The castle dates back to a residential tower and the lords of Gerlachus Otto and his brother Lynn,

who in the 12th century was built with an area of approximately 8.5 x 14.5 m at this

point in tuff and gravel. Already around the year 1000, there were at this point a moth,

an artificial hill surrounded by a moat with a tower protected by palisades of wood.

 

The first construction consisted of a longer non-preserved ramparts of tufa on the

north side of the castle hill. Otto von Linn sold the "Allodium de Linne"

in 1188 for 100 marks, at the Cologne Archbishop Philip von Heinsberg,

Castle retained but identified as fiefs, before he himself took part as a young man

in the Third Crusade.

 

Inspired by the Byzantine fortress architecture Otto built the castle on his return

with the proceeds from Cologne on.The old shield wall was initially closed in four

phases with a modern brick wall of bricks to a ring.

 

After its completion, the weak shield wall removed and added to the wall

in two further stages to its current six-sided shape.

The first three sections are exactly half of the planned six-sided walls,

and were fairly steady pace built between 1195 and 1200.

 

Later, a result exactly mirror symmetric hexagon. For unknown reasons, the second half

of the wall is not built so precisely. As early as the fourth phase of construction

was carried out in 1202 to less than expected, which influenced the shape and size

of the remaining wall in the last two stages. Then the work came to a halt.

The last two sections were completed only in 1230 and 1250.

The St. Walburgis Church in Zutphen in the Netherlands.

The largest and oldest church of the city is the St. Walburgis (Saint Walpurga) Church, which originally dates from the twelfth century. The present Gothic building contains monuments of the former counts of Zutphen, a thirteenth century candelabrum, an elaborate copper font (1527), and a modern monument to the Van Heeckeren family.

The chapter-house ("Librije") contains a pre-Reformation library which includes some valuable manuscripts and incunabula. It is considered one of only 5 remaining medieval libraries in Europe (the other 4 being in England and Italy respectively).

The old books are still chained to their ancient wooden desk, a habit of centuries ago, dating from the times the library was a "public library" and where the chains prevented the books from being stolen.

 

Zutphen (about 47,000 inhabitants) is a old city in the province of Gelderland. It lies some 30 km north-east of Arnhem, on the Eastern bank of the river IJssel at the point where it is joined by the Berkel. The name Zutphen (first mentioned in the eleventh century) appears to mean ‘zuid-veen’, or in English, south-fen.

The history of Zutphen covers more than 1700 years. About 300 AD a Germanic settlement was the first permanent town on a complex of low river dunes. The Normans raided and ravaged it about 900. Afterwards a system of walls was built to protect the budding town. The town received city rights between 1190 and 1196, making it one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands.

It also became part of the Hanze, a group of cities with great wealth, this group of cities were the economic center in that part of Europe during the Late Middle Ages.

 

De St. Walburgiskerk in Zutphen

De St. Walburgiskerk werd gesticht en gebouwd als Romaanse kapittelkerk omstreeks 1050, verbouwd in romano-gotische Keulse stijl in 1200-1270, daarna vergroot in de 14e, 15e en vroege 16e eeuw tot een grote hallenkerk, een voorbeeld van rijke Nederrijnse gotiek. In de toren hangen zes klokken die nog altijd met de hand geluid worden, op zaterdagavond vanaf 18.00 uur en vóór de kerkdiensten. In de viering hangt het Angelusklokje, dat dagelijks te horen is.

Bij de kerk hoort sinds 1561 de Librije, een bibliotheek met 750 oude folianten die vastgeketend zijn op eeuwenoude lectrijnen, lessenaars, om diefstal te voorkomen. Behalve de Librije zijn er nog maar twee andere 'kettingbibliotheken' bewaard gebleven, in het Italiaanse Cesena en het Engelse Hereford.

De Librije is gesticht als een 'openbare' bibliotheek voor welgestelde Zutphenaren, en tegenwoordig een belangrijke collectie van voornamelijk 15e-17e-eeuwse boeken.

 

De huidige gemeente Zutphen (soms ook als Zutfen geschreven) telt ongeveer 47.000 inwoners, de stad alleen ongeveer 32.000. De naam Zutphen wordt voor het eerst in de elfde eeuw genoemd en lijkt 'Zuid-Veen' te betekenen.

De geschiedenis van Zutphen omvat meer dan 1700 jaar. Ongeveer 300 na Christus was een Germaanse nederzetting het begin van de eerste permanente bewoning op een complex van lage rivierduinen. De Noormannen plunderden en verwoestte het rond 900. Daarna werd een stelsel van muren gebouwd ter bescherming van de ontluikende stad. De stad kreeg stadsrechten tussen 1190 en 1196, waardoor het een van de oudste steden van Nederland is. Ook werd Zutphen lid van de Hanze, een groep van steden met een grote rijkdom. Deze groep van steden waren het economische centrum in dit deel van Europa (Oostzee en Noordzee) tijdens de late Middeleeuwen.

______________________________________________________________________

 

All rights reserved. Copyright © Martien Uiterweerd. All my images are protected under international authors copyright laws and may not be downloaded, reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without my written explicit permission.

______________________________________________________________________

  

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© Photo By Oswaldo Ordóñez. All rights reserved. 2025

The oldest document pertaining to the use of masks in Venice dates back to 2nd May 1268. In the document it is written that it was forbidden for masqueraders to practice the game of the "eggs". From the early 14th century onwards, new laws started to be promulgated, with the aim of stopping the relentless moral decline of the Venetian people of the day. This restrictive carnival legislation started with a decree on 22nd February 1339 prohibiting masqueraders from going around the city at night. A decree that helps us understand just how libertine the Venetians of the day were, is that of the 24th January 1458 which forbade men from entering convents dressed as women to commit "multas inhonestates"! In a similar vein, the decree of 3rd February 1603 is interesting in that it attempted to restore morality in the convents.

 

Masqueraders were banned from entering the nuns’ parlous – it had been the convention to sit in the parlous and talk to the nuns. Frequently, decrees were promulgated prohibiting masqueraders from carrying arms or any instrument which could cause harm, or other decrees which forbade masqueraders from entering churches. This obligation was extended to the townsfolk who were not allowed to enter churches wearing "indecent attire". 1608 was an important year, the 13th August to be precise, when a decree from the council of 10 was issued declaring that the wearing of the mask throughout the year posed a serious threat to the Republic. To avoid the terrible consequences of this immoral behavior, every citizen, nobleman and foreigner alike, was obliged to only wear a mask during the days of carnival and at official banquets.

 

The penalties inflicted for breaking this law were heavy – for a man this meant two years in jail, 18 months’ service to the Republic galley-rowing (with ankles fettered) and not only that, a 500 lire fine to the Council of 10. As for women, they were whipped from St Mark’s all the way to Rialto, then held to public ridicule between the two columns in St Mark’s. They were banned from entering the territory of the Venetian Republic for 4 years and had to pay the 500 lire fine to the Council of 10. 50 years after the decree of 1608, the Council of 10 published a proclamation on the 15th January reaffirming the ban on wearing masks and bearing arms.

 

It was further prohibited to enter holy places wearing a mask and it was expressly forbidden to wear religious clothes with a mask. In the same decree the use of drums was banned before midday, and even dancing of any description was prohibited outside of the carnival period. Seeing that many Venetian nobles used to go gambling wearing a mask to avoid their creditors, in 1703, masks were banned all year round from casinos.

 

Two different decrees (1699 and 1718) saw the prohibition of wearing a mask during Lent and other religious festivals which took place during carnival. In 1776, an act introduced to protect the by now forgotten "family honor", forbade all women from going to the theatre without a mask and cloak. After the fall of the Republic, the Austrian government forbade the use of masks for both private parties and elite parties (e.g., la Cavalchina della Fenice) . The Italo-American government was more open but now it was the Venetians who were being diffident. Venice was no longer the city of carnival, but just a little imperial province without personal liberty. During the second Austrian government it was once again permitted to wear masks.

 

New NextUp Release for YULETIDE MARKET Event

 

Event Dates: December 7, 2022 (12am SLT) - December 31. 2022

 

Event: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/BellaTECH%20Productions/17...

 

Store: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Nymphai/35/189/21

Dates back to 1620

date palms in the old town Tortosa- the dates are surprisingly tasty....

Gent - Gravensteen

 

The Gravensteen (Dutch; literally "Castle of the Counts") is a medieval castle at Ghent, East Flanders in Belgium. The current castle dates to 1180 and was the residence of the Counts of Flanders until 1353. It was subsequently re-purposed as a court, prison, mint, and even as a cotton factory. It was restored over 1893–1903 and is now a museum and a major landmark in the city.

 

The origins of the Gravensteen date to the reign of Arnulf I (890–965). The site, which sat between two branches of the Lys river, was first fortified around 1000, initially in wood and later in stone. This was soon transformed into a motte-and-bailey castle which burnt down in around 1176.

 

The current castle dates to 1180 and was built by Philip of Alsace (1143–1191) on the site of the older fortification. It may have been inspired by crusader castles witnessed by Philip during the Second Crusade. As well a protective citadel, the Gravensteen was intended to intimidate the burghers of Ghent who often challenged the Counts' authority. It incorporates a large central donjon, a residence and various smaller buildings. These are surrounded by a fortified, oval-shaped enceinte lined with 24 small échauguettes. It also has a sizeable moat, fed with water from the Lys.

 

From 1180 until 1353, the Gravensteen was the residence of the Counts of Flanders. The decision to leave was taken by Louis of Male (1330–1384) who transferred the court to the nearby Hof ten Walle.

 

After ceasing to be the residence of the Counts of Flanders, the castle entered a decline. It was used as a court and prison until the 18th century. From 1353 to 1491, it was the site of Ghent's mint. It was later sold to an industrialist who converted the buildings into a cotton factory and various small buildings were constructed on top of the Medieval remains. At one point in time, it was scheduled for demolition. After gradually buying up the castle, the city of Ghent heavily restored the castle in a romanticising Gothic style between 1893 and 1907. The first major restorations started under the direction of architect Joseph de Waele. In the footsteps of the great French restorer Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (1814–1879) he opted for a romantic gothic interpretation inspired by the era of Count Philip of Alsace. However, many details of the present-day Gravensteen, such as the flat roofs and the windows of the eastern outbuilding are not thought to be historically accurate.

 

The castle was later the centre piece of the Ghent World Fair of 1913 and remains open to the public.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Die Burg Gravensteen (deutsch „Grafenstein“) in Gent ist die Burg der Grafen von Flandern. Sie ist eine der größten Wasserburgen Europas.

 

Die Burg überragt am linken Leieufer das Zentrum der Stadt. Sie liegt am Zusammenfluss der Flüsse Lieve und Leie.

 

Die erste Burg soll zur Zeit Karls des Kahlen errichtet worden sein, vielleicht von Balduin I. genannt „Eisenarm“ um 870, mit dem das Haus Flandern seine Herrschaft begann.

 

Die erste Anlage auf dem Platz der heutigen Burg war noch aus Holz und stammte wahrscheinlich von den Wikingern. Aber schon um 1000 errichtete man einen steinernen Saalbau. Eine erste Ringmauer komplettierte die Burg. 1128 kam es zur ersten ernsthaften Belagerung durch Anhänger des Dietrich von Elsass. Dabei wurde die Burg zerstört.

 

Auf ihren Resten ließ Philipp von Elsass, der damalige Graf von Flandern, von 1180 bis 1200 den Gravensteen erbauen. Er vergrößerte die Burganlage, um die Genter besser kontrollieren zu können. Ein Ringgraben wurde ebenfalls angelegt. Der Aushub wurde um den alten Saalbau aufgeschüttet, so dass eine Motte entstand. Auf den Mauern des Saalbaues, der nun als Keller dienen sollte, wurde ein 30 m hoher Donjon errichtet. Die Bürger hatten mittlerweile wehrhafte Türme in der Stadt errichtet. Aus dieser Zeit stammen auch die Fenster des Kastellan und die kreuzförmige Öffnung über dem Haupttor.

 

Hier tagten fortan die Gerichtshöfe.

 

Zwischen dem 13. Jahrhundert und dem 14. Jahrhundert wurde die Burg restauriert. Der ovale Burghof erhielt eine Ringmauer mit 24 vorspringenden, zweistöckigen Türmchen. Getrennt vom Donjon und innerhalb der Ringmauer lagen die Gebäude des Grafen sowie alle wichtigen Wirtschaftsräumlichkeiten. Ab dem 12. Jahrhundert wuchs Gent so enorm, dass die Stadt nun die Burg umschließt.

 

Schon im 14. Jahrhundert zogen die Grafen von Flandern wieder aus der Burg und residierten im benachbarten Prinzenhof. 1353 verlagerte Graf Ludwig II. seine Residenz von Gravensteen an den Hof Ten Walle. Große Feste und Empfänge wurden aber weiterhin in der alten Burg durchgeführt. 1301 belagerten die Genter die Burg und konnten sie durch den Einsatz von Feuer zur Kapitulation zwingen.

 

1368 schlugen die Angreifer eine Bresche in die Mauer. Die Instandsetzungsarbeiten aus dem ausgehenden 14. Jahrhundert sind am Torhaus und der Mauer heute noch zu sehen.

 

Von 1407 bis 1708 diente die Burg als Gerichtssitz. Auch der Rat der Stadt Gent tagte hier. Es wurde ein Kerker und eine Folterkammer eingerichtet. 1780 wurde sie verkauft und zu einer Textilfabrik umgewandelt. Die Nebengebäude dienten als Arbeiterwohnungen, das Torhaus als Direktorswohnung.

 

Nach der Französischen Revolution wurde der Gravensteen an eine Baumwollspinnerei verkauft.

 

Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts sollte die Burg abgerissen werden, was jedoch die Stadt Gent verhinderte. 1887 kaufte die Stadt Gent die Burg zurück. Zwischen 1889 und 1908 wurde die Burg nur notdürftig konserviert. Erst 1980 und in den folgenden Jahren wurde die Burg anlässlich der 800-Jahr-Feier der Stadt Gent vollständig restauriert.

 

Gravensteen ist ganzjährig zu besichtigen. Lediglich an den beiden Weihnachtsfeiertagen und am 1. und 2. Januar ist die Burg geschlossen.

 

In der Burg befindet sich ein Waffenmuseum, mit den typischen Waffen des Mittelalters, unter anderem aus der Waffensammlung von Adolphe Neyt.

 

Ferner gibt es ein Folterinstrumente- und Gerichtsmuseum. Zu den Exponaten zählen eisernen Fesseln, Guillotine, Streckbank, Dornenhalsband und Richtschwerter.

 

Der Besucher wird in 15 Stationen durch die Burg geführt. An jeder Station befindet sich eine Beschreibung in vier Sprachen: Französisch, Niederländisch, Englisch und Deutsch.

 

Die Festung ist im sternförmigen Stil syrischer Kreuzritter-Forts angelegt. Der Zentralturm mit Aussichtsplattform ragt wie ein riesiger Steinblock zwischen den beiden Wasserarmen auf. Der Burghof ist von einer Mauer mit Wehrgang sowie von 24 Halbtürmen mit Zinnen umgeben.

 

Der zweischiffige Audienzsaal im Erdgeschoss hat ein machtvolles Gewölbe. Im ersten Stock befindet sich der Große Saal, in dem 1445 die Versammlung der Ritter vom Goldenen Vlies stattfand. Dieser Ritterorden war 1430 von Philipp dem Guten von Burgund gestiftet worden. In den Wohnräumen des Palais ist heute ein Foltermuseum mit Folterwerkzeugen und Gerichtsakten eingerichtet. Im Kellergeschoss war das Gefängnis. Hier befinden sich noch die Folterkammer und das Kerkerloch.

 

(Wikipedia)

I popped into the local shops to buy bread and a couple of other things and saw these dates, and I just fancied them.

The Gazuman Empire dates even further back than that of the Vieran. The Fall of the Gazuman came slowly over 2000 years. It began when the Vieran built the structure that is now known as the Oaken Bridge in 206BV. This allowed them to bypass the Marsh Fort, which at the time made all the marshlands impassable. From there, the Vieran captured all the land west of the Royal Gash and South of the Frost Gate (the passage to the North). By the year 50BV, the Gazuman controlled the North, Ottogar, Priviland and all territories south of the Bloody March. The distance between their territories made their defence difficult, so after years of war, they surrendered the south and the secrets of the Marsh Fort were lost for hundreds of years. The Gazuman maintained control of the North until 171AV when King Willem III conquered it with his vast armies. In present day, they hold only the island of Ottogar and a handful of trading posts on Priviland.

 

Their position however, is impenetrable. Technological breakthroughs have allowed them to riddle the seas all around Ottogar with explosives only they can detect and disarm. They trade exclusively with the Men of the North, as their love of the fish native to the Ice Lake has never faltered. Gazuman (or "Dwarves" as the men say) can live to be thousands of years old, however, their population dwindles, because a plague killed all their women shortly before they lost the South. They can breed with humans, but their traits are all recessive, so their offspring would appear human.

 

King Zurgoth rides atop an ancient beast some believe was one of the original beasts to roam Esterdame before any Empires staked their claim. The beast is virtually invincible, but can only pursue a quarry if guided by a rider.

Is the vulture hovering above Austria? Could also be a turtle.

 

The exploitation rights for this text are the property of the Vienna Tourist Board. This text may be reprinted free of charge until further notice, even partially and in edited form. Forward sample copy to: Vienna Tourist Board, Media Management, Invalidenstraße 6, 1030 Vienna; media.rel@wien.info. All information in this text without guarantee.

Author: Andreas Nierhaus, Curator of Architecture/Wien Museum

Last updated January 2014

Architecture in Vienna

Vienna's 2,000-year history is present in a unique density in the cityscape. The layout of the center dates back to the Roman city and medieval road network. Romanesque and Gothic churches characterize the streets and squares as well as palaces and mansions of the baroque city of residence. The ring road is an expression of the modern city of the 19th century, in the 20th century extensive housing developments set accents in the outer districts. Currently, large-scale urban development measures are implemented; distinctive buildings of international star architects complement the silhouette of the city.

Due to its function as residence of the emperor and European power center, Vienna for centuries stood in the focus of international attention, but it was well aware of that too. As a result, developed an outstanding building culture, and still today on a worldwide scale only a few cities can come up with a comparable density of high-quality architecture. For several years now, Vienna has increased its efforts to connect with its historical highlights and is drawing attention to itself with some spectacular new buildings. The fastest growing city in the German-speaking world today most of all in residential construction is setting standards. Constants of the Viennese architecture are respect for existing structures, the palpability of historical layers and the dialogue between old and new.

Culmination of medieval architecture: the Stephansdom

The oldest architectural landmark of the city is St. Stephen's Cathedral. Under the rule of the Habsburgs, defining the face of the city from the late 13th century until 1918 in a decisive way, the cathedral was upgraded into the sacral monument of the political ambitions of the ruling house. The 1433 completed, 137 meters high southern tower, by the Viennese people affectionately named "Steffl", is a masterpiece of late Gothic architecture in Europe. For decades he was the tallest stone structure in Europe, until today he is the undisputed center of the city.

The baroque residence

Vienna's ascension into the ranks of the great European capitals began in Baroque. Among the most important architects are Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt. Outside the city walls arose a chain of summer palaces, including the garden Palais Schwarzenberg (1697-1704) as well as the Upper and Lower Belvedere of Prince Eugene of Savoy (1714-22). Among the most important city palaces are the Winter Palace of Prince Eugene (1695-1724, now a branch of the Belvedere) and the Palais Daun-Kinsky (auction house in Kinsky 1713-19). The emperor himself the Hofburg had complemented by buildings such as the Imperial Library (1722-26) and the Winter Riding School (1729-34). More important, however, for the Habsburgs was the foundation of churches and monasteries. Thus arose before the city walls Fischer von Erlach's Karlskirche (1714-39), which with its formal and thematic complex show façade belongs to the major works of European Baroque. In colored interior rooms like that of St. Peter's Church (1701-22), the contemporary efforts for the synthesis of architecture, painting and sculpture becomes visible.

Upgrading into metropolis: the ring road time (Ringstraßenzeit)

Since the Baroque, reflections on extension of the hopelessly overcrowed city were made, but only Emperor Franz Joseph ordered in 1857 the demolition of the fortifications and the connection of the inner city with the suburbs. 1865, the Ring Road was opened. It is as the most important boulevard of Europe an architectural and in terms of urban development achievement of the highest rank. The original building structure is almost completely preserved and thus conveys the authentic image of a metropolis of the 19th century. The public representational buildings speak, reflecting accurately the historicism, by their style: The Greek Antique forms of Theophil Hansen's Parliament (1871-83) stood for democracy, the Renaissance of the by Heinrich Ferstel built University (1873-84) for the flourishing of humanism, the Gothic of the Town Hall (1872-83) by Friedrich Schmidt for the medieval civic pride.

Dominating remained the buildings of the imperial family: Eduard van der Nüll's and August Sicardsburg's Opera House (1863-69), Gottfried Semper's and Carl Hasenauer's Burgtheater (1874-88), their Museum of Art History and Museum of Natural History (1871-91) and the Neue (New) Hofburg (1881-1918 ). At the same time the ring road was the preferred residential area of mostly Jewish haute bourgeoisie. With luxurious palaces the families Ephrussi, Epstein or Todesco made it clear that they had taken over the cultural leadership role in Viennese society. In the framework of the World Exhibition of 1873, the new Vienna presented itself an international audience. At the ring road many hotels were opened, among them the Hotel Imperial and today's Palais Hansen Kempinski.

Laboratory of modernity: Vienna around 1900

Otto Wagner's Postal Savings Bank (1903-06) was one of the last buildings in the Ring road area Otto Wagner's Postal Savings Bank (1903-06), which with it façade, liberated of ornament, and only decorated with "functional" aluminum buttons and the glass banking hall now is one of the icons of modern architecture. Like no other stood Otto Wagner for the dawn into the 20th century: His Metropolitan Railway buildings made ​​the public transport of the city a topic of architecture, the church of the Psychiatric hospital at Steinhofgründe (1904-07) is considered the first modern church.

With his consistent focus on the function of a building ("Something impractical can not be beautiful"), Wagner marked a whole generation of architects and made Vienna the laboratory of modernity: in addition to Joseph Maria Olbrich, the builder of the Secession (1897-98) and Josef Hoffmann, the architect of the at the western outskirts located Purkersdorf Sanatorium (1904) and founder of the Vienna Workshop (Wiener Werkstätte, 1903) is mainly to mention Adolf Loos, with the Loos House at the square Michaelerplatz (1909-11) making architectural history. The extravagant marble cladding of the business zone stands in maximal contrast, derived from the building function, to the unadorned facade above, whereby its "nudity" became even more obvious - a provocation, as well as his culture-critical texts ("Ornament and Crime"), with which he had greatest impact on the architecture of the 20th century. Public contracts Loos remained denied. His major works therefore include villas, apartment facilities and premises as the still in original state preserved Tailor salon Knize at Graben (1910-13) and the restored Loos Bar (1908-09) near the Kärntner Straße (passageway Kärntner Durchgang).

Between the Wars: International Modern Age and social housing

After the collapse of the monarchy in 1918, Vienna became capital of the newly formed small country of Austria. In the heart of the city, the architects Theiss & Jaksch built 1931-32 the first skyscraper in Vienna as an exclusive residential address (Herrengasse - alley 6-8). To combat the housing shortage for the general population, the social democratic city government in a globally unique building program within a few years 60,000 apartments in hundreds of apartment buildings throughout the city area had built, including the famous Karl Marx-Hof by Karl Ehn (1925-30). An alternative to the multi-storey buildings with the 1932 opened International Werkbundsiedlung was presented, which was attended by 31 architects from Austria, Germany, France, Holland and the USA and showed models for affordable housing in greenfield areas. With buildings of Adolf Loos, André Lurçat, Richard Neutra, Gerrit Rietveld, the Werkbundsiedlung, which currently is being restored at great expense, is one of the most important documents of modern architecture in Austria.

Modernism was also expressed in significant Villa buildings: The House Beer (1929-31) by Josef Frank exemplifies the refined Wiener living culture of the interwar period, while the house Stonborough-Wittgenstein (1926-28, today Bulgarian Cultural Institute), built by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein together with the architect Paul Engelmann for his sister Margarete, by its aesthetic radicalism and mathematical rigor represents a special case within contemporary architecture.

Expulsion, war and reconstruction

After the "Anschluss (Annexation)" to the German Reich in 1938, numerous Jewish builders, architects (female and male ones), who had been largely responsible for the high level of Viennese architecture, have been expelled from Austria. During the Nazi era, Vienna remained largely unaffected by structural transformations, apart from the six flak towers built for air defense of Friedrich Tamms (1942-45), made ​​of solid reinforced concrete which today are present as memorials in the cityscape.

The years after the end of World War II were characterized by the reconstruction of the by bombs heavily damaged city. The architecture of those times was marked by aesthetic pragmatism, but also by the attempt to connect with the period before 1938 and pick up on current international trends. Among the most important buildings of the 1950s are Roland Rainer's City Hall (1952-58), the by Oswald Haerdtl erected Wien Museum at Karlsplatz (1954-59) and the 21er Haus of Karl Schwanzer (1958-62).

The youngsters come

Since the 1960s, a young generation was looking for alternatives to the moderate modernism of the reconstruction years. With visionary designs, conceptual, experimental and above all temporary architectures, interventions and installations, Raimund Abraham, Günther Domenig, Eilfried Huth, Hans Hollein, Walter Pichler and the groups Coop Himmelb(l)au, Haus-Rucker-Co and Missing Link rapidly got international attention. Although for the time being it was more designed than built, was the influence on the postmodern and deconstructivist trends of the 1970s and 1980s also outside Austria great. Hollein's futuristic "Retti" candle shop at Charcoal Market/Kohlmarkt (1964-65) and Domenig's biomorphic building of the Central Savings Bank in Favoriten (10th district of Vienna - 1975-79) are among the earliest examples, later Hollein's Haas-Haus (1985-90), the loft conversion Falkestraße (1987/88) by Coop Himmelb(l)au or Domenig's T Center (2002-04) were added. Especially Domenig, Hollein, Coop Himmelb(l)au and the architects Ortner & Ortner (ancient members of Haus-Rucker-Co) ​​by orders from abroad the new Austrian and Viennese architecture made a fixed international concept.

MuseumQuarter and Gasometer

Since the 1980s, the focus of building in Vienna lies on the compaction of the historic urban fabric that now as urban habitat of high quality no longer is put in question. Among the internationally best known projects is the by Ortner & Ortner planned MuseumsQuartier in the former imperial stables (competition 1987, 1998-2001), which with institutions such as the MUMOK - Museum of Modern Art Foundation Ludwig, the Leopold Museum, the Kunsthalle Wien, the Architecture Center Vienna and the Zoom Children's Museum on a wordwide scale is under the largest cultural complexes. After controversies in the planning phase, here an architectural compromise between old and new has been achieved at the end, whose success as an urban stage with four million visitors (2012) is overwhelming.

The dialogue between old and new, which has to stand on the agenda of building culture of a city that is so strongly influenced by history, also features the reconstruction of the Gasometer in Simmering by Coop Himmelb(l)au, Wilhelm Holzbauer, Jean Nouvel and Manfred Wehdorn (1999-2001). Here was not only created new housing, but also a historical industrial monument reinterpreted into a signal in the urban development area.

New Neighborhood

In recent years, the major railway stations and their surroundings moved into the focus of planning. Here not only necessary infrastructural measures were taken, but at the same time opened up spacious inner-city residential areas and business districts. Among the prestigious projects are included the construction of the new Vienna Central Station, started in 2010 with the surrounding office towers of the Quartier Belvedere and the residential and school buildings of the Midsummer quarter (Sonnwendviertel). Europe's largest wooden tower invites here for a spectacular view to the construction site and the entire city. On the site of the former North Station are currently being built 10,000 homes and 20,000 jobs, on that of the Aspangbahn station is being built at Europe's greatest Passive House settlement "Euro Gate", the area of ​​the North Western Railway Station is expected to be developed from 2020 for living and working. The largest currently under construction residential project but can be found in the north-eastern outskirts, where in Seaside Town Aspern till 2028 living and working space for 40,000 people will be created.

In one of the "green lungs" of Vienna, the Prater, 2013, the WU campus was opened for the largest University of Economics of Europe. Around the central square spectacular buildings of an international architect team from Great Britain, Japan, Spain and Austria are gathered that seem to lead a sometimes very loud conversation about the status quo of contemporary architecture (Hitoshi Abe, BUSarchitektur, Peter Cook, Zaha Hadid, NO MAD Arquitectos, Carme Pinós).

Flying high

International is also the number of architects who have inscribed themselves in the last few years with high-rise buildings in the skyline of Vienna and make St. Stephen's a not always unproblematic competition. Visible from afar is Massimiliano Fuksas' 138 and 127 meters high elegant Twin Tower at Wienerberg (1999-2001). The monolithic, 75-meter-high tower of the Hotel Sofitel at the Danube Canal by Jean Nouvel (2007-10), on the other hand, reacts to the particular urban situation and stages in its top floor new perspectives to the historical center on the other side.

Also at the water stands Dominique Perrault's DC Tower (2010-13) in the Danube City - those high-rise city, in which since the start of construction in 1996, the expansion of the city north of the Danube is condensed symbolically. Even in this environment, the slim and at the same time striking vertically folded tower of Perrault is beyond all known dimensions; from its Sky Bar, from spring 2014 on you are able to enjoy the highest view of Vienna. With 250 meters, the tower is the tallest building of Austria and almost twice as high as the St. Stephen's Cathedral. Vienna, thus, has acquired a new architectural landmark which cannot be overlooked - whether it also has the potential to become a landmark of the new Vienna, only time will tell. The architectural history of Vienna, where European history is presence and new buildings enter into an exciting and not always conflict-free dialogue with a great and outstanding architectural heritage, in any case has yet to offer exciting chapters.

The croft dates back to the 1700s. At that time the people who lived in the croft were very poor and didn't own the land around the croft. During the 1800s the building was a soldier's holding. In 1904 the croft was bought by the merchant August Carlsson.

In 1987 Allan Karlsson decided to leave the croft by will to the Alingsås Rural History Society (Swedish: Hembygdsförening) and Alingsås Outdoor Club. The associated land is 17.6 hectares and consists of forest, fields, bog and lake.

www.alingsashembygdsforening.se (website in Swedish)

 

The red house is typical for Sweden. The traditional red paint contains pigment from the copper-mine in Falun, Dalecarlia.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falu_red

Man, I wish I still had a cowboy hat.

1 - Remove the skin from the dates and remove the seeds.

2 - The kernels are replaced by a blanched almond.

3 - Close the filled dates again.

4 - Roll them in coconut flakes.

 

Good Appetite !!

Dates: 20 & 31 December 2015, 3 & 7 January 2016

 

Exposure: 256 x 120s @ ISO400

 

Total exposure: 8 hours 32 minutes

 

Equipment: Skywatcher Explorer 150P (imaging scope), HEQ5 mount, modded Canon EOS 1100D (imaging camera), Skywatcher 0.9X Coma Corrector, Skywatcher 2" LP filter or Astronomik CLS-CCD clip filter, Skywatcher ST80 (guide scope), QHY5-II (guide camera)

 

Processing: Stacked (kappa sigma clipping) with Deep Sky Stacker, tweaks with Fitswork and GIMP

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The town church of St. Dionys on Esslingen's market square, with its two distinctive towers, dates back to the 14th century. An excavation museum was built under the church in the 1960s, which shows the wall foundations of the first churches on this site. Settlement and church buildings have been documented since 777.

 

The high altar from 1604 was designed by Peter Riedlinger, the sacrament house from 1486 and the rood screen that still exists were created by Lorenz Lächler. Also significant are the remains of frescoes from the Leonhard legend (1410) and epitaphs of well-known Esslingen families. The Rococo organ, created by Sigismund Haußdörfer in 1754, towers above the gallery and was converted into a late-romantic concert organ by the Walcker company in 1904. With around 6550 pipes, it is the second largest organ in Württemberg.

 

Modern art also has space in the historic building: Gottfried von Stockhausen designed the stained glass windows above the south portal in 1963, Ulrich Henn created the main portal in 1960 and the baptismal font in 1965. The lectern was created by the Remstal artist Ulrich Nuss.

 

A place of lived faith

 

To this day, the town church is not just an attraction for tourists. Above all, it is a place of lived faith, where many people gather for worship or personal devotion.

 

The large organ of the Esslingen City Church

 

"One would like to become young with such a work!" wrote Christian Fink (1822-1911) after the inauguration of the Walcker organ in 1904.

 

The organ, completed in 1754, has around 6,550 pipes and the famous remote organ, 24 registers and a baroque facade. In 1905, the organ was expanded to almost four times its original size and completely modernized by the EF Walcker organ building company in Ludwigsburg. Finally, in 1951, the electro-pneumatic conversion of the organ was completed, which brought about a significant improvement in sound.

 

Since then, generations of organists have played the large organ: first Wilhelm Nagel as successor to Christian Fink, and after him Hans-Arnold Metzger. Werner Schrade had been organist of the city church since 1967, followed by Hans Georg Bertram in 1978, and from 1989 together with Uwe Schüssler.

 

www.stadtkirchengemeinde-esslingen.de/kirchen-und-raeume/...

The Grade I Listed St James's church in Manorbier, Pembrokeshire, South Wales.

 

The church dates from the 12th century, and has been considerably altered over the years, though medieval ceiling paintings in the porch survive. The church has a slender tower of the local type and a bellcote.

 

There are three military graves in the churchyard dating between 1918 and 1920 that are looked after by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

 

The first mention of the church dates from 1153 when Giraldus Cambrensis, of the de Barri family of Manorbier Castle, took refuge there. The earliest surviving part of the building is the nave, of about this period.

 

The Church had an early connection with the Benedictines of Monkton, and a Prior of Monkton, Master Richard, was its first recorded Rector. The original building was greatly enlarged during the next hundred years with a rebuilt chancel and transepts and a new tower, aisles and porch.

 

In 1301 Sir John de Barri granted the church to Monkton Priory. However, as an alien house, Monkton lost the advowson and the Rectorial land and tithes during the Hundred Years War.

 

With the Dissolution the whole church became the Parish Church in Manorbier. The Rood figures were removed in 1707 and replaced by the Royal Arms of King William, painted on boards. These are now repositioned on the north wall, to which they were moved during the major restoration by Frederick Wehnert in 1865-8. Mediaeval ceiling paintings survive in the porch.

 

Information Sources:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_James%27s_Church,_Manorbier

britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/300005975-st-james-church-ma...

 

Corfe Castle is a fortification standing above the village of the same name on the Isle of Purbeck in the English county of Dorset. Built by William the Conqueror, the castle dates to the 11th century and commands a gap in the Purbeck Hills on the route between Wareham and Swanage. The first phase was one of the earliest castles in England to be built at least partly using stone when the majority were built with earth and timber. Corfe Castle underwent major structural changes in the 12th and 13th centuries.

 

In 1572, Corfe Castle left the Crown's control when Elizabeth I sold it to Sir Christopher Hatton. Sir John Bankes bought the castle in 1635, and was the owner during the English Civil War. His wife, Lady Mary Bankes, led the defence of the castle when it was twice besieged by Parliamentarian forces. The first siege, in 1643, was unsuccessful, but by 1645 Corfe was one of the last remaining royalist strongholds in southern England and fell to a siege ending in an assault. In March that year Corfe Castle was slighted on Parliament's orders. Owned by the National Trust, the castle is open to the public and in 2017 received around 247,000 visitors. It is protected as a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

 

Corfe Castle was built on a steep hill in a gap in a long line of chalk hills, created by two streams eroding the rock on either side. The name Corfe derives from the Old English ceorfan, meaning 'a cutting', referring to the gap. The construction of the medieval castle means that little is known about previous activity on the hill. However, there are postholes belonging to a Saxon hall on the site. The hall may be where the boy-king Edward the Martyr was assassinated in 978.

 

A castle was founded at Corfe on England's south coast soon after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. The royal forest of Purbeck, where William the Conqueror enjoyed hunting, was established in the area. Between 1066 and 1087, William established 36 such castles in England. Sitting as it does on a hill top, Corfe Castle is one of the classic images of a medieval castle. However, despite popular imagination, occupying the highest point in the landscape was not the typical position of a medieval castle. In England, a minority are located on hilltops, but most are in valleys; many were near important transport routes such as river crossings.

 

Unusually for castles built in the 11th century, Corfe was partially constructed from stone indicating it was of particularly high status. A stone wall was built around the hill top, creating an inner ward or enclosure. There were two further enclosures: one to the west, and one that extended south (the outer bailey); in contrast to the inner bailey, these were surrounded by palisades made from timber. At the time, the vast majority of castles in England were built using earth and timber, and it was not until the 12th century that many began to be rebuilt in stone. The Domesday Book records one castle in Dorset; the entry, which reads "Of the manor of Kingston the King has one hide on which he built Wareham castle", is thought to refer to Corfe rather than the timber castle at Wareham. There are 48 castles directly mentioned in the Domesday Book, although not all those in existence at the time were recorded. Assuming that Corfe is the castle in question, it is one of four the Domesday Book attributes to William the Conqueror; the survey explicitly mentions seven people as having built castles, of which William was the most prolific.

 

In the early 12th century, Henry I began the construction of a stone keep at Corfe. Progressing at a rate of 3 to 4 metres (10 to 13 ft) per year for the best part of a decade, the work was complete by 1105. The chalk of the hill Corfe Castle was built on was an unsuitable building material, and instead Purbeck limestone quarried a few miles away was used. By the reign of King Stephen (1135–1154) Corfe Castle was already a strong fortress with a keep and inner enclosure, both built in stone. In 1139, during the civil war of Stephen's reign, Corfe withstood a siege by the king. It is thought that he built a siege castle to facilitate the siege and that a series of earthworks about 290 metres (320 yd) south-southwest of Corfe Castle mark the site of the fortification.

 

During the reign of Henry II Corfe Castle was probably not significantly changed, and records from Richard I's reign indicate maintenance rather than significant new building work. In contrast, extensive construction of other towers, halls and walls occurred during the reigns of John and Henry III, both of whom kept Eleanor, rightful Duchess of Brittany who posed a potential threat to their crowns, in confinement at Corfe until 1222. It was probably during John's reign that the Gloriette in the inner bailey was built. The Pipe Rolls, records of royal expenditure, show that between 1201 and 1204 over £750 was spent at the castle, probably on rebuilding the defences of the west bailey with £275 spent on constructing the Gloriette. The Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England noted the link between periods of unrest and building at Corfe. In the early years of his reign, John lost Normandy to the French, and further building work at Corfe coincided with the political disturbances later in his reign. At least £500 was spent between 1212 and 1214 and may have been focused on the defences of the outer bailey. R. Allen Brown noted that in John's reign "it would seem that though a fortress of the first order might cost more than £7,000, a medium castle of reasonable strength might be built for less than £2,000". The Pipe Rolls show that John spent over £17,000 on 95 castles during his reign spread; he spent over £500 at nine of them, of which Corfe was one. Additional records show that John spent over £1,400 at Corfe Castle.

 

One of the secondary roles of castles was to act as a storage facility, as demonstrated by Corfe Castle; in 1224 Henry III sent to Corfe for 15,000 crossbow bolts to be used in the siege of Bedford Castle. Following John's work, Henry III also spent over £1,000 on Corfe Castle, in particular the years 1235 and 1236 saw £362 spent on the keep. While construction was under-way, a camp to accommodate the workers was established outside the castle. Over time, this grew into a settlement in its own right and in 1247 was granted a market and fair by royal permission. It was Henry III who ordered in 1244 that Corfe's keep should be whitewashed. Four years previously, he also ordered that the keep of the Tower of London should be whitewashed, and it therefore became known as the White Tower.

 

In December 1460, during the Wars of the Roses Henry Beaufort and his army marched from the castle destined for the Battle of Wakefield. During the march the army split at Exeter so the cavalry could reach the north quicker, and on 16 December 1460 some of his men became embroiled in the Battle of Worksop, Nottinghamshire. Beaufort and the Lancastrians won the skirmish.

 

The castle remained a royal fortress until sold by Elizabeth I in 1572 to her Lord Chancellor, Sir Christopher Hatton. Ralph Treswell, Hatton's steward, drafted a series of plans of the castle; the documents are the oldest surviving survey of the castle.

 

The castle was bought by Sir John Bankes, Attorney General to Charles I, in 1635. The English Civil War broke out in 1642, and by 1643 most of Dorset was under Parliamentarian control. While Bankes was in Oxford with the king, his men held Corfe Castle in the royal cause. During this time his wife, Lady Mary Bankes, resided at the castle with their children. Parliamentarian forces planned to infiltrate the castle's garrison by joining a hunting party from the garrison on a May Day hunt; however they were unsuccessful. The Parliamentarians gave orders that anyone joining the garrison would have their house burned and that no supplies were to reach the castle. Initially defended by just five people, Lady Bankes was able to get food through and swell the garrison to 80. The Parliamentarian forces numbered between 500 and 600 and began a more thorough siege; it went on for six weeks until Lady Bankes was relieved by Royalist forces. During the siege the defenders suffered two casualties while there were at least 100 deaths among the besieging force.

 

The Parliamentarians were in the ascendency so that by 1645 Corfe Castle was one of a few remaining strongholds in southern England that remained under royal control. Consequently, it was besieged by a force under the command of a Colonel Bingham. One of the garrison's officers, Colonel Pitman, colluded with Bingham. Pitman proposed that he should go to Somerset and bring back a hundred men as reinforcements; however the troops he returned with were Parliamentarians in disguise. Once inside, they waited until the besieging force attacked before making a move, so that the defenders were attacked from without and within at the same time. Corfe Castle was captured and Lady Bankes and the garrison were allowed to leave. In March that year, Parliament voted to slight (demolish) the castle, giving it its present appearance. In the 17th century many castles in England were in a state of decline, but the war saw them pressed into use as fortresses one more time. Parliament ordered the slighting of many of these fortifications, but the solidity of their walls meant that complete demolition was often impracticable. A minority were repaired after the war, but most were left as ruins. Corfe Castle provided a ready supply of building material, and its stones were reused by the villagers.

 

After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the Bankes family regained their properties. Rather than rebuild or replace the ruined castle they chose to build a new house at Kingston Lacy on their other Dorset estate near Wimborne Minster.

 

The first archaeological excavations were carried out in 1883. No further archaeological work was carried out on the site until the 1950s. Between 1986 and 1997 excavations were carried out, jointly funded by the National Trust and English Heritage. Corfe Castle is considered to be the inspiration for Enid Blyton's Kirrin Island, which had its own similar castle. It was used as a shooting location for the 1957 film Five on a Treasure Island (film) and the 1971 film Bedknobs and Broomsticks. The castle plays an important part in Keith Roberts' uchronia novel Pavane.

 

Upon his death, Henry John Ralph Bankes (1902–81) bequeathed the entire Bankes estate to the National Trust, including Corfe Castle, much of the village of Corfe, the family home at Kingston Lacy, and substantial property and land holdings elsewhere in the area.

 

In summer 2006, the dangerous condition of the keep caused it to be closed to visitors, who could only visit the walls and inner bailey. The National Trust undertook an extensive conservation project on the castle, and the keep was re-opened to visitors in 2008, and the work completed the following year. During the restoration work, an "appearance" door was found in the keep, designed for Henry I. The National Trust claims that this indicates that the castle would have been one of the most important in England at the time.

 

The castle is a Grade I listed building, and recognised as an internationally important structure. It is also a Scheduled Monument, a "nationally important" historic building and archaeological site which has been given protection against unauthorised change. The earthworks known as "The Rings", thought to be the remains of a 12th-century motte-and-bailey castle built during a siege of Corfe are also scheduled. In 2006, Corfe Castle was the National Trust's tenth most-visited historic house with 173,829 visitors. According to figures released by the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, the number of visitors in 2010 had risen to nearly 190,000.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Corfe Castle ist die Ruine einer Burg im englischen Ort Corfe Castle in der Grafschaft Dorset. Die als Kulturdenkmal der Kategorie Grade I klassifizierte und als Scheduled Monument geschützte Ruine liegt in den Purbeck Hills auf der Isle of Purbeck sieben Kilometer südöstlich von Wareham und acht Kilometer westlich von Swanage. Es liegt etwa 12 km südwestlich der großen Städte Poole und Bournemouth.

 

Der Bezeichnung Corfe kommt aus dem Angelsächsischen und bezeichnet das Tal, in dem sich das Dorf und die Burgruine befindet. Corfe Castle bedeutet übersetzt also ungefähr Talburg oder Burg im Tal.

 

Unter Alfred dem Großen wurde Ende des 9. Jahrhunderts zum Schutz vor den Dänen in Corfe eine erste Befestigung angelegt. Der Legende nach wurde der englische König Eduard der Märtyrer am 18. März 978 in der Burg ermordet.

 

Nach der normannischen Eroberung Englands wurde um 1090 von den Normannen am Ort der alten Befestigungsanlage der Bau einer Burg aus dem lokalen Kalkstein begonnen. Unter Henry I. „Beauclerc“ entstand um 1105 der mächtige Keep. Zu Beginn des englischen Bürgerkriegs wurde die Burg, die von Baldwin de Redvers verteidigt wurde, 1139 erfolglos von König Stephan belagert. Unter König Johann Ohneland wurde die Burg weiter ausgebaut. Er hielt sich häufig in der Burg auf, außerdem nutzte er sie als Aufbewahrungsort für die Kronjuwelen und als Gefängnis. 1202 kam es zu einem Ausbruchsversuch von 25 französischen Rittern, die während des Französisch-Englischen Krieges gefangen genommen worden waren. Sie konnten jedoch nur den Keep besetzen, in dem sie lieber verhungerten, anstatt sich zu ergeben. 22 der Ritter starben, nur drei Überlebende konnten schließlich überwältigt werden. Auch Johanns Nichte Eleonore von der Bretagne und im 14. Jahrhundert König Eduard II. wurden in Corfe Castle gefangen gehalten. Unter Eduard I. wurde der äußere Burghof vollendet. Im 14. Jahrhundert wurde die Burg zunächst vernachlässigt, bis Eduard III. sie zwischen 1356 und 1377 instand setzen ließ. Nach den Rosenkriegen ließ sie Heinrich VII. als Residenz für seine Mutter Margaret Beaufort ausbauen. Nach deren Tod fiel die Burg wieder zurück an die Krone. 1572 verkaufte Elisabeth I. sie an ihren späteren Lordkanzler Christopher Hatton, der die Burg angesichts der Bedrohung durch die spanische Armada weiter befestigte. 1635 erwarb Sir John Bankes, der spätere Chief Justices of the Common Pleas, die Burg.

 

Im Jahr 1643, während des Englischen Bürgerkrieges, wurde die Burg von Truppen der Parlamentarier („Roundheads“) belagert. Unter dem Befehl der Royalistin Lady Mary Bankes hielt die Burg der Belagerung für sechs Wochen stand, woraufhin sich die Parlamentarier mit einem Verlust von 100 Männern zurückzogen. Drei Jahre später, 1646, wurde die Burg ein zweites Mal belagert. Nach zweimonatiger Belagerung wurde die Burggarnison im Februar 1646 von einem ihrer Mitglieder verraten. Nach der Übernahme durch die Parlamentarier wurde der Familie der Bankes erlaubt, die Burg zu verlassen. Die Burg wurde daraufhin von Sappeuren mit Sprengstoff zerstört, was zum heutigen Aussehen der Burganlage führte. Die örtliche Bevölkerung nutzte dies aus und verwertete die aus der Burg stammenden Steine, Türrahmen usw. für ihre nahe gelegenen Häuser.

 

Nach dem Bürgerkrieg errichtete Ralph Bankes 1663 bei Wimborne Minster Kingston Hall als neuen Familiensitz. Die Überreste von Corfe Castle blieben bis 1982 im Besitz der Bankes-Familie, dann überließ sie Ralph Bankes dem National Trust, der britischen Treuhand-Organisation für Denkmalpflege. Nach Einsturzgefahr des Bergfrieds im Jahre 2006 sind die oberen Ruinen jetzt wieder zu besichtigen.

 

Die Burg ist Eigentum des National Trust, der am Marktplatz auch einen Souvenirladen eingerichtet hat. 2002 zählte die ganzjährig für Touristen zugängliche Burg 167.582 Besucher.

 

Am Marktplatz von Corfe Castle steht das Corfe Model Village mit einer Nachbildung der Burg und des Dorfes vor der Zerstörung in einem Maßstab von 1:20. Es wurde von 1964 bis 1966 von Eddie Holland erstellt.

 

Die Ruine diente u. a. als Kulisse für die Fernsehserie Die Sache mit der Schatzinsel, die 1957 nach Motiven der Kinderbuchreihe Fünf Freunde von Enid Blyton gedreht wurde, sowie für die 2008 gedrehte Verfilmung des Romans Tess von den d’Urbervilles.

 

(Wikipedia)

Crosskirk Broch was a fortification near the present day hamlet of Crosskirk near Thurso, Caithness, Scotland. After thorough archaeological exploration it was destroyed in 1972 since the site had become unsafe due to sea erosion. The site was unusual in having a broch, a large circular fortification, built within an older promontory fortification with a ring wall and blockhouse.

 

Crosskirk was occupied at the end of the Bronze Age. From the early Iron Age that followed there is carinated pottery that appears to be locally made but is similar to pottery of the same period in southern and eastern England. A few samples are black-burnished. Uncorrected radiocarbon dates for this pottery are in the 6th and 5th centuries BC. There seems to be a discontinuity in the middle Iron Age when the buildings were reconstructed and new types of pottery and artifacts were introduced, although variants of some of the older styles continued. This may be interpreted as being due to the influx of some influential new population.

 

Further use of local pottery continued into the period of Roman occupation of the south of Scotland in 80-180 AD. There were also remains of Roman pottery and glassware that may have been Roman in origin. A body was buried in a sitting position in the middle of an approximately circular building around the time that the site was abandoned. No grave goods were found.

 

There are traces of two long cist burials in the debris of the broch from some time around 600 AD. There used to be a stone with a runic inscription at Crosskirk, now lost, dating from the period of the Norse raiders in the 9th, 10th and 11th centuries. St Mary's Chapel (Crosskirk), built around the 13th century and now ruined, is about 30 yards (27 m) south of the site. Some of the land south of the broch was levelled when St Mary's was built. In recent times, some of the stones from the broch mound were removed, perhaps for building field dykes.

 

The promontory fort predated the broch, which was built inside the older structure. The earlier structure was an outwork that began at the edge of the promontory in the east, a 15 feet (4.6 m) thick wall or rampart of rock with an earth core. A gateway that widened towards the outside provided access through the wall. To the west of the gateway the rampart included a structure like a cell, and then there was a recess in the inner face of the wall. The outwork continued west, ending in a fence made of flagstones that reached to the cliff edge at Chapel Geo.

 

Based on radiocarbon dates, the broch was built around 200 BC, and was still in use in the second century AD. The broch would have given an impression of great strength, rising above the existing defensive wall. It included a guard cell, an intramural chamber and a stair entrance at ground level. Although the wall of the broch was relatively thick, it was poorly built, with a core of earth, rubble and boulders. This may be interpreted as being an early, experimental broch design. The roundhouse was not built strongly enough to support a tower more than 4.5 metres (15 ft), half the height of later towers.

 

There were external buildings around the tower that are thought to have been a village, an arrangement found only in northern Scotland.[8] These houses were occupied from about the same time as the broch was completed. During the next two centuries there were a series of changes and repairs to the broch, but they could not overcome its underlying weakness of design, and by the end of that period it would have been in poor shape. During the same period, house enclosures of the settlement outside the broch but within the rampart were steadily added and improved. A final phase of occupation and construction took place in the 2nd century AD, when the broch was rehabilitated before being finally abandoned. During this last period it seems that there was no defensive concern

 

The main crop was barley. Samples found at Crosskirk and Bu also include the seeds of other plants such as fat hen, sorrel and chick weed. This mix was probably deliberate, since the other seeds have medical and nutritional value. Cattle and some sheep were raised, and were supported through the winters. The people ate shellfish, particularly limpets, winkles and whelks, and ate seabirds. At nearby locations there is evidence of deep sea fishing for plaice and cod, and of consumption of venison. The evidence shows that the community had an ample and varied diet, and was largely self-sufficient.

 

An 1871 description of the broch said it

has an internal diameter of approximately 30 to 32ft and a wall 14 to 15ft thick. It has been broken into from the S, where there appears to have been an entrance to the left of which the sides of a chamber are visible in the wall. At the edge of the cliff, some 20ft of wall about 4 to 5ft high is exposed. On the landward side about 10ft from the broch are the remains of an outer bank or wall, now some 8ft wide at the base.

 

A report in 1964 said the broch was visible as a circular enclosure, covered in grass, with the wall no more than 1.1 metres (3 ft 7 in) high on the inside, and no more than 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) high on the exterior. The cliff edge had eroded, partly exposing traces of the north of the wall. There was a shallow depression around the broch and a low bank on the southwest side that may have been the remains of the outer defense wall. Coastal erosion was undercutting the cliff, making the site unsafe. Between 1966 and 1972 Fairhurst and Taylor excavated the ruin. The remains of the broch were then pushed over the cliff by a bulldozer, the site grassed over, and a memorial cairn erected.

 

The Highlands is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands. The term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. The Scottish Gaelic name of A' Ghàidhealtachd literally means "the place of the Gaels" and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands.

 

The area is very sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. During the 18th and early 19th centuries the population of the Highlands rose to around 300,000, but from c. 1841 and for the next 160 years, the natural increase in population was exceeded by emigration (mostly to Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and migration to the industrial cities of Scotland and England.) and passim  The area is now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe. At 9.1/km2 (24/sq mi) in 2012, the population density in the Highlands and Islands is less than one seventh of Scotland's as a whole.

 

The Highland Council is the administrative body for much of the Highlands, with its administrative centre at Inverness. However, the Highlands also includes parts of the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, North Ayrshire, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire.

 

The Scottish Highlands is the only area in the British Isles to have the taiga biome as it features concentrated populations of Scots pine forest: see Caledonian Forest. It is the most mountainous part of the United Kingdom.

 

Between the 15th century and the mid-20th century, the area differed from most of the Lowlands in terms of language. In Scottish Gaelic, the region is known as the Gàidhealtachd, because it was traditionally the Gaelic-speaking part of Scotland, although the language is now largely confined to The Hebrides. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably but have different meanings in their respective languages. Scottish English (in its Highland form) is the predominant language of the area today, though Highland English has been influenced by Gaelic speech to a significant extent. Historically, the "Highland line" distinguished the two Scottish cultures. While the Highland line broadly followed the geography of the Grampians in the south, it continued in the north, cutting off the north-eastern areas, that is Eastern Caithness, Orkney and Shetland, from the more Gaelic Highlands and Hebrides.

 

Historically, the major social unit of the Highlands was the clan. Scottish kings, particularly James VI, saw clans as a challenge to their authority; the Highlands was seen by many as a lawless region. The Scots of the Lowlands viewed the Highlanders as backward and more "Irish". The Highlands were seen as the overspill of Gaelic Ireland. They made this distinction by separating Germanic "Scots" English and the Gaelic by renaming it "Erse" a play on Eire. Following the Union of the Crowns, James VI had the military strength to back up any attempts to impose some control. The result was, in 1609, the Statutes of Iona which started the process of integrating clan leaders into Scottish society. The gradual changes continued into the 19th century, as clan chiefs thought of themselves less as patriarchal leaders of their people and more as commercial landlords. The first effect on the clansmen who were their tenants was the change to rents being payable in money rather than in kind. Later, rents were increased as Highland landowners sought to increase their income. This was followed, mostly in the period 1760–1850, by agricultural improvement that often (particularly in the Western Highlands) involved clearance of the population to make way for large scale sheep farms. Displaced tenants were set up in crofting communities in the process. The crofts were intended not to provide all the needs of their occupiers; they were expected to work in other industries such as kelping and fishing. Crofters came to rely substantially on seasonal migrant work, particularly in the Lowlands. This gave impetus to the learning of English, which was seen by many rural Gaelic speakers to be the essential "language of work".

 

Older historiography attributes the collapse of the clan system to the aftermath of the Jacobite risings. This is now thought less influential by historians. Following the Jacobite rising of 1745 the British government enacted a series of laws to try to suppress the clan system, including bans on the bearing of arms and the wearing of tartan, and limitations on the activities of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Most of this legislation was repealed by the end of the 18th century as the Jacobite threat subsided. There was soon a rehabilitation of Highland culture. Tartan was adopted for Highland regiments in the British Army, which poor Highlanders joined in large numbers in the era of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1790–1815). Tartan had largely been abandoned by the ordinary people of the region, but in the 1820s, tartan and the kilt were adopted by members of the social elite, not just in Scotland, but across Europe. The international craze for tartan, and for idealising a romanticised Highlands, was set off by the Ossian cycle, and further popularised by the works of Walter Scott. His "staging" of the visit of King George IV to Scotland in 1822 and the king's wearing of tartan resulted in a massive upsurge in demand for kilts and tartans that could not be met by the Scottish woollen industry. Individual clan tartans were largely designated in this period and they became a major symbol of Scottish identity. This "Highlandism", by which all of Scotland was identified with the culture of the Highlands, was cemented by Queen Victoria's interest in the country, her adoption of Balmoral as a major royal retreat, and her interest in "tartenry".

 

Recurrent famine affected the Highlands for much of its history, with significant instances as late as 1817 in the Eastern Highlands and the early 1850s in the West.  Over the 18th century, the region had developed a trade of black cattle into Lowland markets, and this was balanced by imports of meal into the area. There was a critical reliance on this trade to provide sufficient food, and it is seen as an essential prerequisite for the population growth that started in the 18th century. Most of the Highlands, particularly in the North and West was short of the arable land that was essential for the mixed, run rig based, communal farming that existed before agricultural improvement was introduced into the region.[a] Between the 1760s and the 1830s there was a substantial trade in unlicensed whisky that had been distilled in the Highlands. Lowland distillers (who were not able to avoid the heavy taxation of this product) complained that Highland whisky made up more than half the market. The development of the cattle trade is taken as evidence that the pre-improvement Highlands was not an immutable system, but did exploit the economic opportunities that came its way.  The illicit whisky trade demonstrates the entrepreneurial ability of the peasant classes. 

 

Agricultural improvement reached the Highlands mostly over the period 1760 to 1850. Agricultural advisors, factors, land surveyors and others educated in the thinking of Adam Smith were keen to put into practice the new ideas taught in Scottish universities.  Highland landowners, many of whom were burdened with chronic debts, were generally receptive to the advice they offered and keen to increase the income from their land.  In the East and South the resulting change was similar to that in the Lowlands, with the creation of larger farms with single tenants, enclosure of the old run rig fields, introduction of new crops (such as turnips), land drainage and, as a consequence of all this, eviction, as part of the Highland clearances, of many tenants and cottars. Some of those cleared found employment on the new, larger farms, others moved to the accessible towns of the Lowlands.

 

In the West and North, evicted tenants were usually given tenancies in newly created crofting communities, while their former holdings were converted into large sheep farms. Sheep farmers could pay substantially higher rents than the run rig farmers and were much less prone to falling into arrears. Each croft was limited in size so that the tenants would have to find work elsewhere. The major alternatives were fishing and the kelp industry. Landlords took control of the kelp shores, deducting the wages earned by their tenants from the rent due and retaining the large profits that could be earned at the high prices paid for the processed product during the Napoleonic wars.

 

When the Napoleonic wars finished in 1815, the Highland industries were affected by the return to a peacetime economy. The price of black cattle fell, nearly halving between 1810 and the 1830s. Kelp prices had peaked in 1810, but reduced from £9 a ton in 1823 to £3 13s 4d a ton in 1828. Wool prices were also badly affected.  This worsened the financial problems of debt-encumbered landlords. Then, in 1846, potato blight arrived in the Highlands, wiping out the essential subsistence crop for the overcrowded crofting communities. As the famine struck, the government made clear to landlords that it was their responsibility to provide famine relief for their tenants. The result of the economic downturn had been that a large proportion of Highland estates were sold in the first half of the 19th century. T M Devine points out that in the region most affected by the potato famine, by 1846, 70 per cent of the landowners were new purchasers who had not owned Highland property before 1800. More landlords were obliged to sell due to the cost of famine relief. Those who were protected from the worst of the crisis were those with extensive rental income from sheep farms.  Government loans were made available for drainage works, road building and other improvements and many crofters became temporary migrants – taking work in the Lowlands. When the potato famine ceased in 1856, this established a pattern of more extensive working away from the Highlands.

 

The unequal concentration of land ownership remained an emotional and controversial subject, of enormous importance to the Highland economy, and eventually became a cornerstone of liberal radicalism. The poor crofters were politically powerless, and many of them turned to religion. They embraced the popularly oriented, fervently evangelical Presbyterian revival after 1800. Most joined the breakaway "Free Church" after 1843. This evangelical movement was led by lay preachers who themselves came from the lower strata, and whose preaching was implicitly critical of the established order. The religious change energised the crofters and separated them from the landlords; it helped prepare them for their successful and violent challenge to the landlords in the 1880s through the Highland Land League. Violence erupted, starting on the Isle of Skye, when Highland landlords cleared their lands for sheep and deer parks. It was quietened when the government stepped in, passing the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1886 to reduce rents, guarantee fixity of tenure, and break up large estates to provide crofts for the homeless. This contrasted with the Irish Land War underway at the same time, where the Irish were intensely politicised through roots in Irish nationalism, while political dimensions were limited. In 1885 three Independent Crofter candidates were elected to Parliament, which listened to their pleas. The results included explicit security for the Scottish smallholders in the "crofting counties"; the legal right to bequeath tenancies to descendants; and the creation of a Crofting Commission. The Crofters as a political movement faded away by 1892, and the Liberal Party gained their votes.

 

Today, the Highlands are the largest of Scotland's whisky producing regions; the relevant area runs from Orkney to the Isle of Arran in the south and includes the northern isles and much of Inner and Outer Hebrides, Argyll, Stirlingshire, Arran, as well as sections of Perthshire and Aberdeenshire. (Other sources treat The Islands, except Islay, as a separate whisky producing region.) This massive area has over 30 distilleries, or 47 when the Islands sub-region is included in the count. According to one source, the top five are The Macallan, Glenfiddich, Aberlour, Glenfarclas and Balvenie. While Speyside is geographically within the Highlands, that region is specified as distinct in terms of whisky productions. Speyside single malt whiskies are produced by about 50 distilleries.

 

According to Visit Scotland, Highlands whisky is "fruity, sweet, spicy, malty". Another review states that Northern Highlands single malt is "sweet and full-bodied", the Eastern Highlands and Southern Highlands whiskies tend to be "lighter in texture" while the distilleries in the Western Highlands produce single malts with a "much peatier influence".

 

The Scottish Reformation achieved partial success in the Highlands. Roman Catholicism remained strong in some areas, owing to remote locations and the efforts of Franciscan missionaries from Ireland, who regularly came to celebrate Mass. There remain significant Catholic strongholds within the Highlands and Islands such as Moidart and Morar on the mainland and South Uist and Barra in the southern Outer Hebrides. The remoteness of the region and the lack of a Gaelic-speaking clergy undermined the missionary efforts of the established church. The later 18th century saw somewhat greater success, owing to the efforts of the SSPCK missionaries and to the disruption of traditional society after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. In the 19th century, the evangelical Free Churches, which were more accepting of Gaelic language and culture, grew rapidly, appealing much more strongly than did the established church.

 

For the most part, however, the Highlands are considered predominantly Protestant, belonging to the Church of Scotland. In contrast to the Catholic southern islands, the northern Outer Hebrides islands (Lewis, Harris and North Uist) have an exceptionally high proportion of their population belonging to the Protestant Free Church of Scotland or the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The Outer Hebrides have been described as the last bastion of Calvinism in Britain and the Sabbath remains widely observed. Inverness and the surrounding area has a majority Protestant population, with most locals belonging to either The Kirk or the Free Church of Scotland. The church maintains a noticeable presence within the area, with church attendance notably higher than in other parts of Scotland. Religion continues to play an important role in Highland culture, with Sabbath observance still widely practised, particularly in the Hebrides.

 

In traditional Scottish geography, the Highlands refers to that part of Scotland north-west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which crosses mainland Scotland in a near-straight line from Helensburgh to Stonehaven. However the flat coastal lands that occupy parts of the counties of Nairnshire, Morayshire, Banffshire and Aberdeenshire are often excluded as they do not share the distinctive geographical and cultural features of the rest of the Highlands. The north-east of Caithness, as well as Orkney and Shetland, are also often excluded from the Highlands, although the Hebrides are usually included. The Highland area, as so defined, differed from the Lowlands in language and tradition, having preserved Gaelic speech and customs centuries after the anglicisation of the latter; this led to a growing perception of a divide, with the cultural distinction between Highlander and Lowlander first noted towards the end of the 14th century. In Aberdeenshire, the boundary between the Highlands and the Lowlands is not well defined. There is a stone beside the A93 road near the village of Dinnet on Royal Deeside which states 'You are now in the Highlands', although there are areas of Highland character to the east of this point.

 

A much wider definition of the Highlands is that used by the Scotch whisky industry. Highland single malts are produced at distilleries north of an imaginary line between Dundee and Greenock, thus including all of Aberdeenshire and Angus.

 

Inverness is regarded as the Capital of the Highlands, although less so in the Highland parts of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire and Stirlingshire which look more to Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth, and Stirling as their commercial centres.

 

The Highland Council area, created as one of the local government regions of Scotland, has been a unitary council area since 1996. The council area excludes a large area of the southern and eastern Highlands, and the Western Isles, but includes Caithness. Highlands is sometimes used, however, as a name for the council area, as in the former Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern is also used to refer to the area, as in the former Northern Constabulary. These former bodies both covered the Highland council area and the island council areas of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.

 

Much of the Highlands area overlaps the Highlands and Islands area. An electoral region called Highlands and Islands is used in elections to the Scottish Parliament: this area includes Orkney and Shetland, as well as the Highland Council local government area, the Western Isles and most of the Argyll and Bute and Moray local government areas. Highlands and Islands has, however, different meanings in different contexts. It means Highland (the local government area), Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles in Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern, as in Northern Constabulary, refers to the same area as that covered by the fire and rescue service.

 

There have been trackways from the Lowlands to the Highlands since prehistoric times. Many traverse the Mounth, a spur of mountainous land that extends from the higher inland range to the North Sea slightly north of Stonehaven. The most well-known and historically important trackways are the Causey Mounth, Elsick Mounth, Cryne Corse Mounth and Cairnamounth.

 

Although most of the Highlands is geographically on the British mainland, it is somewhat less accessible than the rest of Britain; thus most UK couriers categorise it separately, alongside Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and other offshore islands. They thus charge additional fees for delivery to the Highlands, or exclude the area entirely. While the physical remoteness from the largest population centres inevitably leads to higher transit cost, there is confusion and consternation over the scale of the fees charged and the effectiveness of their communication, and the use of the word Mainland in their justification. Since the charges are often based on postcode areas, many far less remote areas, including some which are traditionally considered part of the lowlands, are also subject to these charges. Royal Mail is the only delivery network bound by a Universal Service Obligation to charge a uniform tariff across the UK. This, however, applies only to mail items and not larger packages which are dealt with by its Parcelforce division.

 

The Highlands lie to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which runs from Arran to Stonehaven. This part of Scotland is largely composed of ancient rocks from the Cambrian and Precambrian periods which were uplifted during the later Caledonian Orogeny. Smaller formations of Lewisian gneiss in the northwest are up to 3 billion years old. The overlying rocks of the Torridon Sandstone form mountains in the Torridon Hills such as Liathach and Beinn Eighe in Wester Ross.

 

These foundations are interspersed with many igneous intrusions of a more recent age, the remnants of which have formed mountain massifs such as the Cairngorms and the Cuillin of Skye. A significant exception to the above are the fossil-bearing beds of Old Red Sandstone found principally along the Moray Firth coast and partially down the Highland Boundary Fault. The Jurassic beds found in isolated locations on Skye and Applecross reflect the complex underlying geology. They are the original source of much North Sea oil. The Great Glen is formed along a transform fault which divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands.

 

The entire region was covered by ice sheets during the Pleistocene ice ages, save perhaps for a few nunataks. The complex geomorphology includes incised valleys and lochs carved by the action of mountain streams and ice, and a topography of irregularly distributed mountains whose summits have similar heights above sea-level, but whose bases depend upon the amount of denudation to which the plateau has been subjected in various places.

Climate

 

The region is much warmer than other areas at similar latitudes (such as Kamchatka in Russia, or Labrador in Canada) because of the Gulf Stream making it cool, damp and temperate. The Köppen climate classification is "Cfb" at low altitudes, then becoming "Cfc", "Dfc" and "ET" at higher altitudes.

 

Places of interest

An Teallach

Aonach Mòr (Nevis Range ski centre)

Arrochar Alps

Balmoral Castle

Balquhidder

Battlefield of Culloden

Beinn Alligin

Beinn Eighe

Ben Cruachan hydro-electric power station

Ben Lomond

Ben Macdui (second highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Ben Nevis (highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Cairngorms National Park

Cairngorm Ski centre near Aviemore

Cairngorm Mountains

Caledonian Canal

Cape Wrath

Carrick Castle

Castle Stalker

Castle Tioram

Chanonry Point

Conic Hill

Culloden Moor

Dunadd

Duart Castle

Durness

Eilean Donan

Fingal's Cave (Staffa)

Fort George

Glen Coe

Glen Etive

Glen Kinglas

Glen Lyon

Glen Orchy

Glenshee Ski Centre

Glen Shiel

Glen Spean

Glenfinnan (and its railway station and viaduct)

Grampian Mountains

Hebrides

Highland Folk Museum – The first open-air museum in the UK.

Highland Wildlife Park

Inveraray Castle

Inveraray Jail

Inverness Castle

Inverewe Garden

Iona Abbey

Isle of Staffa

Kilchurn Castle

Kilmartin Glen

Liathach

Lecht Ski Centre

Loch Alsh

Loch Ard

Loch Awe

Loch Assynt

Loch Earn

Loch Etive

Loch Fyne

Loch Goil

Loch Katrine

Loch Leven

Loch Linnhe

Loch Lochy

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park

Loch Lubnaig

Loch Maree

Loch Morar

Loch Morlich

Loch Ness

Loch Nevis

Loch Rannoch

Loch Tay

Lochranza

Luss

Meall a' Bhuiridh (Glencoe Ski Centre)

Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary at Loch Creran

Rannoch Moor

Red Cuillin

Rest and Be Thankful stretch of A83

River Carron, Wester Ross

River Spey

River Tay

Ross and Cromarty

Smoo Cave

Stob Coire a' Chàirn

Stac Polly

Strathspey Railway

Sutherland

Tor Castle

Torridon Hills

Urquhart Castle

West Highland Line (scenic railway)

West Highland Way (Long-distance footpath)

Wester Ross

The house dates back to 1830, when a two-room, single story cabin was constructed on the site as a home for the owner of the grist mill. The fireplaces used then, are still in the house, along with the original stonework and mantles, although the fireplaces throughout the house have been modified over the years to enable them to burn the more efficient coal. The window glass in this part of the house is “Crown Glass”- made by a glass blowing technique. There is a unique pass-through “window” in the kitchen which was used to feed the miller’s crew outside the house, and perhaps slaves working on the plantation.

 

The first addition to the house was completed in 1845, which more than doubled the size of the house. It consisted of two rooms- upstairs, with an outside stairway, and a downstairs room, which today is the dining room. The upstairs room, called the “traveler’s room” served to house the numerous travelers on the road, and had no access from the interior portions of the house. Today, visitors may examine this room via a narrow, winding stairway with its well-worn stair treads, and 19th century “intrusion alarm”.

The final addition to the house was in 1860, just prior to the Civil War. By this time, the 1200 acre plantation had prospered to the point where this was to become one of the finest homes in this part of the country. The plantation produced corn, wheat, cotton, hemp, and livestock- principally cows and pigs.

 

In 1861, when the Civil War came to Kentucky, Confederate General Felix K. Zollicoffer brought 7000 troops from Tennessee into Mill Springs. The soldiers camped on 9 acres behind the house, while the General took the house as his headquarters, with the approval of its owners- Thompson Brown and his wife, Elizabeth. There is an interesting anecdote about “Lizzie”, as she was known, who felt sorry for a rebel soldier walking guard duty in the rain outside the house. Lizzie invited him inside to get warm, while she took his musket and walked guard duty in his place. She was 7 months pregnant at the time. After the Battle of Mill Springs, the house served as a temporary hospital for the Confederate wounded. There is a theory that the dark brown spots on the stairway are actually blood stains. After General Zollicoffer was killed, and the rebel troops were driven out of Mill Springs, the house became the headquarters for the victorious Union General, George H. Thomas.

Later during the war, a 6-pound cannon ball was fired through the house, causing some interior damage to walls and a door, and leaving a “mystery” as to how and when it occurred. Today, the holes in the house can still be seen, and the cannon ball is on display in the information center.

 

After the Civil War, Brown’s business suffered, partially due to his stance supporting the secession, and sold his house and business to his brother-in-law, Lloyd Lanier. The house remained in the Lanier family until well into the 20th century.

The history of exhibition on the site of the Brisbane Exhibition Grounds dates to August 1876, with the staging of the first Queensland Intercolonial Exhibition. None of the buildings extant in 1876 have survived, but the grounds have increased substantially from an original 12 acres, and contain a variety of structures and facilities associated with the annual August Exhibition, which date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries to the present. The site has been the venue for Queensland's principal agricultural, pastoral and industrial exhibitions for over 125 years. It remains the home of the annual Royal Queensland Show and is Queensland's premier showground. Since 1876 only two annual exhibitions on this site have been cancelled: the 1919 Exhibition due to the influenza epidemic, and in 1942 when the grounds were occupied by military personnel.

 

Prior to the establishment of the Exhibition Grounds in 1876, the site was part of the Queensland Acclimatisation Society's grounds. In July 1863 this Society, established in 1862 to promote the introduction, acclimatization, propagation and distribution in Queensland of economically useful plants and animals, was granted 33 acres of land bounded by Bowen Bridge Road, O'Connell Terrace, Brookes Street and Gregory Terrace. At the northwestern corner of the site, fronting Bowen Bridge Road and O'Connell Terrace, the Society established a public exhibition garden [Bowen Park]. The remainder of the site was used for experimentation purposes, growing and propagating plants and seeds sent from other parts of Queensland, other colonies, and around the world, and raising various introduced animals. The Society played an important role in the beginnings of commercial agriculture in Queensland, introducing or trialling crops and plants such as mango trees, ginger plants, sugar cane, olive trees and choko vines.

 

Queensland's 1876 Intercolonial Exhibition was not the first competitive demonstration of agricultural and industrial progress in the colony. In 1854 squatters from the Darling Downs and Moreton Bay districts of New South Wales established the Northern Districts' Agricultural and Pastoral Association, modelled on the Scottish Highland Agricultural Societies. They planned to hold exhibitions [mainly of pastoral produce] at Brisbane, Ipswich, Warwick, Drayton and Gayndah, in rotation, and some shows were held before the Association became immersed in more political activities. Nurseryman AJ Hockings was instrumental in holding horticultural shows in Brisbane from 1855. In the 1860s other regional agricultural and pastoral associations were formed, among the earliest being the Darling Downs Agricultural Society [based at Toowoomba] in 1860, the Drayton and Toowoomba Agricultural and Horticultural Society in 1864, the East Moreton Farmers Association [based at Ipswich] in 1866 and the Eastern Downs Horticultural and Agricultural Association [based at Warwick] in 1867. These Associations conducted annual exhibitions of agricultural, horticultural, and pastoral produce and farm machinery. Prizes were awarded for best exhibits. The object was to encourage the exchange of knowledge and to foster better farm practice. Associations such as these proliferated in Queensland during the second half of the 19th century, and each held an annual 'show'.

 

In 1874 moves were initiated by Queensland's Chief Inspector of Stock, Patrick Robertson Gordon, to form a national agricultural society, to plan Brisbane's first intercolonial exhibition. He was supported by Gresley Lukin, editor of the Brisbane Courier and the Queenslander, and agricultural agent John Fenwick. In May 1875 an inaugural meeting, presided over by the Governor, Sir William Wellington Cairns, was held to form the National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland. A constitution drafted by the headmaster of the Brisbane Grammar School, Thomas Harlin, was adopted in July, and the first meeting of the National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland was held at the Brisbane Town Hall on 13 August 1875. Arthur Hunter Palmer, later premier of Queensland, was elected to the chair and other founding members included Joshua Peter Bell, George Harris, George Gromes, Thomas Harlin, Charles Stewart Mein and William Hemmant. At this meeting use of part of the Queensland Acclimatisation Society's grounds was discussed, and subsequently a lease of about 12 acres from the Society was arranged.

 

The alliance with the Acclimatisation Society was considered to be a sensible arrangement. There were common interests, the site was well supplied with water and convenient to the city, and it was thought at the time that many women and townspeople, who might have hesitated in visiting a purely utilitarian exhibition of produce, animals and farm machinery, may have been induced by the additional attraction of the Acclimatisation Society Gardens.

 

The Intercolonial Exhibition was intended to promote and showcase the agricultural, pastoral and industrial resources of the whole of Queensland. Whether it could be sustained beyond a single exhibition remained to be seen. The National Association did not wish to supplant regional agricultural societies and associations, but wished to encourage their organisation, and foster a spirit of friendly rivalry amongst them by holding a grand central exhibition for the competition of winners at minor shows [BC 25 October 1875]. To avoid clashing with local shows, and in order to hold the exhibition during fine weather, before the shearing season, and when good feed would be found along the roads, it was decided to stage the Exhibition in August 1876.

 

The first exhibition building was a large timber hall with side aisles and a central clerestory. It was erected in 1876 along Gregory Terrace near the corner of Bowen Bridge Road, at a cost of £1254, and was a modification of a design prepared by Queensland Colonial Architect FDG Stanley. Sydney exhibitor Jules Joubert added a rectangular wing to the northern side to increase the extent of his exhibition. Cattle, sheep and horse stalls of hardwood framing with corrugated iron roofing were erected in the grounds, and a small showring was established north of the Exhibition Building.

 

The first Queensland Intercolonial Exhibition was declared open by Governor Cairns on Tuesday 22 August 1876, and ran until 28 August. It proved immensely popular, with a total of £1045 taken at the gate. Thereafter, the Exhibition became an annual event.

 

In the period 1876-1888, the National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland expended an estimated £7000 on the grounds. The main exhibition building was doubled in size for the 1877 exhibition, and another annexe was provided for horticultural exhibits.

 

In 1879, the National Association was awarded a lease of 23 acres of the 32 acre Acclimatisation Society grounds for a period of 50 years, for use as an exhibition ground. In 1881 the railway to Sandgate was constructed through the National Association and Acclimatisation Society grounds. [The line was later re-routed via Central Station, Brunswick Street and Bowen Hills, but the Exhibition Line still opens each year during the August show.] By 1882, the Exhibition Grounds comprised all the land south, southeast and east of the railway line and bounded by Bowen Bridge Road, Gregory Terrace, Brookes Street and O'Connell Terrace. A 1000 seat capacity grandstand, designed by Stanley, was erected in 1885 [not the first grandstand on the site]. In 1887 a timber residence designed by GHM Addison was constructed at the corner of O'Connell Terrace and Brookes Street for the Secretary of the National Association.

 

In 1887 the first exhibition building was destroyed by fire. The public called for it to be replaced with a masonry building, but the National Association was reluctant to commit to the necessary expenditure without more secure land tenure, against which they could borrow money for permanent exhibition buildings. In 1888 a temporary timber exhibition building was constructed for approximately £500, while the National Association called for competitive designs for a permanent exhibition building. Under the provisions of the National Association and Acclimatisation Society Act 1890, the land leased from the Queensland Acclimatisation Society for an exhibition ground was resumed and granted to the National Association as Trustees, who were also empowered under this act to borrow money from the Queensland Government to erect the new exhibition building.

 

The design competition was won by GHM Addison, the Brisbane partner of the Melbourne-based firm Oakden Addison and Kemp. In 1890 Addison amended his original design to a T-shape, incorporating a southern wing with a concert hall which could be rented out to offset repayments on the government loan. The new building was erected closer to the corner of Bowen Bridge Road and Gregory Terrace than the original building. The foundation stone was laid on 25 April 1891 and the builder, John Quinn, was required to have a section of the building completed for the August 1891 exhibition, with the whole of the building to be completed within 12 months.

 

A plan of the Exhibition Grounds published in The Queenslander on 15 August 1891 shows the new exhibition building, several smaller pavilions, a show ring in the position of the present main show ring, the 1885 grandstand [where the Ernest Baynes Stand is now located], animal shelters along the boundaries, and the secretary's residence near Brookes Street.

 

The new exhibition building was completed in 1892 and a public holiday was declared for 10 August 1982 to mark the official opening of the Exhibition. Despite the economic depression, 32,000 people attended on the holiday and more than 66,000 over the four-day course of the Exhibition. However, the National Association did not escape the effects of the 1890s depression, struggling to repay the government loan on the exhibition building. In 1897 the colonial government resumed the building and liquidated the Association's debts. The Exhibition Concert Hall continued to serve as a concert venue but the remainder of the Exhibition Building was refurbished for the Queensland Museum, which moved to the building from William Street in 1899. At this time the museum grounds were resumed from the National Association's land as a separate reserve. The National Association struggled to maintain the viability of the remaining Exhibition Grounds until 1902-03, when the Queensland government took control of the Association's assets, leasing the Exhibition Grounds back to the Association at an annual rental.

 

In the early 1900s the Queensland economy revived, and the National Association's financial position firmed. Substantial improvements and re-arrangements of the Exhibition Grounds were made in 1906 in time for the August show. A fine new grandstand, designed by Brisbane architect Claude William Chambers, was erected at a cost of £6248. [In 1923, this stand was re-named the John MacDonald Stand in honour of a long-serving National Association councillor]. The side show booths which had been located on the hill to the north of the main ring, were moved to the valley on the northwest side of the railway, their place being taken by machinery exhibits. The hill has since been known as Machinery Hill, and the valley as Sideshow Alley.

 

In 1909, the year of the Jubilee Exhibition [celebrating 50 years since the separation of Queensland from New South Wales], the Exhibition Grounds were extended with the acquisition of Petty's Paddock, an adjacent 6 acres bounded by Gregory Terrace and Alexandria, Science and Water streets, purchased for £4500. About 1910 a two-storeyed timber building with pressed metal ceilings and a prominent roof flêche, was erected along the northern side of Gregory Terrace near the main entrance. A section of this building was utilized as a Post Office by August 1933.

 

During the First World War [1914-18], a military recruiting and training camp, completed with rifle range, was established at the Exhibition Grounds, but this did not prevent the annual Exhibition from proceeding.

 

In the 1910s Brisbane architects Richard Gailey snr and Richard Gailey jnr established a relationship with the National Association which was to last through the 1920s and 1930s. In May 1914 they called tenders for the construction of a sheep, pig and poultry pavilion, and fencing along Gregory Terrace, and in 1917 for timber dog and horse pavilions.

 

In 1917, Toowoomba's Austral Hall [designed by architect William Hodgen and erected in 1904] was purchased for £1500 and re-erected at the Brisbane Exhibition Grounds. It was the largest building of its type in Queensland. Reflecting the growing popularity of the motor car, the pavilion was occupied by representatives of the local automobile trade. It was the first Brisbane Exhibition pavilion to be dedicated solely to motor vehicle displays, automobile exhibits previously being located on Machinery Hill. In 1919 Austral Hall was renamed the John Reid Pavilion following the death that year of Brisbane merchant John Reid, a long-time supporter of the National Association.

 

Affleck House was completed by August 1918 for the showtime use of Stock Breeders' Association delegates. It was named after National Association councillor WL Affleck, who raised the finance for the construction.

 

During the influenza epidemic which swept Australia in 1919, following the return of service personnel from overseas at the end of the First World War, army huts were erected at the exhibition grounds as isolation wards for the nearby Brisbane General Hospital, and dining rooms were set up to feed and house the expected influx of seriously ill patients. Due to the threat of crowd contagion, and to save disturbing patients in the isolation wards, the Exhibition was cancelled that year.

 

In 1920 the Prince of Wales [later Edward VIII] visited the Exhibition, following which the Association moved to incorporate the word 'Royal' into its name as the Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland, which over the years has been reduced, unofficially, to the Royal National Association [RNA]. In recent years the RNA has registered as its trademark the word 'Ekka' [a long-standing colloquial shortening of the work 'Exhibition'].

 

During the interwar years many improvements were made to the exhibition grounds, with various buildings erected or extended during this period. A timber show hall was erected c1921 between Gregory Terrace and Water Street, and a brick exhibition building, designed by architects Atkinson & Conrad, was constructed in 1923 for Lever Bros of Sydney.

 

In 1922-23 the Ernest Baynes Stand was erected on the site of the 1885 grandstand. Designed by architect Richard Gailey Jnr and constructed by John Hutchinson, the building had two tiers with a seating capacity of 5000 and a total capacity of 7000. It was constructed with a steel frame faced with brick, the larger steel sections being imported from Britain and the smaller sections made in Australia. The foundation stone of the new grandstand was laid by Governor, Sir Matthew Nathan, in November 1922, and the stand was completed in time for the August 1923 Exhibition, at a cost of £26,884. The sub-floor contained a dining room which could accommodate 600 persons at a sitting, and a row of ten shops facing the lane at the rear of the structure.

 

A second show ring, intended principally for exhibiting dairy cattle, was established to the north of the railway line which transects the Exhibition Grounds, and was ready for the show of 1924. Its construction reflected the growing importance of the dairy industry to Queensland where, with Government encouragement, it became the State's second largest primary industry and sustained rural Queensland during the depression of the 1930s.

 

By 1925 the RNA Council Stand, located adjacent to the Ernest Baynes Stand overlooking the show ring, had been constructed. The Stand was originally two storeys. At some early period the northern end of the building was extended to incorporate an entrance to the seating in front of the stand. By 1938 a third storey had been added to the building, and later a two-storeyed extension facing Executive Street was constructed.

 

In 1927 legislation was enacted to grant the National Association perpetual lease of the grounds, at that time comprising just under 20 acres. There followed a burst of ground improvements, mostly designed by architect Richard Gailey jnr, including a dog pavilion, meat exhibition pavilion, more turnstiles, and a new lavatory block in 1927; and new horse and cattle stalls, and turnstiles at the corner of Costin Street and Gregory Terrace, in 1928. Also erected in 1928 were show pavilions for General Motors Pty Ltd, Brisbane Cars & Tractors Ltd, the Vacuum Oil Co. [concrete structure], and the Kodak Company Ltd, and a demonstration fibrous cement cottage designed by architect EP Trewern for James Hardie & Co.

 

At this period the RNA sought to make the grounds a first-class venue for cricket, football and other sports, but had limited success in attracting the big matches. The year 1928 was a high point for the Association's sporting ambitions, with the showground the venue for the first England versus Australia cricket test in Queensland, and the first in the 1928-29 series. Legendary Australian cricketer Donald Bradman made his Test debut at the Brisbane Exhibition Grounds in 1928. More successful than cricket or football was Exhibition Speedway, established in 1926.

 

A new Lady Forster Creche was opened in Costin Street, near the main entrance to the Exhibition Grounds, in time for the 1928 show. [Previously the creche was located on the main showgrounds north of Gregory Terrace.] The centre was operated by the Creche and Kindergarten Association and provided baby care while parents were enjoying the rounds of the show. In 1939 the Creche was removed to a new location near the Anglican dining hall, north of Gregory Terrace.

 

In 1929 the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, which since 1923 had been conducting a bank at the Exhibition Grounds during the annual show, constructed a purpose-designed bank building in the grounds, just to the south of the Council Stand. Although it was not uncommon for banks to establish agencies at showgrounds around Australia, this building is believed to be the only 'exhibition' bank building specifically constructed for the Commonwealth Bank. The northeast end of the building was extended in 1947.

 

Despite the severe economic depression of the early 1930s, the Exhibition continued to attract its strong annual August attendance. More land was acquired, including a further 2 acres 23 perches excised from Bowen Park in 1932, bringing the total Exhibition Grounds to about 40 acres. Improvements to the grounds at this period included more cattle stalls along O'Connell Terrace [architect Richard Gailey jnr] and a new show pavilion for Foggitt Jones Pty Ltd [architects Addison & MacDonald] in 1932; and a new dairy produce hall [architect Richard Gailey jnr] for the RNA in 1933.

 

As the economy recovered during the second half of the 1930s a number of substantial improvements were made to the RNA's exhibition facilities. In 1936 Gailey called tenders for a Wool Hall, additions to the pig and horse pavilions, new Stock & Station Agents' Offices and Dining Hall, and a new yearling sale ring. New concrete roads and additional seating accommodation were provided. The old Industrial Pavilion was demolished in 1938 and its replacement, designed by Richard Gailey jnr and covering an area of 3.5 acres, was completed along Gregory Terrace in June 1939 at a cost of £40,000. A new electricity hall at the corner of Gregory Terrace and Costin Street was also completed for the 1939 show - reputedly the first show pavilion in Australia dedicated entirely to electricity exhibits. [The Hall of Science, as it was later known, was demolished in 1986 to make way for a new Exhibition Building].

 

During the Second World War, the Exhibition Grounds were occupied from late 1939 to 1944 by military authorities as a venue for training, accommodation and embarkation of troops. [Showgrounds and racecourses with their ovals and existing toilet facilities were favoured places to temporarily accommodate service personnel.] Troops at the exhibition grounds slept in pig and cattle pens; the bars beneath the John MacDonald Stand became wet canteens; and troop trains departed from the railway platforms normally used by show patrons. In 1940 and again in 1941, the military vacated the grounds temporarily for the August Exhibition. Following the entry of Japan into the war in December 1941, American troops were stationed at the showgrounds and the Exhibition of 1942 was cancelled, but was renewed in a limited fashion in 1943 and 1944. Following the war the RNA purchased a number of buildings from the military, for use on the site.

 

The 1950s saw further improvements and works to the grounds with the construction of a Beef Cattle Pavilion in 1950, the work being carried out by MR Hornibrook Builders at a cost of £206,000, and the addition of seating around the main oval near Machinery Hill. Also constructed in the 1950s was a new Dairy Industry Hall, adjacent to the John Reid Pavilion, on the site of the 1933 dairy hall. By the late 1950s, the grounds comprised approximately 50 acres.

 

A number of new buildings were erected in the 1960s. In 1962 the RNA moved its offices from the Queensland Primary Producers Association building in Adelaide Street to the Exhibition Grounds, and in 1970 a purpose-built RNA Administration Building costing $111,584 was opened. In 1963, on land acquired along Constance Street, a double pavilion known as the Agricultural Hall and Douglas Wadley Pavilion was constructed. The Agricultural Hall housed district and junior farmer exhibits. The Douglas Wadley Pavilion, extended in 1968 and again in 1977, housed dogs, and is used regularly for exhibitions in addition to the annual August show. In 1968 the Ring Control and Broadcast building was enlarged. By 1970, the grounds comprised approximately 55 acres.

 

The first animal nursery was established by RNA councillor Frank Robertson at the 1964 show. It has proved one of the must popular and enduring of the show traditions, and has been copied by show societies throughout Australia. At the 1972 Exhibition a purpose-built facility for the animal nursery was opened, named in honour of Mr Robertson.

 

In the late 1960s the face of Sideshow Alley, traditionally home to the weird and wonderful, began to change. The tents and booths largely disappeared, to be replaced with high technology rides, tests of skill, and popular music entertainment.

 

Controversy was generated in 1971 when the Queensland Government declared a state of emergency from 13 July to 2 August, during the South African Springbok Rubgy team tour, when demonstrations against apartheid were held in Brisbane and throughout Australia. The main show ring at the Exhibition Ground was commandeered to host the matches, as a safe distance could be maintained between spectators and would-be protesters. A two metre high chain wire fence was erected to separate spectators from players.

 

A new two-storeyed brick building for use by the police during the annual show was completed for the 1971 Exhibition. It was located inside the main entrance from Gregory Terrace, and replaced an earlier timber building. A new Members Stand was constructed in the 1970s.

 

Improvements and new buildings in the 1980s included: the refurbishment of the John MacDonald Stand in 1985; the construction of a new Exhibition Building in 1986 on the site of the Hall of Science building, at a cost of $2.5 million [with State Government assistance]; removal of the top seating tier of the Ernest Baynes Stand in 1986, following the Bradford Stadium collapse in London that year; and the opening on 28 November 1988 of the Walter Burnett Building, designed by architects Hulme and Webster, adjacent to the Frank Nicklin Pavilion which accommodates fine arts exhibitions. The auditorium of the Walter Burnett Building seats 1000 people and is equipped with a stage and dance floor. Besides its importance to the annual Exhibition, the building is in constant use for all sorts of activities, including expositions, balls and conferences. It was also the venue for the first public airing of the Fitzgerald Inquiry Report on corruption in Queensland, on 3 July 1989.

 

In 2008, Bowen Hills – including the area of the Brisbane Exhibition Grounds – was declared an Urban Development Area under the Urban Land Development Act 2007 (replaced by the Economic Development Act 2012, with the term Priority Development Area superseding the term Urban Development Area).

 

The RNA launched a project to redevelop the showgrounds and in 2009, property and infrastructure company, Lend Lease, was selected as the RNA’s redevelopment partner. In 2010 the RNA and Lend Lease unveiled plans for the ‘Brisbane Showgrounds Regeneration Project’, a redevelopment of 5.5ha of the 22ha site; comprising an upgrade to the showgrounds’ facilities and the inclusion of new office, retail and residential spaces. This involved the demolition and clearing of various buildings and areas – mostly concentrated in the southeastern portion of the site (bounded by Alexandria Street, St Pauls Terrace, Costin Street, Constance Street and Gregory Terrace). Buildings and areas demolished or removed by 2015 included: the Frank Nicklin Pavilion, Walter Burnett Building and Auditorium, Agricultural Hall and Douglas Wadley Pavilion, Frank Roberston Pavilion, Building No.4, Main Parade Food Stall and Show Time Snack Bar, Agricultural Street Bar, Machinery Street Fish Place, Agricultural Open Area, Industrial Open Area, Police Exhibit, and chairlift. The plans for the project were approved in 2010 and construction began in April 2011. The project is expected to take 15 years to complete, at a projected cost of $2.9 billion.

 

The association with regional Queensland and the rural tradition has been and will remain central to the character of the Brisbane Exhibition and the grounds in which it is held, but the RNA has incorporated new ideas and technology to meet the expectations of today's show patrons. In recent years new attractions at the Exhibition Grounds have included communications technology displays.

 

Source: Queensland Heritage Register.

New Photo Story up!!! :D I made it over break and I finally had time upload it! :3

and the photo quality has improved ALOT.

Link: randommagicconfessions.blogspot.com/2012/04/omgyayanewpho...

 

Please excuse the bits of swearing if you read it. It was sort of in Envy's character, so if you're under 10 or you're just against swearing, don't read it...

 

ALSO, Rouge's new obitsu came today and I'll post pics tomorrow since I REALLY need to do hw.

 

Anyways, let me know what you think, and reply to my QPF(Question of the Pic Fic, it's like the question of the day, but it relates to my most recent photo story)

 

SPOILER ALERT IF YOU DIDN'T READ IT!!

 

QPF: Why do you think Elune's mom is in Rehab?

and a bonus QPF: What do you think of Rakai's cheating on Elune with Miku?

Raby Castle dates from the 14th century, when Thomas Hatfield, Bishop of Durham, gave John de Neville a licence to fortify the property at Raby. The noble family of Neville (one of the two main powerful houses in the north of England at the time, along with House Percy) were staunch Catholics, and lived at Raby Castle up until 1569. Charles Neville, the 5th Earl of Westmorland, was the leader of the Rising of the North, a plot to overthrow the protestant Queen Elizabeth I. The north of England generally wanted Mary Queen of Scots to take the throne. It is said that 700 knights gathered at Raby Castle in 1569 and marched to York. The plans fell apart and Raby Castle was confiscated by the crown. A short time later, it was bought by Henry Vane the Elder, and the Vane family and their descendants have lived in the castle since.

Dates: 1875

Maker: T. Lewis

Place: USA: Massachusetts, Cambridgeport

Donor: Gift of Helder S. Costa

Photographer Credit: Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

 

99.006.5

 

For more information on our collection of stereocards, check out our blog!

Any one know anything else about the Maleficent toys? Other then Jakks Pacific is making some. Like dates or anything else? Image Credit : www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=116563#/slide/12

Carrot Cake with Coconut and Dates on smittenkitchen.com

Fruit stand on Jemaa el Fna

Dates from 1918-19

This year I'm using a different film format each month, starting with the smallest and working my way up through the sizes. The format for September is 127 roll film which was introduced in 1912. Narrower than 120 film, it allowed for smaller more pocketable cameras to be made, perhaps most famously the Kodak VP (Vest Pocket) also known as the soldiers' camera because many of them were used during the First World War (1914-18).

This was taken using a Korelle 3x4cm camera, which dates to the 1930s.

The film is Shanghai GP3 ISO 100 black and white, developed in Rodinal 1:50 for 11 mins at 22 degrees.

This is a double exposure.

Dates back to 1837 and has been recently restored.

 

Best Viewed Large

large bunches of dates, growing in Funchal, Madeira.

© Eric Lafforgue

www.ericlafforgue.com

Commentary.

 

Aldourie Castle originally dates to the 1600’s,

when it was notably smaller than it is now.

In the 1860’s William Fraser-Tytler extended the building

and added features to enhance its appearance as a

traditional 17th. Century, Baronial Scottish Castle.

Stepped gables, coned turrets, a balustraded round tower,

oriel windows, corbels, gun loops and

scroll-sided, steeply pedimented dormers.

In 2015, the Danish billionaire Anders Holch Povisen

bought the castle for 15 million pounds.

It was part of his portfolio of 12 Scottish Estates,

making him the largest landowner in Scotland.

His additions have been extensive and of the highest quality.

The loch-side garden was developed with a central lawn,

with adjacent flower borders and criss-cross paths.

Many sculpted Beech trees give

an impressive architectural formality to the view down the lawn.

Across the narrow section of Loch Ness,

the south-facing slopes of the Great Glen

are resplendent with golden gorse, forest,

heather and rocky summits.

He added a 1.5-million-pound boathouse,

in the shape of an inverted boat.

A kitchen garden was re-established and the

100-acre estate is blessed with a profusion of

mature trees including pine, oak and sweet chestnut.

His pièce de la resistance is an amazing suspension bridge,

anchored by dressed stonework, across a

burn and valley, to the east of the castle.

 

~missing dates~

1/29, 1/30, 1/31

 

And this is what I dislike about projects like this, sometimes s*it happens and you end up making more work for yourself. I was going to post all those days, but really? I don't feel like it.

Sunday was a horrible day. I spent it in the emergency room with my Mom. There's nothing worse than seeing your Mom or Dad in physical pain. All I could do is remain calm and be logical with her.

"I'm dying.."

"No, you're not dying."

"Do you think it's cancer?"

"No Ma'...you have a kidney stone...look, I'm on this google MD site, see."

I show her my phone but she just turns her head and bats me away. She finds it annoying when I'm right :)

 

*nurse comes in with some grooovy pain meds*

"Are you still in pain Mrs. Polanco?"

She thinks a minute...shrugs her shoulders a little and nods "yes"

"Ok, now you're going to feel this one ok?"

*nurse leaves, mom leans back*

"Am I dying??"

"No Ma'...it's the pain meds."

"Oh.....I don't like it..... I feel like.... I'm floating."

"I know Ma, it's the meds...are you still in pain?"

"Yes....but I don't care so much..."

"...Just go to sleep Ma."

"No, I'll never wake up."

"You're being silly...you're supposed to sleep so you can heal, recouperate.

*nurse comes back in*

"I'm not gonna die if I go to sleep am I?"

  

She's a silly one, isn't she?

Glad to say it all came out good in the end, no pun intended. She passed the stone in the hospital and learned a very important lesson about the importance of proper hydration.

 

That day left me feeling exhausted and I had full day of work on Monday. The last thing I felt like doing was being on line, so I hit the sack early and yesterday....well yesterday, I just felt like it was my only day off. I just felt like I needed to shut down and just be. Be lazy, take a nap with kitty, enjoy the boys, and chill with my Man.

~

Today I still have work/ clients to do, some cleaning up to catch up on, some grocery shopping, meal planning and dog walking. (And then depending on how Scott comes home tonight from clinical, he may need some physical therapy to help with soreness from an injury earlier this week.) I will drop in on your streams later on tonight folks. I miss seeing all your amazing work.

      

Coyote Willow Performing at Pine Fest Music Festival in Halfway Oregon

 

A spectacular Saturday on the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway for day Pine Fest - Halfway, Oregon with the award Coyote Willow.

 

Billed as the tiniest music festival in the tiniest town, Pine fest is one of our favorite fall events along the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway. We had a great day hanging out with locals and visitors from Oregon Idaho and Washington listening to a great line up of bands and musicians from throughout the Northwest at the Baker County Fairgrounds in Halfway.

 

Pine Fest is the largest musical festival in Halfway but the community also hosts a number of other musical events including the summer concert series on the Main Street Stage. For more information about Pine Fest including next year’s dates and performers visit www.pinefest.org

 

The town of Halfway is just one of numerous small towns along the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway, a loop that encircles the Wallowa Mountains, intersecting with Interstate 84 at Baker City and La Grande, and communities all along the byway host a variety of festivals and community events throughout the year providing visitors a chance to celebrate local culture and visit with locals while exploring this incredibly scenic region of North East Oregon.

 

The byway is a popular destination for group tours and offers visitors a chance to experience small town Americana in small towns like Halfway, as they explore the rugged and spectacular Northeast Oregon landscape along the way.

 

The entire route is on a paved highway. Plan ahead - you'll find stretches of more than eighty miles without gas and with few services. A segment of the Byway between Joseph and Halfway closes with snow in winter, but allows access to winter recreation areas, offering a whole other kind of Northeast Oregon Adventure.

 

For more information about the Hells Canyon Scenic byways or other Baker County, scenic drives, events and attractions, visit the Baker County tourism website at www.travelbakercounty.com

   

Urbex Benelux -

 

The Chateau dates back to about a hundred years ago, but there is not much information about that time. It is known that years ago the chateau served as a high-quality hotel restaurant. The cook owned the business and premises. When the company was flourishing, he decided to start another business abroad, thus letting go of his thoughts somewhat from Cinderella. That was the downfall!

The business was continued by his business partner, however he could not manage it as well as himself. The company went bankrupt.

Cinderella was offered for sale to investors at a later stage, but the asking price turned out to be much too high. Most recently serving as a backdrop for some film producers, Cinderella is currently empty and deserted.

Dubai Dates

Today's story and sketch "by me" we see Doug Gofish piloting his Anion Anti Grav 37 Glider, in front of Doug's Date Moon Pie Store here in Indio California, Doug has just treated two (sisters Darla and Deb Kagler),

from Lippo the Blue Moon, to a week in nearby Palm Springs. Darla won the Moon Pie eating contest at the Koni

Crater Fair, two weeks ago and with the first prize, a weeks stay in Palm Springs, Doug was the Judge and had a hard

time letting the runner up Deb stay behind, she had only eaten one moon pie less than sister Darla, that being 42 pies in

the two minute contest. Which was quite close to the Lippo Moon record of 45 pies in two minutes. But let us get back

to the story of Doug's Date Moon Pie shop, and how it was that Doug arrived here in Indio about a thousand years

ago when he was a young grey alien youth, from the Koni Crater on lippo. After graduating from college with a degree

in Horticulture, Doug loaded up a transporter and came to Earth looking for a unique fruit filling for moon pie's.

Doug's professor had told him about a fruit he had found when he had traveled to Earth himself many years before

in a place he had landed to take a walkabout, he named it Indus which was short for (incredibly nasty dusty uninhabitable stop). But he did write in his notebook about a fruit tree that was nearly a hundred feet high and very hard to climb.

But that the fruit was tasty if you were brave enough to climb for it. Doug charted a course for Indus as shown on

the professors Earth map, and he had no problem finding the trees, they were in fact very very tall and loaded with

long clusters of dates. Doug set up a campsite, put on his tree climbing spikes and climbed up, tree after tree gathering

dates. With the portable moon pie kitchen set up and ready to go, Doug created the first date moon pies. Wanting to

get some customer feedback, Doug had noticed a lot of human workmen erecting a very large pyramid shaped building when

he was in low orbit looking for the trees, he went back to where the pyramid was being built and walked up

to the terrified workers, who noticed Doug was four feet tall grey and had very large black eyes, but their fear turned to joy when the workman ate the first moon pies on Earth. Doug gave each man a pie and the story was carved into the pyramid walls and is still readable today. Doug saved all of the date seeds, flew back into a low orbit and

found this area now known as Indio, which is really not so different from Indus, but is closer to Palm Springs.

He planted the seeds and they grew into a forest of Date Palms, and the fruit used for his Date Moon Pies.

Taa ta the Rod Blog

... dates from 1908. There are 43 bells and 32 figures on this Gothic Revival inspired clock and tourist magnet.

 

The clock chimes every day at 11 am and 12 pm (and also at 5 pm in the summer). The wooden figures depict and re-enacts two16th Century scenes.

 

The upper half of the Glockenspiel depicts the marriage of a Bavarian Duke. The celebrations includes knights and jesters. The Bavarian knight is in blue and white, he wins the tournament.

 

On the bottom half, the figures depict the Schäfflertanz; the coopers' (cask makers) dance. The dance symbolizes the importance of loyalty and perseverance in hard times.

 

Munich; July 2004

 

جتني تقهويني .. وانا خاطري شين !

والهم راح وكنّ ما فـــ الصـدر شــيّ

 

تاكل حلا.. واقول وش لـه تحلـّين؟؟

بس إبلعي ريقـك / وعقبـــه تقهـويّ

 

وانا بشوفك بس يا غاية العــــــين

وإن جعت راح أقدع من إخلاصك شويّ

   

This photograph dates from June 2012 and back then I used a Sony NEX-7 an early mirrorless camera. At the time my of my friends could not believe that I was in the process of switching from Canon DSLR to Sony Mirorless.

 

My photographs fail to convey just how steep West View [Deck Of Cards] actually is.

 

The ‘Deck of Cards’ is a row of beautifully painted houses stacked up on a hill in overlooking Cork Harbour and the town of Cobh. St Colman’s Cathedral perched on a hill behind them.

 

About 50 years ago I worked for a government tourist agency and one day a visitor came to the office to enquire how best to travel to "Cob H". I spent about twenty minutes trying to find Cob H and could not understand why everyone in the office was giggling. The town, which has had several Irish language names, was first called "Cove" ("The Cove of Cork") in 1750. It was renamed by the British as "Queenstown" in 1849 to commemorate a visit by Queen Victoria. Cobh is a Gaelicisation of the English name Cove, and it shares the same pronunciation.

 

Èze’s history dates back to around 2000 BC when it was first inhabited by the Celtic-Ligurian tribes. These early settlers were drawn to the area’s natural fortifications and strategic vantage points.

 

The Romans arrived in the region around the 3rd century BC, integrating Èze into their vast empire. They built roads and infrastructure, leaving a lasting impact on the area’s development. The village’s name is believed to be derived from the ancient Egyptian goddess Isis, whom the Romans worshipped.

 

In the medieval period, Èze became a fortified stronghold. In 1388, it came under the control of the House of Savoy. The village’s strategic location made it a target for various powers. The Moors, the Republic of Genoa, and the Turks under the infamous pirate Barbarossa all sought to control Èze at different times.

 

During the War of the Spanish Succession in 1706, King Louis XIV of France ordered the destruction of Èze’s fortifications to prevent them from falling into enemy hands. This marked a significant turning point in the village’s history, as it transitioned from a military stronghold to a peaceful village.

 

In the 19th century, Èze began to attract artists, writers, and philosophers, drawn by its stunning views and tranquil atmosphere. The village became a haven for creativity and inspiration. Today, Èze is renowned for its well-preserved medieval architecture, narrow cobblestone streets, and the exotic Jardin botanique d’Èze, which offers breathtaking panoramas of the Mediterranean Sea.

 

Èze has hosted many famous visitors over the years. The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche is said to have walked the steep path from Èze to the sea, which is now named after him. Walt Disney also visited Èze, enchanted by its beauty and charm.

 

A Jewel of the French Riviera

Today, Èze is a must-visit destination on the French Riviera. Its combination of historical intrigue, stunning natural beauty, and artistic heritage makes it a unique and captivating place. Whether you’re exploring the ancient ruins, enjoying the lush gardens, or simply soaking in the panoramic views, Èze offers a glimpse into the rich tapestry of history and culture that defines this enchanting village.

Wien - Prater

 

View from Giant Ferris wheel

 

Aussicht vom Riesenrad

 

The Wurstelprater (Wurstel or Wurschtel being the Viennese name for Hanswurst) is an amusement park and section of the Wiener Prater (a park) in Leopoldstadt, Vienna, Austria.

 

This institution dates back to the time of the Austrian Empire, when Emperor Joseph II made the Prater (which had been serving as Imperial hunting ground until then) open to the public in 1766. Soon the first snack bars, stalls and bowling alleys opened up on the grounds and the Wurstelprater was born.

 

The best-known attraction is the Wiener Riesenrad, a Ferris wheel. The park also features various rides, bumper cars, carousels, roller coasters, shooting galleries, ghost trains, a Madame Tussauds wax works cabinet and much more. Apart from the rides, the park features various famous traditional Viennese restaurants (such as the Schweizerhaus and the Walfisch) and souvenir shops.

 

The mascot for the park is Calafati, a 9 m-tall sculpture of a Chinese man, which stands near the Wiener Riesenrad.

 

The park is open from 10:00 am to 1:00 am daily in its season, which runs from 15 March to 31 October. Some attractions, as well as the food stands and restaurants, are open throughout the year. There is no entrance fee to get into the park; instead, each attraction charges its own fee, the attractions being individual businesses mostly owned by local families.

 

During the advent season, a small Christmas Market can be found on Riesenradplatz, right beside the Wiener Riesenrad Ferris Wheel at the Wurstelprater entrance. This Wintermarkt is open from mid-November till beginning of January and features traditional Christmas gifts as well as seasonal food and beverages.

 

The Wurstelprater is located in the Wiener Prater and can be conveniently reached by public transport (U1/U2 Praterstern) as well as by car (parking facilities available).

 

(Wikipedia)

 

The Wiener Riesenrad (German for Vienna Giant Ferris wheel), or Riesenrad, is a 64.75-metre (212 ft) tall Ferris wheel at the entrance of the Prater amusement park in Leopoldstadt, the 2nd district of Austria's capital Vienna. It is one of Vienna's most popular tourist attractions, and symbolises the district as well as the city for many people. Constructed in 1897, it was the world's tallest extant Ferris wheel from 1920 until 1985.

 

The Wiener Riesenrad was designed by the British engineers Harry Hitchins and Hubert Cecil Booth and constructed in 1897 by the English engineer Lieutenant Walter Bassett Bassett (1864-1907), Royal Navy, son of Charles Bassett (1834-1908), MP, of Watermouth Castle, Devon. Its purpose was to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Emperor Franz Josef I, and it was one of the earliest Ferris wheels ever built. Bassett's Ferris wheel manufacturing business was not a commercial success, and he died in 1907 almost bankrupt.

 

A permit for its demolition was issued in 1916, but because of a lack of funds with which to carry out the destruction, it survived.

 

It was built with 30 gondolas, but was severely damaged in World War II and when it was rebuilt only 15 gondolas were replaced.

 

The wheel is driven by a circumferential cable which leaves the wheel and passes through the drive mechanism under the base, and its spokes are steel cables, in tension.

 

When the 64.75-metre (212 ft) tall Wiener Riesenrad was constructed in 1897, both the original 80.4-metre (264 ft) Ferris Wheel in the US (constructed 1893, demolished 1906) and the 94-metre (308 ft) Great Wheel in England (constructed 1895, demolished 1907) were taller. The 100-metre (328 ft) Grande Roue de Paris, constructed in 1900, was taller still. However, when the Grande Roue de Paris was demolished in 1920, the Riesenrad became the world's tallest extant Ferris wheel, and it remained so for the next 65 years, until the construction of the 85-metre (279 ft) Technostar in Japan in 1985.

 

The Riesenrad appeared in the post-World War II film noir The Third Man (1949)[5]

The wheel is featured in the 1973 spy thriller Scorpio (1973)

The 1987 James Bond film, The Living Daylights features scenes throughout the Prater, around the wheel, and a lengthy romantic scene on the wheel.

The wheel appears in the novel The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson

The wheel appears in Max Ophüls' Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948).

Scenes in Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise (1995) were filmed around the Prater and on the wheel.

The wheel appears in The Glass Room by Simon Mawer.

The Riesenrad appears in the film Woman in Gold (2015), about the repatriation of a Klimt portrait stolen by the Nazis from a Jewish Viennese family.

The wheel appears in Kommissar Rex the Austrian television series

Winter City in Burnout 3: Takedown is based on Vienna and includes the Riesenrad.

The wheel is featured in the US Hallmark Channel movie Christmas in Vienna.

In the second season of the NBC TV Show: Grimm, Episode 21, "the Walking Dead" the wheel is in the background during a meeting of Frau Pech (a nasty hexenbeast) and Sebastien, an employee of the Kronenburg Family, who is also a friend of Captain Renard, a member of the resistance.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Der Wurstelprater ist der überregional bekannte Vergnügungspark in Wien, amtlich schon 1825 Volksprater, oft einfach Prater genannt. Er befindet sich mit seinem Wahrzeichen, dem Wiener Riesenrad, im nordwestlichen Teil des Erholungsgebiets Prater, nahe dem Praterstern, im 2. Bezirk, Leopoldstadt.

 

Geschichte

 

Der Wurstelprater, wie der Vergnügungspark inoffiziell, aber durchgängig genannt wird, verdankt seinen Namen einer Figur des Volkstheaters, dem von Josef Anton Stranitzky kreierten „Hanswurst“. In der Zeit der Aufklärung im späten 18. Jahrhundert wurden diese volkstümlichen Bühnen von den Marktplätzen der heutigen Altstadt vertrieben und fanden im von Joseph II. 1766 für die Allgemeinheit freigegebenen Prater neue Standorte.

 

Der mit Vergnügungsetablissements bestückte Teil des Oberen Praters wurde schon im Biedermeier Volksprater genannt. Anlässlich der Weltausstellung 1873, derentwegen der Wurstelprater im Frühsommer 1872 demoliert worden war, wurde die Bezeichnung Volksprater von der Stadtverwaltung amtlich festgelegt. Heute wird der Begriff Volksprater zwar amtlich verwendet, z. B. auf dem elektronischen Stadtplan der Wiener Stadtverwaltung, ist ansonsten aber kaum in Gebrauch.

 

In einer 1825 erstellten Liste der Prateretablissements mit über 80 Positionen finden sich unter anderen:

 

Plastische optische Vorstellungen, unter denen das Bergwerk in Wieliczka und die Überschwemmung von Petersburg die vorzüglichsten sind.

Kaffeehaus, nebst einem großen Salon, in welchem auch im Winter an Sonn- und Feiertagen eine gut besetzte Harmoniemusik den Besuchenden erfreut.

Ausschank und Vogelschießen.

Mechanische Künste.

Ausschank neben der kais. königl. Schwimmschule. (Der Prater reichte damals bis zur Stadtgut oder Schwimmschul Allee, der heutigen Lassallestraße, die zum Fahnenstangenwasser, einem Donauarm, führte.)

 

In den letzten Jahrzehnten des 19. Jahrhunderts überschritt der Wurstelprater die Ausstellungsstraße nach Norden. Einige Vergnügungsbetriebe siedelten sich in der Venediger Au an, am prominentesten 1892 der Zirkus Busch in dem 1881 errichteten Panoramabau In den folgenden Jahrzehnten vergrößerte sich das Vergnügungsviertel Venediger Au auf eine 48.250 m² große Fläche. Neben dem Zirkus Busch gab es Reitställe, Bierdepots und diverse Schaubuden.

 

Im Wurstelprater bestand um 1900 der vermutlich erste Themenpark der Welt, – „Venedig in Wien“. Er wurde 1895 von Gabor Steiner errichtet und bildete die Lagunenstadt auf der Kaiserwiese des Praters (zwischen Praterstern und Riesenrad) in kleinerem Format nach. Wasserkanäle wurden geschaffen, gesäumt von Schaustellerbuden und anderen Vergnügungsmöglichkeiten. Jährlich zur Sommersaison kamen neue Attraktionen hinzu.

 

In den Jahren 1896/97 wurde das Riesenrad erbaut, heute eines der Wahrzeichen Wiens. In den zwanzig Jahren vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg erreichte der Wurstelprater bei Angebot und Nachfrage Spitzenwerte. 1933 wurde auf Parzelle 96 von Friedrich Holzdorfer das Geisterschloss, eine der weltweit ältesten Geisterbahnen, in Betrieb genommen.

 

Im Rahmen der Schlacht um Wien wurde der Wurstelprater Anfang April 1945 nahezu vollständig zerstört. Er wurde in den folgenden Jahren neu errichtet bzw. wieder aufgebaut, wobei der Teil in der Venediger Au nicht mehr einbezogen wurde.

 

Im Herbst 1948 wurden im Prater wesentliche Teile des bald weltbekannten Spielfilms Der dritte Mann gedreht.

 

1981 brannte das Lustspielkino zwischen Ausstellungsstraße und Riesenrad, das letzte bestehende Praterkino, ab und wurde nicht wieder aufgebaut. Das Kino mit rund 1.000 Sitzplätzen hatte hier als Nachfolger eines 1845 gegründeten Theaters seit 1927 bestanden.

 

Der Wurstelprater heute

 

Der Wurstelprater ist der wohl bekannteste Teil des Wiener Praters, in dem sich zahlreiche Schaustell- und Unterhaltungsbetriebe mit Geisterbahnen, Ringelspielen (Karussellen), Wellenflug, Hochschaubahnen (Achterbahnen), Spiegel- und Lachkabinetten, Autodrom, Falltürmen und viele andere familienfreundliche Etablissements befinden. Daneben findet man einige Automaten-Spielhallen und andere Glücksspieleinrichtungen.

 

Ein Riesenrad neueren Datums ist das 1993 eröffnete Blumenrad. Mit seinen 35 Metern Durchmesser ist es bedeutend kleiner als das Wiener Riesenrad und hat im Unterschied zu diesem drehbare offene Kabinen. Drei weitere, wenngleich kleinere Wahrzeichen des Praters sind der Calafati, der Watschenmann und der Toboggan.

 

Im Gegensatz zu vielen anderen Unterhaltungsparks ist der Eintritt auf das Pratergelände frei; die konsumierten Unterhaltungen sind bei den einzelnen Schaustellern zu bezahlen. Der Wurstelprater verfügt zwar über gemeinsames Marketing, die einzelnen Grundstücke sind aber von der Stadt Wien an private Unternehmer verpachtet, die jeweils auf eigenes Risiko tätig sind.

 

Auch gastronomisch bietet der Wurstelprater große Vielfalt, beliebt sind zum Beispiel die Lángos, die an zahlreichen Ständen erhältlich sind, und das bekannte Schweizerhaus, das im Jahr 1920 von Karl Kolarik übernommen wurde. Heutzutage ist es vor allem für sein echtes Budweiser Bier bekannt, das aufgrund des hohen und daher raschen Verbrauchs nur mit wenig CO2 versetzt werden muss und daher leichter schmeckt. Eine weitere Spezialität ist die Schweinsstelze.

 

Die Liliputbahn ist eine bemerkenswerte Parkeisenbahn, die auf einem Rundkurs von 3,9 Kilometer Länge das Areal des Praters weit über den Vergnügungspark hinaus befährt. Dabei überquert sie auch einige für den öffentlichen Straßenverkehr freigegebene Straßen. Sie hat eine Spurweite von 381 Millimeter und besteht seit 1928, wobei die Strecke bis 1933 zum Praterstadion verlängert wurde. Als Fahrzeuge stehen zwei Dampfloks, vier Diesellokomotiven und vier Personenzuggarnituren zur Verfügung. Die Hauptstation befindet sich nahe dem Riesenrad.

 

Ein weiteres ungewöhnliches Objekt, das im Prater steht, ist die „Republik Kugelmugel“, ein „Staat“ mit einem einzigen Einwohner und einem einzigen Haus, – einem Kugelhaus. Der „Präsident“ des Staates, Edwin Lipburger, erbaute das Haus Anfang der 1970er Jahre im niederösterreichischen Katzelsdorf und meinte, da sein Haus nur auf einem Punkt ruhe und ein Punkt keine räumliche Ausdehnung habe, befinde es sich in einem staatsfreien Raum und er könne seine eigene Republik ausrufen. Später wurde seine „Republik“ in den Wiener Prater verfrachtet und steht dort heute noch.

 

Am Rand des Praters befindet sich nahe dem Riesenrad seit 1964 das Planetarium mit dem Pratermuseum, das mit vielen Exponaten die Geschichte dieses Vergnügungsparks erzählt.

 

Der Wurstelprater oder Volksprater befindet sich im Grundeigentum der Wiener Stadtverwaltung; die Anbieter von Vergnügungs- und Gastronomiebetrieben sind Pächter der von ihnen benützten Flächen. Die Stadtverwaltung lässt den Wurstelprater von einer ihrer Tochterfirmen verwalten.

 

Eine ähnliche, aber viel kleinere Einrichtung ist der Böhmische Prater in Wien-Favoriten.

 

Neuer Eingangsbereich

 

Im Zusammenhang mit der Fußball-Europameisterschaft 2008 (das Ernst-Happel-Stadion, einer der Spielorte der EM, befindet sich im Prater) erhielt der Wurstelprater neben dem Riesenrad nach einem Entwurf von Emmanuel Mongon einen als Rondeau gestalteten Entréebereich, der den Namen Riesenradplatz erhielt; um ihn wurden Gastronomiebetriebe, Infostände und Shops im Stil von „Wien um 1900“ angeordnet.

 

Das Projekt wurde teilweise kritisiert: Bereits im Vorfeld wurde beanstandet, dass es für den 32-Millionen-Euro-Auftrag keine öffentliche Ausschreibung gab. Weiters betraf das Projekt nur den Eingangsbereich, der Rest des Praters bleibt (auf Grund der kleinteiligen Pächterstruktur) „zersiedelt“ und zeigt ein inhomogenes Erscheinungsbild; dies ist jedoch ein typisches Merkmal des Wiener Praters. Auch die Ästhetik der Neubauten wurde in den Medien teilweise abgelehnt.

 

Am Rande des Riesenradplatzes wurde Ende 2008 die zu diesem Zeitpunkt größte Diskothek Österreichs, der Praterdome (Dome, englisch für Kuppel), eröffnet.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Das Wiener Riesenrad im Prater im Gemeindebezirk Leopoldstadt ist eine Sehenswürdigkeit und ein Wahrzeichen Wiens. Es wurde 1897 zur Feier des 50. Thronjubiläums Kaiser Franz Josephs I. errichtet und war zur damaligen Zeit eines der größten Riesenräder der Welt.

 

Das Riesenrad wurde 1896 von den englischen Ingenieuren Walter Bassett Basset (1864–1907) und Harry Hitchins geplant und mit 30 Waggons auf einem von Gabor Steiner, dem eigentlichen „Vater des Riesenrades“, gepachteten Grundstück auf dem Prater-Gelände errichtet. Als eigentlich ausführender Chefkonstrukteur wirkte Hubert Cecil Booth mit. Walter Bassett Basset selbst streckt die Baukosten von 500.000 Kronen vor und verbrieft die Finanzierungskosten hinterher in Aktien (45.000 £) und einer Anleihe von 10.000 £ (eingeteilt in 40 Stücke zu 250 £) der englischen Gesellschaft "Wiener Riesen Rad Limited" (Vienna Gigantic Wheel Ltd.)[1]. Am 25. Juni 1897 wurde das Rad erstmals in Bewegung gesetzt, allerdings führte es nur eine halbe Umdrehung aus, damit der obere Teil nach unten gebracht und fertig montiert werden konnte. Eröffnet wurde es 1897, ein Jahr vor der Feier des 50. Thronjubiläums Kaiser Franz Josephs I. Die offizielle Einweihung des Riesenrads erfolgte am 3. Juli 1897, einem heißen Sommertag, an dem die Wiener das Prater-Gelände in großer Zahl besuchten. Nur die wenigsten dürften allerdings in der Lage gewesen sein, die acht Gulden aufzubringen, die damals eine Fahrt mit dem Riesenrad kostete. Ein Beamter verdiente damals 30 Gulden im Monat.

 

Während des Ersten Weltkrieges, im Jahre 1916, wurde der britische Eigentümer des Riesenrades, Walter Basset, enteignet und die Attraktion zur Versteigerung ausgeschrieben. Erst drei Jahre später, 1919, erwarb es der nicht mit Gabor Steiner verwandte Prager Kaufmann Eduard Steiner, der es ursprünglich abreißen lassen wollte, es aber schließlich verpachtete.

 

1938 wurde das Riesenrad wie das gesamte Eigentum von Eduard Steiner (und auch jenes von Gabor Steiner) von den Nationalsozialisten „arisiert“. Ein Jahr später wurde es unter Denkmalschutz gestellt. Im Zweiten Weltkrieg wurde das Riesenrad durch Feuer und Bomben fast gänzlich vernichtet und brannte 1944 aus. Im selben Jahr starb Gabor Steiner in seinem Exil in Beverly Hills. Eduard Steiner, der letzte rechtmäßige Besitzer vor der „Arisierung“, wurde 1944 im KZ Auschwitz ermordet. 1953 wurde das Riesenrad an drei Steiner-Erbinnen restituiert.

 

Wegen der Brandschäden des Krieges ging man nach 1945 davon aus, dass die Stabilität des Riesenrads gelitten habe. Daher wurden nur noch 15 der 30 Waggons wieder eingehängt. Aus Kostengründen wurden nur 4 statt der ursprünglich 6 Fenster eingebaut. Noch 1957, als der Eigentümer aus Anlass des 60-Jahr-Jubiläums des Fahrgeschäfts alte Waggons austauschen ließ, wurde wegen zu schwacher Frequenz an der Zahl von 15 Waggons festgehalten. Das Riesenrad mit 15 Waggons wurde ein Symbol des Wiederaufbaus. Seit 2002 befindet sich beim Riesenrad eine „Panoramamuseum“ genannte Ausstellungshalle mit acht nachgebauten Waggons, in denen die Geschichte des Wiener Praters dargestellt wird.

 

2016 wurde begonnen, die 15 Waggons gegen neue auszutauschen, die nach den Originalplänen von 1896/97 gebaut werden. Damals hatten die Waggons sechs Fenster pro Seite.

 

Das Riesenrad befindet sich über die „Wiener Riesenrad Dr. Lamac GmbH & Co OG“ und jeweils einer dazwischen geschalteten Vermögensverwaltungsgesellschaft im Privatbesitz von Dorothea Lamac.

 

Das Wiener Riesenrad hat die Form eines Dreißigecks mit einem Gesamtdurchmesser von 60,96 Meter (von 200 engl. Fuß abgeleitet),[6] was dem Durchmesser über die Aufhängungsachsen der Waggons entspricht. Der äußere Raddurchmesser beträgt 55,78 Meter (183 Fuß), der innere Raddurchmesser 49,68 Meter (163 Fuß). Der höchste Punkt befindet sich 64,75 Meter über dem Boden.

 

Das Gewicht der rotierenden Konstruktion beträgt 244,85 Tonnen und das Gesamtgewicht aller Eisenkonstruktionen 430,05 Tonnen. Die Achse des Riesenrades ist 10,78 Meter lang, hat einen Durchmesser von 0,5 Meter und wiegt 16,3 Tonnen.

 

Der Antrieb erfolgt über zwei Motoren mit einer Leistung von 15 Kilowatt, die über eine Welle miteinander verbunden sind. Sie treiben über Riemen zwei Schwungräder an. Über Riemenscheiben und je ein zweistufiges Getriebe wird die Antriebskraft in die zwei Seiltriebe an den Außenseiten des Radkranzes eingeleitet, die Übertragung des Drehmomentes erfolgt über Reibungsbacken. Das Seil wird durch ein 3,5 Tonnen schweres Gewicht auf Spannung gehalten. Obwohl jeder der beiden Motoren allein das Rad bewegen könnte, sind zur Sicherheit noch zwei weitere, kleinere Motoren in das Antriebssystem integriert; die Stromversorgung hält bei Stromausfall ein Notstromaggregat aufrecht. Letztlich ist das Kraftübertragungssystem so ausgelegt, dass das Riesenrad auch per Hand gedreht werden kann.

 

Die Umfangsgeschwindigkeit des Riesenrads beträgt maximal 0,75 Meter pro Sekunde (2,7 Kilometer pro Stunde), die Zeit für eine vollständige Umdrehung beläuft sich somit auf 255 Sekunden. Die tatsächliche Dauer für eine Umdrehung ist wesentlich länger und hängt vom Passagieraufkommen ab, da im längsten Fall das Riesenrad jeweils nur um die Wegstrecke zwischen zwei Waggons weiterbewegt wird, um die Passagiere ein- und aussteigen zu lassen.

 

Das Wiener Riesenrad war im Verlauf seiner Geschichte auch Ort für waghalsige Aktionen: So drehte die Zirkusdirektorin Madame Solange d’Atalide im Jahr 1914 für einen Film auf einem Pferd sitzend eine Runde auf dem Dach eines Waggons des Wiener Riesenrads.

 

In die Filmgeschichte geriet das Wiener Riesenrad spätestens durch eine längere Sequenz in Der dritte Mann (1949, Regie: Carol Reed, mit Orson Welles und Joseph Cotten). In Erinnerung an diesen Film wurde es am 9. Juni 2016 in die Liste der Schätze der europäischen Filmkultur der Europäischen Filmakademie aufgenommen. Eine Szene im 15. James-Bond-Abenteuer Der Hauch des Todes (1987) ist ebenfalls auf dem Riesenrad gedreht worden.

 

Anlässlich der Fußball-Europameisterschaft 2008 war das Riesenrad mit einem Bild des tschechischen Torhüters Petr Čech dekoriert. Ursprünglich sollte diese Funktion ein 2000 Quadratmeter großes über das Rad gespanntes Netz übernehmen. Darauf waren das EM-Logo, die EM-Maskottchen Trix und Flix sowie der Satz: „Wir freuen uns auf die Europameisterschaft.“ zu sehen. Das bereits montierte Netz musste wegen des nahenden Sturmtiefs „Emma“ Anfang März 2008 geöffnet werden (die einzelnen Netzteile waren mit Reißverschlüssen verbunden). Nach Aussagen der Stadt-Wien-Marketing wurde es durch den Sturm bis auf einen 1,5 Meter langen Riss nicht weiter beschädigt. Dennoch war dessen vollständige Entfernung erforderlich, da das Riesenrad sturmbedingt eine sicherheitstechnische Überprüfung benötigte. Zum Wiederaufhängen fehlten die dafür erforderlichen 50.000 bis 60.000 Euro. Der Hauptteil wäre für die Netzmontage aufzuwenden gewesen, da derartige Arbeiten nur in den Nachtstunden während der Stillstandszeiten des Riesenrades durchgeführt werden können und 14 Tage gedauert hätten.

 

Am 16. Oktober 2019 fand eine gemeinsame Bergungsübung von Spezialkräften der Feuerwehr, Berufsrettung und Polizei statt, bei der – bei Wind – wiederholt ein Verletzten-Dummy und zuletzt auch zwei Journalisten von einer Gondel am höchsten Punkt des Rads abgeseilt wurden.

 

George Ferris als Erfinder des Riesenrades setzte bei der Weltausstellung in Chicago 1893 das erste derartige Fahrgeschäft um. Der Erfolg dieser Erfindung veranlasste den britischen Marineoffizier und Ingenieur Walter Bassett Basset, Ferris das Patent abzukaufen und in der Folge vier weitere Riesenräder in Europa zu errichten. Das heute einzige dieser vier ersten Riesenräder aus der Zeit um die Jahrhundertwende, das noch steht, ist das Wiener Riesenrad im Prater, welches eine baulich kleinere Kopie des Blackpooler Riesenrades darstellt. Ein für New Brighton (Stadtteil von Wallasey) geplantes Riesenrad wurde aufgrund von Rechtsstreitigkeiten nicht errichtet. Der Ort errichtete als Ersatz dafür den New Brighton Tower, der allerdings in den 1920er Jahren wieder abgerissen wurde.

 

(Wikipedia)

Ogham is the earliest form of writing in Ireland, it dates to around 4th century A.D. and was in use for around 500 years. The Ogham alphabet is made up of a series of strokes along or across a line. Ogham is sometimes referred to as the "Celtic Tree Alphabet" as a number of the letters are linked to old Irish names for certain trees. The alphabet was carved on standing stones to commemorate someone, using the edge of the stone as the centre line. They normally read from the left hand side bottom up, across the top and if need be down the other side.

 

This really is a fantastic place open to the public free of charge with marvellous views. Just wander around.

St. Declan founded the monastery at Ardmore prior to the arrival of St. Patrick in Ireland. Ardmore is believed to be one of the oldest monasteries in Ireland. Declan converted the people of the Decies, an ancient principality of southern Ireland, to Christianity.

The cathedral at Ardmore, built over the site of the original monastery, has features dating from as early as the 9th Century. The round tower at Ardmore was built in the 12th Century and raises its tapering form to a height of 97 feet. It is divided into four stories. The entrance doorway is a little over 13 feet from the ground, making the tower a refuge for the monks and a safe place for their books, chalices, and relics. St. Declan's Oratory is the oldest building in the graveyard near the Cathedral. Tradition has it that the grave of St. Declan is located within the building.

St. Declan's Hermitage, consisting of his well and church, is situated near the beginning of the cliff walk around Ram Head above the town of Ardmore. The well served as a Bapistry to the early Christian missionaries, while the church served as his hermitage where he retired for greater seclusion.

Another Articulated Southampton exile, this time Volvo B7LA Wright Eclipse Fusion 10141 racing up Union Street while operating a 1 to Garthdee and Robert Gordons University.

 

Robert Gordon's University dates from 1992 although has routes back to the 18th century. Located in the Garthdee area of Aberdeen on the banks of the River Dee it caters for over 16 thousand students and is one of 2 major universities in the city. both of which happen to fall on the route of the 1/2 which is also our most frequent. running up to Every 3 minutes off peak and using a mix of Artics and Enviro 500s.

 

The route 1 in Aberdeen dates back to 1883 when it operated as a horse drawn tram service. In 1892 it was extended to Bridge Of Don and in 1894 was extended to Bridge Of Dee.

 

The whole route remains unchanged to this day (Other than being extended at each end). Possible one of the oldest routes in the UK to still follow it's original route!

 

In 1898 it gained the "Red line" brand which it carried all the way through to 2015.

 

In 1958 it was converted to a bus service and extended to Balgownie. Then in 1979 it was extended to Denmore before going all the way to Dubford from 1991.

 

In 2001 the northern terminal was changed to Danestone but the service still covers it's full original route from 1883! In 2005 the service was fully converted to Artic operation with additional artics arriving in 2011 and 2013/14.

 

With the arrival of the Enviro 500s in late 2015, 15 of the oldest of the Artics were withdrawn and the service was re-branded "The Bridges" in recognition of the service operation from the Bridge Of Don to Bridge Of Dee areas of the city.

 

There's so much more details, changes and variations of the service i could add due to it being well accounted and being in existence for over 135 years!

But i'll stop here so no one gets bored to death!

 

Photo Date: July 2015

 

©Jordan Adam

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