Given to me by one of my students.

 

A fish filled with sea creatures + a man and woman on a boat with creatures below all cut in paper.

 

Very delicate.

Kitoko given King's ovocation at his arrival in Kigali / 12 July 2017

A different closet, the one of the guest room at my uncle's (mom's brother's) house in Monterey, CA. I've managed to get out of my house for awhile, "in disguise" as a boy. (And I can laugh that I joke about my boy-mode self as being a disguise. It all depends on how I feel at any given time on any given day.)

 

Anyway, I thought about one of the responses to one of my "Caught?!" photos a while back, and I paid homage to it a couple nights ago with my "Go Topless" moderate-flagged photo for brankingston. (Plus bellybutton bonus. ^_^;)

 

I'm sitting here, writing the text for the upload here, with a repeat of "The Colbert Report" playing on the TV in the background. I thought about Mom's closet, and how comforting it felt, and I remembered a few brief moments of my youth, and earlier today, I immediately longed for that comforting, safe place where I could take refuge in.

 

And so, wearing a long-sleeve nightrobe, my wig, my ballet bow flats, and little else, I opened the door, and went inside, closing it behind me, letting the absolute darkness embrace me.

 

I longed to seek the comfort of my youth, and find the place where I could let down my defenses, being symbolically and literally stripped naked beneath my robe, and just let out the feelings I had bottled up inside of me.

 

I thought about a friend of mine I came out to, and how I felt he wasn't fully grasping the seriousness of what I've been dealing with. I thought about the last time I broke down and cried in front of my Mom, also having to do with a very stressful and long conversation with that same friend (But having nothing to do with crossdressing.), and I took it to another level - As I'm apt to do, I keep running a script in my head where I finally have that talk with Mom, trying to figure out how I'll tell her, and reassure her that it's not her fault, she and Dad did nothing wrong, and I still love them, and I hope they will accept me.

 

It took a while, but the floodgates burst open, and the tears came rushing out... I surrendered myself to a 20-25 minute "cleansing" cry, not caring if anyone heard my sobs and heaving cries. All I could do was rock back and forth, letting it all out, all the while hearing a voice deep within me say, "It's okay. Just let it out. There's nothing to be ashamed of. You're safe here."

 

I resolved, after the tears subsided, to be stronger, and face every moment from that time forward, being stronger than I've been before. Maybe I'm talking too much, or perhaps I may make people worry about my state of mind, but, at that moment, I needed to go there. I needed to just have that moment of release.

 

I got up, opened the door, and got on with the rest of my day.

 

A few hours later, I'm here in Monterey with my Mom, having had dinner on the wharf (Ate too much, or at least it feels like it...), and I've managed to "break into" my uncle's router (Took no time at all to figure out WPS, and guess his password, since I forgot what it was that I stored on my other laptop. ^_^;) - i need to have a talk with him on the importance of having stronger passwords, and strengthening security on his router. (And I'll add "Network+", along with "A+" to my certification goals.)

 

So, for now, coping with sleeping in a room in a house with next to no insulation or air conditioning. There's a fan going in here at a good speed. Steven Colbert is doing something off the wall with a Boba Fett action figure, grated cheese, and a mushroom. Do I care? Not really.

 

There's some World War II books (non fiction, and fiction - Pacific theatre), Arthur C. Clarke's first three "Odyssey" books, some of J.R.R. Tolkien's books (alas, no actual Lord Of The Rings books), a few books by James A. Michener, Tom Clancy, Craig (Firefox) Thomas, two books in the Dune series by Frank Herbert, quite a few of the classic Ian Fleming "James Bond" stories, even a Joseph Wambaugh book.

 

I don't think I'll have any problem drifting off to a restful, relaxing sleep.

 

Good night, space travellers...

Banteay Kdei, meaning "A Citadel of Chambers", also known as "Citadel of Monks' cells", is a Buddhist temple in Angkor, Cambodia. It is located southeast of Ta Prohm and east of Angkor Thom. Built in the mid-12th to early 13th centuries AD during the reign of Jayavarman VII (who was posthumously given the title "Maha paramasangata pada"), it is in the Bayon architectural style, similar in plan to Ta Prohm and Preah Khan, but less complex and smaller. Its structures are contained within two successive enclosure walls, and consist of two concentric galleries from which emerge towers, preceded to the east by a cloister.

 

This Buddhist monastic complex is currently dilapidated due to faulty construction and poor quality of sandstone used in its buildings, and is now undergoing renovation. Banteay Kdei had been occupied by monks at various intervals over the centuries until the 1960s

 

The Banteay Kdei, one of the many Angkor temples, is located in the Angkor Archaeological Park of 400 square kilometres (150 sq mi) area. The ancient city of Angkor during the Khmer Empire extended from Tonle Sap to the Kulen hills covering a vast area of 1,000 square kilometres (390 sq mi). The temple is approached from the east gopura of Ta Prohm along a 600 metres (2,000 ft) path. This path leads to the west gate entrance gopura of Banteay Kdei. It is 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) east of Angkor Thom.

 

The name Banteay Kdei originates from an earlier name, Kuti, which is mentioned in the Sdok Kak Thom. This stele describes the arrival of Jayavarman II to the area, "When they arrived at the eastern district, the king bestowed an estate and a village called Kuti upon the family of the royal chaplain." This royal chaplain was the Brahman scholar Sivakaivalya, his chief priest for the Devaraja cult.: 98 

 

The Khmer Empire lasted from 802 to 1431, initially under Hindu religious beliefs up to the end of the 12th century and later under Buddhist religious practices. It was a time when temples of grandeur came to be built and reached a crescendo during the reign of Suryavarman II until 1145/1150, and later in the 12th–13th centuries, under Jayavarman VII. Many Buddhist temples were built, including the Banteay Kdei, from middle of the 12th century to early 13th century. Though Jayavarman VII was credited with building many temples, he was also accused of squandering money on extravagant temple building projects at the expense of society and other duties. He built Buddhist temples in which Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara was the main deity. This temple built, conforming to the style of the Ta Prohm and Preah Khan temples in the vicinity during the same period by Jayavarman VII, but of a smaller size, was built as a Buddhist monastic complex on the site of a 10th-century temple built by Rajendravarman. Some small inscriptions attest to the building of this temple by Jayavarman VII and the royal architect, Kavindrarimathana.

 

Jayavarman VII had come to power at the age of 55 after defeating Chams who had invaded Angkor and subjected it to devastation. His "prodigious activity" resulted in the restoration of Cambodia from its ruins. He was chiefly the architect of the rebuilt capital at Angkor Thom and was called a "Great Builder". He was responsible for building many temples, which apart from Banteay Kdei, included the central temple of the Bayon, Prah Khan, Ta Prohm and many others, and also many rest houses for pilgrims. The reasons for building this temple at its present site is not known. However, it is established that the temple is a contemporary of the Angkor Wat as many similarities have been identified between the two, and also with Phimai temple in Thailand. It is reported to be the first temple built by Jayavarman VII in 1181 AD, opposite to the Srah Srang reservoir.

 

In the 13th century, most of the temples built by Jayavarman were vandalised. However, some of the Mahayana Buddhist frontons and lintels are still seen in good condition. It is also the view of some archaeologists that the temple was built by Jayavarman II in honour of his religious teacher.

 

The temple, which for several centuries after the Khmer reign ended, remained neglected and covered with vegetation. It was exposed after clearing the surrounding overgrowth of vegetation in 1920–1922. This work was carried out under the guidance of Henri Marchal (then Conservator of Angkor) and Ch. Battuer, by adopting a conservation principle which was known as "the principle of anastylosis, which was being employed very effectively by the Dutch authorities in Indonesia". It was partially occupied by Buddhist monks till the 1960s.

 

For ten years till March 2002, Sophia University Mission or the Sophia Mission of Japan carried out several Archaeological research at the Banteay Kdei temple. During these investigations, a cache of fragments of 274 Buddhist statues made in sandstone, along with a few metal art pieces, were unearthed, in 2001. Plans to build a storage room to house the statues was also planned.

 

The sacred temple complex is cloistered and packed in a space of 65 m × 50 m (213 ft × 164 ft) with three enclosures within a large compound wall of size 700 m × 300 m (2,300 ft × 980 ft), made of laterite stones. The entry is from the east facing gopura, which is in a cruciform embellished with Lokesvara images. The temple is a treasure house of sculptures in the architectural styles of the Bayon and also of the Angkor Wat. The complex is on a single level.

 

The external enclosure with four concentric walls, has four gopuras similar to the Ta Prohm temple, and all are in some degree of preserved status. At the four corners, the gopuras have a fascia of Lokesvara (Buddhist deity, Avalokitesvara) mounted over Garuda images (it is also mentioned that the smiling faces are of King Jayavarman II, similar to those seen in the Beyan temple). The east facing gopura, in particular, has well-preserved garuda images on its corners. Two hundred meters from the west entrance of this enclosure leads to a moat, which is decorated with statues of lions and naga-balustrades mounted on garudas. The moat itself has in its precincts the third enclosure which measures 320 m × 300 m (1,050 ft × 980 ft), also enclosed with laterite walls. The Buddha image at the entrance to the moat, near the second interior gate, is well preserved, considering the fact that most of the other statues have been destroyed or stolen.

 

The third enclosure has a gopura which has a cruciform plan. It has pillars which are crossed by vaults. There are three passages in this enclosure, two on either side are independent, with laterite walls. The niches here have small figurines, and large apsara devatas in single poses or in pairs of dancing poses. Large Buddha images, in an internal courtyard of this enclosure, have been defaced by vandals. A paved access from here leads to the main shrine, which comprises two galleried enclosures. At the entrance to these enclosures, from the eastern end, is the "Hall of Dancers", which has four open courtyards and the pillars have fine carvings of apsaras.

 

The second enclosure, which is part of the main temple, measures 58 m × 50 m (190 ft × 164 ft). It has a gopura on its eastern side and also subsidiary gopura on the west. Entrance doors are at the northern and southern ends. The gopura is built like a gallery with one exterior wall and double row of pillars which open into a courtyard and which has mostly shored up walls with small openings at the bottom to allow air circulation. The niches here are decorated with images of apsaras, and a Buddha statue in the central hall has been defaced by vandals. Bayon style architectural features built-in are the "balustered false windows with lowered blinds and devatas with headdresses in the form of small flaming discs set in a triangle." The vaults built in sandstone and laterite have collapsed at several locations of the gallery. The inner enclosures contain library building to its north and south and also a central sanctuary.

 

The inner enclosure of the main temple is built on a 36 m × 30 m (118 ft × 98 ft) layout plan. This enclosure has four corner towers abutted by small gopuras. Galleries running along an axis link these towers to the main sanctuary. The towers at the north-east and south-east are linked with the second gallery where a Buddha statue in a sitting posture is seen, in the backdrop of an open sky line. The sanctum which is 2.75 m (9.0 ft) square enclosure has some traces of statues of deities. This entire enclosure, however, is not built in Bayon style and hence conjectured to be of an earlier period. Remnants of wooden ceiling are also seen here. The entrance to the sanctum is flanked by dvarapalas surrounded by apsaras.

 

Srah Srang or "The royal bathing pool" or "pool of ablutions" to the east of Banteay Kdei, which was dug to dimensions of 700 metres (2,300 ft)x300 metres (980 ft) during the reign of Rajendraverman in the 10th century, was beautified by Jayavarman VII with well laid out steps of laterite stones with external margin of sandstone, on the banks of the pond facing the Sun. It is set amidst large trees and has turquoise blue waters all the year round. The approaching steps to the water edge are flanked by two stone statues of lions with ornamented Nāga-balustrades. The pond was reserved for use by the king and his wives. A stone base seen at an island in the centre of the pond once housed a wooden temple where the king did meditation. At the lily filled lake, watching sunset reflections in the lake is quite an experience. The water from the lake is now used for rice cultivation by farmers of the area.

 

Some specific architectural features which evolved with the Bayon style are clearly discerned in this temple. The roof is supported on free-standing pillars in the eastern and western pavilions in the third enclosure, built in a cruciform plan with the inner row of pillars supporting the roof. The pillars are also tied to the wall by a tie beam using a "mortise–and–tenon join" patterned on wooden structures. Other features noted are of the four central pillars in the western pavilion which have been strengthened with temporary supports of laterite stone block pillars. Carvings of Buddha are seen on all these pillars but mostly defaced. The temporary support system provided to the roof built on free standing pillars is indicative of problems of design seen in the temples built during this period.

Caracalla was born on 4 April AD 188 in Lugdunum (Lyons), being named Lucius Septimius Bassianus. His last name was given him in honour of the father of his mother Julia Domna, Julius Bassianus, high priest of the sun god El-Gabal at Emesa.

The nickname Caracalla was given to him, as he tended to wear a long Gallic cloak of that name.

 

In AD 195, his father, emperor Septimius Severus, declared him Caesar (junior emperor), changing his name to Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. This announcement should spark off a bloody conflict between Severus and Clodius Albinus, the man who had been named Caesar previously.

With Albinus defeated at the battle of Lugdunum (Lyons) in February AD 197, Caracalla was made co-Augustus in AD 198. In AD 203-4 he visited his ancestral north Africa with his father and brother.

Then in AD 205 he was consul alongside his younger brother Geta, with whom he lived in bitter rivalry.

From AD 205 to 207 Severus had his two quarrelsome sons live together in Campania, in his own presence, in order to try and heal the rift between them. However the attempt clearly failed.

 

In AD 208 Caracalla and Geta left for Britain with their father, to campaign in Caledonia. With his father ill, much of the command lay with Caracalla.

When on campaign Caracalla was said to have been eager to have seen the end of his sick father. There is even a story of him trying to stab Severus in the back while the two were riding ahead of the troops. This however seems very unlikely. Knowing Severus' character, Caracalla would not have survived such failure.

 

However, a blow was dealt to Caracalla's aspirations when in AD 209 Severus did also raise Geta to the rank of Augustus. Evidently their father intended them to rule the empire together.

Septimius Severus died in February AD 211 at Eburacum (York). On his deathbed he famously advised his two sons to get on with each other and to pay the soldiers well, and not to care about anyone else.

The brothers though should have a problem following the first point of that advice.

Caracalla was 23, Geta 22, when their father died. And felt such hostility towards each other, that it bordered on outright hatred.

Immediately after Severus' death there appeared to have been an attempt by Caracalla to seize power for himself. If this was truly an attempted coup is unclear. Far more it appears Caracalla tried to secure power for himself, by outright ignoring his co-emperor.

He conducted the resolution of the unfinished conquest of Caledonia by himself. He dismissed many of Severus' advisors who would have sought to also support Geta, following Severus' wishes.

Such initial attempts at ruling alone were clearly meant to signify that Caracalla ruled, whereas Geta was emperor purely by name (a little like emperors Marcus Aurelius and Verus had done earlier).

Geta however would not accept such attempts. Neither would his mother Julia Domna. And it was her who forced Caracalla to accept joint rule.

 

With the Caledonian campaign at an end the two then headed back for Rome with the ashes of their father. The voyage back home is noteworthy, as neither would even sit at the same table with the other for fear of poisoning.

 

Back in the capital, they tried to live alongside each other in the imperial palace. Yet so determined were they in their hostility, that they divided the palace in two halves with separate entrances. The doors which might have connected the two halves were blocked.

More so, each emperor surrounded himself with a large personal bodyguard.

 

Each brother sought to gain the favour of the senate. Either one sought to see his own favourite appointed to any official office which might become available. They also intervened in court cases in order to help their supporters. Even at the circus games, they publicly backed different factions.

Worst of all attempts apparently were made from either side to poison the other.

 

Their bodyguards in a constant state of alert, both living in everlasting fear of being poisoned, Caracalla and Geta came to the conclusion that their only way of living as joint emperors was to divide the empire. Geta would take the east, establishing his capital at Antioch or Alexandria, and Caracalla would remain in Rome.

 

The scheme might have worked. But Julia Domna used her significant power to block it. It is possible that she feared, if they separated, she could no longer keep an eye on them. Most likely though she realized, that this proposal would lead to outright civil war between east and west.

 

Alas, in late December AD 211 he pretended to seek to reconcile with his brother and so suggested a meeting in the apartment of Julia Domna. Then as Geta arrived unarmed and unguarded, several centurions of Caracalla's guard broke through the door and cut him down. Geta died in his mother's arms.

 

What, other than hate, drove Caracalla to the murder is unknown. Known as an angry, impatient character, he perhaps simply lost patience. On the other hand, Geta was the more literate of the two, often surrounded by writers and intellects. It is therefore well likely that Geta was making more of an impact with senators than his tempestuous brother. Perhaps even more dangerous to Caracalla, Geta was showing a striking facial similarity to his father Severus. Had Severus been very popular with the military, Geta's star might have been on the rise with them, as the generals believed to detect their old commander in him.

Hence one could speculate that perhaps Caracalla opted to murder his brother, once he feared Geta might prove the stronger of the two of them.

Many of the praetorians didn't feel at all comfortable with the murder of Geta. For they remembered that they had sworn allegiance to both emperors. Caracalla though knew how to win their favour. He paid each man a bonus of 2'500 denarii, and raised their ration allowance by 50%.

If this won over the praetorians then, a pay rise from 500 denarii to 675 (or 750) denarii to the legions assured him of their loyalty.

 

Further to this Caracalla then began hunting down any supporters of Geta. Up to 20'000 are believed to have died in this bloody purge. Friends of Geta, senators, equestrians, a praetorian prefect, leaders of the security services, servants, provincial governors, officers, ordinary soldiers - even charioteers of the faction Geta had supported; all fell victim to Caracalla's vengeance.

 

Suspicious of the military, CAracalla also now rearranged the way legions were based in the provinces, so that no single province would be host to more than two legions. Clearly this made revolt by provincial governors much more difficult.

 

However harsh, Caracalla's reign should not only be known for its cruelty. He reformed the monetary system and was an able judge when hearing court cases. But first and foremost of his acts is one of the most famous edicts of antiquity, the Constitutio Antoniniana. By this law, issued in AD 212, everyone in the empire, with the exception of slaves, was granted Roman citizenship.

 

Then in AD 213 CAracalla went north to the Rhine to deal with the Alemanni who were once more causing trouble in the Agri Decumates, the territory covering the springs of the Danube and Rhine. It was here that the emperor showed a remarkable touch in winning the sympathy of the soldiers. Naturally his pay rises had made him popular. But when with the troops, he marched on foot among the ordinary soldiers, ate the same food ad even ground his own flour with them.

 

The campaign against the Alemanni was only a limited success. Caracalla defeated them in battle near the river Rhine, but failed to win a decisive victory over them. And so he chose to change tactics and instead sued for peace, promising to pay the barbarians an annual subsidy.

Other emeprors would have paid dearly for such a settlement. To buy the opponent off was largely seen to be a humiliation for the troops. (Emperor Alexander Severus was killed by mutinous troops in AD 235 for the same reason.) But it was Caracalla's popularity with the soldier's which allowed him to get away with it.

 

In AD 214 Caracalla then headed east, through Dacia and Thrace to Asia Minor (Turkey).

It was at this point that the emperor began to have delusions of being Alexander the Great. Gathering an army as he passed through the military provinces along the Danube, he reached Asia Minor at the head of a large army. One part of this army was a phalanx consisting of 16'000 men, in armour of the style of Alexander's Macedonian solders. The force was also accompanied by many war elephants.

Statues of Alexander were ordered to be sent back home to Rome. Pictures were commissioned, which bore a face which was half Caracalla, half Alexander. Because Caracalla believed that Aristotle had had some part in Alexander's death, Aristotelian philosophers were persecuted.

 

The winter of AD 214/215 was passed at Nicomedia. In May AD 215 the force reached Antioch in Syria. Most likely leaving his great army behind at Antioch, Caracalla now went on to Alexandria to visit the tomb of Alexander.

 

It is not known what precisely occurred next in Alexandria, but somehow Caracalla grew enraged. He set the troops which were with him on the people of the city and thousands were massacred in the streets.

 

AFter this gruesome episode in Alexandria, Caracalla headed back to Antioch, where in AD 216 no fewer than eight legions were waiting for him. With these he now attacked Parthia, which was preoccupied with a bloody civil war. The frontiers of the province of Mesopotamia were pushed further east. Attempts though to overrun Armenia failed. Instead Roman troops marauded across the Tigris into Media and then finally withdrew to Edessa to spend the winter there.

Parthia was weak and had little with which it could respond to these attacks. Caracalla sensed his chance and planned further expeditions for the next year, most likely hoping to make some permanent acquisitions to the empire. Though it was not to be.

The emperor might have enjoyed popularity with the army, but the rest of the empire still hated him.

 

It was Julius Martialis, an officer in the imperial bodyguard, who murdered the emperor on a voyage between Edessa and Carrhae, when he relieved himself out of sight from the other guards.

Martialis himself was killed by the emperor's mounted bodyguard. But the mastermind behind the murder was the commander of the praetorian guard, Marcus Opelius Macrinus, the future emperor.

 

Caracalla was only 29 at his death. His ashes were sent back to Rome where they were laid to rest in the Mausoleum of Hadrian. He was deified in AD 218.

 

A couple of weeks back, we met a couple in a pub in Canterbury, and they had been out exploring the city and said they were disappointed by the cathedral.

 

Not enough labels they said.

 

That not withstanding, I thought it had been some time since I last had been, so decided to revisit, see the pillars of Reculver church in the crypt and take the big lens for some detail shots.

 

We arrived just after ten, so the cathedral was pretty free of other guests, just a few guides waiting for groups and couples to guide.

 

I went round with the 50mm first, before concentrating on the medieval glass which is mostly on the south side.

 

But as you will see, the lens picked up so much more.

 

Thing is, there is always someone interesting to talk to, or wants to talk to you. As I went around, I spoke with about three guides about the project and things I have seen in the churches of the county, and the wonderful people I have met. And that continued in the cathedral.

 

I have time to look at the tombs in the Trinity Chapel, and see that Henry IV and his wife are in a tomb there, rather than ay Westminster Abbey. So I photograph them, and the Black Prince on the southern side of the chapel, along with the Bishops and Archbishops between.

 

Round to the transept and a chance to change lenses, and put on the 140-400mm for some detailed shots.

 

------------------------------------------

 

St Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury, arrived on the coast of Kent as a missionary to England in 597AD. He came from Rome, sent by Pope Gregory the Great. It is said that Gregory had been struck by the beauty of Angle slaves he saw for sale in the city market and despatched Augustine and some monks to convert them to Christianity. Augustine was given a church at Canterbury (St Martin’s, after St Martin of Tours, still standing today) by the local King, Ethelbert whose Queen, Bertha, a French Princess, was already a Christian.This building had been a place of worship during the Roman occupation of Britain and is the oldest church in England still in use. Augustine had been consecrated a bishop in France and was later made an archbishop by the Pope. He established his seat within the Roman city walls (the word cathedral is derived from the the Latin word for a chair ‘cathedra’, which is itself taken from the Greek ‘kathedra’ meaning seat.) and built the first cathedral there, becoming the first Archbishop of Canterbury. Since that time, there has been a community around the Cathedral offering daily prayer to God; this community is arguably the oldest organisation in the English speaking world. The present Archbishop, The Most Revd Justin Welby, is 105th in the line of succession from Augustine. Until the 10th century, the Cathedral community lived as the household of the Archbishop. During the 10th century, it became a formal community of Benedictine monks, which continued until the monastery was dissolved by King Henry VIII in 1540. Augustine’s original building lies beneath the floor of the Nave – it was extensively rebuilt and enlarged by the Saxons, and the Cathedral was rebuilt completely by the Normans in 1070 following a major fire. There have been many additions to the building over the last nine hundred years, but parts of the Quire and some of the windows and their stained glass date from the 12th century. By 1077, Archbishop Lanfranc had rebuilt it as a Norman church, described as “nearly perfect”. A staircase and parts of the North Wall – in the area of the North West transept also called the Martyrdom – remain from that building.

 

Canterbury’s role as one of the world’s most important pilgrimage centres in Europe is inextricably linked to the murder of its most famous Archbishop, Thomas Becket, in 1170. When, after a long lasting dispute, King Henry II is said to have exclaimed “Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?”, four knights set off for Canterbury and murdered Thomas in his own cathedral. A sword stroke was so violent that it sliced the crown off his skull and shattered the blade’s tip on the pavement. The murder took place in what is now known as The Martyrdom. When shortly afterwards, miracles were said to take place, Canterbury became one of Europe’s most important pilgrimage centres.

 

The work of the Cathedral as a monastery came to an end in 1540, when the monastery was closed on the orders of King Henry VIII. Its role as a place of prayer continued – as it does to this day. Once the monastery had been suppressed, responsibility for the services and upkeep was given to a group of clergy known as the Chapter of Canterbury. Today, the Cathedral is still governed by the Dean and four Canons, together (in recent years) with four lay people and the Archdeacon of Ashford. During the Civil War of the 1640s, the Cathedral suffered damage at the hands of the Puritans; much of the medieval stained glass was smashed and horses were stabled in the Nave. After the Restoration in 1660, several years were spent in repairing the building. In the early 19th Century, the North West tower was found to be dangerous, and, although it dated from Lanfranc’s time, it was demolished in the early 1830s and replaced by a copy of the South West tower, thus giving a symmetrical appearance to the west end of the Cathedral. During the Second World War, the Precincts were heavily damaged by enemy action and the Cathedral’s Library was destroyed. Thankfully, the Cathedral itself was not seriously harmed, due to the bravery of the team of fire watchers, who patrolled the roofs and dealt with the incendiary bombs dropped by enemy bombers. Today, the Cathedral stands as a place where prayer to God has been offered daily for over 1,400 years; nearly 2,000 Services are held each year, as well as countless private prayers from individuals. The Cathedral offers a warm welcome to all visitors – its aim is to show people Jesus, which we do through the splendour of the building as well as the beauty of the worship.

 

www.canterbury-cathedral.org/heritage/history/cathedral-h...

 

-------------------------------------------

 

History of the cathedral

THE ORIGIN of a Christian church on the scite of the present cathedral, is supposed to have taken place as early as the Roman empire in Britain, for the use of the antient faithful and believing soldiers of their garrison here; and that Augustine found such a one standing here, adjoining to king Ethelbert's palace, which was included in the king's gift to him.

 

This supposition is founded on the records of the priory of Christ-church, (fn. 1) concurring with the common opinion of almost all our historians, who tell us of a church in Canterbury, which Augustine found standing in the east part of the city, which he had of king Ethelbert's gift, which after his consecration at Arles, in France, he commended by special dedication to the patronage of our blessed Saviour. (fn. 2)

 

According to others, the foundations only of an old church formerly built by the believing Romans, were left here, on which Augustine erected that, which he afterwards dedicated to out Saviour; (fn. 3) and indeed it is not probable that king Ethelbert should have suffered the unsightly ruins of a Christian church, which, being a Pagan, must have been very obnoxious to him, so close to his palace, and supposing these ruins had been here, would he not have suffered them to be repaired, rather than have obliged his Christian queen to travel daily to such a distance as St. Martin's church, or St. Pancrace's chapel, for the performance of her devotions.

 

Some indeed have conjectured that the church found by St. Augustine, in the east part of the city, was that of St.Martin, truly so situated; and urge in favor of it, that there have not been at any time any remains of British or Roman bricks discovered scattered in or about this church of our Saviour, those infallible, as Mr. Somner stiles them, signs of antiquity, and so generally found in buildings, which have been erected on, or close to the spot where more antient ones have stood. But to proceed, king Ethelbert's donation to Augustine was made in the year 596, who immediately afterwards went over to France, and was consecrated a bishop at Arles, and after his return, as soon as he had sufficiently finished a church here, whether built out of ruins or anew, it matters not, he exercised his episcopal function in the dedication of it, says the register of Christ-church, to the honor of Christ our Saviour; whence it afterwards obtained the name of Christ-church. (fn. 4)

 

From the time of Augustine for the space of upwards of three hundred years, there is not found in any printed or manuscript chronicle, the least mention of the fabric of this church, so that it is probable nothing befell it worthy of being recorded; however it should be mentioned, that during that period the revenues of it were much increased, for in the leiger books of it there are registered more than fifty donations of manors, lands, &c. so large and bountiful, as became the munificence of kings and nobles to confer. (fn. 5)

 

It is supposed, especially as we find no mention made of any thing to the contrary, that the fabric of this church for two hundred years after Augustine's time, met with no considerable molestations; but afterwards, the frequent invasions of the Danes involved both the civil and ecclesiastical state of this country in continual troubles and dangers; in the confusion of which, this church appears to have run into a state of decay; for when Odo was promoted to the archbishopric, in the year 938, the roof of it was in a ruinous condition; age had impaired it, and neglect had made it extremely dangerous; the walls of it were of an uneven height, according as it had been more or less decayed, and the roof of the church seemed ready to fall down on the heads of those underneath. All this the archbishop undertook to repair, and then covered the whole church with lead; to finish which, it took three years, as Osbern tells us, in the life of Odo; (fn. 6) and further, that there was not to be found a church of so large a size, capable of containing so great a multitude of people, and thus, perhaps, it continued without any material change happening to it, till the year 1011; a dismal and fatal year to this church and city; a time of unspeakable confusion and calamities; for in the month of September that year, the Danes, after a siege of twenty days, entered this city by force, burnt the houses, made a lamentable slaughter of the inhabitants, rifled this church, and then set it on fire, insomuch, that the lead with which archbishop Odo had covered it, being melted, ran down on those who were underneath. The sull story of this calamity is given by Osbern, in the life of archbishop Odo, an abridgement of which the reader will find below. (fn. 7)

 

The church now lay in ruins, without a roof, the bare walls only standing, and in this desolate condition it remained as long as the fury of the Danes prevailed, who after they had burnt the church, carried away archbishop Alphage with them, kept him in prison seven months, and then put him to death, in the year 1012, the year after which Living, or Livingus, succeeded him as archbishop, though it was rather in his calamities than in his seat of dignity, for he too was chained up by the Danes in a loathsome dungeon for seven months, before he was set free, but he so sensibly felt the deplorable state of this country, which he foresaw was every day growing worse and worse, that by a voluntary exile, he withdrew himself out of the nation, to find some solitary retirement, where he might bewail those desolations of his country, to which he was not able to bring any relief, but by his continual prayers. (fn. 8) He just outlived this storm, returned into England, and before he died saw peace and quientness restored to this land by king Canute, who gaining to himself the sole sovereignty over the nation, made it his first business to repair the injuries which had been done to the churches and monasteries in this kingdom, by his father's and his own wars. (fn. 9)

 

As for this church, archbishop Ægelnoth, who presided over it from the year 1020 to the year 1038, began and finished the repair, or rather the rebuilding of it, assisted in it by the royal munificence of the king, (fn. 10) who in 1023 presented his crown of gold to this church, and restored to it the port of Sandwich, with its liberties. (fn. 11) Notwithstanding this, in less than forty years afterwards, when Lanfranc soon after the Norman conquest came to the see, he found this church reduced almost to nothing by fire, and dilapidations; for Eadmer says, it had been consumed by a third conflagration, prior to the year of his advancement to it, in which fire almost all the antient records of the privileges of it had perished. (fn. 12)

 

The same writer has given us a description of this old church, as it was before Lanfranc came to the see; by which we learn, that at the east end there was an altar adjoining to the wall of the church, of rough unhewn stone, cemented with mortar, erected by archbishop Odo, for a repository of the body of Wilfrid, archbishop of York, which Odo had translated from Rippon hither, giving it here the highest place; at a convenient distance from this, westward, there was another altar, dedicated to Christ our Saviour, at which divine service was daily celebrated. In this altar was inclosed the head of St. Swithin, with many other relics, which archbishop Alphage brought with him from Winchester. Passing from this altar westward, many steps led down to the choir and nave, which were both even, or upon the same level. At the bottom of the steps, there was a passage into the undercroft, under all the east part of the church. (fn. 13) At the east end of which, was an altar, in which was inclosed, according to old tradition, the head of St. Furseus. From hence by a winding passage, at the west end of it, was the tomb of St. Dunstan, (fn. 14) but separated from the undercroft by a strong stone wall; over the tomb was erected a monument, pyramid wife, and at the head of it an altar, (fn. 15) for the mattin service. Between these steps, or passage into the undercroft and the nave, was the choir, (fn. 16) which was separated from the nave by a fair and decent partition, to keep off the crowds of people that usually were in the body of the church, so that the singing of the chanters in the choir might not be disturbed. About the middle of the length of the nave, were two towers or steeples, built without the walls; one on the south, and the other on the north side. In the former was the altar of St. Gregory, where was an entrance into the church by the south door, and where law controversies and pleas concerning secular matters were exercised. (fn. 17) In the latter, or north tower, was a passage for the monks into the church, from the monastery; here were the cloysters, where the novices were instructed in their religious rules and offices, and where the monks conversed together. In this tower was the altar of St. Martin. At the west end of the church was a chapel, dedicated to the blessed Virgin Mary, to which there was an ascent by steps, and at the east end of it an altar, dedicated to her, in which was inclosed the head of St. Astroburta the Virgin; and at the western part of it was the archbishop's pontifical chair, made of large stones, compacted together with mortar; a fair piece of work, and placed at a convenient distance from the altar, close to the wall of the church. (fn. 18)

 

To return now to archbishop Lanfranc, who was sent for from Normandy in 1073, being the fourth year of the Conqueror's reign, to fill this see, a time, when a man of a noble spirit, equal to the laborious task he was to undertake, was wanting especially for this church; and that he was such, the several great works which were performed by him, were incontestable proofs, as well as of his great and generous mind. At the first sight of the ruinous condition of this church, says the historian, the archbishop was struck with astonishment, and almost despaired of seeing that and the monastery re edified; but his care and perseverance raised both in all its parts anew, and that in a novel and more magnificent kind and form of structure, than had been hardly in any place before made use of in this kingdom, which made it a precedent and pattern to succeeding structures of this kind; (fn. 19) and new monasteries and churches were built after the example of it; for it should be observed, that before the coming of the Normans most of the churches and monasteries in this kingdom were of wood; (all the monasteries in my realm, says king Edgar, in his charter to the abbey of Malmesbury, dated anno 974, to the outward sight are nothing but worm-eaten and rotten timber and boards) but after the Norman conquest, such timber fabrics grew out of use, and gave place to stone buildings raised upon arches; a form of structure introduced into general use by that nation, and in these parts surnished with stone from Caen, in Normandy. (fn. 20) After this fashion archbishop Lanfranc rebuilt the whole church from the foundation, with the palace and monastery, the wall which encompassed the court, and all the offices belonging to the monastery within the wall, finishing the whole nearly within the compass of seven years; (fn. 21) besides which, he furnished the church with ornaments and rich vestments; after which, the whole being perfected, he altered the name of it, by a dedication of it to the Holy Trinity; whereas, before it was called the church of our Saviour, or Christ-church, and from the above time it bore (as by Domesday book appears) the name of the church of the Holy Trinity; this new church being built on the same spot on which the antient one stood, though on a far different model.

 

After Lanfranc's death, archbishop Anselm succeeded in the year 1093, to the see of Canterbury, and must be esteemed a principal benefactor to this church; for though his time was perplexed with a continued series of troubles, of which both banishment and poverty made no small part, which in a great measure prevented him from bestowing that cost on his church, which he would otherwise have done, yet it was through his patronage and protection, and through his care and persuasions, that the fabric of it, begun and perfected by his predecessor, became enlarged and rose to still greater splendor. (fn. 22)

 

In order to carry this forward, upon the vacancy of the priory, he constituted Ernulph and Conrad, the first in 1104, the latter in 1108, priors of this church; to whose care, being men of generous and noble minds, and of singular skill in these matters, he, during his troubles, not only committed the management of this work, but of all his other concerns during his absence.

 

Probably archbishop Anselm, on being recalled from banishment on king Henry's accession to the throne, had pulled down that part of the church built by Lanfranc, from the great tower in the middle of it to the east end, intending to rebuild it upon a still larger and more magnificent plan; when being borne down by the king's displeasure, he intrusted prior Ernulph with the work, who raised up the building with such splendor, says Malmesbury, that the like was not to be seen in all England; (fn. 23) but the short time Ernulph continued in this office did not permit him to see his undertaking finished. (fn. 24) This was left to his successor Conrad, who, as the obituary of Christ church informs us, by his great industry, magnificently perfected the choir, which his predecessor had left unfinished, (fn. 25) adorning it with curious pictures, and enriching it with many precious ornaments. (fn. 26)

 

This great undertaking was not entirely compleated at the death of archbishop Anselm, which happened in 1109, anno 9 Henry I. nor indeed for the space of five years afterwards, during which the see of Canterbury continued vacant; when being finished, in honour of its builder, and on account of its more than ordinary beauty, it gained the name of the glorious choir of Conrad. (fn. 27)

 

After the see of Canterbury had continued thus vacant for five years, Ralph, or as some call him, Rodulph, bishop of Rochester, was translated to it in the year 1114, at whose coming to it, the church was dedicated anew to the Holy Trinity, the name which had been before given to it by Lanfranc. (fn. 28) The only particular description we have of this church when thus finished, is from Gervas, the monk of this monastery, and that proves imperfect, as to the choir of Lanfranc, which had been taken down soon after his death; (fn. 29) the following is his account of the nave, or western part of it below the choir, being that which had been erected by archbishop Lanfranc, as has been before mentioned. From him we learn, that the west end, where the chapel of the Virgin Mary stood before, was now adorned with two stately towers, on the top of which were gilded pinnacles. The nave or body was supported by eight pair of pillars. At the east end of the nave, on the north side, was an oratory, dedicated in honor to the blessed Virgin, in lieu, I suppose, of the chapel, that had in the former church been dedicated to her at the west end. Between the nave and the choir there was built a great tower or steeple, as it were in the centre of the whole fabric; (fn. 30) under this tower was erected the altar of the Holy Cross; over a partition, which separated this tower from the nave, a beam was laid across from one side to the other of the church; upon the middle of this beam was fixed a great cross, between the images of the Virgin Mary and St. John, and between two cherubims. The pinnacle on the top of this tower, was a gilded cherub, and hence it was called the angel steeple; a name it is frequently called by at this day. (fn. 31)

 

This great tower had on each side a cross isle, called the north and south wings, which were uniform, of the same model and dimensions; each of them had a strong pillar in the middle for a support to the roof, and each of them had two doors or passages, by which an entrance was open to the east parts of the church. At one of these doors there was a descent by a few steps into the undercroft; at the other, there was an ascent by many steps into the upper parts of the church, that is, the choir, and the isles on each side of it. Near every one of these doors or passages, an altar was erected; at the upper door in the south wing, there was an altar in honour of All Saints; and at the lower door there was one of St. Michael; and before this altar on the south side was buried archbishop Fleologild; and on the north side, the holy Virgin Siburgis, whom St. Dunstan highly admired for her sanctity. In the north isle, by the upper door, was the altar of St. Blaze; and by the lower door, that of St. Benedict. In this wing had been interred four archbishops, Adelm and Ceolnoth, behind the altar, and Egelnoth and Wlfelm before it. At the entrance into this wing, Rodulph and his successor William Corboil, both archbishops, were buried. (fn. 32)

 

Hence, he continues, we go up by some steps into the great tower, and before us there is a door and steps leading down into the south wing, and on the right hand a pair of folding doors, with stairs going down into the nave of the church; but without turning to any of these, let us ascend eastward, till by several more steps we come to the west end of Conrad's choir; being now at the entrance of the choir, Gervas tells us, that he neither saw the choir built by Lanfranc, nor found it described by any one; that Eadmer had made mention of it, without giving any account of it, as he had done of the old church, the reason of which appears to be, that Lanfranc's choir did not long survive its founder, being pulled down as before-mentioned, by archbishop Anselm; so that it could not stand more than twenty years; therefore the want of a particular description of it will appear no great defect in the history of this church, especially as the deficiency is here supplied by Gervas's full relation of the new choir of Conrad, built instead of it; of which, whoever desires to know the whole architecture and model observed in the fabric, the order, number, height and form of the pillars and windows, may know the whole of it from him. The roof of it, he tells us, (fn. 33) was beautified with curious paintings representing heaven; (fn. 34) in several respects it was agreeable to the present choir, the stalls were large and framed of carved wood. In the middle of it, there hung a gilded crown, on which were placed four and twenty tapers of wax. From the choir an ascent of three steps led to the presbiterium, or place for the presbiters; here, he says, it would be proper to stop a little and take notice of the high altar, which was dedicated to the name of CHRIST. It was placed between two other altars, the one of St. Dunstan, the other of St. Alphage; at the east corners of the high altar were fixed two pillars of wood, beautified with silver and gold; upon these pillars was placed a beam, adorned with gold, which reached across the church, upon it there were placed the glory, (fn. 35) the images of St. Dunstan and St. Alphage, and seven chests or coffers overlaid with gold, full of the relics of many saints. Between those pillars was a cross gilded all over, and upon the upper beam of the cross were set sixty bright crystals.

 

Beyond this, by an ascent of eight steps towards the east, behind the altar, was the archiepiscopal throne, which Gervas calls the patriarchal chair, made of one stone; in this chair, according to the custom of the church, the archbishop used to sit, upon principal festivals, in his pontifical ornaments, whilst the solemn offices of religion were celebrated, until the consecration of the host, when he came down to the high altar, and there performed the solemnity of consecration. Still further, eastward, behind the patriarchal chair, (fn. 36) was a chapel in the front of the whole church, in which was an altar, dedicated to the Holy Trinity; behind which were laid the bones of two archbishops, Odo of Canterbury, and Wilfrid of York; by this chapel on the south side near the wall of the church, was laid the body of archbishop Lanfranc, and on the north side, the body of archbishop Theobald. Here it is to be observed, that under the whole east part of the church, from the angel steeple, there was an undercrost or crypt, (fn. 37) in which were several altars, chapels and sepulchres; under the chapel of the Trinity before-mentioned, were two altars, on the south side, the altar of St. Augustine, the apostle of the English nation, by which archbishop Athelred was interred. On the north side was the altar of St. John Baptist, by which was laid the body of archbishop Eadsin; under the high altar was the chapel and altar of the blessed Virgin Mary, to whom the whole undercroft was dedicated.

 

To return now, he continues, to the place where the bresbyterium and choir meet, where on each side there was a cross isle (as was to be seen in his time) which might be called the upper south and north wings; on the east side of each of these wings were two half circular recesses or nooks in the wall, arched over after the form of porticoes. Each of them had an altar, and there was the like number of altars under them in the crost. In the north wing, the north portico had the altar of St. Martin, by which were interred the bodies of two archbishops, Wlfred on the right, and Living on the left hand; under it in the croft, was the altar of St. Mary Magdalen. The other portico in this wing, had the altar of St. Stephen, and by it were buried two archbishops, Athelard on the left hand, and Cuthbert on the right; in the croft under it, was the altar of St. Nicholas. In the south wing, the north portico had the altar of St. John the Evangelist, and by it the bodies of Æthelgar and Aluric, archbishops, were laid. In the croft under it was the altar of St. Paulinus, by which the body of archbishop Siricius was interred. In the south portico was the altar of St. Gregory, by which were laid the corps of the two archbishops Bregwin and Plegmund. In the croft under it was the altar of St. Owen, archbishop of Roan, and underneath in the croft, not far from it the altar of St. Catherine.

 

Passing from these cross isles eastward there were two towers, one on the north, the other on the south side of the church. In the tower on the north side was the altar of St. Andrew, which gave name to the tower; under it, in the croft, was the altar of the Holy Innocents; the tower on the south side had the altar of St. Peter and St. Paul, behind which the body of St. Anselm was interred, which afterwards gave name both to the altar and tower (fn. 38) (now called St. Anselm's). The wings or isles on each side of the choir had nothing in particular to be taken notice of.— Thus far Gervas, from whose description we in particular learn, where several of the bodies of the old archbishops were deposited, and probably the ashes of some of them remain in the same places to this day.

 

As this building, deservedly called the glorious choir of Conrad, was a magnificent work, so the undertaking of it at that time will appear almost beyond example, especially when the several circumstances of it are considered; but that it was carried forward at the archbishop's cost, exceeds all belief. It was in the discouraging reign of king William Rufus, a prince notorious in the records of history, for all manner of sacrilegious rapine, that archbishop Anselm was promoted to this see; when he found the lands and revenues of this church so miserably wasted and spoiled, that there was hardly enough left for his bare subsistence; who, in the first years that he sat in the archiepiscopal chair, struggled with poverty, wants and continual vexations through the king's displeasure, (fn. 39) and whose three next years were spent in banishment, during all which time he borrowed money for his present maintenance; who being called home by king Henry I. at his coming to the crown, laboured to pay the debts he had contracted during the time of his banishment, and instead of enjoying that tranquility and ease he hoped for, was, within two years afterwards, again sent into banishment upon a fresh displeasure conceived against him by the king, who then seized upon all the revenues of the archbishopric, (fn. 40) which he retained in his own hands for no less than four years.

 

Under these hard circumstances, it would have been surprizing indeed, that the archbishop should have been able to carry on so great a work, and yet we are told it, as a truth, by the testimonies of history; but this must surely be understood with the interpretation of his having been the patron, protector and encourager, rather than the builder of this work, which he entrusted to the care and management of the priors Ernulph and Conrad, and sanctioned their employing, as Lanfranc had done before, the revenues and stock of the church to this use. (fn. 41)

 

In this state as above-mentioned, without any thing material happening to it, this church continued till about the year 1130, anno 30 Henry I. when it seems to have suffered some damage by a fire; (fn. 42) but how much, there is no record left to inform us; however it could not be of any great account, for it was sufficiently repaired, and that mostly at the cost of archbishop Corboil, who then sat in the chair of this see, (fn. 43) before the 4th of May that year, on which day, being Rogation Sunday, the bishops performed the dedication of it with great splendor and magnificence, such, says Gervas, col. 1664, as had not been heard of since the dedication of the temple of Solomon; the king, the queen, David, king of Scots, all the archbishops, and the nobility of both kingdoms being present at it, when this church's former name was restored again, being henceforward commonly called Christ-church. (fn. 44)

 

Among the manuscripts of Trinity college library, in Cambridge, in a very curious triple psalter of St. Jerome, in Latin, written by the monk Eadwyn, whose picture is at the beginning of it, is a plan or drawing made by him, being an attempt towards a representation of this church and monastery, as they stood between the years 1130 and 1174; which makes it probable, that he was one of the monks of it, and the more so, as the drawing has not any kind of relation to the plalter or sacred hymns contained in the manuscript.

 

His plan, if so it may be called, for it is neither such, nor an upright, nor a prospect, and yet something of all together; but notwithstanding this rudeness of the draftsman, it shews very plain that it was intended for this church and priory, and gives us a very clear knowledge, more than we have been able to learn from any description we have besides, of what both were at the above period of time. (fn. 45)

 

Forty-four years after this dedication, on the 5th of September, anno 1174, being the 20th year of king Henry II.'s reign, a fire happened, which consumed great part of this stately edifice, namely, the whole choir, from the angel steeple to the east end of the church, together with the prior's lodgings, the chapel of the Virgin Mary, the infirmary, and some other offices belonging to the monastery; but the angel steeple, the lower cross isles, and the nave appear to have received no material injury from the flames. (fn. 46) The narrative of this accident is told by Gervas, the monk of Canterbury, so often quoted before, who was an eye witness of this calamity, as follows:

 

Three small houses in the city near the old gate of the monastery took fire by accident, a strong south wind carried the flakes of fire to the top of the church, and lodged them between the joints of the lead, driving them to the timbers under it; this kindled a fire there, which was not discerned till the melted lead gave a free passage for the flames to appear above the church, and the wind gaining by this means a further power of increasing them, drove them inwardly, insomuch that the danger became immediately past all possibility of relief. The timber of the roof being all of it on fire, fell down into the choir, where the stalls of the manks, made of large pieces of carved wood, afforded plenty of fuel to the flames, and great part of the stone work, through the vehement heat of the fire, was so weakened, as to be brought to irreparable ruin, and besides the fabric itself, the many rich ornaments in the church were devoured by the flames.

 

The choir being thus laid in ashes, the monks removed from amidst the ruins, the bodies of the two saints, whom they called patrons of the church, the archbishops Dunstan and Alphage, and deposited them by the altar of the great cross, in the nave of the church; (fn. 47) and from this time they celebrated the daily religious offices in the oratory of the blessed Virgin Mary in the nave, and continued to do so for more than five years, when the choir being re edified, they returned to it again. (fn. 48)

 

Upon this destruction of the church, the prior and convent, without any delay, consulted on the most speedy and effectual method of rebuilding it, resolving to finish it in such a manner, as should surpass all the former choirs of it, as well in beauty as size and magnificence. To effect this, they sent for the most skilful architects that could be found either in France or England. These surveyed the walls and pillars, which remained standing, but they found great part of them so weakened by the fire, that they could no ways be built upon with any safety; and it was accordingly resolved, that such of them should be taken down; a whole year was spent in doing this, and in providing materials for the new building, for which they sent abroad for the best stone that could be procured; Gervas has given a large account, (fn. 49) how far this work advanced year by year; what methods and rules of architecture were observed, and other particulars relating to the rebuilding of this church; all which the curious reader may consult at his leisure; it will be sufficient to observe here, that the new building was larger in height and length, and more beautiful in every respect, than the choir of Conrad; for the roof was considerably advanced above what it was before, and was arched over with stone; whereas before it was composed of timber and boards. The capitals of the pillars were now beautified with different sculptures of carvework; whereas, they were before plain, and six pillars more were added than there were before. The former choir had but one triforium, or inner gallery, but now there were two made round it, and one in each side isle and three in the cross isles; before, there were no marble pillars, but such were now added to it in abundance. In forwarding this great work, the monks had spent eight years, when they could proceed no further for want of money; but a fresh supply coming in from the offerings at St. Thomas's tomb, so much more than was necessary for perfecting the repair they were engaged in, as encouraged them to set about a more grand design, which was to pull down the eastern extremity of the church, with the small chapel of the Holy Trinity adjoining to it, and to erect upon a stately undercroft, a most magnificent one instead of it, equally lofty with the roof of the church, and making a part of it, which the former one did not, except by a door into it; but this new chapel, which was dedicated likewise to the Holy Trinity, was not finished till some time after the rest of the church; at the east end of this chapel another handsome one, though small, was afterwards erected at the extremity of the whole building, since called Becket's crown, on purpose for an altar and the reception of some part of his relics; (fn. 50) further mention of which will be made hereafter.

 

The eastern parts of this church, as Mr. Gostling observes, have the appearance of much greater antiquity than what is generally allowed to them; and indeed if we examine the outside walls and the cross wings on each side of the choir, it will appear, that the whole of them was not rebuilt at the time the choir was, and that great part of them was suffered to remain, though altered, added to, and adapted as far as could be, to the new building erected at that time; the traces of several circular windows and other openings, which were then stopped up, removed, or altered, still appearing on the walls both of the isles and the cross wings, through the white-wash with which they are covered; and on the south side of the south isle, the vaulting of the roof as well as the triforium, which could not be contrived so as to be adjusted to the places of the upper windows, plainly shew it. To which may be added, that the base or foot of one of the westernmost large pillars of the choir on the north side, is strengthened with a strong iron band round it, by which it should seem to have been one of those pillars which had been weakened by the fire, but was judged of sufficient firmness, with this precaution, to remain for the use of the new fabric.

 

The outside of this part of the church is a corroborating proof of what has been mentioned above, as well in the method, as in the ornaments of the building.— The outside of it towards the south, from St. Michael's chapel eastward, is adorned with a range of small pillars, about six inches diameter, and about three feet high, some with santastic shasts and capitals, others with plain ones; these support little arches, which intersect each other; and this chain or girdle of pillars is continued round the small tower, the eastern cross isle and the chapel of St. Anselm, to the buildings added in honour of the Holy Trinity, and St. Thomas Becket, where they leave off. The casing of St. Michael's chapel has none of them, but the chapel of the Virgin Mary, answering to it on the north side of the church, not being fitted to the wall, shews some of them behind it; which seems as if they had been continued before, quite round the eastern parts of the church.

 

These pillars, which rise from about the level of the pavement, within the walls above them, are remarkably plain and bare of ornaments; but the tower above mentioned and its opposite, as soon as they rise clear of the building, are enriched with stories of this colonade, one above another, up to the platform from whence their spires rise; and the remains of the two larger towers eastward, called St. Anselm's, and that answering to it on the north side of the church, called St. Andrew's are decorated much after the same manner, as high as they remain at present.

 

At the time of the before-mentioned fire, which so fatally destroyed the upper part of this church, the undercrost, with the vaulting over it, seems to have remained entire, and unhurt by it.

 

The vaulting of the undercrost, on which the floor of the choir and eastern parts of the church is raised, is supported by pillars, whose capitals are as various and fantastical as those of the smaller ones described before, and so are their shafts, some being round, others canted, twisted, or carved, so that hardly any two of them are alike, except such as are quite plain.

 

These, I suppose, may be concluded to be of the same age, and if buildings in the same stile may be conjectured to be so from thence, the antiquity of this part of the church may be judged, though historians have left us in the dark in relation to it.

 

In Leland's Collectanea, there is an account and description of a vault under the chancel of the antient church of St. Peter, in Oxford, called Grymbald's crypt, being allowed by all, to have been built by him; (fn. 51) Grymbald was one of those great and accomplished men, whom king Alfred invited into England about the year 885, to assist him in restoring Christianity, learning and the liberal arts. (fn. 52) Those who compare the vaults or undercrost of the church of Canterbury, with the description and prints given of Grymbald's crypt, (fn. 53) will easily perceive, that two buildings could hardly have been erected more strongly resembling each other, except that this at Canterbury is larger, and more pro fusely decorated with variety of fancied ornaments, the shafts of several of the pillars here being twisted, or otherwise varied, and many of the captials exactly in the same grotesque taste as those in Grymbald's crypt. (fn. 54) Hence it may be supposed, that those whom archbishop Lanfranc employed as architects and designers of his building at Canterbury, took their model of it, at least of this part of it, from that crypt, and this undercrost now remaining is the same, as was originally built by him, as far eastward, as to that part which begins under the chapel of the Holy Trinity, where it appears to be of a later date, erected at the same time as the chapel. The part built by Lanfranc continues at this time as firm and entire, as it was at the very building of it, though upwards of seven hundred years old. (fn. 55)

 

But to return to the new building; though the church was not compleatly finished till the end of the year 1184, yet it was so far advanced towards it, that, in 1180, on April 19, being Easter eve, (fn. 56) the archbishop, prior and monks entered the new choir, with a solemn procession, singing Te Deum, for their happy return to it. Three days before which they had privately, by night, carried the bodies of St. Dunstan and St. Alphage to the places prepared for them near the high altar. The body likewise of queen Edive (which after the fire had been removed from the north cross isle, where it lay before, under a stately gilded shrine) to the altar of the great cross, was taken up, carried into the vestry, and thence to the altar of St. Martin, where it was placed under the coffin of archbishop Livinge. In the month of July following the altar of the Holy Trinity was demolished, and the bodies of those archbishops, which had been laid in that part of the church, were removed to other places. Odo's body was laid under St. Dunstan's and Wilfrid's under St. Alphage's; Lanfranc's was deposited nigh the altar of St. Martin, and Theobald's at that of the blessed Virgin, in the nave of the church, (fn. 57) under a marble tomb; and soon afterwards the two archbishops, on the right and left hand of archbishop Becket in the undercrost, were taken up and placed under the altar of St. Mary there. (fn. 58)

 

After a warning so terrible, as had lately been given, it seemed most necessary to provide against the danger of fire for the time to come; the flames, which had so lately destroyed a considerable part of the church and monastery, were caused by some small houses, which had taken fire at a small distance from the church.— There still remained some other houses near it, which belonged to the abbot and convent of St. Augustine; for these the monks of Christ-church created, by an exchange, which could not be effected till the king interposed, and by his royal authority, in a manner, compelled the abbot and convent to a composition for this purpose, which was dated in the year 1177, that was three years after the late fire of this church. (fn. 59)

 

These houses were immediately pulled down, and it proved a providential and an effectual means of preserving the church from the like calamity; for in the year 1180, on May 22, this new choir, being not then compleated, though it had been used the month be fore, as has been already mentioned, there happened a fire in the city, which burnt down many houses, and the flames bent their course towards the church, which was again in great danger; but the houses near it being taken away, the fire was stopped, and the church escaped being burnt again. (fn. 60)

 

Although there is no mention of a new dedication of the church at this time, yet the change made in the name of it has been thought by some to imply a formal solemnity of this kind, as it appears to have been from henceforth usually called the church of St. Thomas the Martyr, and to have continued so for above 350 years afterwards.

 

New names to churches, it is true. have been usually attended by formal consecrations of them; and had there been any such solemnity here, undoubtedly the same would not have passed by unnoticed by every historian, the circumstance of it must have been notorious, and the magnificence equal at least to the other dedications of this church, which have been constantly mentioned by them; but here was no need of any such ceremony, for although the general voice then burst forth to honour this church with the name of St. Thomas, the universal object of praise and adoration, then stiled the glorious martyr, yet it reached no further, for the name it had received at the former dedication, notwithstanding this common appellation of it, still remained in reality, and it still retained invariably in all records and writings, the name of Christ church only, as appears by many such remaining among the archives of the dean and chapter; and though on the seal of this church, which was changed about this time; the counter side of it had a representation of Becket's martyrdom, yet on the front of it was continued that of the church, and round it an inscription with the former name of Christ church; which seal remained in force till the dissolution of the priory.

 

It may not be improper to mention here some transactions, worthy of observation, relating to this favorite saint, which passed from the time of his being murdered, to that of his translation to the splendid shrine prepared for his relics.

 

Archbishop Thomas Becket was barbarously murdered in this church on Dec. 29, 1170, being the 16th year of king Henry II. and his body was privately buried towards the east end of the undercrost. The monks tell us, that about the Easter following, miracles began to be wrought by him, first at his tomb, then in the undercrost, and in every part of the whole fabric of the church; afterwards throughout England, and lastly, throughout the rest of the world. (fn. 61) The same of these miracles procured him the honour of a formal canonization from pope Alexander III. whose bull for that purpose is dated March 13, in the year 1172. (fn. 62) This declaration of the pope was soon known in all places, and the reports of his miracles were every where sounded abroad. (fn. 63)

 

Hereupon crowds of zealots, led on by a phrenzy of devotion, hastened to kneel at his tomb. In 1177, Philip, earl of Flanders, came hither for that purpose, when king Henry met and had a conference with him at Canterbury. (fn. 64) In June 1178, king Henry returning from Normandy, visited the sepulchre of this new saint; and in July following, William, archbishop of Rhemes, came from France, with a large retinue, to perform his vows to St. Thomas of Canterbury, where the king met him and received him honourably. In the year 1179, Lewis, king of France, came into England; before which neither he nor any of his predecessors had ever set foot in this kingdom. (fn. 65) He landed at Dover, where king Henry waited his arrival, and on August 23, the two kings came to Canterbury, with a great train of nobility of both nations, and were received with due honour and great joy, by the archbishop, with his com-provincial bishops, and the prior and the whole convent. (fn. 66)

 

King Lewis came in the manner and habit of a pilgrim, and was conducted to the tomb of St. Thomas by a solemn procession; he there offered his cup of gold and a royal precious stone, (fn. 67) and gave the convent a yearly rent for ever, of a hundred muids of wine, to be paid by himself and his successors; which grant was confirmed by his royal charter, under his seal, and delivered next day to the convent; (fn. 68) after he had staid here two, (fn. 69) or as others say, three days, (fn. 70) during which the oblations of gold and silver made were so great, that the relation of them almost exceeded credibility. (fn. 71) In 1181, king Henry, in his return from Normandy, again paid his devotions at this tomb. These visits were the early fruits of the adoration of the new sainted martyr, and these royal examples of kings and great persons were followed by multitudes, who crowded to present with full hands their oblations at his tomb.— Hence the convent was enabled to carry forward the building of the new choir, and they applied all this vast income to the fabric of the church, as the present case instantly required, for which they had the leave and consent of the archbishop, confirmed by the bulls of several succeeding popes. (fn. 72)

 

¶From the liberal oblations of these royal and noble personages at the tomb of St. Thomas, the expences of rebuilding the choir appear to have been in a great measure supplied, nor did their devotion and offerings to the new saint, after it was compleated, any ways abate, but, on the contrary, they daily increased; for in the year 1184, Philip, archbishop of Cologne, and Philip, earl of Flanders, came together to pay their vows at this tomb, and were met here by king Henry, who gave them an invitation to London. (fn. 73) In 1194, John, archbishop of Lions; in the year afterwards, John, archbishop of York; and in the year 1199, king John, performed their devotions at the foot of this tomb. (fn. 74) King Richard I. likewise, on his release from captivity in Germany, landing on the 30th of March at Sandwich, proceeded from thence, as an humble stranger on foot, towards Canterbury, to return his grateful thanks to God and St. Thomas for his release. (fn. 75) All these by name, with many nobles and multitudes of others, of all sorts and descriptions, visited the saint with humble adoration and rich oblations, whilst his body lay in the undercrost. In the mean time the chapel and altar at the upper part of the east end of the church, which had been formerly consecrated to the Holy Trinity, were demolished, and again prepared with great splendor, for the reception of this saint, who being now placed there, implanted his name not only on the chapel and altar, but on the whole church, which was from thenceforth known only by that of the church of St. Thomas the martyr.

  

On July 7, anno 1220, the remains of St. Thomas were translated from his tomb to his new shrine, with the greatest solemnity and rejoicings. Pandulph, the pope's legate, the archbishops of Canterbury and Rheims, and many bishops and abbots, carried the coffin on their shoulders, and placed it on the new shrine, and the king graced these solemnities with his royal presence. (fn. 76) The archbishop of Canterbury provided forage along all the road, between London and Canterbury, for the horses of all such as should come to them, and he caused several pipes and conduits to run with wine in different parts of the city. This, with the other expences arising during the time, was so great, that he left a debt on the see, which archbishop Boniface, his fourth successor in it, was hardly enabled to discharge.

 

¶The saint being now placed in his new repository, became the vain object of adoration to the deluded people, and afterwards numbers of licences were granted to strangers by the king, to visit this shrine. (fn. 77) The titles of glorious, of saint and martyr, were among those given to him; (fn. 78) such veneration had all people for his relics, that the religious of several cathedral churches and monasteries, used all their endeavours to obtain some of them, and thought themselves happy and rich in the possession of the smallest portion of them. (fn. 79) Besides this, there were erected and dedicated to his honour, many churches, chapels, altars and hospitals in different places, both in this kingdom and abroad. (fn. 80) Thus this saint, even whilst he lay in his obscure tomb in the undercroft, brought such large and constant supplies of money, as enabled the monks to finish this beautiful choir, and the eastern parts of the church; and when he was translated to the most exalted and honourable place in it, a still larger abundance of gain filled their coffers, which continued as a plentiful supply to them, from year to year, to the time of the reformation, and the final abolition of the priory itself.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol11/pp306-383

©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

 

.

.

 

I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 48.673+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on Friday 26th January 2024

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1959354961 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 6,741st frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

.

.

  

Photograph taken in the magic of the golden hour around sunrise at an altitude of Two metres, at 06:42am on Thursday 5th September 2019 around sunrise off 1st Street and Bevan Avenue, between the boat jetty and Bevan Avenue Fishing Pier in beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

  

In the distance we see Mt Baker in Washington State, USA, an active glaciated andesitic stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the North Cascades. Standing 3,286 metres tall, she was first ascended in 1868, her last eruption recorded in 1880.

  

The four Salishan language speaking First Nation bands nearest to Mount Baker know her by different names. Known to the Halkomelem as Kwelxá:lxw, Kwelshán (wounded by a shot) to the Lummi,Teqwúbe7 (snow-capped peak) to Lushootseed speakers along the Skagit River, and to the Nooksack language, the ice- and snow-covered top is Kweq’ Smánit (white mountain) while the high meadows around the peak are Kwelshán (shooting place)”. There are also unsubstanciated references to Mt Baker as Komo Kulshan (pronounced kō-ō’mah’ kool-shän’), the name for the Middle Fork which originates from the glaciers such as Deming and Thunder on the western slopes, though Koma or Komo Kulshan is not a native name for the mountain in any of the twenty three collective Salishan languages.

  

The name Mount Baker first appeared in print in Captain Vancouver’s 1798 narrative of his voyage around Vancouver Island. Legend has it that his third-lieutenant, Joseph Baker, was the first to spot the mountain while they sailed into Dungeness Bay on April 30th, 1792.

  

The Bevan Avenue fishing pier is one of the main focal points in Sidney, and Work commenced on the pier in 1993 with Phase one, a 90 metre straight section being completed in 1996. A year later the 110 metre Phase two section was completed. Currently in February 2023, tenders are being invited for major renovations to the pier to include Localized replacement of coating system on pier structures, Installation of a pile wrapping system, Localized steel repairs, and Installation of supplemental sacrificial anodes.

  

Work will commence April 15th 2023 and terminated in September 2023.

  

.

.

  

Nikon D850 Focal length 24mm Shutter speed: 1.5s Aperture: f/16.0 iso64 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX) Focus mode: AF-C focus 51 point Area Mode: 3D- tracking Exposure mode: Aperture priority exposure Nikon Back button focusing enabled Metering Mode:Matrix metering White balance: Natural light auto, 0, 0 Colour space: Adobe RGB Long Exposure Noise Reduction: On Nikon Distortion control: On Picture control: (SD) Standard Sharpening +3.00 Clarity +1.00 Vignette control: Normal Active D-lighting: Auto

  

Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. Cokin GND4 resin filter (2 stops) . Nikon EN-EL15a battery.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod 3 Sections (Payload: 5.6kgs). Manfrotto 327RC2 Light Duty Grip Ball Magnesium Tripod Head (Payload: 5.5kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 200PL-14. Jessops Tripod bag.Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release cable.

  

LATITUDE: N 48d 38m 52.70s

LONGITUDE: W 123d 23m 36.67s

ALTITUDE: 2.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 90.5MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 28.50MB

       

PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

 

Edith Cavell kneels in her nurses uniform - Chancel east window by Ernest Heasman given by many friends and admirers to commemorate the devoted life & tragic death of Edith Louisa Cavell, head of the first training school for nurses in Belgium who was born and brought up in ~Swardeston of which her father was vicar from 1863-1909 & who died for her Country on October 12th 1915 aged 49 years being shot by order of a german court martial in Brussels for having rendered help to fugitive British, French and Belgian soldiers. The artist who designed the window and the craftsmen who made it gave their services as their contribution to this memorial. AD 1917 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Cavell

Pwllheli is a market town and community on the Llŷn Peninsula (Welsh: Penrhyn Llŷn), north-west Wales. It lies in the traditional county of Caernarfonshire but is currently administered as part of the unitary authority of Gwynedd. It had a population of 4,076 in 2011, the population declining slightly to 3,947 in 2021. of whom a large proportion, 81%, were Welsh speaking. Pwllheli is the place where Plaid Cymru was founded. It is the birthplace of the Welsh poet Sir Albert Evans-Jones (bardic name Cynan).

 

Pwllheli has a range of shops and other services. As a local railhead with a market every Wednesday, the town is a gathering point for the population of the whole peninsula.

 

The town's name means salt-water basin.

 

The town was given its charter as a borough by Edward, the Black Prince, in 1355, and a market is still held each Wednesday in the centre of the town on 'Y Maes' (‘the field’ or ‘the town square’ in English).

 

The town grew around the shipbuilding and fishing industries and the granite quarry at Gimlet Rock (Welsh: Carreg yr Imbill).

 

The population in 1841 was 2,367.

 

During the 1890s the town was developed by Solomon Andrews, a Cardiff businessman. This work included the promenade, roads and houses at West End. A tramway was built linking the town to Llanbedrog. The trams ran until 1927, when the section of track between Carreg-y-Defaid and Tyddyn-Caled was seriously damaged by a storm. Andrews ran the Cardiff Road section in 1928 and offered to sell the tramway to Pwllheli Corporation at the end of the season, but they did not take up his offer. He then sold the assets and the Corporation removed the tracks during the winter of 1928/29.

 

Poet Albert Evans-Jones, who was an archdruid for the National Eisteddfod of Wales and was known by his bardic name 'Cynan', was born in Pwllheli; before becoming an archdruid he joined the First World War effort through the Welsh Student Company of the RAMC, serving in Salonika and France, initially as an ambulance driver and medic, later as the company's chaplain. He was the son of the proprietor of the Central Restaurant in Penlan Street, Pwllheli.

 

Pwllheli Town Council consists of fifteen members elected from the North and South wards.

 

Pwllheli North and Pwllheli South are the county wards covering the town; they each elect one county councillor to Gwynedd Council.

 

Ysgol Glan y Môr was formed by the merger in 1969 of the former Pwllheli Grammar School at Penrallt and the Frondeg Secondary Modern School in Upper Ala Road to form a comprehensive school based on two sites in the town. The junior pupils (year 1 and year 2) were located at the Penrallt site and the senior pupils (year 3 and upwards) at a new complex in Cardiff Road. This new school was subsequently expanded to accommodate all pupils under the Ysgol Glan y Môr name.

 

The Penrallt site was later redeveloped as the Pwllheli campus of Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor. The façade of the main building of the old grammar school was retained and incorporated into the design of the current college buildings. Thus the 'old school' is readily seen from the town square (Y Maes), as it has been since the former Pwllheli County School moved to Penrallt in the early 20th century.

 

Pwllheli railway station is the terminus of the Cambrian Coast Railway, running to Machynlleth with services continuing to Shrewsbury and Birmingham. The station is operated and served by Transport for Wales. The rail link to Caernarfon via the Carnarvonshire Railway was axed under the Beeching cuts and as a result it closed in December 1964.

 

Pwllheli is connected to the wider road network by the A497 to Porthmadog and the A499 to Caernarfon. From there major roads lead away from Gwynedd to the rest of Wales.

 

Buses serve most of the town as well as the rest of the wider Llŷn Peninsula. Services to Caernarfon give connections to Bangor.[citation needed] Pwllheli bus station is in the town centre.

 

Attractions

Plas Bodegroes, which until 2009 was a Michelin starred restaurant

Penarth Fawr, a 15th-century house

Hafan y Môr, a former Butlins holiday camp now operated by Haven

Pwllheli Market

Neuadd Dwyfor, a theatre and cinema in Penlan Street

Pwllheli has a section of the Wales Coast Path along its shoreline.

 

Pwllheli has a small harbour at the confluence of the Afon Erch and Afon Rhyd-Hir.

 

Hafan Pwllheli is a marina built in Pwllheli Harbour during the 1990s.

 

Notable people

Eleazar Roberts (1825–1912), musician, translator, writer and amateur astronomer

Owen Davies (1840–1929), Baptist minister and writer

Sir (Albert) Cynan Evans-Jones CBE (1895–1970), bardic name Cynan, was a war poet and dramatist.

William Richard Williams (1896–1962), Principal of the United Theological College, Aberystwyth

John Robert Jones (1911–1970), philosopher

Hywel Williams (born 1953), Plaid Cymru politician, MP for Arfon, previously Caernarfon, since 2001

David Dawson (born 1960), artist

Gareth Pierce (born 1981), actor and musician

 

Pwllheli hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1925, 1955 and 2023 as well as an unofficial National Eisteddfod event in 1875.

 

According to the United Kingdom Census 2011 80% of the population spoke Welsh.

 

Pwllheli is home to association football team Pwllheli F.C., rugby union team Pwllheli RFC and running club Llŷn Striders. There is a hockey club, Clwb Hoci Pwllheli, which is part of the rugby, cricket and hockey club.

 

Pwllheli is a hub for water sports, owing in part to a marina, Pwllheli Sailing Club and Plas Heli - the Welsh National Sailing Academy.

 

The town has two beaches, South Beach and Glan-y-don. South Beach stretches from Gimlet Rock, across the Promenade and West End, towards Penrhos and Llanbedrog. Glan-y-don Beach is on the eastern side of the river mouth and runs for 3 miles (5 km) from behind the marina workshops and out towards Penychain (holiday camp).

 

The town has a golf club on the Llŷn coastline.

 

Gwynedd is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The city of Bangor is the largest settlement, and the administrative centre is Caernarfon. The preserved county of Gwynedd, which is used for ceremonial purposes, includes the Isle of Anglesey.

 

Gwynedd is the second largest county in Wales but sparsely populated, with an area of 979 square miles (2,540 km2) and a population of 117,400. After Bangor (18,322), the largest settlements are Caernarfon (9,852), Bethesda (4,735), and Pwllheli (4,076). The county has the highest percentage of Welsh speakers in Wales, at 64.4%, and is considered a heartland of the language.

 

The geography of Gwynedd is mountainous, with a long coastline to the west. Much of the county is covered by Snowdonia National Park (Eryri), which contains Wales's highest mountain, Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa; 3,560 feet, 1,090 m). To the west, the Llŷn Peninsula is flatter and renowned for its scenic coastline, part of which is protected by the Llŷn AONB. Gwynedd also contains several of Wales's largest lakes and reservoirs, including the largest, Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid).

 

The area which is now the county has played a prominent part in the history of Wales. It formed part of the core of the Kingdom of Gwynedd and the native Principality of Wales, which under the House of Aberffraw remained independent from the Kingdom of England until Edward I's conquest between 1277 and 1283. Edward built the castles at Caernarfon and Harlech, which form part of the Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd World Heritage Site. During the Industrial Revolution the slate industry rapidly developed; in the late nineteenth century the neighbouring Penrhyn and Dinorwic quarries were the largest in the world, and the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales is now a World Heritage Site. Gwynedd covers the majority of the historic counties of Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire.

 

In the past, historians such as J. E. Lloyd assumed that the Celtic source of the word Gwynedd meant 'collection of tribes' – the same root as the Irish fine, meaning 'tribe'. Further, a connection is recognised between the name and the Irish Féni, an early ethnonym for the Irish themselves, related to fían, 'company of hunting and fighting men, company of warriors under a leader'. Perhaps *u̯en-, u̯enə ('strive, hope, wish') is the Indo-European stem. The Irish settled in NW Wales, and in Dyfed, at the end of the Roman era. Venedotia was the Latin form, and in Penmachno there is a memorial stone from c. AD 500 which reads: Cantiori Hic Iacit Venedotis ('Here lies Cantiorix, citizen of Gwynedd'). The name was retained by the Brythons when the kingdom of Gwynedd was formed in the 5th century, and it remained until the invasion of Edward I. This historical name was revived when the new county was formed in 1974.

 

Gwynedd was an independent kingdom from the end of the Roman period until the 13th century, when it was conquered by England. The modern Gwynedd was one of eight Welsh counties created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. It covered the entirety of the historic counties of Anglesey and Caernarfonshire, and all of Merionethshire apart from Edeirnion Rural District (which went to Clwyd); and also a few parishes of Denbighshire: Llanrwst, Llansanffraid Glan Conwy, Eglwysbach, Llanddoged, Llanrwst and Tir Ifan.

 

The county was divided into five districts: Aberconwy, Arfon, Dwyfor, Meirionnydd and Anglesey.

 

The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 abolished the 1974 county (and the five districts) on 1 April 1996, and its area was divided: the Isle of Anglesey became an independent unitary authority, and Aberconwy (which included the former Denbighshire parishes) passed to the new Conwy County Borough. The remainder of the county was constituted as a principal area, with the name Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire, as it covers most of the areas of those two historic counties. As one of its first actions, the Council renamed itself Gwynedd on 2 April 1996. The present Gwynedd local government area is governed by Gwynedd Council. As a unitary authority, the modern entity no longer has any districts, but Arfon, Dwyfor and Meirionnydd remain as area committees.

 

The pre-1996 boundaries were retained as a preserved county for a few purposes such as the Lieutenancy. In 2003, the boundary with Clwyd was adjusted to match the modern local government boundary, so that the preserved county now covers the two local government areas of Gwynedd and Anglesey. Conwy county borough is now entirely within Clwyd.

 

A Gwynedd Constabulary was formed in 1950 by the merger of the Anglesey, Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire forces. A further amalgamation took place in the 1960s when Gwynedd Constabulary was merged with the Flintshire and Denbighshire county forces, retaining the name Gwynedd. In one proposal for local government reform in Wales, Gwynedd had been proposed as a name for a local authority covering all of north Wales, but the scheme as enacted divided this area between Gwynedd and Clwyd. To prevent confusion, the Gwynedd Constabulary was therefore renamed the North Wales Police.

 

The Snowdonia National Park was formed in 1951. After the 1974 local authority reorganisation, the park fell entirely within the boundaries of Gwynedd, and was run as a department of Gwynedd County Council. After the 1996 local government reorganisation, part of the park fell under Conwy County Borough, and the park's administration separated from the Gwynedd council. Gwynedd Council still appoints nine of the eighteen members of the Snowdonia National Park Authority; Conwy County Borough Council appoints three; and the Welsh Government appoints the remaining six.

 

There has been considerable inwards migration to Gwynedd, particularly from England. According to the 2021 census, 66.6% of residents had been born in Wales whilst 27.1% were born in England.

 

The county has a mixed economy. An important part of the economy is based on tourism: many visitors are attracted by the many beaches and the mountains. A significant part of the county lies within the Snowdonia National Park, which extends from the north coast down to the district of Meirionnydd in the south. But tourism provides seasonal employment and thus there is a shortage of jobs in the winter.

 

Agriculture is less important than in the past, especially in terms of the number of people who earn their living on the land, but it remains an important element of the economy.

 

The most important of the traditional industries is the slate industry, but these days only a small percentage of workers earn their living in the slate quarries.

 

Industries which have developed more recently include TV and sound studios: the record company Sain has its HQ in the county.

 

The education sector is also very important for the local economy, including Bangor University and Further Education colleges, Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor and Coleg Menai, both now part of Grŵp Llandrillo Menai.

 

The proportion of respondents in the 2011 census who said they could speak Welsh.

Gwynedd has the highest proportion of people in Wales who can speak Welsh. According to the 2021 census, 64.4% of the population aged three and over stated that they could speak Welsh,[7] while 64.4% noted that they could speak Welsh in the 2011 census.

 

It is estimated that 83% of the county's Welsh-speakers are fluent, the highest percentage of all counties in Wales.[9] The age group with the highest proportion of Welsh speakers in Gwynedd were those between ages 5–15, of whom 92.3% stated that they could speak Welsh in 2011.

 

The proportion of Welsh speakers in Gwynedd declined between 1991 and 2001,[10] from 72.1% to 68.7%, even though the proportion of Welsh speakers in Wales as a whole increased during that decade to 20.5%.

 

The Annual Population Survey estimated that as of March 2023, 77.0% of those in Gwynedd aged three years and above could speak Welsh.

 

Notable people

Leslie Bonnet (1902–1985), RAF officer, writer; originated the Welsh Harlequin duck in Criccieth

Sir Dave Brailsford (born 1964), cycling coach; grew up in Deiniolen, near Caernarfon

Duffy (born 1984), singer, songwriter and actress; born in Bangor, Gwynedd

Edward II of England (1284–1327), born in Caernarfon Castle

Elin Fflur (born 1984), singer-songwriter, TV and radio presenter; went to Bangor University

Bryn Fôn (born 1954), actor and singer-songwriter; born in Llanllyfni, Caernarfonshire.

Wayne Hennessey (born 1987), football goalkeeper with 108 caps for Wales; born in Bangor, Gwynedd

John Jones (c. 1530 – 1598), a Franciscan friar, Roman Catholic priest and martyr; born at Clynnog

Sir Love Jones-Parry, 1st Baronet (1832–1891), landowner and politician, co-founder of the Y Wladfa settlement in Patagonia

T. E. Lawrence (1888–1935), archaeologist, army officer and inspiration for Lawrence of Arabia, born in Tremadog

David Lloyd George (1863–1945), statesman and Prime Minister; lived in Llanystumdwy from infancy

Sasha (born 1969), disc jockey, born in Bangor, Gwynedd

Sir Bryn Terfel (born 1965), bass-baritone opera and concert singer from Pant Glas

Sir Clough Williams-Ellis (1883–1978), architect of Portmeirion

Owain Fôn Williams, (born 1987), footballer with 443 club caps; born and raised in Penygroes, Gwynedd.

Hedd Wyn (1887–1917), poet from the village of Trawsfynydd; killed in WWI

Leica M6 35mm Summicron-M F2: HP5+ (1600) ID-11 (21minsat 20)

This watering can was given to us when we married over 50 years ago by my Aunt Maud. The can was old at that time and I estimate that it is probably near to being 100 years old. It is made from a heavy gauge galvanised metal with brass fittings and is stll in good condition, in regular use, but oft painted.

BURIED IN THE SAND.

UNIDENTIFIED REMAINS.

Yesterday afternoon, the body of a man partly buried in the sand was discovered by a child on the Cheltenham Beach. On information being given to Gunner Morris, of Fort Cautley, the police were telephoned for, and Constable Eccles brought the body to the Auckland morgue. An inquest was held this morning by the Coroner (Mr. T. Gresham). Constable Eccles stated that the body was embedded in the sand about 50 yards below high water mark. With the exception of a portion of the riding trousers, the body was totally covered. Witness estimated that the man had been about 5ft. 5in. tall, of stout and robust build, aged about 35 to 45 years, and with a somewhat small head. The centre front tooth and one back tooth were missing. A leather belt with anchor clip on it, and about 30 inches in length, was embedded near the body. Deceased was wearing a black corkscrew cloth coat and brown Bedford cord trousers with rib stripe, and fob pockets. These trousers were. such as might have been worn by an ex-trooper. There were no marks of injuries to the skull. The body from its appearance had evidently been in the water and sand for at least twelve months. It had not been identified.

The jury returned a verdict of "Found Dead."

paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19071023.2.31.22

 

THE CHELTENHAM BEACH FATALITY.

ARE THE REMAINS THOSE OF LUKE LANGTON?

The finding of an unidentified body on Cheltenham beach, the wave-washed bones of which indicate that the period of time that has elapsed since it was deposited there must have been very considerable, recalls the fact that several Devonport residents have known for months that a body was in the vicinity. The larger bone of a right forearm was picked up some eight months ago, and the smaller corresponding bone about three months since. On Tuesday the remainder of the skeleton, enclosed in remnants of clothing, was discovered buried in the sand on the beach. The jury's verdict, pronounced on the scanty evidence adduced, was "Found dead," a fairly obvious conclusion. There is reason to believe that a guess may safely be made at the identity of the person whose remains have so long remained buried in the sand. In the finding of this body there is every probability that we have a distant echo of the terrible Kapanui-Claymore collision of December, 1905. The clothing corresponds with that said to have been worn by Luke Langton, who is supposed to have lost his life in that disaster. He is known to have ridden in from Maungaturoto, and just succeeded in catching the Kapanui at Warkworth, leaving his horse there. His build is given as nearly identical with the description tbat was formed of the remains at yesterday's inquest. The clothing is identical; the period of immersion would be within an easy margin of belief. These circumstances, coupled with the fact that there is no reported loss of anyone that could in any way be connected with the discovery, point to the probability of the remains being those of Luke Langton, late of Maungaturoto, the unfortunate victim of the Kapanui-Clay-more collision. The police are engaged in investigation, and will doubtless before long secure definite information from those most interested.

paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19071024.2.55

 

IN AUCKLAND HARBOUR.

TWO STEAMERS MEET.

KAPANUI SINKS IN FIVE MINUTES.

FIVE PERSONS DROWNED.

NARROW ESCAPE OF OTHERS

(Per United Press Association.)

AUCKLAND, December 24

A collision, which resulted in the loss of five lives, occurred in the harbour last night when the ooastal steamers Kapanui and Claymore, both belonging to the Settlers' Steamship Company, run into one another, the Kaipanui sinking in five minutes, being nearly cut in two.

Every effort was made to save the passengers, but the following were drowned:—

Peter Carter (boy).

Elbey (boy).

F. Clark (carter).

John; Fletcher (Syrian hawker)

Bernard Vipand (labourer)

Just before the collision took place the Kapaniuys red light went out, and in turning the vessel obscured her green light.

Immediately afterwards a crash came.

There was a scene of wild confusion on board the Kapanui, and cries for help were heard by those on board the Claymore.

Some of the passengers of the sinking vessel jumped overboard, and were rescued.

The only woman on board jumped into the water with her husband, who had placed a life belt around her.

He was a good swimmer, and succeeded in, supporting his wife until they were both rescued.

paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THS19051227.2.22.1

 

KAPANUI DISASTER.

It is feared that Mr Luke Langton, of Maungaturoto, was on board the Kapanui when she foundered. He left home with the intention of taking passage by her, and has not been heard of since.

paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WAIGUS19060102.2.8

 

THE KAPANUI DISASTER.

THE MISSING MAN LANGTON.

In connection with the information pointing to the probability of a, farmer at Maungaturoto, named Luke Langton, being amongst the missing passengers of the Kapanui, reported in yesterday's issue, Captain Southgate, of the Kapanui, does not think the missing man was on board the vessel on the night, of the disaster. One of the passengers, Mr. J. T. Osborne, however, states that he held lengthy conversations during the trip down from Warkworth with a passenger who gave his name as "Langton."

''I have no doubt," said Mr. Osborne to a representative of the Herald, that this is the Langton reported to be missing. He informed me that he had 300 acres of land near Maungaturoto, the greater part good, and that when the railway went to Maungaturoto it would be the making of him. We argued about the distance of Warkworth from Maungaturoto, as I did not think it was the 40 miles he estimated that he had ridden on horseback to get the boat. He had only one spur on, and wished that he had taken it off, he told me that his next neighbour on one side was a Mr. Kerr, and on the other side Mr. Tom Stewart, of Mount Albert. He said it, was the first time he had travelled on the Warkworth River, and as he was greatly interested in Wilson's cement works, about one mile and a-half below Warkworth, I told him that Mr. Wilson would be glad to show him round them. As I mentioned that the Flowers family had been settled at Whangarei when I had a farm there, he said he knew them as settled now at Maungaturoto."

"What was this passenger's appearance?'' Mr. Osborne was asked.

"He was a very strongly-built, burly man, about 5ft. 3in high, and seemed between 40 and 45 years of age. He looked well-to-do, though plainly dressed. He had a moustache, but no beard, and both hair and moustache were sprinkled with gray. He wore light clothes, as far as I recollect, and a felt hat."

"It is strange that he was not generally noticed, Mr. Osborne?"

"He appeared to me to be a reserved man, and I think I was the only passenger he conversed with. We talked generally of farming, and he invited me to call at his farm if I was ever in the neighbourhood. He said he had a brother at Taranaki. I last saw him on the deck about three-quarters of an hour before the collision, when he said he knew a certain place in Auckland— I thought he meant some hotel or boarding-house—where he should go, but be expected that, being holiday time, it would be full. He went down to tea on the Kapanui. I did not see him at the time of the collision, but I have not the slightest doubt that he was the man now reported to be missing."

SALVAGE OPERATIONS.

As reported yesterday, the sunken steamer was raised sufficiently on Sunday afternoon to bring the masts and funnel above water. When the tide was rising yesterday morning the Devonport Ferry Company's tug Pelican took the scows and the Kapanui, which was supported between the scows, in tow, and succeeded in bringing the Kapanni a considerable distance further in shore, and at low tide only about 10ft of water covered the vessel's deck. The contractors for the salvage operations expect that by this morning they will be able to search the wreck for bodies. The masts and funnel showing up so conspicuously yesterday morning proved objects of interest to large numbers of sightseers who gathered on shore or passed the scene of the collision in boats

THE INQUIRY. [BY TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION".] Wellington, Monday.

The assessors at the magisterial inquiry into the circumstances of the Kapamu-Claymore collision at Auckland, to be held on January 9, will be Captain G. G. Smith, shipping master at Wellington, and Captain McArthur, one of the owners of the Torgauten, formerly a master in the Union Company's service.

paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19060102.2.23

 

Plot 72: Alfred Burton (50) 22/10/1907 (Ang.)

Unknown male found on Cheltenham Beach (Luke Langton?) (adult) bur. 24/10/1907

 

Unmarked grave

 

Rows 12-16 in Anglican Division F are what can also be known as ‘Potters Fields’, they were used to bury some of the people whose families were unable to afford funeral costs, institutionalised unidentified at the time of burial or had no-one to bury them. These plots were common graves with some having up to three individuals interred in each, as they were not purchased, permanent grave markers were not permitted to be erected.

 

These rows are now protected by native bush and it is now no longer known where either rows or individual plots are located in this area.

The Verona Arena (Arena di Verona) is a Roman amphitheatre in Piazza Bra in Verona, Italy, which is internationally famous for the large-scale opera performances given there. It is one of the best preserved ancient structures of its kind. Amphitheatre

The building itself was built in AD 30 on a site which was then beyond the city walls. The ludi (shows and games) staged there were so famous that spectators came from many other places, often far away, to witness them. The amphitheatre could host more than 30,000 spectators in ancient times.

 

The round façade of the building was originally composed of white and pink limestone from Valpolicella, but after a major earthquake in 1117, which almost completely destroyed the structure's outer ring, except for the so-called "ala", the stone was quarried for re-use in other buildings. Nevertheless it impressed medieval visitors to the city, one of whom considered it to have been a labyrinth, without ingress or egress. Ciriaco d'Ancona was filled with admiration for the way it had been built and Giovanni Antonio Panteo's civic panegyric De laudibus veronae, 1483, remarked that it struck the viewer as a construction that was more than human. Musical theatre

The first interventions to recover the arena's function as a theatre began during the Renaissance. Some operatic performances were later mounted in the building during the 1850s, owing to its outstanding acoustics.

 

And in 1913, operatic performances in the arena commenced in earnest due to the zeal and initiative of the Italian opera tenor Giovanni Zenatello and the impresario Ottone Rovato. The first 20th-century operatic production at the arena, a staging of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida, took place on 10 August of that year, to mark the birth of Verdi 100 years before in 1813. Musical luminaries such as Puccini and Mascagni were in attendance. Since then, summer seasons of opera have been mounted continually at the arena, except in 1915â18 and 1940â45, when Europe was convulsed in war.

 

Nowadays, at least four productions (sometimes up to six) are mounted each year between June and August. During the winter months, the local opera and ballet companies perform at the L'Accademia Filarmonica.

 

Modern-day travellers are advised that admission tickets to sit on the arena's stone steps are much cheaper to buy than tickets giving access to the padded chairs available on lower levels. Candles are distributed to the audience and lit after sunset around the arena.

 

Every year over 500,000 people see productions of the popular operas in this arena.[3] Once capable of housing 20,000 patrons per performance (now limited to 15,000 because of safety reasons), the arena has featured many of world's most notable opera singers. In the post-World War II era, they have included Giuseppe Di Stefano, Maria Callas, Tito Gobbi and Renata Tebaldi among other names. A number of conductors have appeared there, too. The official arena shop has historical recordings made by some of them available for sale.

 

The opera productions in the Verona Arena had not used any microphones or loudspeakers until an electronic sound reinforcement system was installed in 2011.

 

In recent times, the arena has also hosted several concerts of international rock and pop bands, among which Laura Pausini, Pink Floyd, Alicia Keys, One Direction, Simple Minds, Duran Duran, Deep Purple, The Who, Dire Straits, Mike Oldfield, Rod Stewart, Sting, Pearl Jam, Radiohead, Peter Gabriel, Björk, Muse, Paul McCartney, Jamiroquai, and Whitney Houston.

 

In 1981, 1984 and 2010 it hosted the podium and presentation of the Giro d'Italia with thousands packing the arena to watch the prizes being handed out.

 

The 2011 Bollywood film Rockstar directed by Imtiaz Ali starring Ranbir Kapoor with music composed by Academy Award winner A.R.Rahman opens and closes with musical concerts shot here.

 

On 26 March 2013, Paul McCartney confirmed a show at the venue as part of his 2013 Tour. The show is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, 25 June 2013.

British-Irish boy band One Direction performed on 19 May 2013 as part of their Take Me Home Tour

Piazza Bra , or simply the Bra (a name derived from a corruption of the term "Braida", which in turn derives from the Lombard breit , or "off"), is the largest square in Verona , located in its center historian .

 

The square of Piazza Bra began to turn into only the first half of the sixteenth century , when the architect Michele San Micheli concluded the palace of Honorij : this building was to delimit the western side of the square of the future, as well as to establish a correct outlook on the ' Arena . The first attempt to transform the clearing dirt road instead of walking, however, was the mayor Alvise Mocenigo, who wanted to create a meeting place for the rising bourgeoisie Verona: he was able to inaugurate the first part of the Liston , a paved sidewalk that lines connecting the Bra Corso Porta Nuova in Via Mazzini , in 1770. La Gran Guardia , begun by the Venetians in the seventeenth century and completed by the Austrians in the ' Nineteenth Century , went to delimit the southern side of the square, while in 1836 the architect Giuseppe Barbieri designed the eastern edge, where a hospital were demolished, some houses and a church, which was built in place of the Gran Guardia Nuova , better known as Palazzo Barbieri. This, initially used as a barracks by the Austrians, became, as a result of ' annexation of Veneto to the Kingdom of Italy , the seat of the municipality of the City of Verona.

 

History

Origins

In Roman times , the place where you would then open the Bra was outside the city and yet away from the main roads. It is only since the first century AD, when it was built the ' amphitheater in the Roman Empire, better known as the Arena of Verona , who came to define the northern edge of what centuries later would become one of the main squares of Verona. In 305 the Emperor Galerius , during a short stay in the city, he opened a door along the walls which was built in 265 by the Emperor Gallienus , which surrounded the Arena went thus creating a first connection between the city and the place where later would be born Bra.

 

The square, however, began to abbozzarsi only in the Middle Ages: the walls of the city was enlarged at that point between 1130 and 1153, going to close so that piece of land that later would become, coming to have the size of a square. Those areas between the walls and the Roman city walls were called braide, from the Lombard breit ; the braida that could match the current Bra in the twelfth century was far more extensive than at the edge of the square today.

 

A door that the Braida along the city walls is already mentioned in a document dated 1257, but later his place was taken by the gates of the Bra , probably due to the Visconti and to the Venetians : the first arch is dated to the late fourteenth century and the second to the second half of the fifteenth century. The clock that is located between the two arches of the gates of the Bra was a gift of Count Antonio Nogarola made ââin 1871: it was installed with the dials is visible from one side on the other walls. The clock was inaugurated on June 2, 1872 and refurbished in 1879 because of its vagueness.

 

Development

Piazza Bra after the arrangement of the central gardens

Piazza Bra in the mid-twentieth century.

The Bra began to be defined as a square only in the first decade of the seventeenth century, when they started on the south side of the factories Gran Guardia and the seat of the ' Accademia Filarmonica of Verona . In conjunction with the factory della Gran Guardia became the leveling the square as possible, and also create some gradients to regulate the flow of stormwater, operation up to that time never practiced because the space was used by stonemasons, that here, as well as work, abandoning the resulting material, and because the clearing was used for the discharge of material from construction in progress in the area.

 

For others, one hundred and fifty years the space was in clay, in fact, only in 1770 the foundations were laid of Liston will of the mayor Alvise Mocenigo. On March 13, 1782 Francis Menegatti presented a project to the final lastricamento of Liston that the City Council approved and, after this surgery, the bra became the favorite place for afternoon walks in place of Piazza dei Signori . Goethe , in his essay Journey to Italy , describes enjoyed the arrival carriage with ladies and gentlemen, and said that the sunset loitered along the rim of the amphitheater enjoying the most beautiful views of the city. I insole and down on the pavement off the Bra 'walked a multitude of people .

 

The square was smoothed more times: in 1808 he was entrusted with the task of remaking the Liston architect Luigi Trezza and in 1820 excavations were carried out along the Arena, in order to bring to light the basis of the same, as it was buried about two feet because of the sediments that were deposited after the numerous floods that had undergone the city. He also opted for a lowering of the average level of Bra about 70 centimeters along a line slightly inclined from the Gran Guardia At Arena, lowering the share of Liston.

 

Plan of Bra in a drawing by Giuseppe Barbieri

As for the lighting, until the eighteenth century the bra at night was totally immersed in the dark; only in the nineteenth century were installed lights in oil and gas lighting in 1845, so that the Liston also became a place for evening strolls. Then important for the conformation of the square today, is the accommodation in the central part of the garden Bra occurred in 1873: the central gardens were created with three circles forming a triangle with a central fountain.

Between 1884 and 1951 the square was affected by the rails of the tramway town .

 

Events

It is interesting to read the description of Liston of an astonished reporter of the magazine Esperia in an article of 1837:

 

" ... the audience is walking the plank of 'Veronesi, extended space, which is located in a few cities: here business people are dining and comforting conversation, idleness is recreated, and the beautiful flock there to get tributes of glances and sighs of their worshipers ... and many cafes offer brilliant and sufficient acceptance to the numerous meetings that there agree. Street musicians and improvisers, unpleasant indeed, but the liveliness of the inhabitants always well received, breaking the monotony of chatter; and the music of the military garrison increase much fun. Very pleasing to the eye is in the summer thousands of people of both sexes, and before sitting under the porch; and a more active crowd by constantly prowling the paths formed by the rows of seats, and now dispense with a bow, and now dwell near some nice, vibrate envious compliments and words of hope and voting ... while the beautiful turn cautious gaze looking at the confused teeming with ill-concealed impatience, greeting or stop most expensive among the happy meeting ... "

In the past, however, the Bra was used for uses other than those described well by this reporter: in particular, after the twelfth century it was included in the city walls it was used for the wood, hay, straw and cattle, so that in ancient documents is called the Bra cattle market. More often is cited as the parade ground, as was the case here the review of the troops from the beginning of the Venetian rule, which is why this was one of the points of conflict between the French and Venetian soldiers during the Veronese Easters in 1797 . Starting from 1633, after the approval of the Venetian Senate for the creation of an exhibition of goods in the city, there were held two annual fairs fifteen days each, which continued to be held until one of them was destroyed by fire October 28, 1712, and then restored in another place, it was established only in 1822, a new exhibition, which would last in Piazza Bra for twenty years.

 

Fair in very old custom is instead to Saint Lucia : it takes place every year from 11 to 13 December, but do not know its origins. Legend has it that, probably in the communal, an epidemic broke out in the city that struck my eyes, it was so that the Veronese decided to make a pilgrimage to the church of Saint Lucia (no longer exists): the children, who did not want to participate , were persuaded to return with the promise that they would find the shoes filled with gifts. The miracle occurred, and since then the fair is held to coincide with the feast of Saint Lucia.

 

The comet of Verona during a night snowfall

During the Christmas season takes place within the Arena arches dell ' Arena, the International Festival of the Nativity , an event born in 1984 from the mind of Alfredo Troisi , along with the comet symbol of the event, from the reservoir from the Arena, go to dive in Bra. Over the years the star has taken on meanings and values ââare independent of the review of the nativity, as to be appreciated by itself. This architecture-sculpture was designed by architect and designer Rinaldo Olivieri : his intuition came to looking at a map of the city, characterized by two large voids, one of the auditorium and that of the square in front of the Arena. It was from this impression that he was born an ideal line, a huge arch that connects the Arena with the urban space, an arc of light and steel from the Temple of the music goes to fall and explode among citizens.

Pen given by Borussia Dortmund to the Manchester United players as a souvenir of the game played on 21/11/1956.This was Manchester United's first season in europe.

Formerly the property of John Doherty

www.redcarpetreporttv.com

 

Mingle Media TV and Red Carpet Report host Brandi Chang were invited to come out to cover FX's Justified Season 5 premiere red carpet event and screening at the Directors Guild in Hollywood.

 

Get the Story from the Red Carpet Report Team - follow us on Twitter and Facebook at:

twitter.com/TheRedCarpetTV

www.facebook.com/RedCarpetReportTV

www.redcarpetreporttv.com

www.youtube.com/MingleMediaTVNetwork

About the FX’s Justified

Based on Elmore Leonard’s novella Fire in the Hole, Justified was developed by Graham Yost and stars Timothy Olyphant as ‘Deputy US Marshal Raylan Givens,’ a lawman who finds himself drawn back to his home state of Kentucky. This January, Raylan confronts the Crowes, a deadly, lawless family from Florida intent on settling in Harlan with new criminal enterprises in mind. Meanwhile, ‘Boyd Crowder’ (Walton Goggins) struggles to free his imprisoned fiancée ‘Ava’ (Joelle Carter) as he partners with the Dixie Mafia’s ‘Wynn Duffy’ (Jere Burns). For more info visit:

www.justifiedtv.com

  

For more of Mingle Media TV’s Red Carpet Report coverage, please visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Facebook here:

www.minglemediatv.com

www.facebook.com/minglemediatvnetwork

www.flickr.com/MingleMediaTVNetwork

www.twitter.com/minglemediatv

Follow our host Brandi on Twitter at twitter.com/BrandiChang

Thanks to MS

 

This well-known local landmark was given as a gift to the town of Morecambe by Alderman John Robert Birkett in 1905. In the Morecambe Visitor on 22nd March 1905, it was announced that the Mayor, Councillor John R. Birkett had expressed a desire to present a Clock Tower to the town instead of a Free Library.

In 1902, following a royal charter by Edward VII, the borough of Morecambe was established and a Free Library and Technical School was proposed by the Morecambe District Council whom approached philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie for a grant to finance it. Though the grant was refused, an offer of £4000 was made towards the cost, on condition that the Council produced £300 per year to keep the library stocked. Unfortunately, the Council were unable to find the finances and would not impose a penny rate for its upkeep. The offer was withdrawn and led to the Mayor’s wish for a Clock Tower, and this choice was accepted.

On the 3rd anniversary of Charter Day, the foundation stone was laid by Councillor Birkett’s wife to celebrate the gift from her husband. The Mayoress was presented with a silver mallet to commemorate the occasion.

The Clock Tower was designed by architects Cressey & Knightley and built by John Edmondson & Co. of Morecambe, while Messrs. Rhodes of Lancaster made the clock. It was an 8-day clock that struck on the hour, featuring 4 dials and was illuminated at night. The clock is now electrically driven. The monument has and continues to undergo repairs and renovations due to vandalism and the weather conditions and salty sea air. In 1992, during a renovation project, the original bell could still be seen inside the clock chamber!

It is a Ruabon brick structure with Lancaster stone dressings and Yorkshire stone roof with finial. Next time you pass this landmark, see if you can find an inscription ‘Presented by John Robert Birkett Esq. JP Mayor 1903-1906’, and ‘Cressey & Knightley, Architects’.

 

Thanks to Lancaster City Museum

I was recently very kindly given a Kiev 60 by my ex-girlfriends dad. He found it in a shop in the Ukraine for about £20! It’s in full working order apart from an unpredictable shutter. The mirror flips up and the shutter will go of somewhere between 1 to 10 seconds later. It seems to get quicker the more you use it so i’ll just have to take more photos.

I haven’t got a medium format scanner yet so these are scans of print I had done at Jessops, hence some weird marks on the photos.

 

I got Nathan to pose for a couple of shots as I didn't want to have test roll of just thing in my house. Really pleased with the results.

Got given a Pentax MX and SMC 50/1.7; nice camera, fully mechanical (I like that a lot) & surprisingly, smaller than my Olympus OM1's.....nice :D

Talks were given at the NASA Hyperwall, Tuesday, December 11, 2018 at the Washington Convention Center in Washington as part of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) annual meeting. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

EXTRACTING FROM AN AGAVE

wax figure

I have not been able to find out much on this artist, Andrés García, his amazing work, or how it came to Madrid. The museum has 108 of these figurines, obviously anly a fraction are on view at any given time. You can look them all up here at the catalogo: ceres.mcu.es/pages/Main

 

Museo de América, Madrid

 

Culture: Mexico (Presumably independent)

dated to: 19th Century

Modern nation of origin: MEXICO

  

DSCN8176

I was given a sweet tour of the LASD grounds in Whittier, CA by The Tez!

 

The Memorial for officers who were killed in the line of duty while serving the people of Los Angeles County:

  

Randy Hamson - 2008

Raul Gama - 2007

Maria C. Rosa - 2006

Pierre W. Bain - 2006

Luis Gerardo Ortiz - 2005

James P. Tutino - 2004

Michael Richard Arruda - 2004

Stephen D. Sorensen - 2003

David A. Powell - 2002

David W. March - 2002

Jake Kuredjian - 2001

Brandan G. Hinkle - 2001

Michael L. Hoenig - 1997

Shayne D. York, 1997

Antranik Geuvjehizian - 1995

Stephen W. Blair - 1995

Jimmie R. Henry - 1995

Richard B. Hammack - 1992

Nelson Yamamoto - 1992

Rosemary Iris May - 1989

James D. McSweeney - 1988

Roy A. Chester - 1988

Jack B. Miller - 1988

Charles R. Anderson - 1987

George L. Arthur - 1985

David L. Holguin - 1984

B. Loyd Brooks - 1984

James P. Clark - 1983

Larrell K. Smith - 1983

Lawrence M. Lavieri - 1983

Kenneth D. Ell - 1982

Constance E. Worland - 1981

Jack D. Williams - 1979

George Barthel - 1979

Robert M. Cartmell II - 1978

Walter Hannan - 1978

Thomas H. Pohlman - 1978

Arthur E. Pelino - 1978

Charles Plumleigh - 1978

Gregory L. Low - 1978

Edward J. Russell - 1977

Didier Hurdle - 1977

Lynn L. Lewis - 1977

Didier M. Hurdle - 1977

Darden Hollis - 1975

Theodor A. Abrey - 1974

James J. Foote - 1974

Carl E. Wilson - 1973

Donald W. Schneider - 1973

Joseph R. Herrera - 1972

Charles O. Ley - 1972

Barry Jon Hoffman - 1971

Gary D. Saunders - 1971

Louis C. Wallace - 1970

Gordon D. Erickson - 1970

Lionel W. Dashley - 1969

Charles D. Rea - 1969

Robert K. Schnur - 1968

Gary E. McCullah - 1968

James W. Waygood - 1967

Michael V. Wigderson - 1967

Ronald Ludlow - 1965

John M. Slobojan - 1964

Lloyd G. Constantine - 1964

Willard Ballard - 1964

William A. White - 1964

Timothy J. Harnett - 1961

Manuel A. Ayon - 1961

Lee E. Sawyer - 1960

Harold A. Reis, Jr. - 1958

Ronald J. Gillis - 1958

David A. Horr - 1958

Harold S. Blevins - 1957

Vernon J. Corbeil - 1957

Edwin M. Falkowski - 1955

Elbert J. Hall - 1949

Fred P. Guiol - 1946

John N. Hedge - 1933

Rudolph G. Vejar, Sr. - 1932

Frank D. De War - 1932

Robert E. Magee - 1923

William E. Funkhouser - 1922

Henry J. Ronsse - 1922

Herbert E. Glidden - 1920

Harold B. Broadwell - 1919

Michael V. Van Vliet - 1918

George Wilson - 1896

William C. Getman - 1858

James R. Barton - 1857

On Monday, my teacher gave out some guidelines for a final speech to be given at the end of the quarter. One of our options, was to write about an individual in the past whom we think should not be forgotten. Personally, I think Bob Marley should not be forgotten. When I asked her if that would be okay to write about, she told me that there were more important people in our past (I thought it was supposed to be about MY opinion?), and continued to tell me not to write about drugs. It just really annoyed me that she assumed I was going to stand in front of my classmates and talk about drugs. She just completely missed my point. Anyway, I'm still writing my speech about Bob Marley.

 

This is a bit of what I wrote for another class, journalism;

 

I admire Bob Marley. His music sends remarkable, inspiring and positive messages; if you are willing to listen to his lyrics. I love the fact that his lyrics free my mind from the worries of the moment. Listening to Bob Marley always reminds me to look at the brighter sides of every bad situation. His lyrics make me want to keep my head up, to the best of my ability. In a song titled Trench town Rock, Bob Marley sings, "One good thing about music: when it hits, you feel no pain. So, hit me with music." I strongly agree with this, music in general is very healing. Aside from Bob Marley's music, he was an amazing person in general. "Money can't buy life.", were the last words he spoke to his son, Ziggy Marley. Peace is something that will not be achieved in this world. Though, achieving peace would be more realistic, if only there were more people on this earth with similar thinking. I admire Bob Marley's incredible mind, and strong beliefs. The human population is awfully diverse. Although diversity can be so radiant, it is also a reason that peace will never be reached. Everyone's ideas, opinions, and thoughts are so unique, and this causes everything to clash. A day never passes without violence, and that is senseless. In one year, around 30,000 Americans die in gun violence alone. Whether it be a son/daughter, brother/sister, mother/father, etc., it is needless to say that violence takes away cherished ones every single day. Many people do not take the time to thoroughly think things through, before making extreme actions that include violence. It is 110% possible for issues to be illuminated without killing or harming others. So, If I could change anything in this world, I would annihilate violence and create total peace.

Wolf Pack Invite 09/27/08

River Walk Park - Bakersfield, CA, Wednesday, September 27, 2008

 

www.andynoise.com/wolfpack08.html

 

Chris Schwartz (Foothill) won the varsity boys race in 16:18. McFarland took the team title. McFarland also won the boys frosh/soph and jv team races. medals were given out to the top 15 runners.

 

Varsity Boys Team Results

 

1 MCFA McFarland 25

2 PADA Palmdale 95

3 RIDG Ridgeview 118

4 SHAF Shafter 130

5 BAEA East Bakersfield 142

6 BAKE Bakersfield 174

7 WASC Wasco 176

8 STOC Stockdale 210

9 FTHL Foothill 233

10 GARC Garces Memorial 254

11 ARVI Arvin 321

12 NORT North 324

13 Fron Frontier 345

14 SOUT South 404

15 BACH Bakersfield Christian 423

16 WSTB West Bakersfield 461

TFCC Taft INC

  

1. 16:18 179 179 Chris Schwartz Sr M FTHL 1

2. 16:29 292 292 Cisneros Alfonso Sr M MCFA 2

3. 16:38 450 450 Robby Baker Jr M RIDG 3

4. 16:44 297 297 Marco Perez So M MCFA 4

5. 16:48 293 293 Eduardo Bautista Jr M MCFA 5

6. 16:51 294 294 Marco Camargo Jr M MCFA 6

7. 16:54 451 451 Alex Garcia Jr M RIDG 7

8. 16:56 291 291 Gerardo Alcala Sr M MCFA 8

9. 16:58 295 295 Eddie Garcia Sr M MCFA 9

10. 17:04 296 296 Francisco Nava So M MCFA 10

11. 17:05 483 483 Joshua Wittenberg Sr M SHAF 11

12. 17:10 402 402 Adrian Ramos Jr M PADA 12

13. 17:16 400 400 Victor Hernandez Sr M PADA 13

14. 17:19 72 72 Andrew Ariey Sr M BAKE 14

15. 17:20 403 403 Daniel Ramos Jr M PADA 15

  

Elizabeth Wittenberg (Shafter) won the girls varsity race in 20:10. The Ridgeview varsity girls won the team title. Palmdale won the jv race and McFarland won the frosh/soph team title.

 

Varsity Girls Team Results

 

1 RIDG Ridgeview 45

2 SHAF Shafter 73

3 PADA Palmdale 94

4 NORT North 95

5 STOC Stockdale 124

6 FTHL Foothill 142

7 BAKE Bakersfield 142

8 GARC Garces Memorial 189

9 Fron Frontier 243

10 SOUT South 278

BAEA East Bakersfield INC

ARVI Arvin INC

WASC Wasco INC

TFCC Taft INC

WSTB West Bakersfield INC

BACH Bakersfield Christian INC

  

1. 20:10 464 464 Elizabeth Wittenberg Sr F SHAF

2. 21:04 430 430 Tijerra Lynch So F RIDG

3. 21:07 369 369 Merino Jennifer Sr F PADA

4. 21:10 428 428 Jessica Huizar Jr F RIDG

5. 21:12 89 89 Lucia Garcia Jr F BAEA

6. 21:17 208 208 Monica Guzman Jr F GARC

7. 21:23 330 330 Cecilia Lopez Sr F NORT

8. 21:33 90 90 Sophia Garcia So F BAEA

9. 21:35 136 136 Natalie Fernandez So F FTHL

10. 21:46 2 2 Tonya Hernandez Jr F ARVI

11. 21:53 624 624 Alejandra Gutierrez Sr F WASC

12. 21:55 372 372 Anaiz Ortiz Sr F PADA

13. 21:56 426 426 Ashley Duran Sr F RIDG

14. 22:05 459 459 Lindsee Handel So F SHAF

15. 22:12 45 45 Gabrielle Lerma So F BAKE

   

JV Boys Results

 

1 MCFA McFarland 29

2 RIDG Ridgeview 72

3 BAEA East Bakersfield 105

4 PADA Palmdale 118

5 SOUT South 150

6 Fron Frontier 160

7 WASC Wasco 161

8 STOC Stockdale 169

9 FTHL Foothill 237

10 GARC Garces Memorial 246

11 MiMo Mira Monte 278

12 BAKE Bakersfield 341

SHAF Shafter INC

TFCC Taft INC

ARVI Arvin INC

NORT North INC

 

1. 11:06 284 284 Bryan Calvo Sr M MCFA

2. 11:23 290 290 Pedro Sanchez Jr M MCFA

3. 11:34 661 661 Eric Sanchez Jr M WASC

4. 11:34 100 100 felix Trevino So M BAEA

5. 11:36 277 277 Bernardo Garcia Fr M MCFA

6. 11:39 440 440 Ernesto Castillo Jr M RIDG

7. 11:45 476 476 Matt Yanez Jr M SHAF

8. 11:46 439 439 Michael Anseno Sr M RIDG

9. 11:47 98 98 Marc Sotello Jr M BAEA

10. 11:47 474 474 Elias Picazo Sr M SHAF

11. 11:49 288 288 Adam Marquez Fr M MCFA

12. 11:50 394 394 Ramirez Miguel Jr M PADA

13. 11:50 393 393 Nicholas Mayo Jr M PADA

14. 11:53 276 276 Ismael Bautista Fr M MCFA

15. 12:00 101 101 Esteban Vargas Sr M BAEA

  

JV Girls Results

 

1 PADA Palmdale 27

2 STOC Stockdale 51

3 RIDG Ridgeview 66

4 MiMo Mira Monte 100

SOUT South INC

BAKE Bakersfield INC

FTHL Foothill INC

NORT North INC

GARC Garces Memorial INC

 

1. 14:45 494 494 Claudia Cuevas Sr F SOUT

2. 15:05 420 420 Natalia Motta Sr F RIDG

3. 15:12 528 528 Amber Crabtree Sr F STOC

4. 15:28 351 351 Amy Diaz Sr F PADA

5. 15:33 360 360 Lizet Onofre Jr F PADA

6. 15:41 364 364 Crystal Schachter Jr F PADA

7. 15:48 531 531 Shelby Pinkham Jr F STOC

8. 15:51 41 41 Felisa Torres Sr F BAKE

9. 15:52 118 118 Lucia Garcia Jr F FTHL

10. 15:54 362 362 Karina Ortega Jr F PADA

11. 15:54 328 328 Aubree Mossburg Jr F NORT

12. 16:04 365 365 Michelle Silva Jr F PADA

13. 16:06 367 367 Zaria Zambrano Jr F PADA

14. 16:07 525 525 Justine Benavidez Sr F STOC

15. 16:19 128 128 Nancy Tenorio Sr F FTHL

  

Frosh/Soph Boys

 

1 MCFA McFarland 25

2 WASC Wasco 66

3 FTHL Foothill 95

4 STOC Stockdale 114

5 RIDG Ridgeview 121

6 PADA Palmdale 139

7 SHAF Shafter 174

8 Inde Independence 183

9 TFCC Taft 254

10 BAKE Bakersfield 287

11 RFKH RFKH 312

12 GARC Garces Memorial 313

13 ARVI Arvin 337

14 MiMo Mira Monte 383

SOUT South INC

Error 2042 #N/A INC

 

1. 10:53 666 666 Jorge Zuniga Fr M WASC

2. 10:55 282 282 Chavez Ryan Fr M MCFA

3. 11:12 275 275 Sergio Avelar Fr M MCFA

4. 11:25 638 638 Eddie Aguilar So M WASC

5. 11:26 280 280 Leo Perez Fr M MCFA

6. 11:26 278 278 Jose Monrreal Fr M MCFA

7. 11:36 177 177 Genaro Quintanar Fr M FTHL

8. 11:38 541 541 Alex Eckley Fr M STOC

9. 11:39 279 279 Gonzalo Mulato Fr M MCFA

10. 11:40 252 252 Dwayne Facho So M Inde

11. 11:41 434 434 Brandon Magno Fr M RIDG

12. 11:42 383 383 Corey Nieto Fr M PADA

13. 11:48 543 543 Abraham Mayorga So M STOC

14. 11:49 467 467 Pablo Mendez Fr M SHAF

15. 11:50 650 650 Asencion Mendoza Sr M WASC

   

Frosh/Soph Girls

 

1 MCFA McFarland 43

2 Inde Independence 51

3 STOC Stockdale 73

4 FTHL Foothill 101

5 TFCC Taft 121

6 RIDG Ridgeview 139

7 RFKH RFKH 173

8 WASC Wasco 180

SOUT South INC

BAEA East Bakersfield INC

NORT North INC

BAKE Bakersfield INC

GARC Garces Memorial INC

 

1. 14:02 267 267 Corina Garcia So F MCFA

2. 14:02.6 270 270 Kathy Torres Fr F MCFA

3. 14:09 266 266 Olivia Ayon Fr F MCFA

4. 14:09 586 586 Daisy Guitron Fr F TFCC

5. 14:16 522 522 Madison Schutzner Fr F STOC

6. 14:23 484 484 Natalie Espinoza So F SOUT

7. 14:37 248 248 Sara Sullivan Fr F Inde

8. 14:37 110 110 Erica Castro So F FTHL

9. 14:44 237 237 Natalie Ambriz So F Inde

10. 14:46 93 93 Mayra Ponce So F BAEA

11. 14:50 244 244 Acacia Ingram So F Inde

12. 14:58 523 523 Victoria Valos So F STOC

13. 15:00 268 268 Liset Perezchica Fr F MCFA

14. 15:03 249 249 Katelynn Webb Fr F Inde

15. 15:20 135 135 Mari Escuedero So F FTHL

North Toraja (or Toraja Utara) is a regency (kabupaten) of South Sulawesi Province of Indonesia, and the home of the Toraja ethnic group. The local government seat is in Rantepao which is also the center of Toraja culture. Formerly this regency was part of Tana Toraja Regency.

 

The Tana Toraja boundary was determined by the Dutch East Indies government in 1909. In 1926, Tana Toraja was under the administration of Bugis state, Luwu. The regentschap (or regency) status was given on October 8, 1946, the last regency given by the Dutch. Since 1984, Tana Toraja has been named as the second tourist destination after Bali by the Ministry of Tourism, Indonesia. Since then, hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors have visited this regency. In addition, numerous Western anthropologists have come to Tana Toraja to study the indigenous culture and people of Toraja.

 

GEOGRAPHY

Tana Toraja is located on the Sulawesi island, 300 km north of Makassar, the provincial capital of South Sulawesi. Its geographical location is between latitude of 2°-3° South and longitude 119°-120° East (center: 3°S 120°ECoordinates: 3°S 120°E). The area of the new North Toraja Regency is 1,151.47 km², about 2.5% of the total area of South Sulawesi province. The topography of Tana Toraja is mountainous; its minimum elevation is 150 m, while the maximum is 3,083 above the sea level.

 

Tana Toraja Regency (Indonesian for Torajaland or Land of the Toraja, abbreviated Tator) is a regency (kabupaten) of South Sulawesi Province of Indonesia, and home to the Toraja ethnic group. The local government seat is in Makale, while the center of Toraja culture is in Rantepao. But now, Tana Toraja has been divided to two regencies that consist of Tana Toraja with its capital at Makale and North toraja with its capital at Rantepao.

 

The Tana Toraja boundary was determined by the Dutch East Indies government in 1909. In 1926, Tana Toraja was under the administration of Bugis state, Luwu. The regentschap (or regency) status was given on 8 October 1946, the last regency given by the Dutch. Since 1984, Tana Toraja has been named as the second tourist destination after Bali by the Ministry of Tourism, Indonesia. Since then, hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors have visited this regency. In addition, numerous Western anthropologists have come to Tana Toraja to study the indigenous culture and people of Toraja.

 

GEOGRAPHY

Tana Toraja is centrally placed in the island of Sulawesi, 300 km north of Makassar, the provincial capital of South Sulawesi. It lies between latitude of 2°-3° South and longitude 119°-120° East (center: 3°S 120°ECoordinates: 3°S 120°E). The total area (since the separation of the new regency of North Toraja) is 2,054.30 km², about 4.4% of the total area of South Sulawesi province. The topography of Tana Toraja is mountainous; its minimum elevation is 150 m, while the maximum is 3,083 above the sea level.

 

ADMINISTRATION

Tana Toraja Regency in 2010 comprised nineteen administrative Districts (Kecamatan), tabulated below with their 2010 Census population.

 

The Torajans 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").[1] Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk ("the way"). The Indonesian government has recognised this animistic belief as Aluk To Dolo ("Way of the Ancestors").

 

The word Toraja comes from the 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 colourful 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 development 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 colonisation and Christianisation, 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 recognised 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 recognised religions: Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism, or Buddhism. The Torajan religious belief (aluk) was not legally recognised, 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 legalised 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 AFFILATION

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.

 

Architecture in the style of a tongkonan is still very common. Various administration buildings were built in this style in recent years, e.g. the Kecamatan building in Rantepao.

 

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 symbolise some virtue. For example, water plants and animals, such as crabs, tadpoles and water weeds, are commonly found to symbolise 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. Torajan wood carvings are composed of numerous square panels, each of which can represent various things, for example buffaloes as a wish of wealth for the family; a knot and a box, symbolizing the hope that all of the family's offspring will be happy and live in harmony; aquatic animals, indicating the need for fast and hard work, just like moving on the surface of water.

 

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's 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.

 

DANNCE 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.

 

COGENDER VIEWS

Among the Saʼadan (eastern Toraja) in the island of Sulawesi (Celebes), Indonesia, there are homosexual male toburake tambolang shamans; although among their neighbors the Mamasa (western Toraja) there are instead only heterosexual female toburake shamanesses.

 

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 characterised 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 commercialised. 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

A much reduced country estate with Tudor / Stuart origins. Given to the National Trust in 2007

I have passed Marylebone many time, either in a taxi or underneath on the Tube, and have always meant to go in. And with a morning spent in the area last month, I walked over Euston Road to find all three doors open, and a good number of people coming and going.

 

From the outside it could be a City Wren church, inside it has lots of space and a fine painted chancel.

 

------------------------------------------

 

St Marylebone Parish Church is a place of active and engaged Christian witness, set at the very heart of central London. With a history stretching back nearly 900 years, those of us who worship here continue seek to offer God worship that has long been renowned for musical and liturgical excellence and to serve the diverse community in which we are set.

 

For more than 30 years, St Marylebone, just a few metres from Harley Street, has pioneered the work of Christian healing and, as well as being home to the internationally respected St Marylebone Healing and Counselling Centre, which offers low-cost analytical psychotherapy and spiritual direction, the Crypt at St Marylebone also houses an innovative NHS doctor’s surgery - the Marylebone Health Centre. Our work is enhanced by maintaining close and active links with some of medicine’s Royal Colleges and through our provision of chaplaincy to The London Clinic and King Edward VII’s Hospital.

 

St Marylebone has a flourishing Young Church, which complements our two schools: The St Marylebone Church of England School, an Outstanding Academy, National Teaching School and Maths Hub, and The St Marylebone Church of England Bridge School, a Free Special School working with secondary school age students who have speech, language and communication difficulties. Alongside our two schools St Marylebone works closely with the Royal Academy of Music and the University of Westminster, providing chaplaincy services to both, and also with Regent’s University.

 

As a parish church in the Diocese of London, we share a vision of a Church for this great world city that is Christ-centred and outward looking. By God’s grace we seek to be more confident in speaking and living the Gospel of Jesus Christ, more compassionate in serving others with the love of God the Father and more creative in reaching new people and places in the power of the Spirit.

 

Construction of the present church was first considered in 1770. A site was given in Paddington Street and plans were prepared by Sir William Chambers, Architect to the King, but the scheme was abandoned and the land purchased for a burial ground. In 1810-11 the present site was secured, and it was intended that this building should be another Chapel of Ease supporting the work of the nearby Parish Church.

 

Plans were prepared by Thomas Hardwick, who was a pupil of Sir William Chambers, and the foundation stone was laid on 5 July 1813. Later, it was decided to enlarge the building and make it the Parish Church; the present tower was erected, the front widened, and the gigantic Corinthian-columned Portico built. A vaulted crypt extended under the whole area of the church, with extensive catacombs under the west side.

 

These catacombs were bricked up in 1853, and in the mid-1980s, with due authority, the coffins were removed from the crypt for reinternment at Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey and the crypt was transformed into the present-day Healing and Counselling Centre, Sacrament Chapel, Jerusalem Chapel and NHS Marylebone Health Centre.

 

The present parish church, opened in February 1817, is the fourth known parish church building to serve this parish.

 

The first, established sometime in the early 12th century, was dedicated to St John the Evangelist and was the parish church of the manors of Tyburn and Lisson (Lillestone); it stood on what is now Oxford Street, on a site near Stratford Place. Indeed, it is thought that the open courtyard of Stratford Place is the graveyard of the first parish church.

 

By 1400, St John's had fallen into disrepair and was demolished; a new parish church was built opposite Tyburn Manor House (now the site of the Duchess of Devonshire Wing of The London Clinic). The site of this parish church and its successor church (is now the Old Church Memorial Garden at the north end of Marylebone High Street); Francis Bacon was married in this Church on the 11th May 1606.

 

In 1740, a new parish church was built on the same site and here you will find buried one of the founders of Methodism, Charles Wesley, along with other members of his family. He is commemorated by an obelisk memorial. Here it was that Lord Byron was christened, and here Lord Nelson attended services and, on the 3rd May 1803, brought his daughter by Lady Hamilton (who had herself been married here) to be baptised. This parish church was associated with many famous figures and the interior was used by William Hogarth for the ‘Marriage of the Rake’ in his ‘Rake’s Progress’ cycle of paintings. Some of the many memorials that crowded its walls, including a memorial to the cupbearer to Ann of Denmark and Queen Henrietta Maria, may be seen in the present parish church’s stairways, to which they were transferred when the old parish church was demolished (following damage in World War II) in 1949. Other people connected with this building include: James Figg, James Gibbs, Edmond Hoyle, John Rysbrack, John Allen, James Ferugson, Alan Ramsay, Stephen Storace, the dukes of Portland and Caroline Watson.

 

The present parish church was originally built (at a cost of some £80,000.00) without its fine Roman Renaissance style frescoed apse; this was added in 1884 by Thomas Harris. The original position of the altar was in what is now the Choir, just below the cross built into the ceiling. This altar (before which Robert Browning married Elizabeth Barrett in 1846) can be seen in the Holy Family Chapel. Above it hangs the painting of the Holy Family donated to the new parish church by Benjamin West, PRA (1738 -1820).

 

The parish church of 1817 is reputed to have sat 3,000 people and, above the present gallery, a second gallery (the remains of which can be seen either side of the organ) wrapped around three sides of the building.

 

The present organ, one of the finest recital instruments in the country, was built by Rieger Orgelbau of Austria and was commissioned in July 1987; it was a joint venture between the parish church and the neighbouring Royal Academy of Music. The organ pipes, which can be seen at the ends of the first floor galleries, belong to earlier instruments.

 

Charles Dickens and his family lived for many years next door to the parish church in Devonshire Terrace. He brought his son here to be baptised and the ceremony is described in his novel Dombey and Son.

 

Bomb damage sustained during World War II destroyed the stained glass windows and also the Georgian roof. Fragments of the destroyed windows were collected and set in the windows you see today.

 

The fine crystal chandeliers were relocated here in 1968 from the old Council Chamber in St Marylebone Town Hall when the Borough of St Marylebone merged with other metropolitan boroughs of Middlesex to form the City of Westminster.

 

A fine collection of memorials adorn the walls of the parish church; many of them belonging to colonial administrators and governors and members of the East India Company

 

St Marylebone Parish Church has always had a fine musical tradition and today the professional choir of ten voices is supported by the Director of Music, the Assistant Director of Music and an Organ Scholar. Sir John Stainer wrote his Oratorio Crucifixion for the choir in 1886 and it has been performed every year since.

 

The Browning Room, which commemorates the marriage of the poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett here on 12th September 1846, has a stained glass window gifted by The Browning Society of Winnipeg. Two fine brass bas reliefs of the poets can also be found in this room.

 

The fine apse, the mahogany benches and choir stalls together with the gilded English baroque decorative scheme all date from the mid-1880s and were designed by Thomas Hardwick. Work begun in 1884 and a memorial stone laid by Mrs Gladstone can be seen on the outside wall of the apse. The decoration of the apse was carried out by Edward Armitage, RA; his decorative scheme once included murals between the great windows on the gallery level but these were painted over in the late 1940s.

 

A Christian place of worship has served his part of central London for 900 years. Every London parish church north of Oxford Street, to the east of the Edgware Road and to the west of Cleveland Street, has been ‘planted’ by the Rector and Wardens of this parish. In 2016, the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded the parish church a grant of nearly £4 million to help complete an ambitious programme of works that will repair the ravages of time, extend the crypt and help tell the story of St Marylebone from rural hamlet to urban metropolis. St Marylebone, by God’s Grace, continues its work of Changing Lives and Shaping Community.

 

The Revd Canon Stephen Evans, Rector

 

www.stmarylebone.org/index.php?option=com_content&vie...

 

------------------------------------------

 

St Marylebone Parish Church is an Anglican church on the Marylebone Road in London. It was built to the designs of Thomas Hardwick in 1813–17. The present site is the third used by the parish for its church. The first was further south, near Oxford Street. The church there was demolished in 1400 and a new one erected further north. This was completely rebuilt in 1740–42, and converted into a chapel-of-ease when Hardwick's church was constructed. The Marylebone area takes its name from the church. Located behind the church is St Marylebone School, a Church of England school for girls.

 

The first church for the parish was built in the vicinity of the present Marble Arch c.1200, and dedicated to St John the Evangelist.

 

A new, small church built on the same site opened in April 1742. It was an oblong brick building with a small bell tower at the west end. The interior had galleries on three sides. Some monuments from the previous church were preserved in the new building.In 1818 it became a chapel-of-ease to the new parish church which superseded it .[4] It was demolished in 1949, and its site, at the northern end of Marylebone High Street is now a public garden.[5]

 

Charles Wesley lived and worked in the area and sent for the church's rector John Harley and told him "Sir, whatever the world may say of me, I have lived, and I die, a member of the Church of England. I pray you to bury me in your churchyard."[citation needed] On his death, his body was carried to the church by eight clergymen of the Church of England and a memorial stone to him stands in the gardens in High Street, close to his burial spot. One of his sons, Samuel, was later organist of the present church.

 

It was also in this building that Lord Byron was baptised in 1788, Nelson's daughter Horatia was baptised (Nelson was a worshipper here), and Richard Brinsley Sheridan was married to Elizabeth Ann Linley. This is also the church in which the diplomat Sir William Hamilton married Emma Hart (Amy Lyon), later the lover of Admiral Horatio Nelson.[citation needed] The architect James Gibbs was buried there in 1751.[6] The crypt was the burial place of members of the Bentinck family, including William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (died 1809)

 

Construction of a new church was first considered in 1770, with plans prepared by Sir William Chambers and leadership given by the 3rd and 4th Dukes of Portland (owners of much of the area, by now a wealthy residential area to the west of London that had outgrown the previous church), but the scheme was abandoned and the land donated for it in Paddington Street purchased for a burial ground.

 

In 1810–11[citation needed] a site was secured to build a chapel-of-ease on the south side of the new road near Nottingham Place.[8] facing Regent's Park.[9] Plans were drawn up by Chambers's pupil Thomas Hardwick [10] and the foundation stone was laid on 5 July 1813. When construction was almost complete, it was decided that this new building should serve as the parish church, and so alterations were made to the design. On the north front, towards the new road, a Corinthian portico with eight columns (six columns wide, and two deep at the sides), based on that of the Pantheon in Rome, replaced the intended four-column Ionic portico surmounted by a group of figures. A steeple was built, instead of a planned cupola.[11] No changes were made to the design of the interior, but plans to build houses on part of the site were abandoned.[12]

 

Entrance to the church from the north is through three doorways beneath the portico, each leading into a vestibule.[13] There are arched windows above the outer doorways. A blank panel above the central one was intended to house a bas-relief depicting Christ's entry into Jerusalem. Hardwick's church was basically rectangular in plan, with two small extensions behind the entrance front, and two wings placed diagonally flanking the far end (the liturgical east),[14] which originally housed private galleries equipped with chairs, tables and fireplaces.[15][16] Two tiers of galleries, supported on iron columns ran around three sides of the church.[17] The organ case was immediately above the altar screen; in the centre of the organ case was an arched opening with a "transparent painting" by Benjamin West, of the angel appearing to the shepherds. Other church furniture included a large pulpit and reading desk and high box pews.

 

The steeple, placed over the central vestibule, rises around 75 feet (23 m) above the roof (and thus about 120 feet (37 m) above the ground).[18] It is in three storeys;the first, square in plan, contains a clock, the second circular in plan, has twelve Corinthian columns supporting an entablature, while the third is in the form of a miniature temple raised on three steps and surrounded by eight caryatids, with arched openings between them. The whole structure is topped by a dome and weathervane.[19]

 

The vaulted crypt, extending under the whole church, with extensive catacombs under the west side was used for burials until being bricked up in 1853. Since 1987, following the reinterment of the 850 coffins it previously contained at Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey, it has housed a healing and counselling centre.

 

The church was completed in 1817, at an overall cost of £80,000.

 

A local resident was Charles Dickens (1812–1870), in Devonshire Terrace, whose son was baptised in this church (a ceremony fictionalised in "Dombey and Son"). Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett were married in this phase of the church in 1846 (their marriage certificate is preserved in the church archives). The church was also used in location filming for the 1957 film recounting their story, The Barretts of Wimpole Street.[20]

 

Composer Sir John Stainer wrote an oratorio specifically for the choir at St Marylebone; The Crucifixion was first performed in the church on 24 February 1887, which was the day after Ash Wednesday. It has been performed annually at the church ever since, usually on Good Friday.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Marylebone_Parish_Church

 

Only by for Austria successful outcome of Ottoman wars in Europe the conditions were given to turn the old Hofburg, which until now was more fortress than imperial residence, into a befitting palace of a powerful dynasty. When Emperor Charles VI in 1711 succeeded to the throne, stood along the Schaufler alley until St. Michael's square yet the old two-story Chancellery Wing from the time of Ferdinand I. It was significantly lower than the Amalien wing and the Leopoldine wing, bordering the Interior Castle courtyard on the southwest and the southeast side. Between the Chancellery Wing and the Swiss courtyard there was a by Daniel Suttinger created Gate construction. In its place erected Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt in 1712 the so-called Carolingian Triumphal Arch but which was as well demolished in 1728 because now they had laid the foundation for a much more representative Chancellery Wing and in 1723 started the construction work. Hildebrandt's plans provided the unification of the entire inner castle but failed in the end due to the immense cost. 1726 he had to cede construction management to in the meantime appointed Court architect Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach. This one let the already finished construction at Schaufler alley remain but put in front of it the splendid late baroque wing at the courtyard side. Fischer too could due to lack of sufficient liquid funds of the Imperial family his ideas which comprehended also the entire castle not fully realize. Work came to a halt in 1735 and was finally discontinued. The St. Michael's gate was only from 1888 after the demolition of the old Hofburg theater finished.

Herakles of Mattielli

In Chancellery wing were until 1806 when Emperor Franz II/I resigned the Roman-German Imperial Crown the central offices of the administration of the Holy Roman Empire housed. This included especially as the most important Imperial authority the Aulic Councel. 1810 lived here the French ambassador Berthier, when he, on behalf of Napoleon, asked for the hand of Maria Louise, the daughter of Francis I. At the time of the Vienna Congress in some rooms of the Imperial Chancellery Wing was housed the king of Bavaria. 1848 served archduke Johann a suite of rooms as an apartment. In the summer of this year, he received in Great Audience Hall a delegation from Frankfurt Imperial Diet, offering him the dignity of a "German Imperial Regent". A few years later the rooms were renovated, refurbished and converted into apartments for the Imperial family. Traditionally, no Austrian Emperor has taken over the apartment of his predecessor. Franz Joseph moved into his apartment in 1857, three years after his marriage, and lived there until his death in 1916. The apartment of his wife Elisabeth was in the neighboring Amalien wing. Today, the Imperial Apartments as well as the recently opened Sisi Museum and the former Court Silver and Table Room can be visited. The latter is dedicated to the culture of courtly household and the court ceremonial.

While the front is not very spectacular in Schaufler alley, turns the five-story face side of the Imperial Chancellery Wing towards the interior courtyard. This one served till the 16th century as a tournament court. In 1561 issued Thurnierbuch (tournament book) is yet of tournaments of the future Emperor Maximilian II reported which this one had held here in June of last year. In the 17th century but here no more tournaments took place but mounted tournaments, as the then popular horse ballet. The long facade facing the courtyard is accented by three only little projecting risalits with portals and balconies (1727/29) and divided by giant pilasters. The design of the façade is already reminiscent of the design language of French classicism. Franz Joseph and Elisabeth got through the Imperor's gate in central projection to their rooms on the first floor. The leading upwards Emperor's stairway has a magnificent stucco marble equipment and is decorated with gilted bronze vases. But it is hardly ever used. Today's visitor entrance to the Imperial Apartments is located beneath the dome of St. Michael's gate. The five windows above the Emperor's gate are preceded by a long balcony which rests on strong consoles. On the attic of the central projection is attached the huge blazon of Emperor Charles VI with the double-headed eagle. It is overtopped by the German imperial crown and surrounded by a golden chain with the Golden Fleece. Flanked is it by two, carrying trumpets genii. Beside the portals of the side projections stand each two sandstone sculptures of Lorenzo Mattielli. They show the deeds of Hercules. On the ground floor were housed until 1918 various court offices, as the Chamber for payments of the Court, the House, Court and State Archives (until 1902) and the Control office of the Court. In the premises of once Imperial linen room was from 1921 to 1987 the Vienna tapestry manufacture whose leading products have been exported throughout the world.

Study of Franz Joseph

Additionally to the living quarters of the Emperor - those of the Empress were in neighboring Amalien wing - belongs to the Imperial Apartments the Guard room where the bodyguards were on sentry duty but most of all the large Audience waiting room and the Audience chamber, where the Emperor, standing at his desk, used to receive his visitors individually. Under Maria Theresa, took place the deliberations of the Imperial, Court and State Councils of the former Imperial Chancellery in Audience waiting room. Unfortunately, this beautiful, decorated in white, red and gold hall was similarly to fairy-tale grotto recently equipped with figurines in the national costume of the individual crown lands in order to document that here waited people from all walks of life and from all provinces of the country for an audience. During his long reign, there were at least more than 250,000. In this room, hang large, many-figured murals (1832) of Biedermeier painter Peter Krafft, showing scenes from the life of Emperor Franz I. From the ceiling hangs a eighty-flammy Bohemian crystal chandelier still dating from the time of Maria Theresa. The originally fitted with candles chandelier of the Imperial apartments were in 1891 electrified. The ornate pottery kilns partly still stem from the 18th century. They were heated externally via the situated behind the rooms heating passage with wood. In the equipment of his private rooms the personal modesty of the emperor is reflected. Unlike his wife, he had not even running water injected. Noteworthy is also the simple iron military bed that served him for decades as a place to sleep. His office, in which he most of the time was yet active from six o'clock in the morning is adorned with numerous photos and paintings of his family. Here hangs also a famous portrait of the Empress by Franz Xaver Winterhalter. The equipment of the 22 official and residential premises of Emperor Franz Joseph and his wife Elisabeth, which today can be visited as Imperial Apartments, stems from several eras: from late Baroque to Rococo and the Empire to the 19th century neo-Baroque. These include also the four rooms of Stephan's apartment which is named after Archduke Stephan Viktor. The former theater corridor which enabled a direct connection to the old Hofburg Theater is walled off today.

www.burgen-austria.com/archive.php?id=512

While visiting a Villa in Milan, Italy, there was a pride standing beside a pillar under the shade a beautiful soft light given. I captured this image with no hesitation.

Housing Minister Nelson McCausland has announced over £500,000 funding for the Mortgage Debt Advice Service.

 

Today’s funding will ensure the continuation of the advice service delivered by Housing Rights Service, until March 2015, which until now was being piloted. More than 1,500 people have been given advice from the Service since it was launched.

 

Speaking during a visit to the Housing Rights Service the Minister said: “Anyone who thinks they may be at risk of losing their home because of debt must take action immediately. Help and advice is available. Repossession should only ever be the very last resort. It's vitally important that those facing the risk of repossession seek urgent independent advice and speak to their lender to avoid losing their home and explore the options that are available. “

 

Service advisors are available to help homeowners to address mortgage payment and debt problems which threaten their ability to remain in their homes. Specialist advisors can also provide advice and representation to enable individuals to remain in their home or, in cases where this is not feasible, assist them to explore alternative housing options.

 

Minister McCausland also welcomed innovative improvements to the Service: “Exploiting technology to provide alternative forms of access to this service, such as the online virtual advisor, as well as the extended contact hours to 8pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, provides greater flexibility for those facing mortgage difficulties to take advantage of the advice services on offer.”

 

There is also a dedicated Service telephone number on 0300 323 0310 and a specific Mortgage Debt and Repossession portal at www.housingadviceNI.org.

 

Peter McMahon, Service manager said: "This funding shows the Department's commitment to assisting people struggling with housing debt. Our experience of delivering the pilot service has demonstrated that the earlier people seek free independent advice the more options are available. However, it really is never too late to get help and, if court proceedings have been initiated, it is vital to attend. Even at this stage repossession is not inevitable

Hand drawn diagram of Kirkby South Junction, dated 19 July 1946. This was part of a set given to me during a visit to Summit Colliery box. It is believed to have been used by a Guard. Interesting are the co-acting arms on the Up Inner Home signals for the Main line and the Mansfield Branch. A bridge used to cross the line thus needing those repeater signals. The bridge can be seen on the 25" OS map maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=16&lat=53....

 

Also of interest is that the detonator placers 4 & 16 were not have been present early on. Lever 4 may have been either reserved for, or actually installed as a Mansfield Line distant under Annesley North Jn starter. Lever 1 was almost certainly the GN line distant at the same location.

 

Lever 16 as a Clearance/Fouling Bar on the Mansfield line is a surprise and exposes the fact that all those Track Circuits (TC) were not installed in 1916 when the Mansfield Line opened. Indeed the numbering of the TC's is odd - as if the Down Main TC "AA" was added later, and "A" split into "A1" & "A2" later too (see also 1966 diagram www.flickr.com/photos/192151030@N08/51940174531/in/album-...)

This was probably done to free up the GN facing points earlier after the passage of a train.

 

“Plunger” is a commonly used alternative term meaning Facing Point Lock (FPL), i.e. as in a lock bar plunging through the stretcher bar.

Perhaps someone has simply written ‘plunger’ beside those bar symbols at the facing points to distinguish them from the same symbol used for the other (e.g. clearance) bars?

 

When I visited Kirkby South the electric releases for the FPLs were "footboard studs" and were typically LNER’s preferred way of operating electric lever locks, instead of Block-shelf releases favoured by most other organisations.

Good for signalmen as it leaves both hands free for pulling.

Hated by S&T staff as often gummed up by polish etc.

 

The initial fitment of TC "A" would have been to allow the removal of the 40 foot fouling bars from the facing points, but was then subsequently split to ease operation as times got busier.

Any original GC TCs would have been numbered, but then LNER / BR(E) policy was to use letters, so it's hard to tell afterwards if any pre-date the 1923 Grouping.

However for Kirkby South Junction Peter Churchman seems to recall seeing mention that the only ‘early’ TC was on the branch outer homes?

 

In early 1960 Kirkby-in-Ashfield Central box closed, lever 27 became spare, 27 outer distant signal becomes the only distant on the Mansfield line, operated by lever number 26.

(for further information please go to the end of page and activate the corresponding link!)

TOPICS

The Vienna Opera Ball

Viennese Opera Ball

Just as already the operetta and the waltz had been imported from Paris to Vienna, comes also the model for the Vienna Opera Ball from the Seine metropolis. By a corresponding approval of Duke Philip of Orleans, on 2 January 1716 a "public ball" can be held for the first time, to which everyone has access who can pay the admission fee of five livres. First, the balls take place at the Comédie française, but already in 1717 was given the Académie de Musique, the Paris Opera House, the special right of the organization. Nevertheless, in the Comédie furthermore take place balls, with the audience far more popular than the 'opera balls'.

In 1861 the construction of an opera house begins at the Ringstrasse, on the explicit desire of Emperor Franz Joseph not solely intended for performances of operas and ballets, but also for the staging of the Opera Ball. With this, have been created both the spatial and the official conditions for a genuine Viennese Opera Ball according to Parisian model. It should, however, take another eight years before a dance event in the opera could be held for the first time after the completion of the house in 1869.

Initially, due to the increasing violence at the Paris balls but only Court Opera soirees take place. This includes elegant evening soirees with musical entertainment, but without dancing. On 11 December 1877 opened the court musical director Wilhelm Gericke the first Court Opera Soirée with the "Wedding March" by Felix Mendelssohn. After several concert pieces the baton is handed over to the Strauss family. First, Johann Strauss son conducts the Vienna Philharmonic with a waltz, followed by his brother Edward with a specially for this day composed "Opera Soirée Polka". After that, the dance-crazed Viennese are no longer stoppable: all chairs were put to the side, and the evening, which was thought without dance pleasure, ends like a ball. This is the hour of birth of the opera ball, even though for the time being still far away from being called so.

Already the second event on 15 January 1878 is announced officially as "Second Hofopernsoirée (Ball)". The third, for 12 February 1878 scheduled Soirée, is canceled for reasons of piety, since Pope Pius IX. a few days earlier had died. After the uncomplicated election of Leo XIII. to new head of the Church the ball is on 23 February rescheduled.

After these three opera soirees from March of the same year take place redoutes in the Court Opera, continuing the tradition of masked balls and linked with strict dress code: "in the hall, with the exception of the lodges, the ladies the stay is only permitted in an elegant mask, short costumes are not allowed. The gentlemen of civil appear in evening dress with white cravat, cylinder or Claquehut (opera hat - chapeau claque). "During the next twenty years during the carnival time each year should be organized two, in some seasons even three redoutes. However, at these festivals the Viennese society is not as boundless as once united in the common ball pleasure, because in the meantime the guests are spread across three different levels, not only differing in space but also in the appearance of guests from each other. Are the boxes the aristocratic guests in elaborate ball gowns reserved, so gather in the stalls the bourgeois guests, for which there is no mask constraint. In addition, there are the galleries that are accessible to every viewer without special admission ticket.

1899 the popular balls for the time being come to an abrupt end, as is discovered that the opera for such festivals does not comply with the safety regulations. Since an appropriate conversion proves to be too costly, the redoutes are discontinued for an unforeseen period of time. A certain compensation for those festivals offers in the following years the in the new town hall held "Ball der Stadt Wien".

Only in 1921, the tradition of the redoutes in the Court Opera has been resumed, but without being able to follow on the success of previous years. After several breaks followed in 1924, 1928 and 1929 again opera redoutes, neither musically nor stylistically corresponding with the level of the defunct imperial monarchy-time and they are not characterized by the former wit, charm and temperament. The twenties are not only politically, but also culturally a very different time in which with the progressive emancipation of women the meaning of a redoute became obsolete.

And so 1935 is launched the first as such referred to Opera Ball. In a time of political uncertainty, it complied in addition to social also with diplomatic and official representative purposes. Therefore, it takes no wonder that the guest list has many personalities from politics. The last opera ball before the outbreak of the Second World War should be organized in 1939, when Austria was already 'connected' by Adolf Hitler to the German Reich. Therefore respectively stiff and artificial resulted according to that this night on which no happiness will raise, previously the rule.

Image

Reopening of the Vienna State Opera, 1955

© wissenmedia

Shortly before the end of World War II, the Vienna Opera House on 12 March 1945 almost completely was destroyed by a bomb. It should take ten years until the house was rebuilt and with Ludwig van Beethoven's opera "Fidelio" at the 5th November 1955 ceremoniously could be opened. In the following carnival season with this also the first opera ball of the post-war period can be celebrated, but which has changed its face much: "Actually, the Opera Ball is not a Viennese event anymore, but already a pan-European one. A ball night for which the world envies us".

This new image has remained to this day, with the only difference that the Opera Ball is now no longer considered only as a pan-European, but as an international event. A highlight of the evening is the annual opening of the ball by about 180 debutantes who on the arm of the to them for this evening assigned Cavaliers in a Polonaise move in. After the Vienna Philharmonic for many years had taken over the musical interpretation of the evening, there is since 1982 a Vienna Opera Ball Orchestra grounded specifically for this purpose. In addition, since 1984, there is also a Viennese Opera Ball Ladies Ensemble, made ​​up of 15 musicians and beyond the ball unfolding a very busy concert schedule.

Today on the Opera Ball there is not exclusively danced just waltz anymore. Up to ten orchestras or soloists play at the same time in different places of the house, and as a concession to modern times there is since some years even a nightclub. And yet, the waltz enjoys as the king of dances to this day unbroken popularity, without which for many no Viennese Opera Ball is thinkable. Another innovation is also the since 1981 in the Schwind Foyer installed Viennese Opera Ball Casino, which is a special attraction especially for the younger guests. Collectors will also appreciate the annually by the casino issued special Opera Ball chips.

How to become a debutante?

Proposals are now mostly send in by the dance schools of the country. The first condition is the perfect mastery of the links waltz, which is checked at a Vortanztermin (dance audition date - don't worry, the Lipizzans are doing the same!). Has the potential debutante overcome this hurdle with flying colors, it is about to find a suitable partner for the big night. The criteria for this choice are less situated in personal relationships than in pure dance qualities. After finally the couples have found each other, for five days under the expert guidance of several ballet master not only the links waltz, but also the choreography of the marching in is practiced until everything is perfectly rehearsed. The question of clothes is strictly regulated for the couples: the ladies in white dresses with a little crown on the head and the gentlemen in evening dress. To underline the internationality of the ball, every year also Debütantinnen and Debütanten from around the world are invited.

Guests

Artists from the world of the theater and the music, film and television can be found on the Vienna Opera Ball as well as well-known athletes and fashion designers. Diplomats and politicians from home and abroad appreciate the special atmosphere, and every now and then you meet also members of the European nobility. The Opera Ball today is no longer just a lavish celebration in which together a whole evening and a full night is celebrated, but increasingly also a social forum that connects professional and political contacts in a pleasant way with a social event.

Scandals

In recent decades, the Vienna Opera Ball, however, has not only found unanimous support, but has been increasingly criticized. In the 80s made fights between angry citizens that characterized the event as a "festival of the political and monetary bigwigs" and the police the headlines. Unforgettable is also the demonstration against the reprocessing plant Wackersdorf when in 1987 the Bavarian Prime Minister Franz-Josef Strauss participated in the Opera Ball. In addition, now almost every year during the opera ball take place demonstrations against these seemingly senseless waste of funds in the face of hardship and misery, hunger and wars, social and health problems in the world.

Nevertheless, the Opera Ball has lost none of its fascination and all over the world - from Bangkok via Kuala Lumpur and Korea to Tokyo, Singapore, Seoul and Dubai, Ankara, Istanbul, Kiev, Prague and Budapest to Rome, New York, Los Angeles and Washington - it found imitation, without being able to ever really come close to the Viennese model. Even if the question of the contemporaneity of the Vienna Opera Ball ever and again was controversially discussed, at the latest in 2005 has been shown that even this traditional event cannot stop short before general social changes: for the first time a smoking ban for the Opera Ball was pronounced.

www.wissen.de/thema/der-wiener-opernball?chunk=wiener-ope...

At any given moment of the day there are many rotary punches being used in the fabrication department. On this day the sides of four different models were being punched out. It was an entirely hand-driven process with each side carefully placed into the punch, then one side at a time those parts were punched one or more times, by four teams of workers assigned to those projects. Each press could be used by anyone in the shop. Each press would be set up for a specific task. Then it was up to the next worker to change the set up for the next group of parts needing to be punched out. The two men seated at the right were working on a much larger electric press used to stamp out O scale steam locomotive tender sides.

 

You can follow my story about Building Brass Model Trains in the order it was meant to be told in my album: www.flickr.com/photos/jeff_lemke/albums/72157664865492920

On any given day, non-profit Guide Dogs for the Blind (GDB) is caring for and training a new litter of frisky puppies at their school campus. More than 800 per year are whelped and raised by a dedicated team at GDB’s National Headquarters located in San Rafael, California.

 

Dreyfuss + Blackford Architecture, in association with Animal Arts Design Studios, was selected to design the new 28,000 square foot Puppy Center. Applying the latest in animal care design best practices, this new puppy birthing and enrichment facility supports GDB’s mission of preparing highly-qualified service canines to be lifelong partners for individuals who are visually impaired. By providing a healthier, more ergonomic and socially enriching environment for the puppies and their caretakers, GDB will better equip these future companions to reach their full potential. The facility also includes a Learning Lab (in lobby), which will help educate the public through interactive displays, dedicated areas to view puppy enrichment, and other learning spaces.

 

The Puppy Center includes 19 neonatal kennels and eight new whelping kennels for moms and puppies, and 30 new puppy kennels in the Young Heroes Academy where the puppies stay until 10 weeks of age. Each area will have dedicated gown-in facilities, medical support spaces, staff work areas, laundry, food preparation area and restrooms. The building systems include industry best practices in biological risk management, acoustics, air quality, radiant heating, and lighting.

 

A new park and plaza across from the entrance from the Puppy Center is an outdoor practice area for handlers and dogs. The area includes a bridge, open courtyard, walking paths, grass picnic area and various exhibits throughout for use in teaching the dogs how to navigate different outdoor situations.

 

Photo by David Wakely.

thebass.org/art/haegue-yang/

HAEGUE YANG

IN THE CONE OF UNCERTAINTY

 

NOV 2,2019-APR 5,2020

 

In the Cone of Uncertainty foregrounds Haegue Yang’s (b. 1971, Seoul) consistent curiosity about the world and tireless experimentation with materializing the complexity of identities in flux. Living between Seoul and Berlin, Yang employs industrially produced quotidian items, digital processes, and labor-intensive craft techniques. She mobilizes and enmeshes complex, often personal, histories and realities vis-à-vis sensual and immersive works by interweaving narrative with form. Often evoking performative, sonic and atmospheric perceptions with heat, wind and chiming bells, Yang’s environments appear familiar, yet engender bewildering experiences of time and place.

 

The exhibition presents a selection of Yang’s oeuvre spanning the last decade – including window blind installations, anthropomorphic sculptures, light sculptures, and mural-like graphic wallpaper – taking its title from an expression of the South Florida vernacular, that describes the predicted path of hurricanes. Alluding to our eagerness and desperation to track the unstable and ever-evolving future, this exhibition addresses current anxieties about climate change, overpopulation and resource scarcity. Framing this discourse within a broader consideration of movement, displacement and migration, the exhibition contextualizes contemporary concerns through a trans-historical and philosophical meditation of the self.

 

Given its location in Miami Beach, The Bass is a particularly resonant site to present Yang’s work, considering that over fifty percent[1] of the population in Miami-Dade County is born outside of the United States, and it is a geographical and metaphorical gateway to Latin America. Yang has been commissioned by the museum to conceive a site-specific wallpaper in the staircase that connects the exhibition spaces across The Bass’ two floors. This wallpaper will be applied to both transparent and opaque surfaces to accompany the ascending and descending path of visitors within the exhibition. Informed by research about Miami Beach’s climatically-precarious setting, the wallpaper, titled Coordinates of Speculative Solidarity (2019), will play with meteorological infographics and diagrams as vehicles for abstraction. Interested in how severe weather creates unusual access to negotiations of belonging and community, as well as the human urge to predict catastrophic circumstances, the work reflects a geographic commonality that unconsciously binds people together through a shared determination to face a challenge and react in solidarity.

 

Yang’s exhibition encompasses galleries on both the first and second floors of the museum and exemplifies an array of Yang’s formally, conceptually ambitious and rigorous body of work. Considered an important ‘Light Sculpture’ work and one of the last made in the series, Strange Fruit (2012-13) occupies one of the first spaces in the exhibition. The group of anthropomorphic sculptures take their title from Jewish-American Abel Meeropol’s poem famously vocalized by Billie Holiday in 1939. Hanging string lights dangling from metal clothing racks intertwined with colorfully painted papier-mâché bowls and hands that hold plants resonate with the poem’s subject matter. The work reflects a recurring interest within Yang’s practice, illuminating unlikely, less-known connections throughout history and elucidating asymmetrical relationships among figures of the past. In the story of Strange Fruit, the point of interest is in a poem about the horrors and tragedy of lynching of African-Americans in the American South born from the empathies of a Jewish man and member of the Communist party. Yang’s interests are filtered through different geopolitical spheres with a keen concentration in collapsing time and place, unlike today’s compartmentalized diasporic studies.

 

Central to In the Cone of Uncertainty is the daring juxtaposition of two major large-scale installations made of venetian blinds. Yearning Melancholy Red and Red Broken Mountainous Labyrinth are similar in that they are both from 2008, a year of significant development for Yang, and their use of the color red: one consists of red blinds, while the other features white blinds colored by red light. With its labyrinthine structure, Red Broken Mountainous Labyrinth bears a story of the chance encounter between Korean revolutionary Kim San (1905-1938) and American journalist Nym Wales (1907-1997), without which a chapter of Korean history would not survive to this day. Yearning Melancholy Red references the seemingly apolitical childhood of French writer and filmmaker Marguerite Duras (1914-1996). While living in French Indochina (present-day Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos), Duras and her family experienced a type of double isolation in material and moral poverty, by neither belonging to the native communities nor to the French colonizers, embodying the potentiality for her later political engagement. Despite their divergent subject matter, both works continue to envelop an interest in viewing histories from different perspectives and the unexpected connections that arise. By staging the two works together, what remains is Yang’s compelling constellation of blinds, choreographed moving lights, paradoxical pairings of sensorial devices – fans and infrared heaters – and our physical presence in an intensely charged field of unspoken narratives.

 

A third space of the exhibition will feature work from Yang’s signature ‘Sonic Sculpture’ series titled, Boxing Ballet (2013/2015). The work offers Yang’s translation of Oskar Schlemmmer’s Triadic Ballet (1922), transforming the historical lineage of time-based performance into spatial, sculptural and sensorial abstraction. Through elements of movement and sound, Yang develops an installation with a relationship to the Western Avant-Garde, investigating their understanding in the human body, movement and figuration.

 

Observing hidden structures to reimagine a possible community, Yang addresses themes that recur in her works such as migration, diasporas and history writing. Works presented in In the Cone of Uncertainty offer a substantial view into Yang’s rich artistic language, including her use of bodily experience as a means of evoking history and memory.

 

Haegue Yang lives and works in Berlin, Germany and Seoul, South Korea. She is a Professor at the Staedelschule in Frankfurt am Main. Yang has participated in major international exhibitions including the 21st Biennale of Sydney (2018), La Biennale de Montréal (2016), the 12th Sharjah Biennial (2015), the 9th Taipei Biennial (2014), dOCUMENTA (13) in Kassel (2012) and the 53rd Venice Biennale (2009) as the South Korean representative.

 

Recipient of the 2018 Wolfgang Hahn Prize, she held a survey exhibition titled ETA at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne in the same year, which displayed over 120 works of Yang from 1994-2018. Her recent solo exhibitions include Tracing Movement, South London Gallery (2019); Chronotopic Traverses, La Panacée-MoCo, Montpellier (2018); Tightrope Walking and Its Wordless Shadow, La Triennale di Milano (2018); Triple Vita Nestings, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, which travelled from the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane (2018); VIP’s Union, Kunsthaus Graz (2017); Silo of Silence – Clicked Core, KINDL – Centre for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2017); Lingering Nous, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2016); Quasi-Pagan Serial, Hamburger Kunsthalle (2016); Come Shower or Shine, It Is Equally Blissful, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2015); and Shooting the Elephant 象 Thinking the Elephant, Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul (2015). Forthcoming projects include the Museum of Modern Art (October 2019), Tate St. Ives (May 2020) and Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto (2020).

 

Yang’s work is included in permanent collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA; M+, Hong Kong, China; National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, South Korea; Tate Modern, London, UK; The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA; and The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA. Her work has been the subject of numerous monographs, such as Haegue Yang: Anthology 2006–2018: Tightrope Walking and Its Wordless Shadow (2019); Haegue Yang: ETA 1994–2018 (2018); Haegue Yang – VIP’s Union (2017); and Haegue Yang: Family of Equivocations (2013).

Title: The P.R. Williams Funeral Service horse-drawn hearse, St. Thomas, ca. 1905. Given the presence of a uniformed honour guard, this was likely a military or police funeral. Although unlikely in this case, it was traditional to use white horses for a woman's funeral. The men shown driving the hearse are likely Phillip R. Williams, right, and his son, Ernest C. Williams. P.R. Williams established his funeral service in St. Thomas in 1893. He was also the first patron of the Order of the Eastern Star in St. Thomas, sponsoring the establishment of the Maple Leaf Chapter in 1909. The decorative lamps seen at the front of the hearse are now at the Williams Funeral Home, Elgin Street, St. Thomas.

 

Creator(s): unknown

 

Bygone Days Publication Date: March 4, 2014

 

Original Publication Date: N/A

 

Reference No.: R11 S5 Sh3 B1 F31 (K-3)

 

Credit: Elgin County Archives, Ian Cameron Collection

The Max Brenner melted milk chocolate sauce was divine! Very smooth and creamy. Given a choice, I'd still prefer dark chocolate! :)

 

The cinnamon babka on the other hand was a bit dry, at least that was my excuse for using it to soak up the chocolate sauce!

 

Max Brenner Melbourne Central

+61 3 9662 4442

Shop OE5, Menzies Alley, Melbourne Central Shopping Centre

300 La Trobe Street, Melbourne VIC 3000

www.maxbrenner.com.au/

 

I've been given the opportunity to photograph the old Power Plant in Savannah, Ga along the Savannah River. The Plant was decommissioned in the mid 2000's and is now in the planning phases of a complete renovation and conversion into a Kessler Signature Hotel. Part of the full development of the Power Plant is 2 new construction pieces. I'm am the project manager for 1 piece and am proud to be part of an amazing design team that is part of this project.

 

This panel is seen as you enter the main "atrium" space of the Power Plant. It is pieces like that that will hopefully remain as part of the aesthetic of the hotel conversion.

 

The series of shots I'll be posting are just from my first survey of the space and property. I'll be revisiting the site on a monthly basis over the next few months.So much more to come.

 

BLOG I I I WSM photography

 

© Walker Scott Moore 2014 - All rights reserved

  

"Ulam" is a name given to a group of herbs and vegetables that are eaten raw or blached (quickly dip in hot water) that are eaten with rice. It can also normally eaten with some side seasoning like budu (grinded dried anchovies @ ikan billis or dried prawn @ udang bari), cencaluk (a spicy sauce made from tiny baby prawns, cillis and other seasoning) or sambal belacan (chilli paste made from dried fish or prawn paste); eaten with rice. Ulam is famous as daily fare for the Malay community in villages. Ulam is taken from many different portions of a plant. This includes the shoots, leaves, umbut (someone help me with this translation please, thanks), seed, fruit, root and sometimes the flower. Common vegetables such as cucumber, lettuce and eggplant is also used to make an Ulam dish. Traditional medicinal herbs are also used.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

"Ulam" is analogous to the Western practice of eating raw vegetables and fruits - whatever is in hand - in salads. The condiments differ, instead of salad dressings, various types of "Sambal", typically "Sambal Belacan"( www.flickr.com/photos/liyin/13767761/ ) is consumed.

www.redcarpetreporttv.com

 

Mingle Media TV and Red Carpet Report host Brandi Chang were invited to come out to cover FX's Justified Season 5 premiere red carpet event and screening at the Directors Guild in Hollywood.

 

Get the Story from the Red Carpet Report Team - follow us on Twitter and Facebook at:

twitter.com/TheRedCarpetTV

www.facebook.com/RedCarpetReportTV

www.redcarpetreporttv.com

www.youtube.com/MingleMediaTVNetwork

About the FX’s Justified

Based on Elmore Leonard’s novella Fire in the Hole, Justified was developed by Graham Yost and stars Timothy Olyphant as ‘Deputy US Marshal Raylan Givens,’ a lawman who finds himself drawn back to his home state of Kentucky. This January, Raylan confronts the Crowes, a deadly, lawless family from Florida intent on settling in Harlan with new criminal enterprises in mind. Meanwhile, ‘Boyd Crowder’ (Walton Goggins) struggles to free his imprisoned fiancée ‘Ava’ (Joelle Carter) as he partners with the Dixie Mafia’s ‘Wynn Duffy’ (Jere Burns). For more info visit:

www.justifiedtv.com

  

For more of Mingle Media TV’s Red Carpet Report coverage, please visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Facebook here:

www.minglemediatv.com

www.facebook.com/minglemediatvnetwork

www.flickr.com/MingleMediaTVNetwork

www.twitter.com/minglemediatv

Follow our host Brandi on Twitter at twitter.com/BrandiChang

Still my favorite - built in the 16th century and known for being owned by Diane de Poitiers (mistress of Henry II) and later Henry's wife Catherine de Medici. It spans the Cher River. Visitors are given access to most of the castle and all of the rooms are decorated with period furniture and paintings.

Oulton Park is a great circuit that has yet to be spoilt with run off areas the size of Brighton Beach and, as such, suits historic motor sport down to the ground. Drivers enjoy it as do spectators, who have the freedom to wander and watch almost at will. But it has to be said, today’s racing was boring. Maybe it’s too early in the year, maybe the grids were too small, or maybe the races, one lasting seventy-five minutes, were just too long.

 

Funnily enough, it was the race with the smallest entry that was the most exciting. Just eight cars started the Old Hall Trophy FF 1600 race but Douglas Crosbie and Samuel Carrington-Yates had a right ding dong battle for second place with neither giving an inch. In the end the two Van Diemans were beaten by the faster Ray GRS09 of Neil Alberico, with Douglas second.

 

The afternoon began with the Clay Hill Trophy 1970s Celebration Race, an easy win for Russell Paterson in the orange Morgan Plus Eight. The two Porsche 911 RSRs of Mark Bates and Paul Howells followed him home some thirty seconds adrift but it was the sideways Escort RS1800 of Mark Wright that provided a modicum of entertainment. Only eight cars finished.

   

The Pre-1966 Touring Car Race was jolly good fun with many battles breaking out during the sixty minutes of close encounters. Henry Mann seemed a might surprised to be given the chequered flag in his red Alan Mann Cortina, beating the similar Lotus of David Hall by seven seconds, while the Mustang of Dowd and Cooke went off song and although setting fasted qualifying time struggled to finish third. Further down in the pack, the Nick Smith Mini stormed home fourth leaving ex-F1 driver Roberto Moreno to die a death and retire. Retro-Speed favourites Andy Harrison and Tony Jardine peddled the red peril home to a well-judged thirteenth.

 

It should have rained for the Knickerbrook Trophy for World Sportscars but it didn’t, so the gaggle of Chevrons fought it out with the lone Lola for overall honours in the dry, depriving the spectators of at least one unpredictable race. That the Minshaws led the field home in their ultra rapid B8 was no big surprise. The same could not be said for the Lyons Lola T70 MK3b that popped and banged its way around the circuit for thirty minutes before eventually finishing well and truly last.

 

At 16:15 ten Pre-1966 GT cars set of on a seventy-five-minute marathon that had everybody falling asleep. The Mike Whitaker TVR Griffith stormed off into the distance and then slowed to a steady cruise after the Schryver/Hadfield Lotus 26R showed it lacked the consistent pace to mount a challenge. Everyone continued circulating, probably feeling ever lonely and unnecessarily burning fuel, until to everyone’s relief and with darkness in the air, the flag fell. The Marcos 1800GT of Tice and Conoly finished third while the pretty dark blue Diva GT of Aylett and Farrell led the Austin Healey 100/4 home at the tail end.

 

I came away feeling the Masters Series was jumping the gun. Like the Mille Miglia it needs glamour and sunshine to attract the crowds, both were missing from Oulton Park. For the organisers of this prestigious series of Championship gatherings, surely the season really begins in Barcelona.

Stromboli is a small island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the north coast of Sicily, containing one of the three active volcanoes in Italy. It is one of the eight Aeolian Islands, a volcanic arc north of Sicily. This name is derived from the Ancient Greek name Strongulē which was given to it because of its round swelling form. The island's population is between 400 and 850. The volcano has erupted many times and is constantly active with minor eruptions, often visible from many points on the island and from the surrounding sea, giving rise to the island's nickname "Lighthouse of the Mediterranean". The most recent major eruption was on 13 April 2009. Stromboli stands 926 m (3,034 ft) above sea level, and over 2,700 m (8,860 ft) on average above the sea floor.There are three active craters at the peak. A significant geological feature of the volcano is the Sciara del Fuoco ("Stream of fire"), a big horseshoe-shaped depression generated in the last 13,000 years by several collapses on the northwestern side of the cone. Two kilometers to the northeast lies Strombolicchio, the volcanic plug remnant of the original volcano.Mt. Stromboli has been in almost continuous eruption for the past 2,000 years. A pattern of eruption is maintained in which explosions occur at the summit craters, with mild to moderate eruptions of incandescent volcanic bombs, at intervals ranging from minutes to hours. This Strombolian eruption, as it is known, is also observed at other volcanoes worldwide. Eruptions from the summit craters typically result in a few short, mild, but energetic bursts, ranging up to a few hundred meters in height, containing ash, incandescent lava fragments and stone blocks. Mt. Stromboli's activity is almost exclusively explosive, but lava flows do occur at times when volcanic activity is high: an effusive eruption occurred in 2002, the first in 17 years, and again in 2003, 2007, and 2013-14.The two villages San Bartolo and San Vincenzo lie in the northeast while the smaller village Ginostra lies in the southwest. Administratively, they are one of the frazione of Lipari.In the early 1900s a few thousand people inhabited the island, but after several emigrations the population numbered a few hundred by the mid-1950s.

 

Stromboli è un'isola dell'Italia appartenente all'arcipelago delle isole Eolie, in Sicilia. Si tratta di un vulcano attivo facente parte dell'Arco Eoliano. Posta nel bacino Tirreno del mare Mediterraneo occidentale, l'isola è la più settentrionale delle Eolie e si estende su una superficie di 12,2 km².L'edificio vulcanico è alto 926 m s.l.m. e raggiunge una profondità compresa tra 1300 m e 2400 m al di sotto del livello del mare. Stromboli ha una persistente attività esplosiva ed è uno dei vulcani più attivi del mondo. A poche centinaia di metri a nord-est dell'isola di Stromboli si trova il neck di Strombolicchio, residuo di un antico camino vulcanico. L'isolotto ospita un faro della Marina, disabitato e automatizzato.Lo Stromboli è un vulcano esplosivo e le sue eruzioni avvengono con una frequenza media di circa una ogni ora. La sua attività "ordinaria" ha luogo ad una quota di 750 m s.l.m. dalle diverse bocche eruttive presenti nell'area craterica e allineate in direzione NE-SW. Tale attività consiste in esplosioni intermittenti di media energia, della durata di pochi secondi ad intervalli di 10–20 minuti, durante le quali vengono emesse piccole quantità di bombe scoriacee incandescenti, lapilli, cenere e blocchi, con velocità di uscita compresa tra 20 a 120 metri al secondo ed altezze comprese tra poche decine fino ad alcune centinaia di metri. L'attività eruttiva è associata ad un degassamento pressoché continuo dall'area craterica, il cui volume stimato è di 6000-12000 t/gi, e che consiste principalmente di H2O (3200-6300 t/g), CO2 (2900-5800 t/g), SO2 (400-800 t/g) e quantità minori di HCl e HF.Periodi di totale inattività, senza lanci di materiale, sono piuttosto rari. Il più lungo tra quelli registrati si è protratto per circa due anni, dal 1908 al 1910. Periodi di prolungata quiescenza, della durata di qualche mese, sono stati registrati più volte.

L'attività normale può essere periodicamente interrotta da esplosioni di maggiore energia, dette "esplosioni maggiori". Questi eventi consistono di brevi ma violente esplosioni, durante le quali vengono prodotti lanci balistici di blocchi e bombe di dimensioni anche metriche a distanze di alcune centinaia di metri, associati a piogge di lapilli e cenere; la distribuzione dei prodotti è solitamente confinata all'interno dell'area craterica. Sono distribuite non omogeneamente nel tempo, ma si tratta mediamente di 2,1 eventi ogni anno.

Le eruzioni stromboliane più violente mai accadute in tempi storici risalgono al 1919 e al 1930, ed entrambe (pare) furono causate da grandi infiltrazioni d'acqua marina nel camino vulcanico: il magma, a contatto con l'acqua, avrebbe causato violente esplosioni con grande emissione di vapori e scorie, accompagnate da violenti terremoti. Per la prima e finora unica volta nella storia del vulcano, delle colate laviche si riversarono anche al di fuori della Sciara del Fuoco, arrivando a lambire i centri abitati (Piscità fu sfiorata ad appena 20 metri), causando ingenti danni e numerose vittime, e causando un piccolo tsunami che generò un'onda di 2–3 m che arrivò a far danni fino a Capo Vaticano, in Calabria.I parossismi rappresentano le manifestazioni più energetiche del vulcano di Stromboli; consistono in violente ed improvvise esplosioni "tipo cannonata", durante le quali avviene l'emissione sostenuta di scorie incandescenti, ceneri, bombe e blocchi litici a distanze considerevoli, fino ad interessare le zone abitate dell'isola. Tali esplosioni possono produrre nubi convettive che raggiungono quote di 10 km. Durante i parossismi sono emessi volumi sensibilmente maggiori di materiali rispetto alle eruzioni normali e a quelle maggiori e frequentemente possono avvenire profonde modificazioni dell'area craterica. L'ultimo evento parossistico è avvenuto il 15 marzo 2007 all'interno dell'eruzione di febbraio-aprile 2007.Il 27 febbraio 2007, con un'iniziale effusione di lava dal cratere di NE, durata alcune ore e seguita dall'apertura di una bocca effusiva nella Sciara del Fuoco, a quota 400 m s.l.m. circa. Il 9 marzo 2007 si è aperta una seconda bocca sempre sulla Sciara del Fuoco, ma posizionata a circa 500 m s.l.m.; l'attività di questa bocca è stata comunque breve (circa 24 ore). Il 2 aprile 2007 è infine terminata anche l'effusione di lava dalla bocca di quota 400 m s.l.m. Il 4 maggio 2009 il vulcano ha ripreso l'attività eruttiva.

Nell'ultimo secolo sono riportati circa 26 episodi durante i quali si sono avute emissioni laviche. I prodotti emessi sono rappresentati principalmente da colate di spessore variabile; la morfologia del vulcano obbliga le colate di lava a riversarsi sul versante nord-occidentale, dove sono confinate all'interno della Sciara di Fuoco e quindi non rappresentano un pericolo per la popolazione dell'isola. Le colate fuoriescono generalmente attraverso fratture eruttive nella zona craterica o all'interno della Sciara del Fuoco, ma possono generarsi anche per tracimazione dal bordo craterico.La storia geologica dell'isola di Stromboli comincia circa 200.000 anni fa, quando un primo vulcano attivo di grandi dimensioni emerge dal mare, in posizione NE rispetto all'isola; di questo vulcano antico rimane soltanto il condotto solidificato (neck) rappresentato da Strombolicchio (vedi sotto).Il vero e proprio vulcano di Stromboli emerge dal mare circa 160.000 anni fa. Inizialmente i centri di emissione sono nella parte meridionale dell'isola, dove affiorano le unità più antiche appartenenti ai complessi del Paleostromboli I e II.Circa 35.000 anni fa il centro di emissione migra leggermente verso nord e le emissioni di lava e i depositi piroclastici legati a eruzioni esplosive danno origine ad un cono che raggiunge quota 700 m s.l.m. (Paleostromboli III).Le fasi successive della storia di Stromboli vedono la formazione ed il collasso calderico di vari edifici vulcanici. In particolare, a circa 34.600 anni fa risale il complesso eruttivo di Scari, osservabile presso Scari e a sud del paese sotto forma di spesse sequenze di bombe vulcaniche, lapilli e lahar. Mentre successivo (circa 26.000 anni fa) è il complesso del Vancori, caratterizzato da depositi piroclastici e basalti shoshonitici. In questa fase, la cima del vulcano era occupata probabilmente da una grande caldera. Il ciclo Scari-Vancori si conclude con il collasso laterale (una grande frana) del settore occidentale e nordoccidentale dell'edificio vulcanico.La fase successiva, a partire da circa 13.800 anni fa, vede la ricostruzione dell'edificio nel settore nordoccidentale. Il nuovo centro eruttivo, detto Neostromboli, è ubicato a nord del costone dei Vancori. Contemporaneamente, alcuni centri eruttivi secondari danno origine al "Timpone del Fuoco" presso Ginostra, alle lave di San Bartolo e di San Vincenzo.All'incirca tra 10000 e 5000 anni fa il settore nordoccidentale subisce nuovi collassi laterali (frane), lasciando una profonda depressione a forma di ferro di cavallo che si estende dalla cima fino ad una profondità di circa 2.000 m sotto il livello del mare: la Sciara del Fuoco. Lentamente la depressione viene riempita da materiale piroclastico e colate di lava. Il centro eruttivo attuale è rappresentato da un grande cono piroclastico che si trova nella parte sommitale della Sciara del Fuoco, a quota inferiore rispetto al Pizzo Sopra la Fossa, ed è caratterizzato, come detto sopra, dalla presenza di tre crateri allineati parallelamente alla Sciara, in direzione NE-SW.

Stromboli è nota, frequentata ed abitata fin dall'antichità remota, e la sua economia si è sempre fondata sulle produzioni agricole tipicamente mediterranee: olivo, vite (malvasia coltivato basso in giardini terrazzati), fichi - e poi sulla pesca e sulla marineria. Fino al XIX secolo questa economia fu fiorente e Stromboli arrivò a contare circa 2700 abitanti, precisamente nel 1891, secondo i dati ufficiali a disposizione (fonte Mastriani e ISTAT ).Il peggioramento delle condizioni economiche seguito all'unità d'Italia, il ripetersi di eruzioni e terremoti (in particolare l'eruzione del 1930) e infine l'attacco della peronospora che negli anni trenta sterminò la più redditizia coltura locale, quella della vite, fecero sì che una grandissima maggioranza degli strombolani prendesse la via dell'emigrazione, soprattutto verso l'Australia e l'America e l'isola rischiò seriamente di restare abbandonata.Venne riscoperta dopo la guerra da Roberto Rossellini che, con il film del 1949 Stromboli terra di Dio (con protagonista femminile la giovane Ingrid Bergman), portò l'isola e la sua straordinarietà all'attenzione del pubblico.Il vulcano è chiamato dai suoi abitanti (gli stombolani) Struògnoli, o anche Iddu (Lui in siciliano), in riferimento alla natura divina che un tempo era attribuita ai fenomeni naturali incontrollabili.Il nome proviene dal greco antico Στρογγύλη (rotondo) per via della sua forma. In siciliano strummulu significa trottola.Stromboli dà il nome a un tipo di vulcani caratterizzati da un'attività vulcanica effusiva detta Stromboliana.I principali borghi abitati sono San Vincenzo (o semplicemente il paese di Stromboli, anticamente era borgo degli agricoltori) con l'approdo storico di Scari, Piscità e Ficogrande, che anticamente era il borgo degli armatori.A sudovest, raggiungibile solo via mare, c'è Ginostra dove d'inverno restano circa 30 o 40 abitanti e dove l'unico mezzo di trasporto è il mulo.A Stromboli c'è una scuola elementare e media per i pochi ragazzi abitanti dell'isola. Dopo le scuole solitamente i ragazzi vanno a Lipari dove sono presenti alcune scuole secondarie di secondo grado.Da Napoli, Lipari, Milazzo e Messina Stromboli è raggiungibile col traghetto e, d'estate, anche in aliscafo da Messina, Reggio Calabria, Vibo Valentia e Tropea.Il flusso turistico verso l'isola, che costituisce la principale risorsa economica di Stromboli, fino agli anni settanta fu rappresentato soprattutto da persone alla ricerca di un ambiente particolare, naturale ed integro e non privo di scomodità come mancanza di elettricità, scarsità d'acqua. Nei decenni successivi le scomodità sono molto diminuite e il turismo è molto cresciuto, anche se resta limitato prevalentemente ai mesi centrali estivi.L'isola è meta di turisti in cerca di tranquillità: anche per questo nei locali dell'isola è vietato diffondere musica oltre le due di notte.Giornalmente, inoltre, si organizzano escursioni al vulcano con guide esperte, che portano ad oltre 900 metri sul livello del mare. Tramite imbarcazioni è inoltre possibile raggiungere nelle ore notturne la vicina e movimentata Panarea, lo scoglio di Strombolicchio e Ginostra, caratteristica località sull'isola di Stromboli dove l'unico mezzo di trasporto sono i muli (ne sono presenti una decina in tutto) e che è irraggiungibile per via terrestre dall'altra parte abitata dell'isola.Stromboli è anche meta, seppur in misura minore, di molti giovani, che si recano nei locali e nelle feste sulla spiaggia periodicamente organizzate nella stagione estiva.Caratteristica dell'isola, oltre alle stradine strette percorribili solo dal motocarro e dai motorini elettrici, che i turisti affittano sull'isola stessa, è la mancata illuminazione notturna nelle strade, che il Comune a cui l'isola fa riferimento, ovvero quello di Lipari, vuol mantenere come importante attrattiva turistica. Dall'Osservatorio, infine, si può vedere la lava del vulcano, l'unico delle Isole Eolie perennemente in attività e il cielo stellato evidenziato dalla mancanza di illuminazione.Durante la stagione turistica partono imbarcazioni per permettere ai turisti di fare il bagno presso lo scoglio di Strombolicchio.

 

Font : Wikipedia

 

Killdeer - A shorebird you can see without going to the beach, Killdeer are graceful plovers common to lawns, golf courses, athletic fields, and parking lots. These tawny birds run across the ground in spurts, stopping with a jolt every so often to check their progress, or to see if they have startled up any insect prey. Their voice, a far-carrying, excited kill-deer, is a common sound even after dark, often given in flight as the bird circles overhead on slender wings. Widespread, numerous, and noisy – these words describe the killdeer, Charadrius vociferus, a conspicuous, easy-to-identify member of the plover family. It is one of the noisiest of American birds, which accounts for the "vociferus" part of its scientific name. Although the killdeer is classed as a migratory species, this bird is a year-round resident of Texas, choosing a variety of habitats as home. It is found throughout the state, with the possible exception of the Panhandle during frigid winter weather. It thrives in open or semi-open areas and is at home in either dry or wet locations. An arid mesa or canyon can be as appealing as a home near a river or by a lake shore. Plains and prairies, whether grassy or bare, and fields or pastures, whether cultivated or fallow, attract the birds as often as the marshes, beaches, bays, and lagoon flats of the coast. Killdeer also manage to live side-by-side with people, using airports, golf courses, and lawns as foraging areas. Pebbled rooftops serve as well for nest sites as dry gravel beds along creeks and rivers. Both nest and eggs blend into the surroundings, but the birds take no chances, guarding the nest constantly throughout the 26 to 28 day incubation period. If the nest is threatened, the female is a master at the art of subterfuge. Imitating a severely injured bird, she flutters a few feet from the nest, falls flat on the ground as though hopelessly wounded, and utters piteous cries. If approached, she recovers enough to move farther from the nest, but continues to drag one or both wings on the ground as if broken. She may even roll over and gasp and pant as if completely exhausted by her efforts. Throughout the performance she continues to cry pitifully as if in pain. By spreading her tail feathers and throwing her body from side to side, she exposes a golden-red rump patch that may look like blood to the enemy. The male also may get into the act, flying around the intruder at a safe distance, screaming protests. Working as a team, they continue the performance until the intruder is lured away from the nest. Another diversion the birds use is the false nest act. When feeding birds are approached, one will move away, completely ignoring the enemy, and settle into a depression with all the motions associated with covering a nest of eggs. As the enemy draws near, the bird glides off to expose the empty depression. To add insult, the bird also makes a cry that sounds like a chuckle. If the enemy continues to follow, the false nest act will be repeated until the follower gets tired of looking into empty depressions and goes away. For more info see: tpwd.texas.gov/publications/nonpwdpubs/introducing_birds/...

The blue Yankee Stadium letters over the main gate are the same letters that first appeared there in white in the early 1960s.

 

The original Yankee Stadium, located at East 161st Street and River Avenue, served as the home baseball park of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees from 1923 to 1973 and, after extensive renovations, from 1976 to 2008. Nicknamed "The House that Ruth Built", it was the first three-tiered sports facility in the United States and one of the first baseball parks to be given the lasting title of stadium. Yankee Stadium hosted 6,581 Yankees regular season home games, and 37 World Series during its 85-year history. Yankee Stadium was the home of the National Football League's New York Giants from 1956-1973, before they relocated ultimately to Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands, including the 1958 NFL championship game, and other short-lived professional football franchises including the three incarnations of the AFL's New York Yankees (1926, 1936-37, 1941), the AAFC's New York Yankees (1946-49), the NFL's New York Yanks (1950-51). It hosted three papal masses--Pope Paul VI (1965), Pope John Paul II (1979), and Pope Benedict XVI (2008); thirty championship prizefights--including Joe Louis-Max Schmeling and Muhammad Ali-Ken Norton; two professional soccer franchies--the USA/NASL's New York Generals (1967-68) and the NASL's New York Cosmos (1971, 1976); and college football--including the annual Notre Dame-Army game from 1925 through 1947.

 

The Yankees had shared the Polo Grounds with the New York Giants since 1913, but strained relations between the two teams led owners Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Huston and Jacob Ruppert to build their own stadium on a 10-acre lumberyard within sight of Coogan's Bluff. Originally designed by Osborn Engineering and built by the White Construction Company at a cost of $2.5 million, the stadium opened on April 18, 1923, with the Yankees beating the Boston Red Sox 4-1. By the late 1960s, the stadium's condition had badly deteriorated. After the stadium was purchased by the City of New York in 1972, it closed for a two-year facelift following the 1973 season, with the Yankees taking up temporary residence at Shea

Stadium in the interim. The renovations by Praeger-Kavanaugh-Waterbury significantly altered the appearance of the stadium. 118 columns reinforcing each tier of the grandstand were removed, the Stadium's roof, including its distinctive 15-foot copper frieze, was replaced by a new upper shell, and a white painted concrete replica of the frieze was added atop the wall encircling the bleachers. The Stadium's playing field was lowered and shortened, with the monuments once in play relgated to a newly created Monument Park.

 

In 2006, the Yankees began construction on a new $1.8 billion stadium in adjacent public parkland, which opened with the 2009 season. The final game at the stadium was held on September 21, 2008, with the Yankees beating the Baltimore Orioles 7-3.

 

In 2007, Yankee Stadium was ranked #84 on the AIA 150 America's Favorite Architecture list.

Public School 66 (formerly the Brooklyn Hills School, Later the Oxford School, now the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School). Richmond Hill, Queens

 

Originally constructed in 1898-9, Public School (P.S.) 66 is a remarkable survivor from a time when Richmond Hill, Queens, was transitioning from a rural farming community into a vibrant residential neighborhood. Three identical schools (two now demolished) were constructed in anticipation of an influx of residents, expected as a result of improvements in transportation, the subdivision of farmlands into lots for residential development, and the consolidation of Queens with Greater New York City that same year.

 

Also known as the Brooklyn Hills School after the suburban development in which it was physically located, P.S. 66 formally opened its doors in 1902. Harry S. Chambers, Superintendent of School Buildings for the Union Free School District No. 7 of the Town of Jamaica, Queens, is credited with the design of the original school building.

 

C.B.J. Snyder, Superintendent of School Buildings for the New York City Board of Education from 1890 to 1923, is noted as the architect of a 1905-6 addition.

 

The two-and-a-half and three-story red brick building is Victorian Eclectic in style. Many of its features are characteristic of the Romanesque Revival style and give the building a fortress-like appearance, including prominent round arches highlighting window openings and the main entrance, a flared base, and a distinctive six-story tower (restored in 2001).

 

Elements of the Queen Anne style are also present in the building’s large entablatures featuring elaborate rinceaux, its gabled dormers, and the steeply pitched roofs of the 1905-6 addition, which was harmoniously designed in the style of the main section. The tower, which originally contained a bell used to call school children from neighboring farms and developments, is distinguished by round arches, brick corbelling, large masonry columns, and foliate details. An ornamental panel above the main entranceway survives and features the name of the school.

  

Today, P.S. 66 has been renamed the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School in honor of the former First Lady’s passion for literacy and for historic preservation and continues to serve in its original function as a grammar school. It remains one of Queens’ most distinctive school structures.

 

Richmond Hill, Queens

 

P.S. 66 is geographically located in east central Queens, just south of the verdant Forest Park in the neighborhood of Richmond Hill. The area was originally part of the town of Jamaica, one of the oldest and most historically significant areas of the borough. Jamaica was inhabited by a Native American tribe called the Jameco or Yamecah, a word meaning Beaver in Algonquin, when the first Europeans arrived there in 1655.

 

They had came from neighboring Hempstead looking for more space to farm and in 1656 applied to Governor Stuyvesant for a patent to “purchase” 10 acres of land from the native tribe.4 When the English took over in 1664, the town’s name was changed to Jamaica. Queens County (then including all of Nassau County) was chartered in 1683 as one of the ten counties of the colony of New York and official town patents were given to Jamaica, Newtown, and Flushing. A 1698 census of Queens County showed a total population of 3,366 white residents and 199 black residents.

 

While early records do indicate the existence of slaves in Jamaica, the town also had a free black population throughout its history. Through the next century, the community of Jamaica served as the county seat and became a trading post where farmers from outlying areas brought their produce.

 

Incorporated as a village in 1814, Jamaica became a center of trade on Long Island. Early east-west roads, like King’s Highway, and the arrival of the first railroad, the fledgling Long Island Railroad (LIRR), in 1836, provided crucial links between Eastern Long Island and Manhattan.

 

Further transportation improvements following the Civil War, including a horse car line in 1866 and electric trolley in 1888, began to open up previously rural, inaccessible portions of the county. The area became ripe for urban development, much of which remained focused around Jamaica.

 

During the 19th century, Jamaica evolved into a retreat for urban dwellers who patronized its numerous inns and saloons on weekend excursions and built large summer homes on its open land. The permanent population of Jamaica increased steadily throughout the second half of the 19th century, and eventually some of the nearby farms were subdivided for house lots.

 

While driving from his Wall Street office to his Lawrence, Long Island, summer home, Albon Platt Man, a wealthy lawyer from New York City, is said to have become enamored by a sunny slope in northwest Jamaica which dropped gently southward from Long Island’s terminal moraine ridge.

 

Man purchased the land in 1869, consisting of five farmsteads belonging to the Lefferts, Bergen, Welling, Robertson, and Hendrickson families, amounting to more than 400 acres.9 He later acquired adjacent parcels to the north and to the east.10 Man and his business partner, Edward Richmond, a landscape architect, envisioned the development of a rural community where workers could escape from the congestion of the industrial city to peaceful homes in picturesque settings.11 They named the project Richmond Hill, most likely after the famed London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.

 

By the 1870s, 250 acres of Man’s original purchase had been transformed into lots suitable for private residences. Between 1868 and 1874, some 400 shade and ornamental trees were planted, and various streets, avenues, and drives were laid out around the most desirable portions of the property. A passenger depot at Richmond Hill was opened in 1868 by the South Side Railroad of Long Island.

 

A school and a church were erected, followed shortly by both small-scale cottages and more luxurious houses built by wealthy businessmen from Manhattan. The heart of the village was the main junction of Myrtle, Jamaica, and Lefferts Avenues, near the train depot and a small grocery store / post office.

 

Richmond Hill continued to grow in the decades that followed, as did the surrounding neighborhoods that were similarly being developed by real estate developers and syndicates. In 1895, the three separate hamlets of Richmond Hill, Morris Park, and Clarenceville were incorporated as the Village of Richmond Hill.

 

The municipal independence of the village, however, was short-lived – just three years later Queens would become part of Greater New York City. Consolidation was favorably looked upon by developers, as extension of New York City’s water and sewers, rapid transit, and new bridges across the east river undoubtedly meant an increase in the region’s desirability.

 

Brooklyn Hills

 

In 1887, the Brooklyn Hills Improvement Company, a real estate syndicate, purchased roughly 160 acres of farmland within Richmond Hills.14 The land was easily accessible at the junction of the Long Island Railroad on Atlantic Avenue, the Rockaway Beach Railroad, the Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad, and a proposed subway route (later an elevated train, now the J). To help ready the land for residential development, the company graded streets, laid flagging and sidewalks, planted more than 1,000 trees, and connected water pipes to the mains of the Woodhaven Water Supply Company.

 

By 1895, the company had constructed about 150 houses and 20 stores within the development that had come to be known as Brooklyn Hills.16 While the population of the neighborhood was cited as 200 residents by 1898, much of the land remained undeveloped at the turn of the century. This included “Plat No. 3,” a residential subdivision within Brooklyn Hills that consisted of roughly twelve blocks surrounding the newly constructed P.S. 66, located at Union Place (now 102nd Street) between Walnut Street (now 85th Road) and Tulip Street (now 85th Avenue) (see Figure 18).

 

A lawsuit brought by the Brooklyn Hills Improvement Company against the New York and Rockaway Railroad Company in 1899 alleged that a contract to establish a station at Brooklyn Hills had been breached, and that failure of the railroad to build the station had damaged and hindered the company’s efforts to sell real estate in the area.18 Ultimately the company was awarded only six cents in damages. The argument that the company had not been able to profit off its land was widely considered specious.

 

A Brooklyn Hills station of the Rockaway Beach Branch of the Long Island Railroad had operated at Myrtle Avenue and Forest Park from about 1882 to 1911. Moreover, records indicate no problem with sales – as reported in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, by 1902 the company had sold nearly 600 building lots at prices ranging from $2,500 to $3,000 per acre.19 The company had also profited in 1898 off the condemnation by the city of a hilly portion of the tract located north of Plat No. 3, which was to become part of Forest Park.20 Development delays, specifically within Plat No. 3, more likely resulted from complications with the nearby Waterbury and Napier farms which, until 1905, prohibited the cutting of through streets and which therefore stood as a barrier between the subdivision and the rest of the village.

 

This impediment, however, was removed by the time of the 1905 auction of the 382 lots of Plat No. 3.22 Real estate boosters prepared for the auction touted the tract’s location, bounded by a “beautiful range of hills” to the north (now part of Forest Park) slated to become “one of the most beautiful of New York City’s public parks.” Physical improvements were also touted, such as the widening of Union Place (now 102nd Street), the plat’s principal avenue, and the presence of the “large modern public school on its property,” referring, of course, to P.S. 66. The auction was apparently a success. The Brooklyn Hills Improvement Company was voluntarily dissolved on October 28, 1907.

 

Public Education in Jamaica, Queens

 

The present New York City public school system, fully supported and maintained by public funds, developed slowly from the initial establishment under the Dutch of elementary schools supported and jointly controlled by both the civil authorities and the Dutch Reformed Church. Under English rule, a system of private academies, similar to those in Britain, appeared in lieu of a public system. Through the 18th century, schools in Queens were rarely free and were primarily run by religious institutions.24 It was not until after the American Revolution that New York State undertook the task of creating a public education system. During the period between the first meeting of the state legislature in 1777 and 1851, nearly 1,000 pieces of legislation concerning education were passed. In 1812, New York State adopted a common school system intended to provide free elementary education to all the residents of the state, to be funded through local taxes.

 

In 1813, the town of Jamaica voted to receive its allotted quota of the state’s school fund to put towards establishing common schools.

 

“Union free school districts” were established during the 1853 session of legislature as a way for municipalities to combine two or more common schools for the purpose of making education available to children from a broader region. In addition to free admission, pupils within union free school districts were also entitled to free school materials, such as textbooks.26 The Union Free School District No. 7 of the Town of Jamaica was founded in 1888 and encompassed Richmond Hill.27 By 1890, 1,350 school children were enrolled within District No. 7, an increase of more than 30 percent in the two years since the district was established.

 

Consolidation of the city in 1898 created the need for a unified public education system that would combine the numerous, independently-administered school districts of the borough, each with its own curricula, grade divisions and educational policies. The Borough School Boards and Central Board had been established in 1897 to begin centralized decision making, but in 1901 they were abolished and replaced by a newly reorganized Board of Education consisting of 46 Local School Board Districts and a central Executive Committee. The work of the new organization was affected by several recently implemented state and municipal efforts at reform, including the Compulsory Education Law of 1894 which mandated school attendance for all children until age 14, the School Reform Law of 1896 which mandated state support of secondary schools, and revision of the city charter in 1901.

 

The laws substantially increased the number of children attending city schools, created new types of schools, and improved school accommodations. A temporary halt in funding for new buildings significantly slowed the construction of school facilities in most parts of the city for a year following consolidation. Although the moratorium led to further overcrowding in existing schools in Jamaica, as throughout the city, in the years that followed, millions of dollars were authorized for the construction of new facilities.

 

History of P.S. 66

 

Conditions in District No. 7, as throughout pre-consolidated New York City, were crowded as a result of the changes to state and municipal education laws. In July 1897, a resolution was presented before the local school board calling for $100,000 to be raised via taxes and the sale of bonds, for the construction of additions to existing school structures and the purchase of land for the erection of a new school house within District No. 7.30 Hoping to thwart further shortages in classroom space, and possibly anticipating the post-consolidation freeze in funding for new buildings, the board dramatically increased its proposal just one month later with a call for three additional ten-room school houses. In total, the school board hoped to be able to accommodate 1,750 pupils.

 

On August 3, 1897, the school board passed a resolution to purchase three sites for the proposed school houses – Site No. 7, referred to in town records as the Broadway site, which would become Public School 64, Site No. 8, referred to as the Union Course site, which would become Public School 65, and Site No. 9, referred to as the Brooklyn Hills site, which would become P.S. 66. The parcel of 200 feet by 175 feet on which P.S. 66 would be constructed was purchased for $7,000 from the widow of Thomas F. Hayes, a real estate agent who may have been associated with the Brooklyn Hills Improvement Company. Three identical plans were submitted for the buildings by Harry S. Chambers, the Superintendent of School Buildings and architect for District No. 7, and were accepted in the fall of 1897. In early December, however, a motion was made to reduce the size of the schools from ten rooms to eight rooms, as a result of contractor bids exceeding approximated building costs.

 

New plans were summarily submitted and accepted. A carpenter by the name of Thomas J. Clarke was awarded the contract for construction of “Building No. 9” just one week later, with a winning bid of $24,290.31 Construction began in early 1898, and the school was officially designated as “Public School No. 66” on April 15, 1898. The building was completed on July 28, 1899.32

 

Upon completion, P.S. 66 contained eight classrooms serving the first through sixth grades, a library, and a principal’s office. Four classrooms were located on each of the first and second stories of the building, surrounding an octagonal lobby. The two-and-a-half story Victorian Eclectic-style building, consisting of bearing exterior and interior walls with floors framed with wood joists, was essentially square in plan. The primary entrance to the school, which was picturesquely sited within a verdant, undeveloped area of Brooklyn Hills, was located at the base of a six-story, projecting tower along the building’s west elevation. Many of the original school’s features are characteristic of the Romanesque Revival style and give the building a fortress-like appearance, including prominent round arches highlighting window openings and the main entrance, a flared base, and its distinctive tower.

 

Elements of the Queen Anne style are also present in the design of the original school building, in its large entablatures featuring elaborate rinceaux, its gabled dormers, and a pair of paneled brick chimneys. The tower, which originally contained a bell used to call school children from neighboring farms and developments, is distinguished by round arches, brick corbelling, large masonry columns, and foliate ornamentation. An ornamental panel above the main entranceway featured foliate decoration and the name of the school.

 

Despite a very real need for classroom space throughout New York City at the turn of the century, most apparent in the fact that many schools were running classes part-time in order to accommodate demand, P.S. 66, like other schools constructed in Queens just prior to consolidation, did not immediately open. Due to a shortage in municipal funds, the unoccupied school had not been assigned a janitor and consequently began to deteriorate. In December 1899, the windows at

 

P.S. 66 were reportedly broken by neighborhood children and the plumbing stripped by thieves. To prevent further vandalism, P.S. 66, as well as the still unoccupied P.S. 65, were boarded up. Notwithstanding the continued residential development of the borough, Queens was still largely considered a rural farming community at the turn of the century and the presence of unutilized schools structures did not go unnoticed. As reported in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in 1900:

 

…While in Brooklyn and Manhattan there are thousands of children who cannot

go to school because there is no room for them, [here] there is room for nearly

two thousand with which the population of the village has not yet been blessed...

 

The notion that the schools remained unopened due to a lack of demand, however, was a misconception. For several years, the children of Brooklyn Hills residents were forced to attend Public School 58 in nearby Ozone Park on a half-day schedule as they eagerly awaited transfer to the new school. The New York City Board of Estimate and Apportionment, however, had only allotted $25,000 for janitors’ wages for the entire borough of Queens for the 1900-1901 school year, a full $15,000 less than the sum awarded the borough in the years prior to consolidation.34 Similar reductions in appropriations were made for teachers’ salaries, with reductions of 25% in early 1900 leading to a numerous teacher resignations. While P.S. 65 appears to have opened in time for the 1899-00 school year, relieving some of the crowding experienced by the school district, it is not surprising that under such financial strain, both P.S. 64 and P.S. 66 remained closed.

 

P.S. 66 finally opened its doors on April 14, 1902 and was referred to locally as the Brooklyn Hills School.35 Neighborhood residents were transferred to the school by start of the new fall term. In early 1902, the school board petitioned the Board of Public Improvements to open nearby Orchard Avenue (now 86th Avenue) “to accommodate school children in getting to this school, as no street opens from the northeast to it.”36 By May of that year, attendance at the school had increased so rapidly that the services of two additional teachers were requested. Records from 1905 indicate that seven teachers and 278 students occupied the building.

 

Between 1900 and 1910, the city’s population grew by nearly 39 percent, primarily a result of unprecedented levels of immigration. This growth naturally led to further increases in school enrollment and attendance throughout the city. To meet the latest increase in demand for classroom space, a three-story addition to the east of P.S. 66’s original school building was constructed in 1905-6. The addition doubled the number of classrooms and included space for a kindergarten and an auditorium. The addition, which is attributed to C.B.J. Snyder, superintendent of School Buildings for the New York City Board of Education from 1890 to 1923, was harmoniously designed in the style of the main section. Consisting of brick bearing walls with floors supported by steel beams, the addition is roughly rectangular in plan. The addition features a pair of two-and-a-half story gabled wings that project northwards and southwards from a three-story, flat-roofed core.

 

The addition is distinguished by steeply pitched slate roofs and ornamental brick corbelling at the wings and central core. According to Board of Education records, the addition was occupied on September 9, 1907.

 

Description

 

P.S. 66 is situated towards the eastern boundary of a large, rectangular lot bounded by the gently sloped 102nd Street to the west, 85th Avenue to the north, 85th Road to the south, and a service driveway to the east. The site is presently surrounded by a non-original concrete curb that is topped by iron and chain-link fencing. Primary pedestrian entry to the site is located along 102nd Street, while secondary entries can be found along 85th Avenue, 85th Road, and also via the service driveway. The school building is set back from 102nd Street by a verdant lawn featuring large trees and other plantings.

 

The school structure is composed of various masses that, together, are roughly symmetrical in plan (see Figure 12). The two-and-a half story, original portion of the school building, consisting of approximately the western two-thirds of the present structure, is essentially square in plan. An addition, consisting of a pair of two-and-a-half story gabled wings projecting northwards and southwards from a three-story, flat-roofed core, was joined to the east of the original school building in 1905-6 and is roughly rectangular in plan. The primary entrance to the structure is located at the base of a projecting fortress-like tower along the original school building’s west elevation. Secondary entrances are located along each of the remaining elevations.

 

All elevations of the Victorian Eclectic-style school feature red-brick laid in a Common bond. Partially-exposed basement stories are visible at all elevations (except where noted) and are flared at the original school building, one of several design elements that gives the school a fortress-like appearance. Rectangular window openings (shorter at partially-exposed basement stories) featuring flush cast-stone lintels and projecting cast-stone sills are typical at each elevation of the structure (except where noted). At the original school building, the sills of the first and second stories, as well as the lintels of the first story, are continuous with flush cast-stone bands at all elevations (except where noted). All first and second-story window openings of the original school building and 1905-6 addition feature six-over-six double-hung wood sashes (except where noted), several of which are original (see Alterations).

 

Basement window openings typically feature three-over-three double-hung wood sashes (except where noted).

 

Original School Building

 

West (102nd Street) elevation: The primary, west elevation of P.S. 66 is composed of three sections. The two-bay wide central section projects forward (except where noted) and is principally defined by a six-story, fortress-like tower at the southern bay. Two round-arched openings featuring concentric brick arches with brick hood molding are located at the ground story of the central section (basement not exposed), consisting of a window opening containing paired typical sashes and a typical sill, topped by a fanlight with ornamental lead dividers, on the left, and the primary entrance, consisting of slightly recessed, wood double-doors (non-original), paneled wood reveals, and a matching fanlight, on the right. The primary entrance is raised slightly on a single granite step. The ground-story arches of the central section spring from a molded cast-stone water table course, continuous on all sides of the projecting central section and beneath which are found recessed rectangular brick panels.

 

A single, narrow typical window opening, which descends slightly into the water table course, is visible at the north-facing portion of the projecting central section at the first story. A decorative panel featuring foliate details and inscribed with the words “Public School” and “No. 66” is found above the primary entrance. A masonry and cast-stone balustrade tops the first story of the northern bay of the central section (including the north-facing portion). The two-story tall northern bay is recessed above the first story. At the second story, the northern bay features paired window openings topped by blind arches consisting of concentric brick courses, brick hood molding and a herringbone tympanum and featuring elaborate window surrounds with foliate details. An entablature consisting of a molded architrave, rinceau, and molded cornice, is found directly above the second-story window openings of the northern bay (see Alterations).

 

A hipped section of the structure’s slate roof is visible above the entablature at the northern bay. A drain pipe is affixed to the north-facing portion of the central section.

 

The southern bay of the central section consists of the six-story tower. Above the primary entrance, the tower consists of two, narrow rectangular window openings featuring four-over­four double-hung wood sashes and flush, continuous cast-stone lintels and sills at the second story, three narrow round-arched window openings featuring two-over-two double-hung sashes with arched upper sashes, brick hood molding springing from molded brick corbels, and slightly projecting cast-stone sills connected by a flush cast-stone band at the third story, three blind rectangular windows with a continuous cast-stone sill supported on stepped brick corbelling above a paneled frieze (continuous on all visible sides of the tower) at the fourth story, three arched masonry openings featuring outsized Corinthian columns (half-columns at outer arches), a continuous rinceau, and a projecting cast-stone sill supported on stepped brick corbelling at the fifth-story and repeated at a shorter height (and without the frieze) at the sixth-story, and a diminutive molded cast-stone cornice at its crown. Similar to the fourth story, the sixth-story sill and corbelling is continuous on all visible sides of the tower. The south elevation of the tower features two, irregularly-sized and irregularly-spaced narrow typical window openings at the first and second stories (left window opening at first story descends slightly into the water table course) and a single window opening at the third story with details similar to that of the third story of the tower’s west elevation. The details of the fourth, fifth and sixth stories of the west elevation of the tower are repeated on the north, south and east elevations (east elevation not visible from street).

 

The two-and-a-half story north section of the west elevation is four bays wide and features a typical window opening at each bay of the partially-exposed basement, first, and second stories. A wide gable with cast-stone coping that culminates in a finial spans the width of the section. Two shorter typical window openings are set within the gable and feature six-over­six double-hung wood sashes, sills connected by a flush cast-stone band and another flush cast-stone band that serves as a lintel course. The substantial metal tympanum beneath the gable features elaborate foliate, garland and urn details. Paired, cylindrical pinnacles of differing height, featuring cast-stone corbels with foliate details and patterned cast-stone finials, flank the section (the left-most pinnacle is continuous with the north elevation). From a distance, a rectangular brick chimney featuring arched panels, brick banding, and masonry coping, is visible above the roofline (also visible from the north elevation).

 

Each of the three bays of the two-and-a-half story south section of the west elevation features a typical window opening at the partially-exposed basement, first, and second stories.

 

An entablature consisting of a molded architrave, rinceau, and molded cornice, is found directly above the second-story window openings, matches that of the northern bay of the central section, and is continuous with the south elevation. A gabled dormer featuring cast-stone coping that culminates in a finial contains two rectangular window openings featuring two-over-two double-hung wood sashes and typical sills. The dormer pierces the cornice of this section and is flanked by cylindrical brick pinnacles with patterned cast-stone finials. A flush cast-stone band serves as a lintel course for the dormer windows. The metal tympanum beneath the gable features elaborate foliate details. A drain pipe that is affixed to the south-facing elevation of the tower at its top pierces the cornice of the section and continues towards the ground affixed to it. From a distance, a cross-hipped section of the structure’s slate roof is visible above the entablature.

 

One of the structure’s two rectangular brick chimneys featuring arched panels, brick banding, and masonry coping, is visible above the roofline (also visible from the south elevation).

 

South (85th Road) elevation: The south elevation consists of two sections. The two-bay east section of the south elevation is recessed from the four-bay west section. At the partially-exposed basement, first, and second stories, the west section of the south elevation features single typical window openings at each of the first two bays and two typical window openings at each of the third and fourth bays (a single header course is found beneath the typical sills of the partially-exposed basement windows). A dormer matching that of the south section of the west elevation is centered above the west section. At the partially-exposed basement, first, and second stories, the east section features a single typical window opening at the western bay and three typical window openings at the eastern bay. An additional bay is visible at the east-facing elevation between the two sections and features a single narrow typical window opening containing four-over-four double hung wood sashes at each of the first and second stories and a non-original door opening with typical cast-stone lintel raised on one concrete step at an exposed basement level (door is accessed via non-original, below-grade concrete stairway surrounded by a concrete curb with metal handrail) (see Alterations). An entablature matching that of the west elevation is found above the second-story window openings of the east, west, and east-facing sections of the south elevation, and is continuous from the west elevation. A cross-hipped section of the structure’s slate roof is visible above the entablature, as is one of the structure’s two rectangular brick chimneys featuring arched panels, brick banding, and masonry coping (also visible from the west elevation). A drain pipe that is affixed towards the right side of the east section pierces the cornice as it runs to the ground. Additional drain pipes are affixed towards the left edge of both the east and west sections.

 

North (85th Avenue) elevation: The north elevation is the same as the south elevation, except where noted. Unlike the south elevation, the west section of the north elevation features two typical window openings at each bay of the partially-exposed basement, first, and second stories, and there is no header course beneath the sills of the partially-exposed basement window openings of the east section. Although there is no opening at the partially-exposed basement story of the west-facing elevation between the sections, there is a non-original door opening at the right side of the third bay of the east section at the basement level (door is accessed via non-original, below-grade concrete stairway surrounded by a concrete curb with metal handrail) (see Alterations). The window openings of the left side of the fourth bay of the east section at the first and second stories have been altered into door openings to accommodate a fire escape (see Alterations). A multi-level, cross-hipped section of the structure’s slate roof is visible above the entablature at this elevation, as is one of the structure’s two rectangular brick chimneys featuring arched brick panels, brick banding, and masonry coping (also visible, at a distance, from the west elevation). In lieu of the smaller dormer present at the south elevation, a large, gabled dormer rises from the roof at the east section, about two-thirds of the way back. The dormer contains a single rectangular window opening with a molded window surround and three-over-three double-hung wood sashes. The metal face of the dormer features radiating sunburst and foliate details. Unlike the south elevation, only one drain pipe is affixed to the north elevation, at the west section.

 

1905-6 Addition

 

West elevation: The west elevation consists primarily of the west elevations of a pair of two-and-a-half story wings that project from a central, three-story, flat-roofed core (because the core abuts the slightly shorter original school building to the west, only a small portion of its western elevation is visible). Few details adorn the west elevations of the north and south wings. The west elevation of the south wing does not feature any openings, and although a typical lintel and sill are present at the partially-exposed basement story, any window opening that may have been present here has been seamlessly bricked in. The west elevation of the north wing features a short, wide rectangular window opening with a typical lintel and sill at the partially-exposed basement story that has been filled-in with a non-original metal panel. A portion of the west elevations of both the north and south wings is taken up by a projecting one-story pavilion which features brick corbelling, a large, flush masonry band, and masonry coping, all of which wrap to each pavilion’s south elevation (the pavilions may not be original to the 1905-6 addition, see 1905-6 Addition, South (85th Road) elevation). Brick corbelling caps both the north and south wings and terminates at the outer edge of each wing at a stylized brick buttress featuring a cast-stone corbel and capital (the buttresses are shared with the north and south elevations of the wings). A pitched slate roof is visible above each wing. The visible portion of the west elevation of the central core features a projecting brick band and parapet with brick corbelling and masonry coping, all of which are continuous with the north, south and east elevations of the core. A rectangular brick chimney is partially visible above the roofline of the flat-roofed core. Drain pipes are affixed to the west elevations of both the north and south wings and a pipe vent is visible along the roof of the south wing.

 

South (85th Road) elevation: The south elevation is principally defined by the gabled, three-bay wide, two-and-a-half story tall, projecting south wing. A single bay of three-story central core, flush with the original school building, is visible to the west of the south wing. Each of the bays of the south wing features a typical window opening at the first and second stories. At the partially-exposed basement story, only the outer bays feature a typical window opening. A single, shorter typical window opening is found within the gable of the south wing. Stylized brick buttresses featuring cast-stone corbels and capitals flank the gable (the buttresses are shared with the east and west elevations of the wing) and are continuous with cast-stone coping which culminates in a finial. The single bay of the central core, to the west of the south wing, features a typical window opening at the second story and a narrow typical window opening at the third story.

 

The first story is taken up by the projecting one-story pavilion, which overhangs the original school building slightly and which features brick corbelling, a large, flush masonry band, and masonry coping, all of which wrap to the pavilion’s west elevation. The masonry band serves as a lintel course for a wide door opening that pierces the brick corbelling. The door opening is raised on a wide concrete step that extends beyond the opening and contains a deeply recessed non-original metal door and solid metal side panel. The pavilion may not be original to the 1905-6 addition, as it obscures most of what appears to have been a typical window opening at the first story of this bay, presently only partially visible above the pavilion. Portions of the brick band and parapet with brick corbelling and masonry coping of the central core are visible above the gabled roof of the south wing, all of which are continuous with the north, east and west elevations of the core. A brick buttress-like element is located above the west slope of the gabled roof of the south wing at the central core.

 

North (85thAvenue) elevation: The north elevation is a mirror image of the south elevation, except where noted. Unlike the south elevation, only the west-most bay of the partially-exposed basement story of the north wing features a window opening. At the projecting pavilion, a shorter typical window opening that pierces the brick corbelling, whose lintel is integrated with the masonry band, and which contains two-over-two double-hung wood sashes, is located to the right of the door opening. To the west of the north wing, two bays of the central core are visible, both recessed slightly from the original school building. The eastern bay of the central core is the same as the north elevation, while the western bay features a short, narrow typical window opening containing two-over-two double hung wood sashes, offset in height at each of the first, second and third stories.

 

East elevation: The east elevation is comprised of three sections consisting, like the west elevation, of two wings projecting from a central core. The east elevations of the north and south wings are the same as the west elevations of the wings, except where noted. Unlike at the west elevation, the north and south wings are flush with the central core. Additionally, at the south wing, the window opening of the partially-exposed basement story is not filled in and, in lieu of a sill, abuts a raised concrete planting bed (see Related Landmark Site). The north wing does not feature any window openings, lintels or sills. Neither the north nor the south wing is obscured by a pavilion.

 

The three-story tall central core features two bays, each containing three typical window openings at the first, second and third stories. At the partially-exposed basement story, a single typical window opening is present at the first bay which, in lieu of a sill, abuts a raised concrete planting bed (see Related Landmark Site). At the second bay of the partially-exposed basement story, an additional three window openings are found and consist of a short typical window opening containing three-over-three double-hung wood sashes to the north, a typical, full-height window opening at center, and a filled-in typical window opening to the south that has been altered to accommodate a basement door opening below and three, square louvered vents above (door is accessed via a below-grade masonry and brick stairway surrounded by masonry curbing and a metal fence with gate).

 

A one-story pavilion projects from the central core at the first bay of the partially-exposed basement story and may not be original to the 1905-6 addition as it obscures part of the rightmost window opening of the first bay of the central core at the first story. The pavilion features projecting brick banding separated by a large masonry band, and masonry coping, all of which wrap to the pavilion’s north and south elevations. The east elevation of the pavilion features two typical lintels where typical window openings appear to have been bricked in. A square metal panel with a hinged door is set within the south elevation of the pavilion. At the third story of the central core, a projecting brick band runs continuous with the lintels of the third-story fenestration and is also continuous with the north, south and west elevations of the core. The central core also features brick corbelling and masonry coping at the parapet which, too, is continuous with the other elevations of the core. At the partially-exposed basement story, a small length of masonry or concrete base trim stretches from the right side of the central core to the north wing. A large number of drain pipes, pipe vents, and through-wall vents are affixed to all three sections of the east elevation, several of which may be original.

 

Alterations

 

While the windows of P.S. 66 are largely non-original, the replacement windows were apparently selected to maintain the integrity of the exterior facade and feature multi-paned, double-hung wood sashes similar to the building’s original windows (several of the non-classroom windows of the west elevation of the original school building are original and have not been replaced; it is not known when the non-original windows were installed). None of the school’s doors are original. The doors of the primary entrance were replaced with new paneled wood double-doors in 2009, while the remaining secondary entrances feature non-original metal doors. The fire escape affixed to the east section of the north elevation of the original school building is not-original.

 

Although it is unclear when the fire escape was put in place (not present in c. 1939 tax photograph), its installation required the enlargement of the leftmost window openings of the fourth bay of this section at the first and second stories in order to accommodate new door openings and metal doors. Although the original window lintels were retained, the remaining portions of the window openings not occupied by the doors have been filled in with metal panels. The three pavilions that extend from the various elevations of the 1905-6 addition are not thought to be original. Although it is not known when they might have been constructed, the pavilions do appear in the c. 1939 tax photograph of the school. An element that appears to be a large cornice at the central core of the 1905-6 addition looks to be present in the c. 1939 tax photograph, but has since been removed. It is not known when the concrete curb that surrounds the site was installed or when the areas to the north and south of the school were paved with concrete, but both conditions are present in the c. 1939 tax photograph.

 

Non-original signage is affixed to the central section of the west elevation of the original school building. A number of non-original security lights, school bells, speakers, conduit, and electrical boxes are affixed to the various elevations of both the original school building and the 1905-6 addition. Non-original window guards are present at all windows of the first, second, third, and partially-exposed basement stories at all elevations and at the fanlights of the central section of the west elevation of the original school building, but are not present at dormer or gable windows. The small length of masonry or concrete base trim at the east elevation of the 1905-6 addition is painted red. A concrete platform has been built up along the east elevation of the 1905-6 addition at the central core and north wing, which extends from the projecting pavilion and is continuous with the ramp that runs alongside the north elevation of the north wing.

 

It is not known whether the through-wall vent beneath the rightmost window of the south section of the west elevation of the original school building is original, nor if any of the through-vents on the east elevation of the 1905-6 addition are original. Similarly, it is not known if the various drain pipes affixed to the east elevation of the 1905-6 addition are original, although the drain pipes affixed to the other elevations are thought to be original.

 

A major exterior modernization project that took place in 2001 under the leadership of the architectural firm Montoya-Rodriguez Architects, PC returned many original details to the school building that had been removed or altered over the intervening years. The metal entablatures, including the rinceaux, present at the north, south and west elevations of the original school building, had been covered with stucco (see Figure 10), but were replaced as part of this project. The firm also restored much of the bell tower, which had been removed above the second story in 1967 due to wood deterioration. Although the present tower is not an exact replica of the original, a large number of details, including the numerous brick and masonry arches, continuous brick corbelling, and open belfry, are evocative of, and, in fact, very similar to the original design (see Figures 13 & 14).

 

As part of the scope of work, finials were returned to the pinnacles of the west elevation of the original school building, failing cast-stone details and rusted sections of decorative metal were replaced in kind, several windows of the 1905-6 addition that had been previously enclosed with face brick were filled-in with matching brick, and asphalt shingles that had been introduced to the roof in the 1980s were replaced with more appropriate slate shingles. The project also undertook the stripping of non-original paint layers from all exterior brick, cast-stone, masonry, and metal details, and the repointing of all existing brickwork (including chimneys) and masonry. Window openings at the partially-exposed basement story of the east-facing section of the south elevation of the original school building and at the rightmost opening of the third bay of the east section of the north elevation of the original school building were enlarged into door openings and below-grade access staircases were installed as part of the project.

 

- From the 2010 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report

Revived from the dead and given a second shot at life with wings, 3630 finds itself on the point of a large power move with a sand train. The boon of WI frac sand business has turned Butler yard into quite the hub of activity over the last couple of years with multiple trains being held here for congestion on the Adams sub.

This was a catalog given to store managers, a vendor catalog, with manufacturing numbers so they could order items to sell. All items in this catalog should have a packaging date of 1996. Remember these are like "production" or "prototype" information so the actual dolls and fashions sold in store might be slightly different have different colors, etc. This is especially true for the cheaper items and playsets. special editions and store exclusives won't be included here. Items in this catalog include Hula Hair Barbie, Angel Princess Barbie, Splash N Color Barbie, Great Date Ken, Flower Fun Barbie, Prince Ken, Rapunzel Barbie. Big Brother Ken, Potty Training Kelly, Lil Friends of Kelly Cool Fun Kelly, Teen Skipper, Clueless dolls and Fashions Fashion Avenue Boutique. There may be some fashions and playsets produced directly by ARCO Toys company that are not included in this catalog. If you found this usefull please stop by BarbieReference.com and click an ad to support the site. More pages from this catalog are only available on BarbieReference.com

Given the metal working skills of BiH artisans, it was not long after the war that empty cases were being decorated as souvenirs, a late 20th Century "trench art". This erstwhile carrier of death is decorated and stamped "Sarajevo" for the tourist trade.