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Minolta 5600 HS (D) in small softbox left (main),
2nd Minolta 5600HS (D) on axis (fill)
3rd Minolta 5600HS(D) CTO behind subject left
triggered by Phottix Odin @ HSS
This is the content of the first part in my new book - animal in the farm. We try to use to dreaming color for encourage the children imagination.
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Poster (Locandina):
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Does the afterlife exist? Mystics like Padre Pio, Natuzza Evolo spoke with the souls of the deceased, not knowing that they were “deceased”, they did not distinguish them from normal people (they understood it later). The Marian apparitions to Bernadette, to the three shepherds of Fatima, those of Medjugorje, were they real? And how much have they influenced the history of humanity? My profession has led me to meet people who have told me about their “uncommon experiences”. A few years ago, a young man of about 30 years old, reported his “near death” experience, hospitalized in very serious conditions in our intensive care unit, he told of when he saw doctors and paramedics from above, busy around his body, he then found himself inside a tunnel, at the end there was a light. Now “Francesco” is fine. A couple of months ago, still in intensive care, I talked with a patient of about 50 years old, who survived three almost consecutive cardiac arrests, after that event, he told me, he had unexpectedly discovered a deep faith; discharged, he is now in good health. A few days ago, again for professional reasons, I met a lady in her 60s, accompanied by her 26-year-old son, she told me that, in her troubled life, in addition to having undergone numerous surgical operations, she had been subjected to numerous cycles of chemotherapy, during one of these sessions, she had a cardiocirculatory arrest (probably caused by anaphylactic shock), at that moment she could clearly see the whole scene from above, everyone was doing their best to revive her, she saw a nurse pushing a trolley in the corridor, unable to enter the room where her body was, because half of the door was blocked by a latch, preventing the passage of the trolley, she kicked the door violently which opened thus managing to pass; she saw a doctor who, in the grip of excitement, was unable to put on her coat (these events, the lady told me, had a positive response); the story continued, she rose higher, light, as if floating on the waves of the sea, she saw a cone of light that fell on her like confetti, she felt a sensation of well-being, she saw her grandfather, who held her head and caressed her hair, she looked up and saw some figures, they seemed to have wings, she thought that perhaps they were angels, suddenly she felt herself being “sucked and banged” inside her body. Now the lady, after that experience, no longer fears death. She put her hand on mine, without touching it, just a few seconds, she began to talk about some of my personal facts, at that moment, they seemed to me to be a bit banal and obvious observations, but then, looking me in the eyes, she stated with certainty that in my family, there was a person called Angelo (in reality her name is Angela), she was not wrong. She told me that, months before Eros Ramazzotti's song "Un angelo disteso al sole" came out, she was singing that tune, including the lyrics. She showed me on her smartphone, a selfie of her taken in the car, on the windshield you could clearly see a “luminous face”, she said that her Guardian Angel, Saint Michael the Archangel, had appeared to her. (The lady was also hospitalized in the “La Maddalena” clinic in Palermo, she met the mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, she told me an anecdote of hers, but that’s another story). This story, like the one told by Francesco, are part of those numerous cases defined as “pre-death” or “NDE” acronym derived from the English, Near Death Experience. A scientific hypothesis interprets these phenomena as the result of chemical reactions that are triggered in the brain in moments of deep psycho-physical stress, in oxygen deficiency, with the release of endorphins (they generate sensations of euphoria and well-being) and other neurotransmitters, which can determine overall a hyperfunctioning and strengthening of the senses in the cerebral cortex. I am fascinated by the story of when the physicist Albert Einstein, while discussing with Gustavo Adolfo Rol (a famous Italian psychic), placed his hand between the lamp and the table, saying "you see, when matter manifests itself, it casts a dark shadow, because it is matter, whereas God, being pure spirit, when he materializes cannot manifest himself if not through light: light is nothing other than the shadow of God". I have posted a series of photographs taken in November and December of this year, the first part are shots taken according to the dictates of street / beach photography, some examples of earthly reality, to then enter into the "hypothesis of that otherworldly and parallel reality, not perceptible by our senses" accompanied by the presence of Angels, Beings of Light, who "should" always be close to us throughout our existence, after all the mystic Natuzza Evolo recognized the "plainclothes priests" by the presence of their Guardian Angel, because he was placed on their right.
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Esiste l’Aldilà? Mistici come Padre Pio, Natuzza Evolo parlavano con le anime dei defunti, non sapendo che erano dei “trapassati”, non li distinguevano dalle normali persone (lo capirono successivamente). Le apparizioni mariane a Bernadette, ai tre pastorelli di Fatima, quelle di Medugorje, erano reali ? E quanto hanno inciso nella storia dell’umanità? La mia professione mi ha portato a confrontarmi con persone che mi hanno raccontato di loro “esperienze non comuni”. Qualche anno fa, un giovane di circa 30 anni, riferì una sua esperienza di “premorte”, ricoverato in gravissime condizioni nella nostra terapia intensiva, raccontò di quando lui vide dall’alto medici e parasanitari, indaffarati attorno al suo corpo, si trovò poi dentro un tunnel, in fondo vi era una luce. Adesso “Francesco” sta bene. Un paio di mesi fa, sempre in terapia intensiva, ho conversato con un paziente di circa 50 anni, sopravvissuto a tre arresti cardiaci quasi consecutivi, dopo quell’evento, mi riferiva, aveva scoperto inaspettatamente, una profonda fede; dimesso, adesso è in buona salute. Pochi giorni fa, sempre per motivi professionali, ho conosciuto una signora sui 60 anni, accompagnata dal figlio di anni 26 anni, mi raccontò che, nella sua travagliata vita, oltre ad aver subito numerosi interventi chirurgici, è stata sottoposta a numerosi cicli di chemioterapia, durante una di questa sedute, è incorsa in un arresto cardiocircolatorio (probabilmente causato da uno shock anafilattico), in quel momento vedeva distintamente tutta la scena dall’alto, tutti si prodigavano per rianimarla, vide una infermiera spingere un carrello nel corridoio, non riuscendo ad entrare nella sala dove si trovava il suo corpo, poiché mezza anta della porta era bloccata da un chiavistello, impedendo il passaggio del carrello, lei diede un calcio violento all’anta che si aprì riuscendo così a passare; vide una dottoressa che in preda alla concitazione non riusciva a mettersi il camice (questi eventi, mi riferì la signora, ebbero un riscontro positivo); il racconto continuò, lei salì più in alto, leggera, come galleggiando sulle onde del mare, vide un cono di luce che scendeva su di lei come fossero coriandoli, lei percepiva una sensazione di benessere, vide suo nonno, che le teneva il capo e le accarezzava i capelli, guardò in alto e vide delle figure, sembrava avessero delle ali, pensò che forse erano gli angeli, improvvisamente si sentì “risucchiare e sbattere” dentro il suo corpo. Adesso la signora, dopo quella esperienza, non teme più la morte. Mise la sua mano sopra la mia, senza toccarla, solo qualche secondo, incominciò a parlare su alcuni miei fatti personali, in quel momento, mi sembrarono osservazioni un po’ banali e scontate, però poi, guardandomi negli occhi, affermò con certezza che nella mia famiglia, c’era una persona che si chiama Angelo (in realtà si chiama Angela), non si era sbagliata. Mi riferì che, mesi prima che uscisse la canzone di Eros Ramazzotti “Un angelo disteso al sole”, lei cantava quel motivo, incluse le parole. Mi mostrò sul suo smartphone, un suo selfie fatto in auto, sul parabrezza si vedeva distintamente un “volto luminoso”, lei disse che le era apparso il suo Angelo Custode, San Michele Arcangelo. (La signora fu ricoverata anche nella clinica “La Maddalena” di Palermo, fece la conoscenza del boss mafioso Matteo Messina Denaro, mi raccontò un suo aneddoto, ma questa è un’altra storia). Questa storia, come quella raccontata da Francesco, rientrano in quei numerosi casi definiti di “premorte” o “NDE” acronimo derivato dall’inglese, Near Death Experience. Una ipotesi scientifica interpreta tali fenomeni come il risultato di reazioni chimiche che si scatenano nel cervello in momenti di profondo stress psico-fisico, in carenza di ossigeno, con rilascio di endorfine (esse generano sensazioni di euforia e di benessere) ed altri neurotrasmettitori, potendo determinare nell’insieme un iperfunzionamento e potenziamento dei sensi nella corteccia cerebrale. Sono affascinato dalla vicenda, di quando il fisico Albert Einstein discutendo con Gustavo Adolfo Rol (famoso sensitivo italiano) frappose la sua mano tra lampada e tavolo, dicendo “vedi, quando la materia si manifesta, proietta una ombra scura, perché è materia, invece Dio essendo puro spirito, quando si materializza non può manifestarsi se non attraverso la luce: la luce non è altro, se non, l’ombra di Dio”. Posto una serie di fotografie eseguite nel novembre e dicembre di quest’anno, una prima parte sono scatti realizzati secondo i dettami della street /beach photography, qualche esempio di realtà terrena, per entrare poi nella “ipotesi di quella realtà ultraterrena e parallela, non percepibile dai nostri sensi” accompagnata dalla presenza degli Angeli, Esseri di Luce, che “dovrebbero” starci sempre accanto durante tutta la nostra esistenza, d'altronde la mistica Natuzza Evolo riconosceva i “sacerdoti in borghese” dalla presenza del loro Angelo Custode, perché messo alla loro destra.
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Hoy estoy contento. La vida me ha regalado un nuevo nietecito y por eso me voy a permitir dedicarle esta serie de mariposas que son, además de bellas, muy especiales.
Se trata de la Prepona amydon frontina. Me dicen los que saben que el color de las alas puede variar en esta especie. En este caso tuvimos la suerte de ver y fotografiar una roja y otra naranja. Las fotos fueron en el Parque Nacional Natural Tatamá, en la carretera Montezuma, cerca de Pueblo Rico (Risaralda).
Algunos datos de interés:
En Colombia tenemos el 20.80% de todas las especies de mariposas del mundo, que son 18.771.
De la familia Nymphalidae hay 212 géneros en Colombia. De todos los géneros de mariposas que tenemos en el país (777), 27.28% pertenecen a esta familia.
En Colombia contamos con 1.213 especies de la familia Nymphalidae, que representan el 31.07% de las especies de mariposas de Colombia (3.904).
La familia Nymphalidae tiene en el planeta 6.152 especies que representan el 32.77% de todas las especies de mariposas del mundo, que ya dijimos, son 18.771.
Nuestro país aloja en su territorio el 19.72% de los Nymphalidae del planeta.
En Colombia hay 92 especies de la subfamilia Charaxinae. De estas, 22 pertenecen a la tribu Preponini.
Datos tomados de la lista de chequeo de Buteerflycatalogs: www.butterflycatalogs.com/uploads/1/0/3/2/103240120/colom.... Los datos del planeta provienen de Nieukerken et al (2011).
SPH
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"Never Forget that contentment is the greatest wealth"
I could have stayed here for hours and watched this gorgeous duck stroll around this pond. His contentment made me feel the same way...it was contagious! He was "reflecting" contentment to me: ). I find that it can be the same way when being around people who exuded contentment, makes me want to linger in their presence. As Timothy says, "Godliness with contentment is great gain." The only way I experience this myself, is if I stay tight with God and talk to him about everything. Then, even if my storms don't go away, I stay in the "eye of the storm" at peace. It's a beautiful thing!
Enjoy every moment, it's a choice and they all count! Lovin' all your creative, unique, colorful, ingenious and incredible shots! Keep em' comin! : )
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[This photograph is part of the black-and-white re-processings I have been recently uploading to Flickr, because I do not have any new content to show, owing to the fact that I am presently only shooting for a photo-book that will be published by the Fondation du Patrimoine towards the end of 2023. I cannot show any of those photos, obviously, as I do not know yet which ones will be in the book. Thank you for your understanding and I hope you enjoy revisiting some older photos in their new, black-and-white look!
I also reproduce below the caption I wrote when I first uploaded the concerned photo, sometimes with slight adaptations.]
The small town of Souillac lies in the département of Lot, in the old province of Quercy (and in the modern region of Occitania). According to unconfirmed local stories, the abbey of Souillac was founded by Saint Éloi († 660) before it was taken over by the Benedictines from Aurillac in the 900s. From that period, only the Western tower-porch remains.
Less famous than Moissac, this abbey was, for me, at least as interesting, beginning with the church, which has not been altogether transformed in the Gothic style like in Moissac, but retains its beauty and genuineness from the 1100s.
Sculpture is also at least as amazing as that of Moissac, and even more so in some respects —and it is in much better condition.
Listed as a Historic Landmark on the first list of 1840, the abbey is not on the path to Compostela and was never known for housing any particularly famous relics, which is why the church, dedicated to Saint Mary, has no ambulatory around the choir.
I was very nicely received in Souillac by the local authorities as the photos I took contributed to the documentation of the nationwide crowdfunding project that is in place to restore parts of the church, under the ægis of the Fondation du Patrimoine (Mission Bern), for which I work as a pro bono photographer: www.fondation-patrimoine.org/les-projets/abbatiale-sainte....
The western wall of the nave, under the organ. This is where the breathtaking pieces are, the masterpieces with no equivalent in the entire Christendom...
The reason why those exceptional pieces are in this unusual place is simple: at some point during the early 1100s, it was decided that the church should have a southern portal, as we have seen in Moissac. A tympanum and other pieces of sculpture were ordered and executed, probably around 1140. Then, for reasons that have not reached us through the maze of centuries, the project was abandoned and the portal never came into being.
The sculpted pieces existed, though, and in order both to house them and protect them, they were installed inside the church, where they can be seen today. Did this less conspicuous location prevent the faces from being hacked at by various vandals and iconoclasts of the religious and/or revolutionary kinds? It is possible, but let us not waste time speculating and let’s instead enjoy those magnificent and intact masterpieces from the Middle Ages...
.The Mana Spirits, also known as Elemental Spirits, are magical beings representative of the elements that make up the world. There are eight spirits in all:Salamander, the spirit of fire Undine, the spirit of water, Gnome, the spirit of earth, Jinn, the spirit of wind, Dryad, the spirit of wood,Luna, the spirit of the moon,Wisp, the spirit of light,Shade, the spirit of darkness.According to Seiken Densetsu 3, in her creation of the world, the Mana Goddess forged the Mana Sword and with it sealed the eight God-Beasts inside Mana Stones, which were then scattered across the world; the Elementals were charged with the duty of protecting the Stones. While each Elemental is a powerful spirit, being an embodiment has a drawback in that they can be physically harmed or limited, notably Jinn (Sylphid) in Seiken Densetsu 3 and Salamando in Secret of Mana. In the World History Encyclopedia featured in Legend of Mana, the Elementals are descended from the Mana Goddess, the embodiment of the creative and destructive forces of Mana, each being born from the light which formed the respective elements of Fa'Diel, the world of Mana.There is a basic system of opposing elemental pairs in the games before Legend of Mana: Undine (water) and Salamando (fire); Gnome (earth) and Sylphid/Jinn (wind); Lumina/Wisp (light) and Shade (darkness); Dryad (nature) and Luna (celestial). The system works differently in Legend of Mana, with the four Western Elements in a circular relationship: Undine overcomes Salamander, who overcomes Gnome, who overcomes Jinn, who overcomes Undine, thus launching the cycle over again; while Wisp and Shade are opposites, and Aura (gold/metal) becomes the new opposite to Dryad (wood) (see Elements).
mana.wikia.com/wiki/Mana_Spirit
www.mythsdreamssymbols.com/dreamsarchetypes.html
Imagine you are sitting in a theater, listening to a heroine sing longingly of her beloved. Suddenly the stage is invaded by two bands of acrobatic warriors. They tumble and twirl, cartwheel and somersault, flip this way and that. From the orchestra come sounds of cymbal, gong, and clapper to punctuate the action.
Dreams and myths are constellations of archetypal images. They are not free compositions by an artist who plans them for artistic or informational effects. Dreams and myths happen to human beings. The archetype speaks through us. It is a presence and a possibility of "significance." The ancients called them "gods" and "goddesses."What then is an archetype? Jung discovered that humans have a "preconscious psychic disposition that enables a (man) to react in a human manner." These potentials for creation are actualized when they enter consciousness as images. There is a very important distinction between the "unconscious, pre- existent disposition" and the "archetypal image." The archetype may emerge into consciousness in myriads of variations. To put it another way, there are a very few basic archetypes or patterns which exist at the unconscious level, but there are an infinite variety of specific images which point back to these few patterns. Since these potentials for significance are not under conscious control, we may tend to fear them and deny their existence through repression. This has been a marked tendency in Modern Man, the man created by the French Revolution, the man who seeks to lead a life that is totally rational and under conscious control. Where do the archetypes come from? In his earlier work, Jung tried to link the archetypes to heredity and regarded them as instinctual. We are born with these patterns which structure our imagination and make it distinctly human. Archetypes are thus very closely linked to our bodies. In his later work, Jung was convinced that the archetypes are psychoid, that is, "they shape matter (nature) as well as mind (psyche)" (Houston Smith, Forgotten Truth, 40). In other words, archetypes are elemental forces which play a vital role in the creation of the world and of the human mind itself. The ancients called them elemental spirits How do archetypes operate? Jung found the archetypal patterns and images in every culture and in every time period of human history. They behaved according to the same laws in all cases. He postulated the Universal Unconscious to account for this fact. We humans do not have separate, personal unconscious minds. We share a single Universal Unconscious. Mind is rooted in the Unconscious just as a tree is rooted in the ground. Imagine the Universal Unconscious as a cosmic computer. Our minds are subdirectories of the root directory. If we look in our personal "work areas," we find much material that is unique to our historical experience--could only have happened to us--but it is shaped according to universal patterns. If we humans have the courage to seek the source to which our "account" belongs, we begin to discover ever more impersonal and universal patterns. The directories of the cosmic computer to which we can gain access are filled with the myths of the human species. Modern man fancies that he has escaped the myths through his conscious repudiation of revealed religion in favor of a purely rational natural religion (read: Natural Science). But consider his theories of human origin. In the beginning, there was a Big Bang, a cosmic explosion. This is an image from which reason may begin to work, but it is not itself a rational statement. It is a mythical construct. Consider the theory of biological evolution. Man's ancestors emerge from the seas, and they in turn emerged from a cosmic soup of DNA. The majority of creation myths also begin with the same image of man emerging from primordial oceans. See Genesis 1 or the Babylonian creation epic. Consider the Modern tendency to call ourselves persons from the Latin persona. The term derives from the "mask" of Dionysus. Moderns are the wearers of masks! The reality is concealed in the darkness of mystery. This too is a mythical construct. Synchronicity Personality theorists have argued for many years about whether psychological processes function in terms of mechanism or teleology. Mechanism is the idea that things work in through cause and effect: One thing leads to another which leads to another, and so on, so that the past determines the present. Teleology is the idea that we are lead on by our ideas about a future state, by things like purposes, meanings, values, and so on. Mechanism is linked with determinism and with the natural sciences. Teleology is linked with free will and has become rather rare. It is still common among moral, legal, and religious philosophers, and, of course, among personality theorists. Among the people discussed in this book, Freudians and behaviorists tend to be mechanists, while the neo-Freudians, humanists, and existentialists tend to be teleologists. Jung believes that both play a part. But he adds a third alternative called synchronicity.
Synchronicity is the occurrence of two events that are not linked causally, nor linked teleologically, yet are meaningfully related. Once, a client was describing a dream involving a scarab beetle when, at that very instant, a very similar beetle flew into the window. Often, people dream about something, like the death of a loved one, and find the next morning that their loved one did, in fact, die at about that time. Sometimes people pick up he phone to call a friend, only to find that their friend is already on the line. Most psychologists would call these things coincidences, or try to show how they are more likely to occur than we think. Jung believed the were indications of how we are connected, with our fellow humans and with nature in general, through the collective unconscious. Jung was never clear about his own religious beliefs. But this unusual idea of synchronicity is easily explained by the Hindu view of reality. In the Hindu view, our individual egos are like islands in a sea: We look out at the world and each other and think we are separate entities. What we don't see is that we are connected to each other by means of the ocean floor beneath the waters. The outer world is called maya, meaning illusion, and is thought of as God's dream or God's dance. That is, God creates it, but it has no reality of its own. Our individual egos they call jivatman, which means individual souls. But they, too, are something of an illusion. We are all actually extensions of the one and only Atman, or God, who allows bits of himself to forget his identity, to become apparently separate and independent, to become us. But we never truly are separate. When we die, we wake up and realize who we were from the beginning: God. When we dream or meditate, we sink into our personal unconscious, coming closer and closer to our true selves, the collective unconscious. It is in states like this that we are especially open to "communications" from other egos. Synchronicity makes Jung's theory one of the rare ones that is not only compatible with parapsychological phenomena, but actually tries to explain them!
www.mythsdreamssymbols.com/dreamsarchetypes.html
On this day ghosts and other supernatural creatures come out from the Underworld and move among the living. Families prepare food and other offerings and place them on a shrine dedicated to deceased relatives.Mana You must understand that these archetypes are not really biological things, like Freud's instincts. They are more spiritual demands. For example, if you dreamt about long things, Freud might suggest these things represent the phallus and ultimately sex. But Jung might have a very different interpretation. Even dreaming quite specifically about a penis might not have much to do with some unfulfilled need for sex. It is curious that in primitive societies, phallic symbols do not usually refer to sex at all. They usually symbolize mana, or spiritual power. These symbols would be displayed on occasions when the spirits are being called upon to increase the yield of corn, or fish, or to heal someone. The connection between the penis and strength, between semen and seed, between fertilization and fertility are understood by most cultures.The concept of archetypes is central to Jungian psychology and myth analysis. However there are many different ways of looking at what exactly an archetype is (cf Heiddegger). Carol Pearson, in her book, Awakening The Heroes Within shows how five different individuals would view the idea of archetypes.A Shaman, or other seeker after spiritualism, will conceive of archetypes as gods and goddesses, encoded in the collective unconscious, whom are scorned at great risk. Academics and other rationalists, who are typically suspicious of anything that sounds mystic, may conceive of archetypes as controlling paradigms or metaphors, the invisible patterns in the mind that control how we experience the world.Scientists may see the process of identifying archetypes as similar to other scientific processes. Physicists learn about the smallest subatomic particles by studying the traces they leave; psychologists and other scholars study archetypes by examining their presence in art, literature, myth, and dream. Carl Jung recognized that the archetypical mages that recurred in his patients' dreams also could be found in the myths, legends, and art of ancient peoples, as well as in contemporary iterature, religion, and art. They know that they are archetypical becausethey leave the same traces over time and space. People who are committed to religious positions that emphasize one all-encompassing God, can distinguish the spiritual truth of monotheism from the pluralistic psychological truth of archetypes. The god we mean when we speak of "The One True God" is beyond the human capacity to envision and name. The archetypes are like different facets of that God, accessible to the psyche's capacity to imagine numinous reality. Thus these archetypes helpthe person connect to the Eternal; they make great mysteries more accessible by providing multiple images. This is evident in both the Catholic idea of the Trinity (The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost), and the Buddhist idea of one Buddha (which is then divisible into the 40, the 400, and the 4000 facets or aspects of that single deity, each with it's own name and story). Finally archetypes are the primal symbols of aspects of our own nature. By identifying with one of more archetypes we can identify our own nature. By portraying these archetypes, we portray ourselves. Thus we can use these archetypes as a spiritual guide to the discovery of selfhood. And what does an archetype mean to ? That's simple. Archetypes are symbols. In the Hermetic Tradition there is very little difference between the symbol and the thing it represents. This is explicit in the Law of Association. By manipulating the symbol it is therefore also possible to directly manipulate the thing. And because archetypes are symbols representing facets of ourselves they allow us to change ourselves. As within, so without. The macrocosm embodies the microcosm.So much for the content of the psyche. Now let's turn to the principles of its operation. Jung gives us three principles, beginning with the principle of opposites. Every wish immediately suggests its opposite. If I have a good thought, for example, I cannot help but have in me somewhere the opposite bad thought. In fact, it is a very basic point: In order to have a concept of good, you must have a concept of bad, just like you can't have up without down or black without white. This idea came home to me when I was about eleven. I occasionally tried to help poor innocent woodland creatures who had been hurt in some way -- often, I'm afraid, killing them in the process. Once I tried to nurse a baby robin back to health. But when I picked it up, I was so struck by how light it was that the thought came to me that I could easily crush it in my hand. Mind you, I didn't like the idea, but it was undeniably there.According to Jung, it is the opposition that creates the power (or libido) of the psyche. It is like the two poles of a battery, or the splitting of an atom. It is the contrast that gives energy, so that a strong contrast gives strong energy, and a weak contrast gives weak energy. The second principle is the principle of equivalence. The energy created from the opposition is "given" to both sides equally. So, when I held that baby bird in my hand, there was energy to go ahead and try to help it. But there is an equal amount of energy to go ahead and crush it. I tried to help the bird, so that energy went into the various behaviors involved in helping it. But what happens to the other energy? Well, that depends on your attitude towards the wish that you didn't fulfill. If you acknowledge it, face it, keep it available to the conscious mind, then the energy goes towards a general improvement of your psyche. You grow, in other words.
But if you pretend that you never had that evil wish, if you deny and suppress it, the energy will go towards the development of a complex. A complex is a pattern of suppressed thoughts and feelings that cluster -- constellate -- around a theme provided by some archetype. If you deny ever having thought about crushing the little bird, you might put that idea into the form offered by the shadow (your "dark side"). Or if a man denies his emotional side, his emotionality might find its way into the anima archetype. And so on. Here's where the problem comes: If you pretend all your life that you are only good, that you don't even have the capacity to lie and cheat and steal and kill, then all the times when you do good, that other side of you goes into a complex around the shadow. That complex will begin to develop a life of its own, and it will haunt you. You might find yourself having nightmares in which you go around stomping on little baby birds! If it goes on long enough, the complex may take over, may "possess" you, and you might wind up with a multiple personality. In the movie The Three Faces of Eve, Joanne Woodward portrayed a meek, mild woman who eventually discovered that she went out and partied like crazy on Saturday nights. She didn't smoke, but found cigarettes in her purse, didn't drink, but woke up with hangovers, didn't fool around, but found herself in sexy outfits. Although multiple personality is rare, it does tend to involve these kinds of black-and-white extremes. The final principle is the principle of entropy. This is the tendency for oppositions to come together, and so for energy to decrease, over a person's lifetime. Jung borrowed the idea from physics, where entropy refers to the tendency of all physical systems to "run down," that is, for all energy to become evenly distributed. If you have, for example, a heat source in one corner of the room, the whole room will eventually be heated.When we are young, the opposites will tend to be extreme, and so we tend to have lots of energy. For example, adolescents tend to exaggerate male-female differences, with boys trying hard to be macho and girls trying equally hard to be feminine. And so their sexual activity is invested with great amounts of energy! Plus, adolescents often swing from one extreme to another, being wild and crazy one minute and finding religion the next.As we get older, most of us come to be more comfortable with our different facets. We are a bit less naively idealistic and recognize that we are all mixtures of good and bad. We are less threatened by the opposite sex within us and become more androgynous. Even physically, in old age, men and women become more alike. This process of rising above our opposites, of seeing both sides of who we are, is called transcendence.
www.mythsdreamssymbols.com/dreamsarchetypes.html
The ego is the centre of consciousness. It is identity. It is 'I'. But it is not the totality of the psyche. Being the king of consciousness amounts to dominion over a small but important land surrounded by a wide world of terra incognita. The more aware the King is of lands beyond his domain the more secure he will be on his throne, but he must not be tempted to open the borders to it all. In Jungian theory the unconscious is far too vast to ever be made fully conscious, poking about in it is not without danger, yet ignoring it is also a mistake since it leads to a brittle fixedness which at best impedes growth, at worst can break when under the pressure of the 'threat' of change.So called "humanist spirit" relates to the thought and the viewpoint concerning man's mental life: the humanist spirit is linked with humanitarianism and is different from each other. Compared with animals, the author concluded: Tao (Dao) and Food, kindheartedness and living, righteousness and benefit, moral integration and feats of strength, principles and appetites and independent will, etc. all are human personality values. Simultaneously strong human social responsibility is also human social value. Human beings live in nature, mutually coordinate, and co-exist in harmony together with nature which is also the representation of man's natural
www.google.fr/search?q=ghosts+supernatural+creatures+Unde...
The High Level Bridge is a road and railway bridge spanning the River Tyne between Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead in North East England. It is considered the most notable historical engineering work in the city. It was built by the Hawks family from 5,050 tons of iron. George Hawks, Mayor of Gateshead, drove in the last key of the structure on 7 June 1849, and the bridge was officially opened by Queen Victoria later that year.
It was designed by Robert Stephenson to form a rail link towards Scotland for the developing English railway network; a carriageway for road vehicles and pedestrians was incorporated to generate additional revenue. The main structural elements are tied cast-iron arches.
Notwithstanding the considerable increase in the weight of railway vehicles since it was designed, it continues to carry rail traffic, although the King Edward bridge nearby was opened in 1906 to ease congestion. The roadway is also still in use, although with a weight restriction. It is a Grade I listed structure.
In 1835, the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway (N&CR) Act authorised the line to approach Newcastle to a terminus at Redheugh, on the south bank of the River Tyne, close to the end of the present-day New Redheugh Bridge. The Act also authorised a crossing of the Tyne there, giving rail access to the north shore quays. The river was shallow at this point, and the bridge would have been at a low level, only 20 ft (6.1 m) above high water. The line would then have climbed to a terminus at the Spital, near Neville Street and the east end of the present-day Newcastle Central station. The climb was to be at a gradient of 1 in 22 and would have been operated by a stationary steam engine with rope haulage.
Hitherto railways in the region had had a local focus, but now the Great North of England Railway (GNER) obtained authorising Acts to build from Newcastle to York, forming part of a continuous trunk railway network to connect to London; the project was controlled by George Hudson, the so-called Railway King. At first the GNER was content to get access to the N&CR Newcastle terminus, by connecting with the N&CR at Redheugh and running over its line across the Tyne and up to the Spital. This had the advantage of avoiding a separate, and expensive, crossing of the river, but would have meant a steep descent to Redheugh as the GNER line approached on high ground from the Team Valley, only to climb once again to the Spital. Moreover, William Brandling had made known his intention to reach Newcastle from his line by running at a high level through Gateshead. On 25 April 1837, the N&CR decided to build to their south side, low-level terminus at Redheugh, but to leave the issue of the Tyne crossing open.
Richard Grainger was a developer in Newcastle, and had acquired lands at Elswick (on the north bank of the Tyne west of the proposed Redheugh crossing). In 1836, he published a pamphlet recommending a crossing of the Tyne there, and the formation of spacious railway terminal accommodation there. Drawing attention to the limited scope for extending eastwards from the Spital, and "in the event of an Edinburgh Railway also terminating in this situation, the interchange of passengers, goods, and cattle would be greatly increased".
Grainger's plan was not adopted, and the Brandling Junction Railway reached Gateshead in 1839. The GNER ran out of money and it was superseded in Hudson's railway empire by the Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway, which opened its line using the Brandling Junction Railway from the south east instead of through the Team Valley. The Brandling Junction line had a terminus in Gateshead at Greenesfield at a high level, and the N&CR line was built climbing on an inclined plane at a gradient of 1 in 23 from Redheugh to reach that. The Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway opened its line from the south to Pelaw, allowing its trains to reach Gateshead over the Brandling Junction line, in 1844. The tables had been turned, and indeed for a while Greenesfield was the de facto main station for the conurbation of Newcastle and Gateshead.
John and Benjamin Green were a father and son architectural practice active in Newcastle. In 1841 Benjamin Green had proposed a high level bridge for road traffic, substantially on the alignment of the actual High Level Bridge; and sensing the commercial climate he explained how it could be adapted for railway use. He failed to get any financial support, but in 1843 George Hudson was looking for ways to extend his railway network northwards, and the Greens' scheme fitted with his takeover of the Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway; the line got its authorising Act on 22 May 1844, and the Act included the road bridge.
The Newcastle and North Shields Railway had opened in 1839 from its own terminus at Carliol Square, on the north-east edge of Newcastle. As a purely local concern, the disconnection was not important, but interest gathered in a railway to central Scotland; the "Edinburgh Railway" foreseen by Grainger. A Scottish concern, the North British Railway, had got its Act of Parliament the previous year to build as far south as Berwick (later known as Berwick-upon-Tweed.
Now Hudson was intent on capturing the line to Edinburgh for his empire, and he encouraged the development of railway plans to get there; the route such a line might take continued to generate considerable controversy. There was still ambiguity about Hudson's intentions for the bridge—an easier crossing point at Bill Quay, two miles downstream had been considered—and Newcastle Town Council sought undertakings from him. In addition, he promised a footway crossing; this was apparently not a sweetener to the Town Council, but a commercial decision, expected to bring in £250 a week. The footway crossing was later extended to include horse-drawn vehicles.
Finally, the Newcastle and Berwick Railway was authorised by Act of Parliament of 31 July 1845. The line would cross the Greens' high level bridge, starting from the Gateshead Greenesfield station, and commitments made to the building of a bridge by the Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway were transferred to the Newcastle and Berwick Railway.
The bridge was to be designed by Robert Stephenson; T E Harrison did the detailed design work.
The height of the railway, at about 120 ft (37 m) above high water, was determined by the level of the Brandling Junction line in Gateshead. A double-deck configuration was selected because of road levels on the approaches, and to avoid the excess width of foundations which a side-by-side arrangement would require. The deck width was determined by the useful roadway width plus the width of structural members, which gave the railway deck the width for three tracks.
The foundations were to be difficult because of the poor ground conditions in the river, and this ruled out an all-masonry structure, so cast iron or wrought iron was inevitable for the superstructure. A tied arch (or bow-string) design was favoured because the outward thrust imposed by an arch is contained by the tie; no abutments capable of resisting the thrust could be provided here.
Stephenson had used this configuration before; he recorded that, "The earliest railway bridge on the bowstring principle is that over the Regent's Canal, near Chalk Farm, on the London and Birmingham Railway".
The arch would consist of iron ribs. Fawcett says, "The reasons for not using wrought iron was due to some engineers' distrust of rivetting, the relatively small size of wrought iron plates then available, and the higher cost… On 1 October 1845 when the Newcastle and Berwick Board instructed T E Harrison for their bridges, none of the uses of wrought iron had been developed far enough to be considered as an alternative to cast iron for the High Level Bridge. A tubular bridge might have been considered by Robert Stephenson but the distance between solid and reasonably shallow foundations would have given a span much larger than the Britannia Bridge."
The depth of rock in the riverbed resulted in a height of 140 ft (43 m) from there to the superstructure. Three river piers were permitted by the Tyne Improvement Commissioners, and therefore four river spans of 125 ft (38 m) were decided on; there were additional subsidiary spans on the shore.
The cast iron arch ribs are 3 ft 6 in (1.07 m) deep at the crown, increasing to 3 ft 9 in (1.14 m) at the springing, with 12-inch (30 cm) flanges; the flanges and webs were three inches thick; in the case of the inner ribs, and two inches for the outer ribs. The rise was 17 ft 6 in (5.33 m), determined by the desired geometry to confine the horizontal thrust within bounds. Each arch was cast in five sections, bolted together.
Stephenson described the tie bars:
The ties consist of flat wrought-iron bars, 7 inches by 1 inch of best scrap iron, with eyes of 3½ inches diameter, bored out of the solid, and pins turned and fitted closely. Each external rib is tied by four of these bars, and each internal rib by eight. The sectional area of each external tie is 28 [square] inches, and of each internal tie 56 [square] inches, giving a total area of 168 square inches. These bars were all tested to 9 tons on the square inch.
The rail deck is supported above the arches by twelve 14-inch (360 mm) square columns at 9 feet 11 inches (3.02 m) centres. Suspension rods supported the road deck, and both decks had two layers of diagonally laid three-inch deck timbers on suitable wrought iron cross girders (and rail-bearers in the case of the rail deck).
The main contractors for the ironwork were Hawks, Crawshay, and Sons, who were assisted by John Abbot and Co., of Gateshead Park Works, and Losh Wilson and Bell, of Walker Ironworks, in the production of the castings. The tender was accepted at £112,000. The contract for the bridge piers and land arches and for the Newcastle Viaduct were won by John Rush and Benjamin Lawton of York for £94,000 and £82,500 respectively. The total cost of the contracts at 1999 prices would be over £30 million.
The first masonry was laid on 12 January 1847. A temporary timber viaduct on the east side was ready on 20 August 1848.
Timber coffer dams were constructed; they were 76 ft 6 in (23.32 m) by 29 ft (8.8 m) with two skins, the space between being filled with puddle clay. James Nasmyth had a novel design of steam pile driver; it had first been used in Devonport Docks in 1845; it could deliver 60 to 70 blows a minute; the cycle time with the hand-operated pile drivers formerly in use was four minutes. The drop weight was 1½ tons and its stroke was 2 ft 9 in (0.84 m); one was purchased from Nasmyth.
The ground gave considerable trouble during construction; Stephenson recorded:
Many difficulties occurred in driving the piles which considerably retarded the progress of the work, and, among others, the peculiar effect of ebb and flow during this operation is worthy of note. At flood-tide, the sand became so hard as almost totally to resist the utmost efforts of driving, while at ebb the sand was quite loose, and allowed of doing so with facility. It was therefore found necessary to abandon the driving on many occasions during high water. The difference between high and low water is 11 feet 6 inches. Another difficulty arose from the quicksands beneath the foundations. Although the piles were driven to the rock bottom, the water forced its way up, baffling the attempts to fill in between them; this, however, was remedied by using a concrete made of broken stone and Roman cement, which was continually thrown in until the bottom was found to be secure.
The arch ribs were erected in section by travelling crane; each arch was temporarily erected at the contractor’s works. The first was placed on 10 July 1848, and the erection of the ironwork was quick.
Already on 29 August 1848, it was possible to pass a special train over the first arch, and over a temporary structure for the rest of the crossing:
The High Level Bridge Over the Tyne: This important junction between the York and Newcastle and the Newcastle and Berwick Railway has been completed, and the event was celebrated on Tuesday last. In the afternoon of that day, a train of [specially invited] passengers passed along the temporary timber viaduct from the station at Gateshead to the station at Newcastle. Mr Hudson and several other Directors of the York, Newcastle, and Berwick line, who had been visiting Sunderland ... proceeded in a special train from that town to Gateshead... Several carriages were then added to the special train, and an open truck placed at each end, in which bands of music were stationed. The shrill sound of the whistle gave the signal for a royal salute, under the booming of which the train passed along the line, the band playing, and the thousands assembled to witness the event, rending the air with joyous acclamation Upon reaching the bridge, the bands struck up the well-known local air of "The Keel Row" which they continued till the train had reached the solid ground on the northern side of the river... The train proceeded to the Newcastle and Berwick station, where the company alighted and walked in procession to the Queen’s Head Inn, where a magnificent entertainment had been provided for the Directors and their friends, by the Mayor of Newcastle.
[From the south abutment of the High Level Bridge] and the river pier on the south side, the cast iron arch and road-way are nearly completed, and the second arch will be in progress in the course of a few weeks. From the middle of the first arch, the line curves to a temporary timber viaduct erected along the west side of the intended bridge. The height of this viaduct is one hundred and twenty feet to the level of the rails; it is built upon piles, which are driven between thirty and forty feet into the bed of the river. Its stability was sufficiently tested on Monday, when Captain Leffan (sic), the Government Inspector of Railways, examined it preparatory to the opening. On that day, two powerful engines weighing upwards of seventy tons, traversed it at different degrees of speed for between two and three hours; the weight would be about one ton to a foot, being four or five times greater than the temporary structure will ever be required to bear, and the result was, in the highest degree, satisfactory.
Among the company in the train were four ladies, who are deserving of honourable mention, from the courage they displayed in accompanying it, namely, Mrs Nichs. Wood, and Miss F. Wood, Mrs I. L. Bell, and her sister, Miss Pattinson of Washington. As the train passed steadily over the bridge the anxiety of the immense multitude seemed intense, and the scene was truly exciting, yet fearful—not only from the lofty eminence occupied by the train but, from the apparent narrowness and nakedness of the platform on which it rolled along. It seemed from its noiselessness, rather an aerial flight, than the rattling sweep of the iron horse.
Ordinary traffic appears to have used the temporary single line structure after this date.
The eastern track was ready for an inspection by Captain Laffan, Inspecting Office for the Board of Trade, when he visited on 11 August 1849; a load test with four tender locomotives and eighteen wagons loaded with ballast, a total weight of 200 tons. Laffan approved the bridge:
I believe all the works of the bridge are completed, and that I believe it to be perfectly secure and safe. The Company have as yet only laid one line of rails over this structure, and I beg to recommend that permission be given to open that one line.
The first passenger train crossed the completed structure on the morning of 15 August 1849.
Queen Victoria formally inaugurated the bridge on passing through by train on 28 September 1849.
The Queen at Newcastle: Her Majesty yesterday honoured this ancient borough with her presence. The event was one of universal and all-engrossing interest... The morning, unfortunately, was dull and the weather unsettled, giving forebodings of a wet and uncomfortable day... Notwithstanding, however, the unfavourable weather dense crowds assembled at every spot in this locality, where a view of the royal carriage could be obtained, and many remained for hours exposed to the weather in order that they might retain the places which at an earlier period of the morning they had secured. The bridge was densely lined with people, and the platform was well covered, though not inconveniently crowded. A profusion of banners were displayed on this elegant and substantial structure, and from nearly all the public and many of the private buildings both in Newcastle and Gateshead. The vessels in the river hoisted their flags mast-high on the occasion, and the church bells of the two towns rung many a merry peal in honour of the royal visit... Pursuant to a request issued by the Mayor, most of the shops were closed about 11 o’clock, and the manufacturers were desired by our worthy chief magistrate "not to produce smoke between that hour and one," with which we believe, they generally complied... At precisely twenty minutes past twelve, the royal carriage appeared in sight, and when it reached the Spital, a splendid locomotive, built by the celebrated house of Stephenson and Co., gaily decorated and bearing on its front "God save the Queen" surmounted by a crown, and a suitable inscription encircling the boiler, was attached to the train. It then slowly proceeded to the centre of the colossal fabric, amidst bursts of loud and rapturous cheering from the assembled thousands, her Majesty repeatedly acknowledging these marked demonstrations of loyalty and affection from her faithful and attached subjects.
The Mayors of Newcastle and Gateshead presented a formal address. The queen travelled in the royal carriage belonging to the London and North Western Railway.
In other carriages were members of her Majesty’s suite and the directors of the York, Newcastle, and Berwick Railway. The engine drawing the royal train was under the direction of Mr T. E. Harrison, the resident engineer, and driven by Mr Thos. Carr... After staying altogether from five to ten minutes, the train was again put in motion, and amidst firing of artillery and rapturous plaudits from the dense throng, proceeded en route to Darlington.
The bridge and its immediate approaches had cost £243,000.
The road deck was re-opened only in a southbound (towards Gateshead) direction and carries only buses and taxis; the one-way operation is required because of width considerations after protection to the structural members was inserted. Pedestrians and cyclists use the bridge freely. Railway traffic continues in full use of the bridge, although the majority of mainline trains use the King Edward VII bridge for reasons of convenience.
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When you’re wrapped in the arms of your loved one, you feel a sense of security and comfort like no other. It’s a magical place where all worries melt away and only love remains. It’s a place where you can be yourself, without any judgment or fear. It’s a place where you find solace and peace.
Oliver Cann - Head of Media Content, Media Relations, Forum, .Philip Rosler - Head of Regional and Government Engagement, Member of the Managing Board, Forum, Klaus Tilmes – Director, Trade and Competitiveness Global Practice, World Bank and Bah El Hadj - Principal Research Economist, African Development Bank (AfDB), Abidjan at the World Economic Forum on Africa 2017 in Durban, South Africa, 2017. Copyright by World Economic Forum / Benedikt von Loebell
The Benton County Courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Portions of the content on this web page were adapted from a copy of the original nomination document. [†] Adaptation copyright © 2011, The Gombach Group.
Description
The Benton County Courthouse, sited on a full block, is a major landmark in downtown Corvallis. Narrowly missing becoming the state capital in 1855, Corvallis, in the heart of the Willamette Valley where the Marys River empties into the Willamette River, later became home of the state Land Grant College. The Benton County Courthouse, dedicated on July 4, 1888, was designed by Portland architect Delos D. Neer in the High Victorian Italianate style.
The extreme dimensions of the building are 73x116 feet. The plan is H-shaped: the end blocks rise three stories above the daylight basement, and the connecting center wing is two stories in height. The 32-inch thick walls of the basement are of heavily rusticated ashlar grey granite, and the rest of the structure is stuccoed brick. The first story is rusticated and the upper stories are plain with string courses and quoins in low relief. The whole is surmounted by a bracketed cornice with classical detail and a hipped roof.
A tower-like pavilion and single-story portico on the east end make the entrance. A female head is carved in the portico arch keystone.
A broken pediment is set in the tower cornice, in which stands a Goddess of Justice, probably cast tin, the last example of its type in situ in the Willamette Valley. The tower rises one story above the pediment, then tapers inward with a mansard-like roof to the cubical clock block above, which is crowned with a pyramidal roof.
There are two bells in the tower, as well as the large pendulum and weights of the original clock mechanism. The clock is now electrically powered. The one-word legends carried on each of the clock faces add up to "The Flight of Time." There were originally eighteen chimneys on the roof, which have been removed. Otherwise, the exterior remains unaltered and in good condition.
For a period of at least ten years, the Benton County Courthouse has been generally recognized by the County Commissioners and the community as a historic property worthy of preservation. Nevertheless, with demand for increased services, the County was pressed to seek room for expansion.
Following the failure of a bond issue for construction of a new courthouse in 1974, Benton County embarked upon a facilities-expansion program which was aimed at reserving the courthouse exclusively for Court-related activities.
A two-story Health and Law Enforcement Unit was erected on the neighboring block due west of the courthouse, and a Corrections Division wing was added to the historic courthouse structure. The latter replaced a single-story, detached jail dating from 1929. The new facilities were opened for use in 1976. The Corrections Wing is joined to the central section of the north elevation of the courthouse. It covers an area of approximately 50x43 feet. Except for a central utility superstructure, it is one story above grade and, consequently, does not obscure one's view of the courthouse. It is a concrete block construction with form-textured concrete facing and ribbed steel roofing. The overall color of the new wing, which is grey, blends reasonably well with the high masonry ground course of the courthouse. The perimeter and southerly half of the courthouse block retain the parklike atmosphere created by mature shade trees, lawn, box hedges, and occasional bedding plants.
The Benton County Courthouse interior was remodeled piecemeal over the years. For example, ceilings were lowered, certain spaces subdivided, heating and lighting systems upgraded, and so on. One of the two stairways originally at the east or formal entrance end, was removed and replaced by an elevator. Benton County is now proceeding with a renovation and restoration plan which achieves a satisfactory balance between preserving historic features of the building's interior, on the one hand, and providing additional usable space in support of the Courts, on the other.
The original floor plan provided one large central Circuit Courtroom on the second floor with offices and smaller Courts in the wings and on other floors. In order to maintain all of the Courts and related functions under one roof, the original Circuit Courtroom will remain divided, though not precisely as it is now [1977], and undeveloped spaces will be utilized. Because most of the alterations were additive in nature, much original finish work, including plaster ceiling ornament and white pine wainscoting, will be revealed. Where necessary, new details will match or blend with the original in style. Much of the original courtroom furniture is still in use in the building.
Significance
The Benton County Courthouse is understood to be the oldest standing active courthouse in Oregon. It was dedicated on July 4, 1888. Its architectural style is High Victorian Italianate, and it remains in remarkably sound condition.
One of the smallest counties in Oregon, Benton County has an area of less than 670 square miles. It lies in the mid-section of the Willamette Valley, south of Portland. It was established in 1847 by the Provisional Government and named for Thomas H. Benton, US Senator from Missouri, a strong advocate of the Oregon Country.
The 1888 population of Corvallis, county seat for Benton County, was about 1,500. Passenger train service came in 1880, but riverboat travel continued long after that time. As late as 1887 the catalog of Oregon Agricultural College, now Oregon State University, advised students to reach Corvallis from the north by riverboat. The population of the county is now about 50,000. Some 30,000 reside in Corvallis.
The first courthouse was constructed in 1855. It was replaced in 1888-1889 by the present one, which is the oldest active courthouse in the state.
The first one cost $6,200, part of which was withheld from the contractor because of poor workmanship. The present Benton County Courthouse cost about $70,000 and was financed by a two-mill levy. It was authorized in 1888, and constructed in 1888-1889.
A new jail was built at the same time to the south of the courthouse. It cost an additional $14,500. The original jail was succeeded by a single-story, tile-roofed structure on the north in 1929 and, more recently, by the single-story Corrections Wing of 1974-1976,
Delos D. Neer of Portland was the architect for the Benton County Courthouse. He was born in Charlottesville, New York in 1847. During the Civil War he served in the Union Army and participated in several battles, including the campaign of the Shenandoah Valley under the command of Phil Sheridan. Following the war he became an apprentice builder and earned journeyman carpenter status in 1868. He married in 1869 but his wife, Alfrelia, died in 1873 following the infancy death of their two children. Neer moved to San Francisco in 1875, where he practiced his trade. From California he journeyed to Portland in 1879 and began a serious study of architecture. The following year he opened an architectural office in East Portland which proved to be successful. Besides the Benton County Courthouse, he designed several other county courthouses in Oregon including the Washington, Clackamas, and Lake County courthouses, and the Snohomish County Courthouse in Snohomish, Washington. He was the architect of the Barr Block, one of Portland's early imposing business blocks. Neer designed many other buildings in Oregon and was active until his death in 1917.
The Benton County Courthouse was built of native stone and brick made on the site. The sand for the exterior stucco and interior plastering was shipped to Corvallis in sacks from Lewisville, Washington Territory. It was brought to Portland on a barge in a loose state and then placed in sacks and transferred about the distance of a block to the river steamer Bently, then taken to Salem, transferred to the smaller barge Three Sisters, and carried to Albany. At Albany it was loaded on rail cars for the final leg to Corvallis. A February 22, 1889 article in The Corvallis Gazette explained why: "The contracts call for the very best material in building this structure and, as no sand suitable could be procured at any nearer point this is the reason why it is brought from the above point (Lewisville)."
Nineteen large stones, eleven of which are as long as the front entrance of the courthouse is wide, were procured in San Francisco. They were utilized for the steps; their thickness being around eight inches and width around 16 inches.
A "Journal of the Benton County Court" for 1888 provided the exact costs for most of the construction work and materials at a total of $67,145.41.
Although the boiler and hot water were installed at time of construction, almost every room had a chimney connection for a wood-burning stove. Some of these were used. The eighteen small chimneys that once lined the roof have been removed. The building was piped for acetylene gas lights. The pipes can still be seen in the first floor hall.
The Howard tower clock was installed soon after the building was finished. It used weights for power which needed to be re-wound every week, a two-hour process. The weights and huge pendulum are still in the tower.
The old city fire bell is also there. It was tolled by a rope that ran through the upper floors, and down the front stairwell to the front door.
The Benton County Courthouse was erected in approximately one and one-half years. Although it is the oldest constructed courthouse in active use in Oregon today, its architectural integrity is intact and its condition is excellent. Moreover, a recent construction program which respected the courthouse as the focal element of an enlarged complex was completed to good effect in 1976. The county is now [1977] embarked upon a renovation and restoration plan for the interior of the courthouse, now wholly devoted to activities of the Courts.
References
Mines, H.K., compiler, An Illustrated History of the State of Oregon (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1893), 646-647. Note on the architect, Delos D. Neer.
Strand, A.L., correspondence as Benton County Commissioner to Byron Weston Co., Dalton, Mass., December 18, 1968. Establishes that Benton County Courthouse is oldest courthouse in Oregon still in use for original purpose. Attachments include abstracts from the Journal of the Benton County Court, 1887-1888.
Stadsvold, Cy, AIA, Benton County Courthouse Study (Corvallis, 1977). Renovation plan and history of the Courthouse. Includes bibliography.
† David W. Powers, and Paul B. Hartwig, Historican, Oregon State Historic Preservation Office, Benton County Courthouse, Corvallis, OR, nomination document, 1977, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places, Washington, D.C.
www.livingplaces.com/OR/Benton_County/Corvallis_City/Bent...
[This photograph is part of the black-and-white re-processings I have been recently uploading to Flickr, because I do not have any new content to show, owing to the fact that I am presently only shooting for a photo-book that will be published by the Fondation du Patrimoine towards the end of 2023. I cannot show any of those photos, obviously, as I do not know yet which ones will be in the book. Thank you for your understanding and I hope you enjoy revisiting some older photos in their new, black-and-white look!
I also reproduce below the caption I wrote when I first uploaded the concerned photo, sometimes with slight adaptations.]
With this and the next few photos in this selection, we take a break from religious architecture and art and visit a very special room in a very special non-religious monument: the lordly Mediæval castle of Simiane. Located in the Luberon mountain in Provence, this very strange castle was built from 1031 and its keep, which is one of the only remaining parts still standing, was erected between 1190 and 1210.
It is this keep that will retain our attention as its top room is unusually splendid (quite unnecessarily so for defense!) and so strangely designed that a consensus about its true purpose has never been reached: purely decorative, semi-religious, esoteric? Lots of hypotheses, some of them quite fantastic, have been made. It reminded me of the equally strange Castel del Monte in the Italian province of Apulia. Hopefully, my photos will give you an opportunity to make up your own mind...!
A portrait shot of one of the arches, near the entrance that you can glimpse to the left. You can also see the very clever “skylights” that were designed to bring light and fresh air into the room, without revealing their existence to anyone on the outside. In fact, if it were not for the presence of the door itself (added as an afterthought?), it would be impossible to guess that such a room’s existence when standing on the outside...