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This vintage photo depicts the Panting Wolf Post Dedicated at the last potlatch held on Japonski Island near Sitka on December 23, 1904. The hosts of the potlatch, the Kaagwaantaan clan, affirmed their social status by dedicating five monumental wooden carvings. The Panting Wolf house post was raised up by pulleys and attached to the front of Jacob Yarkon's (Xeitxutch) World house.

 

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Potlatches

 

Potlatches are among the most distinctive cultural expressions of the Native American peoples of the Northwest Pacific Coasts of the United States and Canada.

 

Practiced by communities as far north as the Ingalik of Central Alaska and as far south as the Makah of Washington State, they are perhaps best known among the Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Nootka, Salish, and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples.

 

Potlatches are extravagant feasts where goods are given away or sometimes destroyed to enhance social prestige. The basic principle underlying the potlatch is reciprocity and balance as the host clan regales the clans from the opposite moiety with songs, dances, speeches, food, and gifts. Traditionally, they take place in very specific cultural contexts such as a memorial for a deceased relative, the rebuilding of a clan house, or the dedication of a totem pole.

 

Today, potlatches are also held for other reasons such as marking important anniversaries, graduations, and personal accomplishments. Among the Tlingit, however, the memorial potlatch (koo.éex’) remains the principal one.

 

As Sergei Kan points out, they are not just about representing the social order; they also constitute key cultural values and principles of honor and mutual support. By hosting elaborate potlatches, individuals and clans maintain and gain status and recogni-tion within the community. The potlatch is thus a complex and multi-layered communication system where participants express their relationships among themselves, with their ancestors, and with their future generations.

 

Although there is variation across communities, memorial potlatches are structured according to a standard protocol. They generally begin with the hosts welcoming the guests, and they quickly move into the mourning period where the hosts sing mourning songs.

 

To alleviate their hosts’ grief, the guest clans immediately respond by singing songs, holding up their clan at.óow, and making consolation speeches. The potlatch then shifts to a more celebra-tory and joyous mood with dancing, the distribution of individual “fire dishes” of food for the ancestors,and the serving of a traditional meal.

 

At this time, the hosts distribute food and small gifts and recognize individual guests with gifts of fruit baskets. Throughout this period the guests and family members give small amounts of money to members of the host clan with whom they have a special relationship. The hosts gather this money and announce each gift, and they then give new clan names to newborn children and individuals being adopted.

 

Near the end of the potlatch, the hosts publicly recognize everyone who helped and supported them in their time of grief with a gift of money and sometimes a special gift such as a blanket. After all the money and gifts have been distributed, the guests generally perform a closing dance to thank the hosts.

 

At the turn of the 20th century, the Tlingit people experienced profound social changes. U.S. citizenship, social justice, and Christianity were topics of popular debate. Some clan chiefs and housemasters became convinced that the time had come for their people to abandon their old traditions and customs.

 

In Sitka, the territorial capital of Alaska, 80 Christian Indians, many of them Presbyterians, formed an organization called the “New Covenant League” that eventually became the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Alaska Native Sisterhood. The league was committed to ending such customs as plural marriages, inter-clan indemnity claims, uncle-nephew inheritance laws, and potlatching.

 

In 1902, several members approached Governor John G. Brady, a former Presbyterian missionary, and requested that he issue a proclamation that would “command all natives to changed and that if they did not they should be punished.”

 

Like other missionaries and government officials, Governor Brady considered the potlatch a practice that perpetuated prejudice, superstition, clan rivalry, and retarded progress.

 

He was committed to breaking up the offensive clan system and replacing it with the independent family unit, but he was not eager to impose legal sanctions.

 

Therefore, in a dramatic gesture, Brady decided to endorse one “last potlatch” at Sitka where Tlingit people from across southeast Alaska could gather and discuss their future. He appealed to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Ethan Allen Hitchcock, to secure the necessary funds with the justification that the event would “result in a lasting good to the people them-selves and would save the United States many thou-sands of dollars in the way of criminal prosecution.”

 

One of the most prominent members of the New Covenant League was James Jackson (Anaaxoots), the head of the Kaagwaantaan clan. Other likely members were Augustus Bean (K’alyaan Eesh), Paddy Parker (Yaanaxnahoo), and Jacob Yarkon (Xeitxut’ch)—all high-ranking members of the Sitka Kaagwaantaan clan and part of the new vanguard of wealthy, educated Tlingit, who had been Brady’s allies and had served on the Indian Police Force.

 

Obligated to host a major potlatch, but not wanting to jeopardize their good relations with Brady, they endorsed his last potlatch idea and agreed to serve as hosts.

 

The “last potlatch” was held on December 23, 1904, and lasted four weeks. It officially began with the grand arrival at Japonski Island (just south of Sitka) of the Raven side guests in traditional dugout canoes flying American flags.

 

The Raven clans included the Deisheetaan of Angoon, the T’akdeintaan of Huna, and the Gaanaxteidí of Klukwan. The potlatch consisted of consecutive days of alternating feasts and dancing.

 

The Kaagwaantaan clan hosts honored their guests with great quantities of food. According to the Daily Alaskan (Dec. 29, 1904),“Every morning and afternoon there is a great feast and only one article is served …. At the feasts the man or woman who can eat the most is regarded as the special hero of the occasion and he receives an extra allowance of the good things it is within the power of the hosts to bestow.”

 

The Kaagwaantaan clan hosts affirmed their social status by dedicating five monumental wooden carvings. They dedicated the Multiplying Wolf screen and two house posts carved by Silver Jim (Kichxook) and installed them in James Jackson’s Wolf house. They installed two other Wolf posts carved by Rudolf Walton in Augustus Bean’s Eagle house. The Panting Wolf house post was raised up by pulleys and attached to the front of Jacob Yarkon’s World house.

 

They publicly validated all these objects with proper Tlingit protocol. For example, the Daily Alaskan (Jan. 13, 1905) reported that Chilkoot Jack received $270 in cash, 100 blankets, 10 large boxes of provi-sions, and 7 coal oil cans filled with candlefish oil.

 

Governor Brady had hoped that his “last potlatch” would help end clan factionalism and further his assimilationist agenda. Ironically, it seems to have had the opposite effect.

 

The Daily Alaskan (Dec. 29, 1904) observed that “one of the results of the potlatch has been to create enthusiasm among those Indians who still profess faith in the beliefs, superstitions, traditions and customs of the natives, as opposed to those who have forsaken them for the Christian faith.”

 

Many of the traditionalists used the potlatch to educate the younger generation: “the old Indians who never took kindly to the white man’s religion are happy, and they are using the opportunity to impress upon the younger members of the tribe what they regard as the necessity of maintaining their old customs and traditions.”

 

Although they were sympathetic to some of Brady’s goals, it is clear that the Kaagwaantaan clan leaders did not support the end of potlatching.

 

According to anthropologist Sergei Kan, unpublished records in Sitka’s Presbyterian archives indicate, for instance, that James Jackson continued to practice “the old customs” after 1904.

 

Indeed, the Tlingit people never fully abandoned potlatching. Many communities continued the practice in secret or masked it by combining it with American holidays and social events. These covert strategies seem to have placated Governor Brady since potlatching was never outlawed, as it was in Canada. Today memorial potlatching is enjoying a strong resurgence, and the CCTHITA maintains a calendar of these events.

www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-centennial-potlatch/

(Notes from University of Pennsylvania, Expedition Magazine Vol 47 No 2 Summer 2005)

  

Flying Buttress over Redoubt Glacier Camp.

What a fun project! I loved today's brief, an opportunity to practice being creative.

 

I used a previous photo, an overlay filter of nebula, and canva to write the cheeky affirmation.

This turned out to be one of the most joyous, life affirming places that we've visited on our travels. The sparkling, late summer sunshine, the arresting modern architecture set amid so much history, the superb collection of early 20th century paintings on the 5th floor, and the throng of tourists and Parisians enjoying themselves on a Saturday combined to make this a most memorable afternoon.

 

www.centrepompidou.fr/en

 

"Centre Georges Pompidou commonly shortened to Centre Pompidou; also known as the Pompidou Centre in English) is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles, rue Montorgueil and the Marais. The Place Georges Pompidou in front of the museum is noted for the presence of street performers, such as mimes and jugglers. In the spring, miniature carnivals are installed temporarily into the place in front with a wide variety of attractions: bands, caricature and sketch artists, tables set up for evening dining, and even skateboarding competitions.

 

The nearby Stravinsky Fountain (also called the Fontaine des automates), on Place Stravinsky, features sixteen whimsical moving and water-spraying sculptures by Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint-Phalle, which represent themes and works by composer Igor Stravinsky. The black-painted mechanical sculptures are by Tinguely, the colored works by de Saint-Phalle. The fountain opened in 1983.

 

It houses the Bibliothèque publique d'information (Public Information Library), a vast public library, the Musée National d'Art Moderne, which is the largest museum for modern art in Europe, and IRCAM, a centre for music and acoustic research. Because of its location, the Centre is known locally as Beaubourg. It is named after Georges Pompidou, the President of France from 1969 to 1974 who commissioned the building, and was officially opened on 31 January 1977 by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.

 

The sculpture, Horizontal by Alexander Calder, a free-standing mobile that is twenty-five feet high, was placed in 2012 in front of the Centre Pompidou.

 

The Centre was designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano; British architect Richard Rogers; and Italian architect Gianfranco Franchini, assisted by Ove Arup & Partners.The project was awarded to this team in an architectural design competition, whose results were announced in 1971. It was the first time in France that international architects were allowed to participate. World-renowned architects Oscar Niemeyer, Jean Prouvé and Philip Johnson made up the jury which would select one design out of the 681 entries.

 

National Geographic described the reaction to the design as "love at second sight." An article in Le Figaro declared "Paris has its own monster, just like the one in Loch Ness." But two decades later, while reporting on Rogers' winning the Pritzker Prize in 2007, The New York Times noted that the design of the Centre "turned the architecture world upside down" and that "Mr. Rogers earned a reputation as a high-tech iconoclast with the completion of the 1977 Pompidou Centre, with its exposed skeleton of brightly coloured tubes for mechanical systems. The Pritzker jury said the Pompidou "revolutionized museums, transforming what had once been elite monuments into popular places of social and cultural exchange, woven into the heart of the city.".

 

Initially, all of the functional structural elements of the building were colour-coded: green pipes are plumbing, blue ducts are for climate control, electrical wires are encased in yellow, and circulation elements and devices for safety (e.g., fire extinguishers) are red."

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_Georges_Pompidou

 

...

Exemple d'immeuble de rapport cossu sis en face de la synagogue susmentionnée. Il fut construit en 1905 par Bedřich Bendelmayer et Karel Manda dans un style Sécession avec des touches d'historisme (un mix de néo-baroque / néo-renaissance selon moi). Il dépasse largement les standings de l'époque et proposait le confort maximal de l'époque avec notamment un ascenseur installé peu de temps après la construction. Les tourelles d'angles donnent une allure castral très mémorable et affirme une place proéminente dans ce "nouveau" quartier réinventé et privilégié (pour changé).

 

Sources : Wikipédia (CZ) && Monuments historiques (CZ)

Italien / Toskana - Volterra

 

Volterra (Italian pronunciation: [volˈtɛrra]; Latin: Volaterrae) is a walled mountaintop town in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its history dates from before the 8th century BC and it has substantial structures from the Etruscan, Roman, and Medieval periods.

 

History

 

Volterra, known to the ancient Etruscans as Velathri or Vlathri and to the Romans as Volaterrae, is a town and comune in the Tuscany region of Italy. The town was a Bronze Age settlement of the Proto-Villanovan culture, and an important Etruscan center (Velàthre, Velathri or Felathri in Etruscan, Volaterrae in Latin language), one of the "twelve cities" of the Etruscan League.

 

The site is believed to have been continuously inhabited as a city since at least the end of the 8th century BC. It became a municipium allied to Rome at the end of the 3rd century BC. The city was a bishop's residence in the 5th century, and its episcopal power was affirmed during the 12th century. With the decline of the episcopate and the discovery of local alum deposits, Volterra became a place of interest of the Republic of Florence, whose forces conquered Volterra. Florentine rule was not always popular, and opposition occasionally broke into rebellion. These rebellions were put down by Florence.

 

When the Republic of Florence fell in 1530, Volterra came under the control of the Medici family and later followed the history of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.

 

Culture

 

The main events that take place during the year in Volterra are

 

Volterra gusto

Volterra arte

Volterra teatro

 

Main sights

 

Roman Theatre of Volterra, 1st century BC, excavated in the 1950s

 

the Roman amphitheatre was discovered in 2015 and has been excavated over the succeeding years

 

Piazza dei Priori, the main square, a fine example of medieval Tuscan town squares

 

Palazzo dei Priori, the town hall located on Piazza dei Priori, construction begun in 1208 and finished in 1257

 

Pinacoteca e museo civico di Volterra (Art Gallery) in Palazzo Minucci-Solaini. Founded in 1905, the gallery consists mostly of works by Tuscan artists from 14th to 17th centuries. Includes a Deposition by Rosso Fiorentino.

 

Etruscan Acropolis and Roman Cistern. The acropolis on the citadel dates to the 8th century B.C., while the impressive cistern is from the 1st century B.C.

 

Volterra Cathedral. It was enlarged in the 13th century after an earthquake. It houses a ciborium and some angels by Mino da Fiesole, a notable wood Deposition (1228), a masterwork of Romanesque sculpture and the Sacrament Chapel, with paintings by Santi di Tito, Giovanni Balducci and Agostino Veracini. In the center of the vault are fragments of an Eternal Father by Niccolò Circignani. Also noteworthy is the Addolorata Chapel, with a terracotta group attributed to Andrea della Robbia and a fresco of Riding Magi by Benozzo Gozzoli. In the nearby chapel, dedicated to the Most Holy Name of Jesus, is a table with Christ's monogram, allegedly painted by Bernardino of Siena. The rectangular bell tower is from 1493.

 

Volterra Baptistery of San Giovanni, built in the second half of the 13th century.

 

Fortezza Medicea (Medicean Fortress), built in the 1470s, now a prison housing the noted restaurant, Fortezza Medicea restaurant.

 

Guarnacci Etruscan Museum, with thousands of funeral urns dating back to the Hellenistic and Archaic periods. Main attractions are the bronze statuette "Ombra della sera" (lit. '"Shadow of the Night"'), and the sculpted effigy, "Urna degli Sposi" (lit. '"Urn of the Spouses"') of an Etruscan couple in terra cotta.

 

The Etruscan Walls of Volterra, including the well-preserved Walls of Volterra (3rd-2nd centuries BC), and Porta Diana gates.

 

The Medici Villa di Spedaletto, outside the city, in direction of Lajatico

 

There are excavations of Etruscan tombs in the Valle Bona area.

 

Volterra Psychiatric Hospital, Founded in 1888 until 1978, it was reopened for public and will be once more used for psychiatric purposes.

 

In popular culture

 

Volterra features in Horatius, a poem by Lord Macaulay.

 

Linda Proud's A Tabernacle for the Sun (2005), the first volume of The Botticelli Trilogy, begins with the sack of Volterra in 1472. Volterra is the ancestral home of the Maffei family and the events of 1472 lead directly to the Pazzi Conspiracy of 1478. The protagonist of the novel is Tommaso de' Maffei, half brother of one of the conspirators.

 

Volterra is an important location in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. In the books, Volterra is home to the Volturi, a clan of rich, regal, powerful ancient vampires, who essentially act as the rulers of the world's vampire population. (However, the relevant scenes from the movie were shot in Montepulciano.)

 

Volterra is the site of Stendhal's famously disastrous encounter in 1819 with his beloved Countess Mathilde Dembowska: she recognised him there, despite his disguise of new clothes and green glasses, and was furious. This is the central incident in his book On Love

 

Volterra is mentioned repeatedly in British author Dudley Pope's Captain Nicholas Ramage historical nautical series. Gianna, the Marchesa of Volterra and the fictional ruler of the area, features in the first twelve books of the eighteen-book series. The books chart the progress and career of Ramage during the Napoleonic wars of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, providing readers with well-scripted articulate details of life aboard sailing vessels and conditions at sea of that time.

 

Volterra is the site where the novel Chimaira by the Italian author Valerio Massimo Manfredi takes place.

 

Valerio Massimo Manfredi's The Ancient Curse is also set in Volterra, where a statue called 'The Shade of Twilight' is stolen from the Volterra museum.

 

Volterra is featured in Jhumpa Lahiri's 2008 collection of short stories Unaccustomed Earth. It is where Hema and Kaushik, the protagonists of the final short story "Going Ashore," travel before they part.

 

Volterra is featured in Luchino Visconti's 1965 film Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa, released as Sandra (Of a Thousand Delights) in the United States and as Of These Thousand Pleasures in the UK.

 

Volterra's scenery is used for Central City in the 2017 film Fullmetal Alchemist (film) directed by Fumihiko Sori.

 

The 2016 video game The Town of Light is set in a fictionalized version of the notorious Volterra Psychiatric Hospital.

 

"Volaterrae" is the name given by Dan and Una to their secret place in Far Wood in Rudyard Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill. They named it from the verse in Lord Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome:

 

From lordly Volaterrae,

Where scowls the far-famed hold

Piled by the hands of giants

For Godlike Kings of old.

 

Volterra and its relationship with Medici Florence features in the 2018 second season of Medici: Masters of Florence.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Volterra, lateinisch Volaterrae, ist eine italienische Stadt mit 9980 Einwohnern (Stand 31. Dezember 2019) in der Provinz Pisa in der Region Toskana.

 

Geographie

 

Volterra liegt etwa 50 Kilometer südlich von Pisa und 30 Kilometer vom Mittelmeer entfernt. Die Stadt gilt mit ihrem spektakulären landschaftlichen Umfeld als eine der schönsten in der Toskana.

 

Der Kern der heutigen Stadt liegt abgeschieden auf einem 550 m hohen Bergrücken über dem Tal der Cecina (Val di Cecina) inmitten einer kargen, zerfurchten Hügellandschaft. Die Felsabbrüche und Geröllhalden sind das Produkt jahrhundertelanger Erosion. Das Gebiet Le Balze im Nordwesten Volterras vermittelt einen beispielhaften Eindruck dieses Phänomens.

 

Die Stadt wird beherrscht von einer heute als Staatsgefängnis benutzten Festung der Medici, der Fortezza Medicea. Volterra ist ein Zentrum der Alabasterverarbeitung.

 

Zu den Ortsteilen (Frazioni) zählen Mazzolla, Montemiccioli, Saline di Volterra und Villamagna.

 

Die Nachbargemeinden sind Casole d’Elsa (SI), Colle di Val d’Elsa (SI), Gambassi Terme (FI), Lajatico, Montaione (FI), Montecatini Val di Cecina, Peccioli, Pomarance und San Gimignano (SI).

 

Geschichte

 

Volterra kann auf eine lange Geschichte zurückblicken. Bereits im 4. Jahrhundert v. Chr. entstand der Ort aus der Verbindung mehrerer kleiner etruskischer Ansiedlungen, deren Bestand bis ins 7. Jahrhundert v. Chr. zurückverfolgt werden kann. Zu dieser Zeit bauten die Etrusker eine sieben Kilometer lange Ringmauer und nannten die nunmehr vereinigte Stadt Velathri.

 

Volterra war eine der ältesten und größten der zwölf Bundesstädte Etruriens. Später war es eine römische Stadt mit den Rechten eines Municipiums. Ihre hohe Lage machte sie zu einer starken Festung, die Sulla im ersten Bürgerkrieg erst nach zweijähriger Belagerung 79 v. Chr. einnehmen konnte.

 

Im 12. und 13. Jahrhundert war Volterra eine Republik; im 14. Jahrhundert fiel es an Florenz.

 

Sehenswürdigkeiten

 

Architektonische und künstlerische Zeugnisse der verschiedenen Epochen zeugen von der wechselvollen Existenz und Bedeutung der Stadt. Einige der etruskischen Nekropolen und mittelalterlichen Kirchenmauern sind jedoch in der Vergangenheit der Erosion zum Opfer gefallen.

 

Am Hauptplatz der Stadt, der Piazza dei Priori, steht der älteste erhaltene Kommunalpalast der Toskana, der Palazzo dei Priori.

 

Von der etruskischen Stadtmauer ist als einziges Tor die Porta all’Arco gut erhalten. Es stammt aus dem 4. Jahrhundert v. Chr. Im äußeren Bogen sind drei verwitterte Köpfe zu erkennen, deren Bedeutung aber umstritten ist.

 

Außerhalb der mittelalterlichen Porta Fiorentina liegt das Teatro Romano, erbaut zur Zeit des Kaisers Augustus. Von der Zuschauertribüne für etwa 2000 Personen blickt man auf die teilweise rekonstruierte Bühnenwand. Die unterhalb des Theaters liegenden Thermenanlagen stammen aus späterer Zeit.

 

Andere historische öffentliche Gebäude sind der Dom Santa Maria Assunta aus dem frühen 12. Jahrhundert mit einer Kassettendecke und mit Granit vortäuschender Stuckverkleidung der Säulen sowie etlichen künstlerisch hochrangigen Ausstattungsstücken, das oktogonale Baptisterium mit einem Taufbecken von Andrea Sansovino, der auf Privatpaläste und Wohntürme aus dem 12. und 13. Jahrhundert zurückgehende Palazzo Pretorio sowie der als Gefängnis dienende Torre del Porcellino. Schließlich gehört der Palazzo Incontri-Viti zu den prachtvollsten Gebäuden Volterras.

 

Unter den Kirchen sind zu nennen: die spätromanische S. Michele sowie die Kirchen von S. Francesco, S. Lino und S. Girolamo mit Bildern und Skulpturen aus der Schule von Florenz.

 

Museen

 

Von besonderer Bedeutung ist das archäologische Museo Etrusco Guarnacci im Palazzo Desideri Tangassi. Mario Guarnacci (1701–1785), ein vielseitig interessierter Gelehrter, widmete seine Studien der antiken Geschichte. Dabei konnte er durch Ankäufe und Ausgrabungen eine ansehnliche Menge Belegmaterial über die etruskische Zivilisation sammeln.

 

Ein bedeutender Teil der Sammlung umfasst Ascheurnen sowie Stücke aus Bronze und Keramik. Die Urnen bestehen aus Tuffstein, Alabaster und Tonerde. Eine der bekanntesten ganz Etruriens ist die Urna degli Sposi (dt. Urne der Brautleute), auf deren Deckel ein Paar beim Festmahl liegend dargestellt ist.

 

Das bedeutendste Stück der Sammlung ist jedoch die Bronzefigur Ombra della sera (dt. Abendschatten). Es ist mit der Zeit zu einer „Ikone“ für das Museum und die Stadt Volterra geworden. Seine Berühmtheit verdankt es hauptsächlich seiner einzigartigen Form, die den italienischen Dichter Gabriele D’Annunzio an den Schatten einer menschlichen Figur in der Abendsonne erinnert haben soll. Es ist ein Meisterwerk etruskischer Bronzegießer aus der hellenistischen Periode. Ein weiteres bedeutendes Exponat ist die Stele des Avile Tite aus dem 6. Jahrhundert v. Chr.

 

Weitere Ausstellungsstücke sind verschiedene Mosaikböden aus der römischen Kaiserzeit, die aus Volterra und Segalari stammen. Hinzu kommt eine Münzsammlung mit seltenen etruskischen Münzen aus Gold, Silber und Bronze. Schließlich sind noch mit Edelsteinen verzierte etruskische und römische Schmuckstücke zu sehen.

 

Wichtig ist die Sammlung der seit 1982 im Minucci-Solaini-Palast untergebrachten „Pinacoteca“ mit der berühmten Kreuzesabnahme (1521), dem Meisterwerk des Malers Rosso Fiorentino, und den bedeutendsten Arbeiten von Taddeo di Bartolo, Domenico Ghirlandaio und Luca Signorelli, welche die künstlerischen Einflüsse aus Pisa, Florenz und Siena anschaulich machen.

 

Im April 2003 wurde im Turmhaus des Palazzo Minucci-Solaini das Ecomuseo dell’Alabastro eröffnet, in dem die Geschichte der Gewinnung und der Verarbeitung von Alabaster seit der Antike bis zur Gegenwart dargestellt ist.

 

Volterra in der Literatur

 

Volterra ist eine wichtige Stadt in Stephenie Meyers „Biss“-Serie. Dort ist Volterra die Heimatstadt der Volturi, einer königlichen Vampirfamilie.

 

Volterra spielt auch in der von Dudley Pope geschriebenen Romanreihe um den britischen Marineoffizier Nicolas Ramage eine Rolle. Im ersten Band rettet er während der Napoleonischen Kriege die Marchesa von Volterra vor den französischen Besatzungstruppen. Er verliebt sich in sie, und ihre Herrschaft über Volterra spielt in den weiteren Bänden eine wichtige Rolle. Auch ihr Neffe, Paolo Orsini, nächster in der Erbreihenfolge der Regentschaft, kommt in den meisten Romanen vor, da er als Fähnrich unter Ramages Kommando segelt.

 

(Wikipedia)

MuCEM + Fort Saint-Jean, Marseille, France - 2013 -Architects: Rudy Ricciotti and C+T architecture

Views, sea, sun, a mineral quality, which all must be orchestrated by a program that will become federal and cognitive. First of all a perfect square of 72 m per side, it is a classic plan, Latin, under the control of Pythagoras. Within this square, another of 52 m per side, comprising the exhibition and conference halls identified as the heart of the museum.

Around, above and below are the service areas. But between these areas and the heart, openings entirely bypass the central square and form interconnected spaces. More interested by the views of the fort, the sea or the port, the culturally overwhelmed visitor will choose this route. Along two interlacing ramps, he will then plunge into the imaginary of the tower of Babel or of a ziggurat in order to climb up to the rooftop and on to Fort Saint- Jean. This peripheral loop will be a free breathe, enveloped by the smells of the sea from the proximity to the moats, a pause to dispel any lingering doubts about the use of the history of our civilizations. The MuCEM will be a vertical Casbah.

The tectonic choice of an exceptional concrete coming from the latest research by French industry, reducing the dimensions to little more than skin and bones, will affirm a mineral script under the high ramparts of Fort Saint-Jean. This sole material in the colour of dust, matt, crushed by the light, distant from the brilliance and technological consumerism, will commend the dense and the delicate. The MuCEM sees itself evanescent in a landscape of stone and Orientalist through its fanning shadows.

 

This snowy egret reminds me of US Senator, Al Franken who used to play his alter ego in SNL named Stuart Smalley. He would look into the mirror and say something positive to himself in order to raise his self-esteem. I remember in one of the episodes, Hall of Fame basketball player Michael Jordon had joined him in the show. That was really a classic. Check this out: www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/daily-affirmation/17wr4z7ik

 

#PositiveThinking New Complimentary #Positivity Sets ☀️ jmcveyc.ht/PositivitySets

📚 #Affirmations #Journals #Diary

Photo taken at 76 Minds Studios - October 2019

 

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The former St. James of Jerusalem Anglican Church (1864) in Jellyby, Ontario, Canada.

 

It was erected in 1864 and ceased operating as a church in 2013. It was recently restored by owner Ian Cunningham, and hosts the Center for Personal Affirmation

 

In 1864, St. James Anglican Church was opened to worshippers in Jellyby. A pioneer Anglican missionary, Rev. John Stanhage, who was then in charge of mission development in the northern sections of Augusta and Elizabethtown became the first minister of this new church.

 

The stain glass window came from England and was a gift from Rev. John Stanhage. The hands on the painted clock above the doorway read 10:29, people are not sure if this is in reference to a bible verse, or the time that services started?

I promised myself, that this year, regardless of my health, I was at least going to plant a few tomato plants! WooHoo thank You, Jesus.

 

This was life affirming for me as I stood on my driveway and ate one of my harvest right off the vine!

I was surprised I could see as far as I could when I got to the overlook on Monte Sano this morning. The clouds were streaming overhead and it seem like they were close — just barely higher than the mountain. But you can see the lights in the valley, even if the far ridges were obscured.

 

By the way, this was at 4:58AM — over 30 minutes before sunrise. I’m fascinated by the number of people that will get to the overlook 5 minutes before the Sun rises. It is life affirming to see the Sun break the horizon but the prettier colors are almost always well before sunrise.

 

Nikon D7200 — Nikon 18-300mm F6.3 ED VR

38mm

F8@2 seconds

Cropped (I nicked a tree limb in the corner)

 

(DOL_6222)

©Don Brown 2021

© Andy Marfia 2013 All Rights Reserved

“For we affirm that the Divine nature is beyond doubt impassible, and that God cannot at all be brought down from his exaltation, nor toil in anything which he wishes to effect. But we say that the Lord Jesus Christ is very God and very man, one person in two natures, and two natures in one person. When, therefore, we speak of God as enduring any humiliation or infirmity, we do not refer to the majesty of that nature, which cannot suffer; but to the feebleness of the human constitution which he assumed. And so there remains no ground of objection against our faith. For in this way we intend no debasement of the Divine nature, but we teach that one person is both Divine and human. In the incarnation of God there is no lowering of the Deity; but the nature of man we believe to be exalted.”

― Anselm of Canterbury, in 'Cur Deus Homo'.

 

Today, 21 April, is the feast of St Anselm, Doctor of the Church, and this statue of him is in the monastic church of San Anselmo in Rome.

Ilford SXF 200 w/ Nikon FE

Affirmation.

Kichijoji, Tokyo.

Nikon D200 + AF-S DX NIKKOR 35/1.8 G

...wishing us all a weekend filled with Joy, Love & positive affirmations ~

{a nice intro to it with this treasury being featured as we speak - 19:19 p.m German time - on the FP :)}

 

~ blog ~ shop ~ facebook ~ twitter ~ pinterest ~

This is my neice, Sumehra, who you might remember from here .

 

The reason this photograph is really, really special to me is because this was the first time she's been around me and not bawled her eyes out. Turns out she's just not much of a people person, and whenever I have met her this year we've been in company of the loud and generally suffocating type, which would have the poor darling crying like crazy, and it's not because she thinks I'm some kind of horrible child-eating troll or something of the sort.

 

So yesterday, we got acquainted, and she calls me "Cheese Mama" (mama being maternal uncle thingummy in Bengali) because I happened to be carrying my camera, and there was a beautiful window with frosted glass through which the gentle morning sunshine came pouring in softer than you could imagine.

 

There are very few feelings in the world that can compare to being trusted by a child you love.

 

Like I said before, she's a complete angel.

This was made for a Challenge on the Three Muses site. My beloved grandfather taught me lots of old songs and he often sang 'Into each life a little rain must fall'. I just added the rainbow quote as well. He was a great influence on my life and I think of him every day! xxx

If you're feeing down, you can go to this restaurant in the Rino district to be consoled.

 

Denver, CO

 

My Neon Collection

 

Music : Please Right Click and select "Open link in new tab"

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tRrXX8msQk

 

Affirmation - Van Morrison

 

Dinga-dinga-dinga-dinga-dinga-dinga-ding-ding-ding-ding

Ringa-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ah

Ringa-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ah

Ringa-dinga-dinglaha

Duba-doo-da-da-da

Duba-doo-da-ah-ah-ahhh

Tout comme la rose est l'emblème de l'Angleterre, le coq est aujourd'hui l'un des symboles les plus populaires de ceux représentant la France.

 

L'exclamation "cocorico!", imitant le cri de l'animal, est une affirmation (dans la majorité des cas ironiques) du patriotisme français et de sa vigilance contre toute forme d'agression.

 

Tous unis contre l'obscurantisme !!!

 

Story of Balance_Affirmation versus Destruction.jpg

Woman with arms outstretched feels the wind in her hair and greets the new day with positive thoughts and embraces the morning and just feels good

Luna investigates the 'Daily Affirmation Cards' as best friends Naru and Usagi decide what to have for breakfast, post sleepover.

This turned out to be one of the most joyous, life affirming places that we've visited on our travels. The sparkling, late summer sunshine, the arresting modern architecture set amid so much history, the superb collection of early 20th century paintings on the 5th floor, and the throng of tourists and Parisians enjoying themselves on a Saturday combined to make this a most memorable afternoon.

 

www.centrepompidou.fr/en

 

"Centre Georges Pompidou commonly shortened to Centre Pompidou; also known as the Pompidou Centre in English) is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles, rue Montorgueil and the Marais. The Place Georges Pompidou in front of the museum is noted for the presence of street performers, such as mimes and jugglers. In the spring, miniature carnivals are installed temporarily into the place in front with a wide variety of attractions: bands, caricature and sketch artists, tables set up for evening dining, and even skateboarding competitions.

 

The nearby Stravinsky Fountain (also called the Fontaine des automates), on Place Stravinsky, features sixteen whimsical moving and water-spraying sculptures by Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint-Phalle, which represent themes and works by composer Igor Stravinsky. The black-painted mechanical sculptures are by Tinguely, the colored works by de Saint-Phalle. The fountain opened in 1983.

 

It houses the Bibliothèque publique d'information (Public Information Library), a vast public library, the Musée National d'Art Moderne, which is the largest museum for modern art in Europe, and IRCAM, a centre for music and acoustic research. Because of its location, the Centre is known locally as Beaubourg. It is named after Georges Pompidou, the President of France from 1969 to 1974 who commissioned the building, and was officially opened on 31 January 1977 by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.

 

The sculpture, Horizontal by Alexander Calder, a free-standing mobile that is twenty-five feet high, was placed in 2012 in front of the Centre Pompidou.

 

The Centre was designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano; British architect Richard Rogers; and Italian architect Gianfranco Franchini, assisted by Ove Arup & Partners.The project was awarded to this team in an architectural design competition, whose results were announced in 1971. It was the first time in France that international architects were allowed to participate. World-renowned architects Oscar Niemeyer, Jean Prouvé and Philip Johnson made up the jury which would select one design out of the 681 entries.

 

National Geographic described the reaction to the design as "love at second sight." An article in Le Figaro declared "Paris has its own monster, just like the one in Loch Ness." But two decades later, while reporting on Rogers' winning the Pritzker Prize in 2007, The New York Times noted that the design of the Centre "turned the architecture world upside down" and that "Mr. Rogers earned a reputation as a high-tech iconoclast with the completion of the 1977 Pompidou Centre, with its exposed skeleton of brightly coloured tubes for mechanical systems. The Pritzker jury said the Pompidou "revolutionized museums, transforming what had once been elite monuments into popular places of social and cultural exchange, woven into the heart of the city.".

 

Initially, all of the functional structural elements of the building were colour-coded: green pipes are plumbing, blue ducts are for climate control, electrical wires are encased in yellow, and circulation elements and devices for safety (e.g., fire extinguishers) are red."

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_Georges_Pompidou

 

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