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Aisle between the 1st class slipper baths. The old baths were erected in 1851 and closed in 1936.
Copyright Lancashire County Library and Information Service. www.lantern.lancashire.gov.uk/
From a series of photographs taken by Hastings Library local studies team in January 2014.
Part of Hastings Library’s local studies collection.
For more information or to obtain a print, please contact East Sussex Libraries:library.enquiries@eastsussex.gov.uk
Large plunge bath and diving platform. The platform on the left also provided access to a slide. (see image below) The old baths were erected in 1851 and closed in 1936.
Copyright Lancashire County Library and Information Service. www.lantern.lancashire.gov.uk/
Mývatn Nature Baths was quite nice. It is smaller than its southern cousin, Blue Lagoon; it did not seem quite as luxurious, it didn’t have Blue Lagoon's silica mud, and it had a lot of dead midges in the water (not surprising), but it was still nice and definitely worth a visit.
My photos from the water itself aren't that great, unfortunately, as the battery on my waterproof camera died within days of my arrival in Iceland and I hadn't packed its charger, so I had to rely on the phone in its waterproof pouch. The outside gloom didn't help, either.
Large plunge bath and dressing cubicles.
The old baths were erected in 1851 and closed in 1936
Copyright Lancashire County Library and Information Service. www.lantern.lancashire.gov.uk/
Brentford Public Baths (1896) are a Grade II listed example of late Victorian architecture.... Thats what the guide book says atleast!
Bramley Baths is the only remaining Edwardian bath-house in Leeds and is Grade II listed. It first opened as a pool and public bath-house in 1904, enabling local residents to wash, swim and use the Russian Steam Baths, fashionable with the Edwardians as a healthy pastime. Originally a steel foundry, the building’s chimney can be seen from across Leeds.
In 2011 Leeds City Council, under budgetary pressures, invited expressions of interest to take over management of Bramley Baths. A group of residents and supportive local organisations worked together to write a business plan, raise funds and transfer Bramley Baths to the community. Bramley Baths became a not-for-profit, community-led, professionally-run enterprise and began a new era on 1st January 2013.
Since 2013 a professional staff team backed by many supporters and volunteers, have turned around the fortunes of this much-loved community space. In 2015, the Baths worked with Yorkshire Life Aquatic and Leeds College of Art to produce a performance underpinned by real memories of time spent there, and the relationship people have with Bramley Baths. An archive containing the memories supplied during this project is available to browse and enjoy. Dip into the Bramley Memory Aquarium to hear some wonderful memories and find out why people in West Leeds are so well connected to this building and what it represents...
Spain 2002 - Toledo - Castile-La Mancha
Santa María la Blanca (literally Saint Mary the White, originally known as the Ibn Shushan Synagogue, or commonly "The Congregational Synagogue of Toledo'") is a museum and former synagogue in Toledo, Spain. Erected in 1180,[1] it is disputably considered the oldest synagogue building in Europe still standing. It is now owned and preserved by the Catholic Church.
Its stylistic and cultural classification is unique as it was constructed under the Christian Kingdom of Castile by Islamic architects for Jewish use. It is considered a symbol of the cooperation that existed among the three cultures that populated the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages.
Contents
1 Style
2 Location
3 Design
4 Stylistic origins
5 Patron
6 History After Synagogue Life
7 Gallery
8 See also
9 Notes
Style
The synagogue is a Mudéjar construction, created by Moorish architects on Christian soil for non-Islamic purposes. But it can also be considered one of the finest example of Almohad architecture because of its construction elements and style. The plain white interior walls as well as the use of brick and of pillars instead of columns are characteristics of Almohad architecture.[2] The typology also presents nuances in its classification, because although it was constructed as a synagogue, its hypostyle room, and the lack of a women's gallery, make it closer in character to a mosque. Though it does not have a women's gallery today, it did at one time have a women's gallery according to an early 20th-century architect.[3]
The synagogue was turned into a church in 1405 or 1411,[4] but no major reforms were done for the change. It took then the name of Santa María la Blanca (Saint Mary, the White), and today it is known by this name.
Antiquity
Toledo (Latin: Toletum) is mentioned by the Roman historian Livy (ca. 59 BCE – 17 CE) as urbs parva, sed loco munita ("a small city, but fortified by location"). Roman general Marcus Fulvius Nobilior fought a battle near the city in 193 BCE against a confederation of Celtic tribes including the Vaccaei, Vettones, and Celtiberi, defeating them and capturing a king called Hilermus.[2][3] At that time, Toletum was a city of the Carpetani tribe, and part of the region of Carpetania.[4] It was incorporated into the Roman Empire as a civitas stipendiaria, that is, a tributary city of non-citizens. It later achieved the status of municipium by Flavian times.[5] With this status, city officials, even of Carpetani origin, obtained Roman citizenship for public service, and the forms of Roman law and politics were increasingly adopted.[6] At approximately this time were constructed in Toletum a Roman circus, city walls, public baths, and a municipal water supply and storage system.[7]
The Roman circus in Toledo was one of the largest in Hispania, at 423 metres (1,388 feet) long and 100 metres (330 feet) wide, with a track dimension of 408 metres (1,339 feet) long and 86 metres (282 feet) wide.[7] Chariot races were held on special holidays and were also commissioned by private citizens to celebrate career achievements. A fragmentary stone inscription records circus games paid for by a citizen of unknown name to celebrate his achieving the sevirate, a kind of priesthood conferring high status. Archaeologists have also identified portions of a special seat of the sort used by the city elites to attend circus games, called a sella curulis. The circus could hold up to 15000 spectators.[7]
During Roman times, Toledo was never a provincial capital nor a conventus iuridicus.[8] It started to gain importance in late antiquity. There are indications that large private houses (domus) within the city walls were enlarged, while several large villas were built north of the city through the third and fourth centuries.[9] Games were held in the circus into the late fourth and early fifth centuries C.E., also an indication of active city life and ongoing patronage by wealthy elites.[10] A church council was held in Toledo in the year 400 to discuss the conflict with Priscillianism.[11] A second council of Toledo was held in 527. The Visigothic king Theudis was in Toledo in 546, where he promulgated a law. This is strong though not certain evidence that Toledo was the chief residence for Theudis.[8] King Athanagild died in Toledo, probably in 568. Although Theudis and Athangild based themselves in Toledo, Toledo was not yet the capital city of the Iberian peninsula, as Theudis and Athangild's power was limited in extent, the Suevi ruling Galicia and local elites dominating Lusitania, Betica, and Cantabria.[12][13] This changed with Liuvigild (Leovigild), who brought the peninsula under his control. The Visigoths ruled from Toledo until the Moors conquered the Iberian peninsula in the early years of 8th century (711–719).
Today the historic center is pierced of basements, passages, wells, baths and ancient water pipes that since Roman times have been used in the city.
Visigothic Toledo
The city of Toledo as depicted in the Codex Vigilanus in 976.
A series of church councils was held in Toledo under the Visigoths. A synod of Arian bishops was held in 580 to discuss theological reconciliation with Nicene Christianity.[14] Liuvigild's successor, Reccared, hosted the third council of Toledo, at which the Visigothic kings abandoned Arianism and reconciled with the existing Hispano-Roman episcopate.[15] A synod held in 610 transferred the metropolitanate of the old province of Carthaginensis from Cartagena to Toledo.[16] At that time, Cartagena was ruled by the Byzantines, and this move ensured a closer relation between the bishops of Spain and the Visigothic kings. King Sisebut forced Jews in the Visigothic kingdom to convert to Christianity; this act was criticized and efforts were made to reverse it at the Fourth Council of Toledo in 633.[17] The Fifth and Sixth Councils of Toledo placed church sanctions on anyone who would challenge the Visigothic kings.[18] The Seventh Council of Toledo instituted a requirement that all bishops in the area of a royal city, that is, of Toledo, must reside for one month per year in Toledo. This was a stage in "the elevation of Toledo as the primatial see of the whole church of the Visgothic kingdom".[19] In addition, the seventh council declared that any clergy fleeing the kingdom, assisting conspirators against the king, or aiding conspirators, would be excommunicated and no one should remove this sentence. The ban on lifing these sentences of excommunication was lifted at the Eighth Council of Toledo in 653, at which, for the first time, decisions were signed by palace officials as well as bishops.[20]
The eighth council of Toledo took measures that enhanced Toledo's significance as the center of royal power in the Iberian peninsula. The council declared that the election of a new king following the death of the old one should only take place in the royal city, or wherever the old king died.[21] In practice this handed the power to choose kings to only such palace officials and military commanders who were in regular attendance on the king. The decision also took king-making power away from the bishops, who would be in their own sees and would not have time to come together to attend the royal election. The decision did allow the bishop of Toledo, alone among bishops, to be involved in decisions concerning the royal Visigothic succession. The ninth and tenth councils were held in rapid succession in 655 and 656.[21]
When Reccesuinth died in 672 at his villa in Gerticos, his successor Wamba was elected on the spot, then went to Toledo to be anointed king by the bishop of Toledo, according to the procedures laid out in prior church councils.[22] In 673, Wamba defeated a rebel duke named Paul, and held his victory parade in Toledo. The parade included ritual humiliation and scalping of the defeated Paul.[23] Wamba carried out renovation works in Toledo in 674-675, marking these with inscriptions above the city gates that are no longer extant but were recorded in the eighth century.[24] The Eleventh Council of Toledo was held in 675 under king Wamba. Wamba weakened the power of the bishop of Toledo by creating a new bishopric outside Toledo at the church of Saints Peter and Paul. This was one of the main churches of Toledo and was the church where Wamba was anointed king, and the church from which Visigothic kings departed for war after special ceremonies in which they were presented with a relic of the True Cross. By creating a new bishopric there, Wamba removed power over royal succession from the bishop of Toledo and granted it to the new bishop.[25] The Twelfth Council of Toledo was held in 681 after Wamba's removal from office. Convinced that he was dying, Wamba had accepted a state of penitence that according to the decision of a previous church council, made him inelegible to remain king. The Twelfth Council, led by newly installed bishop Julian confirmed the validity of Wamba's removal from office and his succession by Ervig. The Twelfth Council eliminated the new bishopric that Wamba had created and returned the powers over succession to the bishop of Toledo.[26]
The Twelfth Council of Toledo approved 28 laws against the Jews. Julian of Toledo, despite a Jewish origin, was strongly anti-Semitic as reflected in his writings and activities.[27] The leading Jews of Toledo were assembled in the church of Saint Mary on January 27, 681, where the new laws were read out to them.
The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Councils of Toledo were held in 683, 684, and 688. The Thirteenth Council restored property and legal rights to those who had rebelled against King Wamba in 673.[28] The Thirteenth Council also approved laws protecting the king's family after the king's death. In 687, Ervig took the penitent state before dying, and the kingship passed to Egica, who was anointed king in Toledo on November 24.[29] In 688, the Fifteenth Council lifted the ban on taking property from the families of former kings, whereupon Egica was able to plunder Ervig's family properties.[30]
In the late seventh century, Toledo became a main center of literacy and writing in the Iberian peninsula. Toledo's development as a center of learning was influenced by Isidore of Seville, an author and advocate of literacy who attended several church councils in Toledo.[31] King Chindasuinth had a royal library in Toledo, and at least one count called Laurentius had a private library.[32] Sometime before 651, Chindasuinth sent the bishop of Zaragoza, Taio, to Rome to obtain books that were not available in Toledo. Taio obtained, at least, parts of pope Gregory's Moralia.[33] The library also contained a copy of a Hexameron by Dracontius, which Chindasuinth liked so much that he commissioned Eugenius II to revise it by adding a new part dealing with the seventh day of creation.[34] Chindasuinth issued laws that were gathered together in a book called Liber Iudiciorum by his successor Reccesuinth in 654; this book was revised twice, widely copied, and was an important influence on medieval Spanish law.[35] Three bishops of Toledo wrote works that were widely copied and disseminated in western Europe and parts of which survive to this day: Eugenius II, Ildefonsus, and Julian.[36] "In intellectual terms the leading Spanish churchmen of the seventh century had no equals before the appearance of Bede."[37]
In 693, the Sixteenth Council of Toledo condemned Sisebert, Julian's successor as bishop of Toledo, for having rebelled against King Egica in alliance with Liuvigoto, the widow of king Ervig.[38] A rebel king called Suniefred seized power in Toledo briefly at about this time. Whether or not Sisebert's and Suniefred's rebellions were the same or separate is unknown. Suniefred is known only from having minted coins in Toledo during what should have been Egica's reign.[39] The Seventeenth Council of Toledo was held in 694. The Eighteenth Council of Toledo, the last one, took place shortly after Egica's death around 702 or 703.[40]
By the end of the seventh century the bishop of Toledo was the leader of the Spanish bishops, a situation unusual in Europe: "The metropolitan bishops of Toledo had achieved by the last quarter of the seventh century an authority and a primacy that was unique in Western Europe. Not even the pope could count on such support from neighbouring metropolitans."[37] Toledo "had been matched by no other city in western Europe outside Italy as the governmental and symbolic center of a powerful monarchy."[41] Toledo had "emerged from relative obscurity to become the permanent governmental centre of the Visigothic monarchy; a true capital, whose only equivalent in western Europe was to be Lombard Pavia."[42]
When Wittiza died around 710, Ruderic became Visigothic king in Toledo, but the kingdom was split, as a rival king Achila ruled Tarraconensis and Narbonensis.[43] Meanwhile, Arabic and Berber troops under Musa ibn Nusayr had conquered Tangiers and Ceuta between 705 and 710, and commenced raids into the Visigothic kingdom in 711.[44] Ruderic led an army to confront the raiders. He was defeated and killed in battle, apparently after being betrayed by Visigothic nobles who wished to replace him as king and did not consider the Arabs and Berbers a serious threat. The commander of the invading forces was Tariq bin Ziyad, a Luwata Berber freedman in the service of governor Musa.[45] It is possible that a king called Oppa ruled in Toledo between Ruderic's death and the fall of Toledo.[46] Tariq, seizing the opportunity presented by the death of Ruderic and the internal divisions of the Visigothic nobles, captured Toledo, in 711 or 712.[47] Governor Musa disembarked in Cádiz and proceeded to Toledo, where he executed numerous Visigothic nobles, thus destroying much of the Visigothic power structure.[48][49] Collins suggests that the Visigothic emphasis on Toledo as the center of royal ceremony became a weakness. Since the king was chosen in or around Toledo, by nobles based in Toledo, and had to be anointed king by the bishop of Toledo in a church in Toledo, when Tariq captured Toledo and executed the Visigothic nobles, having already killed the king, there was no way for the Visigoths to select a legitimate king.[50][51]
Toledo under Arab rule
Soon after the conquest, Musa and Tariq returned to Damascus. The Arab center of administration was placed first in Seville, then moved to Cordoba. With most of the rest of the Iberian peninsula, Toledo was ruled from Cordoba by the governor of Al-Andalus, under the ultimate notional command of the Umayyad Caliph in Damascus. Arab conquerors had often replaced former capital cities with new ones to mark the change in political power, and they did so here: "Toledo suffered a period of profound decline throughout much of the earlier centuries of Arab dominance in the peninsula."[52] The invaders were ethnically diverse, and available evidence suggests that in the area of Toledo, Berber settlement predominated over Arab.[53]
In 742 the Berbers in Al-Andalus rebelled against the Arab Omeyyad governors. They took control of the north and marched south, laying siege to Toledo. After a siege of one month the Berber troops were defeated outside Toledo by troops sent from Cordoba by the governor Abd al-Malik ibn Katan and commanded by the governor's son.[54] However, while Ibn Katan's troops were engaged with the Berbers, his Arab allies betrayed and killed him and took over Cordoba. After the Arabs' first leader, Talama ibn Salama, died, Yusuf al-Fihri became ruler of Al-Andalus. The Omeyyad dynasty in Damascus collapsed and Yusuf ruled independently with the support of his Syrian Arab forces. The Qays Arab commander As-Sumayl was made governor of Toledo under Yusuf around 753.[55]
There is evidence that Toledo retained its importance as a literary and ecclesiastical center into the middle 700s, in the Chronicle of 754, the life of Saint Ildefonsus by Cixila, and ecclesiastical letters sent from Toledo.[56] The eighth century bishop of Toledo, Cixila, wrote a life of Saint Ildefonsus of Toledo, probably before 737.[57] This life of Ildefonsus emphasized two episodes in the life of the bishop of Toledo. In the first episode the covering of the tomb of Saint Leocadia levitated while Ildefonsus was saying mass, with king Reccesuinth present. In the second episode Mary appears to Ildefonsus and Reccesuinth. These episodes are said to have resulted from Ildefonsus' devotion to Saint Leocadia, patroness saint of Toledo.[58] Collins suggests that Cixila's life of Ildefonsus helped maintain Ildefonsus' appeal and helped the church in Toledo to retain some of its authority among Christian churches in the Iberian peninsula.[59]
An archdeacon in Toledo called Evantius, who was active around 720 and died in 737, wrote a letter to address the existence of judaizing tendencies among the Christians of Zaragoza, specifically the belief that there are unclean forms of meat and the literal interpretation of Deuteronomic law.[60] A deacon and cantor from Toledo called Peter wrote a second letter, to Seville, in about the year 750, to explain that they were celebrating Easter and a September liturgical fast incorrectly, again confusing them with Jewish feasts celebrated at the same time.[61] These letters show that some of the primacy of the church of Toledo within the Iberian peninsula still existed in the 700s: "Not only were its clerics still well enough equipped in intellectual terms to provide authoritative guidance on a wide range of ecclesiastical discipline and doctrine, but this was also actively sought."[62]
There is a strong possibility that the Chronicle of 754 was written in Toledo (though scholars have also proposed Cordoba and Guadix) based on the information available to the chronicler.[63] The chronicler showed awareness of the Historia Gothorum, the Etymologiae, and the chronicle of Isidore of Seville, the work of Braulio of Zaragoza, the acts of the councils of Toledo, De Perpetua Virginitate by Ildefonsus, and De Comprobatione Sextae Aetatis and Historia Wambae by Julian of Toledo, all works that would have existed in the Visigothic libraries of seventh century Toledo and whose existence together "makes more sense in a Toledan context than in any other."[64]
In 756 Abd ar-Rahman, a descendant of the fallen Omeyyad caliphs, came to Al-Andalus and initiated a revolt against Yusuf. He defeated Yusuf and forced him to reside in Cordoba, but Yusuf broke the agreement and raised a Berber army to fight Abd ar-Rahman. In this conflict, Toledo was held against Abd ar-Rahman by Yusuf's cousin Hisham ibn Urwa. Yusuf attempted to march on Seville, but was defeated and instead attempted to reach his cousin in Toledo. He was either killed on his way to Toledo, or he reached Toledo and held out there for as many as two or three years before being betrayed and killed by his own people. Whether or not Yusuf himself held out in Toledo, Hisham ibn Urwa did hold power in Toledo for several years, resisting the authority of Abd ar-Rahman. In 761 Hisham is reported as again being in rebellion in Toledo against Abd ar-Rahman. Abd ar-Rahman failed to take Toledo by force and instead signed a treaty allowing Hisham to remain in control of Toledo, but giving one of his sons as hostage to Abd ar-Rahman. Hisham continued to defy Abd ar-Rahman, who had Hisham's son executed and the head catapulted over the city walls into Toledo. Abd ar-Rahman attacked Toledo in 764, winning only when some of Hisham's own people betrayed him and turned him over to Abd ar-Rahman and his freedman Badr.[65] Ibn al-Athir states that towards the end of Abd ar-Rahman's reign, a governor of Toledo raided in force into the Kingdom of Asturias during the reign of Mauregatus,[66] though the Asturian chronicles do not record the event.[67]
Under the Umayyad Emirate of Cordoba, Toledo was the centre of numerous insurrections dating from 761 to 857.[68] Twenty years after the rebellion of Hisham ibn Urwa, the last of Yusuf's sons, Abu al-Aswad ibn Yusuf, rebelled in Toledo in 785.[69][70] After the suppression of ibn Yusuf's revolt, Abd ar-Rahman's oldest son Sulayman was made governor of Toledo. However, Abd ar-Rahman designated as his successor a younger son, Hisham. On Hisham's accession to the Emirate in 788, Sulayman refused to make the oath of allegiance at the mosque, as succession custom would have dictated, and thus declared himself in rebellion. He was joined in Toledo by his brother Abdallah. Hisham laid siege to Toledo. While Abdallah held Toledo against Hisham, Sulayman escaped and attempted to find support elsewhere, but was unsuccessful. In 789, Abdallah submitted and Hisham took control of Toledo. The following year, Sulayman gave up the fight and went into exile.[71] Hisham's son Al-Hakam was governor of Toledo from 792 to 796 when he succeeded his father as emir in Cordoba.
After Al-Hakam's accession and departure, a poet resident in Toledo named Girbib ibn-Abdallah wrote verses against the Omeyyads, helping to inspire a revolt in Toledo against the new emir in 797. Chroniclers disagree as to the leader of this revolt, though Ibn Hayyan states that it was led by Ibn Hamir. Al-Hakam sent Amrus ibn Yusuf to fight the rebellion. Amrus took control of the Berber troops in Talavera. From there, Amrus negotiated with a faction inside Toledo called the Banu Mahsa, promising to make them governors if they would betray Ibn Hamir. The Banu Mahsa brought Ibn Hamir's head to Amrus at Talavera, but instead of making them governors, Amrus executed them. Amrus now persuaded the remaining factions in Toledo to submit to him. Once he entered Toledo, he invited the leaders to a celebratory feast. As they entered Amrus' fortress, the guests were beheaded one by one and their bodies thrown in a specially dug ditch. The massacre was thus called "The Day of the Ditch." Amrus' soldiers killed about 700 people that day. Amrus was governor of Toledo until 802.[72][73]
"In 785, Bishop Elipandus of Toledo wrote a letter condemning the teaching of a certain Migetius."[74] In his letter, Elipandus asserted that Christ had adopted his humanity, a position that came to be known as Adoptionism.[75] Two Asturian bishops, Beatus and Eterius, bishop of Osma, wrote a treatise condemning Elipandus' views.[76] Pope Hadrian wrote a letter between 785 and 791 in which he condemned Migetius, but also the terminology used by Elipandus.[77] The Frankish court of Charlemagne also condemned Adoptionism at the Synod of Frankfurt in 794.[78] Although Ramon Abadals y de Vinyals argued that this controversy represented an ideological assertion of independence by the Asturian church against the Moslem-ruled church of Toledo,[79] Collins believes this argument applies eleventh century ideology to the eighth century and is anachronistic.[80] However, Collins notes that the controversy and the alliances formed during it between Asturias and the Franks broke the old unity of the Spanish church.[81] The influence of the bishops of Toledo would be much more limited until the eleventh century.[82]
By the end of the 700s, the Omeyyads had created three frontier districts stretching out from the southern core of their Iberian territories. These were called Lower March (al-Tagr al-Adna), Central March (al-Tagr al-Awsat), and Upper March (al-Tagr al-A'la). Toledo became the administrative center of the Central March, while Merida became the center of the Lower March and Zaragoza, of the Upper March.[83]
Following the death of Abd al-Rahman II, a new revolt broke out in Toledo. The Omeyyad governor was held hostage in order to secure the return of Toledan hostages held in Córdoba. Toledo now engaged in an inter-city feud with the nearby city of Calatrava la Vieja. Toledan soldiers attacked Calatrava, destroyed the walls, and massacred or expelled many inhabitants of Calatrava in 853. Soldiers from Cordoba came to restore the walls and protect Calatrava from Toledo. The new emir, Muhammad I, sent a second army to attack the Toledans, but was defeated. Toledo now made an alliance with King Ordoño I of Asturias. The Toledans and Asturians were defeated at the Battle of Guadacelete, with sources claiming 8000 Toledan and Asturian soldiers were killed and their heads sent back to Cordoba for display throughout Al-Andalus. Despite this defeat, Toledo did not surrender to Cordoba. The Omeyyads reinforced nearby fortresses with cavalry forces to try to contain the Toledans. Toledans attacked Talavera in 857, but were again defeated. In 858 emir Muhammad I personally led an expedition against Toledo and destroyed a bridge, but was unable to take the city. In 859, Muhammad I negotiated a truce with Toledo. Toledo became virtually independent for twenty years, though locked in conflict with neighboring cities. Muhammad I recovered control of Toledo in 873, when he successfully besieged the city and forced it to submit.[84]
Azulejo in Seville's Plaza de España despicting the conquest of Toledo in 1085.
The Banu Qasi gained nominal control of the city until 920 and in 932 Abd-ar-Rahman III captured the city following an extensive siege.[85] According to the Chronicle of Alfonso III, Musa ibn Musa of the Banu Qasi had, partly by war and partly by strategy, made himself master of Zaragoza, Tudela, Huesca, and Toledo. He had installed his son Lupus (Lubb) as governor of Toledo. King Ordoño I of Asturias fought a series of battles with Musa ibn Musa. According to the Chronicle, Musa ibn Musa allied with his brother-in-law Garcia, identified as Garcia Iñiquez, King of Pamplona. Ordoño defeated Musa's forces at the Battle of Monte Laturce. Musa died of injuries, and his son Lubb submitted to Ordoño's authority in 862 or 863, for the duration of Ordoño's reign (up to 866). Thus, according to the Chronicle of Alfonso III, Toledo was ruled by the Asturian kings. However, Arabic sources do not confirm these campaigns, instead stating that Musa ibn Musa was killed in a failed attack on Guadalajara, and that Andalusi forces repeatedly defeated Asturian forces in the area of Alava from 862 to 866.[86]
By the 870s the Omeyyads had regained control over Toledo. In 878 Al-Mundhir led an expedition against Asturias, of which one of the main components was a force from Toledo. One source portrays this raid as an attack by the 'King of Toledo', but other sources portray it as an Omeyyad raid involving substantial Toledan forces. The forces from Toledo were defeated by Alfonso III of Asturias at the Battle of Polvoraria. Spanish chronicles state that twelve to thirteen thousand in the Toledo army were killed in the battle. Collins states that these figures are "totally unreliable" but demonstrate that Asturian chroniclers thought of this as an important and decisive battle.[87]
In 920s and 930s, the governors of Toledo were in rebellion against the Umayyad regime in Cordoba, led by Abd al-Rahman III. In 930, Abd al-Rahman III, having now adopted the title of caliph, attacked Toledo.[88] The governor of Toledo asked for help from King Ramiro II of Leon, but Ramiro was preocuppied with a civil war against his brother Alfonso IV and was unable to help.[89] In 932, Abd al-Rahman III conquered Toledo, re-establishing control of al-Tagr al-Awsat, the Central March of the Omeyyad state.[90]
In 1009 one of the last Umayyad caliphs, Muhammad II al-Mahdi, fled to Toledo after being expelled from Cordoba by Berber forces backing the rival claimant Sulayman. Al-Mahdi and his Saqaliba general Wadih formed an alliance with the Count of Barcelona and his brother the Count of Urgell. These Catalans joined with Wadih and al-Mahdi in Toledo in 1010 and marched on Cordoba. The combination of Wadih's army and the Catalans defeated the Berbers in a battle outside Cordoba in 1010.[91]
After the fall of the Omeyyad caliphate in the early 11th century, Toledo became an independent taifa kingdom. The population of Toledo at this time was about 28 thousand, including a Jewish population estimated at 4 thousand.[92] The Mozarab community had its own Christian bishop, and after the Christian conquest of Toledo, the city was a destination for Mozarab immigration from the Muslim south.[93] The taifa of Toledo was centered on the Tajo River. The border with the taifa of Badajoz was on the Tajo between Talavera de la Reina and Coria. North, the border was the Sierra de Guadarrama. Northeast, Toledo lands stretched past Guadalajara to Medinaceli. Southeast was the border with the taifa of Valencia, in La Mancha between Cuenca and Albacete. South were the borders with Badajoz around the Mountains of Toledo.[94]
In 1062, Fernando I of Leon and Castile attacked the taifa of Toledo. He conquered Talamanca de Jarama and besieged Alcala de Henares. To secure Fernando's withdrawal, king al-Mamun of Toledo agreed to pay an annual tribute, or parias, to Fernando.[95] Three years later in 1065, al-Mamun invaded the taifa of Valencia through La Mancha, successfully conquering it. Toledo controlled the taifa of Valencia until al-Mamun's death in 1075.[96]
After the death of Fernando I in 1065, the kingdom of Leon and Castilla was divided in three: the kingdoms of Galicia, Leon, and Castilla. The parias that had been paid by Toledo to Fernando I were assigned to the Kingdom of León, which was inherited by Alfonso VI.[97] However, in 1071, Alfonso's older brother Sancho II invaded Leon and defeated his younger brother. Alfonso VI was allowed to go into exile with al-Mamun in Toledo.[98] Alfonso VI was in exile in Toledo approximately from June to October 1071, but after Sancho II was killed later in the same year, Alfonso left Toledo and returned to Leon. Some sources state that al-Mamun forced Alfonso to swear support for al-Mamun and his heirs before allowing him to leave.[99]
In 1074, Alfonso VI campaigned against the taifa of Granada with the assistance of al-Mamun of Toledo. Alfonso received troops from al-Mamun in addition to the parias payment, facilitating his military campaigns. The campaign was successful, and Granada was forced to begin parias payments to Alfonso VI. After this, al-Mamun proceeded to attack Cordoba, which was then under the control of his enemy al-Mutamid, taifa king of Sevilla. He conquered Cordoba in January 1075.[100]
The parias of Toledo to Alfonso VI in the 1070s amounted to approximately 12 thousand gold dinars. This money contributed strongly to Alfonso VI's ability to project military strength throughout the Iberian peninsula.[101]
In 1076, al-Mamun of Toledo was killed in the city of Cordoba, which he had conquered only the year before. The taifa king of Sevilla took the opportunity to reconquer Cordoba and seize other territory on the borderlands between the taifas of Sevilla and Toledo. Al-Mamun was succeeded by his son, al-Qadir, the last taifa king of Toledo. Possibly keeping an earlier promise to al-Mamun, Alfonso VI at first supported the succession of al-Qadir. The taifa of Valencia, which had been conquered by al-Mamun, revolted against al-Qadir and ceased parias payments to Toledo.[102]
Taking advantage of al-Qadir's weakness, al-Mutamid of Sevilla took lands in La Mancha from the taifa of Toledo, and from there conquered the taifas of Valencia and Denia in 1078. After this, al-Qadir lost popularity in Toledo. There was a revolt against him, and he was forced to flee the city and appeal to Alfonso VI for help. The rebels invited the king of Badajoz, al-Mutawakkil, to rule Toledo. The king of Badajoz occupied Toledo in 1079, but Alfonso VI sent forces to help al-Qadir recover Toledo. Alfonso captured the fortress town of Coria, which controlled a pass from Castilian lands into the lands of the taifa of Badajoz. Since Alfonso now threatened him through Coria, al-Mutawakkil withdrew from Toledo and al-Qadir was able to return to Toledo. As the price of his help, Alfonso obtained the right to station two garrisons of his soldiers on the lands of Toledo, at al-Qadir's expense.[103]
A second revolt against al-Qadir took place in 1082. This time al-Qadir defeated the rebels in Toledo, chased them to Madrid, and defeated them there.[104] It was about this time at the latest that Alfonso VI decided to seize Toledo for himself, though some authors have argued that the plan to conquer Toledo existed by 1078.[105] In 1083, Alfonso VI campaigned against al-Mutamid, bringing his forces right up against Sevilla and reaching the city of Tarifa, with the intention of dissuading al-Mutamid from any resistance against the coming seizure of Toledo.[106] In 1084, Alfonso set siege to Toledo, preventing the city from being supplied and also preventing agricultural work in the area. Over the winter of 1084 to 1085 the siege was maintained, while the king spent the winter north in Leon and Sahagun. In spring 1085 Alfonso personally rejoined the siege with new forces. The city soon fell and Alfonso made his triumphant entry to the city on May 24, 1085.
Toledo experienced a period known as La Convivencia, i.e. the co-existence of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Under Islamic Arab rule, Toledo was called Ṭulayṭulah. After the fall of the caliphate, Toledo was the capital city of one of the richest Taifas of Al-Andalus. Its population was overwhelmingly Muladi, and, because of its central location in the Iberian Peninsula, Toledo took a central position in the struggles between the Muslim and Christian rulers of northern Spain. The conquest of Toledo by Alfonso VI of Castile in 1085 marked the first time a major city in Al-Andalus was captured by Christian forces; it served to sharpen the religious aspect of the Christian reconquest.
Medieval Toledo after the Reconquest
Toledo in the 16th century
View of Toledo by resident El Greco c. 1608.
On May 25, 1085, Alfonso VI of Castile took Toledo and established direct personal control over the Moorish city from which he had been exacting tribute, ending the medieval Taifa's Kingdom of Toledo. This was the first concrete step taken by the combined kingdom of Leon-Castile in the Reconquista by Christian forces. After Castilian conquest, Toledo continued to be a major cultural centre; its Arab libraries were not pillaged, and a tag-team translation centre was established in which books in Arabic or Hebrew would be translated into Castilian by Muslim and Jewish scholars, and from Castilian into Latin by Castilian scholars, thus letting long-lost knowledge spread through Christian Europe again. Toledo served as the capital city of Castile intermittently (Castile did not have a permanent capital) from 1085, and the city flourished. Charles I of Spain's court was set in Toledo, serving as the imperial capital.[107] However, in 1561, in the first years of his son Philip II of Spain reign, the Spanish court was moved to Madrid, thus letting the city's importance dwindle until the late 20th century, when it became the capital of the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Nevertheless, the economic decline of the city helped to preserve its cultural and architectural heritage. Today, because of this rich heritage, Toledo is one of Spain's foremost cities, receiving thousands of visitors yearly. Under the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toledo multiple persecutions (633, 653, 693) and stake burnings of Jews (638 CE) occurred; the Kingdom of Toledo followed up on this tradition (1368, 1391, 1449, 1486–1490 CE) including forced conversions and mass murder and the rioting and blood bath against the Jews of Toledo (1212 CE).[108][109]
During the persecution of the Jews in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, members of the Jewish community of Toledo produced texts on their long history in Toledo. It was at this time that Don Isaac Abrabanel, a prominent Jewish figure in Spain in the 15th century and one of the king's trusted courtiers who witnessed the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, wrote that Toledo was named Ṭulayṭulah by its first Jewish inhabitants who, he stated, settled there in the 5th century BCE, and which name – by way of conjecture – may have been related to its Hebrew cognate טלטול (= wandering), on account of their wandering from Jerusalem. He says, furthermore, that the original name of the city was Pirisvalle, so-called by its early pagan inhabitants.[110] However, there is no archaeological or historical evidence for Jewish presence in this region prior to the time of the Roman Empire; when the Romans first wrote about Toledo it was a Celtic city.[111][112]
Historical population
Year Pop. ±%
1991 59,000 —
1996 66,006 +11.9%
2001 68,382 +3.6%
2004 73,485 +7.5%
2006 77,601 +5.6%
Modern Era
Toledo's Alcázar (Latinized Arabic word for palace-castle, from the Arabic القصر, al-qasr) became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.
In 1891 work began on the construction of the Queen Hotel, overlooking The Lansdowne, at the junction of Bath Rd and Old Christchurch Rd.
A variety of shops traded at street level on the Old Christchurch Rd side.
It opened in 1894 and traded until the late 1940s and was converted into offices and renamed Jacey House in the early 1950s.
In the late 1990s it was again converted, this time into flats, with the retail units remaining on the Old Christchurch Rd side.
Today a branch of the 'Ask' Italian restaurant chain occupies the ground floor with the retail unit on the Old Christchurch Rd side having been a Slug and Lettuce pub amongst other things in recent years.
A [ VERY ] POTTED HISTORY OF BOURNEMOUTH...............
1810 - 1835
The founding of the town of Bournemouth is officially commemorated as the being 1810 the year that Captain Lewis Tregonwell and his wife Henrietta purchased a plot of land on the west bank of the Bourne stream upon which to build a large detached house that would serve as their new holiday home. The land was purchased from Sir George Tapps, Lord of the Manor of Christchurch, who became the largest landowner after what had been common land was effectively privatised in the Christchurch Inclosure Act 1802 and the subsequent Awards of 1805.
At that time the area was a remote one that lay mid way between Christchurch and Poole, themselves not the large towns they are today, on what was virtually uninhabited heathland. The house, known as the ''Mansion', was completed in 1812 with the Tregonwells purchasing further land to increase the size of their estate upon which they built a few cottages for staff members and several more to let, mainly to family, friends and associates.
Although the Tregonwells eventually rented out their Mansion, their estate, referred to as 'Bourne Tregonwell' remained all but unknown to the outside world and was somewhere they spent much of their time.
Their original holiday home still exists as part of the Royal Exeter Hotel that stands opposite the Bournemouth International Centre [ B.I.C ] on Exeter Rd.
Lewis Tregonwell died in 1832 a few short years before the next important stage in the development of Bournemouth.
1835 - 1870
In 1835 Sir George Tapps died and his son Sir George Gervis inherited his father's land, much of which lay to the east of the Bourne stream and set about creating a new development that he called his 'Marine Village', a seaside resort aimed at attracting paying guests. Early buildings included the Bath Hotel, later enlarged as the Royal Bath Hotel, the Westover Villas, a row of large detached houses or villas on generous plots that lined what is now Westover Rd, the Belle Vue Boarding House that fronted todays Pier Approach and some public baths that stood where, what was popularly known as the Imax building, was later built..
The new development wasn't a resort as we would understand it now, offering beach holidays, but more of a health resort with much being made of the area's mild micro climate and the health giving properties of the masses of pine trees that would also offer protection from the more extreme vagaries of the British weather.
Over the coming years more and more villas were built, spreading out from the banks of the Bourne stream which in turn attracted those that were needed to build the new properties and those that provided services to the well heeled residents of the fledgling town such as domestic staff, gardeners and food, grocery and household goods suppliers.
By 1856 there was a need to amalgamate the growing development and so Parliament passed the Bournemouth Improvement Act that set the town's first boundary as being within a 1 mile radius of what is today Pier Approach. it also provided for a team of Commissioners, essentially the town's first Council, charged with the power to raise funds via property rates to pay for things like highway improvements, drainage, sewers and street cleaning.
The town continued to grow within the 1 mile boundary and also led to development outside it including artisan / working class areas at Springbourne and Winton.
In 1870 the railway came to town but it was seen by many as a necessary evil and something to be kept as far away from the town centre as possible and so the station was located at the very edge of the 1 mile boundary on the opposite side of Holdenhurst Rd to the present Central Station. This arrival of the railway combined with cheaper rail fares and the creation by Parliament of the first Bank Holidays would lead to the next phase in the development of Bournemouth turning it from a sleepy seaside resort favoured by the wealthy upper classes many of whom were suffering poor health, into the large, bustling holiday destination that we know and love today. Bring it on!
1870 - PRESENT DAY
In 1871 the town's population was just under six thousand but by 1891 it had increased almost ten fold to just under sixty thousand. Most of the new citizens were new comers to the area drawn by the opportunities the fast expanding new town could offer.
In 1876 Springbourne and Boscombe became part of Bournemouth when the town boundaries were extended for the first time with a further six following including Westbourne in 1884, Pokesdown, Southbourne, Winton and Moordown in 1901, Malmesbury Park, Charminster and Strouden Park in 1914, Kinson and Holdenhurst in 1931.
The final area incorporated into the town was Hengistbury Head in 1932 which was purchased from H. Gordon Selfridge founder of the Selfridges department store chain and took the town to it's present size.
Today Bournemouth is home to more than 160,000 people and has grown at a phenomenal rate in the past two hundred years since the Tregonwells purchased that first eight and a half acres of land back in 1810.
The town is still a popular holiday destination and has had to work hard to compete against the rise of the foreign holiday and the unpredictability of the British weather by trying to attract visitors year round. Short weekend breaks, the conference trade, the annual airshow and a thriving night time economy all play their part in attracting day trippers and holiday makers, the life blood of the town's tourism industry.
Sadly Bournemouth is also a victim of it's own success and has almost reached bursting point with space for new homes very much at a premium. Many older, larger properties are being demolished to make way for more, smaller properties, many of them blocks of flats which are squeezed into every available space.
The last of the green belt clings desperately by it's finger tips to the north, rightly or wrongly the town planners and Councillors come under attack for their stewardship of the town and any resemblance to a slow paced seaside resort of old has long gone.
The pressures of modern life, traffic levels, the drinking culture and even the current economic climate all take their toll on the quality of life in the town but it's not all doom and gloom.
Bournemouth is still a great place with much to be proud of such as it's wonderful sandy beaches, cliffs, pleasure gardens, parks, some of it's buildings both old and new, oh, and it's history of course.
RECOMMENDED FURTHER READING.
'Bournemouth 1810 - 1910' by Mate and Riddle [ the full text is available as a pdf file on the internet if you have a hunt around for it.]
'The Story of Bournemouth' by David S Young. Published in 1957 it occasionally turns up on E Bay and Amazon around the £10 mark.
'A History of Bournemouth' by Elizabeth Edwards. ISBN 0 85033 412 8. Turns up on E Bay and Amazon fairly regularly for under a tenner.
'The Book of Bournemouth' by David and Rita Popham ISBN 0 86023 219 0
All titles also available at local libraries.
The marble Hammams (Baths) formed a part of the Mughal Palace complex with arrangements for cold and hot water baths. The interior is richly decorated with colourful inlaid designs in marble. Once some of the fountains set here emitted perfumed water.
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The largest of Old Delhi's monuments is Lal Quila or Red Fort whose thick red sandstone walls, bulging with turrets and bastions, have withstood the vagaries of time and nature.
Mughal Emperor Shahjahan started construction of the massive fort in 1638 and work was completed in 1648. The fort contains all the expected trappings of the centre of Mughal government: halls of public and private audience, domed and arched marble palaces, plush private apartments, a mosque and elaborately designed gardens. Even today, the fort remains an impressive testimony to Mughal grandeur, despite being attacked by the Persian Emperor Nadir Shah in 1739 and by the British soldiers during the war of independence in 1857. Delhi, India
The above image was taken on Sunday 1st June 2014 at Victoria Baths, Manchester.
This was my first time at Victoria Baths and during this visit I decided to shoot exclusively using a very wide angle lens (a 12mm Sigma) and also use my usual HDR style.
For more information about Victoria Baths see the site:
#Manchester #Victoria #baths #hdr #sigma #12mm
Bramley Baths is the only remaining Edwardian bath-house in Leeds and is Grade II listed. It first opened as a pool and public bath-house in 1904, enabling local residents to wash, swim and use the Russian Steam Baths, fashionable with the Edwardians as a healthy pastime. Originally a steel foundry, the building’s chimney can be seen from across Leeds.
In 2011 Leeds City Council, under budgetary pressures, invited expressions of interest to take over management of Bramley Baths. A group of residents and supportive local organisations worked together to write a business plan, raise funds and transfer Bramley Baths to the community. Bramley Baths became a not-for-profit, community-led, professionally-run enterprise and began a new era on 1st January 2013.
Since 2013 a professional staff team backed by many supporters and volunteers, have turned around the fortunes of this much-loved community space. In 2015, the Baths worked with Yorkshire Life Aquatic and Leeds College of Art to produce a performance underpinned by real memories of time spent there, and the relationship people have with Bramley Baths. An archive containing the memories supplied during this project is available to browse and enjoy. Dip into the Bramley Memory Aquarium to hear some wonderful memories and find out why people in West Leeds are so well connected to this building and what it represents...
The Zwartkops Mineral Baths in the early days.
Not many people are aware that off of the Grahamstown Road towards Swartkops in the region of Algorax, the Fish water Flats and Railway Depot a luxury spa (sanatorium) existed between the years 1914 and 1964 until it was sold to developers.
The mineral spring was discovered in 1906 by a private syndicate that was boring for oil and, at a depth of 3 600 feet struck water that rose under pressure to several feet above the surface and a quarter of million gallons of water at a temperature of around 55 degrees Celsius continued to flow until it was capped by the Department of Water Affairs in 1969.
On analysis, it was found that the spring water was heavy in healthful minerals which led to the building in 1914, by the Algoa Mining Company, of a fully equipped spa and sanatorium. The building contained 40 bedrooms, 16 bathrooms, a dining room, drawing room, billiard room – and a cinema. In 1916, the spa was bought by the Pearson family of Port Elizabeth.
In 1936 a magnificent new spa was built. The equivalent of a five-star hotel, it included a magnificent piece of architecture named Spring Hall. A fountain set in green marble was built over the spring head – water poured out through metal jets into a pool below.
After the Second World War, the Swartkops spa went out of vogue. Antibiotics had been invented and people lost belief in natural cures.
In 1984, this spa building, which was then used by a timber merchant, was demolished.
Read more: mype.co.za/new/the-remarkable-zwartkops-mineral-baths-san...
The area today: goo.gl/maps/bvxrTpVFxqE2
Image photographed in January 2014 compared with photograph of similar area as it appeared in the publicity brochure, “The Waters of Health and Happiness – the book of the White Rock Baths, Hastings”, published by Hastings Corporation White Rock Baths Committee c.1933.
Part of Hastings Library’s local studies collection.
For more information or to obtain a print, please contact East Sussex Libraries:library.enquiries@eastsussex.gov.uk
Mývatn Nature Baths was quite nice. It is smaller than its southern cousin, Blue Lagoon; it did not seem quite as luxurious, it didn’t have Blue Lagoon's silica mud, and it had a lot of dead midges in the water (not surprising), but it was still nice and definitely worth a visit.
My photos from the water itself aren't that great, unfortunately, as the battery on my waterproof camera died within days of my arrival in Iceland and I hadn't packed its charger, so I had to rely on the phone in its waterproof pouch. The outside gloom didn't help, either.
ARKIV 060202 -Pillars around the swimming pool. Arasan Baths -a large sauna complex with Finnish, Russian and Turkish baths with seperate sides for men and women as well as private saunas.
ALMATY, KAZAKSTAN, KAZAKHSTAN
Foto: Christopher Herwig - Kod 9266
COPYRIGHT PRESSENS BILD
PLEASE, no multi invitations, glitters or self promotion in your comments, THEY WILL BE DELETED. My photos are FREE for anyone to use, just give me credit and it would be nice if you let me know, thanks - NONE OF MY PICTURES ARE HDR.
Very little is known about this temple in the northern end of the city, but it does appear to be a pre-Christian construction.
Interior view of the public swimming baths at Earl Grey Dock, showing the second class pool.
Date: 1966
Ref: DCC-SA1829
ARKIV 060202 - Men sitting around the pool. Arasan Baths -a large sauna complex with Finnish, Russian and Turkish baths with seperate sides for men and women as well as private saunas.
ALMATY, KAZAKSTAN, KAZAKHSTAN
Foto: Christopher Herwig - Kod 9266
COPYRIGHT PRESSENS BILD
Gundamaian Baths, Royal National Park
Dated: No date
Digital ID: 10738_a023_a023000037
Rights: www.records.nsw.gov.au/about-us/rights-and-permissions
We'd love to hear from you if you use our photos.
Many other photos in our collection are available to view and browse on our website using Photo Investigator.
The above image was taken on Sunday 1st June 2014 at Victoria Baths, Manchester.
This was my first time at Victoria Baths and during this visit I decided to shoot exclusively using a very wide angle lens (a 12mm Sigma) and also use my usual HDR style.
For more information about Victoria Baths see the site:
#Manchester #Victoria #baths #hdr #sigma #12mm
The above image was taken on Sunday 1st June 2014 at Victoria Baths, Manchester.
This was my first time at Victoria Baths and during this visit I decided to shoot exclusively using a very wide angle lens (a 12mm Sigma) and also use my usual HDR style.
For more information about Victoria Baths see the site:
#Manchester #Victoria #baths #hdr #sigma #12mm
ARKIV 060202 - Men sitting around the pool. Arasan Baths -a large sauna complex with Finnish, Russian and Turkish baths with seperate sides for men and women as well as private saunas.
ALMATY, KAZAKSTAN, KAZAKHSTAN
Foto: Christopher Herwig - Kod 9266
COPYRIGHT PRESSENS BILD
Zero 2000, Fuji Velvia 50
The several indoor pools are of varying temperatures. Mom and I started out in a very warm pool, relaxing until we had a good sweat going, then I dipped in a cool bath and then we settled into a lukewarm bath. We were there early on a Monday morning, so the baths were not very busy. It was a few tourists, some pensioners, and us. An absolutely lovely start to our time in Budapest!
www.entoto-natural-park.org/2018/05/picnics-baths.html
Picnic care for the family.
The most beautiful and versatile nature and fascinating places which also are reachable within charming simplicity are often the very primary for family picnics but can often be challenging to accomplish within the convenience of the whole family's interest. Due to weather conditions, duties and family members' interest of comfort and alluring entertainment, will this require some very unique and beautiful characters of the picnic's requirements.
While this site (19) offers this required, convenient and exciting beauty and the fact that the tempests usually follow a bound rhythm, its experience in beautiful, cosy daily hours can be both an appealing and irresistible occurrence, provided a conscious behaviour to return the short distance to Entoto Kidane Mehret (1) in time before the next thunderstorm.
The most necessary for the Park's experience and picnics as well as candy shop (2) is across the bus stop from the community (1).
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During the regular rain season, it,s therefore appropriate to enjoy the pleasant and sunny day hours by enjoying the beautifully undulated promenade within a delightful valley and its enchantingly sculptural glen. To reach the site of the Italian built spring water facility (19) is within these requirements and therefore an excellent choice for just the most of activities and nature interest. Entoto Kidane Mehret's inhabitants are bringing their household water from this source, and therefore, the company is apparent by playing children and people who are fetching quantities of water to their homes.
. . During the occupation, the Italians established a big reservoir to provide the capital with water. Nowadays, this mountain reservoir (underground water technology) has lost some of its importance in favour of bigger catchment dams.
. near Entoto Kidane Mehret Church, beautiful scenery with a brook passing by. This brook (35) is in many ways characterizing the views to the dramatic landscape and cliff formations of the uphill trails and is an excellent assistant for orientation for the most hiking paths up to the high plateau.
The bridge crossing and its gully (22)
The valley of Entoto Kidane Mehret (1) constitutes the bridge crossing just some steps downhill of the sanctuary (32) and further invites a gentle walk to the place for family picnic and games at the Italian reservoir (19), located just to the right by a gentle undulated and charmingly curved path. The bridge crossing here (22) is also the natural path for those who want a more dramatic hike towards the high plateau by first passing point (37) just a few steps upward on the left side.
The enchanting valley of Entoto Kidane Mehret
Here are the full experiences of the ravine above this river in its captivating formations and complete contact. With this dramatically graceful and sculptural valley just below Entoto Kidane Mehret (1) this place constitutes a crossroad for many very completely enchanting choices. Within this open gully (22) of paths ways and bridge crossing, this enticingly cosy and inspiring ravine attracts for waiting in pleasure, to not risk losing its beauty but in spiritually sense to remain in harmony and fully ingulf its full beauty of sculptural shape and its feeling of just waiting for premonition adventures.
Clear and Pleasant Hiking Trails
This place forms the southern slope of Entoto's rising shoulder, and from this bridge crossing just below with its choices of crossroads with paths, the beginning is revealed of a real mountainside. With this, the first careful invitation to a flavour of wilderness is given but yet with a mysterious feeling of an unknown grandeur, still only waiting to be revealed, and this of nothing less than hidden places with an untouched mountain nature and its overwhelming grandiose impressions.
38. The Italian Fortification and its Bath
This Italian fortification (38), (historical remain) is very close to the actual path upwards and the just above lying farmhouse (39). Just here, little downhill the farmhouse area the pipeline connects to the reservoir and underground installation from Mussolini's troops. It is an interesting and short deviation from the path to visit this place and also beautiful.
*A Thorough Bath Examination is Required in the Italian fortification
While this is an old Italian fortification *(38),* all kinds of bath demand first to be preceded by a must include thorough bottom and wall examination to ensure regarding the safety conditions of the reservoir where both larger stones and iron objects could pose a severe injury hazard.
The picnic place from the era of dreams
From this high viewpoint (16) provides resting places for picnics in social tranquillity and contemplation about the unique nature, which is facilitated quickly by the high point of view, even over the mist-veiled Capital far below the southern slopes. Much closer the farmhouse is reminded and not far below even the chanting walls of Entoto Kidane Mehret Church (32).
14. A Great Wildlife View with the meandering streams
This plateau just above Bees' Cliff is a magnificently beautiful place with a great panorama view over the stream and many characters in the landscape. When the scene turns south, the abyss Bees' Cliff (14), the ravine is very close, where the river's further gorge meandering (35) becomes intuitively felt through the profound cooling airflow rising from the unknown abyss below the field of view.
The Paths To Bees' Cliff Natural Pools
The different choice of ways to these natural pools just above Bees' Cliff (14) follows those previously described from point (37). Thus, there are several very different of paths choices just uphill from point (38) but also becomes enriched by a more thorough, independent, acquaintance with the full south-eastern to north-western eroded soil road (41) located just above points (14 - 16).
A Turmoil of Chaos in Waterfall and Thunder
However, the plateau location is high above any instant protection by the community's facilities of taxis, bus station and shops from the quaint ledge town (1) and Entoto Kidane Mehret Church (32). Due to this harsh reality, some reservations are required for the season time when this high plateau is appropriate for visits as well as when the site needs extra caution.
Observe, One Heavy Rain Season Every Year
There are two rainy seasons per year, the small rain season from March to May and the significant rains from July to September. The highest rainfall intensity occurs in July and August (Demissew 1988).
During the relatively long rainy season, this place may appear scary, as the water flows are high and intertwined with rapidly sudden thunderstorms where only a powerful terrain vehicle would give protection.
Some Mornings Hours of Wonderful Respite
While this site offers an exhilarating beauty and the fact that the storms usually follow a bound rhythm, its experience in beautiful, cosy daily hours can be both an exciting and irresistible occurrence, provided a conscious behaviour to return in time before the next thunderstorm.
A Time of Fragrance, Harmony and Beauty
At the end of the rain season in September - October, the high plateau turns into a place of deep attraction where streams and waterfall begin to stabilise, and in October - November, a gentle, romantic flow of ideal conditions becomes evident.
ARKIV 060202 - Men sitting around the pool. Arasan Baths -a large sauna complex with Finnish, Russian and Turkish baths with seperate sides for men and women as well as private saunas.
ALMATY, KAZAKSTAN, KAZAKHSTAN
Foto: Christopher Herwig - Kod 9266
COPYRIGHT PRESSENS BILD
The ancient settlement developed around several mineral-rich springs (rising at 46ºC), which the Celts believed to have healing powers. These were dedicated to Sulis, the Celtic goddess of healing and sacred waters.
When the Romans arrived, soon after their invasion in 43 AD, they built a great temple beside the Sacred Spring, dedicated to Sulis Minerva, a deity, a hybrid of Sulis and Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom.
The Romans built grand bathing complexes around the hot springs, including the Great Bath, and came here to relax and take advantage of their reputed healing powers.
From the 18th century onwards the Roman baths were gradually rediscovered and became one of the city's main attractions.