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Zoe Foodiboo: Welcome and thank you all for coming to our September bookclub meeting. I’ll start by giving a brief overview of the book and the author, then I’ll give you an idea of what we hope to discuss today.
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): waves to Panny
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): /me nods
Zoe Foodiboo: First, a summary of the book….
Zoe Foodiboo: did we all read the book?
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Yes, I did.
webspelunker Ghostraven: I did!
Panny (Panny Bakerly): It's been a while for me...but yes.
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): /me jumps up and down in her seat. "I did! I did!"
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): yes
AlasAndAlack: /me nods. "Yes. Interesting and enjoyable."
Zoe Foodiboo: Some read it a year ago so we might need a refresher.
Panny (Panny Bakerly): Danke.
Zoe Foodiboo: Written in diary form, ‘The Artificial Silk Girl’ (German: Das kunstseidene Mädchen), is about a young woman named Doris.
Pauline Clary: I didn't
Zoe Foodiboo: It's okay Pauliine :)
Zoe Foodiboo: She’s a street observer, much like the protagonist we read about in Christopher Isherwood’s, ‘The Berlin Stories’, and an aspiring film star who starts off as a secretary in Cologne and ends up destitute in Berlin.
webspelunker Ghostraven: A victim of the capitalist system!
Zoe Foodiboo: yes yes
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): /me gasps!
webspelunker Ghostraven: Also, of the sexism of the time!
Zoe Foodiboo: hold on there comrade...Through Doris’ observations of life around her and her own failed attempts at stardom via a myriad of inappropriate men, Keun reveals to us the darker side of the “golden twenties”.
Zoe Foodiboo: Now, about the author....
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): /me nods
Zoe Foodiboo: Irmgard Keun was born “here”, in Charlottenburg, an affluent neighborhood, in 1905. She went in an all girls’ Lutheran school and worked as a stenotypist as a young girl.
Zoe Foodiboo: It is said that, like Doris, she had aspirations to be an actress but, after encouragement from her friend, Alfred Doblin (author of Berlin Alexanderplatz), turned to writing.
Zoe Foodiboo: I think Augusta's on her way
Zoe Foodiboo: Anyway
Zoe Foodiboo: As you all know, her debut novel, ‘The Artificial Girl’, was a bestseller, as was her second novel, released a year later, entitled ‘After Midnight’.
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Hallo, Sasa :)
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): (Hallo, Sasa!)
Panny (Panny Bakerly): /me waves to Sasa
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): hallo Sasa
Zoe Foodiboo: Hallo Sasa!
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): hello
Pauline Clary: Hi Sasa!
Zoe Foodiboo: Wilkommen!
Zoe Foodiboo: Make yourself comfy
webspelunker Ghostraven: Hello!
Zoe Foodiboo: Where was I?
Zoe Foodiboo: oh yeah
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): thank you
Zoe Foodiboo: Both titles were eventually blacklisted by the Nazi regime and, after a failed attempt to sue the Gestapo (!), Fraulein Keun went into exile.
AlasAndAlack: /me looks up from her coffee and sees Sasa's dress. So thankful she didn't put that one on this morning!
Zoe Foodiboo: I think she was badass :)
Zoe Foodiboo: Anyway
Zoe Foodiboo: oh my, Pauline....oopsy daisy!
Zoe Foodiboo: She snuck back into Germany in the early 40s, under pseudonym, and shrouded in false reports of her suicide. She lived with her parents until the war ended, then eventually moved to Cologne, where she died in 1982, at age 77.
webspelunker Ghostraven: Agreed!
Pauline Clary: oops *blushes*
Zoe Foodiboo: /me giggles
Zoe Foodiboo: So, What we’ll discuss today…
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): /me smiles
Pauline Clary: /me nods
Zoe Foodiboo: Our time here is short but please remember that our conversations can continue on Goodreads, Facebook, G+, at Happy Hour, or wherever we run into each other after we leave today. Let’s begin by 1) sharing our thoughts on the reading and the elements that may have led to it being banned.
Zoe Foodiboo: 2) Then let’s move on to a more general discussion of intellectual freedom in early 20th C. Germany and finally, 3) explore how our “characters” or our “rp selves” might have reacted to this book in 1929.
Zoe Foodiboo: Herr Ghostraven will moderate our dialogue. Herr Ghostraven, I’ll hand the reins over to you.
webspelunker Ghostraven: Many thanks Zoe!
Zoe Foodiboo: /me smiles and sits
Panny (Panny Bakerly): I can answer 3 right away...I would have blushed and kept on reading under the covers in the middle of the night.
webspelunker Ghostraven: I feel the book was banned…
Zoe Foodiboo: Oh! and behind me is a photo of the author!
Zoe Foodiboo: /me waves behind her head at the wall
webspelunker Ghostraven: Because it didn't show German women in a favorable light…
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): /me nods
webspelunker Ghostraven: The 3 K's were not observed here…
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): Oh, I don't know about that, it didn't show most German men in a favorable light, either--
Zoe Foodiboo: oh boy!
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): it was not only German women in a bad light...the men were not shining in particular either
Zoe Foodiboo: Hallo Augusta!
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Hallo Augusta
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): hallo Augusta
Panny (Panny Bakerly): Agree.
Panny (Panny Bakerly): /me waves to Augusta
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): waves to Augusta
webspelunker Ghostraven: No respect for the family…
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): Hallo alle
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): /me laughs, she and Saraphen were thinking the same thing. :)
webspelunker Ghostraven: The state…
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): that will lead you to a path of ruin Eloise :)
webspelunker Ghostraven: And replace the church with National Socialism…
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): a fun path
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Actually, reading the book, that book amazingly reminded me, "Sex in the City". It was quite interesting.
Zoe Foodiboo: /me nods
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): /me raises her hand with a thought on why it might have been banned.
webspelunker Ghostraven: Yes, I had the same thought!
webspelunker Ghostraven: Please Eloise!
Zoe Foodiboo: Though in Sex and the City it was much easier for women to find success on their own.
webspelunker Ghostraven: True!
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Yes, that's true, Zoe.
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): That's the total difference.
webspelunker Ghostraven: 60 jahrs difference!
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): But the way to talk about women's life and sex is really like 90s style.
Zoe Foodiboo: Well, and by her own definition and on her own terms.
AlasAndAlack: Sex in the City and Bridget Jones.
Zoe Foodiboo: Doris' situation was really quite sad…
Panny (Panny Bakerly): Female point of view.
webspelunker Ghostraven: Eloise has something to say..
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): I felt the book was probably most likely banned not so much because it viewed men and women unfavorably, but actually, because it turned an understanding, often sympathetic view toward men and women, to understanding their circumstances, to having, in short, empathy and sympathy for a sort of person, a kind of plight, for which the Nazis had absolutely no symmpathy or empathy.
Zoe Foodiboo: /me nods, Yes very much so, Eloise.
webspelunker Ghostraven: Good point…
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): I would agree with that.
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): /me nods
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): I agree, Eloise
Panny (Panny Bakerly): /me and the homosexuality aspect too.
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): To my mind, Doris was a very sympatheic person, in many ways, all the more because of her faults.
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): at first I thought" They banned this?"
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): but it eventually did reveal a darker side of Berlin
AlasAndAlack: One must not have sympathy for the human condition when soon people would be killed for circumstances such as their heritage, religion and sexual orientation
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): the economy
Zoe Foodiboo: Yes, she seemed sympathetic to the play? movie? I can't remember now....with the lesbian actress?
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): drugs
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): (Good point, Alas!)
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): untraditional morals
Zoe Foodiboo: whispers: Hi Adele
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): Hallo, neighbor!
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Hallo Adele
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): hello Adele
Pauline Clary: Hi Adele
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): Hallo Adele
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): /me waves to Adele and sips her tea
webspelunker Ghostraven: I found the position of women in society scary…
Adele Kling: Guten tag, alle.
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): /me nods
webspelunker Ghostraven: Greetings!
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): women were working, but still relied on men for the lifestyle
Zoe Foodiboo: Yes, and Doris so desired a glamourous lifestyle.
webspelunker Ghostraven: And their position in society…
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): /me nods
Zoe Foodiboo: /me nods
webspelunker Ghostraven: Remember what Doris' mother said..
Panny (Panny Bakerly): (brb...phone call)
Zoe Foodiboo: Didn't she comment about how when monied women marry monied men and sleep with them, they are considered good German women, but when poor women sleep with poor men, they are "whores"
Zoe Foodiboo: oh there's augusta
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Actually that's another interesting point. Her wish to become "glomorous" is really reminds me people's desire in 21st century, too.
webspelunker Ghostraven: Did anyone else notice the impact of the war in the background?
AlasAndAlack: Even when Doris worked, the goal was to earn money so that her outward appearance would snag her a male to keep her.
Adele Kling: Good point, Alas
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): YEs, I felt about that, Web.
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): I think she was terribly hurt by Hubert
webspelunker Ghostraven: Yes, and you have to belong to someone!
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): being famous and living well would have been a nice revenge
AlasAndAlack: Yes, the war. The unemployment blamed on the war. The war veteran Doris befriends. Very prominent what war had done to people.
Zoe Foodiboo: /me smiles at Augusta
webspelunker Ghostraven: Yes, Gustav, I had feelings too from reading this.
Zoe Foodiboo: whispers: welcome back
Adele Kling: Hello, Frl. Augusta.
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): Hallo
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): Strangely, perhaps--as brilliantly as she portrayed the unique difficulties of women at the time--I found the novel more about the human condition more generally, at root. So many men, too, lived in dire straights in the novel. Gender didn't seem to drive success or failure, but more the determinants of either.
webspelunker Ghostraven: Yes, reminds me of contemporary America!
Adele Kling: /me laughs
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): That's what how war effected us, I think.....
webspelunker Ghostraven: Yes, no work…
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): but there was money to be had in Berlin
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): /me reads from the book, "Me--and my fur coat who is with me--my skin gets all tense with the desire that someone find me attractive in my fur, and I find him attractive as well ... something's crying in me--I want to bury my face in my hands to make it less sad." (I think this is more about being human, than about being a woman, really.)
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): But it all starts with the fur coat…
Zoe Foodiboo: What does the fur coat represent?
webspelunker Ghostraven: Yes, materialism!
webspelunker Ghostraven: I think it represents the desperation of the working classes!
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): ... I think it was more about how the desire to have things led to bad behavior
AlasAndAlack: And it is important to the plot that she have to leave her home. Stealing the coat is the impetus.
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): I think it's deeper than that
Zoe Foodiboo: /me nods, "Go on, Sara...."
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): I think it represents everything, hope, wish, fame, stability, money, love.
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): she would not have stolen the coat if Hubert had not been a ....
webspelunker Ghostraven: But do we look as Doris as a person or as a representation?
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): sad example of the male species
webspelunker Ghostraven: Indeed!
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): it was his denying her love that made her desperate to get it elsewhere
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): (I look at her very much as a person, which is not to say they are mutually exclusive.)
webspelunker Ghostraven: But he was a two timer!
AlasAndAlack: /me enjoys the delicate pause Sarphen leaves in her sentence when describing Hubert
webspelunker Ghostraven: Cheating on his wife…
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): she didn't care if he married for money...but he was supposed to love her
webspelunker Ghostraven: Exploiting her needs both emotional and physical!
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): true
webspelunker Ghostraven: Does Hubert represent the bougeoise?
webspelunker Ghostraven: A tawdry example at that!
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): I don't think he does
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): I dont' think so
AlasAndAlack: He was aspiring to greater things…
webspelunker Ghostraven: Notice how all the female characters are victims…
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): I'm not sure that the book is about class per se
webspelunker Ghostraven: The males predators…
Zoe Foodiboo: I think he's trying to climb the social ladder just like Doris
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): Oh, I don't read it that way at all, Webs.
webspelunker Ghostraven: Why?
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): and of the neighbor, Web?
Pauline Clary: /me was taking photos
webspelunker Ghostraven: Because you're of that class?
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): being sent to a nursing home
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): no, not at all
webspelunker Ghostraven: Which neighbor?
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): the veteran?
Adele Kling: /me wishes she had reread the book
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): the blind one ....uhmmmmm
webspelunker Ghostraven: Yes, but he was a coward…
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): The characters are all flawed in one way or another
webspelunker Ghostraven: When Doris fought for him, he remained silent!
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Oh no, he was clearly seeing Berlin is not the city like Doris wishes.
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): Was that because he was a coward?
or because he was allowing Doris to have her voice?
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): a coward??
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): or because at the time there was nothing in hos power to do about it?
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): To be strong when she thought of herself as weak?
webspelunker Ghostraven: whispers: He remained silent while Doris argued to take him out…
webspelunker Ghostraven: She said so herself!
AlasAndAlack: Yes, Gustav. When Doris tries to explain in words to the blind man just how gay and fun Berlin was, his conclusion from her description is that Berlin is a very unhappy place.
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): /me nods
AlasAndAlack: *maybe I should not have used the word "gay" when I meant happy.
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): He remained silent because that's the only way he was surviving in the relationship with his wife.
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): (Because he could not see the exterior--the fur coat--he could only "see" the interior, the "reality" of the city that she saw and felt, too, but was desperate to be distracted from acknowledging.)
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): he did, but the circumstance of his life didn't allow for happiness...I think it was more futile acceptance on his part
Pauline Clary: What time period is book spanning?
webspelunker Ghostraven: Does the blind man represent Weimar Germany?
webspelunker Ghostraven: Damaged from the war…
webspelunker Ghostraven: Blind to the world around him…
webspelunker Ghostraven: Being taken off to a home to die?
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): Or that part of society that wasn't trying to delude themselves
webspelunker Ghostraven: 1932-3
Pauline Clary: ah ok
AlasAndAlack: My impression was that Weimar Germany was more like Doris - struggling to ignore the bad parts. Against odds. Whereas Brenner, the blind veteran, sees the ugly part she tries to dismiss.
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): Interesting isn't it, that the blind man is the one who sees clearly?
webspelunker Ghostraven: I think Brenner is key here…
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): /me nods
Adele Kling: /me nods
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): Yes, in short, the blind man saw the truth, and all the seeing people felt it, but in a bustling city like Berlin, and given the realities of just getting by, were desperate to see (and be seen as) everything else.
AlasAndAlack: Yes Agusta! I'm thinking of the lines where Doris says "I just want him to like my Berlin." And Brenner concludes "The city isn't good."
webspelunker Ghostraven: Remember…
Pauline Clary: And the middle class
webspelunker Ghostraven: When this book was written the Nazis still hadn't come to power!
webspelunker Ghostraven: Question...
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Yes, it was 1930 or 1931 when the book was written?
webspelunker Ghostraven: Did Doris have sex with Brenner?
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): no, I dont' think so
webspelunker Ghostraven: Sex is alluded to in many scenes in the book…
webspelunker Ghostraven: yes!
webspelunker Ghostraven: I'm not sure…
AlasAndAlack: If I remember rightly, no she didn't have sex with him but she does try to "comfort" him. The references to sex are somewhat veiled, not surprisingly.
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): /me nods
AlasAndAlack: So yes, Web, maybe she did.
webspelunker Ghostraven: "Comfort" can mean many things!
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): I think it was more a case of him ....helping himself
webspelunker Ghostraven: The blind man with a pretty woman who pities him is an old story…
Pauline Clary: /me looks puzzled
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): laughs
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): /me looks up: Who said sex?
AlasAndAlack: /me gigglesnorts her coffee. "Funny, Saraphen."
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): see...this is where I get into trouble
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): Web did
webspelunker Ghostraven: That got her!
Zoe Foodiboo: /me snorts
webspelunker Ghostraven: Why?
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): because I tend to speak before I think lol
webspelunker Ghostraven: Why so quiet everyone?
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): but no I don't think she had sex with him
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): I thought that "comfort" implied BJ. And it was quite gray zone to be defined as sex.
AlasAndAlack: Why what? Why does Gustav get into trouble here?
Adele Kling: I haven't read the book, my apologies.
webspelunker Ghostraven: Why?
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): at the time sex was for the ones who could gain her something
Pauline Clary: Some reviews tell it wa a bit of a dull read
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): she was very matter-of-fact about that
Pauline Clary: Was it?
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): I don't think it was
webspelunker Ghostraven: How about feeling superior?
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): he rested his head on her thighs...not the other way around
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): comfort implied BJ? What does Herr Boberg got to do with this?
AlasAndAlack: We 20th century types want more specifics than 1930's could to give us.
webspelunker Ghostraven: It was only considered dull because it challenged the status quo!
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): laughs
Zoe Foodiboo: hahahaha, Sasa....
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): hahaha
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): *giggles*
webspelunker Ghostraven: Aha!
Pauline Clary: /me laughs
Zoe Foodiboo: Sorry, I was taking photos....have we already discussed our views of Doris from our 1929 selves vs our 2014 selves?
webspelunker Ghostraven: So maybe we're saying there was a sexual relationship!
Pauline Clary: ok back to the sex
Zoe Foodiboo: oh, we're talking about sex
webspelunker Ghostraven: Not yet…
Zoe Foodiboo: I should've known....
Pauline Clary: come on…
webspelunker Ghostraven: Doesn't everybody?
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): no...I think it was the equivalent of sexting for her
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): right!
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): /me nods
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): *pretends to not understand a thing about that*
Zoe Foodiboo: /me grins
AlasAndAlack: I was just wondering if in 1930, a reader would think the depiction of sex was scandalous or just a frank description of what was happening around them?
Zoe Foodiboo: depends on who you are, I guess.
Pauline Clary: Some where very experimenting
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): They might have been surprised by how she approached it
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): I think that's why this book got banned after all.
Pauline Clary: trying lesbian relationships
AlasAndAlack: I've read Bridget Jones diary. I'm not surprised by the description of her love life. But I do not think it is a common occurrence in everyday life.
Zoe Foodiboo: oh dear, webchen crashed
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): it was all the sex talk !
Pauline Clary: Isn't the book called the Brdget Jones of the 30s?
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): oh web fainted
AlasAndAlack: ((Oh dear, now my life sounds so boring to me - why can't I be Bridget Jones!))
Pauline Clary: Yes, all the women talking about sex here
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): wb Web :)
AlasAndAlack: Wb Web.
Zoe Foodiboo: It's often compared to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): WB Web
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): too much for him
Pauline Clary: wb Websi
AlasAndAlack: You missed nothing, we were still talking about sex.
Zoe Foodiboo: Hallo webby
webspelunker Ghostraven: Sorry, crashed!
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): is that nothing?
Pauline Clary: hihi
AlasAndAlack: Lol, Sasa, not nothing. Just more detailed descriptions.
AlasAndAlack: So back to sex in the book instead of sex in general…
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): sex was used to gain status for her
webspelunker Ghostraven: Or maybe Zoe's final query?
Pauline Clary: I understand it didn't make her happy
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): and I think it holds true in Berlin 1920
Zoe Foodiboo: I think Alas brought my inquiry up earlier
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Yes, I agree, Sara.
webspelunker Ghostraven: How do we see ourselves then versus now?
Pauline Clary: Now in 1929?
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): That's the difference between Sex in the City and this book.
Zoe Foodiboo: Well, and does this book give us any ideas about our own rp in 1920s Berlin?
webspelunker Ghostraven: yes!
Zoe Foodiboo: Eloise reminds me of Doris sometimes
Pauline Clary: Like what ideas?
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): LOL
Zoe Foodiboo: so does Ilse
webspelunker Ghostraven: Pauline where you be in that book?
Pauline Clary: Nowhere
Pauline Clary: I didn't read it
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): Being single and anonymous
intentionally in Berlin? I don't think that's Augusta... *giggles*
Pauline Clary: I just read some stuff on Goodreads
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): In 1920s, the social position that women could get was quite limited. In 2014, it's not like that.
Zoe Foodiboo: I think Zoe would find Doris silly....
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): I agree Gustav
Zoe Foodiboo: but Zoe is very naive in Berlin
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): am I in the book?
Pauline Clary: In 1920s it depended on your debts
webspelunker Ghostraven: Would Zoe be a Doris?
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): So, both of them are talking about sex life in a city but the stand point is different.
webspelunker Ghostraven: Would Gustav and web be dead?
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Me?
Zoe Foodiboo: No, I don't think so. Zoe is supported by her grandfather, even though she likes to give the impression that she’s “on her own”.....but she feels like his money is her money.
webspelunker Ghostraven: Yes, we died in the war!
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): Augusta can relate to her choosing Berlin as a place to start over, but not to why. And not with the sex part.
Zoe Foodiboo: /me nods with Augusta's comment
webspelunker Ghostraven: Hmm…
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Well, I think I'll be sent to a gas chamber if I stayed in Berlin longer....
Pauline Clary: I have some dollars, worth trillions of Reichmarken
webspelunker Ghostraven: I don't think we're being honest with ourselves here!
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): No?
Zoe Foodiboo: Why not?
webspelunker Ghostraven: No!
Zoe Foodiboo: Well okay, you don't have to yell....
AlasAndAlack: The character of Alas would be outside this story. Alas has but to send a telegram and money comes to her. Pity her daddy's money is from Wall Street and October 29th is due soon.
Zoe Foodiboo: /me tsks
webspelunker Ghostraven: We have these pretty little pictures of ourselves but we ignore our characters' warts…
Zoe Foodiboo: Ah, so will Alas find herself penniless on Oct 30? That would make for good rp....
webspelunker Ghostraven: But Gustav now you would be a hero!
Pauline Clary: Yup, all we speculants are about to die in Wallstreet crash
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): I don't have any warts…
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): I paid good money to have my warts removed
webspelunker Ghostraven: Or become streetwalkers or..
webspelunker Ghostraven: Nazis!
Panny (Panny Bakerly): /me ((thousand pardons..RL family issue. I'm back now))
webspelunker Ghostraven: We all have warts!
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): *waves to Panny*
Zoe Foodiboo: Any last words? I know some must go and prepare for El D......
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): butSara would grab Doris's hand and go to the parties too
webspelunker Ghostraven: On our souls!
AlasAndAlack: After October 29, Alas may very well end up like Doris. I am not sure what will happen. And I keep my warts under wraps for as long as I have clothes to cover them!
Adele Kling: I have plenty of warts, and they are noticeable.
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): ((waves to Panny))
Zoe Foodiboo: Maybe Alas can rp stealing Eloise's fur coat :)
Panny (Panny Bakerly): /me giggles
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): /me gasps!
Zoe Foodiboo: hee hee
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): hahaha
Zoe Foodiboo: Well, I'd offer mine but I don't have one
Panny (Panny Bakerly): /me I won't steal it...but can I pet it?
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): if she leaves it within reach ILse will have it
webspelunker Ghostraven: Eloise misses the plight of the downtrodden!
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): Augusta's imperfection is that she still sees things through a socially "proper" lens
AlasAndAlack: /me eyes Eloise's fur. "Worth stealing, yes :)
webspelunker Ghostraven: Yes, one that's fractured!
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): Augusta thinks she's being "modern" but in a lot of ways she's not
webspelunker Ghostraven: Very true!
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): That's really interesting, Augusta
Zoe Foodiboo: /me smiles at Augusta
Zoe Foodiboo: Your rp self is so well-formed :)
AlasAndAlack: Alas thinks she knows what is out there. She thinks she is not innocent. She will be surprised. And humbled I expect.
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): /me smiles
webspelunker Ghostraven: Meanwhile…
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Hallo Herr
webspelunker Ghostraven: The Brownshirts are coming…
Zoe Foodiboo: Last two minutes.....does anyone have any suggestions for the next book?
Zoe Foodiboo: Herr who?
webspelunker Ghostraven: Marx?
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): NO
Zoe Foodiboo: /me sighs
webspelunker Ghostraven: Trotsky?
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Herr Snuff out there.
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): has Groucho Marx written a book?
Adele Kling: Why?
Zoe Foodiboo: Oh!
Pauline Clary: I hope 'Between Red and Black' will get translated into English soon
Zoe Foodiboo: /me waves
Zoe Foodiboo: Hallo!
webspelunker Ghostraven: Later Sasa!
Adele Kling: Yes, Groucho has
Zoe Foodiboo: Snuffaluffagus
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): What is that about Pauline?
webspelunker Ghostraven: last thoughts anyone?
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): (( no he hasn't .... yet ))
Pauline Clary: Does anyone know it?
AlasAndAlack: But he didn't write it in 1929.
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): Tell us about it
Adele Kling: Neither did Karl
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Oh what's that, Zoe. Gosh that reminds me something but I can't remember!
webspelunker Ghostraven: But it was read!
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): was he the one with the curly hair and a harp?
webspelunker Ghostraven: and influenced everythign!
Adele Kling: Oh yeah : )
Zoe Foodiboo: Well, you can always send me your suggestions later.
webspelunker Ghostraven: *everything
Zoe Foodiboo: Or we can talk about it on FB.
AlasAndAlack: Groucho had the painted mustache.
Adele Kling: hehe
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): no I meant Karl
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): Thank you so much to Zoe and Webs, the book club rocks socks! And this book was beautiful and amazing, I can't wait to read the next one (whatever it will be). :)
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): People bought it, put it in a shelf, and pretended they'd read it, Webchen
webspelunker Ghostraven: Karl had a beard!
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): thank you Zoe and Web for hosting this
Pauline Clary: I'm reading a book that plays in 1920s Berlin atm
Zoe Foodiboo: Thank you for coming!
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): thank you
webspelunker Ghostraven: Our pleasure!
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Thank you!
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): I have to run...was interesting today :)
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): .-'`'-. APPLAUSE APPLAUSE .-'`'-.
Pauline Clary: Thank you!
Zoe Foodiboo: You all should go to El D!
webspelunker Ghostraven: Thanks for having us!
Adele Kling: I enjoyed it. Hope to be prepared for the next one.
AlasAndAlack: Much thanks.
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): This was so enjoyable!
Panny (Panny Bakerly): Danke.
Adele Kling: Bis Spater!
Zoe Foodiboo: Toodloo! Check our FB/G+ page for our next selection.
La catedral de Santiago de Compostel·la (en gallec, catedral de Santiago de Compostela) està acull el que, segons la tradició, és el sepulcre de l'apòstol Sant Jaume, i això va convertir el temple en un dels principals destins de pelegrinatge d'Europa durant l'edat mitjana mitjançant l'anomenat Camí de Sant Jaume, una ruta iniciàtica en què se seguia les petjades de la Via Làctia comunicant la península Ibèrica amb la resta del continent. Això va ser determinant perquè els regnes hispànics medievals participessin en els moviments culturals de l'època. Actualment continua sent un important destí de pelegrinatge. Un privilegi concedit el 1122 pel papa Calixt II va declarar que serien «Any Sant Jubilar» a Compostel·la, tots els anys en què el dia 25 de juliol, dia de sant Jaume, coincidís amb diumenge. Va ser confirmat pel papa Alexandre III a la seva butlla "Regis aeterni" datada el 1179.
El nucli antic de Santiago de Compostel·la és Patrimoni de la Humanitat per la UNESCO des de 1985.
L'estructura de l'edifici comprèn una àrea de vuit mil metres quadrats, consta de planta de creu llatina de tres naus d'una longitud de prop de cent metres amb un creuer de també tres naus i de prop de setanta metres de longitud. L'alçada de la nau central és de vint-i-dos metres en tot el seu recorregut i assoleix els trenta-dos de màxim a la volta del creuer. El cimbori, situat sobre el centre del transsepte, és gòtic, substituint l'antic romànic.
Prop de l'altar major, la girola està composta per diverses capelles romàniques absidals la central de planta quadrada i també té dos absis a cada un dels braços del creuer. Sobre les naus laterals, separades de la central per quaranta-dos pilars, es troba un trifori amb coberta de quart de canó i balcó de finestrals de doble arcuació. La nau central es cobreix amb volta de canó sobre arcs faixons i les laterals amb voltes d'aresta.
La il·luminació prové de les finestres dels dos pisos de les naus laterals del període romànic, a la capella major són polilobulades i les que corresponen a la girola són ulls de bou. L'ornamentació s'aprecia als capitells historiats a la part de l'absis i amb adorns vegetals a la galeria.
La catedral disposa de dos grans orgues, situats a la part central dels trams alts de la nau principal, són de començament del segle XVIII. Encarregats pel capítol catedralici al mestre salamantí Manuel de la Viña i la caixa a l'arquitecte Antonio Afonsín i a l'escultor Manuel Romay. Cap al 1980, la consola va ser substituïda i s'hi va incloure mecanismes electrònics i informàtics per una empresa de Roma.
La catedral de Santiago de Compostel·la (en gallec, catedral de Santiago de Compostela) està acull el que, segons la tradició, és el sepulcre de l'apòstol Sant Jaume, i això va convertir el temple en un dels principals destins de pelegrinatge d'Europa durant l'edat mitjana mitjançant l'anomenat Camí de Sant Jaume, una ruta iniciàtica en què se seguia les petjades de la Via Làctia comunicant la península Ibèrica amb la resta del continent. Això va ser determinant perquè els regnes hispànics medievals participessin en els moviments culturals de l'època. Actualment continua sent un important destí de pelegrinatge. Un privilegi concedit el 1122 pel papa Calixt II va declarar que serien «Any Sant Jubilar» a Compostel·la, tots els anys en què el dia 25 de juliol, dia de sant Jaume, coincidís amb diumenge. Va ser confirmat pel papa Alexandre III a la seva butlla "Regis aeterni" datada el 1179.
El nucli antic de Santiago de Compostel·la és Patrimoni de la Humanitat per la UNESCO des de 1985.
El claustre té una planta quadrada de trenta-quatre metres per costat, va ser construït a començaments del segle XVI segons els plànols dels arquitectes Juan de Álava i Juan Gil de Hontañón, intervenint diversos mestres a la seva construcció des del seu començament el 1521 fins a la seva finalització el 1590. És d'estil gòtic-renaixentista de l'escola castellana i es corona amb una balustrada calada amb pinacles. Com és normal en els antics claustres existeixen sepultures de personatges relacionats amb la catedral. Al costat nord es troba la capella d'Alba fundada el 1530 que guarda al seu interior un retaule amb la Transfiguració del Senyor, obra datada del segle XVIII. En un angle del claustre es troben les campanes originals de la torre Berenguela.
On 21 January 1968 all hell broke loose, on a northern outpost, on the outskirts of the airbase, that controls the route around it the Vietcong guerrilla blew a hole on the outer wall debris came flying by and the Marines rushed out to fire at the enemy. The fight went on that would be determinant in the Tet Offensive. The Marines resisted during many days. But the end of this offensive marked a change in this terrible war.
Ok, this is slightly based on the scene from Stanley Kubrik's "Full Metal Jacket" in which the the airbase is attacked and they rush out to defend it.
I used some of the new pieces I got in this build and without these I wouldn't have been able to make this this big.
Please favorite and comment as much as you'd like :)
It's been a long time since a I last uploaded so it would mean a lot :)
Thanks,
Pedro.
Some 80% of Scotland’s land mass is under agricultural production, making the industry the single biggest determinant of the landscape we see around us. Scotland’s farmers, crofters and growers produce output worth around £2.9 billion a year, and are responsible for much of Scotland’s £5 billion food and drink exports. The export target for 2017 is £7.1 billion.
Around 67,000 people are directly employed in agriculture in Scotland – this represents around 8% of the rural workforce and means that agriculture is the third largest employer in rural Scotland after the service and public sectors. It is estimated that a further 360,000 jobs (1 in 10 of all Scottish jobs) are dependent on agriculture.
The agri-food sector is now the UKs largest manufacturing sector.
Around 85% of Scotland is classified as Less Favoured Area. This is an EU classification which recognises natural and geographic disadvantage.
There are large numbers of farms in north west Scotland, but these are significantly smaller in terms of the numbers of livestock/area of crops grown than farms elsewhere. Sheep farming is the predominant type of farming in the north west and there are also many sheep farms in the south of the country. Larger cereal farms are concentrated in the east. Beef farming takes place throughout Scotland, but is particularly common in the south west. This area also has the bulk of the dairy industry.
En la Punta del Matorral, donde la extensa playa de Sotavento de Jandía hace una inflexión hacia el Atlántico, se nos presenta la figura esbelta del Faro de Morro Jable, llamado así por ser Morro Jable el puerto más cercano que nos encontramos en esta zona de la costa sur de la isla canaria de Fuerteventura. Se encuentra en una extensión de costa entre los faros de La Entallada, al norte, y de Punta Jandía, al sur.
El Faro de Morro Jable se levanta en el paraje natural de la Playa del Matorral en donde se encuentra una zona de de 115'6 hectáreas, espacio natural protegido de interés científico, declarado así en 1994 por el Gobierno de Canarias. El objetivo de esta declaración es conservar la mejor representación de un ecosistema costero muy peculiar: el Saladar de Jandía.
Es una comunidad vegetal que soporta inundaciones periódicas producidas por la pleamar. La principal dificultad que los vegetales tienen que superar es la enorme concentración de sal que absorben. Es frecuente que en la pleamar esta zona del saladar, a cientos de metros tierra adentro de la línea de costa en marea baja, se inunde con agua de mar formándose curiosas charcas de salmuera cuando el agua, por la acción solar, comienza a evaporarse. Esto crea un hábitat propicio para que se acerquen a él comunidades de aves marinas que recalan para nidificar al abrigo de sus matorrales.
El océano, en el continuo subir y bajar de las mareas, actúa como elemento determinante de esta comunidad tan singular. Aunque el litoral pueda presentar un fuerte oleaje, normalmente una barrera natural de rocas o arena actúa de protección adquiriendo el hábitat un elevado grado de estabilidad.
Fuente: Wikipedia
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In Punta del Matorral, where the beach at Sotavento de Jandia makes a bend into the Atlantic, we have the slender figure of the lighthouse of Morro Jable, so named for Morro Jable port closest to us in this area the south coast of the Canary Island of Fuerteventura. It is in a stretch of coast between the headlights of the Entallada the north and Punta Jandia in the south.
Morro Jable Lighthouse stands in the natural setting of the beach del Matorral is an area of 115'6-hectare nature reserve of scientific interest, declared in 1994 by the Canary Government. The purpose of this statement is to preserve the best representation of a coastal ecosystem very peculiar: the salt of Jandia.
It is a plant community that supports periodic flooding caused by high water. The main difficulty that vegetables have to overcome is the enormous concentration of salt absorbed. Often at high tide the salt marsh area, hundreds of meters inland from the coastline at low tide, seawater flooded with curious forming brine ponds when the water by solar rays, it begins to evaporate. This creates a habitat for him to approach communities of seabirds that arrive to nest in the shelter of the bushes.
The ocean, in the continual rise and fall of tides, acts as a determinant of this community so unique. Although the coastline may pose a heavy swell, usually a natural barrier of rocks or sand acts to protect the habitat by acquiring a high degree of stability.
Source: Wikipedia
a smooth rock with (a little) earth on it
Last week I understood forgiveness in a new light. Or rather was made to understand it. It was the night of Shab e Baraat, a night that forever changed me in more ways than one. I was getting ready for Isha’. Just then I got a call from someone who had been a difficult interaction in my life for many years. It was a relation I could not escape and I had finally arrived at a point with them where distance was best. When there was a meeting now, which was rare to begin with, I kept it civil. Boundaries had been defined as therapists recommend. Self-esteem was carefully guarded.
The last few exchanges prior to this “new normal,” had been unpleasant. I had wanted their life’s circumstances to get better, hoping that the shift might also make them different but that wasn’t on the horizon for now. They seemed to be continuing in a downward spiral at varying speeds. Therefore I had decided to surrender them to God. I wrote a whole chapter about it in my book, that surrender. How I had learned to make it soft, placing them gently at Allah’s Door, as opposed to throwing them in front of it like a thing unwanted and running away. Which is what I had been doing the first few times only to cause myself incessant angst.
I was about to learn that despite that surrender, the dichotomy in my zahir and batin, my overt and inner being, was still glaring. I was still thinking I was doing something for one reason but doing it for another. I read the text from the person and exhaled a sigh of relief that it was just a wish for the blessed night to be good for all of us. I went to the prayer mat and began my namaz. I don’t remember exactly which part of it I was in when I felt like I was being told something. That was not an entirely new experience for me. Often while writing my book or preparing lectures, I would get ideas for something to insert, something to change, during prayer.
This is what I thought was said: “You will forgive them but first forgive yourself.”
I almost paused in the middle of my prayer to ask a question but then kept going. I didn’t get it. If someone was kicking me in the head every day, why would I have to forgive myself?
The only reason I had come up for previous lectures on “Forgiveness” was that I was allowing the daily kick. That is the single thing that made sense. For if someone was persistently cruel to me, I had given them permission, knowingly or unknowingly, for it to continue. That kind of forgiveness had only lead me to controlling our interaction but it hadn’t changed anything about me. All blame was squarely placed upon them.
That night as I moved from farz to sunnat to vitar to nawafil, it became clear. I believe it was a gift that came to me specifically when I read the eight nafal for Hazrat Bibi Fatima (ratu) for the first time in my life. And this is what I got: What I had to forgive myself for was not forgiving the other. They were being hard on me in whatever way. But I was being hard on myself by hardening my heart as well.
The voice was telling me to forgive myself for treating my own self with hardness. To stop telling myself that I had already forgiven them when it was not yet true. Needless to say, it was a mind blowing moment! I had to forgive myself because I possessed the ability to forgive but I was not invoking it. I was not connecting with God and asking Him to teach me how to do it. I’m 50. Time had proved beyond all certainty I did not know how to make it happen on my own.
I went back to my book and read the chapter “Along came forgiveness.” It was beautiful no doubt. I could “forget the lash” as Hazrat Rabia Basra (ra) had instructed. I had also learnt to not put myself in harm’s way around those who could not control their emotions, inevitably spewing poison. I also understood that their outbursts had nothing to do with me. But there was still something missing. For when they did appear before me, I felt a tightness in my chest, an anxiety. I anticipated doom. The fear or resentment of humiliation at their hands had not left me.
I realized that this fear remaining meant that I failed the litmus test. For if I had forgiven them, truly forgiven them, then there would be no dread, no sarcasm, no contempt. Whether they were calm or crazy in front of me, I would only be empathetic or at a minimum unaffected. But when the “enemy” appeared, my zahir was full of scorn and my batin was apprehensive. I guess in that sense at least there was a union! But Imam Ali (ratu) had already taught me what to do. I possessed the knowledge but I had not put it into practice.
Said the Prophet (saw), “Knowledge calls out to deed. If deed appears the knowledge stays, otherwise it leaves.”
It was in a class in Fes on a perfect spring morning that my teacher wrote a qaul by Imam Ali (ratu) on the board and asked me to translate it. (Begin excerpt from The Softest heart)
إذا قدرت على عدوك فاجعل العفو عنه شكرا للقدرة عليه
“‘When the enemy appears before you and you have the ability to destroy them, forgive them. Then thank Allah for the ability to forgive them,’” I ventured.
“No,” said my teacher. “That is not what he says. Read it again. It’s a subtle difference.”
I paused and read it slowly but could not improve on my translation. My teacher offered his answer.
He says, “If you had the ability to destroy your enemy, forgive them out of thanks to God who granted you that ability (to forgive him).”
The expression was indeed subtle and immeasurably deep. For Hazrat Ali (ratu) didn’t say, as one expects or as I had thought, that if one had the opportunity to avenge, then one should consider it, then one should forgive the enemy, then thank Allah for the fact that one could forgive them. The instruction was in reverse and in a single step, not three: forgive the enemy immediately, even though you can pulverize them, out of gratitude to Allah because He has granted one the ability to forgive. And the chance to do so!
Ustad Ahmed honed in on the point; “Sayyadna Ali (ratu) says when the enemy appears to forgive them out of gratitude towards Allah for His granting us the ability to forgive, not for executing a personal choice between destroying and forgiving. He tells us to eliminate the “I” altogether. All ability is only from God. Therefore there is no pride, no “me.” (End excerpt The Softest Heart)
The flip side of the blessing I received in my prayer was even more compelling; if I didn’t forgive the “other,” then I was insistent on not forgiving myself. I was choosing to not forgive myself and being stubborn about it. The consequence of that decision was that I was electing to inflict torment upon myself. And if I did that then who was crazier, me or them? We weren’t the same. I was worse.
(Audio on @the.softest.heart)
برے بندے نوں میں لبھن ٹریا، برا لبھا نہ کوئی
جد میں اندر جھاتی پائی، میتھوں برا نہ کوئی
I set out in search of the wrong doers but I did not find any.
When I looked at my own self, I knew no one was worse than me – Baba Bulleh Shah (ra)
In the end it was me who programmed myself over the course of my life to be who I have become. It was a function of my habits which became my nature. Daata Sahib (ra) taught me that years ago. Those habits were formed as a result of who I chose to emulate. We all learn everything first from our parents as they have in turn learned it. Then in the first moment that we make a decision independently as in “I’m not doing that, I’m doing this,” knowing that it’s wrong, we assume control of shaping our character. From then on the sticking to the ways of their parents just becomes an excuse to do what we want to.
وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمُ اتَّبِعُوا مَا أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ قَالُوا بَلْ نَتَّبِعُ مَا أَلْفَيْنَا عَلَيْهِ آبَاءَنَا ۗ
أَوَلَوْ كَانَ آبَاؤُهُمْ لَا يَعْقِلُونَ شَيْئًا وَلَا يَهْتَدُونَ
And when it is said to them, “Follow what has revealed Allah,” they said, “Nay we follow what we found our forefathers following.” Even though their forefathers did not understand anything and they were devoid of all guidance – Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse 170
Lucky are the ones who are taught to be like those favoured by God as children. Then they become like them while the rest of us become ordinary, taking one step forward, two steps back. If that!
From listening to the reverent Naqshbandi sheikhs these days of the lockdown, God bless their souls, I recently understood what perhaps many know; I am a being of energy first, form second. When I’m unforgiving, I emanate a toxic energy, impure, clouded, angry, full of despair and fear. Hence before anything reaches anyone else, if it reaches them at all, for often my negative feelings end up just lying within my own heart, unvoiced, my energy hits only me. And it only increases in intensity as I proceed to blame them for the lows that follow.
The next few days I pondered deeply over the inspiration I had received. It in fact applied to everything in life. Forgive yourself for not being generous, for not being grateful, for not being obedient, for not being patient, for not being kind, for not being just. Forgive yourself for everything! Then start again and ask for taufeeq to be better in the next round. Imam Ali (ratu) had said the same. If any opportunity presented itself to reflect goodness and it was wasted, the major tragedy was that a chance to express gratitude was lost.
I had discovered in occasionally putting into practice what I learnt from the Friends of God that every rule, every instruction comes with a test to confirm its application. Sincerity, khuloos, was the determinant. It was itself a branch of sidq, truthfulness. All the rules also had another commonality. Intention was tested and revealed. If the intention was pure, there was no anxiety or sadness. But again the same intention can be different in the mind from what is in the heart.
I decided to think about it from a different angle. Why was it so hard to be forgiving, even for my own self? In a conversation with my friend, Uzair, I had learnt that when the human being goes against their fitrat, their natural disposition, as endowed by God in its pure form, friction arises within oneself and therefore others. Thus begins the journey of restlessness, depression and despair.
I had identified in the Quran two traits of that disposition from the Prophets, specifically the Prophet Yahya (as) and the Prophet Jesus (as). Stated not as what they were but what they were not:
وَبَرًّا بِوَالِدَيْهِ وَلَمْ يَكُن جَبَّارًا عَصِيًّا
And dutiful towards his parents, never was he haughty or rebellious. – Surah Maryam, Verse 14
وَبَرًّا بِوَالِدَتِي وَلَمْ يَجْعَلْنِي جَبَّارًا شَقِيًّا
And He had made me dutiful to my mother, and not (has) He made me arrogant or defiant – Surah Maryam, Verse 32
One word was common in both verses and appeared first, therefore signaling its importance; jabbaran. I studied the word in the Tafseer e Jilani and understood it as the arrogance that manifests itself in cutting off relations with the parents or people in general. Aseeyan is the one who ignores an instruction, shaqeeyan the one who is distant from God’s Mercy because of defiance. In other words, what the two Prophets were was devoted and obedient.
I cannot deny that all three of those traits absent in the Prophets have played out from within me. Still, I felt happy that I belonged to a generation that was for the most part obedient. We were not dutiful like the one before us, but were did as we were told, be it grudgingly. What being dutiful exactly meant I discovered on one of the last times I came to the village with my grandaunt who is in her 90s.
At lunch I was asking her random questions. Who were her favourite niece and nephew? Which sister in law did she get along with the best? I liked most to ask how it was when my grandmother, a Lahorite, came to the village after her marriage. I knew the house we were in, an entirely gorgeous construction, had been built especially for her.
“Whenever her parents came to visit,” she said, “my brother and I used to be the ones given the responsibility to take care of their meals. He would stand there,” she gestured behind me.
I turned around to see exactly where and couldn’t believe it. I thought she meant they were responsible as in they called in the staff of dozens and told them how things were going to be laid out, what would be cooked etc. Not literally stand behind them like waiters while they ate and hold dishes every time they wanted a refill, not even being a part of the meal.
“Stand here?” I asked to confirm, pointing behind me.
“Yes,” she answered, “Nawab Sahib (her father) said we had to take care of them ourselves as a sign of our regard for them.”
Damn, I thought. She and her brother were both in their late teens or early 20s then. Their father was the big-shot of the area. Being important as a feudal in a rural setting was entire different from being rich in the city. No one was kissing your hands and touching your knee as the norm for greeting there. Yet she described the incidence as if it was no big deal, no pride even in the act of their assent. My mother used to have a lot of dinner parties in Lahore. I tried to imagine standing behind a table to serve her friends. I could not. Yes, dutiful was the apt word to describe them.
Still for us there was not much room for dissent either. Life was simple. All we had was a tv with two channels, if we were lucky and a rotary dial phone. Everything was communal, nothing belonged to one person. Not many questions were asked of our parents. Certainly few, if any, explanations were given. That meant there could be a fair amount of hide and seek, less for nerds like me but I don’t believe it was a bad thing. Allah loves that a cloak is placed over oneself, as well as others, when doing something forbidden to the body and harmful to the soul. Haya is paramount!
“When the deeds of my Ummah are presented to me, I erase those that are their sins and present the good before My Lord,” said the Prophet (saw).”
For the deeds that are presented become confirmed! The hadith made me smile. Often mothers did that in our culture, hiding the wrongdoings of the kids from the stricter dads who most definitely would punish them if rules set were breached. And occasionally the other way around.
My generation, in their earnestness to differentiate themselves from the parents, became friends with the children. And friendships holds no bars. What is felt is stated. When there is an equal standing there is no room for that which is done purely out of duty. Love yes but not obligation. I was guilty of it too with my nine year old niece Sameena who I adore. We could hang out for hours, during holidays that is, and it was a blast.
One night after having spent the day together when we came home I showered and got into my bed to internet. Suddenly my door flew open and I heard her say excitedly, “Mony, you have to help me brush my teeth and change into my pajamas.” She was 7 then.
“Nope,” I said, without taking my eyes off the screen to indicate determination. “Tell Papa to do it. I just turned my laptop on lou.”
“But Papa’s not my friend,” she wailed.
I looked up at her with surprise and started smiling. Then I went!
But I’m an aunt. It’s different with the parents. They are also usually one’s first source of grief when it is least expected, too early in life. The shock of that causes resentment and resentment tends to bleed love. The first seed of being unforgiving is planted! If left to grow, it strangles the heart, deadening it.
My world held sharply defined boundaries of discipline and regard which were not crossed openly, only covertly. There was apprehension around being seen by the elders while doing something wrong, the fear was of causing disappointment. Much like the taqwa the Quran talks of constantly, which the Sufis define as being deeply aware of disappointing Allah and therefore being conscious of Him and mindful of the self.
I went deeper into my own person to identify what the root of my disobedience was when it did emerge. I analyzed it simply from the angle of saying “no” to something and discovered three broad patterns. Two were prominent; either I was being lazy or I was being a miser, a bakheel. If not financially then emotionally.
The third reason was that I was being stubborn, which also came down to two things. The first was reacting in the way that I had become so used to that I was like one of Pavlov’s dogs. A name, a word could be mentioned and it would trigger a rant from me without me even being sure if I still felt that angry about it. The second was if I knew something to be right and I would just refute it anyway. Incidentally, the Prophet’s (saw) definition of the word jaahil: the one who knows something to be true but insists on disbelieving it.
Forgiving one’s own self was simply turning out to be about reconnecting to the soul one might have lost contact with. In the moment I saw that, I replayed the first story by Maulana Rum (ra) in his Masnavi about the love triangle between the nafs, the world and the soul. If one got into the habit of forgiving oneself, the nafs would be forced to look at the soul which it otherwise easily ignores. (Begin excerpt from The Softest Heart)
“The story is a parable with three characters, a king, a slave girl and a goldsmith. The king represents the soul, the slave girl the ego (nafs), the goldsmith the world. The soul is in love with the nafs but the ego is infatuated with the world. Unable to gain its attention, feeling a state of helplessness and aloneness, the soul prays to God for help. For what the soul waits for is for the nafs (ego) to return to it, to return the soul’s love for it. It wants it to shed its infatuation with the world and finally shun it. The prayer is answered: a healer (tabeeb) appears.
The healer gently shows the ego what it is in love with by revealing the superficiality of the world, the world that actually only makes the ego feel empty and weary. The healer does not use persuasion, there is no reprimand! It was notable how the one God sends embodies an approach the exact opposite of clergy that bank only on persuasion and reprimand. The healer’s approach is one of only softness and extreme subtlety. It entails an unveiling of what is already there before one, yet the eye cannot see it for when it sees by itself, it only sees what it wants.
Thus because of the healer alone, the ego begins to see its own devotion to that which is just sucking it dry and giving nothing to it in return, leaving it unfulfilled, exhausted, unhappy. The nafs then notices the soul for the first time. It sees it waiting for it and turns towards it. That part of the change of heart mesmerized me for days.
“Why does the ego return to the soul in the end?” I asked my friend Abeda with whom I was discussing the story endlessly.
“Because the world has betrayed its love, never returned it so now it’s like, ‘May as well go for the soul?’”
She smiled.
“No.”
I knew what she was going to say next was going to change my life. Thank God for brilliant friends!
“The ego wants to love the soul because all its experience of love is from the world, by the world, all that is in the world. Now for the first time, it has the chance to learn to love from that which has been loved by God. It has the chance to learn to love like God.” (End excerpt from The Softest Heart)
So then maybe the nafs also has the chance to forgive like God. Endlessly! Every opportunity seemed to present the chance to do that which the Prophet (saw) said;
تَخَلَّقُوْا بِأَخْلَاقِ الله
“Be in your manners as the Attributes of Allah (which are His Alone).”
The verb takhallaqa meaning to acquire that which does not previously exist!
But to invoke ability, to connect with the soul or with God, one had to be of the guided. In my understanding, to become worthy of guidance two elements were essential. The healer was one, as Maulana explains, in order for justification defined by the ego to be shed. But even before that came the ability to receive guidance, to ask for the healer to appear. Again ability, the element which prerequisites recognition and reconnection with God!
Ghaus Pak (ra) says that the sign of guidance is that a person begins to go against that which the nafs desires. The one thing I was super aware of in that sense where I successfully went against my nafs was when I was in deep sleep and my alarm went off for prayer in the morning. I would be dying to press “snooze” but I would rise just so I could feel I was also amongst the guided. I was also especially alert to it when I declined someone’s request for money. There was almost always never any real cause for it when I asked myself, “Why did you just say no?” All the reasons were always admittedly shameful.
But it was in a lecture by Uzair that I heard the most beautiful reason for going against a reaction that emanated from the ego:
“The Prophet (saw) is the source of creation as well as the connector who brings each one back to the Creator. Each and everything in the Universe is a reflection of Allah’s Attributes but how much they reflect is a function of capacity and ability. This is not easy for it means that one has to have the capacity to hold two opposites in one moment.”
Then he explained what that means; “Allah’s Attributes are in pairs of opposites. If He gets angry He is also Merciful, if He is The Avenging one, He is also The Forgiver, He is The Seen and He is also the Hidden. The Insaan e Kamil, the perfect human being, which is the laqab of the Prophet (saw), is the one, who in the same moment, in the same being, holds both the opposing Divine Names of God.”
“But we are not like that,” Uzair continued. “In the moment when I am enraged, it is next to impossible for me to be forgiving. I only want to destroy the other person. But the Insaan e Kamil is the one who in the exact moment when they are boiling in anger, and the situation demands mercy, is able to invoke that Mercy of God and reflect it instead. That is why Sheikh ul Akbar (ra) says that you have not developed the ability to hold a pair of opposites at the same time. That is why if you ever want to understand anything in relation to God, there is only one mirror for it, His Beloved (saw). The one who says, ‘Man ra’ani ra’al Haqq, the one who saw me, saw The Truth.’”
The most striking example of holding the opposites I had seen in the Prophet’s (saw) life was exactly the one Imam Ali’s (ratu) advice was rooted in.
On the occasion of the fall of Mecca, the Prophet (peace be upon him) had every opportunity to seek vengeance for twenty years of atrocities, crimes, murder and torture that he and his followers had been subjected to by the Kuffar. The same bloodthirsty enemy that had committed all this barbarity against him and his Companions was now standing helplessly before him. They had made every attempt within their power to take his life. They were the reason his beloved wife Bibi Khadija (ratu) and his uncle and guardian, Hazrat Abu Talib (ratu) had perished.
The woman who had arranged the murder of his beloved uncle, Hazrat Hamza (ratu) and committed the heinous act of chewing his liver in front of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) was there. It was also the opportunity to punish the savage who had murdered the pregnant daughter of the Prophet (peace be upon him) with the thrust of a spear while she was riding a camel.
When he appeared before them, he asked them what treatment they expected of him.
قَالَ: يَا مَعْشَرَ قُرَيْشٍ، مَا تُرَوْنَ أَنِّي فَاعِلٌ فِيكُمْ؟
قَالُوا: خَيْرًا، أَخٌ كَرِيمٌ، وَابْنُ أَخٍ كَرِيمٍ
: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم
أَقُولُ كَمَا أَخِي يُوسُفُ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ: (لَا تَثْرِيبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْيَوْمَ)
قَالَ: اذْهَبُوا فَأَنْتُمْ الطُّلَقَاءُ
He said to them, “O People of the Quraish! What do you see me doing to you?”
They said, “Only good! You are a brother noble and the son of a brother noble.”
And the Prophet of God (peace be upon him) said, “So I say to you as Yousaf (as) said to his brothers, ‘There will be no blame upon you today.’ Go! You are the free ones.”
And just like that they were forgiven!
“When the enemy appears before you and you have the ability to destroy them…”
Since I heard Uzair’s lecture I have been fixated with acquiring the ability to hold opposing attributes and invoke the one opposite to the nafs. And it’s mine for the emulation and the ask!
Who receives capacity and ability is indeed Allah’s Will. In January of this year I happened to hear an interview Lady Gaga had with Oprah. Normally it would have been out of my scope of interest but a friend in Karachi played a specific clip for me that was intriguing. Gaga was telling Oprah she “radically accepted” that whatever happened to her in her life, she was in a sexually abusive relationship for several years at age 19, was destined for her with an innate purpose.
“Even the rape?” Oprah, herself a survivor of sexual violence, had asked warily.
“Even the rape,” Gaga replied with certainty.
It was a remarkable moment. For I have seen people accept many things in life if they were Divinely willed for them but never suffering sexual assault. Gaga is only 33 and in that conversation, a 62 year old global influencer unlike any other leaned in to listen intently to her words. Gaga said several things that I have only read in books written by the greatest of Spiritual Masters in Islam. The best example of it was when she was describing her illness, fibromyalgia, which causes her chronic pain from head to toe 24 hours a day.
“My practice in my commitment is gratitude. Even in the midst of the pain. I will be laying in my porch in pain and crying and I will say, ‘Thank you God for this pain. Thank you. I surrender it to you. This pain is meant for me and my body right now. I’m here in this moment and I’m learning. Thank you for teaching me.’”
“Wow!” I thought in my head as Oprah uttered it from her lips, equally amazed. Only the chosen ones react to pain with gratitude, everybody else practices patience.
As Uzair said, the key to the practice of forgiveness, or any other attribute, lay perfectly manifested inside The Beloved (saw). He was the one who was raised by God in the closest of closeness. He was the only one who was the reflection of His Essence (zaat). Everyone else reflected His Attributes (sifaat).
Upon studying Forgiveness through ahadith, I learnt that it had four layers of practice, each in ascending order in terms of behavior: eye for an eye (but exactly so as in if someone pushed me, I could only push them just as hard not an iota more), controlling of anger, forgiving the other, being good to them.
The fourth is where the Friends of God always landed. Again in their immaculate obedience to the Prophet (saw). I had spent most of my life in stage two. My demon for the longest time was anger, ravaging me and my relationships. Then over the years it dissipated which I consider a happening only and only as a blessing from God. The only thing I did was acknowledge it and seek therapy. The rest He and those I love connected to Him made happen. They had allowed me to move to step three.
There are essentially two kinds of forgiveness as I understood from Qari Sahib; afuuw and maghfirat. Afuww is forgiveness for sins knowingly committed. Maghfirat is for sins committed inadvertently. Both are Allah’s Names. Allah Al-Afuww and He has two names for the other: Allah Al-Ghaffaar and Allah Al-Ghaffoor. The attribute connected to Nabi Kareem (saw) is afuww. For all the Prophets in the Quran say that the good in their nation belong to them and the rest, it is up to God to decide what to do for He is Merciful.
The Prophet Ibrahim (as);
فَمَن تَبِعَنِي فَإِنَّهُ مِنِّي ۖ
وَمَنْ عَصَانِي فَإِنَّكَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
So whoever follows me then indeed, he (is) of me, and whoever disobeys me, then indeed, You (are) Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful – Surah Ibrahim, Verse 36
But the Beloved of God (saw) sent to the world as His Mercy for all Mankind is the only one who says the worst of the people belong to him and the good to His Lord. That is why in this world and on the Day of Judgment, he is the Intercessor to whom the distressed are told to go when they have finally become tired of the ego and crave relief.
In his tafseer, Ibn e Katheer gives a beautiful account of an incident that unveils just that. It took place right after the passing of the Prophet (peace be upon him).
Allama U’tabi narrates: I was sitting by the blessed grave of the Prophet of God (peace be upon him) when I saw a bedouin come up to it and softly say,
“As Salam o Alaika Ya Rasool Allah! I have heard that Allah says:
وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ إِذ ظَّلَمُوا أَنفُسَهُمْ جَاءُوكَ فَاسْتَغْفَرُوا اللَّهَ
وَاسْتَغْفَرَ لَهُمُ الرَّسُولُ لَوَجَدُوا اللَّهَ تَوَّابًا رَّحِيمًا
And if they, when they have wronged their own souls, would come to you (O dear Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon you) to seek forgiveness from Allah, and if the Noble Messenger (peace be upon him) asked Allah for forgiveness for them, they will certainly find Him as the Acceptor Of Repentance, the Most Merciful – Surah An-Nisa, Verse 64
Thus I have come to you and I seek God’s forgiveness and I plead for you to intercede on my behalf before my Lord and ask forgiveness for me.”
Then I heard him recite these couplets:
(Audio on @the.softest.heart)
يَا خَيْرَ مَنْ دُفِنَتْ بِالْقَاعِ أَعْظُمُهُ
فَطَابَ مِنْ طِيبِهِنَّ الْقَاعُ وَالأَكَمُ
نَفْسِي الْفِدَاءُ لِقَبْرٍ أَنْتَ سَاكِنُهُ
فِيهِ الْعَفَافُ وَفِيهِ الْجُودُ وَالْكَرَمُ
“O you who is the best amongst those buried,
whose scent has made fragrant the land and plateaus,
I sacrifice my life on this grave that you dwell in
for in it lies pardon and generosity of the Universe.”
Saying that the bedouin left. I fell asleep. In my dream, I saw the Prophet of God (peace be upon him). He said to me, ‘O U’tabi! Go to the bedouin and give him the glad tidings that Allah has forgiven him.’”
The story has so many layers it requires its own story. But it is in the word “afaaf” in the last couplet that caught my eye. “The forgiveness of sins knowingly committed lie in this grave,” the bedouin had said.
Those who are bestowed forgiveness such that it is their innate attribute are blessed indeed. I know, I saw it firsthand in my mother. Throughout her life I saw people betray her but she never betrayed them. She naturally did what Nabi Kareem (saw) had instructed;
وَلَا تَخُنْ مَنْ خَانَكَ
And do not betray those who betray you.
God knows I tried to make her leave them, sometimes invoking anger and pride, other times common sense. On occasion she even pretended to disconnect from them in front of me but the ruse would last a week at best. Then when I would find out that she was in touch with them again, which she herself announced to me, I would say like I was the parent, “Have you forgotten what you just went through because of them?” and she would simply say, “But I love them.” And that was that! She forgave everyone everything.
The journey of the soul is uniquely its own. Age allows one to understand that the others one is born around and meets along the way are just a medium to see one’s own light or demons as the result of action or inaction relating to them. Everything good we do we do for ourselves as the Quran says. And everything we do against another, we do in fact against our own selves. Be it in the exhibition of gratefulness or ingratitude, miserliness or generosity, forgiveness or hardness.
إِنْ أَحْسَنتُمْ أَحْسَنتُمْ لِأَنفُسِكُمْ وَإِنْ أَسَأْتُمْ فَلَهَا
If you persevere in doing good, you will but be doing good to yourselves; and if you do evil, it will be (done) to yourselves – Surah Al-Isra’, Verse 7
Hazrat Sahel (ra) says that the insistence upon sin, which is not substance related as most simply relegate it to but anything that torments one’s soul, is the reason for rebelliousness. Hence the advice: sin is a disease, obedience is its cure. The disobedience is rooted in jahaalat, refuting something while knowing it’s the truth. The denial of something whole knowing it to be true leads to falsehood.
The falsehood results in hardness of the heart. The hardness of the heart leads to hypocrisy. And hypocrisy takes one straight to ingratitude. The magnificence of the links is that all the states, one leading to the next, apply equally to a person of faith or an atheist, a polytheist or an agnostic! The capacity of infinite self-deceit lies in all.
One might imagine a state of hyper-consciousness that constantly shines a light on darkness within one’s self would be a drag. I admit it crossed my mind on days when literally everything about me was disappointing. Again it was Uzair who happened to explain how it was only the greatest of blessings.
“When you think about God and read the Names of Allah (in tasbeeh) you will find peace, but when you will begin your process of nearness to the Prophet (saw) you will feel disturbance. There will be a massive agitation in you because he will bring you out of darkness into light. And when you first come into the light from darkness, it hurts the eyes. The agitation is to be welcomed not feared. It is your gift for seeking dissolution in his being.”
الر ۚ كِتَابٌ أَنزَلْنَاهُ إِلَيْكَ لِتُخْرِجَ النَّاسَ مِنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّورِ
بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِمْ إِلَىٰ صِرَاطِ الْعَزِيزِ الْحَمِيدِ
Alif Laam Ra, This is a Book that We have sent to you so that you,( O Beloved), may bring Mankind from darkness to light by the command of their Lord towards the path of the Honorable, the Praiseworthy – Surah Ibrahim, Verse 1
I never get enough of his universality. Not the Muslims, not the Believers, but Mankind!
Reversibility of nature seems impossible but some sort of shift is necessary before sadness or hardness become the “new normal.” Neither are sustainable for anyone or those around them. Bitterness is the worst of poisons. Everything that emerges from the ego only takes a person so far before one is drowning in empty pride that devours peace of mind like a termite. The one behind that cardinal sin of feeling superior for supposedly feeling wronged was Iblis. It rendered him disobedient, then exiled. He made a mistake once in his refusal to bow and to this day he knowingly refuses to admit it and therefore forgive himself for it. Could I really be like him?
Repelled by the thought I have been trying every morning and night to inculcate the conscious effort to forgive myself for all I could have but did not do when it came my way that day. Then I ask His Beloved (saw) to pray for me and ask God to forgive me and grant me the ability to be better. I’m hoping that at least one attribute that is His, comes into my life, not for a day or two, vanishing and reappearing but in permanence.
ثُمَّ قَسَتْ قُلُوبُكُم مِّن بَعْدِ ذَٰلِكَ فَهِيَ كَالْحِجَارَةِ أَوْ أَشَدُّ قَسْوَةً ۚ
And yet, after all this, your hearts hardened and became like rocks, or even harder – Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse 74
In my heart that I have hardened to be like a rock or even harder, I hope that this Ramadan the recognition in finality that I cannot change anything about myself on my own ruptures my ego, disintegrating it. Then maybe the knowledge I gain won’t wash over me but instead permeate into deed and I will become alive. It may happen and it may not. The only certainty is the one reiterated by those in the know, that the possibility of return to the truth lies there for the taking for anyone and remains there forever.
(Audio on @the.softest.heart)
باز آ، باز آ، ہر آنچہ ہستی باز آ
گر کافر و گبر و بت پرستی باز آ
این درگہِ ما درگہِ نومیدی نیست
صد بار اگر توبہ شکستی، باز آ
Come back, come back, however you are, come back.
Be you a disbeliever, a worshipper of fire or clay, come back.
There is no room for despair at this blessed space.
Even if you repent a 100 times, then regress, still come back
- Maulana Rum (ra)
www.youtube.com/channel/UCqb01bB-J3kyiu-HKIX2MKw
Syed Uzair Abdullah lecture link:
The novel coronavirus is getting ever more novel.
TLDR; SARS-CoV-2 mutates regularly, and we are seeing location-based virus evolution during the lockdown period. A single mutation could impact the universality of any vaccine, antibody therapy or drug targeting the binding domain. It also creates the possibility of repeat infections, like the seasonal flu. Gain-of-function mutations have already occurred (D614G), and the new variants are more virulent (614G becomes the leading strain in any new region into which it is introduced within a matter of weeks) and may mediate repeat infections. Some mutations are in regions that might impact antibody binding (V367F). Recombination (S943P) can enable multiple fitness-enhancing mutations to assemble within the same strain making it more pathogenic than the distinct original strains.
Prellis Bio pulled together this table of currently known mutations of SARS-CoV-2, and I asked if I could share. Here are some examples from recent pre-print papers (with attendant caveats):
From Los Alamos National Lab analysis in BioRxiv, May 2020 (and news summary):“Spike mutation pipeline reveals the emergence of a more transmissible form of SARS-CoV-2”
“We have developed an analysis pipeline to facilitate real-time mutation tracking in SARS-CoV-2, focusing initially on the Spike protein because it mediates infection of human cells and is the target of most vaccine strategies and antibody-based therapeutics. To date we have identified fourteen mutations in Spike that are accumulating. The mutation Spike D614G is of urgent concern; it began spreading in Europe in early February, and when introduced to new regions it rapidly becomes the dominant form. Also, we present evidence of recombination between locally circulating strains, indicative of multiple strain infections.
Although the observed diversity among pandemic SARS-CoV-2 sequences is low, its rapid global spread provides the virus with ample opportunity for natural selection to act upon rare but favorable mutations. This is analogous to the case of influenza. If the pandemic fails to wane, this could exacerbate the potential for antigenic drift and the accumulation of immunologically relevant mutations in the population during the year or more it will take to deliver the first vaccine.
• D614G (a G-to-A base change at position 23,403 in the Wuhan reference strain) is increasing in frequency at an alarming rate, indicating a fitness advantage relative to the original Wuhan strain that enables more rapid spread. We were concerned that if the D614G mutation can increase transmissibility, it might also impact severity of disease. Patients carrying the G614 mutation had higher viral loads… a significant difference was observed.
• S943P (a double base mutation: AGT (S) -> CCT (P)) is located in the fusion core region, and is of particular interest as it is spreading via recombination. Recombination requires simultaneous infection of the same host with different viruses, and the two parental strains have to be distinctive enough to manifest in a detectable way in the recombined sequence. Both criteria were met in Belgium."
From BioRxiv India, May 2020, on that same D614G mutation with additional distinct biological properties: "D614G rapidly outcompeted other pre-existing subtypes, including the ancestral. We assessed that D614G mutation generates an additional serine protease (Elastase) cleavage site near the S1-S2 junction of the Spike protein. We also identified that a single nucleotide deletion (delC) is extremely rare in East Asians but is common in Europeans and North Americans. The delC allele facilitates entry of the 614G subtype into host cells, thus accelerating the spread of 614G subtype in Europe and North America where the delC allele is common. Thus, SARS-CoV-2, particularly the 614G subtype, has spread more easily and with higher frequency to Europe and North America where the delC allele regulating expression of TMPRSS2 and MX1 host proteins is common, but not to East Asia where this allele is rare."
From BioRxiv, April 2020: “Emergence of RBD mutations in circulating SARS-CoV-2 strains enhancing the structural stability and human ACE2 receptor affinity of the spike protein”
"Spike protein receptor-binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 is the critical determinant of viral tropism and infectivity. Three mutant types displayed higher human ACE2 affinity, and probably higher infectivity, one of which (V367F) was validated by wet bench. The RBD mutation analysis provides insights into SARS-CoV-2 evolution. The emergence of RBD mutations with increased human ACE2 affinity reveals higher risk of severe morbidity and mortality during a sustained COVID-19 pandemic, particularly if no effective precautions are implemented."
From the Journal of Translational Medicine, April 2020: “Emerging SARS-CoV-2 mutation hot spots include a novel RNA-dependent-RNA polymerase (RdRp) variant”
“SARS-CoV-2 is an RNA coronavirus responsible for the pandemic of COVID-19. RNA viruses are characterized by a high mutation rate, up to a million times higher than that of their hosts. Mutation rate drives viral evolution and genome variability, thereby enabling viruses to escape host immunity and to develop drug resistance.
Methods: We analyzed 220 genomic sequences from the GISAID database derived from patients infected by SARS-CoV-2 worldwide from December 2019 to mid-March 2020.
Results: We characterized 8 novel recurrent mutations of SARS-CoV-2. America. We noticed for the first time a silent mutation in RdRp gene in England (UK) on February 9th, 2020 while a different mutation in RdRp, changing its amino acid composition, emerged on February 20th, 2020 in Italy (Lombardy). The SARS-CoV-2 RdRp (also named nsp12) is a key component of the replication/transcription machinery. RdRps are considered among primary targets for antiviral drug development, against a wide variety of viruses [e.g., Remdesivir]. Naturally occurring mutations can lead to drug resistance phenomena, with a significant loss in the binding affinity of these molecules to the RdRp.
Conclusions: These findings suggest that the virus is evolving, and European, North American and Asian strains might coexist, each of them characterized by a different mutation pattern. It is important to study and characterize SARS-CoV-2 RdRp mutation in order to assess possible drug-resistance viral phenotypes. It is also important to recognize whether the presence of some mutations might correlate with different SARS-CoV-2 mortality rates.”
Some 80% of Scotland’s land mass is under agricultural production, making the industry the single biggest determinant of the landscape we see around us. Scotland’s farmers, crofters and growers produce output worth around £2.9 billion a year, and are responsible for much of Scotland’s £5 billion food and drink exports. The export target for 2017 is £7.1 billion.
Around 67,000 people are directly employed in agriculture in Scotland – this represents around 8% of the rural workforce and means that agriculture is the third largest employer in rural Scotland after the service and public sectors. It is estimated that a further 360,000 jobs (1 in 10 of all Scottish jobs) are dependent on agriculture.
The agri-food sector is now the UKs largest manufacturing sector.
Around 85% of Scotland is classified as Less Favoured Area. This is an EU classification which recognises natural and geographic disadvantage.
There are large numbers of farms in north west Scotland, but these are significantly smaller in terms of the numbers of livestock/area of crops grown than farms elsewhere. Sheep farming is the predominant type of farming in the north west and there are also many sheep farms in the south of the country. Larger cereal farms are concentrated in the east. Beef farming takes place throughout Scotland, but is particularly common in the south west. This area also has the bulk of the dairy industry.
Botero
Celebrate Life!
Kunsthal
Rotterdam, 2016
Met trots brengt de Kunsthal Rotterdam deze zomer een groot retrospectief van de wereldberoemde Colombiaanse kunstenaar Fernando Botero (1932). Geselecteerd uit Botero’s eigen collectie laat de tentoonstelling een overzicht zien van de door hemzelf meest geliefde schilderijen uit zijn omvangrijke oeuvre. ‘Botero: Celebrate Life!’ brengt bijna honderd schilderijen, tekeningen en pastels en een enkel beeldhouwwerk bij elkaar, met als blikvanger een enorme ‘Caballo’, Botero’s bekende beeldhouwwerk van een paard.
Te zien zijn schilderijen van het op zijn jeugdherinneringen geïnspireerde leven in Latijns-Amerika en reproducties van klassieke meesters in de herkenbare Botero stijl. Ook stierenvechten en het circus zijn thema’s die in de werken aan bod komen. De kunst van Botero staat letterlijk bol van het Latijns Amerikaanse leven. De reusachtige, opgeblazen lichamen en voorwerpen lijken ondanks hun omvang gewichtloos en daardoor soms zelfs te zweven. Dit volume is een vast onderdeel van Botero’s werk en geeft zijn kunst iets overdadigs, met nu eens een komisch en dan weer een ontroerend effect. Bijzonder is de serie van vrouwelijke Santa’s, geïnspireerd op de iconische beelden van vrouwelijke heiligen. Botero verbeeldt hen als wereldse heldinnen, met betekenisvolle accessoires zoals een bijbel of kaars, waarbij hun aureool in verrassend contrast staat met de kledij en lichaamshouding.
Latijns Amerikaanse leven
‘Botero: Celebrate Life! laat zien hoe Fernando Botero een magische wereld schept vol personages en scenes uit het dagelijks leven, waar politiek en religie nadrukkelijk onderdeel van uitmaken. Hoewel zijn werk in eerste instantie licht en luchtig oogt, is ook de gewelddadige geschiedenis van zijn vaderland Colombia voelbaar. Zijn afkomst en achtergrond hebben Botero op een diepgaande manier beïnvloed, wat direct tot uiting komt in zijn werken van de president, executies en huilende weduwen en indirect in zijn schilderijen van feestende mensen, die met uitdrukkingsloze gezichten dansen onder het licht van kale peertjes.
Hommage aan oude meesters
Fernando Botero is een veelzijdig kunstenaar, die zowel put uit de Latijns-Amerikaanse traditie als uit de Europese kunstgeschiedenis. Zo brengt hij een hommage aan beroemde werken van oude meesters zoals Diego Velázquez, van Eyck en Piero della Francesca. De werken zijn een eerbetoon aan de kunstenaars die hij jarenlang bestudeerde en een ode aan de technieken, het vakmanschap en de esthetiek van de oude meesters. Religie is voor Botero een geliefd onderwerp. Op satirische wijze geeft hij commentaar in schilderijen van nonnen, kardinalen en pausen. Andere thema's in zijn werk proberen de magie van het dagelijks leven in Latijns Amerika te vangen. Zo tonen zijn werken van stierengevechten niet alleen de matador, maar ook zangers, musici, dansers en verschillende leden van de familie van de stierenvechter. Zijn stillevens tonen de vruchten en drankjes van het Zuid-Amerikaanse continent, met hun briljante kleuren en populaire delicatessen. En in zijn schilderijen met het thema circus herkennen we de komische en absurde houdingen, waarbij naast het altijd terugkerende volume ook het kleurgebruik heel bepalend is.
This summer Kunsthal Rotterdam is proud to present a large-scale retrospective of the world-famous Colombian artist Fernando Botero (1932). This selection from Botero’s own collection provides a panorama of the artist’s personal favorites from his considerable oeuvre. ‘Botero: Celebrate Life!’ will exhibit almost a hundred paintings, sketches and pastels as well as a few sculptures, including the enormous eye-catcher ‘Caballo’, Botero’s famous sculpture of a horse.
Visitors will be able to see paintings of life in Latin America based on reminiscences from his youth, and reproductions of classical masters in the recognizable Botero style. The bull-fight and the circus are also featured in these works. Botero’s art is full of Latin American life. The gigantic, inflated bodies and objects appear weightless in spite of their volume, which sometimes even seems to make them look as if they are floating. This volume is a recurrent feature in Botero’s work and gives his art an exuberance that can be comical or moving. The series of female Santas, inspired by the iconic images of female saints, is remarkable. Botero represents them as worldly heroines with meaningful accessories such as a bible or candle, putting their halo in sharp contrast with their clothing and posture.
Latin American life
'Botero: Celebrate Life!' shows how Fernando Botero creates a magical world full of characters and scenes from daily life, of which politics and religion form an important part. Although his work appears at first sight to be airy and light-hearted, the violent history of his native country Colombia can be felt. His origin and background have influenced Botero profoundly, which finds expression directly in his works of the president, executions and weeping widows, and indirectly in his paintings of people partying, dancing with expressionless faces under the light of naked light bulbs.
Homage to the Old Masters
Fernando Botero is a multi-faceted artist who draws on both the Latin American tradition and the history of European art. He pays homage to famous works by such Old Masters as Diego Velázquez, Jan van Eyck and Piero della Francesca. The works are a tribute to the artists whom he studied for years and an ode to the techniques, craftsmanship and aesthetics of the Old Masters. Religion is one of Botero’s favorite themes. He comments on it satirically in paintings of nuns, cardinals and popes. Other themes in his work try to capture the magic of everyday life in Latin America. For example, his images of bull-fights include not only the matador, but also the singers, musicians, dancers and various members of the bull-fighter’s family. His still-lifes show the fruits and beverages of the South American continent with their brilliant colors and popular delicacies. And in his paintings of the circus we can recognize the comical and absurd postures in which not only the constantly recurring volume but also the use of color are highly determinant elements.
Museum Fünf Kontinente, Munich, Germany.
The Sican (also Sicán) culture is the name that archaeologist Izumi Shimada gave to the culture that inhabited what is now the north coast of Peru between about 750 and 1375. According to Shimada, Sican means "temple of the Moon".[1]
The Sican culture is also referred to as Lambayeque culture, after the name of the region in Peru. It succeeded the Moche culture.
There is still controversy among archeologists and anthropologists over whether the two are separate cultures.
The Sican culture is divided into three major periods based on cultural changes as evidenced in archeological artifacts.[2]
Archaeologist Izumi Shimada, founder of the Sican Archaeological Project, named the prehistoric culture which he discovered in northwestern Peru. They succeeded the Moche and preceded the Inca Empire, the historical civilization that encountered the Spanish explorers and conquistadors.
The Sican inhabited a coastal territory near the La Leche and Lambayeque Rivers. The archaeological sites span the Lambayeque region, including the Motupe, La Leche, Lambayeque, and Zaña valleys, near modern-day Chiclayo.[2] Numerous sites have been identified in the Batán Grande area of the La Leche Valley.
The climate of the area during Sican occupation was similar to the current climate, despite changes in landscape accumulated in the last 600 years. The drought-and-flood cycles seen in the region for the past 1500 years did not spare the Sican culture. (Goldstein and Shimada 2007, p. 49)
The Early Sican period began around 750 and lasted until 900. The lack of artifacts has limited the development of knowledge about this early period.
The Sican were probably descendants of the Moche culture, which fell around 800. Their works shows shared motifs in the artifacts recovered.[3]
Similar groups include Cajamarca, Wari and Pachacamac. From remains found in the archaeological locations, researchers have determined that this culture maintained commercial exchange with people from present-day Ecuador (shells and snails), Colombia to the north (emeralds and amber), Chile to the south (blue stone), and the eastern basin of the Marañón River (seeds of gold).
The Lambayeque culture may have been a separate trading people as well.
Around 800, the Sican created the city of Poma, located at Batán Grande, in La Leche Valley. Few other Early Sican sites have been discovered.
The Early Sican culture is known for the highly polished, black-finish ceramics found in the La Leche Valley. This black-finish ceramic style began in the Moche culture prior to the Early Sican, and shows the sharing of cultures in the region.
Much of the ceramics were examples of a single spout, loop-handle bottle, featuring an anthropomorphic-avian (bird) face at the spout base. The face consisted of bulging eyes, a hooked beak or triangular projection instead of a nose, stylized ears, and no mouth.
It appeared to be a predecessor to the related faces of the Sican Deity and the Sican Lord of the Middle Sican culture. (Shimada 2000, p. 51)
Aside from the shared ceramic styles, much of the Early Sican defines a distinguishable culture. While the ceramic styles and iconography show some continuity with previous cultures, the combination of all the influences is Sican.
The changing ceramic styles, iconography, and funerary practices reflect a change in religious ideology and cosmology that expressed the Sican culture. Most importantly, the late Early Sican period saw the accumulation of these changes in art style and iconography, coupled with other changes in organization, by which the Sican constructed monumental adobe structures, developed large-scale copper alloy smelting and metalworking, and developed the elaborate funerary tradition that would come to characterize the Middle Sican (Shimada 1985, p. 361).
Such changes have been seen by researchers at sites in Batán Grande, including the Huaca del Pueblo site, dated to around 850-900.
The Middle Sican period lasted from 900 to 1100 . This is the period of the Sican's “cultural florescence,” and is marked by the emergence of various cultural innovations, some of which were unprecedented in the local area.[3]
The decline of the Wari Empire and the Middle Cajamarca polity enabled the resurgence in local political and religious identity and autonomy.[3]
The Middle Sican culture is marked by distinctive characteristics in six areas: art and ideology, crafts and technology, funerary customs, long-distance trade, religious cities and monumental temples, and the structure and authority of the state (Shimada 2000, p. 52-61; Shimada 1985, p. 365-369).
Together, these characteristics provide evidence that the Sicán culture had a highly productive economy, clear social differentiation, and an influential religious ideology. The religious ideology was the underpinning of the structure of their theocratic state.[3]
Sicán art is representational in style and religious in nature. Features such as sculptural representation and the minimization of number of colors (one to three), were common among the art of many earlier cultures that flourished on the north coast of Peru.[3] Sicán art reconfigured the motifs, conventions, and concepts of these antecedent cultures (mainly the Wari and Moche) into an overall new and unique style. The references to the old ideas, images and ways of antecedent cultures in Sicán art would have been useful in providing prestige and legitimacy to the new Sicán religion which was emerging.[3]
Sicán iconography is dominated by the Sican Deity[4][5] It decorates all artistic media of the Sicán, including ceramics, metal works, and textiles.[3] The icon is most commonly represented with a mask face and upturned eyes.[2]
Sometimes it may be shown with avian features, such as beaks, wings, and talons, which are evident in Early Sicán ceramics.[3]
These avian features are related to Naylamp, the key figure in Sicán mythology. The name "Naylamp" was first mentioned by the Spanish chronicler Miguel Cabello Valboa, who referred to the Moche figure "Naymlap" in his 1586 Miscelánea Antártica.
Later authors believe the form is Mochica Ñañlap, of which the first part is ñañ "waterfowl"; a connexion has been made between the Moche and Chimú cultures and the empire of Chimor and the Mochica language.
Sican gold cup, 850-1050
Naylamp was said to be the founder of the first dynasty of prehistoric kings in La Leche and Lambayeque valleys. In The Legend of Naylamp, first recorded in the 16th century by the Spanish chronicler Miguel Cabello de Balboa, Naylamp is said to have traveled on a balsa raft by sea to the Lambayeque shores. He founded a large city, and the 12 sons of his eldest son each founded a new city in the Lambayeque region.
When Naylamp died, he sprouted wings and flew off to another world (Nickle Arts Museum 2006, p. 18 and 65).
Middle Sicán art did not change the concept or representation of the icon of the Sicán Deity. Both the preceding Moche and Wari cultures feature a single dominant male figure, and the upturned eyes characteristic of the Sicán Deity are common to the art and iconography of other Pre-Hispanic societies.
The iconography accompanying the Sicán Deity was unique and significant (Nickle Arts Museum 2006, p. 66).
Iconography of the moon and the ocean may symbolize the Sicán Deity's involvement in the wellbeing of marine life and fishermen. Iconography related to water signifies the importance of irrigation and agriculture to the Sicán.
Other iconography, such as of the sun and moon, symbolizes the importance of duality in both human and celestial life.
Depictions of the Sicán Deity with tumi knives and trophy heads may indicate his omnipotent control in both human life and the celestial world (Nickle Arts Museum 2006, p. 66; Shimada 2000, p. 52-53). Through the iconography which the Sicán associated with the icon, anthropologists theorize that the Sicán Deity may have been attributed with power to control all of the celestial forces fundamental to life and abundance (Shimada 2000, p. 53).
The lack of representation of humans in Middle Sicán art emphasizes the omnipresence of the Sicán Deity in Sicán iconography.
The only exceptions are representations of the Sicán Lord, the male elite personage, and his entourage. (Shimada 2000, p. 53)
Iconography of the Sicán Lord is almost identical to the Sicán Deity, except that he is shown in natural settings and does not have avian features.[2][5] The Sicán Lord was probably meant to represent an earthly alter-ego of the
The population of Batán Grande included many skilled artisans. Craft production during the Middle Sican flourished and became one of the leading characteristics of the period.
The highly polished black finish ceramics from the Early Sican bloomed in this later phase, along with metallurgy; however, the ceramic technology used in the Middle Sican developed over 2500 years from local pottery production techniques (Shimada and Wagner 2001, p. 26).
Workshops, such as the one found at Huaca Sialupe to the west of Batán Grande, likely had both pottery and metalworking production sites (Goldsmith and Shimada 2007, p. 45).
Ceramics allowed for a medium to convey political and religious ideology in the forms of storage vessels, architectural ornaments, cooking vessels, sculptures of the Deity or animals, and other types proliferated during this period.[2][5]
The potters likely worked separately from one another, rather than in assembly-line type production. Huaca Sialupe excavations produced clusters of similar kilns using local hardwood for charcoal.
Field experiments indicated that the kilns were used either for ceramics or metallurgy (Shimada and Wagner 2001, p. 28).
The Paleteada ceramics used the paddle-and-anvil technique to form and decorate pottery, primarily with geometric designs (Cleland and Shimada 1998, p. 112).
The monochrome black pottery became widely popular across the region during the Middle Sican as the Sican themselves began to emphasize the black pottery, with the help of the Middle Sican religious prestige.
Only the geometric designs continued on the pottery into the Late Sican.[2]
Metallurgy is one of the Sican's greatest legacies, lasting nearly 600 years at Batán Grande (Shimada and Merkel 1991, p. 83). Some Middle Sican workshops showed multicraft production and it is likely the crafts competed for resources, such as fuel for kilns.
Middle- and high-status burials both contained the black ceramics, while only the social elite had access to the precious metal object; therefore, metalworking probably was given production preference by the elites (Goldsmith and Shimada 2007, p. 47).
The greatness of Middle Sican metallurgy was the large scale smelting and diverse use of arsenical copper, which was more ductile and corrosion-resistant than pure copper.[2][5]
The great amounts of smelting and/or metalworking sites found in the Lambayeque region point to the convergence of major factors to allow such an occurrence: accessible ore deposits, extensive forests for hardwood to make charcoal, pottery making tradition using efficient kilns, gold working tradition that formed the basis for later metalworking technology, and a demand for goods by the elites (Shimada, Goldstein, Wagner, Bezur 2007, p. 339).
The large number of smelting sites also point to the amount of labor required by using their method. In modern standards, their copper-alloy smelting was inefficient, which could have led to the high number of workshops with multiple furnaces (Shimada and Merkel 1991, p. 85).
The precious metal objects found in Middle Sican sites reveal the unprecedented scale of their production and use.
Metal objects permeated all levels of society. Tumbaga, a thin sheet of low karat gold alloy, was used to wrap ceramic vessels for the lower elites, while the upper elites had high karat gold alloys.
Common laborers only had arsenical copper objects. The precious metal objects then clearly demonstrate a hierarchy within the society (Shimada 2000, p. 56).
No evidence of metalworking at the large sites has been uncovered, such as the Middle Sican capital Sican or elsewhere in the Batán Grande area, but the precious metal objects were clearly for the elites.
From their high status sites, the elites supervised the manufacturing of their precious metal objects for ritual or funerary purposes (Shimada and Merkel 1991, p. 86).
Excavations of religious sites have revealed much about the funerary practices of the Sicán people.
These funerary practices have helped anthropologists understand the broader organization and structure of Sicán society and religion.
Most of the evidence for these funerary practices has been based on excavations carried out at the Huaca Loro site in Poma by Izumi Shimada and the SAP.
First of all, the funerary practices at Huaca Loro reflect the social differentiation and hierarchy present Sicán society. This social stratification is revealed in varying burial types and practices, along with accompanying grave goods.
The most obvious difference in burial type based on social hierarchy was that commoners were buried in simple, shallow graves on the peripheries of the monumental mounds while the elite of Sicán society were buried in deep shaft tombs beneath monumental mounds, as shown in the East and West tombs at Huaca Loro.[5][6]
Secondly, it was found that one's social status was also a determinant of the burial position of the body; seated, extended, or flexed. For example, bodies of the High Elite were always buried in the seated position, while commoners could be buried in a seated, extended, or flexed position (Nickle Arts Museum 2006, p. 87; Shimada et al. 2004).
Furthermore, social differentiation is manifested even within the elite tombs at Huaca Loro, through the grouping and placement of bodies.
The complex internal organization of both East and West Tombs was designed according to specific social and kinship relationships (Shimada et al. 2004).
Recent studies that included the use of MtDNA (systematic mitochondrial DNA) analysis and inherited dental traits analysis revealed that women in the West Tomb were grouped according to their kinship ties to the principal personage and each other (Shimada et al. 2005; Shimada et al. 2004).
The grouping of women in the south part of the West Tomb were found to be maternally related to one another, as well as the principal personage; the grouping of women in the north part of the West Tomb were found to not only be unrelated to one another, but also unrelated to the principal personage.
Further, ceramics in the south part were found to be of typical Middle Sicán style, while the ceramics in the North part were of a Mochica style (Shimada et al. 2005; Shimada et al. 2004).
'
This evidence suggests that while the women of the South part of the West tomb were grouped and placed according to their kinship ties with the principal personage, the women of the North part of the West tomb had no kinship ties with the principal personage or each other therefore were placed and grouped according to some other distinct relationship to the principal personage.
This genetic evidence and along with the differing styles of ceramics suggests that the North-niche women of the West Tomb were perhaps descendants of a different ethnic group, the Moche, who had been integrated into Sicán society under political domination (Shimada et al. 2004).
While these relationships have not been proved definitively, it shows the great complexity itself of elite burial practices based on social differentiation.
Social stratification and hierarchy is also evidenced through the variation in quantity and quality of grave goods associated with those of different social status.
The elite East Tomb at Huaca Loro, contained over a ton of diverse grave goods, over two-thirds of which were objects of arsenical bronze, tumbaga (low-karat gold), silver and copper alloys, and high-karat gold alloys.[7][8]
Other grave goods of the elite included semi-precious stone objects, amber, feathers, textiles, imported shells (such as conus and spondylus), shell beads, and double spout bottles. (Nickle Arts Museum 2006, p. 87; Shimada 2000, p. 56; Bruhns 1994, p. 290)
On the other hand, commoner burials had a significantly less amount of grave goods of different types, made of less valuable materials.
For example, commoner grave goods at Huaca Loro were usually restricted to single-spout bottles, utilitarian plain and/or paddle decorated pottery, and copper-arsenic objects, instead of the precious metal objects of the elite tombs. (Nickle Arts Museum 2006, p. 87, Shimada et al. 2004)
The power of the elite of Sicán society is demonstrated not only by the amount, quality, and diversity of exotic and status goods accumulated in the tombs, but also by the amount of time and labor that would have gone into making and acquiring them. (Shimada 2000, p. 56)
All together, the construction of the monumental mound at Huaca Loro, the preparation of the East and West Tombs and performance of the associated rituals required careful and complex planning, and considerable material, labor resources and time, and suggests the elite's control and monopoly of power in society.[2]
Secondly, the funerary practices of the Sicán suggest the existence of an elite lineage that used the new Sicán religion to demonstrate and maintain their power (Shimada et al. 2004).
The Sicán elite used funerary practices as a way to symbolize their relationship to the divine. The sheer size and grandeur of the monumental mounds built above the elite tombs would have been awe-inspiring to Sicán citizens and a symbol the divine nature of the figures buried below. (Shimada et al. 2004)
Colorful murals with religious iconography decorated ceremonial precincts in the temples of the mounds, establishing the sanctity of the ritual space, and reaffirming this connection of the buried elite below to the divine. (Nickle Arts Museum 2006, Shimada et al. 2004)
Also, the principal personage of the East Tomb at Huaca Loro wears a mask identical to the Sicán Deity, which is another reference to his relationship to the Deity and the divine. (Shimada et al. 2004, p. 389)
The construction itself of these monumental mounds served as a reminder of the elite's power and endurance, and combined with the symbolic use of Sicán religious iconography to justify the divine merits of the elite lineage, was an attempt by the Sicán elite to “preserve the status quo of inherited rights.” (Shimada et al. 2004, p. 370)
The funerary rites and rituals performed by the living lineage members served to further reinforce their lineage identity and the three-way relationship between the divine, the dead, and the living elite. (Shimada et al. 2004, p. 389)
The variety of grave goods suggests the wide range of power of the Middle Sican elite.
They not only received the most grave offerings, but also the best quality and exotic offerings.
None of the metalworking sites showed evidence of on-site mining of any of the materials.
In addition, the spondylus shell, emeralds, feathers, and other minerals were imported to the area. Their materials came from mainly the northern Andes, such as Ecuador (from the Manteno and Milagro cultures), Peru, Colombia, but could have also reached as far south as the Tiwanaku empire in the south-central Andes and east to the Marañón River, a major tributary of the Amazon River.[2][5][9]
The Middle Sican trade networks appear to be unprecedented in range and goods involved, which helped to insure the spread of Sican religion and polity outside of the Lambayeque and La Leche valleys (Shimada 2000, p. 58).
They also could have controlled the transport methods in addition to the goods being traded. The breeding and herding of llamas on the North Coast since the time of the Moche could have been utilized by the Sican to provide the goods as well as a caravan of llamas to transport the goods considerable distances (Shimada 1985, p. 391).
The Sicán culture is characterized by the establishment of religious cities with monumental temples.[2][5]
The religious capital city and cultural center of the Middle Sicán is referenced as the Sicán Precinct. (Bruhns 1994, p. 293).
This T-shaped area is defined by monumental mounds of Huaca Loro, El Moscón, Las Ventanas, La Merced, and Abejas built between around AD 900 and 1050.[5][10] The pyramidal monumental mounds were used as both burials sites for the elite and places of worship and ritual.[2][10]
The construction of the monumental mounds required considerable material, labor resources and time, indicating the Sicán elite's control and monopoly over the society's resources and manpower.
They are a dramatic symbol of the power, wealth and permanence of the Middle Sicán elite and their theocratic state that dominated much of the north coast.[2]
Two types of mounds are found in the Lambayeque Valley dating to the Sicán. The first type is the T-shaped mound, which is a relatively low mound with a short, central ramp providing direct access to the top of the mound.
The second type is a relatively tall mound with steep sides and a zig-zagging ramp to provide circuitous access to the mound top. This second type also featured an enclosed structure at the top of the mound, likely for private rituals, whereas the first type of mound was likely for public rituals (Shimada 2000, p. 60; Shimada, Shinoda, Farnum, Corruccini, Watanabe 2004, p. 388).
The mounds also covered and protected the shafts of tombs of elites underneath.
The Sicán used a walled-chamber-and-fill technique (which first appeared on the North Coast during Moche V) for constructing the monumental mound where the walls were created by adobe bricks and mortar in conjunction with chambers of superimposed lattices filled with refuse and other readily available materials.[2][5][11]
Marks on the adobe bricks used to make the mounds are indications of the patrons donating materials and/or labor for the construction of the temples (Shimada 2000, p. 60).
This construction technique required “large-scale, unified construction with centrally pooled materials and labor force” (Shimada 2000 p. 60). It allowed for rapid erection of monumental buildings while minimizing labor and material investment and promoted the centralization of political and religious power in order to plan and complete these monumental mounds.[2][12]
Agriculture and canals
While the Sican ceramics and metallurgy are vastly studied, agriculture during the Middle to Late Sican may have been linked to their increasing craft production.
Shimada suggests that the canals at Pampa de Chaparri were developed by the Sican as part of an agro-industrial complex marked by an increase in mining and smelting operations, settlement growth, and the expansion of agriculture.[13] Along the canals, 39
Middle Sican sites and 76 Late Sican sites were identified; however, few sites were located in the irrigation fields.
This Sican occupation at the irrigation system points to its construction during the Middle Sican. The construction of this irrigation system, as well as the association of hierarchical social units and canal branches, coincides with the rapid and dramatic growth of the Middle Sican. Irrigation for agriculture was a necessity for the Sican elite to produce a surplus of food to feed artisans and laborers, who in turn support the elites.[14]
The Late Sican period began around 1100 and ended with the conquest of the Lambayeque region by the Chimú kingdom of Chimor circa 1375.
Around 1020, a major drought lasting 30 years occurred at Sican. At the time of the drought, the Sican Deity, so closely tied to the ocean and water in general, was at the center of Sican religion. The catastrophic changes in weather were thus linked to the Sican Deity, mainly to the failure of the Sican Deity to mediate nature for the Sican people.[15]
The Sican ceremonies (and temples/mounds on which they were performed) were supposed to ensure that there was an abundance of nature for the people.
The elites were the mediators between the common people and the Sican Deity, as the Sican Deity was the mediator between nature and the Sican people.[15]
After 30 years of uncertainty in respect to nature, the temples that were the center of Middle Sican religion and elite power were burned and abandoned between 1050 and 1100.
Perhaps the ancestor cult and aggrandizing of the elites caused too much resentment. Coupled with the drought that surely weakened agriculture in the area, the tolerance of the common population plummeted, forcing the removal of the political and religious leadership at Sican to save the people.[2]
There was little or no repair of the destruction of Sican, and further damage was inflicted by El Nino floods around 1100.
The burning and abandonment of the previous capital meant that a new capital needed to be built. Túcume or "el Purgatorio" was constructed as the new Late Sican capital at the juncture of the La Leche and Lambayeque Valleys.
Túcume became the new religious and ceremonial center of the Sican. The religious and iconographic legacies of the Middle Sican abruptly disappeared. It is at this juncture, when the Sican Deity and Sican Lord disappear from art, is when the Late Sican begins.
Other mythical depictions from the Middle Sican continued in the Late Sican and reflect the revitalization of the religion going back to tradition relationships with nature. Icons include felines, fish, and birds that were secondary to the Sican Deity during the previous era, but were also linked to previous cultures in the area.
Sican material culture, such as ceramics and metallurgy, unrelated to religion or politics did not suffer a severe change during the Middle Sican to Late Sican transition.[2][5][15][16]
Agriculture and irrigation were also not affected by the transition of political and religious power, as evidenced by the lack of effects on Pampa de Chaparri and numerous large urban hill-side settlements.[14][17]
Túcume took on the religious and ceremonial prestige as the site of Sican claimed during the Middle Sican. The mounds and temples from the Middle Sican were continued into the Late Sican since the idea of mounds were not associated with the fall of the Middle Sican, only those mounds in Batán Grande.
The same types of ceremonial and religious artifacts made from the same materials were found at Túcume.
The site grew enormously during its 250-year Late Sican occupation. By the time of the Chimú conquest of the Lambayeque region in 1375, there were 26 major mounds and enclosures.
The site is built on 220 hectares around the La Raya Mountain. Túcume is seen as the reorganization and reunification of the Sican elite and Sican population as a whole until the fall of the Sican to the Chimú.[17]
"what must be determinant is life and not accumulation”
Jose "Pepe" Mujica, former President of Uruguay.
An humble great man
Bolea, Huesca (Spain).
ENGLISH
Bolea belongs to "the Sotonera" region, being its capital, about 700 inhabitants, an altitude of 627 mts. of height and 20 km. to Huesca; they are known as "boleanos" (from Bolea).
This villa is located to the Northwest of the city of Huesca, dominating the sides of the tip of Gratal and Caballera mountain range, to 656 ms. of altitude, on a promontory; from there the plains of the Hole of Huesca and the Sotonera watered by the Sotón river can be contemplated. Its economy is based on the culture of cereals, almonds tree, cherry trees and olive trees.
There is unamimity in the origin of Bolea, whose word is accepted that comes from Indo-European "bols" and the place was simply born like a castle; soon the Roman influence would come, but more determinant would be the Arab one until Sancho Ramírez (1081). It was here, where Alfonso I the Fighting, the 11 of January of 1125, prepared his famous expedition to Andalusia. The Muslim castle of the Pueyo, after Reconquest, became church and it still announces its origin from the summit, with the battered tower-bell to the winds.
Still it was Muslim when king of Aragón, Sancho Ramírez, in 1093, he names to the villa, priorato of the Abbey of Montearagón, privilege that would show until 1571. In 1577, when happening to depend on the Bishopric of Huesca, the temple becomes Colegiata, with a chapter formed by a Vicar and nine canons, who received the tithes of all the ample region that from its strategic position, dominated. In 1548, it's included Bolea between the cities and more important villas of the kingdom of Aragón. In 1890 it got to count on almost 2.500 inhabitants. As a result of the ecclesiastical confiscation (half-full of century XIX), the Colegiata is going to lose all its privileges and it will be converted in a parochial church, which it is at the present time. The building was declared Historical-Artistic Monument at 23 of February of 1983.
More info: articulos.altoaragon.org/i_osca80.htm
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CASTELLANO
Bolea pertenece a "La Sotonera", ostentando la capitalidad, con poco más de 700 habitantes, una altitud de 627 mts. de altura, dista 20 Km. a Huesca; su gentilicio es boleano.
Esta villa está situada al NorOeste de la ciudad de Huesca, dominando las faldas del pico de Gratal y sierra Caballera, a 656 ms. de altitud, sobre un promontorio; desde allí se pueden contemplar las llanuras de la Hoya de Huesca y la Sotonera regada por el río Sotón. Su economía está basada en el cultivo de cereales, almendros, cerezos y olivos.
Hay unanimidad en el origen de Bolea, cuyo vocablo se acepta que procede del indoeuropeo "bols" y el lugar nació como castillo simplemente; luego vendría la influencia romana, pero más determinante sería la árabe hasta Sancho Ramírez (1081). Fué aquí, donde Alfonso I "El Batallador", el 11 de Enero de 1125, preparó su famosa expedición a Andalucía. El castillo musulmán del Pueyo, tras la reconquista, se convirtió en iglesia y todavía pregona su origen desde la cumbre, con la maltrecha torre campanario a los vientos.
Bolea aún era musulmana cuando el rey de Aragón Sancho Ramírez, en el año 1093, nombra a la villa, priorato de la Abadía de Montearagón, privilegio que ostentaría hasta 1571. En el año 1577, al pasar a depender del Obispado de Huesca, el templo se convierte en Colegiata, con un capítulo formado por un Vicario y nueve canónigos-racioneros, que recibían los diezmos de toda la amplia comarca que desde su estratégica posición, dominaba. En 1548, se incluye a Bolea entre las ciudades y villas más importantes del reino de Aragón. En 1890 llegó a contar con casi 2.500 habitantes. A raiz de la desamortización eclesiástica (mediados del siglo XIX), la Colegiata va a perder todos sus privilegios y se convertirá en iglesia parroquial, lo que es en la actualidad. El edificio fué declarado Monumento Histórico-Artístico el 23 de Febrero de 1983.
Más info: articulos.altoaragon.org/osca80.htm
Some 80% of Scotland’s land mass is under agricultural production, making the industry the single biggest determinant of the landscape we see around us. Scotland’s farmers, crofters and growers produce output worth around £2.9 billion a year, and are responsible for much of Scotland’s £5 billion food and drink exports. The export target for 2017 is £7.1 billion.
Around 67,000 people are directly employed in agriculture in Scotland – this represents around 8% of the rural workforce and means that agriculture is the third largest employer in rural Scotland after the service and public sectors. It is estimated that a further 360,000 jobs (1 in 10 of all Scottish jobs) are dependent on agriculture.
The agri-food sector is now the UKs largest manufacturing sector.
Around 85% of Scotland is classified as Less Favoured Area. This is an EU classification which recognises natural and geographic disadvantage.
There are large numbers of farms in north west Scotland, but these are significantly smaller in terms of the numbers of livestock/area of crops grown than farms elsewhere. Sheep farming is the predominant type of farming in the north west and there are also many sheep farms in the south of the country. Larger cereal farms are concentrated in the east. Beef farming takes place throughout Scotland, but is particularly common in the south west. This area also has the bulk of the dairy industry.
DESOLACIÓ - MARÍA DEL MAR BONET
El fumador és un invent de Moses Quinby. La seva funció és aconseguir el control sobre les abelles, que davant la presència de fum, es retiren suposant que es tracta d'un incendi. Els fumadors consten d'una manxa amb el qual s'insufla aire a l'interior de la cambra de combustió, on l'apicultor crema serradures de fusta, pastura sec, fulles seques o una altra substància innòcua. Al mercat actual és possible trobar fumadors de diferents mides, formes i materials. Els materials més comuns la xapa de zinc, l'acer inoxidable o el coure. És part essencial en l'equipament de l'apicultor que es complementa amb guants i careta. Aquesta apicultora no espantava abelles obreres que li ataquessin, participava en una manifestació contra l'abandonament de les zones rurals per part del govern de la Generalitat Valenciana i que van possibilitar de manera determinant els incendis del passat mes de juny en comarques com Camp de Túria i Alt Palància al País Valencià. Li vam agrair que el combustible del fumador en aquest cas, fos la barreja de diverses plantes aromàtiques amb predomini de romaní, que va perfumar aquell ambient reivindicatiu..
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El ahumador es un invento de Moses Quinby. Su función es lograr el control sobre las abejas, que ante la presencia de humo, se retiran suponiendo que se trata de un incendio. Los ahumadores constan de un fuelle con el cual se insufla aire al interior de la cámara de combustión, en la cual el apicultor quema aserrín de madera, pasto seco, hojas secas u otra sustancia inocua. En el mercado actual es posible encontrar ahumadores de distintos tamaños, formas y materiales. Los materiales más comunes la chapa de zinc, el acero inoxidable o el cobre. Es parte esencial en el equipamiento del apicultor que se complementa con guantes y careta. Esta apicultora no ahuyentaba abejas obreras que le atacaran, participava en una manifestación contra el abandono de las zones rurales por parte del gobierno de la Generalitat Valenciana y que posibilitarón de manera determinante los incendios del pasado mes de junio en comarcas como Camp de Turia y Alto Palancia en el País Valenciano. Le agradecimos que el combustible del ahumador en este caso, fuese la mezcla de diversas plantas aromaticas con predominio de romero, que perfumó aquel ambiente reivindicativo.
A cigarette, also known colloquially as a fag in British English, is a narrow cylinder containing psychoactive material, usually tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. Most cigarettes contain a "reconstituted tobacco" product known as "sheet", which consists of "recycled [tobacco] stems, stalks, scraps, collected dust, and floor sweepings", to which are added glue, chemicals and fillers; the product is then sprayed with nicotine that was extracted from the tobacco scraps, and shaped into curls. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opposite end. Most modern cigarettes are filtered, although this does not make them safer. Cigarette manufacturers have described cigarettes as a drug administration system for the delivery of nicotine in acceptable and attractive form. Cigarettes are addictive (because of nicotine) and cause cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease, and other health problems.
The term cigarette, as commonly used, refers to a tobacco cigarette but is sometimes used to refer to other substances, such as a cannabis cigarette. A cigarette is distinguished from a cigar by its usually smaller size, use of processed leaf, and paper wrapping, which is typically white. Cigar wrappers are typically composed of tobacco leaf or paper dipped in tobacco extract.
Smoking rates have generally declined in the developed world, but continue to rise in some developing nations. Cigarette smoking causes health harms and death. Nicotine is also highly addictive. About half of cigarette smokers die of tobacco-related disease[9] and lose on average 14 years of life.
Cigarette use by pregnant women has also been shown to cause birth defects, including low birth weight, fetal abnormalities, and premature birth. Second-hand smoke from cigarettes causes many of the same health problems as smoking, including cancer, which has led to legislation and policy that has prohibited smoking in many workplaces and public areas. Cigarette smoke contains over 7,000 chemical compounds, including arsenic, formaldehyde, cyanide, lead, nicotine, carbon monoxide, acrolein, and other poisonous substances. Over 70 of these are carcinogenic. Additionally, cigarettes are a frequent source of deadly fires in private homes, which prompted both the European Union and the United States to require cigarettes to be fire-standard compliant.
HISTORY
The earliest forms of cigarettes were similar to their predecessor, the cigar. Cigarettes appear to have had antecedents in Mexico and Central America around the 9th century in the form of reeds and smoking tubes. The Maya, and later the Aztecs, smoked tobacco and other psychoactive drugs in religious rituals and frequently depicted priests and deities smoking on pottery and temple engravings. The cigarette and the cigar were the most common methods of smoking in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central and South America until recent times.
The North American, Central American, and South American cigarette used various plant wrappers; when it was brought back to Spain, maize wrappers were introduced, and by the 17th century, fine paper. The resulting product was called papelate and is documented in Goya's paintings La Cometa, La Merienda en el Manzanares, and El juego de la pelota a pala (18th century).
By 1830, the cigarette had crossed into France, where it received the name cigarette; and in 1845, the French state tobacco monopoly began manufacturing them. The French word was adopted by English in the 1840s. Some American reformers promoted the spelling cigaret, but this was never widespread and is now largely abandoned.
The first patented cigarette-making machine was invented by Juan Nepomuceno Adorno of Mexico in 1847. However, production climbed markedly when another cigarette-making machine was developed in the 1880s by James Albert Bonsack, which vastly increased the productivity of cigarette companies, which went from making about 40,000 hand-rolled cigarettes daily to around 4 million.
In the English-speaking world, the use of tobacco in cigarette form became increasingly widespread during and after the Crimean War, when British soldiers began emulating their Ottoman Turkish comrades and Russian enemies, who had begun rolling and smoking tobacco in strips of old newspaper for lack of proper cigar-rolling leaf. This was helped by the development of tobaccos suitable for cigarette use, and by the development of the Egyptian cigarette export industry.
Cigarettes may have been initially used in a manner similar to pipes, cigars, and cigarillos and not inhaled; for evidence, see the Lucky Strike ad campaign asking consumers "Do You Inhale?" from the 1930s. As cigarette tobacco became milder and more acidic, inhaling may have become perceived as more agreeable. However, Moltke noticed in the 1830s (cf. Unter dem Halbmond) that Ottomans (and he himself) inhaled the Turkish tobacco and Latakia from their pipes (which are both initially sun-cured, acidic leaf varieties).
The widespread smoking of cigarettes in the Western world is largely a 20th-century phenomenon. At the start of the 20th century, the per capita annual consumption in the U.S. was 54 cigarettes (with less than 0.5% of the population smoking more than 100 cigarettes per year), and consumption there peaked at 4,259 per capita in 1965. At that time, about 50% of men and 33% of women smoked (defined as smoking more than 100 cigarettes per year). By 2000, consumption had fallen to 2,092 per capita, corresponding to about 30% of men and 22% of women smoking more than 100 cigarettes per year, and by 2006 per capita consumption had declined to 1,691; implying that about 21% of the population smoked 100 cigarettes or more per year.
The adverse health effects of cigarettes were known by the mid-19th century when they became known as coffins nails.[31] German doctors were the first to identify the link between smoking and lung cancer, which led to the first antitobacco movement in Nazi Germany. During World War I and World War II, cigarettes were rationed to soldiers. During the Vietnam War, cigarettes were included with C-ration meals. In 1975, the U.S. government stopped putting cigarettes in military rations. During the second half of the 20th century, the adverse health effects of tobacco smoking started to become widely known and text-only health warnings became common on cigarette packets.
The United States has not implemented graphical cigarette warning labels, which are considered a more effective method to communicate to the public the dangers of cigarette smoking. Canada, Mexico, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Hungary, the United Kingdom, France, Romania, Singapore, Egypt, Nepal and Turkey, however, have both textual warnings and graphic visual images displaying, among other things, the damaging effects tobacco use has on the human body.
The cigarette has evolved much since its conception; for example, the thin bands that travel transverse to the "axis of smoking" (thus forming circles along the length of the cigarette) are alternate sections of thin and thick paper to facilitate effective burning when being drawn, and retard burning when at rest. Synthetic particulate filters may remove some of the tar before it reaches the smoker.
The "holy grail" for cigarette companies has been a cancer-free cigarette. On record, the closest historical attempt was produced by scientist James Mold. Under the name project TAME, he produced the XA cigarette. However, in 1978, his project was terminated.
Since 1950, the average nicotine and tar content of cigarettes has steadily fallen. Research has shown that the fall in overall nicotine content has led to smokers inhaling larger volumes per puff.
LEGISLATION
SMOKING RESTRICTIONS
Many governments impose restrictions on smoking tobacco, especially in public areas. The primary justification has been the negative health effects of second-hand smoke. Laws vary by country and locality. Nearly all countries have laws restricting places where people can smoke in public, and over 40 countries have comprehensive smoke-free laws that prohibit smoking in virtually all public venues. Bhutan is currently the only country in the world to completely outlaw the cultivation, harvesting, production, and sale of tobacco and tobacco products under the Tobacco Control Act of Bhutan 2010. However, small allowances for personal possession are permitted as long as the possessors can prove that they have paid import duties. The Pitcairn Islands had previously banned the sale of cigarettes, but it now permits sales from a government-run store. The Pacific island of Niue hopes to become the next country to prohibit the sale of tobacco. Iceland is also proposing banning tobacco sales from shops, making it prescription-only and therefore dispensable only in pharmacies on doctor's orders. New Zealand hopes to achieve being tobacco-free by 2025 and Finland by 2040. Singapore and the Australian state of Tasmania have proposed a 'tobacco free millennium generation initiative' by banning the sale of all tobacco products to anyone born in and after the year 2000. In March 2012, Brazil became the world's first country to ban all flavored tobacco including menthols. It also banned the majority of the estimated 600 additives used, permitting only eight. This regulation applies to domestic and imported cigarettes. Tobacco manufacturers had 18 months to remove the noncompliant cigarettes, 24 months to remove the other forms of noncompliant tobacco. Under sharia law, the consumption of cigarettes by Muslims is prohibited.
SMOKING AGE
Beginning on April 1, 1998, the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products to people under the state purchase age has been prohibited by law in all 50 states of the United States. The purchasing age in the United States is 18 in 42 of the 50 states — but 19 in Alabama, Alaska, Utah, and Nassau, Suffolk, and Onondaga Counties in New York, and 21 in California, Hawaii, New Jersey, Oregon, Maine and more than 180 municipalities across the nation. The intended effect of this is to prevent older high school students from purchasing cigarettes for their younger peers. In Massachusetts, parents and guardians are allowed to give cigarettes to minors, but sales to minors are prohibited.
Similar laws exist in many other countries. In Canada, most of the provinces require smokers to be 19 years of age to purchase cigarettes (except for Quebec and the prairie provinces, where the age is 18). However, the minimum age only concerns the purchase of tobacco, not use. Alberta, however, does have a law which prohibits the possession or use of tobacco products by all persons under 18, punishable by a $100 fine. Australia, New Zealand, Poland, and Pakistan have a nationwide ban on the selling of all tobacco products to people under the age of 18.
Since 1 October 2007, it has been illegal for retailers to sell tobacco in all forms to people under the age of 18 in three of the UK's four constituent countries (England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland) (rising from 16). It is also illegal to sell lighters, rolling papers, and all other tobacco-associated items to people under 18. It is not illegal for people under 18 to buy or smoke tobacco, just as it was not previously for people under 16; it is only illegal for the said retailer to sell the item. The age increase from 16 to 18 came into force in Northern Ireland on 1 September 2008. In the Republic of Ireland, bans on the sale of the smaller 10-packs and confectionery that resembles tobacco products (candy cigarettes) came into force on May 31, 2007, in a bid to cut underaged smoking.
Most countries in the world have a legal vending age of 18. In Macedonia, Italy, Malta, Austria, Luxembourg, and Belgium, the age for legal vending is 16. Since January 1, 2007, all cigarette machines in public places in Germany must attempt to verify a customer's age by requiring the insertion of a debit card. Turkey, which has one of the highest percentage of smokers in its population, has a legal age of 18. Japan is one of the highest tobacco-consuming nations, and requires purchasers to be 20 years of age (suffrage in Japan is 20 years old). Since July 2008, Japan has enforced this age limit at cigarette vending machines through use of the taspo smart card. In other countries, such as Egypt, it is legal to use and purchase tobacco products regardless of age.Germany raised the purchase age from 16 to 18 on the 1 September 2007.
Some police departments in the United States occasionally send an underaged teenager into a store where cigarettes are sold, and have the teen attempt to purchase cigarettes, with their own or no ID. If the vendor then completes the sale, the store is issued a fine. Similar enforcement practices are regularly performed by Trading Standards officers in the UK, Israel, and the Republic of Ireland.
TAXATION
Cigarettes are taxed both to reduce use, especially among youth, and to raise revenue.Higher prices for cigarettes discourage smoking. Every 10% increase in the price of cigarettes reduces youth smoking by about 7% and overall cigarette consumption by about 4%. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that globally cigarettes be taxed at a rate of three-quarters of cigarettes sale price as a way of deterring cancer and other negative health outcomes.
Cigarette sales are a significant source of tax revenue in many localities. This fact has historically been an impediment for health groups seeking to discourage cigarette smoking, since governments seek to maximize tax revenues. Furthermore, some countries have made cigarettes a state monopoly, which has the same effect on the attitude of government officials outside the health field.
In the United States, states are a primary determinant of the total tax rate on cigarettes. Generally, states that rely on tobacco as a significant farm product tend to tax cigarettes at a low rate. Coupled with the federal cigarette tax of $1.01 per pack, total cigarette-specific taxes range from $1.18 per pack in Missouri to $8.00 per pack in Silver Bay, New York.As part of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, the federal government collects user fees to fund Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory measures over tobacco.
FIRE-SAFE CIGARETTE
According to Simon Chapman, a professor of public health at the University of Sydney, the burning agents in cigarette paper are responsible for fires and reducing them would be a simple and effective means of dramatically reducing the ignition propensity of cigarettes. Since the 1980s, prominent cigarette manufacturers such as Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds developed fire safe cigarettes, but did not market them.
The burn rate of cigarette paper is regulated through the application of different forms of microcrystalline cellulose to the paper. Cigarette paper has been specially engineered by creating bands of different porosity to create "fire-safe" cigarettes. These cigarettes have a reduced idle burning speed which allows them to self-extinguish. This fire-safe paper is manufactured by mechanically altering the setting of the paper slurry.
New York was the first U.S. state to mandate that all cigarettes manufactured or sold within the state comply with a fire-safe standard. Canada has passed a similar nationwide mandate based on the same standard. All U.S. states are gradually passing fire-safe mandates.
The European Union in 2011 banned cigarettes that do not meet a fire-safety standard. According to a study made by the European Union in 16 European countries, 11,000 fires were due to people carelessly handling cigarettes between 2005 and 2007. This caused 520 deaths with 1,600 people injured.
CIGARETTE ADVERTISING
Many countries have restrictions on cigarette advertising, promotion, sponsorship, and marketing. For example, in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Alberta, the retail store display of cigarettes is completely prohibited if persons under the legal age of consumption have access to the premises. In Ontario, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Quebec, Canada and the Australian Capital Territory the display of tobacco is prohibited for everyone, regardless of age, as of 2010. This retail display ban includes noncigarette products such as cigars and blunt wraps.
WARNING MESSAGES IN PACKAGES
As a result of tight advertising and marketing prohibitions, tobacco companies look at the pack differently: they view it as a strong component in displaying brand imagery and a creating significant in-store presence at the point of purchase. Market testing shows the influence of this dimension in shifting the consumer's choice when the same product displays in an alternative package. Studies also show how companies have manipulated a variety of elements in packs designs to communicate the impression of lower in tar or milder cigarettes, whereas the components were the same.
Some countries require cigarette packs to contain warnings about health hazards. The United States was the first, later followed by other countries including Canada, most of Europe, Australia, Pakistan, India, Hong Kong, and Singapore. In 1985, Iceland became the first country to enforce graphic warnings on cigarette packaging. At the end of December 2010, new regulations from Ottawa increased the size of tobacco warnings to cover three-quarters of the cigarette package in Canada. As of November 2010, 39 countries have adopted similar legislation.
In February 2011, the Canadian government passed regulations requiring cigarette packs to contain 12 new images to cover 75% of the outside panel and eight new health messages on the inside panel with full color.
As of April 2011, Australian regulations require all packs to use a bland olive green that researchers determined to be the least attractive color, with 75% coverage on the front of the pack and all of the back consisting of graphic health warnings. The only feature that differentiates one brand from another is the product name in a standard color, position, font size, and style. Similar policies have since been adopted in France and the United Kingdom. In response to these regulations, Philip Morris International, Japan Tobacco Inc., British American Tobacco Plc., and Imperial Tobacco attempted to sue the Australian government. On August 15, 2012, the High Court of Australia dismissed the suit and made Australia the first country to introduce brand-free plain cigarette packaging with health warnings covering 90 and 70% of back and front packaging, respectively. This took effect on December 1, 2012.
CONSTRUCTION
Modern commercially manufactured cigarettes are seemingly simple objects consisting mainly of a tobacco blend, paper, PVA glue to bond the outer layer of paper together, and often also a cellulose acetate–based filter. While the assembly of cigarettes is straightforward, much focus is given to the creation of each of the components, in particular the tobacco blend. A key ingredient that makes cigarettes more addictive is the inclusion of reconstituted tobacco, which has additives to make nicotine more volatile as the cigarette burns.
PAPER
The paper for holding the tobacco blend may vary in porosity to allow ventilation of the burning ember or contain materials that control the burning rate of the cigarette and stability of the produced ash. The papers used in tipping the cigarette (forming the mouthpiece) and surrounding the filter stabilize the mouthpiece from saliva and moderate the burning of the cigarette, as well as the delivery of smoke with the presence of one or two rows of small laser-drilled air holes.
TOBACCO BLEND
The process of blending gives the end product a consistent taste from batches of tobacco grown in different areas of a country that may change in flavor profile from year to year due to different environmental conditions.
Modern cigarettes produced after the 1950s, although composed mainly of shredded tobacco leaf, use a significant quantity of tobacco processing byproducts in the blend. Each cigarette's tobacco blend is made mainly from the leaves of flue-cured brightleaf, burley tobacco, and oriental tobacco. These leaves are selected, processed, and aged prior to blending and filling. The processing of brightleaf and burley tobaccos for tobacco leaf "strips" produces several byproducts such as leaf stems, tobacco dust, and tobacco leaf pieces ("small laminate"). To improve the economics of producing cigarettes, these byproducts are processed separately into forms where they can then be added back into the cigarette blend without an apparent or marked change in the cigarette's quality. The most common tobacco byproducts include:
Blended leaf (BL) sheet: a thin, dry sheet cast from a paste made with tobacco dust collected from tobacco stemming, finely milled burley-leaf stem, and pectin.
Reconstituted leaf (RL) sheet: a paper-like material made from recycled tobacco fines, tobacco stems and "class tobacco", which consists of tobacco particles less than 30 mesh in size (about 0.6 mm) that are collected at any stage of tobacco processing: RL is made by extracting the soluble chemicals in the tobacco byproducts, processing the leftover tobacco fibers from the extraction into a paper, and then reapplying the extracted materials in concentrated form onto the paper in a fashion similar to what is done in paper sizing. At this stage, ammonium additives are applied to make reconstituted tobacco an effective nicotine delivery system.
Expanded (ES) or improved stem (IS): ES is rolled, flattened, and shredded leaf stems that are expanded by being soaked in water and rapidly heated. Improved stem follows the same process, but is simply steamed after shredding. Both products are then dried. These products look similar in appearance, but are different in taste.
In recent years, the manufacturers' pursuit of maximum profits has led to the practice of using not just the leaves, but also recycled tobacco offal and the plant stem. The stem is first crushed and cut to resemble the leaf before being merged or blended into the cut leaf. According to data from the World Health Organization, the amount of tobacco per 1000 cigarettes fell from 2.28 pounds in 1960 to 0.91 pounds in 1999, largely as a result of reconstituting tobacco, fluffing, and additives.
A recipe-specified combination of brightleaf, burley-leaf, and oriental-leaf tobacco is mixed with various additives to improve its flavors.
ADDITIVES
Various additives are combined into the shredded tobacco product mixtures, with humectants such as propylene glycol or glycerol, as well as flavoring products and enhancers such as cocoa solids, licorice, tobacco extracts, and various sugars, which are known collectively as "casings". The leaf tobacco is then shredded, along with a specified amount of small laminate, expanded tobacco, BL, RL, ES, and IS. A perfume-like flavor/fragrance, called the "topping" or "toppings", which is most often formulated by flavor companies, is then blended into the tobacco mixture to improve the consistency in flavor and taste of the cigarettes associated with a certain brand name.[85] Additionally, they replace lost flavors due to the repeated wetting and drying used in processing the tobacco. Finally, the tobacco mixture is filled into cigarette tubes and packaged.
A list of 599 cigarette additives, created by five major American cigarette companies, was approved by the Department of Health and Human Services in April 1994. None of these additives is listed as an ingredient on the cigarette pack(s). Chemicals are added for organoleptic purposes and many boost the addictive properties of cigarettes, especially when burned.
One of the classes of chemicals on the list, ammonia salts, convert bound nicotine molecules in tobacco smoke into free nicotine molecules. This process, known as freebasing, could potentially increase the effect of nicotine on the smoker, but experimental data suggests that absorption is, in practice, unaffected.
CIGARETTE TUBE
Cigarette tubes are prerolled cigarette paper usually with an acetate or paper filter at the end. They have an appearance similar to a finished cigarette, but are without any tobacco or smoking material inside. The length varies from what is known as King Size (84 mm) to 100s (100 mm).
Filling a cigarette tube is usually done with a cigarette injector (also known as a shooter). Cone-shaped cigarette tubes, known as cones, can be filled using a packing stick or straw because of their shape. Cone smoking is popular because as the cigarette burns, it tends to get stronger and stronger. A cone allows more tobacco to be burned at the beginning than the end, allowing for an even flavor
The United States Tobacco Taxation Bureau defines a cigarette tube as "Cigarette paper made into a hollow cylinder for use in making cigarettes."
CIGARETTE FILTER
A cigarette filter or filter tip is a component of a cigarette. Filters are typically made from cellulose acetate fibre. Most factory-made cigarettes are equipped with a filter; those who roll their own can buy them separately. Filters can reduce some substances from smoke but do not make cigarettes any safer to smoke.
CIGARETTE BUTT
The common name for the remains of a cigarette after smoking is a cigarette butt. The butt is typically about 30% of the cigarette's original length. It consists of a tissue tube which holds a filter and some remains of tobacco mixed with ash. They are the most numerically frequent litter in the world. Cigarette butts accumulate outside buildings, on parking lots, and streets where they can be transported through storm drains to streams, rivers, and beaches. It is also called a fag-end or dog-end.
In a 2013 trial the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, partnered with TerraCycle to create a system for recycling of cigarette butts. A reward of 1¢ per collected butt was offered to determine the effectiveness of a deposit system similar to that of beverage containers
LIGHTS
Some cigarettes are marketed as “Lights”, “Milds”, or “Low-tar.” These cigarettes were historically marketed as being less harmful, but there is no research showing that they are any less harmful. The filter design is one of the main differences between light and regular cigarettes, although not all cigarettes contain perforated holes in the filter. In some light cigarettes, the filter is perforated with small holes that theoretically diffuse the tobacco smoke with clean air. In regular cigarettes, the filter does not include these perforations. In ultralight cigarettes, the filter's perforations are larger. he majority of major cigarette manufacturers offer a light, low-tar, and/or mild cigarette brand. Due to recent U.S. legislation prohibiting the use of these descriptors, tobacco manufacturers are turning to color-coding to allow consumers to differentiate between regular and light brands.
REPLACEMENT
An electronic cigarette is a handheld battery-powered vaporizer that simulates smoking by providing some of the behavioral aspects of smoking, including the hand-to-mouth action of smoking, but without combusting tobacco. Using an e-cigarette is known as "vaping" and the user is referred to as a "vaper." Instead of cigarette smoke, the user inhales an aerosol, commonly called vapor. E-cigarettes typically have a heating element that atomizes a liquid solution called e-liquid. E-cigarettes are automatically activated by taking a puff; others turn on manually by pressing a button. Some e-cigarettes look like traditional cigarettes, but they come in many variations. Most versions are reusable, though some are disposable. There are first-generation, second-generation, third-generation, and fourth-generation devices. E-liquids usually contain propylene glycol, glycerin, nicotine, flavorings, additives, and differing amounts of contaminants. E-liquids are also sold without propylene glycol, nicotine, or flavors.
The benefits and the health risks of e-cigarettes are uncertain. There is tentative evidence they may help people quit smoking, although they have not been proven to be more effective than smoking cessation medicine. There is concern with the possibility that non-smokers and children may start nicotine use with e-cigarettes at a rate higher than anticipated than if they were never created. Following the possibility of nicotine addiction from e-cigarette use, there is concern children may start smoking cigarettes. Youth who use e-cigarettes are more likely to go on to smoke cigarettes. Their part in tobacco harm reduction is unclear, while another review found they appear to have the potential to lower tobacco-related death and disease. Regulated US Food and Drug Administration nicotine replacement products may be safer than e-cigarettes, but e-cigarettes are generally seen as safer than combusted tobacco products. It is estimated their safety risk to users is similar to that of smokeless tobacco. The long-term effects of e-cigarette use are unknown. The risk from serious adverse events was reported in 2016 to be low. Less serious adverse effects include abdominal pain, headache, blurry vision, throat and mouth irritation, vomiting, nausea, and coughing. Nicotine itself is associated with some health harms. In 2019, an outbreak of severe lung illness across multiple states in the US has been linked to the use of vaping products.
E-cigarettes create vapor made of fine and ultrafine particles of particulate matter, which have been found to contain propylene glycol, glycerin, nicotine, flavors, tiny amounts of toxicants, carcinogens, heavy metals, and metal nanoparticles, and other substances. Its exact composition varies across and within manufacturers, and depends on the contents of the liquid, the physical and electrical design of the device, and user behavior, among other factors. E-cigarette vapor potentially contains harmful chemicals not found in tobacco smoke. E-cigarette vapor contains fewer toxic chemicals, and lower concentrations of potential toxic chemicals than cigarette smoke. The vapor is probably much less harmful to users and bystanders than cigarette smoke,although concern exists that the exhaled vapor may be inhaled by non-users, particularly indoors.
WIKIPEDIA
The largest medieval market square in Europe
Main Market Square (Rynek Główny)
The lain in the middle of the Old Town Main Market is the heart of Krakow. It belongs without a doubt to the most beautiful places in the world. With its width and length of each 200 meters, it is considered the largest medieval market square (pl. Rynek) in Europe. It is the starting point for the international crowd of tourists and meeting point of Krakow people. Many major attractions of the city are located on or near the pedestrianized main market.
Medieval Market of 1257
King Bolesław Wstydliwy in 1257 the marketplace had staked under Magdeburg law. The adjoining St. Mary's Church and the located on the square St. Adalbert Church had yet been constructed previously, which is why they evade the accurate development of the main market. The name "Rynek", from the German for "ring", was first used in 1300. It changed several times, until the place in 1882 during the unification of road and place names became "Rynek Główny".
Originally the place was owned by the Polish rulers. King Casimir the Great renounced in 1358 on a large part of his rights on objects in the marketplace and he so allowed the public use. The squared space results from the checkerboard arrangement of streets in Krakow's Old Town. From each side of the square run three streets parallel to each other. The only exception is the ulica Grodzka, which opens in the western corner of the main market. The first bricked building on and around the square arose in the second half of the 13th century.
During the Renaissance and Baroque periods on the marketplace were held many ceremonies of the Polish monarchs, but also beyond this, the main market always has been the scene of many important events and festivals. Thus the Krakow citizens worshiped in 1320 the newly crowned King Ladislaus the Elbow-high. At that time, Krakow became the capital of Poland. From this time on, every king on his coronation day on horseback paraded to the main market. Centuries later, the Kraków Uprising of February 18, 1846 took place here. On the main market square of Krakow also many death sentences were carried out.
For centuries, home to the dealer
The dense development of the main market, to which in addition to several fountains, the main guard, a granary, many chaotically arranged wooden grocery stores and two municipal scales also the old Cracow City Hall belonged, today's so generous space at the beginning of the 19th century still reducing, from 1820 on was removed.
Until the mid-20th century, on market days on certain sections of the market still a brisk trade was carried on. So stretched the poultry market from the street ulica Floriańska to ulica świętego Jana. With flour and oil was traded between square plac Szczepański and ulica Szewska. At the confluence of ulica Sławkowska there was the salt market. Lead has been sold at the confluence of ulica Bracka and coal was handled at the beginning of ulica Wiślna. In addition, there was a market for bread, one for fish and crabs as well as stands for bakers, shoemakers, rope makers, carpenters and potters.
During the German occupation of Poland, the main market was renamed in Adolf Hitler market. After liberation of Cracow on 18 January 1945, the place, as all the other renamed squares and streets, got its name back.
Adorned of famous buildings
Divided is the main market for centuries by the perfectly shaped Cloth Halls, standing in the middle of the square. On the eastern side the main market flows seamlessly into the square Marienplatz (Plac Mariacki), on which with St. Mary's church the best-known house of God of Krakow is located. Right beside, a little hidden by the buildings around the town square, stands the church of St. Barbara. Immediately bordered by a Jesuit monastery.
On the east side of the square in front of the historic Cloth Halls stands the Adam Mickiewicz monument. At its site earlier Jewish traders have hawked their wares. In the southeastern corner there is the St. Adalbert's church, the oldest church of Krakow. In the southwest of the main market stands with the town hall tower a last remnant of the old Cracow City Hall. Immediately at the foot of the town hall tower tourists readily let photograph themselves with an oversized, lying head. This is the bronze statue "Eros bendato" by Polish sculptor Igor Mitoraj.
The more than 40 noble palaces and town houses around the main market combine impressive architecture dating back several centuries and they house many things they are well worth of seeing. It is hard to believe that the renovated houses and palaces are between 500 and 600 years old. Many facades are very narrow, some have only two windows. This is due to the fact that in the olden days the number of windows looking onto the square was determinant for the amount of taxes the homeowners had to pay.
"Salon of the city"
With the main market many legends are connected. One tells that Prince Probus borrowed gold from a witch and later this did not return as agreed. In revenge, she enchanted all his knights in pigeons that populate the main market today. The pigeons together with the cheerful flower women, the horse-drawn carriages waiting for tourists and the various street performers characterize the dear atmosphere of the square.
On the main market quite the whole town of Krakow is gathering, especially when one of the many festivals are being celebrated. For many Krakauer a day without at least a short visit at the "Salon of the city", as they call the main market, also is a lost day. There is nothing better than sitting in summer before one of the many cafes and restaurants and taking in the Mediterranean flair of the main market. But not only on the square life is humming. The surface of the entire old town hides numerous cellars, where bars, cafes, clubs, pubs and restaurants can be found.
Latest attraction is the Museum Podziemia Rynku (in German language, Unterirdischer Marktplatz/Underground Marketplace), since mid-2010 inviting in the medieval underground of the main market. Glazed paths lead visitors to graves of a former cemetery and foundations of old houses. Archaeologists have made this sensational discovery when they took the renovation of the place in recent years as a reason to make archaeological explorations.
Größter mittelalterlicher Marktplatz Europas
Hauptmarkt (Rynek Główny)
Der inmitten der Altstadt gelegene Hauptmarkt ist das Herz Krakaus. Er gehört zweifelsfrei zu den schönsten Plätzen der Welt. Mit seiner Breite und Länge von jeweils 200 Metern gilt er als größter mittelalterlicher Marktplatz (pl. rynek) in Europa. Er ist Ausgangspunkt für das internationale Touristenpublikum und Treffpunkt der Krakauer. Viele bedeutende Sehenswürdigkeiten der Stadt befinden sich auf oder um den verkehrsberuhigten Hauptmarkt.
Mittelalterlicher Marktplatz von 1257
König Bolesław Wstydliwy ließ den Marktplatz 1257 nach Magdeburgischem Recht abstecken. Die angrenzende Marienkirche und die auf dem Platz gelegene St. Adalbertkirche wurden schon vorher errichtet, weshalb sie sich der akkuraten Bebauung des Hauptmarktes entziehen. Der Name "Rynek", aus dem Deutschen für "Ring", wurde erstmals um 1300 gebraucht. Er wechselte mehrfach, bis der Platz 1882 im Zuge der Vereinheitlichung der Straßen- und Platzbezeichnungen zum "Rynek Główny" wurde.
Ursprünglich war der Platz im Besitz der polnischen Herrscher. König Kasimir der Große verzichtete 1358 auf einen Großteil seiner Rechte auf Objekte am Marktplatz und ermöglichte so die öffentliche Nutzung. Der quadratische Platz resultiert aus der schachbrettartigen Anordnung der Straßen in der Krakauer Altstadt. Von jeder Seite des Platzes verlaufen parallel drei Straßen zueinander. Einzige Ausnahme bildet die ulica Grodzka, die in die westliche Ecke des Hauptmarktes mündet. Die ersten gemauerten Gebäude auf und um den Platz entstanden in der zweiten Hälfte des 13. Jahrhunderts.
Während der Renaissance und des Barocks fanden auf dem Marktplatz viele Zeremonien der polnischen Monarchen statt. Auch darüber hinaus war der Hauptmarkt schon immer Schauplatz vieler wichtiger Ereignisse und Feste. So huldigten die Krakauer Bürger 1320 dem frisch gekrönten König Ladislaus Ellenlang. Damals wurde Krakau zur Hauptstadt Polens. Fortan zog jeder König am Tag seiner Krönung zu Pferde auf den Hauptmarkt. Jahrhunderte später fand hier der Krakauer Aufstand vom 18. Februar 1846 statt. Auf dem zentralen Marktplatz Krakaus wurden auch viele Todesurteile vollstreckt.
Jahrhundertelang Heimat der Händler
Die dichte Bebauung des Hauptmarktes, zu der neben mehreren Brunnen, der Hauptwache, einem Kornspeicher, vielen chaotisch angeordneten Krämerläden aus Holz und zwei städtischen Waagen auch das alte Krakauer Rathaus gehörte, das den heute so großzügigen Platz noch zu Beginn des 19. Jahrhunderts verkleinerte, wurde ab 1820 entfernt.
Bis zur Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts wurde an Markttagen noch reger Handel auf gewissen Abschnitten des Marktes betrieben. So erstreckte sich von der ulica Floriańska bis zur ulica świętego Jana der Geflügelmarkt. Mit Mehl und Öl wurde zwischen plac Szczepański und ulica Szewska gehandelt. An der Einmündung der ulica Sławkowska befand sich der Salzmarkt. Blei wurde an der Einmündung der ulica Bracka verkauft und Kohle wurde zu Beginn der ulica Wiślna umgeschlagen. Außerdem gab es einen Markt für Brot, einen für Fisch und Krebse sowie Stände für Bäcker, Schuhmacher, Seilmacher, Tischler und Töpfer.
Während der deutschen Besatzung Polens wurde der Hauptmarkt in Adolf-Hitler-Markt umbenannt. Nach der Befreiung von Krakau am 18. Januar 1945 erhielt der Platz, wie allen anderen umbenannten Plätze und Straßen, seinen Namen zurück.
Geziert von bekannten Bauwerken
Geteilt wird der Hauptmarkt seit Jahrhunderten von den formvollendeten Tuchhallen, die in der Mitte des Platzes stehen. Auf der Ostseite geht der Hauptmarkt nahtlos in den Marienplatz über, auf dem sich mit der Marienkirche Krakaus bekanntestes Gotteshaus befindet. Gleich daneben, durch die Bebauung um den Marktplatz etwas versteckt, steht die St. Barbarakirche. Unmittelbar an sie grenzt ein Jesuitenkloster.
Auf der Ostseite des Platzes steht vor den historischen Tuchhallen das Adam-Mickiewicz-Denkmal. An seinem Standort haben früher die jüdischen Händler ihre Waren feilgeboten. In der südöstlichen Ecke befindet sich die St. Adalbertkirche, die älteste Kirche von Krakau. Im Südwesten des Hauptmarktes steht mit dem Rathausturm ein letzter Überrest des alten Krakauer Rathauses. Unmittelbar zu Fuße des Rathausturms lassen sich Touristen gerne mit einem überdimensionierten, liegenden Kopf fotografieren. Es handelt sich um die Bronzestatue "Eros Bendato" vom polnischen Bildhauer Igor Mitoraj.
Die mehr als 40 Adelspalästen und Bürgerhäuser rund um den Hauptmarkt vereinen eindrucksvolle Architektur aus mehreren Jahrhunderten und beherbergen viel Sehenswertes. Es ist kaum zu glauben, dass die renovierten Häuser und Palais zwischen 500 und 600 Jahre alt sind. Viele Fassaden sind sehr schmal, einige haben nur zwei Fenster. Das liegt daran, dass früher die Anzahl der zum Platz hinausgehenden Fenster die Höhe der Steuern bestimmte, die die Hausbesitzer zahlen mussten.
"Salon der Stadt"
Mit dem Hauptmarkt sind viele Legenden verbunden. Eine erzählt, dass sich Prinz Probus Gold von einer Hexe lieh und dieses später nicht wie vereinbart zurückgab. Aus Rache verzauberte sie alle seine Ritter in Tauben, die heute den Hauptmarkt bevölkern. Die Tauben prägen gemeinsam mit den fröhlichen Blumenfrauen, den auf Touristen wartenden Pferdekutschen und den verschiedenen Straßenkünstlern die geliebte Atmosphäre des Platzes.
Auf dem Hauptmarkt trift sich ganz Krakau, besonders, wenn eins der vielen Feste gefeiert wird. Für viele Krakauer ist ein Tag ohne wenigstens einen kurzen Besuch auf dem "Salon der Stadt", wie sie den Hauptmarkt auch nennen, ein verlorener Tag. Es gibt nichts schöneres, als im Sommer vor einem der vielen Cafés und Restaurants zu sitzen und das südländische Flair des Hauptmarktes auf sich wirken zu lassen. Doch nicht nur auf dem Platz tobt das Leben. Der Untergrund der gesamten Altstadt verbirgt zahlreiche Kellergewölbe, in denen Bars, Cafés, Clubs, Kneipen und Restaurants zu Hause sind.
Neuste Attraktion ist das Museum Podziemia Rynku (dt. Unterirdischer Marktplatz), das seit Mitte 2010 in den mittelalterlichen Untergrund des Hauptmarktes einlädt. Verglaste Wege führen die Besucher zu Gräbern eines ehemaligen Friedhofs und zu Fundamenten alter Handelshäuser. Archäologen haben diesen sensationellen Fund gemacht, als sie die Erneuerung des Platzes in den vergangenen Jahren zum Anlass archäologischer Erkundungen nahmen.
www.metropolen.de/krakau/sehenswuerdigkeiten/plaetze-stra...
Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art (also known simply as (the) Baltic, stylised as BALTIC) is a centre for contemporary art located on the south bank of the River Tyne in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. It hosts a frequently changing variety of exhibitions, events, and educational programmes with no permanent exhibition. The idea to open a centre for contemporary arts in Gateshead was developed in the 1990s, which was a time of regeneration for the local area—the Sage and Gateshead Millennium Bridge was also being conceived of in this period.
Baltic opened in July 2002 in a converted flour mill, which had operated in various capacities from 1950-1984. The architectural design of Baltic was devised by Dominic Williams of Ellis Williams Architects, who won a competition to design the new contemporary arts centre in 1994. The building features exhibition spaces, a visitor centre, a rooftop restaurant and external viewing platforms which offer views of the River Tyne. Baltic's current director, the centre's fifth, is Sarah Munro, who joined in November 2015. As of January 2022, Baltic had welcomed over 8 million visitors.
Baltic Flour Mills was built by Joseph Rank of Rank Hovis to a late-1930s design by Hull-based architects Gelder and Kitchen. The first foundations were laid in the late 1930s, and although construction ceased during the Second World War, the mill was completed and started operating in 1950. Known locally as "the pride of Tyneside", 300 people were employed by the mill at its height. The building was composed of two parallel brick façades running east to west, sandwiched between a foundation of concrete silos. The structure could store 22,000 tons of grain. The design of the building also featured a larger silo in which to store and clean wheat. The site was extended in 1957 by the addition of Blue Cross Mill which processed animal feed. In 1976, a fire forced both mills to close, but the silos remained in operation until 1984 to store a portion of the grain owned by the European Economic Community. Baltic Flour Mills was one of a number of mills located along the banks of the Tyne, all of which, due to their size, were prominent local landmarks. The Spillers mill just downstream from Baltic on the north bank of the river was demolished in 2011. Another large mill was owned by the CWS and was located just upstream of Dunston Staiths.
The opening of Baltic as a designated centre for contemporary art was part of the revitalisation and post-industrial regeneration of Gateshead's riverside. The regeneration began in the early 1990s and transformed the Quayside into a centre of modern architecture, including the Sage and Millennium Bridge. In 1991, Northern Arts (now part of Arts Council England) released a five-year plan in which it stated its intention to create "major new capital facilities for the Contemporary Visual Arts and Music in Central Tyneside". Northern Arts were keen to convert an old building into a centre for art, rather than build a new one, and the Labour-run Gateshead Council expressed interest in converting the old Flour Mills. This was in contrast to the Conservative-run Newcastle City Council's approach to development, which saw private firms develop mainly flats, hotels, and offices. Gateshead Council purchased the Baltic Flour Mills silo building, and in 1994 they invited the Royal Institute of British Architects to open a competition which would find an architect to design the new arts centre.
In 1994, Gateshead Council invited the Royal Institute of British Architects to hold a competition to select a design for the conversion of the Baltic Flour Mills. The objective of the competition was to "provide a national and international Centre for Contemporary visual arts". The brief cited a number of similar examples of old buildings which had been converted into arts centres around the world, including a converted flour mill in Porto, Portugal and the Bankside Power Station in London (now the site of the Tate Modern). After evaluating a total of 140 entries, Dominic Williams – a relatively unknown architect who had only been working for three years – won the competition. He entered the competition with Ellis Williams Architects, his father's firm. Andrew Guest remarks that this "simple, honest, industrial" design was an example of architecture which recognised the designs and context of the past. Williams and Ellis Williams Architects stated their intention to "retain as much of the existing character and fabric of the building as possible" while also clearly presenting the structure's new purpose as an art gallery.
The conversion of the flour mills was a complex and technically challenging task. The grain silos were removed, leaving the brick façades unsupported, and a 1,000 tonne steel frame was required to support the remaining building. Four new main floors were inserted into the building supported by a row of pillars. Intermediary floors made out of steel frames and thin concrete were also inserted. These were designed to be removable as to adapt the building and create variable spaces for art. With 13 separate levels in total, Williams claimed he purposefully wanted to create a sense of disorientation for visitors within the building and allow an element of discovery. A spiral staircase winds up the building towards an open-plan office for staff. An efficient ductwork system was installed within the beams which carries heated or chilled air throughout the building. Such a design, conceived of by environmental engineers Atelier Ten, was uncommon for the time. The north and south elevations of the original building were retained along with the original BALTIC FLOUR MILLS lettering and red and yellow bricks. The east and west sides were fully glazed, capturing natural light and allowing views of the River Tyne. Additionally, service towers in the corners of the building, a rooftop viewing box, and a low-rise visitor centre were completed—these now comprise part of the building's major elements. The building stands at 138 feet (42 m) tall. Glass elevators situated close to the exterior offer views of Newcastle, Gateshead and the River Tyne. A restaurant sits at the top of the building, built in a manner which still allows natural light to reach the top gallery floor. The building's interior largely features glass, concrete, aluminium, Welsh Slate, 'Cor-Ten' steel, and Swedish pine. The furniture, purposely built to be flexible and adaptable, was designed by Swedish designer Åke Axelsson.
Awards
Baltic won a RIBA award in 2003, a Civic Trust Award in 2004, and in 2006 was selected as one of the top 10 most outstanding arts and culture schemes in the UK as part of the Gulbenkian Prize. In 2012, it won the National Lottery Awards prize for Best Arts Project.
The founding director, Sune Nordgren, was appointed in 1997. He oversaw the period prior to Baltic's opening, including the construction of the gallery. After almost six years, Nordgren left to take up a new post as founding director of the National Museum for Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, Norway. At this time, Baltic was facing financial problems. After Nordgren's departure, a former Baltic chairman accused the centre of overspending on commissions during Nordgren's tenure. Baltic's situation was described by Arts Council England as having "serious inadequacies in financial procedures". Nordgren was briefly succeeded by Stephen Snoddy, who had previously run a new gallery in Milton Keynes. Snoddy only remained with the organisation for 11 months, citing difficulties in leaving his family behind in Manchester while working at Baltic. He was succeeded as director by Peter Doroshenko in 2005. Doroshenko's previous institutions included the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst and the Institute of Visual Arts in Milwaukee. He was brought to Baltic to increase visitor numbers and resolve the centre's financial situation, which was criticised by Arts Council England and an insider as being chaotic. Doroshenko organized several exhibitions during his time at Baltic, including Spank the Monkey.
In November 2007, Doroshenko left the gallery to head up the PinchukArtCentre in Kiev, Ukraine. He stated that he believed he had made Baltic a more "approachable and visitor friendly place."[30] However, Design Week reported that there were claims that Doroshenko did not deliver the expected "international programme of artistic excellence." Additionally, staff at the centre had complained about his "intolerable" and "bullying" management style. Godfrey Worsdale, founding director of the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, was appointed as director of Baltic in 2008. Worsdale oversaw the 10 year anniversary of Baltic and the hosting of the Turner Prize in 2011. He was awarded an honorary degree from Northumbria University in 2012 in recognition for his work on contemporary art after being on the judging panel for the Turner Prize. He departed in 2015 to take up a new post as director of the Henry Moore Foundation. Sarah Munro MBE became director in November 2015. She was previously artistic director of Tramway in Glasgow and head of arts for Glasgow Life.
History as arts centre
During the four-year construction of Baltic, the new organisation arranged a series of events, publications, and artists in residence in anticipation of the centre's opening. In 1999, after the silos had been removed and before the new floors were inserted, the shell of the building was used to house an art installation by Anish Kapoor. Taratantara was a trumpet-shaped installation of PVC 50 metres (160 ft) long and was situated within the centre of the mill. This installation drew 16,000 visitors and marked a turning point between the building's old purpose and its new life as a centre for art. In October 2000, Jenny Holzer's Truisms – a series of aphorisms and slogans – were projected onto the side of the building. Kapoor and Holtzer's works were intended to engage casual passers-by in an artistic dialogue. The identity of Baltic was also solidified by the publication of 16 newsletters between October 1998 and July 2002 when the centre opened to the public. A significant part of this branding was the use of the now registered typeface BALTIC Affisch, designed by Swedish designers Ulf Greger Nilsson and Henrik Nygren and based on the BALTIC FLOUR MILLS lettering on the building's brick façade.
Opening
After ten years in the planning and a capital investment of £50m, including £33.4m from the Arts Council Lottery Fund, Baltic opened to the public at midnight on Saturday 13 July 2002. The novelty of opening the new building at midnight was intentional: founding director Sune Nordgren sought a dramatic gesture to herald the beginning of the new centre for arts. The inaugural exhibition, B.OPEN, had work by Chris Burden, Carsten Höller, Julian Opie, Jaume Plensa and Jane and Louise Wilson. Opie, who had previously assisted Dominic Williams with aspects of the building's conversion design, contributed an installation consisting of nude outlines on the walls of floor of the gallery. Plensa's installation featured a room filled with gongs which were available for the audience to play. Plensa also contributed Blake in Gateshead – a beam of light which stretched around 2 kilometres (6,600 ft) into the sky. The installation was placed through the glass doorway of the ground floor. Burden constructed a 1/20th scale replica of the Tyne Bridge out of Meccano. Jane and Louise Wilson created Dreamtime, a video of a rocket launch. An early exhibit by the Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara was also included. The B.OPEN event attracted over 35,000 visitors in the first week. A live art performance, including Tatsumi Orimito's Bread Man and Anne Bjerge Hansen's Moving Bakery, took place during the opening weekend, in which bread was handed out to passers-by in memory of the Baltic Flour Mill's history. When BALTIC opened, there was a target set for 250,000 visitors a year. It achieved one million visitors in its first year, and by its 10-year anniversary in 2012, 4 million people had visited.
Notable events
On 20 September 2007, Baltic management contacted Northumbria Police for advice regarding whether or not a photograph should be displayed as part of the Thanksgiving installation, a forthcoming exhibition by American photographer Nan Goldin. The photograph, along with the rest of the installation, is part of the Sir Elton John Photography Collection. Entitled Klara and Edda belly-dancing features two naked young girls and had previously been exhibited around the world without objections. The installation, which had been scheduled for a four-month exhibition, opened with the remaining photographs whilst Klara and Edda belly-dancing was in possession of the police. However, it closed after just nine days at the request of Elton John. Although this had a determinantal effect on Baltic's reputation in the short-term, Graham Whitham argues in Understand Contemporary Art that it may have given it a higher profile and greater publicity in the long-run.
Beryl Cook
In 2007, the largest survey of artist Beryl Cook's work to date was featured in an exhibition at Baltic.[9] Cook enjoyed widespread recognition of her art towards the end of her life; the exhibition at Baltic took place one year before her death. Her paintings depict everyday and familiar social situations in a playful, colourful, and "portly" style. Peter Doreshenko, the director of Baltic at the time of the exhibition, was keen for the gallery to reject the seriousness audiences may associate with it. The exhibition of Cook's work was part of this populist effort to attract new audiences to the then financially-struggling gallery, whose visitor numbers had dropped to less than 500,000 and whose reputation was decreasing. Adrian Searle of The Guardian reviewed the exhibition and, whilst acknowledging that fans would enjoy it, commented "look too long and you may feel a bit queasy".
Turner Prize
In 2011, Baltic was the venue for the Turner Prize. This was the first time the event had been held outside of London or Liverpool Tate. The Turner Prize exhibition at Baltic attracted 149,770 visitors to the gallery – almost double the average attendance in London. The event at Baltic was also free, whilst Turner exhibitions at Tate Britain had always previously charged for entry. The winning exhibit was by Martin Boyce with the runners-up being Karla Black, Hilary Lloyd and George Shaw.
Judy Chicago
The first major retrospective of American artist Judy Chicago's work was exhibited in Baltic from November 2019 to April 2020. The exhibition included her abstract paintings, records of performance pieces, and began and ended with a four-metre tapestry which portrayed the creation the world from a woman's perspective. At the time of the exhibition, Chicago was in her 80s. Hannah Clugston of The Guardian noted that the more recent featured works embraced the theme of death, particularly End: A Meditation on Death and Extinction, which is based on the stages of grief.
Baltic Open Submission
In March 2020, Baltic announced it would be closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic until further notice. In May 2021, it reopened to visitors with four exhibitions. Baltic Open Submission featured works created during lockdown by 158 artists from the North East. The 158 artists were chosen from over 540 original submissions and selected by a panel of three North East-based artists. The final pieces included paintings, drawings, and sound and video installations.
Community and cultural impact
At the opening of Baltic, director Sune Nordgren outlined the role of the arts centre within the public sphere. He stated that Baltic should be "a meeting place, a site for connections and confrontation between artists and the public." In an October 2002 lecture at the Power Plant Gallery in Toronto, Nordgren reaffirmed the importance of local outreach and explained his intention for Baltic to regard the local history and culture, comparing his intention to examples of modern art museums where this was not considered, such as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao (designed in Los Angeles and placed in Spain). From its inception, Baltic emphasised the importance of artist-public relationships and its role as a community hub. "Participate" initiatives encouraged people in the local community to interact with resident artists. A media learning centre in a local library was set up as an extension of Baltic's community resources.
In a 2016 talk on Baltic's 10-year strategic plan (officially named Untitled), the current director of Baltic – Sarah Munro – emphasised that the North East of England "has always led, not followed" the agenda for contemporary arts, and that Baltic had been a big part of this trend. She argued that the visual arts can be used to further the economic and social growth of the area, even amidst the backdrop of political issues and austerity. Baltic also launched an international award for emerging artists in 2016, which offered a £30,000 commission and an accompanying exhibition to four recipients. It was the first such competition in the UK to be judged entirely by artists: in 2017, they were Monica Bonvicini, Lorna Simpson, Pedro Cabrita Reis and Mike Nelson. Munro commented that the award was to foster "a dialogue with our audiences at a local, national and international level."
Local university partnerships and graduate internships are also important to Baltic's community and cultural influence. In 2011, Baltic and Northumbria University established an artistic partnership through the BxNU Institute of Contemporary Art, a centre for artistic and curatorial research. Christine Borland was appointed as Baltic Professor. A designated gallery space, known as Baltic 39, was established on the top floor of refurbished Edwardian warehouses at 31-39 High Bridge in Newcastle. It was designed by Viennese architects Jabornegg & Palffy and housed artwork from students at the university. Baltic 39 was based at High Bridge from 2012 to 2021.
Their annual Self-Publishing Artists’ Market (aka S.P.A.M.) takes the form of a lively programme exploring print culture and practice through talks and workshops with over 50 stalls selling zines and artists’ books. S.P.A.M. Spreads reimagines the market in printed form and has included contributions by artists, activists, illustrators, zine-makers, writers and curators including Vanessa Murrell, Melody Sproates, Okocha Obasi, Stephanie Francis-Shanahan.
Some 80% of Scotland’s land mass is under agricultural production, making the industry the single biggest determinant of the landscape we see around us. Scotland’s farmers, crofters and growers produce output worth around £2.9 billion a year, and are responsible for much of Scotland’s £5 billion food and drink exports. The export target for 2017 is £7.1 billion.
Around 67,000 people are directly employed in agriculture in Scotland – this represents around 8% of the rural workforce and means that agriculture is the third largest employer in rural Scotland after the service and public sectors. It is estimated that a further 360,000 jobs (1 in 10 of all Scottish jobs) are dependent on agriculture.
The agri-food sector is now the UKs largest manufacturing sector.
Around 85% of Scotland is classified as Less Favoured Area. This is an EU classification which recognises natural and geographic disadvantage.
There are large numbers of farms in north west Scotland, but these are significantly smaller in terms of the numbers of livestock/area of crops grown than farms elsewhere. Sheep farming is the predominant type of farming in the north west and there are also many sheep farms in the south of the country. Larger cereal farms are concentrated in the east. Beef farming takes place throughout Scotland, but is particularly common in the south west. This area also has the bulk of the dairy industry.
Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art (also known simply as (the) Baltic, stylised as BALTIC) is a centre for contemporary art located on the south bank of the River Tyne in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. It hosts a frequently changing variety of exhibitions, events, and educational programmes with no permanent exhibition. The idea to open a centre for contemporary arts in Gateshead was developed in the 1990s, which was a time of regeneration for the local area—the Sage and Gateshead Millennium Bridge was also being conceived of in this period.
Baltic opened in July 2002 in a converted flour mill, which had operated in various capacities from 1950-1984. The architectural design of Baltic was devised by Dominic Williams of Ellis Williams Architects, who won a competition to design the new contemporary arts centre in 1994. The building features exhibition spaces, a visitor centre, a rooftop restaurant and external viewing platforms which offer views of the River Tyne. Baltic's current director, the centre's fifth, is Sarah Munro, who joined in November 2015. As of January 2022, Baltic had welcomed over 8 million visitors.
Baltic Flour Mills was built by Joseph Rank of Rank Hovis to a late-1930s design by Hull-based architects Gelder and Kitchen. The first foundations were laid in the late 1930s, and although construction ceased during the Second World War, the mill was completed and started operating in 1950. Known locally as "the pride of Tyneside", 300 people were employed by the mill at its height. The building was composed of two parallel brick façades running east to west, sandwiched between a foundation of concrete silos. The structure could store 22,000 tons of grain. The design of the building also featured a larger silo in which to store and clean wheat. The site was extended in 1957 by the addition of Blue Cross Mill which processed animal feed. In 1976, a fire forced both mills to close, but the silos remained in operation until 1984 to store a portion of the grain owned by the European Economic Community. Baltic Flour Mills was one of a number of mills located along the banks of the Tyne, all of which, due to their size, were prominent local landmarks. The Spillers mill just downstream from Baltic on the north bank of the river was demolished in 2011. Another large mill was owned by the CWS and was located just upstream of Dunston Staiths.
The opening of Baltic as a designated centre for contemporary art was part of the revitalisation and post-industrial regeneration of Gateshead's riverside. The regeneration began in the early 1990s and transformed the Quayside into a centre of modern architecture, including the Sage and Millennium Bridge. In 1991, Northern Arts (now part of Arts Council England) released a five-year plan in which it stated its intention to create "major new capital facilities for the Contemporary Visual Arts and Music in Central Tyneside". Northern Arts were keen to convert an old building into a centre for art, rather than build a new one, and the Labour-run Gateshead Council expressed interest in converting the old Flour Mills. This was in contrast to the Conservative-run Newcastle City Council's approach to development, which saw private firms develop mainly flats, hotels, and offices. Gateshead Council purchased the Baltic Flour Mills silo building, and in 1994 they invited the Royal Institute of British Architects to open a competition which would find an architect to design the new arts centre.
In 1994, Gateshead Council invited the Royal Institute of British Architects to hold a competition to select a design for the conversion of the Baltic Flour Mills. The objective of the competition was to "provide a national and international Centre for Contemporary visual arts". The brief cited a number of similar examples of old buildings which had been converted into arts centres around the world, including a converted flour mill in Porto, Portugal and the Bankside Power Station in London (now the site of the Tate Modern). After evaluating a total of 140 entries, Dominic Williams – a relatively unknown architect who had only been working for three years – won the competition. He entered the competition with Ellis Williams Architects, his father's firm. Andrew Guest remarks that this "simple, honest, industrial" design was an example of architecture which recognised the designs and context of the past. Williams and Ellis Williams Architects stated their intention to "retain as much of the existing character and fabric of the building as possible" while also clearly presenting the structure's new purpose as an art gallery.
The conversion of the flour mills was a complex and technically challenging task. The grain silos were removed, leaving the brick façades unsupported, and a 1,000 tonne steel frame was required to support the remaining building. Four new main floors were inserted into the building supported by a row of pillars. Intermediary floors made out of steel frames and thin concrete were also inserted. These were designed to be removable as to adapt the building and create variable spaces for art. With 13 separate levels in total, Williams claimed he purposefully wanted to create a sense of disorientation for visitors within the building and allow an element of discovery. A spiral staircase winds up the building towards an open-plan office for staff. An efficient ductwork system was installed within the beams which carries heated or chilled air throughout the building. Such a design, conceived of by environmental engineers Atelier Ten, was uncommon for the time. The north and south elevations of the original building were retained along with the original BALTIC FLOUR MILLS lettering and red and yellow bricks. The east and west sides were fully glazed, capturing natural light and allowing views of the River Tyne. Additionally, service towers in the corners of the building, a rooftop viewing box, and a low-rise visitor centre were completed—these now comprise part of the building's major elements. The building stands at 138 feet (42 m) tall. Glass elevators situated close to the exterior offer views of Newcastle, Gateshead and the River Tyne. A restaurant sits at the top of the building, built in a manner which still allows natural light to reach the top gallery floor. The building's interior largely features glass, concrete, aluminium, Welsh Slate, 'Cor-Ten' steel, and Swedish pine. The furniture, purposely built to be flexible and adaptable, was designed by Swedish designer Åke Axelsson.
Awards
Baltic won a RIBA award in 2003, a Civic Trust Award in 2004, and in 2006 was selected as one of the top 10 most outstanding arts and culture schemes in the UK as part of the Gulbenkian Prize. In 2012, it won the National Lottery Awards prize for Best Arts Project.
The founding director, Sune Nordgren, was appointed in 1997. He oversaw the period prior to Baltic's opening, including the construction of the gallery. After almost six years, Nordgren left to take up a new post as founding director of the National Museum for Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, Norway. At this time, Baltic was facing financial problems. After Nordgren's departure, a former Baltic chairman accused the centre of overspending on commissions during Nordgren's tenure. Baltic's situation was described by Arts Council England as having "serious inadequacies in financial procedures". Nordgren was briefly succeeded by Stephen Snoddy, who had previously run a new gallery in Milton Keynes. Snoddy only remained with the organisation for 11 months, citing difficulties in leaving his family behind in Manchester while working at Baltic. He was succeeded as director by Peter Doroshenko in 2005. Doroshenko's previous institutions included the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst and the Institute of Visual Arts in Milwaukee. He was brought to Baltic to increase visitor numbers and resolve the centre's financial situation, which was criticised by Arts Council England and an insider as being chaotic. Doroshenko organized several exhibitions during his time at Baltic, including Spank the Monkey.
In November 2007, Doroshenko left the gallery to head up the PinchukArtCentre in Kiev, Ukraine. He stated that he believed he had made Baltic a more "approachable and visitor friendly place."[30] However, Design Week reported that there were claims that Doroshenko did not deliver the expected "international programme of artistic excellence." Additionally, staff at the centre had complained about his "intolerable" and "bullying" management style. Godfrey Worsdale, founding director of the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, was appointed as director of Baltic in 2008. Worsdale oversaw the 10 year anniversary of Baltic and the hosting of the Turner Prize in 2011. He was awarded an honorary degree from Northumbria University in 2012 in recognition for his work on contemporary art after being on the judging panel for the Turner Prize. He departed in 2015 to take up a new post as director of the Henry Moore Foundation. Sarah Munro MBE became director in November 2015. She was previously artistic director of Tramway in Glasgow and head of arts for Glasgow Life.
History as arts centre
During the four-year construction of Baltic, the new organisation arranged a series of events, publications, and artists in residence in anticipation of the centre's opening. In 1999, after the silos had been removed and before the new floors were inserted, the shell of the building was used to house an art installation by Anish Kapoor. Taratantara was a trumpet-shaped installation of PVC 50 metres (160 ft) long and was situated within the centre of the mill. This installation drew 16,000 visitors and marked a turning point between the building's old purpose and its new life as a centre for art. In October 2000, Jenny Holzer's Truisms – a series of aphorisms and slogans – were projected onto the side of the building. Kapoor and Holtzer's works were intended to engage casual passers-by in an artistic dialogue. The identity of Baltic was also solidified by the publication of 16 newsletters between October 1998 and July 2002 when the centre opened to the public. A significant part of this branding was the use of the now registered typeface BALTIC Affisch, designed by Swedish designers Ulf Greger Nilsson and Henrik Nygren and based on the BALTIC FLOUR MILLS lettering on the building's brick façade.
Opening
After ten years in the planning and a capital investment of £50m, including £33.4m from the Arts Council Lottery Fund, Baltic opened to the public at midnight on Saturday 13 July 2002. The novelty of opening the new building at midnight was intentional: founding director Sune Nordgren sought a dramatic gesture to herald the beginning of the new centre for arts. The inaugural exhibition, B.OPEN, had work by Chris Burden, Carsten Höller, Julian Opie, Jaume Plensa and Jane and Louise Wilson. Opie, who had previously assisted Dominic Williams with aspects of the building's conversion design, contributed an installation consisting of nude outlines on the walls of floor of the gallery. Plensa's installation featured a room filled with gongs which were available for the audience to play. Plensa also contributed Blake in Gateshead – a beam of light which stretched around 2 kilometres (6,600 ft) into the sky. The installation was placed through the glass doorway of the ground floor. Burden constructed a 1/20th scale replica of the Tyne Bridge out of Meccano. Jane and Louise Wilson created Dreamtime, a video of a rocket launch. An early exhibit by the Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara was also included. The B.OPEN event attracted over 35,000 visitors in the first week. A live art performance, including Tatsumi Orimito's Bread Man and Anne Bjerge Hansen's Moving Bakery, took place during the opening weekend, in which bread was handed out to passers-by in memory of the Baltic Flour Mill's history. When BALTIC opened, there was a target set for 250,000 visitors a year. It achieved one million visitors in its first year, and by its 10-year anniversary in 2012, 4 million people had visited.
Notable events
On 20 September 2007, Baltic management contacted Northumbria Police for advice regarding whether or not a photograph should be displayed as part of the Thanksgiving installation, a forthcoming exhibition by American photographer Nan Goldin. The photograph, along with the rest of the installation, is part of the Sir Elton John Photography Collection. Entitled Klara and Edda belly-dancing features two naked young girls and had previously been exhibited around the world without objections. The installation, which had been scheduled for a four-month exhibition, opened with the remaining photographs whilst Klara and Edda belly-dancing was in possession of the police. However, it closed after just nine days at the request of Elton John. Although this had a determinantal effect on Baltic's reputation in the short-term, Graham Whitham argues in Understand Contemporary Art that it may have given it a higher profile and greater publicity in the long-run.
Beryl Cook
In 2007, the largest survey of artist Beryl Cook's work to date was featured in an exhibition at Baltic.[9] Cook enjoyed widespread recognition of her art towards the end of her life; the exhibition at Baltic took place one year before her death. Her paintings depict everyday and familiar social situations in a playful, colourful, and "portly" style. Peter Doreshenko, the director of Baltic at the time of the exhibition, was keen for the gallery to reject the seriousness audiences may associate with it. The exhibition of Cook's work was part of this populist effort to attract new audiences to the then financially-struggling gallery, whose visitor numbers had dropped to less than 500,000 and whose reputation was decreasing. Adrian Searle of The Guardian reviewed the exhibition and, whilst acknowledging that fans would enjoy it, commented "look too long and you may feel a bit queasy".
Turner Prize
In 2011, Baltic was the venue for the Turner Prize. This was the first time the event had been held outside of London or Liverpool Tate. The Turner Prize exhibition at Baltic attracted 149,770 visitors to the gallery – almost double the average attendance in London. The event at Baltic was also free, whilst Turner exhibitions at Tate Britain had always previously charged for entry. The winning exhibit was by Martin Boyce with the runners-up being Karla Black, Hilary Lloyd and George Shaw.
Judy Chicago
The first major retrospective of American artist Judy Chicago's work was exhibited in Baltic from November 2019 to April 2020. The exhibition included her abstract paintings, records of performance pieces, and began and ended with a four-metre tapestry which portrayed the creation the world from a woman's perspective. At the time of the exhibition, Chicago was in her 80s. Hannah Clugston of The Guardian noted that the more recent featured works embraced the theme of death, particularly End: A Meditation on Death and Extinction, which is based on the stages of grief.
Baltic Open Submission
In March 2020, Baltic announced it would be closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic until further notice. In May 2021, it reopened to visitors with four exhibitions. Baltic Open Submission featured works created during lockdown by 158 artists from the North East. The 158 artists were chosen from over 540 original submissions and selected by a panel of three North East-based artists. The final pieces included paintings, drawings, and sound and video installations.
Community and cultural impact
At the opening of Baltic, director Sune Nordgren outlined the role of the arts centre within the public sphere. He stated that Baltic should be "a meeting place, a site for connections and confrontation between artists and the public." In an October 2002 lecture at the Power Plant Gallery in Toronto, Nordgren reaffirmed the importance of local outreach and explained his intention for Baltic to regard the local history and culture, comparing his intention to examples of modern art museums where this was not considered, such as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao (designed in Los Angeles and placed in Spain). From its inception, Baltic emphasised the importance of artist-public relationships and its role as a community hub. "Participate" initiatives encouraged people in the local community to interact with resident artists. A media learning centre in a local library was set up as an extension of Baltic's community resources.
In a 2016 talk on Baltic's 10-year strategic plan (officially named Untitled), the current director of Baltic – Sarah Munro – emphasised that the North East of England "has always led, not followed" the agenda for contemporary arts, and that Baltic had been a big part of this trend. She argued that the visual arts can be used to further the economic and social growth of the area, even amidst the backdrop of political issues and austerity. Baltic also launched an international award for emerging artists in 2016, which offered a £30,000 commission and an accompanying exhibition to four recipients. It was the first such competition in the UK to be judged entirely by artists: in 2017, they were Monica Bonvicini, Lorna Simpson, Pedro Cabrita Reis and Mike Nelson. Munro commented that the award was to foster "a dialogue with our audiences at a local, national and international level."
Local university partnerships and graduate internships are also important to Baltic's community and cultural influence. In 2011, Baltic and Northumbria University established an artistic partnership through the BxNU Institute of Contemporary Art, a centre for artistic and curatorial research. Christine Borland was appointed as Baltic Professor. A designated gallery space, known as Baltic 39, was established on the top floor of refurbished Edwardian warehouses at 31-39 High Bridge in Newcastle. It was designed by Viennese architects Jabornegg & Palffy and housed artwork from students at the university. Baltic 39 was based at High Bridge from 2012 to 2021.
Their annual Self-Publishing Artists’ Market (aka S.P.A.M.) takes the form of a lively programme exploring print culture and practice through talks and workshops with over 50 stalls selling zines and artists’ books. S.P.A.M. Spreads reimagines the market in printed form and has included contributions by artists, activists, illustrators, zine-makers, writers and curators including Vanessa Murrell, Melody Sproates, Okocha Obasi, Stephanie Francis-Shanahan.
Els Jardins de Laribal
És una de les perles del Parc de Montjuïc i passejar-s'hi és una autèntica delícia. La vegetació riquíssima, juntament amb l'aigua que baixa per cascades i llisca delicadament pel mig d'amples baranes, els bancs de rajola i les placetes, creen un conjunt de bellesa excepcional. Aquest és un lloc per estar-s'hi, per contemplar-lo i per anar descobrint els mil detalls que el configuren, amb una harmonia difícil de superar.
Els Jardins de Laribal, de gran valor històric, estan configurats per terrasses, camins, placetes, bassinyols i una vegetació esponerosa i consolidada. Una sèrie de terrasses superposades estan unides entre elles per camins i dreceres de fort pendent, amb trams d'escales intercalats amb un disseny sempre diferent. Pèrgoles de maó vist, pedra i pilars blancs, ombregen les àrees més planeres. La vegetació, és majoritàriament exòtica, rica i variada en espècies.
Jardins mediterranis
Aquests jardins, inclosos dins del recinte de l'Exposició Internacional de Barcelona de 1929, van obtenir una gran anomenada. Els seus autors, Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier i Nicolau M. Rubió Tudurí, van crear un nou estil paisatgístic d'arrel mediterrània.
La vegetació preexistent -des de plantes autòctones fins als arbres fruiters del passat agrícola de la muntanya-, es va integrar en els jardins amb un concepte de jardineria renovador i original, que segueix lliurement la inspiració dels antics jardins àrabs i dels "cármenes" de Granada, amb una gran presència de rajoles ceràmiques, aigües ornamentals i el conreu de plantes de flor en testos situats en baranes i ampits.
Les escales del Generalife
L'aigua és l'essència del jardí, amb estanys i estanyols. Per connectar la part superior del parc amb els Jardins Amargós -actualment Jardins del Teatre Grec-, Forestier va fer una escala inspirada en la dels jardins del Generalife, amb cascades als passamans, estanyols amb brolladors als replans i bancs d'obra per reposar i gaudir de la fresca i el so de l'aigua.
Els jardins de la font del Gat
Unes pèrgoles mirador porten d'uns jardins als altres, units per eixos de rampes, escales i cascades que desemboquen a la font del Gat, des de la qual es poden contemplar unes magnífiques vistes de Barcelona.
Ocupen el pendent que va des de la part més alta dels Jardins Laribal fins al passeig de Santa Madrona, i integren la popular font del Gat i un edifici del segle dinou. Es tracta d'un conjunt de camins, terrasses i racons que s'adapten al relleu del terreny amb escales, rampes i una cascada monumental amb quatre seccions separades per camins i canals, que van connectant els diferents trams.
Tot està cobert d'una espessa fronda mediterrània i d'arbres fruiters, com ara nesprers i figueres, i palmeres d'enormes capçades. Si ens ho mirem des de baix, a tocar del pg. de Santa Madrona, uns xiprers altíssims situats a l'inici de la cascada accentuen la verticalitat del conjunt.
El roserar de la Colla de l'Arròs
Una glorieta de xiprers, amb una petita font al centre, marca l'inici d'un recorregut que, sota una pèrgola amb pilars de terracota, porta a un pati ovalat i reclòs, també envoltat de xiprers: és el roserar de la Colla de l'Arròs.
El jardí es configura en diversos plans, amb aire de pati, que estan vorejats per vorades, també de xiprer, i rengleres de troanes. En diversos parterres rectangulars hi ha plantades varietats antigues de rosers. Al centre destaca un bassinyol quadrangular amb rajols esmaltats, presidit a la part de dalt per Estival, un nu femení de marbre que contempla el roserar i, més enllà, Barcelona.
La plaça del Claustre
És a tocar del passeig de Santa Madrona i, de fet, es tracta del Jardí de Sant Miquel, on destaquen tres grans plàtans ja existents abans que Forestier dissenyés els jardins. Al fons, els murs del que fou una antiga pedrera confereixen a aquesta part dels jardins Laribal un aire reclòs i claustral. D'aquí el seu nom. A la dreta, un passadís comunica amb els Jardins del Teatre Grec.
Vegetació
La vegetació madura i mediterrània dóna sentit als jardins. Així, hi ha, entre d'altres espècies, pins blancs (Pinus halepensis), pins pinyers (Pinus pinea), llorers (Laurus nobilis), tarongers amargs (Citrus aurantium) i xiprers (Cupressus sempervirens).
Les escales del Generalife estan envoltades per grans acàcies (Robinia pseudoacacia) i arbustos com la troana (Ligustrum lucidum) i el pitòspor (Pittosporum tobira), una espècie arbustiva molt abundant als jardins, juntament amb el baladre (Nerium oleander) i l'evònim del Japó (Evonymus japonicus).
En testos de terracota, llueixen les elegants fulles de saló (Aspidistra elatior) i els geranis (Pelargonium sp.), i cobrint les pèrgoles, anglesines (Wisteria sinensis) i Rosa banksiae. En diferents llocs dels jardins hi ha plantes aromàtiques, com l'espígol (Lavandula angustifolia) i el romaní (Rosmarinus officinalis), i espècies entapissants com l'heura (Hedera helix)
Els Jardins de Laribal també hi ha pins australians (Casuarina cunninghamiana), eucaliptus (Eucalyptus globulus), xiprers de Lambert (Cupressus macrocarpa), cedres de l'Himàlaia (Cedrus deodara) i, a la plaça del Claustre, tres grans exemplars de plàtan (Platanus X hispanica).
Art i arquitectura
L'escultura és notable en aquests jardins, tant per la seva qualitat com per la seva bellesa. Presidint el roserar hi ha Estival, de Jaume Otero (1929), una figura femenina asseguda d'estil art déco feta de marbre.
La Noia de la trena, de Josep Viladomat (1928), és un altre nu femení, en aquest cas de bronze, i representa una noia jove recollint-se els cabells en una trena. És en una placeta ombrívola, molt a prop de les escales que comuniquen amb altres nivells dels jardins.
La tercera escultura també és d'una dona i de Josep Viladomat, que la va fer partint d'un original de Manolo Hugué. Es tracta de Repòs (1925), un nu femení de pedra de mida natural situat en una placeta circular molt a prop de l'entrada que hi ha al costat de la Fundació Joan Miró.
A prop del roserar hi ha una font de ceràmica esmaltada amb motius marins, coronada amb un brollador, obra del ceramista Llorenç Artigas.
La font del Gat
L'aigua que raja de la font del Gat ho fa des del cap d'un felí, esculpit per Joan Antoni Homs el 1918, que és quan van quedar enllestits els Jardins Laribal. Aquesta font era una de les moltes que aleshores rajava a Barcelona, i el lloc on està situada, molt popular a la ciutat a finals del segle XIX.
Tan popular era la font, que el periodista i autor teatral Joan Amich va escriure una cançó: "La Marieta de l'ull viu", que avui encara es canta i que inclou l'estrofa: "Baixant de la font del Gat, / una noia, una noia, / baixant de la font del Gat / una noia amb un soldat...".
Història
Al començament del segle passat, la zona que avui ocupen els jardins Laribal era lloc de trobades populars, sobretot a la font del Gat, o de reunions selectes, com ara les que feia la Colla de l'Arròs, un grup entre gastronòmic i polític que va tenir una certa influència a la Barcelona de la darreria del segle XIX i principi del XX, i que es reunia en un petit edifici situat on ara hi ha el Museu Etnològic.
La part alta dels actuals jardins pertanyia a la finca de Josep Laribal, un prestigiós advocat el nom del qual s'ha perpetuat als jardins. S'hi va fer construir un xalet neoàrab, envoltat d'uns jardins eclèctics, amb grans arbres.
Mort Laribal, el 1908 la finca va ser adquirida per l'Ajuntament, que hi va fundar l'Escola del Bosc, encara existent. Simultàniament, es van iniciar els estudis per urbanitzar i enjardinar la muntanya, amb un projecte global que va ser encarregat inicialment a Josep Amargós.
L'Exposició de 1929
Els Jardins de Laribal, enllestits el 1922, estan vinculats a un esdeveniment posterior: l'Exposició Internacional de Barcelona de 1929. Aquest esdeveniment va representar la culminació d'un projecte iniciat l'any 1905 per organitzar a Montjuïc una exposició sobre les indústries elèctriques, l'energia emergent d'aquell temps.
Un dels comissaris de l'Exposició Internacional de Barcelona va ser Francesc Cambó, que va encarregar els treballs d'enjardinament a l'enginyer i paisatgista francès Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier. Va ser ajudant seu el jove arquitecte Nicolau M. Rubió i Tudurí, que el 1917 es convertiria en el director de la Direcció de Parcs Públics i Arbrat, antecedent del Servei de Parcs i Jardins de Barcelona, del qual va ser primer responsable i una de les persones determinants en el futur desenvolupament dels espais verds públics de la ciutat.
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These gardens are one of the treasures of the Park of Montjuïc and taking a stroll around them is a real pleasure. The rich plant life, together with the water that flows delicately through the wide handrails; the tiled benches and the small squares all create exceptionally beautiful gardens. It is a place to be, to gaze at and to discover the thousands of details that shape a harmony that is difficult to surpass.
The historically-important Laribal Gardens are sculpted by terraces, pathways, small squares, ponds and lush, established plant life. A series of terraces are linked by paths and steeply sloped shortcuts, with stretches of differently designed stairways interspersed. The flattest areas are afforded shade by exposed brick, stone and white pillar pergolas. The mostly exotic plant life has a rich and varied range of species.
Mediterranean Gardens
These gardens, which were included in the International Exposition of Barcelona (a World's Fair) in 1929, were greatly reputed. The garden's designers, Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier and Nicolau M. Rubió Tudurí, created a new style of Mediterranean landscaping.
The pre-existing plant life, from native plants to fruit trees from the mountain's agricultural past, was integrated into the gardens with an original and innovative gardening concept that is openly inspired by the ancient Arabian gardens and from the "Carmenes" in Granada with prominent ceramic tiles, ornamental water features and flowering plants in pots on railings and parapets.
The Stairway of the Generalife Gardens
Water is the essence of this garden, with its large and small ponds. In order to connect the upper area of the park with the Amargós Gardens, now the Teatre Grec Gardens, Forestier designed a stairway inspired by the one in the Generalife Gardens, with waterfalls on the banisters, small ponds with fountains on the landings and benches for relaxing and enjoying the freshness and sound of the water.
The Gardens of the Font del Gat
Viewpoint pergolas link the gardens with ramps, stairs and waterfalls that flow into the Font del Gat ("Fountain of the Cat"), a point at which magnificent views of Barcelona can be enjoyed.
The gardens lie on the slope from the highest point of the Laribal Gardens down to the Passeig de Santa Madrona and include the popular Font del Gat and a nineteenth-century building. There are paths, terraces and corners that adapt to the terrain with stairways, ramps and a monumental waterfall with four sections separated by paths and canals that connect the different areas.
Everything is covered in a thick, Mediterranean foliage, fruit trees such as loquat and fig and enormous palm trees. From the Passeig de Santa Madrona below, some very tall cypresses by the waterfall accentuate its height.
The Rose Gardens of the Colla de l'Arròs
A circle of cypress trees with a small fountain in the centre marks the beginning of a path that, beneath a pergola with terracotta pillars, leads to an oval patio surrounded by cypresses. These are the Rose Gardens of the Colla de l'Arròs.
These gardens are arranged on different levels with the feeling of being on a patio, bordered by rows of cypresses and privets. In various rectangular parterres, many diverse old varieties of roses have been planted. At the centre is a square pool with ceramic tiles, dominated by the marble female nude sculpture "Estival", who looks over the rose garden and beyond to Barcelona.
Plaça del Claustre
From the Sant Miquel Garden, next to the Passeig de Santa Madrona, there are three large London Plane trees that existed before Forestier designed the gardens. At the end, the walls of what was once an old quarry gives this part of the Laribal Gardens a confined and cloister-like air. This is where it gets its name. On the right there is a path that connects the gardens with the Teatre Grec Gardens.
Plant Life
The mature and Mediterranean plant life gives the gardens meaning. Among other species there are Aleppo Pines (Pinus halepensis), Umbrella Pines (Pinus pinea), Bay Laurels (Laurus nobilis), Bitter Orange trees (Citrus aurantium) and Mediterranean Cypresses (Cupressus sempervirens).
The Generalife stairs are surrounded by large Black Locust trees (Robinia pseudoacacia) and shrubs such as the Chinese Privet (Ligustrum lucidum) and the Pittosporum (Pittosporum tobira), a species in abundance in the gardens along with the Oleander (Nerium oleander) and the Japanese Spindle tree (Euonymus japonicus).
The elegant leaves of an Aspidistra elatior shine in terracotta pots and Garden Geraniums (Pelargonium sp.), Chinese Wisterias (Wisteria sinensis) and Lady Banks' Roses (Rosa banksiae) cover the pergolas. In different areas around the gardens aromatic plants like Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), Rosemary (Rosmarinus offcinalis) and climbing plants such as Ivy (Hedera helix) can be found.
In the Laribal Gardens there are also River Oaks (Casuarina cunninghamiana), Tasmanian Blue Gums (Eucalyptus globules), Monterey Cypresses (Cupressus macrocarpa) Deodar Cedar (Cedrus deodara) and in Plaça del Claustre, three large London Planes (Platanus X hispanica).
Art and Architecture
The sculptures are notable in these gardens, both for their quality and their beauty. There is an Art Deco style marble female nude, "Estival" (1929) by Jaume Otero, that dominates the rose garden.
The "Noia de la trena" (1928) by Joseph Viladomar is another female nude, in this case made of bronze, which represents a young girl plaiting her hair. It is in a small shaded square, close to the stairway that links to other areas of the gardens.
The third sculpture is again of a woman and by Joseph Viladomar and was based on the Manolo Hugué original. "Repòs" (1925) a life-sized female nude made of stone situated in a small square close to the entrance next to the Joan Miró Foundation.
Near the rose garden, there is a glazed ceramic fountain influenced by the sea, crowned by a jet, which was the work of Llorenç Artigas.
The Font del Gat
The water from the Font del Gat ("Fountain of the Cat") pours from a feline head, sculpted by Joan Antoni Homs in 1918, when the Laribal Gardens were being finished. This fountain is one of many that flowed in Barcelona at the time and is situated in a place in the city that was very popular at the end of the nineteenth century.
The fountain was so popular that the journalist and playwright Joan Amich wrote a song about it: "La Marieta de l'ull viu" that is still sung today and includes the verse: "Baixant de la font del Gat, / una noia, una noia, / baixant de la font del Gat / una noia amb un soldat..." ("Coming down from the cat Fountain / a girl, a girl / Coming down from the cat Fountain / a girl with a soldier...").
History
The area where the Laribal Gardens now lie was a popular meeting place at the beginning of the last century, in particular the Font del Gat, which was also an area for exclusive gatherings, such as those of Colla de l'Arròs, a gastronomic-political group who had a certain influence over Barcelona at the turn of the last century, would meet in a small building situated where the Museu Etnològic (Ethnological Museum) now stands.
The upper part of the current gardens once belonged to Joseph Laribal, an esteemed lawyer whose name the gardens bear. He built a neo-Arabian chalet, surrounded by eclectic gardens, with large trees.
After Laribal died in 1908, the house was acquired by the Town Council, which established the Escola del Bosc, which still exists to this day. Simultaneously, studies began for the development and gardening of the mountain, a comprehensive project that was initially the responsibility of Josep Amargós.
The 1929 World's Fair
Completed in 1922, the Laribal Gardens are linked to a later event: the International Exposition of Barcelona of 1929 (a World's Fair). This event represented the culmination of a project which began in 1905 to organise an exhibition on Montjuïc about the electrical industries, the emerging energy at the time.
One of the commissioners at the International Exhibition of Barcelona was Francesc Cambó, who was responsible for the gardening and engineering work and the work of the French landscape architect Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier. His assistant was the young architect Nicolau M. Rubió I Tudurí, who, in 1917, became the director of the Public and Wooded Parks Board, the predecessor of the Parks and Gardens Service of Barcelona, of which he was mainly responsible and one of the key people in the development of green spaces in the city.
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Es una de las perlas del Parque de Montjuïc y pasearse por ellos es un autentica delicia. La riquísima vegetación, junto con el agua que baja por cascadas y se escurre delicadamente en medio de amplias barandillas, los bancos de ladrillo y las placetas, crean un conjunto de una belleza excepcional. Es un lugar en el que estar, para contemplarlo e ir descubriendo los miles de detalles que lo configuran, con una armonía difícil de superar.
Los Jardines de Laribal, de gran valor histórico, están formados por terrazas, caminos, placetas, pequeños estanques y una vegetación lozana y consolidada. Una serie de terrazas sobrepuestas están unidas entre si por caminos y atajos de gran pendiente, con tramos de escaleras intercalados de diseño siempre diferente. Pérgolas de ladrillo visto, piedra y pilares blancos dan sombra a las zonas más llanas. La vegetación, exótica en su mayoría, es rica y variada en especies.
Jardines mediterráneos
Estos jardines, incluidos en el recinto de la Exposición Internacional de Barcelona de 1929, obtuvieron una gran reputación. Sus autores, Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier y Nicolau M. Rubió Tudurí, crearon un nuevo estilo paisajístico de raíz mediterránea.
La vegetación preexistente, desde plantas autóctonas hasta árboles frutales del pasado agrícola de la montaña, se integró en los jardines con un concepto de jardinería renovador y original, que sigue libremente la inspiración de los antiguos jardines árabes y de los "cármenes" de Granada, con una gran presencia de azulejos de cerámica, aguas ornamentales y el cultivo de plantas de flor en macetas colocadas en barandillas y alféizares.
Las escaleras del Generalife
El agua es la esencia del jardín, con pequeños y grandes estanques. Para conectar la parte superior del parque con los Jardines Amargós, actualmente Jardines del Teatre Grec, Forestier diseñó una escalera inspirada en la de los jardines del Generalife, con cascadas en los pasamanos, estanques con fuentes en los rellanos y bancos de piedra para reponerse y disfrutar del frescor y el sonido del agua.
Los jardines de la Font del Gat
Unas pérgolas mirador llevan de unos jardines a otros, unidos por ejes de rampas, escaleras y cascadas que desembocan en la Font del Gat desde donde se pueden contemplar unas magníficas vistas de Barcelona.
Ocupan la pendiente que va desde la parte más alta de los jardines Laribal hasta el paseo de Santa Madrona e integran la popular Font del Gat y un edificio decimonónico. Se trata de un conjunto de caminos, terrazas y rincones que se adaptan al relieve con escaleras, rampas y una cascada monumental con cuatro secciones separadas por caminos y canales, que van conectando los diferentes tramos.
Todo está cubierto por un espeso follaje mediterráneo y árboles frutales, como nísperos e higueras y palmeras de enormes copas. Si lo miramos desde abajo, junto al paseo de Santa Madrona, vemos que los altísimos cipreses situados al inicio de la cascada acentúan la verticalidad del conjunto.
La rosaleda de la Colla de l'Arròs
Una glorieta de cipreses, con una pequeña fuente en el centro, marca el inicio de un recorrido que, debajo de una pérgola con pilares de terracota, conduce a un patio ovalado y recluido también rodeado de cipreses: la rosaleda de la Colla de l'Arròs
El jardín se configura en diferentes planos, con aire de patio, que están rodeados de cipreses e hileras de aligustres. En diferentes parterres rectangulares se han plantado antiguas variedades de rosales. En el centro destaca un pequeño estanque cuadrangular con azulejos esmaltados, presidido en la parte superior por Estival, una escultura de un desnudo femenino en mármol que contempla la rosaleda y, más allá, Barcelona.
La plaza del Claustre
De hecho se trata del jardín de Sant Miquel, junto al paseo de Santa Madrona, en el que destacan tres grandes plataneros que ya existían antes de que Forestier diseñara los jardines. Al fondo, los muros de lo que antes había sido una antigua cantera confieren a esta parte de los jardines Laribal un aire recluido y claustral. Y de aquí viene su nombre. A la derecha encontramos un corredor que comunica con los jardines del Teatre Grec.
Vegetación
La vegetación madura y mediterránea da sentido a los jardines. Así, entre otras especies, hay pinos carrascos (Pinus halepensis), pinos piñoneros (Pinus pinea), laureles (Laurus nobilis), naranjos amargos (Citrus aurantium) y cipreses (Cupressus sempervirens).
Las escaleras del Generalife están rodeadas de grandes acacias (Robinia pseudoacacia) y arbustos como el aligustre (Ligustrum lucidum) y el pitosporo (Pittosporum tobira), una especie de arbusto muy abundante en los jardines, junto con la adelfa (Nerium oleander) y el evónimo del Japón (Evonymus japonicus).
En macetas de terracota lucen las elegantes hojas de salón (Aspidistra elatior) y los geranios (Pelargonium sp.), al tiempo que las glicinias (Wisteria sinensis) y los rosales de Banksia (Rosa banksiae) cubren las pérgolas. En diferentes lugares de los jardines encontramos plantas aromáticas, como la lavanda (Lavandula angustifolia), el romero (Rosmarinus officinalis) y otras especies tapizantes como la hiedra (Hedera helix).
En los jardines de Laribal también encontramos pinos australianos (Casuarina cunninghamiana), eucaliptos (Eucalyptus globulus), cipreses de Lambert (Cupressus macrocarpa), cedros del Himalaya (Cedrus deodara) y, en la plaza del Claustre, tres grandes ejemplares de platanero (Platanus X hispanica).
Arte y arquitectura
En estos jardines la escultura es notable, tanto por su calidad como por su belleza. Presidiendo la rosaleda tenemos el Estival, de Jaume Otero (1929), una figura femenina sentada, de estilo art decó y realizada en mármol.
La Noia de la trena, de Josep Viladomat (1928), es otro desnudo femenino, en este caso de bronce, que representa una joven que se recoge el pelo en una trenza. Se encuentra en una placeta sombría muy cerca de las escaleras que comunican con los otros niveles de los jardines.
La tercera escultura también es de una mujer y de Josep Viladomat, que la realizó en base a un original de Manolo Hugué. Se trata de Repòs (1925), un desnudo femenino de piedra, a tamaño natural, situado en una placeta circular muy cerca de la entrada que hay al lado de la Fundació Joan Miró.
Cerca de la rosaleda se encuentra una fuente de cerámica esmaltada con motivos marinos, coronada con un surtidor, obra del ceramista Llorenç Artigas.
La Font del Gat
El agua de la Font del Gat mana desde la cabeza de un felino, esculpido por Joan Antoni Homs en 1918, año en el que se terminaron los jardines Laribal. Esta fuente era una de las muchas que manaban en aquellos momentos en Barcelona y, el lugar en el que se encuentra era muy popular en la ciudad a finales del siglo XIX.
La fuente era tan popular que el periodista y autor teatral Joan Amich escribió una canción: "La Marieta de l'ull viu", que todavía hoy se canta e incluye la estrofa: "Baixant de la font del Gat, / una noia, una noia, / baixant de la font del Gat / una noia amb un soldat...".
Historia
A principios del siglo pasado, en la zona que hoy ocupan los jardines Laribal se celebraban encuentros populares, sobre todo en la Font del Gat, o reuniones selectas, como las que hacía la Colla de l'Arròs, un grupo medio gastronómico medio político que tuvo una cierta influencia en la Barcelona del final del siglo XIX y principio del XX y que se reunía en un pequeño edificio situado donde ahora se encuentra el Museo Etnológico.
La parte alta de los actuales jardines pertenecía a la finca de Josep Laribal, un prestigioso abogado cuyo nombre se ha perpetuado en los jardines. Allí se hizo construir un chalet neoárabe, rodeado de unos jardines eclécticos, con grandes árboles.
Tras la muerte de Laribal en 1908, la finca fue adquirida por el Ayuntamiento que fundó en ella la Escola del Bosc, que todavía existe. Simultáneamente, se iniciaron los estudios para urbanizar y enjardinar la montaña, con un proyecto global que inicialmente se encargó a Josep Amargós.
La Exposición de 1929
Los jardines de Laribal, terminados en el 1922, también están vinculados con un acontecimiento posterior: la Exposición Internacional de Barcelona de 1929. Este acontecimiento representó la culminación de un proyecto iniciado en 1905 para organizar en Montjuïc una exposición sobre las industrias eléctricas, la energía emergente de aquel momento.
Uno de los comisarios de la Exposición Internacional de Barcelona fue Francesc Cambó, que encargó los trabajos de ajardinamiento al ingeniero y paisajista francés Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier. Su ayudante fue el joven arquitecto Nicolau M. Rubió i Tudurí, que en 1917 se convertiría en el director de la Dirección de Parques Públicos y Arbolado, antecedente del Servicio de Parques y Jardines de Barcelona, del que fue el primer responsable y una de las personas determinantes en el futuro desarrollo de los espacios verdes públicos de la ciudad.
Allison Aubrey
Correspondent, NPR News
Catherine Oakar
Special Assistant to the President for Public Health and Disparities, The White House
Tambra Raye Stevenson
Founder and CEO, Women Advancing Nutrition Dietetics and Agriculture
Sarah Fleisch Fink
Director for Policy Research and Development, Instacart
Rachel Krausman
Vice President, Social Determinants of Health, ProMedica
Repòs
per Josep Viladomat.
1925.
Els Jardins de Laribal
És una de les perles del Parc de Montjuïc i passejar-s'hi és una autèntica delícia. La vegetació riquíssima, juntament amb l'aigua que baixa per cascades i llisca delicadament pel mig d'amples baranes, els bancs de rajola i les placetes, creen un conjunt de bellesa excepcional. Aquest és un lloc per estar-s'hi, per contemplar-lo i per anar descobrint els mil detalls que el configuren, amb una harmonia difícil de superar.
Els Jardins de Laribal, de gran valor històric, estan configurats per terrasses, camins, placetes, bassinyols i una vegetació esponerosa i consolidada. Una sèrie de terrasses superposades estan unides entre elles per camins i dreceres de fort pendent, amb trams d'escales intercalats amb un disseny sempre diferent. Pèrgoles de maó vist, pedra i pilars blancs, ombregen les àrees més planeres. La vegetació, és majoritàriament exòtica, rica i variada en espècies.
Jardins mediterranis
Aquests jardins, inclosos dins del recinte de l'Exposició Internacional de Barcelona de 1929, van obtenir una gran anomenada. Els seus autors, Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier i Nicolau M. Rubió Tudurí, van crear un nou estil paisatgístic d'arrel mediterrània.
La vegetació preexistent -des de plantes autòctones fins als arbres fruiters del passat agrícola de la muntanya-, es va integrar en els jardins amb un concepte de jardineria renovador i original, que segueix lliurement la inspiració dels antics jardins àrabs i dels "cármenes" de Granada, amb una gran presència de rajoles ceràmiques, aigües ornamentals i el conreu de plantes de flor en testos situats en baranes i ampits.
Les escales del Generalife
L'aigua és l'essència del jardí, amb estanys i estanyols. Per connectar la part superior del parc amb els Jardins Amargós -actualment Jardins del Teatre Grec-, Forestier va fer una escala inspirada en la dels jardins del Generalife, amb cascades als passamans, estanyols amb brolladors als replans i bancs d'obra per reposar i gaudir de la fresca i el so de l'aigua.
Els jardins de la font del Gat
Unes pèrgoles mirador porten d'uns jardins als altres, units per eixos de rampes, escales i cascades que desemboquen a la font del Gat, des de la qual es poden contemplar unes magnífiques vistes de Barcelona.
Ocupen el pendent que va des de la part més alta dels Jardins Laribal fins al passeig de Santa Madrona, i integren la popular font del Gat i un edifici del segle dinou. Es tracta d'un conjunt de camins, terrasses i racons que s'adapten al relleu del terreny amb escales, rampes i una cascada monumental amb quatre seccions separades per camins i canals, que van connectant els diferents trams.
Tot està cobert d'una espessa fronda mediterrània i d'arbres fruiters, com ara nesprers i figueres, i palmeres d'enormes capçades. Si ens ho mirem des de baix, a tocar del pg. de Santa Madrona, uns xiprers altíssims situats a l'inici de la cascada accentuen la verticalitat del conjunt.
El roserar de la Colla de l'Arròs
Una glorieta de xiprers, amb una petita font al centre, marca l'inici d'un recorregut que, sota una pèrgola amb pilars de terracota, porta a un pati ovalat i reclòs, també envoltat de xiprers: és el roserar de la Colla de l'Arròs.
El jardí es configura en diversos plans, amb aire de pati, que estan vorejats per vorades, també de xiprer, i rengleres de troanes. En diversos parterres rectangulars hi ha plantades varietats antigues de rosers. Al centre destaca un bassinyol quadrangular amb rajols esmaltats, presidit a la part de dalt per Estival, un nu femení de marbre que contempla el roserar i, més enllà, Barcelona.
La plaça del Claustre
És a tocar del passeig de Santa Madrona i, de fet, es tracta del Jardí de Sant Miquel, on destaquen tres grans plàtans ja existents abans que Forestier dissenyés els jardins. Al fons, els murs del que fou una antiga pedrera confereixen a aquesta part dels jardins Laribal un aire reclòs i claustral. D'aquí el seu nom. A la dreta, un passadís comunica amb els Jardins del Teatre Grec.
Vegetació
La vegetació madura i mediterrània dóna sentit als jardins. Així, hi ha, entre d'altres espècies, pins blancs (Pinus halepensis), pins pinyers (Pinus pinea), llorers (Laurus nobilis), tarongers amargs (Citrus aurantium) i xiprers (Cupressus sempervirens).
Les escales del Generalife estan envoltades per grans acàcies (Robinia pseudoacacia) i arbustos com la troana (Ligustrum lucidum) i el pitòspor (Pittosporum tobira), una espècie arbustiva molt abundant als jardins, juntament amb el baladre (Nerium oleander) i l'evònim del Japó (Evonymus japonicus).
En testos de terracota, llueixen les elegants fulles de saló (Aspidistra elatior) i els geranis (Pelargonium sp.), i cobrint les pèrgoles, anglesines (Wisteria sinensis) i Rosa banksiae. En diferents llocs dels jardins hi ha plantes aromàtiques, com l'espígol (Lavandula angustifolia) i el romaní (Rosmarinus officinalis), i espècies entapissants com l'heura (Hedera helix)
Els Jardins de Laribal també hi ha pins australians (Casuarina cunninghamiana), eucaliptus (Eucalyptus globulus), xiprers de Lambert (Cupressus macrocarpa), cedres de l'Himàlaia (Cedrus deodara) i, a la plaça del Claustre, tres grans exemplars de plàtan (Platanus X hispanica).
Art i arquitectura
L'escultura és notable en aquests jardins, tant per la seva qualitat com per la seva bellesa. Presidint el roserar hi ha Estival, de Jaume Otero (1929), una figura femenina asseguda d'estil art déco feta de marbre.
La Noia de la trena, de Josep Viladomat (1928), és un altre nu femení, en aquest cas de bronze, i representa una noia jove recollint-se els cabells en una trena. És en una placeta ombrívola, molt a prop de les escales que comuniquen amb altres nivells dels jardins.
La tercera escultura també és d'una dona i de Josep Viladomat, que la va fer partint d'un original de Manolo Hugué. Es tracta de Repòs (1925), un nu femení de pedra de mida natural situat en una placeta circular molt a prop de l'entrada que hi ha al costat de la Fundació Joan Miró.
A prop del roserar hi ha una font de ceràmica esmaltada amb motius marins, coronada amb un brollador, obra del ceramista Llorenç Artigas.
La font del Gat
L'aigua que raja de la font del Gat ho fa des del cap d'un felí, esculpit per Joan Antoni Homs el 1918, que és quan van quedar enllestits els Jardins Laribal. Aquesta font era una de les moltes que aleshores rajava a Barcelona, i el lloc on està situada, molt popular a la ciutat a finals del segle XIX.
Tan popular era la font, que el periodista i autor teatral Joan Amich va escriure una cançó: "La Marieta de l'ull viu", que avui encara es canta i que inclou l'estrofa: "Baixant de la font del Gat, / una noia, una noia, / baixant de la font del Gat / una noia amb un soldat...".
Història
Al començament del segle passat, la zona que avui ocupen els jardins Laribal era lloc de trobades populars, sobretot a la font del Gat, o de reunions selectes, com ara les que feia la Colla de l'Arròs, un grup entre gastronòmic i polític que va tenir una certa influència a la Barcelona de la darreria del segle XIX i principi del XX, i que es reunia en un petit edifici situat on ara hi ha el Museu Etnològic.
La part alta dels actuals jardins pertanyia a la finca de Josep Laribal, un prestigiós advocat el nom del qual s'ha perpetuat als jardins. S'hi va fer construir un xalet neoàrab, envoltat d'uns jardins eclèctics, amb grans arbres.
Mort Laribal, el 1908 la finca va ser adquirida per l'Ajuntament, que hi va fundar l'Escola del Bosc, encara existent. Simultàniament, es van iniciar els estudis per urbanitzar i enjardinar la muntanya, amb un projecte global que va ser encarregat inicialment a Josep Amargós.
L'Exposició de 1929
Els Jardins de Laribal, enllestits el 1922, estan vinculats a un esdeveniment posterior: l'Exposició Internacional de Barcelona de 1929. Aquest esdeveniment va representar la culminació d'un projecte iniciat l'any 1905 per organitzar a Montjuïc una exposició sobre les indústries elèctriques, l'energia emergent d'aquell temps.
Un dels comissaris de l'Exposició Internacional de Barcelona va ser Francesc Cambó, que va encarregar els treballs d'enjardinament a l'enginyer i paisatgista francès Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier. Va ser ajudant seu el jove arquitecte Nicolau M. Rubió i Tudurí, que el 1917 es convertiria en el director de la Direcció de Parcs Públics i Arbrat, antecedent del Servei de Parcs i Jardins de Barcelona, del qual va ser primer responsable i una de les persones determinants en el futur desenvolupament dels espais verds públics de la ciutat.
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These gardens are one of the treasures of the Park of Montjuïc and taking a stroll around them is a real pleasure. The rich plant life, together with the water that flows delicately through the wide handrails; the tiled benches and the small squares all create exceptionally beautiful gardens. It is a place to be, to gaze at and to discover the thousands of details that shape a harmony that is difficult to surpass.
The historically-important Laribal Gardens are sculpted by terraces, pathways, small squares, ponds and lush, established plant life. A series of terraces are linked by paths and steeply sloped shortcuts, with stretches of differently designed stairways interspersed. The flattest areas are afforded shade by exposed brick, stone and white pillar pergolas. The mostly exotic plant life has a rich and varied range of species.
Mediterranean Gardens
These gardens, which were included in the International Exposition of Barcelona (a World's Fair) in 1929, were greatly reputed. The garden's designers, Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier and Nicolau M. Rubió Tudurí, created a new style of Mediterranean landscaping.
The pre-existing plant life, from native plants to fruit trees from the mountain's agricultural past, was integrated into the gardens with an original and innovative gardening concept that is openly inspired by the ancient Arabian gardens and from the "Carmenes" in Granada with prominent ceramic tiles, ornamental water features and flowering plants in pots on railings and parapets.
The Stairway of the Generalife Gardens
Water is the essence of this garden, with its large and small ponds. In order to connect the upper area of the park with the Amargós Gardens, now the Teatre Grec Gardens, Forestier designed a stairway inspired by the one in the Generalife Gardens, with waterfalls on the banisters, small ponds with fountains on the landings and benches for relaxing and enjoying the freshness and sound of the water.
The Gardens of the Font del Gat
Viewpoint pergolas link the gardens with ramps, stairs and waterfalls that flow into the Font del Gat ("Fountain of the Cat"), a point at which magnificent views of Barcelona can be enjoyed.
The gardens lie on the slope from the highest point of the Laribal Gardens down to the Passeig de Santa Madrona and include the popular Font del Gat and a nineteenth-century building. There are paths, terraces and corners that adapt to the terrain with stairways, ramps and a monumental waterfall with four sections separated by paths and canals that connect the different areas.
Everything is covered in a thick, Mediterranean foliage, fruit trees such as loquat and fig and enormous palm trees. From the Passeig de Santa Madrona below, some very tall cypresses by the waterfall accentuate its height.
The Rose Gardens of the Colla de l'Arròs
A circle of cypress trees with a small fountain in the centre marks the beginning of a path that, beneath a pergola with terracotta pillars, leads to an oval patio surrounded by cypresses. These are the Rose Gardens of the Colla de l'Arròs.
These gardens are arranged on different levels with the feeling of being on a patio, bordered by rows of cypresses and privets. In various rectangular parterres, many diverse old varieties of roses have been planted. At the centre is a square pool with ceramic tiles, dominated by the marble female nude sculpture "Estival", who looks over the rose garden and beyond to Barcelona.
Plaça del Claustre
From the Sant Miquel Garden, next to the Passeig de Santa Madrona, there are three large London Plane trees that existed before Forestier designed the gardens. At the end, the walls of what was once an old quarry gives this part of the Laribal Gardens a confined and cloister-like air. This is where it gets its name. On the right there is a path that connects the gardens with the Teatre Grec Gardens.
Plant Life
The mature and Mediterranean plant life gives the gardens meaning. Among other species there are Aleppo Pines (Pinus halepensis), Umbrella Pines (Pinus pinea), Bay Laurels (Laurus nobilis), Bitter Orange trees (Citrus aurantium) and Mediterranean Cypresses (Cupressus sempervirens).
The Generalife stairs are surrounded by large Black Locust trees (Robinia pseudoacacia) and shrubs such as the Chinese Privet (Ligustrum lucidum) and the Pittosporum (Pittosporum tobira), a species in abundance in the gardens along with the Oleander (Nerium oleander) and the Japanese Spindle tree (Euonymus japonicus).
The elegant leaves of an Aspidistra elatior shine in terracotta pots and Garden Geraniums (Pelargonium sp.), Chinese Wisterias (Wisteria sinensis) and Lady Banks' Roses (Rosa banksiae) cover the pergolas. In different areas around the gardens aromatic plants like Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), Rosemary (Rosmarinus offcinalis) and climbing plants such as Ivy (Hedera helix) can be found.
In the Laribal Gardens there are also River Oaks (Casuarina cunninghamiana), Tasmanian Blue Gums (Eucalyptus globules), Monterey Cypresses (Cupressus macrocarpa) Deodar Cedar (Cedrus deodara) and in Plaça del Claustre, three large London Planes (Platanus X hispanica).
Art and Architecture
The sculptures are notable in these gardens, both for their quality and their beauty. There is an Art Deco style marble female nude, "Estival" (1929) by Jaume Otero, that dominates the rose garden.
The "Noia de la trena" (1928) by Joseph Viladomar is another female nude, in this case made of bronze, which represents a young girl plaiting her hair. It is in a small shaded square, close to the stairway that links to other areas of the gardens.
The third sculpture is again of a woman and by Joseph Viladomar and was based on the Manolo Hugué original. "Repòs" (1925) a life-sized female nude made of stone situated in a small square close to the entrance next to the Joan Miró Foundation.
Near the rose garden, there is a glazed ceramic fountain influenced by the sea, crowned by a jet, which was the work of Llorenç Artigas.
The Font del Gat
The water from the Font del Gat ("Fountain of the Cat") pours from a feline head, sculpted by Joan Antoni Homs in 1918, when the Laribal Gardens were being finished. This fountain is one of many that flowed in Barcelona at the time and is situated in a place in the city that was very popular at the end of the nineteenth century.
The fountain was so popular that the journalist and playwright Joan Amich wrote a song about it: "La Marieta de l'ull viu" that is still sung today and includes the verse: "Baixant de la font del Gat, / una noia, una noia, / baixant de la font del Gat / una noia amb un soldat..." ("Coming down from the cat Fountain / a girl, a girl / Coming down from the cat Fountain / a girl with a soldier...").
History
The area where the Laribal Gardens now lie was a popular meeting place at the beginning of the last century, in particular the Font del Gat, which was also an area for exclusive gatherings, such as those of Colla de l'Arròs, a gastronomic-political group who had a certain influence over Barcelona at the turn of the last century, would meet in a small building situated where the Museu Etnològic (Ethnological Museum) now stands.
The upper part of the current gardens once belonged to Joseph Laribal, an esteemed lawyer whose name the gardens bear. He built a neo-Arabian chalet, surrounded by eclectic gardens, with large trees.
After Laribal died in 1908, the house was acquired by the Town Council, which established the Escola del Bosc, which still exists to this day. Simultaneously, studies began for the development and gardening of the mountain, a comprehensive project that was initially the responsibility of Josep Amargós.
The 1929 World's Fair
Completed in 1922, the Laribal Gardens are linked to a later event: the International Exposition of Barcelona of 1929 (a World's Fair). This event represented the culmination of a project which began in 1905 to organise an exhibition on Montjuïc about the electrical industries, the emerging energy at the time.
One of the commissioners at the International Exhibition of Barcelona was Francesc Cambó, who was responsible for the gardening and engineering work and the work of the French landscape architect Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier. His assistant was the young architect Nicolau M. Rubió I Tudurí, who, in 1917, became the director of the Public and Wooded Parks Board, the predecessor of the Parks and Gardens Service of Barcelona, of which he was mainly responsible and one of the key people in the development of green spaces in the city.
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Es una de las perlas del Parque de Montjuïc y pasearse por ellos es un autentica delicia. La riquísima vegetación, junto con el agua que baja por cascadas y se escurre delicadamente en medio de amplias barandillas, los bancos de ladrillo y las placetas, crean un conjunto de una belleza excepcional. Es un lugar en el que estar, para contemplarlo e ir descubriendo los miles de detalles que lo configuran, con una armonía difícil de superar.
Los Jardines de Laribal, de gran valor histórico, están formados por terrazas, caminos, placetas, pequeños estanques y una vegetación lozana y consolidada. Una serie de terrazas sobrepuestas están unidas entre si por caminos y atajos de gran pendiente, con tramos de escaleras intercalados de diseño siempre diferente. Pérgolas de ladrillo visto, piedra y pilares blancos dan sombra a las zonas más llanas. La vegetación, exótica en su mayoría, es rica y variada en especies.
Jardines mediterráneos
Estos jardines, incluidos en el recinto de la Exposición Internacional de Barcelona de 1929, obtuvieron una gran reputación. Sus autores, Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier y Nicolau M. Rubió Tudurí, crearon un nuevo estilo paisajístico de raíz mediterránea.
La vegetación preexistente, desde plantas autóctonas hasta árboles frutales del pasado agrícola de la montaña, se integró en los jardines con un concepto de jardinería renovador y original, que sigue libremente la inspiración de los antiguos jardines árabes y de los "cármenes" de Granada, con una gran presencia de azulejos de cerámica, aguas ornamentales y el cultivo de plantas de flor en macetas colocadas en barandillas y alféizares.
Las escaleras del Generalife
El agua es la esencia del jardín, con pequeños y grandes estanques. Para conectar la parte superior del parque con los Jardines Amargós, actualmente Jardines del Teatre Grec, Forestier diseñó una escalera inspirada en la de los jardines del Generalife, con cascadas en los pasamanos, estanques con fuentes en los rellanos y bancos de piedra para reponerse y disfrutar del frescor y el sonido del agua.
Los jardines de la Font del Gat
Unas pérgolas mirador llevan de unos jardines a otros, unidos por ejes de rampas, escaleras y cascadas que desembocan en la Font del Gat desde donde se pueden contemplar unas magníficas vistas de Barcelona.
Ocupan la pendiente que va desde la parte más alta de los jardines Laribal hasta el paseo de Santa Madrona e integran la popular Font del Gat y un edificio decimonónico. Se trata de un conjunto de caminos, terrazas y rincones que se adaptan al relieve con escaleras, rampas y una cascada monumental con cuatro secciones separadas por caminos y canales, que van conectando los diferentes tramos.
Todo está cubierto por un espeso follaje mediterráneo y árboles frutales, como nísperos e higueras y palmeras de enormes copas. Si lo miramos desde abajo, junto al paseo de Santa Madrona, vemos que los altísimos cipreses situados al inicio de la cascada acentúan la verticalidad del conjunto.
La rosaleda de la Colla de l'Arròs
Una glorieta de cipreses, con una pequeña fuente en el centro, marca el inicio de un recorrido que, debajo de una pérgola con pilares de terracota, conduce a un patio ovalado y recluido también rodeado de cipreses: la rosaleda de la Colla de l'Arròs
El jardín se configura en diferentes planos, con aire de patio, que están rodeados de cipreses e hileras de aligustres. En diferentes parterres rectangulares se han plantado antiguas variedades de rosales. En el centro destaca un pequeño estanque cuadrangular con azulejos esmaltados, presidido en la parte superior por Estival, una escultura de un desnudo femenino en mármol que contempla la rosaleda y, más allá, Barcelona.
La plaza del Claustre
De hecho se trata del jardín de Sant Miquel, junto al paseo de Santa Madrona, en el que destacan tres grandes plataneros que ya existían antes de que Forestier diseñara los jardines. Al fondo, los muros de lo que antes había sido una antigua cantera confieren a esta parte de los jardines Laribal un aire recluido y claustral. Y de aquí viene su nombre. A la derecha encontramos un corredor que comunica con los jardines del Teatre Grec.
Vegetación
La vegetación madura y mediterránea da sentido a los jardines. Así, entre otras especies, hay pinos carrascos (Pinus halepensis), pinos piñoneros (Pinus pinea), laureles (Laurus nobilis), naranjos amargos (Citrus aurantium) y cipreses (Cupressus sempervirens).
Las escaleras del Generalife están rodeadas de grandes acacias (Robinia pseudoacacia) y arbustos como el aligustre (Ligustrum lucidum) y el pitosporo (Pittosporum tobira), una especie de arbusto muy abundante en los jardines, junto con la adelfa (Nerium oleander) y el evónimo del Japón (Evonymus japonicus).
En macetas de terracota lucen las elegantes hojas de salón (Aspidistra elatior) y los geranios (Pelargonium sp.), al tiempo que las glicinias (Wisteria sinensis) y los rosales de Banksia (Rosa banksiae) cubren las pérgolas. En diferentes lugares de los jardines encontramos plantas aromáticas, como la lavanda (Lavandula angustifolia), el romero (Rosmarinus officinalis) y otras especies tapizantes como la hiedra (Hedera helix).
En los jardines de Laribal también encontramos pinos australianos (Casuarina cunninghamiana), eucaliptos (Eucalyptus globulus), cipreses de Lambert (Cupressus macrocarpa), cedros del Himalaya (Cedrus deodara) y, en la plaza del Claustre, tres grandes ejemplares de platanero (Platanus X hispanica).
Arte y arquitectura
En estos jardines la escultura es notable, tanto por su calidad como por su belleza. Presidiendo la rosaleda tenemos el Estival, de Jaume Otero (1929), una figura femenina sentada, de estilo art decó y realizada en mármol.
La Noia de la trena, de Josep Viladomat (1928), es otro desnudo femenino, en este caso de bronce, que representa una joven que se recoge el pelo en una trenza. Se encuentra en una placeta sombría muy cerca de las escaleras que comunican con los otros niveles de los jardines.
La tercera escultura también es de una mujer y de Josep Viladomat, que la realizó en base a un original de Manolo Hugué. Se trata de Repòs (1925), un desnudo femenino de piedra, a tamaño natural, situado en una placeta circular muy cerca de la entrada que hay al lado de la Fundació Joan Miró.
Cerca de la rosaleda se encuentra una fuente de cerámica esmaltada con motivos marinos, coronada con un surtidor, obra del ceramista Llorenç Artigas.
La Font del Gat
El agua de la Font del Gat mana desde la cabeza de un felino, esculpido por Joan Antoni Homs en 1918, año en el que se terminaron los jardines Laribal. Esta fuente era una de las muchas que manaban en aquellos momentos en Barcelona y, el lugar en el que se encuentra era muy popular en la ciudad a finales del siglo XIX.
La fuente era tan popular que el periodista y autor teatral Joan Amich escribió una canción: "La Marieta de l'ull viu", que todavía hoy se canta e incluye la estrofa: "Baixant de la font del Gat, / una noia, una noia, / baixant de la font del Gat / una noia amb un soldat...".
Historia
A principios del siglo pasado, en la zona que hoy ocupan los jardines Laribal se celebraban encuentros populares, sobre todo en la Font del Gat, o reuniones selectas, como las que hacía la Colla de l'Arròs, un grupo medio gastronómico medio político que tuvo una cierta influencia en la Barcelona del final del siglo XIX y principio del XX y que se reunía en un pequeño edificio situado donde ahora se encuentra el Museo Etnológico.
La parte alta de los actuales jardines pertenecía a la finca de Josep Laribal, un prestigioso abogado cuyo nombre se ha perpetuado en los jardines. Allí se hizo construir un chalet neoárabe, rodeado de unos jardines eclécticos, con grandes árboles.
Tras la muerte de Laribal en 1908, la finca fue adquirida por el Ayuntamiento que fundó en ella la Escola del Bosc, que todavía existe. Simultáneamente, se iniciaron los estudios para urbanizar y enjardinar la montaña, con un proyecto global que inicialmente se encargó a Josep Amargós.
La Exposición de 1929
Los jardines de Laribal, terminados en el 1922, también están vinculados con un acontecimiento posterior: la Exposición Internacional de Barcelona de 1929. Este acontecimiento representó la culminación de un proyecto iniciado en 1905 para organizar en Montjuïc una exposición sobre las industrias eléctricas, la energía emergente de aquel momento.
Uno de los comisarios de la Exposición Internacional de Barcelona fue Francesc Cambó, que encargó los trabajos de ajardinamiento al ingeniero y paisajista francés Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier. Su ayudante fue el joven arquitecto Nicolau M. Rubió i Tudurí, que en 1917 se convertiría en el director de la Dirección de Parques Públicos y Arbolado, antecedente del Servicio de Parques y Jardines de Barcelona, del que fue el primer responsable y una de las personas determinantes en el futuro desarrollo de los espacios verdes públicos de la ciudad.
Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling. (Weft is an old English word meaning "that which is woven"; compare leave and left.[a]) The method in which these threads are inter-woven affects the characteristics of the cloth. Cloth is usually woven on a loom, a device that holds the warp threads in place while filling threads are woven through them. A fabric band which meets this definition of cloth (warp threads with a weft thread winding between) can also be made using other methods, including tablet weaving, back strap loom, or other techniques without looms.
The way the warp and filling threads interlace with each other is called the weave. The majority of woven products are created with one of three basic weaves: plain weave, satin weave, or twill. Woven cloth can be plain (in one colour or a simple pattern), or can be woven in decorative or artistic design.
PROCESS AND TERMINOLOGY
In general, weaving involves using a loom to interlace two sets of threads at right angles to each other: the warp which runs longitudinally and the weft (older woof) that crosses it. One warp thread is called an end and one weft thread is called a pick. The warp threads are held taut and in parallel to each other, typically in a loom. There are many types of looms.
Weaving can be summarized as a repetition of these three actions, also called the primary motion of the loom.
Shedding: where the warp threads (ends) are separated by raising or lowering heald frames (heddles) to form a clear space where the pick can pass
Picking: where the weft or pick is propelled across the loom by hand, an air-jet, a rapier or a shuttle.
Beating-up or battening: where the weft is pushed up against the fell of the cloth by the reed.
The warp is divided into two overlapping groups, or lines (most often adjacent threads belonging to the opposite group) that run in two planes, one above another, so the shuttle can be passed between them in a straight motion. Then, the upper group is lowered by the loom mechanism, and the lower group is raised (shedding), allowing to pass the shuttle in the opposite direction, also in a straight motion. Repeating these actions form a fabric mesh but without beating-up, the final distance between the adjacent wefts would be irregular and far too large.
The secondary motion of the loom are the:
Let off Motion: where the warp is let off the warp beam at a regulated speed to make the filling even and of the required design
Take up Motion: Takes up the woven fabric in a regulated manner so that the density of filling is maintained
The tertiary motions of the loom are the stop motions: to stop the loom in the event of a thread break. The two main stop motions are the
warp stop motion
weft stop motion
The principal parts of a loom are the frame, the warp-beam or weavers beam, the cloth-roll (apron bar), the heddles, and their mounting, the reed. The warp-beam is a wooden or metal cylinder on the back of the loom on which the warp is delivered. The threads of the warp extend in parallel order from the warp-beam to the front of the loom where they are attached to the cloth-roll. Each thread or group of threads of the warp passes through an opening (eye) in a heddle. The warp threads are separated by the heddles into two or more groups, each controlled and automatically drawn up and down by the motion of the heddles. In the case of small patterns the movement of the heddles is controlled by "cams" which move up the heddles by means of a frame called a harness; in larger patterns the heddles are controlled by a dobby mechanism, where the healds are raised according to pegs inserted into a revolving drum. Where a complex design is required, the healds are raised by harness cords attached to a Jacquard machine. Every time the harness (the heddles) moves up or down, an opening (shed) is made between the threads of warp, through which the pick is inserted. Traditionally the weft thread is inserted by a shuttle.
On a conventional loom, the weft thread is carried on a pirn, in a shuttle that passes through the shed. A handloom weaver could propel the shuttle by throwing it from side to side with the aid of a picking stick. The "picking" on a power loom is done by rapidly hitting the shuttle from each side using an overpick or underpick mechanism controlled by cams 80–250 times a minute. When a pirn is depleted, it is ejected from the shuttle and replaced with the next pirn held in a battery attached to the loom. Multiple shuttle boxes allow more than one shuttle to be used. Each can carry a different colour which allows banding across the loom.
The rapier-type weaving machines do not have shuttles, they propel the weft by means of small grippers or rapiers that pick up the filling thread and carry it halfway across the loom where another rapier picks it up and pulls it the rest of the way. Some carry the filling yarns across the loom at rates in excess of 2,000 metres per minute. Manufacturers such as Picanol have reduced the mechanical adjustments to a minimum, and control all the functions through a computer with a graphical user interface. Other types use compressed air to insert the pick. They are all fast, versatile and quiet.
The warp is sized in a starch mixture for smoother running. The loom warped (loomed or dressed) by passing the sized warp threads through two or more heddles attached to harnesses. The power weavers loom is warped by separate workers. Most looms used for industrial purposes have a machine that ties new warps threads to the waste of previously used warps threads, while still on the loom, then an operator rolls the old and new threads back on the warp beam. The harnesses are controlled by cams, dobbies or a Jacquard head.
The raising and lowering sequence of warp threads in various sequences gives rise to many possible weave structures:
plain weave: plain, and hopsacks, poplin, taffeta, poult-de-soie, pibiones and grosgrain.
twill weave: these are described by weft float followed by warp float, arranged to give diagonal pattern. 2/1 twill, 3/3 twill, 1/2 twill. These are softer fabrics than plain weaves.
satin weave: satins and sateens,
complex computer-generated interlacings.
pile fabrics : such as velvets and velveteens
Both warp and weft can be visible in the final product. By spacing the warp more closely, it can completely cover the weft that binds it, giving a warp faced textile such as repp weave. Conversely, if the warp is spread out, the weft can slide down and completely cover the warp, giving a weft faced textile, such as a tapestry or a Kilim rug. There are a variety of loom styles for hand weaving and tapestry.
HISTORY
There are some indications that weaving was already known in the Paleolithic era, as early as 27,000 years ago. An indistinct textile impression has been found at the Dolní Věstonice site. According to the find, the weavers of Upper Palaeolithic were manufacturing a variety of cordage types, produced plaited basketry and sophisticated twined and plain woven cloth. The artifacts include imprints in clay and burned remnants of cloth.
The oldest known textiles found in the Americas are remnants of six finely woven textiles and cordage found in Guitarrero Cave, Peru. The weavings, made from plant fibres, are dated between 10100 and 9080 BCE.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
The earliest known Neolithic textile production in the Old World is supported by a 2013 find of a piece of cloth woven from hemp, in burial F. 7121 at the Çatalhöyük site suggested to be from around 7000 B.C. Further finds come from the advanced civilisation preserved in the pile dwellings in Switzerland. Another extant fragment from the Neolithic was found in Fayum, at a site dated to about 5000 BCE. This fragment is woven at about 12 threads by 9 threads per cm in a plain weave. Flax was the predominant fibre in Egypt at this time (3600 BCE) and continued popularity in the Nile Valley, though wool became the primary fibre used in other cultures around 2000 BCE. Weaving was known in all the great civilisations, but no clear line of causality has been established. Early looms required two people to create the shed and one person to pass through the filling. Early looms wove a fixed length of cloth, but later ones allowed warp to be wound out as the fell progressed. The weavers were often children or slaves. Weaving became simpler when the warp was sized.
THE AMERICAS
The Indigenous people of the Americas wove textiles of cotton throughout tropical and subtropical America and in the South American Andes of wool from camelids, primarily domesticated llamas and alpacas. Cotton and the camelids were both domesticated by about 4,000 BCE. American weavers are "credited with independently inventing nearly every non-mechanized technique known today."
In the Inca Empire of the Andes, women did most of the weaving using backstrap looms to make small pieces of cloth and vertical frame and single-heddle looms for larger pieces. Andean textile weavings were of practical, symbolic, religious, and ceremonial importance and used as currency, tribute, and as a determinant of social class and rank. Sixteenth-century Spanish colonists were impressed by both the quality and quantity of textiles produced by the Inca Empire. Some of the techniques and designs are still in use in the 21st century.
The oldest-known weavings in North America come from the Windover Archaeological Site in Florida. Dating from 4900 to 6500 B.C. and made from plant fibres, the Windover hunter-gatherers produced "finely crafted" twined and plain weave textiles.
EAST ASIA
The weaving of silk from silkworm cocoons has been known in China since about 3500 BCE. Silk that was intricately woven and dyed, showing a well developed craft, has been found in a Chinese tomb dating back to 2700 BCE.
Silk weaving in China was an intricate process that was very involved. Men and women, usually from the same family, had their own roles in the weaving process. The actual work of weaving was done by both men and women. Women were often weavers since it was a way they could contribute to the household income while staying at home. Women would usually weave simpler designs within the household while men would be in charge of the weaving of more intricate and complex pieces of clothing. The process of sericulture and weaving emphasized the idea that men and women should work together instead of women being subordinate to men. Weaving became an integral part of Chinese women's social identity. Several rituals and myths were associated with the promotion of silk weaving, especially as a symbol of female power. Weaving contributed to the balance between men and women's economic contributions and had many economic benefits.
There were many paths into the occupation of weaver. Women usually married into the occupation, belonged to a family of weavers and or lived in a location that had ample weather conditions that allowed for the process of silk weaving. Weavers usually belonged to the peasant class. Silk weaving became a specialized job requiring specific technology and equipment that was completed domestically within households. Although most of the silk weaving was done within the confines of the home and family, there were some specialized workshops that hired skilled silk weavers as well. These workshops took care of the weaving process, although the raising of the silkworms and reeling of the silk remained work for peasant families. The silk that was woven in workshops rather than homes were of higher quality, since the workshop could afford to hire the best weavers. These weavers were usually men who operated more complicated looms, such as the wooden draw-loom. This created a competitive market of silk weavers.
The quality and ease of the weaving process depended on the silk that was produced by the silk worms. The easiest silk to work with came from breeds of silk worms that spun their cocoons so that it could be unwound in one long strand. The reeling, or unwinding of silk worm cocoons is started by placing the cocoons in boiling water in order to break apart the silk filaments as well as kill the silk worm pupae. Women would then find the end of the strands of silk by sticking their hand into the boiling water. Usually this task was done by women of ages eight to twelve, while the more complex jobs were given to older women. They would then create a silk thread, which could vary in thickness and strength from the unwound cocoons.
After the reeling of the silk, the silk would be dyed before the weaving process began. There were many different looms and tools for weaving. For high quality and intricate designs, a wooden draw-loom or pattern loom was used. This loom would require two or three weavers and was usually operated by men. There were also other smaller looms, such as the waist loom, that could be operated by a single woman and were usually used domestically.
Sericulture and silk weaving spread to Korea by 200 BCE, to Khotan by 50 CE, and to Japan by about 300 CE.
The pit-treadle loom may have originated in India though most authorities establish the invention in China. Pedals were added to operate heddles. By the Middle Ages such devices also appeared in Persia, Sudan, Egypt and possibly the Arabian Peninsula, where "the operator sat with his feet in a pit below a fairly low-slung loom." In 700 CE, horizontal looms and vertical looms could be found in many parts of Asia, Africa and Europe. In Africa, the rich dressed in cotton while the poorer wore wool. By the 12th century it had come to Europe either from the Byzantium or Moorish Spain where the mechanism was raised higher above the ground on a more substantial frame.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
In the Philippines, numerous pre-colonial weaving traditions exist among different ethnic groups. They used various plant fibers, mainly abacá or banana, but also including tree cotton, buri palm (locally known as buntal) and other palms, various grasses (like amumuting and tikog), and barkcloth. The oldest evidence of weaving traditions are Neolithic stone tools used for preparing barkcloth found in archeological sites in Sagung Cave of southern Palawan and Arku Cave of Peñablanca, Cagayan. The latter has been dated to around 1255–605 BCE.
MEDIEVAL EUROPE
The predominant fibre was wool, followed by linen and nettlecloth for the lower classes. Cotton was introduced to Sicily and Spain in the 9th century. When Sicily was captured by the Normans, they took the technology to Northern Italy and then the rest of Europe. Silk fabric production was reintroduced towards the end of this period and the more sophisticated silk weaving techniques were applied to the other staples.
The weaver worked at home and marketed his cloth at fairs. Warp-weighted looms were commonplace in Europe before the introduction of horizontal looms in the 10th and 11th centuries. Weaving became an urban craft and to regulate their trade, craftsmen applied to establish a guild. These initially were merchant guilds, but developed into separate trade guilds for each skill. The cloth merchant who was a member of a city's weavers guild was allowed to sell cloth; he acted as a middleman between the tradesmen weavers and the purchaser. The trade guilds controlled quality and the training needed before an artisan could call himself a weaver.
By the 13th century, an organisational change took place, and a system of putting out was introduced. The cloth merchant purchased the wool and provided it to the weaver, who sold his produce back to the merchant. The merchant controlled the rates of pay and economically dominated the cloth industry. The merchants' prosperity is reflected in the wool towns of eastern England; Norwich, Bury St Edmunds and Lavenham being good examples. Wool was a political issue. The supply of thread has always limited the output of a weaver. About that time, the spindle method of spinning was replaced by the great wheel and soon after the treadle-driven spinning wheel. The loom remained the same but with the increased volume of thread it could be operated continuously.
The 14th century saw considerable flux in population. The 13th century had been a period of relative peace; Europe became overpopulated. Poor weather led to a series of poor harvests and starvation. There was great loss of life in the Hundred Years War. Then in 1346, Europe was struck with the Black Death and the population was reduced by up to a half. Arable land was labour-intensive and sufficient workers no longer could be found. Land prices dropped, and land was sold and put to sheep pasture. Traders from Florence and Bruges bought the wool, then sheep-owning landlords started to weave wool outside the jurisdiction of the city and trade guilds. The weavers started by working in their own homes then production was moved into purpose-built buildings. The working hours and the amount of work were regulated. The putting-out system had been replaced by a factory system.
The migration of the Huguenot Weavers, Calvinists fleeing from religious persecution in mainland Europe, to Britain around the time of 1685 challenged the English weavers of cotton, woollen and worsted cloth, who subsequently learned the Huguenots' superior techniques.
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Before the Industrial Revolution, weaving was a manual craft and wool was the principal staple. In the great wool districts a form of factory system had been introduced but in the uplands weavers worked from home on a putting-out system. The wooden looms of that time might be broad or narrow; broad looms were those too wide for the weaver to pass the shuttle through the shed, so that the weaver needed an expensive assistant (often an apprentice). This ceased to be necessary after John Kay invented the flying shuttle in 1733. The shuttle and the picking stick sped up the process of weaving. There was thus a shortage of thread or a surplus of weaving capacity. The opening of the Bridgewater Canal in June 1761 allowed cotton to be brought into Manchester, an area rich in fast flowing streams that could be used to power machinery. Spinning was the first to be mechanised (spinning jenny, spinning mule), and this led to limitless thread for the weaver.
Edmund Cartwright first proposed building a weaving machine that would function similar to recently developed cotton-spinning mills in 1784, drawing scorn from critics who said the weaving process was too nuanced to automate. He built a factory at Doncaster and obtained a series of patents between 1785 and 1792. In 1788, his brother Major John Cartwight built Revolution Mill at Retford (named for the centenary of the Glorious Revolution). In 1791, he licensed his loom to the Grimshaw brothers of Manchester, but their Knott Mill burnt down the following year (possibly a case of arson). Edmund Cartwight was granted a reward of £10,000 by Parliament for his efforts in 1809. However, success in power-weaving also required improvements by others, including H. Horrocks of Stockport. Only during the two decades after about 1805, did power-weaving take hold. At that time there were 250,000 hand weavers in the UK. Textile manufacture was one of the leading sectors in the British Industrial Revolution, but weaving was a comparatively late sector to be mechanised. The loom became semi-automatic in 1842 with Kenworthy and Bulloughs Lancashire Loom. The various innovations took weaving from a home-based artisan activity (labour-intensive and man-powered) to steam driven factories process. A large metal manufacturing industry grew to produce the looms, firms such as Howard & Bullough of Accrington, and Tweedales and Smalley and Platt Brothers. Most power weaving took place in weaving sheds, in small towns circling Greater Manchester away from the cotton spinning area. The earlier combination mills where spinning and weaving took place in adjacent buildings became rarer. Wool and worsted weaving took place in West Yorkshire and particular Bradford, here there were large factories such as Lister's or Drummond's, where all the processes took place. Both men and women with weaving skills emigrated, and took the knowledge to their new homes in New England, to places like Pawtucket and Lowell.
Woven 'grey cloth' was then sent to the finishers where it was bleached, dyed and printed. Natural dyes were originally used, with synthetic dyes coming in the second half of the 19th century. The need for these chemicals was an important factor in the development of the chemical industry.
The invention in France of the Jacquard loom in about 1803, enabled complicated patterned cloths to be woven, by using punched cards to determine which threads of coloured yarn should appear on the upper side of the cloth. The jacquard allowed individual control of each warp thread, row by row without repeating, so very complex patterns were suddenly feasible. Samples exist showing calligraphy, and woven copies of engravings. Jacquards could be attached to handlooms or powerlooms.
THE ROLE OF WEAVER
A distinction can be made between the role and lifestyle and status of a handloom weaver, and that of the powerloom weaver and craft weaver. The perceived threat of the power loom led to disquiet and industrial unrest. Well known protests movements such as the Luddites and the Chartists had hand loom weavers amongst their leaders. In the early 19th century power weaving became viable. Richard Guest in 1823 made a comparison of the productivity of power and hand loom weavers:
A very good Hand Weaver, a man twenty-five or thirty years of age, will weave two pieces of nine-eighths shirting per week, each twenty-four yards long, and containing one hundred and five shoots of weft in an inch, the reed of the cloth being a forty-four, Bolton count, and the warp and weft forty hanks to the pound, A Steam Loom Weaver, fifteen years of age, will in the same time weave seven similar pieces.
He then speculates about the wider economics of using powerloom weavers:
...it may very safely be said, that the work done in a Steam Factory containing two hundred Looms, would, if done by hand Weavers, find employment and support for a population of more than two thousand persons.
HAND LOOM WEAVERS
Hand loom weaving was done by both sexes but men outnumbered women partially due to the strength needed to batten. They worked from home sometimes in a well lit attic room. The women of the house would spin the thread they needed, and attend to finishing. Later women took to weaving, they obtained their thread from the spinning mill, and working as outworkers on a piecework contract. Over time competition from the power looms drove down the piece rate and they existed in increasing poverty.
POWER LOOM WEAVERS
Power loom workers were usually girls and young women. They had the security of fixed hours, and except in times of hardship, such as in the cotton famine, regular income. They were paid a wage and a piece work bonus. Even when working in a combined mill, weavers stuck together and enjoyed a tight-knit community. The women usually minded the four machines and kept the looms oiled and clean. They were assisted by 'little tenters', children on a fixed wage who ran errands and did small tasks. They learnt the job of the weaver by watching. Often they would be half timers, carrying a green card which teacher and overlookers would sign to say they had turned up at the mill in the morning and in the afternoon at the school. At fourteen or so they come full-time into the mill, and started by sharing looms with an experienced worker where it was important to learn quickly as they would both be on piece work. Serious problems with the loom were left to the tackler to sort out. He would inevitably be a man, as were usually the overlookers. The mill had its health and safety issues, there was a reason why the women tied their hair back with scarves. Inhaling cotton dust caused lung problems, and the noise was causing total hearing loss. Weavers would mee-maw as normal conversation was impossible. Weavers used to 'kiss the shuttle', that is, suck thread though the eye of the shuttle. This left a foul taste in the mouth due to the oil, which was also carcinogenic.
CRAFT WEAVERS
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 (especially the second half of that period), continuing its influence until the 1930s. Instigated by the artist and writer William Morris (1834–1896) during the 1860s and inspired by the writings of John Ruskin (1819–1900), it had its earliest and most complete development in the British Isles[ but spread to Europe and North America. It was largely a reaction against mechanisation and the philosophy advocated of traditional craftsmanship using simple forms and often medieval, romantic or folk styles of decoration. Hand weaving was highly regard and taken up as a decorative art.
BAUHAUS WEAVING WORKSHOP
In the 1920s the weaving workshop of the Bauhaus design school in Germany aimed to raise weaving, previously seen as a craft, to a fine art, and also to investigate the industrial requirements of modern weaving and fabrics. Under the direction of Gunta Stölzl, the workshop experimented with unorthodox materials, including cellophane, fiberglass, and metal. From expressionist tapestries to the development of soundproofing and light-reflective fabric, the workshop’s innovative approach instigated a modernist theory of weaving. Former Bauhaus student and teacher Anni Albers published the seminal 20th-century text On Weaving in 1965. Other notables from the Bauhaus weaving workshop include Otti Berger, Margaretha Reichardt, and Benita Otte.
OTHER CULTURES
WEAVING IN THE AMERICAN COLONIES (1500-1800)
Colonial America relied heavily on Great Britain for manufactured goods of all kinds. British policy was to encourage the production of raw materials in colonies and discourage manufacturing. The Wool Act 1699 restricted the export of colonial wool. As a result, many people wove cloth from locally produced fibres. The colonists also used wool, cotton and flax (linen) for weaving, though hemp could be made into serviceable canvas and heavy cloth. They could get one cotton crop each year; until the invention of the cotton gin it was a labour-intensive process to separate the seeds from the fibres.
A plain weave was preferred as the added skill and time required to make more complex weaves kept them from common use. Sometimes designs were woven into the fabric but most were added after weaving using wood block prints or embroidery.
AMERIC'AN SOUTHWEST
Textile weaving, using cotton dyed with pigments, was a dominant craft among pre-contact tribes of the American southwest, including various Pueblo peoples, the Zuni, and the Ute tribes. The first Spaniards to visit the region wrote about seeing Navajo blankets. With the introduction of Navajo-Churro sheep, the resulting woolen products have become very well known. By the 18th century the Navajo had begun to import yarn with their favorite color, Bayeta red. Using an upright loom, the Navajos wove blankets worn as garments and then rugs after the 1880s for trade. Navajo traded for commercial wool, such as Germantown, imported from Pennsylvania.[citation needed] Under the influence of European-American settlers at trading posts, Navajos created new and distinct styles, including "Two Gray Hills" (predominantly black and white, with traditional patterns), "Teec Nos Pos" (colorful, with very extensive patterns), "Ganado" (founded by Don Lorenzo Hubbell), red dominated patterns with black and white, "Crystal" (founded by J. B. Moore), Oriental and Persian styles (almost always with natural dyes), "Wide Ruins," "Chinlee," banded geometric patterns, "Klagetoh," diamond type patterns, "Red Mesa" and bold diamond patterns. Many of these patterns exhibit a fourfold symmetry, which is thought to embody traditional ideas about harmony, or hózhó.
AMAZON CULTURES
Among the indigenous people of the Amazon basin densely woven palm-bast mosquito netting, or tents, were utilized by the Panoans, Tupinambá, Western Tucano, Yameo, Záparoans, and perhaps by the indigenous peoples of the central Huallaga River basin (Steward 1963:520). Aguaje palm-bast (Mauritia flexuosa, Mauritia minor, or swamp palm) and the frond spears of the Chambira palm (Astrocaryum chambira, A.munbaca, A.tucuma, also known as Cumare or Tucum) have been used for centuries by the Urarina of the Peruvian Amazon to make cordage, net-bags hammocks, and to weave fabric. Among the Urarina, the production of woven palm-fiber goods is imbued with varying degrees of an aesthetic attitude, which draws its authentication from referencing the Urarina's primordial past. Urarina mythology attests to the centrality of weaving and its role in engendering Urarina society. The post-diluvial creation myth accords women's weaving knowledge a pivotal role in Urarina social reproduction. Even though palm-fiber cloth is regularly removed from circulation through mortuary rites, Urarina palm-fiber wealth is neither completely inalienable, nor fungible since it is a fundamental medium for the expression of labor and exchange. The circulation of palm-fiber wealth stabilizes a host of social relationships, ranging from marriage and fictive kinship (compadrazco, spiritual compeership) to perpetuating relationships with the deceased.
COMPUTER SCIENCE
The Nvidia Parallel Thread Execution ISA derives some terminology (specifically the term Warp to refer to a group of concurrent processing threads) from historical weaving traditions.
WIKIPEDIA
SONGS FROM THE WOOD JETHRO TULL
L'alquímia era una doctrina i un estudi especulatiu que pretenia explicar com una substància es podia transformar en una altra, en un temps en què encara no existien les disciplines empíriques de la química i de la física. Un dels objectius principals era la recerca de la pedra filosofal, que hauria de permetre transformar qualsevol metall en or. Tenia tres vessants que la caracteritzaven: l'experimentació amb la matèria; la dissertació filosòfica que pretenia racionalitzar aquestes pràctiques: i l'esoterisme i el misticisme que eren la vessant determinant. En general, els alquimistes creien que tota la matèria estava composta per quatre elements: terra, aire, aigua i foc. Incorporaven una bona part de màgia i misticisme en les seves creences, i tendien a considerar l'alquímia una pràctica secreta i apta només pels iniciats (hermetisme). Històricament, l'alquímia es pot considerar com la precursora de la química moderna, abans de l'establiment del mètode científic als segles XVII i XVIII. Actualment és d'interès pels historiadors de la ciència i la filosofia, així com pels seus aspectes místics, esotèrics i artístics. L'alquímia va ser una de les principals precursores de les ciències modernes, i moltes de les substàncies, eines i processos de l'antiga alquímia han servit com a pilars fonamentals de les modernes indústries química i metal•lúrgica.
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La alquimia era una doctrina y un estudio especulativo que pretendía explicar cómo una sustancia se podía transformar en otra, en un tiempo en que todavía no existían las disciplinas empíricas de la química y la física. Uno de los objetivos principales era la búsqueda de la piedra filosofal, que debería permitir transformar cualquier metal en oro. Tenía tres vertientes que la caracterizaban: la experimentación con la materia, la disertación filosófica que pretendía racionalizar estas prácticas: y el esoterismo y el misticismo que eran la vertiente determinante. En general, los alquimistas creían que toda la materia estaba compuesta por cuatro elementos: tierra, aire, agua y fuego. Incorporaban una buena parte de magia y misticismo en sus creencias, y tendían a considerar la alquimia una práctica secreta y apta sólo para los iniciados (hermetismo). Históricamente, la alquimia se puede considerar como la precursora de la química moderna, antes del establecimiento del método científico en los siglos XVII y XVIII. Actualmente es de interés para los historiadores de la ciencia y la filosofía, así como por sus aspectos místicos, esotéricos y artísticos. La alquimia fue una de las principales precursoras de las ciencias modernas, y muchas de las sustancias, herramientas y procesos de la antigua alquimia han servido como pilares fundamentales de las modernas industrias química y metalúrgica.
Allison Aubrey
Correspondent, NPR News
Catherine Oakar
Special Assistant to the President for Public Health and Disparities, The White House
Tambra Raye Stevenson
Founder and CEO, Women Advancing Nutrition Dietetics and Agriculture
Sarah Fleisch Fink
Director for Policy Research and Development, Instacart
Rachel Krausman
Vice President, Social Determinants of Health, ProMedica
Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling. (Weft is an old English word meaning "that which is woven"; compare leave and left.[a]) The method in which these threads are inter-woven affects the characteristics of the cloth. Cloth is usually woven on a loom, a device that holds the warp threads in place while filling threads are woven through them. A fabric band which meets this definition of cloth (warp threads with a weft thread winding between) can also be made using other methods, including tablet weaving, back strap loom, or other techniques without looms.
The way the warp and filling threads interlace with each other is called the weave. The majority of woven products are created with one of three basic weaves: plain weave, satin weave, or twill. Woven cloth can be plain (in one colour or a simple pattern), or can be woven in decorative or artistic design.
PROCESS AND TERMINOLOGY
In general, weaving involves using a loom to interlace two sets of threads at right angles to each other: the warp which runs longitudinally and the weft (older woof) that crosses it. One warp thread is called an end and one weft thread is called a pick. The warp threads are held taut and in parallel to each other, typically in a loom. There are many types of looms.
Weaving can be summarized as a repetition of these three actions, also called the primary motion of the loom.
Shedding: where the warp threads (ends) are separated by raising or lowering heald frames (heddles) to form a clear space where the pick can pass
Picking: where the weft or pick is propelled across the loom by hand, an air-jet, a rapier or a shuttle.
Beating-up or battening: where the weft is pushed up against the fell of the cloth by the reed.
The warp is divided into two overlapping groups, or lines (most often adjacent threads belonging to the opposite group) that run in two planes, one above another, so the shuttle can be passed between them in a straight motion. Then, the upper group is lowered by the loom mechanism, and the lower group is raised (shedding), allowing to pass the shuttle in the opposite direction, also in a straight motion. Repeating these actions form a fabric mesh but without beating-up, the final distance between the adjacent wefts would be irregular and far too large.
The secondary motion of the loom are the:
Let off Motion: where the warp is let off the warp beam at a regulated speed to make the filling even and of the required design
Take up Motion: Takes up the woven fabric in a regulated manner so that the density of filling is maintained
The tertiary motions of the loom are the stop motions: to stop the loom in the event of a thread break. The two main stop motions are the
warp stop motion
weft stop motion
The principal parts of a loom are the frame, the warp-beam or weavers beam, the cloth-roll (apron bar), the heddles, and their mounting, the reed. The warp-beam is a wooden or metal cylinder on the back of the loom on which the warp is delivered. The threads of the warp extend in parallel order from the warp-beam to the front of the loom where they are attached to the cloth-roll. Each thread or group of threads of the warp passes through an opening (eye) in a heddle. The warp threads are separated by the heddles into two or more groups, each controlled and automatically drawn up and down by the motion of the heddles. In the case of small patterns the movement of the heddles is controlled by "cams" which move up the heddles by means of a frame called a harness; in larger patterns the heddles are controlled by a dobby mechanism, where the healds are raised according to pegs inserted into a revolving drum. Where a complex design is required, the healds are raised by harness cords attached to a Jacquard machine. Every time the harness (the heddles) moves up or down, an opening (shed) is made between the threads of warp, through which the pick is inserted. Traditionally the weft thread is inserted by a shuttle.
On a conventional loom, the weft thread is carried on a pirn, in a shuttle that passes through the shed. A handloom weaver could propel the shuttle by throwing it from side to side with the aid of a picking stick. The "picking" on a power loom is done by rapidly hitting the shuttle from each side using an overpick or underpick mechanism controlled by cams 80–250 times a minute. When a pirn is depleted, it is ejected from the shuttle and replaced with the next pirn held in a battery attached to the loom. Multiple shuttle boxes allow more than one shuttle to be used. Each can carry a different colour which allows banding across the loom.
The rapier-type weaving machines do not have shuttles, they propel the weft by means of small grippers or rapiers that pick up the filling thread and carry it halfway across the loom where another rapier picks it up and pulls it the rest of the way. Some carry the filling yarns across the loom at rates in excess of 2,000 metres per minute. Manufacturers such as Picanol have reduced the mechanical adjustments to a minimum, and control all the functions through a computer with a graphical user interface. Other types use compressed air to insert the pick. They are all fast, versatile and quiet.
The warp is sized in a starch mixture for smoother running. The loom warped (loomed or dressed) by passing the sized warp threads through two or more heddles attached to harnesses. The power weavers loom is warped by separate workers. Most looms used for industrial purposes have a machine that ties new warps threads to the waste of previously used warps threads, while still on the loom, then an operator rolls the old and new threads back on the warp beam. The harnesses are controlled by cams, dobbies or a Jacquard head.
The raising and lowering sequence of warp threads in various sequences gives rise to many possible weave structures:
plain weave: plain, and hopsacks, poplin, taffeta, poult-de-soie, pibiones and grosgrain.
twill weave: these are described by weft float followed by warp float, arranged to give diagonal pattern. 2/1 twill, 3/3 twill, 1/2 twill. These are softer fabrics than plain weaves.
satin weave: satins and sateens,
complex computer-generated interlacings.
pile fabrics : such as velvets and velveteens
Both warp and weft can be visible in the final product. By spacing the warp more closely, it can completely cover the weft that binds it, giving a warp faced textile such as repp weave. Conversely, if the warp is spread out, the weft can slide down and completely cover the warp, giving a weft faced textile, such as a tapestry or a Kilim rug. There are a variety of loom styles for hand weaving and tapestry.
HISTORY
There are some indications that weaving was already known in the Paleolithic era, as early as 27,000 years ago. An indistinct textile impression has been found at the Dolní Věstonice site. According to the find, the weavers of Upper Palaeolithic were manufacturing a variety of cordage types, produced plaited basketry and sophisticated twined and plain woven cloth. The artifacts include imprints in clay and burned remnants of cloth.
The oldest known textiles found in the Americas are remnants of six finely woven textiles and cordage found in Guitarrero Cave, Peru. The weavings, made from plant fibres, are dated between 10100 and 9080 BCE.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
The earliest known Neolithic textile production in the Old World is supported by a 2013 find of a piece of cloth woven from hemp, in burial F. 7121 at the Çatalhöyük site suggested to be from around 7000 B.C. Further finds come from the advanced civilisation preserved in the pile dwellings in Switzerland. Another extant fragment from the Neolithic was found in Fayum, at a site dated to about 5000 BCE. This fragment is woven at about 12 threads by 9 threads per cm in a plain weave. Flax was the predominant fibre in Egypt at this time (3600 BCE) and continued popularity in the Nile Valley, though wool became the primary fibre used in other cultures around 2000 BCE. Weaving was known in all the great civilisations, but no clear line of causality has been established. Early looms required two people to create the shed and one person to pass through the filling. Early looms wove a fixed length of cloth, but later ones allowed warp to be wound out as the fell progressed. The weavers were often children or slaves. Weaving became simpler when the warp was sized.
THE AMERICAS
The Indigenous people of the Americas wove textiles of cotton throughout tropical and subtropical America and in the South American Andes of wool from camelids, primarily domesticated llamas and alpacas. Cotton and the camelids were both domesticated by about 4,000 BCE. American weavers are "credited with independently inventing nearly every non-mechanized technique known today."
In the Inca Empire of the Andes, women did most of the weaving using backstrap looms to make small pieces of cloth and vertical frame and single-heddle looms for larger pieces. Andean textile weavings were of practical, symbolic, religious, and ceremonial importance and used as currency, tribute, and as a determinant of social class and rank. Sixteenth-century Spanish colonists were impressed by both the quality and quantity of textiles produced by the Inca Empire. Some of the techniques and designs are still in use in the 21st century.
The oldest-known weavings in North America come from the Windover Archaeological Site in Florida. Dating from 4900 to 6500 B.C. and made from plant fibres, the Windover hunter-gatherers produced "finely crafted" twined and plain weave textiles.
EAST ASIA
The weaving of silk from silkworm cocoons has been known in China since about 3500 BCE. Silk that was intricately woven and dyed, showing a well developed craft, has been found in a Chinese tomb dating back to 2700 BCE.
Silk weaving in China was an intricate process that was very involved. Men and women, usually from the same family, had their own roles in the weaving process. The actual work of weaving was done by both men and women. Women were often weavers since it was a way they could contribute to the household income while staying at home. Women would usually weave simpler designs within the household while men would be in charge of the weaving of more intricate and complex pieces of clothing. The process of sericulture and weaving emphasized the idea that men and women should work together instead of women being subordinate to men. Weaving became an integral part of Chinese women's social identity. Several rituals and myths were associated with the promotion of silk weaving, especially as a symbol of female power. Weaving contributed to the balance between men and women's economic contributions and had many economic benefits.
There were many paths into the occupation of weaver. Women usually married into the occupation, belonged to a family of weavers and or lived in a location that had ample weather conditions that allowed for the process of silk weaving. Weavers usually belonged to the peasant class. Silk weaving became a specialized job requiring specific technology and equipment that was completed domestically within households. Although most of the silk weaving was done within the confines of the home and family, there were some specialized workshops that hired skilled silk weavers as well. These workshops took care of the weaving process, although the raising of the silkworms and reeling of the silk remained work for peasant families. The silk that was woven in workshops rather than homes were of higher quality, since the workshop could afford to hire the best weavers. These weavers were usually men who operated more complicated looms, such as the wooden draw-loom. This created a competitive market of silk weavers.
The quality and ease of the weaving process depended on the silk that was produced by the silk worms. The easiest silk to work with came from breeds of silk worms that spun their cocoons so that it could be unwound in one long strand. The reeling, or unwinding of silk worm cocoons is started by placing the cocoons in boiling water in order to break apart the silk filaments as well as kill the silk worm pupae. Women would then find the end of the strands of silk by sticking their hand into the boiling water. Usually this task was done by women of ages eight to twelve, while the more complex jobs were given to older women. They would then create a silk thread, which could vary in thickness and strength from the unwound cocoons.
After the reeling of the silk, the silk would be dyed before the weaving process began. There were many different looms and tools for weaving. For high quality and intricate designs, a wooden draw-loom or pattern loom was used. This loom would require two or three weavers and was usually operated by men. There were also other smaller looms, such as the waist loom, that could be operated by a single woman and were usually used domestically.
Sericulture and silk weaving spread to Korea by 200 BCE, to Khotan by 50 CE, and to Japan by about 300 CE.
The pit-treadle loom may have originated in India though most authorities establish the invention in China. Pedals were added to operate heddles. By the Middle Ages such devices also appeared in Persia, Sudan, Egypt and possibly the Arabian Peninsula, where "the operator sat with his feet in a pit below a fairly low-slung loom." In 700 CE, horizontal looms and vertical looms could be found in many parts of Asia, Africa and Europe. In Africa, the rich dressed in cotton while the poorer wore wool. By the 12th century it had come to Europe either from the Byzantium or Moorish Spain where the mechanism was raised higher above the ground on a more substantial frame.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
In the Philippines, numerous pre-colonial weaving traditions exist among different ethnic groups. They used various plant fibers, mainly abacá or banana, but also including tree cotton, buri palm (locally known as buntal) and other palms, various grasses (like amumuting and tikog), and barkcloth. The oldest evidence of weaving traditions are Neolithic stone tools used for preparing barkcloth found in archeological sites in Sagung Cave of southern Palawan and Arku Cave of Peñablanca, Cagayan. The latter has been dated to around 1255–605 BCE.
MEDIEVAL EUROPE
The predominant fibre was wool, followed by linen and nettlecloth for the lower classes. Cotton was introduced to Sicily and Spain in the 9th century. When Sicily was captured by the Normans, they took the technology to Northern Italy and then the rest of Europe. Silk fabric production was reintroduced towards the end of this period and the more sophisticated silk weaving techniques were applied to the other staples.
The weaver worked at home and marketed his cloth at fairs. Warp-weighted looms were commonplace in Europe before the introduction of horizontal looms in the 10th and 11th centuries. Weaving became an urban craft and to regulate their trade, craftsmen applied to establish a guild. These initially were merchant guilds, but developed into separate trade guilds for each skill. The cloth merchant who was a member of a city's weavers guild was allowed to sell cloth; he acted as a middleman between the tradesmen weavers and the purchaser. The trade guilds controlled quality and the training needed before an artisan could call himself a weaver.
By the 13th century, an organisational change took place, and a system of putting out was introduced. The cloth merchant purchased the wool and provided it to the weaver, who sold his produce back to the merchant. The merchant controlled the rates of pay and economically dominated the cloth industry. The merchants' prosperity is reflected in the wool towns of eastern England; Norwich, Bury St Edmunds and Lavenham being good examples. Wool was a political issue. The supply of thread has always limited the output of a weaver. About that time, the spindle method of spinning was replaced by the great wheel and soon after the treadle-driven spinning wheel. The loom remained the same but with the increased volume of thread it could be operated continuously.
The 14th century saw considerable flux in population. The 13th century had been a period of relative peace; Europe became overpopulated. Poor weather led to a series of poor harvests and starvation. There was great loss of life in the Hundred Years War. Then in 1346, Europe was struck with the Black Death and the population was reduced by up to a half. Arable land was labour-intensive and sufficient workers no longer could be found. Land prices dropped, and land was sold and put to sheep pasture. Traders from Florence and Bruges bought the wool, then sheep-owning landlords started to weave wool outside the jurisdiction of the city and trade guilds. The weavers started by working in their own homes then production was moved into purpose-built buildings. The working hours and the amount of work were regulated. The putting-out system had been replaced by a factory system.
The migration of the Huguenot Weavers, Calvinists fleeing from religious persecution in mainland Europe, to Britain around the time of 1685 challenged the English weavers of cotton, woollen and worsted cloth, who subsequently learned the Huguenots' superior techniques.
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Before the Industrial Revolution, weaving was a manual craft and wool was the principal staple. In the great wool districts a form of factory system had been introduced but in the uplands weavers worked from home on a putting-out system. The wooden looms of that time might be broad or narrow; broad looms were those too wide for the weaver to pass the shuttle through the shed, so that the weaver needed an expensive assistant (often an apprentice). This ceased to be necessary after John Kay invented the flying shuttle in 1733. The shuttle and the picking stick sped up the process of weaving. There was thus a shortage of thread or a surplus of weaving capacity. The opening of the Bridgewater Canal in June 1761 allowed cotton to be brought into Manchester, an area rich in fast flowing streams that could be used to power machinery. Spinning was the first to be mechanised (spinning jenny, spinning mule), and this led to limitless thread for the weaver.
Edmund Cartwright first proposed building a weaving machine that would function similar to recently developed cotton-spinning mills in 1784, drawing scorn from critics who said the weaving process was too nuanced to automate. He built a factory at Doncaster and obtained a series of patents between 1785 and 1792. In 1788, his brother Major John Cartwight built Revolution Mill at Retford (named for the centenary of the Glorious Revolution). In 1791, he licensed his loom to the Grimshaw brothers of Manchester, but their Knott Mill burnt down the following year (possibly a case of arson). Edmund Cartwight was granted a reward of £10,000 by Parliament for his efforts in 1809. However, success in power-weaving also required improvements by others, including H. Horrocks of Stockport. Only during the two decades after about 1805, did power-weaving take hold. At that time there were 250,000 hand weavers in the UK. Textile manufacture was one of the leading sectors in the British Industrial Revolution, but weaving was a comparatively late sector to be mechanised. The loom became semi-automatic in 1842 with Kenworthy and Bulloughs Lancashire Loom. The various innovations took weaving from a home-based artisan activity (labour-intensive and man-powered) to steam driven factories process. A large metal manufacturing industry grew to produce the looms, firms such as Howard & Bullough of Accrington, and Tweedales and Smalley and Platt Brothers. Most power weaving took place in weaving sheds, in small towns circling Greater Manchester away from the cotton spinning area. The earlier combination mills where spinning and weaving took place in adjacent buildings became rarer. Wool and worsted weaving took place in West Yorkshire and particular Bradford, here there were large factories such as Lister's or Drummond's, where all the processes took place. Both men and women with weaving skills emigrated, and took the knowledge to their new homes in New England, to places like Pawtucket and Lowell.
Woven 'grey cloth' was then sent to the finishers where it was bleached, dyed and printed. Natural dyes were originally used, with synthetic dyes coming in the second half of the 19th century. The need for these chemicals was an important factor in the development of the chemical industry.
The invention in France of the Jacquard loom in about 1803, enabled complicated patterned cloths to be woven, by using punched cards to determine which threads of coloured yarn should appear on the upper side of the cloth. The jacquard allowed individual control of each warp thread, row by row without repeating, so very complex patterns were suddenly feasible. Samples exist showing calligraphy, and woven copies of engravings. Jacquards could be attached to handlooms or powerlooms.
THE ROLE OF WEAVER
A distinction can be made between the role and lifestyle and status of a handloom weaver, and that of the powerloom weaver and craft weaver. The perceived threat of the power loom led to disquiet and industrial unrest. Well known protests movements such as the Luddites and the Chartists had hand loom weavers amongst their leaders. In the early 19th century power weaving became viable. Richard Guest in 1823 made a comparison of the productivity of power and hand loom weavers:
A very good Hand Weaver, a man twenty-five or thirty years of age, will weave two pieces of nine-eighths shirting per week, each twenty-four yards long, and containing one hundred and five shoots of weft in an inch, the reed of the cloth being a forty-four, Bolton count, and the warp and weft forty hanks to the pound, A Steam Loom Weaver, fifteen years of age, will in the same time weave seven similar pieces.
He then speculates about the wider economics of using powerloom weavers:
...it may very safely be said, that the work done in a Steam Factory containing two hundred Looms, would, if done by hand Weavers, find employment and support for a population of more than two thousand persons.
HAND LOOM WEAVERS
Hand loom weaving was done by both sexes but men outnumbered women partially due to the strength needed to batten. They worked from home sometimes in a well lit attic room. The women of the house would spin the thread they needed, and attend to finishing. Later women took to weaving, they obtained their thread from the spinning mill, and working as outworkers on a piecework contract. Over time competition from the power looms drove down the piece rate and they existed in increasing poverty.
POWER LOOM WEAVERS
Power loom workers were usually girls and young women. They had the security of fixed hours, and except in times of hardship, such as in the cotton famine, regular income. They were paid a wage and a piece work bonus. Even when working in a combined mill, weavers stuck together and enjoyed a tight-knit community. The women usually minded the four machines and kept the looms oiled and clean. They were assisted by 'little tenters', children on a fixed wage who ran errands and did small tasks. They learnt the job of the weaver by watching. Often they would be half timers, carrying a green card which teacher and overlookers would sign to say they had turned up at the mill in the morning and in the afternoon at the school. At fourteen or so they come full-time into the mill, and started by sharing looms with an experienced worker where it was important to learn quickly as they would both be on piece work. Serious problems with the loom were left to the tackler to sort out. He would inevitably be a man, as were usually the overlookers. The mill had its health and safety issues, there was a reason why the women tied their hair back with scarves. Inhaling cotton dust caused lung problems, and the noise was causing total hearing loss. Weavers would mee-maw as normal conversation was impossible. Weavers used to 'kiss the shuttle', that is, suck thread though the eye of the shuttle. This left a foul taste in the mouth due to the oil, which was also carcinogenic.
CRAFT WEAVERS
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 (especially the second half of that period), continuing its influence until the 1930s. Instigated by the artist and writer William Morris (1834–1896) during the 1860s and inspired by the writings of John Ruskin (1819–1900), it had its earliest and most complete development in the British Isles[ but spread to Europe and North America. It was largely a reaction against mechanisation and the philosophy advocated of traditional craftsmanship using simple forms and often medieval, romantic or folk styles of decoration. Hand weaving was highly regard and taken up as a decorative art.
BAUHAUS WEAVING WORKSHOP
In the 1920s the weaving workshop of the Bauhaus design school in Germany aimed to raise weaving, previously seen as a craft, to a fine art, and also to investigate the industrial requirements of modern weaving and fabrics. Under the direction of Gunta Stölzl, the workshop experimented with unorthodox materials, including cellophane, fiberglass, and metal. From expressionist tapestries to the development of soundproofing and light-reflective fabric, the workshop’s innovative approach instigated a modernist theory of weaving. Former Bauhaus student and teacher Anni Albers published the seminal 20th-century text On Weaving in 1965. Other notables from the Bauhaus weaving workshop include Otti Berger, Margaretha Reichardt, and Benita Otte.
OTHER CULTURES
WEAVING IN THE AMERICAN COLONIES (1500-1800)
Colonial America relied heavily on Great Britain for manufactured goods of all kinds. British policy was to encourage the production of raw materials in colonies and discourage manufacturing. The Wool Act 1699 restricted the export of colonial wool. As a result, many people wove cloth from locally produced fibres. The colonists also used wool, cotton and flax (linen) for weaving, though hemp could be made into serviceable canvas and heavy cloth. They could get one cotton crop each year; until the invention of the cotton gin it was a labour-intensive process to separate the seeds from the fibres.
A plain weave was preferred as the added skill and time required to make more complex weaves kept them from common use. Sometimes designs were woven into the fabric but most were added after weaving using wood block prints or embroidery.
AMERIC'AN SOUTHWEST
Textile weaving, using cotton dyed with pigments, was a dominant craft among pre-contact tribes of the American southwest, including various Pueblo peoples, the Zuni, and the Ute tribes. The first Spaniards to visit the region wrote about seeing Navajo blankets. With the introduction of Navajo-Churro sheep, the resulting woolen products have become very well known. By the 18th century the Navajo had begun to import yarn with their favorite color, Bayeta red. Using an upright loom, the Navajos wove blankets worn as garments and then rugs after the 1880s for trade. Navajo traded for commercial wool, such as Germantown, imported from Pennsylvania.[citation needed] Under the influence of European-American settlers at trading posts, Navajos created new and distinct styles, including "Two Gray Hills" (predominantly black and white, with traditional patterns), "Teec Nos Pos" (colorful, with very extensive patterns), "Ganado" (founded by Don Lorenzo Hubbell), red dominated patterns with black and white, "Crystal" (founded by J. B. Moore), Oriental and Persian styles (almost always with natural dyes), "Wide Ruins," "Chinlee," banded geometric patterns, "Klagetoh," diamond type patterns, "Red Mesa" and bold diamond patterns. Many of these patterns exhibit a fourfold symmetry, which is thought to embody traditional ideas about harmony, or hózhó.
AMAZON CULTURES
Among the indigenous people of the Amazon basin densely woven palm-bast mosquito netting, or tents, were utilized by the Panoans, Tupinambá, Western Tucano, Yameo, Záparoans, and perhaps by the indigenous peoples of the central Huallaga River basin (Steward 1963:520). Aguaje palm-bast (Mauritia flexuosa, Mauritia minor, or swamp palm) and the frond spears of the Chambira palm (Astrocaryum chambira, A.munbaca, A.tucuma, also known as Cumare or Tucum) have been used for centuries by the Urarina of the Peruvian Amazon to make cordage, net-bags hammocks, and to weave fabric. Among the Urarina, the production of woven palm-fiber goods is imbued with varying degrees of an aesthetic attitude, which draws its authentication from referencing the Urarina's primordial past. Urarina mythology attests to the centrality of weaving and its role in engendering Urarina society. The post-diluvial creation myth accords women's weaving knowledge a pivotal role in Urarina social reproduction. Even though palm-fiber cloth is regularly removed from circulation through mortuary rites, Urarina palm-fiber wealth is neither completely inalienable, nor fungible since it is a fundamental medium for the expression of labor and exchange. The circulation of palm-fiber wealth stabilizes a host of social relationships, ranging from marriage and fictive kinship (compadrazco, spiritual compeership) to perpetuating relationships with the deceased.
COMPUTER SCIENCE
The Nvidia Parallel Thread Execution ISA derives some terminology (specifically the term Warp to refer to a group of concurrent processing threads) from historical weaving traditions.
WIKIPEDIA
World leader, scientist, medical scientist, virologist, pharmacist, Professor Fangruida (F.D Smith) on the world epidemic and the nemesis and prevention of new coronaviruses and mutant viruses (Jacques Lucy) 2021v1.5)
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The Nemesis and Killer of New Coronavirus and Mutated Viruses-Joint Development of Vaccines and Drugs (Fangruida) July 2021
*The particularity of new coronaviruses and mutant viruses*The broad spectrum, high efficiency, redundancy, and safety of the new coronavirus vaccine design and development , Redundancy and safety
*New coronavirus drug chemical structure modification*Computer-aided design and drug screening. *"Antiviral biological missile", "New Coronavirus Anti-epidemic Tablets", "Composite Antiviral Oral Liquid", "New Coronavirus Long-acting Oral Tablets", "New Coronavirus Inhibitors" (injection)
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(World leader, scientist, medical scientist, biologist, virologist, pharmacist, FD Smith) "The Nemesis and Killer of New Coronavirus and Mutated Viruses-The Joint Development of Vaccines and Drugs" is an important scientific research document. Now it has been revised and re-published by the original author several times. The compilation is published and published according to the original manuscript to meet the needs of readers and netizens all over the world. At the same time, it is also of great benefit to the vast number of medical clinical drug researchers and various experts and scholars. We hope that it will be corrected in the reprint.------Compiled by Jacques Lucy in Geneva, August 2021
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According to Worldometer's real-time statistics, as of about 6:30 on July 23, there were a total of 193,323,815 confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia worldwide, and a total of 4,150,213 deaths. There were 570,902 new confirmed cases and 8,766 new deaths worldwide in a single day. Data shows that the United States, Brazil, the United Kingdom, India, and Indonesia are the five countries with the largest number of new confirmed cases, and Indonesia, Brazil, Russia, South Africa, and India are the five countries with the largest number of new deaths.
The new coronavirus and delta mutant strains have been particularly serious in the recent past. Many countries and places have revived, and the number of cases has not decreased, but has increased.
, It is worthy of vigilance. Although many countries have strengthened vaccine prevention and control and other prevention and control measures, there are still many shortcomings and deficiencies in virus suppression and prevention. The new coronavirus and various mutant strains have a certain degree of antagonism to traditional drugs and most vaccines. Although most vaccines have great anti-epidemic properties and have important and irreplaceable effects and protection for prevention and treatment, it is impossible to completely prevent the spread and infection of viruses. The spread of the new crown virus pneumonia has been delayed for nearly two years. There are hundreds of millions of people infected worldwide, millions of deaths, and the time is long, the spread is widespread, and billions of people around the world are among them. The harm of the virus is quite terrible. This is well known. of. More urgent
What is more serious is that the virus and mutant strains have not completely retreated, especially many people are still infected and infected after being injected with various vaccines. The effectiveness of the vaccine and the resistance of the mutant virus are worthy of medical scientists, virologists, pharmacologists Zoologists and others seriously think and analyze. The current epidemic situation in European and American countries, China, Brazil, India, the United States, Russia and other countries has greatly improved from last year. However, relevant figures show that the global epidemic situation has not completely improved, and some countries and regions are still very serious. In particular, after extensive use of various vaccines, cases still occur, and in some places they are still very serious, which deserves a high degree of vigilance. Prevention and control measures are very important. In addition, vaccines and various anti-epidemic drugs are the first and necessary choices, and other methods are irreplaceable. It is particularly important to develop and develop comprehensive drugs, antiviral drugs, immune drugs, and genetic drugs. Research experiments on new coronaviruses and mutant viruses require more rigorous and in-depth data analysis, pathological pathogenic tissues, cell genes, molecular chemistry, quantum chemistry, etc., as well as vaccine molecular chemistry, quantum physics, quantum biology, cytological histology, medicinal chemistry, and drugs And the vaccine’s symptomatic, effectiveness, safety, long-term effectiveness, etc., of course, including tens of thousands of clinical cases and deaths and other first-hand information and evidence. The task of RNA (ribonucleic acid) in the human body is to use the information of our genetic material DNA to produce protein. It accomplishes this task in the ribosome, the protein-producing area of the cell. The ribosome is the place where protein biosynthesis occurs.
Medicine takes advantage of this: In vaccination, artificially produced mRNA provides ribosomes with instructions for constructing pathogen antigens to fight against—for example, the spike protein of coronavirus.
Traditional live vaccines or inactivated vaccines contain antigens that cause the immune system to react. The mRNA vaccine is produced in the cell
(1) The specificity of new coronaviruses and mutant viruses, etc., virology and quantum chemistry of mutant viruses, quantum physics, quantum microbiology
(2) New crown vaccine design, molecular biology and chemical structure, etc.
(3) The generality and particularity of the development of new coronavirus drugs
(4) Various drug design for new coronavirus pneumonia, medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, etc., cells, proteins, DNA, enzyme chemistry, pharmaceutical quantum chemistry, pharmaceutical quantum physics, human biochemistry, human biophysics, etc.
(5) The evolution and mutation characteristics of the new coronavirus and various mutant viruses, the long-term nature, repeatability, drug resistance, and epidemic resistance of the virus, etc.
(6) New coronavirus pneumonia and the infectious transmission of various new coronaviruses and their particularities
(7) The invisible transmission of new coronavirus pneumonia and various mutant viruses in humans or animals, and the mutual symbiosis of cross infection of various bacteria and viruses are also one of the very serious causes of serious harm to new coronaviruses and mutant viruses. Virology, pathology, etiology, gene sequencing, gene mapping, and a large number of analytical studies have shown that there are many cases in China, the United States, India, Russia, Brazil, and other countries.
(8) For the symptomatic prevention and treatment of the new coronavirus, the combination of various vaccines and various antiviral drugs is critical.
(9) According to the current epidemic situation and research judgments, the epidemic situation may improve in the next period of time and 2021-2022, and we are optimistic about its success. However, completely worry-free, it is still too early to win easily. It is not just relying on vaccination. Wearing masks to close the city and other prevention and control measures and methods can sit back and relax, and you can win a big victory. Because all kinds of research and exploration still require a lot of time and various experimental studies. It is not a day's work. A simple taste is very dangerous and harmful. The power and migratory explosiveness of viruses sometimes far exceed human thinking and perception. In the future, next year, or in the future, whether viruses and various evolutionary mutation viruses will re-attack, we still need to study, analyze, prevent and control, rather than being complacent, thinking that the vaccine can win a big victory is inevitably naive and ridiculous. Vaccine protection is very important, but it must not be taken carelessly. The mutation of the new crown virus is very rampant, and the cross-infection of recessive and virulent bacteria makes epidemic prevention and anti-epidemic very complicated.
(10) New crown virus pneumonia and the virus's stubbornness, strength, migration, susceptibility, multi-infectiousness, and occult. The effectiveness of various vaccines and the particularity of virus mutations The long-term hidden dangers and repeated recurrences of the new coronavirus
(11) The formation mechanism and invisible transmission of invisible viruses, asymptomatic infections and asymptomatic infections, asymptomatic transmission routes, asymptomatic infections, pathological pathogens. The spread and infection of viruses and mutated viruses, the blind spots and blind spots of virus vaccines, viral quantum chemistry and
The chemical and physical corresponding reactions at the meeting points of highly effective vaccine drugs, etc. The variability of mutated viruses is very complicated, and vaccination cannot completely prevent the spread of infection.
(12) New crown virus pneumonia and various respiratory infectious diseases are susceptible to infections in animals and humans, and are frequently recurring. This is one of the frequently-occurring and difficult diseases of common infectious diseases. Even with various vaccines and various antiviral immune drugs, it is difficult to completely prevent the occurrence and spread of viral pneumonia. Therefore, epidemic prevention and anti-epidemic is a major issue facing human society, and no country should take it lightly. The various costs that humans pay on this issue are very expensive, such as Ebola virus, influenza A virus,
Hepatitis virus,
Marburg virus
Sars coronavirus, plague, anthracnose, cholera
and many more. The B.1.1.7 mutant virus that was first discovered in the UK was renamed Alpha mutant virus; the B.1.351 that was first discovered in South Africa was renamed Beta mutant virus; the P.1 that was first discovered in Brazil was renamed Gamma mutant virus; the mutation was first discovered in India There are two branches of the virus. B.1.617.2, which was listed as "mutated virus of concern", was renamed Delta mutant virus, and B.1.617.1 of "mutated virus to be observed" was renamed Kappa mutant virus.
However, experts in many countries believe that the current vaccination is still effective, at least it can prevent severe illness and reduce deaths.
Delta mutant strain
According to the degree of risk, the WHO divides the new crown variant strains into two categories: worrying variant strains (VOC, variant of concern) and noteworthy variant strains (VOI, variant of interest). The former has caused many cases and a wide range of cases worldwide, and data confirms its transmission ability, strong toxicity, high power, complex migration, and high insidious transmission of infection. Resistance to vaccines may lead to the effectiveness of vaccines and clinical treatments. Decrease; the latter has confirmed cases of community transmission worldwide, or has been found in multiple countries, but has not yet formed a large-scale infection. Need to be very vigilant. Various cases and deaths in many countries in the world are related to this. In some countries, the epidemic situation is repeated, and it is also caused by various reasons and viruses, of course, including new cases and so on.
At present, VOC is the mutant strain that has the greatest impact on the epidemic and the greatest threat to the world, including: Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta. , Will the change of the spur protein in the VOC affect the immune protection effect of the existing vaccine, or whether it will affect the sensitivity of the VOC to the existing vaccine? For this problem, it is necessary to directly test neutralizing antibodies, such as those that can prevent the protection of infection. Antibodies recognize specific protein sequences on viral particles, especially those spike protein sequences used in mRNA vaccines.
(13) Countries around the world, especially countries and regions with more severe epidemics, have a large number of clinical cases, severe cases, and deaths, especially including many young and middle-aged patients, including those who have been vaccinated. The epidemic is more complicated and serious. Injecting various vaccines, taking strict control measures such as closing the city and wearing masks are very important and the effect is very obvious. However, the new coronavirus and mutant viruses are so repeated, their pathological pathogen research will also be very complicated and difficult. After the large-scale use of the vaccine, many people are still infected. In addition to the lack of prevention and control measures, it is very important that the viability of the new coronavirus and various mutant viruses is very important. It can escape the inactivation of the vaccine. It is very resistant to stubbornness. Therefore, the recurrence of new coronavirus pneumonia is very dangerous. What is more noteworthy is that medical scientists, virologists, pharmacists, biologists, zoologists and clinicians should seriously consider the correspondence between virus specificity and vaccine drugs, and the coupling of commonality and specificity. Only in this way can we find targets. Track and kill viruses. Only in this sense can the new crown virus produce a nemesis, put an end to and eradicate the new crown virus pneumonia. Of course, this is not a temporary battle, but a certain amount of time and process to achieve the goal in the end.
(14) The development and evolution of the natural universe and earth species, as well as life species. With the continuous evolution of human cell genes, microbes and bacterial viruses are constantly mutated and inherited. The new world will inevitably produce a variety of new pathogens.
And viruses. For example, neurological genetic disease, digestive system disease, respiratory system disease, blood system disease, cardiopulmonary system disease, etc., new diseases will continue to emerge as humans develop and evolve. Human migration to space, space diseases, space psychological diseases, space cell diseases, space genetic diseases, etc. Therefore, for the new coronavirus and mutated viruses, we must have sufficient knowledge and response, and do not think that it will be completely wiped out.
, And is not a scientific attitude. Viruses and humans mutually reinforce each other, and viruses and animals and plants mutually reinforce each other. This is the iron law of the natural universe. Human beings can only adapt to natural history, but cannot deliberately modify natural history.
Active immune products made from specific bacteria, viruses, rickettsiae, spirochetes, mycoplasma and other microorganisms and parasites are collectively called vaccines. Vaccination of animals can make the animal body have specific immunity. The principle of vaccines is to artificially attenuate, inactivate, and genetically attenuate pathogenic microorganisms (such as bacteria, viruses, rickettsia, etc.) and their metabolites. Purification and preparation methods, made into immune preparations for the prevention of infectious diseases. In terms of ingredients, the vaccine retains the antigenic properties and other characteristics of the pathogen, which can stimulate the body's immune response and produce protective antibodies. But it has no pathogenicity and does not cause harm to the body. When the body is exposed to this pathogen again, the immune system will produce more antibodies according to the previous memory to prevent the pathogen from invading or to fight against the damage to the body. (1) Inactivated vaccines: select pathogenic microorganisms with strong immunogenicity, culture them, inactivate them by physical or chemical methods, and then purify and prepare them. The virus species used in inactivated vaccines are generally virulent strains, but the use of attenuated attenuated strains also has good immunogenicity, such as the inactivated polio vaccine produced by the Sabin attenuated strain. The inactivated vaccine has lost its infectivity to the body, but still maintains its immunogenicity, which can stimulate the body to produce corresponding immunity and resist the infection of wild strains. Inactivated vaccines have a good immune effect. They can generally be stored for more than one year at 2～8°C without the risk of reversion of virulence; however, the inactivated vaccines cannot grow and reproduce after entering the human body. They stimulate the human body for a short time and must be strong and long-lasting. In general, adjuvants are required for immunity, and multiple injections in large doses are required, and the local immune protection of natural infection is lacking. Including bacteria, viruses, rickettsiae and toxoid preparations.
(2) Live attenuated vaccine: It is a vaccine made by using artificial targeted mutation methods or by screening live microorganisms with highly weakened or basically non-toxic virulence from the natural world. After inoculation, the live attenuated vaccine has a certain ability to grow and reproduce in the body, which can cause the body to have a reaction similar to a recessive infection or a mild infection, and it is widely used.
(3) Subunit vaccine: Among the multiple specific antigenic determinants carried by macromolecular antigens, only a small number of antigenic sites play an important role in the protective immune response. Separate natural proteins through chemical decomposition or controlled proteolysis, and extract bacteria and virusesVaccines made from fragments with immunological activity are screened out of the special protein structure of, called subunit vaccines. Subunit vaccines have only a few major surface proteins, so they can eliminate antibodies induced by many unrelated antigens, thereby reducing the side effects of the vaccine and related diseases and other side effects caused by the vaccine. (4) Genetically engineered vaccine: It uses DNA recombination biotechnology to direct the natural or synthetic genetic material in the pathogen coat protein that can induce the body's immune response into bacteria, yeast or mammalian cells to make it fully expressed. A vaccine prepared after purification. The application of genetic engineering technology can produce subunit vaccines that do not contain infectious substances, stable attenuated vaccines with live viruses as carriers, and multivalent vaccines that can prevent multiple diseases. This is the second-generation vaccine following the first-generation traditional vaccine. It has the advantages of safety, effectiveness, long-term immune response, and easy realization of combined immunization. It has certain advantages and effects.
New coronavirus drug development, drug targets and chemical modification.
Ligand-based drug design (or indirect drug design planning) relies on the knowledge of other molecules that bind to the target biological target. These other molecules can be used to derive pharmacophore models and structural modalities, which define the minimum necessary structural features that the molecule must have in order to bind to the target. In other words, a model of a biological target can be established based on the knowledge of the binding target, and the model can be used to design new molecular entities and other parts that interact with the target. Among them, the quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) is included, in which the correlation between the calculated properties of the molecule and its experimentally determined biological activity can be derived. These QSAR relationships can be used to predict the activity of new analogs. The structure-activity relationship is very complicated.
Based on structure
Structure-based drug design relies on knowledge of the three-dimensional structure of biological targets obtained by methods such as X-ray crystallography or NMR spectroscopy and quantum chemistry. If the experimental structure of the target is not available, it is possible to create a homology model of the target and other standard models that can be compared based on the experimental structure of the relevant protein. Using the structure of biological targets, interactive graphics and medical chemists’ intuitive design can be used to predict drug candidates with high affinity and selective binding to the target. Various automatic calculation programs can also be used to suggest new drug candidates.
The current structure-based drug design methods can be roughly divided into three categories. The 3D method is to search a large database of small molecule 3D structures to find new ligands for a given receptor, in order to use a rapid approximate docking procedure to find those suitable for the receptor binding pocket. This method is called virtual screening. The second category is the de novo design of new ligands. In this method, by gradually assembling small fragments, a ligand molecule is established within the constraints of the binding pocket. These fragments can be single atoms or molecular fragments. The main advantage of this method is that it can propose novel structures that are not found in any database. The third method is to optimize the known ligand acquisition by evaluating the proposed analogs in the binding cavity.
Bind site ID
Binding site recognition is a step in structure-based design. If the structure of the target or a sufficiently similar homologue is determined in the presence of the bound ligand, the ligand should be observable in that structure, in which case the location of the binding site is small. However, there may not be an allosteric binding site of interest. In addition, only apo protein structures may be available, and it is not easy to reliably identify unoccupied sites that have the potential to bind ligands with high affinity. In short, the recognition of binding sites usually depends on the recognition of pits. The protein on the protein surface can hold molecules the size of drugs, etc. These molecules also have appropriate "hot spots" that drive ligand binding, hydrophobic surfaces, hydrogen bonding sites, and so on.
Drug design is a creative process of finding new drugs based on the knowledge of biological targets. The most common type of drug is small organic molecules that activate or inhibit the function of biomolecules, thereby producing therapeutic benefits for patients. In the most important sense, drug design involves the design of molecules with complementary shapes and charges that bind to their interacting biomolecular targets, and therefore will bind to them. Drug design often but does not necessarily rely on computer modeling techniques. A more accurate term is ligand design. Although the design technology for predicting binding affinity is quite successful, there are many other characteristics, such as bioavailability, metabolic half-life, side effects, etc., which must be optimized first before the ligand can become safe and effective. drug. These other features are usually difficult to predict and realize through reasonable design techniques. However, due to the high turnover rate, especially in the clinical stage of drug development, in the early stage of the drug design process, more attention is paid to the selection of drug candidates. The physical and chemical properties of these drug candidates are expected to be reduced during the development process. Complications are therefore more likely to lead to the approval of the marketed drug. In addition, in early drug discovery, in vitro experiments with computational methods are increasingly used to select compounds with more favorable ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion) and toxicological characteristics. A more accurate term is ligand design. Although the design technique for predicting binding affinity is quite successful, there are many other characteristics, such as bioavailability, metabolic half-life, side effects, iatrogenic effects, etc., which must be optimized first, and then the ligand To become safe and effective.
For drug targets, two aspects should be considered when selecting drug targets:
1. The effectiveness of the target, that is, the target is indeed related to the disease, and the symptoms of the disease can be effectively improved by regulating the physiological activity of the target.
2. The side effects of the target. If the regulation of the physiological activity of the target inevitably produces serious side effects, it is inappropriate to select it as the target of drug action or lose its important biological activity. The reference frame of the target should be expanded in multiple dimensions to have a big choice.
3. Search for biomolecular clues related to diseases: use genomics, proteomics and biochip technology to obtain biomolecular information related to diseases, and perform bioinformatics analysis to obtain clue information.
4. Perform functional research on related biomolecules to determine the target of candidate drugs. Multiple targets or individual targets.
5. Candidate drug targets, design small molecule compounds, and conduct pharmacological research at the molecular, cellular and overall animal levels.
Covalent bonding type
The covalent bonding type is an irreversible form of bonding, similar to the organic synthesis reaction that occurs. Covalent bonding types mostly occur in the mechanism of action of chemotherapeutic drugs. For example, alkylating agent anti-tumor drugs produce covalent bonding bonds to guanine bases in DNA, resulting in cytotoxic activity.
. Verify the effectiveness of the target.
Based on the targets that interact with drugs, that is, receptors in a broad sense, such as enzymes, receptors, ion channels, membranes, antigens, viruses, nucleic acids, polysaccharides, proteins, enzymes, etc., find and design reasonable drug molecules. Targets of action and drug screening should focus on multiple points. Drug intermediates and chemical modification. Combining the development of new drugs with the chemical structure modification of traditional drugs makes it easier to find breakthroughs and develop new antiviral drugs. For example, careful selection, modification and modification of existing related drugs that can successfully treat and recover a large number of cases, elimination and screening of invalid drugs from severe death cases, etc., are targeted, rather than screening and capturing needles in a haystack, aimless, with half the effort. Vaccine design should also be multi-pronged and focused. The broad-spectrum, long-term, safety, efficiency and redundancy of the vaccine should all be considered. In this way, it will be more powerful to deal with the mutation and evolution of the virus. Of course, series of vaccines, series of drugs, second-generation vaccines, third-generation vaccines, second-generation drugs, third-generation drugs, etc. can also be developed. Vaccines focus on epidemic prevention, and medicines focus on medical treatment. The two are very different; however, the two complement each other and complement each other. Therefore, in response to large-scale epidemics of infectious diseases, vaccines and various drugs are the nemesis and killers of viral diseases. Of course, it also includes other methods and measures, so I won't repeat them here.
Mainly through the comprehensive and accurate understanding of the structure of the drug and the receptor at the molecular level and even the electronic level, structure-based drug design and the understanding of the structure, function, and drug action mode of the target and the mechanism of physiological activity Mechanism-based drug design.
Compared with the traditional extensive pharmacological screening and lead compound optimization, it has obvious advantages.
Viral RNA replicase, also known as RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) is responsible for the replication and transcription of RNA virus genome, and plays a very important role in the process of virus self-replication in host cells, and It also has a major impact on the mutation of the virus, it will change and accelerate the replication and recombination. Because RdRp from different viruses has a highly conserved core structure, the virus replicase is an important antiviral drug target and there are other selection sites, rather than a single isolated target target such as the new coronavirus As with various mutant viruses, inhibitors developed for viral replicase are expected to become a broad-spectrum antiviral drug. The currently well-known anti-coronavirus drug remdesivir (remdesivir) is a drug for viral replicase.
New antiviral therapies are gradually emerging. In addition to traditional polymerase and protease inhibitors, nucleic acid drugs, cell entry inhibitors, nucleocapsid inhibitors, and drugs targeting host cells are also increasingly appearing in the research and development of major pharmaceutical companies. The treatment of mutated viruses is becoming increasingly urgent. The development of drugs for the new coronavirus pneumonia is very important. It is not only for the current global new coronavirus epidemic, but more importantly, it is of great significance to face the severe pneumonia-respiratory infectious disease that poses a huge threat to humans.
There are many vaccines and related drugs developed for the new coronavirus pneumonia, and countries are vying for a while, mainly including the following:
Identification test, appearance, difference in loading, moisture, pH value, osmolality, polysaccharide content, free polysaccharide content, potency test, sterility test, pyrogen test, bacterial endotoxin test, abnormal toxicity test.
Among them: such as sterility inspection, pyrogen inspection, bacterial endotoxin, and abnormal toxicity inspection are indicators closely related to safety.
Polysaccharide content, free polysaccharide content, and efficacy test are indicators closely related to vaccine effectiveness.
Usually, a vaccine will go through a long research and development process of at least 8 years or even more than 20 years from research and development to marketing. The outbreak of the new crown epidemic requires no delay, and the design and development of vaccines is speeding up. It is not surprising in this special period. Of course, it is understandable that vaccine design, development and testing can be accelerated, shortened the cycle, and reduced some procedures. However, science needs to be rigorous and rigorous to achieve great results. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines are of the utmost importance. There must not be a single error. Otherwise, it will be counterproductive and need to be continuously improved and perfected.
Pre-clinical research: The screening of strains and cells is the basic guarantee to ensure the safety, effectiveness, and continuous supply of vaccines. Taking virus vaccines as an example, the laboratory stage needs to carry out strain screening, necessary strain attenuation, strain adaptation to the cultured cell matrix and stability studies in the process of passaging, and explore the stability of process quality, establish animal models, etc. . Choose mice, guinea pigs, rabbits or monkeys for animal experiments according to each vaccine situation. Pre-clinical research generally takes 5-10 years or longer on the premise that the process is controllable, the quality is stable, and it is safe and effective. In order to be safe and effective, a certain redundant design is also needed, so that the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine can be importantly guaranteed.
These include the establishment of vaccine strain/cell seed bank, production process research, quality research, stability research, animal safety evaluation and effectiveness evaluation, and clinical trial programs, etc.
The ARS-CoV-2 genome contains at least 10 ORFs. ORF1ab is converted into a polyprotein and processed into 16 non-structural proteins (NSP). These NSPs have a variety of functional biological activities, physical and chemical reactions, such as genome replication, induction of host mRNA cleavage, membrane rearrangement, autophagosome production, NSP polyprotein cleavage, capping, tailing, methylation, RNA double-stranded Uncoiling, etc., and others, play an important role in the virus life cycle. In addition, SARS-CoV-2 contains 4 structural proteins, namely spike (S), nucleocapsid (N), envelope (E) and membrane (M), all of which are encoded by the 3'end of the viral genome. Among the four structural proteins, S protein is a large multifunctional transmembrane protein that plays an important role in the process of virus adsorption, fusion, and injection into host cells, and requires in-depth observation and research.
1S protein is composed of S1 and S2 subunits, and each subunit can be further divided into different functional domains. The S1 subunit has 2 domains: NTD and RBD, and RBD contains conservative RBM. The S2 subunit has 3 structural domains: FP, HR1 and HR2. The S1 subunit is arranged at the top of the S2 subunit to form an immunodominant S protein.
The virus uses the host transmembrane protease Serine 2 (TMPRSS2) and the endosomal cysteine protease CatB/L to enter the cell. TMPRSS2 is responsible for the cleavage of the S protein to expose the FP region of the S2 subunit, which is responsible for initiating endosome-mediated host cell entry into it. It shows that TMPRSS2 is a host factor necessary for virus entry. Therefore, the use of drugs that inhibit this protease can achieve the purpose of treatment.
mRNA-1273
The mRNA encoding the full length of SARS-CoV-2, and the pre-spike protein fusion is encapsulated into lipid nanoparticles to form mRNA-1273 vaccine. It can induce a high level of S protein specific antiviral response. It can also consist of inactivated antigens or subunit antigens. The vaccine was quickly approved by the FDA and has entered phase II clinical trials. The company has announced the antibody data of 8 subjects who received different immunization doses. The 25ug dose group achieved an effect similar to the antibody level during the recovery period. The 100ug dose group exceeded the antibody level during the recovery period. In the 25ug and 100ug dose groups, the vaccine was basically safe and tolerable, while the 250ug dose group had 3 levels of systemic symptoms.
Viral vector vaccines can provide long-term high-level expression of antigen proteins, induce CTLs, and ultimately eliminate viral infections.
1, Ad5-nCov
A vaccine of SARS-CoV-2 recombinant spike protein expressed by recombinant, replication-deficient type 5 adenovirus (Ad5) vector. Load the optimized full-length S protein gene together with the plasminogen activation signal peptide gene into the E1 and E3 deleted Ad5 vectors. The vaccine is constructed by the Admax system derived from Microbix Biosystem. In phase I clinical trials, RBD (S1 subunit receptor binding domain) and S protein neutralizing antibody increased by 4 times 14 days after immunization, reaching a peak on 28 days. CD4+T and CD8+T cells reached a peak 14 days after immunization. The existing Ad5 immune resistance partially limits the response of antibodies and T cells. This study will be further conducted in the 18-60 age group, receiving 1/3 of the study dose, and follow-up for 3-6 months after immunization.
DNA vaccine
The introduction of antigen-encoding DNA and adjuvants as vaccines is the most innovative vaccine method. The transfected cells stably express the transgenic protein, similar to live viruses. The antigen will be endocytosed by immature DC, and finally provide antigen to CD4 + T, CD8 + T cells (by MHC differentiation) To induce humoral and cellular immunity. Some specificities of the virus and the new coronavirus mutant are different from general vaccines and other vaccines. Therefore, it is worth noting the gene expression of the vaccine. Otherwise, the effectiveness and efficiency of the vaccine will be questioned.
Live attenuated vaccine
DelNS1-SARS-CoV2-RBD
Basic influenza vaccine, delete NS1 gene. Express SARS-CoV-2 RBD domain. Cultured in CEF and MDCK (canine kidney cells) cells. It is more immunogenic than wild-type influenza virus and can be administered by nasal spray.
The viral genome is susceptible to mutation, antigen transfer and drift can occur, and spread among the population. Mutations can vary depending on the environmental conditions and population density of the geographic area. After screening and comparing 7,500 samples of infected patients, scientists found 198 mutations, indicating the evolutionary mutation of the virus in the human host. These mutations may form different virus subtypes, which means that even after vaccine immunization, viral infections may occur. A certain amount of increment and strengthening is needed here.
Inactivated vaccines, adenovirus vector vaccines, recombinant protein vaccines, nucleic acid vaccines, attenuated influenza virus vector vaccines, etc. According to relevant information, there are dozens of new coronavirus vaccines in the world, and more varieties are being developed and upgraded. Including the United States, Britain, China, Russia, India and other countries, there are more R&D and production units.
AZ vaccine
Modena vaccine
Lianya Vaccine
High-end vaccine
Pfizer vaccine
Pfizer-BioNTech
A large study found that the vaccine developed by Pfizer and German biotechnology company BioNTech is 95% effective in preventing COVID-19.
The vaccine is divided into two doses, which are injected every three weeks.
This vaccine uses a molecule called mRNA as its basis. mRNA is a molecular cousin of DNA, which contains instructions to build specific proteins; in this case, the mRNA in the vaccine encodes the coronavirus spike protein, which is attached to the surface of the virus and used to infect human cells. Once the vaccine enters the human body, it will instruct the body's cells to make this protein, and the immune system will learn to recognize and attack it.
Moderna
The vaccine developed by the American biotechnology company Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is also based on mRNA and is estimated to be 94.5% effective in preventing COVID-19.
Like Pfizer's vaccine, this vaccine is divided into two doses, but injected every four weeks instead of three weeks. Another difference is that the Moderna vaccine can be stored at minus 20 degrees Celsius instead of deep freezing like Pfizer vaccine. At present, the importance of one of the widely used vaccines is self-evident.
Oxford-AstraZeneca
The vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is approximately 70% effective in preventing COVID-19-that is, in clinical trials, adjusting the dose seems to improve this effect.
In the population who received two high-dose vaccines (28 days apart), the effectiveness of the vaccine was about 62%; according to early analysis, the effectiveness of the vaccine in those patients who received the half-dose first and then the full-dose Is 90%. However, in clinical trials, participants taking half doses of the drug are wrong, and some scientists question whether these early results are representative.
Sinopharm Group (Beijing Institute of Biological Products, China)
China National Pharmaceutical Group Sinopharm and Beijing Institute of Biological Products have developed a vaccine from inactivated coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). The inactivated coronavirus is an improved version that cannot be replicated.
Estimates of the effectiveness of vaccines against COVID-19 vary.
Gamaleya Institute
The Gamaleya Institute of the Russian Ministry of Health has developed a coronavirus vaccine candidate called Sputnik V. This vaccine contains two common cold viruses, adenoviruses, which have been modified so that they will not replicate in the human body; the modified virus also contains a gene encoding the coronavirus spike protein.
New crown drugs
There are many small molecule antiviral drug candidates in the clinical research stage around the world. Including traditional drugs in the past and various drugs yet to be developed, antiviral drugs, immune drugs, Gene drugs, compound drugs, etc.
(A) Molnupiravir
Molnupiravir is a prodrug of the nucleoside analog N4-hydroxycytidine (NHC), jointly developed by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics.
The positive rate of infectious virus isolation and culture in nasopharyngeal swabs was 0% (0/47), while that of patients in the placebo group was 24% (6/25). However, data from the Phase II/III study indicate that the drug has no benefit in preventing death or shortening the length of stay in hospitalized patients.
Therefore, Merck has decided to fully advance the research of 800mg molnupiravir in the treatment of patients with mild to moderate COVID-19.
(B) AT-527
AT-527 is a small molecule inhibitor of viral RNA polymerase, jointly developed by Roche and Atea. Not only can it be used as an oral therapy to treat hospitalized COVID-19 patients, but it also has the potential as a preventive treatment after exposure.
Including 70 high-risk COVID-19 hospitalized patients data, of which 62 patients' data can be used for virological analysis and evaluation. The results of interim virological analysis show that AT-527 can quickly reduce viral load. On day 2, compared with placebo, patients treated with AT-527 had a greater decline in viral load than the baseline level, and the continuous difference in viral load decline was maintained until day 8.
In addition, compared with the control group, the potent antiviral activity of AT-527 was also observed in patients with a baseline median viral load higher than 5.26 log10. When testing by RT-qPCR to assess whether the virus is cleared,
The safety aspect is consistent with previous studies. AT-527 showed good safety and tolerability, and no new safety problems or risks were found. Of course, there is still a considerable distance between experiment and clinical application, and a large amount of experimental data can prove it.
(C) Prokrutamide
Prokalamide is an AR (androgen receptor) antagonist. Activated androgen receptor AR can induce the expression of transmembrane serine protease (TMPRSS2). TMPRSS2 has a shearing effect on the new coronavirus S protein and ACE2, which can promote the binding of viral spike protein (S protein) to ACE, thereby promoting The virus enters the host cell. Therefore, inhibiting the androgen receptor may inhibit the viral infection process, and AR antagonists are expected to become anti-coronavirus drugs.
Positive results were obtained in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase III clinical trial. The data shows that Prokalutamide reduces the risk of death in severely ill patients with new coronary disease by 92%, reduces the risk of new ventilator use by 92%, and shortens the length of hospital stay by 9 days. This shows that procrulamide has a certain therapeutic effect for patients with severe new coronary disease, which can significantly reduce the mortality of patients, and at the same time greatly reduce the new mechanical ventilation and shorten the patient's hospital stay.
With the continuous development of COVID-19 on a global scale, in addition to vaccines and prevention and control measures, we need a multi-pronged plan to control this disease. Oral antiviral therapy undoubtedly provides a convenient treatment option.
In addition, there are other drugs under development and experimentation. In dealing with the plague virus, in addition to the strict control of protective measures, it is very important that various efficient and safe vaccines and various drugs (including medical instruments, etc.) are the ultimate nemesis and killer of the virus.
(A) "Antiviral biological missiles" are mainly drugs for new coronaviruses and mutant viruses, which act on respiratory and lung diseases. The drugs use redundant designs to inhibit new coronaviruses and variant viruses.
(B) "New Coronavirus Epidemic Prevention Tablets" mainly use natural purified elements and chemical structure modifications.
(C) "Composite antiviral oral liquid" antiviral intermediate, natural antiviral plant, plus other preparations
(D) "New Coronavirus Long-acting Oral Tablets" Chemical modification of antiviral drugs, multiple targets, etc.
(E) "New Coronavirus Inhibitors" (injections) are mainly made of chemical drug structure modification and other preparations.
The development of these drugs mainly includes: drug target screening, structure-activity relationship, chemical modification, natural purification, etc., which require a lot of work and experimentation.
Humans need to vigorously develop drugs to deal with various viruses. These drugs are very important for the prevention and treatment of viruses and respiratory infectious diseases, influenza, pneumonia, etc.
The history of human development The history of human evolution, like all living species, will always be accompanied by the survival and development of microorganisms. It is not surprising that viruses and infectious diseases are frequent and prone to occur. The key is to prevent and control them before they happen.
This strain was first discovered in India in October 2020 and was initially called a "double mutant" virus by the media. According to the announcement by the Ministry of Health of India at the end of March this year, the "India New Coronavirus Genomics Alliance" composed of 10 laboratories found in samples collected in Maharashtra that this new mutant strain carries E484Q and L452R mutations. , May lead to immune escape and increased infectivity. This mutant strain was named B.1.617 by the WHO and was named with the Greek letter δ (delta) on May 31.
Shahid Jamil, the dean of the Trivedi School of Biological Sciences at Ashoka University in India and a virologist, said in an interview with the Shillong Times of India that this mutant strain called "double mutation" is not accurate enough. B. 1.617 contains a total of 15 mutations, of which 6 occur on the spike protein, of which 3 are more critical: L452R and E484Q mutations occur on the spike protein and the human cell "Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2)" receptor In the bound region, L452R improves the ability of the virus to invade cells, and E484Q helps to enhance the immune escape of the virus; the third mutation P681R can also make the virus enter the cell more effectively. (Encyclopedia website)
There are currently dozens of antiviral COVID-19 therapies under development. The large drugmakers Merck and Pfizer are the closest to the end, as expected, a pair of oral antiviral COVID-19 therapies are undergoing advanced human clinical trials.
Merck's drug candidate is called monupiravir. It was originally developed as an influenza antiviral drug several years ago. However, preclinical studies have shown that it has a good effect on SARS and MERS coronavirus.
Monupiravir is currently undergoing in-depth large-scale Phase 3 human trials. So far, the data is so promising that the US government recently pre-ordered 1.7 million courses of drugs at a cost of $1.2 billion. If everything goes according to plan, the company hopes that the drug will be authorized by the FDA for emergency use and be on the market before the end of 2021.
Pfizer's large COVID-19 antiviral drug candidate is more unique. Currently known as PF-07321332, this drug is the first oral antiviral drug to enter human clinical trials, specifically targeting SARS-CoV-2.
Variant of Concern WHO Label First Detected in World First Detected in Washington State
B.1.1.7 Alpha United Kingdom, September 2020 January 2021
B.1.351 Beta South Africa, December 2020 February 2021
P.1 Gamma Brazil, April 2020 March 2021
B.1.617.2 Delta India, October 2020 April 2021
Although this particular molecule was developed in 2020 after the emergence of the new coronavirus, a somewhat related drug called PF-00835231 has been in operation for several years, targeting the original SARS virus. However, the new drug candidate PF-07321332 is designed as a simple pill that can be taken under non-hospital conditions in the initial stages of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
"The protease inhibitor binds to a viral enzyme and prevents the virus from replicating in the cell," Pfizer said when explaining the mechanism of its new antiviral drug. "Protease inhibitors have been effective in the treatment of other viral pathogens, such as HIV and hepatitis C virus, whether used alone or in combination with other antiviral drugs. Currently marketed therapeutic drugs for viral proteases are generally not toxic Therefore, such molecules may provide well-tolerated treatments against COVID-19."
Various studies on other types of antiviral drugs are also gaining momentum. For example, the new coronavirus pneumonia "antiviral biological missile", "new coronavirus prevention tablets", "composite antiviral oral liquid", "new coronavirus long-acting oral tablets", "new coronavirus inhibitors" (injections), etc., are worthy of attention. Like all kinds of vaccines, they will play a major role in preventing and fighting epidemics.
In addition, Japanese pharmaceutical company Shionoyoshi Pharmaceutical is currently conducting a phase 1 trial of a protease inhibitor similar to SARS-CoV-2. This is called S-217622, which is another oral antiviral drug, and hopes to provide people with an easy-to-take pill in the early stages of COVID-19. At present, the research and development of vaccines and various new crown drugs is very active and urgent. Time does not wait. With the passage of time, various new crown drugs will appear on the stage one after another, bringing the gospel to the complete victory of mankind.
The COVID-19 pandemic is far from over. The Delta mutant strain has quickly become the most prominent SARS-CoV-2 strain in the world. Although our vaccine is still maintained, it is clear that we need more tools to combat this new type of coronavirus. Delta will certainly not be the last new SARS-CoV-2 variant we encountered. Therefore, it is necessary for all mankind to persevere and fight the epidemic together.
Overcome illness and meet new challenges. The new crown epidemic and various mutated viruses are very important global epidemic prevention and anti-epidemic top priorities, especially for the current period of time. Vaccine injections, research and development of new drugs, strict prevention and control, wear masks, reduce gatherings, strictly control large gatherings, prevent the spread of various viruses Masks, disinfection and sterilization, lockdown of the city, vaccinations, accounting and testing are very important, but this does not mean that humans can completely overcome the virus. In fact, many spreading and new latently transmitted infections are still unsuccessful. There are detections, such as invisible patients, asymptomatic patients, migratory latent patients, new-onset patients, etc. The struggle between humans and the virus is still very difficult and complicated, and long-term efforts and exploration are still needed, especially for medical research on the new coronavirus. The origin of the disease, the course of the disease, the virus invaded The deep-level path and the reasons for the evolution and mutation of the new coronavirus and the particularity of prevention and treatment, etc.). Therefore, human beings should be highly vigilant and must not be taken lightly. The fierce battle between humans and various viruses must not be slackened. Greater efforts are needed to successfully overcome this pandemic, fully restore the normal life of the whole society, restore the normal production and work order, restore the normal operation of society, economy and culture, and give up food due to choking. Or eager for success, will pay a high price.
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References References are made to web resources, and related images are from web resources and related websites.
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Compilation postscript
Once Fang Ruida's research literature on the new crown virus and mutant virus was published, it has been enthusiastically praised by readers and netizens in dozens of countries around the world, and has proposed some amendments and suggestions. Hope to publish a multilingual version of the book as an emergency To meet the needs of many readers around the world, in the face of the new crown epidemic and the prevention and treatment of various mutant viruses, including the general public, college and middle school students, medical workers, medical colleagues and so on. According to the English original manuscript, it will be re-compiled and published. Inconsistencies will be revised separately. Thank you very much.
Jacques Lucy, Geneva, Switzerland, August 2021
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Leader mondial, scientifique, scientifique médical, virologue, pharmacien et professeur Fangruida (F.D Smith) sur l'épidémie mondiale et l'ennemi juré et la prévention des nouveaux coronavirus et virus mutants (Jacques Lucy 2021v1.5)
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L'ennemi juré et le tueur du nouveau coronavirus et des virus mutés - Développement conjoint de vaccins et de médicaments (Fangruida) Juillet 2021
* La particularité des nouveaux coronavirus et des virus mutants * Le large spectre, la haute efficacité, la redondance et la sécurité de la conception et du développement du nouveau vaccin contre le coronavirus, Redondance et sécurité
“OBSERVE the clasped hands!
Are they hands of farewell or greeting,
Hands that I helped or hands that helped me?
Would it not be well to carve a hand
With an inverted thumb, like Elagabalus?
And yonder is a broken chain,
The weakest-link idea perhaps—but what was it?
And lambs, some lying down,
Others standing, as if listening to the shepherd—
Others bearing a cross, one foot lifted up—
Why not chisel a few shambles?
And fallen columns!
Carve the pedestal, please,
Or the foundations; let us see the cause of the fall.
And compasses and mathematical instruments,
In irony of the under tenants, ignorance
Of determinants and the calculus of variations.
And anchors, for those who never sailed.
And gates ajar—yes, so they were;
You left them open and stray goats entered your garden.
And an eye watching like one of the Arimaspi—
So did you—with one eye.
And angels blowing trumpets—you are heralded—
It is your horn and your angel and your family's estimate.
It is all very well, but for myself
I know I stirred certain vibrations in Spoon River
Which are my true epitaph, more lasting than stone.”
Passi di: Edgar Lee Masters. “Spoon River Anthology”. iBooks.
Some 80% of Scotland’s land mass is under agricultural production, making the industry the single biggest determinant of the landscape we see around us. Scotland’s farmers, crofters and growers produce output worth around £2.9 billion a year, and are responsible for much of Scotland’s £5 billion food and drink exports. The export target for 2017 is £7.1 billion.
Around 67,000 people are directly employed in agriculture in Scotland – this represents around 8% of the rural workforce and means that agriculture is the third largest employer in rural Scotland after the service and public sectors. It is estimated that a further 360,000 jobs (1 in 10 of all Scottish jobs) are dependent on agriculture.
The agri-food sector is now the UKs largest manufacturing sector.
Around 85% of Scotland is classified as Less Favoured Area. This is an EU classification which recognises natural and geographic disadvantage.
There are large numbers of farms in north west Scotland, but these are significantly smaller in terms of the numbers of livestock/area of crops grown than farms elsewhere. Sheep farming is the predominant type of farming in the north west and there are also many sheep farms in the south of the country. Larger cereal farms are concentrated in the east. Beef farming takes place throughout Scotland, but is particularly common in the south west. This area also has the bulk of the dairy industry.
Carrocería/Bodywork: Noge Touring Gold HD
Chassis: MAN 26.420 HOCLN-SD
Lote/Batch info: 1/5 - 5 total (1717-1726)
Matricula/Plate: 8915-KPL
Longitud/Length: 15m
Servicio/Service: 2018 - En curso/Ongoing
Info (SP): Para las rutas aeroportuarias siempre se han realizado compras excepcionales para cubrir dichas rutas. Sin embargo el tener que equipar vehiculos discrecionales para el transporte interurbano, asi como la falta de accesibilidad y longitud fueron determinantes a la hora de renovar esta parte de la flota. Por ello la empresa aposto (por primera vez) en la carrocera Noge, a quienes encargaron diez unidades de quince metros de los cuales seis han sido permanentemente asignados a cubrir las rutas aeroportuarias (de ahi la distintiva pintura exterior).
Info (EN): For all airport routes exceptional purchases were made for their coverage. However the intense modifications vehicles had to undergo, the difficulty of access and length of the vehicle required a makeover. As a result, Global decided to take a chance with coach builder Noge, whom they placed a first order of ten 15m long buses from which six were permanently assigned for airport routes (as indicated by their distinctive livery)
Anna König Jerlmyr, Mayor of Stockholm,
Chen Tian, Director General of Beijing Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau,
Jorge Muñoz Wells, Mayor of Lima,
Dr. Maria Neira, Director, Public Health, Environment and Social Determinants of Health Department, WHO,
Moderated by: Antha Williams, Head of Environment Programme, Bloomberg Philanthropies @ C40 Mayors Summit in Copenhagen 2019, Denmark on October 10th 2019. Tivoli Congress Center
Carrocería/Bodywork: Noge Touring Gold HD
Chassis: MAN 26.420 HOCLN-SD
Lote/Batch info: 1/5 - 5 total (1717-1726)
Matricula/Plate: 7967-KPV
Longitud/Length: 15m
Servicio/Service: 2018 - En curso/Ongoing
Info (SP): Para las rutas aeroportuarias siempre se han realizado compras excepcionales para cubrir dichas rutas. Sin embargo el tener que equipar vehiculos discrecionales para el transporte interurbano, asi como la falta de accesibilidad y longitud fueron determinantes a la hora de renovar esta parte de la flota. Por ello la empresa aposto (por primera vez) en la carrocera Noge, a quienes encargaron diez unidades de quince metros de los cuales seis han sido permanentemente asignados a cubrir las rutas aeroportuarias (de ahi la distintiva pintura exterior).
Info (EN): For all airport routes exceptional purchases were made for their coverage. However the intense modifications vehicles had to undergo, the difficulty of access and length of the vehicle required a makeover. As a result, Global decided to take a chance with coach builder Noge, whom they placed a first order of ten 15m long buses from which six were permanently assigned for airport routes (as indicated by their distinctive livery)
Botero
Celebrate Life!
Kunsthal
Rotterdam, 2016
Met trots brengt de Kunsthal Rotterdam deze zomer een groot retrospectief van de wereldberoemde Colombiaanse kunstenaar Fernando Botero (1932). Geselecteerd uit Botero’s eigen collectie laat de tentoonstelling een overzicht zien van de door hemzelf meest geliefde schilderijen uit zijn omvangrijke oeuvre. ‘Botero: Celebrate Life!’ brengt bijna honderd schilderijen, tekeningen en pastels en een enkel beeldhouwwerk bij elkaar, met als blikvanger een enorme ‘Caballo’, Botero’s bekende beeldhouwwerk van een paard.
Te zien zijn schilderijen van het op zijn jeugdherinneringen geïnspireerde leven in Latijns-Amerika en reproducties van klassieke meesters in de herkenbare Botero stijl. Ook stierenvechten en het circus zijn thema’s die in de werken aan bod komen. De kunst van Botero staat letterlijk bol van het Latijns Amerikaanse leven. De reusachtige, opgeblazen lichamen en voorwerpen lijken ondanks hun omvang gewichtloos en daardoor soms zelfs te zweven. Dit volume is een vast onderdeel van Botero’s werk en geeft zijn kunst iets overdadigs, met nu eens een komisch en dan weer een ontroerend effect. Bijzonder is de serie van vrouwelijke Santa’s, geïnspireerd op de iconische beelden van vrouwelijke heiligen. Botero verbeeldt hen als wereldse heldinnen, met betekenisvolle accessoires zoals een bijbel of kaars, waarbij hun aureool in verrassend contrast staat met de kledij en lichaamshouding.
Latijns Amerikaanse leven
‘Botero: Celebrate Life! laat zien hoe Fernando Botero een magische wereld schept vol personages en scenes uit het dagelijks leven, waar politiek en religie nadrukkelijk onderdeel van uitmaken. Hoewel zijn werk in eerste instantie licht en luchtig oogt, is ook de gewelddadige geschiedenis van zijn vaderland Colombia voelbaar. Zijn afkomst en achtergrond hebben Botero op een diepgaande manier beïnvloed, wat direct tot uiting komt in zijn werken van de president, executies en huilende weduwen en indirect in zijn schilderijen van feestende mensen, die met uitdrukkingsloze gezichten dansen onder het licht van kale peertjes.
Hommage aan oude meesters
Fernando Botero is een veelzijdig kunstenaar, die zowel put uit de Latijns-Amerikaanse traditie als uit de Europese kunstgeschiedenis. Zo brengt hij een hommage aan beroemde werken van oude meesters zoals Diego Velázquez, van Eyck en Piero della Francesca. De werken zijn een eerbetoon aan de kunstenaars die hij jarenlang bestudeerde en een ode aan de technieken, het vakmanschap en de esthetiek van de oude meesters. Religie is voor Botero een geliefd onderwerp. Op satirische wijze geeft hij commentaar in schilderijen van nonnen, kardinalen en pausen. Andere thema's in zijn werk proberen de magie van het dagelijks leven in Latijns Amerika te vangen. Zo tonen zijn werken van stierengevechten niet alleen de matador, maar ook zangers, musici, dansers en verschillende leden van de familie van de stierenvechter. Zijn stillevens tonen de vruchten en drankjes van het Zuid-Amerikaanse continent, met hun briljante kleuren en populaire delicatessen. En in zijn schilderijen met het thema circus herkennen we de komische en absurde houdingen, waarbij naast het altijd terugkerende volume ook het kleurgebruik heel bepalend is.
This summer Kunsthal Rotterdam is proud to present a large-scale retrospective of the world-famous Colombian artist Fernando Botero (1932). This selection from Botero’s own collection provides a panorama of the artist’s personal favorites from his considerable oeuvre. ‘Botero: Celebrate Life!’ will exhibit almost a hundred paintings, sketches and pastels as well as a few sculptures, including the enormous eye-catcher ‘Caballo’, Botero’s famous sculpture of a horse.
Visitors will be able to see paintings of life in Latin America based on reminiscences from his youth, and reproductions of classical masters in the recognizable Botero style. The bull-fight and the circus are also featured in these works. Botero’s art is full of Latin American life. The gigantic, inflated bodies and objects appear weightless in spite of their volume, which sometimes even seems to make them look as if they are floating. This volume is a recurrent feature in Botero’s work and gives his art an exuberance that can be comical or moving. The series of female Santas, inspired by the iconic images of female saints, is remarkable. Botero represents them as worldly heroines with meaningful accessories such as a bible or candle, putting their halo in sharp contrast with their clothing and posture.
Latin American life
'Botero: Celebrate Life!' shows how Fernando Botero creates a magical world full of characters and scenes from daily life, of which politics and religion form an important part. Although his work appears at first sight to be airy and light-hearted, the violent history of his native country Colombia can be felt. His origin and background have influenced Botero profoundly, which finds expression directly in his works of the president, executions and weeping widows, and indirectly in his paintings of people partying, dancing with expressionless faces under the light of naked light bulbs.
Homage to the Old Masters
Fernando Botero is a multi-faceted artist who draws on both the Latin American tradition and the history of European art. He pays homage to famous works by such Old Masters as Diego Velázquez, Jan van Eyck and Piero della Francesca. The works are a tribute to the artists whom he studied for years and an ode to the techniques, craftsmanship and aesthetics of the Old Masters. Religion is one of Botero’s favorite themes. He comments on it satirically in paintings of nuns, cardinals and popes. Other themes in his work try to capture the magic of everyday life in Latin America. For example, his images of bull-fights include not only the matador, but also the singers, musicians, dancers and various members of the bull-fighter’s family. His still-lifes show the fruits and beverages of the South American continent with their brilliant colors and popular delicacies. And in his paintings of the circus we can recognize the comical and absurd postures in which not only the constantly recurring volume but also the use of color are highly determinant elements.
Some 80% of Scotland’s land mass is under agricultural production, making the industry the single biggest determinant of the landscape we see around us. Scotland’s farmers, crofters and growers produce output worth around £2.9 billion a year, and are responsible for much of Scotland’s £5 billion food and drink exports. The export target for 2017 is £7.1 billion.
Around 67,000 people are directly employed in agriculture in Scotland – this represents around 8% of the rural workforce and means that agriculture is the third largest employer in rural Scotland after the service and public sectors. It is estimated that a further 360,000 jobs (1 in 10 of all Scottish jobs) are dependent on agriculture.
The agri-food sector is now the UKs largest manufacturing sector.
Around 85% of Scotland is classified as Less Favoured Area. This is an EU classification which recognises natural and geographic disadvantage.
There are large numbers of farms in north west Scotland, but these are significantly smaller in terms of the numbers of livestock/area of crops grown than farms elsewhere. Sheep farming is the predominant type of farming in the north west and there are also many sheep farms in the south of the country. Larger cereal farms are concentrated in the east. Beef farming takes place throughout Scotland, but is particularly common in the south west. This area also has the bulk of the dairy industry.
Carrocería/Bodywork: Noge Touring Gold HD
Chassis: MAN 26.420 HOCLN-SD
Lote/Batch info: 1/5 - 5 total (1717-1726)
Matricula/Plate: 7953-KPV
Longitud/Length: 15m
Servicio/Service: 2018 - En curso/Ongoing
Info (SP): Para las rutas aeroportuarias siempre se han realizado compras excepcionales para cubrir dichas rutas. Sin embargo el tener que equipar vehiculos discrecionales para el transporte interurbano, asi como la falta de accesibilidad y longitud fueron determinantes a la hora de renovar esta parte de la flota. Por ello la empresa aposto (por primera vez) en la carrocera Noge, a quienes encargaron diez unidades de quince metros de los cuales seis han sido permanentemente asignados a cubrir las rutas aeroportuarias (de ahi la distintiva pintura exterior).
Info (EN): For all airport routes exceptional purchases were made for their coverage. However the intense modifications vehicles had to undergo, the difficulty of access and length of the vehicle required a makeover. As a result, Global decided to take a chance with coach builder Noge, whom they placed a first order of ten 15m long buses from which six were permanently assigned for airport routes (as indicated by their distinctive livery)
Cascada de la Font del Gat.
Els Jardins de Laribal
És una de les perles del Parc de Montjuïc i passejar-s'hi és una autèntica delícia. La vegetació riquíssima, juntament amb l'aigua que baixa per cascades i llisca delicadament pel mig d'amples baranes, els bancs de rajola i les placetes, creen un conjunt de bellesa excepcional. Aquest és un lloc per estar-s'hi, per contemplar-lo i per anar descobrint els mil detalls que el configuren, amb una harmonia difícil de superar.
Els Jardins de Laribal, de gran valor històric, estan configurats per terrasses, camins, placetes, bassinyols i una vegetació esponerosa i consolidada. Una sèrie de terrasses superposades estan unides entre elles per camins i dreceres de fort pendent, amb trams d'escales intercalats amb un disseny sempre diferent. Pèrgoles de maó vist, pedra i pilars blancs, ombregen les àrees més planeres. La vegetació, és majoritàriament exòtica, rica i variada en espècies.
Jardins mediterranis
Aquests jardins, inclosos dins del recinte de l'Exposició Internacional de Barcelona de 1929, van obtenir una gran anomenada. Els seus autors, Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier i Nicolau M. Rubió Tudurí, van crear un nou estil paisatgístic d'arrel mediterrània.
La vegetació preexistent -des de plantes autòctones fins als arbres fruiters del passat agrícola de la muntanya-, es va integrar en els jardins amb un concepte de jardineria renovador i original, que segueix lliurement la inspiració dels antics jardins àrabs i dels "cármenes" de Granada, amb una gran presència de rajoles ceràmiques, aigües ornamentals i el conreu de plantes de flor en testos situats en baranes i ampits.
Les escales del Generalife
L'aigua és l'essència del jardí, amb estanys i estanyols. Per connectar la part superior del parc amb els Jardins Amargós -actualment Jardins del Teatre Grec-, Forestier va fer una escala inspirada en la dels jardins del Generalife, amb cascades als passamans, estanyols amb brolladors als replans i bancs d'obra per reposar i gaudir de la fresca i el so de l'aigua.
Els jardins de la font del Gat
Unes pèrgoles mirador porten d'uns jardins als altres, units per eixos de rampes, escales i cascades que desemboquen a la font del Gat, des de la qual es poden contemplar unes magnífiques vistes de Barcelona.
Ocupen el pendent que va des de la part més alta dels Jardins Laribal fins al passeig de Santa Madrona, i integren la popular font del Gat i un edifici del segle dinou. Es tracta d'un conjunt de camins, terrasses i racons que s'adapten al relleu del terreny amb escales, rampes i una cascada monumental amb quatre seccions separades per camins i canals, que van connectant els diferents trams.
Tot està cobert d'una espessa fronda mediterrània i d'arbres fruiters, com ara nesprers i figueres, i palmeres d'enormes capçades. Si ens ho mirem des de baix, a tocar del pg. de Santa Madrona, uns xiprers altíssims situats a l'inici de la cascada accentuen la verticalitat del conjunt.
El roserar de la Colla de l'Arròs
Una glorieta de xiprers, amb una petita font al centre, marca l'inici d'un recorregut que, sota una pèrgola amb pilars de terracota, porta a un pati ovalat i reclòs, també envoltat de xiprers: és el roserar de la Colla de l'Arròs.
El jardí es configura en diversos plans, amb aire de pati, que estan vorejats per vorades, també de xiprer, i rengleres de troanes. En diversos parterres rectangulars hi ha plantades varietats antigues de rosers. Al centre destaca un bassinyol quadrangular amb rajols esmaltats, presidit a la part de dalt per Estival, un nu femení de marbre que contempla el roserar i, més enllà, Barcelona.
La plaça del Claustre
És a tocar del passeig de Santa Madrona i, de fet, es tracta del Jardí de Sant Miquel, on destaquen tres grans plàtans ja existents abans que Forestier dissenyés els jardins. Al fons, els murs del que fou una antiga pedrera confereixen a aquesta part dels jardins Laribal un aire reclòs i claustral. D'aquí el seu nom. A la dreta, un passadís comunica amb els Jardins del Teatre Grec.
Vegetació
La vegetació madura i mediterrània dóna sentit als jardins. Així, hi ha, entre d'altres espècies, pins blancs (Pinus halepensis), pins pinyers (Pinus pinea), llorers (Laurus nobilis), tarongers amargs (Citrus aurantium) i xiprers (Cupressus sempervirens).
Les escales del Generalife estan envoltades per grans acàcies (Robinia pseudoacacia) i arbustos com la troana (Ligustrum lucidum) i el pitòspor (Pittosporum tobira), una espècie arbustiva molt abundant als jardins, juntament amb el baladre (Nerium oleander) i l'evònim del Japó (Evonymus japonicus).
En testos de terracota, llueixen les elegants fulles de saló (Aspidistra elatior) i els geranis (Pelargonium sp.), i cobrint les pèrgoles, anglesines (Wisteria sinensis) i Rosa banksiae. En diferents llocs dels jardins hi ha plantes aromàtiques, com l'espígol (Lavandula angustifolia) i el romaní (Rosmarinus officinalis), i espècies entapissants com l'heura (Hedera helix)
Els Jardins de Laribal també hi ha pins australians (Casuarina cunninghamiana), eucaliptus (Eucalyptus globulus), xiprers de Lambert (Cupressus macrocarpa), cedres de l'Himàlaia (Cedrus deodara) i, a la plaça del Claustre, tres grans exemplars de plàtan (Platanus X hispanica).
Art i arquitectura
L'escultura és notable en aquests jardins, tant per la seva qualitat com per la seva bellesa. Presidint el roserar hi ha Estival, de Jaume Otero (1929), una figura femenina asseguda d'estil art déco feta de marbre.
La Noia de la trena, de Josep Viladomat (1928), és un altre nu femení, en aquest cas de bronze, i representa una noia jove recollint-se els cabells en una trena. És en una placeta ombrívola, molt a prop de les escales que comuniquen amb altres nivells dels jardins.
La tercera escultura també és d'una dona i de Josep Viladomat, que la va fer partint d'un original de Manolo Hugué. Es tracta de Repòs (1925), un nu femení de pedra de mida natural situat en una placeta circular molt a prop de l'entrada que hi ha al costat de la Fundació Joan Miró.
A prop del roserar hi ha una font de ceràmica esmaltada amb motius marins, coronada amb un brollador, obra del ceramista Llorenç Artigas.
La font del Gat
L'aigua que raja de la font del Gat ho fa des del cap d'un felí, esculpit per Joan Antoni Homs el 1918, que és quan van quedar enllestits els Jardins Laribal. Aquesta font era una de les moltes que aleshores rajava a Barcelona, i el lloc on està situada, molt popular a la ciutat a finals del segle XIX.
Tan popular era la font, que el periodista i autor teatral Joan Amich va escriure una cançó: "La Marieta de l'ull viu", que avui encara es canta i que inclou l'estrofa: "Baixant de la font del Gat, / una noia, una noia, / baixant de la font del Gat / una noia amb un soldat...".
Història
Al començament del segle passat, la zona que avui ocupen els jardins Laribal era lloc de trobades populars, sobretot a la font del Gat, o de reunions selectes, com ara les que feia la Colla de l'Arròs, un grup entre gastronòmic i polític que va tenir una certa influència a la Barcelona de la darreria del segle XIX i principi del XX, i que es reunia en un petit edifici situat on ara hi ha el Museu Etnològic.
La part alta dels actuals jardins pertanyia a la finca de Josep Laribal, un prestigiós advocat el nom del qual s'ha perpetuat als jardins. S'hi va fer construir un xalet neoàrab, envoltat d'uns jardins eclèctics, amb grans arbres.
Mort Laribal, el 1908 la finca va ser adquirida per l'Ajuntament, que hi va fundar l'Escola del Bosc, encara existent. Simultàniament, es van iniciar els estudis per urbanitzar i enjardinar la muntanya, amb un projecte global que va ser encarregat inicialment a Josep Amargós.
L'Exposició de 1929
Els Jardins de Laribal, enllestits el 1922, estan vinculats a un esdeveniment posterior: l'Exposició Internacional de Barcelona de 1929. Aquest esdeveniment va representar la culminació d'un projecte iniciat l'any 1905 per organitzar a Montjuïc una exposició sobre les indústries elèctriques, l'energia emergent d'aquell temps.
Un dels comissaris de l'Exposició Internacional de Barcelona va ser Francesc Cambó, que va encarregar els treballs d'enjardinament a l'enginyer i paisatgista francès Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier. Va ser ajudant seu el jove arquitecte Nicolau M. Rubió i Tudurí, que el 1917 es convertiria en el director de la Direcció de Parcs Públics i Arbrat, antecedent del Servei de Parcs i Jardins de Barcelona, del qual va ser primer responsable i una de les persones determinants en el futur desenvolupament dels espais verds públics de la ciutat.
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These gardens are one of the treasures of the Park of Montjuïc and taking a stroll around them is a real pleasure. The rich plant life, together with the water that flows delicately through the wide handrails; the tiled benches and the small squares all create exceptionally beautiful gardens. It is a place to be, to gaze at and to discover the thousands of details that shape a harmony that is difficult to surpass.
The historically-important Laribal Gardens are sculpted by terraces, pathways, small squares, ponds and lush, established plant life. A series of terraces are linked by paths and steeply sloped shortcuts, with stretches of differently designed stairways interspersed. The flattest areas are afforded shade by exposed brick, stone and white pillar pergolas. The mostly exotic plant life has a rich and varied range of species.
Mediterranean Gardens
These gardens, which were included in the International Exposition of Barcelona (a World's Fair) in 1929, were greatly reputed. The garden's designers, Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier and Nicolau M. Rubió Tudurí, created a new style of Mediterranean landscaping.
The pre-existing plant life, from native plants to fruit trees from the mountain's agricultural past, was integrated into the gardens with an original and innovative gardening concept that is openly inspired by the ancient Arabian gardens and from the "Carmenes" in Granada with prominent ceramic tiles, ornamental water features and flowering plants in pots on railings and parapets.
The Stairway of the Generalife Gardens
Water is the essence of this garden, with its large and small ponds. In order to connect the upper area of the park with the Amargós Gardens, now the Teatre Grec Gardens, Forestier designed a stairway inspired by the one in the Generalife Gardens, with waterfalls on the banisters, small ponds with fountains on the landings and benches for relaxing and enjoying the freshness and sound of the water.
The Gardens of the Font del Gat
Viewpoint pergolas link the gardens with ramps, stairs and waterfalls that flow into the Font del Gat ("Fountain of the Cat"), a point at which magnificent views of Barcelona can be enjoyed.
The gardens lie on the slope from the highest point of the Laribal Gardens down to the Passeig de Santa Madrona and include the popular Font del Gat and a nineteenth-century building. There are paths, terraces and corners that adapt to the terrain with stairways, ramps and a monumental waterfall with four sections separated by paths and canals that connect the different areas.
Everything is covered in a thick, Mediterranean foliage, fruit trees such as loquat and fig and enormous palm trees. From the Passeig de Santa Madrona below, some very tall cypresses by the waterfall accentuate its height.
The Rose Gardens of the Colla de l'Arròs
A circle of cypress trees with a small fountain in the centre marks the beginning of a path that, beneath a pergola with terracotta pillars, leads to an oval patio surrounded by cypresses. These are the Rose Gardens of the Colla de l'Arròs.
These gardens are arranged on different levels with the feeling of being on a patio, bordered by rows of cypresses and privets. In various rectangular parterres, many diverse old varieties of roses have been planted. At the centre is a square pool with ceramic tiles, dominated by the marble female nude sculpture "Estival", who looks over the rose garden and beyond to Barcelona.
Plaça del Claustre
From the Sant Miquel Garden, next to the Passeig de Santa Madrona, there are three large London Plane trees that existed before Forestier designed the gardens. At the end, the walls of what was once an old quarry gives this part of the Laribal Gardens a confined and cloister-like air. This is where it gets its name. On the right there is a path that connects the gardens with the Teatre Grec Gardens.
Plant Life
The mature and Mediterranean plant life gives the gardens meaning. Among other species there are Aleppo Pines (Pinus halepensis), Umbrella Pines (Pinus pinea), Bay Laurels (Laurus nobilis), Bitter Orange trees (Citrus aurantium) and Mediterranean Cypresses (Cupressus sempervirens).
The Generalife stairs are surrounded by large Black Locust trees (Robinia pseudoacacia) and shrubs such as the Chinese Privet (Ligustrum lucidum) and the Pittosporum (Pittosporum tobira), a species in abundance in the gardens along with the Oleander (Nerium oleander) and the Japanese Spindle tree (Euonymus japonicus).
The elegant leaves of an Aspidistra elatior shine in terracotta pots and Garden Geraniums (Pelargonium sp.), Chinese Wisterias (Wisteria sinensis) and Lady Banks' Roses (Rosa banksiae) cover the pergolas. In different areas around the gardens aromatic plants like Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), Rosemary (Rosmarinus offcinalis) and climbing plants such as Ivy (Hedera helix) can be found.
In the Laribal Gardens there are also River Oaks (Casuarina cunninghamiana), Tasmanian Blue Gums (Eucalyptus globules), Monterey Cypresses (Cupressus macrocarpa) Deodar Cedar (Cedrus deodara) and in Plaça del Claustre, three large London Planes (Platanus X hispanica).
Art and Architecture
The sculptures are notable in these gardens, both for their quality and their beauty. There is an Art Deco style marble female nude, "Estival" (1929) by Jaume Otero, that dominates the rose garden.
The "Noia de la trena" (1928) by Joseph Viladomar is another female nude, in this case made of bronze, which represents a young girl plaiting her hair. It is in a small shaded square, close to the stairway that links to other areas of the gardens.
The third sculpture is again of a woman and by Joseph Viladomar and was based on the Manolo Hugué original. "Repòs" (1925) a life-sized female nude made of stone situated in a small square close to the entrance next to the Joan Miró Foundation.
Near the rose garden, there is a glazed ceramic fountain influenced by the sea, crowned by a jet, which was the work of Llorenç Artigas.
The Font del Gat
The water from the Font del Gat ("Fountain of the Cat") pours from a feline head, sculpted by Joan Antoni Homs in 1918, when the Laribal Gardens were being finished. This fountain is one of many that flowed in Barcelona at the time and is situated in a place in the city that was very popular at the end of the nineteenth century.
The fountain was so popular that the journalist and playwright Joan Amich wrote a song about it: "La Marieta de l'ull viu" that is still sung today and includes the verse: "Baixant de la font del Gat, / una noia, una noia, / baixant de la font del Gat / una noia amb un soldat..." ("Coming down from the cat Fountain / a girl, a girl / Coming down from the cat Fountain / a girl with a soldier...").
History
The area where the Laribal Gardens now lie was a popular meeting place at the beginning of the last century, in particular the Font del Gat, which was also an area for exclusive gatherings, such as those of Colla de l'Arròs, a gastronomic-political group who had a certain influence over Barcelona at the turn of the last century, would meet in a small building situated where the Museu Etnològic (Ethnological Museum) now stands.
The upper part of the current gardens once belonged to Joseph Laribal, an esteemed lawyer whose name the gardens bear. He built a neo-Arabian chalet, surrounded by eclectic gardens, with large trees.
After Laribal died in 1908, the house was acquired by the Town Council, which established the Escola del Bosc, which still exists to this day. Simultaneously, studies began for the development and gardening of the mountain, a comprehensive project that was initially the responsibility of Josep Amargós.
The 1929 World's Fair
Completed in 1922, the Laribal Gardens are linked to a later event: the International Exposition of Barcelona of 1929 (a World's Fair). This event represented the culmination of a project which began in 1905 to organise an exhibition on Montjuïc about the electrical industries, the emerging energy at the time.
One of the commissioners at the International Exhibition of Barcelona was Francesc Cambó, who was responsible for the gardening and engineering work and the work of the French landscape architect Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier. His assistant was the young architect Nicolau M. Rubió I Tudurí, who, in 1917, became the director of the Public and Wooded Parks Board, the predecessor of the Parks and Gardens Service of Barcelona, of which he was mainly responsible and one of the key people in the development of green spaces in the city.
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Es una de las perlas del Parque de Montjuïc y pasearse por ellos es un autentica delicia. La riquísima vegetación, junto con el agua que baja por cascadas y se escurre delicadamente en medio de amplias barandillas, los bancos de ladrillo y las placetas, crean un conjunto de una belleza excepcional. Es un lugar en el que estar, para contemplarlo e ir descubriendo los miles de detalles que lo configuran, con una armonía difícil de superar.
Los Jardines de Laribal, de gran valor histórico, están formados por terrazas, caminos, placetas, pequeños estanques y una vegetación lozana y consolidada. Una serie de terrazas sobrepuestas están unidas entre si por caminos y atajos de gran pendiente, con tramos de escaleras intercalados de diseño siempre diferente. Pérgolas de ladrillo visto, piedra y pilares blancos dan sombra a las zonas más llanas. La vegetación, exótica en su mayoría, es rica y variada en especies.
Jardines mediterráneos
Estos jardines, incluidos en el recinto de la Exposición Internacional de Barcelona de 1929, obtuvieron una gran reputación. Sus autores, Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier y Nicolau M. Rubió Tudurí, crearon un nuevo estilo paisajístico de raíz mediterránea.
La vegetación preexistente, desde plantas autóctonas hasta árboles frutales del pasado agrícola de la montaña, se integró en los jardines con un concepto de jardinería renovador y original, que sigue libremente la inspiración de los antiguos jardines árabes y de los "cármenes" de Granada, con una gran presencia de azulejos de cerámica, aguas ornamentales y el cultivo de plantas de flor en macetas colocadas en barandillas y alféizares.
Las escaleras del Generalife
El agua es la esencia del jardín, con pequeños y grandes estanques. Para conectar la parte superior del parque con los Jardines Amargós, actualmente Jardines del Teatre Grec, Forestier diseñó una escalera inspirada en la de los jardines del Generalife, con cascadas en los pasamanos, estanques con fuentes en los rellanos y bancos de piedra para reponerse y disfrutar del frescor y el sonido del agua.
Los jardines de la Font del Gat
Unas pérgolas mirador llevan de unos jardines a otros, unidos por ejes de rampas, escaleras y cascadas que desembocan en la Font del Gat desde donde se pueden contemplar unas magníficas vistas de Barcelona.
Ocupan la pendiente que va desde la parte más alta de los jardines Laribal hasta el paseo de Santa Madrona e integran la popular Font del Gat y un edificio decimonónico. Se trata de un conjunto de caminos, terrazas y rincones que se adaptan al relieve con escaleras, rampas y una cascada monumental con cuatro secciones separadas por caminos y canales, que van conectando los diferentes tramos.
Todo está cubierto por un espeso follaje mediterráneo y árboles frutales, como nísperos e higueras y palmeras de enormes copas. Si lo miramos desde abajo, junto al paseo de Santa Madrona, vemos que los altísimos cipreses situados al inicio de la cascada acentúan la verticalidad del conjunto.
La rosaleda de la Colla de l'Arròs
Una glorieta de cipreses, con una pequeña fuente en el centro, marca el inicio de un recorrido que, debajo de una pérgola con pilares de terracota, conduce a un patio ovalado y recluido también rodeado de cipreses: la rosaleda de la Colla de l'Arròs
El jardín se configura en diferentes planos, con aire de patio, que están rodeados de cipreses e hileras de aligustres. En diferentes parterres rectangulares se han plantado antiguas variedades de rosales. En el centro destaca un pequeño estanque cuadrangular con azulejos esmaltados, presidido en la parte superior por Estival, una escultura de un desnudo femenino en mármol que contempla la rosaleda y, más allá, Barcelona.
La plaza del Claustre
De hecho se trata del jardín de Sant Miquel, junto al paseo de Santa Madrona, en el que destacan tres grandes plataneros que ya existían antes de que Forestier diseñara los jardines. Al fondo, los muros de lo que antes había sido una antigua cantera confieren a esta parte de los jardines Laribal un aire recluido y claustral. Y de aquí viene su nombre. A la derecha encontramos un corredor que comunica con los jardines del Teatre Grec.
Vegetación
La vegetación madura y mediterránea da sentido a los jardines. Así, entre otras especies, hay pinos carrascos (Pinus halepensis), pinos piñoneros (Pinus pinea), laureles (Laurus nobilis), naranjos amargos (Citrus aurantium) y cipreses (Cupressus sempervirens).
Las escaleras del Generalife están rodeadas de grandes acacias (Robinia pseudoacacia) y arbustos como el aligustre (Ligustrum lucidum) y el pitosporo (Pittosporum tobira), una especie de arbusto muy abundante en los jardines, junto con la adelfa (Nerium oleander) y el evónimo del Japón (Evonymus japonicus).
En macetas de terracota lucen las elegantes hojas de salón (Aspidistra elatior) y los geranios (Pelargonium sp.), al tiempo que las glicinias (Wisteria sinensis) y los rosales de Banksia (Rosa banksiae) cubren las pérgolas. En diferentes lugares de los jardines encontramos plantas aromáticas, como la lavanda (Lavandula angustifolia), el romero (Rosmarinus officinalis) y otras especies tapizantes como la hiedra (Hedera helix).
En los jardines de Laribal también encontramos pinos australianos (Casuarina cunninghamiana), eucaliptos (Eucalyptus globulus), cipreses de Lambert (Cupressus macrocarpa), cedros del Himalaya (Cedrus deodara) y, en la plaza del Claustre, tres grandes ejemplares de platanero (Platanus X hispanica).
Arte y arquitectura
En estos jardines la escultura es notable, tanto por su calidad como por su belleza. Presidiendo la rosaleda tenemos el Estival, de Jaume Otero (1929), una figura femenina sentada, de estilo art decó y realizada en mármol.
La Noia de la trena, de Josep Viladomat (1928), es otro desnudo femenino, en este caso de bronce, que representa una joven que se recoge el pelo en una trenza. Se encuentra en una placeta sombría muy cerca de las escaleras que comunican con los otros niveles de los jardines.
La tercera escultura también es de una mujer y de Josep Viladomat, que la realizó en base a un original de Manolo Hugué. Se trata de Repòs (1925), un desnudo femenino de piedra, a tamaño natural, situado en una placeta circular muy cerca de la entrada que hay al lado de la Fundació Joan Miró.
Cerca de la rosaleda se encuentra una fuente de cerámica esmaltada con motivos marinos, coronada con un surtidor, obra del ceramista Llorenç Artigas.
La Font del Gat
El agua de la Font del Gat mana desde la cabeza de un felino, esculpido por Joan Antoni Homs en 1918, año en el que se terminaron los jardines Laribal. Esta fuente era una de las muchas que manaban en aquellos momentos en Barcelona y, el lugar en el que se encuentra era muy popular en la ciudad a finales del siglo XIX.
La fuente era tan popular que el periodista y autor teatral Joan Amich escribió una canción: "La Marieta de l'ull viu", que todavía hoy se canta e incluye la estrofa: "Baixant de la font del Gat, / una noia, una noia, / baixant de la font del Gat / una noia amb un soldat...".
Historia
A principios del siglo pasado, en la zona que hoy ocupan los jardines Laribal se celebraban encuentros populares, sobre todo en la Font del Gat, o reuniones selectas, como las que hacía la Colla de l'Arròs, un grupo medio gastronómico medio político que tuvo una cierta influencia en la Barcelona del final del siglo XIX y principio del XX y que se reunía en un pequeño edificio situado donde ahora se encuentra el Museo Etnológico.
La parte alta de los actuales jardines pertenecía a la finca de Josep Laribal, un prestigioso abogado cuyo nombre se ha perpetuado en los jardines. Allí se hizo construir un chalet neoárabe, rodeado de unos jardines eclécticos, con grandes árboles.
Tras la muerte de Laribal en 1908, la finca fue adquirida por el Ayuntamiento que fundó en ella la Escola del Bosc, que todavía existe. Simultáneamente, se iniciaron los estudios para urbanizar y enjardinar la montaña, con un proyecto global que inicialmente se encargó a Josep Amargós.
La Exposición de 1929
Los jardines de Laribal, terminados en el 1922, también están vinculados con un acontecimiento posterior: la Exposición Internacional de Barcelona de 1929. Este acontecimiento representó la culminación de un proyecto iniciado en 1905 para organizar en Montjuïc una exposición sobre las industrias eléctricas, la energía emergente de aquel momento.
Uno de los comisarios de la Exposición Internacional de Barcelona fue Francesc Cambó, que encargó los trabajos de ajardinamiento al ingeniero y paisajista francés Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier. Su ayudante fue el joven arquitecto Nicolau M. Rubió i Tudurí, que en 1917 se convertiría en el director de la Dirección de Parques Públicos y Arbolado, antecedente del Servicio de Parques y Jardines de Barcelona, del que fue el primer responsable y una de las personas determinantes en el futuro desarrollo de los espacios verdes públicos de la ciudad.
What happy cattle they must be with this glorious scenery as their view each day.
Some 80% of Scotland’s land mass is under agricultural production, making the industry the single biggest determinant of the landscape we see around us. Scotland’s farmers, crofters and growers produce output worth around £2.9 billion a year, and are responsible for much of Scotland’s £5 billion food and drink exports. The export target for 2017 is £7.1 billion.
Around 67,000 people are directly employed in agriculture in Scotland – this represents around 8% of the rural workforce and means that agriculture is the third largest employer in rural Scotland after the service and public sectors. It is estimated that a further 360,000 jobs (1 in 10 of all Scottish jobs) are dependent on agriculture.
The agri-food sector is now the UKs largest manufacturing sector.
Around 85% of Scotland is classified as Less Favoured Area. This is an EU classification which recognises natural and geographic disadvantage.
There are large numbers of farms in north west Scotland, but these are significantly smaller in terms of the numbers of livestock/area of crops grown than farms elsewhere. Sheep farming is the predominant type of farming in the north west and there are also many sheep farms in the south of the country. Larger cereal farms are concentrated in the east. Beef farming takes place throughout Scotland, but is particularly common in the south west. This area also has the bulk of the dairy industry.
FETP Fellow: Listy Handayani
Country: Indonesia
Project: Maternal Determinant of Low Birth Weight in Temanggung District, Central of Java Province, 2015
Maternal and Child Health Mini-Grant
Director, IIT,
And Friends
I thank the Ministry of External Affairs and the IIT for giving me the opportunity
to talk of Indian and West Asia – a region in which I spent over a decade of my
career dealing with its complexities and challenges. It is interesting that I speak to
you on West Asia here in Mumbai- I don’t know how many of you are aware that Iraq was administered from the Bombay Presidency during the early part of the British period. You have only to go to the Prince of Wales Museum - Chhatrapati Vastu Sangrahalaya - to see archaeological artefacts from ancient Iraqi sites which were brought to Mumbai then. But even more, Bombay has been, and remains, the first point of contact between the peoples of the Arab world- particularly the Gulf and Iran- and India. For decades we have seen Arabs in their traditional garb walking
and lounging on Marine Drive taking the air in the monsoon season- something
which is a rarity in their land.People who hail from Pune or Bangalore are equally
familiar with Iranians who have settled generations ago. In fact when I was doing my
PhD at Mumbai University Geroge’s Restaurant was a favourite for the Biryanis and
Pullav’s it served!
I do not need to mention to this gathering that contact between the Indian
people with those of West Asia goes back to centuries - even before Islam came to
that region; neither do I need to mention that this intercourse was two-way and
primarily benign. If we gave them the zero and the numeric system, we received
knowledge of navigation and sea-faring; if the tales of the panchatantra reached
them, in the Persian translation, as the stories of kalila wa dimna , then we received
the metre and the rhyme of sufi poetry not to mention its theology. There were
similar exchanges in the field of mathematics, astrology and astronomy, and
medicine as also in craft- skills like carpet-making and brocade weaving ( zardodzi
and kinkhab). The list is long but covers religion, culture, fine arts, sciences, music
and musical instruments, dance, language and literature, and cuisine. But above all
were the travel writings of Arab way-farers like al-Beruni and others who have left us
a wealth of record on India of that time. The essential driver was trade and
commercial exchanges. But for the water that separates us we are neighbours; the
relationship has been both enriching and enduring.
When one looks at the Asian land-mass to our West we see four separate
civilisations facing us- the Persian, the Arab, the Hebrew and the Turkish- all of them
were brought together under the Ottoman Empire which lasted 500 years and had
the widest spread of the then known world. It is interesting that while these four
cultures confronted one another, it was to India that they all aspired- through trade or
conquest or to escape from persecution in their native lands. It is even more
interesting that they do not seamlessly merge into one another at their peripherywhich
may possibly have something to do with the ethnicities and languages that go
with each culture: the Persians (or Iranians) are from Indo –Aryan stock, the Arabs
and Jews are both Semitic peoples and the Turks are themselves with a mixture of
the Mongol. Each of these cultures has had a unique historical relationship with
India.
West Asia not Middle East
It would not be out of place here to digress briefly to the controversy that runs
like a common thread on discussions on the region in India: its nomenclature. Middle
East is what it is commonly called, even though West Asia is its correct geographic
location. It is so pervasive that even the computer dictionary gives you a prompt to
capitalise M and E if you have not done it). We invariably call it West Asia. From
where we are middle east will be Bangkok! So why WEST ASIA?
The term Middle East was first used by US Admiral Mahan in 1902 to
designate his strategic concept for the land bridge connecting Africa, Asia and
Europe. As our Vice President, Hamid Ansari,, another former diplomat, has written,
the term is a misnomer and legacy of an era when points on the globe were
indentified with reference to the location of the seats of power of the European
Empire. Nehru firmly distanced himself from calling it the ‘Middle East’ as Quite apart
from its geographical position, it tended to continue a Euro-centric view of the region
along with the attitudinal baggage that it implied.
Since Independence a lot has changed in the region- especially at the political
and geo-strategic level. The oil crisis of 1974 focused the international community’s
attention on the region as never before. When one super-imposes the monumental
political developments, the world sees the ‘Middle East’ as the fulcrum of future
political and economic stability in the world. The region’s nomenclature as ‘Middle
East’ has gained widespread acceptance and even people of the region see
themselves as from the Middle East first, and then as nationals from the country they
belong. The word Middle East now bundles in it religion, culture, language and
ethnicity. The term is now often used interchangeably with West Asia. .
Defining the Region
The West Asian region breaks down conveniently into concentric circles of proximity
:
• The innermost circle comprises Afghanistan, the Gulf Cooperation
Council countries, Iran, Iraq and Yemen.
• In the next circle are the countries of the Mashreq ( West Asia)–(
Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon) - to our west and those of Central
Asia to our north-west;
• next the circle comprising Turkey, countries of the Maghreb(
Mediterranean sea-board)- Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco- and
the countries in the Horn of Africa -Djibouti, Sudan and Somalia.
It is amazing that when one surveys the Asia continent from Istanbul – its
western most extremity - one is struck by how much India has received from, and
given to, each of the cultures we encounter in between- the Arab, the Persian and
the Turkish. With each the intensity and thrust of our bilateral relations has been
different.
Contours of India’s Policy
At Independence the first three decisions on India’s foreign policy concerned
West Asia:
• our active support to the Khilafat Movement;
• India’s stand in the UN Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) in
1947 when in a dissenting note we advocated the establishment of a
federal Palestine with internal autonomy for the Jewish population;
• and the decision on how we were going to deal with the state of Israel
when it became independent in 1948.
These decisions were conditioned by India’s Partition which had left a
traumatised, yet larger, Muslim community within India than went to Pakistan. The
importance of the region, particularly Mecca and Medina in fulfilling the spiritual and
religious needs of India’s Muslim population could not be under-estimated. These
early decisions by the Government of India illustrate the counter pressures which
have always led India to search for a middle ground in its policy towards the region.
They also illustrate the considerations which come into play even today in India’s
policy towards the region.
From an early concentration on looking at the region through the Islamic
prism, Indian policy considerations have evolved in the last sixty years. The prism
has shown other dimensions of the relationship: the oil-rich countries of the Gulf,
particularly Iran and Iraq, became increasingly important for India in the 1960s and
1970s and remain so for our energy security. From the 1980s the region became a
source of employment for Indian workers, who today number 5 million and
correspondingly a source for huge remittances of about $ 20 billion annually. The
history and current status of India’s Diaspora in the Gulf is unique in that it has
become the driving force of those economies. The considerations which have guided
our policy in these years remain valid today despite the change in the political,
economic and social matrix:
• Friendly relations with the people of the region on the basis of shared
history and culture;
• equidistance in intra-regional conflicts;
• support to the Palestinian cause;
• Desire to play an effective role in the region, even as a possible
intermediary;
• in this context, management of the relations with Israel;
• oppose both exclusivist religious ideologies and religious fanaticism;
• Develop economic, trade and investment ties;
• Energy security
As Prof. Girijesh Pant has written ‘for India, West Asia is the region to
augment its power rather than to display or assert its power.’ The thrust of India’s
West Asia policy and diplomacy thus has to be geared towards mobilizing resources
- political, strategic, economic and cultural - from the region to contribute in its
emergence as global power. .while India’s recent economic success has made this
possible at the political level, Indian policy makers need to recognize that West
Asian sensitivities have been offended and hurt by aggressive US intervention
in the region. Indian policy has to be shaped in consonance with regional concerns.
This does not mean that Indian policy has to be hostage to West Asian expectations
but to underline that rise of India as a global player critically hinges upon its clout in
its immediate and extended neighbourhood. In defining India’s role we need to do so
within the geo-politics of a rising Asia.
It is important is to note that throughout this early period the India-West Asia
relationship remained one-sided. It was always India and Indians who were
dependant on the region and not so much in the reverse sense. It is only since this
Millennium that the relationship between India and West Asia has become twodimensional
on which more later, it is akin to a re-discovery of India by the countries
of West Asia.:
The Region in Crisis
Developments since 2000, the most provocative act being the 9/11 attack on
the World Trade Centre, changed the face of the region. The last ten years have
been described as ‘a bad decade’ by noted Lebanese journalist Rami. G. Khoury ..
Paradoxically, events and developments in the region had a profound influence on
the world and the way it thought of itself, yet the region could not itself rise above the
forces it unleashed.
The crisis in West Asia today can be traced to the long-term unresolved issue
of bringing about a secure and viable Palestinian state, and the short-term issue of
invasion and continuing presence of foreign forces. It has put pressure on national
sovereignty, national security and the authority of State. Yet unlike in Europe, after
fall of the Berlin Wall, centripetal rather than centrifugal forces have prevented the
region from imploding or the re-drawing of national boundaries and creation of new
states. The region presents the following challenges:
• Waning of the belief in Arab solidarity, unity and socialism which had blurred
,if not eliminated, differences of sects, beliefs and region and tribe; Change in
the social structure and mores in the region in favour of sect, tribe and
tradition; and a conscious desire to get away from western values. The
growing tension between the Sunni and Shia Muslims radiating westward
from Pakistan from which India has remained immune so far;
• The emergence of a ‘back-to-roots thinking which gives primacy to religious
belief in political matters; ;the sway of Al Qaeda and the Taliban;
• The consolidation of the state of Israel in the region, and internationally;
the unwritten edict which makes it taboo to mention Israeli nuclear
weapons while giving no quarter to Iran ( and Iraq earlier) on the
presumption that they either possess or seek to build them.
• the impotence of major players to find a way to establish an secure,
independent and viable Palestinian state causing a running sore on the
psyche of its peoples ; the dilemma of not having an honest broker to solve
the Palestinian issue coupled with growing disenchantment with US power
and ability to perform this role;
• The presence of foreign troops, in ever larger numbers, both on land
and sea- we now have US troops in bases in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Qatar,
UAE and Western navies patrolling the Gulf, in particular the Hormuz
straits
• The passing of Arab leadership from Egypt, Syria, Libya , Iraq and Tunisia in
the post-colonial period to the growing clout of non-Arab players –Iran, US,
Turkey and Israel, – in the post-secular period;
• Iran is today the biggest beneficiary of US intervention in Iraq as well as the
policies of Israel and earlier US Administrations. With its ascendency its
neighbours, many with significant Shia minorities, are concerned, particularly
Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Iran has now proxies in Lebanon, Gaza, Syria and
Palestine;
• The importance of energy resources of West Asia as the driver of political
and economic developments in a globalizing world: differences on their
security and their ownership;
• The coming into their own of the Gulf Sheikdoms on the back of high returns
from energy , growing stash of foreign exchange reserves and low population
bases leading leveraging these resources for internal and external
investments;
• Consolidation of authoritarian governments and suppression of dissent within
the trappings of democracy; the inability and unwillingness to hand political
power to Islamic- oriented parties; at the same time, an increasing recourse to
confessional type of governance- Lebanon no longer the exception but the
model;
• The increasing desire on the part of major Arab countries-Iraq, Saudi Arabia
and Egypt to seek nuclear and missile weapon capacity both to create
equities against Israel but to offset other regional players like Iran , all within
professed adherence to the NPT straitjacket;
• The use of Terror as an instrument of political negotiation :Internationalization
of the scourge of terrorism and terrorist groups after 9/11 ; by implication a
change from opposition of such groups to their placation through co-option
and clandestine support to achieve larger goals of religion or political
dominance;
• popular frustration at the inability to change systems and promote
participative governance;
• The passing by of West Asia by the most significant development of the 21st
century- the knowledge economy; West Asia is at most a recipient, but
neither an innovator, nor a provider;
• Moribund nature of Arab and Islamic institutions – Arab League and the OIC;
while the former is regarded by Egypt as an instrument f its foreign policy,
Saudi Arabia takes a similar view of the latter. Suffice it to say that in the face
of the tremendous pressure that Islam and Arabs have been under since 9/11
the two organisations have failed to take up the challenge to project the
universality of the Arab and the benign face of Islam.
From India’s point of view India’s Gulf Security rests on three pillars: Iran, Iraq
and Saudi Arabia. These pillars have never looked as much in flux as during the last
decade. The strategic importance of the region will continue to lie in its geography
and it’s much demanded natural resource petroleum and natural gas even though
according to one estimate global dependence on West Asian oil is declining – as of
2007 the region produced fewer than 30 per cent of the world’s crude oil compared
to 40 per cent in 1974-75.
India and the Region
India has always believed that its relations with the West Asian region are sui
generis and immune from the effects of relations of other regional and global powers.
This accounts for our relative unconcern with the role of other major and regional
powers in the region. We have tended to believe that our role does not compete with
any of the great powers, and to a large extent it does not. In the last decade this
sanguine belief has received a rude shock. Issues like terrorism, money-laundering
and safety of oil lanes have imposed new imperatives. With our energy requirements
expected to grow exponentially we will come into conflict with China and the US for
the oil and gas resources of the region.
The developments which have defined the shape of the region in the recent
past have necessarily centred on US policy particularly since 2000. It is the
articulation of US policy towards Palestine, Israel, Iraq, Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia
which has set the agenda for the region in the forthcoming decades. The period has
equally seen US- India relations getting closer and diverse with the beginnings of a
global strategic partnership. It has been both an asset and a liability.
How much was India influenced by the developments in the region and did it
play any role in them? What has been India’s position on the seminal events of the
decade? How is India perceived in the region as we start the second decade of the
21st century?
The answer to some of these questions will decide whether India’s West Asia
policy has adapted with the times or suffered from cognitive disability. It is axiomatic
that ties dating from antiquity of culture and religion, commerce and economics,
politics and security, oil and gas and people-to-people bind us and make it
incumbent to maintain forward-looking relations with the countries of the region.
While Mahatma Gandhi articulated it early on, since Independence India, as
the leader of the nonaligned movement, has always been counted on for its
steadfast support of the Palestinian cause. The political capital that Jawaharlal
Nehru built for us in the region nurtures our relations to this day. People of the region
rarely forget India’s support on a host of causes dear to the people of the region.
I will illustrate this with a personal reminiscence. Soon after the fall of
Baghdad to US forces on 8 April 2003 I visited Iraq incognito to make an assessment
on the vexed question of sending Indian troops to Northern Iraq to help the US and
coalition forces . We were under relentless pressure from George Bush and Donald
Rumsfeld. I vividly recall meeting Jalal Talabani (now President of Iraq) in his
northern redoubt of Dhokan and Massoud Barzani (now President of of Iraqi
Kurdistan) in his lair in salubrious Salahaddin to get their views.. Their opening
remarks to me were identical: both quoted verbatim Nehru on the Kurdish cause in
his Glimpses of World History. A cause which subsequent Indian governments could
do nothing about. It evocatively brought out how much we had achieved in the
opening years of our nation and how much we had distanced ourselves from our
core causes. The question which arises: have we built on this legacy, adapted it or
squandered it?
With 9/11 we found that finally our continuous 20-year old refrain on crossborder
terrorism finally found a receptive audience: but it became the global war on
terror and by the end of the decade we found that the perpetrators- Pakistan- had
assumed the mantle of victims. Nevertheless our view Pakistan is the epicentre of
terrorism has become conventional wisdom today although, and once again, no one
–not even the US –was interested to bell the cat. The country remains far too
important to fighting the war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan, never
mind the terror groups it continues to nurture to continue its proxy war with us..
9/11 provoked a re-think on the Islamic ideology in much of the West Asian
region, above all, in Saudi Arabia which saw the terrorism sponsored through its
inspiration come home to roost. We found an increased willingness for the first time
on the part of the Gulf Sheikdoms to co-operate with us on counter-terrorism,
restricting flow of funds to institutions with dual agendas and defence co-operation.
The lead was given by UAE which fully assisted us in the deportation of Aftab Ansari,
the perpetrator of the attack on the American Centre in Kolkata who like Afzal Guru
and Murugan remains on death row..
In the last decade the character of our relations with the Arab world became
genuinely two-way. Till then our relations were unidirectional: it was India which
needed their political support on Kashmir and their oil and gas; and Indians who
found jobs boosting the economy with large remittances and spiritual sustenance
from the Two Holy Cities and other places of pilgrimage. As an economy moving at
the much reviled ‘Hindu rate of growth’ there was precious little that India could
fundamentally contribute to the region. The shoe was always on the other foot
notwithstanding the salience of the political factor.
If one surveys our relations with the region they fall into two broad categories:
• With West Asia and North Africa, the thrust remains primarily political
based on India’s status as a leader of the Nonaligned crowned by our
consistent support to the Palestinians. It was only in the latter half of
the decade that the economic content of our relations with Morocco,
Algeria, Tunisia, Libya became more significant ;
• With the Gulf, the thrust is mainly economic engendered by our
consistently high rates of growth since 1997. Talk of ‘strategic
economic partnerships’ became current and an FTA between the GCC
and India was gone through. The increasing realisation in these
countries that their hydrocarbon resources needed to be up valued
through long-term and stable returns made India a natural partner with
its growing market, its thirst for hydrocarbons and its highly skilled
professionals. The last decade has spurred inward investment and
resource-based projects both in situ and in India. The lead given by the
Gulf countries was taken up by Syria, Jordan, Morocco and others.
India’s economic success was the driver of this change. It was greatly
assisted by two major developments:
• India’s growing relationship with the US made India attractive as a
partner to others also, and
• secondly, the growing tension in relations between the West and West
Asia exacerbated by the impasse in the Arab-Israeli situation had a
positive influence on its relations with India. The need to tie up viable
economic and investment projects catering to the Indian market or to
Indians became the over-riding concern;.
We saw a significant improvement in the ambient tenor of our relations with
the countries of the region although Gulf Security became even more complicated.
The spawning of terror outfits which received inspiration, sanctuary and funds from
the region became a matter of major concern with the rise of terror attacks in India
culminating with the Mumbai attack of 26/11.
For India, increased attention by the major countries in West Asia was an
interesting development and took place at a time when the country was trying
to cope with the growing terrorist threat and its inability to deal with it. India’s
focus on developing beneficial economic and investment projects was only
marginally successful and foundered on the perception of an absence of
reciprocity in the relationship, particularly high-level visits. It is no surprise that
the goodwill engendered by the factors noted above was almost dissipated
given the repeated postponements of PM’s visits to region, especially to Saudi
Arabia which finally took place in March 2010.
On the whole the tenor of our relations with each of the countries in the
region was positive and there appeared less of an incentive on their part to
flog the issues of Kashmir. To some extent this was helped by two factors:
first, India decided to embark on a Dialogue relationship with the Arab League
based in Cairo which helped to clear the air on India’s nuclear policy, relations
with Israel and related issues; second, for the first time there was a move by
some OIC countries to take a more positive view of India and the success of
its secular model with the second largest Muslim community in the world.
During his visit to India Saudi King Abdullah proposed that India should be
made an Observer ruffling the placid waters of an organisation which has
primarily moved to Saudi signals. Furthermore, OIC ‘s own fixation on making
itself more relevant against the Western onslaught following repeated Al
Qaeda terror attacks put its Pakistan-inspired India baiting on the back
burner. There was also a realisation at the popular level in the region that
more than political creed, most needed was regimes which would promote
greater prosperity and participatory governance.
Having considered the general trend of our relations with the region it is
useful to focus on some of the critical points in the region in order to
understand how our relations have developed at the micro level.
1. The AFPAK Region
Today the region which encompasses the border between Pakistan and
Afghanistan has become the fulcrum in terms of future security in the
region and indeed internationally. Despite the expenditure of close to US $
31 billion since 2001 and the presence of 130000-140000 foreign, mainly
US troops there is no end in sight for the War In Afghanistan. Even with the
scaling down of US war aims to a single point of defeating Al Qaeda so
that it cannot attack the US homeland again, we see a losing scenario.
While cooperation with Pakistan is crucial for this goal it has blind-sided the
US on Pakistan’s sponsorship of terror against India, its pandering to the
Afghan Taliban to hold a strategic asset in that country, facilitating the regrouping
of the Taliban and its pursuit of nuclear weaponisation.
India has worked within its policy of close friendship and assistance to the
Afghan people. We are working on a project investment of USD 1.3 billion
which will go to the Afghan people. We have persisted in this despite
repeated ISI-sponsored attacks against our projects and Embassy in
Kabul. At the political level we have had to acquiesce with recent USPakistan-
Afghanistan discussions on reconciliation with elements of the
Taliban even though their coming back into government is anathema to us
given our experience of 1996. From our point of view Taliban’s implacable
hostility makes it impossible for us to do business with them.
More important, however, is the fact that its link with ISI makes it a part of
the larger issue of India-Pakistan relations. We have now re-started the
bilateral dialogue accepting that in the face of Pakistan’s terrorist agenda
against India it is still better to keep talking to them. Despite US pressure
Pakistan is not inclined to reduce its anti-Indian rhetoric or agenda.
2. Relations with Israel
The US played a pivotal role in ending Israel’s diplomatic isolation and has
stood by Israel within the UN and outside it. Despite the fact of Israeli
nuclear capability, the United States has kept mum on it and has kept the
distance between India and Pakistan on the one hand and Israel on the other.
Given its dependence on Washington for political support, technological
assistance and economic largesse, Israel’s ability to pursue any major
defence deals with the outside world, including India, depends squarely on
Washington. As Israeli defence exports to India are being conducted under
the watchful eyes of the United States, the ties between India and Israel will
also be constrained by the extent to which the US wants this engagement to
expand.
In this background, India found it relatively easier to manage its relations
with Israel. The acquisition of defence equipment and defence material vital
for the security of India’s one billion people set the bench mark for the
relationship. The relationship has diversified into industry, manufacturing,
agriculture, services and ICT. After almost two decades of diplomatic relations
these relations have acquired a ‘special’ character although it has not stopped
Israel from attempting to open relations with Pakistan. By the same token,
India has ensured that its growing relations with Israel do not dilute its
traditional support to Palestine. For the first time since the Middle East Peace
Process commenced, India was invited to the US sponsored Anaheim
Summit. Yet Israel’s penetration in India has not been without costs: first,
continuing sentiment in the Arab world that India had abandoned its strong
support of the Palestinians although the latter have themselves remained
divided; second, Mumbai 26/11 demonstrated the danger of allowing new
Jewish places of worship in India given that Shabad House was a target. The
issue for India now remains the management of this mutually beneficial
relationship.
3. Relations with Palestine
India’s support to Palestine has been stead-fast since our Independence.
We were the first to recognise the State of Palestine declared by Yassir Arafat and
have continually given the movement financial and political assistance. Our not
having relations with Israel till 1992 was in their eyes a positive factor. It was only
after the Us – sponsored Madrid Middle East Peace Process started in 1991 that we
decided to open relations with Israel. It was our contention that since the Arabs and
the Jews were talking to each other –also under the Oslo framework- there was no
reason for India to hold out. While we had stipulated that our relations will be
calibrated with progress in the Arab-Israeli process , in fact the relations have moved
regardless.
We were invited by the US to be part of the US-sponsored Peace Process at the
Anaheim Conference in 2007 which failed to give the process a major impetus. On
the other had the division in Palestine itself- between the Hamas led Gaza
administration and the Mahmood Abbas led Palestine Authority in Ramallah has not
been helpful. Gaza remains under Israeli siege and there is no headway to meeting
the concerns of Hamas. India has excellent relations with the PA and only
intermittent contact with Hamas in Gaza.
Given the current scenario it is difficult to visualise a break-through on the Arab-
Israeli front: even the balanced policy which President Obama enunciated has not
seen the light of day yet. Meanwhile Israeli settlement activity continues as also its
hard policy against the Palestinians in Gaza.
4. Relations with Iran
Iran enjoys a rare political consensus in India and since the early 1990s
every Indian Government has placed a high priority on strengthening its ties with
Tehran. India is unlikely to share Israeli apprehensions over neither Iranian
radicalism nor Israel of India’s concern over China. A number of factors such as
India’s need to counter Pakistan’s influence in the Islamic world, the increasing geopolitical
importance of Central Asia, and the need to strengthen economic and
commercial ties have led to a growing convergence in India-Iran interests in the postcold
war period.
The Iranian puzzle also brings in the American dimension that has both
positive and negative implications after four sets of US/UN sanctions the last in May
2010. India and Iran have differences of perceptions on the issue of nuclear
proliferation, gas pipelines and relations with Israel. India is keen that Iran follows its
NPT obligations and opposes its nuclear ambitions. This is true of Russia, China,
Europe and others also. At the same time we have no problem if Iran wants to assert
itself in the region. Over the past five years it is Iran which has benefited the most
from the actions of extra-regional and regional powers. Their cooperation will be
crucial in successfully tackling the problems of the region. During EAM Krishna’s visit
to Tehran in May 2010 we discussed the developments in the AfPak region in which
both have major interest. We also agreed that terror was the common challenge for
both countries.
5. Relations with Turkey
India’s relations with Turkey have again been historic with the Mughals-
Turko-Mongols - coming to India for conquest. During the Independence struggle
Mahatma Gandhi launched a campaign to support the Caliphate in Istanbul which
was under the threat of extinction under Mustafa Kamal Attaturk- the Khilafat
Movement. Funds were collected for this purpose and sent to Istanbul; but they
reached only when the Caliphate had been abolished. Ataturk, in his wisdom, used
the funds for the construction of the first building of the Turkish Parliament.
After Independence with Turkey’s membership of NATO and CENTO it
became close top Pakistan- which still remains if in no other way than sentiment.
With Turkey’s aspiration for joining the European Union it has come closer to India in
its views on terrorism and bilateralism in discussions with neighbours.
Turkey is today undergoing a transition from the secular ethos which was a
hall mark of Kemalism to a more religiously oriented polity with the ascendance of
the AKP- a moderate Islamic political party. In a way the wheel has come a full circle.
India’s relations with Turkey remain good with a strong injection of the
economic component. Turkey is today the transit for the BTC oil pipeline which
delivers Azerbaijani crude on the Mediterranean sea. Indian companies have been
involved in construction of the pipeline and Turkish companies have been looking at
infra projects in India.
Turkey has an important role in Afghanistan and provides a strong contingent as
part of NATO. It has, apart from Pakistan, the oldest links with that country.
6. Relations with Saudi Arabia
The visit to India of Saudi King Abdullah in January 2006, fifty years after the last,
signalled an important change in that country’s way of looking at India.It was
noteworthy that out of his 4-country visit to India, Pakistan, Malaysia and China, he
spent the longest in India and the shortest in Pakistan, its traditional friend. The visit
sent a powerful message to the Arab World and led to visit of other Arab leaders
from Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Syria, Egypt and others.
India, unlike China, was not able to effectively convert the opening provided by
the Saudi visit in 2006 into major projects based on their energy and other mineral
resources and on strong political support. There is no gainsaying the fact that
support from Saudi Arabia remains crucial to our concerns on Pakistan’s
machinations on Kashmir and in the OIC. Saudi support becomes even more
important as and when the US withdraws its troops from Afghanistan given the
former’s support of the Taliban; and because it our largest supplier of crude from the
Gulf. The visit this March of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gives us an opportunity
to pick up these threads.
Under the wise King Abdullah Saudi Arabia has tried to maintain its leadership of the
Arab world despite charges of being the inspiration, if not the inspirator, of Islamicoriented
terror which eventually hit the country internally also. Whether on the
Palestine-Israeli issue, or the OIC or new openings the Saudi King has steadfastly
moved ahead. Yet the intensification of Shia -Sunni conflict in Iraq, the presence of
US troops and bases in the region and growing internal pressure on the US
Administration to make an honourable exit from Afghanistan by doing a deal with the
Afghan Taliban, Saudi Arabia’s capacity to determine the flow of events will only
increase.
Looking Ahead
It will be seen that the last decade was eventful for West Asia and the Gulf
insofar as much of what came out of there drove the reactions and policies of the
rest of the world. The US invasion of Iraq disturbed the settled relationships of the
earlier era and brought ethnic and religious conflict fore-ground bringing new players
in the region other than the US- Turkey and Iran. Yet in the larger movement of
technology, finance, innovation and enterprise the world passed it by. While the last
decade brought a degree of respite from the highly political content of its
relationship, India did not keep up the flow of interaction at high political levels.
India’s increasing acceptance as an emerging global power was seen as
compensation enough possibly to the detriment of our long term interests. India’s
initiatives in the region were more bilateral aimed at enhancing our energy security
and the security of our borders. International concerns besetting the region had a
relatively lower salience in our policy and we remained content to watch
developments from the sidelines.
India still has considerable political capital in West Asia built up over the Nehru
years. The re-defining of this capital would be challenge of our West Asian policy in
the years to come. In defining an Indian role in West Asia a number of
considerations not directly in the realm of foreign policy come into play. The
immutable considerations - all domestic - that have weighed heavily on our policy are
the presence of the second largest Muslim community in the world; the dependence
of our country on West Asia’s energy resources (60 per cent of our hydrocarbon
needs); and the remittances from the Indian Diaspora in the Gulf. These will continue
to determine the parameters of our policy in the future also. To this have to be added
new determinants: India’s economic success which has created a growing market for
energy and other natural resources from West Asia and a secure destination for its
investment; India’s role in a rejuvenated group of developing countries alike IBSA
and BRIC; India as a paradigm for democratic and cultural pluralism; and India’s firm
opposition to terrorism in any form.
The future looks equally uncertain for the region in the background of
projected withdrawal of US and Western forces from Iraq and Afghanistan. The
reconstruction of these devastated countries, and the region itself, will have both
challenges and opportunities. India still has the best credentials in the region not
having been identified with the negative developments of the last decade. Despite
last year’s global financial crisis our economy looks poised to maintain its growth
trajectory at a time when the Gulf and West Asia is still reeling. The moment is
opportune for a new opening to the region. Prime Minister’s visit to Saudi Arabia sent
a positive message in the region on which we need to capitalise.
Let me list some cardinal points which could determine India’s policy on West
Asia
• India will always support secular, democratic and plural societies in West
Asia while finding a modus vivendi to do business with the parties in power in
order to maintain its traditional friendship with the countries of the region. Its
continuing interest in the Palestine issue must be translated into constructive
engagement.
• India’s primary goal has to be the safeguarding of the security in the Gulf, and
to this end, enhancing its relations with Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran in a nonzero
sum approach. It would mean developing cooperative maritime security
and counter-terror arrangements with all the Gulf countries. It would also
require close contact with these countries in combating terrorism and the
linked nexus of arms smuggling, money laundering and drugs.
• India’s relations with Israel have acquired a depth and diversity which cannot
be rolled back. This has happened because Israel has been able to meet
crucial Indian needs in the field of defence, agriculture and technology. The
relation has to be seen in the context of the imperative of any Indian
government to assure the security of one billion people. Our experience has
shown, as in Kargil that despite usurious costs Israel has shown itself to be a
reliable partner. India does not need to be defensive on this score especially
since the importance of this relationship cuts across party lines. It is a
situation which needs advocacy both within the country and the region.
• India by the weight of its historical relations with and its current economic
success has to carve a role leveraging its growing market and talent pool and
the natural and financial resources of the region. While the Gulf countries,
including Iraq and Iran are the most susceptible to this approach, it is equally
possible with countries like Egypt and the other countries in the Maghreb like
Libya and Morocco. Maximising economic and trade interaction will provide
the ballast for closer and more balanced overall relations .As stated above
the rise of India hinges on its clout in its proximate neighbourhood.
• India’s goal will be to develop a two-dimensional relation with the countries of
the region. Recent indications of West Asian countries ‘looking East’ towards
India need to be capitalized upon. India’s future lies in its increasing
recognition as a rising Asian economic power.
• India’s model of a secular and democratic polity and its commitment to
ensuring minority rights has a great attraction in today’s West Asia where
religious and cultural differences amongst the diverse ethnicities have been
exposed. In this context, India needs to develop a new channel of interaction
through civil society organizations as a means to foster exchange of views on
common social and economic problems. Some trends in this direction with
Saudi Arabia and Iran are already noticeable. Development of cultural
relations will have to be a major plank of India’s policy towards West Asia.
• India will have to carefully calibrate its relations with the region in such a way
that its policy parameters remain inviolable amidst pressures of its growing
relations with the Great Powers particularly the US. A regular dialogue with
the US and EU on developments in West Asia would provide a tool to
understand the parameters on both sides.
• A number of minorities in the region like the Kurds who have found a voice, in
the churning that the region has undergone, hold India in high esteem. A
subsidiary goal of Indian policy in the region has to be to encourage these
communities within the framework of the constitutional structure in the
countries in which they live.
Foreign policy decisions in the coming years will have consequences for
peace and harmony in our multi-cultural, multi-religious country. . We should do what
we can to strength the forces of stability and moderation in the region.
Let me end on a lighter note by coming back to our cultural links- in particular
cuisine. Much of the cuisine of the Arab world has its roots in the Ottoman cuisine
considering they were part of that empire for 500 years. Different parts of the Arab
world specialised in different components of Turkish cuisine – while the Lebanese
excelled in salads, the Syrians became the masters of filo-pastry and desserts, and
the Iraqis of grills, the couzi whole lamb pullav is universal to the Arab world. A lot of
this cuisine also travelled to India with the Turko-Mongols. Next time you order a
Shami Kebab remind yourself that it comes from Damascus, which in Arabic is called
balad as-sham; but strangely they don’t make this dish in Syria. They instead make a
dish called kebab hindi which is nothing like the shami kebab!
Thank You
i
Rajendra Abhyankar is Chairman Kunzru Centre for Defence Study and Research, Pune. A former diplomat he
was Indian Ambassador in Syria, Turkey and Azerbaijan and was Secretary (East) in MEA. From 2006 to 2008 he
was Director, Centre for West Asian Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.
A la fotografia, la Cala de los Genoveses, al Parc Natural del Cabo de Gata, província d'Almería. Andalusia.
La platja i el sol, un dels principals reclams per als turistes que venen a estiuejar a Espanya. Aquests dos factors han contribuït de forma determinant en la mirada que el món s'ha creat de l'Espanya més tòpica. Possiblement l'Espanya del turisme, de l'època d'oci, s'hagi confós en l'imaginari europeu en l'Espanya més quotidiana. Als anys 50, durant el franquisme, la dictadura espanyola va vendre arréu del món aquesta Espanya festiva i despreocupada.
Some 80% of Scotland’s land mass is under agricultural production, making the industry the single biggest determinant of the landscape we see around us. Scotland’s farmers, crofters and growers produce output worth around £2.9 billion a year, and are responsible for much of Scotland’s £5 billion food and drink exports. The export target for 2017 is £7.1 billion.
Around 67,000 people are directly employed in agriculture in Scotland – this represents around 8% of the rural workforce and means that agriculture is the third largest employer in rural Scotland after the service and public sectors. It is estimated that a further 360,000 jobs (1 in 10 of all Scottish jobs) are dependent on agriculture.
The agri-food sector is now the UKs largest manufacturing sector.
Around 85% of Scotland is classified as Less Favoured Area. This is an EU classification which recognises natural and geographic disadvantage.
There are large numbers of farms in north west Scotland, but these are significantly smaller in terms of the numbers of livestock/area of crops grown than farms elsewhere. Sheep farming is the predominant type of farming in the north west and there are also many sheep farms in the south of the country. Larger cereal farms are concentrated in the east. Beef farming takes place throughout Scotland, but is particularly common in the south west. This area also has the bulk of the dairy industry.
Some 80% of Scotland’s land mass is under agricultural production, making the industry the single biggest determinant of the landscape we see around us. Scotland’s farmers, crofters and growers produce output worth around £2.9 billion a year, and are responsible for much of Scotland’s £5 billion food and drink exports. The export target for 2017 is £7.1 billion.
Around 67,000 people are directly employed in agriculture in Scotland – this represents around 8% of the rural workforce and means that agriculture is the third largest employer in rural Scotland after the service and public sectors. It is estimated that a further 360,000 jobs (1 in 10 of all Scottish jobs) are dependent on agriculture.
The agri-food sector is now the UKs largest manufacturing sector.
Around 85% of Scotland is classified as Less Favoured Area. This is an EU classification which recognises natural and geographic disadvantage.
There are large numbers of farms in north west Scotland, but these are significantly smaller in terms of the numbers of livestock/area of crops grown than farms elsewhere. Sheep farming is the predominant type of farming in the north west and there are also many sheep farms in the south of the country. Larger cereal farms are concentrated in the east. Beef farming takes place throughout Scotland, but is particularly common in the south west. This area also has the bulk of the dairy industry.