View allAll Photos Tagged Time
“It is not that we have so little time but that we lose so much. ... The life we receive is not short but we make it so; we are not ill provided but use what we have wastefully.” Séneca
This photo was taken after leaving the cinemas in the beautiful Sony centre in Berlin.
We had to go down this stairs, so I asked my twin sister Joana if she would model for me. I prepared the camera in the tripod, got in the escalator followed by her. We only had time for two or three exposures so I convinced her we should go up again to take some more. The problem was that both stairs only went down. :D
Don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my permission.
© All rights reserved.
Bus Éireann (Rosslare) SP16
Bus Éireann SP16 is noted here waiting time outside Busáras before picking up peak-time only Service 133X to Gorey- in this case the 1745 departure from the city. Parked here, whilst inconveniencing DublinBus’ from accessing their stop, the driver is able to see when his bay becomes free so that he can move inside the bus station itself.
Busáras is a terrible bus station for a multitude of reasons, and it really is a disgrace that it still exists in its current state today. Its unsuitability is particularly noticeable at this time on a Friday when the bus station is at its busiest as coaches do laps until a spot is free.
Bus Éireann’s early SPs may not have long left, with rumours of withdrawal and being put up for sale going around. They’re still fantastic coaches, but many are starting to show the effects of Bus Éireann’s largely poor maintenance and cleaning strategy. Even from this shot, SP16 is noted looking scruffy in parts - don’t ask about the mismatched horns, a feature of a number of SPs now!
As time is running out for the early SPs, it too may be running out for Bus Éireann as a whole...
Vehicle Information:
Scania
Irizar PB
05-D-46469
C51F
Vehicle History:
New to Bus Éireann in 2005
Vehicle Location:
Busáras, Dublin City
Dublin City - 24.02.2017
Copyright © Mark Long 2017
Yesterday afternoon, I called in again to see the two Koala Bears that recently arrived at the Calgary Zoo. Both animals are usually sitting in "trees" right at the back of the enclosures, fast asleep with their backs towards the visitors - of course, ha, ha. However, I was lucky that one of them (4 years old) was closer and partly facing outwards. Still fast asleep though : ) The two male Koalas - Mundooie and Budaru - will stay at the Zoo's Australia exhibit until just after the Labour Day weekend. The pair are on loan from the San Diego Zoo, which has more than 20 Koalas. Koalas sleep for 18-20 hours a day, basically waking only to feed : ) As Koalas are solitary animals, each has his own separate enclosure. Under the Koala loan program, our Zoo pays a monthly fee to the San Diego Zoo, which it sends on to a conservation organization in Australia. Sounds good to me. (Uncropped).
www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/iphone/news/calgary/story.h...
The Malkin's Bank Duck family had moved down to below Lock 64. They seemed to be practicing take-off and landing techniques.
Seen from the towpath of the Trent & Mersey Canal in Wheelock, Sandbach, Cheshire.
Damascus
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For other uses, see Damascus (disambiguation).
Damascus
دمشق Dimashq
View of Damascus from a bank of Barada river.
Nickname(s): (Al-Fayhaa) The Fragrant City
Damascus
Coordinates: 33°30′47″N 36°17′31″E / 33.51306°N 36.29194°E / 33.51306; 36.29194
Country Syria
Governorates Damascus Governorate, Capital City
Government
- Governor Bishr Al Sabban
Area
- City 573 km2 (221.2 sq mi)
- Metro 1,200 km2 (463.3 sq mi)
Elevation 600 m (1,969 ft)
Population (2007)[citation needed]
- City over 4 million
- Metro 6,500,000
Time zone EET (UTC+2)
- Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3)
Area code(s) Country code: 963, City code: 11
Demonym Damascene
Damascus (Arabic: دمشق, transliteration: Dimashq, also commonly known as الشام ash-Shām) is the capital and largest city of Syria. It is one of the the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and its current population is estimated at about 4,000,000[citation needed]. The city is a governorate by itself, and the capital of the governorate of Rif Dimashq ("Rural Damascus").
Etymology
In Arabic, the city is called دمشق الشام (Dimashq ash-Shām), although this is often shortened to either Dimashq or ash-Shām by the citizens of Damascus, of Syria and other Arab neighbors. Ash-Shām is an Arabic term for north and for Syria (Syria—particularly historical Greater Syria—is called Bilād ash-Shām—بلاد الشام, "land of the north"—in Arabic.) The etymology of the ancient name "Damascus" is uncertain, but it is suspected to be pre-Semitic. It is attested as Dimašqa in Akkadian, T-ms-ḳw in Egyptian, Dammaśq (דמשק) in Old Aramaic and Dammeśeq (דמשק) in Biblical Hebrew. The Akkadian spelling is the earliest attestation, found in the Amarna letters, from the 14th century BCE. Later Aramaic spellings of the name often include an intrusive resh (letter r), perhaps influenced by the root dr, meaning "dwelling". Thus, the Qumranic Darmeśeq (דרמשק), and Darmsûq (ܕܪܡܣܘܩ) in Syriac.[1][2]
History
Ancient City of Damascus*
UNESCO World Heritage Site
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State Party Syria
Type Cultural
Criteria i, ii, iii, iv, vi
Reference 20
Region** Arab States
Inscription history
Inscription 1979 (3rd Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List.
** Region as classified by UNESCO.
Ancient history
Excavations at Tell Ramad on the outskirts of the city have demonstrated that Damascus has been inhabited as early as 8,000 to 10,000 BC. It is due to this that Damascus is considered to be among the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. However, Damascus is not documented as an important city until the coming of the Aramaeans, Semitic nomads who arrived from Mesopotamia. It is known that it was the Aramaeans who first established the water distribution system of Damascus by constructing canals and tunnels which maximized the efficiency of the Barada river. The same network was later improved by the Romans and the Umayyads, and still forms the basis of the water system of the old part of Damascus today. It was mentioned in Genesis 14 as existing at the time of the War of the Kings.
According to the 1st century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus in his twenty-one volume Antiquities of the Jews, Damascus (along with Trachonitis), was founded by Uz, the son of Aram. Elsewhere, he stated:
Nicolaus of Damascus, in the fourth book of his History, says thus: "Abraham reigned at Damascus, being a foreigner, who came with an army out of the land above Babylon, called the land of the Chaldeans: but, after a long time, he got him up, and removed from that country also, with his people, and went into the land then called the land of Canaan, but now the land of Judea, and this when his posterity were become a multitude; as to which posterity of his, we relate their history in another work. Now the name of Abraham is even still famous in the country of Damascus; and there is shown a village named from him, The Habitation of Abraham.
Damascus is designated as having been part of the ancient province of Amurru in the Hyksos Kingdom, from 1720 to 1570 BC. (MacMillan, pp. 30–31). Some of the earliest Egyptian records are from the 1350 BC Amarna letters, when Damascus-(called Dimasqu) was ruled by king Biryawaza. In 1100 BC, the city became the center of a powerful Aramaean state called Aram Damascus. The Kings of Aram Damascus were involved in many wars in the area against the Assyrians and the Israelites. One of the Kings, Ben-Hadad II, fought Shalmaneser III at the Battle of Qarqar. The ruins of the Aramean town most probably lie under the eastern part of the old walled city. After Tiglath-Pileser III captured and destroyed the city in 732 BC, it lost its independence for hundreds of years, and it fell to the Neo-Babylonian Empire of Nebuchadnezzar starting in 572 BC. The Babylonian rule of the city came to an end in 538 BC when the Persians under Cyrus captured the city and made it the capital of the Persian province of Syria.
Greco-Roman
Damascus first came under western control with the giant campaign of Alexander the Great that swept through the near east. After the death of Alexander in 323 BC, Damascus became the site of a struggle between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires. The control of the city passed frequently from one empire to the other. Seleucus Nicator, one of Alexander's generals, had made Antioch the capital of his vast empire, a decision that led Damascus' importance to decline compared with the newly founded Seleucid cities such as Latakia in the north.
In 64 BC, the Roman general Pompey annexed the western part of Syria. The Romans occupied Damascus and subsequently incorporated it into the league of ten cities known as the Decapolis because it was considered such an important center of Greco-Roman culture. According to the New Testament, St. Paul was on the road to Damascus when he received a vision, was struck blind and as a result converted to Christianity. In the year 37, Roman Emperor Caligula transferred Damascus into Nabataean control by decree.[citation needed] The Nabataean king Aretas IV Philopatris ruled Damascus from his capital Petra. However, around the year 106, Nabataea was conquered by the Romans, and Damascus returned to Roman control.
Damascus became a metropolis by the beginning of the second century and in 222 it was upgraded to a colonia by the Emperor Septimius Severus. During the Pax Romana, Damascus and the Roman province of Syria in general began to prosper. Damascus's importance as a caravan city was evident with the trade routes from southern Arabia, Palmyra, Petra, and the silk routes from China all converging on it. The city satisfied the Roman demands for eastern luxuries.
Little remains of the architecture of the Romans, but the town planning of the old city did have a lasting effect. The Roman architects brought together the Greek and Aramaean foundations of the city and fused them into a new layout measuring approximately 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) by 750 metres (2,500 ft), surrounded by a city wall. The city wall contained seven gates, but only the eastern gate (Bab Sharqi) remains from the Roman period. Roman Damascus lies mostly at depths of up to five meters (16.4 ft) below the modern city.
The old borough of Bab Tuma was developed at the end of the Roman/Byzantine era by the local Eastern Orthodox community. According to the Acts of the Apostles, Saint Paul and Saint Thomas both lived in that neighborhood. Roman Catholic historians also consider Bab Tuma to be the birthplace of several Popes such as John V and Gregory III.
Islamic Arab period
The Umayyad Mosque
Alsayyida Zaynab shrine domeDamascus was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate during the reign of Umar by forces under Khaled ibn al-Walid in 634 CE. Immediately thereafter, the city's power and prestige reached its peak when it became the capital of the Umayyad Empire, which extended from Spain to India from 661 to 750. In 744, the last Umayyad caliph, Marwan II, moved the capital to Harran in the Jazira,[3] and Damascus was never to regain the political prominence it had held in that period.
After the fall of the Umayyads and the establishment of the Abbasid caliphate in 750, Damascus was ruled from Baghdad, although in 858 al-Mutawakkil briefly established his residence there with the intention of transferring his capital there from Samarra. However, he soon abandoned the idea. As the Abbasid caliphate declined, Damascus suffered from the prevailing instability, and came under the control of local dynasties.
In 970, the Fatimid Caliphs in Cairo gained control of Damascus. This was to usher in a turbulent period in the city's history, as the Berber troops who formed the backbone of the Fatimid forces became deeply unpopular among its citizens. The presence in Syria of the Qaramita and occasionally of Turkish military bands added to the constant pressure from the Bedouin. For a brief period from 978, Damascus was self-governing, under the leadership of a certain Qassam and protected by a citizen militia. However, the Ghouta was ravaged by the Bedouin and after a Turkish-led campaign the city once again surrendered to Fatimid rule. From 1029 to 1041 the Turkish military leader Anushtakin was governor of Damascus under the Fatimid caliph Al-Zahir, and did much to restore the city's prosperity.
It appears that during this period the slow transformation of Damascus from a Graeco-Roman city layout - characterised by blocks of insulae — to a more familiar Islamic pattern took place: the grid of straight streets changed to a pattern of narrow streets, with most residents living inside harat closed off at night by heavy wooden gates to protect against criminals and the exactions of the soldiery.
Seljuks and Crusader rule
The statue of Saladin in front of Damascus citadel.
Azem Palace.
Damascus WallsWith the arrival of the Seljuk Turks in the late 11th century, Damascus again became the capital of independent states. It was ruled by a Seljuk dynasty from 1079 to 1104, and then by another Turkish dynasty - the Burid Emirs, who withstood a siege of the city during the Second Crusade in 1148 . In 1154 Damascus was conquered from the Burids by the famous Zengid Atabeg Nur ad-Din of Aleppo, the great foe of the Crusaders. He made it his capital, and following his death, it was acquired by Saladin, the ruler of Egypt, who also made it his capital. Saladin rebuilt the citadel, and it is reported that under his rule the suburbs were as extensive as the city itself. It is reported by Ibn Jubayr that during the time of Saladin, Damascus welcomed seekers of knowledge and industrious youth from around the world, who arrived for the sake of "undistracted study and seclusion" in Damascus' many colleges.
In the years following Saladin's death in 1193, there were frequent conflicts between different Ayyubid sultans ruling in Damascus and Cairo. Damascus was the capital of independent Ayyubid rulers between 1193 and 1201, from 1218 to 1238, from 1239 to 1245, and from 1250 to 1260. At other times it was ruled by the Ayyubid rulers of Egypt. Damascus steel gained a legendary reputation among the Crusaders, and patterned steel is still "damascened". The patterned Byzantine and Chinese silks available through Damascus, one of the Western termini of the Silk Road, gave the English language "damask".
Mamluk rule
Ayyubid rule (and independence) came to an end with the Mongol invasion of Syria in 1260, and following the Mongol defeat at Ain Jalut in the same year, Damascus became a provincial capital of the Mamluk Empire, ruled from Egypt, following the Mongol withdrawal.
Timurlane
In 1400 Timur, the Turco-Mongol conqueror, besieged Damascus. The Mamluk sultan dispatched a deputation from Cairo, including Ibn Khaldun, who negotiated with him, but after their withdrawal he put the city to sack. The Umayyad Mosque was burnt and men and women taken into slavery. A huge number of the city's artisans were taken to Timur's capital at Samarkand. These were the luckier citizens: many were slaughtered and their heads piled up in a field outside the north-east corner of the walls, where a city square still bears the name burj al-ru'us, originally "the tower of heads".
Rebuilt, Damascus continued to serve as a Mamluk provincial capital until 1516.
The Ottoman conquest
Khan As'ad Pasha was built in 1752In early 1516, the Ottoman Turks, wary of the danger of an alliance between the Mamluks and the Persian Safavids, started a campaign of conquest against the Mamluk sultanate. On 21 September, the Mamluk governor of Damascus fled the city, and on 2 October the khutba in the Umayyad mosque was pronounced in the name of Selim I. The day after, the victorious sultan entered the city, staying for three months. On 15 December, he left Damascus by Bab al-Jabiya, intent on the conquest of Egypt. Little appeared to have changed in the city: one army had simply replaced another. However, on his return in October 1517, the sultan ordered the construction of a mosque, taqiyya and mausoleum at the shrine of Shaikh Muhi al-Din ibn Arabi in al-Salihiyah. This was to be the first of Damascus' great Ottoman monuments.
The Ottomans remained for the next 400 years, except for a brief occupation by Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt from 1832 to 1840 . Because of its importance as the point of departure for one of the two great Hajj caravans to Mecca, Damascus was treated with more attention by the Porte than its size might have warranted — for most of this period, Aleppo was more populous and commercially more important. In 1560 the Taqiyya al-Sulaimaniyya, a mosque and khan for pilgrims on the road to Mecca, was completed to a design by the famous Ottoman architect Sinan, and soon afterwards a madrasa was built adjoining it.
The destroyed Christian quarter of Damascus, 1860.Perhaps the most notorious incident of these centuries was the massacre of Christians in 1860, when fighting between Druze (most probably supported by foreign countries to weaken the economical power) and Maronites in Mount Lebanon spilled over into the city. Several thousand Christians were killed, with many more being saved through the intervention of the Algerian exile Abd al-Qadir and his soldiers (three days after the massacre started), who brought them to safety in Abd al-Qadir's residence and the citadel. The Christian quarter of the old city (mostly inhabited by Catholics), including a number of churches, was burnt down. The Christian inhabitants of the notoriously poor and refractory Midan district outside the walls (mostly Orthodox) were, however, protected by their Muslim neighbours.
American Missionary E.C. Miller records that in 1867 the population of the city was 'about' 140,000, of whom 30,000 where Christians, 10,000 Jews and 100,000 'Mohammedans' with less than 100 Protestant Christians.[4]
Rise of Arab nationalism
In the early years of the twentieth century, nationalist sentiment in Damascus, initially cultural in its interest, began to take a political colouring, largely in reaction to the turkicisation programme of the Committee of Union and Progress government established in Istanbul in 1908. The hanging of a number of patriotic intellectuals by Jamal Pasha, governor of Damascus, in Beirut and Damascus in 1915 and 1916 further stoked nationalist feeling, and in 1918, as the forces of the Arab Revolt and the British army approached, residents fired on the retreating Turkish troops.
Modern
The Turkish Hospital in Damascus on 1 October 1918, shortly after the entry of the 4th Australian Light Horse Regiment.
Damascus in flames as the result of the French air raid on October 18, 1925.On 1 October 1918, the forces of the Arab revolt led by Nuri as-Said entered Damascus. The same day, Australian soldiers from the 4th and 10th Light Horse Regiments reinforced with detachments from the British Yeomanry Mounted Division entered the city and accepted its surrender from the Turkish appointed Governor Emir Said (installed as Governor the previous afternoon by the retreating Turkish Commander)[1][2]. A military government under Shukri Pasha was named. Other British forces including T. E. Lawrence followed later that day, and Faisal ibn Hussein was proclaimed king of Syria. Political tension rose in November 1917, when the new Bolshevik government in Russia revealed the Sykes-Picot Agreement whereby Britain and France had arranged to partition the Arab east between them. A new Franco-British proclamation on 17 November promised the "complete and definitive freeing of the peoples so long oppressed by the Turks." The Syrian Congress in March adopted a democratic constitution. However, the Versailles Conference had granted France a mandate over Syria, and in 1920 a French army commanded by the General Mariano Goybet crossed the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, defeated a small Syrian defensive expedition at the Battle of Maysalun and entered Damascus. The French made Damascus capital of their League of Nations Mandate of Syria.
When in 1925 the Druze revolt in the Hauran spread to Damascus, the French suppressed it brutally, bombing and shelling the city. The area of the old city between Al-Hamidiyah Souq and Medhat Pasha Souq was burned to the ground, with many deaths, and has since then been known as al-Hariqa ("the fire"). The old city was surrounded with barbed wire to prevent rebels infiltrating from the Ghouta, and a new road was built outside the northern ramparts to facilitate the movement of armored cars.
On 21 June 1941, Damascus was captured from the Vichy French forces by the Allies during the Syria-Lebanon campaign.
In 1945 the French once more bombed Damascus, but on this occasion British forces intervened and the French agreed to withdraw, thus leading to the full independence of Syria in 1946 . Damascus remained the capital. With the influx of Iraqi refugees beginning in 2003, and funds from the Persian Gulf, Damascus has been going through an economic boom ever since.
Geography
Damascus in spring seen from Spot satelliteDamascus lies about 80 km (50 mi) inland from the Mediterranean Sea, sheltered by the Anti-Lebanon Mountains. It lies on a plateau 680 metres (2,200 ft) above sea-level.
The old city of Damascus, enclosed by the city walls, lies on the south bank of the river Barada which is almost dry(3 cm left). To the south-east, north and north-east it is surrounded by suburban areas whose history stretches back to the Middle Ages: Midan in the south-west, Sarouja and Imara in the north and north-west. These districts originally arose on roads leading out of the city, near the tombs of religious figures. In the nineteenth century outlying villages developed on the slopes of Jabal Qasioun, overlooking the city, already the site of the al-Salihiyah district centred around the important shrine of Sheikh Muhi al-Din ibn Arabi. These new districts were initially settled by Kurdish soldiery and Muslim refugees from the European regions of the Ottoman Empire which had fallen under Christian rule. Thus they were known as al-Akrad (the Kurds) and al-Muhajirin (the migrants). They lay two to three kilometres (2 mi) north of the old city.
From the late nineteenth century on, a modern administrative and commercial centre began to spring up to the west of the old city, around the Barada, centred on the area known as al-Marjeh or the meadow. Al-Marjeh soon became the name of what was initially the central square of modern Damascus, with the city hall on it. The courts of justice, post office and railway station stood on higher ground slightly to the south. A Europeanised residential quarter soon began to be built on the road leading between al-Marjeh and al-Salihiyah. The commercial and administrative centre of the new city gradually shifted northwards slightly towards this area.
In the twentieth century, newer suburbs developed north of the Barada, and to some extent to the south, invading the Ghouta oasis. From 1955 the new district of Yarmouk became a second home to thousands of Palestinian refugees. City planners preferred to preserve the Ghouta as far as possible, and in the later twentieth century some of the main areas of development were to the north, in the western Mezzeh district and most recently along the Barada valley in Dummar in the northwest and on the slopes of the mountains at Berze in the north-east. Poorer areas, often built without official approval, have mostly developed south of the main city.
Damascus used to be surrounded by an oasis, the Ghouta region (الغوطة al-ġūṭä), watered by the Barada river. The Fijeh spring, west along the Barada valley, used to provides the city with drinking water. The Ghouta oasis has been decreasing in size with the rapid expansion of housing and industry in the city and it is almost dry. It has also become polluted due to the city's traffic, industry, and sewage.
Climate
Damascus' climate is semi arid, due to rain shadow effect of Anti-Lebanon mountain. Summers are hot with less humidity. Winters are cool and rainy or snowy. January Maximum & Minimum Temperatures are 11 °C (52 °F) and 0 °C (32 °F), lowest ever recorded are −13.5 °C (8 °F), The summer August Maximum & Minimum Temperature are 35 °C (95 °F) and 17 °C (63 °F), Highest ever recorded are 45.5 °C (113.9 °F), Annual rainfall around 20 cm (8 in), occur from November to March.[5]
Weather averages for Damascus
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 11
(53) 13
(57) 17
(64) 23
(74) 28
(84) 33
(92) 36
(96) 36
(96) 33
(91) 27
(81) 19
(67) 13
(56) 24
(76)
Average low °C (°F) 0
(33) 2
(36) 4
(40) 7
(46) 11
(52) 14
(58) 16
(62) 17
(63) 13
(57) 9
(49) 4
(40) 1
(35) 8
(48)
Precipitation cm (inches) 3
(1.5) 3
(1.3) 2
(0.9) 1
(0.5) 0
(0.2) 0
(0) 0
(0) 0
(0) 0
(0) 1
(0.4) 2
(1) 4
(1.7) 19
(7.6)
Source: Weatherbase[5] 2008
Demographics
People
Three Damascene women; lady wearing qabqabs, a Druze, and a peasant, 1873.The majority of the population in Damascus came as a result of rural-urban migration. It is believed that the local people of Damascus, called Damascene, are about 1.5 million. Damascus is considered by most people to be a very safe city. Haggling is common, especially in the traditional souks. Corruption is widespread, but in the past few years there have been aims at combating it, by both the government and non-governmental organizations. Tea, Mate (popular caffeinated beverage made from Yerba mate), and Turkish Coffee are the most common beverages in Damascus.
Religion
The majority of the inhabitants of Damascus—about 75%—are Sunni Muslims. It is believed that there are more than 2,000 mosques in Damascus, the most well-known being the Umayyad Mosque. Christians represent the remaining 15% and there a number of Christian districts, such as Bab Tuma, Kassaa, and Ghassani, with many churches, most notably the ancient Chapel of Saint Paul.
Historical sites
House of Saint AnaniasDamascus has a wealth of historical sites dating back to many different periods of the city's history. Since the city has been built up with every passing occupation, it has become almost impossible to excavate all the ruins of Damascus that lie up to 8 feet (2.4 m) below the modern level. The Citadel of Damascus is located in the northwest corner of the Old City. The Street Called Straight (referred to in the conversion of St. Paul in Acts 9:11), also known as the Via Recta, was the decumanus (East-West main street) of Roman Damascus, and extended for over 1,500 metres (4,900 ft). Today, it consists of the street of Bab Sharqi and the Souk Medhat Pasha, a covered market. The Bab Sharqi street is filled with small shops and leads to the old Christian quarter of Bab Tuma (St. Thomas's Gate). Souk Medhat Pasha is also a main market in Damascus and was named after Medhat Pasha, the Ottoman governor of Syria who renovated the Souk. At the end of the Bab Sharqi street, one reaches the House of Ananias, an underground chapel that was the cellar of Ananias's house. The Umayyad Mosque, also known as the Grand Mosque of Damascus, is one of the largest mosques in the world, and one of the oldest sites of continuous prayer since the rise of Islam. A shrine in the mosque is said to contain the head of Husayn ibn Ali and the body of St. John the Baptist. The mausoleum where Saladin was buried is located in the gardens just outside the mosque. Sayyidah Ruqayya Mosque, the shrine of the yongest daughter of Husayn ibn Ali, can also be found near the Umayyad Mosque. Another heavily visited site is Sayyidah Zaynab Mosque, which is the tomb of Zaynab bint Ali.
The walls and gates of Damascus
v • d • eOld City of Damascus
Azm PalaceDamascus
CitadelUmayyad Mosque
Gates
al-Jabiya · al-Saghir · Kisan · Sharqi · Tuma · al-Salam · Faradis
The Old City of Damascus is surrounded by ramparts on the northern and eastern sides and part of the southern side. There are seven extant city gates, the oldest of which dates back to the Roman period. These are, clockwise from the north of the citadel:
Bab al-Saghir (The Small Gate)
Bab al-Faradis ("the gate of the orchards", or "of the paradise")
Bab al-Salam ("the gate of peace"), all on the north boundary of the Old City
Bab Tuma ("Touma" or "Thomas's Gate") in the north-east corner, leading into the Christian quarter of the same name,
Bab Sharqi ("eastern gate") in the east wall, the only one to retain its Roman plan
Bab Kisan in the south-east, from which tradition holds that Saint Paul made his escape from Damascus, lowered from the ramparts in a basket; this gate is now closed and a chapel marking the event has been built into the structure,
Bab al-Jabiya at the entrance to Souk Midhat Pasha, in the south-west.
Other areas outside the walled city also bear the name "gate": Bab al-Faraj, Bab Mousalla and Bab Sreija, both to the south-west of the walled city.
Churches in the old city
The Minaret of the Bride, Umayyad Mosque in old Damascus.
Sayyidah Zaynab Mosque
Sayyidah Ruqayya MosqueCathedral of Damascus.
Virgin Mary's Cathedral.
House of Saint Ananias.
Chapel of Saint Paul.
The Roman Catholic Cathedral in Zaitoon (Olive) Alley.
The Damascene Saint Johan church.
Saint Paul's Laura.
Saint Georgeus's sanctuary.
Islamic sites in the old city
Sayyidah Zaynab Mosque
Sayyidah Ruqayya Mosque
Bab Saghir cemetery
Umayyad Mosque
Saladin Shrine.
Madrasas
Al-Adiliyah Madrasa.
Az-Zahiriyah Library.
Nur al-Din Madrasa.
Old Damascene houses
Azm Palace
Bayt al-Aqqad (Danish Institute in Damascus)
Maktab Anbar
Beit al-Mamlouka (Boutique Hotel)
Khans
Khan Jaqmaq
Khan As'ad Pasha
Khan Sulayman Pasha
Threats to the future of the old City
Due to the rapid decline of the population of Old Damascus (between 1995-2005 more than 20,000 people moved out of the old city for more modern accommodation), a growing number of buildings are being abandoned or are falling into disrepair. In March 2007, the local government announced that it would be demolishing Old City buildings along a 1,400-metre (4,600 ft) stretch of rampart walls as part of a redevelopment scheme. These factors resulted in the Old City being placed by the World Monuments Fund on its 2008 Watch List of the 100 Most Endangered Sites in the world. It is hoped that its inclusion on the list will draw more public awareness to these significant threats to the future of the historic Old City of Damascus.
Current state of old Damascus
In spite of the recommendations of the UNESCO World Heritage Center:[3]
Souk El Atik, a protected buffer zone, was destroyed in three days in November 2006;
King Faysal Street, a traditional hand-craft region in a protected buffer zone near the walls of Old Damascus between the Citadel and Bab Touma, is threatened by a proposed motorway.
In 2007, the Old City of Damascus and notably the district of Bab Tuma have been recognized by The World Monument Fund as one of the most endangered sites in the world.[4]
Subdivisions
The ancient city of Damascus around the Omayyad Mosque
Azmeh Square in downtown DamascusDamascus is divided into many districts. Among them there are:
Abbasiyyin
Abou Rummaneh
Amara
Bahsa
Baramkah
Barzeh
Dummar
Jobar
Kafar Souseh
Malki
Mazraa
Mezzeh
Midan
Muhajreen
Qanawat
Rukn Eddeen
Al-Salihiyah
Sarouja
Sha'alan
Shaghoor
Tijara
ducation
Damascus is the main center of education in Syria. It is home to Damascus University, which is the oldest and by far the largest university in Syria. After the enactment of legislation allowing private secondary institutions, several new universities were established in the city and in the surrounding area.
Universities
Damascus National Museum.Damascus University
Syrian Virtual University
International University for Science and Technology
Higher Institute of Business Administration (HIBA)
Higher Institute for Applied Science and Technology (HIAST)
University of Kalamoon
Arab European University
National Institute of Administration
Transportation
Al-Hijaz StationThe main airport is Damascus International Airport, approximately 20 km (12 mi) away from the city center, with connections to many Asian, Europe, African, and recently, South American cities. Streets in Damascus are often narrow, mostly in the older parts of the city, and speed bumps are widely used to limit the speed.
Public transport in Damascus depends extensively on minibuses. There are about one hundred lines that operate inside the city and some of them extend from the city center to nearby suburbs. There is no schedule for the lines, and due to the limited number of official bus stops, buses will usually stop wherever a passenger needs to get on or off. The number of buses serving the same line is relatively high, which minimizes the waiting time. Lines are not numbered, rather they are given captions mostly indicating the two end points and possibly an important station along the line.
Al-Hijaz railway station, lies in the city center. Currently this station is closed, and railway connections with other cities take place in a suburb.
In 2008, the government announced a plan to construct an underground system in Damascus with opening time for the green line scheduled for 2015 Damascus Metro
Culture
Damascus was the 2008 Arab Capital of Culture.
Museums
National Museum of Damascus
Azem Palace
Military Museum
Museum of Arabic Calligraphy
Leisure activities
Damascus by night, pictured from Jabal Qasioun; the green spots are minarets
Parks and gardens
Tishreen Park is by far the largest park in Damascus. It is home to the yearly held Damascus Flower Show. Other parks include Aljahiz, Al sibbki, Altijara and Alwahda. Damascus' Ghouta (Oasis) is also a popular destination for recreation.
Cafe culture
Cafes are popular meeting spots for Damascene, where Arghilehs (water pipes) and popular beverages are served. Card games, Tables (backgammon variants), and chess are common in these cafes.
Sports
Popular sports include football, basketball, swimming and table tennis. Damascus is home to many sports clubs, such as:
Al Jaish
Al Wahda
Al Majd
Barada
Nearby attractions
Madaya
Bloudan
Zabadani
Maaloula
Saidnaya
Born in Damascus
Hadadezer King of Aram Damascus and leader of the coalition the 12 kings coalition that fought against Shalmaneser III
Nicolaus of Damascus (historian and philosopher)
John of Damascus (676-749) Christian saint
Ananias (Christian disciple involved in healing and preaching to Paul the Apostle)
Sophronius (Patriarch of Jerusalem)
Abd ar-Rahman I, Founder of Omayyad dynasty in Cordoba.
Izzat Husrieh, A renowned journalist and founder of the Syrian labor unions.
Khalid al-Azm, Former prime minister of Syria.
Shukri al-Quwatli, Former Syrian president and co-founder of the United Arab Republic.
Muna Wassef ( A Movie Star, and a United Nations Goodwill ambassador.)
Damascius (Byzantine philosopher)
Yasser Seirawan (chess player)
Ahmed Kuftaro (former grand mufti of Syria)
Ikram Antaki (Mexican writer)
Ghada al-Samman (novelist)
Nizar Qabbani (poet)
Michel Aflaq (political thinker and co-founder of the Baath Party)
Salah al-Din al-Bitar (political thinker and co-founder of the Baath Party)
Constantin Zureiq (academic and Arab nationalist intellectual)
Zakaria Tamer (writer)
Professor Aziz Al-Azmeh (academic, PhD in Oriental Studies)
Nazir Ismail (Artist)
Sheik Bashir Al Bani (Grand Sheik in Syria)
Mehdi Mourtada (Famous journalist and founder of WAS News Agency.
Oil on canvas. 18"x24".
Extra-dimensional harvesters gathering and processing luminous energy. Together as a collective they form the great beast known as "time".
Time passes unseen from its dimension into ours. In our universe when the seeds of life have been planted, time nourishes us with wisdom as we grow while it feeds from our life force- the light that was our youth.
View on black «L», it makes quite a difference to this piece.
It's pretty hectic these days with work finals and everything. But nearly over now, and hopefully I'll be able to catch up on Flickr where I haven't been to good lately.
I guess you could say that the two photos at this location are the closest I've come to portraying my own mood. Uncomfortable and in dire need of some moments to just chill out.
Anyways, I love the location that I've found for myself. It is almost right outside the door, and the low winter sun creates this beautiful light just as it brakes from behind the hillside.
Follow me on Twitter.
Men talk of killing time, while time quietly kills them. Dion Boucicault
Friday!!! :D
The last day of work of this short working week :D
Wish you all a wonderful week-end!
Time for "sleep" inside The Conjuring House. Come to find out, it's ME that goes bump in the night with the lights nearly off. Ya know, being too tall for a 17th century farmhouse ceiling and bumping into everything during a paranormal investigation. We did stay overnight though!
"Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an off hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way
Tired of liyng in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain..."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYiahoYfPGk
Nikon d300s + Tokina 11-16 + Heliophan Cpl + Lee 0.9 ND + Lee 0.9 soft GND
My stream on black www.flickriver.com/photos/tommyrave/
Thanks all for your visits and comments
_______________________________
Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission
Rosa Parks Blvd - Downtown Nashville, Tennessee
I didn't notice the Rosa Parks signs above until I received my scans. This truck was actually being produced in the 1950's when Rosa Parks made history. I love these little surprises!
Read the story and see more images here: www.shutteringthrulife.com/nashville-streets-part-1-1-of-2/
Olympus OM1
50mm f1.8
Kodak TRI-X 400
Developed & Scanned by the FINDLab
This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~
Terug thuis na een lange rit, maar Naarden was de moeite waard!
Explore 124: Highest position: 250 on Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Antonov An-124
Aircraft
The Antonov An-124 Ruslan is a strategic airlift jet aircraft. It was designed by the Antonov design bureau in the Ukrainian SSR, then part of the Soviet Union. Wikipedia
Wingspan: 73 m
Length: 69 m
Introduced: 1986
Manufacturer: Antonov
Unit cost: 70,000,000–100,000,000 USD
Engine type: Turbofan
Designer: Antonov
Tune: Onyx - Ain't No Time To Rest ft Dope D.O.D
[Video Intro: Fredro Starr & Sticky Fingaz]
What's up, man?
I'm tired of this graveyard shift, nigga
I'm telling you, man
Got me on him working, motherfucker, in middle of the night in shit
I'm sick of this shit too, nigga
The other day, motherfucker, I'm heard some shit in here
I'm like a: "What a fuck is going on?"
You know, what's up
You get, right?
Hell yeah!
Two nights ago?
Two nights ago!
I heard the same shit
Yo, what some shit going on here, nigga?
I'm telling you, my nigga
It is
We gotta find a new line of work
Well, here we go
[Intro: Fredro Starr]
Y'all niggas must be dead
It's time to wake da fuck up, niggas
What the fuck is it a library in this motherfucka?
[Verse 1: Fredro Starr]
Before we set it off
Let me put a check of the list
All you bitchass niggas you can rest in peace
My niggas streesed and depressed
Ain't no time to rest
It's time to wake up from the dead
Ain't no time to rest
I'm a mess, i'm dirty, i'm filty, probably guilty
The beast from the East where the beats is obese
Big drums, big drums nigga where Big from
Nigga got big guns, don't talk, gun talk to us
This the way we walk in New York, come and walk with us
This a way, hip-hop is in a disarray
This is for my niggas who got a get it the pistol way
Then piss it away on strippers up in Scarlett's
Queens niggas is wild, but Brooklyn is the wildest
Where niggas be robbing shit and rip you for your wallets
Yeah, i got a ghostwriter - Christopher Wallace
So get your rest B.I.G
[Hook x 2: Fredro Starr]
My niggas streesed and depressed
Ain't no time to rest
It's time to wake up from the dead
Ain't no time to rest
It's time to wake up from the dead
Ain't no time to rest
It's time to wake up from the dead
Ain't no time to rest
[Verse 2: Sticky Fingaz]
You thought I was dead, but I'm alive and kicking
In the hood niggas love me like I'm fried chicken
Sticky Fingaz good my, my nines be licking
And I must be get a money, my palms is itching
Cause when you when you gotta a P99
Every everything is Free.99
Get dumped off get beat out his mind
Fucking with Sticky Fingaz must be out his mind
Are you insane? It's all your fault!
Get bodied over and over again and expecting different results
I don't play games, eat candy, smile or joke
They'll be checking and checking and checking but they ain't getting no pulse
[Hook x 2: Fredro Starr]
My niggas streesed and depressed
Ain't no time to rest
It's time to wake up from the dead
Ain't no time to rest
It's time to wake up from the dead
Ain't no time to rest
It's time to wake up from the dead
Ain't no time to rest
[Verse 3: Skits Vicious & Jay Reaper]
Skits: Shake 'em up! Shake 'em up! Wake 'em from the dead!
Shine 'em up! Shine 'em up! Half a bald head!
You'll break a fuckin' leg trying to kick it with us
I'll rip your skinny jean limbs off and piss on ya' arms
Jay: Now wake da fuck up! Ya'll niggas suffering from sleep paralysis
I had it with 'em amateurs, fucking with some savages
Feel the cold clutch of the Reaper 'round your neck
If you talk shit - i don't forget. Now who's next?
Skits: Who's next? I'm here to take ya'll with
Get 'em ready for the belly of the beast, we in a graveyard shift
Dro, Stick (Whaddup!) I just licked (Whaddup!)
I don't give (No Fucks!) Put your middle fingers up!
Jay: Put your middle fingers up and say fuck that shit!
Onyx and Dope D.O.D - we fuck 'em up like this
Niggas looking for clout, their souls half the price
Well you gon' see enough clouds in the afterlife
Technique: It was early in the morning and this Wool Carder Bee was having a tough time getting its metabolism going. It went from being active and walking around the flower to clamping onto a petal and snoozing. I was holding onto the stem of that flower with my left index finger and thumb, and resting the lens on that same hand to keep everything steady.
Tech Specs: Canon 70D (F16, 1/250, ISO 100) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (over 2x) + a diffused MT-24EX. This is a single, uncropped, frame taken hand held.
This is one of my favorite images to date from Big Sur area. I just love the color of the water backlit by the setting sun.
The story:
This was the first time I went to Garrapata park to find this rocks. That day my family were in Carmel-by-the-Sea and I walked into one of many art shops and checked out their photography section. I saw a picture of these 2 rocks and immediately liked it. I bought a book and asked the guy where this place was. He was the owner and being nice enough, called the photographer to clarify the details. After I got the information I knew where I would be in the evening :) So, we all got there a couple of hours before the sunset and I was enjoying the view from the top of the surrounding cliffs. Then, I decided to get down to the 60 foot beach area to get a better and help emphasize these huge rocks. Getting down was a little tricky, and I did not know at the time that there was a much easier way on the other side (close to the parking lot). My mom actually suggested that we use a rope, which I did. The whole time I was worried that the rope was more of a hazard though, because if I fall down, there goes my mom with me :) Especially, since the rope was not long enough for me to get to the very bottom.
Anyhow, I had to convince my wife that it was worth staying, because it got cloudy soon after we arrived. I spotted a window in the clouds close to the horizon line, and hoped the sun would break trough for just a bit. I was surely glad it did right at sunset. The sunlight was soft and lasted only a few minutes before the sun disappeared behind the clouds. I tried a few different exposures to get the motion on the waves, but not to make them too blurry. I have a few more images from that evening that are great as well, but this one is a winner for its warm light on the rocks and contrasting emerald green water.
Technicalities:
Single exposure, no HDR.
Canon 5D mark2 with Canon 70 – 200 f4 IS L lens at 70mm (I tried wider angle, but cropping in on the rocks amplified their magnitude, so 70mm was used).
Shot at f18, ½ second at ISO 50.
I used a 3 stop soft edge Hitech GND filter to balance the sky.
In post – curves adjustment, sharpening, and color saturation adjustments.
Thank you for viewing.
Happy New Year to my fellow Flickrers! I've truly enjoyed seeing the world through your lens this year. Best wishes for an inspiring 2014.