Unsolved photos on Flickr

What were the mysterious contents of the elusive Red Box? by Chatwick Harpax

2

Considered to be one of Rex Stout’s best Nero Wolf Mysteries.

The Red Box is the fourth Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout. Prior to its first publication in 1937 by Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., the novel was serialized in five issues of The American Magazine (December 1936–April 1937). Together with The League of Frightened Men, it was collected in The Nero Wolfe Omnibus (1944) by the World Publishing Company of Cleveland, Ohio.

The Synopsis:

In the midst of a murder investigation, one of the suspects visits Wolfe and begs Wolfe to handle his estate and especially the contents of a certain red box. Wolfe is at first concerned about a possible conflict of interest, but feels unable to refuse when the man dies in his office before telling Wolfe where to find the red box. The police naturally think that he told Wolfe somewhat more before dying.

The Case:

“I never knew a plaguier case. We have all the knowledge we need, and not a shred of presentable evidence. Unless the red box is found — are we actually going to be forced to send Saul to Scotland or Spain or both? Good heavens! Are we so inept that we must half encircle the globe to demonstrate the motive and the technique of a murder that happened in our own office in front of our eyes? Pfui!”

— Nero Wolfe in The Red Box, chapter 14

The Murder:

The business was high fashion - but some low dealings brought sudden death to a lovely model.

And then the murderer had the nerve to knock off his next victim under the eyes of . . . Nero Wolfe!

That was his mistake - because now he had one-seventh of a ton of fire-breathing detective on his trail with one mission: seek out, pursue, and destroy!

The Author:

Rex Todhunter Stout (December 1, 1886 – October 27, 1975) was an American crime writer, best known as the creator of the larger-than-life fictional detective Nero Wolfe, described by reviewer Will Cuppy as "that Falstaff of detectives." Wolfe's assistant Archie Goodwin recorded the cases of the detective genius from 1934 (Fer-de-Lance) to 1975 (A Family Affair).

The Nero Wolfe corpus was nominated Best Mystery Series of the Century at Bouchercon 2000, the world's largest mystery convention, and Rex Stout was nominated Best Mystery Writer of the Century.

Rex Stout's

Description of Archie

Height 6 ft. Weight 180 lbs. Age 32.

Hair is light rather than dark, but just barely decided not to be red; he gets it cut every two weeks, rather short, and brushes it straight back, but it keeps standing up. He shaves four times a week and grasps at every excuse to make it only three times. His features are all regular, well-modeled and well-proportioned, except the nose. He escapes the curse of being the movie actor type only through the nose. It is not a true pug and is by no means a deformity, but it is a little short and the ridge is broad, and the tip has continued on its own, beyond the cartilage, giving the impression of startling and quite independent initiative. The eyes are grey, and are inquisitive and quick to move. He is muscular both in appearance and in movement, and upright in posture, but his shoulders stoop a little in unconscious reaction to Wolfe's repeated criticism that he is too self-assertive…

****************************************

Early life

Stout was born in Noblesville, Indiana, but shortly after that his Quaker parents, John Wallace Stout and Lucetta Elizabeth Todhunter Stout, moved their family (nine children in all) to Kansas.

His father was a teacher who encouraged his son to read, and Rex had read the entire Bible twice by the time he was four years old. He was the state spelling bee champion at age 13. Stout attended Topeka High School, Kansas, and the University of Kansas, Lawrence. His sister, Ruth Stout, also authored several books on no-work gardening and some social commentaries.

He served from 1906 to 1908 in the U.S. Navy (as a yeoman on President Teddy Roosevelt's official yacht) and then spent about the next four years working at about thirty different jobs (in six states), including cigar store clerk, while he sold poems, stories, and articles to various magazines.

It was not his writing but his invention of a school banking system in about 1916 that gave him enough money to travel in Europe extensively. About 400 U.S. schools adopted his system for keeping track of the money school children saved in accounts at school, and he was paid royalties.

In 1916, Stout married Fay Kennedy of Topeka, Kansas. They divorced in 1932 and Stout married in the same year Pola Weinbach Hoffmann, a designer who had studied with Josef Hoffmann in Vienna, Austria.[3]

Rex Stout began his literary career in the 1910s writing for the pulps, publishing romance, adventure, and some borderline detective stories. His first stories appeared among others in All-Story Magazine. He sold articles and stories to a variety of magazines, and became a full-time writer in 1927. Stout lost the money he had made as a businessman in 1929.

In Paris in 1929 he wrote his first book, How Like a God, an unusual psychological story written in the second person. During the course of his early writing career Stout tackled a variety of literary forms, including the short story, the novel, and science fiction, among them a pioneering political thriller, The President Vanishes (1934).

After he returned to the U.S. Stout turned to writing detective fiction. The first work was Fer-de-Lance, which introduced Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin. The novel was published by Farrar & Rinehart in October 1934, and in abridged form as "Point of Death" in The American Magazine (November 1934). In 1937, Stout created Dol Bonner, a female private detective who would reappear in his Nero Wolfe stories and who is an early and significant example of the woman PI as fictional protagonist, in a novel called The Hand in the Glove. After 1938 Stout focused solely on the mystery field. Stout continued writing the Nero Wolfe series for the rest of his life, publishing at least one adventure per year through 1966 (with the exception of 1943, when he was busy with activities related to World War II). Though Stout's rate of production declined somewhat after 1966, he still published four further Nero Wolfe novels and a cookbook prior to his death in 1975, aged 88.

During WWII Stout cut back on his detective writing, joined the Fight for Freedom organization, and wrote propaganda. He hosted three weekly radio shows, and coordinated the volunteer services of American writers to help the war effort. After the war Stout returned to writing Nero Wolfe novels, and took up the role of gentleman farmer on his estate at High Meadow in Brewster, north of New York City. He served as president of the Authors Guild and of the Mystery Writers of America, which in 1959 presented Stout with the Grand Master Award—the pinnacle of achievement in the mystery field.

Stout was a longtime friend of the British humorist P. G. Wodehouse, writer of the Jeeves novels and short stories. Each was a fan of the other's work, and there are evident parallels between their characters and techniques. Wodehouse contributed the foreword to Rex Stout: A Biography, John McAleer's Edgar Award-winning 1977 biography of the author (reissued in 2002 as Rex Stout: A Majesty's Life).

Courtesy of Chatwick University Theartre and Art Departments

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DISCLAIMER

All rights and copyrights observed by Chatwick University, Its contributors, associates and Agents

The purpose of these chronological photos and accompanying stories, articles is to educate, teach, instruct, and generally increase the awareness level of the general public as to the nature and intent of the underlying criminal elements that have historically plagued humankind.

No Part of this can reprinted, duplicated, or copied be without the express written permission and approval of Chatwick University.

These photos and stories are works of fiction. Any resemblance to people, living or deceased, is purely coincidental.

As with any work of fiction or fantasy the purpose is for entertainment and/or educational purposes only, and should never be attempted in real life.

We accept no responsibility for any events occurring outside this website.

********************************************************************************

All rights and copyrights observed by Chatwick University, Its contributors, associates and Agents

The purpose of these chronological photos and accompanying stories, articles is to educate, teach, instruct, and generally increase the awareness level of the general public as to the nature and intent of the underlying criminal elements that have historically plagued humankind.

No Part of this can reprinted, duplicated, or copied be without the express written permission and approval of Chatwick University.

These photos and stories are works of fiction. Any resemblance to people, living or deceased, is purely coincidental.

As with any work of fiction or fantasy the purpose is for entertainment only, and should never be attempted in real life.

We accept no responsibility for any events occurring outside this website.

***************************

10-31-13 tribute to a brother by boxcustom

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this is a shot i took at a car wash for the funeral of a young man that was murdered in west phoenix. he was followed by three men with weapons to his friend's home and surrounded, murdered by cowards. his vehicle was taken and found a few blocks down the street. this stuff happens in phoenix. the case is unsolved with no suspects.

Aero L-60 Brigadyr 'SP-FXA' by Alan Wilson

3

c/n 150723.

On display in the main display hangar at the Muzeum Lotnictwa Polskiego

Krakow, Poland.

23-08-2013

The following info is taken from the museum website:-

"The L-60 Brigadyr was designed for the competition announced by the Czechoslovak Defence Ministry for the replacement of the German Fieseler 156 Storch, utilised by Czechoslovak aviation since the end of the hostilities. By 1953, a team led by Ondrej Nemec carried out work for the first prototype at the Praha Aero manufacturers, its maiden flight as the XL-60 was made in the same year.

The third test aircraft (being the standard for serial production), however, appeared as the work of Zdenek Rublic. It was an all-metal, high-wing (with struts), multipurpose, four seater aircraft. After tests it was introduced into production at the Orlican works in Choclnia. The production between 1953–1956 closed with almost 250 aircraft.

The Aero L-60 were exported to the German Democratic Republic, the Soviet Union, New Zealand and Argentina and were delivered as executive, ambulance and agricultural versions. Also, tests (which were later suspended) were carried out on the military L-160 version (now displayed at the Praha-Kbely museum). The aircraft's big and unsolved problem was a troubled and disappointing engine.

In Poland, three L-60's were used as ambulances. The 150723, SP-FXA L-60 Brigadyr on display at the museum was bought in 1957 and flew with Ambulance Aviation until 1974. It was handed over by the Ambulance Aviation Team in Krakow on 6th January 1974."

Ghost Tree @ Pebble Beach CA by Michael & Sherry Martin

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The Ghost Tree of 17-Mile Drive - Now merely a shadow of its former self, the Ghost Tree, is a tourist attraction and point of interest on the 17 Mile Drive map visitors are provided when they pay to enter the gated community of Pebble Beach. Offering one of the most scenic car drives in the United States, you'll stop at the map's designated location to view and photograph a bleached white Monterey Cypress that appears statuesque, but greatly diminished in size. Lighting to photograph is best in the late afternoon. But look around and notice a forest of bleached white trees along the cliffs. And if you stick around on a foggy night, perhaps you'll catch a glimpse of the Lady in Lace ghost.

If the name "Ghost Tree" causes your curiosity to peak, you're not crazy. Perhaps you sense a spirit that some report seeing wandering along this stretch of highway, described as the Lady in Lace. This region of California does like its lady ghosts and and describes them with clothing attributes. In Moss Beach at the Moss Beach Distillery north of Monterey in San Mateo County, The Blue Lady (who always wears blue clothes) is a ghost featured on Unsolved Mysteries television show. Lady in Lace supposedly wears a white dress as she wanders along the road near the Ghost Tree at night, looking sad, then disappearing into emptiness. Some have hypothesized that this is the ghost of Dona Maria del Carmen Barreto who once owned a vast region of Pebble Beach. Others speculate the ghost could be a bride or young lady who lost a loved one, perhaps taken by the sea either in a shipwreck drowning at this location. Because of the rocky points offshore and dense fog, this region of California was one of the most treacherous for explorers who came by ship to chart California's vast lands. Often on dark, foggy nights along Pescadero Point and the Ghost Tree location, the Lady in Lace has reportedly alarmed motorists who have swerved to miss her.

While ghost lore exists around a stark, sun-bleached tree, a very real ghost offshore is the subject of a recent film. Ghost Tree is the title of the finale to a new surf docudrama "Down the Line." Ghost Tree segment was filmed near the actual Ghost Tree, capturing world class surfing on monster waves that break dangerously close to shore, injuring those who make even a slight mistake. So dangerous is Ghost Tree surfing, it can easily take the life of a novice not capable of handling such extreme conditions. Filmmakers who have chased and documented the biggest waves in the world have included Ghost Tree along 17 Mile Drive. A local ordinance was enacted recently to prohibit small powercraft from towing surfers into position for these once-in-a-lifetime rides in this neck of the woods. Mavericks and other famous surf contests with monster waves in San Mateo County (where the other lady ghost exists) have only been possible via a towing process. So the legendary, monster Ghost Tree waves epitomize the long-standing Ghost Tree onshore. Wave sets have been measured at well over 40-feet and when they boom and thunder, surfers say that Ghost Tree is awake.

_MG_1703_695_696_697_698_699_701t

Ernest Brown grave context - Glenwood Cemetery - 2014-09-19 by Tim Evanson

Grave of Ernest Willis Brown at Glenwood Cemetery in Washington, D.C., in the United States.

Brown was born on August 26, 1873, newar Auburn, New York, and educated in the New York City public schools. He attended the Business College of New York before moving to Washington, D.C., in 1890 to take a job as a clerk at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He was a whopping 6'1" tall at a time when most people were 5'8" in height, and he weighed more than 225 pounds. One day, someone took him aside and said, "You should be a cop."

Brown asked his father for permission to become a policeman, and he gave his consent. Brown joined the Metropolitan Police Department on January 10, 1896, as a private. His first beat was the Georgetown and Foggy Bottom waterfronts, then crime-infested nest of industrial plants, wharves, and brothels. He recalled that his first arrest was of a drunk woman, whom he took to jail. (He let her sleep it off, and released her.)

Brown married Ella R. Jones (a clerk in the Treasury Department) on December 5, 1900, in Philadelphia. He kept the married a secret, and they lived apart for ten years. He allegedly asked her for a divorce in 1910, and at first she agreed. She traveled to Philadelphia, where she could file for divorce on grounds of desertion (she had no grounds for divorce in D.C.). She changed her mind, and sued him for support on September 6. The couple remained married until her death on January 13, 1935.

He was widely admired as the "one honest cop", and received numerous civic, social, and religious awards for his policework and for his service to the community. He was transferred to the White House beat and for three years helped guard President William McKinley. He promoted to segeant in 1905 lieutenant in 1917, and captain in 1920.

As Captain, he supervised the training school, worked as a plainclothes detective, and then commanded the Third Precinct.

He was promoted to Inspector and named head of the newly created Traffic Division in 1925, and oversaw the city's chaotic conversion from horse-and-buggy to automobile. It was there where the city's first traffic laws and regulations were formed. He was promoted to Assistant Superintendent in charge of the Traffic Division.

On October 22, 1932, the Board of Police Commissioners promoted Brown to Major (the department's highest rank) and named him Superintendent of Police. Brown believed youth should like and respect the police, not fear them. Juvenile delinquency was a major concern at the time, and in 1934 Brown founded the Metropolitan Police Department Boys Club as a means of providing safe, nuturing, organized athletic and educational opportunities for city youth. He also created Youth Safety Patrols as a means of involving young men in keeping their neighborhoods clean and safe.

Brown married 51-year-old Olga Krumke on February 16, 1935. They had no children.

Brown remained Superintendent until 1941. During this time, he continued to bolster the Traffic Division, and was the first Superintendent to put police officers in automobiles, created the first mounted police unit, installed public police call boxes, and moved officers from desk duty to foot patrols.

In April 1934, Brown was also appointed D.C. Boxing Commissioner. On June 17, 1940, Brown sanctioned the first racially integrated boxing match in D.C. history when Kid Cocoa (Herbert Lewis Hardwick, an African American from Puerto Rico) bested "Wild" Bill McDowell (a white from Dallas, Texas) 7-to-5 in a ten-round match. There wasn't a peep of protest, despite concerns that the city wasn't ready for an integrated sport.

In 1940, press reports claimed that the MPD was being mismanaged under Brown. The department was accused of failing to close over 90 percent of the most serious cases such as rape, assault, and murder. A crime commission created which found that although Brown had largely suppressed illegal gambling and solved several high-profile murder cases, the detective bureau was not well-managed and many murder cases went unsolved.

One of the commission's reccommendations was that superintendents have a mandatory retirement age of 65. The rule would not apply to the 68-year-old Brown, but he was disenchanted by the crime commission's criticisms and retired on October 15, 1941. Camp Brown, the MPD's boys' summer camp on Maryland's eastern shore, was named after him.

Brown was a deeply religious man who for decades worshipped at the Congress Street Methodist Church in Georgetown. He remained active in the MPD Boys Clubs, the D.C. Youth Council, and the board of directors of Casualty Hospital. He suffered a heart attack while attending a hospital board meeting on May 20, 1966, and died later that day.

October 4, 2011 by Manuel Greer

The Day opens

Warm Bright Safe Guy

Happy Comfortable High

Then the heart starts

People in red don’t smile

A man guards his

newspaper and seat

A beautiful young loose

girl Bounces By with red lip

I feel old

A man leaves

no goodbye He’s German and Sure

two other young ones mean boys

are talking on sickles or lolly

pop

The April Day is almost full

The boredom the walking the

stopping the drinking Cappuccino

coffee

looking

out on the ___________ after a few

sips

Looking Better

I’m Better looking

A 1000 _____________ ________ pass

this ashram good posh

I can hang out

Rich American good looking

smart

taking it in

Seeing the Back of a grey

Balding head

Wanting to make sucking

noises

then a Kiss to the center

I saw the face

Different than expected

Walked on

Sat down

Wrote

Then he came

______________ night

Policeman __________________

hat

Hungry after ______________

that

Can’t stay

Better

A little

Outside

A radio

No ads

Old song

love

Loss

She’s gone

Afraid I don’t matter

to any one

Shaking

Shook

Inside

Walking

Sitting

lying

No place

for me tonight

the dreadful nightmare

visitor

Restlessness where I am

not stay still

A need to move too

much

too far

Infected

Hold i

I do

That’s frightening too

the morning will come

Hope I sleep before

or after

Needing attention

Afraid to be noticed

Want to be seen

Dizzy in this circle

Poor man

me his wife

for _______________

some of the time

Only

Yoga mat

near the bed

Waits for morning

upon up in

Away from him

sun

din of streets

Head Noise

talk noise

Noise of subway

getting away

Under ground

_______________ sound

Rumbling

tumbling

The the night is here

Simple descriptions

Eviscerating these pictures

from their negatives

from a future

____________ remain

_____________

to interpretation

too broad for focus

unclear in memory

Confusing

Arbitrary

Sad sentimental

Can only be piled

lost in the camera

Of a ___________ room

Grabbed if to play

I didn’t know

That he was

A pretty good Grandfather

Grandpa Louis

a cheerful Sloppy

Whiskered smelly old

man

Would hold my hand

On Rivington St

We’d walk to the corner

he bought me Spaulding red

Pink right size rubber

Balls high __________

Turkish toffee

Whatever I wanted

Went upstairs on the back

_____________ for tea lemon

soft rolls honey cake

the cat jumped for the string

Wait awhile

get away

Next week might Be Better

In design computer

I am sick of constant goodness

too much anger stops the throat

too much love

waters the bowels

I know it is the only hole to fall

through

A good distraction at the start

A cloying disinfectant gone too far

May Be the only way out

Once escaped my head moves like

the owl

Can see around

All _______________

Collapsed

_____________

Surprise

Happy to be home

Feeling safe

light

Over the wanting what is

sick

Good choices

Which happen outside

Better than the wanted

choice

Better than perfect

is this peaceful home

Friends have melted

Youth Fled

Hope dead

I will call a friend

Do some work

the sky will brighten

What he thought was an

infection is a bruise

What I think is sickness

is tension

What I see s twenty is

ten

Or ten as twenty

All about how lonely I am

Thid morning of gay sunshine

is dismal

this kind man

getting on my nerves

the pleasure of art

Drudgery

A helpful pretty neighbor

s bore

How thwarted I am

G-D Please Bring ______________

Comfort to Sharon alone

In Philadelphia

One Child South

One West

One Here with my

Alone also

A good family

Close

Miles away

Place Grant ___________

enough to go

All the way round

This is the prayer today

Hold the tears

Bring forth the Christ

Beautiful at 7 AM

the radio soft in back

Rough NY accents __________ talk passing

words closer

Next table

Small Park trees sky building

truck rumble outside

window

well cooked

Kindly served Eggs toast

Coffee Juice on this big

table

Comfy Booth

Friday morning

With G-D’s help

A perfect sunny Friday

Soft song

when I can sit here in light

Drink orange juice all

Enjoying the ____________ of ___________

Canned juice

No way it’s fresh

Still

With half Ice water

in this calming place

I enjoy

NY talk

Enjoy

Enough for today

Osho Yoga

Going Back home where I never

was the first time

Two men

One Bigger

Loving man’s man talk

____________ face

Graying full hair

Big thickening body

All good

A table away

the small less sparkly pays

breakfast

the other angry faced

still a _________ ___ ___________

Strong song

Bit of puff in the words

Radio in back

Why a movie in a dark theatre

Easing to the __________ Booth

away

Opposite bodies

Late middle age

Generic Break fast

Opens the half & half

Pick up filtered coffee

Slight gay lisp

Shocks friend eyes looks out &

down

Sits in stop

Soon I will stand & go

Good Good morning

Have a good Day

Each to her own comfort

__________ _____ ______ self then

others

scrubbed Back couple

Both smooth Beautiful ordinary

Eyes lock

Private in these Public booths

Each complete

Different spots

Conversation

1, 2, 3, 4,

Intact

Separate

Focused Natural

Me in far front

Near the door & outside Here

Please this Plenty

Traverse the park

Past these ________

At great cost

This is as ugly Showy

Showy ugly

Impossibly possible ugly

½ Block

From Beautiful Central Park

Low of profit

Fast return on money

Usual good investment

The difference Between a calm

day

One on edge

Is that any good pressure stays

normal in happy days

Speeds up to leave

Sad thoughts behind

Gathering this day

Running the hours

In front of my eyes

Staying outside

Safe with Manny

In Theresa’s Polish Restaurant

A good white borscht with kielbasa

small cheese blintzes

1/3rd

Inside my stomach

Will have a second

Decaf tea

See __________

Breathe out

Yoga

Am lady Breath Coming

Every part

Full up

Pus in the head

Dark over the eyes

Complaints from a mouth

this is a ____________

Caught in a wakeful sleep

_________ _________ stupid

An Automation with

Smart eyes

Sharp ears

A numb mind

Won’t shut down

Keeps on shattering

this free floating is coming up

Fragmented

At least I will go slow

Keep to outside intact

Till the rest regroups

Bad oatmeal

Loud men

No glasses

Writing near the line

Cannot read this

Maybe with glasses I can

Later is soon enough

Tomorrow I check my health

Change my plans

Miss my glasses

too bad

I like to talk to Paul

Now he’s not there

Hung over all the time

Must recheck everything

Forgetting too much

the __________ anchors have

Broken away

Selling out the company

no problem

Selling us out

that’s an argument

A we don’t know what’s

going to happen

we know what’s happening

__________ for now in

the

Even the smell of their

Bathroom is pleasant in its

familiarity

I look in the mirror

think how pretty

Not too hungry

Hungry enough

In this home serving __________

Back from a happy

family weekend

sons

Grandson

No daughter

No daughter-in-law

Husband kind

this adds up

Glad to be home

___________ have to keep smiling

Keep saying yes

Polite silence

is OK on Both sides

No thanks

It’s good

I can smile

in bright lite

Black gay talk across the room

All OK

Not me alone

in the dark

At home

Alone

Circle thinking

No start or end

I’m there no way out

Out the door

thinking _________

Now not here

in other words loud clear

Morelia, Michoacán

Cuernavaca, Morelos

From a

Who are you

to an OK sure

Loan of a Pencil

An antidepressant sitting on

a dark chilly afternoon

Bruno’s Coffee Shop

Tuesday at 5:15

Pause in the newspaper

All dull anyway

taking a cue from my heart

turn a corner

With Pencil & notebook

hearing this on the page

_________ the _________

_________ lightly today

__________ wanted

trust in G-d

Better than I am

unsolved

Not needy

Here

Sitting there in the dark

Sad here

All around

Inside

Mean angry daughter

Angry cold stupid granddaughter

What am I wanting for

It’s done

I’m done out there

Might as well move out

With heart pride pushed in

intact still

Just

true to leave this story

Leave a space

Weeds are better than poise

Patience is needed

( Arya Niwas )

( Connaught Pl )

Jukaso Inn

around the corner

from Nirulas

Near Sundar Nagar

mkt there are

Many hotel/guesthouse

mag

for events

luxury bus from

Rajastan house to

________ (Mercedes only)

India - Karnataka - Belur - Chennakeshava Temple - Narasimha Disembowelling A Demon - 107 by Manfred Sommer

2

Narasimha (Sanskrit: नरसिंह IAST: Narasiṁha, lit. man-lion), Narasingh, Narsingh and Narasingha in derivative languages is an avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu and one of Hinduism's most popular deities, as evidenced in early epics, iconography, and temple and festival worship for over a millennium.

Narasiṁha is often visualised as having a human-like torso and lower body, with a lion-like face and claws. This image is widely worshipped in deity form by a significant number of Vaiṣṇava groups. Vishnu assumed this form on top of Himvat mountain(Harivamsa). He is known primarily as the 'Great Protector' who specifically defends and protects his devotees in times of need. Vishnu is believed to have taken the avatar to destroy the demon king Hiranyakashipu.

ETYMOLOGY

The word Narasimha means 'lion-man' which usually means 'half man and half lion'. His other names are-

Agnilochana (अग्निलोचन) - the one who has fiery eyes

Bhairavadambara (भैरवडम्बर) - the one who causes terror by roaring

Karala (कराल) - the one who has a wide mouth and projecting teeth

Hiranyakashipudvamsa (हिरण्यकशिपुध्वंस) - the one who killed Hiranyakashipu

Nakhastra (नखास्त्र) - the one for whom nails are his weapons

Sinhavadana (सिंहवदन) - the whose face is of lion

Mrigendra (मृगेन्द्र) - king of animals or lion

SCRIPTURAL SOURCES

There are references to Narasiṁha in a variety of Purāṇas, with 17 different versions of the main narrative. The Bhagavata Purāṇa (Canto 7), Agni Purāṇa (4.2-3), Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa(2.5.3-29), Vayu Purāṇa (67.61-66), Harivaṁśa (41 & 3.41-47), Brahma-Purāṇa (213.44-79), Viṣṇudharmottara Purāṇa(1.54), Kūrma Purāṇa (1.15.18-72), Matsya Purāṇa(161-163), Padma Purāṇa(Uttara-khaṇḍa 5.42), Śiva Purāṇa (2.5.43 & 3.10-12), Liṅga Purāṇa (1.95-96), Skanda Purāṇa 7 (2.18.60-130) and Viṣṇu Purāṇa (1.16-20) all contain depictions of the Narasiṁha Avatāra. There is also a short reference in the Mahābhārata (3.272.56-60) and a Gopāla Tapani Upaniṣad (Narasiṁha tapani Upaniṣad), earliest of Vaiṣṇava Upaniṣads named in reference to him.

REFERENCES FROM VEDAS

The Ṛg Veda contains an epithet that has been attributed to Narasiṁha. The half-man, half-lion avatāra is described as:

like some wild beast, dread, prowling, mountain-roaming.

Source: (RV.I 154.2a).

There is an allusion to a Namuci story in RV.VIII 14.13:

With waters' foam you tore off, Indra, the head of Namuci, subduing all contending hosts.

This short reference is believed to have culminated in the full puranic story of Narasiṁha.

LORD NARASIMHA AND PRAHLADA

Bhagavata Purāṇa describes that in his previous avatar as Varāha, Viṣṇu killed the asura Hiraṇayakṣa. The younger brother of Hirṇayakṣa, Hiraṇyakaśipu wanted revenge on Viṣṇu and his followers. He undertook many years of austere penance to take revenge on Viṣṇu: Brahma thus offers the demon a boon and Hiraṇyakaśipu asks for immortality. Brahma tells him this is not possible, but that he could bind the death of Hiraṇyakaśipu with conditions. Hiraṇyakaśipu agreed:

O my lord, O best of the givers of benediction, if you will kindly grant me the benediction I desire, please let me not meet death from any of the living entities created by you.

Grant me that I not die within any residence or outside any residence, during the daytime or at night, nor on the ground or in the sky. Grant me that my death not be brought about by any weapon, nor by any human being or animal.

Grant me that I not meet death from any entity, living or nonliving created by you. Grant me, further, that I not be killed by any demigod or demon or by any great snake from the lower planets. Since no one can kill you in the battlefield, you have no competitor. Therefore, grant me the benediction that I too may have no rival. Give me sole lordship over all the living entities and presiding deities, and give me all the glories obtained by that position. Furthermore, give me all the mystic powers attained by long austerities and the practice of yoga, for these cannot be lost at any time.

Brahma said,

Tathāstu (so be it)

and vanished. Hiraṇyakaśipu was happy thinking that he had won over death.

One day while Hiraṇyakaśipu performed austerities at Mandarācala Mountain, his home was attacked by Indra and the other devatās. At this point the Devarṣi (divine sage) Nārada intervenes to protect Kayādu, whom he describes as sinless. Following this event, Nārada takes Kayādu into his care and while under the guidance of Nārada, her unborn child (Hiraṇyakaśipu's son) Prahālada, becomes affected by the transcendental instructions of the sage even at such a young stage of development. Thus, Prahlāda later begins to show symptoms of this earlier training by Nārada, gradually becoming recognised as a devoted follower of Viṣṇu, much to his father's disappointment.

Hiraṇyakaśipu furious at the devotion of his son to Viṣṇu, as the god had killed his brother. Finally, he decides to commit filicide. but each time he attempts to kill the boy, Prahlāda is protected by Viṣṇu's mystical power. When asked, Prahlāda refuses to acknowledge his father as the supreme lord of the universe and claims that Viṣṇu is all-pervading and omnipresent.

Hiraṇyakaśipu points to a nearby pillar and asks if 'his Viṣṇu' is in it and says to his son Prahlāda:

O most unfortunate Prahlāda, you have always described a supreme being other than me, a supreme being who is above everything, who is the controller of everyone, and who is all-pervading. But where is He? If He is everywhere, then why is He not present before me in this pillar?

Prahlāda then answers,

He was, He is and He will be.

In an alternate version of the story, Prahlāda answers,

He is in pillars, and he is in the smallest twig.

Hiraṇyakaśipu, unable to control his anger, smashes the pillar with his mace, and following a tumultuous sound, Viṣṇu in the form of Narasiṁha appears from it and moves to attack Hiraṇyakaśipu. in defence of Prahlāda. In order to kill Hiraṇyakaśipu and not upset the boon given by Brahma, the form of Narasiṁha is chosen. Hiraṇyakaśipu can not be killed by human, deva or animal. Narasiṁha is neither one of these as he is a form of Viṣṇu incarnate as a part-human, part-animal. He comes upon Hiraṇyakaśipu at twilight (when it is neither day nor night) on the threshold of a courtyard (neither indoors nor out), and puts the demon on his thighs (neither earth nor space). Using his sharp fingernails (neither animate nor inanimate) as weapons, he disembowels and kills the demon.

Kūrma Purāṇa describes the preceding battle between the Puruṣa and demonic forces in which he escapes a powerful weapon called Paśupāta and it describes how Prahlāda's brothers headed by Anuhrāda and thousands of other demons were led to the valley of death (yamalayam) by the lion produced from the body of man-lion avatar. The same episode occurs in the Matsya Purāṇa 179, several chapters after its version of the Narasiṁha advent.

It is said that even after killing Hiraṇyakaśipu, none of the present demigods are able to calm Narasiṁha's wrath.So the demigods requested Prahlada to calm down the Lord,and Narasimha,who had assumed the all-powerful form of Gandaberunda returned to more benevolent form after that. In other stories,all the gods and goddesses call his consort, Lakṣmī, who assumes the form of Pratyangira and pacifies the Lord. According to a few scriptures, at the request of Brahma, Shiva took the form of Sharabha and successfully pacified him. Before parting, Narasiṁha rewards the wise Prahlāda by crowning him as the king.

NARASIMHA AND ADI SANKARA

Narasiṁha is also a protector of his devotees in times of danger. Near Śrī Śailaṁ, there is a forest called Hatakeśvanam, that no man enters. Śaṅkarācārya entered this place and did penance for many days. During this time, a Kāpālika, by name Kirakashan appeared before him.

He told Śrī Śaṅkara that he should give his body as a human-sacrifice to Kālī. Śaṅkara happily agreed. His disciples were shocked to hear this and pleaded with Śaṅkara to change his mind, but he refused to do so saying that it was an honor to give up his body as a sacrifice for Kālī and one must not lament such things. The Kāpālika arranged a fire for the sacrifice and Śaṅkara sat beside it. Just as he lifted his axe to severe the head of Śaṅkara, Viṣṇu as Narasiṁha entered the body of the disciple of Śaṅkarācārya and Narasiṁha devotee, Padmapada. He then fought the Kāpālika, slayed him and freed the forest of Kapalikas. Ādi Śaṅkara composed the powerful Lakṣmī-Narasiṁha Karāvalambaṁ Stotram at the very spot in front of Lord Narasiṁha.

MODE OF WORSHIP

Due to the nature of Narasiṁha's form (divine anger), it is essential that worship be given with a very high level of attention compared to other deities. In many temples only lifelong celibates (Brahmācārya) will be able to have the chance to serve as priests to perform the daily puja. Forms where Narasiṁha appears sitting in a yogic posture, or with the goddess Lakṣmī are the exception to this rule, as Narasiṁha is taken as being more relaxed in both of these instances compared to his form when first emerging from the pillar to protect Prahlāda.

PRAYERS

A number of prayers have been written in dedication to Narasiṁha avatāra. These include:

The Narasiṁha Mahā-Mantra

Narasiṁha Praṇāma Prayer

Daśāvatāra Stotra by Jayadeva

Kāmaśikha Aṣṭakam by Vedānta Deśika

Divya Prabandham 2954

Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Karavalamba Stotram by Sri Adi Sankara

THE NARASIMHA MAHA-MANTRA

oṁ hrīṁ kṣauṁ

ugraṁ viraṁ mahāviṣṇuṁ

jvalantaṁ sarvatomukham ।

nṛsiṁhaṁ bhīṣaṇaṁ bhadraṁ

mṛtyormṛtyuṁ namāmyaham ॥

O' Angry and brave Mahā-Viṣṇu, your heat and fire permeate everywhere. O Lord Narasiṁha, you are everywhere. You are the death of death and I surrender to You.

NARASIMHA PRANAMA PRAYER

namaste narasiṁhāya,

prahlādahlāda-dāyine,

hiraṇyakaśipor vakṣaḥ,

śilā-ṭaṅka nakhālaye

I offer my obeisances to Lord Narasiṁha, who gives joy to Prahlāda Mahārāja and whose nails are like chisels on the stone like chest of the demon Hiraṇyakaśipu.

ito nṛsiṁhaḥ parato nṛsiṁho,

yato yato yāmi tato nṛsiṁhaḥ,

bahir nṛsiṁho hṛdaye nṛsiṁho,

nṛsiṁhaṁ ādiṁ śaraṇaṁ prapadye

Lord Nṛsiṁha is here and also there. Wherever I go Lord Narasiṁha is there. He is in the heart and is outside as well. I surrender to Lord Narasiṁha, the origin of all things and the supreme refuge.

DASAVATARA STOTRA BY JAYADEVA

tava kara-kamala-vare nakham adbhuta-śrṅgaṁ,

dalita-hiraṇyakaśipu-tanu-bhṛṅgam,

keśava dhṛta-narahari-rūpa jaya jagadiśa hare

O Keśava! O Lord of the universe. O Hari, who have assumed the form of half-man, half-lion! All glories to You! Just as one can easily crush a wasp between one's fingernails, so in the same way the body of the wasp-like demon Hiraṇyakaśipu has been ripped apart by the wonderful pointed nails on your beautiful lotus hands. (from the Daśāvatāra-stotra composed by Jayadeva)

KAMASIKHA ASTAKAM BY VEDANTA DESIKA

tvayi rakṣati rakṣakaiḥ kimanyaiḥ,

tvayi cārakṣāti rakṣākaiḥ kimanyaiḥ ।

iti niścita dhīḥ śrayāmi nityaṁ,

nṛhare vegavatī taṭāśrayaṁ tvam ॥8॥

O Kāmaśikhā Narasiṁha! you are sarva śakthan. When you are resolved to protect some one, where is the need to seek the protection of anyone else? When you are resolved not to protect some one, which other person is capable of protecting us?. There is no one. Knowing this fundamental truth, I have resolved to offer my śaraṇāgatī at your lotus feet alone that rest at the banks of Vegavatī river.

DIVYA PRABANDHAM 2954

āḍi āḍi agam karaindhu isai

pāḍip pāḍik kaṇṇīr malgi engum

nāḍi nāḍi narasingā endru,

vāḍi vāḍum ivvāl nuthale!

I will dance and melt for you, within my heart, to see you, I will sing in praise of you with tears in joy, I will search for Narasiṁha and I am a householder who still searches to reach you (to attain Salvation).

SYMBOLISM

Narasiṁha indicates God's omnipresence and the lesson is that God is everywhere. For more information, see Vaishnav Theology.

Narasiṁha demonstrates God's willingness and ability to come to the aid of His devotees, no matter how difficult or impossible the circumstances may appear to be.

Prahlāda's devotion indicates that pure devotion is not one of birthright but of character. Prahlāda, although born an asura, demonstrated the greatest bhakti to God, and endured much, without losing faith.

Narasiṁha is known by the epithet Mṛga-Śarīra in Sanskrit which translates to Animal-Man. From a philosophical perspective. Narasiṁha is the very icon of Vaiṣṇavism, where jñāna (knowledge) and Bhakti are important as opposed to Advaita, which has no room for Bhakti, as the object to be worshipped and the worshipper do not exist. As according to Advaita or Māyāvāda, the jīva is Paramātma.

SIGNIFICANCE

In South Indian art – sculptures, bronzes and paintings – Viṣṇu's incarnation as Narasiṁha is one of the most chosen themes and amongst [[Avatar]|Avatāra]]s perhaps next only to Rāma and Kṛṣṇa in popularity.

Lord Narasiṁha also appears as one of Hanuman's 5 faces, who is a significant character in the Rāmāyaṇa as Lord (Rāma's) devotee.

FORMS OF NARASIMHA

There are several forms of Narasiṁha, but 9 main ones collectively known as Nava-narasiṁha:

Ugra-narasiṁha

Kroddha-narasiṁha

Vīra-narasiṁha

Vilamba-narasiṁha

Kopa-narasiṁha

Yoga-narasiṁha

Aghora-narasiṁha

Sudarśana-narasiṁha

Lakṣmī-narasiṁha

In Ahobilam, Andhra Pradesh, the nine forms are as follows:

Chātra-vata-narasiṁha (seated under a banyan tree)

Yogānanda-narasiṁha (who blessed Lord Brahma)

Karañja-narasiṁha

Uha-narasiṁha

Ugra-narasiṁha

Krodha-narasiṁha

Malola-narasiṁha (With Lakṣmī on His lap)

Jvālā-narasiṁha (an eight armed form rushing out of the pillar)

Pavana-narasiṁha (who blessed the sage Bharadvaja)

Forms from Prahlad story:

Stambha-narasiṁha (coming out of the pillar)

Svayam-narasiṁha (manifesting on His own)

Grahaṇa-narasiṁha (catching hold of the demon)

Vidāraṇa-narasiṁha (ripping open of the belly of the demon)

Saṁhāra-narasiṁha (killing the demon)

The following three refer to His ferocious aspect:

Ghora-narasiṁha

Ugra-narasiṁha

Candā-narasiṁha

OTHERS

Pañcamukha-Hanumān-narasiṁha, (appears as one of Śrī Hanuman's five faces.)

Pṛthvī-narasiṁha, Vayu-narasiṁha, Ākāśa-narasiṁha, Jvalana-narasiṁha, and

Amṛta-narasiṁha, (representing the five elements)

Jvālā-narasiṁha (with a flame-like mane)

Lakṣmī-narasiṁha (where Lakṣmī pacifies Him)

Prasāda/Prahlāda-varadā-narasiṁha (His benign aspect of protecting Prahlad)

Chatrā-narasiṁha (seated under a parasol of a five-hooded serpent)

Yoga-narasiṁha or Yogeśvara-narasiṁha (in meditation)

Āveśa-narasiṁha (a frenzied form)

Aṭṭahasa-narasiṁha (a form that roars horribly and majestically strides across to destroy evil)

Cakra-narasiṁha, (with only a discus in hand)

Viṣṇu-narasiṁha, Brahma-narasiṁha and Rudra-narasiṁha

Puṣṭi narasiṁha, (worshipped for overcoming evil influences)

EARLY IMAGES

In Andhra Pradesh, a panel dating to third-fourth century AD shows a full theriomorphic squatting lion with two extra human arms behind his shoulders holding Vaiṣṇava emblems. This lion, flanked by five heroes (vīra), often has been identified as an early depiction of Narasiṁha. Standing cult images of Narasiṁha from the early Gupta period, survive from temples at Tigowa and Eran. These sculptures are two-armed, long maned, frontal, wearing only a lower garment, and with no demon-figure of Hiraṇyakaśipu. Images representing the narrative of Narasiṁha slaying the demon Hiraṇyakaśipu survive from slightly later Gupta-period temples: one at Madhia and one from a temple-doorway now set into the Kūrma-maṭha at Nachna, both dated to the late fifth or early sixth century A.D.

An image of Narasiṁha supposedly dating to second-third century AD sculpted at Mathura was acquired by the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1987. It was described by Stella Kramrisch, the former Philadelphia Museum of Art's Indian curator, as "perhaps the earliest image of Narasiṁha as yet known". This figure depicts a furled brow, fangs, and lolling tongue similar to later images of Narasiṁha, but the idol's robe, simplicity, and stance set it apart. On Narasiṁha's chest under his upper garment appears the suggestion of an amulet, which Stella Kramrisch associated with Visnu's cognizance, the Kauṣtubha jewel. This upper garment flows over both shoulders; but below Hiranyakasipu, the demon-figure placed horizontally across Narasiṁha's body, a twisted waist-band suggests a separate garment covering the legs. The demon's hair streams behind him, cushioning his head against the man-lion's right knee. He wears a simple single strand of beads. His body seems relaxed, even pliant. His face is calm, with a slight suggestion of a smile. His eyes stare adoringly up at the face of Viṣṇu. There is little tension in this figure's legs or feet, even as Narasiṁha gently disembowels him. His innards spill along his right side. As the Matsya purana describes it, Narasiṁha ripped "apart the mighty Daitya chief as a plaiter of straw mats shreds his reeds". Based on the Gandhara-style of robe worn by the idol, Michael Meiste altered the date of the image to fourth century AD.

Deborah Soifer, a scholar who worked on texts in relation to Narasiṁha, believes that "the traits basic to Viṣṇu in the Veda remain central to Viṣṇu in his avataras" and points out, however, that:

we have virtually no precursors in the Vedic material for the figure of a man-lion, and only one phrase that simply does not rule out the possibility of a violent side to the benign Viṣṇu.

Soifer speaks of the enigma of Viṣṇu's Narasiṁha avatāra and comments that how the myth arrived at its rudimentary form [first recorded in the Mahābhārata], and where the figure of the man-lion came from remain unsolved mysteries.

An image of Narasiṁha, dating to the 9th century, was found on the northern slope of Mount Ijo, at Prambanan, Indonesia. Images of Trivikrama and Varāha avatāras were also found at Prambanan, Indonesia. Viṣṇu and His avatāra images follow iconographic peculiarities characteristic of the art of central Java. This includes physiognomy of central Java, an exaggerated volume of garment, and some elaboration of the jewelry. This decorative scheme once formulated became, with very little modification, an accepted norm for sculptures throughout the Central Javanese period (circa 730–930 A.D.). Despite the iconographic peculiarities, the stylistic antecedents of the Java sculptures can be traced back to Indian carvings as the Chalukya and Pallava images of the 6th–7th centuries AD.

CULTURAL TRADITION OF PROCESSION (SRI NRSIMHA YATRA)

In Rājopadhyāya Brahmins of Nepal, there is a tradition of celebrating the procession ceremony of the deity Narasiṁha avatar, in Lalitpur district of the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal. The Lunar fifth day of the waning phase of the moon, in the holy Soli-lunar Śrāvaṇa month i.e. on Śrāvaṇa Kṛṣṇa Pañcamī of the Hindu Lunar Calendar is marked as auspicious day for the religious procession, Nṛsiṁha Yātrā. This tradition of the holy procession has been held for more than a hundred years. This is one of the typical traditions of the Rājopadhyāya Bramhins, the Hindu Bramhans of the locality.

In this Nṛsiṁha Yātrā, each year one male member of the Rājopadhyāya community gets the chance to be the organizer each year in that particular day. He gets his turn according to the sequence in their record, where the names of Rājopadhyāya bramhins are registered when a brahmāṇa lad is eligible to be called as a Bramhan.

WIKIPEDIA

Bryggen i Bergen - Tyskebryggen - Hansabryggen (The Dock) Vagen Harbour, Bergen, Vestland County, Norway. by HISTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

2 1

Bryggen i Bergen , also known as Tyskebryggen and Hansabryggen , comprises the old wooden buildings and fire-proof stone cellars in the historic city center of Bergen . The wharf was built around 1070, and from 1360 to 1754 was the seat of the German office in the city and the central hub for the Hanseatic trade in Norway. The Hansa company was also the Nordics' first trading company. The pier consists of approx. 13 acres with 61 listed buildings, and is on UNESCO's list of world heritage sites . Bryggen is the third most visited tourist attraction in Norway .

Streoket Bryggen

The area borders Bergenhus fortress in the north and along Øvregaten to Vetrlidsallmenningen in the south, down this and back along Bryggen's quay front on the east side of Vågen . The area north of the historic commercial farms is called Dreggen . Here is Bradbenken , which is the base for the school ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl , and the Dreggsallmenningen with St. Mary's Church from the 12th century, Bryggens Museum and Gustav Vigeland's statue by Snorre Sturlason . In the area there are also old clusters of wooden houses and more modern blocks of flats with hotels and commercial buildings, as well as the athletics hall Vikinghallen . South of the Dreggsallmenningen are the old Hanseatic wooden trading houses and the Schøtstuene, and south of the Nikolaikirkealmenningen brick apartment buildings in the same style. Farthest to the south is the Hanseatic Museum and the Meat Bazaar . The local archery corps is called Dræggens Buekorps . From Bryggen, Beffen runs a shuttle across Vågen to Munkebryggen on the Strandsiden .

The district is comprised of the basic districts Dreggen, Bryggen and Vetrlidsalmenningen, which had a total of 1,164 inhabitants on 1 January 2014 and an area of 0.16 km², but this includes smaller areas belonging to the districts Stølen and Fjellet east of Øvregaten and Lille Øvregaten , and smaller areas belonging to the Vågsbunnen area south of the Vetrlidsalmenningen.

Name

The name Bryggen or Bryggene can be traced back to the age of sagas . Late in the Middle Ages , in connection with the wharf's emergence as a Hanseatic trading post, the name form Tyskebryggen appears, in the same way that St. Mary's Church was referred to as the "German Church" because services were held in German there until 1868 . In the 17th and 18th centuries, the popular name form Garpebryggen was also common. In Norse, "garp" meant a core vessel, but applied to the German merchants, the term may have been intended ironically. Later, the form Tyskebryggen became dominant. On 25 May 1945, Bergen city council decided that the name should henceforth be Bryggen. The use of the name has been a source of controversy, and several have argued that Tyskebryggen is the most historically correct, and that the city council wishes to reverse the name decision. Lasse Bjørkhaug, former director of Stiftelsen Bryggen, has stated that he has noticed that "more and more people are now using the name Tyskebryggen again". In 2011, Venstre proposed in the city council that the official municipal name should be changed to Tyskebryggen. Hans-Carl Tveit from Venstre justified it by saying that "this is about taking history back. In 2016, Bergen will host the Hansadagen, and it would have been great to get the old name back before then." However, the proposal only received support from the Liberal Party and the independent representative Siv Gørbitz.

The commercial farms at Bryggen functioned as warehouses for goods for export and import. Grain from Central Europe was imported and dried fish from Northern Norway was exported. During the spring and autumn convention, the stalls were full of dried fish to be exported. Dried fish was an important commodity for the Catholic countries, which made use of the dried fish during Lent .

The front buildings at Bryggen were fitted out as seahouses. As a rule, these searooms were divided into packing sheds and farm sheds on the ground floor and outer living room, living room, inner living room and packing room on the second floor. The rooms on the third floor usually consisted of the master's room, the journeyman's room, the boy's room, sitting rooms and storerooms.

When the dried fish from the north reached Bryggen in Bergen, it was first unloaded and then collected in the warehouses for storage. The fish were not made ready for export until the spring or autumn gathering was over, as these were very busy periods. It was the farm boys who were responsible for preparing the fish for sale in the form of cutting the necks and spurs (tails) at each workstation. The dried fish wrecking, the quality determination and sorting of the dried fish, was left to the merchant's second-in-command, the journeyman or wrecker , with responsibility for assessing the value of the fish according to size and quality.

The trading community at Bryggen was strictly stratified, both in the Hanseatic period and later. Young men entered the community as room boys ( Stabenjungen ) with tasks related to daily life in the living rooms, after 3-4 years they advanced to schute boys ( Schutenjungen ) who had tasks, among other things, related to unloading and loading the Nordland jets . After a few more years, they were able to advance to journeyman , after passing an exam in trade theory, knowledge of goods and arithmetic. The office also had its own jurisdiction , as well as a separate school system where boys were apprenticed. There were strict living conditions, where it was forbidden for the members to associate with the inhabitants of Bergen. Hanseaters were also supposed to live in celibacy so that they did not have children who could lay claim to values such as their paternal inheritance. The ban was not complied with, and in Lübeck's archives there are wills in which repatriated Hanseatics name the frill they had in Bergen, and any children in the relationship.

Originally, the Germans were only allowed to "sit" (i.e. shop) in Bergen in the time between the cross mass in the spring (3 May) and the cross mass in the autumn (14 September); but gradually they became "winter sitters". Around 1259, several of them wintered in Bergen as tenants with Norwegian farm owners at Bryggen, and one German soon became a landlord himself. The winter sitting enabled advantageous acquisitions in the winter and early shipping in the spring. Nevertheless, the Germans refused to pay tithes in Bergen, so King Håkon decreed that foreigners who rented houses in the city for 12 months had to be considered permanent residents and were obliged to pay tithes and other things on an equal basis with Norwegians. In 1250, a peace and trade agreement was concluded between King Håkon and Lübeck as a guarantee for mutual free trade between Norwegians and Lübeckers, mutual help against raiders and conditions in Norway that had previously existed. However, the Germans were not satisfied with the legal certainty they experienced. The Norwegian Wreck Court exposed the Hanseatic League to regular looting when their ships were wrecked along the Norwegian coast. In addition, merchants from Hamburg thought they were exposed to a false accusation of murder in Bergen. This Magnus Lagabøte acquitted them for later.

The City Act of 1276 assumed that there were also foreigners among the residents of Norwegian housing estates, and specifies that they must share public burdens such as wheat patrol and wire tax , as well as "skipdrått" (i.e. towing ships ashore in the city). In the summer of 1278, German envoys negotiated several exemptions with Magnus Lagabøte in Tønsberg . A royal letter secured them exemption from ship's draught, which the city law otherwise imposed on all merchants who stayed three nights or more in Bergen, as well as the right to buy hides and butter in smaller lots on wharves and in vessels during the summer months. (Otherwise it was required by law that trade took place in houses or in squares.) Changes were also made to Norwegian stranding law, so that the Hanseatic League could keep all the goods they salvaged by their own efforts after a shipwreck. No one was allowed to remove wreckage that they had not declared.

Eric of Pomerania's dispute with the counts in Holstein became noticeable in Norway when the Hanseatic League decided to close the office at Bryggen. In the spring of 1427 they left Bergen, and did not return until six years later. In the meantime, Bergen had been subjected to two terrible attacks by the Vitalie brothers , who were also known for plundering Hanseatic property.

In 1440, complaints were received that German merchants who set up Dutch stalls on the Strand , chased the Dutch away and threw their goods into the mud. More than a hundred armed Hanseatic League were also said to have entered Bergen's council chamber on the Tuesday after St. Peter's Day (February 23), and chased the councilors with axes and machetes . The conflicts peaked with Olav Nilsson as chief of staff at Bergenhus . He maintained an intransigent line against the Hanseatic League and was deposed in 1453; but as late as 1455 he was back after pressuring Eric of Pomerania to reinstate himself. In the meantime he had operated as a privateer and plundered Hanseatic ships. Well, Nilsson could point out that the Hanseatic League only reluctantly submitted to Norwegian law; but they could not tolerate a former pirate as captain. In 1455, the town witnessed armed Hanseatic troops chasing Nilsson, the bishop and their entourage towards Nordnes where they sought refuge in Munkeliv monastery . While Nilsson climbed the tower, the Hanseatic set fire to the monastery. They paid for the reconstruction, but they refused to pay the fine to Nilsson's survivors. Of course, there was a legally binding judgment on such a fine, but King Christian I did not pursue the case as he had taken out large loans from the Hanseatic League for his warfare.

Bergen's power center

Bryggen used to be the center of the city's worldly power. Maria Gildeskåle is first mentioned in Magnus Lagabøte's town law of 1276, and was then the meeting place for the town council. The building was located next to Mariakirkegården and served as the city's first "town hall", the place where the city administration and the city meeting were supposed to gather according to the city law. The building is today a ruin, located between Bryggens Museum and St Mary's Church. Originally, the building was located as a rear or northern part of the Gullskoen wharf .

The new council chamber was built around 1300-15. It was located in the middle of Bryggen, by the Nikolaikirkealmenningen, where the square was also located. The council chamber was in use until the 1560s. Christoffer Valkendorf was sheriff of Bergenhus from 1556 to 1560 . After Valkendorf arrived in Bergen, several unsolved murders were committed in some of the city's many brothels . Valkendorf had a number of the brothels demolished, and to a large extent abolished the privileges and monopoly of the Hanseatic League in Bergen. The German craftsmen were forced to comply with Norwegian law and were given the choice between swearing allegiance to the king or leaving. In 1559, 59 German craftsmen had to leave. In the 1560s, Bergen's center of power was gradually moved from Tyskebryggen to its current location, at Christoffer Valkendorf's former private residence at Rådstuplass, what is today called the old town hall .

The brewery today

The historic wooden buildings from 1702 received cladding in the 19th century. The preserved buildings at Bryggen today consist of the following rows of farms, counted from the south: South and north Holmedalsgård , Bellgården , Jacobsfjorden (Hjortegården), Svensgården (double farm), Enhjørningen , south and north Bredsgård and Bugården (Bergen) .

Svensgården's head with three faces

Above the entrance to Svensgården hangs a carved head with three faces in wood, a copy of an original in marble . Conservator Jan Hendrich Lexow has argued in the yearbook for Stavanger museum in 1957 that the original was a gift to King Håkon Håkonsson from the German-Roman Emperor Frederick II. Lexow believed that the head was made by a sculptor in southern Italy as a symbol of the triune God . Frederick II held court in Palermo . He and King Håkon exchanged gifts, and Lexow believed that the head may have been just such a gift from the period 1230-40. Furthermore, he assumed that the head was given a central place in Store Kristkirke, which was located north of Håkonshallen and was the coronation church. When Store Kristkirke was demolished on orders from Eske Bille in 1531, Lexow believed that the Hanseatic League took care of the head and used it as a mark for Svensgården, which at the time was being rebuilt after a fire. Such marking of the farms was important at a time when many could neither read nor write. The head at Svensgården has few parallels in European art, and the design of the nose, mouth and beard points, in Lexow's opinion, to antiquity , when the Christian image of God was still influenced by portraits of Zeus .

Preservation and destruction

Throughout history, Bergen has experienced many fires, since the building mass mostly consisted of wood. The building structure has nevertheless been preserved, despite many fires and subsequent reconstructions. Awareness of Bryggen's cultural-historical value was awakened already when the traditional business at Bryggen came to an end. In 1900, the wooden buildings on both sides of Vågen were largely intact.

Research and documentation

Johan Wilhelm Olsen (also known as Johan Wiberg Olsen; 1829-98), who had run Nordic trade in Finnegården, established the Hanseatic Museum as early as 1872, and reckons July 26 as the opening day when King Oscar II visited the town and the museum. His son Christian Koren Wiberg continued the work and sold the museum to Bergen municipality in 1916. In 1899 he published Det tische Kontor i Bergen , a description of the old Hanseatic buildings with a number of illustrations.

In 1908, Koren Wiberg received support from the municipality and the Ancient Heritage Association to carry out excavations in the plot below the newly constructed Rosenkrantzgaten. Findings from the excavation were reproduced, among other things, in Contribution to Bergen's Cultural History . The excavations uncovered the so-called wine cellar , which in the Middle Ages was also the town hall. Koren Wiberg had found documents (from 1651) in Lübeck showing the location of the wine cellar, which he was able to confirm during the excavation. This town plan with a town hall/wine cellar located between the market square and the church was typical of North German (Hanseatic) trading towns.

During the excavations in the southern part of the Bryggen, Christian Koren Wiberg found deep foundations of rough logs laid together. The lafting formed "vessels" over 2 meters high, and about 1 meter wide and 2 meters long. The vessels were assembled and lowered into the water between piles, and then filled with gravel and stone. The logs were made of pine and in good condition when Koren Wiberg made his excavations. The foundations could be dated to the fires in 1413 and 1476 or earlier. According to Koren Wiberg, the first sea houses at Vågen were low and made of coarse, lath timber. They had pointed gables and corridors around the entire building. According to Koren Wiberg, Bryggen's facade was already painted from the 16th century. From 1550 it became common to build stone cellars in Bergen, probably to store goods in a fire-proof place, according to Koren Wiberg. Hans Nagel's bakery, mentioned in 1441, Koren Wiberg located at the modern Øvregaten 17 , where a bakery was also run in Koren Wiberg's time.

Murbryggen

Until 1901, the entire area between Dreggsallmenningen in the north and Kjøttbazaren in the south was a continuous series of wooden trading houses that had been rebuilt after the town fire in 1702 . The commercial farms south of the Nikolaikirkeallmenningen were then demolished and replaced with brick apartment buildings in the same style, designed by Jens Zetlitz Monrad Kielland , with the exception of the southernmost Finnegården , a museum that also includes the old Schøtstuene which was rebuilt in 1937–38 with partially original and partially reconstructed parts, in the area south of St. Mary's Church .

Conservation

After the first act on building conservation was passed in 1920, the conservation list from Bergen was adopted in 1927. The conservation covered all the buildings on Bryggen, so that the overall cultural environment was safeguarded.

The explosion at Vågen

The explosion accident on 20 April 1944 accelerated the plans to demolish the Bryggen, and Terboven received the support of all professionals in Bergen municipality in his desire to raze the area to the ground. Seen through Terboven's eyes, the labyrinthine system of farms was ideal for hiding resistance fighters, such as the Theta group and their radio transmitter . Strong forces in the local population nevertheless succeeded in obtaining support, not least from Professor Hermann Phleps of the Technical College in Danzig ( Gdańsk ), who made a thorough inspection of the destroyed buildings, and concluded that the "German quarter" could be saved with simple means. The real rescue was the emergency product "Domus plates", which got soaked in the rain and easily broke. But they were still useful, as they temporarily covered 8,000 square meters of roof space. The demolished roofs were not the only problem. The explosion had also lifted Bryggen into the air, and let it fall back down onto the ground, so that a jack had to be used to get the houses more or less at an angle again. But the safeguarding had been carried out, not least to the delight of architect Halvor Vreim from the Riksantikvaren , who had already written off the Bryggen.

The fire of 1955

A major fire on 4 July 1955 destroyed the northern half of the remaining old wooden trading yards. The fire was the start of Asbjørn Herteig's excavations of the area. In the spring of 1962, the excavations entered their seventh season, made possible by the use of civilian workers in the summer. One year, spring came so late that the civil workers had to chip away 13 inches of ice to get started.

The facades of the burned-down part were rebuilt as copies in 1980 , and form part of the SAS hotel located in the area. The Bryggens Museum is also located on the fire site with remains from the oldest times uncovered by the archaeological excavations, which added enormous source material to the research.

Inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List

Bryggen in Bergen was listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979 according to cultural criterion III , which refers to a place that "bears a unique, or at least rare, testimony of a cultural tradition or of a living or extinct civilization". In this connection, UNESCO points out that Bryggen bears witness to social organization and illustrates how the Hanseatic merchants in the 14th century utilized the space in their part of the city, and that it is a type of northern fondaco (combined trading depot, housing and ghetto for foreign merchants) which cannot be found anywhere else in the world, where the buildings have remained part of the urban landscape and preserve the memory of one of the oldest trading posts in Northern Europe.

Ownership and management

Most of the buildings on Bryggen are privately owned. "Stiftelsen Bryggen" currently owns 36 of the 61 buildings that are part of the world heritage. "Stiftelsen Bryggen" and "Friends of Bryggen" were formed in 1962. The purpose of the foundation is to preserve Bryggen in consultation with antiquarian authorities. The foundation is engaged in both rental of premises and security, maintenance and restoration work. Stiftelsen Bryggen has its own staff of carpenters with special expertise in traditional crafts . "Bryggen private farm owners' association" is an association of several private owners who together own 24 buildings. Bergen municipality owns Finnegården , the building that houses the Hanseatic Museum. All the buildings in private ownership can be renovated with up to 90% funding through a grant scheme administered by Vestland county municipality (formerly Hordaland). The listed buildings at Bryggen are managed as cultural monuments by the cultural heritage section of Vestland county municipality. The archaeological cultural monuments in the medieval grounds are managed by the Swedish National Archives . All archaeological work is 100% publicly funded and the necessary excavations are carried out by NIKU .

Other buildings in the area

Bryggen's museum is built where there were wharf yards until the big fire on 4 July 1955.

The Hanseatic Museum is located on the Bryggen, by the Fisketorget, and tells the story of Bergen and the Hanseatic League.

The meat market is the city's bazaar for foodstuffs, built in 1874 – 76 in the neo-Romanesque style .

Mariakirken in Bergen dates from the 12th century, and between 1408 and 1766 was the church of the Hanseatic League. Services were held in German here until 1868.

The Schøtstuene were the assembly houses for the residents of the commercial farms, used for meals and as party halls, court and meeting rooms, rebuilt in 1937 – 38 .

Streets in the district

Bradbench (Bergen)

Castle Street (Bergen)

Bryggen (Street in Bergen)

Sandbrogaten (Bergen)

The hook (Bergen)

Dreggsallmenningen (Bergen)

Upper Dreggsallmenningen (Bergen)

Øvregaten (Bergen)

Rosenkrantzgaten (Bergen)

Nikolaikircheallmenningen (Bergen)

Lodin Lepps street

Finnegårdsgaten (Bergen)

Vetrlids general

Bergen is a city and municipality in Vestland and a former county (until 1972) on Norway's west coast, surrounded by " De syv fjell ", and referred to as " Westland's capital". According to tradition, Bergen was founded by Olav Kyrre in 1070 with the name Bjørgvin , which means "the green meadow between the mountains".

Bergen is a trading and maritime city, and was Norway's capital in the country's heyday, later referred to as the Norgesveldet . Bergen became the seat of the Gulatinget from the year 1300. From approx. In 1360, the Hanseatic League had one of its head offices in Bergen, a trading activity that continued at Bryggen until 1899. Bergen was the seat of Bergenhus county and later Bergen stiftamt . The city of Bergen became its own county (county) in 1831 and was incorporated into Hordaland county in 1972. Bergen was the largest city in the Nordic countries until the 17th century and Norway's largest city until the 1830s, and has since been Norway's second largest city .

Bergen municipality had 291,940 inhabitants on 31 December 2023. Bergen township had 259,958 inhabitants per 6 October 2020. This was an increase of 2,871 inhabitants since 2019. [4] In 2023, the metropolitan region of Bergen and surrounding areas had 414,863 inhabitants.

Bergen is a city of residence for a number of important actors and institutions in culture, finance, health, research and education. The city is the seat of Vestland County Municipality , Gulating County Council and Bjørgvin Bishopric . Of the national government agencies , the Directorate of Fisheries , the Institute of Marine Research , the Norwegian Competition Authority , the Ship Registers and the Norwegian Navy's main base are located in Bergen.

Bergen is the center for marine, maritime and petroleum-related research environments and business clusters that are among the most complete and advanced in the world. Bergen has a strong and versatile business community, especially in banking and insurance, construction, trade and services, high technology, mass media, the food industry, tourism and transport. Bergen has one of the Nordic countries' busiest airports and one of Europe's largest and busiest ports [5] , and is the starting point for Hurtigruten and the Bergen Railway .

Bryggen in Bergen is listed on UNESCO's World Heritage List and reminds of the city's historical connection to the Hanseatic League . Bergen's city coat of arms with a silver three-towered castle standing on seven gold mountains is based on the city's old seal , which is considered Norway's oldest. Bergen's city song is called "Views from Ulrikken" .

Close Encounter by JNDiii

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Took a late walk with the dog and was struck by the beauty of the lights & fog flowing through the tree. I decided to have a little fun with the 30 second shutter....

Jack the Ripper's final victim - foot by Rebecca Sikes Bauer

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McCarthy’s Rents

26 Dorset Street #13, Miller’s Court

an art installation by Dave Allen

showing at Domy Books, Austin, TX

recreation of Jack the Ripper's final victim from the crime scene photos.

copyright Rebecca Sikes

rsikesphotography 2009

He was said to brag that most of the “better” jewels sold by London jewelers were supplied by him. by Chatwick Harpax

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He was said to brag that most of the “better” jewels sold by London jewelers were supplied by him.

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Robert Augustus Delaney (first cat burglar)

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Story

The Cutpurse themed series of Photos are based upon remarks credited to British Cat Burglar, Robert Augustus Delaney.

This dapper scoundrel would gain attendance to upper-class parties primarily to observe the jewels worn by the ladies in attendance. He would than discreetly obtain information on the Ladies and the Jewels he favored, they were displaying. Originally he would than, still dressed in coat and tails, break into their rooms in the wee hours of the morning and take the jewels for his own while the particular lady was still sleeping. Once, so he claimed, he was able to liberate a necklace, earrings and finger rings from a lady who had fallen asleep reading in her chambers.

Later he had others do his dirty work. He would arrange for an associate to be invited as a house guest at the large manors where he knew the jewels of the wife , daughters or guest would be. He would instruct these “associates” to steal a certain item for him, allowing them to keep anything else they could nick for their payment. This also including those who were travelling by carriage to the manors functions; arranging for the coach roads to be watched with the intent of waylaying and robbing the selected passengers who had been watched.

By having others do the dirty work, he was able to keep his name above suspension.

He was said to brag that most of the “better” jewels sold by London jewelers were made from the stones(rocks) of the ladies jewels he pilfered

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