I've been tagged !

 

10 things about myself

 

one- My current favorite bands at the moment are the Photographers, Modest Mouse, and Death Cab for Cutie.

 

two- I'd love to go to England (visit paige! by the way she's the one who got me the lovely bag!) and to Ireland someday. I've never been out of the country and if I could both of those countries seem wonderful :)

 

three- I don't like using "texting lingo" such as "lol" and getting sent the text "K" is oh so brutal.

 

four- I love writing and receiving letters!

 

five- I ♥ cats and I have two cats named Wadney and Artey.

 

six- I have a phobia of swallowing pills

 

seven- My birthday is on February 7th, and I am begging to get my ears double pierced but my mom needs some convincing...any suggestions? :)

 

eight- I shoot with a NikonD60, and I love it very much ! My dad got me into photography.

 

nine- I ♥ Zach Braff- Garden State and Scrubs.

 

ten- I am not good with coming up with things on the spot, for example these 10 things. I may just have to edit this when I think up some better things to say !

 

If you're tagged, I like your photos and think you should do this :)

  

The history of Fort Hayes as a military post spans from its establishment in 1863 to the expected departure of the remaining military presence by the end of 2009.

 

Fort Hayes is a military post in Columbus, Ohio, United States. Created by an act of the United States Congress on July 11, 1862, the site was also known as the Columbus Arsenal until 1922, when the site was renamed after former Ohio Governor and later 19th U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes. As of 2007, the property is primarily used for the Columbus School District's Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center and bus depot. Currently, the 391st Military Police Battalion and the 375th Criminal Investigations Division of the U.S. Army Reserve use the facility, but the last military presence on the property was in 2009. The military is building a new army reserve center in Whitehall, which will end a century and a half of military presence at Fort Hayes.

 

Columbus Arsenal

Ordnance Corps General C.P. Buckingham selected a site nearly two years after the congressional authorization of July 1862. It was a tract of about 70 acres northeast of the city, an oak grove owned by Robert and Jannette Neil of Neil House fame. The need for an army arsenal in Central Ohio was acute soon after war broke out. The state arsenal was jammed with arms and equipment for the states' first regiments, but that building was deemed unsafe and a fire hazard. The army needed a modern arsenal for the receipt and issuance of arms and equipment and the manufacture and storage of ammunition.

 

Captain J. W. Todd, of the U .S. Army Ordnance Corps, was the first commander of the Columbus Arsenal, as the post was first known. High command was nothing more than a field of oak stumps and some temporary shacks on land that Captain Todd also prepared the first arsenal master plan:

 

1 two-story brick workshop, 180′ X 60′: $27,758

4 storehouses, 200′ x 50′: $98,884

Barracks and EM quarters: $7,500

1 blacksmith shop: $2,000

1 stable and laboratory: $5,000

1 office building, brick, one-story: $2,400

1 officer's quarters, brick, two-story: $11,250

1 guardhouse and brick wall, 10′ high: $44,283

Railroad switch: $5,000

Landscaping: $10,000

Inflation: $10,000

Total Budget: $224,075

 

The Todd plan was $10,000 in excess of what Congress was to be asked to appropriate. Captain Todd did not remain at this assignment long enough to see his plan accepted for implementation. He was replaced by the "Father" of Fort Hayes, Captain T. C. Bradford, on January 16, 1864. Bradford arrived to build the new post from scratch, where he served until 1867, being promoted to Major, then Colonel before 1866. He resumed command again for six months in 1869, then departed for San Antonio.

 

Bradford's first task was to secure the completion of the rail spur and procure carts, horses, tools, hoisting machines and materials with which to build the main building and other buildings. By April 1864, the excavation was dug, the tracks' grading completed, and temporary carpenter's shop built, and two wells dug and equipped with pumps to supply water for the needs of men, animals, and construction.

 

Bradford called his magnum opus the "Store House", the first of many names which would be applied to the post's principal facility. Plans for the building had been drawn in Washington by the Ordnance Corps. Bradford, however, made many on-site changes to the plans as construction proceeded. Building materials in that time were difficult and expensive to obtain. For foundation material, Bradford went to Newark, Ohio, for sandstone, the first cargo brought in on the new rail spur during the summer of 1864. Brick was fired in Columbus by brickmakers who Bradford continually had to watch because of inferior workmanship. Flooring and other timber he obtained from southern Ohio (There are 50,000 board feet of ash flooring in the arsenal which cost $20.00 to $25.00 per thousand feet). Copper and cast iron cornices he had manufactured in Cincinnati.

 

The officers' quarters and magazine were ordered built on June 3, 1864, as designed by master building Joseph O. Sawyer. The foundation for the magazine, with a capacity of 2,500 barrels of powder, was built in September, ready for brickwork, and all lumber for this building was on the grounds.

 

As the main building rose, Bradford devoted much attention to the tower. The original purpose of this dominant feature was to accommodate stone steps to each floor. At Bradford's urging, the plans were altered to incorporate wooden steps and hoisting apparatus, and an elevator to move supplies more easily among the floors. As finally constructed, the tower was a duplicate of the one attached to the Indianapolis arsenal.

 

Long before the main arsenal building was completed in 1865, the post was receiving, storing, and issuing arms and accoutrements in large amounts. On May 6, 1864, 10,000 sets of equipage and five thousand Enfield rifles to arm "three-months" of enlistees were being issued, and the post had enough arms stored in the temporary warehouse to arm and equip 30,000 men. From its holding that month alone, the Columbus Arsenal shipped to other arsenals two million rounds of elongated ball cartridges, 400 percussion artillery shells, and 600 shells for 3-inch guns.

 

The first building at Fort Hayes was completed in 1864 and is known as Building #62. Arms and equipment of the "100-day" men being mustered out in Ohio were being received by the arsenal in August 1864, but not until late that year were the commodious facilities of the main building in use. Ironically, the first man killed on the post was a civilian, Nicholas Kaetzel, who, on April 5, 1865 was blown up while firing a salute to honor the capture of Richmond, VA.(Source: United States Senate Record, May 17, 1866)

 

The main business of the arsenal during the last months of the war was the trans-shipment of ammunition (paper and metal cartridges), the receipt and issuance of Springfield rifles, and sets of equipage for 10 regiments to be formed at Camp Chase in Columbus.

 

Civilians, under Colonel Bradford, conducted much of the business of the arsenal until October 25, 1865, when the first permanently assigned detachment of enlisted men were stationed here. Twenty-five men were authorized to be enlisted locally and were ordered to be one sergeant, four corporals, five privates first class, and twelve privates second class. These new recruits of the regular army were quickly trained by Bradford to receive the large amount of arms and equipment being turned in by Ohio regiments rapidly being deactivated. Civilian employees were retained to repair, in the main building, the Springfield and Enfield rifle muskets turned in by either cannibalizing or by adding new parts shipped in from the Springfield Armory. The rule was, if a piece could be made serviceable for fifty cents or less, to do so; if not, utilize only the unworn parts.

 

On November 10, 1865, with the magazine at the post filled to capacity, the main building's basement was authorized for storage of ammunition, and the first live rounds were placed in the building. Four million cartridges were placed in the basement that winter, and 10,000 new Spencer carbines were stored in upper floors. So crowded was the building late in November that the first public auction of military stores was authorized and held. By early 1866, artillery was stored in large numbers of pieces, transferred from the Newport, Kentucky arsenal under Colonel Bradford's personal supervision. The appearance of the Civil War era Columbus arsenal was ragged and cluttered until Spring of 1866, when the first shade and ornamental trees and shrubs were planted at a cost of $150. With the coming of peace, the post came to assume a more ordered, regulated posture.

 

The War Department transferred the Columbus arsenal on September 24, 1875 to the general Recruiting Service for depot purposes, where it came to be known as Columbus Barracks. At that time, the value of site and building was reckoned at nearly $500,000.

 

Columbus Barracks and Fort Hayes

In 1875, the War Department repurposed the facility for use as a recruiting intake and training facility. It became known as the Columbus Barracks and later the Columbus Arsenal.[2] In 1922, the property was renamed Fort Hayes, in honor of Rutherford B. Hayes.

 

Between 1875 and 1890, Columbus Barracks was used to instruct recruits, specifically music boys, select recruits, disposable recruits, unexamined recruits, and colored recruits. Four companies of cadre were organized in February 1881. Recruits were given specialized instruction of from one to four months' duration. In 1894, the command general of the Department of the East took charge of Columbus. Barracks and garrisoned it with the 17th Infantry Regiment. The post remained as a recruiting rendezvous manned by two skeleton companies for the next two years when it entered, during the Spanish–American War, a period of building and enlarged occupancy for recruitment and training. The arsenal building, now called the Main Building, was altered inside to accommodate 500 recruits. New barracks, officers' houses, and a host of other buildings were erected (among them the reception center, mess building, drill hall, new guardhouse and bandstand). A post newspaper, The Army Herald, was started in 1895 and continued until 1896. A file is in the library of the Ohio Historical Society.

 

In 1900, the post was enlarged by nearly 8 acres, and five years later became officially the Columbus Recruiting Depot of two infantry companies and six recruiting companies. A band was assigned the post in 1906 when concerns became a regular public attraction.

 

Electricity came to the depot in 1908, and with it a new building program of a hospital, PX, a gym, new officers' quarters, noncommissioned officers' quarters, a bakery, a laundry, a warehouse and several barracks.

 

The razing, in 1910, of the old headquarters building uncovered the site of one of Colonel Bradford's original wells. With the advent of World War I and the signing by President Wilson on May 18, 1917, of the Selective Military Conscription Act, old Columbus barracks became a beehive of activity. Barns and stables became garages and repair shops as the Army increased numbers of Regular Army recruits who passed through the post beginning in 1917. After the war, in 1922, the post became headquarters of the Fifth Corps comprising the areas of Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana and Kentucky. Major General George A. Reed was the commander when, in June, the corps came to Columbus. In 1922, the name of the post was changed to Fort Hayes in honor of Rutherford B. Hayes, an Ohio Governor and later President of the United States. In 1933, the present parade grounds were constructed and the Civilian Conservation Corps constructed seven new frame buildings

 

During the early years of World War II, Fort Hayes continued as it had in the past as a reception center when it had stationed on its grounds 2,000 officers and men. But on March 1, 1944, this function was discontinued. The Ohio National Guard was granted use of the post on December 17, 1946. Used by both the Army Reserve and the Guard of Engineers, it continued in use by the State and Federal governments for both military and civilian functions.

 

Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center

Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center (FHMEC), an urban public high school, located at the edge of downtown Columbus, has as its mission " …to create expectations of excellence within students through challenging and collaborative learning, blending the arts, academics and career programs."

 

The Fort Hayes Career Center was established in 1976 on the site of a part of the military base. Fort Hayes was used as a training and induction center during the Civil War through the Vietnam War, the Federal Government abandoned the fifty acres on which the Fort Hayes Career Center (now the Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center) is located. Through the leadership of Jack Gibbs and the efforts of two local congressmen, the Columbus Public Schools was able to purchase these fifty acres for one dollar ($1.00). The career center was composed of four buildings–the Business Building, the Health Building, the Visual Arts Center (Shot Tower—though shot was never made here[3]), and the Battelle Math/Science Building. In the fall of 1988, the Fort Hayes campus became the site for three unique educational programs: a career center program, The Battelle Youth Science Program, and an arts and academic high school. The Fort Hayes Career Center component offers vocational courses in health/medical services, data processing, commercial art and photography, and the fine and performing arts. The Battelle Youth Science Program provided advanced laboratory and academic courses in math and science. The Fort Hayes Arts and Academic High School, the newest component, focuses on excellence in performance–performance in a rigorous college preparatory program and a rich immersion in the art areas of music, dance, theater, and visual arts. During the 1988–89 school year, the Fort Hayes Arts and Academic High School was created, joining Columbus Public Schools' excellently rated arts, business, childcare, and health vocational programs. Ninth and tenth graders (about 223 of them) arrived to begin the work of starting a new high school, along with 23 new staff members. An additional grade level was added each year, and the first senior class graduated in June 1991. Twice in the past ten years, the school has been recognized by Redbook magazine as an outstanding school in the country, and in the Spring of 1995, by Ohio's Best Schools as an exemplary "Break the Mold School." In 1997, the school was recognized by Business Week magazine as one of ten schools in the nation for Instructional Innovation with an Arts-Driven Curriculum. The International Network for Performing and Visual Arts Schools selected Fort Hayes as the Outstanding School for the 1997–98 school year.

 

FHMEC reflects the cultural, economic, religious and ethnic diversity of the urban community it serves: 51 percent African-American; 47 percent Caucasian; nearly 4 percent Asian-American; and less than 1 percent Hispanic students. Sixty-three percent of the students are female. Students bring a variety of religious beliefs: Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, and Taoist. Approximately 30 percent of the students reside in low-income households. With some exceptions, the remaining 70 percent reside in middle-income households. Over 1100 students, 80-plus faculty, and five administrators are located on the total campus in the course of a school day.

Always growing.

Everyone minus old Rory :3

my current desktop, wall paper (downloaded from the DC comics website) and various shite on there. As you can see, I do line my icons up in an anally retentive fashion. Res is 1440x 900. Equally strange.

+6C or 42,8F but it is cloudy and windy today

Calotrope [Calotropis procera (Aiton) W.T.Aiton] is an exotic shrub or small tree species that is currently invading the northern landscape of Australia. I found this singular plant at Mary Kathleen and I am sure that there would be more plants in this area.

Common Names: apple of Sodom, auricula tree, cabbage tree, calotrope, calotropis, Dead Sea apple, giant milkweed, Indian milkweed, kapok tree, King Edward's crown, king's crown, king's crown kapok, Prince of Wales' crown, rubber bush, rubber plant, rubber tree, rubberbush, small crown flower, small crownflower, Sodom apple, Sodom's milkweed, swallowwort

Calotrope is a spreading shrub or small tree which can grow up to 4 m high. A milky sap oozes from any part of the plant which is cut or broken. I know this as I brike some pieces off but was carefull notto get any of the sap on my fingers. Stems are smooth and pale greyish green. Mature stems have a characteristic beige corrugated bark, cork-like in appearance and texture. The grey-green leaves are attached in opposite pairs directly to the stem. Leaves are large, 10−20 cm long and 4−10 cm wide, with a short pointed tip and a heart-shaped base. Flowers grow in groups in the forks of the uppermost leaves, up to 15 flowers per group. The five-petalled waxy flowers are white with purple tips inside and have a central purplish crown. The large, green, inflated fruit is rounded at the base and somewhat pointed at the tip, similar in shape to a mango. It grows 8−12 cm long and nearly as wide. When ripe, the fruit bursts and releases numerous seeds which have tufts of long, silky hairs at one end. These can be carried long distances by the wind. Calotrope, a native of tropical Africa and Asia, was introduced into Australia as an ornamental shrub. In Queensland, it has become naturalised in the semi-arid north, particularly in the Gulf of Carpentaria region. The plant is poisonous to humans. There are reports that cattle can eat the plant with no known ill effects in the dry season, but may die from calotrope poisoning if they are subjected to stress (e.g. mustering). Calotrope is a weed of roadsides and watercourses and commonly invades old cultivated land and heavily grazed areas where there is little competition from grass. Calotrope may spread rapidly from the base of plants and from seedlings unless there is vigorous competition from grass or other herbs. Even in cases where the above-ground plant has disappeared, calotrope often regrows from the root system when conditions become favourable. Calotrope roots are large and spongy; new plants quickly grow from underground tubers. This makes any form of mechanical control (including fire) difficult. Research has shown several herbicides to be effective as foliar spray, cut stump, or basal bark methods of control.

 

Scavenger Challenge- May 2017 Assignment - Texture in Foliage

www.FashionSnag.com

Varosha - Maras is the southern quarter of the Famagusta, a de jure territory of Cyprus, currently under the control of Northern Cyprus. Varosha has a population of 226 in the 2011 Northern Cyprus census. The area of Varosha is 6.19 km2 (2.39 sq mi).

 

The name of Varosha derives from the Turkish word varoş (Ottoman Turkish: واروش, 'suburb'). The place where Varosha is located now was empty fields in which animals grazed.

 

In the early 1970s, Famagusta was the number-one tourist destination in Cyprus. To cater to the increasing number of tourists, many new high-rise buildings and hotels were constructed. During its heyday, Varosha was not only the number-one tourist destination in Cyprus, but between 1970 and 1974, it was one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world and was a favorite destination of such celebrities as Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Raquel Welch, and Brigitte Bardot.

 

Before 1974, Varosha was the modern tourist area of the Famagusta city. Its Greek Cypriot inhabitants fled during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, when the city of Famagusta came under Turkish control, and it has remained abandoned ever since. In 1984 a U.N. resolution called for the handover of the city to UN control and said that only the original inhabitants, who were forced out, could resettle in the town.

 

Entry to part of Varosha was opened to civilians in 2017.

 

In August 1974, the Turkish Army advanced as far as the Green Line, a UN-patrolled demilitarized zone between the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, and controlled and fenced Varosha. Just hours before the Greek Cypriot and Turkish armies met in combat on the streets of Famagusta, the entire Greek Cypriot population fled to Paralimni, Dherynia, and Larnaca, fearing a massacre. The evacuation was aided and orchestrated by the nearby British military base. Paralimni has since become the modern-day capital of the Famagusta province of Greek Cypriot-led Cyprus.

 

The Turkish Army has allowed the entry of only Turkish military and United Nations personnel since 2017.

 

One such settlement plan was the Annan Plan to reunify the island that provided for the return of Varosha to the original residents. But this was rejected by Greek Cypriots in a 2004 referendum. The UN Security Council Resolution 550 states that it "considers attempts to settle any part of Varosha by people other than its inhabitants as inadmissible and calls for the transfer of this area to the administration of the United Nations".

 

The European Court of Human Rights awarded between €100,000 and €8,000,000 to eight Greek Cypriots for being deprived of their homes and properties as a result of the 1974 invasion. The case was filed jointly by businessman Constantinos Lordos and others, with the principal judgement in the Lordos case dating back to November 2010. The court ruled that, in the case of eight of the applicants, Turkey had violated Article 1 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights on the right of peaceful enjoyment of one's possessions, and in the case of seven of the applicants, Turkey had violated Article 8 on the right to respect for private and family life.

 

In the absence of human habitation and maintenance, buildings continue to decay. Over time, parts of the city have begun to be reclaimed by nature as metal corrodes, windows are broken, and plants work their roots into the walls and pavement and grow wild in old window boxes. In 2014, the BBC reported that sea turtles were observed nesting on the beaches in the city.

 

During the Cyprus Missile Crisis (1997–1998), the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktaş, threatened to take over Varosha if the Cypriot government did not back down.

 

The main features of Varosha included John F. Kennedy Avenue, a street which ran from close to the port of Famagusta, through Varosha and parallel to Glossa beach. Along JFK Avenue, there were many well known high rise hotels including the King George Hotel, The Asterias Hotel, The Grecian Hotel, The Florida Hotel, and The Argo Hotel which was the favourite hotel of Elizabeth Taylor. The Argo Hotel is located near the end of JFK Avenue, looking towards Protaras and Fig Tree Bay. Another major street in Varosha was Leonidas (Greek: Λεωνίδας), a major street that came off JFK Avenue and headed west towards Vienna Corner. Leonidas was a major shopping and leisure street in Varosha, consisting of bars, restaurants, nightclubs, and a Toyota car dealership.

 

According to Greek Cypriots, 425 plots exist on the Varosha beach front, which extends from the Contandia hotel to the Golden Sands hotel. The complete number of plots in Varosha are 6082.

 

There are 281 cases of Greek Cypriots who filed to the Immovable Property Commission (IPC) of Northern Cyprus for compensation.

 

In 2020, Greek Cypriot Demetrios Hadjihambis filed a lawsuit seeking state compensation for financial losses.

 

The population of Varosha was 226 in the 2011 Northern Cyprus census.

 

In 2017, Varosha's beach was opened for the exclusive use of Turks (both Turkish Cypriots and Turkish nationals).

 

In 2019, the Government of Northern Cyprus announced it would open Varosha to settlement. On 14 November 2019, Ersin Tatar, the prime minister of Northern Cyprus, announced that Northern Cyprus aims to open Varosha by the end of 2020.

 

On 25 July 2019, Varosha Inventory Commission of Northern Cyprus started its inventory analysis on the buildings and other infrastructure in Varosha.

 

On 9 December 2019, Ibrahim Benter, the Director-General of the Turkish Cypriot EVKAF religious foundation's administration, declared all of Maraş/Varosha to be the property of EVKAF. Benter said "EVKAF can sign renting contracts with Greek Cypriots if they accept that the fenced-off town belongs to the Evkaf."

 

In 2019–20, inventory studies of buildings by the Government of Northern Cyprus were concluded. On 15 February 2020, the Turkish Bar Association organised a round table meeting at the Sandy Beach Hotel in Varosha, which was attended by Turkish officials (Vice President Fuat Oktay and Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gül), Turkish Cypriot officials, representatives of the Turkish Cypriot religious foundation Evkaf, and Turkish and Turkish Cypriot lawyers.

 

On 22 February 2020, Cyprus declared it would veto European Union funds to Turkish Cypriots if Varosha were opened to settlement.

 

On 6 October 2020, Ersin Tatar, the Prime Minister of Northern Cyprus, announced that the beach area of Varosha would reopen to the public on 8 October 2020. Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said Turkey fully supported the decision. The move came ahead of the 2020 Northern Cypriot presidential election, in which Tatar was a candidate. Deputy Prime Minister Kudret Özersay, who had worked on the reopening previously, said that this was not a full reopening of the area, that this was just a unilateral election stunt by Tatar. His People's Party withdrew from the Tatar cabinet, leading to the collapse of the Turkish Cypriot government. The EU's diplomatic chief condemned the plan and described it as a "serious violation" of the U.N. ceasefire agreement. In addition, he asked Turkey to stop this activity. The U.N. Secretary-General expressed concern over Turkey's decision.

 

On 8 October 2020, some parts of Varosha were opened from the Officers' Club of Turkish and Turkish Cypriot Army to the Golden Sands Hotel.

 

In November 2020, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Turkey's ambassador to Nicosia, visited Varosha. In addition, the main avenue in Varosha has been renamed after Semih Sancar, Chief of the General Staff of Turkey from 1973 to 1978, a period including the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus.

 

The European Parliament on 27 November, asked Turkey to reverse its decision to re-open part of Varosha and resume negotiations aimed at resolving the Cyprus problem on the basis of a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation and called on the European Union to impose sanctions against Turkey, if things do not change. Turkey rejected the resolution, adding that Turkey will continue to protect both its own rights and those of Turkish Cypriots. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus presidency also condemned the resolution.

 

On 20 July 2021, Tatar, the president of Northern Cyprus announced the start of the 2nd phase of the opening of Varosha. He encouraged Greek Cypriots to apply Immovable Property Commission of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus to claim their properties back if they have any such rights.

 

Bilal Aga Mosque, constructed in 1821 and taken out of service in 1974, was re-opened on 23 July 2021.

 

In response to a decision by the government of Turkish Cyprus, the presidential statement of the United Nations Security Council dated on 23 July said that settling any part of the abandoned Cypriot suburb of Varosha, "by people other than its inhabitants, is 'inadmissible'." The same day, Turkey rejected the presidential statement of the UNSC on Maras (Varosha), and said that these statements were based on Greek-Greek Cypriot propaganda, were groundless and unfounded claims, and inconsistent with the realities on the Island. On 24 July 2021, the presidency of Northern Cyprus condemned the presidential statement of the UNSC dated on 23 July, and stated that "We see and condemn it as an attempt to create an obstacle for the property-rights-holders in Varosha to achieve their rights".

 

By 1 January 2022, nearly 400,000 people had visited Varosha since its opening to civilians on 6 October 2020.

 

On 19 May 2022, Northern Cyprus opened a 600m long X 400m wide stretch of beach on the Golden Sands beach (from the King George Hotel to the Oceania Building) in Varosha for commercial use. Sun beds and umbrellas were installed.

 

UNFICYP said it would raise the decision taken by Turkish Cypriot authorities to open that stretch of beach in Varosha with the Security Council, spokesperson for the peacekeeping force Aleem Siddique said on Friday. The UN announced its "position on Varosha is unchanged and we are monitoring the situation closely".

 

In October 2022, the Turkish Cypriots announced that public institutions will be opened in the city.

 

In April 2023, Cleo Hotel, the 7-floor Golden Seaside Hotel, and the 3-star Aegean Hotel were purchased by a Turkish Cypriot businessman (from their Greek Cypriot owners) who will operate them within 2025.

 

On 10 August 2023, the Government of Northern Cyprus decided to construct a marina and tourist facility in Varosha.

 

Varosha was analyzed by Alan Weisman in his book The World Without Us as an example of the unstoppable power of nature.

 

Filmmaker Greek Cypriot Michael Cacoyannis described the city and interviewed its exiled citizens in the film Attilas '74, produced in 1975.

 

In 2021, the Belarusian group Main-De-Gloire dedicated a song to this city that has become a ghostly place.

 

Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a de facto state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus. It is recognised only by Turkey, and its territory is considered by all other states to be part of the Republic of Cyprus.

 

Northern Cyprus extends from the tip of the Karpass Peninsula in the northeast to Morphou Bay, Cape Kormakitis and its westernmost point, the Kokkina exclave in the west. Its southernmost point is the village of Louroujina. A buffer zone under the control of the United Nations stretches between Northern Cyprus and the rest of the island and divides Nicosia, the island's largest city and capital of both sides.

 

A coup d'état in 1974, performed as part of an attempt to annex the island to Greece, prompted the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. This resulted in the eviction of much of the north's Greek Cypriot population, the flight of Turkish Cypriots from the south, and the partitioning of the island, leading to a unilateral declaration of independence by the north in 1983. Due to its lack of recognition, Northern Cyprus is heavily dependent on Turkey for economic, political and military support.

 

Attempts to reach a solution to the Cyprus dispute have been unsuccessful. The Turkish Army maintains a large force in Northern Cyprus with the support and approval of the TRNC government, while the Republic of Cyprus, the European Union as a whole, and the international community regard it as an occupation force. This military presence has been denounced in several United Nations Security Council resolutions.

 

Northern Cyprus is a semi-presidential, democratic republic with a cultural heritage incorporating various influences and an economy that is dominated by the services sector. The economy has seen growth through the 2000s and 2010s, with the GNP per capita more than tripling in the 2000s, but is held back by an international embargo due to the official closure of the ports in Northern Cyprus by the Republic of Cyprus. The official language is Turkish, with a distinct local dialect being spoken. The vast majority of the population consists of Sunni Muslims, while religious attitudes are mostly moderate and secular. Northern Cyprus is an observer state of ECO and OIC under the name "Turkish Cypriot State", PACE under the name "Turkish Cypriot Community", and Organization of Turkic States with its own name.

 

Several distinct periods of Cypriot intercommunal violence involving the two main ethnic communities, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, marked mid-20th century Cyprus. These included the Cyprus Emergency of 1955–59 during British rule, the post-independence Cyprus crisis of 1963–64, and the Cyprus crisis of 1967. Hostilities culminated in the 1974 de facto division of the island along the Green Line following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The region has been relatively peaceful since then, but the Cyprus dispute has continued, with various attempts to solve it diplomatically having been generally unsuccessful.

 

Cyprus, an island lying in the eastern Mediterranean, hosted a population of Greeks and Turks (four-fifths and one-fifth, respectively), who lived under British rule in the late nineteenth-century and the first half of the twentieth-century. Christian Orthodox Church of Cyprus played a prominent political role among the Greek Cypriot community, a privilege that it acquired during the Ottoman Empire with the employment of the millet system, which gave the archbishop an unofficial ethnarch status.

 

The repeated rejections by the British of Greek Cypriot demands for enosis, union with Greece, led to armed resistance, organised by the National Organization of Cypriot Struggle, or EOKA. EOKA, led by the Greek-Cypriot commander George Grivas, systematically targeted British colonial authorities. One of the effects of EOKA's campaign was to alter the Turkish position from demanding full reincorporation into Turkey to a demand for taksim (partition). EOKA's mission and activities caused a "Cretan syndrome" (see Turkish Resistance Organisation) within the Turkish Cypriot community, as its members feared that they would be forced to leave the island in such a case as had been the case with Cretan Turks. As such, they preferred the continuation of British colonial rule and then taksim, the division of the island. Due to the Turkish Cypriots' support for the British, EOKA's leader, Georgios Grivas, declared them to be enemies. The fact that the Turks were a minority was, according to Nihat Erim, to be addressed by the transfer of thousands of Turks from mainland Turkey so that Greek Cypriots would cease to be the majority. When Erim visited Cyprus as the Turkish representative, he was advised by Field Marshal Sir John Harding, the then Governor of Cyprus, that Turkey should send educated Turks to settle in Cyprus.

 

Turkey actively promoted the idea that on the island of Cyprus two distinctive communities existed, and sidestepped its former claim that "the people of Cyprus were all Turkish subjects". In doing so, Turkey's aim to have self-determination of two to-be equal communities in effect led to de jure partition of the island.[citation needed] This could be justified to the international community against the will of the majority Greek population of the island. Dr. Fazil Küçük in 1954 had already proposed Cyprus be divided in two at the 35° parallel.

 

Lindley Dan, from Notre Dame University, spotted the roots of intercommunal violence to different visions among the two communities of Cyprus (enosis for Greek Cypriots, taksim for Turkish Cypriots). Also, Lindlay wrote that "the merging of church, schools/education, and politics in divisive and nationalistic ways" had played a crucial role in creation of havoc in Cyprus' history. Attalides Michael also pointed to the opposing nationalisms as the cause of the Cyprus problem.

 

By the mid-1950's, the "Cyprus is Turkish" party, movement, and slogan gained force in both Cyprus and Turkey. In a 1954 editorial, Turkish Cypriot leader Dr. Fazil Kuchuk expressed the sentiment that the Turkish youth had grown up with the idea that "as soon as Great Britain leaves the island, it will be taken over by the Turks", and that "Turkey cannot tolerate otherwise". This perspective contributed to the willingness of Turkish Cypriots to align themselves with the British, who started recruiting Turkish Cypriots into the police force that patrolled Cyprus to fight EOKA, a Greek Cypriot nationalist organisation that sought to rid the island of British rule.

 

EOKA targeted colonial authorities, including police, but Georgios Grivas, the leader of EOKA, did not initially wish to open up a new front by fighting Turkish Cypriots and reassured them that EOKA would not harm their people. In 1956, some Turkish Cypriot policemen were killed by EOKA members and this provoked some intercommunal violence in the spring and summer, but these attacks on policemen were not motivated by the fact that they were Turkish Cypriots.

 

However, in January 1957, Grivas changed his policy as his forces in the mountains became increasingly pressured by the British Crown forces. In order to divert the attention of the Crown forces, EOKA members started to target Turkish Cypriot policemen intentionally in the towns, so that Turkish Cypriots would riot against the Greek Cypriots and the security forces would have to be diverted to the towns to restore order. The killing of a Turkish Cypriot policeman on 19 January, when a power station was bombed, and the injury of three others, provoked three days of intercommunal violence in Nicosia. The two communities targeted each other in reprisals, at least one Greek Cypriot was killed and the British Army was deployed in the streets. Greek Cypriot stores were burned and their neighbourhoods attacked. Following the events, the Greek Cypriot leadership spread the propaganda that the riots had merely been an act of Turkish Cypriot aggression. Such events created chaos and drove the communities apart both in Cyprus and in Turkey.

 

On 22 October 1957 Sir Hugh Mackintosh Foot replaced Sir John Harding as the British Governor of Cyprus. Foot suggested five to seven years of self-government before any final decision. His plan rejected both enosis and taksim. The Turkish Cypriot response to this plan was a series of anti-British demonstrations in Nicosia on 27 and 28 January 1958 rejecting the proposed plan because the plan did not include partition. The British then withdrew the plan.

 

In 1957, Black Gang, a Turkish Cypriot pro-taksim paramilitary organisation, was formed to patrol a Turkish Cypriot enclave, the Tahtakale district of Nicosia, against activities of EOKA. The organisation later attempted to grow into a national scale, but failed to gain public support.

 

By 1958, signs of dissatisfaction with the British increased on both sides, with a group of Turkish Cypriots forming Volkan (later renamed to the Turkish Resistance Organisation) paramilitary group to promote partition and the annexation of Cyprus to Turkey as dictated by the Menderes plan. Volkan initially consisted of roughly 100 members, with the stated aim of raising awareness in Turkey of the Cyprus issue and courting military training and support for Turkish Cypriot fighters from the Turkish government.

 

In June 1958, the British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, was expected to propose a plan to resolve the Cyprus issue. In light of the new development, the Turks rioted in Nicosia to promote the idea that Greek and Turkish Cypriots could not live together and therefore any plan that did not include partition would not be viable. This violence was soon followed by bombing, Greek Cypriot deaths and looting of Greek Cypriot-owned shops and houses. Greek and Turkish Cypriots started to flee mixed population villages where they were a minority in search of safety. This was effectively the beginning of the segregation of the two communities. On 7 June 1958, a bomb exploded at the entrance of the Turkish Embassy in Cyprus. Following the bombing, Turkish Cypriots looted Greek Cypriot properties. On 26 June 1984, the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktaş, admitted on British channel ITV that the bomb was placed by the Turks themselves in order to create tension. On 9 January 1995, Rauf Denktaş repeated his claim to the famous Turkish newspaper Milliyet in Turkey.

 

The crisis reached a climax on 12 June 1958, when eight Greeks, out of an armed group of thirty five arrested by soldiers of the Royal Horse Guards on suspicion of preparing an attack on the Turkish quarter of Skylloura, were killed in a suspected attack by Turkish Cypriot locals, near the village of Geunyeli, having been ordered to walk back to their village of Kondemenos.

 

After the EOKA campaign had begun, the British government successfully began to turn the Cyprus issue from a British colonial problem into a Greek-Turkish issue. British diplomacy exerted backstage influence on the Adnan Menderes government, with the aim of making Turkey active in Cyprus. For the British, the attempt had a twofold objective. The EOKA campaign would be silenced as quickly as possible, and Turkish Cypriots would not side with Greek Cypriots against the British colonial claims over the island, which would thus remain under the British. The Turkish Cypriot leadership visited Menderes to discuss the Cyprus issue. When asked how the Turkish Cypriots should respond to the Greek Cypriot claim of enosis, Menderes replied: "You should go to the British foreign minister and request the status quo be prolonged, Cyprus to remain as a British colony". When the Turkish Cypriots visited the British Foreign Secretary and requested for Cyprus to remain a colony, he replied: "You should not be asking for colonialism at this day and age, you should be asking for Cyprus be returned to Turkey, its former owner".

 

As Turkish Cypriots began to look to Turkey for protection, Greek Cypriots soon understood that enosis was extremely unlikely. The Greek Cypriot leader, Archbishop Makarios III, now set independence for the island as his objective.

 

Britain resolved to solve the dispute by creating an independent Cyprus. In 1959, all involved parties signed the Zurich Agreements: Britain, Turkey, Greece, and the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, Makarios and Dr. Fazil Kucuk, respectively. The new constitution drew heavily on the ethnic composition of the island. The President would be a Greek Cypriot, and the Vice-President a Turkish Cypriot with an equal veto. The contribution to the public service would be set at a ratio of 70:30, and the Supreme Court would consist of an equal number of judges from both communities as well as an independent judge who was not Greek, Turkish or British. The Zurich Agreements were supplemented by a number of treaties. The Treaty of Guarantee stated that secession or union with any state was forbidden, and that Greece, Turkey and Britain would be given guarantor status to intervene if that was violated. The Treaty of Alliance allowed for two small Greek and Turkish military contingents to be stationed on the island, and the Treaty of Establishment gave Britain sovereignty over two bases in Akrotiri and Dhekelia.

 

On 15 August 1960, the Colony of Cyprus became fully independent as the Republic of Cyprus. The new republic remained within the Commonwealth of Nations.

 

The new constitution brought dissatisfaction to Greek Cypriots, who felt it to be highly unjust for them for historical, demographic and contributional reasons. Although 80% of the island's population were Greek Cypriots and these indigenous people had lived on the island for thousands of years and paid 94% of taxes, the new constitution was giving the 17% of the population that was Turkish Cypriots, who paid 6% of taxes, around 30% of government jobs and 40% of national security jobs.

 

Within three years tensions between the two communities in administrative affairs began to show. In particular disputes over separate municipalities and taxation created a deadlock in government. A constitutional court ruled in 1963 Makarios had failed to uphold article 173 of the constitution which called for the establishment of separate municipalities for Turkish Cypriots. Makarios subsequently declared his intention to ignore the judgement, resulting in the West German judge resigning from his position. Makarios proposed thirteen amendments to the constitution, which would have had the effect of resolving most of the issues in the Greek Cypriot favour. Under the proposals, the President and Vice-President would lose their veto, the separate municipalities as sought after by the Turkish Cypriots would be abandoned, the need for separate majorities by both communities in passing legislation would be discarded and the civil service contribution would be set at actual population ratios (82:18) instead of the slightly higher figure for Turkish Cypriots.

 

The intention behind the amendments has long been called into question. The Akritas plan, written in the height of the constitutional dispute by the Greek Cypriot interior minister Polycarpos Georkadjis, called for the removal of undesirable elements of the constitution so as to allow power-sharing to work. The plan envisaged a swift retaliatory attack on Turkish Cypriot strongholds should Turkish Cypriots resort to violence to resist the measures, stating "In the event of a planned or staged Turkish attack, it is imperative to overcome it by force in the shortest possible time, because if we succeed in gaining command of the situation (in one or two days), no outside, intervention would be either justified or possible." Whether Makarios's proposals were part of the Akritas plan is unclear, however it remains that sentiment towards enosis had not completely disappeared with independence. Makarios described independence as "a step on the road to enosis".[31] Preparations for conflict were not entirely absent from Turkish Cypriots either, with right wing elements still believing taksim (partition) the best safeguard against enosis.

 

Greek Cypriots however believe the amendments were a necessity stemming from a perceived attempt by Turkish Cypriots to frustrate the working of government. Turkish Cypriots saw it as a means to reduce their status within the state from one of co-founder to that of minority, seeing it as a first step towards enosis. The security situation deteriorated rapidly.

 

Main articles: Bloody Christmas (1963) and Battle of Tillyria

An armed conflict was triggered after December 21, 1963, a period remembered by Turkish Cypriots as Bloody Christmas, when a Greek Cypriot policemen that had been called to help deal with a taxi driver refusing officers already on the scene access to check the identification documents of his customers, took out his gun upon arrival and shot and killed the taxi driver and his partner. Eric Solsten summarised the events as follows: "a Greek Cypriot police patrol, ostensibly checking identification documents, stopped a Turkish Cypriot couple on the edge of the Turkish quarter. A hostile crowd gathered, shots were fired, and two Turkish Cypriots were killed."

 

In the morning after the shooting, crowds gathered in protest in Northern Nicosia, likely encouraged by the TMT, without incident. On the evening of the 22nd, gunfire broke out, communication lines to the Turkish neighbourhoods were cut, and the Greek Cypriot police occupied the nearby airport. On the 23rd, a ceasefire was negotiated, but did not hold. Fighting, including automatic weapons fire, between Greek and Turkish Cypriots and militias increased in Nicosia and Larnaca. A force of Greek Cypriot irregulars led by Nikos Sampson entered the Nicosia suburb of Omorphita and engaged in heavy firing on armed, as well as by some accounts unarmed, Turkish Cypriots. The Omorphita clash has been described by Turkish Cypriots as a massacre, while this view has generally not been acknowledged by Greek Cypriots.

 

Further ceasefires were arranged between the two sides, but also failed. By Christmas Eve, the 24th, Britain, Greece, and Turkey had joined talks, with all sides calling for a truce. On Christmas day, Turkish fighter jets overflew Nicosia in a show of support. Finally it was agreed to allow a force of 2,700 British soldiers to help enforce a ceasefire. In the next days, a "buffer zone" was created in Nicosia, and a British officer marked a line on a map with green ink, separating the two sides of the city, which was the beginning of the "Green Line". Fighting continued across the island for the next several weeks.

 

In total 364 Turkish Cypriots and 174 Greek Cypriots were killed during the violence. 25,000 Turkish Cypriots from 103-109 villages fled and were displaced into enclaves and thousands of Turkish Cypriot houses were ransacked or completely destroyed.

 

Contemporary newspapers also reported on the forceful exodus of the Turkish Cypriots from their homes. According to The Times in 1964, threats, shootings and attempts of arson were committed against the Turkish Cypriots to force them out of their homes. The Daily Express wrote that "25,000 Turks have already been forced to leave their homes". The Guardian reported a massacre of Turks at Limassol on 16 February 1964.

 

Turkey had by now readied its fleet and its fighter jets appeared over Nicosia. Turkey was dissuaded from direct involvement by the creation of a United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) in 1964. Despite the negotiated ceasefire in Nicosia, attacks on the Turkish Cypriot persisted, particularly in Limassol. Concerned about the possibility of a Turkish invasion, Makarios undertook the creation of a Greek Cypriot conscript-based army called the "National Guard". A general from Greece took charge of the army, whilst a further 20,000 well-equipped officers and men were smuggled from Greece into Cyprus. Turkey threatened to intervene once more, but was prevented by a strongly worded letter from the American President Lyndon B. Johnson, anxious to avoid a conflict between NATO allies Greece and Turkey at the height of the Cold War.

 

Turkish Cypriots had by now established an important bridgehead at Kokkina, provided with arms, volunteers and materials from Turkey and abroad. Seeing this incursion of foreign weapons and troops as a major threat, the Cypriot government invited George Grivas to return from Greece as commander of the Greek troops on the island and launch a major attack on the bridgehead. Turkey retaliated by dispatching its fighter jets to bomb Greek positions, causing Makarios to threaten an attack on every Turkish Cypriot village on the island if the bombings did not cease. The conflict had now drawn in Greece and Turkey, with both countries amassing troops on their Thracian borders. Efforts at mediation by Dean Acheson, a former U.S. Secretary of State, and UN-appointed mediator Galo Plaza had failed, all the while the division of the two communities becoming more apparent. Greek Cypriot forces were estimated at some 30,000, including the National Guard and the large contingent from Greece. Defending the Turkish Cypriot enclaves was a force of approximately 5,000 irregulars, led by a Turkish colonel, but lacking the equipment and organisation of the Greek forces.

 

The Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1964, U Thant, reported the damage during the conflicts:

 

UNFICYP carried out a detailed survey of all damage to properties throughout the island during the disturbances; it shows that in 109 villages, most of them Turkish-Cypriot or mixed villages, 527 houses have been destroyed while 2,000 others have suffered damage from looting.

 

The situation worsened in 1967, when a military junta overthrew the democratically elected government of Greece, and began applying pressure on Makarios to achieve enosis. Makarios, not wishing to become part of a military dictatorship or trigger a Turkish invasion, began to distance himself from the goal of enosis. This caused tensions with the junta in Greece as well as George Grivas in Cyprus. Grivas's control over the National Guard and Greek contingent was seen as a threat to Makarios's position, who now feared a possible coup.[citation needed] The National Guard and Cyprus Police began patrolling the Turkish Cypriot enclaves of Ayios Theodoros and Kophinou, and on November 15 engaged in heavy fighting with the Turkish Cypriots.

 

By the time of his withdrawal 26 Turkish Cypriots had been killed. Turkey replied with an ultimatum demanding that Grivas be removed from the island, that the troops smuggled from Greece in excess of the limits of the Treaty of Alliance be removed, and that the economic blockades on the Turkish Cypriot enclaves be lifted. Grivas was recalled by the Athens Junta and the 12,000 Greek troops were withdrawn. Makarios now attempted to consolidate his position by reducing the number of National Guard troops, and by creating a paramilitary force loyal to Cypriot independence. In 1968, acknowledging that enosis was now all but impossible, Makarios stated, "A solution by necessity must be sought within the limits of what is feasible which does not always coincide with the limits of what is desirable."

 

After 1967 tensions between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots subsided. Instead, the main source of tension on the island came from factions within the Greek Cypriot community. Although Makarios had effectively abandoned enosis in favour of an 'attainable solution', many others continued to believe that the only legitimate political aspiration for Greek Cypriots was union with Greece.

 

On his arrival, Grivas began by establishing a nationalist paramilitary group known as the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston B or EOKA-B), drawing comparisons with the EOKA struggle for enosis under the British colonial administration of the 1950s.

 

The military junta in Athens saw Makarios as an obstacle. Makarios's failure to disband the National Guard, whose officer class was dominated by mainland Greeks, had meant the junta had practical control over the Cypriot military establishment, leaving Makarios isolated and a vulnerable target.

 

During the first Turkish invasion, Turkish troops invaded Cyprus territory on 20 July 1974, invoking its rights under the Treaty of Guarantee. This expansion of Turkish-occupied zone violated International Law as well as the Charter of the United Nations. Turkish troops managed to capture 3% of the island which was accompanied by the burning of the Turkish Cypriot quarter, as well as the raping and killing of women and children. A temporary cease-fire followed which was mitigated by the UN Security Council. Subsequently, the Greek military Junta collapsed on July 23, 1974, and peace talks commenced in which a democratic government was installed. The Resolution 353 was broken after Turkey attacked a second time and managed to get a hold of 37% of Cyprus territory. The Island of Cyprus was appointed a Buffer Zone by the United Nations, which divided the island into two zones through the 'Green Line' and put an end to the Turkish invasion. Although Turkey announced that the occupied areas of Cyprus to be called the Federated Turkish State in 1975, it is not legitimised on a worldwide political scale. The United Nations called for the international recognition of independence for the Republic of Cyprus in the Security Council Resolution 367.

 

In the years after the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus one can observe a history of failed talks between the two parties. The 1983 declaration of the independent Turkish Republic of Cyprus resulted in a rise of inter-communal tensions and made it increasingly hard to find mutual understanding. With Cyprus' interest of a possible EU membership and a new UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1997 new hopes arose for a fresh start. International involvement from sides of the US and UK, wanting a solution to the Cyprus dispute prior to the EU accession led to political pressures for new talks. The believe that an accession without a solution would threaten Greek-Turkish relations and acknowledge the partition of the island would direct the coming negotiations.

 

Over the course of two years a concrete plan, the Annan plan was formulated. In 2004 the fifth version agreed upon from both sides and with the endorsement of Turkey, US, UK and EU then was presented to the public and was given a referendum in both Cypriot communities to assure the legitimisation of the resolution. The Turkish Cypriots voted with 65% for the plan, however the Greek Cypriots voted with a 76% majority against. The Annan plan contained multiple important topics. Firstly it established a confederation of two separate states called the United Cyprus Republic. Both communities would have autonomous states combined under one unified government. The members of parliament would be chosen according to the percentage in population numbers to ensure a just involvement from both communities. The paper proposed a demilitarisation of the island over the next years. Furthermore it agreed upon a number of 45000 Turkish settlers that could remain on the island. These settlers became a very important issue concerning peace talks. Originally the Turkish government encouraged Turks to settle in Cyprus providing transfer and property, to establish a counterpart to the Greek Cypriot population due to their 1 to 5 minority. With the economic situation many Turkish-Cypriot decided to leave the island, however their departure is made up by incoming Turkish settlers leaving the population ratio between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots stable. However all these points where criticised and as seen in the vote rejected mainly by the Greek Cypriots. These name the dissolution of the „Republic of Cyprus", economic consequences of a reunion and the remaining Turkish settlers as reason. Many claim that the plan was indeed drawing more from Turkish-Cypriot demands then Greek-Cypriot interests. Taking in consideration that the US wanted to keep Turkey as a strategic partner in future Middle Eastern conflicts.

 

A week after the failed referendum the Republic of Cyprus joined the EU. In multiple instances the EU tried to promote trade with Northern Cyprus but without internationally recognised ports this spiked a grand debate. Both side endure their intention of negotiations, however without the prospect of any new compromises or agreements the UN is unwilling to start the process again. Since 2004 negotiations took place in numbers but without any results, both sides are strongly holding on to their position without an agreeable solution in sight that would suit both parties.

Clockwise from top:

1. Set of 3 keys - Parent's house, apartment, apartment mailbox.

2. Key and remote to Ford Taurus, my lovely old man car.

3. Masterlock key for luggage lock.

4. New Super Mario Bros. Mushroom keychain (from play-asia.com)

5. Pac-Man keychain, from E3 (a friend sent it to me)

6. 512MB Sandisk Cruzer (old style) Been through hell and back, still works perfect. Tinted at work with gradient orange/black dye.

7. The actual loop for the keychain center itself. Every "section" comes off the blue center by sliding the button inwards.

My current Haunted Colletion :p

I'll probably try to have Draculaura & Clawdeen later this month to complete the set

I want Rochelle and Spectra so bad, they are just divine, but they aren't out yet so I have to wait and by Ula-D & Clawdeen first ^^

I'm so glad I've been able to have them before Christmas :D I soooooo wanted Porter and Vandala, and look, I have the whole Student Spirits Set !!! I'm just in love with them, even more than I was expecting, but look at them, they so great

I love ghost, I can't deny it, I also love Werewolf but... Actually I'm not a big fan of Clawdeen soooooo.... Anyways, Sorry if my descriptions are weird and pointless, I'm sick (bad cold) and I don't think straight XD

View On Black

 

I appreciate every comment on my photos, especially when it is in your own words and not only a copy&paste comment code, but please do not add invites or awards with gaudy images bigger than thumbnail-size or any animated gifs - thank you!

 

See where this picture was taken. [?]

 

Meine Bilder bei darckr / View my pictures on darckr

Bro lent a hand in posing.

 

Missing: Misere :<

Website | Tumblr | Instagram

Thirty years later it could be a photograph of myself.

I was never interested in current fashions, whilst my friends in the mid 1960s were seeking the latest shade of anorak and trousers, I was quite happy with a waterproof raincoat, my only objection was if the hat fixed under my chin, for some reason after a couple of outings, the chin cord seem to fail and become lost.

I was fine with the fashions of the 1930s-1950s.

Current moments from our gallery

www.greenaqua.hu

NPS / Jacob W. Frank

Thank goodness for today's high index lenses that take away lots of the thickness. These are my new glasses with identical frames as those purchased in October, 2009. Notice that I'm not wearing the spongy nose pads with these. Yay!

Current updates from our aquascaping gallery

www.greenaqua.hu

 

Check out our YouTube channel:

www.youtube.com/greenaquashop

Current keeper since 2001.

 

I nearly missed this one, were I not out drinking with a Corsa fan I'd have perhaps not tried - However, worth it now, seeing it's had the same keeper for almost 24 years. Around 54k covered.

 

There's still a few Corsa Bs around here, a 'W' one I should capture but I've not had the opportunity to yet.

Detailing is nearly complete and hopefully will be finished tomorrow evening.

Currently England is undergoing something of a heat wave. Our hottest day happened last Saturday and we reached highs of 30 Degrees Celsius. I was speaking to Cassandra about it, and she was amused that we find this "Absolutely boiling", as I pointed out though, we have no air-con, which makes things very debilitating.

 

This was last Sunday, Emma from work was having her 7 month baby Katelyn and her son Matthew christened. By some crazy fluke, the Lovely and I arrived 30mins early, my fault- I thought it started at 2pm. So with time to kill and heat to endure, we decided to shoot me a selfie.

 

I really like the vibe of this image. I have wanted to shoot something in a graveyard for a long time, yet it seemed wrong for a lot of reasons.

I will elaborate more on this title at some point. I took it from the gravestone behind me, but it struck a chord when I was naming this image. I've been spending a lot of time recently asking myself what i am doing with my time/life and looking at the options available. I have no fixed answers yet, but paths seem to be opening up. I firmly believe that everyone has a path and it is written. It's up to us to get on board and enjoy the full potential of our destiny!

*currently used to store tires*

Thomas Built International S-1800

Seats 66C 44A Stands 12 C

 

In its current incarnation as the Rendezvous Grand, the hotel on Melbourne's Flinders Street was once in fact, the Commercial Travellers Association Building.

 

The Commercial Travellers Association Building was designed by architect Harry Tompkins in 1912 and completed in 1913. It is one of the finest and most distinct expressions of the Edwardian Baroque style in Melbourne. This grand classical non-domestic style, featuring a combination of Beaux Arts Classicism with a revival of English Baroque sources, was adopted as the style of choice for department stores, emporiums and other large commercial establishments in Melbourne in the first two decades of the 20th Century. It was thus an eminently suitable style for the headquarters of the roving disciples of commerce, the Commercial Travellers Association. The building was the winning entry in a competition organised by the Association and judged by the well-respected Percy Oakden, an indication of the high regard in which the building was held by Harry Tompkins' architect peers.

 

The Commercial Travellers Association Building is of architectural significance for a number of innovations, such as the use of welded wire reinforcing mesh, perhaps the first use of such material in Victoria, and "Mack" slab cement partitions, the only known use of this technology in Victoria. It was also one of Australias earliest steel framed buildings. It comprises a basement and nine storeys. The ground floor is faced with granite. The facade above is partially rendered and partially faced with (formerly) cream glazed bricks. An unusual feature, the choice of such bricks was used to combat discolouration caused by pollution from the busy city thoroughfare and the nearby railway yards opposite. The rendered areas are treated in an ornate fashion, with exaggerated classical detailing including foliated swags, medallions and cartouches. It features a colonnade of the second floor (also known as a piano nobile), which is supported on massive, oversized consoles. Consoles also support the cornice surmounting the facade. Oriel windows rise through the second and third floors and are topped with balconettes. There are also balconettes on the eighth floor.

 

Leadlight is featured in some of the windows, mainly at the lower levels. The building is an early example of steel-framed construction, with reinforced concrete floors and a combination of terra cotta lumber and cement slab for non-structural internal walls. The building also boasted equipment such as a built-in vacuum cleaning plant, electrically heated service lifts, potato peeling machines, telephones in each room (the height of opulent luxury), a dish washing machine and large electric toaster. The building was also the tallest in Melbourne until the construction of the Manchester Unity Building, completed in 1932, and the first to be constrained to the new city height limit of one hundred and thirty two feet. The Commercial Travellers Association Building is of architectural significance as one of the most impressive buildings created by Harry Tompkins.

 

The building ceased functioning as the Commercial Travellers Association club in 1976 and fell into disrepair before being partially restored as the Duxton Hotel in the late 1990s. When commercial viability saw the Duxton close its doors, the Rendezvous Hospitality Group took on the project of meticulously restoring the hotel, retaining the elegant style of the early 1900s while providing guests with all the convenience of the 21st Century; what today is known as the Rendezvous Grand Hotel.

 

Harry Tompkins was one of Melbourne's best commercial architects during the first three decades of the 20th Century. He had a long relationship with the Commercial Travellers Association and also with Sydney Myer, for whom he designed the first Myer Emporium building. Harry Tompkins served two terms as President of the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects between 1914 and 1916, a reflection of his esteemed position in the architectural profession. Other well-known buildings for which he was responsible include Dimmeys Model Stores on Swan Street in Richmond, the London Stores on Bourke Street and the Centreway Arcade in Collins Street.

Current Kmart location in Vernon, CT

St Andrew, Westhall, Suffolk

 

I'm currently preparing a new page for Westhall at suffolkchurches.co.uk - I'm parking the old one here so it doesn't get lost forever.

 

Listen: come with me. We’ll set off from the Queen’s Head at Blyford, a fine and welcoming pub across the road from that village’s little church. Perhaps we’ll have just had lunch, and we’ll be sitting outside with a couple of pints of Adnams. You’d like to stay there in the sunshine for the rest of the afternoon, but I’m going to take you somewhere special, so stir yourself. You are probably thinking it is Holy Trinity at Blythburgh, Suffolk’s finest church a couple of miles away on the main A12. But it isn’t.

 

Nor is it St Andrew at Wenhaston, a mile away across the bridge, and home of the Doom, one of Suffolk’s greatest medieval art treasures. You’ve already seen that.

 

No. Within a few miles of the pub sign (notice that it features St Etheldreda, whose father King Anna was killed in battle on the Blyth marshes) there is a third of Suffolk’s finest churches. It is the least known of the three, partly because it is so carefully hidden, so secreted away, and partly because Simon Jenkins, inconceivably, unforgivably, missed it out of his book England’s Thousand Best Churches.This may yet have serious consequences, as we shall see.

 

Blyford is on the main road between Halesworth and Dunwich, but we are going to take a narrow lane that you might almost miss if you weren’t with me. It leads northwards, and is quickly enveloped by oak-buttressed hedgerows, beyond which thin fields spread. Pheasants scuttle across the road in front of us; a hare watches warily for a moment before kicking sulkily back into the ditch (we are on foot perhaps, or bicycle). Occasional lanes thread off towards the woods and the sea.

 

After a couple of miles, we reach the obscenity of a main road, and cross it quickly, leaving it behind us. Now, the lane narrows severely, the banks steepening, trees arching above us. They guard the silence, until our tunnel doglegs suddenly, and an obscure stream appears beyond the hedgerow. Once, on a late winter afternoon, my dream was disturbed here by a startled heron rising up, its bony legs clacking dryly as it took flight over my head. I felt the rush of its wings.

 

This road was not designed for cars. Instead, it traces the ancient field pattern, cutting across the ends of strips and then along the sides, connecting long-vanished settlements. The lane splits (we take the right fork) and splits again (the left) and suddenly we are descending steeply into a secret glade shrouded in ancient tree canopies. The lane curves, narrows and opens – and here we are. Still, you might not notice it, because the church is still camouflaged by the trees, and the absurdity of the neighbouring bungalow with its kitschy garden may distract you; but to your right, in a silent velvet graveyard sits St Andrew, Westhall. It has been described in one book as Suffolk’s best kept secret.

 

I hope that I can convey to you something of why this place is so special. Firstly, notice the unusual layout of the building as you walk around it. That fine late 13th century tower, not too high despite its post-Reformation bell-stage, organic and at one with the trees; the breathtaking little Norman church that spreads to the east of it. And then, to the north, a large 13th century nave, thatched and rustic. It was designed for this graveyard, for this glade. Neither has changed much. Beyond it, the grand 14th century chancel, rudely filling almost the entire east end of the graveyard. Perhaps as we step around to the north side the same thing will happen as happened to me one muggy Saturday afternoon in July 2003 – a tawny owl sat watching me on a headstone, and then threw itself furiously into the air and away.

 

Your first thought may be that here we have two churches joined together – and this is almost exactly right. You can see the same thing on a similar timescale at Ufford, although the development there is rather more subtle than it is here.

 

Here at Westhall, there was a Norman church – an early one. Several hundred years later a tower was built to the west of it, and then the vast new nave to the north. A hundred years later came the chancel. Perhaps the east end of the Norman church was rebuilt at this time. Mortlock thinks that there was once a Norman chancel, and this may be so. The old church became a south aisle, the particular preserve perhaps of the Bohun family. They married into the famous Coke family, who we have already met at nearby Bramfield.

 

And so, we step inside. We may do so through the fine north porch; it is a wide, open one, clearly intended for the carrying out of parish business. It was probably the last substantial part of the church to be built, on the eve of the Reformation. The door appears contemporary. Or, I might send you round to step in through the Norman doorway on the south side, into the body of the original church.

 

You expect dust and decay, perhaps, in such a remote place. But this is a well-kept church, lovingly maintained and well-used. Although there are a couple of old benches scattered about, most of the seating is early 19th century, with that delightful cinema curve to the western row which was fashionable immediately before the Oxford Movement and the Camden Society sent out their great resacramentalising waves, and English churches were never the same again.

 

If you step in from the south, then you are immediately confronted with something so stunning, so utterly wonderful, that we are going to pretend you cannot believe your eyes, and you pass it by. Instead, draw back the curtain, and step into the space beneath the tower. Walk to the western wall, and turn back.

 

You are confronted with the main entrance of a grand post-conquest church, probably about 1100. Surviving faces in the unfinished ranges look like something out of Wallace and Grommit. Above, an arcade of windows, the central one open. Almost a thousand years ago, it would have thrown summer evening light on the altar.

 

As you step back into the aisle, it is now easy to see it as the nave it once was. The northern wall has now gone, replaced by a low arcade, and you step through into the wideness of the modern (it is only 600 years old!) nave.

 

Here, then, let us at last allow ourselves an exploration of Suffolk’s other great medieval art survival. This is Westhall’s famous font, one of the seven sacrament series, but more haunting than all the others because it still retains almost all its original colour.

 

The Mass panel is the most familiar, because it is the cover of Eamonn Duffy’s majestic The Stripping of the Altars. The other panels, anti-clockwise from this, are Last Rites, Reconciliation, Matrimony, Confirmation, Baptism, Ordination, and the odd panel out, the Baptism of Christ.

 

The font asks more questions than it answers. How did it survive? Suffolk has 13 Seven Sacrament fonts in various states of repair. Those nearby at Blythburgh, Wenhaston and Southwold are clearly from the same group as this one, but have been completely effaced. Other good ones survive nearby at Weston and Great Glemham, at Monk Soham, at neighbours Woodbridge and Melton, neighbours Cratfield and Laxfield, at Denston in the south west and at Badingham. We don’t know how many others there might have been; probably not many, for most East Anglian churches have a surviving medieval font of another design. The surviving panels were probably plastered over during the long puritan night (the damage to the figures is probably a result of making the faces flush rather than any attempt at iconoclasm) but they were also all probably once coloured. So why has only this one survived in that state?

 

The other feature of the font that is quite, quite extraordinary is the application of gessowork for the tabernacled figures between the faces. This is plaster of Paris which is moulded on and allowed to dry – it can then be carved. It is sometimes used on wood to achieve fine details, but rarely on stone. Was it once found widely elsewhere? How has it survived here?

 

If it was just for the font, then St Andrew would still be an essential destination for anyone interested in medieval churches. But there are several other features that, in any other church, would be considered equally essential.

 

There is the screen. It is a bit of a curiosity. Firstly, the two painted ranges are clearly the work of different artists. On the south side are female Saints, very similar in style to those on the screen at Ufford. The artists helpfully labelled them, and they are St Etheldreda (the panel bearing her left half has been lost) St Sitha, St Agnes, St Bridget, St Catherine, St Dorothy, St Margaret of Aleppo and finally one of the most essential Saints in the medieval economy of grace, St Apollonia - she it was who could be asked to intercede against toothache. With the possible exception of St Margaret, modern Anglicans would think of all of these as peculiarly Catholic Saints, a reminder that St Andrew was built, after all, as a Catholic church.

 

The depictions on the northern part of the screen are much simpler (Pevsner thought them crude) and are probably painted by a local artist. Note the dedicatory inscription along the top on this side; it is barely legible, but the names Margarete and Tome Felton and Richard Lore and Margaret Alen are still discernible. I think the figures on this screen are equally fascinating, if not more so. They are all easily recognisable, and are fondly rendered. With one remarkable exception, they are familiar to us from many popular images.

 

The first is Saint James in his pilgrim's garb, as if about to set out for Santiago de Compostella. The power of such an image to medieval people in a backwater like north-east Suffolk should not be underestimated. Next comes St Leonard, associated with the Christian duty of visiting prisoners - perhaps this had a local resonance. Thirdly, there is a triumphant St Michael, one of the major Saints of the late medieval panoply, and then St Clement, the patron Saint of seafarers. This is interesting, because although Westhall is a good six miles from the sea, it is much closer to the Blyth river, which was probably much wider and faster in medieval times. It seems strange to think of Westhall as having a relationship with the sea, but it probably did.

 

Next comes the remarkable exception. The next three panels represent between them the Transfiguration; Christ on a mountain top between the two figures of Moses and Elijah. It is the only surviving medieval screen representation of the Transfiguration in England. Eamonn Duffy, in The Stripping of the Altars, argues that here at Westhall is priceless evidence of the emergence of a new cult on the eve of the Reformation, which would snuff it out. Another representation survived in a wall painting at Hawkedon, but has faded away during the last half century.

 

The last panel is St Anthony of Egypt, recognisable from the dear little pig at his feet. I wonder if it was painted from the life.

 

There is a fascinating wall painting against the north wall. It shows St Christopher, as you might expect. St Christopher was a special devotion in the hearts of medieval churchgoers, and usually sits opposite the main entrance so that they could look in at the start of the day and receive his blessing. As a surviving inscription at Creeting St Peter reminds us, anyone who looks on the image in the morning would be spared a sudden death that day. It is the other figures in the illustration that are remarkable, though, for one of them is clearly Moses, wearing his ‘horns of light’ (an early medieval mistranslation of ‘halo’).

 

There are a couple of other wall-paintings, including a beautiful flower-surrounded consecration cross beside the south door, and a painted image niche alcove in the eastern splay of a window in the south wall. This is odd; it should have a figure in it, but none appears to have been painted there. Perhaps it was intended to have a statue placed in front of it, but the window sill is very steep, and it is hard to see how a statue could have been positioned there. DD surmised that there had once been a stand, the base of which was canted in some manner, and that the sill had once been less steep (the base of the painting seems to suggest this). Whatever, it is very odd.

 

Between the painted niche and consecration cross there are surviving traces of a large painting; it seems to consist of the leafy surrounds of seven large roundels. Mortlock wondered if it might have been a sequence of the Seven Works of Mercy as at Trotton in Sussex, but there is insufficient remaining to tell.

 

Nicholas Bohun's tomb, in very poor repair, sits in the south-east corner; an associated brass gives you rather more information than you might think you need. A George III royal arms hangs above.

 

If you haven't lost your appetite for the extraordinary, come back up into the apparently completely Victorianised chancel. Chalice brasses are incredibly rare, because of their Catholic imagery. Westhall had two of them, although unfortunately only the matrices survive. Then, look up; on one of the roof beams is an image of the Holy Trinity, with God the Father holding the Crucified Christ between his knees. There is probably a dove as well, although that is not visible from the ground. Indeed, the whole thing is too small, as if the artist hadn't really thought about the scale needed for it to be seen from the chancel floor.

 

So there we are, I've let you in on Suffolk's best-kept secret. But I said earlier that I was afraid Simon Jenkins’s omission of this church might have serious consequences. Here is why: there is an ongoing programme of essential repairs, and the church has had to raise tens of thousands of pounds at fairly short notice. The parish has less than a hundred people living in it, and the congregation is barely in double figures. The church is clearly a national treasure, and its continued survival is essential; but it is difficult to convince people of this, because it has been missed out of what is increasingly being treated as a heritage wish-list. It was bad enough that Pevsner’s books were used as arbiters of what should survive when redundancies loomed in the 1970s; it would be appalling if the Jenkins book was used in the same way now.

Current setup - new MacBook Pro on left, rejuvenated iMac on right, and my 20" nec monitor in middle. Canon i9900 printer, and Epson scanner on left. That's my mom in the picture. And - oh yeah - GO BLUE!

This circa 1980 photograph shows Boulevard Lake and the Current River Bridge. It appears to have been taken from the Bluffs. Grain elevators and Lake Superior are also visible.

 

Accession 1991-03 #35

 

For more information about Thunder Bay's history, visit www.thunderbay.ca/archives

I love that the wallpaper on my laptop in this photo is actually the previous photo in my flickr stream.

via Instagram ift.tt/2SoNRpl

2 x Dell 1907FP Flat Panel LCDs

Apple Mac Mini Core Duo 1.66Ghz + 2GB ram

Custom PC - Intel E6400 2.13Ghz + 2GB ram

Logitech MX3200

Lenovo X61 T7300 + 2GB ram

  

Pioneer 5.1 Surround sound

Polaroid FLM-3232 32" LCD TV (looks green/blue in pic?)

Scientific Atlanta Cable Box

   

My second copy of this lens.

 

In summary this is what I found with the 3 copies I received:

 

Each additional copy I received the FOV angle was slightly wider; in other words, the second lens was slightly wider than the first and the third lens was slightly wider than the second.

 

The first copy had a soft spot in the focus (constant friction on the end-points but somewhere in the middle of the focus throw it got loose for a bit, almost like it didn’t have and even application of grease). The second copy was smooth as silk. The third copy was smooth but has a little bit of a gritty sound to it, but nothing too annoying.

 

The second copy had a large speck of dust under the outer element whereas the first and second were spotless.

 

Captured with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II and Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC lens.

 

that's my current set up in the Palo Alto apartment I'll stay until end of march. Loosing weight running from one side to other of the desk :)

Fisherman ventures into the sea to get some fish he gets submeged in the waves unmindfully Please observe the splash of water as he makes his way against the current

It's starting to get tight in the photo bag...

 

LowePro Mini Trekker II AW Black.

 

Picture taken with our Canon IXUS 85IS compact camera.

Current Callsign CK 43A1. This photograph was taken during a visit with the Fire Brigade Society

Madraza de Granada, ﻣﺩﺭﺴة , Université Arabe de Grenade

 

English :

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

(Spanish: Madraza de Granada, also Yusufiyya, Casa de la Ciencia, Palacio de la Madraza) was a Madrasah or mosque school in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. It was founded in 1349 by the Nasrid monarch Yusuf I, Sultan of Granada.The building is currently part of the University of Granada and is the seat of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de Nuestra Señora de las Angustias ("Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Our Lady of Sorrows")

 

It is located on the street now known as Calle Oficios. The madrasah was built at the heart of the city, near the main mosque (now the site of the Granada Cathedral) and the Alcaicería, then the elite bazaar where silk, gold, linen and other cloth were traded. Ibn al-Khatib was an early student there; among his teachers were Ibn al-Fajjar, Ibn Marzuq, and Ibn al-Hayy (language and law); Ibn al-Hakam and the poet Ibn al-Yayyab (rhetoric); and Sheik Yahya ibn Hudayl (medicine and philosophy).

 

Among the subjects taught were theology, law, medicine, astronomy, logic, mathematics including geometry, and mechanics.

 

Ibn Hazm (Fisal) gives us some indication of the curriculum of the "Andalusian school of philosophy": "Consecrate the first fruits of your intelligence to mathematics and begin your scientific education by his deep study of the properties of numbers. Then gradually pass to consider the position of the stars, the apparent shape of the celestial sphere, how to verify the passage of the sun, moon and five planets (…) all other phenomena and accidents physical and atmospheric. Add to this the reading of certain books of the Greeks in which they determine the laws governing discursive reasoning."

 

The building

As was typical of the works of Yusuf I, the building was splendid with a white marble entrance whose remains are now in the Archaeological Museum of Granada. The building was originally organized around a pool in the center.

 

The façade was decorated with inscriptions of poetry and philosophy. Among these were the words "If in your spirit you provide a place for the desire to study and to flee from the shadows of ignorance, you will find in it the beautiful tree of honor. Make study shine like stars to the great, and to those who are not, bring to them the same brilliance."

 

After the completion of the Reconquista and the conversion to the Cabildo an adjacent house was annexed to enlarge the building. The octagonal Mudéjar Sala de Cabildos was constructed in this era; its 1513 decoration included an inscription alluding to the Christian conquest of the city. Eventually the pool was filled in and converted to other uses, although even after the modifications of 1554–1556, Francisco Henríquez de Jorquera describes a patio with a pool and a garden. The building was subject to major modifications, especially in the 1722–1729 at the height of the Baroque, so that what we have today is essentially an 18th-century building with elements of older buildings. The oratory or mihrab is original from the 14th century; the Sala de los Caballeros XXIV is Mudéjar.

 

The building, which belongs to the University of Granada,underwent extensive archeological excavations in 2006–2007.As of February 2009, restoration of the interior was just beginning, and the building is not currently open to the public.

 

History

 

The Madrasah functioned as a university until late 1499 or early 1500, under the Treaty of Granada (1491), under which the sultan Boabdil of the Emirate of Granada surrendered to the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella. However, towards the end of 1499, the policy of tolerance and compliance with that treaty under archbishop Hernando de Talavera, came to an abrupt end with the arrival in Granada of Gonzalo Jiménez de Cisneros, who substituted a policy of forced religious conversions.

 

This new policy led to an uprising in Granada, above all in the Albaicín. Cisneros took advantage of the situation to assault the Madrasah, the contents of whose library was brought to the plaza of Bib-Rambla and burned in a public bonfire. Once pillaged and closed, the building was designated in 1500 by Ferdinand II to be the new Casa del Cabildo (city hall).

 

In 1858 the town hall moved to the Plaza del Carmen, and the building was sold to be used as a textile warehouse. Two years later, the principal inscription of the Mihrab was discovered. There was also some fire damage in this era; the Echeverría family, owners of the building, hired Mariano Contreras, the same architect who restored the Alhambra, to undertake the repairs.

 

The city bought back the building in the early 20th century, leading to further restoration work in 1939. There was an unsuccessful attempt in 1942 to turn the building into the seat of a new Instituto de los Reyes Católicos del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas ("Catholic Monarchs Institute of the Superior Council of Scientific Investigations"). In 1976, the building became part of the University of Granada.

 

Español:

 

Detalle de la fachada de la Madraza de Granada.

La Madraza de Granada (del árabe ﻣﺩﺭﺴة escuela; también llamada Yusufiyya, Casa de la Ciencia o Palacio de la Madraza) fue la primera universidad con la que contó Granada, en España. Fue inaugurada en 1349 por el rey nazarí Yusuf I de Granada.1 En la actualidad este palacio pertenece a la Universidad de Granada, dedicándose casi todo el edificio para actividades culturales. También es la sede de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de Nuestra Señora de las Angustias.

 

Situada en la que actualmente se denomina calle Oficios, la madraza se encontraba en uno de los sitios privilegiados de la ciudad, junto a la Mezquita Mayor y la Alcaicería, la zona más noble del comercio. Entre sus profesores podemos nombrar a Ibn al-Fajjar, Ibn Lubb, Ibn Marzuk, al-Maqqari, Ibn al-Jatib, etc. Impartía, entre otras, enseñanzas de derecho, medicina y matemáticas.

 

Su arquitectura, como todas las obras de Yusuf I, era esplendorosa, con portada de mármol blanco cuyos restos se conservan en el Museo Arqueológico de Granada. El edificio se organizaba a partir de una alberca central (las recientes excavaciones arqueológicas realizadas en el edificio han incorporado estos restos al palacio). Dentro del mismo destaca la sala del Oratorio musulmán del siglo XIV y en planta superior el salón de Caballeros XXIV que conserva una impresionante armadura mudéjar del siglo XVI en la sala que sirvió como lugar de reuniones de los regidores de la ciudad tras la reconquista.

 

Entre los poemas que la decoraban podía leerse: "Si en tu espíritu hace asiento el deseo del estudio y de huir de las sombras de la ignorancia, hallarás en ella el hermoso árbol del honor. Hace el estudio brillar como estrellas a los grandes, y a los que no lo son los eleva a igual lucimiento".3

 

La Madraza funcionó como Universidad hasta finales de 1499 o principios de 1500, pues en las Capitulaciones, tras la conquista castellana, se hacía constar que la madraza seguiría funcionando como tal. Pero, hacia finales de 1499, con la llegada a Granada de Gonzalo Jiménez de Cisneros, la política de tolerancia y cumplimiento de las Capitulaciones que había venido desarrollando el arzobispo Hernando de Talavera fue sustituida por la conversión forzosa.4

 

Esta nueva política llevó a la sublevación de los moriscos, concentrados sobre todo en el Albaicín. La situación fue aprovechada por Cisneros para asaltar la Madraza, cuya biblioteca fue llevada a la plaza de Bib-Rambla y quemada en hoguera pública. Una vez expoliada y clausurada, el edificio de la Madraza fue donado por Fernando II de Aragón, en 1500, para el Cabildo (Ayuntamiento).

 

Actualmente, el edificio de la madraza pertenece a la Universidad de Granada.1 En los años 2006 y 2007 ha sido profundamente restaurado y se ha realizado también una excavación arqueológica del mismo. Desde finales de 2011 terminada la última fase de las restauraciones, la Madraza ha vuelto a abrirse al público, siendo uno de los edificios emblemáticos de la Universidad.

This is how I've been spending much of my time lately, building up inventory to take back to the States in July to sell! It's fun and challenging!

A part of my current setup, although I've shuffled a lot of it around whilst I work on the Mac Mini project. Still got the iMac, eMac, PowerBook G4 sitting on the other side of the room.

Ubuntu 8.10, Gnome. Tweaked a bit.

 

Useful tablet controls along the bottom are usually hidden, but appear when the transparent bar is moused-over.

 

Metacity theme is ClearGlow

Icons are Gnome-Wise

Wallpaper is Grassy Sunset

Not pictured: Gnome Do (awesome)