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...to the other side of the Aletsch glacier.
At the bottom left side you can see deep furrows that have been "engraved" into the rocks by the glacier ice about thousands of years ago. The last thousand years the glacier withdrew and trees started to grow in that area.
Moosfluh, above Betten.
Valois, Switzerland
This photo shows a mother mallard keeping a sharp eye on me. Her six ducklings are gathered together in the foliage just outside the photo, and she was not very happy about my presence. Indeed, she demonstrated her concern by flying over my left shoulder! Of course, I withdrew and she calmed down. Later, she and her brood swam right by me with little concern whatsoever. I will post some shots of the ducklings in another post. The photo was taken in June 2015, with my trusty Olympus digital camera. Enjoy.
P.S. Just returned from a brief vacation. Slowly catching up.
The 13th Century Grade II Listed Upton Castle, although in private ownership, the gardens are open to the public. Located near Cosheston, Pembrokeshire in Wales.
It stands close to a creek of the Carew River on land held by the Earls of Pembroke. The original holders were the Norman Malefaunt family, in whose hands it remained until the 16th century when it passed to the Bowen family. In the late 18th century, the house and estate was sold to John Tasker, although Nicholas Carlisle described the building in 1811 as "now in ruins". Between 1828 and 1860 there were considerable alterations to the building, including the insertion of a new door and the construction of two large wings. In January 1883 there was a fire at the castle, attended by a fire crew from the 23rd Regiment, Royal Welsh Fusiliers. The owner at the time was Mr H. H. Vaughan. The damage was confined to timbers, walls and chimney-piece.
Management of the gardens, which had been substantially improved in the early 20th century, was taken over by the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and opened to the public in 1976. However, the park authority later withdrew their funding and since the property changed hands in 2007, the new owners and a team of volunteers have restored and reopened the gardens.
Too small to be described as castle in the strict sense of the word, most sources refer to it as a fortified manor house although its towers are unusually strong in comparison with other examples. The medieval portion of the exterior stands to the north east of the range, which is dominated by three early towers, separated by short sections of curtain wall and surmounted by a plain parapet on corbels. Surviving internal medieval features include two fireplaces, a spiral staircase and a vaulted ceiling.
Information Source:
Today [19th January 2024], Tata, the owner of the steel plant at Port Talbot in South Wales, announced the closure of the two remaining blast furnaces at the site.
60091 'Barry Needham' passes blast furnace #5 (on the left) and blast furnace #6. The chimney to the right is part of the plant's power plant, whereas the red brick building behind is the sinter plant, where iron ore dust is processed into a form ready for feeding the blast furnaces.
Tata plans to replace the blast furnaces with electric arc furnaces, to be fed with scrap metal.
In the week that DB Cargo withdrew the last of its class 60s from service, it seemed appropriate to show even more scrap, in the form of 60091.
For those that might enjoy the dirt and detail of this, one of the UK's largest industrial plants, I've uploaded this image in high resolution.
In the 6th year of his campaign in Gaul, victory seemed to be in reach for Roman general Gaius Julius Caesar. He had easily subdued the divided Gallic tribes, or so he thought. A leader of the Arverni tribe, Vercingetorix would call for unity amongst the tribes and would defeat the Romans at the town of Gergovia. All of Gaul was now in revolt and Caesar had to think fast. They would have one more brief engagement and Vercingetorix realized he could never defeat the Romans in open battle. He decided to go to the hill fortress town of Alesia to try and mimic his success at Gergovia but Caesar decided to besiege it.
Caesar constructed a wall of circumvallation around the town. However he realized that if Vercingetorix called his reinforcements, which he was planning to do, then the Romans would be finished. The Romans had approximately 75,000 men compared to the Gauls 100,000 to as high as 250,000 men. Caesar decided to then construct a wall of contravallation. This included trenches, moats, caltrops, wooden spikes, and large siege towers. The Romans would supply themselves with resources from the surrounding area while the Gauls in Alesia were cut off and starving. Vercingetorix decided to expel all civilians from the town hoping Caesar would allow them leave but he refused. Vercingetorix's days were numbered and he had to act.
The battle would begin when part of the Gallic relief force would attack a section of the outer to probe the defenses, but this would fail. The Gauls would try again, this time with more coordination but would again fail. This section of the wall was manned by Mark Antony who proved he was a competent officer. The final assault would see the Gauls attack all sections of the wall with their overwhelming numbers in coordination with Vercingetorix in the inner wall. This put immense pressure on the Romans as if the walls failed to hold, they would be undone. Caesar went from section to section to motivate his men. He would then sally out of the wall with his cavalry to the largest contingent of Gauls under Mt. Rea. He would descend from the hill and crush them. This was disheartening to the Gauls attacking the outer wall so they withdrew. The Gauls on the inner wall were subsequently pushed back to Alesia. Vercingetorix had no choice but to surrender. The battle was won and would go down as Caesars magnum opus.
The conquest of Gaul gave Caesar more wealth, fame, and prestige than he could've ever imagined. He was Rome's most powerful man and his enemies, the Optimates, knew it. They would soon seek to strip him of his power, but Caesar wouldn't back down causing the Roman Civil war. That's a story for another build.
This is an idea I had since 2018 but never got around to it. This was mainly because of my lack of proper late Roman Republic figures. I'm overall pleased with how it came out. Getting the shape for the trench was kind of a pain but I got the desired shape. Each side also says Veni, Vedi, Vici, which I'm sure 99% of you will know means "I came, I saw, I conquered". Hope you guys enjoy!
Milestones - Volta's Electrical Battery Invention in 1799
A Museum for Alessandro Volta
Tempio Voltiano on Lake Como - A Neoclassical Monument and Museum dedicated to the life and work of the Italian professor of philosophy at Pavia and physicist Alessandro Volta.He was the inventor of the Electrophorus,the Spark Eudiometer & the Electric Battery (Voltaic Pile),which provided the first source of continuous current.
The Temple was designed & created by Federico Frigerio.
His concept was that the building would echo parts of Pantheon.
"No style seemed more appropriate than the neoclassical”,wrote Frigerio.
The core of the neoclassical mansion is the great circular hall approximately 12 metres in diameter and surmounted by a hemispherical dome and ornate ceiling roses; the floor of the central hall is elevated by 2.5 metres to protect the exhibits from flooding as it is nearby Lake Como.
The dome is supported by eight marble columns and four further corner pillars and is crowned by a rich entablature frieze in which the dedicatory inscription is written in bronze letters.On the main axis,there is relief-work in plaster,depicting the four periods of Volta's life.
The museum houses an extensive collection of Volta’s instruments,experimental devices,original paperwork and many documents,although quite many of his original apparatuses and artefacts were destroyed in a disastrous fire in Pavia in 1899.
Alessandro Volta contributed much to electrical science and became one of the most respected scientists.The unit of electrical potential was named Volt in his honour.
The Banca d'Italia issued Italian Lira banknotes in 9 different denominations,including the 10000 Italian Lire banknote portraying the image of Alessandro Volta and on the reverse side an image of Tempio Voltiano.The Bank started issuing these 10000 Italian Lira banknotes in 1984 and withdrew them from circulation in 2002.
Such was his fame that in 1801,Volta was summoned to Paris by Napoleon Bonaparte to give a demonstration of his newly invented Voltaic pile in the Institute of France,and in 1810,Napoleon awarded him a Gold Medal and was also made a Count.
The path takes me to where I have never dared before. I had to stop my exploration because of all the hunters...disturbing my peace. I grew afraid and withdrew from this magical place.
As part of the continuing modernisation of British Railways, the Southern Region completely withdrew steam traction in 1967 with the final passenger service leaving London's Waterloo Station on 9th July.
Between 5th and 8th October 2017 the Great Central Railway in Leicestershire held a 50th Anniversary Commemorative Steam Gala with two former Southern Region Pacific Locomotives as guest engines.
Pictured at Quorn and Woodhouse Station on Friday 6th October 2017 sees one of them - Bulleid Designed 'Battle of Britain' Class 7P5F No. 34081 92 Squadron, in very early British Railways Livery, 'Spectacularly Erupt' when departing from Quorn and Woodhouse Station with a passenger service for Leicester North.
File: 2013001-0002
Earlier scaled down size of 2013x1348 replaced with full size 3872x2592.
Penallt Viaduct, over the River Wye on the border of England and Wales, United Kingdom. Wednesday 20th of March 2013.
About this photograph.
This old bridge is the Penallt Viaduct. It is a single-track curved bridge supported by four cast iron columns, located on the River Wye between the villages of Redbrook in Gloucestershire, England, and Penallt in Monmouthshire, Wales.
This bridge used to carry the Wye Valley Railway until 1959, but it is in use as a public footpath for crossing the river. There is a public house called The Boat Inn very closely near the bridge on the Wales side.
This is facing northeast. Those buildings are of Redbrook village, the car park is barely noticeable just slightly to the right of the middle of the photo.
Why I took the photographs?
I took those photographs as my own stock images for my own graphic design projects. They would make good background images for any artwork I may create. I could use the stock images as movie poster or book cover, whatever graphic design projects I come up with that may need an image of an old bridge to be imported into the design.
And also, I was taking my best friend whom was born in Wales, out for lunch. I told her I would be taking her out for lunch in Wales, so I drove to Wales and she was pleased. I turned off the main road, and she noticed we were back in England and said something like “I thought you were taking me to Wales for lunch?”
Little did she know that I had done research of the area, I parked my car at a car park on the riverbank in the village of Redbrook, on the England side very near the bridge. We walked to the bridge and crossed over it, then I told her that “We’re in Wales now.” After that, I took her to the small pub on the Wales side for lunch.
She found it funny, thinking I’m taking her to lunch in Wales, when I arrived in Redbrook, she thought it was not going to be lunch in Wales, but when I took her over the bridge, she now finds that we are going to have lunch in Wales after all.
About the subject.
The Wye Valley Railway was a railway line that ran for approximately 15 miles along the lower Wye Valley, between the towns of Chepstow and Monmouth in Wales. The line crossed between Wales and England at several points along the river. It was opened in 1876 and used by Great Western Railway (GWR) until taken over by British Railways and withdrew passenger services in 1959. A limited goods and mineral services carried on until 1964, after that it was finally closed.
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Catholic Cathedral of St John the Baptist, Norwich. The foundations were laid in 1882, and the church completed in December 1910, albeit further works continued. The architects were very much the Gilbert Scott family, with George Gilbert Scott at the start, the project taken over by his brother John Oldrid Scott on occasions and completely after George withdrew in 1894, later Adrian Gilbert Scott designed the high Altar in 1957. It is grade 1 listed.
City of Norwich, Norfolk, East Anglia, England - Cathedral of St John the Baptist, Unthank Road
January 2025
transgender people have courage like i have never seen in any one group of people before..they face adversaty without fear and show alot of moxie in their quest to follow their dreams of being true to whom they really are in their heart..that is something that should be admired, not destroyed.
every year many transgender people are murdered , many families are left waiting for justice..
the few following examples are quite shocking.. (these are just five out of hundreds)
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Erika Keels (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; 3/22/07) Erika, a 20-year-old black transgender woman, was murdered on March 22, 2007, on North Broad Street in Philadelphia. Witnesses saw an assailant eject Erika from his car and intentionally run her over four times, killing her and leaving the scene. A medical examiner’s report supports these eyewitness accounts. But police ruled Erika’s death an accident and have refused to conduct an investigation. The driver, Roland Button, was later apprehended, but he has yet to face criminal charges–including “hit and run” charges. When Ms. Keels’ friends, who are themselves trans, questioned police officials about the classification of her death as an accident, they were asked to disclose their “birth” names and told they were “trying to make something out of nothing.”
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Duanna Johnson, a 40-year-old African American transgender woman. In February 2008, Duanna was picked up and arrested by Memphis, Tennessee, police officers Bridges McRae and J. Swain. She was pinned down and beaten by the two men in a Memphis police jail after she refused to respond to anti-gay and anti-transgender slurs. The assault was captured on video, which aired on several regional newscasts. In an interview given to FOX 13, Duanna spoke about her experiences. “As [Officer McRae] was calling me, he said ‘hey he-she, come over here’” Johnson told FOX 13 reporters, “I knew he couldn’t be talking to me because that’s not my name.” Duanna Johnson received national media attention this past June when she went public about the brutality she suffered at the hands of two Memphis Police Officers. She became “the public face of our community’s campaign against racism, homophobia, and transphobia” according to a statement from the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center. On Monday Nov 10, according to news reports, Duanna was shot “execution style” between Hollywood and Staten Avenue in Memphis, Tenn.[21]
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Angie Zapata was a trans woman who was murdered on July 17, 2008, in Greeley, Colorado. Her death was the first ever case involving a transgender victim to be ruled a hate crime.[23] Colorado is one of only eleven states that protect transgender victims under hate crime laws in the United States. Allen Andrade, who learned eighteen-year-old Angie was transgender after meeting her and spending several days with her, beat her to death with a fire extinguisher. In his arrest affidavit, Andrade calls Zapata "it",[24] and during his trial a tape was played of a phone conversation in which he told his girl friend "gay things need to die".[25] Andrade's attorneys used a gay panic defense, implying that Andrade suddenly "snapped" when he learned Zapata was not born biologically female. On April 22, 2009, Andrade was found guilty of first degree murder, hate crimes, and car/ID theft. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.[26]
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Tyra Hunter (1970 – August 7, 1995) was an African-American transsexual woman who died after being injured as a passenger in a car accident and refused medical care.[1][2] Emergency medical technicians at the scene of the accident uttered derogatory epithets and withdrew medical care after discovering that she had male genitalia, and ER staff at DC General Hospital subsequently provided dilatory and inadequate care.
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Gwen Araujo of Newark, California (died October 2002), an American teenage trans woman, was killed by four men, two of whom she had been raped by, who beat and strangled her after discovering she was transsexual.[7][8][9] Two of the defendants were convicted of second-degree murder,[10] but not convicted on the requested hate crime enhancements. The other two defendants pleaded guilty or no contest to voluntary manslaughter. In at least one of the trials, a trans panic defense - an extension of the gay panic defense - was employed.[10][11]
here are some video links..please educate yourselves, and have a voice..
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKCMONBGcpc&feature=related
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zO4D8xeUfk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt9fgDnm6bI&feature=BFp&l...
i dedicate this photo to Angie Zapata & to my friend Jordan whom i worry about all the time. R.I.P. ANGIE.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4QZtzG2_vc&feature=BFa&l...
23 trans victims so far in 2011..
She came in from the woods, eyeing a group of 20 or so wild turkeys that were milling about on my drive near the woods. The turkeys saw her and instead of running or taking flight, they started advancing toward her. The fox withdrew, moving along the edge of the woods, sometimes looking away, but always looking back at the turkeys. The turkeys kept watch. The fox finally trotted off into the woods. The turkeys followed her!
Note: this image is softer than I would like; but I decided to share it, because it shows what a beauty she is.
The former manor castle is still located in the northwestern corner of the town center, surrounded by the town wall and castle walls. The remains of the earliest known predecessor of the castle system, the pile castle, have been uncovered in its courtyard. After the Tatars withdrew, construction began on the Lower Castle next to the settlement in the valley, which in the Middle Ages took over the role of the Upper Castle as the center of the lord's estate, which was difficult to access. The castle consists of two parts: the outer bailey and the inner castle. The buildings on either side of the outer bailey once housed the guards and the castle's service staff. At the end of the 13th century, it was owned by the Héder clan. In 1289, Prince Albert captured the castle. In accordance with the terms of the Peace of Hainburg, Andrew III had the Old Castle demolished in 1291. In 1327, after several wars, Charles Robert captured the castle from the Kőszegi family and, after his victory, granted it significant privileges in 1328.
In 1327, after several wars, Charles Robert captured the castle from the Kőszegi family, and after his victory in 1328, he helped the town develop by granting it significant privileges. The town walls were gradually built up to prevent Austrian invasions, and they were protected by strong towers. The water from the nearby Gyöngyös stream was diverted into the moats surrounding the walls. In 1392, the castle belonged to the Garai family, in 1445 to the Habsburgs, from whom Matthias Corvinus recaptured it in 1482, but in 1492 the Habsburgs occupied it again.
Its most famous siege was in 1532, when it was attacked by the huge army of the Turkish Sultan Suleiman, who was marching towards Vienna. A statue of Miklós Jurisics, captain of the castle during the Turkish siege, stands in the courtyard. In memory of the enemy's retreat, bells ring every day at 11 a.m. in Kőszeg. The inner castle can be reached via a two-arched brick bridge spanning the moat.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
The 303 is one of the least photographed routes on Flickr it's notable as being the only mainstream route to serve that eastern part of Grahame Park, but now also serves various sections of the old 305 that TFL withdrew a couple of years back.
Aside from a couple of school routes, the 303 has Grahame Park Way to itself, and DLE0253 is seen here outside Heath Parade, one of the modern parts of Grahame Park dating around 2015 that includes an apartment block with a rather a jagged outline, and various amenities on the ground floor.
The last of my Dance images (for now). So this image is old, I made this around Mother's Day and was also inspired by all the mothers working from home taking care of their children. However this image fought me, first the pose wasn't quite right and then the lighting it took a while and then I sat on it. I am not immune from the mental health issues that are going on as a result of the pandemic as well as some anxiety issues I have already been dealing with I withdrew from the world for a while. But I was here still creating art. Enjoy!
60039 weaves its way through the Crossfields complex on the approach to Littons Mill crossing heading 7F80 (?) Liverpool bulk terminal to Fiddlers Ferry power station. The semaphores were the first to disappear with the Crossfields plant next to close, Fiddlers Ferry stopped generating and finally DB withdrew the last of their class 60 fleet. Happily the line still remains but there's a real lack of trains.
Corsica / Corse - Désert des Agriates
Sentier du littoral / Coast Path / Küstenweg - Torre di Mortella
On the way from Saint-Florent to Plage du Loto.
Auf dem Weg von Saint-Florent zum Plage du Loto.
The Tower of Mortella (Corsican: Torra di Mortella) is a ruined Genoese tower on Corsica, located on the coast near Punta Mortella (Myrtle Point) in the commune of Saint-Florent, Haute-Corse. It was a progenitor of the numerous Martello towers the British built in the 19th century throughout their empire.
The Italian architect Giovan Giacomo Paleari Fratino designed the Tour de Mortella and Colonel Giorgio Doria directed the construction between 1563 and 1564. It was one of a series of coastal defences constructed by the Republic of Genoa between 1530 and 1620 to repulse attacks by Barbary pirates.
On 7 February 1794, two British warships, HMS Fortitude (74 guns) and HMS Juno (32 guns), unsuccessfully attacked the tower at Mortella Point; the tower eventually fell to land-based forces under Major-General David Dundas and Lieutenant-General John Moore after two days of heavy fighting.
Late in the previous year, the tower's French defenders had abandoned the tower after HMS Lowestoffe (32 guns) had fired two broadsides at it. Then the French were easily able to dislodge the garrison of Corsican patriots that had replaced them. Still, the British were impressed by the effectiveness of the tower when properly supplied and defended and copied the design. However, they misspelled the name as "Martello" rather than "Mortella". When the British withdrew from Corsica in 1796, they blew up the tower, leaving it in an unusable state.
The ruined tower was listed as one of the official Historical Monuments of France in 1991. The database incorrectly gives the date of construction as 1553–1554. This earlier date is when Spanish and Genoese troops led by Admiral Andrea Doria besieged the French forces occupying the port of Saint-Florent after the Franco-Turkish invasion of the island.
Since 1980 the French government agency the Conservatoire du littoral has owned and maintained the site. The Conservatoire plans to purchase 6,663 hectares (16,460 acres) of the surrounding coastline and as of 2017 had acquired 5,935 hectares (14,670 acres).
(Wikipedia)
Le désert des Agriates ou les Agriates (l'Agriate en langue corse) est un territoire de Corse partagé entre les micro-régions de Balagne à l'ouest et du Nebbio.
Les Agriates sont un territoire bordé au sud par un massif montagneux, la Serra di Tenda, et partout ailleurs par la mer Méditerranée. Ce territoire se partage d'ouest en est, entre les communes de Palasca, San-Gavino-di-Tenda, Santo-Pietro-di-Tenda et Saint-Florent. Les Agriates ont pour seul lieu habité le hameau épars de Casta.
Certains guides touristiques le présentent comme le seul désert d'Europe occidentale ce qui est faux : en Espagne on trouve notamment le désert de Tabernas et les Bardenas Reales, et en Islande le désert froid Ódáðahraun.
D'une superficie d'environ 15 000 ha, les Agriates sont délimitées géographiquement:
au nord, par 37 km de côtes vierges,
au sud, la route départementale 81 et les contreforts du Tenda,
à l'ouest, la vallée de l'Ostriconi,
à l'est, le golfe de Saint-Florent et la plaine du Nebbio.
Situées sur les contreforts de la Serra di Tenda au sud, les Agriates s'étendent jusqu'à la mer au nord. Elles se partagent en deux parties, à peu près égales, séparées par la rivière Liscu:
Le secteur occidental
Un chaînon secondaire au nord, indépendant de l'axe principal du massif de Tenda, délimite une région bien individualisée et non visible depuis la route départementale 81. Les rhyolites et les tufs donnent des formes arrondies au relief de la montagne située dans le désert des Agriates et s'étendant de la Cima d'Ifana (479 m) jusqu'à Bocca di Sordali (198 m). La majeure partie, celle occidentale, est en zone protégée;
Le secteur oriental
Le secteur oriental moins accidenté, composé de roches anciennes granitiques, présente des parties plus planes, aujourd'hui encore cultivées par endroits avec des plantations de vigne en coteaux. Dans les années 1800, l'Agriate était considérée comme le grenier à blé de la Corse. Le monte Genova (421 m) est son culmen. À l'est où se situe le champ de tir de Casta, un petit chaînon indépendant comporte le monte Revincu (356 m). La zone comportant deux dolmens classés MH, est protégée.
Les Agriates ont longtemps été une terre de culture et d'élevage. Les colonisateurs génois (1299-1778) firent de cette région leur grenier à blé et olives. Jusqu'au début du XXe siècle, outre les deux cultures historiques, on produisait figues, citrons et amandes.
La transhumance y était pratiquée; on dénombrait encore une centaine de troupeaux de moutons ou brebis à la fin du XIXe siècle.
Les Agriates, dont l'étymologie du nom évoque des terres agraires, propices à la culture, sont aujourd'hui appelés abusivement "désert". Or, contrairement à l'image qu'on se fait d'un désert, la végétation locale, adaptée aux conditions climatiques locales, est bien présente. Elle est composée d'essences traditionnelles du maquis (arbousiers, bruyères, myrtes, cistes, lentisques, chênes verts, oliviers…) ainsi que de pins maritimes, réminiscence de plantations réalisées au milieu du XXe siècle.
Le climat se caractérise par des températures très élevées durant l'été pendant lequel souffle un vent sec et chaud. Les précipitations sont rares mais souvent à caractère orageux.
La route D 81 traverse le territoire d'Est en Ouest, de Saint-Florent à la vallée de l'Ostriconi, où elle rejoint la Balanina (RT 30 ex RN 1197) au lieu-dit Petra Moneta, en passant par le col de Vezzu (Bocca di Vezzu) à 311 mètres d'altitude. Comme dit précédemment, la route départementale 81 délimite le sud du désert des Agriates.
Outre le sentier du littoral qui suit la côte, plusieurs entrées et pistes permettent l'accès aux principaux sites des Agriates. De la route D 81 partent deux pistes principales, en direction du nord. La première, longue de 13 km, débute à Bocca di Vezzu et mène à la crique de Malfalcu ou aux paillers et à la plage de Ghignu. La seconde part du relais hertzien de Casta et conduit, en 12 km, à Saleccia (auberge) et sa plage. De la RT 30, au niveau du Domaine de l'Ostriconi, part la piste de Terricie qui aboutit en une dizaine de Kilomètres à la Cala di l'Arghiaghiu.
Des panneaux de prévention et d'information sont en place pour chacune d'elles : Ostriconi, sentier menant aux bergeries de Terricce (San-Gavino-di-Tenda), Bocca di Vezzu d'où part la piste menant à Malfalcu/Alga Putrica, Casta (piste de Saleccia) et Saint-Florent (piste de Fornali). Ces panneaux préviennent les visiteurs du degré des risques incendie qui peut aller jusqu'à la fermeture des pistes décidée en cas de risque exceptionnel.
Des navettes maritimes offrent l'accès aux plages du Loto et de Saleccia au départ de Saint-Florent.
(Wikipedia)
La tour de la Mortella (en corse : torra di Mortella) est une tour génoise en ruines située dans la commune de Saint-Florent, dans le département français de la Haute-Corse.
La tour de la Mortella est inscrite monument historique par arrêté du 8 mars 1991.
(Wikipedia)
Der wüstenartige Küstenstreifen Desert des Agriates ist ein nahezu baumloser Mikrokosmos an der Nordküste Korsikas. Die menschenleere Region erstreckt sich zwischen dem mondänen Hafenstädtchen Saint-Florent und der Mündung des Flusses Ostriconi.
Auf einer Länge von rund 40 km zieht sich der wüstenartige Küstenstreifen Desert des Agriates an der korsischen Nordküste entlang. Im Süden begrenzt die Bergkette der Serra di Tenda die baumlose Ebene und im Norden rollen die Wellen des Mittelmeeres an idyllischen Traumstränden aus. Bis auf ein paar vereinzelte Weiler ist die Region vollständig unbewohnt und die Natur ist seit Jahrzehnten sich selbst überlassen. Das war nicht immer so. Bis zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts war der Küstenstreifen fruchtbares Acker- und Weideland und wurde im Mittelalter als „Kornkammer Korsikas“ bezeichnet. Weizen, Zitrusfrüchte und Oliven wurden in der Desert des Agriates angebaut. Doch Brandrodung, Erosion und eine Überbeanspruchung der Böden führten zu einer Verödung der Landschaft und aus der fruchtbaren Küstenregion wurde eine felsige Steinwüste.
In der Desert des Agriates herrschen teils extreme klimatische Bedingungen. Unbarmherzig brennt die Sonne im Sommer vom Himmel und im Landesinneren klettern die Temperaturen an manchen Tagen bis auf 40 Grad. Heiße, trockene Winde treiben die Werte nicht selten nach oben. Niederschläge fallen nur selten. Sollten sich doch einmal dicke Wolken über der Region zusammenbrauen, peitschen heftige Stürme über den Küstenstreifen, die den Regen vor sich hertreiben. Die Vegetation hat sich den Lebensbedingungen angepasst und längst nicht alle Regionen in der Desert des Agriates sind staubtrockene Felswüste. Mediterrane Macchia ist dabei, Teile der Einöde zurückzuerobern. Ginsterbüsche, Myrte und Heidekraut gedeihen an vielen Stellen und knorrige Olivenbäume recken mancherorts ihre Zweige in die Luft.
An der Küste der Desert des Agriates liegen einsame Traumstrände, die nur von der Wasserseite mit dem Boot oder nach einer vierstündigen Wanderung erreicht werden können. Gönnen Sie sich in Ihrem Korsika Urlaub für einen Tag eine Auszeit und statten Sie den Strandparadiesen einen Besuch ab. Von Saint-Florent verkehren Boote zum Plage de Loto und zum Plage de Saleccia. Der Strand von Loto erstreckt sich vor türkisblauem Wasser in einer Bucht und empfängt Sie mit hellem Sand. Hinter dem Strand liegt eine malerische Lagune, die von flachen Hügeln eingerahmt wird. Nicht weniger reizvoll ist der Strand von Saleccia, den Sie nach einem weiteren 40-minütigen Fußmarsch oder mit dem Boot erreichen.
Die Küstenregion Desert des Agriates können Sie mit dem Mountainbike, mit einem geländegängigen Fahrzeug oder im Rahmen von Wanderungen erkunden. Der Küstenwanderweg wurde bis zum Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts vornehmlich von Zollbeamten genutzt, die auf der Jagd nach Schmuggler am Ufer patrouillierten. Heute ist er ein beliebter Wanderpfad, der die gesamte Desert des Agriates durchquert. Auf der dreitägigen Wanderung kommen Sie an steinzeitlichen Dolmen am Monte Revincu und an zwei genuesischen Wachtürmen vorbei. Der Turm Morella wurde wie der Turm von Ostriconi im Jahr 16. Jahrhundert errichtet. Beide Wachtürme waren Teil eines umfassenden Verteidigungssystems an Korsikas Nordküste, das die Genuesen zum Schutz vor Übergriffen einrichteten.
(korsika.de)
photo rights reserved by Ben
In the heart of the semi-desert of eastern Georgia, where the land undulates in shades of brown, ochre, and grey, a sudden formation rises like a natural fortress wall. From a distance, it resembles a ruin — perhaps a watchtower — but it is pure nature: rocks torn from the flanks of the hills, like a scar carved into the landscape. This gorge, hidden between the ridged hills, may be the gateway to the hinterlands of the David Gareja complex, or an ancient pilgrimage route long forgotten by time. In the shadow of the massive mountain ridge behind it, everything appears still — as if no human has passed here for centuries. And yet, the place feels like it once guarded something. A border. A sanctuary. A secret. The rugged lines along the hillsides seem almost drawn by the wind, and the warm light of late afternoon softens the weathered stone. One hears nothing here but the wind, feels nothing but timelessness. Perhaps that is why monks once withdrew into this land: because here, where the world falls silent, they found themselves closer to the divine.
Amid the silent hills of eastern Georgia’s semi-desert, a natural rock formation rises like a forgotten fortress. Once a gateway to the David Gareja monastic lands or an old pilgrimage path, this place feels timeless and untouched. In its stillness, monks once found what they sought most — a closeness to the divine, where the world no longer speaks.
In het hart van de halfwoestijn van Oost-Georgië, waar het landschap golft in tinten bruin, oker en grijs, rijst plotseling een formatie op als een natuurlijke vestingmuur. Uit de verte lijkt het een ruïne, een wachttoren misschien — maar het is puur natuur: rotsen die uit de flanken van de heuvel zijn gescheurd, als een litteken in het landschap. Deze kloof, verborgen tussen de geribbelde heuvels, is de doorgang naar het achterland van het David Gareja-complex, of een oude pelgrimsroute die vergeten is door de tijd. In de schaduw van de massieve bergkam erachter, oogt alles stil — alsof hier al eeuwen geen mens meer is geweest. En toch: het voelt alsof deze plek ooit iets bewaakte. Een grens. Een heiligdom. Een geheim. De grillige lijnen in de heuvelruggen lijken haast getekend door de wind, en het warme licht van de namiddag legt zachte accenten op de verweerde rotsen. Wie hier staat, hoort niets dan wind, voelt niets dan tijdloosheid. Misschien is dit precies waarom monniken zich ooit terugtrokken in dit landschap: juist hier, waar de wereld zwijgt, vonden zij de nabijheid van het goddelijke.
Turbid Well near Millstreet is one of 8 Holy wells in the Duhallow region of Cork & Kerry. The well itself is about 40ft diameter, the crystal clear spring water bubbles up from the gravel & flows away under the little white bridge. I'm sure in the Spring & Summer it will be a haven for Damselflies & Dragonflies.
My iphone doesn't really do this place justice as I couldn't get the whole well & shrine (off to the left - see my other photo) in the photo & as I was backed into a hedge trying to get the shot a lady came to pay her respects so I felt like an intruder & withdrew. I'll go back with my camera to try & get a better photo.
On the final approach to the Arc Furnace of Huta Czestochowa, the steelworks 6De 2558 returns tipped slag ladles to be refilled. A perpetual practice, but it nearly ended. In September 2019 the plant was declared Bankrupt. New tenants were found and the works remained operational. But they withdrew in December 2020 and the works fell dormant, the workforce of 1200 were stood down. Eventually ownership was transferred. New owners were found, Liberty Steel, a joint Indian and British company took on ownership of the plant and the works reopened in October 2021.
This is our final picture here. Jane and myself have been to get some food supplies whilst the other three, Sven, Andreas and Nico, have been up to the crossing by the slag tipping point to chase this train back. We reconvene here, just in time to see the train appear through the trees. It waits before crossing over a road by the pipe bridges behind giving us enough time to settle in position. It also give the works Ocherona time to check us out from the steel works gates which are right behind us, but he does little more than that. Certainly our photographic activities have been noted more than once. I wonder how another day here would pan out? Anyway, its time to move, we have rooms for the night booked earlier that afternoon by Andreas and they are almost two hours drive away. We have had a great time here. And there has been plenty for us to see.
Constitution Gardens is a park area in Washington, D.C., United States, located within the boundaries of the National Mall. The 50-acre park is bounded on the west by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, on the east by 17th St NW, on the north by Constitution Avenue, and on the south by the Reflecting Pool.
Constitution Gardens is a living legacy to the founding of the republic as well as an oasis in the midst of a city landscape. The 50 acres of the park were originally beneath the Potomac River. Near the end of the nineteenth century, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers initiated a dredging project that created the land that became Potomac Park.
Beginning in World War I, the government maintained "temporary" office buildings on this site for use by the United States Navy and the Munitions Department. Nicknamed "Tempos," these structures remained until the 1970s when President Richard M. Nixon ordered their removal. After the Navy finally withdrew from them, the buildings were demolished in 1971. President Nixon then directed that a park be laid out on the land, leading to the creation of Constitution Gardens.
The Gardens were dedicated in May of 1976 as an American Revolution Bicentennial tribute. On July 2, 1984, the Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence was dedicated on the small island in the lake.
On September 17, 1986, in honor of the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, President Ronald Reagan issued a proclamation making Constitution Gardens a living legacy tribute to the Constitution. Visitors enjoy the park all year as the home for a wide array of urban wildlife. Constitution Gardens has been a separate park unit since 1982.
Excerpt from www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_nhs_eng.aspx?id=428:
Existing plaque: on Lundy's Lane Monument in cemetery Niagara Falls, Ontario:
This was the site of the bloodiest battle of the War of 1812. On the afternoon of 25th July, 1814, Lieutenant-General Gordon Drummond with about 2800 men engaged the invading American army which had recently been victorious at Chippewa. The armies were evenly matched and the six-hour battle lasted until darkness and heavy losses put an end to the fighting. Each force had lost over 800 men. Although each claimed victory, the Americans had failed to dislodge Drummond from his position. They withdrew the next day, ending their offensive in Upper Canada.
Description of Historic Place
The Battle of Lundy’s Lane National Historic Site of Canada is located in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The battle occurred on July 25, 1814 on what was a rise of clear farmland surrounded by an orchard and forest, situated upon Lundy’s Lane. The location of the site is now marked by a plaque located within Drummond Hill Cemetery. Lundy’s Lane was the site of a major battle between the British and American forces in which the Americans, who were advancing after the Battle of Chippewa, attacked the British defensive position that they had taken up.
Following a bitterly contested engagement, the Americans withdrew. The six-hour long battle was one of the bloodiest battles of the War of 1812 and marked the end of American offensive action in Upper Canada. Official recognition refers to a parcel of land in the City of Niagara Falls that is roughly four-blocks square and encompasses the site of the battle.
Heritage Value
The Battle of Lundy’s Lane was designated a national historic site of Canada in 1937 because: it was the bloodiest battle of the War of 1812; and, the Americans failed to dislodge the British from their position, ending the American offensive in Upper Canada.
In the summer of 1814, American forces crossed the Niagara River at Fort Erie to invade Upper Canada. Advancing northward along the Niagara River, they had initial success, defeating a British force at the Battle of Chippawa. The British under Sir Gordon Drummond regrouped and on the evening of 25 July, on Lundy’s Lane almost within sight of Niagara Falls, the British regulars and Canadian militia were attacked by the American forces. Throughout the evening the two armies attacked each other and the battle surged back and forth, especially around the field guns in what is now the Drummond Hill Cemetery. Both sides suffered heavy casualties but by midnight the Americans retired leaving the exhausted British and Canadians holding the field. The Battle of Lundy’s Lane was the bloodiest and bitterest contest of the War of 1812 and it broke the American thrust in 1814 to take Upper Canada.
Character-Defining Elements
- its location within the limits of Niagara Falls; the setting on a grassed area of the Drummond Hill Cemetery where the plaque commemorating the site is located; the location and integrity of the monument to the battle erected in 1895, and the three tablets fixed to the monument in 1935 that bear the names of the officers and soldiers of the regular regiments of the British Army and Canadian militia killed in action during the engagement; the integrity of any surviving or as yet unidentified archaeological remains which may be found within the site in their original placement and extent.
Chartwell , a National Trust estate, near WeAn image from the Achieves, reprocessed with Photoshop CC 2026
I would be most grateful if you would refrain from inserting images, and/or group invites; thank you!
To view more of my images, taken Chartwell, please click "here" !
Chartwell was the principal adult home of Sir Winston Churchill.
Churchill and his wife Clementine bought the property, located two miles south of Westerham, Kent, England, in 1922. Extensive renovations simplifying and modernising the home were undertaken directly, completely transforming it when complete. When it became clear to the Churchills in 1946 that they could not afford to run the property, a consortium of wealthy businessmen organised by Lord Camrose purchased the estate. The arrangement was that for payment of nominal rent both Sir Winston and Lady Churchill would have the right to live there until they both died, at which point the property would be presented to the National Trust. When Sir Winston died in 1965, Clementine decided to present Chartwell to the National Trust immediately. The site had been built upon at least as early as the 16th century, when the estate had been called 'Well Street'. Henry VIII is reputed to have stayed in the house during his courtship of Anne Boleyn at nearby Hever Castle. The original farmhouse was significantly enlarged and modified during the 19th century. It became, according to the National Trust, an example of 'Victorian architecture at its least attractive, a ponderous red-brick country mansion of tile-hung gables and poky oriel windows'. The estate derives its name from the well to the north of the house called 'Chart Well'. 'Chart' is an Old English word for rough ground. The highest point of the estate is approximately 650 feet above sea level, and the house commands a spectacular view across the Weald of Kent. This view 'possessed Churchill' and was certainly an important factor in persuading him to buy a house of 'no great architectural merit'. Churchill employed architect Philip Tilden to modernise and extend the house. Tilden worked between 1922 and 1924, simplifying and modernising, as well as allowing more light into the house through large casement windows. He worked in the gently vernacular architecture tradition that is familiar in the early houses of Edwin Lutyens, a style stripped of literal Tudor Revival historicising details but retaining multiple gables with stepped gable ends, and windows in strips set in expanses of warm pink brick hung with climbers. Tilden's work completely transformed the house. Similarly to many early 20th century refurbishments of old estates, the immediate grounds, which fall away behind the house, were shaped into overlapping rectilinear terraces and garden plats, in lawn and mixed herbaceous gardens in the Lutyens-Jekyll manner, linked by steps descending to lakes that Churchill created by a series of small dams, the water garden where he fed his fish, Lady Churchill's Rose garden and the Golden Rose Walk, a Golden Wedding anniversary gift from their children. The garden areas provided inspiration for Churchill's paintings, many of which are on display in the house's garden studio. In 1938, Churchill was pressed to offer Chartwell for sale for financial reasons, at which time the house was advertised as containing 5 reception rooms, 19 bed and dressing rooms, 8 bathrooms, set in 80 acres with three cottages on the estate and a heated and floodlit swimming pool. He withdrew after industrialist Sir Henry Strakosch agreed to take over his share portfolio (which had suffered heavily from losses on Wall Street) for three years and pay off heavy debts. During the Second World War, the house was mostly unused. Its relatively exposed position, in a county so near across the English Channel to German occupied France, meant it was potentially vulnerable to a German airstrike or commando raid. The Churchills instead spent their weekends at Ditchley, Oxfordshire until security improvements were completed at the prime minister's official country residence, Chequers, in Buckinghamshire. The house has been preserved as it would have looked when Churchill owned it. Rooms are carefully decorated with memorabilia and gifts, the original furniture and books, as well as honours and medals that Churchill received. The house is Grade I listed for historical reasons. The gardens are listed Grade II.
The property is currently under the administration of the National Trust. Chartwell was bought by a group of Churchill's friends in 1946, with the Churchills paying a nominal rent, but was not open to the public until it was presented to the nation in 1966, one year after Churchill's death.e of Winston Churchillsterham, in Kent, England.- The home of Sir Winston and Clementine Churchill.
september 15, 2007 :
naked but not just the juice ...
at no time in life time did I ever imagine ever living in a college dorm but today I feel like I am. in the 11th grade i withdrew myself from institutional education only to pursue a life of filmic arts and all its dirty little pleasures. Thus far my twenties where a blur, my thirties were transitional, full of self awareness and great loss. Now at forty i feel like a teenager again and very adolescent. almost like the kid i never was. I don't know if that is good or bad folks and sometimes it scares the living crap out of me.
I try to go with the flow but the flow often becomes a swirl.
yup ...the holiday blues
yup ...the holiday blues
iTunes selection: the punk and the godfather the who
A Purple Passage (A socio-religious, psycho-philosophical, art-historical expose!)
In the beginning was the word, and the word was Art, and Art seeing that God was good didst venerate him. And Art begat a son in his own likeness, after his own image, and did call his name Duccio. All the days that Duccio lived were numbered seventy years. And he begat many sons, the eldest of whom was Giotto. And all the days that Giotto lived were seventy-one years and he did also bring forth issue and Art did smile upon his sons, Piero Della Francesca and Boticelli, whom in their turns did engender Michelangelo and Leonardo, and many less well-endowed progeny. And it came to pass that Art, now seeing the beauty of mankind, forsook its veneration of the omnipotent God and didst venerate Humanity.
God saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. Thus, God, recognising his redundancy, didst fuck off. But Humanity finding favour in the eyes of Art did prosper.
So Art, venerating man, begot and engendered many sons (and the very occasional daughter) each of whom did venerate man in their turn. Raphael didst know Michelangelo and he didst conceive and bore a school and they spoke of ‘Harmony’ and they venerated the ‘Ideal’ and thusly they engendered ‘Mannerism’. And Art, seeing that this was good, smiled upon Raphael, who begat a son called Titian. Likewise to him was borne a brother, and his name was Correggio. And the both did play with light.
Art saw fit to cause a division and to set an enmity between the schools of Parmigiano and Holbein. Sensing that competition was lucrative, Art didst encourage it. And so were engendered El Greco and Breughel, and both prospered. Art encouraged their difference due to the diversity of their produce. But, eventually, Art growing tired of excess did give preference, for a time, to the Northern School, which bore much fruit. Rubens didst conceive and brought forth Van Dyke who in turn did engender Frans Hals, the father of Rembrandt. But Rembrandt did venerate the formerly omnipotent (and previously made redundant) God of his ancestors and behold the wrath of Art fell upon him and he did perish in penury. Rembrandt begat a son, however, and called his name Vermeer.
Vermeer was a true son of Art and put no God before Art, and he did flourish.
However, Art, tiring of Northern Severity (and who could blame it?), did turn again to the South, where it engendered Bernini and Tiepelo. The South too did forsake its humanistic God and did engender the deity of ‘Decoration’. In this spirit Art prospered and engendered the brothers Watteau, Fragonard and Boucher, in the Gallic lands, and they didst attempt to re-create Eden by disporting themselves freely in elysian bowers. The brothers proved to be momentarily fertile and together venerated sensuality. Jacques Louis David issued forth having been begotten as an unforeseen by-product of Boucher’s decadence. David deciding that man could be excellent did idolise this possibility whilst rejecting man’s squalid ‘reality’. David was also fertile and did generate the ‘Hero’, and in doing so encouraged Art to venerate War. But Art, seeing that War was lucrative didst raise David to a position of great power….twice.
In the Hispanic Peninsula art didst visit Velasquez, as if in a shower of gold, and he did find himself with child. Goya issued forth from this lineage. But Goya, seeing that War was not good, did not believe in God, he did not believe in man, he did not believe in Art, and thus Art in a hissy fit didst frown upon Goya and didst smite him with impotence, saying : “Thou shall forever be onto me as a witness to the people, and they shall point, crying “Behold a Godless man” and your issue shall be as a manifestation of the impotence of a man without faith, and generations shall misunderstand and curse thee saying “ behold the unhappy composer of pictures” and many shall waste their time telling anecdotes about the deafness that I shall visit upon you, and thy name shall be numbered amongst the damned. Outside the schools and movements of Art shall thou be forever exiled, and the lot of the ‘Bachelor’ shall fall to thee”.
And Goya, going out alone, was smitten with a blight of compassion for all that he did see for at that time the peoples of his land were suffering a great travail visited upon them by the ‘Hero’ generated by David. Goya withdrew in solitude and didst spread his seed on the plaster walls of his house Thus doing, Goya exorcised his demons.
... just because I'm Kurdish ...
Iraqi Kurdistan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Capital
(and largest city) Erbil
36°11′N 44°00′E / 36.183, 44
Official languages Kurdish[1]
Government Parliamentary democracy
- President Massoud Barzani
- Prime Minister Nechervan Idris Barzani
- Deputy Prime Minister Omer Fattah Hussain
Formation of Autonomous Region
- Autonomy accord agreement signed March 11, 1970
- Autonomy accord collapsed March, 1974
- Gained de facto independence October, 1991
- The TAL recognized the autonomy of the KRG as full sovereignty. January 30, 2005
Area
- Total 80,000 km2 (117th)
30,888 sq mi
Population
- 2008 estimate 7,000,000 (108th)
- Density 40/km2 (166th)
15/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2007 estimate
- Total 27 billion (not ranked)
- Per capita $5,500 (not ranked)
HDI (As of 2006) n/a (n/a) (not ranked)
Currency Iraqi Dinar is the offical currency, American Dollar widely accepted in all business transactions (IQD)
Time zone (UTC+3)
- Summer (DST) (UTC+4)
Internet TLD Various
Calling code 964
Iraqi Kurdistan Region (Kurdish: هه رێمى كوردستان عێراق, Herêmi Kurdistan Iraq, Arabic:إقليم كردستان العراق , Iqlĩm Kurdistãn al-‘Irāq , also Southern Kurdistan and in Kurdish: باشووری کوردستان ) is an autonomous,[2] federally recognized political, ethnic and economic region of Iraq. It borders Iran to the east, Turkey to the north, and Syria to the west and the rest of Iraq to the South. Its capital is the city of Erbil, known in Kurdish as Hewlêr.
Etymology
The name Kurdistan literally means Land of the Kurds. The term Kurd in turn is derived from the Latin word Cordueni, i.e. the of the ancient Kingdom of Corduene, which became a Roman province in 66 BC.
In the Iraqi Constitution, it is referred to as Kurdistan Region.[3]. The regional government refers to it as Kurdistan-Iraq (or simply Kurdistan region) but avoids using Iraqi Kurdistan.[4] The full name of the local government is "Kurdistan Regional Government" (abbrev: KRG.)
Kurds also refer to the region as Kurdistana Başûr (South Kurdistan) or Başûrî Kurdistan (Southern Kurdistan or South of Kurdistan) referring to its geographical location within the whole of the greater Kurdistan region.
During the Baath Party administration in the '70s and '80s, the region was called "Kurdish Autonomous Region".
[edit] History
[edit] Ottoman Period
Main articles: Ottoman Empire, Mamluk rule in Iraq, Mesopotamian campaign, and Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire
The area today known as Iraqi Kurdistan was formerly ruled by three principalities of Baban, Badinan and Soran. In 1831, the direct Ottoman rule was imposed and lasted until World War I, during which the Ottomans sided with Germany and the Central Powers.
[edit] British Mandate
During World War I the British and French divided Western Asia in the Sykes-Picot Agreement. The Treaty of Sèvres, which was ratified in the Treaty of Lausanne, led to the advent of modern Western Asia and Republic of Turkey. The League of Nations granted France mandates over Syria and Lebanon and granted the United Kingdom mandates over Iraq and Palestine (which then consisted of two autonomous regions: Palestine and Transjordan). Parts of the Ottoman Empire on the Arabian Peninsula became parts of what are today Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
[edit] Kurdish revolts
On December 1, 1918, during a meeting in Sulaymaniyah with Colonel Arnold Wilson, the Acting Civil Commissioner for Mesopotamia, Kurdish leaders called for British support for a united and independent Kurdistan under British protection. Between 1919 and 1922, Shaikh Mahmud Barzanji, an influential Kurdish leader based in Sulaymaniyah, formed a Kurdish government and led two revolts against the British rule. It took the British authorities two years to put down his uprisings. The first revolt began on May 22, 1919 with the arrest of British officials in Sulaymaniyah and it quickly spread to Mosul and Erbil. The British employed aerial bombardments, artillery, ground combat, and on one occasion, chemical gas, in an attempt to quell the uprising.[5] Then the British exiled Mahmoud to India. In July 1920, 62 tribal leaders of the region, called for the independence of Kurdistan under a British mandate. The objection of the British to Kurdish self-rule sprang from the fear that success of an independent Kurdish area would tempt the two Arab areas of Baghdad and Basra to follow suit, hence endangering the direct British control over all Mesopotamia. In 1922, Britain restored Shaikh Mahmoud to power, hoping that he would organize the Kurds to act as a buffer against the Turks, who had territorial claims over Mosul and Kirkuk. Shaikh Mahmoud declared a Kurdish Kingdom with himself as King, though later he agreed to limited autonomy within the new state of Iraq. In 1930, following the announcement of the admission of Iraq to the League of Nations, Shaikh Mahmoud started a third uprising which was suppressed with British air and ground forces.[6][7]
By 1927, the Barzani clan had become vocal supporters of Kurdish rights in Iraq. In 1929, the Barzani demanded the formation of a Kurdish province in northern Iraq. Emboldened by these demands, in 1931 Kurdish notables petitioned the League of Nations to set up an independent Kurdish government. Under pressure from the Iraqi government and the British, the most influential leader of the clan, Mustafa Barzani was forced into exile in Iran in 1945. Later he moved to the Soviet Union after the collapse of the Republic of Mahabad in 1946.[8]
[edit] Barzani Revolts 1960-1975 and their Aftermath
After the military coup by Abdul Karim Qasim in 1958, Barzani was able to return from exile and set up his own political party, Kurdistan Democratic Party, which was granted legal status in 1960. Soon afterwards, Qasim incited the Baradost and Zebari tribes against Barzani. In June 1961, Barzani led his first revolt against the Iraqi government with the aim of securing Kurdish autonomy. Due to the disarray in the Iraqi Army after the 1958 coup, Qasim's government was not able to subdue the insurrection. This stalemate irritated powerful factions within the military and is said to be one of the main reasons behind the Baathist coup against Qasim in February 1963. Abdul Salam Arif declared a ceasefire in February 1964 which provoked a split among Kurdish urban radicals on one hand and traditional forces led by Barzani on the other. Barzani agreed to the ceasefire and fired the radicals from the party. Despite this, the government in Baghdad tried once more to defeat Barzani's movement by force. This campaign failed in 1966, when Barzani forces defeated the Iraqi Army near Rawanduz. After this, Arif announced a 12-point peace program in June 1966, which was not implemented due to the overthrow of Arif in a 1968 coup by the Baath Party. The Baath government started a campaign to end the Kurdish insurrection, which stalled in 1969. This can be partly attributed to the internal power struggle in Baghdad and also tensions with Iran. Moreover, the Soviets pressured the Iraqis to come to terms with Barzani. A peace plan was announced in March 1970 and provided for broader Kurdish autonomy. The plan also gave Kurds representation in government bodies, to be implemented in four years.[9] Despite this, the Iraqi government embarked on an Arabization program in the oil rich regions of Kirkuk and Khanaqin in the same period.[10] In the following years, Baghdad government overcame its internal divisions and concluded a treaty of friendship with the Soviet Union in April 1972 and ended its isolation within the Arab world. On the other hand, Kurds remained dependent on the Iranian military support and could do little to strengthen their forces.
[edit] The Algiers Agreement
In 1974, Iraqi government began a new offensive against the Kurds and pushed them close to the border with Iran. Iraq informed Tehran that it was willing to satisfy other Iranian demands in return for an end to its aid to the Kurds. With mediation by Algerian President Houari Boumédiènne, Iran and Iraq reached a comprehensive settlement in March 1975 known as the Algiers Pact. The agreement left the Kurds helpless and Tehran cut supplies to the Kurdish movement. Barzani fled to Iran with many of his supporters. Others surrendered en masse and the rebellion ended after a few days. As a result Iraqi government extended its control over the northern region after 15 years and in order to secure its influence, started an Arabization program by moving Arabs to the oil fields in Kurdistan, particularly the ones around Kirkuk.[11] The repressive measures carried out by the government against the Kurds after the Algiers agreement led to renewed clashes between the Iraqi Army and Kurdish guerrillas in 1977. In 1978 and 1979, 600 Kurdish villages were burned down and around 200,000 Kurds were deported to the other parts of the country.[12]
[edit] Iran–Iraq War and Anfal Campaign
During the Iran–Iraq War, the Iraqi government again implemented anti-Kurdish policies and a de facto civil war broke out. Iraq was widely-condemned by the international community, but was never seriously punished for oppressive measures, including the use of chemical weapons against the Kurds, which resulted in thousands of deaths. (See Halabja poison gas attack.)
The Al-Anfal Campaign constituted a systematic genocide of the Kurdish people in Iraq. From March 29, 1987 until April 23, 1989, Iraqi army under the command of Ali Hassan al-Majid carried out a genocidal campaign against the Kurds, characterized by the following human rights violations: The widespread use of chemical weapons, the wholesale destruction of some 2,000 villages, and slaughter of around 50,000 rural Kurds, by the most conservative estimates. The large Kurdish town of Qala Dizeh (population 70,000) was completely destroyed by the Iraqi army. The campaign also included Arabization of Kirkuk, a program to drive Kurds out of the oil-rich city and replace them with Arab settlers from central and southern Iraq.[13] Kurdish sources report the number of dead to be greater than 182,000.[14]
[edit] After the Persian Gulf War
The Kurdistan Region was originally established in 1970 as the Kurdish Autonomous Region following the agreement of an Autonomy Accord between the government of Iraq and leaders of the Iraqi Kurdish community. A Legislative Assembly was established in the city of Erbil with theoretical authority over the Kurdish-populated governorates of Erbil, Dahuk and As Sulaymaniyah. In practice, however, the assembly created in 1970 was under the control of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein until the 1991 uprising against his rule following the end of the Persian Gulf War. Concern for safety of Kurdish refugees was reflected in the United Nations Security Council Resolution 688 which gave birth to a safe haven, in which U.S. and British air power protected a Kurdish zone inside Iraq.[15] (see Operation Provide Comfort). While the no-fly zone covered Dahuk and Erbil, it left out Sulaymaniyah and Kirkuk. Then following several bloody clashes between Iraqi forces and Kurdish troops, an uneasy and shaky balance of power was reached, and the Iraqi government withdrew its military and other personnel from the region in October 1991. At the same time, Iraq imposed an economic blockade over the region, reducing its oil and food supplies.[16] The region thus gained de facto independence, being ruled by the two principal Kurdish parties – the Kurdish Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan – outside the control of Baghdad. The region has its own flag and national anthem.
Elections held in June 1992 produced an inconclusive outcome, with the assembly divided almost equally between the two main parties and their allies. During this period, the Kurds were subjected to a double embargo: one imposed by the United Nations on Iraq and one imposed by Saddam Hussein on their region. The severe economic hardships caused by the embargoes, fueled tensions between the two dominant political parties: Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iraq (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) over control of trade routes and resources.[17] This led to internecine and intra-Kurdish conflict and warfare between 1994 and 1996. After 1996, 13% of the Iraqi oil sales were allocated for Iraqi Kurdistan and this led to a relative prosperity in the region.[18] Direct United States mediation led the two parties to a formal ceasefire in Washington Agreement in September 1998. It is also argued that the Oil for Food Program from 1997 onward had an important effect on cessation of hostilities.[19] Kurdish parties joined forces against the Iraqi government in the Operation Iraqi Freedom in Spring 2003. The Kurdish military forces known as peshmerga played a key role in the overthrow of the former Iraqi government.[20]
KDP and PUK have united to form an alliance with several smaller parties, and the Kurdish alliance has 53 deputies in the new Baghdad parliament, while the Kurdish Islamic Union has 5. PUK-leader Jalal Talabani has been elected President of the new Iraqi administration, while KDP leader Massoud Barzani is President of the Kurdistan Regional Government.
[edit] Politics
Main article: Kurdistan Regional Government
President George W. Bush talks to reporters as he welcomes Massoud Barzani, the President of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq, to the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, Oct 25, 2005.Since 1992, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has been based in Erbil. The KRG has a parliament, elected by popular vote, called the Iraqi Kurdistan National Assembly, and a cabinet composed of the KDP, the PUK and their allies (Iraqi Communist Party, the Socialist Party of Kurdistan etc.). Nechervan Idris Barzani has been prime minister of the KRG since 1999.
After the 2003 Invasion of Iraq Kurdish politicians were represented in the Iraqi governing council. On January 30, 2005 three elections were held in the region: 1) for Transitional National Assembly of Iraq 2) for Iraqi Kurdistan National Assembly and 3) for provincial councils.[21] The Law of Administration for the State of Iraq for the Transitional Period recognized the autonomy of the Kurdistan Regional Government during the interim between "full sovereignty" and the adoption of a permanent constitution.
The Kurdistan Regional Government currently has constitutionally recognised authority over the provinces of Erbil, Dahuk, and As Sulaymaniyah, as well as de facto authority over half of Kirkuk (at-Ta'mim) province and parts of Diyala, Salah ad-Din and Ninawa provinces.
[edit] Economy
The Kurdistan region's economy is dominated by the oil industry, agriculture and tourism[22]. Due to relative peace in the region it has a more developed economy in comparison to other parts of Iraq.
Prior to the removal of Saddam Hussein, the Kurdistan Regional Government received approximately 13% of the revenues from Iraq's Oil-for-Food Program. By the time of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, the program had disbursed $8.35 billion to the KRG. Iraqi Kurdistan's food security allowed for substantially more of the funds to be spent on development projects than in the rest of Iraq. By the program's end in 2003 $4 billion of the KRG's oil-for-food funds remained unspent.
Following the removal of Saddam Hussein's administration and the subsequent violence, the three provinces fully under the Kurdistan Regional Government's control were the only three in Iraq to be ranked "secure" by the US military. The relative security and stability of the region has allowed the KRG to sign a number of investment contracts with foreign companies. In 2006 the first new oil well since the invasion of Iraq was drilled in the Kurdistan region by the Norwegian energy company DNO. Initial indications are that the oil field contains at least 100 million barrels (16,000,000 m3) of oil and will be pumping 5,000 bpd by early 2007. The KRG has signed exploration agreements with two other oil companies, Canada's Western Oil Sands and the UK's Sterling Energy.
The stability of the Kurdistan region has allowed it to achieve a higher level of development than other regions in Iraq. In 2004 the per capita income was 25% higher than in the rest of Iraq. Two international airports at Erbil (see Erbil International Airport and Sulaymaniyah (see Sulaimaniyah International Airport) both operate flights to Middle Eastern and European destinations. The government continues to receive a portion of the revenue from Iraq's oil exports, and the government will soon implement a unified foreign investment law. The KRG also has plans to build a media city in Erbil and free trade zones near the borders of Turkey and Iran.
The region still gets a cut from Iraqi-Turkish trade, plus subsidies from the United States[citation needed] and Israel[citation needed].
Since 2003, the stronger economy of Kurdistan has attracted around 20,000 workers from other parts of Iraq.[23] According to Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, since 2003 the number of millionaires in the Kurdish city of Silêmani has increased from 12 to 2000, reflecting the financial and economic growth of the region.[24]
[edit] Geography
A popular waterfall near Erbil.The Iraqi Kurdistan is largely mountainous, with the highest point being a 3,611 m (11,847 ft) point known locally as Cheekah Dar (black tent). There are many rivers flowing and running through mountains of the region making it distinguished by its fertile lands, plentiful water, picturesque nature.
The mountainous nature of Kurdistan, the difference of temperatures in its various parts, and its wealth of waters, make Kurdistan a land of agriculture and tourism. In addition to various minerals, oil in particular, which for a long time was being extracted via pipeline only in Kurdistan through Iraq.
The largest lake in the region is Lake Dukan.
The term "Northern Iraq" is a bit of a geographical ambiguity in usage. "North" typically refers to the Kurdistan Region. "Center" and "South" or "Center-South" when individually referring to the other areas of Iraq or the rest of the country that is not the Kurdistan Region. Most media sources continually refer to "North" and "Northern Iraq" as anywhere north of Baghdad.
[edit] Governorates
Iraqi Kurdistan is divided among seven governorates of which currently three are under the control of the Kurdistan Regional Government. These governorates are called in Kurdish parêzge. Particularly in Iraqi government documents, the term governorate is preferred:
Autonomous Region KurdistanThe governorates wholly under the Kurdistan Regional Government are:
1. As Sulaymaniyah (Slêmanî)
2. Erbil (Hewlêr)
3. Dahuk (Duhok)
Main article: Kirkuk status referendum, 2008
The governorates claimed totally or in part by the Kurdistan Regional Government are:
4. Kirkuk (Kerkûk) - (all)
5. Diyala - Kifri Khanaqin and Baladrooz districts
6. Ninawa - Akra, Shekhan, Al-Shikhan, Al-Hamdaniya, Tel Kaif, Tall Afar and Sinjar districts
7. Salah ad Din - Tooz district
8. Wasit - Badrah district
A referendum was scheduled to be held on 15 November 2007 to determine whether these governorates, or parts of them, will be included in the Kurdish Regional Government. The referendum is intended to cover all districts of Kirkuk Governorate, the Khanaquin and Kifri districts of Diyala Governorate, the Touz-Khur-Mati district of Salah ad Din Governorate, and the Akra and Shekan districts of Ninewa Governorate. This referendum has been postponed, first to 31 December 2007, and subsequently for up to a further six months. Kurds insist that the referendum be held as soon as possible.
[edit] Demographics
Ethnic and religious distribution of Iraq.The population is about 5-6 million. 95% of these are Kurdish Muslims who are Sunnis. There are also significant numbers of Yazidis, Kakeyís, Jews and Christians. Kurds comprise the ethnic majority in the region (about 95%) while the Turkmen, Assyrians, Armenians and Arabs who reside particularly in the western part of the area make up the rest.
[edit] Culture
Main article: Kurdish culture
A Kurdish woman makes breadKurdish culture is a group of distinctive cultural traits practiced by Kurdish people. The Kurdish culture is a legacy from the various ancient peoples who shaped modern Kurds and their society, but primarily of two layers of indigenous (Hurrian), and of the ancient Iranic (Medes).
Among their neighbours, the Kurdish culture is closest to Iranian culture . For example they celebrate Newroz as the new year day, which is celebrated on March 21. It is the first day of the month of Xakelêwe in Kurdish calendar and the first day of spring.[25]
[edit] Music
Main article: Kurdish music
Traditionally, there are three types of Kurdish classical performers - storytellers (çîrokbêj), minstrels (stranbêj) and bards (dengbêj). There was no specific music related to the Kurdish princely courts, and instead, music performed in night gatherings (şevbihêrk) is considered classical. Several musical forms are found in this genre. Many songs are epic in nature, such as the popular lawiks which are heroic ballads recounting the tales of Kurdish heroes of the past like Saladin. Heyrans are love ballads usually expressing the melancholy of separation and unfulfilled love. Lawje is a form of religious music and Payizoks are songs performed specifically in autumn. Love songs, dance music, wedding and other celebratory songs (dîlok/narînk), erotic poetry and work songs are also popular.
[edit] Military
Main article: Peshmerga
Peshmerga is the term used by Kurds to refer to armed Kurdish fighters, they have been labelled by some as freedom fighters. Literally meaning "those who face death" (pêş front + merg death e is) the peshmerga forces of Kurdistan have been around since the advent of the Kurdish independence movement in the early 1920s, following the collapse of the Ottoman and Qajar empires which had jointly ruled over the area known today as Kurdistan.
Peshmerga forces also played a significant role with coalition troops in the war against the Ba'ath government in Northern Iraq.
Deutschland / Bayern - Schloss Hohenschwangau und Alpsee
Hohenschwangau Castle (German: Schloss Hohenschwangau) is a 19th-century palace in southern Germany. It was the childhood residence of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and was built by his father, King Maximilian II of Bavaria. It is located in the German village of Hohenschwangau near the town of Füssen, part of the county of Ostallgäu in southwestern Bavaria, Germany, very close to the border with Austria.
History
The fortress Schwangau (literally translated the Swan District), which was first mentioned in historical records dating from the 12th Century, stood high up on a rock on the site of the present 19th-century Neuschwanstein castle. The knights, later counts of Schwangau, were ministeriales of the Welfs. Hiltbolt von Schwangau (1195–1254) was a minnesinger. Margareta von Schwangau was the wife of minnesinger Oswald von Wolkenstein.
The present day Hohenschwangau ("Upper Schwangau") castle was first mentioned in 1397, though under the name of Schwanstein. Only in the 19th century the names of the two castles have switched. It was built on a hill above lake Alpsee, below the older fortress. Between 1440 and 1521 the Lords had to sell their fief with Imperial immediacy to the Wittelsbach dukes of Bavaria, but continued to occupy the castle as Burgraves. In 1521 they became owners again but had to sell their land in 1535. The purchaser, Johann Paumgartner, a wealthy Augsburg merchant, had the lower castle reconstructed by Italian architect Lucio di Spazzi who already worked on the Hofburg, Innsbruck. He kept the exterior walls and the towers but rebuilt the inner parts until 1547, on a floor plan that still today exists. The older Schwangau fortress however continued to fall into ruins. Paumgartner, after having been elevated to the rank of baron, died in 1549 and his sons sold their new castle to Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria.
The Wittelsbachs used the castle for bear hunting or as a retreat for agnatic princes. In 1743 it was plundered by Austrian troops. In the German mediatization the county of Schwangau became officially a part of the Electorate of Bavaria in 1803. King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria sold the castle in 1820. Only in 1832 his grandson Maximilian II of Bavaria, then crown prince, bought it back. In April 1829, he had discovered the historic site during a walking tour and reacted enthusiastically to the beauty of the surrounding area. He acquired the dilapidated building – then still known as Schwanstein – in 1832, abandoning his father's wish that he should move into the old castle (Hohes Schloss) in the nearby town of Füssen. In February 1833, the reconstruction of the castle began, continuing until 1837, with additions up to 1855. The architect in charge, Domenico Quaglio, was responsible for the neogothic style of the exterior design. He died in 1837 and the task was continued by Joseph Daniel Ohlmüller (died 1839) and Georg Friedrich Ziebland.[1] More than 90 wall paintings (by such artists as Lorenzo Quaglio and Michael Neher) represent the history of Schwangau, as well as medieval German romances such as Parzival and the story of Lohengrin, the Knight of the Swan, on which Richard Wagner later based his operas Lohengrin of 1848 and Parsifal of 1882, sponsored by Ludwig II who had grown up with these stories at Hohenschwangau.
Hohenschwangau was the official summer and hunting residence of Maximilian, his wife Marie of Prussia, and their two sons Ludwig (the later King Ludwig II of Bavaria) and Otto (the later King Otto I of Bavaria). The young princes spent many years of their adolescence here. Queen Marie who loved to hike in the mountains created an alpine garden with plants gathered from all over the alps. The King and the Queen lived in the main building, and the boys in the annex. The Queen's cousin, Frederick William IV of Prussia, had Stolzenfels Castle on the Rhine rebuilt at the same time in the Gothic Revival style.
King Maximilian died in 1864 and his son Ludwig succeeded to the throne, moving into his father's room in the castle. As Ludwig never married, his mother Marie was able to continue living on her floor during the summer months. King Ludwig enjoyed living in Hohenschwangau, however mostly in the absence of his disliked mother, especially after 1869 when the building of his own castle, Neuschwanstein, began on the site of the old Schwangau fortress, high above his parents' castle.
After Ludwig's death in 1886, Queen Marie was the castle's only resident until she in turn died in 1889. Her brother-in-law, Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria, lived on the 3rd floor of the main building. He was responsible for the electrification in 1905 and the installation of an electric elevator. Luitpold died in 1912 and the palace was opened as a museum during the following year.
During World War I and World War II, the castle suffered no damage. In 1923, the Bavarian State Parliament recognised the right of the former royal family to reside in the castle. From 1933 to 1939, Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria and his family used the castle as their summer residence, and it continues to be a favourite residence of his successors, currently his grandson Franz, Duke of Bavaria. In May 1941, Prince Adalbert of Bavaria was purged from the military under Hitler's Prinzenerlass and withdrew to the family castle Hohenschwangau, where he lived for the rest of the war.
More than 300,000 visitors from all over the world visit the palace each year. The castle is open all through the year (except for Christmas). Opening hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (April through September) and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (October through March). Guided tours are provided in German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Czech, Slovenian, and Japanese. Self-guided tours are not available.
(Wikipedia)
The Alpsee is a lake in the Ostallgäu district of Bavaria, Germany, located about 4 kilometres southeast of Füssen. It is close to the Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles. The lake has just under five kilometres of shoreline and a depth of up to 62 metres.
Description
Alpsee is a popular tourist attraction, given its proximity to the castles and the wild swans that inhabit the lake. Boats are available for rent and there is a wide variety of hiking trails in the vicinity. A circular path leads around the shore, and the "Fürstenstrasse" (Princes' Road) leads from Hohenschwangau over the Schwarzenberg ridge (Ammergau Alps) and down to Pinswang in the Lechtal.
(Wikipedia)
Schloss Hohenschwangau ist der Neugotik zuzuordnen. Ein Vorgängerbau „Schwanstein“ wurde 1397 erstmals urkundlich erwähnt. Über die Jahrhunderte wurde die Burg stark beschädigt. 1832 erwarb Kronprinz Maximilian die Burg und ließ diese in das heutige Schloss umbauen. Nach seinem Tod übernahm sein Sohn, König Ludwig II., das Anwesen und ließ es nach seinen Vorlieben dekorieren. Das Schloss liegt direkt gegenüber dem für Ludwig II. erbauten Schloss Neuschwanstein im Ortsteil Hohenschwangau der Gemeinde Schwangau bei Füssen in Bayern.
Geschichte
Mittelalter
Erstmals urkundlich erwähnt wurde ein „Castrum Swangowe“ im Jahre 1090, das als Behausung der Ritter von Schwangau diente. Damit war jedoch die Doppelburg Vorder- und Hinterschwangau gemeint, deren Ruinen bis zum Bau von Schloss Neuschwanstein einigermaßen erhalten auf dem dortigen Felsen standen: der langgestreckte vordere Teil befand sich da, wo heute der Palas steht, der hintere, durch einen Halsgraben getrennt, stand als Bergfried zwischen heutigem Ritterhaus und Kemenate, wo auch der neugotische Bergfried geplant war, der nicht gebaut wurde. Auf dieser Doppelburg lebten die Herren von Schwangau als Ministerialen der Welfen. Mit dem Tode Welfs VI. 1191 fiel der welfische Besitz in Schwaben an die Staufer, mit dem Tod Konradins 1268 an das Reich. Die Ritter von Schwangau hatten die Herrschaft dann als reichsunmittelbares Lehen weiter inne bis zu ihrem Aussterben im Jahre 1536.
Von dem berühmten Schwangauer Minnesänger Hiltbolt von Schwangau (* ca. 1190–1256) sind 22 Minnelieder erhalten, deren Entstehungszeit zwischen 1215 und 1225 angesetzt wird, die in der Heidelberger und teilweise in der Weingartner Liederhandschrift Einzug gefunden haben. Margareta von Schwangau war die Ehefrau des Minnesängers Oswald von Wolkenstein. Als 1363 Herzog Rudolf IV. von Österreich Tirol unter habsburgische Herrschaft brachte, verpflichteten sich Stephan von Schwangau und seine Brüder, ihre Festen Vorder- und Hinterschwangau, die Burg Frauenstein und den Sinwellenturm dem österreichischen Herzog offenzuhalten. Eine Urkunde von 1397 nennt zum ersten Mal den Schwanstein, das heutige Schloss Hohenschwangau, das – weniger wehrhaft, aber bequemer zu erreichen – unterhalb der älteren Doppelburg auf einer Anhöhe über dem Alpsee errichtet worden war.
Nachdem Ulrich von Schwangau 1428 seine Herrschaft auf vier Söhne aufgeteilt hatte, erlebte das einstmals stolze Geschlecht der Herren von Schwangau eine stetige Abwärtsentwicklung: Misswirtschaft und Erbstreitigkeiten führten dazu, dass Georg von Schwangau sein Erbe, die Hohenschwangauer Burgen und den Frauenstein, im Jahre 1440 samt Gerichtsbarkeit dem Herzog Albrecht III. von Bayern-München verkaufte. Die Schwangauer blieben jedoch als Pfleger der Herzöge von Bayern vor Ort. 1521 wurden die beiden Brüder Heinrich und Georg von Schwangau auf dem Reichstag zu Worms durch Kaiser Karl V. zwar erneut mit ihrem Besitz belehnt, aber schon 1535 mussten sie ihn für 35.000 fl. an den kaiserlichen Rat Wolf Haller von Hallerstein verkaufen, der jedoch nur als Strohmann für den bürgerlichen Augsburger Patrizier Johann Paumgartner auftrat und die reichsunmittelbare Herrschaft sogleich an diesen weiterreichte. 1536 starben die beiden Brüder als letzte ihres Geschlechts.
Neuzeit
Johann Paumgartner war Rat und Geldgeber des Kaisers Karls V., der ihn 1537 zum Reichsfreiherrn adelte, worauf er sich Paumgartner von Hohenschwangau zum Schwanstein nannte. Er ließ die verwahrloste Burg Schwanstein von italienischen Handwerkern als Zentrum seiner neuen Herrschaft wieder herrichten, während Vorder- und Hinterhohenschwangau sowie Frauenstein weiterhin verfielen. Der Architekt Lucio di Spazzi, welcher bereits an der Innsbrucker Hofburg und an der Brückenfeste Altfinstermünz gearbeitet hatte, benutzte die vorhandene Bausubstanz, behielt Außenmauern mit Zinnenkranz und Türmen bei, gestaltete jedoch das Innere für zeitgenössische Wohnansprüche neu, wobei er den heutigen Grundriss mit der in allen Stockwerken identischen, regelmäßigen Gruppierung von je drei Zimmerfluchten zu beiden Seiten eines durchlaufenden Mittelflezes schuf. Um den Wohnbau legte er einen Kranz von Bastionen. 1547 waren die Bauarbeiten abgeschlossen. 1549 starb Paumgartner und die Herrschaft fiel an seine beiden Söhne David und Georg, die in Schulden gerieten. 1561 verpfändete David Paumgartner die reichsunmittelbare Herrschaft an Markgraf Georg-Friedrich von Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmbach, der sie 1567 an Herzog Albrecht V. von Bayern verkaufte. Dieser brachte auch die Ansprüche der Gläubiger Paumgartners an sich und wurde reichsrechtlich mit Hohenschwangau belehnt. 1604 erhielt dann Herzog Max I. von Bayern die Anwartschaft auf die mit Hohenschwangau verbundenen Reichslehen, Kurfürst Ferdinand Maria von Bayern 1670 diese selbst.
Das Schloss wurde für die Bärenjagd genutzt oder nachgeborenen Söhnen der Wittelsbacher Kurfürsten überlassen. Mit dem Dreißigjährigen Krieg begann ein erneuter Verfall des Schlosses, im Österreichischen Erbfolgekrieg wurde es 1743 von den Österreichern ausgeplündert, jedoch vom Hofbauamt als Sitz des Pfleggerichts wieder instand gesetzt. Nach dem Bau des neuen Amtshauses 1786 verfiel es. Erst 1803 wurde das Reichslehen Hohenschwangau durch den Reichsdeputationshauptschluss dem Kurfürstentum Bayern einverleibt, das 1805 zum Königreich Bayern aufstieg. Während der Koalitionskriege von 1800 bis 1809 wurde das Schloss als Quartier für französische und österreichische Truppen genutzt und nach einer kurzen aber ergebnislosen Beschießung und Belagerung durch die Franzosen schien für die Burg die letzte Stunde geschlagen zu haben: 1820 wurde sie unter König Maximilian I. um 200 Gulden an einen Ortsansässigen auf Abbruch verkauft. Fürst Ludwig von Oettingen-Wallerstein, dessen Familie seit 1802 das Kloster Sankt Mang im nahen Füssen besaß, hörte 1821 von der beabsichtigten Zerstörung und kaufte nun seinerseits das Schloss für 225 Gulden auf, um es zu retten. Er begeisterte sich für die Lage der Burg, die in reizvollster Landschaft wie auf einer Panoramabühne gelegen war. Der Fürst ließ Reparatur- und Sicherungsmaßnahmen durchführen, verkaufte das Schloss jedoch bereits 1823 wieder, nachdem er morganatisch geheiratet und seine Stellung als Familienoberhaupt verloren hatte. Der nächste Besitzer, der Geodät Johann Adolph Sommer, beabsichtigte, im Schloss eine Flachsspinnerei einzurichten, was jedoch unterblieb.
König Max II.
Etwa zu dieser Zeit beschloss der bayerische König Ludwig I., seinem Sohn, Kronprinz Maximilian, das Hohe Schloss Füssen, den ehemaligen Sommersitz der Augsburger Bischöfe, als Wohnsitz zu überlassen. Dieser begab sich daher 1829 nach Füssen und unternahm von dort eine Wanderung bis ins tirolische Reutte, wobei er durch Hohenschwangau kam. Der Kronprinz war sofort bezaubert von dem historischen Bau und seiner unvergleichlichen Lage zwischen Alpsee und Schwansee. Er verzichtete auf Hohenfüssen und erwarb nach dreijährigen Kaufverhandlungen 1832 die Burg Schwanstein, die er in Schloss Hohenschwangau umbenannte. Damit wurden die Namen der Burg Schwanstein und der älteren Doppel-Burg Vorder- und Hinterhohenschwangau vertauscht. Erstere heißt heute Hohenschwangau, letztere Neuschwanstein.
Kronprinz Max ließ das Schloss bis 1837 von dem Architektur- und Theatermaler Domenico Quaglio (1787–1837) im Stil der Neugotik umbauen. Das Bauprojekt der Burgenromantik stand damit, wie auch die Stadtresidenz des Kronprinzen, das Wittelsbacher Palais, durchaus im Gegensatz zu der von Klassizismus, Neuhumanismus und Philhellenismus geprägten offiziellen Kunstauffassung im Bayern Ludwigs I. Bezeichnenderweise machte er den Maler Quaglio zum Oberbauleiter und ordnete ihm den Architekten Georg Friedrich Ziebland nur bei. Ferner assistierte Ferdinand Jodl. Der im praktischen Bauwesen unerfahrene Quaglio verausgabte sich derart, dass er kurz vor Vollendung des Baus starb. Fortgeführt wurden die Arbeiten durch den Münchner Architekten Joseph Daniel Ohlmüller. 1842 heiratete der Kronprinz die Prinzessin Marie von Preußen, woraufhin neue Räume und Nebengebäude eingerichtet wurden. Fast zeitgleich mit der Renovierung von Hohenschwangau, von 1836 bis 1842, hatte Maries Cousin, der Kronprinz und seit 1840 preußische König Friedrich Wilhelm IV., der mit Max’ Tante Elisabeth Ludovika von Bayern verheiratet war, das Schloss Stolzenfels am Rhein in ähnlichem Stil wieder aufbauen lassen.
1848 bestieg Max als Maximilian II. den Thron, neue Trakte wurden für den Hofstaat errichtet, zuletzt 1855 der Kavaliersbau. Das Schloss diente der königlichen Familie als Sommerresidenz und war die Kinderstube der beiden Söhne, der späteren Könige Ludwig II. und Otto. Ihre Mutter Marie von Bayern (1825–1889) unternahm mit ihnen häufig Bergwanderungen, so auch auf die alten Burgen Vorder- und Hinterhohenschwangau und Frauenstein. Sie verlebte hier auch nach dem Tod von König Max II. 1864 alljährlich mehrere Sommermonate. In ihrer Abwesenheit nutzte auch Ludwig II. häufig das Schloss, so auch während der Errichtung seines eigenen Schlosses Neuschwanstein von 1869 bis 1884, das bis 1886 offiziell den Namen Neue Burg Hohenschwangau trug. Ludwig II. veränderte in Hohenschwangau nichts außer seinem eigenen Schlafzimmer, in das er 1864 eine Felsengruppe einbauen ließ, über die ein Wasserfall strömte, sowie einen Apparat zur Erzeugung eines künstlichen Regenbogens und einen Nachthimmel mit Mond und Sternen, die durch ein kompliziertes Spiegelsystem vom Obergeschoss aus beleuchtet wurden. Königin Marie ließ nach Ludwigs Tod 1886 den ursprünglichen Zustand des Zimmers wiederherstellen. Sie starb fast drei Jahre nach dem Tod ihres Sohnes 1889 auf Schloss Hohenschwangau.
Seit 1923 bis heute gehört das Schloss dem Wittelsbacher Ausgleichsfonds und wird als Museum genutzt. Zugleich steht es jedoch Mitgliedern der Familie Wittelsbach gelegentlich für Aufenthalte oder Feiern zur Verfügung. Prinz Adalbert von Bayern zog sich 1941 nach Schloss Hohenschwangau zurück, nachdem er durch den sogenannten Prinzenerlass als „wehrunwürdig“ aus der Wehrmacht ausgeschieden war.
Baubeschreibung
Das heutige Schloss Hohenschwangau ist von 1537 bis 1547 in die teilweise erhaltenen Außenmauern der Burg Schwanstein aus dem 14. Jahrhundert hineingebaut worden. Die viergeschossige, 1833–1837 außen wie innen neugotisch überformte Anlage des Hauptbaus mit gelber Fassadenfarbe verfügt über drei Rundtürme mit polygonalen Aufbauten, der Torbau ist dreigeschossig.
Im Hauptgebäude befindet sich heute ein Museum. Die Inneneinrichtung aus der Biedermeierzeit ist unverändert erhalten. Die Räume sind noch immer mit den Einrichtungsgegenständen aus der Restaurierungszeit ausgestattet.
Die Ausmalung der Räume erfolgte nach Entwürfen von Moritz von Schwind und Ludwig Lindenschmit der Ältere. Zu den Ausführenden gehörte sowohl letzterer, als auch dessen Bruder Wilhelm Lindenschmit der Ältere. Die mehr als neunzig Wandgemälde wurden 1835–1836 ausgeführt und behandeln Themen aus der Geschichte des Schlosses und des Schwangaus sowie aus den mittelalterlichen Heldensagen, namentlich der Sage vom Schwanenritter Loherangrîn in Wolfram von Eschenbachs mittelhochdeutschem Versepos Parzival (das 1850 von Richard Wagner in seiner Oper Lohengrin verarbeitet wurde), der Nibelungensage und der Edda. Eines der Fresken greift eine örtliche Volksüberlieferung auf, nach der Christoph von Langenmantel 1518 Martin Luther zu dessen Schutz aus Augsburg nach Hohenschwangau gebracht habe.[1]
In dem beschriebenen Zustand hat sich das Schloss bis heute erhalten. Einige Projekte wie der Bau einer Zugbrücke und mehrerer Türme an der Ringmauer kamen nicht mehr zur Ausführung; ein hoher Bergfried wurde 1851 begonnen, jedoch im Jahr darauf wieder abgerissen, da er teuer zu werden drohte und zudem König Max nicht gefiel.
Im Talboden an der Nordseite unterhalb des Schlosses befindet sich der ursprünglich zum Schloss gehörende Schwanseepark, der heute stark zugewachsen ist. Der Park wurde angelegt nach Plänen von Peter Joseph Lenné.
An der Stelle des 1786 errichteten Amtshauses wurde im 19. Jahrhundert das Grandhotel Alpenrose erbaut, in dem 2011 vom Wittelsbacher Ausgleichsfonds das Museum der bayerischen Könige eröffnet wurde. Dieses zeigt rund 160 Original-Ausstellungsstücke vom Mittelalter bis in die Gegenwart. Kernpunkt des Museums ist der Saal der Könige, in dem die Erbauer von Hohenschwangau und Neuschwanstein, Max II. und Ludwig II., Thema sind. Seit dem Frühjahr 2019 beherbergt die Alpenrose außerdem das Alpenrose am See Restaurant & Café sowie 14 Hotelzimmer des AMERON Neuschwanstein Alpsee Resort & Spa der Althoff Hotels Gruppe.
Filmkulisse
Schloss Hohenschwangau diente für den von Walter Oehmichen, Gründer der Augsburger Puppenkiste, inszenierten Märchenfilm Brüderchen und Schwesterchen aus dem Jahr 1953 für die Produktionsfirma Schongerfilm als Filmkulisse für das Königsschloss.
(Wikipedia)
Der Alpsee ist ein 88 Hektar großer See in Bayern im Landkreis Ostallgäu. Er hat einen Umfang von 4,70 km und gehört zur Gemeinde Schwangau und liegt in unmittelbarer Nähe der Königsschlösser Hohenschwangau und Neuschwanstein direkt am Fuße des Berges Säuling. Zwei Kilometer nordwestlich des Sees liegt die Stadt Füssen, 450 Meter weiter südlich verläuft die Grenze zu Österreich. 400 Meter nördlich des Sees liegt der kleinere Schwansee.
Die Entstehung der Hohlform des Alpsees im Gebirge wird als Auslaugung dort ausgedehnt vorkommender leicht verwitterbarer „Raiblergipse“ (Alpseestörung) erklärt; das Wasser des Alpsees speist unter das Gebirge hindurch die Quellen des Schwansees. Der See ist von eiszeitlich geprägten rundlichen Waldbergen mit Gletscherschliff wie dem Schwarzenberg und dem Kitzberg mit verkarsteter Hochfläche umgeben.
Der See gilt als einer der saubersten Seen in Deutschland und wird im Sommer als Badesee in einer eigens dazu geschaffenen Badeanstalt (Alpseebad, am Südufer) genutzt. Ebenfalls gibt es ein Bootshaus, an dem Tretboote und Ruderboote ausgeliehen werden können. Bei ausreichender Kälte wird der See im Winter auch zum Schlittschuhlaufen genutzt.
Der See liegt im Landschaftsschutzgebiet Schutz von Landschaftsteilen im Bereich des Faulenbacher Tales, des Lechtales, des Schwanseetales und des Alpseegebietes im Landkreis Füssen (LSG-00078.01).
Der See ist Eigentum des Freistaats Bayern, der Wittelsbacher Ausgleichsfonds ist Pächter des Sees.
Das Ende 2011 eröffnete Museum der bayerischen Könige liegt direkt am Alpsee. Zudem gibt es einen Aussichtspunkt auf einem Felsvorsprung, den Pindarplatz.
(Wikipedia)
A lockdown stroll around Attenborough nature reserve on the 13th November 2020 and a view across one of the transformed gravel workings.
In 1929 large-scale commercial gravel extraction began around Attenborough and would continue for the next ninety years. The extraction formed deep lagoons and as the extraction moved away from the works the gravel was transported by barge through the ever-expanding network of lagoons. In 1965, an application from the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) looked to fill the lagoons with ash from Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station. However, by this time, the pits were already well-known for their wildlife interest and extensively used by local fishermen and birdwatchers, with records starting around 1948. Due to the strength of local feeling the CEGB withdrew their application and the ash was taken to Fletton, Peterborough. Discussions then began with the site’s then owners, Trent Gravels Ltd, about the future for the lagoons and it was agreed to develop the site as a nature reserve in parallel with contined gravel extraction. The opening ceremony as a nature reserve was in 1966 and was performed by David Attenborough. Gravel extraction has recently finished and the works are being demolished, whilst the nature reserve now welcomes around 500,000 visitors per year and is regarded as one of the best sites in the UK to see kingfishers.
In May/June 1940, as Allied forces, in particular the British withdrew and evacuated from Dunkirk, France it may have seemed like a terrible loss, a defeat. The French in particular may have felt abandoned. But it was a strategic withdrawal, designed to save as many lives as possible in the face of an overwhelming enemy. It would provide a massive break and a time to regroup so that one day, after much pain and sorrow, the Allies would rebuild and thrust forward again in various theatres of the war, but in particular, in June 1944 after four long years of gruelling and deadly battle, with Operation Overlord and the retaking of Europe.
As the forces withdrew at Dunkirk, Winston Churchill promised that the French would not be forgotten, that the forces would return and that there would be a Morning. He, together with others were as good as his word. If you ever get the opportunity to read his words or better still, listen to them, they are quite moving and inspirational. Words of great hope. We all need hope.
And as we all stand on yet another precipice of life, one we never expected three months ago, and all as bad or even worse in some ways than that day nearly 80 years ago, perhaps we can have hope too that there will be a Morning, a time when the tide genuinely turns, as we begin to win the battle to rid our planet of the current scourge and triumph with good over evil.
We took this early morning shot in one of the little bays or coves just south of Coolum on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. Not a pleasant time to be away, self isolation is appropriate at home. We will be happy enough if we get to have a holiday one day when this is all over.
Take care friends, the journey is just beginning I feel.
(The following should be read while listening to Debussy_ String Quartet In G Minor played in delicate counter point)
From the Panamint Springs Register, Oct 20, 1896
Dear Good Members of the Community:
It is my sad duty to report a regretful incident with one of our ‘newer citizens’
I’m sure I shared some of the mutual enthusiasm in the community when it was learned that a Daguerreotypist had taken up residence in a neatly turned out canvas house at the edge of Tent street. ( such a welcome change from all the gold diggers that have overwhelmed of late. ) Though Mr. Dodgeson’s place of business and residence seem to be one and the same, and its location is in a part of our town of which we are not particularly proud, I had high hopes that some of the more tedious portions of my experiments with glass phantomoizations could be happily passed on to Mr. Dodgeson’s Professional Hands.
Unfortunately, I have to report that my initial employment of Mr. Dodgeson has ended in a most disagreeable way imaginable. When I had not heard from the man, even after several days had passed beyond the date of his promised delivery, I ventured forth to his ‘tent’ and found him and my precious plates in the most debauched and improper state. Dare I hint in this respectable publication, that my arrival flushed out two most improperly attired ‘night birds’ who quickly withdrew, but not before dispensing with all manner of alarming and insulting information that they seemed to find most humorous.
Mr. Dodgeson was unable to speak clearly for himself at the time, (a incessant babbling ensued during my entire visit––something about the beauty of nature, the sun, the fortuity of female form, and the wickedness of commerce) However, the ruined images of my plates spoke loud and clear enough! It took all my good mannered training and patience not to give the man a good thrasing on the spot. As you can see the Khemical processing of my work has been performed in the most shoddy manner possible. What’s worse is that Mr Dodgeson has apparently taken it upon himself to inscribe upon the sorry results of his incompetence with all manner of obscene, incoherent drawings and writings.
Good Citizens of Panamint Springs! Heed my warning. Do not have any dealings with this dreadful man! Let my sorry experience be your lucky warning. Ladies especially should do well to keep a safe distance from the corruptive presence of Mr. Dodgson as there was ample evidence strewn about his tent in the form badly exposed plates of photographic endeavors involving the most unladylike behaviors of some members of our community, sadly this included several prominent citizens, whom propriety keeps me from mentioning here (shame on you, Mrs, S and Mrs K! and Miss L, until this day I was happily ignorant that such a thing were possible! ) I have spoken to the sherrif on this account and have been assured that Mr. Dodgeson days as a member of our business community are at end.
Your faithful servant
Hoarce B. Starcher
Editor in Cheif
(to properly inspect the damage and outrage click here)
Milan Cathedral, is the cathedral church of Milan, Lombardy, Italy. Dedicated to the Nativity of St Mary (Santa Maria Nascente), it is the seat of the Archbishop of Milan, currently Archbishop Mario Delpini.
The cathedral took nearly six centuries to complete: construction began in 1386, and the final details were completed in 1965. It is the largest church in the Italian Republic—the larger St. Peter's Basilica is in the State of Vatican City, a sovereign state—and possibly the second largest in Europe and the third largest in the world (its size and position remains a matter of debate).
Milan's layout, with streets either radiating from the Duomo or circling it, reveals that the Duomo occupies what was the most central site in Roman Mediolanum, that of the public basilica facing the forum. The first cathedral, the "new basilica" (basilica nova) dedicated to St Thecla, was completed by 355. It seems to share, on a slightly smaller scale, the plan of the contemporaneous church recently rediscovered beneath Tower Hill in London. An adjoining basilica was erected in 836. The old octagonal baptistery, the Battistero Paleocristiano, dates to 335 and still can be visited under the Cathedral. When a fire damaged the cathedral and basilica in 1075, they were rebuilt as the Duomo.
In 1386, Archbishop Antonio da Saluzzo began construction of the cathedral. Start of the construction coincided with the ascension to power in Milan of the archbishop's cousin Gian Galeazzo Visconti, and was meant as a reward to the noble and working classes, who had suffered under his tyrannical Visconti predecessor Barnabò. Before actual work began, three main buildings were demolished: the palace of the Archbishop, the Ordinari Palace and the Baptistry of St. Stephen at the Spring, while the old church of Sta. Maria Maggiore was exploited as a stone quarry. Enthusiasm for the immense new building soon spread among the population, and the shrewd Gian Galeazzo, together with his cousin the archbishop, collected large donations for the work-in-progress. The construction program was strictly regulated under the "Fabbrica del Duomo", which had 300 employees led by first chief engineer Simone da Orsenigo. Orsenigo initially planned to build the cathedral from brick in Lombard Gothic style.
Visconti had ambitions to follow the newest trends in European architecture. In 1389, a French chief engineer, Nicolas de Bonaventure, was appointed, adding to the church its Rayonnant Gothic. Galeazzo gave the Fabbrica del Duomo exclusive use of the marble from the Candoglia quarry and exempted it from taxes. Ten years later another French architect, Jean Mignot, was called from Paris to judge and improve upon the work done, as the masons needed new technical aid to lift stones to an unprecedented height.[8] Mignot declared all the work done up till then as in pericolo di ruina ("peril of ruin"), as it had been done sine scienzia ("without science"). In the following years Mignot's forecasts proved untrue, but they spurred Galeazzo's engineers to improve their instruments and techniques. Work proceeded quickly, and at the death of Gian Galeazzo in 1402, almost half the cathedral was complete. Construction, however, stalled almost totally until 1480, for lack of money and ideas: the most notable works of this period were the tombs of Marco Carelli and Pope Martin V (1424) and the windows of the apse (1470s), of which those extant portray St. John the Evangelist, by Cristoforo de' Mottis, and Saint Eligius and San John of Damascus, both by Niccolò da Varallo. In 1452, under Francesco Sforza, the nave and the aisles were completed up to the sixth bay.
In 1488, both Leonardo da Vinci and Donato Bramante created models in a competition to design the central cupola; Leonardo later withdrew his submission. In 1500 to 1510, under Ludovico Sforza, the octagonal cupola was completed, and decorated in the interior with four series of 15 statues each, portraying saints, prophets, sibyls and other Figures from the Bible. The exterior long remained without any decoration, except for the Guglietto dell'Amadeo ("Amadeo's Little Spire"), constructed 1507–1510. This is a Renaissance masterwork which nevertheless harmonized well with the general Gothic appearance of the church.
During the subsequent Spanish domination, the new church proved usable, even though the interior remained largely unfinished, and some bays of the nave and the transepts were still missing. In 1552 Giacomo Antegnati was commissioned to build a large organ for the north side of the choir, and Giuseppe Meda provided four of the sixteen reliefs which were to decorate the altar area (the program was completed by Federico Borromeo). In 1562, Marco d' Agrate's St. Bartholomew and the famous Trivulzio candelabrum (12th century) were added.
After the accession of Carlo Borromeo to the archbishop's throne, all lay monuments were removed from the Duomo. These included the tombs of Giovanni, and Filippo Maria Visconti, Francesco I and his wife Bianca, Galeazzo Maria, which were brought to unknown destinations. However, Borromeo's main intervention was the appointment, in 1571, of Pellegrino Pellegrini as chief engineer— a contentious move, since to appoint Pellegrino, who was not a lay brother of the duomo, required a revision of the Fabbrica's statutes.
Borromeo and Pellegrini strove for a new, Renaissance appearance for the cathedral, that would emphasise its Roman / Italian nature, and subdue the Gothic style, which was now seen as foreign. As the façade still was largely incomplete, Pellegrini designed a "Roman" style one, with columns, obelisks and a large tympanum. When Pellegrini's design was revealed, a competition for the design of the façade was announced, and this elicited nearly a dozen entries, including one by Antonio Barca
This design was never carried out, but the interior decoration continued: in 1575-1585 the presbytery was rebuilt, while new altars and the baptistry were added. The wooden choir stalls were constructed by 1614 for the main altar by Francesco Brambilla. In 1577 Borromeo finally consecrated the whole edifice as a new church, distinct from the old Santa Maria Maggiore and Santa Tecla (which had been unified in 1549 after heavy disputes).
At the beginning of the 17th century Federico Borromeo had the foundations of the new façade laid by Francesco Maria Richini and Fabio Mangone. Work continued until 1638 with the construction of five portals and two middle windows. In 1649, however, the new chief architect Carlo Buzzi introduced a striking revolution: the façade was to revert to original Gothic style, including the already finished details within big Gothic pilasters and two giant belfries. Other designs were provided by, among others, Filippo Juvarra (1733) and Luigi Vanvitelli (1745), but all remained unapplied. In 1682 the façade of Santa Maria Maggiore was demolished and the cathedral's roof covering completed.
In 1762 one of the main features of the cathedral, the Madonnina's spire, was erected at the dizzying height of 108.5 m. The spire was designed by Carlo Pellicani and sports at the top a famous polychrome Madonnina statue, designed by Giuseppe Perego that befits the stature of the cathedral. Given Milan's notoriously damp and foggy climate, the Milanese consider it a fair-weather day when the Madonnina is visible from a distance, as it is so often covered by mist.
On 20 May 1805, Napoleon Bonaparte, about to be crowned King of Italy, ordered the façade to be finished by Pellicani. In his enthusiasm, he assured that all expenses would fall to the French treasurer, who would reimburse the Fabbrica for the real estate it had to sell. Even though this reimbursement was never paid, it still meant that finally, within only seven years, the Cathedral's façade was completed. Pellicani largely followed Buzzi's project, adding some neo-Gothic details to the upper windows. As a form of thanksgiving, a statue of Napoleon was placed at the top of one of the spires. Napoleon was crowned King of Italy at the Duomo.
In the following years, most of the missing arches and spires were constructed. The statues on the southern wall were also finished, while in 1829–1858, new stained glass windows replaced the old ones, though with less aesthetically significant results. The last details of the cathedral were finished only in the 20th century: the last portal was inaugurated on 6 January 1965. This date is considered the very end of a process which had proceeded for generations, although even now, some uncarved blocks remain to be completed as statues. The Allied bombing of Milan in World War II further delayed construction. Like many other cathedrals in cities bombed by the Allied forces, the Duomo suffered some damage, although to a lesser degree compared to other major buildings in the vicinity such as the La Scala Theatre. It was quickly repaired and became a place of solace and gathering for displaced local residents.
The Duomo's main façade went under renovation from 2003 to early 2009: as of February 2009, it has been completely uncovered, showing again the colours of the Candoglia marble.
In November 2012 officials announced a campaign to raise funds for the cathedral's preservation by asking patrons to adopt the building's spires. The effects of pollution on the 14th-century building entail regular maintenance, and recent austerity cuts to Italy's culture budget has left less money for upkeep of cultural institutions, including the cathedral. To help make up funds, Duomo management launched a campaign offering its 135 spires up for "adoption." Donors who contribute €100,000 (about $110,505) or more will have a plaque with their name engraved on it placed on the spire.
Saint Nectarios of Aegina (1846–1920), Metropolitan of Pentapolis and Wonderworker of Aegina, was officially recognized as a Saint by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1961. On November 7, 1876, he became a monk, at age 30, in the Monastery of Nea Moni. Three years after becoming a monk he was ordained a Deacon, taking the name Nectarios. He graduated from the University of Athens in 1885. During his years as a student of the University of Athens he wrote many books, pamphlets, and Bible commentaries.
In 1904 at the request of several nuns, he established a monastery for them on the island of Aegina. The Monastery was named Holy Trinity Monastery. In December 1908, at the age of 62, St. Nectarios resigned from his post as school director and withdrew to the Holy Trinity Convent on Aegina, where he lived out the rest of his life as a Monk. He wrote, published, preached, and heard confessions from those who came from near and far to seek out his spiritual guidance. (Wikipedia)
aerial image: Bentwaters Cold War Museum, Suffolk, England
Once one of the most significant front-line airbases during the Cold War, RAF Bentwaters played a vital role in NATO’s air defence network from the late 1940s until its closure in 1993. Located near Woodbridge in Suffolk, it was originally opened in 1943 as a Royal Air Force station, but it was soon taken over by the United States Army Air Forces and later by the United States Air Force.
From 1951 onwards, Bentwaters became one of two “twin bases” — the other being RAF Woodbridge — forming the so-called “Twin Bases Complex” under USAF control. For decades, it was home to various American fighter squadrons, most notably those of the 81st Tactical Fighter Wing. The base hosted a succession of aircraft including the Republic F-84 Thunderjet, North American F-86 Sabre, McDonnell F-4 Phantom II, and finally the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II (Warthog) — which remained stationed here right up until the early 1990s.
The site became an operational hub for tactical air support, nuclear strike readiness, and air defence exercises during periods of great international tension — including the Berlin Crisis, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and later NATO’s operations throughout the 1980s. RAF Bentwaters is also closely associated with the famous Rendlesham Forest Incident of December 1980, often dubbed “Britain’s Roswell,” which involved personnel from the base.
Following the end of the Cold War, the USAF withdrew, and the airfield was handed back to the Ministry of Defence in 1993. Today, the airfield survives as Bentwaters Parks, used for commercial, filming, and heritage purposes. The Bentwaters Cold War Museum, located in the old hardened command bunker and adjacent buildings seen here, is run by dedicated volunteers who preserve its unique history.
Outside the museum are several restored aircraft and vehicles representing the types once operated from the base — including examples of the A-10 Thunderbolt, Hawker Hunter and various NATO aircraft. Inside, the original Battle Cabin, radar equipment, and operations rooms have been carefully reconstructed, offering visitors a vivid glimpse into Cold War life behind the wire.
This is the one place my Dad wanted to visit.
More about Audie Murphy here.
MURPHY, AUDIE L.
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company B 1 5th Infantry, 3d Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Holtzwihr France, 26 January 1945. Entered service at: Dallas, Tex. Birth: Hunt County, near Kingston, Tex. G.O. No.. 65, 9 August 1945. Citation 2d Lt. Murphy commanded Company B, which was attacked by 6 tanks and waves of infantry. 2d Lt. Murphy ordered his men to withdraw to prepared positions in a woods, while he remained forward at his command post and continued to give fire directions to the artillery by telephone. Behind him, to his right, 1 of our tank destroyers received a direct hit and began to burn. Its crew withdrew to the woods. 2d Lt. Murphy continued to direct artillery fire which killed large numbers of the advancing enemy infantry. With the enemy tanks abreast of his position, 2d Lt. Murphy climbed on the burning tank destroyer, which was in danger of blowing up at any moment, and employed its .50 caliber machine gun against the enemy. He was alone and exposed to German fire from 3 sides, but his deadly fire killed dozens of Germans and caused their infantry attack to waver. The enemy tanks, losing infantry support, began to fall back. For an hour the Germans tried every available weapon to eliminate 2d Lt. Murphy, but he continued to hold his position and wiped out a squad which was trying to creep up unnoticed on his right flank. Germans reached as close as 10 yards, only to be mowed down by his fire. He received a leg wound, but ignored it and continued the single-handed fight until his ammunition was exhausted. He then made his way to his company, refused medical attention, and organized the company in a counterattack which forced the Germans to withdraw. His directing of artillery fire wiped out many of the enemy; he killed or wounded about 50. 2d Lt. Murphy's indomitable courage and his refusal to give an inch of ground saved his company from possible encirclement and destruction, and enabled it to hold the woods which had been the enemy's objective.
3 years ago, *today* ...
(damn, i didn't even realize that until this *moment*.
hold on, i need another moment ... )
wow. okay.
3 years ago today a new phase of my life started. i'm afraid i came undone.
you know that stats graph for your photos here on flickr? i picture my life these past
3 years - in general - as that dotted line at the end, of each day, abruptly
veering downward, going ... ? where exactly?
one of my favorite all-time quotes: "change comes very slowly, and very suddenly."
for 7 years it built up, to that day. and then everything seemed to suddenly
drop out from under.
in my mind - over and over - i've heard myself say: "i haven't been the same since."
at first it made sense that i would need time for those stages - how many? 7? the first - shock - lasted a long time. wait, who am i kidding? it's still in play. and actually i prefer
to call it stun: "to deprive of consciousness or strength".
yeah, that's it, especially the strength part. another way of putting it - i've heard myself say - "i just haven't have the heart for ... " almost anything it seems.
the heart - strength, courage, will, passion.
i withdrew, a lot. having been a performer and nightcrawler for many years,
it's been strange, disconcerting to not want to "go out"; not want
to see anyone, do anything.
i've felt like a bad friend, i've felt devoid of character.
in limbo for too long, knowing *something* had to change, i moved across country,
back to the company of some family left 23 years ago. for awhile, for now. "to see."
it's been strange, hard, and good.
but honestly? my only interests: photographing, watching movies at home,
2dimensional, flat, detached, vicarious.
although there also was a man, for a little more than a year, sort of. begun
as a distraction, i thought perhaps i could pull that off for just a little while,
to help "transition". but i'm too old for that now, and i fall, i fall, in love.
i always fall. i'm clumsy that way.
so i shifted into my proximate, ensuing modus operandi - delusion. he would love me. how could he not?! i am love-able, i am adore-able. certainly he would choose me!
and i would be validated, at last, chosen! one last shot! and he did not!
stunned, by stumbling down the same road, tripping into the same potholes
of the same old roads past traveled. clumsy. "fall down 7 times, get up 8".
when
is
this
going
to
end?
am i finished being "triggered" by the loss; of what i thought was to be?
sent reeling into grieving back, back, further, all the way, to that earliest formative experience of grief? that of being unwanted? by a mother of 17, by a father long gone?
of being tied to the bed and left immobilized, alone, in the cold, dark, for hours, and hours, and hours, a day, two?
i remember consciousness at that age of three - thinking "why are they doing this to me? why is this happening? am i being punished? for what? is god punishing me? i must have come into this life innately bad and deserving of punishment. or maybe this is just what life is, what existence is, at least mine: empty, void, dark, mean, hungry, cold, frozen, rigid, lone, endless ...... "
i'm afraid, of this frayed fringey life of mine having peaked out
like the stats on my photos. afraid of the end of the page there,
dropping off
into nothingness,
the unknowing ...
who is charting this graph?
i've heard there are 3 things people need in life, in order to thrive (my word):
1) someone to love
2) something to do
3) something to look forward to
this is a simple formula, but rendered incomprehensibly complex
by the enormous possible combinations of factors,
the who/what/where/why/how/whens.
i can't factor this all in! i can't figure this out!
i have always been mathphobic!
i must run from the room
to hide, outside!
or else here, i remain
undone.
loosely dropped to the floor,
but undone,
at least i remain.
.................................................................................................
"hope dies last."
~ studs terkel
.................................................................................................
Excerpt from www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_nhs_eng.aspx?id=428:
Existing plaque: on Lundy's Lane Monument in cemetery Niagara Falls, Ontario:
This was the site of the bloodiest battle of the War of 1812. On the afternoon of 25th July, 1814, Lieutenant-General Gordon Drummond with about 2800 men engaged the invading American army which had recently been victorious at Chippewa. The armies were evenly matched and the six-hour battle lasted until darkness and heavy losses put an end to the fighting. Each force had lost over 800 men. Although each claimed victory, the Americans had failed to dislodge Drummond from his position. They withdrew the next day, ending their offensive in Upper Canada.
Description of Historic Place
The Battle of Lundy’s Lane National Historic Site of Canada is located in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The battle occurred on July 25, 1814 on what was a rise of clear farmland surrounded by an orchard and forest, situated upon Lundy’s Lane. The location of the site is now marked by a plaque located within Drummond Hill Cemetery. Lundy’s Lane was the site of a major battle between the British and American forces in which the Americans, who were advancing after the Battle of Chippewa, attacked the British defensive position that they had taken up.
Following a bitterly contested engagement, the Americans withdrew. The six-hour long battle was one of the bloodiest battles of the War of 1812 and marked the end of American offensive action in Upper Canada. Official recognition refers to a parcel of land in the City of Niagara Falls that is roughly four-blocks square and encompasses the site of the battle.
Heritage Value
The Battle of Lundy’s Lane was designated a national historic site of Canada in 1937 because: it was the bloodiest battle of the War of 1812; and, the Americans failed to dislodge the British from their position, ending the American offensive in Upper Canada.
In the summer of 1814, American forces crossed the Niagara River at Fort Erie to invade Upper Canada. Advancing northward along the Niagara River, they had initial success, defeating a British force at the Battle of Chippawa. The British under Sir Gordon Drummond regrouped and on the evening of 25 July, on Lundy’s Lane almost within sight of Niagara Falls, the British regulars and Canadian militia were attacked by the American forces. Throughout the evening the two armies attacked each other and the battle surged back and forth, especially around the field guns in what is now the Drummond Hill Cemetery. Both sides suffered heavy casualties but by midnight the Americans retired leaving the exhausted British and Canadians holding the field. The Battle of Lundy’s Lane was the bloodiest and bitterest contest of the War of 1812 and it broke the American thrust in 1814 to take Upper Canada.
Character-Defining Elements
- its location within the limits of Niagara Falls; the setting on a grassed area of the Drummond Hill Cemetery where the plaque commemorating the site is located; the location and integrity of the monument to the battle erected in 1895, and the three tablets fixed to the monument in 1935 that bear the names of the officers and soldiers of the regular regiments of the British Army and Canadian militia killed in action during the engagement; the integrity of any surviving or as yet unidentified archaeological remains which may be found within the site in their original placement and extent.
The West wind followed the quarrelling clouds
Encircled them, gave a fillip goaded to move
And drove to mountains waiting shrewd
But calm collected and cool
Ready to condense, decant
The pure fluid from pregnant clouds
As distilled beverage for the thirsty
Scorching throats of the world
Yearning for a rain instant
The brooding dark blue clouds
In multitudes rallied round
The high walls of the mount, divided
Stood, like battalions bound to fight
for the party favoured
The wild wind whistled
Like battle horn, amplified
A call for battle, and battle joined
Clouds exploded, emblazoned the sky
The dazzling glow of fire
Silverlined the darkish clouds
In feud, and left the heavens
Down on earth flashed
And then caused an uproar
So deafening as atomic blasts.
The tumultuous noise and lights
Shuddered the entire world,
Cobras lowering hoods
To holes withdrew
Peacocks danced, rainbirds delighted
And winged a joyous flight.
- Anuj Nair
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© 2011 Anuj Nair. All rights reserved.
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© 2011 Anuj Nair. All rights reserved.
All images and poems are the property of Anuj Nair.
Using these images and poems without permission is in violation of international copyright laws (633/41 DPR19/78-Disg 154/97-L.248/2000). All materials may not be copied, reproduced, distributed, republished, downloaded, displayed, posted or transmitted in any forms or by any means,including electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording without written permission of Anuj Nair. Every violation will be pursued penally.
A new bridge has just been completed alongside the Woolwich riverside, which is a godsend for cyclists as before you had to cycle into a housing estate & along a busy road for 1.5 miles to eventually get back on the riverside. The new bridge now brings you out at Bowater rd next to the Thames Barrier. This road has been closed for many years, so to my delight, this old abandoned, beautiful Siemens bros building appeared before me.
The Siemens & Halske Company was founded in London in 1858 and in 1863 with continued expansion bought a piece of land on the Thames in Woolwich and built on it a cable factory, a mechanical workshop and stores. In 1865 Halske withdrew his support for the Company and William and Werner Siemens took over the assets and re-registered the business as Siemens Brothers, London. At it's height in the post war period the company employed 8000 people.
The business in Woolwich closed in 1968, some buildings were demolished & replaced with new prefabricated buildings which form part of the trading estate there. There are now plans to refurbish this grand old beautiful building into, yes you guessed it 'Luxury style living accommodation'
FedEx Express N588FE ‘Kendra’ McDonnell Douglas MD-11F c/n 48490.
The aircraft was originally built as a passenger variant (MD-11) and delivered to American Airlines in May 1992, registered as N1755. American Airlines withdrew the aircraft from service in May 2000. It was then acquired by FedEx Express (Federal Express), converted to a freighter, and re-registered as N588FE. It was delivered to FedEx in October 2000. N588FE served as a cargo aircraft in the FedEx fleet, operating with the fleet number 588. After a total service life of 33.6 years, N588FE was withdrawn from use by FedEx on 21 July 2024. The next day, 22 July 2024, it was ferried to Victorville (VCV), California, for storage.
At the Battle of Perryville in Kentucky, Braxton Bragg's Army of Mississippi engaged nearly 40 percent of Don Carlos Buell's Army of the Ohio; namely, the I Corps of Major General Alexander M. McCook. Fortunately for Bragg and the South, nearly 60 percent of the Union army was oblivious that there was a fight going on until late in the battle because of the absorption of battle sounds by the rolling hills. After Buell finally realized that McCook's I Corps had single-handedly been fighting a battle, his 23,000 reserve troops began to arrive at the battlefield and assist McCook. The Confederate advance hit a brick wall. As the Confederates were pushed back, skirmishes broke out in the distant town of Perryville. By darkness of night, Bragg and his troops stealthily withdrew from Kentucky. The Army of Mississippi declared a tactical win, since they had pushed back the superior numbers of McCook's I Corps a mile before having to retreat.
From the U.S. perspective, the Confederates abandoned their Heartland Offensive then and there. That was a significant and strategic Union win. No other major Confederate field army would ever return to Kentucky after the Battle of Perryville.
With a scarcity of resources for the Confederate States compared to the abundance of the United States, the Army of Mississippi strategically and quickly withdrew from Kentucky to resort to a less costly defensive campaign in friendly Tennessee. That would put the burden on the Union, in turn, to expend relatively more of its resources on offensive maneuvers in Confederate territory.
A small exception was John Hunt Morgan's Confederate cavalry brigade, which would run raids into Kentucky towns.
A footbridge over the River Wye connecting two parks, Castle Green and Bishops Meadows, in Hereford, Herefordshire.
Hereford means the ford used by the army. The Saxons arrived in this part of England in the 7th century and a settlement grew up at the ford. Saxon Hereford also had a mint and a weekly market. Hereford was able to resist a Danish attack in 914. About 1050 a castle was built in Hereford. However the town was burned by the Welsh in 1055.
After the Norman conquest many Frenchmen came to settle in Hereford. The town grew northwards and the market was moved to a new position north of the old town. In Medieval Hereford the main industry making wool. The wool was woven then it was fulled. That means the wool was cleaned and thickened by being pounded in a mixture of clay and water. The wool was pounded by wooden hammers worked by watermills. The Normans set about rebuilding Hereford cathedral.
Bishop Thomas Cantilupe died in 1282. He was buried in Hereford and in 1320 he was canonised (declared a saint). Soon people reported miracles at his shrine and many pilgrims visited the town to see it adding to the prosperity of the town.
In 1642 came civil war between king and parliament. Hereford strongly supported the king. In September 1642 a parliamentary force took Hereford but they withdrew in December. A small royalist army then held the town but they fled in April 1643 when a superior parliamentary force came. Hereford soon changed hands again when the parliamentarians left and a royalist army arrived.
A parliamentary army laid siege to the town in July 1645 but they were unable to take Hereford. They withdrew in September. However by then the king was losing the war. In December the parliamentarians took Hereford by trickery. Some of their soldiers dressed as laborers and took shovels and picks. They went to Bysters Gate. When it was opened they took control and let in more parliamentary soldiers. Hereford was soon taken.
In the 18th century Hereford remained a quiet market town. In 1757 it had a population of 5,592. There was little manufacturing industry although it was known for glove making. In the 1720's Daniel Defoe visited Hereford but he was not impressed, he called it 'mean built and very dirty!'.
At the end of the 18th century all the gates around Hereford were demolished as they restricted traffic. Wye Bridge Gate and Friars Gate went in 1782. St Owens Gate went in 1786, Eign Gate followed in 1787, Bysters Gate and Widemarsh Gate were demolished in 1798.
Information Source:
File: 2019001-0660
Previous scaled down 1936 x 1296 image replaced with original full size 3872 x 2592 image.
2019 Formula 1 British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit, near Silverstone, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom. Race Day, Sunday 14th July 2019.
About the subject.
This is the British driver Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes AMG-Petronas F1 W10 EQ Power+ single-seat, open-wheel formula car, with number 44 painted on it, which is his personal racing number. Note the white lettering on the tyres (tires), indicating hard compound tyres.
Here, he is seen at the end of the race, driving off the track to get closer to the grandstand, so fans can get a closer view of him waving at them. I took the photo from my front row seat.
At that time, he won his 7th race of the 2019 season, and his 6th at his home race.
Hamilton, whose full name is Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton, was born on 7th January 1985, in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. His father bought him a go-kart when Hamilton was at the age of 6, and promised to support him in his racing career.
At the age of 8 in 1993, he started proper karting, and shortly afterwards started winning karting races and championships. One day he asked McLaren boss Ron Dennis for an autograph and also said he wants to drive F1 when he grows up.
In 1998, Dennis offered him a place in the McLaren driver development programme, and by 2007, he got a seat in a Formula One race. Making him, to date, the first and only black driver to drive in F1.
He came so close to winning the World Driver’s Championship in 2007, short of only just 1 point, but by the following year, in 2008, he won his first Championship.
In 2013, he moved to join Mercedes, and went on to win 6 more championships, making a total of 7 titles, equalling Michael Schumacher.
The F1 W10 EQ Power+ was developed by Mercedes-Benz for the 2019 Formula One season, and took 15 wins, 10 pole positions, 9 fastest laps, and the 2019 Constructor’s Championship.
Although Mercedes had been in F1 back in the 1950s, and withdrew from motor racing in 1955, the current Mercedes-AMG F1 Team started 2010 after buying Brawn GP. The team then went on to win 7 Constructor’s Championship.
Race Summary.
The starting grid in the following order was: BOT, HAM, LEC, VER, GAS, VET, RIC, NOR, ALB, HUL, GIO, RAI, SAI, GRO, PER, MAG, KVY, STR, RUS, KUB.
The race started, and on the first lap, the two Haas drivers collided at the exit of turn 5.
One of my photos shows Magnussen in car number 20 with a rear wheel puncture, seen here: www.flickr.com/photos/132335712@N05/49955865996/
Both cars managed to pit, but Magnussen retired on Lap 6 and Grosjean retired on Lap 9, both because of the damages to their cars.
Bottas and Hamilton briefly fought for the lead, and later, Hamilton would lead during most of the race.
Leclerc and Verstappen pitted at same time on Lap 14. When coming into the pit lane, Leclerc was ahead, but the Red Bull pit stop crew were faster, and for a short moment, both cars were side by side while going through the pit lane, until Verstappen got ahead.
Around Lap 18, Antonio Giovinazzi, whom was running in 9th place, had a mechanical failure and ended up in the gravel at turn 16, forcing out a Safety Car.
My photo of the Safety Car is found here: www.flickr.com/photos/132335712@N05/49877436363/
When the race resumed on Lap 24, Perez and Hulkenberg made contact, Perez pitted for new wings, but would end up last in the race.
Verstappen overtook Vettel for the 3rd place, but when attempting to take back the position, Vettel locked up his brakes and collided into the back of the Red Bull. Both cars spun into the gravel, but managed to get back on the track and continued racing.
Vettel finished 15th but was handed a 10-second penalty for causing a collision, thus ended up 16th.
Lewis Hamilton won the race plus an extra point for fastest lap.
The results: 1: HAM (26pts), 2: BOT (18pts), 3: LEC (15pts), 4: GAS (12pts), 5: VER (10pts), 6: SAI (8pts), 7: RIC (6pts), 8: RAI (4pts), 9: KVY (2pts), 10: HUL (1pts), 11: NOR, 12: ALB, 13: STR, 14: RUS, 15:KUB, 16:VET, 17:PER, Ret: GIO, GRO, MAG.
You are welcome to comment on my photo, about the subject itself, or about your story. But the Comment Box is NOT an adverting billboard for links to the groups. Clickable links to groups IS all about the groups, and does not say much about my photographs, therefore will be deleted. If you want to promote the groups, do so IN YOUR own Photostream!
Taba (Arabic: طابا) is a small Egyptian town near the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba. Taba is the location of Egypt's busiest border crossing with neighboring Israel. Little more than a bus depot and a luxury hotel (complete with casino), Taba is a frequent vacation spot for Egyptians and tourists, especially those from Israel on their way to others destinations in Egypt or as a weekend getaway. It is the northernmost resort of Egypt's Red Sea Riviera.
Taba was located on the Egyptian side of the armistice line agreed to in 1949. During the Suez Crisis in 1956 it was briefly occupied but returned to Egypt when Israel withdrew in 1957. Israel reoccupied the Sinai Peninsula after the Six-Day War in 1967, and subsequently built a 400-room hotel in Taba. Following the 1973 Yom-Kippur War, when Egypt and Israel were negotiating the exact position of the border in preparation for the 1979 peace treaty, Israel claimed that Taba had been on the Ottoman side of a border agreed between the Ottomans and British Egypt in 1906 and had, therefore, been in error in its two previous agreements. Although most of Sinai was returned to Egypt in 1982, Taba was the last portion to be returned. After a long dispute, the issue was submitted to an international commission composed of one Israeli, one Egyptian, and three outsiders. In 1988, the commission ruled in Egypt's favor, and Israel returned Taba to Egypt in 1989.[1]
As part of this subsequent agreement, travellers are permitted to cross from Israel at the Eilat - Taba border crossing, and visit the "Aqaba Coast Area of Sinai", (stretching from Taba down to Sharm el Sheikh, and including Nuweiba, St Catherine and Dahab), visa-free for up to 14 days, making Taba a popular tourist destination. The resort community of Taba Heights is located some 20 km south of Taba. It features several large hotels, including The Hyatt Regency, Marriott, Sofitel and Intercontinental. It is also a significant diving area where many people come to either free dive, scuba dive or learn to dive via the many PADI courses on offer. Other recreation facilities include a new desert style golf course.
Ponte Luiz I, sobre o Rio Douro.- Porto
Portugal
Um dos mais importantes e populares cartões-de-visita da cidade Invicta, é a ponte Luiz I.
Liga a ribeira do Porto ao cais de Vila Nova de Gaia, e todos portuenses a conhecem, e provavelmente a maioria já teve o privilégio de a atravessar no tabuleiro superior ou inferior.
Em 1879 começa a pensar-se na substituição da Ponte Pênsil que no fim descobriram que não era tão eficaz para a circulação do trânsito que crescia entre Porto e Gaia, e em 1881 começa então mas só 5 anos mais tarde foi inaugurada.
A ponte teve 2 momentos de inauguração: O tabuleiro superior foi inaugurado a 31 de Outubro de 1886, no dia de aniversário do rei D. Luiz; e o tabuleiro inferior só foi inaugurado só um ano mais tarde.
O autor da ponte foi Théophile Sevrig, um discípulo de Gustav Eiffel, e não pelo próprio autor da Torre Eiffel como muitos pensam.
Entre 1886 e 1944 quem queria passar a ponte tinha que pagar portagem, e este valor era pago por pessoa.
A circulação rodoviária do tabuleiro superior só foi proibida a partir de 2003, ano em que foi adoptado ao metro.
Esta ponte inovou na época ao possuir dois tabuleiros que consideravam duas cotas diferentes das cidades. O tabuleiro superior tem 395 metros de comprimento, e o inferior 174 metros.
Esta obra de arte, foi a ponte com o maior arco de ferro forjado do mundo, durante muitos anos – 172m. Apenas em 2017 foi ultrapassada por uma ponte Chinesa.
Em Dezembro de 2019, a Ponte Luiz I foi considerada uma das 15 pontes mais bonitas da Europa pela European Best Destinations, uma organização europeia de consumidores e especialistas que promove o turismo e a cultura na Europa, com sede em Bruxelas.
O nome da ponte é uma homenagem ao então rei Dom Luiz I, casado com Maria Pia, que já tinha dado o nome à ponte ferroviária.
Os portuenses anteciparam a cerimónia de inauguração para fazer coincidir com o aniversário do Rei, mas reza a história que o Rei não apareceu, o que ofendeu os tripeiros, que retiraram o título real à ponte, baptizando-a ponte apenas de “Luiz I”.
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One of the most important and popular visiting cards in the Invicta city is the Luiz I bridge.
It connects the Porto stream to the Vila Nova de Gaia pier, and everyone from Porto knows it, and probably most of them have already had the privilege of crossing it on the upper or lower deck.
In 1879, thinking began to replace the Pênsil Bridge, which in the end they discovered was not so efficient for the circulation of traffic that grew between Porto and Gaia, and in 1881 it began then, but only 5 years later was it inaugurated.
The bridge had 2 moments of inauguration: The upper deck was inaugurated on October 31, 1886, on King Luiz's birthday; and the lower board was only opened a year later.
The author of the bridge was Théophile Sevrig, a disciple of Gustav Eiffel, and not by the author of the Eiffel Tower himself, as many think.
Between 1886 and 1944 anyone who wanted to cross the bridge had to pay toll, and this amount was paid per person.
Road traffic on the upper deck was only prohibited from 2003, the year in which the metro was adopted.
This bridge innovated at the time by having two boards that considered two different dimensions of the cities. The upper deck is 395 meters long, and the lower 174 meters.
This work of art was the bridge with the longest wrought iron arch in the world for many years – 172m. Only in 2017 was it passed by a Chinese bridge.
In December 2019, Ponte Luiz I was considered one of the 15 most beautiful bridges in Europe by European Best Destinations, a European organization of consumers and experts that promotes tourism and culture in Europe, headquartered in Brussels.
The bridge's name is a tribute to the then King Dom Luiz I, married to Maria Pia, who had already given the name to the railway bridge.
The people from Porto anticipated the inauguration ceremony to make it coincide with the King's birthday, but the story goes that the King did not appear, which offended the tripeiros, who withdrew the royal title to the bridge, naming the bridge just “Luiz I” .
Augusto Nicolás Calderón Sandino (May 18, 1895 – February 21, 1934) was a Nicaraguan revolutionary and leader of a rebellion against the U.S. military presence in Nicaragua between 1927 and 1933. He was labeled a bandit by the United States government, and his exploits made him a hero throughout much of Latin America, where he became a symbol of resistance to U.S. domination.
Drawing the United States Marines into an undeclared guerrilla war, his guerrilla organization suffered many defeats, but he successfully evaded capture. US troops withdrew from the country after overseeing the inauguration of President Juan Bautista Sacasa.
Sandino was assassinated by General Anastasio Somoza García, who went on to seize power in a coup d'état two years later, establishing a family dynasty that would rule Nicaragua for over forty years. Sandino's legacy was claimed by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), which overthrew the Somoza government in 1979.
Sandino became a hero to many leftists in Nicaragua and much of Latin America as a Robin Hood figure who opposed domination from wealthy elites and foreigners, such as the United States. His dislike of the American presence was tempered by the love he said he felt towards Americans in the same situation as himself.
His picture and silhouette complete with the oversized cowboy hat became recognized symbols of the Sandinista National Liberation Front, originally founded in 1961 by Carlos Fonseca and Tomás Borge, among others, and later led by Daniel Ortega.
He was also idolized by leftists everywhere such as Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. His brand of warfare was used by Castro, FARC in Colombia, and the Sandinistas as well as by the FMLN in El Salvador.
What's good today? Yesterday there were eight Royal Spoonbills working these edges. I mused at the time about how long this water body would support that many beaks. Now there are two. Tomorrow, according to my informant, there are none.
Theirs is a curious lifestyle. You can see how murky is this water. They shuffle along, mostly, swinging that improbable beak from side to side until, somehow, it slams shut on some morsel. Without missing a beat, their head flips back, bring that beak above the horizontal. The morsel is tossed back and the whole business repeated. I said shuffle, but I have seen a Royal Spoonbill make an attempt at "sprinting" after a missed crab in the Invercargill Estuary. It was comical.
In this fresh water a spoonbill might expect to encounter tadpoles, small fish, insect larvae, crustaceans, snails, perhaps tiny mussels.
What was on the menu? I have no idea. This feeding behaviour didn't last long once the people with dogs turned up. This bird withdrew to the perch recently vacated by the darter who had returned to the water — further from the dogs? — and it was time for me to go too.
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Please: no invitations and no flashy whatevers – I prefer a silent look or a few honest words. Thank you!
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Last week I visited Gabo's World and brought him the darkroom-photos I had taken some days before (in his garage where he keeps a lot of interesting stuff) since he was curious to see what had come out of the time I had spent in the dark.
It had not been easy to get up the nerve to do this, but I was brave... and Gabo was all excited when he saw the photos. "You're an artist, I knew it, you're an artist!" he shouted. "You should exhibit your images – we're going to exhibit them!" And he ran away with the photos in order to show them to his wife Maria. He left me upset and speechless.
Later he brought me a glass of iced tea and wanted to know whether I'm d'accord (happy to agree) to his idea of exhibiting my images. "I'm not sure," I said, "let me think about it." And he ran again away to show the photos to some customers. "Aren't they great?!" I heard him exclaim, "I knew she's an artist!"
I felt abashed and withdrew into the garage. Maria came and wanted to know whether I've got everything what I need. Gabo came back and installed some lamp (which wasn't useful at the end, I love the darkness and the little bit of daylight which comes in from the open door).
I spent about two hours in the garage. It's a pretty dusty place and I was all dirty after. And happy. I took some really fine pictures which I'm going to upload during the next days.
I'm still thinking about Gabo's suggestion. Guess I'm not brave enough to do it. But we will see.
(Wish I'd had a father like him.)
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the words have come and gone,
I sit ill.
the phone rings, the cats sleep.
Linda vacuums.
I am waiting to live,
waiting to die.
I wish I could ring in some bravery.
it's a lousy fix
but the tree outside doesn't know:
I watch it moving with the wind
in the late afternoon sun.
there's nothing to declare here,
just a waiting.
each faces it alone.
Oh, I was once young,
Oh, I was once unbelievably
young!
~ Charles Bukowski ~
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The Grade II Listed Lincoln Theatre Royal, Clasketgate, Lincoln, Lincolnshire.
The present theatre, initially called the New Theatre Royal, was built in 1893 to the designs of Bertie Crewe and W.G.R. Sprague. An explosion and fire in 1892 had destroyed the previous theatre on the site, built in 1806. The 1806 theatre was itself a rebuild of an earlier theatre of 1764 on Butchery Street, now called Clasketgate. The structure of the building remained the same until 1907, when the present frontage, foyer, and lounge were added, spinning the orientation of the entrance to face Clasketgate.
From 1893 to 1954 the theatre was run by a succession of leaseholders and managers presenting popular plays, musicals, music hall stars and film. In 1954 it became a weekly repertory theatre under the Lincoln Theatre Association until bankruptcy in 1976, after which it was taken over by Paul Elliot Entertainments in association with Chris Moreno. Under Elliot it became a producing house for its own shows, and a design and production facility for various UK theatre pantomimes, national tours and cruise-ship shows, and a continuing venue for amateur dramatic companies. Chris Moreno became sole manager and lessee in 1993.
In 2009 the local authority, Lincoln City Council, withdrew its ongoing subsidy which led to a threat of closure, and to scrutiny of how council funding had been used. Bids from amateur dramatic, church and community groups, and local entertainment businesses to take-over the theatre's lease were unsuccessful. The theatre survived and was taken over by ID Productions, using it as a base for its touring shows. Theatre Royal's professional theatre offer is now largely as a receiving house for UK theatre tours and musical acts.
In 2016 after financial problems the running of the theatre was taken over by the New Lincoln Theatre company.
Taken at the rennactment of the battle of Perryville Ky.
The Battle of Perryville, also known as the Battle of Chaplin Hills, was fought on October 8, 1862, in the Chaplin Hills west of Perryville, Kentucky, as the culmination of the Confederate Heartland Offensive (Kentucky Campaign) during the American Civil War. Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg's Army of Mississippi won a tactical victory against primarily a single corps of Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell's Union Army of the Ohio. The battle is considered a strategic Union victory, sometimes called the Battle for Kentucky, because Bragg withdrew to Tennessee soon thereafter, leaving the critical border state of Kentucky in Union hands for the remainder of the war.