Returning from 2022 (when I couldn't go), Lightscape transformed the Royal Botanical Gardens of Melbourne/Naarm.

 

In past light exhibitions (I specifically recall their fire events), the art displays have been somewhat interactive. This exhibition kept you on a specific path you could not wander off from. Therefore I felt detached from the artworks. Whilst there were a couple of highlights in the first half (starting from the main gate entrance), I felt the real excited began after the midway point.

 

I went to the relaxed session, but their idea of lower numbers, is ridiculous. we started the trail right on go time, but within 45mins, the grounds were swarming with people. There should have been a much longer lead time for the relaxed session - lower numbers is the biggest draw card for people with disability and neurodiversity. PLUS the volume of the music playing was not at relaxed levels. Accessibility isn't hard, so why do so many venues continue to fail?! Not that buying an accessible ticket was accessible - Ticketek is really a sh!t show when it comes to accessibility - it took six weeks to book a ticket that could have been purchased in 15mins (not to mention the stress involved in having to get someone to organise to take a call at a time that suited all parties - with my brand of autism I do not speak over the phone).

 

The official blurb: "Be mesmerised by a six metre orb made of thousands of LEDs, singing trees and a flickering fire garden amongst colour-changing installations, soundscapes and large-scale illuminated sculptures. Experience the new two kilometre trail around the lake and celebrate the beauty of nature after dark."

Egremni in Lefkada is an amazing beach 30 kilometres south from the Lefkada’s capital, near the village of Athani. The long sandy beach is surrounded by impressive cliffs and clear waters and is only accessible via 250 steps away from the car park.Absolutely recommended..

 

We met a young father in a wheelchair using this trail with his children and some other family members. The Hurricane Ridge visitor center is ahead of us, and there was a beautiful overlook toward the ocean and Vancouver Island behind.

 

Potsdam, Villenkolonie Neubabelsberg: - Following this trail next to the "Truman Villa", one gets to one of the few sites were the Griebnitzssee shore is accessible

 

Neubabelsberg ist eine nach der Gründung des Deutschen Kaiserreiches entstandene und seit 1939 zu Potsdam gehörende Villenkolonie. Sie erstreckt sich vom S-Bahnhof Griebnitzsee entlang des Griebnitzsees bis an den ehemals kaiserlichen Garten Park Babelsberg mit dem darin befindlichen Schloss Babelsberg. Die Societät Neubabelsberg der Architekten Hermann Ende und Wilhelm Böckmann schuf ab 1871 zwischen der heutigen Rudolf-Breitscheid-Straße und dem Park Babelsberg ein neues Siedlungsgebiet wohlhabender Potsdamer und Berliner. Das Gebiet wurde in 176 Parzellen aufgeteilt, von denen die teuersten Wasserparzellen 20–25 m breit und 80–110 m tief waren. Als Ausgleich waren die landseitigen Grundstücke 40 m breit und 90 m tief. In der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus wurden viele jüdische Neubabelsberger zur Emigration genötigt, ermordet oder auf anderem Wege in den Tod getrieben. Die durch Emigration frei gewordenen Häuser wurden unter Wert verkauft oder von nationalsozialistischen Organisationen genutzt. Auch viele bekannte Filmstars zogen in die Villen. Andererseits wurde in der Villa der Familie von Tresckow 1944 vom Kreis um Henning von Tresckow und Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg die Bombe für das Attentat auf Adolf Hitler gebaut.

Während der Potsdamer Konferenz im Schloss Cecilienhof 1945 wohnten in Neubabelsberg die Verhandlungsführer Winston Churchill, Josef Stalin und Harry Truman. Die Villen, in denen die drei Staatsmänner zu dieser Zeit wohnten, sind noch heute nach ihnen benannt.

Mit dem Bau der Berliner Mauer im Jahr 1961 wurde Neubabelsberg vom Griebnitzsee durch Grenzanlagen am Ufer abgeschnitten. Der Bahnhof Griebnitzsee wurde zu einem stark abgeschirmten Grenzbahnhof.

Nach Gründung der DEFA wurden – von 1954 bis teilweise ins Jahr 2000 – einige Villen in Neubabelsberg von der heutigen Filmuniversität , bevor diese ihren Neubau in der Medienstadt Babelsberg neben den

Filmstudios erhielt.

Die Stadt Potsdam hatte eigentlich geplant, den früheren Postenweg der DDR-Grenztruppen entlang des Griebnitzsees als öffentlichen Wanderweg zu erhalten. Aber, vielleicht auch wegen noch mangelnder Erfahrung mit den Rechtsnormen der Bundesrepublik, hatte das Stadtparlament versäumt, einen entsprechenden rechtsverbindlichen Beschluss zu schaffen. Und so war bei der Rückübertragung der Grundstücke an die ursprünglichen Eigentümer bzw. deren Nachkommen auch der Uferstreifen mit zurückgegeben worden. Nur wenige Eigentümer haben seither der Stadt den Uferstreifen zur Verfügung gestellt, sodass ein durchgehender Wanderweg nicht angelegt werden konnte, es gibt nur wenige Stellen, wo man punktuell zum Ufer hinuntergelangen kann.

 

Quelle für die Informationen: Wikipedia

 

Neubabelsberg is a villa colony that came into being after the founding of the German Empire in 1871 and has belonged to Potsdam since 1939. It stretches from the Griebnitzsee suburban train station along Lake Griebnitzsee to the former imperial garden of Babelsberg Park with its Babelsberg Palace. The Societät Neubabelsberg of the architects Hermann Ende and Wilhelm Böckmann created a new residential area for wealthy Potsdamers and Berliners from 1871 onwards. The area was divided into 176 plots, of which the most expensive waterfront plots were 20-25 m wide and 80-110 m deep. To compensate, the landward plots were 40 m wide and 90 m deep. During the Nazi era, many Jewish Neubabelsbergers were forced to emigrate, murdered or otherwise driven to their deaths. The houses freed up by emigration were sold below value or used by Nazi organisations. Many famous film stars also moved into the villas. On the other hand, the bomb for the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler was built in the villa of the von Tresckow family in 1944 by the circle around Henning von Tresckow and Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg.

During the Potsdam Conference in Cecilienhof Palace in 1945, the negotiators Winston Churchill, Josef Stalin and Harry Truman lived in Neubabelsberg. The villas in which the three statesmen lived at that time are still named after them today.

When the Berlin Wall was built in 1961, Neubabelsberg was cut off from Griebnitzsee by border fortifications on the shore. Griebnitzsee station became a heavily screened border station.

After DEFA was founded, several villas in Neubabelsberg were used by today's Film University "Konrad Wolf" from 1954 until 2000, before it moved to a new building in the Babelsberg Media City next to the film studios.

The city of Potsdam had actually planned to preserve the former post path of the GDR border troops along Lake Griebnitzsee as a public hiking trail. But, perhaps also due to a lack of experience with the legal norms of the Federal Republic, the city parliament had failed to create a legally binding resolution to this effect. And so, when the land was transferred back to the original owners or their descendants, the riparian strip was also returned. Since then, only a few owners have made the riparian strip available to the city, so that a continuous hiking trail could not be created; there are only a few places where one can get down to the shore at certain points.

 

Source of the information: Wikipedia

  

EGSU 18/09/12 Built 1965

 

G-ASGC is one of the more accessible of the VC10s these days as it is one of several airframes currently preserved in museums. Since 1980 she can be seen at Duxford, in the care of the Duxford Aviation Society (DAS).

 

Obviously life didn't start out for her that way. G-ASGC was built for BOAC as the third Super VC10 ordered by BOAC and flew for the first time on the first day of the year 1965. Most of the development work for the Super VC10, which still was a new type even though there is a lot of commonality with the Standard model, was done by G-ASGA, which first flew in May 1964. Even so the next Supers to emerge from the production line were also needed in this program, with G-ASGC flying 20,5 hours in 8 seperate flights. On 29th January 1965 'GC was issued with a Certificate of Airworthiness and along with G-ASGD was loaned to BOAC (the official delivery date for G-ASGC is 27 March 1965) for initial crew training at Shannon, arriving there on 8th February 1965. But before she left Wisley 'GC was extensively photographed to star in the extensive advertising campaign that BOAC mounted before service entry of the Super.

 

Crew training on the Super VC10 was pretty straightforward, because of the similarities between the Standard and Super VC10s BOAC crews were licensed to fly either version, something that may seem normal now but which wasn't all that common then, and probably saved BOAC a lot of money in those days. Compared to the Standard, the Super will handle slightly differently in overspeed situations and because of the different engines (Conway 550 instead of the Conway 540) power settings were different. Apart from that the pilots obviously had to learn a new set of weights and speeds but they also soon found out that the excellent flying qualities of the Standard were also present in the Super VC10.

 

The major reason for developing the Super VC10 were the relatively high seat-mile costs of the Standard VC10 when compared to the main competitors. It did meet up to the specification that BOAC had put out, but at a cost. With the Super VC10 some of the 'hot-and-high' performance of the Standard was traded against a higher capacity, which made it a more economical aircraft. It was still a bit more costly than a 707 but a strange thing happened: the load factors of the VC10 turned out to be significantly higher than on the 707 fleet. A sign that the BOAC advertising campaign but also the appeal of the VC10 to the travelling public was paying off. The first Super VC10 scheduled commercial service taxied out at London Heathrow on 1st April 1965 under the command of Captain Norman Todd. After an unfortunate delay of 57 minutes after the aircraft taxied over an iron bar and two tires needed to be changed, the aircraft took off for New York. After a 6hr 36min flight the Super VC10 continued on under the command of Captain Harry Nichols to San Francisco, thus completing the first service. With the Super's entry into service the North Atlantic became one of the areas in which the Super VC10's better seat-mile costs compared to her little sister the Standard VC10 were soon exploited. By 1968 there were three flights a day between London and New York, all serviced by Super VC10s. G-ASGC was delivered to Heathrow on 30th April 1965 and entered service on the North Atlantic route four days later.

 

The BOAC-Cunard titles on G-ASGC stem from a cooperation scheme between the airline and the shipping line. With the decline in liner travel across the Atlantic the Cunard Steamship Company applied for a license to operate scheduled air services from the UK to the USA, and ordered two 707s to fly under the Cunard-Eagle Airways flag. After an appeal by BOAC this license was revoked soon after its issue. BOAC then approached Cunard to talk about a joint venture, marrying Cunard's prestige to BOAC's airline experience. From 1962 to 1966 this scheme worked well, initially operating 707s, but with G-ASGD flying the type's first revenue flight to New York under the BOAC-Cunard flag in 1965. For a short while several Super VC10s, including 'GC, were registered to 'BOAC-Cunard Limited'. In 1966 BOAC warned Cunard that more money was needed to order more and larger aircraft for the North Atlantic. Cunard was unable to provide the capital needed, and BOAC then bought Cunard's shares which ended the joint company.

 

The Super VC10 fleet flew on longer than the Standards, which were taken out of service in 1974. Since 1971 many routes, amongst which the North Atlantic, had been taken over by the 747 and the VC10s were moved to less prestigious routes. Still, at the end of 1971 'GC was taken out of service to have Elliot blind landing equipment fitted by BAC at Filton. In September 1972 BOAC and BEA merged to become British Airways and initially the titling on the fuselage was changed to 'British Airways', by 1974 the aircraft was repainted into full British Airways colours. The aircraft flew on for another 5 years, ending its career on some European routes. G-ASGC's last commercial flight was on 22nd October 1979 from Amsterdam to London Heathrow, where it was stored pending its delivery to Duxford. On 15 April 1980 G-ASGC made her last flight to Duxford Airfield to be included in the collection of the Duxford Aviation Society. The Captain on that flight was Bill Outram, who, soon after take off, decided to shut down one engine as a precaution when vibration was felt. On three engines it made its last of 16.415 landings at Duxford, ending a career with a total of 54.623 hours in its logbooks. Between April 1987 and March 1988 the British Airways colors that had been applied after the merger of BOAC and BEA were covered with the white and blue of the revised 'Golden Speedbird' scheme and BOAC - Cunard titles.

 

Since then many visitors have walked through the VC10 and admired the interior, perhaps reliving experiences from the days when VC10s flew their daily services.

 

In 2011 a new BA advertising campaign brought film crews to Duxford and in preparation for this the Super VC10 received a good clean and a paint touch-up

 

Credit www.vc10.net/History/Individual/GASGC.html

Accessibility Description: The photo shows a tall, historic brick industrial building with a large black smokestack rising from its roof. The building has three visible stories, with tall arched windows on the lower floors and smaller rectangular windows near the top. Some of the brick shows signs of age and weathering. Modern glass office buildings and high-rises tower in the background, contrasting with the older architecture. The street curves gently in the foreground, lined with parked cars and a bike lane symbol painted on the asphalt. On the right edge of the frame, a wall is covered in thick green ivy. The overall scene combines historic charm with an urban cityscape.

Hornstrandir nature reserve was established in 1975. It covers around 58.000 ha of the northernmost part of the Westfjord peninsula, a diverse landscape with fjords, mountains and abandoned settlements.

 

The area was inhabited from the 9th century, when the first settlers arrived in Iceland and was originally valued for easily accessible fishbanks with abundant amounts of fish. Later, excursions were also made to the area from other parts of the country to collect some of the driftwood that characterizes the shores of Hornstrandir and to hunt for the seabirds that nest there in large colonies.

 

During the centuries the population of the area fluctuated according to climatic conditions and it seems that the traditional subsistence farming and fishing on small boats was on the verge of supporting the settlements. The farms were small, 5-10 sheep and a cow. Unimproved grassland and wetland was used for haymaking, a necessity in the harsh winter conditions.

 

The area was abandoned between the 1930's and 1952 when the last inhabitants decided to move from the area. It has since been one of the tourist attractions of Iceland, equally visited by Icelandic and foreign tourists. There are no roads in the area and it is only accessible by boat or by traditional trekking routes.

 

The vegetation of the area has changed dramatically during the last 50 years, grassland has turned into flower meadows or in some cases a monoculture of Angelica archangelica. Heavy snowcover during the winter and an intensive, if short, growing season with 24 hrs sunlight create special conditions for rare species and the absence of grazing ruminants gives a new perspective on the capacity of many common species in these harsh conditions.

 

-----

 

I returned to Iceland after five years for a 10-days hike in the abandoned, awesome and exceptional area of Hornstandir. This is a place where the toughest of mankind finally failed to permanently dominate the nature.

 

Fjords, mountains, lonely houses, lost graveyards; no villages, no roads, no shops, nothing. Just an unspoiled nature, beautiful flowers, arctic foxes giving good night and seals peacefully playing close to the coastline.

 

(For those who are interested – the itinerary was as follows: Fljótavík -> Hlöðuvík -> Hornvík -> Hornbjargsvíti -> Bolungarvík -> Reykjafjörður -> Hrafnfjörður -> Grunnavík.)

 

This is a shot taken during our 3rd day in the area - we camped in the peaceful Hornvík bay and continued hiking in the eastern direction, visiting spectacular Hornbjarg cliffs.

 

This sheer cliff is one of the greatest seafowl habitats of the country. Its highest peaks reach 534 m above sea level. In earlier times, the cliff was called The Western Horn, but this name was carried over to the opposite corner of the country. On the cove, Hornvik was a fishermen's hamlet during the earlier centuries and the farm Horn was considered an appendage because of driftwood, the seafowl catch, and the egg picking. This spot of the country, like the most of the rest of it, is tightly connected with the Sagas.

Art is a universal medium of expression, bridging gaps across language, time and culture. But galleries and museums aren't always accessible to everyone, often excluding blind people and those with low vision from truly experiencing the art world. With about 285 million blind or visually impaired people in the world, that's a sizable part of the global population being left out. But innovations - both simple and high-tech - are making the art world even more inclusive. SEE ALSO: 5 black

 

mustsee.media/5-innovative-ways-art-is-becoming-more-acce...

Case Study 113 : Warning, these are the raw, bare unusual occurrences as originally chronicled. Some names, times, places and some facts have been, of course, altered.

Name: Angelica D circa 192__

Subject: an unscrupulous light-fingered body thief

Event: Posh Wedding Reception

Place: Upstate New York

Time: Warm early Autumn Saturday

 

Angie Being Receptive

Story line:

 

Angie had heard about the affair, a wedding, from a list of prospective functions provided by a discreetly paid contact. It was being given for the only daughter of a wealthy politician (as if there were any non-wealthy ones!) Angie had happily invited herself to the affair, carefully dressing up in her best for the special occasion!

 

**

Wedding receptions were by far Angie’s favorite hunting grounds. During the season there could be anywhere from upwards of 20 high end affaires every weekend in the bigger cities, and always 2 or 3 in even the smallest of towns.

Wedding s were usually easy pickings: free food, drink and entertainment, and seldom worn jewelry made for a ready-made mix for Angie to ply her trade. For Angelica D. was a uniquely skilled pickpocket, specializing in the removal for profit of the expensive jewelry worn by the (usually be -gowned) women and young ladies’ who hauntingly dwelt in societies upper crust!

So Weddings, by their nature, were the desirable choice for Angie. One only had to avoid the Bride, her Bridesmaids, and their court, which were usually the major focus of any security present. However, there were plenty of opportunities to be had by employing her special bag of tricks on the outlaying fringe.

Angie had arrived early at the mammoth facility, to scout out the establishment and to scope out who was wearing what. Used to these affairs either being feast or famine, she could quickly tell that in this one there was cooking up a devouring banquet.

**

After Angie had entered the mammoth reception room it did not take her long to spy her first plump prospect, nicely loaded with possibilities. It was a lady, bearing a haughty look, who had been making a b-line through the crowd as way was parted for her. She was wearing a luxuriously long rusty coloured sable fur coat that hid most of her long crimson -red satin gown. What Jewels were visible, ears, fingers and wrist, were all flashing with pricy fire. In tow she held the hand of a young girl, obviously her daughter, wearing actual makeup, which, along with her fetching gown and brite jewelry, made her appear far older than she was. A handsome man , looking like the actor William Powell in a tux, followed behind the pair, husband and father, Angie presumed. She shadowed the little family as they swished their way to a corner table, conveniently located by a rear exit, for a better look over. Her fingers had started with an all too familiar tingle as she took it all in.

**

The husband helped his wife out of the sable, laying it carefully along a bench against the wall. Angie was not disappointed. A silver necklace of large matched diamonds gracefully encircled her throat. A dazzling blood ruby and diamond brooch held up the center of her gown, positioned just below the bust line. Brooches, like this one, were worth a lot once fenced, but its placement required a little more dexterity and skill than she was willing to risk. In actuality, Angie had only attempted twice before to take a brooch pinned to a gown in this fashion. She had only been successful one of those times, only to find out it was a pretty piece of paste.( Years later, as Angie’s talents became more polished, relieving ladies of their dangling brooches, like this blood ruby, became her specialty.. the Eds.) Angie’s eyes moved on. The rest of the snooty lady’s jewels matched her necklace. Long earrings, free clipped, dangling brightly from her earlobe s. A pair of wide ruby bracelets clasped tightly home around elegant red elbow length satin gloves, sparkled devastatingly, matching her brooch. Her long fingers were home to a pair of ruby and diamond rings and a third ring set with a gold band and a vulgarly large solitaire diamond.

**

Angie’s attention turned to the daughter, whom had been helped by her Father , squirming, from the chocolate coloured satin cape that she had been wearing. The youngster, all of about 10, was wearing a cream coloured long puffy sleeved dress with a brown satin sash encircling her waist that matched her Cape. The young lady possessed impossible large bright eyes. The only thing that held more shine than those doe like eyes had been the antique rhinestone diamond necklace that fell dripping ever so invitingly down the front of the precious little imp’s rich glossy gown. The rest of her matching rhinestones (obviously belonging to the child’s mother) consisted of an engaging display of a bracelet, pair of dangling, screwed on clasp earrings, and matching rings encircling a chubby finger one on each hand. It all gleamed brightly, invitingly from her svelte girlish figure. A large round pin held her sash up in place; it sparkled with what looked like a ring consisting of one caret diamonds, as unlikely as it was they could be real.

**

The two females of the family presented a pretty package indeed. Not one to pass up an invite that alluring, Angie walked by , with the pretext of heading to a back exit behind the table the little family had staked, just so she could get a closer peek.

**

Angie’s practiced eye took in a wealth of information during the few seconds it took her to walk up and pass the group, so involved with themselves they never even looked her way. Her attention focused upon the young mother first scoping head to toe.

**

Angie scrutinized the brooch; it was definitely worth the effort. In her mind’s eye, Angie envisioned the mother as a stumbling drunk “bumping into” Angie. Fingers whisking along the slippery lustrously softness of the gown, as the lady was steadied. Angie would accept the women apologies and the pair would part their ways, Angie from the young mother, and the magnificent brooch from the rich satiny red gown. But then the mother raised her head, looking up past Angie, towards a commotion being made behind her. Typical Angie thought, she doesn’t recognize me, so I don’t exist, like some sort of servant. But it was as she caught the young mother in full profile that she realized this lady looked strikingly similar to another woman who had been wearing an expensive dress of teal charmeuse that Angie had had been having a long conversation with, while relieving the woman’s finger of a costly diamond sapphire ring. It had happened only just last weekend at a formal function, and Angie figured she may have not recognized her in passing, but may if Angie were to use one of her approaches again with the intent of taking some of her jewelry, he memory may be jarred, and she may remember her missing ring. This was why Angie only allowed herself to ply her trade for no more than a month in any given place per year. This was from a lesson she had learned early on in her career. And so, for that reason alone, Angie decided to, at least temporarily, abandon any designs she had on the young mother’s brooch, allowing her devious intentions to evaporate from her mind like smoke on the wind. There were plenty more fish in the sea she told herself.

**

Angie still allowed herself a quick appraisal of the squirming 10 year old. She admired the glossy dress of slippery satin that her mother had conveniently dressed her daughter up in, as it fell spilling down to her black open toed shoes. Angie’s fingers started to tingle; this was a perfect tickling gown. Angie liked to think of any long dress or gown that swept down to a females heels as a” tickling gown”. All it took was a strategically placed foot timed with a well place nudge to send the chosen victim tumbling. During the ensuing diversion, Angie would use her long subtle fingers to swiftly probe along the gowned figure, tickling she like to call it due to the tingling sensation of the usually rich material of the victim’s attire. In this fashion, a pre-targeted piece of valuable jewelry could then be easily acquired, no matter what its placement had been on the unfortunate female. If only the chatty youngster had something on better than rhinestones. It was a crying shame to have a child that young dolled up like an adult, but not wearing adult jewels.

**

Angie continued to walk past, unseen, and went out the door. She found herself in a large serenity garden of roses and shrubs, surrounded by a 10 foot high well-trimmed hedge. The sort of garden one usually found in those days around upscale Churches. The only exit was a gate leading onto the parking lot on the side of the church. Here was positioned a solitary, lonely guard in a neat little guard hut. In the opposite, far corner was a statue of Cupid, arrow drawn, standing above a display of blooming moss roses at the end opposite to the gate. There was always potential in places like these.

**

Angie had started to walk over to the Cupid statue when she heard the exit door open. Turning, she saw the young girl, whose mother’s brooch Angie had been scoping out, looking out the door. She snuck through, running out alone, silky tickling gown swishing out behind her. Her heart leapt to her throat as she watched the girls rhinestones sparkle radiantly. She actually turned to head towards the path the unsuspecting child was running up, flexing her fingers as she contemplating a little warm up practice. Angie watched as the dolled up imps necklace flashed with pinpricks of coloure as it bounced to and fro as she ran happily up the path .Angie turned her back to the girl, waiting to hear the telltale click of her heels come up just behind her. She would then move, bumping into the girl as she passed, tripping her to the ground. After which Angie would help her up, removing the girl’s fancy necklace in the process. Come to Mama Angie whispered under her breath, waiting to make her move as the skipping heels grew ever louder.

**

But then Angie froze, hearing the clicking of the exit door again opening behind her. She checked her stride letting the daughter slither past without a glance. She headed again towards the statue, watching her prize move on ahead. Then she heard the father in the background calling out to his little princess. The youngster turned, and ran back, beaming at Angie as she passed. Angie smiled back, her eyes again traveling to the girls neckline, and the sparkling jewelry the outlined her throat. It had been a silly thought she chided herself, as the girl passed from view. If only the necklace had been real, and the father about ten minutes later in discovering his daughter absence. It would have been an unbelievably easy pluck and she could be out the gate before anyone was the wiser. And the best part was that they would probably believe the scampering girl had just lost it in the garden. And, while the parents were looking about, Angie would have been free to renter to ply her trade again. As it was, it was silly of Angie, risking her opportunity on a child’s bauble worth a mere pittance compared to some of the other offerings so readily being flaunted this evening by her adult counterparts.

**

Angie continued her casual stroll through the Garden, happily playing over in her mind some of the jewels that she would like to see adorning the female guests inside, and the scenarios she may be using to acquire them

**

Finding herself approaching the guard hut, she allowed herself a glance back. Jealously she watched the father, who had caught and was carrying his slippery attired daughter, heading back inside. How Angie wished she had been the one carrying the squirming little imp, it would have been like a smorgasbord, with jewels instead of food. Pity her mother had not put the good stuff on the daughter, she sighed to herself. Tonight she would have to work for her butter. She walked past the bored guard, nodding at him, receiving a rather lecherous look in return. A smile was forming across her cunning face, for now it was time to get down to the real business at hand.

**

The affair turned out to be quite a showcase for the very rich. Who were indiscreetly flaunting their riches, trying to outdo one another, probably for the benefit of the politicians’ attention? Certainly not for the attention of the designer satin gowned and flashy diamonded daughter, whom most of the guests hardly knew, or had ever met.

**

Angie always felt like a little kid in a candy shoppe at these lavish affairs.

She spent the first part of the reception mingling and thoroughly enjoying the show her the reception’s guests were u wittingly putting on. Angie, wearing no jewels herself, was something of an anomaly compared to her fellow guests.

**

There were over a thousand luxuriously coloured, squawking female birds and their young chicks pompously displaying valuable finery, oblivious of the cat amongst them waiting to pounce. Angie patently mingled, watching as the adult guests had their fill of food and drink.

Once their guard began to relax, Angie raised hers’, her probingly skillful fingers now more than prepared to begin and ply her trade. For the more they imbibed, the less guarded they were, both about themselves and their female offspring. Angie would start with the adults, 2 or 3 of the right pieces of jewelry, once acquired, and would mean she could call it a night and have enough to support her for a solid month. If she came up empty in that department, her back up would then center on the female off-spring, daughters and nieces.

Most of said offspring would be by then scattered about, aware that their parents were no longer paying them any heed, exploring and playing, sporting their fancy satin gowns, silken dresses, and their dainty jewelry, ripe for the picking. Giving pickpockets like Angie endless opportunity to ply their trade on them, once they had finished working through the adults. Or if the thieves were beginners, plenty of easy practice while “learning the ropes!”

**

Now, when Angie herself was just starting out as a young pickpocket, she stumbled across a treatise written by a man using the pseudonym “Gaston Monescu”. Written around 1826, entitled the Cutpurse: skilles, artes and Secretes of the Dip, it covered the various tactics and moves used by master pickpockets.

 

Angie had studied it religiously, especially a ploy called the “Necklace Flimp.” This tactic was primarily used for body thieves working alone. Angie had been surprised to learn that a pickpocket could raise his/her skill level above just acquiring wallets. Having the ability to lift a woman’s necklace amazed her, not to mention the profit that could be realized. With practice, Angie had found that not only was it a good technique for acquiring necklaces, but it worked for other pieces of worn jewelry as well.

 

It was relatively simple process, but took a long time to master.

First part was to employ psychology and watch the potential victim for the unique movements and quirks in their personality and actions that could provide an opportunity for her skills. Then observe the selected piece the victim wore, for value, type of clasp, make, and accessibility. The second part was to employ a bump, slip, or grasp, and in one motion, flick open the studied clasp and send the piece away from the body by either pulling and palming, or dropping it to the floor or ground for retrieval later. If she was noticed, it was “sorry, miss, very clumsy of me” “here let me get if for you, no harm done?” Then walk away and let the waters settle before trying yet again (sometimes even on the same person!)

 

Angie had practiced the jewelry flimp until she had the technique totally mastered. Starting out first on specially dressed up mannequins in her apartment, than trying it on small pieces of cheap baubles worn by real women in crowded streets and stores. Then on younger, less guarded, better jewelry wearing young girls attending proms and social dances. Young looking for her age at the time, Angie had fit right in amongst them. Then, finally, she graduated to lifting the better jewels of the older, wealthy women attending society’s finer parties and receptions. And it was this path that led her here today, and would also lead several unlucky females to report missing jewelry to their respective insurance companies.

**

See Album “Angie having a Ball” for additional background on our master thief with the light fingers.

**

Angie now eagerly employed those useful talents learned from monsieur Monescu’s little pamphlet at the wedding reception. She mingled freely, carrying around a drink that never touched her lips. She watched and learned, her trained eyes missing very little. Soon, like that hypothetical kid in a candy shoppe, Angie’s head was spinning from so much to choose from that she really could not make any easy choice. So, she waited and watched patiently, knowing opportunity would knock.

 

**

 

Then, like it usually happened with Angie, the first genuine opportunity unexpectedly presented herself. Angie literally was run into a rather awkward, spindly lady in thick glasses clad in a fetchingly expensive costume consisting of a thick silver satin blouse with hanging ruffles down its front, combined with a long rustling tiered skirt that swept down to the top of her open toed silver high heels. Her diamond jewelry shone with exuberant flames as they caught the light from the many chandeliers that hung from the vaulted ceiling. The lady expressed frantically her apologies, placing a hand with well ringed fingers on Angie’s shoulder, where they sparkled merrily. No worries Angie said smiling, her eyes taking it all in without appearing to move. She let the frazzled lady leave, allowing her a head start, it was only sporting to do so.

**

Angie shadowed her quarry for a while, seemingly rewarded for her efforts when the lady managed to spill a bit of her drink down on her skirt. In a show of flashing silvery satin and diamonds ,she retreated and disappeared into a nearby powder room, with Angie following eagerly, opportunity knocking.

**

As Angie grabbed onto the closing powder room door, a mid- twenty something girl in a deep green velvet gown came out. Her only jewelry was a wide diamond bracelet wrapped around a wrist of the matching long green gloves she wore. Angie caught it out of the corner of her eye, realizing that it was as expensive as it was bright. But it was her friend, a willowy short haired pretty young thing in a glamorous Chocolate Satin gown that made Angie’s jaw drop. Her jewels, like her friends, were also sparse, but enormously pricy. The long white satin gloves that graced her hands and arms also held matching bracelets, thin, but each one worth the effort. But her real eye catcher was the row of authentic, one caret white diamonds that were rippling exquisite fire along her throat. Angie held the door for them, nodding to as they passed. Noses in the air, they did not appear to notice Angie. Then, with the ladies backs to her, Angie abandoned Miss silver satin and turned to follow. Angie got in behind the two with the intention of getting a closure examination of the clasp of the fiery diamond necklace Miss Chocolate satin was wearing.

**

However, Angie never got her closer look. For at that moment the tossing of the bride’s boutique was announced and Angie was overwhelmed by a mad dash of single ladies heading for the bride. On a lark she allowed herself to be swept along, losing sight of Miss Chocolate satin, but found herself right smack behind Miss Green velvet and her cheerfully sparkling diamond bracelet, a beautifully expensive piece that would have cost someone a king’s ransom. Angie’s fingers began their all too familiar tingling, eager for a chance to acquire jewelry that valuable, but not for any king, just for herself!

**

Though the night was still relatively early, and Angie still had visions of those exquisite rippling diamonds of the pretty Miss in chocolate satin on her mind, she simply could not pass up this opportunity. Angie wedged herself close behind her chosen victim as the multitude of hopeful young women pressed forward to try their luck. As the Bride teased her guests before getting ready to toss her bouquet of white and red roses, Angie expertly scrutinized the bracelet as it dangled from the green velvet glove. When the bride finally turned her back and raised her arms every one of the richly clad single women’s eyes was focused on the bride’s bouquet, Angie’s eyes were fixated on the bracelet. With the music playing loud, the crowd giggling and laughing, and all eyes focused on the gorgeously outfitted young long haired bride, Angie again felt opportunity knocking. Her pulse beating in rhythm with the music, she made ready to seize the chance when it presented itself. The roses flew through the air and all the women raised their hands high, looking all for the world like being involved in a stick-up. Angie timed it perfectly, snapping the clasp, and snatching the bracelet easily away from the gloved wrist of its owner as she raised her arms high to grab at the boutique. In her excitement, shared by everyone, Miss Green velvet ( who did not catch the bouget of roses) never felt a thing. Angie had smirked as she left the giggling group, stowing securely the purloined diamonds, as she imagined what it would have been like to watch that group robbed in a mass stick-up. The money that some enterprising soul could have made from that haul would have been astronomical.

**

She went to the open bar, lighting her first cigarette; she ordered her first real drink of the night. She could feel the coolness of the weighty bracelet in its hiding spot, and Angie, pleased with herself, calmly sipped her drink as she relished in the moment. The toss of the Brides Boutique was, in Angie’s experienced opinion, one of the three common events occurring during a wedding reception that were fertilely prime times for pickpocketing. (Editor’s note.. Miss D. mysteriously never divulged what she considered the other two prime events to be….)

**

She looked about without a worry in the world, coolly watching the antics of some of the younger women on the dance floor. She spied the young miss in the green velvet gown over in a corner talking in an animated fashion with several other women. Green velvet gown’s now bare velvet glove, apparently not noticed by anyone but Angie. One of her group was displaying some bright emeralds peeking through the long silver fur she was wearing, obviously she was leaving, and she was talking excitedly about something to the group formed around her! Nowhere in sight was Miss chocolate satin, too bad, Angie would have loved another peek before leaving.

Angie watched around the room causally, as the cold bracelet pressed expensively against her figure from its hiding spot. She eventually lost track of green velvet and her friends while finishing her drink. Setting down the empty glass, she decided it was time to call it a night. The bracelet now in her possession was easily worth as much as the 2 or 3 separate pieces she usually acquired at functions like these, added together! And, she needed her rest, Angie had a couple of plans the next day, one revolving around the female guests who would be attending an upscale afternoon prom fashion show a, the other, an evening opera performance (invited guests only, and her contact had managed to supply a ticket, at a hefty price!) No rest for the wicked, Angie told herself.

**

On her way out of the main lobby, she found herself leaving behind the very lady in green velvet whose bracelet was now in Angie’s possession. She was with the same gaggle of her similarly dressed friends, including the one exhibiting the emeralds. However, miss chocolate satin was still not visible. They were laughing and joking as they collected their assorted pretty wraps, obviously heading for a nightclub. If she had not already relieved one of them of a bauble, Angie might have invited herself along, if only to have a go at some emeralds. Angie hesitated about leaving withy them, then shrugged, followed the group out the door past the pair of bored rent a cops.

**

She remembered thinking, as she followed the elegant young princesses ,their fluid gowns peeking from under their various furs and wraps, how shallow the very rich could be. She wondered if Miss Green velvets friends had even noticed that she had had diamonds around the wrist of her glove, let alone that they were now missing. She wondered how long it would be before the bracelets loss was discovered. She figured it would be several hours, long enough for its owner not to be sure what place they had been lost. As young Miss Green velvet fancy gown and her friends turned right outside the exit, Angie turned left, heading towards the guard hut at the entrance to the garden.

She decided not to follow them but rather circle around the outside of the garden to give her victim time to leave.

**

That simple decision to make a left turn proved to be a major turning point in Angie’s fortunes that evening.

**

As Angie passed the hut guarding the entrance to the serenity garden, she noticed it was deserted.

It was as she was looking it over, that she heard the sounds of clicking heels moving fast, followed by the sounds of a young girl giggling. On the alert she stole to the backside of the hut, soon spying a splash of something blue and silky between the gaps of a couple of large bushes. Her senses on their highest peak, she began to move cautiously in, hoping the female making the noise would be in need of aid and comfort perhaps.

**

She soon spotted a young lady of about 14 bending over, hands on her knees as she panted heavily. Her back was to Angie, and what pretty back it was. She was nicely attired in a long gown of shiny material dyed deep blue like an afternoon, cloudless summer sky. The gown cascaded down along her petite figure, spilling out on the ground around her feet. Her hair was pulled back, easily displaying a pair of small diamond and sapphire earrings, not rhinestones for this one, but the real McCoy. Around one finger was a gold ring with sapphires, and from her left wrist dangled a thin silver bracelet with a row of diamond chips, both pretty, both valuably real. But it was her last piece of visible jewelry that stole the show. It hung, swinging to and from her neck on a thick braided chain of solid silver. On its end, like a hypnotists prism, was a silver pendent in the shape of a flower, with 1 inch long, pear shaped real diamonds as petals and a fully 2 inch in circumference center stone of deep sea blue. Angie watched it, her eyes following it for a full minute, its expensive fire sealing its own fate as Angie began flexing her fingers. Angie took her eyes off of it and looked around to see why the princess had been running. But all was still as the girl continued to peek through the branches towards the back door leading into the hall. Angie silently approached, and walking up to the pretty miss she bent down and in a friendly tone, asked who she was running from.

**

I played a joke on my sister, and now I’m hiding from her, piped the girl breathlessly, as Angie placed a hand upon the girls shoulder in a conspiratorial fashion, said shoulder made silky soft by the gowns half sleeve.

**

I know a better place where you can hide from her, Angie whispered in the girl’s ear, the dangling earring ever so close to her lips. The girl looked up, smiling, and Angie pointed towards the guard hut, and as the girl looked, Angie’s fingers glided up along the silky shoulder and lifted the thick silver chain up from the back of the gowns’ scooped collar. Come Angie said, and as the girl rose Angie’s fingers nimbly flicked open the chains’ lobster clasp, holding onto the clasp as the other end of the chain slipped down, allowing the pendent to slide free and fall onto the grass at the girls feet, where it lay shimmering. Angie moved her hand to the girls shoulder, squeezing it, while slipping off the braided silver chain with her other hand, whisking it back and away from the guileless young girl. Angie led her princess away from the spot and walked with her to the guard’s hut, still empty, where she had her hide neath the counter.

**

Angie turned and went back to claim the pendent, there still was no sign of any sister. She secured the pendent, joining it with the chain and bracelet, and headed deeper into garden. Her plan was to watch the hut and see which way the girl went after getting bored waiting. But as she skirted the perimeter her plans were changed when, upon rounding a corner of the path at the far end, she saw yet another back belonging to a solitary lady in her late thirties, clad in a long slinky yellow coloured gown of expensively shiny taffeta, bending over to smell the yellow roses on a bush. Instinctively Angie knew two things about her. One was that whatever jewels this lady would be wearing, they would be expensive, and the other was that with an expensive gown like that; the lady would undoubtedly be wearing her jewels. Angie suddenly became aware that her fingers were tingling, as an all too familiar whelming feeling again delightfully washed over her.

**

Angie found herself automatically turning back onto the garden path. She headed around the women and went down to the cupid’s statue, where now out of sight, she carefully hid the purloined bracelet, and still warm fiery pendent and its ‘fancy silvery braided chain..

**

She then headed towards the unsuspecting flower admirer. The ladies’ long brunette hair had fallen, flowing down the backside of her shiny taffeta gown. Angie could see rings and a bracelet gleaming as she was holding up the rose to her face. A long double rope of pearls hung swaying deliciously from her throat. Coming up behind her Angie stood watching; calculating until the lady rose and with a start realized she was not alone.

**

Pretty Angie said, her eyes on the pearls now draping down the front of her marks yellow gown. They are lovely, are they not? The damsel responded thinking Angie was referring to the roses. Just like the ones in the park, my husband and I walked through on our way to catch a cab today. Actually, I meant your dress Angie said complimentary. Thank you the lady practically squealed, I love the way it flows, and she swirled it about to show Angie, who got an eyeful of sparkly jewelry for her efforts. As she continued engaging the women in conversation, Angie decided upon attempting for the woman’s necklace of pearl. Seeing opportunity knocking when Yellow Taffeta pulled her long hair forward so it hang down the front of her gorgeous gown, laying silkily over one shoulder, nicely exposing the pricy necklaces clasp. Angie looked around, they were alone, out of site of the opposite end of the garden where the inside door was, and the guards hut with it’s pretty occupant.

**

Angie, using the marks interest in roses to her advantage, managed to steer the capricious damsel in shiny yellow over to the cupid’s statue. There, she placed a hand upon a silky taffeta covered shoulder, and pointed down to the shrub of moss roses growing at the foot of the statue . When she stooped down to get a closer look, Angie’s fingers whisked from her marks shoulder to the clasp, in a single effort with two fingers, lifted it by the clasp, and snapped it open. At that moment the mark cried “spider” and jumped up, backing into Angie, who watched helplessly as the pearls fell down from the damsel’s throat and slipped along the front of the yellow taffeta gown. They fell with a soft plop unto the ground at their mistress’s feet. Angie tried to lead her away, hoping to come back and reclaim the necklace. But as Angie pointed to another rose bush some distance away, the lady took a step forward, instead of back, planting her feet right onto the pearl necklace. Hey she exclaiming, what’s that, looking down to her high heeled foot? Oh, my pearls the lady squealed again, a glittering hand shooting to feel around her throat. Angie reached down, and reluctantly retrieved them from the base of the rose bush for the squealing lady in yellow . My husband would not have been pleased if I had lost these, she said as Angie held them, feeling their pricey smoothness.

**

She asked if Angie could help her put them on, my maid usually does this sort of thing, you know. Angie reluctantly complied, re- hanging the pearls as the pretty damsel held up her hair, and reluctantly redid the clasp. The Damsel thanked Angie by embracing her in a full hug, her diamond and pearl earring hitting Angie’s cheek. But Angie’s arms were being held by the hugging woman, so Angie was able to only watch the tantalizingly close earring sway free. Angie left yellow-gowned damsel in the garden, getting nothing for her efforts other than the feel of an expensive gown of the likes she could probably never afford to own.

**

With the pretty damsel hovering around the cupid statue, Angie decided to go back into the reception hall until the coast was clear. She carefully looked towards the Guards hut, and seeing that the guard had returned, figured the girl, so fetchingly clad in blue, had been rousted out, so that loose end was probably tied up. She just had to keep a careful eye out. The quite valuable bracelet and pricy necklace with its pendent were well hidden; there was absolutely no danger of someone stumbling over it.

**

Truth was, Angie had found her appetite wetted and once again visions of a lady in chocolate brown satin exhibiting a row of flashy diamonds, teased her thoughts. An accomplished pickpocket like herself had a couple of well-practiced ploys she could utilize to obtain a tight fitting necklace from its mistress. In addition, Angie was now determined to find her and to risk a try. She had really nothing to lose.

**

It took almost an hour of hunting amongst the now well liquored, gaily mingling crowd before Angie could admit to herself that there was absolutely no sign of the willowy lady in the stunning chocolate satin gown. Damn she thought to herself, those diamonds were something special. She shrugged it off, reciting in her mind a wicked little mantra of hers, “Another one who got away, a chance to lose her jewels to Angie on another day!” She strolled about pondering on what her next course of action could be. There had been no sign of the pretty girl in blue whose necklace Angie now had hidden away, and Miss Green Velvet was definitely out of the picture, so she felt that it was still safe to try to pluck one last bird or chick. In her hunt for the brown, Angie had seen several inviting prospects; one lady(purple satin, diamonds), two girls( ivory silk, pearled pin; red satin, gold necklace set with chips of precious stones), and now was weighing the risks.

 

It was at that point she once again espied the thickly bespectacled awkwardly introverted young lady invitingly wearing the thick silver satin ruffled blouse, which she had been tailing much earlier. And as Angie watched here, she again accepted the invitation. Her prey had appeared on the dance floor, being led around by a rather charming young man. That would make a dandy consolation prize Angie drooled to herself happily as she took in the sparkling show put on by the dancers jewels.

**

Angie looked her over, reacquainting herself with the jewels she so nicely was displaying. A pair of long earrings cascaded down from her earlobes where they precariously held on by antique silver claps. Angie relished the opportunity to “flimp” pairs of earrings like these. Heavily jeweled, each one was worth a tidy sum. Angie mulled this as she continued to study the jewels of her appealingly dressed new target.

**

The girl’s only ring was a solitaire diamond of at least 3 carets on a thick solid gold band worn vulnerably loose on her un-gloved, bare ring finger. A wide silver cuff bracelet with what appeared to be at least seven rows of matching, shimmering diamonds was dangling around her left wrist (she was right handed Angie observed) . The bracelet had a habit of lying over her sleeve, and Angie could see that it was a costly tiffany piece, whose clasp was exceptionally easy to flick open. A diamond pendent hung swinging from her satiny ruffles, held by an extravagantly thick silver chain with a simple , small eye in hook clasp. The Diamonds in the pendent were as shimmery as stars plucked from the night’s sky.

Angie remembered reading that in a poem from a book she had picked up years earlier in a library, while stalking a young mother in a satin dress, wearing an authentic Gruen Watch on one wrist, and a bracelet of diamonds on the other, that had gone into the library in pursuit of her young son running inside. Like that young mother, It was obvious that this lady in silver satin was not accustomed to wearing jewels, and that set probably spent most of their days lying in a safe. Angie licked her lips as she imagined what the other contents of that safe might look like

**

Angie moved in to allow herself a much closer appraisal of her potential victim’s jewels.

The young lady was totally oblivious to anything but the rather surprisingly strikingly handsome man who to all appearances was her Fiancée, who was holding her ever so close. But Angie was able to see enough of what she wanted to. The young Ladies’ thick satin blouse shone richly in the lights, moving like glistening wet liquid silver, while from her waist spilled the long black skirt with satiny tiers that swished and swayed nicely along her figure as she uneasily danced. Her jewels were bursting with colour as they played hide and seek with Angie’s watchful eyes. From all appearances, they were a mismatched couple. He seemed to know everyone and moved with a confident air, she was just the opposite. It made an enticingly intriguing package indeed for someone with Angie’s skills.

**

Silver Satin was the perfect “Gaston Monescu” type of mark, a perfect combination of classic mannerisms, clothing and Jewels worth anyone’s efforts to take. This was the only fly in the ointment that Angie observed. For by the bar she could see that two other sets of eyes were watching the same young lady in shiny satin and blazing diamonds. Angie intuitively knew they were drooling over acquiring jewels she was wearing.

**

She had noticed the pair of young men in loose fitting suits when they had entered a little earlier about the same time as Angie’s reappearance. They were obviously casing the jewels of any woman, young, or old, who walked past them. Angie knew their type, simple thieves, with no real skills outside of holding a knife in a dark alley to the throat of their victim while they unceremoniously searched and stripped them of their treasures. Angie saw that they were whispering amongst themselves and instinctively knew they were watching and waiting for the fetchingly clumsy silver clad lady clad loaded with diamonds, to leave the “establishment”.

**

She is mine Angie whispered, possessively snarling the words under her breath. She looked around as she thought about how best to handle the situation. Her eyes opened wide as she saw a familiar woman waiting by the coat checkroom. Perfect she purred, placing an unlit a cigarette in her mouth and heading over the bar.

**

She sauntered up next to them and ordered a drink, catching their eyes she asked for a light. As they obliged she took a pull and puffed out smoke, asking in a casual tone, “how about my jewels? Boys!” They could see perfectly well that she was not wearing any, and one snarled, “What’s your game, sister?” Angie snarled back in her best cop like manner, “We know what you boys are up to, and we suggest you both call it a night!” “Yer no cop sister”, they challenged, calling her bluff,” what’s your angle!” Angie calmly looked towards the entrance, perfect she mused as she saw their eyes follow hers, “Maybe not” she stated, “but see that lady being helped into the black mink?” “The shiny yellow dame?” one of em asked? “ “yes”, Angie replied taking a puff on her cigarette before going on, “ well that man’s she’s with used to be mine .” “ Now, I aint one to hold a grudge, but, those pearls she’s waltzing around with are worth plenty. And her rings, they are an easy two grand alone.”

**

Angie could tell she had captured their interest, and that they were now paying rapt attention to the lady in the thick yellow taffeta gown whose necklace Angie had almost acquired in the serenity garden. One of them looked at Angie, a suspicious look crossing his mug, “What’s innit for you sister?!” He demanded. Angie looked at him, dripping with sarcastic innocence. “Nothing brother, other than to make sure the jewels of the dame who stole my husband get home safely .” “I just worry,’ Angie went on, “there is a park in front of their residence and that dame in yellow likes to stroll through it to smell the roses after their cab drops them off.” They watched the couple leave, her expensive yellow gown sweeping provocatively at her gold high- heeled shoed feet. Angie looked them in the eyes and said smoothly, “ Gentlemen such as yourselves may want to do a good deed and follow them home to make sure some miscreant doesn’t spot her in those valuable jewels and mink. Not to mention her man’s gold watch and three hundred sawbucks in his wallet!” Angie winked at the pair, “If you catch my drift.” She added.

**

Still not totally convinced about what Angie was selling them, but equally unsure over who Angie was, both men got up and quickly headed towards the main exit as the last slip of an expensive yellow taffeta gown disappeared through the door. Smugly, Angie puffed on her cigarette as she watched them leave.

**

It was then that a hand was placed on Angie’s shoulder from behind.

**

She froze for a split second, before becoming aware of the soft mummer of satin, and of a slender finger was home to a sparkling sapphire ring. Angie smiled and turned around, facing the girl. Pardon me ma’am, she says politely, but do you remember me? Of course dear, Angie gushes while beaming at the forlorn looking miss in the fetching blue gown; I met you in the garden. Yes she confirms, but I lost my necklace somewhere and I was wondering if you remember if I had it on when we met? Angie’s heart leapt, bless this babe in the woods, thinking her necklace had merely been lost, never suspecting that someone like, say, Angie could have been the cause. She absolutely adored the trusting nature of rich girls this age. For that aspect of their purity had allowed Angie, far too easily sometimes, to lift many a jewel from well attired unsuspecting young princesses like this one. Who was now standing before her, miserable, her desirable diamond and sapphire earrings dangling ever so beckoningly, her sad puppy eyes pleading ever so sweetly, and her missing necklace closer than she could ever imagine.

**

No dear, I did not see you with a necklace, Angie lied coolly, as she reached out and stroked the girl tenderly alongside her face, her fingers touching one of the earrings. Angie was looking her fully in the eye, you didn’t lose anything else, and did you dear she asked with a concerned tone. The girl checked her earrings, bracelet and ring (Angie smiled to herself, silently thinking thanks for the info kid!) But when she spoke, it was with hopeful words laced with honey, If you want, I can help you look, my dear. The girl’s eyes lit up for a second, thank you ma’am, I wanted to, but papa said to wait until tomorrow when the light is better.

Angie smiled winningly, don’t worry dear, I’m sure its somewhere in the garden. Someone will find it, she promised, thinking to herself maliciously, and keep it for their own profit!

**

Thank you Ma’am she chirped, at the encouraging words that had been spoken, luckily she could not hear the ones Angie was thinking to herself, and turning moved off, her scrumptious gown swishing pleasantly around her silver heels. Angie watched, as the girl disappeared in the crowd Angie marked her direction.

**

Angie Imagined if the girl had accepted her offer, and she had left with the vulnerable, unguarded princess to search in the garden, and in the process help relieve her of her remaining jewels. There would be enough light with the gas lamps that lined the paths in the garden. Enough light, so that as Angie helped the princess look, her fingers could slip ever so delicately slip in and search along her shiny sky blue gown.

**

Angie licked her lips slowly as she fantasied about the search. The girl bending down to look under a bush, Angie placing her knee sharply in a certain spot below the girl’s armpit, temporarily numbing her upper body. Allowing Angie enough time to pull off both her earrings without feeling it,( this also worked well on working off broaches placed in upper parts of gowns and dresses, not to mention necklaces!) The bracelet would be no problem; it would be the easiest and probably the first, snatched off while the rich girl’s attention was easily diverted away. Since she was not wearing silky gloves, her ring would be the trickiest, but manageable, by either having her walk too close to a water fountain and hopefully having her get her fingers wet, or by simple holding onto her hand and tripping her by stepping on her gowns hem. And just like that, Angie would become that much richer, the rich girl that much poorer. And it all would be done without giving the girl any additional stress, like say she had run into the two muggers Angie had chased off. They may not have been content with just the jewels of a girl dressed as she was that they had found wandering alone in the gardens at night.

**

As Angie excitedly thought about these things, she had trained her focus back upon her original meal ticket, whom for the second time that evening had almost been allowed to slip through Angie’s light fingers. Watching with half lidded eyes, the still dancing couple not unlike a wolf watches lambs, waiting for one to make an ill-fated move away from the flock. The lamb’s fate was sealed, when a vivacious blonde in a long wispy silken dress cut in on the dancing couple. Asking miss silver satin’s fiancé for a dance. He obliged, leaving his shimmering fiancée unaccompanied, nakedly exposed to the wolf that was Angie.

**

More than one way to skin a cat Angie thought, tingling from the thrill of the hunt her prey, now in a reachable situation. She happily headed towards the spot where Miss silver satin had moved off to. A small table, located conveniently by a powder room. One the way she grabbed a half full glass of red wine off a table. Angie circled around young miss silver satin, taking a position up about two table lengths behind her. She casually scoured the area; most of the nearby tables were deserted.

Knowing the band would stop playing soon for the evening; most of the couples were out on the dance floor. All in all, the situation presented the perfect opportunity for some one of Angie’s persuasion.

**

Angie watched as the young lady picked up a glittery silver clutch and opening it, started to search inside. Angie moved swiftly, catching up behind her , tripping intentionally into her, splashing some wine onto the front of the silver satin blouse as the unfortunate lady dropped her purse in surprise. Oh my gosh, I did not see you, miss silver satin pleaded apologetically to Angie, more concerned over Angie’s feelings than her soiled satin blouse. Angie accepted her apology and, producing a lacey silk handkerchief, began to wipe themselves both down.

Angie’s practiced eyes swiftly took it all in. Miss silver satin’s pretty earrings swaying out vulnerably from her long straggly hair as it fell into her face. The clasp of her necklace was also exposed and within easy grasp. A s she reached out for the floor to steady herself, Angie’s eyes took in the sparkling ring on her now wetted finger and then watched the wide bracelet with its’ easily open able clasp slip up glitteringly over her sleeve.

The girl, now thoroughly flustered, started to rise, tripping over her slippery long skirt( with no help from Angie) Angie caught her, taking advantage of the split second opening she had been waiting for and Angie took it, making her selection as she steadied the poor thing with one hand, as the other caressed along a slick silver satin back. Angie’s long supple fingers darted in and deftly did their trick, this time with no spiders interfering. She quickly removed her chosen glittery prize from the distracted lady, who never noticed so much as a prick as Angie removed the expensive piece from her person in the confusion.

**

Angie secreted he shiny jewel as she helped miss silver satin collect herself. Than they rose, and Angie happily accepted miss silver satin profuse and obviously well used, apology. Then, as she fumbled nervously with her thick glasses, Angie laid a calming hand upon her shoulder, her fingers relishing in the richness of her victims sleek ruffled blouse. Miss silver satin was by now so distracted and embarrassed that Angie was all but assured of a clean get away.

However, as an extra measure of caution Angie intentionally jarred silver satin’s elbow of the hand steadying her eye glasses. Thus sending her glasses falling from her face to the floor with a small clatter, then Angie kicked them under a table before the startled lady could react. Angie offered to help, but the lady implored that she was okay, just needed to find her glasses. Angie left as Miss silver satin started to frantically grope around for her glasses, her silver blouse and remaining jewels shimmering brightly along their miserable mistress..

Angie took her leave, knowing that once she found her glasses, Miss silver satin would flee for sanctuary into the ladies powder room, buying her more than enough time for Angie to make her escape. Taking one last look over the dance floor, she blithely saw that miss silver satins fiancé was still in the clutches of the vivacious blonde-haired girl, still safely out of the picture. Angie made her way with purpose to the rear exit leading to the garden that she had used earlier, intending to head out into the serenity garden to collect the hidden bracelet and pendent, adding them to her purloined plunder.

**

As she walked amongst the mostly deserted tables, her mind went to the woman in yellow taffeta and imagined that right about now she would be standing with raised arms and a forlorn look. Ruefully wincing as the man who was holding her mink busily stripped those luscious pearls from the neckline of her tight gown, as the shiny yellow material gleamed in the moonlight! Serves her right for being afraid of spiders, Angie thought unforgivingly.

***

Angie’s mind also went to the poor young princess in blue with the missing necklace. She looked towards the area she had headed, opposite of the back exit to the garden. She reluctantly decided not to push her luck, there was a sister and parents to contend with, and she really had no time left. So she decided to call it a day, a rather successful day, and made her way to retrieve her loot.

**

Angie had now reached the now deserted table by the back exit where the lady in the crimson gown and blood red rubies had been earlier, along with her rhinestone encumbered 10 year old daughter and handsome husband.

**

She paused between the table and the bench, something was not quite right, She eyed the area around the dance floor for any signs of trouble that may be centered on the quite valuable jewels now in her possession. All was quiet, except for a little murmur behind her. Turning she looked at the bench and was shocked to discover the soundly asleep ten year old, using the long rusty sable fur as a blanket. What have we here, Angie thought, licking her lips wickedly?

**

Angie pursed her lips, checking the coast; spotting the young girl’s parents, still on the dance floor, a safe distance away the other side of the room. No sign of miss silver satin. No one else was nearby. Perfect. She went over, bending down so the table hid her. The child looked so vulnerably innocent, sound asleep as she lay on her side, facing Angie. She was clutching an arm of the sable like a warm fuzzy teddy bear, her ring sparkling. Angie gently tugged the mink from the girl’s clasp, and gradually pulled until the fur swished away from along the inert silken figure on the bench, where it fell into a pile on the floor. The child looked very innocent, very vulnerable, like a sleeping princess. An earring lay exposed over one shoulder, her necklace dangled down slightly askew from her slender throat, the pin holding her sash, all of which shone brightly now that it was exposed to the low lights of the ballroom, still called out. Too bad, Angie thought to herself, too bad the mother had not dressed her little doll in real diamonds.

**

 

Angie again looked to the dance floor; she could see the mother’s jewelry twinkling brightly as the child’s parents danced close, very unaware of anything else but themselves. She looked back over the girl, contemplating. But the song was winding down, Angie stooped to pick up the sable, bird in hand she thought, and placing the rich fur over her arm, stood just as the song ended. Looking at the exit door, so near and yet so far, she started to hasten to it, but checked herself as the band immediately started another, rather slow song that Angie knew quite well.

**

She hesitated, incredibly, everyone was staying on the floor for the final dance, she looked back at the bench, and the sleeping imps exposed jewels still shined, tempting her to come for them. Angie knew that she would only have about four minutes. Always open to new challenges, Angie chose to answer that sweet little invite that the necklace was extending out to her. Checking once again to make sure the parents was still obliviously dancing; she laid the mink down by the door and eased back to the bench. Kneeling down, Angie began to perform the delicate operation.

**

Lifting up the necklace she gently tugged it loose from around the sleeping child’s neck until the clasp appeared. She subtly flicked open the clasp, then shamelessly slipped the necklace from around its perch on the little whelp’s throat. It flickered like some slithering shiny snake, glittering as it came away. Like taking candy from a baby, Angie drooled happily, as she let the necklace run along her fingertips while watching the sleeping princess for a few seconds.

**

Her fitted cream coloured dress shimmered with expensive richness in the shadowy light. The poor thing was so soundly asleep after her long exhausting day that Angie figured she could have peeled the dress off her without causing a stir. This for a pickpocket would be the ultimate test, the pinnacle of her criminal class. But, Angie thought; if she ever had the opportunity to do so, it would have to be worth her while, like a shiny gown, an appealing sky blue gown with half sleeves and scooped collar. And the jewels would be sapphire drop earrings, bracelet and ring, not plain rhinestones. She licked her lips at the enticing thought of such a perfect “coup fera”, than told herself to get back to work, time was money.

**

She slipped her hand along the satin cape being used as a pillow and felt under the girls head until she felt the cold earring she was laying upon. Deftly undoing the screw she pulled it free, watching with delight as it came out from underneath.

**

Angie than, gently lifted, and nimbly stroked back the girl’s ultra-soft hair, exposing her long silvery earring. She pulled the jewel out and laid it out upon the child’s shoulder, where it lay, shimmering vibrantly. Then she reached in with her fingers and began unscrewed its clasp. Pulling it free she added it to her growing collection. She next lifted the hand that had held the warm sable, gently prying open her clenched fingers. The sleeping child never stirred. Angie gently slipped off the glittering ring. She then peeled back a silky sleeve, checking for the bracelet, finding her wrist was bare. The rest of the jewels were hiding securely on the side she was laying upon. Smiling wickedly to herself, an idea popped into Angie’s head.

**

The music was now almost to the halfway point, and Angie thought for a brief second that she should leave . Another quick scan assured her the coast was still clear, and Angie decided to press her luck, eagerly going back to work, putting her idea into motion.

Angie fingers felt along the sleeping child’s waist until she located the brooch. Quickly unfastening the brooch from the chocolate satin sash, she pulled it out. Watching as the diamonds caught fire and burst into vibrant life, unusually vivid for plain rhinestones she thought contemplatively. Angie plopping it in with the growing pile of the sleeping girls purloined baubles. Again reaching in along the warm waist, Angie gradually tugged at the now undone sash. The sleeping girl, unconsciously obliged by turning over on her other side, as the sash was pulled away.

**

Her arm with the ring and bracelet was now exposed. Lifting the arm , and peeling back the puffy sleeve, Angie found and unclasped the bracelet, slipping it away, then allowing it to dangle in triumph before letting it join its purloined mates. Then lifting the child’s hand she pulled at the ring, it was a little tight. Angie licked her fingers, and moistened the girls finger, than began slipping the ring off ever so gently from the along her finger. Almost there, Angie thought, as the ring joined its abducted companions in her pocket.

 

**

As Angie finished pocketing the last of the girls jewels, her victim whimpers something discernible in her sleep, her small hand feeling to pull up the missing warm sable she had been using as a blanket. Angie quickly looked around, spying a cheap linen coat hanging on a nearby hook, she grasped it and laid it over the stirring girl, stroking her for a precious few seconds. Then rising, calmly Angie snatched a shiny purse from the table, and moved off, unbelieving of her luck. She reclaimed the sable fur, and strolled out the door without looking back.

**

As Angie closed the door she heard the last notes of the song waning from inside. She licked her lip, that was close, but her luck had held. Now all that remained was to visit the Cupid Statue In the garden to reclaim her other prizes. As she reached the statue, Angie realized that she still had the child’s satin sash in her hand.

She smiled as she tied it, blindfolding the cupid statues eyes. Retrieving and pocketing the now stone cold diamond bracelet, and the young Princess in blue’s necklace with its shimmering pendent, she slowly looked around, the cost was clear. Angie coolly made her way to the gate, the bored guard offering to help her with the mink she was carrying. , Angie stopped, and handed it to him. Then turning, allowed him to help her on with it. He puffed out his chest as Angie gave him a sweet smile; she thanked him, then turned and disappeared into the darkness of the night.

**

Angie disappeared from view into the foggy evening, relishing the warmth of the sensuous sable. Happily contemplating the small fortune in jewels it had been in contact with earlier that evening, and also the small fortune she had walked out of the reception with in her possession.

**

The guard watched the spot for some time where the pretty lady in the expensive fur had vanished in the mists. He fantasized for a good few minutes, wondered what had been behind the enchantingly secret smile she had given to him.

Excuse me, sir?, a female voice coming from the garden startles him, he had never heard anyone coming.

He turns, catching an eyeful of a long glamourous, brown satin gown, worn fetchingly by a willowy short haired pretty young thing. Diamonds blazed from around her throat, caught by the gas lights, and from around her white satin gloved wrists as she raised her hands in a pleading fashion.

She continues, pointing to a young girl in a smashing blue satin gown, bending over looking for something in the bushes. My sister lost her necklace and pendent while playing around here earlier, did you or anyone find it? She asked in a rather seductive tone of voice9 not a common, it was her regular voice)

No lady, no one turned in a necklace. Thank you sir, and she turns away, her gown flowing out behind her.

He watches for a minute as she and her sister both move elegantly down the path, continuing their search.

He sighed, and turns away, babysitting rich dames he mutters under his breath, what a dismal way to make a living. Why won’t this affair ever end he asked himself, as he reached for his silver pocket watch to check the time. Damnations he said, not finding it nor its chain and fob, must have dropped it in the alley earlier where I had gone for a nipper from his flask. He sauntered off quickly to the alley located in the direction Angie had disappeared, abandoning his post.

Soon after, a pair of dark figures who had been walking on the opposite side of the street, and had stopped to loiter when they spied the guard talking to some posh broad in a shiny brown dress, saw the guard leaving his post. They quickly stole with sinister intent across the road and entered into the gardens, disappearing into the darkness.

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

This ended up being Angie’s first big score, She got more for the rhinestone set then she had imagined, the small brooch taken off the brown satin sash had proved to have real diamonds in its center! Also the princess in silky sky blue’s pendent and chain had fetched a nice tidy sum. The jewels lifted from the ladies in Green and Silver also realized quite a handsome profit, as did the sable and purse.

if one includes the real diamond ring slipped off the finger of a silky dressed debutante from the prom show and her rather nice haul of a slim pearl necklace and diamond pin from the Opera, the whole weekend was unimaginably successful.

**

From the profit realized, she had been able to spend a pleasant month away in Monte Carlo, even indulging in the purchase of a rich red wine coloured taffeta gown to wear.

Which she pleasantly found that, when paired with her deftly acquired collection of dripping rhinestone diamond jewelry, she attracted wealthy young males with expensive gold watches and fat wallets like honey bee drones to a bright moss rose.

**

She also enticed a long raven haired, Miss, richly clad in emerald silk, to enter into her snare.

But Angie did not make an entirely clean get away. For the last jewel to be taken was the girl’s brooch , and before Angie could hide it with the rest, the girl spotted its’ glitter in Angie’s hand, and with a gasp had looked down on her dress at the now vacant spot where it had been dangling ever so provocatively for Angie all evening.. Angie smiled at the girl as she had looked up in confusion. The girl had placed a hand to her throat, startled when feeling it bare of her necklace. She looked at Angie in hurt confusion, her eyes wide with fright. Angie placed a finger to the girl’s lips, hushing any fuss she may have been thinking of making over her missing jewelry, and turning her back to the forlorn miss, Angie left, not looking back….

**

But that was a story for another day, so we were promised by Angie, giving us an all too familiar look of devious satisfaction at making us wait.

.************************************************************************************

Editor’s Notes:

Our Thanks to Mr. J. Gardner for pointing out the existence of Mr. Monescu’s 1826 guide

If you enjoyed our little story, please like and leave a comment.

And if you wish, describe what intrigued you the most about it…

Thank You

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

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All Saints, Ramsholt, Suffolk

Taken with my Sony Xperia™ Z5 smartphone. A new entry on the Suffolk Churches site: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/ramsholt.htm

 

riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay. Ours was the marsh country, and from the strand I climb to the marsh gate, and there across the wide marshes stands All Saints. Here, thousands every year see Ramsholt church for the first time, and every time is like the first time. Now, I step out across the marshes, and in my mind I am Dickens's Pip, I am Joyce's Dedalus; signatures of all things am I here to read.

 

A bright, freezing day in January 2017, and a perfect day for cycling out to Ramsholt church. I caught the Lowestoft-bound train to Melton, and then cycled out along the long, busy peninsula road, the traffic quietening as it peeled off to bigger, less remote places. The fields flattened out, punctuated by wind-swept pines. The lanes narrowed, zig-zagging down the sides and along the ends of pre-enclosure strips. A sea of mud and ice caked the road surface, and soon almost every trace of human habitation had disappeared. Curlews and oyster-catchers huddled miserably in the open fields as I reached the end of the long lane which leads up to Ramsholt church.

 

Hardly anyone lives in this parish, but it still maintains several services a month as a result of the Anglican diocese's benefice system. Although this church is just about accessible by car, most people who visit here will come on foot. This is because, just beyond the lane that leads to the church, another lane leads down to the pub on the quayside, the Ramsholt Arms.

 

Today, this pub is one of the busiest in Suffolk. It hasn't always been so; When I moved to Suffolk thirty years ago you could come here on a sunny day and enjoy the silence of the shoreline as you sat behind your pint of Adnams. It was considered by those who knew of it one of the best kept secrets in the county. A peaceful, laid-back pub overlooking the wide river - what more could you want? The food was superb, and you could be assured of the friendliest of welcomes.

 

And then came the 1990s, and Suffolk was 'discovered'. It is hard to remember now just how unfashionable it had been before. As recently as 1986, Michael Palin could make a comedy film, East of Ipswich, about going on holiday with his parents in the years after the War to Southwold. Southwold! How absurd! Who would ever want to visit such a backwater, let alone go on holiday there!

 

Nowadays, it is hard to pick up a colour supplement without finding an article about some actor, or designer, or investment banker who has a holiday cottage near the mouth of the Deben or the Blyth. Foodie articles focus on Suffolk produce and Suffolk restaurants. House prices have rocketed; it simply isn't possible for young locals to live here any more. A beach hut recently exchanged hands in Southwold for about the same as my house in the middle of Ipswich is worth.

 

And places like Ramsholt are becoming overwhelmed. From being a quiet haven where you took your mum for lunch when she visited, the Ramsholt Arms has become a tourist pub, its large garden full on a summer's afternoon with yachting types up from London for the weekend. Does this sound snobbish? I'm sorry. But you might as well be in Southwold or Aldeburgh. I am seeing my lovely Suffolk destroyed, and it seriously pisses me off.

 

A large field has been converted to a tourist car park about half a mile before you reach the pub. You walk down onto the strand; although we are a good three miles from the sea, the beach is sandy, and children dig holes and build castles. The lazy river is shallow and slow, if a touch muddy, and paddling is certainly safer than it would be a couple of miles downstream at Bawdsey. The tide is very dramatic; at the turn, it retreats a hundred yards out in less than twenty minutes, leaving a vast expanse of shiny mudflats, an aerodrome for the seagulls.

 

You wander along the strand upstream,, taking care not to step on the samphire that grows there - I'll be along in the spring to harvest some of it, and I don't want it all trampled, thank you very much. You step up onto the level above, and through a gate onto the bridleway through the marshes. And you see the church for the first time.

 

From across the reeds, it rises dramatically above you. The round tower appears square at this distance, but as you come closer it begins to look oval, an illusion caused by the buttressing. A similar illusion occurs at Beyton, Suffolk's other buttressed round tower.

 

The bridleway winds leisurely across the flat marsh. But it is best to keep to it; deep channels snake among the reeds and gorse, and only the brown cattle that somehow find something to graze here seem sure of not falling into them.

 

If you have come here in spring, you are in for an absolute delight when you pass through the gate on the far side of the marsh. Here, a sunken lane winds up to the church. Until fifty or so years ago, these were so common, but most were either turned into roads, or allowed to return to nature. This one is lined by high banks, six feet or more, and they are a riot in spring of wild flowers and grasses. Poppies spangle them into the distance.

 

The lane climbs, and suddenly you reach the churchyard. It is about eight feet above you, and you can either continue up to the field and around to the north east, or there is a little stairway cut in the bank of the sunken lane. This takes you up into the graveyard itself.

 

It would be silly to call this a lonely place, because it has thousands of visitors every year, and unless you come in deepest winter as I did, you cannot be here for long without someone else turning up. But it is lonely in the sense that it is virtually all there is under the sky, apart from an impossibly pretty thatched farmhouse down in the dip beneath the church. The river stretches beyond the marshes (you can just make out the spire of Felixstowe St John on the horizon, some six miles away) and the air is empty except for plaintive bird cries and the wind in the reeds. On a hot, still day, even these are silenced, and you'll swear you can hear the distant clink of boat masts in the river, half a mile off.

 

This is an ancient place. There was a church here a thousand years ago, and perhaps the base of the tower survives from that time. The church is broadly Norman; the later medieval windows can't disguise this. North and south are strange sets of dumpy lancets, which could date from any time, I suppose. They allow you to see how thick the walls are.

 

However ancient All Saints is, the strongest resonances here are of the 18th century. This seems to be the last time the Parish was populated to any extent, and there are some superb 18th century headstones set in the wild grasses, including one with a sexton's tools. My four favourites are in a line, to the Waller family. The Wallers can still be found locally; they owned the living at nearby Waldringfield and presented their sons to the living. The last Waller rector of Waldringfield died in harness as recently as 2013. The location and pre-Tractarian character of the graveyard and church meant it provided a perfect setting for a recent BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens's Great Expectations (although the book is actually set in the north Kent marshes, of course).

 

Curiously, there are hardly any stones to the north of the church. This may be used as evidence for the myth that people are never buried on the north side of churches (in practice, they are - take a look at a few churchyards!) but I think it is simply that people here have chosen to be buried looking over the river - well, you would, wouldn't you.

 

As you step through the 19th century porch (the frontage is most unusual; bricks lining unknapped flintwork, like a seaside cottage) and into the open church (it is always open) you might be forgiven for thinking that the interior is also an 18th century survival. There are simple wooden box pews, a brick floor, a two-decker pulpit rising on the south side. It is all just about perfect.

 

In fact, all of this is the result of a restoration of the 1850s. In the first half of the 19th century, Ramsholt church was derelict; unused and unloved. The nave was open to the sky; the walls were 'green with damp'. It seems extraordinary that a church would be furnished in the prayerbook fashion at such a late date, although it probably reflects the predilections, and memories, of elderly churchwardens. Ramsholt is such a backwater that this was still thought to be the proper manner of furnishing a church. As you walk up to the altar, you'll notice that the seats face west, towards the pulpit, rather than east, towards the altar, a reminder that for 300 years it was the Word that was the focus of Anglican worship, not the Sacrament.

 

There's a nice late medieval font, which seems rather out of place here; you feel that a chunky Norman font, or one of those 18th century bird baths as at neighbouring Bawdsey, would be more appropriate. The simple Norman doorway into the tower seems to call out for the former. If you look through the cracks in the door, you'll see that the base of the tower has been furnished as a vestry.

 

The damp of the estuary inevitably creeps into this building still, but that is part of its charm. On a summer's day it is cooler inside than out, as if the church were holding on to the grip of winter. On a winter's day the church becomes a sanctuary, but in all seasons a serious house on serious earth... the ghostly silt not yet dispersed. There is something organic about this great oatmeal tower, and the way it and the sandy bluff merge into the reeds and pines above the Deben estuary, at one with its setting, its parish and its long generations.

 

And that is all there is to Ramsholt now. The pub, a farmhouse and the church, each about half a mile apart. And the marshes, and the water, and the wide Suffolk sky.

Join in with an exciting, free public art trail that will add colour to the streets, parks and public spaces of Newcastle this summer!

  

Shaun the Sheep on the Tyne is presented by and raising funds for St Oswald’s Hospice. The charity has partnered with creative producers Wild in Art, Shaun the Sheep creator Aardman and Headline Partners Newcastle City Council to bring you a ewe-nique art adventure that the whole family can enjoy.

  

Following the success of Great North Snowdogs in 2016 and Elmer’s Great North Parade in 2019, St Oswald’s Hospice’s third art trail celebrates the support shown by their community throughout the pandemic. From now until Wednesday 27th September 2023, Newcastle city centre and surrounding areas will be transformed by the arrival of 45 super-sized sculptures, inspired by the much-loved star of film and television, Shaun the Sheep. Located alongside some of the city’s most iconic landmarks, each Shaun the Sheep sculpture has been uniquely designed by artists from the region and beyond, providing a fun, family-friendly art trail for locals and visitors to follow.

  

A series of smaller ‘Little Shaun’ sculptures, adopted and painted by schools and youth groups, are also displayed as part of the adventure, at indoor venues across the city.

  

A trail map and App are available to navigate avid art adventurers across the accessible trail, helping you discover each sculpture and unlock a series of rewards and milestones.

  

Whilst exciting and inspiring people of all ages to celebrate our beautiful city through creativity, the trail hopes to increase public awareness about hospice care and its importance and impact on our whole community. When the trail ends, the super-sized Shaun sculptures will be auctioned to raise funds for St Oswald’s Hospice.

  

Shaun the Sheep on the Tyne is the perfect summer holiday activity, free for all and packed full of baa-rilliant adventure. Join the flock now, ewe won’t regret it!

  

Follow the Flock!

45 Big Shaun sculptures and 70 Little Shaun sculptures inspired by the much-loved star of film and television, Shaun the Sheep have taken over the parks and streets of Newcastle upon Tyne. How many can ewe find?

 

www.rspb.org.uk/reserves-and-events/find-a-reserve/reserv...

  

This popular reserve on the north Norfolk coast has something for everyone. A walk from the visitor centre down to the sandy beach takes you past reedbeds and shallow lagoons, which are often full of birds. You can sit on benches or watch from spacious, wheelchair-accessible hides.

 

In summer, marsh harriers float over the reeds, where bearded tits nest. On the lagoons are avocets, gulls and terns. In autumn and winter you can see up to 20 species of wading birds and lots of ducks and geese.

 

A well-stocked shop has a wide range of RSPB gifts and books and a large selection of telescopes and binoculars. We have a servery and inside eating area selling a selection of hot and cold food and drinks, as well as snacks and locally-made cakes.

  

Opening times

  

The reserve is open every day of the year. The visitor centre and shop are open daily from 10.00 am to 5 pm (closing at 4 pm from November to February). They're closed Christmas Day and Boxing Day. The cafe is open daily from 10.00 am to 4.30 pm (closing at 4 pm from November to February). It's also closed Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

  

Entrance charges

 

There is a charge of £5 per car for non members.

  

Information for families

 

There are lots of exciting activities for families to do during the school holidays. Call the visitor centre on 01485 210779 to find out what is happening today.

  

Information for dog owners

 

Dogs are only permitted on the west bank path, which is a public right of way. They must be kept on a lead and under close control.

  

For more information

Contact us

Tel: 01485 210779

E-mail:

titchwell@rspb.org.uk

  

Star species

 

Our star species are some of the most interesting birds you may see on your visit to the reserve.

 

Marsh harrier

 

Look for marsh harriers gliding over the reedbed with their wings held upwards in a shallow 'v'. In spring, pairs perform their breathtaking 'skydancing' displays high in the sky.

  

Bittern

 

Keep your eyes peeled for bitterns making short, low flights over the freshwater reedbed. You may be lucky enough to find one fishing on the edge of a channel. In late winter and spring, listen out for the mating call: a deep, resonant 'boom'.

  

Bearded tit

 

You will often hear bearded tits before you see them. Listen for their bell-like 'pinging' calls, then watch them whizzing across the tops of the reeds. They perch up on the stems in calm weather and feed on fallen seeds on the mud at the base of the reeds.

  

Avocet

 

Watch elegant avocets 'scooping up' microscopic, aquatic life in their amazing, sickle shaped beaks. They nest in mini colonies on the islands of the brackish marsh.

  

Redshank

 

You can see redshanks wading in fresh and salt water throughout the year at Titchwell. Watch for their towering display flights over the saltmarsh as you walk along the main path in spring.

  

Seasonal highlights

  

Each season brings a different experience at our nature reserves. In spring, the air is filled with birdsong as they compete to establish territories and attract a mate. In summer, look out for young birds making their first venture into the outside world. Autumn brings large movements of migrating birds - some heading south to a warmer climate, others seeking refuge in the UK from the cold Arctic winter. In winter, look out for large flocks of birds gathering to feed, or flying at dusk to form large roosts to keep warm.

  

Spring

 

This is one of the most exciting times of the year. The first spring migrants, such as swallows and sand martins, can be seen over the lagoons with wheatears along the beach. In April and May, the lagoons can be full of migrating waders, including ruffs, black tailed godwits, spotted redshanks and dunlins. Marsh harriers can be seen performing their 'sky dancing' display and the reedbeds are alive with singing reed and sedge warblers. If you are lucky, you may also hear the 'booming' of the bittern, which has recently returned to breed at Titchwell.

  

Summer

 

Mid-summer is the quietest time for birds but the best for some of the more elusive reserve species. It is possible to see the rare water vole on the pools around the meadow trail and, if the conditions are suitable, up to ten species of dragonfly and damselfly. By mid-July, the breeding marsh harriers will have flying young and up to 15 birds have been seen in a day. In these quiet months, the reserve staff carry out essential management work on the lagoons. While every effort is made to avoid disturbance, it may sometimes be encountered during a visit.

  

Autumn

 

Autumn is the time for waders when, with luck, over 20 species could be seen around the reserve. Species such as curlew sandpiper, little stint and black-tailed godwit stop on the lagoons to feed on their return migration from their Arctic breeding grounds to their African wintering grounds. With the high spring tides, large numbers of waders can often be seen roosting on the lagoons. September is one of the best months to view bearded tits. The young gather in small flocks and can show very well feeding on seeds blown onto the mud near the Island Hide.

  

Winter

 

Winter is the time for wildfowl at Titchwell. Large numbers of ducks and geese winter in North Norfolk and most of these species can be seen on the lagoons. The commonest species are teal, wigeon, mallard, gadwall and shoveler, with smaller numbers of pintails and goldeneyes. Offshore from the reserve, large 'rafts' of common scoters, long tailed ducks and eiders can be seen. In the evenings, thousands of pink-footed geese can be seen flying to their roost sites along the coast. Hen harriers, marsh harriers and occasionally barn owls can be seen over the reedbed at dusk. In the evenings, thousands of pink-footed geese may be seen flying to their roost sites along the coast.

  

Facilities

 

Visitor centre

 

Information centre

 

Car park

 

Toilets

 

Disabled toilets

 

Picnic area

 

Binocular hire

 

Group bookings accepted

 

Guided walks available

 

Good for walking

 

Pushchair friendly

 

Viewing points

 

The viewing platform on the edge of the dunes is an excellent spot from which to watch an array of waders on the beach and fishing terns, migrating skuas and wintering sea ducks, divers and grebes at sea.

 

Island Hide gives views over the bird-filled freshwater marsh and along the edge of the freshwater reedbed where you can watch bearded tits and water rails feeding.

 

We now have a new Parrinder Hide as part of this project.

 

Fen hide overlooks the freshwater reedbed and is the perfect spot from which to see bitterns, bearded tits and marsh harriers.

  

Nature trails

  

There are three trails on the reserve and all are accessible to wheelchairs/pushchairs.

 

The main path is approximately 1 km long and runs from the visitor centre to the beach.

 

The Fen Trail was extended in September 2012, along with the East Trail and Autumn Trail. To the end of the East Trail is 700 m and to the end of the Autumn Trail is 1.2 km.

 

Please note that the Autumn trail is only open between 1 August to 31 October to avoid disturbing the marsh harrier roost.

 

Coming back from these trails you can rejoin the main path via the Meadow Trail, which is 100 m long.

 

Sorry, dogs are only allowed on the main path (a public right of way).

  

Tearoom

  

We have a servery and inside eating area selling a selection of hot and cold food and drinks, as well as snacks and locally-made cakes.

  

Refreshments available

 

Hot drinks

Cold drinks

Hot meals

Cold meals

Snacks

Shop

 

There is a large selection of optics and books, plus daily optics demonstrations.

 

The shop stocks:

 

Binoculars and telescopes

Books

Bird food

Bird feeders

Outdoor clothing

Gifts

  

Accessibility

 

10 September 2014

 

This is a Summary Access Statement. A full access statement is available to download from this page.

  

Before you visit

  

Entry to the reserve and the hides is free. Parking charges apply for non-members. Free parking for carer or essential companion with disabled visitor

 

The visitor centre and shop are open daily from 9.30 am to 5 pm (November to February closes at 4 pm) except Christmas Day and Boxing Day. The cafe is open daily from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm (November to February closes 4 pm) except Christmas Day and Boxing Day

 

Registered Assistance Dogs welcome. Other dogs are only permitted on the west bank path, which is a public right of way. They must be kept on a lead and under close control

 

Two pushed wheelchairs for hire free of charge

 

Check accessibility for events and activities.

  

How to get here

 

King's Lynn Railway Station is 22 miles (35 km away)

 

Bus stop outside the reserve.

 

Car parking

 

Eight Blue Badge spaces 130 metres from visitor centre entrance

120 spaces and a short walk along a gravel path from the visitor centre

 

Surface is bonded gravel

 

No lighting

 

No formal drop off point

 

No height restriction

  

Visitor centre and shop

 

Entry by double doors and a shallow slope. There is an entrance at the front and back to the visitor centre - both have shallow slopes. The entrance doors are manual, outward-opening light doors without a threshold.

 

Level, tiled floor throughout. No seating. Good lighting. Magnifying glasses, pens and paper available. Binoculars hire. Small children’s binoculars free hire. Information displayed in clear print format. Staff available to assist. Shop is in the visitor centre. Level throughout. Some tall or deep displays. Staff available to assist.

  

Nature trails

 

Three signposted trails. Mostly flat, boardwalks and rolled sand and gravel surface. A short, steep slope over the sea defence bank near the beach.

  

Viewing facilities

 

Four hides. Ramp or slope access with a mix of large windows or solid wood viewing slots which require opening - can be difficult as they are stiff. The new Parrinder Hides are spacious modern and all level throughout.

  

Toilets and baby changing facilities

 

A unisex accessible toilet in the main toilet block near car park 200 metres from the visitor centre.

  

Catering

 

Café serving hot and cold food and drinks, snacks and locally-made cakes. Step-free entry. Level throughout. Non-slip flooring. Colour-contrasted crockery. Staff available to assist. Nearest accessible toilet is 200 m from café in the car park.

  

Picnic area

 

Two picnic areas, five tables and one bench outside the visitor centre one bench with all tables having wheelchair spaces. 60m from the visitor centre toward the car park is a second picnic area with four benches and three tables with space for wheelchair access. Visitors are welcome to consume their own food and drink here.

  

Education facilities

 

No dedicated provision

 

Help us improve accessibility by sending feedback to the Site Manager.

 

For more information

Titchwell Marsh Visitor Centre

E-mail: titchwell@rspb.org.uk

Telephone:01485 210779

  

Cafe

 

The 'feeding station' is warm and friendly with a reasonably-priced menu. We serve a wide selection of hot and cold snacks and light lunches. Takeaway drinks and food also available. Freshly-baked home-made scones daily. Locally-made ice-creams.

 

We serve our own exclusive coffee that is grown, imported and roasted by us. It's Fairtrade, organic and certified bird-friendly by the Smithsonian Institute, so now you can help save nature simply by enjoying a great cup of coffee!

  

Opening hours

 

10 am to 4.30 pm (we close at 4 pm from November to February)

  

Highlights from our menu

 

A selection of cold, filled wraps

Freshly-made sandwiches

Our famous bacon baps

Home-made cheese and fruit scones

Carrot and walnut cake, made by our local bakers, Krusty Loaf

  

Access to the cafe

 

Our cafe is on the ground floor - no stairs and easy access for wheelchairs.

  

Children welcome

 

We have two highchairs available. Children’s corner selection on the menu.

  

We use local ingredients

 

We sell locally-made Norfolk ice-creams. We use Fair Trade products where possible.

  

Dietary requirements

 

There are vegetarian, vegan, wheat-free and gluten-free options.

  

How to get here

 

By bicycle (Sustrans cycle route)

National route number 1 is within two miles of the reserve.

 

By train

 

King's Lynn - 22 miles.

 

By bus

 

On the main road outside the reserve.

 

By road

 

Take the first left after driving eastwards along the A149 through Thornham village. The reserve is signposted with a brown tourist sign.

  

Archaeology and history

  

Titchwell Marsh is a wonderful place for wildlife today but there is fascinating story to tell about how the landscape has evolved. Visitors can see remains that illustrate the two major events that have shaped the landscape - sea level rise after the last ice age and military use during the Second World War.

 

The advance of the sea

It wasn't always open marsh at Titchwell - there was a time more than 9,000 years ago when this area was covered in forest and was part of coastal plain that stretched out into what is now the North Sea.

 

Flint artefacts from this Mesolithic era have been found on the reserve, evidence that people were hunting and gathering, probably following animal herds for long distances. It has been suggested that at this time they could have walked as far as Denmark whilst staying on dry land!

 

A wetter climate led to the formation of peat, causing the trees to fall and be preserved in the wetland deposits. Gradual sea level rises throughout this post-glacial period then inundated and preserved the peat beds. Today the remains of the trees and peat beds can be seen eroding on the coastal foreshore at low tide.

 

Once the sea level rose, the coastal plains were inundated and by the Late Bronze Age, around 3,000 years ago, sea levels would have been much the same as today. Archaeologists have found evidence that people were living on the edge of the wetland at this time so there must already have been a settled community here - it would have been a good location to farm the dry land and exploit wetlands for fishing and fowling.

 

Today the challenges of climate change mean we expect more coastal inundation and our engineering works will ensure the preservation of important wildlife and cultural heritage for the future.

  

The Second World War

 

These wetland and intertidal areas would have been exploited by human communities for millennia for hunting and farming, but it is the 20th century that has seen the biggest changes at Titchwell and left an indelible mark on the reserve that can be seen during your visit.

 

During the Second World War, the quiet marshes were turned into a firing range

During the Second World War, the quiet marshes were turned into an Armoured Fighting Vehicle (AFV) firing range and the coast was reinforced against invasion. Part of these defences would have included a reversal of drainage and encouraging flooding as a defence against invasion - helping to re-establish wetland biodiversity.

 

The main banks, including the Parrinder bank were constructed for firing practice, with targets set at 1,000 yard intervals. Today these banks ensure that freshwater wildlife can be protected from inundation by saltwater. Rare breeding species such as the bittern, bearded tit and marsh harrier rely on freshwater reedbeds for there continued existence in the UK.

 

The remains of a 'firing loop' where tanks drove up to fire at the targets is still preserved as well as pillboxes where machine gun practice was also taking place. Many of the islands in the marsh were built to house 'pop-up' targets for gunnery practice and today these are important for breeding and roosting birds.

 

Occasionally the remains of two Covenanter tanks can be seen at low tide on the foreshore, their appearance depending on the shifting sands. These two were probably used for target practice.

 

More information about these heritage sites can be obtained from reserve staff during your visit.

 

Metal detecting and the collection and removal of objects from the reserve is not permitted.

  

Our work here

  

Titchwell Marsh is specially protected as part of the North Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural beauty.

 

The RSPB has helped create a mosaic of wetland and coastal habitats on the reserve in order to attract a diversity of bird species. These include nationally important numbers of avocets, bearded tits, marsh harriers and bitterns, and internationally important populations of wintering waders.

 

We are working to keep these habitats in good condition, and also to provide a key visitor attraction and a good example of our management practices.

  

Reedbed success

 

Our freshwater reedbed is important for threatened wildlife such as bitterns, bearded tits, marsh harriers and water voles.

 

In 2005 our three-year project to rehabilitate the reedbed for bitterns proved successful when the first pair bred on the reserve for 18 years.

  

Living lagoons

 

We are managing the freshwater lagoon and its islands for the benefit of breeding and wintering waders and wildfowl, among other wildlife.

 

We are also managing the brackish marsh as a saline lagoon. This provides suitable breeding conditions for avocets, as well as feeding grounds for other waders and wildfowl.

  

Natural habitats

 

We are allowing natural processes to maintain other coastal habitats, including saltmarsh, shingle and sand dunes. This provides habitat for a variety of birds, including wintering brent geese and wigeon, breeding little terns and redshanks, and high tide wader roosts.

 

We are also managing woodland and grassland areas around the reserve for their wildlife.

  

Rising tide

 

The coastline at Titchwell is eroding and we know that the site is becoming more vulnerable to damage caused by surge tides and storms. The RSPB is working to ensure the freshwater habitats are protected and will continue to support species such as the bittern and bearded tit.

 

We are examining options for flood defences at the seaward end of the reserve and will provide further information as soon as it becomes available.

  

Reaching people

 

Titchwell is one of the most-visited RSPB reserves. We will continue to maintain and improve our facilities. We will also use the reserve to demonstrate our management practices, and will continue to develop our positive relationships with key audiences and local communities.

  

Coastal Change Project

  

Titchwell Marsh is an exceptional nature reserve in a special area. It is part of a network of outstanding wildlife sites across Europe called Natura 2000.

 

The nature reserve has been under threat from the effects of coastal change, the impact of sea level rise and increasing storm events. The Titchwell Coastal Change Project was designed to save the reserve from the effect of these coastal changes.

 

We are pleased to say we have now successfully completed the project.

 

We have realigned the sea defences to the north and reinforced the sea banks around parts of the reserve to the west and east. The future of the reserve and its wildlife is assured for at least the next fifty years.

 

We could not have achieved this without support and funding received from the EU Life+ Nature Fund, WREN, The SITA Trust, Marine Communities Fund, and the many individuals and RSPB supporters who donated and enabled this project to take place.

 

The project took several years to plan and three years to deliver. A summary of what has been achieved appears below:

 

A new northern sea defence was built along the line of the Parrinder wall. The completed Parrinder wall will protect the reserve’s freshwater habitats to the south

The sea wall and west bank path were re-built and improved from the visitor centre northwards to the Parrinder wall. This sea wall will protect the freshwater habitats for years to come

Improvements were made to the freshwater marsh islands and reed bed to benefit nesting birds such as avocet and bittern

The fabulous new Parrinder hides opened in December 2010

A breach was made in the east bank to the north of the new Parrinder wall. This has allowed saltwater on to the brackish marsh which will change over time into tidal saltmarsh. The new saltmarsh will in turn protect the new Parrinder wall. This new marsh will be known as Volunteer Marsh

A section of the south-east corner of the east bank was improved, enabling it to better protect the freshwater habitats which lie to the west

The sluice on the east bank, which lets freshwater off the marsh, was replaced. This will enable us to control water levels on the freshwater marsh more effectively than we can at present

A new reedbed area was shaped and formed in the grazing meadow east of Fen hide

Two new trails were developed to the east of Fen hide. These trails will open in 2012.

The project has protected and improved the conservation value of the reserve and has ensured that it will remain one of the most outstanding and valuable wildlife sites in Europe.

 

Igo / Accessible Transport Group YJ66ANV Optare Solo M890SR based at their Wednesbury depot. Originally new to Igo / Accessible Transport Group in early 2017 it was part of a batch of 4 for the then newly won 208 Dudley - Merry Hill contract. It is seen pulling out of Bilston bus station with a 53 to Rocket Pool. The Accessible Transport Group also known as Igo sadly entered administration on Friday 22nd March 2019. The buses have since been returned to the leasing companies.

This one is from Rose Garden on roof of Molde Town Hall

 

Most of my shots are taken in and around the city of Molde. Molde is the second largest city in the county of Møre og Romsdal, lies along the shores of the Romsdalsfjord in Western Norway.

 

The official, and also most common, nickname for Molde is The City of Roses or Rose City.

 

As you explore the city, you will see why it was given its nickname. In the city center you will find rose gardens, parks, statues, and murals all paying homage to the iconic flower. Even the town hall roof has a rose garden and is accessible to all! Decorative gardening has been popular in Molde for many generations and adds to the city’s beauty and charm.

"The town's largest collection of roses is to be found at the Town Hall roof, but the magnificent roses in the Alexandra Park is also worth your time.

 

A rose is a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus Rosa, in the family Rosaceae, or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be erect shrubs, climbing, or trailing, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers vary in size and shape and are usually large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows and reds. Most species are native to Asia, with smaller numbers native to Europe, North America, and northwestern Africa. Species, cultivars and hybrids are all widely grown for their beauty and often are fragrant. Roses have acquired cultural significance in many societies. Rose plants range in size from compact, miniature roses, to climbers that can reach seven meters in height."

 

My Website:

tonnyfroyen.com/

 

Saint Isaac's Cathedral or Isaakievskiy Sobor is a large architectural landmark cathedral that currently functions as a museum with occasional church services in Saint Petersburg. It is dedicated to Saint Isaac of Dalmatia, a patron saint of Peter the Great, who had been born on the feast day of that saint. It was originally built as a cathedral but was turned into a museum by the Soviet government in 1931 and has remained a museum ever since. In 2017, the Governor of Saint Petersburg offered to transfer the cathedral back to the Orthodox Church, but this was not accomplished due to the protests of St Petersburg citizens opposing the offer.

The neoclassical exterior expresses the traditional Russian-Byzantine formula of a Greek-cross ground plan with a large central dome and four subsidiary domes. It is similar to Andrea Palladio's Villa Capra "La Rotonda", with a full dome on a high drum substituted for the Villa's low central saucer dome. The design of the cathedral in general and the dome in particular later influenced the design of the United States Capitol dome, Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin, and the Lutheran Cathedral in Helsinki.

The exterior is faced with gray and pink stone, and features a total of 112 red granite columns with Corinthian capitals, each hewn and erected as a single block: 48 at ground level, 24 on the rotunda of the uppermost dome, 8 on each of four side domes, and 2 framing each of four windows. The rotunda is encircled by a walkway accessible to tourists. 24 statues stand on the roof, and another 24 on top of the rotunda.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haslingden_Grane

 

Haslingden Grane is a glaciated valley lying to the west of Haslingden and in the north east of the West Pennine Moors. It is easily accessible via the B6232 Grane Road which links to the M65 motorway and the A56. It contains three reservoirs: (west to east) Calf Hey Reservoir, Ogden Reservoir and Holden Wood Reservoir.

 

Prior to the construction of the reservoirs in the 19th century the settlement of Haslingden Grane had a population of 1,300 and was the centre of an illegal whisky distilling industry. The remains of some buildings can still be seen. Much quarrying has taken place in the past and continues at Jamestone Quarry.

 

The valley is overlooked to the north by Oswaldtwistle Moor and to the south by Musbury Heights. The attractive moorland scenery makes it a popular place for walking especially through the well known Fairy Glen beauty spot, there is an information centre, parking and cafe at Clough Head.

  

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eriophorum_angustifolium

  

Eriophorum angustifolium, commonly known as common cottongrass or common cottonsedge, is a species of sedge in the plant genus Eriophorum of the family Cyperaceae. Native to North America, North Asia, and Northern Europe, it is often found on peat or acidic soils, in open wetland, heath or moorland. It begins to flower in April or May and, after fertilisation in early summer, the small, unremarkable brown and green flowers develop distinctive white bristle-like seed-heads that resemble tufts of cotton; combined with its ecological suitability to bog, these characteristics give rise to the plant's alternative name, bog cotton.

 

Eriophorum angustifolium is a hardy, herbaceous, rhizomatous, perennial sedge, able to endure in a variety of environments in the temperate, subarctic and arctic regions of Earth. Unlike Gossypium, the genus from which cotton is derived, the bristles which grow on E. angustifolium are unsuited to textile manufacturing. Nevertheless, in Northern Europe, they were used as a substitute in the production of paper, pillows, candle-wicks, and wound-dressings. The indigenous peoples of North America use the plant in cooking and in the treatment of digestive problems. Following a vote in 2002, Plantlife International designated E. angustifolium the County Flower of Greater Manchester, as part of its British County Flowers campaign.

  

Contents

  

1 Description

2 Distribution and ecology

2.1 Distribution

2.2 Ecology

2.3 Conservation

 

3 In human culture

4 Taxonomy

5 Cultivation

6 References

  

Description

  

In the wild, Eriophorum angustifolium is a creeping rhizomatous perennial sedge,[3] with an abundance of unbranched, translucent pink roots.[4] Fully grown, it has a tall, erect stem shaped like a narrow cylinder or triangular prism; it is smooth in texture and green in colour. Reports of the plant's height vary; estimates include up to 60 cm (24 in),[5] 15–75 cm (5.9–30 in),[6] and up to 100 cm (39 in).[2] E. angustifolium has "stiff grass-like foliage" consisting of long, narrow solidly dark green leaves, which have a single central groove, and narrow from their 2–6-millimetre (0.08–0.24 in) wide base to a rust-coloured triangular tip.[3][7] Up to seven green and brown aerial peduncles and chaffs, roughly 4–10 millimetres (0.16–0.39 in) in size, protrude from umbels at the top of the stem from which achenes are produced after fertilisation, each with a single pappus; these combine to form a distinctive white perianth around 5 centimetres (2.0 in) long.[3][8]

 

Eriophorum angustifolium is described as "a rather dull plant" in winter and spring,[9], but "simply breathtaking" in summer and autumn,[10] when 1–7 conspicuous inflorescences – composed of hundreds of white pappi comparable to cotton,[11] hair,[4] tassels,[9] and/or bristles[3] – stand out against naturally drab surroundings.[9]

 

Eriophorum angustifolium differs from other species within the genus Eriophorum in its habitat and morphology.[8] Its multiple flower heads and growth from rhizomes distinguish it from E. vaginatum, which has a single flower head and grows from dense tussocks.[8] Although E. latifolium has 2–12 flower heads, it has laxly caespitose (tufted) growth, and its pappi are forked.[8] The smooth peduncles and preference for acidic soil pH distinguishes E. angustifolium from E. gracile, which grows in swamp with a neutral pH and has scabrid (rough) peduncles.[8]

  

Distribution and ecology

  

Distribution

  

Eriophorum angustifolium is native to the Northern Hemisphere, and distributed across Eurasia, North America and the British Isles,[3] where there is open bog, heath, wetland and moorland, with standing water and calcareous peat or acidic soil.[7] It can survive in the Subarctic and Arctic, and is found in Alaska, Finland and Greenland as far north as 83° N.[12][13] The British botanist William Turner Thiselton-Dyer recorded E. angustifolium in the South African Republic in 1898.[14]

 

In North America, Eriophorum angustifolium is found in the north from Alaska through Manitoba and the Canadian Prairies to Newfoundland and Labrador, down the Pacific Northwest and the state of Washington, across the Midwestern United States through Michigan and Iowa, down the Eastern Seaboard as far south-east as New York and New Jersey, and reaching as far south-west as New Mexico.[1][15][16] In Eurasia, E. angustifolium is distributed throughout the Caucasus, European Russia and North Asia, including Siberia and the Kamchatka Peninsula, and south-east to Manchuria and Korea.[14] It grows throughout continental Europe, with the exception of those parts within the Mediterranean Basin,[3][14] growing in Scandinavia in the north, and as far south as the Norte Region of Portugal and the Pierian Mountains of Greece.[14][17]

 

Eriophorum angustifolium is the most common of the four native species of Eriophorum in the British Isles,[7] and has been recorded as having existed in all vice-counties,[14] thriving particularly well in Ireland and northern and western regions of Great Britain, but less so in southern and eastern areas.[3][12] In the mires of Northern Ireland and the South Pennines, it considered a ruderal, pioneer and keystone species, because it can quickly colonise and repair damaged or eroded peat, encourage the re-vegetation of its surroundings, and retain sediment and its landscape to serve as a carbon sink.[7][18] In central and southern counties of England, the species is rare or absent,[7] and was "completely destroyed" in Cambridgeshire, The Broads, The Fens and other parts of the East of England by human activities such as land reclamation.[7][19] Within the British Isles, E. angustifolium thrives at a range of altitudes from sea-level fens and lowland meadows, to exposed upland moors when provided with a habitat of acid bog or waterlogged heath.[14] It has an altitudinal limit of 1,100 metres (3,600 ft) above sea level,[3] reaching 854 metres (2,802 ft) in the Wicklow Mountains of Ireland, and 1,060 metres (3,480 ft) in the Scottish Highlands.[14]

  

Ecology

  

Eriophorum angustifolium is a hardy, herbaceous, rhizomatous, perennial plant,[14] meaning that it is resilient to cold and freezing climatic conditions, dies back at the end of its growing season, has creeping rootstalks, and lives for over two years. It grows vigorously from seed over a period of 2–5 years,[20] and thrives particularly well in freshly disturbed, cut or eroded peat.[7] E. angustifolium is protogynous.[14]

 

Sexual reproduction in Eriophorum angustifolium begins with flowering in spring or early summer (in or around May), when groups of 3–5 brown flowers are produced.[3][11] Fertilisation usually takes place in May or June, via anemophily (wind-pollination),[21] and the white bristle-like perianth, composed of achenes with pappi (seeds with hairs) then grows outwards to appear like short tufts of cotton thread. These pappi endure well into summer,[11] lasting from around June to September.[3] Like the pappus of Taraxacum (dandelions), this aids in wind-dispersal, and also serves as thermal insulation, conserving the temperature of the plant's reproductive organs by trapping solar radiation.[22]

  

Conservation

  

Eriophorum angustifolium has a NatureServe conservation status of G5, meaning that the species is considered to be ecologically secure by NatureServe, lacking any threats to its global abundance.[1]

  

In human culture

  

Eriophorum angustifolium seeds and stems are edible and are used in traditional Native American cuisine[23] by Alaska Natives,[24] Inuit and Inupiat people.[25] The leaves and roots of E. angustifolium are also edible and, because of their astringent properties,[15] used by the Yupik peoples for medicinal purposes, through a process of decoction, infusion or poultice, to treat aliments of the human gastrointestinal tract,[26] and in the Old World for the treatment of diarrhoea.[27] In abundance, E. angustifolium can grow with enough density to disguise wetland and bog.[10] Consequently, it may be used as a natural indicator of areas which are hazardous and to avoid travelling through.[7][27] Attempts to make a cotton-like thread from the hairs of the plant's seed-heads have been thwarted by its brittleness,[27][28] but it has been used in the production of paper and candle wicks in Germany,[21][29] and was used as a feather substitute in pillow stuffing in Sweden[29] and Sussex, England.[28][30] In Scotland, during World War I, it was used to dress wounds.[30]

 

In 2002, the County Flowers campaign of Plantlife International, which asked members of the public to nominate and vote for a wildflower emblem for each of the counties and metropolitan areas of the United Kingdom,[31] resulted in Eriophorum angustifolium being announced as the County Flower of Greater Manchester.[32][33]

  

Taxonomy

  

The species was named Eriophorum angustifolium in 1782 by the German botanist Gerhard August Honckeny.[16][34] The German botanist Albrecht Wilhelm Roth published this name in 1788,[35] referring to Honckeny's work,[36] and is sometimes erroneously considered the author of the species name.[14] The genus name Eriophorum consists of two Ancient Greek roots – εριων (erion, "wool") and -φόρος (-phoros, "-bearing")[15] – referring to the fibrous seed-heads of the genus, which resemble tufts of thread.[4] The specific epithet angustifolium is composed of the Latin words angustus ("narrow") and folium ("leaf").[15] The Linnaean name Eriophorum polystachion is a nomen rejiciendum,[2] being based on a mixed batch of specimens. Scirpus angustifolius is a later combination published by the Japanese botanist Tetsuo Koyama in 1958, but this generic assignment is not widely accepted.[37]

 

Two subspecies are recognised within E. angustifolium.[2] The autonymous subspecies, E. angustifolium subsp. angustifolium, is found in more southerly sites, while E. angustifolium subsp. triste has an overlapping distribution centred further north.[2] The two also differ in height and the roughness of the peduncles, with E. a. subsp. angustifolium being up to 100 cm (39 in) tall and having smooth-surfaced peduncles, while E. a. subsp. triste has rough peduncles and only reaches 30 cm (12 in) tall.[2]

 

In English, E. angustifolium is known by a variety of common names (with various spellings), including common cottongrass,[7][28] common cotton-grass,[20] common cottonsedge,[20] tassel cotton grass,[20] many-headed cotton-grass,[4] thin-scale cotton-grass,[38] tall cotton-grass,[1][15][39] downy ling[20] and bog cotton.[15]

  

Cultivation

  

Although "difficult to grow under cultivation",[15] The Royal Horticultural Society states Eriophorum angustifolium can be cultivated as a low-maintenance wildflower, suitable for meadows, ponds margins or bog gardens.[20] This may be done in sheltered or exposed terrain, but best accomplished with full sun at a south- or west-facing aspect, in water up to 5 centimetres (2.0 in) deep.[20] Poorly-drained peat, sand, clay or loam with an acidic soil pH is required.[20] Division in spring is the recommended form of propagation for the species, and regular deadheading is the recommended method of pruning.[20] Narthecium ossifragum and Myrica gale are suitable for companion planting with E. angustifolium.[7] Eriophorum angustifolium is "generally pest free".[20] As a seedling and young plant it is eaten by sheep and cattle,[29] and a variety of goose species.[40] It is tolerant to chalybeate (iron-enriched) water,[12] but may succumb to powdery mildews.

 

Concrete ramp with rubberized mat on the beach sand.

Located in Burlington on Lake Ontario.

 

This was built in the late 1990's and was one of my construction projects that I supervised while working at the City of Burlington's Engineering Department.

Posters | FB | Soundcloud | Insta | Twitter | G+ | Blog | Ben Heine

 

View the full photo report on my blog (photos of the opening, making of the colorful outfit, visitors, friends...)

 

Find a selection of my best photos here (prints/posters available). Please also subscribe to my Instagram page to see more.

 

PS: All my images are copyrighted, please do not use them without permission, thank you. If you wish to use this photo or concept for commercial purposes or for other requests, please contact info@benheine.com

 

For more info about my projects, contact: info@benheine.com

Someone's method for transporting harvested bamboo in rural Taiwan

Dealers in the lift at the back of piccadilly station sorting out someone.. not the most subtle

The San Josef Bay Trail in Cape Scott Provincial Park at the northwest end of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, is wheelchair accessible.

++++++ FROM WIKIPEDIA ++++++

 

Kathmandu (/ˌkætmænˈduː/;[2] Nepali: काठमाडौँ, Nepali pronunciation: [ˈkaʈʰmaɳɖu]) is the capital and largest city of Nepal, with a population of around 1 million. Also known as the city of temples, the city stands at an elevation of approximately 1,400 metres (4,600 feet) above sea level in the bowl-shaped Kathmandu valley in central Nepal. The valley was historically called the "Nepal Mandala" and has been the home of the Newar people, a cosmopolitan urban civilization in the Himalayan foothills. The city was the royal capital of the Kingdom of Nepal and hosts palaces, mansions and gardens of the Nepalese aristocracy. It has been home to the headquarters of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) since 1985. Today, it is the seat of government of the Nepalese republic, established in 2008, and is part of the Bagmati Province.

 

Kathmandu is and has been for many years the centre of Nepal's history, art, culture, and economy. It has a multi-ethnic population within a Hindu and Buddhist majority. Religious and cultural festivities form a major part of the lives of people residing in Kathmandu. Tourism is an important part of the economy in the city. In 2013, Kathmandu was ranked third among the top ten upcoming travel destinations in the world by TripAdvisor, and ranked first in Asia. The city is considered the gateway to the Nepalese Himalayas and is home to several world heritage sites: the Durbar Square, Swayambhunath, Boudhanath and Pashupatinath. Kathmandu valley is growing at 4 percentange per year according to the World Bank in 2010, making it one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in South Asia, and the first region in Nepal to face the unprecedented challenges of rapid urbanization and modernization at a metropolitan scale.

 

Historic areas of Kathmandu were severely damaged by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in April 2015. Some of the buildings have been restored while some remain in the process of reconstruction.

  

Etymology

The indigenous Newari term for Kathmandu valley is Yen. The Nepali name Kathmandu comes from Kasthamandap, which stood in the Durbar Square. In Sanskrit, Kāṣṭha (Sanskrit: काष्ठ) means "Wood" and Maṇḍapa (Sanskrit: मण्डप) means "Pavilion". This public pavilion, also known as Maru Satta in Newari, was rebuilt in 1596 by Biseth in the period of King Laxmi Narsingh Malla. The three-storey structure was made entirely of wood and used no iron nails nor supports. According to legends, all the timber used to build the pagoda was obtained from a single tree.[4] The structure collapsed during a major earthquake in April 2015.

 

The colophons of ancient manuscripts, dated as late as the 20th century, refer to Kathmandu as Kāṣṭhamaṇḍap Mahānagar in Nepal Mandala. Mahānagar means "great city". The city is called Kāṣṭhamaṇḍap in a vow that Buddhist priests still recite to this day. Thus, Kathmandu is also known as Kāṣṭhamaṇḍap. During medieval times, the city was sometimes called Kāntipur (Sanskrit: कान्तिपुर). This name is derived from two Sanskrit words – Kānti and Pur. Kānti is a word that stands for "beauty" and is mostly associated with light and Pur means place, thus giving it the meaning, "City of light".

 

Among the indigenous Newar people, Kathmandu is known as Yeṃ Deśa (Nepal Bhasa: येँ देश), and Patan and Bhaktapur are known as Yala Deśa (Nepal Bhasa: यल देश) and Khwopa Deśa (Nepal Bhasa: ख्वप देश) respectively.[5] "Yen" is the shorter form of Yambu (Nepal Bhasa: यम्बु), which originally referred to the northern half of Kathmandu. The older northern settlements were referred to as Yambi while the southern settlement was known as Yangala.[6][7]

 

The spelling "Katmandu" was often used in older English-language text. More recently, however, the spelling "Kathmandu" has become more common in English.

 

History

 

Archaeological excavations in parts of Kathmandu have found evidence of ancient civilizations. The oldest of these findings is a statue, found in Maligaon, that was dated at 185 AD.[9] The excavation of Dhando Chaitya uncovered a brick with an inscription in Brahmi script. Archaeologists believe it is two thousand years old.[9] Stone inscriptions are a ubiquitous element at heritage sites and are key sources for the history of Nepal.

 

The earliest Western reference to Kathmandu appears in an account of Jesuit Fathers the Portuguese Jesuit, Fr. Joao Cabral who passed through the Kathmandu Valley in the spring of 1628 [10]and was received graciously by the king of that time, probably King Lakshminarasimha Malla of Kathmandu on their way from Tibet to India,[11] and reported that they reached "Cadmendu", the capital of Nepal kingdom.[12]

Ancient history

 

The ancient history of Kathmandu is described in its traditional myths and legends. According to Swayambhu Purana, present-day Kathmandu was once a huge and deep lake named "Nagdaha", as it was full of snakes. The lake was cut drained by Bodhisatwa Manjushree with his sword, and the water was evacuated out from there. He then established a city called Manjupattan, and made Dharmakar the ruler of the valley land. After some time, a demon named Banasur closed the outlet, and the valley again turned into a lake. Then Lord Krishna came to Nepal, killed Banasur, and again drained out the water. He brought some Gopals along with him and made Bhuktaman the king of Nepal.[13][14][15]

 

Kotirudra Samhita of Shiva Purana, Chapter 11, Shloka 18 refers to the place as Nayapala city, which was famous for its Pashupati Shivalinga. The name Nepal probably originates from this city Nayapala.

 

Very few historical records exists of the period before medieval Licchavi rulers. According to Gopalraj Vansawali, a genealogy of Nepali monarchy, the rulers of Kathmandu Valley before the Licchavis were Gopalas, Mahispalas, Aabhirs, Kiratas, and Somavanshi.[15][16] The Kirata dynasty was established by Yalamber. During the Kirata era, a settlement called Yambu existed in the northern half of old Kathmandu. In some of the Sino-Tibetan languages, Kathmandu is still called Yambu. Another smaller settlement called Yengal was present in the southern half of old Kathmandu, near Manjupattan. During the reign of the seventh Kirata ruler, Jitedasti, Buddhist monks entered Kathmandu valley and established a forest monastery at Sankhu.

Map of Kathmandu, 1802

Licchavi era

 

The Licchavis from the Indo-Gangetic plain migrated north and defeated the Kiratas, establishing the Licchavi dynasty, circa 400 AD. During this era, following the genocide of Shakyas in Lumbini by Virudhaka, the survivors migrated north and entered the forest monastery lora masquerading as Koliyas. From Sankhu, they migrated to Yambu and Yengal (Lanjagwal and Manjupattan) and established the first permanent Buddhist monasteries of Kathmandu. This created the basis of Newar Buddhism, which is the only surviving Sanskrit-based Buddhist tradition in the world.[17] With their migration, Yambu was called Koligram and Yengal was called Dakshin Koligram[18] during most of the Licchavi era.[19]

 

Eventually, the Licchavi ruler Gunakamadeva merged Koligram and Dakshin Koligram, founding the city of Kathmandu.[19] The city was designed in the shape of Chandrahrasa, the sword of Manjushri. The city was surrounded by eight barracks guarded by Ajimas. One of these barracks is still in use at Bhadrakali (in front of Singha Durbar). The city served as an important transit point in the trade between India and Tibet, leading to tremendous growth in architecture. Descriptions of buildings such as Managriha, Kailaskut Bhawan, and Bhadradiwas Bhawan have been found in the surviving journals of travellers and monks who lived during this era. For example, the famous 7th-century Chinese traveller Xuanzang described Kailaskut Bhawan, the palace of the Licchavi king Amshuverma.[20] The trade route also led to cultural exchange as well. The artistry of the Newar people—the indigenous inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley—became highly sought after during this era, both within the Valley and throughout the greater Himalayas. Newar artists travelled extensively throughout Asia, creating religious art for their neighbours. For example, Araniko led a group of his compatriot artists through Tibet and China. Bhrikuti, the princess of Nepal who married Tibetan monarch Songtsän Gampo, was instrumental in introducing Buddhism to Tibet.

Skyline of Kathmandu, circa 1793

 

Malla era

The Licchavi era was followed by the Malla era. Rulers from Tirhut, upon being attacked by Muslims, fled north to the Kathmandu valley. They intermarried with Nepali royalty, and this led to the Malla era. The early years of the Malla era were turbulent, with raids and attacks from Khas and Turk Muslims. There was also a devastating earthquake which claimed the lives of a third of Kathmandu's population, including the king Abhaya Malla. These disasters led to the destruction of most of the architecture of the Licchavi era (such as Mangriha and Kailashkut Bhawan), and the loss of literature collected in various monasteries within the city. Despite the initial hardships, Kathmandu rose to prominence again and, during most of the Malla era, dominated the trade between India and Tibet. Nepali currency became the standard currency in trans-Himalayan trade.

 

During the later part of the Malla era, Kathmandu Valley comprised four fortified cities: Kantipur, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, and Kirtipur. These served as the capitals of the Malla confederation of Nepal. These states competed with each other in the arts, architecture, esthetics, and trade, resulting in tremendous development. The kings of this period directly influenced or involved themselves in the construction of public buildings, squares, and temples, as well as the development of waterspouts, the institutionalisation of trusts (called guthis), the codification of laws, the writing of dramas, and the performance of plays in city squares. Evidence of an influx of ideas from India, Tibet, China, Persia, and Europe among other places can be found in a stone inscription from the time of king Pratap Malla. Books have been found from this era that describe their tantric tradition (e.g. Tantrakhyan), medicine (e.g. Haramekhala), religion (e.g. Mooldevshashidev), law, morals, and history. Amarkosh, a Sanskrit-Nepal Bhasa dictionary from 1381 AD, was also found. Architecturally notable buildings from this era include Kathmandu Durbar Square, Patan Durbar Square, Bhaktapur Durbar Square, the former durbar of Kirtipur, Nyatapola, Kumbheshwar, the Krishna temple, and others.

 

Medieval era

The Gorkha Kingdom ended the Malla confederation after the Battle of Kathmandu in 1768. This marked the beginning of the modern era in Kathmandu. The Battle of Kirtipur was the start of the Gorkha conquest of the Kathmandu Valley. Kathmandu was adopted as the capital of the Gorkha empire, and the empire itself was dubbed Nepal. During the early part of this era, Kathmandu maintained its distinctive culture. Buildings with characteristic Nepali architecture, such as the nine-story tower of Basantapur, were built during this era. However, trade declined because of continual war with neighbouring nations. Bhimsen Thapa supported France against Great Britain; this led to the development of modern military structures, such as modern barracks in Kathmandu. The nine-storey tower Dharahara was originally built during this era.

 

Rana rule

Rana rule over Nepal started with the Kot Massacre of 1846, which occurred near Hanuman Dhoka Durbar. During this massacre, most of Nepal's high-ranking officials were massacred by Jung Bahadur Rana and his supporters. Another massacre, the Bhandarkhal Massacre, was also conducted by Kunwar and his supporters in Kathmandu. During the Rana regime, Kathmandu's alliance shifted from anti-British to pro-British; this led to the construction of the first buildings in the style of Western European architecture. The most well-known of these buildings include Singha Durbar, Garden of Dreams, Shital Niwas, and the old Narayanhiti palace. The first modern commercial road in the Kathmandu Valley, the New Road, was also built during this era. Trichandra College (the first college of Nepal), Durbar High School (the first modern school of Nepal), and Bir Hospital (the first hospital of Nepal) were built in Kathmandu during this era. Education was only accessible to the privileged class. Rana rule was marked by despotism, economic exploitation and religious persecution.

 

Geography

Kathmandu is in the northwestern part of the Kathmandu Valley to the north of the Bagmati river and covers an area of 50.7 km2 (19.6 sq mi). The average elevation is 1,400 metres (4,600 ft) above sea level.[23] The city is bounded by several other municipalities of the Kathmandu valley: south of the Bagmati by Lalitpur Metropolitan City (Patan), with which it forms one urban area surrounded by a ring road, to the southwest by Kirtipur and to the east by Madyapur Thimi. To the north the urban area extends into several municipalities; Nagarjun, Tarakeshwor, Tokha, Budhanilkantha, Gokarneshwor and Kageshwori Manohara. However, the urban agglomeration extends well beyond the neighbouring municipalities, e.g. to Bhaktapur, and nearly covers the entire Kathmandu valley.

  

Kathmandu is dissected by eight rivers, the main river of the valley, the Bagmati and its tributaries, of which the Bishnumati, Dhobi Khola, Manohara Khola, Hanumante Khola, and Tukucha Khola are predominant. The mountains from where these rivers originate are in the elevation range of 1,500–3,000 metres (4,900–9,800 ft), and have passes which provide access to and from Kathmandu and its valley.[24][25][26] An ancient canal once flowed from Nagarjuna hill through Balaju to Kathmandu; this canal is now extinct.

 

The city of Kathmandu and the surrounding valley are in the Deciduous Monsoon Forest Zone (altitude range of 1,200–2,100 metres (3,900–6,900 ft)), one of five vegetation zones defined for Nepal. The dominant tree species in this zone are oak, elm, beech, maple and others, with coniferous trees at higher altitude.[27]

 

Urban expansion in Kathmandu, 2015.

 

The green, vegetated slopes that surround the Kathmandu metro area (light grey, image centre) include both forest reserves and national parks

 

Araniko Highway connects Kathmandu to Bhaktapur and onwards to the Chinese border.

 

Northeastern Kathmandu with Gaurishankar in background.

 

Kathmandu administration

 

Kathmandu and adjacent cities are composed of neighbourhoods, which are utilized quite extensively and more familiar among locals. However, administratively the city is divided into 32 wards, numbered from 1 to 32. Earlier, there were 35 wards which made it the metropolitan city with the largest number of the wards.[28]

Kathmandu agglomeration

 

There is no officially defined agglomeration of Kathmandu. The urban area of the Kathmandu valley is split among three different districts (second level of administrative divisions within a province), which extend very little beyond the valley fringe, except towards the southern ranges, which have a comparatively small population.[29] They have the three highest population densities in the country. These 3 districts are administered by 21 local level bodies; 2 metropolitan cities (Kathmandu and Lalitpur), 16 municipalities and 3 rural municipalities. Imperial conversion

 

Five major climatic regions are found in Nepal. Of these, Kathmandu Valley is in the Warm Temperate Zone (elevation ranging from 1,200 to 2,300 metres (3,900 to 7,500 ft)), where the climate is fairly temperate, atypical for the region. This zone is followed by the Cool Temperate Zone with elevation varying between 2,100 and 3,300 metres (6,900 and 10,800 ft). Under Köppen's climate classification, portions of the city with lower elevations have a humid subtropical climate (Cwa), while portions of the city with higher elevations generally have a subtropical highland climate (Cwb). In the Kathmandu Valley, which is representative of its valley's climate, the average summer temperature varies from 28 to 30 °C (82 to 86 °F). The average winter temperature is 10.1 °C (50.2 °F).

 

The city generally has a climate with warm days followed by cool nights and mornings. Unpredictable weather is expected, given that temperatures can drop to 1 °C (34 °F) or less during the winter. During a 2013 cold front, the winter temperatures of Kathmandu dropped to −4 °C (25 °F), and the lowest temperature was recorded on 10 January 2013, at −9.2 °C (15.4 °F). Rainfall is mostly monsoon-based (about 65% of the total concentrated during the monsoon months of June to September), and decreases substantially (100 to 200 cm (39 to 79 in)) from eastern Nepal to western Nepal. Rainfall has been recorded at about 1,400 millimetres (55.1 in) for the Kathmandu valley, and averages 1,407 millimetres (55.4 in) for the city of Kathmandu. On average humidity is 75%.[24][30][31] The chart below is based on data from the Nepal Bureau of Standards & Meteorology, Weather Meteorology for 2005. The chart provides minimum and maximum temperatures during each month. The annual amount of precipitation was 1,124 millimetres (44.3 in) for 2005, as per monthly data included in the table above.[31] The decade of 2000–2010 saw highly variable and unprecedented precipitation anomalies in Kathmandu. This was mostly due to the annual variation of the southwest monsoon.[citation needed] For example, 2001 recorded only 356 mm (14 in) of precipitation due to an extraordinarily weak monsoon season. In contrast, 2003 was the wettest year ever in Kathmandu, totaling over 2,900 mm (114 in) of precipitation due to an exceptionally strong monsoon season.

 

Air quality

 

Air pollution is a major issue in the Kathmandu Valley.[36][37][38] According to the 2016 World Health Organization's Ambient Air Pollution Database,[39] the annual average PM2.5 (particulate matter) concentration in 2013 was 49 μg/m3, which is 4.9 times higher than recommended by the World Health Organization.[40][41] Starting in early 2017, the Government of Nepal and the Embassy of the United States in Kathmandu have monitored and publicly share real-time air quality data. In Nepal and Kathmandu, the annual premature deaths due to air pollution reached 37,399 and 9,943 respectively, according to a Republica news report published on 23 November, 2019. This indicates, around a quarter of the total deaths due to air pollution in Nepal are in Kathmandu.

 

Government and public services

Kathmandu Municipal Corporation (KMC) is the chief nodal agency for the administration of Kathmandu. The Municipality of Kathmandu was upgraded to a metropolitan city in 1995.

 

Metropolitan Kathmandu is divided into five sectors: the Central Sector, the East Sector, the North Sector, the City Core and the West Sector. For civic administration, the city is further divided into 35 administrative wards. The Council administers the Metropolitan area of Kathmandu city through its 177 elected representatives and 20 nominated members. It holds biannual meetings to review, process and approve the annual budget and make major policy decisions.[24][44] The ward's profile documents for the 35 wards prepared by the Kathmandu Metropolitan Council is detailed and provides information for each ward on population, the structure and condition of houses, the type of roads, educational, health and financial institutions, entertainment facilities, parking space, security provisions, etc. It also includes lists of development projects completed, on-going and planned, along with informative data about the cultural heritage, festivals, historical sites and the local inhabitants. Ward 16 is the largest, with an area of 437.4 ha; ward 26 is the smallest, with an area of 4 ha.[45]

 

Kathmandu is the headquarters of the surrounding Kathmandu district. The city of Kathmandu forms this district along with 10 other municipalities, namely Budanilkantha, Chandragiri, Dakshinkali, Gokarneshwar, Kageshwari Manohara, Kirtipur, Nagarjun, Shankharapur, Tarakeshwar and Tokha.

Law and order

 

The Metropolitan Police is the main law enforcement agency in the city. It is headed by a commissioner of police. The Metropolitan Police is a division of the Nepal Police, and the administrative control lies with the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Consulate of the Netherlands. Kathmandu hosts 28 diplomatic missions

 

Fire service

The fire service, known as the Barun Yantra Karyalaya (Nepali: वारुण यन्त्र कार्यालय), opened its first station in Kathmandu in 1937 with a single-vehicle.[46] An iron tower was erected to monitor the city and watch for a fire. As a precautionary measure, firemen were sent to the areas which were designated as accident-prone areas.[46] In 1944, the fire service was extended to the neighbouring cities of Lalitpur and Bhaktapur. In 1966, a fire service was established in Kathmandu central airport.[46] In 1975, a West German government donation added seven fire engines to Kathmandu's fire service.[46] The fire service in the city is also overlooked by an international non-governmental organization, the Firefighters Volunteer Association of Nepal (FAN), which was established in 2000 with the purpose of raising public awareness about fire and improving safety.[46]

Electricity and water supply

Public baths, Kathmandu. 1979

 

Electricity in Kathmandu is regulated and distributed by the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA). Water supply and sanitation facilities are provided by the Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL). There is a severe shortage of water for household purposes such as drinking, bathing, cooking and washing and irrigation. People have been using bottled mineral water, water from tank trucks and from the ancient dhunge dharas (Nepali: ढुङ्गे धारा) for all the purposes related to water. The city water shortage should be solved by the completion of the much plagued Melamchi Water Supply Project by the end of 2019.[47][48]

Waste management

 

Waste management may be through composting in municipal waste management units, and at houses with home composting units. Both systems are common and established in India and neighbouring countries.[49]

Demographics

 

Kathmandu's urban cosmopolitan character has made it the most populous city in Nepal, recording a population of 671,846 residents living in 235,387 households in the metropolitan area, according to the 2001 census.[50] According to the National Population Census of 2011, the total population of Kathmandu city was 975,543 with an annual growth rate of 6.12% with respect to the population figure of 2001. 70% of the total population residing in Kathmandu are aged between 15 and 59.

 

Over the years the city has been home to people of various ethnicities, resulting in a range of different traditions and cultural practices. In one decade, the population increased from 427,045 in 1991 to 671,805 in 2001. The population was projected to reach 915,071 in 2011 and 1,319,597 by 2021. To keep up this population growth, the KMC-controlled area of 5,076.6 hectares (12,545 acres) has expanded to 8,214 hectares (20,300 acres) in 2001. With this new area, the population density which was 85 in 1991 remained 85 in 2001; it is likely to jump to 111 in 2011 and 161 in 2021.[51]

 

Currently based on various data Kathmandu population is 1,442,300 with population density of 29,166.835 per sq.km making it as 6th densely populated city in the world.

Ethnic groups

 

The largest ethnic groups residing in Kathmandu Metropolitan City consists of primarily various caste groups of the Newar community at 25%, Hill Janajati/Adivisis like Tamang, Kirat, Gurung, Magar, Sherpa, etc. making~20%, Khas Brahmin at 24%, Khas Chhetri at 20%, and 7% Terai groups including Madhesi castes and Terai Janajatis/Adivasis like Tharus.[52] More recently, other hill ethnic groups and caste groups from Terai have come to represent a substantial proportion of the city's population. The major languages are Nepali and Nepal Bhasa, while English is understood by many, particularly in the service industry. According to data from 2011, the major religions in Kathmandu city are Hinduism 81.3%, Buddhism 9%, Islam 4.4% and other 5.2%.[53]

 

The linguistic profile of Kathmandu underwent drastic changes during the Shah dynasty's rule because of its strong bias towards the Hindu culture. Sanskrit language therefore was preferred and people were encouraged to learn it even by attending Sanskrit learning centres in Terai. Sanskrit schools were specially set up in Kathmandu and in the Terai region to inculcate traditional Hindu culture and practices originated from Nepal.[54]

 

Architecture and cityscape

The ancient trade route between India and Tibet that passed through Kathmandu enabled a fusion of artistic and architectural traditions from other cultures to be amalgamated with local art and architecture.[56] The monuments of Kathmandu City have been influenced over the centuries by Hindu and Buddhist religious practices. The architectural treasure of the Kathmandu valley has been categorized under the well-known seven groups of heritage monuments and buildings. In 2006 UNESCO declared these seven groups of monuments as a World Heritage Site (WHS). The seven monuments zones cover an area of 189 hectares (470 acres), with the buffer zone extending to 2,394 hectares (5,920 acres). The Seven Monument Zones inscribed originally in 1979 and with a minor modification in 2006 are the Durbar squares of Hanuman Dhoka, Patan and Bhaktapur, the Hindu temples of Pashupatinath and Changunarayan, the Buddhist stupas of Swayambhunath and Boudhanath.[57][58]

Durbar Squares

Main articles: Kathmandu Durbar Square and Hanuman Dhoka

 

The literal meaning of Durbar Square is a "place of palaces." There are three preserved Durbar Squares in Kathmandu valley and one unpreserved in Kirtipur. The Durbar Square of Kathmandu is in the old city and has heritage buildings representing four kingdoms (Kantipur, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Kirtipur); the earliest being the Licchavi dynasty. The complex has 50 temples and is distributed in two quadrangles of the Durbar Square. The outer quadrangle has the Kasthamandap, Kumari Ghar, and Shiva-Parvati Temple; the inner quadrangle has the Hanuman Dhoka palace. The squares were severely damaged in the April 2015 earthquake.

 

Hanuman Dhoka is a complex of structures with the royal palace of the Malla kings and of the Shah dynasty. It is spread over five acres. The eastern wing, with ten courtyards, is the oldest part, dating to the mid-16th century. It was expanded by King Pratap Malla in the 17th century with many temples. The royal family lived in this palace until 1886 when they moved to Narayanhiti Palace. The stone inscription outside is in fifteen languages.

 

Kumari Ghar is a palace in the centre of the Kathmandu city, next to the Durbar square where a royal Kumari selected from several Kumaris resides. Kumari, or Kumari Devi, is the tradition of worshipping young pre-pubescent girls as manifestations of the divine female energy or devi in South Asian countries. In Nepal the selection process is very rigorous. Previously, during the time of the monarchy, the queen and the priests used to appoint the proposed Kumari with delicate process of astrological examination and physical examination of 32 'gunas'. The china (Nepali: चिना), an ancient Hindu astrological report, of the Kumari and the reigning king, was ought to be similar. The Kumari is believed to be a bodily incarnation of the goddess Taleju (the Nepali name for Durga) until she menstruates, after which it is believed that the goddess vacates her body. Serious illness or a major loss of blood from an injury also causes her to revert to common status. The current Kumari, Trishna Shakya, age three at the time of appointment, was installed in September 2017 succeeding Matina Shakya who was the first Kumari of Kathmandu after the end of the monarchy.[59]

 

Kasthamandap is a three-storeyed temple enshrining an image of Gorakhnath. It was built in the 16th century in pagoda style. The name of Kathmandu is a derivative of the word Kasthamandap. It was built under the reign of King Laxmi Narsingha Malla. Kasthamandap stands at the intersection of two ancient trade routes linking India and Tibet at Maru square. It was originally built as a rest house for travellers.

Pashupatinath temple

Main article: Pashupatinath Temple

Panorama of the Pashupatinath Temple from the other bank of Bagmati river

Pashupatinath as seen from the banks of the Bagmati river

 

The Pashupatinath Temple (Nepali: पशुपतिनाथ मन्दिर) is a famous 5th century Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. Located on the banks of the Bagmati river, the Pashupatinath Temple is the oldest Hindu temple in Kathmandu.[60] It served as the seat of national deity, Lord Pashupatinath, until Nepal was secularized. However, a significant part of the temple was destroyed by Mughal invaders in the 14th century and little or nothing remains of the original 5th-century temple exterior. The temple as it stands today was built in the 19th century, although the image of the bull and the black four-headed image of Pashupati are at least 300 years old.[61] The temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[61][62] Shivaratri, or the night of Lord Shiva, is the most important festival that takes place here, attracting thousands of devotees and sadhus.[citation needed]

 

Believers in Pashupatinath (mainly Hindus) are allowed to enter the temple premises, but non-Hindu visitors are allowed to view the temple only from the across the Bagmati River.[61] The priests who perform the services at this temple have been Brahmins from Karnataka in southern India since the time of Malla king Yaksha Malla.[63] This tradition is believed to have been started at the request of Adi Shankaracharya who sought to unify the states of Bharatam, a region in south Asia believed to be ruled by a mythological king Bharat, by encouraging cultural exchange. This procedure is followed in other temples around India, which were sanctified by Adi Shankaracharya.

 

The temple is built in the pagoda style of architecture, with cubic constructions and carved wooden rafters (tundal) on which they rest, and two-level roofs made of copper and gold.

 

Boudhanath

Boudhanath (Nepali: बौद्ध स्तुप; also written as Bouddhanath, Bodhnath, Baudhanath or the Khāsa Chaitya), is one of the holiest Buddhist sites in Nepal, along with the Swayambhunath. It is a very popular tourist site. Boudhanath is known as Khāsti by Newars and as Bauddha or Bodhnāth by speakers of Nepali.[64] About 11 km (7 mi) from the centre and northeastern outskirts of Kathmandu, the stupa's massive mandala makes it one of the largest spherical stupas in Nepal.[65] Boudhanath became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.

 

The base of the stupa has 108 small depictions of the Dhyani Buddha Amitabha. It is surrounded with a brick wall with 147 niches, each with four or five prayer wheels engraved with the mantra, om mani padme hum.[66] At the northern entrance where visitors must pass is a shrine dedicated to Ajima, the goddess of smallpox.[66] Every year the stupa attracts many Tibetan Buddhist pilgrims who perform full body prostrations in the inner lower enclosure, walk around the stupa with prayer wheels, chant, and pray.[66] Thousands of prayer flags are hoisted up from the top of the stupa downwards and dot the perimeter of the complex. The influx of many Tibetan refugees from China has seen the construction of over 50 Tibetan gompas (monasteries) around Boudhanath.

Swayambhu

Main article: Swayambhunath

 

Swayambhunath (Nepali: स्वयम्भू स्तूप) is a Buddhist stupa atop a hillock at the northwestern part of the city. This is among the oldest religious sites in Nepal. Although the site is considered Buddhist, it is revered by both Buddhists and Hindus. The stupa consists of a dome at the base; above the dome, there is a cubic structure with the eyes of Buddha looking in all four directions.[clarification needed] There are pentagonal toran above each of the four sides, with statues engraved on them. Behind and above the torana there are thirteen tiers. Above all the tiers, there is a small space above which lies a gajur.

Rani Pokhari

Main article: Ranipokhari

 

Ranipokhari (Nepali: रानी पोखरी, lit. 'Queen's Pond') is a historic artificial pond nestled in the heart of Kathmandu. It was built by king Pratap Malla in 1670 AD for his beloved queen after she lost her son and could not recover from her loss.[67] A large stone statue of an elephant in the south signifies the image of Pratap Malla and his two sons. Balgopaleshwor Temple stands still inside the temple above the pond. Rani Pokhari is opened once a year during the final day of Tihar i.e. Bhai Tika and Chhath festival. The world's largest Chhath takes place every year in Ranipokhari. The pond is one of Kathmandu's most famous landmarks and is known for its religious and aesthetic significance.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Kathmandu

Arts

Stone carvings, called Chaityas, seen in street corners and courtyards

 

Kathmandu valley is described as "an enormous treasure house of art and sculptures", which are made of wood, stone, metal, and terracotta, and found in profusion in temples, shrines, stupas, gompas, chaityasm and palaces. The art objects are also seen in street corners, lanes, private courtyards and in open ground. Most art is in the form of icons of gods and goddesses. Kathmandu valley has had this art treasure for a very long time, but received worldwide recognition only after the country opened to the outside world in 1950.[54]

 

The religious art of Nepal and Kathmandu in particular consists of an iconic symbolism of the Mother Goddesses such as: Bhavani, Durga, Gaja-Lakshmi, Hariti-Sitala, Mahsishamardini, Saptamatrika (seven mother goddesses), and Sri-Lakshmi (wealth-goddess). From the 3rd century BCE, apart from the Hindu gods and goddesses, Buddhist monuments from the Ashokan period (it is said that Ashoka visited Nepal in 250 BC) have embellished Nepal in general and the valley in particular. These art and architectural edifices encompass three major periods of evolution: the Licchavi or classical period (500 to 900 AD), the post-classical period (1000 to 1400 AD), with strong influence of the Palla art form; the Malla period (1400 onwards) that exhibited explicitly tantric influences coupled with the art of Tibetan Demonology.[68]

 

A broad typology has been ascribed to the decorative designs and carvings created by the people of Nepal. These artists have maintained a blend of Hinduism and Buddhism. The typology, based on the type of material used are: stone art, metal art, wood art, terracotta art, and painting.[69]

Museums

 

Kathmandu is home to a number of museums and art galleries, including the National Museum of Nepal and the Natural History Museum of Nepal. Nepal's art and architecture is an amalgamation of two ancient religions, Hinduism and Buddhism. These are amply reflected in the many temples, shrines, stupas, monasteries, and palaces in the seven well-defined Monument Zones of the Kathmandu valley are part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This amalgamation is also reflected in the planning and exhibitions in museums and art galleries throughout Kathmandu and its sister cities of Patan and Bhaktapur. The museums display unique artefacts and paintings from the 5th century CE to the present day, including archaeological exportation.[70]

 

Museums and art galleries in Kathmandu include:[70]

 

The National Museum

The Natural History Museum

Hanuman Dhoka Palace Complex

The Kaiser Library

The National Art Gallery

The NEF-ART (Nepal Fine Art) Gallery

The Nepal Art Council Gallery

Narayanhiti Palace Museum

The Taragaon Museum

 

National Museum of Nepal

 

The National Museum is in the western part of Kathmandu, near the Swayambhunath stupa in a historical building constructed in the early 19th century by General Bhimsen Thapa. It is the most important museum in the country, housing an extensive collection of weapons, art and antiquities of historic and cultural importance. The museum was established in 1928 as a collection house of war trophies and weapons, and the initial name of this museum was Chhauni Silkhana, meaning "the stone house of arms and ammunition". Given its focus, the museum contains many weapons, including locally made firearms used in wars, leather cannons from the 18th–19th century, and medieval and modern works in wood, bronze, stone and paintings.[71]

 

The Natural History Museum is in the southern foothills of Swayambhunath hill and has a sizeable collection of different species of animals, butterflies, and plants. The museum is noted for its display of species, from prehistoric shells to stuffed animals.[71]

 

The Tribhuvan Museum contains artifacts related to King Tribhuvan (1906–1955). It has a variety of pieces including his personal belongings, letters, and papers, memorabilia related to events he was involved in and a rare collection of photos and paintings of Royal family members. The Mahendra Museum is dedicated to the King Mahendra (1920–1972). Like the Tribhuvan Museum, it includes his personal belongings such as decorations, stamps, coins and personal notes and manuscripts, but it also has structural reconstructions of his cabinet room and office chamber. The Hanumandhoka Palace, a lavish medieval palace complex in the Durbar, contains three separate museums of historic importance. These museums include the Birendra museum, which contains items related to the second-last monarch, King Birendra.[71]

 

The enclosed compound of the Narayanhiti Palace Museum is in the north-central part of Kathmandu. "Narayanhiti" (Nepali: नारायणहिटी) comes from Narayana (Nepali: नारायण), a form of the Hindu god Lord Vishnu, and Hiti (Nepali: हिटी), meaning "water spout" (the temple of lord Vishnu is opposite to the palace, and the water spout is east of the main entrance to the precinct). The current palace building was built in 1970 in front of the old palace, built in 1915, in the form of a contemporary pagoda. It was built on the occasion of the marriage of the then crown prince and heir apparent to the throne, Birendra. The southern gate of the palace is at the crossing of Prithvipath and Durbar Marg roads. The palace area covers 30 hectares (74 acres) and is fully secured with gates on all sides.[72][73][74] This palace was the scene of the Nepali royal massacre. After the fall of the monarchy, it has been converted into a museum.

 

The Taragaon Museum presents the modern history of the Kathmandu valley.[75] It seeks to document 50 years of research and cultural heritage conservation of the Kathmandu Valley, documenting what artists, photographers, architects, and anthropologists from abroad had contributed in the second half of the 20th century. The actual structure of the museum showcases restoration and rehabilitation efforts to preserve the built heritage of Kathmandu. It was designed by Carl Pruscha (master-planner of the Kathmandu Valley)[76] in 1970 and constructed in 1971.[77] Restoration works began in 2010 to rehabilitate the Taragaon hostel into the Taragaon Museum. The design uses local brick along with modern architectural design elements, as well as the use of circle, triangles and squares.[76] The museum is within a short walk from the Boudhanath stupa, which itself can be seen from the museum tower.

Art galleries

A Buddhist statue display in Kathmandu

 

Kathmandu is a centre for art in Nepal, displaying the work of contemporary artists in the country and also collections of historical artists. Patan in particular is an ancient city noted for its fine arts and crafts. Art in Kathmandu is vibrant, demonstrating a fusion of traditionalism and modern art, derived from a great number of national, Asian, and global influences. Nepali art is commonly divided into two areas: the idealistic traditional painting known as Paubhas in Nepal and perhaps more commonly known as Thangkas in Tibet, closely linked to the country's religious history and on the other hand the contemporary western-style painting, including nature-based compositions or abstract artwork based on Tantric elements and social themes of which painters in Nepal are well noted for.[71] Internationally, the British-based charity, the Kathmandu Contemporary Art Centre is involved with promoting arts in Kathmandu.[78]

 

Kathmandu houses many notable art galleries. The NAFA Gallery, operated by the Arts and crafts Department of the Nepal Academy is housed in Sita Bhavan, a neo-classical old Rana palace.[71]

 

The Srijana Contemporary Art Gallery, inside the Bhrikutimandap Exhibition grounds, hosts the work of contemporary painters and sculptors, and regularly organizes exhibitions. It also runs morning and evening classes in the schools of art. Also of note is the Moti Azima Gallery, in a three-storied building in Bhimsenthan which contains an impressive collection of traditional utensils and handmade dolls and items typical of a medieval Newar house, giving an important insight into Nepali history. The J Art Gallery near the former royal palace in Durbarmarg displays the artwork of eminent, established Nepali painters. The Nepal Art Council Gallery, in the Babar Mahal, on the way to Tribhuvan International Airport contains artwork of both national and international artists and extensive halls regularly used for art exhibitions.[71]

Literature

 

The National Library of Nepal is located in Patan. It is the largest library in the country with more than 70,000 books in English, Nepali, Sanskrit, Hindi, and Nepal Bhasa. The library is in possession of rare scholarly books in Sanskrit and English dating from the 17th century AD. Kathmandu also contains the Kaiser Library, in the Kaiser Mahal on the ground floor of the Ministry of Education building. This collection of around 45,000 books is derived from a personal collection of Kaiser Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana. It covers a wide range of subjects including history, law, art, religion, and philosophy, as well as a Sanskrit manual of Tantra, which is believed to be over 1,000 years old.[71] The 2015 earthquake caused severe damage to the Ministry of Education building, and the contents of the Kaiser Library have been temporarily relocated.

Asa Archives

 

The Asa Archives are also noteworthy. They specialize in medieval history and religious traditions of the Kathmandu valley. The archives, in Kulambhulu, have a collection of some 6,000 loose-leaf handwritten books and 1,000 palm-leaf manuscripts (mostly in Sanskrit or Nepal Bhasa) and a manuscript dated to 1464.[71]

Cinema and theatre

 

Kathmandu is home to Nepali cinema and theatres. The city contains several theatres, including the National Dance Theatre in Kanti Path, the Ganga Theatre, the Himalayan Theatre and the Aarohan Theater Group founded in 1982. The M. Art Theater is based in the city. The Gurukul School of Theatre organizes the Kathmandu International Theater Festival, attracting artists from all over the world.[79] A mini theatre has been opened at the Hanumandhoka Durbar Square, established by the Durbar Conservation and Promotion Committee.

 

Kathmandu has a number of cinemas (old single screen establishments and some new multiplexes) showing Nepali, Bollywood and Hollywood films. Some old establishments include Vishwajyoti Cinema Hall, Jai Nepal Hall, Kumari Cinema Hall, Gopi Krishna Cinema Hall and Guna Cinema Hall. Kathmandu also houses some international standard cinema theatres and multiplexes, such as QFX Cinemas, Cine De Chef, Fcube Cinemas, Q's Cinemas, Big Movies, BSR Movies and many more.

Music

Traditional Buddhist musical performance during Gunla

 

Kathmandu is the center of music and dance in Nepal, and these art forms are integral to understanding the city. Musical performances are organized in cultural venues. Music is a part of the traditional aspect of Kathmandu. Gunla is the traditional music festival according to Nepal Sambat. Newar music originated in Kathmandu. Furthermore, music from all over Nepal can be found in Kathmandu.

 

A number of hippies visited Kathmandu during the 1970s and introduced rock and roll, rock, and jazz to the city. Kathmandu is noted internationally for its jazz festival, popularly known as Jazzmandu. It is the only jazz festival in the Himalayan region and was established in March 2002. The festival attracts musicians from countries worldwide, such as Australia, Denmark, United States, Benin, and India.[80]

 

The city has been referenced in numerous songs, including works by Cat Stevens ('Katmandu', Mona Bone Jakon (1970)), Bob Seger ('Katmandu', Beautiful Loser (1975)), Rush ('A Passage to Bangkok', Pulling into Kathmandu; 2112, 1976), Krematorij ('Kathmandu', Three Springs (2000)), Fito Páez (Tráfico por Katmandú – "Traffic through Kathmandu") and Cavalcade ('Kathmandu Kid') 2019.

Cuisine

One of the typical Nepali meals Dal bhat in Kathmandu

 

The staple food of most people in Kathmandu is dal bhat. This consists of rice and lentil soup, generally served with vegetable curries, achar and sometimes Chutney. Momo, a type of Nepali version of Tibetan dumpling, has become prominent in Nepal with many street vendors and restaurants selling it. It is one of the most popular fast foods in Kathmandu. Various Nepali variants of momo including buff (i.e. buffalo) momo, chicken momo, and vegetarian momo are famous in Kathmandu.

 

Most of the cuisines found in Kathmandu are non-vegetarian. However, the practice of vegetarianism is not uncommon, and vegetarian cuisines can be found throughout the city. Consumption of beef is very uncommon and considered taboo in many places. Buff (meat of water buffalo) is very common. There is a strong tradition of buff consumption in Kathmandu, especially among Newars, which is not found in other parts of Nepal. Consumption of pork was considered taboo until a few decades ago. Due to the intermixing with Kirat cuisine from eastern Nepal, pork has found a place in Kathmandu dishes. A fringe population of devout Hindus and Muslims consider it taboo. The Muslims forbid eating buff as from Quran while Hindus eat all varieties except beef as they consider cow to be a goddess and symbol of purity. The chief lunch/snack for locals and visitors is mostly Momo or Chowmein.

 

Kathmandu had only one western-style restaurant in 1955.[81] A large number of restaurants in Kathmandu have since opened, catering Nepali cuisine, Tibetan cuisine, Chinese cuisine and Indian cuisine in particular. Many other restaurants have opened to accommodate locals, expatriates, and tourists. The growth of tourism in Kathmandu has led to culinary creativity and the development of hybrid foods to accommodate for tourists such as American chop suey, which is a sweet-and-sour sauce with crispy noodles with a fried egg commonly added on top and other westernized adaptations of traditional cuisine.[81] Continental cuisine can be found in selected places. International chain restaurants are rare, but some outlets of Pizza Hut and KFC have recently opened there. It also has several outlets of the international ice-cream chain Baskin-Robbins.[82]

 

Kathmandu has a larger proportion of tea drinkers than coffee drinkers. Tea is widely served but is extremely weak by western standards. It is richer and contains tea leaves boiled with milk, sugar, and spices. Alcohol is widely drunk, and there are numerous local variants of alcoholic beverages. Drinking and driving is illegal, and authorities have a zero-tolerance policy.[83] Ailaa and thwon (alcohol made from rice) are the alcoholic beverages of Kathmandu, found in all the local bhattis (alcohol serving eateries). Chhyaang, tongba (fermented millet or barley) and raksi are alcoholic beverages from other parts of Nepal which are found in Kathmandu. However, shops and bars in Kathmandu widely sell western and Nepali beers.

President of Nepal Dr. Ram Baran Yadav observing the street festival of Yenya, which literally means "festival of Kathmandu"

Festivals

Samyak, a Buddhist festival during which statues of Buddhas from the ancient monasteries are displayed together. Note the statue of Hanuman next to the Buddhas in the picture, a common example of religious harmony in Kathmandu.

 

Most of the fairs and festivals in Kathmandu originated in the Malla period or earlier. Traditionally, these festivals were celebrated by Newars. In recent years, these festivals have found wider participation from other Kathmanduites as well. As the capital of the Nepal, various national festivals are celebrated in Kathmandu. With mass migration to the city, the cultures of Khas from the west, Kirats from the east, Bon/Tibetan from the north, and Mithila from the south meet in the capital and mingle harmoniously. The festivities such as the Ghode (horse) Jatra, Indra Jatra, Dashain Durga Puja festivals, Shivratri and many more are observed by all Hindu and Buddhist communities of Kathmandu with devotional fervor and enthusiasm. Social regulation in the codes enacted incorporates Hindu traditions and ethics. These were followed by the Shah kings and previous kings, as devout Hindus and protectors of the Buddhist religion.

Nepali Lakhe dancer

 

Cultural continuity has been maintained for centuries in the exclusive worship of goddesses and deities in Kathmandu and the rest of the country. These deities include the Ajima,[84] Taleju (or Tulja Bhavani or Taleju Bhawani)[85][86] and her other forms : Digu Taleju (or Degu Taleju)[87] and Kumari (the living goddess).[88] The artistic edifices have now become places of worship in the everyday life of the people, therefore a roster is maintained to observe annual festivals. There are 133 festivals held in the year.[89]

 

Some of the traditional festivals observed in Kathmandu, apart from those previously mentioned, are Bada Dashain, Tihar, Chhath, Maghe Sankranti, Nag Panchami, Janai Purnima, Pancha Dan, Teej/Rishi Panchami, Pahan Charhe, Jana Baha Dyah Jatra (White Machchhendranath Jatra), and Matatirtha Aunsi.[56]

Religions

Hinduism

Kathmandu valley as seen from Halchowk during Deepawali, 2013

 

Assumedly, together with the kingdom of Licchhavi (c. 400 to 750), Hinduism and the endogam social stratification of the caste was established in Kathmandu Valley. The Pashupatinath Temple, Changu Narayan Temple, and the Kasthamandap are of particular importance to Hindus. Other notable Hindu temples in Kathmandu and the surrounding valley include Bajrayogini Temple, Dakshinkali Temple, Guhyeshwari Temple, and the Shobha Bhagawati shrine.

 

The Bagmati river which flows through Kathmandu is considered a holy river both by Hindus and Buddhists, and many Hindu temples are on the banks of this river. The importance of the Bagmati also lies in the fact that Hindus are cremated on its banks, and Kirants are buried in the hills by its side. According to the Nepali Hindu tradition, the dead body must be dipped three times into the Bagmati before cremation. The chief mourner (usually the first son) who lights the funeral pyre must take a holy riverwater bath immediately after cremation. Many relatives who join the funeral procession also take bath in the Bagmati or sprinkle the holy water on their bodies at the end of cremation as the Bagmati is believed to purify people spiritually.

Buddhism

 

Buddhism was brought into Kathmandu with the arrival of Buddhist monks during the time of Buddha (c. 563 – 483 BCE[90]). They established a forest monastery in Sankhu. This monastery was renovated by Shakyas after they fled genocide from Virudhaka (r. 491–461 BCE).

 

During the Hindu Lichchavi era (c. 400 to 750), various monasteries and orders were created which successively led to the formation of Newar Buddhism, which is still practiced in the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Sanskrit.

 

Legendary Princess Bhrikuti (7th-century) and artist Araniko (1245–1306 CE) from that tradition of Kathmandu valley played a significant role in spreading Buddhism in Tibet and China. There are over 108 traditional monasteries (Bahals and Baháʼís) in Kathmandu based on Newar Buddhism. Since the 1960s, the permanent Tibetan Buddhist population of Kathmandu has risen significantly so that there are now over fifty Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in the area. Also, with the modernization of Newar Buddhism, various Theravada Bihars have been established.

Islam

Jama Masjid, Ghantaghar

 

Muslims in Kathmandu pray to Allah on Friday (the day of Namaj) often going to the Jame Masjid in Ghantaghar, near Ratnapark.

Kirat Mundhum

 

Kirant Mundhum is one of the indigenous animistic practices of Nepal. It is practiced by the Kirat people. Some animistic aspects of Kirant beliefs, such as ancestor worship (worship of Ajima) are also found in Newars of Kirant origin. Ancient religious sites believed to be worshipped by ancient Kirats, such as Pashupatinath, Wanga Akash Bhairabh (Yalambar) and Ajima are now worshipped by people of all Dharmic religions in Kathmandu. Kirats who have migrated from other parts of Nepal to Kathmandu practice Mundhum in the city.[91]

Other religions

 

Sikhism is practiced primarily in Gurudwara at Kupundole. An earlier temple of Sikhism is also present in Kathmandu which is now defunct.

 

Jainism is practiced by a small community. A Jain temple is present in Gyaneshwar, where Jains practice their faith.

 

According to the records of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of Nepal, there are approximately 300 followers of the Baháʼí Faith in Kathmandu valley. They have a national office in Shantinagar, Baneshwor. The Baháʼís also have classes for children at the National Centre and other localities in Kathmandu.

 

Islam is practiced in Kathmandu but Muslims are a minority, accounting for about 4.4% of the population of Nepal.[92]

 

It is said that in Kathmandu alone there are 170 Christian churches. Christian missionary hospitals, welfare organizations, and schools are also operating. Nepali citizens who served as soldiers in Indian and British armies, who had converted to Christianity while in service, on return to Nepal continue to practice their religion. They have contributed to the spread of Christianity and the building of churches in Nepal and in Kathmandu, in particular.[93][94]

Education

 

The oldest modern school in Nepal, the Durbar High School, and the oldest college, the Tri-Chandra College, are both in Kathmandu. The largest (according to number of students and colleges), the oldest and most distinguished university in Nepal the Tribhuvan University, located in Kirtipur. The second largest university, Kathmandu University (KU), is in Dhulikhel, Kavre on the outskirts of Kathmandu. It is the second oldest university in Nepal, established in November 1991.[95] Not surprisingly the best schools and colleges of Nepal are located in Kathmandu and its adjoining cities. Every year thousands of students from all over Nepal arrive at Kathmandu to get admission in the various schools and colleges. One of the key concerns of educationists and concerned citizens is the massive outflux of students from Nepal to outside Nepal for studies. Every year thousands of students apply for No Objection Certificates for studying abroad. Consultancy firms specializing in preparing students to go abroad can be found in all prominent locations. The reason for such an outflux range from perceived low quality of education, political instability, fewer opportunities in the job market, opportunities for earning while learning abroad and better job prospects with an international degree.

Healthcare

 

Healthcare in Kathmandu is the most developed in Nepal, and the city and surrounding valley is home to some of the best hospitals and clinics in the country. Bir Hospital is the oldest, established in July 1889 by Bir Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana. Notable hospitals include Bir Hospital, Nepal Medical College and Teaching Hospital (Jorpati), Tribhuvan University Institute of Medicine (Teaching Hospital), Patan Hospital, Kathmandu Model Hospital, Scheer Memorial Hospital, Om Hospital, Norvic Hospital, Grande International Hospital, Nobel Hospital and many more.

 

The city is supported by specialist hospitals/clinics such as Shahid Shukraraj Tropical Hospital, Shahid Gangalal Foundation, Kathmandu Veterinary Hospital, Nepal Eye Hospital, Kanti Children's Hospital, Nepal International Clinic (Travel and Mountain Medicine Center), Neuro Center, Spinal Rehabilitation center and Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital. Most of the general hospitals are in the city center, although several clinics are elsewhere in Kathmandu district.

 

Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology is an Ophthalmological hospital in Kathmandu. It pioneered the production of low cost intraocular lenses (IOLs), which are used in cataract surgery.[96] The team of Dr. Sanduk Ruit in Tilganga pioneered sutureless small-incision cataract surgery (SICS),[97][98] a technique which has been used to treat 4 million of the world's 20 million people with cataract blindness.

Medical colleges

 

Institute of Medicine, the central college of Tribhuvan University is the first medical college of Nepal and is in Maharajgunj, Kathmandu. It was established in 1972 and started to impart medical education from 1978. Other major institutions include Patan Academy of Health Sciences, Kathmandu Medical College, Nepal Medical College, KIST Medical College, Nepal Army Institute of Health Sciences, National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS) and Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences (KUSMS), are also in or around Kathmandu.[99]

Economy

Central Bank of Nepal

 

The location and terrain of Kathmandu have played a significant role in the development of a stable economy which spans millennia. The city is in an ancient lake basin, with fertile soil and flat terrain. This geography helped form a society based on agriculture. This, combined with its location between India and China, helped establish Kathmandu as an important trading centre over the centuries. Kathmandu's trade is an ancient profession that flourished along an offshoot of the Silk Road which linked India and Tibet. From centuries past, Lhasa Newar merchants of Kathmandu have conducted trade across the Himalaya and contributed to spreading art styles and Buddhism across Central Asia.[100] Other traditional occupations are farming, metal casting, woodcarving, painting, weaving, and pottery.[101]

 

Kathmandu is the most important industrial and commercial centre in Nepal. The Nepal Stock Exchange, the head office of the national bank, the chamber of commerce, as well as head offices of national and international banks, telecommunication companies, the electricity authority, and various other national and international organizations are in Kathmandu. The major economic hubs are the New Road, Durbar Marg, Ason and Putalisadak.[101]

 

The economic output of the metropolitan area of around Rs. 550 billion approximately per year alone is worth more than one third of national GDP (nominal), while the per capita income of $2200 is approximately three times the national average.[102] Kathmandu exports handicrafts, artworks, garments, carpets, pashmina, paper; trade accounts for 21% of its revenues.[101][102] Manufacturing is also important and accounts for 19% of the revenue that Kathmandu generates. Garments and woolen carpets are the most notable manufactured products.[102] Other economic sectors in Kathmandu include agriculture (9%), education (6%), transport (6%), and hotels and restaurants (5%).[102] Kathmandu is famous for lokta paper and pashmina shawls.

Tourism

Hotel Shanker is one of the city's popular heritage hotels

 

Tourism is considered another important industry in Nepal. This industry started around 1950, as the country's political makeup changed and ended the country's isolation from the rest of the world. In 1956, air transportation was established and the Tribhuvan Highway, between Kathmandu and Raxaul (at India's border), was started. Separate organizations were created in Kathmandu to promote this activity; some of these include the Tourism Development Board, the Department of Tourism and the Civil Aviation Department. Furthermore, Nepal became a member of several international tourist associations. Establishing diplomatic relations with other nations further accentuated this activity. The hotel industry, travel agencies, training of tourist guides, and targeted publicity campaigns are the chief reasons for the remarkable growth of this industry in Nepal, and in Kathmandu in particular.[103] Since then, tourism in Nepal has thrived. It is the country's most important industry.[104] Tourism is a major source of income for most of the people in the city, with several hundred thousand visitors annually. Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims from all over the world visit Kathmandu's religious sites such as Pashupatinath, Swayambhunath, Boudhanath, Changunarayan and Budhanilkantha. From a mere 6,179 tourists in 1961/62, the number increased to 491,504 in 1999/2000. In economic terms, the foreign exchange registered 3.8% of the GDP in 1995/96 but then started declining. Following the end of the Maoist insurgency, there was a significant rise in the number of tourist arrivals, with 509,956 tourists recorded in 2009. Since then, tourism has improved as the country transitioned into a republic. The high level of tourism is attributed to the natural grandeur of the Himalayas and the rich cultural heritage of the country.[103]

Hyatt Regency, Kathmandu

 

The neighbourhood of Thamel is Kathmandu's primary "traveller's ghetto", packed with guest houses, restaurants, shops, and bookstores, catering to tourists. Another neighbourhood of growing popularity is Jhamel, a name for Jhamsikhel that was coined to rhyme with Thamel.[105] Jhochhen Tol, also known as Freak Street, is Kathmandu's original traveller's haunt, made popular by the hippies of the 1960s and 1970s; it remains a popular alternative to Thamel. Ason is a bazaar and ceremonial square on the old trade route to Tibet, and provides a fine example of a traditional neighbourhood.

 

With the opening of the tourist industry after the change in the political scenario of Nepal in 1950, the hotel industry drastically improved.[106] Now Kathmandu boasts several luxuries such as the Hyatt Regency, Dwarika's, Hotel Yak & Yeti, The Everest Hotel, Hotel Radisson, Hotel De L'Annapurna, The Malla Hotel, Shangri-La Hotel (not operated by the Shangri-La Hotel Group) and Hotel Shanker. There are several four-star hotels such as Akama Hotel, Hotel Vaishali, Hotel Narayani, The Blue Star and Grand Hotel. The Garden Hotel, Hotel Ambassador, and Aloha Inn are among the three-star hotels in Kathmandu. Hotels like Hyatt Regency, De L'Annapurna, and Yak & Yeti are among the five-star hotels with casinos as well.[107]

Transport

Arch bridges over the Dhobi Khola river in Baneshwor, Kathmandu

Road

 

The total length of roads in Nepal is recorded to be 17,182 km (10,676 mi), as of 2003–04. This fairly large network has helped the economic development of the country, particularly in the fields of agriculture, horticulture, vegetable farming, industry and also tourism.[108] In view of the hilly terrain, transportation takes place in Kathmandu are mainly by road and air. Kathmandu is connected by the Tribhuvan Highway to the south connecting India, Prithvi Highway to the west and Araniko Highway to the north connecting China. The BP Highway connects Kathmandu to the eastern part of Nepal through Sindhuli.[109] The fast-track is under construction which will be the shortest route to connect Terai with the valley.[110]

 

Sajha Yatayat provides regular bus services throughout Kathmandu and the surrounding valley. Other bus companies including micro-bus companies operate several unscheduled routes. Trolleybusses used to operate on the route between Tripureshwor and Suryabinayak on a 13-kilometer route.

Air

 

The main international airport serving Kathmandu valley is the Tribhuvan International Airport, about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) from the city centre and is operated by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.[111] It has two terminals, one domestic and one international. At present, it connects 30 cities around the globe in Europe, Asia and the Middle East such as Istanbul, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Dhaka, Paro, Lhasa, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.[111] Since 2013, Turkish Airlines connects Istanbul to Kathmandu.[112] Oman Air also connects Muscat to Kathmandu since 2010.[113] Nepal Airlines started flying to Tokyo-Narita from March 2, 2020.[114] Regionally, several Nepali airlines operate from the city, inc

On Sunday 3rd November I attended a full day Welshot workshop hosted this time by Will Cheung (editor of Advanced Photographer). It was a really good day filled with everything from tips of how to get published, RPS qualification though to a mini challenge / project and ending in a critique session of everyones images.

For my challenge I decided to choose shooting with a fixed focal length (12mm). I also wanted to do something that I have not had the opportunity to do while and that was street photography in Chester. It was a really good challenge as I soon learnt that I had to get really close to subjects!

For more information about Welshot see their site here:

www.welshotimaging.co.uk

Accessibility and poverty are not hindrances to educational attainment. After buying sweets from Pasalubong Store in Pulilan Bulacan, I spotted this mother and child pair hurriedly boarding a makeshift boat after school. The boy was still carrying his backpack made of grocery plastic bag. I was enchanted on how the mother swiftly rowed the boat as the boy read on his book. Yes, nothing is hard and impossible in desiring to be educated. Great focus is all we need. Click! Enjoy your weekend!

Vaison-la-Romaine - medieval town - Provence, France

 

A BRIEF HISTORY

Two thousand years ago, Vaison-la-Romaine was called Vasio Vocontiorum, "the Vase of the Voconces" . This name was eventually shortened to Vaison, and only in 1923 to Vaison-la-Romaine.

Vaison (Vasio) became the capital of the celtic populations called "Voconces" in about the third century BC.

After having obtained the status of federal or allied city in Rome, in about 50-30 years BC, the village perched on a rock was slowly deserted and building started in the more accessible valley. The rich proprietors built large communal rooms and gardens surrounded by columns. The town extended into the surrounding agricultural lands which became building zones. An area of some 2,000 to 5,000 square metres was taken up by residences and became amongst the most important in Gaul. The Abbé Sautel spent 48 years removing the earth to uncover the gallo-roman treasures which were buried under the houses and gardens of the lower town.

 

source:

www.guideweb.com/vaison/indexa.html

 

Accessible Entrance. Brooklyn, New York City. December 21, 2015. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell - all rights reserved.

 

A metal door with an accessibility sign

 

OK, how to explain a photograph like this one? On the first full day of our recent visit to New York City we were out walking around in the Williamsburg vicinity in Brooklyn, and I was taking in the combination of very old stuff, very new stuff, and some very worn and dilapidated stuff. Even for a photographer used to photographing street subjects in San Francisco, many New York neighborhoods are, as they say, photographically "target rich environments," with lots of things to see.

 

If I recall correctly, we had walked down a street toward the East River waterfront, passing though an area of older industrial buildings that seems to be converting to modern tech and commercial space. All I remember of the making of this photograph is that I made it more or less while passing by. I was attracted by the wild color and by the seemingly odd placement of the accessibility sign on what looked like a rather unfriendly entrance door.

  

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, "California's Fall Color: A Photographer's Guide to Autumn in the Sierra" is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

New Year's Day 2026 and Avanti 'Everos' 805002 & 805012 pass Ward Street, Lostock Hall with the diverted 1Z37 10.39 Wolverhampton to Carlisle. Engineering work at Preston brought the rare sight of scheduled passenger trains along the little used line between Farington and Lostock Hall Junctions. This being the only readily accessible spot for a picture.

 

In the background, a Class 150 can be seen waiting to cross over and return to Bamber Bridge which was acting as a temporary terminus for trains from East Lancashire and West Yorkshire.

   

Outer Banks

 

The Outer Banks are a 200-mile-long (320 km) string of barrier islands and spits off the coast of North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, on the east coast of the United States. They cover most of the North Carolina coastline, separating Currituck Sound, Albemarle Sound, and Pamlico Sound from the Atlantic Ocean.

 

The Outer Banks are a major tourist destination and are known around the world for their wide expanse of open beachfront. The Cape Hatteras National Seashore has four campgrounds open to visitors.[1] The treacherous seas off the Outer Banks and the large number of shipwrecks that have occurred there have given these seas the nickname Graveyard of the Atlantic. The Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum is located in Hatteras Village near a United States Coast Guard facility and the Hatteras ferry.

 

The English Roanoke Colony—where Virginia Dare was born[2]—vanished from Roanoke Island in 1587. The Lost Colony, written and performed to commemorate the original colonists, is the second longest running outdoor drama in the United States and its theater acts as a cultural focal point for much of the Outer Banks.

 

The Wright brothers' first flight in a controlled, powered, heavier-than-air vehicle took place on the Outer Banks on December 17, 1903, at Kill Devil Hills near the seafront town of Kitty Hawk.[3] The Wright Brothers National Monument commemorates the historic flights, and First Flight Airport is a small, general-aviation airfield located

 

The Outer Banks is a string of peninsulas and barrier islands separating the Atlantic Ocean from mainland North Carolina. From north to south, the largest of these include: Bodie Island (which used to be an island but is now a peninsula due to tropical storms and hurricanes), Hatteras Island, Ocracoke Island, Portsmouth Island, and the Core Banks.[4] Over time, the exact number of islands and inlets changes as new inlets are opened up, often during a breach created during violent storms, and older inlets close, usually due to gradually shifting sands during the dynamic processes of beach evolution.

 

The Outer Banks stretch southward from Sandbridge in Virginia Beach down the North Carolina coastline. Sources differ regarding the southern terminus of the Outer Banks. Generations of North Carolina schoolchildren have learned that the term includes the state's three prominent capes: Cape Hatteras, Cape Lookout, and Cape Fear.[5][6] Other sources limit the definition to two capes (Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout) and coastal areas in four counties (Currituck County, Dare County, Hyde County,and Carteret County).[7] Some authors include Carteret's Shackelford Banks and Bogue Banks in their descriptions,[7] while others exclude Bogue Banks.[8] Still other references restrict the definition to the northern three counties of Currituck, Dare, and Hyde.[9]

 

The abbreviations OBX (Outer Banks) and SOBX (Southern Outer Banks) are modern terms used to promote tourism and to market a variety of stickers, t-shirts, and other items to vacationers. OBX, which originated first, is generally used in the northern Outer Banks. SOBX is used primarily in Carteret County, which is also known as the Crystal Coast.

 

The northern part of the Outer Banks, from Oregon Inlet northward, is actually a part of the North American mainland, since the northern inlets of Bodie Island and Currituck Banks no longer exist.[10] It is separated by the Currituck Sound and the Intracoastal Waterway, which passes through the Great Dismal Swamp occupying much of the mainland west of the Outer Banks. Road access to the northern Outer Banks is cut off between Sandbridge and Corolla, North Carolina, with communities such as Carova Beach accessible only by four-wheel drive vehicles. North Carolina State Highway 12 links most of the popular Outer Banks communities in this section of the coast. The easternmost point is Rodanthe Pier in Rodanthe, NC .

 

The Outer Banks are not anchored to offshore coral reefs like some other barrier islands and as a consequence they often suffer significant beach erosion during major storms. In fact, their location jutting out into the Atlantic makes them the most hurricane-prone area north of Florida, for both landfalling storms and brushing storms offshore. Hatteras Island was cut in half on September 18, 2003, when Hurricane Isabel washed a 2,000 foot (600 m) wide and 15 foot (5 m) deep channel called Isabel Inlet through the community of Hatteras Village on the southern end of the island.[11] The tear was subsequently repaired and restored by sand dredging by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It was cut off once again in 2011 by Hurricane Irene. Access to the island was largely limited to boat access only from August to late October until another temporary bridge could be built.

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Banks

 

An illustrated guide to the lines operated by the Cambrian Railways, based in Oswestry, and detailing the many tourist destinations accessible from their lines and the various connections.

 

Österreich / Vorarlberg - Kleinwalsertal

 

Riezlern. In the background you can see the Hoher Ifel (2,230m).

 

Riezlern. Im Hintergrund sieht man den Hohen Ifen (2.230 m).

 

Kleinwalsertal is a part of Mittelberg in the Austrian province of Vorarlberg.

 

It is part of the Bregenz district and due to the geographic location in the Allgäu Alps with its alpine terrain, the Kleinwalsertal has no direct traffic connection to the rest of Vorarlberg. It is accessible only via Oberstdorf, Germany, to the north, and thus is an Austrian "practical exclave" or "pene-exclave". Prior to Austria joining the European Union, the area had tax-free status.

 

The local football club, SV Kleinwalsertal, has the distinction of being one of only a few clubs in Central Europe that play in a local league based outside of the club's country. They play in the 10th tier A-Klasse Allgäu 4 in 2016–17.

 

The name of the valley derives from the Walsers who moved there from the Valais (German: Wallis) in the 13th century (see also "Großwalsertal").

 

The Kleinwalsertal is a high valley in the Allgäu Alps and is located in the east of Vorarlberg. The Breitach river runs through the entire valley and is fed by a few side streams, which come from the side valleys of the Kleinwalsertal.

 

The Kleinwalsertal is almost completely surrounded by high mountains. These are part of the Allgäu Alps, which are part of the northern eastern Alps. Its highest elevation is the Großer Widderstein at 2,533 metres (8,310 ft). The Kleinwalsertal is cut off from the rest of Austria. A traffic connection exists only to the Bavarian town of Oberstdorf.

 

The Kleinwalsertal was populated by the Walsers in 1270, a group of people who migrated from Switzerland. This Alemannic origin still distinguishes the inhabitants from the inhabitants of the surrounding communities by their dialect.

 

From 1891, the Kleinwalsertal enjoyed a customs union with Germany, a free border, and used the German Marks as currency. Since Austria joined the European Union in 1995, followed by the signing of the Schengen Agreement (1997) and the introduction of the Euro (2002), this special status has no longer applied.

 

By the time of EU accession goods from Austria had to be cleared in Germany or the import turnover tax had to be paid while German goods were free of taxes. Taxes were to be paid to the Austrian tax office in D-Mark until the introduction of the Euro. A special tariff was also applied to Swiss Post. Shipments to Austria were calculated according to the domestic tariffs of Austrian Post, those to Germany were to be freed with domestic porti of the Federal Post.

 

The most important industry in the last century was agriculture, which currently has only a marginal importance. Now tourism plays the major role and as early as 1960 the number of overnight stays reached a million. In 2015, there were 792,026 overnight stays in summer and 816,240 in winter of 2015/2016.

 

The hiking and excursion tourism - especially of families with small children and seniors - is very pronounced. The choice of easy walks and moderately difficult hiking trails is correspondingly wide and well signposted. Mobility in the valley is ensured with the tightly driven Walserbus, which is free of charge to tourists paying the tourist tax via ownership of the Walsercard.

 

The good transport connections to the north also helped to strengthen tourism. So you only need about two and a half hours for the Stuttgart-Kleinwalsertal route.

 

In Central Europe, the region is known as a ski and hiking resort. The 5,000 inhabitants, who are called "Walser", can provide up to 10,300 beds for tourists.

 

In the summer, the guests usually come for mountain hiking. There are also two very popular climbing routes (Mindelheimer Klettersteig and Zweienland Klettersteig) on the border to the neighbouring commune area of Oberstdorf, which are mostly accessed via the Kleinwalsertal because of the shorter route and easier accessibility.

 

The conditions for mountaineering on the Hohen Ifen and the Bärenköpfle are very good. However, it is severely restricted or completely forbidden for hunting reasons.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

The Hoher Ifen (also Hochifen) is a 2,230 metre (according to German survey: 2,229 m) high mountain in the Allgäu Alps, west of the Kleinwalsertal valley. In winter it forms the backdrop for a small ski area. It lies on the border between Germany and Austria. The summit is the highest point on the gently, tilted Ifen plateau.

 

Northeast of the Ifen plateau is the Gottesacker plateau, a karst landscape which has been designated a nature reserve and which has numerous caves and rare mountain plants. The most important caves are the Hölloch im Mahdtal and the Schneckenloch Cave near Schönenbach. On the eastern slopes of the massif a Stone Age dwelling site was discovered on the mountain pasture of Schneiderkürenalpe at a height of about 1,500 m.

 

On the southern side of the mountain an undisturbed wildlife area has been declared by the Bregenz district commission at the instigation of the Walser Hunting Club (Walser Jägerschaft), that has restricted the usual Austrian freedom of passage in accordance with § 33 of the Forestry Act. Mountaineering clubs, in particular the German Alpine Club, the Austrian Alpine Club and Allgäu Climbing Group (IG Klettern Allgäu) have criticised the regulation by the Bregenz district commission, because, within its boundaries, on the southern edge of the plateau and at Bärenköpfe is one of the best sport climbing areas in the Alps. The south faces are called the Céüse of the Allgäu, a comparison to the most famous climbing area in Europe.

 

At the beginning of the 1970s the first ski lifts appeared on the Ifen, from which today's company, the Ifen-Bergbahn-Gesellschaft, emerged. For a long time it was mostly owned by Ruth Merckle, the wife of the pharmaceutical businessman Adolf Merckle. By taking over the Merckle family's 82% share and the 18% share of the family of Kleinwalsertal tourism pioneer, Alfons Herz, on 1 July 2009, the Ifen Bergbahn GmbH u. Co gained full ownership of the Kleinwalsertaler Bergbahn (KBB), Riezlern, whose main shareholders are the Allgäuer Überlandwerk and the Raiffeisen Holding Kleinwalsertal. The Kleinwalsertaler Bergbahn AG plans to build a link lift to the Walmendinger Horn The expansion plans were sharply criticised by several associations because they were viewed as damaging to the environment and would promote mass tourism. The Austrian Alpine Club section in the Kleinwalsertal criticised the plans as follows: The construction of this lift cannot be done in harmony with nature as we would wish to remind those launching such an initiative!

 

The Kleinwalsertal Landscape Protection Society (Landschaftsschutz Kleinwalsertal) expressed similar views. On October 21, 2012 a referendum was held. About 55% of the voters rejected the proposal to build the lift.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Das Kleinwalsertal (auch: Kleines Walsertal | walserdeutsch nur Walsertal) liegt in den Allgäuer Alpen und gehört zum österreichischen Bundesland Vorarlberg. Das Hochtal liegt im Gemeindegebiet von Mittelberg und ist Teil des Bezirks Bregenz. Aufgrund der geographischen Lage mit seiner alpinen Geländestruktur hat das Kleinwalsertal keine direkte Verkehrsverbindung zum übrigen Vorarlberger Land. Das Tal ist nur von der Nachbargemeinde Oberstdorf in Bayern auf einer Straße zu erreichen. Für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland handelt es sich damit um eine sogenannte funktionale Enklave (vgl. auch Jungholz).

 

Der Name des Tals kommt von den Walsern, die im 13. Jahrhundert aus dem Wallis hierher zogen (siehe auch Großwalsertal). Auch wenn die einzige Straßenverbindung über Oberstdorf führt, gehört das Kleinwalsertal nicht zum Allgäu.

 

Das Kleinwalsertal ist ein hochgelegenes Kerbtal im Osten von Vorarlberg. Es ist umgeben von den Nordwestlichen und Südöstlichen Walsertaler Bergen die im Osten und Südosten an die Allgäuer und Lechtaler Alpen, im Süden an den Tannberg und im Westen an den Bregenzerwald grenzen. Nach Norden hin öffnet sich das Alpenvorland. Die Breitach zieht sich durch das gesamte Tal und wird von einigen Seitenbächen gespeist, die aus den Seitentälern des Kleinwalsertals stammen.

 

Das Kleinwalsertal wird fast vollständig von hohen Bergen umschlossen. Von ihnen wird das Kleinwalsertal gegenüber dem übrigen Staatsgebiet Österreichs abgeschnitten. Deren höchste Erhebung ist der Große Widderstein (2536 m). Eine Verkehrsverbindung besteht lediglich zum auf bayerischer Seite liegenden Oberstdorf (Enklave). Aus dieser geographischen Sonderstellung ergaben und ergeben sich eine Reihe von Besonderheiten, siehe Geschichte und Wirtschaft.

 

Weitere Berge sind der Elferkopf (2387 m), der Hohe Ifen (2230 m), die Kanzelwand (2058 m), das Fellhorn (2038 m) und das Walmendinger Horn (1990 m) – siehe Nordwestliche und Südöstlichen Walsertaler Berge.

 

Im Kleinwalsertal treffen vier geologische Einheiten aufeinander. Das Helvetikum mit dem verkarsteten Schrattenkalk (Ifen, Gottesackerplateau), der Rhenodanubische oder Vorarlberger Flysch (Walmendingerhorn, Heuberg, Güntlispitze, Fellhorn) und die schroffen Felsen des Ostalpin (Nördliche Kalkalpen) aus Hauptdolomit (die Walser Kerle: Widderstein, Elfer, Schafalpköpfe, Kanzelwand). Die Arosazone bildet einen schmalen lückenhaften Gürtel zwischen Flysch und Ostalpin. Sie enthält die größte Vielfalt an Gesteinen und zieht sich vom Üntschenjoch, dem Bärenkopf entlang quer durchs Gemstel- und Wildental bis unter die Kanzelwand. Aber auch Lias-Gesteine am Elfer und Gesteine der Ultrahelvetikum-Mélange, in der Umgebung Mittelalp finden sich im Kleinwalsertal.

 

Die europäische Hauptwasserscheide zwischen Rhein/Nordsee und Donau/Schwarzem Meer verläuft über das Gottesackerplateau und den Hohen Ifen zum Gerachsattel und weiter zum Hochalppass beim Widderstein.

 

Das Kleinwalsertal wurde im Jahre 1270 von den Walsern besiedelt, einer Volksgruppe, die aus dem deutschsprachigen Oberwallis in der Schweiz zuwanderte. Diese alemannische Herkunft unterscheidet die Bewohner sprachlich noch heute von den Bewohnern der umliegenden Gemeinden. Ihr Dialekt wird dem Höchstalemannischen zugeordnet, während man im Allgäu einen niederalemannischen Dialekt und im restlichen Vorarlberg einen hochalemannischen Dialekt (Vorarlbergerisch) spricht.

 

Das Tal ist heute Österreichs drittgrößtes Tourismusziel. Der jahrhundertelang bedeutendste Wirtschaftszweig war die Landwirtschaft, die aktuell nur mehr eine marginale Bedeutung hat. Schon 1960 erreichte die Nächtigungszahl erstmals eine Million. Im Tourismusjahr 2001/02 gab es insgesamt 1.678.180 Übernachtungen bei einer Kapazität von 12.000 Betten.

 

Der Wander- und Ausflugstourismus – vor allem auch von Familien mit kleineren Kindern und Senioren – ist sehr ausgeprägt. Die Auswahl an einfachen Spazierwegen und mäßig schwierigen Wanderpfaden ist entsprechend breit und gut ausgeschildert. Mit dem eng getaktet fahrenden Walserbus, der den Kurtaxe zahlenden Touristen als Inhabern der Walsercard kostenlos zur Verfügung steht, ist die Mobilität im Tal ohne PKW gewährleistet.

 

Zur starken Ausprägung des Tourismus verhalf auch die gute Verkehrsanbindung nach Norden. So benötigt man für die Strecke Stuttgart–Kleinwalsertal nur etwa zweieinhalb Stunden.

 

Im Jahr 2003 gab es am Ort 243 Gewerbebetriebe mit 1573 Beschäftigten und 144 Lehrlingen; lohnsteuerpflichtige Erwerbstätige waren 2518 Personen.

 

Der Tourismus ist der wichtigste Wirtschaftsfaktor im Tal, wobei der Sommertourismus etwa gleich ausgeprägt ist wie der im Winter.

 

Im Tourismusjahr 2017/2018 (November 2017 bis Oktober 2018) erzielte das Kleinwalsertal über 1,7 Mio. Nächtigungen (+4,9 % im Vergleich zum Vorjahr 2016/2017). Es kamen rund 355.000 Gäste ins Kleinwalsertal (10.038 Gästebetten in der Sommersaison 2018).

 

Die Übernachtungszahlen betrugen im Winter 2018/19 828.180 (−1,5 % im Vergleich zum Vorjahr 2017/18) gegenüber 927.543 (+3 % im Vergleich zum Vorjahr 2017) in der Sommersaison 2018.

 

Im Sommer kommen die Gäste meist zum Wandern und Bergwandern. Die Wanderwege erstrecken sich über drei Höhenlagen zwischen 1.086 und 2.536 m. Das Wegenetz besteht aus 185 km naturbelassenen, markierten Wanderwegen. Sie werden von 40 Hütten, Sennalpen und Bergrestaurant flankiert. Das Kleinwalsertal ist auch Start- oder Zielpunkt des „Grossen Walserwegs“ von Zermatt ins Kleinwalsertal oder eben umgekehrt. Im Sommer sind 8 Lifte in Oberstdorf für einen erleichterten Auf- und Abstieg geöffnet.

 

Das Kleinwalsertal ist zudem Veranstaltungsort für Trailrunning Wettkämpfe und Trainingcamps.Drei verschiedene Höhenlagen zwischen 1.100 und 2.500 m erlauben ein Training der verschiedenen Höhen- und Bodenverhältnisse. Die Trails sind zudem in mehrere Schwierigkeitsgrade eingeteilt und ermöglicht so eine Anpassung an das eigene Leistungsniveau. Das nächste Trainingscamp "die Trampelpfadtage" für Anfänger und Fortgeschrittene findet Corona-bedingt vom 16. September – 19. September 2021 statt.

 

Relativ neu hinzugekommen sind zahlreiche Biketouren und -Trails. Vor allem eMountain-Bikes werden gerne von den Besuchern dazu benutzt etwas höher hinaufzufahren. Die Radtouren wurden von der Gemeinde entlang aussichtsreicher oder historischer Strecken errichtet. Typisch für das Kleinwalsertal ist die Route "kleiner Grenzverkehr" über die deutsch-österreichische Grenze. Diese Route führt über einen Panoramaweg nach Oberstdorf und entlang der Breitach zurück ins Kleinwalsertal.

 

In der Region gibt es zudem beliebte Klettersteige – der Mindelheimer Klettersteig (B–C) führt über die Schafalpköpfe im Wildental. 2007 wurde von der Bergschule Kleinwalsertal an der Kanzelwand der sportlich anspruchsvolle 2-Länder-Sportklettersteig (C–D) und der Walsersteig, der Erlebnissteig für Einsteiger (B), errichtet. Die Bedingungen für das Sportklettern am Hohen Ifen und am Bärenköpfle zählen zu den besten der Alpen. Es ist jedoch aus jagdlichen Gründen stark eingeschränkt oder ganz verboten. Diese Einschränkungen wurden besonders angesichts der umfangreichen Erschließungen der näheren Umgebung von Bergsteigerverbänden als unangebracht und fachlich nicht fundiert kritisiert. So schrieb die Zeitschrift Alpin, dass „[…] sich ein solches Sperrgebiet gut ins Gesamtkonzept des Kleinwalsertales einfügt: Harter und lauter Tourismus mit großem wirtschaftlichen Nutzen dort und eine Ruhezone hier, wo eben nichts zu holen ist“. Von Seiten der Jagdaufsicht wird hingegen die Notwendigkeit einer Ruhezone für das Wild in dem ganzjährig stark touristisch genutzten Tal betont.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Der Hohe Ifen (auch Hochifen) ist ein 2230 m ü. A. bzw. 2229 m ü. NHN hoher Berg in den Allgäuer Alpen, westlich des Kleinwalsertals. Im Winter bildet er die Kulisse für ein kleines Skigebiet. Er liegt an der Grenze zwischen Deutschland und Österreich. Der Gipfel stellt den höchsten Punkt des leicht geneigten Ifenplateaus dar. Auf ihm treffen die Gemeindegrenzen von Egg, Mittelberg (beide Vorarlberg) und Oberstdorf (Allgäu/Schwaben/Bayern) zusammen.

 

Nordöstlich des Ifenplateaus befindet sich das Gottesackerplateau, eine unter Naturschutz stehende Karstlandschaft mit zahlreichen Höhlen und seltenen Gebirgspflanzen. Die bedeutendsten Höhlen sind das Hölloch im Mahdtal und die Schneckenlochhöhle bei Schönenbach. Am östlichen Abhang des Bergstocks wurde 1998 auf der Schneiderkürenalpe in etwa 1500 m Höhe vom Amateurarchäologen Detlef Willand eine steinzeitliche Wohnstätte entdeckt und mit fachlicher Begleitung durch die Universität Innsbruck freigelegt.

 

Auf der Südseite des Berges befindet sich ein Wildruhegebiet, dessen Errichtung von Bergsteigerverbänden wie dem IG Klettern Allgäu heftig kritisiert wurde, da es auch zuvor beliebte Sportklettergebiete umfasst. Trotz einer späteren Aufweichung des Kletterverbotes hält die Kritik an. Auch bei der Planung von Skitouren ist das Wildruhegebiet zu berücksichtigen.

 

Anfang der 1970er Jahre entstanden erste Skilifte am Ifen, aus denen die heutige Ifen-Bergbahn-Gesellschaft entstand. Sie war lange Zeit mehrheitlich im Besitz von Ruth Merckle, der Ehefrau des Pharmaunternehmers Adolf Merckle. Durch die Übernahme des 82-%-Anteils der Familie Merckle und des 18-%-Anteils der Familie des Kleinwalsertaler Tourismuspioniers Alfons Herz gehört die Ifen Bergbahn GmbH u. Co seit 1. Juli 2009 vollständig der Kleinwalsertaler Bergbahn (KBB), Riezlern, deren Hauptaktionäre das Allgäuer Überlandwerk und die Raiffeisen Holding Kleinwalsertal sind.

 

Im Jahr 1961 wurde der Olympialift als Schlepplift/Hotellift errichtet. In den Jahren 1971/1972 folgten die Doppelsesselbahn Ifenhütte zwischen Auenhütte und Ifenhütte und der Schlepplift Ifen, der von der Ifenhütte weiter bergaufwärts führte. Seit 1976 besteht der Tellerlift/Übungslift Gaisbühl, der eine Übungswiese zugänglich macht. Die kuppelbare Doppelsesselbahn Hahnenköpflebahn, deren Talstation sich nordöstlich der Ifenhütte befand, wurde im Jahr 1978 gebaut. Die beiden Doppelsesselbahnen wurden in den Jahren 1991/1992 modernisiert.

 

Der Ifenlift musste im Jahr 2016 dem kuppelbaren 6er-Sessellift Olympiabahn weichen, die vom Tal bis zur Mitte des Schleppliftes führte. In der Sommersaison 2017 wurden die beiden Sessellifte abgebaut, dadurch war keine Liftbeförderung von Personen zur Ifenhütte möglich. Zur Wintersaison 2017/2018 ersetzte die 10er-Gondelbahn Ifen (System D-Line von Doppelmayr) in zwei Sektionen die alte Ifenbahn und Hahnenköpflebahn.

 

Den Skifahrern stehen etwa 22 Pistenkilometer in allen Schwierigkeitsgraden zur Verfügung, wobei der Anteil schwarz markierter Pisten verglichen mit den Nachbarskigebieten hoch ist. Wegen der Länge und geringen Anzahl der Lifte sind auch die Abfahrten überdurchschnittlich lang.

 

Die Talstation der Ifenbahn stellt den Einstieg in das Skigebiet dar. Dieser ist über eine durch das Schwarzwassertal führende Straße von Hirschegg aus erreichbar. Auf dieser Straße verkehrt auch ein Linienbus; außerdem besteht eine Busverbindung zwischen der Talstation und der benachbarten Heuberg-Arena.

 

Eine Anfang der 2010er Jahre geplante Verbindungsbahn über das Schwarzwassertal zum Walmendinger Horn wurde von verschiedenen Verbänden als umweltzerstörend und den Massentourismus fördernd scharf kritisiert.

 

Die Kleinwalsertaler Bergbahn AG hielt dagegen, dass diese Infrastrukturmaßnahme dazu beitragen würde, den touristischen Abwärtstrend der Region zu stoppen, da durch die neue Bahn ein zusammenhängendes Skigebiet geschaffen würde. Die Mehrheit der Mittelberger Gemeindevertreter sprach sich für den Bau der Bahn aus, für die auch rund 1.600 Unterschriften gesammelt und dem Bürgermeister übergeben wurden. Da auch die Gegner des Projekts mehr als 1.200 Unterstützungsunterschriften sammeln konnten, kam es am 21. Oktober 2012 schließlich zu einer Volksabstimmung. Bei einer Wahlbeteiligung von 74,4 % sprachen sich dabei 55 % der Stimmberechtigten gegen den Bau der geplanten Panoramabahn aus und verhinderten damit eine Umsetzung der Pläne.

 

(Wikipedia)

This Tri-colored Heron was searching around some dying vegetation snagged on an old tree stump at the water’s edge on Horsepen Bayou. It seems to be pretty difficult hunting for them as the tides have been unusually high and they prefer to fish the flats and shallow ponds that are usually accessible at this time of the year.

 

DSC07887ula

Cape Hatteras National Seashore was established in 1953 as the first national seashore in the United States and is located on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Print size 8x10 inches. Bodie Island is a long, narrow barrier peninsula that forms the northernmost portion of the Outer Banks Print Size 8x10 inches.

Wednesday 9 December 2015 marks 10 years of a fully accessible bus network in London. It also marks 10 years since the last front-line service by London’s world famous Routemaster buses, on route 159.

Arriva (South) London, Brixton (BN) sadily loose route 159/N159 on Saturday 12th December to Abellio London from Battersea (QB).

 

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The complex is located inside Osówka Mountain (German: Säuferhöhen) 50°40′22″N 16°25′14″E. It is accessible by tunnel number 1 (120 m) with chambers for guardrooms and tunnel number 2 (456 m), bored 10 m below the level of the main underground, with guardrooms close to completion. Behind them there is a connection of two levels created by the collapse of the ceiling.The structure is a grid of tunnels (1,750 m, 6,700 m2, 30,000 m3) and underground halls, up to 8 m in height. Only 6.9% is reinforced by concrete.There is a shaft leading to the surface with a diameter of 6 m (48 m).[99] Tunnel number 3 (107 m) is not connected to the complex. It is 500 m away and 45 m below the main underground.It contains two dams and hydraulic equipment of an unknown purpose.

 

Above ground are foundations of buildings, machinery, a ramp for transportation of mine cars to different levels, a reservoir of water and depots, some with systems of heating up building materials in winter.The largest structure is a single-storey, concrete building (680 m2, 2,300 m3) with walls 0.5 m thick and roof adapted for camouflage by vegetation (0.6 m). A utility tunnel (1.25 m x 1.95 m, 30 m) was under construction to connect it with the shaft. Another structure of unknown purpose is a concrete monolith (30.9 m x 29.8 m) with tens of pipes, drains and culverts, buried into the rock at least 4.5 m.A narrow gauge railway network connected the tunnels with the railway station in the village of Głuszyca Górna (German: Oberwüstegiersdorf).

 

In August 1944, AL Säuferwasser was established for prisoners of concentration camps 50°40′17″N 16°24′50″E.[88][38] They were Jews, citizens of Poland, Hungary, and Greece. The remains of the camp can still be found in the vicinity of the tunnel number 3. Its evacuation took place in February 1945.

The State Hermitage Museum is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was founded in 1764 when Empress Catherine the Great acquired a collection of paintings from the Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky. The museum celebrates the anniversary of its founding each year on 7 December, Saint Catherine's Day. It has been open to the public since 1852. The Art Newspaper ranked the museum 10th in their list of the most visited art museums, with 2,812,913 visitors in 2022.

 

Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display, comprise over three million items (the numismatic collection accounts for about one-third of them). The collections occupy a large complex of six historic buildings along Palace Embankment, including the Winter Palace, a former residence of Russian emperors. Apart from them, the Menshikov Palace, Museum of Porcelain, Storage Facility at Staraya Derevnya, and the eastern wing of the General Staff Building are also part of the museum. The museum has several exhibition centers abroad. The Hermitage is a federal state property. Since July 1992, the director of the museum has been Mikhail Piotrovsky.

 

Of the six buildings in the main museum complex, five—namely the Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Old Hermitage, New Hermitage, and Hermitage Theatre—are all open to the public. The entrance ticket for foreign tourists costs more than the fee paid by citizens of Russia and Belarus. However, entrance is free of charge the third Thursday of every month for all visitors, and free daily for students and children. The museum is closed on Mondays. The entrance for individual visitors is located in the Winter Palace, accessible from the Courtyard.

 

Etymology

A hermitage is the dwelling of a hermit or recluse. The word derives from Old French hermit, ermit "hermit, recluse", from Late Latin eremita, from Greek eremites, that means "people who live alone", which is in turn derived from ἐρημός (erēmos), "desert".

 

Buildings

Originally, the only building housing the collection was the "Small Hermitage". Today, the Hermitage Museum encompasses many buildings on the Palace Embankment and its neighbourhoods. Apart from the Small Hermitage, the museum now also includes the "Old Hermitage" (also called "Large Hermitage"), the "New Hermitage", the "Hermitage Theatre", and the "Winter Palace", the former main residence of the Russian tsars. In recent years, the Hermitage has expanded to the General Staff Building on the Palace Square facing the Winter Palace, and the Menshikov Palace.

 

Collections

The Western European Art collection includes European paintings, sculpture, and applied art from the 13th to the 20th centuries.

 

Egyptian antiquities

Since 1940, the Egyptian collection, dating back to 1852 and including the former Castiglione Collection, has occupied a large hall on the ground floor in the eastern part of the Winter Palace.

 

Classical antiquities

The collection of classical antiquities occupies most of the ground floor of the Old and New Hermitage buildings. The interiors of the ground floor were designed by German architect Leo von Klenze in the Greek revival style in the early 1850s, using painted polished stucco and columns of natural marble and granite.

 

The Room of the Great Vase in the western wing features the 2.57 m (8.4 ft) high Kolyvan Vase, weighing 19 t (42,000 lb), made of jasper in 1843 and installed before the walls were erected. While the western wing was designed for exhibitions, the rooms on the ground floor in the eastern wing of the New Hermitage, now also hosting exhibitions, were originally intended for libraries.

 

The collection of classical antiquities features Greek artifacts from the third millennium – fifth century BC, ancient Greek pottery, items from the Greek cities of the North Pontic Greek colonies, Hellenistic sculpture and jewellery, including engraved gems and cameos, such as the famous Gonzaga Cameo, Italic art from the 9th to second century BC, Roman marble and bronze sculpture and applied art from the first century BC - fourth century AD, including copies of Classical and Hellenistic Greek sculptures. One of the highlights of the collection is the Tauride Venus, which, according to latest research, is an original Hellenistic Greek sculpture rather than a Roman copy as it was thought before. There are, however, only a few pieces of authentic Classical Greek sculpture and sepulchral monuments.

 

Prehistoric art

On the ground floor in the western wing of the Winter Palace the collections of prehistoric artifacts and the culture and art of the Caucasus are located, as well as the second treasure gallery. The prehistoric artifacts date from the Paleolithic to the Iron Age and were excavated all over Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union and Russian Empire. Among them is a renowned collection of the art and culture of nomadic tribes of the Altai from Pazyryk and Bashadar sites, including the world's oldest surviving knotted-pile carpet and a well-preserved wooden chariot, both from the 4th–3rd centuries BC. The Caucasian exhibition includes a collection of Urartu artifacts from Armenia and Western Armenia. Many of them were excavated at Teishebaini under the supervision of Boris Piotrovsky, former director of the Hermitage Museum.

 

Jewelry and decorative art

Four small rooms on the ground floor, enclosed in the middle of the New Hermitage between the room displaying Classical Antiquities, comprise the first treasure gallery, featuring western jewellery from the 4th millennium BC to the early 20th century AD. The second treasure gallery, located on the ground floor in the southwest corner of the Winter Palace, features jewellery from the Pontic steppes, Caucasus and Asia, in particular Scythian and Sarmatian gold.

 

Pavilion Hall, designed by Andrei Stackenschneider in 1858, occupies the first floor of the Northern Pavilion in the Small Hermitage. It features the 18th-century golden Peacock Clock by James Cox and a collection of mosaics. Two galleries spanning the west side of the Small Hermitage from the Northern to Southern Pavilion house an exhibition of Western European decorative and applied art from the 12th to 15th century and the fine art of the Low Countries from the 15th and 16th centuries.

 

Italian Renaissance

The rooms on the first floor of the Old Hermitage were designed by Andrei Stakenschneider in revival styles in between 1851 and 1860, although the design survives only in some of them. They feature works of Italian Renaissance artists, including Giorgione, Titian, Veronese, as well as Benois Madonna and Madonna Litta attributed to Leonardo da Vinci or his school.

 

The Italian Renaissance galleries continues in the eastern wing of the New Hermitage with paintings, sculpture, majolica and tapestry from Italy of the 15th–16th centuries, including Conestabile Madonna and Madonna with Beardless St. Joseph by Raphael.

 

Italian and Spanish fine art

The first floor of New Hermitage contains three large interior spaces in the center of the museum complex with red walls and lit from above by skylights. These are adorned with 19th-century Russian lapidary works and feature Italian and Spanish canvases of the 16th–18th centuries, including Veronese, Giambattista Pittoni, Tintoretto, Velázquez and Murillo.

 

Knights' Hall

The Knights' Hall, a large room in the eastern part of the New Hermitage originally designed in the Greek revival style for the display of coins, now hosts a collection of Western European arms and armour from the 15th–17th centuries, part of the Hermitage Arsenal collection.

 

The Gallery of the History of Ancient Painting adjoins the Knights' Hall and also flanks the skylight rooms. It was designed by Leo von Klenze in the Greek revival style as a prelude to the museum and features neoclassical marble sculptures by Antonio Canova and his followers. In the middle, the gallery opens to the main staircase of the New Hermitage, which served as the entrance to the museum before the October Revolution of 1917, but is now closed.

 

Dutch Golden Age and Flemish Baroque

The rooms and galleries along the southern facade and in the western wing of the New Hermitage are now entirely devoted to Dutch Golden Age and Flemish Baroque painting of the 17th century, including the large collections of Van Dyck, Rubens and Rembrandt.

 

German, Swiss, British and French fine art

The first floor rooms on the southern facade of the Winter Palace are occupied by the collections of German fine art of the 16th century and French fine art of the 15th–18th centuries, including paintings by Poussin, Lorrain, Watteau. The collections of French decorative and applied art from the 17th–18th centuries and British applied and fine art from the 16th–19th century, including Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds, are on display in nearby rooms facing the courtyard.

 

Russian art

The richly decorated interiors of the first floor of the Winter Palace on its eastern, northern and western sides are part of the Russian culture collection and host the exhibitions of Russian art from the 11th-19th centuries.

 

French Neoclassical, Impressionist, and post-Impressionist art

French Neoclassical, Impressionist and post-Impressionist art, including works by Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh and Gauguin, are displayed on the fourth floor of the Eastern Wing of the General Staff Building. Also displayed are paintings by Camille Pissarro (Boulevard Montmartre, Paris), Paul Cézanne (Mount Sainte-Victoire), Alfred Sisley, Henri Morel, and Degas.

 

Modern, German Romantic and other 19th–20th century art

Modern art is displayed in the General Staff Building (Saint Petersburg). It features Matisse, Derain and other fauvists, Picasso, Malevich, Petrocelli, Kandinsky, Giacomo Manzù, Giorgio Morandi and Rockwell Kent. A large room is devoted to the German Romantic art of the 19th century, including several paintings by Caspar David Friedrich. The second floor of the Western wing features collections of the Oriental art (from China, India, Mongolia, Tibet, Central Asia, Byzantium and Near East).

 

History

Origins: Catherine's collection

Catherine the Great started her art collection in 1764 by purchasing paintings from Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky. He assembled the collection for Frederick II of Prussia, who ultimately refused to purchase it. Thus, Gotzkowsky provided 225 or 317 paintings (conflicting accounts list both numbers), mainly Flemish and Dutch, as well as others, including 90 not precisely identified, to the Russian crown. The collection consisted of Rembrandt (13 paintings), Rubens (11 paintings), Jacob Jordaens (7 paintings), Anthony van Dyck (5 paintings), Paolo Veronese (5 paintings), Frans Hals (3 paintings, including Portrait of a Young Man with a Glove), Raphael (2 paintings), Holbein (2 paintings), Titian (1 painting), Jan Steen (The Idlers), Hendrik Goltzius, Dirck van Baburen, Hendrick van Balen and Gerrit van Honthorst. Perhaps some of the most famous and notable artworks that were a part of Catherine's original purchase from Gotzkowsky were Danaë, painted by Rembrandt in 1636; Descent from the Cross, painted by Rembrandt in 1624; and Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Glove, painted by Frans Hals in 1650. These paintings remain in the Hermitage collection today.

 

In 1764, Catherine commissioned Yury Felten to build an extension on the east of the Winter Palace which he completed in 1766. Later it became the Southern Pavilion of the Small Hermitage. From 1767 to 1769, French architect Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe built the Northern Pavilion on the Neva embankment. Between 1767 and 1775, the extensions were connected by galleries, where Catherine put her collections. The entire neoclassical building is now known as the Small Hermitage. During the time of Catherine, the Hermitage was not a public museum and few people were allowed to view its holdings. Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe also rebuilt rooms in the second story of the south-east corner block that was originally built for Elizabeth and later occupied by Peter III. The largest room in this particular apartment was the Audience Chamber (also called the Throne Hall) which consisted of 227 square meters.

 

The Hermitage buildings served as a home and workplace for nearly a thousand people, including the Imperial family. In addition to this, they also served as an extravagant showplace for all kinds of Russian relics and displays of wealth prior to the art collections. Many events were held in these buildings including masquerades for the nobility, grand receptions and ceremonies for state and government officials. The "Hermitage complex" was a creation of Catherine's that allowed all kinds of festivities to take place in the palace, the theatre and even the museum of the Hermitage. This helped solidify the Hermitage as not only a dwelling place for the Imperial family, but also as an important symbol and memorial to the imperial Russian state. Today, the palace and the museum are one and the same. In Catherine's day, the Winter Palace served as a central part of what was called the Palace Square. The Palace Square served as St. Petersburg's nerve center by linking it to all the city's most important buildings. The presence of the Palace Square was extremely significant to the urban development of St. Petersburg, and while it became less of a nerve center later into the 20th century, its symbolic value was still very much preserved.

 

Catherine acquired the best collections offered for sale by the heirs of prominent collectors. In 1769, she purchased Brühl's collection, consisting of over 600 paintings and a vast number of prints and drawings, in Saxony. Three years later, she bought Crozat's collection of paintings in France with the assistance of Denis Diderot. Next, in 1779, she acquired the collection of 198 paintings that once belonged to Robert Walpole in London followed by a collection of 119 paintings in Paris from Count Baudouin in 1781. Catherine's favorite items to collect were believed to be engraved gems and cameos. At the inaugural exhibit of the Hermitage, opened by Charles, Prince of Wales in November 2000, there was an entire gallery devoted to representing and displaying Catherine's favorite items. In this gallery her cameos are displayed along with cabinet made by David Roentgen, which holds her engraved gems. As the symbol of Minerva was frequently used and favored by Catherine to represent her patronage of the arts, a cameo of Catherine as Minerva is also displayed here. This particular cameo was created for her by her daughter-in-law, the Grand Duchess Maria Fyodorovna. This is only a small representation of Catherine's vast collection of many antique and contemporary engraved gems and cameos.

 

The collection soon overgrew the building. In her lifetime, Catherine acquired 4,000 paintings from the old masters, 38,000 books, 10,000 engraved gems, 10,000 drawings, 16,000 coins and medals, and a natural history collection filling two galleries, so in 1771 she commissioned Yury Felten to build another major extension. The neoclassical building was completed in 1787 and has come to be known as the Large Hermitage or Old Hermitage. Catherine also gave the name of the Hermitage to her private theatre, built nearby between 1783 and 1787 by the Italian architect Giacomo Quarenghi. In London in 1787, Catherine acquired the collection of sculpture that belonged to Lyde Browne, mostly Ancient Roman marbles. Catherine used them to adorn the Catherine Palace and park in Tsarskoye Selo, but later they became the core of the Classical Antiquities collection of the Hermitage. From 1787 to 1792, Quarenghi designed and built a wing along the Winter Canal with the Raphael Loggias to replicate the loggia in the Apostolic Palace in Rome designed by Donato Bramante and frescoed by Raphael.

 

Catherine's collection of at least 4,000 paintings came to rival the older and more prestigious museums of Western Europe. Catherine took great pride in her collection and actively participated in extensive competitive art gathering and collecting that was prevalent in European royal court culture. Through her art collection she gained European acknowledgment and acceptance and portrayed Russia as an enlightened society. Catherine went on to invest much of her identity in being a patron of the arts. She was particularly fond of the Roman deity Minerva, whose characteristics according to classical tradition are military prowess, wisdom, and patronage of the arts. Using the title Catherine the Minerva, she created new institutions of literature and culture and also participated in many projects of her own, mostly play writing. The representation of Catherine alongside Minerva would come to be a tradition of enlightened patronage in Russia.

 

Expansion in the 19th century

In 1815, Alexander I of Russia purchased 38 pictures from the heirs of Joséphine de Beauharnais, most of which had been looted by the French in Kassel during the war. The Hermitage collection of Rembrandts was then considered the largest in the world. Also among Alexander's purchases from Josephine's estate were the first four sculptures by the neoclassical Italian sculptor Antonio Canova to enter the Hermitage collection.

 

Between 1840 and 1843, Vasily Stasov redesigned the interiors of the Southern Pavilion of the Small Hermitage. In 1838, Nicholas I commissioned the neoclassical German architect Leo von Klenze to design a building for the public museum. Space for the museum was made next to the Small Hermitage by the demolition of the Shepelev Palace and royal stables. The construction was overseen by the Russian architects Vasily Stasov and Nikolai Yefimov from 1842 to 1851 and incorporated Quarenghi's wing with the Raphael Loggias.

 

The New Hermitage was opened to the public on 5 February 1852. In the same year the Egyptian Collection of the Hermitage Museum emerged and was particularly enriched by items given by the Duke of Leuchtenberg, Nicholas I's son-in-law. Meanwhile, from 1851 to 1860, the interiors of the Old Hermitage were redesigned by Andrei Stackensneider to accommodate the State Assembly, Cabinet of Ministers and state apartments. Stakenschneider created the Pavilion Hall in the Northern Pavilion of the Small Hermitage from 1851 to 1858.

 

In 1861, the Hermitage purchased from the Papal government part of the Giampietro Campana collection, which consisted mostly classical antiquities. These included over 500 vases, 200 bronzes and a number of marble statues. The Hermitage acquired Madonna Litta, which was then attributed to Leonardo, in 1865, and Raphael's Connestabile Madonna in 1870. In 1884 in Paris, Alexander III of Russia acquired the collection of Alexander Basilewski, featuring European medieval and Renaissance artifacts. In 1885, the Arsenal collection of arms and armour, founded by Alexander I of Russia, was transferred from the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo to the Hermitage. In 1914, Leonardo's Benois Madonna was added to the collection.

 

After the October Revolution

Immediately after the Revolution of 1917, the Imperial Hermitage and the Winter Palace, the former Imperial residence, were proclaimed state museums and eventually merged.

 

The range of the Hermitage's exhibits was further expanded when private art collections from several palaces of the Russian Tsars and numerous private mansions were nationalized and redistributed among major Soviet state museums. Particularly notable was the influx of old masters from the Catherine Palace, the Alexander Palace, the Stroganov Palace, and the Yusupov Palace, as well as from other palaces of Saint Petersburg and suburbs.

 

In 1922, a collection of 19th-century European paintings was transferred to the Hermitage from the Academy of Arts. In turn, in 1927 about 500 important paintings were transferred to the Central Museum of old Western art in Moscow at the insistence of the Soviet authorities.

 

In 1928, the Soviet government ordered the Hermitage to compile a list of valuable works of art for export. From 1930 to 1934, over two thousand works of art from the Hermitage collection were clandestinely sold at auctions abroad or directly to foreign officials and businesspeople. The sold items included Raphael's Alba Madonna, Titian's Venus with a Mirror, and Jan van Eyck's Annunciation, among other world known masterpieces by Botticelli, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, and others. In 1931 Andrew W. Mellon acquired 21 works of art from the Hermitage and later donated them to form a nucleus of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. (see also Soviet sale of Hermitage paintings).

 

With the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, before the Siege of Leningrad started, two trains with a considerable part of the collections were evacuated to Sverdlovsk. Two bombs and a number of shells hit the museum buildings during the siege. The museum opened an exhibition in November 1944. In October 1945 the evacuated collections were brought back, and in November 1945 the museum reopened.

 

In 1948, 316 works of Impressionist, post-Impressionist, and modern art from the collection of the Museum of New Western Art in Moscow, originating mostly from the nationalized collections of Sergei Shchukin and Ivan Morozov before the war, were transferred to the Hermitage, including works by Matisse and Picasso.

 

On 15 June 1985, a man later judged insane attacked Rembrandt's painting Danaë, displayed in the museum. He threw sulfuric acid on the canvas and cut it twice with a knife. The restoration of the painting had been accomplished by Hermitage conservationists by 1997, and Danaë is now on display behind armoured glass.

 

The Hermitage since 1991

In 1991, it became known that some paintings looted by the Red Army in Germany in 1945 were held in the Hermitage. But only in October 1994 did the Hermitage officially announce that it had secretly been holding a major trove of French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings from German private collections. The exhibition "Hidden Treasures Revealed", where 74 of the paintings were displayed for the first time, was opened on 30 March 1995 in the Nicholas Hall of the Winter Palace and lasted a year. Of the paintings, all but one originated from private rather than state German collections, including 56 paintings from the Otto Krebs collection, as well as the collection of Bernhard Koehler and paintings previously belonging to Otto Gerstenberg and his daughter Margarete Scharf, including the world-famous Place de la Concorde by Degas, In the Garden by Renoir, and White House at Night by Van Gogh. Some of the paintings are now on permanent display in several small rooms in the northeastern corner of the Winter Palace on the first floor.

 

In 1993, the Russian government gave the eastern wing of the nearby General Staff Building across the Palace Square to the Hermitage and the new exhibition rooms in 1999. Since 2003, the Great Courtyard of the Winter Palace has been open to the public.

 

In 2003, the Hermitage loaned 142 pieces to the University of Michigan Museum of Art for an exhibition titled The Romanovs Collect: European Art from the Hermitage.

 

In December 2004, the museum discovered another looted work of art: Venus Disarming Mars by Rubens was once in the collection of the Rheinsberg Palace near Berlin, and was apparently looted by Soviet troops from the Königsberg Castle in East Prussia in 1945. At the time, Mikhail Piotrovsky said the painting would be cleaned and displayed.

 

The museum announced in July 2006 that 221 minor items, including jewelry, Orthodox icons, silverware and richly enameled objects, had been stolen. The value of the stolen items was estimated to be approximately $543,000. By the end of 2006 several of the stolen items had been recovered.

 

In March 2020, Apple released a continuous 5 hour and 19 minute one shot film recorded entirely on an iPhone 11 Pro detailing many rooms of the museum which highlighted not only the artwork, but also the architecture, and live movement pieces interspersed throughout.

 

Dependencies

In recent years, the Hermitage launched several dependencies abroad and domestically.

 

Hermitage-Kazan Exhibition Center

The Hermitage dependency in Kazan (Tatarstan, Russia), opened in 2005. It was created with support from President of the Republic of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev and is a subdivision of the Kazan Kremlin State Historical and Architectural Museum-Park. The museum is situated in the Kazan Kremlin in an edifice previously occupied by the Junker School built in the beginning of the 19th century.

 

Ermitage Italia, Ferrara

Following the prior experiences in London, Las Vegas, Amsterdam and Kazan, the Hermitage foundation decided to create a further branch in Italy with the launch of a national bid. Several northern Italian cities expressed interest such as Verona, Mantua, Ferrara and Turin. In 2007, the honor was awarded to the city of Ferrara which proposed its Castle Estense as the base. Since then, the new institution called Ermitage Italia started a research and scientific collaboration with the Hermitage foundation.

 

Hermitage-Vyborg Center

Hermitage-Vyborg Center was opened in June 2010 in Vyborg, Leningrad Oblast.

 

Hermitage Exhibition Center, Vladivostok

A Hermitage branch is due to open in Vladivostok by 2016, and the regional government has allocated more than Rb17.7 million ($558,000) for preliminary reconstruction work on a mansion in Vladivostok's historic downtown district to house the satellite.

 

Hermitage-Siberia, Omsk

The Hermitage-Siberia is due to open in Omsk in 2016.

 

Guggenheim Hermitage Museum, Vilnius

In recent years, there have been proposals to open a Vilnius Guggenheim Hermitage Museum in the capital city of Lithuania. Like the former Las Vegas dependency, the museum is to combine artworks from the Saint Petersburg Hermitage with works from the New York Guggenheim Museum.

 

Former dependencies

The Guggenheim Hermitage Museum in Las Vegas opened on 7 October 2001 and closed on 11 May 2008. The Hermitage Rooms in London's Somerset House opened on 25 November 2000. The exhibition was closed permanently in November 2007 due to poor visitor numbers.

 

The dependency of the Hermitage Museum in Amsterdam was known as the Hermitage Amsterdam, and was located in the former Amstelhof building. It opened on 24 February 2004 in a small building on the Nieuwe Herengracht in Amsterdam, awaiting the closing of the retirement home which still occupied the Amstelhof building until 2007. Between 2007 and 2009, the Amstelhof was renovated and made suitable for the housing of the Amsterdam Hermitage. The Amsterdam Hermitage was opened on 19 June 2009 by President Dmitry Medvedev and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. Following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the Amsterdam Hermitage severed ties with St. Petersburg, being renamed to H'ART Museum the following year.

 

Management

Hermitage directors

Florian Gilles

Stepan Gedeonov (1863–78)

Alexander Vasilchikov (1879–88)

Sergei Nikitich Trubetskoi (1888–99)

Ivan Vsevolozhsky (1899–1909)

Dmitry Tolstoi (1909–1918)

Boris Legran (1931–1934)

Iosif Orbeli (1934–1951)

Mikhail Artamonov (1951–1964)

Boris Piotrovsky (1964–1990)

Mikhail Piotrovsky (1992–present)

 

Volunteer service

The Hermitage Volunteer Service offers all those interested a unique opportunity to involve themselves in running this world-renowned museum. The program not only aids the Hermitage with its external and internal activities but also serves as an informal link between the museum staff and the public, bringing the specific knowledge of the museum's experts to the community. Volunteers may also develop projects reflecting their own personal goals and interests: communicate a feeling of responsibility to the youth so as to help them understand the value of tradition and the necessity of its preservation.

 

Cats

A population of cats lives on the museum grounds and serves as an attraction.

 

In popular culture

Films

Russian Ark (2002), the Russian film by Alexander Sokurov, was filmed entirely in the Hermitage Museum, showing the Winter Palace at various stages of its history.

War and Peace (1966–67), an Oscar-winning Soviet adaptation of the 1869 novel by Leo Tolstoy, was partially filmed in the Winter Palace.

 

Television

Russia-K, a Russian national television channel, has been presenting the various art collections of the Hermitage to the general public for years. There are a series of programs that have aired entitled My Hermitage that have been particularly successful. All of these programs are organized by the Director of the Hermitage, Professor Mikhail Piotrovsky, and are quite similar to the broadcasts created by Academician Boris Piotrovsky, who is Mikhail's father. These programs were first broadcast through the Soviet Union's 'First' channel, airing at the height of the museum's boom. During this time, this channel recorded more than three million visitors every year, mostly from the Soviet Union. Another program created by the Hermitage was called The Treasures of St. Petersburg, and was broadcast on the St. Petersburg regional television. This program gave insight into what exhibitions were being displayed at the Hermitage.

 

Treasures of St Petersburg & The Hermitage, (2003) a three-part documentary series for Channel 5 in the UK, directed by Graham Addicott and produced by Pille Runk.

 

Hermitage Revealed (2014) is a BBC documentary from Margy Kinmonth. The film tells the story of its journey from imperial palace to state museum, investigating remarkable tales of dedication, devotion, ownership and ultimate sacrifice, showing how the collection came about, how it survived tumultuous revolutionary times and what makes the Hermitage unique today.

 

Literature

To the Hermitage, a 2000 novel by Malcolm Bradbury, retells the story of Diderot's journey to Russia to meet Catherine the Great in her Hermitage.

Petersburg, a 1913 novel by Andrey Bely, features the Winter Canal near the palace as one of its central locations, but never names the Winter Palace directly.

Ghostwritten, by David Mitchell, features as one of its protagonists a woman who works for an art counterfeiting ring whilst masquerading as a docent in a gallery room on the upper floor of the Large Hermitage.

The Madonnas of Leningrad, a novel by Debra Dean, features the Hermitage during World War II.

Sancar Seckiner's 2017 book Thilda's House (Thilda'nın Evi) includes a chapter highlighting the writer's experience at the Hermitage Museum by indicating several masterworks of the 15th–19th centuries. ISBN 978-605-4160-88-4

Games

The Hermitage appears in the video games Civilization IV, Civilization V and Civilization VI as a wonder of the world.[46]

The Hermitage appears in the first mission of the Soviet campaign in the video game Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3; it is under attack from forces of the Empire of the Rising Sun.

Check our accessible text here.

 

The surface of the Moon is quite dark. The colour of the lunar landscape is mostly charcoal-grey. The Moon reflects the light of the Sun.

 

Seen from Earth, the atmosphere scatters certain wavelengths of light. When the Moon is close to the horizon, it often looks reddish. As it goes higher in the sky and is less obscured by the atmosphere, the Moon appears more yellow.

 

Image description: Paint brush with dark grey emulsion over Moon.

 

Credits: ESA

La 447-024 amb la 447-040 passant sense parar per l'estació de Vacarisses amb un R4 de Manresa a Martorell. L'estació ha estat remodelada recentment, recreixent les andanes en una longitud de 200 metres amb un nou pas superior amb ascensors, que encara no funcionen i per això es manté temporalment el pas a nivell entre vies.

 

La 447-024 con la 447-040 pasando sin parar por la estación de Vacarisses con un R4 de Manresa a Martorell. La estación ha sido remodelada recientemente, recreciendo los andenes en una longitud de 200 metros con un nuevo paso superior con ascensores, que aún no funcionan y por eso se mantiene temporalmente el paso a nivel entre vías.

 

The 447-024 and the 447-040 of renfe with a non stop train at Vacarisses station with a R4 line service from Manresa to Martorell. The station has been refubrished recently.

nicolas-hoizey.photo/galleries/travels/europe/greece/cret...

 

The charming white village of Loutro, in Crete, is isolated at the foot of the mountains around a small cove.

 

Accessible only by boat or on foot, its white houses contrast with the breathtaking scenery.

 

Loutro is well known to hikers because it is one of the stops on the way back from Agia Roumeli, the finish point of the famous Samaria Gorge hike, to the port of Chora Sfakion, to rejoin the road network.

Lately it seems to have become very easy for people to take aerial images of pretty much everything. The availability of financially accessible drones with stabilization equipped with cameras capable of decent image quality has caused a huge boom in aerial photography. You just drive or walk to wherever you desire to take your pictures, release the drone. Plenty time to establish a composition, if a cloud takes your light away you can simply wait for it to go again. You can take multiple images of the same place from different angles and different altitudes. You see everything on your screen right where you're stood. There is a lot of positives about this type of aerial imaging, including time management. Just go pretty much anywhere when it suits you, stay for as long as you like, wait for the right conditions. Awesome.

As charming as it all sounds, there is one thing that's missing. To me personally, at least. And that is the experience of being up there yourself, seeing with your own eyes all the opportunities for shots you would like to take. Then that bit of adrenalin when you see it and try to set up a composition knowing that in a few seconds the scene ends up behind you with no chance of returning. You race to check, respectively quickly adjust the settings on your camera before you press the shutter. And just as you have captured what you wanted and you take your eye off the viewfinder, another potential for another photograph is right there and you through it all again. And finally, the plane lands and you go home with not just the images in your camera - you go home with the experience. You were up there, you saw all the bays and shapes of various places. You saw the shallow bays of Sanday and the many legs of Stronsay's coastline. And in your head, you forever have the scenery imprinted in your memory.

Below are the picture from the evening flight to North Ronaldsay and back, timed just for sunset.

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Image description: Apollo landing sites on the Moon.

 

Twelve people walked on the Moon between 1969 and 1972.

 

They left scientific experiments on the surface and came back to Earth with nearly 400 kg of lunar rocks and soil.

 

- Apollo 11. 21 July 1969. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins.

- Apollo 12. 19 November 1969. Charles Conrad, Alan Bean, Richard Gordon.

- Apollo 13. 11 April 1970. James Lovell, John Swigert, Fred Haise.

- Apollo 14. 5 February 1971. Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell, Stuart Roosa.

- Apollo 15. 31 July 1971. David Scott, James Irwin, Alfred Worden.

- Apollo 16. 21 April 1972. John Young, Charles Duke, Thomas Mattingly.

- Apollo 17. 11 December 1972. Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt, Ronald Evans.

 

The European Space Agency is looking with international partners to bring back more rocks from the Moon using robots.

 

#ForwardToTheMoon

 

Credits: ESA

Baltimore wandering

Resonance tension

Expanded position

Beyond feeling

Se dice que los objetos y espacios deben ser diseñados de manera que puedan ser utilizados, sin modificación alguna, por el mayor número posible de personas.

 

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