[picture to the right: the mother fiercely devoted to protecting her young while it was playing in the sea]

 

The Varanus salvator, commonly known as the (common) water monitor, is native to South and Southeast Asia. They are found throughout Asia, from Sri Lanka, India, Indochina, the Malay Peninsula, and on various Malaysian islands, living in areas close to water. Like all monitor lizards, water monitors are cold-blooded. They eat insects, crabs, mollusks, snakes, eggs, fish, birds, rodents, and other lizards. They enjoy chasing their prey rather than to stalk and ambush, and their forked tongue is used to smell their prey.

 

The Asian water monitor is one of the largest (squamate) lizards in the world. They can grow to a length of 9 feet and reach a weight of 50 kg! It is outsized by only 2 other lizards, the Komodo dragon and the crocodile monitor. The Komodo can gain more weight than the water monitor, while the crocodile can grow longer – up to 12 feet!

Water monitors have strong legs and are able to run fast – faster than the average human. Living up to its name, one of the most impressive characteristics of the water monitor is that they can not only swim, but remain submerged for up to half an hour.

 

HABITAT AND ECOLOGY

Asian water monitors are semi-aquatic and opportunistic; they inhabit a variety of natural habitats though predominantly this species resides in primary forests and mangrove swamps. It has been noted that the presence of humans does not deter these monitors from areas of human disturbance. In fact, they have been known to adapt and thrive in agricultural areas as well as cities with canal system (such as Sri Lanka, where they are not hunted or persecuted by humans). This species does not thrive in habitats with extensive loss of natural vegetation and aquatic resources. Habitats that are considered to be most important to this species are mangrove vegetation, swamps, wetlands, and altitudes below 1000m.

 

BEHAVIOR AND DIET

Water monitors defend themselves using their tails, claws, and jaws. They are excellent swimmers, using the raised fin on their tails to steer through water. They are carnivores, and consume a wide range of prey. They are known to eat fish, frogs, rodents, birds, crabs and snakes. They have also been known to eat turtles, as well as young crocodiles and crocodile eggs.

In dominantly aquatic habitats their semi-aquatic behavior is considered to provide a measure of safety from predators. This paired with their generalist diet is thought to contribute to their ecological plasticity. When hunted by predators such as the King cobra (Ophiophagus Hannah) they will climb up trees using their powerful legs and claws. If this strategic evasion is not enough to avoid danger, they have also been known to jump from trees into streams for safety - a similar behavior to that of the Green iguana (Iguana iguana).

 

Like the Komodo dragon, the water monitor will often eat carrion. They have a keen sense of smell and can smell a carcass from far away. They are known to feed on dead human bodies. While on the one hand their presence can be helpful in locating a missing person in forensic investigations, on the other hand they can inflict further injuries to the corpse, complicating ascertainment of the cause of death.

Source: Wikipedia

 

Magnis is the location of the Magnis is the location of the Roman Army Museum run by the Vindolanda Trust. Like the museum at Vindolanda, the Roman Army Museum was modernised and reopened in 2011. The museum illustrates frontier life on the northern edge of the Roman Empire. The museum displays genuine Roman artifacts including weapons and tools; life-size replicas; a 3D film showing Hadrian's Wall past and present, and a large timeline of Hadrian's Wall. There is a gallery devoted to the emperor Hadrian himself. A large gallery describes daily life in the Roman army as seen through the eyes of a team of eight auxiliary soldiers, complete with a film showing their activities. Notable exhibits include a rare surviving helmet crest. run by the Vindolanda Trust. Like the museum at Vindolanda, the Roman Army Museum was modernised and reopened in 2011. The museum illustrates frontier life on the northern edge of the Roman Empire. The museum displays genuine Roman artifacts including weapons and tools; life-size replicas; a 3D film showing Hadrian's Wall past and present, and a large timeline of Hadrian's Wall. There is a gallery devoted to the emperor Hadrian himself. A large gallery describes daily life in the Roman army as seen through the eyes of a team of eight auxiliary soldiers, complete with a film showing their activities. Notable exhibits include a rare surviving helmet crest.

 

Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman province of Britannia after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410.

 

Julius Caesar invaded Britain in 55 and 54 BC as part of his Gallic Wars. According to Caesar, the Britons had been overrun or culturally assimilated by the Belgae during the British Iron Age and had been aiding Caesar's enemies. The Belgae were the only Celtic tribe to cross the sea into Britain, for to all other Celtic tribes this land was unknown. He received tribute, installed the friendly king Mandubracius over the Trinovantes, and returned to Gaul. Planned invasions under Augustus were called off in 34, 27, and 25 BC. In 40 AD, Caligula assembled 200,000 men at the Channel on the continent, only to have them gather seashells (musculi) according to Suetonius, perhaps as a symbolic gesture to proclaim Caligula's victory over the sea. Three years later, Claudius directed four legions to invade Britain and restore the exiled king Verica over the Atrebates. The Romans defeated the Catuvellauni, and then organized their conquests as the province of Britain. By 47 AD, the Romans held the lands southeast of the Fosse Way. Control over Wales was delayed by reverses and the effects of Boudica's uprising, but the Romans expanded steadily northward.

 

The conquest of Britain continued under command of Gnaeus Julius Agricola (77–84), who expanded the Roman Empire as far as Caledonia. In mid-84 AD, Agricola faced the armies of the Caledonians, led by Calgacus, at the Battle of Mons Graupius. Battle casualties were estimated by Tacitus to be upwards of 10,000 on the Caledonian side and about 360 on the Roman side. The bloodbath at Mons Graupius concluded the forty-year conquest of Britain, a period that possibly saw between 100,000 and 250,000 Britons killed. In the context of pre-industrial warfare and of a total population of Britain of c. 2 million, these are very high figures.

 

Under the 2nd-century emperors Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, two walls were built to defend the Roman province from the Caledonians, whose realms in the Scottish Highlands were never controlled. Around 197 AD, the Severan Reforms divided Britain into two provinces: Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior. During the Diocletian Reforms, at the end of the 3rd century, Britannia was divided into four provinces under the direction of a vicarius, who administered the Diocese of the Britains. A fifth province, Valentia, is attested in the later 4th century. For much of the later period of the Roman occupation, Britannia was subject to barbarian invasions and often came under the control of imperial usurpers and imperial pretenders. The final Roman withdrawal from Britain occurred around 410; the native kingdoms are considered to have formed Sub-Roman Britain after that.

 

Following the conquest of the Britons, a distinctive Romano-British culture emerged as the Romans introduced improved agriculture, urban planning, industrial production, and architecture. The Roman goddess Britannia became the female personification of Britain. After the initial invasions, Roman historians generally only mention Britain in passing. Thus, most present knowledge derives from archaeological investigations and occasional epigraphic evidence lauding the Britannic achievements of an emperor. Roman citizens settled in Britain from many parts of the Empire.

 

History

Britain was known to the Classical world. The Greeks, the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians traded for Cornish tin in the 4th century BC. The Greeks referred to the Cassiterides, or "tin islands", and placed them near the west coast of Europe. The Carthaginian sailor Himilco is said to have visited the island in the 6th or 5th century BC and the Greek explorer Pytheas in the 4th. It was regarded as a place of mystery, with some writers refusing to believe it existed.

 

The first direct Roman contact was when Julius Caesar undertook two expeditions in 55 and 54 BC, as part of his conquest of Gaul, believing the Britons were helping the Gallic resistance. The first expedition was more a reconnaissance than a full invasion and gained a foothold on the coast of Kent but was unable to advance further because of storm damage to the ships and a lack of cavalry. Despite the military failure, it was a political success, with the Roman Senate declaring a 20-day public holiday in Rome to honour the unprecedented achievement of obtaining hostages from Britain and defeating Belgic tribes on returning to the continent.

 

The second invasion involved a substantially larger force and Caesar coerced or invited many of the native Celtic tribes to pay tribute and give hostages in return for peace. A friendly local king, Mandubracius, was installed, and his rival, Cassivellaunus, was brought to terms. Hostages were taken, but historians disagree over whether any tribute was paid after Caesar returned to Gaul.

 

Caesar conquered no territory and left no troops behind, but he established clients and brought Britain into Rome's sphere of influence. Augustus planned invasions in 34, 27 and 25 BC, but circumstances were never favourable, and the relationship between Britain and Rome settled into one of diplomacy and trade. Strabo, writing late in Augustus's reign, claimed that taxes on trade brought in more annual revenue than any conquest could. Archaeology shows that there was an increase in imported luxury goods in southeastern Britain. Strabo also mentions British kings who sent embassies to Augustus, and Augustus's own Res Gestae refers to two British kings he received as refugees. When some of Tiberius's ships were carried to Britain in a storm during his campaigns in Germany in 16 AD, they came back with tales of monsters.

 

Rome appears to have encouraged a balance of power in southern Britain, supporting two powerful kingdoms: the Catuvellauni, ruled by the descendants of Tasciovanus, and the Atrebates, ruled by the descendants of Commius. This policy was followed until 39 or 40 AD, when Caligula received an exiled member of the Catuvellaunian dynasty and planned an invasion of Britain that collapsed in farcical circumstances before it left Gaul. When Claudius successfully invaded in 43 AD, it was in aid of another fugitive British ruler, Verica of the Atrebates.

 

Roman invasion

The invasion force in 43 AD was led by Aulus Plautius,[26] but it is unclear how many legions were sent. The Legio II Augusta, commanded by future emperor Vespasian, was the only one directly attested to have taken part. The Legio IX Hispana, the XIV Gemina (later styled Martia Victrix) and the XX (later styled Valeria Victrix) are known to have served during the Boudican Revolt of 60/61, and were probably there since the initial invasion. This is not certain because the Roman army was flexible, with units being moved around whenever necessary. The IX Hispana may have been permanently stationed, with records showing it at Eboracum (York) in 71 and on a building inscription there dated 108, before being destroyed in the east of the Empire, possibly during the Bar Kokhba revolt.

 

The invasion was delayed by a troop mutiny until an imperial freedman persuaded them to overcome their fear of crossing the Ocean and campaigning beyond the limits of the known world. They sailed in three divisions, and probably landed at Richborough in Kent; at least part of the force may have landed near Fishbourne, West Sussex.

 

The Catuvellauni and their allies were defeated in two battles: the first, assuming a Richborough landing, on the river Medway, the second on the river Thames. One of their leaders, Togodumnus, was killed, but his brother Caratacus survived to continue resistance elsewhere. Plautius halted at the Thames and sent for Claudius, who arrived with reinforcements, including artillery and elephants, for the final march to the Catuvellaunian capital, Camulodunum (Colchester). Vespasian subdued the southwest, Cogidubnus was set up as a friendly king of several territories, and treaties were made with tribes outside direct Roman control.

 

Establishment of Roman rule

After capturing the south of the island, the Romans turned their attention to what is now Wales. The Silures, Ordovices and Deceangli remained implacably opposed to the invaders and for the first few decades were the focus of Roman military attention, despite occasional minor revolts among Roman allies like the Brigantes and the Iceni. The Silures were led by Caratacus, and he carried out an effective guerrilla campaign against Governor Publius Ostorius Scapula. Finally, in 51, Ostorius lured Caratacus into a set-piece battle and defeated him. The British leader sought refuge among the Brigantes, but their queen, Cartimandua, proved her loyalty by surrendering him to the Romans. He was brought as a captive to Rome, where a dignified speech he made during Claudius's triumph persuaded the emperor to spare his life. The Silures were still not pacified, and Cartimandua's ex-husband Venutius replaced Caratacus as the most prominent leader of British resistance.

 

On Nero's accession, Roman Britain extended as far north as Lindum. Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, the conqueror of Mauretania (modern day Algeria and Morocco), then became governor of Britain, and in 60 and 61 he moved against Mona (Anglesey) to settle accounts with Druidism once and for all. Paulinus led his army across the Menai Strait and massacred the Druids and burnt their sacred groves.

 

While Paulinus was campaigning in Mona, the southeast of Britain rose in revolt under the leadership of Boudica. She was the widow of the recently deceased king of the Iceni, Prasutagus. The Roman historian Tacitus reports that Prasutagus had left a will leaving half his kingdom to Nero in the hope that the remainder would be left untouched. He was wrong. When his will was enforced, Rome[clarification needed] responded by violently seizing the tribe's lands in full. Boudica protested. In consequence, Rome[clarification needed] punished her and her daughters by flogging and rape. In response, the Iceni, joined by the Trinovantes, destroyed the Roman colony at Camulodunum (Colchester) and routed the part of the IXth Legion that was sent to relieve it. Paulinus rode to London (then called Londinium), the rebels' next target, but concluded it could not be defended. Abandoned, it was destroyed, as was Verulamium (St. Albans). Between seventy and eighty thousand people are said to have been killed in the three cities. But Paulinus regrouped with two of the three legions still available to him, chose a battlefield, and, despite being outnumbered by more than twenty to one, defeated the rebels in the Battle of Watling Street. Boudica died not long afterwards, by self-administered poison or by illness. During this time, the Emperor Nero considered withdrawing Roman forces from Britain altogether.

 

There was further turmoil in 69, the "Year of the Four Emperors". As civil war raged in Rome, weak governors were unable to control the legions in Britain, and Venutius of the Brigantes seized his chance. The Romans had previously defended Cartimandua against him, but this time were unable to do so. Cartimandua was evacuated, and Venutius was left in control of the north of the country. After Vespasian secured the empire, his first two appointments as governor, Quintus Petillius Cerialis and Sextus Julius Frontinus, took on the task of subduing the Brigantes and Silures respectively.[38] Frontinus extended Roman rule to all of South Wales, and initiated exploitation of the mineral resources, such as the gold mines at Dolaucothi.

 

In the following years, the Romans conquered more of the island, increasing the size of Roman Britain. Governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola, father-in-law to the historian Tacitus, conquered the Ordovices in 78. With the XX Valeria Victrix legion, Agricola defeated the Caledonians in 84 at the Battle of Mons Graupius, in north-east Scotland. This was the high-water mark of Roman territory in Britain: shortly after his victory, Agricola was recalled from Britain back to Rome, and the Romans initially retired to a more defensible line along the Forth–Clyde isthmus, freeing soldiers badly needed along other frontiers.

 

For much of the history of Roman Britain, a large number of soldiers were garrisoned on the island. This required that the emperor station a trusted senior man as governor of the province. As a result, many future emperors served as governors or legates in this province, including Vespasian, Pertinax, and Gordian I.

 

Roman military organisation in the north

In 84 AD

In 84 AD

 

In 155 AD

In 155 AD

 

Hadrian's Wall, and Antonine Wall

There is no historical source describing the decades that followed Agricola's recall. Even the name of his replacement is unknown. Archaeology has shown that some Roman forts south of the Forth–Clyde isthmus were rebuilt and enlarged; others appear to have been abandoned. By 87 the frontier had been consolidated on the Stanegate. Roman coins and pottery have been found circulating at native settlement sites in the Scottish Lowlands in the years before 100, indicating growing Romanisation. Some of the most important sources for this era are the writing tablets from the fort at Vindolanda in Northumberland, mostly dating to 90–110. These tablets provide evidence for the operation of a Roman fort at the edge of the Roman Empire, where officers' wives maintained polite society while merchants, hauliers and military personnel kept the fort operational and supplied.

 

Around 105 there appears to have been a serious setback at the hands of the tribes of the Picts: several Roman forts were destroyed by fire, with human remains and damaged armour at Trimontium (at modern Newstead, in SE Scotland) indicating hostilities at least at that site.[citation needed] There is also circumstantial evidence that auxiliary reinforcements were sent from Germany, and an unnamed British war of the period is mentioned on the gravestone of a tribune of Cyrene. Trajan's Dacian Wars may have led to troop reductions in the area or even total withdrawal followed by slighting of the forts by the Picts rather than an unrecorded military defeat. The Romans were also in the habit of destroying their own forts during an orderly withdrawal, in order to deny resources to an enemy. In either case, the frontier probably moved south to the line of the Stanegate at the Solway–Tyne isthmus around this time.

 

A new crisis occurred at the beginning of Hadrian's reign): a rising in the north which was suppressed by Quintus Pompeius Falco. When Hadrian reached Britannia on his famous tour of the Roman provinces around 120, he directed an extensive defensive wall, known to posterity as Hadrian's Wall, to be built close to the line of the Stanegate frontier. Hadrian appointed Aulus Platorius Nepos as governor to undertake this work who brought the Legio VI Victrix legion with him from Germania Inferior. This replaced the famous Legio IX Hispana, whose disappearance has been much discussed. Archaeology indicates considerable political instability in Scotland during the first half of the 2nd century, and the shifting frontier at this time should be seen in this context.

 

In the reign of Antoninus Pius (138–161) the Hadrianic border was briefly extended north to the Forth–Clyde isthmus, where the Antonine Wall was built around 142 following the military reoccupation of the Scottish lowlands by a new governor, Quintus Lollius Urbicus.

 

The first Antonine occupation of Scotland ended as a result of a further crisis in 155–157, when the Brigantes revolted. With limited options to despatch reinforcements, the Romans moved their troops south, and this rising was suppressed by Governor Gnaeus Julius Verus. Within a year the Antonine Wall was recaptured, but by 163 or 164 it was abandoned. The second occupation was probably connected with Antoninus's undertakings to protect the Votadini or his pride in enlarging the empire, since the retreat to the Hadrianic frontier occurred not long after his death when a more objective strategic assessment of the benefits of the Antonine Wall could be made. The Romans did not entirely withdraw from Scotland at this time: the large fort at Newstead was maintained along with seven smaller outposts until at least 180.

 

During the twenty-year period following the reversion of the frontier to Hadrian's Wall in 163/4, Rome was concerned with continental issues, primarily problems in the Danubian provinces. Increasing numbers of hoards of buried coins in Britain at this time indicate that peace was not entirely achieved. Sufficient Roman silver has been found in Scotland to suggest more than ordinary trade, and it is likely that the Romans were reinforcing treaty agreements by paying tribute to their implacable enemies, the Picts.

 

In 175, a large force of Sarmatian cavalry, consisting of 5,500 men, arrived in Britannia, probably to reinforce troops fighting unrecorded uprisings. In 180, Hadrian's Wall was breached by the Picts and the commanding officer or governor was killed there in what Cassius Dio described as the most serious war of the reign of Commodus. Ulpius Marcellus was sent as replacement governor and by 184 he had won a new peace, only to be faced with a mutiny from his own troops. Unhappy with Marcellus's strictness, they tried to elect a legate named Priscus as usurper governor; he refused, but Marcellus was lucky to leave the province alive. The Roman army in Britannia continued its insubordination: they sent a delegation of 1,500 to Rome to demand the execution of Tigidius Perennis, a Praetorian prefect who they felt had earlier wronged them by posting lowly equites to legate ranks in Britannia. Commodus met the party outside Rome and agreed to have Perennis killed, but this only made them feel more secure in their mutiny.

 

The future emperor Pertinax (lived 126–193) was sent to Britannia to quell the mutiny and was initially successful in regaining control, but a riot broke out among the troops. Pertinax was attacked and left for dead, and asked to be recalled to Rome, where he briefly succeeded Commodus as emperor in 192.

 

3rd century

The death of Commodus put into motion a series of events which eventually led to civil war. Following the short reign of Pertinax, several rivals for the emperorship emerged, including Septimius Severus and Clodius Albinus. The latter was the new governor of Britannia, and had seemingly won the natives over after their earlier rebellions; he also controlled three legions, making him a potentially significant claimant. His sometime rival Severus promised him the title of Caesar in return for Albinus's support against Pescennius Niger in the east. Once Niger was neutralised, Severus turned on his ally in Britannia; it is likely that Albinus saw he would be the next target and was already preparing for war.

 

Albinus crossed to Gaul in 195, where the provinces were also sympathetic to him, and set up at Lugdunum. Severus arrived in February 196, and the ensuing battle was decisive. Albinus came close to victory, but Severus's reinforcements won the day, and the British governor committed suicide. Severus soon purged Albinus's sympathisers and perhaps confiscated large tracts of land in Britain as punishment. Albinus had demonstrated the major problem posed by Roman Britain. In order to maintain security, the province required the presence of three legions, but command of these forces provided an ideal power base for ambitious rivals. Deploying those legions elsewhere would strip the island of its garrison, leaving the province defenceless against uprisings by the native Celtic tribes and against invasion by the Picts and Scots.

 

The traditional view is that northern Britain descended into anarchy during Albinus's absence. Cassius Dio records that the new Governor, Virius Lupus, was obliged to buy peace from a fractious northern tribe known as the Maeatae. The succession of militarily distinguished governors who were subsequently appointed suggests that enemies of Rome were posing a difficult challenge, and Lucius Alfenus Senecio's report to Rome in 207 describes barbarians "rebelling, over-running the land, taking loot and creating destruction". In order to rebel, of course, one must be a subject – the Maeatae clearly did not consider themselves such. Senecio requested either reinforcements or an Imperial expedition, and Severus chose the latter, despite being 62 years old. Archaeological evidence shows that Senecio had been rebuilding the defences of Hadrian's Wall and the forts beyond it, and Severus's arrival in Britain prompted the enemy tribes to sue for peace immediately. The emperor had not come all that way to leave without a victory, and it is likely that he wished to provide his teenage sons Caracalla and Geta with first-hand experience of controlling a hostile barbarian land.

 

Northern campaigns, 208–211

An invasion of Caledonia led by Severus and probably numbering around 20,000 troops moved north in 208 or 209, crossing the Wall and passing through eastern Scotland on a route similar to that used by Agricola. Harried by punishing guerrilla raids by the northern tribes and slowed by an unforgiving terrain, Severus was unable to meet the Caledonians on a battlefield. The emperor's forces pushed north as far as the River Tay, but little appears to have been achieved by the invasion, as peace treaties were signed with the Caledonians. By 210 Severus had returned to York, and the frontier had once again become Hadrian's Wall. He assumed the title Britannicus but the title meant little with regard to the unconquered north, which clearly remained outside the authority of the Empire. Almost immediately, another northern tribe, the Maeatae, went to war. Caracalla left with a punitive expedition, but by the following year his ailing father had died and he and his brother left the province to press their claim to the throne.

 

As one of his last acts, Severus tried to solve the problem of powerful and rebellious governors in Britain by dividing the province into Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior. This kept the potential for rebellion in check for almost a century. Historical sources provide little information on the following decades, a period known as the Long Peace. Even so, the number of buried hoards found from this period rises, suggesting continuing unrest. A string of forts were built along the coast of southern Britain to control piracy; and over the following hundred years they increased in number, becoming the Saxon Shore Forts.

 

During the middle of the 3rd century, the Roman Empire was convulsed by barbarian invasions, rebellions and new imperial pretenders. Britannia apparently avoided these troubles, but increasing inflation had its economic effect. In 259 a so-called Gallic Empire was established when Postumus rebelled against Gallienus. Britannia was part of this until 274 when Aurelian reunited the empire.

 

Around the year 280, a half-British officer named Bonosus was in command of the Roman's Rhenish fleet when the Germans managed to burn it at anchor. To avoid punishment, he proclaimed himself emperor at Colonia Agrippina (Cologne) but was crushed by Marcus Aurelius Probus. Soon afterwards, an unnamed governor of one of the British provinces also attempted an uprising. Probus put it down by sending irregular troops of Vandals and Burgundians across the Channel.

 

The Carausian Revolt led to a short-lived Britannic Empire from 286 to 296. Carausius was a Menapian naval commander of the Britannic fleet; he revolted upon learning of a death sentence ordered by the emperor Maximian on charges of having abetted Frankish and Saxon pirates and having embezzled recovered treasure. He consolidated control over all the provinces of Britain and some of northern Gaul while Maximian dealt with other uprisings. An invasion in 288 failed to unseat him and an uneasy peace ensued, with Carausius issuing coins and inviting official recognition. In 293, the junior emperor Constantius Chlorus launched a second offensive, besieging the rebel port of Gesoriacum (Boulogne-sur-Mer) by land and sea. After it fell, Constantius attacked Carausius's other Gallic holdings and Frankish allies and Carausius was usurped by his treasurer, Allectus. Julius Asclepiodotus landed an invasion fleet near Southampton and defeated Allectus in a land battle.

 

Diocletian's reforms

As part of Diocletian's reforms, the provinces of Roman Britain were organized as a diocese governed by a vicarius under a praetorian prefect who, from 318 to 331, was Junius Bassus who was based at Augusta Treverorum (Trier).

 

The vicarius was based at Londinium as the principal city of the diocese. Londinium and Eboracum continued as provincial capitals and the territory was divided up into smaller provinces for administrative efficiency.

 

Civilian and military authority of a province was no longer exercised by one official and the governor was stripped of military command which was handed over to the Dux Britanniarum by 314. The governor of a province assumed more financial duties (the procurators of the Treasury ministry were slowly phased out in the first three decades of the 4th century). The Dux was commander of the troops of the Northern Region, primarily along Hadrian's Wall and his responsibilities included protection of the frontier. He had significant autonomy due in part to the distance from his superiors.

 

The tasks of the vicarius were to control and coordinate the activities of governors; monitor but not interfere with the daily functioning of the Treasury and Crown Estates, which had their own administrative infrastructure; and act as the regional quartermaster-general of the armed forces. In short, as the sole civilian official with superior authority, he had general oversight of the administration, as well as direct control, while not absolute, over governors who were part of the prefecture; the other two fiscal departments were not.

 

The early-4th-century Verona List, the late-4th-century work of Sextus Rufus, and the early-5th-century List of Offices and work of Polemius Silvius all list four provinces by some variation of the names Britannia I, Britannia II, Maxima Caesariensis, and Flavia Caesariensis; all of these seem to have initially been directed by a governor (praeses) of equestrian rank. The 5th-century sources list a fifth province named Valentia and give its governor and Maxima's a consular rank. Ammianus mentions Valentia as well, describing its creation by Count Theodosius in 369 after the quelling of the Great Conspiracy. Ammianus considered it a re-creation of a formerly lost province, leading some to think there had been an earlier fifth province under another name (may be the enigmatic "Vespasiana"), and leading others to place Valentia beyond Hadrian's Wall, in the territory abandoned south of the Antonine Wall.

 

Reconstructions of the provinces and provincial capitals during this period partially rely on ecclesiastical records. On the assumption that the early bishoprics mimicked the imperial hierarchy, scholars use the list of bishops for the 314 Council of Arles. The list is patently corrupt: the British delegation is given as including a Bishop "Eborius" of Eboracum and two bishops "from Londinium" (one de civitate Londinensi and the other de civitate colonia Londinensium). The error is variously emended: Bishop Ussher proposed Colonia, Selden Col. or Colon. Camalodun., and Spelman Colonia Cameloduni (all various names of Colchester); Gale and Bingham offered colonia Lindi and Henry Colonia Lindum (both Lincoln); and Bishop Stillingfleet and Francis Thackeray read it as a scribal error of Civ. Col. Londin. for an original Civ. Col. Leg. II (Caerleon). On the basis of the Verona List, the priest and deacon who accompanied the bishops in some manuscripts are ascribed to the fourth province.

 

In the 12th century, Gerald of Wales described the supposedly metropolitan sees of the early British church established by the legendary SS Fagan and "Duvian". He placed Britannia Prima in Wales and western England with its capital at "Urbs Legionum" (Caerleon); Britannia Secunda in Kent and southern England with its capital at "Dorobernia" (Canterbury); Flavia in Mercia and central England with its capital at "Lundonia" (London); "Maximia" in northern England with its capital at Eboracum (York); and Valentia in "Albania which is now Scotland" with its capital at St Andrews. Modern scholars generally dispute the last: some place Valentia at or beyond Hadrian's Wall but St Andrews is beyond even the Antonine Wall and Gerald seems to have simply been supporting the antiquity of its church for political reasons.

 

A common modern reconstruction places the consular province of Maxima at Londinium, on the basis of its status as the seat of the diocesan vicarius; places Prima in the west according to Gerald's traditional account but moves its capital to Corinium of the Dobunni (Cirencester) on the basis of an artifact recovered there referring to Lucius Septimius, a provincial rector; places Flavia north of Maxima, with its capital placed at Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) to match one emendation of the bishops list from Arles;[d] and places Secunda in the north with its capital at Eboracum (York). Valentia is placed variously in northern Wales around Deva (Chester); beside Hadrian's Wall around Luguvalium (Carlisle); and between the walls along Dere Street.

 

4th century

Emperor Constantius returned to Britain in 306, despite his poor health, with an army aiming to invade northern Britain, the provincial defences having been rebuilt in the preceding years. Little is known of his campaigns with scant archaeological evidence, but fragmentary historical sources suggest he reached the far north of Britain and won a major battle in early summer before returning south. His son Constantine (later Constantine the Great) spent a year in northern Britain at his father's side, campaigning against the Picts beyond Hadrian's Wall in the summer and autumn. Constantius died in York in July 306 with his son at his side. Constantine then successfully used Britain as the starting point of his march to the imperial throne, unlike the earlier usurper, Albinus.

 

In the middle of the century, the province was loyal for a few years to the usurper Magnentius, who succeeded Constans following the latter's death. After the defeat and death of Magnentius in the Battle of Mons Seleucus in 353, Constantius II dispatched his chief imperial notary Paulus Catena to Britain to hunt down Magnentius's supporters. The investigation deteriorated into a witch-hunt, which forced the vicarius Flavius Martinus to intervene. When Paulus retaliated by accusing Martinus of treason, the vicarius attacked Paulus with a sword, with the aim of assassinating him, but in the end he committed suicide.

 

As the 4th century progressed, there were increasing attacks from the Saxons in the east and the Scoti (Irish) in the west. A series of forts had been built, starting around 280, to defend the coasts, but these preparations were not enough when, in 367, a general assault of Saxons, Picts, Scoti and Attacotti, combined with apparent dissension in the garrison on Hadrian's Wall, left Roman Britain prostrate. The invaders overwhelmed the entire western and northern regions of Britannia and the cities were sacked. This crisis, sometimes called the Barbarian Conspiracy or the Great Conspiracy, was settled by Count Theodosius from 368 with a string of military and civil reforms. Theodosius crossed from Bononia (Boulogne-sur-Mer) and marched on Londinium where he began to deal with the invaders and made his base.[ An amnesty was promised to deserters which enabled Theodosius to regarrison abandoned forts. By the end of the year Hadrian's Wall was retaken and order returned. Considerable reorganization was undertaken in Britain, including the creation of a new province named Valentia, probably to better address the state of the far north. A new Dux Britanniarum was appointed, Dulcitius, with Civilis to head a new civilian administration.

 

Another imperial usurper, Magnus Maximus, raised the standard of revolt at Segontium (Caernarfon) in north Wales in 383, and crossed the English Channel. Maximus held much of the western empire, and fought a successful campaign against the Picts and Scots around 384. His continental exploits required troops from Britain, and it appears that forts at Chester and elsewhere were abandoned in this period, triggering raids and settlement in north Wales by the Irish. His rule was ended in 388, but not all the British troops may have returned: the Empire's military resources were stretched to the limit along the Rhine and Danube. Around 396 there were more barbarian incursions into Britain. Stilicho led a punitive expedition. It seems peace was restored by 399, and it is likely that no further garrisoning was ordered; by 401 more troops were withdrawn, to assist in the war against Alaric I.

 

End of Roman rule

The traditional view of historians, informed by the work of Michael Rostovtzeff, was of a widespread economic decline at the beginning of the 5th century. Consistent archaeological evidence has told another story, and the accepted view is undergoing re-evaluation. Some features are agreed: more opulent but fewer urban houses, an end to new public building and some abandonment of existing ones, with the exception of defensive structures, and the widespread formation of "dark earth" deposits indicating increased horticulture within urban precincts. Turning over the basilica at Silchester to industrial uses in the late 3rd century, doubtless officially condoned, marks an early stage in the de-urbanisation of Roman Britain.

 

The abandonment of some sites is now believed to be later than had been thought. Many buildings changed use but were not destroyed. There was a growing number of barbarian attacks, but these targeted vulnerable rural settlements rather than towns. Some villas such as Chedworth, Great Casterton in Rutland and Hucclecote in Gloucestershire had new mosaic floors laid around this time, suggesting that economic problems may have been limited and patchy. Many suffered some decay before being abandoned in the 5th century; the story of Saint Patrick indicates that villas were still occupied until at least 430. Exceptionally, new buildings were still going up in this period in Verulamium and Cirencester. Some urban centres, for example Canterbury, Cirencester, Wroxeter, Winchester and Gloucester, remained active during the 5th and 6th centuries, surrounded by large farming estates.

 

Urban life had generally grown less intense by the fourth quarter of the 4th century, and coins minted between 378 and 388 are very rare, indicating a likely combination of economic decline, diminishing numbers of troops, problems with the payment of soldiers and officials or with unstable conditions during the usurpation of Magnus Maximus 383–87. Coinage circulation increased during the 390s, but never attained the levels of earlier decades. Copper coins are very rare after 402, though minted silver and gold coins from hoards indicate they were still present in the province even if they were not being spent. By 407 there were very few new Roman coins going into circulation, and by 430 it is likely that coinage as a medium of exchange had been abandoned. Mass-produced wheel thrown pottery ended at approximately the same time; the rich continued to use metal and glass vessels, while the poor made do with humble "grey ware" or resorted to leather or wooden containers.

 

Sub-Roman Britain

Towards the end of the 4th century Roman rule in Britain came under increasing pressure from barbarian attacks. Apparently, there were not enough troops to mount an effective defence. After elevating two disappointing usurpers, the army chose a soldier, Constantine III, to become emperor in 407. He crossed to Gaul but was defeated by Honorius; it is unclear how many troops remained or ever returned, or whether a commander-in-chief in Britain was ever reappointed. A Saxon incursion in 408 was apparently repelled by the Britons, and in 409 Zosimus records that the natives expelled the Roman civilian administration. Zosimus may be referring to the Bacaudic rebellion of the Breton inhabitants of Armorica since he describes how, in the aftermath of the revolt, all of Armorica and the rest of Gaul followed the example of the Brettaniai. A letter from Emperor Honorius in 410 has traditionally been seen as rejecting a British appeal for help, but it may have been addressed to Bruttium or Bologna. With the imperial layers of the military and civil government gone, administration and justice fell to municipal authorities, and local warlords gradually emerged all over Britain, still utilizing Romano-British ideals and conventions. Historian Stuart Laycock has investigated this process and emphasised elements of continuity from the British tribes in the pre-Roman and Roman periods, through to the native post-Roman kingdoms.

 

In British tradition, pagan Saxons were invited by Vortigern to assist in fighting the Picts, Scoti, and Déisi. (Germanic migration into Roman Britannia may have begun much earlier. There is recorded evidence, for example, of Germanic auxiliaries supporting the legions in Britain in the 1st and 2nd centuries.) The new arrivals rebelled, plunging the country into a series of wars that eventually led to the Saxon occupation of Lowland Britain by 600. Around this time, many Britons fled to Brittany (hence its name), Galicia and probably Ireland. A significant date in sub-Roman Britain is the Groans of the Britons, an unanswered appeal to Aetius, leading general of the western Empire, for assistance against Saxon invasion in 446. Another is the Battle of Deorham in 577, after which the significant cities of Bath, Cirencester and Gloucester fell and the Saxons reached the western sea.

 

Historians generally reject the historicity of King Arthur, who is supposed to have resisted the Anglo-Saxon conquest according to later medieval legends.

 

Trade

During the Roman period Britain's continental trade was principally directed across the Southern North Sea and Eastern Channel, focusing on the narrow Strait of Dover, with more limited links via the Atlantic seaways. The most important British ports were London and Richborough, whilst the continental ports most heavily engaged in trade with Britain were Boulogne and the sites of Domburg and Colijnsplaat at the mouth of the river Scheldt. During the Late Roman period it is likely that the shore forts played some role in continental trade alongside their defensive functions.

 

Exports to Britain included: coin; pottery, particularly red-gloss terra sigillata (samian ware) from southern, central and eastern Gaul, as well as various other wares from Gaul and the Rhine provinces; olive oil from southern Spain in amphorae; wine from Gaul in amphorae and barrels; salted fish products from the western Mediterranean and Brittany in barrels and amphorae; preserved olives from southern Spain in amphorae; lava quern-stones from Mayen on the middle Rhine; glass; and some agricultural products. Britain's exports are harder to detect archaeologically, but will have included metals, such as silver and gold and some lead, iron and copper. Other exports probably included agricultural products, oysters and salt, whilst large quantities of coin would have been re-exported back to the continent as well.

 

These products moved as a result of private trade and also through payments and contracts established by the Roman state to support its military forces and officials on the island, as well as through state taxation and extraction of resources. Up until the mid-3rd century, the Roman state's payments appear to have been unbalanced, with far more products sent to Britain, to support its large military force (which had reached c. 53,000 by the mid-2nd century), than were extracted from the island.

 

It has been argued that Roman Britain's continental trade peaked in the late 1st century AD and thereafter declined as a result of an increasing reliance on local products by the population of Britain, caused by economic development on the island and by the Roman state's desire to save money by shifting away from expensive long-distance imports. Evidence has been outlined that suggests that the principal decline in Roman Britain's continental trade may have occurred in the late 2nd century AD, from c. 165 AD onwards. This has been linked to the economic impact of contemporary Empire-wide crises: the Antonine Plague and the Marcomannic Wars.

 

From the mid-3rd century onwards, Britain no longer received such a wide range and extensive quantity of foreign imports as it did during the earlier part of the Roman period; vast quantities of coin from continental mints reached the island, whilst there is historical evidence for the export of large amounts of British grain to the continent during the mid-4th century. During the latter part of the Roman period British agricultural products, paid for by both the Roman state and by private consumers, clearly played an important role in supporting the military garrisons and urban centres of the northwestern continental Empire. This came about as a result of the rapid decline in the size of the British garrison from the mid-3rd century onwards (thus freeing up more goods for export), and because of 'Germanic' incursions across the Rhine, which appear to have reduced rural settlement and agricultural output in northern Gaul.

 

Economy

Mineral extraction sites such as the Dolaucothi gold mine were probably first worked by the Roman army from c. 75, and at some later stage passed to civilian operators. The mine developed as a series of opencast workings, mainly by the use of hydraulic mining methods. They are described by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History in great detail. Essentially, water supplied by aqueducts was used to prospect for ore veins by stripping away soil to reveal the bedrock. If veins were present, they were attacked using fire-setting and the ore removed for comminution. The dust was washed in a small stream of water and the heavy gold dust and gold nuggets collected in riffles. The diagram at right shows how Dolaucothi developed from c. 75 through to the 1st century. When opencast work was no longer feasible, tunnels were driven to follow the veins. The evidence from the site shows advanced technology probably under the control of army engineers.

 

The Wealden ironworking zone, the lead and silver mines of the Mendip Hills and the tin mines of Cornwall seem to have been private enterprises leased from the government for a fee. Mining had long been practised in Britain (see Grimes Graves), but the Romans introduced new technical knowledge and large-scale industrial production to revolutionise the industry. It included hydraulic mining to prospect for ore by removing overburden as well as work alluvial deposits. The water needed for such large-scale operations was supplied by one or more aqueducts, those surviving at Dolaucothi being especially impressive. Many prospecting areas were in dangerous, upland country, and, although mineral exploitation was presumably one of the main reasons for the Roman invasion, it had to wait until these areas were subdued.

 

By the 3rd and 4th centuries, small towns could often be found near villas. In these towns, villa owners and small-scale farmers could obtain specialist tools. Lowland Britain in the 4th century was agriculturally prosperous enough to export grain to the continent. This prosperity lay behind the blossoming of villa building and decoration that occurred between AD 300 and 350.

 

Britain's cities also consumed Roman-style pottery and other goods, and were centres through which goods could be distributed elsewhere. At Wroxeter in Shropshire, stock smashed into a gutter during a 2nd-century fire reveals that Gaulish samian ware was being sold alongside mixing bowls from the Mancetter-Hartshill industry of the West Midlands. Roman designs were most popular, but rural craftsmen still produced items derived from the Iron Age La Tène artistic traditions. Britain was home to much gold, which attracted Roman invaders. By the 3rd century, Britain's economy was diverse and well established, with commerce extending into the non-Romanised north.

 

Government

Further information: Governors of Roman Britain, Roman client kingdoms in Britain, and Roman auxiliaries in Britain

Under the Roman Empire, administration of peaceful provinces was ultimately the remit of the Senate, but those, like Britain, that required permanent garrisons, were placed under the Emperor's control. In practice imperial provinces were run by resident governors who were members of the Senate and had held the consulship. These men were carefully selected, often having strong records of military success and administrative ability. In Britain, a governor's role was primarily military, but numerous other tasks were also his responsibility, such as maintaining diplomatic relations with local client kings, building roads, ensuring the public courier system functioned, supervising the civitates and acting as a judge in important legal cases. When not campaigning, he would travel the province hearing complaints and recruiting new troops.

 

To assist him in legal matters he had an adviser, the legatus juridicus, and those in Britain appear to have been distinguished lawyers perhaps because of the challenge of incorporating tribes into the imperial system and devising a workable method of taxing them. Financial administration was dealt with by a procurator with junior posts for each tax-raising power. Each legion in Britain had a commander who answered to the governor and, in time of war, probably directly ruled troublesome districts. Each of these commands carried a tour of duty of two to three years in different provinces. Below these posts was a network of administrative managers covering intelligence gathering, sending reports to Rome, organising military supplies and dealing with prisoners. A staff of seconded soldiers provided clerical services.

 

Colchester was probably the earliest capital of Roman Britain, but it was soon eclipsed by London with its strong mercantile connections. The different forms of municipal organisation in Britannia were known as civitas (which were subdivided, amongst other forms, into colonies such as York, Colchester, Gloucester and Lincoln and municipalities such as Verulamium), and were each governed by a senate of local landowners, whether Brythonic or Roman, who elected magistrates concerning judicial and civic affairs. The various civitates sent representatives to a yearly provincial council in order to profess loyalty to the Roman state, to send direct petitions to the Emperor in times of extraordinary need, and to worship the imperial cult.

 

Demographics

Roman Britain had an estimated population between 2.8 million and 3 million people at the end of the second century. At the end of the fourth century, it had an estimated population of 3.6 million people, of whom 125,000 consisted of the Roman army and their families and dependents.[80] The urban population of Roman Britain was about 240,000 people at the end of the fourth century. The capital city of Londinium is estimated to have had a population of about 60,000 people. Londinium was an ethnically diverse city with inhabitants from the Roman Empire, including natives of Britannia, continental Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. There was also cultural diversity in other Roman-British towns, which were sustained by considerable migration, from Britannia and other Roman territories, including continental Europe, Roman Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa. In a study conducted in 2012, around 45 percent of sites investigated dating from the Roman period had at least one individual of North African origin.

 

Town and country

During their occupation of Britain the Romans founded a number of important settlements, many of which survive. The towns suffered attrition in the later 4th century, when public building ceased and some were abandoned to private uses. Place names survived the deurbanised Sub-Roman and early Anglo-Saxon periods, and historiography has been at pains to signal the expected survivals, but archaeology shows that a bare handful of Roman towns were continuously occupied. According to S.T. Loseby, the very idea of a town as a centre of power and administration was reintroduced to England by the Roman Christianising mission to Canterbury, and its urban revival was delayed to the 10th century.

 

Roman towns can be broadly grouped in two categories. Civitates, "public towns" were formally laid out on a grid plan, and their role in imperial administration occasioned the construction of public buildings. The much more numerous category of vici, "small towns" grew on informal plans, often round a camp or at a ford or crossroads; some were not small, others were scarcely urban, some not even defended by a wall, the characteristic feature of a place of any importance.

 

Cities and towns which have Roman origins, or were extensively developed by them are listed with their Latin names in brackets; civitates are marked C

 

Alcester (Alauna)

Alchester

Aldborough, North Yorkshire (Isurium Brigantum) C

Bath (Aquae Sulis) C

Brough (Petuaria) C

Buxton (Aquae Arnemetiae)

Caerleon (Isca Augusta) C

Caernarfon (Segontium) C

Caerwent (Venta Silurum) C

Caister-on-Sea C

Canterbury (Durovernum Cantiacorum) C

Carlisle (Luguvalium) C

Carmarthen (Moridunum) C

Chelmsford (Caesaromagus)

Chester (Deva Victrix) C

Chester-le-Street (Concangis)

Chichester (Noviomagus Reginorum) C

Cirencester (Corinium) C

Colchester (Camulodunum) C

Corbridge (Coria) C

Dorchester (Durnovaria) C

Dover (Portus Dubris)

Exeter (Isca Dumnoniorum) C

Gloucester (Glevum) C

Great Chesterford (the name of this vicus is unknown)

Ilchester (Lindinis) C

Leicester (Ratae Corieltauvorum) C

Lincoln (Lindum Colonia) C

London (Londinium) C

Manchester (Mamucium) C

Newcastle upon Tyne (Pons Aelius)

Northwich (Condate)

St Albans (Verulamium) C

Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum) C

Towcester (Lactodurum)

Whitchurch (Mediolanum) C

Winchester (Venta Belgarum) C

Wroxeter (Viroconium Cornoviorum) C

York (Eboracum) C

 

Religion

The druids, the Celtic priestly caste who were believed to originate in Britain, were outlawed by Claudius, and in 61 they vainly defended their sacred groves from destruction by the Romans on the island of Mona (Anglesey). Under Roman rule the Britons continued to worship native Celtic deities, such as Ancasta, but often conflated with their Roman equivalents, like Mars Rigonemetos at Nettleham.

 

The degree to which earlier native beliefs survived is difficult to gauge precisely. Certain European ritual traits such as the significance of the number 3, the importance of the head and of water sources such as springs remain in the archaeological record, but the differences in the votive offerings made at the baths at Bath, Somerset, before and after the Roman conquest suggest that continuity was only partial. Worship of the Roman emperor is widely recorded, especially at military sites. The founding of a Roman temple to Claudius at Camulodunum was one of the impositions that led to the revolt of Boudica. By the 3rd century, Pagans Hill Roman Temple in Somerset was able to exist peaceably and it did so into the 5th century.

 

Pagan religious practices were supported by priests, represented in Britain by votive deposits of priestly regalia such as chain crowns from West Stow and Willingham Fen.

 

Eastern cults such as Mithraism also grew in popularity towards the end of the occupation. The London Mithraeum is one example of the popularity of mystery religions among the soldiery. Temples to Mithras also exist in military contexts at Vindobala on Hadrian's Wall (the Rudchester Mithraeum) and at Segontium in Roman Wales (the Caernarfon Mithraeum).

 

Christianity

It is not clear when or how Christianity came to Britain. A 2nd-century "word square" has been discovered in Mamucium, the Roman settlement of Manchester. It consists of an anagram of PATER NOSTER carved on a piece of amphora. There has been discussion by academics whether the "word square" is a Christian artefact, but if it is, it is one of the earliest examples of early Christianity in Britain. The earliest confirmed written evidence for Christianity in Britain is a statement by Tertullian, c. 200 AD, in which he described "all the limits of the Spains, and the diverse nations of the Gauls, and the haunts of the Britons, inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ". Archaeological evidence for Christian communities begins to appear in the 3rd and 4th centuries. Small timber churches are suggested at Lincoln and Silchester and baptismal fonts have been found at Icklingham and the Saxon Shore Fort at Richborough. The Icklingham font is made of lead, and visible in the British Museum. A Roman Christian graveyard exists at the same site in Icklingham. A possible Roman 4th-century church and associated burial ground was also discovered at Butt Road on the south-west outskirts of Colchester during the construction of the new police station there, overlying an earlier pagan cemetery. The Water Newton Treasure is a hoard of Christian silver church plate from the early 4th century and the Roman villas at Lullingstone and Hinton St Mary contained Christian wall paintings and mosaics respectively. A large 4th-century cemetery at Poundbury with its east–west oriented burials and lack of grave goods has been interpreted as an early Christian burial ground, although such burial rites were also becoming increasingly common in pagan contexts during the period.

 

The Church in Britain seems to have developed the customary diocesan system, as evidenced from the records of the Council of Arles in Gaul in 314: represented at the council were bishops from thirty-five sees from Europe and North Africa, including three bishops from Britain, Eborius of York, Restitutus of London, and Adelphius, possibly a bishop of Lincoln. No other early sees are documented, and the material remains of early church structures are far to seek. The existence of a church in the forum courtyard of Lincoln and the martyrium of Saint Alban on the outskirts of Roman Verulamium are exceptional. Alban, the first British Christian martyr and by far the most prominent, is believed to have died in the early 4th century (some date him in the middle 3rd century), followed by Saints Julius and Aaron of Isca Augusta. Christianity was legalised in the Roman Empire by Constantine I in 313. Theodosius I made Christianity the state religion of the empire in 391, and by the 5th century it was well established. One belief labelled a heresy by the church authorities — Pelagianism — was originated by a British monk teaching in Rome: Pelagius lived c. 354 to c. 420/440.

 

A letter found on a lead tablet in Bath, Somerset, datable to c. 363, had been widely publicised as documentary evidence regarding the state of Christianity in Britain during Roman times. According to its first translator, it was written in Wroxeter by a Christian man called Vinisius to a Christian woman called Nigra, and was claimed as the first epigraphic record of Christianity in Britain. This translation of the letter was apparently based on grave paleographical errors, and the text has nothing to do with Christianity, and in fact relates to pagan rituals.

 

Environmental changes

The Romans introduced a number of species to Britain, including possibly the now-rare Roman nettle (Urtica pilulifera), said to have been used by soldiers to warm their arms and legs, and the edible snail Helix pomatia. There is also some evidence they may have introduced rabbits, but of the smaller southern mediterranean type. The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) prevalent in modern Britain is assumed to have been introduced from the continent after the Norman invasion of 1066. Box (Buxus sempervirens) is rarely recorded before the Roman period, but becomes a common find in towns and villas

 

Legacy

During their occupation of Britain the Romans built an extensive network of roads which continued to be used in later centuries and many are still followed today. The Romans also built water supply, sanitation and wastewater systems. Many of Britain's major cities, such as London (Londinium), Manchester (Mamucium) and York (Eboracum), were founded by the Romans, but the original Roman settlements were abandoned not long after the Romans left.

 

Unlike many other areas of the Western Roman Empire, the current majority language is not a Romance language, or a language descended from the pre-Roman inhabitants. The British language at the time of the invasion was Common Brittonic, and remained so after the Romans withdrew. It later split into regional languages, notably Cumbric, Cornish, Breton and Welsh. Examination of these languages suggests some 800 Latin words were incorporated into Common Brittonic (see Brittonic languages). The current majority language, English, is based on the languages of the Germanic tribes who migrated to the island from continental Europe

Upper left corner of letter from heaven - heavenly letter (or is it rather: ticket to heaven?)

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See the main photo here.

 

Letter, printed in Copenhagen in 1770 and sold in Norway. Found in Finne, Voss. Kept and and used as amulet / talisman / charm, often framed. Believed to be Gods words, brought to Earth by arch angel St. Michael. These letters can be traced back to medieval times.

 

Brevet lyder slik (avskrift utført av Arild Nybø):

 

En Miil fra Sanct Michaels Bierg, boede Mand som heder Just; denne Mand haver talet med GUds Engel, hvilken var klar som en Lue, saa at han ikke kunde see paa han for klarhed Skyld hvorover Manden faldt ned av Forskrækkelse; Men Engelen sagde til ham: Frygt dig ikke! Dig skal intet skade; Men gaae til Præsten og levere ham dette Brev, og siig til hannem: At GUd ikke kand have roe for de Fortryktes Suk og Raab Skyld, thi de faaer ikke være i Fred på Jorden, som de skal ligge udi, baade for de svære Synder som gaae i Svang, og den store Hofmodighed som Menneskene daglig lever i. Dette samme Brev var skrevet med forgyldte Bogstaver, og lyder som efterfølger:

 

Giv Agt på dette brev:

Den som vanhelliger Sabbaten, han er forkastet, som Skriften siger: Thi raader jeg Eder, at I ikke arbeider om Søndagen, enten på Eders eget eller andres Arbeide, men at I flittig gaae i Kirke, baade Gamle og Unge, for at høre GUds Ord med Andagt. I haver 6 dage i Ugen til at giøre Eders Arbeide paa; Sabbaten skal I holde reen og hellig: Den, som ikke det giør, skal blive straffede, baade Gamle og Unge. I skal ikke smuke Eders Ansikt eller kruuse Eders Haar, og dermed bedrive Hoffart, som HErren selv i sit hellige Ord har forbudet. Afbeder hver hos GUd Eders Synder, paa det de maae Eder forlades; Bedriver ikke Ondt i mit Navn, thi jeg haver skabt Eder af Intet, og jeg kan gjøre Eder til Intet igien. Ærer Eders Foræeldre med Ord og Gierninger, sa skal I have Lykke og Velsignelse baade her og hisset. I skal ikke slaae ihiel; I skal ikke bedrive Hoer; I skal ikke Stiele; I skal ikke sige halft Vidnesbyrd, men tale Sandhed; I skal ikke begiere eders Næstes Gods, 2C (?). Hver den som ikke troer GUds Ord, han bliver fordømt; men hvem som troer det, skal have Løn og Velsignelse af GUd. Hvo dette Brev haver i sit Huus, og ikke aabenbarer disse GUds Befalinger, den er ingen ret Christen; men hvo som lever derefter, om de end havde saa mange Synder som Sand i Havet, Løv og Græs på Jorden, samt Stierner paa Himmelen, skal de alle ved en sand Troe paa Eders Forløser forlades Eder; men den, som ikke troer, skal ikke undgaae Døden. Og dersom I ikke omvender Eder, saa skal I vorde evig fordømt. GUd skal spørge Eder paa den sidste Dag, da kand I ikke svare hannem Eet til Tusinde for Eders mange Synder.

Hvo dette Brev haver i sit Huus, eller hos sig, og giør derefter, hannem skal da Jorden og Veiret ikke skade, men alltid bevares for Ild og Vand, ja ham skal vederfares alt Godt. Holder GUds Bud, som Han haver givet Eder, og aflægger Hofærdighed, Fraadserie og Drukkenskab, GUds Ords Foragt og Bespottelse. Havde de GUdsfrygtiges Bøn og Raab ikke været, saa havde der ikke kommet Regn paa Jorden i lang Tid; med dersom I ikke omvender Eder, da skal Verden snart forgaae. Der skal blive saadan Krig og Blods Utgydelse, at den eene intet kan kiende den anden. Der skal blive saa stor Hunder og Elendighed, at en Moder skal æde sit eget barn. Ja, der skal blive sådan Sygdom og Pestilentse, at den, som lægger sit frisk og sund om Aftenen, skal om Morgenen være død. Der skal blive saa stor Jammer og Elendighed, at Menneskerne skal raabe: Hvor finde vi Trøst, vi Arme og Elendige, som ikke har omvendt os fra vores Synd og Ondskab? Men dersom I omvender Eder, saa skal I fornemme, at et Menneske paa Hundrede Aar skal ansees for Tredsindtyve Aar. Eders Næring skal forøges, Sorg og Bedrøvelse skal forminskes, siger HErren Eders GUd. Det Menneske er forbandet, som ikke lever efter dette Brev;

Men den, som giør derefter, den skal blomstre af Velsignelse, det er aabenbaret.

 

Kiøbenhavn Aar 1770, trykt hos J. R. Thiele.

 

Les om tilsvarande "himmelbreve" hos Thisted Museum (PDF).

 

Himmelbrev - utdrag frå tekst av av Knut L. Espelid:

 

Himmelbrevet er enkeltblads trykk med tresnitt-illustrasjoner, ofte i farger. Det gir seg ut for å være skrevet av Gud selv og bragt til jorden av engelen Michael. Brevet forekommer i mange varianter, men dets budskap er stort sett det samme: man skal helligholdesøndagen og følge Guds bud. Den som tror på brevet vil gå lykke og velsignelse.

Himmelbrevene kan spores tilbake til tidlig middelalder. Til grunn for dem ligger apokryfe evangelier og troen på ar Gud åpenbarer seg for menneskene gjennem skriftelige meddelelser. Som litteratur utgjør de en interessant gren av den felles-europeiske folkelitteratur.

 

I Danmark-Norge hadde brevene lenge vært kjent, men det første dansk- trykte brev, en oversettelse fra tysk, kom først i København i 1720. Billedet viser en senere utgave av dette brev.

 

Les meir om himmelbrev hos Universitetet i Bergen og hos Aust-Agder Kulturhistoriske senter.

  

Om trykkeriet:

 

Thiele, københavnsk bogtrykkerslægt. Johan Rudolph T. (1736-1815) indvandrede fra Tyskland til Danmark og oprettede i 1770 et bogtrykkeri i København. Ved devalueringen i 1813 mistede han sin formue, og sønnen Hans Henrik T. (1787-1839) måtte føre firmaet videre under vanskelige forhold, der dog bedredes, da der i 1831 kom et samarbejde i gang med Nationalbanken. Tredje generation, brødrene Just T. (1823-1876) og Andreas T. (1825-1907), overtog firmaet i 1846. De indførte en hurtigpresse i 1849 og anvendte dampkraft fra 1853. I 1860 overgik det meste af Nationalbankens arbejde til firmaet, som desuden trykte de danske frimærker fra 1851 og stempelmærker fra 1861. I 1874 fik firmaet tillige leverancen af pengesedler til Finland. I 1901 overtog Just Thieles svigersøn Søren Wedege (1858-1933) virksomheden. Efterhånden som staten selv overtog fremstillingen af de forskellige tryksager, gik firmaet tilbage og m&aringtte i 1926 træde i likvidation. (Klikk her for kjelde.)

The Dalí Theatre and Museum Figueres Catalonia Spain

 

(Catalan: Teatre-Museu Dalí, IPA: [teˈatɾə muˈzɛw ðəˈɫi], Spanish: Teatro Museo Dalí), is a museum of the artist Salvador Dalí in his home town of Figueres, in Catalonia, Spain.

 

Building

The heart of the museum is the building that housed the town's theater when Dalí was a child, where one of the first public exhibitions of young Dalí's art was shown. The old theater was burned during the Spanish Civil War and remained in a state of ruin for decades. In 1960, Dalí and the mayor of Figueres decided to rebuild it as a museum dedicated to the town's most famous son.

In 1968, the city council approved the plan, and construction began the following year. The architects were Joaquim de Ros i Ramis and Alexandre Bonaterra. The museum opened on September 28, 1974,with continuing expansion through the mid-1980s. The museum now includes buildings and courtyards adjacent to the old theater building.

 

The museum displays the single largest and most diverse collection of works by Salvador Dalí, the core of which was from the artist's personal collection. In addition to Dalí paintings from all decades of his career, there are Dalí sculptures, 3-dimensional collages, mechanical devices, and other curiosities from Dalí's imagination. A highlight is a 3-dimensional anamorphic living-room installation with custom furniture that looks like the face of Mae West when viewed from a certain spot.

 

The museum also houses a small selection of works by other artists collected by Dalí, ranging from El Greco and Bougereau to Marcel Duchamp and John de Andrea, In accordance with Dalí's specific request, a second-floor gallery is devoted to the work of his friend and fellow Catalan artist Antoni Pitxot, who also became director of the museum after Dalí's death.

 

A glass geodesic dome cupola crowns the stage of the old theater, and Dalí himself is buried in a crypt below the stage floor. The space formerly occupied by the audience has been transformed into a courtyard open to the sky, with Dionysian nude figurines standing in the old balcony windows.

 

A Dalí installation inside a full-sized automobile, inspired by Rainy Taxi (1938), is parked near the center of the space.

 

Art collection

 

The Dalí Theatre and Museum holds the largest collection of major works by Dalí in a single location. Some of the most important exhibited works are Port Alguer (1924), The Spectre of Sex-appeal (1932), Soft self-portrait with grilled bacon (1941), Poetry of America—the Cosmic Athletes (1943), Galarina (1944–45), Basket of Bread (1945), Leda Atomica (1949), Galatea of the Spheres (1952) and Crist de la Tramuntana (1968).

There is also a set of works created by the artist expressly for the Theater-Museum, including the Mae West room, the Palace of the Windroom, the Monument to Francesc Pujols, and the Cadillac plujós.

 

A collection of holographic art by Dalí, and a collection of jewelry he designed are on display. Another room contains a bathtub and a side table with an open drawer and a lamp, all of which Dalí had installed upside-down on the ceiling.

 

An extension to the museum building contains a room dedicated to optical illusions, stereographs, and anamorphic art created by Dalí. The artist's final works, including his last oil painting, The Swallow's Tail (1983), are on display here.

THE DALINIAN SYMBOLS

  

A study of the work of Dalí, reveals some systematically present symbols in all his work. It's fetish objects that apparently have little in common: crutches, sea urchins, ants, bread...

 

Dalí uses these symbols so as to make it more meaningful to the message of his painting. The contrast of a hard shell and a soft interior is at the heart of his thinking and his art. This contrast outside-(hard/soft) is consistent with psychological design whereby individuals produce (hard) defenses around the vulnerable psyche (flexible). Dalí knew very well the work of Freud and his followers, even if its iconography derives absolutely no psychoanalytic thought.

 

ANGELS

 

They have the power to enter the celestial vault, communicating with God and thus achieve mystical union that concerns both the painter. Figures of angels painted by Dalí often borrow traits of Gala, incarnation, for Dali, purity and nobility.

 

CRUTCHES

 

It may be the only support of a figure or the necessary support of a form unable to stand alone. Dalí the view child, in the attic of his father's House. It should take and will never part. This subject gave him an assurance and an arrogance which he had never yet been able. In the short dictionary of Surrealism (1938), Dalí gives the following definition: "wooden Support deriving from the Cartesian philosophy. Generally used to serve as a support to the tenderness of the soft structures."

 

ELEPHANTS

 

The dalinian elephants are usually represented with the long legs of desire invisible to many bearings, bearing on their Obelisk back symbol of power and domination. The weight supported by the frail legs of the animal evokes weightlessness.

 

SNAILS

 

The snail is related to an important milestone in the life of Dalí: his encounter with Sigmund Freud. Dalí believed that nothing happens just by accident, he was captivated by the vision of a snail on a bicycle outside the home of Freud. The link is then made him between a human head and the snail, he associated specifically with the head of Freud. As for the egg, the outer part of the (hard) shell and the inner (soft) body of the snail site and the geometry of its curves it enchantèrent.

 

ANTS

 

Symbol of decay and decomposition. Dalí ants first met in his childhood, observing the remains decomposed small animals devoured by them. He observed with fascination and repulsion, and continued to use them in his work, as a symbol of decadence and ephemeral.

 

SOFT WATCHES

 

Dalí has often said, "the materialization of the flexibility of time and the indivisibility of space... It is a fluid." The unexpected softness of the watch also represents the psychological aspect by which the speed of time, although accurate in its scientific definition, can greatly vary in its human perception. The idea came to him after a meal while he contemplated the remains of a runny camembert. He decided to paint over the landscape that served as backdrop for two soft watches which one hung miserably to an olive branch.

 

EGG

 

Christian symbol of the resurrection of Christ and the emblem of purity and perfection. The egg evokes by its appearance and its minerality dear symbolism to Dali, earlier, intrauterine life and re-birth.

 

SEA URCHIN

 

His "exoskeleton" (the shell sits outside), Harris of thorns, can make you very unpleasant a first contact with the animal. The shell on the other hand contains soft body (one of the favorite dishes of Dali, who was known to eat a dozen at each meal). The Sea Urchin shell, stripped of its spines, appears in many of his paintings.

 

BREAD

 

Is it fear of Miss, Dalí represents it in his paintings and also begins to make surrealist objects with bread. In his paintings, loaves more often have something 'hard' and phallic, opposed to the "soft" watches. Dali has always been a great admirer of the bread. It tapissera of Catalan round loaves Figueras Museum walls.

 

LANDSCAPES

 

Traditional space (based on the perspective and the paintings of the Renaissance). Realistic landscape strewn with strange and unreal objects located in a natural environment. The background and how to use landscapes are one of the strengths of the art of Dali. They contribute to create the atmosphere of unreality of his paintings (landscape of his native Catalonia and vast plain of Ampurdan surrounding Figueras).

 

DRAWERS

 

Human bodies that open by drawers are found repeatedly in paintings and objects from Dali. They symbolize the memory and the unconscious and refer to "thought to be drawers", a concept inherited from the reading of Freud. They express the mystery of hidden secrets. Most of the children explore each drawer, cabinet and wardrobe of their home.

 

VENUS OF MILO

 

It is part long's personal mythology of the painter. She is the first woman he model child in clay from a reproduction adorning the family dining room. It is also that he discovered on a box of crayons in New York. He finds stupid expression on his face that he nevertheless considered own to perfect but inadequate female beauty in an elegant woman whose gaze should be or seem intelligent. Dalí made several transformations of Venus: the space Venus, Venus with drawers...

 

Varanasi, also known as Benares, or Kashi is an Indian city on the banks of the Ganga in Uttar Pradesh, 320 kilometres south-east of the state capital, Lucknow. It is the holiest of the seven sacred cities (Sapta Puri) in Hinduism, and Jainism, and played an important role in the development of Buddhism. Some Hindus believe that death at Varanasi brings salvation. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Varanasi is also known as the favourite city of the Hindu deity Lord Shiva as it has been mentioned in the Rigveda that this city in older times was known as Kashi or "Shiv ki Nagri".

 

The Kashi Naresh (Maharaja of Kashi) is the chief cultural patron of Varanasi, and an essential part of all religious celebrations. The culture of Varanasi is closely associated with the Ganges. The city has been a cultural centre of North India for several thousand years, and has a history that is older than most of the major world religions. The Benares Gharana form of Hindustani classical music was developed in Varanasi, and many prominent Indian philosophers, poets, writers, and musicians live or have lived in Varanasi. Gautama Buddha gave his first sermon at Sarnath, located near Varanasi.

 

Varanasi is the spiritual capital of India. It is often referred to as "the holy city of India", "the religious capital of India", "the city of Shiva", and "the city of learning". Scholarly books have been written in the city, including the Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas. Today, there is a temple of his namesake in the city, the Tulsi Manas Mandir. The current temples and religious institutions in the city are dated to the 18th century. One of the largest residential universities of Asia, the Banaras Hindu University (BHU), is located here.

 

ETYMOLOGY

The name Varanasi possibly originates from the names of the two rivers: Varuna, still flowing in Varanasi, and Asi, a small stream near Assi Ghat. The old city does lie on the north shores of Ganges River bounded by its two tributaries Varuna and Asi. Another speculation is that the city derives its name from the river Varuna, which was called Varanasi in olden times.[11] This is generally disregarded by historians. Through the ages, Varanasi has been known by many names including Kāśī or Kashi (used by pilgrims dating from Buddha's days), Kāśikā (the shining one), Avimukta ("never forsaken" by Shiva), Ānandavana (the forest of bliss), and Rudravāsa (the place where Rudra/Śiva resides).

 

In the Rigveda, the city is referred to as Kāśī or Kashi, the luminous city as an eminent seat of learning. The name Kāśī is also mentioned in the Skanda Purana. In one verse, Shiva says, "The three worlds form one city of mine, and Kāśī is my royal palace therein." The name Kashi may be translated as "City of Light".

 

HISTORY

According to legend, Varanasi was founded by the God Shiva. The Pandavas, the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahabharata are also stated to have visited the city in search of Shiva to atone for their sins of fratricide and Brāhmanahatya that they had committed during the climactic Kurukshetra war. It is regarded as one of seven holy cities which can provide Moksha:

 

The earliest known archaeological evidence suggests that settlement around Varanasi in the Ganga valley (the seat of Vedic religion and philosophy) began in the 11th or 12th century BC, placing it among the world's oldest continually inhabited cities. These archaeological remains suggest that the Varanasi area was populated by Vedic people. However, the Atharvaveda (the oldest known text referencing the city), which dates to approximately the same period, suggests that the area was populated by indigenous tribes. It is possible that archaeological evidence of these previous inhabitants has yet to be discovered. Recent excavations at Aktha and Ramnagar, two sites very near to Varanasi, show them to be from 1800 BC, suggesting Varanasi started to be inhabited by that time too. Varanasi was also home to Parshva, the 23rd Jain Tirthankara and the earliest Tirthankara accepted as a historical figure in the 8th century BC.

 

Varanasi grew as an important industrial centre, famous for its muslin and silk fabrics, perfumes, ivory works, and sculpture. During the time of Gautama Buddha (born circa 567 BC), Varanasi was the capital of the Kingdom of Kashi. Buddha is believed to have founded Buddhism here around 528 BC when he gave his first sermon, "Turning the Wheel of Law", at nearby Sarnath. The celebrated Chinese traveller Xuanzang, who visited the city around 635 AD, attested that the city was a centre of religious and artistic activities, and that it extended for about 5 kilometres along the western bank of the Ganges. When Xuanzang, also known as Hiuen Tsiang, visited Varanasi in the 7th century, he named it "Polonisse" and wrote that the city had some 30 temples with about 30 monks. The city's religious importance continued to grow in the 8th century, when Adi Shankara established the worship of Shiva as an official sect of Varanasi.

 

In ancient times, Varanasi was connected by a road starting from Taxila and ending at Pataliputra during the Mauryan Empire. In 1194, the city succumbed to Turkish Muslim rule under Qutb-ud-din Aibak, who ordered the destruction of some one thousand temples in the city. The city went into decline over some three centuries of Muslim occupation, although new temples were erected in the 13th century after the Afghan invasion. Feroz Shah ordered further destruction of Hindu temples in the Varanasi area in 1376. The Afghan ruler Sikander Lodi continued the suppression of Hinduism in the city and destroyed most of the remaining older temples in 1496. Despite the Muslim rule, Varanasi remained the centre of activity for intellectuals and theologians during the Middle Ages, which further contributed to its reputation as a cultural centre of religion and education. Several major figures of the Bhakti movement were born in Varanasi, including Kabir who was born here in 1389 and hailed as "the most outstanding of the saint-poets of Bhakti cult (devotion) and mysticism of 15th-Century India"; and Ravidas, a 15th-century socio-religious reformer, mystic, poet, traveller, and spiritual figure, who was born and lived in the city and employed in the tannery industry. Similarly, numerous eminent scholars and preachers visited the city from across India and south Asia. Guru Nanak Dev visited Varanasi for Shivratri in 1507, a trip that played a large role in the founding of Sikhism.

 

In the 16th century, Varanasi experienced a cultural revival under the Muslim Mughal emperor Akbar who invested in the city, and built two large temples dedicated to Shiva and Vishnu. The Raja of Poona established the Annapurnamandir and the 200 metres Akbari Bridge was also completed during this period. The earliest tourists began arriving in the city during the 16th century. In 1665, the French traveller Jean Baptiste Tavernier described the architectural beauty of the Vindu Madhava temple on the side of the Ganges. The road infrastructure was also improved during this period and extended from Kolkata to Peshawar by Emperor Sher Shah Suri; later during the British Raj it came to be known as the famous Grand Trunk Road. In 1656, emperor Aurangzeb ordered the destruction of many temples and the building of mosques, causing the city to experience a temporary setback. However, after Aurangazeb's death, most of India was ruled by a confederacy of pro-Hindu kings. Much of modern Varanasi was built during this time by the Rajput and Maratha kings, especially during the 18th century, and most of the important buildings in the city today date to this period. The kings continued to be important through much of the British rule (1775–1947 AD), including the Maharaja of Benares, or Kashi Naresh. The kingdom of Benares was given official status by the Mughals in 1737, and continued as a dynasty-governed area until Indian independence in 1947, during the reign of Dr. Vibhuti Narayan Singh. In the 18th century, Muhammad Shah ordered the construction of an observatory on the Ganges, attached to Man Mandir Ghat, designed to discover imperfections in the calendar in order to revise existing astronomical tables. Tourism in the city began to flourish in the 18th century. In 1791, under the rule of the British Governor-General Warren Hastings, Jonathan Duncan founded a Sanskrit College in Varanasi. In 1867, the establishment of the Varanasi Municipal Board led to significant improvements in the city.

 

In 1897, Mark Twain, the renowned Indophile, said of Varanasi, "Benares is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together." In 1910, the British made Varanasi a new Indian state, with Ramanagar as its headquarters but with no jurisdiction over the city of Varanasi itself. Kashi Naresh still resides in the Ramnagar Fort which is situated to the east of Varanasi, across the Ganges. Ramnagar Fort and its museum are the repository of the history of the kings of Varanasi. Since the 18th century, the fort has been the home of Kashi Naresh, deeply revered by the local people. He is the religious head and some devout inhabitants consider him to be the incarnation of Shiva. He is also the chief cultural patron and an essential part of all religious celebrations.

 

A massacre by British troops, of the Indian troops stationed here and of the population of the city, took place during the early stages of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Annie Besant worked in Varanasi to promote theosophy and founded the Central Hindu College which later became a foundation for the creation of Banaras Hindu University as a secular university in 1916. Her purpose in founding the Central Hindu College in Varanasi was that she "wanted to bring men of all religions together under the ideal of brotherhood in order to promote Indian cultural values and to remove ill-will among different sections of the Indian population."

 

Varanasi was ceded to the Union of India on 15 October 1948. After the death of Dr. Vibhuti Narayan Singh in 2000, his son Anant Narayan Singh became the figurehead king, responsible for upholding the traditional duties of a Kashi Naresh.

 

MAIN SIGHTS

Varanasi's "Old City", the quarter near the banks of the Ganga river, has crowded narrow winding lanes flanked by road-side shops and scores of Hindu temples. As atmospheric as it is confusing, Varanasi's labyrinthine Old City has a rich culture, attracting many travellers and tourists. The main residential areas of Varanasi (especially for the middle and upper classes) are situated in regions far from the ghats; they are more spacious and less polluted.

 

Museums in and around Varanasi include Jantar Mantar, Sarnath Museum, Bharat Kala Bhawan and Ramnagar Fort.

 

JANTAR MANTAR

The Jantar Mantar observatory (1737) is located above the ghats on the Ganges, much above the high water level in the Ganges next to the Manmandir Ghat, near to Dasaswamedh Ghat and adjoining the palace of Raja Jai Singh of Jaipur. Compared to the observatories at Jaipur and Delhi, it is less well equipped but has a unique equatorial sundial which is functional and allows measurements to be monitored and recorded by one person.

 

RAMNAGAR FORT

The Ramnagar Fort located near the Ganges River on its eastern bank, opposite to the Tulsi Ghat, was built in the 18th century by Kashi Naresh Raja Balwant Singh with creamy chunar sandstone. It is in a typically Mughal style of architecture with carved balconies, open courtyards, and scenic pavilions. At present the fort is not in good repair. The fort and its museum are the repository of the history of the kings of Benares. It has been the home of the Kashi Naresh since the 18th century. The current king and the resident of the fort is Anant Narayan Singh who is also known as the Maharaja of Varanasi even though this royal title has been abolished since 1971. Labeled "an eccentric museum", it has a rare collection of American vintage cars, sedan chairs (bejeweled), an impressive weaponry hall and a rare astrological clock. In addition, manuscripts, especially religious writings, are housed in the Saraswati Bhawan. Also included is a precious handwritten manuscript by Goswami Tulsidas. Many books illustrated in the Mughal miniature style, with beautifully designed covers are also part of the collections. Because of its scenic location on the banks of the Ganges, it is frequently used as an outdoor shooting location for films. The film titled Banaras is one of the popular movies shot here. However, only a part of the fort is open for public viewing as the rest of the area is the residence of the Kashi Naresh and his family. It is 14 kilometres from Varanasi.

 

GHATS

Ghats are embankments made in steps of stone slabs along the river bank where pilgrims perform ritual ablutions. Ghats in Varanasi are an integral complement to the concept of divinity represented in physical, metaphysical and supernatural elements. All the ghats are locations on "the divine cosmic road", indicative of "its manifest transcendental dimension" Varanasi has at least 84 ghats. Steps in the ghats lead to the banks of River Ganges, including the Dashashwamedh Ghat, the Manikarnika Ghat, the Panchganga Ghat and the Harishchandra Ghat (where Hindus cremate their dead). Many ghats are associated with legends and several are now privately owned.

 

Many of the ghats were built when the city was under Maratha control. Marathas, Shindes (Scindias), Holkars, Bhonsles, and Peshwas stand out as patrons of present-day Varanasi. Most of the ghats are bathing ghats, while others are used as cremation sites. A morning boat ride on the Ganges across the ghats is a popular visitor attraction. The extensive stretches of ghats enhance the river front with a multitude of shrines, temples and palaces built "tier on tier above the water’s edge".

 

The Dashashwamedh Ghat is the main and probably the oldest ghat of Varansi located on the Ganges, close to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. It is believed that Brahma created it to welcome Shiva and sacrificed ten horses during the Dasa -Ashwamedha yajna performed here. Above the ghat and close to it, there are also temples dedicated to Sulatankesvara, Brahmesvara, Varahesvara, Abhaya Vinayaka, Ganga (the Ganges), and Bandi Devi which are part of important pilgrimage journeys. A group of priests perform "Agni Pooja" (Worship to Fire) daily in the evening at this ghat as a dedication to Shiva, Ganga, Surya (Sun), Agni (Fire), and the whole universe. Special aartis are held on Tuesdays and on religious festivals.

 

The Manikarnika Ghat is the Mahasmasana (meaning: "great cremation ground") and is the primary site for Hindu cremation in the city. Adjoining the ghat, there are raised platforms that are used for death anniversary rituals. It is said that an ear-ring (Manikarnika) of Shiva or his wife Sati fell here. According to a myth related to the Tarakesvara Temple, a Shiva temple at the ghat, Shiva whispers the Taraka mantra ("Prayer of the crossing") in the ear of the dead. Fourth-century Gupta period inscriptions mention this ghat. However, the current ghat as a permanent riverside embankment was built in 1302 and has been renovated at least three times.

 

TEMPLES

Among the estimated 23000 temples in Varanasi, the most worshiped are: the Kashi Vishwanath Temple of Shiva; the Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple; and the Durga Temple known for the band of monkeys that reside in the large trees nearby.

 

Located on the outskirts of the Ganges, the Kashi Vishwanath Temple – dedicated to Varanasi's presiding deity Shiva (Vishwanath – "Lord of the world") – is an important Hindu temple and one of the 12 Jyotirlinga Shiva temples. It is believed that a single view of Vishwanath Jyotirlinga is worth more than that of other jyotirlingas. The temple has been destroyed and rebuilt a number of times. The Gyanvapi Mosque, which is adjacent to the temple, is the original site of the temple. The temple, as it exists now, also called Golden Temple, was built in 1780 by Queen Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore. The two pinnacles of the temple are covered in gold, donated in 1839 by Ranjit Singh, the ruler of the Punjab and the remaining dome is also planned to be gold plated by the Ministry of Culture & Religious Affairs of Uttar Pradesh. On 28 January 1983, the temple was taken over by the government of Uttar Pradesh and its management was transferred to a trust with then Kashi Naresh, Vibhuti Narayan Singh, as president and an executive committee with a Divisional Commissioner as chairman. Numerous rituals, prayers and aratis are held daily, starting from 2:30 am till 11:00 pm.

 

The Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple is one of the sacred temples of the Hindu god Hanuman situated by the Assi River, on the way to the Durga and New Vishwanath temples within the Banaras Hindu University campus. The present temple structure was built in early 1900s by the educationist and freedom fighter, Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, the founder of Banaras Hindu University. It is believed the temple was built on the very spot where the medieval Hindu saint Tulsidas had a vision of Hanuman. Thousands flock to the temple on Tuesdays and Saturdays, weekdays associated with Hanuman. On 7 March 2006, in a terrorist attack one of the three explosions hit the temple while the Aarti was in progress when numerous devotees and people attending a wedding were present and many were injured. However, normal worship was resumed the next day with devotees visiting the temple and reciting hymns of Hanuman Chalisa (authored by Tulidas) and Sundarkand (a booklet of these hymns is provided free of charge in the temple). After the terrorist incident, a permanent police post was set up inside the temple.

 

There are two temples named "Durga" in Varanasi, Durga Mandir (built about 500 years ago), and Durga Kund (built in the 18th century). Thousands of Hindu devotees visit Durga Kund during Navratri to worship the goddess Durga. The temple, built in Nagara architectural style, has multi-tiered spires[96] and is stained red with ochre, representing the red colour of Durga. The building has a rectangular tank of water called the Durga Kund ("Kund" meaning a pond or pool). Every year on the occasion of Nag Panchami, the act of depicting the god Vishnu reclining on the serpent Shesha is recreated in the Kund.

 

While the Annapurna Temple, located close to the Kashi Vishwanath temple, is dedicated to Annapurna, the goddess of food, the Sankatha Temple close to the Sindhia Ghat is dedicated to Sankatha, the goddess of remedy. The Sankatha temple has a large sculpture of a lion and a nine temple cluster dedicated to the nine planets.

 

Kalabhairav Temple, an ancient temple located near the Head Post Office at Visheshar Ganj, is dedicated to Kala-Bhairava, the guardian (Kotwal) of Varanasi. The Mrithyunjay Mahadev Temple, dedicated to Shiva, is situated on the way to Daranagar to Kalbhairav temple. A well near the temple has some religious significance as its water source is believed to be fed from several underground streams, having curative powers.

 

The New Vishwanath Temple located in the campus of Banaras Hindu University is a modern temple which was planned by Pandit Malviya and built by the Birlas. The Tulsi Manas Temple, nearby the Durga Temple, is a modern temple dedicated to the god Rama. It is built at the place where Tulsidas authored the Ramcharitmanas, which narrates the life of Rama. Many verses from this epic are inscribed on the temple walls.

 

The Bharat Mata Temple, dedicated to the national personification of India, was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi in 1936. It has relief maps of India carved in marble. Babu Shiv Prasad Gupta and Durga Prasad Khatri, leading numismatists, antiquarians and nationalist leaders, donated funds for its construction.

 

RELIGION

HINDUISM

Varanasi is one of the holiest cities and centres of pilgrimage for Hindus of all denominations. It is one of the seven Hindu holiest cities (Sapta Puri), considered the giver of salvation (moksha). Over 50,000 Brahmins live in Varanasi, providing religious services to the masses. Hindus believe that bathing in the Ganges remits sins and that dying in Kashi ensures release of a person's soul from the cycle of its transmigrations. Thus, many Hindus arrive here for dying.

 

As the home to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple Jyotirlinga, it is very sacred for Shaivism. Varanasi is also a Shakti Peetha, where the temple to goddess Vishalakshi stands, believed to be the spot where the goddess Sati's earrings fell. Hindus of the Shakti sect make a pilgrimage to the city because they regard the River Ganges itself to be the Goddess Shakti. Adi Shankara wrote his commentaries on Hinduism here, leading to the great Hindu revival.

 

In 2001, Hindus made up approximately 84% of the population of Varanasi District.

 

ISLAM

Varanasi is one of the holiest cities and centres of pilgrimage for Hindus of all denominations. It is one of the seven Hindu holiest cities (Sapta Puri), considered the giver of salvation (moksha). Over 50,000 Brahmins live in Varanasi, providing religious services to the masses. Hindus believe that bathing in the Ganges remits sins and that dying in Kashi ensures release of a person's soul from the cycle of its transmigrations. Thus, many Hindus arrive here for dying.

 

As the home to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple Jyotirlinga, it is very sacred for Shaivism. Varanasi is also a Shakti Peetha, where the temple to goddess Vishalakshi stands, believed to be the spot where the goddess Sati's earrings fell. Hindus of the Shakti sect make a pilgrimage to the city because they regard the River Ganges itself to be the Goddess Shakti. Adi Shankara wrote his commentaries on Hinduism here, leading to the great Hindu revival.

 

In 2001, Hindus made up approximately 84% of the population of Varanasi District.

 

OTHERS

At the 2001 census, persons of other religions or no religion made up 0.4% of the population of Varanasi District.

 

Varanasi is a pilgrimage site for Jains along with Hindus and Buddhists. It is believed to be the birthplace of Suparshvanath, Shreyansanath, and Parshva, who are respectively the seventh, eleventh, and twenty-third Jain Tirthankars and as such Varanasi is a holy city for Jains. Shree Parshvanath Digambar Jain Tirth Kshetra (Digambar Jain Temple) is situated in Bhelupur, Varanasi. This temple is of great religious importance to the Jain Religion.

 

Sarnath, a suburb of Varanasi, is a place of Buddhist pilgrimage. It is the site of the deer park where Siddhartha Gautama of Nepal is said to have given his first sermon about the basic principles of Buddhism. The Dhamek Stupa is one of the few pre-Ashokan stupas still in existence, though only its foundation remains. Also remaining is the Chaukhandi Stupa commemorating the spot where Buddha met his first disciples in the 5th century. An octagonal tower was built later there.

 

Guru Nanak Dev visited Varanasi for Shivratri in 1507 and had an encounter which with other events forms the basis for the story of the founding of Sikhism. Varanasi also hosts the Roman Catholic Diocese of Varanasi, and has an insignificant Jewish expatriate community. Varanasi is home to numerous tribal faiths which are not easily classified.

 

Dalits are 13% of population Of Varanasi city. Most dalits are followers of Guru Ravidass. So Shri Guru Ravidass Janam Asthan is important place of pilgrimage for Ravidasis from all around India.

 

RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS

On Mahashivaratri (February) – which is dedicated to Shiva – a procession of Shiva proceeds from the Mahamrityunjaya Temple to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.

 

Dhrupad Mela is a five-day musical festival devoted to dhrupad style held at Tulsi Ghat in February–March.

 

The Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple celebrates Hanuman Jayanti (March–April), the birthday of Hanuman with great fervour. A special puja, aarti, and a public procession is organized. Starting in 1923, the temple organizes a five-day classical music and dance concert festival titled Sankat Mochan Sangeet Samaroh in this period, when iconic artists from all parts of India are invited to perform.

 

The Ramlila of Ramnagar is a dramatic enactment of Rama's legend, as told in Ramacharitamanasa. The plays, sponsored by Kashi Naresh, are performed in Ramnagar every evening for 31 days. On the last day, the festivities reach a crescendo as Rama vanquishes the demon king Ravana. Kashi Naresh Udit Narayan Singh started this tradition around 1830.

 

Bharat Milap celebrates the meeting of Rama and his younger brother Bharata after the return of the former after 14 years of exile. It is celebrated during October–November, a day after the festival of Vijayadashami. Kashi Naresh attends this festival in his regal attire resplendent in regal finery. The festival attracts a large number of devotees.

 

Nag Nathaiya, celebrated on the fourth lunar day of the dark fortnight of the Hindu month of Kartik (October–November), that commemorates the victory of the god Krishna over the serpent Kaliya. On this occasion, a large Kadamba tree (Neolamarckia cadamba) branch is planted on the banks of the Ganges so that a boy acting the role of Krishna can jump into the river on to the effigy representing Kaliya. He stands over the effigy in a dancing pose playing the flute; the effigy and the boy standing on it is given a swirl in front of the audience. People watch the display standing on the banks of the river or from boats.

 

Ganga Mahotsav is a five-day music festival organized by the Uttar Pradesh Tourism Department, held in November–December culminating a day before Kartik Poornima (Dev Deepawali). On Kartik Poornima also called the Ganges festival, the Ganges is venerated by arti offered by thousands of pilgrims who release lighted lamps to float in the river from the ghats.

 

Annually Jashne-Eid Miladunnabi is celebrated on the day of Barawafat in huge numbers by Muslims in a huge rally coming from all the parts of the city and meeting up at Beniya Bagh.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Visit this location at HOME OF ROSSANA & BISHOP in Second Life

Short video clips, attempted to film the info on the wall in this small room, devoted to the history of the Civil War regarding Sulgrave Manor and the Washington family.

 

The Washington's sided with the Royalists and fled to the American Colonies in the 1650s.

 

Armour and a drum probably used during the civil war (or something like this).

 

Sulgrave Manor is a Grade I listed building.

 

Manor house. Built c.1540-60 by Lawrence Washington, who acquired the Manor in 1539. c.1673 it passed to the Rev. Moses Hodges, whose son John made alterations to the house c.1700 and added the north-east wing. By the late C18 the house had become a farm and part was demolished. Of the centre, only the right half with the porch is original. The left half was rebuilt by Sir Reginald Blomfield who restored the house in 1920-30. Coursed limestone rubble, rendered porch, stone slate roof, brick and stone stacks. L-plan, through passage. 2 storeys and attic, 3 bays. Gabled 2-storey porch in centre has entrance with 4-centred arch under square hood with Washington arms in the spandrels. Washington coat of arms in plaster above, 3-light window with wood lintel and old iron casement on first floor. Plaster coat of arms of Queen Elizabeth I in the gable and a traingular device in plaster, said to be the wool stapler's symbol, at the apex. Inner doorway has 4-centred wood arch and C20 panelled door. 4-light wood mullioned and transomed windows with wood lintels on the ground floor. 4-light wood mullioned windows with wood lintels on the first floor. Coped left gable end with kneelers. Former brewhouse, now offices, attached to house by short stone wall to north. Probably c.1700, remodelled C20 by Sir Reginald Blomfield. Coursed limestone rubble, stone slate roof, one storey and loft. 4 bays. 2 doorways with wood lintels in plank doors to left, two C20 windows with wood mullion to right. Interior: Side walls of porch have large C16 plaster figures of a lion and dragon. Great Hall has screen designed by Blomfield and original open Fireplace with moulded timber 4-centred arch and stone jambs. Ceiling with moulded cross beams forming 24 square panels. The windows contain reproductions of stained glass arms of the Washington family. The originals are in Fawsley Church and Weston Hall. Oak Parlour on the ground floor has early C18 fireplace with moulded stone surround and panelled walls and overmantel of the same date. In the kitchen is a large open fireplace with ovens. Late C17 staircase with twisted balusters. The Great Chamber, on the first floor, has a fireplace similar to that in the hall and an open timber roof of 2-bays with central cambered collar beam and central moulded pendant, and arched braces carved on moulded wood corbel. Interior of former brew- house not inspected. Lawrence Washington was a wool merchant and became mayor of Northampton in 1532. In 1610 Sulgrave Manor was purchased by his grandson, Lawrence Makepeace. It was sold in 1659 and had no further connection with the Washington family. In 1914 it was purchased as a memorial to George Washington. (H. Clifford Smith, Sulgrave Manor and the Washingtons, London 1933).

 

Sulgrave Manor - Heritage Gateway

Short video clips, attempted to film the info on the wall in this small room, devoted to the history of the Civil War regarding Sulgrave Manor and the Washington family.

 

The Washington's sided with the Royalists and fled to the American Colonies in the 1650s.

 

In this display cabinet is a musket and bullets that would have been fired from it.

 

It is a work in progress.

 

Sulgrave Manor is a Grade I listed building.

 

Manor house. Built c.1540-60 by Lawrence Washington, who acquired the Manor in 1539. c.1673 it passed to the Rev. Moses Hodges, whose son John made alterations to the house c.1700 and added the north-east wing. By the late C18 the house had become a farm and part was demolished. Of the centre, only the right half with the porch is original. The left half was rebuilt by Sir Reginald Blomfield who restored the house in 1920-30. Coursed limestone rubble, rendered porch, stone slate roof, brick and stone stacks. L-plan, through passage. 2 storeys and attic, 3 bays. Gabled 2-storey porch in centre has entrance with 4-centred arch under square hood with Washington arms in the spandrels. Washington coat of arms in plaster above, 3-light window with wood lintel and old iron casement on first floor. Plaster coat of arms of Queen Elizabeth I in the gable and a traingular device in plaster, said to be the wool stapler's symbol, at the apex. Inner doorway has 4-centred wood arch and C20 panelled door. 4-light wood mullioned and transomed windows with wood lintels on the ground floor. 4-light wood mullioned windows with wood lintels on the first floor. Coped left gable end with kneelers. Former brewhouse, now offices, attached to house by short stone wall to north. Probably c.1700, remodelled C20 by Sir Reginald Blomfield. Coursed limestone rubble, stone slate roof, one storey and loft. 4 bays. 2 doorways with wood lintels in plank doors to left, two C20 windows with wood mullion to right. Interior: Side walls of porch have large C16 plaster figures of a lion and dragon. Great Hall has screen designed by Blomfield and original open Fireplace with moulded timber 4-centred arch and stone jambs. Ceiling with moulded cross beams forming 24 square panels. The windows contain reproductions of stained glass arms of the Washington family. The originals are in Fawsley Church and Weston Hall. Oak Parlour on the ground floor has early C18 fireplace with moulded stone surround and panelled walls and overmantel of the same date. In the kitchen is a large open fireplace with ovens. Late C17 staircase with twisted balusters. The Great Chamber, on the first floor, has a fireplace similar to that in the hall and an open timber roof of 2-bays with central cambered collar beam and central moulded pendant, and arched braces carved on moulded wood corbel. Interior of former brew- house not inspected. Lawrence Washington was a wool merchant and became mayor of Northampton in 1532. In 1610 Sulgrave Manor was purchased by his grandson, Lawrence Makepeace. It was sold in 1659 and had no further connection with the Washington family. In 1914 it was purchased as a memorial to George Washington. (H. Clifford Smith, Sulgrave Manor and the Washingtons, London 1933).

 

Sulgrave Manor - Heritage Gateway

Patan (Sanskrit: पाटन Pātan, Newar: यल Yala), officially Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City, is the third largest city of Nepal after Kathmandu and Pokhara and it is located in the south-central part of Kathmandu Valley. Patan is also known as Manigal. It is best known for its rich cultural heritage, particularly its tradition of arts and crafts. It is called city of festival and feast, fine ancient art, making of metallic and stone carving statue. At the time of the 2011 Nepal census it had a population of 226,728 in 54,748 individual households. The city received extensive damage from an earthquake on 25 April 2015.

 

GEOGRAPHY

Patan is on the elevated tract of land in Kathmandu Valley on the south side of the Bagmati River, which separates it from the city of Kathmandu on the northern and western side. The Nakkhu Khola acts as the boundary on the southern side. It was developed on relatively thin layers of deposited clay and gravel in the central part of a dried ancient lake known as the Nagdaha.

 

It is the third largest city of the country, after Kathmandu, and Pokhara.

 

The city has an area of 15.43 square kilometres and is divided into 22 municipal wards. It is bounded by:

 

East: Imadol VDC and Harisiddhi VDC

West: Kirtipur Municipality and Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC)

North: Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC)

South: Saibu VDC, Sunakothi VDC and Dhapakhel VDC

 

CLIMATE

Climate is characterized by relatively high temperatures and evenly distributed precipitation throughout the year. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Cfa" (Humid Subtropical Climate).

 

HISTORY

Lalitpur is believed to have been founded in the third century BC by the Kirat dynasty and later expanded by Licchavis in the sixth century. It was further expanded by the Mallas during the medieval period.

 

There are many legends about its name. The most popular one is the legend of the God Rato Machhindranath, who was brought to the valley from Kamaru Kamachhya, located in Assam, India, by a group of three people representing the three kingdoms centered in the Kathmandu Valley.

 

One of them was called Lalit, a farmer who carried God Rato Machhindranath to the valley all the way from Assam, India. The purpose of bringing the God Rato Machhindranath to the valley was to overcome the worst drought there. There was a strong belief that the God Rato Machhindranath would bring rain in the valley. It was due to Lalit's effort that the God Rato Machhindranath was settled in Lalitpur. Many believe that the name of the town is kept after his name Lalit and pur meaning township.

 

In May, a chariot festival honoring the deity known as Bunga Dyah Jatra is held in Patan. It is the longest and one of the most important religious celebrations in Patan.

 

During the month-long festival, an image of Rato Machhendanath is placed on a tall chariot and pulled through the city streets in stages.

 

Lalitpur said to have been founded by King Veer Deva in 299 AD, but there is unanimity among scholars that Patan was a well established and developed town since ancient times. Several historical records including many other legends indicate that Patan is the oldest of all the cities of Kathmandu Valley. According to a very old Kirat chronicle, Patan was founded by Kirat rulers long before the Licchavi rulers came into the political scene in Kathmandu Valley. According to that chronicle, the earliest known capital of Kirat rulers was Thankot. Kathmandu, the present capital was most possibly removed from Thankot to Patan after the Kirati King Yalamber came into power sometimes around second century AD.

 

One of the most used and typical Newar names of Patan is Yala. It is said that King Yalamber or Yellung Hang named this city after himself, and ever since this ancient city was known as Yala.

 

In 1768, Lalitpur was annexed to the Gorkha Kingdom by Prithvi Narayan Shah in the Battle of Lalitpur.

 

HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

The city was initially designed in the shape of the Buddhist Dharma-Chakra (Wheel of Righteousness). The four thurs or mounds on the perimeter of Patan are ascribed around, one at each corner of its cardinal points, which are popularly known as Asoka Stupas. Legend has it that Emperor Asoka (the legendary King of India) visited with his daughter Charumati to Kathmandu in 250 BC and erected five Asoka Stupas, four in the surrounding and one at the middle of the Patan. The size and shape of these stupas seem to breathe their antiquity in a real sense. There are more than 1,200 Buddhist monuments of various shapes and sizes scattered in and around the city.

 

The most important monument of the city is Patan Durbar Square, which has been listed by UNESCO as one of seven Monument Zones that make up the Kathmandu Valley World Heritage Site. The seven monument zones were included in the World Heritage List in 1979 as one integrated site. The monument zones are declared as protected and preserved according to the Monuments Preservation Act of 1956. The Square was heavily damaged on 25 April 2015 by an earthquake.

 

Patan City was planned in Vihars and Bahils. Out of 295 Vihars and Bahils of the valley 56% of them are in Patan. The water conduits, stone spouts, Jaladroni (water tanks), artistic gate ways, Hindu temples and Buddhist Vihars adorn the city. The in built cultural heritage like the royal palace, with intricately carved doors and windows and beautiful courtyards adorned with exquisite icons enhance the beauty of the city. Such art pieces are found in stone, metal, terracotta ivory and other objects. All these artifacts exhibit artistic excellence of the craftsmen and the whole city looks like an open museum.

 

ECONOMY

A substantial portion of the population is engaged in trades, notably in traditional handicrafts and small scale cottage industries, and some residents work in agriculture. Lalitpur has produced the highest number of renowned artists and finest craftsmen ever recorded in the history of Nepali art.

 

Patan has maintained a culture of craftwork even in the face of rapid urbanization and many social and political upheavals.

 

The city is less urbanized than Kathmandu, north of the Bagmati river, but is home to many workshops, stores, restaurants, hotels, schools, embassies and other important sectors of the Kathmandu Valley economy.

 

Buddha Air has its headquarters in Jawalakhel, near Patan.

 

EDUCATION

POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION

Patan is home to Pulchowk Engineering Campus, one of the oldest and most reputed colleges affiliated with the Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University. Patan Academy of Health Sciences is the only medical university in the city with Patan Hospital as its primary teaching hospital, and there is another medical school - KIST Medical College in Lalitpur. Other instituitions of higher learning in Patan include Kathmandu University School of Management (KUSOM) and Patan Multiple Campus.

 

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

The city is served by a number of private and public instituitions providing education from primary until secondary level. Among all, the largest and reputed schools are Adarsha Vidya Mandir, St. Xavier's School, St. Mary's, Little Angels School, Graded English Medium School, Rato Bangala School, DAV Sushil Kedia, Adarsha Kanya Niketan, The British School, Adarsha Saral Madhyamik Vidyalay and Gyanodaya Bal Batika School.

 

LIBRARIES

Nepal National Library which was established in 1957 AD was moved to Patan from Singha Durbar in 2061 AD. It is at Harihar Bhawan. Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya which awards the Madan Puraskar and Jagadamba Shree Puraskar literary prizes is in the city.

 

PLACES OF INTEREST

Patan is renowned as a very artistic city. Most of the Nepalese art is devoted to Gods, and there are an abundance of temples and viharas. Notable places of interest include:

 

Patan Durbar Square: The palace square and residence of the Malla rulers of Patan state which now houses a museum.

Patan Dhoka: One of the historical entrances to the old city.

Bhaskerdev Samskarita Hiranyabarna Mahavihara: A Buddhist temple known locally as Golden Temple.

Mahabouddha Temple: Also known as 1000 Buddha Temple modeled liked the Mahabodhi temple in Bodh Gaya.

Kumbheswor Temple: A Shiva temple with two ponds whose water is believed to come from Gosaikunda.

Ratnakar Mahavihar: Also known as Ha Baha, the viahara complex is the official residence of the Kumari of Patan.

Krishna Mandir: One of the most beautiful stone temples of Nepal built by King Siddhinarsingh Malla in the 16th century.

Park Gallery: an artist run space founded in 1970.

 

TRANSPORTATION

AIRPORTS

ROADS

Walking is the easiest method of transportation within the city as the core is densely populated. In terms of motor transport, Kathmandu Valley Ring Road which encircles the central part of the valley is a strategic road in the city. Connection to Kathmandu over the Bagmati River is provided by a host of road and pedestrian bridges. The most trafficked and important bridge connecting to the centre of Kathmandu is Thapathali Bridge. Since pedestrians and vehicles often have to share the same road, traffic congestion is a major problem in Patan. Efforts are being made to widen roads to make them more suitable to vehicular traffic.

 

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

Private companies operate a number of routes connecting Patan with other places in the valley. Buses, micro-buses and electric tempos are the most common forms of public transport seen in the city. Lalitpur Yatayat buses connects the touristic Thamel area of Kathmandu with buses stopping at Patan Dhoka, a five-minute walk to Patan Durbar Square. Lagankhel Bus Park is the central transport hub.

 

MEDIA

To Promote local culture Patan has one FM radio station Radio Sagarmatha - 102.4 MHz which is a Community radio station.

 

LANGUAGE

The original native language of Patan is Nepal Bhasa's Lalitpur dialect. Though due to the migration form other places to Patan, other languages like Nepali, Tamang, etc. are also spoken.

 

WIKIPEDIA

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Having recently devoted much of my free time to photographing jumping spiders, I decided to have a go at focus stacking using Photoshop CC, this image was created from two handheld shots - in time, with practice and patience I hope to be able to create 4 or more image stacks of Salticids.

 

My Facebook photo page - goo.gl/uSlSi6

 

My website - goo.gl/LTQ3Mm

Taken at Blessed Be Thy Name, Hopelessly Devoted (152, 105, 1003)

In Darkest England and the Way Out By General William Booth

(from the 1890 1st ed. pub. The Salvation Army)

 

"To the memory of the companion, counsellor, and comrade of nearly 40 years. The sharer of my every ambition for the welfare of mankind, my loving, faithful, and devoted wife this book is dedicated.

PREFACE

The progress of The Salvation Army in its work amongst the poor and lost of many lands has compelled me to face the problems which an more or less hopefully considered in the following pages. The grim necessities of a huge Campaign carried on for many years against the evils which lie at the root of all the miseries of modern life, attacked in a thousand and one forms by a thousand and one lieutenants, have led me step by step to contemplate as a possible solution of at least some of those problems the Scheme of social Selection and Salvation which I have here set forth.

When but a mere child the degradation and helpless misery of the poor Stockingers of my native town, wandering gaunt and hunger-stricken through the streets droning out their melancholy ditties, crowding the Union or toiling like galley slaves on relief works for a bare subsistence kindled in my heart yearnings to help the poor which have continued to this day and which have had a powerful influence on my whole life. A last I may be going to see my longings to help the workless realised. I think I am.

The commiseration then awakened by the misery of this class has been an impelling force which has never ceased to make itself felt during forty years of active service in the salvation of men. During this time I am thankful that I have been able, by the good hand of God upon me, to do something in mitigation of the miseries of this class, and to bring not only heavenly hopes and earthly gladness to the hearts of multitudes of these wretched crowds, but also many material blessings, including such commonplace things as food, raiment, home, and work, the parent of so many other temporal benefits. And thus many poor creatures have proved Godliness to be "profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is as well as of that which is to come."

These results have been mainly attained by spiritual means. I have boldly asserted that whatever his peculiar character or circumstances might be, if the prodigal would come home to his Heavenly Father, he would find enough and to spare in the Father's house to supply all his need both for this world and the next; and I have known thousands nay, I can say tens of thousands, who have literally proved this to be true, having, with little or no temporal assistance, come out of the darkest depths of destitution, vice and crime, to be happy and honest citizens and true sons and servants of God.

And yet all the way through my career I have keenly felt the remedial measures usually enunciated in Christian programmes and ordinarily employed by Christian philanthropy to be lamentably inadequate for any effectual dealing with the despairing miseries of these outcast classes. The rescued are appallingly few—a ghastly minority compared with the multitudes who struggle and sink in the open-mouthed abyss. Alike, therefore, my humanity and my Christianity, if I may speak of them in any way as separate one from the other, have cried out for some more comprehensive method of reaching and saving the perishing crowds.

No doubt it is good for men to climb unaided out of the whirlpool on to the rock of deliverance in the very presence of the temptations which have hitherto mastered them, and to maintain a footing there with the same billows of temptation washing over them. But, alas! with many this seems to be literally impossible. That decisiveness of character, that moral nerve which takes hold of the rope thrown for the rescue and keeps its hold amidst all the resistances that have to be encountered, is wanting. It is gone. The general wreck has shattered and disorganised the whole man.

Alas, what multitudes there are around us everywhere, many known to my readers personally, and any number who may be known to them by a very short walk from their own dwellings, who are in this very plight! Their vicious habits and destitute circumstances make it certain that without some kind of extraordinary help, they must hunger and sin, and sin and hunger, until, having multiplied their kind, and filled up the measure of their miseries, the gaunt fingers of death will close upon then and terminate their wretchedness. And all this will happen this very winter in the midst of the unparalleled wealth, and civilisation, and philanthropy of this professedly most Christian land.

Now, I propose to go straight for these sinking classes, and in doing so shall continue to aim at the heart. I still prophesy the uttermost disappointment unless that citadel is reached. In proposing to add one more to the methods I have already put into operation to this end, do not let it be supposed that I am the less dependent upon the old plans or that I seek anything short of the old conquest. If we help the man it is in order that we may change him. The builder who should elaborate his design and erect his house and risk his reputation without burning his bricks would be pronounced a failure and a fool. Perfection of architectural beauty, unlimited expenditure of capital, unfailing watchfulness of his labourers, would avail him nothing if the bricks were merely unkilned clay. Let him kindle a fire. And so here I see the folly of hoping to accomplish anything abiding, either in the circumstances or the morals of these hopeless classes, except there be a change effected in the whole man as well as in his surroundings. To this everything I hope to attempt will tend. In many cases I shall succeed, in some I shall fail; but even in failing of this my ultimate design, I shall at least benefit the bodies, if not the souls, of men; and if I do not save the fathers, I shall make a better chance for the children.

It will be seen therefore that in this or in any other development that may follow I have no intention to depart in the smallest degree from the main principles on which I have acted in the past. My only hope for the permanent deliverance of mankind from misery, either in this world or the next, is the regeneration or remaking of the individual by the power of the Holy Ghost through Jesus Christ. But in providing for the relief of temporal misery I reckon that I am only making it easy where it is now difficult, and possible where it is now all but impossible, for men and women to find their way to the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

That I have confidence in my proposals goes without saying. I believe they will work. In miniature many of them are working already. But I do not claim that my Scheme is either perfect in its details or complete in the sense of being adequate to combat all forms of the gigantic evils against which it is in the main directed. Like other human things it must be perfected through suffering. But it is a sincere endeavour to do something, and to do it on principles which can be instantly applied and universally developed. Time, experience, criticism, and, above all, the guidance of God will enable us, I hope, to advance on the lines here laid down to a true and practical application of the words of the Hebrew Prophet: "Loose the bands of wickedness; undo the heavy burdens; let the oppressed go free; break every yoke; deal thy bread to the hungry; bring the poor that are cast out to thy house. When thou seest the naked cover him and hide not thyself from thine own flesh. Draw out thy soul to the hungry— Then they that be of thee shall build the old waste places and Thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations."

To one who has been for nearly forty years indissolubly associated with me in every undertaking I owe much of the inspiration which has found expression in this book. It is probably difficult for me to fully estimate the extent to which the splendid benevolence and unbounded sympathy of her character have pressed me forward in the life-long service of man, to which we have devoted both ourselves and our children. It will be an ever green and precious memory to me that amid the ceaseless suffering of a dreadful malady my dying wife found relief in considering and developing the suggestions for the moral and social and spiritual blessing of the people which are here set forth, and I do thank God she was taken from me only when the book was practically complete and the last chapters had been sent to the press.

In conclusion, I have to acknowledge the services rendered to me in preparing this book by Officers under my command. There could be no hope of carrying out any part of it, but for the fact that so many thousands are ready at my call and under my direction to labour to the very utmost of their strength for the salvation of others without the hope of earthly reward. Of the practical common sense, the resource, the readiness for every form of usefulness of those Officers and Soldiers, the world has no conception. Still less is it capable of understanding the height and depth of their self-sacrificing devotion to God and the poor.

I have also to acknowledge valuable literary help from a friend of the poor, who, though not in any way connected with the Salvation Army, has the deepest sympathy with its aims and is to a large extent in harmony with its principles. Without such assistance I should probably have found it—overwhelmed as I already am with the affairs of a world-wide enterprise—extremely difficult, if not impossible, to have presented these proposals for which I am alone responsible in so complete a form, at any rate at this time. I have no doubt that if any substantial part of my plan is successfully carried out he will consider himself more than repaid for the services so ably rendered.

WILLIAM BOOTH."

 

Most of the flowers at Longwood Gardens are housed in the massive conservatory. This area is part of the largest outdoor garden. Much of the space at Longwood is devoted to open spaces, man made ponds, topiary displays, fountains, hedges, and the like.

Photo project devoted to childhood. Spotlight on children's imaginations, fears and secrets. The album is periodically updated with new works. To only view on black using a calibrated monitor. All who do not see details in black, please accept my condolences.

On a nation state level the rights of the Pygmy as citizens of the modern nation states of Central Africa is also an issue. In most countries of Central Africa Pygmies are not considered citizens and are refused identity cards, deeds to land, health care and proper schooling. Also because of their short stature and different lifestyle the are also easy to spot and make fun of in general society. This results in a situation where Pygmies find themselves marginalized, poor and brutalized.

Source: www1.american.edu/ted/ice/pygmy.htm

  

Twa pygmies, the oldest residents of the African Great Lakes region were living in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest before to be expelled in 1991, when their territory became a national park devoted to the mountain gorillas.

 

Only 100,000 Twa remain in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Congo. Their Rutwa language, religion, songs and story-telling are dying.

 

I have a set devoted to Park Hill:

www.flickr.com/photos/shefftim/sets/72157642537014264/

More to upload during the week.

 

Park Hill is a large disused council housing estate in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It was built in the late 1950s. It was closed in 1998 following a period of steep decline and a reputation for crime, drugs & social problems. It now is largely depopulated, though oddly its nursery school is still open.

The estate is structurally sound & has Grade II listed building status for its modernist style, influenced by the architect Le Corbusier. Part of the estate is currently being renovated by developer Urban Splash.

More about Park Hill’s history:

www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/architecture/9551327/Mult...

 

studio 5 is devoted to comprehensive services for for leading fashion photographers, project producers, art directors, and creative imaging professionals. We provide creative solutions for your props/set design, models, stylists, hair & make-up artists, and digital retouching. Working closely with our clients within the fashion industry, we are dedicated to providing one-stop comprehensive services for your entire photo shoot.

We own three professional studios in Shanghai, equipped with top-level photographic equipment which is available for rental. Each studio is more than 120㎡, 3.9m-4.9m in height, and equipped with PROFOTO lighting kits. In our studio,we also offer a coffee bar, comfortable working space and an outdoor terrace for you and your clients to relax while discussing your important project.

 

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Badami formerly known as Vatapi, is a town and headquarters of a taluk by the same name, in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka, India. It was the regal capital of the Badami Chalukyas from 540 to 757 AD. It is famous for its rock cut structural temples. It is located in a ravine at the foot of a rugged, red sandstone outcrop that surrounds Agastya lake. Badami has been selected as one of the heritage cities for HRIDAY - Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana scheme of Government of India.

 

HISTORY

- Dravidian architecture - Badami Chalukyas

- Hindu temple architecture - Badami Chalukya architecture

- Political history of medieval Karnataka - Badami Chalukyas

- Architecture of Karnataka - Badami Chalukya architecture

- Chalukyas of Badami

 

PRE-HISTORIC

Badami is surrounded by many pre-historic places including Khyad area of Badami, Hiregudda, Sidlaphadi and Kutkankeri (Junjunpadi, Shigipadi and Anipadi), there we can see the rock shelters megalithic burial sites and paintings.

 

BADAMI CHALUKYAS AND OTHER DYNASTIES

MYTHOLOGY

The Puranic story says the wicked asura Vatapi was killed by sage Agastya (as per Agastya-Vatapi story), the area in which the incident happened so named as Vatapi. At Aihole there was a merchant guild known as Ayyavole Ainuravaru lived in the area have reformed. As per scholar Dr. D. P. Dikshit, the first Chalukya king was Jayasimha (a feudatory lord in the Kadamba dynasty), who in 500 AD established the Chalukya kingdom. His grandson Pulakeshin Ibuilt a fort at Vatapi.

 

BADAMI CHALUKYAS

It was founded in 540 AD by Pulakeshin I (535-566 AD), an early ruler of the Chalukyas. His sons Kirtivarma I (567-598 AD) and his brother Mangalesha (598-610 AD) constructed the cave temples.Kirtivarma I strengthened Vatapi and had three sons Pulakeshin II, Vishnuvardhana and Buddhavarasa, who at his death were minors, thus making them ineligible to rule, so Kirtivarma I's brother Mangalesha took the throne and tried to establish rule, only to be killed by Pulakeshin II who ruled between 610 A.D to 642 A.D. Vatapi was the capital of the Early Chalukyas, who ruled much of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Few parts of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh between the 6th and 8th centuries. The greatest among them was Pulakeshin II (610-642 AD) who defeated many kings including the Pallavas of Kanchipuram.

 

The rock-cut Badami Cave Temples were sculpted mostly between the 6th and 8th centuries. The four cave temples represent the secular nature of the rulers then, with tolerance and a religious following that inclines towards Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. cave 1 is devoted to Shiva, and Caves 2 and 3 are dedicated to Vishnu, whereas cave 4 displays reliefs of Jain Tirthankaras. Deep caverns with carved images of the various incarnations of Hindu gods are strewn across the area, under boulders and in the red sandstone. From an architectural and archaeological perspective, they provide critical evidence of the early styles and stages of the southern Indian architecture.

 

The Pallavas under the king Narasimhavarma I seized it in 642 AD & destroyed the vatapi. Pulakeshin II's son Vikramaditya I of Chalukyas drove back Pallavas in 654 AD and led a successful attack on Kanchipuram, the capital of Pallavas. Then Rashtrakutas came to power in Karnataka including Badami around 757 AD and the town lost its importance. Later it was ruled by the Hoysalas.

 

Then it passed on to Vijayanagara empire, The Adil Shahis, Mughal Empire, The Savanur Nawabs (They were vassals of Nizams and Marathas), The Maratha, Hyder Ali. The Britishers made it part of the Bombay Presidency.

 

INSCRIPTIONS

Badami has eighteen inscriptions, among them some inscriptions are important. The first Sanskrit inscription in old Kannada script, on a hillock dates back to 543 CE, from the period of Pulakeshin I (Vallabheswara), the second is the 578 CE cave inscription of Mangalesha in Kannada language and script and the third is the Kappe Arabhatta records, the earliest available Kannada poetry in tripadi (three line) metre. one inscription near the Bhuthanatha temple also has inscriptions dating back to the 12th century in Jain rock-cut temple dedicated to the Tirtankara Adinatha.

 

VATAPI GANAPATI

In the Carnatic music and Hamsadhwani raga the Vatapi Ganapatim Bhaje by the composer Muthuswami Dikshitar. The idol of Vatapi Ganapati brought from Badami by Pallavas, is now in the Uthrapathiswaraswamy Temple, near Thanjavur of Tamil Nadu.

 

In 7th century, Vatapi Ganapati idol was brought from Badami (Vatapi - Chalukya capital) by Pallava who defeated Chalukyas.

 

TOURISM

Landmarks in Badami include cave temples, gateways, forts, inscriptions and sculptures.

 

- A Buddhist cave in a natural setting that can be entered only by crawling on knees.

- The Bhuhtanatha temple, a small shrine, facing the lake, constructed in 5th century.

- Badami Fort situated on top of the hill.

- Many Shivalayas including the Malegatti Shivalaya with 7th century origins.

- The Dattatreya temple.

- The Mallikarjuna temple dating back to the 11th century, built on a star shaped plan.

- a Dargah, a dome of an Islamic place of worship on the south fort side.

- Vista points on top of the North Fort for the view of the ancient town below.

- Temple of Banashankari, a Kuladevata (family deity) for many families, is located near Badami.

- Archaeological museum, that has collection of sculptures from Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal.

 

BADAMI CAVE TEMPLES

The Badami cave temples are a complex of four cave temples located at Badami, a town in the Bagalkot district in the north part of Karnataka, India. They are considered an example of Indian rock-cut architecture, especially Badami Chalukya architecture initiated during the 6th century. Badami was previously known as Vataapi Badami, the capital of the early Chalukya dynasty, who ruled much of Karnataka from middle of the sixth until the middle of the eighth centuries. Badami is situated on the west bank of an artificial lake filled with greenish water dammed by an earthen wall faced with stone steps. Badami is surrounded in the north and south by forts built in later times from the ramparts that crown their summits.

 

The Badami cave temples represent some of the earliest known experimentation of Hindu temple prototypes for later temples in the Indian peninsula. Along with Aihole, states UNESCO, their pioneering designs transformed the Malaprabha river valley into a cradle of Temple Architecture, whose ideas defined the components of later Hindu Temples elsewhere. Caves 1 to 3 feature Hindu themes of Shiva and Vishnu, while Cave 4 features Jain icons. There is also a Buddhist Cave 5 which has been converted into a Hindu temple of Vishnu. Another cave identified in 2013 has a number of carvings of Vishnu and other Hindu deities, and water is seen gushing out through the cave all the time.

 

GEOGRAPHY

The Badami cave temples are located in the Badami town in the north central part of Karnataka, India. The temples are about 110 km northeast from Hubli-Dharwad, the second largest metropolitan area of the state. Malaprabha river is 4.8 km away. Badami, also referred to as Vatapi, Vatapipuri and Vatapinagari in historical texts, and the 6th-century capital of Chalukya dynasty, is at the exit point of the ravine between two steep mountain cliffs. Four cave temples have been excavated in the escarpment of the hill to the south-east of the town above the artificial lake called Agastya Lake created by an earthen dam faced with stone steps. To the west end of this cliff, at its lowest point, is the first cave temple dedicated to Shiva, followed by a cave north east to it dedicated to Vishnu but is at a much higher level. The largest is Cave 3, mostly a Vaishnava cave, is further to the east on the northern face of the hill. The first three caves are dedicated to Hindu gods and goddesses including Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. The fourth cave, dedicated to Jainism, is a short distance away.

 

HISTORY OF CAVE TEMPLES

The cave temples, numbered 1 to 4 in the order of their creation, identified in the town of Badami, the capital city of the Chalukya kingdom (also known as Early Chalukyas) are dated from the late 6th century onwards. The exact dating is known only for cave 3 which is a Brahmanical temple dedicated to Vishnu. An inscription found here records the creation of the shrine by Mangalesha in Saka 500 (lunar calendar, spanning 578 to 579 CE). These inscriptions are in Kannada language, and have been the source for dating these rock cave temples to the 6th-century. The Badami caves complex are part of the UNESCO inscribed World Heritage Site under the title "Evolution of Temple Architecture – Aihole-Badami-Pattadakal" in the Malaprabha river valley which is considered a cradle of Temple Architecture, which formed the template for later Hindu temples in the region. The art work in Cave 1 and Cave 2 exhibit the northern Deccan style of 6th- and 7th-century, while those in Cave 3 show a simultaneous co-exhibition of two different ancient Indian artistic traditions – the northern Nagara and the southern Dravida styles. The Cave 3 also shows icons and reliefs in the Vesara style – a creative fusion of ideas from the two styles, as well as some of the earliest surviving historical examples of yantra-chakra motifs and colored fresco paintings in Karnataka. The first three caves feature sculpture of Hindu icons and legends focusing on Shiva and Vishnu, while Cave 4 features Jain icons and themes.

 

TEMPLE CAVES

The Badami cave temples are composed of mainly four caves, all carved out of the soft Badami sandstone on a hill cliff, dated to the late 6th to 7th centuries. The planning of four caves (1 to 4) is simple. The entrance is a verandah (mukha mandapa) with stone columns and brackets, a distinctive feature of these caves, leading to a columned mandapa – main hall (also maha mandapa) and then to the small square shrine (sanctum sanctorum, garbhaghrha) cut deep into the cave. The cave temples are linked by stepped path with intermediate terraces looking over the town and lake. Cave temples are labelled 1–4 in their ascending series even though this numbering does not necessarily reflect the sequence of excavation.

 

The cave temples are dated to 6th to 8th century, with an inscription dated to 579 CE. The inscriptions are in old Kannada script. The architecture includes structures built in Nagara style and Dravidian style which is the first and most persistent architectural idiom to be adopted by the early chalukyas There is also the fifth natural cave temple in Badami – a Buddhist temple, a natural cave, which can be entered kneeling on all fours.

 

CAVE 1

The cave is just about 18 m above the street level on the northwest part of the hill. Access is through series of steps which depict carvings of dwarfish ganas (with "bovine and equine heads") in different postures. The verandah with 21 m length with a width of 20 m in the interior, has four columns all sculpted with reliefs of the god Shiva in different dancing positions and different incarnations. The guardian dwarapalas at the entrance to the cave stand to a height of 1.879 m.

 

The cave portrays the Tandava-dancing Shiva, as Nataraja. The image, (1.5 m tall, has 18 arms, in a form that express the dance positions arranged in a geometric pattern, which Alice Boner states, is a time division symbolizing the cosmic wheel. Some of the arms hold objects while most express mudras (symbolic hand postures). The objects include drums, trident and axe. Some arms also have serpents coiled around them. Shiva has his son Ganesha and the bull Nandi by his side. Adjoining to the Nataraja, a wall depicts the goddess Durga, depicted slaying the buffalo-demon Mahishasura. Elsewhere, the two sons of Shiva, Ganesha and Kartikkeya, the god of war and family deity of the Chalukya dynasty are seen in one of the carved sculptures on the walls of the cave with Kartikkeya riding a peacock.

 

The cave also has carved sculptures of the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati flanking Harihara, a 2.36 m high sculpture of a fused image that is half Shiva and half Vishnu. To the right, Ardhanarishvara, a composite androgynous form of Shiva and his consort Parvati, is sculpted towards the end of the walls. All the carved sculptures show ornaments worn by them, as well as borders with reliefs of various animals and birds. Lotus design is a common theme. On the ceiling are images of the Vidyadhara couples. Through a cleavage in the back side of the cave is a square sanctuary with more images carved.

 

Other prominent images in the cave are Nandi, the bull, in the sculptural form of Dharmadeva, the god of justice, Bhringi, a devotee of Shiva, a female decorated goddess holding a flat object in her left hand, which are all part of Ardhanarishvara described earlier. The roof in the cave has five carved panels with the central panel depicting the serpent Shesha. The head and bust are well formed and project boldly from the centre of the coil. In another compartment a bass-relief of 0.76 m diameter has carvings of a male and female; the male is Yaksha carrying a sword and the female is Apsara with a flying veil. The succeeding panel has carvings of two small figures; and the panel at the end is carved with lotuses.

 

CAVE 2

Cave 2, facing north, to the west of Cave 3, created in late 6th century AD, is almost same as cave 1 in terms of its layout and dimensions but it is dedicated primarily to Vishnu. Cave is reached by climbing 64 steps from the first cave. The cave entrance is the verandah, divided by four square pillars, which has carvings from its middle section to the top where there are yali brackets with sculptures within them. The cave is adorned with reliefs of guardians. Like the Cave 1, the cave art carved is a pantheon of Hindu divinities.

 

The largest relief in Cave 2 shows Vishnu as Trivikrama – with one foot on Earth and another – directed to the north. Other representations of Vishnu in this cave include Varaha (boar) where he is shown rescuing Bhudevi (symbolism for earth) from the depths of ocean, and Krishna avatars – legends found in Hindu Puranas text such as the Bhagavata Purana. Like other major murti (forms) in this and other Badami caves, the Varaha sculpture is set in a circle, the panel is an upright rectangle, states Alice Boner, whose "height is equal to the octopartite directing circle and sides are aligned to essential geometric ratios, in this case to the second vertical chord of the circle". The doorway is framed by pilasters carrying an entablature with three blocks embellished with gavaksha ornament. The entrance of the cave also has two armed guardians holding flowers rather than weapons. The end walls of the outer verandah is occupied by sculpted panels, to the right, Trivikrama; to the left, Varaha rescuing Bhudevi, with a penitent multi-headed snake (Nag) below. The adjacent side walls and ceiling have traces of colored paintwork, suggesting that the cave used to have fresco paintings. The columns show gods and battle scenes, the churning of cosmic ocean (Samudra Manthan), Gajalakshmi and figures, Brahma, Vishnu asleep on Shesha, illustrations of the birth of Krishna, Krishna's youth, Krishna with gopis and cows.

 

The ceiling of Cave 2 shows a wheel with sixteen fish spokes in a square frame along with swastikas and flying couples. The end bays have a flying couple and Vishnu on Garuda.[8] The main hall in the cave is 10.16 m in width, 7.188 m deep and 3.45 m high and is supported by eight square pillars in two rows. The roof of this hall has panels which have carvings. At the upper end of the wall a frieze runs all along the wall with engravings of episodes from the Krishna or Vishnu legends.

 

The sculptures of Cave 2, like Cave 1, are of the northern Deccan style of 6th-and 7th-century similar to that found in Ellora caves.

 

CAVE 3

The Cave 3 is dedicated to Vishnu, and is the most intricately carved and the biggest. It has well carved giant figures of Trivikrama, Anantasayana, Paravasudeva, Bhuvaraha, Harihara and Narasimha. The theme on which the Cave 3 is carved is primarily Vaishnavite, however the cave also shows Harihara on its southern wall – half Vishnu and half Shiva shown fused as one, making the cave important to Shaivism studies as well. Cave 3, facing north, is 60 steps away from the Cave 2. This cave temple's veranda, 21 m in length with an interior width of 20 m, has been sculpted 15 m deep into the mountain, and an added square shrine at the end extends the cave some 3.7 m further inside. The verandah itself is 2.1 m wide and has four free standing carved pillars separating it from the hall. The cave is 4.6 m high, supported by six pillars each measuring 0.76 m square. Each column and pilaster is carved with wide and deep bases crowned by capitals which are camouflaged by brackets on three sides. Each bracket, except for one bracket, has carvings of standing human figures, under foliage in different postures, of a male and female mythological characters, along with attendant figure of a dwarf. A moulded cornice in the facia, with a dado of blocks below it (generally in 2.1 m lengths), have about thirty compartments carved with series of two fat dwarfs called ganas. The cave shows a Kama scene on one pillar, where a woman and man are in maithuna (erotic) embrace beneath a tree.

 

Cave 3 also shows fresco paintings on the ceiling, but some of these are faded, broken and unclear. These are among the earliest known and surviving evidence of fresco painting in Indian art.[14] The Hindu god Brahma is seen in one of the murals, while the wedding of Shiva and Parvati, attended by various Hindu deities, is the theme of another. There is a lotus medallion on the floor underneath the mural of four armed Brahma. The sculpture is well preserved, and a large number of Vishnu's reliefs including standing Vishnu with 8 arms, Vishnu seated on a hooded serpent called Sesha or Ananta on the eastern side of the verandha, Vishnu as Narasimha (half human – half lion), Varaha fully armed, a boar incarnation of Vishnu in the back wall of the cave, Harihara (a syncretic sculpture of Vishnu and Shiva), and Trivikrama avatars. The back wall also has carvings of Vidhyadaras holding offerings to Varaha, and adjoining this is an inscription dated 579 AD with the name Mangalis inscribed on it. At one end of the pilaster there is a sculpture of the fourth incarnation of Vishnu as Vamana shown with eight arms called Ashtabhuja decorated with various types of weapons. A crescent moon is crafted above his face, crown of Vishnu decorates his head and is flanked by Varaha and two other figures and below on his right is his attendant Garuda. The images in front of Vamana are three figures of Bali and his wife with Shukra, his councilor. Reliefs stand 4 metres tall. The culture and clothing embedded in the sixth century is visible in the art sculpted in this cave. The roof in the verandha has seven panels created by cross beams, each is painted in circular compartments with images of Shiva, Vishnu, Indra, Brahma, Kama and so forth with smaller images of Dikpalas (cardinal guardians) with geometric mosaics filling the gaps at the corners.

 

The front aisle's roof has panels with murals in the center of male and female figurines flying in the clouds; the male figure is yaksha holding a sword and a shield. Decoration of lotus blooms are also seen on the panels. The roof in the hall is divided into nine panels slightly above the level of the ceiling. The central panel here depicts a deva mounted on a ram – conjectured as Agni. Images of Brahma and Varuna are also painted in the central panels while the floating figures are seen in the balance panels.

 

CAVE 4

The Cave 4, to the east of Cave 3, excavated around 650 AD, is located higher than other caves. It is dedicated to revered figures of Jainism and was constructed last among all the caves. It also features detailed carvings and diverse range of motifs. The cave has five bayed entrance with four square columns with brackets and capitals, and to the back of this verandah is a hall with two standalone and two joined pillars. The first aisle is a verandah 9.4 m in length, 2.0 m wide and extends to 4.9 m deep. From the hall, steps lead to the sanctum sanctorum, which is 7.8 m wide extending to a depth of 1.8 m. On the back part of this, Mahavira is represented, sitting on lion throne, flanked by bas-reliefs of attendants with chauri (fans), sardulas and makara's heads. The end walls have Parshvanath (about 2.3 m tall) with his head decorated to represent protection and reverence by a multi-headed cobra, Indrabhuti Gautama covered by four snakes and Bahubali are seen; Bahubali is present to the left of Gautama shown with his lower legs surrounded by snakes along with his daughters Brahmi and Sundari. The sanctum, which is adorned by the image of Mahavira, has pedestal which contains an old Kannada inscription of the 12th century A.D. which registers the death of one Jakkave. Many Jaina Tirthankara images have been engraved in the inner pillars and walls. In addition, there are some idols of Yakshas, Yakshis, Padmavati and other Tirthankaras. Some scholars also assign the cave to the 8th century.

 

CAVE 5

It is a natural cave of small dimensions, undated, is approached by crawling as it has a narrow opening. Inside, there is a carved statue seated over a sculpted throne with reliefs showing people holding chauris (fans), tree, elephants and lions in an attacking mode. The face of this statue was reasonably intact till about 1995, and is now damaged and missing. There are several theories as to who the statue represents.

 

The first theory states that it is a Buddha relief, in a sitting posture. Those holding the chauris are Bodhisattvas flanking the Buddha, states this theory, and that the cave has been converted to a Hindu shrine of Vishnu, in later years, as seen from the white religious markings painted on the face of the Buddha as the 9th incarnation of Vishnu. Shetti suggests that the cave was not converted, but from the start represented a tribute to Mayamoha of the Hindu Puranas, or Buddhavatara Vishnu, its style suggesting it was likely carved in or before 8th century CE.

 

The second theory, found in colonial era texts such as one by John Murray, suggested that the main image carved in the smallest fifth cave is that of Jaina figure.

 

The third theory, by Henry Cousens as well as A. Sundara, and based by local legends, states that the statue is of an ancient king because the statue's photo, when its face was not damaged, lacked Ushnisha lump that typically goes with Buddha's image. Further, the statue has unusual non-Buddha ornaments such as rings for fingers, necklace and chest-band, it wears a Hindu Yajnopavita thread, and its head is stylistically closer to a Jina head than a Buddha head. These features suggest that the statue may be of a king represented with features of various traditions. The date and identity of the main statue in Cave 5, states Bolon, remains enigmatic.

 

OTHER CAVES

In 2013, Manjunath Sullolli reported the discovery of another cave with 27 rock carvings, about 500 metres from the four caves, from which water gushes year round. It depicts Vishnu and other Hindu deities, and features inscription in Devanagari script. The dating of these carvings is unknown.

 

OTHER TEMPLES AT BADAMI

On the north hill, there are three temples, of which Malegitti-Shivalaya is perhaps the oldest temple and also the finest in Badami, and has a Dravidian tower. Out of the two inscriptions found here, one states that Aryaminchi upadhyaya, as the sculptor who got this temple constructed and the other dated 1543 speaks of the erection of a bastion during the Vijayanagara rule. The lower Shivalaya has a Dravidian tower, and only the sanctum remains now.

 

Jambhulinga temple, situated in the town, is presumably the oldest known trikutachala temple in Karnataka. An inscription dated 699 ascribes construction of this temple to Vinayavathi mother of Emperor Vijayaditya.

 

The place also has Agasthya Tirtha, temples of Goddess Yellamma, Mallikarjuna, Datttreya and Virupaksha. Bhuthanatha group of temples are most important in Badami.

 

BADAMI FORT

Badami fort lies east of the Bhuthnatha temple, atop a cliff right opposite the Badami cave temples. The entrance to this temple is right through the Badami museum. It is a steep climb with many view points and dotted with little shrines. The path is laid with neatly cut stone, the same that adores all the architecture around.

 

ETYMOLOGY

The name Vatapi has origin in the Vatapi legend of Ramayana relating to Sage Agastya.There were two demon siblings Vatapi and Ilvala. They used to kill all mendicants by tricking them in a peculiar way. The elder Ilvala would turn Vatapi into a ram and would offer its meat to the guest. As soon as the person ate the meat, Ilvala would call out the name of Vatapi. As he had a boon that whomsoever Ilvala calls would return from even the netherland, Vatapi would emerge ripping through the body of the person, thus killing him. Their trick worked until Sage Agastya countered them by digesting Vatapi before Ilvala could call for him, thus ending the life of Vatapi at the hands of Ilvala. Two of the hills in Badami represent the demons Vatapi and Ilvala.

 

It is also believed that name Badami has come from colour of its stone (badam - Almond).

 

CULTURE

The main language is Kannada. The local population wears traditional Indian cotton wear.

 

GEOGRAPHY

Badami is located at 15.92°N 75.68°E. It has an average elevation of 586 metres. It is located at the mouth of a ravine between two rocky hills and surrounds Agastya tirtha water reservoir on the three other sides. The total area of the town is 10.3 square kilometers.

 

It is located 30 kilometers from Bagalkot, 128 kilometers from Bijapur, 132 kilometers from Hubli, 46 kilometers from Aihole, another ancient town, and 589 kilometers from Bangalore, the state capital.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Esaias van de Velde (1587-1630), active in Haarlem and The Hague

Feast in the castle grounds, 1624

In addition to landscape painting, Esaias van de Velde devoted to genre painting and represented small gallant society scenes that do not portray the life of the Dutch bourgeoisie, but after Flemish model reflect an aristocratic ambience with palaces and parks.

 

Esaias van de Velde (1587-1630), tätig in Haarlem und Den Haag Festmahl im Schlosspark, 1624

Neben der Landschaftsmalerei widmete sich Esaias van de Velde der Genremalerei und stellte kleine galante Gesellschaftsszenen dar, die nicht das Leben des holländischen Bürgertums schildern, sondern nach flämischem Vorbild ein aristokratisches Ambiente mit Palästen und Parks wiedergeben.

 

Austria Kunsthistorisches Museum

Federal Museum

Logo KHM

Regulatory authority (ies)/organs to the Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Culture

Founded 17 October 1891

Headquartered Castle Ring (Burgring), Vienna 1, Austria

Management Sabine Haag

www.khm.at website

Main building of the Kunsthistorisches Museum at Maria-Theresa-Square

The Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM abbreviated) is an art museum in Vienna. It is one of the largest and most important museums in the world. It was opened in 1891 and 2012 visited of 1.351.940 million people.

The museum

The Kunsthistorisches Museum is with its opposite sister building, the Natural History Museum (Naturhistorisches Museum), the most important historicist large buildings of the Ringstrasse time. Together they stand around the Maria Theresa square, on which also the Maria Theresa monument stands. This course spans the former glacis between today's ring road and 2-line, and is forming a historical landmark that also belongs to World Heritage Site Historic Centre of Vienna.

History

Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in his Gallery

The Museum came from the collections of the Habsburgs, especially from the portrait and armor collections of Ferdinand of Tyrol, the collection of Emperor Rudolf II (most of which, however scattered) and the art collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm into existence. Already In 1833 asked Joseph Arneth, curator (and later director) of the Imperial Coins and Antiquities Cabinet, bringing together all the imperial collections in a single building.

Architectural History

The contract to build the museum in the city had been given in 1858 by Emperor Franz Joseph. Subsequently, many designs were submitted for the ring road zone. Plans by August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Null planned to build two museum buildings in the immediate aftermath of the Imperial Palace on the left and right of the Heroes' Square (Heldenplatz). The architect Ludwig Förster planned museum buildings between the Schwarzenberg Square and the City Park, Martin Ritter von Kink favored buildings at the corner Währinger street/Scots ring (Schottenring), Peter Joseph, the area Bellariastraße, Moritz von Loehr the south side of the Opera ring, and Ludwig Zettl the southeast side of the Grain market (Getreidemarkt).

From 1867, a competition was announced for the museums, and thereby set their current position - at the request of the Emperor, the museum should not be too close to the Imperial Palace, but arise beyond the ring road. The architect Carl von Hasenauer participated in this competition and was able the at that time in Zürich operating Gottfried Semper to encourage to work together. The two museum buildings should be built here in the sense of the style of the Italian Renaissance. The plans got the benevolence of the imperial family. In April 1869, there was an audience of Joseph Semper with the Emperor Franz Joseph and an oral contract was concluded, in July 1870 was issued the written order to Semper and Hasenauer.

Crucial for the success of Semper and Hasenauer against the projects of other architects were among others Semper's vision of a large building complex called "Imperial Forum", in which the museums would have been a part of. Not least by the death of Semper in 1879 came the Imperial Forum not as planned for execution, the two museums were built, however.

Construction of the two museums began without ceremony on 27 November 1871 instead. Semper subsequently moved to Vienna. From the beginning on, there were considerable personal differences between him and Hasenauer, who finally in 1877 took over sole construction management. 1874, the scaffolds were placed up to the attic and the first floor completed, in 1878, the first windows installed, in 1879, the Attica and the balustrade finished, and from 1880 to 1881 the dome and the Tabernacle built. The dome is topped with a bronze statue of Pallas Athena by Johannes Benk.

The lighting and air conditioning concept with double glazing of the ceilings made ​​the renunciation of artificial light (especially at that time, as gas light) possible, but this resulted due to seasonal variations depending on daylight to different opening times.

Dome hall

Entrance (by clicking on the link at the end of the side you can see all the pictures here indicated!)

Grand staircase

Hall

Empire

The Kunsthistorisches Museum was on 17 October 1891 officially opened by Emperor Franz Joseph I. Since 22 October 1891, the museum is accessible to the public. Two years earlier, on 3 November 1889, the collection of arms, Arms and Armour today, had their doors open. On 1 January 1890 the library service resumed its operations. The merger and listing of other collections of the Highest Imperial Family from the Upper and Lower Belvedere, the Hofburg Palace and Ambras in Tyrol needs another two years.

1891, the Court museum was organized in seven collections with three directorates:

Directorate of coins, medals and antiquities collection

The Egyptian Collection

The Antique Collection

The coins and medals collection

Management of the collection of weapons, art and industrial objects

Weapons collection

Collection of industrial art objects

Directorate of Art Gallery and Restaurieranstalt (Restoration Office)

Collection of watercolors, drawings, sketches, etc.

Restoration Office

Library

Very soon the room the Court Museum (Hofmuseum) for the imperial collections was offering became too narrow. To provide temporary help, an exhibition of ancient artifacts from Ephesus in the Theseus Temple was designed. However, additional space had to be rented in the Lower Belvedere.

1914, after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne, his "Estensische Sammlung (Collection)" passed to the administration of the Court Museum. This collection, which emerged from the art collection of the house of d'Este and world travel collection of Franz Ferdinand, was placed in the New Imperial Palace since 1908. For these stocks, the present collection of old musical instruments and the Museum of Ethnology emerged.

The First World War went by, apart from the oppressive economic situation without loss. The Court museum remained during the five years of war regularly open to the public.

Until 1919 the K.K. Art Historical Court Museum was under the authority of the Oberstkämmereramt (head chamberlain office) and belonged to the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. The officials and employees were part of the royal household.

First Republic

The transition from monarchy to republic, in the museum took place in complete tranquility. On 19 November 1918 the two imperial museums on Maria Theresa Square were placed under the state protection of the young Republic of German Austria. Threatening to the stocks of the museum were the claims raised in the following weeks and months of the "successor states" of the monarchy as well as Italy and Belgium on Austrian art collection. In fact, it came on 12th February 1919 to the violent removal of 62 paintings by armed Italian units. This "art theft" left a long time trauma among curators and art historians.

It was not until the Treaty of Saint-Germain on 10 September 1919, providing in Article 195 and 196 the settlement of rights in the cultural field by negotiations. The claims of Belgium, Czechoslovakia, and Italy again could mostly being averted in this way. Only Hungary, which presented the greatest demands by far, was met by more than ten years of negotiation in 147 cases.

On 3 April 1919 was the expropriation of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine by law and the acquisition of its property, including the "Collections of the Imperial House", by the Republic. On 18 June 1920 the then provisional administration of the former imperial museums and collections of Este and the secular and clergy treasury passed to the State Office of Internal Affairs and Education, since 10 November 1920, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Education. A few days later it was renamed the Art History Court Museum in the "Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna State", 1921 "Kunsthistorisches Museum" . Of 1st January 1921 the employees of the museum staff passed to the state of the Republic.

Through the acquisition of the former imperial collections owned by the state, the museum found itself in a complete new situation. In order to meet the changed circumstances in the museum area, designed Hans Tietze in 1919 the "Vienna Museum program". It provided a close cooperation between the individual museums to focus at different houses on main collections. So dominated exchange, sales and equalizing the acquisition policy in the interwar period. Thus resulting until today still valid collection trends. Also pointing the way was the relocation of the weapons collection from 1934 in its present premises in the New Castle, where since 1916 the collection of ancient musical instruments was placed.

With the change of the imperial collections in the ownership of the Republic the reorganization of the internal organization went hand in hand, too. Thus the museum was divided in 1919 into the

Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection (with the Oriental coins)

Collection of Classical Antiquities

Collection of Ancient Coins

Collection of modern Coins and Medals

Weapons collection

Collection of Sculptures and Crafts with the Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments

Picture gallery

The Museum 1938-1945

Count Philipp Ludwig Wenzel Sinzendorf according to Rigaud. Clarisse 1948 by Baroness de Rothschildt "dedicated" to the memory of Baron Alphonse de Rothschildt; restituted to the Rothschilds in 1999, and in 1999 donated by Bettina Looram Rothschild, the last Austrian heiress.

With the "Anschluss" of Austria to the German Reich all Jewish art collections such as the Rothschilds were forcibly "Aryanised". Collections were either "paid" or simply distributed by the Gestapo at the museums. This resulted in a significant increase in stocks. But the KHM was not the only museum that benefited from the linearization. Systematically looted Jewish property was sold to museums, collections or in pawnshops throughout the German Reich.

After the war, the museum struggled to reimburse the "Aryanised" art to the owners or their heirs. They forced the Rothschild family to leave the most important part of their own collection to the museum and called this "dedications", or "donations". As a reason, was the export law stated, which does not allow owners to bring certain works of art out of the country. Similar methods were used with other former owners. Only on the basis of international diplomatic and media pressure, to a large extent from the United States, the Austrian government decided to make a change in the law (Art Restitution Act of 1998, the so-called Lex Rothschild). The art objects were the Rothschild family refunded only in the 1990s.

The Kunsthistorisches Museum operates on the basis of the federal law on the restitution of art objects from the 4th December 1998 (Federal Law Gazette I, 181 /1998) extensive provenance research. Even before this decree was carried out in-house provenance research at the initiative of the then archive director Herbert Haupt. To this end was submitted in 1998 by him in collaboration with Lydia Grobl a comprehensive presentation of the facts about the changes in the inventory levels of the Kunsthistorisches Museum during the Nazi era and in the years leading up to the State Treaty of 1955, an important basis for further research provenance.

The two historians Susanne Hehenberger and Monika Löscher are since 1st April 2009 as provenance researchers at the Kunsthistorisches Museum on behalf of the Commission for Provenance Research operating and they deal with the investigation period from 1933 to the recent past.

The museum today

Today the museum is as a federal museum, with 1st January 1999 released to the full legal capacity - it was thus the first of the state museums of Austria, implementing the far-reaching self-financing. It is by far the most visited museum in Austria with 1.3 million visitors (2007).

The Kunsthistorisches Museum is under the name Kunsthistorisches Museum and Museum of Ethnology and the Austrian Theatre Museum with company number 182081t since 11 June 1999 as a research institution under public law of the Federal virtue of the Federal Museums Act, Federal Law Gazette I/115/1998 and the Museum of Procedure of the Kunsthistorisches Museum and Museum of Ethnology and the Austrian Theatre Museum, 3 January 2001, BGBl II 2/ 2001, in force since 1 January 2001, registered.

In fiscal 2008, the turnover was 37.185 million EUR and total assets amounted to EUR 22.204 million. In 2008 an average of 410 workers were employed.

Management

1919-1923: Gustav Glück as the first chairman of the College of science officials

1924-1933: Hermann Julius Hermann 1924-1925 as the first chairman of the College of the scientific officers in 1925 as first director

1933: Arpad Weixlgärtner first director

1934-1938: Alfred Stix first director

1938-1945: Fritz Dworschak 1938 as acting head, from 1938 as a chief, in 1941 as first director

1945-1949: August von Loehr 1945-1948 as executive director of the State Art Collections, in 1949 as general director of the historical collections of the Federation

1945-1949: Alfred Stix 1945-1948 as executive director of the State Art Collections, in 1949 as general director of art historical collections of the Federation

1949-1950: Hans Demel as administrative director

1950: Karl Wisoko-Meytsky as general director of art and historical collections of the Federation

1951-1952: Fritz Eichler as administrative director

1953-1954: Ernst H. Buschbeck as administrative director

1955-1966: Vincent Oberhammer 1955-1959 as administrative director, from 1959 as first director

1967: Edward Holzmair as managing director

1968-1972: Erwin Auer first director

1973-1981: Friderike Klauner first director

1982-1990: Hermann Fillitz first director

1990: George Kugler as interim first director

1990-2008: Wilfried Seipel as general director

Since 2009: Sabine Haag as general director

Collections

To the Kunsthistorisches Museum also belon the collections of the New Castle, the Austrian Theatre Museum in Palais Lobkowitz, the Museum of Ethnology and the Wagenburg (wagon fortress) in an outbuilding of Schönbrunn Palace. A branch office is also Ambras in Innsbruck.

Kunsthistorisches Museum (main building)

Picture Gallery

Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection

Collection of Classical Antiquities

Vienna Chamber of Art

Numismatic Collection

Library

New Castle

Ephesus Museum

Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments

Arms and Armour

Archive

Hofburg

The imperial crown in the Treasury

Imperial Treasury of Vienna

Insignia of the Austrian Hereditary Homage

Insignia of imperial Austria

Insignia of the Holy Roman Empire

Burgundian Inheritance and the Order of the Golden Fleece

Habsburg-Lorraine Household Treasure

Ecclesiastical Treasury

Schönbrunn Palace

Imperial Carriage Museum Vienna

Armory in Ambras Castle

Ambras Castle

Collections of Ambras Castle

Major exhibits

Among the most important exhibits of the Art Gallery rank inter alia:

Jan van Eyck: Cardinal Niccolò Albergati, 1438

Martin Schongauer: Holy Family, 1475-80

Albrecht Dürer : Trinity Altar, 1509-16

Portrait Johann Kleeberger, 1526

Parmigianino: Self Portrait in Convex Mirror, 1523/24

Giuseppe Arcimboldo: Summer 1563

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio: Madonna of the Rosary 1606/ 07

Caravaggio: Madonna of the Rosary (1606-1607)

Titian: Nymph and Shepherd to 1570-75

Portrait of Jacopo de Strada, 1567/68

Raffaello Santi: Madonna of the Meadow, 1505 /06

Lorenzo Lotto: Portrait of a young man against white curtain, 1508

Peter Paul Rubens: The altar of St. Ildefonso, 1630-32

The Little Fur, about 1638

Jan Vermeer: The Art of Painting, 1665/66

Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Fight between Carnival and Lent, 1559

Kids, 1560

Tower of Babel, 1563

Christ Carrying the Cross, 1564

Gloomy Day (Early Spring), 1565

Return of the Herd (Autumn), 1565

Hunters in the Snow (Winter) 1565

Bauer and bird thief, 1568

Peasant Wedding, 1568/69

Peasant Dance, 1568/69

Paul's conversion (Conversion of St Paul), 1567

Cabinet of Curiosities:

Saliera from Benvenuto Cellini 1539-1543

Egyptian-Oriental Collection:

Mastaba of Ka Ni Nisut

Collection of Classical Antiquities:

Gemma Augustea

Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós

Gallery: Major exhibits

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunsthistorisches_Museum

Celebrating Sukkot.

"LIVES DEVOTED TO THE GOOD OF MAN,

 

THEY BRAVELY MET PERSECUTIONS.

 

GOOD HAT MADE OF ONE BLOOD

ALL NATIONS OF MEN"

 

Berea Cemetery, Kentucky

 

John Gregg Fee (September 9, 1816 - January 11, 1901) was an abolitionist, minister and educator, the founder of the town of Berea, Kentucky, and Berea College (1855), the first in the state with interracial and coeducational admissions. During the American Civil War, Fee worked at Camp Nelson to have facilities constructed to support freedmen and their families, and to provide them with education and preaching while the men were being taught to be soldiers.

 

Fee was born in Bracken County, Kentucky on September 9, 1816, the son of John Fee, of English and Scots descent, and Elizabeth Bradford, of Scots-Irish descent, whose mother was a Quaker from Pennsylvania. His father inherited a bondsman who reached the term of his indenture. He then began to buy slaves, finally holding thirteen. Later he recognized more of its problems and invested in lands in free states, but held on to his slaves through the war and opposed his son's abolitionism.

 

Following a conversion to the Christian faith at age 14, John Fee, Jr., wanted to join the Methodist Episcopal Church. His father encouraged him to wait, and a couple of years later they both joined the Presbyterian Church. He studied at Augusta College in Bracken County, Kentucky and Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

 

He then entered Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1842, where in studying for the ministry, he made lifelong friendships. The young Fee became a staunch abolitionist, vowing to "Love thy neighbor as thyself."

 

Fee returned to Kentucky, preaching against slavery, but found it difficult to find a permanent position, as there was widespread pro-slavery sentiment. He started in Lewis County, which had fewer slaveholders, so more people who supported his point of view. In the 1840s he came into conflict with the Presbyterian Synod of Kentucky, which opposed his church's stance to refuse fellowship to slaveholders.

 

Fee left the Presbyterian Church over this matter and came to believe that Christianity had to be non-denominational and non-sectarian. He began writing about abolition, and some of his work was published by the American Missionary Association (AMA), established in 1846. By 1848 the AMA commissioned Fee as an itinerant preacher in Bracken and Lewis counties. In Lewis County, he and parishioners built a Free Church of Christ.

 

With a land donation from Cassius M. Clay, a wealthy landowner who supported the church and gradual abolition, in 1853 Fee founded the town of Berea, Kentucky in the interior of the state in Madison County. Like-minded people began to gather there. He preached in neighboring counties, often running into violent opposition to his anti-slavery views. His autobiography is filled with his accounts the volatility of the decade before the war, when he was often challenged and threatened because of his stand on abolition and equal treatment of blacks.

 

In 1855 Fee founded Berea College, the first college in the state that was interracial and coeducational. It began as a one-room schoolhouse, which also served as their local church. He modeled the school on Oberlin College of Ohio and hired some teachers from there as his school expanded. There was great interest in the college, as small as it was. Fee, J.A.R. Rogers, who acted as principal, and other supporters drew up a constitution for the school, and pledged their own support with more than 100 acres (0.40 km2) of land for the college's campus.

 

n 1859 Fee took his family to Boston, Massachusetts, where he attended the AMA Convention and did fund-raising for the school. Abolitionists also encouraged him to seek help from Henry Ward Beecher's church in Brooklyn, New York. Abolitionists and supporters of education created a broad national network that sustained such progressive efforts. Word of Fee's seeking help from Beecher made the news in Kentucky, in a distorted fashion, and stirred up pro-slavery sentiment against him.

 

With social tensions increasing in the years leading up to the American Civil War, and especially after John Brown's Raid, in December 1859 a band of armed pro-slavery men came to Berea while Fee was still away in the East. They delivered notice to J.A.R. Rogers and others to leave the state within 10 days, because of the group's opposition to Fee, their church and college. For a time townspeople abandoned the village and school. Abolitionists were expelled from Lewis and Bracken counties as well. After Fee's return to Bracken County, where he and his family were staying with his in-laws, a committee of 62 men of "high standing" told Fee he and his supporters had to leave Bracken County.

 

Fee lived with his family in exile in Cincinnati, Ohio until 1864. Although they tried to return to Berea before that, violent opposition to Fee and abolitionists forced them out of state again. Matilda Fee had returned to their house in Berea with two of their children without much incident, although both Union and Confederate troops were in the area. Fee was unable to get through to her, so she had to get back to Cincinnati.

 

In 1864 Fee and his wife returned to Berea. He soon was going frequently to Camp Nelson, where he became involved with preaching and teaching former slaves, who were being enlisted for military service in the Union Army. Their wives and children also came to the camp. Fee worked with the camp commandant and quartermaster on arrangements for a school, and urged building facilities for the families. He appealed to Salmon Chase, now with the national government, for funding, which was quickly approved. Barracks, a hospital and school buildings were constructed at Camp Nelson. Fee helped arrange for teachers for the freedmen and was closely involved in operations until after the end of the war. He and his wife used their own funds to help buy land in the area to be allocated as home lots, as well as raising a church and school near there.

 

After the war, Fee and Rogers returned with their families to Berea. For years Fee had been determinedly non-sectarian. When the AMA became aligned with the Congregational Church in 1865, Fee felt that he no longer could accept their aid, as he believed the AMA, like other sects or denominations, would divide the people of the South. In later years, Fee and others went on to establish the Christian Missionary Association of Kentucky, made up of individuals rather than churches. He also devoted his efforts to Berea College, which grew after the war. The school accepted freedmen and women, and expanded from its one room. In 1873 it awarded its first college degree.

To the glory of God and in loving memory of Lieut Godfrey Burton Cook 20th Hussars

Who was Killed in Action at Jassy(?) March 23rd 1918 Aged 23 years

This panelling was erected ****devoted(?) Father and Mother

 

COOK, GODFREY BURTON

Rank:……………………………………..Lieutenant

Date of Death:……………………….23/03/1918

Age:……………………………………….23

Regiment:………………………………20th Hussars

Grave Reference:…………………….I. H. 19.

Cemetery:……………………………….ST. SOUPLET BRITISH CEMETERY

Additional Information:

Son of Arthur Burton Cook and Alice Anne Cook, of "Sunlea," Sheringham, Norfolk.

CWGC: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/320621/COOK,%20GODFRE...

 

Godfrey was original buried at St Martin’s Military Cemetery Extension at. St Quentin, but the graves were re-located in 1924 to the St Souplet Cemtery. On the initial report it was stated that the original marker had him down as dieing on the 27th March 1918. The grave next to him was a Captain W H R Rayson of the Royal Field Artillery who died the same day. However the final report had been manually amended to show Godfrey dieing on the 29th March 1918.

(CWGC have added many additional documents to their database as part of the centenary. These can be accessed by going to the entry for Godfrey and using the CWGC Archive Online option).

 

ST. SOUPLET BRITISH CEMETERY

 

Historical Information

 

St. Souplet village was captured by the American 30th Division on the 10th October 1918.

 

The American troops made a cemetery of 371 American and seven British graves on the South-West side of the village, on the road to Vaux-Andigny. A smaller British cemetery was made alongside. The American graves were removed after the Armistice and the seven British graves were moved into the British cemetery. Further British graves were brought in from the surrounding battlefields and the ….smaller burial grounds (such as):-

ST. MARTIN MILITARY CEMETERY, ST. QUENTIN, a large cemetery of over 8,000 graves on the West side of the city, begun in 1914 and extended after the Armistice, contained 134 British graves.

www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/33100/ST.%20SOUPLET...

 

SDGW records that Lieutenant Godfrey Bruton Cook died of wounds on the 29th March 1918 whilst serving with the 19th (Queen Alexandra’s Own Royal) Hussars. There is a supplementary note that he was In Ger Hands, which I assume means he was a Prisoner of War.

 

Interestingly, the SDGW entry for Acting Captain William Humphrey Ronald Rayson of the 47th Brigade Royal Field Artillery also has him as Died of Wounds on the 27th March 1918 and the note clearly states In German Hands

 

On CWGC Captain Rayson’s date of death is still the 27th March, so its intriguing that the official entry for Godfrey has come forward to the 23rd.

www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/320939/RAYSON,%20WILL...

 

There is no straight match for a Medal Index Card for Godfrey but the nearest match goes some way to explain the discrepancy between the unit shown on CWGC, (and this memorial), and the unit shown on SDGW. The Medal Index Card for a G B Cook is held at the National Archive under reference WO 372/4/238694

 

He was originally Private 1645 in the 3rd City of London Yeomanry before becoming a Second Lieutenant in the 20th Hussars. His final official rank was Lieutenant in the 19th Hussars.

discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D1918351

 

No match on Picture Norfolk.

 

Godfrey is remembered on the Sheringham War Memorial.

www.sheringhamrbl.co.uk/warmemorial/names/cookgb.php

www.roll-of-honour.com/Norfolk/Sheringham.html

(He is not on the Beeston War Memorial).

 

The administration of the estate of Lieutenant Godfrey Burton of Sunlea, Sheringham, who died on the 23rd March 1918 in France serving with the 20th Hussars Special Reserve was granted at London on the 22nd June to Arthur Burton Cook, Gentleman. Estate was valued at £658 17s. Details from the 1918 Probate Calendar.

probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar?surname=Cook&ye...

 

According to this web-site an old cousin who was the Lieutenant Colonel of the 20th Hussars would die on the 26th March, Killed in Action.

grangehill1922.wordpress.com/2014/03/30/george-trevor-rop...

 

Timeline

 

1895

 

The birth of Godfrey Burton Cook was recorded in the Newbury District of Berkshire in the January to March 1895 quarter.

 

1901

 

The 6 year old Godfrey Burton, born Newbury, Berkshire was recorded on the 1901 census at “Hilbre”, Holway Road, Sheringham. This was the household of his parents, Arthur Burton, (aged 42, no occupation listed and from Birkenhead), and Alice Ann, (aged 37 and from Shropshire). As well as Godfrey their children are:-

Clara Frances……………..aged 4………………..born Newbury

Edith…………………………aged under 10 weeks (?-tbc) …..born Sheringham

There are then three live in servants.

 

1911

 

By the time of the 1911 census the 16 year old Godfrey Burton was a Boarder at Malvern College, living at 5 The College Malvern, Worcestershire.

 

His parents and sisters Clara Frances and Edith were still recorded at “Hilbre”. Father Arthur is living off “Private Means”

 

1915 (Military Career)

 

In the supplement to the edition of the London Gazette for the 9th December 1915 there is a War Office announcement for the Special Reserve of Officers that the undermentioned to be Second Lieutenants (on probation), dated 10th December. Under Cavalry, 20th Hussars appears the name of Godfrey Burton Cook

www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29397/supplement/12306/...

 

On the day

 

The International Red Cross have a file for a G B Cook under reference P.A.28681

Interestingly the cover sheet has a note 20 Hrs. (Is that 20th Hussars?)

 

The relevant page this reference applies to is headed

“Nachstehend aufgefuhrte Erkennungsmarken wurden v.K.Bays, Kriegs-ministerium Nachweiseburo Munchen uberwiesen 6.6.18. Die Jnhaber d.marken sind gefallen oder verstorben, Naheres unbekannt.

Akts.22452/W.”

 

It appears to be a list of English prisoners prepared 21.6.18 prepared by the “Zentral-Nachweiseburo” and received by the Red Cross on the 5th July 1918.

grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/File/Zoom/E/04/01/C_G1_E_04_01_0...

 

My Google translator comes back with

 

“Below listed dog tags were (with) v.K.Bays, War Ministry evidence bureau Munchen remitted 6.6.18.

The possessors d.marken have fallen or died, details unknown.”

 

As G B Cook has no serial number I’m assuming he’s an officer. If his details came from his dog tag and he’d recently changed unit then his dog tags may not have been altered.

 

Another Officer who did die of wounds received on the 23rd March 1918 was Lieutenant William Wickham Ogilvy who was leading a detachment of the 20th Hussars at “Jussy”.

1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=192522

 

Jussy is a village some 13 km south-south-west of St. Quentin in the Department of the Aisne.

 

Day 3, 23 March

 

Early on the morning of Saturday 23 March, German troops broke through the line in the 14th Division sector on the canal at Jussy. The 54th Brigade were holding the line directly to their south and were initially unaware of their predicament, as they were unknowingly being outflanked and surrounded. The 54th Brigade History records "the weather still favoured the Germans. Fog was thick over the rivers, canals and little valleys, so that he could bring up fresh masses of troops unseen". In the confusion, Brigade HQ tried to establish what was happening around Jussy and by late morning the British were retreating in front of German troops who had crossed the Crozat Canal at many points. All lines of defence had been overcome and there was nothing left to stop the German advance; during the day Aubigny, Brouchy, Cugny and Eaucourt fell

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Michael

 

With many units in disarray or effectively wiped out, Dismounted units of the Cavalry Brigade were thrown in to stem the tide. Both 20th and 19th Hussars were inaction, so I was still no clearer as to which unit Geoffrey was serving with.

 

Fortunately forum member, “Old Scalyback” at the Great War Forum was able to help out, even going so far as to download the 20th Hussars War Diary from the National Archive.

 

Geoffrey was indeed serving with the 20th Hussars. Whether his move to the 19th was a future change which his death forestalled or whether he’d gone there and then transferred back we shall probably never know.

 

As well as the daily record of events, appendix 2 also lists personel coming and going. I’ve merged the two below.

  

22nd March 1918 – Battalion War Diary (Part)

 

(Cont). Turned out again 1.45 PM and moved to sandpits half way between FAILLOUEL and JUSSY to be ready to make a counter attack if enemy succeeded in crossing canal as the bridges over it were not completely broken. The enemy did cross at MENNESSIS on the right and worked along the canal into JUSSY.

 

7.15 PM. 8 MGs posted on a line south of the railway which runs on southern edge of JUSSY and 12 R.Lancers moved up into immediate support at Sandpits where 43rd Inf Bde HdQrs (under whom 5 CB still is) have been established. Signed J.H.G.

 

From Appendix 2 to the War Diary

 

Date 22nd March 1918.

3 Other Ranks Killed in Action

9 Other Ranks Wounded in Action

2 Other Ranks Missing

 

23rd March 1918 – Battalion War Diary

 

3 AM. Situation appears to be some enemy in JUSSY and following dispositions were made 20H and half RSGs in JUSSY railway embankment under orders of OC 9th Scottish Rifles, 8 MGs as above, 1 sqdn 12 R.L. at Sandpits 1 sqdn 12 RL about to move to high ground West of FAILLOUEL as escort to some guns in position there. Remainder of 12 R L, RSGs and MGs echeloned back on right flank and east of FAILLOUEL JUSSY road.

 

6AM. Infantry after a small counter attack reported JUSSY clear of enemy. Very heavy Trench Mortar bombardment all night and morning and by 8 am enemy reached line of railway south of Jussy. At same time enemy reported to have broken through on the right in direction of MENNESSIS.

 

11.30AM. Maj. LITTLE was sent to line of FAILLOUEL FLAVY LE MARTEL road to collect and stop the infantry who were retiring and 1 sqdn 12 R.L, 1 sqdn RSGs and 1 regt 4th Cav.Bde ordered to join him there. 43rd Inf Bde HQ and 5th CB HQ moved back to the south of DETROIT BLEU at 12 Noon. Maj.LITTLE was about to launch a counter attack to re-establish line of railway when enemy were seen prowling around the left flank. It was accordingly cancelled and the left was thrown back. Held roughly line of FAILLOUEL – FLAVY road for a further 2 hours and then retired on FAILLOUEL where touch was established with 4th Cav.Bde on right. Left still “in the air”.

 

About 3 PM enemy were again prowling round left so retired to edge of large wood to S.W of FAILLOUEL.After an hour there withdrew through a few French troops onto main CUGNY-UGNY line where all stragglers had been collected and made to dig in.

 

Arrived 7 PM and billeted for night behind infantry at LA NEUVILLE. There has been a thick fog up to about midday on all days since attack commenced. Signed J.H.G.

 

From Appendix 2 to the War Diary

 

Date 23rd March 1918.

 

1 Other Rank to England as candidate for a commission

1 Other Rank to Hospital

1 Other Rank from Hospital

Lieut. G B Cook Killed in Action

Lieut W W Ogilvy Died of Wounds

Lieut W J Jackson Wounded in Action

4 Other Ranks Killed in Action

31 Other Ranks Wounded in Action

16 Other Ranks Missing

1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=230...

 

So for me the final mystery remains. If he was Killed in Action south of the village of Jussy on the 23rd March, why was his body collected from the battlefield and buried some 13 kilometres to the North East on the outskirts of San Quentin. It might explain the date on the original cross, with the 27th being the date his body was found, but not a lot else. My hunch is that he was badly wounded and left for dead, found by the Germans and then died at one of their aid stations \ hospitals nearer to St Quentin on the 27th or 29th. Theory two is that centres like St Quentin were subject to heavy attacks by the RAF from the 25th onwards in an attempt to stem the flow of the German Offensive. So either wounded or fully fit, he could have been killed in an air-raid.

 

...devoted to the green party and joshka fischer

Visit this location at The ArtsClub Lounge in Second Life

Photo credit: Tony Coash

  

Mother’s Day is an occasion to honor strong and devoted women in our lives. This year it was also a cause for celebration at the Jay Heritage Center as they announced their receipt of an exceptional collection of 19th century daguerrotypes of Jay women and their family members who lived in Rye at the historic 1838 Mansion. The gift was applauded on Saturday, May 12 with a gathering of Jay descendants and members of the Jay Heritage Center Board of Trustees. Westchester's Deputy County Executive, Kevin Plunkett presented Jay Heritage Center President, Suzanne Clary with a Proclamation from County Executive Rob Astorino commending her non-profit's organization for their work in preservation and education. Also on hand were Senator Suzi Oppenheimer and NY State Assemblyman George Latimer.

 

The highlight of the new collection is a never before seen mother and daughter portrait circa 1848 of Mrs. John Clarkson Jay (nee Laura Prime, daughter of NY banker Nathaniel Prime) and her eldest child Laura at 16 years old. Yet another charming vignette dated 1850 shows 2 of the youngest daughters, Alice and Sarah, in gingham dresses at age 4 and 2. These rare and luminous treasures were generously donated by architectural historian and preservationist, Anne Andrus Grady of Lexington, Massachusetts in memory of her aunt, Miriam Jay Wurts Andrus, a direct descendant of John Jay. Mrs. Andrus was born in New York City, the only child of Edith Maud Benedict and Pierre Jay Wurts. A 1931 graduate of Vassar College, she also attended Columbia University, and Johns Hopkins University where she studied international relations. During her lifetime she was known as an accomplished photographer as well as a civic activist and noted philanthropist. Her range of volunteer efforts benefited many academic and cultural institutions like the League of Women Voters, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the Center Stage Theatre in Baltimore and Vassar College to name just a few. Mrs. Andrus’ niece, Anne Andrus Grady has distinguished herself as well as an outstanding champion of historic preservation in Massachusetts. She has authored numerous Historic Structure Reports and National Historic Landmark nominations, advising on the preservation of many of that state’s most prominent buildings such as Boston’s Old South Meeting House. Her work of 3 decades culminated in a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Massachusetts Historical Commission in 2010. She is delighted that the Jay daguerrotypes will be conserved and find a permanent home in Rye where they can be studied and interpreted.

 

The Andrus Collection is composed of 8 leather cased daguerreotype plates several of which are hand-tinted. For the Jay Heritage Center, a gift with this most meaningful provenance, including plates produced in the studios of well known New York Daguerrians, Rufus Anson and Jeremiah Gurney, opens the door to new educational programming about America’s “New Art” as photography was then dubbed. This magical method of capturing images on silvered copper plates was introduced in the United States by none other than Samuel F. B. Morse. Morse, who was a colleague of John Jay’s eldest son, Peter Augustus Jay, first brought the daguerrotype process back to America in 1839. Morse’s earliest students included Gurney, as well as a young man named Edward Anthony. Anthony produced popular steroviews during the Civil War and also branched out into the photographic supplies business, creating many of the decorative book-like cases in which Gurney’s and other Daguerrians’ photos were sealed. (Coincidentally Anthony’s granddaughter married John Clarkson Jay III in 1903.)

 

An opening reception and exhibit on the Andrus collection is scheduled for this fall at the 1838 Jay Mansion accompanied by a series of lectures on early American photography.

 

###

 

Jay Heritage Center

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Email: jayheritagecenter@gmail.com

www.jayheritagecenter.org

  

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A National Historic Landmark since 1993

Member of the African American Heritage Trail of Westchester County since 2004

Member of the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area since 2009

On NY State's Path Through History (2013)

This book concludes our tandem edition on Recombination and Meiosis. Subtitled Models, Means and Evolution, it follows its first-born twin with emphasis on Crossing-Over and Disjunction. In the commissioning of chapter topics we have tried to cover numerous aspects of the meiotic system from many different angles. Both these books are embedded as volumes 2 and 3 in a topical Series devoted to Genome Dynamics and Stability, where DNA transmission and maintenance functions are discussed from experimental and theoretical perspectives. The earlier vol. 1 dealt with Facets and Perspectives of Genome Integrity, focusing on DNA damage repair mechanisms, and an upcoming vol.4 is on transposable elements. These books on meiotic processes, together with other volumes in this Series on genome management in mitotic cells, provide a grass-roots level starting platform—initiating a prospective trajectory superimposable upon the exploding field of molecular cell physiology, or systems biology (see below). The preceding volume preferentially dealt with meiotic processes in multicellular organisms, such as plants and animals including man. Also, basic accomplishments from work on yeasts was presented in a comparative perspective—concerning the decisive roles of Spo11-induced breaks for crossing-over, of sister chromatid cohesion in chromosome disjunction, and cell cycle modulation in the global control of the meiotic program. The present book puts additional focus on yeasts as unicellular model organisms, where progress in revealing the mechanisms of meiotic recombination has taken place most rapidly and systematically. Also, a central aspect of genetic recombination in E. coli is included for its outstanding merits as a universal model. Furthermore, three facets of evolutionary relevance are also discussed. As for the models and means of meiotic recombination, two prominent and comprehensive chapters call for particular attention. Inasmuch as theoretical interpretations of empirical data about the exchange of genetical markers in successive generations has long preceded their biochemical elucidation,James E.Haber gives expert guidance on a veritable tour de force, presenting the Evolution of Recombination Models frompurely genetic crosses into the molecular era. He follows the historical record from simplistic breaking/joining schemes to break-induced replication, from suspected single-strand breaks to partner choice by single-strand annealing, and from the generation of double-strand breaks (DSBs) to their repair by the establishment and resolution of single or double Holliday junctions, and finally to DSB repair in the absence of crossing over accomplished through synthesis-dependent strand annealing that does not involve Holliday junctions. This scenic ride is aptly complemented from the enzymatic perspective, as displayed by Kirk T. Ehmsen and Wolf-Dietrich Heyer on the Biochemistry of Meiotic Recombination: Formation, Processing, and Resolution of Recombination Intermediates. These authors highlight the biochemistry of meiotic recombination, as more and more meiosis-specific enzymes have been added to the basic toolbox, which likewise is at work in mitotic cells (cf. GDS vol. 1, this Series). Overlapping with functions in replication and DSB repair these enzymes comprise topoisomerase, nuclease, recombinase, polymerase, and helicase activities, as well as single-strand stabilizing protein, a protective end-tethering complex and a range of modulating co-factors. The single most remarkable feature about the initiation of meiotic recombination is the deliberate and catalyzed introduction of numerous DSBs in the chromosomal DNA. Notably, the enzyme responsible for this pivotal and conserved activity is derived from a former topoisomerase (Spo11; Keeney, this SERIES), which as such had a cell-intrinsic function essential for the untangling of replication intermediates in every cell cycle. The total number of cuts is even larger than the number of effective crossovers later on2. The important question of how the sites to be cut are chosen in a given cell— among myriads of potentially equivalent sites that are ignored—is still one of the most vigorously pursued aspects of ongoing research. Foremost, the susceptible substrate for meiotic DSBs is not naked DNA, but DNA embedded in chromatin, as highlighted by Michael Lichten, in his chapter on Meiotic Chromatin—the Substrate for Recombination Initiation. The two yeasts compared for this traits how pronounced differences in the distribution of hotspot sites for DSB formation. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a fairly promiscuous DSB machinery can be assembled at about every stretch of accessible chromatin that has been opened up for other purposes, especially at activated promoter regions. Michael Lichten coins the term "opportunistic DSBs" for these phenomena, foremost in S. cerevisiae—differentiating meiotic DSBs from both lower

and higher degrees of sequence specificity: on one hand ionizing radiation induced DSBs,which occur with little sequence preference and without regard for chromatin structure, and on the other hand from the site-specific cuts of restriction-type endonucleases—or other nucleic acid transactions, such as transcription promotion, where both chromatinstructure and the recognition of DNA sequence elements contribute to specificity. Such opportunistic usage of promoter-modulated open chromatin can only in part explain the DSB pattern observed in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, where other determinants may play a significant, hotspot-specific role. Also to be determined by meiosis-specific chromatin organization, the assembly of and/or cleavage by the DSB machinery should not be all too promiscuous on a particular issue, in that at most one of two sister chromatids can become susceptible at any given site, whereas the other sister strand needs to be protected around the equivalent site. The molecular basis for this significant restriction still remains to be determined. After the meiosis-specific, Spo11-induced DSBs have been processed to protruding 3 ends, these single strands have to interact with the corresponding sequence on the homologous chromosome, in order to repair and seal the break by homologous recombination. In eukaryotes the crucial strand exchange reaction is catalyzed by RecA-like recombinases of the ubiquitous Rad51 family and/orthemeiosis-specificDmc1protein. As modeled by the most widely studied RecA recombinase of E.coli, Chantal Prévost, in herchapter on Searching for Homology by Filaments of RecA-Like Proteins, discerns their basic functions in the genome-wide search for complementary DNA strands so as to facilitate the initial strand exchange reaction in highly coordinated, helical DNA–protein filaments, which likewise are formed by the eukaryotic RecA homologs. Corresponding studies to the leading work on meiosis in S.cerevisiae have also been pursued in S.pombe,showing striking differences indetail at various levels. The most interesting aspects of this work are pointed out in two chapters specifically devoted to the fission yeast. For one thing, S. pombe belongs to the rather few organisms that have lost the ability to form synaptonemal complexes in meiotic prophase, which usually stands out as the most characteristic structural basis of bivalent synapsis. Instead, another conserved feature of canonical meiosis, the clustering of telomeres in the so-called bouquet arrangement, is vastly exaggerated in a series of nuclear movements, which in S. pombe facilitates a dynamical alignment

of homologous chromosomes from nuclear fusion throughout the entire prophase of meiosis (D.Q. Dingand Y. Hiraoka, this BOOK). Furthermore, the crossover mechanism itself is peculiar as well. Whilst many organisms including S. cerevisiae actually employ two partly overlapping crossover pathways, one of these pathways is entirely missing in S. pombe. Characteristically, the main recombinational intermediate in S.pombe consists of single Holliday junctions (G. Cromie and G.R.Smith, this BOOK), whilst earlier results on S. cerevisiae had suggested double Holliday junctions as the canonical model. The species-oriented chapter by Gareth Cromie and Gerald R. Smith, on Meiotic Recombination in S. pombe: A Paradigm for Genetic and Molecular Analysis,was published Online FirstinJune2007. At thatrelatively early date, most of their extensive data on DSB hotspot distribution in S. pombe were mentioned in brief as unpublished results. These significant data are now more fully discussed, as mentioned above, in Michael Lichten’s comparative chapter—with due reference to their recent publication in the mean time (Cromie et al. 2007). Unfortunate as such asynchrony appears to be, this is a price to pay for the advantages of Online First publication for the individual chapters as they are being completed—with a spread of Online First dates up to a year per book in such a series. Three evolutionary topics relating to meiosis have been selected to conclude this book: the putative origin of the meiotic system, the confinement of meiosis to the germline in animals, and the abandonment of meiosis in relatively few eukaryotic lineages, some of which are remarkably persistent on the evolutionary time scale—capable of lasting for millions of years. At the dawn of genetics, crossing-over and meiosis had been considered very much the same, but the early view of apparent congruence between the two phenomena has long since been abandoned. Instead, genetic recombination as such has proved to have much earlier and more fundamental roles than the complex and highly integrated pattern of mainstream meiosis, of which crossing-over has become the most characteristic ingredient. In short, homologous DNA recombination has directly co-evolved with faithful replication (see R. Egel and D.Penny, thisBOOK), clearing physical damageand/or broken replication forks as they arise (C. Rudolph, K.A. Schürer, and W. Kramer, GDS vol. 1, this Series)—potentially in each cell cycle of prokaryotes and eukaryotes alike. Of more sporadic occurrence, on the other hand, meiosis only happens once per generation,or life cycle—whatever meaning may be attached to these derived terms for unicellular organisms (see below). N.B., bacteria and archaea are proficient in recombinational repair of DSB damage to their DNA, but meiosis is missing altogether. In multicellular organisms, the meanings of generation and lifecycle are evident, and the complex inter-relationship of germline development and maintaining sexuality in animals and plants was already recognized by Charles Darwin and August Weissmann by the end of the 19th century. In his chapter on The Legacy of the Germ Line—Maintaining Sex and Life in Metazoans: Cognitive Roots of the Concept of Hierarchical Selection, Dirk-Henner Lankenau follows the germline concept to its historical roots, and he addresses the multiple levels of selective evolution related to this concept. Also, he fathoms Weismann’s prescient usage of germ plasm in its original meaning that nowadays has been replaced by genes and genomes—and he sketches a tie to modern frontiers, discussing the so-called nuage as a germline-specific germplasm organelle of multiple RNA processing, where a suspended term is thus revived in new guises. A hallmark of meiosis is the production of recombinant offspring, efficiently scrambling the parental genotypes. The overwhelming majority of taxonomic groups throughout eukaryotes show proficiency of meiosis, at least to begin with. Higher plants and animals would probably never have originated without the evolutionary thrust empowered by meiosis. Yet, sexual propagation including meiosis has been lost repeatedly in evolution, although major evolutionary innovations have never sprung from such secondarily asexual lineages. Hence, asexual lineages of relatively ancient origins can serve as virtual mirrors to reflect the evolutionary importance of meiosis in the remaining majority of animals and plants, as thoroughly discussed by Isa Schön, Dunja K.Lamatsch,

and Koen Martens in their chapter on Lessons to Learn from Ancient Asexuals. To single out a particular highlight, the purging of deleterious mutations by a meiotic recombination appears to be remarkably effective—readily compensating for the low mutation rates observed. As for the inferred origin of the meiotic system, this does not only far predate the emergence of multicellular animals, fungi and plants—it even dates back before the last common ancestor of all the eukaryotic phyla known today (LECA). As canonical meiosis, therefore, is a common heritage to all eukaryotes, there are no comparative cues among different lineages living today from which by parsimony to deduce a likely order of step-wise additions to the basic toolbox of meiotic mechanisms. On the other hand, the meiotic system is so complex in its widely conserved pattern, that its instantaneous invention from scratch appears unlikely. Against this rather uninformative backdrop, Richard Egel and David Penny, in their chapter On the Origin of Meiosis in Eukaryotic Evolution, propose a possible series of incremental steps towards meiosis, each of which could have added some selective advantage on its own. This series may well have started before the mitotic division system had been perfected to its present fidelity, e.g. when telomere-directed chromosome movements may have preceded the establishment of centromeres. Hence their hypothesis is subtitled Coevolution of Meiosis and Mitosis from Feeble Beginnings. A likely driving force to establish a proto-meiotic system—alternating with proto-mitotic nuclear division—is seen in maintaining a periodically needed dormancy program, so as to protect it against the accumulation of dormancy-deficient mutations at the higher error load presumed in early evolution. This is in line with the common correlation between meiosis and the formation of dormant spores or cysts in extant microbial eukaryotes. In a certain sense, therefore, a single generation in the life cycle of unicellular eukaryotes would last from one stage of encystment or sporulation to the next. With the commissioning and presentation of the various chapter topics on the genomic aspects of the meiotic system we hope to have served a salient need for integrating basic knowledge gained from studying diverse genetic model organisms. Research on meiotic exchange and segregation mechanisms may appear more esoteric than the vast resources spent on understanding metabolism and growth in mitotic cells. While emphasis on the latter area is motivated by the numerical predominance of mitotic divisions, as well as the direct connection of mitotic cell divisions to the immense problems of cancerous growth in human disease, meiosis in its paucity is more secluded and its medical aspects are limited to less pressing problems, such as impaired fertility or Down-like syndromes (H.Kokotas,M.Grigoriadou,andM.B.Petersen, this Series). Also, a certain twist of hierarchy is undeniable: whilst endless perpetuation of mitotic divisions can be viable as an evolutionarily stable strategy, a contiguous series of several meioses is certainly not. In this sense meiosis will always be the subordinate companion of mitosis. At the conceptual level, however, the complexity of molecular mechanisms applying to meiosis far exceeds that of its mitotic counterpart. And for the continuity of generations in most eukaryotic forms of life, both meiosis and mitosis are complementary features of general and essential interest. Traditionally, the largest share of meiotic research has been focused on DNA exchange and related features, whereas the immense field of protein–protein interactions in the rewiring of the meiotic cell out of and back into the mitotic cell cycle stood in second place. The concluding chapter of the preceding volume specifically deals with these meiotic aspects of molecular cell physiology (L. Pérez-Hidalgo, S. Moreno, and C. Martin-Castellanos, this Series). As pioneered with yeasts, genome-wide expression studies have started with identifying all the genes upregulated in meiotic cells and sorting them into functional categories. This is a long way off fromknowing all their particular functions. To illustrate the scope of the barely charted field: of 4,824 annotated genes in S. pombe, 955 proteins contain coiled-coil motifs4; of these, 180 are upregulated before, during or after meiosis—21 exclusively so, but not expressed during mitosis (Ohtaka et al. 2007). The interactive potential of so many proteins is enormous, and the systemsbiology of meiosis has merely just begun. To form a link between both books on Recombination and Meiosis, the list of chapter titles in the preceding volume is included after the Contents table of this book. In fact, as some of the individual chapters already had been published Online First, before the editorial decision to divide the printed edition into two books, the preliminary cross references had not yet accounted for the split. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but the listing of all the chapter titles in both books should hopefully direct the reader to the proper destination. We would also like to point out that the missing chapter numbers are no neglect but reflect an obligatory compromise necessitated by publishing all manuscripts OnlineFirst immediately

after they have been peer-reviewed, revised, accepted and copy-edited (see, www.springerlink.com/content/119766/). We most cordially thank all the chapter authors for contributing to this topical edition of two accompanying books focusing on meiotic recombination. Without their expertise and dedicated work this comprehensive treatise would not have been possible. Receiving the incoming drafts as editors, we had the great privilege of being the first to read so many up-to-date reviews on the various aspects of meiotic recombination and model studies elucidating this ever-captivating field. Also, we greatly appreciate the productive input of numerous referees, who have assisted us in thriving for the highest level of expertship, comprehensiveness, and readability. We are again deeply indebted to the editorial staff at Springer. We would especially like to mention the editor Sabine Schwarz at Springer Life Sciences(Heidelberg), the deskeditor Ursula Gramm (Springer,Heidelberg),and the production editor Martin Weissgerber (le-tex publishing services oHG, Leipzig).

April 2008

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A new museum entirely devoted to the Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser was inaugurated on 12th June 2014 in Abensberg (Bavaria). It was built in Hundertwasser style (outside and inside) by Peter Pelikan and displays many original paintings and works carried out by this famous artist.

Location: near the Kuchlbauer brewery and the 35 m high tower erected on Hundertwasser plans after his death in 2000.

www.wochenblatt.de/nachrichten/kelheim/regionales/Das-Kun...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedensreich_Hundertwasser

www.hundertwasser.at/index_en.php

A devotee at the Jama Mosque,Gujarat.

Short video clips, attempted to film the info on the wall in this small room, devoted to the history of the Civil War regarding Sulgrave Manor and the Washington family.

 

The Washington's sided with the Royalists and fled to the American Colonies in the 1650s.

 

Bits of the Washington family tree.

 

Sulgrave Manor is a Grade I listed building.

 

Manor house. Built c.1540-60 by Lawrence Washington, who acquired the Manor in 1539. c.1673 it passed to the Rev. Moses Hodges, whose son John made alterations to the house c.1700 and added the north-east wing. By the late C18 the house had become a farm and part was demolished. Of the centre, only the right half with the porch is original. The left half was rebuilt by Sir Reginald Blomfield who restored the house in 1920-30. Coursed limestone rubble, rendered porch, stone slate roof, brick and stone stacks. L-plan, through passage. 2 storeys and attic, 3 bays. Gabled 2-storey porch in centre has entrance with 4-centred arch under square hood with Washington arms in the spandrels. Washington coat of arms in plaster above, 3-light window with wood lintel and old iron casement on first floor. Plaster coat of arms of Queen Elizabeth I in the gable and a traingular device in plaster, said to be the wool stapler's symbol, at the apex. Inner doorway has 4-centred wood arch and C20 panelled door. 4-light wood mullioned and transomed windows with wood lintels on the ground floor. 4-light wood mullioned windows with wood lintels on the first floor. Coped left gable end with kneelers. Former brewhouse, now offices, attached to house by short stone wall to north. Probably c.1700, remodelled C20 by Sir Reginald Blomfield. Coursed limestone rubble, stone slate roof, one storey and loft. 4 bays. 2 doorways with wood lintels in plank doors to left, two C20 windows with wood mullion to right. Interior: Side walls of porch have large C16 plaster figures of a lion and dragon. Great Hall has screen designed by Blomfield and original open Fireplace with moulded timber 4-centred arch and stone jambs. Ceiling with moulded cross beams forming 24 square panels. The windows contain reproductions of stained glass arms of the Washington family. The originals are in Fawsley Church and Weston Hall. Oak Parlour on the ground floor has early C18 fireplace with moulded stone surround and panelled walls and overmantel of the same date. In the kitchen is a large open fireplace with ovens. Late C17 staircase with twisted balusters. The Great Chamber, on the first floor, has a fireplace similar to that in the hall and an open timber roof of 2-bays with central cambered collar beam and central moulded pendant, and arched braces carved on moulded wood corbel. Interior of former brew- house not inspected. Lawrence Washington was a wool merchant and became mayor of Northampton in 1532. In 1610 Sulgrave Manor was purchased by his grandson, Lawrence Makepeace. It was sold in 1659 and had no further connection with the Washington family. In 1914 it was purchased as a memorial to George Washington. (H. Clifford Smith, Sulgrave Manor and the Washingtons, London 1933).

 

Sulgrave Manor - Heritage Gateway

The Postcard

 

A postally unused carte postale that was published by N.D. The card has a divided back.

 

The South Portal

 

The south portal, which was added later than the others, in the 13th. century, is devoted to events after the Crucifixion of Christ, and particularly to the Christian martyrs.

 

The decoration of the central bay concentrates on the Last Judgement and the Apostles; the left bay on the lives of martyrs; and the right bay is devoted to confessor saints.

 

This arrangement is repeated in the stained glass windows of the apse. The arches and columns of the porch are lavishly decorated with sculpture representing the labours of the months, the signs of the zodiac, and statues representing the virtues and vices.

 

On top of the porch, between the gables, are pinnacles in the arcades with statues of eighteen Kings, beginning with King David, representing the lineage of Christ, and linking the Old Testament and the New.

 

Chartres

 

Chartres is a city and capital of the Eure-et-Loir département in France. At the 2019 census, there were 38,534 individuals living in the city.

 

Chartres is famous worldwide for its Gothic cathedral which is in an exceptional state of preservation. The majority of the original stained glass windows survive intact, while the architecture has seen only minor changes since the early 13th. century.

 

Part the old town, including most of the library associated with the School of Chartres, was destroyed by Allied bombs in 1944.

 

The Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres, is one of the finest and best preserved Gothic cathedrals in France and in Europe. Its historical and cultural importance has been recognized by its inclusion on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

 

Chartres is built on a hill on the left bank of the river Eure. The medieval cathedral is at the top of the hill, and its two spires are visible from miles away across the flat surrounding lands. To the southeast stretches the fertile plain of Beauce, the "Granary of France", of which the town is the commercial centre.

 

Chartres cathedral was built on the site of the former Chartres cathedral of Romanesque architecture, which was destroyed by fire (that former cathedral had been built on the ruins of an ancient Celtic temple, later replaced by a Roman temple).

 

Begun in 1205, the construction of Notre-Dame de Chartres was completed 66 years later.

 

The stained glass windows of the cathedral were financed by guilds of merchants and craftsmen, and by wealthy noblemen, whose names appear at the bottom. It is not known how the famous and unique blue, bleu de Chartres, of the glass was created, and it has been impossible to replicate it.

 

Chartres in WWII

 

In World War II, the city suffered heavy damage, both by bombing and during the battle of Chartres in August 1944, but the cathedral was spared by an American Army officer who challenged the order to destroy it.

 

On the 16th. August 1944, Colonel Welborn Barton Griffith Jr. questioned the necessity of destroying the cathedral, and volunteered to go behind enemy lines to find out whether the Germans were using it as an observation post.

 

With his driver, Griffith proceeded to the cathedral and, after searching it all the way up its bell tower, confirmed to Headquarters that it was empty of Germans. The order to destroy the cathedral was withdrawn.

 

Colonel Griffith was killed in action later on that day in the town of Lèves, 3.5 kilometres (2.2 miles) north of Chartres. For his heroic action both at Chartres and Lèves, Colonel Griffith received, posthumously, decorations awarded by the President of the United States and the U.S. Military, and also from the French government.

 

Following deep reconnaissance missions and after heavy fighting in and around the city, Chartres was liberated on the 18th. August 1944, by the U.S. 5th. Infantry and 7th. Armored Divisions commanded by General George S. Patton.

 

Churches of Chartres

 

The Église Saint-Pierre de Chartres was the church of the Benedictine Abbaye Saint-Père-en-Vallée, founded in the 7th. century by Queen Balthild. At the time of its construction, the abbey was outside the walls of the city. It contains fine stained glass and, formerly, twelve representations of the apostles in enamel, created circa 1547 by Léonard Limosin, which now can be seen in the fine arts museum.

 

Other noteworthy churches of Chartres are Saint-Aignan (13th., 16th. and 17th. centuries), and Saint-Martin-au-Val (12th. century), inside the Saint-Brice hospital.

 

Museums of Chartres

 

Chartres' Museums include:

 

-- Le Musée des Beaux-Arts, a fine arts museum, housed in the former episcopal palace adjacent to the cathedral.

-- Le Centre International du Vitrail, a workshop-museum and cultural center devoted to stained glass art, located 50 metres (160 feet) from the cathedral.

-- Le Conservatoire du Machinisme et des Pratiques Agricoles, an agricultural museum.

-- Le Musée le Grenier de l'Histoire, a history museum specializing in military uniforms and accoutrements, in Lèves, a suburb of Chartres.

-- Le Musée des Sciences Naturelles et de la Préhistoire, a Natural science and Prehistory Museum (closed since 2015).

 

Other Features of Chartres

 

The river Eure, which at this point divides into three branches, is crossed by several bridges, some of them ancient, and is fringed in places by remains of the old fortifications, of which the Porte Guillaume (14th. century), a gateway flanked by towers, was the most complete specimen, until destroyed by the retreating German army on the night of the 15th./16th. August 1944.

 

The steep, narrow streets of the old town contrast with the wide, shady boulevards which encircle it and separate it from the suburbs. The Parc André-Gagnon lies to the north-west, and squares and open spaces are numerous.

 

Part of the Hôtel de Ville dates from the 17th. century, and is called l'Hôtel de Montescot. There is also La Maison Canoniale dating back to the 13th. century, and several medieval and Renaissance houses.

 

La Maison Picassiette, a house decorated inside and out with mosaics of shards of broken china and pottery, is also worth a visit.

 

There is also a statue of General Marceau (1769–1796), a native of Chartres and a general during the French Revolution.

 

The Economy of Chartres

 

Historically, game pies and other delicacies of Chartres are well known, and the city's industries have also included flour-milling, brewing, distilling, iron-founding, leather manufacture, perfumes, dyeing, stained glass, billiard requisites and hosiery.

 

More recently, businesses include the manufacture of electronic equipment and car accessories. Since 1976 the fashion and perfumes company Puig has had a production plant in the commune.

 

Pilgrimages

 

Chartres has been a site of Catholic pilgrimages since the Middle Ages. The poet Charles Péguy, who was born in 1873, revived the pilgrimage route between Paris and Chartres before the Great War.

 

At the outbreak of the war, Péguy became a lieutenant in the French 276th. Infantry Regiment. He died at the age of 41 in battle, shot in the forehead, near Villeroy, Seine-et-Marne on the 5th. September 1914, the day before the beginning of the Battle of the Marne. There is a memorial to Charles near the field where he was killed.

 

After the war, a number of students carried on the pilgrimage in his memory. Since 1982, the association Notre-Dame de Chrétienté, with offices in Versailles, organizes the annual 100 km (62 mi) pilgrimage on foot from Notre-Dame de Paris to Notre-Dame de Chartres. About 15,000 pilgrims, from France and countries outside France, participate every year.

 

The Bataclan Theatre Massacre

 

Chartres was the home of Omar Ismael Mostefaï aged 29, one of the three gunmen who attacked the audience at the Bataclan concert venue on the 13th. November 2015, starting at 21.40.

 

It was part of a carefully co-ordinated attack on Paris; over a 20 minute period, Islamist militants also killed and injured people at the Stade de France, and at six restaurants and cafes along the 10th. and 11th. arrondissements.

 

One of the restaurants was a popular Cambodian eatery in the trendy Canal Saint-Martin area, where at least 12 people died. Another 19 people were killed at a busy restaurant on nearby Rue de Charonne.

 

Shootings and bomb blasts on that night left a total of 130 people dead and hundreds wounded, with more than 100 in a critical condition.

 

The Start of the Bataclan Massacre

 

On the evening of the 13th. November 2015, the American rock band Eagles of Death Metal was playing to an audience of about 1,500 people at the Bataclan on the Boulevard Voltaire in the 11th. arrondissement of Paris.

 

Three dark-clad gunmen had been waiting in a black rental car near the venue for more than an hour, and were armed with Zastava M70 assault rifles. The M70 is a derivative of the Soviet AK-47, and can fire at a rate of 620 rounds per minute. Over 4 million of the ghastly things have unfortunately been manufactured.

 

The terrorists were three French natives of Algerian descent. As the band was playing their song "Kiss the Devil", the three men got out of the car and opened fire on people outside the venue, killing three.

 

They then burst into the concert hall and sprayed the crowd with automatic gunfire. Witnesses heard shouts of "Allahu Akbar" as the terrorists opened fire. Initially, the audience mistook the gunfire for pyrotechnics. The band ran offstage and escaped with many of the crew, although their tour manager was killed.

 

Rows of people were mown down by gunfire or were forced to drop to the ground to avoid being shot. Survivors described hundreds of people lying beside and on top of each other in pools of blood, screaming in terror and pain.

 

The gunmen also fired up into the balconies, and dead bodies fell down onto the stalls below. For a few minutes, the hall was plunged into darkness, with only the flashes from the assault rifles as the gunmen kept shooting.

 

The terrorists shouted that they were there because of French airstrikes against Islamic State. A witness who was inside the Bataclan heard a gunman say:

 

"This is because of all the harm

done by Hollande to Muslims all

over the world."

 

A radio reporter attending the concert reported that:

 

"The terrorists were calm and determined, and they

reloaded three or four times. Two gunmen attacked

the concert hall; one gunman covered fire while

another reloaded to ensure maximum efficiency."

 

Whenever a gunman stopped to reload, members of the crowd, some with bullets in them, ran for the emergency exits, scrambling over each other to escape. Some were shot from behind as they fled, and the terrorists laughed as they shot them. Those who reached an emergency exit were shot by the third gunman, who had positioned himself there.

 

Other groups of people barricaded themselves in backstage rooms. Some smashed open the ceiling in an upstairs toilet, and hid among the rafters under the roof. Those who could not run lay still on the floor or under bodies pretending to be dead. One women was seen hanging from a third floor window.

 

According to survivors, the terrorists walked among those who were lying down, kicked them, and shot them in the head if there were any sign of life.

 

An eyewitness reported hearing the gunmen ask amongst themselves where the members of the Eagles of Death Metal were once the gunfire stopped. Mostefaï and another of the gunmen then went upstairs to the balconies, while the third attacker stayed downstairs and fired at people who tried to flee.

 

Initial Armed Response to the Terrorists

 

The Brigade of Research and Intervention (BRI) arrived on the scene at 22:15, soon followed by the elite tactical unit, RAID. At 22:15, the first two responding officers entered the building armed with handguns and encountered one of the terrorists who was standing on the stage.

 

The Jihadist died after being shot by the officers and detonating his explosive vest. Mostefaï and the other remaining gunman (Mohamed-Aggad) then fired upon the officers, forcing them to withdraw and wait for backup.

 

The Stand-Off

 

From this point, Mostefaï and the other attacker took about twenty hostages and herded them into a room at the end of a corridor located further within the building. They also seized the hostages' mobile phones and attempted to use them to access the Internet, but they were unable to find a signal.

 

Some of the hostages were forced to look down into the hall and out the windows and report what they saw. During this time, the two terrorists fired on police and first responders as they arrived at the scene.

 

At 23:30, an elite police squad entered the building. One unit evacuated survivors from downstairs, while another unit went upstairs. They found Mohamed-Aggad and Mostefaï, who had begun using hostages as human shields. They shouted out to police the number of a hostage's phone.

 

Over the next 50 minutes, they had four phone exchanges with a police negotiator, during which time they threatened to execute hostages unless they received a signed paper promising France's departure from Muslim lands.

 

The Police Assault

 

The police assault began at 00:20 and lasted three minutes. Police launched the assault because of reports that Mohamed-Aggad and Mostefaï had started killing hostages. Police using shields burst open the door to the room and exchanged fire with Mohamed-Aggad and Mostefaï while managing to pull the hostages one-by-one behind their shields. One terrorist detonated his explosive vest, and the other tried to do the same but was shot.

 

Ninety people were killed at the Bataclan on that night, and hundreds of others were wounded. Almost all of the deceased victims were killed within the first 20 minutes of the attack. All of the hostages were rescued without injury.

 

Police dog teams from the Brigade Cynophile assisted with body removal because of concerns that there could still be live explosives in the theatre. Identification and removal of the bodies took 10 hours, a process made difficult because some audience members had left their identity papers in the theatre's cloakroom.

 

Omar Ismael Mostefaï

 

The homegrown suicide bomber Omar Ismael Mostefaï was identified after his finger was found among the Bataclan concert hall carnage.

 

Mostefaï was born in the Paris suburb of Courcouronnes and had eight past convictions for petty crimes. He is said to have been radicalised by a Belgian hate preacher at a mosque in France.

 

The Jihadist was buried in the Cimetière Parisien de Thiais

located in Val-de-Marne.

Meenakshi Amman Temple (also called: Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple, Tiru-aalavaai and Meenakshi Amman Kovil) is a historic Hindu temple located on the southern bank of the Vaigai River in the temple city of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is dedicated to Parvati, known as Meenakshi, and her consort, Shiva, here named Sundareswarar. The temple forms the heart and lifeline of the 2,500 year old city of Madurai and is a significant symbol for the Tamil people, mentioned since antiquity in Tamil literature though the present structure was built between 1623 and 1655 CE. It houses 14 gopurams (gateway towers), ranging from 45–50m in height. The tallest is the southern tower, 51.9 metres high, and two golden sculptured vimanas, the shrines over the garbhagrihas (sanctums) of the main deities. The temple attracts 15,000 visitors a day, around 25,000 on Fridays, and receives an annual revenue of sixty million INR. There are an estimated 33,000 sculptures in the temple. It was on the list of top 30 nominees for the "New Seven Wonders of the World". The annual 10-day Meenakshi Tirukalyanam festival, celebrated during April and May, attracts 1 million visitors.

 

LEGEND

Meenakshi (IAST Mīnākṣī Tamil மீனாட்சி) is an avatar of the Hindu goddess Parvati - the consort of Shiva, one of the few Hindu female deities to have a major temple devoted to her. The name "Mīnachchi" means fish-eyed and is derived from the words "mīna" meaning fish and "akṣi" meaning eyes. The lady goddess Meenakshi is the principal deity of the temple, not Sundareswarar, unlike most Shiva temples in South India where Shiva is the principal deity. According to Hindu legend, in order to answer the prayers of the second Pandya king Malayadwaja Pandya and his wife Kanchanamalai, Parvati appeared out of the holy fire of the Putra Kameshti Yagna (sacrifice for childhood) performed by the king. According to another legend, the goddess herself gave notice to Kanchanamalai in one of her previous births that Kanchanamalai would have the privilege of mothering the goddess. The girl who came out of the holy fire had three breasts. A voice from the heavens told the king not to worry about the abnormality and added that the third breast would vanish as soon as the girl met her future husband. The happy king named the girl "Tadaatagai" and as the heir to the throne, Tadaatagai was trained carefully in all the 64 sastras, the fields of science.

 

As the time came for Tadaatagai's coronation, she had to wage war in three worlds encompassing eight directions. After conquering Brahma's Abode, Sathyaloka, Vishnu's Abode, Vaikunta, and Devas' abode Amaravati, she advanced to Shiva's Abode Kailasha. She very easily defeated the bhoota ganas (IAST: Bhūtagana, meaning Shiva's army) and Nandi, the celestial bull of Shiva, and headed to attack and conquer Shiva. The moment she looked at Shiva, she was unable to fight and bowed her head down due to shyness, and the third breast vanished immediately. Tadaatagai realized that Shiva was her destined husband. She also realized that she was the incarnation of Parvati. Both Shiva and Tadaatagai returned to Madurai and the king arranged the coronation ceremony of his daughter, followed by her marriage with Shiva.

 

The marriage was to be the biggest event on earth, with the whole earth gathering near Madurai. Vishnu, the brother of Meenakshi, prepared to travel from his holy abode at Vaikuntam to preside over the marriage. Due to a divine play, he was tricked by the Deva, Indra and was delayed on the way. After the marriage, the pair ruled over Madurai for a long time and then assumed divine forms as Sundareswarar and Meenakshi, the presiding deities of the temple. Following the tradition, every evening, before closing the temple, a ritual procession lead by drummers and a brass ensemble carries the image of Sundareswarar to Meenakshi's bedroom to consummate the union, to be taken back the next morning in dawn. The marriage is celebrated annually as Chithirai Thiruvizha in Madurai. During the period of Nayakar rule in Madurai, the ruler Thirumalai Nayakar linked the festival Azhakar Thiruvizha and the Meenakshi wedding ceremony.

 

HISTORY

The Meenatchi temple is believed to have been founded by Indra (king of Deva celestial deities) while he was on a pilgrimage to atone for his misdeeds. He felt his burden lifting as he neared the swayambu lingam (self formed lingam, a representation of Shiva used for worship in temples) of Madurai. He ascribed this miracle to the lingam and constructed the temple to enshrine it. Indra worshipped Shiva, who caused golden lotuses to appear in the nearby pool. Tamil literature speaks of the temple over the last two millennia. Thirugnanasambandar, the famous Hindu saint of Saiva philosophy, mentioned this temple as early as the 7th century, and described the deity as Aalavai Iraivan. The temple is believed to have been sacked by the infamous Muslim invader Malik Kafur in 1310 and all the ancient elements were destroyed. The initiative to rebuild the structure was taken by first Nayak king of Madurai, Viswanatha Nayak (1559–1600) under the supervision of Ariyanatha Mudaliar, the prime minister of the Nayak Dynasty and the founder of the Poligar System. The original design by Vishwanatha Nayak in 1560 was substantially expanded to the current structure during the reign of Thirumalai Nayak (1623–55). He took considerable interest in erecting many complexes inside the temple. His major contributions are the Vasantha Mandapam for celebrating vasanthorsavam (spring festival) and Kilikoondu Mandapam (corridor of parrots). The corridors of the temple tank and Meenatchi Nayakar Mandapam were built by Rani Mangammal.

 

Rous Peter (1786–1828), the Collector of Madurai in 1812, got nickname 'Peter Pandian’ as he respected and treated people of all faiths equally. He donated a set of golden stirrups studded with diamonds and red stones to the temple. Goddess Meenatchi is believed to have saved Rous Peter from a fatal incident. He also wished that after his death, his body be buried in a position that would enable his eyes to face the temple.

 

THE TEMPLE

ARCHITECTURE

The temple is the geographic and ritual center of the ancient city of Madurai and one of the largest temple complexes in Tamil Nadu. The temple complex is divided into a number of concentric quadrangular enclosures contained by high masonry walls. It is one of the few temples in Tamil Nadu to have four entrances facing four directions. Vishwantha Nayaka allegedly redesigned the city of Madurai in accordance with the principles laid down by Shilpa Shastras (Sanskrit: śilpa śāstra, also anglicized as silpa sastra meaning rules of architecture) relevant to urban planning. The city was laid out in the shape of square with a series of concentric streets culminating from the temple. These squares continue to retain their traditional names, Aadi, Chittirai, Avani-moola and Masi streets, corresponding to Tamil month names. Ancient Tamil classics mention that the temple was the center of the city and the streets happened to be radiating out like lotus and its petals. The temple prakarams (outer precincts of a temple) and streets accommodate an elobrate festival calendar in which dramatic processions circumabulate the shrines at varying distances from the centre. The vehicles used in processions are progressively more massive the further they travel from the centre. The complex is in around 180,000 m2.

 

GOPURAMS

The temple is surrounded by gopurams (gateway tower), - There are ten gopuram the tallest of which, the famous southern tower, rises to over 52 m and was built in 1559. The oldest gopuram is the eastern one, built by Maravarman Sundara Pandyan during 1216-1238 Each gopuram is a multi-storeyed structure, covered with thousands of stone figures of animals, gods and demons painted in bright hues. The outer gopuram presents steeply pyramidal tower encrusted with plaster figures, while the inner gopuram serves as the entrance to the inner enclosure of Sundareswarar shrine.

 

SHRINES

The central shrine of Meenakshi Amman temple and her consort Sundareswarar are surrounded by three enclosures and each of these are protected by four minor towers at the four points of the compass, the outer tower growing larger and reaching higher to the corresponding inner one. The Meenakshi shrine has the emerald-hued black stone image of Meenakshi. The Sundareswarar shrine lies at the centre of the complex, suggesting that the ritual dominance of the goddess developed later. Both the Meenakshi and Sundareswarar shrines have gold plated Vimanam (tower over sanctum). The golden top can be seen from a great distance in the west through the apertures of two successive towers. The area covered by the shrine of Sundareswarar is exactly one fourth of the area of the temple and that of Meenakshi is one fourth that of Sundareswarar.

 

The tall sculpture of Ganesh carved of single stone located outside the Sundareswarar shrine in the path from Meenashi shrine is called the Mukuruny Vinayakar. A large measure of rice measuring 3 kurini (a measure) is shaped into a big ball of sacrifice and hence the Ganesh is called Mukkurni Vinayagar (three kurinis). This deity is believed to be found during a 17th-century excavation process to dig the Mariamman temple tank.

 

TEMPLE TANK & SURROUNDING PORTICO

The sacred temple tank Porthamarai Kulam ("Pond with the golden lotus"), is 50 m by 37 m in size. According to legend, Shiva promised a stork that no fish or other marine life would grow here and thus no marine animals are found in the lake. In the Tamil legends, the lake is supposed to judge the worth of a new piece of literature. Authors place their works here and the poorly written works are supposed to sink and the scholastic ones are supposed to float, Tirukkural by Tiruvalluvar was one such work.

 

Only a fraction of 17th and 18th century paintings of Nayak period survives and one such portion is found in the small portico on the western side of the tank. It depicts the marriage of Sundareswarar and Meenkashi attended by Vijayaranga Chokkanatha and Rani Mangammal. The painting is executed on a vivid red background, with delicate black linework and large areas of white, green and ochre. The celestial couple is seated inside an architectural frame with a flowering tree in the background.

 

HALLS

The corridor surrounding the sanctum the Meenakshi is called kilikoondu Mandapam ("bird cage corridor"). The space was once used to keep green parrots that were trained to utter the name of Meenakshi. There are two large cages full of squawking green parrots.

 

The Kambatadi Mandapam ("Hall of temple tree") with its seated Nandi (sacred bull) has various manifestations of Shiva carved and also contains the famous "Marriage of Meenakshi" sculpture. Sculptures of Shiva and Kali trying to out-dance one another are pelted with balls of ghee by devotees. A golden flagstaff with 32 sections symbolizes the human backbone and is surrounded by various gods, including Durga and Siddar.

 

The Puthu Mandapam ("new hall") constructed by Tirumala Nayak contains large number of sculptures. It is situated opposite to the east gopuram.

 

The Ashta Shakthi Mandapam ("Hall of eight goddess") is the first hall in the entrance of Meenakshi shrine tower near to East Tower. Ashta indicates eight and Shakthi refers to goddess - the hall has statues of eight goddesses. The gopurams (towers) can be viewed from this hall. The passage was named for eight forms of goddess Sakthi carved on its pillars. Other sculptures and paintings depict the Tiruvilayadal (holy games of Shiva). The sculptures of heroes of Mahabharata, the Pancha pandavas can be seen in the Pancha Pandava Mandapam (Hall of Pandavas).

 

The Viravasantharaya Mandapam is a large hall with huge corridors. To the south of this hall is the kalyana mandapam, to the south of the pillared hall, is where the marriage of Shiva and Parvati is celebrated every year during the Chithirai Festival in mid-April. The golden images of Meenakshi and Sundareswarar are carried into the 16th century oonjal mandapam (swing corridor) and placed on the swing every Friday at 5:30 p.m. The shrine has a 3-storied gopuram guarded by two stern dwarapalakas (guardians) and supported by golden, rectangular columns that bear lotus markings. Along the perimeter of the chamber, granite panels of the divine couple are present. The hall is situated in the western bank of the temple tank.

 

The Mudali Pillai Mandapam or Iruttu Mandapam (Dark hall) is a wide and long hall built by Muthu Pillai during 1613. On the pillars of the halls, there are fine sculptures depicting the story of Shiva taking the form of Bikshadanar to teach the sages a lesson.

 

The Mangayarkarasi mandapam is a newly built hall situated opposite to the marriage halls and bears the name of saindy queen, Mangayarkarasi who contributed to Saivism and Tamil language. To the south of Mangayarkarasi mandapam lies the Servaikarar Mandapam, a hall built by Marudu brothers in 1795. The Nagara mandapam (Hall of beating drums) lies opposite to Sundareswarar shrine was built by Achaya Rayar, the minister of Rani Mangammal in 1635. The Kolu Mandapam is a hall for displaying dolls during the Navarathri festival celebrated during September–October. This hall is situated in the second corridor of the Meenakshi shrine at the western side.

 

HALL OF THOUSAND PILLARS

The Meenakshi Nayakkar Mandapam ("Hall of 1000 pillars") has two rows of pillars carved with images of yali (mythological beast with body of lion and head of an elephant), commonly used as the symbol of Nayak power. It is situated to the north of Sundareswarar flag staff hall. The Thousand Pillar Hall contains 985 (instead of 1000) carved pillars. The hall was built by Ariyanatha Mudaliar in 1569 and blends engineering skill and artistic vision. Ariyanatha Mudaliar was prime minister and general of Viswanatha Nayak, the first Nayaka of Madurai (1559–1600). He was also the founder of Poligar System, the quasi-feudal organization of the country dividing it into multiple palayams or small provinces in which each palayam was ruled by a palayakkarar or a petty chief. At the entrance of the hall is the statue of Ariyanatha Mudaliar seated on a horse-back, flanking one side of the entrance to the temple. The statue is periodically garlanded by worshippers. Each pillar in the hall is a carved monument of the Dravidian sculpture. The more prominent among the carved figures are those of Rati (wife of Kama), Karthikeya, Ganesha, Shiva as a wandering mendicant and endless number of yalis (mythical figures of lions). There is a Temple Art Museum in the hall where icons, photographs, drawings, and other exhibits of the 1200 years old history of the temple are displayed. Just outside this hall, towards the west, are the Musical Pillars. Each pillar, when struck, produces a different musical note.

 

RELIGIOUS SIGNIFANCE OF THE TEMPLE

A distinct feature of Meenakshi in terms of iconography is the presence of parrot in her right hand. The parrot is generally associated with the Vaishnava azhwar saint Andal. "Pancha Sabhai" refers to the five royal courts of Nataraja (dancing form of Shiva) where he performed cosmic dance. The Tamil word velli means silver and ambalam means stage or altar. This massive Nataraja sculpture is enclosed in a huge silver altar and hence called "Velli Ambalam" (silver abode). This is a special figure of Natarja which usually differs from Chola bronzes; in the Chola images, Nataraja is shown dancing with his left leg raised, but this sculpture has the right leg raised. According to the Tiruvilayaadal Puranam (Shiva's sacred games), this is on the request of Rajasekara Pandya, who was a sincere devotee of Shiva. He requested the deity to change his position, as he felt that keeping the same foot raised would put enormous strain and got a graceful acquiescence from the divine master.

 

RITUALS

WORSHIP

There are close to 50 priests in the temple who perform the puja (rituals) during festivals and on a daily basis. Like other Shiva temples of Tamil Nadu, the priests belong to Shivaite to the Adishaivas, a Brahmin sub-caste. The priests live in a closed area north of the temple. The temple has a six time pooja calendar everyday, each comprising four rituals namely abhisheka (sacred bath), alangaram (decoration), neivethanam (food offerings) and deepa aradanai (waving of lamps) for both Meenakshi and Sundareswarar. The puja (worship) ceremonies are held amidst music with nadhaswaram (pipe instrument) and tavil (percussion instrument), religious instructions in the Vedas by priests and prostration by worshippers in front of the temple mast. The common practise is to worship Meenakshi before Sundareswarar. Margazhi (December–January) ritual is prominent one for winning a perfect, god-like husband - it is Meenakshi's ennai kappu festival. Aligned with the cardinal points, the street plans forms a giant mandala (group) whose sacred properties are believed to be activated during the mass clockwise circumambulation of the central temple.

 

FESTIVALS

The most important festival associated with the temple is the "Meenakshi Thirukalyanam" (the divine marriage of Meenakshi) that is celebrated in April every year. The wedding of the divine couple is regarded as a classic instance of south Indian female-dominated marriage, an arrangement referred as "Madurai marriage". The male dominated marriage is called "Chidambaram marriage", referring to Shiva's uncontested dominance, ritual and mythic, at the famous Shiva temple of Chidhambaram. The marriage brings together rural and urban people, deities and mortals, Saivas (those who worship Shiva) and Vaishnavas (those who worship Vishnu) in order to celebrate Meenakshi as the royal monarch. During the one month period, there are a number of events including the "Ther Thiruvizhah" (chariot festival) and "Theppa Thiruvizhah" (float festival). Major Hindu festivals like Navrathri and Shivrathri are celebrated in the temple. Like most Shakti temples in Tamil Nadu, the Fridays during the Tamil months of Aadi (July–August) and Thai (January–February) are celebrated in the temple by thousands of devotees. "Avani Moola Utsavam" is a 10-day festival mainly devoted to Sundareswarar describes his various Thiruvilayadal meaning Shiva's sacred games.

 

LITERARY MENTION

Down the centuries, the temple has been a centre of education of Tamil culture, literature, art, music and dance. All three assemblies of Tamil language, the Tamil Sangam (about the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE), were held at Madurai. Tamil poets of different epochs participated in these assemblies and their composition is called Sangam literature. During the third Tamil sangam, the comparative merit of the poets was decided by letting the works float in the lotus tank of the temple. It was believed that a divine force would cause the work of superior merit to float on the surface while the inferior literary work would sink. Tevaram, the 7th-8th century Tamil canonoical work on Shiva, are works by the three prominent Nayanars (Saivites) namely Appar, Sundarar and Thirugnanasambandar. The temple has been glorified by the hymns of Tevaram by all the three poets. Different hymns of Sambandar on the temple mention the queen of Pandya Nadu, his desire to defeat Jains in debate, the miracles performed by him curing the king's fever, the Jains' provocation of Sambandar by burning his house and challenging him to debate, and Sambandar's eventual victory over them. A poem from the Third Tirumurai by Sambandar is as under –

 

"Lady who has eyes that are comparable to the startled eyes of the deer!

the great chief queen of the Vaḻuti! listen to what I say. Do not feel distressed that I am such a young boy from whose mouth milk is flowing. when the god in Tiruvālavāy stands by my side as help, I can not be easily defeated by the low people who inflict many sufferings on others and who live in hills beginning with great Āṉaimalai."

 

There are few poets in Tamil history who sang about goddess Parvati. The notable among them is Kumaraguruparar, a 17th-century Tamil poet, who composed Meenakshi Pillaitamil on Meenakshi of this temple. King Tirumalai Nayak's patronage of Kumaraguruparar has an important place in the history of pillaitamil (a genre of Tamil literature). Kumaraguruparar visited a lot of temples and when he visited this temple, he composed Meenakshi pillaitamil on Meenakshi. Legend has it that goddess appeared in the dreams of Nayak directing him to arrange the recital of Kumaraguruparar before a learned assembly. The king made elobrate arrangements for the event. Meenakshi impersonated herself in the form of a small girl and enjoyed the recital. As Kumaraguruparar was explaining the 61st verse, the goddess appreciated by garlanding the poet with a string of pearls and disappeared.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Blogged here: confessionsofaslshopaholic.blogspot.com/2013/06/caged-dev...

The art workshop was devoted to the famous abstract expressionist Willem de Kooning en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willem_de_Kooning. which meant `action painting`, intuitive use of material, nothing figurative.

That is what I came up with plus a little poem which sprang to mind.

Yes, today IS Monday..:-)

 

Don´t hate me

too much –

 

I am no more than

a minor disaster

tiptoeing slowly

from one cup of coffee

to another…

 

I am just a gear

screeching in protest

against the onslaught

of duties.

 

Please, don’t waste me

either -

there shall come a time

when I will not bother you

ever

again.

 

This is Melanie, one the most caring and devoted people I’ve ever met.

 

Melanie and her husband moved here to Indiana from Oklahoma several years ago. When they lived in Oklahoma, Melanie was very involved with the local Humane Society, but when they moved here, she promised her husband “no more dogs” . Apparently Melanie kept that promise for a while, but one day she was drawn to go and look at the animal shelter here in Scott County. She couldn’t believe how many dogs & cats were being euthanized and that no one was doing anything about it. Melanie then drove all over southern Indiana, visiting each counties’ animal shelter and discovered that it was the same everywhere… tons of animals were being destroyed and there were no rescue groups trying to prevent it.

Single handedly, Melanie developed Southern Indiana Save-A-Pet; a network of volunteers and shelter workers that help all the local animal shelters get dogs and cats adopted or into rescue groups. She went out of her way to find dog and cat rescue groups out of state that would be willing to help find homes for the animals here in southern Indiana. Because of Melanie, the animal shelters here in southern Indiana now work together by offering kennel spaces to the other shelters that have no more room for animals, or by providing foster homes, and by helping to transport animals to No-kill shelters out of state.

Most people would have been satisfied with that, but Melanie went on to organize our own Humane Society here in Scott County. Even when she became seriously ill earlier this year, Melanie never stopped thinking of the animals. When she was discharged from the hospital, she went straight to the animal shelter to check on the dogs and cats! And she continued cleaning the shelter on the weekends, going to adoption fairs and transporting animals to rescue groups out of state, often having to drive 6-8 hours (one way) to do it. Melanie is truly an inspiration to us all and I’m very proud to call her my friend. She’s very modest, so I hope she doesn’t mind that I posted this photo and her story!

 

For the past several months, Melanie has been fostering “Squeek Squeek” - a cat that sustained an eye injury from another cat while in the shelter, so Melanie took him home to treat him. Squeek Squeek weaseled his way into Melanie’s heart and yesterday she made it official, and adopted him for her own. You can see how much they love each other!

Specimen of 'raw' precious coral in a temporary exhibition devoted to decorative use of precious coral, in Catania, Sicily (Italy).

 

This item was not in the exhibition catalogue, so I have no specific details for it. It is a specimen of precious red coral which has not yet been worked into decorative artefacts. The lighting conditions made it difficult to capture the details, and the photo lacks sharpness, though I like to think that gives the specimen a more abstract sculptural quality. But it is possible to get just a hint of the pattern of fine parallel furrows that run like wood grain along the branches, and the occasional pits marking the places where the living polyps would once have been. The photo also captures the natural bushy shape of precious coral growth. The colour in my original photo was biased towards orange, which is not really in the white-pink-vermilion-crimson range of precious coral, so I have edited the photo's colour to give the specimen a more realistic pinkish-red hue.

 

(The Flickr map of Catania is almost useless for street-names as most of them aren't given. I've had to use Google Maps for the street names.)

  

PRECIOUS CORAL

 

Precious coral has been widely collected and used in jewellery and decorative craft work for thousands of years, at least since the Iron Age. It is a cnidarian animal (a group that also includes jelly fish), belonging to the anthozoan subgroup. Within anthozoans, it is a gorgonian octocoral, and distantly related to the stony corals that build tropical coral reefs. Precious coral occurs throughout the Mediterranean, where the species is Corallium rubrum Linnaeus 1758. Very similar coral species are known from the seas around China and Japan but in the context of this exhibition, this is probably the Mediterranean one, C. rubrum.

 

The soft tissue of precious coral is stripped away when the coral is being prepared for craft work, leaving only the hard red core of the branches (made of calcium carbonate), which is then cut, shaped, carved and polished. This specimen, about 15-20 cm across (from memory) shows a piece of coral already stripped, ready for being worked. Many of the branch tips are broken, perhaps in the course of being dredged from the sea floor.

 

I often have to identify precious coral in ancient, historical and modern artefacts, as part of my work. Unlike ivory and tortoiseshell, precious coral is not (yet?) listed under CITES.

 

THE EXHIBITION

The exhibition was entitled I Grandi Capolavori del Corallo - I Coralli di Trapani del XVII e XVIII secolo. (Great Masterpieces of Coral - The Corals of Trapani of the 17th and 18th Centuries.). According to the guide to the exhibition, this was planned and organized by La Fondazione Puglisi Cosentino [gallery] who housed it in their building on via Vittorio Emanuele II. Trapani is on the NW tip of Sicily. The original Trapani craftmen were predominantly Jewish. However, most of the works themselves on display were religious and Christian so (I guess) were created by subsequent generations of craftsmen who were not necessarily Jewish.

 

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LONDON - PARIS - CATANIA - ROME - LONDON ----- DAY 4

 

Photo from the fourth day of our crazy long distance rail trip from home (London) to Sicily. We spent the first day travelling from home in London to Paris, by Eurostar train, and were meant to the take an overnight train from Paris to Rome that same evening. But our Eurostar train out of London was badly delayed due to 'a fatality [unexplained - perhaps fortunately] on the train'. So we missed our onward connection to Rome and had an unexpected but happy second day in Paris. We left Paris that evening, on the equivalent Rome service arriving in Rome on our third day where we changed for our onward train, arriving in Catania (Sicily) that same evening. Our fourth day was our first full day in Sicily, and we spent this in the centre of Catania itself.

 

By the end of the whole holiday trip we had seen things and sites from ancient Greek time to modern, so the trip felt like a mini Grand Tour. Or given the rich mythology of Sicily, Etna and the Straits of Messina (Odysseus, the Cyclops, Scylla & Charybdis, etc.) perhaps our trip was like a modern mini Odyssey of our times. Odysseus took ten years to get home. It took us ten trains - but no monsters.

 

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Photo

Darkroom Daze © Creative Commons.

If you would like to use or refer to this image, please attribute.

ID: DSC_6630 - Version 2

this devoted mum shows the scars of fighting off the unwanted advances of a much larger male which she will fearlessly do in protecting her youngster from any harm.

interior view of business devoted to dismantling books, to supply illustrations for use in "extra-Illustrated" books.

British Museum, Department: Prints & Drawings // Registration number: 1868,0808.13623.*

 

possibly taken (though I've not seen) from Strong's Catalogue of Old Book and Other Cuttings from Works of the time of Henry VIII. to the present time. Description continues: "consisting of 2,000 articles of interesting matter, from 1s. to £30, is now ready, Price One Shilling, or free for 12 postage stamps. It contains a View of the DESTRUCTION ROOM…" — in an advertisement in The Publisher's Circular No. 243, Vol X, London: November 1, 1847

 

postscript (27 oct 2013) —

a rather better view, in situ, was posted on the Houghton Library's tumblr on 13 June 2013. Follow the link for MS Eng 1178 (91C) to finding aid for collection from which it is taken, that includes Strong, Frederick. Mr. Upcott's library of MSS. & c. [and] The destruction room. Printed pamphlet; [London, 1847?].

 

postscript (23 May 2017) —

Strong's pamphlet (Houghton copy) is described and contextualized (and the above illustration shown large) in Lucy Peltz her wondrous and brilliant Facing the Text : Extra-Illustration, Print Culture, and Society in Britain 1769-1840 (2017) : 31-33

described here

 

Archaeologist and painter Edward Dodwell (1767-1832), who came from a noble and rich Irish family, was born in Dublin and studied literature and archeology at Trinity College in Cambridge. Thanks to the economic comfort provided by his great fortune, he stayed away from the need to acquire a profession, and he devoted himself to the researches about the Mediterranean civilizations.

 

In 1801, he traveled with Ionian Islands (Corfu, Zante etc.) and the region of Troy together with Atkins and well-known traveler W. Gell. In 1805-06, he travels to Rumeli with his traveling companion, Simone Pomardi. He then settled in Naples and Rome and marries a woman thirty years younger from him. He was an honorary member of many European cultural foundations. He died of sickness while exploring in the mountains of Italy. The large archaeological collection he created (coins, 115 copper items, 143 amphoras) was sold to the Munich Sculpture Museum after being housed in his home in Rome for a while.

 

As a productive writer and visual artist at the same time, Dodwell reveals his multi-faceted talent, which includes his sense of curiosity, critical gaze and artistic sensitivity as an archaeologist in his works that are unique for the era. For the first time in his work, we can recognize the true discovery of a "place": walking; It becomes a form of discovery and recognition (reading) of the view, which includes monuments, history, contemporary people and proven information.

 

The journey, which is described in these two volumes of publications and has rich data in archeology and topography material, creates an infinite wealth of information about the public and private lives of the Greeks in the period before the rebellion (before 1821). In late April 1801, Dodwell took a smart and well-read Greek from Santorini, whom he met in Italy, as an interpreter and set off from Venice. In one month, he crossed the Adriatic sea and arrived in Corfu under Russian-ottoman occupation with his companions. Their journey continues towards Paksos islands, Parga, Santa Mavra. Dodwell writes about the nose of Lefkata, where ancient Greek poet Saffo, according to ancient ruins, products, villages and legend, fell into the sea because of his desperate love for Faon. From here go to Preveza and go to Nikopolis. He travels to the archeological site at the village, continues to Ithaka island and writes about the geography and economic situation there and about the search for ancient ruins. Finally, he came to Kefalonia and completed his first trip to the regions of Greece with William Gell.

 

In 1805, Dodwell, along with the artist Simone Pomardi, arrives in Zante from the city of Messina in Sicily, where he writes about the villages, population, products; he then goes to Mesolongi. Tepedelenli Ali Pasha writes about the persecution of local people, local products, the Akheloos river and the Echinades archipelago. After the journey, he reached Patra and became the guest of the consul Nikolaos Stranis. Stranis's mansion had been the meeting place of many European guests for years. Dodwell's visit to Patra confirms his theoretical knowledge about them. Speaking of Contemporary Patra, the city's architectural arrangement is easily understandable (noting that "the houses of Greeks are lime and the houses of Turks are painted in red"), writes about its economic condition (including products exported from the region). In Patra, he visits the castle, the famous big-bodied cypress tree, the church of Saint Andrea and the holy spring. He adds the pattern that his travel companion Pomardi has drawn and displays the sacred source. Noting that many black slaves were found in Patra, Dodwell also made efforts to acquire some archaeological artifacts. As he writes about Patra, he especially portrays the city's historical memory. It documents its own knowledge in a scientific way with the old sources it used to showcase the contemporary reality of Greece on its route and previous travel testimonies. adds the pattern drawn by and displaying the sacred source. Noting that many black slaves were found in Patra, Dodwell also made efforts to acquire some archaeological artifacts. As he writes about Patra, he especially portrays the city's historical memory. It documents its own knowledge in a scientific way with the old sources it used to showcase the contemporary reality of Greece on its route and previous travel testimonies. adds the pattern drawn by and displaying the sacred source. Noting that many black slaves were found in Patra, Dodwell also made efforts to acquire some archaeological artifacts. As he writes about Patra, he especially portrays the city's historical memory. It documents its own knowledge in a scientific way with the old sources it used to showcase the contemporary reality of Greece on its route and previous travel testimonies.

 

Dodwell chooses to go to Athens in another way due to an epidemic in Peloponnese and passes through Inebahti, Galaksidi (watches carnival shows here) and passes through Amfisa (here is a guest at a Kefalonian doctor's house and visits the voivodeship), makes his way up to Parnasos mountain, stops in Hriso village and stay in Kastri and tour the Kastalya fountain and very few ancient ruins that can be seen in Delfi. The road passes through Arahova and Distomo and takes it to the ancient site of Trophonius priests in Livadia, from there it continues to other Boeotia villages (Orchomenos, Aliartos, Thespiae). Crossing the Eleutherae road and the Eleusis plain, on March 26, Lord Elgin's work teams arrive in Athens when the Acropolis was removing the relief marbles. Dodwell stayed here until September and almost all of Attica (Pendeli mountain, Fili, Acharnai, Kifisia, Vrauron, Porto Rafti, Thorikos, Lavrion, Sunion, Piraeus) and Aegina and Salamis islands. In addition to archaeological issues, he also writes about the dances, music and games of the Greeks, as well as about baths and even insects and birds.

 

After Athens, it passes through Thiva (Thebai), Kopais lake, Thermopylae and Lamia, Stylis and Almyros to Volos and Pelion; in his article he mentions all the ancient city ruins he met along the way. After that, Larissa and Ambelakia come to the superior level of life here, highly influenced by cultured people and the cotton yarn dyeing industry. Thessaly plain returns to Athens after passing through Lilaia, Amfikleia, Fokida, Boeotia and stopping at Chalkida and Marathon. He stays here all summer. In December of 1805, we find him visiting the Argos-Corinth region: Dafni monastery, Eleusis and its religious mysteries, Megara, Corinthian isthmus, Corinthian fortress, Kechries, Nemea and its vineyards, the acropolis and ancient theater in Argos, the treasure of Mycenae and Atreus, Tiryns and Nauplion, The ruins of the Epidaurus and Asclepius temple, Troizina, Methana, Poros are places he traveled and wrote. Then, on the road of Aegion, Sikyon passes through Xylokastron and stops in the local inns, and after Patra, he reaches Olympia on January 24, 1806 by describing all villages of Achaia and Ileia. In the continuation of the trip, Messini visits Sparta in late February after visiting the ruins in Megalopolis and Vassai. After crossing Arkadiya and Achaia (by stopping at Tegea, Tripoli, Mantineia, Orchomenos, Stymphalia, Feneos, Kalavryta, Mega Spilaion), it reaches Patra in the spring and finally reaches Rome on September 18, 1806. passing through, stops in the local inns, and after Patra, he describes all the villages of Achaia and Ileia and arrives at Olympia on January 24, 1806. In the continuation of the trip, Messini visits Sparta in late February after visiting the ruins in Megalopolis and Vassai. After crossing Arkadiya and Achaia (by stopping at Tegea, Tripoli, Mantineia, Orchomenos, Stymphalia, Feneos, Kalavryta, Mega Spilaion), it reaches Patra in the spring and finally reaches Rome on September 18, 1806. passing through, stops at the inns of the region and after Patra, he describes all the villages of Achaia and Ileia and arrives at Olympia on January 24, 1806. In the continuation of the trip, Messini visits Sparta in late February after visiting the ruins in Megalopolis and Vassai. After crossing Arkadiya and Achaia (stop by Tegea, Tripoliçe, Mantineia, Orchomenos, Stymphalia, Feneos, Kalavryta, Mega Spilaion), it reaches Patra in the spring and finally reaches Rome on September 18, 1806.

 

In the appendix of the publication: place names and different spelling forms, catalog of Kefalonia and Zante islands, Livadia, Amfisa, Lamia, Thebai cities and their major settlements, Corfu, Delfi, Fokis, Thespiae There are inscriptions from the islands of Piraeus, Tinos and Lezbos, musical instruments used in Attica, and the price catalog of products in Athens, as well as a catalog of fruits and vegetables on sale as long as they stay there.

 

After documenting and archiving the archaeological remains that he visited, using the camera obscura technique, Dodwell aimed to combine art with the scientific view. In his published three volumes of his work, which is a basic resource for all travelers who traveled to Greece after him, and which is still a very useful work in archaeological research, there are nearly 400 pictures of landscape and historical monuments drawn by Dodwell. Recently, dozens more patterns have appeared that have not been known to date.

 

Written By: İoli Vingopoulou

Photo credit: Tony Coash

  

Mother’s Day is an occasion to honor strong and devoted women in our lives. This year it was also a cause for celebration at the Jay Heritage Center as they announced their receipt of an exceptional collection of 19th century daguerrotypes of Jay women and their family members who lived in Rye at the historic 1838 Mansion. The gift was applauded on Saturday, May 12 with a gathering of Jay descendants and members of the Jay Heritage Center Board of Trustees. Westchester's Deputy County Executive, Kevin Plunkett presented Jay Heritage Center President, Suzanne Clary with a Proclamation from County Executive Rob Astorino commending her non-profit's organization for their work in preservation and education. Also on hand were Senator Suzi Oppenheimer and NY State Assemblyman George Latimer.

 

The highlight of the new collection is a never before seen mother and daughter portrait circa 1848 of Mrs. John Clarkson Jay (nee Laura Prime, daughter of NY banker Nathaniel Prime) and her eldest child Laura at 16 years old. Yet another charming vignette dated 1850 shows 2 of the youngest daughters, Alice and Sarah, in gingham dresses at age 4 and 2. These rare and luminous treasures were generously donated by architectural historian and preservationist, Anne Andrus Grady of Lexington, Massachusetts in memory of her aunt, Miriam Jay Wurts Andrus, a direct descendant of John Jay. Mrs. Andrus was born in New York City, the only child of Edith Maud Benedict and Pierre Jay Wurts. A 1931 graduate of Vassar College, she also attended Columbia University, and Johns Hopkins University where she studied international relations. During her lifetime she was known as an accomplished photographer as well as a civic activist and noted philanthropist. Her range of volunteer efforts benefited many academic and cultural institutions like the League of Women Voters, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the Center Stage Theatre in Baltimore and Vassar College to name just a few. Mrs. Andrus’ niece, Anne Andrus Grady has distinguished herself as well as an outstanding champion of historic preservation in Massachusetts. She has authored numerous Historic Structure Reports and National Historic Landmark nominations, advising on the preservation of many of that state’s most prominent buildings such as Boston’s Old South Meeting House. Her work of 3 decades culminated in a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Massachusetts Historical Commission in 2010. She is delighted that the Jay daguerrotypes will be conserved and find a permanent home in Rye where they can be studied and interpreted.

 

The Andrus Collection is composed of 8 leather cased daguerreotype plates several of which are hand-tinted. For the Jay Heritage Center, a gift with this most meaningful provenance, including plates produced in the studios of well known New York Daguerrians, Rufus Anson and Jeremiah Gurney, opens the door to new educational programming about America’s “New Art” as photography was then dubbed. This magical method of capturing images on silvered copper plates was introduced in the United States by none other than Samuel F. B. Morse. Morse, who was a colleague of John Jay’s eldest son, Peter Augustus Jay, first brought the daguerrotype process back to America in 1839. Morse’s earliest students included Gurney, as well as a young man named Edward Anthony. Anthony produced popular steroviews during the Civil War and also branched out into the photographic supplies business, creating many of the decorative book-like cases in which Gurney’s and other Daguerrians’ photos were sealed. (Coincidentally Anthony’s granddaughter married John Clarkson Jay III in 1903.)

 

An opening reception and exhibit on the Andrus collection is scheduled for this fall at the 1838 Jay Mansion accompanied by a series of lectures on early American photography.

 

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Jay Heritage Center

210 Boston Post Road

Rye, NY 10580

(914) 698-9275

Email: jayheritagecenter@gmail.com

www.jayheritagecenter.org

  

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A National Historic Landmark since 1993

Member of the African American Heritage Trail of Westchester County since 2004

Member of the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area since 2009

On NY State's Path Through History (2013)

Rebecca Solnit has devoted her memoir to anecdotes of growing up female in a male centered society that wishes to silence women, dominate them and sometimes terrify them. This made for grim reading that also made me see that straight women are between a rock and a hard place—having to put up with bullshit from men on the off chance that one might prove to be boyfriend material.

 

Given that nothing particularly terrible happens to her—no rape scene, no actual violence—this is really more of a feminist treatise on how women grow up already thinking they aren’t significant and what it might take to unlearn this and begin to take up space and be seen. A lot of this is insightful and worthwhile.

 

It is also a memoir about a woman writer’s life and the small triumphs that keep one writing. And since she lives in San Francisco it is a memoir of place and of her friendships with gay men. I was curious to see if she had any friendships with lesbians, but apart from some lesbian neighbors who are old so not of interest, none are mentioned. Gay men are great foils for straight women, but lesbians and straight girls don’t mix. Possibly because lesbians don’t have to live a life centered around men. And so there would be little to discuss between the two. (I'm being catty. I do of course have straight women friends who are colleagues with plenty to talk about between us.)

 

She does indeed understand the territory that keeps women silent and the title of this memoir is the most clever thing about it. But I did long for even a single note of defiance, subversiveness or out and out rebellion even humor about this territory that every woman in the West inhabits. At which point I was inspired to write such a chapter of my own. Which is why I read memoirs.

 

I did cling with glee to the line in chapter two about the engineer boots she favored as an eleven year old which she explains by saying “I was trying not to be that despised thing, a girl….” From this I can glean that some part of her does understand that the process of becoming a girl is a frustrating one of realizing that you must become that despised thing. And any possibility of escaping this destination will be tried in numerous options of self harming including not to become a girl at all. Which is why I expect women especially a feminist to understand when this opting not to be a girl in such large numbers is an aberration, but in her recent article to the Guardian trying to calm women about the fear of trans women in women only places, she dismisses this surge in transitioning girls with not even a pause to investigate. It just wouldn’t fit the progressive messaging. And besides such a transboy has emerged in her own family so not to swallow the trans cult messaging would be treasonous. Everyone has their blind spot.

Oui, and bonjour to all my devoted and loyal followers! Miss Scruffy saying "tah!" and let me tell you what happened to MOI on Saturday. That lowly shelter "person" had the gall to come to my private estate to see how I was doing. How I was DOING? DOING?!!? Dahling, I'm not doing ANYTHING. I am living in the lap of luxury with a full time staff (of one) at my beck and "give me treats" call. There is no DOING...only LIVING! This is moi, receiving a chin massage in my heated king size bed. HEATED...to the absolute correct temperature for moi. So yes, put your mind at ease, my lowly...er I mean, my loyal fans...Miss Scruffy is alive, well and being pampered as one should be pampered. Air kisses to all!

“…HERE WILL RISE A FITTING STRUCTURE—A SYMBOL OF DEVOTED PATRIOTISM AND UNSELFISH SERVICE. WE IN AMERICA DO NOT BUILD MONUMENTS TO WAR: WE DO NOT BUILD MONUMENTS TO CONQUESTS; WE BUILD MONUMENTS TO COMMEMORATE THE SPIRIT OF SACRIFICE IN WAR—REMINDERS OF OUR DESIRE FOR PEACE. THE MEMORY OF THOSE, WHOM THE WAR CALLED TO THE BEYOND, URGES US TO CONSECRATE THE BEST THAT IS IN US TO THE SERVICE OF COUNTRY IN TIMES OF PEACE. WE BEST HONOR THE MEMORY OF THOSE DEAD BY STRIVING FOR PEACE, THAT THE TERROR OF THE DAYS OF WAR WILL BE WITH US NO MORE. MAY THE BEAUTY OF THIS MONUMENT, WHICH WILL RISE ON THIS SITE, CAST A BENEFICENT LIGHT ON THE MEMORIES OF OUR COMRADES, MAY A SUBSTANTIAL STRUCTURE TYPIFY THE STRENGTH OF THEIR PURPOSE, AND MAY IT INSPIRE FUTURE GENERATIONS WITH A DESIRE TO BE OF SERVICE TO THEIR FELLOWS AND THEIR COUNTRY.”

 

-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the dedication of the site for the Soldiers Memorial building in St. Louis, Missouri, on October 14, 1936.

 

Opening on Memorial Day, May 30, 1938, the Soldiers' Memorial in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, was originally designed by the architectural firm of Mauran, Russell & Crowell to commemorate the St. Louis citizens who gave their lives in World War I. The building houses the Soldiers Memorial Military Museum, which contains military displays and memorabilia from World War I and subsequent American wars.

 

Operated for many years by the St. Louis Board of Public Service, the City of St. Louis recently signed an agreement to turn over operations to the Missouri Historical Society. Beginning February 28, 2016, the Historical Society will close the museum for approximately two years to begin a multi-million dollar renovation of the historic structure in order to create a state-of-the-art museum facility.

 

This is a view of the exterior of the building which is made of Bedford limestone. Four large figures sculptured from stone stand at the entrances to the atrium which separates the east and west wings of the building; two on the south side along Chestnut street representing Courage [male] and Vision [female], and two on the north side along Pine Street representing Loyalty [male] and Sacrifice [female]. These sculptures are the work of native St. Louisan Walker Hancock.

 

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Zero devotes all his life to his true love, Max ❤️

I've found a new love for these. Just about the only flora I can grow without doing a thing...AND they reseed for me. So I'm totally devoted.