Krasnoyarsk is the largest city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yenisey River, and is the second-largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk, with a population of over 1.1 million. Krasnoyarsk is an important junction of the renowned Trans-Siberian Railway, and is one of the largest producers of aluminium in the country. The city is known for its natural landscape; author Anton Chekhov judged Krasnoyarsk to be the most beautiful city in Siberia. The Stolby Nature Sanctuary is located 10 km south of the city. Krasnoyarsk is a major educational centre in Siberia, and hosts the Siberian Federal University. In 2019, Krasnoyarsk was the host city of the 2019 Winter Universiade, the third hosted in Russia.

 

Etymology

The fort was named Krasny Yar (Russian: Кра́сный Яр) after the Yarin (a dialect of Khakas) name of the place it was built, Kyzyl Char ('red steep-riverbank'), which was translated as Krasny Yar.

 

History

The city was founded on August 19, 1628[2] as a Russian border fort when a group of service class people from Yeniseysk led by Andrey Dubenskiy arrived at the confluence of the Kacha and Yenisei Rivers and constructed fortifications intended to protect the frontier from attacks of native peoples who lived along the Yenisei and its tributaries. Along with Kansk to the east, it represented the southern limit of Russian expansion in the Yenisei basin during the seventeenth century. In the letter to Tsar Michael I the Cossacks reported:

 

...The town of trunks (log buildings) we have constructed and around the place of fort, we the servants of thee, our Lord, have embedded posts and fastened them with double bindings and the place of fort have strengthened mightily...

The settlement was granted town status in 1690. An intensive growth of Krasnoyarsk began with the arrival of the Siberian Route (the road M53 nowadays) in 1735 to 1741 which connected the nearby towns of Achinsk and Kansk with Krasnoyarsk and with the rest of Russia.

 

In 1749, a meteorite with a mass of about 700 kg (1,500 lb) was found 230 km (140 mi) south of Krasnoyarsk. It was excavated by Peter Simon Pallas in 1772 and transported to Krasnoyarsk and subsequently to Saint Petersburg. The Krasnoyarsk meteorite is important because it was the first pallasite ever studied and the first meteorite ever etched.

 

In 1822 Krasnoyarsk became the administrative center of Yeniseysk Governorate. By the end of the 19th century, Krasnoyarsk had several manufacturing facilities and railroad workshops and an engine house. Growth continued with the discovery of gold and the arrival of a railroad in 1895.

 

In the Russian Empire, Krasnoyarsk was one of the places to which political exiles were banished. For example, eight Decembrists were deported from St. Petersburg to Krasnoyarsk after the failure of the revolt.

 

In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution of 1917, during the Russian Civil War, Siberia east of Omsk was controlled by white forces under Alexander Kolchak, who in December 1919 retreated east to Irkutsk and the Bolsheviks took control of the city. On a plateau 7 km outside of town was a prisoner of war camp with 13,000 German and Austrian troops. Elsa Brändström of the Swedish Red Cross spent almost a year there from July 1919 until May 1920.

 

During the periods of centralized planning (Five Year Plans) numerous large plants and factories were constructed in Krasnoyarsk: Sibtyazhmash, the dock yard, the paper factory, the hydroelectric power station (now the fifth largest in the world and the second in Russia), and the river port.

 

In 1934, Krasnoyarsk Krai was formed, with Krasnoyarsk as its administrative center.

 

During Stalinist times, Krasnoyarsk was a major center of the gulag system. The most important labor camp was the Kraslag or Krasnoyarsky ITL (1938-c. 1960) with the two units located in Kansk and Reshyoty. In the city of Krasnoyarsk itself, the Yeniseylag or Yeniseysky ITL labor camp was prominent as well during World War II (c. 1940–41).

 

During World War II, dozens of factories were evacuated from Ukraine and Western Russia to Krasnoyarsk and nearby towns, stimulating the industrial growth of the city. After the war additional large plants were constructed: the aluminum plant, the metallurgic plant, the plant of base metals and many others.

 

In the late 1970s, the Soviet Union began constructing a phased array radar station at Abalakova, near Krasnoyarsk, which violated the ABM Treaty. Beginning in 1983, the United States demanded its removal, until the Soviet Union admitted the radar station was a violation in 1989. Equipment was slowly removed from the site and by 1992 it was officially declared to be dismantled, though the equipment from the site was likely relocated to a new site near Komsomolsk-on-Amur.[citation needed] Krasnoyarsk was also a home to Krasnoyarsk Northeast air base, which was turned into living blocks after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

 

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union and beginning of privatization, many large plants and factories, such as the Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Plant, became owned by alleged criminal authorities and oligarchs, while others were declared bankrupt. The economic transition resulted in a dramatic rise in unemployment and numerous strikes.

 

The best known financial scandal of the second half of the 1990s happened when ownership of the Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Plant by a known Krasnoyarsk businessman Anatoliy Bykov had been canceled after he was accused of murdering his partner, Vilor Struganov. The accusation eventually turned out to be false. The Krasnoyarsk plant's ownership problems continue through the early 21st century since nearly all of them are owned either by monopolistic financial groups or by oligarchs.

 

Since the election of Pyotr Pimashkov as the mayor of Krasnoyarsk in 1996, the appearance of the city gradually improved: the old historical buildings were restored, the asphalt walkways were replaced with paving-stone, and numerous squares and recreation areas with fountains were either restored or constructed from scratch. Now the majority of the city keeps only a few traces of its former, drab, post-collapse look.

 

Geography

The total area of the city, including suburbs and the river, is 348 km2 (134 sq mi).

 

The river Yenisei flows from west to east through the city. Due to the Krasnoyarsk hydroelectric dam 32 km (20 mi) upstream, the Yenisei never freezes in winter and never exceeds +14 °C (57 °F) in summer through the city. Near the city center, its elevation is 136 m (446 ft) above sea level. There are several islands in the river, the largest of which are Tatyshev and Otdyha Isles, used mainly for recreation.

 

To the south and west, Krasnoyarsk is surrounded by forested mountains averaging 410 m (1,350 ft) in height above river level. The most prominent of them are Nikolayevskaya Sopka (notable for its ski jumping tracks), Karaulnaya Gora, and Chornaya Sopka, the latter being an extinct volcano. The gigantic rock cliffs of the Stolby Nature Reserve rise from the mountains of the southern bank of the Yenisei, the western hills from the Gremyachaya Griva crest extending westwards up to the Sobakina River, the north is generally plain, except for the Drokinskaya Sopka hill, with forests to the northwest and agricultural fields to the north and east.

 

The major rivers in and near Krasnoyarsk are the Yenisei, Mana, Bazaikha, and Kacha Rivers, the latter flowing throughout the historical center of the city. Due to the nature of the terrain, a few natural lakes exist in the vicinity of Krasnoyarsk.

 

The forests close to the city are mostly pine and birch; further afield, aspen becomes dominant in many areas. The moss-covered fir and Siberian pine replaces other wood in the mountains westward of the Karaulnaya River, in about 15 km (9.3 mi) to the west from the city, the forests to the south are mostly pine, fir and aspen.

 

Administrative and municipal status

Krasnoyarsk is the administrative center of the krai. Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with one rural locality (the village of Peschanka) incorporated as the krai city of Krasnoyarsk – an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the krai city of Krasnoyarsk is incorporated as Krasnoyarsk Urban Okrug.

 

City divisions

For administrative purposes, Krasnoyarsk is divided into seven city districts:

 

Kirovsky

Leninsky

Oktyabrsky

Sovetsky

Sverdlovsky

Tsentralny

Zheleznodorozhny

Coat of arms

 

The Krasno-yarsk Lion

The first version was approved on March 12, 1804. The coat of arms was divided horizontally into two parts, the upper part containing the coat of arms of Tomsk Governorate, and the lower part picturing the Krasny Yar cliff on a silver background. A revised coat of arms, approved on November 23, 1851, had the golden figure of a lion placed on a red heraldic shield with a spade in the right fore paw and a sickle in the left fore paw, both made of the same metal. The shield was topped with the golden crown of the Russian Empire. The current coat of arms (as depicted here) was approved on November 28, 2004. It contains the same red shield as in 1851 but with a slightly changed figure of the lion in the officially approved image. The shield is topped with a form of the mural crown, which is the golden five-tower coronet of rank of a federal subject administrative center.

 

Climate

Krasnoyarsk experiences a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb) bordering on a subarctic climate (Dfc). Its climate is very similar to that of Fort McMurray and Winnipeg in Canada, the latter of which is a good deal further south geographically. Compared to Thompson, Manitoba, or Labrador City at similar latitudes, Krasnoyarsk's winters are relatively mild. Compared to European cities on a similar latitude, Krasnoyarsk has much warmer summers, but much colder and longer winters (for example, Aalborg, Denmark). The summer is also on average warmer than similar inland latitudes of Scandinavia, owing to Siberia's greater continentality. Krasnoyarsk has high differentials between summer and winter temperatures.

 

Architecture

There are a number of historical buildings in Krasnoyarsk, the oldest of them being the Intercession Cathedral (Russian: Покровский собор, 1785 to 1795, restored in 1977 to 1978). Other locally significant samples of Russian Orthodox architecture are the Annunciation Cathedral (Russian: Благовещенский собор, 1802–12), the Holy Trinity Cathedral (Russian: Свято-Троицкий собор, 1802–12), John the Baptist Church (Russian: Церковь Иоанна Предтечи, 1899, former episcopal residence), and the new Michael the Archangel Church (Russian: Церковь Архистратига Михаила, 1998 to 2003).

 

On the top of the Karaulnaya Hill, originally a pagan shrine, later occupied by the Krasnoyarsk fort watchtower, the Paraskeva Pyatnitsa Chapel (1804, rebuilt 1854–55) still stands. The chapel, displayed on the 10-ruble note, is one of the iconic images of the city. The chapel was abandoned and fell into disrepair during the Soviet era and only when Perestroyka came was it regained by the Yenisei bishopric.

 

Another unofficial symbol of Krasnoyarsk is the incomplete 24-story tower located at Strelka. Construction of the tower had been started just before Perestroyka and then frozen due to the administrative crisis. The outline of the tower is clearly seen from many places in the city.

 

A bridge near Krasnoyarsk carries the Trans-Siberian Railway across the Yenisei. The original structure, one of the longest at the time, was constructed between 1893 and 1896 to an award-winning design by Lavr Proskuryakov. In 2003 it was rejected for emergency inscription on the World Heritage List. It was described at the time by ICOMOS "an early representation of a typical parabolic polygonal truss bridge in Russia" which became "a testing ground for the application of engineering theories and the development of new innovative solutions, which had numerous successors". The bridge was dismantled between 2002-2007.

 

Among other notable buildings are the mansions of the merchant Nikolay Gadalov (beginning of the 20th century), the Roman Catholic Transfiguration Chapel (Russian: Преображенский собор, 1911, also known as the Krasnoyarsk Organ Hall), the Krasnoyarsk Krai Museum stylized as an Ancient Egyptian temple, the Krasnoyarsk Cultural/Historical Center and the triumphal arch at the Spit (2003), the regional administration building flanked with two towers known as the "Donkey Ears".

 

There are a number of two-story wooden houses in the city built mostly in the middle of the 20th century as temporary habitations. Many urbanized villages located inside the city keep the remnants of the traditional Russian village architecture: wooden houses with backyards, many somewhat dilapidated now but still inhabited.

 

Culture

There are a number of local holidays celebrated annually in Krasnoyarsk. The most significant holiday is the Day of the City celebrated in June, usually with a carnival. Other holidays and cultural events are the Mana Festival (Russian: Манский фестиваль. The celebrations take place on the outside of town, on the bank of river Mana) usually held on the last weekend in June with the traditional bard contest, the International Museum Biennale traditionally held in the Krasnoyarsk Cultural/Historical Center, the avant-garde Museum Night festival dedicated to the International Museum Day (May 18), the Jazz on Yenisey festival, the Stolbist Day held many times a year celebrating the traditions of mountain climbing in the Stolby national reserve, and the Bikers' Rally.

 

Krasnoyarsk has a number of local television companies and the highly developed telecommunications, many districts of the city have LAN-based broadband Internet access.

 

The city is also home to the Krasnoyarsk Children's Choir, a world-renowned choir that tours in many countries as The Little Eagles of Siberia.

 

Education and science

Next to Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk is a prominent scientific and educational center of Siberia, with over 30 higher education facilities, many of which are the branches of the Russian Academy of Science, and about 200 high schools. The most notable higher education institutes are:

 

Siberian Federal University (Russian abbreviation is SFU), founded on November 4, 2006. The institution integrated four large higher education institutions (Krasnoyarsk State University, Krasnoyarsk State Academy of Architecture and Civil Construction, Krasnoyarsk State Technical University, State University of Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold)

Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University (Russian abbreviation is KGPU), founded in 1932

Siberian State Technological University (Russian abbreviation is SibGTU), the oldest in the city, founded in 1930 as the Siberian Institute of Forest

Siberian State Aerospace University (Russian abbreviation is SibGAU), founded in 1960

Krasnoyarsk State Medical University (Russian abbreviation is KrasGMU), founded in 1942

Krasnoyarsk State Agrarian University (Russian abbreviation is Krasnoyarsk GAU), founded in 1952

Like Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk has a special city district called Akademgorodok ("Academic Town"), where several scientific research institutes are located. Krasnoyarsk's Institute of Biophysics is known for a 1973–1985 experiment on ecological isolation of human beings (the "Bios Experiment"). Sukachev Institute of Forest, founded in 1944 at Moscow and relocated to Krasnoyarsk in 1959. There are several museums in Krasnoyarsk. One is the Krasnoyarsk Regional Museum, containing historical items and exhibits of the region, including ancient history, native Siberians, and woolly rhinos.

 

The Krasnoyarsk zoo is also a major attraction for residents and tourists.

 

Transportation

Metro

An underground system (three lines) has been in planning and construction phases in Krasnoyarsk for decades. Subway construction was terminated in 2008.

 

Public Transportation

The transit system is dominated by buses, but there also are several trolleybus and tram routes.

 

Railway

Krasnoyarsk lies on the Yenisei River and historically has been an important junction on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Krasnoyarsk-Passazhirsky (Russian: Красноярск-Пассажирский, lit. Krasnoyarsk-Passenger) is the main railway station of Krasnoyarsk. Long-range trains of the Trans-Siberian Railway stop at this station. There are some stations served by Elektrichka and there is Krasnoyarsk-East goods station 26.3 km east of Krasnoyarsk-Passazhirsky.

 

Airports

Krasnoyarsk was served by two airports: Yemelyanovo Airport is the main airport and handles both medium and long-haul domestic as well as international flights, and is 27 km (17 mi) northwest of the city. The secondary Cheremshanka Airport handled short-haul flights. Cheremshanka has lost its eminent role as the main base airport for an extensive network of local air services (MVL) in Krasnoyarsk Krai formerly served by the local Aeroflot Krasnoyarsk Directorate. In December 2011 a fire broke out at the Cheremshanka airport which destroyed the terminal building and the air traffic control tower.

 

Tourism

The most popular place of attraction for tourists visiting Krasnoyarsk is the huge national nature reserve Stolby ("pillars"), which covers an area of 470 km2 (180 sq mi) with numerous giant granite rocks formations up to 100 meters high, many of very extraordinary shapes. Stolby is also a major rock climbing location. Many local climbers intentionally do not use any belaying equipment and call their extreme sport stolbizm, known elsewhere as solo climbing.

 

Other popular showplaces include the Krasnoyarsk Hydroelectric Power Station dam, the Karaulnaya Gora hill with the Paraskeva Pyatnitsa Chapel, museums, theaters, etc.

 

Sports

Krasnoyarsk is a center of Siberian sports. Areas, where Krasnoyarsk excels compared to other Russian cities, include rugby union, bandy, and freestyle wrestling.

 

Yenisey was the Soviet bandy champions every year in the 1980s as well as in 1991. The first Russian title came in 2001. In 2014 they became champions of the Bandy Super League and had the highest average attendance, 5 747. In 2015 the league title was won again as well as in 2016. At the 2019 Winter Universiade, bandy will feature as a demonstration sport for the first time and tournaments for both men and women will be held. An indoor stadium will be built for the occasion. It is planned to be ready for use by the end of 2018. The complexity of the construction is considered unique.

 

The city is considered a stronghold of rugby union in Russia, to the extent that the Rugby Union of Russia was headquartered locally for many years. Two Krasnoyarsk clubs, Krasny Yar and Enisey-STM, participate in the national Professional Rugby League, and European Rugby Challenge Cup, the second-tier pan-European club competition. Matches take precedence in the local media, and the city derby match can attract crowds of about 3000–5000. Many players of the Russian national rugby team hail from the area. Some of Russia's international rugby matches are played at the Central Stadium.

 

Notable people

Mirra Andreeva, tennis player

Viktor Astafyev, writer

Vyacheslav Butusov, singer and songwriter

Caziel, artist

Walter Ciszek, Polish-American Jesuit priest held captive here on suspicion of espionage for the Vatican

Valentin Danilov, Russian scientist

Elena Abramovna Davidovich, numismatist and archaeologist

Yekaterina Duntsova, Russian politician, journalist and lawyer

Helene Fischer, German singer and actress

Iya Gavrilova, ice hockey player

Dmitri Hvorostovsky, operatic baritone

Evgeny Isakov, ice hockey player

Elena Khrustaleva, biathlete

Sergey Ivanovich Lomanov, bandy manager and former player

Sergey Sergeyevich Lomanov, bandy player

Andreï Makine, novelist

Yevgeni Popov, writer

Sofia Samodurova, figure skater

Alexander Semin, ice hockey player

Andrei Shepelenko, professional ice hockey player

Pyotr Slovtsov, opera singer

Vasily Surikov, historic painter

Viktoria Tereshkina, prima ballerina

Viktor Tretiakov, violinist

Evgeny Ustyugov, biathlete

 

Twin towns – sister cities

Krasnoyarsk is twinned with:

China Heihe, China (1999)

Tajikistan Istaravshan, Tajikistan (2000)

Canada Sault Ste. Marie, Canada (2002)

Mongolia Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (2003)

Uzbekistan Samarkand, Uzbekistan (2003)

United States Oneonta, United States (2004)

Italy Cremona, Italy (2006)

Slovakia Žilina, Slovakia (2013)

China Changchun, China (2014)

China Manzhouli, China (2017)

The first few entries are dialects of German, French, English and French again all spelt out in Hindi.

 

Never mind that they say German for all dialects of German except the one spoken in Germany, which is just called Germany, and that Canadian French is called French, while other dialects of French are called Fransisi. The big question is, how on earth do you change your language to French or German if you cannot read Hindi?

 

Someone went too far with localising language names.

 

Oh yeah, this is a photo of my screen, because you can't take a screenshot before logging in.

Zürich (/ˈzjʊərɪk/ ZURE-ik, German: [ˈtsyːrɪç;) is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2023 the municipality had 443,037 inhabitants, the urban area 1.315 million (2009), and the Zürich metropolitan area 1.83 million (2011). Zürich is a hub for railways, roads, and air traffic. Both Zurich Airport and Zürich's main railway station are the largest and busiest in the country.

 

Permanently settled for over 2,000 years, Zürich was founded by the Romans, who called it Turicum. However, early settlements have been found dating back more than 6,400 years (although this only indicates human presence in the area and not the presence of a town that early). During the Middle Ages, Zürich gained the independent and privileged status of imperial immediacy and, in 1519, became a primary centre of the Protestant Reformation in Europe under the leadership of Huldrych Zwingli.

 

The official language of Zürich is German,[a] but the main spoken language is Zürich German, the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect.

 

Many museums and art galleries can be found in the city, including the Swiss National Museum and Kunsthaus. Schauspielhaus Zürich is generally considered to be one of the most important theatres in the German-speaking world.

 

As one of Switzerland's primary financial centres, Zürich is home to many financial institutions and banking companies.

 

History

 

Early history

 

Settlements of the Neolithic and Bronze Age were found around Lake Zürich. Traces of pre-Roman Celtic, La Tène settlements were discovered near the Lindenhof, a morainic hill dominating the SE - NW waterway constituted by Lake Zurich and the river Limmat. In Roman times, during the conquest of the alpine region in 15 BC, the Romans built a castellum on the Lindenhof. Later here was erected Turicum (a toponym of clear Celtic origin), a tax-collecting point for goods trafficked on the Limmat, which constituted part of the border between Gallia Belgica (from AD 90 Germania Superior) and Raetia: this customs point developed later into a vicus. After Emperor Constantine's reforms in AD 318, the border between Gaul and Italy (two of the four praetorian prefectures of the Roman Empire) was located east of Turicum, crossing the river Linth between Lake Walen and Lake Zürich, where a castle and garrison looked over Turicum's safety. The earliest written record of the town dates from the 2nd century, with a tombstone referring to it as the Statio Turicensis Quadragesima Galliarum ("Zürich post for collecting the 2.5% value tax of the Galliae"), discovered at the Lindenhof.

 

In the 5th century, the Germanic Alemanni tribe settled in the Swiss Plateau. The Roman castle remained standing until the 7th century. A Carolingian castle, built on the site of the Roman castle by the grandson of Charlemagne, Louis the German, is mentioned in 835 (in Castro Turicino iuxta fluvium Lindemaci). Louis also founded the Fraumünster abbey in 853 for his daughter Hildegard. He endowed the Benedictine convent with the lands of Zürich, Uri, and the Albis forest, and granted the convent immunity, placing it under his direct authority. In 1045, King Henry III granted the convent the right to hold markets, collect tolls, and mint coins, and thus effectively made the abbess the ruler of the city.

 

Zürich gained Imperial immediacy (Reichsunmittelbar, becoming an Imperial free city) in 1218 with the extinction of the main line of the Zähringer family and attained a status comparable to statehood. During the 1230s, a city wall was built, enclosing 38 hectares, when the earliest stone houses on the Rennweg were built as well. The Carolingian castle was used as a quarry, as it had started to fall into ruin.

 

Emperor Frederick II promoted the abbess of the Fraumünster to the rank of a duchess in 1234. The abbess nominated the mayor, and she frequently delegated the minting of coins to citizens of the city. The political power of the convent slowly waned in the 14th century, beginning with the establishment of the Zunftordnung (guild laws) in 1336 by Rudolf Brun, who also became the first independent mayor, i.e. not nominated by the abbess.

 

An important event in the early 14th century was the completion of the Manesse Codex, a key source of medieval German poetry. The famous illuminated manuscript – described as "the most beautifully illumined German manuscript in centuries;" – was commissioned by the Manesse family of Zürich, copied and illustrated in the city at some time between 1304 and 1340. Producing such a work was a highly expensive prestige project, requiring several years of work by highly skilled scribes and miniature painters, and it testifies to the increasing wealth and pride of Zürich citizens in this period. The work contains 6 songs by Süsskind von Trimberg, who may have been a Jew, since the work itself contains reflections on medieval Jewish life, though little is known about him.

 

The first mention of Jews in Zürich was in 1273. Sources show that there was a synagogue in Zürich in the 13th century, implying the existence of a Jewish community. With the rise of the Black Death in 1349, Zürich, like most other Swiss cities, responded by persecuting and burning the local Jews, marking the end of the first Jewish community there. The second Jewish community of Zürich formed towards the end of the 14th century, was short-lived, and Jews were expulsed and banned from the city from 1423 until the 19th century.

 

Archaeological findings

 

A woman who died in about 200 BC was found buried in a carved tree trunk during a construction project at the Kern school complex in March 2017 in Aussersihl. Archaeologists revealed that she was approximately 40 years old when she died and likely carried out little physical labor when she was alive. A sheepskin coat, a belt chain, a fancy wool dress, a scarf, and a pendant made of glass and amber beads were also discovered with the woman.

 

Old Swiss Confederacy

 

On 1 May 1351, the citizens of Zürich had to swear allegiance before representatives of the cantons of Lucerne, Schwyz, Uri and Unterwalden, the other members of the Swiss Confederacy. Thus, Zürich became the fifth member of the Confederacy, which was at that time a loose confederation of de facto independent states. Zürich was the presiding canton of the Diet from 1468 to 1519. This authority was the executive council and lawmaking body of the confederacy, from the Middle Ages until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848. Zürich was temporarily expelled from the confederacy in 1440 due to a war with the other member states over the territory of Toggenburg (the Old Zürich War). Neither side had attained significant victory when peace was agreed upon in 1446, and Zürich was readmitted to the confederation in 1450.

 

Zwingli started the Swiss Reformation at the time when he was the main preacher at the Grossmünster in 1519. The Zürich Bible was printed by Christoph Froschauer in 1531. The Reformation resulted in major changes in state matters and civil life in Zürich, spreading also to several other cantons. Several cantons remained Catholic and became the basis of serious conflicts that eventually led to the outbreak of the Wars of Kappel.

 

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Council of Zürich adopted an isolationist attitude, resulting in a second ring of imposing fortifications built in 1624. The Thirty Years' War which raged across Europe motivated the city to build these walls. The fortifications required a lot of resources, which were taken from subject territories without reaching any agreement. The following revolts were crushed brutally. In 1648, Zürich proclaimed itself a republic, shedding its former status of a free imperial city. In this time the political system of Zürich was an oligarchy (Patriziat): the dominant families of the city were the following ones: Bonstetten, Brun, Bürkli, Escher vom Glas, Escher vom Luchs, Hirzel, Jori (or von Jori), Kilchsperger, Landenberg, Manesse, Meiss, Meyer von Knonau, Mülner, von Orelli.

 

The Helvetic Revolution of 1798 saw the fall of the Ancien Régime. Zürich lost control of the land and its economic privileges, and the city and the canton separated their possessions between 1803 and 1805. In 1839, the city had to yield to the demands of its urban subjects, following the Züriputsch of 6 September. Most of the ramparts built in the 17th century were torn down, without ever having been besieged, to allay rural concerns over the city's hegemony. The Treaty of Zürich between Austria, France, and Sardinia was signed in 1859.

 

Modern history

 

Zürich was the Federal capital for 1839–40, and consequently, the victory of the Conservative party there in 1839 caused a great stir throughout Switzerland. But when in 1845 the Radicals regained power at Zürich, which was again the Federal capital for 1845–46, Zürich took the lead in opposing the Sonderbund cantons. Following the Sonderbund War and the formation of the Swiss Federal State, Zürich voted in favor of the Federal constitutions of 1848 and 1874. The enormous immigration from the country districts into the town from the 1830s onwards created an industrial class which, though "settled" in the town, did not possess the privileges of burghership, and consequently had no share in the municipal government. First of all in 1860 the town schools, hitherto open to "settlers" only on paying high fees, were made accessible to all, next in 1875 ten years' residence ipso facto conferred the right of burghership, and in 1893 the eleven outlying districts were incorporated within the town proper.

 

When Jews began to settle in Zürich following their equality in 1862, the Israelitische Cultusgemeinde Zürich was founded.

 

Extensive developments took place during the 19th century. From 1847, the Spanisch-Brötli-Bahn, the first railway on Swiss territory, connected Zürich with Baden, putting the Zürich Hauptbahnhof at the origin of the Swiss rail network. The present building of the Hauptbahnhof (the main railway station) dates to 1871. Zürich's Bahnhofstrasse (Station Street) was laid out in 1867, and the Zürich Stock Exchange was founded in 1877. Industrialisation led to migration into the cities and to rapid population growth, particularly in the suburbs of Zürich.

 

The Quaianlagen are an important milestone in the development of the modern city of Zürich, as the construction of the new lakefront transformed Zürich from a small medieval town on the rivers Limmat and Sihl to a modern city on the Zürichsee shore, under the guidance of the city engineer Arnold Bürkli.

 

In 1893, the twelve outlying districts were incorporated into Zürich, including Aussersihl, the workman's quarter on the left bank of the Sihl, and additional land was reclaimed from Lake Zürich.

 

In 1934, eight additional districts in the north and west of Zürich were incorporated.

 

Zürich was accidentally bombed during World War II. As persecuted Jews sought refuge in Switzerland, the SIG (Schweizerischer Israelitischer Gemeindebund, Israelite Community of Switzerland) raised financial resources. The Central Committee for Refugee Aid, created in 1933, was located in Zürich.

 

The canton of Zürich did not recognize the Jewish religious communities as legal entities (and therefore as equal to national churches) until 2005.

 

Geography

 

Zürich is situated at 408 m (1,339 ft) above sea level on the lower (northern) end of Lake Zürich (Zürichsee) about 30 km (19 mi) north of the Alps, nestling between the wooded hills on the west and east side. The Old Town stretches on both sides of the Limmat, which flows from the lake, running northwards at first and then gradually turning into a curve to the west. The geographic (and historic) centre of the city is the Lindenhof, a small natural hill on the west bank of the Limmat, about 700 m (2,300 ft) north of where the river issues from Lake Zürich. Today the incorporated city stretches somewhat beyond the natural confines of the hills and includes some districts to the northeast in the Glatt Valley (Glattal) and to the north in the Limmat Valley (Limmattal). The boundaries of the older city are easy to recognize by the Schanzengraben canal. This artificial watercourse has been used for the construction of the third fortress in the 17th and 18th centuries.

 

Quality of living

 

Zürich often performs very well in international rankings, some of which are mentioned below:

 

Monocle's 2012 "Quality of Life Survey" ranked Zürich first on a list of the top 25 cities in the world "to make a base within". In 2019 Zürich was ranked among the ten most liveable cities in the world by Mercer together with Geneva and Basel.

In fDi Magazine's "Global Cities of the Future 2021/22" report, Zürich placed 16th in the overall rankings (all categories). In the category "Mid-sized and small cities", Zürich was 2nd overall, behind Wroclaw, having also placed 2nd in the subcategory "Human capital and lifestyle" and 3rd under "Business friendliness". In the category "FDI strategy, overall" (relating to foreign direct investment), Zürich ranked 9th, behind such cities as New York, Montreal (1st and 2nd) and Dubai (at number 8).

 

Main sites

 

Most of Zürich's sites are located within the area on either side of the Limmat, between the Main railway station and Lake Zürich. The churches and houses of the old town are clustered here, as are the most expensive shops along the famous Bahnhofstrasse. The Lindenhof in the old town is the historical site of the Roman castle, and the later Carolingian Imperial Palace.

 

(Wikpedia)

 

Zürich (zürichdeutsch Züri [ˈt͡sʏ̞rɪ, ˈt͡sʏrɪ, ˈt͡sy̞rɪ],[6] französisch Zurich [zyʁik], italienisch Zurigo [tsuˈriːɡo, dzu-], Rumantsch Grischun Turitg) ist eine schweizerische Stadt, politische Gemeinde sowie Hauptort des gleichnamigen Kantons.

 

Die Stadt Zürich ist mit 427'721 Einwohnern (Stand 31. Dezember 2022) die grösste Stadt der Schweiz und weist eine Bevölkerungsdichte von 4655 Einwohnern pro Quadratkilometer auf. Das Umland ist dicht besiedelt, so dass in der Agglomeration Zürich etwa 1,3 Millionen und in der Metropolitanregion Zürich etwa 1,83 Millionen Menschen leben. Der Bezirk Zürich ist mit dem Stadtgebiet identisch.

 

Die Stadt liegt im östlichen Schweizer Mittelland, an der Limmat am Ausfluss des Zürichsees. Ihre Einwohner werden Zürcher genannt (bzw. Stadtzürcher zur Differenzierung von den übrigen Einwohnern des Kantons).

 

Das aus der römischen Siedlung Turicum entstandene Zürich wurde 1262 freie Reichsstadt und 1351 Mitglied der Eidgenossenschaft. Die Stadt des Reformators Huldrych Zwingli wurde 1519 zum zweitwichtigsten (nach Wittenberg) Zentrum der Reformation. Bis heute gilt sie als Ausgangspunkt der weltweiten reformierten Kirche und der Täufer. Die Stadt erlebte im Industriezeitalter ihren Aufstieg zur heutigen Wirtschaftsmetropole der Schweiz.

 

Mit ihrem Hauptbahnhof, dem grössten Bahnhof der Schweiz, und dem Flughafen (auf dem Gebiet der Gemeinde Kloten) ist die Stadt Zürich ein kontinentaler Verkehrsknotenpunkt. Aufgrund der ansässigen Grossbanken (u. a. UBS, der Zürcher Kantonalbank und Credit Suisse) und Versicherungen (Zurich Insurance Group und Swiss Re) ist sie ein internationaler Finanzplatz und der grösste Finanzplatz der Schweiz, gefolgt von Genf und Lugano. Daneben beherbergt die Stadt mit der Eidgenössischen Technischen Hochschule Zürich und der Universität Zürich die zwei grössten universitären Hochschulen der Schweiz. Trotz der vergleichsweise geringen Einwohnerzahl wird Zürich zu den Weltstädten gezählt. Zürich ist das wichtigste Zentrum der Schweizer Medien- und Kreativbranche. Mit seiner Lage am Zürichsee, seiner gut erhaltenen mittelalterlichen Altstadt und einem vielseitigen Kulturangebot und Nachtleben ist es zudem ein Zentrum des Tourismus.

 

Seit Jahren wird Zürich neben Basel und Genf als eine der Städte mit der weltweit höchsten Lebensqualität und zugleich neben Genf mit den höchsten Lebenshaltungskosten weltweit gelistet. Zürich ist nach Monaco und Genf die Stadt mit der dritthöchsten Millionärsdichte weltweit.

 

Geografie

 

Zürich liegt auf 408 m ü. M. am unteren (nördlichen) Ende des Zürichsees im Tal der Limmat und im unteren Tal der Sihl, eingebettet zwischen den Höhen von Uetliberg im Westen und Zürichberg im Osten. Die Limmat entspringt dem See, während die westlich des Sees fliessende Sihl nördlich der Zürcher Altstadt beim Platzspitz in die Limmat mündet. Die Altstadt erstreckt sich beidseits der Limmat, die zunächst nordwärts fliesst und dann in einem Bogen allmählich nach Westen abbiegt.

 

Die einstige Stadt reichte nicht bis zur Sihl, sondern hatte als westliche Abgrenzung den im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert angelegten Schanzengraben. Damals wurde Wasser aus dem See abgeleitet und in einem Graben ausserhalb der Bastionen und Bollwerke zur Limmat geführt. Noch früher erstreckte sich die Stadt im Westen nur bis zum Fröschengraben, der ungefähr parallel zur Limmat verlief. Dieser Graben wurde 1864 zugeschüttet, um Raum für den Bau der Bahnhofstrasse zu schaffen, die vom heutigen Paradeplatz bis zum Rennweg dem Verlauf des einstigen Grabens folgt.

 

Geschichte

 

Frühgeschichte, Mittelalter und ältere Neuzeit

Im Unterschied zu den meisten anderen Schweizer Grossstädten stieg Zürich im Frühmittelalter in den Rang einer Stadt auf. In Turīcum gab es zwar bereits zur Römerzeit eine Zollstation, ein hadrianisches Heiligtum auf dem Grossen Hafner im untersten Seebecken beim Ausfluss der Limmat und ein Kastell, die zugehörige Siedlung kann aber noch nicht als Stadt bezeichnet werden. Das frühmittelalterliche, alemannische Zürich war eng verbunden mit dem Herzogtum Schwaben und zwei bedeutenden geistlichen Stiftungen der deutschen Könige, dem Grossmünster und dem Fraumünster, die dem Kult um die Stadtpatrone Felix und Regula geweiht waren. Nach dem Zerfall der zentralen Gewalt im Herzogtum Schwaben und dem Aussterben der Zähringer 1218 konnte sich Zürich den Status der Reichsunmittelbarkeit sichern; 1262 wurde auch die Reichsfreiheit der Bürgerschaft ausdrücklich bestätigt. Der Titel einer Reichsstadt bedeutete de facto die Unabhängigkeit der Stadt. De jure löste sich Zürich jedoch erst 1648 von der Oberhoheit des Kaisers des Heiligen Römischen Reiches.

 

Im Spätmittelalter erwarb und eroberte Zürich in seinem Umland bedeutende Territorien, die der Stadt bis 1798 politisch untergeordnet waren (siehe Territoriale Entwicklung Zürichs). Im Innern wurden die Geschicke Zürichs seit der Zunftrevolution durch Bürgermeister Rudolf Brun im Jahr 1336 durch den Stadtadel und die Handwerkervereinigungen (Zünfte) gemeinsam geleitet (Brunsche Zunftverfassung). Brun war auch verantwortlich für den Überfall von Rapperswil. 1351 schloss sich Zürich zur Sicherung seiner Unabhängigkeit gegen das aufstrebende süddeutsche Adelsgeschlecht der Habsburger der schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft an und wurde zusammen mit Bern zum Vorort dieses Staatenbundes.

 

Der wohl bis heute wichtigste Beitrag Zürichs zur Weltgeschichte war die Reformation von Huldrych Zwingli. Unter seiner geistigen Führung wurde seit 1519 Zürich zum reformierten Rom an der Limmat. Die Zürcher Bibel, eine der ersten deutschen Bibelübersetzungen, entstand in der Prophezei unter Zwingli, Leo Jud und weiteren Mitarbeitern 1524 bis 1525 und wurde vom Zürcher Buchdrucker Christoph Froschauer zuerst in Teilen und später als ganze Bibel herausgegeben.

 

Die Täuferbewegung nahm ihren Ausgangspunkt ab 1523 in Zürich unter Führung von Konrad Grebel, Felix Manz, Jörg Blaurock, Balthasar Hubmaier und weiteren Personen, die sich von Zwingli trennten und kurz darauf verfolgt und gefangen genommen wurden. Im Januar 1527 wurde Felix Manz in der Limmat ertränkt, viele Täufer flüchteten nach Schaffhausen oder ins Zürcher Oberland.

 

Heinrich Bullinger 1531–1575 und Rudolf Gwalther 1575–1586 konsolidierten als Antistes und Nachfolger von Zwingli die Reformation in Zürich und pflegten zahlreiche Kontakte europaweit. Während ihrer Zeit wurden viele evangelische Flüchtlinge aus dem Tessin, Italien, Frankreich und England aufgenommen. Diese trugen in der Folge durch Handwerk, Produktion noch unbekannter Textilien und Handel wesentlich zum wirtschaftlichen Gedeihen Zürichs bei.[38][39][40]

 

Zur Zeit der Hexenverfolgungen wurden in Zürich von 1487 bis 1701 Hexenprozesse gegen 79 Personen geführt. Im Hexenprozess 1701 wurden acht Menschen aus Wasterkingen wegen angeblicher Hexerei verurteilt. Regierungspräsident Markus Notter und Kirchenratspräsident Ruedi Reich verurteilten 2001 diese Justizmorde.

 

18. und 19. Jahrhundert

 

Das Zürich des 18. Jahrhunderts galt als «das grösste Rätsel deutscher Geistesgeschichte». Trotz relativ geringer Bevölkerungszahl entwickelte sich rund um Johann Jakob Bodmer neben dem wissenschaftlichen auch ein literarisches Zürich mit entscheidenden Beiträgen zur deutschen Literaturgeschichte.

 

Mit dem Untergang der freien Republik der Stadt Zürich nach dem Einmarsch der Franzosen in die Schweiz ging die Stadt zusammen mit dem ehemaligen Untertanenland im neuen Kanton Zürich auf, dessen Hauptort sie wurde. Im beginnenden 19. Jahrhundert kam es zwar zu einer Restauration der städtischen Vorherrschaft im Kanton, die jedoch von kurzer Dauer war.

 

Der Aufstieg Zürichs zum wirtschaftlichen Zentrum der Schweiz begann bereits mit der Textilindustrie im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert. Unter der politischen und wirtschaftlichen Führung der Liberalen, insbesondere von Alfred Escher, wurde die führende Rolle Zürichs ab 1846 durch die Gründung von zahlreichen Banken und Versicherungen auch auf den Finanz- und Dienstleistungssektor ausgedehnt. Seit dem Niedergang der Zürcher Industrie in der Nachkriegszeit hat die Bedeutung dieses Sektors noch zugenommen.

 

In den Jahren 1855 und 1867 starben in der Stadt Zürich in Folge prekärer hygienischer Verhältnisse in vielen Wohnungen ca. 500 Menschen an Cholera. 1867 wurde mit dem Bau einer Kanalisation begonnen. 1884 brach Typhus aus.

 

In der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts begann ein bis in die 1970er Jahre andauernder Bauboom, der Zürich von einer Kleinstadt zur Grossstadt mit all ihren Problemen wachsen liess. Das stürmische Wachstum beschränkte sich zuerst auf einen Um- und Neubau des Zentrums und erfasste zunehmend die umliegenden ländlichen Gemeinden. In zwei Eingemeindungswellen wurden 1893 und 1934 20 Landgemeinden mit der alten Stadtgemeinde zusammengefasst. Die Errichtung eines «Millionenzürich» scheiterte jedoch bis heute. Während nämlich ursprünglich die Finanzstärke der Stadt bzw. die leeren Kassen der Vororte Motor der freiwilligen Stadterweiterungen waren, sind heute die verbleibenden Vororte finanziell eher besser gestellt als die Stadt. Dies schlägt sich insbesondere in den Steuersätzen nieder.

 

Zwei ausgeprägte Wachstumswellen in den Jahren 1888–1910 sowie 1950–1970 entstanden durch Zuzüger aus dem Ausland. Im Jahr 1912 waren die Bewohner Zürichs zu einem Drittel Ausländer, und Zürich war wie ein grosser Teil der Deutschschweiz im Vorfeld des Ersten Weltkriegs deutschfreundlich, wobei Hochdeutsch zu sprechen in gehobenen Kreisen zum guten Ton gehörte.

 

20. Jahrhundert

 

In der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts stand Zürich politisch im Bann der Arbeiterbewegung. Schon vor dem Landesstreik 1918 war in Zürich die Konfrontation zwischen Bürgertum und Arbeiterschaft besonders heftig ausgefallen, da Zürich grosse Industriebetriebe mit tausenden von Arbeitern aufwies und zugleich eine Hochburg des Grossbürgertums war. Als 1928 die Sozialdemokratische Partei unter der Führung von David Farbstein erstmals eine absolute Mehrheit in Stadtrat (Exekutive) und Gemeinderat (Legislative) erlangte, wurde in der Zwischenkriegszeit das Rote Zürich zu einem Aushängeschild für die Regierungsfähigkeit der Sozialdemokratie. Trotzdem wurde gerade in Zürich 1939 die als Landi bekannt gewordene Landesausstellung zu einem Symbol für den Zusammenhalt und den Widerstandswillen der Schweiz im Zeichen der Geistigen Landesverteidigung gegen Hitlerdeutschland. Schliesslich wurde 1943 der Zürcher Stadtpräsident Ernst Nobs als erster Sozialdemokrat in den Bundesrat gewählt. In der Nachkriegszeit blieb Zürich Sammelbecken und Bühne für Protestbewegungen, wie 1968 anlässlich der Globus-Krawalle und 1980 für die Jugendunruhen. Noch heute ist der 1. Mai in Zürich jährlich von Auseinandersetzungen des autonomen «Schwarzen Blockes» mit der Polizei gekennzeichnet.

 

Ein Problem der Stadt war lange auch die offene Drogenszene. In der Mitte der 1980er Jahre wurde der Platzspitz weltweit als Needlepark bekannt. Er wurde am 5. Februar 1992 zwangsgeräumt und abgeriegelt, daraufhin verschob sich die Drogenszene an den stillgelegten Bahnhof Letten.

 

Das Areal des stillgelegten Bahnhofs Letten bot ab 1992 die Kulisse für die grösste offene Drogenszene Europas. Mehrere tausend Drogenabhängige aus dem In- und Ausland lebten hier oder besorgten sich ihren Stoff. Hundertschaften von Polizisten nahmen des Öfteren in der Anwesenheit von Kamerateams Razzien vor und versuchten so den Markt auszutrocknen. Diese Versuche blieben erfolglos und so wurde der Letten am 14. Februar 1995 polizeilich geräumt. Auswärtige Drogenabhängige wurden grösstenteils an ihre Herkunftsgemeinden respektive Wohnortgemeinden zurückgeführt, ausländische Abhängige zwangsausgeschafft. Die Reste der Drogenszene verlagerten sich zunehmend ins Gebiet entlang der Langstrasse. Zur Entschärfung der Situation trug dabei sehr stark der Versuch der staatlichen Heroinabgabe bei, so dass sich nicht umgehend eine neue Szene bildete. Heute ist die staatliche, ärztlich kontrollierte Drogenabgabe gesetzlich verankert und vom Volk per Referendum abgesegnet.

 

Die Langstrasse ist ein Zentrum des Zürcher Nachtlebens. Seit der Auflösung der offenen Drogenszenen wurde das Viertel zur Jahrtausendwende hin zum Zentrum des Drogenhandels. Die Kriminalitätsrate im Langstrassenquartier ist zwar weiterhin verhältnismässig hoch, jedoch verbesserte sich die Situation aufgrund verschiedener Projekte der öffentlichen Hand. Heute hat sich die Situation stabilisiert und der Stadtteil ist zu einer festen Grösse im Kultur- und Nachtleben Zürichs geworden. Nach wie vor ist die Stadt Anziehungspunkt für Drogenkonsumenten aus den benachbarten Kantonen.

 

Gegenwart

 

In den 1980er Jahren war Zürich in einem Teufelskreis zwischen der Nachfrage nach mehr Bürofläche in der Innenstadt, der Stadtflucht und der drohenden Verslumung ganzer Stadtkreise wegen der Drogenprobleme gefangen. Massnahmen zur Attraktivitätssteigerung der Innenstadt wie die Verkehrsbefreiung des Niederdorfs konnten nicht verhindern, dass die Innenstadt Zürichs immer unattraktiver wurde. Veränderungen schienen unmöglich – 1986 brachte die damalige Baudirektorin Ursula Koch mit ihrem berühmtgewordenen Satz «Zürich ist gebaut» die Perspektivlosigkeit der Politik in Bezug auf die weitere Zukunft Zürichs zum Ausdruck. Erst Mitte der 1990er Jahre konnte die Blockade überwunden werden, zuerst durch eine neue Bau- und Zonenordnung 1996 und die Liberalisierung des Gastgewerbegesetzes 1997. Besonders letzteres wirkte enorm belebend auf das Nachtleben Zürichs und liess innerhalb kürzester Zeit unzählige neue und innovative Restaurants, Bars und Diskotheken aus dem Boden schiessen. 1998 konnte unter dem neuen Baudirektor Elmar Ledergerber (von 2002 bis April 2009 Stadtpräsident) die jahrelang nur langsam vorankommende Neugestaltung der Industriebrachen in Zürich-West und in Oerlikon beschleunigt werden, so dass sich bis heute an beiden Standorten trendige und moderne neue Stadtquartiere entwickeln konnten. Bis 2020 entsteht westlich des Hauptbahnhofs das neue Quartier Europaallee.

 

Im Tourismusbereich trat Zürich in den 2000er Jahren (bis 2011) mit dem Zusatz «Downtown Switzerland» auf.

 

Wirtschaft

 

Zürich gilt als das Wirtschaftszentrum der Schweiz. Der gesamte Wirtschaftsraum in und um Zürich wird auch als Greater Zurich Area bezeichnet. International zeichnet er sich insbesondere durch tiefe Steuersätze und eine hohe Lebensqualität aus, weshalb einige internationale Konzerne einen Sitz in Zürich haben. 2018 waren 5,4 % der Bevölkerung Millionäre (gerechnet in US-Dollar). Zürich ist damit, hinter Monaco und Genf, die Stadt mit der dritthöchsten Millionärsdichte weltweit. Aufgrund ihrer internationalen wirtschaftlichen Bedeutung wird die Stadt Zürich oft zu den Global- bzw. Weltstädten gezählt.

 

Die Wirtschaft ist sehr stark auf den Dienstleistungssektor ausgerichtet, in dem knapp 90 % der Zürcher Beschäftigten tätig sind. Im Industriesektor sind rund 10 % tätig und in der Landwirtschaft sind es heute weniger als 1 %. Bei einer erwerbstätigen Wohnbevölkerung von 200'110 (Stand: Volkszählung 2000) weist die Stadt 318'543 Arbeitsplätze vor. Die Mehrheit der Beschäftigten (56 %) waren Pendler aus anderen Gemeinden. Neben den rund 178'000 Zupendelnden gibt es rund 39'000 aus der Stadt Wegpendelnde.

 

Der wichtigste Wirtschaftszweig in Zürich ist der Finanzdienstleistungssektor, der am Paradeplatz sein Zentrum hat. Die beiden bis 2023 selbständigen Grossbanken UBS, die weltweit grösste Vermögensverwalterin, und Credit Suisse, die Schweizerische Nationalbank, die Zürcher Kantonalbank, die traditionsreiche Privatbank Julius Bär sowie etliche kleinere Bankinstitute haben ihren Sitz in der Stadt. Auch über 100 Auslandbanken sind in Zürich vertreten. Auf dem Bankenplatz Zürich sind rund 45'000 Personen beschäftigt, knapp die Hälfte aller Bankangestellten der Schweiz. Eine grosse Bedeutung hat das Privatkundengeschäft, da über 25 % der weltweit grenzüberschreitend angelegten Vermögenswerte in Zürich verwaltet werden (schweizweit sind es rund ein Drittel). Die schweizerische Post betrieb von 1920 bis 1996 in Zürich ein Rohrpostsystem, zu deren diskreten Kunden auch die Banken zählten. Auch die Börse SIX Swiss Exchange spielt international eine wesentliche Rolle und verstärkt die Bedeutung des Finanzplatzes Zürich. Sie gehört zu den technologisch führenden Börsen der Welt. Im Weiteren repräsentiert Zürich weltweit den drittgrössten Versicherungsmarkt. Swiss Re, eine der weltweit grössten Rückversicherungen, und Swiss Life, der grösste Lebensversicherungskonzern der Schweiz, haben ihre Hauptsitze in Zürich. Eine weitere Versicherungsgesellschaft von internationaler Bedeutung ist die Zurich Insurance Group. Der gesamte Finanzdienstleistungssektor generiert nahezu 50 % der Steuereinnahmen der Stadt Zürich.

 

Als zweitwichtigster Wirtschaftszweig folgen die unternehmensbezogenen Dienstleistungen wie Rechts- und Unternehmensberatung, Informatik oder Immobilienverwaltung. Zu erwähnen ist etwa das Unternehmen IBM Schweiz, das in Rüschlikon ein bedeutendes Forschungslabor betreibt. Seit 2004 betreibt zudem Google in Zürich das europäische Forschungszentrum. Auf dem ehemaligen Areal der Hürlimann AG wurde der zweitgrösste Standort des Unternehmens nach Mountain View eingerichtet.

 

Infolge des Strukturwandels hat die Bedeutung der produzierenden Industrie und der Bauwirtschaft abgenommen. Allerdings haben immer noch bedeutende Industriefirmen Niederlassungen in der Stadt Zürich, so zum Beispiel Siemens. Der Elektrotechnikkonzern ABB hat zudem seinen Hauptsitz in Zürich.

 

Aus den übrigen Wirtschaftszweigen sind insbesondere zu erwähnen: der grösste Schweizer Detailhandelskonzern Migros, der weltgrösste Schokoladenproduzent Barry Callebaut, die beiden grössten Automobilhändler AMAG-Gruppe und Emil Frey Gruppe, sowie der grösste Schweizer Reisekonzern Kuoni.

 

Nicht zuletzt dank der kulturellen Vielfalt in Zürich ist auch der Tourismus in den letzten Jahren ein bedeutender Wirtschaftsfaktor geworden. Jedes Jahr empfängt die Stadt Zürich rund neun Millionen Tagestouristen sowie zwei Millionen Übernachtungsgäste, von denen sich eine Mehrheit auch geschäftlich in Zürich aufhält.

 

Lebensqualität

 

Zürich galt bis zum Jahr 2008 siebenmal in Folge als Stadt mit der höchsten Lebensqualität weltweit. In der Studie «Worldwide Quality of Living Survey» («Studie zur weltweiten Lebensqualität») untersuchte die renommierte Beratungsfirma Mercer 215 Grossstädte anhand von 39 Kriterien, darunter Freizeit, Erholung, Sicherheit, Sauberkeit, politische und ökonomische Stabilität, sowie medizinische Versorgung. Seit 2009 rangiert Zürich neu an zweiter Stelle hinter Wien. Zudem wird Zürich als eine der Städte mit den weltweit höchsten Lebenshaltungskosten gelistet.

 

In einer Studie der Globalization and World Cities Research Group an der britischen Universität Loughborough landete Zürich in der Kategorie der Beta-Weltstädte auf dem ersten Rang, zusammen mit San Francisco, Sydney und Toronto.

 

Zürich besitzt die Auszeichnung Energiestadt Gold für eine nachhaltige Energiepolitik. Die offiziellen Gebäude im Eigentum der Stadt Zürich werden in der Regel nach Minergie gebaut.

 

Um die Lebensqualität für Geringverdiener im Hinblick auf den Wohnungsmarkt zu verbessern, hat die Stadt Zürich die Stiftungen Wohnungen für kinderreiche Familien und Alterswohnungen der Stadt Zürich gegründet.

 

Kunst, Kultur und Tourismus

 

Allgemeine Sehenswürdigkeiten

 

Die meisten Sehenswürdigkeiten Zürichs sind in und um die Altstadt gruppiert und deswegen am einfachsten zu Fuss oder mit kurzen Fahrten in Tram oder Bus erreichbar. Neben Gebäuden und Denkmälern ist auch die Lage Zürichs am Zürichsee einen Blick wert. Am Bellevue oder am Bürkliplatz bietet sich bei gutem Wetter ein schöner Blick auf den See und die Alpen. Beide Seeufer mit ihren Promenaden und Parkanlagen sind dann jeweils Anziehungspunkte für viele Einheimische und Touristen.

 

Der Zürcher Hausberg Uetliberg ist mit der Sihltal-Zürich-Uetliberg-Bahn (SZU) zu erreichen, die ab dem Hauptbahnhof verkehrt.

 

(Wikipedia)

Man from Amdo Tibetan region beautiful in his finest ceremonial clothes at a festival fashion show. Different regions of Tibet have their own customs, dialect, and styles of fashion and ornamentation.

 

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Ornaments make up most of the life savings of many Khampa families, and so play an important role in Tibetan families' lives as well as in announcing the social status of the wearers. They are saved up for over many years and handed down for centuries from generation to generation within families. Until very recently, these families were nomadic and have to move every few months because of the snowy seasons in the Himalayas, so Khampas have always needed to store their wealth in portable form. So being unable to store wealth in the form of estates or houses or land or in a bank, for millenia wealth has been stored in art, precious fabrics, and particularly into ornaments.

 

Their culture is very conservative about the type of ornaments favored: for thousands of years jewelry made from amber, turquoise and coral have been worn because the stones are believed to hold spiritual power. Gold and silver and also naturally found in Tibet, and the use of these metals by the wealthy also goes back thousands of years. Their ornaments are very chunky, bold and colorful. While the gold earrings that Khampa women wear may have cost them a year or maybe several year's of their salary, ornaments carry so much social status in their society that probably didn't have to think twice about the purchase.

 

To the Khampa people these ornaments have the utmost sentimental value and significance, because they are the physical remnants of generations of their ancestors hard work or success. what these people are wearing is not just their life savings, but also their family history and treasure. this culture has been around for millenia - archeological finds from the 1st century AD in the khampa area unearthed ornaments that are essentially the same in design and materials as today's are. there are also beliefs that the stones provide good luck and protection to disease. dyed red coral is the most sought after stone, but interestingly tibet is very very far from any oceans - all the coral is imported by traders! Religious symbols from Tibetan Buddhism frequency form the designs of pieces, however archeological finds show that the role of ornaments in Tibetan society and peoples' lives long predate the arrival of Buddhism in Tibet. Indeed the beliefs of spiritual protection being provided by coral, amber and turquoise probably originate from the ancient shamanic Bon religion.

Lady from Amdo Tibetan region beautiful in her finest ceremonial clothes at a festival fashion show. Different regions of Tibet have their own customs, dialect, and styles of fashion and ornamentation.

 

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Ornaments make up most of the life savings of many Khampa families, and so play an important role in Tibetan families' lives as well as in announcing the social status of the wearers. They are saved up for over many years and handed down for centuries from generation to generation within families. Until very recently, these families were nomadic and have to move every few months because of the snowy seasons in the Himalayas, so Khampas have always needed to store their wealth in portable form. So being unable to store wealth in the form of estates or houses or land or in a bank, for millenia wealth has been stored in art, precious fabrics, and particularly into ornaments.

 

Their culture is very conservative about the type of ornaments favored: for thousands of years jewelry made from amber, turquoise and coral have been worn because the stones are believed to hold spiritual power. Gold and silver and also naturally found in Tibet, and the use of these metals by the wealthy also goes back thousands of years. Their ornaments are very chunky, bold and colorful. While the gold earrings that Khampa women wear may have cost them a year or maybe several year's of their salary, ornaments carry so much social status in their society that probably didn't have to think twice about the purchase.

 

To the Khampa people these ornaments have the utmost sentimental value and significance, because they are the physical remnants of generations of their ancestors hard work or success. what these people are wearing is not just their life savings, but also their family history and treasure. this culture has been around for millenia - archeological finds from the 1st century AD in the khampa area unearthed ornaments that are essentially the same in design and materials as today's are. there are also beliefs that the stones provide good luck and protection to disease. dyed red coral is the most sought after stone, but interestingly tibet is very very far from any oceans - all the coral is imported by traders! Religious symbols from Tibetan Buddhism frequency form the designs of pieces, however archeological finds show that the role of ornaments in Tibetan society and peoples' lives long predate the arrival of Buddhism in Tibet. Indeed the beliefs of spiritual protection being provided by coral, amber and turquoise probably originate from the ancient shamanic Bon religion.

Zürich (/ˈzjʊərɪk/ ZURE-ik, German: [ˈtsyːrɪç;) is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2023 the municipality had 443,037 inhabitants, the urban area 1.315 million (2009), and the Zürich metropolitan area 1.83 million (2011). Zürich is a hub for railways, roads, and air traffic. Both Zurich Airport and Zürich's main railway station are the largest and busiest in the country.

 

Permanently settled for over 2,000 years, Zürich was founded by the Romans, who called it Turicum. However, early settlements have been found dating back more than 6,400 years (although this only indicates human presence in the area and not the presence of a town that early). During the Middle Ages, Zürich gained the independent and privileged status of imperial immediacy and, in 1519, became a primary centre of the Protestant Reformation in Europe under the leadership of Huldrych Zwingli.

 

The official language of Zürich is German,[a] but the main spoken language is Zürich German, the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect.

 

Many museums and art galleries can be found in the city, including the Swiss National Museum and Kunsthaus. Schauspielhaus Zürich is generally considered to be one of the most important theatres in the German-speaking world.

 

As one of Switzerland's primary financial centres, Zürich is home to many financial institutions and banking companies.

 

History

 

Early history

 

Settlements of the Neolithic and Bronze Age were found around Lake Zürich. Traces of pre-Roman Celtic, La Tène settlements were discovered near the Lindenhof, a morainic hill dominating the SE - NW waterway constituted by Lake Zurich and the river Limmat. In Roman times, during the conquest of the alpine region in 15 BC, the Romans built a castellum on the Lindenhof. Later here was erected Turicum (a toponym of clear Celtic origin), a tax-collecting point for goods trafficked on the Limmat, which constituted part of the border between Gallia Belgica (from AD 90 Germania Superior) and Raetia: this customs point developed later into a vicus. After Emperor Constantine's reforms in AD 318, the border between Gaul and Italy (two of the four praetorian prefectures of the Roman Empire) was located east of Turicum, crossing the river Linth between Lake Walen and Lake Zürich, where a castle and garrison looked over Turicum's safety. The earliest written record of the town dates from the 2nd century, with a tombstone referring to it as the Statio Turicensis Quadragesima Galliarum ("Zürich post for collecting the 2.5% value tax of the Galliae"), discovered at the Lindenhof.

 

In the 5th century, the Germanic Alemanni tribe settled in the Swiss Plateau. The Roman castle remained standing until the 7th century. A Carolingian castle, built on the site of the Roman castle by the grandson of Charlemagne, Louis the German, is mentioned in 835 (in Castro Turicino iuxta fluvium Lindemaci). Louis also founded the Fraumünster abbey in 853 for his daughter Hildegard. He endowed the Benedictine convent with the lands of Zürich, Uri, and the Albis forest, and granted the convent immunity, placing it under his direct authority. In 1045, King Henry III granted the convent the right to hold markets, collect tolls, and mint coins, and thus effectively made the abbess the ruler of the city.

 

Zürich gained Imperial immediacy (Reichsunmittelbar, becoming an Imperial free city) in 1218 with the extinction of the main line of the Zähringer family and attained a status comparable to statehood. During the 1230s, a city wall was built, enclosing 38 hectares, when the earliest stone houses on the Rennweg were built as well. The Carolingian castle was used as a quarry, as it had started to fall into ruin.

 

Emperor Frederick II promoted the abbess of the Fraumünster to the rank of a duchess in 1234. The abbess nominated the mayor, and she frequently delegated the minting of coins to citizens of the city. The political power of the convent slowly waned in the 14th century, beginning with the establishment of the Zunftordnung (guild laws) in 1336 by Rudolf Brun, who also became the first independent mayor, i.e. not nominated by the abbess.

 

An important event in the early 14th century was the completion of the Manesse Codex, a key source of medieval German poetry. The famous illuminated manuscript – described as "the most beautifully illumined German manuscript in centuries;" – was commissioned by the Manesse family of Zürich, copied and illustrated in the city at some time between 1304 and 1340. Producing such a work was a highly expensive prestige project, requiring several years of work by highly skilled scribes and miniature painters, and it testifies to the increasing wealth and pride of Zürich citizens in this period. The work contains 6 songs by Süsskind von Trimberg, who may have been a Jew, since the work itself contains reflections on medieval Jewish life, though little is known about him.

 

The first mention of Jews in Zürich was in 1273. Sources show that there was a synagogue in Zürich in the 13th century, implying the existence of a Jewish community. With the rise of the Black Death in 1349, Zürich, like most other Swiss cities, responded by persecuting and burning the local Jews, marking the end of the first Jewish community there. The second Jewish community of Zürich formed towards the end of the 14th century, was short-lived, and Jews were expulsed and banned from the city from 1423 until the 19th century.

 

Archaeological findings

 

A woman who died in about 200 BC was found buried in a carved tree trunk during a construction project at the Kern school complex in March 2017 in Aussersihl. Archaeologists revealed that she was approximately 40 years old when she died and likely carried out little physical labor when she was alive. A sheepskin coat, a belt chain, a fancy wool dress, a scarf, and a pendant made of glass and amber beads were also discovered with the woman.

 

Old Swiss Confederacy

 

On 1 May 1351, the citizens of Zürich had to swear allegiance before representatives of the cantons of Lucerne, Schwyz, Uri and Unterwalden, the other members of the Swiss Confederacy. Thus, Zürich became the fifth member of the Confederacy, which was at that time a loose confederation of de facto independent states. Zürich was the presiding canton of the Diet from 1468 to 1519. This authority was the executive council and lawmaking body of the confederacy, from the Middle Ages until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848. Zürich was temporarily expelled from the confederacy in 1440 due to a war with the other member states over the territory of Toggenburg (the Old Zürich War). Neither side had attained significant victory when peace was agreed upon in 1446, and Zürich was readmitted to the confederation in 1450.

 

Zwingli started the Swiss Reformation at the time when he was the main preacher at the Grossmünster in 1519. The Zürich Bible was printed by Christoph Froschauer in 1531. The Reformation resulted in major changes in state matters and civil life in Zürich, spreading also to several other cantons. Several cantons remained Catholic and became the basis of serious conflicts that eventually led to the outbreak of the Wars of Kappel.

 

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Council of Zürich adopted an isolationist attitude, resulting in a second ring of imposing fortifications built in 1624. The Thirty Years' War which raged across Europe motivated the city to build these walls. The fortifications required a lot of resources, which were taken from subject territories without reaching any agreement. The following revolts were crushed brutally. In 1648, Zürich proclaimed itself a republic, shedding its former status of a free imperial city. In this time the political system of Zürich was an oligarchy (Patriziat): the dominant families of the city were the following ones: Bonstetten, Brun, Bürkli, Escher vom Glas, Escher vom Luchs, Hirzel, Jori (or von Jori), Kilchsperger, Landenberg, Manesse, Meiss, Meyer von Knonau, Mülner, von Orelli.

 

The Helvetic Revolution of 1798 saw the fall of the Ancien Régime. Zürich lost control of the land and its economic privileges, and the city and the canton separated their possessions between 1803 and 1805. In 1839, the city had to yield to the demands of its urban subjects, following the Züriputsch of 6 September. Most of the ramparts built in the 17th century were torn down, without ever having been besieged, to allay rural concerns over the city's hegemony. The Treaty of Zürich between Austria, France, and Sardinia was signed in 1859.

 

Modern history

 

Zürich was the Federal capital for 1839–40, and consequently, the victory of the Conservative party there in 1839 caused a great stir throughout Switzerland. But when in 1845 the Radicals regained power at Zürich, which was again the Federal capital for 1845–46, Zürich took the lead in opposing the Sonderbund cantons. Following the Sonderbund War and the formation of the Swiss Federal State, Zürich voted in favor of the Federal constitutions of 1848 and 1874. The enormous immigration from the country districts into the town from the 1830s onwards created an industrial class which, though "settled" in the town, did not possess the privileges of burghership, and consequently had no share in the municipal government. First of all in 1860 the town schools, hitherto open to "settlers" only on paying high fees, were made accessible to all, next in 1875 ten years' residence ipso facto conferred the right of burghership, and in 1893 the eleven outlying districts were incorporated within the town proper.

 

When Jews began to settle in Zürich following their equality in 1862, the Israelitische Cultusgemeinde Zürich was founded.

 

Extensive developments took place during the 19th century. From 1847, the Spanisch-Brötli-Bahn, the first railway on Swiss territory, connected Zürich with Baden, putting the Zürich Hauptbahnhof at the origin of the Swiss rail network. The present building of the Hauptbahnhof (the main railway station) dates to 1871. Zürich's Bahnhofstrasse (Station Street) was laid out in 1867, and the Zürich Stock Exchange was founded in 1877. Industrialisation led to migration into the cities and to rapid population growth, particularly in the suburbs of Zürich.

 

The Quaianlagen are an important milestone in the development of the modern city of Zürich, as the construction of the new lakefront transformed Zürich from a small medieval town on the rivers Limmat and Sihl to a modern city on the Zürichsee shore, under the guidance of the city engineer Arnold Bürkli.

 

In 1893, the twelve outlying districts were incorporated into Zürich, including Aussersihl, the workman's quarter on the left bank of the Sihl, and additional land was reclaimed from Lake Zürich.

 

In 1934, eight additional districts in the north and west of Zürich were incorporated.

 

Zürich was accidentally bombed during World War II. As persecuted Jews sought refuge in Switzerland, the SIG (Schweizerischer Israelitischer Gemeindebund, Israelite Community of Switzerland) raised financial resources. The Central Committee for Refugee Aid, created in 1933, was located in Zürich.

 

The canton of Zürich did not recognize the Jewish religious communities as legal entities (and therefore as equal to national churches) until 2005.

 

Geography

 

Zürich is situated at 408 m (1,339 ft) above sea level on the lower (northern) end of Lake Zürich (Zürichsee) about 30 km (19 mi) north of the Alps, nestling between the wooded hills on the west and east side. The Old Town stretches on both sides of the Limmat, which flows from the lake, running northwards at first and then gradually turning into a curve to the west. The geographic (and historic) centre of the city is the Lindenhof, a small natural hill on the west bank of the Limmat, about 700 m (2,300 ft) north of where the river issues from Lake Zürich. Today the incorporated city stretches somewhat beyond the natural confines of the hills and includes some districts to the northeast in the Glatt Valley (Glattal) and to the north in the Limmat Valley (Limmattal). The boundaries of the older city are easy to recognize by the Schanzengraben canal. This artificial watercourse has been used for the construction of the third fortress in the 17th and 18th centuries.

 

Quality of living

 

Zürich often performs very well in international rankings, some of which are mentioned below:

 

Monocle's 2012 "Quality of Life Survey" ranked Zürich first on a list of the top 25 cities in the world "to make a base within". In 2019 Zürich was ranked among the ten most liveable cities in the world by Mercer together with Geneva and Basel.

In fDi Magazine's "Global Cities of the Future 2021/22" report, Zürich placed 16th in the overall rankings (all categories). In the category "Mid-sized and small cities", Zürich was 2nd overall, behind Wroclaw, having also placed 2nd in the subcategory "Human capital and lifestyle" and 3rd under "Business friendliness". In the category "FDI strategy, overall" (relating to foreign direct investment), Zürich ranked 9th, behind such cities as New York, Montreal (1st and 2nd) and Dubai (at number 8).

 

Main sites

 

Most of Zürich's sites are located within the area on either side of the Limmat, between the Main railway station and Lake Zürich. The churches and houses of the old town are clustered here, as are the most expensive shops along the famous Bahnhofstrasse. The Lindenhof in the old town is the historical site of the Roman castle, and the later Carolingian Imperial Palace.

 

(Wikpedia)

 

Zürich (zürichdeutsch Züri [ˈt͡sʏ̞rɪ, ˈt͡sʏrɪ, ˈt͡sy̞rɪ],[6] französisch Zurich [zyʁik], italienisch Zurigo [tsuˈriːɡo, dzu-], Rumantsch Grischun Turitg) ist eine schweizerische Stadt, politische Gemeinde sowie Hauptort des gleichnamigen Kantons.

 

Die Stadt Zürich ist mit 427'721 Einwohnern (Stand 31. Dezember 2022) die grösste Stadt der Schweiz und weist eine Bevölkerungsdichte von 4655 Einwohnern pro Quadratkilometer auf. Das Umland ist dicht besiedelt, so dass in der Agglomeration Zürich etwa 1,3 Millionen und in der Metropolitanregion Zürich etwa 1,83 Millionen Menschen leben. Der Bezirk Zürich ist mit dem Stadtgebiet identisch.

 

Die Stadt liegt im östlichen Schweizer Mittelland, an der Limmat am Ausfluss des Zürichsees. Ihre Einwohner werden Zürcher genannt (bzw. Stadtzürcher zur Differenzierung von den übrigen Einwohnern des Kantons).

 

Das aus der römischen Siedlung Turicum entstandene Zürich wurde 1262 freie Reichsstadt und 1351 Mitglied der Eidgenossenschaft. Die Stadt des Reformators Huldrych Zwingli wurde 1519 zum zweitwichtigsten (nach Wittenberg) Zentrum der Reformation. Bis heute gilt sie als Ausgangspunkt der weltweiten reformierten Kirche und der Täufer. Die Stadt erlebte im Industriezeitalter ihren Aufstieg zur heutigen Wirtschaftsmetropole der Schweiz.

 

Mit ihrem Hauptbahnhof, dem grössten Bahnhof der Schweiz, und dem Flughafen (auf dem Gebiet der Gemeinde Kloten) ist die Stadt Zürich ein kontinentaler Verkehrsknotenpunkt. Aufgrund der ansässigen Grossbanken (u. a. UBS, der Zürcher Kantonalbank und Credit Suisse) und Versicherungen (Zurich Insurance Group und Swiss Re) ist sie ein internationaler Finanzplatz und der grösste Finanzplatz der Schweiz, gefolgt von Genf und Lugano. Daneben beherbergt die Stadt mit der Eidgenössischen Technischen Hochschule Zürich und der Universität Zürich die zwei grössten universitären Hochschulen der Schweiz. Trotz der vergleichsweise geringen Einwohnerzahl wird Zürich zu den Weltstädten gezählt. Zürich ist das wichtigste Zentrum der Schweizer Medien- und Kreativbranche. Mit seiner Lage am Zürichsee, seiner gut erhaltenen mittelalterlichen Altstadt und einem vielseitigen Kulturangebot und Nachtleben ist es zudem ein Zentrum des Tourismus.

 

Seit Jahren wird Zürich neben Basel und Genf als eine der Städte mit der weltweit höchsten Lebensqualität und zugleich neben Genf mit den höchsten Lebenshaltungskosten weltweit gelistet. Zürich ist nach Monaco und Genf die Stadt mit der dritthöchsten Millionärsdichte weltweit.

 

Geografie

 

Zürich liegt auf 408 m ü. M. am unteren (nördlichen) Ende des Zürichsees im Tal der Limmat und im unteren Tal der Sihl, eingebettet zwischen den Höhen von Uetliberg im Westen und Zürichberg im Osten. Die Limmat entspringt dem See, während die westlich des Sees fliessende Sihl nördlich der Zürcher Altstadt beim Platzspitz in die Limmat mündet. Die Altstadt erstreckt sich beidseits der Limmat, die zunächst nordwärts fliesst und dann in einem Bogen allmählich nach Westen abbiegt.

 

Die einstige Stadt reichte nicht bis zur Sihl, sondern hatte als westliche Abgrenzung den im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert angelegten Schanzengraben. Damals wurde Wasser aus dem See abgeleitet und in einem Graben ausserhalb der Bastionen und Bollwerke zur Limmat geführt. Noch früher erstreckte sich die Stadt im Westen nur bis zum Fröschengraben, der ungefähr parallel zur Limmat verlief. Dieser Graben wurde 1864 zugeschüttet, um Raum für den Bau der Bahnhofstrasse zu schaffen, die vom heutigen Paradeplatz bis zum Rennweg dem Verlauf des einstigen Grabens folgt.

 

Geschichte

 

Frühgeschichte, Mittelalter und ältere Neuzeit

Im Unterschied zu den meisten anderen Schweizer Grossstädten stieg Zürich im Frühmittelalter in den Rang einer Stadt auf. In Turīcum gab es zwar bereits zur Römerzeit eine Zollstation, ein hadrianisches Heiligtum auf dem Grossen Hafner im untersten Seebecken beim Ausfluss der Limmat und ein Kastell, die zugehörige Siedlung kann aber noch nicht als Stadt bezeichnet werden. Das frühmittelalterliche, alemannische Zürich war eng verbunden mit dem Herzogtum Schwaben und zwei bedeutenden geistlichen Stiftungen der deutschen Könige, dem Grossmünster und dem Fraumünster, die dem Kult um die Stadtpatrone Felix und Regula geweiht waren. Nach dem Zerfall der zentralen Gewalt im Herzogtum Schwaben und dem Aussterben der Zähringer 1218 konnte sich Zürich den Status der Reichsunmittelbarkeit sichern; 1262 wurde auch die Reichsfreiheit der Bürgerschaft ausdrücklich bestätigt. Der Titel einer Reichsstadt bedeutete de facto die Unabhängigkeit der Stadt. De jure löste sich Zürich jedoch erst 1648 von der Oberhoheit des Kaisers des Heiligen Römischen Reiches.

 

Im Spätmittelalter erwarb und eroberte Zürich in seinem Umland bedeutende Territorien, die der Stadt bis 1798 politisch untergeordnet waren (siehe Territoriale Entwicklung Zürichs). Im Innern wurden die Geschicke Zürichs seit der Zunftrevolution durch Bürgermeister Rudolf Brun im Jahr 1336 durch den Stadtadel und die Handwerkervereinigungen (Zünfte) gemeinsam geleitet (Brunsche Zunftverfassung). Brun war auch verantwortlich für den Überfall von Rapperswil. 1351 schloss sich Zürich zur Sicherung seiner Unabhängigkeit gegen das aufstrebende süddeutsche Adelsgeschlecht der Habsburger der schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft an und wurde zusammen mit Bern zum Vorort dieses Staatenbundes.

 

Der wohl bis heute wichtigste Beitrag Zürichs zur Weltgeschichte war die Reformation von Huldrych Zwingli. Unter seiner geistigen Führung wurde seit 1519 Zürich zum reformierten Rom an der Limmat. Die Zürcher Bibel, eine der ersten deutschen Bibelübersetzungen, entstand in der Prophezei unter Zwingli, Leo Jud und weiteren Mitarbeitern 1524 bis 1525 und wurde vom Zürcher Buchdrucker Christoph Froschauer zuerst in Teilen und später als ganze Bibel herausgegeben.

 

Die Täuferbewegung nahm ihren Ausgangspunkt ab 1523 in Zürich unter Führung von Konrad Grebel, Felix Manz, Jörg Blaurock, Balthasar Hubmaier und weiteren Personen, die sich von Zwingli trennten und kurz darauf verfolgt und gefangen genommen wurden. Im Januar 1527 wurde Felix Manz in der Limmat ertränkt, viele Täufer flüchteten nach Schaffhausen oder ins Zürcher Oberland.

 

Heinrich Bullinger 1531–1575 und Rudolf Gwalther 1575–1586 konsolidierten als Antistes und Nachfolger von Zwingli die Reformation in Zürich und pflegten zahlreiche Kontakte europaweit. Während ihrer Zeit wurden viele evangelische Flüchtlinge aus dem Tessin, Italien, Frankreich und England aufgenommen. Diese trugen in der Folge durch Handwerk, Produktion noch unbekannter Textilien und Handel wesentlich zum wirtschaftlichen Gedeihen Zürichs bei.[38][39][40]

 

Zur Zeit der Hexenverfolgungen wurden in Zürich von 1487 bis 1701 Hexenprozesse gegen 79 Personen geführt. Im Hexenprozess 1701 wurden acht Menschen aus Wasterkingen wegen angeblicher Hexerei verurteilt. Regierungspräsident Markus Notter und Kirchenratspräsident Ruedi Reich verurteilten 2001 diese Justizmorde.

 

18. und 19. Jahrhundert

 

Das Zürich des 18. Jahrhunderts galt als «das grösste Rätsel deutscher Geistesgeschichte». Trotz relativ geringer Bevölkerungszahl entwickelte sich rund um Johann Jakob Bodmer neben dem wissenschaftlichen auch ein literarisches Zürich mit entscheidenden Beiträgen zur deutschen Literaturgeschichte.

 

Mit dem Untergang der freien Republik der Stadt Zürich nach dem Einmarsch der Franzosen in die Schweiz ging die Stadt zusammen mit dem ehemaligen Untertanenland im neuen Kanton Zürich auf, dessen Hauptort sie wurde. Im beginnenden 19. Jahrhundert kam es zwar zu einer Restauration der städtischen Vorherrschaft im Kanton, die jedoch von kurzer Dauer war.

 

Der Aufstieg Zürichs zum wirtschaftlichen Zentrum der Schweiz begann bereits mit der Textilindustrie im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert. Unter der politischen und wirtschaftlichen Führung der Liberalen, insbesondere von Alfred Escher, wurde die führende Rolle Zürichs ab 1846 durch die Gründung von zahlreichen Banken und Versicherungen auch auf den Finanz- und Dienstleistungssektor ausgedehnt. Seit dem Niedergang der Zürcher Industrie in der Nachkriegszeit hat die Bedeutung dieses Sektors noch zugenommen.

 

In den Jahren 1855 und 1867 starben in der Stadt Zürich in Folge prekärer hygienischer Verhältnisse in vielen Wohnungen ca. 500 Menschen an Cholera. 1867 wurde mit dem Bau einer Kanalisation begonnen. 1884 brach Typhus aus.

 

In der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts begann ein bis in die 1970er Jahre andauernder Bauboom, der Zürich von einer Kleinstadt zur Grossstadt mit all ihren Problemen wachsen liess. Das stürmische Wachstum beschränkte sich zuerst auf einen Um- und Neubau des Zentrums und erfasste zunehmend die umliegenden ländlichen Gemeinden. In zwei Eingemeindungswellen wurden 1893 und 1934 20 Landgemeinden mit der alten Stadtgemeinde zusammengefasst. Die Errichtung eines «Millionenzürich» scheiterte jedoch bis heute. Während nämlich ursprünglich die Finanzstärke der Stadt bzw. die leeren Kassen der Vororte Motor der freiwilligen Stadterweiterungen waren, sind heute die verbleibenden Vororte finanziell eher besser gestellt als die Stadt. Dies schlägt sich insbesondere in den Steuersätzen nieder.

 

Zwei ausgeprägte Wachstumswellen in den Jahren 1888–1910 sowie 1950–1970 entstanden durch Zuzüger aus dem Ausland. Im Jahr 1912 waren die Bewohner Zürichs zu einem Drittel Ausländer, und Zürich war wie ein grosser Teil der Deutschschweiz im Vorfeld des Ersten Weltkriegs deutschfreundlich, wobei Hochdeutsch zu sprechen in gehobenen Kreisen zum guten Ton gehörte.

 

20. Jahrhundert

 

In der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts stand Zürich politisch im Bann der Arbeiterbewegung. Schon vor dem Landesstreik 1918 war in Zürich die Konfrontation zwischen Bürgertum und Arbeiterschaft besonders heftig ausgefallen, da Zürich grosse Industriebetriebe mit tausenden von Arbeitern aufwies und zugleich eine Hochburg des Grossbürgertums war. Als 1928 die Sozialdemokratische Partei unter der Führung von David Farbstein erstmals eine absolute Mehrheit in Stadtrat (Exekutive) und Gemeinderat (Legislative) erlangte, wurde in der Zwischenkriegszeit das Rote Zürich zu einem Aushängeschild für die Regierungsfähigkeit der Sozialdemokratie. Trotzdem wurde gerade in Zürich 1939 die als Landi bekannt gewordene Landesausstellung zu einem Symbol für den Zusammenhalt und den Widerstandswillen der Schweiz im Zeichen der Geistigen Landesverteidigung gegen Hitlerdeutschland. Schliesslich wurde 1943 der Zürcher Stadtpräsident Ernst Nobs als erster Sozialdemokrat in den Bundesrat gewählt. In der Nachkriegszeit blieb Zürich Sammelbecken und Bühne für Protestbewegungen, wie 1968 anlässlich der Globus-Krawalle und 1980 für die Jugendunruhen. Noch heute ist der 1. Mai in Zürich jährlich von Auseinandersetzungen des autonomen «Schwarzen Blockes» mit der Polizei gekennzeichnet.

 

Ein Problem der Stadt war lange auch die offene Drogenszene. In der Mitte der 1980er Jahre wurde der Platzspitz weltweit als Needlepark bekannt. Er wurde am 5. Februar 1992 zwangsgeräumt und abgeriegelt, daraufhin verschob sich die Drogenszene an den stillgelegten Bahnhof Letten.

 

Das Areal des stillgelegten Bahnhofs Letten bot ab 1992 die Kulisse für die grösste offene Drogenszene Europas. Mehrere tausend Drogenabhängige aus dem In- und Ausland lebten hier oder besorgten sich ihren Stoff. Hundertschaften von Polizisten nahmen des Öfteren in der Anwesenheit von Kamerateams Razzien vor und versuchten so den Markt auszutrocknen. Diese Versuche blieben erfolglos und so wurde der Letten am 14. Februar 1995 polizeilich geräumt. Auswärtige Drogenabhängige wurden grösstenteils an ihre Herkunftsgemeinden respektive Wohnortgemeinden zurückgeführt, ausländische Abhängige zwangsausgeschafft. Die Reste der Drogenszene verlagerten sich zunehmend ins Gebiet entlang der Langstrasse. Zur Entschärfung der Situation trug dabei sehr stark der Versuch der staatlichen Heroinabgabe bei, so dass sich nicht umgehend eine neue Szene bildete. Heute ist die staatliche, ärztlich kontrollierte Drogenabgabe gesetzlich verankert und vom Volk per Referendum abgesegnet.

 

Die Langstrasse ist ein Zentrum des Zürcher Nachtlebens. Seit der Auflösung der offenen Drogenszenen wurde das Viertel zur Jahrtausendwende hin zum Zentrum des Drogenhandels. Die Kriminalitätsrate im Langstrassenquartier ist zwar weiterhin verhältnismässig hoch, jedoch verbesserte sich die Situation aufgrund verschiedener Projekte der öffentlichen Hand. Heute hat sich die Situation stabilisiert und der Stadtteil ist zu einer festen Grösse im Kultur- und Nachtleben Zürichs geworden. Nach wie vor ist die Stadt Anziehungspunkt für Drogenkonsumenten aus den benachbarten Kantonen.

 

Gegenwart

 

In den 1980er Jahren war Zürich in einem Teufelskreis zwischen der Nachfrage nach mehr Bürofläche in der Innenstadt, der Stadtflucht und der drohenden Verslumung ganzer Stadtkreise wegen der Drogenprobleme gefangen. Massnahmen zur Attraktivitätssteigerung der Innenstadt wie die Verkehrsbefreiung des Niederdorfs konnten nicht verhindern, dass die Innenstadt Zürichs immer unattraktiver wurde. Veränderungen schienen unmöglich – 1986 brachte die damalige Baudirektorin Ursula Koch mit ihrem berühmtgewordenen Satz «Zürich ist gebaut» die Perspektivlosigkeit der Politik in Bezug auf die weitere Zukunft Zürichs zum Ausdruck. Erst Mitte der 1990er Jahre konnte die Blockade überwunden werden, zuerst durch eine neue Bau- und Zonenordnung 1996 und die Liberalisierung des Gastgewerbegesetzes 1997. Besonders letzteres wirkte enorm belebend auf das Nachtleben Zürichs und liess innerhalb kürzester Zeit unzählige neue und innovative Restaurants, Bars und Diskotheken aus dem Boden schiessen. 1998 konnte unter dem neuen Baudirektor Elmar Ledergerber (von 2002 bis April 2009 Stadtpräsident) die jahrelang nur langsam vorankommende Neugestaltung der Industriebrachen in Zürich-West und in Oerlikon beschleunigt werden, so dass sich bis heute an beiden Standorten trendige und moderne neue Stadtquartiere entwickeln konnten. Bis 2020 entsteht westlich des Hauptbahnhofs das neue Quartier Europaallee.

 

Im Tourismusbereich trat Zürich in den 2000er Jahren (bis 2011) mit dem Zusatz «Downtown Switzerland» auf.

 

Wirtschaft

 

Zürich gilt als das Wirtschaftszentrum der Schweiz. Der gesamte Wirtschaftsraum in und um Zürich wird auch als Greater Zurich Area bezeichnet. International zeichnet er sich insbesondere durch tiefe Steuersätze und eine hohe Lebensqualität aus, weshalb einige internationale Konzerne einen Sitz in Zürich haben. 2018 waren 5,4 % der Bevölkerung Millionäre (gerechnet in US-Dollar). Zürich ist damit, hinter Monaco und Genf, die Stadt mit der dritthöchsten Millionärsdichte weltweit. Aufgrund ihrer internationalen wirtschaftlichen Bedeutung wird die Stadt Zürich oft zu den Global- bzw. Weltstädten gezählt.

 

Die Wirtschaft ist sehr stark auf den Dienstleistungssektor ausgerichtet, in dem knapp 90 % der Zürcher Beschäftigten tätig sind. Im Industriesektor sind rund 10 % tätig und in der Landwirtschaft sind es heute weniger als 1 %. Bei einer erwerbstätigen Wohnbevölkerung von 200'110 (Stand: Volkszählung 2000) weist die Stadt 318'543 Arbeitsplätze vor. Die Mehrheit der Beschäftigten (56 %) waren Pendler aus anderen Gemeinden. Neben den rund 178'000 Zupendelnden gibt es rund 39'000 aus der Stadt Wegpendelnde.

 

Der wichtigste Wirtschaftszweig in Zürich ist der Finanzdienstleistungssektor, der am Paradeplatz sein Zentrum hat. Die beiden bis 2023 selbständigen Grossbanken UBS, die weltweit grösste Vermögensverwalterin, und Credit Suisse, die Schweizerische Nationalbank, die Zürcher Kantonalbank, die traditionsreiche Privatbank Julius Bär sowie etliche kleinere Bankinstitute haben ihren Sitz in der Stadt. Auch über 100 Auslandbanken sind in Zürich vertreten. Auf dem Bankenplatz Zürich sind rund 45'000 Personen beschäftigt, knapp die Hälfte aller Bankangestellten der Schweiz. Eine grosse Bedeutung hat das Privatkundengeschäft, da über 25 % der weltweit grenzüberschreitend angelegten Vermögenswerte in Zürich verwaltet werden (schweizweit sind es rund ein Drittel). Die schweizerische Post betrieb von 1920 bis 1996 in Zürich ein Rohrpostsystem, zu deren diskreten Kunden auch die Banken zählten. Auch die Börse SIX Swiss Exchange spielt international eine wesentliche Rolle und verstärkt die Bedeutung des Finanzplatzes Zürich. Sie gehört zu den technologisch führenden Börsen der Welt. Im Weiteren repräsentiert Zürich weltweit den drittgrössten Versicherungsmarkt. Swiss Re, eine der weltweit grössten Rückversicherungen, und Swiss Life, der grösste Lebensversicherungskonzern der Schweiz, haben ihre Hauptsitze in Zürich. Eine weitere Versicherungsgesellschaft von internationaler Bedeutung ist die Zurich Insurance Group. Der gesamte Finanzdienstleistungssektor generiert nahezu 50 % der Steuereinnahmen der Stadt Zürich.

 

Als zweitwichtigster Wirtschaftszweig folgen die unternehmensbezogenen Dienstleistungen wie Rechts- und Unternehmensberatung, Informatik oder Immobilienverwaltung. Zu erwähnen ist etwa das Unternehmen IBM Schweiz, das in Rüschlikon ein bedeutendes Forschungslabor betreibt. Seit 2004 betreibt zudem Google in Zürich das europäische Forschungszentrum. Auf dem ehemaligen Areal der Hürlimann AG wurde der zweitgrösste Standort des Unternehmens nach Mountain View eingerichtet.

 

Infolge des Strukturwandels hat die Bedeutung der produzierenden Industrie und der Bauwirtschaft abgenommen. Allerdings haben immer noch bedeutende Industriefirmen Niederlassungen in der Stadt Zürich, so zum Beispiel Siemens. Der Elektrotechnikkonzern ABB hat zudem seinen Hauptsitz in Zürich.

 

Aus den übrigen Wirtschaftszweigen sind insbesondere zu erwähnen: der grösste Schweizer Detailhandelskonzern Migros, der weltgrösste Schokoladenproduzent Barry Callebaut, die beiden grössten Automobilhändler AMAG-Gruppe und Emil Frey Gruppe, sowie der grösste Schweizer Reisekonzern Kuoni.

 

Nicht zuletzt dank der kulturellen Vielfalt in Zürich ist auch der Tourismus in den letzten Jahren ein bedeutender Wirtschaftsfaktor geworden. Jedes Jahr empfängt die Stadt Zürich rund neun Millionen Tagestouristen sowie zwei Millionen Übernachtungsgäste, von denen sich eine Mehrheit auch geschäftlich in Zürich aufhält.

 

Lebensqualität

 

Zürich galt bis zum Jahr 2008 siebenmal in Folge als Stadt mit der höchsten Lebensqualität weltweit. In der Studie «Worldwide Quality of Living Survey» («Studie zur weltweiten Lebensqualität») untersuchte die renommierte Beratungsfirma Mercer 215 Grossstädte anhand von 39 Kriterien, darunter Freizeit, Erholung, Sicherheit, Sauberkeit, politische und ökonomische Stabilität, sowie medizinische Versorgung. Seit 2009 rangiert Zürich neu an zweiter Stelle hinter Wien. Zudem wird Zürich als eine der Städte mit den weltweit höchsten Lebenshaltungskosten gelistet.

 

In einer Studie der Globalization and World Cities Research Group an der britischen Universität Loughborough landete Zürich in der Kategorie der Beta-Weltstädte auf dem ersten Rang, zusammen mit San Francisco, Sydney und Toronto.

 

Zürich besitzt die Auszeichnung Energiestadt Gold für eine nachhaltige Energiepolitik. Die offiziellen Gebäude im Eigentum der Stadt Zürich werden in der Regel nach Minergie gebaut.

 

Um die Lebensqualität für Geringverdiener im Hinblick auf den Wohnungsmarkt zu verbessern, hat die Stadt Zürich die Stiftungen Wohnungen für kinderreiche Familien und Alterswohnungen der Stadt Zürich gegründet.

 

Kunst, Kultur und Tourismus

 

Allgemeine Sehenswürdigkeiten

 

Die meisten Sehenswürdigkeiten Zürichs sind in und um die Altstadt gruppiert und deswegen am einfachsten zu Fuss oder mit kurzen Fahrten in Tram oder Bus erreichbar. Neben Gebäuden und Denkmälern ist auch die Lage Zürichs am Zürichsee einen Blick wert. Am Bellevue oder am Bürkliplatz bietet sich bei gutem Wetter ein schöner Blick auf den See und die Alpen. Beide Seeufer mit ihren Promenaden und Parkanlagen sind dann jeweils Anziehungspunkte für viele Einheimische und Touristen.

 

Der Zürcher Hausberg Uetliberg ist mit der Sihltal-Zürich-Uetliberg-Bahn (SZU) zu erreichen, die ab dem Hauptbahnhof verkehrt.

 

(Wikipedia)

Swayambhunath (Devnagari: स्वयम्भूनाथ स्तुप; sometimes romanized Swoyambhunath) is an ancient religious complex atop a hill in the Kathmandu Valley, west of Kathmandu city. It is also known as the Monkey Temple as there are holy monkeys living in parts of the temple in the north-west. The Tibetan name for the site means 'Sublime Trees' (Wylie:Phags.pa Shing.kun), for the many varieties of trees found on the hill. However, Shing.kun may be a corruption of the local Newari name for the complex, Singgu, meaning 'self-sprung'.[1] For the Buddhist Newars in whose mythological history and origin myth as well as day-to-day religious practice, Swayambhunath occupies a central position, it is probably the most sacred among Buddhist pilgrimage sites. For Tibetans and followers of Tibetan Buddhism, it second only to Boudhanath.

The Swayambhunath complex consists of a stupa, a variety of shrines and temples, some dating back to the Licchavi period. A Tibetan monastery, museum and library are more recent additions. The stupa has Buddha's eyes and eyebrows painted on. Between them, there is something painted which looks like the nose - but is the Nepali symbol of 'unity', in the main Nepali language dialect[citation needed]. There are also shops, restaurants and hostels. The site has two access points: a long stairway, claimed to have 365 steps, leading directly to the main platform of the temple, which is from the top of the hill to the east; and a car road around the hill from the south leading to the southwest entrance. The first sight on reaching the top of the stairway is the Vajra. Tsultrim Allione describes the experience:

We were breathless and sweating as we stumbled up the last steep steps and practically fell upon the biggest vajra (thunder-bolt scepter) that I have ever seen. Behind this vajra was the vast, round, white dome of the stupa, like a full solid skirt, at the top of which were two giant Buddha eyes wisely looking out over the peaceful valley which was just beginning to come alive.[2]

Much of Swayambhunath's iconography comes from the Vajrayana tradition of Newar Buddhism. However, the complex is also an important site for Buddhists of many schools, and is also revered by Hindus.

Daf (dap) (Persian, Khowar dialect: دف, from Middle Persian: dap) is a large Persian frame drum used in popular and classical music. The frame is usually made of hardwood with many metal ringlets attached, and the membrane is usually goatskin. Daf is mostly used in the Middle East, Kurdistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Armenia, Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia, and usually accompanies singers and players of the tambura, violin, oud, saz and other Middle Eastern instruments. Some dafs are equipped with small cymbals, making them analogous to a large tambourine.

---

Photo By: Poria DAIE

عکس از: پوریا داعی

  

about.me/poria

Modena ; Mòdna in Modenese dialect) is a city and comune (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. An ancient town, it is the seat of an archbishop, but is now best known as "the capital of engines", since the factories of the famous Italian sports car makers Ferrari, De Tomaso, Lamborghini, Pagani and Maserati are, or were, located here and all, except Lamborghini, have headquarters in the city or nearby. Lamborghini is headquartered not far away in Sant'Agata Bolognese, in the adjacent Province of Bologna. One of Ferrari's cars, the 360 Modena, was named after the town itself. Also, one of the colors for Ferraris is Modena yellow. The University of Modena, founded in 1175 and expanded by Francesco II d'Este in 1686, has traditional strengths in economics, medicine and law and is the second oldest Atheneum in Italy, sixth in the whole world[citation needed]. Italian officers are trained at the Italian Military Academy, located in Modena, and partly housed in the Baroque Ducal Palace. The Biblioteca Estense houses historical volumes and 3,000 manuscripts. Modena is well known in culinary circles for its production of balsamic vinegar. Famous Modenesi include Mary of Modena, the Queen consort of England and Scotland; operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti (1935–2007) and soprano Mirella Freni, born in Modena itself; Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) eponymous founder of the Ferrari motor company; the Catholic Priest and Senior Exorcist of Vatican Gabriele Amorth; and the rock singer Vasco Rossi who was born in Zocca, one of the 47 comuni in the Province of Modena

Small mountains ((called Oreum (오름) in Jeju dialect))

The Toraja are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja"). Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk ("the way"). The Indonesian government has recognized this animist belief as Aluk To Dolo ("Way of the Ancestors").

 

The word toraja comes from the Bugis Buginese language term to riaja, meaning "people of the uplands". The Dutch colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909. Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and colorful wood carvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several days.

 

Before the 20th century, Torajans lived in autonomous villages, where they practised animism and were relatively untouched by the outside world. In the early 1900s, Dutch missionaries first worked to convert Torajan highlanders to Christianity. When the Tana Toraja regency was further opened to the outside world in the 1970s, it became an icon of tourism in Indonesia: it was exploited by tourism developers and studied by anthropologists. By the 1990s, when tourism peaked, Toraja society had changed significantly, from an agrarian model - in which social life and customs were outgrowths of the Aluk To Dolo - to a largely Christian society. Today, tourism and remittances from migrant Torajans have made for major changes in the Toraja highland, giving the Toraja a celebrity status within Indonesia and enhancing Toraja ethnic group pride.

 

ETHNIC IDENTITY

The Torajan people had little notion of themselves as a distinct ethnic group before the 20th century. Before Dutch colonization and Christianization, Torajans, who lived in highland areas, identified with their villages and did not share a broad sense of identity. Although complexes of rituals created linkages between highland villages, there were variations in dialects, differences in social hierarchies, and an array of ritual practices in the Sulawesi highland region. "Toraja" (from the coastal languages' to, meaning people; and riaja, uplands) was first used as a lowlander expression for highlanders. As a result, "Toraja" initially had more currency with outsiders - such as the Bugis and Makassarese, who constitute a majority of the lowland of Sulawesi - than with insiders. The Dutch missionaries' presence in the highlands gave rise to the Toraja ethnic consciousness in the Sa'dan Toraja region, and this shared identity grew with the rise of tourism in the Tana Toraja Regency. Since then, South Sulawesi has four main ethnic groups - the Bugis (the majority, including shipbuilders and seafarers), the Makassarese (lowland traders and seafarers), the Mandarese (traders and fishermen), and the Toraja (highland rice cultivators).

 

HISTORY

From the 17th century, the Dutch established trade and political control on Sulawesi through the Dutch East Indies Company. Over two centuries, they ignored the mountainous area in the central Sulawesi, where Torajans lived, because access was difficult and it had little productive agricultural land. In the late 19th century, the Dutch became increasingly concerned about the spread of Islam in the south of Sulawesi, especially among the Makassarese and Bugis peoples. The Dutch saw the animist highlanders as potential Christians. In the 1920s, the Reformed Missionary Alliance of the Dutch Reformed Church began missionary work aided by the Dutch colonial government. In addition to introducing Christianity, the Dutch abolished slavery and imposed local taxes. A line was drawn around the Sa'dan area and called Tana Toraja ("the land of Toraja"). Tana Toraja was first a subdivision of the Luwu kingdom that had claimed the area. In 1946, the Dutch granted Tana Toraja a regentschap, and it was recognized in 1957 as one of the regencies of Indonesia.

 

Early Dutch missionaries faced strong opposition among Torajans, especially among the elite, because the abolition of their profitable slave trade had angered them. Some Torajans were forcibly relocated to the lowlands by the Dutch, where they could be more easily controlled. Taxes were kept high, undermining the wealth of the elites. Ultimately, the Dutch influence did not subdue Torajan culture, and only a few Torajans were converted. In 1950, only 10% of the population had converted to Christianity.

 

In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the Torajans, resulting in widespread Christian conversion among those who sought to align themselves with the Dutch for political protection and to form a movement against the Bugis and Makassarese Muslims. Between 1951 and 1965 (following Indonesian independence), southern Sulawesi faced a turbulent period as the Darul Islam separatist movement fought for an Islamic state in Sulawesi. The 15 years of guerrilla warfare led to massive conversions to

 

CHRISTIANITY

Alignment with the Indonesian government, however, did not guarantee safety for the Torajans. In 1965, a presidential decree required every Indonesian citizen to belong to one of five officially recognized religions: Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism, or Buddhism. The Torajan religious belief (aluk) was not legally recognized, and the Torajans raised their voices against the law. To make aluk accord with the law, it had to be accepted as part of one of the official religions. In 1969, Aluk To Dolo ("the way of ancestors") was legalized as a sect of Agama Hindu Dharma, the official name of Hinduism in Indonesia.

 

SOCIETY

There are three main types of affiliation in Toraja society: family, class and religion.

 

FAMILY AFFILIATION

Family is the primary social and political grouping in Torajan society. Each village is one extended family, the seat of which is the tongkonan, a traditional Torajan house. Each tongkonan has a name, which becomes the name of the village. The familial dons maintain village unity. Marriage between distant cousins (fourth cousins and beyond) is a common practice that strengthens kinship. Toraja society prohibits marriage between close cousins (up to and including the third cousin) - except for nobles, to prevent the dispersal of property. Kinship is actively reciprocal, meaning that the extended family helps each other farm, share buffalo rituals, and pay off debts.

 

Each person belongs to both the mother's and the father's families, the only bilateral family line in Indonesia. Children, therefore, inherit household affiliation from both mother and father, including land and even family debts. Children's names are given on the basis of kinship, and are usually chosen after dead relatives. Names of aunts, uncles and cousins are commonly referred to in the names of mothers, fathers and siblings.

 

Before the start of the formal administration of Toraja villages by the Tana Toraja Regency, each Toraja village was autonomous. In a more complex situation, in which one Toraja family could not handle their problems alone, several villages formed a group; sometimes, villages would unite against other villages. Relationship between families was expressed through blood, marriage, and shared ancestral houses (tongkonan), practically signed by the exchange of water buffalo and pigs on ritual occasions. Such exchanges not only built political and cultural ties between families but defined each person's place in a social hierarchy: who poured palm wine, who wrapped a corpse and prepared offerings, where each person could or could not sit, what dishes should be used or avoided, and even what piece of meat constituted one's share.

 

CLASS AFFILIATION

In early Toraja society, family relationships were tied closely to social class. There were three strata: nobles, commoners, and slaves (slavery was abolished in 1909 by the Dutch East Indies government). Class was inherited through the mother. It was taboo, therefore, to marry "down" with a woman of lower class. On the other hand, marrying a woman of higher class could improve the status of the next generation. The nobility's condescending attitude toward the commoners is still maintained today for reasons of family prestige.

 

Nobles, who were believed to be direct descendants of the descended person from heaven, lived in tongkonans, while commoners lived in less lavish houses (bamboo shacks called banua). Slaves lived in small huts, which had to be built around their owner's tongkonan. Commoners might marry anyone, but nobles preferred to marry in-family to maintain their status. Sometimes nobles married Bugis or Makassarese nobles. Commoners and slaves were prohibited from having death feasts. Despite close kinship and status inheritance, there was some social mobility, as marriage or change in wealth could affect an individuals status. Wealth was counted by the ownership of water buffaloes.

 

Slaves in Toraja society were family property. Sometimes Torajans decided to become slaves when they incurred a debt, pledging to work as payment. Slaves could be taken during wars, and slave trading was common. Slaves could buy their freedom, but their children still inherited slave status. Slaves were prohibited from wearing bronze or gold, carving their houses, eating from the same dishes as their owners, or having sex with free women - a crime punishable by death.

 

RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION

Toraja's indigenous belief system is polytheistic animism, called aluk, or "the way" (sometimes translated as "the law"). In the Toraja myth, the ancestors of Torajan people came down from heaven using stairs, which were then used by the Torajans as a communication medium with Puang Matua, the Creator. The cosmos, according to aluk, is divided into the upper world (heaven), the world of man (earth), and the underworld. At first, heaven and earth were married, then there was a darkness, a separation, and finally the light. Animals live in the underworld, which is represented by rectangular space enclosed by pillars, the earth is for mankind, and the heaven world is located above, covered with a saddle-shaped roof. Other Toraja gods include Pong Banggai di Rante (god of Earth), Indo' Ongon-Ongon (a goddess who can cause earthquakes), Pong Lalondong (god of death), and Indo' Belo Tumbang (goddess of medicine); there are many more.

 

The earthly authority, whose words and actions should be cleaved to both in life (agriculture) and death (funerals), is called to minaa (an aluk priest). Aluk is not just a belief system; it is a combination of law, religion, and habit. Aluk governs social life, agricultural practices, and ancestral rituals. The details of aluk may vary from one village to another. One common law is the requirement that death and life rituals be separated. Torajans believe that performing death rituals might ruin their corpses if combined with life rituals. The two rituals are equally important. During the time of the Dutch missionaries, Christian Torajans were prohibited from attending or performing life rituals, but were allowed to perform death rituals. Consequently, Toraja's death rituals are still practised today, while life rituals have diminished.

 

CULTURE

TONGKONAN

Tongkonan are the traditional Torajan ancestral houses. They stand high on wooden piles, topped with a layered split-bamboo roof shaped in a sweeping curved arc, and they are incised with red, black, and yellow detailed wood carvings on the exterior walls. The word "tongkonan" comes from the Torajan tongkon ("to sit").

 

Tongkonan are the center of Torajan social life. The rituals associated with the tongkonan are important expressions of Torajan spiritual life, and therefore all family members are impelled to participate, because symbolically the tongkonan represents links to their ancestors and to living and future kin. According to Torajan myth, the first tongkonan was built in heaven on four poles, with a roof made of Indian cloth. When the first Torajan ancestor descended to earth, he imitated the house and held a large ceremony.

 

The construction of a tongkonan is laborious work and is usually done with the help of the extended family. There are three types of tongkonan. The tongkonan layuk is the house of the highest authority, used as the "center of government". The tongkonan pekamberan belongs to the family members who have some authority in local traditions. Ordinary family members reside in the tongkonan batu. The exclusivity to the nobility of the tongkonan is diminishing as many Torajan commoners find lucrative employment in other parts of Indonesia. As they send back money to their families, they enable the construction of larger tongkonan.

 

WOOD CARVINGS

To express social and religious concepts, Torajans carve wood, calling it Pa'ssura (or "the writing"). Wood carvings are therefore Toraja's cultural manifestation.

 

Each carving receives a special name, and common motifs are animals and plants that symbolize some virtue. For example, water plants and animals, such as crabs, tadpoles and water weeds, are commonly found to symbolize fertility. In some areas noble elders claim these symbols refer to strength of noble family, but not everyone agrees. The overall meaning of groups of carved motifs on houses remains debated and tourism has further complicated these debates because some feel a uniform explanation must be presented to tourists. The image to the left shows an example of Torajan wood carving, consisting of 15 square panels. The center bottom panel represents buffalo or wealth, a wish for many buffaloes for the family. The center panel represents a knot and a box, a hope that all of the family's offspring will be happy and live in harmony, like goods kept safe in a box. The top left and top right squares represent an aquatic animal, indicating the need for fast and hard work, just like moving on the surface of water. It also represents the need for a certain skill to produce good results.

 

Regularity and order are common features in Toraja wood carving (see table below), as well as abstracts and geometrical designs. Nature is frequently used as the basis of Toraja's ornaments, because nature is full of abstractions and geometries with regularities and ordering. Toraja's ornaments have been studied in ethnomathematics to reveal their mathematical structure, but Torajans base this art only on approximations. To create an ornament, bamboo sticks are used as a geometrical tool.

 

FUNERAL RITES

In Toraja society, the funeral ritual is the most elaborate and expensive event. The richer and more powerful the individual, the more expensive is the funeral. In the aluk religion, only nobles have the right to have an extensive death feast. The death feast of a nobleman is usually attended by thousands and lasts for several days. A ceremonial site, called rante, is usually prepared in a large, grassy field where shelters for audiences, rice barns, and other ceremonial funeral structures are specially made by the deceased family. Flute music, funeral chants, songs and poems, and crying and wailing are traditional Toraja expressions of grief with the exceptions of funerals for young children, and poor, low-status adults.

 

The ceremony is often held weeks, months, or years after the death so that the deceased's family can raise the significant funds needed to cover funeral expenses. Torajans traditionally believe that death is not a sudden, abrupt event, but a gradual process toward Puya (the land of souls, or afterlife). During the waiting period, the body of the deceased is wrapped in several layers of cloth and kept under the tongkonan. The soul of the deceased is thought to linger around the village until the funeral ceremony is completed, after which it begins its journey to Puya.

 

Another component of the ritual is the slaughter of water buffalo. The more powerful the person who died, the more buffalo are slaughtered at the death feast. Buffalo carcasses, including their heads, are usually lined up on a field waiting for their owner, who is in the "sleeping stage". Torajans believe that the deceased will need the buffalo to make the journey and that they will be quicker to arrive at Puya if they have many buffalo. Slaughtering tens of water buffalo and hundreds of pigs using a machete is the climax of the elaborate death feast, with dancing and music and young boys who catch spurting blood in long bamboo tubes. Some of the slaughtered animals are given by guests as "gifts", which are carefully noted because they will be considered debts of the deceased's family. However, a cockfight, known as bulangan londong, is an integral part of the ceremony. As with the sacrifice of the buffalo and the pigs, the cockfight is considered sacred because it involves the spilling of blood on the earth. In particular, the tradition requires the sacrifice of at least three chickens. However, it is common for at least 25 pairs of chickens to be set against each other in the context of the ceremony.

 

There are three methods of burial: the coffin may be laid in a cave or in a carved stone grave, or hung on a cliff. It contains any possessions that the deceased will need in the afterlife. The wealthy are often buried in a stone grave carved out of a rocky cliff. The grave is usually expensive and takes a few months to complete. In some areas, a stone cave may be found that is large enough to accommodate a whole family. A wood-carved effigy, called Tau tau, is usually placed in the cave looking out over the land. The coffin of a baby or child may be hung from ropes on a cliff face or from a tree. This hanging grave usually lasts for years, until the ropes rot and the coffin falls to the ground.

 

In the ritual called Ma'Nene, that takes place each year in August, the bodies of the deceased are exhumed to be washed, groomed and dressed in new clothes. The mummies are then walked around the village.

 

DANCE AND MUSIC

Torajans perform dances on several occasions, most often during their elaborate funeral ceremonies. They dance to express their grief, and to honour and even cheer the deceased person because he is going to have a long journey in the afterlife. First, a group of men form a circle and sing a monotonous chant throughout the night to honour the deceased (a ritual called Ma'badong). This is considered by many Torajans to be the most important component of the funeral ceremony. On the second funeral day, the Ma'randing warrior dance is performed to praise the courage of the deceased during life. Several men perform the dance with a sword, a large shield made from buffalo skin, a helmet with a buffalo horn, and other ornamentation. The Ma'randing dance precedes a procession in which the deceased is carried from a rice barn to the rante, the site of the funeral ceremony. During the funeral, elder women perform the Ma'katia dance while singing a poetic song and wearing a long feathered costume. The Ma'akatia dance is performed to remind the audience of the generosity and loyalty of the deceased person. After the bloody ceremony of buffalo and pig slaughter, a group of boys and girls clap their hands while performing a cheerful dance called Ma'dondan.

 

As in other agricultural societies, Torajans dance and sing during harvest time. The Ma'bugi dance celebrates the thanksgiving event, and the Ma'gandangi dance is performed while Torajans are pounding rice. There are several war dances, such as the Manimbong dance performed by men, followed by the Ma'dandan dance performed by women. The aluk religion governs when and how Torajans dance. A dance called Ma'bua can be performed only once every 12 years. Ma'bua is a major Toraja ceremony in which priests wear a buffalo head and dance around a sacred tree.

 

A traditional musical instrument of the Toraja is a bamboo flute called a Pa'suling (suling is an Indonesian word for flute). This six-holed flute (not unique to the Toraja) is played at many dances, such as the thanksgiving dance Ma'bondensan, where the flute accompanies a group of shirtless, dancing men with long fingernails. The Toraja have indigenous musical instruments, such as the Pa'pelle (made from palm leaves) and the Pa'karombi (the Torajan version of a jaw harp). The Pa'pelle is played during harvest time and at house inauguration ceremonies.

 

LANGUAGE

The ethnic Toraja language is dominant in Tana Toraja with the main language as the Sa'dan Toraja. Although the national Indonesian language is the official language and is spoken in the community, all elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach Toraja language.Language varieties of Toraja, including Kalumpang, Mamasa, Tae' , Talondo' , Toala' , and Toraja-Sa'dan, belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language from the Austronesian family. At the outset, the isolated geographical nature of Tana Toraja formed many dialects between the Toraja languages themselves. After the formal administration of Tana Toraja, some Toraja dialects have been influenced by other languages through the transmigration program, introduced since the colonialism period, and it has been a major factor in the linguistic variety of Toraja languages. A prominent attribute of Toraja language is the notion of grief. The importance of death ceremony in Toraja culture has characterized their languages to express intricate degrees of grief and mourning. The Toraja language contains many terms referring to sadness, longing, depression, and mental pain. Giving a clear expression of the psychological and physical effect of loss is a catharsis and sometimes lessens the pain of grief itself.

 

ECONOMY

Prior to Suharto's "New Order" administration, the Torajan economy was based on agriculture, with cultivated wet rice in terraced fields on mountain slopes, and supplemental cassava and maize crops. Much time and energy were devoted to raising water buffalo, pigs, and chickens, primarily for ceremonial sacrifices and consumption. Coffee was the first significant cash crop produced in Toraja, and was introduced in the mid 19th century, changing the local economy towards commodity production for external markets and gaining an excellent reputation for quality in the international market .

 

With the commencement of the New Order in 1965, Indonesia's economy developed and opened to foreign investment. In Toraja, a coffee plantation and factory was established by Key Coffee of Japan, and Torajan coffee regained a reputation for quality within the growing international specialty coffee sector Multinational oil and mining companies opened new operations in Indonesia during the 1970s and 1980s. Torajans, particularly younger ones, relocated to work for the foreign companies - to Kalimantan for timber and oil, to Papua for mining, to the cities of Sulawesi and Java, and many went to Malaysia. The out-migration of Torajans was steady until 1985. and has continued since, with remittances sent back by emigre Torajans performing an important role within the contemporary economy.

 

Tourism commenced in Toraja in the 1970s, and accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s. Between 1984 and 1997, a significant number of Torajans obtained their incomes from tourism, working in and owning hotels, as tour guides, drivers, or selling souvenirs. With the rise of political and economic instability in Indonesia in the late 1990s - including religious conflicts elsewhere on Sulawesi - tourism in Tana Toraja has declined dramatically. Toraja continues to be a well known origin for Indonesian coffee, grown by both smallholders and plantation estates, although migration, remittances and off-farm income is considered far more important to most households, even those in rural areas.

 

TOURISM AND CULTURAL CHANGE

Before the 1970s, Toraja was almost unknown to Western tourism. In 1971, about 50 Europeans visited Tana Toraja. In 1972, at least 400 visitors attended the funeral ritual of Puang of Sangalla, the highest-ranking nobleman in Tana Toraja and the so-called "last pure-blooded Toraja noble." The event was documented by National Geographic and broadcast in several European countries. In 1976, about 12,000 tourists visited the regency and in 1981, Torajan sculpture was exhibited in major North American museums. "The land of the heavenly kings of Tana Toraja", as written in the exhibition brochure, embraced the outside world.

 

In 1984, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism declared Tana Toraja Regency the prima donna of South Sulawesi. Tana Toraja was heralded as "the second stop after Bali". Tourism was increasing dramatically: by 1985, a total number of 150,000 foreigners had visited the Regency (in addition to 80,000 domestic tourists), and the annual number of foreign visitors was recorded at 40,000 in 1989. Souvenir stands appeared in Rantepao, the cultural center of Toraja, roads were sealed at the most-visited tourist sites, new hotels and tourist-oriented restaurants were opened, and an airstrip was opened in the Regency in 1981.

 

Tourism developers have marketed Tana Toraja as an exotic adventure - an area rich in culture and off the beaten track. Western tourists expected to see stone-age villages and pagan funerals. Toraja is for tourists who have gone as far as Bali and are willing to see more of the wild, "untouched" islands. However, they were more likely to see a Torajan wearing a hat and denim, living in a Christian society. Tourists felt that the tongkonan and other Torajan rituals had been preconceived to make profits, and complained that the destination was too commercialized. This has resulted in several clashes between Torajans and tourism developers, whom Torajans see as outsiders.

 

A clash between local Torajan leaders and the South Sulawesi provincial government (as a tourist developer) broke out in 1985. The government designated 18 Toraja villages and burial sites as traditional tourist attractions. Consequently, zoning restrictions were applied to these areas, such that Torajans themselves were barred from changing their tongkonans and burial sites. The plan was opposed by some Torajan leaders, as they felt that their rituals and traditions were being determined by outsiders. As a result, in 1987, the Torajan village of Kété Kesú and several other designated tourist attractions closed their doors to tourists. This closure lasted only a few days, as the villagers found it too difficult to survive without the income from selling souvenirs.

 

Tourism has also transformed Toraja society. Originally, there was a ritual which allowed commoners to marry nobles (puang) and thereby gain nobility for their children. However, the image of Torajan society created for the tourists, often by "lower-ranking" guides, has eroded its traditional strict hierarchy. High status is not as esteemed in Tana Toraja as it once was. Many low-ranking men can declare themselves and their children nobles by gaining enough wealth through work outside the region and then marrying a noble woman.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Giza o Guiza (en árabe, الجيزة Al-Ŷīza, pronunciado Al-Gīza en dialecto egipcio) es una ciudad de Egipto en la orilla occidental del río Nilo, situada unos veinte kilómetros al sudoeste del centro de El Cairo, formado parte del área metropolitana de la capital egipcia. Es la capital de la gobernación del mismo nombre. Su población es de 2.221.868 habitantes (2006).[1]

 

Es célebre en el mundo porque en sus cercanías se encuentra la meseta de Guiza, lugar donde hace unos 4.600 años se erigieron las tres grandes pirámides de la dinastía IV. Giza forma parte de la gran necrópolis de Menfis, que se extendía a lo largo de más de cuarenta kilómetros y era conocida en el Imperio Antiguo de Egipto con el nombre genérico de Her-necher (la Necrópolis) o Imentet (Occidente).

 

Cada una de las tres grandes pirámides tenía su propio nombre, que designaba también a la necrópolis que la circundaba. El horizonte de Keops, Kefrén es grande y Micerino es divino. Durante el reinado de Keops fue cuando la meseta de Giza alcanza gran relevancia.

 

Existen varios tipos de sepulturas en Giza, como mastabas e hipogeos, destinadas a miembros de la familia reinante, altos dignatarios o sacerdotes.

 

Las pirámides que custodiaron los restos de los faraones formaban parte de amplios complejos funerarios, con templos, otras tumbas, y pirámides menores. Al Este de la pirámide de Keops se construyeron las denominadas pirámides de las reinas, de casi 50 metros de lado y 30 de altura, para servir de tumbas a su madre Hetepheres y a sus esposas Merytites y Henutsen. En el año 1992 se descubrió parte de otra pirámide situada al sudeste de la Gran Pirámide, con base cuadrada de 23 metros de lado y unos 12 metros de altura con tan sólo los restos de las tres primeras hileras de piedra.

Name

In the twelfth century, Olomuc and Olmuc were the first handed down name forms. In the fifteenth century an alleged first form Juliomontium (Julius hill) was assumed, according to Julius Caesar as the alleged founder. The original meaning is unclear. In the Czech, Olomouc means 'bare mountain' (Old Czech holy, 'bald' and mauc 'mountain'). The name of the city is in the Moravian-Haná dialect, a subgroup of the Middle-Moravian dialects of the Czech, Olomóc or Holomóc, in German language Ölmütz, in Polish Ołomuniec and in Latin Eburum or Olomucium.

History

Beginnings

At the end of the second century there was a Roman army camp, the northernmost known in Central Europe. Up to the fifth century there was a Germanic settlement.

In the late 7th century a first Slavic settlement arose in today's Povel district. Around 830 this was destroyed. A new castle was built on the Peter's hill (Předhrad), which was probably one of the important castles of the Moravian empire. In the ninth century three churches were built.

Přemyslidenstaat (Přemyslid dynasty)

Olomouc was first mentioned in writing in 1017 when Moravia became part of the Bohemian state of Přemysliden. In 1055 it was the seat of a separate part of the Principality. In 1063 the bishopric of Olomouc was founded by Vratislav II. Around 1070 a new castle was built. In 1077 the monastery Hradisko was founded. In 1126 Heinrich Zdik became a bishop.

At the beginning of the 13th century, the last prince of Olomouz died, Moravia was united and placed under the jurisdiction of a Margrave of the Přemyslids. In 1248, Olomouc was first mentioned as a royal town. In 1306, King Wenceslas III resided during a campaign to Poland in Olomouc, and was murdered here, which resulted in the extinction of the Přemyslids dynasty in the male family tree. The city developed economically very quickly and became the capital of Moravia.

In the Hussite wars, Olomouc was an integral part of the Catholic side. In the succession of the Charterhouse Dolein, which had been lost in the Hussite wars, the Charterhouse Olomouc was founded in 1443, which existed until the abolition in 1782. In the 16th century numerous palaces were built in the Renaissance style. In 1566 the Jesuits came to Olomouc. They founded a school which was raised to a university in 1573. In 1588, the bishop became an imperial prince.

17th and 18th centuries

In the Thirty Years' War the town was taken by the Swedes in 1642 and occupied for eight years. After the Thirty Years' War, the largely destroyed and depopulated city lost the status of the Moravian capital and abandoned it to Brno. Since a great deal of damage had been caused by fires, a detailed "fire extinguishing order" was issued in 1711, in which a number of preventive measures were also discussed.

On 26 December 1741, the city was occupied by the Prussians during the First Silesian War. After this event the fortifications were extensively expanded. A second siege by the Prussians in 1758 withstood the new fortification. In 1777, the diocese became an archbishopric.

In 1794-1797 the prominent French-American soldier and politician Marquis Lafayette was interned in Olomouc as a political prisoner of the Donaumonarchy, after being captured in Flanders by the French coalition in 1792, and then, for the time being, imprisoned by Prussia.

19th century

In 1841, the city received a railway connection. In the middle of 1845, the railway from Olomouc to Prague ("Northern State Railway") was put into operation (Olomouc-Moravská Třebová, Moravská Třebová-Prague). In 1848, the Archbishop's Palace housed the Imperial Court, which had fled here because of the revolution in Vienna. Emperor Ferdinand I handed over the government to the eighteen-year-old Francis Joseph I on December 2, 1848. On 29 November 1850, the German Confederation under Austrian leadership was restored in Olomouc by the Agreement of Olomouc (also known as the Olomouc Treaty) between Prussia, Austria and Russia. In the years 1850 to 1866 the fortification systems were extended again. In 1886, the fortress status was abolished. 1899 drove in the city the first tram.

20th century

After the collapse of the Austrian Empire in 1918 and the founding of Czechoslovakia, the Czech citizens became majority, which included, among other things, the integration of the two towns of Hodolina and Nová ulice, as well as eleven other municipalities (Bělidla, Černovír, Hejčín, Chválkovice, Lazce, Nové Sady, Nový Svět, Neředín, Pavlovičky, Povel and Řepčín) in 1919. In 1921 lived in Olomouc 57,206 inhabitants.

On March 15, 1939, the city, as well as the other areas of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, erected on the same day by the German Reich, was occupied by the Wehrmacht. As early as 1939, the Olomouc University was closed by the German occupying forces. It was not until 1946 that it was restored under the name Palacký University of Olomouc.

The German-speaking population was expelled from Olomouc in 1945/1946. Their assets were confiscated by the Beneš decree 108, the assets of the Protestant church were liquidated by the Beneš decree 131, and the Catholic churches were expropriated.

In the 1970s and 1980s, a number of prefabricated housing estates were built in the peripheral areas.

Since 1971, the entire old town has been protected as a historic preservation reserve. Floods in 1997 made the city very vulnerable, about a third of the city area was flooded. In the year 2000, the Trinity Column was included in the UNESCO World Heritage list. According to the administrative reform of 2000 the former district town with the establishment of the Olomouc region became its administrative seat.

Jews in Olomouc

The synagogue in Olomouc

The first Jews settled in Olomouc as early as 906. From the year 1060 they had to live in a ghetto and bear a yellow identification mark. In 1454 all Jews from Olomouc were expelled. This law was valid until 1848.

The Olomouc Synagogue was built between 1895 and 1897. On the night of March 15, 1939, after the occupation by the Wehrmacht, the synagogue was lit and burnt down. At the same time about 800 Jews were arrested and later deported to the Dachau concentration camp. Some of the synagogue 's benches were removed, serving as church benches in a village church near Prostějov and were finally put up in the renovated synagogue in Krnov in 2004. Some of them are now in the Synagogue of Loštice and are reminiscent of the Jewish citizens murdered in concentration camps. The seat of honor is dedicated to Berthold Oppenheim, the Rabbi of Olomouc and Loštice.

During the period of National Socialism, 3,489 people were deported to the Theresienstadt Ghetto in five transports, on 26 and 30 June 1942, on July 4, 1942, and on March 7. Only 285 Jews of the city population survived. This was the end of the Jewish life in Olomouc for a long time. Since 2011, by artist Gunter Demnig Stolpersteine (stumbling blocks) have been and still are being laid to the memory of murdered Jews in Olomouc. Olomouc is one of the cities with the most stumbling blocks in the Czech Republic (as of 2016) with Prague and Brno.

Only since 1989 there has been a revival of the Jewish cultic life in the city. In 1991, an independent Jewish community was established with a field of activity for the districts of Olomouc, Šumperk, Jeseník, Bruntál and Přerov.

 

Name

Im 12. Jahrhundert waren Olomuc und Olmuc die ersten überlieferten Namensformen. Im 15. Jahrhundert wurde eine angebliche erste Form Juliomontium (Juliusberg) vermutet, nach Julius Caesar als angeblichem Gründer. Die ursprüngliche Bedeutung ist unklar. Im Tschechischen bedeutet Olomouc ‚kahler Berg‘ (alttschech. holy ‚kahl‘ und mauc ‚Berg‘). Der Name der Stadt lautet im mährisch-hannakischen Dialekt, einer Untergruppe der mittelmährischen Dialekte des Tschechischen, Olomóc oder Holomóc, auf Deutsch Olmütz, auf Polnisch Ołomuniec und auf Lateinisch Eburum oder Olomucium.

Geschichte

Anfänge

Ende des 2. Jahrhunderts befand sich hier ein römisches Heerlager, das nördlichste bekannte in Mitteleuropa. Bis ins 5. Jahrhundert gab es eine germanische Besiedelung.

Im späten 7. Jahrhundert entstand eine erste slawische Siedlung im heutigen Ortsteil Povel. Um 830 wurde diese zerstört. Es entstand eine neue Burg auf dem Petersberg (Předhrad), die nach ihrer Größe vermutlich zu den wichtigen Burgen des Mährerreiches zählte. Im 9. Jahrhundert wurden drei Kirchen gebaut.

Přemyslidenstaat

Olomouc wurde im Jahr 1017 erstmals schriftlich erwähnt, als Mähren Teil des böhmischen Staates der Přemysliden wurde. 1055 war es Sitz eines eigenen Teilfürstentums. 1063 wurde das Bistum Olmütz durch Vratislav II. gegründet. Um 1070 entstand eine neue Burg. 1077 wurde das Kloster Hradisko gegründet. 1126 wurde Heinrich Zdik zum Bischof.

Anfang des 13. Jahrhunderts starb der letzte Olmützer Fürst, Mähren wurde vereint und einem Markgrafen aus dem Geschlecht der Přemysliden unterstellt. Zum Jahr 1248 wird Olomouc erstmals als Königsstadt erwähnt. 1306 hielt sich König Wenzel III. während eines Feldzuges nach Polen in Olmütz auf und wurde hier ermordet, wodurch die Dynastie der Přemysliden im Mannesstamm erlosch. Die Stadt entwickelte sich wirtschaftlich sehr schnell und wurde zur Hauptstadt Mährens.

In den Hussitenkriegen war Olmütz fester Bestandteil der katholischen Seite. In der Nachfolge der Kartause Dolein, die in den Hussitenkriegen untergegangen war, wurde 1443 die Kartause Olmütz gegründet, die bis zur Aufhebung 1782 bestand. Im 16. Jahrhundert entstanden zahlreiche Paläste im Renaissancestil. 1566 kamen die Jesuiten nach Olmütz. Diese gründeten eine Schule, welche 1573 zur Universität erhoben wurde. 1588 wurde der Bischof zum Reichsfürsten erhoben.

17. und 18. Jahrhundert

Im Dreißigjährigen Krieg wurde die Stadt 1642 von den Schweden eingenommen und acht Jahre okkupiert. Nach dem Dreißigjährigen Krieg verlor die großteils zerstörte und entvölkerte Stadt den Status der mährischen Hauptstadt und trat diesen an Brünn ab. Da durch Brände viel Schaden entstanden war, wurde 1711 eine detaillierte „Feuerlösch-Ordnung“ erlassen, in der auch eine Reihe vorbeugender Maßnahmen zur Sprache kam.

Am 26. Dezember 1741 wurde die Stadt von den Preußen im Ersten Schlesischen Krieg eingenommen. Nach diesem Ereignis wurden die Festungsanlagen umfangreich ausgebaut. Einer zweiten Belagerung durch die Preußen im Jahre 1758 hielt die neue Festungsanlage stand. 1777 wurde das Bistum zum Erzbistum erhoben.

1794–1797 wurde der prominente französisch-amerikanische Soldat und Politiker Marquis Lafayette in Olmütz als politischer Häftling der Donaumonarchie interniert, nachdem er von der antifranzösischen Koalition 1792 in Flandern gefangengenommen und dann vorerst von Preußen eingekerkert worden war.

19. Jahrhundert

1841 erhielt die Stadt einen Eisenbahnanschluss. Mitte 1845 wurde die Eisenbahn von Olmütz nach Prag („k.k. Nördliche Staatsbahn“) in Betrieb genommen (Olmütz–Trübau, Trübau–Prag). Im Jahr 1848 beherbergte das Schloss des Erzbischofs den wegen der Revolution in Wien hierher geflohenen kaiserlichen Hof. Kaiser Ferdinand I. übertrug hier am 2. Dezember 1848 dem achtzehnjährigen Franz Joseph I. die Regierung. Am 29. November 1850 wurde in Olmütz durch die Olmützer Punktation (auch „Olmützer Vertrag“ genannt) zwischen Preußen, Österreich und Russland der Deutsche Bund unter österreichischer Führung wieder hergestellt. In den Jahren 1850 bis 1866 wurden erneut die Befestigungsanlagen erweitert. 1886 wurde dann der Festungsstatus aufgehoben. 1899 fuhr in der Stadt die erste Straßenbahn.

20. Jahrhundert

Nach dem Zerfall des Kaiserreichs Österreich 1918 und der Gründung der Tschechoslowakei kamen die tschechischen Stadtbürger in die Mehrzahl, was unter anderem auf die Eingemeindung der zwei Städte Hodolein (Hodolany) und Neugasse (Nová ulice) sowie elf weiterer Gemeinden (Bělidla, Černovír, Hejčín, Chválkovice, Lazce, Nové Sady, Nový Svět, Neředín, Pavlovičky, Povel und Řepčín) im Jahr 1919 zurückzuführen ist. Im Jahr 1921 lebten in Olomouc 57.206 Einwohner.

Am 15. März 1939 wurde die Stadt, wie auch die übrigen Gebiete des am selben Tag vom Deutschen Reich errichteten Protektorats Böhmen und Mähren, von der Wehrmacht besetzt. Noch im Jahr 1939 wurde die Olmützer Universität von der deutschen Besatzungsmacht geschlossen. Erst im Jahr 1946 konnte sie unter dem Namen Palacký-Universität Olmütz wiederhergestellt werden.

Die deutschsprachige Bevölkerung wurde 1945/1946 aus Olmütz vertrieben. Ihr Vermögen wurde durch das Beneš-Dekret 108 konfisziert, das Vermögen der evangelischen Kirche durch das Beneš-Dekret 131 liquidiert und die katholischen Kirchen enteignet.

In den 1970er und 1980er Jahren entstanden in den Randgebieten mehrere Plattenbausiedlungen.

Seit 1971 ist die ganze Altstadt als Denkmalschutzreservat geschützt. Das Hochwasser im Jahr 1997 zog die Stadt schwer in Mitleidenschaft, etwa ein Drittel des Stadtgebiets wurde überschwemmt. Im Jahr 2000 wurde die Dreifaltigkeitssäule in die Liste des UNESCO-Welterbes aufgenommen. Nach der Verwaltungsreform von 2000 wurde die bisherige Kreisstadt mit der Errichtung der Olmützer Region dessen Verwaltungssitz.

Juden in Olmütz

Die Synagoge in Olmütz

Die ersten Juden siedelten in Olmütz bereits 906. Ab dem Jahre 1060 hatten sie in einem Ghetto zu wohnen und ein gelbes Erkennungszeichen zu tragen. Im Jahr 1454 wurden sämtliche Juden aus Olmütz ausgewiesen. Dieses Gesetz war bis 1848 gültig.

Die Olmützer Synagoge wurde von 1895 bis 1897 erbaut. In der Nacht vom 15. auf den 16. März 1939, nach der Besetzung durch die Wehrmacht, wurde die Synagoge angezündet und brannte ab. Gleichzeitig wurden etwa 800 Juden festgenommen und später in das Konzentrationslager Dachau deportiert. Einige Sitzbänke der Synagoge wurden ausgebaut, dienten lange als Kirchenbänke in einer Dorfkirche bei Prostějov und wurden schließlich 2004 in der renovierten Synagoge in Krnov aufgestellt. Einige davon stehen heute in der Synagoge von Loštice und erinnern an die in den Konzentrationslagern ermordeten jüdischen Bürger. Der Ehrensitz ist Berthold Oppenheim gewidmet, dem Rabbi von Olmütz und Loštice.

Während der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus wurden 3.489 Menschen in fünf Transporten, am 26. und 30. Juni 1942, am 4. Juli 1942 und am 7. März 1945 in das Ghetto Theresienstadt deportiert. Nur 285 Juden der Stadtbevölkerung überlebten. Damit erlosch das jüdische Leben in Olmütz für lange Zeit. Seit 2011 wurden und werden in Olmütz von Gunter Demnig Stolpersteine zur Erinnerung an ermordete Juden verlegt. Olmütz gehört mit Prag und Brünn zu den Städten mit den meisten Stolpersteinen in Tschechien (Stand 2016).

Erst seit 1989 gibt es eine Belebung des jüdischen Kultuslebens in der Stadt. 1991 wurde eine selbständige jüdische Gemeinde mit einem Wirkungskreis für die Bezirke Olmütz, Šumperk, Jeseník, Bruntál und Přerov wiederbegründet.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olm%C3%BCtz

The Toraja are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja"). Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk ("the way"). The Indonesian government has recognized this animist belief as Aluk To Dolo ("Way of the Ancestors").

 

The word toraja comes from the Bugis Buginese language term to riaja, meaning "people of the uplands". The Dutch colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909. Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and colorful wood carvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several days.

 

Before the 20th century, Torajans lived in autonomous villages, where they practised animism and were relatively untouched by the outside world. In the early 1900s, Dutch missionaries first worked to convert Torajan highlanders to Christianity. When the Tana Toraja regency was further opened to the outside world in the 1970s, it became an icon of tourism in Indonesia: it was exploited by tourism developers and studied by anthropologists. By the 1990s, when tourism peaked, Toraja society had changed significantly, from an agrarian model - in which social life and customs were outgrowths of the Aluk To Dolo - to a largely Christian society. Today, tourism and remittances from migrant Torajans have made for major changes in the Toraja highland, giving the Toraja a celebrity status within Indonesia and enhancing Toraja ethnic group pride.

 

ETHNIC IDENTITY

The Torajan people had little notion of themselves as a distinct ethnic group before the 20th century. Before Dutch colonization and Christianization, Torajans, who lived in highland areas, identified with their villages and did not share a broad sense of identity. Although complexes of rituals created linkages between highland villages, there were variations in dialects, differences in social hierarchies, and an array of ritual practices in the Sulawesi highland region. "Toraja" (from the coastal languages' to, meaning people; and riaja, uplands) was first used as a lowlander expression for highlanders. As a result, "Toraja" initially had more currency with outsiders - such as the Bugis and Makassarese, who constitute a majority of the lowland of Sulawesi - than with insiders. The Dutch missionaries' presence in the highlands gave rise to the Toraja ethnic consciousness in the Sa'dan Toraja region, and this shared identity grew with the rise of tourism in the Tana Toraja Regency. Since then, South Sulawesi has four main ethnic groups - the Bugis (the majority, including shipbuilders and seafarers), the Makassarese (lowland traders and seafarers), the Mandarese (traders and fishermen), and the Toraja (highland rice cultivators).

 

HISTORY

From the 17th century, the Dutch established trade and political control on Sulawesi through the Dutch East Indies Company. Over two centuries, they ignored the mountainous area in the central Sulawesi, where Torajans lived, because access was difficult and it had little productive agricultural land. In the late 19th century, the Dutch became increasingly concerned about the spread of Islam in the south of Sulawesi, especially among the Makassarese and Bugis peoples. The Dutch saw the animist highlanders as potential Christians. In the 1920s, the Reformed Missionary Alliance of the Dutch Reformed Church began missionary work aided by the Dutch colonial government. In addition to introducing Christianity, the Dutch abolished slavery and imposed local taxes. A line was drawn around the Sa'dan area and called Tana Toraja ("the land of Toraja"). Tana Toraja was first a subdivision of the Luwu kingdom that had claimed the area. In 1946, the Dutch granted Tana Toraja a regentschap, and it was recognized in 1957 as one of the regencies of Indonesia.

 

Early Dutch missionaries faced strong opposition among Torajans, especially among the elite, because the abolition of their profitable slave trade had angered them. Some Torajans were forcibly relocated to the lowlands by the Dutch, where they could be more easily controlled. Taxes were kept high, undermining the wealth of the elites. Ultimately, the Dutch influence did not subdue Torajan culture, and only a few Torajans were converted. In 1950, only 10% of the population had converted to Christianity.

 

In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the Torajans, resulting in widespread Christian conversion among those who sought to align themselves with the Dutch for political protection and to form a movement against the Bugis and Makassarese Muslims. Between 1951 and 1965 (following Indonesian independence), southern Sulawesi faced a turbulent period as the Darul Islam separatist movement fought for an Islamic state in Sulawesi. The 15 years of guerrilla warfare led to massive conversions to

 

CHRISTIANITY

Alignment with the Indonesian government, however, did not guarantee safety for the Torajans. In 1965, a presidential decree required every Indonesian citizen to belong to one of five officially recognized religions: Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism, or Buddhism. The Torajan religious belief (aluk) was not legally recognized, and the Torajans raised their voices against the law. To make aluk accord with the law, it had to be accepted as part of one of the official religions. In 1969, Aluk To Dolo ("the way of ancestors") was legalized as a sect of Agama Hindu Dharma, the official name of Hinduism in Indonesia.

 

SOCIETY

There are three main types of affiliation in Toraja society: family, class and religion.

 

FAMILY AFFILIATION

Family is the primary social and political grouping in Torajan society. Each village is one extended family, the seat of which is the tongkonan, a traditional Torajan house. Each tongkonan has a name, which becomes the name of the village. The familial dons maintain village unity. Marriage between distant cousins (fourth cousins and beyond) is a common practice that strengthens kinship. Toraja society prohibits marriage between close cousins (up to and including the third cousin) - except for nobles, to prevent the dispersal of property. Kinship is actively reciprocal, meaning that the extended family helps each other farm, share buffalo rituals, and pay off debts.

 

Each person belongs to both the mother's and the father's families, the only bilateral family line in Indonesia. Children, therefore, inherit household affiliation from both mother and father, including land and even family debts. Children's names are given on the basis of kinship, and are usually chosen after dead relatives. Names of aunts, uncles and cousins are commonly referred to in the names of mothers, fathers and siblings.

 

Before the start of the formal administration of Toraja villages by the Tana Toraja Regency, each Toraja village was autonomous. In a more complex situation, in which one Toraja family could not handle their problems alone, several villages formed a group; sometimes, villages would unite against other villages. Relationship between families was expressed through blood, marriage, and shared ancestral houses (tongkonan), practically signed by the exchange of water buffalo and pigs on ritual occasions. Such exchanges not only built political and cultural ties between families but defined each person's place in a social hierarchy: who poured palm wine, who wrapped a corpse and prepared offerings, where each person could or could not sit, what dishes should be used or avoided, and even what piece of meat constituted one's share.

 

CLASS AFFILIATION

In early Toraja society, family relationships were tied closely to social class. There were three strata: nobles, commoners, and slaves (slavery was abolished in 1909 by the Dutch East Indies government). Class was inherited through the mother. It was taboo, therefore, to marry "down" with a woman of lower class. On the other hand, marrying a woman of higher class could improve the status of the next generation. The nobility's condescending attitude toward the commoners is still maintained today for reasons of family prestige.

 

Nobles, who were believed to be direct descendants of the descended person from heaven, lived in tongkonans, while commoners lived in less lavish houses (bamboo shacks called banua). Slaves lived in small huts, which had to be built around their owner's tongkonan. Commoners might marry anyone, but nobles preferred to marry in-family to maintain their status. Sometimes nobles married Bugis or Makassarese nobles. Commoners and slaves were prohibited from having death feasts. Despite close kinship and status inheritance, there was some social mobility, as marriage or change in wealth could affect an individuals status. Wealth was counted by the ownership of water buffaloes.

 

Slaves in Toraja society were family property. Sometimes Torajans decided to become slaves when they incurred a debt, pledging to work as payment. Slaves could be taken during wars, and slave trading was common. Slaves could buy their freedom, but their children still inherited slave status. Slaves were prohibited from wearing bronze or gold, carving their houses, eating from the same dishes as their owners, or having sex with free women - a crime punishable by death.

 

RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION

Toraja's indigenous belief system is polytheistic animism, called aluk, or "the way" (sometimes translated as "the law"). In the Toraja myth, the ancestors of Torajan people came down from heaven using stairs, which were then used by the Torajans as a communication medium with Puang Matua, the Creator. The cosmos, according to aluk, is divided into the upper world (heaven), the world of man (earth), and the underworld. At first, heaven and earth were married, then there was a darkness, a separation, and finally the light. Animals live in the underworld, which is represented by rectangular space enclosed by pillars, the earth is for mankind, and the heaven world is located above, covered with a saddle-shaped roof. Other Toraja gods include Pong Banggai di Rante (god of Earth), Indo' Ongon-Ongon (a goddess who can cause earthquakes), Pong Lalondong (god of death), and Indo' Belo Tumbang (goddess of medicine); there are many more.

 

The earthly authority, whose words and actions should be cleaved to both in life (agriculture) and death (funerals), is called to minaa (an aluk priest). Aluk is not just a belief system; it is a combination of law, religion, and habit. Aluk governs social life, agricultural practices, and ancestral rituals. The details of aluk may vary from one village to another. One common law is the requirement that death and life rituals be separated. Torajans believe that performing death rituals might ruin their corpses if combined with life rituals. The two rituals are equally important. During the time of the Dutch missionaries, Christian Torajans were prohibited from attending or performing life rituals, but were allowed to perform death rituals. Consequently, Toraja's death rituals are still practised today, while life rituals have diminished.

 

CULTURE

TONGKONAN

Tongkonan are the traditional Torajan ancestral houses. They stand high on wooden piles, topped with a layered split-bamboo roof shaped in a sweeping curved arc, and they are incised with red, black, and yellow detailed wood carvings on the exterior walls. The word "tongkonan" comes from the Torajan tongkon ("to sit").

 

Tongkonan are the center of Torajan social life. The rituals associated with the tongkonan are important expressions of Torajan spiritual life, and therefore all family members are impelled to participate, because symbolically the tongkonan represents links to their ancestors and to living and future kin. According to Torajan myth, the first tongkonan was built in heaven on four poles, with a roof made of Indian cloth. When the first Torajan ancestor descended to earth, he imitated the house and held a large ceremony.

 

The construction of a tongkonan is laborious work and is usually done with the help of the extended family. There are three types of tongkonan. The tongkonan layuk is the house of the highest authority, used as the "center of government". The tongkonan pekamberan belongs to the family members who have some authority in local traditions. Ordinary family members reside in the tongkonan batu. The exclusivity to the nobility of the tongkonan is diminishing as many Torajan commoners find lucrative employment in other parts of Indonesia. As they send back money to their families, they enable the construction of larger tongkonan.

 

WOOD CARVINGS

To express social and religious concepts, Torajans carve wood, calling it Pa'ssura (or "the writing"). Wood carvings are therefore Toraja's cultural manifestation.

 

Each carving receives a special name, and common motifs are animals and plants that symbolize some virtue. For example, water plants and animals, such as crabs, tadpoles and water weeds, are commonly found to symbolize fertility. In some areas noble elders claim these symbols refer to strength of noble family, but not everyone agrees. The overall meaning of groups of carved motifs on houses remains debated and tourism has further complicated these debates because some feel a uniform explanation must be presented to tourists. The image to the left shows an example of Torajan wood carving, consisting of 15 square panels. The center bottom panel represents buffalo or wealth, a wish for many buffaloes for the family. The center panel represents a knot and a box, a hope that all of the family's offspring will be happy and live in harmony, like goods kept safe in a box. The top left and top right squares represent an aquatic animal, indicating the need for fast and hard work, just like moving on the surface of water. It also represents the need for a certain skill to produce good results.

 

Regularity and order are common features in Toraja wood carving (see table below), as well as abstracts and geometrical designs. Nature is frequently used as the basis of Toraja's ornaments, because nature is full of abstractions and geometries with regularities and ordering. Toraja's ornaments have been studied in ethnomathematics to reveal their mathematical structure, but Torajans base this art only on approximations. To create an ornament, bamboo sticks are used as a geometrical tool.

 

FUNERAL RITES

In Toraja society, the funeral ritual is the most elaborate and expensive event. The richer and more powerful the individual, the more expensive is the funeral. In the aluk religion, only nobles have the right to have an extensive death feast. The death feast of a nobleman is usually attended by thousands and lasts for several days. A ceremonial site, called rante, is usually prepared in a large, grassy field where shelters for audiences, rice barns, and other ceremonial funeral structures are specially made by the deceased family. Flute music, funeral chants, songs and poems, and crying and wailing are traditional Toraja expressions of grief with the exceptions of funerals for young children, and poor, low-status adults.

 

The ceremony is often held weeks, months, or years after the death so that the deceased's family can raise the significant funds needed to cover funeral expenses. Torajans traditionally believe that death is not a sudden, abrupt event, but a gradual process toward Puya (the land of souls, or afterlife). During the waiting period, the body of the deceased is wrapped in several layers of cloth and kept under the tongkonan. The soul of the deceased is thought to linger around the village until the funeral ceremony is completed, after which it begins its journey to Puya.

 

Another component of the ritual is the slaughter of water buffalo. The more powerful the person who died, the more buffalo are slaughtered at the death feast. Buffalo carcasses, including their heads, are usually lined up on a field waiting for their owner, who is in the "sleeping stage". Torajans believe that the deceased will need the buffalo to make the journey and that they will be quicker to arrive at Puya if they have many buffalo. Slaughtering tens of water buffalo and hundreds of pigs using a machete is the climax of the elaborate death feast, with dancing and music and young boys who catch spurting blood in long bamboo tubes. Some of the slaughtered animals are given by guests as "gifts", which are carefully noted because they will be considered debts of the deceased's family. However, a cockfight, known as bulangan londong, is an integral part of the ceremony. As with the sacrifice of the buffalo and the pigs, the cockfight is considered sacred because it involves the spilling of blood on the earth. In particular, the tradition requires the sacrifice of at least three chickens. However, it is common for at least 25 pairs of chickens to be set against each other in the context of the ceremony.

 

There are three methods of burial: the coffin may be laid in a cave or in a carved stone grave, or hung on a cliff. It contains any possessions that the deceased will need in the afterlife. The wealthy are often buried in a stone grave carved out of a rocky cliff. The grave is usually expensive and takes a few months to complete. In some areas, a stone cave may be found that is large enough to accommodate a whole family. A wood-carved effigy, called Tau tau, is usually placed in the cave looking out over the land. The coffin of a baby or child may be hung from ropes on a cliff face or from a tree. This hanging grave usually lasts for years, until the ropes rot and the coffin falls to the ground.

 

In the ritual called Ma'Nene, that takes place each year in August, the bodies of the deceased are exhumed to be washed, groomed and dressed in new clothes. The mummies are then walked around the village.

 

DANCE AND MUSIC

Torajans perform dances on several occasions, most often during their elaborate funeral ceremonies. They dance to express their grief, and to honour and even cheer the deceased person because he is going to have a long journey in the afterlife. First, a group of men form a circle and sing a monotonous chant throughout the night to honour the deceased (a ritual called Ma'badong). This is considered by many Torajans to be the most important component of the funeral ceremony. On the second funeral day, the Ma'randing warrior dance is performed to praise the courage of the deceased during life. Several men perform the dance with a sword, a large shield made from buffalo skin, a helmet with a buffalo horn, and other ornamentation. The Ma'randing dance precedes a procession in which the deceased is carried from a rice barn to the rante, the site of the funeral ceremony. During the funeral, elder women perform the Ma'katia dance while singing a poetic song and wearing a long feathered costume. The Ma'akatia dance is performed to remind the audience of the generosity and loyalty of the deceased person. After the bloody ceremony of buffalo and pig slaughter, a group of boys and girls clap their hands while performing a cheerful dance called Ma'dondan.

 

As in other agricultural societies, Torajans dance and sing during harvest time. The Ma'bugi dance celebrates the thanksgiving event, and the Ma'gandangi dance is performed while Torajans are pounding rice. There are several war dances, such as the Manimbong dance performed by men, followed by the Ma'dandan dance performed by women. The aluk religion governs when and how Torajans dance. A dance called Ma'bua can be performed only once every 12 years. Ma'bua is a major Toraja ceremony in which priests wear a buffalo head and dance around a sacred tree.

 

A traditional musical instrument of the Toraja is a bamboo flute called a Pa'suling (suling is an Indonesian word for flute). This six-holed flute (not unique to the Toraja) is played at many dances, such as the thanksgiving dance Ma'bondensan, where the flute accompanies a group of shirtless, dancing men with long fingernails. The Toraja have indigenous musical instruments, such as the Pa'pelle (made from palm leaves) and the Pa'karombi (the Torajan version of a jaw harp). The Pa'pelle is played during harvest time and at house inauguration ceremonies.

 

LANGUAGE

The ethnic Toraja language is dominant in Tana Toraja with the main language as the Sa'dan Toraja. Although the national Indonesian language is the official language and is spoken in the community, all elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach Toraja language.Language varieties of Toraja, including Kalumpang, Mamasa, Tae' , Talondo' , Toala' , and Toraja-Sa'dan, belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language from the Austronesian family. At the outset, the isolated geographical nature of Tana Toraja formed many dialects between the Toraja languages themselves. After the formal administration of Tana Toraja, some Toraja dialects have been influenced by other languages through the transmigration program, introduced since the colonialism period, and it has been a major factor in the linguistic variety of Toraja languages. A prominent attribute of Toraja language is the notion of grief. The importance of death ceremony in Toraja culture has characterized their languages to express intricate degrees of grief and mourning. The Toraja language contains many terms referring to sadness, longing, depression, and mental pain. Giving a clear expression of the psychological and physical effect of loss is a catharsis and sometimes lessens the pain of grief itself.

 

ECONOMY

Prior to Suharto's "New Order" administration, the Torajan economy was based on agriculture, with cultivated wet rice in terraced fields on mountain slopes, and supplemental cassava and maize crops. Much time and energy were devoted to raising water buffalo, pigs, and chickens, primarily for ceremonial sacrifices and consumption. Coffee was the first significant cash crop produced in Toraja, and was introduced in the mid 19th century, changing the local economy towards commodity production for external markets and gaining an excellent reputation for quality in the international market .

 

With the commencement of the New Order in 1965, Indonesia's economy developed and opened to foreign investment. In Toraja, a coffee plantation and factory was established by Key Coffee of Japan, and Torajan coffee regained a reputation for quality within the growing international specialty coffee sector Multinational oil and mining companies opened new operations in Indonesia during the 1970s and 1980s. Torajans, particularly younger ones, relocated to work for the foreign companies - to Kalimantan for timber and oil, to Papua for mining, to the cities of Sulawesi and Java, and many went to Malaysia. The out-migration of Torajans was steady until 1985. and has continued since, with remittances sent back by emigre Torajans performing an important role within the contemporary economy.

 

Tourism commenced in Toraja in the 1970s, and accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s. Between 1984 and 1997, a significant number of Torajans obtained their incomes from tourism, working in and owning hotels, as tour guides, drivers, or selling souvenirs. With the rise of political and economic instability in Indonesia in the late 1990s - including religious conflicts elsewhere on Sulawesi - tourism in Tana Toraja has declined dramatically. Toraja continues to be a well known origin for Indonesian coffee, grown by both smallholders and plantation estates, although migration, remittances and off-farm income is considered far more important to most households, even those in rural areas.

 

TOURISM AND CULTURAL CHANGE

Before the 1970s, Toraja was almost unknown to Western tourism. In 1971, about 50 Europeans visited Tana Toraja. In 1972, at least 400 visitors attended the funeral ritual of Puang of Sangalla, the highest-ranking nobleman in Tana Toraja and the so-called "last pure-blooded Toraja noble." The event was documented by National Geographic and broadcast in several European countries. In 1976, about 12,000 tourists visited the regency and in 1981, Torajan sculpture was exhibited in major North American museums. "The land of the heavenly kings of Tana Toraja", as written in the exhibition brochure, embraced the outside world.

 

In 1984, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism declared Tana Toraja Regency the prima donna of South Sulawesi. Tana Toraja was heralded as "the second stop after Bali". Tourism was increasing dramatically: by 1985, a total number of 150,000 foreigners had visited the Regency (in addition to 80,000 domestic tourists), and the annual number of foreign visitors was recorded at 40,000 in 1989. Souvenir stands appeared in Rantepao, the cultural center of Toraja, roads were sealed at the most-visited tourist sites, new hotels and tourist-oriented restaurants were opened, and an airstrip was opened in the Regency in 1981.

 

Tourism developers have marketed Tana Toraja as an exotic adventure - an area rich in culture and off the beaten track. Western tourists expected to see stone-age villages and pagan funerals. Toraja is for tourists who have gone as far as Bali and are willing to see more of the wild, "untouched" islands. However, they were more likely to see a Torajan wearing a hat and denim, living in a Christian society. Tourists felt that the tongkonan and other Torajan rituals had been preconceived to make profits, and complained that the destination was too commercialized. This has resulted in several clashes between Torajans and tourism developers, whom Torajans see as outsiders.

 

A clash between local Torajan leaders and the South Sulawesi provincial government (as a tourist developer) broke out in 1985. The government designated 18 Toraja villages and burial sites as traditional tourist attractions. Consequently, zoning restrictions were applied to these areas, such that Torajans themselves were barred from changing their tongkonans and burial sites. The plan was opposed by some Torajan leaders, as they felt that their rituals and traditions were being determined by outsiders. As a result, in 1987, the Torajan village of Kété Kesú and several other designated tourist attractions closed their doors to tourists. This closure lasted only a few days, as the villagers found it too difficult to survive without the income from selling souvenirs.

 

Tourism has also transformed Toraja society. Originally, there was a ritual which allowed commoners to marry nobles (puang) and thereby gain nobility for their children. However, the image of Torajan society created for the tourists, often by "lower-ranking" guides, has eroded its traditional strict hierarchy. High status is not as esteemed in Tana Toraja as it once was. Many low-ranking men can declare themselves and their children nobles by gaining enough wealth through work outside the region and then marrying a noble woman.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Luzern

 

in the background you can see the Jesuit Church.

 

Im Hintergrund sieht man die Jesuitenkirche.

 

Lucerne (/luːˈsɜːrn/ loo-SURN, French: [lysɛʁn]; High Alemannic: Lozärn) or Luzern (Swiss Standard German: [luˈtsɛrn]) is a city in central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the district of the same name. With a population of approximately 82,000 people, Lucerne is the most populous city in Central Switzerland, and a nexus of economics, transportation, culture, and media in the region. The city's urban area consists of 19 municipalities and towns with an overall population of about 220,000 people.

 

Owing to its location on the shores of Lake Lucerne (German: Vierwaldstättersee) and its outflow, the river Reuss, within sight of the mounts Pilatus and Rigi in the Swiss Alps, Lucerne has long been a destination for tourists. One of the city's landmarks is the Chapel Bridge (German: Kapellbrücke), a wooden bridge first erected in the 14th century.

 

The official language of Lucerne is German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect, Lucerne German.

 

History

 

Early history and founding (750–1386)

 

After the fall of the Roman Empire beginning in the 6th century, Germanic Alemannic peoples increased their influence on this area of present-day Switzerland.

 

Around 750 the Benedictine Monastery of St. Leodegar was founded, which was later acquired by Murbach Abbey in Alsace in the middle of the 9th century, and by this time the area had become known as Luciaria.

 

The origin of the name is uncertain, it is possibly derived from the Latin name of the pike, lucius, thus designating a pike fishing spot in the river Reuss. Derivation from the theonym Lugus has been suggested but is phonetically implausible. In any case, the name was associated by popular etymology with Latin lucerna "lantern" from an early time.

 

In 1178 Lucerne acquired its independence from the jurisdiction of Murbach Abbey, and the founding of the city proper probably occurred that same year. The city gained importance as a strategically located gateway for the growing commerce from the Gotthard trade route.

 

By 1290, Lucerne had become a self-sufficient city of reasonable size with about 3000 inhabitants. About this time King Rudolph I von Habsburg gained authority over the Monastery of St. Leodegar and its lands, including Lucerne. The populace was not content with the increasing Habsburg influence, and Lucerne allied with neighboring towns to seek independence from their rule. Along with Lucerne, the three other forest cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden formed the "eternal" Swiss Confederacy, known as the Eidgenossenschaft, on November 7, 1332.

 

Later the cities of Zürich, Zug and Bern joined the alliance. With the help of these additions, the rule of Austria over the area came to an end. The issue was settled by Lucerne's victory over the Habsburgs in the Battle of Sempach in 1386. For Lucerne this victory ignited an era of expansion. The city shortly granted many rights to itself, rights which had been withheld by the Habsburgs until then. By this time the borders of Lucerne were approximately those of today.

 

From city to city-state (1386–1520)

 

In 1415 Lucerne gained Reichsfreiheit from Emperor Sigismund and became a strong member of the Swiss confederacy. The city developed its infrastructure, raised taxes, and appointed its own local officials. The city's population of 3000 dropped about 40% due to the Black Plague and several wars around 1350.

 

In 1419 town records show the first witch trial against a male person.

 

Swiss-Catholic town (1520–1798)

 

Among the growing towns of the confederacy, Lucerne was especially popular in attracting new residents. Remaining predominantly Catholic, Lucerne hosted its own annual passion play from 1453 to 1616, a two-day-long play of 12 hours performance per day. As the confederacy broke up during the Reformation, after 1520, most nearby cities became Protestant, but Lucerne remained Catholic. After the victory of the Catholics over the Protestants in the Battle at Kappel in 1531, the Catholic towns dominated the confederacy. It was during this period that Jesuits first came to Lucerne in 1567, with their arrival given considerable backing by Cardinal Carlo Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan. The region, though, was destined to be dominated by Protestant cities such as Zürich, Bern and Basel, which defeated the Catholic forces in the 1712 Toggenburg War. The former prominent position of Lucerne in the confederacy was lost forever. In the 16th and 17th centuries, wars and epidemics became steadily less frequent and as a result the population of the country increased strongly.

 

Lucerne was besieged by a peasant army and quickly signed a peace treaty with the rebels in the Swiss peasant war of 1653.

 

Century of revolutions (1798–1914)

 

In 1798, nine years after the beginning of the French Revolution, the French army marched into Switzerland. The old confederacy collapsed and the government became democratic. The industrial revolution hit Lucerne rather late, and by 1860 only 1.7% of the population worked in industry, which was about a quarter of the national average at that time.[citation needed] Agriculture, which employed about 40% of the workers, was the main form of economic output in the canton. Nevertheless, industry was attracted to the city from areas around Lucerne. From 1850 to 1913, the population quadrupled and the flow of settlers increased. In 1856 trains first linked the city to Olten and Basel, then Zug and Zürich in 1864 and finally to the south in 1897.

 

The 1804 play William Tell by Friedrich Schiller did much to establish the reputation of Lucerne and its environs. Schiller himself had not been to Lucerne, but was inspired to write the play by his wife Lotte and his friend Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who had both personally visited the city and its surrounding canton. Goethe had lodged in the Hirschenplatz on his route to Italy in 1779.

 

It was during the latter part of the 19th century that Lucerne became a popular destination for artists, royalty and others to escape to. The German composer Richard Wagner established a residence at Tribschen in 1866, where he lived and worked. The city was then boosted by a visit by Queen Victoria to the city in 1868, during which she went sightseeing at the Kapellbrücke and Lion Monument and relished speaking with local people in her native German. The American writer Mark Twain further popularised the city and its environs in his travel writings after visiting twice, in 1878 and 1897. In 1892 Swiss poet and future Nobel Prize laureate Carl Spitteler also established himself in Lucerne, living there until his death in 1924.

 

Lucerne's status as a fashionable destination led to it becoming one of the first centres of modern-style tourism. Some of the city's most recognisable buildings are hotels from this period, such as the Schweizerhof Hotel (1845), Grand Hotel National (1870), and Château Gütsch (1879). It was at the National that Swiss hotelier César Ritz would establish himself as manager between 1878 and 1888.

 

20th and 21st century

 

In August 1993, the Kapellbrücke in the centre of the city suffered from a great fire which destroyed two thirds of its interior paintings. The bridge was subsequently reconstructed and reopened to the public in April 1994, after a total of CHF 3.4 million was spent on its repair.

 

On June 17, 2007, voters of the city of Lucerne and the adjacent town of Littau agreed to a merger in a simultaneous referendum. This took effect on January 1, 2010. The new city, still called Lucerne, has a population of around 80,000 people, making it the seventh-largest city in Switzerland. The results of this referendum are expected to pave the way for negotiations with other nearby cities and towns in an effort to create a unified city-region, based on the results of a study.

 

Geography and climate

 

Topography

 

Lucerne is located at the outfall of Lake Lucerne into the river Reuss, which flows from south-east to north-west. The city occupies both banks of the river and the lowest reach of the lake, with the city centre straddling the river immediately downstream of the outfall. The city's suburbs climb the hills to the north-east and south-west, and stretch out along the river and lake banks, whilst the recently added area of Littau is to the north-west.

 

Besides this contiguous city area, the municipality also includes an exclave on the south shore of Lake Lucerne some 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) away, comprising the northern slopes of the Bürgenstock. This section of the municipality is entirely surrounded by the lake and by land of the canton of Nidwalden. It does not contain any significant settlements, but the summit of the Bürgenstock is the highest point of the municipality.

 

The municipality has an area of 29.1 square kilometers (11.2 sq mi). Of this area and as of 2009, 28.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 22.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 47.6% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (2.1%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

 

Climate

 

Between 1961 and 1990 Lucerne had an average of 138.1 days of rain per year and on average received 1,171 mm (46.1 in) of precipitation. The wettest month was June during which time Lucerne received an average of 153 mm (6.0 in) of rainfall. During this month there was rainfall for an average of 14.2 days. The driest month of the year was February with an average of 61 mm (2.4 in) of precipitation over 10.2 days. Climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year-round. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Cfb" (Marine West Coast Climate/Oceanic climate).

 

Sights

 

Since the city straddles the Reuss where it drains the lake, it has a number of bridges. These include the Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrücke), a 204 m (669 ft) long wooden covered bridge originally built in 1333, the oldest covered bridge in Europe, although much of it had to be replaced after a fire on 18 August 1993, allegedly caused by a discarded cigarette. Partway across, the bridge runs by the octagonal Water Tower (Wasserturm), a fortification from the 13th century. Inside the bridge are a series of paintings from the 17th century depicting events from Lucerne's history.

 

Downriver, between the Kasernenplatz and the Mühlenplatz, the Spreuer Bridge (Spreuerbrücke or Mühlenbrücke, Mill Bridge) zigzags across the Reuss. Constructed in 1408, it features a series of medieval-style 17th century plague paintings by Kaspar Meglinger titled Dance of Death (Totentanzzyklus). The bridge has a small chapel in the middle that was added in 1568.

 

Old Town Lucerne is mainly located just north of the Reuss, and still has several fine half-timber structures with painted fronts. Remnants of the old town walls exist on the hill above Lucerne, complete with eight tall watch towers. An additional gated tower sits at the base of the hill on the banks of the Reuss.

 

The twin needle towers of the Church of St. Leodegar, which was named after the city's patron saint, sit on a small hill just above the lake front. Originally built in 735, the present structure was erected in 1633 in the late Renaissance style. However, the towers are surviving remnants of an earlier structure. The interior is richly decorated. The church is popularly called the Hofkirche (in German) and is known locally as the Hofchile (in Swiss-German).

 

Bertel Thorvaldsen's carving of a dying lion (the Lion Monument, or Löwendenkmal) is found in a small park just off the Löwenplatz. The carving commemorates the hundreds of Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution, when an armed mob stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris.

 

The Swiss Museum of Transport is a large and comprehensive museum exhibiting all forms of transport, including locomotives, automobiles, ships, and aircraft. It is to be found beside the lake in the northern-eastern section of the city.

 

The Culture and Convention Center (KKL) beside the lake in the center of the city was designed by Jean Nouvel. The center has one of the world's leading concert halls, with acoustics by Russell Johnson.

 

The Richard Wagner Museum is found on the lake at Tribschen and is dedicated to the composer Richard Wagner. Wagner lived in Lucerne from 1866 to 1872 and his former villa now hosts the museum dedicated to him.

 

Culture and events

 

Culture

 

Since plans for the new culture and convention centre arose in the late 1980s, Lucerne has found a balance between the so-called established culture and alternative culture. A consensus was reached that culminated in a culture compromise (Kulturkompromiss). The established culture comprises the Lucerne Culture and Congress Centre (KKL), the city theater (Luzerner Theater) and, in a broader sense, smaller establishments such as the Kleintheater, founded by comedian Emil Steinberger, a Lucerne native, or Stadtkeller, a music restaurant in the city's old town. KKL houses a concert hall as well as the Museum of Art Lucerne (Kunstmuseum Luzern).

 

Alternative culture took place mostly on the premises of a former tube factory, which became known as Boa. Other localities for alternative culture have since emerged in the same inner city area as Boa. Initially, Boa staged various plays, but concerts became more and more common; this new use of the building clashed with the development of apartment buildings on nearby lots of land. Due to possible noise pollution, Boa was closed and a replacement in a less heavily inhabited area is currently under construction. Critics claimed though that the new establishment would not meet the requirements for an alternative culture.

 

Südpol is a center for performing arts in Lucerne presenting music-, dance- and theatre-events. The house at the foot of Pilatus opened in November 2008.

 

Lucerne is home to the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, a category A symphonic orchestra, and to the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra, and they both hold most of their performances in the Lucerne Culture and Congress Centre.

 

Lucerne is also home to Keramikkonzerte, a series of classical chamber music concerts held throughout each year, as well as Zaubersee, a festival dedicated to Russian classical music.

 

Events

 

Every year, towards the end of winter, Fasnacht (Carnival) breaks out in the streets, alleyways and squares of the old town. This is a glittering outdoor party, where chaos and merriness reign and nothing is as it normally is. Strange characters in fantastic masks and costumes make their way through the alleyways, while Guggenmusiken (carnival bands) blow their instruments in joyful cacophony and thousands of bizarrely clad people sing and dance away the winter. The Lucerner Fasnacht, based on religious, Catholic backgrounds, starts every year on the Thursday before Aschermittwoch (Ash Wednesday) with a big bang at 5am called Morgenwacht (Morning Watch). There are big parades in the afternoon on Schmotzige Donnerstag (literally: Lardy Thursday) and the following Monday, called Güdismontag (literally: Paunch Monday), which attract tens of thousands of people. Lucerne's Carnival ends with a crowning finish on Güdisdienstag (literally: Paunch Tuesday) evening with the Monstercorso, a tremendous parade of Guggenmusiken, lights and lanterns with even a larger audience. Rather recently a fourth Fasnacht day has been introduced on the Saturday between the others Fasnacht days, the Rüüdige Samstag while mainly several indoor balls take place. From dusk till dawn on the evenings of Schmotzige Donnerstag, Güdismontag, and after the Monstercorso many bands wander through the historical part of the city playing typical Fasnacht tunes. Until midnight, the historical part of the city usually is packed with people participating. A large part of the audience are also dressed up in costumes, even a majority in the evenings.

 

The city hosts various renowned festivals throughout the year. The Lucerne Festival for classical music takes place in the summer. Its orchestra, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, is hand-picked from some of the finest instrumentalists in the world. In June yearly the pop music festival B-Sides takes place in Lucerne. It focuses on international acts in alternative music, indie rock, experimental rock and other cutting edge and left field artistic musical genres. In July, the Blue Balls Festival brings jazz, blues and punk music to the lake promenade and halls of the Culture and Convention Center. The Lucerne Blues Festival is another musical festival which usually takes place in November. Since spring 2004, Lucerne has hosted the Festival Rose d'Or for television entertainment. And in April, the well-established comics festival Fumetto attracts an international audience.

 

Being the cultural center of a rather rural region, Lucerne regularly holds different folklore festivals, such as Lucerne Cheese Festival, held annually. In 2004, Lucerne was the focus of Swiss Wrestling fans when it had hosted the Swiss Wrestling and Alpine festival (Eidgenössisches Schwing- und Älplerfest), which takes place every three years in a different location. A national music festival (Eidgenössiches Musikfest) attracted marching bands from all parts of Switzerland in 2006. In summer 2008, the yodelling festival (Eidgenössisches Jodlerfest) had a similar impact.

 

The 2021 Winter Universiade will be hosted by Lucerne.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Luzern (luzerndeutsch Lozärn [loˈtsæːrn], französisch Lucerne, italienisch Lucerna, rätoromanisch Lucerna) ist eine Stadt, Einwohnergemeinde sowie Hauptort des gleichnamigen Schweizer Kantons. Sie bildet zugleich den Wahlkreis Luzern-Stadt. Die Stadt hat 82'620 Einwohner (Dez. 2020), mit Agglomeration rund 223'000.

 

Luzern ist das gesellschaftliche und kulturelle Zentrum der Zentralschweiz. Im Bildungsbereich ist es unter anderem Sitz der Universität Luzern, der Pädagogischen Hochschule Luzern und der Hochschule Luzern. Anlässe mit überregionaler Ausstrahlung sind beispielsweise die Luzerner Fasnacht und das Lucerne Festival. Luzern ist ein bedeutendes Tourismusziel in der Schweiz, einerseits wegen seiner Lage am Vierwaldstättersee und der Nähe zu den Alpen und anderseits dank Sehenswürdigkeiten wie der Kapellbrücke und dem Verkehrshaus der Schweiz.

 

Geographie

 

Die Stadt Luzern liegt am nordwestlichen Ufer des Vierwaldstättersees beim Ausfluss der Reuss. Die Reuss teilt die Stadt in die Altstadt und Neustadt. Die Kapellbrücke mit dem Wasserturm und die Spreuerbrücke verbinden die Alt- und Neustadt. Zu Luzern gehört auch die Exklave Bürgenstock. Die Lage zwischen See und den Bergen Pilatus und Rigi ist besonders malerisch und begünstigte die Entwicklung Luzerns als Fremdenstadt und frühe Hochburg des Tourismus ab 1840.

 

Der höchste Punkt der Gemeinde ist der Gipfel des Bürgenstocks in der Exklave Bürgenstock mit einer Höhe von 1127,8 m ü. M. Der tiefste Punkt ist am Rotsee auf 419 m ü. M.

 

Die Fläche des Stadtgebiets beträgt 29,1 km², davon sind 44,2 % Siedlungsfläche, 30,2 % Landwirtschaftszonen und 23,7 % Wald. 2,0 % sind unproduktive Fläche.

 

Klima

 

Für die Normalperiode 1991–2020 beträgt die Jahresmitteltemperatur 10,1 °C, wobei im Januar mit 1,1 °C die kältesten und im Juli mit 19,5 °C die wärmsten Monatsmitteltemperaturen gemessen werden. Im Mittel sind hier rund 78 Frosttage und 15 Eistage zu erwarten. Sommertage gibt es im Jahresmittel rund 50, während normalerweise 9 Hitzetage zu verzeichnen sind. Die Messstation von MeteoSchweiz liegt auf einer Höhe von 454 m ü. M.

 

Der Höchstwert der Durchschnittssonnenscheindauer des Monats Januar wurde 2020 mit 98,5 Std. erreicht. Damit wurde der bisherige Rekord von 1999 (86,7 Std.) gebrochen.

 

Geschichte

 

Ortsname

 

Die frühesten bekannten Nennungen des Ortes sind ad monasterium Lucernense beziehungsweise ad Lucernense monasterium (9. Jahrhundert; Abschrift um 1200), monasterium Luciaria (840) und in quodam loco, qui Lucerna ex antiquitate est dictus (853; Abschrift des 11. Jahrhunderts). Die Bedeutung ist unklar. Vorgeschlagene Herleitungen von lateinisch lucerna «Leuchte» (vergleiche bis heute «Leuchtenstadt Luzern»), vom keltischen Gott Lugus und vom männlichen Personennamen Luz oder Luzius sind nicht haltbar. Eine mögliche Grundlage bleibt jedoch lateinisch lūcǐus «Hecht», verbunden mit dem eine Verbreitung ausdrückenden Suffix -ārǐa. Die Bedeutung des Namens Luzern wäre damit «Ort, wo sich Hechte in grossen Mengen aufhalten».

 

Frühzeit und Stadtgründung (um 750–1386)

 

Nach dem Zerfall des Römischen Reiches nahmen germanische Alemannen ab dem 7. Jahrhundert immer grösseren Besitz von dieser Gegend. Die alemannische Sprache ersetzte allmählich die lateinische. Um 710 entstand durch eine karolingische Gründung das Benediktinerkloster St. Leodegar (dort heute St. Leodegar im Hof), das Mitte des 9. Jahrhunderts unter die Herrschaft der elsässischen Abtei Murbach gelangte. Zu dieser Zeit bzw. um 750 nannte man das Gebiet Luciaria. Die Vogtei über das Kloster Murbach und damit auch über Luzern hatte seit 1135 das Adelsgeschlecht der Habsburger inne. Die Gründung der Stadt erfolgte wahrscheinlich durch die Brüder von Eschenbach, die Ende des 12. Jahrhunderts die Abtwürde von Murbach und Luzern gleichzeitig besassen. Das genaue Jahr der Stadtgründung ist unbekannt, es muss aber zwischen 1180 und 1200 liegen. Die Stadt gewann immer mehr an Bedeutung als Schlüsselstelle im wachsenden Gotthardverkehr und als Verwaltungszentrum. 1250 erreichte Luzern bereits die Grösse, die es bis ins 19. Jahrhundert beibehielt. Luzern war im 13. Jahrhundert durch Parteikämpfe zwischen Anhängern des Kaisers und des Papstes geprägt und schien bereits eine städtische Selbstverwaltung mit Rat und Bürgerversammlung besessen zu haben. 1291 erwarb der deutsche König Rudolf I. von Habsburg die Herrschaftsrechte des Klosters Murbach über Luzern, nachdem er schon die umliegenden Gebiete systematisch aufgekauft hatte.

 

Die Streitigkeiten um den deutschen Königsthron 1314–1325 führten auch zu Feindseligkeiten in den Ländern um den Vierwaldstättersee. Zur Stabilisierung der Verhältnisse ging Luzern 1332 einen Bund mit den benachbarten drei Waldstätten Uri, Schwyz und Unterwalden ein. Dieser Bund richtete sich nicht speziell gegen die Habsburger: Luzern behielt sich seine Verpflichtungen gegenüber der Herrschaft Österreich ausdrücklich vor.

 

Insbesondere ab der zweiten Hälfte des 14. Jahrhunderts begann Luzern erfolgreich, seinen Einfluss in den umliegenden ländlichen Gebieten zu verstärken und Herrschaftsrechte an sich zu binden. Diese expansive Territorialpolitik, welche auch von anderen eidgenössischen Städten wie Zürich vorangetrieben wurde, führte zwangsläufig zu Konflikten mit der Herrschaft Österreich und gipfelte 1386 in der Schlacht bei Sempach. Der Sieg der eidgenössischen Parteien erlaubte Luzern eine Konsolidierung des Herrschaftsgebiets, das in seiner Ausdehnung bereits ungefähr dem heutigen Kanton Luzern entsprach.

 

Von der Stadt zum Stadtstaat (1386–1520)

 

1415 erhielt Luzern von König Sigismund die Reichsfreiheit und war damit bis zum Westfälischen Frieden 1648 eine Reichsstadt. Luzern bildete ein kräftiges Glied im eidgenössischen Bund. Die Stadt baute ihre Territorialherrschaft aus, erhob Steuern und setzte beamtete Vögte ein. Die Zahl der Stadtbevölkerung von 3000 ging um etwa 40 Prozent zurück. Schuld daran waren die Pest (um 1350, in mehreren Wellen) und etliche Kriege (so genannte Ennetbirgische Feldzüge). Nachdem sich Hexenverfolgungen zunächst vorwiegend im frankophonen Sprachraum ausgebreitet hatten, tauchte der Begriff «Hexereye» 1419 in einem Zaubereiprozess gegen einen Mann in Luzern auf und damit erstmals im deutschsprachigen Raum.

 

Vorort der katholischen Schweiz (um 1520–1798)

 

Im wachsenden Staatenbund der Eidgenossenschaft gehörte Luzern zu den einflussreichen Stadtorten. Als die Reformation nach 1520 die Eidgenossenschaft spaltete, wurden die meisten Städte reformiert, Luzern aber blieb katholisch. Nach dem Sieg der Katholiken über die Reformierten in der Schlacht bei Kappel 1531 dominierten die katholischen Orte die Eidgenossenschaft. Trotz des militärischen Sieges im Ersten Villmergerkrieg 1656 verschoben sich die Gewichte zu Gunsten der reformierten Städte wie Zürich, Bern und Basel, die im Zweiten Villmergerkrieg 1712 die Katholiken besiegten. Die führende Stellung Luzerns in der Eidgenossenschaft war damit vorbei. Im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert wurden die Kriege und Seuchen immer seltener, die Bevölkerung nahm vor allem auf dem Land kräftig zu, während die Stadt innerhalb der Mauern kaum wuchs.

 

Jahrhundert der Revolutionen (1798–1914)

 

1798, neun Jahre nach Beginn der Französischen Revolution, marschierte die französische Armee in der Schweiz ein. Die Alte Eidgenossenschaft zerfiel und die Herrschaft der Patrizier wurde in eine Demokratie umgeformt, es entstand die Helvetische Republik, deren Hauptstadt Luzern für kurze Zeit war.

 

Die industrielle Revolution trat in Luzern erst spät ein. 1860 waren nur 1,7 Prozent der Bevölkerung in der Heim- oder Fabrikarbeit tätig, dies waren nur ein Viertel so viel wie in der übrigen Schweiz. Die Landwirtschaft mit einem hohen Anteil von 40 Prozent der Erwerbstätigen im Bauernstand prägte den Kanton. Dennoch zog die Stadt etliche Industrien an, die sich aber in den Gemeinden um Luzern ansiedeln. Von 1850 bis 1913 vervierfachte sich die Zahl der Bevölkerung und ihre Siedlungsfläche wuchs. Ab dem Jahre 1856 folgten die Bahnen, zuerst jene nach Olten und Basel, 1864 nach Zug und Zürich und 1897 in den Süden.

 

Von 1910 bis 1912 verkehrte in Luzern mit der Ville de Lucerne ein Luftschiff für Passagierrundflüge. Der Landeplatz mit der Halle und einem Gaskraftwerk befand sich im Tribschenmoos.

 

Entwicklungsakzente im 20. Jahrhundert (1914–2000)

 

Im 20. Jahrhundert gewannen die Vororte immer mehr an Bedeutung. Die Bevölkerungszahl im umliegenden Grossraum verdoppelte sich, während die städtische Bevölkerung nur langsam zunahm. 1981 folgte der Anschluss an die Autobahn A2.

 

Entwicklung im 21. Jahrhundert (ab 2001)

 

Am 17. Juni 2007 stimmten die Einwohner von Luzern und Littau für eine Gemeindefusion von Littau mit Luzern. In Luzern stimmten 9869 der Stimmberechtigten für die Fusion, 8875 dagegen (53 % zu 47 %, Stimmbeteiligung 46,2 %). Die Littauer stimmten mit 2824 gegen 2343 (55 % zu 45 %, Stimmbeteiligung 60,4 %) für die Fusion. Die Fusion wurde am 1. Januar 2010 vollzogen. Die «neue» Stadt heisst weiterhin Luzern und wird das alte Stadtwappen beibehalten. Die Einwohnerzahl beträgt nun rund 75'000 Personen.

 

Der Luzerner Stadtrat sah darin aber nur den ersten Schritt für weitere Fusionen. Im November 2011 entschieden sich Ebikon, Adligenswil und Kriens gegen eine Fusion. Im März 2012 lehnten die Stimmberechtigten von Emmen in einer Volksabstimmung die Aufnahme von Fusionsverhandlungen mit der Stadt Luzern ab.

 

Kultur

 

Als Veranstaltungsort von Konzerten, insbesondere der klassischen Musik, spielt das KKL eine schweizweit bedeutende Rolle. Residenzorchester des KKL ist das Luzerner Sinfonieorchester. Luzern hat drei grössere Theater, es sind dies das Luzerner Theater, das Kleintheater Luzern und der Theaterpavillon. Das Luzerner Theater verfügt neben dem Hauptgebäude über einen zweiten Aufführungsort, das «UG» in der Winkelriedstrasse.

 

Für die Alternativkultur wird insbesondere das Neubad genutzt, welches aus einer Zwischennutzung des ehemaligen Hallenbads Luzerns entstanden ist. Seit 1981 existiert im ehemaligen Gefängnis Sedel das Musikzentrum Sedel, welches Veranstaltungen in den Bereichen Punk und Rock anbietet. Ein eher adoleszentes Publikum spricht das Treibhaus Luzern an. Mit dem Konzerthaus Schüür steht eine weitere Konzertbühne zur Verfügung. In der Jazzkantine Luzern spielen vorwiegend Studenten der lokalen Musikhochschule vor Publikum. Daneben finden im Musik-Restaurant Stadtkeller Konzerte vorwiegend von Schweizer Grössen statt. Die Stadt verfügt über 13 Kinosäle in fünf Kinos. Die Kornschütte befindet sich im Rathaus Luzern. Dort steht sechsmal im Jahr ein Raum für Ausstellungen aus dem Luzerner Kulturleben zur Verfügung. Häufig finden Kunstausstellungen statt.

 

Veranstaltungen

 

Die Luzerner Fasnacht dauert vom Schmutzigen Donnerstag bis Güdisdienstag. Sie ist der grösste jährlich stattfindende Anlass der Zentralschweiz.

Das Stadtfest Luzern ist ein im Frühsommer stattfindendes Fest in der Stadt. Von 2009 bis 2018 fand es unter dem Namen Luzerner Fest statt, zuvor gab es die beiden Feste Luzerner Altstadtfest und Luzerner Seenachtsfest.

Fumetto: Jährlich im Frühling stattfindendes Comic-Festival.

Lucerne Blues Festival: Eines der weltweit wichtigsten Bluesfestivals, seit 1995 in und von Luzernern ausgetragen und mit diversesten Preisen ausgezeichnet (2006 zum Beispiel mit dem «Keeping The Blues Alive»-Award, der erstmals in der Geschichte ausserhalb der Vereinigten Staaten ausgehändigt wird).

Lucerne Festival (früher Musikfestwochen): Eines der bedeutendsten europäischen Festivals für klassische und neue Musik, bekannt durch Gastkonzerte der weltbesten Sinfonieorchester im KKL.

Blue Balls Festival: Von 1992 bis 2019 fand dieses Musikfestivals mit ca. 100'000 Besuchern während neun Tagen im Juli statt. Angeboten wurden Open-Air-Konzerte ums Luzerner Seebecken sowie Konzerte im Kultur- und Kongresszentrum und im Hotel Schweizerhof Luzern. Das Festival umfasste die Sparten Blues, Jazz, Soul, Rock- und Pop sowie Singer-Songwriter.

Funk am See: Ein Gratis-Open-Air, das alle zwei Jahre, jeweils zu geraden Jahreszahlen, auf der Lido-Wiese vor dem Verkehrshaus in Luzern stattfindet. Neben Rock- und Pop-Acts sind auch immer Hip-Hop-Acts vor Ort.

Ruderwelt Luzern: Internationale Ruderregatta, die jährlich im Rahmen des Ruder-Weltcups ausgetragen wird und jeweils Anfang Juli auf dem Rotsee stattfindet.

Spitzenleichtathletik Luzern: Jährliches, internationales Leichtathletikmeeting.

Luzerner Stadtlauf: Alljährlicher Lauf-Event durch die Neu- und Altstadt.

Lucerne Marathon: Drittgrösster Marathon der Schweiz

LUGA (Luzerner Gewerbeausstellung): Messe auf der Luzerner Allmend

PinkPanorama: Filmfestival Luzern

Das grösste Festival der Fernsehunterhaltung Rose d’Or fand von 2004 bis 2012 jährlich in Luzern statt. Bei diesem in Montreux gegründeten Festival werden die besten internationalen Fernsehformate mit der «Goldenen Rose» ausgezeichnet. Seit 2014 findet die Preisverleihung in Berlin statt.

 

Spezialitäten

 

Aus Luzern kommen viele kulinarische Spezialitäten, wie zum Beispiel der Birnenweggen, Luzerner Lebkuchen, Luzerner Chügelipastete (Fleischpastete, auch Fritschipastete genannt). Lokale Pâtissiers kreieren neue Spezialitäten wie Lozärner Rägetröpfli (Schokoladen-Praline) oder die Lozärner Chatzestreckerli.

 

Historisches

 

Kapellbrücke mit Wasserturm

 

Da die Stadt durch die Reuss geteilt wird, besitzt sie mehrere Brücken, welche die Altstadt mit der Neustadt verbinden. Die bekannteste davon ist die Kapellbrücke von 1365. Sie ist die älteste noch erhaltene und mit 202 Metern die zweitlängste gedeckte Holzbrücke Europas. Im Jahre 1993 zerstörte ein Feuer einen Grossteil der Brücke. Da diese in den 1960er-Jahren umfassend renoviert und jedes einzelne hölzerne Bauteil registriert worden war, konnte sie nach dem Brand originalgetreu wieder aufgebaut werden. Von den dreieckigen Originalgemälden aus dem frühen 17. Jahrhundert, die auf ihrer ganzen Länge im Giebel der Brücke angebracht waren, wurden beim Brand jedoch 81 von 111 unrettbar zerstört. In der Mitte der Brücke befindet sich das Wahrzeichen von Luzern, der Wasserturm mit einem achteckigen Grundriss. Brücke wie Turm bildeten einen Teil der Stadtbefestigung. Deshalb sind auf der Seite des Wasserturms die Holzgeländer höher.

 

Altstadt

Rathaus (erbaut 1602–1604, Spätrenaissance)

Spreuerbrücke

Museggmauer und Museggtürme (erbaut 1350–1403 als nördlicher Befestigungswall)

Ritter’scher Palast, Renaissancepalais mit dreistöckigem Arkadeninnenhof, erbaut ab 1556 für den Luzerner Schultheiss Lux Ritter, von 1577 bis 1773 Sitz des Luzerner Jesuitenkollegiums, seit 1804 Hauptgebäude der Kantonsregierung. Im zweiten Obergeschoss des Arkadenhofes hängen sieben grossformatige Ölgemälde mit einem kunstvollen Totentanzzyklus. Er wurde in den Jahren 1610 bis 1615 von dem Luzerner Maler Jakob von Wyl (auch von Wil) geschaffen. Das heute als achtes Bild («Beinhauskonzert» im Hochformat) hinzugefügte Tafelgemälde gehörte wahrscheinlich zu einem verloren gegangenen Totentanz aus dem benachbarten Franziskanerkloster.

Löwendenkmal nach Bertel Thorvaldsen (1819)

Nadelwehr (1860)

Das Château Gütsch, ein 1888 im Stil des Historismus fertiggestelltes Hotel, gilt als eines der Wahrzeichen der Stadt. Eine bereits für 2012 geplante Generalrenovierung verzögerte sich mehrfach.

Fünf Raddampfer der SGV, die weltweit grösste aktive Dampferflotte auf einem See

Die Matthäuskirche ist ein bedeutender Zeuge der Neugotik.

Die Jesuitenkirche ist die älteste grosse Barockkirche der Schweiz.

Der Stiftsbezirk im Hof.

Die Hofkirche St. Leodegar im Hof ist der bedeutendste Kirchenbau der Renaissance der Schweiz.

Am Schweizerhofquai und dem Nationalquai entstanden in der Belle Époque der Kursaal (heute Grand Casino) und die Nobelhotels Schweizerhof, National und Palace Luzern.

Die Peterskapelle mit Innenausstattung im Nazarener Stil

Das Gotthardgebäude ist der repräsentativste Neurenaissancebau im Kanton Luzern.

Das Bourbaki-Panorama ist eines der wenigen erhaltenen Grosspanoramen.

Das Anderallmend-Haus als eines der baulichen Wahrzeichen der Stadt Luzern.

Das Kloster St. Anna auf dem Gerlisberg

Die Franziskanerkirche

Schloss Steinhof (erbaut 1759–1777 von Jakob Anton Thüring von Sonnenberg). Das barocke Schlossgebäude ist einer der bedeutendsten Profanbauten Luzerns.

 

Museen

 

Verkehrshaus der Schweiz: grösstes und meistbesuchtes Museum der Schweiz mit einer grossen Sammlung von Lokomotiven, Automobilen, Schiffen und Flugzeugen. Das Verkehrshaus beherbergt unter anderem das einzige IMAX-Kino und das einzige Grossplanetarium der Schweiz. Zudem befindet sich in ihm die Livemap Switzerland, eine 200 m² grosse begehbare Luftbildkarte.

Bourbaki-Panorama: eigens erbautes Panoramagebäude mit dem 112 × 10 m grossen Rundbild von Edouard Castres (1881)

Sammlung Rosengart: Werke von Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee und der Klassische Moderne, ehemals Picasso Museum

Richard-Wagner-Museum Tribschen, Räume Wagners und Sammlung klassischer Musikinstrumente. Das Landhaus an idyllischer Lage des Vierwaldstättersees führt immer wieder Musik- und Poesieabende durch.

Hans Erni Museum: Das Museum des bekannten Luzerner Malers Hans Erni im Verkehrshaus der Schweiz.

Kunstmuseum Luzern

Alpineum Luzern: 3D-Alpen-Panorama/-Diorama

Gletschergarten: Luzern während der Eiszeit vor 20'000 Jahren und im subtropischen Klima vor 20 Millionen Jahren, direkt neben dem Löwendenkmal

Historisches Museum: Im Depot kann die Geschichte lebendig und hautnah erlebt werden.

Naturmuseum Luzern: Die vielen Sonderausstellungen zeigen die Flora und Fauna der Zentralschweiz.

 

Sehenswürdigkeiten der Umgebung

 

Der Pilatus: Der ehemalige Pilatussee auf dem Hausberg von Luzern soll gemäss einer Sage die letzte Ruhestätte des Pontius Pilatus sein und die Besteigung war daher im Mittelalter strengstens verboten. Heute ist der Berg touristisch von beiden Seiten erschlossen: von der Alpnacher Seite mit der steilsten Zahnradbahn der Welt und auf der Luzerner Seite mit einer Panorama-Gondelbahn und einer Luftseilbahn.

Die Rigi: Sie wird die «Königin der Berge» genannt und besitzt die erste Bergbahn Europas.

Der Vierwaldstättersee hat mit fünf Raddampfern (Uri, Stadt Luzern, Unterwalden, Gallia und Schiller) die grösste Dampfschiffflotte der Schweiz.

 

(Wikipedia)

Zürich (/ˈzjʊərɪk/ ZURE-ik, German: [ˈtsyːrɪç;) is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2023 the municipality had 443,037 inhabitants, the urban area 1.315 million (2009), and the Zürich metropolitan area 1.83 million (2011). Zürich is a hub for railways, roads, and air traffic. Both Zurich Airport and Zürich's main railway station are the largest and busiest in the country.

 

Permanently settled for over 2,000 years, Zürich was founded by the Romans, who called it Turicum. However, early settlements have been found dating back more than 6,400 years (although this only indicates human presence in the area and not the presence of a town that early). During the Middle Ages, Zürich gained the independent and privileged status of imperial immediacy and, in 1519, became a primary centre of the Protestant Reformation in Europe under the leadership of Huldrych Zwingli.

 

The official language of Zürich is German,[a] but the main spoken language is Zürich German, the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect.

 

Many museums and art galleries can be found in the city, including the Swiss National Museum and Kunsthaus. Schauspielhaus Zürich is generally considered to be one of the most important theatres in the German-speaking world.

 

As one of Switzerland's primary financial centres, Zürich is home to many financial institutions and banking companies.

 

History

 

Early history

 

Settlements of the Neolithic and Bronze Age were found around Lake Zürich. Traces of pre-Roman Celtic, La Tène settlements were discovered near the Lindenhof, a morainic hill dominating the SE - NW waterway constituted by Lake Zurich and the river Limmat. In Roman times, during the conquest of the alpine region in 15 BC, the Romans built a castellum on the Lindenhof. Later here was erected Turicum (a toponym of clear Celtic origin), a tax-collecting point for goods trafficked on the Limmat, which constituted part of the border between Gallia Belgica (from AD 90 Germania Superior) and Raetia: this customs point developed later into a vicus. After Emperor Constantine's reforms in AD 318, the border between Gaul and Italy (two of the four praetorian prefectures of the Roman Empire) was located east of Turicum, crossing the river Linth between Lake Walen and Lake Zürich, where a castle and garrison looked over Turicum's safety. The earliest written record of the town dates from the 2nd century, with a tombstone referring to it as the Statio Turicensis Quadragesima Galliarum ("Zürich post for collecting the 2.5% value tax of the Galliae"), discovered at the Lindenhof.

 

In the 5th century, the Germanic Alemanni tribe settled in the Swiss Plateau. The Roman castle remained standing until the 7th century. A Carolingian castle, built on the site of the Roman castle by the grandson of Charlemagne, Louis the German, is mentioned in 835 (in Castro Turicino iuxta fluvium Lindemaci). Louis also founded the Fraumünster abbey in 853 for his daughter Hildegard. He endowed the Benedictine convent with the lands of Zürich, Uri, and the Albis forest, and granted the convent immunity, placing it under his direct authority. In 1045, King Henry III granted the convent the right to hold markets, collect tolls, and mint coins, and thus effectively made the abbess the ruler of the city.

 

Zürich gained Imperial immediacy (Reichsunmittelbar, becoming an Imperial free city) in 1218 with the extinction of the main line of the Zähringer family and attained a status comparable to statehood. During the 1230s, a city wall was built, enclosing 38 hectares, when the earliest stone houses on the Rennweg were built as well. The Carolingian castle was used as a quarry, as it had started to fall into ruin.

 

Emperor Frederick II promoted the abbess of the Fraumünster to the rank of a duchess in 1234. The abbess nominated the mayor, and she frequently delegated the minting of coins to citizens of the city. The political power of the convent slowly waned in the 14th century, beginning with the establishment of the Zunftordnung (guild laws) in 1336 by Rudolf Brun, who also became the first independent mayor, i.e. not nominated by the abbess.

 

An important event in the early 14th century was the completion of the Manesse Codex, a key source of medieval German poetry. The famous illuminated manuscript – described as "the most beautifully illumined German manuscript in centuries;" – was commissioned by the Manesse family of Zürich, copied and illustrated in the city at some time between 1304 and 1340. Producing such a work was a highly expensive prestige project, requiring several years of work by highly skilled scribes and miniature painters, and it testifies to the increasing wealth and pride of Zürich citizens in this period. The work contains 6 songs by Süsskind von Trimberg, who may have been a Jew, since the work itself contains reflections on medieval Jewish life, though little is known about him.

 

The first mention of Jews in Zürich was in 1273. Sources show that there was a synagogue in Zürich in the 13th century, implying the existence of a Jewish community. With the rise of the Black Death in 1349, Zürich, like most other Swiss cities, responded by persecuting and burning the local Jews, marking the end of the first Jewish community there. The second Jewish community of Zürich formed towards the end of the 14th century, was short-lived, and Jews were expulsed and banned from the city from 1423 until the 19th century.

 

Archaeological findings

 

A woman who died in about 200 BC was found buried in a carved tree trunk during a construction project at the Kern school complex in March 2017 in Aussersihl. Archaeologists revealed that she was approximately 40 years old when she died and likely carried out little physical labor when she was alive. A sheepskin coat, a belt chain, a fancy wool dress, a scarf, and a pendant made of glass and amber beads were also discovered with the woman.

 

Old Swiss Confederacy

 

On 1 May 1351, the citizens of Zürich had to swear allegiance before representatives of the cantons of Lucerne, Schwyz, Uri and Unterwalden, the other members of the Swiss Confederacy. Thus, Zürich became the fifth member of the Confederacy, which was at that time a loose confederation of de facto independent states. Zürich was the presiding canton of the Diet from 1468 to 1519. This authority was the executive council and lawmaking body of the confederacy, from the Middle Ages until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848. Zürich was temporarily expelled from the confederacy in 1440 due to a war with the other member states over the territory of Toggenburg (the Old Zürich War). Neither side had attained significant victory when peace was agreed upon in 1446, and Zürich was readmitted to the confederation in 1450.

 

Zwingli started the Swiss Reformation at the time when he was the main preacher at the Grossmünster in 1519. The Zürich Bible was printed by Christoph Froschauer in 1531. The Reformation resulted in major changes in state matters and civil life in Zürich, spreading also to several other cantons. Several cantons remained Catholic and became the basis of serious conflicts that eventually led to the outbreak of the Wars of Kappel.

 

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Council of Zürich adopted an isolationist attitude, resulting in a second ring of imposing fortifications built in 1624. The Thirty Years' War which raged across Europe motivated the city to build these walls. The fortifications required a lot of resources, which were taken from subject territories without reaching any agreement. The following revolts were crushed brutally. In 1648, Zürich proclaimed itself a republic, shedding its former status of a free imperial city. In this time the political system of Zürich was an oligarchy (Patriziat): the dominant families of the city were the following ones: Bonstetten, Brun, Bürkli, Escher vom Glas, Escher vom Luchs, Hirzel, Jori (or von Jori), Kilchsperger, Landenberg, Manesse, Meiss, Meyer von Knonau, Mülner, von Orelli.

 

The Helvetic Revolution of 1798 saw the fall of the Ancien Régime. Zürich lost control of the land and its economic privileges, and the city and the canton separated their possessions between 1803 and 1805. In 1839, the city had to yield to the demands of its urban subjects, following the Züriputsch of 6 September. Most of the ramparts built in the 17th century were torn down, without ever having been besieged, to allay rural concerns over the city's hegemony. The Treaty of Zürich between Austria, France, and Sardinia was signed in 1859.

 

Modern history

 

Zürich was the Federal capital for 1839–40, and consequently, the victory of the Conservative party there in 1839 caused a great stir throughout Switzerland. But when in 1845 the Radicals regained power at Zürich, which was again the Federal capital for 1845–46, Zürich took the lead in opposing the Sonderbund cantons. Following the Sonderbund War and the formation of the Swiss Federal State, Zürich voted in favor of the Federal constitutions of 1848 and 1874. The enormous immigration from the country districts into the town from the 1830s onwards created an industrial class which, though "settled" in the town, did not possess the privileges of burghership, and consequently had no share in the municipal government. First of all in 1860 the town schools, hitherto open to "settlers" only on paying high fees, were made accessible to all, next in 1875 ten years' residence ipso facto conferred the right of burghership, and in 1893 the eleven outlying districts were incorporated within the town proper.

 

When Jews began to settle in Zürich following their equality in 1862, the Israelitische Cultusgemeinde Zürich was founded.

 

Extensive developments took place during the 19th century. From 1847, the Spanisch-Brötli-Bahn, the first railway on Swiss territory, connected Zürich with Baden, putting the Zürich Hauptbahnhof at the origin of the Swiss rail network. The present building of the Hauptbahnhof (the main railway station) dates to 1871. Zürich's Bahnhofstrasse (Station Street) was laid out in 1867, and the Zürich Stock Exchange was founded in 1877. Industrialisation led to migration into the cities and to rapid population growth, particularly in the suburbs of Zürich.

 

The Quaianlagen are an important milestone in the development of the modern city of Zürich, as the construction of the new lakefront transformed Zürich from a small medieval town on the rivers Limmat and Sihl to a modern city on the Zürichsee shore, under the guidance of the city engineer Arnold Bürkli.

 

In 1893, the twelve outlying districts were incorporated into Zürich, including Aussersihl, the workman's quarter on the left bank of the Sihl, and additional land was reclaimed from Lake Zürich.

 

In 1934, eight additional districts in the north and west of Zürich were incorporated.

 

Zürich was accidentally bombed during World War II. As persecuted Jews sought refuge in Switzerland, the SIG (Schweizerischer Israelitischer Gemeindebund, Israelite Community of Switzerland) raised financial resources. The Central Committee for Refugee Aid, created in 1933, was located in Zürich.

 

The canton of Zürich did not recognize the Jewish religious communities as legal entities (and therefore as equal to national churches) until 2005.

 

Geography

 

Zürich is situated at 408 m (1,339 ft) above sea level on the lower (northern) end of Lake Zürich (Zürichsee) about 30 km (19 mi) north of the Alps, nestling between the wooded hills on the west and east side. The Old Town stretches on both sides of the Limmat, which flows from the lake, running northwards at first and then gradually turning into a curve to the west. The geographic (and historic) centre of the city is the Lindenhof, a small natural hill on the west bank of the Limmat, about 700 m (2,300 ft) north of where the river issues from Lake Zürich. Today the incorporated city stretches somewhat beyond the natural confines of the hills and includes some districts to the northeast in the Glatt Valley (Glattal) and to the north in the Limmat Valley (Limmattal). The boundaries of the older city are easy to recognize by the Schanzengraben canal. This artificial watercourse has been used for the construction of the third fortress in the 17th and 18th centuries.

 

Quality of living

 

Zürich often performs very well in international rankings, some of which are mentioned below:

 

Monocle's 2012 "Quality of Life Survey" ranked Zürich first on a list of the top 25 cities in the world "to make a base within". In 2019 Zürich was ranked among the ten most liveable cities in the world by Mercer together with Geneva and Basel.

In fDi Magazine's "Global Cities of the Future 2021/22" report, Zürich placed 16th in the overall rankings (all categories). In the category "Mid-sized and small cities", Zürich was 2nd overall, behind Wroclaw, having also placed 2nd in the subcategory "Human capital and lifestyle" and 3rd under "Business friendliness". In the category "FDI strategy, overall" (relating to foreign direct investment), Zürich ranked 9th, behind such cities as New York, Montreal (1st and 2nd) and Dubai (at number 8).

 

Main sites

 

Most of Zürich's sites are located within the area on either side of the Limmat, between the Main railway station and Lake Zürich. The churches and houses of the old town are clustered here, as are the most expensive shops along the famous Bahnhofstrasse. The Lindenhof in the old town is the historical site of the Roman castle, and the later Carolingian Imperial Palace.

 

(Wikpedia)

 

Zürich (zürichdeutsch Züri [ˈt͡sʏ̞rɪ, ˈt͡sʏrɪ, ˈt͡sy̞rɪ],[6] französisch Zurich [zyʁik], italienisch Zurigo [tsuˈriːɡo, dzu-], Rumantsch Grischun Turitg) ist eine schweizerische Stadt, politische Gemeinde sowie Hauptort des gleichnamigen Kantons.

 

Die Stadt Zürich ist mit 427'721 Einwohnern (Stand 31. Dezember 2022) die grösste Stadt der Schweiz und weist eine Bevölkerungsdichte von 4655 Einwohnern pro Quadratkilometer auf. Das Umland ist dicht besiedelt, so dass in der Agglomeration Zürich etwa 1,3 Millionen und in der Metropolitanregion Zürich etwa 1,83 Millionen Menschen leben. Der Bezirk Zürich ist mit dem Stadtgebiet identisch.

 

Die Stadt liegt im östlichen Schweizer Mittelland, an der Limmat am Ausfluss des Zürichsees. Ihre Einwohner werden Zürcher genannt (bzw. Stadtzürcher zur Differenzierung von den übrigen Einwohnern des Kantons).

 

Das aus der römischen Siedlung Turicum entstandene Zürich wurde 1262 freie Reichsstadt und 1351 Mitglied der Eidgenossenschaft. Die Stadt des Reformators Huldrych Zwingli wurde 1519 zum zweitwichtigsten (nach Wittenberg) Zentrum der Reformation. Bis heute gilt sie als Ausgangspunkt der weltweiten reformierten Kirche und der Täufer. Die Stadt erlebte im Industriezeitalter ihren Aufstieg zur heutigen Wirtschaftsmetropole der Schweiz.

 

Mit ihrem Hauptbahnhof, dem grössten Bahnhof der Schweiz, und dem Flughafen (auf dem Gebiet der Gemeinde Kloten) ist die Stadt Zürich ein kontinentaler Verkehrsknotenpunkt. Aufgrund der ansässigen Grossbanken (u. a. UBS, der Zürcher Kantonalbank und Credit Suisse) und Versicherungen (Zurich Insurance Group und Swiss Re) ist sie ein internationaler Finanzplatz und der grösste Finanzplatz der Schweiz, gefolgt von Genf und Lugano. Daneben beherbergt die Stadt mit der Eidgenössischen Technischen Hochschule Zürich und der Universität Zürich die zwei grössten universitären Hochschulen der Schweiz. Trotz der vergleichsweise geringen Einwohnerzahl wird Zürich zu den Weltstädten gezählt. Zürich ist das wichtigste Zentrum der Schweizer Medien- und Kreativbranche. Mit seiner Lage am Zürichsee, seiner gut erhaltenen mittelalterlichen Altstadt und einem vielseitigen Kulturangebot und Nachtleben ist es zudem ein Zentrum des Tourismus.

 

Seit Jahren wird Zürich neben Basel und Genf als eine der Städte mit der weltweit höchsten Lebensqualität und zugleich neben Genf mit den höchsten Lebenshaltungskosten weltweit gelistet. Zürich ist nach Monaco und Genf die Stadt mit der dritthöchsten Millionärsdichte weltweit.

 

Geografie

 

Zürich liegt auf 408 m ü. M. am unteren (nördlichen) Ende des Zürichsees im Tal der Limmat und im unteren Tal der Sihl, eingebettet zwischen den Höhen von Uetliberg im Westen und Zürichberg im Osten. Die Limmat entspringt dem See, während die westlich des Sees fliessende Sihl nördlich der Zürcher Altstadt beim Platzspitz in die Limmat mündet. Die Altstadt erstreckt sich beidseits der Limmat, die zunächst nordwärts fliesst und dann in einem Bogen allmählich nach Westen abbiegt.

 

Die einstige Stadt reichte nicht bis zur Sihl, sondern hatte als westliche Abgrenzung den im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert angelegten Schanzengraben. Damals wurde Wasser aus dem See abgeleitet und in einem Graben ausserhalb der Bastionen und Bollwerke zur Limmat geführt. Noch früher erstreckte sich die Stadt im Westen nur bis zum Fröschengraben, der ungefähr parallel zur Limmat verlief. Dieser Graben wurde 1864 zugeschüttet, um Raum für den Bau der Bahnhofstrasse zu schaffen, die vom heutigen Paradeplatz bis zum Rennweg dem Verlauf des einstigen Grabens folgt.

 

Geschichte

 

Frühgeschichte, Mittelalter und ältere Neuzeit

Im Unterschied zu den meisten anderen Schweizer Grossstädten stieg Zürich im Frühmittelalter in den Rang einer Stadt auf. In Turīcum gab es zwar bereits zur Römerzeit eine Zollstation, ein hadrianisches Heiligtum auf dem Grossen Hafner im untersten Seebecken beim Ausfluss der Limmat und ein Kastell, die zugehörige Siedlung kann aber noch nicht als Stadt bezeichnet werden. Das frühmittelalterliche, alemannische Zürich war eng verbunden mit dem Herzogtum Schwaben und zwei bedeutenden geistlichen Stiftungen der deutschen Könige, dem Grossmünster und dem Fraumünster, die dem Kult um die Stadtpatrone Felix und Regula geweiht waren. Nach dem Zerfall der zentralen Gewalt im Herzogtum Schwaben und dem Aussterben der Zähringer 1218 konnte sich Zürich den Status der Reichsunmittelbarkeit sichern; 1262 wurde auch die Reichsfreiheit der Bürgerschaft ausdrücklich bestätigt. Der Titel einer Reichsstadt bedeutete de facto die Unabhängigkeit der Stadt. De jure löste sich Zürich jedoch erst 1648 von der Oberhoheit des Kaisers des Heiligen Römischen Reiches.

 

Im Spätmittelalter erwarb und eroberte Zürich in seinem Umland bedeutende Territorien, die der Stadt bis 1798 politisch untergeordnet waren (siehe Territoriale Entwicklung Zürichs). Im Innern wurden die Geschicke Zürichs seit der Zunftrevolution durch Bürgermeister Rudolf Brun im Jahr 1336 durch den Stadtadel und die Handwerkervereinigungen (Zünfte) gemeinsam geleitet (Brunsche Zunftverfassung). Brun war auch verantwortlich für den Überfall von Rapperswil. 1351 schloss sich Zürich zur Sicherung seiner Unabhängigkeit gegen das aufstrebende süddeutsche Adelsgeschlecht der Habsburger der schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft an und wurde zusammen mit Bern zum Vorort dieses Staatenbundes.

 

Der wohl bis heute wichtigste Beitrag Zürichs zur Weltgeschichte war die Reformation von Huldrych Zwingli. Unter seiner geistigen Führung wurde seit 1519 Zürich zum reformierten Rom an der Limmat. Die Zürcher Bibel, eine der ersten deutschen Bibelübersetzungen, entstand in der Prophezei unter Zwingli, Leo Jud und weiteren Mitarbeitern 1524 bis 1525 und wurde vom Zürcher Buchdrucker Christoph Froschauer zuerst in Teilen und später als ganze Bibel herausgegeben.

 

Die Täuferbewegung nahm ihren Ausgangspunkt ab 1523 in Zürich unter Führung von Konrad Grebel, Felix Manz, Jörg Blaurock, Balthasar Hubmaier und weiteren Personen, die sich von Zwingli trennten und kurz darauf verfolgt und gefangen genommen wurden. Im Januar 1527 wurde Felix Manz in der Limmat ertränkt, viele Täufer flüchteten nach Schaffhausen oder ins Zürcher Oberland.

 

Heinrich Bullinger 1531–1575 und Rudolf Gwalther 1575–1586 konsolidierten als Antistes und Nachfolger von Zwingli die Reformation in Zürich und pflegten zahlreiche Kontakte europaweit. Während ihrer Zeit wurden viele evangelische Flüchtlinge aus dem Tessin, Italien, Frankreich und England aufgenommen. Diese trugen in der Folge durch Handwerk, Produktion noch unbekannter Textilien und Handel wesentlich zum wirtschaftlichen Gedeihen Zürichs bei.[38][39][40]

 

Zur Zeit der Hexenverfolgungen wurden in Zürich von 1487 bis 1701 Hexenprozesse gegen 79 Personen geführt. Im Hexenprozess 1701 wurden acht Menschen aus Wasterkingen wegen angeblicher Hexerei verurteilt. Regierungspräsident Markus Notter und Kirchenratspräsident Ruedi Reich verurteilten 2001 diese Justizmorde.

 

18. und 19. Jahrhundert

 

Das Zürich des 18. Jahrhunderts galt als «das grösste Rätsel deutscher Geistesgeschichte». Trotz relativ geringer Bevölkerungszahl entwickelte sich rund um Johann Jakob Bodmer neben dem wissenschaftlichen auch ein literarisches Zürich mit entscheidenden Beiträgen zur deutschen Literaturgeschichte.

 

Mit dem Untergang der freien Republik der Stadt Zürich nach dem Einmarsch der Franzosen in die Schweiz ging die Stadt zusammen mit dem ehemaligen Untertanenland im neuen Kanton Zürich auf, dessen Hauptort sie wurde. Im beginnenden 19. Jahrhundert kam es zwar zu einer Restauration der städtischen Vorherrschaft im Kanton, die jedoch von kurzer Dauer war.

 

Der Aufstieg Zürichs zum wirtschaftlichen Zentrum der Schweiz begann bereits mit der Textilindustrie im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert. Unter der politischen und wirtschaftlichen Führung der Liberalen, insbesondere von Alfred Escher, wurde die führende Rolle Zürichs ab 1846 durch die Gründung von zahlreichen Banken und Versicherungen auch auf den Finanz- und Dienstleistungssektor ausgedehnt. Seit dem Niedergang der Zürcher Industrie in der Nachkriegszeit hat die Bedeutung dieses Sektors noch zugenommen.

 

In den Jahren 1855 und 1867 starben in der Stadt Zürich in Folge prekärer hygienischer Verhältnisse in vielen Wohnungen ca. 500 Menschen an Cholera. 1867 wurde mit dem Bau einer Kanalisation begonnen. 1884 brach Typhus aus.

 

In der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts begann ein bis in die 1970er Jahre andauernder Bauboom, der Zürich von einer Kleinstadt zur Grossstadt mit all ihren Problemen wachsen liess. Das stürmische Wachstum beschränkte sich zuerst auf einen Um- und Neubau des Zentrums und erfasste zunehmend die umliegenden ländlichen Gemeinden. In zwei Eingemeindungswellen wurden 1893 und 1934 20 Landgemeinden mit der alten Stadtgemeinde zusammengefasst. Die Errichtung eines «Millionenzürich» scheiterte jedoch bis heute. Während nämlich ursprünglich die Finanzstärke der Stadt bzw. die leeren Kassen der Vororte Motor der freiwilligen Stadterweiterungen waren, sind heute die verbleibenden Vororte finanziell eher besser gestellt als die Stadt. Dies schlägt sich insbesondere in den Steuersätzen nieder.

 

Zwei ausgeprägte Wachstumswellen in den Jahren 1888–1910 sowie 1950–1970 entstanden durch Zuzüger aus dem Ausland. Im Jahr 1912 waren die Bewohner Zürichs zu einem Drittel Ausländer, und Zürich war wie ein grosser Teil der Deutschschweiz im Vorfeld des Ersten Weltkriegs deutschfreundlich, wobei Hochdeutsch zu sprechen in gehobenen Kreisen zum guten Ton gehörte.

 

20. Jahrhundert

 

In der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts stand Zürich politisch im Bann der Arbeiterbewegung. Schon vor dem Landesstreik 1918 war in Zürich die Konfrontation zwischen Bürgertum und Arbeiterschaft besonders heftig ausgefallen, da Zürich grosse Industriebetriebe mit tausenden von Arbeitern aufwies und zugleich eine Hochburg des Grossbürgertums war. Als 1928 die Sozialdemokratische Partei unter der Führung von David Farbstein erstmals eine absolute Mehrheit in Stadtrat (Exekutive) und Gemeinderat (Legislative) erlangte, wurde in der Zwischenkriegszeit das Rote Zürich zu einem Aushängeschild für die Regierungsfähigkeit der Sozialdemokratie. Trotzdem wurde gerade in Zürich 1939 die als Landi bekannt gewordene Landesausstellung zu einem Symbol für den Zusammenhalt und den Widerstandswillen der Schweiz im Zeichen der Geistigen Landesverteidigung gegen Hitlerdeutschland. Schliesslich wurde 1943 der Zürcher Stadtpräsident Ernst Nobs als erster Sozialdemokrat in den Bundesrat gewählt. In der Nachkriegszeit blieb Zürich Sammelbecken und Bühne für Protestbewegungen, wie 1968 anlässlich der Globus-Krawalle und 1980 für die Jugendunruhen. Noch heute ist der 1. Mai in Zürich jährlich von Auseinandersetzungen des autonomen «Schwarzen Blockes» mit der Polizei gekennzeichnet.

 

Ein Problem der Stadt war lange auch die offene Drogenszene. In der Mitte der 1980er Jahre wurde der Platzspitz weltweit als Needlepark bekannt. Er wurde am 5. Februar 1992 zwangsgeräumt und abgeriegelt, daraufhin verschob sich die Drogenszene an den stillgelegten Bahnhof Letten.

 

Das Areal des stillgelegten Bahnhofs Letten bot ab 1992 die Kulisse für die grösste offene Drogenszene Europas. Mehrere tausend Drogenabhängige aus dem In- und Ausland lebten hier oder besorgten sich ihren Stoff. Hundertschaften von Polizisten nahmen des Öfteren in der Anwesenheit von Kamerateams Razzien vor und versuchten so den Markt auszutrocknen. Diese Versuche blieben erfolglos und so wurde der Letten am 14. Februar 1995 polizeilich geräumt. Auswärtige Drogenabhängige wurden grösstenteils an ihre Herkunftsgemeinden respektive Wohnortgemeinden zurückgeführt, ausländische Abhängige zwangsausgeschafft. Die Reste der Drogenszene verlagerten sich zunehmend ins Gebiet entlang der Langstrasse. Zur Entschärfung der Situation trug dabei sehr stark der Versuch der staatlichen Heroinabgabe bei, so dass sich nicht umgehend eine neue Szene bildete. Heute ist die staatliche, ärztlich kontrollierte Drogenabgabe gesetzlich verankert und vom Volk per Referendum abgesegnet.

 

Die Langstrasse ist ein Zentrum des Zürcher Nachtlebens. Seit der Auflösung der offenen Drogenszenen wurde das Viertel zur Jahrtausendwende hin zum Zentrum des Drogenhandels. Die Kriminalitätsrate im Langstrassenquartier ist zwar weiterhin verhältnismässig hoch, jedoch verbesserte sich die Situation aufgrund verschiedener Projekte der öffentlichen Hand. Heute hat sich die Situation stabilisiert und der Stadtteil ist zu einer festen Grösse im Kultur- und Nachtleben Zürichs geworden. Nach wie vor ist die Stadt Anziehungspunkt für Drogenkonsumenten aus den benachbarten Kantonen.

 

Gegenwart

 

In den 1980er Jahren war Zürich in einem Teufelskreis zwischen der Nachfrage nach mehr Bürofläche in der Innenstadt, der Stadtflucht und der drohenden Verslumung ganzer Stadtkreise wegen der Drogenprobleme gefangen. Massnahmen zur Attraktivitätssteigerung der Innenstadt wie die Verkehrsbefreiung des Niederdorfs konnten nicht verhindern, dass die Innenstadt Zürichs immer unattraktiver wurde. Veränderungen schienen unmöglich – 1986 brachte die damalige Baudirektorin Ursula Koch mit ihrem berühmtgewordenen Satz «Zürich ist gebaut» die Perspektivlosigkeit der Politik in Bezug auf die weitere Zukunft Zürichs zum Ausdruck. Erst Mitte der 1990er Jahre konnte die Blockade überwunden werden, zuerst durch eine neue Bau- und Zonenordnung 1996 und die Liberalisierung des Gastgewerbegesetzes 1997. Besonders letzteres wirkte enorm belebend auf das Nachtleben Zürichs und liess innerhalb kürzester Zeit unzählige neue und innovative Restaurants, Bars und Diskotheken aus dem Boden schiessen. 1998 konnte unter dem neuen Baudirektor Elmar Ledergerber (von 2002 bis April 2009 Stadtpräsident) die jahrelang nur langsam vorankommende Neugestaltung der Industriebrachen in Zürich-West und in Oerlikon beschleunigt werden, so dass sich bis heute an beiden Standorten trendige und moderne neue Stadtquartiere entwickeln konnten. Bis 2020 entsteht westlich des Hauptbahnhofs das neue Quartier Europaallee.

 

Im Tourismusbereich trat Zürich in den 2000er Jahren (bis 2011) mit dem Zusatz «Downtown Switzerland» auf.

 

Wirtschaft

 

Zürich gilt als das Wirtschaftszentrum der Schweiz. Der gesamte Wirtschaftsraum in und um Zürich wird auch als Greater Zurich Area bezeichnet. International zeichnet er sich insbesondere durch tiefe Steuersätze und eine hohe Lebensqualität aus, weshalb einige internationale Konzerne einen Sitz in Zürich haben. 2018 waren 5,4 % der Bevölkerung Millionäre (gerechnet in US-Dollar). Zürich ist damit, hinter Monaco und Genf, die Stadt mit der dritthöchsten Millionärsdichte weltweit. Aufgrund ihrer internationalen wirtschaftlichen Bedeutung wird die Stadt Zürich oft zu den Global- bzw. Weltstädten gezählt.

 

Die Wirtschaft ist sehr stark auf den Dienstleistungssektor ausgerichtet, in dem knapp 90 % der Zürcher Beschäftigten tätig sind. Im Industriesektor sind rund 10 % tätig und in der Landwirtschaft sind es heute weniger als 1 %. Bei einer erwerbstätigen Wohnbevölkerung von 200'110 (Stand: Volkszählung 2000) weist die Stadt 318'543 Arbeitsplätze vor. Die Mehrheit der Beschäftigten (56 %) waren Pendler aus anderen Gemeinden. Neben den rund 178'000 Zupendelnden gibt es rund 39'000 aus der Stadt Wegpendelnde.

 

Der wichtigste Wirtschaftszweig in Zürich ist der Finanzdienstleistungssektor, der am Paradeplatz sein Zentrum hat. Die beiden bis 2023 selbständigen Grossbanken UBS, die weltweit grösste Vermögensverwalterin, und Credit Suisse, die Schweizerische Nationalbank, die Zürcher Kantonalbank, die traditionsreiche Privatbank Julius Bär sowie etliche kleinere Bankinstitute haben ihren Sitz in der Stadt. Auch über 100 Auslandbanken sind in Zürich vertreten. Auf dem Bankenplatz Zürich sind rund 45'000 Personen beschäftigt, knapp die Hälfte aller Bankangestellten der Schweiz. Eine grosse Bedeutung hat das Privatkundengeschäft, da über 25 % der weltweit grenzüberschreitend angelegten Vermögenswerte in Zürich verwaltet werden (schweizweit sind es rund ein Drittel). Die schweizerische Post betrieb von 1920 bis 1996 in Zürich ein Rohrpostsystem, zu deren diskreten Kunden auch die Banken zählten. Auch die Börse SIX Swiss Exchange spielt international eine wesentliche Rolle und verstärkt die Bedeutung des Finanzplatzes Zürich. Sie gehört zu den technologisch führenden Börsen der Welt. Im Weiteren repräsentiert Zürich weltweit den drittgrössten Versicherungsmarkt. Swiss Re, eine der weltweit grössten Rückversicherungen, und Swiss Life, der grösste Lebensversicherungskonzern der Schweiz, haben ihre Hauptsitze in Zürich. Eine weitere Versicherungsgesellschaft von internationaler Bedeutung ist die Zurich Insurance Group. Der gesamte Finanzdienstleistungssektor generiert nahezu 50 % der Steuereinnahmen der Stadt Zürich.

 

Als zweitwichtigster Wirtschaftszweig folgen die unternehmensbezogenen Dienstleistungen wie Rechts- und Unternehmensberatung, Informatik oder Immobilienverwaltung. Zu erwähnen ist etwa das Unternehmen IBM Schweiz, das in Rüschlikon ein bedeutendes Forschungslabor betreibt. Seit 2004 betreibt zudem Google in Zürich das europäische Forschungszentrum. Auf dem ehemaligen Areal der Hürlimann AG wurde der zweitgrösste Standort des Unternehmens nach Mountain View eingerichtet.

 

Infolge des Strukturwandels hat die Bedeutung der produzierenden Industrie und der Bauwirtschaft abgenommen. Allerdings haben immer noch bedeutende Industriefirmen Niederlassungen in der Stadt Zürich, so zum Beispiel Siemens. Der Elektrotechnikkonzern ABB hat zudem seinen Hauptsitz in Zürich.

 

Aus den übrigen Wirtschaftszweigen sind insbesondere zu erwähnen: der grösste Schweizer Detailhandelskonzern Migros, der weltgrösste Schokoladenproduzent Barry Callebaut, die beiden grössten Automobilhändler AMAG-Gruppe und Emil Frey Gruppe, sowie der grösste Schweizer Reisekonzern Kuoni.

 

Nicht zuletzt dank der kulturellen Vielfalt in Zürich ist auch der Tourismus in den letzten Jahren ein bedeutender Wirtschaftsfaktor geworden. Jedes Jahr empfängt die Stadt Zürich rund neun Millionen Tagestouristen sowie zwei Millionen Übernachtungsgäste, von denen sich eine Mehrheit auch geschäftlich in Zürich aufhält.

 

Lebensqualität

 

Zürich galt bis zum Jahr 2008 siebenmal in Folge als Stadt mit der höchsten Lebensqualität weltweit. In der Studie «Worldwide Quality of Living Survey» («Studie zur weltweiten Lebensqualität») untersuchte die renommierte Beratungsfirma Mercer 215 Grossstädte anhand von 39 Kriterien, darunter Freizeit, Erholung, Sicherheit, Sauberkeit, politische und ökonomische Stabilität, sowie medizinische Versorgung. Seit 2009 rangiert Zürich neu an zweiter Stelle hinter Wien. Zudem wird Zürich als eine der Städte mit den weltweit höchsten Lebenshaltungskosten gelistet.

 

In einer Studie der Globalization and World Cities Research Group an der britischen Universität Loughborough landete Zürich in der Kategorie der Beta-Weltstädte auf dem ersten Rang, zusammen mit San Francisco, Sydney und Toronto.

 

Zürich besitzt die Auszeichnung Energiestadt Gold für eine nachhaltige Energiepolitik. Die offiziellen Gebäude im Eigentum der Stadt Zürich werden in der Regel nach Minergie gebaut.

 

Um die Lebensqualität für Geringverdiener im Hinblick auf den Wohnungsmarkt zu verbessern, hat die Stadt Zürich die Stiftungen Wohnungen für kinderreiche Familien und Alterswohnungen der Stadt Zürich gegründet.

 

Kunst, Kultur und Tourismus

 

Allgemeine Sehenswürdigkeiten

 

Die meisten Sehenswürdigkeiten Zürichs sind in und um die Altstadt gruppiert und deswegen am einfachsten zu Fuss oder mit kurzen Fahrten in Tram oder Bus erreichbar. Neben Gebäuden und Denkmälern ist auch die Lage Zürichs am Zürichsee einen Blick wert. Am Bellevue oder am Bürkliplatz bietet sich bei gutem Wetter ein schöner Blick auf den See und die Alpen. Beide Seeufer mit ihren Promenaden und Parkanlagen sind dann jeweils Anziehungspunkte für viele Einheimische und Touristen.

 

Der Zürcher Hausberg Uetliberg ist mit der Sihltal-Zürich-Uetliberg-Bahn (SZU) zu erreichen, die ab dem Hauptbahnhof verkehrt.

 

(Wikipedia)

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Orleans

 

New Orleans (French: La Nouvelle-Orléans) is a consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of Louisiana. With an estimated population of 393,292 in 2017, it is the most populous city in Louisiana. A major port, New Orleans is considered an economic and commercial hub for the broader Gulf Coast region of the United States.

 

New Orleans is world-renowned for its distinct music, Creole cuisine, unique dialect, and its annual celebrations and festivals, most notably Mardi Gras. The historic heart of the city is the French Quarter, known for its French and Spanish Creole architecture and vibrant nightlife along Bourbon Street. The city has been described as the "most unique" in the United States, owing in large part to its cross-cultural and multilingual heritage. Founded in 1718 by French colonists, New Orleans was once the territorial capital of French Louisiana before being traded to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. New Orleans in 1840 was the third-most populous city in the United States, and it was the largest city in the American South from the Antebellum era until after World War II. The city's location and flat elevation have historically made it very vulnerable to flooding. State and federal authorities have installed a complex system of levees and drainage pumps in an effort to protect the city.

 

New Orleans was severely affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which resulted in flooding more than 80% of the city, thousands of deaths, and so much displacement because of damaged communities and lost housing as to cause a population decline of over 50%. Since Katrina, major redevelopment efforts have led to a rebound in the city's population. Concerns about gentrification, new residents buying property in formerly closely knit communities, and displacement of longtime residents have been expressed.

 

The city and Orleans Parish (French: paroisse d'Orléans) are coterminous. As of 2017, Orleans Parish is the third most-populous parish in Louisiana, behind East Baton Rouge Parish and neighboring Jefferson Parish. The city and parish are bounded by St. Tammany Parish and Lake Pontchartrain to the north, St. Bernard Parish and Lake Borgne to the east, Plaquemines Parish to the south, and Jefferson Parish to the south and west.

 

The city anchors the larger New Orleans metropolitan area, which had an estimated population of 1,275,762 in 2017. It is the most populous metropolitan area in Louisiana and the 46th-most populated MSA in the United States.

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Quarter

 

The French Quarter, also known as the Vieux Carré and Barrio Francés, is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans (French: La Nouvelle-Orléans) was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the Vieux Carré ("Old Square" in English), a central square. The district is more commonly called the French Quarter today, or simply "The Quarter," related to changes in the city with American immigration after the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. Most of the extant historic buildings were constructed either in the late 18th century, during the city's period of Spanish rule, or were built during the first half of the 19th century, after U.S. annexation and statehood.

 

The district as a whole has been designated as a National Historic Landmark, with numerous contributing buildings that are separately deemed significant. It is a prime tourist destination in the city, as well as attracting local residents. Because of its distance from areas where the levee was breached during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 as well as the strength and height of the nearest Mississippi River Levees in contrast to other levees along the canals and lakefront, it suffered relatively light damage from floodwater as compared to other areas of the city and the greater region.

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourbon_Street

 

Bourbon Street (French: Rue Bourbon, Spanish: Calle de Borbón) is a historic street in the heart of the French Quarter of New Orleans. Extending thirteen blocks from Canal Street to Esplanade Avenue, Bourbon Street is famous for its many bars and strip clubs.

 

With 17.74 million visitors in 2017 alone, New Orleans depends on Bourbon Street as a main tourist attraction. Tourist numbers have been growing yearly after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the city has successfully rebuilt its tourist base. For millions of visitors each year, Bourbon Street provides a rich insight into New Orleans' past.

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafitte%27s_Blacksmith_Shop

 

Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop is a historic structure at the corner of Bourbon Street and St. Philip Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. Most likely built as a house in the 1770s during the Spanish colonial period, it is one of the oldest surviving structures in New Orleans.

 

According to legend, the privateer Jean Lafitte, aka John Lafitte, owned a business here in the early 19th century. As with many things involving the Lafittes, including the possibility that they used the structure to plot illegal seizures and the sale of contraband, no documentation exists. (It was only after the Lafitte brothers were long gone that Jean's signature was found on a document, finally ascertaining how their family name was spelled: LAFFITE.)

 

It is purported to be one of the more haunted venues in the French Quarter. The name Blacksmith Shop may not be coincidental. Lafitte's associates may have operated a smithy here during the days of reliance upon horses, who had to be shod. Jean's older brother Pierre Lafitte was a blacksmith, and their associate Renato Beluche may have once owned this building.

 

The current business traces its roots to Roger 'Tom' Caplinger, who in the mid-1940s turned the old abandoned shop into Café Lafitte. The cafe became a popular night spot that attracted a bohemian clientele, including the gay community and celebrities like Noël Coward and Tennessee Williams. However, Caplinger never held clear title to the property and the building was sold in 1953. He soon opened a second cafe at the other end of the same block named Café Lafitte in Exile, which maintains that it is the oldest gay bar in the U.S.

 

The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1970. It is a rare extant example of briquette-entre-poteaux construction.

The Toraja are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja"). Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk ("the way"). The Indonesian government has recognized this animist belief as Aluk To Dolo ("Way of the Ancestors").

 

The word toraja comes from the Bugis Buginese language term to riaja, meaning "people of the uplands". The Dutch colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909. Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and colorful wood carvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several days.

 

Before the 20th century, Torajans lived in autonomous villages, where they practised animism and were relatively untouched by the outside world. In the early 1900s, Dutch missionaries first worked to convert Torajan highlanders to Christianity. When the Tana Toraja regency was further opened to the outside world in the 1970s, it became an icon of tourism in Indonesia: it was exploited by tourism developers and studied by anthropologists. By the 1990s, when tourism peaked, Toraja society had changed significantly, from an agrarian model - in which social life and customs were outgrowths of the Aluk To Dolo - to a largely Christian society. Today, tourism and remittances from migrant Torajans have made for major changes in the Toraja highland, giving the Toraja a celebrity status within Indonesia and enhancing Toraja ethnic group pride.

 

ETHNIC IDENTITY

The Torajan people had little notion of themselves as a distinct ethnic group before the 20th century. Before Dutch colonization and Christianization, Torajans, who lived in highland areas, identified with their villages and did not share a broad sense of identity. Although complexes of rituals created linkages between highland villages, there were variations in dialects, differences in social hierarchies, and an array of ritual practices in the Sulawesi highland region. "Toraja" (from the coastal languages' to, meaning people; and riaja, uplands) was first used as a lowlander expression for highlanders. As a result, "Toraja" initially had more currency with outsiders - such as the Bugis and Makassarese, who constitute a majority of the lowland of Sulawesi - than with insiders. The Dutch missionaries' presence in the highlands gave rise to the Toraja ethnic consciousness in the Sa'dan Toraja region, and this shared identity grew with the rise of tourism in the Tana Toraja Regency. Since then, South Sulawesi has four main ethnic groups - the Bugis (the majority, including shipbuilders and seafarers), the Makassarese (lowland traders and seafarers), the Mandarese (traders and fishermen), and the Toraja (highland rice cultivators).

 

HISTORY

From the 17th century, the Dutch established trade and political control on Sulawesi through the Dutch East Indies Company. Over two centuries, they ignored the mountainous area in the central Sulawesi, where Torajans lived, because access was difficult and it had little productive agricultural land. In the late 19th century, the Dutch became increasingly concerned about the spread of Islam in the south of Sulawesi, especially among the Makassarese and Bugis peoples. The Dutch saw the animist highlanders as potential Christians. In the 1920s, the Reformed Missionary Alliance of the Dutch Reformed Church began missionary work aided by the Dutch colonial government. In addition to introducing Christianity, the Dutch abolished slavery and imposed local taxes. A line was drawn around the Sa'dan area and called Tana Toraja ("the land of Toraja"). Tana Toraja was first a subdivision of the Luwu kingdom that had claimed the area. In 1946, the Dutch granted Tana Toraja a regentschap, and it was recognized in 1957 as one of the regencies of Indonesia.

 

Early Dutch missionaries faced strong opposition among Torajans, especially among the elite, because the abolition of their profitable slave trade had angered them. Some Torajans were forcibly relocated to the lowlands by the Dutch, where they could be more easily controlled. Taxes were kept high, undermining the wealth of the elites. Ultimately, the Dutch influence did not subdue Torajan culture, and only a few Torajans were converted. In 1950, only 10% of the population had converted to Christianity.

 

In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the Torajans, resulting in widespread Christian conversion among those who sought to align themselves with the Dutch for political protection and to form a movement against the Bugis and Makassarese Muslims. Between 1951 and 1965 (following Indonesian independence), southern Sulawesi faced a turbulent period as the Darul Islam separatist movement fought for an Islamic state in Sulawesi. The 15 years of guerrilla warfare led to massive conversions to

 

CHRISTIANITY

Alignment with the Indonesian government, however, did not guarantee safety for the Torajans. In 1965, a presidential decree required every Indonesian citizen to belong to one of five officially recognized religions: Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism, or Buddhism. The Torajan religious belief (aluk) was not legally recognized, and the Torajans raised their voices against the law. To make aluk accord with the law, it had to be accepted as part of one of the official religions. In 1969, Aluk To Dolo ("the way of ancestors") was legalized as a sect of Agama Hindu Dharma, the official name of Hinduism in Indonesia.

 

SOCIETY

There are three main types of affiliation in Toraja society: family, class and religion.

 

FAMILY AFFILIATION

Family is the primary social and political grouping in Torajan society. Each village is one extended family, the seat of which is the tongkonan, a traditional Torajan house. Each tongkonan has a name, which becomes the name of the village. The familial dons maintain village unity. Marriage between distant cousins (fourth cousins and beyond) is a common practice that strengthens kinship. Toraja society prohibits marriage between close cousins (up to and including the third cousin) - except for nobles, to prevent the dispersal of property. Kinship is actively reciprocal, meaning that the extended family helps each other farm, share buffalo rituals, and pay off debts.

 

Each person belongs to both the mother's and the father's families, the only bilateral family line in Indonesia. Children, therefore, inherit household affiliation from both mother and father, including land and even family debts. Children's names are given on the basis of kinship, and are usually chosen after dead relatives. Names of aunts, uncles and cousins are commonly referred to in the names of mothers, fathers and siblings.

 

Before the start of the formal administration of Toraja villages by the Tana Toraja Regency, each Toraja village was autonomous. In a more complex situation, in which one Toraja family could not handle their problems alone, several villages formed a group; sometimes, villages would unite against other villages. Relationship between families was expressed through blood, marriage, and shared ancestral houses (tongkonan), practically signed by the exchange of water buffalo and pigs on ritual occasions. Such exchanges not only built political and cultural ties between families but defined each person's place in a social hierarchy: who poured palm wine, who wrapped a corpse and prepared offerings, where each person could or could not sit, what dishes should be used or avoided, and even what piece of meat constituted one's share.

 

CLASS AFFILIATION

In early Toraja society, family relationships were tied closely to social class. There were three strata: nobles, commoners, and slaves (slavery was abolished in 1909 by the Dutch East Indies government). Class was inherited through the mother. It was taboo, therefore, to marry "down" with a woman of lower class. On the other hand, marrying a woman of higher class could improve the status of the next generation. The nobility's condescending attitude toward the commoners is still maintained today for reasons of family prestige.

 

Nobles, who were believed to be direct descendants of the descended person from heaven, lived in tongkonans, while commoners lived in less lavish houses (bamboo shacks called banua). Slaves lived in small huts, which had to be built around their owner's tongkonan. Commoners might marry anyone, but nobles preferred to marry in-family to maintain their status. Sometimes nobles married Bugis or Makassarese nobles. Commoners and slaves were prohibited from having death feasts. Despite close kinship and status inheritance, there was some social mobility, as marriage or change in wealth could affect an individuals status. Wealth was counted by the ownership of water buffaloes.

 

Slaves in Toraja society were family property. Sometimes Torajans decided to become slaves when they incurred a debt, pledging to work as payment. Slaves could be taken during wars, and slave trading was common. Slaves could buy their freedom, but their children still inherited slave status. Slaves were prohibited from wearing bronze or gold, carving their houses, eating from the same dishes as their owners, or having sex with free women - a crime punishable by death.

 

RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION

Toraja's indigenous belief system is polytheistic animism, called aluk, or "the way" (sometimes translated as "the law"). In the Toraja myth, the ancestors of Torajan people came down from heaven using stairs, which were then used by the Torajans as a communication medium with Puang Matua, the Creator. The cosmos, according to aluk, is divided into the upper world (heaven), the world of man (earth), and the underworld. At first, heaven and earth were married, then there was a darkness, a separation, and finally the light. Animals live in the underworld, which is represented by rectangular space enclosed by pillars, the earth is for mankind, and the heaven world is located above, covered with a saddle-shaped roof. Other Toraja gods include Pong Banggai di Rante (god of Earth), Indo' Ongon-Ongon (a goddess who can cause earthquakes), Pong Lalondong (god of death), and Indo' Belo Tumbang (goddess of medicine); there are many more.

 

The earthly authority, whose words and actions should be cleaved to both in life (agriculture) and death (funerals), is called to minaa (an aluk priest). Aluk is not just a belief system; it is a combination of law, religion, and habit. Aluk governs social life, agricultural practices, and ancestral rituals. The details of aluk may vary from one village to another. One common law is the requirement that death and life rituals be separated. Torajans believe that performing death rituals might ruin their corpses if combined with life rituals. The two rituals are equally important. During the time of the Dutch missionaries, Christian Torajans were prohibited from attending or performing life rituals, but were allowed to perform death rituals. Consequently, Toraja's death rituals are still practised today, while life rituals have diminished.

 

CULTURE

TONGKONAN

Tongkonan are the traditional Torajan ancestral houses. They stand high on wooden piles, topped with a layered split-bamboo roof shaped in a sweeping curved arc, and they are incised with red, black, and yellow detailed wood carvings on the exterior walls. The word "tongkonan" comes from the Torajan tongkon ("to sit").

 

Tongkonan are the center of Torajan social life. The rituals associated with the tongkonan are important expressions of Torajan spiritual life, and therefore all family members are impelled to participate, because symbolically the tongkonan represents links to their ancestors and to living and future kin. According to Torajan myth, the first tongkonan was built in heaven on four poles, with a roof made of Indian cloth. When the first Torajan ancestor descended to earth, he imitated the house and held a large ceremony.

 

The construction of a tongkonan is laborious work and is usually done with the help of the extended family. There are three types of tongkonan. The tongkonan layuk is the house of the highest authority, used as the "center of government". The tongkonan pekamberan belongs to the family members who have some authority in local traditions. Ordinary family members reside in the tongkonan batu. The exclusivity to the nobility of the tongkonan is diminishing as many Torajan commoners find lucrative employment in other parts of Indonesia. As they send back money to their families, they enable the construction of larger tongkonan.

 

WOOD CARVINGS

To express social and religious concepts, Torajans carve wood, calling it Pa'ssura (or "the writing"). Wood carvings are therefore Toraja's cultural manifestation.

 

Each carving receives a special name, and common motifs are animals and plants that symbolize some virtue. For example, water plants and animals, such as crabs, tadpoles and water weeds, are commonly found to symbolize fertility. In some areas noble elders claim these symbols refer to strength of noble family, but not everyone agrees. The overall meaning of groups of carved motifs on houses remains debated and tourism has further complicated these debates because some feel a uniform explanation must be presented to tourists. The image to the left shows an example of Torajan wood carving, consisting of 15 square panels. The center bottom panel represents buffalo or wealth, a wish for many buffaloes for the family. The center panel represents a knot and a box, a hope that all of the family's offspring will be happy and live in harmony, like goods kept safe in a box. The top left and top right squares represent an aquatic animal, indicating the need for fast and hard work, just like moving on the surface of water. It also represents the need for a certain skill to produce good results.

 

Regularity and order are common features in Toraja wood carving (see table below), as well as abstracts and geometrical designs. Nature is frequently used as the basis of Toraja's ornaments, because nature is full of abstractions and geometries with regularities and ordering. Toraja's ornaments have been studied in ethnomathematics to reveal their mathematical structure, but Torajans base this art only on approximations. To create an ornament, bamboo sticks are used as a geometrical tool.

 

FUNERAL RITES

In Toraja society, the funeral ritual is the most elaborate and expensive event. The richer and more powerful the individual, the more expensive is the funeral. In the aluk religion, only nobles have the right to have an extensive death feast. The death feast of a nobleman is usually attended by thousands and lasts for several days. A ceremonial site, called rante, is usually prepared in a large, grassy field where shelters for audiences, rice barns, and other ceremonial funeral structures are specially made by the deceased family. Flute music, funeral chants, songs and poems, and crying and wailing are traditional Toraja expressions of grief with the exceptions of funerals for young children, and poor, low-status adults.

 

The ceremony is often held weeks, months, or years after the death so that the deceased's family can raise the significant funds needed to cover funeral expenses. Torajans traditionally believe that death is not a sudden, abrupt event, but a gradual process toward Puya (the land of souls, or afterlife). During the waiting period, the body of the deceased is wrapped in several layers of cloth and kept under the tongkonan. The soul of the deceased is thought to linger around the village until the funeral ceremony is completed, after which it begins its journey to Puya.

 

Another component of the ritual is the slaughter of water buffalo. The more powerful the person who died, the more buffalo are slaughtered at the death feast. Buffalo carcasses, including their heads, are usually lined up on a field waiting for their owner, who is in the "sleeping stage". Torajans believe that the deceased will need the buffalo to make the journey and that they will be quicker to arrive at Puya if they have many buffalo. Slaughtering tens of water buffalo and hundreds of pigs using a machete is the climax of the elaborate death feast, with dancing and music and young boys who catch spurting blood in long bamboo tubes. Some of the slaughtered animals are given by guests as "gifts", which are carefully noted because they will be considered debts of the deceased's family. However, a cockfight, known as bulangan londong, is an integral part of the ceremony. As with the sacrifice of the buffalo and the pigs, the cockfight is considered sacred because it involves the spilling of blood on the earth. In particular, the tradition requires the sacrifice of at least three chickens. However, it is common for at least 25 pairs of chickens to be set against each other in the context of the ceremony.

 

There are three methods of burial: the coffin may be laid in a cave or in a carved stone grave, or hung on a cliff. It contains any possessions that the deceased will need in the afterlife. The wealthy are often buried in a stone grave carved out of a rocky cliff. The grave is usually expensive and takes a few months to complete. In some areas, a stone cave may be found that is large enough to accommodate a whole family. A wood-carved effigy, called Tau tau, is usually placed in the cave looking out over the land. The coffin of a baby or child may be hung from ropes on a cliff face or from a tree. This hanging grave usually lasts for years, until the ropes rot and the coffin falls to the ground.

 

In the ritual called Ma'Nene, that takes place each year in August, the bodies of the deceased are exhumed to be washed, groomed and dressed in new clothes. The mummies are then walked around the village.

 

DANCE AND MUSIC

Torajans perform dances on several occasions, most often during their elaborate funeral ceremonies. They dance to express their grief, and to honour and even cheer the deceased person because he is going to have a long journey in the afterlife. First, a group of men form a circle and sing a monotonous chant throughout the night to honour the deceased (a ritual called Ma'badong). This is considered by many Torajans to be the most important component of the funeral ceremony. On the second funeral day, the Ma'randing warrior dance is performed to praise the courage of the deceased during life. Several men perform the dance with a sword, a large shield made from buffalo skin, a helmet with a buffalo horn, and other ornamentation. The Ma'randing dance precedes a procession in which the deceased is carried from a rice barn to the rante, the site of the funeral ceremony. During the funeral, elder women perform the Ma'katia dance while singing a poetic song and wearing a long feathered costume. The Ma'akatia dance is performed to remind the audience of the generosity and loyalty of the deceased person. After the bloody ceremony of buffalo and pig slaughter, a group of boys and girls clap their hands while performing a cheerful dance called Ma'dondan.

 

As in other agricultural societies, Torajans dance and sing during harvest time. The Ma'bugi dance celebrates the thanksgiving event, and the Ma'gandangi dance is performed while Torajans are pounding rice. There are several war dances, such as the Manimbong dance performed by men, followed by the Ma'dandan dance performed by women. The aluk religion governs when and how Torajans dance. A dance called Ma'bua can be performed only once every 12 years. Ma'bua is a major Toraja ceremony in which priests wear a buffalo head and dance around a sacred tree.

 

A traditional musical instrument of the Toraja is a bamboo flute called a Pa'suling (suling is an Indonesian word for flute). This six-holed flute (not unique to the Toraja) is played at many dances, such as the thanksgiving dance Ma'bondensan, where the flute accompanies a group of shirtless, dancing men with long fingernails. The Toraja have indigenous musical instruments, such as the Pa'pelle (made from palm leaves) and the Pa'karombi (the Torajan version of a jaw harp). The Pa'pelle is played during harvest time and at house inauguration ceremonies.

 

LANGUAGE

The ethnic Toraja language is dominant in Tana Toraja with the main language as the Sa'dan Toraja. Although the national Indonesian language is the official language and is spoken in the community, all elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach Toraja language.Language varieties of Toraja, including Kalumpang, Mamasa, Tae' , Talondo' , Toala' , and Toraja-Sa'dan, belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language from the Austronesian family. At the outset, the isolated geographical nature of Tana Toraja formed many dialects between the Toraja languages themselves. After the formal administration of Tana Toraja, some Toraja dialects have been influenced by other languages through the transmigration program, introduced since the colonialism period, and it has been a major factor in the linguistic variety of Toraja languages. A prominent attribute of Toraja language is the notion of grief. The importance of death ceremony in Toraja culture has characterized their languages to express intricate degrees of grief and mourning. The Toraja language contains many terms referring to sadness, longing, depression, and mental pain. Giving a clear expression of the psychological and physical effect of loss is a catharsis and sometimes lessens the pain of grief itself.

 

ECONOMY

Prior to Suharto's "New Order" administration, the Torajan economy was based on agriculture, with cultivated wet rice in terraced fields on mountain slopes, and supplemental cassava and maize crops. Much time and energy were devoted to raising water buffalo, pigs, and chickens, primarily for ceremonial sacrifices and consumption. Coffee was the first significant cash crop produced in Toraja, and was introduced in the mid 19th century, changing the local economy towards commodity production for external markets and gaining an excellent reputation for quality in the international market .

 

With the commencement of the New Order in 1965, Indonesia's economy developed and opened to foreign investment. In Toraja, a coffee plantation and factory was established by Key Coffee of Japan, and Torajan coffee regained a reputation for quality within the growing international specialty coffee sector Multinational oil and mining companies opened new operations in Indonesia during the 1970s and 1980s. Torajans, particularly younger ones, relocated to work for the foreign companies - to Kalimantan for timber and oil, to Papua for mining, to the cities of Sulawesi and Java, and many went to Malaysia. The out-migration of Torajans was steady until 1985. and has continued since, with remittances sent back by emigre Torajans performing an important role within the contemporary economy.

 

Tourism commenced in Toraja in the 1970s, and accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s. Between 1984 and 1997, a significant number of Torajans obtained their incomes from tourism, working in and owning hotels, as tour guides, drivers, or selling souvenirs. With the rise of political and economic instability in Indonesia in the late 1990s - including religious conflicts elsewhere on Sulawesi - tourism in Tana Toraja has declined dramatically. Toraja continues to be a well known origin for Indonesian coffee, grown by both smallholders and plantation estates, although migration, remittances and off-farm income is considered far more important to most households, even those in rural areas.

 

TOURISM AND CULTURAL CHANGE

Before the 1970s, Toraja was almost unknown to Western tourism. In 1971, about 50 Europeans visited Tana Toraja. In 1972, at least 400 visitors attended the funeral ritual of Puang of Sangalla, the highest-ranking nobleman in Tana Toraja and the so-called "last pure-blooded Toraja noble." The event was documented by National Geographic and broadcast in several European countries. In 1976, about 12,000 tourists visited the regency and in 1981, Torajan sculpture was exhibited in major North American museums. "The land of the heavenly kings of Tana Toraja", as written in the exhibition brochure, embraced the outside world.

 

In 1984, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism declared Tana Toraja Regency the prima donna of South Sulawesi. Tana Toraja was heralded as "the second stop after Bali". Tourism was increasing dramatically: by 1985, a total number of 150,000 foreigners had visited the Regency (in addition to 80,000 domestic tourists), and the annual number of foreign visitors was recorded at 40,000 in 1989. Souvenir stands appeared in Rantepao, the cultural center of Toraja, roads were sealed at the most-visited tourist sites, new hotels and tourist-oriented restaurants were opened, and an airstrip was opened in the Regency in 1981.

 

Tourism developers have marketed Tana Toraja as an exotic adventure - an area rich in culture and off the beaten track. Western tourists expected to see stone-age villages and pagan funerals. Toraja is for tourists who have gone as far as Bali and are willing to see more of the wild, "untouched" islands. However, they were more likely to see a Torajan wearing a hat and denim, living in a Christian society. Tourists felt that the tongkonan and other Torajan rituals had been preconceived to make profits, and complained that the destination was too commercialized. This has resulted in several clashes between Torajans and tourism developers, whom Torajans see as outsiders.

 

A clash between local Torajan leaders and the South Sulawesi provincial government (as a tourist developer) broke out in 1985. The government designated 18 Toraja villages and burial sites as traditional tourist attractions. Consequently, zoning restrictions were applied to these areas, such that Torajans themselves were barred from changing their tongkonans and burial sites. The plan was opposed by some Torajan leaders, as they felt that their rituals and traditions were being determined by outsiders. As a result, in 1987, the Torajan village of Kété Kesú and several other designated tourist attractions closed their doors to tourists. This closure lasted only a few days, as the villagers found it too difficult to survive without the income from selling souvenirs.

 

Tourism has also transformed Toraja society. Originally, there was a ritual which allowed commoners to marry nobles (puang) and thereby gain nobility for their children. However, the image of Torajan society created for the tourists, often by "lower-ranking" guides, has eroded its traditional strict hierarchy. High status is not as esteemed in Tana Toraja as it once was. Many low-ranking men can declare themselves and their children nobles by gaining enough wealth through work outside the region and then marrying a noble woman.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Text in both Monégaqsue dialect and French:

 

Principatu

de

Munegu

 

Principauté

de

Monaco

 

fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cap-d'Ail

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cap-d'Ail

 

fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontière_entre_la_France_et_Monaco

 

fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monégasque

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monégasque_dialect

 

To find out exactly where the stone is located open the following Wikimapia page centered on it:

wikimapia.org/#lang=fr&lat=43.730976&lon=7.410395...

 

On this map the border stone is located where the purple border line crosses the pinkish Boulevard du Jardin Exotique: www.openstreetmap.org/#map=18/43.73110/7.41005

 

In order to see the same border stone with some perspective check this other picture from the set: www.flickr.com/photos/31594504@N06/19645581250/in/datepos...

 

Another Monaco border stone in the set: www.flickr.com/photos/31594504@N06/20027713684/in/datepos...

Amdo regional style of Tibetan ornamentation. Photo taken at Litang Horse Festival 2004. Different regions of Tibet have their own customs, dialect, and styles of ornamentation.

 

=====================================================

 

Ornaments make up most of the life savings of many Khampa families, and so play an important role in Tibetan families' lives as well as in announcing the social status of the wearers. They are saved up for over many years and handed down for centuries from generation to generation within families. Until very recently, these families were nomadic and have to move every few months because of the snowy seasons in the Himalayas, so Khampas have always needed to store their wealth in portable form. So being unable to store wealth in the form of estates or houses or land or in a bank, for millenia wealth has been stored in art, precious fabrics, and particularly into ornaments.

 

Their culture is very conservative about the type of ornaments favored: for thousands of years jewelry made from amber, turquoise and coral have been worn because the stones are believed to hold spiritual power. Gold and silver and also naturally found in Tibet, and the use of these metals by the wealthy also goes back thousands of years. Their ornaments are very chunky, bold and colorful. While the gold earrings that Khampa women wear may have cost them a year or maybe several year's of their salary, ornaments carry so much social status in their society that probably didn't have to think twice about the purchase.

 

To the Khampa people these ornaments have the utmost sentimental value and significance, because they are the physical remnants of generations of their ancestors hard work or success. what these people are wearing is not just their life savings, but also their family history and treasure. this culture has been around for millenia - archeological finds from the 1st century AD in the khampa area unearthed ornaments that are essentially the same in design and materials as today's are. there are also beliefs that the stones provide good luck and protection to disease. dyed red coral is the most sought after stone, but interestingly tibet is very very far from any oceans - all the coral is imported by traders! Religious symbols from Tibetan Buddhism frequency form the designs of pieces, however archeological finds show that the role of ornaments in Tibetan society and peoples' lives long predate the arrival of Buddhism in Tibet. Indeed the beliefs of spiritual protection being provided by coral, amber and turquoise probably originate from the ancient shamanic Bon religion.

Lady from Amdo Tibetan region beautiful in her finest ceremonial clothes at a festival fashion show. Different regions of Tibet have their own customs, dialect, and styles of fashion and ornamentation.

 

=====================================================

 

Ornaments make up most of the life savings of many Khampa families, and so play an important role in Tibetan families' lives as well as in announcing the social status of the wearers. They are saved up for over many years and handed down for centuries from generation to generation within families. Until very recently, these families were nomadic and have to move every few months because of the snowy seasons in the Himalayas, so Khampas have always needed to store their wealth in portable form. So being unable to store wealth in the form of estates or houses or land or in a bank, for millenia wealth has been stored in art, precious fabrics, and particularly into ornaments.

 

Their culture is very conservative about the type of ornaments favored: for thousands of years jewelry made from amber, turquoise and coral have been worn because the stones are believed to hold spiritual power. Gold and silver and also naturally found in Tibet, and the use of these metals by the wealthy also goes back thousands of years. Their ornaments are very chunky, bold and colorful. While the gold earrings that Khampa women wear may have cost them a year or maybe several year's of their salary, ornaments carry so much social status in their society that probably didn't have to think twice about the purchase.

 

To the Khampa people these ornaments have the utmost sentimental value and significance, because they are the physical remnants of generations of their ancestors hard work or success. what these people are wearing is not just their life savings, but also their family history and treasure. this culture has been around for millenia - archeological finds from the 1st century AD in the khampa area unearthed ornaments that are essentially the same in design and materials as today's are. there are also beliefs that the stones provide good luck and protection to disease. dyed red coral is the most sought after stone, but interestingly tibet is very very far from any oceans - all the coral is imported by traders! Religious symbols from Tibetan Buddhism frequency form the designs of pieces, however archeological finds show that the role of ornaments in Tibetan society and peoples' lives long predate the arrival of Buddhism in Tibet. Indeed the beliefs of spiritual protection being provided by coral, amber and turquoise probably originate from the ancient shamanic Bon religion.

Name

In the twelfth century, Olomuc and Olmuc were the first handed down name forms. In the fifteenth century an alleged first form Juliomontium (Julius hill) was assumed, according to Julius Caesar as the alleged founder. The original meaning is unclear. In the Czech, Olomouc means 'bare mountain' (Old Czech holy, 'bald' and mauc 'mountain'). The name of the city is in the Moravian-Haná dialect, a subgroup of the Middle-Moravian dialects of the Czech, Olomóc or Holomóc, in German language Ölmütz, in Polish Ołomuniec and in Latin Eburum or Olomucium.

History

Beginnings

At the end of the second century there was a Roman army camp, the northernmost known in Central Europe. Up to the fifth century there was a Germanic settlement.

In the late 7th century a first Slavic settlement arose in today's Povel district. Around 830 this was destroyed. A new castle was built on the Peter's hill (Předhrad), which was probably one of the important castles of the Moravian empire. In the ninth century three churches were built.

Přemyslidenstaat (Přemyslid dynasty)

Olomouc was first mentioned in writing in 1017 when Moravia became part of the Bohemian state of Přemysliden. In 1055 it was the seat of a separate part of the Principality. In 1063 the bishopric of Olomouc was founded by Vratislav II. Around 1070 a new castle was built. In 1077 the monastery Hradisko was founded. In 1126 Heinrich Zdik became a bishop.

At the beginning of the 13th century, the last prince of Olomouz died, Moravia was united and placed under the jurisdiction of a Margrave of the Přemyslids. In 1248, Olomouc was first mentioned as a royal town. In 1306, King Wenceslas III resided during a campaign to Poland in Olomouc, and was murdered here, which resulted in the extinction of the Přemyslids dynasty in the male family tree. The city developed economically very quickly and became the capital of Moravia.

In the Hussite wars, Olomouc was an integral part of the Catholic side. In the succession of the Charterhouse Dolein, which had been lost in the Hussite wars, the Charterhouse Olomouc was founded in 1443, which existed until the abolition in 1782. In the 16th century numerous palaces were built in the Renaissance style. In 1566 the Jesuits came to Olomouc. They founded a school which was raised to a university in 1573. In 1588, the bishop became an imperial prince.

17th and 18th centuries

In the Thirty Years' War the town was taken by the Swedes in 1642 and occupied for eight years. After the Thirty Years' War, the largely destroyed and depopulated city lost the status of the Moravian capital and abandoned it to Brno. Since a great deal of damage had been caused by fires, a detailed "fire extinguishing order" was issued in 1711, in which a number of preventive measures were also discussed.

On 26 December 1741, the city was occupied by the Prussians during the First Silesian War. After this event the fortifications were extensively expanded. A second siege by the Prussians in 1758 withstood the new fortification. In 1777, the diocese became an archbishopric.

In 1794-1797 the prominent French-American soldier and politician Marquis Lafayette was interned in Olomouc as a political prisoner of the Donaumonarchy, after being captured in Flanders by the French coalition in 1792, and then, for the time being, imprisoned by Prussia.

19th century

In 1841, the city received a railway connection. In the middle of 1845, the railway from Olomouc to Prague ("Northern State Railway") was put into operation (Olomouc-Moravská Třebová, Moravská Třebová-Prague). In 1848, the Archbishop's Palace housed the Imperial Court, which had fled here because of the revolution in Vienna. Emperor Ferdinand I handed over the government to the eighteen-year-old Francis Joseph I on December 2, 1848. On 29 November 1850, the German Confederation under Austrian leadership was restored in Olomouc by the Agreement of Olomouc (also known as the Olomouc Treaty) between Prussia, Austria and Russia. In the years 1850 to 1866 the fortification systems were extended again. In 1886, the fortress status was abolished. 1899 drove in the city the first tram.

20th century

After the collapse of the Austrian Empire in 1918 and the founding of Czechoslovakia, the Czech citizens became majority, which included, among other things, the integration of the two towns of Hodolina and Nová ulice, as well as eleven other municipalities (Bělidla, Černovír, Hejčín, Chválkovice, Lazce, Nové Sady, Nový Svět, Neředín, Pavlovičky, Povel and Řepčín) in 1919. In 1921 lived in Olomouc 57,206 inhabitants.

On March 15, 1939, the city, as well as the other areas of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, erected on the same day by the German Reich, was occupied by the Wehrmacht. As early as 1939, the Olomouc University was closed by the German occupying forces. It was not until 1946 that it was restored under the name Palacký University of Olomouc.

The German-speaking population was expelled from Olomouc in 1945/1946. Their assets were confiscated by the Beneš decree 108, the assets of the Protestant church were liquidated by the Beneš decree 131, and the Catholic churches were expropriated.

In the 1970s and 1980s, a number of prefabricated housing estates were built in the peripheral areas.

Since 1971, the entire old town has been protected as a historic preservation reserve. Floods in 1997 made the city very vulnerable, about a third of the city area was flooded. In the year 2000, the Trinity Column was included in the UNESCO World Heritage list. According to the administrative reform of 2000 the former district town with the establishment of the Olomouc region became its administrative seat.

Jews in Olomouc

The synagogue in Olomouc

The first Jews settled in Olomouc as early as 906. From the year 1060 they had to live in a ghetto and bear a yellow identification mark. In 1454 all Jews from Olomouc were expelled. This law was valid until 1848.

The Olomouc Synagogue was built between 1895 and 1897. On the night of March 15, 1939, after the occupation by the Wehrmacht, the synagogue was lit and burnt down. At the same time about 800 Jews were arrested and later deported to the Dachau concentration camp. Some of the synagogue 's benches were removed, serving as church benches in a village church near Prostějov and were finally put up in the renovated synagogue in Krnov in 2004. Some of them are now in the Synagogue of Loštice and are reminiscent of the Jewish citizens murdered in concentration camps. The seat of honor is dedicated to Berthold Oppenheim, the Rabbi of Olomouc and Loštice.

During the period of National Socialism, 3,489 people were deported to the Theresienstadt Ghetto in five transports, on 26 and 30 June 1942, on July 4, 1942, and on March 7. Only 285 Jews of the city population survived. This was the end of the Jewish life in Olomouc for a long time. Since 2011, by artist Gunter Demnig Stolpersteine (stumbling blocks) have been and still are being laid to the memory of murdered Jews in Olomouc. Olomouc is one of the cities with the most stumbling blocks in the Czech Republic (as of 2016) with Prague and Brno.

Only since 1989 there has been a revival of the Jewish cultic life in the city. In 1991, an independent Jewish community was established with a field of activity for the districts of Olomouc, Šumperk, Jeseník, Bruntál and Přerov.

 

Name

Im 12. Jahrhundert waren Olomuc und Olmuc die ersten überlieferten Namensformen. Im 15. Jahrhundert wurde eine angebliche erste Form Juliomontium (Juliusberg) vermutet, nach Julius Caesar als angeblichem Gründer. Die ursprüngliche Bedeutung ist unklar. Im Tschechischen bedeutet Olomouc ‚kahler Berg‘ (alttschech. holy ‚kahl‘ und mauc ‚Berg‘). Der Name der Stadt lautet im mährisch-hannakischen Dialekt, einer Untergruppe der mittelmährischen Dialekte des Tschechischen, Olomóc oder Holomóc, auf Deutsch Olmütz, auf Polnisch Ołomuniec und auf Lateinisch Eburum oder Olomucium.

Geschichte

Anfänge

Ende des 2. Jahrhunderts befand sich hier ein römisches Heerlager, das nördlichste bekannte in Mitteleuropa. Bis ins 5. Jahrhundert gab es eine germanische Besiedelung.

Im späten 7. Jahrhundert entstand eine erste slawische Siedlung im heutigen Ortsteil Povel. Um 830 wurde diese zerstört. Es entstand eine neue Burg auf dem Petersberg (Předhrad), die nach ihrer Größe vermutlich zu den wichtigen Burgen des Mährerreiches zählte. Im 9. Jahrhundert wurden drei Kirchen gebaut.

Přemyslidenstaat

Olomouc wurde im Jahr 1017 erstmals schriftlich erwähnt, als Mähren Teil des böhmischen Staates der Přemysliden wurde. 1055 war es Sitz eines eigenen Teilfürstentums. 1063 wurde das Bistum Olmütz durch Vratislav II. gegründet. Um 1070 entstand eine neue Burg. 1077 wurde das Kloster Hradisko gegründet. 1126 wurde Heinrich Zdik zum Bischof.

Anfang des 13. Jahrhunderts starb der letzte Olmützer Fürst, Mähren wurde vereint und einem Markgrafen aus dem Geschlecht der Přemysliden unterstellt. Zum Jahr 1248 wird Olomouc erstmals als Königsstadt erwähnt. 1306 hielt sich König Wenzel III. während eines Feldzuges nach Polen in Olmütz auf und wurde hier ermordet, wodurch die Dynastie der Přemysliden im Mannesstamm erlosch. Die Stadt entwickelte sich wirtschaftlich sehr schnell und wurde zur Hauptstadt Mährens.

In den Hussitenkriegen war Olmütz fester Bestandteil der katholischen Seite. In der Nachfolge der Kartause Dolein, die in den Hussitenkriegen untergegangen war, wurde 1443 die Kartause Olmütz gegründet, die bis zur Aufhebung 1782 bestand. Im 16. Jahrhundert entstanden zahlreiche Paläste im Renaissancestil. 1566 kamen die Jesuiten nach Olmütz. Diese gründeten eine Schule, welche 1573 zur Universität erhoben wurde. 1588 wurde der Bischof zum Reichsfürsten erhoben.

17. und 18. Jahrhundert

Im Dreißigjährigen Krieg wurde die Stadt 1642 von den Schweden eingenommen und acht Jahre okkupiert. Nach dem Dreißigjährigen Krieg verlor die großteils zerstörte und entvölkerte Stadt den Status der mährischen Hauptstadt und trat diesen an Brünn ab. Da durch Brände viel Schaden entstanden war, wurde 1711 eine detaillierte „Feuerlösch-Ordnung“ erlassen, in der auch eine Reihe vorbeugender Maßnahmen zur Sprache kam.

Am 26. Dezember 1741 wurde die Stadt von den Preußen im Ersten Schlesischen Krieg eingenommen. Nach diesem Ereignis wurden die Festungsanlagen umfangreich ausgebaut. Einer zweiten Belagerung durch die Preußen im Jahre 1758 hielt die neue Festungsanlage stand. 1777 wurde das Bistum zum Erzbistum erhoben.

1794–1797 wurde der prominente französisch-amerikanische Soldat und Politiker Marquis Lafayette in Olmütz als politischer Häftling der Donaumonarchie interniert, nachdem er von der antifranzösischen Koalition 1792 in Flandern gefangengenommen und dann vorerst von Preußen eingekerkert worden war.

19. Jahrhundert

1841 erhielt die Stadt einen Eisenbahnanschluss. Mitte 1845 wurde die Eisenbahn von Olmütz nach Prag („k.k. Nördliche Staatsbahn“) in Betrieb genommen (Olmütz–Trübau, Trübau–Prag). Im Jahr 1848 beherbergte das Schloss des Erzbischofs den wegen der Revolution in Wien hierher geflohenen kaiserlichen Hof. Kaiser Ferdinand I. übertrug hier am 2. Dezember 1848 dem achtzehnjährigen Franz Joseph I. die Regierung. Am 29. November 1850 wurde in Olmütz durch die Olmützer Punktation (auch „Olmützer Vertrag“ genannt) zwischen Preußen, Österreich und Russland der Deutsche Bund unter österreichischer Führung wieder hergestellt. In den Jahren 1850 bis 1866 wurden erneut die Befestigungsanlagen erweitert. 1886 wurde dann der Festungsstatus aufgehoben. 1899 fuhr in der Stadt die erste Straßenbahn.

20. Jahrhundert

Nach dem Zerfall des Kaiserreichs Österreich 1918 und der Gründung der Tschechoslowakei kamen die tschechischen Stadtbürger in die Mehrzahl, was unter anderem auf die Eingemeindung der zwei Städte Hodolein (Hodolany) und Neugasse (Nová ulice) sowie elf weiterer Gemeinden (Bělidla, Černovír, Hejčín, Chválkovice, Lazce, Nové Sady, Nový Svět, Neředín, Pavlovičky, Povel und Řepčín) im Jahr 1919 zurückzuführen ist. Im Jahr 1921 lebten in Olomouc 57.206 Einwohner.

Am 15. März 1939 wurde die Stadt, wie auch die übrigen Gebiete des am selben Tag vom Deutschen Reich errichteten Protektorats Böhmen und Mähren, von der Wehrmacht besetzt. Noch im Jahr 1939 wurde die Olmützer Universität von der deutschen Besatzungsmacht geschlossen. Erst im Jahr 1946 konnte sie unter dem Namen Palacký-Universität Olmütz wiederhergestellt werden.

Die deutschsprachige Bevölkerung wurde 1945/1946 aus Olmütz vertrieben. Ihr Vermögen wurde durch das Beneš-Dekret 108 konfisziert, das Vermögen der evangelischen Kirche durch das Beneš-Dekret 131 liquidiert und die katholischen Kirchen enteignet.

In den 1970er und 1980er Jahren entstanden in den Randgebieten mehrere Plattenbausiedlungen.

Seit 1971 ist die ganze Altstadt als Denkmalschutzreservat geschützt. Das Hochwasser im Jahr 1997 zog die Stadt schwer in Mitleidenschaft, etwa ein Drittel des Stadtgebiets wurde überschwemmt. Im Jahr 2000 wurde die Dreifaltigkeitssäule in die Liste des UNESCO-Welterbes aufgenommen. Nach der Verwaltungsreform von 2000 wurde die bisherige Kreisstadt mit der Errichtung der Olmützer Region dessen Verwaltungssitz.

Juden in Olmütz

Die Synagoge in Olmütz

Die ersten Juden siedelten in Olmütz bereits 906. Ab dem Jahre 1060 hatten sie in einem Ghetto zu wohnen und ein gelbes Erkennungszeichen zu tragen. Im Jahr 1454 wurden sämtliche Juden aus Olmütz ausgewiesen. Dieses Gesetz war bis 1848 gültig.

Die Olmützer Synagoge wurde von 1895 bis 1897 erbaut. In der Nacht vom 15. auf den 16. März 1939, nach der Besetzung durch die Wehrmacht, wurde die Synagoge angezündet und brannte ab. Gleichzeitig wurden etwa 800 Juden festgenommen und später in das Konzentrationslager Dachau deportiert. Einige Sitzbänke der Synagoge wurden ausgebaut, dienten lange als Kirchenbänke in einer Dorfkirche bei Prostějov und wurden schließlich 2004 in der renovierten Synagoge in Krnov aufgestellt. Einige davon stehen heute in der Synagoge von Loštice und erinnern an die in den Konzentrationslagern ermordeten jüdischen Bürger. Der Ehrensitz ist Berthold Oppenheim gewidmet, dem Rabbi von Olmütz und Loštice.

Während der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus wurden 3.489 Menschen in fünf Transporten, am 26. und 30. Juni 1942, am 4. Juli 1942 und am 7. März 1945 in das Ghetto Theresienstadt deportiert. Nur 285 Juden der Stadtbevölkerung überlebten. Damit erlosch das jüdische Leben in Olmütz für lange Zeit. Seit 2011 wurden und werden in Olmütz von Gunter Demnig Stolpersteine zur Erinnerung an ermordete Juden verlegt. Olmütz gehört mit Prag und Brünn zu den Städten mit den meisten Stolpersteinen in Tschechien (Stand 2016).

Erst seit 1989 gibt es eine Belebung des jüdischen Kultuslebens in der Stadt. 1991 wurde eine selbständige jüdische Gemeinde mit einem Wirkungskreis für die Bezirke Olmütz, Šumperk, Jeseník, Bruntál und Přerov wiederbegründet.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olm%C3%BCtz

Agios Georgios (Greek: Άγιος Γεώργιος "Saint George [of Spathariko]"; Turkish: Aygün, previously Ayyorgi) is a village in Cyprus, southwest of the town of Trikomo. It is under the de facto control of Northern Cyprus.

 

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, Agios Georgios was inhabited exclusively by Greek Cypriots. In 1973, it had an estimated population of 464. After 1974, it was reinhabited by displaced Turkish Cypriots from the south of Cyprus and Turkish settlers from Anatolia. The latter now constitute the majority. As of 2011, Agios Georgios had a population of 414.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

Title / Titre :

Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, detail of spine /

 

Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, détails du dos

 

Description :

The first edition of Robert Burns’ Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect was published in Kilmarnock, Scotland in 1786. Only about 600 copies were printed. The finely-bound copy now held by Library and Archives Canada was a gift from the British Government on the occasion of Canada’s centennial in 1967. Its green leather binding with gold-tooled decorations and silk endpapers was created in the 19th century by the well-known British bookbinder Robert Riviere. /

 

La première édition de Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, de Robert Burns, a été publiée à Kilmarnock, en Écosse, en 1786. Seulement 600 exemplaires environ ont été imprimés. L’exemplaire finement relié que possède maintenant Bibliothèque et Archives Canada était un cadeau du gouvernement anglais à l’occasion de centenaire du Canada, en 1967. Sa reliure en cuir vert comportant des décorations or et des pages de garde en soie a été créée au 19e siècle par le célèbre relieur anglais Robert Riviere.

 

Creator(s) / Créateur(s) : Robert Burns

 

Date(s) : 1786

 

Reference No. / Numéro de référence : OCLC 4752176

 

bac-lac.on.worldcat.org/oclc/4752176

 

Location / Lieu : Kilmarnock, Scotland / Kilmarnock, Écosse

 

Credit / Mention de source :

Robert Burns. Library and Archives Canada, Kilmarnock : Printed by J. Wilson, 1786 /

 

Robert Burns. Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, Kilmarnock : Printed by J. Wilson, 1786

 

Macanese Portuguese (Português Macaense) is a Portuguese dialect spoken in Macau. It is co-official with Cantonese. It is only spoken by 7% of the residents; less than 2% speak it as first language. It is distinct from the Macanese language (or Patuá), a Portuguese Creole in Macau.

 

Português de Macau é um dialecto do português falado em Macau. O português é co-oficial, juntamente com o cantonês.

O português falado em Macau sofreu muita influência dos povos nativos, mas a tal influência não é bem percebida na fala cotidiana, sendo assim muito semelhante ao português europeu.

Monégasque dialect and French inscription:

'Principatu de Munegu'

'Principauté de Monaco'

 

fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beausoleil_(Alpes-Maritimes)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beausoleil,_Alpes-Maritimes

 

fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontière_entre_la_France_et_Monaco

 

fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monégasque

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monégasque_dialect

  

View from above: wikimapia.org/#lang=fr&lat=43.746009&lon=7.428757...

 

Another view: www.openstreetmap.org/#map=19/43.74602/7.42878

Romani people's square (21), named (June 12, 2001 Municipal Council of Culture) after the important ethnic group of the Roma; see also Lowara path and Sinti path.

The ethnic group of Roma in Austria has been recognized by the Austrian state since 1993. Among the autochthonous Roma groups are Burgenland Roma living in Burgenland, Lovara and Kalderasch (the Kalderash (also spelled Kalderaš) are a subgroup of the Romani people). In Upper Austria there are also some Sinti families.

While most Roma in Austria speak the Romanes-Vlach dialect (also written Vlax), the Sinti speak their dialect, Sintitikes (the language is written in Latin script and is included in Indo-European, Indo-Aryan and Indo-Iranian language groups). The number of members of this ethnic group living in Austria is controversial. It is estimated that between 10,000 and 50,000 Roma live in Austria.

History

Roma and Sinti have been living in Austria since about the 15th century, especially in the eastern Austrian provinces, such as Burgenland, Vienna and Lower Austria. The influx in cities and communities was from the start in Austria as well as in other countries such as Hungary, Slovakia or the Czech Republic difficult or prohibited. While the majority population demanded from Romani people to live "sedentary", Roma families were not tolerated in the cities. This led to the formation of Roma camps outside the city, in forests and in remote places. Empress Maria Theresa of Austria and Hungary ordered in the middle of the second half of the 18th century that the cities would have to be "gypsy-free". Likewise, the speaking of their language, Romanes was forbidden and was punishable. Even before and after the death of Joseph II, the legal situation had not changed significantly. The use of Romanes was forbidden on punishment of up to twenty-four stick blows.

Soon after the "Anschluss of Austria" in 1938, Austrian Roma and Sinti were captured and sent to various concentration camps, subsequently also to labor camps in Austria. The Gypsy detention camp Lackenbach, with up to 2300 inmates, was the largest of these camps and was put into operation on 23 November 1940. During the Second World War, followed deportations to the ghetto Litzmannstadt and from 1943 to the "gypsy camp Auschwitz" in the concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Roma in Austria with a migration background

From 1960 on, Roma increasingly entered the country as guest workers. Many of them came and still come from countries of the former Yugoslavia, especially from countries like Serbia (Kalderash, Gurbeti), Kosovo (Ashkali) or Macedonia (Arlije). Also from Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia or Hungary. Thus, there are both native and foreign Roma in Austria, who come from different Roma groups and clans and sometimes speak different dialects.

Religion

The Roma usually belong to the prevailing religion of a country or region in which they live.

Thus, the indigenous Roma groups such as the Burgenland Roma and the Lovara are mostly Roman Catholics, as is the case with Roma originally from the neighboring countries of Austria, such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia.

The immigrant Roma are the most confessionally recognized by their country of origin. So Kalderasch and Gurbeti are mostly Serbian Orthodox as well as the Roma from Romania (Romanian Orthodox).

There are also a few Protestant Roma, most of them Protestants A.B. or free-church Pentecostals.

The Ashkali from Kosovo and the Arlije from Macedonia are mostly Sunni Muslims.

Antigypsyism and persecution

Memorial in Oberwart

On February 4, 1995, four Roma, Peter Sarközi (son of Stefan Horvath), Josef Simon and Karl and Erwin Horvath were killed in Oberwart by a bomb trap (bombing of Oberwart). The pipe bomb was attached to a sign saying "Roma back to India". In an attempt to remove this shield, the explosive made from about 150 grams of dammed nitroglycerin exploded. Two days later Erich Preissler, an employee of Burgenland's environmental service, was torn to pieces in a blast trap in Stinatz. Both attacks were perpetrated by Franz Fuchs, who died in prison in 2000. The writer Stefan Horvath reflected the murders in various books, the later Nobel Prize winner Elfriede Jelinek in her play Stecken, Stab and Stangl [Stick, Staff and Pole] addressed the reactions of the media and politics to the assassination.

Media

The ORF 2 broadcasts a program called "Servus, Szia, Zdravo, Del tuha" six times a year. It is a four-language television magazine of the ORF Burgenland. The languages ​​used are: German, Hungarian, Burgenland Croatian and Romanes. This program focuses on cultural and popular topics of all ethnic groups in Burgenland. These are in addition to the Burgenland roma the Burgenlandungarn (Hungarians in Austria) and the Burgenland Croats.

The presenter of this program is Gilda Horvath.

Well-known Austrian Roma

Romano Rath

Adrian Coriolan Gaspar (Romanian-Austrian jazz pianist and composer)

Gilda Horvath (Roma editor of the ORF)

Stefan Horvath (writer)

Ilija Jovanović (Serbian-Austrian writer, chairman of the Romano Centro in Vienna)

Ruža Nikolić-Lakatos (Hungarian-Austrian singer)

Rudolf Sarközi (chairman of the Cultural Association of Austrian Roma)

Romano Rath (in German: Roma Blut) (music band from Oberwart)

Tony Wegas (singer)

Rosa Winter (Austrian concentration camp survivor)

Joe Zawinul (jazz musician, his grandmother was Sintiza)

The extended family Stojka:

Ceija Stojka (writer and artist)

Harri Stojka (Musicians)

Mongo Stojka (carpet dealer, musician, author and father of Harri Stojka)

Karl Stojka (artist and Porajmos survivor)

Street names

In 2001, three traffic areas on the Dragoons heap were named in Roma square, Sinti path and Lovara path in the 21st district of Vienna Floridsdorf. On September 12, 2014, the district head of Vienna's 7th district of Neubau, Thomas Blimlinger, dedicated the Ceija Stojka Square in front of the Altlerchenfelder church in Neubau the eponymous writer.

 

Romaplatz (21), benannt (12. Juni 2001

Gemeinderatsausschuss für Kultur) nach der bedeutenden Volksgruppe der Roma; vergleiche auch Lowaraweg und Sintiweg.

Die Volksgruppe der Roma in Österreich, ist seit 1993 vom Staat Österreich anerkannt. Zu den autochthonen Roma-Gruppen zählen die im Burgenland lebenden Burgenland-Roma sowie die Lovara und Kalderasch. In Oberösterreich gibt es auch einige Sinti-Familien.

Während die meisten Roma in Österreich den Romanes-Vlach Dialekt (auch Vlax geschrieben) sprechen, sprechen die Sinti ihren Dialekt, Sintitikes. Die Anzahl der in Österreich lebenden Angehörigen dieser Volksgruppe ist umstritten. Es wird davon ausgegangen, dass zwischen 10.000 bis 50.000 Roma in Österreich leben.

Geschichte

Roma und Sinti leben seit etwa dem 15. Jahrhundert in Österreich, vor allem in den Ost-österreichischen Bundesländern, wie dem Burgenland, Wien und Niederösterreich. Der Zuzug in Städte und Gemeinden wurde von Anbeginn in Österreich wie auch in anderen Ländern wie Ungarn, Slowakei oder Tschechien erschwert oder verboten. Von der Mehrheitsbevölkerung wurde zwar gefordert, dass Roma „sesshaft“ leben sollten, jedoch wurden Roma-Familien in den Städten nicht geduldet. Dies führte zur Bildung von Roma-Lagerplätzen außerhalb der Stadt, in Wäldern und auf entlegenen Plätzen. Kaiserin Maria Theresia von Österreich und Ungarn ordnete Mitte der zweiten Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts an, dass die Städte „zigeunerfrei“ sein müssten. Ebenso wurde das Sprechen ihrer Sprache, Romanes verboten und stand unter Strafe. Auch vor und nach dem Tod Joseph II. hatte sich die Rechtslage nicht wesentlich verändert. Der Gebrauch von Romanes blieb bei Strafe von bis zu vierundzwanzig Stockhieben verboten.

Schon bald nach dem „Anschluss Österreichs“ 1938 wurden österreichische Roma und Sinti gefangen genommen und in verschiedene Konzentrationslager, in weiterer Folge auch in Arbeitslager in Österreich eingewiesen. Das Zigeuner-Anhaltelager Lackenbach, mit bis zu 2300 Häftlingen, war das größte dieser Lager und wurde am 23. November 1940 in Betrieb genommen. Im Verlauf des Zweiten Weltkriegs erfolgten Deportationen in das Ghetto Litzmannstadt und ab 1943 auch in das „Zigeunerlager Auschwitz“ im KZ Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Roma in Österreich mit Migrationshintergrund

Ab 1960 wanderten vermehrt Roma als Gastarbeiter nach Österreich ein. Viele davon kamen und kommen heute noch aus Ländern des ehemaligen Jugoslawien, speziell aus Ländern wie Serbien (Kalderasch, Gurbeti), Kosovo (Aschkali) oder Mazedonien (Arlije). Ebenso aus Rumänien, Tschechien, der Slowakei oder Ungarn. Somit gibt es in Österreich einheimische sowie ausländische Roma, die aus verschiedenen Roma-Gruppen und Sippen stammen und teilweise verschiedene Dialekte sprechen.

Religion

Die Roma gehören zumeist der vorherrschenden Religion eines Landes oder einer Region an, in der sie leben.

Somit sind die einheimischen Roma-Gruppen wie die Burgenland-Roma und die Lovara zum größten Teil römisch-katholischen Glaubens, dies trifft auch zu, bei Roma die ursprünglich aus den Nachbarländern von Österreich kommen, wie Tschechien, Slowakei, Ungarn und Slowenien.

Die eingewanderten Roma lassen sich konfessionell am leichtesten durch ihr Herkunftsland erkennen. So sind Kalderasch und Gurbeti meist serbisch-orthodox wie auch die Roma aus Rumänien (rumänisch-orthodox).

Weiters gibt es auch wenige protestantische Roma, die zumeist evangelisch A.B. oder freikirchliche Pfingstler sind.

Die Aschkali aus dem Kosovo und die Arlije aus Mazedonien sind zumeist sunnitische Muslime.

Antiziganismus und Verfolgung

Mahnmal in Oberwart

Am 4. Februar 1995 wurden vier Roma, Peter Sarközi (Sohn von Stefan Horvath), Josef Simon sowie Karl und Erwin Horvath, in Oberwart durch eine Sprengfalle getötet (Bombenattentat von Oberwart). Die Rohrbombe war an einem Schild mit der Aufschrift „Roma zurück nach Indien“ angebracht. Beim Versuch, dieses Schild zu entfernen, explodierte der aus ca. 150 Gramm gedämmtem Nitroglycerin bestehende Sprengsatz. Zwei Tage später wurde in Stinatz Erich Preissler, einem Mitarbeiter des burgenländischen Umweltdienstes, durch eine Sprengfalle die Hand zerfetzt. Beide Attentate wurden von Franz Fuchs verübt, der sich im Jahr 2000 im Gefängnis das Leben nahm. Der Schriftsteller Stefan Horvath reflektierte die Morde in verschiedenen Büchern, die spätere Literatur-Nobelpreisträgerin Elfriede Jelinek thematisierte in ihrem Stück Stecken, Stab und Stangl die Reaktionen von Medien und Politik auf das Attentat.

Medien

Der ORF 2 strahlt sechsmal im Jahr eine Sendung mit dem Titel „Servus, Szia, Zdravo, Del tuha“ aus. Es handelt sich hierbei um ein viersprachiges Fernsehmagazin des ORF Burgenland. Die verwendeten Sprachen sind: Deutsch, Ungarisch, Burgenlandkroatisch sowie Romanes. Diese Sendung thematisiert kulturelle und volkstümliche Themenbereiche aller Volksgruppen im Burgenland. Dies sind neben den Burgenlandroma die Burgenlandungarn und die Burgenlandkroaten.

Die Moderatorin dieser Sendung ist Gilda Horvath.

Bekannte österreichische Roma

Romano Rath

Adrian Coriolan Gaspar (rumänisch-österreichischer Jazz-Pianist und Komponist)

Gilda Horvath (Roma-Redaktion des ORF)

Stefan Horvath (Schriftsteller)

Ilija Jovanović (serbisch-österreichischer Schriftsteller, Obmann des Romano Centro in Wien)

Ruža Nikolić-Lakatos (ungarisch-österreichische Sängerin)

Rudolf Sarközi (Obmann des Kulturvereins österreichischer Roma)

Romano Rath (auf Deutsch: Roma Blut) (Musikband aus Oberwart)

Tony Wegas (Sänger)

Rosa Winter (österreichische KZ-Überlebende)

Joe Zawinul (Jazz-Musiker, seine Großmutter war Sintiza)

Die Großfamilie Stojka:

Ceija Stojka (Schriftstellerin und Künstlerin)

Harri Stojka (Musiker)

Mongo Stojka (Teppichhändler, Musiker, Autor sowie Vater von Harri Stojka)

Karl Stojka (Künstler und Porajmos-Überlebender)

Straßenbenennungen

2001 wurden im 21. Wiener Gemeindebezirk Floridsdorf drei Verkehrsflächen am Dragonerhäufel in Romaplatz, Sintiweg und Lovaraweg benannt. Am 12. September 2014 widmete der Bezirksvorsteher von Wien-Neubau, Thomas Blimlinger, den Ceija-Stojka-Platz vor der Altlerchenfelder Kirche in Neubau der namensgebenden Schriftstellerin.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roma_in_%C3%96sterreich

www.wien.gv.at/wiki/index.php?title=Romaplatz

Tangkuban Perahu

 

Tangkuban Perahu (spelt Tangkuban Parahu in the local Sundanese dialect) is a dormant volcano 30 km north of the city of Bandung, the provincial capital of West Java, Indonesia. It last erupted in 1959. It is a popular tourist attraction where tourists can hike or ride to the edge of the crater to view the hot water springs and boiling mud up close, and buy eggs cooked on the hot surface. This stratovolcano is on the island of Java and last erupted in 1983. A study conducted in 2001 determined that Tangkuban Perahu has erupted at least 30 times in the previous 40,750 years.

 

The name translates roughly to "upturning of (a) boat" or "upturned boat" in Sundanese, referring to the local legend of its creation. The story tells of "Dayang Sumbi", a beauty who lived in West Java. She cast away her son "Sangkuriang" for disobedience, and in her sadness was granted the power of eternal youth by the gods. After many years in exile, Sangkuriang decided to return to his home, long after the two had forgotten and failed to recognize each other. Sangkuriang fell in love with Dayang Sumbi and planned to marry her, only for Dayang Sumbi to recognize his birthmark just as he was about to go hunting. In order to prevent the marriage from taking place, Dayang Sumbi asked Sangkuriang to build a dam on the river Citarum and to build a large boat to cross the river, both before the sunrise. Sangkuriang meditated and summoned guriangs (heavenly spirits / god in ancient Sundanese belief), or mythical ogre-like creatures -buta hejo or green giant(s)- to do his bidding. Dayang Sumbi saw that the tasks were almost completed and called on her workers to spread red silk cloths east of the city, to give the impression of impending sunrise. Sangkuriang was fooled, and in his anger, he kicked the boat that he had built and it fell, turning upside down, transformed into Mount Tangkuban Parahu (in Sundanese, "tangkuban" means "upturned" or "upside down", and "parahu" means "boat.") The wood left over from the boat became Mt. Burangrang and the rest of the huge tree became Mount Bukit Tunggul. The lake became Lake Bandung (lit. "dam.")

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangkuban_Perahu

The Toraja are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja"). Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk ("the way"). The Indonesian government has recognized this animist belief as Aluk To Dolo ("Way of the Ancestors").

 

The word toraja comes from the Bugis Buginese language term to riaja, meaning "people of the uplands". The Dutch colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909. Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and colorful wood carvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several days.

 

Before the 20th century, Torajans lived in autonomous villages, where they practised animism and were relatively untouched by the outside world. In the early 1900s, Dutch missionaries first worked to convert Torajan highlanders to Christianity. When the Tana Toraja regency was further opened to the outside world in the 1970s, it became an icon of tourism in Indonesia: it was exploited by tourism developers and studied by anthropologists. By the 1990s, when tourism peaked, Toraja society had changed significantly, from an agrarian model - in which social life and customs were outgrowths of the Aluk To Dolo - to a largely Christian society. Today, tourism and remittances from migrant Torajans have made for major changes in the Toraja highland, giving the Toraja a celebrity status within Indonesia and enhancing Toraja ethnic group pride.

 

ETHNIC IDENTITY

The Torajan people had little notion of themselves as a distinct ethnic group before the 20th century. Before Dutch colonization and Christianization, Torajans, who lived in highland areas, identified with their villages and did not share a broad sense of identity. Although complexes of rituals created linkages between highland villages, there were variations in dialects, differences in social hierarchies, and an array of ritual practices in the Sulawesi highland region. "Toraja" (from the coastal languages' to, meaning people; and riaja, uplands) was first used as a lowlander expression for highlanders. As a result, "Toraja" initially had more currency with outsiders - such as the Bugis and Makassarese, who constitute a majority of the lowland of Sulawesi - than with insiders. The Dutch missionaries' presence in the highlands gave rise to the Toraja ethnic consciousness in the Sa'dan Toraja region, and this shared identity grew with the rise of tourism in the Tana Toraja Regency. Since then, South Sulawesi has four main ethnic groups - the Bugis (the majority, including shipbuilders and seafarers), the Makassarese (lowland traders and seafarers), the Mandarese (traders and fishermen), and the Toraja (highland rice cultivators).

 

HISTORY

From the 17th century, the Dutch established trade and political control on Sulawesi through the Dutch East Indies Company. Over two centuries, they ignored the mountainous area in the central Sulawesi, where Torajans lived, because access was difficult and it had little productive agricultural land. In the late 19th century, the Dutch became increasingly concerned about the spread of Islam in the south of Sulawesi, especially among the Makassarese and Bugis peoples. The Dutch saw the animist highlanders as potential Christians. In the 1920s, the Reformed Missionary Alliance of the Dutch Reformed Church began missionary work aided by the Dutch colonial government. In addition to introducing Christianity, the Dutch abolished slavery and imposed local taxes. A line was drawn around the Sa'dan area and called Tana Toraja ("the land of Toraja"). Tana Toraja was first a subdivision of the Luwu kingdom that had claimed the area. In 1946, the Dutch granted Tana Toraja a regentschap, and it was recognized in 1957 as one of the regencies of Indonesia.

 

Early Dutch missionaries faced strong opposition among Torajans, especially among the elite, because the abolition of their profitable slave trade had angered them. Some Torajans were forcibly relocated to the lowlands by the Dutch, where they could be more easily controlled. Taxes were kept high, undermining the wealth of the elites. Ultimately, the Dutch influence did not subdue Torajan culture, and only a few Torajans were converted. In 1950, only 10% of the population had converted to Christianity.

 

In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the Torajans, resulting in widespread Christian conversion among those who sought to align themselves with the Dutch for political protection and to form a movement against the Bugis and Makassarese Muslims. Between 1951 and 1965 (following Indonesian independence), southern Sulawesi faced a turbulent period as the Darul Islam separatist movement fought for an Islamic state in Sulawesi. The 15 years of guerrilla warfare led to massive conversions to

 

CHRISTIANITY

Alignment with the Indonesian government, however, did not guarantee safety for the Torajans. In 1965, a presidential decree required every Indonesian citizen to belong to one of five officially recognized religions: Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism, or Buddhism. The Torajan religious belief (aluk) was not legally recognized, and the Torajans raised their voices against the law. To make aluk accord with the law, it had to be accepted as part of one of the official religions. In 1969, Aluk To Dolo ("the way of ancestors") was legalized as a sect of Agama Hindu Dharma, the official name of Hinduism in Indonesia.

 

SOCIETY

There are three main types of affiliation in Toraja society: family, class and religion.

 

FAMILY AFFILIATION

Family is the primary social and political grouping in Torajan society. Each village is one extended family, the seat of which is the tongkonan, a traditional Torajan house. Each tongkonan has a name, which becomes the name of the village. The familial dons maintain village unity. Marriage between distant cousins (fourth cousins and beyond) is a common practice that strengthens kinship. Toraja society prohibits marriage between close cousins (up to and including the third cousin) - except for nobles, to prevent the dispersal of property. Kinship is actively reciprocal, meaning that the extended family helps each other farm, share buffalo rituals, and pay off debts.

 

Each person belongs to both the mother's and the father's families, the only bilateral family line in Indonesia. Children, therefore, inherit household affiliation from both mother and father, including land and even family debts. Children's names are given on the basis of kinship, and are usually chosen after dead relatives. Names of aunts, uncles and cousins are commonly referred to in the names of mothers, fathers and siblings.

 

Before the start of the formal administration of Toraja villages by the Tana Toraja Regency, each Toraja village was autonomous. In a more complex situation, in which one Toraja family could not handle their problems alone, several villages formed a group; sometimes, villages would unite against other villages. Relationship between families was expressed through blood, marriage, and shared ancestral houses (tongkonan), practically signed by the exchange of water buffalo and pigs on ritual occasions. Such exchanges not only built political and cultural ties between families but defined each person's place in a social hierarchy: who poured palm wine, who wrapped a corpse and prepared offerings, where each person could or could not sit, what dishes should be used or avoided, and even what piece of meat constituted one's share.

 

CLASS AFFILIATION

In early Toraja society, family relationships were tied closely to social class. There were three strata: nobles, commoners, and slaves (slavery was abolished in 1909 by the Dutch East Indies government). Class was inherited through the mother. It was taboo, therefore, to marry "down" with a woman of lower class. On the other hand, marrying a woman of higher class could improve the status of the next generation. The nobility's condescending attitude toward the commoners is still maintained today for reasons of family prestige.

 

Nobles, who were believed to be direct descendants of the descended person from heaven, lived in tongkonans, while commoners lived in less lavish houses (bamboo shacks called banua). Slaves lived in small huts, which had to be built around their owner's tongkonan. Commoners might marry anyone, but nobles preferred to marry in-family to maintain their status. Sometimes nobles married Bugis or Makassarese nobles. Commoners and slaves were prohibited from having death feasts. Despite close kinship and status inheritance, there was some social mobility, as marriage or change in wealth could affect an individuals status. Wealth was counted by the ownership of water buffaloes.

 

Slaves in Toraja society were family property. Sometimes Torajans decided to become slaves when they incurred a debt, pledging to work as payment. Slaves could be taken during wars, and slave trading was common. Slaves could buy their freedom, but their children still inherited slave status. Slaves were prohibited from wearing bronze or gold, carving their houses, eating from the same dishes as their owners, or having sex with free women - a crime punishable by death.

 

RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION

Toraja's indigenous belief system is polytheistic animism, called aluk, or "the way" (sometimes translated as "the law"). In the Toraja myth, the ancestors of Torajan people came down from heaven using stairs, which were then used by the Torajans as a communication medium with Puang Matua, the Creator. The cosmos, according to aluk, is divided into the upper world (heaven), the world of man (earth), and the underworld. At first, heaven and earth were married, then there was a darkness, a separation, and finally the light. Animals live in the underworld, which is represented by rectangular space enclosed by pillars, the earth is for mankind, and the heaven world is located above, covered with a saddle-shaped roof. Other Toraja gods include Pong Banggai di Rante (god of Earth), Indo' Ongon-Ongon (a goddess who can cause earthquakes), Pong Lalondong (god of death), and Indo' Belo Tumbang (goddess of medicine); there are many more.

 

The earthly authority, whose words and actions should be cleaved to both in life (agriculture) and death (funerals), is called to minaa (an aluk priest). Aluk is not just a belief system; it is a combination of law, religion, and habit. Aluk governs social life, agricultural practices, and ancestral rituals. The details of aluk may vary from one village to another. One common law is the requirement that death and life rituals be separated. Torajans believe that performing death rituals might ruin their corpses if combined with life rituals. The two rituals are equally important. During the time of the Dutch missionaries, Christian Torajans were prohibited from attending or performing life rituals, but were allowed to perform death rituals. Consequently, Toraja's death rituals are still practised today, while life rituals have diminished.

 

CULTURE

TONGKONAN

Tongkonan are the traditional Torajan ancestral houses. They stand high on wooden piles, topped with a layered split-bamboo roof shaped in a sweeping curved arc, and they are incised with red, black, and yellow detailed wood carvings on the exterior walls. The word "tongkonan" comes from the Torajan tongkon ("to sit").

 

Tongkonan are the center of Torajan social life. The rituals associated with the tongkonan are important expressions of Torajan spiritual life, and therefore all family members are impelled to participate, because symbolically the tongkonan represents links to their ancestors and to living and future kin. According to Torajan myth, the first tongkonan was built in heaven on four poles, with a roof made of Indian cloth. When the first Torajan ancestor descended to earth, he imitated the house and held a large ceremony.

 

The construction of a tongkonan is laborious work and is usually done with the help of the extended family. There are three types of tongkonan. The tongkonan layuk is the house of the highest authority, used as the "center of government". The tongkonan pekamberan belongs to the family members who have some authority in local traditions. Ordinary family members reside in the tongkonan batu. The exclusivity to the nobility of the tongkonan is diminishing as many Torajan commoners find lucrative employment in other parts of Indonesia. As they send back money to their families, they enable the construction of larger tongkonan.

 

WOOD CARVINGS

To express social and religious concepts, Torajans carve wood, calling it Pa'ssura (or "the writing"). Wood carvings are therefore Toraja's cultural manifestation.

 

Each carving receives a special name, and common motifs are animals and plants that symbolize some virtue. For example, water plants and animals, such as crabs, tadpoles and water weeds, are commonly found to symbolize fertility. In some areas noble elders claim these symbols refer to strength of noble family, but not everyone agrees. The overall meaning of groups of carved motifs on houses remains debated and tourism has further complicated these debates because some feel a uniform explanation must be presented to tourists. The image to the left shows an example of Torajan wood carving, consisting of 15 square panels. The center bottom panel represents buffalo or wealth, a wish for many buffaloes for the family. The center panel represents a knot and a box, a hope that all of the family's offspring will be happy and live in harmony, like goods kept safe in a box. The top left and top right squares represent an aquatic animal, indicating the need for fast and hard work, just like moving on the surface of water. It also represents the need for a certain skill to produce good results.

 

Regularity and order are common features in Toraja wood carving (see table below), as well as abstracts and geometrical designs. Nature is frequently used as the basis of Toraja's ornaments, because nature is full of abstractions and geometries with regularities and ordering. Toraja's ornaments have been studied in ethnomathematics to reveal their mathematical structure, but Torajans base this art only on approximations. To create an ornament, bamboo sticks are used as a geometrical tool.

 

FUNERAL RITES

In Toraja society, the funeral ritual is the most elaborate and expensive event. The richer and more powerful the individual, the more expensive is the funeral. In the aluk religion, only nobles have the right to have an extensive death feast. The death feast of a nobleman is usually attended by thousands and lasts for several days. A ceremonial site, called rante, is usually prepared in a large, grassy field where shelters for audiences, rice barns, and other ceremonial funeral structures are specially made by the deceased family. Flute music, funeral chants, songs and poems, and crying and wailing are traditional Toraja expressions of grief with the exceptions of funerals for young children, and poor, low-status adults.

 

The ceremony is often held weeks, months, or years after the death so that the deceased's family can raise the significant funds needed to cover funeral expenses. Torajans traditionally believe that death is not a sudden, abrupt event, but a gradual process toward Puya (the land of souls, or afterlife). During the waiting period, the body of the deceased is wrapped in several layers of cloth and kept under the tongkonan. The soul of the deceased is thought to linger around the village until the funeral ceremony is completed, after which it begins its journey to Puya.

 

Another component of the ritual is the slaughter of water buffalo. The more powerful the person who died, the more buffalo are slaughtered at the death feast. Buffalo carcasses, including their heads, are usually lined up on a field waiting for their owner, who is in the "sleeping stage". Torajans believe that the deceased will need the buffalo to make the journey and that they will be quicker to arrive at Puya if they have many buffalo. Slaughtering tens of water buffalo and hundreds of pigs using a machete is the climax of the elaborate death feast, with dancing and music and young boys who catch spurting blood in long bamboo tubes. Some of the slaughtered animals are given by guests as "gifts", which are carefully noted because they will be considered debts of the deceased's family. However, a cockfight, known as bulangan londong, is an integral part of the ceremony. As with the sacrifice of the buffalo and the pigs, the cockfight is considered sacred because it involves the spilling of blood on the earth. In particular, the tradition requires the sacrifice of at least three chickens. However, it is common for at least 25 pairs of chickens to be set against each other in the context of the ceremony.

 

There are three methods of burial: the coffin may be laid in a cave or in a carved stone grave, or hung on a cliff. It contains any possessions that the deceased will need in the afterlife. The wealthy are often buried in a stone grave carved out of a rocky cliff. The grave is usually expensive and takes a few months to complete. In some areas, a stone cave may be found that is large enough to accommodate a whole family. A wood-carved effigy, called Tau tau, is usually placed in the cave looking out over the land. The coffin of a baby or child may be hung from ropes on a cliff face or from a tree. This hanging grave usually lasts for years, until the ropes rot and the coffin falls to the ground.

 

In the ritual called Ma'Nene, that takes place each year in August, the bodies of the deceased are exhumed to be washed, groomed and dressed in new clothes. The mummies are then walked around the village.

 

DANCE AND MUSIC

Torajans perform dances on several occasions, most often during their elaborate funeral ceremonies. They dance to express their grief, and to honour and even cheer the deceased person because he is going to have a long journey in the afterlife. First, a group of men form a circle and sing a monotonous chant throughout the night to honour the deceased (a ritual called Ma'badong). This is considered by many Torajans to be the most important component of the funeral ceremony. On the second funeral day, the Ma'randing warrior dance is performed to praise the courage of the deceased during life. Several men perform the dance with a sword, a large shield made from buffalo skin, a helmet with a buffalo horn, and other ornamentation. The Ma'randing dance precedes a procession in which the deceased is carried from a rice barn to the rante, the site of the funeral ceremony. During the funeral, elder women perform the Ma'katia dance while singing a poetic song and wearing a long feathered costume. The Ma'akatia dance is performed to remind the audience of the generosity and loyalty of the deceased person. After the bloody ceremony of buffalo and pig slaughter, a group of boys and girls clap their hands while performing a cheerful dance called Ma'dondan.

 

As in other agricultural societies, Torajans dance and sing during harvest time. The Ma'bugi dance celebrates the thanksgiving event, and the Ma'gandangi dance is performed while Torajans are pounding rice. There are several war dances, such as the Manimbong dance performed by men, followed by the Ma'dandan dance performed by women. The aluk religion governs when and how Torajans dance. A dance called Ma'bua can be performed only once every 12 years. Ma'bua is a major Toraja ceremony in which priests wear a buffalo head and dance around a sacred tree.

 

A traditional musical instrument of the Toraja is a bamboo flute called a Pa'suling (suling is an Indonesian word for flute). This six-holed flute (not unique to the Toraja) is played at many dances, such as the thanksgiving dance Ma'bondensan, where the flute accompanies a group of shirtless, dancing men with long fingernails. The Toraja have indigenous musical instruments, such as the Pa'pelle (made from palm leaves) and the Pa'karombi (the Torajan version of a jaw harp). The Pa'pelle is played during harvest time and at house inauguration ceremonies.

 

LANGUAGE

The ethnic Toraja language is dominant in Tana Toraja with the main language as the Sa'dan Toraja. Although the national Indonesian language is the official language and is spoken in the community, all elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach Toraja language.Language varieties of Toraja, including Kalumpang, Mamasa, Tae' , Talondo' , Toala' , and Toraja-Sa'dan, belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language from the Austronesian family. At the outset, the isolated geographical nature of Tana Toraja formed many dialects between the Toraja languages themselves. After the formal administration of Tana Toraja, some Toraja dialects have been influenced by other languages through the transmigration program, introduced since the colonialism period, and it has been a major factor in the linguistic variety of Toraja languages. A prominent attribute of Toraja language is the notion of grief. The importance of death ceremony in Toraja culture has characterized their languages to express intricate degrees of grief and mourning. The Toraja language contains many terms referring to sadness, longing, depression, and mental pain. Giving a clear expression of the psychological and physical effect of loss is a catharsis and sometimes lessens the pain of grief itself.

 

ECONOMY

Prior to Suharto's "New Order" administration, the Torajan economy was based on agriculture, with cultivated wet rice in terraced fields on mountain slopes, and supplemental cassava and maize crops. Much time and energy were devoted to raising water buffalo, pigs, and chickens, primarily for ceremonial sacrifices and consumption. Coffee was the first significant cash crop produced in Toraja, and was introduced in the mid 19th century, changing the local economy towards commodity production for external markets and gaining an excellent reputation for quality in the international market .

 

With the commencement of the New Order in 1965, Indonesia's economy developed and opened to foreign investment. In Toraja, a coffee plantation and factory was established by Key Coffee of Japan, and Torajan coffee regained a reputation for quality within the growing international specialty coffee sector Multinational oil and mining companies opened new operations in Indonesia during the 1970s and 1980s. Torajans, particularly younger ones, relocated to work for the foreign companies - to Kalimantan for timber and oil, to Papua for mining, to the cities of Sulawesi and Java, and many went to Malaysia. The out-migration of Torajans was steady until 1985. and has continued since, with remittances sent back by emigre Torajans performing an important role within the contemporary economy.

 

Tourism commenced in Toraja in the 1970s, and accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s. Between 1984 and 1997, a significant number of Torajans obtained their incomes from tourism, working in and owning hotels, as tour guides, drivers, or selling souvenirs. With the rise of political and economic instability in Indonesia in the late 1990s - including religious conflicts elsewhere on Sulawesi - tourism in Tana Toraja has declined dramatically. Toraja continues to be a well known origin for Indonesian coffee, grown by both smallholders and plantation estates, although migration, remittances and off-farm income is considered far more important to most households, even those in rural areas.

 

TOURISM AND CULTURAL CHANGE

Before the 1970s, Toraja was almost unknown to Western tourism. In 1971, about 50 Europeans visited Tana Toraja. In 1972, at least 400 visitors attended the funeral ritual of Puang of Sangalla, the highest-ranking nobleman in Tana Toraja and the so-called "last pure-blooded Toraja noble." The event was documented by National Geographic and broadcast in several European countries. In 1976, about 12,000 tourists visited the regency and in 1981, Torajan sculpture was exhibited in major North American museums. "The land of the heavenly kings of Tana Toraja", as written in the exhibition brochure, embraced the outside world.

 

In 1984, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism declared Tana Toraja Regency the prima donna of South Sulawesi. Tana Toraja was heralded as "the second stop after Bali". Tourism was increasing dramatically: by 1985, a total number of 150,000 foreigners had visited the Regency (in addition to 80,000 domestic tourists), and the annual number of foreign visitors was recorded at 40,000 in 1989. Souvenir stands appeared in Rantepao, the cultural center of Toraja, roads were sealed at the most-visited tourist sites, new hotels and tourist-oriented restaurants were opened, and an airstrip was opened in the Regency in 1981.

 

Tourism developers have marketed Tana Toraja as an exotic adventure - an area rich in culture and off the beaten track. Western tourists expected to see stone-age villages and pagan funerals. Toraja is for tourists who have gone as far as Bali and are willing to see more of the wild, "untouched" islands. However, they were more likely to see a Torajan wearing a hat and denim, living in a Christian society. Tourists felt that the tongkonan and other Torajan rituals had been preconceived to make profits, and complained that the destination was too commercialized. This has resulted in several clashes between Torajans and tourism developers, whom Torajans see as outsiders.

 

A clash between local Torajan leaders and the South Sulawesi provincial government (as a tourist developer) broke out in 1985. The government designated 18 Toraja villages and burial sites as traditional tourist attractions. Consequently, zoning restrictions were applied to these areas, such that Torajans themselves were barred from changing their tongkonans and burial sites. The plan was opposed by some Torajan leaders, as they felt that their rituals and traditions were being determined by outsiders. As a result, in 1987, the Torajan village of Kété Kesú and several other designated tourist attractions closed their doors to tourists. This closure lasted only a few days, as the villagers found it too difficult to survive without the income from selling souvenirs.

 

Tourism has also transformed Toraja society. Originally, there was a ritual which allowed commoners to marry nobles (puang) and thereby gain nobility for their children. However, the image of Torajan society created for the tourists, often by "lower-ranking" guides, has eroded its traditional strict hierarchy. High status is not as esteemed in Tana Toraja as it once was. Many low-ranking men can declare themselves and their children nobles by gaining enough wealth through work outside the region and then marrying a noble woman.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Zürich (/ˈzjʊərɪk/ ZURE-ik, German: [ˈtsyːrɪç;) is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2023 the municipality had 443,037 inhabitants, the urban area 1.315 million (2009), and the Zürich metropolitan area 1.83 million (2011). Zürich is a hub for railways, roads, and air traffic. Both Zurich Airport and Zürich's main railway station are the largest and busiest in the country.

 

Permanently settled for over 2,000 years, Zürich was founded by the Romans, who called it Turicum. However, early settlements have been found dating back more than 6,400 years (although this only indicates human presence in the area and not the presence of a town that early). During the Middle Ages, Zürich gained the independent and privileged status of imperial immediacy and, in 1519, became a primary centre of the Protestant Reformation in Europe under the leadership of Huldrych Zwingli.

 

The official language of Zürich is German,[a] but the main spoken language is Zürich German, the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect.

 

Many museums and art galleries can be found in the city, including the Swiss National Museum and Kunsthaus. Schauspielhaus Zürich is generally considered to be one of the most important theatres in the German-speaking world.

 

As one of Switzerland's primary financial centres, Zürich is home to many financial institutions and banking companies.

 

History

 

Early history

 

Settlements of the Neolithic and Bronze Age were found around Lake Zürich. Traces of pre-Roman Celtic, La Tène settlements were discovered near the Lindenhof, a morainic hill dominating the SE - NW waterway constituted by Lake Zurich and the river Limmat. In Roman times, during the conquest of the alpine region in 15 BC, the Romans built a castellum on the Lindenhof. Later here was erected Turicum (a toponym of clear Celtic origin), a tax-collecting point for goods trafficked on the Limmat, which constituted part of the border between Gallia Belgica (from AD 90 Germania Superior) and Raetia: this customs point developed later into a vicus. After Emperor Constantine's reforms in AD 318, the border between Gaul and Italy (two of the four praetorian prefectures of the Roman Empire) was located east of Turicum, crossing the river Linth between Lake Walen and Lake Zürich, where a castle and garrison looked over Turicum's safety. The earliest written record of the town dates from the 2nd century, with a tombstone referring to it as the Statio Turicensis Quadragesima Galliarum ("Zürich post for collecting the 2.5% value tax of the Galliae"), discovered at the Lindenhof.

 

In the 5th century, the Germanic Alemanni tribe settled in the Swiss Plateau. The Roman castle remained standing until the 7th century. A Carolingian castle, built on the site of the Roman castle by the grandson of Charlemagne, Louis the German, is mentioned in 835 (in Castro Turicino iuxta fluvium Lindemaci). Louis also founded the Fraumünster abbey in 853 for his daughter Hildegard. He endowed the Benedictine convent with the lands of Zürich, Uri, and the Albis forest, and granted the convent immunity, placing it under his direct authority. In 1045, King Henry III granted the convent the right to hold markets, collect tolls, and mint coins, and thus effectively made the abbess the ruler of the city.

 

Zürich gained Imperial immediacy (Reichsunmittelbar, becoming an Imperial free city) in 1218 with the extinction of the main line of the Zähringer family and attained a status comparable to statehood. During the 1230s, a city wall was built, enclosing 38 hectares, when the earliest stone houses on the Rennweg were built as well. The Carolingian castle was used as a quarry, as it had started to fall into ruin.

 

Emperor Frederick II promoted the abbess of the Fraumünster to the rank of a duchess in 1234. The abbess nominated the mayor, and she frequently delegated the minting of coins to citizens of the city. The political power of the convent slowly waned in the 14th century, beginning with the establishment of the Zunftordnung (guild laws) in 1336 by Rudolf Brun, who also became the first independent mayor, i.e. not nominated by the abbess.

 

An important event in the early 14th century was the completion of the Manesse Codex, a key source of medieval German poetry. The famous illuminated manuscript – described as "the most beautifully illumined German manuscript in centuries;" – was commissioned by the Manesse family of Zürich, copied and illustrated in the city at some time between 1304 and 1340. Producing such a work was a highly expensive prestige project, requiring several years of work by highly skilled scribes and miniature painters, and it testifies to the increasing wealth and pride of Zürich citizens in this period. The work contains 6 songs by Süsskind von Trimberg, who may have been a Jew, since the work itself contains reflections on medieval Jewish life, though little is known about him.

 

The first mention of Jews in Zürich was in 1273. Sources show that there was a synagogue in Zürich in the 13th century, implying the existence of a Jewish community. With the rise of the Black Death in 1349, Zürich, like most other Swiss cities, responded by persecuting and burning the local Jews, marking the end of the first Jewish community there. The second Jewish community of Zürich formed towards the end of the 14th century, was short-lived, and Jews were expulsed and banned from the city from 1423 until the 19th century.

 

Archaeological findings

 

A woman who died in about 200 BC was found buried in a carved tree trunk during a construction project at the Kern school complex in March 2017 in Aussersihl. Archaeologists revealed that she was approximately 40 years old when she died and likely carried out little physical labor when she was alive. A sheepskin coat, a belt chain, a fancy wool dress, a scarf, and a pendant made of glass and amber beads were also discovered with the woman.

 

Old Swiss Confederacy

 

On 1 May 1351, the citizens of Zürich had to swear allegiance before representatives of the cantons of Lucerne, Schwyz, Uri and Unterwalden, the other members of the Swiss Confederacy. Thus, Zürich became the fifth member of the Confederacy, which was at that time a loose confederation of de facto independent states. Zürich was the presiding canton of the Diet from 1468 to 1519. This authority was the executive council and lawmaking body of the confederacy, from the Middle Ages until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848. Zürich was temporarily expelled from the confederacy in 1440 due to a war with the other member states over the territory of Toggenburg (the Old Zürich War). Neither side had attained significant victory when peace was agreed upon in 1446, and Zürich was readmitted to the confederation in 1450.

 

Zwingli started the Swiss Reformation at the time when he was the main preacher at the Grossmünster in 1519. The Zürich Bible was printed by Christoph Froschauer in 1531. The Reformation resulted in major changes in state matters and civil life in Zürich, spreading also to several other cantons. Several cantons remained Catholic and became the basis of serious conflicts that eventually led to the outbreak of the Wars of Kappel.

 

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Council of Zürich adopted an isolationist attitude, resulting in a second ring of imposing fortifications built in 1624. The Thirty Years' War which raged across Europe motivated the city to build these walls. The fortifications required a lot of resources, which were taken from subject territories without reaching any agreement. The following revolts were crushed brutally. In 1648, Zürich proclaimed itself a republic, shedding its former status of a free imperial city. In this time the political system of Zürich was an oligarchy (Patriziat): the dominant families of the city were the following ones: Bonstetten, Brun, Bürkli, Escher vom Glas, Escher vom Luchs, Hirzel, Jori (or von Jori), Kilchsperger, Landenberg, Manesse, Meiss, Meyer von Knonau, Mülner, von Orelli.

 

The Helvetic Revolution of 1798 saw the fall of the Ancien Régime. Zürich lost control of the land and its economic privileges, and the city and the canton separated their possessions between 1803 and 1805. In 1839, the city had to yield to the demands of its urban subjects, following the Züriputsch of 6 September. Most of the ramparts built in the 17th century were torn down, without ever having been besieged, to allay rural concerns over the city's hegemony. The Treaty of Zürich between Austria, France, and Sardinia was signed in 1859.

 

Modern history

 

Zürich was the Federal capital for 1839–40, and consequently, the victory of the Conservative party there in 1839 caused a great stir throughout Switzerland. But when in 1845 the Radicals regained power at Zürich, which was again the Federal capital for 1845–46, Zürich took the lead in opposing the Sonderbund cantons. Following the Sonderbund War and the formation of the Swiss Federal State, Zürich voted in favor of the Federal constitutions of 1848 and 1874. The enormous immigration from the country districts into the town from the 1830s onwards created an industrial class which, though "settled" in the town, did not possess the privileges of burghership, and consequently had no share in the municipal government. First of all in 1860 the town schools, hitherto open to "settlers" only on paying high fees, were made accessible to all, next in 1875 ten years' residence ipso facto conferred the right of burghership, and in 1893 the eleven outlying districts were incorporated within the town proper.

 

When Jews began to settle in Zürich following their equality in 1862, the Israelitische Cultusgemeinde Zürich was founded.

 

Extensive developments took place during the 19th century. From 1847, the Spanisch-Brötli-Bahn, the first railway on Swiss territory, connected Zürich with Baden, putting the Zürich Hauptbahnhof at the origin of the Swiss rail network. The present building of the Hauptbahnhof (the main railway station) dates to 1871. Zürich's Bahnhofstrasse (Station Street) was laid out in 1867, and the Zürich Stock Exchange was founded in 1877. Industrialisation led to migration into the cities and to rapid population growth, particularly in the suburbs of Zürich.

 

The Quaianlagen are an important milestone in the development of the modern city of Zürich, as the construction of the new lakefront transformed Zürich from a small medieval town on the rivers Limmat and Sihl to a modern city on the Zürichsee shore, under the guidance of the city engineer Arnold Bürkli.

 

In 1893, the twelve outlying districts were incorporated into Zürich, including Aussersihl, the workman's quarter on the left bank of the Sihl, and additional land was reclaimed from Lake Zürich.

 

In 1934, eight additional districts in the north and west of Zürich were incorporated.

 

Zürich was accidentally bombed during World War II. As persecuted Jews sought refuge in Switzerland, the SIG (Schweizerischer Israelitischer Gemeindebund, Israelite Community of Switzerland) raised financial resources. The Central Committee for Refugee Aid, created in 1933, was located in Zürich.

 

The canton of Zürich did not recognize the Jewish religious communities as legal entities (and therefore as equal to national churches) until 2005.

 

Geography

 

Zürich is situated at 408 m (1,339 ft) above sea level on the lower (northern) end of Lake Zürich (Zürichsee) about 30 km (19 mi) north of the Alps, nestling between the wooded hills on the west and east side. The Old Town stretches on both sides of the Limmat, which flows from the lake, running northwards at first and then gradually turning into a curve to the west. The geographic (and historic) centre of the city is the Lindenhof, a small natural hill on the west bank of the Limmat, about 700 m (2,300 ft) north of where the river issues from Lake Zürich. Today the incorporated city stretches somewhat beyond the natural confines of the hills and includes some districts to the northeast in the Glatt Valley (Glattal) and to the north in the Limmat Valley (Limmattal). The boundaries of the older city are easy to recognize by the Schanzengraben canal. This artificial watercourse has been used for the construction of the third fortress in the 17th and 18th centuries.

 

Quality of living

 

Zürich often performs very well in international rankings, some of which are mentioned below:

 

Monocle's 2012 "Quality of Life Survey" ranked Zürich first on a list of the top 25 cities in the world "to make a base within". In 2019 Zürich was ranked among the ten most liveable cities in the world by Mercer together with Geneva and Basel.

In fDi Magazine's "Global Cities of the Future 2021/22" report, Zürich placed 16th in the overall rankings (all categories). In the category "Mid-sized and small cities", Zürich was 2nd overall, behind Wroclaw, having also placed 2nd in the subcategory "Human capital and lifestyle" and 3rd under "Business friendliness". In the category "FDI strategy, overall" (relating to foreign direct investment), Zürich ranked 9th, behind such cities as New York, Montreal (1st and 2nd) and Dubai (at number 8).

 

Main sites

 

Most of Zürich's sites are located within the area on either side of the Limmat, between the Main railway station and Lake Zürich. The churches and houses of the old town are clustered here, as are the most expensive shops along the famous Bahnhofstrasse. The Lindenhof in the old town is the historical site of the Roman castle, and the later Carolingian Imperial Palace.

 

(Wikpedia)

 

Grimmenturm (lit. 'Tower of the grim', referring to Johann Bilgeri the younger, nicknamed 'the grim') is a medieval tower and restaurant situated at Neumarkt in Zurich's District 1, Switzerland.

 

Location

 

The Grimmenturm building is situated at Neumarkt (Spiegelgasse 31, 8001 Zürich) in the Altstadt of Zürich on the right shore of the Limmat river. It houses the restaurant Neumarkt in one of the attached buildings towards Neumarkt.

 

History

 

The tower was probably built by the Zürich family Bilgeri (residential since 1256) between 1250 and 1280 AD as a residential tower. First mentioned in the year 1324 as tower of the Pilgrin family, it was one of about 30 residential towers that existed in the European Middle Ages in Zürich. Even before 1300 a housing was attached to the north-western side. Although the building was for decades used by the Bilgeri family as their home, it has not their name, as a building; also used as residential tower, the so-called Bilgeriturm is located just 20 meters in the north. Grimmenturm's name was given by another member of the same family, Johann Bilgeri the younger and its nickname "Grimm" or "Grimme". Even the nickname Grimm (same meaning in English and in German) was apparently so common that it even was mentioned in official documents, such as in a parchment from the year 1330[1] . On 12 July 1336 Rudolf Brun, mayor of the city of Zürich, defeated his political opponents, the former members of the Rat (council) of Zürich, of which around 12 members found refuge by count Johann I in Rapperswil. The document, sealed by the Princess Abbess of Fraumünster, the abbot of the Einsiedeln Abbey and the Propst von Zürich (Grossmünster), listed among others the names of Heinr. Bilgeri im Markt, Niclaus Bilgeri, Rudolf Bilgeri and Joh. Bilgeri der jüngere zum Steinbock to be banned at least two years from the city of Zürich.

 

In 1350 Sister Elsbeth Reinger handed over her house and paddock, located at the Neumarkt between the houses of Waser and Heinrich von Rapperswil to establish a hospital. Johann Pilgrim, der Grimme left over the tower together with residential buildings to the hospital for accommodation and nursing sisters, and so a monastic community was established. In occasion of the Reformation in Zürich, the nunnery was abolished in 1524, and the building was used as wine cellar and granary. The next 300 years the building served as a vicarage and accommodation building, and in 1962 it passed over to the city government of Zürich.

 

Architecture

 

Being part of the former second, even first fortification of the medieval city of Zürich, the building has an extremely irregular, octagonal floor plan, consisting of three former separate buildings. On its northeast facade a lounge corner with Gothic pointed arch windows is installed. The so-called Zum Langen Keller (Rindermarkt 26, 8001 Zürich) residential building was attached to the northwestern side of the tower even before 1300. From 1837 to 1839 the building was renewed. In the late 19th century, the property was in private hands and was once more widely rebuilt: The clock and bell were removed, on the south and north side new windows and a new roof were installed. The original clock tower was installed in 1541, in 1865 renewed and between 1964 and 1966 it was rebuilt as a distinctive clock tower.

 

Cultural heritage

 

The building is listed in the Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance as a Class B object of regional importance.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Zürich (zürichdeutsch Züri [ˈt͡sʏ̞rɪ, ˈt͡sʏrɪ, ˈt͡sy̞rɪ],[6] französisch Zurich [zyʁik], italienisch Zurigo [tsuˈriːɡo, dzu-], Rumantsch Grischun Turitg) ist eine schweizerische Stadt, politische Gemeinde sowie Hauptort des gleichnamigen Kantons.

 

Die Stadt Zürich ist mit 427'721 Einwohnern (Stand 31. Dezember 2022) die grösste Stadt der Schweiz und weist eine Bevölkerungsdichte von 4655 Einwohnern pro Quadratkilometer auf. Das Umland ist dicht besiedelt, so dass in der Agglomeration Zürich etwa 1,3 Millionen und in der Metropolitanregion Zürich etwa 1,83 Millionen Menschen leben. Der Bezirk Zürich ist mit dem Stadtgebiet identisch.

 

Die Stadt liegt im östlichen Schweizer Mittelland, an der Limmat am Ausfluss des Zürichsees. Ihre Einwohner werden Zürcher genannt (bzw. Stadtzürcher zur Differenzierung von den übrigen Einwohnern des Kantons).

 

Das aus der römischen Siedlung Turicum entstandene Zürich wurde 1262 freie Reichsstadt und 1351 Mitglied der Eidgenossenschaft. Die Stadt des Reformators Huldrych Zwingli wurde 1519 zum zweitwichtigsten (nach Wittenberg) Zentrum der Reformation. Bis heute gilt sie als Ausgangspunkt der weltweiten reformierten Kirche und der Täufer. Die Stadt erlebte im Industriezeitalter ihren Aufstieg zur heutigen Wirtschaftsmetropole der Schweiz.

 

Mit ihrem Hauptbahnhof, dem grössten Bahnhof der Schweiz, und dem Flughafen (auf dem Gebiet der Gemeinde Kloten) ist die Stadt Zürich ein kontinentaler Verkehrsknotenpunkt. Aufgrund der ansässigen Grossbanken (u. a. UBS, der Zürcher Kantonalbank und Credit Suisse) und Versicherungen (Zurich Insurance Group und Swiss Re) ist sie ein internationaler Finanzplatz und der grösste Finanzplatz der Schweiz, gefolgt von Genf und Lugano. Daneben beherbergt die Stadt mit der Eidgenössischen Technischen Hochschule Zürich und der Universität Zürich die zwei grössten universitären Hochschulen der Schweiz. Trotz der vergleichsweise geringen Einwohnerzahl wird Zürich zu den Weltstädten gezählt. Zürich ist das wichtigste Zentrum der Schweizer Medien- und Kreativbranche. Mit seiner Lage am Zürichsee, seiner gut erhaltenen mittelalterlichen Altstadt und einem vielseitigen Kulturangebot und Nachtleben ist es zudem ein Zentrum des Tourismus.

 

Seit Jahren wird Zürich neben Basel und Genf als eine der Städte mit der weltweit höchsten Lebensqualität und zugleich neben Genf mit den höchsten Lebenshaltungskosten weltweit gelistet. Zürich ist nach Monaco und Genf die Stadt mit der dritthöchsten Millionärsdichte weltweit.

 

Geografie

 

Zürich liegt auf 408 m ü. M. am unteren (nördlichen) Ende des Zürichsees im Tal der Limmat und im unteren Tal der Sihl, eingebettet zwischen den Höhen von Uetliberg im Westen und Zürichberg im Osten. Die Limmat entspringt dem See, während die westlich des Sees fliessende Sihl nördlich der Zürcher Altstadt beim Platzspitz in die Limmat mündet. Die Altstadt erstreckt sich beidseits der Limmat, die zunächst nordwärts fliesst und dann in einem Bogen allmählich nach Westen abbiegt.

 

Die einstige Stadt reichte nicht bis zur Sihl, sondern hatte als westliche Abgrenzung den im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert angelegten Schanzengraben. Damals wurde Wasser aus dem See abgeleitet und in einem Graben ausserhalb der Bastionen und Bollwerke zur Limmat geführt. Noch früher erstreckte sich die Stadt im Westen nur bis zum Fröschengraben, der ungefähr parallel zur Limmat verlief. Dieser Graben wurde 1864 zugeschüttet, um Raum für den Bau der Bahnhofstrasse zu schaffen, die vom heutigen Paradeplatz bis zum Rennweg dem Verlauf des einstigen Grabens folgt.

 

Geschichte

 

Frühgeschichte, Mittelalter und ältere Neuzeit

Im Unterschied zu den meisten anderen Schweizer Grossstädten stieg Zürich im Frühmittelalter in den Rang einer Stadt auf. In Turīcum gab es zwar bereits zur Römerzeit eine Zollstation, ein hadrianisches Heiligtum auf dem Grossen Hafner im untersten Seebecken beim Ausfluss der Limmat und ein Kastell, die zugehörige Siedlung kann aber noch nicht als Stadt bezeichnet werden. Das frühmittelalterliche, alemannische Zürich war eng verbunden mit dem Herzogtum Schwaben und zwei bedeutenden geistlichen Stiftungen der deutschen Könige, dem Grossmünster und dem Fraumünster, die dem Kult um die Stadtpatrone Felix und Regula geweiht waren. Nach dem Zerfall der zentralen Gewalt im Herzogtum Schwaben und dem Aussterben der Zähringer 1218 konnte sich Zürich den Status der Reichsunmittelbarkeit sichern; 1262 wurde auch die Reichsfreiheit der Bürgerschaft ausdrücklich bestätigt. Der Titel einer Reichsstadt bedeutete de facto die Unabhängigkeit der Stadt. De jure löste sich Zürich jedoch erst 1648 von der Oberhoheit des Kaisers des Heiligen Römischen Reiches.

 

Im Spätmittelalter erwarb und eroberte Zürich in seinem Umland bedeutende Territorien, die der Stadt bis 1798 politisch untergeordnet waren (siehe Territoriale Entwicklung Zürichs). Im Innern wurden die Geschicke Zürichs seit der Zunftrevolution durch Bürgermeister Rudolf Brun im Jahr 1336 durch den Stadtadel und die Handwerkervereinigungen (Zünfte) gemeinsam geleitet (Brunsche Zunftverfassung). Brun war auch verantwortlich für den Überfall von Rapperswil. 1351 schloss sich Zürich zur Sicherung seiner Unabhängigkeit gegen das aufstrebende süddeutsche Adelsgeschlecht der Habsburger der schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft an und wurde zusammen mit Bern zum Vorort dieses Staatenbundes.

 

Der wohl bis heute wichtigste Beitrag Zürichs zur Weltgeschichte war die Reformation von Huldrych Zwingli. Unter seiner geistigen Führung wurde seit 1519 Zürich zum reformierten Rom an der Limmat. Die Zürcher Bibel, eine der ersten deutschen Bibelübersetzungen, entstand in der Prophezei unter Zwingli, Leo Jud und weiteren Mitarbeitern 1524 bis 1525 und wurde vom Zürcher Buchdrucker Christoph Froschauer zuerst in Teilen und später als ganze Bibel herausgegeben.

 

Die Täuferbewegung nahm ihren Ausgangspunkt ab 1523 in Zürich unter Führung von Konrad Grebel, Felix Manz, Jörg Blaurock, Balthasar Hubmaier und weiteren Personen, die sich von Zwingli trennten und kurz darauf verfolgt und gefangen genommen wurden. Im Januar 1527 wurde Felix Manz in der Limmat ertränkt, viele Täufer flüchteten nach Schaffhausen oder ins Zürcher Oberland.

 

Heinrich Bullinger 1531–1575 und Rudolf Gwalther 1575–1586 konsolidierten als Antistes und Nachfolger von Zwingli die Reformation in Zürich und pflegten zahlreiche Kontakte europaweit. Während ihrer Zeit wurden viele evangelische Flüchtlinge aus dem Tessin, Italien, Frankreich und England aufgenommen. Diese trugen in der Folge durch Handwerk, Produktion noch unbekannter Textilien und Handel wesentlich zum wirtschaftlichen Gedeihen Zürichs bei.[38][39][40]

 

Zur Zeit der Hexenverfolgungen wurden in Zürich von 1487 bis 1701 Hexenprozesse gegen 79 Personen geführt. Im Hexenprozess 1701 wurden acht Menschen aus Wasterkingen wegen angeblicher Hexerei verurteilt. Regierungspräsident Markus Notter und Kirchenratspräsident Ruedi Reich verurteilten 2001 diese Justizmorde.

 

18. und 19. Jahrhundert

 

Das Zürich des 18. Jahrhunderts galt als «das grösste Rätsel deutscher Geistesgeschichte». Trotz relativ geringer Bevölkerungszahl entwickelte sich rund um Johann Jakob Bodmer neben dem wissenschaftlichen auch ein literarisches Zürich mit entscheidenden Beiträgen zur deutschen Literaturgeschichte.

 

Mit dem Untergang der freien Republik der Stadt Zürich nach dem Einmarsch der Franzosen in die Schweiz ging die Stadt zusammen mit dem ehemaligen Untertanenland im neuen Kanton Zürich auf, dessen Hauptort sie wurde. Im beginnenden 19. Jahrhundert kam es zwar zu einer Restauration der städtischen Vorherrschaft im Kanton, die jedoch von kurzer Dauer war.

 

Der Aufstieg Zürichs zum wirtschaftlichen Zentrum der Schweiz begann bereits mit der Textilindustrie im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert. Unter der politischen und wirtschaftlichen Führung der Liberalen, insbesondere von Alfred Escher, wurde die führende Rolle Zürichs ab 1846 durch die Gründung von zahlreichen Banken und Versicherungen auch auf den Finanz- und Dienstleistungssektor ausgedehnt. Seit dem Niedergang der Zürcher Industrie in der Nachkriegszeit hat die Bedeutung dieses Sektors noch zugenommen.

 

In den Jahren 1855 und 1867 starben in der Stadt Zürich in Folge prekärer hygienischer Verhältnisse in vielen Wohnungen ca. 500 Menschen an Cholera. 1867 wurde mit dem Bau einer Kanalisation begonnen. 1884 brach Typhus aus.

 

In der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts begann ein bis in die 1970er Jahre andauernder Bauboom, der Zürich von einer Kleinstadt zur Grossstadt mit all ihren Problemen wachsen liess. Das stürmische Wachstum beschränkte sich zuerst auf einen Um- und Neubau des Zentrums und erfasste zunehmend die umliegenden ländlichen Gemeinden. In zwei Eingemeindungswellen wurden 1893 und 1934 20 Landgemeinden mit der alten Stadtgemeinde zusammengefasst. Die Errichtung eines «Millionenzürich» scheiterte jedoch bis heute. Während nämlich ursprünglich die Finanzstärke der Stadt bzw. die leeren Kassen der Vororte Motor der freiwilligen Stadterweiterungen waren, sind heute die verbleibenden Vororte finanziell eher besser gestellt als die Stadt. Dies schlägt sich insbesondere in den Steuersätzen nieder.

 

Zwei ausgeprägte Wachstumswellen in den Jahren 1888–1910 sowie 1950–1970 entstanden durch Zuzüger aus dem Ausland. Im Jahr 1912 waren die Bewohner Zürichs zu einem Drittel Ausländer, und Zürich war wie ein grosser Teil der Deutschschweiz im Vorfeld des Ersten Weltkriegs deutschfreundlich, wobei Hochdeutsch zu sprechen in gehobenen Kreisen zum guten Ton gehörte.

 

20. Jahrhundert

 

In der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts stand Zürich politisch im Bann der Arbeiterbewegung. Schon vor dem Landesstreik 1918 war in Zürich die Konfrontation zwischen Bürgertum und Arbeiterschaft besonders heftig ausgefallen, da Zürich grosse Industriebetriebe mit tausenden von Arbeitern aufwies und zugleich eine Hochburg des Grossbürgertums war. Als 1928 die Sozialdemokratische Partei unter der Führung von David Farbstein erstmals eine absolute Mehrheit in Stadtrat (Exekutive) und Gemeinderat (Legislative) erlangte, wurde in der Zwischenkriegszeit das Rote Zürich zu einem Aushängeschild für die Regierungsfähigkeit der Sozialdemokratie. Trotzdem wurde gerade in Zürich 1939 die als Landi bekannt gewordene Landesausstellung zu einem Symbol für den Zusammenhalt und den Widerstandswillen der Schweiz im Zeichen der Geistigen Landesverteidigung gegen Hitlerdeutschland. Schliesslich wurde 1943 der Zürcher Stadtpräsident Ernst Nobs als erster Sozialdemokrat in den Bundesrat gewählt. In der Nachkriegszeit blieb Zürich Sammelbecken und Bühne für Protestbewegungen, wie 1968 anlässlich der Globus-Krawalle und 1980 für die Jugendunruhen. Noch heute ist der 1. Mai in Zürich jährlich von Auseinandersetzungen des autonomen «Schwarzen Blockes» mit der Polizei gekennzeichnet.

 

Ein Problem der Stadt war lange auch die offene Drogenszene. In der Mitte der 1980er Jahre wurde der Platzspitz weltweit als Needlepark bekannt. Er wurde am 5. Februar 1992 zwangsgeräumt und abgeriegelt, daraufhin verschob sich die Drogenszene an den stillgelegten Bahnhof Letten.

 

Das Areal des stillgelegten Bahnhofs Letten bot ab 1992 die Kulisse für die grösste offene Drogenszene Europas. Mehrere tausend Drogenabhängige aus dem In- und Ausland lebten hier oder besorgten sich ihren Stoff. Hundertschaften von Polizisten nahmen des Öfteren in der Anwesenheit von Kamerateams Razzien vor und versuchten so den Markt auszutrocknen. Diese Versuche blieben erfolglos und so wurde der Letten am 14. Februar 1995 polizeilich geräumt. Auswärtige Drogenabhängige wurden grösstenteils an ihre Herkunftsgemeinden respektive Wohnortgemeinden zurückgeführt, ausländische Abhängige zwangsausgeschafft. Die Reste der Drogenszene verlagerten sich zunehmend ins Gebiet entlang der Langstrasse. Zur Entschärfung der Situation trug dabei sehr stark der Versuch der staatlichen Heroinabgabe bei, so dass sich nicht umgehend eine neue Szene bildete. Heute ist die staatliche, ärztlich kontrollierte Drogenabgabe gesetzlich verankert und vom Volk per Referendum abgesegnet.

 

Die Langstrasse ist ein Zentrum des Zürcher Nachtlebens. Seit der Auflösung der offenen Drogenszenen wurde das Viertel zur Jahrtausendwende hin zum Zentrum des Drogenhandels. Die Kriminalitätsrate im Langstrassenquartier ist zwar weiterhin verhältnismässig hoch, jedoch verbesserte sich die Situation aufgrund verschiedener Projekte der öffentlichen Hand. Heute hat sich die Situation stabilisiert und der Stadtteil ist zu einer festen Grösse im Kultur- und Nachtleben Zürichs geworden. Nach wie vor ist die Stadt Anziehungspunkt für Drogenkonsumenten aus den benachbarten Kantonen.

 

Gegenwart

 

In den 1980er Jahren war Zürich in einem Teufelskreis zwischen der Nachfrage nach mehr Bürofläche in der Innenstadt, der Stadtflucht und der drohenden Verslumung ganzer Stadtkreise wegen der Drogenprobleme gefangen. Massnahmen zur Attraktivitätssteigerung der Innenstadt wie die Verkehrsbefreiung des Niederdorfs konnten nicht verhindern, dass die Innenstadt Zürichs immer unattraktiver wurde. Veränderungen schienen unmöglich – 1986 brachte die damalige Baudirektorin Ursula Koch mit ihrem berühmtgewordenen Satz «Zürich ist gebaut» die Perspektivlosigkeit der Politik in Bezug auf die weitere Zukunft Zürichs zum Ausdruck. Erst Mitte der 1990er Jahre konnte die Blockade überwunden werden, zuerst durch eine neue Bau- und Zonenordnung 1996 und die Liberalisierung des Gastgewerbegesetzes 1997. Besonders letzteres wirkte enorm belebend auf das Nachtleben Zürichs und liess innerhalb kürzester Zeit unzählige neue und innovative Restaurants, Bars und Diskotheken aus dem Boden schiessen. 1998 konnte unter dem neuen Baudirektor Elmar Ledergerber (von 2002 bis April 2009 Stadtpräsident) die jahrelang nur langsam vorankommende Neugestaltung der Industriebrachen in Zürich-West und in Oerlikon beschleunigt werden, so dass sich bis heute an beiden Standorten trendige und moderne neue Stadtquartiere entwickeln konnten. Bis 2020 entsteht westlich des Hauptbahnhofs das neue Quartier Europaallee.

 

Im Tourismusbereich trat Zürich in den 2000er Jahren (bis 2011) mit dem Zusatz «Downtown Switzerland» auf.

 

Wirtschaft

 

Zürich gilt als das Wirtschaftszentrum der Schweiz. Der gesamte Wirtschaftsraum in und um Zürich wird auch als Greater Zurich Area bezeichnet. International zeichnet er sich insbesondere durch tiefe Steuersätze und eine hohe Lebensqualität aus, weshalb einige internationale Konzerne einen Sitz in Zürich haben. 2018 waren 5,4 % der Bevölkerung Millionäre (gerechnet in US-Dollar). Zürich ist damit, hinter Monaco und Genf, die Stadt mit der dritthöchsten Millionärsdichte weltweit. Aufgrund ihrer internationalen wirtschaftlichen Bedeutung wird die Stadt Zürich oft zu den Global- bzw. Weltstädten gezählt.

 

Die Wirtschaft ist sehr stark auf den Dienstleistungssektor ausgerichtet, in dem knapp 90 % der Zürcher Beschäftigten tätig sind. Im Industriesektor sind rund 10 % tätig und in der Landwirtschaft sind es heute weniger als 1 %. Bei einer erwerbstätigen Wohnbevölkerung von 200'110 (Stand: Volkszählung 2000) weist die Stadt 318'543 Arbeitsplätze vor. Die Mehrheit der Beschäftigten (56 %) waren Pendler aus anderen Gemeinden. Neben den rund 178'000 Zupendelnden gibt es rund 39'000 aus der Stadt Wegpendelnde.

 

Der wichtigste Wirtschaftszweig in Zürich ist der Finanzdienstleistungssektor, der am Paradeplatz sein Zentrum hat. Die beiden bis 2023 selbständigen Grossbanken UBS, die weltweit grösste Vermögensverwalterin, und Credit Suisse, die Schweizerische Nationalbank, die Zürcher Kantonalbank, die traditionsreiche Privatbank Julius Bär sowie etliche kleinere Bankinstitute haben ihren Sitz in der Stadt. Auch über 100 Auslandbanken sind in Zürich vertreten. Auf dem Bankenplatz Zürich sind rund 45'000 Personen beschäftigt, knapp die Hälfte aller Bankangestellten der Schweiz. Eine grosse Bedeutung hat das Privatkundengeschäft, da über 25 % der weltweit grenzüberschreitend angelegten Vermögenswerte in Zürich verwaltet werden (schweizweit sind es rund ein Drittel). Die schweizerische Post betrieb von 1920 bis 1996 in Zürich ein Rohrpostsystem, zu deren diskreten Kunden auch die Banken zählten. Auch die Börse SIX Swiss Exchange spielt international eine wesentliche Rolle und verstärkt die Bedeutung des Finanzplatzes Zürich. Sie gehört zu den technologisch führenden Börsen der Welt. Im Weiteren repräsentiert Zürich weltweit den drittgrössten Versicherungsmarkt. Swiss Re, eine der weltweit grössten Rückversicherungen, und Swiss Life, der grösste Lebensversicherungskonzern der Schweiz, haben ihre Hauptsitze in Zürich. Eine weitere Versicherungsgesellschaft von internationaler Bedeutung ist die Zurich Insurance Group. Der gesamte Finanzdienstleistungssektor generiert nahezu 50 % der Steuereinnahmen der Stadt Zürich.

 

Als zweitwichtigster Wirtschaftszweig folgen die unternehmensbezogenen Dienstleistungen wie Rechts- und Unternehmensberatung, Informatik oder Immobilienverwaltung. Zu erwähnen ist etwa das Unternehmen IBM Schweiz, das in Rüschlikon ein bedeutendes Forschungslabor betreibt. Seit 2004 betreibt zudem Google in Zürich das europäische Forschungszentrum. Auf dem ehemaligen Areal der Hürlimann AG wurde der zweitgrösste Standort des Unternehmens nach Mountain View eingerichtet.

 

Infolge des Strukturwandels hat die Bedeutung der produzierenden Industrie und der Bauwirtschaft abgenommen. Allerdings haben immer noch bedeutende Industriefirmen Niederlassungen in der Stadt Zürich, so zum Beispiel Siemens. Der Elektrotechnikkonzern ABB hat zudem seinen Hauptsitz in Zürich.

 

Aus den übrigen Wirtschaftszweigen sind insbesondere zu erwähnen: der grösste Schweizer Detailhandelskonzern Migros, der weltgrösste Schokoladenproduzent Barry Callebaut, die beiden grössten Automobilhändler AMAG-Gruppe und Emil Frey Gruppe, sowie der grösste Schweizer Reisekonzern Kuoni.

 

Nicht zuletzt dank der kulturellen Vielfalt in Zürich ist auch der Tourismus in den letzten Jahren ein bedeutender Wirtschaftsfaktor geworden. Jedes Jahr empfängt die Stadt Zürich rund neun Millionen Tagestouristen sowie zwei Millionen Übernachtungsgäste, von denen sich eine Mehrheit auch geschäftlich in Zürich aufhält.

 

Lebensqualität

 

Zürich galt bis zum Jahr 2008 siebenmal in Folge als Stadt mit der höchsten Lebensqualität weltweit. In der Studie «Worldwide Quality of Living Survey» («Studie zur weltweiten Lebensqualität») untersuchte die renommierte Beratungsfirma Mercer 215 Grossstädte anhand von 39 Kriterien, darunter Freizeit, Erholung, Sicherheit, Sauberkeit, politische und ökonomische Stabilität, sowie medizinische Versorgung. Seit 2009 rangiert Zürich neu an zweiter Stelle hinter Wien. Zudem wird Zürich als eine der Städte mit den weltweit höchsten Lebenshaltungskosten gelistet.

 

In einer Studie der Globalization and World Cities Research Group an der britischen Universität Loughborough landete Zürich in der Kategorie der Beta-Weltstädte auf dem ersten Rang, zusammen mit San Francisco, Sydney und Toronto.

 

Zürich besitzt die Auszeichnung Energiestadt Gold für eine nachhaltige Energiepolitik. Die offiziellen Gebäude im Eigentum der Stadt Zürich werden in der Regel nach Minergie gebaut.

 

Um die Lebensqualität für Geringverdiener im Hinblick auf den Wohnungsmarkt zu verbessern, hat die Stadt Zürich die Stiftungen Wohnungen für kinderreiche Familien und Alterswohnungen der Stadt Zürich gegründet.

 

Kunst, Kultur und Tourismus

 

Allgemeine Sehenswürdigkeiten

 

Die meisten Sehenswürdigkeiten Zürichs sind in und um die Altstadt gruppiert und deswegen am einfachsten zu Fuss oder mit kurzen Fahrten in Tram oder Bus erreichbar. Neben Gebäuden und Denkmälern ist auch die Lage Zürichs am Zürichsee einen Blick wert. Am Bellevue oder am Bürkliplatz bietet sich bei gutem Wetter ein schöner Blick auf den See und die Alpen. Beide Seeufer mit ihren Promenaden und Parkanlagen sind dann jeweils Anziehungspunkte für viele Einheimische und Touristen.

 

Der Zürcher Hausberg Uetliberg ist mit der Sihltal-Zürich-Uetliberg-Bahn (SZU) zu erreichen, die ab dem Hauptbahnhof verkehrt.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Der Grimmenturm ist ein mittelalterlicher Wohnturm im Quartier Rathaus (Kreis 1) der Schweizer Stadt Zürich.

 

Geschichte

 

Der Grimmenturm wurde ursprünglich von der Familie Bilgeri nach dem Jahr 1250, vermutlich um 1280 als Wohnturm erstellt. Urkundlich erwähnt wurde er erstmals im Jahre 1324.

 

16. Jahrhundert

 

Zuerst und bis nach 1551 war im Grimmenturm das 1533 geschaffene «Obmannamt» untergebracht. Nach der Reformation in der Stadtrepublik war es eines der wichtigsten Ämter. Es hatte den Überschuss zu verwalten, welcher aus den Erträgen der aufgehobenen Klöster hervorging.[2]

 

20./21. Jahrhundert

 

Zu zeitgenössischen Bewohnern zählt (Stand 2019) seit 1986 der Schweizer Filmemacher Fredi M. Murer.

 

(Wikipedia)

english

 

Tjörnin (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈtʰjœrtn̥ɪn], The Pond) is a prominent small lake in central Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland. Most visitors to the city pass along its shore, as it is situated in the city centre next to the Reykjavik City Hall and several museums. Tjörnin means "the lake" or "the pond". Tarn, meaning "mountain lake", is a northern English dialect word derived from the Norse word tjörn and its genitive/plural tjarnar. Bird feeding on the lake shore, a popular pastime, has led to the lake being called "the biggest bread soup in the world" (stærsta brauðsupa í heimi). Tjörnin was the setting for scenes in the 2010 Icelandic movie Gauragangur.

 

Geography

Tjörnin is described as a lagoon next to a barrier beach. The lake's formation is attributed to the lagoon which was part of a reef that existed at the present location of Hafnarstræti (a city street, "Harbour Street").This street, which passes through the business section of the city, lies on the southern side of the lake and leads to the gardens. The Vatnsmýri marsh feeds the lake. There is a landscape park that runs from north to south, with a variety of greenery. The outflow from the lake is Lækjarin, an open water channel that flows through the city centre. During the winter, the lake usually freezes and is used for ice skating. Both banks of the lake are paved and terminate at Tjarnargarður, a new science park. The southern shoreline of the lake has well-tended parks decorated with statues. The winding paths are frequented by joggers and cyclists. Notice boards along the shore give daily reports of the numbers of birds on the lake.

 

Avifauna

 

The lake is frequented by 40-50 species of water birds, including the Arctic Tern, Eider, Gadwall, Greylag Goose and other goose species, mallard, seagulls, and scaup. Whooper Swan are viewable within close proximity. The Arctic Tern's arrival heralds the start of summer. Birders from all over the North Atlantic come to pursue their hobby in the lake area. The lake is also a favorite place to take young children to watch and feed birds. The popularity of bird feeding has led to the lake being poetically referred to as "the biggest bread soup in the world" (stærsta brauðsupa í heimi).

 

Cityscape

 

The earliest urban development of Reykjavík took place between the lake and the northern coast of the peninsula. Over the years, the lake became an integral part of the urban environment. Development of the city has centered around the lake. The postmodern City Hall, Ráðhús, stands in the northwest corner on the edge of the lake: it looks as if it is rising out of the lake. Other notable buildings in the area are the Supreme Court, Reykjavík Art Museum, National Museum, Living Art Museum, Reykjavík City Library, National Theatre, Alþingi (the Parliament of Iceland), and the Domkirkja cathedral, apart from a shopping complex and restaurants. Several buildings belonging to the University of Iceland are also close by.

 

There is a bridge over the Tjornin Lake made of wood that was originally built in 1920.

 

Conservation

 

Vatnsmýrin Reserve, the protected area around Tjörnin, has deteriorated in recent years as evidenced by a drop in the variety of reported birds. Part of the issue is attributed to the lack of appropriate nesting grounds due to invasive flora species as well as the presence of animals in the reserve. Action plans have been initiated jointly by the Nordic House, the University of Iceland, and Reykjavík City Council, to improve the reserve's condition with appropriate wetland vegetation, construction of embankments and sedimentation ponds to improve the water flow, as well as some desilting of the lake.

  

Icelandic

 

Tjörnin (eða Reykjavíkurtjörn) er grunnt stöðuvatn í miðbæ Reykjavíkur. Vatnið í Tjörnina kemur úr Vatnsmýrinni sunnan við hana og rennur úr henni um Lækinn sem rennur undir Lækjargötu til sjávar í víkinni. Við Tjörnina standa margar merkilegar byggingar, þar á meðal Ráðhús Reykjavíkur, Iðnaðarmannahúsið, Tjarnarskóli, Listasafn Íslands og Fríkirkjan í Reykjavík. Við Tjörnina er einnig Hljómskálagarðurinn, eini lystigarðurinn í miðborg Reykjavíkur. Í og við Tjörnina er mikið fuglalíf. Vinsæl afþreying hjá foreldrum með ung börn er að fara niður að Tjörn og „gefa öndunum“ (þ.e. brauðmola).

 

Tjörnin er dæmi um sjávarlón þar sem sandur og möl hefur myndað malarrif sem lokar smám saman af lónið. Gamli miðbærinn í Reykjavík stendur á rifinu. Rifið var ekki fullmyndað fyrr en fyrir um það bil 1200 árum og þá hófst lífræn setmyndun í Tjörninni en undir þeim setlögum eru sand- og malarlög. Þegar lífræn efni tóku að safnast saman á botni Tjarnarinnar gætti lítilla seltuáhrifa og grunnvatn hefur streymt þangað frá Vatnsmýrinni og holtunum í kring. Tjarnarbakkarnir voru grónir gulstör (carex lyngbyei) og öðrum tegundum af hálfgrasaætt en svo komu tímabil þegar seltan verður meiri þá hörfuðu háplöntur. Um 1900 mun engum fugli hafa verið vært á Tjörninni, allir fuglar voru drepnir. Andaveiðar voru eitthvað stundaðar á Tjörninni allt fram á annan áratug síðustu aldar. Með lögreglusamþykkt frá 19. apríl 1919 var bannað að skjóta í borgarlandinu. Um sama leyti var sett siglingabann en áður höfðu margir átt báta og vegna umferðar þreifst ekkert kríuvarp í Tjarnarhólmanum fyrir 1919. Með skotveiðibanninu og siglingabanninu fjölgaði mikið stokköndum og kríum.

Muggia (Venetian, Triestine dialect: Muja; German: Mulgs; Friulian: Mugle; Slovene: Milje) is an Italian town and comune in the south-west of the Province of Trieste, in the region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia on the border with Slovenia. Lying on the eastern flank of the Gulf of Trieste in the northern Adriatic Sea, Muggia is the only Italian port town in Istria. The town's architecture is marked by its Venetian and Austrian history, and its harbour hosts a modern 500-berth marina for yachts (Porto San Rocco).

 

Muggia lies in northern Istria. Its territory, limited on the sea-side by a shoreline of more than 7 kilometres (4 mi) featuring a coastal road and on the border side by a hill system, Monti di Muggia, including Mt. Castellier, Mt. S. Michele, Mt. Zuc and Monte d'Oro, that dominate over a vast landscape of Triestinian and Istrian coast, is characterized by a rich sub-continental vegetation of both Karstic and Istrian type.

 

It has a border crossing, known as San Bartolomeo, with Slovenia and the extreme east of the comune at Lazaretto. The Slovenian border crossing is called Lazaret in the Municipality of Koper.

Muggia was attested in historical sources as Mugla in AD 933. The origin of the name Muggia is uncertain; it may have arisen from Latin mūtila 'cut short, mutilated', in reference to a short projection from the land or a cape (cf. the cape north of Zadar, attested in Latin as Muchla bona in AD 1250, now Croatian Oštri rat). Another possibility is derivation from Latin *mūcla 'milestone', and another hypothesis is that it comes from Vulgar Latin *Lamūc(l)a 'small swamp'. The Slovene name Milje was borrowed from Proto-Romance Mugla (developing via *Mygla > *Migla > Milje).

 

Muggia originated as a prehistoric fortified village (castelliere), around 8th-7th century BC. The territory was conquered in 178–177 BC by the Romans, who created here a settlement (Castrum Muglae). After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Muggia was under Ostrogoth, Lombard, Byzantine, Avar and Frank dominations, until, in 931, king Hugh of Italy donated it to the Patriarch of Aquileia.

 

Before the year 1000 a new settlement was built on the seashore. After the 13th century the new village, now grown to the status of city, pronounced itself a municipality and defined its territory as bordering with those of Trieste and Koper, but stayed still politically bound to the Patriarchy of Aquileia. From this period are the cathedral and the city hall, the latter having been rebuilt in the last century.[clarification needed] In 1420 it became part of the Republic of Venice.

 

After Venice's fall in 1797, Muggia became part of the Austrian Empire, under which it developed an important naval shipbuilding industry which flourished until after World War II. Throughout the Austro-Hungarian period it remained part of the Margravate of Istria, first within the Kingdom of Illyria and then, after 1861, within the Austrian Littoral. The municipality of Muggia historically extended further south than today, including several settlements that are now part of Slovenia: Ankaran, Hrvatini, Elerji, Škofije, and Plavje.

 

After World War I and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, the town was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy and incorporated into the Province of Trieste. In the 1930s, the area developed a strong Communist underground activity against Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime. In 1945, it was occupied by the Yugoslav People's Army and from 1947 to 1954 it was part of the Free Territory of Trieste, a formally independent territory directly administered by the United Nations. The territory was internally divided into two zones ruled by military governors - Muggia ended up in the northern Zone A ruled by Anglo-Americans, while the southern Zone B was ruled by the Yugoslav army. In 1954 the two zones were handed over to Italian and Yugoslav civilian governments and de facto annexed by the two countries in an arrangement finally formalized in the 1975 Treaty of Osimo, which established the former borders between Zones as the new Italy-Yugoslavia international border. Following the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s it formed the border between Italy and the newly independent Slovenia. Following Slovenia's accession to the European Union in May 2004 and the passport-free Schengen Area in January 2008, all border controls have been removed, making the Italian-Slovenian border which runs just south and east of Muggia, practically invisible to travellers.

Muggia provides many evident traces of its Venetian traditions and origin, as showed by the dialect, the gastronomic traditions, the gothic-venetian style of some houses, the devious "calli", the loggias, the ogive arches, the ancient coats of arms on the façades but mostly the main square, a true Venetian "campiello".

 

Memories of its early ages include an important pre-historic "castelliere" on Mt. Castellier (S. Barbara) and Roman (Archaeological Park of Castrum Muglae) and medieval remains in Muggia Vecchia (Old Muggia), once one of the guarding castles that in the 10th century were built to defend the Istrian border against the invasion of the Hungars.

 

The Castle of Muggia, destroyed in 1353 by the Triestines, retains several remains of the previous period such as the ruins of the walls. A tower dating back to 1374 was due to the Patriarch of Aquileia Marquard of Muggia. Later in 1735, under the government of the Republic of Venice, it was restored, but it was totally abandoned during the following century. The Castle was restored by its current owners, the sculptor Villi Bossi and his wife Gabriella, and may be visited upon request.

 

The most important art attraction is the little basilica of Santa Maria Assunta (10th-13th century), housing frescoes from the 14th-15th centuries.

   

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From 19 to 21 August 2016 in the Sicilian town of Ali, there was the so-called "Great Feast" ("Festa Ranni" in Sicilian dialect) in honor of their patron Saint Agatha.

 

The feast, which lasts three days, it is called "Feast Ranni" (Great Feast) to emphasize the exceptional nature of the event, since it falls only once every ten years. Preparations officially begin early as a month before and are involved both the "ciliary" (ie families entrusted from time to time, which shall prepare at their own expense at the solemn celebration for Her Patron Saint), both the "Deputation of St. Agatha" collaborating with the parish priest, plays a role during the organizational phase.

 

The passage of the Holy Relics of the Martyr Agatha in the village of Ali (Messina) in their return to Catania, on the morning of August 17 of the year 1126, it was for this Sicilian center an extraordinary and grandiose event, that led to the building of the great Mother Church , which took place in the sixteenth century; then the celebration of the annual festival but especially the so-called "Great Feast", which recalls the three-day feasts taking place in the city of Catania.

  

We don't known the origins of this ancient feast, whose complex ritual was entrusted, almost to the present day only to the oral tradition; Father Seraphim of Ali (junior) speaks in 1754, in his book "Of story of Ali and his territory".

Long and laborious preparations are assigned to two groups each formed by twelve families belonging to two different districts of the country, they receive instructions to draw up each other's "Ciliium of Bread" and the other the "Cilium of Girls". These families are appointed by the Deputation of St. Agatha (Advisory body that exercises within the Church Mother, economic and organizational functions) and by the parish priest.

The names of the families of "ciliary", as they are called, are made known by the parish priest, after the morning Mass of the 5 February of the current year.

  

Traditionally the families of "Ciliium of Girls" traveling in neighboring countries (Fiumedinisi, Itala and Ali Terme) with the sound of the accordion and tambourine, to communicate the imminent date of the festivities and take offerings and gold jewelry in part borrowed, in part donated, to adorn the "Cilium of Girls".

Liturgical events are intertwined with the traditional folk feast. The Feast attracts many faithful and many emigrants who, for the occasion, return to their native village of Ali. The last day of celebration the two Ciliums and the float of St. Agatha are carried in procession through the city.

 

Postscript: This report is dedicated to the German family of Jewish origin, consisting of father, mother and two children, on a boat they decided to take his own life to escape their Nazi persecutors, by binding them all together, and weighted with stones, they threw themselves off the waters of Mazzaro (Taormina); they were later fished out by now without life, by local fishermen: in the "graveyard of foreigners" of Taormina, now for ever and ever close together, they rest in peace.

  

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Dal 19 al 21 Agosto 2016 nel paese Siciliano di Alì (Messina) si è svolta una caratteristica festa, della quale propongo un report fotografico.

 

La Festa , durata infatti tre giorni, è denominata "Festa Ranni" (Festa Grande) per porre in risalto l'eccezionalità del fenomeno e la grandiosità dell’evento, poiché essa ricade una sola volta ogni dieci anni. I preparativi iniziano ufficialmente già un mese prima e vedono coinvolti sia i “ciliari” (cioè le famiglie incaricate di volta in volta e scelte a rotazione, che provvedono a preparare a proprie spese la festa solenne per la Santa Patrona, con l’allestimento dei due “cilii” ovvero le due “vare” anche intese come “cerei”), sia la “Deputazione di S. Agata” che collaborando con il Parroco, svolge un ruolo durante la fase organizzativa.

 

Il passaggio delle Sacre Reliquie della Martire catanese dal paese di Ali (Messina) nel rientro loro verso Catania, la mattina del 17 agosto dell’anno 1126 , fu per questo centro Siciliano un evento straordinario e grandioso, che portarono alla edificazione della grande Chiesa Madre, avvenuta nel XVI secolo, quindi alla celebrazione della festa annuale ma soprattutto della così detta “Festa Ranni”, che ricorda i tre giorni di festa che avvengono nella città di Catania.

  

Oscure sono le origini e le antiche modalità di svolgimento di questa festa, il cui complesso rituale è stato affidato, fin quasi ai nostri giorni esclusivamente alla tradizione orale, Padre Serafino d’Alì (junior) ne parla nel 1754, nel suo libro “Della storia di Alì e suo territoro”.

Lunghi e laboriosi sono i preparativi affidati a due gruppi formati ciascuno da dodici famiglie appartenenti a due diversi quartieri del paese, che ricevono l’incarico di allestire l'uno il "Cilio del Pane" e l'altro il "Cilio delle Ragazze". Queste famiglie vengono nominate dalla Deputazione di S. Agata (Organo consultivo che esercita all’interno della Chiesa Madre, funzioni economico-organizzative) e dal Parroco, e la loro scelta segue una rotazione tale che nel corso degli anni nessun nucleo familiare, e di conseguenza nessun quartiere, ne rimane escluso.

 

I nomi dei "Ciliari", così vengono denominati, vengono resi noti dal Parroco, al termine della messa mattutina del 5 Febbraio dell’anno prestabilito per la Festa.

 

Come già detto sopra, ogni gruppo provvede autonomamente ad allestire l'uno il "Cilio del Pane" l'altro il "Cilio delle Ragazze".

  

Per tradizione le 12 famiglie di “ciliari delle ragazze”, anche loro sempre accompagnate da un nutrito gruppo (soprattutto giovani), si recano nei paesi vicini (Fiumedinisi, Itala e Alì Terme) a suon di fisarmonica e tamburello, per comunicare l’imminente data dei festeggiamenti e per raccogliere offerte e monili d’oro in parte in prestito, in parte ceduti, per adornare il “cilio delle ragazze”.

Le manifestazioni liturgiche si intrecciano con quelle folkloristiche; la festa richiama numerosi fedeli e parecchi emigrati che, per l’occasione, fanno ritorno al paese natio di Alì. L’ultimo giorno di festa i due cilii ed il fercolo di S. Agata vengono portati in processione lungo le vie cittadine.

Post scriptum: questo report lo dedico alla famiglia tedesca di origine ebrea, composta da padre, madre e da due bambini, che su di una barca decise di togliersi la vita per sfuggire ai loro persecutori nazisti, essi legandosi tutti tra di loro, ed appesantiti con pietre, si gettarono al largo delle acque di Mazzarò (Taormina); essi vennero poi ripescati, oramai senza vita, dai pescatori locali: nel “cimitero degli stranieri” di Taormina riposano le loro spoglie mortali.

   

Name

In the twelfth century, Olomuc and Olmuc were the first handed down name forms. In the fifteenth century an alleged first form Juliomontium (Julius hill) was assumed, according to Julius Caesar as the alleged founder. The original meaning is unclear. In the Czech, Olomouc means 'bare mountain' (Old Czech holy, 'bald' and mauc 'mountain'). The name of the city is in the Moravian-Haná dialect, a subgroup of the Middle-Moravian dialects of the Czech, Olomóc or Holomóc, in German language Ölmütz, in Polish Ołomuniec and in Latin Eburum or Olomucium.

History

Beginnings

At the end of the second century there was a Roman army camp, the northernmost known in Central Europe. Up to the fifth century there was a Germanic settlement.

In the late 7th century a first Slavic settlement arose in today's Povel district. Around 830 this was destroyed. A new castle was built on the Peter's hill (Předhrad), which was probably one of the important castles of the Moravian empire. In the ninth century three churches were built.

Přemyslidenstaat (Přemyslid dynasty)

Olomouc was first mentioned in writing in 1017 when Moravia became part of the Bohemian state of Přemysliden. In 1055 it was the seat of a separate part of the Principality. In 1063 the bishopric of Olomouc was founded by Vratislav II. Around 1070 a new castle was built. In 1077 the monastery Hradisko was founded. In 1126 Heinrich Zdik became a bishop.

At the beginning of the 13th century, the last prince of Olomouz died, Moravia was united and placed under the jurisdiction of a Margrave of the Přemyslids. In 1248, Olomouc was first mentioned as a royal town. In 1306, King Wenceslas III resided during a campaign to Poland in Olomouc, and was murdered here, which resulted in the extinction of the Přemyslids dynasty in the male family tree. The city developed economically very quickly and became the capital of Moravia.

In the Hussite wars, Olomouc was an integral part of the Catholic side. In the succession of the Charterhouse Dolein, which had been lost in the Hussite wars, the Charterhouse Olomouc was founded in 1443, which existed until the abolition in 1782. In the 16th century numerous palaces were built in the Renaissance style. In 1566 the Jesuits came to Olomouc. They founded a school which was raised to a university in 1573. In 1588, the bishop became an imperial prince.

17th and 18th centuries

In the Thirty Years' War the town was taken by the Swedes in 1642 and occupied for eight years. After the Thirty Years' War, the largely destroyed and depopulated city lost the status of the Moravian capital and abandoned it to Brno. Since a great deal of damage had been caused by fires, a detailed "fire extinguishing order" was issued in 1711, in which a number of preventive measures were also discussed.

On 26 December 1741, the city was occupied by the Prussians during the First Silesian War. After this event the fortifications were extensively expanded. A second siege by the Prussians in 1758 withstood the new fortification. In 1777, the diocese became an archbishopric.

In 1794-1797 the prominent French-American soldier and politician Marquis Lafayette was interned in Olomouc as a political prisoner of the Donaumonarchy, after being captured in Flanders by the French coalition in 1792, and then, for the time being, imprisoned by Prussia.

19th century

In 1841, the city received a railway connection. In the middle of 1845, the railway from Olomouc to Prague ("Northern State Railway") was put into operation (Olomouc-Moravská Třebová, Moravská Třebová-Prague). In 1848, the Archbishop's Palace housed the Imperial Court, which had fled here because of the revolution in Vienna. Emperor Ferdinand I handed over the government to the eighteen-year-old Francis Joseph I on December 2, 1848. On 29 November 1850, the German Confederation under Austrian leadership was restored in Olomouc by the Agreement of Olomouc (also known as the Olomouc Treaty) between Prussia, Austria and Russia. In the years 1850 to 1866 the fortification systems were extended again. In 1886, the fortress status was abolished. 1899 drove in the city the first tram.

20th century

After the collapse of the Austrian Empire in 1918 and the founding of Czechoslovakia, the Czech citizens became majority, which included, among other things, the integration of the two towns of Hodolina and Nová ulice, as well as eleven other municipalities (Bělidla, Černovír, Hejčín, Chválkovice, Lazce, Nové Sady, Nový Svět, Neředín, Pavlovičky, Povel and Řepčín) in 1919. In 1921 lived in Olomouc 57,206 inhabitants.

On March 15, 1939, the city, as well as the other areas of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, erected on the same day by the German Reich, was occupied by the Wehrmacht. As early as 1939, the Olomouc University was closed by the German occupying forces. It was not until 1946 that it was restored under the name Palacký University of Olomouc.

The German-speaking population was expelled from Olomouc in 1945/1946. Their assets were confiscated by the Beneš decree 108, the assets of the Protestant church were liquidated by the Beneš decree 131, and the Catholic churches were expropriated.

In the 1970s and 1980s, a number of prefabricated housing estates were built in the peripheral areas.

Since 1971, the entire old town has been protected as a historic preservation reserve. Floods in 1997 made the city very vulnerable, about a third of the city area was flooded. In the year 2000, the Trinity Column was included in the UNESCO World Heritage list. According to the administrative reform of 2000 the former district town with the establishment of the Olomouc region became its administrative seat.

Jews in Olomouc

The synagogue in Olomouc

The first Jews settled in Olomouc as early as 906. From the year 1060 they had to live in a ghetto and bear a yellow identification mark. In 1454 all Jews from Olomouc were expelled. This law was valid until 1848.

The Olomouc Synagogue was built between 1895 and 1897. On the night of March 15, 1939, after the occupation by the Wehrmacht, the synagogue was lit and burnt down. At the same time about 800 Jews were arrested and later deported to the Dachau concentration camp. Some of the synagogue 's benches were removed, serving as church benches in a village church near Prostějov and were finally put up in the renovated synagogue in Krnov in 2004. Some of them are now in the Synagogue of Loštice and are reminiscent of the Jewish citizens murdered in concentration camps. The seat of honor is dedicated to Berthold Oppenheim, the Rabbi of Olomouc and Loštice.

During the period of National Socialism, 3,489 people were deported to the Theresienstadt Ghetto in five transports, on 26 and 30 June 1942, on July 4, 1942, and on March 7. Only 285 Jews of the city population survived. This was the end of the Jewish life in Olomouc for a long time. Since 2011, by artist Gunter Demnig Stolpersteine (stumbling blocks) have been and still are being laid to the memory of murdered Jews in Olomouc. Olomouc is one of the cities with the most stumbling blocks in the Czech Republic (as of 2016) with Prague and Brno.

Only since 1989 there has been a revival of the Jewish cultic life in the city. In 1991, an independent Jewish community was established with a field of activity for the districts of Olomouc, Šumperk, Jeseník, Bruntál and Přerov.

 

Name

Im 12. Jahrhundert waren Olomuc und Olmuc die ersten überlieferten Namensformen. Im 15. Jahrhundert wurde eine angebliche erste Form Juliomontium (Juliusberg) vermutet, nach Julius Caesar als angeblichem Gründer. Die ursprüngliche Bedeutung ist unklar. Im Tschechischen bedeutet Olomouc ‚kahler Berg‘ (alttschech. holy ‚kahl‘ und mauc ‚Berg‘). Der Name der Stadt lautet im mährisch-hannakischen Dialekt, einer Untergruppe der mittelmährischen Dialekte des Tschechischen, Olomóc oder Holomóc, auf Deutsch Olmütz, auf Polnisch Ołomuniec und auf Lateinisch Eburum oder Olomucium.

Geschichte

Anfänge

Ende des 2. Jahrhunderts befand sich hier ein römisches Heerlager, das nördlichste bekannte in Mitteleuropa. Bis ins 5. Jahrhundert gab es eine germanische Besiedelung.

Im späten 7. Jahrhundert entstand eine erste slawische Siedlung im heutigen Ortsteil Povel. Um 830 wurde diese zerstört. Es entstand eine neue Burg auf dem Petersberg (Předhrad), die nach ihrer Größe vermutlich zu den wichtigen Burgen des Mährerreiches zählte. Im 9. Jahrhundert wurden drei Kirchen gebaut.

Přemyslidenstaat

Olomouc wurde im Jahr 1017 erstmals schriftlich erwähnt, als Mähren Teil des böhmischen Staates der Přemysliden wurde. 1055 war es Sitz eines eigenen Teilfürstentums. 1063 wurde das Bistum Olmütz durch Vratislav II. gegründet. Um 1070 entstand eine neue Burg. 1077 wurde das Kloster Hradisko gegründet. 1126 wurde Heinrich Zdik zum Bischof.

Anfang des 13. Jahrhunderts starb der letzte Olmützer Fürst, Mähren wurde vereint und einem Markgrafen aus dem Geschlecht der Přemysliden unterstellt. Zum Jahr 1248 wird Olomouc erstmals als Königsstadt erwähnt. 1306 hielt sich König Wenzel III. während eines Feldzuges nach Polen in Olmütz auf und wurde hier ermordet, wodurch die Dynastie der Přemysliden im Mannesstamm erlosch. Die Stadt entwickelte sich wirtschaftlich sehr schnell und wurde zur Hauptstadt Mährens.

In den Hussitenkriegen war Olmütz fester Bestandteil der katholischen Seite. In der Nachfolge der Kartause Dolein, die in den Hussitenkriegen untergegangen war, wurde 1443 die Kartause Olmütz gegründet, die bis zur Aufhebung 1782 bestand. Im 16. Jahrhundert entstanden zahlreiche Paläste im Renaissancestil. 1566 kamen die Jesuiten nach Olmütz. Diese gründeten eine Schule, welche 1573 zur Universität erhoben wurde. 1588 wurde der Bischof zum Reichsfürsten erhoben.

17. und 18. Jahrhundert

Im Dreißigjährigen Krieg wurde die Stadt 1642 von den Schweden eingenommen und acht Jahre okkupiert. Nach dem Dreißigjährigen Krieg verlor die großteils zerstörte und entvölkerte Stadt den Status der mährischen Hauptstadt und trat diesen an Brünn ab. Da durch Brände viel Schaden entstanden war, wurde 1711 eine detaillierte „Feuerlösch-Ordnung“ erlassen, in der auch eine Reihe vorbeugender Maßnahmen zur Sprache kam.

Am 26. Dezember 1741 wurde die Stadt von den Preußen im Ersten Schlesischen Krieg eingenommen. Nach diesem Ereignis wurden die Festungsanlagen umfangreich ausgebaut. Einer zweiten Belagerung durch die Preußen im Jahre 1758 hielt die neue Festungsanlage stand. 1777 wurde das Bistum zum Erzbistum erhoben.

1794–1797 wurde der prominente französisch-amerikanische Soldat und Politiker Marquis Lafayette in Olmütz als politischer Häftling der Donaumonarchie interniert, nachdem er von der antifranzösischen Koalition 1792 in Flandern gefangengenommen und dann vorerst von Preußen eingekerkert worden war.

19. Jahrhundert

1841 erhielt die Stadt einen Eisenbahnanschluss. Mitte 1845 wurde die Eisenbahn von Olmütz nach Prag („k.k. Nördliche Staatsbahn“) in Betrieb genommen (Olmütz–Trübau, Trübau–Prag). Im Jahr 1848 beherbergte das Schloss des Erzbischofs den wegen der Revolution in Wien hierher geflohenen kaiserlichen Hof. Kaiser Ferdinand I. übertrug hier am 2. Dezember 1848 dem achtzehnjährigen Franz Joseph I. die Regierung. Am 29. November 1850 wurde in Olmütz durch die Olmützer Punktation (auch „Olmützer Vertrag“ genannt) zwischen Preußen, Österreich und Russland der Deutsche Bund unter österreichischer Führung wieder hergestellt. In den Jahren 1850 bis 1866 wurden erneut die Befestigungsanlagen erweitert. 1886 wurde dann der Festungsstatus aufgehoben. 1899 fuhr in der Stadt die erste Straßenbahn.

20. Jahrhundert

Nach dem Zerfall des Kaiserreichs Österreich 1918 und der Gründung der Tschechoslowakei kamen die tschechischen Stadtbürger in die Mehrzahl, was unter anderem auf die Eingemeindung der zwei Städte Hodolein (Hodolany) und Neugasse (Nová ulice) sowie elf weiterer Gemeinden (Bělidla, Černovír, Hejčín, Chválkovice, Lazce, Nové Sady, Nový Svět, Neředín, Pavlovičky, Povel und Řepčín) im Jahr 1919 zurückzuführen ist. Im Jahr 1921 lebten in Olomouc 57.206 Einwohner.

Am 15. März 1939 wurde die Stadt, wie auch die übrigen Gebiete des am selben Tag vom Deutschen Reich errichteten Protektorats Böhmen und Mähren, von der Wehrmacht besetzt. Noch im Jahr 1939 wurde die Olmützer Universität von der deutschen Besatzungsmacht geschlossen. Erst im Jahr 1946 konnte sie unter dem Namen Palacký-Universität Olmütz wiederhergestellt werden.

Die deutschsprachige Bevölkerung wurde 1945/1946 aus Olmütz vertrieben. Ihr Vermögen wurde durch das Beneš-Dekret 108 konfisziert, das Vermögen der evangelischen Kirche durch das Beneš-Dekret 131 liquidiert und die katholischen Kirchen enteignet.

In den 1970er und 1980er Jahren entstanden in den Randgebieten mehrere Plattenbausiedlungen.

Seit 1971 ist die ganze Altstadt als Denkmalschutzreservat geschützt. Das Hochwasser im Jahr 1997 zog die Stadt schwer in Mitleidenschaft, etwa ein Drittel des Stadtgebiets wurde überschwemmt. Im Jahr 2000 wurde die Dreifaltigkeitssäule in die Liste des UNESCO-Welterbes aufgenommen. Nach der Verwaltungsreform von 2000 wurde die bisherige Kreisstadt mit der Errichtung der Olmützer Region dessen Verwaltungssitz.

Juden in Olmütz

Die Synagoge in Olmütz

Die ersten Juden siedelten in Olmütz bereits 906. Ab dem Jahre 1060 hatten sie in einem Ghetto zu wohnen und ein gelbes Erkennungszeichen zu tragen. Im Jahr 1454 wurden sämtliche Juden aus Olmütz ausgewiesen. Dieses Gesetz war bis 1848 gültig.

Die Olmützer Synagoge wurde von 1895 bis 1897 erbaut. In der Nacht vom 15. auf den 16. März 1939, nach der Besetzung durch die Wehrmacht, wurde die Synagoge angezündet und brannte ab. Gleichzeitig wurden etwa 800 Juden festgenommen und später in das Konzentrationslager Dachau deportiert. Einige Sitzbänke der Synagoge wurden ausgebaut, dienten lange als Kirchenbänke in einer Dorfkirche bei Prostějov und wurden schließlich 2004 in der renovierten Synagoge in Krnov aufgestellt. Einige davon stehen heute in der Synagoge von Loštice und erinnern an die in den Konzentrationslagern ermordeten jüdischen Bürger. Der Ehrensitz ist Berthold Oppenheim gewidmet, dem Rabbi von Olmütz und Loštice.

Während der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus wurden 3.489 Menschen in fünf Transporten, am 26. und 30. Juni 1942, am 4. Juli 1942 und am 7. März 1945 in das Ghetto Theresienstadt deportiert. Nur 285 Juden der Stadtbevölkerung überlebten. Damit erlosch das jüdische Leben in Olmütz für lange Zeit. Seit 2011 wurden und werden in Olmütz von Gunter Demnig Stolpersteine zur Erinnerung an ermordete Juden verlegt. Olmütz gehört mit Prag und Brünn zu den Städten mit den meisten Stolpersteinen in Tschechien (Stand 2016).

Erst seit 1989 gibt es eine Belebung des jüdischen Kultuslebens in der Stadt. 1991 wurde eine selbständige jüdische Gemeinde mit einem Wirkungskreis für die Bezirke Olmütz, Šumperk, Jeseník, Bruntál und Přerov wiederbegründet.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olm%C3%BCtz

Schweiz / Berner Oberland - Interlaken und Brienzersee

 

seen from Schynige Platte (Daube)

 

gesehen von der Schynige Platte (Daube)

 

High altitude hike Schynige Platte - First

 

Six pearls in six hours: The mountain hike from Schynige Platte to First (or vice versa) must be done once in a lifetime. The first two pearls stand out at the end of the Schynige Platte railway: The flora on the Matten is nearly as diverse as the flowers in the Alpine Garden. After the Loucherhorn, you will encounter pearl number three, the wild karstic landscape in the Güw area. Pearl four, the Sägistalsee, sparkles far below. The largest pearl, however, awaits on the Faulhorn. The view from up there offers everything: Lake Brienz on one side, the overwhelming backdrop of the Jungfrau massif on the other. And further down is pearl six, the Bachalpsee, the "blue jewel" of the Bernese Alps.

 

Approximate hike duration: 6 hours

 

(jungfraujoch.ch)

 

Interlaken (German pronunciation: [ˈɪntərlakŋ̍]; lit.: between lakes) is a Swiss town and municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern. It is an important and well-known tourist destination in the Bernese Oberland region of the Swiss Alps, and the main transport gateway to the mountains and lakes of that region.

 

The town is located on flat alluvial land called Bödeli between two lakes, Brienz to the east and Thun to the west, and alongside the river Aare, which flows between them. Transport routes to the east and west alongside the lakes are complemented by a route southwards into the near mountain resorts and high mountains, e.g. the famous high Alpine peaks of Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau, following upwards the Lütschine.

 

Interlaken is the central town of a Small Agglomeration with the same name of 23,300 inhabitants.

 

The official language of Interlaken is German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect, Bernese German.

 

History

 

Until 1891, Interlaken was known as Aarmühle. The convent of the Augustinian Canons was built around 1133 when it was mentioned as inter lacus Madon and lasted until 1528. The mill on the left bank of the Aare was first mentioned in 1365 as Amuli, while the town on the right bank was mentioned in 1239 as villa Inderlappen-

 

Early history

 

While some scattered Neolithic flint objects, early Bronze Age swords and Roman era coins have been found near Interlaken, there is no evidence for a settlement in the area before the Middle Ages. Interlaken Monastery was built around 1133 on imperial land on the left side of the Aare. The monastery controlled a bridge over the river and generated an income from tolls. A village grew up around the monastery, along with a mill (which gave the municipality its name until 1891). On the right bank of the river, Interlaken village developed. In 1279/80 the village of Unterseen developed near Interlaken village. Also near the village were the imperial castle of Weissenau and the market town of Widen. The castle and market town became the possessions of the monastery, but fell into disrepair in the Late Middle Ages.

 

Interlaken Monastery

 

The Interlaken Monastery was first mentioned in 1133 when Lothair III, Holy Roman Emperor took it under his protection. By 1247, there were also women at the monastery. During the 13th century the monastery's influence spread throughout the neighboring area and into the Aare and Gürbe valleys. They eventually had authority over two dozen churches along with a number of villages and farms and became the largest religious landholder in the region.

 

During the 13th and the beginning of the 14th century, the monastery grew and prospered. However, in 1350 a period of crises and conflicts led to a decline in the number of monks and nuns and increasing debt. A document from 1310, indicates that there were 30 priests, 20 lay brothers, and 350 women at the monastery. In contrast, in 1472 there were only the provost, the prior, nine ordinary canons, seven novices and 27 nuns. At this time, the monastery also had problems with its tenants and neighbors. In 1348, the people of Grindelwald and Wilderswil joined a mutual defense league with Unterwalden. Bern responded with a military expedition to the Bernese Oberland, which ended in defeat for Unterwalden and its allies. In 1445 the Evil League (Böser Bund [de]) rose up in the Oberland near Interlaken and fought against Bernese military service and taxes following the Old Zürich War.

 

During the 14th century, the canons and nuns stopped following most of the monastic rules. In 1472 a violent dispute between the men and the women's convents resulted in two visitations by the Bishop of Lausanne who noted serious deficiencies. The provost was arrested and some of the canons were replaced by canons from other convents. Despite the reform measures the nun's convent was closed in 1484 and its property transferred to the newly founded monastery of St. Vincent in Bern.

 

During the Protestant Reformation, the monastery was secularized in 1528. The canons received a financial settlement and the properties were now managed by a Bernese bailiff. The tenants of the monastery who had expected the abolition of allowed interest responded by rioting, which was suppressed by Bern.

 

After the Reformation, Bern created the Interlaken bailiwick from the monastery lands. Part of the monastery building was used as the headquarters of the district administration, while the rest was used as an indigent hospital. In 1562-63 Bern converted the monastery church's choir into a granary and a wine cellar. In 1746-50 the west wing was demolished and Governor Samuel Tillier built the so-called New Castle. It has remained the center of administration for the Interlaken District since that time.

 

Aarmühle village

 

Aarmühle was named for the mill on the Aare which was built there in or before 1365. Starting in 1365, the monastery held weekly and yearly markets at Aarmühle. It had its own bäuert (agricultural cooperative) but was politically part of the municipality of Matten.

 

In the 16th century, the bäuert of Aarmühle and the surrounding bäuerten began quarreling over the use of common fields and woods. Attempts at arbitration in 1533, 1586, and 1618 were unsuccessful. Partly as a result of the quarreling, in 1633, Wilderswil separated from Matten and became an independent municipality. However, the dispute continued between Aarmühle and Matten, and in 1761, the governor of the Interlaken district attempted, unsuccessfully, to mediate. Finally, in 1810 the two villages divided their common property, though it took until 1838 for Aarmühle to become an independent political municipality.

 

Around the time of the separation, the number of tenant farmers (farmers that did not own the land that they worked) was very different in Aarmühle and Matten. In 1831, 37% of the population in Aarmühle were tenants, while only 12% were in Matten. This meant that the population of Matten was closely tied to the land and remained farmers, while in Aarmühle they began to support the growing tourism trade.

 

Aarmühle becomes Interlaken

 

On the right bank of the Aare, Unterseen became the only municipality and absorbed the village of Interlaken. In 1838, on the left bank, the villages became the two municipalities of Matten and Aarmühle. However, Aarmühle used the name Interlaken for its post office and train station, leading to that name becoming more well known. Officially the name changed to Interlaken in 1891.

 

Rise of tourism

 

Interlaken's reputation as international resort started around 1800 due to the landscapes of Franz Niklaus König and other Swiss landscape artists. The success of the Unspunnenfest, a festival of Swiss culture, in 1805 and 1808 brought many tourists to Interlaken. Starting in 1820, they came for mountain air and spa treatment and the large Kursaal opened in 1859 to provide an elegant spa. The many hotels combined with good transportation links made it easy for these early tourists to visit. In 1835 a steam ship route opened along Lake Thun from Thun, followed in 1839 by another along Lake Brienz from Brienz.

 

In 1872, the Bödelibahn railway opened from Därligen, on Lake Thun, to Interlaken. Two years later it was extended to Bönigen, on Lake Brienz. Initially, this line was unconnected to the rest of the Swiss railway system and served as a link between the steamships on both lakes. However, in 1893, the Lake Thun railway line opened alongside Lake Thun providing a direct rail connection to Thun, with onward connections to Bern and beyond. In 1888, the Brünig railway opened between Alpnachstad, on Lake Lucerne, and Brienz, on Lake Brienz, thus providing a through steamer and rail connection from Interlaken to Lucerne. By 1916, the Brünig railway had reached Interlaken from Brienz, and, together with an earlier extension at its eastern end, provided a direct rail route to Lucerne. In 1890, the Berner Oberland railway connected Interlaken to the tourist destinations of Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald.

 

With the opening up of transport links, hotels developed along the route to the Jungfrau. In 1860–75 and 1890–1914 several luxury hotels were built with views of the Jungfrau and surrounding mountains. The current Kursaal was built in 1898-99 and remodeled in 1909–10.

 

Despite the emphasis on tourism, a parquet factory operated from 1850 until 1935 and a wool weaving factory opened in 1921. In the late 20th century a woolen thread and a metal products factory opened in Interlaken. Since 1988, Interlaken has been connected to the A8 motorway.

 

Modern Interlaken

 

The tourism industry's frantic growth abruptly ended in 1914 when World War I started, though it resumed somewhat after the war. World War II brought another dramatic slowdown. Interlaken started to recover from the effects of the war in 1955 as Interlaken re-branded itself as a convention and conference center. Today, the two nuclei villages (Aarmühle and the village around the Bailiff's Castle) have been joined by new construction between them. The municipalities of Matten and Unterseen are also connected by new construction to Interlaken and share a common infrastructure. A referendum to merge the three political municipalities into one was voted down in 1914 and again in 1927.

 

Geography

 

Topography

 

Interlaken is located at 566 m (1,857 ft) above sea level, between Lake Brienz to the east and Lake Thun to the west on the alluvial land called Bödeli. The town takes its name from its geographical position between the lakes (in Latin inter lacus). The Aare flows through the town from one to the other lake, whilst the Lütschine flows from the mountains from the south into Lake Brienz however not running through the municipality of Interlaken.

 

The municipality of Interlaken has an area of 4.27 km2 (1.65 sq mi). Of this area, 1.05 km2 (0.41 sq mi) or 24.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.97 km2 (0.37 sq mi) or 22.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.03 km2 (0.78 sq mi) or 47.2% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.3 km2 (0.12 sq mi) or 7.0% is either rivers or lakes and 0.01 km2 (2.5 acres) or 0.2% is unproductive land.

 

Of the built-up area, industrial buildings made up 5.3% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 21.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 16.0%. while parks, green belts, and sports fields made up 4.0%. Out of the forested land, 20.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 6.5% is used for growing crops and 16.3% is pastures, while 1.6% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.

 

Climate

 

Interlaken has a rather mild warm summer humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb) when 0 °C (32.0 °F) isotherm is used. However, if −3 °C (26.6 °F) isotherm is used, then the climate is temperate oceanic (Köppen climate classification Cfb). The climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year-round.

 

Demographics

 

Interlaken has a population (as of December 2020) of 5,719. As of 2010, 26.4% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 5.3%. Migration accounted for 8.2%, while births and deaths accounted for -1.9%.

 

Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (4,271 or 83.4%) as their first language, Portuguese is the second most common (198 or 3.9%) and Italian is the third (145 or 2.8%). There are 64 people who speak French and 11 people who speak Romansh.

 

As of 2008, the population was 47.5% male and 52.5% female. The population was made up of 1,830 Swiss men (33.7% of the population) and 751 (13.8%) non-Swiss men. There were 2,164 Swiss women (39.9%) and 684 (12.6%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 988 or about 19.3% were born in Interlaken and lived there in 2000. There were 1,923 or 37.6% who were born in the same canton, while 805 or 15.7% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 1,185 or 23.1% were born outside of Switzerland.

 

As of 2000, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 19.3% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 63.1% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 17.6%. In the same year, there were 2,158 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 2,288 married individuals, 367 widows or widowers and 306 individuals who are divorced.

 

As of 2000, there were 2,418 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.0 persons per household. There were 1,041 households that consist of only one person and 74 households with five or more people. A total of 2,292 apartments (83.5% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 329 apartments (12.0%) were seasonally occupied and 125 apartments (4.6%) were empty. By 2009, the construction rate of new housing units was 4.6 new units per 1000 residents.

 

As of 2003 the average price to rent an average apartment in Interlaken was 1013.98 Swiss francs (CHF) per month (US$810, £460, €650 approx. exchange rate from 2003). The average rate for a one-room apartment was 642.58 CHF (US$510, £290, €410), a two-room apartment was about 741.20 CHF (US$590, £330, €470), a three-room apartment was about 945.28 CHF (US$760, £430, €600) and a six or more room apartment cost an average of 1648.96 CHF (US$1320, £740, €1060). The average apartment price in Interlaken was 90.9% of the national average of 1116 CHF. The vacancy rate for the municipality, in 2010, was 0.1%.

 

Economy

 

Interlaken is classed as a tourist community. The municipality is the center of the agglomeration of Interlaken. As of 2014, there were a total of 6,939 people employed in the municipality. Of these, 12 people worked in 5 businesses in the primary economic sector. The secondary sector employed 804 workers in 100 separate businesses. Finally, the tertiary sector provided 6,123 jobs in 724 businesses. In 2019 a total of 4.2% of the population received social assistance.

 

In 2011 the unemployment rate in the municipality was 3.4%.

 

In 2015 local hotels had a total of 710,116 overnight stays, of which 82.2% were international visitors. In 2017 there were about 27 hotels in the municipality, with 1,599 rooms.

 

In 2008 the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 4,903. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 4, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 745 of which 281 or (37.7%) were in manufacturing and 397 (53.3%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 4,154. In the tertiary sector; 1,145 or 27.6% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 276 or 6.6% were in the movement and storage of goods, 1,170 or 28.2% were in a hotel or restaurant, 57 or 1.4% were in the information industry, 168 or 4.0% were the insurance or financial industry, 308 or 7.4% were technical professionals or scientists, 119 or 2.9% were in education and 360 or 8.7% were in health care.

 

In 2000, there were 4,253 workers who commuted into the municipality and 1,117 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 3.8 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. Of the working population, 12.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 28.5% used a private car.

 

Economy

 

Tourism

 

The town is principally a base from which to explore the surrounding areas. Among the main attractions are the mountains of the Jungfrau region, including the Jungfrau, (4,158 m (13,642 ft)), the Mönch (4,107 m (13,474 ft)) and the Eiger (3,967 m (13,015 ft)). Whilst the peaks of these mountains are accessible only to mountaineers, a sequence of connecting mountain railways gives access to the Jungfraujoch, a saddle (3,454 m (11,332 ft)) between the Jungfrau and the Mönch, but correctly translated as a yoke (German: Joch), which is the highest point in Europe reachable by train.

 

Closer to Interlaken, the Harderkulm (1,321 m (4,334 ft)), just to the north of the town, and the Schynige Platte (1,967 m (6,453 ft)), just to the south, are also accessible by railway and provide extensive views of the higher mountains. Lake Thun and Lake Brienz are both close to the town, and the Aare flows east to west through the town. Boat trips operate on both lakes, serving various lakeside towns. One of these, Brienz, is the starting point for one of Switzerland's last remaining steam operated mountain railway, the Brienz Rothorn Railway.

 

Jungfrau Park, an amusement park, is situated just to the south of Interlaken. It was originally opened as a Mystery Park, a paranormal-based theme park owned by the author Erich von Däniken, but was closed in 2006 after three years because of financial difficulties. It re-opened in its current guise in 2009.

 

Interlaken has a large selection of hotels of various grades, many of which are located along the Höheweg, a street that links the town's two railway stations and offers views of the mountains. Other hotels are clustered around one or other of the two stations, or located across the river in the neighboring municipality of Unterseen.

 

Interlaken is also a destination for backpackers. It has numerous backpacker-friendly hotels and companies providing guided services in skydiving, canyoning, hang gliding, paragliding, and skiing.

 

Transportation

 

Interlaken has two railway stations, Interlaken Ost and Interlaken West, which are both served by the BLS AG's Thunersee line that provides direct services to Spiez, Thun, Bern and beyond, with onward connections at Bern to the rest of Switzerland. Through international services are provided by TGV to Paris and ICE to Frankfurt and Berlin.

 

Besides being the terminal of the Thunersee line, Interlaken Ost is also the terminus of the Zentralbahn's Brünig line to Brienz, Meiringen and Luzern, with onward connections to north-eastern Switzerland. The Berner Oberland railway also operates from Ost station, providing the first stage of several mountain railway routes into the Jungfrau region and, most notably, to Europe's highest station at the Jungfraujoch.

 

Boat services across Lake Brienz to Brienz and across Lake Thun to Spiez and Thun are operated by the BLS AG. The boats on Lake Thun operate from a quay adjacent to the West station, connected to Lake Thun by the Interlaken ship canal. The boats on Lake Brienz operate from a quay on the Aare by the Ost station. The remainder of the Aare between the two lakes is controlled by several weirs and is not navigable.

 

Interlaken is connected by the A8 motorway to Thun and Lucerne, with onward connections by other Swiss motorways to the rest of Switzerland. Local roads also follow both banks of the lakes to east and west and follow the valley of the Lütschine south into the Jungfrau region. However there is no direct road connection across the mountains of that region into the canton of Valais to the south, with the nearest such connections being the Grimsel Pass to the east, or using the vehicle transport service through the Lötschberg rail tunnel to the west.

 

In the more immediate area, two funicular railways, the Harderbahn and the Heimwehfluhbahn, provide service to nearby vantage points. Local and regional bus services are provided by PostBus Switzerland, whilst Verkehrsbetriebe STI operates a regional bus service to Thun.

 

Culture

 

Events

 

The Jungfrau Marathon is held in Interlaken each September.

The Unspunnenfest is a festival held in Interlaken and the neighbouring communities of Matten and Wilderswil approximately every twelve years. The festival highlights traditional Swiss culture and features competitions of Steinstossen (stone put), Schwingen (wrestling) and yodelling. The last Unspunnenfest was held in 2017. The next celebration is scheduled for the year 2029.

During summer, there is the Greenfield Festival on the outskirts of Interlaken.

On 15 July 2007, the Red Bull Air Race World Series was held on the airport situated near Interlaken.

From 27 August 1968 to 1 September 1968, World Constitutional Convention was held at Theatre Hall of the Kursaal in Interlaken.

 

Heritage sites of national significance

 

The former Monastery Building, the Hotel Royal-St. Georges, the Hotel Victoria-Jungfrau and the Kursaal are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire urbanized village of Interlaken is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Lake Brienz (German: Brienzersee) is a lake just north of the Alps, in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It has a length of about 14 kilometres (8.7 mi), a width of 2.8 kilometres (1.7 mi) and a maximum depth of 260 metres (850 ft). Its area is 29.8 square kilometres (11.5 sq mi); the surface is 564 metres (1,850 ft) above the sea-level. It is fed, among others, by the upper reaches of the Aare at its eastern end, the Giessbach at its southern shore from steep, forested and rocky hills of the high Faulhorn and Schwarzhoren more than 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) above the lake, as well as by both headwaters of the Lütschine, the Schwarze Lütschine (Black Lütschine) flowing from Grindelwald, and the Weisse Lütschine (White Lütschine) from the Lauterbrunnen Valley, at its southwestern corner. Not far north from Lütschine's inflow, the lake drains into a further stretch of the Aare at its western end. The culminating point of the lake's drainage basin is the Finsteraarhorn at 4,274 metres above sea level.

 

The village of Brienz, from which the lake takes its name, lies on the northern shore to its eastern end. In the west, the lake is terminated by the Bödeli, a tongue of land that separates it from neighbouring Lake Thun. The village of Bönigen occupies the lake frontage of the Bödeli, whilst the larger resort town of Interlaken lies on the reach of the Aare between the two lakes. The village of Iseltwald lies on the south shore, whilst the villages of Ringgenberg, Niederried and Oberried are on the north shore.

 

The lake is poor in nutrients, and thus fishing is not very important. Nevertheless, in 2001 10,000 kg of fish were caught.

 

There have been passenger ships on the lake since 1839, and currently there are five passenger ships on the lake. The ships are operated by BLS AG, the local railway company, and link Interlaken Ost railway station, which they access using a 1.3-kilometre (0.81 mi) long navigable stretch of the Aare, with Brienz and other lakeside settlements. The ships also connect to the Giessbachbahn, a funicular which climbs up to the famous Giessbach Falls.

 

The Brünig railway line follows the northern shore of the lake, along with a local road, whilst the A8 motorway adopts an alternative and mostly tunnelled route above the southern shore.

 

(Wikpedia)

 

Höhenwanderung Schynige Platte – First

 

Sechs Perlen in sechs Stunden: Die Höhenwanderung von der Schynige Platte nach First (oder umgekehrt) muss man einmal im Leben gemacht haben. Die ersten zwei Perlen glänzen gleich bei der Endstation der Schynige Platte Bahn: Die Flora auf den Matten ist beinahe so vielfältig wie die Blumen im Alpengarten. Nach dem Loucherhorn trifft man auf Perle drei, die wilde Karstlandschaft im Gebiet Güw. Perle vier, der Sägistalsee, funkelt tief unten. Die grösste Perle wartet jedoch auf dem Faulhorn. Die Sicht von dort oben schlägt alles: der Brienzersee auf der einen Seite, die überwältigende Kulisse des Jungfraumassivs auf der anderen. Und weiter unten kündigt sich bereits Perle sechs an, der Bachalpsee, der als «blaues Juwel» der Berner Alpen jeden begeistert.

 

Ungefähre Wanderzeit: 6 Stunden

 

(jungfraujoch.ch)

 

Interlaken ist eine politische Gemeinde und Hauptort des Verwaltungskreises Interlaken-Oberhasli des Kantons Bern in der Schweiz.

 

Die Gemeinde bildet einen Verkehrsknoten am Nordrand der Berner Alpen und eine bedeutende Destination und Durchgangsstation für den Reiseverkehr. Sie ist das Zentrum der «Ferienregion Interlaken» und beherbergt selbst in den zahlreichen Hotels und andern Unterkünften jährlich rund 200'000 Gäste.

 

Geographie

 

Interlaken liegt im Berner Oberland am Abschnitt der Aare zwischen dem Brienzersee und dem Thunersee. Die Lütschine von Süden und der Lombach von Norden haben mit ihrem Geschiebe das Tal zwischen den beiden Seen aufgefüllt und die weite Ebene an der Aare geschaffen, die «Bödeli» genannt wird. Darauf liegen die Ortschaften Interlaken, Matten, Bönigen und Unterseen. Die Flussstrecke zwischen den Seen ist fast sechs Kilometer lang. Im Mittelalter wurde das Flussbett der Lütschine gegen Osten verlegt, damit das Gewässer in den Brienzersee mündet und die Siedlung Interlaken nicht mehr mit ihrem Geschiebe und Hochwasser bedroht. Diese Baumassnahme gilt als die erste grosse Gewässerkorrektion im Gebiet der Schweiz. Neben der Aare verläuft vom Thunersee her der in den 1890er Jahren gebaute Schifffahrtskanal bis zur Anlegestelle beim Bahnhof Interlaken West. Oberhalb des Kanals befindet sich das 1894 errichtete Wasserkraftwerk Interlaken, das einen Teil des Höhenunterschieds von sechs Metern zwischen dem Brienzersee und dem Thunersee ausnützt.

 

Das Gemeindegebiet von Interlaken umfasst einen Teil der Ebene südlich der Aare, das Südufer am Schifffahrtskanal bis zum Thunersee sowie einen Streifen am nördlichen Berghang bis hinauf zum Wannichnubel (1585 m ü. M.). An diesem steilen Südhang befindet sich im «Wanniwald» das Naturschutzgebiet «Bleikiwald», das als wertvoller Halbtrockenrasen im Bundesinventar der Trockenwiesen und -weiden von nationaler Bedeutung aufgeführt ist.[10] Auf dem Grat westlich dieses Berges liegt der mit einer Seilbahn erschlossene Aussichtspunkt Harder Kulm (im Gebiet von Unterseen). Die Heimwehfluh (660 m ü. M.) im Süden (auf dem Gebiet der Gemeinde Matten) ist mit einer Bahn und auf der Strasse zu erreichen. Die Gemeinden Interlaken, Unterseen, Matten, Wilderswil und Bönigen bilden zusammen eine Agglomeration mit etwa 20'000 Einwohnern.

 

Interlaken gehört historisch zur Kirchgemeinde Gsteig. Diese trägt heute den Namen «reformierte Kirchgemeinde Gsteig-Interlaken» und ist in drei Pfarrkreise aufgeteilt, wobei Interlaken zum Pfarrkreis Interlaken-Matten gehört.

 

Die Nachbargemeinden Interlakens sind Matten, Unterseen, Ringgenberg und Bönigen.

 

Die Gemeinde liegt verkehrsgünstig an den Verbindungen Bern–Grimselpass–Wallis, Bern–Sustenpass–Uri, Bern–Brünigpass–Stadt Luzern und Montreux–Interlaken–Brünig–Luzern. Von Interlaken aus zweigen die Täler von Lauterbrunnen und Grindelwald ab, wodurch Interlaken das Zentrum des östlichen Berner Oberlandes ist.

 

Bei Interlaken führen 22 Brücken und Stege über die Aare.

 

Klima

 

Für die Normalperiode 1991–2020 beträgt die Jahresmitteltemperatur 9,3 °C, wobei im Januar mit 0,0 °C die kältesten und im Juli mit 18,6 °C die wärmsten Monatsmitteltemperaturen gemessen werden. Im Mittel sind hier rund 89 Frosttage und 17 Eistage zu erwarten. Sommertage gibt es im Jahresmittel rund 44, während im Schnitt 6 bis 7 Hitzetage zu verzeichnen sind. Die Messstation von MeteoSchweiz liegt auf einer Höhe von 577 m ü. M.

 

Geschichte

 

Name

 

Die Gemeinde hiess bis 1891 «Aarmühle» und erhielt dann den heutigen Namen «Interlaken». Sie liegt auf dem «Bödeli» zwischen dem Thunersee und dem Brienzersee, worauf sich der Ortsname bezieht, der abgeleitet ist von lateinisch «inter lacūs» (zwischen den Seen). Im Siegel der Bürgerschaft des Nachbarortes Unterseen, das seit 1280 in Gebrauch ist, lautet die Umschrift: «S[igillum] Civitatis Inderlapen» (= «Siegel der Gemeinde Inderlapen»).

 

Im späten Mittelalter, als die Stadt Bern über die Herrschaftsbereiche des Klosters Interlaken, der Herrschaft Unspunnen mit der Burg Unspunnen und des Städtchens Unterseen zu bestimmen begann, bezeichnete «Interlaken» das Gebiet vor dem Stadttor Unterseens.

 

Um 1130 liess Freiherr Seliger von Oberhofen auf einem «Matten» genannten Ort zwischen Thunersee und Brienzersee ein Bethaus aus Holz errichten, aus dem das Kloster Interlaken hervorging. Der Konvent gehörte zum Augustinerorden. Etwa 30 Mönche und Laienmönche lebten in Interlaken nach der Augustinusregel. 1133 kam das Kloster unter die Schirmherrschaft von Kaiser Lothar III. An der Aare stand die wohl vom Kloster eingerichtete «Aarmühle». 1224 nahm die Stadt Bern das Kloster unter ihren Schutz. Das Frauenkloster, das neben dem Männerkonvent bestand, wurde 1484 geschlossen.

 

Nach der Reformation fiel das Gebiet von Interlaken 1528 nach der Aufhebung des Klosters an Bern. Der bernische Landvogt der Region Interlaken residierte in den ehemaligen Klostergebäuden.

 

1798 wurde Interlaken 1803 Sitz des gleichnamigen Distrikts im Kanton Oberland, der jedoch schon 1803 wieder im Kanton Bern aufging. Seit 1831 war Interlaken Hauptort des Amtsbezirks Interlaken. Dieser ging 2010 im Verwaltungskreis Interlaken-Oberhasli auf.

 

Um 1800 wurde die Bergwelt des Berner Oberlands von Reisenden entdeckt und beschrieben, darunter Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Lord Byron und Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. In der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts entwickelte sich Interlaken zum Fremdenort und nahm einen neuen Aufschwung durch den Bau der Berner Oberland-Bahnen nach Lauterbrunnen und Grindelwald 1890 und der Jungfraubahn 1912.

 

Bedeutsam für die touristische Entwicklung waren die Unspunnenfeste sowie die Tellspiele, die zwar gemeinhin mit Interlaken in Verbindung gebracht werden, jedoch auf Boden der Nachbargemeinden Wilderswil und Matten stattfinden, das Unspunnenfest aber inzwischen in Interlaken selbst.

 

1913 entstand der Schiffskanal vom Thunersee bis zum Bahnhof Interlaken-West.

 

Während des Zweiten Weltkriegs beherbergte die Villa Cranz (heute Gemeindeverwaltung) in Interlaken von 1941 bis 1944 das Armeehauptquartier General Guisans. Auf dem Bödeli befanden sich der Reduitflugplatz Interlaken und fünf Artilleriewerke in den Felswänden in der Umgebung.

 

Wirtschaft und Infrastruktur

 

Tourismus

 

Interlaken ist eines der grossen Tourismuszentren des Berner Oberlands und verfügt über eine Infrastruktur von 60 Hotels mit ca. 4100 Betten, sechs Jugendherbergen bzw. Hostels mit ca. 450 Betten, acht Campingplätzen mit 1045 Standplätzen sowie Ferienwohnungen mit ca. 1000 Betten. Das bekannteste Hotel ist das Victoria-Jungfrau Grand Hotel & Spa und das älteste das Hotel Interlaken (seit 1323). Der Verein Tourismus-Organisation Interlaken TOI (kurz Interlaken Tourismus) vermarktet nicht nur die Angebote in Interlaken, sondern vertritt auch die Gemeinden Unterseen, Matten, Wilderswil auf dem Bödeli sowie die angrenzenden Gemeinden Saxeten und Gsteigwiler. Als Dachmarken vertritt TOI ebenfalls die Ortschaften und Städte um den Brienzer- und Thunersee sowie den Naturpark Diemtigtal.

 

Es wird ein Angebot an Outdoor- und Freizeitaktivitäten angeboten, darunter Fallschirmspringen, Gleitschirmfliegen, Canyoning, River Rafting, Bungee Jumping und Kajakfahren. Einige dieser Angebote sind auch im Winter verfügbar.

2017 verzeichneten die Gemeinden Interlaken, Matten und Unterseen zusammen 1'323'965 Logiernächte in Hotels, Hostels, Camping und Ferienwohnungen. Die Dachmarke Interlaken verzeichnete 2017 total 2'588'134 Logiernächte. Die meisten Übernachtungsbesucher kommen aus der Schweiz (18,8 %) gefolgt von China und Hongkong (13,2 %), Korea (11,7 %), den Staaten am Persischen Golf (11,0 %), Indien (8,9 %), USA (5,8 %), Deutschland (5,1 %) und Grossbritannien (4,8 %).

 

Viele Gäste kommen im Sommer aus den Golf-Staaten, vor allem aus Saudi-Arabien und den VAE.

 

Verkehr

 

Eisenbahnverkehr

 

Interlaken hat zwei Bahnhöfe: Der Bahnhof Interlaken Ost liegt etwa einen Kilometer vom Brienzersee entfernt und der Bahnhof Interlaken West steht am Ende des Schifffahrtskanals und bietet eine Umsteigemöglichkeit von den Kursschiffen der Thunerseeschifffahrt auf die Bahn. Beide Bahnhöfe sind an das Schweizer Intercitynetz angeschlossen. Somit ist Interlaken mit knapp 5500 Einwohnern die kleinste Schweizer Gemeinde, die mehr als einen Intercitybahnhof besitzt (nach Basel, Zürich und Grenchen).

 

Interlaken-Ost ist der Ausgangspunkt der schmalspurigen Brünigstrecke der Zentralbahn über Meiringen zum Bahnhof Luzern und der ebenfalls schmalspurigen Berner-Oberland-Bahn nach Grindelwald und Lauterbrunnen.

 

Von Interlaken-Ost führt die normalspurige, von der Thunerseebahn erstellte, heute zur BLS gehörende Strecke via Interlaken-West nach Spiez, wo sie sich mit der Hauptstrecke der BLS (Wallis–Lötschberg–Spiez–Thun–Bern) vereinigt. Regionalzüge verkehren etwa im Stundentakt bis Spiez. Intercity-Züge verkehren halbstündlich von Interlaken via Bern nach Basel; teilweise als ICE auch weiter in Richtung Frankfurt am Main–Berlin Ostbahnhof. Der Golden-Pass-Express verkehrt via Zweisimmen nach Montreux. Es besteht eine direkte TGV-Verbindung nach Paris (Stand Dezember 2021).

 

Strassenverkehr

 

Interlaken ist über die Autobahn A8 an das Fernstrassennetz angeschlossen. Im Gemeindegebiet liegen die beiden Anschlusspunkte «Interlaken West» und «Interlaken Ost».

 

Von Spiez aus durchqueren die Hauptstrasse 6, die durch das Haslital zum Grimselpass führt, und die Hauptstrasse 11, die zum Sustenpass führt, die Ortschaft Interlaken gemeinsam und überqueren hier die Aare. Die Hauptstrasse 221 verläuft von Bern aus über Thun und dem Thunersee entlang nach Interlaken und weiter nach Grindelwald.

 

Seit 1914 befand sich am Bahnhof Interlaken West die Endhaltestelle der Strassenbahn Steffisburg–Thun–Interlaken. Das Tram wurde 1939 auf Autobusbetrieb umgestellt, die Linie der Verkehrsbetriebe STI verkehrt gegenwärtig unter der Nummer 21.

 

Mobilität

 

Interlaken ist Mitglied der Organisation Alpine Pearls, die sich für umweltfreundliche Mobilität im Alpenraum einsetzen.

 

Sport

 

Jedes Jahr startet Anfang September in Interlaken der Jungfrau-Marathon, mit ca. 4000 Teilnehmern der wohl bekannteste Bergmarathon der Welt. Er führt über Wilderswil, Zweilütschinen, Lauterbrunnen, Wengen und die Wengernalp bis zur Station Eigergletscher.

 

Das Unspunnen-Schwinget findet alle 10 bis 12 Jahre statt und hat einen ähnlichen Stellenwert wie das Eidgenössische Schwing- und Älplerfest.

 

Von den Sportvereinen in Interlaken erreichte die Handballgruppe Bödeli Bekanntheit, da sie mehrfach in die Nationalliga B aufgestiegen ist.

 

Kultur

 

Sehenswürdigkeiten

 

Kunsthaus Interlaken

Casino Interlaken

Tourismuseum (vormals Touristikmuseum für die Jungfrauregion)[23]

Heimwehfluh mit Heimwehfluhturm

Jungfraupark (bis Ende 2009 Mystery Park)

Japanischer Garten

 

Veranstaltungen

 

Greenfield Festival

Porsche-Treffen Showtime auf dem Flugplatz Interlaken

Unspunnenfest

Wilhelm-Tell-Spiele

 

Umgebung von Interlaken

 

Thunersee und Brienzersee

die Schynige Platte (mit der Schynige Platte-Bahn) bietet eine schöne Aussicht auf Interlaken

der Aussichtspunkt Harder Kulm ist mit der Harderbahn erreichbar

Artilleriewerk Bödeli

 

Musik

 

Interlaken hat eine ausgeprägte Musikszene. Die Schweizer Mundart-Rock-Legenden Polo Hofer und Hanery Amman sind beide in Interlaken aufgewachsen. Nach diesen ist der «Amman-Hofer-Platz» in Interlaken benannt, auf dem auch eine Skulptur in Form von Klaviertasten platziert ist, die sieben Hanery- und Polo-Titel abspielen kann. Auch die Mundart-Popband Plüsch mit ihrem Sänger Ritschi stammt aus Interlaken.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Der Brienzersee liegt als Alpenrandsee eingebettet zwischen den Emmentaler und Berner Alpen im Schweizer Kanton Bern. Seine steilen Ufer setzen sich auch unter dem Wasserspiegel fort, so dass kaum Flachwasserzonen existieren.

 

Geografie

 

Der See wird von der Aare durchflossen. Daneben münden eine Vielzahl kleinerer Bäche in den See. Nennenswert sind die Giessbachfälle, die sich in vierzehn Stufen in den Brienzersee hinunterstürzen. Der See ist 14 km lang und 2,8 km breit. Seine Fläche beträgt 29,8 km², die maximale Tiefe ist 260 m. Der Inhalt beträgt rund 5,2 km³. Bei Normalwasserstand liegt der Seespiegel auf 564 m ü. M. Das Einzugsgebiet umfasst eine Fläche von 1127 km².

 

250 Meter vor Iseltwald liegt die einzige Insel des Sees, das Schnäggeninseli (hochdeutsch: Schneckeninselchen). Sie gehört zur Gemeinde Iseltwald; auf ihr befinden sich eine Kapelle und ein Grillplatz.

 

An seinem nördlichen Ufer liegt das namengebende Dorf Brienz. An seinem südwestlichen Ende, eingebettet zwischen Thuner- und Brienzersee, liegt das Bödeli mit den Gemeinden Interlaken, Matten und Unterseen. Am Südostufer liegt beim Giessbach das Grandhotel Giessbach, das vom See aus zu sehen ist. Weitere Uferorte am Nordwestufer sind von Ost nach West: Ebligen, Oberried, Niederried und Ringgenberg mit Goldswil.

 

Der Brienzersee ist der Ostteil des ehemaligen Wendelsees.

 

Nutzungen

 

Der See ist nährstoffarm und einer der saubersten in der Schweiz. Die Fischerträge sind daher nicht sehr gross, aber die Brienzerseefische, insbesondere die Egli, gelten als regionale Delikatesse. Der Gesamtertrag betrug im Jahr 2001 10'078 kg.

 

Seit 1839 gibt es auf dem See eine Passagierschifffahrt. Heute betreibt die BLS Schifffahrt eine Flotte von fünf Schiffen, darunter ist der Schaufelraddampfer Lötschberg mit Baujahr 1914. Weiterhin fährt auf dem See das Schiff Lord Baden Powell der Pfadibewegung Schweiz, das auch unter dem Namen Täggelibock bekannt ist.

 

Sonstiges

 

Seit 1957 findet jährlich der Brienzerseelauf statt, bei dem in 35 km (bis 1985: 34,6 km) der See umrundet wird. Es ist damit der älteste Langstreckenlauf der Schweiz. Mittlerweile werden neben der Seeumrundung auch Halbmarathon, Staffel-, Jugend- und Pfüderi- (Kinder-) Rennen sowie ein 10-km-Lauf angeboten.

Die nur im Thuner- und im Brienzersee vorkommende Fischart Brienzlig wurde nach dem See benannt.

Brienzlinge wurden einst die zum Trocknen aufgefädelten kleinen Fische aus dem See genannt.

Auf dem Brienzersee war Elisabetha Grossmann zu Beginn des 19. Jahrhunderts als Schifferin tätig; sie galt als Touristenattraktion.

Wie in anderen Schweizer Seen wurden im Brienzersee im 20. Jahrhundert mehrere hundert Tonnen Munition versenkt.

 

(Wikipedia)

Title / Titre :

Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, a poem entitled “Scotch Drink” /

 

Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, poème intitulé « Scotch Drink ».

 

Description :

The first edition of Robert Burns’ Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect was published in Kilmarnock, Scotland in 1786. Only about 600 copies were printed. The finely-bound copy now held by Library and Archives Canada was a gift from the British Government on the occasion of Canada’s centennial in 1967. Its green leather binding with gold-tooled decorations and silk endpapers was created in the 19th century by the well-known British bookbinder Robert Riviere. /

 

La première édition de Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, de Robert Burns, a été publiée à Kilmarnock, en Écosse, en 1786. Seulement 600 exemplaires environ ont été imprimés. L’exemplaire finement relié que possède maintenant Bibliothèque et Archives Canada était un cadeau du gouvernement anglais à l’occasion de centenaire du Canada, en 1967. Sa reliure en cuir vert comportant des décorations or et des pages de garde en soie a été créée au 19e siècle par le célèbre relieur anglais Robert Riviere.

 

Creator(s) / Créateur(s) : Robert Burns

 

Date(s) : 1786

 

Reference No. / Numéro de référence : OCLC 4752176

 

bac-lac.on.worldcat.org/oclc/4752176

 

Location / Lieu : Kilmarnock, Scotland / Kilmarnock, Écosse

 

Credit / Mention de source :

Robert Burns. Library and Archives Canada, Kilmarnock : Printed by J. Wilson, 1786 /

 

Robert Burns. Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, Kilmarnock : Printed by J. Wilson, 1786

 

Ladies from Amdo Tibetan region beautiful in her finest ceremonial clothes at a festival fashion show. Different regions of Tibet have their own customs, dialect, and styles of fashion and ornamentation.

 

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Ornaments make up most of the life savings of many Khampa families, and so play an important role in Tibetan families' lives as well as in announcing the social status of the wearers. They are saved up for over many years and handed down for centuries from generation to generation within families. Until very recently, these families were nomadic and have to move every few months because of the snowy seasons in the Himalayas, so Khampas have always needed to store their wealth in portable form. So being unable to store wealth in the form of estates or houses or land or in a bank, for millenia wealth has been stored in art, precious fabrics, and particularly into ornaments.

 

Their culture is very conservative about the type of ornaments favored: for thousands of years jewelry made from amber, turquoise and coral have been worn because the stones are believed to hold spiritual power. Gold and silver and also naturally found in Tibet, and the use of these metals by the wealthy also goes back thousands of years. Their ornaments are very chunky, bold and colorful. While the gold earrings that Khampa women wear may have cost them a year or maybe several year's of their salary, ornaments carry so much social status in their society that probably didn't have to think twice about the purchase.

 

To the Khampa people these ornaments have the utmost sentimental value and significance, because they are the physical remnants of generations of their ancestors hard work or success. what these people are wearing is not just their life savings, but also their family history and treasure. this culture has been around for millenia - archeological finds from the 1st century AD in the khampa area unearthed ornaments that are essentially the same in design and materials as today's are. there are also beliefs that the stones provide good luck and protection to disease. dyed red coral is the most sought after stone, but interestingly tibet is very very far from any oceans - all the coral is imported by traders! Religious symbols from Tibetan Buddhism frequency form the designs of pieces, however archeological finds show that the role of ornaments in Tibetan society and peoples' lives long predate the arrival of Buddhism in Tibet. Indeed the beliefs of spiritual protection being provided by coral, amber and turquoise probably originate from the ancient shamanic Bon religion.

The Toraja are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja"). Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk ("the way"). The Indonesian government has recognized this animist belief as Aluk To Dolo ("Way of the Ancestors").

 

The word toraja comes from the Bugis Buginese language term to riaja, meaning "people of the uplands". The Dutch colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909. Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and colorful wood carvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several days.

 

Before the 20th century, Torajans lived in autonomous villages, where they practised animism and were relatively untouched by the outside world. In the early 1900s, Dutch missionaries first worked to convert Torajan highlanders to Christianity. When the Tana Toraja regency was further opened to the outside world in the 1970s, it became an icon of tourism in Indonesia: it was exploited by tourism developers and studied by anthropologists. By the 1990s, when tourism peaked, Toraja society had changed significantly, from an agrarian model - in which social life and customs were outgrowths of the Aluk To Dolo - to a largely Christian society. Today, tourism and remittances from migrant Torajans have made for major changes in the Toraja highland, giving the Toraja a celebrity status within Indonesia and enhancing Toraja ethnic group pride.

 

ETHNIC IDENTITY

The Torajan people had little notion of themselves as a distinct ethnic group before the 20th century. Before Dutch colonization and Christianization, Torajans, who lived in highland areas, identified with their villages and did not share a broad sense of identity. Although complexes of rituals created linkages between highland villages, there were variations in dialects, differences in social hierarchies, and an array of ritual practices in the Sulawesi highland region. "Toraja" (from the coastal languages' to, meaning people; and riaja, uplands) was first used as a lowlander expression for highlanders. As a result, "Toraja" initially had more currency with outsiders - such as the Bugis and Makassarese, who constitute a majority of the lowland of Sulawesi - than with insiders. The Dutch missionaries' presence in the highlands gave rise to the Toraja ethnic consciousness in the Sa'dan Toraja region, and this shared identity grew with the rise of tourism in the Tana Toraja Regency. Since then, South Sulawesi has four main ethnic groups - the Bugis (the majority, including shipbuilders and seafarers), the Makassarese (lowland traders and seafarers), the Mandarese (traders and fishermen), and the Toraja (highland rice cultivators).

 

HISTORY

From the 17th century, the Dutch established trade and political control on Sulawesi through the Dutch East Indies Company. Over two centuries, they ignored the mountainous area in the central Sulawesi, where Torajans lived, because access was difficult and it had little productive agricultural land. In the late 19th century, the Dutch became increasingly concerned about the spread of Islam in the south of Sulawesi, especially among the Makassarese and Bugis peoples. The Dutch saw the animist highlanders as potential Christians. In the 1920s, the Reformed Missionary Alliance of the Dutch Reformed Church began missionary work aided by the Dutch colonial government. In addition to introducing Christianity, the Dutch abolished slavery and imposed local taxes. A line was drawn around the Sa'dan area and called Tana Toraja ("the land of Toraja"). Tana Toraja was first a subdivision of the Luwu kingdom that had claimed the area. In 1946, the Dutch granted Tana Toraja a regentschap, and it was recognized in 1957 as one of the regencies of Indonesia.

 

Early Dutch missionaries faced strong opposition among Torajans, especially among the elite, because the abolition of their profitable slave trade had angered them. Some Torajans were forcibly relocated to the lowlands by the Dutch, where they could be more easily controlled. Taxes were kept high, undermining the wealth of the elites. Ultimately, the Dutch influence did not subdue Torajan culture, and only a few Torajans were converted. In 1950, only 10% of the population had converted to Christianity.

 

In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the Torajans, resulting in widespread Christian conversion among those who sought to align themselves with the Dutch for political protection and to form a movement against the Bugis and Makassarese Muslims. Between 1951 and 1965 (following Indonesian independence), southern Sulawesi faced a turbulent period as the Darul Islam separatist movement fought for an Islamic state in Sulawesi. The 15 years of guerrilla warfare led to massive conversions to

 

CHRISTIANITY

Alignment with the Indonesian government, however, did not guarantee safety for the Torajans. In 1965, a presidential decree required every Indonesian citizen to belong to one of five officially recognized religions: Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism, or Buddhism. The Torajan religious belief (aluk) was not legally recognized, and the Torajans raised their voices against the law. To make aluk accord with the law, it had to be accepted as part of one of the official religions. In 1969, Aluk To Dolo ("the way of ancestors") was legalized as a sect of Agama Hindu Dharma, the official name of Hinduism in Indonesia.

 

SOCIETY

There are three main types of affiliation in Toraja society: family, class and religion.

 

FAMILY AFFILIATION

Family is the primary social and political grouping in Torajan society. Each village is one extended family, the seat of which is the tongkonan, a traditional Torajan house. Each tongkonan has a name, which becomes the name of the village. The familial dons maintain village unity. Marriage between distant cousins (fourth cousins and beyond) is a common practice that strengthens kinship. Toraja society prohibits marriage between close cousins (up to and including the third cousin) - except for nobles, to prevent the dispersal of property. Kinship is actively reciprocal, meaning that the extended family helps each other farm, share buffalo rituals, and pay off debts.

 

Each person belongs to both the mother's and the father's families, the only bilateral family line in Indonesia. Children, therefore, inherit household affiliation from both mother and father, including land and even family debts. Children's names are given on the basis of kinship, and are usually chosen after dead relatives. Names of aunts, uncles and cousins are commonly referred to in the names of mothers, fathers and siblings.

 

Before the start of the formal administration of Toraja villages by the Tana Toraja Regency, each Toraja village was autonomous. In a more complex situation, in which one Toraja family could not handle their problems alone, several villages formed a group; sometimes, villages would unite against other villages. Relationship between families was expressed through blood, marriage, and shared ancestral houses (tongkonan), practically signed by the exchange of water buffalo and pigs on ritual occasions. Such exchanges not only built political and cultural ties between families but defined each person's place in a social hierarchy: who poured palm wine, who wrapped a corpse and prepared offerings, where each person could or could not sit, what dishes should be used or avoided, and even what piece of meat constituted one's share.

 

CLASS AFFILIATION

In early Toraja society, family relationships were tied closely to social class. There were three strata: nobles, commoners, and slaves (slavery was abolished in 1909 by the Dutch East Indies government). Class was inherited through the mother. It was taboo, therefore, to marry "down" with a woman of lower class. On the other hand, marrying a woman of higher class could improve the status of the next generation. The nobility's condescending attitude toward the commoners is still maintained today for reasons of family prestige.

 

Nobles, who were believed to be direct descendants of the descended person from heaven, lived in tongkonans, while commoners lived in less lavish houses (bamboo shacks called banua). Slaves lived in small huts, which had to be built around their owner's tongkonan. Commoners might marry anyone, but nobles preferred to marry in-family to maintain their status. Sometimes nobles married Bugis or Makassarese nobles. Commoners and slaves were prohibited from having death feasts. Despite close kinship and status inheritance, there was some social mobility, as marriage or change in wealth could affect an individuals status. Wealth was counted by the ownership of water buffaloes.

 

Slaves in Toraja society were family property. Sometimes Torajans decided to become slaves when they incurred a debt, pledging to work as payment. Slaves could be taken during wars, and slave trading was common. Slaves could buy their freedom, but their children still inherited slave status. Slaves were prohibited from wearing bronze or gold, carving their houses, eating from the same dishes as their owners, or having sex with free women - a crime punishable by death.

 

RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION

Toraja's indigenous belief system is polytheistic animism, called aluk, or "the way" (sometimes translated as "the law"). In the Toraja myth, the ancestors of Torajan people came down from heaven using stairs, which were then used by the Torajans as a communication medium with Puang Matua, the Creator. The cosmos, according to aluk, is divided into the upper world (heaven), the world of man (earth), and the underworld. At first, heaven and earth were married, then there was a darkness, a separation, and finally the light. Animals live in the underworld, which is represented by rectangular space enclosed by pillars, the earth is for mankind, and the heaven world is located above, covered with a saddle-shaped roof. Other Toraja gods include Pong Banggai di Rante (god of Earth), Indo' Ongon-Ongon (a goddess who can cause earthquakes), Pong Lalondong (god of death), and Indo' Belo Tumbang (goddess of medicine); there are many more.

 

The earthly authority, whose words and actions should be cleaved to both in life (agriculture) and death (funerals), is called to minaa (an aluk priest). Aluk is not just a belief system; it is a combination of law, religion, and habit. Aluk governs social life, agricultural practices, and ancestral rituals. The details of aluk may vary from one village to another. One common law is the requirement that death and life rituals be separated. Torajans believe that performing death rituals might ruin their corpses if combined with life rituals. The two rituals are equally important. During the time of the Dutch missionaries, Christian Torajans were prohibited from attending or performing life rituals, but were allowed to perform death rituals. Consequently, Toraja's death rituals are still practised today, while life rituals have diminished.

 

CULTURE

TONGKONAN

Tongkonan are the traditional Torajan ancestral houses. They stand high on wooden piles, topped with a layered split-bamboo roof shaped in a sweeping curved arc, and they are incised with red, black, and yellow detailed wood carvings on the exterior walls. The word "tongkonan" comes from the Torajan tongkon ("to sit").

 

Tongkonan are the center of Torajan social life. The rituals associated with the tongkonan are important expressions of Torajan spiritual life, and therefore all family members are impelled to participate, because symbolically the tongkonan represents links to their ancestors and to living and future kin. According to Torajan myth, the first tongkonan was built in heaven on four poles, with a roof made of Indian cloth. When the first Torajan ancestor descended to earth, he imitated the house and held a large ceremony.

 

The construction of a tongkonan is laborious work and is usually done with the help of the extended family. There are three types of tongkonan. The tongkonan layuk is the house of the highest authority, used as the "center of government". The tongkonan pekamberan belongs to the family members who have some authority in local traditions. Ordinary family members reside in the tongkonan batu. The exclusivity to the nobility of the tongkonan is diminishing as many Torajan commoners find lucrative employment in other parts of Indonesia. As they send back money to their families, they enable the construction of larger tongkonan.

 

WOOD CARVINGS

To express social and religious concepts, Torajans carve wood, calling it Pa'ssura (or "the writing"). Wood carvings are therefore Toraja's cultural manifestation.

 

Each carving receives a special name, and common motifs are animals and plants that symbolize some virtue. For example, water plants and animals, such as crabs, tadpoles and water weeds, are commonly found to symbolize fertility. In some areas noble elders claim these symbols refer to strength of noble family, but not everyone agrees. The overall meaning of groups of carved motifs on houses remains debated and tourism has further complicated these debates because some feel a uniform explanation must be presented to tourists. The image to the left shows an example of Torajan wood carving, consisting of 15 square panels. The center bottom panel represents buffalo or wealth, a wish for many buffaloes for the family. The center panel represents a knot and a box, a hope that all of the family's offspring will be happy and live in harmony, like goods kept safe in a box. The top left and top right squares represent an aquatic animal, indicating the need for fast and hard work, just like moving on the surface of water. It also represents the need for a certain skill to produce good results.

 

Regularity and order are common features in Toraja wood carving (see table below), as well as abstracts and geometrical designs. Nature is frequently used as the basis of Toraja's ornaments, because nature is full of abstractions and geometries with regularities and ordering. Toraja's ornaments have been studied in ethnomathematics to reveal their mathematical structure, but Torajans base this art only on approximations. To create an ornament, bamboo sticks are used as a geometrical tool.

 

FUNERAL RITES

In Toraja society, the funeral ritual is the most elaborate and expensive event. The richer and more powerful the individual, the more expensive is the funeral. In the aluk religion, only nobles have the right to have an extensive death feast. The death feast of a nobleman is usually attended by thousands and lasts for several days. A ceremonial site, called rante, is usually prepared in a large, grassy field where shelters for audiences, rice barns, and other ceremonial funeral structures are specially made by the deceased family. Flute music, funeral chants, songs and poems, and crying and wailing are traditional Toraja expressions of grief with the exceptions of funerals for young children, and poor, low-status adults.

 

The ceremony is often held weeks, months, or years after the death so that the deceased's family can raise the significant funds needed to cover funeral expenses. Torajans traditionally believe that death is not a sudden, abrupt event, but a gradual process toward Puya (the land of souls, or afterlife). During the waiting period, the body of the deceased is wrapped in several layers of cloth and kept under the tongkonan. The soul of the deceased is thought to linger around the village until the funeral ceremony is completed, after which it begins its journey to Puya.

 

Another component of the ritual is the slaughter of water buffalo. The more powerful the person who died, the more buffalo are slaughtered at the death feast. Buffalo carcasses, including their heads, are usually lined up on a field waiting for their owner, who is in the "sleeping stage". Torajans believe that the deceased will need the buffalo to make the journey and that they will be quicker to arrive at Puya if they have many buffalo. Slaughtering tens of water buffalo and hundreds of pigs using a machete is the climax of the elaborate death feast, with dancing and music and young boys who catch spurting blood in long bamboo tubes. Some of the slaughtered animals are given by guests as "gifts", which are carefully noted because they will be considered debts of the deceased's family. However, a cockfight, known as bulangan londong, is an integral part of the ceremony. As with the sacrifice of the buffalo and the pigs, the cockfight is considered sacred because it involves the spilling of blood on the earth. In particular, the tradition requires the sacrifice of at least three chickens. However, it is common for at least 25 pairs of chickens to be set against each other in the context of the ceremony.

 

There are three methods of burial: the coffin may be laid in a cave or in a carved stone grave, or hung on a cliff. It contains any possessions that the deceased will need in the afterlife. The wealthy are often buried in a stone grave carved out of a rocky cliff. The grave is usually expensive and takes a few months to complete. In some areas, a stone cave may be found that is large enough to accommodate a whole family. A wood-carved effigy, called Tau tau, is usually placed in the cave looking out over the land. The coffin of a baby or child may be hung from ropes on a cliff face or from a tree. This hanging grave usually lasts for years, until the ropes rot and the coffin falls to the ground.

 

In the ritual called Ma'Nene, that takes place each year in August, the bodies of the deceased are exhumed to be washed, groomed and dressed in new clothes. The mummies are then walked around the village.

 

DANCE AND MUSIC

Torajans perform dances on several occasions, most often during their elaborate funeral ceremonies. They dance to express their grief, and to honour and even cheer the deceased person because he is going to have a long journey in the afterlife. First, a group of men form a circle and sing a monotonous chant throughout the night to honour the deceased (a ritual called Ma'badong). This is considered by many Torajans to be the most important component of the funeral ceremony. On the second funeral day, the Ma'randing warrior dance is performed to praise the courage of the deceased during life. Several men perform the dance with a sword, a large shield made from buffalo skin, a helmet with a buffalo horn, and other ornamentation. The Ma'randing dance precedes a procession in which the deceased is carried from a rice barn to the rante, the site of the funeral ceremony. During the funeral, elder women perform the Ma'katia dance while singing a poetic song and wearing a long feathered costume. The Ma'akatia dance is performed to remind the audience of the generosity and loyalty of the deceased person. After the bloody ceremony of buffalo and pig slaughter, a group of boys and girls clap their hands while performing a cheerful dance called Ma'dondan.

 

As in other agricultural societies, Torajans dance and sing during harvest time. The Ma'bugi dance celebrates the thanksgiving event, and the Ma'gandangi dance is performed while Torajans are pounding rice. There are several war dances, such as the Manimbong dance performed by men, followed by the Ma'dandan dance performed by women. The aluk religion governs when and how Torajans dance. A dance called Ma'bua can be performed only once every 12 years. Ma'bua is a major Toraja ceremony in which priests wear a buffalo head and dance around a sacred tree.

 

A traditional musical instrument of the Toraja is a bamboo flute called a Pa'suling (suling is an Indonesian word for flute). This six-holed flute (not unique to the Toraja) is played at many dances, such as the thanksgiving dance Ma'bondensan, where the flute accompanies a group of shirtless, dancing men with long fingernails. The Toraja have indigenous musical instruments, such as the Pa'pelle (made from palm leaves) and the Pa'karombi (the Torajan version of a jaw harp). The Pa'pelle is played during harvest time and at house inauguration ceremonies.

 

LANGUAGE

The ethnic Toraja language is dominant in Tana Toraja with the main language as the Sa'dan Toraja. Although the national Indonesian language is the official language and is spoken in the community, all elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach Toraja language.Language varieties of Toraja, including Kalumpang, Mamasa, Tae' , Talondo' , Toala' , and Toraja-Sa'dan, belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language from the Austronesian family. At the outset, the isolated geographical nature of Tana Toraja formed many dialects between the Toraja languages themselves. After the formal administration of Tana Toraja, some Toraja dialects have been influenced by other languages through the transmigration program, introduced since the colonialism period, and it has been a major factor in the linguistic variety of Toraja languages. A prominent attribute of Toraja language is the notion of grief. The importance of death ceremony in Toraja culture has characterized their languages to express intricate degrees of grief and mourning. The Toraja language contains many terms referring to sadness, longing, depression, and mental pain. Giving a clear expression of the psychological and physical effect of loss is a catharsis and sometimes lessens the pain of grief itself.

 

ECONOMY

Prior to Suharto's "New Order" administration, the Torajan economy was based on agriculture, with cultivated wet rice in terraced fields on mountain slopes, and supplemental cassava and maize crops. Much time and energy were devoted to raising water buffalo, pigs, and chickens, primarily for ceremonial sacrifices and consumption. Coffee was the first significant cash crop produced in Toraja, and was introduced in the mid 19th century, changing the local economy towards commodity production for external markets and gaining an excellent reputation for quality in the international market .

 

With the commencement of the New Order in 1965, Indonesia's economy developed and opened to foreign investment. In Toraja, a coffee plantation and factory was established by Key Coffee of Japan, and Torajan coffee regained a reputation for quality within the growing international specialty coffee sector Multinational oil and mining companies opened new operations in Indonesia during the 1970s and 1980s. Torajans, particularly younger ones, relocated to work for the foreign companies - to Kalimantan for timber and oil, to Papua for mining, to the cities of Sulawesi and Java, and many went to Malaysia. The out-migration of Torajans was steady until 1985. and has continued since, with remittances sent back by emigre Torajans performing an important role within the contemporary economy.

 

Tourism commenced in Toraja in the 1970s, and accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s. Between 1984 and 1997, a significant number of Torajans obtained their incomes from tourism, working in and owning hotels, as tour guides, drivers, or selling souvenirs. With the rise of political and economic instability in Indonesia in the late 1990s - including religious conflicts elsewhere on Sulawesi - tourism in Tana Toraja has declined dramatically. Toraja continues to be a well known origin for Indonesian coffee, grown by both smallholders and plantation estates, although migration, remittances and off-farm income is considered far more important to most households, even those in rural areas.

 

TOURISM AND CULTURAL CHANGE

Before the 1970s, Toraja was almost unknown to Western tourism. In 1971, about 50 Europeans visited Tana Toraja. In 1972, at least 400 visitors attended the funeral ritual of Puang of Sangalla, the highest-ranking nobleman in Tana Toraja and the so-called "last pure-blooded Toraja noble." The event was documented by National Geographic and broadcast in several European countries. In 1976, about 12,000 tourists visited the regency and in 1981, Torajan sculpture was exhibited in major North American museums. "The land of the heavenly kings of Tana Toraja", as written in the exhibition brochure, embraced the outside world.

 

In 1984, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism declared Tana Toraja Regency the prima donna of South Sulawesi. Tana Toraja was heralded as "the second stop after Bali". Tourism was increasing dramatically: by 1985, a total number of 150,000 foreigners had visited the Regency (in addition to 80,000 domestic tourists), and the annual number of foreign visitors was recorded at 40,000 in 1989. Souvenir stands appeared in Rantepao, the cultural center of Toraja, roads were sealed at the most-visited tourist sites, new hotels and tourist-oriented restaurants were opened, and an airstrip was opened in the Regency in 1981.

 

Tourism developers have marketed Tana Toraja as an exotic adventure - an area rich in culture and off the beaten track. Western tourists expected to see stone-age villages and pagan funerals. Toraja is for tourists who have gone as far as Bali and are willing to see more of the wild, "untouched" islands. However, they were more likely to see a Torajan wearing a hat and denim, living in a Christian society. Tourists felt that the tongkonan and other Torajan rituals had been preconceived to make profits, and complained that the destination was too commercialized. This has resulted in several clashes between Torajans and tourism developers, whom Torajans see as outsiders.

 

A clash between local Torajan leaders and the South Sulawesi provincial government (as a tourist developer) broke out in 1985. The government designated 18 Toraja villages and burial sites as traditional tourist attractions. Consequently, zoning restrictions were applied to these areas, such that Torajans themselves were barred from changing their tongkonans and burial sites. The plan was opposed by some Torajan leaders, as they felt that their rituals and traditions were being determined by outsiders. As a result, in 1987, the Torajan village of Kété Kesú and several other designated tourist attractions closed their doors to tourists. This closure lasted only a few days, as the villagers found it too difficult to survive without the income from selling souvenirs.

 

Tourism has also transformed Toraja society. Originally, there was a ritual which allowed commoners to marry nobles (puang) and thereby gain nobility for their children. However, the image of Torajan society created for the tourists, often by "lower-ranking" guides, has eroded its traditional strict hierarchy. High status is not as esteemed in Tana Toraja as it once was. Many low-ranking men can declare themselves and their children nobles by gaining enough wealth through work outside the region and then marrying a noble woman.

 

WIKIPEDIA

The Toraja are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja"). Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk ("the way"). The Indonesian government has recognized this animist belief as Aluk To Dolo ("Way of the Ancestors").

 

The word toraja comes from the Bugis Buginese language term to riaja, meaning "people of the uplands". The Dutch colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909. Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and colorful wood carvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several days.

 

Before the 20th century, Torajans lived in autonomous villages, where they practised animism and were relatively untouched by the outside world. In the early 1900s, Dutch missionaries first worked to convert Torajan highlanders to Christianity. When the Tana Toraja regency was further opened to the outside world in the 1970s, it became an icon of tourism in Indonesia: it was exploited by tourism developers and studied by anthropologists. By the 1990s, when tourism peaked, Toraja society had changed significantly, from an agrarian model - in which social life and customs were outgrowths of the Aluk To Dolo - to a largely Christian society. Today, tourism and remittances from migrant Torajans have made for major changes in the Toraja highland, giving the Toraja a celebrity status within Indonesia and enhancing Toraja ethnic group pride.

 

ETHNIC IDENTITY

The Torajan people had little notion of themselves as a distinct ethnic group before the 20th century. Before Dutch colonization and Christianization, Torajans, who lived in highland areas, identified with their villages and did not share a broad sense of identity. Although complexes of rituals created linkages between highland villages, there were variations in dialects, differences in social hierarchies, and an array of ritual practices in the Sulawesi highland region. "Toraja" (from the coastal languages' to, meaning people; and riaja, uplands) was first used as a lowlander expression for highlanders. As a result, "Toraja" initially had more currency with outsiders - such as the Bugis and Makassarese, who constitute a majority of the lowland of Sulawesi - than with insiders. The Dutch missionaries' presence in the highlands gave rise to the Toraja ethnic consciousness in the Sa'dan Toraja region, and this shared identity grew with the rise of tourism in the Tana Toraja Regency. Since then, South Sulawesi has four main ethnic groups - the Bugis (the majority, including shipbuilders and seafarers), the Makassarese (lowland traders and seafarers), the Mandarese (traders and fishermen), and the Toraja (highland rice cultivators).

 

HISTORY

From the 17th century, the Dutch established trade and political control on Sulawesi through the Dutch East Indies Company. Over two centuries, they ignored the mountainous area in the central Sulawesi, where Torajans lived, because access was difficult and it had little productive agricultural land. In the late 19th century, the Dutch became increasingly concerned about the spread of Islam in the south of Sulawesi, especially among the Makassarese and Bugis peoples. The Dutch saw the animist highlanders as potential Christians. In the 1920s, the Reformed Missionary Alliance of the Dutch Reformed Church began missionary work aided by the Dutch colonial government. In addition to introducing Christianity, the Dutch abolished slavery and imposed local taxes. A line was drawn around the Sa'dan area and called Tana Toraja ("the land of Toraja"). Tana Toraja was first a subdivision of the Luwu kingdom that had claimed the area. In 1946, the Dutch granted Tana Toraja a regentschap, and it was recognized in 1957 as one of the regencies of Indonesia.

 

Early Dutch missionaries faced strong opposition among Torajans, especially among the elite, because the abolition of their profitable slave trade had angered them. Some Torajans were forcibly relocated to the lowlands by the Dutch, where they could be more easily controlled. Taxes were kept high, undermining the wealth of the elites. Ultimately, the Dutch influence did not subdue Torajan culture, and only a few Torajans were converted. In 1950, only 10% of the population had converted to Christianity.

 

In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the Torajans, resulting in widespread Christian conversion among those who sought to align themselves with the Dutch for political protection and to form a movement against the Bugis and Makassarese Muslims. Between 1951 and 1965 (following Indonesian independence), southern Sulawesi faced a turbulent period as the Darul Islam separatist movement fought for an Islamic state in Sulawesi. The 15 years of guerrilla warfare led to massive conversions to

 

CHRISTIANITY

Alignment with the Indonesian government, however, did not guarantee safety for the Torajans. In 1965, a presidential decree required every Indonesian citizen to belong to one of five officially recognized religions: Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism, or Buddhism. The Torajan religious belief (aluk) was not legally recognized, and the Torajans raised their voices against the law. To make aluk accord with the law, it had to be accepted as part of one of the official religions. In 1969, Aluk To Dolo ("the way of ancestors") was legalized as a sect of Agama Hindu Dharma, the official name of Hinduism in Indonesia.

 

SOCIETY

There are three main types of affiliation in Toraja society: family, class and religion.

 

FAMILY AFFILIATION

Family is the primary social and political grouping in Torajan society. Each village is one extended family, the seat of which is the tongkonan, a traditional Torajan house. Each tongkonan has a name, which becomes the name of the village. The familial dons maintain village unity. Marriage between distant cousins (fourth cousins and beyond) is a common practice that strengthens kinship. Toraja society prohibits marriage between close cousins (up to and including the third cousin) - except for nobles, to prevent the dispersal of property. Kinship is actively reciprocal, meaning that the extended family helps each other farm, share buffalo rituals, and pay off debts.

 

Each person belongs to both the mother's and the father's families, the only bilateral family line in Indonesia. Children, therefore, inherit household affiliation from both mother and father, including land and even family debts. Children's names are given on the basis of kinship, and are usually chosen after dead relatives. Names of aunts, uncles and cousins are commonly referred to in the names of mothers, fathers and siblings.

 

Before the start of the formal administration of Toraja villages by the Tana Toraja Regency, each Toraja village was autonomous. In a more complex situation, in which one Toraja family could not handle their problems alone, several villages formed a group; sometimes, villages would unite against other villages. Relationship between families was expressed through blood, marriage, and shared ancestral houses (tongkonan), practically signed by the exchange of water buffalo and pigs on ritual occasions. Such exchanges not only built political and cultural ties between families but defined each person's place in a social hierarchy: who poured palm wine, who wrapped a corpse and prepared offerings, where each person could or could not sit, what dishes should be used or avoided, and even what piece of meat constituted one's share.

 

CLASS AFFILIATION

In early Toraja society, family relationships were tied closely to social class. There were three strata: nobles, commoners, and slaves (slavery was abolished in 1909 by the Dutch East Indies government). Class was inherited through the mother. It was taboo, therefore, to marry "down" with a woman of lower class. On the other hand, marrying a woman of higher class could improve the status of the next generation. The nobility's condescending attitude toward the commoners is still maintained today for reasons of family prestige.

 

Nobles, who were believed to be direct descendants of the descended person from heaven, lived in tongkonans, while commoners lived in less lavish houses (bamboo shacks called banua). Slaves lived in small huts, which had to be built around their owner's tongkonan. Commoners might marry anyone, but nobles preferred to marry in-family to maintain their status. Sometimes nobles married Bugis or Makassarese nobles. Commoners and slaves were prohibited from having death feasts. Despite close kinship and status inheritance, there was some social mobility, as marriage or change in wealth could affect an individuals status. Wealth was counted by the ownership of water buffaloes.

 

Slaves in Toraja society were family property. Sometimes Torajans decided to become slaves when they incurred a debt, pledging to work as payment. Slaves could be taken during wars, and slave trading was common. Slaves could buy their freedom, but their children still inherited slave status. Slaves were prohibited from wearing bronze or gold, carving their houses, eating from the same dishes as their owners, or having sex with free women - a crime punishable by death.

 

RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION

Toraja's indigenous belief system is polytheistic animism, called aluk, or "the way" (sometimes translated as "the law"). In the Toraja myth, the ancestors of Torajan people came down from heaven using stairs, which were then used by the Torajans as a communication medium with Puang Matua, the Creator. The cosmos, according to aluk, is divided into the upper world (heaven), the world of man (earth), and the underworld. At first, heaven and earth were married, then there was a darkness, a separation, and finally the light. Animals live in the underworld, which is represented by rectangular space enclosed by pillars, the earth is for mankind, and the heaven world is located above, covered with a saddle-shaped roof. Other Toraja gods include Pong Banggai di Rante (god of Earth), Indo' Ongon-Ongon (a goddess who can cause earthquakes), Pong Lalondong (god of death), and Indo' Belo Tumbang (goddess of medicine); there are many more.

 

The earthly authority, whose words and actions should be cleaved to both in life (agriculture) and death (funerals), is called to minaa (an aluk priest). Aluk is not just a belief system; it is a combination of law, religion, and habit. Aluk governs social life, agricultural practices, and ancestral rituals. The details of aluk may vary from one village to another. One common law is the requirement that death and life rituals be separated. Torajans believe that performing death rituals might ruin their corpses if combined with life rituals. The two rituals are equally important. During the time of the Dutch missionaries, Christian Torajans were prohibited from attending or performing life rituals, but were allowed to perform death rituals. Consequently, Toraja's death rituals are still practised today, while life rituals have diminished.

 

CULTURE

TONGKONAN

Tongkonan are the traditional Torajan ancestral houses. They stand high on wooden piles, topped with a layered split-bamboo roof shaped in a sweeping curved arc, and they are incised with red, black, and yellow detailed wood carvings on the exterior walls. The word "tongkonan" comes from the Torajan tongkon ("to sit").

 

Tongkonan are the center of Torajan social life. The rituals associated with the tongkonan are important expressions of Torajan spiritual life, and therefore all family members are impelled to participate, because symbolically the tongkonan represents links to their ancestors and to living and future kin. According to Torajan myth, the first tongkonan was built in heaven on four poles, with a roof made of Indian cloth. When the first Torajan ancestor descended to earth, he imitated the house and held a large ceremony.

 

The construction of a tongkonan is laborious work and is usually done with the help of the extended family. There are three types of tongkonan. The tongkonan layuk is the house of the highest authority, used as the "center of government". The tongkonan pekamberan belongs to the family members who have some authority in local traditions. Ordinary family members reside in the tongkonan batu. The exclusivity to the nobility of the tongkonan is diminishing as many Torajan commoners find lucrative employment in other parts of Indonesia. As they send back money to their families, they enable the construction of larger tongkonan.

 

WOOD CARVINGS

To express social and religious concepts, Torajans carve wood, calling it Pa'ssura (or "the writing"). Wood carvings are therefore Toraja's cultural manifestation.

 

Each carving receives a special name, and common motifs are animals and plants that symbolize some virtue. For example, water plants and animals, such as crabs, tadpoles and water weeds, are commonly found to symbolize fertility. In some areas noble elders claim these symbols refer to strength of noble family, but not everyone agrees. The overall meaning of groups of carved motifs on houses remains debated and tourism has further complicated these debates because some feel a uniform explanation must be presented to tourists. The image to the left shows an example of Torajan wood carving, consisting of 15 square panels. The center bottom panel represents buffalo or wealth, a wish for many buffaloes for the family. The center panel represents a knot and a box, a hope that all of the family's offspring will be happy and live in harmony, like goods kept safe in a box. The top left and top right squares represent an aquatic animal, indicating the need for fast and hard work, just like moving on the surface of water. It also represents the need for a certain skill to produce good results.

 

Regularity and order are common features in Toraja wood carving (see table below), as well as abstracts and geometrical designs. Nature is frequently used as the basis of Toraja's ornaments, because nature is full of abstractions and geometries with regularities and ordering. Toraja's ornaments have been studied in ethnomathematics to reveal their mathematical structure, but Torajans base this art only on approximations. To create an ornament, bamboo sticks are used as a geometrical tool.

 

FUNERAL RITES

In Toraja society, the funeral ritual is the most elaborate and expensive event. The richer and more powerful the individual, the more expensive is the funeral. In the aluk religion, only nobles have the right to have an extensive death feast. The death feast of a nobleman is usually attended by thousands and lasts for several days. A ceremonial site, called rante, is usually prepared in a large, grassy field where shelters for audiences, rice barns, and other ceremonial funeral structures are specially made by the deceased family. Flute music, funeral chants, songs and poems, and crying and wailing are traditional Toraja expressions of grief with the exceptions of funerals for young children, and poor, low-status adults.

 

The ceremony is often held weeks, months, or years after the death so that the deceased's family can raise the significant funds needed to cover funeral expenses. Torajans traditionally believe that death is not a sudden, abrupt event, but a gradual process toward Puya (the land of souls, or afterlife). During the waiting period, the body of the deceased is wrapped in several layers of cloth and kept under the tongkonan. The soul of the deceased is thought to linger around the village until the funeral ceremony is completed, after which it begins its journey to Puya.

 

Another component of the ritual is the slaughter of water buffalo. The more powerful the person who died, the more buffalo are slaughtered at the death feast. Buffalo carcasses, including their heads, are usually lined up on a field waiting for their owner, who is in the "sleeping stage". Torajans believe that the deceased will need the buffalo to make the journey and that they will be quicker to arrive at Puya if they have many buffalo. Slaughtering tens of water buffalo and hundreds of pigs using a machete is the climax of the elaborate death feast, with dancing and music and young boys who catch spurting blood in long bamboo tubes. Some of the slaughtered animals are given by guests as "gifts", which are carefully noted because they will be considered debts of the deceased's family. However, a cockfight, known as bulangan londong, is an integral part of the ceremony. As with the sacrifice of the buffalo and the pigs, the cockfight is considered sacred because it involves the spilling of blood on the earth. In particular, the tradition requires the sacrifice of at least three chickens. However, it is common for at least 25 pairs of chickens to be set against each other in the context of the ceremony.

 

There are three methods of burial: the coffin may be laid in a cave or in a carved stone grave, or hung on a cliff. It contains any possessions that the deceased will need in the afterlife. The wealthy are often buried in a stone grave carved out of a rocky cliff. The grave is usually expensive and takes a few months to complete. In some areas, a stone cave may be found that is large enough to accommodate a whole family. A wood-carved effigy, called Tau tau, is usually placed in the cave looking out over the land. The coffin of a baby or child may be hung from ropes on a cliff face or from a tree. This hanging grave usually lasts for years, until the ropes rot and the coffin falls to the ground.

 

In the ritual called Ma'Nene, that takes place each year in August, the bodies of the deceased are exhumed to be washed, groomed and dressed in new clothes. The mummies are then walked around the village.

 

DANCE AND MUSIC

Torajans perform dances on several occasions, most often during their elaborate funeral ceremonies. They dance to express their grief, and to honour and even cheer the deceased person because he is going to have a long journey in the afterlife. First, a group of men form a circle and sing a monotonous chant throughout the night to honour the deceased (a ritual called Ma'badong). This is considered by many Torajans to be the most important component of the funeral ceremony. On the second funeral day, the Ma'randing warrior dance is performed to praise the courage of the deceased during life. Several men perform the dance with a sword, a large shield made from buffalo skin, a helmet with a buffalo horn, and other ornamentation. The Ma'randing dance precedes a procession in which the deceased is carried from a rice barn to the rante, the site of the funeral ceremony. During the funeral, elder women perform the Ma'katia dance while singing a poetic song and wearing a long feathered costume. The Ma'akatia dance is performed to remind the audience of the generosity and loyalty of the deceased person. After the bloody ceremony of buffalo and pig slaughter, a group of boys and girls clap their hands while performing a cheerful dance called Ma'dondan.

 

As in other agricultural societies, Torajans dance and sing during harvest time. The Ma'bugi dance celebrates the thanksgiving event, and the Ma'gandangi dance is performed while Torajans are pounding rice. There are several war dances, such as the Manimbong dance performed by men, followed by the Ma'dandan dance performed by women. The aluk religion governs when and how Torajans dance. A dance called Ma'bua can be performed only once every 12 years. Ma'bua is a major Toraja ceremony in which priests wear a buffalo head and dance around a sacred tree.

 

A traditional musical instrument of the Toraja is a bamboo flute called a Pa'suling (suling is an Indonesian word for flute). This six-holed flute (not unique to the Toraja) is played at many dances, such as the thanksgiving dance Ma'bondensan, where the flute accompanies a group of shirtless, dancing men with long fingernails. The Toraja have indigenous musical instruments, such as the Pa'pelle (made from palm leaves) and the Pa'karombi (the Torajan version of a jaw harp). The Pa'pelle is played during harvest time and at house inauguration ceremonies.

 

LANGUAGE

The ethnic Toraja language is dominant in Tana Toraja with the main language as the Sa'dan Toraja. Although the national Indonesian language is the official language and is spoken in the community, all elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach Toraja language.Language varieties of Toraja, including Kalumpang, Mamasa, Tae' , Talondo' , Toala' , and Toraja-Sa'dan, belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language from the Austronesian family. At the outset, the isolated geographical nature of Tana Toraja formed many dialects between the Toraja languages themselves. After the formal administration of Tana Toraja, some Toraja dialects have been influenced by other languages through the transmigration program, introduced since the colonialism period, and it has been a major factor in the linguistic variety of Toraja languages. A prominent attribute of Toraja language is the notion of grief. The importance of death ceremony in Toraja culture has characterized their languages to express intricate degrees of grief and mourning. The Toraja language contains many terms referring to sadness, longing, depression, and mental pain. Giving a clear expression of the psychological and physical effect of loss is a catharsis and sometimes lessens the pain of grief itself.

 

ECONOMY

Prior to Suharto's "New Order" administration, the Torajan economy was based on agriculture, with cultivated wet rice in terraced fields on mountain slopes, and supplemental cassava and maize crops. Much time and energy were devoted to raising water buffalo, pigs, and chickens, primarily for ceremonial sacrifices and consumption. Coffee was the first significant cash crop produced in Toraja, and was introduced in the mid 19th century, changing the local economy towards commodity production for external markets and gaining an excellent reputation for quality in the international market .

 

With the commencement of the New Order in 1965, Indonesia's economy developed and opened to foreign investment. In Toraja, a coffee plantation and factory was established by Key Coffee of Japan, and Torajan coffee regained a reputation for quality within the growing international specialty coffee sector Multinational oil and mining companies opened new operations in Indonesia during the 1970s and 1980s. Torajans, particularly younger ones, relocated to work for the foreign companies - to Kalimantan for timber and oil, to Papua for mining, to the cities of Sulawesi and Java, and many went to Malaysia. The out-migration of Torajans was steady until 1985. and has continued since, with remittances sent back by emigre Torajans performing an important role within the contemporary economy.

 

Tourism commenced in Toraja in the 1970s, and accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s. Between 1984 and 1997, a significant number of Torajans obtained their incomes from tourism, working in and owning hotels, as tour guides, drivers, or selling souvenirs. With the rise of political and economic instability in Indonesia in the late 1990s - including religious conflicts elsewhere on Sulawesi - tourism in Tana Toraja has declined dramatically. Toraja continues to be a well known origin for Indonesian coffee, grown by both smallholders and plantation estates, although migration, remittances and off-farm income is considered far more important to most households, even those in rural areas.

 

TOURISM AND CULTURAL CHANGE

Before the 1970s, Toraja was almost unknown to Western tourism. In 1971, about 50 Europeans visited Tana Toraja. In 1972, at least 400 visitors attended the funeral ritual of Puang of Sangalla, the highest-ranking nobleman in Tana Toraja and the so-called "last pure-blooded Toraja noble." The event was documented by National Geographic and broadcast in several European countries. In 1976, about 12,000 tourists visited the regency and in 1981, Torajan sculpture was exhibited in major North American museums. "The land of the heavenly kings of Tana Toraja", as written in the exhibition brochure, embraced the outside world.

 

In 1984, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism declared Tana Toraja Regency the prima donna of South Sulawesi. Tana Toraja was heralded as "the second stop after Bali". Tourism was increasing dramatically: by 1985, a total number of 150,000 foreigners had visited the Regency (in addition to 80,000 domestic tourists), and the annual number of foreign visitors was recorded at 40,000 in 1989. Souvenir stands appeared in Rantepao, the cultural center of Toraja, roads were sealed at the most-visited tourist sites, new hotels and tourist-oriented restaurants were opened, and an airstrip was opened in the Regency in 1981.

 

Tourism developers have marketed Tana Toraja as an exotic adventure - an area rich in culture and off the beaten track. Western tourists expected to see stone-age villages and pagan funerals. Toraja is for tourists who have gone as far as Bali and are willing to see more of the wild, "untouched" islands. However, they were more likely to see a Torajan wearing a hat and denim, living in a Christian society. Tourists felt that the tongkonan and other Torajan rituals had been preconceived to make profits, and complained that the destination was too commercialized. This has resulted in several clashes between Torajans and tourism developers, whom Torajans see as outsiders.

 

A clash between local Torajan leaders and the South Sulawesi provincial government (as a tourist developer) broke out in 1985. The government designated 18 Toraja villages and burial sites as traditional tourist attractions. Consequently, zoning restrictions were applied to these areas, such that Torajans themselves were barred from changing their tongkonans and burial sites. The plan was opposed by some Torajan leaders, as they felt that their rituals and traditions were being determined by outsiders. As a result, in 1987, the Torajan village of Kété Kesú and several other designated tourist attractions closed their doors to tourists. This closure lasted only a few days, as the villagers found it too difficult to survive without the income from selling souvenirs.

 

Tourism has also transformed Toraja society. Originally, there was a ritual which allowed commoners to marry nobles (puang) and thereby gain nobility for their children. However, the image of Torajan society created for the tourists, often by "lower-ranking" guides, has eroded its traditional strict hierarchy. High status is not as esteemed in Tana Toraja as it once was. Many low-ranking men can declare themselves and their children nobles by gaining enough wealth through work outside the region and then marrying a noble woman.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Man from Amdo Tibetan region beautiful in his finest ceremonial clothes at a festival fashion show. Different regions of Tibet have their own customs, dialect, and styles of fashion and ornamentation.

 

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Ornaments make up most of the life savings of many Khampa families, and so play an important role in Tibetan families' lives as well as in announcing the social status of the wearers. They are saved up for over many years and handed down for centuries from generation to generation within families. Until very recently, these families were nomadic and have to move every few months because of the snowy seasons in the Himalayas, so Khampas have always needed to store their wealth in portable form. So being unable to store wealth in the form of estates or houses or land or in a bank, for millenia wealth has been stored in art, precious fabrics, and particularly into ornaments.

 

Their culture is very conservative about the type of ornaments favored: for thousands of years jewelry made from amber, turquoise and coral have been worn because the stones are believed to hold spiritual power. Gold and silver and also naturally found in Tibet, and the use of these metals by the wealthy also goes back thousands of years. Their ornaments are very chunky, bold and colorful. While the gold earrings that Khampa women wear may have cost them a year or maybe several year's of their salary, ornaments carry so much social status in their society that probably didn't have to think twice about the purchase.

 

To the Khampa people these ornaments have the utmost sentimental value and significance, because they are the physical remnants of generations of their ancestors hard work or success. what these people are wearing is not just their life savings, but also their family history and treasure. this culture has been around for millenia - archeological finds from the 1st century AD in the khampa area unearthed ornaments that are essentially the same in design and materials as today's are. there are also beliefs that the stones provide good luck and protection to disease. dyed red coral is the most sought after stone, but interestingly tibet is very very far from any oceans - all the coral is imported by traders! Religious symbols from Tibetan Buddhism frequency form the designs of pieces, however archeological finds show that the role of ornaments in Tibetan society and peoples' lives long predate the arrival of Buddhism in Tibet. Indeed the beliefs of spiritual protection being provided by coral, amber and turquoise probably originate from the ancient shamanic Bon religion.

Muggia (Venetian, Triestine dialect: Muja; German: Mulgs; Friulian: Mugle; Slovene: Milje) is an Italian town and comune in the south-west of the Province of Trieste, in the region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia on the border with Slovenia. Lying on the eastern flank of the Gulf of Trieste in the northern Adriatic Sea, Muggia is the only Italian port town in Istria. The town's architecture is marked by its Venetian and Austrian history, and its harbour hosts a modern 500-berth marina for yachts (Porto San Rocco).

 

Muggia lies in northern Istria. Its territory, limited on the sea-side by a shoreline of more than 7 kilometres (4 mi) featuring a coastal road and on the border side by a hill system, Monti di Muggia, including Mt. Castellier, Mt. S. Michele, Mt. Zuc and Monte d'Oro, that dominate over a vast landscape of Triestinian and Istrian coast, is characterized by a rich sub-continental vegetation of both Karstic and Istrian type.

 

It has a border crossing, known as San Bartolomeo, with Slovenia and the extreme east of the comune at Lazaretto. The Slovenian border crossing is called Lazaret in the Municipality of Koper.

Muggia was attested in historical sources as Mugla in AD 933. The origin of the name Muggia is uncertain; it may have arisen from Latin mūtila 'cut short, mutilated', in reference to a short projection from the land or a cape (cf. the cape north of Zadar, attested in Latin as Muchla bona in AD 1250, now Croatian Oštri rat). Another possibility is derivation from Latin *mūcla 'milestone', and another hypothesis is that it comes from Vulgar Latin *Lamūc(l)a 'small swamp'. The Slovene name Milje was borrowed from Proto-Romance Mugla (developing via *Mygla > *Migla > Milje).

 

Muggia originated as a prehistoric fortified village (castelliere), around 8th-7th century BC. The territory was conquered in 178–177 BC by the Romans, who created here a settlement (Castrum Muglae). After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Muggia was under Ostrogoth, Lombard, Byzantine, Avar and Frank dominations, until, in 931, king Hugh of Italy donated it to the Patriarch of Aquileia.

 

Before the year 1000 a new settlement was built on the seashore. After the 13th century the new village, now grown to the status of city, pronounced itself a municipality and defined its territory as bordering with those of Trieste and Koper, but stayed still politically bound to the Patriarchy of Aquileia. From this period are the cathedral and the city hall, the latter having been rebuilt in the last century.[clarification needed] In 1420 it became part of the Republic of Venice.

 

After Venice's fall in 1797, Muggia became part of the Austrian Empire, under which it developed an important naval shipbuilding industry which flourished until after World War II. Throughout the Austro-Hungarian period it remained part of the Margravate of Istria, first within the Kingdom of Illyria and then, after 1861, within the Austrian Littoral. The municipality of Muggia historically extended further south than today, including several settlements that are now part of Slovenia: Ankaran, Hrvatini, Elerji, Škofije, and Plavje.

 

After World War I and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, the town was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy and incorporated into the Province of Trieste. In the 1930s, the area developed a strong Communist underground activity against Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime. In 1945, it was occupied by the Yugoslav People's Army and from 1947 to 1954 it was part of the Free Territory of Trieste, a formally independent territory directly administered by the United Nations. The territory was internally divided into two zones ruled by military governors - Muggia ended up in the northern Zone A ruled by Anglo-Americans, while the southern Zone B was ruled by the Yugoslav army. In 1954 the two zones were handed over to Italian and Yugoslav civilian governments and de facto annexed by the two countries in an arrangement finally formalized in the 1975 Treaty of Osimo, which established the former borders between Zones as the new Italy-Yugoslavia international border. Following the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s it formed the border between Italy and the newly independent Slovenia. Following Slovenia's accession to the European Union in May 2004 and the passport-free Schengen Area in January 2008, all border controls have been removed, making the Italian-Slovenian border which runs just south and east of Muggia, practically invisible to travellers.

Muggia provides many evident traces of its Venetian traditions and origin, as showed by the dialect, the gastronomic traditions, the gothic-venetian style of some houses, the devious "calli", the loggias, the ogive arches, the ancient coats of arms on the façades but mostly the main square, a true Venetian "campiello".

 

Memories of its early ages include an important pre-historic "castelliere" on Mt. Castellier (S. Barbara) and Roman (Archaeological Park of Castrum Muglae) and medieval remains in Muggia Vecchia (Old Muggia), once one of the guarding castles that in the 10th century were built to defend the Istrian border against the invasion of the Hungars.

 

The Castle of Muggia, destroyed in 1353 by the Triestines, retains several remains of the previous period such as the ruins of the walls. A tower dating back to 1374 was due to the Patriarch of Aquileia Marquard of Muggia. Later in 1735, under the government of the Republic of Venice, it was restored, but it was totally abandoned during the following century. The Castle was restored by its current owners, the sculptor Villi Bossi and his wife Gabriella, and may be visited upon request.

 

The most important art attraction is the little basilica of Santa Maria Assunta (10th-13th century), housing frescoes from the 14th-15th centuries.

   

Indiana Medicine Man Billboard and Advertisement

Tremont, Indiana

 

Date: 1948

Source Type: Advertisement

Publisher, Printer, Photographer: Retail Merchants' Association, Chesterton, Indiana

Postmark: Not Applicable

Collection: Steven R. Shook

Remark: "SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND"

THE OLD ORIGINAL MEDICINE MAN OR HIS

ASSISTANT WITH THEIR WONDERFUL REMEDIES

 

He knows your troubles without you telling him. Don't fail to see him and be convinced.

 

He speaks French, Spanish, Italian, German, understands Polish and all the Indian dialects.

 

Their remedies are barks, roots, herbs, berries and seeds.

 

Don't be without your medicine. Send back the label or the correct name of medicine needed, and we will ship it to you at once. If I help you tell your friends; if not tell me. During my absence tell my assistants your ailments and knowing my remedies they can help you.

 

Take Rt. 12 (old 49) 45 miles from Chicago, 17 miles from Gary, going east. Coming west 9 miles from Michigan City on Northwest corner at Tremont, Ind. For your convenience this winter take the South Shore; get off at Tremont, going east. Coming west, take the South Shore from South Bend to Tremont.

 

OPEN EVERY DAY EXCEPT WEDNESDAY AND

THURSDAY FROM 9 A. M. TO 5:30 P. M.

 

For all

correspondence

 

Call or Write

R. A. BERCIER

Secretary-Treasurer

 

R. R. 3, Box 169

Chesterton, Ind.

 

Phone

Chesterton 4455

 

------

 

The following newspaper item was published December 6, 1923, in The Chesterton Tribune:

 

MEDICINE COMPANY TO HOLD FORTH ONH DUNES HIWAY

The Indiana Medicine company, of which County Commissioner H. A. Polentzke is one of the incorporators, has opened up for business on the Polentzke farm on the Dunes Hiway one-half miles east of Tremont. Dr. O. L. Stephenson, of Gary, and an Indian doctor will be in charge of the place, and all kinds of diseases will be treated. The company expects to maintain six rooms for patients and later on will erect additions to the building."

 

------

 

The following newspaper item was published December 13, 1923, in The Chesterton Tribune:

 

NEW SANITARIUM ON DUNES ROAD

One of the new improvements along the Dunes highway west is to be seen a short distance east of Tremont. It is located just off the main highway a few hundred feet, on a new stone road that is being built to the south. It is a story-and-a-half structure, at present of 30x80 feet dimensions, with basement, and will be known as the office headquarters and sanitarium of the Indiana Medicine Company, Inc., of Indiana.

 

The new company is composed of Mr. A. H. Pollentske, of Furnessville, and owner of the large farm on part of which the new sanitarium is located. Mr. Pollentzke is also one of the county commissioners of Porter county, which office he has held for eight or ten years. Associated with Mr. Pollentske, in the company, are Doctor Chas. Clayton, familiarly known here and at Gary as the "Indian Doctor," of Gary; B. McKensie, of St. Louis, Mo., India Medicine Company, of that city; and Dr. o. L. Stephenson, practicing physician at Gary and formerly practicing at Indianapolis.

 

The new institution has been well equipped for office and consultation as well as for treatments and sanitarium service; although the capacity for the latter service at present limited it is intended that this will be greatly increased by additional and larger buildings and the institution grows, as it no doubt will. The company is intending the undertaking to be the nucleus of a large and growing institution, which shall take its place among the prominent and serviceable sanitariums of this party of the country.

 

The "Indian Doctor," as he is called, has been in Gary and has been coming to Michigan City for a long time, and is well known. The new institution was opened for business Sunday [December 9, 1923], and those from Michigan City, Gary, and other nearby places will find the new Indiana Medicine Company headquarters open for inspection.

 

------

 

The following newspaper item was published March 26, 1925, in The Chesterton Tribune:

 

SOCIAL AND PERSONAL

Charles Clayton, president of the Indian Medicine company, of Tremont, is the proud owner of a dog that is attracting considerable attention hereabout. It is a German police black wolf, just past four months old. Its mother is international champion and the sire is a national champion. The markings of this dog are really unusual, the boat being coal black, without a single discolored hair. Both sire and dam are priceless, the owners refusing to sell at any price. Mr. Clayton is very proud of his pet, and has good reason to be. His partner, Herman Pollentske also owns a silver grey wolf dog that is now in training under the instruction of a professional Germain trainer of Chicago. The dog is being trained for police work, and will graduate in three months more. The animal is unusually intelligent naturally, and with the expert training it is receiving, will be unusually valuable.

 

------

 

The following newspaper item was published April 9, 1925, in The Chesterton Tribune:

 

LOCAL-PERSONAL-SOCIAL

The Indian Medicine company, of which Charles Clayton is president and Herman Pollentzke is treasurer, with headquarters at Tremont on the Dunes highway has recently opened branch offices in Walkerton and Chicago. The new branches are doing a splendid business right from the start in both places. The Chicago branch is located on the north side.

 

------

 

The following newspaper item was published May 13, 1926, in The Chesterton Tribune:

 

SOCIAL AND PERSONAL

Herman Pollentzke, of the Indian Medicine Co., with headquarters at Tremont, and branches in Chicago, tells us that his company has perfected a treatment for asthma and hay fever sufferers that is standing severe tests and giving great relief to many victims of these dread afflictions. Many Porter county people are compelled to spend July, august and September in northern climates to live at all during these periods. The Indian Medicine company's treatment will make these annual pilgrimages unnecessary, Mr. Pollentske believes. He invites his Porter county friends to try the treatment.

 

Sources:

The Chesterton Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; December 6, 1923; Volume 40, Number 39, Page 1, Column 6. Column titled "Medicine Company to Hold Forth on Dunes Hiway."

 

The Chesterton Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; December 13, 1923; Volume 40, Number 40, Page 8, Columns 5-6. Column titled "New Sanitarium on Dunes Road."

 

The Chesterton Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; March 26, 1925; Volume 42, Number 3, Page 8, Column 2. Column titled "Social and Personal."

 

The Chesterton Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; April 9, 1925; Volume 42, Number 5, Page 5, Column 3. Column titled "Local-Social-Personal."

 

Retail Merchants Association. 1948. The Chesterton Retail Merchants' Directory. Chesterton, Indiana: The Chesterton Tribune. 112 p. [see p. 54]

 

The Chesterton Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; May 13, 1926; Volume 43, Number 10, Page 8, Column 5. Column titled "Social and Personal."

 

Copyright 2009. Some rights reserved. The associated text may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of Steven R. Shook.

Name

In the twelfth century, Olomuc and Olmuc were the first handed down name forms. In the fifteenth century an alleged first form Juliomontium (Julius hill) was assumed, according to Julius Caesar as the alleged founder. The original meaning is unclear. In the Czech, Olomouc means 'bare mountain' (Old Czech holy, 'bald' and mauc 'mountain'). The name of the city is in the Moravian-Haná dialect, a subgroup of the Middle-Moravian dialects of the Czech, Olomóc or Holomóc, in German language Ölmütz, in Polish Ołomuniec and in Latin Eburum or Olomucium.

History

Beginnings

At the end of the second century there was a Roman army camp, the northernmost known in Central Europe. Up to the fifth century there was a Germanic settlement.

In the late 7th century a first Slavic settlement arose in today's Povel district. Around 830 this was destroyed. A new castle was built on the Peter's hill (Předhrad), which was probably one of the important castles of the Moravian empire. In the ninth century three churches were built.

Přemyslidenstaat (Přemyslid dynasty)

Olomouc was first mentioned in writing in 1017 when Moravia became part of the Bohemian state of Přemysliden. In 1055 it was the seat of a separate part of the Principality. In 1063 the bishopric of Olomouc was founded by Vratislav II. Around 1070 a new castle was built. In 1077 the monastery Hradisko was founded. In 1126 Heinrich Zdik became a bishop.

At the beginning of the 13th century, the last prince of Olomouz died, Moravia was united and placed under the jurisdiction of a Margrave of the Přemyslids. In 1248, Olomouc was first mentioned as a royal town. In 1306, King Wenceslas III resided during a campaign to Poland in Olomouc, and was murdered here, which resulted in the extinction of the Přemyslids dynasty in the male family tree. The city developed economically very quickly and became the capital of Moravia.

In the Hussite wars, Olomouc was an integral part of the Catholic side. In the succession of the Charterhouse Dolein, which had been lost in the Hussite wars, the Charterhouse Olomouc was founded in 1443, which existed until the abolition in 1782. In the 16th century numerous palaces were built in the Renaissance style. In 1566 the Jesuits came to Olomouc. They founded a school which was raised to a university in 1573. In 1588, the bishop became an imperial prince.

17th and 18th centuries

In the Thirty Years' War the town was taken by the Swedes in 1642 and occupied for eight years. After the Thirty Years' War, the largely destroyed and depopulated city lost the status of the Moravian capital and abandoned it to Brno. Since a great deal of damage had been caused by fires, a detailed "fire extinguishing order" was issued in 1711, in which a number of preventive measures were also discussed.

On 26 December 1741, the city was occupied by the Prussians during the First Silesian War. After this event the fortifications were extensively expanded. A second siege by the Prussians in 1758 withstood the new fortification. In 1777, the diocese became an archbishopric.

In 1794-1797 the prominent French-American soldier and politician Marquis Lafayette was interned in Olomouc as a political prisoner of the Donaumonarchy, after being captured in Flanders by the French coalition in 1792, and then, for the time being, imprisoned by Prussia.

19th century

In 1841, the city received a railway connection. In the middle of 1845, the railway from Olomouc to Prague ("Northern State Railway") was put into operation (Olomouc-Moravská Třebová, Moravská Třebová-Prague). In 1848, the Archbishop's Palace housed the Imperial Court, which had fled here because of the revolution in Vienna. Emperor Ferdinand I handed over the government to the eighteen-year-old Francis Joseph I on December 2, 1848. On 29 November 1850, the German Confederation under Austrian leadership was restored in Olomouc by the Agreement of Olomouc (also known as the Olomouc Treaty) between Prussia, Austria and Russia. In the years 1850 to 1866 the fortification systems were extended again. In 1886, the fortress status was abolished. 1899 drove in the city the first tram.

20th century

After the collapse of the Austrian Empire in 1918 and the founding of Czechoslovakia, the Czech citizens became majority, which included, among other things, the integration of the two towns of Hodolina and Nová ulice, as well as eleven other municipalities (Bělidla, Černovír, Hejčín, Chválkovice, Lazce, Nové Sady, Nový Svět, Neředín, Pavlovičky, Povel and Řepčín) in 1919. In 1921 lived in Olomouc 57,206 inhabitants.

On March 15, 1939, the city, as well as the other areas of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, erected on the same day by the German Reich, was occupied by the Wehrmacht. As early as 1939, the Olomouc University was closed by the German occupying forces. It was not until 1946 that it was restored under the name Palacký University of Olomouc.

The German-speaking population was expelled from Olomouc in 1945/1946. Their assets were confiscated by the Beneš decree 108, the assets of the Protestant church were liquidated by the Beneš decree 131, and the Catholic churches were expropriated.

In the 1970s and 1980s, a number of prefabricated housing estates were built in the peripheral areas.

Since 1971, the entire old town has been protected as a historic preservation reserve. Floods in 1997 made the city very vulnerable, about a third of the city area was flooded. In the year 2000, the Trinity Column was included in the UNESCO World Heritage list. According to the administrative reform of 2000 the former district town with the establishment of the Olomouc region became its administrative seat.

Jews in Olomouc

The synagogue in Olomouc

The first Jews settled in Olomouc as early as 906. From the year 1060 they had to live in a ghetto and bear a yellow identification mark. In 1454 all Jews from Olomouc were expelled. This law was valid until 1848.

The Olomouc Synagogue was built between 1895 and 1897. On the night of March 15, 1939, after the occupation by the Wehrmacht, the synagogue was lit and burnt down. At the same time about 800 Jews were arrested and later deported to the Dachau concentration camp. Some of the synagogue 's benches were removed, serving as church benches in a village church near Prostějov and were finally put up in the renovated synagogue in Krnov in 2004. Some of them are now in the Synagogue of Loštice and are reminiscent of the Jewish citizens murdered in concentration camps. The seat of honor is dedicated to Berthold Oppenheim, the Rabbi of Olomouc and Loštice.

During the period of National Socialism, 3,489 people were deported to the Theresienstadt Ghetto in five transports, on 26 and 30 June 1942, on July 4, 1942, and on March 7. Only 285 Jews of the city population survived. This was the end of the Jewish life in Olomouc for a long time. Since 2011, by artist Gunter Demnig Stolpersteine (stumbling blocks) have been and still are being laid to the memory of murdered Jews in Olomouc. Olomouc is one of the cities with the most stumbling blocks in the Czech Republic (as of 2016) with Prague and Brno.

Only since 1989 there has been a revival of the Jewish cultic life in the city. In 1991, an independent Jewish community was established with a field of activity for the districts of Olomouc, Šumperk, Jeseník, Bruntál and Přerov.

 

Name

Im 12. Jahrhundert waren Olomuc und Olmuc die ersten überlieferten Namensformen. Im 15. Jahrhundert wurde eine angebliche erste Form Juliomontium (Juliusberg) vermutet, nach Julius Caesar als angeblichem Gründer. Die ursprüngliche Bedeutung ist unklar. Im Tschechischen bedeutet Olomouc ‚kahler Berg‘ (alttschech. holy ‚kahl‘ und mauc ‚Berg‘). Der Name der Stadt lautet im mährisch-hannakischen Dialekt, einer Untergruppe der mittelmährischen Dialekte des Tschechischen, Olomóc oder Holomóc, auf Deutsch Olmütz, auf Polnisch Ołomuniec und auf Lateinisch Eburum oder Olomucium.

Geschichte

Anfänge

Ende des 2. Jahrhunderts befand sich hier ein römisches Heerlager, das nördlichste bekannte in Mitteleuropa. Bis ins 5. Jahrhundert gab es eine germanische Besiedelung.

Im späten 7. Jahrhundert entstand eine erste slawische Siedlung im heutigen Ortsteil Povel. Um 830 wurde diese zerstört. Es entstand eine neue Burg auf dem Petersberg (Předhrad), die nach ihrer Größe vermutlich zu den wichtigen Burgen des Mährerreiches zählte. Im 9. Jahrhundert wurden drei Kirchen gebaut.

Přemyslidenstaat

Olomouc wurde im Jahr 1017 erstmals schriftlich erwähnt, als Mähren Teil des böhmischen Staates der Přemysliden wurde. 1055 war es Sitz eines eigenen Teilfürstentums. 1063 wurde das Bistum Olmütz durch Vratislav II. gegründet. Um 1070 entstand eine neue Burg. 1077 wurde das Kloster Hradisko gegründet. 1126 wurde Heinrich Zdik zum Bischof.

Anfang des 13. Jahrhunderts starb der letzte Olmützer Fürst, Mähren wurde vereint und einem Markgrafen aus dem Geschlecht der Přemysliden unterstellt. Zum Jahr 1248 wird Olomouc erstmals als Königsstadt erwähnt. 1306 hielt sich König Wenzel III. während eines Feldzuges nach Polen in Olmütz auf und wurde hier ermordet, wodurch die Dynastie der Přemysliden im Mannesstamm erlosch. Die Stadt entwickelte sich wirtschaftlich sehr schnell und wurde zur Hauptstadt Mährens.

In den Hussitenkriegen war Olmütz fester Bestandteil der katholischen Seite. In der Nachfolge der Kartause Dolein, die in den Hussitenkriegen untergegangen war, wurde 1443 die Kartause Olmütz gegründet, die bis zur Aufhebung 1782 bestand. Im 16. Jahrhundert entstanden zahlreiche Paläste im Renaissancestil. 1566 kamen die Jesuiten nach Olmütz. Diese gründeten eine Schule, welche 1573 zur Universität erhoben wurde. 1588 wurde der Bischof zum Reichsfürsten erhoben.

17. und 18. Jahrhundert

Im Dreißigjährigen Krieg wurde die Stadt 1642 von den Schweden eingenommen und acht Jahre okkupiert. Nach dem Dreißigjährigen Krieg verlor die großteils zerstörte und entvölkerte Stadt den Status der mährischen Hauptstadt und trat diesen an Brünn ab. Da durch Brände viel Schaden entstanden war, wurde 1711 eine detaillierte „Feuerlösch-Ordnung“ erlassen, in der auch eine Reihe vorbeugender Maßnahmen zur Sprache kam.

Am 26. Dezember 1741 wurde die Stadt von den Preußen im Ersten Schlesischen Krieg eingenommen. Nach diesem Ereignis wurden die Festungsanlagen umfangreich ausgebaut. Einer zweiten Belagerung durch die Preußen im Jahre 1758 hielt die neue Festungsanlage stand. 1777 wurde das Bistum zum Erzbistum erhoben.

1794–1797 wurde der prominente französisch-amerikanische Soldat und Politiker Marquis Lafayette in Olmütz als politischer Häftling der Donaumonarchie interniert, nachdem er von der antifranzösischen Koalition 1792 in Flandern gefangengenommen und dann vorerst von Preußen eingekerkert worden war.

19. Jahrhundert

1841 erhielt die Stadt einen Eisenbahnanschluss. Mitte 1845 wurde die Eisenbahn von Olmütz nach Prag („k.k. Nördliche Staatsbahn“) in Betrieb genommen (Olmütz–Trübau, Trübau–Prag). Im Jahr 1848 beherbergte das Schloss des Erzbischofs den wegen der Revolution in Wien hierher geflohenen kaiserlichen Hof. Kaiser Ferdinand I. übertrug hier am 2. Dezember 1848 dem achtzehnjährigen Franz Joseph I. die Regierung. Am 29. November 1850 wurde in Olmütz durch die Olmützer Punktation (auch „Olmützer Vertrag“ genannt) zwischen Preußen, Österreich und Russland der Deutsche Bund unter österreichischer Führung wieder hergestellt. In den Jahren 1850 bis 1866 wurden erneut die Befestigungsanlagen erweitert. 1886 wurde dann der Festungsstatus aufgehoben. 1899 fuhr in der Stadt die erste Straßenbahn.

20. Jahrhundert

Nach dem Zerfall des Kaiserreichs Österreich 1918 und der Gründung der Tschechoslowakei kamen die tschechischen Stadtbürger in die Mehrzahl, was unter anderem auf die Eingemeindung der zwei Städte Hodolein (Hodolany) und Neugasse (Nová ulice) sowie elf weiterer Gemeinden (Bělidla, Černovír, Hejčín, Chválkovice, Lazce, Nové Sady, Nový Svět, Neředín, Pavlovičky, Povel und Řepčín) im Jahr 1919 zurückzuführen ist. Im Jahr 1921 lebten in Olomouc 57.206 Einwohner.

Am 15. März 1939 wurde die Stadt, wie auch die übrigen Gebiete des am selben Tag vom Deutschen Reich errichteten Protektorats Böhmen und Mähren, von der Wehrmacht besetzt. Noch im Jahr 1939 wurde die Olmützer Universität von der deutschen Besatzungsmacht geschlossen. Erst im Jahr 1946 konnte sie unter dem Namen Palacký-Universität Olmütz wiederhergestellt werden.

Die deutschsprachige Bevölkerung wurde 1945/1946 aus Olmütz vertrieben. Ihr Vermögen wurde durch das Beneš-Dekret 108 konfisziert, das Vermögen der evangelischen Kirche durch das Beneš-Dekret 131 liquidiert und die katholischen Kirchen enteignet.

In den 1970er und 1980er Jahren entstanden in den Randgebieten mehrere Plattenbausiedlungen.

Seit 1971 ist die ganze Altstadt als Denkmalschutzreservat geschützt. Das Hochwasser im Jahr 1997 zog die Stadt schwer in Mitleidenschaft, etwa ein Drittel des Stadtgebiets wurde überschwemmt. Im Jahr 2000 wurde die Dreifaltigkeitssäule in die Liste des UNESCO-Welterbes aufgenommen. Nach der Verwaltungsreform von 2000 wurde die bisherige Kreisstadt mit der Errichtung der Olmützer Region dessen Verwaltungssitz.

Juden in Olmütz

Die Synagoge in Olmütz

Die ersten Juden siedelten in Olmütz bereits 906. Ab dem Jahre 1060 hatten sie in einem Ghetto zu wohnen und ein gelbes Erkennungszeichen zu tragen. Im Jahr 1454 wurden sämtliche Juden aus Olmütz ausgewiesen. Dieses Gesetz war bis 1848 gültig.

Die Olmützer Synagoge wurde von 1895 bis 1897 erbaut. In der Nacht vom 15. auf den 16. März 1939, nach der Besetzung durch die Wehrmacht, wurde die Synagoge angezündet und brannte ab. Gleichzeitig wurden etwa 800 Juden festgenommen und später in das Konzentrationslager Dachau deportiert. Einige Sitzbänke der Synagoge wurden ausgebaut, dienten lange als Kirchenbänke in einer Dorfkirche bei Prostějov und wurden schließlich 2004 in der renovierten Synagoge in Krnov aufgestellt. Einige davon stehen heute in der Synagoge von Loštice und erinnern an die in den Konzentrationslagern ermordeten jüdischen Bürger. Der Ehrensitz ist Berthold Oppenheim gewidmet, dem Rabbi von Olmütz und Loštice.

Während der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus wurden 3.489 Menschen in fünf Transporten, am 26. und 30. Juni 1942, am 4. Juli 1942 und am 7. März 1945 in das Ghetto Theresienstadt deportiert. Nur 285 Juden der Stadtbevölkerung überlebten. Damit erlosch das jüdische Leben in Olmütz für lange Zeit. Seit 2011 wurden und werden in Olmütz von Gunter Demnig Stolpersteine zur Erinnerung an ermordete Juden verlegt. Olmütz gehört mit Prag und Brünn zu den Städten mit den meisten Stolpersteinen in Tschechien (Stand 2016).

Erst seit 1989 gibt es eine Belebung des jüdischen Kultuslebens in der Stadt. 1991 wurde eine selbständige jüdische Gemeinde mit einem Wirkungskreis für die Bezirke Olmütz, Šumperk, Jeseník, Bruntál und Přerov wiederbegründet.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olm%C3%BCtz

The Toraja are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja"). Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk ("the way"). The Indonesian government has recognized this animist belief as Aluk To Dolo ("Way of the Ancestors").

 

The word toraja comes from the Bugis Buginese language term to riaja, meaning "people of the uplands". The Dutch colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909. Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and colorful wood carvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several days.

 

Before the 20th century, Torajans lived in autonomous villages, where they practised animism and were relatively untouched by the outside world. In the early 1900s, Dutch missionaries first worked to convert Torajan highlanders to Christianity. When the Tana Toraja regency was further opened to the outside world in the 1970s, it became an icon of tourism in Indonesia: it was exploited by tourism developers and studied by anthropologists. By the 1990s, when tourism peaked, Toraja society had changed significantly, from an agrarian model - in which social life and customs were outgrowths of the Aluk To Dolo - to a largely Christian society. Today, tourism and remittances from migrant Torajans have made for major changes in the Toraja highland, giving the Toraja a celebrity status within Indonesia and enhancing Toraja ethnic group pride.

 

ETHNIC IDENTITY

The Torajan people had little notion of themselves as a distinct ethnic group before the 20th century. Before Dutch colonization and Christianization, Torajans, who lived in highland areas, identified with their villages and did not share a broad sense of identity. Although complexes of rituals created linkages between highland villages, there were variations in dialects, differences in social hierarchies, and an array of ritual practices in the Sulawesi highland region. "Toraja" (from the coastal languages' to, meaning people; and riaja, uplands) was first used as a lowlander expression for highlanders. As a result, "Toraja" initially had more currency with outsiders - such as the Bugis and Makassarese, who constitute a majority of the lowland of Sulawesi - than with insiders. The Dutch missionaries' presence in the highlands gave rise to the Toraja ethnic consciousness in the Sa'dan Toraja region, and this shared identity grew with the rise of tourism in the Tana Toraja Regency. Since then, South Sulawesi has four main ethnic groups - the Bugis (the majority, including shipbuilders and seafarers), the Makassarese (lowland traders and seafarers), the Mandarese (traders and fishermen), and the Toraja (highland rice cultivators).

 

HISTORY

From the 17th century, the Dutch established trade and political control on Sulawesi through the Dutch East Indies Company. Over two centuries, they ignored the mountainous area in the central Sulawesi, where Torajans lived, because access was difficult and it had little productive agricultural land. In the late 19th century, the Dutch became increasingly concerned about the spread of Islam in the south of Sulawesi, especially among the Makassarese and Bugis peoples. The Dutch saw the animist highlanders as potential Christians. In the 1920s, the Reformed Missionary Alliance of the Dutch Reformed Church began missionary work aided by the Dutch colonial government. In addition to introducing Christianity, the Dutch abolished slavery and imposed local taxes. A line was drawn around the Sa'dan area and called Tana Toraja ("the land of Toraja"). Tana Toraja was first a subdivision of the Luwu kingdom that had claimed the area. In 1946, the Dutch granted Tana Toraja a regentschap, and it was recognized in 1957 as one of the regencies of Indonesia.

 

Early Dutch missionaries faced strong opposition among Torajans, especially among the elite, because the abolition of their profitable slave trade had angered them. Some Torajans were forcibly relocated to the lowlands by the Dutch, where they could be more easily controlled. Taxes were kept high, undermining the wealth of the elites. Ultimately, the Dutch influence did not subdue Torajan culture, and only a few Torajans were converted. In 1950, only 10% of the population had converted to Christianity.

 

In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the Torajans, resulting in widespread Christian conversion among those who sought to align themselves with the Dutch for political protection and to form a movement against the Bugis and Makassarese Muslims. Between 1951 and 1965 (following Indonesian independence), southern Sulawesi faced a turbulent period as the Darul Islam separatist movement fought for an Islamic state in Sulawesi. The 15 years of guerrilla warfare led to massive conversions to

 

CHRISTIANITY

Alignment with the Indonesian government, however, did not guarantee safety for the Torajans. In 1965, a presidential decree required every Indonesian citizen to belong to one of five officially recognized religions: Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism, or Buddhism. The Torajan religious belief (aluk) was not legally recognized, and the Torajans raised their voices against the law. To make aluk accord with the law, it had to be accepted as part of one of the official religions. In 1969, Aluk To Dolo ("the way of ancestors") was legalized as a sect of Agama Hindu Dharma, the official name of Hinduism in Indonesia.

 

SOCIETY

There are three main types of affiliation in Toraja society: family, class and religion.

 

FAMILY AFFILIATION

Family is the primary social and political grouping in Torajan society. Each village is one extended family, the seat of which is the tongkonan, a traditional Torajan house. Each tongkonan has a name, which becomes the name of the village. The familial dons maintain village unity. Marriage between distant cousins (fourth cousins and beyond) is a common practice that strengthens kinship. Toraja society prohibits marriage between close cousins (up to and including the third cousin) - except for nobles, to prevent the dispersal of property. Kinship is actively reciprocal, meaning that the extended family helps each other farm, share buffalo rituals, and pay off debts.

 

Each person belongs to both the mother's and the father's families, the only bilateral family line in Indonesia. Children, therefore, inherit household affiliation from both mother and father, including land and even family debts. Children's names are given on the basis of kinship, and are usually chosen after dead relatives. Names of aunts, uncles and cousins are commonly referred to in the names of mothers, fathers and siblings.

 

Before the start of the formal administration of Toraja villages by the Tana Toraja Regency, each Toraja village was autonomous. In a more complex situation, in which one Toraja family could not handle their problems alone, several villages formed a group; sometimes, villages would unite against other villages. Relationship between families was expressed through blood, marriage, and shared ancestral houses (tongkonan), practically signed by the exchange of water buffalo and pigs on ritual occasions. Such exchanges not only built political and cultural ties between families but defined each person's place in a social hierarchy: who poured palm wine, who wrapped a corpse and prepared offerings, where each person could or could not sit, what dishes should be used or avoided, and even what piece of meat constituted one's share.

 

CLASS AFFILIATION

In early Toraja society, family relationships were tied closely to social class. There were three strata: nobles, commoners, and slaves (slavery was abolished in 1909 by the Dutch East Indies government). Class was inherited through the mother. It was taboo, therefore, to marry "down" with a woman of lower class. On the other hand, marrying a woman of higher class could improve the status of the next generation. The nobility's condescending attitude toward the commoners is still maintained today for reasons of family prestige.

 

Nobles, who were believed to be direct descendants of the descended person from heaven, lived in tongkonans, while commoners lived in less lavish houses (bamboo shacks called banua). Slaves lived in small huts, which had to be built around their owner's tongkonan. Commoners might marry anyone, but nobles preferred to marry in-family to maintain their status. Sometimes nobles married Bugis or Makassarese nobles. Commoners and slaves were prohibited from having death feasts. Despite close kinship and status inheritance, there was some social mobility, as marriage or change in wealth could affect an individuals status. Wealth was counted by the ownership of water buffaloes.

 

Slaves in Toraja society were family property. Sometimes Torajans decided to become slaves when they incurred a debt, pledging to work as payment. Slaves could be taken during wars, and slave trading was common. Slaves could buy their freedom, but their children still inherited slave status. Slaves were prohibited from wearing bronze or gold, carving their houses, eating from the same dishes as their owners, or having sex with free women - a crime punishable by death.

 

RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION

Toraja's indigenous belief system is polytheistic animism, called aluk, or "the way" (sometimes translated as "the law"). In the Toraja myth, the ancestors of Torajan people came down from heaven using stairs, which were then used by the Torajans as a communication medium with Puang Matua, the Creator. The cosmos, according to aluk, is divided into the upper world (heaven), the world of man (earth), and the underworld. At first, heaven and earth were married, then there was a darkness, a separation, and finally the light. Animals live in the underworld, which is represented by rectangular space enclosed by pillars, the earth is for mankind, and the heaven world is located above, covered with a saddle-shaped roof. Other Toraja gods include Pong Banggai di Rante (god of Earth), Indo' Ongon-Ongon (a goddess who can cause earthquakes), Pong Lalondong (god of death), and Indo' Belo Tumbang (goddess of medicine); there are many more.

 

The earthly authority, whose words and actions should be cleaved to both in life (agriculture) and death (funerals), is called to minaa (an aluk priest). Aluk is not just a belief system; it is a combination of law, religion, and habit. Aluk governs social life, agricultural practices, and ancestral rituals. The details of aluk may vary from one village to another. One common law is the requirement that death and life rituals be separated. Torajans believe that performing death rituals might ruin their corpses if combined with life rituals. The two rituals are equally important. During the time of the Dutch missionaries, Christian Torajans were prohibited from attending or performing life rituals, but were allowed to perform death rituals. Consequently, Toraja's death rituals are still practised today, while life rituals have diminished.

 

CULTURE

TONGKONAN

Tongkonan are the traditional Torajan ancestral houses. They stand high on wooden piles, topped with a layered split-bamboo roof shaped in a sweeping curved arc, and they are incised with red, black, and yellow detailed wood carvings on the exterior walls. The word "tongkonan" comes from the Torajan tongkon ("to sit").

 

Tongkonan are the center of Torajan social life. The rituals associated with the tongkonan are important expressions of Torajan spiritual life, and therefore all family members are impelled to participate, because symbolically the tongkonan represents links to their ancestors and to living and future kin. According to Torajan myth, the first tongkonan was built in heaven on four poles, with a roof made of Indian cloth. When the first Torajan ancestor descended to earth, he imitated the house and held a large ceremony.

 

The construction of a tongkonan is laborious work and is usually done with the help of the extended family. There are three types of tongkonan. The tongkonan layuk is the house of the highest authority, used as the "center of government". The tongkonan pekamberan belongs to the family members who have some authority in local traditions. Ordinary family members reside in the tongkonan batu. The exclusivity to the nobility of the tongkonan is diminishing as many Torajan commoners find lucrative employment in other parts of Indonesia. As they send back money to their families, they enable the construction of larger tongkonan.

 

WOOD CARVINGS

To express social and religious concepts, Torajans carve wood, calling it Pa'ssura (or "the writing"). Wood carvings are therefore Toraja's cultural manifestation.

 

Each carving receives a special name, and common motifs are animals and plants that symbolize some virtue. For example, water plants and animals, such as crabs, tadpoles and water weeds, are commonly found to symbolize fertility. In some areas noble elders claim these symbols refer to strength of noble family, but not everyone agrees. The overall meaning of groups of carved motifs on houses remains debated and tourism has further complicated these debates because some feel a uniform explanation must be presented to tourists. The image to the left shows an example of Torajan wood carving, consisting of 15 square panels. The center bottom panel represents buffalo or wealth, a wish for many buffaloes for the family. The center panel represents a knot and a box, a hope that all of the family's offspring will be happy and live in harmony, like goods kept safe in a box. The top left and top right squares represent an aquatic animal, indicating the need for fast and hard work, just like moving on the surface of water. It also represents the need for a certain skill to produce good results.

 

Regularity and order are common features in Toraja wood carving (see table below), as well as abstracts and geometrical designs. Nature is frequently used as the basis of Toraja's ornaments, because nature is full of abstractions and geometries with regularities and ordering. Toraja's ornaments have been studied in ethnomathematics to reveal their mathematical structure, but Torajans base this art only on approximations. To create an ornament, bamboo sticks are used as a geometrical tool.

 

FUNERAL RITES

In Toraja society, the funeral ritual is the most elaborate and expensive event. The richer and more powerful the individual, the more expensive is the funeral. In the aluk religion, only nobles have the right to have an extensive death feast. The death feast of a nobleman is usually attended by thousands and lasts for several days. A ceremonial site, called rante, is usually prepared in a large, grassy field where shelters for audiences, rice barns, and other ceremonial funeral structures are specially made by the deceased family. Flute music, funeral chants, songs and poems, and crying and wailing are traditional Toraja expressions of grief with the exceptions of funerals for young children, and poor, low-status adults.

 

The ceremony is often held weeks, months, or years after the death so that the deceased's family can raise the significant funds needed to cover funeral expenses. Torajans traditionally believe that death is not a sudden, abrupt event, but a gradual process toward Puya (the land of souls, or afterlife). During the waiting period, the body of the deceased is wrapped in several layers of cloth and kept under the tongkonan. The soul of the deceased is thought to linger around the village until the funeral ceremony is completed, after which it begins its journey to Puya.

 

Another component of the ritual is the slaughter of water buffalo. The more powerful the person who died, the more buffalo are slaughtered at the death feast. Buffalo carcasses, including their heads, are usually lined up on a field waiting for their owner, who is in the "sleeping stage". Torajans believe that the deceased will need the buffalo to make the journey and that they will be quicker to arrive at Puya if they have many buffalo. Slaughtering tens of water buffalo and hundreds of pigs using a machete is the climax of the elaborate death feast, with dancing and music and young boys who catch spurting blood in long bamboo tubes. Some of the slaughtered animals are given by guests as "gifts", which are carefully noted because they will be considered debts of the deceased's family. However, a cockfight, known as bulangan londong, is an integral part of the ceremony. As with the sacrifice of the buffalo and the pigs, the cockfight is considered sacred because it involves the spilling of blood on the earth. In particular, the tradition requires the sacrifice of at least three chickens. However, it is common for at least 25 pairs of chickens to be set against each other in the context of the ceremony.

 

There are three methods of burial: the coffin may be laid in a cave or in a carved stone grave, or hung on a cliff. It contains any possessions that the deceased will need in the afterlife. The wealthy are often buried in a stone grave carved out of a rocky cliff. The grave is usually expensive and takes a few months to complete. In some areas, a stone cave may be found that is large enough to accommodate a whole family. A wood-carved effigy, called Tau tau, is usually placed in the cave looking out over the land. The coffin of a baby or child may be hung from ropes on a cliff face or from a tree. This hanging grave usually lasts for years, until the ropes rot and the coffin falls to the ground.

 

In the ritual called Ma'Nene, that takes place each year in August, the bodies of the deceased are exhumed to be washed, groomed and dressed in new clothes. The mummies are then walked around the village.

 

DANCE AND MUSIC

Torajans perform dances on several occasions, most often during their elaborate funeral ceremonies. They dance to express their grief, and to honour and even cheer the deceased person because he is going to have a long journey in the afterlife. First, a group of men form a circle and sing a monotonous chant throughout the night to honour the deceased (a ritual called Ma'badong). This is considered by many Torajans to be the most important component of the funeral ceremony. On the second funeral day, the Ma'randing warrior dance is performed to praise the courage of the deceased during life. Several men perform the dance with a sword, a large shield made from buffalo skin, a helmet with a buffalo horn, and other ornamentation. The Ma'randing dance precedes a procession in which the deceased is carried from a rice barn to the rante, the site of the funeral ceremony. During the funeral, elder women perform the Ma'katia dance while singing a poetic song and wearing a long feathered costume. The Ma'akatia dance is performed to remind the audience of the generosity and loyalty of the deceased person. After the bloody ceremony of buffalo and pig slaughter, a group of boys and girls clap their hands while performing a cheerful dance called Ma'dondan.

 

As in other agricultural societies, Torajans dance and sing during harvest time. The Ma'bugi dance celebrates the thanksgiving event, and the Ma'gandangi dance is performed while Torajans are pounding rice. There are several war dances, such as the Manimbong dance performed by men, followed by the Ma'dandan dance performed by women. The aluk religion governs when and how Torajans dance. A dance called Ma'bua can be performed only once every 12 years. Ma'bua is a major Toraja ceremony in which priests wear a buffalo head and dance around a sacred tree.

 

A traditional musical instrument of the Toraja is a bamboo flute called a Pa'suling (suling is an Indonesian word for flute). This six-holed flute (not unique to the Toraja) is played at many dances, such as the thanksgiving dance Ma'bondensan, where the flute accompanies a group of shirtless, dancing men with long fingernails. The Toraja have indigenous musical instruments, such as the Pa'pelle (made from palm leaves) and the Pa'karombi (the Torajan version of a jaw harp). The Pa'pelle is played during harvest time and at house inauguration ceremonies.

 

LANGUAGE

The ethnic Toraja language is dominant in Tana Toraja with the main language as the Sa'dan Toraja. Although the national Indonesian language is the official language and is spoken in the community, all elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach Toraja language.Language varieties of Toraja, including Kalumpang, Mamasa, Tae' , Talondo' , Toala' , and Toraja-Sa'dan, belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language from the Austronesian family. At the outset, the isolated geographical nature of Tana Toraja formed many dialects between the Toraja languages themselves. After the formal administration of Tana Toraja, some Toraja dialects have been influenced by other languages through the transmigration program, introduced since the colonialism period, and it has been a major factor in the linguistic variety of Toraja languages. A prominent attribute of Toraja language is the notion of grief. The importance of death ceremony in Toraja culture has characterized their languages to express intricate degrees of grief and mourning. The Toraja language contains many terms referring to sadness, longing, depression, and mental pain. Giving a clear expression of the psychological and physical effect of loss is a catharsis and sometimes lessens the pain of grief itself.

 

ECONOMY

Prior to Suharto's "New Order" administration, the Torajan economy was based on agriculture, with cultivated wet rice in terraced fields on mountain slopes, and supplemental cassava and maize crops. Much time and energy were devoted to raising water buffalo, pigs, and chickens, primarily for ceremonial sacrifices and consumption. Coffee was the first significant cash crop produced in Toraja, and was introduced in the mid 19th century, changing the local economy towards commodity production for external markets and gaining an excellent reputation for quality in the international market .

 

With the commencement of the New Order in 1965, Indonesia's economy developed and opened to foreign investment. In Toraja, a coffee plantation and factory was established by Key Coffee of Japan, and Torajan coffee regained a reputation for quality within the growing international specialty coffee sector Multinational oil and mining companies opened new operations in Indonesia during the 1970s and 1980s. Torajans, particularly younger ones, relocated to work for the foreign companies - to Kalimantan for timber and oil, to Papua for mining, to the cities of Sulawesi and Java, and many went to Malaysia. The out-migration of Torajans was steady until 1985. and has continued since, with remittances sent back by emigre Torajans performing an important role within the contemporary economy.

 

Tourism commenced in Toraja in the 1970s, and accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s. Between 1984 and 1997, a significant number of Torajans obtained their incomes from tourism, working in and owning hotels, as tour guides, drivers, or selling souvenirs. With the rise of political and economic instability in Indonesia in the late 1990s - including religious conflicts elsewhere on Sulawesi - tourism in Tana Toraja has declined dramatically. Toraja continues to be a well known origin for Indonesian coffee, grown by both smallholders and plantation estates, although migration, remittances and off-farm income is considered far more important to most households, even those in rural areas.

 

TOURISM AND CULTURAL CHANGE

Before the 1970s, Toraja was almost unknown to Western tourism. In 1971, about 50 Europeans visited Tana Toraja. In 1972, at least 400 visitors attended the funeral ritual of Puang of Sangalla, the highest-ranking nobleman in Tana Toraja and the so-called "last pure-blooded Toraja noble." The event was documented by National Geographic and broadcast in several European countries. In 1976, about 12,000 tourists visited the regency and in 1981, Torajan sculpture was exhibited in major North American museums. "The land of the heavenly kings of Tana Toraja", as written in the exhibition brochure, embraced the outside world.

 

In 1984, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism declared Tana Toraja Regency the prima donna of South Sulawesi. Tana Toraja was heralded as "the second stop after Bali". Tourism was increasing dramatically: by 1985, a total number of 150,000 foreigners had visited the Regency (in addition to 80,000 domestic tourists), and the annual number of foreign visitors was recorded at 40,000 in 1989. Souvenir stands appeared in Rantepao, the cultural center of Toraja, roads were sealed at the most-visited tourist sites, new hotels and tourist-oriented restaurants were opened, and an airstrip was opened in the Regency in 1981.

 

Tourism developers have marketed Tana Toraja as an exotic adventure - an area rich in culture and off the beaten track. Western tourists expected to see stone-age villages and pagan funerals. Toraja is for tourists who have gone as far as Bali and are willing to see more of the wild, "untouched" islands. However, they were more likely to see a Torajan wearing a hat and denim, living in a Christian society. Tourists felt that the tongkonan and other Torajan rituals had been preconceived to make profits, and complained that the destination was too commercialized. This has resulted in several clashes between Torajans and tourism developers, whom Torajans see as outsiders.

 

A clash between local Torajan leaders and the South Sulawesi provincial government (as a tourist developer) broke out in 1985. The government designated 18 Toraja villages and burial sites as traditional tourist attractions. Consequently, zoning restrictions were applied to these areas, such that Torajans themselves were barred from changing their tongkonans and burial sites. The plan was opposed by some Torajan leaders, as they felt that their rituals and traditions were being determined by outsiders. As a result, in 1987, the Torajan village of Kété Kesú and several other designated tourist attractions closed their doors to tourists. This closure lasted only a few days, as the villagers found it too difficult to survive without the income from selling souvenirs.

 

Tourism has also transformed Toraja society. Originally, there was a ritual which allowed commoners to marry nobles (puang) and thereby gain nobility for their children. However, the image of Torajan society created for the tourists, often by "lower-ranking" guides, has eroded its traditional strict hierarchy. High status is not as esteemed in Tana Toraja as it once was. Many low-ranking men can declare themselves and their children nobles by gaining enough wealth through work outside the region and then marrying a noble woman.

 

WIKIPEDIA

The Toraja are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja"). Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk ("the way"). The Indonesian government has recognized this animist belief as Aluk To Dolo ("Way of the Ancestors").

 

The word toraja comes from the Bugis Buginese language term to riaja, meaning "people of the uplands". The Dutch colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909. Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and colorful wood carvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several days.

 

Before the 20th century, Torajans lived in autonomous villages, where they practised animism and were relatively untouched by the outside world. In the early 1900s, Dutch missionaries first worked to convert Torajan highlanders to Christianity. When the Tana Toraja regency was further opened to the outside world in the 1970s, it became an icon of tourism in Indonesia: it was exploited by tourism developers and studied by anthropologists. By the 1990s, when tourism peaked, Toraja society had changed significantly, from an agrarian model - in which social life and customs were outgrowths of the Aluk To Dolo - to a largely Christian society. Today, tourism and remittances from migrant Torajans have made for major changes in the Toraja highland, giving the Toraja a celebrity status within Indonesia and enhancing Toraja ethnic group pride.

 

ETHNIC IDENTITY

The Torajan people had little notion of themselves as a distinct ethnic group before the 20th century. Before Dutch colonization and Christianization, Torajans, who lived in highland areas, identified with their villages and did not share a broad sense of identity. Although complexes of rituals created linkages between highland villages, there were variations in dialects, differences in social hierarchies, and an array of ritual practices in the Sulawesi highland region. "Toraja" (from the coastal languages' to, meaning people; and riaja, uplands) was first used as a lowlander expression for highlanders. As a result, "Toraja" initially had more currency with outsiders - such as the Bugis and Makassarese, who constitute a majority of the lowland of Sulawesi - than with insiders. The Dutch missionaries' presence in the highlands gave rise to the Toraja ethnic consciousness in the Sa'dan Toraja region, and this shared identity grew with the rise of tourism in the Tana Toraja Regency. Since then, South Sulawesi has four main ethnic groups - the Bugis (the majority, including shipbuilders and seafarers), the Makassarese (lowland traders and seafarers), the Mandarese (traders and fishermen), and the Toraja (highland rice cultivators).

 

HISTORY

From the 17th century, the Dutch established trade and political control on Sulawesi through the Dutch East Indies Company. Over two centuries, they ignored the mountainous area in the central Sulawesi, where Torajans lived, because access was difficult and it had little productive agricultural land. In the late 19th century, the Dutch became increasingly concerned about the spread of Islam in the south of Sulawesi, especially among the Makassarese and Bugis peoples. The Dutch saw the animist highlanders as potential Christians. In the 1920s, the Reformed Missionary Alliance of the Dutch Reformed Church began missionary work aided by the Dutch colonial government. In addition to introducing Christianity, the Dutch abolished slavery and imposed local taxes. A line was drawn around the Sa'dan area and called Tana Toraja ("the land of Toraja"). Tana Toraja was first a subdivision of the Luwu kingdom that had claimed the area. In 1946, the Dutch granted Tana Toraja a regentschap, and it was recognized in 1957 as one of the regencies of Indonesia.

 

Early Dutch missionaries faced strong opposition among Torajans, especially among the elite, because the abolition of their profitable slave trade had angered them. Some Torajans were forcibly relocated to the lowlands by the Dutch, where they could be more easily controlled. Taxes were kept high, undermining the wealth of the elites. Ultimately, the Dutch influence did not subdue Torajan culture, and only a few Torajans were converted. In 1950, only 10% of the population had converted to Christianity.

 

In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the Torajans, resulting in widespread Christian conversion among those who sought to align themselves with the Dutch for political protection and to form a movement against the Bugis and Makassarese Muslims. Between 1951 and 1965 (following Indonesian independence), southern Sulawesi faced a turbulent period as the Darul Islam separatist movement fought for an Islamic state in Sulawesi. The 15 years of guerrilla warfare led to massive conversions to

 

CHRISTIANITY

Alignment with the Indonesian government, however, did not guarantee safety for the Torajans. In 1965, a presidential decree required every Indonesian citizen to belong to one of five officially recognized religions: Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism, or Buddhism. The Torajan religious belief (aluk) was not legally recognized, and the Torajans raised their voices against the law. To make aluk accord with the law, it had to be accepted as part of one of the official religions. In 1969, Aluk To Dolo ("the way of ancestors") was legalized as a sect of Agama Hindu Dharma, the official name of Hinduism in Indonesia.

 

SOCIETY

There are three main types of affiliation in Toraja society: family, class and religion.

 

FAMILY AFFILIATION

Family is the primary social and political grouping in Torajan society. Each village is one extended family, the seat of which is the tongkonan, a traditional Torajan house. Each tongkonan has a name, which becomes the name of the village. The familial dons maintain village unity. Marriage between distant cousins (fourth cousins and beyond) is a common practice that strengthens kinship. Toraja society prohibits marriage between close cousins (up to and including the third cousin) - except for nobles, to prevent the dispersal of property. Kinship is actively reciprocal, meaning that the extended family helps each other farm, share buffalo rituals, and pay off debts.

 

Each person belongs to both the mother's and the father's families, the only bilateral family line in Indonesia. Children, therefore, inherit household affiliation from both mother and father, including land and even family debts. Children's names are given on the basis of kinship, and are usually chosen after dead relatives. Names of aunts, uncles and cousins are commonly referred to in the names of mothers, fathers and siblings.

 

Before the start of the formal administration of Toraja villages by the Tana Toraja Regency, each Toraja village was autonomous. In a more complex situation, in which one Toraja family could not handle their problems alone, several villages formed a group; sometimes, villages would unite against other villages. Relationship between families was expressed through blood, marriage, and shared ancestral houses (tongkonan), practically signed by the exchange of water buffalo and pigs on ritual occasions. Such exchanges not only built political and cultural ties between families but defined each person's place in a social hierarchy: who poured palm wine, who wrapped a corpse and prepared offerings, where each person could or could not sit, what dishes should be used or avoided, and even what piece of meat constituted one's share.

 

CLASS AFFILIATION

In early Toraja society, family relationships were tied closely to social class. There were three strata: nobles, commoners, and slaves (slavery was abolished in 1909 by the Dutch East Indies government). Class was inherited through the mother. It was taboo, therefore, to marry "down" with a woman of lower class. On the other hand, marrying a woman of higher class could improve the status of the next generation. The nobility's condescending attitude toward the commoners is still maintained today for reasons of family prestige.

 

Nobles, who were believed to be direct descendants of the descended person from heaven, lived in tongkonans, while commoners lived in less lavish houses (bamboo shacks called banua). Slaves lived in small huts, which had to be built around their owner's tongkonan. Commoners might marry anyone, but nobles preferred to marry in-family to maintain their status. Sometimes nobles married Bugis or Makassarese nobles. Commoners and slaves were prohibited from having death feasts. Despite close kinship and status inheritance, there was some social mobility, as marriage or change in wealth could affect an individuals status. Wealth was counted by the ownership of water buffaloes.

 

Slaves in Toraja society were family property. Sometimes Torajans decided to become slaves when they incurred a debt, pledging to work as payment. Slaves could be taken during wars, and slave trading was common. Slaves could buy their freedom, but their children still inherited slave status. Slaves were prohibited from wearing bronze or gold, carving their houses, eating from the same dishes as their owners, or having sex with free women - a crime punishable by death.

 

RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION

Toraja's indigenous belief system is polytheistic animism, called aluk, or "the way" (sometimes translated as "the law"). In the Toraja myth, the ancestors of Torajan people came down from heaven using stairs, which were then used by the Torajans as a communication medium with Puang Matua, the Creator. The cosmos, according to aluk, is divided into the upper world (heaven), the world of man (earth), and the underworld. At first, heaven and earth were married, then there was a darkness, a separation, and finally the light. Animals live in the underworld, which is represented by rectangular space enclosed by pillars, the earth is for mankind, and the heaven world is located above, covered with a saddle-shaped roof. Other Toraja gods include Pong Banggai di Rante (god of Earth), Indo' Ongon-Ongon (a goddess who can cause earthquakes), Pong Lalondong (god of death), and Indo' Belo Tumbang (goddess of medicine); there are many more.

 

The earthly authority, whose words and actions should be cleaved to both in life (agriculture) and death (funerals), is called to minaa (an aluk priest). Aluk is not just a belief system; it is a combination of law, religion, and habit. Aluk governs social life, agricultural practices, and ancestral rituals. The details of aluk may vary from one village to another. One common law is the requirement that death and life rituals be separated. Torajans believe that performing death rituals might ruin their corpses if combined with life rituals. The two rituals are equally important. During the time of the Dutch missionaries, Christian Torajans were prohibited from attending or performing life rituals, but were allowed to perform death rituals. Consequently, Toraja's death rituals are still practised today, while life rituals have diminished.

 

CULTURE

TONGKONAN

Tongkonan are the traditional Torajan ancestral houses. They stand high on wooden piles, topped with a layered split-bamboo roof shaped in a sweeping curved arc, and they are incised with red, black, and yellow detailed wood carvings on the exterior walls. The word "tongkonan" comes from the Torajan tongkon ("to sit").

 

Tongkonan are the center of Torajan social life. The rituals associated with the tongkonan are important expressions of Torajan spiritual life, and therefore all family members are impelled to participate, because symbolically the tongkonan represents links to their ancestors and to living and future kin. According to Torajan myth, the first tongkonan was built in heaven on four poles, with a roof made of Indian cloth. When the first Torajan ancestor descended to earth, he imitated the house and held a large ceremony.

 

The construction of a tongkonan is laborious work and is usually done with the help of the extended family. There are three types of tongkonan. The tongkonan layuk is the house of the highest authority, used as the "center of government". The tongkonan pekamberan belongs to the family members who have some authority in local traditions. Ordinary family members reside in the tongkonan batu. The exclusivity to the nobility of the tongkonan is diminishing as many Torajan commoners find lucrative employment in other parts of Indonesia. As they send back money to their families, they enable the construction of larger tongkonan.

 

WOOD CARVINGS

To express social and religious concepts, Torajans carve wood, calling it Pa'ssura (or "the writing"). Wood carvings are therefore Toraja's cultural manifestation.

 

Each carving receives a special name, and common motifs are animals and plants that symbolize some virtue. For example, water plants and animals, such as crabs, tadpoles and water weeds, are commonly found to symbolize fertility. In some areas noble elders claim these symbols refer to strength of noble family, but not everyone agrees. The overall meaning of groups of carved motifs on houses remains debated and tourism has further complicated these debates because some feel a uniform explanation must be presented to tourists. The image to the left shows an example of Torajan wood carving, consisting of 15 square panels. The center bottom panel represents buffalo or wealth, a wish for many buffaloes for the family. The center panel represents a knot and a box, a hope that all of the family's offspring will be happy and live in harmony, like goods kept safe in a box. The top left and top right squares represent an aquatic animal, indicating the need for fast and hard work, just like moving on the surface of water. It also represents the need for a certain skill to produce good results.

 

Regularity and order are common features in Toraja wood carving (see table below), as well as abstracts and geometrical designs. Nature is frequently used as the basis of Toraja's ornaments, because nature is full of abstractions and geometries with regularities and ordering. Toraja's ornaments have been studied in ethnomathematics to reveal their mathematical structure, but Torajans base this art only on approximations. To create an ornament, bamboo sticks are used as a geometrical tool.

 

FUNERAL RITES

In Toraja society, the funeral ritual is the most elaborate and expensive event. The richer and more powerful the individual, the more expensive is the funeral. In the aluk religion, only nobles have the right to have an extensive death feast. The death feast of a nobleman is usually attended by thousands and lasts for several days. A ceremonial site, called rante, is usually prepared in a large, grassy field where shelters for audiences, rice barns, and other ceremonial funeral structures are specially made by the deceased family. Flute music, funeral chants, songs and poems, and crying and wailing are traditional Toraja expressions of grief with the exceptions of funerals for young children, and poor, low-status adults.

 

The ceremony is often held weeks, months, or years after the death so that the deceased's family can raise the significant funds needed to cover funeral expenses. Torajans traditionally believe that death is not a sudden, abrupt event, but a gradual process toward Puya (the land of souls, or afterlife). During the waiting period, the body of the deceased is wrapped in several layers of cloth and kept under the tongkonan. The soul of the deceased is thought to linger around the village until the funeral ceremony is completed, after which it begins its journey to Puya.

 

Another component of the ritual is the slaughter of water buffalo. The more powerful the person who died, the more buffalo are slaughtered at the death feast. Buffalo carcasses, including their heads, are usually lined up on a field waiting for their owner, who is in the "sleeping stage". Torajans believe that the deceased will need the buffalo to make the journey and that they will be quicker to arrive at Puya if they have many buffalo. Slaughtering tens of water buffalo and hundreds of pigs using a machete is the climax of the elaborate death feast, with dancing and music and young boys who catch spurting blood in long bamboo tubes. Some of the slaughtered animals are given by guests as "gifts", which are carefully noted because they will be considered debts of the deceased's family. However, a cockfight, known as bulangan londong, is an integral part of the ceremony. As with the sacrifice of the buffalo and the pigs, the cockfight is considered sacred because it involves the spilling of blood on the earth. In particular, the tradition requires the sacrifice of at least three chickens. However, it is common for at least 25 pairs of chickens to be set against each other in the context of the ceremony.

 

There are three methods of burial: the coffin may be laid in a cave or in a carved stone grave, or hung on a cliff. It contains any possessions that the deceased will need in the afterlife. The wealthy are often buried in a stone grave carved out of a rocky cliff. The grave is usually expensive and takes a few months to complete. In some areas, a stone cave may be found that is large enough to accommodate a whole family. A wood-carved effigy, called Tau tau, is usually placed in the cave looking out over the land. The coffin of a baby or child may be hung from ropes on a cliff face or from a tree. This hanging grave usually lasts for years, until the ropes rot and the coffin falls to the ground.

 

In the ritual called Ma'Nene, that takes place each year in August, the bodies of the deceased are exhumed to be washed, groomed and dressed in new clothes. The mummies are then walked around the village.

 

DANCE AND MUSIC

Torajans perform dances on several occasions, most often during their elaborate funeral ceremonies. They dance to express their grief, and to honour and even cheer the deceased person because he is going to have a long journey in the afterlife. First, a group of men form a circle and sing a monotonous chant throughout the night to honour the deceased (a ritual called Ma'badong). This is considered by many Torajans to be the most important component of the funeral ceremony. On the second funeral day, the Ma'randing warrior dance is performed to praise the courage of the deceased during life. Several men perform the dance with a sword, a large shield made from buffalo skin, a helmet with a buffalo horn, and other ornamentation. The Ma'randing dance precedes a procession in which the deceased is carried from a rice barn to the rante, the site of the funeral ceremony. During the funeral, elder women perform the Ma'katia dance while singing a poetic song and wearing a long feathered costume. The Ma'akatia dance is performed to remind the audience of the generosity and loyalty of the deceased person. After the bloody ceremony of buffalo and pig slaughter, a group of boys and girls clap their hands while performing a cheerful dance called Ma'dondan.

 

As in other agricultural societies, Torajans dance and sing during harvest time. The Ma'bugi dance celebrates the thanksgiving event, and the Ma'gandangi dance is performed while Torajans are pounding rice. There are several war dances, such as the Manimbong dance performed by men, followed by the Ma'dandan dance performed by women. The aluk religion governs when and how Torajans dance. A dance called Ma'bua can be performed only once every 12 years. Ma'bua is a major Toraja ceremony in which priests wear a buffalo head and dance around a sacred tree.

 

A traditional musical instrument of the Toraja is a bamboo flute called a Pa'suling (suling is an Indonesian word for flute). This six-holed flute (not unique to the Toraja) is played at many dances, such as the thanksgiving dance Ma'bondensan, where the flute accompanies a group of shirtless, dancing men with long fingernails. The Toraja have indigenous musical instruments, such as the Pa'pelle (made from palm leaves) and the Pa'karombi (the Torajan version of a jaw harp). The Pa'pelle is played during harvest time and at house inauguration ceremonies.

 

LANGUAGE

The ethnic Toraja language is dominant in Tana Toraja with the main language as the Sa'dan Toraja. Although the national Indonesian language is the official language and is spoken in the community, all elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach Toraja language.Language varieties of Toraja, including Kalumpang, Mamasa, Tae' , Talondo' , Toala' , and Toraja-Sa'dan, belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language from the Austronesian family. At the outset, the isolated geographical nature of Tana Toraja formed many dialects between the Toraja languages themselves. After the formal administration of Tana Toraja, some Toraja dialects have been influenced by other languages through the transmigration program, introduced since the colonialism period, and it has been a major factor in the linguistic variety of Toraja languages. A prominent attribute of Toraja language is the notion of grief. The importance of death ceremony in Toraja culture has characterized their languages to express intricate degrees of grief and mourning. The Toraja language contains many terms referring to sadness, longing, depression, and mental pain. Giving a clear expression of the psychological and physical effect of loss is a catharsis and sometimes lessens the pain of grief itself.

 

ECONOMY

Prior to Suharto's "New Order" administration, the Torajan economy was based on agriculture, with cultivated wet rice in terraced fields on mountain slopes, and supplemental cassava and maize crops. Much time and energy were devoted to raising water buffalo, pigs, and chickens, primarily for ceremonial sacrifices and consumption. Coffee was the first significant cash crop produced in Toraja, and was introduced in the mid 19th century, changing the local economy towards commodity production for external markets and gaining an excellent reputation for quality in the international market .

 

With the commencement of the New Order in 1965, Indonesia's economy developed and opened to foreign investment. In Toraja, a coffee plantation and factory was established by Key Coffee of Japan, and Torajan coffee regained a reputation for quality within the growing international specialty coffee sector Multinational oil and mining companies opened new operations in Indonesia during the 1970s and 1980s. Torajans, particularly younger ones, relocated to work for the foreign companies - to Kalimantan for timber and oil, to Papua for mining, to the cities of Sulawesi and Java, and many went to Malaysia. The out-migration of Torajans was steady until 1985. and has continued since, with remittances sent back by emigre Torajans performing an important role within the contemporary economy.

 

Tourism commenced in Toraja in the 1970s, and accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s. Between 1984 and 1997, a significant number of Torajans obtained their incomes from tourism, working in and owning hotels, as tour guides, drivers, or selling souvenirs. With the rise of political and economic instability in Indonesia in the late 1990s - including religious conflicts elsewhere on Sulawesi - tourism in Tana Toraja has declined dramatically. Toraja continues to be a well known origin for Indonesian coffee, grown by both smallholders and plantation estates, although migration, remittances and off-farm income is considered far more important to most households, even those in rural areas.

 

TOURISM AND CULTURAL CHANGE

Before the 1970s, Toraja was almost unknown to Western tourism. In 1971, about 50 Europeans visited Tana Toraja. In 1972, at least 400 visitors attended the funeral ritual of Puang of Sangalla, the highest-ranking nobleman in Tana Toraja and the so-called "last pure-blooded Toraja noble." The event was documented by National Geographic and broadcast in several European countries. In 1976, about 12,000 tourists visited the regency and in 1981, Torajan sculpture was exhibited in major North American museums. "The land of the heavenly kings of Tana Toraja", as written in the exhibition brochure, embraced the outside world.

 

In 1984, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism declared Tana Toraja Regency the prima donna of South Sulawesi. Tana Toraja was heralded as "the second stop after Bali". Tourism was increasing dramatically: by 1985, a total number of 150,000 foreigners had visited the Regency (in addition to 80,000 domestic tourists), and the annual number of foreign visitors was recorded at 40,000 in 1989. Souvenir stands appeared in Rantepao, the cultural center of Toraja, roads were sealed at the most-visited tourist sites, new hotels and tourist-oriented restaurants were opened, and an airstrip was opened in the Regency in 1981.

 

Tourism developers have marketed Tana Toraja as an exotic adventure - an area rich in culture and off the beaten track. Western tourists expected to see stone-age villages and pagan funerals. Toraja is for tourists who have gone as far as Bali and are willing to see more of the wild, "untouched" islands. However, they were more likely to see a Torajan wearing a hat and denim, living in a Christian society. Tourists felt that the tongkonan and other Torajan rituals had been preconceived to make profits, and complained that the destination was too commercialized. This has resulted in several clashes between Torajans and tourism developers, whom Torajans see as outsiders.

 

A clash between local Torajan leaders and the South Sulawesi provincial government (as a tourist developer) broke out in 1985. The government designated 18 Toraja villages and burial sites as traditional tourist attractions. Consequently, zoning restrictions were applied to these areas, such that Torajans themselves were barred from changing their tongkonans and burial sites. The plan was opposed by some Torajan leaders, as they felt that their rituals and traditions were being determined by outsiders. As a result, in 1987, the Torajan village of Kété Kesú and several other designated tourist attractions closed their doors to tourists. This closure lasted only a few days, as the villagers found it too difficult to survive without the income from selling souvenirs.

 

Tourism has also transformed Toraja society. Originally, there was a ritual which allowed commoners to marry nobles (puang) and thereby gain nobility for their children. However, the image of Torajan society created for the tourists, often by "lower-ranking" guides, has eroded its traditional strict hierarchy. High status is not as esteemed in Tana Toraja as it once was. Many low-ranking men can declare themselves and their children nobles by gaining enough wealth through work outside the region and then marrying a noble woman.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Rise the Rock 2011

Ladies from Amdo Tibetan region in her beautiful finest ceremonial clothes at a festival fashion show. Different regions of Tibet have their own customs, dialect, and styles of fashion and ornamentation.

 

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Ornaments make up most of the life savings of many Khampa families, and so play an important role in Tibetan families' lives as well as in announcing the social status of the wearers. They are saved up for over many years and handed down for centuries from generation to generation within families. Until very recently, these families were nomadic and have to move every few months because of the snowy seasons in the Himalayas, so Khampas have always needed to store their wealth in portable form. So being unable to store wealth in the form of estates or houses or land or in a bank, for millenia wealth has been stored in art, precious fabrics, and particularly into ornaments.

 

Their culture is very conservative about the type of ornaments favored: for thousands of years jewelry made from amber, turquoise and coral have been worn because the stones are believed to hold spiritual power. Gold and silver and also naturally found in Tibet, and the use of these metals by the wealthy also goes back thousands of years. Their ornaments are very chunky, bold and colorful. While the gold earrings that Khampa women wear may have cost them a year or maybe several year's of their salary, ornaments carry so much social status in their society that probably didn't have to think twice about the purchase.

 

To the Khampa people these ornaments have the utmost sentimental value and significance, because they are the physical remnants of generations of their ancestors hard work or success. what these people are wearing is not just their life savings, but also their family history and treasure. this culture has been around for millenia - archeological finds from the 1st century AD in the khampa area unearthed ornaments that are essentially the same in design and materials as today's are. there are also beliefs that the stones provide good luck and protection to disease. dyed red coral is the most sought after stone, but interestingly tibet is very very far from any oceans - all the coral is imported by traders! Religious symbols from Tibetan Buddhism frequency form the designs of pieces, however archeological finds show that the role of ornaments in Tibetan society and peoples' lives long predate the arrival of Buddhism in Tibet. Indeed the beliefs of spiritual protection being provided by coral, amber and turquoise probably originate from the ancient shamanic Bon religion.

Name

In the twelfth century, Olomuc and Olmuc were the first handed down name forms. In the fifteenth century an alleged first form Juliomontium (Julius hill) was assumed, according to Julius Caesar as the alleged founder. The original meaning is unclear. In the Czech, Olomouc means 'bare mountain' (Old Czech holy, 'bald' and mauc 'mountain'). The name of the city is in the Moravian-Haná dialect, a subgroup of the Middle-Moravian dialects of the Czech, Olomóc or Holomóc, in German language Ölmütz, in Polish Ołomuniec and in Latin Eburum or Olomucium.

History

Beginnings

At the end of the second century there was a Roman army camp, the northernmost known in Central Europe. Up to the fifth century there was a Germanic settlement.

In the late 7th century a first Slavic settlement arose in today's Povel district. Around 830 this was destroyed. A new castle was built on the Peter's hill (Předhrad), which was probably one of the important castles of the Moravian empire. In the ninth century three churches were built.

Přemyslidenstaat (Přemyslid dynasty)

Olomouc was first mentioned in writing in 1017 when Moravia became part of the Bohemian state of Přemysliden. In 1055 it was the seat of a separate part of the Principality. In 1063 the bishopric of Olomouc was founded by Vratislav II. Around 1070 a new castle was built. In 1077 the monastery Hradisko was founded. In 1126 Heinrich Zdik became a bishop.

At the beginning of the 13th century, the last prince of Olomouz died, Moravia was united and placed under the jurisdiction of a Margrave of the Přemyslids. In 1248, Olomouc was first mentioned as a royal town. In 1306, King Wenceslas III resided during a campaign to Poland in Olomouc, and was murdered here, which resulted in the extinction of the Přemyslids dynasty in the male family tree. The city developed economically very quickly and became the capital of Moravia.

In the Hussite wars, Olomouc was an integral part of the Catholic side. In the succession of the Charterhouse Dolein, which had been lost in the Hussite wars, the Charterhouse Olomouc was founded in 1443, which existed until the abolition in 1782. In the 16th century numerous palaces were built in the Renaissance style. In 1566 the Jesuits came to Olomouc. They founded a school which was raised to a university in 1573. In 1588, the bishop became an imperial prince.

17th and 18th centuries

In the Thirty Years' War the town was taken by the Swedes in 1642 and occupied for eight years. After the Thirty Years' War, the largely destroyed and depopulated city lost the status of the Moravian capital and abandoned it to Brno. Since a great deal of damage had been caused by fires, a detailed "fire extinguishing order" was issued in 1711, in which a number of preventive measures were also discussed.

On 26 December 1741, the city was occupied by the Prussians during the First Silesian War. After this event the fortifications were extensively expanded. A second siege by the Prussians in 1758 withstood the new fortification. In 1777, the diocese became an archbishopric.

In 1794-1797 the prominent French-American soldier and politician Marquis Lafayette was interned in Olomouc as a political prisoner of the Donaumonarchy, after being captured in Flanders by the French coalition in 1792, and then, for the time being, imprisoned by Prussia.

19th century

In 1841, the city received a railway connection. In the middle of 1845, the railway from Olomouc to Prague ("Northern State Railway") was put into operation (Olomouc-Moravská Třebová, Moravská Třebová-Prague). In 1848, the Archbishop's Palace housed the Imperial Court, which had fled here because of the revolution in Vienna. Emperor Ferdinand I handed over the government to the eighteen-year-old Francis Joseph I on December 2, 1848. On 29 November 1850, the German Confederation under Austrian leadership was restored in Olomouc by the Agreement of Olomouc (also known as the Olomouc Treaty) between Prussia, Austria and Russia. In the years 1850 to 1866 the fortification systems were extended again. In 1886, the fortress status was abolished. 1899 drove in the city the first tram.

20th century

After the collapse of the Austrian Empire in 1918 and the founding of Czechoslovakia, the Czech citizens became majority, which included, among other things, the integration of the two towns of Hodolina and Nová ulice, as well as eleven other municipalities (Bělidla, Černovír, Hejčín, Chválkovice, Lazce, Nové Sady, Nový Svět, Neředín, Pavlovičky, Povel and Řepčín) in 1919. In 1921 lived in Olomouc 57,206 inhabitants.

On March 15, 1939, the city, as well as the other areas of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, erected on the same day by the German Reich, was occupied by the Wehrmacht. As early as 1939, the Olomouc University was closed by the German occupying forces. It was not until 1946 that it was restored under the name Palacký University of Olomouc.

The German-speaking population was expelled from Olomouc in 1945/1946. Their assets were confiscated by the Beneš decree 108, the assets of the Protestant church were liquidated by the Beneš decree 131, and the Catholic churches were expropriated.

In the 1970s and 1980s, a number of prefabricated housing estates were built in the peripheral areas.

Since 1971, the entire old town has been protected as a historic preservation reserve. Floods in 1997 made the city very vulnerable, about a third of the city area was flooded. In the year 2000, the Trinity Column was included in the UNESCO World Heritage list. According to the administrative reform of 2000 the former district town with the establishment of the Olomouc region became its administrative seat.

Jews in Olomouc

The synagogue in Olomouc

The first Jews settled in Olomouc as early as 906. From the year 1060 they had to live in a ghetto and bear a yellow identification mark. In 1454 all Jews from Olomouc were expelled. This law was valid until 1848.

The Olomouc Synagogue was built between 1895 and 1897. On the night of March 15, 1939, after the occupation by the Wehrmacht, the synagogue was lit and burnt down. At the same time about 800 Jews were arrested and later deported to the Dachau concentration camp. Some of the synagogue 's benches were removed, serving as church benches in a village church near Prostějov and were finally put up in the renovated synagogue in Krnov in 2004. Some of them are now in the Synagogue of Loštice and are reminiscent of the Jewish citizens murdered in concentration camps. The seat of honor is dedicated to Berthold Oppenheim, the Rabbi of Olomouc and Loštice.

During the period of National Socialism, 3,489 people were deported to the Theresienstadt Ghetto in five transports, on 26 and 30 June 1942, on July 4, 1942, and on March 7. Only 285 Jews of the city population survived. This was the end of the Jewish life in Olomouc for a long time. Since 2011, by artist Gunter Demnig Stolpersteine (stumbling blocks) have been and still are being laid to the memory of murdered Jews in Olomouc. Olomouc is one of the cities with the most stumbling blocks in the Czech Republic (as of 2016) with Prague and Brno.

Only since 1989 there has been a revival of the Jewish cultic life in the city. In 1991, an independent Jewish community was established with a field of activity for the districts of Olomouc, Šumperk, Jeseník, Bruntál and Přerov.

 

Name

Im 12. Jahrhundert waren Olomuc und Olmuc die ersten überlieferten Namensformen. Im 15. Jahrhundert wurde eine angebliche erste Form Juliomontium (Juliusberg) vermutet, nach Julius Caesar als angeblichem Gründer. Die ursprüngliche Bedeutung ist unklar. Im Tschechischen bedeutet Olomouc ‚kahler Berg‘ (alttschech. holy ‚kahl‘ und mauc ‚Berg‘). Der Name der Stadt lautet im mährisch-hannakischen Dialekt, einer Untergruppe der mittelmährischen Dialekte des Tschechischen, Olomóc oder Holomóc, auf Deutsch Olmütz, auf Polnisch Ołomuniec und auf Lateinisch Eburum oder Olomucium.

Geschichte

Anfänge

Ende des 2. Jahrhunderts befand sich hier ein römisches Heerlager, das nördlichste bekannte in Mitteleuropa. Bis ins 5. Jahrhundert gab es eine germanische Besiedelung.

Im späten 7. Jahrhundert entstand eine erste slawische Siedlung im heutigen Ortsteil Povel. Um 830 wurde diese zerstört. Es entstand eine neue Burg auf dem Petersberg (Předhrad), die nach ihrer Größe vermutlich zu den wichtigen Burgen des Mährerreiches zählte. Im 9. Jahrhundert wurden drei Kirchen gebaut.

Přemyslidenstaat

Olomouc wurde im Jahr 1017 erstmals schriftlich erwähnt, als Mähren Teil des böhmischen Staates der Přemysliden wurde. 1055 war es Sitz eines eigenen Teilfürstentums. 1063 wurde das Bistum Olmütz durch Vratislav II. gegründet. Um 1070 entstand eine neue Burg. 1077 wurde das Kloster Hradisko gegründet. 1126 wurde Heinrich Zdik zum Bischof.

Anfang des 13. Jahrhunderts starb der letzte Olmützer Fürst, Mähren wurde vereint und einem Markgrafen aus dem Geschlecht der Přemysliden unterstellt. Zum Jahr 1248 wird Olomouc erstmals als Königsstadt erwähnt. 1306 hielt sich König Wenzel III. während eines Feldzuges nach Polen in Olmütz auf und wurde hier ermordet, wodurch die Dynastie der Přemysliden im Mannesstamm erlosch. Die Stadt entwickelte sich wirtschaftlich sehr schnell und wurde zur Hauptstadt Mährens.

In den Hussitenkriegen war Olmütz fester Bestandteil der katholischen Seite. In der Nachfolge der Kartause Dolein, die in den Hussitenkriegen untergegangen war, wurde 1443 die Kartause Olmütz gegründet, die bis zur Aufhebung 1782 bestand. Im 16. Jahrhundert entstanden zahlreiche Paläste im Renaissancestil. 1566 kamen die Jesuiten nach Olmütz. Diese gründeten eine Schule, welche 1573 zur Universität erhoben wurde. 1588 wurde der Bischof zum Reichsfürsten erhoben.

17. und 18. Jahrhundert

Im Dreißigjährigen Krieg wurde die Stadt 1642 von den Schweden eingenommen und acht Jahre okkupiert. Nach dem Dreißigjährigen Krieg verlor die großteils zerstörte und entvölkerte Stadt den Status der mährischen Hauptstadt und trat diesen an Brünn ab. Da durch Brände viel Schaden entstanden war, wurde 1711 eine detaillierte „Feuerlösch-Ordnung“ erlassen, in der auch eine Reihe vorbeugender Maßnahmen zur Sprache kam.

Am 26. Dezember 1741 wurde die Stadt von den Preußen im Ersten Schlesischen Krieg eingenommen. Nach diesem Ereignis wurden die Festungsanlagen umfangreich ausgebaut. Einer zweiten Belagerung durch die Preußen im Jahre 1758 hielt die neue Festungsanlage stand. 1777 wurde das Bistum zum Erzbistum erhoben.

1794–1797 wurde der prominente französisch-amerikanische Soldat und Politiker Marquis Lafayette in Olmütz als politischer Häftling der Donaumonarchie interniert, nachdem er von der antifranzösischen Koalition 1792 in Flandern gefangengenommen und dann vorerst von Preußen eingekerkert worden war.

19. Jahrhundert

1841 erhielt die Stadt einen Eisenbahnanschluss. Mitte 1845 wurde die Eisenbahn von Olmütz nach Prag („k.k. Nördliche Staatsbahn“) in Betrieb genommen (Olmütz–Trübau, Trübau–Prag). Im Jahr 1848 beherbergte das Schloss des Erzbischofs den wegen der Revolution in Wien hierher geflohenen kaiserlichen Hof. Kaiser Ferdinand I. übertrug hier am 2. Dezember 1848 dem achtzehnjährigen Franz Joseph I. die Regierung. Am 29. November 1850 wurde in Olmütz durch die Olmützer Punktation (auch „Olmützer Vertrag“ genannt) zwischen Preußen, Österreich und Russland der Deutsche Bund unter österreichischer Führung wieder hergestellt. In den Jahren 1850 bis 1866 wurden erneut die Befestigungsanlagen erweitert. 1886 wurde dann der Festungsstatus aufgehoben. 1899 fuhr in der Stadt die erste Straßenbahn.

20. Jahrhundert

Nach dem Zerfall des Kaiserreichs Österreich 1918 und der Gründung der Tschechoslowakei kamen die tschechischen Stadtbürger in die Mehrzahl, was unter anderem auf die Eingemeindung der zwei Städte Hodolein (Hodolany) und Neugasse (Nová ulice) sowie elf weiterer Gemeinden (Bělidla, Černovír, Hejčín, Chválkovice, Lazce, Nové Sady, Nový Svět, Neředín, Pavlovičky, Povel und Řepčín) im Jahr 1919 zurückzuführen ist. Im Jahr 1921 lebten in Olomouc 57.206 Einwohner.

Am 15. März 1939 wurde die Stadt, wie auch die übrigen Gebiete des am selben Tag vom Deutschen Reich errichteten Protektorats Böhmen und Mähren, von der Wehrmacht besetzt. Noch im Jahr 1939 wurde die Olmützer Universität von der deutschen Besatzungsmacht geschlossen. Erst im Jahr 1946 konnte sie unter dem Namen Palacký-Universität Olmütz wiederhergestellt werden.

Die deutschsprachige Bevölkerung wurde 1945/1946 aus Olmütz vertrieben. Ihr Vermögen wurde durch das Beneš-Dekret 108 konfisziert, das Vermögen der evangelischen Kirche durch das Beneš-Dekret 131 liquidiert und die katholischen Kirchen enteignet.

In den 1970er und 1980er Jahren entstanden in den Randgebieten mehrere Plattenbausiedlungen.

Seit 1971 ist die ganze Altstadt als Denkmalschutzreservat geschützt. Das Hochwasser im Jahr 1997 zog die Stadt schwer in Mitleidenschaft, etwa ein Drittel des Stadtgebiets wurde überschwemmt. Im Jahr 2000 wurde die Dreifaltigkeitssäule in die Liste des UNESCO-Welterbes aufgenommen. Nach der Verwaltungsreform von 2000 wurde die bisherige Kreisstadt mit der Errichtung der Olmützer Region dessen Verwaltungssitz.

Juden in Olmütz

Die Synagoge in Olmütz

Die ersten Juden siedelten in Olmütz bereits 906. Ab dem Jahre 1060 hatten sie in einem Ghetto zu wohnen und ein gelbes Erkennungszeichen zu tragen. Im Jahr 1454 wurden sämtliche Juden aus Olmütz ausgewiesen. Dieses Gesetz war bis 1848 gültig.

Die Olmützer Synagoge wurde von 1895 bis 1897 erbaut. In der Nacht vom 15. auf den 16. März 1939, nach der Besetzung durch die Wehrmacht, wurde die Synagoge angezündet und brannte ab. Gleichzeitig wurden etwa 800 Juden festgenommen und später in das Konzentrationslager Dachau deportiert. Einige Sitzbänke der Synagoge wurden ausgebaut, dienten lange als Kirchenbänke in einer Dorfkirche bei Prostějov und wurden schließlich 2004 in der renovierten Synagoge in Krnov aufgestellt. Einige davon stehen heute in der Synagoge von Loštice und erinnern an die in den Konzentrationslagern ermordeten jüdischen Bürger. Der Ehrensitz ist Berthold Oppenheim gewidmet, dem Rabbi von Olmütz und Loštice.

Während der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus wurden 3.489 Menschen in fünf Transporten, am 26. und 30. Juni 1942, am 4. Juli 1942 und am 7. März 1945 in das Ghetto Theresienstadt deportiert. Nur 285 Juden der Stadtbevölkerung überlebten. Damit erlosch das jüdische Leben in Olmütz für lange Zeit. Seit 2011 wurden und werden in Olmütz von Gunter Demnig Stolpersteine zur Erinnerung an ermordete Juden verlegt. Olmütz gehört mit Prag und Brünn zu den Städten mit den meisten Stolpersteinen in Tschechien (Stand 2016).

Erst seit 1989 gibt es eine Belebung des jüdischen Kultuslebens in der Stadt. 1991 wurde eine selbständige jüdische Gemeinde mit einem Wirkungskreis für die Bezirke Olmütz, Šumperk, Jeseník, Bruntál und Přerov wiederbegründet.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olm%C3%BCtz

Nederland, The Netherlands, Holland, Pays-Bas, Holanda, Dordrecht Centrum, Latinos Americanos en Holanda, Arte en Dordrecht, Kunstenaar, Artista, Escultora, Yvonne Visser, Het Open Boek, El Libro Abierto, bronz, bronce, Sculpteur, Escultor,

  

ELOGE DE LA DIALECTIQUE

L’injustice aujourd’hui s’avance d’un pas sûr.

Les oppresseurs dressent leurs plans pour 10 000 ans.

La force affirme : les choses resteront ce qu’elles sont.

Pas une voix, hormis la voix de ceux qui règnent,

Et sur tous les marchés l’exploitation proclame : c’est maintenant que je commence.

Mais chez les opprimés, beaucoup disent maintenant:

Ce que nous voulons ne viendra jamais.

 

Celui qui vit encore ne doit pas dire: jamais.

Ce qui est assuré n’est pas sûr.

Les choses ne restent pas ce qu’elles sont.

Quand ceux qui règnent auront parlé,

Ceux sur qui ils régnaient parleront.

Qui donc osé dire: jamais?

De qui dépend que l’oppression demeure ? De nous.

De qui dépend qu’elle soit brisée ? De nous.

Celui qui s’écroule abattu, qu’il se dresse.

Celui qui est perdu : qu’il lutte!

Celui qui a compris pourquoi il en est là, comment le retenir?

Les vaincus d’aujourd’hui sont les vainqueurs de demain.

Et jamais devient : aujourd’hui.”

 

BERTOLT BRECHT

  

Short people got no reason

Short people got no reason

Short people got no reason

To live !!

They got little hands

And little eyes

And they walk around

Tellin' great big lies

They got little noses

And tiny little teeth

They wear platform shoes

On their nasty little feet

Well, I don't want no short people

Don't want no short people

Don't want no short people

'Round here !!!

Short people are just the same

As you and I

(A fool such as I)

All men are brothers

Until the day they die

(It's a wonderful world)

Short people got nobody

Short people got nobody

Short people got nobody

To love !!!

They got little baby legs

And they stand so low

You got to pick 'em up

Just to say…hello

They got little cars

That got beep beep beep

They got little voices

Goin’ beep, beep, beep

They got grubby little hands

And dirty little minds

They’re gonna get you every time

Well, I’dont want not short people

Don’t want no short people

Don’t want no short people

‘Round here !!!

 

RANDY NEWMAN.-

Short people.-

Album Little Criminals.-

1977.-

  

Alice au pays des Mervielles, Chapitre 1. Descente dans le terrier du lapin , LEWIS CARROLL,

 

Chapitre 1. Descente dans le terrier du lapin

  

Alice commençait à se sentir très lasse de rester assise à côté de sa sœur, sur le talus, et de n’avoir rien à faire : une fois ou deux, elle avait jeté un coup d’œil sur le livre que lisait sa sœur ; mais il ne contenait ni images ni dialogues : « Et, pensait Alice, à quoi peut bien servir un livre où il n’y a ni images ni dialogues ? »

 

Elle se demandait (dans la mesure où elle était capable de réfléchir, car elle se sentait tout endormie et toute stupide à cause de la chaleur) si le plaisir de tresser une guirlande de pâquerettes valait la peine de se lever et d’aller cueillir les pâquerettes, lorsque, brusquement, un Lapin Blanc aux yeux roses passa en courant tout près d’elle.

 

Ceci n’avait rien de particulièrement remarquable ; et Alice ne trouva pas non plus tellement bizarre d’entendre le Lapin se dire à mi-voix : « Oh, mon Dieu ! Oh, mon Dieu ! Je vais être en retard ! » (Lorsqu’elle y réfléchit par la suite, il lui vint à l’esprit qu’elle aurait dû s’en étonner, mais, sur le moment, cela lui sembla tout naturel) ; cependant, lorsque le Lapin tira bel et bien une montre de la poche de son gilet, regarda l’heure, et se mit à courir de plus belle, Alice se dressa d’un bond, car, tout à coup, l’idée lui était venue qu’elle n’avait jamais vu de lapin pourvu d’une poche de gilet, ni d’une montre à tirer de cette poche. Dévorée de curiosité, elle traversa le champ en courant à sa poursuite, et eut la chance d’arriver juste à temps pour le voir s’enfoncer comme une flèche dans un large terrier placé sous la haie.

 

Un instant plus tard, elle y pénétrait à son tour, sans se demander une seule fois comment diable elle pourrait bien en sortir.

 

Le terrier était d’abord creusé horizontalement comme un tunnel, puis il présentait une pente si brusque et si raide qu’Alice n’eut même pas le temps de songer à s’arrêter avant de se sentir tomber dans un puits apparemment très profond.

 

Soit que le puits fût très profond, soit que Alice tombât très lentement, elle s’aperçut qu’elle avait le temps, tout en descendant, de regarder autour d’elle et de se demander ce qui allait se passer. D’abord, elle essaya de regarder en bas pour voir où elle allait arriver, mais il faisait trop noir pour qu’elle pût rien distinguer. Ensuite, elle examina les parois du puits, et remarqua qu’elles étaient garnies de placards et d’étagères ; par endroits, des cartes de géographie et des tableaux se trouvaient accrochés à des pitons. En passant, elle prit un pot sur une étagère ; il portait une étiquette sur laquelle on lisait : MARMELADE D’ORANGES, mais, à la grande déception d’Alice, il était vide. Elle ne voulut pas le laisser tomber de peur de tuer quelqu’un et elle s’arrangea pour le poser dans un placard devant lequel elle passait, tout en tombant.

 

« Ma foi ! songea-t-elle, après une chute pareille, cela me sera bien égal, quand je serai à la maison, de dégringoler dans l’escalier ! Ce qu’on va me trouver courageuse ! Ma parole, même si je tombais du haut du toit, je n’en parlerais à personne ! » (Supposition des plus vraisemblables, en effet.)

 

Plus bas, encore plus bas, toujours plus bas. Est-ce que cette chute ne finirait jamais ? « Je me demande combien de kilomètres j’ai pu parcourir ? dit-elle à haute voix. Je ne dois pas être bien loin du centre de la terre. Voyons : cela ferait une chute de six à sept mille kilomètres, du moins je le crois… (car, voyez-vous, Alice avait appris en classe pas mal de choses de ce genre, et, quoique le moment fût mal choisi pour faire parade de ses connaissances puisqu’il n’y avait personne pour l’écouter, c’était pourtant un bon exercice que de répéter tout cela)… Oui, cela doit être la distance exacte… mais, par exemple, je me demande à quelle latitude et à quelle longitude je me trouve ? » (Alice n’avait pas la moindre idée de ce qu’était la latitude, pas plus d’ailleurs que la longitude, mais elle jugeait que c’étaient de très jolis mots, impressionnants à prononcer.)

 

Bientôt, elle recommença : « Je me demande si je vais traverser la terre d’un bout à l’autre ! Cela sera rudement drôle d’arriver au milieu de ces gens qui marchent la tête en bas ! On les appelle les Antipattes , je crois — (cette fois, elle fut tout heureuse de ce qu’il n’y eût personne pour écouter, car il lui sembla que ce n’était pas du tout le mot qu’il fallait) — mais, je serai alors obligée de leur demander quel est le nom du pays, bien sûr. S’il vous plaît, madame, suis-je en Nouvelle-Zélande ou en Australie ? (et elle essaya de faire la révérence tout en parlant — imaginez ce que peut être la révérence pendant qu’on tombe dans le vide ! Croyez-vous que vous en seriez capable ? ) Et la dame pensera que je suis une petite fille ignorante ! Non, il vaudra mieux ne rien demander ; peut-être que je verrai le nom écrit quelque part. »

 

Plus bas, encore plus bas, toujours plus bas. Comme il n’y avait rien d’autre à faire, Alice se remit bientôt à parler. « Je vais beaucoup manquer à Dinah ce soir, j’en ai bien peur ! (Dinah était sa chatte.) J’espère qu’on pensera à lui donner sa soucoupe de lait à l’heure du thé. Ma chère Dinah, comme je voudrais t’avoir ici avec moi ! Il n’y a pas de souris dans l’air, je le crains fort, mais tu pourrais attraper une chauve-souris, et cela, vois-tu, cela ressemble beaucoup à une souris. Mais est-ce que les chats mangent les chauves-souris ? Je me le demande. » A ce moment, Alice commença à se sentir toute somnolente, et elle se mit à répéter, comme si elle rêvait : « Est-ce que les chats mangent les chauves-souris ? Est-ce que les chats mangent les chauves-souris ? » et parfois : « Est-ce que les chauves-souris mangent les chats ? » car, voyez-vous, comme elle était incapable de répondre à aucune des deux questions, peu importait qu’elle posât l’une ou l’autre. Elle sentit qu’elle s’endormait pour de bon, et elle venait de commencer à rêver qu’elle marchait avec Dinah, la main dans la patte, en lui demandant très sérieusement : « Allons, Dinah, dis-moi la vérité : as-tu jamais mangé une chauve-souris ? » quand, brusquement, patatras ! elle atterrit sur un tas de branchages et de feuilles mortes, et sa chute prit fin.

 

Alice ne s’était pas fait le moindre mal, et fut sur pied en un moment ; elle leva les yeux, mais tout était noir au-dessus de sa tête. Devant elle s’étendait un autre couloir où elle vit le Lapin Blanc en train de courir à toute vitesse. Il n’y avait pas un instant à perdre : voilà notre Alice partie, rapide comme le vent. Elle eut juste le temps d’entendre le Lapin dire, en tournant un coin : « Par mes oreilles et mes moustaches, comme il se fait tard ! » Elle tourna le coin à son tour, très peu de temps après lui, mais, quand elle l’eut tourné, le Lapin avait disparu. Elle se trouvait à présent dans une longue salle basse éclairée par une rangée de lampes accrochées au plafond.

 

Il y avait plusieurs portes autour de la salle, mais elles étaient toutes fermées à clé ; quand Alice eut marché d’abord dans un sens, puis dans l’autre, en essayant de les ouvrir une par une, elle s’en alla tristement vers le milieu de la pièce, en se demandant comment elle pourrait bien faire pour en sortir.

 

Brusquement, elle se trouva près d’une petite table à trois pieds, entièrement faite de verre massif, sur laquelle il y avait une minuscule clé d’or, et Alice pensa aussitôt que cette clé pouvait fort bien ouvrir l’une des portes de la salle. Hélas ! soit que les serrures fussent trop larges, soit que la clé fût trop petite, aucune porte ne voulut s’ouvrir. Néanmoins, la deuxième fois qu’Alice fit le tour de la pièce, elle découvrit un rideau bas qu’elle n’avait pas encore remarqué ; derrière ce rideau se trouvait une petite porte haute de quarante centimètres environ : elle essaya d’introduire la petite clé d’or dans la serrure, et elle fut ravie de constater qu’elle s’y adaptait parfaitement !

 

Alice ouvrit la porte, et vit qu’elle donnait sur un petit couloir guère plus grand qu’un trou à rat ; s’étant agenouillée, elle aperçut au bout du couloir le jardin le plus adorable qu’on puisse imaginer. Comme elle désirait sortir de cette pièce sombre, pour aller se promener au milieu des parterres de fleurs aux couleurs éclatantes et des fraîches fontaines ! Mais elle ne pourrait même pas faire passer sa tête par l’entrée ; « et même si ma tête pouvait passer, se disait la pauvre Alice, cela ne me servirait pas à grand-chose à cause de mes épaules. Oh ! que je voudrais pouvoir rentrer en moi-même comme une longue-vue ! Je crois que j’y arriverais si je savais seulement comment m’y prendre pour commencer. » Car, voyez-vous, il venait de se passer tant de choses bizarres, qu’elle en arrivait à penser que fort peu de choses étaient vraiment impossibles.

 

Il semblait inutile de rester à attendre près de la petite porte ; c’est pourquoi Alice revint vers la table, en espérant presque y trouver une autre clé, ou, du moins, un livre contenant une recette pour faire rentrer les gens en eux-mêmes, comme des longues-vues. Cette fois, elle y vit un petit flacon (« il n’y était sûrement pas tout à l’heure, dit-elle »,) portant autour du goulot une étiquette de papier sur laquelle étaient magnifiquement imprimés en grosses lettres ces deux mots : « BOIS MOI ».

 

C’était très joli de dire : « Bois-moi », mais notre prudente petite Alice n’allait pas se dépêcher d’obéir. « Non, je vais d’abord bien regarder, pensa-t-elle, pour voir s’il y a le mot : poison ; » car elle avait lu plusieurs petites histoires charmantes où il était question d’enfants brûlés, ou dévorés par des bêtes féroces, ou victimes de plusieurs autres mésaventures, tout cela uniquement parce qu’ils avaient refusé de se rappeler les simples règles de conduite que leurs amis leur avaient enseignées : par exemple, qu’un tisonnier chauffé au rouge vous brûle si vous le tenez trop longtemps, ou que, si vous vous faites au doigt une coupure très profonde avec un couteau, votre doigt, d’ordinaire, se met à saigner ; et Alice n’avait jamais oublié que si l’on boit une bonne partie du contenu d’une bouteille portant l’étiquette : poison, cela ne manque presque jamais, tôt ou tard, de vous causer des ennuis.

 

Cependant, ce flacon ne portant décidément pas l’étiquette : « poison », Alice se hasarda à en goûter le contenu ; comme il lui parut fort agréable (en fait, cela rappelait à la fois la tarte aux cerises, la crème renversée, l’ananas, la dinde rôtie, le caramel, et les rôties chaudes bien beurrées), elle l’avala séance tenante, jusqu’à la dernière goutte.

 

« Quelle sensation bizarre ! dit Alice. Je dois être en train de rentrer en moi-même, comme une longue-vue ! »

 

Et c’était bien exact : elle ne mesurait plus que vingt-cinq centimètres. Son visage s’éclaira à l’idée qu’elle avait maintenant exactement la taille qu’il fallait pour franchir la petite porte et pénétrer dans l’adorable jardin. Néanmoins elle attendit d’abord quelques minutes pour voir si elle allait diminuer encore : elle se sentait un peu inquiète à ce sujet ; « car, voyez-vous, pensait Alice, à la fin des fins je pourrais bien disparaître tout à fait, comme une bougie. En ce cas, je me demande à quoi je ressemblerais. » Et elle essaya d’imaginer à quoi ressemble la flamme d’une bougie une fois que la bougie est éteinte, car elle n’arrivait pas à se rappeler avoir jamais vu chose pareille.

 

Au bout d’un moment, comme rien de nouveau ne s’était produit, elle décida d’aller immédiatement dans le jardin. Hélas ! pauvre Alice ! dès qu’elle fut arrivée à la porte, elle s’aperçut qu’elle avait oublié la petite clé d’or, et, quand elle revint à la table pour s’en saisir, elle s’aperçut qu’il lui était impossible de l’atteindre, quoiqu’elle pût la voir très nettement à travers le verre. Elle essaya tant qu’elle put d’escalader un des pieds de la table, mais il était trop glissant ; aussi, après s’être épuisée en efforts inutiles, la pauvre petite s’assit et fondit en larmes.

 

« Allons ! cela ne sert à rien de pleurer comme cela ! » se dit-elle d’un ton sévère. « Je te conseille de t’arrêter à l’instant ! » Elle avait coutume de se donner de très bons conseils (quoiqu’elle ne les suivît guère), et, parfois, elle se réprimandait si vertement que les larmes lui venaient aux yeux. Elle se rappelait qu’un jour elle avait essayé de se gifler pour avoir triché au cours d’une partie de croquet qu’elle jouait contre elle-même, car cette étrange enfant aimait beaucoup faire semblant d’être deux personnes différentes. « Mais c’est bien inutile à présent, pensa la pauvre Alice, de faire semblant d’être deux ! C’est tout juste s’il reste assez de moi pour former une seule personne digne de ce nom ! »

 

Bientôt son regard tomba sur une petite boîte de verre placée sous la table ; elle l’ouvrit et y trouva un tout petit gâteau sur lequel les mots : « MANGE-MOI » étaient très joliment tracés avec des raisins de Corinthe. « Ma foi, je vais le manger, dit Alice ; s’il me fait grandir, je pourrai atteindre la clé ; s’il me fait rapetisser, je pourrai me glisser sous la porte ; d’une façon comme de l’autre j’irai dans le jardin, et, ensuite, advienne que pourra. »

 

Elle mangea un petit bout de gâteau, et se dit avec anxiété : « Vers le haut ou vers le bas ? » en tenant sa main sur sa tête pour sentir si elle allait monter ou descendre. Or, elle fut toute surprise de constater qu’elle gardait toujours la même taille : bien sûr, c’est généralement ce qui arrive quand on mange des gâteaux, mais Alice avait tellement pris l’habitude de s’attendre à des choses extravagantes, qu’il lui paraissait ennuyeux et stupide de voir la vie continuer de façon normale.

 

C’est pourquoi elle se mit pour de bon à la besogne et eut bientôt fini le gâteau jusqu’à la dernière miette