earth"), and "global consciousness."

(Ref: Dream Encyclopedia)

***

Bauhaus Museum Weimar, Germany

 

German architect Heike Hanada designed a minimalist concrete museum to celebrate the Bauhaus in Weimar, where the design school was founded 100 years ago. The building is dedicated to the design school creates a physical cultural presence for the Bauhaus in the German city where it was based between 1919 and 1925. Located near the Nazi-era Gauforum square and the Neue Museum Weimar, the Bauhaus Museum is a simple five-storey concrete box broken only with its entrance and a couple of windows. The enclosing shell of light-grey concrete lends the cube stability and dynamic solidity. Equally spaced horizontal grooves run around the facades of the museum, with the words "bauhaus museum" repeated in a band near the top of the building. Hanada designed the museum to be a public building for the city and has attempted to clearly connect it to the neighbouring park. With elements such as plinths, fasciae, portals, stairways and a terrace to the park, the architecture incorporates classical themes that underscore its public character.

 

The museum contains 2,000 m2 of exhibition space, which will be used to display around 1,000 items from the Weimar Bauhaus collection. A shop and entrance hall is located on the ground floor, with a cafe and toilets below, and three floors dedicated to telling the story of the Bauhaus above. Each of the galleries overlooks double-height spaces and are accessed from a long ceremonial staircase that stretches the height of the building. The visitors ascend a succession of interchanging open spaces and staircases until they finally arrive at the top floor where they are presented with an unobstructed view of the park. The cascading staircases are encased by ceiling-high walls and function as free-standing, enclosed bodies in the interior space. The collection is arranged to inform visitors about the history of the design school, with the gallery on the first floor dedicated to its origins in Weimar and the Bauhaus manifesto that Walter Gropius wrote in 1919. The second floor has exhibits that show how these ideas were implemented, with galleries dedicated to each of the Bauhaus directors – Gropius, Hannes Meyer and Mies van der Rohe – at the top of the building.

 

The museum in Weimar has opened to coincide with the centenary of the Bauhaus, which was established in the city in 1919. The school was forced to relocate from Weimar to Dessau in 1925, where Gropius designed a new school building for the institution. Following a short time based in Berlin the school closed for good in 1933. Although only open for just over a decade, the Bauhaus is the most influential art and design school in history. The ideas and people associated with the school had an incredible impact on design and architecture, and to mark its centenary we created a series exploring its key works and figures.

 

Bauhaus Museum Weimar, Germany

 

German architect Heike Hanada designed a minimalist concrete museum to celebrate the Bauhaus in Weimar, where the design school was founded 100 years ago. The building is dedicated to the design school creates a physical cultural presence for the Bauhaus in the German city where it was based between 1919 and 1925. Located near the Nazi-era Gauforum square and the Neue Museum Weimar, the Bauhaus Museum is a simple five-storey concrete box broken only with its entrance and a couple of windows. The enclosing shell of light-grey concrete lends the cube stability and dynamic solidity. Equally spaced horizontal grooves run around the facades of the museum, with the words "bauhaus museum" repeated in a band near the top of the building. Hanada designed the museum to be a public building for the city and has attempted to clearly connect it to the neighbouring park. With elements such as plinths, fasciae, portals, stairways and a terrace to the park, the architecture incorporates classical themes that underscore its public character.

 

The museum contains 2,000 m2 of exhibition space, which will be used to display around 1,000 items from the Weimar Bauhaus collection. A shop and entrance hall is located on the ground floor, with a cafe and toilets below, and three floors dedicated to telling the story of the Bauhaus above. Each of the galleries overlooks double-height spaces and are accessed from a long ceremonial staircase that stretches the height of the building. The visitors ascend a succession of interchanging open spaces and staircases until they finally arrive at the top floor where they are presented with an unobstructed view of the park. The cascading staircases are encased by ceiling-high walls and function as free-standing, enclosed bodies in the interior space. The collection is arranged to inform visitors about the history of the design school, with the gallery on the first floor dedicated to its origins in Weimar and the Bauhaus manifesto that Walter Gropius wrote in 1919. The second floor has exhibits that show how these ideas were implemented, with galleries dedicated to each of the Bauhaus directors – Gropius, Hannes Meyer and Mies van der Rohe – at the top of the building.

 

The museum in Weimar has opened to coincide with the centenary of the Bauhaus, which was established in the city in 1919. The school was forced to relocate from Weimar to Dessau in 1925, where Gropius designed a new school building for the institution. Following a short time based in Berlin the school closed for good in 1933. Although only open for just over a decade, the Bauhaus is the most influential art and design school in history. The ideas and people associated with the school had an incredible impact on design and architecture, and to mark its centenary we created a series exploring its key works and figures.

 

   

When Strasbourg was first mentioned in 12BC, it was the Roman camp Argentoratum. Strasbourg was probably a bishop's seat from the 4th century. Alemanni, Huns and Franks conquered the city in the 5th century. Strasbourg was then ruled by the Strasbourg bishops until 1262 when the citizens violently rebelled against the bishopric and Strasbourg became a free imperial city and so belonged to the Holy Roman Empire. Led by two rival patrician families (Müllheim and Zorn), the city prospered, although the town hall required two separate entrances for the two families.

 

On February 14, 1349, one of the first and largest pogroms of persecution of Jews in connection with the plague in the German area took place here. In the course of the St. Valentine's Day massacre, several hundred (some say up to 3000) Jews were publicly burned, and the survivors were expelled from the city. Until the end of the 18th century, Jews were forbidden to stay within the city walls after 10 pm.

 

Strasbourg came under French rule in 1681, after the conquest of Alsace by the armies of Louis XIV. However, the revocation of the Edict of Toleration of Nantes in 1685, which legalized the suppression of Protestantism in France, did not apply in Alsace, and religious freedom prevailed, even if the French authorities endeavored to favor Catholicism wherever possible.

 

Strasbourg's Lutheran, German-influenced university continued to exist. Moreover, until 1789, Alsace was a de facto foreign province , separated from the rest of France by a customs border running along the Vosges Mountains. Therefore, the city and its surrounding area remained German-speaking. In the period of the French Revolution, the city became attractive for republicans from Germany and later an exile for German oppositionists.

 

Around 600, a monastery with a church dedicated to the Apostle Thomas was founded at the current location. In the 9th century, a new church was built with an adjoining school. Both burned down in 1007 by lightning. After reconstruction, the monastery was converted into a collegiate monastery in 1031. Lightning struck again in 1144. The construction of a new building began in 1196, which combines Romanesque solidity with early Gothic details. The construction work ended in 1521 with side chapels in the late Gothic style.

 

It is the main Lutheran church of the city since its cathedral became Catholic again after the annexation of the town by France in 1681. So it is nicknamed "la cathédrale du Protestantisme alsacien". It is the only hall church in the Alsace region. In the church, there are many tombs and monuments. A detail of the large baroque tomb of Mauritio Saxoni

  

Here are many more photos taken in

Strasbourg, Selestat and the Bas Rhin area.

 

www.ipernity.com/doc/323415/album/1255496

   

River Dargle Flood Defence Scheme.

These images were taken during the third week of November 2016.

 

These are the critical stabilisation works at the Silverbridge site, adjacent to the N11 dual-carriageway:

 

Back in November 2014, we observed bank stabilisation works here involving excavation, repair and building of a support wall structure -- carried out by JONS Construction on behalf of the National Roads Authority.

 

We would occasionally catch sight of this work in the distance. Quite an impressive little piece of structural engineering.

Having built a retaining concave wall, backfilled for solidity, they were also drilling, fixing and sealing ground anchors to pin the entire structure together.

 

flic.kr/p/paSU8U

 

Now we see that further works are being undertaken.

Word has it that extra ‘stabilisation work’ has to be done to protect the integrity of the riverbank. At the section here we can see that there’s not much space between the edge of the rock face and the Armco at the side of the dual-carriageway.

Have yet to determine what precisely that will entail. Serious work to reinforce the side access ramp down to the river.

 

The N11 carriageway runs adjacent to this sunken side of the riverbank -- barely 2 (large) paces divide the two. Even with twin strips of Armco along the roadside, it's perilously close. Traffic speeds along this stretch (maximum speed 100 kmp). Only needs a touch from a heavy vehicle to cause secondary impact, which (worst possible scenario) could result in something going airborne.

 

Working in these confined spaces puts a premium of safety and communication.

 

The guys have hard-filled a working shelf on the riverbed, to allow machinery access to the rockface. Obviously some serious drilling is called for before a form of extra 'pinning' is put in place.

They have sunk a series of hollowed tubes/casings -- obviously to form the foundations of a more extensive structure.

And some investigative work around the transverse buttress of the access bridge, parallel to the heavy-duty pipeline carrying water down from the Vartry reservoir.

 

This was the day when they started to fill those sunken tubes/casings with liquid cement. At a (rough) guess -- I'd say the foundations are sunk to a depth of approx 4+m.

With such secure foundations in place, they would then look to construct a substantial bank of material, and/or retaining wall (similar to that in place further along the roadside bank).

 

As ever, the first attempt at a process brings it's own unique set of issues.

The tight confines of the riverbed obliges the use of a concrete pumping rig with long-boom capacity.

Would you call this a '4 section' unit'? Built on a 4-axle chassis, I'd suggest that it's reach is approx 40+m.

 

The remotely-controlled unit siphons and pumps liquid concrete into the sunken wells. Immediately the guys agitate the mixture to remove any air pockets. Final step is to lower in a pre-formed steel skeleton brace, intended to reinforce the foundation.

 

While we were there, the guys struggled to sink the steel frame into the sunken sleeve. I can't believe it was a problem with alignment -- other similar frames dropped neatly into their appointed sleeve.

Perhaps simply a case that the compressed liquid solution was just inflexible enough to receive the steel skeleton. We left.

 

Will find out later what the outcome was.

 

(In English Below)

 

Enfin complet !

 

Le Tie Crawler Version 2. Je préfère cette version.

 

Un de Tie mes préférés, encore une fois par son côté ridicule et peu pratique.

 

Le Tie Crawler (aussi connu comme Tie Century ou Tie Tank) est un véhicule blindé léger. Armé de deux blasters Tie classique, et d’un blaster anti-personnel (donc plus léger). Un seul pilote qui fait aussi office de tireur.

 

Idées dans le Lore

Il était simple à produire, et c’est à peu près tout. J’ai aussi le souvenir d’avoir lu quelque part que les recrues de l’Empire échouant au test pour devenir pilote de chasseur Tie, pouvaient se reconvertir plus facilement en pilote de Tie Crawler. Mais je n’ai pas pu retrouver la source. Et de toute façon l’idée que ce soit plus facile de devenir pilote de char plutôt que pilote de cargo quand on échoue à devenir pilote de chasse est stupide.

 

Limites

Tel que décrit, l’engin est limité. Les armes sont trop basses. Les deux blasters de Tie classique ne peuvent pas pivoter et du fait de son emplacement, le blaster antipersonnel ne peut pas pivoter verticalement avec un angle très grand. Les trois sont donc quasi inutiles sur n’importe quel terrain accidenté. De plus, la forme des chenilles me fait dire qu’un bloc de béton, d’environ un mètre de haut, suffirait à bloquer le Tie. Et puis c’est un Tie, donc pas de bouclier énergétique, donc peu blindé. L’unique pilote est à la merci de n’importe quel armement anti-char ou chasseur spatial. Il a aussi un gros point faible évident : les quatre réservoirs visibles de fuel. Bon déjà, c’est un point faible évident que n’importe quel rebelle mal armé essaiera de viser. Mais aussi, pourquoi les avoir mis là ? Vous avez vu la taille des chenilles ? Et la tailles des réservoirs ? Il suffisait de les mettre quelque part dans les chenilles où ils auraient été mieux protégés, mais aussi plus proche des moteurs. Sans compter qu’en cas d’explosion, les éloigner un peu du pilote augmenterait ses chances de survie. Et l’Empire a à cœur la sécurité de ses employés…

 

Amélioration de Lego 7664

Lego a amélioré le concept en rendant les ailes pivotantes et indépendantes. Le Tie crawler devenant tout à coup vraiment tout terrain. De plus, ils ont ajouté des lance-missiles planqués dans les ailes. Ce que j’avais maladroitement fait dans ma première version. Cette version n’en a pas. Les idées que j’ai testées en la matière manquaient tous de solidité. Et pour être franc, une fois sur l’étagère, les missiles cachés le resteraient.

 

Utilisation possible.

L’engin a quand même son utilité, surtout avec les améliorations lego. Ok, il n’a pas de boucliers, mais même la partie la plus faible (le cockpit) résiste au vide spatial, ce n’est pas non plus une voiture en plastique. En cas de guérilla, il peut être pratique. Il est relativement rapide (90km/h), et contrairement au AT-Walkers (toute la série des AT-AT, AT-ST, AT-DP, AT-RT…), il ne risque pas de tomber. D’ailleurs, même si on le retournait, ce ne serait pas un problème, ce serait même un avantage d’avoir les canons en haut. Il est aussi plus simple à stocker que des AT-AT et AT-ST, probablement aussi plus simple d’entretien.

Je vois aussi un avantage en tant qu’escorte de fantassin lors de patrouille à pied en zone de guérilla. En cas d’escarmouche, une demi-douzaine de soldats pourraient s’abriter derrière un mur de chenille. Concernant le point faible à l’arrière, c’est aussi un défaut de certains char IRL, donc on ne peut pas vraiment lui en tenir rigueur.

Il se trouve que j'ai trouvé un autre usage au Tie Crawler, en effet le mode « tourelle », avec les deux chenilles en position verticale.

Imaginez l'Empire arrive sur une nouvelle planète, ils explorent le terrain, et trouvent un endroit pour monter une base temporaire. Le temps de monter la base, le Tie Crawler pourrait monter la garde en mode tourelle. J’ai pas mal joué à Star Wars Battleground à l’époque (pour ceux qui ne connaissent pas, imaginez Age of Empire, mais version Star Wars). Imaginer un peu l’utilité d’une unité qui ferait à la fois tourelle et Tank.

 

Concernant le modèle en lui-même.

Le cockpit est bien solide, j’en suis très content, d’autant que j’ai réussi à y ajouter une ouverture de toit fonctionnelle, avec un passage. Alors soyons clair, vous n’y feriez pas passer une minifig, le trou ne fait que 1x2, mais c’est suffisant pour y positionner le conducteur en mode vigie (un pilote AT-AT piqué dans un set micro-fighter).

Les stickers viennent de lego, le TIE classique UCS que j’ai démonté depuis longtemps, mais dont j’avais gardé les pièces « stickers » pour cet usage.

Les chenilles aussi sont solides, je regrette de n’avoir pu y intégrer un lance-missiles dissimulé comme le set lego, mais mes tentatives tenaient sur lego studio, mais pas sur IRL. Et si j’aimais l’idée de lego, je n’aimais l’exécution lego. J’ai donc laissé tomber.

Le seul point faible étant qu’avec le poids des chenilles, leur fixation au cockpit peut lâcher sous une contrainte trop grande. Contrairement au set lego, je déconseille de tenir le tout par les réservoirs. Il vaut mieux tenir le modèle par les deux chenilles en même temps.

    

Finally complete!

 

The Tie Crawler Version 2. I prefer this version.

 

One of my favorite Tie, again for its ridiculousness and impracticality.

 

The Tie Crawler (also known as Tie Century or Tie Tank) is a light armored vehicle. Armed with two classic Tie blasters, and one anti-personnel blaster (so, lighter). A single pilot who also acts as a gunner.

 

Ideas in the Lore

It was simple to produce, and that's about it. I also remember reading somewhere that Empire recruits who fail the test to become Tie fighter pilots could more easily be converted to Tie Crawler pilots. But I couldn't find the source. And anyway the idea that it's easier to become a tank pilot than a freighter pilot when you fail to become a fighter pilot is stupid.

 

Limitations

As described, the machine is limited. The weapons are too low. The two classic Tie blasters cannot rotate and because of its location, the anti-personnel blaster cannot rotate vertically at a very large angle. All three are therefore almost useless on any rough terrain. Also, the shape of the tracks tells me that a concrete block, about a meter high, would be enough to block the Tie. And it's a Tie, so it has no energy shield, so it's not very armored. The single pilot is at the mercy of any anti-tank weapon or space fighter. It also has an obvious weak point: the four visible fuel tanks. Now, this is an obvious weak point that any poorly armed rebel will try to target. But also, why put them there? Have you seen the size of the tracks? And the size of the tanks? They could have been put somewhere in the tracks where they would have been better protected, but also closer to the engines. Not to mention that in the event of an explosion, moving them a little further away from the pilot would increase his chances of survival. And the Empire cares about the safety of its employees...

 

Improvement of Lego 7664

Lego has improved the concept by making the wings swivel and independent. The Tie crawler suddenly becoming truly all terrain. Moreover, they added missile launchers hidden in the wings. Which I had clumsily done in my first version. This version does not have them. The ideas I tested in this area all lacked solidity. And to be honest, once on the shelf, the hidden missiles would stay there.

 

Possible use.

The thing still has its uses, especially with the lego upgrades. Ok, it doesn't have shields, but even the weakest part (the cockpit) resists the vacuum of space, it's not a plastic car either. In case of guerrilla warfare, it can be handy. It is relatively fast (90km/h), and unlike the AT-Walkers (the whole series of AT-AT, AT-ST, AT-DP, AT-RT...), it does not risk falling. Moreover, even if it was turned over, it would not be a problem, it would even be an advantage to have the guns on top. It is also easier to store than AT-ATs and AT-STs, probably also easier to maintain.

I also see an advantage as an infantryman escort when on foot patrol in a guerrilla zone. In case of a skirmish, half a dozen soldiers could take shelter behind a track wall. Regarding the weak point at the rear, this is also a flaw of some IRL tanks, so you can't really hold it against it.

I happened to find another use for the Tie Crawler, the " tower " mode, with the two tracks in vertical position.

Imagine the Empire arrives on a new planet, they explore the terrain, and find a place to set up a temporary base. By the time the base is set up, the Tie Crawler could stand guard in a tower mode. I played a lot of Star Wars Battleground at the time (for those who don't know, imagine Age of Empire, but Star Wars version). Imagine the usefulness of a unit that would be both tower and tank.

 

About the model itself.

This cockpit is very solid, I'm very happy with it, especially since I managed to add a functional roof opening, with a passage. So let's be clear, you wouldn't fit a minifig through it, the hole is only 1x2, but it's enough to position the driver in lookout mode (an AT-AT pilot nicked from a micro-fighter set).

The stickers come from lego, the classic UCS TIE that I disassembled a long time ago, but I kept the "sticker" parts for this purpose.

The tracks are also solid, I regret not having been able to integrate a concealed missile launcher like the lego set, my attempts were successful on lego studio, but not on IRL. And if I liked the lego idea, I didn't like the lego execution. So I gave up.

The only weak point is that with the weight of the tracks, their fixation to the cockpit can break under too much stress. Contrary to the lego set, I don't recommend to hold the whole thing by the tanks. It is better to hold the model by both tracks at the same time.

   

A windpump is a wind-driven device which is used for pumping water.

 

Windpumps were used to pump water since at least the 9th century in what is now Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. The use of wind pumps became widespread across the Muslim world and later spread to China and India. Windmills were later used extensively in Europe, particularly in the Netherlands and the East Anglia area of Great Britain, from the late Middle Ages onwards, to drain land for agricultural or building purposes.

 

Simon Stevin's work in the waterstaet involved improvements to the sluices and spillways to control flooding. Windmills were already in use to pump the water out, but in Van de Molens (On mills), he suggested improvements, including the idea that the wheels should move slowly, and a better system for meshing of the gear teeth. These improvements increased the efficiency of the windmills used to pump water out of the polders by three times. He received a patent on his innovation in 1586.

 

Eight- to ten-bladed windmills were used in the Region of Murcia, Spain, to raise water for irrigation purposes. The drive from the windmill's rotor was led down through the tower and back out through the wall to turn a large wheel known as a noria. The noria supported a bucket chain which dangled down into the well. The buckets were traditionally made of wood or clay. These windmills remained in use until the 1950s, and many of the towers are still standing.

 

Early immigrants to the New World brought with them the technology of windmills from Europe. On US farms, particularly on the Great Plains, wind pumps were used to pump water from farm wells for cattle. In California and some other states, the windmill was part of a self-contained domestic water system, including a hand-dug well and a redwood water tower supporting a redwood tank and enclosed by redwood siding (tankhouse). The self-regulating farm wind pump was invented by Daniel Halladay in 1854. Eventually, steel blades and steel towers replaced wooden construction, and at their peak in 1930, an estimated 600,000 units were in use, with capacity equivalent to 150 megawatts. Very large lighter wind pumps in Australia directly crank the pump with the rotor of the windmill. Extra back gearing between small rotors for high wind areas and the pump crank prevents trying to push the pump rods down on the downstroke faster than they can fall by gravity. Otherwise pumping too fast leads to the pump rods buckling, making the seal of the stuffing box leak and wearing through the wall of the rising main (UK) or the drop-pipe (US) so all output is lost.

 

The multi-bladed wind pump or wind turbine atop a lattice tower made of wood or steel hence became, for many years, a fixture of the landscape throughout rural America.[8] These mills, made by a variety of manufacturers, featured many blades so that they would turn slowly with considerable torque in moderate winds and be self-regulating in high winds. A tower-top gearbox and crankshaft converted the rotary motion into reciprocating strokes carried downward through a rod to the pump cylinder below. Today, rising energy costs and improved pumping technology are increasing interest in the use of this once declining technology.

 

Worldwide use

The Netherlands is well known for its windmills. Most of these iconic structures situated along the edge of polders are actually windpumps, designed to drain the land. These are particularly important as much of the country lies below sea level.

 

In the UK, the term windpump is rarely used, and they are better known as drainage windmills. Many of these were built in The Broads and The Fens of East Anglia for the draining of land, but most of them have since been replaced by diesel or electric powered pumps. Many of the original windmills still stand in a derelict state although some have been restored.[citation needed]

 

Windpumps are used extensively in Southern Africa, Australia, and on farms and ranches in the central plains and Southwest of the United States. In South Africa and Namibia thousands of windpumps are still operating. These are mostly used to provide water for human use as well as drinking water for large sheep stocks.

 

Kenya has also benefited from the African development of windpump technologies. At the end of the 1970s, the UK NGO Intermediate Technology Development Group provided engineering support to the Kenyan company Bobs Harries Engineering Ltd for the development of the Kijito windpumps. Bobs Harries Engineering Ltd is still manufacturing the Kijito windpumps, and more than 300 of them are operating in the whole of East Africa.

 

In many parts of the world, a rope pump is being used in conjunction with wind turbines. This easy-to- construct pump works by pulling a knotted rope through a pipe (usually a simple PVC pipe) causing the water to be pulled up into the pipe. This type of pump has become common in Nicaragua and other places.

 

Construction

To construct a windpump, the bladed rotor needs to be matched to the pump. With non-electric windpumps, high solidity rotors are best used in conjunction with positive displacement (piston) pumps, because single-acting piston pumps need about three times as much torque to start them as to keep them going. Low solidity rotors, on the other hand, are best used with centrifugal pumps, waterladder pumps and chain and washer pumps, where the torque needed by the pump for starting is less than that needed for running at design speed. Low solidity rotors are best used if they are intended to drive an electricity generator; which in turn can drive the pump.

 

Multi-bladed wind pumps can be found worldwide and are manufactured in the United States, Argentina, China, New Zealand, South Africa, and Australia. Commonly known in the US and Canada as a "weathercock" because it behaves much like a traditional weather vane, moving with the direction of the wind (but also measuring wind speed).The Butler brand added improvements to the technology of windpumps in 1897, 1898 and 1905 A 16 ft (4.8 m) diameter wind pump can lift up to 1600 US gallons (about 6.4 metric tons) of water per hour to an elevation of 100 ft with a 15 to 20 mph wind (24–32 km/h). However they take a strong wind to start so they turn over the crank of the piston pump. Wind pumps require little maintenance—usually only a change of gear box oil annually. An estimated 60,000 wind pumps are still in use in the United States. They are particularly attractive for use at remote sites where electric power is not available and maintenance is difficult to provide. A common multi-bladed windpump usefully pumps with about 4%–8% of the annual windpower passing through the area it sweeps This lower conversion is due to poor load matching between wind rotors and fixed-stroke piston pumps.

 

The main design feature of a multi-bladed rotor is "high starting torque", which is necessary for cranking a piston pump operation. Once started a multi-bladed rotor runs at too high a tipspeed ratio at less than its best efficiency of 30%. On the other hand, modern wind rotors can operate at an aerodynamic efficiency of more than 40% at higher tipspeed ratio for a smaller swirl added and wasted to the wind. But they would need a highly variable stroke mechanism rather than just a crank to piston pump.

 

Poor load matching

A multi-bladed windmill is a mechanical device with a piston pump. Because a piston pump has a fixed stroke, the energy demand of this type of pump is proportional to pump speed only. On the other hand, the energy supply of a wind rotor is proportional to the cube of wind speed. Because of that, a wind rotor runs at over speed (more speed than needed), yielding a loss of aerodynamic efficiency.

 

A variable stroke would match the rotor speed according to wind speed, functioning like a "variable-speed generator". The flow rate of variable stroke windpump can be increased two times, compared to fixed stroke windpumps at the same wind speed.

 

Cyclic torque variation

A piston pump has a very light suction phase, but the upstroke is heavy and puts a big backtorque on a starting rotor when the crank is horizontal and ascending. A counterweight on the crank up in the tower and yawing with the wind direction can at least spread the torque to the crank descent.

 

Although multi-bladed windpumps are based on proven technology and are widely used, they have the fundamental problems mentioned above and need a practical variable stroke mechanism.

 

USDA experiments at Texas

Between 1988 and 1990, a variable stroke windpump was tested at the USDA-Agriculture Research Center-Texas, based on two patented designs (Don E. Avery Patent #4.392.785, 1983 and Elmo G. Harris Patent #617.877, 1899). Control systems of the variable stroke wind pumps were mechanical and hydraulic; however, those experiments did not attract the attention of any windpump manufacturer. After experiments with this variable stroke windpump, research focused on wind-electric water pumping systems; no commercial variable stroke windpump exists yet.

 

Fluttering windpumps

Fluttering windpumps have been developed in Canada with a pump stroke varying strongly with amplitude to absorb all the variable power in the wind and to stop the uniblade from swinging too far beyond horizontal from its vertical mean position. They are much lighter and use less material than multiblade windpumps and can pump effectively in lighter wind regimes.

 

Variable stroke windpump

A Turkish engineer re-designed the variable stroke windpump technology by using modern electronic control equipment. Research began in 2004, with governmental R&D support. The first commercial new generation variable stroke wind pumps have been designed after ten years of R&D. The 30 kW variable stroke windpump design includes a Darrieus-type modern wind rotor, counterbalance and regenerative brake technology.

 

Vertical axis wind pump (VAWP)

Using a vertical axis wind turbine, the redirection of the turbine torque from horizontal to the vertical axis can be solved, thus creating a basic shaft connection between the turbine and the pump. The direct connection can produce a more efficient wind-pump. for example, Combining the VAWP system with a high-pressure (HP-VAWP) drip irrigation system can lead, with proper optimization, to two to three times higher efficiency than traditional windpumps.

 

Combinations

Tjasker

In the Netherlands, the tjasker is a drainage mill with common sails connected to an Archimedean screw. This is used for pumping water in areas where only a small lift is required. The windshaft sits on a tripod which allows it to pivot. The Archimedean screw lifts water into a collecting ring, where it is drawn off into a ditch at a higher level, thus draining the land.

 

Thai windpumps

In Thailand, windpumps are traditionally built on Chinese windpump designs. These pumps are constructed from wire-braced bamboo poles carrying fabric or bamboo-mat sails; a paddle pump or waterladder pump is fixed to a Thai bladed rotor. They are mainly used in salt pans where the water lift required is typically less than one meter.

 

The Broads (known for marketing purposes as The Broads National Park) is a network of mostly navigable rivers and lakes in the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Although the terms "Norfolk Broads" and "Suffolk Broads" are correctly used to identify specific areas within the two counties respectively, the whole area is frequently referred to as the Norfolk Broads.

 

The lakes, known as broads, were formed by the flooding of peat workings. The Broads, and some surrounding land, were constituted as a special area with a level of protection similar to a national park by the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads Act 1988. The Broads Authority, a special statutory authority responsible for managing the area, became operational in 1989.

 

The area is 303 square kilometres (117 sq mi), most of which is in Norfolk, with over 200 kilometres (120 mi) of navigable waterways. There are seven rivers and 63 broads, mostly less than 4 metres (13 ft) deep. Thirteen broads are generally open to navigation, with a further three having navigable channels. Some broads have navigation restrictions imposed on them in autumn and winter, although the legality of the restrictions is questionable.

 

The Broads has similar status to the national parks in England and Wales; the Broads Authority has powers and duties akin to the National Parks but is also the third-largest inland navigation authority. Because of its navigation role the Broads Authority was established under its own legislation on 1 April 1989. The Broads Authority Act 2009, which was promoted through Parliament by the authority, is intended to improve public safety on the water.

 

"Broads National Park" name

In January 2015 the Broads Authority approved a change in name of the area to the "Broads National Park", to recognise that the status of the area is equivalent to the English National Parks, that the Broads Authority shares the same two first purposes (relating to conservation and promoting enjoyment) as the English National Park Authorities, and receives a National Park grant.

 

This followed a three-month consultation which resulted in support from 79% of consultees, including unanimous support from the 14 UK national parks and the Campaign for National Parks. Defra, the Government department responsible for the parks, also expressed it was content that the Authority would make its own decision on the matter.

 

This is the subject of ongoing controversy among some Broads users who note that the Broads is not named in law as a National Park and claim the branding detracts from the Broads Authority's third purpose which is to protect the interests of navigation. In response to this, the Broads Authority has stated that its three purposes will remain in equal balance and that the branding is simply for marketing the National Park qualities of the Broads.

 

Management

The Broads Authority is the agency which has statutory responsibility for the Broads. The Nature Conservancy Council (now Natural England), pressed for a special authority to manage the Broads which had been neglected for a long time, and in 1978 the forerunner to the present-day Broads Authority was established by the Countryside Commission (now also Natural England). Ten years later it had become clear that a statutory body was needed, and a special Act of Parliament, the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads Act 1988 (referred to as the Broads Act) made the Broads Authority into a special statutory authority which gave it parity with national park authorities but with special responsibilities for navigation. The Broads Authority Act 2009 introduced greater safety controls on the broads and rivers.

 

The Broads Authority has to:

 

conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the Broads

promote opportunities for the understanding and enjoyment of the special qualities of the Broads by the public

protect the interests of navigation (as navigation authority)

have regard for agriculture and forestry

have regard for the economic and social interests of those who live or work in the Broads.

The authority has 21 members, who are appointed. Ten members are chosen by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, two are selected by the authority from its navigation committee, and nine are chosen by the local authorities within which the Broads lie from their own membership. Norfolk County Council appoints two members, and one member is appointed by Suffolk County Council and the district councils of Broadland, Great Yarmouth, North Norfolk, the City of Norwich, South Norfolk, and Waveney. The Broads Authority was formerly represented by one member on the East of England Regional Assembly, now defunct.

 

History

For many years the lakes known as broads were regarded as natural features of the landscape. It was only in the 1960s that Joyce Lambert proved that they were artificial features—flooded medieval peat excavations. In the Middle Ages the local monasteries began to excavate the peatlands as a turbary business, selling fuel to Norwich and Great Yarmouth. Norwich Cathedral took 320,000 tonnes of peat a year. Then the sea levels began to rise, and the pits began to flood. Despite the construction of windpumps and dykes, the flooding continued and resulted in the typical Broads landscape of today, with its reedbeds, grazing marshes and wet woodland.

 

Various attempts were made to extend the navigable rivers. The longest-lasting was on the River Waveney, where an Act of Parliament passed on 17 March 1670 authorised improvements which included three locks, at Geldeston, Ellingham and Wainford. The head of navigation became a new staithe at Bungay. The new section was a private navigation which was not controlled by the Yarmouth Haven and Pier Commissioners, who had responsibility for the rest of the Broadland rivers. It remained in use until 1934 and, although the upper two locks have been replaced by sluices and Geldeston lock is derelict, the Environment Agency have negotiated with local landowners to allow use by canoes and unpowered vessels which can be portaged around the locks.

 

The next attempt was to extend navigation on the River Bure from Coltishall to Aylsham, which was authorised by an Act of Parliament on 7 April 1773. Five locks were built, to bypass mills, at Coltishall, Oxnead Lamas, Oxnead, Burgh and Aylsham. There were financial difficulties during construction, but the works were eventually completed and opened in October 1779. At Aylsham, a 1-mile (1.6 km) cut was made from the river to a terminal basin, where several warehouses were constructed. Despite the arrival of the railways in 1879, goods continued to be carried to Aylsham by wherries until 1912, when major flooding badly damaged the locks. Unable to fund repairs, the Commissioners closed the 9-mile (14 km) section above Coltishall, although it was not formally abandoned until 1928. All of the locks are derelict, but the course can still be used by canoes and light craft, which can be portaged around the locks.

 

The third attempt was to make the River Ant navigable from Dilham to Antingham. An Act of Parliament was retrieved on 5 May 1812, which authorised the North Walsham & Dilham Canal, but work on its construction did not start until April 1825. The canal was a true canal, as its route did not use the bed of the river, and its construction, including six locks, was completed in 1826. It was about 8+3⁄4 miles (14.1 km) long, and the locks raised the level by 58 feet (18 m). In 1886 the canal was sold to a miller called Edward Press for £600, but the principal clerk absconded with most of the money and it was never recovered. In 1893 the section from Swafield locks to Antingham was abandoned, and the lower section was damaged by flooding in 1912. Some attempts were made to improve it in the 1920s, but the last commercial traffic used it in 1934, and it gradually became derelict after that.[7] There is still a public right of navigation to Swafield, and there is a campaign to reopen it.

 

In 1814 the merchants of Norwich first suggested a plan to improve the route between Norwich and the North Sea, as the shallowness of Breydon Water created difficulties for trading vessels, and there was organised theft of cargo during its transhipment at Great Yarmouth, for which 18 men were convicted of taking the goods and one of receiving it in 1820. The initial plan was to dredge a deeper channel along the southern edge of Breydon Water, but the scheme was opposed by the people of Yarmouth. A more expensive scheme, involving the construction of a new cut to link the River Yare to the River Waveney, together with a channel between Oulton Broad and Lake Lothing, where a sea lock was needed, was also opposed by Yarmouth but formed the basis of a Bill to Parliament. An Act of Parliament was passed on 28 May 1827, creating the Norwich and Lowestoft Navigation Company, and the work of construction and dredging of the River Yare and the Oulton Dyke was completed in 1833. The initial capital of £100,000 was inadequate and a further £50,000 was borrowed from the Exchequer Bill Loan Commission. The venture was not a commercial success and, with expenditure exceeding income, the Company was unable to repay its loan. The Haddiscoe Cut was taken over by the Commissioners in 1842 and sold to the railway developer Sir Samuel Morton Peto.

 

Recreation

The Broads have been a boating holiday destination since the late 19th century. In 1878 small yachts were available to hire from John Loynes and, with easy access to the area by rail from London, Harry Blake created an agency for yachting holidays in 1908. The first boats were owned by the boatbuilder Ernest Collins of Wroxham, but other boatyards were soon added to the business. The range of boats expanded to include powered cruisers in the 1930s, and the Hoseasons agency was founded soon after the Second World War. By the 1980s the number of cruisers available for hire was 2,400 but had decreased to around 1,700 by 2004. For conservation reasons there is a strict speed limit enforced on all vessels, to reduce waves eroding the riverbanks. These speed limits are hardwired onto most rental vessels.

 

The Broads have also been an important centre for racing yachts since the late 19th century, and the design of the boats have included several innovative features, including shortfin keels and a separate rudder[disputed – discuss]. The design was eventually used on seagoing yachts from the 1960s.

 

The waterways are lock-free. There are five bridges under which only small cruisers and smaller boats can pass.

 

The area attracts all kinds of visitors, including ramblers, artists, anglers, and birdwatchers as well as people "messing about in boats". There are a number of companies hiring boats for leisure use, including both yachts and motor launches. The Norfolk wherry, the traditional cargo craft of the area, can still be seen on the Broads as some specimens have been preserved and restored.

 

Ted Ellis, a local naturalist, referred to the Broads as "the breathing space for the cure of souls".

 

A great variety of boats can be found on the Broads, from Edwardian trading wherries to state-of-the-art electric or solar-powered boats. The Broads Authority is promoting sustainable boating, and the use of electric boats is being encouraged by the provision of charging points at a number of the mooring sites provided by the Authority.

 

Geography

The Broads largely follows the line of the rivers and natural navigations of the area. There are seven navigable rivers: the River Yare and its (direct and indirect) tributaries plus the Rivers Bure, Thurne, Ant, Waveney, Chet and Wensum. There are no longer any operational locks on any of the rivers (except for Mutford Lock in Oulton Broad that links to the saltwater Lake Lothing in Lowestoft, Suffolk), and all of the waterways are subject to tidal influence. The tidal range decreases with distance from the sea, with highly tidal areas such as Breydon Water contrasting with effectively non-tidal reaches such as the River Ant upstream of Barton Broad.

 

The broads themselves range in size from small pools to the large expanses of Hickling Broad, Barton Broad and Breydon Water. The broads are unevenly distributed, with far more broads in the northern half of Broadland (the Rivers Bure, Thurne and Ant) than in the central and southern portions (the Rivers Yare, Waveney, Chet and Wensum). Individual broads may lie directly on the river, or are more often situated to one side and connected to the river by an artificial channel or dyke.

 

Besides the natural watercourses of the rivers, and the ancient but artificial broads, there is one more recent navigation canal, the lockless Haddiscoe Cut, which connects the Rivers Yare and Waveney while permitting boats to bypass Breydon Water.

 

There is also a second navigable link to the sea, via the River Waveney and its link to Oulton Broad. Oulton Broad is part of the Broads' tidal system, but is immediately adjacent to Lake Lothing, which acts as a harbour for Lowestoft and connects to the North Sea. Oulton Broad and Lake Lothing are connected by Mutford Lock, the only lock on the broads, and which is necessary because of the different tidal ranges and cycles in the two lakes.

 

In the lists below, names of broads are in bold to help distinguish them from towns and villages.

River Bure

The River Bure is a tributary of the River Yare which rises near Aylsham in Norfolk and joins the Yare just downstream of Breydon Water. On its way it flows through or passes:

 

Brampton, Norfolk

Buxton with Lamas

Coltishall

Belaugh

Belaugh Broad

Bridge Broad

Wroxham

Hoveton

Wroxham Broad

Hoveton Great Broad

Salhouse Broad

Bure Marshes NNR (national nature reserve)

Salhouse

Woodbastwick

Decoy Broad

Hoveton Little Broad (sometimes called 'Blackhorse Broad')

Burnt Fen Broad

Horning

Cockshoot Broad

Ranworth Broad

Malthouse Broad

Ranworth

South Walsham

St. Benet's Abbey

Upton

Upton Broad

Upton Broads and Marshes Site of Special Scientific Interest

Upton Fen

Acle

Oby

Stokesby

Mautby Decoy

Great Yarmouth

River Thurne

 

The derelict Brograve Mill, on the Waxham New Cut near Horsey

The River Thurne is a tributary of the River Bure. It rises near Martham Broad and flows for about six miles (9.7 km) to Thurne Mouth where it joins the Bure. It is wide open and windswept, and on its way it flows through or passes:

 

Upper Thurne Broads and Marshes Site of Special Scientific Interest

Hickling Broad

Hickling

Horsey

Horsey Mere

Martham Broad (NNR) (national nature reserve)

Martham

West Somerton

Thurne

Potter Heigham

Ludham

Ludham - Potter Heigham NNR (national nature reserve)

Womack Water

River Ant

 

Barton Broad

 

River Ant at Hunsett Windmill, Stalham

The River Ant is a tributary of the River Bure. It rises at Antingham and joins the Bure at St. Benet's Abbey. It is winding and narrow, and on its way it flows through or passes:

 

Honing

North Walsham & Dilham Canal

Dilham

Dilham Broad

Wayford Bridge

Barton Broad

Stalham

Sutton

Sutton Broad

Ant Broads & Marshes NNR (national nature reserve)

Turkey Broad

Alderfen Broad

Catfield Broad

Crome's Broad

Neatishead

Barton Turf

Irstead

How Hill

Ludham Bridge

Broad Fen

Calthorpe Broad (NNR) (national nature reserve)

Ingham, Norfolk

River Yare

 

View of the Yare from Hardley windpump near Langley

The River Yare rises south of Dereham and flows through the southern fringes of the city of Norwich, passes through Breydon Water and flows into the sea between Great Yarmouth and Gorleston. On its way it passes through:

 

Breydon Water, RSPB reserve

Halvergate Marshes, RSPB reserve

Halvergate

Berney Arms

RSPB Berney Marshes

Reedham

Cantley

Carleton Broad

Rockland Broad

UEA Broad

Wheatfen Broad

Strumpshaw Fen, RSPB reserve

Mid-Yare NNR (national nature reserve)

Surlingham

Surlingham Broad

Surlingham Church Marsh RSPB reserve.

Brundall Broad

Haddiscoe

Haddiscoe Cut also known as New Cut

Brundall

Langley

Postwick

Thorpe St. Andrew

River Chet

 

The free moorings at Loddon

The River Chet is a tributary of the River Yare. It flows through, or passes by:

 

Loddon

Chedgrave

Hardley Flood

River Waveney

 

Oulton Broad

The River Waveney is a tributary of the River Yare, joining that river just upstream of Breydon Water. It flows through, or passes by:

 

Burgh Castle

Beccles

Worlingham

Diss, Norfolk

St. Olaves

Herringfleet

Somerleyton

Fritton

Fritton Lake

Gillingham

Geldeston

Burgh St. Peter

Bungay

Ditchingham

Barnby Broad and Marshes

Oulton Broad

Lowestoft

River Wensum

The River Wensum rises near Fakenham in northwest Norfolk and flows southeast and through the centre of the city of Norwich before joining the River Yare just to the east of the city. Although the Wensum is the larger of the two rivers at their confluence, it is regarded as a tributary of the River Yare. The navigable section of the river is entirely urban and runs from the centre of Norwich, past Norwich Cathedral to the confluence with the Yare.

 

Trinity Broads

The Trinity Broads are an exception to the general rule, in that whilst they are connected to each other they have no navigable connection to the rest of the broads. The broads are:

 

Rollesby Broad

Ormesby Broad

Filby Broad

Lily Broad

 

Ormesby Little Broad

Eutrophication from farming and sewage

Eutrophication is an enormous problem in the Broads. Changes in farming practices and sewage disposal in the 1950s and 1960s released high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen into the Broads, causing eutrophication.[10] Algal blooms can be toxic, posing a health risk to humans and wildlife.[11] Mass decay of plant matter removes oxygen, damaging fish stocks, preventing recreational fishing. The loss of larger plants and reed fringes in eutrophic waters increases erosion of banks and the buildup of sediment on lake floors. This impedes navigation and requires costly dredging to remove. The beauty of the area is damaged by eutrophication, which is detrimental to the tourism industry. The Broads Authority and Environment Agency have been working to return the broads to a more natural state since the problem was identified in 1965.

 

The first stage in reversing eutrophication in the Broads is to reduce phosphate input. Reducing nitrate input would have a similar effect, but due to the relatively higher solubility of nitrates, it is harder to control. The discharge of treated sewage was recognised as the main source of phosphates in the waters of the broads. Iron compounds have been used to precipitate phosphates out of treated sewage in all nine treatment plants upstream of Barton Broad, initially cutting phosphorus levels in sewage discharge by 90%. High levels of phosphate can remain present in the sediments at the bottom of waterways, preventing dissolved levels decreasing, even when the source is eliminated. Suction dredging has been used across the Broads to both deepen waterways and remove phosphate-rich sludge. Without stabilising the compacted peat beneath the sludge, the peat loosens and can release phosphorus at a similar rate. The growth of larger water plants, which stabilise the floor, is, therefore, necessary to complete the transformation.

 

Even with reduced nutrient levels, algae tend to remain dominant, blocking light and preventing plants from growing on the floor of the waterway. By manipulating the food chain, a process called biomanipulation, algae can be removed. To allow zooplankton to thrive, planktivorous fish have been largely removed from some Broads, normally by electrofishing. Around 75% of such fish must be removed for successful treatment. The explosion of zooplankton that results eats almost all algae, creating clear waters. Plants are allowed to naturally recolonise the clearer waterways. The plant growth stabilises the floor, reducing the release of phosphorus. Their own nutrient uptake reduces nutrients available to algae. Larger plants also create a favourable environment for predatory fish such as pike, which eat planktivorous fish, continuing to control their numbers. These effects tend to create a stable ecosystem where low growing underwater plants dominate.

 

Ecology and conservation

The Broads are Britain's largest protected wetland and are home to a wealth of birdlife. Amongst the species seen are mallard, coot, moorhen, great crested grebe, greylag goose, Canada goose, Egyptian goose, grey heron, marsh harrier, cormorant, kestrel, sparrowhawk and bittern. The scarce Cetti's warbler breeds in the broads and breeding common cranes are found in the area.

 

Among the rare insects are the Norfolk hawker, a species of dragonfly, and the Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio machaon subsp. britannicus).

 

Some of the broads are surrounded by fens, i.e. reed and sedge beds. Norfolk reed from the broads has been a traditional material for thatching houses.

 

Specific parts of the Broads have been awarded a variety of conservation designations, for instance:

 

Special Protection Area (SPA) status for an area named 'Broadland' composed of 28 Sites of Special Scientific Interest

Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) status for parts of the Halvergate Marshes

National nature reserve (NNR) status for:

Bure Marshes NNR

Ant Broads & Marshes NNR

Hickling Broad NNR

Ludham - Potter Heigham NNR

Redgrave and Lopham Fen

Martham Broad NNR

Calthorpe Broad NNR

Mid-Yare NNR

A specific project being considered under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan is the re-introduction of the large copper butterfly, whose habitat has been reduced by reduction of fens.

Collage on pasteboard; 38.5 x 30 cm.

 

Carlo Carrà was one of the most influential Italian painters of the first half of the 20th century. He is best known for his still lifes in the style of Metaphysical painting. He studied painting briefly at the Brera Academy in Milan, but he was largely self-taught. In 1909 he met the poet Filippo Marinetti and the artist Umberto Boccioni, who converted him to Futurism, an aesthetic movement that exalted patriotism, modern technology, dynamism, and speed. Carrà’s most famous painting, The Funeral of the Anarchist Galli (1911), embodies Futurist ideals with its portrayal of dynamic action, power, and violence.

 

With the advent of World War I, the classic phase of Futurism ended. Although Carrà’s work from this period, such as the collage Patriotic Celebration, Free Word Painting (1914), was based on Futurist concepts, he soon began to paint in a style of greatly simplified realism. Lot’s Daughters (1915), for example, represents an attempt to recapture the solidity of form and the stillness of the 13th-century painter Giotto. Carrà’s new style was crystallized in 1917 when he met the painter Giorgio de Chirico, who taught him to paint everyday objects imbued with a sense of eeriness. Carrà and de Chirico called their style pittura metafisica (“Metaphysical painting”), and their works of this period have a superficial similarity.

 

In 1918 Carrà broke with de Chirico and Metaphysical painting. Throughout the 1920s and ’30s, he painted melancholy figurative works based on the monumental realism of the 15th-century Italian painter Masaccio. Through such moody but well-constructed works as Morning by the Sea (1928), and through his many years of teaching at the Milan Academy, he greatly influenced the course of Italian art between the World Wars.

    

(In English Below)

 

Enfin complet !

 

Le Tie Crawler Version 2. Je préfère cette version.

 

Un de Tie mes préférés, encore une fois par son côté ridicule et peu pratique.

 

Le Tie Crawler (aussi connu comme Tie Century ou Tie Tank) est un véhicule blindé léger. Armé de deux blasters Tie classique, et d’un blaster anti-personnel (donc plus léger). Un seul pilote qui fait aussi office de tireur.

 

Idées dans le Lore

Il était simple à produire, et c’est à peu près tout. J’ai aussi le souvenir d’avoir lu quelque part que les recrues de l’Empire échouant au test pour devenir pilote de chasseur Tie, pouvaient se reconvertir plus facilement en pilote de Tie Crawler. Mais je n’ai pas pu retrouver la source. Et de toute façon l’idée que ce soit plus facile de devenir pilote de char plutôt que pilote de cargo quand on échoue à devenir pilote de chasse est stupide.

 

Limites

Tel que décrit, l’engin est limité. Les armes sont trop basses. Les deux blasters de Tie classique ne peuvent pas pivoter et du fait de son emplacement, le blaster antipersonnel ne peut pas pivoter verticalement avec un angle très grand. Les trois sont donc quasi inutiles sur n’importe quel terrain accidenté. De plus, la forme des chenilles me fait dire qu’un bloc de béton, d’environ un mètre de haut, suffirait à bloquer le Tie. Et puis c’est un Tie, donc pas de bouclier énergétique, donc peu blindé. L’unique pilote est à la merci de n’importe quel armement anti-char ou chasseur spatial. Il a aussi un gros point faible évident : les quatre réservoirs visibles de fuel. Bon déjà, c’est un point faible évident que n’importe quel rebelle mal armé essaiera de viser. Mais aussi, pourquoi les avoir mis là ? Vous avez vu la taille des chenilles ? Et la tailles des réservoirs ? Il suffisait de les mettre quelque part dans les chenilles où ils auraient été mieux protégés, mais aussi plus proche des moteurs. Sans compter qu’en cas d’explosion, les éloigner un peu du pilote augmenterait ses chances de survie. Et l’Empire a à cœur la sécurité de ses employés…

 

Amélioration de Lego 7664

Lego a amélioré le concept en rendant les ailes pivotantes et indépendantes. Le Tie crawler devenant tout à coup vraiment tout terrain. De plus, ils ont ajouté des lance-missiles planqués dans les ailes. Ce que j’avais maladroitement fait dans ma première version. Cette version n’en a pas. Les idées que j’ai testées en la matière manquaient tous de solidité. Et pour être franc, une fois sur l’étagère, les missiles cachés le resteraient.

 

Utilisation possible.

L’engin a quand même son utilité, surtout avec les améliorations lego. Ok, il n’a pas de boucliers, mais même la partie la plus faible (le cockpit) résiste au vide spatial, ce n’est pas non plus une voiture en plastique. En cas de guérilla, il peut être pratique. Il est relativement rapide (90km/h), et contrairement au AT-Walkers (toute la série des AT-AT, AT-ST, AT-DP, AT-RT…), il ne risque pas de tomber. D’ailleurs, même si on le retournait, ce ne serait pas un problème, ce serait même un avantage d’avoir les canons en haut. Il est aussi plus simple à stocker que des AT-AT et AT-ST, probablement aussi plus simple d’entretien.

Je vois aussi un avantage en tant qu’escorte de fantassin lors de patrouille à pied en zone de guérilla. En cas d’escarmouche, une demi-douzaine de soldats pourraient s’abriter derrière un mur de chenille. Concernant le point faible à l’arrière, c’est aussi un défaut de certains char IRL, donc on ne peut pas vraiment lui en tenir rigueur.

Il se trouve que j'ai trouvé un autre usage au Tie Crawler, en effet le mode « tourelle », avec les deux chenilles en position verticale.

Imaginez l'Empire arrive sur une nouvelle planète, ils explorent le terrain, et trouvent un endroit pour monter une base temporaire. Le temps de monter la base, le Tie Crawler pourrait monter la garde en mode tourelle. J’ai pas mal joué à Star Wars Battleground à l’époque (pour ceux qui ne connaissent pas, imaginez Age of Empire, mais version Star Wars). Imaginer un peu l’utilité d’une unité qui ferait à la fois tourelle et Tank.

 

Concernant le modèle en lui-même.

Le cockpit est bien solide, j’en suis très content, d’autant que j’ai réussi à y ajouter une ouverture de toit fonctionnelle, avec un passage. Alors soyons clair, vous n’y feriez pas passer une minifig, le trou ne fait que 1x2, mais c’est suffisant pour y positionner le conducteur en mode vigie (un pilote AT-AT piqué dans un set micro-fighter).

Les stickers viennent de lego, le TIE classique UCS que j’ai démonté depuis longtemps, mais dont j’avais gardé les pièces « stickers » pour cet usage.

Les chenilles aussi sont solides, je regrette de n’avoir pu y intégrer un lance-missiles dissimulé comme le set lego, mais mes tentatives tenaient sur lego studio, mais pas sur IRL. Et si j’aimais l’idée de lego, je n’aimais l’exécution lego. J’ai donc laissé tomber.

Le seul point faible étant qu’avec le poids des chenilles, leur fixation au cockpit peut lâcher sous une contrainte trop grande. Contrairement au set lego, je déconseille de tenir le tout par les réservoirs. Il vaut mieux tenir le modèle par les deux chenilles en même temps.

    

Finally complete!

 

The Tie Crawler Version 2. I prefer this version.

 

One of my favorite Tie, again for its ridiculousness and impracticality.

 

The Tie Crawler (also known as Tie Century or Tie Tank) is a light armored vehicle. Armed with two classic Tie blasters, and one anti-personnel blaster (so, lighter). A single pilot who also acts as a gunner.

 

Ideas in the Lore

It was simple to produce, and that's about it. I also remember reading somewhere that Empire recruits who fail the test to become Tie fighter pilots could more easily be converted to Tie Crawler pilots. But I couldn't find the source. And anyway the idea that it's easier to become a tank pilot than a freighter pilot when you fail to become a fighter pilot is stupid.

 

Limitations

As described, the machine is limited. The weapons are too low. The two classic Tie blasters cannot rotate and because of its location, the anti-personnel blaster cannot rotate vertically at a very large angle. All three are therefore almost useless on any rough terrain. Also, the shape of the tracks tells me that a concrete block, about a meter high, would be enough to block the Tie. And it's a Tie, so it has no energy shield, so it's not very armored. The single pilot is at the mercy of any anti-tank weapon or space fighter. It also has an obvious weak point: the four visible fuel tanks. Now, this is an obvious weak point that any poorly armed rebel will try to target. But also, why put them there? Have you seen the size of the tracks? And the size of the tanks? They could have been put somewhere in the tracks where they would have been better protected, but also closer to the engines. Not to mention that in the event of an explosion, moving them a little further away from the pilot would increase his chances of survival. And the Empire cares about the safety of its employees...

 

Improvement of Lego 7664

Lego has improved the concept by making the wings swivel and independent. The Tie crawler suddenly becoming truly all terrain. Moreover, they added missile launchers hidden in the wings. Which I had clumsily done in my first version. This version does not have them. The ideas I tested in this area all lacked solidity. And to be honest, once on the shelf, the hidden missiles would stay there.

 

Possible use.

The thing still has its uses, especially with the lego upgrades. Ok, it doesn't have shields, but even the weakest part (the cockpit) resists the vacuum of space, it's not a plastic car either. In case of guerrilla warfare, it can be handy. It is relatively fast (90km/h), and unlike the AT-Walkers (the whole series of AT-AT, AT-ST, AT-DP, AT-RT...), it does not risk falling. Moreover, even if it was turned over, it would not be a problem, it would even be an advantage to have the guns on top. It is also easier to store than AT-ATs and AT-STs, probably also easier to maintain.

I also see an advantage as an infantryman escort when on foot patrol in a guerrilla zone. In case of a skirmish, half a dozen soldiers could take shelter behind a track wall. Regarding the weak point at the rear, this is also a flaw of some IRL tanks, so you can't really hold it against it.

I happened to find another use for the Tie Crawler, the " tower " mode, with the two tracks in vertical position.

Imagine the Empire arrives on a new planet, they explore the terrain, and find a place to set up a temporary base. By the time the base is set up, the Tie Crawler could stand guard in a tower mode. I played a lot of Star Wars Battleground at the time (for those who don't know, imagine Age of Empire, but Star Wars version). Imagine the usefulness of a unit that would be both tower and tank.

 

About the model itself.

This cockpit is very solid, I'm very happy with it, especially since I managed to add a functional roof opening, with a passage. So let's be clear, you wouldn't fit a minifig through it, the hole is only 1x2, but it's enough to position the driver in lookout mode (an AT-AT pilot nicked from a micro-fighter set).

The stickers come from lego, the classic UCS TIE that I disassembled a long time ago, but I kept the "sticker" parts for this purpose.

The tracks are also solid, I regret not having been able to integrate a concealed missile launcher like the lego set, my attempts were successful on lego studio, but not on IRL. And if I liked the lego idea, I didn't like the lego execution. So I gave up.

The only weak point is that with the weight of the tracks, their fixation to the cockpit can break under too much stress. Contrary to the lego set, I don't recommend to hold the whole thing by the tanks. It is better to hold the model by both tracks at the same time.

   

The pair of windows in St Catherine & St John the Baptist's chapel off the south ambulatory were reglazed in 2002 with stunning new glass by Tom Denny. They were created by to celebrate the 900th anniversary of the monks’ arrival at the Abbey, the theme being the Benedictine motto ‘to work is to pray’.

www.thomasdenny.co.uk/tewkesbury-abbey-two-windows

 

The attractive town of Tewkesbury has been dominated by its superb abbey church since the beginning of the 12th century, and we can be forever grateful to its townspeople for purchasing the monastic church in 1540 for £453 for use as their parish church, saving it from the fate that befell countless similar great churches across the land during the turmoil of the Dissolution. It reminds us both how lucky we are to still marvel at it today, yet also how great a loss to our heritage the period wrought when many more such buildings were so utterly plundered as to have gone without trace (the fate of the monastic buildings here and even the lady chapel of the church whose footings are laid out in the grass at the east end).

 

Tewkesbury Abbey is thus rightly celebrated as one of our greatest non-cathedral churches, and remarkably much of the original Norman church remains substantially intact, most apparently in the great central tower, a fine example of Romanesque architecture adorned with rows of blind-arcading. The west front is dominated by a massive Norman-arched recess (enclosing the somewhat later west window) and the nave and transepts remain largely as originally built, though this is less clear externally owing to the changes made to the windows, nearly all of which were enlarged in the 14th century in the Decorated Gothic style. This century also saw the complete rebuilding of the eastern limb of the church, of a form less common in England with radiating chapels surrounding the eastern apse of the choir (the central lady chapel sadly missing since 1540).

 

The interior reveals far more of the Romanesque structure with mighty columns supporting the round Norman arches of the nave arcades giving the building a great sense of solidity. The space is further enlivened by the changes made during the 14th century by the stunning vault over the nave (adorned with a rewarding series of figurative bosses) which sits surprisingly well with the Norman work below. Beyond the apsidal choir beckons, and both this and the space below the tower are enriched with stunningly complex vaulted ceilings (replete with further bosses and gilded metal stars), all ablaze with colour and gilding.

 

There is much to enjoy in glass here, most remarkably a complete set of 14th century glazing in the clerestorey of the choir, seven windows filled with saints and prophets (and most memorably two groups of knights in the westernmost windows on each side). A few of the figures have fared less well over the centuries but on the whole this is a wonderfully rare and well preserved scheme. There is much glass from the 19th century too, with an extensive scheme in the nave of good quality work by Hardman's, and more recently a pair of rich windows by Tom Denny were added in one of the polygonal chapels around the east end.

 

Some of the most memorable features are the monuments with many medieval tombs of note, primarily the effigies and chantry chapels of members of the Despenser family around the choir (two of the chantries being miniature architectural gems in their own right with exquisite fan-vaulting). In one of the apsidal chapels is the unusual cenotaph to Abbot Wakeman with his grisly cadaver effigy, a late medieval reminder of earthly mortality.

 

Tewkesbury Abbey is not to be missed and is every bit as rewarding as many of our cathedrals (superior in fact to all but the best). It is normally kept open and welcoming to visitors on a daily basis. I have also had the privilege of working on this great building several times over the years (as part of the team at the studio I once worked for), and have left my mark in glass in a few discreet places.

www.tewkesburyabbey.org.uk/

If there's one place in London that merits an Art Deco Fair, it's Eltham Palace,

with its Art Deco entrance hall, created by the textile magnates the Courtaulds in 1936. The much-loved weekend fair is held twice a year - once in the summer and a second time in September - giving visitors the chance to buy original 1930s objects, from furniture and collectables to hats, handbags and jewellery. Browse the original 1930s objects, from jewellery to furniture while you take in the magnificent Art Deco surroundings of the Palace. Ticket price includes entry to Eltham Palace and gardens and you can see the house by guided tour.

 

About Eltham Palace

Restored by English Heritage, this fantastic house boasts Britain's finest Art Deco interior and offers visitors the chance to indulge in the opulence of 1930s Britain whilst at the same time experiencing the solidity and symbolism of medieval London. Eltham Palace began to evolve during the 15th century when Edward IV commissioned the Great Hall, which survives today as a testament to the craftsmanship of the period. More about Eltham Palace

 

www.londontown.com/LondonEvents/ArtDecoFair/d59a2/

Strasbourg was when it was first mentioned in 12BC the Roman camp Argentoratum. Strasbourg was probably a bishop's seat from the 4th century. Alemanni, Huns, and Franks conquered the city in the 5th century. Strasbourg was then ruled by the Strasbourg bishops until 1262 when the citizens violently rebelled against the bishopric and Strasbourg became a free imperial city and so belonged to the Holy Roman Empire. Led by two rival patrician families (Müllheim and Zorn), the city prospered, although the town hall required two separate entrances for the two families.

 

On February 14, 1349, one of the first and largest pogroms of persecution of Jews in connection with the plague in the German area took place here. In the course of the St. Valentine's Day massacre, several hundred (some say up to 3000) Jews were publicly burned, and the survivors were expelled from the city. Until the end of the 18th century, Jews were forbidden to stay within the city walls after 10 pm.

 

Strasbourg came under French rule in 1681, after the conquest of Alsace by the armies of Louis XIV. However, the revocation of the Edict of Toleration of Nantes in 1685, which legalized the suppression of Protestantism in France, did not apply in Alsace, and religious freedom prevailed, even if the French authorities endeavored to favor Catholicism wherever possible.

 

Strasbourg's Lutheran, German-influenced university continued to exist. Moreover, until 1789, Alsace was a de facto foreign province, separated from the rest of France by a customs border running along the Vosges Mountains. Therefore, the city and its surrounding area remained German-speaking. In the period of the French Revolution, the city became attractive for republicans from Germany and later an exile for German oppositionists.

 

Around 600, a monastery with a church dedicated to the Apostle Thomas was founded at the current location. In the 9th century, a new church was built with an adjoining school. Both burned down in 1007 by lightning. After reconstruction, the monastery was converted into a collegiate monastery in 1031. Lightning struck again in 1144. The construction of a new building began in 1196, which combines Romanesque solidity with early Gothic details. The construction work ended in 1521 with side chapels in the late Gothic style.

 

It is the main Lutheran church of the city since its cathedral became Catholic again after the annexation of the town by France in 1681. So it is nicknamed "la cathédrale du Protestantisme alsacien". It is the only hall church in the Alsace region.

  

Here are many more photos taken in

Strasbourg, Selestat and the Bas Rhin area.

 

www.ipernity.com/doc/323415/album/1255496

   

Color lithograph; Image Size: 48.5 x 34.6 cm.

 

Massimo Campigli, born Max Ihlenfeld, was an Italian painter and journalist. He was born in Berlin, but spent most of his childhood in Florence. His family moved to Milan in 1909, and here he worked on the Letteratura magazine, frequenting avant-garde circles and making the acquaintance of Boccioni and Carrà. During World War I Campigli was captured and deported to Hungary where he remained a prisoner of war from 1916–18. At the end of the war he moved to Paris where he worked as foreign correspondent for the Milanese daily newspaper. Although he had already produced some drawings, it was only after he arrived in Paris that he started to paint. At the Café du Dôme he consorted with artists including Giorgio de Chirico, Alberto Savinio, Gino Severini and Filippo De Pisis. Extended visits to the Louvre deepened Campigli's interest in ancient Egyptian art.

 

His first figurative works applied geometrical designs to the human figure, reflecting the influence of Pablo Picasso and Fernand Léger as well as the Purism of "L’Esprit Nouveau". In 1923, he organized his first personal exhibition at the Bragaglia Gallery in Rome. During the next five years his figures developed a monumental quality, often with stylized poses and the limbs interwoven into a sculptural solidity. The importance given to order and tradition, the atmosphere of serenity and eternity were in line with the post-war reconstruction and the program of the “Twentieth Century” artists with whom Campigli frequently exhibited both in Milan from 1926–29 and abroad from 1927–31. In 1926 he joined the "Paris Italians" together with Giorgio de Chirico, Filippo de Pisis, Renato Paresce, Savinio, Severini and Mario Tozzi. In 1928, year of his debut at the Venice Biennial, he was very much taken by the Etruscan collection when visiting the National Etruscan Museum in Rome. He then broke away from the compact severity of his previous works in favor of a plane with subdued tones and schematic forms rich in archaisms.

 

During a journey in Romania he started a new cycle of works portraying women employed in domestic tasks and agricultural labor. These figures were arranged in asymmetrical and hieratic compositions, hovering on a rough textured plane, inspired by ancient fresco. These works were enthusiastically received by the critics at the exhibition held in the Jeanne Bucher gallery, Paris, in 1929 and at the Milione Gallery, Milan, in 1931. During the ‘thirties he held a series of solo exhibitions in New York, Paris and Milan which brought him international acclaim. In 1933 Campigli returned to Milan where he worked on projects of vast dimensions. In the same year he signed Mario Sironi’s Mural Art Manifesto and painted a fresco of mothers, country-women, working women, for the V Milan Triennial which unfortunately was later destroyed. In the following ten years other works were commissioned: I costruttori ("The builders") for the Geneva League of Nations in 1937; Non uccidere ("Do not kill") for the Milan Courts of Justice in 1938, an enormous 300 square metre fresco for the entrance hall, designed by Gio Ponti, of the Liviano, Padua which he painted during 1939–40. He spent the war years in Milan and in Venice, then after the war they divided his time between Rome, Paris and Saint-Tropez. In a personal exhibition at the Venice Biennial in 1948 he displayed his new compositions: female figures inserted in complicated architectonic structures. During the 60s his figures were reduced to colored markings in a group of almost abstract canvasses. In 1967 a retrospective exhibition was dedicated to Campigli at the Palazzo Reale in Milan.

 

(In English Below)

 

Enfin complet !

 

Le Tie Crawler Version 2. Je préfère cette version.

 

Un de Tie mes préférés, encore une fois par son côté ridicule et peu pratique.

 

Le Tie Crawler (aussi connu comme Tie Century ou Tie Tank) est un véhicule blindé léger. Armé de deux blasters Tie classique, et d’un blaster anti-personnel (donc plus léger). Un seul pilote qui fait aussi office de tireur.

 

Idées dans le Lore

Il était simple à produire, et c’est à peu près tout. J’ai aussi le souvenir d’avoir lu quelque part que les recrues de l’Empire échouant au test pour devenir pilote de chasseur Tie, pouvaient se reconvertir plus facilement en pilote de Tie Crawler. Mais je n’ai pas pu retrouver la source. Et de toute façon l’idée que ce soit plus facile de devenir pilote de char plutôt que pilote de cargo quand on échoue à devenir pilote de chasse est stupide.

 

Limites

Tel que décrit, l’engin est limité. Les armes sont trop basses. Les deux blasters de Tie classique ne peuvent pas pivoter et du fait de son emplacement, le blaster antipersonnel ne peut pas pivoter verticalement avec un angle très grand. Les trois sont donc quasi inutiles sur n’importe quel terrain accidenté. De plus, la forme des chenilles me fait dire qu’un bloc de béton, d’environ un mètre de haut, suffirait à bloquer le Tie. Et puis c’est un Tie, donc pas de bouclier énergétique, donc peu blindé. L’unique pilote est à la merci de n’importe quel armement anti-char ou chasseur spatial. Il a aussi un gros point faible évident : les quatre réservoirs visibles de fuel. Bon déjà, c’est un point faible évident que n’importe quel rebelle mal armé essaiera de viser. Mais aussi, pourquoi les avoir mis là ? Vous avez vu la taille des chenilles ? Et la tailles des réservoirs ? Il suffisait de les mettre quelque part dans les chenilles où ils auraient été mieux protégés, mais aussi plus proche des moteurs. Sans compter qu’en cas d’explosion, les éloigner un peu du pilote augmenterait ses chances de survie. Et l’Empire a à cœur la sécurité de ses employés…

 

Amélioration de Lego 7664

Lego a amélioré le concept en rendant les ailes pivotantes et indépendantes. Le Tie crawler devenant tout à coup vraiment tout terrain. De plus, ils ont ajouté des lance-missiles planqués dans les ailes. Ce que j’avais maladroitement fait dans ma première version. Cette version n’en a pas. Les idées que j’ai testées en la matière manquaient tous de solidité. Et pour être franc, une fois sur l’étagère, les missiles cachés le resteraient.

 

Utilisation possible.

L’engin a quand même son utilité, surtout avec les améliorations lego. Ok, il n’a pas de boucliers, mais même la partie la plus faible (le cockpit) résiste au vide spatial, ce n’est pas non plus une voiture en plastique. En cas de guérilla, il peut être pratique. Il est relativement rapide (90km/h), et contrairement au AT-Walkers (toute la série des AT-AT, AT-ST, AT-DP, AT-RT…), il ne risque pas de tomber. D’ailleurs, même si on le retournait, ce ne serait pas un problème, ce serait même un avantage d’avoir les canons en haut. Il est aussi plus simple à stocker que des AT-AT et AT-ST, probablement aussi plus simple d’entretien.

Je vois aussi un avantage en tant qu’escorte de fantassin lors de patrouille à pied en zone de guérilla. En cas d’escarmouche, une demi-douzaine de soldats pourraient s’abriter derrière un mur de chenille. Concernant le point faible à l’arrière, c’est aussi un défaut de certains char IRL, donc on ne peut pas vraiment lui en tenir rigueur.

Il se trouve que j'ai trouvé un autre usage au Tie Crawler, en effet le mode « tourelle », avec les deux chenilles en position verticale.

Imaginez l'Empire arrive sur une nouvelle planète, ils explorent le terrain, et trouvent un endroit pour monter une base temporaire. Le temps de monter la base, le Tie Crawler pourrait monter la garde en mode tourelle. J’ai pas mal joué à Star Wars Battleground à l’époque (pour ceux qui ne connaissent pas, imaginez Age of Empire, mais version Star Wars). Imaginer un peu l’utilité d’une unité qui ferait à la fois tourelle et Tank.

 

Concernant le modèle en lui-même.

Le cockpit est bien solide, j’en suis très content, d’autant que j’ai réussi à y ajouter une ouverture de toit fonctionnelle, avec un passage. Alors soyons clair, vous n’y feriez pas passer une minifig, le trou ne fait que 1x2, mais c’est suffisant pour y positionner le conducteur en mode vigie (un pilote AT-AT piqué dans un set micro-fighter).

Les stickers viennent de lego, le TIE classique UCS que j’ai démonté depuis longtemps, mais dont j’avais gardé les pièces « stickers » pour cet usage.

Les chenilles aussi sont solides, je regrette de n’avoir pu y intégrer un lance-missiles dissimulé comme le set lego, mais mes tentatives tenaient sur lego studio, mais pas sur IRL. Et si j’aimais l’idée de lego, je n’aimais l’exécution lego. J’ai donc laissé tomber.

Le seul point faible étant qu’avec le poids des chenilles, leur fixation au cockpit peut lâcher sous une contrainte trop grande. Contrairement au set lego, je déconseille de tenir le tout par les réservoirs. Il vaut mieux tenir le modèle par les deux chenilles en même temps.

    

Finally complete!

 

The Tie Crawler Version 2. I prefer this version.

 

One of my favorite Tie, again for its ridiculousness and impracticality.

 

The Tie Crawler (also known as Tie Century or Tie Tank) is a light armored vehicle. Armed with two classic Tie blasters, and one anti-personnel blaster (so, lighter). A single pilot who also acts as a gunner.

 

Ideas in the Lore

It was simple to produce, and that's about it. I also remember reading somewhere that Empire recruits who fail the test to become Tie fighter pilots could more easily be converted to Tie Crawler pilots. But I couldn't find the source. And anyway the idea that it's easier to become a tank pilot than a freighter pilot when you fail to become a fighter pilot is stupid.

 

Limitations

As described, the machine is limited. The weapons are too low. The two classic Tie blasters cannot rotate and because of its location, the anti-personnel blaster cannot rotate vertically at a very large angle. All three are therefore almost useless on any rough terrain. Also, the shape of the tracks tells me that a concrete block, about a meter high, would be enough to block the Tie. And it's a Tie, so it has no energy shield, so it's not very armored. The single pilot is at the mercy of any anti-tank weapon or space fighter. It also has an obvious weak point: the four visible fuel tanks. Now, this is an obvious weak point that any poorly armed rebel will try to target. But also, why put them there? Have you seen the size of the tracks? And the size of the tanks? They could have been put somewhere in the tracks where they would have been better protected, but also closer to the engines. Not to mention that in the event of an explosion, moving them a little further away from the pilot would increase his chances of survival. And the Empire cares about the safety of its employees...

 

Improvement of Lego 7664

Lego has improved the concept by making the wings swivel and independent. The Tie crawler suddenly becoming truly all terrain. Moreover, they added missile launchers hidden in the wings. Which I had clumsily done in my first version. This version does not have them. The ideas I tested in this area all lacked solidity. And to be honest, once on the shelf, the hidden missiles would stay there.

 

Possible use.

The thing still has its uses, especially with the lego upgrades. Ok, it doesn't have shields, but even the weakest part (the cockpit) resists the vacuum of space, it's not a plastic car either. In case of guerrilla warfare, it can be handy. It is relatively fast (90km/h), and unlike the AT-Walkers (the whole series of AT-AT, AT-ST, AT-DP, AT-RT...), it does not risk falling. Moreover, even if it was turned over, it would not be a problem, it would even be an advantage to have the guns on top. It is also easier to store than AT-ATs and AT-STs, probably also easier to maintain.

I also see an advantage as an infantryman escort when on foot patrol in a guerrilla zone. In case of a skirmish, half a dozen soldiers could take shelter behind a track wall. Regarding the weak point at the rear, this is also a flaw of some IRL tanks, so you can't really hold it against it.

I happened to find another use for the Tie Crawler, the " tower " mode, with the two tracks in vertical position.

Imagine the Empire arrives on a new planet, they explore the terrain, and find a place to set up a temporary base. By the time the base is set up, the Tie Crawler could stand guard in a tower mode. I played a lot of Star Wars Battleground at the time (for those who don't know, imagine Age of Empire, but Star Wars version). Imagine the usefulness of a unit that would be both tower and tank.

 

About the model itself.

This cockpit is very solid, I'm very happy with it, especially since I managed to add a functional roof opening, with a passage. So let's be clear, you wouldn't fit a minifig through it, the hole is only 1x2, but it's enough to position the driver in lookout mode (an AT-AT pilot nicked from a micro-fighter set).

The stickers come from lego, the classic UCS TIE that I disassembled a long time ago, but I kept the "sticker" parts for this purpose.

The tracks are also solid, I regret not having been able to integrate a concealed missile launcher like the lego set, my attempts were successful on lego studio, but not on IRL. And if I liked the lego idea, I didn't like the lego execution. So I gave up.

The only weak point is that with the weight of the tracks, their fixation to the cockpit can break under too much stress. Contrary to the lego set, I don't recommend to hold the whole thing by the tanks. It is better to hold the model by both tracks at the same time.

   

Corfe Castle

 

Corfe Castle, Dorset, United Kingdom

 

Corfe Castle is a fortification standing above the village of the same name on the Isle of Purbeck in the English county of Dorset. Built by William the Conqueror, the castle dates back to the 11th century and commands a gap in the Purbeck Hills on the route between Wareham and Swanage. The first phase was one of the earliest castles in England to be built using stone when the majority were built with earth and timber. Corfe Castle underwent major structural changes in the 12th and 13th centuries.

 

In 1572, Corfe Castle left the Crown's control when Elizabeth I sold it to Sir Christopher Hatton. Sir John Bankes bought the castle in 1635, and was the owner during the English Civil War. His wife, Lady Mary Bankes, led the defence of the castle when it was twice besieged by Parliamentarian forces. The first siege, in 1643, was unsuccessful, but by 1645 Corfe was one of the last remaining royalist strongholds in southern England and fell to a siege ending in an assault. In March that year Corfe Castle was demolished on Parliament's orders. Owned by the National Trust, the castle is open to the public and in 2010 received around 190,000 visitors. It is protected as a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

  

Corfe Castle was built on a steep hill in a gap in a long line of chalk hills, created by two streams eroding the rock on either side. The name Corfe derives from the Old English ceorfan, meaning 'a cutting', referring to the gap. The construction of the medieval castle means that little is known about previous activity on the hill. However, there are postholes belonging to a Saxon hall on the site.The hall may be where Edward the Martyr was assassinated in 978.

 

A castle was founded at Corfe on England's south coast soon after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. The royal forest of Purbeck, where William the Conqueror enjoyed hunting, was established in the area.Between 1066 and 1087 William established 36 such castles in England. Sitting as it does on a hill top, Corfe Castle is one of the classic images of a medieval castle, however despite popular imagination, occupying the highest point in the landscape was not the typical position of a medieval castle. In England, a minority are located on hilltops, but most are in valleys; many were near important transport routes such as river crossings.

 

Unusually for castles built in the 11th century, Corfe was partially constructed from stone indicating it was of particularly high status. A stone wall was built around the hill top, creating an inner ward or enclosure. There were two further enclosures: one to the west, and one that extended south (the outer bailey); in contrast to the inner bailey, these were surrounded by palisades made from timber. At the time, the vast majority of castles in England were built using earth and timber, and it was not until the 12th century that many began to be rebuilt in stone. The Domesday Book records one castle in Dorset; the entry, which reads "Of the manor of Kingston the King has one hide on which he built Wareham castle", is thought to refer to Corfe rather than the timber castle at Wareham. There are 48 castles directly mentioned in the Domesday Book, although not all those in existence at the time were recorded. Assuming that Corfe is the castle in question, it is one of four the Domesday Book attributes to William the Conqueror; the survey explicitly mentions seven people as having built castles, of which William was the most prolific.

     

Corfe's keep dates from the early 12th century.

In the early 12th century, Henry I began the construction of a stone keep at Corfe. Progressing at a rate of 3 to 4 metres (10 to 13 ft) per year for the best part of a decade, the work was complete by 1105. The chalk of the hill Corfe Castle was built on was an unsuitable building material, and instead Purbeck limestone quarried a few miles away was used. By the reign of King Stephen (1135–1154) Corfe Castle was already a strong fortress with a keep and inner enclosure, both built in stone. In 1139, during the civil war of Stephen's reign, Corfe withstood a siege by the king. It is thought that he built a siege castle to facilitate the siege and that a series of earthworks about 290 metres (320 yd) south-south-west of Corfe Castle mark the site of the fortification.

 

The south-west gatehouse, which allowed access from the outer bailey to the west bailey, dates from the mid 13th century.

During the reign of Henry II Corfe Castle was probably not significantly changed, and records from Richard I's reign indicate maintenance rather than significant new building work. In contrast, extensive construction of other towers, halls and walls occurred during the reigns of John and Henry III, both of whom kept Eleanor, rightful Duchess of Brittany, in confinement ar Corfe. It was probably during John's reign that the Gloriette in the inner bailey was built. The Pipe Rolls, records of royal expenditure, show that between 1201 and 1204 over £750 was spent at the castle, probably on rebuilding the defences of the west bailey with £275 spent on constructing the Gloriette. The Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England noted the link between periods of unrest and building at Corfe. In the early years of his reign John faced lost Normandy to the French, and in further building work at Corfe coincided with the political disturbances later in his reign. At least £500 was spent between 1212 and 1214 and may have been focused on the defences of the outer bailey.[15] R. Allen Brown noted that in John's reign "it would seem that though a fortress of the first order might cost more than £7,000, a medium castle of reasonable strength might be built for less than £2,000". The Pipe Rolls show that John spent over £17,000 on 95 castles during his reign spread; he spent over £500 at nine of them, of which Corfe was one. Additional records show that John spent over £1,400 at Corfe Castle.

 

One of the secondary roles of castles was to act as a storage facility, as demonstrated by Corfe Castle; in 1224 Henry III sent to Corfe for 15,000 crossbow bolts to be used in the siege of Bedford Castle. Following John's work, Henry III also spent over £1,000 on Corfe Castle, in particular the years 1235 and 1236 saw £362 spent on the keep. While construction was under-way, a camp to accommodate the workers was established outside the castle. Over time, this grew into a settlement in its own right and in 1247 was granted a market and fair by royal permission. It was Henry III who ordered in 1244 that Corfe's keep should be whitewashed. Four years previously, he also ordered that the keep of the Tower of London should be whitewashed, and it therefore became known as the White Tower.

 

In December 1460, during the Wars of the Roses Edmund Beaufort and his army marched from the castle destined for the Battle of Wakefield. During the march the army split at Exeter so the cavalry could reach the north quicker, and on 16 December 1460 some of his men became embroiled in the Battle of Worksop, Nottinghamshire. Beaufort and the Lancastrians won the skirmish.

 

Post-medieval

 

The castle remained a royal fortress until sold by Elizabeth I in 1572 to her Lord Chancellor, Sir Christopher Hatton. Ralph Treswell, Hatton's steward, drafted a series of plans of the castle; the documents are the oldest surviving survey of the castle.

 

Lady Mary Bankes defended the castle during two sieges in the English Civil War.

The castle was bought by Sir John Bankes, Attorney General to Charles I, in 1635. The English Civil War broke out in 1642, and by 1643 most of Dorset was under Parliamentarian control. While Bankes was in Oxford with the king, his men held Corfe Castle in the royal cause. During this time his wife, Lady Mary Bankes, resided at the castle with their children. Parliamentarian forces planned to infiltrate the castle's garrison by joining a hunting party from the garrison on a May Day hunt, however they were unsuccessful. The Parliamentarians gave orders that anyone joining the garrison would have their house burned and that no supplies were to reach the castle. Initially defended by just five people, Lady Bankes was able to get food through and swell the garrison to 80. The Parliamentarian forces numbered between 500 and 600 and began a more thorough siege; it went on for six weeks until Lady Bankes was relieved by Royalist forces. During the siege the defenders suffered two casualties while there were at least 100 deaths among the besieging force.

     

In the 17th century Corfe Castle was demolished by order of parliament.

The Parliamentarians were in the ascendency so that by 1645 Corfe Castle was one of a few remaining strongholds in southern England that remained under royal control. Consequently it was besieged by a force under the command of a Colonel Bingham. One of the garrison's officers, Colonel Pitman, colluded with Bingham. Pitman proposed that he should go to Somerset to and bring back a hundred men as reinforcements, however the troops he returned with were Parliamentarians in disguise. Once inside, they waited until the besieging force attacked before making a move, so that the defenders were attacked from without and within at the same time. Corfe Castle was captured and Lady Bankes and the garrison were allowed to leave. In March that year, Parliament voted to slight (demolish) the castle, giving it its present appearance. In the 17th century many castles in England were in a state of decline, but the war saw them pressed into use as fortresses one more time. Parliament ordered the slighting of many of these fortifications, but the solidity of their walls meant that complete demolition was often impractical. A minority were repaired after the war, but most were left as ruins. Corfe Castle provided a ready supply of building material, and its stones were reused by the villagers.

 

After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the Bankes family regained their properties. Rather than rebuild or replace the ruined castle they chose to build a new house at Kingston Lacy on their other Dorset estate near Wimborne Minster.

 

The first archaeological excavations were carried out in 1883. No further archaeological work was carried out on the site until the 1950s. Between 1986 and 1997 excavations were carried out, jointly funded by the National Trust and English Heritage. Corfe castle is considered to be the inspiration for Enid Blyton's Kirrin Island, which had its own similar castle. It was used as a shooting location for the 1957 film Five on a Treasure Island (film).

 

Corfe Castle is on a hill overlooking the village which bears its name

 

Corfe Castle's outer gatehouse

In the 1980s, Ralph Bankes bequeathed the entire Bankes estate to the National Trust, including Corfe Castle, much of the village of Corfe, the family home at Kingston Lacy, and substantial property and land holdings elsewhere in the area. In the summer 2006, the dangerous condition of the keep caused it to be closed to visitors, who could only visit the walls and inner bailey. The National Trust undertook an extensive conservation project on the castle, and the keep was re-opened to visitors in 2008, and the work completed the following year.

 

During the restoration work, an "appearance" door was found in the keep, designed for Henry I. The National Trust claims that this indicates that the castle would have been one of the most important in England at the time.

 

The castle is a Grade I listed building, and recognised as an internationally important structure. It is also a Scheduled Monument, a "nationally important" historic building and archaeological site which has been given protection against unauthorised change. The earthworks known as "The Rings", thought to be the remains of a 12th-century motte-and-bailey castle built during a siege of Corfe are also scheduled. In 2006, Corfe Castle was the National Trust's tenth most-visited historic house with 173,829 visitors. According to figures released by the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, the number of visitors in 2010 had risen to nearly 190,000.

 

(In English Below)

 

Enfin complet !

 

Le Tie Crawler Version 2. Je préfère cette version.

 

Un de Tie mes préférés, encore une fois par son côté ridicule et peu pratique.

 

Le Tie Crawler (aussi connu comme Tie Century ou Tie Tank) est un véhicule blindé léger. Armé de deux blasters Tie classique, et d’un blaster anti-personnel (donc plus léger). Un seul pilote qui fait aussi office de tireur.

 

Idées dans le Lore

Il était simple à produire, et c’est à peu près tout. J’ai aussi le souvenir d’avoir lu quelque part que les recrues de l’Empire échouant au test pour devenir pilote de chasseur Tie, pouvaient se reconvertir plus facilement en pilote de Tie Crawler. Mais je n’ai pas pu retrouver la source. Et de toute façon l’idée que ce soit plus facile de devenir pilote de char plutôt que pilote de cargo quand on échoue à devenir pilote de chasse est stupide.

 

Limites

Tel que décrit, l’engin est limité. Les armes sont trop basses. Les deux blasters de Tie classique ne peuvent pas pivoter et du fait de son emplacement, le blaster antipersonnel ne peut pas pivoter verticalement avec un angle très grand. Les trois sont donc quasi inutiles sur n’importe quel terrain accidenté. De plus, la forme des chenilles me fait dire qu’un bloc de béton, d’environ un mètre de haut, suffirait à bloquer le Tie. Et puis c’est un Tie, donc pas de bouclier énergétique, donc peu blindé. L’unique pilote est à la merci de n’importe quel armement anti-char ou chasseur spatial. Il a aussi un gros point faible évident : les quatre réservoirs visibles de fuel. Bon déjà, c’est un point faible évident que n’importe quel rebelle mal armé essaiera de viser. Mais aussi, pourquoi les avoir mis là ? Vous avez vu la taille des chenilles ? Et la tailles des réservoirs ? Il suffisait de les mettre quelque part dans les chenilles où ils auraient été mieux protégés, mais aussi plus proche des moteurs. Sans compter qu’en cas d’explosion, les éloigner un peu du pilote augmenterait ses chances de survie. Et l’Empire a à cœur la sécurité de ses employés…

 

Amélioration de Lego 7664

Lego a amélioré le concept en rendant les ailes pivotantes et indépendantes. Le Tie crawler devenant tout à coup vraiment tout terrain. De plus, ils ont ajouté des lance-missiles planqués dans les ailes. Ce que j’avais maladroitement fait dans ma première version. Cette version n’en a pas. Les idées que j’ai testées en la matière manquaient tous de solidité. Et pour être franc, une fois sur l’étagère, les missiles cachés le resteraient.

 

Utilisation possible.

L’engin a quand même son utilité, surtout avec les améliorations lego. Ok, il n’a pas de boucliers, mais même la partie la plus faible (le cockpit) résiste au vide spatial, ce n’est pas non plus une voiture en plastique. En cas de guérilla, il peut être pratique. Il est relativement rapide (90km/h), et contrairement au AT-Walkers (toute la série des AT-AT, AT-ST, AT-DP, AT-RT…), il ne risque pas de tomber. D’ailleurs, même si on le retournait, ce ne serait pas un problème, ce serait même un avantage d’avoir les canons en haut. Il est aussi plus simple à stocker que des AT-AT et AT-ST, probablement aussi plus simple d’entretien.

Je vois aussi un avantage en tant qu’escorte de fantassin lors de patrouille à pied en zone de guérilla. En cas d’escarmouche, une demi-douzaine de soldats pourraient s’abriter derrière un mur de chenille. Concernant le point faible à l’arrière, c’est aussi un défaut de certains char IRL, donc on ne peut pas vraiment lui en tenir rigueur.

Il se trouve que j'ai trouvé un autre usage au Tie Crawler, en effet le mode « tourelle », avec les deux chenilles en position verticale.

Imaginez l'Empire arrive sur une nouvelle planète, ils explorent le terrain, et trouvent un endroit pour monter une base temporaire. Le temps de monter la base, le Tie Crawler pourrait monter la garde en mode tourelle. J’ai pas mal joué à Star Wars Battleground à l’époque (pour ceux qui ne connaissent pas, imaginez Age of Empire, mais version Star Wars). Imaginer un peu l’utilité d’une unité qui ferait à la fois tourelle et Tank.

 

Concernant le modèle en lui-même.

Le cockpit est bien solide, j’en suis très content, d’autant que j’ai réussi à y ajouter une ouverture de toit fonctionnelle, avec un passage. Alors soyons clair, vous n’y feriez pas passer une minifig, le trou ne fait que 1x2, mais c’est suffisant pour y positionner le conducteur en mode vigie (un pilote AT-AT piqué dans un set micro-fighter).

Les stickers viennent de lego, le TIE classique UCS que j’ai démonté depuis longtemps, mais dont j’avais gardé les pièces « stickers » pour cet usage.

Les chenilles aussi sont solides, je regrette de n’avoir pu y intégrer un lance-missiles dissimulé comme le set lego, mais mes tentatives tenaient sur lego studio, mais pas sur IRL. Et si j’aimais l’idée de lego, je n’aimais l’exécution lego. J’ai donc laissé tomber.

Le seul point faible étant qu’avec le poids des chenilles, leur fixation au cockpit peut lâcher sous une contrainte trop grande. Contrairement au set lego, je déconseille de tenir le tout par les réservoirs. Il vaut mieux tenir le modèle par les deux chenilles en même temps.

    

Finally complete!

 

The Tie Crawler Version 2. I prefer this version.

 

One of my favorite Tie, again for its ridiculousness and impracticality.

 

The Tie Crawler (also known as Tie Century or Tie Tank) is a light armored vehicle. Armed with two classic Tie blasters, and one anti-personnel blaster (so, lighter). A single pilot who also acts as a gunner.

 

Ideas in the Lore

It was simple to produce, and that's about it. I also remember reading somewhere that Empire recruits who fail the test to become Tie fighter pilots could more easily be converted to Tie Crawler pilots. But I couldn't find the source. And anyway the idea that it's easier to become a tank pilot than a freighter pilot when you fail to become a fighter pilot is stupid.

 

Limitations

As described, the machine is limited. The weapons are too low. The two classic Tie blasters cannot rotate and because of its location, the anti-personnel blaster cannot rotate vertically at a very large angle. All three are therefore almost useless on any rough terrain. Also, the shape of the tracks tells me that a concrete block, about a meter high, would be enough to block the Tie. And it's a Tie, so it has no energy shield, so it's not very armored. The single pilot is at the mercy of any anti-tank weapon or space fighter. It also has an obvious weak point: the four visible fuel tanks. Now, this is an obvious weak point that any poorly armed rebel will try to target. But also, why put them there? Have you seen the size of the tracks? And the size of the tanks? They could have been put somewhere in the tracks where they would have been better protected, but also closer to the engines. Not to mention that in the event of an explosion, moving them a little further away from the pilot would increase his chances of survival. And the Empire cares about the safety of its employees...

 

Improvement of Lego 7664

Lego has improved the concept by making the wings swivel and independent. The Tie crawler suddenly becoming truly all terrain. Moreover, they added missile launchers hidden in the wings. Which I had clumsily done in my first version. This version does not have them. The ideas I tested in this area all lacked solidity. And to be honest, once on the shelf, the hidden missiles would stay there.

 

Possible use.

The thing still has its uses, especially with the lego upgrades. Ok, it doesn't have shields, but even the weakest part (the cockpit) resists the vacuum of space, it's not a plastic car either. In case of guerrilla warfare, it can be handy. It is relatively fast (90km/h), and unlike the AT-Walkers (the whole series of AT-AT, AT-ST, AT-DP, AT-RT...), it does not risk falling. Moreover, even if it was turned over, it would not be a problem, it would even be an advantage to have the guns on top. It is also easier to store than AT-ATs and AT-STs, probably also easier to maintain.

I also see an advantage as an infantryman escort when on foot patrol in a guerrilla zone. In case of a skirmish, half a dozen soldiers could take shelter behind a track wall. Regarding the weak point at the rear, this is also a flaw of some IRL tanks, so you can't really hold it against it.

I happened to find another use for the Tie Crawler, the " tower " mode, with the two tracks in vertical position.

Imagine the Empire arrives on a new planet, they explore the terrain, and find a place to set up a temporary base. By the time the base is set up, the Tie Crawler could stand guard in a tower mode. I played a lot of Star Wars Battleground at the time (for those who don't know, imagine Age of Empire, but Star Wars version). Imagine the usefulness of a unit that would be both tower and tank.

 

About the model itself.

This cockpit is very solid, I'm very happy with it, especially since I managed to add a functional roof opening, with a passage. So let's be clear, you wouldn't fit a minifig through it, the hole is only 1x2, but it's enough to position the driver in lookout mode (an AT-AT pilot nicked from a micro-fighter set).

The stickers come from lego, the classic UCS TIE that I disassembled a long time ago, but I kept the "sticker" parts for this purpose.

The tracks are also solid, I regret not having been able to integrate a concealed missile launcher like the lego set, my attempts were successful on lego studio, but not on IRL. And if I liked the lego idea, I didn't like the lego execution. So I gave up.

The only weak point is that with the weight of the tracks, their fixation to the cockpit can break under too much stress. Contrary to the lego set, I don't recommend to hold the whole thing by the tanks. It is better to hold the model by both tracks at the same time.

   

One of the real pleasures of Flickr is finding out so much more about the areas you thought you knew.

 

I have been to Wymondham a few times, delivered beer to a hotel (more of that another time) and a friend used to run the Railway Inn near the station, but I hadn't really explored the town.

 

But having seen a friend's shots, I really thought I should go back and look at it anew. And then there was this building, the Abbey Church with two towers, ruins and all the associated history.

 

Whatever you think of the works inside, it is as a complete building, something to leave me, at least, in awe at the beauty. Of course, it might not please everyone, but it does me.

 

Many thanks to Sarah and Richard for taking me here.

 

--------------------------------------------

 

This massive church and its famous twin towers will be familiar to anyone who has ever been within five miles of Wymondham, pronounced Win-d'm; its presence always there above the roof tops, and still there on the horizon when the rooftops can no longer be seen. Closer to, it is like a mighty city on a hill. It is often referred to as Wymondham Abbey, which isn't entirely correct; but there was an Abbey here, and you can see a scattering of remains in the fields between the church and the river, gradually reduced over the centuries as the stone and rubble were taken away for use elsewhere.

We came to Wymondham on a day that was breathtakingly cold; although the temperature was hovering around freezing, there was a biting east wind that made it feel colder still. Hence, the clarity of the light in the photographs above. The top photograph, taken from the south on the far bank of the river, is worth a second glance, because it provides a number of clues as to how this extraordinary and magnificent building came to be the way it is today.

 

In the beginning, there was a Benedictine Priory, an offshoot of the Abbey of St Albans. It was founded here because, after the Conquest, William I granted the lands of Wymondham to the Duc d'Albini, and the Duke's brother was Abbot of St Albans. Part of the project consisted of building a massive Priory church, much bigger than the one you see today. In style, it was like the Abbey church of Bury St Edmund, or Ely Cathedral. It was a cruciform church about 70 metres long, and had twin west towers - you can see something similar today at Kings Lynn St Margaret. As at St Margaret, there was a third tower above the central crossing, the chancel extending a long way eastwards, and transepts that were as tall as the nave roof. It was completed during the 12th century.

 

You can see a surviving trace of the south-west tower in the photograph above. The base of its northern wall rises above the roofline at the western end of the clerestory, just beside the current west tower. The central crossing tower, however, was built to the east of the current east tower, the chancel extending eastwards beyond it.

D'Albini intended the church to serve the parish as well as the Priory, but this was not managed without recourse to the advice of Pope Innocent IV, who granted the people use of the nave and the north aisle, the Priory retaining the south aisle, transepts and chancel.

 

However, when the central crossing tower became unsafe in the late 14th century and had to be taken down, the Priory rebuilt it to the west of the crossing, actually within the nave. This is the east tower that you see today, now a shell. In turn, the parish extended the church further west, demolishing the two west towers and replacing them with the massive structure you see today. It really is huge; although it is not as tall as the church tower at Cromer, its solidity lends it a vastness not sensed there.

 

When the new east tower was built, the western face of it cut off the nave from the chancel, creating two separate spaces. When the west tower was built, it blocked off the former west window between the old towers. Because of this, Wymondham is the only medieval parish church in Norfolk, and one of the few in England, that has no window at either end.

Wymondham Priory became an Abbey in 1448, and seems to have lived its final century peaceably enough before being closed and asset-stripped by Henry VIII in the 1530s. The church then became solely the charge of the parish; the eastern parts, apart from the tower, were demolished.

 

Still without parapet or panelling, the west tower was never finished; but it features in the turbulent history of mid 16th century England because William Kett, one of the leaders of Kett's Rebellion, was hung from the top of it by Edward VI's thought police, a reminder of just how closely church and state became allied during the Reformation. It did give me pause for thought - hanging your enemy from a church tower seems such an obvious thing to do when you want to make a point. I wonder just how many more times it happened to less notable victims over the centuries, on church towers up and down the land?

 

You enter today through the great north porch, which is similar to that nearby at Hethersett, even to the extent of having an almost identical series of bosses. They depict rosary scenes in the life of Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

 

As I said, we came here on a spectacularly cold day, but I was delighted to discover that the interior of the church was heated, even on a Saturday. The church attracts a considerable number of visitors, as you might expect; but I still thought this was a nice gesture.

 

Wymondham church is above all else an architectural wonder; but in many ways this is a simple building, easy to explore and satisfying to visit. It has the feel of a small Anglican cathedral in that there is a pleasing mix of ancient Norman architecture and modern Anglican triumphalism; as in a cathedral, there are open spaces, and the old pews have been replaced with modern chairs, which almost always seems to work well. The glorious arcading, triforium and clerestory create a sense of great height; this, coupled with the lack of east or west windows, can make you feel rather boxed in, but I found I quite liked that; it made the place seem more intimate, despite its size.

 

The modern, triumphant feel to the place is largely owing to the vast reredos by Ninian Comper. This is generally considered to be his finest single work, and forms the parish war memorial. It was built and gilded during the 1920s and 1930s, and you have to say it is magnificent. It consists of three tiers of saints, with a glorious Christ in Majesty topping the tiers under the great tester. It was never completed; the space where the retable should be is now hidden by curtains.

The rood and beam, a bay to the west, is also Comper's work, and it is hard to conceive that work of this kind and to this scale will ever again be installed in an English church. The low sun, slanting through the south windows of the clerestory, picked out the gilding, and clever lighting from underneath helped to put Comper's vision of Heaven into practice. The row of candlesticks on the altar leaves you in no doubt in which wing of the Church of England Wymondham finds itself.

 

Comper's glory shouldn't distract you from the early 16th century facade above the sedilia. It is terracotta, and probably from the same workshop as the Bedingfield tombs at Oxborough. Here you see what might have happened to English church architecture if theReformation hadn't intervened. Looking west from the sanctuary, the original west window is clearly discernible, now home to the organ.

 

If Comper's work is a little rich for you, you may prefer the north aisle, which is wide enough to be a church in itself. Cleared of clutter, a few rows of chairs face a gorgeous early 20th century triptych depicting Mary and John at the foot of the cross. The Madonna and child towards the west is also Comper's, but the 1930s towering font cover on the typical East Anglian 15th century font is not; it is by Cecil Upcher. The south aisle is truncated, the eastern bays now curtained off; but here are the few medieval survivals in glass. From slightly later, but the other side of the Reformation divide, is an Elizabethan text on the arcade. It probably marks the point to which the pulpit was moved by the Anglicans in the 16th century.

 

St Mary and St Thomas of Canterbury is a church that it is easy to admire, and it certainly impressed me. Perhaps, it is not so easy a building to love. Inevitably, there is something rather urban in its grandeur, and even the warmth of the heating couldn't take the edge off the remoteness and anonymity you inevitably find in such a space.

 

However, the friendliness of the people on duty helped to make up for this. The area beneath the west tower has been converted into a shop, and the nice lady working there was very chatty and helpful. I have to say that I think it would concentrate my mind a bit, knowing that mighty weight was above me. The shop itself is good of its kind, selling books and religious items rather than just souvenirs, and more icons and rosaries than you would normally expect to find in an establishment of the Church of England.

 

The lady said that she was a Methodist really, and found the services rather formal, but she'd started coming to the Abbey because her daughter went there. "You ought to come, Mum, we're just like real Catholics!", she giggled, as she recalled her daughter's words. As a 'real Catholic' myself, I couldn't help thinking that we would have stripped out Comper's reredos long ago, and Masses would be accompanied by guitars and percussion, possibly with a modicum of clapping and the help of an overhead projector screen; but I kept my counsel.

 

Simon Knott, January 2006

 

www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/wymondham/wymondhamcofe.htm

Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng - Việt Nam

I do love going down by the river on a sunny day following an icy night...there is so much happening in the zone between fluidity and solidity.

(In English Below)

 

Enfin complet !

 

Le Tie Crawler Version 2. Je préfère cette version.

 

Un de Tie mes préférés, encore une fois par son côté ridicule et peu pratique.

 

Le Tie Crawler (aussi connu comme Tie Century ou Tie Tank) est un véhicule blindé léger. Armé de deux blasters Tie classique, et d’un blaster anti-personnel (donc plus léger). Un seul pilote qui fait aussi office de tireur.

 

Idées dans le Lore

Il était simple à produire, et c’est à peu près tout. J’ai aussi le souvenir d’avoir lu quelque part que les recrues de l’Empire échouant au test pour devenir pilote de chasseur Tie, pouvaient se reconvertir plus facilement en pilote de Tie Crawler. Mais je n’ai pas pu retrouver la source. Et de toute façon l’idée que ce soit plus facile de devenir pilote de char plutôt que pilote de cargo quand on échoue à devenir pilote de chasse est stupide.

 

Limites

Tel que décrit, l’engin est limité. Les armes sont trop basses. Les deux blasters de Tie classique ne peuvent pas pivoter et du fait de son emplacement, le blaster antipersonnel ne peut pas pivoter verticalement avec un angle très grand. Les trois sont donc quasi inutiles sur n’importe quel terrain accidenté. De plus, la forme des chenilles me fait dire qu’un bloc de béton, d’environ un mètre de haut, suffirait à bloquer le Tie. Et puis c’est un Tie, donc pas de bouclier énergétique, donc peu blindé. L’unique pilote est à la merci de n’importe quel armement anti-char ou chasseur spatial. Il a aussi un gros point faible évident : les quatre réservoirs visibles de fuel. Bon déjà, c’est un point faible évident que n’importe quel rebelle mal armé essaiera de viser. Mais aussi, pourquoi les avoir mis là ? Vous avez vu la taille des chenilles ? Et la tailles des réservoirs ? Il suffisait de les mettre quelque part dans les chenilles où ils auraient été mieux protégés, mais aussi plus proche des moteurs. Sans compter qu’en cas d’explosion, les éloigner un peu du pilote augmenterait ses chances de survie. Et l’Empire a à cœur la sécurité de ses employés…

 

Amélioration de Lego 7664

Lego a amélioré le concept en rendant les ailes pivotantes et indépendantes. Le Tie crawler devenant tout à coup vraiment tout terrain. De plus, ils ont ajouté des lance-missiles planqués dans les ailes. Ce que j’avais maladroitement fait dans ma première version. Cette version n’en a pas. Les idées que j’ai testées en la matière manquaient tous de solidité. Et pour être franc, une fois sur l’étagère, les missiles cachés le resteraient.

 

Utilisation possible.

L’engin a quand même son utilité, surtout avec les améliorations lego. Ok, il n’a pas de boucliers, mais même la partie la plus faible (le cockpit) résiste au vide spatial, ce n’est pas non plus une voiture en plastique. En cas de guérilla, il peut être pratique. Il est relativement rapide (90km/h), et contrairement au AT-Walkers (toute la série des AT-AT, AT-ST, AT-DP, AT-RT…), il ne risque pas de tomber. D’ailleurs, même si on le retournait, ce ne serait pas un problème, ce serait même un avantage d’avoir les canons en haut. Il est aussi plus simple à stocker que des AT-AT et AT-ST, probablement aussi plus simple d’entretien.

Je vois aussi un avantage en tant qu’escorte de fantassin lors de patrouille à pied en zone de guérilla. En cas d’escarmouche, une demi-douzaine de soldats pourraient s’abriter derrière un mur de chenille. Concernant le point faible à l’arrière, c’est aussi un défaut de certains char IRL, donc on ne peut pas vraiment lui en tenir rigueur.

Il se trouve que j'ai trouvé un autre usage au Tie Crawler, en effet le mode « tourelle », avec les deux chenilles en position verticale.

Imaginez l'Empire arrive sur une nouvelle planète, ils explorent le terrain, et trouvent un endroit pour monter une base temporaire. Le temps de monter la base, le Tie Crawler pourrait monter la garde en mode tourelle. J’ai pas mal joué à Star Wars Battleground à l’époque (pour ceux qui ne connaissent pas, imaginez Age of Empire, mais version Star Wars). Imaginer un peu l’utilité d’une unité qui ferait à la fois tourelle et Tank.

 

Concernant le modèle en lui-même.

Le cockpit est bien solide, j’en suis très content, d’autant que j’ai réussi à y ajouter une ouverture de toit fonctionnelle, avec un passage. Alors soyons clair, vous n’y feriez pas passer une minifig, le trou ne fait que 1x2, mais c’est suffisant pour y positionner le conducteur en mode vigie (un pilote AT-AT piqué dans un set micro-fighter).

Les stickers viennent de lego, le TIE classique UCS que j’ai démonté depuis longtemps, mais dont j’avais gardé les pièces « stickers » pour cet usage.

Les chenilles aussi sont solides, je regrette de n’avoir pu y intégrer un lance-missiles dissimulé comme le set lego, mais mes tentatives tenaient sur lego studio, mais pas sur IRL. Et si j’aimais l’idée de lego, je n’aimais l’exécution lego. J’ai donc laissé tomber.

Le seul point faible étant qu’avec le poids des chenilles, leur fixation au cockpit peut lâcher sous une contrainte trop grande. Contrairement au set lego, je déconseille de tenir le tout par les réservoirs. Il vaut mieux tenir le modèle par les deux chenilles en même temps.

    

Finally complete!

 

The Tie Crawler Version 2. I prefer this version.

 

One of my favorite Tie, again for its ridiculousness and impracticality.

 

The Tie Crawler (also known as Tie Century or Tie Tank) is a light armored vehicle. Armed with two classic Tie blasters, and one anti-personnel blaster (so, lighter). A single pilot who also acts as a gunner.

 

Ideas in the Lore

It was simple to produce, and that's about it. I also remember reading somewhere that Empire recruits who fail the test to become Tie fighter pilots could more easily be converted to Tie Crawler pilots. But I couldn't find the source. And anyway the idea that it's easier to become a tank pilot than a freighter pilot when you fail to become a fighter pilot is stupid.

 

Limitations

As described, the machine is limited. The weapons are too low. The two classic Tie blasters cannot rotate and because of its location, the anti-personnel blaster cannot rotate vertically at a very large angle. All three are therefore almost useless on any rough terrain. Also, the shape of the tracks tells me that a concrete block, about a meter high, would be enough to block the Tie. And it's a Tie, so it has no energy shield, so it's not very armored. The single pilot is at the mercy of any anti-tank weapon or space fighter. It also has an obvious weak point: the four visible fuel tanks. Now, this is an obvious weak point that any poorly armed rebel will try to target. But also, why put them there? Have you seen the size of the tracks? And the size of the tanks? They could have been put somewhere in the tracks where they would have been better protected, but also closer to the engines. Not to mention that in the event of an explosion, moving them a little further away from the pilot would increase his chances of survival. And the Empire cares about the safety of its employees...

 

Improvement of Lego 7664

Lego has improved the concept by making the wings swivel and independent. The Tie crawler suddenly becoming truly all terrain. Moreover, they added missile launchers hidden in the wings. Which I had clumsily done in my first version. This version does not have them. The ideas I tested in this area all lacked solidity. And to be honest, once on the shelf, the hidden missiles would stay there.

 

Possible use.

The thing still has its uses, especially with the lego upgrades. Ok, it doesn't have shields, but even the weakest part (the cockpit) resists the vacuum of space, it's not a plastic car either. In case of guerrilla warfare, it can be handy. It is relatively fast (90km/h), and unlike the AT-Walkers (the whole series of AT-AT, AT-ST, AT-DP, AT-RT...), it does not risk falling. Moreover, even if it was turned over, it would not be a problem, it would even be an advantage to have the guns on top. It is also easier to store than AT-ATs and AT-STs, probably also easier to maintain.

I also see an advantage as an infantryman escort when on foot patrol in a guerrilla zone. In case of a skirmish, half a dozen soldiers could take shelter behind a track wall. Regarding the weak point at the rear, this is also a flaw of some IRL tanks, so you can't really hold it against it.

I happened to find another use for the Tie Crawler, the " tower " mode, with the two tracks in vertical position.

Imagine the Empire arrives on a new planet, they explore the terrain, and find a place to set up a temporary base. By the time the base is set up, the Tie Crawler could stand guard in a tower mode. I played a lot of Star Wars Battleground at the time (for those who don't know, imagine Age of Empire, but Star Wars version). Imagine the usefulness of a unit that would be both tower and tank.

 

About the model itself.

This cockpit is very solid, I'm very happy with it, especially since I managed to add a functional roof opening, with a passage. So let's be clear, you wouldn't fit a minifig through it, the hole is only 1x2, but it's enough to position the driver in lookout mode (an AT-AT pilot nicked from a micro-fighter set).

The stickers come from lego, the classic UCS TIE that I disassembled a long time ago, but I kept the "sticker" parts for this purpose.

The tracks are also solid, I regret not having been able to integrate a concealed missile launcher like the lego set, my attempts were successful on lego studio, but not on IRL. And if I liked the lego idea, I didn't like the lego execution. So I gave up.

The only weak point is that with the weight of the tracks, their fixation to the cockpit can break under too much stress. Contrary to the lego set, I don't recommend to hold the whole thing by the tanks. It is better to hold the model by both tracks at the same time.

   

Massimo Campigli, born Max Ihlenfeld, was an Italian painter and journalist. He was born in Berlin, but spent most of his childhood in Florence. His family moved to Milan in 1909, and here he worked on the Letteratura magazine, frequenting avant-garde circles and making the acquaintance of Boccioni and Carrà. During World War I Campigli was captured and deported to Hungary where he remained a prisoner of war from 1916–18. At the end of the war he moved to Paris where he worked as foreign correspondent for the Milanese daily newspaper. Although he had already produced some drawings, it was only after he arrived in Paris that he started to paint. At the Café du Dôme he consorted with artists including Giorgio de Chirico, Alberto Savinio, Gino Severini and Filippo De Pisis. Extended visits to the Louvre deepened Campigli's interest in ancient Egyptian art.

 

His first figurative works applied geometrical designs to the human figure, reflecting the influence of Pablo Picasso and Fernand Léger as well as the Purism of "L’Esprit Nouveau". In 1923, he organized his first personal exhibition at the Bragaglia Gallery in Rome. During the next five years his figures developed a monumental quality, often with stylized poses and the limbs interwoven into a sculptural solidity. The importance given to order and tradition, the atmosphere of serenity and eternity were in line with the post-war reconstruction and the program of the “Twentieth Century” artists with whom Campigli frequently exhibited both in Milan from 1926–29 and abroad from 1927–31. In 1926 he joined the "Paris Italians" together with Giorgio de Chirico, Filippo de Pisis, Renato Paresce, Savinio, Severini and Mario Tozzi. In 1928, year of his debut at the Venice Biennial, he was very much taken by the Etruscan collection when visiting the National Etruscan Museum in Rome. He then broke away from the compact severity of his previous works in favor of a plane with subdued tones and schematic forms rich in archaisms.

 

During a journey in Romania he started a new cycle of works portraying women employed in domestic tasks and agricultural labor. These figures were arranged in asymmetrical and hieratic compositions, hovering on a rough textured plane, inspired by ancient fresco. These works were enthusiastically received by the critics at the exhibition held in the Jeanne Bucher gallery, Paris, in 1929 and at the Milione Gallery, Milan, in 1931. During the ‘thirties he held a series of solo exhibitions in New York, Paris and Milan which brought him international acclaim. In 1933 Campigli returned to Milan where he worked on projects of vast dimensions. In the same year he signed Mario Sironi’s Mural Art Manifesto and painted a fresco of mothers, country-women, working women, for the V Milan Triennial which unfortunately was later destroyed. In the following ten years other works were commissioned: I costruttori ("The builders") for the Geneva League of Nations in 1937; Non uccidere ("Do not kill") for the Milan Courts of Justice in 1938, an enormous 300 square metre fresco for the entrance hall, designed by Gio Ponti, of the Liviano, Padua which he painted during 1939–40. He spent the war years in Milan and in Venice, then after the war they divided his time between Rome, Paris and Saint-Tropez. In a personal exhibition at the Venice Biennial in 1948 he displayed his new compositions: female figures inserted in complicated architectonic structures. During the 60s his figures were reduced to colored markings in a group of almost abstract canvasses. In 1967 a retrospective exhibition was dedicated to Campigli at the Palazzo Reale in Milan.

Tiberius & Germanicus Gemellus. AD 19-37/8 and 19-23/4, respectively. Æ Sestertius (35mm, 27.05 g, 12h). Rome mint. Struck under Tiberius, AD 22-23. Crossed cornucopia, each surmounted by the bareheaded bust of a boy facing one another; winged caduceus between / Legend around large S • C. RIC I 42 (Tiberius).

  

Ex Classical Numismatic Group 53 (15 March 2000), lot 1436.

  

This issue, commemorating the birth of twin sons to Drusus Caesar and his wife Livia Drusilla (Livilla), was part of the series issued in AD 22 to promote the imperial virtue and dynastic solidity of the second emperor's family. Tiberius Gemellus (meaning "twin") was made principal heir with his cousin Gaius (Caligula) upon the death of Tiberius. Within the year, however, Caligula had his cousin murdered. cngcoins.com

The attractive town of Tewkesbury has been dominated by its superb abbey church since the beginning of the 12th century, and we can be forever grateful to its townspeople for purchasing the monastic church in 1540 for £453 for use as their parish church, saving it from the fate that befell countless similar great churches across the land during the turmoil of the Dissolution. It reminds us both how lucky we are to still marvel at it today, yet also how great a loss to our heritage the period wrought when many more such buildings were so utterly plundered as to have gone without trace (the fate of the monastic buildings here and even the lady chapel of the church whose footings are laid out in the grass at the east end).

 

Tewkesbury Abbey is thus rightly celebrated as one of our greatest non-cathedral churches, and remarkably much of the original Norman church remains substantially intact, most apparently in the great central tower, a fine example of Romanesque architecture adorned with rows of blind-arcading. The west front is dominated by a massive Norman-arched recess (enclosing the somewhat later west window) and the nave and transepts remain largely as originally built, though this is less clear externally owing to the changes made to the windows, nearly all of which were enlarged in the 14th century in the Decorated Gothic style. This century also saw the complete rebuilding of the eastern limb of the church, of a form less common in England with radiating chapels surrounding the eastern apse of the choir (the central lady chapel sadly missing since 1540).

 

The interior reveals far more of the Romanesque structure with mighty columns supporting the round Norman arches of the nave arcades giving the building a great sense of solidity. The space is further enlivened by the changes made during the 14th century by the stunning vault over the nave (adorned with a rewarding series of figurative bosses) which sits surprisingly well with the Norman work below. Beyond the apsidal choir beckons, and both this and the space below the tower are enriched with stunningly complex vaulted ceilings (replete with further bosses and gilded metal stars), all ablaze with colour and gilding.

 

There is much to enjoy in glass here, most remarkably a complete set of 14th century glazing in the clerestorey of the choir, seven windows filled with saints and prophets (and most memorably two groups of knights in the westernmost windows on each side). A few of the figures have fared less well over the centuries but on the whole this is a wonderfully rare and well preserved scheme. There is much glass from the 19th century too, with an extensive scheme in the nave of good quality work by Hardman's, and more recently a pair of rich windows by Tom Denny were added in one of the polygonal chapels around the east end.

 

Some of the most memorable features are the monuments with many medieval tombs of note, primarily the effigies and chantry chapels of members of the Despenser family around the choir (two of the chantries being miniature architectural gems in their own right with exquisite fan-vaulting). In one of the apsidal chapels is the unusual cenotaph to Abbot Wakeman with his grisly cadaver effigy, a late medieval reminder of earthly mortality.

 

Tewkesbury Abbey is not to be missed and is every bit as rewarding as many of our cathedrals (superior in fact to all but the best). It is normally kept open and welcoming to visitors on a daily basis. I have also had the privilege of working on this great building several times over the years (as part of the team at the studio I once worked for), and have left my mark in glass in a few discreet places.

www.tewkesburyabbey.org.uk/

Scene from the Life of Christ, roof boss in the 14th century vault of the nave.

 

The attractive town of Tewkesbury has been dominated by its superb abbey church since the beginning of the 12th century, and we can be forever grateful to its townspeople for purchasing the monastic church in 1540 for £453 for use as their parish church, saving it from the fate that befell countless similar great churches across the land during the turmoil of the Dissolution. It reminds us both how lucky we are to still marvel at it today, yet also how great a loss to our heritage the period wrought when many more such buildings were so utterly plundered as to have gone without trace (the fate of the monastic buildings here and even the lady chapel of the church whose footings are laid out in the grass at the east end).

 

Tewkesbury Abbey is thus rightly celebrated as one of our greatest non-cathedral churches, and remarkably much of the original Norman church remains substantially intact, most apparently in the great central tower, a fine example of Romanesque architecture adorned with rows of blind-arcading. The west front is dominated by a massive Norman-arched recess (enclosing the somewhat later west window) and the nave and transepts remain largely as originally built, though this is less clear externally owing to the changes made to the windows, nearly all of which were enlarged in the 14th century in the Decorated Gothic style. This century also saw the complete rebuilding of the eastern limb of the church, of a form less common in England with radiating chapels surrounding the eastern apse of the choir (the central lady chapel sadly missing since 1540).

 

The interior reveals far more of the Romanesque structure with mighty columns supporting the round Norman arches of the nave arcades giving the building a great sense of solidity. The space is further enlivened by the changes made during the 14th century by the stunning vault over the nave (adorned with a rewarding series of figurative bosses) which sits surprisingly well with the Norman work below. Beyond the apsidal choir beckons, and both this and the space below the tower are enriched with stunningly complex vaulted ceilings (replete with further bosses and gilded metal stars), all ablaze with colour and gilding.

 

There is much to enjoy in glass here, most remarkably a complete set of 14th century glazing in the clerestorey of the choir, seven windows filled with saints and prophets (and most memorably two groups of knights in the westernmost windows on each side). A few of the figures have fared less well over the centuries but on the whole this is a wonderfully rare and well preserved scheme. There is much glass from the 19th century too, with an extensive scheme in the nave of good quality work by Hardman's, and more recently a pair of rich windows by Tom Denny were added in one of the polygonal chapels around the east end.

 

Some of the most memorable features are the monuments with many medieval tombs of note, primarily the effigies and chantry chapels of members of the Despenser family around the choir (two of the chantries being miniature architectural gems in their own right with exquisite fan-vaulting). In one of the apsidal chapels is the unusual cenotaph to Abbot Wakeman with his grisly cadaver effigy, a late medieval reminder of earthly mortality.

 

Tewkesbury Abbey is not to be missed and is every bit as rewarding as many of our cathedrals (superior in fact to all but the best). It is normally kept open and welcoming to visitors on a daily basis. I have also had the privilege of working on this great building several times over the years (as part of the team at the studio I once worked for), and have left my mark in glass in a few discreet places.

www.tewkesburyabbey.org.uk/

(In English Below)

 

Enfin complet !

 

Le Tie Crawler Version 2. Je préfère cette version.

 

Un de Tie mes préférés, encore une fois par son côté ridicule et peu pratique.

 

Le Tie Crawler (aussi connu comme Tie Century ou Tie Tank) est un véhicule blindé léger. Armé de deux blasters Tie classique, et d’un blaster anti-personnel (donc plus léger). Un seul pilote qui fait aussi office de tireur.

 

Idées dans le Lore

Il était simple à produire, et c’est à peu près tout. J’ai aussi le souvenir d’avoir lu quelque part que les recrues de l’Empire échouant au test pour devenir pilote de chasseur Tie, pouvaient se reconvertir plus facilement en pilote de Tie Crawler. Mais je n’ai pas pu retrouver la source. Et de toute façon l’idée que ce soit plus facile de devenir pilote de char plutôt que pilote de cargo quand on échoue à devenir pilote de chasse est stupide.

 

Limites

Tel que décrit, l’engin est limité. Les armes sont trop basses. Les deux blasters de Tie classique ne peuvent pas pivoter et du fait de son emplacement, le blaster antipersonnel ne peut pas pivoter verticalement avec un angle très grand. Les trois sont donc quasi inutiles sur n’importe quel terrain accidenté. De plus, la forme des chenilles me fait dire qu’un bloc de béton, d’environ un mètre de haut, suffirait à bloquer le Tie. Et puis c’est un Tie, donc pas de bouclier énergétique, donc peu blindé. L’unique pilote est à la merci de n’importe quel armement anti-char ou chasseur spatial. Il a aussi un gros point faible évident : les quatre réservoirs visibles de fuel. Bon déjà, c’est un point faible évident que n’importe quel rebelle mal armé essaiera de viser. Mais aussi, pourquoi les avoir mis là ? Vous avez vu la taille des chenilles ? Et la tailles des réservoirs ? Il suffisait de les mettre quelque part dans les chenilles où ils auraient été mieux protégés, mais aussi plus proche des moteurs. Sans compter qu’en cas d’explosion, les éloigner un peu du pilote augmenterait ses chances de survie. Et l’Empire a à cœur la sécurité de ses employés…

 

Amélioration de Lego 7664

Lego a amélioré le concept en rendant les ailes pivotantes et indépendantes. Le Tie crawler devenant tout à coup vraiment tout terrain. De plus, ils ont ajouté des lance-missiles planqués dans les ailes. Ce que j’avais maladroitement fait dans ma première version. Cette version n’en a pas. Les idées que j’ai testées en la matière manquaient tous de solidité. Et pour être franc, une fois sur l’étagère, les missiles cachés le resteraient.

 

Utilisation possible.

L’engin a quand même son utilité, surtout avec les améliorations lego. Ok, il n’a pas de boucliers, mais même la partie la plus faible (le cockpit) résiste au vide spatial, ce n’est pas non plus une voiture en plastique. En cas de guérilla, il peut être pratique. Il est relativement rapide (90km/h), et contrairement au AT-Walkers (toute la série des AT-AT, AT-ST, AT-DP, AT-RT…), il ne risque pas de tomber. D’ailleurs, même si on le retournait, ce ne serait pas un problème, ce serait même un avantage d’avoir les canons en haut. Il est aussi plus simple à stocker que des AT-AT et AT-ST, probablement aussi plus simple d’entretien.

Je vois aussi un avantage en tant qu’escorte de fantassin lors de patrouille à pied en zone de guérilla. En cas d’escarmouche, une demi-douzaine de soldats pourraient s’abriter derrière un mur de chenille. Concernant le point faible à l’arrière, c’est aussi un défaut de certains char IRL, donc on ne peut pas vraiment lui en tenir rigueur.

Il se trouve que j'ai trouvé un autre usage au Tie Crawler, en effet le mode « tourelle », avec les deux chenilles en position verticale.

Imaginez l'Empire arrive sur une nouvelle planète, ils explorent le terrain, et trouvent un endroit pour monter une base temporaire. Le temps de monter la base, le Tie Crawler pourrait monter la garde en mode tourelle. J’ai pas mal joué à Star Wars Battleground à l’époque (pour ceux qui ne connaissent pas, imaginez Age of Empire, mais version Star Wars). Imaginer un peu l’utilité d’une unité qui ferait à la fois tourelle et Tank.

 

Concernant le modèle en lui-même.

Le cockpit est bien solide, j’en suis très content, d’autant que j’ai réussi à y ajouter une ouverture de toit fonctionnelle, avec un passage. Alors soyons clair, vous n’y feriez pas passer une minifig, le trou ne fait que 1x2, mais c’est suffisant pour y positionner le conducteur en mode vigie (un pilote AT-AT piqué dans un set micro-fighter).

Les stickers viennent de lego, le TIE classique UCS que j’ai démonté depuis longtemps, mais dont j’avais gardé les pièces « stickers » pour cet usage.

Les chenilles aussi sont solides, je regrette de n’avoir pu y intégrer un lance-missiles dissimulé comme le set lego, mais mes tentatives tenaient sur lego studio, mais pas sur IRL. Et si j’aimais l’idée de lego, je n’aimais l’exécution lego. J’ai donc laissé tomber.

Le seul point faible étant qu’avec le poids des chenilles, leur fixation au cockpit peut lâcher sous une contrainte trop grande. Contrairement au set lego, je déconseille de tenir le tout par les réservoirs. Il vaut mieux tenir le modèle par les deux chenilles en même temps.

    

Finally complete!

 

The Tie Crawler Version 2. I prefer this version.

 

One of my favorite Tie, again for its ridiculousness and impracticality.

 

The Tie Crawler (also known as Tie Century or Tie Tank) is a light armored vehicle. Armed with two classic Tie blasters, and one anti-personnel blaster (so, lighter). A single pilot who also acts as a gunner.

 

Ideas in the Lore

It was simple to produce, and that's about it. I also remember reading somewhere that Empire recruits who fail the test to become Tie fighter pilots could more easily be converted to Tie Crawler pilots. But I couldn't find the source. And anyway the idea that it's easier to become a tank pilot than a freighter pilot when you fail to become a fighter pilot is stupid.

 

Limitations

As described, the machine is limited. The weapons are too low. The two classic Tie blasters cannot rotate and because of its location, the anti-personnel blaster cannot rotate vertically at a very large angle. All three are therefore almost useless on any rough terrain. Also, the shape of the tracks tells me that a concrete block, about a meter high, would be enough to block the Tie. And it's a Tie, so it has no energy shield, so it's not very armored. The single pilot is at the mercy of any anti-tank weapon or space fighter. It also has an obvious weak point: the four visible fuel tanks. Now, this is an obvious weak point that any poorly armed rebel will try to target. But also, why put them there? Have you seen the size of the tracks? And the size of the tanks? They could have been put somewhere in the tracks where they would have been better protected, but also closer to the engines. Not to mention that in the event of an explosion, moving them a little further away from the pilot would increase his chances of survival. And the Empire cares about the safety of its employees...

 

Improvement of Lego 7664

Lego has improved the concept by making the wings swivel and independent. The Tie crawler suddenly becoming truly all terrain. Moreover, they added missile launchers hidden in the wings. Which I had clumsily done in my first version. This version does not have them. The ideas I tested in this area all lacked solidity. And to be honest, once on the shelf, the hidden missiles would stay there.

 

Possible use.

The thing still has its uses, especially with the lego upgrades. Ok, it doesn't have shields, but even the weakest part (the cockpit) resists the vacuum of space, it's not a plastic car either. In case of guerrilla warfare, it can be handy. It is relatively fast (90km/h), and unlike the AT-Walkers (the whole series of AT-AT, AT-ST, AT-DP, AT-RT...), it does not risk falling. Moreover, even if it was turned over, it would not be a problem, it would even be an advantage to have the guns on top. It is also easier to store than AT-ATs and AT-STs, probably also easier to maintain.

I also see an advantage as an infantryman escort when on foot patrol in a guerrilla zone. In case of a skirmish, half a dozen soldiers could take shelter behind a track wall. Regarding the weak point at the rear, this is also a flaw of some IRL tanks, so you can't really hold it against it.

I happened to find another use for the Tie Crawler, the " tower " mode, with the two tracks in vertical position.

Imagine the Empire arrives on a new planet, they explore the terrain, and find a place to set up a temporary base. By the time the base is set up, the Tie Crawler could stand guard in a tower mode. I played a lot of Star Wars Battleground at the time (for those who don't know, imagine Age of Empire, but Star Wars version). Imagine the usefulness of a unit that would be both tower and tank.

 

About the model itself.

This cockpit is very solid, I'm very happy with it, especially since I managed to add a functional roof opening, with a passage. So let's be clear, you wouldn't fit a minifig through it, the hole is only 1x2, but it's enough to position the driver in lookout mode (an AT-AT pilot nicked from a micro-fighter set).

The stickers come from lego, the classic UCS TIE that I disassembled a long time ago, but I kept the "sticker" parts for this purpose.

The tracks are also solid, I regret not having been able to integrate a concealed missile launcher like the lego set, my attempts were successful on lego studio, but not on IRL. And if I liked the lego idea, I didn't like the lego execution. So I gave up.

The only weak point is that with the weight of the tracks, their fixation to the cockpit can break under too much stress. Contrary to the lego set, I don't recommend to hold the whole thing by the tanks. It is better to hold the model by both tracks at the same time.

   

Liking the way that the scaffolding competed with the solidity of the Cathedral's spire and the briefest glimmer of sun through the clouds. May have peaked too early with this shot as I think it will be the best from my set from Salisbury. So much to wade through and review for posting to flickr right now.

Oil on canvas; 52.5 x 68 cm.

 

Carlo Carrà was one of the most influential Italian painters of the first half of the 20th century. He is best known for his still lifes in the style of Metaphysical painting. He studied painting briefly at the Brera Academy in Milan, but he was largely self-taught. In 1909 he met the poet Filippo Marinetti and the artist Umberto Boccioni, who converted him to Futurism, an aesthetic movement that exalted patriotism, modern technology, dynamism, and speed. Carrà’s most famous painting, The Funeral of the Anarchist Galli (1911), embodies Futurist ideals with its portrayal of dynamic action, power, and violence.

 

With the advent of World War I, the classic phase of Futurism ended. Although Carrà’s work from this period, such as the collage Patriotic Celebration, Free Word Painting (1914), was based on Futurist concepts, he soon began to paint in a style of greatly simplified realism. Lot’s Daughters (1915), for example, represents an attempt to recapture the solidity of form and the stillness of the 13th-century painter Giotto. Carrà’s new style was crystallized in 1917 when he met the painter Giorgio de Chirico, who taught him to paint everyday objects imbued with a sense of eeriness. Carrà and de Chirico called their style pittura metafisica (“Metaphysical painting”), and their works of this period have a superficial similarity.

 

In 1918 Carrà broke with de Chirico and Metaphysical painting. Throughout the 1920s and ’30s, he painted melancholy figurative works based on the monumental realism of the 15th-century Italian painter Masaccio. Through such moody but well-constructed works as Morning by the Sea (1928), and through his many years of teaching at the Milan Academy, he greatly influenced the course of Italian art between the World Wars.